Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Aaron Jones says JJ McCarthy is 'different' and 'wants to be great' (Part 2)

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about Aaron Jones's comments on Good Morning Football about JJ McCarthy and discusses some random scenarios that would be shocking if they came up. Plus answering Vikings fan questions and interesting comments from former Viking Garrett Bradbury.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

James says, given Aaron Jones receiving ability and age as well as free agents over 30, do you think that we should draft their replacements or just do you mean just Aaron Jones replacements this year or do you feel like the current depth is sufficient or do you mean? Oh, oh, I'm sorry, the other free agents too. So Aaron Jones and the other free agents, should you draft their replacements? With Aaron Jones, I would say no, because Jordan Mason is pretty young and you can do it any year. Running back is absolutely the position where you can draft and play right away the fastest. It's not even close.

I think second place is maybe safety and then wide receiver, but running back is far and away. The first position when this was looked at a few years ago by PFF, they could step in right away. So you draft one when you need one. You don't wait around or you don't try to draft and develop one. You draft one when you need one. I look at his running back the other positions though.

I mean, yes, of course. I mean, defensive tackle is very high on my list because you have two guys that are essentially on two year contracts who can rotate. And that's the biggest thing is it's not, it doesn't have to be exactly their replacements, but you can rotate. If you draft Walter Nolan or Derek Harmon, you can just play them sometimes. You can play him 450 snaps. Look at Milton Williams and what he brought to the Philadelphia Eagles. A 500 snap guy is not an insult. Like that could be somebody who really helps in key situations as a pass rusher or Kenneth

Grant in run stuffing. But in general, I always like to think a year or two down the road with every position. That's why I mean, safety is a now and later. Malachi, Sarks or Nick, uh, M and war. I could play right now, or they could also take, and they could also take Harrison Smith's job later. And I think they were thinking a couple of years out with even someone like Lewis seen when they attempted that was, well, you bring them in now, but then Harrison Smith might retire. So you're trying to look down the road. I think replacing big needs.

Right away is difficult, but looking at those players at defensive tackle and thinking two years down the road is is a pretty solid plan, especially if you hit on a defensive tackle. Those guys tend to be good for a really long time. They tend to be good for like 10 years if you get a good DT. Junkbuster, love that. I don't know what it means, but initially I like it. Junkbuster said, would you be opposed to a lineman at 24th overall, an offensive lineman?

No, I'm not. The one fear that I have about that is just that when it comes to offensive lineman you have to be a little bit wary because they do not have a great history of playing well in their first year. So I wrote about this actually today about how a guard is a good draft pick. You bring them in, they compete with Blake Brandle. If they don't win the job, that's okay. And maybe they come in mid season or their depth right away. And then it's a long-term option. Or if you get lucky, that guy could be a contributor and he's got good things to his right and left that can help up his play. But just historically speaking, I went back to 2021. I've looked recently at all the interior offensive linemen. As far as guys who played above average, very few played above average. Now, the Viking saw it from Pat Elfline played well right away, and then the injury kind

of ruined his career. But they've seen it in the past a couple of times. But someone like Ed Ingram, the issue with Ed Ingram was they spent a high draft pick on him. They didn't really give him a lot of competition. It was him and Jesse Davis was the guy that he was competing against. I mean, that's like nothing at that point in Jesse Davis's career. And then when the guy wins the job, you got to play him every single play. There's no hiding him There's no rotating him So if you draft Tyler Booker and he wins the job you got to play him every every play and then what becomes hard is

Well, do you bench him if he's struggling is he gonna develop and fight through it? It becomes this whole thing that is a little tricky to figure out if he's not great right away It doesn't mean I'd say completely stay away. They've spent so much money on the offensive line now with O'Neill and Darasaw and fries. You want to have somebody on a rookie contract in there. I've liked the idea of Grey's able, but with the understanding that Grey's able will have to develop.

Steven says Quacey has dipped into the 30 visits during his first three drafts, so it's a key to pay attention to who they are. You know, I don't know. I understand what you're saying, like he's drafted guys who they've had in on visits, but I don't look at that and say, oh, we could figure out what Quacey's thinking. This is obvious. But I do think that bringing in somebody like Ravel is interesting for that position in particular.

