Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - An NFC North bonanza with Tyler Dunne

Episode Date: March 24, 2023

Matthew Coller and national NFL writer Tyler Dunne talk about the Vikings' offseason challenges, why he thinks it's time for them to draft a QB and why Za'Darius Smith hasn't been moved yet. Plus he makes the case for the Packers being better off without Aaron Rodgers and decides on Lions vs. Bears for the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to a very special episode of Purple Insider. This is our NFC North future special thing that we didn't name before we went live. Matthew Collar with you as always. And Tyler Dunn from Go Long TD. As you can see, the very attractive hoodie there you're wearing, Tyler. It has been a very, very entertaining offseason for some of us who have reported in depth about the Packers quarterback situation. So we're going to touch on that quite a bit. Bears, Lions, Vikings, future at quarterback. We are going to discuss it all over the next hour or so. Feel free to jump into the conversation

with your comments and everything else as we always do on the channel. But great to be with you, Tyler. Thanks so much for doing this, man. Hell yeah. It's always great to be with you Tyler thanks so much for doing this man hell yeah it's always great to talk a little NFC North with you Matthew Collar it's uh I feel like we were just sitting out there in Egan right at that brewery BSing about the Vikes the Packers and man time flies so it's it's good to be here it is really funny because when we were having that conversation I remember it well and we were talking about just what the Vikings were going to be. And what you were buying majorly into was the culture of Kevin O'Connell and Kweisi Daffo-Mensah. And me being hardened and broken inside about covering sports, I was like, I don't know, man, we'll see, we'll see.

And I have to say, even though last season you can look at point differential and you could say a lot of things went their way and luck and so forth. And we have talked about that on the show. The one thing that was enduring and very much true was the culture that they created. And normally I wouldn't want to carry that water and say that definitively by not being in the locker room, like as a player or working in the building. But the NFL PA survey, I mean, those guys were ruthless to some of the other teams and it really said it all about what they were able to create. So I think that you were exactly right in pinpointing that part of it. Did that make them a Super Bowl champion? No,

it did not. But at least they know that they have their quarterback and they have their culture that they could go forward with. I mean, we've rehashed the horror show that was Mike Zimmer's Minnesota Vikings, you know, many times over. So we probably don't need to, you know, drag Viking fans into that hell this hour, but it was really, really bad. And I don't have that intimate local beat knowledge of the team. We were just texting each other about this the other day. But I do have that ability to kind of compare this team versus that team, kind of parachute in and get a quick sense for how things operate, like with this GM, this coach.

Do players like it here? Do they hate it here? What's the atmosphere? And you could just sense that 180. I mean, talking to Viking players under Zimmer and then talking to Viking players under O'Connell and then sitting down with Kevin O'Connell and really hearing him break it down. It didn't come across to me as just total mumbo jumbo, you know, cliche BS you'd hear at a conference in Silicon Valley. Like, it was real. Like, he knew, all right, this is a team that's going to face adversity in a very real sense

on a game-to-game basis and at some point in the season, and we need to have a team that can take that head-on. And I feel like I'm not an analytic guy i try to cover this game through a very like human lens and if you're if you like think about us all when we hear that alarm go off in the morning you're either dreading the day or you can't wait to attack the day and they went from dreading it to loving it and that means something right i i don't know how you can kind of connect the two, but they lost a lot of one-score games with Zimmer,

and then they won a lot of one-score games with O'Connell. All of that means something, as the NFLPA survey kind of bared out. Yeah, and there's a lot of things that kind of go into it as well. I mean, when you're talking about how the players feel about their health, I mean, just adding up the determining factors of how comfortable you are at work. If you know that the training staff has your back and you, you know, that you could go into the training room and trust the guys who are working there and feel like they're doing everything they can for you from a health perspective. I just think that that sort of trickles down to everything. And then O'Connell being a former player has a very unique perspective.

There aren't a lot of former player head coaches. Am I, I mean, am I wrong on that? It feels like there's only a handful of former player head coaches who really understand what is going to matter and how a locker room should be operated. And I don't know if you could directly tie it into the late game stuff, but at the same time, they looked like a much more comfortable team in those late game situations. Now, a lot of it is Josh Allen fumbled on a QB sneak, and I don't know of any kind of culture that makes the other team fumble on a QB sneak, but at the same time, like they made big plays. They came through Kirk cousins was much more comfortable in those late game spots. And if that is because we're going to get into this at some point predictive for whatever quarterback lands on this team that he knows he's going to have a connection with his coach. He's going to

have a team that has a comfortable locker room, a good situation overall. I think everything is just an odds game. There's no way that that couldn't push the odds in your favor of that quarterback of the future potentially working out. I just keep thinking back to Terrence Newman and him being so honest about Mike Zimmer behind the scenes when he was on the coaching staff. Obviously, Newman played for him in Dallas and Cincinnati and Minnesota. If there is a Zim guy,

it is Terrence Newman who is just the absolute best dude to talk to. As we talked about, convinced me to shave my head and help me meet my wife. And I owe my family to Terrence Newman. So just a good dude, but for, for him to then call out Mike Zimmer and in terms of it being so strange to hear a head coach so irate so mad about like just media coverage and people coming down on him

when you're you're good i mean if you lose your job as a head coach you're getting paid out you're fine you can go down on your ranch you can chill when you're just cutting guys left and right, moving on from players left and right. And their livelihoods are being uprooted constantly. I mean, think about those people on the fringes of an NFL roster where you're up and down on the practice squad. You know, you're living out of a hotel. You might be driving on the highway out of town. You might get the call. Oh, you're coming back. We just signed you to the P squad or signed you to the 53. Kevin O'Connell lived that world as a quarterback. He knows what it's like to be an NFL player getting jerked around by a callous, cruel business so he can just relate to these guys on a very human level, day-to-day level.

And like you said, it's hard to kind of figure out what that means in terms of the product and Josh Ann fumbling at the one, but it's, it's going to manifest in a positive way in the short term. Sure. But in the long term, I feel like, you know, there, and I want to ask you about this roster too, because it's changing a lot this off season versus last off season when they kind of patched it together and kept the, kept the contender together. I feel like that's what's going to sustain you over the long haul culturally, regardless of the players coming in and out. When you know your head coach cares and guys want to go to work.

But what's it like out there, Matt, this offseason when, I mean, there's a lot of players that we both talked to last offseason that were in love with this coach and this culture. I mean, Eric Kendricks being one of them, right? Adam Thielen. And now they're cap casualties. Like, does that affect what Kevin O'Connell's built culturally at all? I would think that those guys get it.

They get the business, and they probably saw it writing on the wall. And the Vikings probably handled it as professionally as they could. But, man, those are some really big losses on the field, but especially off the field. Yeah, and I think that it was noticeable even how they handled it in sort of the public face. Like they put out statements from the coach, the GM, the ownership, just recognizing how much those players meant to them. And I think small things like that are noticed by everybody. I don't know that it impacts the culture necessarily those players meant to them. And I think small things like that are noticed by everybody.

