Green Light with Chris Long - Minnesota Viking Brian O’Neill Talks Kyler Murray & JJ McCarthy + Chris Debates NFL vs NBA

Episode Date: May 7, 2026

A great episode with Chris and Beau featuring an appearance from Minnesota Viking Brian O'Neill. Beau returns from Italy and catches up with Chris, talks about his travel to Lake Como, double dating with Paddy Pimblett and using European bidets. Chris then dives into the annual debate between NBA and NFL stars and which sports' athletes would fair better in the other sport. We end with Beau interviewing Brian O'Neill from the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, covering Brian's time at University of Pittsburgh with Aaron Donald, his welcome to the NFL moment, playing with Kyler Murray and JJ McCarthy, Carson Wentz and playing for Kevin O'Connell. (00:00:00) - Intro (00:00:45) - Beau's Travels to Italy and Pittsburgh (00:23:55) - NBA vs NFL Stars (00:34:05) - Brian O'Neill on the Minnesota Vikings, Kyler Murray & JJ McCarthy, Kevin O'Connell's coaching abilities and Aaron Donald college stories Have some interesting takes, some codebreaks or just want to talk to the Green Light Crew? We want to hear from you. Call into the Green Light Hotline presented by Zone Nicotine and give us your hottest takes, your biggest gripes and general thoughts. Day and night, this hotline is open: ‪[phone]‬ With the return of the Layup Line, make sure to check out the playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1olmCMKGMEyWwOKaT1Aah3?si=YP1-ffQ3T_yUDRnJRhDtOw Check out Green Light's ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where you can catch all the latest GL action: Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the NFL moment. Probably about every day for the first nine weeks. Everything anyone ever did was compared to Aaron Donald. Right? Like, if you're in the weight room, well, you know, the strongest kind of the team wasn't touching anything that he was touching. Yeah. The best player on the field, they didn't have to take his helmet away from him to practice.

Like, when they were going good on good, like all the coaches were like, we couldn't run plates. Yeah. Like, we had to take him out of practice and he wouldn't come out of practice. What's more satisfying as an O-Liman, if you have a one-on-one, you jump set a guy and you stick him or like a pancake? I feel like if you jump on and stick them. At the end of the day, you're paid to strap it down in pass protection, right?

That's where you're either really good or your average is impasse protection, right? Like, that's, like, if you can stick a guy and, like, win that match up, I think that's pretty sick. Welcome home, Bo. Thank you, Chris. Do I look Italian? No, you look white as ever. I feel Italian. Do you?

How was it? Tell me more. Well, no, no, no, I want to lay this show out. Tell me more, me more. First, I want to lay the show out. Bo's joining us for the open. We have a, we have a, this is a Bo-dominated podcast. Bo's got an interview for us.

It's about fucking time, Chris. We're running Brian O'Neill. I reclaim my time. What, um, that's what they say on C-SPAN. Hey, Brian O'Neill today. And then we got another interview too as well. We're going to see that eventually? Yeah, next week.

Cliff Averill. Yep. The great Cliff Averill. Chris and Bo, or sorry, Bo and Brian recorded this from the draft in Pittsburgh. Incredible interview, had a blast. There was a James Connor story. Oh, yeah. That will make your hair stand up.

My hair? My hair kind of lays down, bro. I don't really stand up much. It'll make your arms tingle. Maybe get a little choked up in the throat a little bit. Wow. Got hair standing up and choking. and this is weird yeah i'm expecting some sort of prime time podcasting award for that one that was good

it was good content okay so let's talk about italy you were just in italy for how long shit man i was over there for nine nine days what's it what's it like like like what's the first thing you notice culturally dude actually it's funny you say that the first one of the first things i notice is like you know how you know when you're in public in the u.s everyone's scrolling on their phones doom scrolling and you feel like everyone's on face time in public there's not much of that in italy and i especially notice noticed it with the kids man the kids are just being kids being weird little fuckers you know yeah not like there's no such thing as ipad kids there's there's a lot of freedom to be a child in italy and and i explored that freedom chris i'm not going to lie to you

i was a big man baby you're a man baby yeah but i went right from So I went, I had a nice little stretch. I was in Minnesota, flew from Minnesota to Pitt. We did those interviews that we talked about. We got some great draft content, you know, talk to the dudes in the red carpet. Did some thrifting with Cowboy Reed, which is a good time. But just enjoyed the great American city of Pittsburgh. Then interviewed Brian and Cliff, watched the draft, hung out with, you know,

B. Nelly, our own Brian. And then flew from, you know, the lovely city of Pittsburgh to the lovely city of Milan. Oh, there's directs from Pittsburgh to Milan? No, I had to fly to a lovely city of New York City. I was going to say, that's got to be the most diametrically opposed cities. Yeah. Yeah, everyone's like, where'd you come from?

Like, where were you at before this? And I was like, well, I was in Pittsburgh, the Italy of the, the Rust Belt. The Italy of the Rust Belt. That's what they call it. Actually, I think that's Toledo. Tell me. That's Flint. Tell me about, okay.

So I try to. Because you're talking about Italy. Tell me about the draft. I got to, you got to ease my way into it. You know, for those who are curious, Chris was smoking a little cigarette before we started this show. I think I smoked somewhere between police out here. 90 and 250 cigarettes in the spain of nine days. 90 and 250? Yeah, they got these little tobaccarias where you're walking around and you can just buy tobacco. and it feels a lot more elevated in Italy, just like everything else.

Are they like smoking like a cleaner cigarette, like an American spirit? Yeah, well, you think that. Yeah, you're back out. You're on the American spirits now. Yeah, I'm part of the tribe, white man. Welcome to single tear going down my eye to hear that. But they do feel cleaner until you look at the packaging and there's just someone's face rotting off on it.

But to me, I think that heightens the danger of it makes me feel like, a little bit more of a bad boy. So I kind of like that component of European cigarettes. Did you smoke inside, Bo? I did not smoke inside because I'm classy and I didn't want these. Actually, I did smoke inside. Oh, oh, it's illegal in Italy. Is it illegal? Smoking is banned in all public spaces. You're a bad boy, Bo. You are a certified bad boy. Don't tell the EU, okay. I don't want the European Union coming after my ass. I just got out. I want to be welcome back in.

But let me actually give you some color on this trip. So my lovely girlfriend, Maddie, her future brother-in-law, works for the Como football team. And he's been telling me about how great an experience it is. And so we're kind of visiting, you know, visiting her family, but then also wanted to really check this out. And they had a game against Napoli on Saturday. And the team set up just an unbelievable kind of game day experience. You know how it is, Chris. We've been to so many fucking sporting events.

so many American football games. Yeah. But this was like, dude, it was probably the most beautiful stadium I've ever been at. It was like we're sitting there like right at center pitch. You know, I'm kind of like a, I'm a big soccer guy now. It was actually my first, first match. But like in the backdrop is the mountains. You know, you feel like you can see into Switzerland. And then there's Lake Como glistening in the background.

And like, you know, I'm trying to sneak cigarettes during the game and shit like that. but it was it was uh it was an awesome experience man um they're they're kind of creating a real like lifestyle thing we're there that's on lake como yes dude it's literally right it's like right on the lake oh that's incredible how was the okay first off that's where george cluny hangs out oh yeah yeah cluny yeah that's my guy secondly how was the quality of the football football is good the game was no-nill but um so i was no nil nil i was getting a lot of it's kind of a well you mean to tell me it was zero zero zero it ended zero to zero yeah so that's something that i wasn't quite familiar with that's the lead dude wait a second how does that happen were

they were they in the red zone where people having trouble in the red zone kicking game so a lot you know a lot of great chances for Como and the boys just couldn't capitalize but this is what I learned because I was like you know I'm ignorant as fuck and I don't like I'm a sports podcaster but I literally don't know shit about soccer and I'm like with these hardcore fans and I was trying to not let my ignorance show I don't think I did a very good job but I did learn a lot and essentially like Napoli is I think second in the division and so they're almost playing for a tie So they're playing like super conservative. And so yeah, I mean, it ended nil-nil, like I was saying.

