Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Are the Vikings trying to get to the No. 3 overall pick? What's the hold up???

Episode Date: March 18, 2024

Matthew Coller talks about a rumor that the Vikings want to get up to the No. 3 overall pick with the Patriots and why it's taking so long for them to move their two first rounders to get to the top of the NFL draft. Plus fan questions about sitting QBs in Year 1, the Falcons tampering and WR3 with KJ Osborn leaving for the Patriots https://surfshark.deals/PURPLEINSIDER Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Ins matthew collar here and well just before i decided to record this episode of purple insider i tweeted at the minnesota vikings and i said is it safe for me to record a podcast so if this one quickly becomes irrelevant because the vikings make a big move they didn't respond to me and you can hold them responsible. Seriously though, it is always interesting recording within the free agency period because news breaks so fast. So we're going to talk about the most pressing matter for the Vikings and then we'll see if that changes really quickly. And that of course is the fact that they traded with the Houston Texans to get the 23rd overall pick, which we all assumed was going to quickly be turned into a top four or top five pick. Yet over the weekend, I watched a ton of college basketball,

but did not see at any point any reports of the Vikings moving up just yet. So we have a little bit of a rumor. We've got a Viking player leaving for the New England Patriots and a lot of Vikings fans questions that have been emailed to me. You can send it over purpleinsider.com. Go to contact us. That's a good place to do it or send me a direct message at Matthew Collar if you want to jump in on one of these fans only episodes. So let's start out, though, with the rumor. And this comes from a former PFF employee, Jackson McIntyre. Well, I know a little bit. He says, I'm not one, this is on Twitter,

to who typically reports these things, but I'm hearing from someone that I trust that the Vikings trade talks to this point have been primarily with New England and to a lesser degree, Arizona. Sounds like Washington is assumed around the league to be staying put at number two. And if this ends up being the case that the Vikings are able to trade up to number three, I don't have to tell you guys that that's better than trading up to number four because then they get their pick of the litter of the three prospects that are considered a cut above the next wave. Now, if the Vikings were able to trade up still to number four and guarantee themselves a top prospect, there's no

way you could be unhappy with that because there are four quarterbacks in this draft that seem to be a cut above the rest. But then there are tiers to this. There are the top three, or at least as we understand it, we never fully know. And there's always the Will Levis's and the Malik Willis's who have fooled the draft analysts in the past. But assuming that we even semi know what we're talking about, Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels, and Drake May are considered the elite prospects of this draft. And if the Vikings could guarantee themselves that they were going to get one of them, there's almost no price that would make that not really good

for the franchise. And from the beginning, I thought that Drake May was the guy that they would be targeting. The one that Kevin O'Connell was most likely to want as his franchise quarterback. And it would guarantee either getting him or Jaden Daniels, who won the Heisman last year, ran for over a thousand through 40 touchdowns and is one of the most exciting players to come out in the NFL draft in some time. So if they were able to lock themselves into that, rather than waiting around at number four to see if somebody else took JJ McCarthy McCarthy or if they were taking JJ McCarthy, that's just simply a better outcome. That's not to say that I'm against the Vikings taking McCarthy

if they go up to number four, but number three is simply better than number four. The question is, what will it take? Will it take an additional first round pick? There is the question of the longer we go on, is that the more that other teams have the potential to try to do the same thing when we're talking about other teams needing one of these top prospects? And if Bo Nix and Michael Penix are not considered on the same level, maybe there's even a little bit of fear after Kenny Pickett just went bust, the guy who was drafted 20th overall, that if you miss out on one of those top four, then you're not real likely to get a great quarterback prospect. It's always

hard to figure out going into the draft how each individual team will view these things, but we do know that the Minnesota Vikings are not the only team that is searching high and far for their quarterback. So what they've done here, they've set themselves up to have enough draft capital, no matter whose trade chart you look at for draft capital value, to have a shot at trading up to the top. But the ideal scenario is clearly number two or number three to have their pick of the non-Caleb Williams litter. And if this ultimately does end up working out,

then that would be an ideal scenario really for the entire off season, because as much as we could talk about other things like signing defensive players or, you know, how they still need a left guard and all that far and away, the most important thing that will determine whether this is a success or not for this off season is if they can go up and get that top quarterback prospect and land their quarterback of the future. So I think this is ideal if this is indeed the case that the Vikings are trying to move up with the New England Patriots. And if it takes another first that's thrown on top or a future second that goes beyond 2025, the only thing I would say that I wouldn't be okay with trading is probably Justin Jefferson or Christian Derrissaw on top of those first two

picks. But outside of that, as long as the Vikings can come away with their guy to drop into this offense with Kevin O'Connell, then it would be ideal. And again, for me, it's Drake May is the most fit quarterback to go with Kevin O'Connell. When you look at his arm talent, his playmaking ability, how often and successfully he's thrown deep and especially over the middle of the field. He looks like somebody that the Vikings could build around for many years to come. If they do end up, and this could be weeks away, making this trade, then draft night, wow, that's going to be some type of first hour of draft night. So often Vikings fans have had to wait until hour three, hour four for the 18th or 23rd overall pick. But this one could have a different vibe.

But they've got to get there first. And all I can say is that there's no reason to panic. There is plenty of time to go before the NFL draft and you would expect that a team like the Patriots or the Arizona Cardinals at number four would not want to be rash about this decision they wouldn't want to say yes to the first phone call but with the Vikings having two first round picks this year they have an opportunity to keep upping and upping and upping the ante. And maybe it does get more complicated.