I don't know that it impacts the culture necessarily because what they've built over that first year is I think foundational. And also now it becomes like public knowledge. So every player who signs, whether it's Marcus Davenport, we talked to him today, Byron Murphy, they're all aware of the NFL PA survey and they know that it said the Vikings are the top organization to be with. That doesn't mean that everyone's going to come sign here and they have no cap space. So it doesn't really matter if they want to. But I think that coming in with that perception and the things that are put in place specifically with the sports science people, the training staff, all those things, the assistant coaches are still going to be the same other than Brian Flores that I think is going to be a really good

culture fit for them and maybe a little more on the same page as Kevin O'Connell. But I also don't think that there's a replacing Eric Hendricks as far as what he means to your locker room. And that's a hard thing to explain. Like what is a player like that do for everybody? I mean, I think that one is that he sets a standard for every young player, that that is someone that you want to operate on a day-to-day basis, just like that people look to for big plays in games.

Someone like Eric Hendricks for so many years, he was such a great player for them. They could probably also look at it like in a way he was a victim of a scheme that didn't fit him and maybe didn't deserve to be shown the door, but also everybody understands like this is how the thing works when you run your salary cap all the way up. But they do have this odd mix and they also lose Patrick Peterson as well. Like that's pretty big loss for them in their locker room. So now they have kind of this odd mix where it's no longer

feeling as the elder statesman on that side with the receivers so now it's justin jefferson this is this is your show this is your room to run and kurt cousins has never really been that guy even though last year i thought that he connected better with his teammates and his coach by far but he's never been the i own this franchise the joerow, the Josh Allen, this is my show and everybody follow me. He's never really been that guy. Delvin Cook might still end up being out the door as well. That's another person that everyone kind of looked to. So in a way you could say it gives more opportunities for them to bring in people that fit what they want and weren't part of an older culture but the veteran players embraced it so much that now you kind of have

to ask a new group of guys to do that as well and the weirdest place that they're in i think is just the transition of this roster and whether it's actually transitioning to something else at all because it's like well kirk is still here but restructured so it's not a long term thing and we still don't have answers on Zedaria Smith or Delvin Cook we we have superstars that are young in Christian Derusaw and Justin Jefferson defensive players some of them on the way out some of them on the way in like it's a it's not a conducive roster where you'd be like okay Super Bowl or bust everybody or you'd be like, okay, Super Bowl or bust everybody. Or you'd be like, well, look, it's going to be a hard year,

but it could be really fun and lots of developing players. It just continues to rest somewhere in the middle. I thought it was going to go one way more toward that development range, but it is just sort of sat there in the same place that it's been for many years where you can only culture so much, but if you go eight, nine nine a few years in a row, no one's going to be happy, and you know that. Yeah. So you're telling me what the Vikings need to do,

I don't know, a month from now, is find themselves a really good hooker. This is what they've got to do here, right? I don't know. I mean, I don't know how... there's going to be some fun headlines, you know, when they draft him. Are you a hooker guy? Are you a guy who loves a good hooker from Tennessee?

You know, I haven't been grinding the film of hooker, but it would make sense. I mean, you know how much I love, and we're going to get into it, the Green Bay Packers and Jordan Love. And, man, for three years now, I just love the approach with Jordan Love and taking a quarterback when you don't necessarily need to take a quarterback. I think the Vikings would be smart to do something similar. I mean, they've kind of

made their intentions pretty clear with Kirk Cousins. And look, if they were in love with Kirk Cousins and they believed in him and they thought that he could just kind of, you know, face down father time and push it to 40 and get on the TV 12 method, they probably would figure out the finances. They probably put their money where their mouth is and they really haven't, but they still want them at least for this season. All signs point to a draft pick like that. I think that's what more teams really should do.

Why would you wait to the absolute moment? You have to take a quarterback and everybody knows you have to take a quarterback. I just talked to Zaire Franklin, the Indianapolis Colts' linebacker for Q&A. He'll be on the site Friday morning. And it's like we're just openly talking about the reality that the Colts are going to draft a quarterback. Like everybody knows it.

So there's no secrets. And they might even really get a good one. That's their franchise guy for years and years. But I think that the smart teams plan ahead. The Vikings strike me as a really, really smart team. You know, a GM who's been kind of immersed in the numbers and a head coach who's been immersed into the human element of the game. It's a great combination. I don't know if he's good, you know, whether it's hooker or somebody else. I don't know whether they move up, move down i think taking a quarterback would be unbelievably smart and i and i like cousins uh it's hard to figure out like they're they're they want to compete now yet they want to make sure they're not screwing them screw themselves

over for the future if there's a benefit to that right you kind of keep the whole nfl off balance i don't think anybody really knows what the vikings are going to do oh that's very clear when you have jeremy fowler saying they might chase lamar jackson and you have daniel jeremiah mocking them hendon hooker by the way lots of websites that you can go to watch film of hooker if you want to uh those websites are out there just watch for a lot of things to get downloaded a lot of content yeah a lot of content juicy hooker content yeah and it's funny that i accidentally played the wrong intro and it's we have a version of the show called fans only not only fans but maybe only fans will have to do the hooker content anyway put that aside uh the hendon hooker idea this is where it's very

difficult for me, Tyler, because the other ones I would totally get, if any of the other four guys dropped into the Vikings ballpark and they went and they acquired one of them, all of them are high ceiling guys. I mean, Richardson is the one that's talked about with the highest because he's an absolute freak when it comes to his athleticism. But Levis with the arm strength,

maybe you're talking about like a matt stafford kind of quarterback there or if it's you know bryce young the playmaking that could be fantastic cj stroud throws a wonderful football those guys are most likely being taken at the top but we never really know if someone's going to drop um you know once upon a time mitch trubisky being taken ahead of Patrick Mahomes. We never really know how that order is going to work out. But, you know, with the Vikings, it's when it comes to hooker, that one's that's actually harder because he's older, yet it makes so much sense. He's got the ACL thing, so he can't really develop the way you want him to in the first year, the same way that one of the other quarterbacks could. If they did it, I would say, okay, I get it. This is your quarterback and off you go and let's see what happens. But I feel like as an odds play, you should be looking at the other four and hoping

somebody drifts into the middle of the first round and trying to trade up because you'd probably prefer one of those guys over somebody that you're not really sure. Like, what's his ceiling going to be when he's 25 years old, when he's got less hair than you do, when he grew up playing, like, Game Boy? No, we're talking about, like, somebody who's, like, four or five years older than some of these other quarterbacks. I don't know how you feel about that. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. All the millennial stuff.

Yeah, he remembers when, you know, Backstreet Boys had the number one song. This is an old guy, but I don't know how you feel about that. If you feel that that's like not a valid argument, if he's a good prospect or if you think that it is a concern. Yeah. I mean, I'm not a, I'm not a mocker. I'm not going to pretend that I'm this like draft expert who, you know, watched all the Hendon Hooker footage that one can watch. Anthony Richardson just would seem to be the perfect quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings to somehow acquire.