I guess in the regular season, that's what happens there. If it was the playoffs, they'd just play until they could settle it. Yes. But the game itself was actually like kind of fucking sick, dude. I was, you know how it is? It's American football players. We shit on, you know, European football at times and talk about how they go down with injuries and stuff. some of these dudes one guy went to go you know take a header like towards the i don't know the

sideline and was like flying through the air for like 10 yards and just fucking smoked his head and the side of the bench and it was like so loud and i was like oh my god he's fucking dead like they're going to bring out the cart and he popped right up and i was like that's crazy because like earlier the game somebody like got kicked in the shins a little bit and was down for 20 minutes so it was an interesting thing man like i learned a lot uh i was very impressed with how much like just i don't know like i kind of was honing in on one player and me like this motherfucker's probably ran like a full marathon here no question these guys can run for days especially in that italian air yes exactly how did the italian air smell dude was like cigarettes

around me no i'm i'm just it was uh it was i mean dude it was beautiful man the whole the lake home like the whole area is is phenomenal and then the uh i mean the club has been doing a really good job of trying to promote, you know, an elevated lifestyle. And they've been bringing in a lot of people and kind of showing off. They have a, like, a members only club that's right across from the stadium. That's, like, beautiful Italian, you know, like antique furniture. And they're really kind of leaning into that Como vibe. And so that's why they brought in, you know, me, because I'm elevated like that. Is that Maddie's brother in a picture? I think that's Patty Pimble. That's Patty, right? Yeah.

Yeah. So that's kind of what I was getting that. So they, oh, dude, we were hanging out. It was great. Dude, when I saw the picture, I was like, yo, your, your girl's brother looks just like the UFC guy. Yeah. That's my top mate, lad. Wait, hold on a second. That's him? Yeah. So are you double dating with the guy? Like, what's going on here? Yeah, we did go on a double date. It was sick on Como. So they brought him in for the, he's got an association with the team. He was there. It was like him. uh, Damien. Yeah, there we are. Oh, that's sick. Yeah, here I was looking at a zoom in on

Maddie. She's love. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Siked. So it is Patty. Yeah. So the team is, you know, they, they, they have a lot of, uh, I don't know, people that that he's like a, the fucking biggest, uh, soccer fan ever, man. Like, he was really explaining a lot of it to me because again, I don't know fucking jack shit. and but he didn't he knew the president of the team previously and so he came in and uh ended up hanging out with him a lot man we went out one night and like he i was like dude what do you drank patty was expecting to be like whiskey or like i don't know she's from liverpool so i was expecting something like nuts and he's like pineapple and rum white rum and pineapple all he

drinks oh that's wild that's wild he's calling it the patty special dude no he woke up and was like his whoop score from the next day because i was like asking him because i felt like death i'd like 17 of those things and i was like how do you feel brother and he you know it's kind of hard he's i can't even recreate his accent because it's so scouts don't try no i'm not gonna try i don't want to whip my ass but uh probably show me his whoop score yeah i hope how how much does he weigh i think he was like 180ish he's got a fight coming up in july so So he says like once he gets done with this trip, he's absolutely locking the fuck in.

The internet says 155, 156. That's what he fights at, yeah. We covered a lot of times. We hung out for like three days straight and it was fucking sweet. But anyway, we woke up the next day. And his whoop score the following day after we went out was literally better than any whoop score I'd had in my entire life. I was just like, God damn it.

He was like trying to look at my stats. And I wasn't showing him because I was like, dude, It's fucking embarrassing. My HRV is like literally five. And his was 75. And that was better than I'd had in five years. I took my wearable tech off, dude. I think it can mind fuck you.

Yeah, you wake up and it says you don't, you didn't get enough sleep. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. You walk around all day like I'm tired. I don't know. I took my aura ring off. I haven't put it on in two weeks. It's good.

That's the Chip Kelly effect, dude. That's what we had with Chip when I was a rookie. what he used to make you come in and do your HRV every morning we used to do HRV and a questioner every day yeah when you're a seventh round pick rookie you kind of no we didn't do that until I was older so yeah I had the latitude to do it but yeah I'm not going to come in and I at that point didn't really understand HRV still don't well talk to Patty because he understands it he's got it fucking dialed in man so you We're in Milan. You were in Lake Como. Did you go anywhere else?

Dude, I went to Bologna, which is, you know, it's south of Como. It's like a, we took a high-speed train there. But that's the, uh, the origin of Bolognais. And it was fucking great, dude. I ate. We stopped at like five or six Osterias. And I think I ate probably 30 pasta dishes that day. Golly, boy. credible day for man yeah hope you had a bidet oh i had a bidet dude there's bidets in every fucking toilet really yeah so you're yeah so never mind we'll stick to italy no no no no no no you could go ahead we're talking bidets this stranger bidet stranger badees that's where i draw so european stranger bade's got to draw the line that's that's a good point like not sprayed somebody else's but hole got to draw the line there some people are into that usually got to pay money for that in the state yeah you had a lot of pasta you hung out with patty

you watch some football you know i'm a lake guy like you're a river guy i'm a lake guy i'm a lot of lake facts about lake como and it's like one of the deepest lakes in all of europe which is impressive it's like i don't i got to look this shit up because isn't thousands 1,345 to 1 000 see i was going to say meters because i'm a like i'm a like a How many meters? All right. How many meters? Upwards of 400 meters.

Yeah. Nice job. You're basically European. Yeah, you can see the mountains on either side of that bad boy. It's not too surprising. Looking up Flathead Lake there. Yeah, I want to see it. Yeah.

Yeah, it's nothing of very the Lake Como. And the people are just sophisticated. Well, I learned that over at the garden, the garden bar with you. Garden bar, brother. Shout out to Flathead. yeah um remember that guy got in a fight were you there with me when the guy got in a fight these two guys were fighting in in the garden bar like full on fist fight and they just break the fight up and the guys go back to drinking like nobody gets kicked out of the bar that's some 80s

dude no it's still the 80s in montana that's awesome yeah no we were there when everyone was trying to arm wrestle us oh that's yeah and then the dude was like yeah i want to arm wrestle you guys. We're like, uh, no, we're good, man. We're chilling. And then so we came. Yeah, by week. We just got down to arm wrestling each other. We just got done. I'm so sorry. The guy was like, well, I actually broke someone's arm last week arm wrestling at this bar. And we're like, okay, we still don't want to arm wrestling. Definitely. I think at this point, we're definitely going to pass. This is a rain check. Now I'm just passing. Yeah. I am. Barham still hurts from fucking arm wrestling that guy in Tuscalo. Holy shit. I'd like to shake his hand.

he was a big strong guy um all right so how long were you there in total a week i was there for eight days eight days nine days okay you getting over the jet lag um i'm working on it man you know i'm a little i'm a little jet lagged i'm not going to lie to you that's what happens um i'm gonna do but i missed your event chris the event was good how's fax's golf game not great yeah not great he had a shot there is mine neither is mine not good um pretty terrible yeah we're same as last year but you might play next year i've said that for five years running the only the only time i ever talked to the the pro at boreshead is at the fucking event and i'm like i think i'm gonna get clubs this year he called me

out on it this year he's like you said the five times dude it's just not gonna happen dude and then people are like yeah you just need a couple lessons if clubs would be like just arrive at my door perfectly fit for me i'm i'm in but i'm not going down there and going through the whole thing dude i'm not going through that whole thing sounds stressful it's too stressful plus you got all those kids you don't have time for golf i barely have time for anything nanny's on vacation right now she's got the nerve to have a honeymoon is she in italy uh no i can't tell you words i don't want to docs my nannies honeymoon location but I will tell you it's like a dark cloud is over the house when I found out she's

going on honeymoon I almost made her her fiancee I love the guy but I almost made him disappear like an audacity like a ski mask on he's like what are you doing here Chris how'd you know it was me it's just ski mask with all your tattoos and the audacity of him yeah fucking marry my nanny dude Yeah. He's got to like that. He's got to like ask me permission. Yeah.

Dude, that, hey, you know, not that you're, I know you're just going on vacation with your girlfriend and everything. It's not the next logical step is in marriage or anything. But, you know, you need to brush up on the, hey. Let me just say this, Chris. Her mom was there too. So it sounds like we are skipping a jump away. So we need to. to be asking permission.

I had to meet my father-in-law to train station in Philly to ask him permission at a train station, the main one. It was good. 30th Street? 30th, that one. Oh. Yeah, just huge crowded train station.

