Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Addison's charges dropped; which team will Vikings fans not want to see win?

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

Matthew Coller reacts to Jordan Addison's charges being dropped and what that signals for the Vikings receiver, as well as the latest in Brian Flores and the team's defensive coordinator job. Then, Coller answers a variety of your Vikings/football questions. Finally, to close the show, Maggie Robinson joins for our weekly edition of the Robinson Roundup reacting to all the latest news from across the league. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider presented by Fanduil. Matthew Collar here back in the home studio just in time for 20 below zero weather here in Minnesota. So I've got a lot of time to sit in front of the computer and answer all of your fan questions and break down everything from the news cycle in the NFL and lead up to these games this weekend. So we'll start with the biggest news in Vikings. land and then I'll get to those questions. I was hoping for maybe five or 10 on Twitter when I put it out there and got about 50. So clearly you guys have a lot of things on your mind. And I will try my best to work through all of those, but maybe be patient if you sent me one and you're waiting

for an answer there. But we have to begin the show with the latest on Jordan Addison's situation. So if you recall, about two weeks ago, Addison was arrested at a casino in Florida for charges of trespassing, and today those charges were dropped and the case will not go forward. And I will read you the statement from Jordan Addison's attorney. He says, quote, as Mr. Addison's agent has advised from the very outset of this incident and arrest, Mr. Addison committed no legal wrongdoing. We are thrilled that the truth was finally revealed and this poor man's name was not besmirched any longer. I am thankful that we are able to bring this to light as quickly as possible.

So when this incident took place, it was my assumption that Jordan Addison was not going to be sent off to Siberia, or they weren't going to throw him into jail and toss away the key, right? That when we're talking about an alleged incident such as this one, a very minor crime, even if the charges were not dropped. You're not talking about something that the state would want to fight until the ends of the earth over something like this. And as we always said, there's innocent until proven guilty in America, and we always need to keep that in mind when it comes to something like this.

However, I will say when it comes to Jordan Addison that there is also a common sense element of this, that your past does dictate how things like this are viewed. And when we're talking about someone who was pulled over for going 140 miles an hour, when we're talking about someone who was cited for DUI and ultimately suspended by the National Football League for three games and someone who overseas was suspended by his team for albeit only a quarter, still a quarter by his head. head coach, you have lost at that point the benefit of the doubt for any of us to sit here and say, well, hey, I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding.

And as he referred to him, the poor man, Jordan Addison should just move on. And there's nothing to see here. Now, in this particular incident, it's very possible that there's nothing to see here. As look, casinos have little things like this happen probably every hour of every single day. But when we're talking about someone who the Minnesota Vikings have to make a very, very big decision on with a fifth year option, when they have to make a very, very big financial investment if they want to keep him long term in the form of a contract extension, which they can start looking into and negotiating this summer if they want to, the same way that they did with Justin Jefferson after his third season or Christian Derisaw. signing him after his third season, they could do that if they want. But when you have another headline regarding this player that includes the word arrested, well, it seems like it was not exactly the crime of the century.

He wasn't escaping Elcatraz here, nor will he be sent there on charges of trespassing at a casino. There are still red flags involved with the fact that this ever, became a thing. And you could say that's not fair to Jordan Addison because the charges were dropped and he's not going to, you know, have any further legal action against him. But what I would say back is when we look at the history and we look at the investment and we look at all the things that are in front of Jordan Addison that his off-field behavior has to be in consideration when they're making those decisions because I think all of us would say that Jordan Addison as a football player,

though he did not have a good season this year, has shown first two seasons, 19 touchdowns, around, you know, 900 plus yards each of his first two seasons, that this is a guy as a football player that you would absolutely want paired with Justin Jefferson. And everything that I've ever heard about inside the building, everything I've seen personally at practice for how Jordan Addison goes out and competes, is all boxes checked for someone who is a top number two wide receiver in the NFL. But because of this incident and other ones before, you are going to be saying as the Minnesota Vikings, every single day of every single offseason, what is Jordan Addison doing right now? And am I going to get a phone call at 4 o'clock in the morning,

which, look, I mean, I'm a night owl myself. I don't spend a ton of time outside of the house. I'm usually working on you guys podcasts and things like that. But, I mean, there's sayings about this, right? Like, under certain circumstances, you have a much better chance of having trouble find you. And four o'clock in the morning in a casino is probably along the lines of that, right? And the same goes for four o'clock in the morning,

driving your car at a certain miles per hour that's about twice as fast as my Honda Civic is ever capable of going or falling asleep at the wheel and getting charged with DUI. I mean, all of these things have to go into the decision for the Vikings. And it remains difficult to figure out to me how they can fully trust in the maturation of Jordan Addison away from TCO Performance Center. Now, they may decide, look, hey, we can put something into a contract. Now, that doesn't work for a fifth year option, that off-field stuff may void the deal. And they could maybe leak it out there, like with Kyler Murray and watching film or, you know,

tell people that he plays too many video games or something. But, you know, this is, that is a possibility that you can try to put things into a contract to protect yourself from a player having things happen. off the field. But I also would still, regardless of the outcome here and regardless of the besmirching, and we don't try to besmirch people on the show. We really don't. But we also live in the real world and use common sense and think about if I am the

Wilf ownership or I am Kevin O'Connell, how much something like this, even if the ultimate outcome is no charges, does put a black eye on. O'Connell is a leader on the Minnesota Vikings organization. Again, this is not the end of the world. This is not the crime of the century or anything like that. But it's just another sort of drop in the bucket of can you really truly trust Jordan Addison away from the field. So I don't think that that changes based on the ultimate result.

But what does change is the possibility of a suspension rooting from this. because the charges were dropped, because they were dropped so quickly, I would not expect any type of suspension from the National Football League. Now, once upon a time when Roger was getting real into being the warden, then any type of arrest was a bad look for the shield. And you might see, I don't know, one game suspension or something like that. But because there were back in the day, there were years ago, times where charges were dropped and guys still got suspended.

I don't think that that is going to happen in this case. So I wouldn't expect that Jordan Addison will miss any games rooting from this. But if anything, this is another flashing light of warning to the Vikings about Addison and his future. And I think for him, all right, nothing happened here according to the law. But there's a long off season to go. and if anything further out at 4 a.m. at casinos or on the roads at 4 a.m. or whatever it may be happens, then this still is in the memory bank of another time that TMZ is putting out, you know, that you got arrested and so forth. So again, it didn't seem like it was a massive thing.

But when you add it with the other things and the suspension from last. year, the concern level should still remain very high after this. Again, not to besmirch, but to think in a common sense type of way about how you would view this from the Vikings organization. When it comes to questions about getting rid of Addison and signing Jaylon Naylor, I have always said if they decided to do that because they truly felt like we can't trust him, then I would understand it and I would support it because they would know. even better about whether, you know, they feel like they can actually trust him.

And I think Jalen Naylor is an excellent wide receiver. From a business perspective, that is not the ideal thing. Because this year, Jordan Addison is going to make about $4 million on the salary cap. And you would have to sign Naylor to a contract probably in the $12 to $15 million per year range. So that's not impossible. But it's also not ideal when you would much prefer that Jordan Adler. stay on your football team, get on the straight and narrow, and go forward.

So you can say that this incident they can move on from. And my expectation is that they will and that they will say, look, nothing really happened. The charges were dropped and we're going to go forward with Jordan Addison. But they also have time to figure out, again, there's a lot of time left in the off season, figure out what they want to do here. I think at this moment, they cannot sign him to a long-term extension. And the fifth-year option remains very much still up in the air with Addison. The fifth-year option is usually something that teams pick up anyway because it's $17 million,

but, you know, that might be a deal in comparison to wide receiver twos. So if it happens, I think it'll tell us everything about how they feel. But I would be a little bit surprised if this. completely changed the Vikings feeling on where they were going with Jordan Addison. There was already, I'm sure, significant concerns based on what had happened in the recent past about locking him up to a long-term deal. So I think if he is going to get there, there's going to have to be, you know, a long, long sample of no times where TMZ comes out with a mugshot.

And if that's the case, then we could say that he's matured, he's grown. and he's gotten over this. But with something like this, still even popping up at all on the radar, you have to, as the organization, think long and hard about your decisions regarding Jordan Addison. So the other news item, a couple of them. One is that the Tennessee Titans hired Robert Sala. That's not a shocking hire, and they'll get a chance to kind of turn their organization around.

We'll talk about that later with Maggie Robinson. and Durante Jones interviewed with the Green Bay Packers or is interviewing with the Green Bay Packers for their open defensive coordinator position as Jeff Halfley has gone to the Miami Dolphins. So this is where it gets a little bit dicey with the timing as Brian Flores had his second interview with the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was scheduled, but I guess from reporting that that happened today. So you have Flores interviewing, you have Durante Jones interviewing. And as far as I can tell so far, the Vikings have not interviewed anybody else for their open defensive coordinator position. And Adam Schaefter said in his tweet talking about Brian Flores interviewing with the Steelers that the Vikings believe or feel that there is a good chance that if he does not get the head coaching job with the Steelers, that he will be back with the Vikings.

