Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Bonus episode: Q+A and mock draft of the first 14 picks

Episode Date: March 14, 2021

Every Thursday and Saturday night during free agency and draft season, Matthew Coller is hosting live Q+As and draft simulations on the Locker Room App. This bonus episode is the audio from his live session, which includes great questions and "call-ins" from listeners about WR3, Mike Zimmer's impact on the offense, why the Vikings should be team trade down and looks at the first 13 picks leading up to the Vikings' selection at 14. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Folks, do you feel like everything these days is go, go, go? It's non-stop, from work, to friends, to family, and a million pressing issues. Sometimes you just need to take a playoff and hit the reset button. That's when you reach for a Coors Light. It's made to chill. Hey, it's that time of year in Minnesota again to get out on the lake, go to the cabin, sit back, watch some baseball. Coors Light is the perfect refreshment to chill during these summer months. There's only one beer out there that's made to chill. The mountains on the bottles and cans turn blue when your beer is cold,

and that way you know it's time to chill. Hit that reset button with some mountain cold refreshment. Coors Light is cold lager, cold filtered, and cold packaged. It's literally made to chill. It's crisp and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies. Coors Light is the one you should choose when you need to unwind, when you want to hit the reset button, reach for the beer that is made to chill. Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door

with Drizzly or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate! Welcome to a bonus episode of Purple Insider, presented by Scout Logistics and Symbol, your stock market for sports. Matthew Collar here as always. On Thursday and Saturday evenings, I've been going live on the Locker Room app and doing Q&As and draft simulations, and I wanted to start adding the audio to the podcast feed for those who missed it because the conversations have been really fun. What I discovered about the Locker Room app that I like is that you can let other people talk in the same way that you would let other people talk in the same

way that you would be taking calls on sports radio. So here's the Q&A slash draft stimulation from Saturday night in which we had some fans chime in in both the caller style and in the chat box where they left their questions and the reactions and we did it mock draft style picking all the players up until the 14th pick for the Vikings and then making the Vikings pick with getting fan feedback at the same time. So if you want to join in on those, just get the Locker Room app and look for me going live usually around 9.30 Thursday and Saturday night as we do Draft Sims After Dark. So here is the audio of that. So I had a new idea for this one.

The last couple of weeks when we've done Draft Sims After Dark, what we've done is we have kind of gone to like let's simulate up to the Vikings pick and then decide what we want to do there and then go to the third round and then go to the fourth round. And then last time we did a little trade down. But this time I want to do a mock style where I draft every pick as in like a mock draft for every team until we get to 14 to kind of see where the Vikings are. So we'll try to, you know, start right with the number one pick and go right through 14 and kind of see how it goes. And you guys can tell me, you know, who you want picked for each team and that kind of see how it goes and you guys could tell me um you know who you want picked

for each team and that kind of thing and agree or disagree not going to do a trade probably today i kind of want to do focus really on the first round here and then when we get to 14 we can decide what the vikings did in the offseason and you know that kind of stuff or well i guess i shouldn't say the offseason anymore i should say week, what they did in free agency and sort of the situation that they'll be facing when we get to the draft. And also, you know, throw out your questions, your comments, anything like that. So this is also new. What's up, Bert?

What's up, Matthew? How you doing, brother? I'm good. How about you? Good, man, good. Thank you for bringing me to this stage. I appreciate it. Sure thing. What's going on, man? Nothing. You know, I just, you know, you we can possibly bring in Jamie Newman

or a third, fourth-round quarterback into the situation because I am so sick of listening to everything that has to do with Kirk Cousins. That's all I have to say. That's all I have to say. That's all I have to say. Thank you, Bert. I appreciate it, man. Thanks for jumping on. So let's see.

Knock me down. Knock me down. I think I just hit remove speaker. Is that cool, Bert? I love you. I love you, Matthew. You can knock me down as much as you want. I love you no matter what.

Okay. That's a little aggressive, Bert, but I really appreciate it, man. I'm just kidding. Thanks, Matthew. You can knock me down as much as you want. I love you no matter what. Okay, okay, that's a little aggressive, Bert, but I really appreciate it, man. I'm just kidding. Thanks, dude. So that's a new thing that I figured out how to do on this app is bring people to the stage, which if you listened before, I didn't know how to do that. So that's how you do it, and I really appreciate that, Bert. Now here's the thing about the third and fourth round draft picks. If I just do a quick Google search here of, let's see, draft history by position, and we take a look at recent third and fourth round draft picks, it's not particularly great. Like, everyone loves the idea of, hey, you get a developmental guy,

and then he develops and becomes something great, right? Well, I mean, let's look at the guys who were drafted last year in the fourth round and you tell me if any of these have any chance, right? Like Jacob Eason, probably not. James Morgan, remember he was kind of hot. In the fifth round, Jake Fromm, that guy's got no chance. We go to the year before, Will Greer. I'm not even sure he's Carolina's direct backup now. I think that that is someone else. Ryan Finley, Jared Stidham, those are your middle-round quarterbacks.

