Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Breaking down Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's NFL Combine press conference and session with beat reporters

Episode Date: February 28, 2023

Matthew Coller and CBS Sports draft analyst Chris Trapasso break down Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's press conference in which he talked about Kirk Cousins's situation, how Justin Jefferson is looped in and wanting Dalvin Tomlinson back.. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar here along with CBS NFL Draft Analyst Chris Trapasso at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis for our second show from here. And just earlier today, we saw Kweisi Adafo-Mensa at the podium talking about the draft and a number of other issues that other reporters wanted to ask about, like D'Amico Ryan's and things like that came up. We won't dive into that, but we got a lot of interesting information from him. Chris, you were there. I was there as well. And then a couple of beat reporters on the side also had a chance to talk with

Kwesi Adafo Mensah and we'll get into everything that he said, but I think the best place to start, I'm sure you would agree, Chris, is the quarterback situation and what Kwesi Ad Adafomensa had to say about Kirk Cousins and the prospect of a long-term deal. Of course, that was going to be a question that he faced and he talked in depth about. But I thought that the way to describe his answer was that he did not come up to the podium and say, we have one quarterback for the rest of our lives and his name is Kirkousins, and he is the only guy that we can ever have and ever live with. That is not what we heard today from Kweisi Adafomento. No, definitely not.

And I thought he was very calculated with this to not say that and to say, which I said it to you five minutes ago before we were on the air, that he kind of just rolled the course of, hey, we think our quarterback is good enough to maybe win 13 games to win a Super Bowl. I don't know. So I think the fact that he didn't come out and say what you just mentioned is a good thing for the future of this Vikings team. And I think that was pretty striking that I don't want to say he was lukewarm on Kirk

Cousins. He didn't throw him under the bus, but there was a leaning in that direction, maybe more so than last year. Yeah, it was interesting because he was asked about it through the framing of the San Francisco 49ers. It was clearly a 49ers reporter asking him about his experience with Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo and his connections to the 49ers and some of their thinking. And he kind of brought it back to his own beliefs about Kirk Cousins. And he said something that is true, which is that Cousins raises to the level or rises to the level of a quarterback who can win in the NFL. And it is absolutely true that not every quarterback can win in the NFL, as we saw from like Zach Wilson

or many other quarterbacks that haven't worked out over the years and there are just journeyman backups who if you have them you're hoping for an eight or nine win season whereas Kirk Cousins yes you can win 13 games in the NFL if everything falls your way and then he went to the very typical motif if you will of saying it's about what you put around him, which we've heard many times in regards to Kirk Cousins. Of course, that is a challenge when he costs as much as he costs. But when he went a little further in our side session, he talked about how they're going to want different things sometimes, like a long term extension for Cousins. Now, he didn't say this. I don't want to make it sound like he said, cousin side wants a long-term extension.

I want to be clear about what he actually said. But sort of speaking in general terms, like from a player's perspective, they're always going to want more stability, more certainty, whereas the team is going to want more flexibility. And it doesn't take a whole lot of, you know, Sherlock Holmes investigation work to know what he's talking about here that based on that and the tom pellicero report we can pretty much conclude that the vikings do not necessarily want to do a long-term deal and cousins does and they want a short-term deal that leaves them to be more flexible and what we're at is i think a

little bit of an impasse and how they resolve that problem. And that's what he talked about as well, Chris, was trying to kind of resolve where they stand and knowing that they can work together. But he also kind of added like a sometimes you can't element to it. It was not this like, oh, we're definitely getting this done between our side and their side. Yeah, I thought during his press conference,

not specifically just talking about quarterback, but he seemed again, very calm, cool, and collected. I said to you earlier, super articulate, very sharp. He answered a question about like, yeah, you'd want to have the best corner and the best wide receiver and the best offensive lineman, but he felt, or he seemed very like, okay with the fact that he understands that there are parameters. He mentioned that a lot with, with salary cap, with players getting older and getting more expensive and not being worth how much they're ultimately being paid. I kind of viewed that as not a shot at Kirk Cousins, but that he was referencing, Hey, like we are good enough at the quarterback spot, but as Kirk Cousins gets older and we certainly know his ceiling,

that there are other reasons why he wouldn't be able to sign that long-term deal. And I thought with the good enough comment, it first came off like, really, that's where you're aiming for? But then he kind of rebounded to say, and it's true, that a lot of teams can't say that. That you and me, the last two years, talking about Vikings needing to aim higher at the quarterback spot. It's true that with Kirk Cousins, you can make the playoffs. You could probably win a playoff game at that point. Maybe you're reaching your maximum potential as a team.

