Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Breaking down the Vikings' US Bank Stadium scrimmage

Episode Date: August 29, 2020

Read a complete recap at PurpleInsider.substack.com 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 the 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. This is Greg Olson, here to tell you about my new podcast, TE1. On the show, I had a chance to talk to my fellow tight ends who have revolutionized the position from an extra lineman to a dual-threat superstar. And just like my guests have changed the game, this year, NFLSundayTicket.tv is revolutionizing your NFL viewing experience.

Stream all the live, out-of-market NFL games every Sunday on your favorite devices and never miss a moment from your favorite players. Visit NFLSundayTicket.tv and use the promo code GREG88 at checkout and get 15% off your subscription. That's NFLSundayTicket.tv and the promo code GREG88. Subscribe to TE1 and get NFLSundayTicket.tv, an unmatched dual threat. Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here and joining me, Minnesota Vikings team reporter for the Star Tribune, Andrew Kramer. Andrew, you and I just walked out of an empty US Bank Stadium that had pumped in crowd noise for a scrimmage.

And you know what? It was actually really insightful and kind of exciting to watch, and I'm not even being sarcastic. We learned a lot. It was the closest thing to football we've seen, if only because you had the scoreboard, the stadium, the lights, and the sound, the fake sound. It was, yeah, it was the closest thing to football we've seen in some time.

They didn't tackle them to the ground. They didn't risk getting too many guys injured, though we can talk about the guys who got banged up. But I feel like we learned a little bit about how they want to play certain guys. Yeah, we did. And I think that this would be indicative, unless they were really committed to the bit of throwing us off, really indicative of what the starting lineup

and the depth chart is going to look like. And there's some tweaks and changes to the 53. I put out a, hey, they practiced 10 times 53-man roster, and after seeing this, I've already got to make some changes. So we'll get to that in just a minute. But on a level of 0 to 10, 10 is the season's over. You're totally screwed. What's the panic level now getting to on Daniil Hunter not practicing again, even in this circumstance? Yeah, I would put it right at a solid 8.

And it's only an 8 because it's August 28th. And not, let me check the calendar, not September 11th, which in two weeks they'll be just a couple days before they're set to play Green Bay. It's just weird. It's been since August 16th. Today was the 11th straight practice. He has not put on pads at all because this period is the only time they've been allowed to play in pads due to these restrictions and kind of easing them into football.

We haven't even seen Daniil run. We haven't seen him work with a trainer off to the side that would be indicative of working through some kind of an injury. We've only gotten one word out of Mike Zimmer regarding it, basically, which is that it's a tweak. And to our colleague Courtney Cronin at ESPN, who pointed out to Zimmer yesterday in the Zoom call, was basically saying, 10 straight days and it's a tweak? And he said, sometimes these things take a while. And so this is either a serious injury that is taking multiple weeks and then obviously longer moving forward to get over, or this is the best cover up for some kind of hold in for a guy who's pretty underpaid on his contract. Yeah. You would think, though, that if he was going to do a hold-in,

he would want that to be public in order for public pressure on the team. Like, one thing that Daniil Hunter would have that Delvin Cook does not have is if he was doing a hold-in, then Vikings fans, national media, local media, everyone would be saying, come on Vikings, why don't you make this bad contract good? We know you've got the money. We know you're going to figure out the cap space in the future because you have Rob Brzezinski and you've always done this. So pay Daniil what he's worth. That is not the case with Delvin Cook, who basically has to just continue playing on and hope that the two sides work it out because most people feel like, or at least a large number,

feel like paying a running back is very risky. No one thinks paying a 25-year-old absolute beast defensive end is risky at all. And I think that he would have a lot of support on his side. So I would have thought that there would be something leaked to Adam Schefter or Ian Rappaport by now if that was the case. But to your point, even just watching him walk around, there are no like little jogs to catch up with people walking in front of him or anything like that. Like he has looked like he's walking around gingerly, but that's all we have to go on because Mike Zimmer does not have to put out an injury report at this moment he doesn't have to put it out until like you said the week before and if this goes into

the season they could have the worst defensive line in the NFL if you are starting Jalen Holmes who didn't even get sacks in college uh Afadi Adenabo who's older than Daniil Hunter and just started playing Jaleel Johnson and Shamar Steffen, who are supposed to be backups this year. I mean, this is not what you want if you're the Vikings defensive line, which, by the way, could, if good, bail out young corners. But if not good, your young corner is going to have to be not just okay, but actually very, very good in order to have decent coverage if there's no pressure. Yeah, I don't think Daniil's absence is related to his contract exactly for the points that you

were just saying. I think there's different ways to go about that. I think the Vikings would probably be a lot more amenable to making it happen than paying a running back like Dalvin Cook. I think of Adam Thielen's contract as an example, where they had a guy who was performing at such an elite level and obviously outplaying the number that he was under. And they were able to quietly in the offseason take care of that because they realized he deserved it. The guy wanted to stay here. Daniil has made no bones about wanting to leave here or having any issue with the Vikings. He loves Andre Patterson.