Mason Rudolph, Kyle Lalletta the year before, someone named Mike White. I mean, so it does happen every once in a while that you get a Kirk Cousins or you get a Dak Prescott or a Russell Wilson, but it's, you know, it might be lighting a draft pick on fire. Like the odds sort of lean toward if you're spending a third-round draft pick or a fourth-round draft pick on a middle-round quarterback. Like those guys just don't often work out. Even the same year that Dak Prescott went in fourth round, the other two quarterbacks, the other three quarterbacks in the third round, fourth round, you got Jacoby Brissett, Cody Kessler, then Cardale Jones. Like those guys

just generally don't work out super great. So now Jamie Newman is an interesting one, but you would still be hearing about Kirk Cousins for at least another year. The only way that you're not hearing about Kirk Cousins for another year is if they somehow got, I don't know, Justin Fields, maybe, that they would start him right away. Probably even not. So you're at least locked into that for another year, I think. And, I mean, it does make sense if it's Kellen Mond or it's Jamie Newman because those guys have a chance. But, yeah, even then, if you aren't drafted in the first two rounds,

your chances of becoming a good starter are not great. So let's start this out, this draft sim. You guys can keep throwing in questions, or if you want to do the call to the stage thing, you can, now that I know how to do that. But I want to do this kind of first 13 picks that lead up to the Vikings, and I want to get started with that in a second. What's going on, Dan? Hey, Matt, how are you?

I'm awesome, man. How about this, huh? I figured out how to do this. It's pretty cool. Yeah, no, this is pretty cool. So I wanted to ask about the wide receiver three thing. Sure, what about it? So first of all, besides Devontae Smith, I guess,

who would be a guy that you would think would be worth taking at 14 to be a wide receiver three? And second of all, do we run an offense that would be worth taking a wide receiver three, I guess? Yeah, that's a great question. Thanks, man. So let me answer it with this. Any of the top wide receivers, I think that it would be worth it to do that. And by top, I mean Jalen Waddell, Devontae Smith, and Jamar Chase.

After that, I think you're only doing it if you trade down. Now, this is just my feeling on how this lays out, and maybe they're, and I'll add Kyle Pitts to that, and I know that it sort of sounds weird to say Kyle Pitts when you have Irv Smith Jr., but I think that Kyle Pitts is such a great football player that you can figure out how to use him in your offense. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time, even in Kirk Cousins' career, that there were two great tight ends on his team. He had, what was the guy's name? The really fast one from Washington, and then the other one, Jordan Reed and Davis. Forget his first name. So they had those two really fast tight ends, and they used them, and they had a great passing offense in Washington. And so if you did that with Kyle Pitts, so any of those guys.

Now to your question about would they be able to use the wide receiver three, I think that the reason that they've been using the offense the way that they have with two tight ends is just based on personnel. I mean, if you were putting your best players on the field, you'd be talking about putting Irv Smith, Kyle Rudolph, Stefan Diggs, Adam Thielen, or Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen. You can run this offense out of three wide receivers. And you can have, I mean, think about Sean McVay in Los Angeles. That's exactly what they did.

They ran it at its best with three wide receivers when it was, Sammy Watkins Robert Woods and Cooper Cup and that's when they were about at their best so I think you just adjust because now the number two tight end is Tyler Conklin and I like Tyler Conklin I think he can make plays but I don't think you want Tyler Conklin out there as much as Irv Smith was last year where he's out there for 50 60 70 percent of plays on a given week, that would be a lot for Tyler Conklin. So I think that there is a good chance that they're going after someone to be wide receiver three.

And they also have to realize, too, that in big situations, I mean, teams are trying to take away those top two guys. So you need playmakers as a third wide receiver, and they have been so short on that in previous years, anybody that could make plays. But I don't think you do it in the first round for anyone that's not named Smith, Waddle, Pitts, or Chase, because there's so much talent at the wide receiver position after that. I mean, you could trade down and you could look at Rondell Moore, but there are guys every day in my Twitter feed there are

new wide receivers showing up who are interesting in the middle and late rounds and you think about recent years the third round let's say they trade back into the second there's been a bevy of receivers who show up and are pretty good in the second third round Terry McLaurin is a guy who's become a star in the third round. Alexander, you're talking about the Vikings having interest in Keelan Cole. How much would I support him as wide receiver three? I mean, yes, like these are the type of guys that you want to bring in. Keelan Cole can make plays.

You know, he was what, like a punt returner for them too, I think? And my gosh, could the Vikings use a punt returner? I never thought too much about the punt returner for them too, I think. And my gosh, could the Vikings use a punt returner? I never thought too much about the punt returner thing until last year when it was a complete disaster. And so now I am saying that that is important. Let me pull up Keelan Cole's numbers because, you know, I think all you need here for wide receiver three is somebody who can just make a difference, who is fast enough, or who is enough of a playmaker with the ball in their hands. I mean, so two years ago, Keelan Cole averaged 15 yards a catch. So that would say to me that he can go downfield. He was in the slot last year.