So it really came off that I think Kweisi Adolfo Mensah is not that far from us, that he understands what he has in Kirk Cousins, and he's not just going to throw away a quarterback who is good enough and that they can say as an organization that they have someone that can be a quality quarterback, but also not hitching his wagon to Kirk Cousins two, three, four years down the road. So there's so many things to talk about here that i'm trying not to just like spit them all out at once but this connection uh with kirk cousins and kevin o'connell he acknowledged that it is a relevant piece of this that those two had a prior relationship from washington they got along very well and they created a pass first offense kind

of together where that had not been the case before. And I think that that does matter, that relationship between those two guys and where Kevin O'Connell stands in this is interesting, because also if you're a head coach who's a former quarterback, do you want to hit your wagon to cousins long term? Or do you want to draft your own guy where you get to go through that whole process and you get to pick which person is going to fit what you want for the future. And I think that that process is probably not going to happen this year, but if they're talking about gaps between they see it one way and we see it another way, then you're probably looking at 2024. And that's what I came here thinking, but I feel stronger in thinking that after talking to Kweisi Adafo-Mensa.

Now, I want your opinion on this because there was something he said in the side session with Beat Reporters that really stuck out to me, maybe because it was also my question. But I asked him about Justin Jefferson, and he said at the podium, which I know you heard, but he said that he never wants to be the GM of the Vikings without Justin Jefferson. I totally get that. And I said, with a player like him, does that mean that he has sort of some say in what you do? Not that he's calling the shots, but that you're looping him in. And he said, yes, that Justin Jefferson is a part of their conversations and he is looped in to their long term plans. I guess I wonder what you think of that, because that is very rare to hear any position non-quarterback where they're saying, yes, you're going to be part of this conversation for where we want to go in the future.

Well, it's very rare, and Justin Jefferson is a very rare player at, you I think said it first, the second most important position in the NFL. It's not offensive tackle. It's not edge rusher. It's wide receiver. So it's kind of an unprecedented situation, but again, Justin Jefferson, unprecedented player. And when you're kind of in limbo here about the future of your veteran quarterback, I think it makes sense to say, you know, Hey, we, we certainly value our head coach quarterback relationship, but also we want our wide, our superstar, I think future hall of fame wide receiver to also be happy because he is really one of the drivers of this offense to kind of

piggyback off. Quacey saying that I just came away being so impressed with his interview, um, that he does not give a lot of just GM speak. He will answer a question like that. I think a lot of GMs would kind of skirt around that answer. And to kind of go into that deeper, I thought it was interesting that he said that we're looking forward to 2024, 2025. He said, we're not just building this team for next year. And that the Vikings factor that into draft picks, to free agents, to whether or not

you're going to extend a quarterback. Certainly, I think that's kind of implied with a lot of these moves, but for him to directly say, like, we're looking at 2025 as well already and how the team will look then, how we'll be salary cap wise, things like that, that was really enlightening as well. And I think that, again, is where you would lean on your very young superstar wide receiver and say, hey, look, we're not just talking about next year, but when you're entering as well. And I think that again is where you would lean on your very young superstar wide receiver and say, Hey, look, we're not just talking about next year, but when you're entering your prime and you're getting that contract extension, how do you want this offense to kind of look, you know, can you give us some, um, of your preference at the quarterback spot?

I also, it is worth mentioning that I've probably said before the Kwesi Adafo Mensah was hit pretty hard after that USA today article last year. and I think he's moved on from that. I think he was very honest at the podium, and nobody expects you to come out and say, here's what we're going to do. You guys got a pen? Write it down. But I thought that in talking in generalities, we actually learned a lot, and there was also a Delvin Tomlinson nugget that I want to get to as well as a linebacker question. Again, there's a lot there, but with Justin Jefferson, he came

off to me as a man who's very confident that Justin Jefferson is going to be here for a long time. And I think that that is a, an interesting place to stand because this is a world where NBA players and wide receivers and quarterbacks are the few people in this universe that get to decide their fate, right? That they mostly have the power and someone like Justin Jefferson will have the power and he's going to be a Viking next year. But if he doesn't want to sign an extension, then you're talking about the idea of potentially trading him and where does he want to go and all these things. And how long do you let it go on with the extension talk and everything else?

But just judging off of sort of vibes here, Kweisi seemed like someone who knows that this is going to happen. He did not seem nervous when talking about Justin Jefferson, talking about their relationship. And also he said something that I found to be very true, that Justin Jefferson, talking about their relationship. And also he said something that I've found to be very true, that Justin Jefferson wants to win, that that's like number one. And I know you'd say, well, who doesn't? You know, like a lot of times there are other motivations, but Jefferson knows he's getting paid at some point. So he has to believe in what Kevin O'Connell and Kweisi Adafo-Mensah are telling him is going to be the long-term plan for how they're going to win. But I just came away feeling like it's more likely than not the way he's acting,

