Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - 3 Vikings draft simulations -- WHICH IS THE BEST OPTION?

Episode Date: April 6, 2024

Matthew Coller runs 3 draft simulations for the Minnesota Vikings. What did they give up? Which QBs did they land? Plus Matthew answers Viking fans' questions about where the team stands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar here. And, you know, I was scouring the internet, looking high and low, going to every social media site under the sun. Twitter, X, Instagram, LinkedIn, MySpace. I was looking high and low. Give me any rumor, any buzz, anything that will tell me what the Minnesota Vikings are going to do.

And I found almost nothing. So we've reached that point where I don't think I'm going to be able to use my rumor of the day scroll across the bottom because I don't have a rumor of the day. So if you guys have one in the chat, let me know about your latest rumor, because I couldn't really find one the entire world, which was fascinating to see captivated by the women's basketball tournament more than NFL rumors. Uh, that's kind of where we're at right now, that it is the slower portion of the off season until it isn't. We'll see if at some point we get some more rumors or we get this trade that we have been looking for for the Minnesota Vikings for so long. But at this moment, there is not a lot to do outside of just speculate and also do something

that I really enjoy during draft season. And you know what that is? That is to draft sim. And if a lot of you are new to the show, then maybe you haven't been around for the last couple of years where I have been simulating the draft using PFF draft simulator, uh, as a way to do something instead of mock. Because the thing about mock drafts is I can make it work however I want it to work, right? That's the problem is if I want to mock the Minnesota Vikings, Drake May, I could just do it. But with the draft simulator, what I have to do is actually have all the other teams computerized making decisions around me. And then I have to do is actually have all the other teams computerized, making decisions around me. And then I have to make choices based on what else happens to those other teams. That's why I love the draft sim. It's a lot more difficult to, uh, to hack and the OGs. No, the OGs like

Nick know that we started doing this with the old locker room app, which I assume has failed miserably. I don't know. Is that still around? But that was years ago where we started doing mock draft sims and they were really fun. And I have since tried to do them as much as possible, but now we've got a little bit of new technology here with our live broadcast. So all of you can play along a little bit at home. So I've done three draft Sims and I will take you through what happened to the Vikings in these three draft Sims. And you can tell me what you think about the results. So the first draft Sim, I decided to stick and pick. I thought, all right, I don't think that this is super realistic

that the Vikings could do this, but since it is altogether possible. And since Kevin O'Connell did leave the door open to this happening to, to the possibility of staying at number 11 and number 23, then let's see what happens. And we have to keep in mind that there are two quarterbacks that the mock draft universe, because I did it based on more of the consensus mocks than I did on like the, um, the, the PFF opinion, or, uh, of course on my opinion or my draft board or whatever. I don't have a draft board. Uh, but I did it based on the consensus. So that's going to obviously shape what is thought of and who's available. And it turned out that sticking and picking at number 11, Byron Murphy, the second was available. And that also allowed me to then

wait and roll the dice and get Michael Penix at number 23. So that was the first way that I played this out. And just looking at the whole first round, the first round went Williams May. And this is important that Drake May went number two overall in this draft sim. So I couldn't trade up to number three anyway, because I thought I really want Drake May. I don't want Jayden Daniels with this pick if I'm trading everything. So the fact that May went, I decided, all right, well, I'm not going to make a trade here. I'm not going to give up everything for JJ McCarthy. And the simulator was not giving me the, the, the trade that I really wanted here to not give up too much. So I decided to stick around. Dallas Turner was taken at number eight by the Atlanta Falcons, which is actually quite realistic that they would be taking

a defensive player. So, okay. Dallas Turner was off the list, but Byron Murphy, I think is possibly the second best defensive player in this draft. So that's who I decided to take defensive tackle. Very important to me, as you guys have heard many times. So I went with it, but here's kind of how it played out. So in this case, the Denver Broncos just decided to draft an edge rusher rather than a quarterback. Is that realistic? I don't know, because maybe they are going to stick with Jared Stidham if they can't draft one of the top four quarterbacks. Also, J.J. McCarthy went to the Giants in this case, and the two receivers went at four and five, Harrison and Malik neighbors. Altogether possible that those two teams will just stay there and pick those receivers and let that happen rather than trading down with a team like Denver that doesn't have as

much to offer. So Denver went with Jared verse and the Raiders actually picked an offensive tackle, which I don't know how realistic that is because I think they have a decent offensive line, but they decided to go tackle instead of Michael Pennix. And then when you look at the draft order, the teams that are after that saints, Colts, Seahawks, Jaguars, Bengals, Rams, Steelers and dolphins, and then Eagles. There's no team there that clearly needs to draft a quarterback. So for the Vikings, if they can get past number 13, if they were to stick and pick a defensive player, if they can get past number 13, there's a pretty darn good chance that you're sitting at number 23 with Bo Nix and Michael Penix on the board. And I decided to go with Michael Penix.

It seems to me, and I've been really interested by this, that it seems to me that there is a little bit of momentum growing for Michael Penix and a freedom thinker says 1984 says, uh, no way Penix falls to 23. You might be right. Uh, no way. Yeah. And then Scott, of course, with the joke, no way Levis falls to 23 either. Uh, but we, we don't know of course, but if he gets past 13, then he likely ends up available at 23. So that is, I think somewhat realistic that he could get there. But there seems to be a little bit more momentum late in the process here for Michael Penix. It was like there was an overcorrection after the game against Michigan. So his stock was so high after Texas. And then it dropped so far off after Michigan, which is silly because those are just two games and we shouldn't do it that way.

We should look at the bigger sample. But he goes to the combine and by all reports, his medicals are okay. And then he goes to his pro day. He throws the heck out of the ball and then he runs this four or five. So everyone's going, whoa. All right. So this guy was actually way faster than we thought. Uh, now that we've seen him run at his pro day, he meets with the Minnesota Vikings. Uh, what that means? I don't know. I imagine they're meeting with everyone, but it's relevant to be brought up. And I think this right here, if that's what they were doing, if they were able to get away with this, to get Murphy at number 11 and Penix at 23, it's a pretty high ranking outcome to me. Let the league, let Michael Penix drop because they don't believe

in his knees or something. And if the Vikings do, then it's worth going for. This one might be a little more realistic of what they have to do. Josh brings up the best option being taking Penix at 11 because you can't risk Denver and the Raiders taking Pennix at 12 or 13, if that's the guy that they like. And this all applies to Bo Nix as well. I've gone up and down on Bo Nix throughout this entire process. I think early on, I was higher on him and then I've kind of come back a little bit, but then I see certain people talking about how he's so good at processing. I'm like, is he really? We all have this stock falling and rising when these guys aren't playing football.

It's kind of funny. But Penix and a defensive tackle is very possible at 11 and 23. In this draft, Sim, I feel like I got away with it a bit. Kevin O'Connell, not the real one, says the Dolphins could take Penix take pennix the dolphins are such a weird team to try to figure out because do they want a quarterback or are they good with tua do they not love tua maybe they don't maybe they do he led the league in passing but they're gonna have to pay him and the new league think is, and we see this with the Vikings, the way that the NFL is operating right now is that teams are giving away their quarterbacks instead of paying them. And, you know, Seattle did that with Russell Wilson, instead of signing

him to a contract, the Vikings just did it, uh it and not signing up for insane contracts because the price is so much different. And maybe the dolphins look at it like, yeah, two is great, but he's only great when he costs $5 million and he's not great if he costs $40 million. That right there is not insane. What you're saying that the dolphins could surprise us and decide to go with the quarterback there. And that's why, uh, you know, uh, Kurt or I'm sorry, Kufu 21 says agree. Pennix will have to go at 11. Yeah. I think that you're right because you can't risk at all ending up with no quarterback on the board and then trying to take Spencer Rattler or something and saying he was your QB too all along.

Didn't we hear that about Kellen Mon? There are the Spencer Rattler truthers and hey, if it works out, then that'd be great for him. But I just, when we're talking about somebody who's going to be taken later in the draft, you know, I'm just not into that idea for the Vikings. Maybe that would have been an idea from like two years ago. Blowfishes says scenario, the Vikings trade up, pick a franchise quarterback, but Darnold resurrects his career by seemingly fitting into the Vikings offense and taking them to the playoffs. What do you do for 2025? I mean, that would really depend on how you felt about the

guy that you drafted. I mean, because if you're talking about Darnold, if they get to the playoffs at nine and eight or something, well, that's fine. But you know, that's not really what you're looking for. You're looking for someone who could take you a deep into the playoffs. The other thing is too, that we saw this from Tampa Bay with Baker Mayfield is if you end up going nine and eight and making the playoffs and the guy resurrects his career, guess what you have to do? You got to pay him. And this is the problem we don't want, right? That this is what we've been trying to get rid of on this show, pounding the table for the inexpensive quarterback. But if Sam Darnold throws 30 touchdowns, goes nine and

eight, gets you to the playoffs, then you got to pay him $40 million. And that's just not a good idea. So I think that unless he got you to the dang Superbowl that I would be talking about, still, you got to turn the keys over to the next guy and go from there. Unless you hate him, unless you get the guy in the building and he's a punk and he doesn't work well with anybody. And then you got to stick with what you got, but, uh, otherwise, um, you have franchise and trade Darnold. Yeah, that's an idea. That's an idea. Sign it, sign and trade. Um, let's see. CJ says defensive tackle at 11 cornerback at 23 trade up in the second for Spencer Rattler. Absolutely not. That is a, that is a no go for me. I am only into first round

quarterbacks. That's it. First round quarterbacks. Lone Wolf says the Raiders would take pennants. Yeah. So that's very possible. Yeah, that's very possible. And that's why my draft sim here worked out great for me. And I thought, I'm a genius. Give me the GM job. But in practice, you would probably have to do what you're saying is make sure that he's not going to the Raiders. Make sure that he's not going to the Denver Broncos by picking Pennix at 11 and then taking whatever defensive player you

