Fantasy Football Daily - Minnesota Vikings with Matthew Coller | 2023 Franchise Focus Podcast

Episode Date: July 18, 2023

The 2022 Minnesota Vikings had an unsustainable run of good fortune in one-score games, and their magical season all came to a screeching halt in the Wild Card round against the Giants. So they made more changes than you'd think a 13-win team would. Matthew Coller (@MatthewColler) of Purple Insider joins Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) to talk all the Vikings' biggest moves: releasing Dalvin Cook, letting Adam Thielen walk, drafting Jordan Addison, and changing defensive coordinators. The boys also discuss what it would take for Kirk Cousins to earn a new contract. Want to join a high-stakes dynasty league -- or any other high-stakes league? All new FFPC users get $25 off their first FFPC league of $35 or more, including dynasty orphans, using our affiliate link: ⁠https://myffpc.com/cms/public?affid=fantasypoints⁠ ⁠FANTASY POINTS PROJECTIONS ARE LIVE⁠ FOR ALL STANDARD AND PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS! Interested in playing Best Ball in 2023? There's no better place than Underdog Fantasy. ⁠Use our code FANTASYPTS⁠ to sign up for a new account at Underdog, and not only will you get a 100% deposit match up to $100... but you'll get a Fantasy Points Standard subscription for only $5! ⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/underdog --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points Podcast, brought to you by FantasyPoints.com. Top-level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room, with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. The franchise focus podcast here at FantasyPoint.com and the Fantasy Points Podcast Network. My name is Joe Dolan. I'm your host. I've been your host for the franchise focus podcast. We have over 20 in the books. Well, if you're listening to this, maybe over 20 or maybe just 20 even, because we have made our way through the entire AFC and the NFC East,

and I am kicking off the NFC North segment of the podcast series. I can't believe we are almost done with it. 32 of these is a massive undertaking, but again, I think it's something that's necessary. I think it's something that is going to help me. It's going to help people who listen to them. kind of prepare and get the insider perspective for each of the 32 NFL teams. And if you're listening to this podcast, it is at least July 13th.

It might even be July 17th. And I have to point out that on July 17th, which is Monday, we are releasing what we think is going to be an industry-changing product in terms of being able to do fantasy and betting research. It's called the Fantasy Points Data Suite. I am not the guy who is going to tell you the most about it. That would be Scott Barrett, Brett Whitefield, Grant Barfield, and Chris Wecht,

who have put in so many hours to develop this tool. But we do believe it is going to be absolutely industry changing. So I want you to head to FantasyPoints.com and check that out. Trust me, you will be hearing a lot more about the Fantasy Points Data Suite in the weeks, months, and years going forward. But I do still want to bring you, of course, to the main event, at least on this program, that would be the franchise focus podcast series. And if you're listening to this one, you're listening to one about the NFC North.

I hope you enjoy and tune in. Welcome back to the franchise focus podcast series. Today we have a great guest to talk Minnesota Vikings. His name is Matthew Coller. He covers the Vikings for Purple Insider. He's a published author of Football is a numbers game about the history of pro football focus and kind of the data-driven revolution in the NFL. You can follow him on Twitter at Matthew Collar.

He is a fellow Greyhound lover. So he and I have been bonding over that while I'm going and clearing up recording space for the podcast. Matthew, great to talk about your girl and my girls. And thank you for filling the airtime while I was deleting old recordings. When you record 32 different podcasts, apparently your storage gets filled up really quickly. Yeah, yeah, I'm impressed with that. I also know as a fellow podcaster, how difficult booking can be in the middle of the summer. Not exactly always easy to get a hold of everybody. But yeah, always happy to talk

Greyhounds. And of course, always happy to talk Minnesota Vikings football with him. Minnesota Vikings, I will say this. They're one of those things. I just talked to Aaron Nagler of Cheesehead TV about the Packers. And I mentioned with the Packers that in my life, they've never been boring. I don't think the Vikings have ever been boring in my life either. They've either been, there's been great years. There's been disastrous years. Boring is never part of it for the Minnesota Vikings. And, you know, last year, they win 13 games, 14 games. And all year long, the analytics bros on Twitter are saying this is the worst undefeated team ever, the worst one lost team, whatever, worst three lost team. And Vikings fans did not

necessarily take kindly to that as one you would expect they didn't. And then the playoffs come around. And they get stomped by the giants. And the question is now, what is the overall vibe of the Viking fan base heading into 2023 after kind of getting punched in the mouth at the end of last season. Is there optimism? Is there negativity or a little bit of both? Yeah, it's interesting because

you know, I think that if you use Twitter as your gauge, you probably would see people getting pretty upset with, well, just about anything in this life, right? But of course, with the analytics people who were putting out those numbers. But I also think just from my interactions with

