Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - A post-GM firing MOCK DRAFT (and the first Rodgers-Vikings rumor) (Part 1)

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

Matthew Coller does his first draft simulation of the offseason, trying to project what the Vikings will do now that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is no longer the GM. Plus PFT has the first official Aaron Rodgers speculation. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider presented by Fanduil, Matthew Collar, here. And over the last couple of days, I would describe what's going on with the Minnesota Vikings as being a little heavy. There's been a lot to parse through. There's been some things that have been confusing, maybe to you Vikings fans, infuriating. and maybe even to us who cover the team every day, a mystery. And we've done our best here on the show, along with you guys, to try to work through all that and try to get to a place where we understand what happened to Kwezi Adafel-Mensa in this era,

where are things going, who's in charge now, the questions that we are faced with going forward. And of course, as we go throughout the night here on this live stream, we will talk about it more and your questions and comments and thoughts and feelings on what's going on and what's next are certainly welcome. I wrote a story today over purple insider dot football about the different fits for available quarterbacks that I want to talk about a little bit because I did a ton of research on a few different key categories that I think are necessary for the Kevin O'Connell offense. And I looked at all the data for a bunch of players who might have to, chance to become a quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. So we'll get a dig into that as much as we can.

But I thought, you know, maybe we should try to have some fun. Oh, and I've only been talking about the GM as being something that's, you know, heavy on the fan base. How about the fact that, you know, Sam Darnold's in the Super Bowl and everybody on Super Bowl Radio Row is talking about how could the Vikings let go Sam Darnold and all that sort of stuff? So what I wanted to do for tonight was shift a little bit. to something fun. And what do you think fun is in my world? Fun in my world might be what I was doing last night, which was watching some random playoff game from 2001

between the Raiders and Jets, where Jerry Rice went off and had an amazing playoff game for the Raiders. Fun could also be a mock draft, a draft simulation. And that is what I would like to dive into here tonight. Now, earlier this year, when the Vikings suffered a brutal loss, to the Seattle Seahawks. I did a draft simulation here on the show. So I cannot call this officially my first draft simulation,

since I did one after that as sort of a passive, aggressive way of analyzing the football game, like, hey, let's get right to the draft, although the Vikings went and won more games complicating their situation in the draft, and now they are set to pick 18th. So why don't we jump right into what I did in this draft simulation? The players I picked, the players that I could have picked and chose not to, not that I have a great amount of knowledge before the combine of these guys, athleticism and where everything shakes out,

because I think that clarifies a lot of these draft boards and makes it easier with the PFF system to use the mock draft simulator, which all of you can go over and toy with that yourself if you want. but you know a pre-combine pre-combine we're quite a ways away from that that's going to be a couple weeks from now purple insider will be there of course uh but how about a first glance why don't we call it that the first glance the vikings fans need this draft sim that's what we'll call it first glance vikings fans need this draft sim let's begin with the results so what i did in this draft simulation was I traded down.

Now, I understand the irony of someone trading down after the GM whose firing was vaguely connected to one time trading down and having it not work out. But don't worry, I did not trade way out of the first round. I just trade or way to the back of the first round. I just traded down a couple spots. I went from number 18 to number 21 to pick up an additional third round draft pick, the 99th selection overall from the Pittsburgh Steelers. And the reason that I did that was I'll show you how the entire first round played out.

The reason I did that was when you look at the first round and the players that I'm familiar with and think would be really interesting for the Vikings at the very top like Jeremiah Love, he went fourth overall to the Tennessee Titans, which would be insane for them to draft a running back, but the Titans might be insane. Dremad McCoy, a corner. He went in the top 10, Caleb Downs, also top 10, Carnell Tate, top wide receiver, Peter Woods, from Clemson, the defensive tackle. He went 10th.

Mackay Lemon, a wide receiver I'm intrigued by. He goes 11th. So a lot of the players, Monsour Delane, I think is how it's pronounced for LSU and 13th. A lot of corners here were going in this first round. Avion Terrell, he ends up going 15th to the Tampa Bay Bucks. And then someone who I've had my eye on, which is Caleb Banks, the defensive tackle from Florida, he goes 17th to the Detroit Lions. So I was sitting there looking at the board going, okay, well, I can take a defensive tackle here. I could take a tackle, but I'm not ready to have that conversation about Christian Derisaw on taking a tackle.

I could pick Kenyon Sadiq the tight end if we're talking about maybe moving. on from T.J. Hawkinson. But, you know, a lot of these options are offensive tackles and some run stuffers. So I decided to go with the defensive tackle from Georgia after trading down, picking up a late third round pick, Kristen Miller, who is not as big as the Ohio State defensive tackle, Caden McDonald, as you see, he was on the board as well. he's not as big as Caden McDonald, who is really built like a fire hydrant, but there is, at least from the data and taking a quick look at this just to start, I feel like more pass rushing upside is shown in the data from Christian Miller. And if you look at the guy, he's pretty darn big too.

Now, these heights and weights, they're going to get a lot more specific once we get the combine. but a defensive tackle who can come in and contribute right away as a run stuffer and then have potential to grow into a pass rusher, I think is very interesting for the Vikings in this draft because it speaks a little bit to the draft where there are more run stuffers than there are pass rushers on the interior. So if you get one who's really good and then has upside, okay, I think that this defense can use it, that there is a strong chance. that they move on from J. Von Hargrave, so you'll have Alan, you'll have Redmond,

but you can use a little more meat in there. You've got Levi Drake Rodriguez, who played almost 500 snaps, but you like to have a rotation along the defensive line. So give me a guy who can stop the run is a high level talent that goes to Georgia, top university, and see if you can stuff the run a little bit better with him in there for this year. and then, you know, going forward maybe developed. Now, this isn't the type of crazy win now type of move.

