MANKATO — Leslie Frazier insists he wasn’t trying to send a message when left tackle Bryant McKinnie, a fixture on the Minnesota Vikings offensive line for the past nine years, was abruptly released two days into Frazier’s first training camp as a head coach.

Even if that wasn’t his intent, that was how the move was being received by the rest of the team.

Frazier repeatedly declined to cite the specific reasons for McKinnie’s departure, only saying that it had nothing to do with money and that the former Pro Bowler “wasn’t the right fit” for the team any longer.

“In Bryant’s case, he’s been a terrific player for the Vikings. I love him as a person. We’ve had a great relationship together,” Frazier said. “But at this point, for all parties involved, I just thought it was the right thing to do, and I’m sure he’s going to catch on with a team and he’s going to do well.

“He’s a terrific player right now, but for where we are right now and where we’re trying to go to, it just wasn’t the right fit for the direction that we want to go.”

Actually, McKinnie’s level of play dropped noticeably in the second half of last season. Then, after a summer-long lockout prevented Vikings coaches from working with him in the offseason, McKinnie showed for training camp woefully out of shape and significantly overweight.

“With so much time off, guys do different things. Some guys relax, some guys travel. Some guys like to party,” cornerback Antoine Winfield said. “But you have to be disciplined. All you have to do is go work out, stay in some kind of shape, and perform.”

Frazier side-stepped questions about McKinnie’s conditioning and extra pounds on Wednesday, but several prominent teammates made it clear that his physical condition played a role in the decision.

“We all understood, everyone as professionals, that all we had to do is come in and come in shape,” Winfield said. “Coaches really had no choice but to do what they did.”