Did you train up from here? No, I happened to be there. I was like, man, yeah, let's get together for like, you know. Good question. Yeah. I just got a coffee. Coffee. I would think about that every Sunday morning in the fall.

Yeah. Is that a good place to ask for permission? I mean, they're worst places in Philly. Yeah, it was the worst place to ask for permission. Dejave. I feel like the love statue would be probably

Yeah. Yeah. Whatever bar it was, they wouldn't let us in when we were with Connor. He'd be like, you know, I was going to say yes, but this is the dumbest fucking place

you could ask me to meet. And I'm questioning your decision-making, dude. Where's the place where you meet him in Kensington? Yeah. I was going to say anywhere in West Philly. No, but that's cool. Yeah, it's totally fucked up. Nanny's going to leave and then, you know, things fall apart at that point.

So the draft, anything, anything else before we get into this Brian O'Neill conversation? I had a fucking terrible moment on the red carpet where I was getting frame-mogged by Caden Proctor. And then I tried to ask him about it because I was feeling a little insecure because he's fucking massive. And I felt like a little boy. And he was standing there with his mom. And I was like, I'm 30 years old. Can you explain me what frame-mogging is? And he was like, what?

And I was like, frame-mogging? No. Like, you're on TikTok. You know what I'm talking about? And he's like, oh, is that when you're better looking than somebody? And I was like, I was really offended. What is it? It's when you're like standing next to somebody and you're like out angling them and you look way bigger than them.

Oh, got it. Got it. Okay. So he goes, he was looking, he was behind me looking way bigger than me. And, you know, I didn't really like the X. I'm insecure like I was saying. And then he goes, clearly. Yeah, is that when you look way bigger than somebody or way better looking than somebody?

I was like, no, dude, it's when you look way bigger than them. And you're a big motherfucker. And his mom was standing right next to him. I was like, I'm so sorry. It's just like an over five conversation there. Also the fact that he thought he was better than looking than you for sure. Yeah, he's not though. I didn't think.

He's not. I mean, maybe after he got that bag, but. Uh, that moment. Not pre-draft. Who is the rookie you like the most meeting? Um, shit, man. I mean, there were so many of them. I thought he had a good conversation.

with that. You and Ty Simpson seemed like you have chemistry. I was, that was, he's an easy guy to talk to. I mean, you only get like three minutes with these dudes in the red carpet before they kind of shuttle him along. Three minutes with Ty Simpson. Is he a franchise quarterback? Does he have the intangibles? Yes.

Okay. Yes, because he, Bo asked him, hey, what was your favorite play from college? He described play. And then before Beau could ask the next question, Ty Simpson said, do you want the play call? And Bo's like, yeah. Oh, he's Sean McVadju. I saw that. Yes, ripped. Their match made in heaven.

They're match made in heaven. Actually, Chris, you know who I was really impressed with was Sunny Stiles? He was, like, so calm and put together and just seemed very comfortable. Like, a lot of the rookies, you know, like, there's just a lot of shit going on. It's obviously a huge day. There's family around them. There's different people, you know, that work for the NFL and, and, you know, whatever. Kind of moving in and out.

They're doing different interviews. And he was, like, so calm, cool, and collected and seemed so poised. and I was like, this guy, like, knows what the fuck he's about and is very, just had this, like, natural confidence that I liked a lot. He seemed like a really good dude. I had a good interview with Cliff, too. Can we talk about that or are we going to do a different open for that? I don't know. That guy's the fucking man.

Cliff Averill's the man. He is the literal dude. One of my favorite players. You see him twice a year. I mean, he was, I mean, it's. It's kind of interesting, right? Because you see these guys on tape. I've never spoken to him before.

Back in my mind, I'm like, I'm not really sure, you know, what kind of chemistry I'm going to have with this guy. Like, is he going to be easy to talk to? It's a big 10 guy. Easiest. Exactly. The easiest fucking dude to talk to in the world. From T shots to game winning goals and buzzer beating baskets,

make every moment unforgettable with BetMGM. BetMGM gives you access to second chance promos, odds boosts tokens, same game parlayes. and so much more. Check back every day for new promos and offers to take advantage of. And if you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, use Bonus Code Greenlight and you'll get up to a $1,500 new player offer on your first wager, BetMGM, make it legendary. I am so glad this thing got rekindled. Have you seen this video, Bo? I have not, but I'm assuming that he's saying that he'd be able to fucking just play the back. Just watch. Just watch. They're back.

That is dumb on a galactically huge level. So he's tripping? Ellie, he ain't got no feet. NFL players can't do what Miles Gary do. How about that? The fuck is he talking about? You know what I could do? I bet you I could kick a field goal if you'd give me two years to work on it.

I could kick one right now. I need it. I could go line up as a defensive tackle right now. I guarantee you that. Well, you're going to get mushed. Boy, you got me messed up. Ha! Right in the throat.

our club is far more exclusive if you are not a part of that while i will respect your opinion even if it's wrong just be careful what you're saying fuck that i'm tired of being nice oh god dude this is so funny now i don't know what what did uh the dude say pha ho yeah what if brano yeah uh he tweeted and said see here's the thing about the nbaa uh i could give you 50 to 100 guys from the nflb who could do what you could do what you what the Thompson twins or Lou Dort do on a nightly basis. That's crazy. You can't show me one guy from the NBA who could do what Miles Garrett does on a weekly

basis. Okay. I agree with, but here's the thing. Both camps are just wrong. Now, we went through this last year, and I don't even remember what my finer points were of the argument. And I actually think RJ DM me about it. I think it'd be fun to have RJ on.

I tried to get him on the show. He wouldn't come on. Not wouldn't come on, just couldn't. We couldn't make a work. because there was this whole, I think Austin Rivers started this thing about how many basketball players could go play in the NBA.

I maintain that there are some that could if you went back and committed them to football, but using arguments like Jaylen Suggs for me because it was like a four-star or something doesn't really compute because like how many four-stars going to go to the NFL anyways, four-star or five-star high school quarterbacks. And you could talk about Antonio Gates and all that stuff,

bottom line is this i i agree that there are probably more basketball players that could play in the nfl than nfl players could play in the NBA it's just more of a skill centric game and you got to be fucking tall which i don't think the NBA players realize works against you playing a lot of positions in the nfl okay let me boil it down here i said everything i just said richard jefferson kendrick perkins and i think channing fry understands this portion but the other two might not. There are guys in the NBA who are such freakish athletes

that they could probably play in the NFL, like hypothetically, if they went back and trained differently and got used to the contact and the collisions, which I'm not going to call you guys pussies or anything because you guys are tough in your own way. But none of those guys are in that room.

And by the way, I really like that pod. Richard Jefferson could not play in the NFL. Kendrick Perkins could not play in the NFL. And I think Channing Fry knows, he couldn't, which is why he's cutting up and having fun in that segment. But the only thing I don't like is when guys put a little bit extra dip on the chip and they like kind of puffed their chests out about it, unless you're one of the guys that could cross over and play in the NFL, you're just cheerleading.

You're just saying, hey, we have some amazing athletes. I'm not one of them, but we have some. You know, like to me, I don't have a dog in the fight. I kind of look at this as a sports fan. I think it's a really interesting debate, but like, unless it's like LeBron James or like one of these guys that probably has the body that could, I don't even know that Shaq could. You might be too tall. Unless you're one of the guys that could make the jump, I just wouldn't be like, we're, we're better than you. Like those guys are, but not you guys.

You know what I'm saying? That's like me co-signing Miles Garrett and being like, me and Miles Garrett, no, Richard. no Channing, no Kendrick. We get it, M.E.A. You've got LeBron James, the greatest half. We get it. You've got like three to five percent of your league, maybe two and a half to four percent of your league. I don't know what that adds up to. Could maybe make the jump, but you're in the 96 percent. So why are you making the argument? That's my only point. There is no basketball player that can play on the interior of the offensive or defensive line.