This is cool with PFF, some of their new stats that they've added. He was in the slot almost 70% of time last year, and he had 55 catches. So, I mean, that tells me that he would be a fit for the Vikings. And if it's rumored at all from legitimate sources that he's going to be a target of the Vikings, that tells me that they have finally come around on this, that it can't be BC Johnson. It can't be Chad Beebe. Those guys can play in the NFL as backups, but they just can't be, you know,

star-level players. All right, go ahead, Dan. Yeah, so I guess just like I agree with you on Pitts, but I guess where the line is, like I think Devontae is the line that I would go with the wide receiver, but I don't think I would do anything below that. So you mean like – because I would say if you could get Chase, Waddle, Smith, or Pitts, and those are the only guys that I would do in the first round. Yeah, no, I agree with you because I just think there are too many other holes on the roster to pick a guy

that I don't – I'm not confident they would use to their best ability in the offense they currently run with Thielen and Jefferson. Right, right, right. And there's only – the way that they do it, there is only so many targets to go around. Instead of 600 passes, there's only 500 passes. Right. I guess that's what I'm, that's kind of, that's like the second part of my question is, how do we think that Clint Kubiak is going to run his offense more, like more open than what we have

done in the past? Yeah. No, that's a great question. I don't think that anything changes for the run pass philosophy at all. I mean, because it's odd how, you know, Mike Zimmer is known as a defensive coach, but he's sort of become very much involved and in charge of what happens on offense and their offensive philosophy. And, I mean, it just seems like he was so unhappy on several different occasions with what his offensive coordinator was doing that he's decided that he's taking more command of that. And he is clearly setting what they want to do in terms of run and pass. And, you know, it just really struck me.

I think it was against San Francisco in the playoff game when they came out of halftime and they're losing and, you know, the sideline reporter asks Zimmer what they need to do and he says, like, run the ball. It's like, I mean, come on, man, really? Like, is that really what you, I mean, I guess so. I mean, you need to run the ball better than you were doing that. But, like, come on. Like, that seems to be his answer for a lot of things.

So that makes me think that Clint Kubiak is not going to have the power to change the run-pass ratio. So you're right in the fact that you have to just work with what you've got in terms of how many pass attempts Kirk Cousins will be allowed to have. I'm not confident that's going to change. Sorry, go ahead. No, do I still have the mic? I didn't know that, honestly.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're still up. But, like, so Diggs hit that touchdown in the San Francisco game. I feel like that – I feel like they went away from that at the end, I guess. I don't know. Yeah, no, you're right, and there have been many times. I'm just going to take you off now. But many times there have been many games where I've thought the pass is so much more effective right now for what you're doing, and yet you keep putting yourself behind the six.

But your question was kind of, you know, if they drafted wide receiver three, would they use him enough? And my thing is, even if you're drafting wide receiver three this year, and it seems sort of like, wow, you need these other picks and everything else for other, you know, positions. It's not a short term thing, though. Like you're not just drafting for 2021. You're drafting for the long term. And Adam Thielen looked good last year. You know, he had a lot of touchdown passes sort of turned into their red zone threat.

But at some point he won't. And that is probably coming, you probably coming over the next few years. Even Larry Fitzgerald faded eventually. Even these other guys who have been legendary receivers get into their 30s and they drop back a bit. I could see a Larry Fitzgerald type of thing for Adam Thielen over the next few years where maybe he becomes the Jake Reed of the equation if you draft another wide receiver here or if you sign one, but really if you drafted one.

I mean, that's the thing is you could get to 14, and we're going to start going through this, but you could get to 14 and you could have just way too much talent in the playmaker position. You know, it could be one of the receivers. It could be Kyle Pitts. And there's so much talent there that you just have to do it, right? That you have to go best player available because that guy is going to be a big difference maker

as opposed to some other position. And if they were to do that, let's say you draft Devontae Smith. Let's say that happens, like Daniel Jeremiah's mock. If Devontae Smith catches like 40 balls in the first year, that's not a disaster. Like, that's good. That's a big upgrade from what you had. And then as you go forward the next year, the next year, then you're having Jefferson and Devante Smith as your one, two, and Adam Thielen is kind of becoming your slot guy.

Like I always try to try, you know, look a couple of years down the road when it comes to these things and not just look at it as how is this going to help next year? So let's start draft simming here. Or this is more of a true mock, isn't it? A true mock form is what I want to do here and take every team up to 14 and then make the decision on the Vikings. But, yeah, thanks, Dan. But if you have any other questions, this thing where, you know,

I can bring people to the stage is really cool, and I like that a lot. It's like taking callers on the radio. So that's pretty fun. If you want to do that, that's totally cool. And otherwise, questions on anything. If you've got questions on free agents or the draft or whatever, I'm going to do the mock draft here, but also very cool with answering any questions. Hey, everybody.

I want to tell you about our friends at SimBull. cool with answering any questions. Go to SimBull.app, that is S-I-M-B-U-L-L dot A-P-P. Sign up using the promo code PURPLE and get a $10 deposit bonus if you're a first-time user, and then you are off and rolling. Here's how it works. You buy stocks of your teams, and when your team wins, you earn cash payouts that are instantly deposited. If you sign up for SimBull, you also get updates emailed to you directly with the trends on which teams are on the rise. So check out StimBowl.app or follow them on Twitter at StimBowlExchange and check out the Marketplace for Sports today. Hey, everyone.