that Justin Jefferson signs an extension at some point this season and is a Viking for a very long time. Yeah, there was this overarching theme that we talked about with Kevin O'Connell's relationship with Kirk Cousins. You can talk about Dalvin Tomlinson in a second. It feels like that really matters. And again, a lot of GMs don't talk about these things. But with Kweisi, him not being nervous about, oh, am I losing some leverage here with Justin Jefferson? I think we have to realize that in a perfect world, when you're building a team, you don't have to tiptoe around what you say, because you might lose a few million dollars on a contract extension for your young superstar wide receiver, edge rusher, whatever the case may be. So I think you're exactly right that he did not come off like, I need to almost play hard

ball here. And that is what we see a lot in the NFL. But I think if you are a young GM with an impending, huge contract extension for a superstar, you would like there not to be this hardball situation. I don't think we're anywhere close to that. I don't think, again, he said he wants to be the GM with, or he's not going to be the GM if Justin Jefferson's not on the team. I think that makes for a very good future for this team that there's not going to be any, you know, off-field drama or contract talk drama with Kweisi Adepo-Mensa and Justin Jefferson. Yeah, I think in the case of Justin Jefferson, you can lay your cards on the table and say, we want to sign this guy to a massive extension.

With Kirk Cousins, you have to dance a little bit more because it's a much more delicate right it's a much more delicate situation but there is a very clear dichotomy with the way that both questions were answered where it's like when they really wanted somebody and justin jefferson oh yeah there's no question we're keeping him and even with delvin tomlinson which i wanted to get to he made it obvious that they want to keep delvin tomlinson. There was no, like you said, hardball. It was like, yeah, this is a guy that we move back that date for his dead cap hit coming because we want to keep him. And he's a good football player, which also speaks to you're probably not clearing out this roster if you're keeping someone like Delvin Tomlinson. But when

talking about guys that they blatantly want and there's really no hiding it, it was like, oh, yeah, that's right. You guys got it. We want those guys. What about Kirk? Well, yes, the writing's on the wall. I think I do. Right.

I really think that. And at this moment, it just feels like he's probably going to play out the contract. Yeah. Unless Kirk comes to them and demands a trade, which would be really coming in the next couple of weeks, I would guess. But I would be surprised at that too. I don't think Kirk is ever a guy that's afraid to just hit the market. And I think that he would probably play it out for next year. But that does put a lot of things on the table

if they are far apart in the way that they view Kirk Cousins' future. And that's just, I think, when you put together those two things, how you talked about Jefferson Tomlinson, how you talked about Kirk, you could kind of paint a pretty clear picture. Uh, what did you think of Kwesi talking about the NFC North trades? He was asked about that. And I thought that, that there was some answers of his where he kind of was like if you don't take a risk sometimes then you're never going to have it pay off and that's the mentality that you want him to have i think it's fine mostly if you make good trades like for tj hawkinson to trade within your division if it works for both teams and it makes sense for you to long-term win but i want

that mentality from a GM that sometimes you got to swing big to ultimately win. Absolutely. And it was just a overall refreshing answer from him that he said, you got to take risks. And he's certainly confident. He said he was very direct or calculated in those decisions. It's not willy-nilly happening last minute.

And that beyond that, what was the really refreshing part is that for as much as he kind of said, hey, I'm confident in these moves, he wasn't overly confident. And he said, hey, I'm going to be judged. I'm going to be second guessed regardless of what I do. And he even kind of said, if I'm way off on all these, then I'm not going to be the GM in a couple of years. And my life has already been changed by being a GM of the Vikings. I'll thank the ownership for making me the GM. He was just very down to earth with it, like smart, but down to earth and saying like, almost saying, Hey, I, I'm not going to let it, if a TJ Hawkinson type deal or a big trade back comes from the Packers or the lions, um, then I'm going to ultimately make that move. And I think you don't, as a GM, want to say in building your roster,

this is one thing I'm not going to do. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do that. You have to have every option open, trading for a quarterback, trading Kirk Cousins, moving back with the Lions, in-season trade with the Lions. I think that shows that he really has an open mind with every avenue to go down to build this roster, whether you're rebuilding, whether you're hoping to win the

division or win a super bowl. I think he understands that you don't want to have any doors closed to build this roster. I try to draw like comparisons and webs between different comments and put them together, right right like that's what I'm always trying to do with these because every GM wants to kind of talk around what they want to do but ultimately when he's discussing his philosophy I mean that just makes me wonder about what is going to happen next when he talks about not being afraid to make that that risk that that could potentially blow up in his face if Jamesonon williams is amazing and christian watson already kind of is uh you know it's it's gonna look bad for him and he knows that but was willing to make those moves last year now i don't want to give him

high fives over that because it hasn't worked out and that did blow up but i think that it also is telling us that he would do it again yeah it's like that meme where it's like i'll do it again like yeah he'll do it again yeah uh and the's like that meme where it's like, I'll do it again. Like, yeah, he'll do it again. Yeah. And the TJ Hawkinson trade worked out tremendously for them and likely will continue to do so.