You know, Kendrick Perkins can play de-tackle right now. I'd like to see that. Kendrick Perkins would be riding public transportation to the opposite hash, dude. He'd have Zach Martin and one of his henchmen just fucking like carrying him off the field like Vince Lombardi. There's a reason there's not six foot nine defensive tackles in the NFL. I think there are some basketball players that I could train to be edges. But again, we go back to this whole this conversation and I say this because it's very timely. O'R. Bernard is getting ready to try out for the Eagles.

and actually we just rolled some tape of him the other day at minicamp. And he looks like if I didn't know that he had Miles Garrett's RAS score, I'd be like, well, that guy's not making the team, just watching him move. But it is implied that that is a project. So the point is, no, it's just like he hasn't played the sport before. He looks like he's tiptoeing around. He doesn't know what he's doing yet, which is totally expected. And I'm pulling for this kid.

I think it's cool that how he's taking a shot at him. But my point to other guys with his body type that are in the NBA and saying, hey, we could do it. Well, let's see if UR. Bernard could do it because his R.A.S. score is literally Miles Garrett. And if he can't, then I want any guy talking about like it being a foregone conclusion that he could play a big skill position in the NFL, I want them to take a lap. And then all you have left is really the Damien Lillards of the world who probably could play safety or something like that. then we need to have a conversation based on each guy. And it'll never get settled because they're never going to do it. And I don't blame you for not doing it because you guys are making all this guaranteed money.

And it's awesome. And you guys are super famous. And I'm not claiming we are more famous or better than you guys. But we'll take Christmas and we'll take all those holidays that maybe if you played in the NFL, people would watch you play on Christmas. This is my question, Chris. would you rather be an elite football player yeah or an elite basketball player well probably elite elite guitarist for pink floyd or something like that like above all else i probably want to i told my son and realistically i was playing morning due 69 west uh fillmore in the car on the way home from

baseball last time my kids are like man this is it's a long ass song and i'm like uh you're like uh you You know, if I had any skill, I'd want to be a guitarist, and it's true. But down the line, a little is basketball because you don't have to worry about brain damage or the fact, you know, like, I don't know how good it would feel to be Richard Jefferson. You probably feel great, dude. You played like a million years in the NBA. Got a ton of money, but your body doesn't hurt like this. Like, you know.

So, yeah, I would probably do basketball before football, but would I rather be Richard Jefferson or Ed Reed? I'd rather be Ed Reed. Oh, yeah. I'd rather be Troy Paul Amalu, dude. Troy Palomalu. Fuck yeah. Troy Palamalu or any of those guys, I'd rather be Troy Paul Amalu.

Now, if you're telling me I could be LeBron James. O'Brien James. I'm going to be LeBron James. Does that make sense, though? There's something about it, though, like no problem conceding that they are better, more rare athletes because of the height thing for sure. And I have no problem conceding

that more of them could play in the NFL. but I just and I like their podcast a lot but it kind of felt like a victory lap and I'm like but y'all can't you know what I mean just because your friends can doesn't mean you know that it's time to peacock on us and also that's a that brandon for cohoo yeah that's just a terrible argument

he that was a that was like a that was like a softball for them to hit out of the park you know what I'm saying Anyways, here's Brian O'Neill. Here's Minnesota Viking Brian O'Neill. All-time good, dude. I like that guy. Love Brian O'Neill.

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Brian O'Neill. Brian, you're humble guys. Let me just gas you up real quick. Eight year vet, two times Pro Bowl right tackle five times team captain big locker room guy and just the pillar of the Vikings organization. Thanks for joining us man. Thanks for having me dude. Appreciate it. Yeah, of course, dude. We're just a couple dudes talking about football. How's it feel to be back in Pittsburgh? It's awesome. It's a cool town. I love my time at Pitt. It's a football town. I love playing there. It's a fun town. Like we had a blast. I mean, I'm getting and learned that a little bit. I've been exploring.

Like we got in a couple days ago and we were, I told you we were walking around thrift shopping, like we went into a barbecue spot and it is sick. Yeah, it's cool. And it's, uh, they care about football a lot.

Yeah. And like that was really cool coming from high school, not really knowing what college football is all about. Yeah. Um, and we, at Pitt, we shared a facility with the Steelers.

So like, every day we would, we'd be finishing practice. They'd be starting practice. And so you could just like sit there and watch for 10 minutes or 15 minutes or whatever it is. So it made it feel like, oh shit like going to the NFL like people do it you know like this is attainable like that's what it looks

like it didn't look like crazy like because you saw it every day and you saw the workouts they were doing and right uh it was kind of cool to be exposed to all that yeah dude i mean i can imagine are there like did you interact with any of the Steelers when you're in college or were they kind of like these fucking college kids like get out of our way uh the only thing we like shared in the building was a cafeteria. Okay. So like we would be coming in as they'd be coming out and be like, that's, you know, that's Levy on Bell. Yeah. That's Rothsburger. Yeah, that's cool. And then like, you know, getting to talk to a couple of the linemen over the years there. Like, yeah, I remember like watching Big Al Villanueva. Yeah. And like, just like hear him talk and, you know, it wasn't,

it wasn't, it wasn't frequent, but there was little touch points here or there. It was more kind of kind of got to watch. Yeah, it's funny. You mentioned Big Al because so I played with him. in Philly he was we were rookies together he was like a two gaping like a four tech you know what I mean yeah and then you know of course he swapped and went over to the dark side played O line and the rest of history but he actually climb out Kilimanjaro with water boys which is Chris's organization and pretty cool man he's I love when his name pops up randomly because he's just such a gem you should you should climb out Kilmajaro man that'd be sweet I love to yeah I saw uh Kelsey did it while he was still yeah I did it with kelson it was

I mean, it was tough, but it was like, it was really cool, but it was, it was hard. I was 330 pounds. And we did with Helodianata too. So it was another big dude. Yeah, we had some big boys. Yeah. We had some big boys up there. But, I mean, speaking of, you know, big defensive tackles, I know you missed Aaron Donald by one year in Pittsburgh.

I'm always just kind of curious because I hear stories about him. Just like, what was the lore of Aaron Donald like in, in college? Everything anyone ever did was compared to Aaron Donald. Right? Like if you're in the weight room, well, you know, the strongest kind of the team wasn't touching anything AD was touching. You know, the best player on the field, they didn't have to take his helmet away from him at practice. Like when they were going good on good, like all the coaches were like, we couldn't run plays. Yeah. Like we had to take him out of practice and he wouldn't come out of practice in order to like function.

He was unblockable. And then when we were there, he would come back every summer and train. Yeah. And you'd see him and it was like, you know, that's what it's supposed to look like. Is it though? I mean, that's, I mean, that's what it, like, ideal, in an ideal world, that's what it looks like. But that's like an unachievable goal, you know, no one can be there. I remember I was watching tape and I was with the bucks and one of my, like, Aaron Donald was on like the sack tape.

We were watching my D-line coach was like, Bo, why can't you do this? And I'm like, I fucking, I can't do this. Like, no one could do is I'd never forget. I saw him one time spin around a trap lock, make a TFL. It was, that's wild, man. We had an O-line coach a couple years ago. was showing us one-on-one reps of Trent Williams in training camp with the commanders. And I was like in like my second year, like barely touching 300 pounds at the time.

And he's like, this is it. And I'm like, we are two totally different players. Yeah. Like what are you off of you? But I mean, it's cool talking about Pitt because we had a, you know, a little bit of familiarity with the staffs. I had Paul Chris as the offensive coordinator when I was at Wisconsin. And, you know, like, what was coach Chris like when you were in college? Is he pretty relaxed or was he a little more?

as a head guy, a little more intense. He was pretty relaxed as a head guy in terms of team settings. I only had him for a year, but there was a way that he wanted you to play football. And that's one of the things that I feel like I learned the most and benefit of the most from Pitt is you play hard, you play tough, you play hurt, finish through the whistle, like that's what Coach Chris and then Coach Narduzzi who's still there, who's got a little bit more shit to him. He's like, he's a proud asshole that you love playing for you.

And like they kind of showed you like there's a way to play football and there's a way that's the right way to go about your business. And that's one of the things that like I respect about the most after, you know, going through Pitt, going through the NFL for years. Like, you know, I always feel really fortunate that like I had those guys that were like old school, we're running power. Yeah. You know, you wait your turn to go to play. Yeah. You've earned your role. You got your spot in the weight room and stuff.

