Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - A sign that Aaron Jones is coming back???

Episode Date: February 18, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about a report from ESPN that Aaron Jones and the Vikings moved back the date where his contract is set to void. Is that to have more time to negotiate an extension? Is that the best path at RB? Plus Vikings fans questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar here, and this is going to be one of those times of year where every bit of news justifies discussion and podcasting, and then we will speculate and have lots of other good conversations. So already to the folks showing up for the live show, jump right in those comments. Anything that's on your mind, questions, thoughts, I am here to answer them about the Minnesota Vikings off season. And we've got a couple of things to talk about right off the jump. Number one, being that Aaron Jones and the Vikings agreed to move the void date back on his

contract. So the other day his contract would have voided and the Vikings would have taken a couple million dollars in dead cap, and then he would be a free agent. But instead the Vikings and Jones's side decided that they are going to move that date back to just before free agency, giving them the option to negotiate longer with Aaron Jones if they want him to come back, if he wants to come back, and if they can agree on a dollar figure for him to return. So of course, this opens up a couple of questions that we have to look into, which is for starters, does this mean that Aaron Jones is coming back to the Minnesota Vikings?

I think the answer is not necessarily. It just gives them the option to do that. Because if you let his contract void, then you're going to be paying, I think it was $3.2 million in dead cap. So you'd be paying that. And then if you sign him, that dead cap doesn't go away. You just have to have the dead cap and also sign him. So this allows them to now negotiate something where that dead cap doesn't hit and they can sign a contract. Now it still exists because of void years, but they could spread it out into a new deal.

So if you spread it out over a couple of years, that dead cap space because of the void year, then, okay, well, it's not going to be as much as it would be for just this one year. Or if he leaves anyway, it's going to be the dead cap hit anyway. Right? So the reason it doesn't necessarily mean that he's coming back is that we have seen this happen before. And the most recent example that I can think of, of the Vikings moving back the void date on a contract was with Delvin Tomlinson.

And I recall going to the combine and talking with Kweisi Adafomensa. And we'll be doing that again in a week and a half here or so. And asking him about Delvin Tomlinson. And he gave some big long answer about how much he loves Delvin Tomlinson. He's my best friend of all time. We love him so much. And then once it came around that it was time for free agency,

he got some enormous ludicrous deal from the Cleveland Browns. And that was that with Delvin Tomlinson. So the same thing could very well happen with Aaron Jones that they work on negotiating over the next couple of weeks. And they just realized that someone else is going to pay more for Aaron Jones

and they move on. Or they kind of have their first bidding here versus the other teams. And I think if you more for Aaron Jones and they move on, or they kind of have their first bidding here versus the other teams. And I think if you're on Aaron Jones's side, you want to go to the combine. You want to have a conversation with other teams, see what kind of interest that there's going to be elsewhere. And if you get the sense, if you're Aaron Jones's agent, Hey, teams are really interested. They're really desperate for running back. Someone's going to pay 10, $12 million for one year for Aaron Jones. And if the Vikings only want to pay five or six, then that's too big of a gap.

And Aaron Jones will leave, but at least this gives them the option where they don't have to take that hit and then pay him again. So they don't have to kind of do this twice. Or, I mean, it would almost guarantee if the contract voids, it almost guarantees that the guy's not coming back. So this now opens the door for them to bring Aaron Jones back. That is part one of this. And what are the odds of that are part two and whether it's a good idea.

So the odds of that, I think are fairly high when you look at, I mean, you make this move even in the first place because you're thinking, okay, maybe we want Aaron Jones back. So even to get to square one of, you're not just letting him walk out the door. You're not just letting his contract void. Okay. That certainly makes the odds fairly high just from the fact that it happened that they could want Aaron Jones to return his actual return versus what is going to be out there for him on the market. I do think there's a lot of teams that need running backs. And I do think that the way that Jones played combined with the way a lot of

older running backs played will shift the narrative on older running backs and signing older running backs to contracts. And his price is still not going to be ridiculously high, even though he played really well because he is into his thirties. And there are other teams that might view him as, Hey, you bring him in as part of a duo. but the fact that the draft is so loaded with running backs could also hurt Aaron Jones's value. Now he's probably number one, two, or three, as far as the best running backs who are on the market going into free agency, Rico Dowdle, Najee, Najee Harris, Najee Thompson was a Viking special teamer. Najee Harris. And then Aaron Jones in some sort of order that might have Aaron Jones first. He's probably the best player of the three,

which might make him attractive to other teams. And that's why he has to get a sense in the coming weeks for what his market might be. But there could be interest because past those three guys, if you look at the free agents, JK Dobbins is the other name. There's just not a lot. There's really four running backs and Dobbins has had some serious injury history that all the teams in need of running backs are going to go after. Maybe there's trades and the draft appears to be very loaded with running backs. But if you're a team that is in a win now type of mode, take like a Denver or something. They want to win.

They need a running back. Why would they not be calling Aaron Jones? And that may up the price to the point where he can't come back. Now we also have to talk about whether it's a good idea or not. I mean, there is serious limitations to this free agency crop. I like Rico Dowdle because he has hardly any tread on the tires. He's really only played for one year. I mean, they had Tony Pollard, they had Zeke Elliott. And so he gets in there, averages four and a half yards to carry, goes over a thousand yards for Dallas. But Dowdle has not played a lot of football, which I think would speak well for his future. If you were looking for a multi-year type of running back.

Now he's not a guy that's going to move the needle in the same way as a Saquon Barkley or as a Derrick Henry, but who is right? There's just not many guys in the NFL that can have hall of fame type of talent that are going to be in free agency in the same year, like last year with Henry and with Saquon Barkley, but somebody like Dowdle, if you look at him on paper next to Aaron Jones, Jones was better out of the backfield in terms of receiving. And I think Jones is a special type of receiving back. I think he's a special type of leader as well. And those things are worth money.

Those things are worth paying for. Experience. He's been in all sorts of big games. He could catch the football. We saw it last year. I thought they could have used it even more, his ability to catch the football. There's not too many guys that you see running over routes

from the running back position and catching the ball 15 yards down the field or crossing routes to catch a touchdown like that's stuff that is is pretty good and sets aaron jones apart but the difference between a rico dowdle and an aaron jones in age is four years five years it's a lot i mean thousands of carries that could make the vik Vikings a little bit hesitant about bringing Aaron Jones back. If they do, they cannot absolutely not put the type of work load on Aaron Jones that they did last year. It was his, I think it was his second most carries that he's ever had in his career.

It was his second most yards from scrimmage that he's ever had in his career. And that's what would concern me because the general rule of thumb, and this even applies to Saquon Barkley. Look at Christian McCaffrey last year. I mean, the general rule of thumb is if a running back past a certain age has a big season with a ton of carries, that's somebody that you want to be a little concerned about. I mean, whether you ask the fantasy people or whether you look at the analytics people, everybody kind of agrees that if somebody is setting career highs and carries and yards from scrimmage, that means they're also setting career highs in the times that they got hit. And we saw from Aaron Jones

in the second half of the season, it wasn't quite the same. And some of that was not having Christian Derrissaw, but the burst wasn't quite the same. There were multiple injuries that he had the rib injury specifically, but there were some leg injuries too. So if you're going to bring him back, then you have to do it in combination with either another running back. You like Khalil Herbert is a name that I've thought of who a couple of years ago was really good. And then kind of disappeared off the map last year. But just two, three years ago, that guy was really good and he was doing stuff to the Vikings and he's not that old. So he's a name. There's like a Jeremy McNichols, kind of an undersized type of guy. Clearly the ship has sailed on Ty Chandler. Maybe Cam Akers comes back, but I don't know how much you can really put on Cam Akers.

If Aaron Jones is coming back, I think that the other part of the equation has to be that the Vikings draft a running back. They do have limited amounts of draft capital, but this is a stacked running back draft. I just saw one of the fantasy guys, Barrett tweet out that he has 12 guys that are up there that have I forget 90th percentile projections in his model I think was the way that he framed it and that was the most he had ever had since 2017 which was that great draft that Aaron Jones and Delvin Cook were in so this is a draft that everybody is talking about special running backs up and down where the Vikings can get one a little bit later and then pair them with Aaron Jones. But if you're going to pair Aaron Jones with someone else and you're going to split the

carries, then the question comes, well, how much is that really worth then? Because if he's not going to be the bell cow back, as we saw the return of the bell cow last year, I think it was 16 guys went over a thousand yards, which was the most in like 10 years last year. So truly I'm kidding, but I'm not like the return of the number one, you take most of the carries running back has kind of come back. And is that really what you're going to do? Are you really going to lean on Aaron Jones or are you really going to spend seven, eight, $9 million on Aaron Jones just to pair them with somebody else that he's splitting the carries? So there are some challenges here. The projection, I'm sure if you're quasi at awful Mens, and you've looked at these numbers a hundred times about age curves for every position. It is just red flashing, stay away. Don't come anywhere near this. I mean,

I looked at it before the season already. 2024 was a huge outlier for Aaron Jones as someone, even his age going over a thousand yards. I mean, Adrian Peterson did it at a similar age. He's an all-time freak. He's totally different body type than Aaron Jones. And aside from that, I could only find a handful of guys that had done it in the last 10, 15 years who had had a season like he had. So even this year was an extreme outlier.

