NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - Fixc Your Franchise: Minnesota Vikings (w/ 3-Round Mock Draft)

Episode Date: December 2, 2025

Help the show by going to subscribe.pff.com and using the code: blackfriday You get 40% off an annual subscription at checkout AND you help the show out a ton! We appreciate each and every one of you ADDICTS :) TIMESTAMPS: 0:00:00 Intro 0:08:16 How We Got Here 0:12:45 JJ McCarthy... 0:27:43 General Manager 0:29:27 Draft History 0:37:11 Draft Value...? 0:45:06 GM Candidates 0:51:37 Fabric By Gerber Life 0:53:02 Superchats 0:58:54 Core Players 0:59:54 QB Options 1:06:00 Cap and Cuts 1:08:31 Mock Draft v1 1:16:49 Mock Draft v2 1:22:45 Outro CHECK OUT THE NEW PLAYER PROPS TOOL:: https://pff.onelink.me/STv1/any8ct07 Dominate your fantasy league: http://fantasy.pff.com/ Download the PFF App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pff-fan... Join our newsletter: https://forms.gle/maqTaBKcmdPR5Vma6 NFL/NCAA Player Grades: https://www.pff.com/grades Thanks to Fabric By Gerber Life for sponsoring today's episode. For business or other inquiries, reach us at [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. Shout out to Garrett. Yeah. Now part of the cold open farming. Garrett had in his week 13 recap of the NFL, I went back and I watched a clip about the Vikings because Tyler, our incredible producer was like, Yo, Garrett's crashing out live on YouTube right now about his Vikings.

So I tuned in for it. You guys should as well. After you listen to this podcast, make sure that you go listen and subscribe to everything that Gary's doing over a football analysis. But we are here to pimp the Minnesota Vikings. Connor, this is by popular. We get a lot of people who are like, hey, like, can you fix this team? And it's like, yo, you got nine wins. We're not fixing the chiefs.

When I'm fixing this team, and I thought that was going to be the case of the Minnesota Vikings. But, buddy, they have fallen on some tough times here. So we're here to evaluate everything. We're here to evaluate 9, aka J.J. McCarthy. We're here to evaluate Kevin O'Connell. We're here to evaluate Questio daffo Mensa and how we can get the Minnesota Vikings back on track. We're going to give you a full plan for it. There's a lot of layers of this one.

I'm excited for it. How are you doing, my friend? I feel good, man. Yeah, this is a little different. right? It's not all the time you get to look at a roster that's pretty good that has star talent, a head coach that was the talk of town six months ago. There's just, there's so much here to work with, but it's, you know, for obvious reasons, we have a big quarterback discussion on our hands. What are you saying? Jeremiah and the Chad said Pimp my nine.

Pimp my nine. I saw that. Dude. Yeah. That's what we're here to do. That's an unbelievable comment. So good. So good. There are so many things to think about. Shout it to everybody who's in the chat right off the bat here on this one. We had a couple of hundred people right when we live. We love you guys. Maybe it's because we're late. Sorry. We are late. We're going to pack as much as possible into this show here because there is a lot to go over.

The Vikings will go over the record. We'll go over where the coaching staff and the general manager stand. We'll look at the roster because right now they are $30 million in the red heading into 2026. But we'll come up with a plan to fix all that. We'll get into the draft as well. We'll give you guys a Vikings-centric three-round mock draft at the end of the show. But yeah, let's start with some super chats as we always do here on the show. Kyle, $5 super chat. Love you, appreciate you.

Trevor's face is me when the morning coffee starts to hit and there isn't a bathroom nearby. That is the thumbnail face. referencing there, which is another, it's another elite thumbnail from the cook himself, Tyler Cook, our producer. So I appreciate you, Kyle, with the $5 super chat here. Skyler Timmer, thank you for the super chat. Imagine Arvel Reese and a Brian Flores defense. That should be a crime.

That'd be terrifying. That would absolutely be terrifying. That would be like the first round version of Ivan Pace, Jr. All due respect. That's, yeah. You're not like, yeah, giant gap, but I know exactly what you mean. You know what I'm saying. You know what I'm saying.

You know exactly what you're talking about, which is freaky. Jayberg's $5 super chat. Just draft Luke Goatmeyer and the franchise will be pimped. All jokes if I decide going to miss that guy on Saturday. He's done a lot for the program. And then just Drake May at the end, which, yeah, of course. Goatmire in the snow got Illinois to eight wins. Oh, man.

That was it fun. That was not fun. You had them at over seven and a half. Is that what you said? Which the odds, like, or not. I was playing deep in the minus territory. I couldn't lose that one. Didn't lose that one.

Ricky New York Live, better cowboy name for the sheriff in an old Western. Red Murdoch or Brew McCoy? Ooh. That's good. This is some deep draft knowledge because Red Murdoch right now, defensive linemen for Buffalo, he like leads the country and force fumbles.

I think it's Red Murdoch is. I think Red Murdoch is the better sheriff name. You could ask like anybody on the street, hey, is Red Murdoch a football player or was he in the good, the bad, and the ugly? And they would be pretty stumped. Yeah, that's actually a, that's, or Tombstone. We might be, we might be onto a TikTok here. I'm not really a TikTok creator, but we might be on.

We weren't YouTube boys for a long time and we became YouTube boys out here trying. People can change. People can change. People can, if I can change, you can change. Kyle, $5.5.2. Where the ultimate KOC. quarterback is KOC himself need to see him suit up next week. It'd be better than Max

Rosemir. Yeah, it would be. Do you think? I mean, the answer, the answer is obviously no. It just reminds me of who is the manager on SmackDown that it's the meme that like you just got yourself a match at the Undertaker? Is it Eric Bishop? Is that here

you're talking about? No, no, no, no. It's another one. Oh, oh. What is his name? The chat will know. The chat will absolutely know a Teddy Long. Teddy Long. Thank you. Teddy,

you just got yourself a match with the Undertaker. I'd be like Kevin O'Connell watching, sending Max Rosener out there to die. Somebody should come out and say, Kevin O'Connell, you just got yourself in NFL start next week. You're not near, you're not being nearly dramatic enough for Teddy Long.

This dude would walk out and he would just say, because he'd say player a lot. And he, and he just like, holla player. For that comment, player. You just got yourself a red hot date with the Undertaker. The Undertaker. Go nuts. That was actually one of the best bits. You get to go one on one with the Undertaker

player. God, Teddy Long entering the pod today. This is off to a roaring start. Never thought that we'd get here. All right, a couple more. $20 super chat. Tierra Landrum said as a guy who farms for a living, game respect game when Trevor Farms 6'7 and Connor Farms cold opens. As a Vikings fan. Every quarterback has played like the guy you call squirt in his family turkey bowl. Please pimp this franchise. We absolutely will. And then the last one here from Wade, $10 super chat. We'll get to as many of the rest of them as we can, guys. I promise. We'll keep reading it. But we got to start talking about the Vikings here. Wade, we got to start pimping. Wade, $10 super chat said, want to thank you guys slash the

community for being a comfort in recent tough times, but just landed a full-time internship with the Minnesota Twins. Hell yeah. And the pod powered my first half marathon, hour 54 and 27 seconds. Wade, hell yeah, dude. That's awesome. Can we get nonstop? W's in the chat for Wade finishing the first half marathon and getting the internship

with the Minnesota Twins. We appreciate you being here, Wade, if what we can do on this podcast can give you a little bit of joy during life. And I had somebody else left a comment on that as well saying that like, hey, You know, they haven't, they've been going through a tough time. This podcast, this community has really, really helped them out. And that's the coolest stuff to read. And, you know, I responded to that person, and we always will.

Like, if we can bring you a little bit of joy while we sit here and talk football and NFL draft prospects, holy Ws. That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah, Wade, future GM of the Minnesota Twins. We love, we love to hear that. We absolutely do. All right, let's dig into it, brother.

Yeah, let's get to it. How we got here with the Minnesota Vikings, currently sitting four and seven on the season. We've got four years now with Kevin O'Connell. So we're four and seven this season. They were 14 and three last year. Many of the playoffs, obviously lost the last game of the season, regular season last year. Did not get that division title. Had to go on the road.

And then they lost their first playoff game as well. There was then the whole debate of like, what do you do with Sam Donald? He played so well for you. but is he going to crumble in those big moments? They end up letting him move, they end up moving on from him because they had J.J. McCarthy waiting in the wings who missed the entire year due to it was an Achilles, right? He tore his Achilles, I think.