Yeah. We, I don't know if you guys did this, but in call. college like we had we called the daddy rack like we were meatheads at Wisconsin and you start off squatting and based on like whatever your max is if you get stronger than you move up to the big rack and the one on the far right was like the big dog rack and the lowest guy would get booted down then so it's a highly competitive environment it sounds a lot like you know where you're talking about at pit where just yeah guys that car a lot and buy in and you would have fit in well at wisconsin man that's a that's a compliment I appreciate that I'm glad I feel like there's there's certain schools that you know like

they go about their business the right way. I feel like every single player I've been around that came from like Alabama or Ohio State, like they come in and there's less of a jump. Like they've trained hard at training camp. Right. They know what practicing hard is. They've played against, they played big boy football before.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, you can tell. And I mean, you had so many great teammates too at Pitt and a guy that I, I'm sure you've have, I mean, so many good stories of.

And do I respect a lot? I don't know him at all, but James Connor, he's here. He's in a night. announcing a pick with you, like, what kind of dude is he? Like, what, you know, how do you, I'm trying to think of the right way to phrase this. Like, I don't know him personally, but he seems like a very inspiring guy.

Yeah, for sure. I mean, he's one of those dudes that he made himself into a great player, right? He showed up as a 250-pound defense event. Oh, really? Like, Erie Pennsylvania and, like, shaped his body to become one of the best running backs in the country. And then. You don't see a lot of D-N to. to running back.

Usually it's like running back to D.S. He was just the biggest best athlete on the field in high school probably. But the work ethic he had, he was that guy for our team for the three years I was with him. Like he was the leader. He was the bell cow. He was the best player. He was the first one in, last one out. And then, you know, his journey of everything he's gone through.

Right. I was, we were in that team meeting when he came in. They played a video of Eric Barry talking about his cancer diagnosis. kind of explaining everything. But James walked in, and he had been hurt that season. He had a knee injury. And then that's when he got sick. And he came in with his hat on.

And one of the only rules of Pitt was you can't wear a hat in a team meeting. And he had already started chemo at that point. And so his hair was kind of, and he had to get a port in his neck and everything. And so a couple guys were like, you know, James, take your hat off. And he kind of was just like staring forward. And he was just like, no. And they played that video.

And then he got up. And like, that's one of, that's like a day. I'll never forget, right? It's like him sharing with us, like, what he was going through. And so he did chemo for a few months. Like that winter, he would get chemo one day and the next day be at our 5 a.m. Matt drills with a mask on running off to the side because he couldn't get, he couldn't get sick. But like, he was there.

Yeah. And he was training hard and like, if you ever get a chance to talk to him, he's all-time dude. Like, I bet if you ask anybody on the Cardinals, like, who's the guy? I mean, Buddha's probably up there, but like, I guarantee James is in the top three. I mean, it sounds awesome, man. It speaks a lot to, like, the brotherhood that you guys had in college, too. And, you know, I'm sure it's inspiring, man. It's, I have chills a little bit.

It's cool. Yeah. I mean, he's one of those guys, you know, from when you played, like, there's guys who, you know, you see guys and you're like, that guy does shit the right way. Yeah. And, like, he was one of those guys early on for me. And I'm sure he's doing it for Arizona now. But, like, I had a ton of those guys when I first got to the Vikings and, like,

now being a little bit older like that's you now man I know it's like you kind of feel like a weird like responsibility like I better be on my shit in every single thing that I do because the guys I looked up to doing it like I don't want to say I owe it to them but like somebody did it for me right like Harrison Smith like he did that for me like you know what I mean yeah whether he intentionally did it or not you want to honor the guys that have taken care of you right you know the way that when you're a young guy and you have older guys take you under their wing, it's kind of a special thing, man, and you want to kind of create that same relationship for young guys

when you're the old, why leave that? Yeah, for sure. I mean, like, Harrison Smith was 36 years old this year. And he was 15 years older than some of, like, our rookies. And so, like, there's a way to go about your business and, like, I try to follow the guys who did. And now I'm like, I better not screw this up. Yeah.

Well, it's a good thing, man. It's important to you. But Charlie Partridge was my D-Line coach. He was at pit. He used to always say to us in college, like, you stand on the shoulders of giants, you know, honor that and do them proud. And that's a powerful thing, man. It's pretty cool.

So, you know, transitioning in a little bit, talking about the draft, you're calling the pick. What pick is it? Pick 62. Sorry, you were picked 62, but you're calling the 49th overall pick tonight for the Vikes. How are you feeling a little nervous? A little nervous, yeah. I do know how to read.

So as long as it's on the car. As long as it's on the card, I think I'll be all right. I'm just hoping for a name that I can pronounce. It's pretty easy, like a Brad Smith and like a Mike Jones would be pretty sick. Who? Mike Jones. But, you know, whatever. It's, you want to do it right because it's the biggest moment of this kid's life, right?

Right. It's so important to him and his family. So you want to make sure you get it right. Yeah, I mean, but you got to, you know, you can throw in a little flare in there or something. I think you can, you don't need to make the moment about yourself. Yeah. But you can let your personality shine through. So, you know, you were drafted, though,

2018, pick 62, out of pit, like we talked about. What's your, you know, what's your, kind of the defining memory that you have of your draft experience? Always going later than you think you're going to go into, right? Everybody does. Yeah. You get, you know, kind of a front end of like where the highest you could possibly go. I know it wasn't going to go on day one,

but we thought it was going to be pretty early in the second round. It ended up being 62, so one of the last picks the second. But the thing that stands out to me, most is like as time goes by you're getting more anxious you're sitting there all your family's in the room your phone's right here on loud and some kid from high school that I hadn't talked to in like five years calls my phone and everybody's it gets you know what's yeah I was like this fucking guy dude I was like no no no what's his name what's fucking shout him out boo Jeff Hennessy I haven't talked to him in years yeah bad ball Jeff come on man but no it was it was awesome and then it happens and

you black like you black out yeah literally and figuratively that night and uh it was just awesome and then you know you go like a week later and you start yeah and you just like it's so fun and awesome you're the man and then you come in and you're you know low man you low man on the totem pole and you got to kind of start it and you get humbled real quick man were you were you watching the draft uh in uh back home in Delaware or yeah with the family and everything like that in Delaware yeah that's awesome man so so you go to the Vikings obviously 2018 people People always ask this and I, you know, it's a good question, but sometimes, like, did you have a, like, oh, shit, I'm in the NFL, like, welcome to the NFL moment. Did you ever have anything like that when you first rolled into Minnesota? Probably about every day for the first nine weeks. That was when, like, you know, teams, some teams still do OTAs this way, but, like, OTAs were like, our rookie minicamp was two days. We had two practices a day. It wasn't full contact, but, like, it was full contact.

I mean, there's dudes in rookie minicamp who, like, this is their one shot. Correct. And so. And then there's. second year guys who are P squad, but like they know what it takes, right? Yeah. And like that whole first OTAs, we practice pretty hard. And like, I couldn't block our third string second year in D.N. Like the whole, the whole first nine weeks. And I'm like, man, they drafted me in the second round. Like, I got to figure this out, you know. And like the last day before we left for the summer, we have like a five week break.

The O line coach at the time kind of pulled me aside and like, you know, in his office. was like, hey, this team drafted you in the second round. There's expectations for you to perform. And I don't know what you have to do over the next five weeks, but what you put on tape in this OTAs this spring was like nowhere near close to good enough. Like you were struggling with the twos and the threes. And like we have DeNeil Hunter and Everson Griffin in training camp.

Two dogs. Two dogs. Like the bullrushes you were catching from, you know, with all due respect, one of the young guys who was trying to fight to make the team is a lot different than Everson Griffin in a wide nine speed to power. So that was a little bit of like leaving OTAs. I kind of was like, oh man, like, you know.

Better get my shit right. Yeah, I don't get my shit right. Yeah. I mean, we've all been there, man. There's nothing as humbling as playing against other freak athletes on an NFL football field. Yeah. You know, so I mean, we kind of touched on this earlier,

but like when you first came in, you know, like we said, like you have a group of older guys that kind of help you out. or a dude like that who was in the O-line room in Minnesota that kind of took you under his wing and helped you with your technique and kind of just not even outside of that, but just taught you a little bit of how to be a pro. Yeah, I think there's two that come to mind right away. The first one was Riley Reef. Yeah.