It's just that if you're going to have a general manager with that mentality, then my brain goes to, well, what does that mean for right now? And does that mean that they could take some swings that we don't expect in the coming weeks because last year it was kind of a conservative game plan it was it was also his first game plan and i asked him about his relationship with the wilfs and he talked about

just how much conversation there is between those two how much they communicate how much he likes the way that they think and stuff like that but it was very clear that they communicate all the time, that they are very, very involved with what Kweisi Adafo-Mensah is doing. So last year it was, all right, well, here's your game plan. We just met, you're the GM. So you kind of go about it the way we want. And I wonder now, does he have their ear to say, we actually do have to take a shot here in the same way that we did with TJ Hawkinson or in the draft or be aggressive in other ways because I thought in other places he was aggressive last year other than the general game plan from last offseason when he first got here yeah and I think again that's it's good that your GM is willing to take a risk or to put it in a different way to not be afraid of the backlash for making it.

I mean, that was kind of crazy drafting. That's it, yeah. A trade with the Lions, you're moving that far back, maybe didn't get on a lot of the draft trade charts as much value as they should have. It's good when you're not thinking about the media and the fan backlash when you're just making the right decisions based on, I'm assuming he has models for a lot of these things with how big of a numbers guy he is. That's really, really good. And yeah, it certainly came off like he's willing to do it again, because again, he's confident in his own evaluations, the entire staff around him, and that he's not going to let

any other outside stuff impact those moves. That's what you want, I think, out of a GM today, where we're kind of in this new era where way more trades happen, that it's not as conservative in the offseason as it used to be. And I think there's more trades, not only just in the first day of the draft, but second, third day of the draft as well. He also talked about building relationships as well with people around the league and not trying to take advantage of teams or call them with bad offers. Anyone who's played fantasy football would understand this. Yes, definitely. If you're the guy who calls with bad offers, then nobody likes that guy.

So he doesn't want to be that guy either, and that really pinged my ear. Do you think, and I know we're jumping around, but do you think it's a know we're jumping around but do you think it's a good idea for the vikings to pay delvin tomlinson because again he was not shy about saying that they that they want that that they want tomlinson back and this one is hard for me because i generally think it's probably not a great idea, even though I really respect the player. And I look at many teams that have lots of cap space who are maybe ready to win and could use a Delvin Tomlinson to stuff the run and push the pocket a little bit. But with this team having so little to work with

money wise, I just wonder if that is the best plan. And I also think it tells us a lot about their approach is going to be to give Brian Flores a much better defense this year that they're going to try not to have just like developing players and things like that. It's going to be about stacking it up as much as they possibly can to run that part of the ball back and improve on it and give Brian Flores a good defense, even though I think it might be a better idea to try to take the longer term approach. Yeah, for sure. And I think this speaks to a point that you and I bring up a lot during the pre-draft process that it's easy for you and me, for fans of any team to say, Hey, look, they're not going to win the Superbowl, tear it down. But like you were just mentioning ownership and that Quases has a good relationship with the owners of the Vikings. That they want to win.

And even if it's just hosting a playoff game and then losing, you're disappointed for a couple weeks. But then you look back and say, hey, 13-win season. Won the NFC North. Won it super early. That was a successful season. It wasn't the one of 32 teams to win a Super Bowl. So that's kind of how I feel that I agree with you that it would probably be better for the Vikings to move on from an older run stuffing defensive tackle. But it does feel like, and I think this aligns with Kirk playing out his

deal, which kind of seems like the most likely scenario that Kweisi's like very aware and cognizant of the situation that hey we have kirk cousins for another year let's let him play out the deal let's try to be kind of a quasi playoff team probably not going to win the super bowl let's not gut the defense yet because the defense was i think a big concern especially down the stretch last year that kind of held them back that's being polite yes that's being polite um that let's not gut that side of it because we don't necessarily i don't think a gm a coach ownership ever wants that 3 and 14 season and that you can still be um very competitive and be that playoff team it kind of feels like he gets it he knows maybe hey look this is not really a super

bowl roster but we can still win and keep ownership. Happy. Keep our jobs. It's again, easy, especially for a draft analyst. I'm always saying, you know, gut the team, get 12 draft picks, but in reality and just to see him and hear him speak, you realize that he still wants to be above 500, get into year three. Then you assess where you're going from there. And again, I think he's already looking to 2025 and maybe saying, I mean, I don't know if he's looking at free agents yet or the draft, but like, maybe that's the year that you, you know, start a young