Knee injury, Achilles. McCarthy? He torn meniscus. Miniscus. Missed the entire year because of that. And so there was a big cloud of uncertainty of what do you do. Ultimately, they stuck with J.J. McCarthy. They let Sam Donald walk goes to the Seahawks. And Donald's obviously playing really well with them.

Before that, they were 7 and 10 in that year in which they didn't start off very well, but they got hot in a couple of games before Kirk Cousins ultimately suffered that season ending injury. And then the season before that first year of Kevin O'Connell, which, by the way, you got to remember this about KOC. In 2021, he was the offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams when they won the Super Bowl. So he was the hot commodity. He comes over to the Minnesota Vikings, boom, right out of the gate, 13 wins, 13 and 4. Kirk Cousins looks incredible.

the team's playing incredibly well, and they just happen to end up losing that first game in the playoffs to the New York Giants who also had that really good year in 2020. I think there's a lot of things that go into the Vikings struggling this season. Connor, I thought that this is one of the best teams in the NFL on paper. I thought they're starting lineup and they're starting 22, if you will, from defense to offense, could hang with any team in the NFL. And if J.J. McCarthy was even the Michigan version of J.J. McCarthy, I thought that this team was going to compete in the toughest division in football. had a chance to make the playoffs and really make some noise. But that is just not what has happened with this team. And obviously it centers around McCarthy and his struggles this year. Yeah, you see a little bit of a pattern here. Obviously, a little bit of an every other year situation from Minnesota under O'Connell. But this is the thing with the Vikings. If you listen to, you know, predictions over unders all that,

I'm sure most of them predicted some form of regression for this team because they won 14 freaking games at a 17 last year, first off. And second off, no matter how much talent they have and they were able to retain their coaching staff and all these great things, they were going to be dealing with, in a sense, a rookie quarterback, a quarterback in this first year as a starter where they would, there would be growing pains. The problem is they haven't gotten remotely competent quarterback play. And I feel like the narrative around O'Connell quickly became that, you know,

because not just Sam Darnold, but in a instance, whether it was Josh Jobs or Nick Mullins or whoever, right, in his offense, he started to get the Shanahan, which was like, well, you could take a bottom 20 percentile quarterback and he'll be average under Kyle Shanahan. O'Connell started to get that reputation. And I think it was well deserved for what he had done. But maybe in hindsight, it also took a little away from what Sam Donald was doing. last year and the development curve that was clear with J.J. McCarthy, where he has a really long way to go. He was not playing and practicing last year because of the injury. So it's, it's not like he just had all these reps, but he just wasn't the starter. He was literally out for the year. And it's kind of collapsed on them, unfortunately. So now they're in the weird

spot. And we're going to have these larger conversations in a little bit here, not at this exact moment. But what do you do if you're Minnesota? Because the reality is with this team, they are an extremely talented, expensive roster. They have a really bright offensive coach and a very bright defensive coordinator that honestly I thought should have got a head coaching job last year. And we'll see if he gets interviews this year. And timelines in the NFL are one of the most difficult things to align. And the Minnesota Vikings had most of their timelines evened out. But the one thing they did not have aligned was the quarterback. and it has completely pulled the rug out from under them this year.

Yeah, I think, you know, with JJ, the thing with him is he's going through the regular progression of what you would think a young quarterback would go through right now. And that's really frustrating, compounding to what you just brought up, because the rest of the roster is there to win right now. Without a doubt. The rest of the roster is not there to develop. this quarterback. And the hope was that Kevin O'Connell himself would get J.J. McCarthy up to speed

very, very quickly, much like he did with Sam Darnold, and that you would be able to sort of slingshot him into being a capable quarterback in a winning window for this team. The problem is that he looks like a young starting quarterback. He really struggles to read the field right now, especially when it comes to deep coverages, when teams are rotating from too high to single high to different looks of cover six or just cover three. Like he just does not have a good feel

for attacking deep down the field. He doesn't have a ton of patience either. And the problem is that I think that JJ is just seeing everything very late right now. You mentioned he didn't get that first year. It's not like he was getting any sort of reps. He was on the sideline.

He wasn't getting any reps at all whatsoever because he was hurt. So not only was he not getting like the mental or the walkthrough reps. Certainly he wasn't getting the game reps. He was not getting anything. So this year, you see the fundamentals are very out of whack and sort of just, I'll say, inconsistent from him.

And the reason why is because he's seeing things a second late. And so when you see things a half second or a second late, well, then you think, ah, shoot, now I got to put some extra juice on this pass to get it to where the receiver is before the defense descends on the ball or descends on the receiver. So now you're just putting your whole body into it. You're trying to get that ball there a little bit quicker, and that's where a lot of the inaccuracies show up. So when you compound that with the pressure that he now has, now at the beginning of the year, yeah, there was pressure,

but I think that he still could have had the ability to play more free. Now the problem is, now he feels the pressure of being a first round bust, being somebody who wasn't worth the pick, being somebody who's holding back a team that is otherwise a playoff roster because we saw it last season. And I think this now also goes into it with J.J. McCarthy. Justin Jefferson's probably pissed as hell. And so now you've got the franchise player one of the best offensive players in the NFL and one of the most recognizable talents in the NFL is pissed at you. And I think that all of this goes into J.J. McCarty's struggle. And I say all of that to say, a lot of this is explainable.

The problem is there's no guarantee it gets better. You can say to yourself, hey, he's a young quarterback. He will improve. It's obvious that young quarterbacks go through these kinds of growing pains. It's okay. And I agree with you. But at this point in time, Connor, I know we'll get to building the roster in a little bit, but you can't go into next season with just J.J. McCarthy.

way. No way in hell. You have to add some sort of other quarterback presence here because it is gone that poorly. His passing grade is that poor. His pressure to sack ratio is that poor. I believe his turnover-worthy play to big time throw percentage ratios are that poor. He is struggling as bad as any quarterback in the NFL right now. And in a lot of categories, he is either bottom three or at the bottom. And I just think that we've gotten to the point where I hate to kill the kid for it because I still think he is a young quarterback who is simply learning

and has talent to potentially be a starter in this league. But as weird as it is to say, you're running out of time in Minnesota to be able to do that. And I think that when he gets back from injury, the last couple of games of this season are going to be very, very important

for him going into what will be a pivotal 2026 season where he's going to have to have competition anyways, no matter what. That's exactly right. They just can't afford going into the year without an insurance policy. And the reality is they're going to get into camp. And I would imagine whoever they add to this room is going to be given a chance to win the starting job outright.

Because it's just not a participation league. And they need to do what's best for all the other guys in that locker room and the staff. It's hardly a developmental league. It's not. As it is, let alone you getting drafted to a playoff caliber roster. That's exactly right. And McCarthy, you know, he's an interesting case because he was a two-year starter at college, especially I thought that 2020 season, his first year as a full-time starter when he was a sophomore. Yep.

They really didn't want him doing too much. He threw for 2,719 yards that year. They put a little bit more on his plate the following year, but nothing overwhelming. And you look at his draft class, you know, it's a little bit. little bit of a different story for some of those guys, especially Jaden Daniels, Michael Panics, and Bo Nix that started a lot of years in college at multiple programs. But even what Caleb was asked to do in college and what Drake May was asked to do in college compared to JJ was a different scenario.

Drake had so many big time throws, man. Yeah, Drake was so many. And Caleb, his defense was so bad. It was like, I got to go put up 40 today or we're going to lose. J.J. wasn't in that environment. And here's the draft grade right here. I didn't like this draft. I wasn't very high on Dallas Turner and compare. I have to check my actual right. I just had them open. I thought taking JJ 10th was, I mean, all I could do is really read my rankings for this. So, okay, I stand corrected. I don't think taking Dallas Turner in that spot was wrong. That's right where around where I had him. The McCarthy pick, who, I had JJ as a second round player, and they took him 10th, and that just happens with quarterbacks. Like, it just happens.

But they traded capital to the Jets to get them because they started to panic as the quarterbacks came off the board. Right. And this is the type of stuff that unfortunately can set you back. And I really stand, I don't know why. I had Dallas Turner 14th. So I'm an idiot. I don't know why it was that.