like at 23. Blowfish says, didn't the Vikings have a private workout with Pennix after his pro day? Yes. Kevin O'Connell does not care about pro days. He told us about this at the owners meetings that you shouldn't just watch what pro days the Vikings are attending to decide who you think they like because pro days are just very scripted. And maybe, you know, maybe they'll have Josh McCown there or watch it on NFL network. It just doesn't mean a lot. And pro days are probably antiquated at this point anyway, because they're so scripted and they're so just created out of a box to try to show off what the guy can do

that you're not really getting an actual version of this guy that you can study in the same way that you can do when Kevin O'Connell has a private workout. So yes, it was reported by Jordan Schultz that they had a private workout with Michael Penix for sure. Preston says after 2024 Vikings will know the answer to that. They will know if they drafted, uh, the, the QB they drafted will be able to lead the team. Yes, I agree. You're talking about that Darnold scenario. I, yes, I agree with that, that this is why you have Sam Darnold is that he gives you a bit of a buffer. If you were to draft somebody at the top and then you find out, Oh, it's not good. And you can tell by camp, you could tell by practice, does this guy have it? You can figure it out fairly quickly, except for, um,

you know, sometimes it takes development, but normally about their work ethic and stuff like that. So they might be a little rocky, but when it comes to inside of the actual building practice every day, video, you know, tape, how they're breaking down the game, are they taking it out to practice? I mean, all that stuff, how they lead, how they're acting inside the locker room. You're going to know at the end of one year, whether you've got something there or not. Kufu thinks that the Seahawks could take panics. Yeah, there's probably a few teams that could, but I still think it's not that likely that Miami, Seattle, it's really the Broncos and the Raiders. And of course I could be wrong, but that is how it feels to me that even though there's an argument for these teams to take a quarterback, a lot of these teams are really living in the now or they should be. There are

very few teams that can act like the Packers and draft their quarterback of the future way out in advance. And I'm sorry to give credit to the Packers, but there just aren't many teams that can kind of get away with that. Maybe Seattle is because they have a new head coach. Could be. But I tend to think that these teams will kind of hedge and draft mid-round quarterbacks instead of first-rounders when they know that they're maybe a player away. Because even though teams should not draft for immediate need philosophically, again, in practice, you get to the draft and you go,

well, you know, we could really use a corner. We don't have one right now. Kevin O'Connell, again, not the real one. No way Pennix falls. Talent is too obvious. Intangibles are great. Yeah, I mean, you guys are being realistic, more realistic than my draft sim was about Pennix, that despite what kind of the mock draft community thinks, it feels like there is a

realistic possibility that Pennix is higher from NFL teams than maybe the mock draft universe is. George says the biggest risk is the giants moving up up. Teams only fall to six and likely to get a player high on their board. Yeah, no, you're right. I mean, if you're Arizona and you only have to move back to six and they get their quarterback and you get one of those two receivers, you're very happy. That's the biggest argument that the Vikings have or the biggest hurdle, I should say, that the Vikings have

is trying to get teams to drop all the way back to 11. It's a long way to go to, to go all the way from number four or number three, all the way back to 11, where you're missing out on Marvin Harrison, Jr. You're missing out on Malik neighbors, maybe Joe alt. If that's the guy that you actually want, uh, freedom thinker says that top six quarterback prospects will be taken by 15. There's always one that is not as high as we think. I just don't know which one it is. I don't know if it's Drake May is not actually QB2.

I don't know if Jaden Daniels scares people more than we think. We have seen that from some running quarterbacks in the past that they drop farther than we think. Um, it, you know, maybe Bo Nix or Michael Pennix. We don't really know the medicals. We just know the reports about the medicals. That's what makes this draft. One of the most interesting in a long time is you could be right that all six quarterbacks

could be gone by 15 or it could be three. And by 23, there's still three other potential quarterbacks there. So that's the wide range of outcomes, which makes this so much fun to draft simulate. I have other draft Sims, but you guys are really reacting a lot to this one. Dwayne says if the Vikings pick Pennix or Knicks, they are settling again. Choosing not to trade up is accepting scraps given to you. Yeah, you know, I understand that attitude. And I think a lot of people will say that.

But I don't know that that's exactly true because of how unpredictable quarterbacks are. So I ran through this and I made a list of the quarterbacks. Yeah. Quarterbacks who were QB five in seasons in which there were five first or second rounders. And here's what I, here's what I came up with recently. Mack Jones, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, Jimmy Garoppolo, Brock Osweiler, Andy Dalton. So that's your QB fives in years where there was a first or second. And out of that list, we have several that built great teams around them that won a lot of football

games, Jimmy Garoppolo and Andy Dalton. We've got two stars. One of them is a two-time MVP. The other one was in the Superbowl and we have a couple of busts which is kind of how it always goes right i mean i think this qb5 is better than most qb5s and i i know that i mean we're saying settling but also you're getting more for your team and it's not like you're getting some dweeb at qb5 you're getting a guy who took a team to the national championship, has a super strong arm, great leader. I mean, a lot of success led the college football and passing. So QB five is not always QB five settling. Isn't always settling. I think that there is going to be this Christian ponder PTSD from people that like, you're still shook by they reached on ponder. They reached on ponder. It was a long time ago. Quarterback development is better than it's ever

been in my entire life. And QB five in this draft is not like it would have been in some other drafts. I mean, you're still getting somebody that has a tremendous arm and skillset. And so I'm less, I would be less freaked out, uh, by the idea of settling, uh, when you're still getting a top quarterback prospect. And I, I just think in general, okay. So the odds of the first or second pick being great, I think are, are pretty high, but once you get past that quarterback three, four, five, are the odds really that different? Probably not. Uh, but I understand what you're saying. I

mean, look, if, if, uh, the Vikings had tanked after Kirk got hurt, you know, maybe we're talking about this being a lot easier. So maybe you can look at that part. JP says either Byron Murphy or Johnny Newton are probably available at 23. That could be, I don't know how, like the draft sim, it felt like Byron Murphy needed to be a guy that I should pick right there, but I don't know if it's going to play out that way. Cause maybe they take, you know, Jared verse ahead of him that, I mean, that could be, so you could do this. Yes. You could draft Pennix at 11 and then wait for the best defensive player. I just kind of played it as it was for this, but for, for certain, I mean, I would in practice take the quarterback at 11

and wait till 23. It just on this particular draft sim, it looked to me as I was trying to look forward. Is any of these teams going to take pennix? I don't think so. So I'm going to go for it. And, and also I wanted to see if I was going to get locked out as well. I wanted to see in this draft sim, can I actually go for it or am I going to get screwed here and be left without a quarterback? And then I was going to talk about that tonight, but instead I was able to get Pennix. AJ says, so everybody is out on Bo Nix. Bo Nix is a hard one, man. Bo Nix is a hard one because I have such differing opinions

from different people. I talked to a former NFL scout who loved Bo Nix, said he was a field general, loved his athleticism, loved how quick he got rid of the football. And then I've read other people who I really respect saying you might as well be drafting Andy Dalton. Right. And okay. I guess that's all right, but that's not what you're aiming for. And then there are former quarterbacks who have watched Bo Nix like Kurt Warner and done videos about him and said, I love this guy. He's amazing.

I am kind of lost on what the league is going to think of Bo Nix. But if this was Nix instead of Pennix, then I can see it. That's the thing with all these quarterback prospects is I can see why that would work. I could see why a guy who gets rid of the football quickly and understands the game really well and is a good athlete he can make a play i understand why that would work if bo nicks was their guy so no i i don't think that i am out on bo nicks i i tend to lean a bit more toward liking michael pennix myself but um okay some of you guys are very funny about, I, I do look forward if they draft Michael Penix about how funny you guys are going to be with Michael Penix, his name.

He didn't make it for himself. So I usually say junior. I usually write junior just to make sure I get it right. Uh, you guys, um, Randall says weird comp, to me jj mccarthy i assume is kind of like teddy with a slightly better arm skinny athletic leader that others will gravitate to yeah i i could see that um sometimes in our minds i think we think of teddy as what we saw most recently when he was with carolina or with denver and forget that by the time he got hurt, his arm was trending toward serviceable. I think just because he put work into it and you can improve arm strength. We saw it from Joe Burrow because a lot of arm strength is just technique, right? And his throwing technique at Louisville was not very good. You know, that kind of like strange sidearm fling thing he was doing, but I thought it got a lot better. And then being away from football for so long,

set him back as we've even seen from someone like Deshaun Watson. If you're not playing for a long time, that can be very hard for you, obviously for different reasons. But, you know, with Teddy, with the knee injury, I think it's set him back quite a ways. But I think his arm was starting to get there. The difference to me was what Teddy's superpower was, aside from leadership, was throwing with anticipation. And McCarthy, I think, does that at times. But I thought Teddy was really excellent when he dialed it up on some of the intermediate stuff, the play action stuff.

But I don't think that's a crazy, it's sort of like McCarthy could be what we thought Teddy was trending toward. Maybe think about that way. Uh, Mike says, Nick's is easily the best road quarterback compared to the field. Uh, he does very well in hostile stadiums, 52% third down conversion to me. That is too deep in the weeds. That's just too deep in the weeds. Like a lot of the, even the McCarthy people, they always love their stats one third down, or when he was rolling out, he did this. And sometimes we have to kind of like reel it back. All right. Are any of these stats truly going to help us figure out if this guy's going to be good or not? I mean, Bo Nix had an amazing year.

