Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - BREAKING: Vikings sign Jauan Jennings!! (Part 2)

Episode Date: May 8, 2026

Matthew Coller talks about the Vikings signing former 49ers WR Jauan Jennings. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Uh, feline master P. Cisco says, uh, I don't know how you guys come up with these names. Is, is, is he like Jarius right? If not why. Um, no, he's not. Uh, he is like, who is he like? He's not like anybody the Vikings have had in a while. I, I might say that he is closer to Adam Thielen than he is Jarius right.

Now, I don't mean peak Adam Thielen jumping over Marshawn Latimore, you know, 2019 catchover. not circus catch Adam Thielen. But I mean, he's more of a Mack truck than he is a Ferrari. Like, uh, Jerry's Wright was a small wide receiver who was really, really smart and really good at kind of finding space and getting open at the right times. And people would kind of forget about him. He would go on the slot and just get open and would make plays, but he had great speed. I think he was like a four four guy. Jowan Jennings is not that. He's kind of like an Anquan Bolden type, not as big, but he's bigger, big body, really strong dude, possession wide receiver.

So if it's third and six, he'll get you eight is kind of, but I don't mean he can't at all ever go down field, but Red Zone, he's been super effective for them in the last couple years. So he's much more of that kind of bigger body strong wide receiver that wins that way than he is like little and quick like Jerry's Wright was. Purple Kool-Aid. Rob, Jennings signing, his pure was refreshing every hour this week for this. Yeah, well, me too, man.

I mean, once they bring somebody in, you're like, is this going to happen or not? But even like Stefan Gilmore recruiting him, you think of the number of players they've got in here over the last couple years. That's why when we talk about is O'Connell on the hot seat and everything else, like it would be really tough to say that when they end up with a winning record last year and players want to be here.

Kyler Murray could have gone to other teams. Kyler Murray comes here. I mean, it just sometimes it may be last year they were using their power too much, the fact that they could get kind of whatever free agents they wanted. So, but to wait on this and do it now is is very smart by the Vikings because the downside is basically nothing. I mean, what other positions? What's $8 million?

What did they pay like Jihad Ward? Was that kind of like $8 million? I mean, there's just been, you know, a lot of signings around the NFL for $8 million that are nothing impressive at all, that are just kind of a role player or whatever. And this is somebody who should be, if we're trying to project him, somewhere in the range of like 40 or 50 catches, I would guess. I'm curious, I'm curious what the,

like fantasy people think purple Kool-Aid his game is very similar to right as far as the 10 to 15-yard route guy yeah no that's true how they get there is different it's right was small and quick he was a more traditional slot wide receiver jennings is more of a big slot but it's similar in that way yes uh timothy pumped up for joan jennings signing he gets a lot of red zone targets yep yep definitely uh brian he's done a lot of strange things on the field yield to question character, he better quit the bleep. That I agree with and that is something that, you know, I was trying to look into to understand what is that?

Is it that he just talks trash and he goes too far? Is it that he's like loses his mind when he's out there a little bit? I don't know. So they're going to have to manage that. And that might be part of why they decided not to sign him in San Francisco. but yeah, I mean, I'm curious. It doesn't seem like I just was, I was looking for anything this week, Googling all over, looking on social media.

Why isn't there more interest in Joanne Jennings? And I couldn't pin anything down other than he probably went into free agency, demanded a huge multi-year contract, and teams went elsewhere. And then he just got left with no seat when the music stopped. It's exactly what happened with Dalton Riser. I feel like it is a carbon copy of it. that because Dalton Reisner was worth way more than the Viking signed him for both times and started both years and then went to Sincere and started and still isn't paid that much.

Some guys, it feels like they might have a flaw that the NFL just can't really get over and they're like, we're not paying that guy. And I think with Jennings, it's like raw speed. I don't think that he's blazing fast. And I don't think that he has any tool where you go, okay. that's that's his cheat code i think it's just solid across the board his tool might be that he could handle kyle shanahan's offense uh joker romeo dob's got four years 68 million i know uh rob thinks jennings makes them a lock to win the division i would be surprised i'll go over and look

i'll go over and take a peek right now at uh fan duel if anything changed i don't know how much of that you guys can see only a little bit of it uh i doubt anything changed with the viking still still there plus 600 to win the division. So the markets did not see Joanne Jennings sign and go, oh my gosh, but that's not how real football works anyway. Like betting markets are their own thing and real football is its own thing. There is a trickle-down effect here to having someone like Joanne Jennings. And you don't have to put on your imagination cap to see it.

because he just did it for the last, not just two years, but multiple years aside from that, as being a depth wide receiver. He's done it in the wide receiver three role, wide receiver four, wide receiver two. He threw a touchdown in the Super Bowl, right? And he's had some trick plays that I think Kevin O'Connell, I hope, doesn't try to use, but you know he's going to at some point. Oh, it's terrible for fantasy, Office Depot says, okay. Well, that's right, probably because if you drafted him in a keeper league or something,

then you want him to go to a team where he's going to get 100 targets. Yeah, that makes sense. But in real football, having that flexibility of being able to play wide receiver 2 if someone gets hurt is really darn important. And also, you know, when it comes to just being a target that makes teams think about him with his resume before or if they don't, he's going to make him pay. and it might not be this this was the case with uh osborne where in 2022 osborne couldn't find a target in the first few games of the season and then sort of took off it might be the same with joan jennings but we know we can do it with a lot of players what ends up happening is we go well if this this this

this happened this guy's going to be great and sometimes it does but with jennings you don't have to well if he takes this big necks he doesn't have to do that he's already been a good wide receiver Michael, who are we getting at defensive end now? I saw an article earlier by Will Raggits who tracks some down. I think, what, is A.J. Eponessa still out there? I haven't looked closely at the list. Cam Jordan would be cool just because Steve Jordan. But there's a few guys that are out there that are, you know, veterans who they could potentially bring in.