It was just McCarthy. Well, I'll tell you why you probably have like a negative connotation. They traded a ton to get him. They traded a ton up. And we'll get to that because I see a lot of people saying in the chat, like Quessie is a bigger issue than J.J. Yeah, I have a lot of problems with him as GM. We are going to get to a full Quessie breakdown here in a second.

But just getting back to JJ because I know that you guys enjoy when we do this because it's one, it holds us accountable and it's very transparent. And I think it's all part of the conversation here. When I watched J.J. McCarthy, I wasn't the biggest fan of him. I still had him as somebody that I thought obviously could be a starter in the league. I didn't have him super low on my overall big board. I think I had him like in the 20s or something. Right.

But there are categories that I like to put quarterbacks in as these translatable moments where I feel like you have to play well in order to succeed at the NFL level. One of those is on like third and long situations, third and seven plus. You know, who are you when you need to go out and win it with your arm? and JJ actually had a pretty good passing grade on those situations. There just wasn't a lot of them. Even when I put them in another category, they like to evaluate quarterbacks in.

Intermediate middle of the field, right? So 10 to 19 yards down the field in between the numbers. Who are you when you're that quarterback? JJ, 91.6 passing grade. Executed things pretty well. One big time throw to two turnover worthy plays, but that's sort of like the ratio that you get with. Anytime you're throwing the ball in the middle of the field,

you're going to put it in a little bit of harm's way. But the whole point of me doing that is because you have to do that. Give 38 first downs when doing that over a two-year sample size. But the thing is, Connor, he graded it out pretty well, grade under pressure, 70.9, which is really solid. Avoiding negatives, 15.1%, which is 68th percentile for quarterbacks. Sack rate, just a 4% sack rate. That's 74th percentile in a really good way.

So you put JJ in all of these categories in Michigan, and he grades pretty well. And the film reflected that. The issue was he just didn't really ask him to do it a lot. The sample size or the just overall volume was low. And you're playing in an offense where you have full confidence. You feel great about your offensive line. You feel great about the run game.

You know, you got an elite national championship winning defense behind you. I think it's a different mental game for him at that point. So all that to say, like, what I believed in sort of the numbers that were there for J.J. McCarthy during his two years when he was a starter at Michigan, they showcased a guy who could be a starter at the NFL level. And like I said at the very top, if Minnesota was getting Michigan version of J.J. McCarthy, I think they're winning ball games. The problem is that they're not. They're getting a player who is second guessing himself, feeling the pressure, not seeing things the way that he needs to. And now all of the his fundamentals are kind of going haywire as well because he thinks he's got to make up for it. So that's, that's, I knew we'd have to have the JJ McCarthy conversation right off the top of it. It's the crux of this. Yeah. They're four and seven because of their quarterback situation.

It's not just JJ because they needed a better plan than going to Carson Wentz and then Max Rosmer. Right. That's on the GM. But JJ is a large piece of the pie of why things have gotten to this place this season. And, you know, honestly, not to tie it to the Jets, but I covered the 2023 Jets, obviously, doing pre and post game. Aaron Rogers gets hurt immediately, blah, blah, blah. That team, like the Vikings, was essentially built to win, right?

They had a very strong defense that Robert Sala had been building for a while. They made enough moves on offense. they felt like with Garrett Wilson and Brees Hall, they liked their skill talent. Aaron Rogers gets hurt. Zach Wilson has to play. And Zach Wilson and was playing at exactly what we've seen from J.J. McCarthy. That team that was built to win with Aaron Rogers goes seven and ten.

Seven to ten. Defense fights their ass off every single week, man. But the damn breaks when you get nothing from the quarterback position. And then the run game starts to falter when teams know you're getting nothing from the quarterback position. And the Vikings are kind of in the situation where they were going into the year with McCarthy, so it's different in that sense. But when you're getting that level of quarterback play with a roster that was built to win now, it could still bottom you out, as we're seeing.

Not bottom you out because they have four wins, but this is like they're at their floor, right? That's what it feels like with them. Yes, yeah, with this roster for sure. Last thing on McCarthy, because I want to start to talk about Quesia daupo Mensa, their general manager. But Teddy gave us a $10 super chat, which we appreciate, Teddy. Thank you. And this is topical here. JJ played in an offense in college where they barely had them throw the ball.

In hindsight, is that something that you guys would care more about when scouting? Or do you think that it doesn't really matter? Absolutely matters. So I think that we answer that question a little bit there with McCarthy is like even how I look to, I like to put quarterbacks in certain situations to see who they are in situations where I know that you're going to need to step up in the NFL individually. And even in those situations, McCarthy played well. And I thought that that was kind of enough.

And so for me, I think I will take that into account even more now moving forward. But it's not like we haven't already. Like when you look at a wide receiver, what's their threat percentage? What's their yards per route run? When they're on the field, does the team emphasize them as the main receiver? Because if they do, they're probably pretty damn good. Same thing with running backs. How much of the carry load do you carry, right?

Are you somebody that the team's going to lean on in certain got to have it? Third, fourth, goal line situations. Are you the guy that they want out there? Like, there is something to be said. Now, college to NFL, game plans, certain coaching staffs, all of that. It's not, it's not like a specific mold that you have to fit every single player into. but generally, Connor, if you're pretty good,

they're going to find you the football and they're going to want to get you the football constantly and they're going to want the football in your hand. And I think that there were a lot of reasons why you may have been able to brush off that that wasn't the case for McCarthy. Harbaugh didn't want to put the ball in harm's way. They had an elite defense behind them.

Harbaal was always going to run the ball because he knew he could control it and it wasn't a risk. they had one of the best offensive lines in the country. All of these excuses existed. But at the end of the day, you got to be able to take meaningful reps that matter. And I just don't think that J.J. McCarthy got enough of them for him to succeed early. I want that to be very clear. Yeah.

That's what we're talking about here. Not the fact that JJ, well, I don't want to speak for you on this, but for me, it's not the fact that JJ can't be a good NFL quarterback. It's just these are now reasons. why you wouldn't think he will be good right away. He still has more learning to do. And I think that we're seeing that now with the Vikings. Without a doubt. And the injuries, you know, hampering development,

there's bad luck to that, but you also do become concerned when it starts to become a trend, where it's just constantly like, okay, you missed the season, torn meniscus, all right. But this year, you've now had the ankle. You've had the concussion. The little thing starts to pull. pile up and it's it's not like oh you're injury prone because you got a concussion all these

quarterbacks are getting them but it's the fact that he's a guy that trev it feels like he just he can't afford to be missing much more time yep because he's he's got to go through almost this trial by fire we think right now as crazy as it is he's running out of time in minnesota now without without a doubt because this is a well want to just take this to the quezzi conference This is an easy transition to Quezzi. Yes. Yeah, 100%. So let's talk about their general manager,

Quessia Adolfo Mensa, who a little bit of a background in him. He's got his bachelor's degree in economics from Princeton, has a master's in economics from Stanford. He was the Niners. Just stack it up degrees from top-notch university. Well, look, man, there's a reason why. This guy loves school.

Teams were. This guy loves attending class. There is a reason why the NFL was really hot on this dude when he became a legitimate general manager candidate. Niners, manager and director of football research from 2013 to 2019. Then he was the Brown's VP of football operations to help them with all sorts of things in 2020 and 2021. And then became the Vikings general manager in 2022. Now, just to make sure that we've got the timelines correct.

Remember, he was hired in January, Questia Daph Omenza was. And then the chat. What? I just look at the chat is. Absolute geek. This guy runs the lunch, nerd, dork, dweeb. It's just, come on. Hey, he's a rich-ass nerd.

Hate on him all you want. This fellow's got the job that we all want and the money that we all want. So good for Quessie in that light. Very true. We salute him for getting to that point. What's the next young Sheldon? So that cheese. Sauder is just out of control.

All right. The next young Sheldon, he said. So he takes the general manager job in 2022. And I'd like to look at draft history from him first as the next slide that we have here. Can we go back Tyler to 2022, actually, which was his first draft class? Because Connor, this is ugly. this is one of the worst four-year stretches that you can name for a general manager. And that's why we have the door open to having the conversation of if this dude is back next year for the Vikings.

Because the way that they have drafted, simply put, has not been good enough. Lewis seen very quickly off the team, I think within two years. Andrew Booth, it might have been two or three years. Ed Ingram, not on the team anymore. Now he's playing for Houston. and Brian Osamoa, gone after two or three years. Caleb Evans, not on the team anymore. Ezzie, not on the team anymore.