And now you're asking him to do it again. I just have a really, really tough time. Uh, you know, when it comes to, uh, you know, thinking that Aaron Jones can come back at a cheap price or he can come back and be the bell cow, that's going to be a pretty tough thing for them to lean on him again and not have somebody else in here. And I like Cam Akers. I think everyone respects Cam Akers. And if he was back as an RB three type of thing, but I mean, at some point you have to find somebody with true explosiveness. And I don't think that we can really say that from what Aaron Jones did last year, Cam Akers had some of the bigger runs toward the end of

the season, but the same sort of consistent explosive runs that we have not seen really since Delvin cook was in his prime. Uh, so I think they need to look for somebody in the draft who has young legs that you're not just holding on for, for dear life or, or hoping and praying that they can continue to beat history. I think as far as a locker room guy, there are a few better. And as far as a receiving back, there are a few better, but you're still just taking a risk that I don't really love for Aaron Jones on anything more than a one-year deal. That's also split with a another running back. So thoughts on the potential return of Aaron Jones, but anything else that is on your mind, throw it out there to me. Let me know what you're thinking and what you want to know about the

Vikings off season. And we can talk about it. Also intern Clay Petri is behind the scenes. He has his Clay's corner as well. And I'll be talking until I have to go to the airport and pick up my wife. So she's flying in at some point here. And when I get that text, then we'll call it a show. But until then I am all sorts of free to ask me whatever questions you guys want to ask about the Vikings in the off season. So Topaz says, would Cooper cup consider a third wide receiver spot with the Vikings, since he's still going to get guaranteed money from the Rams. You think he needs to be a number two. I don't know what is in Cooper cups brain, but I do know that if I'm Cooper cup, here's

a couple of things I want. Number one, I want to be on a winning team. So that's, you can start there. I wouldn't want to go to a team that is trying to rebuild or trying to just throw some parts together and hope and dream. So the Vikings have that box checked. All right. They're a competitive team. He knows the offense that's for sure, but I'm going to want to know if I'm Cooper cup, like what part of the offense am I going to be? And that's where with the Vikings, it does get a little dicey because I mean, unless he's championship chasing in Kansas city or

something, but even then, I guess he would be a main part of, they don't have that many receivers. But if you know that Justin Jefferson is going to take up a massive share of the targets and you know, they drafted Jordan Addison and you know, they paid TJ Hawkinson. It's a pretty tough sell. Now, if he wants to play for Kevin O'Connell, if he wants to get revenge against the Rams or something, and they cut him and he's willing to take less money, but I've got to think that he wants to still put up numbers. He wants to still be the guy. It's very hard to convince somebody who was offensive player of the year just a couple years ago. Hey, actually, you're not the guy go be like jaylen nailer or something i mean we know what the number three wide receiver position is for

the vikings it's not much the wide receiver three position is tj hawkinson now i have thought that it would be better if they could get a short area guy if they could get a possession guy to be that but is he going to accept how many, I mean, how many targets are we talking? How many did KJ Osborne have maybe had 45 catches or something two, two years ago? I mean, it's just hard to make an argument for Cooper cup that, Hey, I'm going to be fine with 45 catches. And they're all underneath balls where they've double and triple team, Justin Jefferson. But I don't know his relationship with Kevin O'Connell. That's the thing is that O'Connell and Wes Phillips, the Vikings offensive coordinator,

both of those guys know Cooper cup really, really well. And I wouldn't be surprised if everybody's sort of waiting for him to get cut rather than trading for him. Cause I feel like he, I mean, I don't know, like maybe everybody's in Cabo on vacation, but when it comes out that they want to trade him, you would think that if there was a lot of interest in that, that some teams would already be making phone calls about Cooper cup. Maybe they have, and their offers are really low, but oftentimes when situations like this arise with such a bad financial situation

for trading for the guy, it just makes a lot more sense to wait until the team cuts him and then sign him. So I think it would be great for the Vikings to have. I think he's exactly the type of guy. He's a grinder. He's going to block. He's going to catch underneath stuff. He could get open in short area. You try to match them up against linebackers, safeties. You just use it to your advantage that there's this gravitational pull toward Justin Jefferson. Just would he really do it? Because if you look around the league, I mean, there's just other teams that don't have a second wide receiver that could bring him in and say, you're going to be our guy. Some of them don't even have number one receivers. You're going to be our guy. If you're the new England Patriots,

you're looking for anybody who can catch footballs. And I imagine that they would want to bring in somebody like him to play with an exciting young quarterback. Would he be willing to do it? I don't know. Uh, it's an interesting question though. I mean, if he signed with the Vikings, I think it would be very clear that his plan was to try to win and to play with someone like Kevin O'Connell. But there's probably other teams that are a little bit better fits for him that don't have these clear options that they've invested so much in. I mean, the guys are, they spend a second round pick

and then a ton of money for Hawkinson. They spent a first round pick on Addison. They're paying Justin Jefferson $30 million. Like the football's going there first before it gets around to the next best guy. Bradley says Jones wants to come back here. It was obvious that he liked it here, but say around $4 million a year sounds right. That's the thing. If I'm Aaron Jones, like $4 million does sound right.

But if I'm Aaron Jones, I'm not taking four because this was the year of the running back. And plus look how you used him. I mean, Aaron Jones signed a contract probably on the expectation that he was going to be part of a duo with Ty Chandler. Cause remember, it's really crazy how much Ty Chandler disappeared from the equation. Ty Chandler had like 400 something yards two years ago at four and a half yards of carry a bunch of explosive plays. We all thought, I know I did going into last year in training camp, like, okay, we're going to see a duo here.

It's going to be Ty Chandler, Aaron Jones in and out of the game. It just did not turn out to be that way. And so he probably feels like he was underpaid for last year because it was more of a duo expectation and he ended up being the guy. So now he's got to look around. If I'm Aaron Jones, I'm looking around going, how many guys played as many snaps at as many carries, had as many catches, not that many. I'm looking for 10 million plus if I'm Aaron Jones and you go around the league, look at the Raiders. I know we're connecting them to everything,

but they have a gazillion dollars in cap space and they need everything. Amir Abdullah and Alexander Madison, old friends were their running backs last year as a here white. I mean, it was bad. They had nothing in the backfield. How about the new England Patriots? They've got what Ramond Ray Stevenson kind of just the guy. Look at the backfield. How about the New England Patriots? They've got what, Ramondre Stevenson, kind of just a guy. Look at the Broncos.

They have nothing in the backfield. There's other teams that are desperate enough to give him more than $4 million. And it's not that I think he shouldn't make that. It's just that I'm not sure that's a good investment for the Vikings to make when they have just a lot of areas to spend on. BAS Dry Dock says, I'm thinking I want all available cap space spent on O-line and add to the defense through the draft. The D under B-flow will be good enough for this year. Well, the thing about that is they just don't even have the players under contract.

They literally don't have players on the defensive side. So they have to do something. If Harrison Smith retires, which I don't know when we'll get news about that, but maybe soon. I mean, I would, I know the chiefs reportedly asked Travis Kelsey to tell them soon before free agency, you got to let us know if we need a tight end or not. And I think if you're the Vikings, you probably want the same thing from Harrison Smith. Like, Hey buddy,

we got to know if we're spending X number of dollars on a safety or not. And so they have no safeties other than Mattel is and Theo Jackson under contract and Jay ward. They have two corners, Makai Blackman and who's the other one? Oh, Dwight McLaughlin. Those are the only two corners. They have what Harrison Phillips for defensive tackle. The other two guys, the starters are free agents. And then you have Jalen Redman, Levi Drake Rodriguez. These are guys who have barely played in the NFL. Like they need players. They need human beings. So they are going to have to

spend a significant amount of cap space. I think they have to spend a corner. Defensive tackle is where they could draft, but I think they have to spend a corner. You have to get some veteran players in there, at least two. I like DJ Reed as a guy to spend a lot of money on. And then I was looking at some other names, Carlton Davis. Nate Hobbs is a nickel corner. But I think Byron Murphy may be priced out, at least by some of the expectations. I think it's very possible that Byron Murphy is just going to have too much interest. Let's see. Steven says, can they extend him before free agency begins?

Yes, they can. Yep. Yep, let's see. Steven says, can they extend him before free agency begins? Yes, they can. Yep. Yep. They can. Uh, in fact, like that's looks like what they want to do here is to not allow him to hit the market because as soon as he does, that's when the void date is going to happen. And then that three something million ends up hitting the dead cap. And that pretty much ends the chances that he's going to come back. So that's what they're trying to do. They could extend him right now, or probably historically speaking, they would extend him the minute that this podcast ends, which has been mostly my luck in the past. So, uh, Bradley says, uh, Aaron does a decent job at blocking good third down back.

