Picking off Mac Jones is hardly novel. Jones threw 36 interceptions in 42 games when he was the New England Patriots’ starting quarterback. Still, Camryn Bynum deserved to celebrate his over-the-shoulder catch that sealed the Minnesota Vikings’ 12-7 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
“The ball was in the air for a while, so being able to track that ball was a big challenge,” said Bynum. “But that’s something we do every Friday. We have one of our equipment guys, Adam, launch the ball as far as he possibly can, 40, 50 yards. We have to go track the ball and try and catch it over our shoulder. High-point it.
“So that’s something we rep for moments like that.”
By the end of the season, most will have forgotten Jones’ arm punt on a play that Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said was too complicated for the layman to understand. However, we’ll remember Bynum’s Raygun celebration. His tribute to Olympian Rachael Gunn (aka Raygun) went viral, eliciting a response from the Australian breakdancer.
“I was a fan of her when she was in the Olympics,” said Bynum. “For us to be able to be tapped in now and get [her reaction], and for her to be happy about it, too…it was cool.”
NFL players lead busy, structured lives. Multiple television screens throughout Minnesota’s practice facility display daily schedules down to the hour. They begin when breakfast is available and end with dinner. Many players stay late for extra practice or treatment.
Still, Bynum finds time on Saturday before the game to work on his celebration.
“Some stuff, like the Raygun one, I didn’t do any live reps of practicing because I needed a lot of space, and my living room is kind of small,” he said. “It was just a lot of watching it on the TV and watching videos and mentally repping it because I know when I get out there, I’ll be ready.”
In other words, watching film, like he does when he studies the opposing quarterback.
“Yeah, I’m literally watching film on what to do,” he said. “The Usher one took a lot more practice because that took coordination and dance skills, which, I’m not a great dancer.”
He and Josh Metellus broke out a Parent Trap routine in London.
“That took a lot of mental reps and probably like 20 minutes straight, me and Josh,” he said. “We’re just in a room alone.”
Bynum is still figuring out what to do for the Tennesee Titans game. It should be a ripe opportunity; Will Levis has thrown seven picks in six games.
“When I get one, I’ll have one ready,” he said. “I’m picking between a few. But right now, I’m trying to think of something more relevant to Tennessee.”
Creating an original idea is half the battle because Bynum is trying to keep the celebrations original.
“I don’t want to just do all dances. I don’t want to do all movie handshakes or whatever,” Bynum said. “One was Usher, one was a high school movie, and then one was the Olympic thing. So it’s all situational. But I for sure want to keep switching it up to make it appeal to everybody.
“I think it’s cool that non-football fans are tuned in to watch it. [They] watch the clip, and they start becoming football fans.”
Bynum has always tried to get more people into football. During the off-season, he lives in the Philippines and opened an academy where local kids can learn the game. Many Filipinos have tuned into Vikings games to watch him on Sundays, creating football fans 7,700 miles away from Minneapolis.
However, he must pick off more passes to continue his celebrations. Bynum was upset with how many picks he dropped last year and has committed to reeling more in this year.
“We get on the JUGS machine, catching the footballs that are coming really fast, and you’re standing a few yards away from it,” he said. “It’s really just good training for your hand-eye coordination to be able to catch the ball and get a rhythm catching the ball.
“The more you rep it, the more comfortable it is.”
Improving takes a lot of practice. Still, Bynum has prioritized finding the time to work on his celebrations. They go hand-in-hand. He wouldn’t be practicing his elaborate charades if he didn’t believe he’d have an interception that week.