And I know that everybody thinks he's going in the top five, right, because of the pro day and the combine. And this is the next Josh Allen. But I remember this time last year, Malik Willis, everybody was freaking out over him and trying to talk themselves into Malik Willis being a mid first round pick, maybe to Pittsburgh. Well, I mean, he free fell. He went in the third round, Tennessee took him and guess what? He didn't look that good. So sometimes it's,

it's the draft industrial complex where everybody just goes nuts I think Richardson's better than than Malik Willis but I there's a chance he does fall into a range where all right now you're Minnesota and you have some veterans that you maybe would like to move because they've got a contract you would also like to move and you're in that quarterback range it gets a little dicey you'd have to have things kind of set up ahead of time I'm thinking back to Buffalo and how they you know they ended the drought they didn't have a good draft pick but they did they did have an extra first remember from the patch of Mahomes trade the year prior

but they used Cordy Glenn to kind of move their way up into Josh Allen range maybe there's a player on the Vikings roster that allows you to move up. You're going to have to part with a talented dude. That's going to hurt you in the short term, but bring it on a project like an Anthony Richardson, where he doesn't have to play year one, maybe he doesn't have to play year two. However,

that shakes out. It's worth it because of the upside down the road. Yeah. I think that fits into a Daniil Hunter conversation. The only problem is trading him before June 1st is a cap hit against the Vikings, which makes it all so tricky because that's the thing. There's a lot of good ideas,

but all of them come along with someone who has to come in and say, excuse me, sir, you can't do anything with the cap. And you're like, aha, it's correct um but really the conversation comes down to me to do you make an offer for lamar jackson and someone named ken francis who apparently uh works with if you haven't been on twitter today just go search ken francis it got super weird and i don't even know how to explain that. Ken Francis is a random business partner of Lamar Jackson's who's apparently been reaching out to NFL teams. But Lamar Jackson claims that hasn't been happening. You know what he could really use as an agent.

I was going to throw that out there is there. There are there are certain reporters who have reasons why they tell you that this guy needs an agent. And I'm just going to say, I have no affiliation with any agents except for our friend, Jeremiah Searles, who, you know, is on the podcast. But aside from that, so no reason to support him getting an agent other than stop making a clown show of your situation, which is what Lamar Jackson has consistently done. But aside from that, if the Vikings were to go completely nuts and try to get Lamar Jackson, okay, that's fine. And that's fantastic. They would shoot up on Draft Kings for their odds to win the Super Bowl next year by a lot. At the same time, that doesn't seem all that realistic, especially if you have to bring Ken Francis and his workout machine or

something with him. But it seems like it seems like it comes down to if opportunity arises to take a quarterback this year, that they should do it. And if it doesn't, then next year, they have to do it. And that is what you're talking about is when you get backed into that corner where you have to draft a quarterback, it becomes much trickier because everyone is going to, and this leverage conversation is something we'll definitely get into with Aaron Rodgers. But when you have to, then everyone goes, you know what I'd like is another first round pick from you because it seems like you don't have a quarterback.

And how do you time out that player's development with Kirk Cousins leaving, right? You'd rather have them develop for a year and then for him to come in. But I think you make a good point about, I was listening to Thomas Dimitrov and Eric Eager talk the other day, Thomas is a former NFL GM, and he said his evaluation on Anthony Richardson was like a mid-first round pick because he doesn't have the numbers to back up the athleticism. If the NFL looks at it the same way and nobody gets crazy desperate,

I think they will. But if nobody does, then it could be kind of intriguing for that to happen. But I think, I think that the Vikings are in a very difficult position. They have to try to escape this middle. And you mentioned for the bills, the only way they did it,

they got rid of, got out of the Doug Marone and Rex Ryan middle was drafting Josh Allen. There's really nobody else that can do it for you except for the quarterback. Yeah, I will say I love what the Giants did with Daniel Jones. To me, that's how you navigate the middle. It's not as bad of a contract as everybody thought, right? It's 40 mil a year, which is a lot, but they can get out after two years. They can still look for the next quarterback. They're treating kind of like Alex Smith

in Kansas City, where this is a quarterback who is going to get you to the playoffs, maybe wins a game in the playoffs. He's got one of the best teachers of the position, in this case, Brian Dayball instead of Andy Reid, but Andy Reid, I'm sure he loved Alex Smith and everything he did for him, but he kept looking, and he was smitten by Patrick Mahomes, and boom, they made the move to draft Patrick Mahomes. So that's why I love what the Giants are doing. If you're going to figure out the middle, that would seem to be the way to go about it.

The Vikings, man, I know Kweisi Adolfo-Mensah's been very cap-conscious and smart, and now and always making tough decisions, I would absolutely love it if they just went all-in on Lamar Jackson. I feel like any team in any cap situation, look, give me four, even five guaranteed years over four or five non-guaranteed years with any other quarterback in any other situation. I think everybody's overthinking this thing. If he takes up a fifth of your cap, so what?

If you have the risk of injury, so what? Right now, he's in his prime. He's a quarterback unlike any in the NFL. He'd be playing in a dome on a fast track in the NFC where there's not a lot of elite quarterbacks. I think he's instantly the best quarterback in the NFC where there's not a lot of elite quarterbacks I think he's instantly the best quarterback in the conference and look maybe he's only Lamar Jackson for the next four or five years I think that'd be the duration of his contract and it would be absolutely worth moving mountains

to make that to make that happen and I mean Jeremy Fowler's as good as it gets I mean this isn't coming out of left field we should probably keep an eye on that i agree with everything you said and i think that if you are going to go down swinging and you fail by getting an mvp of the league and pairing him with the best receiver in the league then so be it that like that it is what it then you know it is what it is and it's whatever they want. Who cares? If you're going to fail, failing by staying with the same quarterback who's gotten you to the same place year after year is much worse than failing by going all in and taking a big shot to try to win the Super Bowl. And if you're going to do it, do it now before the NFC drafts more quarterbacks and maybe they become great quarterbacks. Because right now there's not a lot of those. You would shoot very much to the top of the list of teams for Super Bowl favorites.

I think it would probably still be Philadelphia, San Francisco, maybe Dallas gets in that conversation. But after that, I mean, you're probably right there with Dallas, if not better, immediately. And this is an NFC North that does not have a definitive, oh, this team is going to run over everyone. And we'll talk a little bit about Detroit. But they're in a great spot, and I think they're going to be a really good team. But if you have Lamar Jackson, you can score with Detroit. And you can score with anybody in the league. You have a chance to be a top-five offense pretty much instantly if that ends up being the case and if you have a top five offense you can compete for the super bowl i think that is like one of those easy you don't even really have to think about it

it's really just all the levers that have to be pulled all at once like how do you make this work by trading kirk cousins after june 1st signing signing Lamar Jackson, signing Lamar Jackson's business partner, like getting him to- Changing your offense, right? Right, right, right, right. Because you're going to be probably through, by the time you can actually make this work through OTAs, through minicamp, and then he's showing up here. Again, not impossible because Brett Favre did it once upon a time in the middle of a training camp where they were running out Tavares Jackson and our buddy Sage Rosenfels. So I don't think it's impossible.