Maybe there are other trades to be made in route to getting up. And we'll see. It used to be Trader Rick for his trading down, but Trader Quasey is a little less catchy. But Let Quasey Cook has been circling the internet quite a bit. So I guess I would suggest that, that if there's not a move quickly early in the week here, let them have time to work this out because the draft is not for, let's see, over a month now. But if they were to get to

number three, that would be an A plus scenario for the Minnesota Vikings. Another news item to get to KJ Osborne is signing with the new England Patriots. Now Vikings fans, of course, jump to the comp pick comp pick. And well, I did see it reported that the Vikings could get a third round comp pick for KJ Osborne signing with the Patriots for $4 million. I guess all I can say about the comp picks is the formula is pretty complicated, and they usually announce it about a month before the draft, and so that would be not until next year. So we can always wait and find out. And the Vikings are not done with their offseason,

and there is an element to comp picks of canceling each other out. So I guess, I mean, it's a third round pick at absolute best, something that people love to get excited about in the off season when they lose a free agent. I guess it really is compensation even for your excitement, but we'll find that out down the road. But it seems, at least as of this moment, that the Vikings will get compensation for KJ Osborne leaving, but they also have to replace KJ Osborne. And when I tweeted about that on Sunday afternoon, I got a lot of responses that

said, Hey, Brandon Powell is back. Okay. And they do have Jalen Naylor as well on the roster and Trent Shurfield, who they signed a guy who has bounced around the league a little bit. I don't see any of those options as being wide receiver threes, not in this offense. Those are more of depth wide receivers who, if they need to come off the bench and play for you, that they can do that. And someone like Shurfield is going to be fighting for a spot. He, throughout his entire career, has been battling just to have a career in the NFL. So I think that that spot is up for grabs as more of a wide receiver for that people are competing for. As far as wide receiver three goes, more money should be spent. And if it's not, I'll be a little bit surprised if there's

no one else that is brought in. You still have a number of free agents. Michael Gallup was released. DJ Chark is still out there. And we'll have some questions on that from fans as well for other potential options. But you look at the target share that wide receiver three gets or has gotten with KJ Osborne in there over the last couple of years. I think you want someone of his caliber or maybe even a little better that is going to take on that spot because the more weapons you have, the better that is going to take on that spot because the more weapons you have the better it is for Justin Jefferson the better it is for Jordan Addison and the better it is on third down I mean a lot of times on third down teams really load up

on your top wide receivers and that's where if you have a quality receiver at wide receiver three that it can be even better for you so So they shouldn't stop. I respect and appreciate Brandon Powell. He really emerged last year, proved that he could play wide receiver in a pinch. But the thing was that eventually, as Justin Jefferson was out longer and longer, we saw that some of that was exposed a little bit of players having to step into his role. And it got harder and harder as it went along with him out last season so you want someone who can also step into another role a wide receiver three who can be wide receiver two if someone gets hurt I don't think that that would be really Brandon Powell and again that said with the utmost respect it was a great find for the Minnesota Vikings

Brandon Powell but someone who you'd rather have as depth and punt returning, and then have the next man up be a guy that you bring in by spending some dollars in free agency, but we'll see how they handle it. It might be a wide receiver three competition. That would be the biggest competition in camp, right? Next year, wide receiver three, probably not probably quarterback. So those are the two items of update nature. As far as the weekend, I guess I thought that it would be a lot more. We should also talk for a second before I get to your questions about Justin Fields. He ends up with the Pittsburgh Steelers along with Russell Wilson competing for a spot there. And all I have to say is Justin Fields, we saw him play, right? We saw him play against the Minnesota Vikings and anyone who watched him against the Vikings knows that he didn't exactly

face some of the greatest defenses of all time, but you would have thought it when he played the Vikings. He gets sacked too often. He hangs onto the ball too much. He's not a very good rhythm passer and not consistently accurate. And there aren't too many teams that are dying to have someone like that on their team, even though he is an exceptional runner and put up running numbers that only guys like Michael Vick and Lamar Jackson ever have. But if you don't have that other element, you're not going to win a heck of a lot of games. And I looked up over the last two years, quarterbacks with at least 20 starts and where they ranked in adjusted net yards per attempt passing wise. And Justin Fields was second to last only better than Zach Wilson. So not exactly somebody that teams were going to be

willing to give up a whole lot for us in a way, a good break for the Vikings because they were never going to stick with Justin Fields. They were always going to go to Caleb Williams, but at least they didn't get a whole heck of a lot in return. And I will never, ever understand the reported interest and the rumors about the Vikings and Justin Fields. While he still does have potential, and I agree with that, and maybe a better circumstance, he could have been better. No way would he be a good fit for Kevin O'Connell and a rhythm and timing offense that we heard so much about

with Josh Dobbs playing last year. I just do not see that as a good fit. And anytime somebody only wins 10 out of 28 games, even if their team is tough, that's one out of every three from Justin Fields. Usually good quarterbacks will elevate what's around them. So now he is a backup in Pittsburgh. Wouldn't be surprising if he remains a backup going forward. And maybe he'll beat out Russell Wilson, but that seems unlikely in Pittsburgh. And I would also throw this out there that there was some questions of,

hey, should they get Russell Wilson? Should they get Justin Fields? And don't you feel better now that that is not going to be the case? Because the Pittsburgh Steelers look like a team that is in purgatory and nothing about Russell Wilson, the current version, not the version that put together a borderline Hall of Fame career earlier in his career, going to the Super Bowl and so forth, but the current version of Russell Wilson, who has been one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL over the last two years, that would not have been a bet, nor Justin Fields, that I would have wanted the Minnesota Vikings to make. So they are in a better spot because they did not go there.

All right, on to your questions. I got a bunch of emails, a bunch of DMs, and thank you so much to everybody for your patience with these. We've been pumping out a lot of episodes. It's been a really fun week, but I do get behind sometimes on the emails. So I stack them up, I gather them, and then let them all out here in a fans-only episode. So let's start with Joe.

Joe says, by the time you're doing your next fans only episode, I hope this is irrelevant, but if it's not, I think it's a little concerning. I like the Vikings aggressive trade with Houston. If it is in the process of trading up into the top four. However, I am shocked that another trade has not been announced 24 hours later. The Giants, Broncos, Rams had to inevitably notice the Vikings moving up. Yes, I would agree with that, that they definitely noticed the Vikings moving up. And there is nothing stopping them from making an aggressive offer to picks three or four before the Vikings. And then the whole plan is out the window. I think the Vikings have to continue to act fast and cannot wait.

