Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - All Teams Draft with Robert Mays of The Athletic

Episode Date: September 4, 2020

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And I'm going to have to wrap my brain around saying this now. I've been saying Robert Mays from The Ringer for so many years, but now it is Robert Mays of The Athletic Football Show. And, you know, Robert, you didn't write a very emotional this is why I joined The Athletic piece. I was disappointed. They had me write something about what we wanted a podcast to be, and even doing that made me uncomfortable.

So going one step further and writing a whole big thing about my professional choices is just not something I'd ever want to do, so I'm glad they let me skate by without it. I understand why they do it. I think it makes total sense. Some of the ones that have been written have been excellent, but it's just I really don't like talking about myself when it comes to that kind of stuff.

I'll talk about my football preferences and players I like and my Bears just kind of overall anxiety and sadness. I'll talk about that ad nauseum for hours, which I do, but my own kind of stuff and choices and things like that it's just I don't think I'm that important but that's okay once upon a time there was a young boy who watched Kyle Orton win a bunch of games while having a 58 quarterback rating and that was when I knew I wanted to podcast it's funny that my overall kind of football sensibilities have been shaped by

what the bears have been over the years. And for a while, I really appreciated defense, but then after you keep going and you evolve as a person, and then it just made me love offense even more because I could never have it. Now I'm almost bitter toward defense. I'm almost, it's like, there's too much of it in my mouth. I need something different. So now I'm a post defense thinker when it comes to football. That's like when you go to college and you start to learn like how the rest of the world is

and meet new people and you're like, oh, I guess I will leave my old friends behind. So I want to do something really fun for our first episode together here on the Purple Insider podcast and your first as the Athletic Football Show host, which, by the way, people should go to wherever you get your podcasts. Check it out. You've got divisional previews, and you're doing a lot with Mike Tice's son, who is a really cool dude. So I think that people will want to hear what he has to say. But we're going to do an all-team draft. I want to know who we think together, collectively, are the top 10 teams in the NFL. And the exercise is really to find out if either one of us will pick the Vikings and where as a top 10 NFL team.

So as the guest of the show, Robert, I'm going to give you first overall draft pick in our all-team draft. We're going to draft to 10, not 32. So why don't you start off? I think the first pick is probably obvious, but sometimes you go different ways and surprise me. It's kind of obvious to me. I can understand the cases for a couple different teams.

I can see why you could make a case for the Ravens. I think they're going to be really good. Obviously, the 49ers were an excellent team last year. I feel like the Saints, top to bottom, may have the strongest roster in the NFL, but I'm picking none of those teams first. I'm going with Kansas City Chiefs because this is similar to fantasy football. When you're picking in the top five, you don't often win your draft in the top five, but you can lose it.

And I just think that the Chiefs' floor is so incredibly high with Patrick Mahomes and also just with the way they've shaped that team. You know, if they lose Tyree Kill, for example, they have so much speed to replace him. If they have some injuries along the offensive line, they've protected themselves in that spot by signing a guy like Mike Remmers, who is probably not qualified enough to be a starter right now, but is an excellent backup in a lot of positions.

So I just think that even the worst-case scenario for the Chiefs offense, barring a huge Patrick Mahomes injury, still leads to this team being a top-three unit and winning 11 or 12 games. So the one thing that's the holdup is just the Super Bowl thing. Like when you win the Super Bowl or you go to the Super Bowl, the next year is usually not as good as you might expect. But usually you don't have Patrick Mahomes to make up for any of the shortcomings that happen.

I mean, even Tom Brady has not necessarily got to the Super Bowl every year during his prime, and there are fall-offs. But usually there are a lot of players who will get paid more than they're worth by other teams when they leave after winning the Super Bowl or going to the Super Bowl and that just doesn't really seem to be the case with Kansas City it's like who left you know they still have all of their superstars in place and finally Andy Reid getting the true love that he deserves so I mean if we're picking this for which team will have the most regular season wins or which team has the best chance of going to the Super Bowl, giving me the best or

you giving yourself the best quarterback out there, I think is just probably a safe bet. I think I've talked to a lot of people about what this season will look like. And every person I've talked to has said, go back and look at the lockout. And this was before we knew training camp would be super weird, but it was when the offseason program wasn't happening. And that's the last time that happened. And everybody I talked to said that. And I went and looked at the stats. And I have very 2011 Packers vibes with this Chiefs team. Because there's a lot of continuity, you're the best player in the world. And I think that you look at the stats from the 2011 season, offenses were

incredible it was a historically great year for passing offenses especially ones that were bringing a lot of players back because offense tends to be ahead of defense when you have continuity like that at the beginning just because communication everything else I have a feeling this team can hit the ground running and really take advantage of some new teams that are a little bit out of sorts on defense early on. I think that's a great point. And just judging by the Vikings, now their defenses looked okay during training camp, but not having any preseason games for all the players that could really use some reps that haven't had any before in real games, the rookie corners,

the younger players who are stepping up into bigger roles, I think it is going to be tough, especially early on where we could see crazy scores, and I am absolutely here for it, as you are as well after seeing so much bad Bears football. Oh, I'm ready. I'm absolutely ready. Give me some Chiefs-Rams-Monday-Night-esque 50-to-50 games. I'm very excited about it. So I knew that you would pick Kansas City, and of course Kansas City was number one on my board. Number two, though, is hard because, as you mentioned,

the Saints have a really, really strong roster. But I didn't pick them, and you're going to have to tell me how obnoxious this is because I didn't pick the Ravens either. I went with the Dallas Cowboys. Damn it. I was really hoping I could get them at three I'm upset about this you completely thrown off my draft can I trade out um no team I wanted is gone that way uh yeah so I'm going with the Dallas Cowboys because they had the best offense in yards

per play last year in the NFL then they added C.D. Lamb who I think can be amazing and Jalen Hurts uh can thank him for being a second-round pick, I think. And I look at it as the same as you, where, okay, defense is hard to predict, so I'm not going to say Dallas lost one corner and all of a sudden they're going to be a disaster. I think that their coach is an upgrade from Jason Garrett, or at the very least it's fresh, and it's different. And keeping their offense around was a very smart idea and they are just loaded on offense Dak is extremely motivated to get the next big contract after being franchise tag I like everything about their offense and I think that it could be the

best offense in the NFL not named Kansas City I completely agree on every single point it's if you look at the continuity they have all the same players back you drop cd lamb into that you see jason whitton's targets the corpse of jason whitton's targets the blake jarwin who is i think a really nice little piece for them tony pollard is like a nice little sprinkle in guy they have so many ways to get yards and create explosive plays and i also think again if we're talking about worst-case scenario, I think signing Andy Dalton is like a really underrated move this offseason because he is a functional quarterback often lifted by the surroundings that you put him in, and those are great surroundings.