But, you know, that's been out there multiple times from, you know, PFT or ESPN or wherever, that the Vikings, and they've said it to us outright, that they're being very aggressive and they think that he will ultimately be back. But after KOC said that the other day, he also took an interview for the lateral move with Washington. and what you have now is these other coaches starting to get jobs in this place or that place and will someone else who gets a new job also want to talk to Brian Flores? So the timeline is becoming a little bit muddy here. But at the same time, it's not like Rahim Morris or Sean McDermott has been hired either,

guys that would be the top candidates. But what I would imagine the Vikings want to know quickly is, is he getting his head, coaching job or is he going to look around because, you know, then they might have to come in and swoop in with an offer for Durante Jones. I mean, imagine the Packers want to hire him. If you're the Vikings, I mean, are you jumping in and saying like, hey, Durante, just, hey, if Flores is not going to, you know, make this deal and say yes to us, then you're our DC. Like, I don't know. This thing remains pretty dicey for the Vikings timing wise. And that does not change. but it does a little bit highlight that when you have a second interview and then Durante with the Green Bay Packers.

I mean, that's something that you wouldn't want to see either if you're the Vikings. But that, you know, look, if Flores comes back, you might still end up seeing Durante Jones getting a defensive coordinator position because he appears to be highly sought after for interviews during this cycle. So that could still happen. He could still end up with the Green Bay Packers. and then you've got someone who knows your total defense and has taught it over in Green Bay. Again, not exactly how you'd want to draw it up for the Minnesota Vikings, but losing Durante versus losing Brian Flores

are two kind of different animals there. And if you lose Flores, you want to lose them soon and then be able to offer that job to Durante Jones. So they continue to kind of dance both sides of all of that. So there you go. There's the kind of latest news stuff. coming out of the coaching cycle, which has been a circus this year. I just can't believe how many different changes that the league is going to undergo with head coaches.

I mean, this, you know, it does happen a lot from year to year. But this feels like the most that I have ever seen happen with guys like Tomlin and Harbaugh and McDermott who have been in their spots forever. And then, you know, Jeff Hathley's only been the DC there for what, two years? and then he jumps right to a head coaching position. So does that mean Malik Willis is going to follow him? That's another subject as well. So, all right, how about we get into your Viking fan questions that you tweeted me the other day?

I want to put it out there for questions. Let us begin with Raymond. Raymond says rank the four potential Super Bowl winners by the size of the Vikings fan base meltdown if they win, i.e. the Rams are the lowest fan-based meltdown because of the limited relationship to the Vikings. Yeah, I love that question. Well, I think it's a very clear number one running away, which would be the Seattle Seahawks because, as you guys may have heard, the Vikings let Sam Darnold go to the Seahawks. But there is a little bit of a caveat to ranking the Seahawks number one,

which is that I think of a very high percentage of, of the fan base will be rooting for Sam Darnold because you can't go back in time and have him stay with the Minnesota Vikings and maybe have them playing in this weekend. Who knows, right? If he had stuck around, I think the team was certainly good enough to win 11 or 12 games this year, despite some of the injuries had they had good quarterback play, if they could win nine with some of the bottom five quarterback play in the entire NFL, I think it's reasonable to say they could get to 11 or 12 with, you know, maybe top 10 quarterback play, which Sam Darnold was,

no doubt this year. But, you know, considering the way that Darnold managed this situation, how he played, the number of fun moments that he was responsible for, how much the teammates loved him, how entertaining he was to watch. I do think there will be a fair number of people who are thinking much more about, hey, good for you, pal. It's not your fault that the Vikings let you go. and decided to turn it over to J.J. McCarthy.

So, like, you never did anything wrong to the Vikings. Who cares if they look bad if you end up winning the Super Bowl, right? But good for you because, and this is how I think you should view it, this is a guy who took so many arrows, man, through his whole career in New York. One of the biggest busts ever. Goes to Carolina. Oh, they think that they might have their quarterback. That totally fails.

And then he goes to San Francisco. He's a backup when he signs with the Vikings. I remember seeing some national analysts saying, I don't understand this. Why are they bothering with Sam Darnold when they're going to draft a quarterback? They should just have the starter ready and forget this loser. And, you know, Sam Darnold proved them all wrong, which was really enjoyable for me to cover up close

because I think it was something that the teammates inside the locker room took personally for him. Like he never seemed to, but they did. And you know somewhere in there for Sam Darnold, he's wanted so bad to prove them wrong, to prove the Vikings wrong. And I enjoy when that happens. I actually did a story with Rich Gannon before last year,

where Rich Gannon talked to me about how you become Rich Gannon. And he said that he had talked to Darnold. He had talked to KOC. And I don't think that any Vikings fans were mad at Rich Gannon when he went from the Vikings on a long journey. to the Raiders. I know it's different because it was many years later, but I don't think that Vikings fans held that against Rich Gannon

that he didn't do it here. So that one does sting from the perspective of, hey, maybe it should have been you and you should have kept him. And wow, is that a colossal, gargantuan mountain-sized franchise-changing, history-changing miscue, miscue. If J.J. McCarthy does not, you know, take a huge step next year, but I don't think you should root against him. So Seattle is the obvious answer, but maybe I need to have them not number one, because I think we already know that they're in

the NFC championship, man. The Vikings have been in the NFC championship, what, three times since 1998, and one of them was 41 donut, the other one they get destroyed by the Philadelphia Eagles, the other one, Fav does the thing. I mean, so they only really had a chance to win at one time, and this guy gets there. So, you know, I mean, I think as a meltdown, it could be just highlighting, again, the decision, but we've already highlighted enough. Again, they're in the NFC championship game.

It's not like winning or losing really changes how bad that was. It was really that bad. So I'm not going to pick Seattle then. I say that's the obvious pick, but I'm not going to pick. I am going to pick the Denver Broncos as number one, because Vikings fans will never let it go, and should never let it go with Sean Payton. I have said before on the show that Vikings fans should let it go with Joe Buck,

but I don't think that they should. And actually, I saw a shirt outside the stadium that said sideline digs unbelievable. So, or dig sideline unbelievable. So I think that younger fans have no beef whatsoever against Joe Buck. I've always said let it go. Buck said he was wrong. He regretted it with the Moss thing. So don't worry about that.

The Sean Payton beef, though, you should have forever. Absolutely. They had bounties on your quarterback and were trying to injure him in this game. Come on. And then getting suspended. Then Kevin James plays him in a movie. Like, come on.

Are you serious? And then Sean Payton with the skull, the skull's clap, you know, right before the Minneapolis miracle. I mean, this guy is one of the great A trolls of the recent NFL history. and Vikings fans do not have to ever let that go. But with Sean Payton and the hatred toward him from Vikings fans, if he were not only to win the Super Bowl, but get there with the guy that KOC could have drafted and then win it with a backup quarterback,

I mean, to me, that is the angriest that Vikings fans could be. You can't get much angrier about Sam Darnold, considering he's playing championship weekend. you can get angrier at Sean Payton because it felt like you eventually got rid of him and off your television when he was gone from New Orleans and then last year kind of mid and they make the playoffs, but whatever. But now championship weekend, a Super Bowl with a backup quarterback, he would be raised up on the shoulders for all-time coaches.

And I don't think that Vikings fans want to see that. So I'm going to go Denver number one. And I will say Seattle is behind that. New England, I just don't really see the beef. They were never trading away Drake May. Yes, that is the guy that your head coach wanted, but they were never getting, they were never doing it. If you remember, the Giants tried to trade up one spot for Drake May and they were like,

no, no chance on that documentary about the Giants offseason. So that was just never going to happen with Drake May. Yes, he was the guy that you wanted, but I mean, any of those top three picks would have turned out to be great for the Vikings. They didn't get that high. I mean, what else? I mean, Diggs, I've always said the fact that you trade Diggs and get Jefferson, the fact that Diggs has, I mean, as far as I know, Diggs has never really taken, he did an interview where he explained what happened. But he's never really taken shots at Minnesota.

I think that when he came back with the Texans, he was fine about it. When he was back here during the joint practices, I remember him doing some interviews, but I don't recall him saying like, you know, bleep this organization. organization or anything else. He's the Minneapolis miracle guy. You don't have to really hate Stefan Diggs. Garrett Bradbury was a great guy while he was here. I mean, I think he took a lot more from, and maybe proving that now, a lot more criticism from Vikings fans than he deserved.

And maybe the team blamed him for things that were maybe a little system related. Not that I'm saying he's been great this year, unbelievable. It's just, man, he did play like every game, wasn't hurt very. often. But, you know, he was a likable enough guy. I don't think that there would be any ill will toward Garrett Bradbury or Kyris Tonga. Kairus Tonga was a great story with the Vikings. So I don't know. Like the, there's not much there for me other than just, oh, good, the Patriots again. So I'm going to go with that third. And then the Rams, I think that from Vikings fans, there's just massive respect for the Rams. Respect for Stafford. You went to battle with them many, many years.

and respect for Sean McVe respect for that organization, the D-line that they've built, the consistency that they've had, and maybe some jealousy for them. But, I mean, I mean, they beat you in the playoffs last year, but I mean, I don't know.