So I just I'm always hesitant to say, oh, we've got them figured out because we're not in those meetings. We don't know what they're thinking all the time. Let me get in a quick live read because this show has sponsors, which is really great, and I appreciate it. And then we'll continue with your questions. So I was thinking about, I'm not wearing a hat today, so we're doing okay here, but if you're a hat guy because you're trying to cover up for the hair loss, I did see the other day that receding hairlines are in, I'm not really convinced of that,

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So we'll rapid fire through some of these and Clay's got some questions behind the scenes as well that he's been cooking up. So I'll do my best. Matt says, don't think it's been more than a 5% chance of happening, but might as well bring up a tight end option again. Oliver is a free agent after this year. Munt had 430 snaps. I just, you're not, you can't get me there with a tight end. You just can't. They're available all the time. You could find guys. You've got TJ Hockinson set to make like $20 million on the cap. I mean, it's just not a hard position to replace.

They got Josh Oliver. They had Tyler Conklin as a fifth round development player who worked out. They have so many other positions that make so much more sense that I just don't see any reason to discuss the tight end position unless we're talking about fifth round tight ends. And even then, I mean, when you have tight end one all set, there's really no reason to dig into that unless you are ready for that guy to go. And to me, Oliver is somebody that you can replace easily in free agency at a very reasonable price. Junkbuster says, Melikai, Starks will be gone before our pick. You know, that's the thing, Junkbuster, is that everybody around these times, they always think that they know exactly how it's going to play out. You always know, right?

Because you look at enough mock drafts and all those things, and you think, well, and this is a, Stephen brings this up as well about Grey's Able, about Paul Allen thinking that Grey's Able will be gone by the Vikings pick. Look, did any of you have Dallas Turner being a guy who would drop in the draft? The answer is absolutely not. Every mock drafter had him locked it. Look, if we know how this was going to play out, if we knew exactly how this was going to play out, then why would we do it? Right? I mean, we, I mean, if the mock drafters all knew it wouldn't be any fun, it wouldn't be, you wouldn't have to watch, you would just know. Uh, Aaron says is Chauder Sanders like a low, a slower Justin Fields, very way slower. I don't think he's got the arm of Justin Fields. I think Justin Fields was an amazing prospect. He just got put on

one of the worst teams with horrible coaching and then never figured out how to see the field, which is something that's hard to separate because Sam Darnold also never saw the field until he did with Kevin O'Connell and with Justin Jefferson. I don't think that Justin Fields is ever gonna be a great quarterback, but I think under the right circumstances, he could have been good with his physical traits.

I think his physical traits are way better than Chider Sanders. I don't even think it's anywhere close. I don't think it's just slower. I think this guy doesn't throw the ball anywhere near as hard as Justin Fields, but he might be more accurate, might be more of a true pocket quarterback,

but Fields, you know, he played from the pocket in college. Yeah, I don't know. So. Rob says James Pierce looks to be falling because of off-field stuff. Could he be a quasi-bargain? I think what Kevin O'Connell said at the owners meetings was accurate in talking about the guy has to have a clear path to the field.

Now maybe James Pierce would, and I've actually been thinking about this. I wanted to bring this up because Jahad Campbell is somebody that I saw some, who knows, random Twitter account like I know who everyone's going to draft. Sure you do, pal. Putting it out there. But why not talk about it anyway? Because it's draft season and the credibility of, I won't say it, but random accounts, who knows? Right? But Jahad Campbell is a guy that actually is kind of interesting for a Brian Flores because we've kind of locked in and this doesn't address James Pierce. I think he's so much of a true edge that I don't know if you could really do that with

Dallas Turner there as well and Andrew Van Ginkle and Jonathan Grenard. You're not really rotating those guys too much, but Jahad Campbell. I like Ivan Pace Jr. As much as the next guy. I really like Ivan pace jr. But if you took a jihad Campbell and paired him as a pass rusher slash Cover guy can do it all with Blake Cashman That's the one guy that we've never talked about and have never talked about who you can actually make a pretty good argument for because He's more of a true linebacker and not an edge, but he can also blitz really effectively that I might say I should include maybe in just my 30 guys that I think

the Vikings could draft because if he were to drop, I don't think he's going to drop. But if he were to drop, maybe they would just have to take them and figure it out because pace is good. He is good. But is he good enough to pass on that level of talent? Probably not. Let's see.