So even if you were to lose Dak for four games, I think you can stay afloat in ways that teams with truly bad quarterbacks won't be able to. I am all aboard the Cowboy train. If they truly give this offense to Kellen Moore and let him do what I saw for the first few weeks of the season last year before Jason Garrett started putting his fingerprints on that team, I think they can be special offensively. And also they might make some field goals this year.

Like last year they missed a preposterous amount of field goals. And when they added Everson Griffin, this solidified them as my topic, because I think Griffin still has a lot left and he's kind of what they needed there. So a hundred percent, because I think they're going to move him around a lot more than they did in Minnesota.

Yeah. And Minnesota has this thing where they're really putting one guy on one side, the other guy on the other side. And they've done it forever, and I kind of respect it. It's just they know what they are. I would love to see if they could move Griffin inside a little bit, run some games with him and Alden Smith.

There's a lot of moving pieces in that front seven, but I don't think that switching out Robert Quinn and Byron Jones for Everson Griffin, Alden Smith, and Trayvon Diggs is going to torpedo a defense that really fell off last year, was not well-coordinated, and was hurt. It just seems like they're going to settle somewhere around league average, and when you consider what that offense can be, that's more than good enough. Alden Smith is going to be an interesting story to watch

because if he's back-back, then they're going to have an interesting story to watch because if he's back back then they're going to have an unbelievable defensive line and I get I think if they do move Griffin around it will feel like Zedarius Smith a little bit like the same sort of massively powerful guy who can just drive a guard back into the quarterback or who can go around the edge so that that was a huge acquisition for them and if the Vikings hadn't gotten Ngakwe, it would have been a massive loss. So who is your number three overall pick? This is really hard because I was really hoping that Dallas would be there at three because these teams in this next group are pretty muddled to me.

I think the Ravens are probably going to take a step back offensively. That's not an indictment of the Ravens. It's just how it typically works with stuff like this. You know, Lamar was almost perfect last year in so many ways during the regular season. You lose Marshall Yonda, and that may not seem like the biggest deal in the world, but I think an offense that really relies on its running game and kind of churning out yards that way, you lose some continuity and communication up front. I think it makes you worse in three different spots.

The center and the right tackle get worse with Marshall Yonda out. So what does the offense look like? The defense I think is going to be very good, but you lose Earl Thomas. I understand that they think they can, but that still is a communication issue when you're bringing in somebody new at this point in the year. So I'm going to go with the Saints just because I do think their floor is higher. They're so deep. I think they could afford to lose a couple guys in a couple different areas and still be really good. And again, let's say Drew Brees gets hurt and Jameis

Winston ends up having to play. I think they could still be okay. So both the best and worst case scenarios for New Orleans, I think are just really favorable. What I'm really interested there is how much Emmanuel Sanders gives Breeze an out when Michael Thomas, Thomas never truly gets shut down, but throughout sections of games and the game planning from the other team is around Michael Thomas and Elvin Kamara, assuming he plays, I'm going to figure that he's going to play because a running back holdout is not your smartest move, as Melvin Gordon showed us last year. But in the playoff game against the Vikings, that was the issue for them,

is that they couldn't find a second option other than Cook, their tight end, and that was it. And so to have another downfield option as far as Drew Brees can possibly throw it, yeah, I think that their offense can be even better than it was last year, and I think Drew Brees had 120 quarterback rating. The only thing is, eventually you get old, and someday that will happen to Drew Brees, and I don't know if it's this year or not. Yeah, I mean, the cliff comes fast for aging quarterbacks.

We've seen that. Peyton Manning absolutely fell off in a big way very fast, and that could be happening. So, like I said, maybe the floor is a little bit lower than you think if Brees is healthy and not playing well, because it's not exactly like you can go away from him. But I still just think they have too much talent. I have too much faith in the coaching staff.

Sean Peyton's really good at this. I think they're going to be a really good team again. Okay, so you spent your time shredding the Ravens, but I think this is the right time to pick the Ravens. At four, man, you're doing okay. This is a nice little find. It's like two will fall into five for the Dolphins. See, all you have to do if you're the Ravens is move Lamar Jackson to wide receiver so he doesn't regress.

I think that's the obvious answer here. No, they get Calais Campbell in the offseason I think that's big for them even though they lost Michael Pierce and Earl Thomas uh but I don't know if Earl Thomas was as good as Earl Thomas used to be so um there's that they added you know it's weird to base anything on this but they added an exciting running back but I feel like they'll find more ways to use J.K. Dobbins than maybe someone else would have in exciting fashion. So whether Hollywood Brown can be healthy the whole year might be a big thing for them. But I think that they're still the cream of the crop. They might not win as many games as last year, even just

based on the division. Roethlisberger's back, Kevin Stefanski's in Cleveland, Joe Burrow's going to win some games, Cincinnati's got players on their offense at least, but I still could see them being 11-12 wins just on the back of Greg Roman still being very, very smart and Lamar Jackson being a cheat code. Marquise Brown being there the whole year is a really good point. I just think what he can structurally do for an offense and the space that he can create, that's the biggest thing for them. It's not how many 50-yard touchdowns Marquise Brown catches. It's how often he's going to create room for them to attack the middle of the field

in the way they like to. And the Dobbins point is a really good one. And you talk about the running game probably regressing a little bit just based on historical precedent. But even if your offensive line takes a slight step back without Yandex with some new pieces, if you have a running back that can create kind of independent of his circumstances, I think that's why you make that pick, and I think that's why the running game can be really good, even if the blocking up front isn't quite as good this year.

What is the disaster situation for Lamar? I mean, okay, let's say it's just not injury, but what could get him? I mean, he can throw the ball so well between the hashes. If teams find better ways to plug up the middle of the field in terms of passing lanes, but then again, he showed last year that his deep ball can be effective too in going down the field. So I don't know if there's an an answer at all or if we found it yet or if defenses will ever find it with someone who is that unique

and athletically gifted. Especially in a system conducive to his success. You know, they've built so well around him. And, again, going back to the Marquise Brown thing, even like Devin Duvernay, somebody like that, is having some more speed on the field and being able to create throwing lanes for him. And I guess you could say, like, maybe he's not quite as slippery this year.

You think about all the after-contact plays, just breaking tackles. But that is a skill that we've seen year in and year out tends to be sticky. You know, guys that are hard to tackle tend to be hard to tackle consistently. And I just don't see where that's going to change a lot. All right, your next pick, I think this one's a hard one.

I don't know where I would go if I were you. I don't either, and I don't like it. I'll just tell you who I'm very fascinated to see where they go is Tampa Bay. Are you going to pick them here? Are they going to slide later because we don't believe that Tom still has it? What's going to happen? So much drama. That's why we draft stuff.

I'm going to go with the Bucs. It was between them and San Francisco for me. Is the world's most ardent Kyle Shanahan supporter. I feel like I'm going against my roots here. But I – even if we look at the Tampa Bay, obviously the Tom Brady thing is the biggest storyline, conversation point, whatever, about them. But I like the rest of the team. That's what's exciting to me. I mean, you think about what they have with Godwin and Evans, two guys that are excellent players in their own right,

but I think compliment each other. Well, Scotty Miller, the pride of Barrington high school who went to school or I did. Scotty Miller is apparently emerging as their third target, the number three target. He's a guy that can stretch the field for them. They have so much just pop and explosiveness at receiver.