Ty Chandler is, but he's on IR. Low, not on the team anymore. Jalen Naylor, obviously, like, this was the hit. That's the guy. But here's the problem. You had all these draft picks. You got one hit? It's a sixth round?

One hit. Now, we're going to talk about draft trades for him in a bit, because I want to break down the draft values. that he has had with all these wheeling and the onesies out, but not quite yet. Just two players were on this class three years after the 2022 NFL draft. They were in a spot where it was a new general manager and a new head coach. So they traded back a bunch because they wanted to acquire new picks in theory to get their guys on the team.

The problem is they didn't pick good football players. They picked guys that were either hurt or just weren't good enough because, a lot of these guys, even if they were hurt throughout the early parts of their career, they just straight up were not good enough. This is one of the worst draft classes that you will see. Let's go to 2023. The simulator on auto pilot could have done better.

Unfortunately so. Jordan Addison in the first round. Okay. Jordan Edison. Obviously good for you. Mackay Blackman, not on the team. Jay Ward, backup safety. Jacqueline Roy, not on the team. Jaron Hall, not on the team. Jain McBride, not on the team. One. You have one hit.

You can say Jay Ward was a fourth round pick and he's still a backup safety for you. So if you want to call that two hits, you can't. But we're, once again, six picks here because you traded, you traded some of these picks to have a smaller class this season. You have one hit, and it's Jordan Addison. You have one hit at a position that you already had Justin Jefferson. Right. Not ideal.

Let's go to 2024. I love it. Let's go to 2024. You trade up for J.J. McCarthy, because the quarterback carousel is going crazy that day. So you trade up for J.J. McCarthy. You trade up five spots and a lot of draft capital to go get Dallas Turner. And then it's Kyrie Jackson. Tragically, obviously, rest in peace to Kyrie Jackson. Walter Rouse, who's still on the team, but doesn't really get looks. Shrine legend. Will Reichert? Good.

Hey, got one. That's kind of your hit. Michael Juergens, backup center, Levi-Drake Rodriguez, okay. Like, I think that he's solid as well. But you've got what? Dallas Turner's kind of turning into a hit, obviously. You know, like if he continues to play well. But even then, like John Grenard's the best defensive lineman on the team.

You kind of would have wanted Dallas Turner to be that. Now, it's complimentary, so I don't want to be too harsh here. But you look at this draft class and you go, oh, man, for everything that they gave up for that draft class, especially the fact that Walter Rouse didn't get in looks with offensive linemen who are hurt. Will Riker you feel good about but that's that it's not looking like the aggressiveness from that draft is going to pay off for them.

No. And then in 2025 last year, both you and I gave this draft a C. You gave it a C minus I gave it a C. And the reason why we did is because you sat here at 24 and picked Donovan Jackson who I can't hate too much on it because I even said on the draft grades episode, when we did it, this sort of completes in theory what could be one of the best

offensive lines in the NFL. But I believe it was only two picks later. The Falcons gave up a first round pick in the future to move up to go get James Pierce, Jr. You could have had an extra first round pick to move back. And you probably said no to that. so that I don't love and then

you don't have a second round pick because of how aggressive you were and trading up for Dallas turn of the previous season then with your only day two pick is bizarre you picked Ty Felton the one position you didn't need

what and guess what he doesn't play he doesn't play he's got one catch and now we're going to get to the free agency part of this. And Jalen Naylor is a free agent. And I've seen Vikings fans be like, yeah,

we should bring back Jailen Nair. He's playing really well. He's got good chemistry with J.J. McCarthy. You can't do that. You just drafted Ty Feltin in the third round when you had no day two picks. Dude. If you bring, if they bring back Jalen Naylor to be wide receiver three on a second NFL contract after just drafting Ty Feltin in the third round, what are we doing? Dude, it's insane. That's about as bad of a four-year stretch as you will see from a general manager drafting. Well, he also uses draft picks as toilet paper. I mean, the Adam Thielen trade this year, it's like, let me just take a fourth round pick and light it on fire.

The capital used to go up for a JJ, the capital used to get Dallas Turner. The asset management with this organization, they've done some good things in free agency. but the asset management, specifically draft capital with this organization, is arguably bottom three in the league. I'd actually feel pretty confident writing that nink. And didn't they? What did they gave up for Adam Thielen earlier this year? Four.

Fourth. Well, it was a fourth, but they got something back. Like, they got, like it was a, they got picks back in it. So it wasn't like completely, I think, if I remember correctly, giving up a fourth. I had the exact terms. But you got nothing for Adam Thielen. That goes into exactly what you're saying of the draft capital management of this team is one that...

All right, here it is, Trevor. It's actually worse than I thought. Oh, geez, okay. What is it? They traded a fifth this year and a fourth for 2007 for Adam Thielen, a conditional seventh this year. and a 2027 5th. Okay, so you're getting something back both years, but still, I mean, you very clearly. Massive swaps, though.

I know, I'm with you. And very clearly, like, that's negative value because it didn't, it didn't work out. He did nothing. He was cut. Right. Right. So, yeah, man. But isn't the point of Quessi, if Quessi's bad at drafting, which he,

is bad at drafting. We just showed you. Isn't one of his strengths supposed to be the compiling and usage and understanding of draft capital and a surplus that can make up for you not being a good drafter? I'm very glad that you brought that up because for this episode,

I made a, I gathered some information for Tyler to make a separate slide, which looks at the draft plus or minus value. you for all of the draft day trades that Quessie has done over the last four years. That's funny. I am sure that the Vikings have their own value chart. So we are going off of draft text draft value chart, which is a baseline. It's not the Bible. So the numbers that we're seeing here, you don't have to take them as long. but they are guidelines here in an experiment that I was very curious of exactly the question

that you were asking. The whole reason why you would have Quesia daffo Mensa as a general manager is for this reason to understand draft pick value and be able to quantify it in a way that gives you an edge when you are trading draft picks, when you are acquiring a certain draft talent, like, oh, like normally the return on investment for a certain position is this, this is sort of our need. This is how this goes into the formula. I think that the whole reason of why you would hire Quessi is for that. And when you look at things,

if we're just going off of the draft tech value draft chart, which you guys can find if you just Google it, it's not like he has a lot of plus value. The only spot where he really has plus value is in that 2024 draft, And the only reason why I give him plus value there for the Dallas Turner trade is simply because I am operating under the baseline rule of when you trade future picks, you're like taking the round and subtracting around when it comes to the value. Right. But if I don't do that, like if I just take the value of what was the 2025 third and the 2025 fourth, that is also a negative value trade to trade up for Dowler. so you have negative value trading up for jj which look it's a quarterback kind of is what it is

yeah you're going to negative value trading up for dallas turner uh overall net negative value in 23 and i believe it's overall net negative value in 2022 when he did all of this crazy moving up and down and all this wheeling and dealing that 22 draft where we went away thinking whoa quest he's the master like draft pick dealer here it's kind of close to negative value from our standard chart that obviously is public, which, like I said, might be different from the Vikings. But that's where I was really curious about Quessie. And even beyond not drafting well, because look, we'll be honest here on this show.

Drafting is hard. Like, it's hard to get it right. Yeah, but he makes it look like Mandarin sometimes. those four classes are really bad and the trade pick value on our side of things is also bad and I think that's a really tough sell to give him another draft class and to be honest with you Connor I wouldn't do it I would I would move on and I would hire a new general manager because I just there's there's just not a lot there I'm with you all the way I have seen in two different seasons enough to believe Kevin O'Connell is a good coach.

I have a consistent history and sample size of Cuezzi not handling their draft portfolio correct in terms of asset management or making the picks. And that's a harsh reality. Like, I'm sure he's a really smart guy. Yes, yeah. I applaud his road to the NFL as much as anyone. one in the league. Because I always like stories that aren't like, well, he was an intern and then he was

an area scout and then he was a director and now he's a GM. Credit to those guys that grind, but I like that the league has gotten a little bit more creative, not much more creative, but a little bit more creative for outside the box thinkers that don't always develop those bad biases that some old school scouts do. But it just hasn't worked. And that's it. It was an interesting process or idea of a guy that hopefully. looks at, you know, roster building a little differently, but it just hasn't worked.

