Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - BREAKING: Vikings trade Mekhi Blackmon (Part 3)

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

Matthew Coller reacts to the Mekhi Blackmon and what it signals for the Vikings roster build. He also breaks down the latest in Vikings receiver search 2025 and looks at a few notable players who they released early. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.

One of my good friends there, Matt Verde-Ram. And just at the end of that interview, we did get an Adam Schaefter update on the Adam Thielen situation, but it wasn't rising to the level of breaking into the interview because here is the update from Schefter. Vikings and Panthers have tried to work out a trade for Carolina wide receiver, Adam Thielen, as we've been talking about reporting here all week. that they have been trying to get that done. And he adds that Thielen would like to return to Minnesota,

but the two sides continue to struggle to agree on compensation. So here's my question for you guys. What would you give up for Adam Thielen? What is too much? It sounds like the Carolina Panthers understand that the Minnesota Vikings really want Adam Thielen back in their building. And the Panthers don't have to get. them up. So they are holding them hostage a little bit. I mean, even with, you know,

Thielen apparently wants to return to Minnesota. What would you give up for Adam Thielen? Here's my proposal. They move down from the third to the fourth round, switch with Carolina, a third and fourth round pick, and they throw in two sixth round picks that they've gotten in these trades. I think that that is completely fair. That allows Carolina to, get into the third round for next year. It doesn't force the Vikings to move down too much. And it gets them a couple of late round draft picks to even things out. But if you're Carolina, and I mentioned this yesterday,

but they made a recent trade with a wide receiver that may have made them think that, you know, they can really turn up the heat when it comes to these wide receiver trades. And that was when they traded a fourth round pick for Jonathan Mingo. Keep in mind, Jonathan Mingo, terrible and was a complete bust for Carolina. And they still got a fourth round draft pick for them. So maybe they are over there thinking, wait a minute, we should be getting great compensation for a wide receiver that the Minnesota Vikings really want. And it kind of reminds you

a little bit of having a bottle of water at a sporting event or a PGA tour event. What's the at the Masters? Doesn't the water cost like $23 or something? Like, well, you're out here at the masters walking around in a 75, 80 degree heat all day, you need some water. You can't get it anywhere else. Pay $23 for it. You know, water in the desert, that kind of thing. And I think what Carolina is saying to the Minnesota Vikings is we don't have to give you Adam Thielen.

And it sounds like you really want yourself some Adam Thielen. And it sounds like you almost might need yourself some Adam Thielen. Now, maybe the Vikings can call back and say, oh, we'll trade for Jacoby Myers. who demanded a trade from the Raiders today. But that doesn't seem very realistic to me. And I think the Vikings also took a little bit of a blow today when Amari Cooper signed with the Raiders. Because at very least, they could have said,

hey, look, Carolina, we got options, okay? We don't have to drink water. We'll drink, we brought our own high sea. We'll go find a free agent. We'll bring him in. But with Amari Cooper signing with the Raiders, and Jacobi Myers feeling very unrealistic. I mean, people have brought up KJ Osborne.

They've brought up Brandon Powell. These guys are not as good as Adam Thielen. They don't have the recent history as Adam Thielen does with 151 catches over the last two years and was ranked well by PFF last season and can still play. It's clear he could still play from his last two years. He's not the Adam Thielen that was here in 2017, that was a superstar, but he could still play. He can be a wide receiver, two, three next to Justin Jefferson. He could definitely do that.

And even when, you know, because every time we bring up Thielen, people will mention, well, you know, he fell off with the Vikings. Do you remember, like the version that fell off of Adam Thielen? Think about if you get this player, even if you got the version that you, that fell off of Thielen from 2020. He had 70 catches, 68% completion percentage on throws toward him. And how many drops did he have? I believe he had one drop in 2022. And that was the Adam Thielen that fell off. Kirk had a 95 quarterback rating when throwing his way.