Then you throw the tight ends in there I think their offensive line is a chance to be really good if worse can hit the ground running I liked him coming out I think he's a really special talent and I like the interior of their line I have a lot of faith in Bruce Arians you know who cares who's playing running back it doesn't really matter if Leonard Fournette's there to me and then the defense they were so much better last season and I don't think that's an accident I think todd bowles is an adult in the room for them and the one spot i really thought they needed somebody in the draft after after filling their right tackle spot was just a defensive playmaker somebody that could take the ball away just kind of an agent of

chaos on that side of the ball and that's exactly what an Antoine Winfield Jr. is. He was one of my favorite picks in the entire draft. I just think if they can get somebody that really helps, not only on offense, swing the turnover margin in the right direction, going from Winston to Brady, but on defense, if they can create a few more turnovers and really just be this dynamic team on both sides of the ball, it wouldn't surprise me at all if that's what ends up happening. It was remarkable last year to see the difference between their efficiency, your yards per play or DVOA if you're a football outsiders fan, versus how many points they allowed because Jameis kept throwing it

to the other team. But they had the bones of a very good defense there to start. And I agree with you with Winfield Jr. It is not Antoine Winfield or Viking bias here to say at the U. He was tremendous with the Gophers and really proved at the NFL Combine that he was athletic enough to be that kind of move-around type of safety. And it's cliche to compare people to Tyron Matthew now, but there's a lot of vibes there with those two guys.

So I like their defense a lot, being able to hold them up, even if the offense isn't as great as we think. And also, I want to know, are you comparing Scotty Miller to Wayne Corbett or Wes Welker or Julian Edelman? I'm comparing him to Deshaun Jackson. That's who I'm comparing him to. You're not allowed to do that. Scotty Miller is a burner, man.

Scotty Miller is going to tear the top off some defenses. He could be the next Andy Isabella, who hasn't done anything yet so far. There you go. The way that they talked about him was if he was going to be the next Deshaun Jackson. But, of course, I'm sure there will be lots of Wes Welker comparisons because, you know. That's the average is like 18 yards a catch.

Right, exactly. Last season, Seth Walder from ESPN.com, ESPN stats info, put out a really good stat late last week. Three seconds after the snap, Scotty Miller was deeper downfield than any receiver in the NFL last season. That's insane. So if you think Scotty Miller is a white possession receiver, then you're going to be very surprised when you actually watch him play.

Yeah, if only Tom still has the arm to get it downfield to him If Scotty Miller is a white possession receiver, then you're going to be very surprised when you actually watch him play. Yeah, if only Tom still has the arm to get it downfield to him and Mike Evans. And that would be my one holdup, just like with Drew Brees. Like if they're the same player, then this goes really, really great. If they're not, there's some potential for slide there. Now, I don't think Tom Brady is Russell Wilson or Patrick Mahomes, but I also don't think he had the players in New England for the last few years when Josh Gordon wasn't playing to take advantage of that. When Philip Dorsett is your lone and best deep target,

you're not going to be a good passing offense, even if you can still throw the ball downfield. Now it's almost the complete opposite of that with the players that he has. I don't think this is going to be a Carson Palmer in 2015 sort of situation in this offense, but I do think Tom Brady still has enough when surrounded with this level of talent to create an explosive offense. I also don't remember another quarterback who had such good grades on his individual throws by like PFF or his accuracy,

and then had such bad traditional statistics. It was like, what was missing there? Oh, other players. Yeah, it's typically the receivers. I mean, Rodgers was the same thing last year. You look at the – sometimes the numbers just don't line up with the actual advanced stats with the counting stats, and that often is a way to separate quarterback performance

from receiver performance. So I'm excited to see what Brady can do with this group. I want to remind you to go to S sodastick.com to get your original Minnesota sports-inspired goods. They just launched their official collaboration with Bud Grant. Yes, Bud Grant. You can now get your official Bud Grant shirt and Man Cave art print. If you haven't seen it yet, you have to check it out,

and we're going to hook you up with free shipping for your order. Use code PURPLEINSIDER for free shipping. That is SOTASTICK, S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com, original Minnesota sports-inspired goods. Code PURPLEINSIDER for free shipping. You're going to have to tell me if this is a hot take pick, but I'm trying to be a little unique here with also making sense. I am not picking the 49ers next,

especially because Debo Samuel is hurt, and I think defense regresses. I'm going to go Tennessee Titans. I know I said regresses, and I picked the Tennessee Titans. I think that they're stacked. I think that their whole team is good, and their coaches are stacked.

I think they're stacked. I think the whole team is good, and that Tannehill was in a horrible situation in Miami and at times made the best of it and he's closer not exactly what he was last year but he's closer to what he was last year than to what he was in his last year in Miami and I'll go a step further and say that Tannehill is a more athletic Kirk Cousins, and if they have a good defense and A.J. Brown continues to light it up in yards after the catch, they're a great team, and also, factor in, bad division. Not a very impressive division at all.

I think they're going to get a lot of wins. I don't hate this. I tend to like the Titans more than other people do, and it's for a few different reasons. I am with you on the Ryan Tannehill evaluation. I think that he is firmly in that group of quarterbacks that can be lifted with this kind of play-action outside zone, move-in-the-pocket offense. You say Cousins.

I say he's kind of golfing in the way that I evaluate him, and that's not a bad thing. I like quarterbacks that can allow this offense to kind of hum, and he absolutely can. I think Arthur Smith did an incredible job last year. I loved watching that offense. They had such a cohesive plan. Everything was complimentary, worked off each other.

I think that's going to continue. I also think even outside of Ryan Tannehill coming in last year and playing so much better, and that being a reason the offense took off, they lost Taylor LeJuan for the first four weeks last year. Roger Saffold and some new surroundings took a while to come on. Now the left side of that line is just downright dominant. They crushed teams in the playoffs after gelling, and I think you're going to see that hopefully from day one.

So I cannot wait to watch them on offense i love watching offensive coordinators try to figure out their second act after catching the league and other teams by surprise and i think that's the process the titans are going to go through my question with them is more about the defense you know you lose dean p so i think is a really really underrated defensive play caller. And the talent there is, it's fine. Their defensive talent is fine. We'll see what happens with Christian Fulton, the corner they dropped in the second round, whether that secondary can eventually shake out.

Jeffrey Simmons now getting a full season. Do they have enough with their pass rush to kind of bother teams up front? I can see them being really, really good, but I just think their ceiling for the most part is lower than some of the other teams I would take before that. Okay, so yeah, I guess the way that I was looking at it is offense is probably going to drive things, so I'm focusing on that more than defense, but it's a good point about defensive coordinators that I think those are, as we see in Minnesota, the guy calling the defense is going to make things more repeatable from year to year than it would be when you make all sorts

of changes from defensive coordinator. And they lose Logan Ryan, not that he was like a superstar or anything, but it's a corner, and corners really matter. And who replaces them? Functionality matters in the secondary. You need functional players at every single position, even if they're not great. Right.