He loves what they've done for his career, and they love what he's done for them. So I would imagine that if there was any kind of contract impasse, that it wouldn't lead to like two weeks of an absence. I would imagine that it would be done a lot more, even more quietly and a lot more efficiently. So with that said, as we're speculating about an injury, you are 100% right in the fact that it is Jalen Holmes, it is Eddie Yarborough, it is guys that Mike Zimmer is going to have to go out there, and Andre Patterson for that matter, having to go out there and prove all over again, like

it's 2014, well even worse because you don't have some of the top talent you had then, to bring them in and be like, look, we're going to make this happen with guys that, you know, you might find in the yard, not guys that are necessarily going to be out there at Pro Bowls. You bring up Shamar Steffen. You bring up Jaleel Johnson. You bring up Afadi. Afadi's played – the most Afadi's played was last year. It was like 35%.

And now he's going to be expected to play that 70%, 80% Everson Griffin role. And then you're hoping that goes well if it's opposite Daniel Hunter. And the big question is you need him to be healthy. So if you're the Vikings and you're hoping that week one is the reliable target and that you've been holding him out for a month until then, by all means, hold him out because you're going to need this guy for 100% of the snaps for 16 years. Okay, let's say that Daniil Hunter is out for a little while.

And, again, this is just speculation. We don't have any idea. But if he doesn't practice soon, then i don't know how he's playing and not even looking like he's like you said working with trainers that's what we usually see when someone's getting close when it was latavius murray head surgery or it was who else i think of teddy bridgewater when he eventually became the backup quarterback in 2017 even ben gideon whose status we're not really entirely sure on. I think of Mike Hughes coming off the ACL.

Right, so we usually see them. They're working off to the side when they're about to come back, and that has not been the case for Daniil Hunter. So what's going on, we don't know. But let's compare this to 2014, because when I pull up that 2014 defense, I see a lot of talent here. I mean, Harrison Smith, Sheree Floyd played his best year in 2014. A person Griffin was exploding onto the scene,

going from a rotational rusher into a full-time player. You signed Linval Joseph. You drafted Anthony Barr, who played pretty well in his first season, if not really well for a rookie. Tom Johnson was there playing a ton of snaps. Xavier Rhodes was early in his career, but very talented. And you was there playing a ton of snaps. Xavier Rhodes was early in his career, but very talented. And you still had B-Rob as well. I mean, that I think is a more talented defense if you take Daniil Hunter off of it than just having a great linebacker in Kendricks,

a good linebacker in Barr, and two very good safeties. I mean, that is a vastly better defensive line in 2014 than what they would have without Daniel Hunter here. Yeah, that linebacking core was pretty bad, but Barr brought a lot. Kendricks, I think, changes a lot with what they're able to do. As we've all documented, just how well he is at covering some of the modern stuff that they do with running backs in the NFL today. Yeah, 2014 did have a lot of talent, more so up front, and that's where the questions were talking about. If this 2020 Vikings defense is going to stop the run the way it has,

and we shouldn't parse this. Like, it wasn't like they've always just had this ferocious pass rush that could control things on first down. It's because they had such solid run defense that would lead to these third and eights, and then they could really unleash Daniel Hunter, really unleash Everson Griffin, and some of these blitz schemes that Mike Zimmer likes to draw up. If you were not stopping the run with Shamar Steffen, Jaleel Johnson,

Afadi, the guys that you're going to be playing this year, and let's say we're talking if Daniel Hunter's out, that's a hard time if it's third and three, and you don't know what's coming you can't rush the passer and then all of a sudden that that rush that helped cover up some of the coverage woes as you mentioned that's not going to be there so this to me is the test like I said this is the test of Mike Zimmer kind of starting starting anew and really trying to prove that hey I am the fixer as we all called him when he got hired here as He called himself, I think, at one point.

He's the fixer, likes to come in here and do that. He's got to do it all over again. And that's not just with these young corners, which we could talk about at length, who we saw today, but that's also that defensive line. And to me, there's no just fixing when you don't have the talent to get after the passer or stop the run. And think about another point here.