Like, it's not like they did anything other than just whoop you. There was not really trash talk or anything that went sideways. So I think with the Rams, it's like, ah, yeah, well, that was supposed to be you. And it turns out it's still them.

So that would be the ranking. But that's a fun question. I like that. If you disagree with me in the comments about Darnold, please let me know if you disagree with that order. Okay, next question comes from Sam, says, why do you believe the Vikings are not being aggressive

in searching for a defensive coordinator replacement for Flores despite him being involved in multiple interview processes with other teams? You know, that's a good question that I truly do not have the answer to right now. And I think that as this, goes on that's going to have to happen. But maybe they're trying to approach it with a little bit more patience for Flores. And that could be if you want proof that they believe that he's ultimately going to come back. Maybe that's your proof right there.

Or they believe that they have their in-house candidate already in Durante Jones. But he's also taking interviews too. Or maybe they just don't want to upset a delicate situation. Like if you're Brian Flores and you're not locked into coming back and then you log on to whatever burner you have on Twitter and you see, oh, okay, they're not waiting for me. They're moving on to Rahim Morris or whoever else. You know, he's the name that makes the most sense to me. But they're moving on. So then I'm moving on.

Maybe they don't want it to look like that. I guess I thought of that. But there does become a date where everybody in the game of music. Chairs here is going to start finding a chair and you want to still have a candidate of yours that you can hire. So I really think this is something that is unprecedented. I mean, I don't remember anything quite like this where the guy is a free agent. So even if he doesn't get hired by the Steelers, usually you would still have him under contract. And you'd be like, well, you know, if he doesn't get hired by the Steelers, he's back. But we don't know that. Like, that's no sure

thing. I would say, though, that other teams whose defensive or offensive coordinators are just in the interview process, their teams during the interview process are not saying, hey, let's go interview other offensive coordinators. Like, they would wait till that plays out. So maybe they are trying to treat this in the same way as if he was still under contract with the team. And maybe he will come back if they, the Steelers or the Ravens don't decide to hire him. Those are the only two teams that have interviewed him. And it seems like the Ravens are interviewing many, many people. And that's a long shot.

It's really, it feels like Steelers are bust. And then the only team that's interviewed him as a DC is Washington, which remains a possibility. But I think that that's kind of the answer. But I don't have a great answer for that. I think that within the next couple of days, I suppose, that they might have to start taking a look at some other people. Or they might already have their list and they're just waiting. Like, all right, we've got these eight guys or five guys that we want to look at.

And the minute that we have an answer from Flores, bang, we're going to make all those phone calls. But you don't want to be left with the, you know, no chair. If that's how does music, yeah, right, no chair, musical chairs. All right. Evan says, I'm not sure how to feel about the Wilfs. Does it feel like it's more important for them to have a winning team every season than have a bad season or two to turn the roster into a Super Bowl contender?

This has always been a very complicated issue for me. Because I think that there have been multiple opportunities since I've been here over the last 10 years for this team to really look at itself and say, we are just not going to be able to get there. And we have to do a full reset. And those opportunities, I think most are most glaring from 2020 to 2000. Well, really, 2019 to 2020 was probably the most glaring because you had to recognize that that was the end of the run. That was the end of the road.

That group was the band is not going to make it. The band is going to break up and it's not going to be the same. You can't just draft, you know, a guy to play corner and then throw in some undrafted free agent and then, you know, try to go get, you know, another couple of free agents that cost almost nothing and just hope that they massively outperform their expectations. Like, that's just not a strategy with a quarterback who I don't think ever really ranked higher than a second tier, third tier type quarterback. Well, he was very, very good as we saw the gap between when Kirk was playing. and when, you know, J.J. McCarthy or Josh Dobbs or Jaron Hall or Max Brosmer or, you know, whoever else I'm forgetting in there, when Carson Wentz, when those guys played, yeah, it was a lot different than Kirk Cousins.

We know that he was a quality quarterback, but if you don't have the team, it's not like he's Josh Allen and he was just going to drag you into, you know, the playoffs in the Super Bowl. He proved that he could win a playoff game, but they treated that as proof that you needed to stick with him long term and that it would be better in the future when that bet really made no sense. Like, how are you going to build a better team than you had from 2018 and 2019 in 2020 and 2021 without resetting, without moving on from some key players, without accumulating draft picks? And let's not forget the struggles in the draft. I remember looking at this

a while back. And I can't remember the exact numbers. So you'll have to double check them. but it was something like Rick Spielman after 2015 had drafted, I don't know, 30 defensive players and maybe two. I think it was like Mattelis and Cambinem or something became significant players for them after that 2015 draft. Like you just didn't have the horses at that point to build the team that was really going to compete for a Super Bowl. So you decided, no, we actually just want to sort of hang around in the middle and then fill in those pieces later. It's just not how it works. Sometimes you have to take that full reset and they didn't do it then. And then they had another chance to do it after 2022.

I fully understood why they did what they did in 2022 because they believe that the 2021 team was actually good. And they just needed a culture reset in order to get there. And it wasn't a crazy thought when you look at the 2021 season. Like that was one of the weirdest in terms of losing games at the last second. That could have been a 12-win team. and they messed up a bunch of games at the very last minute. So that made sense. And then we saw that change the next year with all those games.

But from 2022 to 2023, once again, they got tricked by the previous season. So it was, well, we just won 13 games. Well, we are going to move on from some guys. We're going to keep the quarterback that gives us a floor and, you know, run certain parts of it back. I always credited them and Kwezi Adolfo Mentai. I think it's the smartest thing he's ever done. for the Vikings was moving on from Kendricks and Delvin Cook and Adam Thieland and Delvin Tomlinson and all those guys who would not have made the difference from 2023.

But at the same time, they kept the quarterback, which, you know, we know that Kirk is good enough to get you to 500 if you're a bad team. And that's exactly what he did. And then they end up missing out on the historic draft class where all three guys have now been at least to the divisional round, all three guys, the number one, two, and three pick just a year later have all won a playoff game. I mean, that's, and, and look, is anybody worried about, hey, we had one bad season because we got there?

No. So that was the, that was the, the opportunities were right there. And they decided that they preferred to try to stay in a competitive rebuild. And then you draft the fifth quarterback off the board and pray. And so far, those prayers have not yet been answered. It doesn't mean that competitive rebuilds are impossible. I mean, Denver, they did have a five-win season a couple years ago, but Denver is a team that has never really wanted to lose.

And the best competitive rebuild you'll see anywhere is the Seattle Seahawks. Wow. I mean, they won 10 games last year. They won, what, nine and eight with Gino, I think, in those other couple years. So they hung around the middle and then had it click in. It's not a strategy that is impossible to make work. It's just that the other one, that reset, works more often. So what I would say about the

Wilfs is that it's admirable. So many things that they do are beyond admirable. So many things that they do are absolutely fantastic. The facilities, the way families feel when they come to Minnesota, it matters because they sign here. The ownership rankings for the players,

I mean, that is a big deal. If you're, if you were an Arizona Cardinals fan, you felt like your team, your organization, your facilities that they gave the players, your leadership was kind of a laughing. stock or Cincinnati or Cleveland, like, how would you feel about your team?

It's very hard to feel proud of the team that you root for when that's the case. The Wilf's allow that. The Wilfs allow for you to be proud of your team and feel like your team is always trying to win no matter what and they're doing everything they can and they're treating people the right way and they're spending on the coaches and they're spending on the players. You know, how many checks have they not written over the last 10 years for players? they have put the money down for players. You keep adjusted Jefferson.

You keep a Christian Darrasaw. You go back, right? So like, all that stuff is a big deal. But I think it's really these two pivot points where they have thought, no, we're different. The laws of physics don't apply to us in sports and in football. And I think the biggest thing they need to take away from that is to not have that happen again. So at the end of 2020,

26. I mean, look around. what does it look like at the end of 2026? Do you really have a chance in 2027? Do you really have a chance in 2028? And if you feel like you don't, because let's say you rented a quarterback and he got to the playoffs at 10 wins, is that really enough? Or do you need to do something to actually have a hard reset? And I'll also throw out there that Justin Jefferson has made this a lot harder than it looks because Jefferson's superstardom, I mean, you have a year like this and the discussions start to come to the forefront. It makes it a little bit more difficult.

So, uh, long answer there, but my thought is that it's just, it's just complicated. It is not something that, uh, is, is very straightforward like, oh, well, they just, you know, they just tank and that's the problem. Sometimes I know I make it sound that way, but these pivot points, I think are harder than it looks. But my one thought is, when you look at these teams that were down just a couple years ago, the Patriots, the Bears, so forth,

you'll always hear, I'm not signing up for a five-year rebuild or whatever. If you're any good at this, it doesn't have to be that way. It can be a down year and then right back up if you have the management, which I think that, you know,

overall, they are a fairly well-managed football team. I mean, from the just perspective of organizational health. Okay, this one comes from Patrick. He says, does the Stefansky hire increase or decrease or have zero effect on whether Kirk resigns or hits free agency? And then also a couple other questions there, but I'll answer that one. I'll go rapid fire because you threw a bunch of questions at me.

