Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Bonus Purple Insider: Quick reactions to Barr, Hunter, Thuney news

Episode Date: March 15, 2021

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events that we broke down, the restructuring of Anthony Barr's contract, the Daniil Hunter situation, and Joe Tooney signing with the Kansas City Chiefs and how that impacts the Vikings. So enjoy. Sam, Joe Tooney is off the market. He signs a five-year, $80 million deal with the Kansas City Chiefs, so the Vikings will not be landing a top guard in free agency. Your reaction? Good for Joe Tooney. He gets to block for Patrick Mahomes, who has been saving the bacon of offensive linemen for the last three years.

Tremendous. Good for him. It sounds like New England, who has just been throwing money around like it's Monopoly, would have liked to keep him and they weren't able to. But I mean, it's Kansas City. It's Patrick Mahomes. I'm not surprised that they were able to pry him away, especially for a $16 million per year salary, which now sets the market at guard. That's pretty impressive. So good for him. And I didn't necessarily expect the Vikings to be able to compete with that. I assumed that Tooney

would get toward the top of the market money. He did. And Minnesota, best case scenario, has about $16 million to deal with here. So I think that it probably made more sense all along for them to wait until the second or third tier. There are still some guards available. Kevin Zeitler is gone, but you can still go and get, you know, someone like Trey Turner, Austin Taylor, or I'm sorry, Lane Taylor, Austin Blythe. I'm mixing my guards up here. There's too many of them, caller. There is, it's not like a high-end guard market but it is kind of a deep

guard market with a lot of middle tier guys so the vikings just need to evaluate correctly and and get the right guy and not lean on dakota dozier again big assumption there on the last part of not getting the wrong guy which they seem to have done in free agency in recent years from the guard position and i think from a vikings fan, I'm sure a lot of people look at this and say, you know, they would have liked to have seen the big signing. They would have loved to have seen the Brandon Sheriff, but he was franchise tagged by his team or Joe Tooney. He goes to a Super Bowl contender right away or Kevin Zeitler, who picks right up with another Super Bowl contender in the Baltimore Ravens and this kind of tells you a little bit of where the Vikings

are at both with the money they have and the situation they're in they're not a team that can say hey come play with us you've got a chance to win a ring you should take a discount you should take a contract that kicks your money down the road they're not in that spot and so now there is a drop off from the top couple of guys to the next tier. The question for me is with the little money that the Vikings have, do they want to spend even on the next tier because those guys suddenly become hot commodities or do they wait until a couple of those players, like you mentioned, someone like Austin Blythe, do they wait until those guys get overpaid and try to pick someone up after maybe that first wave has gone? They've done that in years past. They worked okay with

Josh Klein, but it hasn't really been a winning strategy for them. Now I wonder, Sam, do they have to turn to the draft to try and fill up this offensive line? Because with Riley Reif gone, there's multiple spots open. Yeah, it's possible. I think it might have to be a hybrid approach you might try to take one offensive lineman high in the draft and try to find a value lineman later here in free agency and i think you mentioned it on a previous podcast you either get the cream of the crop or you see who who falls into that value range and try to pick them up but when you when you deal in the middle that's not always great. And I don't think you can get married to a certain name at this point. I think you have to have a few guys in mind and see who trickles down the filter and who's available next week,

who could maybe go for a veteran minimum. That's going to be the key for this front office is to get players you like cheap and not trying to overspend just because somebody you're kind of enamored with. I think you need to be really smart with this money now if you're not getting a blue chip prospect. It doesn't appeal to me to spend your first round pick on a guard, but if you have to, I mean, this team spent one on a center. They spent highly highly obviously on Pat Offline so they aren't opposed to it um I think it all kind of comes down to what they do on the defensive line because they are rumored to be in on some of those high price defensive linemen in in free agency if they pick one of them up that eliminates you know a pretty significant need um the the free agency

