One of the ideas that came out of meetings between NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and his Player Advisory Council was for teams to have season-long captains on offense, defense and special teams. The Lions, who the Vikings play Sunday, had a team vote to select five captains for the season.
Vikings coach Brad Childress gave the idea strong consideration but decided to continue rotating captains on a game-by-game basis.
"We kind of recognize guys by how they play, whether it be going home, all different things," Childress said Friday. "It's not beyond the realm that a guy could be a captain for three weeks in a row; we've had that happen before."
The Vikings' MVPs on offense, defense and special teams from last season -- running back Chester Taylor, cornerback Antoine Winfield and linebacker Heath Farwell -- served as captains for the entire preseason and also for the first regular-season game.
Childress went so far as to call Wild GM Doug Risebrough to discuss captains. The NHL has long had team captains, but the Wild selects a new captain each month.
"Without giving away too much of what [the Wild's] criteria are, what I got out of it is they base it on how they practice, how they play, and some guys can handle it, some guys can't handle it," Childress said. "But they have a certain specific set of criteria that they go to. It was fascinating to me, just in terms of how they do that."
Childress said his talk with Risebrough cemented his thoughts about rotating the honor.
"I wasn't comfortable with the idea of doing that for a season long just because I feel like there are a lot of different people that contribute different things at different times," he said.
Although they aren't called captains, Childress also has once again put together a leadership council that he meets with on a regular basis. The group includes Matt Birk, Steve Hutchinson, Ben Leber, Tony Richardson, Dwight Smith, Bobby Wade, Pat Williams and Winfield.
Gameday decision
Taylor (hip) was listed as questionable, and Childress said a decision on the veteran running back's availability won't be made until just before kickoff Sunday. Taylor was limited in practice for a third consecutive day.
Childress said Taylor has made "just kind of incremental progress," adding, "Sometimes those things just get better as they go. He has done everything he can to put himself in a position, so we'll see. We'll leave it up to him."
Taylor, who is from the Detroit area and will have about 30 family members and friends at the game, said he is making slow progress and that his hip was "a little better" on Friday. "I've still got a couple more days to see where I'm going to be at," he said.
James returns
Defensive end Erasmus James was back practicing Friday after the team decided to hold him out the day before. James is continuing the recovery process from the injury to his left knee he suffered last season and did not play against the Falcons. He likely will sit out again Sunday.
"I thought I'd be back in there already, but obviously things don't always go your way," he said.
James is hoping to return before the Vikings' bye in Week 5 but doesn't know when the coaching staff and trainers will decide he's ready.
"However, they feel they think I'm coming during practice, that's the best path to take," he said. "And that's all I can take. ... It's definitely frustrating [not playing], but at the same time you can't really do anything about it. You just have to keep getting better. Use that as motivation."
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