But I do think they need one more, maybe someone who can really play a traditional defensive end. not like a 3-4, but I mean like a 4-3 defensive end. And maybe they can move people around for third downs or just have some depth, have a pass rusher to be a backup for Turner because they're not going to be able to just play Van Ginkle and Turner the entire season. So they do need somebody else. Any snarky Ty Felton comments yet? No, not yet.

I think that people understand this is a one-year contract. And if somebody gets hurt, Ty Felton is. the next man up at wide receiver three. So there's just, you know, I think way too much attention on the fact that he hasn't gotten out there yet. Jalen Naylor didn't either when Adam Thielen was here. He didn't get out there for the first two seasons either. And they even used Brandon Powell.

Well, Nailor got hurt, but they had to use like Brandon Powell and nothing happened. And then eventually it clicked. So I like the idea of giving young players time. The Vikings haven't always been able to do that. Timothy, Brzezinski is operating like he'll be in charge of the front office when the GM search is completed, regardless of what the structure may end up being. Well, a move like this, I mean, because something we were talking about the other day was, well, you can't really sign Joanne Jennings to a three-year contract if you have a new GM coming in. But you sure as heck can sign them to a one-year, $8 million deal. You can definitely do that if there's, you know, because that's not changing anything.

about the new GM's job. And Rob is going to be here. Whether the new GM is Rob or not, like he's going to be here. As Seifert was talking about earlier, about how you can't or look at this list of GMs and think that they're going to bring in someone who blows out everybody or whatever, that that's just not going to happen. The front office is probably going to stay the mostly the front office, maybe with some new ads or, you know, a little shift here or there of,

certain people, but if they hire an outside GM, Rob's still going to be here. But it might mean, potentially, I mean, Mark Wolf said it wasn't going to be, but that doesn't mean that he was telling the truth or may have changed his mind about the idea of having a president of football operations who can have a final say on stuff and be the liaison to ownership. I like that for Rob. I mean, after the way this offseason was managed, I kind of like the idea of Rob as the general manager, but these other, these other people come from great organizations.

Some of them have Super Bowl rings, not going to downplay. The list is good. The list is a bunch of really good, strong candidates that they have. But Rob's going to continue to be a part of this. So this front office has certainly made an argument this offseason for don't fire all of us. And the coaches have also made a good argument for when we're involved. we can get some good things done. But I think that it goes more to Rob because the constraints were put on.

And that had to be frustrating. I'm sure coaches would have said, come on, man, just restructure one more deal. Give me one more edge rusher. Give me one more of this. I'm sure coaches didn't love the idea of trading Jonathan Grenard. But Rob has the credibility and also the vision, I guess. I mean, for him to make that comment at the owner's meeting, I mean, he must have had a plan of, all right, this is how we're really going to play free agency.

And sometimes, I guess we call it third wave, sometimes third wave has some good signing. So they played it really well. They played it really well. And if I'm O'Connell or I'm Flores, I'm probably advocating for Rob Brzeinsky. Maurice, there goes running the ball. That's funny. That's funny. With all the wide receivers of tight ends, are going to throw at every play.

I mean, they, they have at least made it one that I will give Kevin O'Connell this, that in the hirings, changing an offensive line coach, when they've changed almost none of the coaching staff on the offensive side, so to make a big change there to somebody who was involved in Derek Henry running outside zone in Tennessee, that's where the roots for Keith Carter are and bringing in Frank Smith, you have to give them the fact that they have invested. in the running game's improvement and then drafting a fullback, drafting a guy who runs a four, three, like those are real tangible investments in the run game.

Would you be surprised if it's 60, 40? No, but maybe Kyler scrambles. That Kyler scrambles will even out the run pass ratio. That's the way O'Connell will look at it. But look, passing is still better than running. And with three good wide receivers and a good tight end, two good tight ends, really.

Aaron Jones could catch out of the backfield. Everything is there for Kyler Murray. Mr. Mayor says if we had signed Kyler, Murray, James Pierre, and Joanne Jennings Day 1 of Free Agency, people would have had a much different opinion of Vikings free agency. And that was Rob's point at the owner's meetings. And why I keep going back to that one quote of Keep the Powder Dry because he said, we don't kick off till September.

Like, we don't have to do this right now. You don't have to make every signing on day one of free agency and their patience had really paid off. You're absolutely right. I mean, if they had signed Jennings to this deal on day one of free agency, we would have lost our minds. Like, how did you get that deal? There's no deals on day one of free agency. That's why the Raiders and the Titans signed everybody because they're terrible and they are desperate. Well, what the Vikings decided to be was not terrible and desperate.