A handshake agreement could easily be broken. What do you think? Well, I think that we need to be patient. That would be my reaction. I appreciate the anxiety of Vikings fans and respect it deeply because you guys have been through a lot over the years. And a lot of things have gone sideways when you think you're at the one yard line. And then, you know, Lucy pulls the ball out from Charlie Brown.

Maybe it would feel that way if the New York Giants instead traded up to number three. That is a realistic possibility. But also, I think you don't make the trade with the Houston Texans unless you have a pretty strong idea that you can get to number three number four or number five and the way that the Chargers even have handled their offseason of course number five gives you no guarantees to get one of those quarterbacks but if Arizona is dead set on sticking at four it certainly gives you a better chance maybe the Giants could sneak up. There really is no guarantee that this is locked in stone. But I also think with so much

time to go before the draft that the New England Patriots and the Arizona Cardinals, they're going to give the Vikings the highest price to start. And then there's going to be a negotiation as they go forward. And there are other things that are happening with these organizations at the same exact time. So it doesn't always happen in a day. It doesn't always happen. They make the trade with Houston and then immediately turn around and make a trade again. I guess what I would say is don't panic until you have to. Like as of right now, we're still in a position to assume, and even maybe by the time you're watching this, we'll be taken care of,

but we're in a position to assume that the Vikings still have a plan to get up to number three or four and guarantee themselves a quarterback and that they would not have done this. They would not have given up their 2025 second round draft pick unless they were fairly certain that this was going to work out. So, well, I understand where you're coming from.

I'm going to just stay right now in the position of this is very, very likely to happen. Let's see how it plays out. Let's see where they can get up in the draft. And as we get closer, then I think what you're saying would be a little more nerve wracking. We're only talking about, as you mentioned, when you send the email 24 hours, and then I'm recording this late on Sunday night. So, you know, we're only talking about a couple of days where this did not come together. Let's give it maybe another week. In fact, I've mentioned the owners meetings.

Those are happening at the end of the month. So could there be something that's hatched there or completed there when they can get together? Deep breath for now. And I think like many other things, I've said this before about the Justin Jefferson deal, we'll panic when it's time. If you get to the week before the season starts

and Justin Jefferson hasn't practiced, for example, and doesn't have a contract, then maybe it's time to get a little nervous. And the same thing with this, where if we get into April and still nothing has happened, okay, maybe we turn the nervousness up from the blue to the, uh, the orange or something. And then if we get to draft night, then we're in the red for this, but we'll have

to give it time. And I will just guess we'll just say it again, have to allow Kweisi Adafomenta to cook here, uh, as he was able to pull off at least the one trade and now has a chance for the other one, but deep breath for now. And we'll see how it plays out. I'm still under the expectation that they will get a trade done fairly soon and would not have gone all in unless they knew that they could get the second leg of this. And if they end up with 11 and 23, well then, Oh, then you get really nervous. Then you get really nervous, but it sounds like at least from the report, and again, this is a former PFF employee, Jackson McIntyre, at least from what he's saying, it sounds like negotiations are ongoing. I would expect that that's true, that that would be the case. Folks, have you ever heard of test driving a phone network?

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the app to try it out. I know great sound effects there. Test drive us cellular award-winning network for 30 days. Us cellular built for us terms apply awards based on open signal, independent data, visit usular.com for details. All right, next question comes from Sam. Says, I know you and Manny said the Kirk Falcons tampering investigation was a non-factor for both of you, but I think it could very much be a factor, especially now that there is info that Kirk was actively recruiting other players

for the Falcons. Think about either if A, the Vikings get picks or pick swaps with the Falcons, more draft capital for moving up, or the Falcons forfeit a first round pick, which means one pick less to worry about trading up. Curious about your thoughts. So all of that is possible. And if there was something as punitive as taking away their first round draft pick, then I take it all back. I take it all back what I said the other night, which is that I really don't care that much about the tampering because it's so common. prove even when Kirk Cousins may have let the cat out of the bag a little bit. And if we look at the tampering between Philadelphia and Arizona, that whole issue with Jonathan Gannon, it was nothing like taking away their first round pick. In fact, Steven Ross, wasn't it that he had to try to force Brian Flores to tank to get a first round pick taken away? Or was that tampering with Tom Brady? I forget. I think it was tampering with Tom Brady actually. So it's not that there

has never been something like that, but that's a quite extreme. If I recall taking Tom Brady onto the boat and trying to get him to become an owner and then come out of retirement. If I am remembering this story. So it's not that there is absolutely no precedent for that or that's impossible. Will they have that penalty by this year though would be another question because you mentioned taking away their first round pick. Would they do that with just weeks to go before the NFL draft, change the order, take a pick away from them or would that penalty be more likely next year after the investigation and after everyone's kind of forgot about it? Maybe. I

really don't know. But I guess what I would say is this, what it sounded like with Kirk Cousins and his tampering did not sound anywhere near as extreme as the Tom Brady and Miami Dolphins issue. So it more or less looks to me like a pick swap or some sort of taking away middle round picks or something like that at most would be the penalty for the Atlanta Falcons. And I'm not even sure that it would be this year. And by the time that it happens, it won't have any impact. But if you are right, then I take it back entirely. And I will give it to you 100% that I should have been talking about it more if it ends up benefiting the Vikings. I just think in general, this is one of those wink and nod types of things

that goes on that maybe was so egregious at this point with the Falcons and Cousins to the point where everyone in Indianapolis left there knowing that Kirk was probably going to Atlanta, maybe Roger Goodell wants to say, guys, let's be a little more discreet here if we're going to do that. Is he going to send that message in taking away their eighth overall pick? That I do not necessarily buy. But maybe after the owners meetings, we will have some sort of resolution on that. So, uh, you might have a point. I initially didn't take it seriously, but if that's what happens, then, uh, good for the Vikings. Thanks Kirk. Hey, it would be a final

present. Uh, he didn't get them in many playoff wins, but if he got them, you know, a pick swap or something, or help them out with drafting a quarterback well that's better uh tyler says trade idea to get drake may arizona gets 11 and 23 and 139 washington gets four vikings gets uh 2025 first minnesota gets number two oh four and the vikings 2025 first and minnesota gets number two so what you are proposing here, and sorry if that was convoluted the way that I read it, is a three team type of trade where you're talking about to try to get to number two and guarantee yourself a hundred percent that you could take Drake May or Jaden Daniels, whichever guy they like more. I've been saying Drake May, but I don't know that for sure.