Let's transition into the cornerbacks and what we saw today. Another point here is the cornerbacks, even when they weren't playing particularly well last two years, Trey Waynes and Xavier Rhodes, last year was disaster for Rhodes. They were still great tacklers. So if you funneled guys to the outside running backs, they were getting tackled by Trey Waynes or Xavier Rose. They're both elite tacklers in my mind. Now, we don't know. We don't know if Cam Dantzler is a rookie or Jeff Gladney is a rookie, can tackle NFL players at all, because we haven't seen it in training camp. And that is a far different story than trying to tackle players at TCU. So the rotation continued with Jeff Gladney and Cam Dantzler. And I'm getting more of the sense, Andrew, that that's what we're going to see. We're going to see both of those guys in the season get a chance to play,

and then as the season goes along, if Dantzler's better, then maybe it'll be him. If Gladney's better, maybe it will be him. I'm curious if you agree or if you think one guy is ahead of the other one. You know, they really seem to have two nickel packages out there today with that starting defense, as you mentioned, with both those guys. The first one was Dantzler, and that makes me think it's going to be him. That when week one, when they're looking across from Aaron Rodgers and they need to tackle Devontae Adams for the first NFL tackle of their life,

potentially, which is quite the scenario. After by now, you typically would have had four preseason games. You would have had four preseason games. You would have had a whole offseason OTAs anyway. I think it's going to be Dantzler on the field, but that's not even – we could have a whole conversation, too, about Holton Hill and whether or not in the base package that guy's even ready to take on that kind of role. But when they go into nickel, that third corner is going to be Dantzler,

and then I think you're going to see Gladney mix in the slot. The second version they've got is where they leave Hughes on the outside and they bring Gladney in to play that slot role and then Dantzler's on the bench. And so I do wonder, and then Holton Hill is the guy with Hughes who are on the field the entire time. So I think that's going to be the look. And I think they'll mix that based on matchups,

based on the personnel, how they feel about the game going into Sunday. I'm really excited to see what Dantzler can do as a boundary corner because he's got such length. He can bring maybe a little of what Xavier Rhodes got you when he was good in terms of being able to body up against some of these taller guys. Look, everybody talks about Jeff Gladney shadowing guys. Jeff Gladney I really do not think is going to be following Julio Jones

October 18th against the Falcons. I really don't think that's going to be happening. I'm not saying Dancer's going to either, but if any of these guys have that potential, it might be Dancer because of that size. Get back to the conversation in just a minute, but first have to tell you about something very cool from our friends at SodaStick. You probably know them for Minnesota sports-inspired hats and shirts and hoodies that are screen printed in Minnesota, but SodaStick also has artwork as well. You're going to want to check out their Man Cave prints, 20 by 24 prints representing everything Minnesota sports,

from awesome throwback logos to legendary plays at first base to famous disgusting acts in Green Bay. They are on sale now for just $35. You can't go out to games at the moment, but you can liven up where you're watching them from. You want to get SodaStick's very cool prints. Go to SodaStick.com. That's S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com

and use the promo code PURPLEINSIDER for free shipping. And Gladney projecting to be a nickel corner we could see hughes play on the outside where he's played quite a bit so far and it might depend very much on like you said on holton hill because i think you know maybe a lot of people have decided oh if he's got his head on straight then he's good but in total he's got his head on straight, then he's good. But in total, he's played 544 snaps and been targeted 41 times. I don't think that we can really decide if someone's good at being cornerback based on 41 targets and 500 snaps. I think you need a lot bigger of a sample size, and we'll see how that goes as we get into the season but you know one of the things that Zimmer talked about is Holton Hill being told things and then doing the same mistake making the same mistakes the following

day so we'll see if that becomes an issue but it's like oh oh he's locked in so he's automatically just good well we don't really know that yet we don't have anywhere near the sample size for any of these guys even Mike Hughes who did get burned as many do by Adam Thielen on the catch today but is he going to play in the slot is he going to mix back outside when they're in the base package like they really only have answers at safety and linebacker here and that hasn't really changed I think overall the corners have had a very good camp staying healthy has been important because Chris Boyd has fallen behind. So if they were to have an injury, he's probably the next man up there, but there's a big drop

off. But, you know, like being good at U.S. Bank Stadium in the scrimmage versus being good when they get on the field against Theron Rodgers and game plans against them are two very different things. And there's so many things, too, with corners transitioning to the NFL. I mean, as we know about penalties, the officiating in the NFL, and tackling, you brought up a good one with that because the Vikings have been so good at that. They're secondary especially.

I think they were among the league leaders in, like, fewest missed tackles, if not entirely of the whole defense, but especially their defensive backs. And that being gone away, you've got to really then bank on these guys kind of coming in there and being efficient and not letting some of those runs bounce outside. And that's kind of what they were so good at doing was kind of forcing everything back into the middle, everything back into the middle,

where they would get multiple guys to tackle people. So no preseason, no live tackling outside of some special teams drills and camp. It could be sloppy for everybody, but I think the younger defenses, and especially these groups like the Vikings have, younger position groups are going to struggle the most. So that's going to be fascinating to watch. I thought the offense in general, you brought up, you know, defense looking good or decent in a scrimmage.