But not only that, but not restructuring those contracts. you cannot say enough how important that was because when we were using stick to the models website and restructuring every deal so we could, you know, sign this guy and sign that guy. It was like, oh, man, good thing we're just sitting at home using this website because the salary cap into the future is screwed. But we're just trying to have an offseason. I thought that that's what they would do anyway. Just because there's so much talent right now that's going to be potentially out the door after this year.

but they've found a way to not do it. Very well, very well done. Taslios says going to be very interested in the actual contract to bet their incentives. Oh yeah, yeah. That's when they come out with the top number and then Palisero comes out with the actual number, it's like, oh, okay, it's actually eight with the possibility to get to 13. So, yeah. Maurice, Kyler Murray is going to lead the Vikings in rushing during the first quarter of the season.

Write it down. That's funny. Ron, that's the first time I was still on air when the breaking news came. That's a really good point that oftentimes I would be signing off. And we were having good discussion before, so I feel bad for the people who left comments about the owner or the GM search. And then suddenly we got the breaking news. But this definitely adds some juice to the discussion. And that's one of the reasons to just.

just go live, right? I was thinking tonight, well, you know, I don't know. I guess we got some candidates, but we'll see. And here we are. So a good choice to do that. Daniel, amazing signing, Rob Cap, Guru and GM. Well, they've had, he's had a little help. Um, they brought in another cap guy to give him a hand. So they would, if he were to become the GM, I think they would have to get another specific cap person. But that's, that's where his skill is. And that's why from the GM perspective, I was a little bit surprised that it's just all scouts and that there wasn't any of the money counters that got included in in this GM search because I mean, I guess maybe they think who could do it better than Rob if we want to

if we want a money counter then we're going to go with Rob. But that's that's how you win. Like that's how you win this game. There's two games that happen. There's the game on Sundays where your coaches have to outcoach the other team. And there's the game that happens in March and April and apparently now May, where you have to manage what the NFL gives you to work with better than the other people. It's really that simple.

They give you so much cap and they give you so many draft picks and you got to figure it out. It's a puzzle and who can solve that puzzle the best wins as long as they have good enough quarterback play. And the Vikings were getting, I think, the only edge in solving the puzzle. was that they had Brian Flores and Kevin O'Connell. O'Connell being able to get players to come in here and Brian Flores being able to make everything that he can out of whatever he's able to get, right? That's been their edge.

And now I think if they manage with Rob Brzezinski, their assets really well, which, look, I mean, the next general manager could too. He'll have Rob Brasinski here. But this is just a really job well done. and I said this the other day, I'll keep saying it. If they hire somebody else as a GM, I'm not going to say, well, what a travesty that they didn't give it to Rob Brzynski. But I will say that, boy, did he do a lot to help this next person?

Because Joanne Jennings for one year, you get to decide next GM. Do you want them or not? You get to decide on Hawkinson. You get to decide on Jones. You get to decide on O'Neill, it seems, because there's no extension there. You get to decide on all that stuff. and if you, and Kyler Murray is the biggest one. And if you want to overhaul, you can.

Or if you want to keep it together, you can. Um, there's a lot of options there. So, uh, Jay Mulls, best trio, uh, in the league. Rob, totally right. They could have drafted Jeff Caldwell in the seventh, but I'll take Jennings every day. Okay, two different things, two different things there. Um, but I mean, it would have been more like a draft pick doesn't really affect this anyway, um, because,

it's a one-year contract. So if they had drafted Brennan Thompson in the fourth or Skyler Bell in the fourth, that really doesn't have a lot to do with Joanne Jennings for a one-year deal. So they should have taken, well, I don't know about Jeff Caldwell, but they should have taken somebody. Cause and effect, does this close the door on D.Hop? I would assume so. Yeah.

I don't think that D'Andre Hopkins would sign up to be wide receiver four for the Vikings. Maybe, I mean, he said at the airport. to TMC, he said that, hey, I don't want to be a wide receiver one again, but I would assume he wants to be on the field. It seems like Hopkins is probably done in the NFL if he's not going to come to the Vikings and work with Kyler Murray, but maybe somebody signs him. Jennings is still in his prime, 28 years old, scamping around Ty Felton, hopefully going to get some good mentoring. I mean, I think he'll be on the team that, yeah, he'll be, well, of course he'll be on the team, but I mean, I think he'll be on the field.

And he'll get a little bit more of a role. I mean, last year, everybody stayed healthy. Like, what's the odds that everybody stays healthy two years in a row, the wide receiver position? So he's going to have to be ready. And we could see more of him. But now you don't have to only rely on him. That was the concerning part was, man, if you only got to, if you get one of those guys

hurt and he's got to be wide receiver two, that's a lot. But now, if one of those guys get hurt, he's wide receiver three. Or even if Jennings gets hurt, he's wide receiver three. Rob, I did see that Joe Sensor passed away. It's been a, that's been a tough couple of months. Joey Browner, Doug Martin for that era of Vikings players. Daniel, Vikings getting a great blocking wide receiver, which will really help in the Miami system. One thing I noticed for the Miami system is that they use a lot of condensed sets,

which means a lot of wide receivers getting involved in the run blocking. and Jennings maybe takes just a little heat off of, and KJ did this too, just takes a little bit of heat off of Jefferson and Addison. Rob, who our defense is going to cover, Jets, Addison, Jennings, T.J. I mean, we can't, we can't forget, yeah, that Aaron Jones is also one of the best receiving running backs in the entire NFL. Still, if he's healthy, that's a lot of weapons for Kyler Murray. And that's just going back to that point is leaving no stone unturned for Kyler Murray is

I think important here that you don't want to get to the end of the road with Kyler Murray and still feel like you don't know. And sure, like we've seen catastrophes happen and so forth. Like that, it does happen where everybody gets hurt and it's a mess. But more likely than not, Kyler Murray's going to have enough. He's going to have enough coaching. He's going to have enough weapons. He's going to have enough blocking.