It's just that a lot has to happen, and he has to want to come here and play for the Vikings. How do you make all that work? Oh, and by the way, the Ravens have to – you have to offer so much that the Ravens have to say, okay, you have them. That is a very hard standard meet with the way that's all set up. Do you have any more Vikings questions for me before I ask you about the Packers? Cause you have done a ton of reporting on that. Yes, actually I do. Zedarius Smith, what's going on? I think our readers, listeners that go along would love to know what's up with, you know, a former Packer, of course.

But he was unbelievably honest ahead of that matchup with the Packers. He wanted revenge. He didn't like how it went down in Green Bay. He sounded rejuvenated, refreshed in Minnesota, back with, you know, the man who coached him in Green Bay that he loved, and Neil Hunter on the other side. He was so jacked up and then he performed. What's the state of the union when it comes to Zedaria Smith? Can you ask him for me? I'd love to know what he thinks. So last year, midway through the season, it looked like the best signing of the offseason.

He had like nine and a half sacks through 10 weeks. He was top of the NFL in pressures. And I remember writing a piece looking kind of deep into the defensive MVP conversation. And he was right there. And then the second half of the season, he got a half a sack. His PFF grade dropped by 20 points. The pressure rate dropped. The pressure rate dropped, the win rate dropped, and he was battling a knee injury for the second half of the season,

put two and two together there. And you have a guy who's in his thirties who probably can't be great over a 17 game season. So I think that the Vikings wanted to bring him back this year, but just on either a restructured contract or his regular contract that he signed last season, because it's still pretty favorable for a good pass rusher. But he doesn't want that after a big season where he ranked in the top 10 by PFF and total pressures and had a bunch of sacks. He wants to go back out to the market and look for the money. The problem with that is after the first week of free agency, pretty hard to go look for that money. So, you know, we'll, we'll see how it goes. But I think that ultimately what they're trying to do is trade him because that's more advantageous to the Vikings

cap than cutting him. But you know what happens when everyone knows that you need to trade or cut somebody, they just go, meh, we don't got anything for for you so it feels like right now they're everyone's in a holding pattern so darius thinks he's gone the vikings are trying to find somebody to trade him to but it's weird that it has not been figured out by this point what is happening with him because it feels like the clock is ticking and sometimes these things just sort of work themselves out, right? Like, I mean, last offseason, remember Kyler Murray was just taking the Cardinals off of everything social media wise. And that's that's what these guys do. And time can kind of cool heads. And, you know, maybe the reality of the situation, like you just kind of detailed um just bears itself out but maybe he

is that chip that you need to move up in the draft i don't know he's really damn good i think would concern me as though like he's probably a better run defender than unique and gawkway but i'm stunned that unique and gawkway still out there like the edge rush rusher market has not been that that kind which is kind of crazy for such a premium position. You can really get bargains right now. So, yeah, you're probably right. It's probably that money is just not out there for him, sadly, which is too bad.

I want every player to get as much money as they can possibly get. So you need to be the first guest in Purple Insider history to run and grab their laptop charger? Is that what you're telling me? I am. Yes. Yes. So, uh, yeah, this is a, a fairly new laptop, maybe not two, two and a half years, but the battery has been, has been dying on me pretty quickly. I thought I was going to be good, but I'm down to about 7%. So I got to go snare that right now. Okay. Go over here. Be really quick.

Okay. Yes. We'll be back. All right. I'll continue to talk about Zedaria Smith while you run away. Yeah. And don't trip on the baby gate because then I'm just doing the rest of the show and my little screen here. But with the Zedaria Smith thing, for sure, this feels weird talking to a chair actually at this moment. But if you can hear me as you're walking closer, the Zedaria Smith thing we thought would be figured out by now, basically. And every day that free agency happened, that I logged on to Twitter to wait for the Adam Schefter or Ian Rappaport bomb or whatever. Every day I was refreshing,

thinking that the next refresh was going to be the Vikings have cut Zedaria Smith. They've restructured. They've something. They've something. And it's forced them to do some pretty wonky things with the salary cap where they've added void years to guys. And this is the weirdest thing is that initial reporting on some contracts then changed to add void years and different things to them. So it seems like they had a plan here and an idea of what they were going to do. And then that's sort of been put on hold. And I just have a tough time thinking that on the market,

if he was getting high trade offers, that he would still be here. It feels to me like that's just probably the holdup is that the offers aren't very good. And maybe they're waiting until everybody finds a seat and there's one team who gets desperate. But how long are you going to wait? And so they sign Marcus Davenport. Daniil Hunter remains here. And it just seems like in a holding pattern, poor Zedarius is selling his house already. And we've got, you know, you love those reports, things like that. Like, oh, he's put his house already and we've got you know you love those reports

things like that like oh he's put his house on the market that kind of thing it's always a pretty good sign so yeah i don't i don't know where the next step for zedarius goes so when you ask like what's going to happen i i don't know but i think he ultimately gets traded for not very much and then he is unhappy with his new team and this this could be part of it too, because he's going to want a different contract and more money from whatever team he gets traded to. It's a lot of moving parts to all of this that have not been resolved, but let's let's switch gears a little bit to the Packers and Aaron Rogers situation.

Now, Bob McGinn on your show is I think the first to say that this is over with Rogers and the packers that has completely come to fruition on go long that's why i subscribe to go long td by the way and everyone else should as well but um you know this and everybody should subscribe to purple insider sorry i gotta give you your love too purple insider to my listeners subscribe now um but uh i think this is like everyone actually will end up happy like the jets will be happy they got their guy and the packers will be happy they're they're

done with a fading expensive aloof quarterback and uh matt lafleur can actually kind of have his own quarterback to build on with i mean this is like an all's well that ends well situation as soon as they can actually complete this trade. It really is. I mean, this was the number one trading partner all along, even before they added Aaron Rodgers' buddy Nathaniel Hackett as offensive coordinator. This was a team with a really good roster around the quarterback

that is sick and tired of swinging and missing in the draft sam darnold zach wilson as an owner you don't want to see your gm and your coach go down that road again uh you want a veteran in there and then you look at the veteran market darren rogers i mean unless you're going to go the derrick carr route which maybe they should have gone that route. And we were told that they viewed him as a Hall of Famer, yet they still didn't sign him, which maybe it's a little strange there to put that out. It's Aaron Rodgers, and I think that he – I don't buy the 90% retired mindset into the darkness. What he has said publicly tends to be a little less than truthful,

you know, when it comes to being immunized and what have you. So you have to take these sit downs with Pat McAfee for a grain of salt. I don't believe that for one second. And he's trying to just bash the organization and distance Brian Gutekinds and the current Packers regime from Bob Harlan and Ron Wolfe and Ted Thompson. And the prime of Gutekinds came up under Ted Thompson. That was his mentor. He's following the same exact playbook as Ted Thompson,

as he did with, by the way, Aaron Rodgers, where he develops him for three years. You move on from an iconic Hall of Fame player. Jordan Love is the one who changed the calculus here. And I think on the outside looking in, probably a lot of Viking fans even are wondering, how in the hell are you just moving on to Jordan Love after you gave Aaron Rodgers a three-year, $150 million extension? He's offered the two MVP seasons. Well, Aaron loves to tell us a million times over how me winning MVP changed their plan.

