Don Banks: Vikings a 'stunned football team'

CNNSI NFL reporter Don Banks is at the Minnesota Vikings training camp as the team mourns the loss of star offensive lineman Korey Stringer, who died of symptoms related to heatstroke.

Q: What's the general mood there at the Vikings camp?

BANKS: As you can imagine, it's just a stunned football team and football family. Players almost universally have declined comment. Vikings head coach Dennis Green appeared at a press conference Wednesday along with star receivers Cris Carter and Randy Moss. Moss was almost inconsolable at times during the news conference.

This comes as such a stunning development. It's been since 1979 that the NFL lost a player to heat exhaustion or heat stroke. While Korey Stringer has battled weight throughout his excellent six-year career, he was seen as being in the best shape of his playing career.

He reported to camp at about 335 pounds, which for Korey was fairly light. At times in his career he approached 370-380 pounds. In the last couple of years he had done a lot to keep his weight in check. The Vikings wanted him to be around 340 pounds or less -- not only for his health but also for the viability of his play on the field.

VIDEO The Vikings news conference saw some emotional scenes (August 1) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES The dangers of heat stress   Protection from heat stroke   From WDIV, Detroit: Heat triggers ozone action day   MORE     EXTRA INFORMATION The hidden, human costs of heat waves     RESOURCES startribune.com: Korey's Korner   CDC Web site: Extreme Heat     AUDIO Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss was overwhelmed with grief 5.7 MB / 1.07 minutes AIFF or WAV sound

He seemed to have achieved that over the last couple years and reported to camp. He was 27 years old, was married and had a 3 1/2-year-old son. From all accounts, he now just fell victim to a rather rare heat wave of the upper Midwest.

Q: Where does the team go from here? Are they talking about doing anything special for him, such as retiring his jersey or wearing something on their uniform?

BANKS: At this point it's a little too early for all that. I would expect some sort of tribute to him, either a patch on their uniform or a decal on their helmet. I do know that in February 1999 the Vikings lost their offensive coordinator to a sudden heart attack and they honored him during the season with a patch on their uniform.

I would think that at least that much is going to be done for Korey Stringer. He was very much in the team's plans long range. He had signed a long-term contract extension on Christmas Eve 1998 and he was really the last remaining offensive line veteran from a talented group. The other three veteran linemen are all ex-Vikings at this point, having left the team in the last two years.

The team very much wanted to build around their young center and Korey Stringer, who was seen as being in the prime of his career.

It's just way too early to tell how the Vikings will deal with this right now. It's a team that is taking today to take care of one another. They will practice Thursday but the players will not be available for comment.

Q: He has a wife and son that he leaves behind. Does the NFL have packages to take care of them financially?

BANKS: The NFL has life insurance policies for its players that it offers, much like other companies offer their employees. It's not a question of the league supporting the family from here on out, but there are insurance policies that do apply to this case.

I don't know how much money specifically the family will receive. I do know he did receive a rather hefty contract late in the '98 season, just before the playoffs. I believe he was entering the third year of a generous five-year deal that paid him multi-multi millions of dollars.

Q: How is the NFL handling this? Are they treating it as just a one-time tragedy or putting out any guidelines out to try to prevent such tragedies?

BANKS: The NFL hasn't issued any statement regarding what they're hoping to learn from Stringer's death. The league has been rather fortunate, because the college game and high school football have lost a number of players to this type of situation over the years. Like I said, it is very rare in the NFL to lose a player to heat exhaustion.

I'm sure there is going to be a focus on heat stroke. I believe a college player at the University of Florida recently died from heat-related problems. So, what I think is going to happen is there is going to be some attention shown on the issue of: When is it too hot to play football in full pads?

I can share this: That yesterday Korey Stringer went through the morning practice and in the words of some people he was very determined to get through that practice, because the day before he had been held out of part of the afternoon workout on Monday, the first day of camp.

He vomited a few times Monday and was determined -- almost embarrassed -- that he had to miss some time Monday. He wanted to redeem himself by getting through the entire practice. Unfortunately, the problems arose shortly after that practice.

His body temperature was up to 108 degrees. Soon after that he became unconscious and never regained consciousness.

Q: Where does the loss of Korey leave the Vikings as a team in search of the Super Bowl?

BANKS: It's a pretty substantial blow. As I mentioned earlier, they were already dealing with the loss of three very quality veteran offensive linemen in the last two off-seasons. This gives them yet another position to fill.