So they could have to be better than they were last year or just as good offensively at Tannehill Peak to be as good in terms of the standings. But I just love a lot about their offense and I think that it's going to drive them. And I'm also unimpressed with Indianapolis. I don't think Houston's going to be that great, even with Deshaun and Jacksonville's two free wins. So I'm kind of looking at it a little bit that way. But it's my off-the-board pick, I'll admit it. And so does that mean you are taking the 49ers? This is the seventh pick, right? Yeah, it's the seventh pick.

I will gladly take the 49ers as the seventh pick. I still think, you know, obviously defense regresses from season to season. They lose DeForest Buckner. They lose Joe Woods, which I think is underrated. Al Woods. Joe Woods. No, Al Woods is the player. Al Woods is the defensive tackle.

Who's he playing for? Seattle? He's currently playing for Jacksonville. 33 years old. Good for Al Woods to get in the league that long. Yes, so Joe Woods was their passing game coordinator last year, now the defensive coordinator in Cleveland. I feel like his impact on that team was underrated last season.

They did such a good job of mixing up how they played man and zone, really kind of keeping teams off guard about when they'd go to different packages and different looks. Because I think under Robert Sala the year before, they could get a little stale, and they could get a little bit predictable. I think Woods really helped them with that. So we'll see what they do without him. In the secondary, you'd expect some regression,

but you'd also expect them to be healthier pretty much across the defense. You know, Kwon Alexander coming back, Jaquiski Tarr playing a full season. Dee Ford was hurt for a good chunk of last year. He's healthy right now. So usually I would say that the regression monster is going to swallow a team like this up. But if they get a little bit healthier on defense this year, I still feel like they could be a really good unit that's driven by that pass rush.

The pass rush from year to year seems to be pretty repeatable in the NFL. And that is something that would push me to say they can be good. But on the offensive side, to be as good as they were last year with some of the weapons getting hurt, Debo Samuel getting hurt, I just, I don't know, and the thing is, too, that everyone loves what they did with the running backs, and I do, too. Let's find some randos and have them run for like 2,000 yards collectively rather than one guy who gets 300 carries. But does the luck kind of run out with that a little bit this year?

Or is Kyle Shanahan so creative with his running game that you or I could be in the backfield and get ourselves 1,100 yards? I don't know. I think that they're still very, very good. But division played into my rankings here too. I think that that division is a monster I'm not ready to say that the Rams are going to be you know four and twelve I think Arizona is a rising team which I may or may not pick next I haven't decided yet and Seattle just traded for Jamal

Adams like this is this is a it's got three teams that you could make arguments are going to be right there in the mix and I think that makes it harder for San Francisco to go 13-3. Maybe they're more of like a 10-16. They're 10-16, though. I'm very happy getting them with the seventh pick. Yeah, that's true. That's where I'm sitting. And I feel like, you know, the point about the playmakers is very good, and it's founded.

Who's going to make plays for this team if Iuke and Samuel are hurt? You're relying on some unproven assets there at receiver. Also, Weston Richburg is hurt. He's going to make plays for this team if Iuke and Samuel are hurt? You're relying on some unproven assets there at receiver. Also, Weston Richburg is hurt. He's on pop. He's going to miss the first six weeks of the season. And we saw, you know, Ben Garland did a good job for them last year, but if they get some interior line injuries start to pile up, then that running game is going to be quite as good. You have to rely a little bit more on Jimmy Garoppolo. I don't think we're going to see the same version of the Niners we saw last year. I just have faith in Shanahan and the talent on that team to figure it out no matter what. Yeah, fair enough.

A value pick for you, but I would not put them right up at the very top again because of the regression monster. I am going to go next with Seattle. And I'm sure, you know, Seattle Twitter is super fun to follow along, and they really sort of get all the Seattle things and I know that they're going to run far too much, they're going to play

base defense more than they should and all those things that we criticize them for I don't know if that's true this year I think the Jamal Adams thing when we look at personnel usage in the NFL I think it's often Adams thing, when we look at personnel usage in the NFL, I think it's often driven more by the players than it is by ideology. I think the teams, the Rams, for example, when the Rams came out

and were using 11 personnel on 95% of their plays or whatever it was a couple years ago, that's not who Sean McVay is in his bones as a football mind. This is the way we get our best 11 players on the field. And I think that's probably where they landed last year. They said, we have linebackers. We trust more than our defensive backs. That's how we're going to play. Now you bring Jamal Adams in.

He's a versatile piece. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a little less of those three linebacker sets than we did for them last year. Okay. That makes sense. And I love the fit for Jamal Adams, which is different from talking about the trade value and whether that was right, but the guy is an impressive player. He's like a young Harrison Smith with how many different ways he can impact the game, so you add that part of it. Maybe you can convince Russell Wilson with a few more weapons here to

throw more often. They're bringing Josh Gordon back. I think they should still be really, really good. I don't see a reason for them to at least not be in the mix to win more often. They're bringing Josh Gordon back. I think they should still be really, really good. I don't see a reason for them to at least not be in the mix to win the division. No, absolutely. I think they're going to be a good team. I mean, I think they could be a truly scary team if they hit their stride defensively. I like a lot of the pieces. The pass rush is the only thing I'm concerned about.

I just don't know how they're going to get after the quarterback. I don't have a lot of faith in the players they have in that area of the roster, but everywhere else, I love just the overall speed and explosiveness they have a receiver. Even if they're not going to throw it enough, I still think Russell Wilson is going to be really good. I think they're going to be a good team. I just wouldn't have taken them before a couple others on this list. And I'll be very interested to see if Greg Olson can actually, you know, kind of turn back the clock a little bit, because if he does, having that possession guy would be super helpful. I think Jimmy Graham was not that for several years for Russell Wilson. All right, we're down to the final two picks here of the top 10 all-team drafts. Who are you taking

at number nine? I already know I'm going to regret this and I'm sure you have plenty to say about it. I will be taking the Buffalo Bills. Really? Wow. Okay. I would not have done that. Nope. I would not have done that. No, no, no. Not with that quarterback. With the rest of the team, if they had signed Andy Dalton and replaced him at quarterback, I would say, yes, you've got a good case here. I just don't trust Josh Allen. Last year they had one of the easiest schedules in the NFL. I don't think that happens again.