period I think Mike Renner tweeted this, free agency is where you address needs. The draft is where you address value. They need to fill a couple more needs before I can feel confident about the Vikings going and getting a guard in the first round or even the third round. Yeah, I think maybe the other option would just be to take a tackle and leave Ezra Cleveland at guard and then try to find that one extra piece that maybe could perform better than what Dakota Dozier did for them last year. The problem is, do you want to spend enough to get better performance out of that position, or are they going to end up trying to throw a million dollars at a couple of different guys? And so if you were to bank on it right now, if you were to bet,

do the Vikings have a better offensive line performance in 2021? Betting on it right now if you were to bet do the Vikings have a better offensive line performance in 2021 betting on it right now yes because it's hard to be worse like from a pass blocking standpoint they were 29th I think they're always going to be pretty decent in the run game I think Dalvin Cook kind of makes that a guarantee when he's healthy just because he's so good. But they were totally inept at both guard spots last year. I don't think they will hit that level of ineptitude again. I think there's reason to believe Garrett Bradbury improves. The only big question for me is, can you get the same type of tackle production that you got from Riley Reif?

Pretty big if. So I don't want to say that's a guarantee, but I feel confident that they're not going to be as bad on the interior again. I think in order to know, I would have to know what they decide to do with Ezra Cleveland. Is he staying a guard? Is he moving to tackle? Because if he's moving to tackle and you have two new guards again, and neither one of them is a proven commodity like a Joe Tooney, then I'm not entirely confident that it will be improved. But like you said, there isn't far to go up. Folks, March is quite the month for Minnesota sports and SodaStick has you covered with Minnesota sports themed gear. The hockey team

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again um this is just like the everson griffin deal and it goes to show that even when teams sign long-term deals that seem fairly binding there's usually a way out and they found a way out here with anthony barr it gives him a little bit of an incentive to bridge his injury with his free agency. He gets a one year basically to prove it here in a place where he's really comfortable. I think it's probably pretty good for Barr. He'll get to enter free agency when he's not too old. This does bring into question though the future of the linebacker position for the Vikings because I would highly doubt Eric Wilson returns. Anthony bars probably gone after one year or at least hits the market and Eric Hendricks, he's still elite, but he's also approaching 30. So, uh, that young linebacking core that Mike

Zimmer sort of brought into the league when he came to Minnesota, they're getting older now, they're not going to be around forever. So I wonder what 2022 and beyond holds for that position and do the Vikings have to start thinking about what's next they haven't really had to think about linebacker in six years when they took Barr in 2014 Kendrickson 2015 and that's been your tandem for forever. So I think we might have some change on the horizon. Yeah, the way I look at it is this deal works for everyone. Anthony Barr will be able to hit the market again, which is what players want to do before they're past their prime. And if he has a big year, he could get another big paycheck from someone else

or depending on the cap situation, the Vikings can make that decision then. And for the present, the Vikings did not want to open up another hole on the cap situation. The Vikings can make that decision then. And for the present, the Vikings did not want to open up another hole on the defense. We still have uncertainty about Daniel Hunter's situation. They've already lost enough veteran players over the last few years, and they're trying to build up with a young core. But we saw last year, Eric Wilson in a larger sample size. He was not on the same level as Anthony Barr. And we saw when Eric Hendricks got hurt that there is not a ton of depth behind those two guys. Troy Dye was someone they picked last year in the fourth round. He did not show signs of being someone who would be anywhere near ready to step in for Anthony Barr this year. So this provides a bridge. But my

question is, does that put someone like Micah Parsons now on the Vikings radar because they know that there's a chance that Anthony Barr might not be here after 2021? I don't think linebacker is quite high enough on the needs list that you would take Micah Parsons over another position. I just think there are enough positions of need that are more important. There's going to be enough value on the board that you don't have to take a linebacker unless you are just enamored with this player,

that he's like the best graded player you've ever had on your board. I guess you would do it, but I don't feel like this is the most pressing need for them at this time where they would overlook something like left tackle or defensive tackle. I think you need to address the trenches first. Yeah, I agree. And even though Anthony Barr brings a lot of value to the Vikings, there's also been this team and Mike Zimmer overvaluing him as his role in the defense.