Jordan Love changed everybody's plans. After you signed that contract, all he did was bust his ass day in and day out with Steve Calhoun, his personal quarterbacks coach, who's in direct communication with Matt LaFleur throughout that offseason. You blow off OTAs. Patrick Mahomes is bringing everybody down to Fort Worth, Texas. They lose Tyreek. Oh, hey, everybody come down. I'll give you a crash course at Andy Reid's offense.

You're doing, I don't know, I guess the Taylor Swift singing and the Hawaiian vacations. That was the prior offseason. This time it was the ayahuasca interviews and talking about shrooms on podcasts. He blew it off. Jordan Love didn't. He worked with the first-teca interviews and talking about shrooms on podcasts and he blew it off jordan love didn't he worked with the first team offense and otas and that's when players told me they saw a different jordan love and it only got better from there the preseason games you really have to watch with your own eyes you can't look at box scores he was incredible some of the

incomplete passes in those exhibition games against new Orleans, San Francisco, and Kansas City were better than anything Aaron Rodgers did in the regular season. I mean, it looks like a young Aaron Rodgers out there with what he's doing outside of the pocket. And then he did get his chance, obviously, against Philadelphia. It was great. And then he actually worked with the first team offense the final two months of the season in practice. Granted, Aaron Rodgers started the games and then finally kind of turned the corner with his receivers and and got something going they beat some bad teams and you know two ahead the concussion all of that but Jordan Love worked with the offense so they saw behind the scenes and as Bob McGinn reported you know five weeks ago at this point

they saw enough to know we're moving forward with Jordan Love everything else is secondary fine you know, five weeks ago at this point, they saw enough to know we're moving forward with Jordan Love. Everything else is secondary. Find, you know, your finances, figure out a trade partner. All of that stuff will be figured out when the time comes. It's Jordan Love time. We're moving on from Aaron Rodgers. I'm sure all of the other stuff doesn't help, right? The attitude, the selfishness, the weirdness overall, the calling out your teammates publicly on a radio show when you're not playing well yourself, that stuff doesn't help. But I think at the core of the decision, it's Aaron Rodgers looked like a 39-year-old quarterback who wasn't seen in the field.

Jordan Love looked like a 24-, 25-year-old quarterback who has been dying for an opportunity, has developed, is athletic, has a big arm, and now needs to start games. That's why they're gung-ho about this. And it's all but done. I'm sure, you know, they're probably trying to figure out who has the most leverage. It's a game of chicken at this point. Who's going to flinch? Green Bay probably wants a first-round pick, I'm guessing.

Wants them to take on a lot of this money. When push comes to shove, they'll get a deal done. And you're right. I think it's best for both parties. I don't think it's going to end well in New York. But for what they are desperate owner really good roster around the quarterback in need of a veteran um it's your best option probably yeah I mean the Jets thing could very well end up like Russell Wilson going to Denver where you just have somebody

who is washed and I mean he's got he's got to be willing if he shows up at OTAs for the Jets they got to be like the Packers like what and Packerss for the Jets, they got to be like, the Packers are like, what? And Packers fans are like, what? I mean, that's the thing. That's the thing I think of all the hypocrisy that we could get into with the things that Aaron Rodgers has said and done. Kind of reminds you of like a really snotty philosophy student in college who just sort of makes their own truth out of whatever information

that they can twist and turn and acts like they're smarter than everybody else. I took philosophy in college. And there were some of those people. Oh man, we all had those classmates. Oh, that's the perfect analogy. Yes. So somebody who really knows nothing and acts like they know everything, but maybe some people think that's us. But anyway, the point is just that, the point just being that Aaron Rogers publicly kept commenting on the offense and the receivers and it's like well if only someone had showed up for OTAs in minicamp where it would have been a great time to have this discussion about whether there was too much motion or not like this is your job like that's what you were

supposed to be there for and it seems like at every opportunity, it's one of those relationships like maybe you've had in your life. I have not had this. I don't know if you have where it's just things become so ugly between the two people where it's every opportunity to take the shot at the other person to do the smallest thing. That's going to irritate the other person. It's like,

that's what Aaron Rogers was doing to the Packers. And once he lost his Devante Adams, it was a lot harder for him to be like, I'll treat you however I want, because I'm still winning MVP. As soon as he wasn't, they were like out the door, bro. And I think that now it is a good situation in a way for Jordan Love in that he's had time to develop, but also not a great situation because the cap isn't going to be easy. The receiver that they have, I say receiver because there's not multiple of them, is only in his second year, Christian Watson. The rest of them aren't that great. The offensive line isn't that great. And that rookie contract is running out. So even if he is good, he becomes expensive. I think that even if Jordan

Love is really good, it's still not the easiest situation for him to be dropped into. And part of that is because just Rogers is the way that he is and drag this out forever. But also just like, this is the reality of the NFL. You only get one rookie quarterback contract to deal with. And his was used basically sitting and watching Aaron Rogers. You know, you made so many great points there, Matthew. I, the, the comment on like, if you're concerned about the offense and your young receivers give a shit is so true. And, and I talked to one of the wide receivers who loves Aaron Rodgers.

I mean, he really was trying to be cautious with his words because he doesn't want people to think, oh, I'm anti-Aaron. He's really not. But he said, look, having a conversation with Aaron Rodgers about the offense is like speaking a different language from having a conversation with Jordan Love about the offense. It's so much easier to talk to Jordan Love. I mean, that's English.

With Aaron Rodgers, it can feel like Dutch or Portuguese or French or whatever because he is operating off of experience, and it's a beautiful thing when you've got a veteran receiving core, a Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb before he was just a bag of bones. Devontae Adams. They're in that coverage. They're disguising this to make it look like that. Let's just go back to that play that we ran three years ago in the same exact situation.

And oh, by the way, we don't have to say anything. We don't have to do a hand signal because we just see it. That was the offense. That's why he won two more MVPs. Devontae Adams is a freak of nature and was on the same page as Aaron Rodgers. So you extract that from the equation. You bring in three draft picks at wide receiver and Sammy Watkins, who's a veteran, but he's never been with this quarterback. And you better care. You better just run the offense as it's called. So everybody's on the same page. You can't just flip to page 374 of that Portuguese textbook

and expect these rookies to know what the hell they're doing because they don't. That was a huge part of the problem. In addition to him being at the line of scrimmage with the autonomy to change plays. And again, that's a good thing. He's going to usually get you in the right play if a bad play is called. He did that with Mike McCarthy all the time.