Vikings fans, the median fan believed that it wasn't really for real. I mean, that most people thought that it was a wild ride and it was super fun and it was a crazy season, but that they were not a legitimate Super Bowl contender and that they were not on the same level as Philadelphia or San Francisco. And I think that the most common opinion probably was that had they beat the New York Giants in round one, that they were going to go to San Francisco for their funeral essentially and the season was going to end there because, you know, when a team has, has as many flaws as they had last year, particularly their defense, but also the offense.

And when you look at it and it says they were top 10 in points, that's a little bit misleading because they played in all these games where they were in or extra points at the end of games, having to come back from down 30 points to the Indianapolis Colts in a game that they probably should have just, you know, won easily and then been kneeling out at the end of the game. So there was a little bit of inflated numbers from them last year. I think they were much more of an average team, what their win. differential or their point differential came out as was much more of who they were on a sort of play to play down to down basis. They played an incredible amount of backup quarterbacks.

Everything kind of came to fruition. But, you know, the thing that is impressed me this off season is that their general manager, Quasi da Fulmenza, did not treat this off season as if they were a 13 win team trying to do it again. He treated them like they were an average team who had failed again under, you know, the Kirk Cousins era. and that needed a rebuild and needed a reset of a lot of parts of their roster that had gotten old. You know, after they went to the NFC championship in 2017, there was a lot of sort of, I would call it, desperate flailing to try to get back. A lot of like, oh, I guess, you know, we just need one more piece. We're just going to sign, you know, Michael Pierce or Delvin Tomlinson, and they'll patch this thing together.

And, you know, it didn't really work. And so they get this exciting, super fun kind of standalone season. and then rip a lot of this thing apart. So I think there's actually some excitement, not for their Super Bowl chances, because I don't believe that any Viking fan right now thinks that they are a legitimate Super Bowl contender. It would have to be another just feat of pure magic.

It'd have to be some Trent Dilfer or Joe Flacco stuff that would have to happen in the playoffs or whatever. But there's so many new players that are going to be taking over roles and so many questions about this. team about young players and about the future and what they're going to do in the future at quarterback, that I think that excited wouldn't be the right word. I think it's like intrigued would be the fan base rather than thinking, oh, this is our year for sure. It's more of like, can this guy play? Can that guy play? I know for me going into training camp, there are more

battles for positions and more questions that I have than I think I've ever had covering this team and I've been doing it since 2016. Let's take a look at the one position where there's not a battle. Kirk Cousins is in the final year of his contract. He's playing for his job. I think most in the NFL community and certainly most Viking fans have come to the conclusion that what you see is what you get right now. But it's always interesting from my perspective, from a fantasy perspective, because I have to block that out because statistically he has been a really good quarterback

since he signed with Minnesota. but what are you expecting from Cousins this year? What is the team saying about Cousins and his outlook? Can he potentially earn more years in purple and gold? Yeah, that's something that I've been thinking about a lot. I mean, it's not entirely off the table that they could work out a contract extension at some point, although going into or at the end of minicamp, Kirk Cousins more or less declared that he wasn't talking about contract anymore.

and said, you know, hey, we'll talk about that next March, which, again, is not a guarantee that doesn't preclude his agent for going to the Vikings. But my understanding of this situation is that there was just kind of an impasse there, that the Vikings did not want to commit for too long and that Kirk Cousins wanted sort of a, I'm a Viking for the rest of my career type of contract. And they just couldn't come to any type of agreement. And it leaves us very much in limbo. And I think that the answer to your question is probably when you consider, her, Kirk Cousins age. He's not just one of the oldest quarterbacks in the league. He's one of the oldest players in the entire NFL. And I was going back through this just the other day, because, you know, why not? And looking at quarterbacks age 35 or older, who won at least 10 games in a season. And the list is all, you know, Drew Brees, Aaron Rogers and whatever. But

it's hard to find any non-elite quarterbacks. And I think we would agree that Kirk Cousins is a very, very, very good quarterback, but he is not an Aaron Rogers. He's not a Drew Breeze. He's not a Ben Rothlisberger. And those are the guys who have generally had those great seasons into their later 30s. The, you know, sort of Jay Cutlers and Joe Flackos of the world have often dropped off toward the end. So the Vikings have to factor that in when they're deciding whether to sign him to, you know, a long-term contract extension or not, they have to say, well, you know, if he's not going to be elites for, or, well, it's not elite now, but if he's not even going to be at his level where he's been. And, and when the, the first.

