Viktor
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- Mar 19, 2019
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A few moments before Kendricks recalled his story with glee, Smith had stepped to the podium to field questions.
When the topic came to Barr, the All-Pro safety became emotional when talking about his locker mate at the team facility.
“I was pretty pumped about it,” Smith began before looking around trying to control himself as his voice swelled with emotion. “A guy making a choice like that was pretty big. It doesn’t happen a lot in pro sports, even if it’s a couple million dollars, which means different things to different people. For him, it meant staying here.”
Smith was then asked why he, one of the more stoic players on the team, showed the emotion he did.
“I don’t really know. I didn’t think that would happen,” Smith said with a laugh. “He’s one of my best friends. Honestly, I wanted him to go get as much money as he could make. Pro sports, that’s how things happen.
“I obviously wanted him here as well, so I wasn’t going to be upset one way or the other. It’s an emotional game,” Smith added. “When you make friendships and you make plays together and you’re pumped for the guy next to you, that’s why I play.”
As the Vikings 2019 voluntary offseason program gets underway, the defense doesn’t have to worry about the absence of one of its leaders and the guy who relays plays to the huddle from Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer.
Kendricks is glad No. 55 will be next to him for the foreseeable future.
“It’s something that I have the luxury of not thinking about now,” Kendricks said. “I don’t know … it definitely crossed my mind a little bit. Me and him have been playing together for so long, it was hard to ignore.
“It definitely crossed my mind for him to have to restart, but for me to have to restart and get used to communicating with someone [else],” Kendricks added. “It was definitely weird to think about.”
Barr’s return means the core of a defense that has been together for five-plus years, and is among the league’s best, will stay together going forward.
The continuity that organizations crave is on full display with the Vikings defense, and Barr’s choice speaks to the culture inside the building where his teammates couldn’t contain themselves — with smiles and watery eyes — about his return.
“We just love playing with each other. We know what kind of group we have and we have each other’s backs,” Kendricks said. “I take trips with these guys in the offseason, and we just enjoy being together, working together, and we know what we’re all chasing.
“I feel like it says a lot about what we’ve got,” Kendricks added.