So if they draft Bo Nix, just pull up the whole stat sheet in the season he put together. It is not like you are getting some horrendous prospect. It's just that the skill set, is it quite on the level that you're looking for that you're going to be able to exceed what your team gives you? Because you guys know, I look at it this way is what do you have as a team and how far or how much does your quarterback hold you back? Or is it exactly that for how good they are? So just for example, if you have a team that should win eight games with Patrick Mahomes, you can win the Superbowl. And they just did that this year. If you are the Vikings and you have a nine win team,

Kirk cousins gives you nine wins. Most of the time, unless you get the craziest, luckiest season ever in 2022. So, uh, you know, I always look at it as Bo Nix is Bo Nix going to be able to take a nine win team and get them to 11 or 12, or, you know, if you have a bad quarterback, you got a nine win team, you win six, but we're assuming all of these quarterbacks kind of become, if it's the best version of what we think, that's why Drake may has always been the guy I've looked at the most as, all right, Drake May looks like someone that could take a nine-win team and make them into a 12-win team if it's the best version of Drake May. Hey, U.S. cellular customers, I've got good news, so don't hit that skip forward button just yet.

I'm talking about their special customer event, Us Days. What's Us Days? Just to say thanks. Like up to $1,200 to upgrade to any new phone. No, I didn't misread that. That's up to $1,200 off. They must really like you all. Us Days at U.S. Cellular exclusive offers just for you just to say thanks. Right now, U.S. Cellular customers get up to $1,200 to upgrade to any new phone. Terms apply. Let me get to, I'll get back to the chat in just a second, but let me get to i'll get back to the chat in just a second but let me present you with

the second draft sim because i did three i promised three so let me get the second one the second draft sim i traded number 11 number 23 108 and 157 to the los ang Angeles chargers for number five and number 69, a very nice trade to get JJ McCarthy and edge rusher, Gabriel Murphy. That was the second drafts him trade that I made. And I liked, I liked this trade because I didn't have to give up the 2025 first round pick. Uh, and I still end up with JJ McCarthy. And also I was able to pull in one extra pick from them, uh, to get an edge rusher in the third round. And if you look at, uh, I, I did a little research specifically on Gabriel Murphy. I like the fact that Gabriel Murphy is a multi-dimensional player thought of as being high IQ, great production. Seems like somebody that Brian Flores would like. So that's just a little bit about him.

He went to UCLA, but in this case, being able to get a third round pick, as well as the quarterback that the Vikings, I think might like as their second option to Drake may. I think this is a home run for the Vikings to not have to give up anything more than just 1123 and then slide up and get another player. They come away with at least a reasonable prospect on defense as well as their future franchise quarterback. So you'll, uh, you'll have to tell me what you guys think of that as a potential option, but I like it. If of course they like JJ McCarthy enough to give up that much, which of course, meme Kevin O'Connell, not the real one says don't fall. Well, if you are the real one,

then that would be interesting to get your feedback here, but I'd be surprised. So anyway, Kevin O'Connell on the YouTube stream, not the real person says, don't fall for the McCarthy gaslighting. Look, it might be. I don't think that it is. I don't think that this has all been just like the Will Levis. McCarthy has so many fewer things about him that would be indicators of that. Like the fact that Will Levis did not play good football as a senior. The fact that Will Levis got sacked

at a crazy amount through interceptions. Yeah, it just, and he's a strange guy, you know, puts mayo in his coffee or whatever. I don't know how much that plays into it, but has an odd throwing motion. Like there was a lot about Will Levis that made you question. If you watched him play, you never really saw it. So McCarthy, the winning element, the character element, how much he cares, the raw skills that could be developed. It's a lot more believable than I think the Will Levis was not. I'm not saying that I predicted it last year for him to fall that far, but I did

think this is the type of guy that we get sold on sometimes with raw skill that it's not always the case that they're a top draft pick. Drew Locke was that way. Malik Willis was that way. So I wasn't terribly shocked. I think I would be pretty surprised if McCarthy dropped off the radar the same way Will Levis did. Let's see. CJ says, if the Vikings trade up for quarterback via multiple firsts, Darnold ends up purtying him. What is full circle narrative? Yeah,

that would be funny. That would be pretty crazy. Purtying is, uh, it's like when, um, what is it called when someone gets hurt and then the next guy up is, is great. It's called being Wally pipped. Maybe this should be purtying. Uh, or I mean, Kirk did this as well. Kirk did this to a RG three kinda, uh, where he ended up being Washington's quarterback after RG three was the high pick. Uh, Jay Jesus says, uh, did you hear that the bears may trade their second round pick at, or a second first round pick at nine to the Broncos or Raiders to keep the Vikings from getting pennants or Knicks. Is this wait? Maybe this is.

Is this let's get the scroll here. Is this a rumor of the day? Maybe maybe this is a rumor that OK, you've got yourself a rumor of the day. That would really be something that would be quite the gamesmanship if they were willing to do that. And that really right there, what you're explaining is why the Vikings have to trade up if they want McCarthy, but Pennix or Knicks also going in the top 10. That feels kind of wild if that were to be the

case, but it is a rumor of the day. Great job. And I appreciate you finding that man. That would be some dirty pool by the Chicago Bears sliding back to number 12 to make sure that they jump ahead of the Vikings to be able to draft a quarterback. Oh man. Well, look, as long as the Vikings come out with one, then it's good.

But if they do that, then wow, we got some serious drama at that point. And I'm not exactly sure how the Vikings would handle that, to tell you the truth. I mean, if that happens and they take, say, Penix, and then you got five quarterbacks off the board in the top 10, then what? Then do you draft your guy? Do you wait till 23 and see if Nix is still around? I mean, man. Yes. Wally pipped. Yeah. That's a, that's an old one. There's a clip of, um, there's a clip of bill Belichick saying somebody was going to Wally pip one of his

players. And the player was just like, what are you talking about? What are you talking about? That is an old, old reference. That's like, is that Lou Gehrig is, is that one or who is that? That's a Yankee one, right? Uh, CJ says, I'd be okay with Knicks. I'd be okay with Knicks if they're okay with Knicks. That, I mean, that's, that's, that's all we can really say. But if the, if the rumor of the day scenario just happened and they traded up, the bears traded back with the Broncos and they took pennix and the Vikings were basically just left with the last guy, then, then we're going to be having that discussion. Then we're going to be going, uh, should you have done more to make that move? And then they're going to come out and say, Hey, look, uh, you know, we always loved him as our QB one or whatever, but it's not going to

feel like that. That doesn't change the odds, by the way, that still the odds would be what they are for a top first rounder. But man, that, that would really spark quite a bit of discussion. I think of whether the Vikings screwed up and not getting up to the top. Uh, I'm a twerk says Matt, just watch some crazy Cardinals feed, couple takeaways. Their fans are crazy. You need to monetize better. Uh, I thought you were going to give me a takeaway on what the Cardinals fans are saying, uh, about, um, about that, but their fans are crazy. Well, they were the same ones that I noticed that they were, um, putting Justin Jefferson in a Cardinals Jersey and doing that, that swap thing. So you know that's that maybe they are crazy josh says

way deeper quarterback class this year than compared to recent years yeah this is different so when we're evaluating the qb5 qb6 i mean we have to consider that williams and may were locked in for a while and here's the other thing, about deeper draft classes that may be on the way is the COVID years matter. If Bo Nix was forced to come out last year and Michael Penix last year, then we wouldn't have five or six potential first round quarterbacks. They would have already been drafted in like, I don't know, the second round last year, as opposed to the first round here. Tyler says if trading up to three or four, even if I'm happy with McCarthy, he has the traits. Uh, if we draft Pennix, I don't know.

His talent is high risk. Also high reward there. There is more high risk. I think based on the fact that he's been injured, but I don't know about his actual talent. I mean, his talent. Yeah. And Kufu brings this up is 36 inch vertical was pretty incredible. His talent is way up there. I mean, I, I totally buy into a guy with that arm and the fact that he does have, uh, athleticism, um, to me says that, you know, okay, he's not going to be a big-time scrambler, but he does have the athletic ability to move within the pocket more than we saw. And he did a lot in the Texas game. And he also just has, he's got a laser. And, yeah, there have been some quarterbacks who have big arms and are great leaders and great character in college that didn't work out.

But I feel like there's more that did than didn't. So it always kind of come down to me too. All right. What do they think about his development path, which may be a little bit harder if he is 23 years old than it is if he's 21. Cause imagine Drake may got to play for two more years than had Roma dunes, a couple other good wide receivers. Like, yeah, he'd probably look a lot like Michael Pennix as opposed to more of a raw prospect, but it also might mean that Pennix can come in quickly right away and start leading a team because he's not a kid. So I don't know. I don't know what it means. It's hard to figure out, but I like his talent.

I certainly do. Uh, Kyle says, so when is the Superbow Bowl window? Are we a quarterback away? No, you're not just the quarterback away because there's a lot of other holes on the team, specifically in depth that what we do have is a fairly recent, and now it feels a little way separated now from 2017, but we've seen at least fairly recently what it looks like to have a super bowl caliber roster right that if case keenum can be in the nfc championship if you had a good quarterback that was a quarterback away from being in the super bowl that year but let's like break it down you know you've got your two great receivers. You got a good tight end. You got probably a better set of tackles.

Now the offensive lines are pretty even though. 17 in this year. The running game was okay, but not special in 2017. But the defense had so much depth. There were so many good defensive linemen. The Vikings had Tom Johnson. B-Rob was coming off of the bench. And then you have an elite number one corner that year.

All pro safety, two Pro Bowl linebackers, two tremendous edge rushers. They're not there yet as being a complete team. That's why the 2025 offseason going into 2025 will be vital. The window starts in 2025. I think this is a year to find out, find out who's on the team going forward, find out about your quarterback situation. Do you have a budding star? Do you have a guy that we're worried about?