So let me rapid fire through them. I think that it does increase the chances that they would cut Kirk and then resign him in Atlanta. But I also think that Kirk's got to look around and go, I'm a starter, bro. Look at this league. I mean, how about even Pittsburgh? I mean, Pittsburgh made the playoffs this year with, you know, I don't know, 22nd best quarterback in the league. I wouldn't put Aaron Rogers much higher than that for his performance.

Kirk won some games with Atlanta. There's got to be a team that wants to start Kirk at this point just to get themselves back on track. Cleveland maybe could be that team. So there's going to be options. I think how Michael Penix's health looks so far. We don't know that they would. If they think he is on track to come back and start week one,

then maybe they would let him go. But I would imagine that Stefansky's going to want to have a backup option, especially with what happened with the Cleveland Browns when they didn't have too many very good backup options. So I think that his history with Stefansky would increase that possibility. And look, I mean, he made the playoffs. Kirk had his best year in terms of quarterback rating with. the fansky, they ran the ball a lot.

They had Delvin Cook. Like, they're kind of recreating 2019 Vikings there. Let's see. To sell or keep Addison for 2026 and his trade value, I think, you know, we talked about that. I think the most prudent way of approaching it is still to keep Jordan Addison and

not sell them for pennies on the dollar. And then you get a bigger sample size on whether he can really get things back together off the field. I think you'd be just selling him at the worst possible time to sell him right now. To sell or keep Jonathan Grenard, I don't see any reason to get rid of Jonathan

and Grenard. The only thing I would sell Jonathan Granard for would be Justin Herbert or Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow. If he's got to be involved in that, then sure. Yeah, like that's fine. But if not, like you want this guy sacking the quarterback. You see, you know, a run of games from Dallas Turner that are good and want to get rid of someone who's really, really good.

That's not how I view it. I would not be doing that, but they do have to rework his contract in some way. Restructure or cut T.J. Hawkinson, I think they will probably restructure him because it's the same amount of money that you get for cutting him. And in terms of top free agent targets at running back, Brees Hall and Travis E.T.N are the ones that I would look at the most for that. Breece Hall is a special player who has had very bad circumstances and ETN is a really good pass protector. So there's rapid fire on a bunch of different questions there. Okay, let's move to Levi or possibly Levy. Not sure which one you pronounce it, but we'll go with Levi.

Says, let's see, a lot of criticism for KOC on how this year went. With that being said, if he's available for hire, where would he rank among the available head coaches? I personally think he'd be the top option. Yeah, I mean, with the fact that there's been, you know, a few more of these great coaches, like Harbaugh and, you know, now McDermott that have had a ton of success. I would say he's probably like right in that ballpark. Yeah, because what every team is looking for is your Andy Reid. You're looking for the guy that you can connect with your franchise quarterback over many, many years.

and you don't have to go through coach searches and you don't have to go through quarterback searches. And I know of all of the criticisms of Kevin O'Connell and I agree with some of them and I don't agree with other ones. I think that given a really good running back and a run blocking offensive line that was healthy, they could run the ball really well. But they have not had those things. I think that passing the football down the field is not a bad idea. And when I look at the average depth of target, we can check this out,

the average depth of target of the quarterbacks who are having success. Yes, there are some in there that are like, you know, Bo Nicks who are throwing a lot of short passes. But there's also, you know, a lot of quarterbacks here. You know, in the final four, you got the two MVP favorites. and Matthew Stafford is third in the NFL this year in terms of average depth of target, and Drake May is fourth, and Caleb Williams was ninth. So, and here's Sam Darnold, where they've actually cut it down,

is still 14th out of 43. So, I mean, you have a lot of the quarterbacks that are, so three of the quarterbacks who are remaining are in the top 15, and two of them are in the top five in terms of average depth of target, which means how far you're throwing the football down the field. Like, KOC's general philosophy about this is not wrong. Now, should you have come into this season trying to run your full offense with J.J. McCarthy, that is questionable.

But how were they supposed to figure out that it didn't work when he got hurt in week two? And he didn't even have the full week of practice in the second week. So I think that that's a muddy take for me. Did you throw way too much with Carson Wentz? Yes, I think you probably did. but in one of the games you're playing with Joe Huber at left guard. No disrespect. He, you know, held his own.

But I mean, come on, right? Like you're playing with all backup guards. But, you know, the Philadelphia game, they were definitely two, two, two pass heavy in that one. So there are times where, yeah, I think that they lose, KOC has lost the threat at times of certain games. And, you know, talked a lot about it at the end of the season, how sometimes you need to play super conservative. and you will ultimately win the game if you're, you know, playing a grinded-out style, like you could do that, which I feel like he didn't believe in so much before. But the average depth of target thing and throwing downfield, it's a model, man.

It's a model that works. Explosive plays and success based on explosive plays, still, if you can be the team that completes passes downfield, you have a big edge in a league where that's not happening so much. So, you know, where would he rank? I think he'd rank extremely high, if not at the very top for a lot of teams with, you know, younger quarterbacks or something. I don't think that what happened this year would make the league say, oh, yeah, KOC has no idea how to coach. But I do think that shortcomings are, everything becomes magnified if you do not have the quarterback playing well. So that means any miscue, as we saw on special teams, where there's been.

a dozen miscues on special teams around the playoffs. But if it happens when you can barely score, it's a killer, right? And a miscue with game management or a miscue with play calling or, you know, running or not running on second and one with Carson Wentz under center when you're at the goal line against the Eagles and you've got Jordan Mason, like things like that. Yeah, you're going to get burned because that quarterback's not, not, he's not going to fix it for you. But I think that a team that had a quarterback or like if you're the Raiders, if you're the Raiders, wouldn't you send three first round picks that weren't this year

or something for KOC or two first round picks for KOC? I think you would. I think that when you reach a certain level, and I'm going to maintain this, a certain level of coaching that can get to 13, 14 win seasons. And even in a bad year, you're still at seven, you're still at nine, that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to fire that guy unless it's the right, think to do with your timeline or things turn toxic, which, you know, I don't think is going to happen. Maddie asks, will we ever win a Super Bowl?

Well, when you say ever, you know, I think, I think of, first of all, Outcast, forever, ever. Hopefully some people get the reference of that, Miss Jackson. Anyway, I think that forever is a really long time. and if what I always go back to is probably that, you know, the Buffalo bills for the longest time were just such a joke. I mean, so many seasons. And this is why I think the Sean McDermott firing is hitting people pretty hard in Buffalo. Like, wait a minute.

This was the guy who made the franchise relevant and got them to the playoffs every single year with Josh Allen. And before, let's see, I think they missed the first year of Josh. Allen haven't missed since. And that's the only year he didn't make the playoffs, right? They were a joke for so long and they never found that guy. And it was J.P. Lossman. It was Trent Edwards. It was E.J. Manuel. It was Ryan Fitzpatrick. Going back before that, it was Drew Bletso. They tried to take a big swing at. And the discussion there was always they can never find their guy post Jim Kelly. And once they did, they're in the hunt every single year.

Now, I know they haven't gotten over the hump yet. I think they will at some point. I thought it was this year. But the point just being that once, like, you get that shot, you can always have something go right and make it work. You can always find the quarterback. You can always, you know, that's New Orleans is another example. A team that was so bad for so long. Or be like Tampa Bay where one year everything falls into place.

Or instead of having to go on the road and play the Rams, what if it's, you know, what Philadelphia had a couple years ago where it's a home game, against the mediocre giants and then the next game, the opposing quarterback tears his arm. So you need things to fall into place. It hasn't happened for the Vikings. This is probably the Wilf's thought is if we're competitive enough times, at some point will be the Giants or at some point will, you know, be the, I guess the Steelers did win with Ben Rothersberger.

So it's a little different there. The elite quarterback. And Eli Manning was a number one overall pick and pretty darn good. If you find the right guy. You always have a chance. But, you know, I do want to say something else when it comes to this. Because I see it all the time that people rile each other up on the internet and have made this into such an identity crisis of the Vikings not having a Super Bowl

that I feel like the appreciation for football and for having a football team and someone to root for forever, right, and care. about is lost in if you don't win a championship. It's all garbage. And I just shouldn't waste my time. And I carry this burden of having a football team. And I think, man, you know, there's a lot of cities that would die for a football team. You know, and you have this franchise that has so many great players through the years.

