With the Vikings holding their "mandatory" veteran mini-camp this week in Minnesota, the last of their mini-camps before Training Camp gets underway in late July, there are still a lot of things left to be decided at different spots on the field.

According to former NFL safety Matt Bowen, whose "Players Page" over at the National Football Post is absolutely mandatory reading for football fans, players would be well-served to treat the time between the mini-camp and training camp not as a vacation, but as something that could potentially make or break their spot on an NFL roster for the 2012 season. Because it absolutely could.

Now, let me clarify. . .the Jared Allens and Percy Harvins of the Minnesota Vikings haven't got a heck of a lot to worry about. They're going to be on the roster regardless of how they treat the next month and a half (though both of those guys are professional enough to take it seriously). I'm talking about guys that will be fighting for spots like the #3 running back position like Lex Hilliard and Jordan Todman and Derrick Coleman, or guys that are going to be trying to latch on as backup linebackers with this team.

When this team gets to the middle of August and is announcing various cuts and things of that nature, the players that will stick on the roster then are, by and large, going to be the guys that put in a ton of work now. Hopefully all of the guys that know they're fighting for spots will take it seriously, and we'll see some seriously fierce competition for those spots in Training Camp