But the problem is Trevor, and I think you align with me on this. I do believe in the coach, because I've seen enough that let's try a different regime constructing the roster for this coach. Yep. And O'Connell, too, another thing is besides him himself, he has shown he knows how to hire a staff. Like, this guy has Brian Flores coaching his defense. You know what I mean?

he's had different coordinators or different assistants that are successful. So, yeah, it just feels like Cuezia's had enough opportunities and has let you down. And it would be really disappointing if they give him another shot. He continues to be who he's been. And then everybody gets wiped out here. Yeah. Because I think O'Connell will go on and have success somewhere else if that happens. Yeah.

Kenneth, Kenneth gave us a super chat. He said six times $10 assets is better than two times $25 assets in economic theory, but it's definitely not in the NFL. That's correct. Yeah, it's more darts to the dartboard. Like that's that is absolutely what you want. And I think that Questys actually sort of played both sides of that coin, right? I mean, he played that true economic strategy and theory in that 2022 draft,

and it obviously didn't work out big time. And then he played the opposite side of it for 2024. And obviously, like, it remains to be seen. And if JJ was playing better, like, that class looks so much better. But, yeah, it's just been a struggle for them. The chats, the chat's telling us to don't forget about the UDFAs. I don't remember. Okay, so we got Benjamin Yorossack.

Hell yeah, baby. This year. Tyler Beatty. Pace was, right? Yes, he was. Yes. I always attribute UDFAs to, like, coaching staffs, though.

Maybe I couldn't. They're often signed by area scouts. Usually to pull back the curtain a little bit, and coaching staffs also obviously find those guys. Right. But how you typically get UDFAs is your area scouts are going into schools, they're watching practice, they're building relationships a lot of times, either if not with the actual player themselves, the agent of the player.

And they call in rounds five, six, seven, and start almost pitching like a college, program where hey let's get your guy in here we have a 51 52 and 53rd spot open on the roster we're looking for a gunner we're looking for a returner we're looking for a third running back and that's you're pitching them on that so i not to pile on but all of the front offices that like that i've either talked to or known i've never heard of a single team that the gm has anything right anything to do with a udFA ever yeah that process is too fast It's too fast. Fast, deep.

Yeah. Really deep. So, yeah. The chat's pointing out that you're six, seven farming. I didn't even hear it. But the freaking NFL draft is rounds. How many rounds is it, Connor? One, two, three, four, five.

And then everybody gets really tired and takes a nap. Here are some general manager candidates. I know some people in the chat are saying, hey, they just extended Questio daffo Mensa. Extensions as general managers, in my opinion don't mean anything when it comes to the people that own the vikings who man they have a lot of money i mean it's yeah i i don't think um i don't think those extensions matter if you want to move on for somebody you can move on for somebody that those don't really matter i i read an article from jordan rodrigue who doesn't excellent job covering the league for the athletic

and she was mentioning potential general managers that are sort of like next guys that could be in the next general manager um cycle and so i compiled a couple that i liked the most maybe for this job and specifically to work with Kevin O'Connell. Alec Hallibay, who is the right-hand man of Howie Roseman, Ian Cunningham, who has been in the Bears organization with Ryan Poles. Ed Dodds, we have talked about a ton as somebody who is a well-respected scouting eye in the industry, the assistant general manager for the Indianapolis Colts under Chris Ballard. Ryan Cowden is the VP of Player Personnel for the New England Patriots. I think I actually like him the most.

The more that I read about him, he has an extensive scouting background himself. He has interviewed for different general manager positions in the past. And Connor, he was actually the guy. He was in Tennessee with the Titans. He was the guy that Mike Vrable pounded the table for to be the general manager after John Robinson. And then ownership went with Rand Carthin instead.

That's the problem. And now Ryan Cowden is in New England under Elliot Wolfe. And so, like, look, I'm going to be honest with you. If Mike Vrable trusts you and thinks you're a good football dude for that position, I'm going to trust that because Mike Frable is a damn good football coach and he understands what it takes to win. And then the last one is Ray Agnew, who I know that you have brought up before we've done this exercise. Yeah. So, yeah.

I was going to say, if I had my pick, I'd be taking Cowden or Ray Agnew, to be honest with you. Right. I would say on this list, Cowden is the least likely to leave, which is funny because he has the lesser title out of all of them. But he just, he's stapled to Vrable. That is Vrable's guy. I honestly think, and this is me guessing or making an educated assumption, if Cowden got offered a GM job somewhere else, I think Rabel would almost find a way in the New England organization to rework his time. to stay in New England. I really do. Now, you never know. Like, there's only so many of these things out there. Agnew, I love. Agnew for the Lions gets a lot of the credit for building their lines on both sides of the ball. That's kind of his MO. A lot of people tell you that he is an excellent trenches builder and scout. Halby is regarded as one of the more out. The problem is we see a lot regimes when they move on from one guy they go they kind of go a different direction haliby though is an outside-the-box thinker um analytics based obviously more rounded than that but very very analytical

and then you have cunningham who's an old school scout kind of came up the you know the traditional way the long road of scouting as is dodds but dodds has held a more senior title for longer time than Cunningham. Dodds has helped run the Colts drafts with Ballard for a very, very long time. Dodds has had multiple GM interviews. It's just a matter of finding the right job. Do you have a preference? I think Agnew is the best evaluator. I think Halby is the most modern, but I don't think they'll go that way again. I don't know if they will either. I think Dodds would be the best at the job.

I think there's a lot. There's a lot of people who like Cunningham as well in this. There's a big reputation. I believe he's originally from that, like that group that's like Joe Douglas and Hortiz and all of them. I'm pretty sure they were all kind of came up together. I think I go Agnew because he was also at. He was with the Rams when KOC was with the Rams, I believe. not that not that i i don't know if they yes walked a lot but i think they overlapped a bunch when

they were with the so wow one year maybe one year looks like they might have overlap that 2020 season but might have some familiarity there so the ravens the 2008 ravens if i have this right. Eric DeCosta was a director for them. Ozzie was obviously the GM. Joe Douglas was a national scout. Chad Alexander, who I think is Hortiz's assistant GM with the Chargers, was an area scout.

I think Hortiz and Cunningham were both on that staff as well. Damn. Hortiz was a scout for the Ravens. That was the last year before he became a director. And then Cunningham was a personnel assistant. That was his first job. So the 2008 Baltimore Ravens are actually one of the biggest trees of higher-end executives currently in the NFL today.

Yeah, yeah. All right. Okay, so who would you pick? You said that Ed Dodge does the job. I would pick. I would take Dodds. That would be the most rounded of the job. I think Agnew, if it's just like, hey, man, we need an evaluator.

Kevin O'Connell's going to handle a lot of the rest. Agnew would be really good for this team. Okay. All right. So I'll let you pick this one because the chat was very impressed with your knowledge, your extensive knowledge of the assistant GMs that are coming up. Peter, once again, reminding everybody that Connor has industry sources. It's very true.

You're in the chat saying Ed, Ed, Ed Dodds, Dodds was his choice there. That's what I will go with you. All right. So let's go with Ed Dodds here as we are rebuilding the Minnesota Vikings. By the way, we're going to get to a handful of super chats here in a second. but Brandon, $5 Super Sat said, Trevor, met you in Charlotte a while back. You guys are the absolute best.

What's up, Brandon? Good to hear from you, brother. Hope everything's going on well. All right. I'm going to read an ad. And, Connor, you can prepare for some of these super chats. For battle. That we're going to battle in the super chats that we're going to fire through.

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You guys are incredible. We love you. If you were watching the show live, if you're a Vikings fan, tune in for the first time checking out NFLSC, and you're not subscribed, we'd love for you to be. Join the addicts, join the community. We love for you guys to join the community. Join us when we do these Fix Your Franchise.

We will spend the exact same amount of care and detail going into our prospect rankings, which is the meat and cheese of this show here as an NFL draft show. And so if you guys aren't subscribed, we would love for YouTube. So check if you are. It's a free way to help support this show, and we would absolutely love for it. So we appreciate you guys. I want to hammer out some of these super chats where we get to the roster here. Yeah, a couple of super chats.

Axel MTG, how much trade compensation with Jill Burrow cost. even if it's just a thought experiment for first, four seconds, players, and maybe thirds as well. You can only trade three years in advance. So you would basically have to, Mike Ditka, Ricky Williams, all seven rounds for three straight years to probably start the conversation for Joe Burrow. And even that, that is never happening.