And, you know, this was kind of a 2024 take as the team was playing these really exciting and fun games. Like, hey, look, you got to remember that this is football. Right. It's entertainment. It's something we all enjoy. You turn, you should turn on the TV and root for your football team, but you don't have to make it. You don't always have to make everything into like every year they don't win the Super Bowl is a crisis of your life's existence. I don't, I don't think so. I know that I just think there's a line there. Like, certainly you deserve to be as frustrated as you are. And certainly you deserve to wonder like, man, is this franchise ever going to make it? And carry. around the pain and the scars of past moments that haven't gone your way. But I think that there's like a line that gets crossed there. We're like, are you even liking football anymore? And this is from, you know, my game day chats are usually great because I do them with Purpleinsider.com football subscribers.

Go over there, check it out. But, you know, when I look on social media, it's like, if they get stuffed on the first run of the game, it's like, we'll never win a Super Bowl. Like, oh, my gosh. So I think that there's overreact. actions that way. Every year, what is great about football is, it feels like everybody's got a chance. I wouldn't have expected the Broncos to be here.

I wouldn't have expected Seattle to be here. So, I don't know. Maybe next year, my friends. Let's see. Let's see. Kyle says, what are the top three positions in order the Vikings should address in the draft? That is a good question. Kyle, I will go with,

hmm, because I don't think wide receiver is going to be on the table. I really don't. And the thing with Addison, having the charges dropped almost immediately, does, like, if that had been something more serious, then you might be talking about, well, you better get a wide receiver. Now, if they trade them away, if the charges are not serious and now other teams are like, okay, we'll give you a second round draft pick or something, maybe, but, you know, I don't know about wide receiver if that's on the list.

That kind of came to mind because that that situation complicates it a little bit. But at the top, there's a couple different schools of thought, right? There's, like, if this team had a good running back, like a really good running back, who was 22 years old and had crazy burst, then they might be a dangerous run attack. like that that would be pretty exciting but are you spending a first or second round pick on that because you could use another defensive tackle you're probably moving on from javan hardgrave you could certainly use a safety i don't think it's out of the realm of discussion of a lockdown type of corner um you've got two starters but that doesn't mean especially if

flores leaves that you're all set at that position you could always deal with uh with that i think so i'm trying to formulate a top three here because i'm i'm going to going through the different arguments for each position. Tight end might be something that you think about with Kenyon Sadiq, who's a very good prospect out of Oregon. But I think that running back center defensive tackle safety are the top four. And if I had to lop one off, I'd probably go running back just based on how that position works. At the same time, though, you know, this offense needs to run the football.

And all those EPA per play and DVOA numbers not being elite, the reason is, I mean, they've had good passing games for a couple of their seasons, but they just have not been able to run the ball consistently. So, hmm, which one would I take off? Maybe I'd take off defensive tackle, but usually what happens is with defensive tackles, you've got to get them early. If you're going to get somebody who's a freak, get them early. And they could use that. But, you know, they're going to want to support their next quarterback as much as they possibly can. Center is absolutely on my list. Safety is absolutely on my list. It's kind of a debate there between running back in DT.

Hmm. I don't know. I will let you guys decide. You can tell me what you think. Okay, let me get one more here. Maybe I'll get a couple more because I don't know the answer to this. Matt says, I can't remember a year with this many highly competent coaches let go as this ever

happened before. And you know, I do love my NFL history. But off the top of the dome, I can't think of, I mean, over like a couple years span, you would see this, like Don Shula retires and Marv Levy retires or something, right? But how many examples of it all happening in the same hiring cycle, especially with they're not thought to be a ton of great candidates? Like, that's a good question, man.

That's something you're going to have to research and let me know because I cannot remember it being like a McDermott-Tomlin Harbaugh situation in itself is pretty. crazy and then you've got a bunch of other hirings and firings as well. Let's see. Let's find one that's not wanting to fire people. Let's see.

Notice how many I have to click to find that. Just didn't want to end on that. Eric, okay, Eric says, what quarterback or quarterbacks do you think they add this offseason? So I guess you're asking for kind of a prediction there more than anything. And this is where

everyone's like, don't say it. Don't say it. And I'm like, I'm going to say it. I might have to say it. I think that there's probably two guys that stand out to me above the rest that would make the most sense as far as getting a high-end type of performance out of those players being possible. And that is Kyler Murray and Gino Smith. Those are the guys that make the most sense for me. I do think that the Vikings are going to make every phone call possible looking around for any way that they can get, you know, someone who would take them back to the postseason because it's urgent. You mentioned like all the coaching changes. It's urgent that they have good

enough quarterback play. I've always liked the Gino Smith idea a lot because he throws downfield. And if you go to 2024 and, you know, usually when I bring up Gino, people are much more accepting of that one than they are, Kyler. And I think it's because of the style of quarterback he plays. we know he's got a huge arm. Now he does take too many sacks, but he's got a huge arm. He throws down field. I think he'd be very exciting to watch throw the football in this offense,

but also JJ could beat him out. If J.J. McCarthy plays well in training camp, he could beat him out. And you probably want to look for one other potential option. Now, people have brought up like Anthony Richardson. Somebody's bust just in case, right? Somebody to be that other quarterback that, hey, you never know and like maybe.

And like there's a one in a million chance, but maybe this is the one in the million. So you want to probably roll the dice with somebody else as well. But I like those two ideas the most. And they fall into the categories of if you have to replace JJ and you feel like you just can't do this after what you saw this year. Kyler's my guy because it would be fun and it might be ridiculous at times. And he was really darn good in 2024. And that's why, you know, and Drew Petsing got hired by the Lions.

And I see all these fans being like, he stinks. You're like, what? The 2024 Arizona Cardinals with their starting quarterback, had a good offense with Drew Petsing. And Kyler Murray played in structure more than he's ever played before. And the idea that he just scrambles and runs all over the place was not really true when we started.

I mean, it is, but not really true as in, it's not every play. Like he was, you know, I had the numbers, but he was in the middle of the pack in terms of, the percentage of his throws that came within two and a half seconds,

which really gives you like an in-rhythm type of number. So he was much better at that. And it wasn't all screens. We looked that up too. So that's number one if they need to replace him. And if you don't like that idea, which a lot of you don't, tell me your idea. If you need, if KOC came to you and said, I need to replace JJ, this is not working, but we can't get Herbert.

We can't get Burrow. We can't get Jackson. Who's your idea? Do you have someone better than Kyler Murray? I don't. I'm, I've looked at them all. I've looked at all the options. You're going to say Kirk. You're going to say Rogers.

Like, no. But Gino makes the most sense to me. Mac Jones less so. But I, you know, I mean, I don't know. Mac Jones was touted as kind of a Kirk Cousins coming out. If he played like Kirk Cousins under KOC, they would make the playoffs. So I don't know. That's, those are probably the top options for me under those guidelines of,

hey, we need someone to replace him or, hey, we need. you know, somebody to compete with him. I would probably prefer Gino Smith to Mac Jones because there's always a chance that they could win like 13 games with Gino Smith if he gets crazy hot and fits the offense, which I think he really does. And he played his best ball when he had two really good wide receivers, which he would have coming here. So, okay, well, this has been a lot of fun running through this.

And I know I'm going to ask Maggie Robinson a little later, but I'll throw this out there for a Fanduil question of the day for you guys, which is out of the four remaining teams, the favorite on Fandul to win the Super Bowl is the Seahawks. The Rams are second at plus 210. The Patriots are third at plus 240 and the Broncos are plus 1,300. Which one of those bets would you make? Would you bet the favorite?

Would you bet the Patriots? Would you bet the Rams? Which one of those would you most think will win the Super Bowl? the four remaining teams. Thank you for your time, everybody, and we will talk again soon, answer a lot more questions soon, and see what else comes about in Vikingsland. All right, now my conversation with Maggie Robinson. All right, it's time for the Robinson roundup once again with special Purple Insider

contributor Maggie Robinson, who was most recently on ACC Network doing a triple overtime game as a sideline reporter. So very proud of your progress there at Syracuse, Maggie. But you also found time for us. And boy, there is a lot of stuff going on between the playoffs and the coaching carousel this year. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's always crazy.

But it feels like this year it has gone totally berserk where we're talking about coaches who have been in their posts for a very long time. Teams making changes there and all sorts of movement going on. So Maggie, welcome in again. and where would you like to start? Matthew, this season is winding down, but the drama is definitely not. It's actually cranking way up.

And since you're a native upstate New Yorker, and I'm in Syracuse right now, where it feels like negative two degrees, why don't we start in Buffalo, okay? Where the coaching carousel, it keeps spinning. Because the Buffalo Bills just fired Sean McDermott after nine seasons and no Super Bowls. Yes, it was a 30 to 33 loss to the Broncos last weekend.

However, East, this necessarily Sean McDermott's fault or is this the fault of a front office with a poor roster? Well, sorry. I have a lot of takes on this. So I'm like ready to pounce. One, they lose by three in overtime after a call, which really could have gone either way. And that's what you're firing your head coach on.

