Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - 10 most intriguing free agents for the Vikings (Part 1)

Episode Date: February 20, 2026

Matthew Coller looks unveils his list of the most intriguing free agents for the Vikings and chats with fans about The Athletic's top 100 free agents list and looks at an interesting Kyler Murray trade idea. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider presented by Fandul. Matthew Collar here. And tonight, I have made another list this time my top 10 most interesting free agents. And I think I actually went with intriguing because this isn't just the best free agents for the Minnesota Vikings. I mean, we could go through the free agency list to just say, well, yeah, it'd be great if they could get Trey Hendrickson or, you know, Brees Hall. but I tried to go a little more of an angle with the consideration that the Vikings are not likely to just be able to spend like Mad Men. So I'm trying to look at players who are a little more on the affordable side.

And then some of them even maybe a little upside or could fit with this team for a specific reason. So I'm going to run down that list. And then we're going to look at the athletics top 152 or 7. or whatever number that they did, we're going to scroll through that list and talk about guys that we think could be a target for the Minnesota Vikings. But I went mostly intrigue here

and not just, hey, here's the top 10 free agents because some of them are not that affordable. And even though the Vikings can certainly pull a lot of levers and create cap space, they don't have endless cap space. This is not the 2024 offseason where they could go get Jonathan Grenard and Andrew Van Ginkle and Blake Cashman and Sam Darnold and just kind of bringing everybody. And then last year they did the same type of thing.

But this is more you're going to have to use a scalpel and not a chainsaw to address free agency. So I'm going to fire up the list. And then we could get your feedback on my list, names that I missed, guys that you're interested in, then we'll go through the athletic and we'll have a good conversation this evening. So without any delay, here we go. My top 10 most intriguing free agents. So the list does start number one with Malik Willis. And I don't know if the Vikings can afford Malik Willis or not.

I have talked to different reporters, different people trying to put a value on Malik Willis. And some have said, yeah, the Justin Fields contract makes a lot of sense. And I've done the song and dance of, hey, like, what if? You pitch to Malik Willis a one year contract where if you came here, you'd have a chance to blow up and go get a many million dollar deal somewhere else or here. If you played really, really well, I think he's an intriguing option because of the small sample size, but also the skill set. And if he were to be affordable and he wanted to go to the best possible location and the Vikings were to tell him that he comes in as QB1 and give him a contract. that would reflect that, then he intrigues me the most. I think actually he's probably the number one most intriguing player of all free agency,

period, because where he lands will be a domino. I also am intrigued because I have no idea whether the Vikings are actually interested in him or not, because I asked Kevin O'Connell about Malik Willis at the end of the year before they played against Green Bay. and he was extremely complimentary, especially of the development from Malik Willis. But, you know, there are the charts out there that show him not throwing to the middle of the field that often, we know that they want to do that. And can you just put it all on his arm?

He's been really prolific throwing the ball down the field, but on like 15 attempts. So he's a really difficult guy to figure out how much he's going to get, what his goals are, where he wants to go and could the Vikings be involved. So the intrigue is extremely high. Number two on my list is running back Travis E.TN, who this year really took a big step as a pass protector and I think is more of a consistent running back and being the number one guy. ETN had bounced kind of up and down.

It was almost like one year. He was very good. And the next year he struggled at times. and then this year, he was the guy after they had gone into the, you know, the draft and taken Bashal Tutin. And then he has this really, really good year. He is a dynamic player. He caught six touchdowns this year and had 36 receptions.

But what really stood out to me other than the fact that he was over a thousand yards rushing was the fact that he was also a very good pass protector by PFF's metrics. And I'm looking to pull this up right now. Yeah, he great. a 72.6, which is one of the highest in the league, or I'm sorry, 69.3, which is one of the highest in the league in terms of past protections, 78 opportunities and only four pressures allowed for Travis ETN. So over a thousand yards, a contributor in the receiving game, and also a workable blocker in the backfield. He is my second most intriguing. And I wonder

about how he's valued around the league. Like, is he extremely high values? is he somebody that, you know, is, oh, is the audio? You said the audio is cutting in and out? I'm sorry, is it? You're going to have to, okay, let me know. Okay, let me know if that's a problem. I'm not seeing anything on my end with that. Can someone confirm that, you know, you're good there with the audio?

So, because if there is an issue, then I would like to be able to fix it there. So let me know on that. Um, okay. So anyway, number two, Travis Etyn, uh, I think a veteran in the backfield, okay, you're saying it's all good. All right, good. Uh, a veteran in the backfield could be helpful, but the other part about ETN is that he's not old.

He is a veteran player, but he is 27. So it's not like he's ancient. And when we look at the actual workload, he has carried the ball 897 times in his career. Again, that's not like 500 gazillion times. Um, so, you know, you'd like to be somebody a little bit younger than that, but at 27, you could sign them to a multi-year deal

and have your RB1 and share the backfield with Jordan Mason. So intriguing there, Travis E.TN. Number three on the list is Cam Curl. And Cam Curl is a safety for the Los Angeles Rams, who has played for Washington also, a guy who is multifaceted, but also brings a toughness element. He is 27 years old as well, really, really good at downhill tackling.

Like, that's always been his thing. He was one of the top graded run defenders, top graded tacklers this last year with the Rams. He's been very healthy throughout his career and was extremely good in coverage this year. There have been previous seasons where he was not as good of a cover guy, but I do think that the Vikings needed and were missing, that safety coming downhill and making tackles.

So that was, I think, oh, you're saying that if you're having some trouble with the audio, just refresh. Okay. Yeah. All right. So do that. Yeah, hit the refresh, I guess, or close it and load it again. Not sure what happened there.