quarterback and you start to add more pieces, younger pieces on the defensive side. So in that scenario, I think it makes sense to say, Hey, let's have Delvin Thomas in here. If there's some dead cap 2025 or beyond with the salary cap going up that's not that big of a deal my thing would be i could get on board maybe this is like a declaration i don't know if i've said this at any point so i'm glad we were here for it together but after listening to him and getting the sense that yeah they're not going to be tearing everything down because otherwise I think he would be preparing everyone for it. Now he was kind of preparing us for it in

some ways because in our side session, uh, we asked him multiple questions about the veteran players that they have. And he talked about how hard it is for him personally to like really respect certain players. And if you've gotten to 30 years old, the NFL, you've done a lot, right? I mean, you don't just accidentally get to 30 years old. So wanting to express his appreciation for those players, but also knowing that they could be gone. And he was honest about the fact that there could be some guys that are not returning and you can kind of write them in your brain,

Delvin cook, maybe Eric Hendricks and his answer about Brian Asimola was also a pretty strong hit. Like somebody's not coming back there. Um, but if the Vikings do not significantly hurt themselves, and I mean with like void years and draft picks that are sent out here and everything else, if they do not hurt themselves and still try to, like you said, be competitive with the last year of Kirk Cousins, if we all know the deal and it's going to be the last year and they do not extend him beyond this season, then I think you can be comfortable with that position saying, draft your players,

develop your players from last year and go forward, but make sure you are not hurting yourself. And if he's talking about moving on from certain veterans, then that's going to be better for you in the long term to not just drag it out with certain guys, especially someone like Delvin Cook or, you know, Eric Hendricks is in the last year of his deal. But that also has to apply to what's the plan for Thielen? What's the plan for Harrison Smith?

Like, do not hurt yourself longterm by messing with the money, kicking it farther down the road. If your time horizon is drafting a quarterback in 2024, and then sort of kick-starting a rebuild from there. Yeah. And that's the key point. And to me, that's what I'm going to be watching with this new regime with Casey, that how he handles those veterans. And that he does seem like again a very down-to-earth guy that he understands you know cutting someone like Eric Hendricks or just letting him hit free agency Harrison Smith that guys have been borderline legends for this team for the last 10 years it it will be difficult from a relationship standpoint but I just want to see

if how he handles that that's going into year two as a GM I think that it you know especially a first-time GM that's what you want to watch is he having these emotional connections to players where he's like hey Eric Hendricks let's give you a two-year extension Harrison Smith same thing I don't think he will do that that's one of the things that I will be watching and I think is most important to watch with year two of this regime. It just seems like he's very calculated, and it's not just, again, this year. The fact that he repeatedly brought up, well, years into the future, I think he will handle it with class with someone like Eric Hendricks or like Harrison Smith, but I don't think he will hurt the future of this team

by signing guys well into their 30s to extensions that will or have void years and things like that that add a lot of dead cap to when they will be building this roster with likely a young quarterback is there any finer line than dealing with the ramifications of a locker room what ownership wants and what maybe you think you should do as the analytics gm yeah it's the media wants you to do and what the players want you to do. And everybody has then the fans and everybody has their different opinions on these things. But it has to be remembered that if you don't handle yourself in a class way with these veteran players who have proven themselves, then other guys will keep that in the back of their mind. And that matters.

That doesn't mean go pay everybody like they have in years past. And they understand that it is a business. But also I think that Kwesi showed kind of an understanding that if you mishandle and disrespect people who have earned their keep around the NFL for a long time, that have all pros and pro bowls and have represented the franchise a certain way, if you mistreat them and you just treat them like they're commodities like he would be maybe known for as far as his uh perception coming from wall street but if you treat them that way it's going to blow up in your face with how you're perceived from the players and how about just the fact that they're

allowing justin jefferson to have kind of a say in the quarterback. I don't think other younger players would expect that in the future. They all are certainly aware that Justin Jefferson is different, but I think that, like we said, is pretty unprecedented. To foster those relationships, I think, helps ultimately when you have to let someone go, where if you, from the get-go, as a young, first-time GM, treating, let's just, again, use Harrison Smith as an example. As a commodity, when you let him go, it's kind of like, F you, man.

Like, you were never established a relationship with me. And I think the older guys know. They understand. They've made tens of millions of dollars that as they get 33, 34, 35, you can't make $15 million anymore as you're trying to build this team. So I'm really not trying to be like a rah-rah fan here, but that GM interview and the fact which we could talk about as well, Brian Flores having immediately a say and him saying, hey, look, in our interview with Brian Flores, we said, how do you envision this roster? And what type of cornerbacks do you need within

the parameters of understanding we can't just have four Pro Bowl cornerbacks do you need within the parameters of understanding? We can't just have, you know, four pro bowl cornerbacks or four like all pro types. I thought that was really interesting saying, Hey, look, we're hiring you. He has the head coach background and instantly saying like, let's collaborate on this. And it's not going to be, I'm the GM here, your players it's, they were asking Brian Flores specifically. And I'm again, sure there's models and there's athleticism scores that they're looking at.