I want to tell you about our friends at Scout Logistics. And I really do mean it when I say friends. They are fans of Purple Insider over at Scout Logistics. And since they reached out wanting to support this show, I want to tell you about what they do. Scout Logistics is just-in-time transportation for full tractor-trailer loads, and if you're wondering what that means exactly, well, if you own or work for a company that needs shipping solutions, they are the preferred carrier of Fortune 500 companies across North America, and we have quite a few of those in Minnesota, right? They can ship perishable, non-perishable, FTL or LTL,

and they have on-time delivery rate of over 99%. So if you're like them and you enjoy the show and you have shipping needs, check out ScoutLogistics.com or call 855-217-2688, extension 232, to connect with them directly to find out how Scout Logistics can minimize risk and overperform and go the extra mile for your company. So Trevor Lawrence to the Jaguars is what I'm going to do. Alexander, not Zach Wilson. I don't know who Kyle Wilson is. Zach Wilson, I'm just picking on you. I'm going to take Trevor Lawrence to the Jaguars. I don't know who Kyle Wilson is. Zach Wilson, I'm just picking on you. I'm going to take Trevor Lawrence of the Jaguars. I don't think Urban Meyer is that crazy,

though I'm not really sold on Urban Meyer. When you try to hire a racist strength and conditioning coach as your first move, that seems bad to me in the NFL, I just think, or really any profession. Your first hire being a guy who's fired for being a racist is just not ideal. Next move, in my opinion. You know, Kyle, I have no idea. This offseason is very strange because I could see a resolution to the Daniil Hunter and Anthony Barr situations tomorrow, or I could see them, to the Daniil Hunter and Anthony Barr situations tomorrow, or I could see them, especially with Daniil Hunter, happening in August or something, or right before the season.

It's so hard to predict these things. With Anthony Barr, it seems like something has to happen there, but Mike Zimmer is so committed to Anthony Barr and Anthony Barr knows this. And so I don't see any reason why Anthony Barr would take a pay cut. Maybe they can change some money over or something there. Urban Meyer goes running back. That's funny, David. I think that you're right, Kyle, that something happens there with Barr and Hunter. The Kyle Van Noy cut for the Dolphins made me wonder if Anthony Barr could be traded. I mean, you think about like, how does Anthony Barr have trade value? His contract is gigantic

and he didn't play last year, most of the year because of an injury. I feel like it just has to be a cut, which is not terrible because we usually only think about the first year of, oh, it creates $7 million for this year, but it creates like 15 for next year or whatever it might be. I don't have his contract up right here, but it creates a lot of space down the road that you had committed to Anthony Barr. So I think it would be a cut, but yeah, that's the thing, David, is would they allow it?

Would Mike Zimmer allow Anthony Barr to be taken away from him? It seems pretty unlikely to me. I think that one just stands pat. I think it just stays as it is, and I could be completely wrong there, but I think that one stays as it is, and Anthony Barr is just part of the defense next year, and that's how it goes. Though I will say that when Rick Spielman was talking about how players coming back is like getting free agents, he didn't say Anthony Barr. He said, Daniil Hunter and Michael Pierce coming back is like getting free agents. And he used that line twice. He used it in our Zoom call with him and he used it in a radio interview too on KFAN and

he didn't say Anthony Barr. So I thought that was kind of interesting, but I think it would be a cut. Uh, Kyle, if, if they cut you, would you resign with them? Usually doesn't have, they tried that with, uh, Jerry's right and that didn't work pie chart of bears starting quarterbacks, man. Oh yes. Alexander. I have become very adept at a Zimmer and Spielman speak over the last five years, pie chart of bears quarterbacks. Uh, I have become very adept at Zimmer and Spielman speak over the last five years. Pie chart of Bears quarterbacks.

I feel like there's so many options. Let's see. Russell Wilson, I would go like 10%, I think. Maybe we say rookie is 40% that they trade up, and the other 50% is exactly what I want it to be because of my love for journeyman quarterbacks. I want it to be Ryan Fitzpatrick or a journeyman quarterback. There is another potential option here. I mean, they tried to get Teddy last year, and they told Teddy that he would have to go through a competition with Mitch Trubisky,

who I guess deserves percentage, doesn't he? What does Mitch Trubisky deserve, like a 20%? Because, I mean, who else is giving Mitch Trubisky even a chance to compete for a starting job like they could, even though there's bad blood there or bad feelings? I mean, I don't know how many teams, like, have a legit quarterback competition. So, I don't know how many teams like have a legit quarterback competition. So I don't know. I'll go like 40% Ryan Fitzpatrick-ish, Jacoby Brissett or whatever, and 10% Mitch Trubisky. Teddy Bridgewater probably has too big of a cap hit for them to be able to get,

but it seems like Carolina wants to draft a quarterback. So yeah, the Bears quarterback situation is really something. But if they get Russell Wilson, I apologize to all of you, because not only can the Vikings not usually win at Soldier Field, but they definitely cannot beat Russell Wilson. So that would, like, double up. That's funny, Mitch at $5 million or Kirk at $45 million. Yeah, it's probably Mitch at $5 million based on the fact that the Bears have made the playoffs

two of the last three years and the Vikings only won. But Mitch is not good. The only thing is that when he started running a similar offense to the Vikings last year, he actually played okay. Not real well, but okay. And maybe they should have been doing that all along. Could Shamar Ste Stephan be cut? They love Shamar Stephan as much as they love Anthony Barr.