The last two years, Bryce Young, has Bryce Young been good? Not really, but when throwing to Adam Thielen, he has 103.0 quarterback rating in 2003 and 108.7 in 2024. The numbers have been good for Thielen over the last two years. I know he was banged up. But if you are Carolina, you are looking at those numbers and you are saying that's a good wide receiver in the NFL for us. It's a guy who's had good chemistry with our quarterback. We just don't have to give him to you. And if you're the Vikings, you have to have a ceiling for how high you'll go. Now, part of this, they've already kind of teased everyone

with this idea of bringing him back. So there's also a lot of pressure now on the Vikings to keep pushing, right? It's like if you tell someone you're going to bring home pizza and then you get to the pizza shop and you find out that they want 50 bucks for the pizza, it's like, oh, I already told everybody that we're bringing home pizza. So I kind of have to pay what to get that to be able to bring home, right? I think there's a little bit of that. Like there is a lot of pressure for the Vikings to bring home Adam Thielen now after

this has been out there and it's had so much discussion and there's excitement about it and it sounds like even Adam Thielen and his family are excited about it. This is where he's from. If you guys haven't heard that before, Detroit Lakes, Mancato, of course, he would want to come back to a team that is competing and that has a real shot. You just heard Matt Verde-Ram talk about how he thinks the Vikings should win this division. Like they are a good football team. And I think he would love to come back here and win.

with this team if he got a chance. And he has also talked very highly of J.J. McCarthy. He's worked out with J.J. McCarthy. Like, there's a lot of really good connection there. But all of that stuff puts pressure on the Vikings general manager to go and make this happen, even if it's an overpay. But at some point, at some point, so I think about this, do you guys ever watch the show where they own the pawn shop in Las Vegas, pawn stars?

and sometimes somebody will walk in and they'll have they'll have a guitar or something just for example and they'll set it down and they'll say jimmy hendricks once played this guitar i think it's worth ten thousand dollars so then the guy will be like um i'll give you like 900 for it and the guy will say what about like what about like 2000 maybe i'll give you like 1200 for it and then the guy walks out with the guitar. Storms out. I'm not taking that for this guitar and just has no money. It gets nothing. Sometimes even overpaying or taking a loss technically is still better than nothing. So the guy doesn't get his $1,200 bucks. He's just got nothing. And it's like with the Vikings, if you don't overpay, you've got nothing. You've got no receiver. So where's the

overpay line? If I'm the Vikings, I can't give up a thing. third round pick. That's just too much. That's a, that's a pick that I know bring your jokes, but like that's a pick that you expect to be a starter if you draft somebody in the third round. That has not worked out. I know you don't have to remind me, but that's a pick that you expect to be someone you can develop over years and can be a part of your team. You don't want to have to give up a third rounder. That's why I suggested the pick swap. But if you're Carolina, sixth rounders might be a little too far and not worth enough. You might want something more.

Okay, Sam, Howell got you a fifth. Would you go the fifth and the sixth? I mean, you could possibly do that. We went through the draft picks, though. Let me pull them back up because Alec Lewis tweeted out the draft picks that the Vikings have for next year. You can't trade the comp picks until you have them. But they are expected to have another third, which allows it to make more sense to slide back.

They have a fifth and they have a fifth from the Eagles. Is two fifths too much? two-fiths might be too well if it was moving down from the third to the fourth and two-fifths you still have the two-sixths and then you have the compics that are on the way which are going to be sam darnal daniel jones cam robinson and you've got the trade from the ingram deal i think that's probably as far as i would go i'd have to draw the line because you know you also want to be able to make another trade if you have to in the middle of the season you can't use all of your day three draft capital because you might have to make a move when it comes to,

let's say it's week seven or eight, somebody gets hurt like last year. So receiver watch. Receiver watch continues with still no answer, but that's about as high as I would want to go for Adam Thielen. And then, you know, you've got to take some of the salary cap back. But if you don't do it, what's the other answer? I mean, is it a case? J. Osborne. Okay, well, Washington's got to cut him first. So they might be waiting on that for tomorrow. And that might be a major part of this, where it could be, because this sounds like another Adam Schaefter tweet that's like from Carolina. I'm just saying it kind of comes across that way of Carolina saying, Thielen wants to come home, but you just won't go there.