That was really enlightening to me, too. In general, his press conference, I thought, was a very, very good, straightforward and different from a lot of the other GMs. Yeah, I mean, I think that there's a reason that he landed the GM job when he did, as far as being impressive to listen to talk. Yeah, for sure. With Brian Flores, I actually wanted to get into that more with you. And Brian Flores is influence on what they're going to do because I, what I heard is, and I'm always trying to translate GM and coach speak. What I heard is hello, Brian Flores, welcome to Minnesota where we have no money.

What can you get away with not having yeah and it was a little bit of that you're right but that's a that is a question to be asked though like what can you get away with not having for right now until we can develop you that because we can't buy it what can you not live without and what types of players in the draft do you think would be able to translate the best to your system? And I think we could figure out some of them. I mean, certainly three, four outside linebackers and man-to-man corners, guys that are lanky and athletic that everyone wants. Like those are the types of things. But let me ask you that question. It's very clear that they feel like they can't get away without Delvin Tomlinson. I don't think I'm reaching here to say that Brian Flores probably

said, I'd really like that guy to be back for my system. And I think defensive tackle is huge in his system because you're going to have the wide nine and playing the outside linebackers. So you got to have people stuffing the middle like Delvin Tomlinson and Harrison Phillips, but what could they get away with not having, they're going to have to make some sort of sacrifice in the short term. What do they absolutely need to have? Well, I think what's really interesting with the dynamic entering 2023 is that you're likely going to get Andrew Booth and Louisine back. They're kind of going to be like rookies in year two because they were injured so much. So I think with that, you could up and I'm sure they kind of pitched to Brian Flores like, hey, you have these two young players

that we really like that were early secondary picks for us that will just be kind of in their again, rookie seasons in year two. You could probably get away. I mean, again, they they really like Delvin Tomlinson. I think you could get away without getting stellar play from the interior, the interior veterans, because to me in the draft, even on day three, you can find, I'm not saying Dalvin Tomlinson is easily replaceable, but I think that style, the big wide run stuffer, you can find that on day three of the draft. And I think that will be something because again they're always looking ahead to future years don't be surprised rounds four round

five round six in that range they could take one or two of those guys to kind of be um learning from a harrison phillips and a delvin tomlinson i think you need the corners in this system you that that is an absolute must but again you have Andrew Booth coming back um interior though and you still have Zedaria Smith you still have Danelle Hunter for now for now I still think though that is part of I mean Brian Flores was a hot commodity and to land in Minnesota I think is kind of telling that he's like hey I can help fix this defense there are still some quality players yes they're getting a little bit older older that you can almost have the situation where there's young players on the roster that aren't forced into action immediately and can learn and they won't be asked to be those big time

contributors until year two or year three. So I think you're right about with a lot of the three, four looks you do on paper need these big run stuffing guys and it's like the delvin thomason harrison phillips are the established names but in the draft every year you can get those wide bodies that can be that that run stuffing type that eats blockers up front i feel like it's um if you were say in need of cash and you said you know what i'm gonna do i'm gonna have a yard sale that's how i'm gonna to earn a few bucks. And you put everything out on the yard. And somebody said, how much is this?

I'll go, I don't want to sell that. I would like to keep that. And you're like, okay, well, how about this Hawaiian shirt now? Well, you know, I kind of like that Hawaiian shirt. I don't know if I can give that up. That's kind of what it feels like with Delvin Tomlinson, where it's like, of course you'd rather have Delvin Tomlinson. The guy is consistently a top 20 defensive tackle by PFF. And I thought last year and really his last three years, he's graded well and created pressures, but it's not a guy who's ever going to really impact the pass

rush. Uh, I'm sure that football coaches would be like, well, if you look at this gap and how he stuffed this and the, and look, he's a great player. I'm not saying he's not a great player, but what you have to pay for this great player is probably in the range of 13 to 15 million dollars per year. Is that something that you can afford? Or are they going to say, well, look, we're going to make it a low salary cap hit now, higher salary cap hit later, which is the type of thing I'm talking about as far as making sacrifices. And I do read that as well on your point. Something we talked about a little last night was the corners.

It just screams corner at this point. Sorry about what does Brian Flores need? Well, we know what he needs. He's going to need a cornerback that can be a shutdown guy. But you know what I also think, too, is that the nickel corner is really important in this equation because sometimes in defenses nickel corners play a lot of zone and i'm not saying you can have anybody but you can kind of skimp a little bit on the price tag

and who you pay i think this one you need a nickel corner who can really man up against a number three wide receiver at any given time and i wonder if they have a mind for that, for this draft as well, where you've only got one first round pick and you probably need to get somebody at that position. If that makes sense for looking for somebody who's a nickel, which now I think is a very valuable position. Yeah. And the name that I'll throw out there, if it's in the first round, I agree. Brian branch from Alabama. If you look around the internet, he's mostly listed as a safety, but he was like a slot defender at Alabama. The best tackling defensive back I've ever scouted.

