MANKATO, Minn. -- When the Vikings acquired Terence Newman and Trae Waynes in the offseason, many immediately assumed Captain Munnerlyn's days as a starter were over.
Not yet, Munnerlyn said.
"I definitely still look at myself as the starter," the veteran this week. "I wouldn't be a competitor, I wouldn't be a football player, if I didn't look at myself as the starter."
The 5-foot-9 Munnerlyn started all 16 games in 2014 but had, in his own estimation, a sub-par year. A 2014 free-agent acquisition, Munnerlyn was bogged down in spring drills by a foot injury and replaced primarily by Newman in first-team drills.