And certainly if they like Jaden Daniels, I'm not going to argue with that based on his resume. But you're talking about Arizona moving back with the two first round picks and then the Vikings moving from four to two by adding a next year's first. So if I didn't read that entirely clearly, that's what you're talking about.

And all I would say to that is that I like your creativity. And if that's the way they want to go about it, I would totally support it. There is just nothing more important in this off season than Kevin O'Connell getting his guy that we can talk about. And I have for many years, the randomness of draft picks and how, Hey, you know, sometimes the fifth guy taken turns out to be a two-time MVP, which happened, or sometimes the second guy taken turns out to be the greatest quarterback of a generation and Patrick Mahomes, which happened. And what was he the 10th overall pick? So not even the first first second or third overall pick so there is a randomness element to quarterbacks and quarterback drafting but

kevin o'connell lost the quarterback that he was very very familiar with and very happy with working with and i think in result what you want is to be able to say, hey, I know that you lost Kirk Cousins, but you got your guy. You weren't saddled with a quarterback. You weren't told by the GM or the front office, here's your quarterback. This is who you're taking. That's the best we could do. No, in this case, you'd be handpicking your quarterback except for Caleb Williams, which

is going to be the number one overall pick. So I like this, what you're proposing, even though there is a lot of damage that gets done to the Vikings as far as a draft capital wise, but it still would end up being the thing that we talked about all along, which would be three first round draft picks. It would just be 11, 23 and next year's first to land them their guy in Drake may. And that's why I've also said multiple times to be a little on the patient side, because if there are moving parts beyond just 11, 23 up to number three or four, let's wipe our hands of it. Move on. if there's more moving parts to that well then you know that's going to take some time to work out with multiple teams so i like your creativity and i

like that concept i could also see washington saying no no no no we're good we're going to say it too we're going to take jayden daniels or drake may and you get the other guy and i would not blame them for that either unless unless they felt like, Hey, at number four, we like McCarthy so we can get him at, we, we like our guy at number four. So we'll move back with you. I mean, a lot of moving parts here, a lot of possibilities. So I don't want to discount any creative ideas that you guys are thrown out there because that is very possible. But the reason I like it

the most, even though giving up that 2025 first rounder would be tough, is just that we will have no questions. We will not walk away from the draft going, do you think they wanted the other guy? No, we will know exactly who they wanted, which is rare because we always hear in the draft, well, this was the top guy on our board, but you know, was he really, you know, that sort of thing. Next question comes from Pete says, if we do end up with someone like Drake may, then does it make the idea of Darnold starting for the year? Well, the rookie learns from the sidelines harder to follow through if he's good as touted, then won't the fan and ownership pressure or expectations make it impossible

to stay on the sideline for the year. Personally, I like the idea of him being able to learn, but how long before he has to come onto the field. So this is something that I want to get into a little bit more later in the week about the concepts or maybe when they get a top pick and we're sure about this. But the concept of sitting the guy, I think what Sam Darnold provides for you is the insurance policy of if the guy is not ready to start right from the very beginning week one. So go back to Josh Allen in Buffalo. There's a good example. It was Nathan Peterman who started those

first couple of weeks. And then Josh Allen came off the bench to play against the Minnesota Vikings, which of course you guys probably remember quite well. But if I recall correctly, the beginning of that season, because they had terrible quarterback play was a complete disaster. I think if you're the Vikings, let's say that you feel like Drake May or Jaden Daniels, whoever you have, JJ McCarthy, let's say you feel like they're close and all they need is maybe six weeks to kind of figure it out. And you're not in a huge hurry because Sam Darnold's had a good preseason and training camp. You name Sam Darnold, the starter, and you are patient. Now you are right to say this, that when the

Vikings drafted Dante Culpepper, it was a bit of a different time and they were in Super Bowl or bust kind of mode. So he could sit for the entire year behind Randall Cunningham and Jeff George and everyone is okay with it. But I guess think of Sam Darnold as a little bit as your Jeff George, that he's a guy who could play the year and you could win games and you could compete on a weekly basis and you could have some good performances and some down performances more likely than not, but you're not going to be a disaster on a week to week basis. And then you'll sort of know when it's time, if it's time more, more good players, I think at the quarterback position do not have to sit an entire season. The Packers and the Chiefs are well-praised for this,

but I also think, too, it's only because we know what happened when they sat. We don't know what would have happened if they played. Jordan Love played, I think, one game against Kansas City, and Mahomes only played that one game at the end of the 2017 season. And he was awesome, if I recall, in that game. So what if Patrick Mahomes had played 10 games in? Would they have won that Super Bowl too? Like, we don't really know.