So come on down with one more fifth round pick. But if you're the Vikings, you may be waiting for tomorrow to see who gets released and who else might be available on the free agent market before you end up pulling the trigger here. Guys, if you watch the show all the time, you know that I'm a hat guy. But if you're wearing hats to cover up for your hair loss, then I've got something that can help you. It's called Hymns. If you've lost your hair, that doesn't mean you can't find it again.

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Hym.com slash Purple Insider. Results vary based on studies of topical and oral monoxidil and finestriide. Prescription products require an online consultation with a healthcare provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate. Restrictions apply. See the website for full details and important safety information. Or who might end up like Jacobi Myers asking for a trade where did that come from just out of left field right oh uh okay suddenly a wide receiver wants a trade that could happen to where there might be someone else that a team decides at the last minute well we're going to have our final meetings tonight and then decide on the cuts tomorrow and hey this wide receiver got beat out in this battle so we're going to keep

him we're going to move on from somebody else and the Vikings you know might have other options As of right now, it doesn't seem like they have other options. And that's why Carolina is trying to squeeze them, which they should. But they also need a corner now with the Mackay Blackman trade. Timothy wants to go two fifths and one a sixth and a seventh and a seven. That's just not going to happen. Like that's a, yeah, that's a great trade for the Vikings. It's just not going to happen.

They're going to want more than that. They are going to want a decent. he still has the guitar. I get it. Yeah, but he can't use the, you can't, well, we're assuming that he's not, you understand the metaphor, right? The point is that you walk out with no more money. Like, yeah, I mean, maybe you love the guitar, but in that case, like, you needed the money. Let's just toss that in there that you needed the money because they need the feeling. That's in the metaphor. The Vikings can say, hey, it's not worth it. I'm walking out of here, but you need, you need the guitar. You need Adam Thiel. So let's, you know, work

your way through that one. go get Powell for three weeks. I mean, Brandon Powell wasn't very good last year. So we'll at least have something in Osborne. I mean, maybe guess they're not getting pizza, right? But this is part of it.

This is definitely part of it, is that now this has been teased so much to the point where the expectation is that it's going to happen that there is more pressure, I think, on Quasi at Aflmenza to get this done. Strat or a Les Paul. Well, I said if Jimmy Hendricks played, it was probably a Strat then. Shiloh Sanders. Yeah, I'm good there.

I'm definitely good there. But the thing about KJ. Osborne that you have to remember is that he is not played well anywhere since he left the Vikings. I mean, the Patriots and Washington has been a disaster for him. He caught seven passes. I mean, there's a huge gap there between those two. And Eric, I would also take Jacobi Myers, over Adam Thielen, but the gap in the price is going to be enormous.

I mean, if I'm the Raiders, I want like a second round draft pick for Jacoby Myers. I'm not giving, if I'm the Raiders, I'm not giving up, well, think about this. If Jacobi Myers plays out his contract and leaves in free agency, it would be probably a third or a fourth round compensation at least. So if you're the Raiders, you're trying to beat that. Then you likely have to work out an extension with the guy. It's just not all that feasible. It would be great.

and I would be all for it if they could pull it off. But are you trading a second round pick for Jacobi Myers or, I mean, a third I would consider if you were going to sign him to an extension. But then what are you doing money-wise when you're going to want to pay Jordan Addison in the future here? Are you then letting go Addison, but then Myers is older? It's very tricky. It's very tricky, my friends. It's why we got receiver watch. Oh, my choice, my choice.

I play strats more than I do less pauls. Les Pauls are very heavy. And usually if I'm playing a strat, I like to have a thinner neck. I don't have huge hands. I would not make a great quarterback. I'm like Kenny Pickett. So less pauls are a little bit thick for me to get the fingers around. So but I mean, I have.