I don't quite fully understand that. He's very good in like 25% of the snaps, mostly the run situations, but they really like him. My guess is that they want to restructure it or give him an extension or something to lower his cap hit. if not they'll cut him but he's another one where you just feel like is Andre Patterson going to allow it I'm not even sure how does the Hunter contract play out this is a very difficult question Michael and something that I've just been going back and forth on all the time because I think that the Daniil Hunter thing, I think it gets ugly to tell you the truth. And again, like I said, it's so unpredictable right now that

tomorrow they could sign Daniil Hunter to an extension or make his base salary guaranteed for the next two years or something, which was what Brad Spielberger of PFF suggested. And I think that that's the safest route for them to go. But I also think that they might feel like coming off the injury, sort of how dare you in a way? Like, how can you be coming to us and asking for your contract to be changed when you just were out for an entire year? It seems very contentious.

Yeah, I agree, Alexander. I'll get to the mock. It's just the Hunter situation I could talk for another hour about because it's so fascinating because I think that Daniil Hunter does have leverage here because he had 29 sacks over the last two seasons that he played, and there are teams that would want to trade for him. So I don't know. They have no pass

rush that's another thing and he knows that so how this goes back uh that how this ends up I'm not really sure but I think that it goes on for a while and I wouldn't be surprised if it gets into August and we're talking about this kind of day after day in training camp and Mike Zimmer's getting mad at us asking about it all the time. You know, Kyle, when you're talking about Joe Tooney versus Zeitler and Blythe and Trey Turner, Trey Turner is coming off a year where he was graded by PFF lower than Dakota Dozier. So I'm out on that one. Like late 20s, early 30s offensive linemen who've had their worst year, not unless you want Andre Smith all over again. Zeitler, I think is going to have a ton of people after him.

Austin Blythe is the one that I've got circled. Played in a similar system. Isn't that great of a pass blocker, but is a good run blocker. Like, who's that sound like? All the Vikings offensive linemen. Dan, as far as where Ezra Cleveland's full-time position is, if it's not left tackle, then what are we doing here? Then why was he picked in the second round if he's just going to be a guard? And he just doesn't look like

a guard to me. You know, the guards are usually a little shorter, a little stronger, like quick and stocky and sort of violent. And that is not Ezra Cleveland. He's more of athletic and finesse and can kind of mirror what defensive ends are doing. I think they should just move him over to left tackle. All right, let's get back to this. Trevor Lawrence, we haven't even gotten to the second round pick. We're 20 minutes in.

And that means you guys have asked great questions, so I appreciate that. I'm going to go Zach Wilson with the second pick to the New York Jets in this mock draft where I'm trying to get, and we'll get there, to 14. Then we can kind of look at how we think the Vikings situation is going to go. For the Miami Dolphins, so if it were me with the Miami Dolphins, I would be trading Tua and the number three overall pick to Houston for Deshaun Watson, but let's say we can't do that. Justin Fields, Penny Sewell, Jamar Chase, Jalen Waddell, they've got all sorts of options here.

I think that they need a playmaker, a wide receiver for Tua. And I've seen this happen before on a team that a quarterback doesn't really show a lot in his first year, and then they say, well, you know, we just need to get him a wide receiver. When I was in Buffalo, this happened with Sammy Watkins and E.J. Manuel, where the Bills traded their first-round pick for the next year to move up to get Sammy Watkins. What? I mean, what an insane move because they wanted to prove that E.J. Manuel was a good draft pick.

Jamar Chase is who I'm going with here. So they're going to do the same thing, And then they're going to ultimately maybe regret not drafting Justin Fields. Now, this one is hard because there's just a part of me that feels like Justin Fields is the guy that's going to become suddenly not sexy and he's going to drop. There's a part of me that thinks that there's some concerns about how long he takes to throw the ball there's some concerns about those couple of games where he didn't play well and so I don't know but I think that Atlanta would be wise to pick Justin Fields here and get their next quarterback I think that that's the way that they should go. I don't know if they will. So

what do we think? Because it just, it makes so much sense with the next pick for the Bengals to get Penny Sewell. I think I'm going to do that. I'm going to go with it here and I'm going to go Justin Fields. Yeah, I agree, Kyle. I think that if Justin Fields drops, it's going to be, oh, Pitts to Atlanta. That's a good idea. I like that. If Justin Fields drops, it will just be a case of overthinking that the NFL has overthought. Oh, no, he had two bad games. Like, yeah, college players do that sometimes. Kyle Pitts to Atlanta. Let's do that. That's a good suggestion. All right. We're going to go Kyle Pitts to Atlanta. Let's do that. That's a good suggestion. All right, we're going to go Kyle Pitts to Atlanta, and then we're going to go Penny Sewell to the Cincinnati Bengals. So we have Lawrence, Fields, Chase, Pitts, Sewell.