Now, I think that Eric Wilson last year did a very good job filling in for him. It wasn't quite the same as it would have been with Anthony Barr, especially when it came to stopping the run, but they shouldn't view this as the absolute most important part of rebuilding their defense. They still need to rush the passer. They still need to be able to stop the run. They have not been able to rush the passer from the interior of the defensive line since Sheldon Richardson left. And oh, by the way, you also have an open safety position. You also have cornerbacks. You have offensive line. Like there is a lot to be done here.

The only thing that came to mind for me, though, Sam, is that when you're doing the draft, looking several years down the road is usually the way you start to think about it. So you're trying to figure out what your needs will also be for next year. And that's where this Vikings team, I think, is in a tough spot because they have more needs this year than they can fill in free agency by just snapping their fingers and throwing money at it. But also, there's a few things that are going to be changing for down the road that would be good to draft, too. Now you have to add linebacker to that list. Yeah, it's not a bad point. You look at how the Vikings addressed Kyle Rudolph's replacement, for instance. They drafted Irv Smith a couple of years early, knowing that Kyle Rudolph probably wouldn't be long for the roster. And they might have to

consider that with Anthony Barr. Now, in Irv Smith and Kyle Rudolph's case, Vikings were a little better equipped with that roster. They didn't have as many needs. They've got a ton of needs right now, and the list seems to just continue to grow. And sometimes this team, like at safety, for instance, they just kind of decide to address the need when it pops up. They haven't really groomed anything behind Harrison Smith or Anthony Harris. And I assume they're just going to deal with that when the time comes. So they don't always have to have a backup policy. So I don't think it's as necessary as some might assume. That's not to say they won't do it. Because clearly Mike Zimmer values the linebacker

position with the way they addressed it at when he came here. First round pick, second round pick. It's important to him. They re-signed both of those guys to second contracts, so they're not going to completely ignore it. They're not going to go to bat with a UDFA there next year. I just don't think they need to address it this year. Yeah, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see that become a third round or a fourth round pick now that the Vikings officially own almost every pick in the fourth round after getting a compensatory pick. So they might try to take another Troy Dye and see if something clicks at that linebacker position next to Eric Hendricks. Hey, everybody want to tell you

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you also get updates emailed to you directly with the trends on which teams are on the rise. So check out symbol.app or follow them on Twitter at symbol exchange and check out the marketplace for sports today. All right, Sam, let's talk about Daniil Hunter. I wrote for the website today about how a player friendly deals in Minnesota are just not happening anymore. And it seems Daniil Hunter's unhappiness is pointing to that. But here's my question for you. Do you take his likes on Twitter seriously? Because after Stefan Diggs last year, I think we kind of have to. Becoming a Twitter sleuth is probably one of my least favorite

parts of this job. But unfortunately, it's a reality. You have to follow the likes and retweets trail to see what subliminal messages these guys are sending. Nobody was more cryptic than Stefan Diggs. Daniil Hunter kind of shoots his shot a little more strategically, and he comes up with a few likes that were in favor of a trade from Minnesota. So clearly there is a little posturing going on here. And as you've alluded to Matthew, because there's so much noise about him that he hasn't chosen to kibosh, his silence speaks more than I think any like on Twitter. The fact that he hasn't really kind of gone to bat for this team, hasn't expressed his desire to be back in camp.

And that tells me that while he may prefer to stay in Minnesota, ultimately he would like to do so at a price of his choosing. So we're getting into dangerous territory here. I mean, obviously free agency coming up, moves are going to start to get made. This is where you need to figure your crap out if you're Rick Spielman. And a contract extension for Daniel Hunter is not a slight uptick. It's probably huge. It's probably upwards of $20 million per year if he wants to be paid in line with other great defensive ends. So that's a huge commitment for a team without much money. I don't know how they pull that off. If Daniel Hunter digs his feet in, there's not a lot of clean off-ramps for a disgruntled star in this league, in this era of player empowerment.