I have a ESP LTD less Paul style, but I'm more of a strap person. Andrew says they don't need Thiel and just line up Hawkinson and Aaron Jones at wide receiver more. I mean, that's the Hawkinson part is fine. You can't just line up Aaron Jones at wide receiver. It doesn't work like that. Like he is a running back.

There's a handful of plays where he can go in at wide receiver. He can't just play wide receiver. Not especially not wide receiver two if Jalen Naylor is out for any sort of serious amount of time. That would make it really impossible. And, you know, that's part of this as far as how much the Vikings can put down. The fact that they've been making all these calls and that they're having this discussion makes me think, as this continues to play itself out, makes me think that Jalen Naylor has a

realistic possibility of not playing early in the season because of his injury. And we got no real update from Kevin O'Connell, so I'm just going to have to take a guess at it. Just didn't sound like, oh, yeah, everything's going to be fine. with Jalen Naylor. That sounded very murky. It sounded very much like some of the Marcus Davenport updates that we got a couple of years ago. Timothy says the only way we get Thielen is if he asks for a trade. Well, it's clear from that tweet that he wants to come back to Minnesota. So, I mean, whether he asks or not, it doesn't really matter. I've had Ibanezes in the past that that fretboard's a little flat for me. I have a great Yamaha Pacifica that I

love got a fender strad i like i have a kramer that's very shreddy i got a bunch so you know uh anyway so we'll see i mean you know uh mr mayor says setting your price at a sixth is uh very much i don't believe we have a shot at winning this year when you think you can win it means you be willing to pay more i do ever i actually do a bloody soup i have a rev star yep i have a pacifica and a rev star from Yamaha love those love those great guitars really really well made great pickups great necks they're they're some of my favorites uh but to your point mr mayor that that it all matters right and look look not to you know pick the old scab but rick spielman traded a fourth for chris herndon at one point i do i mean out of that was out of desperation it was a bad move it was chris herndon

but sometimes, like, we can overthink this for how much those late round picks are worth. Like, just for example, if the Vikings, I'll just read this to you, if the Vikings swapped a third for a fourth and then traded a fifth and a sixth for Adam Thielen, that would seem like a pretty decent price. They would still have a first, second, third is a comp pick, two fourths, a fifth, a comp pick from Cam Robinson, fifth, and two, seven. sevenths. That's a lot of draft capital to still work with, even if they, like, that's why these moves for Harrison Phillips, Sam Howell, uh, and today, Mackay Blackburn, like, that's why they're so useful. Uh, I did see that the bucks waived Desmond Watson was he, he was the 450 pound guy never works. Um, it's happened many times in history where a team has brought in a guy over 400 pounds. It doesn't work. Just can't, just can't really play in the league. Um,

EMG pickups. I have had EMJ, EMG pickups a couple of times in different guitars. I don't have them in any currently. Actually, the Kramer I have is like $200. It's just like a Kramer generic pickup and I, and I love it. But the Pacificas, one is a humbucker with two single, or with a P90 and the Rev Star has two P90s, which is pretty awesome, actually. So a lot of, a lot of you guitar nuts out there, huh? but the super heavy metal stuff is not quite what I do. It's a lot of lead. What did we get for Blackman, Timothy?

That was a sixth round pick for Blackman. You're high if you give up a third for Thielen. I said swap. Swapping a third for a fourth. It was my idea. Swapping. Third rounder for fourth rounder, and then the fifth and the sixth.

Palmer was in some articles. Yeah. And he, right. Palmer is quick. from Tampa Bay is quick. Oh, yeah. Yeah, the Rev Star, yeah, bloody soup. The Rev Star I have has 2p90s. It's awesome. It's absolutely fantastic. Great guitar. So I think that the, the right, oh, that's cool. You're building guitars. Oh, well, that's beyond me. I can't even change pickups. I have to, I have to take it to somebody if I want different pickups. My first

guitar that I ever played, I put new pickups in it. But I, I had to, take it to somebody to do it. I don't mess around with that stuff. That's a little, that's a little much for me. Uh, ever played jazz masters or jaguars. I have. Yeah, I don't own one, uh, but I have. I think the, I, there's a lot. There's like too many knobs for me on those. And they're kind of like holding a washboard or something. It's a little bit much for me. I know that's like a Nirvana thing. I like how they sound, but it's not really. I don't really love that how that sits on when I'm playing it, but I mean, they're cool guitars. It's just maybe not for me. What do I think of Black Sabbath? I love Black Sabbath. How could you play guitar and not love