He's going to maybe even have enough running game around him to know whether this is a guy that you want to be your long-term quarterback or not. I think that's really, really important. Kirtlopi, what team would you say has the most archetypal, archetype? Is that right? Is that how you say it? Seattle Seahawks of a year ago, new quarterback, ready to bloom,

large draft class, ready to play. I mean, are you getting at the Vikings with that? Is that who you're kind of hinting at, or you think that there's somebody else you're talking about? Like, who is the team that's ready to take that? their next step. I think Washington, not necessarily draft class, but I guess they did get sunny styles.

Washington is probably the team that other than, you know, the Vikings with a new quarterback and, you know, most of the stuff that they've had for a while, but some additions here, Washington makes sense. But I think that that's what you're referring to, right, is that the Vikings have some similarities here with the Seattle Seahawks. And, you know, I mentioned a lot of it is about your weaknesses. in the NFL. It comes down to,

do you have enough players to fill out every position and enough depth to fill out every position? Because that's what Seattle has had. That's what the Eagles have had. That's what the 49ers have had. You can't just be hoping and praying. And we've gone through this many times of, well, this guy's got to do this and this guy's got to do that.

And this guy's got to have a career year. And then maybe they can be good. I don't feel like that's the case on offense. I do feel like there's some of it. defense. So there might be more signings coming on the way. And I think this shows us that there's at least interest in doing that and being players now. Nighttime, you're mentioning Kenny Moore. I would like that. Definitely would like that. Oh, yeah, you're right. You're right. I, you know, I actually thought about texting Mani Hill today and saying, you know, ask it if he wanted to pop in

because he is a huge Joanne Jennings guy as a massive Vals fan. So we'll get, we'll get Mani. The schedule's going to come out soon. And that's when Mani is at his best. best because manny picks the schedule so when the schedule comes out i think next week i'm guessing then manny will be on for sure uh Dallas turner wears 15 i wonder what jennings will wear i i don't know um never really loved wide receivers wearing single digit numbers maybe that's an old man take kind of like him wearing 82 and 81 and 84 so maybe not 84 for this team uh although they haven't retired it. Jeff Jennings is top five in contested catches over the last two years of 58.2 contested catch rate. Right. And that's, I think that's why the NFL doesn't love him is that he's not a

huge separator. He's not like a Stefan Diggs. He's going to juke everybody out. He's not like a Jalen Naylor. He's going to run by you. He's going to, you know, over his head, make some circus catch. It's really that he outmuscles people. And I think that his one of his big cheat codes is that he can do a lot of different stuff. Like he could play different roles. So that that strength, the toughness element, physicality, they just, they haven't had that in that wide receiver room. And now he is bringing it. Josh feels like KOC made a deal with B-Flow.

You get the draft picks and I get the big free agent. I mean, I think that Kevin O'Connell has wanted the interior defensive line to be better. So I don't think that it was just Brian Fulowell. floor is stealing the phone, that, you know, that's something that seems to have been bothersome to Kevin O'Connell for the last couple years. There's been very little investment in the D-line, but you're right. I mean, the offense had a lot less sort of long-term stuff to think about than maybe the defense where they just needed a lot more players because it's gotten old and they've

lost defensive tackles. So, but yeah, I mean, it does kind of feel like that. Super Bowl, let's go, of course. Yeah, finally, okay, there's, Craig, you, you win, you win today for the best comment, for the funniest comment, which is finally a wide receiver who can handle the tush push. Well done, well done. He's not five foot seven and 160 pounds like Brandon Powell. That's a, that's a great callback right there.

Vegas problem is that, or pro, oh, pro gambler, Vegas pro gambler. says imagine if we didn't have Quasi the last five years. Well, I mean, see, that's funny because the roster is good built mostly while Quasi was here. I don't think that we can equate some of the mistakes that were made or some of the issues internally with everything that you did was wrong. The asset management was good for a little bit and then the asset management got bad once they got a hint of winning.

And them not signing the quarterback is really what made in. But I think that the way that Rob has handled this for the circumstances has been very impressive. So I think it would be rewriting history to look at this roster and say, oh, that guy had nothing to do with it. I mean, look at the free agent signings that they made with Andrew Van Ginkle and Cashman and getting Stefan Gilmore in here and stuff like that. Like, they built a really good team. Aaron Jones, well, Quasi was here. but it was time to move on. And I think maybe one of the reasons was they needed someone who could be as shrewd as possible.