Do you have Sam Darnold as the next great Vikings quarterback, which would kind of be classic. So to learn about and develop your quarterback and learn about your roster and who's going to go forward with you. And then, you know, try to get in the playoffs and have a fun year and all that stuff. That's what 2024 is ultimately going to be about. And then 2025, that's when the window opens. If that quarterback is good, then you can stack that roster. And man, you, uh, you are going to have something special there. Uh, Scott says, I thought ponder was banned from the show. Um, your, you guys are banned from saying it. I can bring it up just to mention, to not bring it up.

How about that? That's, that's what what that's what can be that's how that's how it can be used is I can tell you get over it don't don't talk about it but you guys can't bring it up in the comments uh otherwise uh then you're banned uh for bringing up ponder Randy says uh Drake May has the upside to move the needle way more than pennix and a defensive player You take the risk. Yeah, look I I tend to agree which is I should get to my third draft sim Let me do that because that one includes drake may spoiler, uh

So here was my third draft sim I gave up 11 23 108 him. I gave up 11, 23, 108 and next year's first, which nobody wants to do, but price to play poker to get number three and 68. And I drafted Drake May and running back Jalen Wright. I mean, Jalen Wright's a beast. So I was just thinking, you know, why get a developmental defensive player when I can get a beast on offense to replace Aaron Jones after this year. I just went more offense because why not? And for this one, I mean, this has always been my favorite idea, no matter how much we're going to be unhappy with how much they gave up.

And there could be some sticker shock to that, but this is still my favorite idea. Like this, this right here, getting Drake May, getting the guy developing him over the next couple of years. It makes the most sense to me for the highest ceiling, the potential to take a team to the super bowl. Like that's, that's what I've always been the most in on. It's also the most risky. It is the most terrifying. I mean, I think when you're giving up this much, uh, Kyle says I'm still high on focusing on building depth, collecting picks, finding a wide receiver, three defensive tackle guard corner and linebacker focus on 2025 draft and get a Shadur Carson bet Quinn Ewers. I'm I'm a hundred percent out on that. I don't think waiting around until next year is a good idea. You can do all those things that you just brought up

and still do this and still trade up for Drake May because of the amount of cap space that they have. That's what you're using that for. And what will ultimately come up, I promise it will, is some player who's very expensive and very awesome that is looking for a trade. And instead of Montez Sweat going to the Chicago Bears, he comes here and it's just going to happen. You've seen it with Miami. You've seen it with even the Raiders getting Devante Adams. There are way more trades. How about Christian McCaffrey becomes a San Francisco 49er. There are so many more trades these days. If you're the team that can bring the guy in and give him all the money, you've got a distinct advantage. And the Vikings have set themselves up

to be able to do that with the way that they have their draft capital. But in this case, in my draft sim, I just think this is the go all in chips to the middle of the table, get your guy by any possible means. And you just let it play out the way it's going to play out. But this gives you, I think the highest possibility of winning a Superbowl someday higher than a defensive tackle and Michael Penix. You can get another defensive tackle. It's not always easy to find superstars, but you can find one. You could get one in free agency. You can get rotational players. You just can't find a player of his size and talent to develop into a superstar. And I think if it's Knicks or if it's Penix and you're trying to just hope to build the strongest possible team,

then you can do that maybe for a short window. You can build a Bo Nix window where you've got a year, maybe two. But if you have a Drake May at the highest end, then you're talking about maybe potentially having a 10-year type of window. A Matt Ryan or Phillip Rivers or Eli Manning, like that caliber, I think is the high end for him. I don't think it's my homes necessarily. That's too high for me to set the bar. Uh, but if you could create yourself, not just a one or two year window in the rookie contract, but someone you want to sign to a second contract because of

their talent, that they can continue to ascend over a career. That's what you're aiming for. And you might as well take the big swing. And I think that's what Kweisi Adafomenta wants to do. I don't think that Kweisi Adafomenta came here to just try to get in the playoffs. The way that he talks is so different from the way that they've talked before. We have not heard Kweisi Adafo Mensah say, Hey, you just get in and take your shot. He's always been talking about how you potentially win championships. So I think that this would be something he would be looking for is, um, is trying to make this big trade up, but it's it's risky uh this is funny uh what is this says

uh bo nick sounds like a player from draft day there are a lot of these players that their names sound to me like uh the madden game when you would have to make up the draft class because they ruined our lives and took away ncaa uh When you'd have to just automatically create the draft class, they'd have all these crazy names. Bo Nix kind of does sound like that a little bit. Yeah. Let's roll down here. Yeah, this is tough.

This is tough. Based Kirby. Hindsight, but imagine we stuck with Jaron Hall after Kirk got hurt. We lose out. We would naturally be at like two or three. Natural tank. Yep. That would be the natural tank. Oh, well, oh, well is right. Based Kirby. That's right. I mean, at the time you could have seen it coming, but it's just, it's just so much harder to do than it is to say it's so much harder to say to Kevin O'Connell buddy just lose the rest of the games it's all good to say to Harrison Phillips hey look they could have traded to

Neil Hunter they should have done that but to say to veteran players and to the most important people the owners now what I think about all the time is so you remember when Jaron Hall came in the game against the Packers and he immediately what through interception or fumbled or something. If they had blown that game after Kirk got hurt, I honestly think we might've been talking about it differently because they would have gone to three and five with their quarterback out for the season. I they're more likely trading to Neil, right? I think there was that game that they believed that they could actually make the playoffs if they just brought in somebody else at quarterback. And yeah, it costs, it costs them getting way up there. It definitely did. Folks, if you don't know what a VPN is, you might actually need one and not even realize it.

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That is surf shark dot deals slash purple insider. Caleb says giving up three firsts is a lot, but worth it. Even if it doesn't work, you have valuable picks in round four and three next year. Well, yeah, I don't look at it that way so much because

you're probably not going to know right away for sure if you're giving up that much, or you're not going to be done with that guy. If you're giving up that much, you might know you might have a sense. Yeah. You could package those picks to move up. That's true for next year, but you're probably giving it three years. If you move that much, the guy might look bad. It might, you know, not work out very well at first because that happens sometimes Matthew Stafford, Eli Manning, they look bad at first. Uh, there's probably better, more recent examples of quarterbacks who didn't look that great when they first started and then got better. Josh Allen. Uh, yeah, he jumped over Anthony Barr,

but that 2018 season was nothing that special from Josh Allen, but you could see the signs, the writing on the wall that he could eventually become great. But you're probably looking at it as a three-year type of thing if you spend that much. If you spend only 23, you could bail on the guy the next year. That is a big difference between the scenarios.

It definitely is. Uh, let's see. I think I'm a twerk says, I think Kevin O'Connell in the chat is really a Kevin O'Connell's son. His kid is a draft Nick. That's funny. Um, I, I, yeah, well, uh, look, people have, uh, burners, right? The most unsuspecting burner would be to actually use his real name.

That would be the one where nobody would ever actually suspect that. Uh, Caleb says, if it doesn't work out, you can try again in 2026. Yeah, that is true. You'll just, you'll be trying with a new GM. You will. is true you'll just you'll be trying with the new gm you will uh it and that's that is the big difference in this is if they stick and pick at 11 and they don't like the guy and he doesn't work out they can quickly turn around and try to correct that whether it's from a veteran or whether it's drafting somebody else that can happen pretty fast if you trade everything it's probably three

years and by the end of that three years you are either are either Kevin O'Connell's got a long-term contract or Kevin O'Connell is fired. And those are the only ways that it can really go. So the different approaches have different consequences as well, which is, is a wrinkle to this and this decision that they have. CJ, the cost of trading up should be referred to as the curse of the pastronaut yes it's costing them more to trade up than it costs for us to go to space that feels kind of true doesn't it uh let's see r emmer says i like what we've got at edge with grunard van ginkel I feel like we're sleeping on Patrick Jones. I don't feel that way. Uh, would love to see a guy like, uh, the Benson Jonathan Brooks,

best defensive tackle. Yeah. I mean, defensive tackles, usually if you want to get a good one, you have to take them high. Um, and that was pointed out by, I think it's Arjun Menon, uh, who's a really good analytics guy that almost all of the most expensive first or defensive tackles are first rounders. There's a reason for that because it's such an athletic based position, strength, speed, quickness in the middle. So I'm a little less high on the idea of mid round defensive tackles, but to your point, Patrick Jones is at least so far shown absolutely nothing to me. He was ranked as I think PFF's worst outside linebacker, edge rusher last year that played more than 500 snaps.

Just a non-impact player for me. Could take a step forward, but I don't know. Even a step forward is to what? Below average? Like they need a ton more depth. And I also think with a Van Ginkle that, well, he is a really interesting, versatile outside linebacker type. They could use another edge rusher. Who's got hand in the dirt ability and allows Van Ginkle

to move around a little bit, or a traditional three, four defensive end would also be something that they could look to add eventually, um, you know, through whatever the draft or, uh, those kinds of players are, are, are not like they're pretty rare. So if you could find one, the third round in the draft, maybe that's what they might look for as so a more traditional three, four type defensive end. I think they wanted that in Dean Lowry. Just, it was Dean Lowry, so it didn't work out. Um, but yeah, I mean, in my mind, they need more defensive. They need a lot more defensive line talent than they have right now. That's really, uh, important to them to becoming a Superbowl caliber contender, because if they don't get more defensive line talent, you're not going to be able to compete with the San Francisco's and the Phillies that run out

so many of those guys. And they just, they just need better than someone like Patrick Jones. You just can't do it today. You're just going to need another off season to be able to do it. Let's see. John says, JJ is is very interesting giving his play and footwork and third down conversions and accuracy for having a cold arm. I will say that. I, um, oh yeah, because he's not throwing it very often. Yeah. Yeah. You're right about that. He's not exactly a chance to get in a rhythm. I will say that. I think, look, I think that JJ McCarthy, I've always thought that, that JJ McCarthy is a good prospect that I have concerns about because he didn't have the big numbers because he didn't have his own team, you know,

put on his back and have to throw the ball a lot. And I feel, I feel like he's got a long way to go and that he's a very raw prospect. And that makes you wonder, is he actually going to be able to get there? But there's a lot of things that you like about him that if the Vikings drafted him, then, okay, well, you've got a chance, right? I that's, that's how I look at JJ McCarthy's. You're going to have a chance to develop him into a very, very good NFL quarterback, which is what you're looking for. I just look at Drake may, and this could be five years from now. We could be laughing at all these discussions or even five weeks from now, we could be laughing at all these discussions. But, uh, I look at Drake may, when I watch him, when I watch McCarthy, as I look at May, who, if you can hone

all the crazy stuff that he does, it could be really special. And that's what you're looking for in my mind ahead of, could it just be good? Mike says, chargers aren't going to do that. Talking about the second draft SIM exact trade with either neighbors or Harrison jr. On the board, but we wouldn't have to give up 2025. That's the big question right there is I, I really wonder if we're going to see any of these teams make that trade or if the Vikings are going to end up going up to number six with the giants.

