TOM POWERS

At 34, Antoine Winfield isn’t going to get too many more kicks at the can.

“I’m with you on that!” he said with a laugh after the Vikings’ practice Thursday. “I’ve been at it for 13 years, and I don’t see myself playing 10 or 13 more years. But maybe this is going to be our year.”

Yes, and maybe my aunt Matilda will lose 80 pounds, undergo full-body electrolysis and win the Miss America Pageant. This Vikings team is riddled with holes, but you have to love Winfield’s enthusiasm. After Thursday’s practice, he stayed out on the field catching balls from the quarterbacks, running through the practice cones and just generally enjoying himself.

“I like our team,” he insisted.

There is, at least, a hint of promise in the air as Leslie Frazier runs his first Vikings camp. The players appear to like and respect him, which already puts him well ahead of his predecessor. And the best thing about Training Camp 2011 is that it is not Training Camp 2010, which was a prelude to a stressful, awful season.

“It was,” Winfield agreed. “I’ve never been through one of those. We didn’t expect to be 6-10 and finish last. We had a few injuries and distractions. I think we handled them OK, but our record didn’t show it.”

Winfield tossed out the word “distractions” as if maybe a couple of bugs bounced off his car windshield. But with the Brett Favre drama, Randy Moss debacle, Brad Childress firing and Metrodome roof collapse, among other things, there really were a few “distractions.”

And when the season ended, everybody was drained. Winfield didn’t want to think about football for a good long while. He needed to mentally rejuvenate. So he and his wife packed their bags and boarded a plane. To anywhere.

“I went to the Bahamas, Brazil, Mexico, Vegas, Miami,” he said, laughing. “I’ve been all over! It was like every other week we’d take a trip.”

Now, he’s recharged and ready to go. It was fun watching him cover his teammates on passing routes during practice. He is entering his eighth season as a Viking and is working under his second owner, third head coach and fourth defensive coordinator. He has three more years, after this one, left on his contract. The left cornerback position remains in good hands.

But if Winfield really wants to put his practice time to good use, he ought to just move up to the line and tackle people. Seriously, when the season starts, he’s not going to have two passes a game thrown his way. For the past several seasons, the rest of the Vikings secondary has been shaky enough so that other teams don’t even risk throwing in Winfield’s direction.

“It’s not fun,” Winfield said. “But it is what it is. Offensive coordinators watch film and then try to attack where they think they will have success. I’ve been playing pretty well for the last few years. But you can never take a play off. The minute you take a play off, you’ll turn and see that receiver running down the sideline.”

He’s been here so long that he’s almost taken for granted. Think about it: In 2004, his first Vikings season, after spending five in Buffalo, his secondary mates were Corey Chavous, Brian Russell and Brian Williams. Since then, the likes of Darren Sharper, Fred Smoot, Dwight Smith and Madieu Williams have come and gone.

A sure tackler, Winfield has been low-maintenance on a team that traditionally has had an abundance of prima donnas, divas and drama queens. And what he wants, well, what they all want, really, is for this to be “the year.”

“We’ve got a new quarterback and a new coordinator on offense, so it’s going to be a little while,” he said. “On defense, B-Rob (Brian Robison) is getting his chance to start. Erin (Henderson) and Jasper (Brinkley) are competing for Ben Leber’s weak-side (linebacker) spot. But the core is back.

“We’ve got a chance. It’s not going to be easy. Not with the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers out there. But we’ve got a chance.”

Perhaps Frazier will figure a way to plug that offensive line. And maybe a couple of guys in the defensive backfield will step up and play at a higher level. Minimum, those two things have to happen for the Vikings to have even a chance. There are other issues, too. However, it’s good to know that, as usual, left cornerback is not one of them.

Tom Powers can be reached at tpowers@pioneerpress.com.