I'm not a huge believer that if the guy's good, he has to sit the entire season. It's just more of an insurance policy. But your question is valid. If they started Sam Darnold and they went two and two, and it was kind of ugly from Darnold and they were really struggling at times, then there's going to be a lot of pressure to bring Drake May off the bench. And you're right. The owners sit up in that box and they're going to want to see their new toy that they draft. But usually if guys are good, and this has happened with CJ Stroud, with Joe Burrow,

many, many more quarterbacks have started early than have not. And we need to keep in mind too, that some of them that started too early and failed just had really bad teams. This is not a really bad team. So whoever the rookie is, May, Daniels, whoever, would be stepping into a situation where they would have a lot around them and they would have to work their way through it. But it's not like a Justin Fields where the coach is about to get fired and they don't have weapons and they're tanking or something like that. It's not a Sam Darnold where they were in a spot with very few weapons, not great coaching. This is a good position for that to happen, but it could be a conundrum. It very well could

be a conundrum. I still like it because you can exercise the most patience that you possibly can. And if you only started Darnold for six weeks and then Drake may came in, that's okay. That's a good situation. I think, I mean, did this, did this happen with like Eli Manning and the giants and was it Kerry Collins or Kurt Warner was there. Maybe Kurt Warner was there when, when they had Eli Manning, like sometimes you get into the middle of a season, you bring the guy off the bench and then he's got the flow of preparing for a game, seeing what it's like at the stadium, like not having to run right out there. But ideally though, what you'd like to see is that the rookie jumps over that bar and is

ready to start week one. And then you just go from there. Like that's what you're really looking for in this situation, but yeah, it'll be, it'll be a tight rope to walk for Kevin O'Connell for sure. Especially if, you know, they're, they're struggling a bit and the Wilfs say, we want to see the other guy, but sometimes just sink or swim. And if you can't survive it as a rookie, then you might end up having a tough time because there are a lot of guys who overcame pretty tough rookie seasons. Gosh, Jared Goff had it about as bad as you could have had it in Los Angeles, became a really good quarterback. So if you're good, you're probably, probably good enough to step in and at least do something right away. I'm not that concerned about that.

This one comes from Teddy. If you were the commies, the commanders, I assume you mean, and you were going to draft Drake May, wouldn't you keep this former teammate friend Sam Howell to mentor him? They are genuinely good friends. I remember Sam saying so in an interview, to mentor his, yeah, keep his former teammate and friend Sam Howell to mentor him. They are genuinely good friends. I remember Sam saying so in an interview, and I listened a while back. Would that mean that they are leaning Daniels? I love your investigatory journalism here, Teddy, and your theory about who they're going

to pick and that they would move on from Sam Howell only if they were thinking about Jaden Daniels. And also you notice I'm wearing a North Carolina colored shirt, which could also mean the same thing that the Vikings are going to get Drake May. It could mean that. No, I'm just kidding. But your logic is not unsound.

Sorry for the double negative. But I see the tree that you're barking up and it does make a lot of sense. Not only that, did they not sign Marcus Mariota? Am I remembering that correctly? Is Marcus Mariota more like Jaden Daniels or more like Drake May? May is a runner to some extent, but not in the same way that Jaden Daniels is. And normally teams do look for backup quarterbacks that are very similar to their starting quarterback. So your hints and sniffing around, you might be right.

And if the Vikings also had a sense that Daniels was going number two, that would be like, all right, pull the trigger because we can get our guy at number three. I think that those signs do point more toward Drake May. You never really know. You're going to hear from me that a bunch of times leading up to draft night. If we did know how it was going to go, then it would be way less exciting. But I think what you're looking at there, getting out your Sherlock Holmes, what is it? The magnifying glass and looking closely into it that you might be right. You might very well be right. Also, Sam Howell would make for a really great backup. I kind of don't

understand getting rid of him unless you were looking for stylistically a different type of quarterback to pair with, you know, with your rookie. And maybe that's what's going on. I mean, for them, that's, that makes so much sense. Like these guys, I think it's not quite interchangeable one and two, but two and three, I Daniels may, you could make an argument for either one of those guys. And that's why if you're the Vikings and you get to number three, then you should be very pleased because no matter what way it goes, you're, you're doing well for yourself. You should be very happy. Next question comes from Kyle says, should we be pumping the brakes on celebrating success in the off season right now? Let me caveat by saying it's not over and the long-term benefits of these moves are good for the health of the franchise. But so far on an individual level, we've replaced Hunter with Grenard, replaced Wanham

with Van Ginkle, replaced Hicks with Cashman, Madison with Jones, and Kirk with Darnold. The long-term benefits are obviously there, but so far it seems like it's just been player swaps that hasn't been any kind of additions. Do we need to just strap in for a rough season, or do you think that they can make an actual difference in the coming weeks and the rest of the moves? Well, one thing that I would say is when you compare those things, okay, Daniil Hunter is better than Jonathan Grenard, but he only had four more sacks than Jonathan Grenard last year. So it's not like you're going from 16 and a half to five. I mean,

it's 16 and a half to 12 and a half. And that was Daniel Hunter's career high. So he was normally between 10 and 14. And even if Grenard does not perform at the same level and his double digits, nine to 10, something like that. Now Hunter is a better all-around player than almost everyone in the NFL, but Grenard is a complete player. So, you know, I, I think that it's a drop-off, but it's not a drop-off as if you were going from, you know, Nick Bosa to DJ Wanham or something like that. It's going from great to very good. But then some of these other ones are big upgrades. Van Ginkle is much better than DJ Wanham. And that's with appreciation for what Wanham did last year.

He took on a big role. He handled it well. But Van Ginkle is a legitimate impact player. Wanham was kind of a cleanup sack guy who didn't really win a whole lot of pass rush reps and was pretty good against the run. He was an average player that comes off the bench for any team in the NFL. Whereas Van Ginkle was one of PFF's highest graded edge rushers and is a terror as an all around player because he can rush the passer, he can cover, he can stuff the run. He was really good in all areas and has been before with Brian