funny thing about last year is that he gets eight fourth quarter comebacks. Some of them were, you know, the bills fumbling or, you know, a guy making a 61 yard field goal or whatever, but every other metric would suggest that he wasn't the same quarterback last year, except for they got the wins, which is the irony of Kirk Cousins, because he's always been criticized for not getting the wins. I think that the bar would have to be extremely high. They would have to probably go to the NFC championship for him to get an extension and he would have to be great and he would have to be continue with his health. Otherwise, I think that based on everything else they've done, this will probably be the last year and then they draft someone or they, you know,

try to woo another quarterback or trade for a disgruntled quarterback or something like that. So Cueffi Adolpho Mensa probably subscribes to the notion that the running back position is not necessarily valuable in today's game. One of the moves that they made this year, which is certainly the most impactful move they made from a fantasy perspective was releasing the incredibly productive Delvin Cook, who was still productive last year. What was their rationale in doing that now? And what is their level of confidence that Alexander Madison can essentially ascend to that throne and be a three down back or close to it? Yeah, the Delvin Cook thing is interesting because when you look at just if you just, and I know it's fantasy related, just look at the fantasy numbers, you would come away and say, like, oh, it was a pretty good season for him. But the first half of the season, I would say, was pretty good for him.

And the second half was not at all. His last, I'm sure everybody remembers when they played Buffalo and had that incredible game. That was his last 100-yard game of the season. And it wasn't even snowing in Minnesota yet. And, you know, he's had numerous, numerous injuries. It's the same story as any running back. And I think one thing that was missing last year, even though his top speed, if he broke out,

he was still able to get up to top speed. I think that the burst wasn't quite there. The physicality and his running wasn't quite there. And, you know, his agent has made the argument that, you know, he's got this shoulder surgery and that's going to bring back the physical part of his play. But I think that's a bet the Vikings didn't really want to make. And plus, if you look at the way they've handled the whole roster is anything that's not nailed down through 2024, 2025 has been sent packing more or less. I mean, you know, the Eric Kendricks, the Adam Thielen, the only guy who really doesn't have a, you know,

kind of a guaranteed future that's a major part is Harrison Smith. Everybody else is gone. So it kind of fit thematically with what they did this offseason to refresh this roster and look toward who's going to be here for multiple years. And that might be Alexander Madison. I've always been very impressed with Madison, especially when he's been asked to play the role of Delvin Cook and be a starter. that I think the fantasy people have probably taken note that anytime he's been a starter,

almost every game has been good. His numbers are good. When he gets more carries, I think he does better when he's in a rhythm than just coming off the bench for one series or something like that. There's also the part that they have multiple running backs that they're excited about. I mean, all their running backs have been drafted. So they're all players that they were excited about at some point. Kenai Wang, was drafted by the previous regime,

but he runs a four three and he's one of the best kick returners in the league and has, I think some of the most impressive quickness of any running back that I've, that I've covered. I mean, he is like track star level speed. And I think he was a guy that didn't have a lot of experience in college because he was playing behind David Montgomery and I think also maybe behind Breece Hall a little bit. And so, you know, that's just tough like to get on the field. But he's got potential.

And then Ty Chandler's a guy who really wowed in training camp and preseason. season last year, another guy with potential. And then they draft Wayne McBride this year. So I think what you could see ideally is Madison is getting the vast majority of the work. He's a really good pass blocker. He's a good receiver out of the backfield. But I think what they would love to see is one of those other two guys emerge to kind of combo and to have it to be a little bit of a thunder and lightning because Madison is not the guy who's going to break a 75-yard touchdown. He's more of like, you know, four yards in a cloud of dust. So you mentioned that there's going to be a lot of battles heading into training camp for the Minnesota Vikings.

The thing about this podcast is, you know, I'd like to keep them kind of bite size under 25 minutes. So on this podcast, much like on the Kansas City Cheese podcast I did with Seth Kaiser, there was no reason for me to talk about Patrick Mahomes on that podcast, okay? It's kind of established. There's no reason for us to go back and forth about how great Justin Jefferson is. That's kind of established. But Adam Thielen's gone. Adam Thielen's been a mainstay in Minnesota.