King Cleaver says, I know this is not the topic, but I think we should trade Addison and Hawkinson. I mean, that's great that you think that, but you're not happy. I mean, it's not happening. Why would you do that and get a second and a fourth? I mean, are you just doing mock drafts all day because I would not trade a thousand yard receiver Who is on his rookie contract and a pro bowl tight end? I Just would not do that. That does not seem like a good idea. That means it's been too long of an offseason for you

That's really what's going on there. You've been doing those drafts and you're getting ticked off because you're bored. You want more draft picks. I think when you have good players, you should just not get rid of them. That's what I would do. It's a crazy take, but that's what I do. Rob says, has anyone heard anything about Jack Jones? Seems to have gone quiet. Yeah, he was released and I imagine some teams are looking at him. There definitely are some off field issues there with Jack Jones seems to have gone quiet. Yeah, he was released and I imagine some teams are looking at him. There definitely are some off field issues there with Jack Jones. I know the Vikings may have been interested. I think that there was a report that they put in and what is it a when he was on waivers they put in for him and they didn't get him because the Raiders were

ahead of the Vikings at the time. So he might be somebody they look at but once again we're at that point where you don't want to sign anybody that could mess up your comp pick strategy and that's why we're seeing absolutely no moves because why would you do it today when you could do it May 1st and then you don't have to potentially pay and And if there's a bunch of offers for Jack Jones, the other thing is too, teams want to see who they draft. They don't know today who they're drafting for. I mean, five teams probably do, but aside from that, like we don't know. So you might not want to draft or you might not want to pick up Jack Jones

if you're going to draft a corner. So you got to wait. And that's why there's just no movement on these free agents. But then that may be part of it that you're going to draft a corner. So you got to wait and that's why there's just no movement on these free agents, but then that may be part of it that nobody was going to claim him with his current contract and they just decided we'll all just wait, but I don't know how interested I am in Jones. I mean, he looks like he's a pretty dynamic player who could be a Brian Flores special if he wants him, but he really did not play well last year for the Raiders.

Bradley, if we were to move back in the draft and get maybe two more picks, do you see a scenario of drafting a quarterback later or a linebacker before the third round? Well, definitely. I just don't see any point to drafting quarterback. Drafting a quarterback is to me taking a draft pick and lighting it on fire. I know everybody loves quarterbacks and they love when they're drafted because we've all seen them and have opinions on them and everybody loves quarterback. And you could always say,

well, you can never have too many quarterbacks. And I guess that's true. But in this case, what's the point? If you draft a Will Howard, like, what are you doing with him? He's just gonna sit there for three years. And I mean, you want a veteran backup for JJ McCarthy. You don't want this. He's going to be behind Joe Flacco. What are you doing? Uh, even if they got extra picks, but to your

point about linebacker, yeah, I, I mean, when you look at the backup linebacker situation or into the future, I mean, it's Eric Wilson, but you need guys who can rotate into that position or just fill in type of players. I don't see it as the highest priority, but once you get past like round three, I still probably wouldn't do it in round three, unless there's somebody that they think could be a real game changer for them and can actually win the job over Ivan pace. But I've been based has been pretty good. It would have to be like a Jahad Campbell that's an absolute freak and you're like, okay, well figure it out. Just get enough talent. But if it's in the third round, I still think you need to go

need or need adjacent need ish. One of those positions that you don't have already kind of clearly filled and the guy can't get on the field. Taylor says, the only question for JJ at this point to me is how is he physically if he's 100% let's roll with JJ? Well, yeah, I mean, they are rolling with JJ and it's clear that he must be physically ready enough for them to go with him. Otherwise they would have signed Aaron Rodgers, I guess, cause Aaron Rodgers really wanted to sign with them.

The question about JJ McCarthy is what's he gonna look like when he really plays football? I mean, there's no question about his work ethic. There's no question about can he lead a football team? Is he a winner? Has he got the right stuff? Does he care enough about football? I mean, we found all that out last year.

Can he learn? Can he develop? Can he be on the same page with Kevin O'Connell? We learned all that stuff last year How does he look when he gets in a real football game moving real speed and he's got to throw accurately That's the biggest part for me because you could throw accurately in practice when you're working your way through it but can you throw accurately when the the it's really going at the real speed and can you make the decisions quick enough I think he can over a long period of time but he hasn't played a lot of football so those are the

biggest questions for me Caleb said with the Vikings going edge outside linebacker be shocking let's say Mike Green Michael Williams Shemar Stewart Falls and they're at the top of the Vikings big board. Yeah. I mean, I think it would be pretty shocking. I haven't looked a lot at edge because you have such a big investment in Dallas Turner. They believe in Dallas Turner and not only that, but, uh, they have two other guys that are under contract. We could see them potentially extend Andrew Van Ginkle. Granard's gonna be here for a long time.

How does that guy get on the field? And we saw it even from last year, how hard it was for Dallas Turner to get on the field. If yes, if it's somebody that they are just totally enamored with, same as the James Pierce thing, they are totally enamored. This guy is so much better than any other prospect. We gotta get him. I guess I could see it, but I think what O'Connell said at the owner's meetings was the truth.