Maybe a little glitch at the beginning. So anyway, Cam Curl, 27-year-old safety. this would be obviously if all safeties are if they needed to replace Harrison Smith, but somebody who brings kind of the hammer, like he's six foot two, 200 pounds, and not to, you know, use the guy who won the Super Bowl for every point here. But I think what you see a lot of that sideline to sideline tackling for safety is like Nick Imanwara was able to bring to the Seattle Seahawks, that has a lot, a lot of value in the NFL.

You could bring him down into the box. You can drop it back into coverage deep if you need to. I was looking at his usage numbers, 291 snaps in the box, 662 as a free safety. And he's been used in the slot plenty. So he's got versatility to his game. And the safety position,

like this is a former seventh round draft pick. Like the safety position tends to. be pretty affordable when it comes to free agency, that it has not been super expensive. Javon Holland got a pretty good deal last year. Cam Bynum did. But even Cam Bynum like 15 per year was not a crazy number in comparison to some of the other prices that we saw in a free agency. So will Cam Curl be one of those guys that gets a big contract or could he kind of fly

under the radar? I think it's possible that he could fly under the radar and get paid a little bit less than some of those top safeties. So he is on my list because I don't know how the rest of the league values him. If they're talking about, you know, the safety position not being as valuable, then maybe he could slide under the radar. And if you put him alongside of, you know, J. Ward, Josh Mattelis, Theo Jackson, maybe you draft someone to develop, then that group might be pretty solid there.

So Cam Curl is number three on my. list number four is someone that I feel like I should have probably brought up a little bit more sometimes I just kind of assume that a guy's going back to his location and overlook him a little bit but the fact that he has not resigned with Buffalo Connor McGovern who is the center for the bills and also I will admit here that my eye test on Connor McGovern did not match PFF and you know I'm always going to kind of go with them more than my own when it comes to his past protection because there were times this year, maybe one of the biggest issues is that with someone like Connor McGovern, you know, you watch a national TV game and he plays someone really good

and then you have it in your head that the guy's not a good past protector. But he was actually solid by past protection standards. And I think the Vikings spending on a center probably makes a little more sense than drafting one to try to fill that spot, just considering where they are, you know, that if you're looking for a center to come in and just be that guy, it's, it's really, it's really not that easy to do. So, um, so, um, McGovern, I think is somebody that, well, actually, you know what? Oh, no, wait.

No, wrong year. Wrong year. I was looking, I was looking at a different year. I was like, wait a minute. Did my, did my brain malfunction with Connor McGovern? Uh, let's see. Yeah, he was, okay. So he was.

seventh best this year in past protection grade by PFF. It will probably be, you know, a little bit costly, but at the same time, something that they could really use. And he's a guy that's played a couple different positions over his career. He's played center. He's played guard. But he comes from the same, like, height weight of Orion Kelly. He is a very stout gentleman at 320 pounds. I don't know how much the league is going to value him. If they're going to look at him like, hey, there's not many other center options out there. You got to go get this, this big guy.

Or if he could fly under the radar because of what I said, I mean, he's kind of played different positions over the years and had some struggles in some big games. But I think he would be an interesting option for the Vikings if they're willing to spend a little bit more on a center. So number four is Connor McGovern. Number five. And this is why, you know, I use the word intriguing because I'm having some guys here that maybe didn't get off to the best start of their career, but kind of took a turn in the right direction. And that's why I've got Logan Hall here, defensive tackle from the Tampa Bay Bucks, whose first couple seasons in the NFL were just kind of, man.

But last year, he turned in the right direction as a guy who could actually get after the passer, but is still known as being. you know, more, a little more on the run defense side, but he's improved a lot, a lot there by the numbers. And this is a guy that I think because his first impression was not great in Tampa Bay might end up getting overlooked a little bit in a defensive tackle market that it doesn't have a ton of stars in free agency, as you'll see when we scroll through the athletics list. But he really ascended last year to be an above average run defender and pass protector, or I'm sorry, pass rusher. So Logan Hall, Tampa Bay, I think is a guy that at 25 going to turn 26 could still be on the upswing.

And I think that sometimes that position does take a few more years than a lot of other positions in the NFL. It's very, very technical unless you are a crazy monster. And he's a little on the undersized side. But, you know, I think that they might be looking for somebody who they could get for, for a little less expensive that could take another jump with them. And that's with awareness that they also need a run stuffer. But he was the most intriguing at that position. So the next one on my list is Brian Hall.

And the rear, I'm sorry, Brian. Brian Hall's a guy I know. Brian Cook, uh, is the next guy on the list because well, Brian Cook has feels like it's been around. He's been around for a really long time. He is only 26 years old for the Kansas City chief. and just coming off of his best year in 2025 under the radar because they didn't have a great team this year for the first time in a while.

But he had an 83.2 coverage grade by PFF, had six past breakups this year. And to me, like, as a guy that's been on the field a lot, has played a lot of snaps over the last couple of years is just not really discussed a lot as being a top player at his position. and I think over the last two years, he's been especially really good at the downhill tackling, run defense, and has been more of a key position player for Kansas City than he's really been given, you know, credit for. So Brian Cook is the next one on my list at number six.

And I do have, you know, quite a few safeties here because I am kind of expecting that the safety position will be one that they need. I mean, gosh, even if Harrison Smith came back, I think between Theo Jackson and Jay Ward, I mean, it's not that convincing that either one of those guys can be difference makers. So they might even consider a younger guy like a Brian Cook or a Cam Curl. And I have another deep cut on here. And we'll go through, you know, we'll go through other guys for sure on the athletics list. But these are ones that sort of pop to me where I went, okay, I could really see them doing that.

next one on my list is Rashad White. And I'll tell you why Rashad White is on my list, the running back from the Tampa Bay Bucks, because he's been at times a little underwhelming in his career. He's 27 years old. And, you know, he hasn't had like a thousand yards season. He hasn't had a year where he just was blowing up. But this year, he was at his most efficient, only 4.3 yards per carry. but in terms of run grade was his highest by far,

had 13 runs over 10 yards. That kind of stuck out to me and is also a more of an all-around type of player that this year he had 40 catches. But in the past, he had as many as 64 receptions in the past. So I was trying to think of Rashad White as not somebody who necessarily is that like RB1, this is your guy. But more of a, hey, he could be on third down. he's going to catch the ball and will give you some efficiency in terms of running.