And if we go back to how the first round played out, I had a lot of trouble finding that move. Because we've talked about that a little bit. If a coach is running the team, then, hey, you're looking for who can help you right away. Maybe that move would be trading up to get a corner like Avion Terrell. Maybe that move is to take the wide receiver here. Casey Concepcion from Texas A&M was the top wide receiver taken after where I was picking

as the Vikings. And Denzel Boston was another guy who was taken, I think was he taken in the spot, right, the spot right after. So he would have been on the board too, Denzel Boston from Washington, not Denzel Washington. But, yeah, I mean, you guys know from many years of following the show, a lot of you, how I feel about drafting wide receivers, which is, always draft wide receivers.

And I mean, with Jordan Addison having some troubles and, you know, Jalen Naylor potentially on the way out, I don't think it's a crazy idea. It feels a little crazy, but it's really not. I mean, if you look at the Chicago Bears, I kind of laughed at them when they took a tight end in Colston Loveland. And man, that guy turned out to be pretty good. They end up getting Luther Burden. You can never have too many weapons.

And when you have some uncertainty when it comes to your quarter, quarterback situation, you can never insulate them enough with great players around them. So that is more on brand for me. But I also wanted to try to get a day one contributor who can fill a spot that the Vikings are really missing and then also has long term potential. But I did not go without getting the first round or I'm sorry, the second round running back, which we've been talking about a lot. I went with Judarian Price with the 49th overall pick here, which PFF didn't really like

either one of my first two picks. But the thing that I really like about Judarian Price is that he has a couple of seasons where he is averaging in the range of six yards per carry. And Jeremiah Love was their guy. He was their superstar. But even as their change up back, Judarian Price put up really great numbers. And it kind of reminded me of Sony Michelle and Nick Chubb.

Like it wouldn't be the first time, even if you go back, back to, gosh, Auburn had two running backs there that were very good. Cadillac Williams and the other guy who did the Wildcat. Someone can remind me of that. But, you know, it happens sometimes. I think Thurman Thomas and Barry Sanders both went to Oklahoma State and were there, I believe at the same time. So it does happen.

Judarian Price, it's all about explosiveness here for me in the Vikings backfield. They have a guy who can run over people, a Leroy, horde of sorts or, you know, maybe, it's not quite a Chester Taylor because he was a really good all around back. And I think they have their one dimensional slam forward back in Jordan Mason. They need a lightning for that thunder. Speaking of those Raiders teams, it was Charlie Garner and Tyrone Wheatley. They need the thunder and lightning combination. And Judarian Price can come in. Now, the question is, will anybody be able to pass protect? So they might still need a veteran and third down type of back to be able to pass protect if C.J. Ham retires. But I think what you need is

30 yard runs. I mean, they just did not have explosive runs last year. And clearly, you look at where the Vikings were coming from in bringing in Frank Smith as an assistant coach. He was in Miami. They had Devon A. Chan. That's a crazy explosive runner who ripped off a bunch of huge runs and average almost six yards to carry. Well, who are they looking to? to emulate, obviously it would be the Miami run game and Devon A chance. So I like that idea of Judarian Price. You get a high level talent, but you don't have to spend a first round pick. And if we look at some second round pick running backs, I mean, you got some real stars in that

range that you didn't necessarily have to spend a high first. The first one that comes to mind for me is Jonathan Taylor, second round pick and ends up being a superstar. So the Vikings take Jeddarian Price. my third selection. This one I got a little bit lucky I felt like, but you know, centers just don't go super high. So I went with the center, Jake Slaughter, to come in, compete right away for the starting center spot, maybe with Brandel, maybe with Juergens. But I look at those guys as those guys are backup. So you probably need a veteran who could start 17 games.

I mean, maybe that's Brandl. but what I'd be looking for here is a high level type of prospect who can come right in and help your run game. He's going to have to learn on the fly yet. There's no doubt about that. But it help your run game right away. And if you have a healthy offense line and you have a fairly highly drafted center, a very highly drafted guard, a very highly paid right guard, and then two of the best tackles in the NFL, that sounds pretty good to me. for a starting spot. So I end up with Miller, Price, and then Jake Slaughter the center in the third round

with the 82nd overall pick with the 97th pick. Now, this is where I'm starting to learn about some guys, and hopefully you are too. I have all of a sudden decided that I really like Bud Clark out of TCU. How about that? That is now officially draft season that I have decided I like Bud Clark out of TCU. And here's why. because when you look at his numbers, what do you guys think that I found? Is a very versatile type of player, right?

Somebody who has played in the box, somebody who's played as a slot, someone who's played as a free safety, and has very good overall numbers as a playmaker, which I think they can use, whether Harrison Smith retires or not, I think a playmaker to come in right away. And here's something about these draft picks is that at least, three of these positions generally contribute right away.

Defensive tackle. Now, center is a little different. Usually top centers do start. So I guess I could say all of them. Guards is a little bit harder to make that transition, but usually top centers who are drafted start pretty quickly. So all these positions are not really the long development route, the guys who end up, you know, peaking when they're 26 or something, not really.

And that's one of the reasons to go with a safety. It's a quick transition to the NFL if you are good at it. So I took Bud Clark from TCU and then a cornerback who I was, you know, okay on. We're at the third round. This was the pick that I got from the Steelers for moving back, Malik Mohamed, a outside type of corner who had decent numbers in zone, decent numbers in man on PFF. So that's why I went with him. I know almost nothing else about Malik Mohamed.