If they don't want JJ McCarthy, number seven with Tennessee to make sure that they stay ahead of the Denver's of the world. That's it's just, there are such good wide receivers that are expected to go in the first round. If you're the chargers of the Cardinals, you should probably take them. And so open for business might not mean open for business. Uh, Daniel says future quarterback chess piece for flores on defense don't give up the future high pick i'm here for it talking about again draft sim number two uh with getting gabriel murphy and jj mccarthy yeah like i think that's also a very realistic

potential outcome because you're right that if um you, you know, the chargers are sold on Malik neighbors or Harrison jr, then they may stick and pick. But if they also feel like they can get another receiver later and they might be looking for an offensive lineman first, cause their line has been spotty for, I don't know how long. So if they went to get an offensive lineman first, then they might feel like they could get their guy at 11. If that's what they want before they go get the weapons, because Jim Harbaugh football, right? Like, I mean, they, that could be like part of their strategy that the Vikings are going to have to try to figure out like, is the chargers an option for them because the chargers are okay with moving back more than arizona

where arizona i think would very clearly want to take marvin harrison jr uh craig says if the vikings don't trade up we all cry on draft night there well there will be there will be crying on draft night probably no matter what because everybody has opinions on quarterbacks so no matter what they because everybody has opinions on quarterbacks. So no matter what they do, there will be somebody in the chat who thinks that Drake may is going to stink or thinks McCarthy's a fraud or thinks that Pennix is getting hurt or thinks that Nick's has a noodle arm or Daniels is never going to make it because he got sacked in college or every one of these guys has their downfalls. Uh, if they come away with a quarterback on night one of the NFL draft, then we all should just let it play out,

which is not what we like to do. And we're going to discuss it and we're going to debate it on the show. But realistically, we should all just take it step-by-step with that player because history tells us that on draft night, you don't always know how it's going to turn out and that all of our opinions can be right or wrong, um, you know, going into the draft. And we'll also, the difference is though, here's what I'll give you. If you're going to be somebody who's, uh, outraged on draft night is there are certain outcomes where we won't be sure it was really Kevin O'Connell's guy that was it just the last one on the board or was it somebody he really really wanted um that's that's going to be the dynamic well did they really just want May and when they didn't get him did they settle for Bo

Nix or settle for Michael Penix? Uh, was he, or was that the guy that they targeted all along and they were playing 3d chess with us? That's what we're going to try to figure out. Um, Nathan says, I think most of this is inflated smoke to get teams like us to get scared to overpay. It could be, well, you're talking about the bears thing. Yeah. It could be, uh, I mean, it's almost like, uh, it reminds me a little bit of Justin Jefferson's contract where I think we all know the price, right? They might be playing games with each other. Yeah. But I also feel like they know the price and it's whether new England's's going to accept it or i suppose washington but probably new england or it's whether arizona is going to accept it or whether los angeles is going to accept it

that it's going to come down to and if you're those teams you can wait as long as you want to wait that's the key is you can sit there and go all right we'll wait because we got we got draft night and uh we'll go all the way until then. But as far as the bears trying to mess around with the Vikings and giving up that number nine spot, well, if they could get a competitive advantage, but you're probably right that I think the bears are going to stay at nine and just pick Roma dunes. I mean, we've all mocked it a million times, but it just makes so much sense that they would stay there and pick another offensive weapon for their quarterback. Uh, Kurt says I'd be okay with selling out for may Stroud was incredible last year. And I would have flipped out if they moved

up to get Stroud last year. How does may compare to Stroud? This is why draft analysis and what we think we know is funny because the biggest draft analysis of CJ Stroud was that he was a pure pocket quarterback and he was not any kind of playmaker, but he threw the nicest football. He actually sounds like Michael Penix more than anyone except for younger. And he was mature. He has a great football IQ other than this S2 garbage, which didn't hurt his draft stock because he went second overall. But aside from the nonsense of that, the biggest critique was that he didn't use his athleticism to its maximum until a game against Georgia when we saw it, which is what we've heard from Pennix. How does he compare to May? It's very different because Stroud was a

really technical player at Ohio State. He would drop back, throw on time. His throwing motion was just so excellent. You saw it at the combine where he put on a show. That's why he reminds me more of Pennix, but he obviously was younger. He didn't have the knee issues or anything like that. Whereas Drake may is much more of a raw prospect. There's much more crazy stuff on his tape. There there's him trying to put a team on his back. And similarly to, to Pennix Stroud had a great team around him, which played into it as well. He had great, great receivers, first round caliber receivers, and Drake may just didn't. And so he was trying to do anything, everything for that team. And that's why when

they talk about Drake may, you hear these comparisons to, you know, Josh Allen, which is not fair for a ceiling to put on a guy, but Josh Allen had a lot of crazy stuff on his tape. I think of him, how about like this for a comparison since it's recent, if it works out, Drake may might be like Jordan Love. Jordan Love had a lot of miscues, actually had a worse senior or whatever final college season than he had his previous year. And he was a later draft pick because of that, but he had the raw talent. It was just that the accuracy wasn't always perfect and the mistakes were a little more than you'd like. But I mean, if you could draft a similar prospect and develop them over a couple of years, right. The question is like, can you start them right away? And that might be

a little bit of an issue for, um, you know, for, for, uh, Drake may, this is why you have Sam Darnold. So, all right, let me, let me scroll here. Let me scroll. We got a QB ranking here, blow fishes with the QB rank. And we might need to get that as a scroll or QB ranking, uh, Williams tied with may then McCarthy pennix, Daniels, Knicks, and Rattler. Uh, so you're quite a bit down on Jaden Daniels. Jaden Daniels might be the hardest to figure out if he's actually going to be number two, or if he's going to be like the one who drops, he's almost never talked about as the one who drops, but he doesn't have the strongest arm. There are some concerns about his frame that they're like, there are issues with Jade and Daniels that he only had the one

season. He had incredible wide receivers. I mean, there, there are reasons to think that he could be the one that drops. Um, but I don't know. I mean, his last year was so freaking good, so good. And so exciting that a lot of quarterbacks like this have worked out recently. I mean, Lamar Jackson, Jalen hurts specifically. Um, but you know, it, it is brought up by Zalene, who is not a fan of, uh, Jaden Daniels that he's skinny Justin Fields. Um, and Zlin says, you're burning all your Vikings here. Well, why don't you wait to see him play? Uh, if they draft him before you burn all your gear, because there have been plenty of times where a team drafted somebody.

I'll tell you the truth in Buffalo. There were a lot of people that wanted Josh Rosen and not Josh Allen. So if they had burned their gear, they would have uh not had gear and they would have had a great quarterback so maybe it's a good trade-off but Daniels does scare me though for sure because he he has that Justin Fields element of hang on to the ball hang on to the ball hang on to the ball that I don't like very much when I watch, but he also has the other elements of Jalen hurts Lamar Jackson. He takes off. He's special, which makes for a higher floor. I don't know. I've seen, I'm not the only one that's made the Tyrod Taylor comparison with all the sacks. You're, you're calling it Justin Fields.

Tyrod Taylor is another one who's a scrambling quarterback, but holds onto the ball too much. If they were to draft Jaden Daniels, I, my opinion would be, this could be the greatest thing or the worst thing because this guy has so much ability and so much athleticism and speed and playmaking, but he could also just get sacked a bunch and get hurt and we never have it work out. So, uh, let's see from, uh, Jeff, I won't be surprised if the bears trade back for a boatload of picks this year and next. I mean, yeah, you're right. Like they could trade back from nine. They could definitely trade back from nine.

Uh, that's what happens when you tank. Um, you know, that is what happens. Uh, let's see. What about Bob says, I'm glad you don't monetize. Oh, you mean the podcast adds legitimately to your podcast, not asking for cash. Um, you know, what is that? Is that the option that people use for, um, what is it with like, uh, paying to get questions on? I don't, yeah, I don't want to do that. Uh, somebody talked to me about that at one point and I just decided that I want everybody to get their questions in as much as I can. I don't want to like just prioritize certain people who give me whatever number of dollars or whatever. Right. Yeah. I don't need to, I don't need to do

that. I want everybody to be involved. So, but there are, I would say there are other ways to monetize the YouTube, which would just be through like Google ads and stuff like that. So, you know, there's ways we, you know, it's a business here, but I don't want people to feel like they can't ask questions

unless they're throwing money out there. I want everybody to feel involved because that's what really makes this fun. So yeah, but I don't know. I don't know. Maybe I need to do that. I don't know. Probably not though.

