Vikes punter: Mankins, others 'douchebags'

It’s safe to say that Patriots offensive lineman Logan Mankins and Vikings punter Chris Kluwe won’t be exchanging Christmas cards.

Mankins, one of the four plaintiffs in the Brady vs. NFL antitrust lawsuit who is reportedly trying to get his own settlement, drew the ire of the punter on Tuesday. Kluwe took to Twitter [1] (@chriswarcraft [2]) to write: Sigh, and once again greed is the operative byword. Congrats [Drew] Brees, [Peyton] Manning, [Logan] Mankins, and [Vincent] Jackson for being ‘that guy’. #douchebags

According to Yahoo! Sports [3], Mankins and Jackson want to become unrestricted free agents or be given $10 million each for settling as lead plaintiffs in the case of Brady vs. the NFL, and the business of football cannot resume unless the antitrust lawsuit is settled with all the plaintiffs. However, on Tuesday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Mankins has not sought any financial settlement “so far.”

That didn’t stop Kluwe, who told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on Tuesday afternoon [4] that his tweet was the result of him being upset and just having some fun with the situation.

“It’s like a mix of both,” he told Judd Zulgad. “The thing is we’re so close to having a deal done and to kind of pull that at the last minute it feels kind of like blackmail. We all out the owners when they do crap like that and it’s only fair to call out our own people when they do the same thing. I’m against hypocrisy wherever it’s at. Just finish the deal up so we can get the season going.”

For more Patriots news, visit the team page at weei.com/patriots [5].