But when you're changing it, one player estimated a third of the time, it's not always going to be good because guess what? Matt LaFleur would probably like to get that run game going. That's the strength of the team. Aaron Jones, A.J. Dillon, possibly the the best one to punch at running back in the NFL. And if you, if you're constantly changing plays, you know, where they lost, where they lost the season, man, it was like those three losses to the giants, the jets and the commanders bang, bang, bang.

And they threw the ball more than double that they ran it with Jones and Dillon. So you're just drifting away from the strength of your team and the meat of your schedule. That's where the Packers lost this season. So for a million reasons, it makes total sense. I know there's sycophants out there who think the Packers are nuts. And, I mean, you hear Kyle Brandt, like, be careful what you wish for.

And you hear a certain toad in Milwaukee radio who didn't show with Aaron Rodgers warning everybody from the high heavens. Be careful what you wish. I think the Packers genuinely believe Jordan Love at this point is better than Aaron Rodgers at this point in this offense. And I would completely agree with that. Yeah. The be careful what you wish for thing is funny because it's not like you can really go back and have Aaron Rodgers from even two years ago. Like this is how age works. Like, I mean, I guess there might be a difference if fans are throwing dirt on Aaron's grave, like, yeah, good riddance or something like, well, hold on. I mean, he's one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. And your friends over to the West in Minnesota would have given off, you know, any, any number of appendages to have a quarterback of that level

to pair with all of their elite receivers over the years, instead of just going from quarterback to quarterback. So I get it from that perspective of you should really appreciate that you are about the luckiest team. It's almost like if the Chicago Bulls had drafted Kobe Bryant or something and gone from Jordan to Bryant. I mean, it's really that sort of level of thing that they've had. And there's no guarantees that the next guy is like that. So appreciate what you had. But as far as the future, how would this not be the right thing to do? I mean, moving on from somebody who had their worst year that is taking up all your cap space and holding back your next quarterback.

He's not a part of the future. You aren't winning the Super Bowl next year. Why would that not be the right thing to do? It seems like it definitely is. Now, the question for me that I that I have for you anyway is over the next three years who wins more games the Packers or the Jets after this trade is done we know it's going to get done Green Bay I really think Green Bay will win more games I hey I could I could be wrong maybe he's back with Hackett and he's happy and he cares and he shows up in the offseason and his legs are under him this time around.

I mean, that's the other thing. Think about all those classic Green Bay-Minnesota games. And Minnesota won their fair share of games. It's been a true rivalry. But he's having these impossible escapes. You know, you'd see a free runner and you would just expect the touchdown. He didn't have his lower body this year. I mean, not only was he mentally not getting on the same page

or helping those receivers get on the same page, physically it was pretty obvious he didn't put in the work as well. So I can't – as motivated as he'll be, and he'll be motivated. He's going to want to stick it to Green Bay, stick it to people like us. I don't know if he just flips that switch and the AFC is is loaded the AFC East is loaded Vic Fangio taking over his DC in Miami and bringing Jalen Ramsey man I love that defense I mean Bill Belichick is still kicking Buffalo's playing cap gymnastics right now but they just won 13 games alone, and obviously I like Jordan Love more than most.

I think it's still a really good team. They still have a good mix of youth and veterans. Aaron Jones took a pay cut to stay. Kristen Watson could be a potential star. They're already working together out with Steve Calhoun right now. Watson, Dobbs, Love, so they're getting ahead of the curve there. I think Green Bay wins more games. I think it's worth noting, too, when you just collapse in the playoffs year after year of year, you know, for so long, it was everybody else's fault.

Mike McCarthy, Ted Thompson, Brandon Stick, the defense, the line, the weapons, everybody else has fallen on the sword. I think Green Bay reached the point where you're the problem, Aaron. Right. You're the issue here, because look at how these last few years ended. Tampa Bay, right? Tom Brady is just basically punting up interceptions to you throughout the second half. You don't cash in. Third and goal before the infamous fourth down where Matt LaFleur opted for a field goal and Rodgers is poking fun with contestants on Jeopardy about it. The play before, you had an opportunity to run it in, and you

didn't. You threw across your body to Devontae Adams, who was double covered. Cowardly play. The next year, San Francisco, Jimmy Garoppolo injured. I don't even know what he was at, 50%, 40%. He beats you at Lambeau Field. You do nothing offensively at home as a number one seed forcing another ball to davante adams on your last throw and alan lazard is wide open right in front of you underneath that could have just changed that game and then last year a virtual playoff game against detroit lambeau field winning your end two or six 12 yards interception in the fourth quarter um apathetic just just didn't really care. And I tell you what, I bet if Matt LaFleur is being honest with us right now, he's probably thinking the same exact thing Mike McCarthy was thinking

in the 2007 NFC Championship game against the New York Giants in the cold when Brett Favre looked like he didn't want to be there. I think that McCarthy probably would have looked back to hand the ball to Aaron Rodgers because they saw what he did against Dallas earlier in the year. Maybe he wins that game, just like Jordan Love probably wins that game at Lambeau Field against Detroit to get them in. So when you have all of these just meltdown, epic, depressing losses to end seasons, somebody has to be held accountable and eventually it has to be the quarterback regardless of what he tells us on the pat mackenzie show yeah um so that was a lot

of fire that you just breathed and the funny thing is about um like what what you're doing right now on the show is that i can hear vik in their brains, like really enjoying the Aaron Rogers commentary because it's more blunt than you usually hear about Aaron Rogers, but also being terrified of what you're saying about Jordan Love because like the signs are pointing in a good direction for him. I would not go as far as you with that. And remember, I'm covering a team that has only been in the playoffs twice since the Minneapolis Miracle and has only been in the NFC Championship how many times since we were,

since Hendon Hooker was born in 1987, they have only been, you know, in what, since 80, since 87, it has been 98, 2000, let's see, maybe four times in the nfc championship and aaron rogers was pretty consistently in a position to take that team to the super bowl and only did it once and won the super bowl once but again i'm coming in from a perspective covering a team with no super bowls and no mvp quarterbacks and all those things so i you know i can't say like wow it was really aaron rogers fault every time and things like that um and i know, I can't say like, wow, it was really Aaron Rogers fault every time and things like that. And I know you're not saying that I'm just like, that's how Vikings fans would love to see it because, because they dislike him so much. But that version is gone. Like,

that's the key point here for me is the version that you're hanging on to that did have such great seasons. And look, you know, Drew Brees lost some tragic playoff games that I wouldn't take away from him either. It happened to Dan Marino. Like it happens, right? It's the NFL. It's hard. But that version that got you there as the Packers so many times was never coming back. So they had to move on. They had almost no other choice. And boy, did he make it easier every time, every week going on and having these ridiculous interviews with Pat McAfee, where he just, you know, sometimes it's either spewing nonsense or just flat out lying. And like, if you're the team, you're like, thank you. Thank you for poisoning the well so

much and making this much easier actually to let you walk out the door. That's what's remarkable to me is like Brian Gutekunst has to be thrilled like thanks man because now everyone is happy to see Jordan Love coming and we don't even have to have this conversation with the fan base I'm just laughing because it's like I mean I guess we have to keep watching that show right we all tuned in but like Kaylin Kaner writes that great story and a lot of the stuff we're talking about here young receivers trying to get on the same page We all tuned in. But like Kaylin Kaner writes that great story. And a lot of the stuff we're talking about here, young receivers trying to get on the same page as Aaron Rodgers,

all of these players just on the record openly discussing it. And Pat McAfee just blatantly lies. Anonymous sourcing. All these anonymous sources. And then when he referenced Bob McGinn's report at our site, he's like, he writes it up. All he did was talk about his instincts instincts off the cuff, no sources. No, like Bob said, he talked to people with intimate knowledge of the Packers planning.