Black Sabbath? Love Ozzy, very, very sad about Ozzie passing away. But, you know, I listened to a ton of his music recently because of it. Let's see. Swapping a third into the fourth for a 35-year-old wide receiver, why not? See, that's what I'm saying about, that's what I'm saying. about you're just you're just being too cheap at this point like a third for a fourth of carolinas when you already have a third in compensation coming for sam darnell what i mean can we go over the third and fourth round draft picks of the minnesota vikings of the last 10 years how about actually no how about we go over all the third and fourth round draft picks over the last five years the hit rate on those are like 15% to even find a starter you're talking about just moving down

like 20, 25 spots. I, how, what's the difference in percentage chance of a guy hitting if you're drafting at the, at the back end of the third versus the middle of the fourth? I mean, to me, 30, you say everybody brings up his age and not like how he's actually played. That's weird to me, too. How obsessed everybody is with his age. There are receivers who are in their 30s who play in the national football league on

teams that went, like, I don't know what to say. This, this happens all the time throughout history is veteran receivers latch on with good teams and they help them win and there you go. Like, do I have to use the Anquan Bolden example again or the Larry Fitzgerald example again? But Thielen is right in that same ballpark. Those guys can still help people win football games at the price of reducing your chances of a hit from the third to the fourth round by what? 3%? I think that's completely worth it. It's, to me, it's about production. It's about what is the guy done and what can he still bring you? Can Adam Thielen give you 110 catches? No, they don't need 110 catches. But the difference between Lucky Jackson and Adam Thielen,

no matter how old he is, is freaking enormous. I just read you those numbers. He's made Bryce Young, every time Bryce Young over the last two years throws to Adam Thielen, he's a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback. Anytime he throws to anybody else, he's not and not anywhere close. That's the effect that Thelan has had on his quarterbacks for his entire career.

I read you the drop numbers. I mean, he's just been so good in his career. 4% of passes dropped in his career. Last two years, he has had contested catches, 13 out of 22. That's over 50% contested catches. He's still getting those. He's not going to get huge yards after catch.

He's not going to get a bunch of 50-yard touchdown receptions. We know that. But you got to tell me who's better. If you're not giving up a pick swap in a couple fifths or sixth, you got to tell me who's better because Amari Cooper is off the table. KJ Osborne had seven catches last year. Brandon Powell's not even in the league. These are your better options. That's pretty tough. So, D. Smith says you have to think Quasi has something in the works before getting thinner at cornerback. Samuel would maybe be a third or fourth on the chart. Yeah, if Samuel can play,

I mean, the injury thing must be serious. But yeah, you're right about that. You are absolutely right about that, that there's got to be a second part to that move with another corner in mind. And we'll see who that is probably tomorrow. Well, Timothy, you're exactly right. They know that the Vikings are desperate. yeah a fifth and a six no pick swap i mean okay so and look i you know i don't know what the offers are fifth and a six like i think that that's fair but if you're talking about moving down 20 spots and that's the thing that's going to hold you back from getting someone you need that's not for me

that goes back to my my pawn stars example when people walk out of the building and with zero when they could have gotten something so at red zone he would be important yep i would agree and the fact that the quarterback already has chemistry with him, find somebody else who has that. Like, there's additional value here, I think. Son of Beavers, I think it's because we've been trained to think once a player hits 30, they have to retire or wash. No, it's totally right. That's completely right.