And Allen, after this year, I think they're talking about him like Trubisky. I still have faith. Wow. I went back and watched a couple games earlier this week when we were prepping for our AFC East pod on the Athletic NFL show, which is available wherever you get your podcasts. I still have faith. I think that if you surround him with the right pieces

in the right sort of offense in year three, I really like what the deep ball connection could look like with Stephon Diggs in the sense that I think that Stephon Diggs is pretty much the perfect receiver to pair with a pretty inaccurate deep ball thrower because of how well he tracks the ball. I don't know if Josh Allen's ever going to be good, but I think he can be better than he was last year. And if that offense is the 12th best offense in football, which they were like 20th in passing giveaway last season, they're the 12th best offense in football, which I absolutely think they could be if he is passable i really believe in their defense just be one of the best

units in the league again now this is one of a team that was i think second or i want to say second or fourth in past defensive ua last year i think i've been fourth fourth and past defense dvoa and this is when sorry i just got distracted uh at the fourth and past defense dA, and this is when – sorry, I just got distracted. The fourth and past defense DVOA, and this is without turning the ball over that much. This is not a team that subsisted on turnovers last year to be a good defense. And if you can be really good just by virtue of your talent and your scheme without relying on all these interceptions, all this fumble luck, that's how you tend to be good from season to season.

I have so much faith in the defensive coaching staff, and I believe on a talent basis, they might be the second most talented roster in the entire league after New Orleans. I agree with that. They have done an incredible job of building that roster and finding a coach that is competent and knows what he's doing for the first time in I don't know how long. The entire time I lived there past Marv Levy and Wade Phillips,

who we both know and love, past those two guys, it was a mess in Buffalo. So to have Sean McDermott, who I look at as kind of like a younger version of Mike Zimmer, just a guy who can elevate his defense from year to year, and if you get enough offense. And maybe there's an inaccurate comparison of Case Keenum and Josh Allen like Stefan Diggs making inaccurate quarterbacks much much better I get it where you're coming from and if it was any other quarterback I would probably be right on board it's just can I mean I look at it as it really puts a ceiling on you when your guy is not accurate that you can't win more than nine or

ten games unless you have a lot going really right for you when your quarterback is throwing the ball all over the place so I also don't believe that's a skill that improves by a lot over somebody's career he's throwing the ball all over the place but I think he's throwing the ball all over the place with some sort of purpose he doesn't throw the ball to the other team. I feel like their strategy overall, I'm not trying to explain away his inaccuracies, but I know that I've talked to Josh Allen about this. They really have a philosophy as an offense, and with him especially, we're not going to turn the ball over. We're not going to turn the ball over. And that's what they do. And they tend to be safe with stuff like that. And I think that those overthrows, some of them are born of them really trying to not put the ball in harm's way.

We'll see if that continues. But I think his accuracy in the intermediate areas of the field did get better last year. So maybe that's just random. Maybe it falls back this year. Maybe he's just kind of shooting blind out there. But I truly just believe in the rest of the talent that they have to kind of lift him and to make this a really good team, even if he's not great. Well, it's a very interesting pick because they were not in my top 10. And now I am down to the last pick and I've got the Vikings on the board,

got the Packers on the board. Arizona is kind of an off the board pick, but I think they're going to be quite a bit better this year. And two other teams from the AFC that we didn't really discuss, the New England Patriots have Cam Newton now. They won 12 games last year with no offense. And the Steelers won eight games last year with no offense and are getting Ben Roethlisberger back. Tell me who you would pick here. I'd pick New England just because I hear –

so it's what we're talking about with defense. The Steelers did subsist on turnovers last year so saying well they won eight games without Ben Roethlisberger I mean that's that's something that makes a lot of sense just at first glance but the defense is probably not going to be as good I think they're going to be really good I love the pass rush I think that that's something that translates I don't think they're going to turn the ball over quite as much. And if they're the sixth best defense in the NFL, are you really that confident that the offense can be a top 10 unit and have them be a contender? I'm not. I'm not just writing it in as Ben Roethlisberger being some guaranteed quantity at age almost 40 coming off a major injury. Yeah, I'm with you on that.

Gosh. I just don't know if I can trust Cam with no weapons and an injury history. I think I'm going to go. You don't have to pick these two teams. There are other teams on the board. Yeah, I know, I know, I know. And that's what I'm thinking. For example, the Minnesota Vikings.

Yeah, I know. Well, so here's. And that's what I'm thinking. For example, the Minnesota Vikings. Yeah, I know. Well, so here's what I've gone back and forth on all offseason is, are the Packers or Vikings better? And, I mean, the Packers are going to regress from 13-3, but do they regress to 7-9? Like, probably not. They absolutely could. Yeah, yeah.

They absolutely could. If the yeah. They absolutely could. If the Packers went seven and if you told me right now the Packers are going seven and nine, I wouldn't call you crazy. I'd be like, okay, I can see that happening. That's fine. Especially if Devontae Adams gets even like banged up for a few weeks. That could be a huge problem. They really do have a great defense.

All right. I'm still going to go with the Packers. I think that they have enough juice there, and they seem to have the right antidote for the Vikings, if that's the right word, to beat them. And if they beat the Vikings a couple of times, then they'll end up winning the division and not the Vikings. And there are just still too many questions with the secondary for the Vikings, with the cornerback specifically, for me to say for sure, but these two teams are the most

neck and neck in my mind, and the other one that I thought about going with was Arizona, because they're the hot pick team. Wow. That division is so tough, though. You know what, I love it. I love the boldness. Get on the train early, man. Get your spot before everybody else does. Get some prime real estate. Maybe I should do that. Maybe I should go Arizona here and just draft a receiver, Green Bay. I don't know. Yeah, this is a very tough one because I think these teams are all in the same spot.

Let's do it. Let's go Arizona. Let's go Arizona. Wow. You know what? Why not? You have absolutely nothing to lose, so you might as well pick the fun team. I know.

Tenth pick. Kyler Murray is good. He's super good. He's really fun to watch, but he also, I think, processes quickly, and that's not something you see from rookies very often, and I saw it from him at the end of last year, and he's got a tremendous arm. He's all sorts of fun, and I think Cliff Kingsbury does know what he's doing, even though he didn't win in college. DeAndre Hopkins is also there now. DeAndre Hopkins plays for that team. I know. All right, well, so would you pick Green Bay or Minnesota next

if we were going top 11? Well, I – Or would you go someone else? If you want to listen to the athletic football show, we pick the NFC North, and I pick the Vikings to win the division. Okay. And that was before the Yannick Ngakwe trade. Yeah, there's a good case. So I feel even better about it now. I picked the Vikings to win the division. Okay. And that was before the Yannick and Gawkway trade. Yeah.

So I feel even better about it now. I picked Minnesota. That's the team that I would go with. If I was picking the 11th spot, though, I'd probably pick the Vikings or the Colts. Yeah. All Colts, yeah. Yeah. I think the Colts are going to be pretty good. Vikings quarterback is more predictable, though.

Like, we don't know what Rivers is going to bring. I think Rivers is going to be fine. You put it – he's playing behind the best offensive line he's played with maybe in his entire career. And I really have a lot of faith in what Frank Reich and Nick Sirianni, both of whom know him extremely well, can do with him. We talk about, oh, he's quarterback switching teams. He's in a new environment, short offseason. Phillip Rivers is very comfortable with the guys he's playing for right now.

