“Meaningless off-season suspension” – Vikings suspend OC Wes Phillips for three weeks following December arrest on suspicion of drunken driving, fans react

Wes Phillips’ punishment will remain till April 22, three days before the 2024 NFL Draft.

Wes Phillips suspended for three weeks (Via Yahoo Sports/KTTC)

Offensive coordinator Wes Phillips may not be a part of the decision-making for the upcoming NFL Draft, as the Minnesota Vikings have suspended him for three weeks. It appears the franchise has become strict towards legal cases, as Phillips’ suspension resulted from a December legal case.

Last year in December, the Vikings OC was pulled over by police for speeding and also showed signs of intoxication. As per Minnesota State Patrol, upon testing, Phillips’ blood alcohol level was found to be 0.10% while the state’s legal limit is 0.08%, therefore, he was placed under arrest and was booked into the Hennepin County jail.

He was released on bail the next morning after posting a $300 bond on December 9, and later that day, he flew to Las Vegas for his team. The Vikings remained silent with respect to the ongoing regular season and didn’t take any action against Phillips.

However, ESPN’s Kevin Seifert reported this Tuesday that the Vikings have suspended Phillips for three weeks without any pay. His punishment will remain till April 22, three days before the 2024 NFL Draft.

The OC was arrested on December 8 on the suspicion of DUI, but he ended up pleading guilty to negligible driving on December 15. The after-effects of his carelessness would now result in him missing the pre-draft preparations and the first week of the franchise’s strength and conditioning program of the offseason.

Fans react to Vikings suspending Wes Phillips

NFL fans argued that Phillips should have been suspended in the regular season, right after his arrest and his guilty plea. Fans mocked the Vikings for giving Phillips “spring break” or “vacation” ahead of the upcoming NFL draft.

Wes Phillips (Via SI)
One fan wrote, “A meaningless off-season suspension will surely teach him!” while another wrote, “They are making sure to do all of this before what happens to rice.” Here are some of the fan reactions from X:

Though suspending Phillips sends out a message that the Vikings would not tolerate any such behavior by their members, fans are having a tough digesting it.

As they point out that this offseason suspension is meaningless, given the Vikings are welcoming him back three days ahead of the 2024 Draft, which means this punishment is nothing but a vacation for him.