Sam, $2 super chat. Kyle, Drake May, Manung guy. Hell yeah. I know that you appreciated that one. Josh, $5, super chat, saying, Being stuck between J.J.J. McCarthy and Max Grossmer. Tough situation. Hey, KOC, like we said, could suit up. Could potentially suit up. Maybe. He might have to, as Teddy Long said.

Obama, Obama been booling. $10 super chat. Thanks for pumping this garbage truck. I would like to call my favorite site team, wash your hands tray. It's about to get dirty. That's true. It has. Make sure you have plenty of uncrustables, Connor. Just making sure that you're doing.

Haven't had one today, but post-show Uncrustible will hit. Zach Cardi, Scott Satterfield to Kentucky free Brendan Sorsby. Oh, interesting. Sorosby definitely needs another year. Yeah, and I think he'll transfer somewhere. So, Lancey, $2 super chat. If Archmanning comes out, are we taking him as a ramp with the Falcons pick? Damn.

That'd be electric. Josh Rebar. Thank you for the super chat. Number 6, 7, 8, and 9. now all unusable between brain rot seven eating eight and j j mccarthy that's actually like really funny because he's right we're running out of usable numbers well as he always is in the chat two dollars there is snowmire on saturday yes got that a w for you there connor dante he really did i was applauding in my living room dante 65 thank you for the super chat the champs are here

You guys have made learning about other teams fun. As a Jess fan, I believe the New York Jets. Jets. Yes. Or maybe wife's name is Jess. I don't know. I don't really care about the Vikings, but I'm going to sit and watch this entire show.

Hell yeah. Thank you. Dante, that's awesome. We love that. $2 super chat from Andy. UK Sicko here. Shout out to people across the pond, tuning in. Trey J Jettas for three first.

And Jets it? Hmm. The Jets strategy of just acquiring picks. I don't... Yeah, but the Jets didn't have a Justin Jefferson to trade. That's true. I have some thoughts on a Justin Jefferson trade, which I'll get to in a second.

Obama again, this pot is the Audric Estimate of Alfred Collins of Bishop Fitzgeralds. That's big words. The argument is the estimate of Alfred Collins and Bishop Fitzgeralds. A little skeddy says I would trade nine first round picks for Burrow. Yeah, I bet you would. Jonathan, what would the Vikings record be with Daniel Jones at quarterback? Daniel's regressed heavily over the last three weeks

He's definitely hurt Like really hurt It's not running I mean we're at least At least two wins more Yeah I'll give him seven wins Yeah I'd probably give him Don't

Probably give him seven wins Law 5 dollar super chat KOC arguing with the team doctor about whether legally liable if Carson Wentz dies on the field. I don't think he is. So, yeah, we can. No, he's not.

Parker, thank you for the super chat. Vikings are probably a game or two above 500 right now with the top 30 quarterback play of the season. It's been the most hopeless football I've ever watched. Brother, if you think this is bad. You have no idea. You think this is the most hopeless football you've ever watched? What is the, what's the meme of Mel Gibson?

in Passion of the Christ and he's like talking the director and he's got all like the blood and the crown of thorns and everything and he's talking to the director and it's basically like you're like Vikings fans are the director and they're talking to you as a Jets fan and you're just like yeah yeah tell me how hopeless it is okay I'd love to hear uh five dollars again from Obama wow just we just unloading the wallet finally made a pimp your franchise live and it's my beloved Vikings much love uh from the sex addicts we appreciate appreciate you. Joshua, $10 Super Chat. I love the work that you do. Just want to say

JETS, Jets, Jets, Jets, Jets. Three of the last five, Connor. They're hot. Continue to build brick by brick. Continue to find that sustainable success. They're not even going to have an option to pick a quarterback. You know, like, oh, did they take one this year or not? No, they're going to be. Won too many games.

Yeah, they're going to win too many games. Sorry for winning all the time. Yeah, Kellynne Williamson. Wellness Check for my boy football analysis. So are you for winning all the time, you said. Sorry for being a winner of three of five. All right. Let's get back to it because we got to make sure that we got to hit the mock draft as well. So let's get to the offense that I have, the projected offense here.

Quarterback, question marks. I have J.J. McCarthy in there, obviously, because I think he's going to be on the team. Running back, who knows, Justin Jefferson's still here, Jordan Addison, still here. T.J. Hocketson, maybe I'll get to that in a second. Jalen Naylor, maybe I'll get to that in a second. Christian Garrisaw, Brian O'Neill, Donovan, Jackson, Wilford. rise. And then Ryan Kelly, maybe probably not, though. So you're probably looking at filling one starting center spot, a starting running back spot, potentially a starting quarterback

spot. And then we'll kind of talk about tight end and wide receiver. How's that look to you, Connor? Yeah, it makes sense to me. They tacked on a little extension when they traded for Jordan Mason. So I know he's not their prototypical lead back, but he'll be one of their running backs next year with the way they structured the contract. So before we head over to defense, I just wanted to, I wanted to throw these options out to the good people. We got a couple of different ways that we could go about this quarterback situation. Because I, because we both agree. J.J. is on this team.

Well, I don't want to speak for you, actually. I don't know if we've talked about this here on this show. It might have been a different show I was on. I think J.J. is on this team next year. I don't like J.J. is not on the team. But you can't go into next year with it being just him. Dude, you'd be selling so low if you move him now. So here are the options that I have.

And, you know, being the wing chicken wing connoisseurs that we are, this is how I see it stacked up. The mild option, you signed Jimmy Garapolo, signed Davis Mills, both those guys are free agents, bring back Kirk Cousins because I think he gets cut from the Falcons. I think they're just going to post June 1 cut him. So I think that he'll be available. And you can throw in James here if you wanted to as well.

I don't really think that James is. his KOC style of quarterback, but you can throw him in there as well. So just wings? Yes, suggest wings. So those are the mild options that we have there. The medium options, we're getting a little more spicy here. You signed Daniel Jones, who was in the building. Yeah, notice the way around the place.

Now you can bring him back, depending on how he finishes with the Indianapolis Colts. That will depend on what the price tag is there because he only signed a one-year deal. Trade for Anthony Richardson. What would it cost, Trev? I have no freaking clue. No idea. Not much. You can look into it.

It won't cost too much. You could entertain it. And then this is also where the trade for Mac Jones situation comes in. You've got a couple of extra day three draft picks here if you moved on for, because Mac Jones is under contract next year with the 49ers. So is Davis. Davis Mills has had a sneakily a year tacked on to his. Oh, he did?

Yeah. I forgot about that. Yeah. He had a year. They gave him a one-year extension and added, like, new money into it. But it's all, I think it's all guaranteed. So the Texans, like, he's their backup next year. Okay, all right, okay.

So sub-him with James, I guess, for the options there. Well, James also has a sneaky one more year left. Dude, all these backups signed two-year deals. All of them. Jacoby Percette. They signed James to a two-year deal to be the inactive quarterback. Dude, and it's genius now because now they have a great, backup for Jackson Dart next year.

Joe Shane's done, committed a lot of sins. That was one of the smartest things he's done. Peter says Parmesan garlic goes hard. People really like palm garlic. Hand up. What, if you like it? I don't. It's not something I

order. I know. If it's like out in a buffet. Sure. But I would never, I never are for what you just said is so low. Yeah. If you tell me, hey, this is out for you in front of a buffet, I'm probably eating most things, just going to be honest with you.

That's exactly right. But order garlic palm wings, it has to, I don't think, no. I don't think I'm... It's hard to pass on better options. Yeah, lemon pepper elite, you're right, guys. Okay, the Mac Jones trade, I think is the one that makes the most sense. I completely

agree. The... I want to go there. What'd you say? He would want to go there. 100% he would. Yes. Yes. The hot... bar here for chicken wing quarterback strategies is drafting a first round quarterback depending on where you end up picking if you're in the top 10 Mendoza Moore Simpson one of those guys if arch is in this class you know he's in that conversation as well the habanero level is signing

kailernery because i i think that you could probably just wait out the cardinals to cut him as opposed to having to trade something for him but if you would have to trade something for him his contract is so big that you wouldn't have to trade a lot for him. That gets tricky for the Vikings. I'll talk about that in a second. And then the ghost pepper one is trading for Trevor Lawrence, which at this point in time, the Jags are competing for the division.

They're probably going to be competing for the division until the very end. I think that this one is very, very unlikely at this point. So those are my, those are my quarterback wing flavor options. And I actually think the one that makes the most sense that we should pursue is them trading for Mack Jones, to be honest. Yep. I think it's realistic. I think it's practical, and I think it makes sense for both sides.

