Ben Goessling, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Chad Greenway plans to play in 2015, wants to return to Vikings

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Next season will be Chad Greenway's 10th in the NFL, and he plans to spend it on a football field somewhere -- not watching from a sideline or taking it in from the couch during his first year of retirement.

"That would be awesome," Greenway said. "I've accomplished a lot of goals in my life and that's one I have left."

Greenway said again on Monday that he wants to stay in Minnesota, echoing the sentiment he's put forth over the last few weeks and indicating he'd be open to restructuring his contract to make that happen. The future of the Vikings' elder statesman on defense is unclear, though, and like Antoine Winfield, Jared Allen and Kevin Williams before him, Greenway could find himself saying goodbye to a team that hasn't kept many of its long-tenured defenders in recent years.

Linebacker Gerald Hodges played well in a spot role this season and could be the heir apparent to Greenway at the weakside linebacker position. It also wouldn't be surprising to see the Vikings target another linebacker in the draft to pair with rookie Anthony Barr. Greenway, in all likelihood, will have to wait a couple months to see where his relationship with the Vikings goes next.

"[It's been a] pretty good relationship for the most part," he said. "You hope that you can make that work. Being a loyal guy myself, I just want to be able to do that. At the same point, you understand that it’s a business and you have to make the correct decision when it comes up.”

With his three daughters settled in Minnesota, Greenway said he'll talk through his options with his wife and base any decision on what's best for his family. "My daughters are big-time Vikings fans. It'd be a change if that happened," he said. "We make every decision based on our family. It won't simply come down to money or business."

Greenway said the knee injury that kept him out of Sunday's game against the Chicago Bears won't require surgery, but said on Sunday he wasn't able to do anything beyond a few individual reps in practice. The ailment, however, came at the end of a season when Greenway dealt with a broken hand and broken ribs, missing four games and sitting out for the first time since he tore his ACL as a rookie.

"The rib injury was really kind of a fluky deal and obviously this knee thing would have put anybody out," Greenway said. "You play a lot of football and the rib injury could have happened 10 times over. I don't feel like I've become injury-prone or my age has caught up to me any way. That can happen to anybody at any point.

"I feel like I can continue to play somewhere. Hopefully here."

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