Odds are it will end badly unless they can come to some kind of amicable arrangement. This is where usually with contract extensions, it works in the team's favor to lower the player's cap hit right away. But I don't see a scenario where they can do that by a significant margin with Daniil Hunter. As much as we've all become capologists lately, maybe there's a possibility of doing that. But even then you're doing the same thing that they've done in years past, which is kick money down the road. And when you do that, eventually the bill comes and you end up with an off season like last year where the Vikings saw a lot of their key players go. So I want to know your opinion on this, Sam, because I think that this team has bent to a lot of players recently.

They re-signed Kyle Rudolph a few years ago to that big extension that they ultimately had to cut him because of. They signed Delvin Cook after he put a lot of pressure on them publicly last season, or at least his agent did that as well through some of the tweets that we saw from Adam Schefter and so forth. But he pushed them to sign him to that contract extension when he wanted it. And the Vikings ultimately did that. And they've signed pretty much anybody who wants to be here. Anthony Barr says, you know what? I won't sign with the Jets. I'm going to come back. And guess what? He ends up coming back and they pay him a big salary.

Do they put their foot down here with Daniil Hunter? Or do you think that we're going to see a similar result where the more pressure that he puts on the Vikings, the more likely they are to give him what he wants? Yeah, it would be, i i think a bad business decision to just let your your defensive end go because that's a super important position right like you try to keep your your coverers and your pass rushers or question cover who says coverers cornerbacks um and and pass rushers and to lose a star of that magnitude at a position of that value, I think, would be pretty tough for an organization to stomach that unless they're going to fully embrace the rebuild, which I don't think they are. But to your point, the Vikings are extremely

willing to give that second contract. They're a little more hesitant to give that third contract, which is sort of what Daniil Hunter's wanting here. He's wanting a bump on his second contract. They're a little more hesitant to give that third contract, which is sort of what Daniil Hunter's wanting here. He's wanting like a bump on his second contract with three years left on the deal. I will say this about what the Vikings have done with some of these extensions. Typically, they give themselves an out after one or two years. They've always been pretty smart, except with the quarterback contracts, of course. They've given themselves enough flexibility where they were able to get rid of Kyle Rudolph without a horrible penalty. Linvald Joseph, Xavier Rhodes last year had three years left on their deal. They still got out.

I don't know if they can do that with another Daniil Hunter contract. He's going to want big guaranteed money. I think that that's probably somewhat fair for him to ask considering his first few years. But again, coming off injury, that's the big holdup here is how do you handle someone like that who may not quite be the same guy he was in 2019. But you still understand from his perspective, why after an injury like this, that he would want to make sure he was protected with a contract going forward because his guarantees have run out. And now it's just hey if something else happens then you're out of luck and from his perspective he's been underpaid for quite some time pretty much

since the moment that he signed his original second contract after being a third round pick so he didn't get a lot of money right for being a draft pick. I can see why Daniil Hunter would be saying now is the time to do something to take care of me. But from a value perspective, and this is not the perspective of Mike Zimmer or the defense or how much he would impact positively the defense, but business only, it makes a lot more sense to trade a valuable commodity like Daniil Hunter and get draft capital back when your team is trying to rebuild that entire defense than it does to pour a bunch more money into one player. I feel like we saw them do this, pouring a bunch of money and a second round pick into

Yannick Ngakwe last year. Now, I know that Daniil Hunter is much better as a player and is one of the elite players at his position. But even if you look at the Chicago Bears with Khalil Mack, Khalil Mack has been amazing and he hasn't really been the determining factor for how far they've gone. There's only so much one defensive player can do. So give me a prediction agree with you and say i'll go even a little higher i'll go 75 that they do not move on from daniel hunter because i just don't think mike zimmer lets people walk out the door hey everyone i want to tell you about our friends it's scout

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