And Rob has been and shrewd is as much of a compliment as you can get under the circumstances because they were in cap hell. They were in a very difficult cap spot. And they found their way out of it and got better as a football team. I mean, a quarterback by leaps and bounds. They lucked into that. But the, but this, this kind of signing is not necessarily luck. this is playing your cards correctly. Matt, does Peppers and Byard do anything?

Is Byard still out there? I thought he signed. Peppers, though, Peppers is, or Cam Jordan, Vaughn Miller does not. Cam Jordan kind of does, because I think he could still play. He just doesn't fit the defense at all, but the heck with it. Figure it out. When it comes to Gibral Peppers,

I've always thought that he would make sense in a Flores defense because he is a multiple type of player. I don't know what the story with him. is it seemed like he just sort of fell out of favor in New England. I really don't fully understand what happened. I was asking New England writers last year. They're kind of like, I don't know, just started to not really fit what they were doing. But I've always thought skill set wise that he would make a lot of sense. There has been some hint of character stuff with him. But in terms of his skill set, yeah, Gibral peppers would make sense. I was looking at Donovan Wilson as kind of like

your old pro. It's been around for a long time. He's been a good blitzer. He gets, a handful of interceptions, um, if they're going to go in that direction. Bengals have a good wide receiver group. Who is there, uh, is it Yosevosh, who's their wide receiver three? But their top two are as good as anyone. They probably have the best top two. Uh, diet 3D put it on a t-shirt. That's funny.

Um, Addison, as far as I know, will not be suspended for what happened. There's been no indication that there will be. I mean, unless you're projecting a future suspension, which I suppose is possible. uh, Jarrett says if AJ Brown stays in Philly, but I'd rather have the Vikings three. Uh, Brian says the Vikings have the best three on paper.

Murray better sling it. Yep. Yep. Yep. I mean, look, he threw for 3800 yards two years ago. So it's not like he can't throw the ball. Um,

but they might have him stand in there a little bit more often and try to get him to not do, you know, too many crazy things. Um, Rob, uh, Kyler's career top five in passing accuracy. Uh,

his on target, percentage. I remember looking at this since he's come into the league is one of the best in the NFL. And he does get the ball out quickly a lot. And they ran a lot of quick game with him with both coaching staffs. Jennings just helps that because he's a guy that you are going to have as a possession wide receiver. You're not just going to be like heaving it down the field. Phenom says the Vikings have more than a few guys that will be highly motivated this year. I mean, that's got to be part of the benefit. up north, 13 mil for a third wide receiver, is that a lot?

It actually is not. And it's 8 mil with the potential to get to 13. So it's really 8 is the minimum, but with whatever incentives, he could get to 13. But it's really not. I mean, if you look at the wide receiver signings over the last two years, there's guys who have played a wide receiver 3 role, wide receiver 2 role, that have, I mean, wide receiver 2 has gotten up to like 20, million is T. Higgins, but even into the low 20s.

For a lot of the guys, this is very standard for a wide receiver three or even a little bit below. I use the Josh Palmer example. That was 10 million bucks. I mean, he's not as good as Joanne Jennings. And the other example was 2-2 Atwell, also not as good as Joanne Jennings. And those guys got more. Diami Brown, I believe, did too. So the running rate has been around 10. Planet Yevin, Addison has been well-behaved this offseason, except for the one. one thing. But yeah, overall, since then. Well, guitar, I see you, why didn't San Francisco want them is something that we've been talking about. And it feels like San Francisco, sometimes it goes this way where a player thinks they're worth X for their team. And when they

don't get it, they would rather sign somewhere else than come back at a lighter price. San Francisco also was clearly going to go toward the draft. They've got Ricky Pearsall and they wanted stripling so much that they over drafted him by like a round and a half. So it seems like they just had a different plan at wide receiver than Jennings, but also maybe they feel like they can pump up anybody too. I think San Francisco probably is a little bit cocky about that, that they think, hey, we can bring in these guys second rounder, you know, stribling or whatever. And we're going to get the most out of just about anybody. and they were looking for, stribling is really fast.

So they may have been looking to get faster, but I don't know. I mean, there were issues there with a contract and Jennings last year, where he wanted a new deal or he wanted to be traded. So clearly something wasn't right on the same page.

But this is why, you know, I don't claim that Joanne Jennings is the best wide receiver in the world. They're signing him for wide receiver three, not wide receiver one. If they were signing him for wide receiver one, I'd be like, all right, pump the brakes here. But this is why you have it on a one-year deal because there may be some reasons why the

rest of the league didn't want to sign him, just like they didn't want to sign Dalton Reisner because he wasn't that great of a run blocker. So it's like, well, he's got some weaknesses, but that doesn't mean he doesn't do things well that can help you in the right role. So iconic, Joana is going to be a good, big body to pair with Jefferson and Addison. Right. He brings them just a little bit more grit. And that's something that this offense doesn't have a lot of other than Josh Oliver and C.J. Ham.

Now they bring in Bredison. Jordan Mason gave him a little bit of that last year, a little more sandpaper. But Jennings gives that to them. Like he's a San Francisco style wide receiver. He's bigger. He's going to play physical. He's apparently going to really tick off opponents. So, you know, if he, but that's the thing.