I can guarantee you that. Sirianni was his position coach for multiple years. I mean, they know each other extremely well. The same goes with Reich. I think he's going to be extremely comfortable and very good from day one. I think you're going to see a much better Phillip Rivers this year than you did last year with the Chargers. Well, we will find out when the Vikings play them in week two

because last year it was not good for Phillip Rivers against the Vikings defense. But it was also an L.A. home game, so that was a little bit different. Home game. Yeah, I think I'm just going to say about Vikings Packers, I still think that if you're the Vikings, you're concerned about what the Packers did to you last year with their defense and cousins and your offensive line.

That was a big factor for those two losses. But if you're setting your expectation for the Vikings at winning the division, I think that's fair. Like, that's where they should be, especially when they push the chips in a bit with Yannick and Gawkway trades. So, yeah, I think that they're neck and neck for the next picks. So it is – What the Vikings have done this year with being able to retool this team on the fly while also kind of admitting that you have to do some – that you have to have some turnover, just – I'm so impressed. There are so many teams that would have screwed this up in an embarrassing way. And the fact that they've managed to kind of do this and, you know,

balance the books but make sure that they're still in contention, everything else. I have so much respect for everybody at all levels of that organization. I think they're extremely well run. And the trade for Ngakwe being for now and later is impressive. There are not too many trades in the NFL that are for a guy who's 25 years old still and is already one of the top 15 sackers over the last four years.

So you're right about that and their ability to restructure contracts and make it all work, plus the draft 15 picks, a lot of guys with high potential for a rebuild, keeping their stars. Yeah, they did a tremendous job this offseason. So follow them on Twitter, Robert Mays. Make sure that you are downloading and listening to The Athletic Football Show and also look for your written work there coming up soon on The Athletic. Super fun, man. Like we got to do this podcast for him, not just live radio, so we could

really spread out the wings. Anytime, man. You know I'm around. I'm always available for you if you need it. Get back to the conversation in just a minute. But first, you've always counted on restaurants and now they're counting on you. And while their dining rooms may be closed, they're still open for delivery with DoorDash. DoorDash is the app that brings you the food you're craving right to your door. Ordering is easy. You open the DoorDash app, choose what you want to eat, and your food will be left safely at your door with the new contactless delivery drop-off setting.

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before rosters are cut down, wanted to take some time to preview roster cut down with intern Paul, who, by the way, has written his first feature on the Purple Insider website that you can all go see if you go to purpleinsider.substack.com. Paul, I'm very proud of you. And you wrote about long snappers, which just, it makes my heart swell like the Grinch, Paul. Yeah. If I was really trying to get on your good side, I think I found the topic. It was either that or fullbacks. And I think I couldn't go wrong with long snappers.

You could have gone blocking tight ends or anything from 1994 to 1998, all of that would have been perfect, but long snappers is great. And so I highly suggest that even though it is sort of a funny topic that you go check it out because you got a lot about Austin Cutting's background story and sort of what it takes to be a long snapper in the NFL. So I'm very happy that you were able to do that and the article turned out great. So you have for me me, five cut-down day questions. Go ahead, Paul.

Well, I think it felt like people had a pretty good sense of what the roster might look like prior to Yannick Ngakwe getting here. His arrival, plus maybe a couple things happening on the offense, a couple injuries, have kind of left it a little bit up in the air, what those final cuts could be. So I'm kind of interested first on the Kenny Willicke's point. Vikings placed him on IR, I believe, on Wednesday, or the injured reserve just to come back later.

So that frees up a spot on the roster. Who do you think might make the team now that he's on the IR? Do you think it's another defensive lineman that they'll replace him with or they'll look elsewhere? Yeah, I do think that it clears up things a little bit along the defensive line. Willekes, I think, was going to make it. He had had a very good camp, and he was playing with the second team when they were at U.S. Bank Stadium for the scrimmage.

So that really spoke well to how he had performed early on. And to have him go out. It's a really tough break for him because he was having such a good camp and making a case, and I know we'll get to this, for Mr. Mankato. But now if they had issues before with deciding to keep Jalen Holmes, Hercules Mata'afa, James Lynch, I think they might be able to keep all of them. The guys, Lynch and Holmes, are the guys that are the toughest for me to decide. If they're going to cut one of them. The guys, Lynch and Holmes are the guys that are the toughest for me to decide if they're going to cut one of them, which would it be? Because Jalen Holmes has run

with the first team with Daniil Hunter out, but at the same time, that doesn't always mean that that guy's going to make the team. It might mean that they want a big sample to see if there's anything there after two years of a whole lot of nothing from Jalen Holmes. And now we're talking about a position change going from defensive tackle to defensive end. On the other side of the coin though, for Jalen Holmes, he is a bigger guy at around 280 pounds. Yannick Ngakwe is not all that big. So if you were looking for someone who could specifically be a run stuffer, maybe Jalen Holmes is your guy. Now, with James Lynch, he just hasn't really shown a whole heck of a lot, but you draft the guy in the

fourth round who's 21 years old with an idea that he can develop into being that, not being that right away, so it's hard for me to see them just chopping him right now. If you get the choice between a known commodity and you don't see much more upside and a guy who is 21 and has just joined the team essentially as a fourth round pick, you're usually going to pick the younger guy. So I think that might allow them, Willick's injury, might allow them to keep both. But at the same time, sorry, going back and forth here, like playing tennis with myself, but at the same time, Willick is going out, but you're adding Ngakwe. So maybe that doesn't really change it a whole lot. And the other guy who's in the mix here that can't be forgotten about, because I'm not sure of his status, is Hercules Mata'afa. Now that Afadi Adenabo can handle that situational

rusher role, would you decide, okay, well, it's going to be Armand Watts and Afadi Adenabo and sorry Hercules Mata'afa there hasn't been enough there so this will be one of the most interesting to watch for sure on cut down day yeah do you think factoring in maybe Jalen Holmes could be um would they put him on the practice squad is that something they do with this a player this far into his career I know he's getting close to maybe needing a new contract soon so would they put him on the practice squad? Is that something they do with a player this far into his career? I know he's getting close to maybe needing a new contract soon. So would they put him on the practice squad? And that kind of goes into my next question. But also on the James Lynch point, it's interesting. Everyone thought he was like a big pickup in the draft. Oh, he should have gone earlier. And he hasn't really shown much. So I guess going off that, just a quick point. Do you think it's

more like the NFL draft community was just really high on him? And maybe now we're seeing teams weren't as high on him because he went later than people thought. Now he hasn't really impressed with the Vikings. Well, one thing that I've learned from covering the draft for quite a while is that teams generally know what they're doing. Like a lot of times, if someone shockingly drops in the draft, there's a reason, there's something that all the teams saw that maybe the draft analysts didn't see, or some projectable skill that analysts thought they had that the whole NFL didn't. And so I think it's a good point to say maybe those people who had him as a fringe first round pick

or a second round pick were a little bit too high on him. And I think what the tough part is for someone like him and Jalen Holmes, who they also picked in the fourth round, is just how is this going to translate when you're a tweener? Because both of these guys, when you're about a hundred or 280 pounds, somewhere in that range, 270 pounds, 290 pounds, if you're not a pure defensive tackle and you're not really going to succeed at defensive end at that weight because you just can't be quick enough to beat tackles around the edge, it takes a lot to beat them with straight-up power. You better be really powerful, and I don't think James Lynch is that either.