If we draft a decent running back, uh'll have to learn right that's the hard part about if you're asking somebody to come in and be a rookie that carries the load that means doing a lot that means doing a lot it means pass protecting at times though they had cj ham doing a lot of that the last two years but still you're not going to get away with never pass protecting catching passes, which you want to see more of. And then also just the amount of work that goes into that first year for a rookie. They're coming off a college season. You've never taken hits like that before. You've never had that type of workload before. It's a lot of rookies who have done it well in the NFL at the running back position. So I'm not that concerned about it, but it is a more complicated position in the NFL than it is in college. It's probably the position that guys could come in the fastest. So it's not a massive concern that they wouldn't be able to do

it. You can have somebody else be the third down blocker. If I'm not mistaken, wasn't, uh, Chester Taylor. And then even maybe Toby Gerhardt the third down blockers early in Adrian Peterson's career. So, you know, it's not like you can't do that and still have a great running back. It's just, it is a lot to hand on somebody. And then you just don't know, like with a rookie, there's no sample to tell you, is this guy actually going to be good or not? And if it turns out the guy can't really play, well, then you're sort of up a Creek without another option. So I think that's why they'd love to have him paired with someone else, Aaron Jones, I mean, and that's what Matt says. I'd like Jones to stay and get significantly reduced carries, but does Jones want significantly

reduced carries? That's the question. Does he want significantly reduced carries? Because if I'm Aaron Jones, I'm probably pretty happy with the workload that I just had putting up huge numbers. Jones told us last year, he wants to play for like five more years or something, which I know is insane, but he wants to keep playing and he wants to keep being the guy. And so if you say to Aaron Jones, Hey, okay, you could go to Denver and you're their number one back and they're not going to have anybody else, or we're going to draft Caleb Johnson in the third round or cam Scataboo or whoever, you know, I don't know. Quinn Sean Judkins.

That would be a mouthful to say all the time, but you know, somebody like that, are they going to, uh, come to an agreement there with Aaron Jones? Hey, you're going to get 175 carries. You're going to get 150 carries, but then there's also the possibility if they bring in a rookie and he's the drafted guy that he just takes Aaron Jones's job. So there's all those considerations that if I'm on Aaron Jones's side, I got to ask, like, are you guys drafting somebody who's basically going to take his job? Uh, I shot you 99 says, uh, Luke, uh, Braun made a post regarding Darnold Gilmore and Byron Murphy's contracts being voided. What could the Vikings plans be not making any moves before the expiration for those three guys? Yeah. I think those situations are a little bit different than this one. Uh, I mean the, the other side has to agree to something like that, uh, if they're going to move

it back. So obviously Aaron Jones would have to agree to that. Um, I think that Stefan Gilmore is probably going to retire. I would expect, I'd be surprised if he, if Stefan Gilmore joins a team, he's doing it at the very last minute. And when it comes to, uh, Byron Murphy, I think for him, he wants to hit free agency. So he, this is just a guess that if the date went by for him, that his side would be saying, Hey guys, we're going to hit free agency. And I can look up what exactly that is for a cap hit. And that's why it is somewhat of an indication, um, that, you know, Aaron Jones has some interest for coming back and maybe Murphy does not. So, well now, okay.

So he doesn't have any, Byron Murphy doesn't have any void years. So that means that there's not going to be like a dead cap here, at least according to over the cap. So yeah, I mean, of course his contract would void. He become a free agent. The, the, the reason why this is different for Aaron Jones is because he had void years on his contract. So that's when we're talking about the void date. So Byron Murphy doesn't have that, which means that he's just a free agent. So it's, it's a, so they can't move that date back because there's no date to have. Now, what about Sam D he have uh i think sam darnold might but i don't think it's very significant let me look uh no it doesn't

have anything listed for darnold either it was just a one-year contract did they well unless it's not unless it's not listed here maybe that's confusing someone will have to correct me on that if there were void years because i i seem to remember that Byron Murphy may have had them. So anyway, but it's not listing them now on over the cap. So maybe it's just like the contract is done. Sorry, over the cap doesn't list it as having a dead cap taking hold. Let me take a look at that. We'll sort this out. It's that time of year, folks, where we play around with over the cap.com until we figure out how much cap space the Vikings have. Okay. Yes. Okay. All right. Sorry.

Let me correct Sam Darnold and Byron Murphy and Stefan Gilmore. Their contracts did void. Yeah. Okay. So Darnold dead cap is 5 million. Byron Murphy is 4.2 and Stefan Gilmore 2.3. Those numbers are set in stone. Those cannot be moved now. So if they were going to move void dates, they would have had to have moved them before now. Right. So I apologize for the mix up there. Just the way that it looked on over the cap.com was if they didn't have void dates. So we got that right. But those numbers would not keep you from still signing those players. If you want to like the dead cap is the dead cap. It certainly makes it more likely that Jones is coming back if he's

willing to move the date back, but I'm not shocked that it wouldn't happen for Byron Murphy, who has got to go test the market has to, and Sam Darnold, we're all expecting to be franchise tagged. And that could be happening as soon as tomorrow. I don't think it will right away, but it would make sense because there's no other option. The Vikings have to franchise tag him so they can trade him if that's what they want to do. So apologies for the slight over the cap.com mix up, but i don't think it prevents them from bringing back byron murphy it just makes it less likely that they would now that he's already worth 4.2 on the cap for next year anyway uh headless norseman says jones acres for a total

of eight million and drafter running back in the third round well that's the thing is for a total of 8 million and draft a running back in the third round. Well, that's the thing is for a total of 8 million to get those two is going to be tough. Just going to be tough because there are so few free agents. I mean, there's other teams that saw how well cam acres played as well and might be willing to sign him for a couple million. And with Jones, he's a top three name and Najee Harris. There's been some reports that he could go back to Pittsburgh. Then he's a top three name and Najee Harris. There's been some reports that he could go back to Pittsburgh. Then he's a top two name. And with Rico Dowdle, I don't know if Dallas wants him back, if he wants back to Dallas,

but now you're talking about one of the Jones being one of the top guys that other teams would go after. I just don't see how it's going to work for 8 million bucks. Uh, Kerr puppy says you hearing about the Stafford New York giants rumors, thoughts on that, uh, LA still my favorite for Sam, uh, Darnold. If Stafford leaves, I, it feels difficult to actually make it work. I could see it, but if you're Matthew Stafford, why would you do that? Why would you be okay with that? If you're the Rams, why wouldn you're Matthew Stafford, why would you do that? Why would you be okay with that? If you're the Rams, why wouldn't you want Stafford back after the way that he played last year?

He was still really good. Still want to play off game. Still one drive away from winning another playoff game. Sam Darnold, clearly younger. And the Rams are on my list of teams if they decide to trade Stafford. But to the Giants, I mean, is that what he really wants to do? Because that team is not competitive and they're not going to be competitive next year. When you look at the division has the two NFC championship teams, Dallas is probably going to be a little better or at least still somewhat of a playoff contender.

And now you got a Giants team that's totally rebuilding. Still neighbors is good, but they don't have almost anything else to work with. I don't know why he would want to be okay with that. I mean, I guess they could trade him regardless. I don't know if he has a trade, no trade or something, but I mean, I would assume that they would be classy enough to work it out with him where he wanted to go. Yeah. It's a, it's a little bit of an

interesting rumor to me because I just don't have the ability to make this like in my brain, make it fit. Why would he go? Why would they, why would they move on unless they knew they were getting Sam Darnold in a trade, which I guess could be a possibility, but I think it also comes along with dead cap and stuff to trade him. It's very tricky. I mean, they just looked like a promising young team into the playoffs and a team that could take another step and have a chance to compete with anybody for a Superbowl. They were right there with Philadelphia. I would want to run that back if I were them and not try to switch quarterbacks, but we'll see. Uh, you're right though. If they move them, then the Rams certainly are in that conversation. By the way, everybody, the show has sponsors, which is great.

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rocketmoney.com slash purpleinsider. Let's see. Peter says, do you think a better offensive line coach would be needed for this team? It's hard to figure out Peter offensive line coach. I think the only guys who really know are the guys who are getting coached by him because most of the time that, uh, when we're talking about a line coach, it's the same as any other position coach. It's based on what you have. Now, Chris Cooper, if you look at their numbers, pass blocking, run blocking, since he took over, they've been better than they were before as an offensive line. Christian Derrissaw has also elevated himself into being a superstar during that time, which kind of matters. This year, they taped it together, but we're still talking about moving a sixth round development tackle to guard and starting him the whole season.