And now with the Eagles, I think that – now it's interesting because there was a report that their ownership wants Jalen Hurts to be the quarterback. And if that's the case, then they have to make up for making a huge mistake last year with the wide receiver position, Devante Smith or Jalen Waddell here, Devante Smith, Kyle, let's go with Devante Smith to the Philadelphia Eagles. And they'll believe in Jalen Hurts. They might as well because if Jalen Hurts blows up and they go 2-14,

they've got a good receiver for their next quarterback, Spencer Rattler. All right, now we're on to the Lions with Justin Fields still on the board, Micah Parsons also. We've got Quiddie Paye, Rashawn Slater, cornerbacks. You guys are right on. Micah Parsons just seems seems perfect for them they've lost a couple linebackers they had their first round linebacker pick blow up in their face uh you know that they want to build up that defense let's go Micah Parsons here with the

seventh overall pick to the Lions and now uh I think Carolina gets what they want you're you are right that the Lions making a weird pick there would be something that the Detroit Lions would do. They were the team in the second round a few years ago, and they drafted someone that like Daniel Jeremiah had never heard of. You are referring to Jeremiah Owusu-Koamara. Koromoa. That's the guy. So I went with Parsons to the Lions because they just seemed like a team that would draft a linebacker there. Now Justin Fields to Carolina is how I'm going here because I think they want their future quarterback. And I'm going to go back to back. What do you guys think of this?

I'm going to go back to back. I think that Denver is not sold on Drew Locke, and they want their future quarterback. They've got playmakers. They're going to go Trey Lance quarterback. They've got playmakers. They're going to go Trey Lance here. They've got a good defense. They've got a good defensive coach, and clearly last year they were loading up on playmakers. Lance to Denver, and 10th pick, this has to be, this is Dallas, this has to be a corner, right? Their defense is a disaster. It has to be a corner. So do we think Caleb Farley here? He's the top corner for PFF, but also Patrick Sertan, either or. I don't know which

one they would like. So let's just go with the top guy and go with Caleb Farley. Now that's a good point, Kyle, that they might go Rashawn Slater. They might go offensive line. I mean, they could go a lot of places. They need a lot of help. I went corner for them because their secondary was such a disaster last year, and I'm not sure that Trayvon Diggs can play. You're right. Connor Williams is terrible. They have a lot to rebuild in Dallas,

and yet still by far the best team in the NFC East if Dak is healthy. So our top ten is Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson to the Jets, Jamar Chase to the Dolphins, Kyle Pitts goes to Atlanta, Penny Sewell to the Bengals, Devante Smith to the Eagles, Micah Parsons to Detroit, Justin Fields goes to Carolina, then Denver picks Trey Lance, Caleb Farley to Dallas. And that leaves us with the New York football giants of whom I don't know what they'll do. They've drafted some offensive line in recent years, but we've got Jalen Waddell here. Jalen Waddell seems like the natural pick. They have Slater's a pretty good wide receiver. It seems like they still want to force the ball to Evan Ingram.

I'm not a huge fan of his. Let's go Waddle. They need a playmaker. Folks, March is quite the month for Minnesota sports, and SodaStick has you covered with Minnesota sports-themed gear. The hockey team is headed down the stretch, so you've got to check out the Dollar Bill Carril shirts and baseball is ready to get started.

Go to sodastick.com. Check out the Touch Them All shirts, the Twinkies hats, and the Tomorrow Night hoodies. If you use the promo code Purple Insider, you can get free shipping. So go to sodastick.com to get your original Minnesota sports inspired goods. All of their apparel is screen printed here in Minnesota on Super Soft, super comfy shirts and hoodies. You will love it. That is SodaStick, S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com,

original Minnesota sports-inspired goods. Code Purple Insider for free shipping. Best Giants playmaking receiver ever joe jervisius who is it odell beckham it has to be right i kill your from back in the day um san francisco one of these times one of these times i'm just going to do all like um we should just talk about all 90s comps to every draft pick. That's what we should do. So San Francisco is on the board. Plaxico, you're right. They've had some playmaking wide receivers.

You're right about that. I just wanted to say I kill your. Quitty Pay is on the board. Rashawn Slater, Christian Barmore for San Francisco. Christian Derisaw. Amani Toomer is a good one. You're right about that. Very briefly, Victor Cruz was lots of fun.

And then that kind of went away pretty fast. What does San Francisco want to do here? I think San Francisco is probably sad that Trey Lance got taken. Yeah, cornerback. I like cornerback. Patrick Sertain. Let's go corner for them. Right, they've lost a couple corners.

Verrett, Richard Sherman doesn't look like he's coming back. So here we are right in front of the Vikings with the Los Angeles Chargers of Los Angeles. They've got to be going offensive line, right? Rashawn Slater has to be their guy, doesn't it? Because they're trying to protect their young quarterback. They've lost some offensive linemen. They were, guys, they were playing Storm Norton in the National Football League last year. Storm Norton, former Vikings practice squad guy, was playing in real football games for the Chargers last year. They need an offensive lineman. Yeah, it's got to be Slater.

Now, you're right about that, Kyle, that Kadarius Toney would be the exact type of guy that they would take, like playmaker, get the ball in his hands type of guy. But I just, you know, Rondell Moore would be another guy I think that they would love. You're right about Christian Derusaw would kind of be a surprise there. He's also, Derusaw is supposedly also a really good run blocker in the zone blocking scheme. So why don't we do that? Why don't we go Derusaw for them? That makes a lot of sense.