KJ Osbournes had some moments. And then, of course, they drafted Jordan Addison in the first round. You didn't see a whole lot of Addison. He's dealing with an injury. Number one, what is that injury? And is there a legitimate competition for the number two wide receiver role here in training camp? Yeah, you're right about that. He was out for OTAs and mini camp.

I don't know the injury because at this time of year, they don't have to tell us. And of course, they were not volunteering that information aside from just saying that it was more precaution than anything. and generally Kevin O'Connell has a good record of being honest about injuries and timelines. So I think we can trust that Jordan Addison will be good to go for training camp. It does set him back, though. No one's paying attention to football at that time, so they don't really care. But it does, like the install and getting those first reps, I think that matters a little bit. I wouldn't say it matters a lot, but maybe for a rookie it could.

The wide receiver two battle is absolutely legit. This team loves KJ. Osborne. They don't just like KJ. Osborne. they love KJ Osborne. I mean, Kirk Cousins has had great chemistry with him. The last two seasons has heaped praise on Osborne every single time that he's ever asked about him. I know the receivers coach Keenan McArdle. I talked to him for a story in the spring about KJ. Osborne. And he said that even when he was with another team, he wanted his team to draft Osborne when the Vikings did, then came here and made it a point to specifically work with him, try to get him the ball, try to elevate his play.

So they've invested a lot in KJ Osborne, and I think that they are big fans of his. So you kind of go back and forth between all right, it's the first rounder. It's the raw talent. I think Jordan Addison has the potential to be a well above average route runner. He's great to make plays on the ball. He fits in really well to go in the slot, you know, with all the attention going toward Justin Jefferson. But there is a major trust factor when it comes to Kirk Cousins for who gets the football. And, you know, clearly he built a lot of trust with T.J. Hawkinson.

He has, you know, unequivocal trust for Justin Jefferson. And then he has this chemistry already with KJ Osborne. I think it might be a little bit challenging for Jordan Addison to get in there the same way that, you know, you might expect for a first round wide receiver because normally when first round receivers are taken, they kind of got to be the guy, like, or at least the number two. I don't know that he has to be the number two right away. That doesn't mean I don't think he'll be good long term. I think that especially in the early part of the season, Cousins,

is going to lean on the guys that he knows and that know this offense that that is actually very complicated for receivers last year. Even Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson had some struggles early on getting everything locked in with this offense because it asks a ton of wide receiver. So I wouldn't be shocked if there's a bit of a slow start and if Jordan Addison kind of emerges as the season goes on. So T.J. Hawkinson is the guy fantasy players and I think justifiably so are treating as the number two receiver in this offense. He's getting very highly draft. did. When you look back to what Minnesota gave up for T.J. Hawkinson and his production down the stretch, I think it was very obvious that this was a player they coveted. What more do

do you think the Vikings can get out of T.J. Hawkinson, as you mentioned, this is a hard offense to pick up. He picked it up quickly. Is there more potential there for T.J. Hawkinson? Yeah, I mean, that's one of the most impressive things that I've ever seen in football. I mean, he came out the first week after being traded for on, I believe, a Tuesday, or he arrived at the building on a Tuesday, played on a Sunday, played 60 snaps at one of the most difficult positions. I mean, and then had, I think, nine catches or something. I mean, it was just, wow. And he didn't slowed out after that.

It wasn't just kind of like adrenaline thing. The whole season, he became a huge target for Kirk Cousins. And then you add in the playoff game and he had 10 catches on 11 targets. You know, there's just something about him and Kirk Cousins that work together. I think the main part is that Hawkinson is very, very good at finding space in zones. that, you know, Justice Jefferson is double-teamed because they're playing, you know, kind of two deep safeties and things like that, that Hawkinson's going to have some space to work with. And I think he's got a really great natural sense for the game where he could find that space and then create yards after catch.

The ceiling is extremely high. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised at all if he had the second most targets at the tight end position in the entire NFL. I also think that, you know, even though the Vikings' offensive line has been jelling together, that they still have some weaknesses. And when pressure comes, who are you going to look for? That tight end has long been a tight end thing. When things go wrong, look for the tight end. And now that he's got Hawkinson, you know, I believe it's going to be a huge part of it.