So, I mean, I guess that's how true misinformation can just spread on a large platform, which is just ridiculous, but you know, that's this safe space and he's comfortable with Pat. So that will continue. I'm sure. I think you're right. I think Green Bay is like, yeah, thanks, Aaron. This is making it very easy for us to move on. And honestly, they got their backbone back, which is great.

They're finally showing some balls here and standing up to Aaron Rodgers. And look, he'll have a street named after him. He'll have his Packers induction, his induction his number will be retired everybody who's mad right now will like wrap them in their warm loving arms a few years but it always ends poorly and I think that was probably my takeaway from that last McAfee appearance it's like he's so distraught and annoyed and upset with how Green Bay is handling this all. I mean, that's the case for every iconic quarterback when they leave. I mean, show me one hunky-dory exit.

I mean, it's only happened. I don't even know when it's happened. I mean, even Tom Brady, Peyton Manning with the Colts, Ben Roethlisberger, all of these guys, Joe Montana. I mean, the incredible story just written by Ray Thompson at ESPN. I mean, it still bothers him how that ended. It ends poorly for all of these guys. Yet he's really acting like he's the only one.

He says I'm not a victim and then makes himself out to be a victim for an hour. It's making it very easy for Green Bay. I'm sure they want to get as much as they can but they cannot wait to move on with Jordan Love so we've been having this discussion about these two teams the rivals naturally on on this program makes the most sense the Vikings and the Packers but the other two teams in the division if you were trying to look forward in your crystal ball, what you can see most clearly about those two teams, and I don't want to keep you all night, so we'll talk less about this, but I just want your opinion on these two teams. lap you would go tank draft a bunch of players high have great contracts and go forward there if you're chicago figure out who your quarterback is if you're detroit maybe your future quarterback but even around jared goff they built the top five offense like just put all these pieces together

put a bunch of poles in the water and that's a pun and uh you know try to get as many good players as you can and rebuild this thing as fast as you possibly can and i think that for brad holmes and ryan poles both have been master class on how to rebuild my question for you is which one's going to work most detroit or chicago detroit i mean i think that people were kind of laughing at them a couple years ago when they, you know, it seemed like a win-win for both cases. But the Jared Goff piece in that trade was like, okay, you got to absorb that contract. That's the downside of the deal. Well, Jared Goff looked really good last year within what they're doing because they just rebuilt in a totally different way, in my opinion. I mean, they started on the offensive line yeah I did a series last September kind of on this philosophy and

hung out with all those linemen Panay Sewell Taylor Decker I mean these are just hardcore ass-kicking linemen that obviously embody everything that Dan Campbell could possibly want and it's easy to mock. It's easy to make fun of. Oh, what is this, 1967? Like, what are you doing here, Detroit? But they really wanted to build from the inside out on offense. I mean, the defense has been a work in progress.

But start with a really good offensive line, be able to run the ball, dictate the terms of physicality. I mean, in that sense, football has never really changed. I mean, force players to get off of blocks, force players to make difficult tackles. That's where Detroit really started this thing, and it worked. I mean, it worked. They get north and south.

It's not, you know, this zone running scheme that's about gaps and defensive linemen just kind of like moving down the line with the offensive line no they're running right at you and they want to punch you in the mouth I mean everything Dan Campbell says is how they play so it started there and I think that just raises the compete level of the entire roster and then you're adding some weapons like Amon Ross St. Brown they they had tj hawkins and they trade him to minnesota obviously but even like a cleef raven dj shark it hasn't really mattered who's out there they had jameson williams in the draft you can start working off play action

you're getting these receivers one-on-one look at the green bay game jared golf made some big time throws because if his receivers one-on-one with him with a corner and that receiver knows where he's going to cut, he can make that throw. A lot of quarterbacks can make that throw. It doesn't matter that he's not that mobile. I think they can win with Jared Goff. I'm surprised that they let Jamal Williams walk. I'm pretty close with Jamal Williams and his camp, and he wanted to stay bad,

but the Lions just didn't really reciprocate that love. They wanted to go to David Montgomery. So we'll see how that works out. But with their draft capital, the moves that they made, I mean, getting one of the best safeties in the NFL at, what, $8 million for one year, you've got to love everything that Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell have done. I mean, the Bears, I think, would dream of a roster like Detroit's

at this point. I mean, they couldn't wait to get out of that first overall pick just to get the capital and the assets to add bodies because they just don't have them right now. Yeah, I think it's an interesting discussion because for next year, there's no question Detroit is going to be the far better team than Chicago, health included if Jared Goff doesn't get hurt or whatever. And they are a maturing quickly roster, which is how it works in the NFL.

You go to the bottom, but you draft high and you hit on some guys like Miami tanked. And they've screwed up in a bunch of ways. And yet still, they have an amazing roster that they've built around Tua at the moment. And it's just all the benefits that it has. And even if your quarterback is somewhat expensive, if you've drafted Hutchinson, you've drafted Sewell, you've drafted St. Brown, these star players, they kind of balance that out with their surplus value a bit. And also keeping Ben Johnson was such a huge deal for them, their offensive coordinator. So they can run it all back with Jamison Williams in there and maybe add some other pieces as well. And they've built a whole

secondary out of scratch, which was their biggest problem from last year. And I think you can make a case that in the NFC, that's very, very, you know, weak or well, not, you know, they've got great rosters, some of these, but very like vulnerable, like they don't have a Mahomes or a Josh Allen or Burrow that you feel like these are just castles that you can't infiltrate. But with the NFC, it's like if one thing happens to one of those teams, they could fall apart and not be as good as they were last year. And you're right there as the Lions to have a chance to go to a much higher level than the Lions have gone in a really long time. The one thing I wonder about, though, if I'm making a case for the bears,

what I would say is if the lions don't draft their future quarterback, which I don't think they will, I think they will draft a player. That's going to help them right away in kind of a win now season. Suddenly, is there a ceiling on Jared Goff where in the playoffs, is he going? And I know he did this once before, so it's not impossible, But with a quarterback like that who is not dynamic in an ever-changing world of dynamic quarterbacks versus the three-year plan of Chicago, where either Justin Fields becomes really great and they keep him, or they draft next year and take Caleb Williams or Drake May, and then they've got this roster that is an absolute house. So I think that's what it really comes down to is, do you believe in the right now Detroit lions or the two years from now, Chicago bears? I don't know. That's a great question. Cause I like fields and I'm not sure if a Bryce Young or CJ proud do any

better than Justin Fields, given his offensive line and just the dearth of weapons around him in Chicago. He had that little mini run in the middle of the season, and he did a lot of really special things that justify everything they're doing right now, getting him DJ more and trying to actually build around him. It's so similar to the Giants, where a GM comes in, he inherits his quarterback. It's not his guy, but gives it a year, evaluates him, and then doubles down.