But there we go. there is the first purple insider we're going to try to have some fun unofficial first mock I forget what I called it uh of mock draft season etc so there it is what do you what are you given it what's your grade for the first official mock now as you can see pff was not super thrilled they gave me a B overall and said it was in the bottom 36% of of Vikings draft. So clearly some fans are outperforming the Purple Insider by PFF's metrics. But here's what I like about it is it addresses a lot of things that the Vikings need

without doing anything crazy. So I get a little extra draft capital, but that extra draft capital is not on day three where you're drafting, I don't know, the future long snapper after Andrew DePaolo retires in the year 2030 or is. You're not day three is just swings and darts and so forth. I was able to get by moving down and sliding down in the first, an extra player that I think could contribute right away or at least be depth right away, which the Vikings are severely lacking a corner.

So I think at least trying to grade myself here that I could have been a little wilder. I could have been more aggressive. I could have gone wide receiver at first and just to go full. you know, purple insider and go wide receiver at first and said, all right, we're trading because you can actually trade players now on the PFF thing. We're trading Addison and we're getting this or we're doing that. And okay, but I didn't want it to be too convoluted. This is a long draft season.

So I wanted to play it a little slow and work my way up. And I felt like I got the things that they need the most. And if three of those players turn out to be guys that can contribute in 2020. then you're benefiting a lot. And if the other guys need to develop, then they need to develop. But I think it could benefit the team right away. They're positions that can help right away. And not really any unnecessary risks, but also positions that I think are really important,

not premium necessarily, but really important to what they need right now. So let me take a look at your responses. Let's see. Jay's giving me a C plus. no starter in round one or two. I mean, I wouldn't say that. I mean, I think that Kristen Miller, I mean, starter, but I mean, if he gives you 500 snaps, it's pretty good.

Judarian Price, uh, gerian price could be either the starter or a duo back. I mean, you look around the NFL, there's a lot of duos. I mean, there always kind of has been, but, uh, yeah, I see what you're saying, like starter, but fairly significant contributors right away. and what's starting position, I mean, center, but there's no first round center. What's starting positions up for grabs on the Vikings roster right now? It clearly up for grabs. Even outside corner is filled with Rogers and Murphy, probably safety.

But when you go back and look at who was taken in the entire first round, you get Caleb Downs taken at eighth overall. There is not another safety on this list. Now, if I wanted to reach into guys who were mom or. in the second. There were a couple of safeties. So this is where your argument could be. There were a couple of potential safeties that I could have taken.

Let's see. Dylan, I think it's Thinaman from Oregon, a guy who played all over the place. He could be a potential starter right away. Brandon Cise, who is a cornerback from South Carolina, potentially could win a job there. If they move on from T.J. Hawkinson, Kenyon Sadeke is somebody you could bring in. he's the tight end from Oregon. And then there's a very intriguing prospect, Emmanuel McNeil Warren,

who is kind of a box safety, but like took over games in the Mac. But that's asking a lot for trying to get somebody in to contribute right away. So Thineman was somebody I thought about. But if I was going to do that and take the safety, I think at this juncture, before we have a better sense of how the board is going to play out,

or at least we think we do, it feels to me like that would be another trade back and then you're doing it, which is okay. But it would be really funny if they fired, if they fired Quasi Adolph-Menza, then traded back all the way to the back end of the first and took a safety. I mean, that would be ultimate trolling if the Minnesota Vikings did that. So clearly, Jay was not a fan of my first attempt. Ron says if Addison is traded first round should be wide receiver. That I agree with.

And when you look at the first round, there's a lot of good wide receiver prospects. It actually reminds me of a couple years ago where it was when it was Addison and it was flowers. And everyone was saying, oh, you know, even Quentin Johnson turned out to be pretty good. Everyone is saying, well, there's no superstar. There's no generational talent in this draft. I think Tate is really good, but it feels kind of like that where there's a lot of good wide receiver prospects and maybe not necessarily superstar wide receiver ones. But even then, Jackson Smith, the Jigbo was the first wide receiver taken that year, I believe. So, you know, you can become a good wide receiver too and be extremely, extremely valuable.

So I agree with that. If they were going to trade him, then yes, you are taking a very different approach. and you're starting with a wide receiver. Dumer K.O. gives a B. I know Dumer can be, you can be, you can be a hard sell on things like this.

I mean, your name is Dumer. So, you can be a tough sell. P. Gullick says, not flashy, but I would be upset, wouldn't be upset over those picks. Love the Slaughter pick for sure.

The problem with the Jake Slaughter pick, so he did, you know, drop to the third round in this, is that there, just not other centers. So if Connor Lou is the other one, I think he's coming off an ACL injury. So if you're going into this, looking for a starting center, at least as of the way things look right now, there might be one or two guys, again, who you could take early.

And it's, it is early in draft season. Someone could be a riser. There could be someone we don't expect. But at least the way things are being presented right now is that there's only really two guys that could be day one starters. there's another one that I'm not aware of to take that high. So if he's there, yeah, you've got your starting center. And if he's not, I don't know.

Let's see. Gazzincad says you can't make your first mock too good. So you have room to improve. Yeah, that's a good point. That's a good point. That's why I'm saying. This one I played pretty safe. And I really like Judarian Price.

I did see him play with Notre Dame. You know, obviously they're on TV a lot. And the explosiveness is what I'm looking at there. But, you know, he didn't have huge, huge volume of numbers, but I kind of like that. Like, come in with fresher legs. Jeremiah Love was the one that had all the attention on him. And you're probably looking at someone who's not going to be that number one right away because you traded for Jordan Mason.