Like somebody said he's, immature. If he does turn out to be immature, or maybe you're talking about Addison, but if he does turn out to be immature, then, I mean, that's, you only got it for one year. It's not like you have to have him for three years with huge guaranteed money. Uh, guitar. How do we know Rob is not a big analytics guy? So far, it looks like he may be. Well, uh, I don't think Rob is an analytics guy as in his background isn't in analytics, but that doesn't mean he doesn't believe in it. That doesn't mean he doesn't use it. I get the sense that what Rob was doing during his time as the GM is having everybody feel involved.

And we heard that from one of the Vikings top scouts that talked to us on the day of the draft, day three and said that he had a lot of, you know, some of the most fun that he's had throughout this process, felt like everyone's voice was heard and the way that Kevin O'Connell has talked about working with Rob. But I think what Rob just understands is a deal. and he doesn't, at least from this small sample size, just jump at something and say, just sign him to whatever he wants because you really want it right now.

They played this as if they had a sense that there would be guys that came available later on in free agency that would be better deals than if they spent on day one. And they were right. It was a little bit of a risk to do, but it was, it was good. Sean, this is what I'm talking about with like, let's not re totally rewrite history on quacy dafflemenza, okay? This looks better than anything Quacey did. No, it doesn't.

No, it doesn't. Quacey was the general manager when they signed Grenard, Van Ginkle, and Cashman on the same day, dude. That was like franchise shifting. And then Jones and then Gilmore. I mean, they had a, and Sam Darnold, like, I know that you could say, well, that was this person and that was that person. But he was, he was the general manager in charge.

when they had that great off season, when they won 14 games. So let's not end a lot of the foundation of this team was in some way or another built by him, including Donovan Jackson, including Jordan Addison. We can't rewrite the whole history. He was here for a very big portion of this roster build. But under the circumstances Rob was given, he did as well as he ever could have to set them up to the future. So, you know, it's, we can't. Just because the guy got let go doesn't mean that was more, I think, about the future than it was the past.

It wasn't about an individual move or this or that. It was really about there's some rocky waters that are about to hit. Is this the person that we want in charge when it seems like there's headbutting or it seems like they're not able to get on the same page? And Rob was able to come in and do that. A Joker, look at how easy it is to get talent to want to play for the Vikings. we should easily get the GM candidate out there. Yeah, I mean, it definitely is, and that comes back to Kevin O'Connell. If you have a reputation as being the place that everyone wants to play,

where your family is taken care of, and that's a big Wilf thing when you are heard in the locker room, when there's a coach who's considerate and not just a psycho, when, and that doesn't mean soft, it means considerate. It means understanding what players are thinking. It means communicates well. It means fair. It means not, you know, I don't know.

Like Zimmer used to do things where you just call people out in, you know, tape sessions and stuff like that. Like they don't, you know, there's some coaches out there who are crazy and mean. And that's not Kevin O'Connell. So I think that the facilities, everything, the fact that you could stay in a hotel that's within walking distance of the facility. So, you know, they've kind of got you taking care of there. Like there's a lot of things that are very considerate.

about the Vikings organization. You could say, well, they're soft. I wish they played in a dirt field or whatever. And that's okay. I mean, I guess. But when you are the top team with all this stuff, you get the Joanne Jennings sometimes. Red Star says, to be fair, J.J.M.A. Jefferson looked like a wide receiver, too.

So it's hard to put stats on Naylor. Oh, I agree. I agree. And I think Jalen's going to do great. I like Naylor a lot. but when you just compare the two of the last two years, I mean, it's literally double the number of receptions. That's not, I'm not dumping on Jalen Naylor. I just think for the same price, but less years.

I mean, that's just pretty darn good. So KOC could sell ice to an Eskimo. Moral, KOC with the high NFLPA grade every year matters. It absolutely matters. I asked a bunch of guys about that last year. I asked Ryan Kelly about it. everybody said it's a huge deal. They all read it.

They all know. They all look at and go, who are the top teams that you want to play for? And this team is actually like good. Evan, what's a Fandul over under on Jennings trick plays? That's very funny. That's good. That's a good one.

The Fandual question of the day, we shifted, by the way, to the Vikings still plus 600. They haven't moved since the draft. They actually went down for plus 550 to win the division. and does this move move the needle for you? Does it get them closer to the top of the division? Seems like the answer is yes. Canova, you could tell by the bottom line of all these deals,

Prasinski is a big part of his mindset. I would, I mean, the trade of Grenard is a very hard trade to make. That is not something it's easy to do. It's a captain. It's a productive player. It's a great person. It's somebody every team would love to have. on their team and in their locker room.

But to be able to say, look, the way I'm adding it up, it's better if we move on. And now you could sign Jennings, but also maybe somebody else. Or maybe to somebody else's. And then you go, all right. So now part of Granard being traded is Joanne Jennings. Part of it's Jacobi Thomas. Part of it's whoever they draft next year.