They've tried that many times. It hasn't worked. They're still dealing with a center who has problems in pass protection. They had to bring in Cam Robinson. He was good for half the year, but kind of ran out of gas there. I don't know. I think what they do need is somebody on the offensive line in that room being more involved with the run game, because I feel like

it's important to have the run game coordinator and the offensive line coach in lockstep, not have it be the running back coach. Who's trying to ask offensive linemen to do things that they don't do well. That's where the offensive line coach is. So often the run game coordinator like Rick Dennison, because that guy understands that the run game starts with the big dudes. It starts with the footwork that they're able to handle with the communication that they're able to handle and what they do best. So I think that that responsibility should belong in that room, but we haven't heard anything about coaching changes for the Vikings. And that is a little surprising to me when it comes to the run game coordinator situation how can you have three straight years of a really mediocre to poor run game and still do the same thing that's a little surprising to me uh ron says what kind of receiver and blockers rico

dowdle i do not know offhand what kind of blocker he is but as far as a receiver, I think most running backs are not difference making receivers. Most of them can catch a swing pass and that's really it. And so they do, uh, they don't have difficult. That's what makes Aaron Jones stand out. They don't often have difficult assignments when it comes to receiving. It's usually swing passes and screens, which I imagine he'd be fine at if he was starting last year. But, you know, it would be nice to find somebody if Jones leaves who would be coming in that also can catch the football the way that he could

because they were able to use him as a pretty dynamic weapon. Even on third downs, he comes underneath, gets the football in his hands. There were a couple instances that come to mind right away where Aaron Jones catch the ball and can run for a first down. John says hearing O-line and D-line free agency is not great. Well, it kind of depends on your definition of not great. There are guys, there are deals to be had. There are good players. There are difference makers,

but there's not that many of them. There's not 10 good defensive tackles. They're not, there's not 20 good offensive linemen, but there are upgrades. You know, I was looking at somebody like BJ Hill from Cincinnati who the Vikings played and was good against them. Maybe got hurt in that game the last time they played him, but has been a good player for a long time. Or am I thinking of DJ Reader? Maybe it was Reader I'm thinking of, but BJ Hill's been a good player for a long time.

He has oscillated somewhere between like 30 and 40 quarterback pressures throughout a year, which is more than any of the Vikings guys have. I think that's 40 is more than they all had combined this year at defensive tackle, but he's not a superstar, but he's a really good player. And so maybe you can get somebody like that. And on the offensive line, there's like a Kevin Zeitler who is again, older, but a good player. There's some guys in there that would be clear improvements from what they have. Even if you're not getting Oso Digizua, even if you're not getting oso digizua

or if you're not getting trey smith but you're also not playing blake brandle for the entire season at left guard anymore because you go out and you get a will hernandez or something i think hernandez on the right side a will hernandez or something who's good for two years and 10 million, 20 million, not 20, 10, three years, 20 million, something like that. So you get a reasonable type of deal, but I think there'll be big fish hunting where it's at its best is probably corner. And, uh, as, uh, you mentioned, why not draft a guard at 24, like gray's able thing about somebody like gray's able is that, uh, I think he's got a lot of talent, but somebody comes from that caliber of competition usually needs a couple of years, which is fine. But is that what you want to do? Uh, or would you rather pick the guy from,

is it Booker from Alabama who might be able to transition quicker, might be a better athlete playing at a higher level. Drafting a guard is on the table, but I think that they should go after guys who can solidify that line to the point where there's no major weakness. That's what they should really be looking for, where there isn't one position that's just getting attacked, but it is a light free agency. The Vikings have been able to bring in guys that they wanted and sign them because they pay money from the ownership and they have a good culture and they're a winning team and all that stuff. And they do well in that NFL PA survey, which I

expect them to be one of the top three teams again, if they do it this year. So all that stuff helps to be able to bring in free agents, but no, I mean, it's not like when you play mad and half the league becomes a free agent, then you just go in and sign them. So, uh, Bradley says, uh, if you don't tag Darnold, then how much would it cost to tag Murphy might make more sense to tag Murphy. I'm not sure about that. I mean, I think it would cost a lot. I mean, if you look at the top corners,

because usually the tag is the top 10, I think, right at the position, somebody tweeted out the numbers today. It's going to be high because there are guys that are making 24 million at the cornerback position. Do you want to tag Byron Murphy and pay him 17 million or whatever it might be? That would be a lot for me.

If you're going to sign him to an extension, then that's the good part of it. You sign him to an extension, and then you can lower the early cap hits. We've talked about that a million times, that kind of thing. And that would be fine for Byron Murphy. I think he's a good player.

But when you look at the strength of free agency, I think it's most strong at the cornerback position. There's six, seven, eight, you know, type of corners that you could see them wanting to go after. Charverius Ward is out there. There's a bunch of guys who might be available. And I think that Murphy is probably going to get overpaid because he had six interceptions last year.

And again, he, he, he earned that. Like he played really, really well, but is it $17 million a year? Well, versus somebody else, you might be able to sign for 10 who is along the same lines as Byron Murphy, but didn't have six interceptions. Somebody who maybe could play a little more man coverage as opposed to zone all the time, that kind of thing. So, uh, you know, uh, I mean, I, I think, uh, he, if he comes back, it would be good for them, but I am not sure that I would

spend the franchise tag on him. And as far as Darnold, I don't see how they can not franchise tag him. If you just let him walk, then all you get is compensation would be a third round pick comp pick in 2026, which would have sounded phenomenal a year ago. But now you could be a little more greedy because there's so many teams that need quarterbacks and go out and shop with the franchise tag, which is what I expect them to do. I don't expect them to just play them on the franchise tag, but you know, I guess we'll see. Romain says neighbors, Lawrence, maybe Travis Hunter and Stafford giants can be good. I just don't think so. Um, Andrew Thomas is part of that too. I just don't think so. And not in not good in a way that they're competing in the same way the Rams are, but the Rams have rebuilt that thing. And

the Rams are the best team in the West. Seattle is pretty mid San Francisco is kind of down bad right now. Arizona might be coming up if they make a couple moves, but I mean, the Rams are the team to beat for next year in that division. The giants are nowhere close to that and not with Philly, not with Washington. I mean, they might be a lot better and those guys might save their jobs, but if you're Stafford, you're probably looking at eight wins at best. So I don't know about that. Uh, Kerplupp, he says, uh, feel like Stafford is at his highest value right now. Get a pick or two, uh, from the giants and give a one or both to the Vikings in exchange for Sam Darnold. So you guys are working out, uh, what three-way trades, uh, now for Sam Darnold to go to the Rams. I mean, look, if Stafford wants out because he's so disgusted with the Cooper cup thing, then fine. That's kind of how it was made to seem, but in a rational world, what team that you're going to go to is going to provide a better opportunity to compete for

a Superbowl one more time. If you're Matthew Stafford, I don't think you can find that. Um, but if he is gone, then yes, they become an option right now. The Raiders and the giants are the teams that are far and away the best places for Sam Darnold to potentially be traded to, but the Rams would shoot to the top of that list instantly if they were to trade away Stafford, because they're not doing it unless they have a plan, not after winning a playoff game and winning 10 games and being within one pass of going to the NFC championship. There's no way that Sean McVay is going to say, all right, Stafford, you're traded. Now who's playing quarterback, man? Uh, what, you know, like Carson Wentz going to bring him back? Like, no, no, no, no chance, no chance that that happens. Uh, Sue says, uh, cornerback room was patchwork, but respectable last year could see them investing more money in the D line. If our

cornerback room is questionable, if Murphy was to leave for free agency and we lose out on top corners. Yeah. I think, I mean, for one, just from a numbers game, they have to sign corners. They have to, uh, if they want to patch work as opposed to spending big money on somebody like DJ Reed, yes, then your money could go to defensive line. There's really only two defensive linemen on the interior that are going to make big money. That's Odigizua and Milton Williams from the Eagles. Both of them are a little scary. Odigizua has kind of been on the come up for a little while. He's been improving,

but Milton Williams is really a one-year player with one of the best D lines that we've seen in a long time or the deepest. He only played like 500 snaps. I would not be in a hurry to pay a Milton Williams $25 million based on a playoff run and 500 snaps in the regular season. Oh, diggy Zua a little more so, but if those guys go elsewhere or back to their old teams, then there really aren't other clear cut defensive line options to throw your cash at. Then you're probably turning more to the draft and looking to get solid players. Like I mentioned, BJ Hill, but the corners,

there's enough corners to throw your money at where you could spend money there and get a Carlton Davis, get a sure various ward and end up with having a real number one type of corner, which they haven't had truly since Xavier Rhodes. And those guys aren't elite elite, but I think they're good. Good enough. Matt says, I feel like they need to find a Tom Johnson type to rush the passer on third down from the interior run. Defense was good already saved the money for the corners and O-line. Yeah, I agree with that. I agree with the rotational type of thing. They might just have to do that, but you have to, you have to look for them. And that's where I do wonder about, does Brian Flores not think that that's a good thing to have in this defense? Cause I rarely questioned Brian Flores, but I would question that. Or if maybe just those guys are hard to find and Tom Johnson was a little

bit unique in being that third down guy. But when you look around free agency and go, all right, well, who could come in and just rush the passer on third down and get 30 or 40 pressures, be an impact player. And then you go, Oh yeah, that's right. It's still hard to find those guys because usually teams hang on to them because they like them. Let's see. E Ellison, El Hassan, El Hassan. Sorry if I got that wrong. Uh, says, uh, do you think the Vikings should trade with the Packers for Jair Alexander?