Let's see. Nathan says we should go three for May or five for McCarthy or 23 for Pennix. We can't overpay. So do you mean like not give up that extra first for drake may for overpaying overpaying is is all relative right like maybe this is what you mean is if you go to three for may that's the right price if you go to five for mccarthy that's the right price so if you're going to the car lot and you're going, I don't know cars that well. Uh, if you're going Lamborghini, then you're going

six figures, but that's what a Lamborghini is worth. You're not going for just a regular BMW or something. I don't know cars. This was a bad choice. Uh, if you're going shopping for houses, don't pay mansion prices for a ranch. Maybe that's a better way to put it. Um, but I don't think Pennix is a shack at 23. That's a thing you always have to manage when you're buying a house, right? Is how much is the mansion different than the ranch different than the, uh, whatever other kind of house that you're looking for? Is it actually $500,000

different, which is kind of what we're talking about here between Pennix at 23, if that's possible. I don't know if it is, but even Pennix at 11 versus giving up, you know, multiple picks, two more first rounders to get Drake May. I tend to think that it probably is. Um, I, but I, you know, I don't know. Uh, that's, that's going to be something that they have to manage. Is it worth giving up two more first round picks to get Drake may versus taking Michael Penix at 11, probably considering the ceiling, but I don't know. I don't know. That's a hard thing because that's two more first rounders that you could put into the roster. Uh, Danny, uh, Randall says Danny Kelly of the ringers comp for McCarthy is what is it? A sprightly Kirk cousins. Is that

what that's supposed to say? Uh, I I've never heard the word sprightly. Is that, that's a, that's a good pull from him. I don't really see much of Kirk cousins in JJ McCarthy. McCarthy's fast, really fast. And Kirk cousins is not McCarthy likes to scramble a lot. That's not something Kirk did. Kirk also had, even from early in his career, really good touch on the football. I think that's McCarthy's biggest problem. I mean, I kind of think you're just looking at six foot three white guys and saying that they're like each other.

Maybe that's what Spritely means is that there's a difference there. But I don't see that. I see McCarthy as having a very high or much higher ceiling than they would have thought Kirk had. Pre, that, that, you know, precision had to be Kirk Cousins game. Maybe this is just because McCarthy is known for his ability to process that he's going to be able to work with coaches, communicate all those types of things. Um, but I don't, I just don't see much. I mean, because McCarthy is a natural athlete because he can move so well and because his arm is stronger. Uh, I'm not sure I see quite the comparison between those two.

Uh, let's see from Randy. Uh, do you think when KOC was naming weapons on offense for young quarterback, he named JJ Addison, Hawkinson Jones, and O'Neill and left out Derisaw. Is that a sign? No, it's not a sign. Um, it, no, it's not like Derisaw is one of the most important people in the organization. I really think that you look at what even guards are getting paid. Look at what left tackles are getting paid and Derisaw will, but he's one of the most important people to this entire operation. I cannot imagine that they would be even considering moving on from him pretty much, pretty much ever. If you get a left tackle, they can be great for you every single year until they're like 34. It's amazing what a great left tackle can do. Uh, let's see. Oh, okay. Now this, we, we got some insight into this Cardinals feed that you guys are talking about. They don't want to trade. They want Marvin Harrison jr. Yeah. That's look,

that's fair though. Isn't it? That's fair. They want more than 11 and 23. Yeah, that's fair that they would prefer to have the number four overall pick and get one of the best receiver prospects in a really, really long time rather than getting number 11 and 23 and just getting okay prospects. And I think this is a very realistic scenario that one, two, three, four, five, six just are drafted the way they're going to be drafted and that there's no trade up and that JJ McCarthy is not taken even by the giants. And the Vikings are sitting there looking at maybe Tennessee and saying, are you the team that we should trade up with? And this is probably why if they don't feel like they can get to three and get Drake may that they should just wait

until draft night. Uh, Kufu 21 says Mayock rates Rattler above Knicks. The, there is a, there is a hive. There is definitely a hive of Spencer Rattler people. I am not in that hive. Uh, there are, and I, and at times I've liked what I've seen from Spencer Rattler. He certainly throws the football well. I just can't really buy it when the guy has basically never played good college football. I know the supporting cast is bad. I've heard all about it. I know he throws the football really well, and maybe he'll be Dak Prescott or something. He's drafted in the fourth and is great, or maybe he'll shock us and he'll be drafted much higher than we think because a lot of scout people do like him.

His high end is probably pretty high because he does have a great arm. But at some point, at some level, you should be playing good college football. And he's also six feet tall. And this is not Josh Allen where, yeah, the stats weren't good, but he's six foot six. He's six foot tall. And I just don't know if you can invest a first round draft pick in that. CJ says draft sim number three is the winner. Jake gives it a heart for draft sim number three.

Randy says, let's go, Kwesi. Listen to Matt draft sim number three. Randy says, let's go crazy. Listen to Matt draft sim number three. So you guys, you guys were really into the number three draft sim. Uh, CJ says drafts in number three has more risk, but, uh, there's more risk in not going for it. Yep. Yep. That's what I think as well. We'll just go with Kevin on this. So I don't have to say every time it's not the real Kevin O'Connell. Kevin says, good, a trade up to three. This is what everyone thinks we want to do. They'll never see it coming when we trade up for Pennix in the top 10.

Yeah, maybe, maybe if this is a good question here. What if May goes number two? That is a very good question. Then they would not be able to do that. Then they would not be able to trade up to number three and get Drake May. And then you have to decide, are you trying to trade up to number four and get JJ McCarthy? Uh, are you trying to get three still and take Jaden Daniels or would you prefer to sit and wait?

Jordan says, I don't want QB four or five. That's settling. That's garbage. Well, you know, look, I mean, there are examples of teams settling like, you know, just for example, like we keep going back to Josh Allen, but he was not the first quarterback off the board. Neither was Lamar Jackson. And that's fairly convincing to me that the first quarterback off the board doesn't always result in being the guy, including even last year where the first quarterback off the board was not anywhere close to the best quarterback. It ended up being the second quarterback off the board. Um, you know, I, I like, it's just, it's so hard to predict quarterbacks anyway. And that's why I think if you come away with any of them, you have an

opportunity to build something great. I just would prefer that they get the best possible prospect, but we have seen so many times where supporting cast coaching, the team that you have, it, it just makes so much of a difference to the success that I can't say like, wow, they settled. This is going to be trash. Like, I don't know, Brock Purdy made the super bowl last year. And a lot of the first round quarterbacks, I mean, what was Jordan love? Was he quarterback for Jalen hurts was quarterback five. I mean, it mean, it's worked out with those guys before. Ryan G, I personally don't think the difference between May and a guy like Penix or Nix is large enough to justify the SIM three trade. That is a fair opinion. It is because Nix and Penix,

in my opinion, are good prospects where you could see it working out this is not trying to talk yourself into desmond ritter for example that was one of the weirdest ones for me was when i saw the people saying desmond ritter was qb1 like what the heck no uh what that guy uh i don't have to say that with Pennix and Knicks because, I mean, just watch Pennix throw a football for one. And with Knicks, just look at the production. Look at how quick the ball comes out. Knicks is maybe the, I would say, the least impressive of the quarterbacks, the hardest to sell as a franchise guy, but also like if he can operate your offense with a little bit of playmaking, you're probably going to be in good

shape. The difference though, I think between Nixon may is at least for me, it's pretty significant, but it might not be for them. And they could eventually come to the conclusion that it isn't worth trading up. It's going to depend a lot on how they, you know, sit down with the guy and what they think of him. Jitano's Christmas channel. Merry Christmas to you. Uh, I'm not sure if I'm saying the name right, but, uh, yeah. Okay. Look, it's been like Christmas for us talking about this draft. I have felt like this is, um, leading up to, this is like early December when you're starting to scramble for presence. That's what we're doing right now. Only for content. Um, let's see. Anyway, uh, Jotano says, uh, it's risky, but not scary.

What's scary is doing the same thing that they've done since their inception and not take a quarterback in the top five. Yeah, that's a good point. That is a good point. Not taking top 10 quarterbacks. That's probably scary miles in a world where Michael Penix doesn't have the injury history. How much differently do you think he'd be evaluated if he didn't have the injury history and he stayed at Indiana and he developed the way that he was heading, for example, he's probably a top 10 pick locked in, but he'd have to be also 21 or 22 years old. His age does hurt him in this. Am I wrong in his age that he's going to be starting next season at 24? Like that's the same as Joe Burrow. And that gets brought up every time. And we have very few examples because of that COVID year to actually go back and look at

and say, oh yeah, like that, you know, that 24 year old worked out fine. We have like three guys to work with. If he was 21 years old and he had shown the same stuff that he showed at Washington and he had no injuries, he is probably a top five to 10 draft pick with that production, that arm strength that because at Indiana, he was more of a playmaker, uh, at Washington, he really wasn't, but maybe that's one way to do it. Uh, uh, maybe, um, sorry, I'll, I'll put it on the screen a second, but but that's, maybe that's, that's one way to kind of prove your point about Michael Penix, which is what I think you're getting at,

which is like, look, Michael Penix would be an amazing prospect if it wasn't for this one thing. So drafting him may not be a bad idea. I'm laughing at this. Zlin does not like Jaden Daniels at all. Collar, you better tell Kwesi not to take Daniels because if he does, I'm never listening to another Viking podcast again. So you're burning your gear and not listening to the show anymore. Yikes. That is excessive, Zalene. We don't even know yet. We don't even know yet if he's going to be good or not. I have the same fears as you do about Jaden Daniels. I'll say that, that I, that is what I'll give you as lean. I think you're overreacting, but I also think that that sack

stuff scares me because you've all seen it. You know what it looks like. Did Justin Fields ever scare you in any game? The Vikings played against them. Probably not because you always knew that you were going to get those negative because you always knew that you were going to get those negative plays and those sacks that were going to ruin drives. Chris says drafting Pennix or Knicks or whoever falls to 11 and drafting a defensive tackle or edge stud at 23, who can change the game like Aaron Donald does? Well, no one changes the game like Aaron Donald does because he's one of the five best defensive players of all time, but I get your point. Uh, start building the defense. Now