Is that this is a night to really understand kind of the way a lot of people think about team building, which is if you're young, you're the best and we love you. And if you were a draft pick who worked out in any capacity, you're the goat. and if you're past 30, even if you have a great resume and have performed decently, you suck and you should leave and I don't ever want to see you. And, yeah, it's just that's, that is so much of, you're right.

Like what we've been told about great team building is you must be younger, younger, younger, younger, younger, and yet it's not younger teams who win. That's the interesting thing is it's often veteran teams that win. Somebody brought up the 2021 Rams. Like those were veteran players. The 17 Eagles were veteran players. players. The Eagles last year had a ton of veteran players. Evan says, do we sign KJ tomorrow, then go back to Carolina and say we want him but no longer

need him. It's worth a try. It's worth a try. Brian says Thielen, L.A. Rams Cooper Cup, consistent, short, quicker routes. Yeah, there's a role in this offense for that that he would, I think, be very good in. As far as going to them and saying we don't really need him because we've got KJ. Osborne, it's probably not compelling. probably not compelling. Yeah, I mean, look, you got it. You have to have younger players on the rise, but most of the time when teams win the Super Bowl,

they have veteran players who are in their prime. And then there's some older players as well. But it's mostly veteran players in their prime. That's how you usually win. So Anthony says, you said no to a three, but convince me three is worth it. Well, I'm moving a three for a four. So it would be the Vikings giving a three and a five and a six.

for Thielen and a four that that's how I would do maybe they want it to be a five that's that's a lot it's tough I mean it's tough to pull off a deal that you really want to pull off when the other team is sort of holding it over your head saying I know you want it I know you want it give us more I know you want it but that's what Carolina is doing and you have to remember that Carolina has to win their trade too for their fans because their fans have number 19 jerseys and their fans have had very little to write home about, but one of the things has been the connection between Bryce and Thielen. So if you're giving them away, you have to be able to go to your owner in Carolina, who's a little bit on the aggressive side. You have to be able to go to your fans in Carolina and say

we won the trade. Because otherwise, it's why did you give away Adam Thielen, right? That's what their fans are going to say. So in trying to put ourselves in their position, we don't have to do it. if I'm Carolina, we don't have to do it. I need my owner to say great job on the trade to me because it's a fairly new general manager in Dan Morgan. You have to also have the owner say, wait, did you just hurt our chances to win? No, I didn't. Here's why.

And I helped us long term. Like, there's two sides to this. We usually kind of only put ourselves in the Viking shoes, but when you put yourselves in Carolina, as you understand why they're pressing the issue. But I thought it was interesting that little comment in there from Schaefter, Thielin once. to come back to Minnesota, so Silver Tong never should have let Adam Thielen walk in the first place.

Well, it wasn't, that was a little bit complicated because his contract was really bad and I don't think that he really wanted to rework it in a way to make it really good and they needed him to. Remember, they were in a very tough spot with the cap, like very tough. So, you know, that, that makes a difference that they were in such a brutal,

spot with the cap when they had to deal with that Adam Thielen thing. And that was the only way to really do it. It was smart to let him go when they did. And then they draft a very good wide receiver in Jordan Addison, who's been great the last two years, or really good and like on the way to better, even better. So that worked out for them in the short term. But you could get them back at a reasonable price cap wise and a reasonable price potentially if they can convinced Carolina, well, then that would be good for what they need. And if a receiver gives you 40 catches over a year, a couple of touchdowns, and he helps you through a really tough time at the beginning of the year, giving up a couple

of draft picks is something you'll never regret. Like even for Cam Robinson last year, Cam Robinson and Cam Acres, they lost in the playoffs, I know, but those two guys were very important to them down the stretch. Like, do you really miss? And then look, if Adam Thielen plays well and signs someone. else in next off season you get a comp pick back like these things they do kind of come around eventually so stevens as carolina's fans don't have high expectations just being competitive is good enough i i agree with that but i also think that if you just trade one of your young