I do not. I do not think that because Jair Alexander is old and he's been banged up and he hasn't been that good for a while and seems to be a pain in the neck for the Packers. Just want to stay away from that. I don't know his exact age. Is he 29, 30? It's not that old, but he's been off the field a lot over the last couple of years. And he's been in conflict a lot with the Packers over the last couple of years. I think I would rather just have someone like Carlton Davis, who 28 plays very physically. It's good against the run could play man coverage a little

bit more than they do. I'd rather have that guy. Uh, Romaine says, are they done with Reisner? Yeah. The thing about Reisner is if we go by the, the PFF, uh, grades, he was one of the best pass blockers in the league this year by the grades. Now, competition matters to that small sample size because he only played half the year, but he is a good pass protector. He's not a guy that's going to pick up defensive tackles and throw them or have a bunch of pass pancake blocks, but he is very effective. And maybe this is his history of playing tackle at Stonewall and guys having, you know, not having a lot of bad losses in pass protection, which is what we saw from the Vikings offensive line a lot over the years. But he struggles so much in the run blocking that I don't know that he's somebody

that you're going to bring right back and have him be your first choice. I think he would be, if he returns very similar to what he was this year, where you're thinking more along the lines of a competition, him and somebody else, if he was going to come back. And I think it's always telling that the rest of the league doesn't really jump to sign Dalton Reiser, despite his really good history as a pass protector, because they want to improve the run game. I think they really have to look for somebody who can improve in the run blocking on that right side, because you have Brian O'Neill. And if he was paired with somebody who was a good run blocker for the first time in his

whole freaking career, that might be pretty effective, but he has never had a good run blocker on that side with him. And I know Ingram is a physical player, but he was not good and consistent and communicate well and double team block well, and all the details that it takes. He was just physically talented enough to do it, but couldn't do it consistently. I'd like to see them find somebody who's an above average run blocker to be over there. Uh, not now asks, is Sam going to be able to tell them where he'll be traded? Now he has no say in that. Now they're going to be nice about it. I'm sure they're going to be nice about it, that they're not just going to say, ah, we'll just trade you wherever. But at the end of

the day, they got to, they got to do business. So if it's Vegas, and even though they're a clown show of an organization, which may be turning around with Pete Carroll and Tom Brady, but still a little goofy to have a 74 year old head coach who just got there and is trying to rebuild something, but they got to do business. And the rules are you could franchise tag a guy and trade them wherever you want. So that's kind of the biz. They can try to make it somewhere where they think he's going to thrive. But if there's three offers and one of them is a second round pick and the other ones are third round picks, sorry, man, you're going to Vegas. That's just how it's gotta be. Uh, John says Cody mock played right away from North Dakota state.

Yeah. I mean, I, I know it's happened, but normally even guys come from Georgia and LSU and the biggest programs and still need a couple of years of development. Mock is a freak. He's unbelievable player, but just, you kept a bank on that. If you're drafting a Gray's Abel in the first round, then you have to know that he's not going to solve all your offensive line play, or you have to expect that he's not going to solve all your problems right away as the rookie. John adds that Brandel, will he play better next to Derrissaw? I'm not really that interested in finding out. No disrespect. I mean, the guy belongs in the NFL. He does. He could play a lot of positions.

You love to have guys like that, but as a starter over 17 games, all of Blake Brando's weaknesses were eventually revealed. And I don't think we could just blame them on Derrissaw. His numbers weren't wildly different with and without Derrissaw. I looked that up. They were different, but they weren't insanely different when cam Robinson got there. I think he's just, he's just a guy who deserves a spot on an NFL roster and a couple million bucks to be there. But as a difference maker,

like that's what you're looking for. Now you're looking for a top 15, top 20 type of linemen who could be a difference maker. Bradley says most of the interceptions Murphy had this year were thrown right to him. He had some trouble closing out games, especially the last two. In my opinion, he's going to get 17 million or more anyway. Yeah. I don't have any complaints about Byron Murphy, but your observation's not wrong. Like Kirk cousins throws him a fly ball that he brings in and you know there's a couple other ones i think he picked off joe flacco like interception numbers have always

been like this they're up and down they're all over the place you get six picks how about anthony harris led the league in interceptions in 2019 they franchise tag him and then he's nowhere close to that the following season so i would be nervous to spend the money based on interceptions, even though I think he's a good all around player. Aaron says, do you see Blackman as a starter slot corner outside? He's an outside corner. And yes, I do see him as a starter. He was slotted as a starter, him and Byron Murphy last year.

They were excited about him. He was a great tackler in his first season. I think that he showed a lot of progress throughout 2023 and just had a really bad break. ACL tear on the first day of training camp was awful, but it also means because it happened so early that he's going to be a hundred percent when he gets to OTAs and he could just go from there and have the whole off season to rebuild his strength and his technique and everything. So he should be fine when it comes time to start. I was very excited about Makai Blackman. I liked the way that he played and going into training camp. He was one of those guys that we were making on our lists. Like here's, you know, top 10, most interesting players, guys we're closely and it's like, what Mackay Blackwood gets crossed off the list on day one. But I think he is an exciting young

player that came into the league with a lot of experience, makes plays on the football as a good physical player. I think he should be a starter for this year, but the fact that they only have, they signed Aubrey Thomas, who's a guy. And then Dwight McLaughlin is interesting to me. I'm intrigued by him, but I mean, when it comes to, you know, McLaughlin starting, no, you probably need a couple other starters, but I think they do have Blackman slotted in. Uh, CJ says Vikings need to have their Eagles, Seahawks, Saints, miracle draft. Oh yeah. Yeah. I know what you're saying.

That takes them over the top. Seriously. They have stars, great coaching, awesome home field, committed owners go slot machine. Well, I was having this discussion with somebody else even earlier today about like, there's a difference between saying the draft is random and saying you need to hit on it though. And that's the, that's the thing, right? You walk into the casino with the slot machine and with the Vikings, you only get four pulls at it, but you got to hit, like you got to leave with some money.

And I think what's good for them though, in this draft is that the positions that they need are right there for you. There's a couple of guards who could be late first rounders, difference makers. And because there's so many of the key positions higher that could move down. If you want to take the best guard or the defensive tackles are stacked or the running backs are stacked, or there's even some good corners, but I think the defensive tackles and the running backs and the, you know, and the guards are in pretty good position for this draft for them. And even into the third round, you're talking about DTs and running backs that could potentially be there. So there's opportunity, but not having a lot of pulls at the slot machine, I think is a problem for them, but they've got, they've got to hit on something. And also they've got to hit on

something from the past couple of drafts, because it feels like every time we talk about this, that some of the other drafts have just been totally written off, which somebody like Makai Blackman, I'm okay. 2022 right off away. Go ahead. That one's that one's dusted. But when it comes to 2023, that one's not over. If Blackman becomes a key player and 2024 is way far from over. I still think that when it comes to, you know, Dallas Turner, that there's a potential high ceiling for Dallas Turner and JJ McCarthy will be the one that really decides whether that's a good draft or not. So there's still some room there,

but they need to hit. There's no doubt about it. They need to hit. Cosmic Consciousness. Derek Harmon is my favorite DT. I got about three of them. Walter Nolan, Derek Harmon, TJ Sanders. There's a couple, there's guys, there's guys.

Yep. There's guys. Uh, Hamza says Kevin Seifert report earlier today. The Vikings will not be tagging Sam Darnold. I'm not sure that you maybe read that, right? I don't think that's what he was saying. Seeming more and more like he'll test free agents. No, I don't think that was right.

I don't think that's what he was saying. Seeming more and more like he'll test free agents. No, I don't think that was right. I don't think that's right. Well, see, for it's coming on the show on Wednesday, but I don't think that that's what Kevin wrote was that they're not going to tag Darnold. I mean, right now, still by far, the favorite is that they will tag Darnold unless you, uh, if you got a link to that, feel free to show me, but I don't, I don't think you may have read that correctly. Cause that, that would have been a huge news story all over the NFL today. Like T Higgins, the fact that they're going to, that was like the top story in the, in the league. So I don't think

that's quite what he was getting at, but they do have a difficult decision, uh, when it comes to transition tag franchise tag, how they're going to time it out with potentially trading him, or if they think they're going to work out an extension with him, which I know nobody wants, but also is an option that's worth mentioning. So, uh, Matt says the defense did fall off completely two years ago when Murphy went out. Yeah, no, Murphy's a good player, but he's a good player. I think he could do a lot of things.

Well, I think he really understands, uh, Brian Flores, his defense. He's a good player. I think he could do a lot of things. Well, I think he really understands, uh, Brian Flores, his defense, and he's a smart player and makes plays on the football. I like Byron Murphy a lot. It's just $17 million is a lot of lot to like, I mean, you gotta be getting to me getting into that 15 plus, you gotta be talking the superstar shutdown. Best of the best that those are the types of guys. John says, can Levi Drake Rodriguez develop into something he can, but I wouldn't expect it right away.