I thought the offense was pretty lackluster. It looked to me like the defense just knew everything. Like we've been – like just the contempt that familiarity brings because you saw Cousins like spiking balls into the ground when screens were getting blown up. And you just saw things that – it looked like the defense could read the play before it was coming. And that to me felt like August 28th.

We've been doing this a while now for at least a few weeks, and they can't really trick them. But there was another point of it too, which was the fact that Cousins got sacked repeatedly in this scrimmage. And some of it was by Jaleel Johnson, which, look, I mean, Jaleel Johnson has been around a little while now, and he's stepping up into a different role that maybe was better fit for him all along. But he was smoking Pat Elfline,

and if you think that anything is going to be different with Pat Elfline, I mean, this is the whole, like, I hate the saying, but like the definition of an insanity thing. I mean, at least today, it looked like the definition of insanity, rolling out Pat Elfline again at a new position saying, no, this is what really works. It sort of reminds me of our run with TJ Clemmings of, no, he's a left tackle. No, he's a right tackle. No, we're moving him to guard now. And that's where he's going to be good. Like at some point, you had to decide that this just isn't

going to work. And we'll see how it plays out in real games. But Jaleel Johnson is a guy who was set to be on the bench this year, not somebody who was even going to play the starting three-technique defensive tackle or even close to it. He might have been the backup nose tackle going into the season, and he is getting sacks against you in a scrimmage. That's not a really good sign for the offensive line. It's not, especially if you know, too, that the Vikings coaching staff, and I'm guessing this is kind of the same across a lot of coaching staff

in the NFL, but they really don't like to change one position to solve another. And I keep getting this response whenever I poke around about, well, are they going to move Brian O'Neal to left tackle? And it's like, well, no, they're so against that because they feel like Brian is doing so well right now at one spot. We've got him settled in the foundation. We're starting to build something there. You only start uprooting that guy if you know it's not going well.

You only start moving Pat Elfline around if, nope, he's not a center. We've got to draft Garrett Bradbury. Nope, he's not a left guard. We've got to move him over to right because that's where he played at at Ohio State. And hopefully there's some comfortability there. And, oh, by the way, now we're moving this tackle that we drafted to left guard so then he can help compete there. And then we quickly realized he's not suited for

that. So now he's going to be with the backups and then barely play in this scrimmage. It seems to me like Ezra Cleveland is going to have a redshirt year like Drew Samia or Ole Udo. And I don't want to overreact about that for a second pick, but second round pick, I should say. But you would hope that he'd be like kind of that swing guy or somebody that is a little more ready or prepared at that point. And the Vikings clearly don't feel that way about him. Evaluations can change though.

And they really were low on Brian O'Neill at first. He was like the fourth tackle at camp coming out of his rookie year, and then he was playing by the second week. And then it turns out, oh, this guy can get his feet wet and he can start doing something. So we'll see what happens with Ezra. He was playing his position at least. He was playing the tackle at least.

So just to rewind there, Ezra Cleveland was on the third team. He played one drive, and that was it. The first teamers and second teamers got a lot of work and we got a pretty clear idea of who stands where. For Rashad Hill to not practice today, and we're just going to assume that he's hurt, a tweak possibly for Rashad Hill. And Blake Brandl to take over left tackle and not Ezra Cleveland. I mean, does this say that Ezra Cleveland is just a guard now and that's what's going on and he's not a tackle in the NFL and that's what they think?

Because initially we were told, oh, we want him to learn guard and then, you know, if he needs to move back out to tackle or whatever. But he seems to be locked into that position and not be good at it. Yeah, no, I do not think this means he's a guard. I think this means that they had really pinned their hopes on him competing for the open spot. It didn't work out. And now they're saying, okay, let's at least train him to be a backup for these spots. Well, we're already pretty weak.

And if somebody goes down, we're assuming it's Abiyant that's going to step in. But he's had an injury history. If it's not him, then it's going to be in, but he's had an injury history. If it's not him, then it's going to be Ezra. And so Ezra's not that far from playing. And with Rashad too, I would assume in the regular season, if Rashad goes down and then all of a sudden they go to game day and need a swing tackle, I assume it's going to be Ezra Cleveland because it's not going to be Blake Brandon. It's just, it can't, it's just not going to be. So I think right now this is kind of there, and they are really stuck in this experiment. They have really planted their roots in it for

some reason of him being a guard, because when Riley Reif was out for a veteran day earlier in camp, Ezra did not move from guard. When Rashad Hill was out today, he did not move from guard. So this is not a situation where they're going to kind of bounce him around, cross train him. They are like really focused. Say you learn guard 2020, this might be kind of where you have to help us at some point down the road. Yeah, and just a few days ago, I was thinking that he would be playing a few weeks into the season the same way Brian O'Neill was, but after seeing today, it's really hard to say,

oh, yeah, he's going to threaten for that job at some point. Yeah, the thing I don't get about it either, and this is just my opinion, but I don't understand that for a guy who needed to add weight, Ezra told me, I was doing a profile on him that's actually coming out this Sunday, right after he played no snap. Awesome timing as always. Hey, it can't be worse than Chad Graff's Jordan Taylor profile. It's true.