It has to be at a position where the guy is going to be able to get on the field. But, you know, if they're planning on, if they don't like what they saw with Turner and they're planning on Van Ginkle leaving, then that would certainly tell us a lot. All right. Let me speed run through a few more of these. Yes, Taylor came in late. I am in my in-laws back then is where I am at the moment. So, that's why I'm looking more studious like I read lots of books on cars.

My father-in-law reads a lot of books on cars, not me. Oh, Julian Blackman and Jordan Whitehead are both out there, so yeah, if they don't draft a safety, then that would make a lot of sense. Brett says, as much as I wouldn't love a safety, Emmanuari's athleticism is so rare that elites level rarely burst it for a defensive back. Yeah. So you're right about M and war and sorry. M and war. A is the rare athletic traits to me with Brian Flores are interesting. And I just think that Brian Flores in particular with a safety, that is more valuable than it would be with another team. If this was another team that just played

at safeties really deep and kind of hung out back there and the front seven was the key, okay, but the Viking safeties, they get to the line of scrimmage. They blitz, Emenwari blitzing seems pretty good to me and they're dropping back. They're moving forward. He played a lot in the box in college. So that kind of freak athlete, I think is it's intriguing. And I know Steven said he doesn't think I'm a worry has football IQ. Well, I mean, come on, man. I don't know how, I don't know how any of us can know that. I mean, I've I've read differing opinions

on what his instincts are and what you could see on tape, but I don't think that any of us can know someone's football IQ by sitting out here. If Brian Flores drafts him, then I think we know he's got pretty high IQ because Flores is not going to draft somebody who doesn't. John says, this conversation makes it evident why you don't spend draft picks recklessly. My only knock on Quacey. I'm not sure what you mean by recklessly. Like which picks were reckless. I don't know if they've had any, I don't know if they've had reckless picks. I'm not sure what that would even be. Would that be like the kicker or maybe maybe the Jaren Hall thing?

I don't know. It was really in twenty twenty two. They drafted positions that I didn't love for them to draft, but I'm not sure if there was one where I went, oh, my gosh, they're going crazy. I would think more crazy would be if you were trading up a lot. Or maybe you think maybe you think the Turner thing was reckless. Maybe you think that was reckless. I guess we're going to find out whether that is or not.

King Dickham says, if Harmon is there, that should be our guy. I would be happy with a surprise pick a wide receiver, a tight end. I don't know why Titan keeps coming up, a wide receiver. You could pick a wide receiver or tight end. I don't know why tight end keeps coming up, but wide receiver. You could use a wide receiver because you said, King Dickham added, we don't need those positions. Wide receiver is one that I always think that you need. I just always, I mean, unless a team has three top notch guys, I always think you need them.

Because they're very expensive, they're very hard to find, they barely ever hit free agency, and the only times you can acquire them are when they're old or mad. So if you take one, it's good value, and you can always fit them in. I've brought this up, but KJ Osborne had 90 targets in 2022.

It's an important position. Sean says, of any of the recent draft busts the Vikings have had in recent years, which prospect was the one you were most surprised didn't work out? That's a good question. Which one is the biggest surprise? Well, the way, I guess I would say the way

that Lewis Seen didn't work out was maybe the biggest surprise overall because it was, did not work out in mind blowing fashion of never ever getting on the field. Now I'm going to have to pull up, I'm going to have to pull up the draft picks and see which one I was most surprised by. I was a little surprised by Laquan Treadwell because I thought he was pretty awesome in college but I had not done like a lot of research there. I was most surprised by. I was a little surprised by Laquan Treadwell because I thought he was pretty awesome in college, but I had not done like a lot of research there.

Oh, I'll get, okay, I know. I know the guy. I know the guy. I'll give you the one that I gave an A plus to on draft night. That's right. This draft grader right here, A plus, not just A, A plus to a guard, because I was even back then very exhausted by the guard position, that would be Wyatt Davis. Yep, good

college player at Ohio State. I was like, man, great pick. Well done, Vikings. Wyatt Davis, let's go. I don't know, didn't seem to love football, I think was the issue. Came in out of shape, was running gassers after training camp practice, and then I was like, okay, well, that was a very bad draft grade by me. Steven says, would Rondale Moore fit for the speedy, shifty underneath guy if Rondale more makes the team, those guys are swings, take it swings at those guys.