And then Jordan Mason can kind of be your first downback a lot of the time. But he's graded very well as a receiver over the years and just double checking on some of these things decently in terms of pass protection. Like the Vikings have had some of the craziest bad pass protection in the backfield from guys like Jordan Mason and Ty Chandler in recent years. so somebody like Rashad White, who's played over 70 snaps of pass protection each of the last couple years for Baker Mayfield and performed well, only allowed six pressures this year in 73 opportunities.

So I was thinking of that of like, no, Rashad White's not that game changer, that next Delvin Cook franchise player that you're looking for, but maybe just somebody who could solidify the position and give you a really nice, a really nice, a really really nice duo and allow you to draft someone that can be RB3 right away and maybe develop for a year or take the job or whatever it might be. Next guy on my list, I think, is not the most well-known fella in the National Football League, but he got a lot of praise when the Vikings were playing against the Baltimore Ravens. So that stood out to me and somebody that if you want to talk about a guy that you could get

for a couple million bucks and might turn out to be pretty good. Aloha Gilman of the Baltimore Ravens formerly of the Los Angeles Chargers. He's had some very good years in terms of coverage grades. He has not been like a crazy playmaker, but he had six past breakups last year, much more of a complimentary player. He's 28 years old. But somebody that I think is not, I wouldn't even go analytics darling, but in terms of bang for buck.

You know, a thousand snaps last year, played 928 snaps two years ago. And just someone whose name I never see come up anywhere that I think he actually might be a pretty good player. So if you were looking for that deep safety option to go along with Josh Mattelis, he is, he can be that guy. But also, you know, played in the box a fair amount, but was more of a free safety throughout his career. So think like an Anthony Harris type of player, a low high Gilman, number 8. on my list. Number nine is Luke Fortner, the center from the New Orleans Saints. And I've discussed him a little bit on the show before, but a guy who really emerged, I think last year, early in his career, struggled a ton. And this is where Connor McGovern is more proven than Luke Fortner.

Fortner had struggled with the Jacksonville Jaguars. And then last year, in a fairly small sample size, was a solid center for the New Orleans. Orleans Saints. So was that just small sample for a team that wasn't that great and maybe he wasn't getting attacked? I don't know. But by the numbers, he could be someone that is not demanding 10 plus 12 plus 15 million dollars somewhere in that range. So Luke Fortner on the list. And then one more safety. And I know I, you know, I was looking for corners. I really was. but I kept finding more intriguing safeties. And so I was trying to put on like who could be an intriguing corner,

but it would have to be a role playing corner because Byron Murphy and Isaiah Rogers are going to start. So I kept running into this wall of like, okay, is that realistic? There's good corners out there. Like Jamel Dean is a very good corner. But is he coming here when there's two starters already? So the last one on my list is Jalen Hawkins of the New England Patriots. another guy that developed over the years had kind of a breakout season this year. You might have to pay a bit of attacks of like this guy went to the Super Bowl,

but it also might be that, you know, they had so many players break out for them that maybe he goes under the radar a little bit as someone who was very useful for the New England Patriots and now, you know, ends up hitting free agency. and not getting a huge contract. So Hawkins is another one that is not some sort of big superstar. He's not been one of these great players throughout his career, but has been solid and he's been a starter and he's got a lot of experience and would be, again, kind of more of that free safety type to go along with Josh

Mattelis. So it kind of depends. Like, if you're going for a little bit of a bigger name there, Cam Curl, if you're going for a little bit more of an under the. Radar, Aloha Gilman, and Jalen Hawkins. So I will read the list one more time. We'll get to your responses. We'll also go through the athletics list of their 100, whatever number of free agents.

And we'll just sort of point to guys that we think might also be interesting for the Vikings. So number one, Malik Willis, followed by Travis E.TN, running back from Jacksonville, safety camcourl from the Los Angeles Rams. Number three, Connor McGovern, the center for the Buffalo Bills. Dill's defensive tackle Logan Hall from Tampa Bay is number five. Brian Cook, Chief Safety, six. Rashad White, the Tampa Bay running back, seven. Aloha Gilman, safety from the Chargers is number eight.

Luke Fortner, nine, the center from the Saints. And number 10 is Jalen Hawkins' safety from the Patriots. All right, let's get some of your reactions here and see what you guys think of the list. Folks, you may have noticed by all of my old football references that I have reached the age where my friends and I are complaining about hair lines as much as we talk about football these days. But here's the thing. Why be down on yourself or frustrated when there are answers? Maybe back in my favorite era of football, the 90s, the hair loss products were not so legit. But there are answers now.

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That's Hymns.com slash Purple Insider. for your free online visit hymns.com slash purple insider individual results may vary based on studies of topical and oral monocidil and finestriide feature products include compound drug products which the fdaa does not approve or verify for safety effectiveness or quality prescription required see website for details restrictions and important safety information and we'll get you you know fan dual question of the day and all that shortly as well so uh truckin has jaylin maybe Nashan Wright. I don't think Nishon Wright's coming back after they cut him.

I would assume that the bears are going to find a way to keep him. And that's the hard thing a little bit about forming some of these lists now at this point is that, I mean, teams will still negotiate with these players. That's one of the main things that happens at the NFL Combine next week is that these teams get together with the agents for their free agents. They have conversations. and then oftentimes we see right out of the combine, guys will resign with their own teams. But also, you know, I think Nishon Wright, he needs to play against the Vikings.

