Faith, family, football: Vikings’ Bynum finds home in the Philippines
Camryn Bynum has been everywhere this spring: starting safety, slot cornerback or at the line of scrimmage for a morphing Vikings defense.
Hours after the Vikings' final spring practice last week, he also planned to board a flight back to the Philippines.
That's where Bynum, 24, will continue a busy offseason before reporting to training camp in late July. Aside from keeping hold of a starting job with the Vikings, Bynum got married on a white-sand beach in the Philippines in March. Two days after the nuptials, his bride, Lalaine Bynum, and family members joined him in a second year of relief efforts providing food, water and necessities to areas in the country devastated by typhoons.
"That was really our honeymoon," Bynum said. "We were able to see the same families we saw last year [after Tropical Storm Megi in April 2022]. We followed up with them and brought them whatever they needed this time around. A lot of them were able to rebuild homes and get a new neighborhood built after their neighborhoods were wiped out with the landslides and typhoons."
He started the Bynum Faith Foundation last summer after seeing firsthand the damage in the Philippines, where his family roots run to a great grandmother who grew up in one of the cities where they provided battery-operated fans, canned goods, rice and water.
"That's where I realized we have a lot of family out there affected," said Bynum, whose mother, Jennifer, is a third-generation Filipino-American. "It was a crazy coincidence. It was all God. I really found out after. It was a really cool, kind of full-circle moment."
Bynum proudly wears his Filipino heritage and the country's flag, which hangs in his locker when it's not draped around his shoulders like after his game-sealing interception against the Jets in December. He said he spent most of this offseason, "three to four months," in the Philippines, where another coincidence kept him ready for the Vikings.
The training company Bynum used to prepare for the 2021 NFL draft, Michael Johnson Performance, had a facility in the Philippines for Olympic athletes.
"It ended up being 30 minutes from my place I stayed at," Bynum said. "It worked out perfectly. Nice facility, soccer field, nice turf, weight room, speed treadmill — everything you need. A full facility, better than a lot of ones out here."
Bynum found teammates by connecting with a "super small" network of Filipinos running flag football teams in the area. Seeing the passion for the sport abroad, Bynum decided to host his first football camp a year ago in Manila from June 24-25. Family, friends, trainers and former coaches traveled with Bynum to host a skills camp and flag football tournament.
"Football is not big in Asia," Bynum said. "It's coming to Europe, getting big out there, but Asia doesn't get touched with football at all. I'm trying to be the one to bring it and expand it out there."
His role with the Vikings, despite the presence of 2022 first-round safety Lewis Cine, appears firmly entrenched. Bynum was the only Vikings defender — and one of only three NFL defenders — to play every snap last season.
Bynum barely left the field as the Vikings installed coordinator Brian Flores' defense this spring. He continued to start in the base defense with safety Harrison Smith. He also moved around to different positions in the secondary when the team practiced schemes using five or six defensive backs.
"We're playing a lot of personnel groupings," coach Kevin O'Connell said, "and trying to mix and match with our safety group to ultimately see how we can get the best 11 on the field, regardless of the situation in the game — run or pass."
Bynum, a self-described nerd, has been lauded by teammates and coaches for always being prepared. The former Cal cornerback quickly adapted to life as an NFL safety, and he said he has had little issue learning a third different playbook in as many seasons.
"I'm feeling really comfortable, especially with the amount of reps we've been able to get during the spring session," Bynum said. "It's the third defense I've had to learn, so I feel like I've been able to learn it pretty easy because the more you learn, you compare it to old stuff. But there's still so much to learn."