Flores, part of a really good defense. So we can prove that Van Ginkle has been good before and project forward that he will be a pretty large upgrade there. Cashman over Hicks is also a big upgrade. And this is, again, not to be down on Jordan Hicks, but consider his age, the injury history, and the limitations as far as being a cover linebacker that Jordan Hicks had last year

versus Blake Cashman, who's 27. He's coming into his prime. He's coming off another season where he was one of PFF's highest graded players. We're going from an older veteran who is kind of a traditional linebacker at this point, run stuffer, blitzer, to now somebody who's more of an all-around player that also has more potential for moving around and blitzing more under Brian Flores I think those are big gains defensively

and in the backfield if Aaron Jones is healthy this is a massive gain this is not just your average run of the mill this running back swaps in for that running back that is a big gain Aaron Jones finished his Packer career five straight games of 100 yards 5.0 yards per carry or more in every game and this is a top five running back in NFL history in yards per carry uh even if he's only 90 percent of what he used to be that is huge we're also talking about an impact player in the passing game, which we've seen many times in years past. Now, yeah, if you're talking about Kirk to Darnold, if that ends up being what happens, clearly Sam Darnold is not Kirk Cousins. So if we're just projecting how different it would be if it was Kirk starting 17 games versus Darnold starting 17 games,

then yeah, there's probably a couple of win difference there between those two. And there might be a win on the other side picked up because the defense is more complete and better than it was last year. But I think that none of this is really to address exactly the point of this off season. The point of this off season is not to get as good as you could possibly get by 2024. It's to long-term set yourself up. And I know you mentioned that, so I'm not degrading what you said, but long-term to set yourself up over multiple years. So you can be competitive this year. And I believe that the Vikings can, but then as they go forward, you're talking about trying to build a superpower and Van Ginkle and a Grenard and Cashman. These guys are not on the older side. Aaron Jones helps you this year,

because if you have to play Drake May or Jaden Daniels, you really want a veteran running back to pass protect for you. You want him to run the football, get you in favorable situations. If it's J.J. McCarthy, play actions, screens, working off those things. He is a huge help to a young quarterback or Sam Darnold, honestly. So I think that you're right to say, look, I mean, this didn't make them a Superbowl contender. And I agree that this off season has not meant today that they're a Superbowl contender, but it might mean that for tomorrow for the most part. And we'll see how Jones performs and if he's here going forward, but at least it gives them a chance to try to develop another running back as well, as they have not been able to really do that, but that could be Ty Chandler after another year so I think that you know if your goal is to set yourself up to compete for

a championship by 2025 starting with and then through maybe you know 2028 or something on a rookie's quarterback contract then they have made tremendous tremendous progress toward that if you're looking to get way better for next year, well, then they probably have not made huge, huge gains. But they've also been doing that for a long time, right? A long time where it's all about next year, all about next year. Sign Michael Pierce, sign Delvin Tomlinson. We need to stop the run.

Keep Delvin Cook when you could have got rid of him a year earlier. Things like that that have not added up to much. So no one is crowning them though. You have to make it work. It's easier to tear some things down and spend a little cap space and so forth to do that than it is to build a championship contender. But have they taken major steps forward? Yes,

they have. Yes, they have. This one comes from Adam. Since Jaron Hall is the only quarterback drafted by the current regime, does that tell us anything about which quarterback they might favor in this year's draft? Maybe it shows that age isn't really a factor or they favor character over physical measurements or maybe completely irrelevant. You know, it's a creative question, Adam. And when

we're talking about like trying to get any sample on who they want, who they're doing all this for, uh, it's worth looking at with Jaron Hall. So I wouldn't want to completely dismiss that idea, but I, if you were to give me only those options of what does it tell us, does it favor character measurements? Uh, although of course, um, us? Does it favor character measurements? Although of course, or you mean character over physical measurements or is it completely irrelevant? I would land on completely irrelevant. I think what they did last year was they took somebody who had really great numbers and who is a high character type of player who they were very aware was not likely to become the next great Minnesota Vikings quarterback.

They also could have been thinking about Brock Purdy when they took him. Brock Purdy was an older prospect who had taken his team to really cool places, more so than previous quarterbacks, and who had been good at a university that's not known for having a ton of success, and is a high character guy, and knows game and take a shot. That's kind of what I think it was more about last year than, Hey, like this is our type. None of this would apply to these top guys. When you think about these top guys, we're talking about a total different echelon of quarterback prospect. But if you were trying to put it together and point toward like McCarthy, maybe as far as how the guy's mind works.

But I think all of these guys are in such a different world. Even J.J. McCarthy, who I've been a little more skeptical of, is in such a different world as a prospect because he's 21. He has a rocket arm when he winds up and throws it. That is not something that Jaron Hall really has. He has a rocket arm when he winds up and throws it. That is not something that Jaron Hall really has. He makes plays on the move. He's got running ability, which Jaron Hall's is a ish, but not, you know, impact type of player. And I think that with McCarthy, the mind, the processing, the offense, he's coming from the pedigree. All those things are so much different

than Jaron Hall was. Jaron Hall was roll the dice. The next guy is franchise quarterback. And so probably not, probably there isn't much to take away. Although I will say you brought up the age issue and Kwesi Adafo-Lamenta did say that with quarterbacks age is so much less of a factor than with any other position, because if you're drafting a defensive end, you're looking for reaching their physical prime in the first couple of years. If they're 24, then you're already kind of behind, like they're, they're not ascending anymore as a physical player. They are what they are. So usually are drafting people to grow. I think that's less true of quarterbacks because so much of it is up here. So much of it is experience as well

with quarterbacks and whether you're 24 or 21, you know, we've seen all sorts of different quarterbacks work out, just not 27. That would be wrong. Do not draft someone who's 27. We learned that from Brandon Whedon and Chris Winky, that that's not the greatest idea. Folks, if you don't know what a VPN is, you might actually need one and not even realize it. If you already know the positives, you also might not be using the right product. In either case, you want to check out Surfshark. VPNs keep your information safe

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Find your favorites on Netflix, Hulu, Disney, and other streaming services, and even access new libraries to watch even more content. Can't see a YouTube video because of your location. Use surf shark VPN. Can't access that one website to buy limited

edition sneakers use surf shark vpn try surf shark today totally risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee get surf shark vpn at surf shark dot deals slash purple insider enter the promo code purple insider for three extra months for free you heard me right three extra months for free that is surf shark dot deals slash purple insider uh next question comes from cory uh matthew i wondered if harbaugh wanted his guy mccarthy would they trade herbert's well there's no to that possibility, this made me wonder once again, could you see the Vikings as a trade partner? The Vikings cap situation would seem to suggest no. Also, the Chargers cap situation would suggest no with the way that his contract is structured.