In terms of timing. Oh, man. So Ezra told me he weighed in at 303 pounds. Now that is a round where Brian, Brian, we knew it was a little lighter his rookie year, but Ezra is also taller. He's six foot six. I believe Brian's six five, but either way they're, they're comparable. With that said, Ezra needs to add weight. He needs to add power. He needs to get stronger. That is one of the biggest leaps he needs to make in the NFL. Coaches talk about the technique. Yes, that's the same with every rookie, but with this guy specifically, he was light. He was athletic. You needed to build kind of that lower base,

that foundation, just like they did with Brian O'Neill. Why are you moving him inside where he needs more power to go up against defensive tackles? That's the part that tells me that they really don't feel good about, just me speculating, they don't feel good about their current guards. They don't feel good about this situation. And they realize that, hey, maybe this kid has got a lot of promise, he's going to surprise us like Brian O'Neill did. So here's my question before we get to some of the players who look good today, which would be, I get that the cap was tighter before Michael Pierce opted out. Okay, fair enough. But there were guards on the free agent market. This team has not had success with guards on the free agent market. Alex Boone was cut after one year. Josh Klein was cut after one

year. You take your life in your hands when you sign some guy that another team didn't want. Guards are so scarce that if another team is moving on, that means the guy is bad. However, you're starting Dakota Dozier, it seems. He played all the first team reps today, and so it's clear that he is your starting left guard. This guy has basically never really started before except for a fill-in, and when he was a fill-in last year, it did not go well. And then you're moving someone who was a disaster, literally worst pass blocking guard in the NFL over to a new position making his life even harder so it's like was is Ron Leary broken or you know could I don't know

I mean the Larry Warford idea went you know kind of out the window once he opted out and things like that but this is a situation that they have not solved in a very long time. It went from being the tackles with Khalil and Clemmings that were the problem and the guards were okay and, you know, center with Joe Berger was okay, to now the guards were going on three years of, hey, Kirk Cousins, how do you like kryptonite? You know, like here it is right in your face. I mean, it's like the thing that gets Kirk Cousins, how do you like kryptonite? You know, like, here it is right in your face. I mean, it's like the thing that gets Kirk Cousins is interior pressure,

and you still haven't figured out a way to get guys in there who could help with interior pressure. The only way I can reckon this is they firmly believe that their scheme can lift up and is greater than the sum of the parts, is greater than all the players they have on the offensive line. That's the money, because as you just mentioned, the guards are so hard to come by, which means their free agent costs are generally astronomical. Generally what you're going to pay for an interior offensive lineman on the open market, like what they paid at tackle with Riley Reif,

is overpaying. You have to overpay them to get them into your building just to get him to switch teams. And so because of that, you're going to be apprehensive. The Vikings don't take risks on outside guys. They just don't. They don't do it. Michael Pierce is the kind of guy that they had a connection to through a defensive line coach that they hired.

They knew him a little bit. They're not a team that generally jumps out if there's a risk on a guy to just give him a bunch of money to come in and fix a spot. And it's clear to me, nose tackle, for instance, is one of those spots that they want to invest money in because they think the player matters. Offensive line clearly is not one of those spots. They clearly don't think making one of the five links of the chain stronger

is all of a sudden going to lift them into a Super Bowl team. To me, it's clearly coming down to they think Gary Kubiak's scheme, play-action bootlegs, getting Kirk on the move, all the stuff we all talk about ad nauseum, that is the stuff that they think is going to be able to eventually take it over the top and be, I don't know, maybe like the Rams team that made the Super Bowl, but even that group had such a good offensive line to go along with the scheme

that that's kind of what made for that blend. So that's my kind of way I interpret that. And here's the thing, too, is what blows up this scheme is penetration. I mean, if you can just blow right by your guy, then these developing plays do not work. And we saw that every time they played a good defensive line, they lost. It's like bottom line. And against Denver, even the game that they should have lost, that was the kryptonite there too, is that they found ways to shut down the run with the four

guys up front and pressure Kirk Cousins with penetration. And it was a big problem even against the team that wasn't any good. So yeah yeah, I guess I look at it as, from an analytical perspective, I understand why you don't want to pay guards. And from a recent history, paying guards hasn't worked for you. Another thing that hasn't worked is, let's move this guy to this position. Let's move this guy to that position. Let's bring this guy off the bench and make him the starter. Like, these things have not really worked very well for them,

and it's hard to see it being a whole lot better than last year. The saving grace is only that the tackles are pretty good, and Brian O'Neill is flat-out great. So maybe you hope that Garrett Bradbury can save your butt by getting a lot better against some teams that play 3-4 and a nose right over the center. But I don't have a whole lot of confidence that he suddenly becomes this unbelievable pass blocker either.