And that's what they're doing with Justin Fields. I still would go with Detroit because I think the other part of it is defensively they went so young. I mean, they were the youngest team in the NFL in Campbell's first year. And I want to say they were the first or second youngest the second year. And that was by design. They really wanted to just start from scratch and get people to really buy into everything he was saying as gospel. You have to part with some good players to do it. And you have to go through some growing pains. They were giving up 30, 40 points a game that first month of the season.

But eventually they figured it out. I mean, they learned on the fly. And all those players are just going to be better next season. They're going to improve from within. I do agree, though, with you in that at some point you're going to face Mahomes. Even Jalen Hurts. He just had one of the best Super Bowls ever for a quarterback where they're going to put the heat on you.

I mean, they're going to turn into a track meet. They're going to put up 30-40, and you might have to keep up. And can Jared Goff keep up? They want to play downhill. They want to run the ball. They want to work off play action. We haven't really seen an offense operate that way and win a Super Bowl in today's game. So I love Detroit to a point. When they get to that point, can they, can they, maybe it doesn't matter, right? Maybe they do

drag a team in to the dark alley and beat them up. I can't take that leap, but I still would take Detroit over Chicago because I think we still need to see a lot more out of Justin Fields. He's going to have to take his layups, develop as a pocket passer, and really work on that part of his game before we can say he's even able to win that type of playoff game. But I don't know. What do you think? Where would you come down on that, Matt? I think that Chicago is in a dangerous position in not drafting a quarterback number one this year of Justin Fields being just okay. And if he's just okay, then what do you do? Do you stay with him? Do you pay him? That means you finish nine and eight or eight and nine, and then you can't draft

Caleb Williams. They need him to be amazing or terrible. And I'm not sure he's either one of those things. Like, I don't think he's as bad of a passer as he was last year, throwing to DJ more now, and maybe chase Claypool, who's been there for a year, maybe they could draft someone else. But I also don't know that you go from the most sacked quarterback and the guy who struggles as much as he does to read defenses. He was sacked a lot in college, like all those things. Like, do you go from that to all of a sudden, you know, the next level star? That's tough for me. It seems like he probably will end up as more of a middling type of quarterback,

even though he has a different skill set. And then do you try to draft someone else? Do you trade up for somebody else? And it looks like these top two quarterbacks, it's a ways out, but they're going to be so good as prospects that you're not going to be able to just trade up to get them so it becomes this very difficult situation where you could just get stuck now the lions if they really are next level thinking wise they should just draft quarterback here if they can take anthony richardson sit him so even if they can't get to the next level with golf they've

got their next option to develop and their future that they can't get to the next level with golf, they've got their next option to develop and their future that they can go with because golf isn't even that young and he's not getting any cheaper if he leads top five offenses. So I think the lions are in a better position, but the game changer is if Justin Fields takes some huge leap, like we saw Josh Allen take, then watch the F out. I mean, like, because then they're going to be able to have so much cap space, which they have right now, they still can't spend it all. Like they're trying, they keep signing everybody, every linebacker who moves and they can't spend it all. Jermaine Edmonds is not worth 72 million. Yeah. He's certainly not,

but it doesn't matter. It was like when people said Christian Kirk, well, they overpaid for Christian Kirk while they had to do something to get to the cap. And so, uh, you know, all of a sudden by next year, they could be a house or they could be completely stuck in the middle and not sure what to do. So I think that your bet is safer on Detroit, but the ceiling might actually be a touch higher. If Jared Goff remains the quarterback in Chicago, considering Jordan Love is about to, you know, leap into the upper echelon of NFL quarterbacks, you better take your young quarterback. Minnesota and Detroit both, right?

You better get on board fast because you got to keep up with Love. How many teams need to draft a quarterback versus how many quarterbacks are available? The never-ending question in the NFL. Tyler, this has been super fun. Just a great conversation. versus how many quarterbacks are available the never-ending question in the nfl uh tyler this has been a super fun just a great conversation i'm glad and you know we've been like texting back and forth trying to plan when's this night good for you could we finally make this happen we found a time during march madness no less so sorry everybody hopefully you had the game on in

the background but uh a really good time talking vikings packers and nfc north with you i hope that we can do it again soon and you know i'm always there for you for audio issues vikings takes whatever uh whatever but uh for my audience listening uh go long td i have been a since day one subscriber just phenomenal in-depth content i mean you've always got different unique angles uh your audience participation is great with you know mailbags and different things you have guests that come on with you for streams and stuff like that so go along td make sure you go check it out and um you know we'll definitely do this again man now that now it's a little off season we got a little bit of uh break time before the draft hey i i can't thank

you enough man for the kind words and for my listeners i've mentioned it to them before but i gotta blow some smoke up this guy right here matthew collar is a huge huge reason if not the biggest reason that go long even exists when i was an agent myself, figuring life out, you reached out, you told me about Substack and, you know, put the bug in my ear. And that's when I really started thinking about this, to be honest. I didn't even know what Substack was. I didn't even know this was a possibility. So thank you so much for being a trailblazer in your own right, building up Purple Insider. I'm a subscriber. Everybody who's listening to go along, make sure you subscribe. Even if you're not a Vikings fan, it's just such unique coverage

of a team across everything. I mean, you're cranking out content. I cannot keep up with it. I'm trying. I was just telling you, I was reading your mailbag to try to catch up on the state of the Vikings. And, I mean, your institutional knowledge on this team is unparalleled. So definitely subscribe to Matthew's sub stack ASAP.

Really appreciate that. If we could, we would bro hug right now before the end of the show, that was the verbal bro hug. So thanks for doing this. And it's, it's past Hendon hookers bedtime anyway. So we got to run. No, no hookers, so we got to run. No, no. Hooker's a man of the night. Oh, that's right. He's a man of the night.

He's got to watch Murder, She Wrote first before going to bed. So that's what we got to put on. Anyway. Man, we have driven those puns into the ground. Brutal. Brutal. Turn on the red light for Hendon Hook hooker as you um say good night so that thanks again tyler thanks everybody so much for uh spending some time with us and

we'll catch you next time