Vikings' newest lineman evolves from party guy to nasty blocker

Alex Boone's youthful inner wild child cost him dearly on draft day seven years ago. Considered by some to be a second-round talent, the massive Ohio State lineman went undrafted because 32 NFL teams wouldn't risk even a seventh-round pick on an unpredictable young man with a public track record of alcohol-related problems.

After being convicted of drunken driving in 2006, he told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he started drinking in eighth grade and could consume more than 30 cans of beer in a day in college. But his draft-day killer came after a Super Bowl party in 2009, when police reportedly shot Boone twice with a stun gun and arrested him after they said he jumped on car hoods and tried to smash the window out of a tow truck that was trying to tow a car from an apartment where he was staying. According to reports, police took Boone to the medical ward of the jail because they were concerned about his blood alcohol level.

Boone owned up to his sins at the scouting combine in 2009. He vowed he would change. Two months later, 32 NFL teams essentially told the kid to prove it. The 49ers got him for a minimal rookie free agent deal.

Now 28, Boone is thought of in an entirely different light. He worked his way from nothing to something in San Francisco and on Thursday morning, the Vikings gave him a four-year, $26.8 million deal with $10 million guaranteed to be the marquee on-field piece in the offseason turnaround of an underachieving unit.

"I think I've come a little ways," said the 6-8, 300-pound Boone. "I think there's still a lot more to go. I want to be on a team that wins a ring, more than anything."

Boone said he's "never been so excited to play football" and that he's "real confident" the Vikings will win a Super Bowl. A more natural lefty, he said left guard is where he thinks he'll end up, although he can play both guard positions and center in a pinch.

A day after the wild-card loss to Seattle, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer made the team's offseason priority perfectly clear when he fired offensive line coach Jeff Davidson. A day later, he put every linemen on notice that no one's job is safe. Soon after that, he hired Tony Sparano, a similar in-your-face kind of coach, to coach the offensive line.

"What I love about Tony is he's always Tony; he's never anything different," Boone said. "I think it's more in your face. And those are the coaches I really like a lot. Guys who are very straightforward. Hurt me with the truth, don't comfort me with a lie.

"I know when I screwed up. You can tell me I screwed up. Let's fix the problem and move on. That's the kind of coach he is. I hate these guys who beat around the bush and, 'Oh, it wasn't really your fault.' No, it was my fault. That's fine. I'm not going to cry."

Boone spent 2009 on the 49ers practice squad. He played in the last regular-season game in 2010. In 2011, he was an extra blocker in short-yardage situations. Since 2012, he has played at both guard positions, starting 59 of 77 games. He started at right guard in San Francisco's 34-31 loss to Baltimore in Super Bowl XLVII. Last year, he started 13 games at left guard before a knee injury ended his season.

Boone said he met quarterback Teddy Bridgewater at Winter Park on Thursday and was instantly impressed.

"I think it's just the fact that he's just a normal guy," Boone said. "You see so many guys in this league who are just kind of prima donnas. He doesn't seem like that. He seems like a good guy. He gave me a hug, told me he was excited I was here and I believed him."

The two have talked since then. No, it doesn't sound like Boone apologized.

"What happens between the lines is strictly violent," Boone said. "I'm a firm, full believer in that. When we're out there between the lines, it's full-go. To the whistle or maybe to the echo of the whistle."

Listen to Boone talk long enough and it sounds like he would have preferred playing this game 40 years ago at Met Stadium. Meanwhile, asked where he gets his "nasty" side on the field, he didn't skip a beat, saying, "My grandma. She's a pistol. Noreen Sulzer. Full-blooded Irish. Crazy. I love her."

"I come from a very blue-collar family," Boone added. "Cops, teachers, nurses. All of my cousins are firefighters and stuff like that. Hard work has been ingrained in me since I was a little kid. It's nothing new. This is really, really fun to me."