defense wins championships. Well, you know, the defense doesn't win championships, but, uh, or get you to championships historically speaking over the last 10 years, really since Denver got there with defense, every team that has gotten to the Superbowl has been an elite passing team. So that's really what will give you a chance to get to the Superbowl is to be a top five passing team. That's why this is so important. That's why I'm okay with trading everything. But to your point, having a complete team usually is what does it. If you have the full group, then that's what does it. And in this case, like defense for the Kansas city chiefs did get them, uh, in a lot of

ways to the super bowl. I mean, my homes in the playoffs was astoundingly good, but they needed stops in the super bowl. You need stars. You need your Chris Jones. I I'm, I am mostly with you there that if they were able to come out of this with a quarterback and also a great defensive player, that that is the biggest win. It's just really hard to do that and also get someone that you want and someone that you like that. That's kind of the point is that if we could all draw it up, ideally you end up with your favorite quarterback at 11 and take a defensive player at 23, but it's just not that likely that

at that ends up being the case. Eddie JJ is the only quarterback that could and should start day one. Uh, let's see. He is the only prospect that has experienced playing in a pro offense under center. Drake may had a really bad pro day is not worth it. Pro days mean nothing less than nothing. I promise you it means nothing. The pro day means nothing, nothing so little that Kevin O'Connell is not even going to most of them. That's how little these pro days mean. Nothing, nothing at all. I mean, honestly, like when the head coach of a team that needs a quarterback is saying like, no, I'm not worried about that. It really doesn't mean a thing. It especially doesn't mean a thing of sitting at home and trying to watch it and figure it out based on camera angles

of throws. So it really means nothing. And now, as far as your point about the pro offense, I also am not convinced of how much that means for someone playing right away because Anthony Richardson was supposed to be the developmental prospect and he was good right away. Like Cam Newton won a bunch of games for Carolina or had them, you know, playing pretty good when he came in to Carolina and that guy had no offense at all at Auburn. So it's really hard to figure out who's going to actually be pro ready. And there's no such thing as a pro offense in college. It does not exist. It is a super pared down version of what the NFL does. And it's under center, which I like about JJ McCarthy. And I think could

be something that helps him quickly, but there's no such thing. And I think with McCarthy that he needs to develop some of those skills, the timing, the accuracy and so forth before he could become a good quarterback. So I think we see that a little bit differently on a few of those items there. Ryan, if you watch Drake Mays highlights, he looks like the next Josh Allen. If you watch the entirety of his tape, he makes some crazy bad decisions. Often I'm worried about processing, not talent processing is a very hard thing to figure out with a quarterback playing with a bad team. And you can get fooled on processing. Like Mac Jones was somebody that was supposed to process super fast, but he just had dudes open all the time. And what I see with Drake may is yes, there are crazy decisions.

And I'm going to talk about this more on a podcast with Chris Trapasso that's coming out tomorrow. But I think that Drake may was just trying way too hard that his team was not all that good. And he was trying way, way too hard to make everything happen and to win every game himself. And I lost some of the details in there, took like avoided some easy throws, uh, that, you know, that's, that, that was the problem I think with Drake may and whether he could sort that out or not. I don't know because Josh Allen did crazy stuff on his tape as well in college. Jordan love did crazy stuff on his day. They're college guys. They're not in the NFL and some NFL quarterbacks do crazy stuff and are good. It's hard to figure out. Randy says you don't ever tank disagree. Uh, losing can become a habit. Nope. I don't think that's true. I don't think either of those

statements are true. Uh, teams turn over so fast in the NFL that you can quickly change the culture, change the habit. Teams go from bottom to top all the time. Worst to first is a thing in the NFL that happens constantly. The Cincinnati Bengals tank, they got Joe Bur first is a thing in the NFL that happens constantly. The Cincinnati Bengals tank. They got Joe Burrow. They're in the Super Bowl. Detroit. I mean, Chicago is going to be a good team if Caleb Williams turns out to be good.

This happens all the time. It's not. It's really like the word tank, I think, just triggers some people and gets people upset when you hear it, but it's much more of just approaching it realistically. If you can't win because you're four and four and your quarterback popped his Achilles, you don't keep the Neil Hunter. You trade him. That's why. Let's see. Jordan says, name a guy on North Carolina's offense, not named Drake May. Yeah. Other than Tez Walker, who is probably a third round pick. Now LSU is a semi-pro team and so

is Michigan. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, now look, I mean, Joe Burrow had an incredible team. There are quarterbacks who've had incredible teams that turn out to be great. There's also ones that had bad teams. That's why it's so freaking difficult to figure out who's going to be great and who won't in college football, because you're playing on way different planes and way different landscapes and teammates and schemes and coaches. I didn't think much of their offensive scheme either. Josh, should the Vikings pick two quarterbacks this year? I wouldn't, uh, I would not go the Kirk cousins route. I think you want the one guy to feel like he's the guy, but it has worked before. Um, it has worked before to draft a quarterback. When you think you've got the guy,

guitar person says, I surely sincerely hope the Vikings brass is a lot more knowledgeable about these prospects than us idiot fans in this chat. Hey, look here. So this is the way I, this is the way I view it is Kevin O'Connell is going to do everything in his power to pick the right quarterback. He is going to spend endless hours watching the tape. He's going to sit down with these guys. He's going to watch every play that they've ever had. He's going to watch every play that they've ever had he's going to go find out where they eat breakfast he's going to try to know everything in the world about them and it can still go wrong or they could they could be disappointed because they wanted somebody else and it can still go right think about this The Houston Texans last year, this is how crazy football is.

The Houston Texans last year, not this previous season, two years ago, last year's draft, they were going to have the number one overall pick and Davis Mills of all people in the world. Davis Mills converts a fourth down for a touchdown to win a game on the final day of the season. So the Texans draft number two and not number one, and only they know if they were actually picking CJ Stroud because Bryce Young was a very highly thought of prospect. And we also don't know if Bryce Young actually would have been good or not. But, um, like think about how crazy that is. How about the Baltimore Ravens picking Hayden Hearst before Lamar Jackson? It is so hard to

predict at their level, much less ours, but that goes for everything in sports, right? The teams, teams scheme against each other. And we sit at home and go, wait a minute. Why didn't you run the ball against those guys? We don't know as much as Kevin O'Connell, but we sure know you shouldn't throw a backward pass to Kirk Cousins, right? So look, to me, this is what makes it fun. And you guys should bring in all your opinions that you got based on your knowledge and have fun talking about it.

Cause I love to hear your perspectives and I love to react to them and give you mine. So you shouldn't just, you know, be afraid to have a take as a lot of the chat is certainly not. And that's what I love about it because we'll all talk about it and then we'll see what happens. That's sports, man. R. Emmer says, I would rather see someone like Mo, uh, Camara in the rounds at edge. Well, yeah, I I've seen him play. I watched him against Colorado. He dominated that game. Um, so, Oh, which, uh, which silly did, Oh, we got a silly quarterback take. Was that, you're talking about with Zalene burning, uh, their stuff. You're right. I should have used the scroll for that. That's pretty crazy, but, but convicted though. I will say a lot of conviction in that. Uh, Dennis says,

I think Sam might be your quarterback of the future. I don't think that, uh, I think that Sam Darnold at very best could win them eight games, maybe nine. And it could look pretty good at times because well, they've got Justin Jefferson. So it could look pretty good at times. And if it does, uh, then they have to decide what they're going to do. Are they going to keep them or move on? But I think it would have to look great for him to be the quarterback of the future. I mean, shockingly, stunningly 12 wins, never saw it coming 35 touchdowns because anything less than that from Sam Darnold, you're, you're moving on still because your ceiling is going to be pretty limited. Uh, Kevin Dak Prescott, Jared Goff, Jordan Love, Trevor Lawrence, Tua, all free agents in 2025 Cowboys and Dolphins should definitely be looking at quarterbacks. Uh, it seems like that Dallas

situation is going in a bad way. I agree with that, but how many teams, my question for you there is how many teams actually draft a year out from the quarterback position not too many right not too many what we usually see is teams only draft a quarterback when they need one um that's what that's what normally happens is they only draft when they need one except for the green bay packers that's the only team that seems to draft a couple of years out. Okay. That's funny. Miles says Davis mills did what Kirk cousins didn't. He did. He did. He did kind of throw the ball up in the air on fourth down rather than checking it down. Yes. That check down on fourth down is one of the worst plays of the entire Kirk Cousins era.

And the fact that Kirk would never acknowledge that that was that bad and just was like, no, it wasn't that bad. That's crazy to me. It's crazy how people didn't fixate on that. They fixated on fourth and eight, but not the fact that he never took responsibility for it. Even in Netflix, just sort of classic Kirk cousin stuff, right?