If I'm him, I'm making sure I play against the Vikings a couple times a year based on the success that he was able to have. But you mentioned, you know, Jaquan Brisker is another one that, you know, I think we'll get overpaid. The reason he wasn't on my intriguing list is because I think he's one of the top free agents in all of free agency. And if the bears don't bring him back, he's one that I think could press like $20 million. And that to me would be too much. Rico Dowdell is one that you mentioned.

Dowdle was an odd one for me last year because he had this breakout where he went absolutely crazy for a couple of weeks. And then that was it. And they were going back to the other running back there in Carolina after a few weeks. and they sort of took the keys away from Rico Dowdell. I think why I went with ETN and Rashad White is because they are more all around type players. Those guys are, hey, pass protection, you know, receiving, running, you can do it all.

And if you already have a one-dimensional runner, I don't think you want to add another one-dimensional runner. And that's how I look at Rico Dowdle is a little more of just like he's a pure runner, but you're probably not getting a lot else. That's why Javante Williams was not on my list either. Just it didn't show up well in past protection. It wasn't a receiving back out of the back field. So that's why I didn't go with him.

Matt says if they could only do one out of running back and center, probably makes more sense to go center and then draft a running back. The only trouble is it seems like running back is just not an impressive position in the draft. Now, maybe there's somebody in free agency that, you can grab a little bit later than ETN, who will probably go pretty quickly off the board or Rashad White. But even like if you look at last year, there was this expectation that,

oh, running backs are all going to get paid crazy money now. And then Najee Harris got almost nothing and Rico Dowdle got almost nothing. So I wonder if a Rashad White does end upcoming cheap because he isn't a 1200 yard running back. but in terms of what you're talking about with free agency, the difference is it's actually funny because a center, you kind of want him to be older because he's got more experience. He's played a lot more in the NFL. He's seen a lot more stuff.

But a running back, you want him to be younger because he has a lot less mileage on his body. That's another thing that I like about ETN and White as well, is that both of those guys don't have a lot of mileage overall based on their age. They're reaching peak, sort of late peak running back age, 27, as opposed to, you know, when you sign Aaron Jones, he's like 30 years old. So there's some good seasons, I think, left for those guys. And they don't have starter mileage on them.

But I agree with you that if you're going to get a center in the draft, it's a little risky there because you don't really know if the guy can step in. I tried to do that in my mock draft yesterday, my draft simulation. and didn't get the most rave review. So you're probably right. But there's only like four centers. Ethan, I think it's pronounced Pockich, the other guys, Cade Mays from the Carolina Panthers.

He's just been okay, then Fortner and then McGovern. So there might be Tyler Linderbaum as well as the real shining star of this. The reason I didn't have him on my list is because I don't think there's any chance they can pay for him. So I was trying to look for the guy that might be affordable. Then again, Aaron Banks got like 20 million a year or something last year. So maybe, maybe I'm not sneaky here exactly. Hunter says there's so few good centers that I don't imagine he'll fly under the radar. Yeah, you could be right.

You could be right. I guess the reason I was thinking about that is just because they had some big games where the offensive line for Buffalo didn't really shine. And he wasn't a former top draft pick. Like there's not a lot of hype around the guy. He was a former guard. they moved him to center. But you're probably right.

I mean, when there's only four centers that are worth starting in free agency, there's got to be more than four teams that need a center. So that you're probably right. DLM, I think we got a shot at DJ Reeder after a down year. I have liked that idea of DJ Reader. That is one that to me doesn't fall under like intrigue category because I tried to go with guys who are on the younger side.

if you notice that coming off of their first contracts. But in terms of could you grab this guy as an older veteran player who's maybe the league is a little bit down on but still has a lot to give? He might be that guy. And, you know, it's weird because last year, my initial impression of Kelvin Shepard's defense in Detroit was I'm just not seeing it. I just don't think that's going to be that great. Midway through the season, my thought was,

oh, it looks like they're turning things around. and then by the end of the year, it just wasn't that special. I wonder about Reader if he might have some regrets about going to Detroit, if he would be better in a more versatile type of defense as a, I mean, he's not a versatile player as in like he lines up all over or whatever, but they just had a kind of a straightforward, you know, simplistic type of defense that maybe Reader would benefit for more one-on-one matchups or, you know, I don't know, just a better defensive.

mind calling the shots. But he's somebody that I would absolutely be looking at as one of those. Hey, if he slides through the first couple days of free agency, take a look. Jim says why are Linderbaum and Hull not as intriguing? Because they're like super obvious. I was trying to go not super obvious with an intrigue list. But Linderbom is a top five player at his position and is going to get a gazillion dollars. and I think the same thing goes for Breece Hall.

I don't know if I would put him as top five, but I think that he's very well respected in the NFL and would not be shocked if Bruce Hall pulls in like $15 million. So that's why they're less intriguing. I was kind of trying to look for guys that I don't think are going to get huge contracts. And maybe I miss the boat on McGovern or maybe he slides under the radar, but I can at least see it. Whereas someone like Bruce Hall, like that guy's getting.

paid for sure. Um, so that, that's why they're less intriguing. Dan says, uh, pretty good list. Not a huge Rashad White fan, but I get it. He will be cheap and can pass pro. That's right. And, uh, you know, Hunter says he's an interesting player. He is because I don't think that, and I've talked a little bit myself about like they need somebody with rocket fuel. I don't think Rashad White's a rocket fuel player. But if you are aiming to only spend a couple million dollars, there because maybe you want to spend a little more at center. Maybe you want to spend a little more at safety. And you're trying to find a deal and someone who fits with Jordan Mason.

Because that's part of my consideration was I thought, well, who would really fit to compliment Jordan Mason? So Rashad White's not somebody, especially if you're a fantasy player that you're like, yay, Rashad White, like he's going to win me a fantasy championship. But he did, you know, catch a fair number of passes. He was good in pass pro. and, you know, with C.J. Ham retiring, it's, you know, like, who's going to do those third down pass pros now? because CJ was really big with those.