And there's been a lot of those moments for the bills during Sean McDermott where they are this close, 13. seconds away from going to the AFC championship. They lose to Kansas City. There may be a Stefan Diggs catch away. Last year, they're adult a Kikkate catch away. And then here they are a Brandon Cook's catchaway. But when you look up and down the roster and you see a group of weapons that is not all that good,

an offensive line that's past protection is maybe a little suspect at times. I think they do have a good offensive line overall. A defensive line that's not that scary. A secondary that is running out some older players. hoping to patch holes. And you're looking at that going, well, you know, you do have the greatest quarterback in the league. And that quarterback is able to drag you only so far.

But at some point, you usually need pass rushers who can take over and dominate games, as we've seen from like the Houston Texans or even, you know, the New England Patriots secondary. And they have a bunch of young and dynamic talent that they've been able to utilize. And how about the Denver Broncos who have pass rushers and a defensive MVP and one of the best O lines in the NFL. Most of the time, that quarterback only gets you so far. And we've seen that from Baltimore as their roster faded.

We saw it in Kansas City as their roster got old and got expensive. And this is what happens when pretty much any quarterback is not on a rookie contract. It creates challenges. If you look at their drafts, you look at some of their free agent decisions, there's not a lot to love there. And then there was a report today that Sean McDermott was honest with the, owner of the team and said, I don't think we have a roster to win a Super Bowl this year. And it turned out they didn't. And that was part of his firing was that the owner and the general manager were offended

by that. So it feels like to me, they're not really living in reality over there. And I don't know how this gets better for the next coach because I think Sean McDermott did a very, very good job. However, you know, there are examples in past history where somebody else takes over and maybe if they get the next great offensive mind to be the, the head coach and they are in lockstep with Josh Allen and they can take that offense to the next level. But personally, I think if you look at Josh Allen's numbers over the years,

it's usually when he has a great wide receiver where he's put up his best passing numbers. So to me, this was, we've just run out of options, I guess, of things to change and try to get over the hump. So now you're the guy that gets thrown over the side of the boat. But I didn't think that it made a ton of sense considering how good Sean McDermen has been there. It felt like a bit of an impulsive and rush decision. And even as you're seeing all the very public backlash from current players, from previous players, from other head coaches, everyone publicly coming out saying, yeah, I don't, I don't know if I agree with this. And in all this, Brandon Bean is promoted to the president of football operations, which means he now leads the next

head coaching search. And everyone on the outside is kind of scratching their heads going, wasn't Brandon Bean the one to fault for not having a good roster in the first place? And Sean McDermott then had to clean up his act. How does that work? Brandon Bean was also a guy that called up a couple of my friends who are on the radio in Buffalo after the draft and went completely berserk on them for criticizing them not drafting a wide receiver. I think they had their eyes on Luther Burden, which may have been a pretty good draft pick. And at the end of the day, that's really what it comes down to is they seem really committed to the bit of not giving Josh

Allen more weapons and he seems to not be able to get. I mean, look, he won the NFL MVP. They had a really good offense this year. But when you get into the playoffs, I mean, this is something that's been studied, PFF and their data analysts looked at this a few years ago, that oftentimes it's about your second and third and fourth options that drive playoff success because teams focus so much on your first option. I'm not even sure Josh Allen has a first option.

He's trying to throw that ball to Brandon Cooks, who's barely in the league. anymore in his, you know, in his 30s and has bounced around. They have a good tight end. They certainly have a great running back, which can get you through a season when you have a quarterback as good as Josh Allen. But when you're going best on best on the road against the team with that level of defense, also, Bo Nix really stepped up to the challenge in that game. It's the tiny little things that make the difference.

And I thought that McDermott squeezed as much blood out of the stone as he could get. And again, you look at those other elite quarterbacks. Cincinnati's not in it with Burrow. Jackson's not in it with the Ravens. I mean, they're the only ones that have been able to sustain through some of those big contracts that were handed out and some of those rises and falls of the roster, which I think goes back to Sean McDermott. But when you can take over Josh Allen is your quarterback, whoever gets that job, they might

be the time where it clicks. They might be the time where it has the right matchup or the right, you know, the dominoes fall the right way. And when you look at some teams in the playoffs, a lot of it, like look at Drake May. CJ Stroud melts down on the other side. Justin Herbert plays terribly in the postseason. His defense is great. And Drake has been awesome in these games.

But, I mean, he hasn't had exactly the toughest route. And now he's facing Jared Stidham. Like sometimes it's just what happens and how the chips fall. And whether you get lucky or not to go deep into the postseason. And that has not happened for the Buffalo Bills. But man, they have been there every single year. And if you go back to what that franchise was when McDermick got hired, oh my gosh. They missed the playoffs for like 19 straight years.

And then he got them in with Tyrod Taylor, not just Josh Allen. So it's been a really great run for him. And that is now a golden chair you get to sit on for a head coach, except for the fact that you know that it's always going to be your fault. Because Brandon Bean very clearly has the ear of the owner and not whoever is taking over as the head coach. So that may cause some people to hesitate because you know the power dynamic. is not you as the HC. Absolutely.

And I think a lot of people will look at that and say, ah, that's a pretty strong con in this situation. Like there's a lot of pros, new stadium in 2026, no longer outside. Hallelujah. New head coach, obviously, this position's open. New is great. Josh Allen's turning 30. Like maybe there's a lot of new leafs to turn over here.

But yeah, you're stuck in this dynamic where it's just a power struggle that you're kept out of. It's like a three-way friendship and no one wants to talk to you. It doesn't work. So I have a question. for you, though, because in that game, there is a play that became very controversial, so much to the point where Joe Burrow logged on for the first time in six months and tweeted, you guys have no idea what a catch is.

Now, I think that if the ruling on the field is that the ball was bumbling around, that he did not complete the catch all the way to the ground, that it makes sense that it's an interception. But here's my issue, because I don't think they necessarily got this wrong. My issue is Denver just comes out and lines up and they're playing against. And it's like, wait a minute. We review for 10 minutes whether someone's little pinky toe was out of the back of the end zone. But this one gets hardly anything.

New York, the mysterious New York where you used to work comes flying in with, no, all good to go. Keep playing football. And they have often used the explanation. Like, well, we don't want to hold up the game. This is a pretty important one to hold up the game if you have to. And what I would love to see, Maggie, is just more transparency. Show us what's going on between the. refs and Big Brother in New York, how often they're chiming in what that dynamic is like

because other leagues, college and pro in the UFL are using something similar. But you've been in that seat. You've been inside New York. So am I wrong in having that critique? No, let me validate this. No, you're not wrong for having that critique. I think it would be really beneficial because I realize I have a very unique perspective as I was literally sitting next to Walt Anderson.

the head of officiating in the NFL officiating control center in New York for two straight seasons. And so I can paint you a picture of what goes on there. You can't see it with your two eyes. Do I agree that, yes, they should take after the ACC network and give us a little like inside view under the hood, like all these different looks? I think it'd be helpful. I think it would do a lot for credibility and decision making. But I can explain what was happening in that room. So there's walls of computer screens and TV monitors.

Each game is broken down into like 20 plus little screens. Every angle is being analyzed. There are more than one person looking at each game going on, especially if it's a big game like this, multiple people stationed around it, and then a bunch floating around, looking over shoulders in the earpiece. Oh, we got a call over here.

Let's go over here. All the games are on the big screen, right? So never is just one person looking at a game and making a rash decision. Every decision is going through like four or five people, and they're all talking. And then Walt Anderson essentially has the final say, and he's sitting there with a thick rulebook.

That man has every rule in the book right in front of him, and he can flip to it. He knows it off top of his head. He's a walking encyclopedia. So these decisions are being made quite quickly because, as you're saying, they don't want to slow the game down, but they're not clearly articulating that

to the broadcast booth, who is not sharing that with the audience. So everyone watching the games in the dark, the players in the stands, the fans in the stands, the coaches, people watching at home, No one knows what's going on unless it's translated through the rules of the rules analyst, or if the voice of Walt Anderson comes in, which they do very rarely and only for really

controversial calls. None of those were really used. So it feels like a big slipping, like something fell through the cracks and it happened to be in a massive game. That's a lot that I just threw at you. But it's a very good system they have. I just don't think it worked to its ability this game. Yeah, I think that's a great analysis. and you did an interview for Purple Insider with Walt Anderson,

where he explained a lot of the process, and it was really insightful of how it works. But if you're just watching the game at home, how do you know how when they're chiming in, when they're in the earpiece, how much influence is going on from them? And then specifically with this, you talk about a controversial call.

