Michael Floyd won’t show up for Vikings’ organized team activities or June minicamp because he’s on house arrest until June 17, the Pioneer Press reports.
The St. Paul native and No. 13 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, who signed with the Vikings on Wednesday, is serving a 120-day sentence stemming from a Dec. 12 DUI arrest when police found him asleep at the wheel in Arizona. According to The Arizona Republic, Floyd had a blood alcohol level of .217 and later pleaded guilty to extreme DUI.
Still only 27 years old, Floyd has a chance to redeem himself in Minnesota – just like Cris Carter did after addiction to drugs and alcohol got him cut from the Philadelphia Eagles in 1990. And Carter even said as much this week.
I remember ppl doubting me on/off the field, a lot like Michael Floyd. This turnaround can happen again and we believe in you. Welcome home.
— Cris Carter (@criscarter80) May 10, 2017
It took Carter 7 years to become a star
Carter and Floyd compare statistically too. Their numbers through five NFL seasons are quite similar.
- Floyd: 78 games, 47 starts, 246 catches, 3,781 yards, 24 TD
- Carter: 73 games, 52 starts, 188 catches, 2,825 yards, 27 TD
Carter didn’t turn into a star until his seventh season in the league when he was 28 years old. He caught 90 touchdowns passes over the next eight years, all of which resulted in a trip to the Pro Bowl.
Floyd, 27, entering his sixth season in the NFL, now has a legitimate chance to be a No. 1 receiver in Minnesota. In Arizona, he was the No. 2 receiver behind future Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald.
His competition for the top spot in Minnesota includes Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen and last year’s first-round pick Laquon Treadwell.
Motivated by rock bottom
In an interview last fall with Golf Channel’s David Feherity, Carter said he hit rock bottom after the Eagles cut him.
“I went home and I said to myself, ‘Buddy Ryan is not going to be right. He can’t be right.’ Every day I’m going to make him wrong,” Carter explained. “I remember his words. He said he couldn’t depend on me. So for me, that became kind of my moniker – that I’m going to make sure people can depend on me.”
And here’s Floyd, in a tweet on April 26: “More motivated than I’ve ever been.”
He echoed that in a statement released by Vikings.com on Wednesday.
“I am very excited to come home and play for the Minnesota Vikings,” Floyd said. “I have been training extremely hard this offseason in addition to taking responsibility and paying the consequences for my mistake. Although I cannot change my past decisions, I have definitely learned from this experience and look forward to making valuable contributions to the Vikings organization and the Minnesota community, both as a player and a person. Time to go to work.”