You need somebody to be able to step in there and do it. And I think Rashad White can. DLM says, uh, Devin Lloyd or DeNico Autry expected to get around three million. That, that's a, a pretty low price there. I did not have linebackers in part, uh, because I was thinking about Eric Wilson. and probably comes back. I was really looking for wide receivers. I couldn't find them.

Like we're going to go through, we're going to go through shortly the list on the athletic. And we're going to just go through and try to spot other guys that maybe could have been on my list and so forth with their top 150. But it was a challenge to, because I wanted to get corners. I wanted to get wide receivers, corners that would actually fit or on the ascend. It was a little tricky there.

And wide receivers. it is not a robust group of wide receivers. But linebacker, if they don't bring back Eric Wilson, then, yeah, that suddenly becomes a position that you got to talk about. Matt says if they get white, they definitely need to take someone in the draft. I agree with that. And I also agree with what you said,

that White Mason and Jonah Coleman would be a good room. Let's say you draft Jonah Coleman in the third round from Washington, kind of a quick player, undersized, maybe like, maybe who would like a Doug Martin or something, like the underside. I don't know why he came to mind, but like that's smaller,

quicker kind of guy to go along with a bigger bruiser and a dynamic back. Like then you've got a good backfield. And what I've really felt over the last couple years is that I think you need three. I think you need three in the NFL today. Unless you have Derek Henry, you probably need three running backs.

You need a little bit of depth if one gets banged up and then multiple skill sets and at least somebody to pass protect because the NFL is going absolutely nuts with stunts and with blitzes. And I saw the other day that just the amount of stunts in the NFL are up year over year, just taking big leaps forward. You need guys in the backfield who can help you block, but you also need people who can run over smaller players. DLM says on a cap strap team assigning like Gilman could

be great bang for buck yep that's why uh doomer koh said alohai gilman is what i'm looking for with signing a safety totally totally now in past years when we talked about the safety position it was a little easier if you had harrison smith to go yeah i mean you kind of just have anybody next to him and they made the very egregious mistake of franchise tagging anthony harris when they really should have just, you know, gone and got an alohai Gilman from somebody, just a random player who could probably play next to Harrison Smith and spent the money elsewhere. But Gilman, I also think his experience is such a big deal in this system. So if he's ascended recently, he's played multiple positions all over the field, he's not

just been one kind of safety and has a lot of experience in different defenses that, you know, he might be a pretty darn good fit for them. So Hunter says, I'll be honest, I don't know a lot of these names well. So it seems like a good list. That's why it was the intriguing list, right? I was trying to go for, hey, who can I find? And my biggest success ever in free agent previewing, like, right? And the history books talk about this when I pulled this off.

But no, I'm kidding. 24, though, and I made a list of like, these are the guys that I would target for the Vikings, you know, as we all make one of these lists. And I had Andrew Van Ginkle really high. And he was like one of these guys where like Andrew Van Ginkle, like what's that, right? And but some of the data really liked him in Miami and the Vikings pick him up. Now, he had a Flores connection. It wasn't like, you know, the craziest call of all time or something. But he was on the list of guys that, hey, I mean,

I'm intrigued by some of the numbers. I'm intrigued by the usage. I'm intrigued by just, you know, what a versatile player he was. So some of these guys, that's why I went with this. Because if I just said, well, here's the list. It's, uh, you know, Malik Willis is, is an obvious one. But I wanted to include him because the intrigue is through the roof with Malik Willis.

That's the, you know, that's the most intriguing free agent in the whole thing. And we still don't know exactly what he's going to be either. But I tried to go for names that were, um, a little bit more under the radar than the obvious guys. Slide to place, is there any chance they signed Nailer back, especially if they intend to trade Addison? Remember what happened to K.J. Osborne when he left could be a cautionary tale to Nailer. Yeah, I'm still surprised by that, by the way, that KJ. Osborne struggled so much.

It seemed like he was in the perfect type of position here. And then maybe when he went somewhere else, I think what people just think, didn't understand about KJ Osborne is, you know, the Vikings didn't care that he was not the most explosive player or the best route runner. He wasn't like someone that in a practice just jumped out to you. And I wonder if that hurt him a little bit when he went to other places who signed him based on some of his production. And then they got into practice and went like, what's up with this guy? He's not that fast. He's certainly not big and like doesn't have a real burst. And he's not roasting people, but if you use them right, he was very intelligent and, you know, he had good hands,

but that last year he dropped a lot of passes. So I don't know. But overall in his career, it was, you're right, that it was a best fit for here. I do think Naylor, though, fits a different profile. Like, Naylor's nickname is speedy for a reason. He's very fast, and that jumps right off the tape. He's physical as a blocker. If you need him to do that, they could put the ball on his hands more often than the Vikings did. I think Naylor is a better receiver profile for other teams to notice. And I have heard this that there's a lot of interest in Jalen Naylor around the league in a year where there's just not much.

And we'll try to find out more at the combine, but there is not much when it comes to the wide receiver market. So I think that resigning Naylor would be very challenging based on that, based on recent prices for wide receivers as well. Like somebody with a lot of cap space is going to overpay Jalen Naylor, I think. But in terms of trading Jordan Addison, I was very wrong once upon a time about the Vikings trading Stefan Diggs. I remember thinking there is no chance that they trade Stefan Diggs and then they did.

but I just have a tough time believing when you look at the bang for Buck for Jalen Naylor or for Jordan Addison for just this next year and how much they need their receivers to be really good for whatever quarterback, whoever it is, McCarthy or otherwise, it's just so hard for me to see them saying hit the road, Jack, we're going to draft somebody else and sign Naylor. They could do it. They could do it. It's just, it would be risky considering the situation.

