Green Insists Vikings Won’t Alter Strategy

Minnesota Viking Coach Dennis Green believes in second chances, just maybe not for Dimitrius Underwood.

The first-round draft pick who went AWOL after his first pro practice on Aug. 2 decided after a 75-minute phone conversation with Reggie White that he wanted to try to balance faith and football.

Underwood flew to Minneapolis on Tuesday and was met by Viking scout Jeff Robinson and team chaplain Keith Johnson, who planned to accompany the 22-year-old rookie back to training camp to meet with Green, who will decide his fate.

A news conference scheduled for Tuesday night at the Vikings’ headquarters in Eden Prairie was postponed until today because “one of the parties is arriving late,” team spokesman Bob Hagan said.

Hagan declined to say if that party was Underwood’s agent, Craig Domann, who was traveling Tuesday and didn’t immediately return a phone message.

Green insisted Underwood’s strange case and its salary cap ramifications won’t alter the organization’s risk-taking philosophy, a principle that reaped huge rewards in wide receiver Randy Moss last season.

“You don’t second-guess yourself,” Green said. “We have always been involved in second chances. That’s part of our way we do business.

“So we’re not going to change how we do business and how we look at things because of one time. We believe in what we do.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean the welcome mat is out for Underwood.

“I’ve not said what we would do with Dimitrius Underwood if he were to come back, and I’m not going to say it now,” Green said.

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Although the medical prognosis suggests otherwise, injured quarterback Ryan Leaf said Tuesday he hopes to return to play for the San Diego Chargers by midseason.

Leaf, the second overall pick in the 1998 draft, was back at the Chargers’ training camp for a second day as he recovers from the shoulder injury that was expected to sideline him for perhaps the entire season.

“I hope because I’m younger and maybe will heal a little faster, maybe by Week 8 or Week 9,” Leaf, 23, said. “There’s a possibility that I can be back out there and play.”

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The Detroit Lions have sent a representative to Wichita, Kan., to meet with the father of recently retired running back Barry Sanders.

Allen Hughes, director of security for the Lions, has been at Sanders’ father’s home for two days, apparently in hopes of setting up further talks between Sanders, his family and the team’s front office, the Detroit News reported.

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Jamal Anderson wasn’t around to witness the stir he created in the Atlanta Falcons’ camp.

Anderson, refusing to report to training camp until he receives a new contract, had indicated that he planned to meet Tuesday with Coach Dan Reeves and General Manager Harold Richardson.

Dozens of reporters converged on sleepy Furman University, hoping to get a glimpse of the man who played a key role in the Falcons’ Super Bowl season. But the player’s California-based agent, Jim Sims, said he couldn’t make it to Greenville, S.C., until today, so the meeting was delayed.

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Less than nine months after undergoing surgery for a broken right leg, San Francisco 49er defensive tackle Bryant Young may be ready to participate in practice. The 49ers are considering activating Young from the physically-unable-to-perform list sometime this week, clearing the way for him to practice with the team.

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Denver Bronco linebacker John Mobley will have to do 24 hours of community service and undergo an alcohol evaluation after his car accident last month. Mobley pleaded guilty to driving while ability impaired, careless driving, and driving without a valid driver’s license during a hearing in Douglas County Court.

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St. Louis Ram running back Robert Holcombe will be out three to four weeks after dislocating his shoulder during an exhibition game against the Oakland Raiders. . . . Chris Dishman, the starting left guard of the Arizona Cardinals, may undergo arthroscopic surgery to remove bone fragments from his right elbow. . . . New York Giant running back LeShon Johnson had surgery to reattach a torn ligament in his right thumb.