Yeah, they need Garrett to take a lead. I think that you bring up the tackles. Riley Reid, this kind of second half resurgence has been really good for them. We didn't, for good reason, because of the other issues elsewhere, didn't really talk about how good of a 2019 he's had last year. 2018 was so bad for him that the way he rebounded yeah that that really helped them and allows them to tell ezra a guy like ezra hey you know kind of take a red shirt year and develop and then hopefully he'll be the guy still to take over for riley and the key point about riley reef gary uh gary kubiak

system can only do so much for you, though. When you have to be in straight drop back pass like he did in 2018, Reif got killed. And at times last year, same thing. Chicago is the most notable. And against Green Bay the second time with Z'Darrius Smith blowing by him. It's like when you play these top-notch teams, they can beat you and put you in situations where you have to drop back pass, and that's not what the offense is built for. Now, on the good side, the Alexander Hype Train, can you hear it coming down the tracks? Did I say Hollins? Alexander Hollins, Hype Train, can you hear it coming down the tracks? So Courtney and I, the other day on the show, played a game where I did this. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.

Does this guy make the team? Alexander Hollins, is he making the team? Because I'm feeling like he does. I feel like he does. He's got a lot of Aldrick Robinson vibe to him. A lot of that just kind of go route, you know, go out there and go get the ball. I think he does. And I think it might be at the expense of somebody that you've championed as he does and I think it might be at the expense of

somebody that you've championed as getting cut I think it might be at the expense of Chad Beebe because if Hollins can give you some some work on special teams if you're not worried about his durability as much as you are Chad's maybe you tell Chad hey figure out your body take this year on the practice squad kind of learn how to be durable, if that's a thing, and then kind of come back next year and compete. I will say this. They've had Chad a lot in the slot in some of their three, four wide stuff. He does bring a certain element that Gary Kubiak loves, but Alexander Hollins has stood out. We keep seeing him make plays. He made another play today, I think it was like a 30-yard catch on a go route. These are the kind of things that this

kid keeps showing, and he's getting second-team work. So if it's not baby spot, whose spot is he taking? We'll get back to the conversation in just a minute, but first got to tell you about TheraOne CBD. From tight muscles, tough workouts, signs of aging, to simply making it through each busy day, everyone understands what it feels like to be tense and sore, so everyone can benefit from TheraOne's

CBD products. Started by Dr. Jason Worsland, TheraBody exists to provide you with the best scientifically validated natural solutions to help soothe your body and relax your mind. It started with the revolutionary Theragun percussive therapy device. When Dr. Jason saw the benefits of using CBD in his treatments, he created TheraOne to bring you CBD products done right. A lot of CBD products claim organic but still contain up to 30% filler, and these fillers are potentially toxic. TheraOne products test four times before they get to you.

Every product is USDA-certified organic, grown in the U.S., and their CBD extracts are the highest quality available anywhere. Use TheraOne's warming lotion in your morning routine, the cooling lotion or massage oil to recover, body balm for targeted relief, and sleep tincture to drift away to a deep night's sleep. And now, through Labor Day, Monday, September 7th, TheraOne is offering listeners buy one, get one free for all TheraOne products, but you've got to go to theragun.com slash blue wire if you don't love what you get from TheraOne send it back for a full refund within 30 days of purchase this is not something TheraOne is likely to do again buy one get one

free at theragun.com slash blue wire only until labor day go right now theragun.com slash blue wire Sunday Sunday Sundays are coming back in the NFL with NFLSundayTicket.tv. You can stream every live, out-of-market NFL game every Sunday afternoon on your favorite devices, plus Red Zone and DirecTV Fantasy Zone channels. Never miss your favorite team and favorite players. No matter where you live, NFLSundayT ticket.tv is your key to the most glorious sundays ever use the promo code blue wire checkout to get 15 off your subscription visit nfl sunday ticket.tv and use promo code blue wire so is it tajay sharp who is the definition of like think

about it from a video game perspective if you are a madden player tajay sharp has like 68 everything it's like 68 speed 68 hands 68 you know whatever they have now a million different things but it's just there isn't a particular skill that tajay sharp has where you say you have to work him into the lineup because he can do blank. Alexander Hollins, the deep threat. Imagine it being a really good compliment, but it is for him, considering where he came from. Being like, dude, you're just like Aldrick Robinson. But he caught touchdowns for this team.