It leaves you in this no-man's land, and I think that that's what teams probably saw was, eh, where does he really fit in here? But, you know, I wouldn't count him out as potentially being a decent player. We've seen lots of guys look like nothing early on and then develop under Andre Patterson. But I think that that's the answer is that he just didn't really have a true position coming out of college. And as a defensive tackle so far, it hasn't looked particularly great. So I'm sure they've got more than a few guys, the Vikings do, that they hope to kind of sneak onto the practice squad. Of the guys that are kind of in that zone, who do you think would be

the hardest that they're really going to be holding their breath for when they put them on waivers and they hope they can get them into the practice squad. So it's very interesting this year is now you're allowed to put veterans on the practice squad, which has never been the case before. And it's great for veteran players. Like if you're trying to stay in the league, you might have a shot there and then be able to continue practicing with the team. So say Amir Abdullah, for example, I don't think if they cut Amir Abdullah, anyone else is picking him up. And I would go the same way for Chad Beebe too, that if Chad Beebe gets cut, who is picking up someone who's in their mid-20s, who didn't have an exceptional college career and has been nothing but injured so far

in the NFL? Probably no team is coming calling for that. So you can get that guy onto the practice squad pretty easily as a veteran, and then if you need them during the season, move them back on. And that might be where some decisions come in that are tough for the Vikings when it comes to these draft picks. Because someone like Harrison Hand was a fifth-round draft pick, but has not shown much in training camp that would make you think, oh, man, they have to keep Harrison Hand around. But a fifth round

draft pick that gets cut, if there was one other team that also had him in that range that does have injuries or something like that for the corners, we could see that player get poached. So those decisions are going to be really tough for them because they already have a pretty full cornerback room with Holton Hill, Mike Hughes, Cam Dantzler, Jeff Gladney, Chris Boyd. That's five. So are you going to keep six just to make sure you keep a draft pick on, or are you going to try to sneak that guy onto the practice squad? I think that's the toughest decision they have. If they cut Alexander Hollins, some other team may have been reading about Alexander Hollins or liked what they saw in week 17. But this is what makes it

easier for the Vikings to cut some of these players and harder for other teams is you'd be going on purely what you thought of them in the draft because there's no preseason games to say, hey, I love that guy. We're going to pick him up off that team's waivers. Yeah, I was going to say, is that usually how teams are finding these guys is solely based off the preseason games? Do they have people that come scout other training camps? Or is that that's not how they do it? Like how, how are how are they finding them? Because that that was my that was gonna be my next point is there are no preseason games for James Lynch to show out. I think DJ Wanham is probably safe because of how high he was drafted. but he's another guy that definitely could get poached based on his intangibles and everything that you saw prior to the draft. But how are they going to see that? Because my next question is, do you think they will bring in someone from another team? I think it's possible.

We have seen this before where the roster gets set and we all write our big breakdowns, and then the very next day they do something different. We go, well, okay, I guess you could just light that entire roster analysis on fire. And that would be where it would have to be in the weeds more likely than not, unless a surprise veteran gets cut. But what position would they bring in a surprise veteran cut? Would it have to be guard? There aren't too many spots on this team right now where you would do it. Maybe a backup linebacker if you don't like what you have there,

a backup safety they could look to. They worked out George Iloka earlier this offseason, so there could certainly be a backup safety that they try to bring in. But how much of a difference that's going to make in the long run, I don't really know. So I don't see them doing that, but I do see the potential for them to have very tough decisions and have one player, when you draft 15 and you end up cutting some guys, having a player get poached from them that they're trying to sneak onto the practice squad. There was a linebacker, Elijah Lee, a couple of years ago, who had a

pretty good preseason and had a really high draft stock, I think, from some other team. Maybe it was San Francisco. They really liked him, and so they brought him out there and played him a little bit. He was in the NFL. It wasn't like they lost, you know, the next Mike Singletary or anything, but it does happen every so often. It's probably overstated, though. Fans, like, are talking about, oh, you can't cut this guy because you might lose him. And you don't see it that often. I think you'll see it even less this year. Yeah, I was going to say, it just, I don't know. With the practice squad, it does feel like we kind of overvalue those things.

And I think fans are probably worried about Kyle Sloater a couple times. And if he'd make it to the practice squad and how that would shake out, you can't cut him. You're worried about that, keeping a third quarterback. So I don't think it matters that much. And with 15 draft picks and then having a couple undrafted free agents that you also like, it feels like this wouldn't be a year where they'd go out and maybe coach someone else because it feels like it's a hard year to cut some of the guys already. And they just have so many young pieces that they're looking at so that they'd

go out and poach some other draft pick that maybe they didn't get or another undrafted guy. They just have so many of them. So it seems like it would. Sorry to your question that you asked about how they're paying attention in past years. I've always thought, I'm sure that the Packers and Bears are sending a guy dressed in Vikings uniform up to Minnesota to sit in the stands and watch the first few days of training camp and get a look at some guys. I'm sure that

that's happening, but for this year, it is going to have to be on draft evaluation and just what's said in the media. I mean, if the media is talking about a guy you really loved as, hey, he's standing out in training camp, that would be really all that you would have to work on. And that's, again, why you're probably going to see less of this. The other thing too, is that the practice squad and who makes it is less controversial than it's ever been because there's 16 spots on that practice squad. I mean, you're increasing it massively from a tough cut down to 10 spots. So, I mean, if you can't make the top 69 players, don't say it, then, I mean, you're probably not that great to begin with, right? I mean, there probably wasn't a whole heck of a lot there.

And, yeah, speaking of those 2020 draft picks, who do you think the most likely one would be to get cut that we're looking at? I think we talked a little bit about James Lynch. He might be still a little bit high, but Harrison Hand, is that kind of where you're going in terms of maybe highest pick that could get axed? Yeah, I would definitely have it. James Lynch would be the highest pick, but I don't know. I've gone back and forth on that one a bunch. I agree with you. DJ Wanham is not going to go anywhere. He's also flashed enough, I think, so he stays.