And it's not always a guarantee that they work. I mean, you're talking about a one year small contract. If he is healthy and if he makes the team and it works out, then it does have like a high ceiling of him being that guy. Yes. Uh, Mike, no, we did not talk yet about the Garrett Bradbury comments. I'm sure that intern Clay is frustrated with all of you having great questions because usually I get to the bottom of the scroll screen faster, and that's where we go to the bullpen. JP says, would love Quacey went full Howie Roseman and focused on the trenches. Alan and Javon Hargrave are old,

and if Harman and Nolan are there at 24, we should take them. A safety can be taken later. I do think a safety can be taken later, and the history of the development is is really good with safeties. The only thing is that Melikai Starks and Nick Emunwari are a little bit different when it comes to their talent. I mean think about like who's who's the guy that we are talking about potentially making the Hall of Fame and where was he drafted? That's Harrison Smith. You're looking for a stalwart guy for 10 years

if you draft him in the first round at safety. In the third round, you're hoping he could play. Can he play? Can he be a starter? Your upside of a third round safety is he might be pretty good. Is it he could change a franchise like Harrison Smith? Probably not. Asa, a friend of the show, what's up Asa?

Says, can we talk about how the Falcons were right in drafting Michael Penick's last season? Imagine how difficult the spot they'd be in right now. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I said it on draft night. After I got done laughing, I probably, truly, I kind of lost it there on draft night because it just hit me so crazy

that Kirk Cousins could be like, it's about what the money represents and all that sort of thing and everything else. And then they just stab him in the back right away by drafting Pennex or they put his Achilles into an MRI machine or they met with Michael Pennex who I heard was incredibly impressive even for the Vikings. But yes, they were 100% right and anybody who didn't see it then was kind of reacting to how crazy it was because what are they doing? What are they doing? You're drafting a quarterback for the future because the guy that you have is extremely old and remember it was much more of a two-year contract for Kirk Cousins rather than it was four,

but he got all of his guaranteed money within two. Hence why he has all of his guaranteed money now settled in at this point. So it's more a two, three-ish type of deal. I mean, if you're drafting and developing a quarterback down the road who your franchise loves enough to rub Kirk's face in it right after signing him, that means you really love him because you know you're going to get assaulted on the internet after

that. Let's see. Oh, Jack Jones wouldn't count against the comp pick. Okay. That's right. He got released. My bad. But Jones has some off field issues and he didn't play well recently, so I don't know. I do think though, same thing still applies though, maybe not the comp pick formula, but just teams are waiting to see who they draft before they're signing anyone else. That's what might be why we're not seeing anybody sign. They want to see what their rosters look like after the draft. So all right, well, if I don't get, uh, intern, yeah, Wyatt Davis, yeah, a lot of, a lot of people, you guys were on the same page with Wyatt Davis,

100%. All of us thought it was a great draft pick and it was not. Oh, snack loves the background. Yeah. Well, uh, shout out to my father-in-law here. He's got all these books. Maybe I need, maybe I need to be one of those guys. Okay. I don't have as long for intern Clay as I usually have. We're going to be a little shorter here. And I apologize to you, Clay. Blame all these Vikings fans who, on April 10th, just want to talk ball, my man. So that's why you're here. That's why we can afford to have interns on the show, because there are so many very loyal listeners and we appreciate you all. But intern Clay at the University of Pennsylvania presently, what do you got for us today?

Garrett Bradbury had some interesting things to say. So let's get involved with Clay's corner here. How are we doing, man? I'm good. And I can never hate on the chat for having good questions and actively participating. So no complaints here So no complaints here. No complaints here. But anyway, back to Brad Berry. He did speak with the media and he discussed his

recent move to the Patriots. And I just wanted to read some quotes and get your reaction to it. He started by saying, there's no ill will. I'm not bitter towards the Vikings. It's more about, all right, I get to reinvent myself. I get to reprove myself. He then said, so not even a wake up call, but it's just new. It's exciting. It's a fresh start, new opportunity. What are your thoughts about this? So I think with Garrett Bradbury, he is a very smart guy and he's a very reflective guy and thoughtful and a great talker and I interviewed him probably 50 times during my time when he was here in Minnesota. And so I know that he is somebody that will look himself in the mirror with something like this as he did when he was once benched by the Vikings for Mason Cole in two thousand and twenty one, where he came out and talked with us and he was

very honest and said that he had to look himself in the mirror and he had to try to figure out what it was that happened to go wrong for him to end up being benched. And I think he's probably dealing with the same thing here. But it's also I think athletes have to tell them lies, themselves lies sometimes. And you would know this better than me as a division one football player. But I think that if you are Garrett Bradbury and you just say, man, I guess I can't pass blocks. So that's why they moved on from me. That's not going to help your confidence any.

I think what you have to do is say, all right, back square one. What was it that got me traded? And I got to get better. And if you don't have a growth mindset as a player, you're probably going to be a failure. I also think with Garrett Bradbury, I'll always go back to this. They drafted him out of desperation for need. And this is why we're talking about when you guys bring up edge rushers like, well, maybe because they're not in a spot where they have to desperately draft the position.

