Vikings S Sendejo's hat: 'Make Football Violent Again'
Minnesota Vikings safety Andrew Sendejo typically appreciates a good hit, but he doesn't like the one he believes the NFL delivered this offseason with a rule change on using helmets to initiate contact.
At training camp in Eagan, Minn., with the rule change wearing on him, he's returning the favor, wearing a baseball cap with the words "Make Football Violent Again," a takeoff on a political theme.
The rule change, controversial from the outset, quickly affected action on the field Thursday.
In the NFL's first preseason game, the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio, between the Baltimore Ravens and the Chicago Bears, the rule, which prohibits a player from leading or initiating contact with the helmet under any circumstance, led to at least three penalties. Five personal fouls were called in total.
Sendejo, entering his eighth season with the Vikings after playing his rookie season with the Dallas Cowboys, says his cap, which he has had for a while, has extra meaning now.
"It fits good and it's black and I like it. It's got a good message," said Sendejo, who served a one-game suspension last season for a hit on wide receiver Mike Wallace, then playing for the Ravens.
When asked what he thinks about the new rule, Sendejo responded, "I don't." Asked about how defenders are able to respond to rule changes, Sendejo simply said, "Poorly."
Sendejo also took to Twitter later Friday wearing a Vikings helmet outfitted with a second facemask spanning the top of his helmet, accompanied by the words, "Made helmet alterations so I'm always ‘leading with the facemask.' Simplifying calls for league office and playing within new @NFL rule changes."
The rule was added this offseason as another step toward limiting concussions and major injuries.
"Basically they don't want you to use the helmet as a weapon because the helmet, when it was first brought in to the league, was for protection and now if some of the crown of the helmet hits, it can be dangerous," head coach Mike Zimmer told reporters Friday. "So they're trying to eliminate that from the game to make the players more safe. I have no problem with that."
--Field Level Media