Old school Iowa line, you played left tackle for us. He was the left tackle. Captain of the team kind of came in. And I walk in the meeting the first day and I'm all like, I'm excited of you. You know, whatever. Sit down and shut the fuck up, bro. And, but, you know, other than like some of the rookie stuff, like, he was such a good pro in terms of, you know, I mentioned earlier, one of the guys that did shit the right way. Yeah.

You know, his whole thing was like, you play hurt, you play tough, you finish every block. At the time, he was like, you don't talk to the media. Like, you're here to, like, you're here to protect the quarterback and you're here to make plays for the running back. And it's not about you. It's about the unit. And it's about the team. and I think that's why, like, when we let him go, he was in, like, year eight or nine,

he bounced around for, like, four or five years as a backup because teams just wanted him, wanted to have him in the room to help with the young guys and kind of be there. And he was kind of the first one that was like, there's a way you go about your business and, like, watch me do it, you know? And it's the weight room at 5 a.m. before practice, like, he's back squatting 400 pounds the whole year.

Hell yeah, dude. You know what I mean? Like he's, he wasn't one of the maintenance guys. He was a, you train hard to play football. Yeah. But from like a performance side,

I'd say Riley and then, uh, one of my all-time favorite teammates was Eric Kendricks. Yeah. Um, he was, it was kind of, it was OTAs my second year.

And like, I kind of was like boys with him a little bit my rookie year. And like he was cool. Um, just like all time locker room dude. And I'm just sitting there eating breakfast by myself kind of like, second year. Kind of think I'm starting to turn a corner,

but I'm still a little like walking on eggshells or like not sure of myself. Yeah. And he kind of just like sat me down. He was like, look, dude, somebody told me this, when you're fully comfortable being completely yourself, like whatever your personality is, like whoever you are, like be that every single day. Like a weight will be lifted off your shoulders. People will respect you more.

It's kind of philosophical. Because they know you're real. You know what I mean? Like if you're weird and like you like, like whatever it is, like whatever your things are, like be those and do those because one. Once you feel comfortable being yourself, the football shit becomes way easier. Yeah. And like that stuck with me all the time.

Like I'm weird as shit. Like I love being, like I love being one of the boys. I love being in the room. Like we're going out to dinner. We're going to a wild game. Like whatever it is. Like I want to do all that shit just because I think it's so fun. Like being one of the boys and be one of the locker room guys.

Like that's what's all about. Yeah. That's probably like a lot of the stuff that guys like you and Chris probably miss. That's why we do this. Yeah. You know, I want to soak up some of the football from you. Yeah. You're still in the action.

I'm washed up. I just, I need it, you know? Yeah, but he was kind of the one that showed me that. And, like,

and was just like, bro, just like, be yourself, be normal, have fun. Like, there's nothing like being an NFL honor.

And you're just like, whoa. I was like, is that easy? Yeah, what the fuck? And then she'd start, it's kind of turn

and I kind of felt like better about myself in terms of like being in the building every day. Yeah, man, that's, it's cool to hear about shit like that. So I want to kind of fast forward a little bit. Obviously,

fucking you've become such a stalwart for the Vikings now. I mean, five years of the captain, man, that's, do you ever think that that would be the case? Not really. Like, I haven't, I haven't, like, I didn't set, like, a ton of goals, right? Like, I wasn't like, I want to be a captain X amount of times. I want to go to X amount of pro. Like, I don't, I want to play for, like, it was like, play your ass off and everything else will take care of itself. You know, have the best practice you can, like, you know? That day. And then, yeah, that day. And like, it was like, not to get too coachy of like process over like results, but like it was like, I know where I need to get better.

I know what I need to do to be considered one of the best linemen on our team. I know how to how I want to carry myself. I know how I want to like go about my business. But do that over and over and over again and kind of see what happened. Yeah, you kind of break it down into small pieces, you know, and then you just stack them up and here you are, you know, going into year nine. I want to talk a little bit about the 2025 season. for the vikes. We're not going to get too far into the weeds, but one thing that I thought was

interesting and also like really tough on your team is the international back-to-back stretch that you guys had. Yeah. You know, I mean, I, we had a game in London and she had 2018 when I was with the bucks and it felt like such a departure from the typical in-season schedule you have, you know, but for you guys to do it, you know, back-to-back like that, so you're in Dublin week four. I know that you, you know, a little bit of an injury and didn't play as much, but I'm kind of just curious about your experience with Dublin and then, and then going to London. Like, did you love it? Did you hate it? Did it seem like just wildly? You're like, holy shit, we have fucking two games out of the country. Yeah. I guess

that is yes, like all the above, right? It was so sick from a, like, team, like bonding. Like, I talk about, like, being one of the boys. Like, in a normal week, you're with each other all day, but then, like, you go home and you see him the next day. For 10 straight days, it was like practice of meetings and everything. And then that night, we were like, we were all together. Yeah. We were hanging out. There was a golf simulator in the hotel.

There was a pool table. Like, from that aspect, it was kind of fun. Yeah. It's like, you know, you're eating every meal together for a week. And it kind of broke up the monotony of the season. Like, you go home on Wednesday night. You go on Thursday night. Friday's a faster day.

You know, you go in for a walk through Saturday and either travel or go to the hotel. Like from that aspect, it was kind of fun. from an aspect of getting banged up in the Dublin game and then being on crutches in the London countryside for five days. That was, you know, whatever. It's part of the deal. But I like an international game, but I only like one. Yeah.

You know, four days is cool. Ten was a cool experience. Like it would be something like we'll remember forever or whatever. But yeah, I think teams should want to do just one. Yeah, I mean, I have a lot of respect for you guys, man. that's just the, you know how it is the physicality of the game and everything you do on a weekly basis to get your body right. And then with the extended travel and just kind of everything like that. But were you, like, what was your experience with the international fans?

It's, you get Denver Broncos, jerseys, Jags, jerseys, every jersey there. Yeah. And they just want to see points. You know what I mean? So it was loud on offense and it was loud on defense. It wasn't, there was no real home field. Yeah. I felt like, that in Dublin. It was more 50-50. I feel like we've had in London, at least it's felt like kind of almost a home game for us. Yeah. So I feel like we've had an advantage with our fans being there. But yeah, it's just, it's so different. Like everybody's just like touchdown. Yeah. Well, I remember when we played, we played at Tottenham in London and I mean, James threw like four picks that game, which is not, I mean, that's kind of how 2018 was for Jay Boo. But they were

cheering so hard for like kickoffs and extra points. Kicking soccer. Yeah, they loved it. Yeah. And you know how it is like, there's kind of a joke on the podcast. Like I kind of hate kickers, you know, just like, whatever, you know. The kickers were like loving it at the time because they're like, this is our time to shine. Like these dudes love us.

But it was just cool to kind of have such a different experience. And those stadiums over there are awesome. Yeah. You know, like at the end of the day, you'll remember that game more than a random game in October. Right. You know, and we also got to play the Steelers not at Heinzfield and the Browns not in Cleveland.

Yeah. Heinz Field. It will never not be Heinz Field to me. I never change the name. Yeah, what is it now? A lot or Accresure. Accurure. Yeah.

It's Heinz Field. Yeah. And, uh, but that was a little bit of an advantage, right? Like, we didn't have to go to two AFC Road North opponents. That's, that's a good point, man. Um, I think, I mean, one of my favorite Vikings players is Justin Jefferson. Like, we met him. We came to camp, I think, two years.

ago and I was just so struck by like you got a superstar here like the father of the gritty and obviously like you know flashy and cool as fuck like looks good plays so good but he's also like such a humble down-to-earth person what's he like as a teammate you you said down to earth I was about to say that before he's awesome like from like miss Donna the lady who empties the trash cans around the building to the chefs to the trainers to the strength staff like he is so respectful to everybody and he like talk about like being one of the boys like he is a 15 year old kid that's playing backyard football in the backyard yeah loves playing practices hard knows what to do like the amount of things that we ask him to do from like he play x y z the motions besides the quarterback on our offense he has to know more about where to be the motions the shifts because it's all like It's not a secret. We're trying to scheme up to get him the ball. Yeah, defense. He's the focus of every single defense every week.