Part of it is who they spend $22 million in free agency on next year. Like, that's a lot. That's a lot of stuff. Deplorable Neanderthal, Vikings got the first and second best deal. in free agency this year. I don't know off the, I can't remember off the top of my head every single deal in free agency, but Kyler Murray is by far the best deal, a starting quarterback who could be top 15 for a million bucks. That's a good deal. But that one fell into their lap. Um, you know, it didn't, it didn't. I mean, he wanted to come here because of O'Connell and because of Jefferson and what

they have. Um, but this deal is much more of the Vikings just playing it really well. J. Mulls, maybe Sydney, Sydney Rice. Sydney Rice is fast as hell. So I don't think it's quite Sydney Rice. It's, it's more Marcus Robinson than it is. Sydney Rice, if you want to go to that era, maybe it's like, is it a little Nate Burleson, Nate, Nate was faster. This is not a fast guy.

It's like it's late stage, but not washed Adam Thielen. Like late stages in 2022. too. It's, it's, it's closer to KJ. Osborne's speed level, um, but he wasn't really, although yeah, I'd say it's, I'd say it's better than KJ. Osborne probably is at all around wide receiver, but it's got some similar vibes. It's like a guy who's physical, strong, smart enough to handle multiple positions, but isn't necessarily this crazy route runner separator, like something like that. Um, guitar should the Vikings go after Kenny Moore? The Colts just released him. I like, I really like the idea of Kenny Moore. It's kind of similar to this,

like probably one year, probably a good deal. Um, won't shouldn't be that expensive. Any fits as a slot defender, which they may need if Harrison Smith is not here because Josh Mattelis has kind of been the big slot. But Mattelis, if he's got to play a regular safety position, then you might need someone to start at a slot corner, which they haven't really done. Um, Phenom, I would not say he's Jake Reed. Jake Reed was just really good. That's like a four-time thousand-yard receiver. It's not on that level, I don't think. Uh, Anquan Bolden's like later Anquan Bolden, Charles Johnson. Charles Johnson's a great poll. Laquan, if he was good. I like that. I like Lequan if he was good. Uh, Steven signed Ja'davin Clownie and, uh, Nolan Teasley is the GM. Um, I mean, I, I like all these GM candidates have a good case.

each one of them has they're very similar they all come from good organizations good backgrounds i'm not sure who how they're going to like parse that out but um you know teasley comes from the super bowl champ they built really well they drafted extremely well they made really good free agent signings the demarcus lawrence signing is the most underappreciated free agent signing in a long time so they did a great job with the seattle build and the vikings could certainly emulate a lot of that in the future, so I'm not against that. Kind of like Roddy White, Brian says. There's always next year, truly impressed by how Rob is maneuvered with the cap

flexibility for the future. The O line has gotten better, receiving room better, quarterback room and multiple young defensive players. Can't disagree with that. Joker, 49ers read it. He's their best QB already. That's funny. That's funny.

Armin, best wide receiver trio since Moss Carter Reed. I mean, I do think that, I do think that. I do think that Addison Jefferson and Osborne is pretty, pretty good. But they didn't, they didn't all like match up at once. You know, Jefferson got hurt 2023. So did Osborne. So they didn't really match up. And Osborne has not been as successful as Jennings.

It probably is. I mean, it honestly probably is the best trio that they've had overall. Um, does Stephen does Jennings make up for the Thielen trade? Uh, no, not exactly. You don't get the draft capital back from Carolina, but it's a good, it's a good signing. Oh, Joe came up with Marcus Robinson too. Joseph does the Jennings signing say anything about the new GM? Maybe not because it's one year.

I don't think that it does, no. I don't think that a one-year deal worth up to 13 million has, I mean, every GM that they're going to hire is probably pretty comfortable with a one-year contract. What they wouldn't have wanted, if they signed somebody to like a three-year, $45 million deal, you'd be like, is Rob the GM already? Also, the people that they're bringing in, it doesn't look like Rob is the GM already. It looks like they're very serious. I mean, these are highly thought of candidates from really great franchises.

One guy's been a GM before. So it's not like, it doesn't look like a bunch of, you know, people who are just being brought in for the heck of it. Tyler says he's kind of like D.K. Metcalf. I think that he's not quite like D.K. Metcalf because Metcalf is insanely fast for his size. I don't think Jennings is like that. I don't think that breakaway speed is really his thing. Joker says 49ers fans are sad and wishing him luck. That's what I was wondering about. I was curious, like if they are saying good riddance or if they're going to miss him.

Evan, I teams paid insane money for Romeo Dobbs and some wide receivers in the same range as Jennings. so he must have been asking. No, I think he was asking for wide receiver two money, which is 17 to 24 or our 20, well, 28 is the high end wide receiver 2. But T. Higgins is an exception. It's really like 17 to 23, 23, 24 million a year, which is just not what Joanne Jennings was ever going to get. Evan says for a fan to a question of the day,

no way Jennings doesn't bring us back to plus 550. I think you should get them closer. I think the overall offseason, plus the fact that they could still make some moves, should be a little bit closer. I think that all the teams in the NFC North should be somewhere squeezed together very tightly. But it's hard not to look at this and say, man, if Kyler Murray could play at all,

if Kyler Murray could play at all, they've got the horses to win the division or be right there. Is he going with purple hair this year? Yeah, he is a color of the hair guy. Lone Wolf says Jennings is a wide receiver 1B playing wide receiver 3. not only does he help us this season, gives us options at the end of the season. I look at him as like a very, very high-end wide receiver three,