I think he had like three missed tackles his whole career at Alabama. He wraps up as well as any defensive back I've ever scouted. And I don't know about Brian Flores specifically, but it feels like every coach is like, I need great tackling defensive backs can man up in the slot. Twitchy has seen every route concept was in that. I think they call it the star position in Nick Saban's defense. Minkah Fitzpatrick played there.

Landon Collins played there. That's the name where if it would be, maybe not after this, but up until now kind of outside of the box or kind of off the radar to not pick a Christian Gonzalez or Cam Smith, the outside cornerbacks, Brian Branch can play anywhere. And if you do have, I think, what you're mentioning, a star slot defender, it just helps your defense considerably because on a lot of teams, your slot corner is clearly your number three corner.

Not good. We'll get exploited because there are so many good wide receivers in today's NFL. If you add Brian Branch to this team, Andrew Booth, Louis seen, you will have a lot of young athletic talent for Brian Flores to kind of mold into a good group. All right. So Ben Gessling will be on in a little bit to further talk about Kwesi Adafo-Mentz's comments. But I want to hear from you.

You were at some other podium sessions. We caught Brian Gutekunst, which was pretty funny because he's the GM of the Packers, if you don't know. He walked up to the podium and said, I don't know what's going on with Rodgers yet. OK. That's hilarious. That's slightly paraphrased but only slightly it was essentially oh and he said he said we haven't talked about it yet like oh really no they haven't had any internal conversations you know you know what we should talk about at the combine guys that court rogers yeah we should probably have

a discussion i'm sure they've talked about it but he didn't want to talk about it. That was another takeaway for me is that they're not showing their cards on what's going on with Aaron Rogers. They might not even know, but you spent some time around some other podiums with GMs and coaches. What else did you take away? This, again, sounds like I'm being like a Vikings fan here, but honestly that Kweisi's interview was different,

truly different from all the others, which maybe Purple Insider listeners are like, yeah, we've, we've heard his press conferences, but just talking about his philosophy, team building, a lot of GMs, and maybe this is because he's only in combine number two and he's young and he's kind of in this new mold of very analytical based GMs when certainly I think most GMs have kind of accepted that as part of their front office or their staff. But I think with him being so analytics forward, he's prepared to talk about a lot of different things. What I like too, this is a quick aside, is that I thought it was interesting that the disparity between a lot of GMs come out and say, we love the senior bowl. We absolutely love it. Meeting the guys, we've picked a lot of senior

bowl guys. Kwesi made a joke and said, I'm a big numbers guy, big data points guy. And he goes, are we going to look at like one practice of a senior bowl and compare that to three years or, or 2000 snaps for a player, which that's my thing. I think the Senior Bowl is a great event. I think their scouting staff does an amazing job identifying the Kyle Duggars. And it's fun, but it's just weird to me that there is such a big difference that a lot of teams are like, we love to be up close and personal. We're going to pick these Senior Bowl guys. We got to see them.

They were, you know, the famous Dave Gettleman quote that, that, that he watched Daniel Jones one drive during practice and during a scrimmage and knew then that that was the time that he was going to pick Daniel Jones at number six overall. And Koisi kind of like made fun about it. He was like, yeah, it's one, like one practice. Like, what are we doing here? That is, I guess, overarching to kind of bring back to the Vikings, like hearing other GMs, a lot of them are very pro senior bowl in the evaluation process when

crazy is like, yeah, it's cool, but we're not going to value that anywhere close to multiple years of film and data that we have. I think for two straight years, I've come away from in-depth conversations with crazy. Daffo Mensah feeling like he gets it.

He does. He gets it. He gets so much about this game, and so much about, I mean, the game that is the front office, and so much about the process. That doesn't mean it's going to work. It just means that he gets it. And that's why when we talk about kind of like, hey, Wilfs, let him cook.