Are they still using a zone scheme? They were using that. I don't know if they're going to use that now. They were using that with Anthony Lynn with the zone blocking, but I don't know if they're still going to do now. They were using that with Anthony Lynn with the zone blocking, but I don't know if they're still going to do that. But I'm going Derrissaw anyway. So here we are. It took a while, but we got there.

The 14th pick. The Vikings are up. Here's who's on the board. Quiddy Paye, Rashawn Slater, Christian Barmore, Trayvon Moirig. We've got Rashad Bateman, got Rondell Moore, Gregory Russo, JC Horn the corner. Tevin Jenkins is really picking up steam. Another guy that I'm hearing nothing about, it seems, is Elijah Moore, the wide receiver from Mississippi. I also think that. I also think that Rick Spielman trades back, David. I agree in this situation.

I mean, how many of these players would, if the Vikings pick them who are on the board right now, would the Vikings be pretty happy with that? I just named like seven, eight, nine of these guys. I think so. Now the interesting one, of course, to talk about that we run into almost every time is like like, Mac Jones, do you do the quarterback type of thing? But let's assume that they're not. Man, they could even trade back, take the kid from North Dakota State. Dylan, is it Raddance?

He's, you know, there's another guy. Elijah Vera Tucker is on the board. They're going to be in a good situation. When you see four quarterbacks taken before your pick, you're going to be in a good situation. When you see four quarterbacks taken before your pick, you're going to be in a really good spot. I also would not mind cornerback here. It seems a little nutty because they have so many other needs, but corner is so valuable.

I don't think that you can play Mike Zimmer's defense with average corners. I think that you need good cornerbacks who can really press and play man-to-man and run with people and read route combinations. I think he asks a lot of those guys. And, you know, that's why it takes them several years to develop. JC Horn being physical, I like that. So what do we think? What do we think?

There's so much. Like, Quiddie Paye is a good pick, though. Slater is a good pick. You're right, Alexander, that if they picked Rashawn Slater, it would give them, like, another option on the offensive line because Rashawn Slater looks like a guy who could also move inside. But that's also Elijah Ver-Tucker can also do that. So I would assume that they would trade down in this situation.

But I think that's really the point of the exercise here, in a way, is you get to this point and you find, like, wow, there's going to be a lot of really good prospects here. Are we still good on the Christian Barmore thing? I also like Quiddie Paye's upside because he is a complete freak and just seems like he'd be a great fit with Andre Patterson. But Christian Barmore was kind of my pick for like a few weeks ago after the college football playoffs. Like if they don't get Christian Barmore, they'd be out of their minds. But, yeah, there have been some things recently with Barmore

where people talked about, like, inconsistency and that kind of thing. But in the biggest moments, the guy stepped up big. And when you look at his numbers, he did really, really well, number-wise, pressure-wise. Kyle, do they bring back Linval Joseph? Possible. I don't think so though I think with some of these guys that would even make sense to come back like how about Mac Alexander Mackenzie

Alexander would make so much sense to come back but there's just kind of this like that was the past sort of thing with some of these guys and some come back we saw Tom Johnson and Shemar Steffen come back George Iloka but it's just not going to be the same if you're involved with Joseph. Like we were the number one defense once upon a time, and now that's kind of passed. All right, let's make this pick, and then you guys can ask any last questions on the Vikings, and then we'll kind of call it a day.

But this has been really fun. I really enjoy doing this with you guys, kind of changing up the draft sim every time to do it a little bit differently. I think I'm just, I think I'm going to pick Christian Barmore here. And I'm not going to look back because something interesting that PFF found in the study is about interior pressure and how disruptive it is. It's a huge deal. I mean, not that, I mean, whoever questioned this, right? But I think there was a time where we might have said, oh, you know, the edge rushers are more valuable. And, you know,

it's nice if you have an interior pass rush guy, but it's not that big of a deal. And then the last couple of years, we've seen it that even with Daniil Hunter and Everson Griffin, when they did not have a Sheldon Richardson or a Tom Johnson. It was just different in terms of the pass rush. Quarterbacks can step up in the pocket. They can escape the pocket when the edge rushers go around them. You mentioned, Alexander, you mentioned Chris Jones' potential. Look at how disruptive Chris Jones is. And he just dominated.

I mean, that game against Buffalo, he took over. The same thing with the Super Bowl against Jimmy Agropolo. He makes big plays and knocks down a couple of balls, like, at the biggest times in that game, and they don't win a Super Bowl without Chris Jones. So I like Christian Barmore here. That's a good point, Kyle. You could say that for a lot of guys,

and this is why I think that it's almost a deadlock of trading down when it comes to this team because, like, are they really going to pass up on Rashawn Slater is a good question. Or are they – I mean, there's got to be somebody who's interested behind them too. Like, you think about the teams that need a quarterback. Is somebody trading up with you for Mac Jones? I mean, Michael, it's a good point that the Bucks defensive line, um, was, was huge. That's absolutely right. I mean, and, and think about, they just brought back in Dominican Sioux, Vita Veya came back. That was really huge for them. I think the Tampa Bay's defense changed