So, I mean, Hollins has this ability to get open deep and make plays on the ball. Tajay Sharp just doesn't have one thing that makes him stand out where you'd say you got to keep him around. Yeah, Tajay, I think he's a reliable veteran, a guy that they're going to lean on for experience. And the only way they keep him on here is if they decide to put Alexander on the practice squad. If they think that, okay, without a preseason, nobody's going to really know this kid. We'll just be able to sneak him on the practice squad and then we'll keep Tajay for death. Because you're right. Tajay is, I'm trying to think of an example that was formerly on this team, but yeah, he's not the

kind of guy that's going to shake a guy to get open. He's not, you know, he's going to win with some subtly decent route running. He's going to be reliable at times, and that's not going to win you games. That's also not going to be the long-term vision for a young team. If Alexander Hollins is the guy that you think can kind of grow into that deep threat that then sticks with this team, sticks with this group, you've got to keep him. And, yeah, I don't see how they – the only way I see them talking themselves into sharp

is if you're really not sold on Thielen, BC, Jefferson being your contributing three. If you're not sold on those guys giving you it for 16 games, then yeah, then you're worried about needing to replace one of them. Then you keep a guy like Sharp. But if you're not, move on from him. I think they should. But if Jefferson isn't the number three receiver this year, which it looks like he's going to be, but if he isn't that at very least, or even more than that, then you've got a problem. I mean, I never judge guys on their rookie season completely, but with Laquan Treadwell, I was like, one catch,

I'm going to judge you completely. And the same thing with if we have to keep Chad Beebe around or Tajay Sharp around because you're not ready enough halfway through the season or we don't think you're going to be, then that's not really a great situation for them. I'm not saying that that's going to happen, but the receiver group will be interesting. Another thing that stood out, KJ Osborne taking all the returning for kick returning and then some of the punt returning as well. I think he's making it now. I didn't have him on my initial 53,

but they didn't use Amir Abdullah back for the kick returner or anybody else for that matter. It was KJ Osborne the entire day. That says to me, he's getting the Marcus Sherrill's position. I'm wondering how they're going to keep Amir Abdullah on the team. And you bring up Abdullah because he was the kick returner, obviously. He's a third down back. He can do some things on special teams, but generally you want the ball in his hand in the open field. If he's not giving you that on special teams, do you keep a sixth receiver and have it be K.J. Osborne and then only keep four running backs, and that's including C.J. Hamm?

I'm going to say yes. I'm going to say that's what they do. And now that you can put veterans on the practice squad, I think that's where Chad Beebe and Amir Abdul end up. Yeah, is there a limit on the number of veterans you can put on there? There is, and I think it's six, I think. I would have to double-check, but you can't put veterans on that. They won't have that problem because there's not six veterans they're going to cut.

They have such a young team. But, yeah, that's the way I think the numbers game might have to shift because you need guys to contribute on those special teams, and if Amir's not going to do it, and you think KJ's the next guy, especially a punt returner where they've struggled so much. And kick returner nowadays, that position just does not matter as much. The Vikings had among the fewest kick returns last year. They had among the most touchbacks last year.

The Vikings punted on the entire play on kickoff, kickoff return last year. They didn't even try. So with that said, I think if KJ's that punt returner, I just don't know how you keep Amir and how you keep five running backs. Jake Browning. How about that? He's looked pretty good in camp and good today. Running with the twos, which I thought was notable,

that he and Sean Mannion were going back and forth. That doesn't mean they're getting rid of Sean Manion, but I think that it means that Jake Browning, maybe 2021, is your backup quarterback? I think they know what they have in Sean Manion. This is one of those things where you just didn't even need to give Sean maybe as many reps as they did just because Sean is going to give you what he's going to give you.

He's going to be the guy that knows the offense inside and out, but he's going to be physically limited and is not going to be the game winner. You know, he's going to be reliable. So I think Jake Browning, what was Mike Zimmer's quote after they signed him out of Washington? It was, this kid does nothing but win. All he does is win or something like that. And it's because he didn't do a whole lot of Washington outside of one year with John Ross, but he did win a lot of games. And so if he's got kind of that, I'm afraid to call it a Kyle Sloater element, but if he can

step into there and at least perform in these kind of situations they try to make in the games, because we haven't seen this kid in the game yet, so we need to pump the brakes, but that then could maybe lend you to believe, hey, they like what they see so far. They want to see more. But there's an important distinction between someone like him and Slaughter, which is Browning last year in practices was commanding the offense and understanding what was going on and picking it up. And that's why he got the job. And, you know, this year I think that he's done a really good job overall in training camp.