And Mason's good. So you want that. Like, you want multiple guys who can keep your backfield fresh. Kenneth Walker is better than, and I know he's out now, but Zach Charbonnet, Kenneth Walker is better than Charbonnet, but I thought that was really effective. And then you look at Walker toward the end of the year and he's still pretty spry. So you want that. In 2024, I really thought Aaron Jones just wore out and they were trying to bring in Cam Acres for the fifth time and so forth.

And, you know, it just wasn't quite the same. But Aaron Jones just got banged up down the stretch. You want to have somebody who's like a younger running back as even if he's RB2, but he carries the ball, 150 times, catches some passes, make some explosive plays right away. And then with the potential of being the RB1 in the future, I like it. Not a twerk is only given me a cease as the first round pick is a Quasi type pick. I don't really understand what you mean by that. Do you mean, like, in what way is it a Quasi-like pick?

He's a defensive tackle who can contribute right away but has pass rush potential. I mean, he's not a guy who is Jadavian Clownie or something and got a lot. of sacks in college. So it's not someone who's going to come in and blow the doors off of offensive linemen. But, I mean, when you look at defensive line and how valuable interior pressure is and defensive line performance on the interior has been in recent years, you don't have to look too much farther than like a Byron Murphy for Seattle or, I mean, this guy is not

probably Leonard Williams, but Leonard Williams, he comes over from, was it the John Giants. It's the Giants? I think it was the Giants or Jets. Which bad New York team gave up Leonard Williams. Giants, right? So he comes over there in a move, but he was a top draft pick. So they've got tons of talent on the interior of the D-line.

And who else is there? Christian Barmore, another guy that, you know, had good pass rush numbers, but I don't think was a megastar pass-risher in college. So I'd have to go back and check on that. But I feel like Barmore was an all-around type player. So I'm looking at potentially. impact right away on the interior. And here's the other thing you know.

And if we're trying to contextualize it with this year, I mean, you're going to have to have a really good defense to compete. You're facing Caleb Williams. You're facing the lions who are really going to be going all in on improving from last year. You're facing the Green Bay Packers who, look, you know, you can say Jordan Love's not that great and so forth. But you know their offense has been successful with Jordan Love. So you're facing teams across the board that they do run the ball effectively,

all of those teams, right? All those teams run the ball and build their past games off of it. It's not just who's quarterback, but they all build their past games off the run game. So I don't know what you mean by it's a Quasi like pick. I mean, I think that it's a position that is maybe undervalued still. Steven says I agree with PFF. First two picks are somewhat lacking. Sure, a decent floor, but maybe.

better than Quasi. I mean, Quacey first round picks are Jordan Addison, Donovan Jackson, Dallas Turner. So those guys have all become good players. You don't have to do that with the first rounders. I mean, I think, yeah, whatever. I wrote the huge story.

You guys have heard me talk about this. Volume of picks is something that I did hear that maybe deviates from recent Vikings performances in the draft. They have had half as many top 100 players as the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers. So I tried to get them more top 100 players. If you want to succeed in the draft, that's how you have to do it. So that's what I aim to do.

By trading back, you know, maybe I didn't get the more exciting player. But the problem is, you know, when you guys are grading and, and look, I agree with, hey, let's not, let's not give our best ever effort here when we're talking about, you know, February 4th. But I'm looking at the board sort of struggling to see who, would have been the really had I stayed at 18 and not gotten a corner in the third if I stayed in 18 I mean you've got tackle you've got a wide receiver which I think everyone would be excited about I promise I will do that at some point and they might you got a tackle a guard a run stuffing

defensive tackle another tackle an edge rusher another tackle a linebacker a tight end a wide receiver like i don't know what if i had taken any of those players i mean maybe you're looking for maybe you're looking for the safeties because this is just how the pff board played out but there are two safeties that have first round potential in dylan thinemon and emmanuel mcneal warren who could be day one starters could be day one contributors and potential difference makers so i mean maybe that would have been a little bit more flashy than the defensive tackle but i think that defensive tackle overall is a more valuable position than safety and harder to find. I did this last year.

I went through that if you're going to draft a defensive tackle, you better do it high. Because almost, what was the stat? It was like of the 15th highest paid defensive tackles, 13 came from the first or second round. I mean, that's how it usually goes. That's where the best players are. But I think that position has always been extreme with you have to draft it high. and it's a big impact spot.

Bradley gives it a B plus, Super Rod, also a B plus. The guys dance is the guys you picked have great names. I definitely agree with that. Those are some winning football names. Jake Slaughter, Jadarian. Judarian Price. I believe in this fully.

If a guy's name sounds like he's going to be awesome, he'll be awesome. I mean, I'm just kidding, but Barry Sanders and Lawrence Taylor and Dion Sanders, like those names are amazing. Reggie White is an awesome. name. So maybe maybe there's something to that. Maybe that's Purple Insider's new analytics is, does Judarian Price sound cool. Yes, he does. Jake Slaughter, your name is Slaughter as a center. That's

awesome. I'm drafting you. Even Malik Muhammad sounds like you can hear a play by play person saying intercepted by Malik Muhammad. This is, this is just analytics, folks. This is why you turn into the show. not a twerks says Slaughter had a good senior bowl and he's consensus center one should be great outside zone blocking. And this is like times of flat circle or whatever. But the outside zone is clearly what they're going to use. And they were when they were a healthy offensive line last year with Jordan Mason. And now Mason, if Aaron Jones is not back, is your RB1 to go along with someone else. And you're looking to have that athleticism as an offense.

line. Like, think about on the left side of the line, the athletic profile. Now, Fries is more of a mauler for sure. But on the left side, Donovan Jackson, elite athlete at that position, Christian Derasaw, if he's 100% elite athlete at that position, if you had another top notch athlete to center, I think you're in really good shape. And, you know, I've seen a few people sort of like justice for Garrett Bradbury, you know, as proof that you can have. that guy if you kind of work it right around him. But I mean, I actually thought Garrett Bradbury over his couple of years with KOC was better than he was early in his career.