It's, it's not without reason, but I just don't see it as a likely outcome, especially since his off-field incident was not homicide. I mean, he's just got thrown out of a casino, it seems. Like, you know, it just, I'm not saying that that's good or that you shouldn't be talking about it, and you shouldn't be thinking about it, and you shouldn't be considering it because that's not strike one and it's not strike two. So, but if you're justifying it, you're saying this is basically a one year four million dollar contract for a player who is immensely talented, but has some issues.

I mean, most of the time, you would kind of take that for this year and then see what you want to do into the future. But we'll see. Kenneth Gainwell is an interesting option. That would be a classic, like this guy crushed us and we signed him thing. Gainwell is a little more of a versatile running back. a slide to play. The top running back are getting paid.

Same A.A.V. as Justin Fields. You can get one relatively cheap in free agency. Last year was very much a reminder that the world is not changed that much in the thought process with running backs. Yes, teams are leaning on their success running and building off that.

But even there's a lot of discussion that the Seattle Seahawks are not going to keep Kenneth Walker, which tells you about even, in their viewpoint. Kenneth Walker was phenomenal. And personally, I would try to keep Kenneth Walker and I would try to keep as much of that team if I were in Seattle together that won the Super Bowl and leaned on that guy, especially with Zach Charbonnet being out with the ACL. But that even shows you, like the fact that they might be willing to let go,

the Super Bowl MVP about the NFL still is viewing running backs as pretty replaceable. So that could benefit the Vikings for someone like Shod White, who is, I don't know, like a top 20 type of guy in the league or top 25. It's, you're really looking in that case for drafting someone who you hope becomes the guy, but you're more trying to create this rotation that you can use in any type of scenario. So if you're looking for explosiveness, here comes the rookie. If you're looking for power, here comes Jordan Mason. Say like second and one at the goal line would be a time maybe to use him.

Or if you're up, hey, it's second down in 10. You might run. You might throw a swing pass. You might need someone to block. That would be Rashad White. So, uh, trucking, how do you like, uh, Tyreek Wollin or Kobe Bryant, uh, fit for the Vikings or Reed Blankenship? So the guys from Seattle, this, I didn't put any of them on the list because they won the

Super Bowl. And there tends to be a Super Bowl tax. If you want to get a guy who played for the Super Bowl team, usually it costs a little bit more because they are on everyone's radar. I think Tyreek woolen, if he hits the market, will get huge dollars. Maybe I could be off, but a guy with his skill set, I know there was somewhat of a discussion of him struggling early in the year, but man, did he bring it together? I think he would get a lot of money. Brian could, I could see it as that free safety type, could definitely see it. And a blanket ship, same deal. I kind of thought the other guy,

that I threw in there were a little more, I think Blanketship will get decent money. He also kind of has a Super Bowl tax to go with him. But I don't, I don't dislike that. I think blanket ship's a little more. We know what he is than in intrigue. And intrigue also could mean it's a deal.

I don't know if you're getting a deal with blanket ship, but maybe there's, there's a lot of guys that are kind of hard to put a finger on because they've been good in the past like Blanketship, but is he looked at as someone that you want to spend $10 million a year on that, I don't know. Dumer K.O. Your list lines up for taking cornerback and wide receiver in the draft, which seemed to be

deep positions. That is a good observation. And, you know, when we look at this free agent list, you're going to see, like, man, there's just not a lot of wide receivers here. Drafting a wide receiver in the first or second round just is screaming at me. And I mean, if you went corner first round wide receiver next round, which may be my next drafts him. We'll see. Maybe we could draft him tonight. I don't know. I'm not busy. I'm not busy. One more day for my wife calling Olympics, by the way, tomorrow at noon

curling for the bronze game. But I've just been sitting around here making lists until the combine shows up, which just a little bit of a reminder for next week. If you're wondering, we'll be out there, Purple Insider. Chris Trapaso as well, former CBS Sports draft analyst. Dane Mizatani and I, as soon as we are done, talking with Kevin O'Connell and Rob Brasinski, we will have a live breakdown. So you're not going to want to miss that. My expectation is that that will be Tuesday, and I'll warn you before this, but like Tuesday in the middle of the day, so like three, four o'clock central, somewhere in that range

is when we will be doing that. But that's going to be, that's going to be a must for us breaking down live from Indianapolis, the conversations with the head coach and GMs. You're definitely going to want to see those. And I've already lined up too many people, tons of guests, lots of different perspectives. We've got, yeah, lots of people coming on from indie for next week. So make sure that you are subscribed. We are very close to 15,000 subscribers if you want to hit that subscribe button.

That would be great. And just in terms of a Fandual question of the day. So Fandul now has up on. its site the I can actually pull this up for you guys they've got division odds now up on fan duel as they kind of slowly I'll get a better look at that as they slowly kind of build out you know they're offseason stuff so let's have a look at where the Vikings are at for the NFC north right now the NFC north winner odds Detroit is plus 165 green Bay plus 170, Chicago plus 370, and the Vikings last at plus 700.

And it makes sense when you think about just, you know, the fact that we don't know who their quarterback is yet. And we know the quarterbacks for the other teams. But how would you order that is the fan dual question of the day? Do you think they have the right order, Detroit, Green Bay, Chicago, and Minnesota at the bottom for their early odds? So that is your fan duel question of the day. All right.

Let's get back to the chat here. Eric says you can never have too many defensive tackles. Totally agree with that. Totally agree with that. And I like, I went with Hall because when you see a player get better, better, better, better. I'm always interested.

This was kind of a Jonathan Grenard, for example. Now, he had a really good year before he hit free agency, but he is an example of somebody who just kind of got better and better and better. and then was ready to take a next step. Defensive tackles can be good till they're 32, 33, 34 years old. So someone like Logan Hall, who's in his mid-20s and was a fairly high draft pick, might be on the ascent. And if you're going to move on from Javon Hargrave,

what I don't want to see them do would be move on from Javon Hargrave and then just get the fattest guy possible because while teams ran against this last year. So let's get rid of the guy who got interior pressure. and bring in a fat guy again and pair him with Jonathan Allen. I mean, I want them to get a fat guy, no doubt about that. And they might draft a DT and it's not a bad idea. I think that person has to rotate in along with Levi Drake Rodriguez, but I don't want them to just throw out what was happening at the end of the year.

