Brad Childress was walking off the field following today's practice when he approached quarterback Brett Favre.
"My exact words [to him] were, 'I don't have an extra 25k, if I need to list you on the injury report with every mucous membrane on your body, I will do that,'" Childress said.
The Vikings coach, of course, was referencing the fact that Favre's admission last week that he played despite having a torn biceps tendon in his throwing arm resulted in $125,000 in fines being handed out by the NFL. That's because the Jets did not place him on their injury report. The team was fined $75,000, general manager Mike Tannenbaum was fined $25,000 and so was former coach Eric Mangini, who is now coach of the Cleveland Browns.
In all seriousness, the issue now becomes how much do teams need to list? For instance, Favre said when he came to Minnesota that he still has a tear in his rotator cuff. So should that be listed? Also, there are numerous players who continue to play and practice despite being injured. Do they all need to be put on the injury report?
"You have to be transparent about it," Childress said of his approach. "Everything that happens in the dark of night comes to the light of day here."