when Vita Veya came back. That's when they got even more dangerous and there was no stepping up in the pocket. So you're right. I mean, San Francisco's D-line, Tampa Bay's D-line. If you're picking a defensive line here in the first round, I don't think anybody can complain. Alexander, good point. When you don't pick till the third round, you may have to reach and go get your guy. That's a good point. That's a fair enough point. You're right, Kyle. They had great pass rushers, but they had a rush from everywhere they had interior rush they had rush off the edge they had linebackers that could blitz I mean their defense was really the complete package I mean Tom Brady won that Super Bowl he's fantastic and he got him

there but their defense was really built very well and it's it's an all around thing. Like they drafted, if you look at their draft history, they drafted a ton of you know, safeties and corners and things like that in the second and third round to have a lot of depth there. So they were able to build the whole thing up. You're right, Scott, that that Vita Vea pick was ripped. Because a lot of people looked at it and said, ah he's just kind of a run stuffer. And I think he's turned out to be more than that.

Not necessarily like this big penetration guy, but I think Mike Zimmer would probably tell you that there's a lot more to your pass rush, but wow. I just pulled up Vita Vea's numbers and he played a total of seven games and had 23 pressures. So I guess I was wrong. He was been maybe way more of a penetrator than I thought. Yeah, he actually graded over the last two years by PFF as one of the best pass rushing defensive tackles.

I did not expect that. I thought of him just because he's 347 is more of a run stuffer, but he gets to the backfield. He gets after quarterback. So he's turned out to be really valuable. Good point that, you know, if it's Barmore in the first and then shots at guard in the third, a playmaker in the third, what it really depends on, I think the first round you're taking the guy who's the best fit, and then everything else is kind of like,

what did you do in free agency? Like, what spots did you fill? If you fill the wide receiver three, then you're not looking for a playmaker. Um, you know, uh, Dan convinced me not to go D line every first round. Yeah. I mean, it's football, man. It's always going to be, it's always going to be important. It's always going to be a huge deal. If you can't protect your quarterback and you can't get after the quarterback, all those other things that you need to happen are pretty tough. Now, how the wide receivers play into that in today's game, I think is important because if you have receivers wide open, everybody's job becomes easier, but it's kind of this whole web of things that starts with that foundation. But Kyle, you're right that if you go best player

available, that's probably the safest way to do it. And it might be kind of ridiculous to bring up this example, but I kind of love it also, is the Portland Trailblazers decided to draft for need and pass on Michael Jordan. So just like, maybe don't do that. Maybe don't draft for need and pass on Michael Jordan. So just like maybe don't do that. Maybe don't draft for need all the time. Pick the best player out there. How do we feel about reports of the Vikings like a Florida rookie kicker? Oh, man. Is that what we're going to end on, Alexander? We're going to end on asking me about a kicker?

I just like if they do that, it's like will you ever learn your lesson? There was a study on this, on drafting kickers, that found undrafted kickers outperform drafted kickers. And the reason is because the drafted kickers, you have to use them. If you draft Daniel Carlson, you have to use him because you spent a draft pick on him. If you don't draft Joe Schmoe, undrafted, comes in and wins a competition, well, that's the only way he gets on the team, is if he wins the competition. I mean, it's, usually you're talking about a fifth to a seventh round pick. Those guys don't normally work out

anyway, but when you're drafting punters and long snappers and kickers and none of them are here anymore, like, learn the lesson. How many seventh rounders will they ultimately have? A lot is probably the answer to that question. I think that there's this big cutoff in my mind, just in recent experience, just taking a close look at the draft. Third round is kind of the cutoff. First round, second round, third round, you're talking about the top 100 players. You can get guys who are starters.

You can get really good talents. After that, it's all just kind of rolling the dice. Scott, that is a reference that I have used before when joking around with other reporters about the fact that they did a study. If you draft Lyman higher. Well, I mean, only if you draft the right ones, I guess.

So there is that. Yeah. Kyle trading Thielen is probably like not a thing that I could ever see them doing just because they love him. He's from Minnesota and all those things. And it would be like the worst PR move that they could ever make. But you're right. They would never.

But anytime you tell me, and this goes for Harrison Smith too, with a team that went 7-9 and has cap problems, if you tell me, hey, you guys should look to trade anybody over the age of like 27 or 26, you're not going to get a huge fight from me. But you're right. I mean, they're not going to do it. But it's interesting to talk about if you didn't know the names and you only saw the cap hits and the ages and what they might be worth in trades, it might change your mind a little on things like that. So anyway, guys, this was super fun. Again, I love that all of you came in here and we figured out how to use the bring people on stage thing. And we did a little different with the drafts.

And we'll do it again next time. We'll do some, like, major trading down and things like that. We'll keep experimenting. And actually, next time when we do this on Thursday, we're going to have some movement. So every Thursday night, every Saturday night is when we're doing it. Love you guys coming in here. And, yeah, you're right. Need more random Vikings. Trust me, I'm going to be doing this for a long time. So every Thursday night, every Saturday night is when we're doing it. Love you guys coming in here. And, yeah, you're right.

Need more random Vikings. Trust me, I'm going to be doing this for a long time. I think it will be a thing that goes on beyond the draft. So we can do, you know, kind of theme nights or something in the summer. So, anyway, thanks so much, everybody, for coming on in. I really appreciate it. We will do it again next Thursday night.