He's led some nice drives. He's looked comfortable. The ball does not come out of his hands very fast like it does Nate Stanley, but he's been clearly head and shoulders above Nate Stanley. So I'm thinking he probably still ends up on the practice squad, but even going forward, there might be enough that he showed here in this camp to like him. Was there anything else that stuck out to you in the practice just from how players were used that we've covered a lot, but am I missing anything? camp to like him. Was there anything else that stuck out to you in the practice, just from how players were used that we've covered a lot, but am I missing anything? I guess I would just say we didn't see a whole lot from Dalvin Cook, but the few runs that he

did put out there, I was impressed by. I'm always impressed when Dalvin Cook, you start seeing him in some more full speed stuff, and this guy is just electric. He looks healthy, looks fine. There's smoke out there about, you know, is he going to hold out week one? Is he going to play? I think there is zero chance. This is my opinion. Zero chance that he holds out. I think this guy plays.

I think he's going to be one of the best running backs in the NFL. And if the Vikings don't pay him like that, I think there's a chance he walks. And that'll be a fascinating storyline to follow throughout the entire offseason. Unless they franchise tag him next year and then things get even more uncomfortable. If you're Delvin Cook and you stay healthy this year and you walk and you

hit the market, someone will pay you. Or if you get franchise tagged, just like Anthony Harris. Anthony Harris cannot cry. Look, I don't love the system if I'm on the player's side to have franchise tags, but Anthony Harris is going to make a lot of money. It's going to put a lot of zeros in that bank account this year on the

franchise tag. And maybe that's how the Vikings are seeing it play out. And that's also the leverage they know they have since they can tag them. We don't have to sign you to an extension because we can keep you here with that. And I'm starting to think, Andrew, maybe you could put a. And I'm starting to think, Andrew, maybe you could put a percentage on it before we wrap up,

but I'm putting a percentage maybe only at about 25% chance that Delvin Cook gets signed before week one. And I don't think there's any chance that he holds out because that would be foolish. Yeah. I guess I would put it more at a coin flip because this team's just got such a strong history of when it wants to do a deal, it's going to find a way to get it done. I understand though, that they have not done this with this certain camp, this certain agent of Dalvin Cooks.

They do not have a history with him outside of Dalvin. So that changes things. Usually they deal with agents who they have more of a relationship with. And that's why Kyle Rudolph's deal gets done. That's why Adam Thielen's deal gets redone. That's why all these deals get worked out and Anthony Barr stays. That's why all these things. So I think it's a coin flip because I'm still holding out that small chance that they find a way to do it and maybe budge a little bit more than they were willing to, like they did with Anthony as it kind of came down to the last minute.

But at the same time, if he's not fine, I totally agree with you. I don't see how he doesn't play because if Dalvin's not on that field, he's not making himself more money, and he knows how good he is. And I think as soon as he steps on that field, he's going to be making himself more money. Important question. Are you happy with your Ezra Cleveland feature, though? Like, even though he's on the third team, like, did you write it good? I wrote it.

Because if you wrote it well, then, like, whatever, man. You can't control. You're not the football gods. You don't know when he's going to play? I wrote it. Because if you wrote it well, then, like, whatever, man. You can't control. You're not the football gods. You don't know when he's going to play. I thought it turned out well. Hey, if you want to read about his history of dirt biking and all of his pile of injuries and how he loves pottery and how it's a good profile.

It's a good profile into the world of Ezra Cleveland and how he was a center fielder. And the University of Oregon did not believe that he was a center fielder. They thought he played first base and didn't even offer him a scholarship to recruit him because they thought he was being lied to. No, if you look into it, he's a center fielder, and that's why he's so athletic and great at what he does. Anyway, I thought it turned out all right.

It just sounds like he's not going to do much this year. Here's what you do. When he's got the starting left tackle job next year, you go back and tweet it out. You say, see my story at this link. With that language, too. Exactly to a T. Andrew, great stuff as always.

Awesome to watch some real football with you. Break it down. Football. Absolutely. We're only two weeks away from now the actual real thing. Yeah, exactly. So we'll have a lot to talk about, and we will catch up again soon, man. Thanks.

Yeah. Thanks a lot, Matt. Hi, my name is Bobby Peters and I've recently written a book titled the 2017 New England Patriots Pass Game Manual. If you've ever wondered what makes the New England Patriots offense, specifically their pass game, so successful over the years, this book is for you. The book breaks down in detail the schemes the Patriots use by concept. Each concept is broken down into its different variations, its statistical usage based on

down and distance, and the important coaching points for how each route is run and how the quarterback reads the play. The book is available now on Amazon. Get your copy today. Did somebody say playoffs? NBA and NHL are playing for the gold, and our partners at BetOnline have you covered. Get in on all the action, including a new NBA bracket contest with plenty of chances to win.

MLB season is pushing into the fall. There's no shortage of ways to bet on hundreds of odds, futures, and props there. So take advantage of the return to sports and remember the casino never closes check it out all day all night go to betonline.ag use promo code blue wire to receive your welcome bonus that's betonline.ag code blue wire bet online your online sportsbook experts