Yeah, so there we go. Okay, so we're signing Mac Jones then. So it's Mac Jones and J.J. McCarthy there. The projected starting lineup on defense, Jonathan Grenard, Dallas Turner, John Allen, Jalen Redman, who's playing really well. Blake Cashman at linebacker, Eric Wilson, he's a free agent, but you could bring him back. Byron Murphy, Isaiah Rogers is under contract, but like, Do you feel good enough about how he has played?

I think that you could also have a slot option if you want, although Byron Murphy plays in the slot and on the outside. But Josh Mattelis, that's on me, by the way. I didn't catch the typo there. But that's what I'm calling him from now on. And then you have another safety spot there as well. Look good? Yes.

Okay. Team needs. Pretty clear what we need to go into the draft for. Quarterback, running back, corner safety. Right. we brought in Mac Jones here because we think that's most realistic. And now he's competing with nine over summer. He is. He is.

So we're not probably drafting a quarterback. No, right. In this, we're not drafting one here. Because I genuinely think like Mac Jones, Big Josh, Josh. Blue chew, Josh. Come on, Peter. That's Peter. Come on, Peter. Dude, he pays for the pod.

I have to read his stuff. That's true. Somebody said Bejosh Robinson. It's pronounced Bejosh. You guys are amazing. I love you all. Dumbest stuff. It's amazing.

So the cap space, here we go. I'll make quick work of this so we can get into the mock draft. Right now they have a negative 51 million in effective cap space. That's 30th most in the NFL. Not great. They only have 41 players as well under contract, which I say only, but that's that's kind of around what you normally have the cut candidates that we have here

Ryan Kelly immediately saves you 12 mil and they'll do that because he's been dealing with concussions they will cut him they'll get the 12 mil Aaron Jones saves you 7 mil so they'll get that there's 19 mil right there Tj Hawkinson if you cut him you save 8 million but in all reality like they'll probably rework his deal I agree save a lot more you'll probably still be on the team next year and then Javon Hargrave saves you a level another 11 million as well and Jalen Redman's out playing him right now with Hargrave being above age 30 so without really doing much at all whatsoever, that's $30 million that you can create like that. So it gets you close to negative $20 million that you have under the cap.

And when I looked into all of these contracts, guys like Jonathan Grenard, Justin Jefferson, T.J. Hawkinson, Andrew Van Ginkle, Brian O'Neill, Christian Darrasaw, all of these guys that are very likely to be still on the team next year. The only one who wouldn't be would probably be Hawkinson, but I still think he is. you restructure all of those guys and you go from being negative to having like 20-ish million in cap space that you could work with. So they're not going to be super active

in free agency like they were last year, but the way that they have done all of their contracts with void years and with no guaranteed money for some of these guys over the next couple of seasons is to rework them and get under the cap. I just say that for Vikings fans to look at it because it looks really intimidating

when you look at their cap space. It is very easy for them to get cap compliant and even have some money to spend here so well said yeah they're going to be able to get out of this hole and even make some minor moves yeah um with that said let's throw off the mock draft simulator oh hell yeah let's get into let's get into it oh we go the free agents that are right there just uh because so tall can show up actually i think they're going to bring back eric wilson because he's been playing well he overtook uh ivan pace's spot so i think they'll bring him back.

Ivan Pace Jr. will be back because he's a restricted free agent. Jalen Redmond will be as well because he's an extended. A low amount. Yeah. I'm not bringing Jailen Nailer back. Well, no. You need to start getting cheaper at wide receiver. Yeah.

Yeah. And that's why you drafted Ty Filton. Unless a new GM comes in is like, I don't think he's any good. I'm going to resign Jalen Nailer instead. I just don't think that that's going to have. No. I don't think that's going to happen. Okay, let's dig into the mock draft similar. It's do a three-round mock draft here because the Vikings have all three of their picks.

So right now, just to, you know, recap, we got, Kevin O'Connell was still the offensive, or it is still the head coach here. Ed Dodds is the general manager. We brought in Mack Jones as a quarterback competition for JJ McCarthy. We're probably trading, I don't know. I don't think they're going to want to give up anything above a fourth, so it might take like a couple of picks. but we'll keep the first second and third round picks for this exercise.

So let's enter the draft. We probably have a cornerback need. We have a safety need. We probably have a center need, although they have Michael Juergens who can step up. I think they have Jake Rendell as well, if I remember correctly. But they have these guys available to step in at center if they wanted to. But let's fire it up.

Picking at number 11. There he is, brother. Yeah, staring you in the face. There he is. There he is. just locked on to a staring contest right here. It's none out of the Notre Dame running back. Jeremiah Love.

I think the Vikings fans have been clamoring for him as an option for them in the first round. I understand that a lot of teams or a lot of people don't like drafting running back in the first round. But, dude, I think that this dude's different. And especially if you have Mack Jones, a quarterback, if you have Jeremiah Love in the backfield, you need a good run game. Hawkinson, Addison, Justin Jefferson. and that offensive line with KOC, man, I think things can get like that. I think this offense can get fixed like that.

How do you feel about it? I love it. And I think this is one where his big playability being inserted into this offense in both the run and pass game is going to be so quarterback friendly. So, I mean, hey, if we're going to do, we should do two mocks. We should do one with love and we should do one without. Okay. All right. Alfie said, go ahead, Trevor.

Take Keny and Sadiq. we won't I can't remember what exactly it was but it was basically we won't get mad there you go all I'm saying folks Tyler Warren on the Raiders and they're better this year you ever hear a thing called 12 personnel tell me I'm wrong tell me wrong all of you look me in the eye tell me I'm wrong and because of that we're taking Keny Sadie here

no we're not I'm just kidding take it. Let's take Jeremiah Love. And then like you said, we'll do another draft where we're not taking a running back with a top 12 pick because I know some people will think that that's fun. So 43, this is, what do we think of here? D.B. Who's a corner? Yeah, can we see corners here? Oh, I might have to go to safety. Well, you know, you know I have no problem taking A.J. Halls a year. That's kind of who I was looking at. The safety from L.S. He had another, I thought he had a really good game. Can you click

on his name? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He did grade well versus Oklahoma. He had another interception in this game. I just think he's a stud, man. He hits like a Mack truck. He's got great instincts when he's in robber rolls. He can come down and get plenty of interceptions for you like we have seen this season and we've seen from him throughout his career. I think he's a stud starting safety. I really do. And look at versatility on the snap alignment. I mean, he plays the slot. He plays in the box and he plays a lot of true free.

Yeah. So I think he's an option there. Chris Johnson potentially. I think Chris Johnson actually really fits well with Brian Flores because Brian Flores, if he's still going to be the defensive coordinator, he likes to blitz heavy and play zone. And Chris Johnson has been excellent this year at being an off zone corner. He's somebody who can really manipulate space,

the timing of when to come down and break on the ball and break on routes. I think Chris Johnson's been excellent this year. So I would think about him here as well. Is there, we've got some love for Big Citrus, as we obviously always do here on this show. You like Emmanuel McNeil Warren as well. Would you consider him at 43? No, that's early. That's early.

I would think more third round for him. Oh, we have two? We have two third round picks. Yeah, I would like McNeil Warren one of the threes if I was going that route. Maybe we'd pick Chris Johnson here and get the corner. And go safety later. And try to, yeah. And I think we'll have the ability to get a safety.

Yeah, let's go Chris Johnson here. And then for safeties, we're at 76 now. I don't think McNeil Warren made it. Oh, he did. He did. All right, we have the ability to take him. Connor, talk to the good people about him. Yeah, McNeil Warren, you got length.

You got range. He's a big hitter. He can come down in the box and help it run support. He can match up with tight ends. So someone to me that's played a lot of roles at Toledo, he's forced, I think, eight fumbles in the last three years. Like, this guy makes plays. So, and you're once again, going to see some snap versus.

subtility there as both a strong safety and a free safety. So McNeil Warren, a traitsy kind of player out of Toledo. Tell me if you've heard that before with their DBs. Charlie just said Toledo becoming DBU? It's insane. It's insane. Okay, let's take McNeil Warren here and then let's go full best player available for our pick here at 97.