but could play wide receiver two on probably 20 teams. That's why it's surprising that he was out there this long. But I mean, we're going to have to, we're going to get an answer from Kevin O'Connell tomorrow. When we ask, I'm sure that we'll have a discussion with somebody, whoever the GM is. I don't know. It's weird. Usually you'd be able to ask the GM, hey, this side. you made, is it weird that he was available or why was he available? But I don't think we're

going to be able to ask anybody except for Kevin O'Connell that. So maybe we'll get an answer there. I really just think that at the beginning of free agency, Jennings went out and said, I am going to get myself a $20 million year contract. And the NFL went, nope, you're actually not. Because we see you as a product of San Francisco and not somebody who can drive our offense. so the Vikings waited and waited and then eventually he just picked the best franchise that could help him get to a point where he proves that he's more than just a product of San Francisco in a similar type role and then get a bigger paycheck next year. I think that's probably what he's looking at.

Armand Goldaill be Edge 3. I'd prefer not. I mean, I'd prefer that they not ask a rookie to be an edge rusher. Because I think that he's a linebacker kind of hybrid outside linebacker. and I'd like to see him play early on in some sort of role, but you'd prefer to have a veteran there in case someone got hurt. Because I don't think you want, hey, Andrew Van Ginkle got hurt or Turner got hurt for three weeks. Jake, just go play defensive end.

Like, you've never really done that before. So I think they need a backup, a true backup edge rusher. Brian says Jennings' previous injuries aren't alarming. Fact that he played through a lot of them is promising. Um, yeah, I mean, some, some of you guys, um, Sean says, uh, now with the triple headed monster plus healthy T.J. No suspended Addison. Hey, it's early. A running game, Aaron Jones receiver of the backfield. Can you still double team Jefferson? They're going to have to try. That's the thing. I mean, this is, it's a Viking strategy always in forever, right? Load up on weapons and bring in a random quarterback and profit. This offense,

if Kyler can just do his job, top, I mean, it's got to be in the 10 range. If everyone is healthy, if the line is healthy, if Kyler plays well. But they've just given him, how much more could you ask for if you're Kyler Murray than what he's got here? I mean, maybe a six foot seven center isn't the most ideal thing. But even Brandl, I mean, played well enough to convince them to stick with Brandl. And they didn't go out and get some terrible center. Like, they're going to stick with that. he's going to go through the entire offseason as the starting center.

So anyway, Aaron, yep, kept the powder dry for signings like this. Craig says, thank goodness, it's a one-year deal. Now we get to listen to your opinion if they need to draft a wide receiver in the first round next year. You nailed it, Craig. That's right. And guess what? I'm going to give you a little preview. Yes.

Yes, they need to draft another receiver. They always do. And probably should have. have this year, but, you know, neither here nor there. They end up getting a really good deal. We could take a look at his, uh, his PFF grades if you want. Let me see. I will need a second. I don't know what. I mean, when it comes to, um, sorry, I can't do two things at once. When it comes to his blocking grades, I just don't know how good. Oh, actually, no, um, no, Last year it wasn't good.

Okay, hold on. I'll get you the full screen on this. Sorry. Here you go. So last year it was not good, but in previous seasons, it's mostly been very good in terms of run blocking. So I'm going to lean toward he's overall a good run blocker. I mean, he goes at 6 foot 3, 212 pounds. He's a big dude.

So a couple of mistakes can cause you to get hit pretty hard when you're not doing it that often. But in terms of his PFF grades, receiving wise. He's always been solid. He's always been in the green. And in 2024, he was great. 975 yards, 77 catches, 83 PFF grade. Last year was 68, but he catches nine touchdowns. This is an interesting number, slot percentage. He was a slot guy when he came into the league. And then the last two years, he's played a more complete role for the 49ers. So, I mean, it's hard to find too much to dislike there. So anyway, the Giants do look to be improved. I think we're talking about like teams in the NFC,

how everyone's going to kind of be similar. Moral Murray has never had an offense this good before in his career. Yeah, I don't think there's any comparison to Deshawn Watson, but yeah. Gunnard, Rob, just casually making amazing moves, right? As the GM candidate list comes out, yeah. Wait till the day that all the GMs come out and then do your best stuff. Jared 88 is your favorite wide receiver number. I think, I think 81 for me, the Anthony Carter is probably, probably my favorite.

So anyway, well, my dog is desperate to go outside. I think we've covered Joanne Jennings signing from a lot of different angles, but very interesting development in the middle of the show. How about that? tomorrow the Vikings are having rookie minicamp available to the media so I'll be there and I'll bring back whatever we can gather about the Joanne Jennings signing and also whatever we see normally it's a little bit hard to figure out on day one of rookie minicamp who the next superstars are for the Minnesota Vikings but every once in a

while somebody stands out and we'll probably hear from a lot of the guys after practice as well so that will be interesting. I'll gather all that, bring it back here, tell it to you, and we'll have another really good conversation. So thanks everybody for joining. This was a lot of fun to get this breaking news in here. And we will do it again tomorrow night. I'll be live at call it 630 or 7, somewhere in that range.

But if you haven't liked, subscribed to the channel, the numbers keep going up. We're headed towards 16,000 subscribers. That's awesome. So thank you all for that. And we'll talk to you tomorrow night. Football.