I mean, maybe they didn't fully realize how controversial this was going to be with the catch rule. But I think that one needed a, this comes in from the NFL office, like hold on everybody stopped this comes in from the you know we've taken a look at it we've got multiple people who have analyzed this particular call because if he catches it the game's over the buffalo bills win and if he doesn't catch it Denver's got a chance to go win and ultimately they

did so it was decided on that one play and yet we all feel like well we're who's floating head is making this decision right so that frustrated me and I think that there needs to be a change there. If a conference in college can do it, then I think the NFL should be able to do it as well. Yeah. It was a really impactful decision, as you're saying, like the fate of the game essentially laid in that call. And there was no clarity. And that is fully on them to make it clearer. However, in the defense of the referees, I'm playing both sides here. They're also doing their job. It's an incredibly difficult job. And they are going through all the channels. Did they articulate that well to the audience? No, not at all. No, they didn't. And it is a

scourge on the United States of America of screenshots that are like the back of Brandon Cooks where you can't even see the ball. And it's like, see, this isn't a catch. But this other one was like that's, that makes it even harder because, you know, people who are reporters and things like that are sharing those things of like, look, it looks like he's down when you really truly cannot see the football in any angle and how it's moving or not moving. It looks like he grabs it. It looks like he pulls it in. But as he hits the. ground is it popping up out of his hands it didn't look like the denver defender had to do a lot to get it from him so it wasn't like he was laying there you know rolling around in the icy dirt and then

oh i've got the the football it looked like it kind of bounced back up into his hands but it's one of those calls man that makes football so darn difficult to officiate but let's not spend all day on that because i'll keep ranting about how i want more transparency Let's go then down to New York City where the Giants on some positive news just hired John Harbaugh to a five-year, $100 million deal. And if the drama about the reporting structure up in Buffalo wasn't weird, this one's a little strange too. So he's going to report straight to John Mara, who's the owner, effectively cutting out the GM

Joe Schoen. This feels like a bit of an FU to Joe Schoen, to be honest with you, of what's your job anymore? two parallel verticals reporting up into the owner because the big boys can't talk to each other and have a conversation? No, I think if you're John Harbaugh and you know how bad they want you, you're going to squeeze out every bit of power that you possibly can, which is also maybe a Brian Flores comment as well with his situation. But when you and your side have all of the negotiating leverage, why would I want to report

to a general manager who is absolutely on the hot seat? because for the amount that they pay John Harbaugh, they're in it for the long haul with him. But this general manager, this is his Hail Mary to save his career, is by bringing in John Harbaugh saying, please fix my culture, please fix, you know, my football team, which I actually think that they've done some really good things there, which, you know, when you are terrible, you can get Malik neighbors and get Abdul Carter, you know, and things like that. But they have some talent. They've made some good decisions with their roster. And it does feel like they came way short at the quarterback position with Jackson Dart banged up a lot, going with Russell Wilson to start the season.

You know, it feels like they've had some bad luck and bad coaching there. So now fix it, John Harbaugh, but he's saying, I don't want to be tied with this general manager who's on the hot seat. I don't want to answer to him. I would rather answer directly to the ownership. It's kind of like when Sean Payton got to Denver, they had a general manager, but it was, I am the captain now. And that's what John Harbaugh has just said. And truly, that's what the New York Giants need. They need someone to say, I am the captain now, somebody who's proven to go run that franchise with some success because it has been, I don't know, what, 10 years since they've even been in the playoffs.

I mean, my goodness. They need someone to take the reins. Oh, no, not 10 years. I'm sorry. Let me correct that. Let me correct that. No, 2022, they beat the Vikings in the playoffs. So the last 10 years they've been in the playoffs, I think maybe one time.

Sorry, sorry, sorry. I forgot that Vikings game. I blocked it out. I just think they need someone to take responsibility and ownership. I think they've had too many people around kind of skirting responsibility, being like, no, actually, that's not me. That's someone else. Like, oh, that was him.

That was, no, you got John Harbaugh in there. He's a proven track record. He's going to do what he wants. And while this is kind of an unconventional structure, it is the relationship that he had with the Ravens owner. So it's not like this hasn't been done before. He knows how this works and he works well under that. So it kind of makes sense in my mind.

Yeah, that's totally fair. And you're right from the Mara family that they deserve a lot of the criticism too for not being able to get this team back on track consistently. You know, as I mentioned, the one playoff went in 2022. And then they've been a totally calamity or a total calamity since then. They were a total calamity at the end of the Eli Manning era and the beginning of Daniel Jones. And it just feels like a rut that they have not been able to get themselves out of. And how responsible are they for that as well?

I mean, last year, it was so clear where this thing was headed last year. When John Mara came out and said, I think it was him, I said, like, if you guys don't make it to the playoffs next year, then like everybody's going to get cleared out. Now, they didn't clear out the general manager because it ends up being pinned on Brian Dable. But still, if you're going into a season saying, hey, buddy, you're on the hot seat. I mean, what kind of way of managing is that? I mean, that just seems to me like, why not just fire.

him and start anew, but they fell backward into a very, very good head coach. Yeah. And someone else who just got a brand new head coach, like fresh out of the box, is Miami. They just hired Jeff Hathley as the Dolphins leader. He's never been an NFL head coach before, okay? He was the former Packers defensive coordinator. Before that, he was a head coach, but in college for the Boston College Eagles, a little bit of a different caliber there.

But it's Miami. You don't have that many selling points. You want someone who's a little untainted by the league who's not as jaded, maybe as other coaches. So he's coming in fresh and new, probably chomping at the bit to get this team going. And he's also kind of coming into a bad salary cap situation as they try to let go of Tua and money is kind of an issue. So I think they got someone with no baggage and he's just going to get it all in Miami. Well, one of the biggest things for them, as bad as their offense was, is, I mean, they were just getting trucked early in the season on defense. And I think Jeff Hathley from seeing him play with his defense against the Minnesota Vikings numerous times is up with the way of the NFL playing defense now.

Like you see a lot of things that they do in terms of deceptive pressures, in terms of deceptive coverages that we also praise Brian Flores constantly for. And I think that that helps with Jeff Haffley taking this job for a team that badly needs to revamp its defense. but there's a lot of these jobs where you're going, what is your quarterback situation? What are you going to do there? Because you would be hard pressed to convince me that anyone's going to get more out of Tua if he sticks around than Mike McDaniel did.

So who is it that you're bringing in at the quarterback position? The guy who makes the most sense is Malik Willis. Now, that would be pretty darn interesting for them to bring in Malik Willis, who's been developed with the Packers where Jeff Halfley was, sign him to a short-term contract, make improve it and kind of rebuild. I guess the question is, do they have the patience to rebuild? They fired their coach after a 7 and 10 season.

I don't know if that's the best idea. I mean, because I thought that he got the most out of that roster. And they also fired their GM too. So at very least, this is what is working here is if you could bring in Malik Willis, have a multi-year type of plan, and the GM and the coach are hired at the same time. So they've got the synergy that these other teams we're talking about, do not have so they can bring in potentially Malik Willis, I think is the best option or maybe

draft somebody and have a multi-year type of like here's how we're going to rebuild this roster and not just, hey, you better fix it right away or you're fired too. That would be short-sighted. But you know, it's an interesting hire because it isn't somebody, as you said, with a whole lot of actual like background in doing this before. So there's going to be an adjustment period there as well. important to note that the new GM, John Eric Sullivan, was the head of player personnel for the Packers for 20 plus years. So we did have a well-developed relationship with Jeff Hathley. So it makes sense when you're talking about the synergy between head coach and GM. They have that now.

Like that has been, that relationship has been picked up and brought down to Florida. And that's only a positive. I know we're talking a lot about all the different dynamics, but it really matters when your GM and Ed Goach are on the same page. Shocker. And especially when you're coming into a team like this. where I think they almost have to fully commit to a rebuild, in my opinion. They have the number 11 draft pick. I just don't know how you can still be as competitive as you want to be

without just fully surrendering to the football gods and accepting that next year probably won't be your year, but maybe down the line it will be. I just watched the movie F1. I don't know if you've seen it. I was on a plane. And Brad Pitt says sometimes when you lose you win and they might have to do that. I mean, this is a franchise that tanked for two oh, once upon a plane. a time. I think that they are kind of in a position to tank, but they could do it in a way of

more of a rebuild than true tank, like throw out everything, go all the way to the bottom, if they were to sign Malik Willis. And you mentioned the Packer connection. Well, the Green Bay Packers have always been built through the draft and through development. That's what Miami needs to do. It felt like they were just trying to tape and glue things together over the last couple years as the roster sort of fell apart. They need to stack as much. draft capital is possible and develop players over multiple years. Agreed. Another head coach, though, who was just assigned to a team, Kevin Sifansky, to the Falcons, Minnesota fans, you know this man well. Truthfully, I'm going to out myself.

I didn't know that Kevin Savancy had such a long history with the Minnesota Vikings prior to this, simply because when he started, I was like six years old, okay? Got me some slack. But there's also that Kirk connection. He was a quarterback's coach and the offensive coordinator with the Vikings. Now he's got Kirk again. Don't know how they're still in the league together, but they are. I think this is a great grab from the Falcons. It's someone who's very steady, very proven track record. He just needed the right players and the right group of people around him. And it seems like that's what the Falcons are promising him if they'll deliver TBD, but that's what it sounds like. Right. I mean, the Cleveland Browns, he got him to the playoffs a couple times, one coach of the year twice. And then

they made a move that was, I mean, catastrophic is. not a good enough way to describe it. I mean, this is Mount Vesuvius of moves of getting Deshawn Watson. And I don't know who was supposed to coach a completely broken Deshaun Watson, Shadur Sanders, Joe Flacco. I mean, he got Flacco to the playoffs one time. It just was such an abomination at the quarterback position that I don't know what he was supposed to do different to get them back to the playoffs or in contention.