Big Christmas? Well, I think that Peter in the chat was saying, you know, Do you just take, like, Drew Aller? Like, do you take, like, another quarterback? Let's develop mental. Rotation. Aren't your developmental reps going to go to JJ, though? Or am I, like.

I would agree with you. I don't think I'm not taking quarterback here. Isaiah World was there. And for as much as I, I'm skeptical. I've been skeptical on Isaiah World as a high draft pick. I don't mind him as a developmental draft pick. Right. This is a place where he could actually sit and develop as a swing tackle.

Yeah, because what's there? Let's see. he hasn't been as good as I had hoped for coming into the year no it's and I think it's just a lot of it's a big step up yeah it really is they're losing just in school so they have Walter Rouse who could be that backup offensive tackle

I don't I don't I don't hate taking oh Brian well Brian Parker could be an option like if you wanted a potential center like long term center right that makes sense Hmm

I think I'd just go Isaiah World to be honest with you Highest ceiling Yeah He's taking a swing on an offensive tackle Because what's Brian O'Neill at? How old is he? He's got to be up there now Yeah

He feels like he's in his early 30s Yeah he turned 30 in September Okay so he is 30 Let's take Isaiah World here Let's do World like that And I think that this is a I think this is a really solid Vikings draft, to be honest with you. Jeremiah, I love Chris Johnson.

I think those guys are two starters for you. Emmanuel McNeil Warren could also be a starter for you. And Isaiah World, you could potentially feel good about getting him as a developmental offensive tackle there at number 97. Needs and value, right? Like that's kind of what we hit here. Matt is saying love and no interior offensive line is a choice. I mean, they have Will Fries and Donovan Jackson.

Maybe he means the long term of center. Yeah, but they have Michael Juergens and Blake Brandel. Like both of those guys can play center for you. Well, we're going to do another mock draft. Maybe we do go IOL at some point. Mr. Coleslaw's $5 super chat. As a Bears fan, could we not fix the Vikings? Hey, shout it to the Bears.

They're playing well in first place right now. Okay, let's do another mock draft here. We won't go with Jeremiah Love. We will go with a different position here in the, the first round to see what that looks like here for them um oh mansword delane is there i think that's probably our pick no i would take i would take mccoy oh yeah these are your rankings no 100 percent i just didn't even think of him being there i was i was just locked into manse i would i would you're getting an injury discount on an incredible cover corner here yeah yeah i i think

that he's, I think Jermont McCoy is awesome, man. Phenomenal player. His tape last year, in my opinion, is CB1 in this draft. And Mansoor Delane has also been fantastic. Yes, he has. So that's been great. But all right, let's take McCoy here. Let's take McCoy.

High end corner added to this team. Oh, man, Keith Abney made it in this one. Do you just take Serafeld and feel like you just have a damn good player for the offensive line? Or have we done that too many times? Wait, no, we didn't take Halsey last time. We should take Halsey here. We could take Halsey here.

Are we just too DB-centric? No, because I think it is their biggest area of need. And then maybe see if we can get a defensive tackle. Yeah, okay, let's do that. Let's take... Let's take Halsey here because I think there's a chance that we get the other Notre Dame running back.

Jadarian Price? Yes. Halsey, the singer? Yes. I've seen a couple of people say Jeremy, or Jeremy Bernard in the chat. They're not going to take a wide receiver. These people are obsessed with a wide receiver.

I know. Okay, so Jadarian Price is there. Blake Miller is also there. And I really like Jadarian. You do? Yeah, I really do. I think he is a, exceptional talent.

The player I would actually pick here is Nicky Prongos, the offensive tackle for Sanford, but I feel like we do that quite a bit. Because he is the perfect developmental offensive tackle. He doesn't have to play right away here. He sits behind Christian Derrissau and Brian O'Neill. Like he, to me is... I don't mind it, and then we'll see if we get a running back anyway.

Okay. We might be able to get Fat Man later. Which it was... Jordan Mason is kind of that role, but... Well, would you rather... Can you scroll up Tyler Skylar Bell of Addison's traded Okay sure yeah I mean

Yeah but we didn't we didn't do that in this exercise Jack injuries for I think they have backup tight end Don't they? Yeah they paid they have a really really good blocking tight end Oh Benjamin Eurossick's also right am I bugging Oh Carter Smith could be a starter at center for them That's actually really he has the body more That's what I've been saying since summer, man.

He's a good player. Credit to Indiana for just squeezing the most out of every guy they can. But yeah, more of an interior body. Josh Oliver was the tight end too I was thinking of on this. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They just paid Josh Oliver. Oh, yeah, I get what you're saying with Carter Smith here. He's not playing tackle in the NFL.

No, no, no, no, but he could start for you at center. Right. I kind of like that. Let's do it. All right, all right. Then I want a running back with some juice. Okay, all right. Carter Smith, he started center for you.

Running back with some juice. Price probably is still here. No, I don't think he is. Oh, don't love how this broke. Although, admittedly, I need to watch Claiborne and Stewart a little more. Claiborne's, Claiborne runs pissed off, man. I like him. Quedraven Wisner has also been good.

Yes, he has. I think he's a legit option at 97. Okay. He's been really, I think he's been really solid for Texas. Yeah, can you click on him, Tyler? Yeah, he's just been steady for them. Peter's saying Smothers, Hollywood Smothers, in the chat. I just don't think.

smothers gets drafted this high he's gonna be he's gonna be a later day three kind of yeah he's just too small hmm i would do uh demone claiborne or k tron allen to be honest with you fat man's the best running back available okay let's take he is he can pass protect he runs hard he's got good feet for his size kron allen for everybody at home sam is sam is saying uh jade not obviously he's got the freshest legs. Unfortunately, yes. Kis Townington, man. I have no idea what happened in Oklahoma. No idea. Yeah. Nobody knows. Okay. So there we go. Germant McCoy, A.J. Halsey, Carter Smith, K. Tron Allen. I like that as well. Let me know, guys. What do you think? The first

haul or the second one? Second one, J. Halsie, Carter Smith, Ketron Allen. First hall was Jeremiah Love, Chris Johnson, Emmanuel McNeil Warren, and then Isaiah World. Those are the picks that we had there. Most of the roster is coming back because like we talked about earlier in the picture franchise, this roster is pretty damn good. I know it doesn't seem like it because they don't have a quarterback, but I think the roster is pretty dang good, and I think it can be a pretty quick turn around here. We got Ed Dodds, the general manager.

We got Mack Jones in a quarterback, and then we've got that class that we had there with the two round, or the three round, excuse me, mock draft. So you guys can choose which one. It's fun to fix a good team. It is fun. It is kind of fun to fix a good deal. It was a little bit more cut and dried than usual, and it was all about the draft after that.

Yeah. And we talked a lot about the executives today, which we don't always do on this show. That's very true. Appreciate you guys watching the show. We love you. If you guys are subscribed, thank you for being an addict.

If you are not yet, we would love to have you as part of the family. Make sure you check and see if you can. And it's a free way to support the show. So we really appreciate you being part of the addicts. By the way, speaking to being a part of the addicts, the Discord is under construction, folks. We're going to be launching that bad boy soon.

We're going to have a space where all the addicts to talk about football, even independent of when these shows go live. So that is in the works. We're setting out of that up for you guys. Hopefully we're getting that to y'all soon, and we can chat with you all the time. And you guys can obviously continue to chat with each other because it's always fun seeing guys go back and forth.

So yeah, the Discord is in the works, folks. So be on the lookout for that. If you want to follow the show on socials at NFLC show, on Instagram, on Twitter, on TikTok, all that good stuff. I'm at Tampa Bay, Bay, Bay, Trey. that's Connor J. Rogers. So yeah, if you can follow us there if you want to as well. We're going to have another fixture franchise for you on Wednesday. Not sure which one yet, because we're getting a lot of requests for a lot of different teams.

So it might just be the highest requested team wins for that one. Connor, anything else before we get out of here. Peter, thank you for the super chat. I will not say the amount, but F it, we ball. Oh, somebody said reading the super chats afterwards. Yes, I will do that. Connor's got to run. He's got another show because he's, you know, famous and everybody wants them on every single show possible. But I will be reading the leftover super chats here for the next, you know, 15, 20 minutes if you guys want to stick around.

But, yeah, for the chef, Tyler Cook, behind the glass, producing the show. For Connor Rogers, I'm Trevor Sikima saying thank you guys so much for once again watching the NFL Stock Exchange. See you guys next time.