I thought they really found those roles at the end of the year that, you know, maybe if they had had everybody healthy at the beginning of the season, it would have been a different story. but the interior pressure guy, Hall had 32 pressures last year, the penetration guy, I think is still more valuable than the run stuffer, even if at times it was frustrating to watch the other team run a lot.

KFT, often when guys like reader have a down year, it's the beginning of a trend in their play. That's totally fair. Yep, totally fair. Low risk, if it was that type of situation, if it was, hey one year four million bucks something like that and you bring him in and if he's not what he used to be it's okay the worst deal of last year probably handed out by anyone because this speaks to your point

had to have been Grady Jarrett a Grady Jarrett at one time is an elite player at that position but Chicago paid him huge dollars to come in and to what you're saying oftentimes the trend doesn't just suddenly reverse but maybe a if it's a cheap deal and you don't feel like you're obligated to anything, then you could look at it like, hey, if he plays 400 snaps for us and gives us something that's pretty good, you know, something like that is how the front office could view it with a veteran player. And they, they, this is, it's very clear that this group loves its veteran players. You know, they love guys on the defensive side who already know how to play football, uh, rather than having to try to

bring in young guys and teach them a lot. So someone like DJ Reeder already knowing football might be a fairly good fit. Kirt Plupy, the way some of these young running backs have been performing, I kind of want to leave that to the draft. And I mean, yes, the only thing is, though, if you don't get, if you don't get love or you don't get price, there's just not really impressive prospects after that. I like Coleman. I like Emmett Johnson.

But how, you're right? Like how, how good are the prospects other than that? Every time I look at it, I'm like having to squint to try to figure out, like, which one of these guys might be a starting caliber player? And then you go to their NFL.com draft profiles. And every one of them says, like, oh, it could be a nice rotational running back. Like everybody other than Judarian Price and Jeremiah love, it seems, in their scale. Gouting reports is like, well, you know, you could see it maybe. So the guys that we're kind of talking about here, it would be great if there was a stacked

running back class like it was when Delvin came out and there was five, six, seven running backs that turned out to be really good. I'm just not seeing that in this class, which makes it more of a situation you may have to get someone in free agency. But free agent running backs always kind of risky. KFT, Minka Fitzpatrick, likely to be cut by the dolphins. would be interested in knowing how Brian Flores feels about Minka Fitzpatrick. My concern there is that he has not stayed, well, he stayed within two franchises,

but has not stayed with one franchise. And I think he's 30, 30 for defensive backs. You'd be surprised how often 30 for a defensive back is a major decline type of number. I mean, even think about Xavier Rhodes when he got into his late 20s because it's such an explosive thing. now he is a corner slash safety. Maybe it could be a little different, but it is, it is a decline number. SWAT.

Didn't you ask me about this Max Brettison, uh, the other day about the, the fullback? I mean, I think they need to find a fullback for sure, but I have not watched your guy. Uh, I have, I have, I have not. You're going to have to email me some, some highlights or something, but I think they should have a fullback. I do. I will always believe that every single team ever should have a fullback. and I will continue to say that C.J. Ham and his role was underappreciated and underrated.

KFT, my guess is they will use tight end the way that they use Klein saucer Hback and not have a fullback. Yeah, it's possible. You know, if you're maybe occasionally putting Josh Oliver into the backfield, they could do that. He can move. He can plow people. I think you're right that that's what they'll do is go with the multiple tight ends instead of a fullback. but you know, CJ as a past protector, I think it went unnoticed that CJ was so good as a past protector on third downs over the last couple years.

Dumer K.O., how much can we actually spend on a center if they have cheap Kyler Murray? That's another thing I want to update you on. Somebody came up with an interesting trade idea that does not involve Kyler Murray's $50 million or whatever. So I wanted to make note of that. but to your point, if we were looking at all these positions and saying, okay, where would you go bigger dollars, assuming that you're not having to pay a huge chunk of the quarterback, where would you go bigger dollars, where would you try to go with

the, we'll call it the Aloha Gilman's like the under the radar guys, center would be the one that I'm willing to push up the price because it's just so important for the center. in this offense in this day and age, I think to be competent or above average. The difference between when Ryan Kelly was playing and anybody else was so enormous. And I just can't see a Blake Brandel or Michael Juergens being the starter. Both those guys are fine depth, but you need a real starter. So that's one where I'd say spend, spend on that position, whether it's overdrafting or whether it's making sure that you're the team that, that,

lands the guy because if you were to bring in a McGovern and then he goes along with Donovan Jackson, Christian Darrasaw, Will Fries and Brian O'Neill, I mean, that's the best starting lineup that they've had other than what it should have been last year, but Ryan Kelly just didn't play a lot. But that's a really good starting lineup for an offensive line. So I would do that. I think center is the position I would pay the most for out of any in free agency. So let me just give you that thing now that I was talking about with this idea for Kyler Murray. So I saw this from Anthony, so Ryanhard, I think is how it is pronounced. And I apologize to Anthony if I am not pronouncing it correctly.