And it does take time sometimes. But when you think about like Bradbury costs them sometimes under certain circumstances with certain matchups, Akeem Hicks, Kenny Clark, that exaggerated. And the few times they faced Grady Jarrett that did exaggerate the. perception because more games were just normal and fine than not, but he would get like a zero grade when he would face Kenny Clark. And I think that would make it a little bit harder. During the KOC era, I never thought that he was the problem, but I did think it was a weakness that if you had other people around him, it could have been helpful and it might have been better.

And that's the thing is that every single player, that every single position has context. and we tend to not always get that with offensive linemen because it's so complicated the way that they all meld together. And if we look at the guards, and this is a Jake Slaughter point, because even if he sounds a little bit like Garrett Bradbury, it doesn't mean it can't work with Donovan Jackson and Will Fries. If we look at the number of guards that that poor guy went through over the years, I mean, holy Udo. What? That guy, he was a huge. to start at Tom Compton, right? That was, was that still him?

No, that was, uh, was that Elfline starting with Tom Compton? Now I can't remember. Uh, yeah, that must have been Elfline starting with Tom Compton. So you had, you know, I mean, you just had this slew of Dakota Dojers and Drew Samias and all sorts of different backup caliber players rolling through Blake Brandel, never played guard before. Okay, why don't you go play guard for 17 games and it'll be fine. I mean, and then finally they get two good guards.

Uh, I, I would not say, you know, Jackson's there yet or fries lived up to the potential, but he's, you know, a pro quality guard. And, you know, Garrett Bradbury goes to New England and ends up in the Super Bowl. So, you know, there was a little, I saw that Bradbury admitted to texting Sam Darnold, like, congrats on beating the Vikings after that victory earlier this year. But, you know, with Jake Slaughter to bring it back to him, even if there's a similar profile there, if you can run the ball. I heard Clint Kubiak talking about this last night that like running the ball does protect your quarterback in some ways. Staying ahead of the sticks, getting free first downs where you didn't have to drop back.

And if you have to keep dropping back and dropping back and dropping back to pass because you're getting behind because your defense fell apart because you paid Kirk Cousins too much or whatever it might have been, it puts a lot of strain on your line. And it's not a huge shock to me that someone, and I, I won't include Ed Ingram in this because he did not pass block very well this year and got destroyed in that playoff game. But, you know, Ezra Cleveland, Garrett Bradbury, and Bradbury's numbers weren't great either, but them sort of mitigating the impacts of those players by working off the run, working with play action. And if you never really have a run game that's a threat, I think it's a harder thing to do. if if just passing every single play worked i mean i think teams would do it right i mean that's sort

of uh indianapolis with peyton manning kind of throwing almost every play and then handing off occasionally to edger and james but it doesn't like it's a necessary thing to help the quarterback and the viking have and i think it helps the line too i think it doesn't just help the quarterback i think it helps the line when you look at seattle this is a crazy stat for you when you look at Seattle, their offensive line actually grades slightly lower than the Vikings by PFF. But they were playing from ahead all year long with their great defense, their good quarterback, their good receiver, and their good run game. And they leaned on the run game on early downs.

And they were able to mitigate some of their shortcomings and bring along a rookie guard and Gray Zabel, uh, Jake Sundel and inexperienced overall center bring him along and, and not feel like they were at a massive disadvantage because they were staying ahead of the sticks. I mean, it's still like these principles of things that have existed forever. We can move the sliders as the game grows. But it doesn't fundamentally change that that helps and it matters. So I think even with New England, Romandre Stevenson, Trevion Henderson, they've leaned on those guys. They also have an athletic quarterback.

Nothing is in a bubble. We can't evaluate an offensive lineman in a bubble because their quarterback could run away. The Vikings didn't have a quarterback who could run away. Will they in the future? I have no idea. Currently, they do. Uh, Bud Clark is not a starter. Jay, we can't do it. We can't do this. We can't do this. We, you have no idea of Bud Clark as a starter. I just found out who he was today. We can't do this. We're not there yet. Uh, not its work says, uh, that Bud Clark had a good senior bowl. So there you go. A guy named Bud Clark. That's a name who can't bust. Yeah. Well, and my dog is named buddy so you know we call him bud i had to go with that no it was really based on i took bud

clark based on more of his defensive profile fitting brian flores that's what i went with he needs a safety he needs a guy who could play all over the field and he that's a position that can start generally right away um jay said they need a a second round safety now that's true but those guys uh were not there when I got to Judarian Price. So I would have had to reach on them, at least by how the board worked right now. And I didn't really, really want to do that. Oh, Ronnie Brown was the one that I was struck.

Why was I not able to think of Ronnie Brown earlier? So I didn't really want to reach like 10 picks higher than the projection at this moment. Those projections might change. If some of those guys go to the combine and light it up, then those guys might change. And when you're talking about seeing Nikki Menwere, for example, everyone's going to be talking about like, hey, who is the next Nickyman Wari that we can find and that might push up, and you've seen his value,

it might push up the safety value a little bit more in the draft for one of those guys. Possible, right? Possible. A guitar person, we're all mock draft experts. Hey, that's, I, I welcome the critiques because we are now in draft season. we were in fire GM season for earlier this week. So now we're in, let's have fun picking apart Purple Insiders first mock draft and

talking about the approach. I'm having a good time and I hope you guys are too. Let's see. A C grade from Bruno. So Bruno did not love it overall. Dan says pick 18 always in forever. Yeah. Yeah, I understand.

in. Brandon says zero percent chance you get a third round for dropping three spots in the first. I mean, I don't know. Zero percent chance. There's nothing that's zero percent chance. A late, but it was the 99th overall pick. Is that really valuable?