That's what you like to see. Once again, another, like you said, data point. And I think that there were times in press conferences this year where he was very nervous about saying too much. But now you're kind of past the season and everything else and was more comfortable talking about his process and how they evaluate things in, like you said, in a way that they understand randomness happens. And he also understands that

if you don't hit on draft picks you get fired which was ironic because rick spielman was in the room when he said that it was like oh gosh not that far away either and it's like but but hey that's rick's that's rick's career right like they had a few years of drafts that didn't work out and he lost his job and quacey understands that um but can you hack the draft I don't think last year that they did I think they tried to I don't think they did and I that was one of their note that I did ask him about that about trading down and he talked about like every time you trade down you get farther away from the great players which is true and you have to understand that and I was like but last year did you

understand that like how far away from the great players you traded yourself but he's also talking about and kevin o'connell is too looking themselves in the mirror so if you're doing a similar trade next year how are you doing that as far as like making sure you're not trading too far away from the great players and trading out of a Jamison Williams. I'm not saying he's a great player yet, but Kyle Hamilton might be considered a great player already. Right. So like that, that balance, I think he's always understood, but now that it's been something you had to put into practice, um, maybe sharpen your eye a little bit for how you're going to make trades this year. And now you also have maybe some more relationships as well. Yeah. Overall, I would say this, that in today's NFL

and you certainly know baseball, that, that they were kind of, or that that sport was kind of the pioneer of the analytics movement is 20, 30 years ago. Football, we're still somewhat new in this. I think five to the last five to seven years, we've seen a lot of teams embrace it. A lot of younger GMs. I think in 2023, it's better to have your GM be very analytics forward than to just be a old school film guy and just think, Hey, you know, he's just got a really good eye for talent because someone like Rick Spielman, who did have a lot of good drafts, you're just, there's no one that just is an outlier with the film stuff. Like Bill Belichick has a bunch of horrible, horrible drafts. The chiefs have had a bunch of really bad drafts as well. I think the analytics are the future and this might be the most analytics forward GM in the

league. So I think because we're kind of, I don't want to say at the forefront of the analytics movement, it's been here. Um, but we're starting to see young GMs or young guys get GM jobs like Kweisi Adepo Mensah. I think it's better to be in that side of the fence than on the other side where you're just trusting, you know, 30 years of scouting. Not saying that those guys are, you know, old man yells at cloud type deal, but I just came away thinking, you know, that's what you ultimately want at the top of your personnel department. Someone that is really going to embrace those

to help the process to say, hey, look, I'm going to remove the human error element as much as possible to help make these picks. I think that if you have the analytics GM, what you do is you make all the plays that are proven to be better by the odds, right? That's, that's all it really means. I don't think it's any magical formulas. It, uh, some of them may be more complicated than I understand as far as how they're created and so forth, but all, everything is answering a fundamental question. What are the odds and what is the value? And if're doing it that way it should work for you the thing is that after last year a very small sample i didn't feel like what are the odds and what is the value matched up entirely with the things that they did and that's where these next couple weeks and then into the

draft that's what we're really looking for from quweisi Adafo Mensah because he talks the talk as well as anybody in the entire NFL, as you said. And now with the organization, you know, in his hands for an entire year now, it's like, let's, let's see that happen and let's see that work because ultimately if you miss on those odds plays, but at least if you're doing the right thing by the odds, which I didn't think that the trade back really was going as far as they were if you miss on those odds plays, but at least if you're doing the right thing by the odds, which I didn't think that the trade back really was going as far as they were and not getting a first round pick, which boy, they really could have used right now, another first round pick in trading back. Um, so I, I think that those things have to match up like what you say and

what you do. I don't know that it always did last year. And I think now is the time that we have to see that and hold him to that stand. One last point. I think from that, um, that we kind of said earlier that it's, it kind of seemed like reading the tea leaves that he's willing to make risky moves again. I also feel like because he's so smart and so with it that he will learn from, Hey, maybe if, I mean, not that this would necessarily happen, but if a team in the NFC North wants him to trade back again, maybe he'll be like, okay, you know what, I can have all of these data points, all these models, but like being under fire, like on the clock to make this trade, maybe I didn't get as good a value as I needed to.

He does not seem like someone that's just going to say, hey, look, this is what I did last year. I'm sticking to it. He seems ready to evolve. And he actually talked about the evolution of the game to not just be good with your roster and have, you know, prioritize yards after the catch or whatever the case may be, but constantly be thinking about not even just the next year, but the evolution of football that we are always hearing. The teams like to try to stay ahead of the curve. I think if there is a team that you would say they're probably going to stay ahead of the curve, it's the Vikings. Well, Chris, I was very, very glad to have you at the press conference because you have an eye on the entire league more than just me that I'm always focused on one team, Vikings, Vikings, Vikings all the time. So two different perspectives

in listening to one press conference. And then, you know, of course, the other one on the side gave us a little more, but a lot of the same sort of ideas. And if you go to Purple Insider dot com, by the way, I'll have write ups on everything that he said a little more in depth than just the podcast. But, you know, we'll have full breakdowns of that. And then tomorrow, Kevin O'Connell and we'll do the same thing. So Chris and I will listen to the pod or to the press conference and then podcast after that. So if you enjoy this one, you'll want to keep it tuned. So thanks, Chris, for your time.

I'm glad that we could do this and we will have more to come very soon. Thanks for listening.