I mean, last year he got on the field a little, he's got the physical traits to be something, but it's probably going to take him until year three. Phil says, Aaron Jones is nice, but he's not a bell cow. Green Bay wanted him, but they knew this, uh, the Vikings have to draft. Well, he, he was an above average bell cow last year. Like he can do it. But to me, it's much more that, um, Oh, is that, is the camera focusing on the microphone? What the heck is with that? How do I fix that? Help me out. How do I fix that? Do I need to move my face closer?

You guys who are good at audio and video, I've noticed that same thing about the camera and the microphone where the camera, like, should I put it in front of my face? Then will it focus on my face? Somebody tell me how to do that. Because I I've noticed that when watching back where I've been like, Hey, I'm over here, camera the heck. Anyway, let me know what I'm supposed to do there. Block out the camera or put, put the microphone up here or something. I don't know. Anyway, uh, as far as, uh, Aaron Jones and the bell cow though, yeah, he can do it and he's fine doing it. And I think if they had blocked better for him and they had a better run scheme a little bit, that it would have been better in terms of his performance, but his performance was good.

He was one of the 15 best running backs in the league last year, but I think it's about the next phase, which is finding more explosiveness. And it's also about the age, uh, which is a concern. Put my hand in front of the camera, then slowly pull back your face. So put the hand in front of, Oh, in front of the camera. Oh, like this, not in front of the microphone in front of the camera, and then slowly pull it back to your face. We should probably get to Clay's corner. It's getting weird here. Did that refocus it? See, on my end, it looks okay,

but I can't really tell. Let me see here. Looks okay. Maybe it's better that I'm fuzzy, isn't it? Probably better. Just listen to the football talk. I'll work on it. Anyway, let's bring in uh clay petri intern clay and uh clay's got a new camera

new lighting there so we can actually see his face and apparently the cops are coming now right on schedule it was as soon as you brought me on can you tell that uh clay goes to penn so he's in philadelphia and there's probably a philadelphia joke there uh but uh so clay you got five storylines that's what clay's corner is but if you're just seeing clay for the first time intern clay petri goes to penn former football player and all that so you've got each night that we go live, your five storylines, five things that you want me to talk about. And we go from there. So what is on your mind this evening, intern Clay? Yeah, Matt, thanks for having me back. It's always fun to be on the show. And for the first headline I got for you is it's we're past Aaron Rodgers. I know all the Aaron Rogers rumors

have been going crazy right now, but what I really care about as a former receiver is Devante Adams. Um, we, we know Rogers is leaving and they're like this, they're close. So, so what do you think his future holds? Hey, if you go outside, throw a beer bottle at him, that will clear up all the problems. Uh, that's what i saw when i was there for the nfc championship although and howie roseman also got hit in the face uh with a beer bottle as well so davante adams what is his future hold was that the question while i was thinking of a joke to make about uh where you live that's a good question because with receivers like Devante Adams, at some point, they just don't have the same type of impact that they did before.

And they still think that they do, which is a problem. We were kind of talking about that with Cooper cup, like reasonably speaking, Cooper cup should be a number three wide receiver for someone. He should come to the Vikings and he should catch 45 passes and just be a guy because that's where he's at right now in his career.

And I don't think that Devante Adams has fallen quite as much, but it's obvious that he does not have the same burst that he used to. He's not open in the same way that he used to be. And I think he does have to look for a team that is going to have him as sort of a number two. Now what's, do you know his contract situation? Is he going to be a free agent here or is he still under contract with the jets? Because I think that if you're the jets, if he's still under contract with them, they should

probably just keep him and try to have them with Garrett Wilson and whoever comes in to be their quarterback, help them as much as possible. But I could also see if they would take offers for him, because if someone's willing to go crazy, I don't think he's the same type of impact player that he used to be. And even look at like Deandre Hopkins, I mean, Deandre Hopkins, when it's, when receivers are not still like, if they never were that fast and then they lose a step, then you're just a slow person in the NFL. And that's how I felt about DeAndre Hopkins, where you go from elite to hard to use pretty quickly. And maybe it was all Rodgers, but watching Adams last year, I just didn't see the same guy.

So we have pretty different opinions on this. I'm still a big Devante Adams believer. Back when he was in the Packers, he was my least favorite receiver just because he was so good tearing up the NFC North. But as soon as he left, I was able to appreciate his game more. And although I do agree, he's definitely lost a step. I still believe he's one of the best route runners in the game. His football IQ is crazy for a receiver. And back to the contract, I think he's on contract for two more years um but if my research is correct i think they could save a good chunk of money if they

let him go which is risky but when they traded for him they give up a conditional third so they're not gonna get that back um so i'm trying to think of what they could get back or if it's even worth it so if they do release him I think pretty much every playoff team makes sense any team that's trying to contend but he is a California guy so I definitely wouldn't be shocked about the Chargers or the Rams just don't let him come back to Green Bay it makes a lot of sense they need a receiver but I don't want to see that happen he He certainly tore up the Vikings many, many, many times, which also probably had something to do with Aaron Rogers. But when it comes to Adams, it is hard to figure out because that team was such a calamity last year in New York, who was actually good or not. If you're the jets, I think it's a much better idea under Aaron Glenn to take apart everything

that's not nailed down, which means moving on from anybody who's old, anybody who's expensive. Maybe San Francisco would be a place for him if they trade Debo Samuel. They got Pearsall. They got Ayuk and maybe bringing in Devante Adams. They're always going to be a win now team as long as Kyle Shanahan is their coach. They've always got a chance. They've got a lot of players that are on the older sides like McCaffrey, Nick Bosa, guys who were in their prime or a little older. So it might be a situation where it's a team like that, that thinks that they can add just

one more weapon and they could bring Devante Adams in if the Jets release it. But if I'm the Jets, I'm saying, Hey, thanks for the memories. Were there any? And let's just, like you said, forget about the conditional third round pick and just tear it all down and move on from anybody who's not young. Yeah. I know you mentioned the 49ers, but don't sleep on Juwan Jennings. I think he's the most underrated receiver. One of my favorite receivers in the league. So I think the 49ers, I thought about them too, but their 49, their receiver staff is pretty good still, even with the departure of Debo. So I don't think they'll regress too much. But speaking of regression, that leads into my next question. Which teams that exceeded expectations last year need to have a big offseason to avoid that regression next season?

Well, I can think of one that we talk about here every day on the show. I think the most obvious pick is the Minnesota Vikings. I mean, how many teams have this many wins and then this many free agents? The Vikings are looking at what? I mean, a dozen players that they need to replace when it comes to potentially both safeties, potentially two corners, the running back position, the offensive guards, the defensive line. There's so much to do here, which will make for a great March numbers wise on YouTube for us. But I mean, that's a lot of work. And I was just looking at this the other

day for an article, purpleinsider.football, go check it out. And the question I was asking was, did the regular season lie to us? Did it make teams that maybe weren't that good look a little bit better than they really were because there were so many bad teams. And the answer that I came up with was yes. Like it did lie to us because there were 10 teams in the league that won five games or fewer, which was twice as many as 2023. So the league was a lot easier for the good teams than it was, uh, in past years, which tells me you have to be better to get similar results. And no one's expecting 14 wins, but just similar results. So how do the Vikings not only replace all those spots, but also actually get better at those positions? I think it's possible, but, uh, Kweisi Adafo-Mensa is going to be tested this off season.

Like, does he really have a hot hand in free agency or did everything just kind of work out last year? What other teams did you come up with that need to have huge off seasons to stave off any regression from their sort of pop-up years? Yeah, obviously the Vikings were the first to come to mind, but another team that I was looking at were the commanders. They look scary right now, but i think they need to find young talent i feel like they have too many positions where they just have older vets kind

of carrying the load and we don't know how much longer they're going to be able to do that so although they crush expectations this year and will probably be in a good spot leading into next year i think they're going to need to find some young talent to eventually replace those guys. It's a great point. They, they last year sort of did the same thing a little bit that the Vikings did where they just went out and signed a bunch of older players to fill out spots on a team that was in transition. Uh, but even the fact that they have Bobby Wagner, uh, they brought in kind of one year wide receivers to play next to Terry McLaurin. Uh, uh, who was the guy, uh, yeah, Diamond Brown. Okay. So he was, he's a free

agent now. He wasn't older, but sort of those placeholder type of guys where now they need much more foundational pieces that they can build around. And we've been talking about this a little bit, but the free agency pool right now, and it's going to get maybe smaller in some ways, other teams could cut guys in the coming days. But if teams sign some of their own players, you're talking about a lot of football teams competing for only a handful of guys. And so that could mean that the commanders and Vikings are making offers for the same types of players. They have a good offensive line, the commanders, but the defensive line kind of got steamrolled. Uh, no, not kind of completely got steamrolled. Uh, they could use some more talent pretty much everywhere on that defense. And they've got to replace those receiver

positions. If those guys hit free agency backfields, just okay. Like it's it you're right. I mean, that's a team that we're just sort of assuming that now that they've got Jane Daniels, like off they go, but we kind of made that same assumption about CJ Stroud. And what we know is that it doesn't get easier, right? Like it gets harder once you've sort of set the bar at a certain level. So yeah, I think, I think the commanders are great pick. How about the Denver Broncos for another team that I'm guessing a lot of people with Bo Nix starting would have expected five wins from them and they end up making the playoffs in a division that was not as hard as we expected outside of Kansas city winning 15, but usually it's looked at as being an insanely hard division.