But he does a lot of interesting stuff with analytics and data and does a newsletter. And he said from his Arizona preview, he wrote about a potential trade situation. situation, how the cap could be handled. So I'll just read you what he wrote here. He wrote a new team would pick up $5.7 million in 2026, but also inherit Murray's 2027 fully guaranteed salary of 19.5 million that vests on March 15th. If the new team wanted to keep Murray into 2027, it would only cost them 16.8 million. This proposition essentially is a $42 million two-year contract with 25.2.2.2.2.

guaranteed at signing and is preferable to the 40 million over two years with 30 million guaranteed that Justin Fields signed last year. So in his scenario, and I don't fully understand how every single detail of that works, but his point was if you were to make a trade with the Cardinals and agree to take on the fully guaranteed salary from 2027, that you could have a very reasonable two year situation with Kyler Murray as your quarterback and I'm, I'm just in. I'm totally in on that because if you don't love how it went or you draft someone else, well, first, it's good to develop that player, but if you drafted someone else to start

right away because it went horribly, well, you could always trade him or at that point, the cap it doesn't even matter that much because you'd start the rebuild process. So I'm in. I like that idea if that is something that's actually feasible. But I think that it makes it makes the point that whenever anybody talks about Kyler Murray, what always comes up is, well, how you're going to afford him in a trade? Well, there are ways around it. And that would be, you know, one of those ways.

And that is why you have, although he's got now a helping cap guy, but, you know, that's why you have Rob Brzynski to work through things like that. Matt Verick, let's sign a center safety and running back, then draft wide receiver and corner. I like that. Why don't we, why don't we do a draft sim? How about we do that? Emergency, pew, pew, pew, pew. Emergency draft sim. Why don't we do that? I need to start at some people, some streamers have a button bar where you just push it and they have like things pop up on the screen and stuff. I need something like that for draft sims. I used to have the scroll. I do know how to still do the scroll, but I haven't. There was like, what did we have on the scroll? Some,

something like this person's upset alert or something like that. I forget, I forget what we had on the scroll, but we used to have one. So why don't we go with, uh, why don't we do a draft sim and let's assume that we just signed a center, a safety and a running back. Let's just assume that we did that. We signed McGovern and, uh, Hawkins or Gilman and Rashad White. So that's what we did in free agency. now we're as we're playing GM here let's do a three round mock on the PFF draft simulator and see what we can come up with here let's go average randomness teams draft for need positional value let's move that up a little bit and fire it up all right on the board here for the 18th overall pick now you're saying let's go with a corner and a wide receiver

that's the goal now that we have accomplished the free agent goals that we needed for those positions. So here's what we have on the board. Already we have a conflict because we didn't sign a defensive tackle. So Caleb Banks is on the board on this draft simulation, along with Avion Terrell, the corner from Clemson and the wide receiver, Denzel Boston from Washington. And already I'm feeling like does somebody want to trade down? have this decision be made for us. So Dallas is willing, okay, we got to do this.

Dallas is willing to go give us the pick 20, and that will kind of make the decision for us. Let's go the 20th pick and get 112 and get, well, we don't have to give up anything. So we just get number 112. Can we get 152? All right, let's get some extra draft capital and move down a few spots. All right, they accepted the trade.

and Denzel Boston was taken along with Keedric Falk, edge rusher from Auburn, which leaves us with Caleb Banks and Avion Terrell. I think because our goal was to get wide receiver and corner, let's just go with Avion Terrell with the 20th pick after trading down a couple spots. And now we get to the second round. So now, after we've gotten our corner,

now we're looking at what we have for wide receiver. the wide receiver market seems to thin out a little bit here maybe actually quite a bit into the second round maybe we should have just gone denzel boston because uh germy bernard is the top guy here from alabama elijah serrat who i like a lot c j daniels i'm just not that familiar with from miami seems okay uh zachariah branch i've seen a lot of zachariah branch okay i like Zachariah Branch. Let's go with him. He's got great numbers, great contested catch. Great grade versus, oh, let's go with him. Georgia wide receiver Zachariah Branch. That leaves us into the third round looking at we could get Jake Slaughter. Oh, we could get Jonah Coleman.

Let's do that. Jonah Coleman running back from Washington. And now with our last pick, maybe it's a kind of a development type of safety, Genesis Smith. Maybe there's a defensive tackle we can find or a versatile type player. J. Sean Barham is interesting to me as somebody who kind of played off ball linebacker. And they really, let's go with him. The Vikings really don't have anyone behind Dallas Turner, Andrew Van Ginkle, and Jonathan and Granard. If we were talking an intriguing player in the third round, I would not be against it.

Maybe another corner can never have too many corners. That's true. Defensive tackle. Let's go, let's go with the intriguing outside linebacker. backer, J. Sean Barham to complete our draft. So we end up getting Avion Terrell at 20 after trading down, picking up some draft capital, Zachariah Branch wide receiver at 49, Jonah Coleman running back from Washington at 82, and Jay Sean Barham, the outside linebacker in the third round.

Okay. Now you add that with, so you've got Terrell. Branch Coleman, you add that with Rashad White, Connor McGovern, and Aloha Gilman. That's a pretty good offseason. That's a pretty good offseason, I think. I don't know. I'll show it to, uh, I'll show it to, uh, I'll show it to Rob Brzynsinski at the combine, see what he thinks.

I'll run it by him, see if he's thought of it. You know, I try to help when I can. Derek says a very high level running back could be better than a good wide receiver and helping out a good or helping out a young quarterback or it helps on any quarterback. Who though? Who though? When you talk about very high level running back, it's always who. Now, are you willing to let me see in this draft sim where it was, did I close it out?

No, I didn't close it out. where it was that let's see how the rest of the draft where did jeremiah love go jeremiah love went ninth to kansas city which seems where everybody has jeremiah love if you're not getting him or jadarian price it's just let's see is there uh can i see the entire draft somewhere uh maybe not maybe i'm just look at the first round but it's oh here it is full result where did where did price go because they have this big gap between the first and the second round so if they can't get jadarian price was he on the board when i was drafting maybe he was let me see oh no he went 66 yeah that's the hard part do you want to spend a first round pick because jadarian

price at least by a lot of the mocks he is going um you know early second round so if you're not getting love or price can you find like you're talking about like a high level running back. And if you're going into free agency, all the guys have similar things. Like Javante Williams, RICO Dowdell, those guys ran a lot, but they don't do much more. That's why White and ETS stand out to me.