Somebody else's quarterback. Now, uh, Preston says what's with the may and Andrew luck comparisons. Now there isn't any, there isn't any, uh, Andrew luck was very, very polished as a rookie quarterback to the point

where it was almost spooky. He was so, so good coming out of college that you thought that he was in the NFL for years and his stats were not ideal in that first year, but you saw it and you saw the, I mean, it was very aggressive and they were a downfield offense. So that always impacts the numbers, but just the way that he played was something that you very rarely see. And you knew that coming out of college, Drake may is somebody that it's just going to take, it's going to take work and it's going to either hit or it's not, but it could be two years before the real full picture starts to come together where with Andrew Luck it was there almost immediately Scott says I think Penix could break Herbert's rookie of the year records Michael Penix in my mind is the guy who could start right away the fastest and could step in

and I think run an offense quickly and right away, nowhere to throw the football because he is older, more mature and ran a complicated offense at Washington. Pro style is I think just a cliche, but complicated matters and asking him to do a lot at the line of scrivenge matters. Miles, Kc cares so little about pro days because he knows it's not worth the hype he's been through it as a player and as a qb he also knows the way that quarterback gurus try to kind of pump stuff up to make their guy look good that's another part of it as well uh drew says if the vikings make a pick at 11 then there will be a lot of unhappy vikings fans well there's one of the things that i have found is that there's always a section that's unhappy

about just about anything any decision that a team makes they hire kevin o'connell some people wanted jim harbaugh they hire quesadilla fom. Some people wanted Ryan Pulse. You're always going to have some dissension and some disagreement. That's what makes debate about sports entertaining. But I also think that drafting at 11 would not be a tragic outcome. And there's also a world where JJ McCarthy ends up there at 11. it does not have to exist where he's going at four and everybody's trading up like crazy for him the NFL might feel like he's not worth giving up what those teams want and it was a good point from earlier that the players that are expected to be a four and five these are really good football players So are we sure that Arizona and the chargers are willing to trade out? Are we sure that the giants who brought in drew lock, they have Daniel Jones. They're are not going to take one more shot at Daniel Jones with say Joe alt as an offensive lineman. So sticking at 11 could also mean getting a quarterback that you didn't expect to get.

There's just, that's the number of outcomes that are here, but there have been plenty of times before where we thought, well, this team could trade back. That team could trade back. And they just didn't miles as collar. What's the Vikings move that would shock you the most come a draft night. Well, number one would just be if they didn't come away with a quarterback that would shock me the most by far. But if we're not talking about that, um, maybe if they stood at 11 and 23 and took a receiver or something that would shock me. Um, I don't know. We, we talked through so many outcomes. What would be really shocking if they don't get a quarterback that's shocking. And if they instead drafted Spencer Rattler in the fourth round and said, actually, we really love Sam Darnold. And we deked everybody out and never

planned on drafting a quarterback. That would be pretty shocking. That's the only thing I can really think of. There's so many other outcomes that are all somewhat predictable. Um, but as it pertains to the Vikings, maybe the big shock would be if they had, okay, I'll give you one that would be a shock. If JJ McCarthy was on the board at 11 and they picked Michael Penix and then just said, clearly we like him more than the other guy. That'd be shocking. TRZO3. I wasn't a JJ fan, but listening to you changed my mind. He's what we need. IMO have to take their best shot to grab him. That's funny because at times I've been called a bit of a McCarthy skeptic, or I've called myself that, been called a little bit of a hater about JJ McCarthy, because I do think that there are some parts of

his game that I wonder about. Can you refine that? Can you make that work? But the biggest argument for JJ McCarthy is that if he can understand what Kevin O'Connell wants from him at the line of scrimmage, and he can execute that, then he has the skill. He has the scrambling ability, which you see almost every game on tape. He has the arm strength to fit it in tight windows. So if he winds up and fires it, it's going to get there. He has upside to develop because he is a natural and good athlete. So there's a lot to like there. if kevin o'connell picks him then we'll know that all those other boxes that we can't know are are getting checked so the box is pertaining to how well they think his mind works for the game how well he communicates with his

quarterback all those things um so you know uh yeah I mean, I think that McCarthy, if they pick them, it ends up being a good pick. Even if I have questions, that's how, that's how I've characterized it. And I think that's kind of the right way to look at it. Uh, let's see. Guitar person says, Sam is only 26. Maybe he needed a change of venue. Maybe there's not many quarterbacks throughout history who have been as

poor as sam darnold through their first it's got like 50 games how many games he got something like that so it's a lot and then they just had it turn on but there are one year wonders all over NFL history. And you could even, I mean, Baker Mayfield had at least another year before that. That was really good where Sam Darnold has not, there are case kingdoms all through history where a guy has one great year and Darnold could do that. He, he could, uh, potentially have that one good year with this team. But the problem is that even if he has that one good year with this team. But the problem is that even if he has that one good year, then you have to pay him.

And I don't think you really want to do that. You're right. He is 26. And I think that they could make the playoffs with Sam Darnold. I really do that. They could go nine and eight and they could win the playoffs or get to the playoffs. But he's much better in my mind as the bridge quarterback than someone you're banking on. Is there some universe where it all clicks into

place? Like, yeah, that's possible. It just doesn't happen much. If someone is, is failed out with a couple of franchises. I mean, are we talking like Vinny Testaverde, Steve Young? That's many years ago. There's not too many guys since Gino Smith ish, but would you take Gino Smith right now? Or what's behind door number two in the draft? I'd probably still take the draft, uh, over Gino Smith right now. He's good, but he's not great. So that's, you're looking to go beyond that. Uh, let's see, Kevin, I would love to see which quarterback purple insider fans want to take can't vote caleb williams may pennix the only two who seem to fit the scheme i think

that the only one that is a major change to the scheme is really jayden daniels that's the only guy who is a major scheme change in In my opinion, everybody else can still play rich Gannon. Yeah, I guess. I mean, rich, what are we talking about? Like the guy had to go how many years before it came to fruition? He was like 35 years old before it actually worked out. Um, even, even in rich Gannon second stop or third stop, it wasn't that great. What did he go to? Did he go to Washington? He was in Minnesota and then he definitely ended up with Kansas city. And before he got to the Raiders, wasn't even that great with the Raiders at first and then got to be great. If we're going

back to Rich Gannon, that's like 2003. Uh, it's yeah. I mean, um, I don't think Brad Johnson's the right example because Brad was a draft and develop player. He was good for the Vikings and then went and won the super bowl, but it was good in Washington. He was Brad Johnson was never not good. Um, but he just had to develop as a late round pick. That's sort of a different sect.

I think of this, this is a highly unbelievably skilled, um, player who has just not been able to figure it out. There's just not many of those that we've seen succeed. It doesn't mean Sam Darnold can't. It's just the odds are really low. Let's see. Taylor says, I just tuned in, but I'll take whatever draft sim gets the Vikings Drake May. Well, Taylor, just for you, I'll show you just for you because I care. Although you tuned in about five minutes before I'm going to wrap this up, but I'll show you anyway, at the end of the show, the first draft sim was Byron Murphy, the second and Michael Pennix taken at 11 and 23. The second draft sim was 1123, 108 and 157 to the chargers for five and 69. You guys can say it in the comments, uh, to take McCarthy and an edge rusher, Gabriel Murphy. And then the third draft

sim was 1123, 108 and next year's first to get Drake may at number three and Jalen Wright, the running back from Tennessee. So there are your draft Sims that I did, uh, over the last day or so for the newsletter, which you guys should go check out at purple insider.com. Uh, yes, yes, Scott. I would also take Steve young. Hey, look, if he's Steve young, if he's Steve Young, then I'm not worried about who they draft or whatever. They can trade that guy. If it turns out that Sam Darnold is Steve Young, well, then we don't have anything to worry about. Let's see. Three is too expensive for May. That's what makes this hard, man. That's what makes it hard. That is truly what makes this a challenging decision for the Minnesota Vikings is would you give up next year's first for Drake

May? Personally, I would because I look, the reason we talk about tanking is because tanking is all about aiming for the Superbowl. If you're not first year last Ricky Bobby, right? That's how I've always looked at this. That's why this franchise has driven me kind of nuts over the last few years is because they've really settled for let's make the first round. Let's keep cousins. Let's keep him on his expensive deal. Let's never really build a great team. And let's just try to kind of get back to the playoffs and hope that's been who they've been. And I don't want that as their approach in the future.

I don't think Kweisi Adafomenta thinks that way. Analytics people don't think that way. Analytics people think let's aim for the Superbowl. If it blows up in your face, then try again, or you get fired. I'd rather get fired after. Think about like Rick and Mike got fired after eight and nine. That's not that bad, but they got fired because that's boring and you're never going to get there, right? If I'm going to get fired, I'm going to do it trying to win the Superbowl.

That's the way I would approach it. So a lot of people do like sim number three that are willing to give up that much for Drake May. And of course, this is all dependent on the Vikings believing that May is a wildly better prospect than McCarthy, Knicks, Pennix. And if they don't believe that, then don't give it up. But if you have the chance and that's true, then you go for it. And it's worth bringing this up too, that Scott is talking about here. We likely have a huge problem ahead of us with Caleb Williams. Thanks Wilfs. Well,

Caleb Williams, the lions, Jordan loves some of you don't want to hear it, but you got, you're going to have to be good. You're going to have to be very good at that quarterback position to go to battle with those teams. Because even if Caleb doesn't work out, or even if the lines fall apart, there's two other teams that you have to deal with. Taylor. Oh yeah, Taylor. I did that just for you. I hope you appreciate it.

I appreciate you watching. If May's 2022 and 2023 years were flipped, he'd be the clear second pick. Yeah, I agree. He might still be. Yeah, he might still be. And that might be what the Vikings are waiting for is to find out if he is. So now I agree with this is a good place to end. I always like to end on this message. So guitar person send on this message, some entertaining football watching ahead of us. I agree. I like that. Some entertaining football talk ahead of us. So that's what I got for you

guys tonight. This is super fun and not the last time we'll do these draft Sims. Keep an eye out for lots of guests this week. I got a lot of stuff coming. I'm going to have a retrospective episode coming up soon. Eric at home, nfl.com. So lots and lots of content to come leading up to this draft, only a few more weeks guys. So it's been, it's been really fun. It is Christmas time. So watch that guy's Christmas channel and this Christmas channel. Cause it's Christmas time for us. Thanks everybody for watching. This was so much fun. You guys made this great. Everybody with great perspectives. Hope you guys return in the future to have these chats. Thanks so much. And we will see you all very, very soon. Football. E aí