I think if you add up all of his targets from Detroit, Minnesota, and then the playoffs, the only person who had more all of last season was Travis Kelsey. And I just would not be shocked if that happens again. He's just a very impressive player. and the one thing you can do with him too is you can move them around. So they got Josh Oliver to be more of the run blocker because that's not really T.J. Hawkinson's game. But I was looking at his usage from last year and 50% of his snaps were not in line at

tight end. They were either outside or they were in the slot. And I even asked T.J. about this in minicamp. And he said that he had worked with Danny Amandola when the two were in Detroit about how to create separation as a slot wide receiver. and of course couldn't be two different more sized guys than Amandola and T.J. Hawkinson, but you can really see where it shows up that he puts a lot of attention to detail in playing in the slot. And I think that plays very favorably in Kevin O'Connell's offense.

So you mentioned that they signed Josh Oliver, this is a question I was actually planning on, because last year they brought in Johnny Munt, who Kevin O'Connell knew from his time with the Rams. This is a big deal for fantasy because do you think that 12 personnel, two tight ends, is going to be kind of their base offense? or is it going to be more the 11 personnel with the three wide receivers? Because that could really dictate the kind of numbers that maybe Jordan Addison could put up as a rookie. Yeah, sure. I think that ideally Kevin O'Connell is going to run probably 75% of 11 personnel and have three receivers on the field. But that can change.

And I think that they wanted more flexibility. I mean, first, in the run game, they wanted to improve their running game. And if you look at EPA, their run game was a type of. I think 27th last year. So it was not really an efficient run game overall. So Josh Oliver certainly helps that. He's also maybe the biggest man I've ever seen as an offensive player that's not alignment. I mean, he's just enormous.

So he's going to help them on that. And I think they also wanted to have kind of a counterpunch. So they weren't just playing 11 personnel all the time, but maybe be more effective with two tight ends and a fullback on the field. We kind of have that like, hey, we could go big and, you know, run play action out of this with Justin Jefferson is the only receiver on the field or something like that. But I think also it's if Jordan Addison isn't really ready to be great right away, we've got another thing we can do by, you know, putting T.J. Hawkinson essentially at wide receiver and having Josh Oliver play tight end, that that personnel package can

work for us. So I think that it's also about having a little more flexibility and a little more answers on offense to bring him in because he also can catch the ball. He was a receiving tight end in college. You got a handful of catches last year for the Raven. So he's not just a big body. But I think that they were looking for somebody who makes them a little bit more dynamic. I do not believe that in an ideal world, he's catching any more than like 10 passes or he's playing any more than like 20% of snaps. Yeah, they also have a fullback on this roster, C.J. Ham, who's been around for a while. So they do have a lot of potential with different personnel. You mentioned the offensive line and it having problems jelling. And, you know, it's not for

lack of trying in Minnesota if the offensive line struggles because look, I mean, you've got five guys on this offensive line, the projected starters who were either first or second round draft picks. What's been kind of the issue there with the offensive line? It's always the weak link thing. When you look at the tackles, they have two of the best tackles in the NFL. I mean, I would probably argue it's the best tackle combination in the league with Derisaw and Brian O'Neill. But the interior, so you go to their left guard, Ezra Cleveland, he was drafted as a tackle, then he was put at right guard and then he was moved to left guard. So he's never really had much stability there.

And he's a guy that has either great games or really poor games, depending on how the defense plays and who he's playing against. And then last year they overdrafted Ed Ingram at right guard, hoping that he could come right in and fill a need. And he gave up, according to PFF, more sacks than any other guard, or I think he tied for the most ever given up by a guard since PFF has been tracking that information. and because you could see defense is just attacking over and over and over these guards,

knowing that there's inexperience at being a guard for Ezra Cleveland and in the league for Ed Ingram, and he probably wasn't really ready to start. I think these guys are really good run blockers, but when it comes to pass protection, I mean, teams are running stunts and twists, and they're trying to get their best pass rushers against somebody other than O'Neill or Darrisaw, because there's just not a lot of success that anyone ever has against those two guys. So I think that played into it. Garrett Bradbury, their center had a better year.

But if you have one guy who is giving up, you know, 11 sacks over a season and leads the league in pressures. I think they were both in the top five in pressures allowed, Ezra Cleveland and Ed Ingram. And then you have a quarterback who's a statue. And so everybody knows where he's going to be. And this is a thing Mike Zimmer used to do to opposing statute quarterbacks that teams do to the Vikings.