Because you just don't see teams with that bad. of quarterback play being in contention. But now it's a very interesting dynamic, as you mentioned, because you have a run first type of team. They just hired Bill Callahan, who's a great offensive line coach. You know they're going to run the heck out of the ball with Bijan Robinson. But are you sold on Michael Pennix? When can he come back?

And the Falcons re-adjusted Kirk Cousins contract to the point where they actually have to cut him in March. But could they resign him if they feel like Pennix is not going to be far enough long is Kevin Stefansky sold on Michael Pennex? Like does he think there's some answers there? He must, right? Because Arthur Blank went out of his way to approve them drafting Michael Penick. So he must think that Stifansky has some of the answers.

But there could be also another part of him that convinces Kirk because of their connection in the past to stick around and maybe even be the starter. He did, I think, get them to five and three this year and help the Carolina Panthers make the playoffs. But then there's still a part of me in the back of my head that says, Kirk's going to end up here because why not? Like that would be the Viking kind of way to bring back Kirk Cousins. But I think that if you're in the NFC self and you see someone like Kevin

Stefansky who does have, as you mentioned, a very, very long history as a coach, you're probably not that thrilled, especially when he's had good running backs. They've really done a great job there. And they kept their defensive coordinator. Their defense was above average this year. So I think the Falcons made a very important move. But all of these hires, all goal. along with that big question, what's going to happen at quarterback?

The one place that we know what's going to happen at quarterback, Tennessee, okay? Yes. Hamboard, number one pick in the 2025 draft got Robert Sala as his head coach moving forward, former 49 years defensive coordinator. And then as we know, former failed Jets head coach, but he's back in the head coaching seat. And I think this honestly makes a lot of sense. He has a lot of space to grow this team and have his hand all over all aspects.

of choosing players and helping the front office and everything's a little bit in shambles, but he can come in and kind of be the glue that brings this franchise back together. And I think Tennessee Titans fans are dying for a little bit of consistency. Yeah, I think with Robert Sala, man, I don't know who could succeed with the New York Jets because there's a lot of times where coaches get hired and everyone thinks, well, that should be a good coaching hire for them, Aaron Glenn included. And then it's a bus fire by about the end of the first. first year. So that organization in general, their culture is unbelievably questionable from the

ownership down. And I think that Tennessee also has their questions as well. But I think what you're looking for with Robert Sala is kind of like a Mike Vrable type of turnaround, somebody who brings them credibility, someone who's been with a great franchise with the San Francisco 49ers. I do think that they played this the right way by accident in a way. Like they tried to take a shot at Will Levis, second round draft pick. Okay, it didn't work out. They go all the way to the bottom. They draft the number one quarterback.

And now they have an opportunity to bring in some talent and to draft high again or potentially trade down, which could really net them a bevy of draft picks and rebuild with someone who has previous head coaching experience and start to be a serious franchise again. It's just going to take a while. I mean, they are so far off. And this is, you know, the thing with Cam Ward is. We really have no idea if he could play or not because that team was so freaking bad.

And I also think, too, you know, I mentioned like, don't say, hey, you got to win this year and then fire your coach. Because you should have just fired him before if you didn't like him. I feel the same way about their previous coach, where if you were already on rocky ground with him, why give him a number one overall quarterback? This was kind of the same thing with the bears and Caleb Williams, only to fire that guy. So the biggest decision for Robert Salas, who is going to be the Cam Ward whisperer when they get there? Who's going to be the offensive mind that works with him? And then how are they going to convince anybody who's a free agent to come there? I think they shouldn't.

I think they shouldn't try to win in the first year. Just like Miami, stack as much draft capital, have a true three year plan. Give Cam Ward three seasons. He's shown enough to at least be interested. give him three seasons and then make a decision and don't be overreactionary when things get bad, which is, I don't know. That's like asking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

not to shoot a hook shot or something. Like that's what NFL owners are going to be NFL owners. I think this is a very tough spot for Sala, but at least he brings credibility to it. Maybe it'll be like D'Amico Ryan's turning around the Houston, Texas. It feels like if he can get this right, and if he can slowly write this ship, that this will be his NFL legacy of, oh, he was the guy who finally got the Titans back on their feet.

That's a massive project to undertake as a head coach. And it has to be a little threatening and overwhelming of like, my career is either made or broken here, to be honest with you. Like, I don't know if you get another head coaching gig if you really fumble this one. You might just be on the sidelines as a lower coordinator, which is fine. He's good at that. But I think, like you're saying, these next three to five years are going to be really telling of what Sala can do. how that team operates as a whole and what the future looks like for the Titans, to be frank. Well, and if he gets fired after a year and a half or something, I don't know who's taking another job there.

I mean, that that ownership situation, that leadership, they hire a new GM, then fire the new GM, hire a new coach, fire the new coach. I mean, how are you ever supposed to build something there over multiple years? I just, I think everyone sees this, but you look around the NBA, you have. coaches who win championships who get fired the next season after a championship. So like, I don't know, or two seasons later, I don't know. It feels like all of sports, all of sports owners are maybe seeing more media and fan outrage all the time and responding to it and feeling like they have a need to constantly respond to it

as opposed to taking a more methodical approach. I was remembering Zach Taylor when he first took over in 2020, the Cincinnati Bengals. and I don't know that he's turned out to be a great coach kind of when Burroughs healthy, he's good. And when he's not, he's not, right? But he took over in 2020 by the end of the year. There are articles he should be on the hot seat, his culture's not good enough, et cetera, et cetera.

The next year they make the Super Bowl because Joe Burroughs great. They spent a lot of money on the defensive side of the ball. Right? Like this happens all the time. Was he a bad coach that first year? Or were they just not there yet in their timeline? So always, always interesting. But I got to get from you,

a prediction about this weekend. So I'll give you on Fandul the four teams remaining and their odds to win the Super Bowl. The Seattle Seahawks are the favorite at plus 145. The Rams are plus 210. They're the second favorite. New England plus 240s, so very close there. And the Jarrett Stidham, Denver Broncos on Fandulul, plus 1,300 to pull the Nick Fools. I mean, look, it wouldn't, it's not just the Nick Foles. If you want to get really old into NFL history, you can go back to the Jeff Hostelder, which was stay with me for story time here.

In 1990, Phil Sims, NFL legend for the New York Giants, got hurt. And Jeff Hostelor beat the San Francisco 49ers. That's the Scott Norwood Wide Right game as Jeff Hostelor, the backup quarterback, was the starter in the Super Bowl. So it would not be the first time ever in NFL history that the starter got hurt in the playoffs or late in the season and somehow a backup figured out. But who do you think Maggie will win these football games?

My Super Bowl prediction is, drum roll, please. The Seahawks against the Patriots. The Seahawks are the most complete team in the championships right now. I mean, like head to toe, they just have it down and they absolutely obliterated the 49ers. Yes, they were dealing with a string of rash injuries. but everyone played so well on that team. They had a really solid defensive performance. I mean, you opened the game with a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

You're making yourself known. And then on the Patriots front, it's the Patriots, and they're playing Denver with their backup. Like, I don't want to write Jared Sid him off like that, but I'm going to. I just don't think this is their time. And it's such a bummer because what a run, the Denver Broncos have had. And for Bonnix to fracture his ankle in. in the second to last, third to last game is really unfortunate.

But I think he's a real key to this team, despite how everyone wants to tear him down. No, I think this says a lot about his ability. I just don't think they can make it through. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think that they are maybe set up a little bit better than a lot of teams to have a backup come in. Like they don't ask Bow Nix to push the ball down the field a ton.

Their offense is very short passing, ball control, don't make mistakes. And their defense is absolutely fantastic. But on the other side, look how now New England's defense has played. I mean, everything's about Drake May. It should be he deserves it. But look at their defense. I mean, they destroyed Herbert. They destroyed C.J. Stroud.

And now they go play against a backup with a tremendous secondary. They've created a lot of pressure. They've gotten a ton out of former top draft pick, K. Levon Chase on who just developed and really had a great game the other day. I mean, they have taken huge, huge, huge steps under Mike Vrabel. So it's not like you're facing a. mediocre team that's coming to Denver. Home field advantage may even the score a little bit, but I tend to agree with you, although

I did pick the Rams initially to make the Super Bowl against the bills. So I don't know. The Rams path is so much harder here, though. They just had to play at Chicago. Well, I mean, Seattle could have started kneeling down in the first quarter. I mean, they were dominating San Francisco by so much. We need like a mercy rule, but in NFL football, you have a certain number of points. You know what, game's over, guys.

Great job. G.G. Let's call it. Maggie Robinson, the Robinson Roundup. Great stuff. As always, we'll have one more week of a lot of speculation, things like that, and then we'll have a Super Bowl, and then off to the off season. So it's been a great time, and we will see you next week.

See you guys next week. Football. Football.