I think that's one that's kind of buried. But even if it was a linebacker to put next to, uh, Blake Cashman, like, okay. Uh, because you are in a position to not have to draft for need. Bradbury was a massive reach that was drafted on need. And then when you're a first round draft pick, you're going to get thrown in there and best of luck to you. But they're also going to give you a hundred chances. They're not usually going to bench you or move on from you. They're going to give you consistent tries. I mean, even Kadaria's Tony, somebody's going to have

him like the worst first round draft pick stills. Lewis scene is still in the league. Like that's the point. Like these first round picks just always get many chances where I will apologize for Garrett Bradbury is that his first year in the system in 22, he was pretty good with Kevin O'Connell. And I think he showed at times that he was a quality starting center. But with what they're looking for right now, which is deep drop backs, long developing routes, he's just not a fit. He might actually be a fine fit in New England.

What they asked from him last year, though, was just you're not going to get great production from a guy that size trying to go up against the defensive tackles that they were facing off. I mean, what was his grade against Jeffrey Simmons? Like probably a zero and to Vandrey. I mean, they just he was not physically big enough and there's really nothing to reflect on other than why did my team only spend money on a guard

when I left? If I was him, that's what I would be really mad about is, oh, now you got Will Fries? After years of forcing him to try to teach former tackles who were picked in the sixth round, how to play guard. I think he could have been a lot better had he been given support. That's what I think of Garrett Bradbury. And, uh, I wish him the best in New England, but you know, nothing that he said

would, would sit with me the wrong way. I don't think that he didn't try to get better or didn't reflect on his play when he was in Minnesota. Yeah, you definitely know a lot more about Garrett Bradbury than I do. But from like an outsider's perspective, I think he has the right mindset. It's I it's definitely a hard time for him, like going through this process. But it's hard being just a spectator because he's been in the league for six years now. He's about to turn 30 and

Have like having to reinvent yourself mindset is kind of hard to do when you're at that point in your career But he's been a solid guard he or center and will hopefully he continues to Do that in New England? For my next segment. I wanted to kind of go through rapid fire style on some projections for the draft. I matched up some prospects that played the same position and I just want to tell you or I want you to tell me who will have a better career and why. Okay, sounds good. Fire it up. All right. First one, I have Ted McMillan and Luther Borden. Oh, so both of these guys kind of have something,

rumblings about them. Did Luther Borden care enough last year? And with Tett McMillan, he was wise enough to tell people that he doesn't watch film, which didn't really seem like what I would have suggested him tell people. I am going to go Luther Borden because I think that the six foot five,

I'm gonna be a pure outside wide receiver, is just a tough place to be in the NFL today. I think he's got great ability to go up and get it, but he also had a high number of drops, which concerns me if you drop the ball in college, guess what, it's harder to catch it in the NFL. I don't know if anybody saw it, but there was a video of Matthew Stafford throwing the ball to Bryson to Shambo and it just bounced off of the ball is coming fast in the NFL and the competition is extremely, extremely good. I think that burden is much

more of a guy that even if he's not the most polished, you could just get him the football and he's going to make plays, which I think has a much higher chance of at least being okay in the NFL. So I would go burden. How about you, Mr. A wide receiver expert? Yeah, I think the way NFL offenses operate today, I think it's definitely benefits burden. Uh, we see like Amon Ra, JSA, Lad McHarky, all these guys are having success inside. And I think Burden can be a plug and play guy for multiple teams and kind of continue that trend. And T-Mac, like I think he has Mike Evans potential maybe,

depending on how much film he watches. But those bigger tall guys like Nico Collins and T Higgins, they're elite at that height because they have that second gear that they could kick into. And I'm not sure T Mac has that, but yeah, I'm going over. I think the same thing. I just, when I hear, well, he's got the contested catch stuff, I think, I don't know, that's a hard place to live in the NFL. And Mike Evans was an all time freak, I think, at that size that we maybe don't even give enough credit to him for that. Who's next on your list? Yep. So the next I got Walter Nolan or Kenneth Grant. I think, oh, that's a hard one. I

think I'd rather have Kenneth Grant. I think he's a better prospect and the potential and the upside of him getting after the quarterback is much higher than maybe it's being projected as because he doesn't have huge sack numbers in college. And look, I believe in production going over, but his pressure production is pretty good for somebody to play next to Mason Graham, who I imagine ate up a lot of the pressures there. I just see a freaky dude with his movement. That intrigues me more than Walter Nolan, who is very strong and didn't get after the passer maybe quite as much as you would have liked to him to do for the raw skills that he has.