And so, like, the amount of places he has to be, he's never in the wrong spot. He never runs the wrong routes. He, like, he'll sign anything you need him to sign. I'll take a picture with your little cousin who's at the game. Yeah, he, we, he FaceTime Chris's, Chris has two, two boys. And, you know, Waylon is nine-year-old is Justin Jefferson's favorite player there on FaceTime together. Like, how cool is that? Yeah, like, I think he has a good appreciation for, like,

How cool it is. I don't want to say how cool he is because he's really cool. I think he's cool. He's really cool. But I think he appreciates and enjoys the whole aspect of being in the NFL. Like he doesn't take things too seriously. Yeah. He's a baller who loves to go play football.

And so like that's why guys gravitate towards him and love him because like, you know, there's so much out there for a superstar like that, media-wise out there. And like he just loves like, you know, playing basketball in a little mini hoop in the locker room. playing ball and that's it's cool it's refreshing you know there's like a youthful uh youthful exuberance yeah youthful exuberance to him that like is contagious really yeah no i i mean i've i've gotten that in small dose man i think it'd be fun to have that and i mean you kind of touched on this but he had a six straight thousand yard season and you know like there's been different kind of quarterbacks, especially last year coming in, and he still is so productive. Is that, you know,

is the way he prepares and just kind of his knowledge of the game and commitment to it? Is that why he's so successful? I think that's a big part of it, right? If he was just an unbelievable talent that was just like, great, but didn't work at it or great, but like kind of could get away with not being in the right spot or great with, you know, not being like, I think we had, we started three different quarterbacks at different times this year. And like, if he's not doing everything right at practice, Like that, you know, how many reps in training camp is he getting with our third string quarterback? Yeah. Who was an undrafted rookie who made the team?

Yep. You know, like, that's, that doesn't, like, unless you're on your shit and you're one of the guys and you're practicing every day and you're in the right places, like, I don't think that happens. Yeah. I mean, it sounds like he's one of those guys who does all the things right and, you know, more power to him. I got a, I got a deal with I want to ask you about. I don't know much about him at all. I know he had a great year. Jalen Redmond, he, like, he's wearing what, 61?

Yeah. He's got that camp number. I fucking love that. I'm watching him. I remember watching him early in the season. And then having to go online and be like, who the fuck is this guy? Yeah. What, like, what about him?

Because he was rookie last year, but undrafted. Yeah. What is it about him that kind of made him step in and be productive? So, you know, so quickly. He was in like the XFL or the UFL or the USFL, whatever that was. He played for the Dallas team. Yeah. Like we played Dallas on Sunday Night Football.

And he's walking in with his Dallas setting, it's renegades, like shirt, from when he played that's awesome um but i remember in training camp i think it was two years ago when he kind of became a rotational guy for us he there was a fight at practice one day and like only rule camp like no fights like if you get if you fight you're out for the rest of the day whatever and uh so he him and another guy get kicked off the field at this point he hadn't earned any stripes in the NFL and one of the coaches was like you know kind of said something like guys in his position like can't do that, you know, whatever. Yeah.

And we saw flow after Brian Flores and he was like, Red's a dog. There was something he liked about him that he was doing that, right? Like to an extent, like, if you do it the right way. Yeah. If like, if you're protecting somebody, yeah, they might have to throw you out of practice, but like, yeah. They like it. There's good fights and bad fights.

Yeah. And so like, he's not a fighter, but like, he'll stand up for his boy. And he just consistently, like, got better. And then like, four game and training camp this year were like, oh, yeah, Red could play. Like we knew he could be a rotational guy. Yeah. And then this year in training camp, last year in training camp, it was, oh, yeah, he's, he's a guy guy.

Like he's, yeah. If he doesn't, like, we, we need him to play well. Like, right. Because there was games where he was the best player on the field on defense. I agree, man. So productive. And like, he's a man. Like, he's just like, he appreciates the opportunity because he was in the, he was playing

for the Dallas, I think, Renegades, whatever was at the time. That's a cool story, man. I'm excited to kind of watch him continue. to develop. I don't want to get too deep into the weeds on like football questions, but like I love Brian Flores defense. If you're an O. Lyman like, you know, in practice and camp especially and he's dialing up all these exotic blitzes, have you been along around him long enough where you're you're not fazed by it or sometimes are you just like what the fuck is going on here? Like both. You know, you're not you you expect it. And then sometimes there's 10 guys on the line of scrimmage and you're an 11 personnel and you're like, how are we going to block? Yeah. I mean, it's. So it's good from a standpoint of by the time we've gone through a training camp, we've seen probably every pressure out of every personnel group that you could possibly see. Yeah. But the thing that I think is so cool about it is it's so player driven.

Like the calls and the checks that they make at the line of scrimmage. Yeah. And like Harrison Smith was like out there playing quarterback. Yeah. Like, you know, like within the framework of whatever the game plan is. And there's been some games where we could tell the other team had no answer. Yeah, and it's a fun competitive deal between him and KO, like, KOC. And like, there's a little bit, you want that in training camp.

There's a little bit of that like, you know, they think that like they think this shit sweet. Well, we're gonna bring 10 guys every play and see if they can see if they have it dialed up, you know, exactly. He's a we love them guys love them the locker room like everybody will ride for flow no matter what like he's he's got great relationships with the players. I don't know whatever happened in the past, but like players love him in Minnesota. Like he's been great. Like he they're going out to dinner at his house every, every couple weeks like during the season, OTAs they'll, you know, after a Thursday, they'll go. Yeah, it seems like he loves players too. Like when we Chris and I were, you know, at Vikes camp a couple years ago or whatever and we talked to him for a while and he just loves the guys.

Yeah, he goes. And as a player, I think you appreciate that. Like you know that. You can tell when a coach is going to kind of stand on the table for you and has your back. That's it. You know. Like they know, like players know. We feel this way about Kio too.

Like between those two, like we know the coaches, that those two coaches in particular have your back. Yeah. And like, want what's best for you. And like, it's not always like that for guys around the league. It's not always like that for, you know, different position coaches or whatever it is, right? Like, yeah. We feel like they ride for us and have our best interests.

And that's why guys love playing for it. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I do want to talk about KIO a little bit. I think talking to him, he just seems so confident and relaxed. Does that kind of bleed into your, into your locker room too? Yeah, I think so. I think there's like a,

he gives us a very clear understanding of like, A, what he expects and be, how we're going to win. Like, how are we going to attack? How are we going to win? Like, that might sound dumb, but like, it's so clear to us if we do these things well each week, like this is going to give us an opt to win.

So, like, when you're that clear, you can be the same guy every day. It's not this week, it's a motherfucking, discussion where we're, you know, we're going to, and then like the next week, it's like, hey, guys, it's all good. Let's go out and have a good, like, he's the same guy every single day and the expectations never changed. So like, you can't do anything but respect it. Let me read off a quote that he said about you. It's hard to express my gratitude for not only the player,

but the person, what it means in professional sports to be a great sportsman. It's not just being the nice guy out there. It means you are elite at how you work, how your teammates view you, how your coaches view you, how outside folks, whether it's other teams, officials, other coaches, everybody views Brian O'Neill the same way. And it's been that way his whole career. So you have a lot of respect for him. He has a lot of respect for you too, man. You're a humble guy, man.

I got to gasy. I got to bring you on a car. I appreciate that. I like you doing that, rather than me. You know, it's better that way. I want to talk a little bit about some of the new additions to the Vikings locker room in. You know, obviously a pretty big deal that Kyler Murray's coming in. You know, the season, the start of the season is.

you know, a long ways away. We know that. But what's your experience been so far with, with Kyler in the locker room? Yeah, Kyler's been cool. We just started five days ago. So right. But no, he's been great. Like he made sure he introduced himself to all the linemen, like that smart. Yeah, right away. Like, you know what I mean? And he's gotten snaps to some of our centers already. And he's been cool. I don't know him that well. Right. I've been with him for a week. But yeah, obviously have a lot of respect watching him over the years. Yeah. And he's been a hell of a player. Right. I mean, he's so dynamic. I think the thing that is always interesting, I like talking to O-Lyman, especially tackles about what it's like having a such a mobile quarterback, you know, because I think it can be, obviously it can really help, you know, create dynamic plays on offense, but as an O-Liman, sometimes when you're in your sets, sometimes you don't know exactly where they're going to be. Yeah. You know, is that something that you factor into your play style with a mobile quarterback? Yeah, I mean, we'll find out how I got to change it, right? Yeah.