Is it completely impossible? No, because the Denver Broncos are taking an $80 million hit to get rid of Russell Wilson, which, by the way, should tell Steelers fans something, but don't mention that to them because they're excited, I guess. But anyway, nothing is impossible. And there might be a June 1st option to complete a trade, or there might, I don't know. But it does not seem very possible that that could

be the case because not only of the cap charge that would go against the chargers and you clearly can't trade someone after June 1st, if the draft is in late April, that doesn't add up either. If they were trying to get a top draft pick, but also this is Justin Herbert we're talking about. I love how high people get on free agency, and this is how Justin Jefferson gets photoshopped into an Arizona Cardinals jersey, how it's the next hit, the next move, the next big thing that makes us go, wow, that's going to change the whole league. But if you were the Los Angeles Chargers and your quarterback looked like that, would you trade him? I know he's going to be expensive, but really, I would not even consider it for a second. And I'm not the biggest Justin Herbert believer,

but let's be honest. I mean, the guy has been saddled with some pretty rough coaching, pretty poor defense, and he's won games and has put up big numbers. It's not a just a field situation. It's just that he's been through, you know, some injuries have set him back a little bit like it did last year. But this is somebody who looks the part of a franchise quarterback who you keep for 10 to 15 years as long as you possibly can. You work around the cap situation and you go forward from there. I, I, and, and Harbaugh, I'm sure loves JJ McCarthy, but I don't know if he loves him that much to ruin his franchise. Hey, the guy is kind of crazy. So I don't know, but that one has been

brought up a few times. I think it's a, I think it's pretty faretched that that one could be a possibility. All right, our next question comes from Jason here. He says, how significant is it that two of the Vikings free agent signings were teammates with the Houston Texans, Gunnard and Cashman, played together? Do you expect that to give them a head start? Is there any evidence that would suggest that players up their game when they return to play for their home team uh i don't know about that second part if players magically get better uh when they're coming home to play although blake cashman i will say at his press conference

seemed very very excited to be a minnesota viking he was saying this is a great day for me and he looked pretty darn pumped so i imagine that he very, very happy to come home and play. But is there any evidence, like statistical or something, to say that he would magically be better than he was before? Probably not. Probably not. But, you know, look, he was already very good. So you don't need him to be better than what he was last year. You just need him to be the same exact guy.

And is there significance to those two playing together? Only that I think that if you were to go to a new environment, you would be pretty confused. Where do I go? Where do I eat? What restaurants should I go check out? You know, just getting your family there or whatever you might be doing, right? And to have somebody like Blake Cashman, who's not only coming with you, but also is from here and knows the entire terrain, and this is where he grew up and everything about the organization. I would say,

just from my own perspective, it's like having a travel buddy where you'd feel much better about going there with somebody who already knew that. I mean, I'm sure that there's lots of comparisons you could make, but if you were going off to college and you're between two different colleges and one of your good buddies is going to one of the schools that you'd like to go to, and he's already been there and he says, Hey, it's great here. Come on by. I mean, that's going to make you feel better. Like, Hey, you know, you're going to know where to go. There's going to be less confusion. As far as them actually playing together, Jonathan Crenard's job is likely to be pretty simple. That is rush the passer. So it's not like they're coming as two linebackers that are going to be,

you know, connected at the hip and have already worked together closely. It's more of just, you know, they have their different jobs, but I think these are really good signings. I mean, what you look at is when they played for the Texans last year, that defense was pretty effective and Grenard was a significant pass rusher. Cashman was a huge player for the Texans and linebacker. And what I noticed about Blake Cashman is that he's a very good communicator. So I w I would not be surprised if he takes on that green dot right away and is good at it. And that w I would not be surprised if he takes on that green dot right away and is good at it. And that was something Grinard mentioned is that when he was that guy last year, when he was in that position that he felt like the defense was really on point.

So the Vikings lose a Jordan Hicks, who is a very good communicator, super high intelligence veteran. And they bring in somebody else who, even if you spend five minutes listening to him talk, you're like, oh, okay. I see why that guy would be brought in here to lead the defense. Does it make them better? Does it guarantee the signings are great? It does not. But yeah, I think it's a more comfortable environment for everybody that Cashman is coming home and that Grenard gets to come here with a buddy. Always got to have a buddy, no matter where you go and what you do. This next question comes from Dan, says, if the Vikings do trade up for May, Daniels, or McCarthy, will they be pressured to start them because of how high they drafted them?

I like all three, but feel they all need a year to learn. I just think that the idea that someone needs a year to learn is entirely case to case basis. And I will use Anthony Richardson as a good example, because I fell into that same trap last year of saying, Hey, if the Vikings were to get Anthony Richardson, you sit him for a year behind Kirk, and then you let him go after that. And I know he got banged up, but if you watched any of the Anthony Richardson games, you would have thought the guy was a quarterback in the NFL for five years. He was so in command of their offense. He seemed to understand what everybody's

assignments were. He played on time, didn't even hang onto the ball and struggle and look around and look confused, looked like a pro quarterback. And the same goes for CJ Stroud, who I know came out as much more of that type of guy. And then there's Bryce Young that was expected to be a pro ready quarterback and was in such a bad spot in Carolina. He should not have played last year. They should have let Andy Dalton just get his tail whooped for an entire year and then go forward from there. So it's entirely case to case. It's entirely what it looks like in preseason, but I think that everybody knows. And when Kevin O'Connell talks about alignment now, you know, maybe they're not in perfect alignment about what the price should

have been for Kirk cousins. I don't know that, but they should be in alignment of a timeline. And that timeline is not, it's all for this year year it's for the next five years is what you're making this draft pick for with o'connell quesadilla fomenta and building around that that player there will be pressure if he's not starting right away from fans there will be pressure from ownership you will watch a bad sam darnold game and go, oh my gosh, we need to be playing Drake May or whoever, Jaden Daniels or JJ McCarthy. But I think all of us understand that this is a long-term type of play and not right away. And I wouldn't panic if the guy wins a quarterback competition training camp over Sam Darnold and say, oh no, I thought he needed a year. Well, if he's ready, then they

can play him and he can go out there and there will needed a year. Well, if he's ready, then they can play him and he can go out there and there will be bumps along the road, even as there has been. But it's not like rookie quarterbacks playing well is some sort of crazy anomaly. We saw it from even like Carson Wentz, who didn't turn out to be an amazing quarterback.