The Raiders were bad. So, uh, that's a team that needs to take its next step. And how are they going to do it? They have a good line. They have a good defense, but they need weapons. I mean, Corlin Sutton is their guy, but who else, who else is a difference maker there? How are they going to get a run game to be a legitimate contender there? They need, I think, a big offseason to stave off regression as well. Did you have any more? I didn't have any teams, but I had a fun one. I was thinking of Bryce Young because it looked like his NFL career was over. But then he made his comeback, looked settled in, and was gaining confidence.

And they have a solid O-line. They have Chubba Hubbard. I think if they build a defense around them, the Panthers could be looking good in a few seasons. What do you think about them? No, I do think that it's sort of the ebb and flow of the NFL where teams are always rising and falling. I mean, think about the first couple of weeks of the season.

People are just absolutely laughing at the Panthers and Bryce Young is a bust and all that stuff. But then you start to see some of their pieces come together a little bit. And all of a sudden they're in every game. They almost beat Kansas city. They almost beat Tampa Bay. I mean, like overtime close games, I think within the next two years that they can be at the top of that division.

It's also a very not special division. We'll see where the Falcons go with Pennix. I think Tampa Bay is what they are with Baker Mayfield, like a 10 win type of team. They feel kind of like the Vikings when they had Kirk, where they're always going to be good, but they're never going to be great. And so there's an opportunity there. I loved the way Bryce Young played last year in the second half of the season. He was one of the tops in the league in big time throws. And who did he have at receiver Adam Thielen and nothing else.

So yeah, big opportunity for them to take a huge step forward. I was trying to pull up the standings here of, was there another team that we missed that overachieved expectations for last year? That kind of depends on how you look at like, like a Tampa Bay. Do they overachieve? Not really, I guess. Oh, the, the chargers. That was the other team, the chargers. They, if they add some wide receivers,

I mean, they were dealing with almost nothing there. Quentin Johnston, Ladd McConkie, McConkie looks pretty good. Johnston is pretty limited aside from that though. Not a whole lot in the passing game. That's what got them in the playoffs. Uh, and you know, running back is another position they need to add to. They have a good defense. If they have a big season, I mean, they could, if you look at Kansas city's roster, they have so many problems. and I know Mahomes is always going to win double digits. He's always going to be in that conversation, but if you're the chargers, you got to be looking at what happened in the super bowl. And you got to look at that off season for Kansas city and go, Hey, this is our time, man. Like, let's go,

um, let's go make a difference there. So I think that division with the chargers and with the Broncos, both of those teams are going to be trying to make some serious noise there this offseason. Yeah, I agree. The Chargers, I looked at them, but I feel like going into the season, I kind of expected them to be where they're at because they have the quarterback and then Harbaugh is a great coach. So and then their philosophy, the way they play the game, like you said, behind that defense, I expected about eight to 10 wins.

And that's where they ended up which is why i left them off the list but yeah i if they have a big off season they could really take a take a step and if the chiefs take a step back that they might be fighting for the broncos for that for that division so but for the next question for my next headline we touched on uh bryce young and how he was a high draft pick and had expectations. Unfortunately, those expectations can get too overwhelming. And for example, for former number three overall pick Deion Jordan, he recently took responsibility for his failure to succeed in the league

because he didn't have his life in order and was partying too much. Which highly drafted players will always baffle to you as why they didn't succeed? Yeah, and the Vikings have had quite a few of them in recent years. You know, there's levels to this. So a player that I was very, very high on that did not work out was Irv Smith Jr., a former tight end, went to Alabama, and he was their second tight end sort of slash wide receiver three in 2019. And he was great. And then at the end of 2020, he had to play tight

end one when Kyle Rudolph got hurt and he was also great. And so I thought, I mean, this guy is just going to take the next step and turn into a star player. And I know that an injury got in the way before the 2021 season. And then he had another injury in camp before 2022, but I wouldn't have expected that to ruin his career. And it really kind of did. I don't know if it threw him off or maybe he was never as good as I thought he was, but he was a second round pick. He was dynamic.

He had been a good route runner, but also had a little more toughness than maybe met the eye. I, every off season felt like I was saying, Hey, this is Irv Smith's year. And it just never worked out. And then he showed up at a playoff game for maybe Houston. I was like, Oh, it's like still in the league, you know, cause my mind is immediately going to these Vikings ones. Uh, Pat Elfline was another one for them. Oh, you know what? Actually, when I first got here and I understand what happened. So it's a little bit different because I saw it play out than the question, but Laquan Treadwell just looked like such a dominant possession receiver coming out of college. And I thought when I moved here in 2016 to take the job

to cover the Vikings, I thought, well, I'm going to be coming to see one of the best receivers coming out in the draft and all that. And I ended up seeing some great receiver play, but not from Laquan Treadwell. And because I was here, I get it, but it's still kind of baffling that he never became like that possession, like tough player who could run routes and you know, the Anquan Bolden type everybody talks about. So those are some of the ones that have baffled me for the Vikings. And then it has to be brought up Lewis scene. Lewis scene, when he got drafted was just coming off winning MVP of the college football championship and looked phenomenal. He came and did his first press conference. We all went, wow, what an impressive kid.

Seems like he loves football. Seems like he's a bright kid and he's just going to take off. And then he didn't win the job out of camp. He broke his leg, comes back, doesn't even get a sniff. They changed defensive coordinators and it was just over just like that. And now he's got a ring because he was on the eagles roster but i mean for somebody to never even see the field who had his athleticism his pedigree the college he went to the defense he played on look at philly they just drafted all the georgia guys the vikings try

it once the guy's the biggest bust in their team history it It's like, what? So there, there's some, there's definitely some confusing ones, but, uh, what ones came to mind for you? Yeah. Another big body wide receiver came to my mind and it was Kevin White out of, uh, West Virginia. Um, his senior year, he had 1500 yards, 10 touchdowns. He six, three3 he runs he I think he ran a 4-3-5 or something like that at the 40 um and then he was drafted seventh overall and then he gets hurt in training camp or even before training camp um he gets a stress fracture and then he misses his whole rookie year and then he comes back gets hurt again misses like 12 games the next year i think he missed like 14 games in his 30 or two and it was just over with and it was like dang like it kind of like quentin johnson he's kind of made his comeback but i thought like he was on the kevin white path of just big body

receiver looks good in college and then just doesn't work out uh in the league but another one i was thinking of was uh trey lance um like when i think of a high drafted quarterback going into a shanahan offense in a super bowl window it's like how does that not work out but uh i don't it didn't work out for trey lance so no no it didn't and uh quarter quarterbacks are always the easiest ones for this. And so I was just running through the quarterbacks and longtime listeners of the show will know that the biggest miss for me ever coming out. And I don't have confidence in myself. I'm not a draft analyst.

And even the best draft analysts are right. Like what? 51% of the time. I mean, it's a crap shoot for everybody, even teams that have their scouts and their analytics and all those things. So it's difficult for anybody. But the one that I could never figure out until I met him was Josh Rosen. So Josh Rosen in college, if you go back, there's a game where they're down like 30 points.

He brings them back. His team's not even any good. He's making throws left and right anticipation. Like he's in command of the whole offense. He's running like pro style type of stuff. It just looked phenomenal. And what I didn't realize about Josh Rosen was that he just didn't love the game to the level you have to be, which is a sociopathic level to be a quarterback.

And the Vikings signed him very briefly. And he came in and we were interviewing him like, Oh, you're a Viking. Now Josh Rosen is here because it's Kevin O'Connell's, uh, broken quarterback factory. And we asked him something like, so what have you been up to? How you been working out? And he talked about how much he loved being home for Thanksgiving for the first time when he was cut. And you're like, okay, well, I think we get, which is fine. It's a scary place. The NFL it's hard. It's dangerous. I wouldn't suggest it for anybody because it's so insanely difficult, but I got it. I understand it wasn't about the skill and that's what's so hard to predict when it comes to the draft. It was really about what he had mentally. And then everybody else now, Sam Darnold included, it turned out to be good from that

draft. So my, I think he was my second favorite guy in that draft next to Lamar. And I was super right. And super wrong, which is basically all of the draft. Yeah. That's what I love saying draft grades because 90% of it is just all in here. And it's like us, the media, the people, we don't know what they're actually like or how they actually think about the

game. So it's always interesting seeing people, of course, bash their favorite teams, GM. And then it's like, we didn't see this coming except for Johnny Manziel. That's, that's on Cleveland. They could have seen that. Yes. Everyone could have seen that coming, including all of Johnny Manziel's cocaine dealers. Everybody could have figured that out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, we can move on to the next headline. I want to talk about Noah Lyles and Tyreek Hill. They've been talking trash for a while and it seems like they're

officially racing this off season. How do you feel about this? And do you think Tyreek can win? I think if I'm the Miami dolphins, I'm like, do you have to, uh, because what you do not want to see is your star wide receiver, pull a hammy and set back his off season because he's trying to race somebody. I think that it reminds me of how every wide receiver in the NFL thinks they could have been a great NBA player. Every single one that I've ever met is like, Oh yeah, I could have been in college too. High school. They always, every, every receiver. Yeah. Every receiver. And, uh, then when you actually go to an NBA game and you see those guys and the skill and the size, and you're reminded that Anthony Edwards is bigger than any wide receiver in the

league. It's not even close. He's six, four and two 40 or something. I mean, he's just absolutely enormous and has explosiveness way through the roof. Uh, the same as receivers who are 180 pounds. So NBA athletes are a different kind of freak. And I feel the same way with sprinters where, you know, I bet that both of you can reach a top speed, but he's going to get to it faster because he knows the technique of how to explode out of that thing. It's not, I mean, there's so much to it and Noah Lyles has done it his whole life. Tyree kill is just, I mean, I'm sure he did it in college and other times, but we're talking about the best of the absolute best.