So I would go with the dancing bear, Kenneth Grant. Yeah, I honestly like both of these guys and Grant, he's massive and he also like can bring that pressure to the quarterback. So it's hard to even give Nolan a fair shake but Nolan is just so explosive. Seeing a D tackle get off the ball the way he does is super impressive and I haven't seen anything like that in a while and yes he's raw but if he can tighten it up and really figure it out I think he could really get to the quarterback at the next level and that that's kind of where the NFL is headed they they

want D tacos who could get after the quarterback and if he could do it in a blink of an eye uh I like that so I'll take the chance with Nolan but I I'm a fan of both of these guys. I go back and forth on this because I totally agree with DT's getting after the quarterback as being the most valuable, but I'm also thinking, well, a lot of the discussion was how the NFL was running more last year and is playing more deep zones and things like that. If you have a guy who can completely stuff the middle

and then also have the potential to be at least somewhat of an impact. Sid's close personal friend says Grant has no burst. I don't agree with that. I think he I think he does. I think he's got surprising quickness for somebody who is 330. Maybe he doesn't have any burst compared to Walter Nolan, who's, you know, 30 pounds lighter than him. But I think that you don't get mocked this high unless you have some of that.

So yeah, it's a, I think it's an interesting debate between those two and their playing styles. If I thought Grant had no ability to get after the passer, then I would say, of course, cause that's Tylek Williams. Tylek Williams has no chance of getting sacks. I'm not taking him in the first round, But with Grant, I do think he's different. Yep. And for the next one, I have Tyler Warren or Colston

Loveland. I would take Tyler Warren because he's more versatile. But I'm going to tell you the truth about Colston Loveland. Have not seen him, have not watched him. I just don't if he was standing in this room, I wouldn't know who he was because I haven't looked at tight ends at all for reasons that I mentioned earlier. I mean, they've got Hawkinson locked in. I did see Warren play quite. He's hard to miss.

If you watch a single Penn State game, you've OK. You saw Warren play over the field. I think Warren's more fun. So I'll go with that. I will go Warren because I think he's really fun. Yep. I like that choice. Um, I think both are super unique because they aren't traditional tight ends. Loveland is basically just a big receiver and Warren can really play anywhere. So I think Loveland has a potential to be a good power slot option But I'm not sold on his physicality and his ability to really get be a inline tie down and really block and have a Positive impact doing that so I'm not sure I and when I look at Warren

He's just the definition of a football player. So I want that dude on my team. So I'm picking Warren Now that's some that's some draft analysts football player. So I want that dude on my team. So I'm picking Warren. Now that's some that's some draft analysts, inter intern draft analyst Clay right there. Definition of a football player. Beautiful. I like it. But they do move them all over the place. Yeah. He reminds me. I know Taysom Hill isn't the best football player, but he reminds me of a vert, like a variant of that Hill was like major quarterback, but could do everything else. hill was like major quarterback But could do everything else and the warrants like can do everything else and can line up a quarterback to Run around a bit. So he's He's super fun at first when I when I first watched him

I just thought he was a fun player to watch but then I saw all the mock Travis and he's a potential top ten guy and All this stuff. So it'll be interesting to see how his career turns out. I think for for my next one, though, I have two guards. I'm going Tyler Booker and Gray's able. How could I have not seen Loveland catching balls from? OK, I I did. I have seen him, but I haven't looked at him in any way of. Studying him, you know what I mean?

Like, yeah, I saw him catching the football, but I don't know. Like if it was any other if you told me that the tight end was a fourth round draft pick, it was catching the ball. I don't know. Like, OK, I was not looking that closely. But anyway, not not the point. Wait, who we got now? Tyler Booker or great Gray's able. Well, this one's hard because I like Zable a little bit better

because I think that Zable is a really excellent athlete and that he has such a nasty element to his game that I think he fits well with a team that is going to mix in zone running. When you have two running backs whose entire history is in zone systems, then you're going to do that. And I think Zable is a little better fit for that than Booker. But I feel like with all these interior linemen, there's just a lot of debate with it. Like

is Booker not athletic enough or does that not really matter as much as people say? And Booker has talked about as being super high IQ, like special makeup and personality and that kind of thing. Do I go back and forth? I mean, I might take Zabel just because the history of guys with Zabel's athletic profile is just much better than the history of guys who are below 60th percentile and like the relative athletic score and things like that. So it'd be kind of a math thing for me, but it, if they like Booker

better than Zable, I wouldn't criticize them for it. I think I would just go Zable. Yeah. I liked Zable too. And it's like you said, his versatility that he offers being able to play multiple positions is just really unique with his agility and his athleticism. So I think he'll really stand out and Booker's is even past the draft numbers, just watching him play. He just looks so slow and stiff.