If somebody had something they really want. And the PFF trades, you can hack it and it can be kind of ridiculous. So I try not to do that. But they are based on, you know, like their analytical charts that teams are using more. for their draft value. So, I mean, I could pull up, you know, different charts and try to prove it to you. But that's what I was able to get. I don't think of, I don't think the 99th overall picks that valuable, though.

If someone really wants a player, then yeah, uh, Miller over McDonald, you need to learn these prospects. Okay. So here's the thing, though, like Miller is, I think at least a good prospect on paper right now. Now, if you're saying, hey, you haven't, you know, watched every bit of tape, well, that is true. And I don't know if that would actually do me any good. The rank between the two different on PFF is 21 versus 29.

So Miller is lower. But here's my thing is that Miller this year, you know, he didn't have a lot of sacks, but had a pass rush win rate of over 11 percent, had a run defense grade of over 90, and then a pass rush grade of 70. and he weighs in at 6-4 and 3-10. Also, not to mention that he's on a little bit of the younger side compared to these 24-year-old prospects. So I get where you're talking about, but he lined up in different spots and has a little more, at least on paper, ability to penetrate.

When I look at McDonald, I just see a guy who is a fire hydrant. I mean, he barely pressured the quarterback. His pass-rush win rate was almost zero. So his run defense grade. was my thinking. And look, this is going to be better for me than it is trying to watch a bunch of plays from the guys and being like, you know, I don't know he, I know how to watch. Don't say, don't make jokes about McCarthy about the camp practice. But, you know, I know how to watch pros practice and pros play because that's what I do all the time. But when it comes to draft season,

how they're going to translate and what they look like in college. I mean, it's, it's easier for me, having used 10 years of data to look at things that translate than it is to try to be like, well, you could see his foot angle there. Like, that's just not really my thing. But with Caden McDonald, he's a guy that did not get after the passer at all. And if you didn't have any pass rush win rate in college, you're not going to develop it in the NFL. Whereas Miller did. And both guys played at a very, very high level.

Their run defense grades were very similar. run stop rates were similar. Only one guy showed pass rush. They're both huge, fat people. One guy showed potential and the other guy really didn't. So, you know, maybe, look, I'm picking it off of a lot of what the data says right now and how people do it the combine and what comes out after that could change that. And Hunter, I know Lee Hunter is getting talked about a lot. He might move up. Clearly, you're a guy that, you know, wants to pay attention a lot to the draft, which is cool. But, you know, this is February 4th. So we're in the, we're in the very, very beginning of this. However, if Miller gets drafted higher than McDonald, I don't know, I feel like you owe me a milkshake or something. That's what we're going to have to start doing. We're going to have to start making bets with each other here on some of these things.

If you come and say, hey, there's zero percent chance of this trade. Like, all right, well, if you think there's zero percent chance, Um, so anyway, because I think at, uh, Everson Griffin was a fourth rounder at pick 100. Yeah, they, uh, I mean, I don't know how they do the comp picks or whatever on here. I think that they try to project the comp picks on PFF. Uh, but either way, you know, when you're getting a back end of the third round player is not a hugely valuable, uh, pick in general. Uh, a diet Dr. Pepper. There you go.

If Miller goes ahead of McDonald. I just don't see. like Ty Leak Williams went high and what was that worth? Are people drafting these fire hydrant run stuffers really high with no pass rush potential whatsoever? I'm not sure that I see that in this draft possibly. And McDonald looks like he's really good at his job. And Lee Hunter, as you mentioned, really stood out at the senior bowl.

He might end up moving up. But I'm always going to look for somebody that has pass rush potential as well. and I think that, um, I think that Miller just looks on paper like he has more. So at least at this moment, everything can change, uh,

310. Yeah, I know, Steve, I know that 310 is not huge. It's also certainly big. He's, he's big enough to play a run stuffing defensive tackle and get after the

passer. I was unaware that there was a person out there who absolutely hates this player that I drafted. That's, that's intense, Stephen. That's just intense. It's a little much for me for February 4th. We'll work through it together, you and I. Matt, uh, dance is, uh, this running the ball and staying ahead of the sticks you speak of. What is this concept? My team wants to know. Yeah, look, I mean, I clearly the thing that is still going to drive success, always and forever in the NFL, is passing efficiency. I think we all know that. that the more you can hit on downfield throws,

the two MVP of the league, we're playing in the final four, that's often the case, right? And when I've looked through the bar to entry to reach the Super Bowl over many years, passing efficiency has often showed up. But you know what's been coming up a lot lately is Interior Defensive Line 2.

And I know you're referring to the run game. Interior defensive line depth has also been coming up a lot lately for teams that go, deep into the playoffs. So I'm just saying about that. But when you're talking about the running game, those things always apply, even if you have Matthew Stafford.

Now, do you have to be the best run team in the league or the most efficient? I don't think so. And when you look at Seattle's numbers, they're really not like going to wow you when it comes to like expected points added and success rate, stuff like that with the run game. but when Clint Kubiak explained it as, well, we're always trying to kind of make sure that we're not putting our quarterback in a position to get sacked a lot and get hit a lot and we're not asking our offensive linemen to pass block 40 plus times a game.

Well, yes, I think you can apply that a bit to the Vikings in their recent past of either you didn't want to do it or you simply could not do it. Now, I think it's more you could not do it. when you go back to last year and how poor they ran the ball. I don't think it's they didn't want to. I think it's that they couldn't. They were, the Vikings were one of the worst teams in every category last year. Alexander Madison with your starting running back in 2023.