He was pretty good right away for the Philadelphia Eagles, battled. And Joe Burrow had a pretty terrible team, but battled along the way when he came in games early on, it didn't ruin him to play. I think it only is going to quote ruin a guy if his confidence is totally destroyed, which would come from oftentimes having bad coaching, having bad offensive line, especially bad offensive line, especially bad offensive line. So get a guard folks. And

especially, you know, lack of wide receivers and weapons and veterans around him feeling off on an Island or something. He's got whoever they pick is going to have a lot of support and a lot of former quarterbacks coaching him and a lot of great receivers helping him out and putting him in a position to succeed. So I think that that worry that the player could be destroyed quickly is probably less here than other places. It could definitely happen anywhere, but it's less here than it would be with some other teams. That's how I would look at it.

So don't freak out if the guy's starting right away. I guess we'll just see how it goes. You'd prefer maybe half of a season or something. There will be pressure. There's no doubt about that. But I think when you go into the plan of here's how we're going to handle it, then there's less pressure and more of if X, then Y if Drake may outperform Sam Darnold,

or if JJ McCarthy outperforms Sam Darnold in training camp, he's got the job and he's going to start. And if he struggles, this is when we're going to pull the cord. Like you got all those types of different if, and then the type of options that you're going to go about it with, but all those can be difficult when the fans are booing maybe, or, or chanting J Din Daniels or whatever it might be. So yeah, it's, it's something we'll be looking at. It's definitely something that we'll be paying attention to if that player doesn't win the job right out of camp. Jared from Australia. Welcome, welcome.

A lot of oversee. I noticed different spellings that are in England or in other places. So I love that there's an international presence to Purple Insider. Says, mailbag question here. I figure that KOC wants a backup quarterback who has similar traits to QB one, so they could both run the same offense effectively with that in mind.

I thought signing Darnold might give us a clue to the quarterback they like in this class. Which quarterback do you think has the most similarities to Darnold? Well, that's obviously Drake may, I mean, is it like hands down because what Sam Darnold was supposed to become is probably the best version of how we envision Drake May, except for Darnold wasn't ever he's good, he can be really spectacular. It's just that the consistency of being good was not what they wanted from Sam Darnold. But I mean, it's, I mean, he's not obviously like Jaden Daniels, uh, or even Caleb Williams. Jaden Daniels is much more of a runner. That is an immediate impact player with his ground game. Whereas Sam Darnold was never

going to be a running type of quarterback. And I don't think he's like JJ McCarthy either, because even though he was pretty young when he came out of college, I think McCarthy is looked at as much more of a cerebral type of prospect where with Darnold, it was just look at these physical tools, man, you got to have it. So that's kind of how it is with Drake May as well. It's look at those physical tools. You got to have them. So if we're taking hints from Sam Darnold, then I think that's the one that it points to.

Frank says, this will be our last question here to wrap on. When you do another fans only podcast, well, you're in luck. If the Vikings are looking for a third receiver, would Hunter Renfro be a good pickup option after being released by the Raiders? So Hunter Renfro is an interesting one because how does a guy go from catching a hundred passes to being cut by his team and being irrelevant? I would need an answer to that question. I don't really know. It seems that he was phased

out of the offense after Devontae Adams got there and just never became a part of it. Plus, the quarterback play over the last two years with the Raiders was pretty gnarly. But one thing that I really like about Hunter Renfro is that he gets open out of the slot in man coverage. And that's exactly what the Vikings need. The Vikings just need one of those guys. And that was not really KJ Osborne, by the way, that, you know, he was much more of a kind of a Mack truck type of wide receiver, get the ball in his hands, get a move in with the football. And the Vikings never really used them that way over the last couple of years. And I thought he was also a good deep threat, but he was really those types of things only. And he was not like a pristine, super sharp Jordan Addison

or Justin Jefferson route runner. He was more of a, let's get that guy, the ball in his hands. The Vikings didn't really use them that way. We'll see if the Patriots do, but Renfro, he is a man coverage. Let's get open, uh, out of the slot the slot you know the sort of in and out type of routes and things like that that are ultimately a very good like little check down option or a little short quick game option you got a third and eight you need nine yards get it to that guy one-on-one with a linebacker or a safety or something yeah i mean i like him i i thought he was a good wide receiver i guess i just don't know for sure why that went down so quickly and why he fell out of favor with the Raiders. But was there an injury that took him down? I really don't know. But I do know that the Vikings need that type of player. And there

are not that many types of players in free agency. So I like your idea of Hunter Renfro. There's a handful of other guys. Tyler Boyd kind of fell off. Michael Gallup, DJ Shark. These are guys who, you know, have been around and have been effective sometimes and not others. So maybe someone like Renfro still has something in the tank. Or they could have that, you know, competition with a bunch of different guys going at it. And we'll see if that ends up being the case. But not a bad idea at all for them to bring in Hunter Renfro. All right. Thanks so much for watching this fans

only episode of Purple Insider. Again, purpleinsider.com. You can sign up for the newsletter there as well. Comes out every day, articles up there, columns, analysis, breakdowns, all those things that you get from the audio version in written form. And then, you know, feel free to send emails. You just use the contact us or hit me up on Twitter at Matthew Collar. My DMs are open. Just go there, send me a message, and more of these episodes to come. Should be a big, exciting week for the Minnesota Vikings. Lots of guests are going to be popping in.

We'll get a Texans perspective. We'll get a draft analyst perspective. We'll get a Texans perspective. We'll get a draft analyst perspective. We'll get local reporters. I mean, look, it's a big time, big time to be alive. So thanks everybody for watching slash listening again, and we'll catch you next time. Football.