Like, yeah, he's massive, but I don't know. In certain offices, he's going to be asked to do a lot of different schemes and complete a lot of different tasks. I don't know if he's going to be able to handle a lot of different schemes and complete a lot of different tasks. I don't know if he's going to be able to handle all of that like Zabel will. So, so my concern with Tyler Booker, exactly what you said when I listened to Mike Tice on Nate Tice's show and Mike Tice, if you don't know Clay, because you were very young when this happened, was the head coach of the Vikings offensive line, former tight end. So he knows his stuff and he was on Nate Tyson show and he said he just doesn't see the quick explosiveness element

which he thinks that you need in today's game and I agree with that I think that with someone like Booker slow in any way is just not playing these days when we're talking about Walter Nolan we're talking about Derek Harmon and Mason Graham all these guys who are lightning quick on the interior that's what concerns me about that is if you're not fast enough you're gonna have a pretty tough time in there and that's been the case for like a Laken Tomlinson and players like that yeah they're huge but guys could get by them and the number one concern I have about Booker is that by PFF run blocking grade didn't grade that well.

It was like a 65 and that is what would concern me because I think years ago, PFF found that correlation between success was actually higher with run blocking than it was pass blocking for college offensive linemen. And I guess you could see that because it's more of a display of their peer skills. You're often pass blocking for spread systems with screens and quarterback runs and stuff like that, or bootlegs, RPOs.

Whereas running, it's like you versus the other guy. So it's a better representation. So yeah, I think that I would go is able there. Yeah I agree. So for my next one I have Will Johnson or a Joday Baron. I would go Baron and the reason is because and I saw Will Johnson get a pick six against the bike or not the Vikings the Gophers. Who was it that threw the pick six? One of their quarterbacks. It wasn't Brosmer, whoever it was before, threw a pick six and Will Johnson took it to the house was like, Whoa, OK, that's that guy.

Look at him. But when I hear that Will Johnson's had the injury stuff and then some people are not sure if he gave 110 because he knew he was going to be a high draft pick. That's not what I see from John a Baron. I also think that the positional flexibility is enormous. And that would be very important to me is the fact that they can that he could be inside or outside and you're going to play

for Brian Flores. So that's I think that's important. Yeah, I like Will Johnson size and he could potentially be better on the outside than Baron, but I like Baron too. When you cut the film on, he's just, you could tell he's a dog. He just plays with a different level of speed

and intensity and his positional versatility is really unique. And as Nichols become more and more important in the league, I think Baron will be able to step into that role and kind of be like a Devon Witherspoon in Seattle. Okay, give me one more and then I have to go to dinner. And I'm sorry that Vikings fans asked too many great questions, but on Monday night, you and I will be back. I promise more space for you, Clay. On Monday night. We're under unique circumstances here in the back den of my in-laws' house. It's all good. The fans make the show and they help run it.

So I'm all for that. My last one was Cam Ward or Chidur Sanders. I would have to go Cam Ward. But the one thing about a Chidur Sanders that I might throw out there is when you get drafted by the Titans, I just wish you the best of luck. May God be with you because that is one of the worst, most atrocious, pathetic franchises that exists in pro sports.

And if Chauder Sanders were to get drafted by a good team that could put some stuff around him, then I would go Chaudhur Sanders. I mean, I'm going to go with the person who gets the better circumstance around them 100% of the time versus somebody who has a much worse, unless it's a clear, wide, wide gap. But if we're talking about two first round picks, if that's what Sanders is, then I would go with the circumstances. So I would have to know where should or goes as a pure prospect. I don't think it's that close. I think the cam ward is probably much more physically gifted, which is ultimately what's going to give you the best chance to be a good player.

Yeah. So it might be boring or the safe route to go, but it's, it's so hard to predict quarterbacks in the NFL and I like him words talent better, but unless predict quarterbacks in the NFL. And I like Ken Ward's talent better, but unless these quarterbacks are really special, which I'm not sure if either of these guys are, their success lies more in the coaching and the team around them. So I'm on board with you.

It's kind of just where they go and the culture they end up with and who takes advantage of it more. Okay, the family is texting me, we have time to go, so I got to scoot here. But this was great, this worked out really well. Thank you, Clay, for your contribution. Again, I promise, Monday night we'll get some more of Clay's Corner in,

but I appreciate you taking the time a little bit earlier today than usual. So we'll see you on Monday night. Thank you and to everybody who watched and tuned in as questions. I really appreciate you. This was a really fun conversation. So thanks for doing it everybody and we will talk again very soon. Football.