Can you really lean on the run game? Then, of course not. And in 2022, because there have been flashes and sections of this. So the beginning of the 2022 season, Delvin Cook was average, like five yards of carry it was the second half really after that bills game it just fell off the face of the earth and it never got back for delvin cook i mean i what did he he got like three carries or something with the ravens after that and that was the end of his career and or something i wasn't much after was he with the jets and then with the ray i think it was the jets and then released

and the ravens okay and there wasn't much there though for delvin cook left and then you bring in madison thinking all right well he's a guy who's a guy who's developed behind Cook, but they didn't block it well. He didn't have explosiveness. It was just not going to make up for offensive line shortcomings. That didn't work out. And then you bring in Aaron Jones. And the first half of Aaron Jones is really, really good before Christian Darissau gets hurt and

Jones gets banged up. So you've just never been able to really lean on it and create a situation where you're talking about being able to do. what Kenneth Walker can do, which is not just wear down a team, but, you know, control that line of scrimmage a little bit more with the run game, set up your quarterback for those play actions, which is really what it all comes back to with Gary Kubiak, Clint Kubiak, Clay Kubiak, anyone named Kubiak or Shanahan or LaFleur now in Arizona. Bud Clark had 15 interceptions over two seasons. That's good, isn't it?

We had someone who couldn't stand him either. Not a twerk says if Christian Miller goes before Lee Hunter, you keep this $20, the super chat, if not donate it. Okay, fair, fair enough. Look, you guys are trying to make bets with me. I'm just learning these players' names. They just fired the Vikings general manager. I have not been reading mock drafts this week before doing this, okay?

this is this is the ease into draft season let's look at the the general landscape and you guys are like i will gamble with you over this or stephen wants to jump through the screen and fight me over uh this defensive tackle like man i don't know he was ranked you know only a couple spots behind the other guy uh by pff and as far as hunter right now as of right now hunter is ranked 49th by PFF, but I do like his profile. He had a good pass rush win rate. Similarly, he had a good number and true pass set, which is just like those true pass rush situations,

his PFF grade, he played kind of, you know, a little bit in different spots. I mean, I like, I like these guys okay, his prospects. Nobody's blowing me away here. And the thing with Kristen Miller is that he didn't play a ton of snaps. So his highest snap total was 437. And that means rotational player at the same time,

that position is made for rotational players. You have, you know, the Jalen, if you could pair, I mean, what if the guy is similar to a Jalen Redmond except for a little beefier, right? And can get into the backfield, move some people around. That's got a lot of value to it. I did not know that there was so many takes on this Georgia defensive tax. Usually Georgia defensive tackles sounds like a pretty good idea to me. Okay, so we've got your, who's my favorite player, Jay, in the entire draft so far.

I mean, Caleb Downs is your answer and probably Caleb Downs is my answer. It's hard not to be just a dominant player in college. The Ruben Bain guy from Miami, I did see a lot of him. He's interesting because he just took over games, doesn't have the exact. exact right profile to be a top draft pick to be a top five draft pick. Arvel Reese as far as a physical athlete, I really liked. But you guys could probably guess who my favorite prospects other than, yeah, I mean, Caleb Downs is really fun to watch.

It's the wide receivers. Carnal Tate got overlooked because of Jeremiah Smith, but that kind of reminds me of Jackson Smith, the Jigba getting overlooked because of Marvin Harrison, Jr. And McKay Lemon caught everything. I really enjoyed watching Mackay Lemon play. Sunny Stiles is another one that would be really interesting if he were to drop. Can he drop?

Can Sunny Stiles drop far enough? Because that's like, remember when Brian Flores said about Dallas Turner, that he kind of reminded him of Dante High Tower. And it was like, hmm, like, is that what you see as Dallas Turner? because he was just a defensive end in college, not really a High Tower who was this hybrid, rush the passer, drop back, stuff the run. Sunny Stiles actually kind of does remind me of that,

like a very strong dude instinctual player. I enjoyed watching him play as well. I, I, there is not insanely freakish athletes in this draft, but there's a lot of players who you could see being good. Yeah, and, you know, styles, this is, this is another thing, Like, you guys being sure about what's happening in the 2026 draft at this point is really, that's funny to me.

Uh, like so much will change as we get as we get there. But, you know, styles is a really great prospect. You're probably right that he may not drop at the same time the, uh, you know, we didn't think Dallas Turner was going to make it to where the Vikings were or, you know, lots of other examples in the past. Uh, okay. So Ruben Bain, yes, if we're doing it by name elitics, Ruben Bain should be the number one pick.

Fernando Mendoza is a fine name for a starting quarterback. I don't know if it's the coolest name I've ever heard for a starting quarterback. Who's the, is Michael Vick the coolest name? That's pretty cool. Who has the coolest quarterback name that ever came out in the draft? Michael Vick is the one that first came to mind for me. Ruben Bain, though, is that is a top 15 type of defensive end name. sorry, some of you are asking,

uh, I, I, I know, I know, I know, I'm just, I'm having fun with you, man. I'm having fun with you. I'm sure that you watch a lot of college football and are very serious about it. It's my first draft sim. Like, let's, let's work our way up to the intense takes. Um, Tommy Kramer. Well, touchdown Tommy is an incredible, incredible, uh, this.