You rush him up the middle. He's not going to run away from you. So, you know, I think that that all plays into it. And how that offensive line performs will make a big difference because if they can at least, you know, take a step forward, they could be a pretty darn dangerous offense. But if they can't, then you're still talking about a lot of negative plays because of the pass rush. Kirk Cousins takes a ton of sacks, usually historically throughout his career. He has taken a lot of sacks. And that just kills drives.

And that's why, you know, they will finish with certain good numbers, but they'll only score on like, you know, 40% of the. their drives or something like that and just never quite be over the top to be an elite offense. I know Ed Donatelle, the former defensive coordinator with the Vikings, normally his last name is preceded by a four-letter word to Vikings fans. In the fantasy and betting industry, we loved it because the Vikings were a dead nuts over team. And you would get both the Vikings and their opponents would benefit from that from a fantasy perspective. Do you expect the Brian Flores led defense now to be stylistically different. Do you expect it to be a bunch of better defense this year? I think that coordinator

change might be the one thing Viking fans are most excited about. Yeah, wildly different stylistically. Ed Donatel pretty much lined him up the same way and just played coverage all the time and got destroyed over and over and over again. And the reason he doesn't have a job anymore is because never really changed that. It was shocking. I mean, coming from the Mike Zimmer era where even though there were some defenses that struggled toward the end of his time. He was going to push every button. He was going to try every blitz. He was not going to go down without a fight.

But Ed Donatelle certainly did. It went down without a fight. And you saw that in the Giants game and the playoffs where they just could not get a stop. And there's been an overhaul of moving out the old and some that they didn't want. I think they wanted to keep Delvin Tomlinson and bringing in pretty much all young players. I mean, you have, uh, Byron Murphy's got some experience. they brought him in as a free agent, but totally unproven corners. Otherwise, unproven at the safety position where there's a real legitimate battle there.

You have an unproven starting linebacker and Brian Osamoa. I mean, there's just a lot going on here. And then there's some swings, you know, a player like Marcus Davenport who struggled last year, but has had a nine-sack season in the past. But it's a bit of a mix mash of personnel. And there's only so many blitzes you can dial up to save, you know, if you can't cover anybody. But the thing is that with young corners, sometimes you just don't know. Like they really are high on their fourth round corner from last year,

Caleb Evans. And if he steps into that role and is good, then they could be better than they were last year. The bar is not particularly high. But I also think that DeNeil Hunter is a swing man for this as well, because he held out of mini camp, presumably will not show up a training camp without a contract. And if they trade him away, you are talking about Marcus Davenport and almost nobody else. I mean, they brought in Dean Lowry.

They have mostly run stuffing defensive tackles. They would have just have no pass rush at all. They might not even get 30 sacks in a season if they don't have Danielle Hunter and which is just going to make it impossible to have a great defense. So what I'm saying is when it comes to what you had last year, I would count on that again. And when you look at their schedule too, they're playing a lot of really good quarterbacks. And I think there's going to be a lot of shootouts in the 20, 23 season. Really quick, Matthew, before we let you go, I've been wrapping up all. these individual podcast by asking my guest, if there is one player on the Vikings roster who you

wouldn't be totally shocked, they made maybe a bigger fantasy contribution than maybe the general public expects. Who would be that player? Yeah, I think there's two nominations for that. Kenai Wongwu is number one because if you look at his past, he basically has not played on offense at all, but opportunity is there. And I mean, if Alexander Madison were to get banged up, it might be Wong Wu who starts or Tai Chandler. That's hard. The real, deeper in the weeds one would be Jalen Naylor. If there's any injury at wide receiver at all, or if Jordan Addison struggles,

Jalen Naylor had a really good spring. And the times that he got in the game last year, he actually made some plays. It was mostly garbage time. But, I mean, even then, like, you're still making plays against NFL cornerbacks. So he's fast and has, you know, potential to be a deep receiver.

So there's like a tiny bit of Jalen Naylor intrigue. And if there's any injury right now, he's the next man up. So those are the two guys. guys, I would just maybe keep an eye on that waiver wire for him. So his name is Matthew Collar. He covers the Vikings for Purple Insider and is the published author of Football is a numbers game, which is the history of pro football focus.

I highly recommend you check that out. At Matthew Collar on Twitter, Matthew, thank you so much for joining me on the franchise focus podcast. It's been great talking to you. Yeah, thanks for having me, Joe. Appreciate it. And we'll continue our journey around the NFC moving forward here on the franchise focus podcast.

I'll see you all later. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform. And come join the roster at FantasyPoint.com.