And also, Andre Patterson loves him. It would be stunning if they cut Andre Patterson's draft pick as a fourth rounder. So Harrison Hand, I'm having trouble getting Blake Brandel onto the team with the fact that Riley Reif is back. If Riley Reif had gone, then he gets bumped up and there's a decent likelihood that he ends up as a backup tackle. He moved up to the second team when Rashad Hill got hurt during the scrimmage, which I think he's fine now, but he didn't practice during that scrimmage and Brandel was playing with the second team. But now I have a really tough time seeing him getting on. And then also, you know, Nate Stanley, I doubt it. You're probably not going to keep three

quarterbacks. He's probably a practice squad quarterback. I could also see with 16 guys, they keep Browning and Nate Stanley and continue to try to develop both of those guys because Browning had some good days during training camp. He worked with the second team during the scrimmage. So I'm sure they're evaluating, do they want to keep him and go forward after having him for a year in the camp now? But I doubt that they would just draft Nate Stanley and then say, okay, you're cut. See ya. I think he'll stay on the practice squad. All right. Let's finish with a position group that I think has been a little bit of a pleasant surprise. Maybe the bottom of it, which is the wide receiver position. I don't think we expected

to maybe not know this much about the wide receiver group at this point. Tajay Sharp, Alexander Hollins, Chad Beebe, KJ Osborne, all could be on the team, all might not be on the team. So how many do you think they keep and who are they? So what I've got right now, just a guess, I have Adam Thielen, B.C. Johnson, Justin Jefferson, Alexander Hollins, and Tajay Sharp, and K.J. Osborne, but Osborne as punt returner, kick returner only. So I do have them keeping six guys, but he's not really a sixth. He's more of a Marcus Sherrill's type of roster spot. And that's one of the reasons

that I have him there is that they have valued this in the past as a specific roster spot just for Marcus Sherrill's to punt return. So why wouldn't they do it with KJ Osborne? And when they were going forward in the scrimmage, he was taking every kick return rep and almost every punt return rep, which makes me think nobody else was really even in that mix. And he's going to be that guy. The toughest one to leave out is Beebe. I think he ends up on the practice squad because they just don't believe anybody else would pick him up. So then you get to keep him if you need him, if somebody else gets hurt. But Justin Jefferson being so much of a slot receiver, it really hurts your need for having Chad Beebe. Like that's the only thing he can really do is be a slot receiver. And if you're

giving that role to Justin Jefferson, then you really don't need Chad Beebe. And plus Hollins does something that no one else does here, which is be a deep threat. I mean, Thielen is a threat at all levels of the field, but B.C. Johnson is not a pure deep threat, and Hollins has shown that he is fast and he can make plays down the field in training camp in the little bit that we saw him last year. So I think that that's how it goes. The tough one is Tajay Sharp. He looked solid in camp, but certainly did not pop. He played mostly with the second team, a little bit with the first team, and if they decided to cut him, I wouldn't be shocked, but he also knows the system, and he's a veteran, so you might want that in a year that's so weird.

Yeah, to the K.J. Osborne point, on the Marlon Maloof special teams call, someone asked him about it. Does Osborne have that job? He was getting all the reps in that scrimmage you were talking about. And he tried to kind of play it off and say, well, Amir Abdul has gotten a bunch of the snaps in practice. Like we're still looking at him, but it's a little confusing knowing that everyone's going to have their eyes on that scrimmage that you put Osborne in for all those. If you,

if that wasn't kind of where you were leaning, cause that's where the public discourse is going to shift to it's going to be okay jasper is the guy so if they wanted to if they were still thinking about that you'd think abdullah would have gotten out there earlier and then to the holland's point he kind of seems like a mr mancato a candidate i know we're about to get to that right at the end but that he he seems like one of the likely names just his his stand-up performances everything that i've heard is he's been consistent about it as compared to right at the end, but he seems like one of the likely names, just his standout performances. Everything that I've heard is he's been consistent about it as compared to maybe a cam dancer who's

had really good highs, but he's had some lows. Hollins has just kind of been there and been really consistent. And the fact that he was in a Week 17 game last year and that they targeted him, was that in a playoff game that they targeted him? They did, yeah. Yep. I think in New Orleans they threw his way. Yep. So he's at least got a little bit of a pedigree, and they've seen him a lot more recently than Chad Beebe. Gary Kubiak's actually seen him out on the field. Chad Beebe really hasn't had that opportunity much recently,

and he's just been too hurt. And I don't know, I haven't heard much hype about Chad Beebe's blowing him away at camp like he's going to make it hard for them to cut him so it seems like Hollins has the inside track and then I would also say maybe an inside track on Mr. Mankato. Beebe gets open in short routes and small spaces and in the middle of the field like in one-on-one coverage especially if there's a linebacker on him but even against nickel corners and there's value to that but Justin Jefferson's going to do it. And that's where I just, I wouldn't be completely stunned

if they went the other way, if they feel like the one thing that we never know is how someone has grasped the offense. So even if they're making plays, if they're in the wrong spot and so forth, this is a Kyle Slaughter point for sure, where everyone thought, oh, Slaughter's doing so well in preseason. And Mike Zimmer came out and said, yeah, he's not even lining up the team right. So that's not going to work.

But on your point about Mr. Mankato, let me answer that one. I think it should be against the rules to have a third round pick. When you take someone in the third round, the expectation is that they're part of the team and they're probably going to have a role. So I've always been against that. If we're going with that, then it's Cam Dantzler. If we're not, I think the runaway is Alex Hollins. The only other guy that could have had a shot in my mind is Kenny Wilkis because he was a seventh rounder and he was working his way into a position.

He gets hurt. I think we got to give it to Hollins. Yeah, I don't know. In my head, it's like a day three guy. It's a guy you're watching the draft on Saturday and you're watching it for four hours. Maybe they don't even like announce it. It's just on the bottom of the screen on the ticker. And you're like, oh, we got that guy from Appalachian State. Like, cool, I guess we'll figure it out. Cam Dantzler, they broke it down at the draft. It was kind of always a major talking point, and he had a lot of hype even before training camp. So it just feels like it kind of goes against it.

I don't think everyone was on the Alexander Hollins is going to make the team argument, and he feels like he's a guy that has really shot up. So I definitely would also agree with you. Yeah, the only debate is whether a guy who actually got in an NFL game last year should be allowed to be a Mr. Mankato. I say yes, though, because he was on the practice squad for most of last year. I think he had just a couple of targets, and now if you can emerge and make a case for yourself to have a real position, you deserve it. The standard, I think, is a little bit higher, but Hollins has been that guy. And the other thing is, too, that, you know, without preseason games, you could make a case for someone like Miles Dorn or Josh Metellus, who have been

the backup safeties. But if they were out there in preseason games and getting picks, then wow, yeah. Or Blake Lynch, who I think is a guy who has a chance to make the team. He's a linebacker. But again, unless you get a couple of interceptions or a couple sacks or big plays in a preseason game that makes it a little bit harder so everyone kind of has to go on us saying alexander hollins has been great and sorry for that hopefully next year there's no covid and everything is fine um great stuff paul appreciate it and again make sure everybody uh goes over to purple insider and reads his article on austinting because it's really good. So thanks for your time, Paul.

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