And my point is this is supposed, this is supposed to be relieving and fun from all to talk about why the GM got fired. This is kind of the point, right? John David Booty. Okay, that's funny. Jim says Sunny Stiles did drop to 18. Well, I mean, any time we're trying to say for sure what's going to happen right now, think about all the crazy stuff that's happened, even on draft night, where you go in,

how about like Travion Walker was barely even talked about going into the one draft? Everyone had Aiden Hutchinson. And then like two weeks before, everybody finds out. Oh, wait, Boomer Osiason. That's a hard one to beat. Boomer Osiason is a hard quarterback name to beat. Some of you asking about in the headline included the Aaron Rogers thing. So I will give it to you.

And I did qualify this as a rumor, but I'll put the tweet up on the screen from my friend Andrew Philpone. He tweets this. Get this. Mike Floreo of Pro Football Talk does not rule out Aaron Rogers playing for the Vikings. in 2026, quote, I could see Rogers playing for the Vikings. It wouldn't shock me while I hope this happens. That is that is the rumor right there from Andrew Philipponi of Radio Row and, you know, Mike Florio out there at Radio Row.

So again, I did qualify this as just being a rumor. But the other night on the show, someone said, it's going to be Rogers, isn't it? It's like maybe, maybe none of us have any idea what is going to happen now with Kevin O'Connell steering the ship at quarterback. But I did do an article and I could talk about this for a minute. Johnny Mansell's good uncle Rico. Ken Stabler is a great name. Joe Montana, Vinnie Testiverty.

Yeah, these are you guys got some great ones. Yeah, no, yeah. uh, bolarski, you're exactly right. A lot of people had Jehad Campbell as a top pick. There's always guys that go in different spots than we expect. The mock drafters don't ever get it 100% right.

In fact, most of the guys who are the like top their mock drafts will get what, like maybe 10 picks in the right spot, the right team. So we don't really know. Uh, Karpuppy says, uh,

100% it's Rogers. Not a twerk is team Kyler. So let me, let me get into that. the article that I did yesterday and some of the conclusions. So what I tried to accomplish purple insider dot football, feel free to go check it out. What I attempted to accomplish was to look at the things that are important in Kevin O'Connell's offense and who performed the best in those important things, right?

So what I mean is deep in intermediate passing, throwing the football over the middle of the field, very clearly important to Kevin O'Connell. Playing under center has been important to O'Connell and his offense. So I looked at under center percentages, and this is for all the potential Vikings quarterbacks. So you're Daniel Jones, your Mack Jones, your Gino Smith, you're Kyler Murray. And I also look at sack avoidance because the recent quarterbacks the Vikings have have been not good at sack avoidance.

And the Vikings are third, third since 2020. along with like the jets for teams losing the most yards to sacks. That is totally unacceptable. So it has to be a consideration as well for something that they need to look into. But otherwise, it was kind of schematic like the broad strokes of KOC's scheme. And he would know better about what types of routes and what types of timing and throws and revolutions on the football and foot angles and stuff like that that he would need. but what I came to the conclusion was one thing that I have to say, and I will keep saying this,

because it's the facts, is 2024 Kyler Murray played real football. You can not like the idea. I've acknowledged that most people will not like any of the ideas, but he played real quarterback. This idea that he was like a backyard run around. No, it was much more of a Caleb Williams type under center. He was actually under center toward the, same amount as Sam Darnold was or Kirk Cousins was, which I would not think when I went

looking for this data, but he actually was. The issue with Kyler Murray was that intermediate passing was very good, but the percentage of time he actually threw to the middle was not. And each one of these guys had different reasons to kind of like it and each reason not to. So Mack Jones, through his career, has been a decent intermediate passer, but he's been a very very mediocre or bad deep passer. Gino Smith at times has been absolutely freakish throwing the ball down the field. But he takes way too many sacks and he never plays under center. This is, this is crazy. Gino Smith was only under center in 2024, 11% of the time. That's, that's never.

That's like at the goal line is the only time that he was under center. So is he going to come to a team that's trying to improve its run game and have to be under center. Is that going to work for him? Does he not like, I mean, maybe he did that before in his career, but that was not their offense in Seattle. But if you were talking about someone who can rip it down the field into tight windows, well, that's Gino Smith, by far the best deep thrower. The guy who kept coming up in the numbers that was interesting, that I was surprised by

his numbers being this good was actually Marcus Mariotta. I was not expecting Mar, maybe because the only time I saw him, he came into a game as the backup for Jaden, Daniels, and immediately threw a pick. Maybe that's why. But Marioada's downfield throwing was actually really good last year. And if you're looking for someone to really split the difference with

that you might be able to make the playoffs, I mean, think about Washington. They're like the worst defense in the league. he played football okay. And even since he's left Tennessee, his quarterback rating is like 89.9, which is about what Bo Nix was last year. Now he has too many turnover worthy plays.

He's too inconsistent. I think we all know that. But I didn't expect his numbers to come out as well as they did in the key areas for how Kevin O'Connell wants his quarterback to play. Kirk Cousins looked like in Atlanta, kind of a different quarter. back than he used to look like on paper with the Vikings.

The intermediate throwing was not a lot. There was a lot behind the line of scrimmage. It was okay, the intermediate passing, but I really question if they brought in someone like Kirk, if he would be able to still get it into some of those windows that O'Connell wants with his arm strength declining. And then that brings us to Aaron Rogers, who I thought the numbers didn't look really anything like what Kevin O'Connell is going to want for his offense. He almost never threw the ball into the middle of the field.

When he did, it worked out. But it was like 5% of the time into the middle of the field, into intermediate areas, taking those risks. That's just not something he was doing. And well, Rogers had a low sack rate because he got rid of the football. He had a high pressure to sack rate. So if he was holding on to the ball at all, he was taking a sack. And I think that that speaks to his extreme lack of mobility.

Can you run under center play action bootlegs and stuff with Aaron Rogers at this point? I don't know about that. That seems like it's pretty tough.