I think I've kind of, I've kind of, I had a, I had Kirk for six, six years where like, you knew exactly where his back foot was going to be and you knew where he was going to be in the pocket. There's good sides and bad sides where, where maybe with a guy like Kyler, and we got some of this with JJ too, where if you have a guy who can run and break one for 30 or 40, as an offensive line, and they might have more rush lane integrity. Yeah. Where like, if you have a guy who's going to be in the same exact spot, you can run more three

man games four man games yeah which is harder to deal with yep but if you got a guy who can you can break a big one and you're gonna double team jets yeah it's like at some point yeah there might we might not know where he is yeah sometimes teams play man they have a spy and it you know you can right yeah it slows on the rush aren't there right he can break a big one so if they have to worry about that it could be easier plus you know rushes I mean for us like you got a cage rush a little more yeah take a little less you see the going like this yeah yeah yeah exactly yeah exactly in the red zone yeah some of like this year we literally heard cage yeah you're like okay i'm getting a bull rush off the edge

i'm ready if i'm out there you know you're getting a fucking bull rush regardless but like especially in the low red man that was like the number one thing because you know you play a lot of man down the red zone and that was like the number one uh you know the cardinal sin is as a rusher is like third and three or something if you got the quarterback scramble and get a first down or touchdown you were you're in bad shape uh you're It's a double-edged sword, right? Like there's probably pros and cons of each. And, you know, however it shakes out with whoever's back there, like,

nobody cares. It's my job to make it work, right? It's like one of the things like when we had, you know, dealt with some injuries last year on the O-line, dealt with some injuries, the quarterback. It was like, that's sweet. But like, nobody gives a shit, bro. Like whoever's back there, whoever's running it, whatever O-line combination is in, like, there's an expectation to play and play well.

And nobody's going to be like, oh, well, this guy wasn't like, it's not how we're like you got to make it work yeah no i get it and uh i mean just briefly what uh like you know you talked a little bit about j j i don't know too much about him frankly um what kind of quarterback is he how have you kind of seen him develop over the last couple years yeah i think i think the way you talked about jets where there's a youthful exuberance to him yeah um it's it's fun and it's refreshing and even through some of the low i mean we were four and eight at one point last year yeah routed off five straight like Guys believe in him and guys wanted us to figure it out and be better as an offense like there was times our defense was rolling last year and we relied on them heavy and like the whole locker room was like super tight like through the whole entire you know process of growing and getting better and all and going through growing pains.

And so we love him. Like we were all at the Minnesota wild playoff game with him. He got rocks for everybody. That's like last week. And like we're always at his house and like I love that kid. and like, if I was judged after my first 10 games in the NFL, I'm not playing right now. Yeah. So, like, there's a part of it where it's like, they're just, he's, it's still so fresh, you know,

and he's only going to continue to get better. And, like, the whole attitude from us was like, how do we all go there as an offense together? Like, he, if, like, if you hear the term, like, lose the locker room, like, he had the locker room more than anybody I'd seen ever, you know, if that makes sense. That goes a long way to, you want to root for him, you want to do well, and you want him to keep taking those next steps. Yeah. And then I guess while we're on the topic of the quarterback room, you grew up in Delaware, I think.

Were you an Eagles fan growing up? Yeah. A little bit. It was a big time until I went to college. Right. Kind of cool to be on the same team as Carson Wentz, the guy I played with in Philly. It's cool, yeah.

My brother is a huge Eagles fan. His fantasy football name was Wentz Upon a Time, or he still Wentz Upon a Time. And so like I have like friends who's like families named their dog Carson like Really? You know what I mean? So it's like it was he was like I was probably in high school People forget how much of a dog Carson was for us in yeah, you know in Philly in 2017 man I mean he was An incredible player I'm happy to see him still still out there. Yeah and he like he came in for a couple games before he got hurt right and like he was slinging it. Yeah and you know guys like playing for him and he's a tough motherfucker man he's a tough motherfucker and everybody loves him.

Yeah. And so like, for those guys, you root for him and want him to do well. Yeah. He's a hell of a golfer too. Yeah. Some good courses in Minnesota. We were on the red carpet yesterday and got to chop it up with some of the, some of the rookies. And I asked Caden Proctor, who, I mean, is a monster human being.

What's more satisfying as an O-Liman? If you have a one-on-one and you jump set a guy and you stick him and, like, he's just stuck like a yard or two, you know, kind of trying to do something. or like a pancake. I feel like if you jump him and stick them, right? Like there's more of a, if you jump him and stick him, he's done. And I know he's done if you get a pancake too,

but like you can have an effective run block that gashes a guy for 25 yards. Yeah. But like at the end of the day, you're paid to strap it down in pass protection, right? Like that's where guys, that's where you're either really good or your average is in past protection, right?

Like that's, that's you're the main part. of your job. And like if you can stick a guy and like win that match up. Yeah, I think that's pretty seriously early in a game man. Yeah. You just know like I'm I got something to that. Yeah. No doubt. And if it happens it has to happen early. You give up a pressure early or like a hit early. You're like oh man. Oh yeah. Like the first third down is the most nerve-wracking third down every game. It's the best thing defensively if you're in like you know the first series you get some sort of stat whether it's a tackle or like you have a win and

pressure or something. You're just like okay. Yeah. Like we're going. Yeah, on the flip side, you give up a hit pressure sack early on. You're like, the rest of the game better be perfect. Yeah. Oh. And I don't, you know, last night we were chopping it up over at the hotel and I got to meet your lovely wife. And I was kind of asking about the ordinary love story.

Will you please talk about how you guys kind of first got together because I think this is truly incredible. Hell yeah. So we dated in high school for two years. And then we broke up and I went to college. She was a year younger than me. And then I kind of stayed in touch here and there. Like, you know, Merry Christmas.

Like, happy birthday stuff. Yeah. Keeping touch points, right? And then after my rookie year ended, we missed the playoffs by a game. Had my rookie dinner the next night. Yeah, like you were on, you were treating all the guys. Yeah, yeah, got to take the whole line out. Where'd you go?

We went to Manny's in Minneapolis. Oh, yeah. I'm familiar. We were on a party bus headed to the casino after. And mistake late, guys, look it up. I've had a lot of, we used to go there in high school a lot. It was fun. And my college roommate texted me and was like,

yo, I know you thought you guys were going to go to playoffs. Me and my family are in Turks and Kekos for the week. This is a Monday night, Tuesday night. He's like, we're here till Sunday. Like,

just get down here, like, come hang out, like, have a good time, whatever. I was like, whatever.

We just had exit meetings today. Like, I didn't really know what I was going to do. So we're at the casino. And like, I'm on Instagram. I see my wife, who's now my wife,

posted a story like in Turks and Kikos at like 1 o'clock in the morning and I was like booked a flight like the next day I was like I'm going you know That's the best bet you made that night Yeah that's bet I made And I was like I'm going

And so like I buy a flight for like five hours later Like six days God that's incredible I get to Turks of Kikos And I text her I'm like hey like It's gonna sound weird But like I'm here

And so like I hang out with my buddy's family For a couple days And then one night her and her family We're out to out at a bar or something I just like went and met up Hey y'all's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair Ever order furniture online and wonder what if?

Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.com. Wayfair, every style, every home. I hung out with all of them and then kind of got the ball rolling.

The rest is history. There's just something I love so much about the, you know, the culmination of the rookie meal, the casino, then, all right, I'm going to Turks of Caicos. I got to go see about a girl. Got to go see about a girl, yeah. It's incredible. How to go get her, bro. Yeah, you got to go.

I mean, I was like, I fucked that up once. Yeah, I mean, let it slip out once. It's not going to happen again. Oh, man. I love that. Well, hey, man, thanks a lot for coming on the podcast, dude. You're an incredible player. I'd love to hang out in Minnesota some time.

I'm a big fan of Minnesota. It sounds like you are too. So enjoy the, uh, enjoy the pick tonight. Don't fuck it up. You're going to do great. It's great advice. Don't fuck it up. Great advice.

Don't fuck it up. Appreciate it, bro. Yeah, cheers, man. Thanks a lot for coming on. Yeah, it's fun.