Usually the NFL player doesn't have much of a chance there. I'm sure he's very fast. I know he's very fast. I've seen him play, but I just don't understand really the point. I guess it's fun, but man, if he gets hurt, it's going to look really stupid. Yeah. When I saw this, I was like, Tyreek needs to worry about next season. We saw how last year ended.

He's calling, he wants out, and he's done with this team. Now he's going on apology tours and stuff. It's like, you need to worry about the Miami Dolphins, man. Forget Noah Lyles. Leave that to the YouTubers and the content creators. You need to focus on the Miami Dolphins and figuring out that offense. Cause if you look at like he production wise, I know Tua was down for a good amount this year, but he was Tyreek was way down in terms of yardage and catches.

So I think he, instead of focusing about the track, he needs to worry about the dolphins. One thing I did think about this year was that in the NFL 100, which means nothing. So let's be clear. It means nothing did think about this year was that in the NFL 100, which means nothing. So let's be clear. It means nothing, but Tyree kill was, I think he was the number one player for last year. And I think he was even, I think he was even higher than a Justin Jefferson and Jamar chase going into 2024. And that fall off was serious. And then if he's, you know,

he's always kind of been a ticking time bomb for them that franchise i know that here in viking land we just don't think about the miami dolphins a whole heck of a lot unless the old super bowl that they lost comes up from the 70s but aside from that there's not much of a discussion about the dolphins but if i was covering that team i'd be like what is this team supposed to be like what what is this team supposed to be? Like, what, what is this team supposed to be? Because your quarterback is always one hit away from his career ending. You have an expensive receiver who fell off last year. You have a coach who's supposed to be a genius, but doesn't have any better of a record than Brian Flores did. I just, can you really win in the playoffs? Your quarterback's expensive. Like they are in screwed land. I think they're

just sort of a team that's like the Vikings with cousins, only probably even a little worse. So I'm not sure what they're supposed to be. And like you said, I'd be worried about that if I'm Tyree kill much more than trying to race somebody. Yeah, they have plenty of issues going on by themselves. Okay. So let me ask you a question though.

Is there another sport that you think nfl players could compete at with other pros i mean the answer is usually no just because those people are pros yeah and they usually like golf you know tony romo tried to be a golfer there's just no way you know with other pros it's no i think we i think football players could perform better at other sports than other sports athletes would do at football um but no if it's like head-to-head against any nba squad even if you get like the like somehow you get the five worst players in the league like they're still dominating any nfl lineup so um no but hypothetical tournaments while we're on that um the nhl

has been having the four nations face off and that kicked off last week and uh it's been putting so many new eyes on the sport i don't even watch hockey and I've been tuning in. If you could make up a tournament for the NFL, how would you do it? Yeah, the problem with the NFL professional arm wrestling is a good answer. Actually pro wrestling in general does have a lot of football players that get attracted to pro wrestling. So if you had, you know, like the actual super talent, but it's not easy. Pro wrestling is super hard though. I think if those guys walked out there with the pro wrestlers, they would get themselves in trouble fast. How those guys don't die every single time they go

out is insane talent. So there probably isn't any other sport, but as far as the four nations thing, what's hard to repeat about that is the injury fear for NFL players and the pro bowl. This is my back in the day. I'm really annoyed at the NBA with the way they handled their all-star game. Like back in the day, the pro bowl, they used to hit people. I mean, they used to really tackle and those guys used to play and it would get pretty serious at the end because there was kind of a lot of money on the line for those guys at the pro bowl and they don't

do that anymore. But if you could take, if you could take that out of it, take the injury concern out of it, which of course, if you know, hockey players, they have no regard for that stuff. They prefer to get injured. It seems they prefer to punch each other in the face, get hit by pucks. Like they don't care. And the injuries are different. But if you took that out of it, I think there could be like a one, one idea might be a regional type of thing, like Midwest, South, West, East, four teams of the best players from the different like areas that they're from maybe originally could be something I was thinking about maybe even if you had like teams of guys

who were not starters, like didn't play enough games, but we're on teams and it could be kind of like how the NHL would send the amateurs, the miracle on ice, that kind of thing, or how there used to be an NFL Europe. So you could have this tournament. I know it's a little different from what we're talking about here, which is Sidney Crosby and like the best players in the world. But if you had like, you could play in this tournament. If you didn't have any actual games played this year, which would open it up to quarterbacks who didn't play, which could kind of be interesting,

like young quarterbacks, practice squad players. And let's say that they played an all-star team of the best practice squad, like as selected kind of by their teams, and they played a round-robin type of four-game tournament for, what, 500,000 a man or something, right. Or some, some big amount of money. I think we would all tune in and watch it. We'd be like, Oh, we've got, you know, I don't know who's the Vikings, Brett Rippin or something. Like if it

was that they try to make these side spring leagues and then people watch the first night and then never watch again. But if you made it into some huge tournament of like, Hey, these teams are playing each other for a million bucks under the bright lights or something. I think that that could be pretty cool. Did you have an idea? Yeah. I think the biggest thing, when we look at the four nations tournament, you could tell that those guys on the ice, they care. Like this is like a very meaningful thing to them. And I think that's the reason the Pro Bowl hasn't been doing well or the NBA All-Star game.

The players aren't committed and that's where it starts. If the players buy in, the fans will watch, which is why I was thinking about all the arguments I had in the locker room when I used to play. And I think 90% of those arguments were about which state produces the best football player, which is why it was funny. You mentioned the regional things. So I was thinking, it really, the top four is kind of unfair. I was thinking like Texas, Florida, California, and Georgia. Those are probably the top four that produce the most

NFL talent. But I didn't want to leave anyone out. So if we do expand to eight teams, I was thinking Ohio, Pennsylvania, even Alabama, North Carolina can get in there. But I was thinking either have like a fan vote to decide, or maybe something that's more fair would be just looking at how many players are in the NFL with the highest amount of people on the active roster and letting those teams play. But yeah, I think that would be really fun because he's,

like I said, I've had plenty of arguments. California is way better football players in Florida or tech, blah, blah, blah. So I know the players would care about that one. And I think it would be really cool to see that kind of format.

Okay. I've got one more idea, which is the, what if you had the bottom four teams in the NFL and they had to play for the number one pick? Now we're talking now. They would never in a million years agree to it, but what would that be great?

There's so many teams. Hey, you want to stop that's what i'm saying yeah that's what i was this roger goodell wants to go play in who knows where australia or ever around the world you want to get extra attention on the league have a play for that number one overall pick and if you're the teams i mean of course you're mad if you had the worst record but if you're the teams you might mean, of course you're mad if you had the worst record, but if you're the teams, you might be like, all right, well, this is a great opportunity. Let's go. Let's roll our guys out there. I don't know what, maybe in, in gosh, when would they have to

do it though? They would have to, how about the week before the Superbowl week before the Superbowl though? The guys are still there. Get rid of the rid of the dumpster bowl. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that would be. Toilet bowl, yeah. Yeah, the toilet bowl. I love that. That would be awesome. Especially if there was like a quarterback prospect.

I'm trying to think in recent years. That's clearly like better. Trevor Lawrence or something. Yeah, like imagine Trevor Lawrence is up for grabs. These top four teams would kill each other. That's what I'm saying. They would play super hard. Although, if you're hitting free agency,

there's so many problems that can't be solved. If you're hitting free agency, you're like, what am I playing for? I'm not going to play for Trevor Lawrence. You guys are going to keep me. Yeah, right. So maybe they could do a week 18, like change the schedule to have those teams play. I don't know.

Figure it out. Raj, is that all of your questions for Clay's Corner this evening? Yep. Yep. That's that'll wrap up Clay's Corner tonight. I appreciate you for having me on. It was a lot of fun. Of course, as always.

So Thursday night, we'll have another chat for everybody. So questions, comments, thoughts. We will maybe have some news by that. I doubt it about the franchise tag because the deadline is until early March, but maybe, maybe we'll see. So we will talk again on Thursday night. So thank you to intern clay and thank you all for watching slash listening. And, uh, we'll catch y'all later.

Appreciate everybody. Thank you. Football.