The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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August 1, 2007

Doss plans to make Vikes a winner

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  • Free-agent signee Mike Doss has brought his ‘winning ways’ to the Vikings this summer and is hoping it’s contagious. John Cross

    Vikings training camp — Mike Doss 8-2-07

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Safety has been part of championship teams at prep, college, pro levels

By Jim Rueda

MANKATO — When Vikings safety Mike Doss says he’s always been a winner, some fans assume it’s just another pro athlete’s self-aggrandizing statement designed to boost his own ego. A look at his career, however, says otherwise.

Doss won state championships as a junior and senior at Canton McKinley High School in Ohio and then started 40 of 50 games at Ohio State where he helped the Buckeyes win a national title in 2002. He was drafted by Indianapolis in 2002, earned a starting role right away, and went on to help the Colts win four AFC South championships. Last year, although he wasn’t around at the end due to injury, Doss and the Colts won Super Bowl XLI.

So all of this winning begs the question: Why does a free agent go from the Super Bowl champions to a team that struggled to win six games last season?

“What the Colts were last year or what the Vikings were last year doesn’t concern me,” Doss said, after a training camp practice session this week. “I just try to go out and make teams better, make them winners.

“I’ve been a winner everywhere I’ve gone, from the Colts to ‘The Ohio State’ to high school. Now I’m trying to do the same here in Minnesota.”

Doss started four of the first six games for Indianapolis last year before a serious knee injury sent him to injured reserve. He had anterior cruciate ligament surgery last winter which may have curtailed some interest in him when he opted for free agency.

Doss said he can’t control what other teams perceive, all he knows is that he looked around and the Vikings seemed like the best fit for him.

“When you’re a free agent you want to sign with a team that you feel is going to give you an opportunity to play,” he said. “I wanted a scenario where I felt I could go in and be on a level playing field with all the other defensive backs.

“With Leslie Frazier (previously a Colts assistant who became Minnesota’s defensive coordinator this year) coming to Minnesota, I felt we’d all be starting at ground zero on defense. But perhaps the most important thing is you want to go to a team that wants you; then you’re in the house.”

Although he’s still not completely recovered, Doss has been cleared to do everything in practice during training camp. Frazier says he likes what he’s seen so far.

“He’s real close to being 100 percent,” Frazier said. “There are certain movements and certain situations that I see where he’s not quite there yet.

“But (Mike) looks better than he did in the (spring) OTAs, so that is the positive. He should just get better and better as he goes through things and gains more confidence in the knee.”

Doss may be at the deepest position on the Vikings right now. He’s battling with fellow safeties Darren Sharper, Greg Blue, Dwight Smith and Tank Williams for starting and back-up roles. It’s a situation he relishes.

“That’s fine. There’s a lot of good players back there and the more competition you see day in and day out, the better you’re going to be.”

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