quarterback's favorite targets for nothing your fans are going to be really mad uh because they do finally have expectations uh saucy nicky says uh how are the viking stressing out before the season start. It never ends, does it? It never ends. I still think that they are in a perfectly good position where they are to have a lot of success this year, so maybe don't let them stress you out that much until they play games. But this is a, it's a rare situation. Very rarely, they went into this camp with a decent plan. I don't think it was the best plan, but it was decent. Ron Dale Moore coming off an injury, but he had his birth back. Ty Felton in the third round. Fair enough. There's a draft pick. It's the highest they could take a

wide receiver if they were going to take a guard in the first. Some folks like myself still argued for wide receiver, but then you wouldn't have Donovan Jackson. Okay, fair enough. And they knew there was a chance Addison was going to get suspended, a good chance, but they have felt good about where Naylor was at coming off last year, survive a couple games. But Naylor's injury really changes everything because even if he's coming back he's going to you know coming off of being banged up so that kind of changes everything and rondale more getting hurt changes everything because more was someone who's played in this league before he could get you through three games but now you're talking about all guys who are undrafted free agents uh anthony totally agree uh anybody

who has watched the entire show today i mean wow huge neck rolls for all of you really appreciate that Also, you've probably heard the Fanduil question of the day, like 17 times. But I'll mention it again, just if you haven't answered it. Jonathan Grinard over under for his sacks is 9.25. How many sacks will Gernard van Ginkle and Turner total this year? That is the Fandual question of the day, just to make sure I get that in each hour of the show. Dysopia and Utopia, Vikings need a corner more than anything. If Naylor was healthy, I would agree.

but I'm not sure. And no, Alex, we have not been given an update. We did ask Kevin O'Connell the other day. O'Connell reminded us that he does not have to give injury reports. And look, if you're the Vikings, you cannot say if you're trying to trade for wide receivers. Oh my gosh, yeah, our number two guy is down. So we're screwed. Like, that's not helping your case in these negotiations, is it?

But, yeah, I think that there is something. that kind of tells us a little bit about where Naylor's at when he mentions evaluating options, as Kevin O'Connell did, that usually refers to surgery. And Scott, I mean, I think everybody would agree that Jacoby Myers is a better player and he's in his prime, but you have to make that work logistically. What are you giving up? How are you making this work? How much are you paying him on a contract extension if you're going to work out an extension

with him, all that sort of stuff. And how are you going to get him the targets? Because this is a hundred target type of receiver in Myers. It'd be great. But is he going to be okay with like that situation here? Brian, I don't know exactly with the, the Rondale more money with the salary cap. I assume that it counts.

Are you all in or not when it, yeah, no, I know what you're saying. Like if you're, if you're all in, like go get Jacoby Myers. but, and that would be a great move for a single year. How do you make that? How do you make it work, though? Because you might have to give up a lot for a single year. Then you're talking about giving up a big draft pick. And, you know, have we talked tight end three?

No, big day for tight end three tomorrow. We find out, I would assume Eurasek makes the roster, but do they actually keep them? Because they've kept guys on cut down day and then made a move the next day. Took a nap halfway through. there you go you can go back and listen to the to the rest of it so well that's where we're at that's where we're at uh right now uh soon okay moon that's why k oc was annoyed when seaford asked if he needed surgery he doesn't get annoyed easily well you're right it was pretty it was telling

wasn't it that was telling that i think at least trying to read the tea leaves there on those comments uh he didn't say oh he's fine he'll be back week one so you know, uh, tight end draft picked out. Yeah, we just haven't seen Gavin Bartholomew at all. I would imagine he's going on IR. Yep. Another, yeah, that's another bad break. Bartholomew looked good in mini camp and then just never saw him in camp because he got hurt. Um, but, you know, I think we're going to get some of these answers tomorrow. So we'll see how that goes. Uh, Stephen says we know the gap from Lucky to Thielen is large. What if we got a few Tray Palmer types, him and Gabe Davis, no, look, if they don't get Thielen, they're getting other people, and it probably will have to

be two. Someone's got to catch puns. And they need someone to play wide receiver two or three, depending on how Naylor goes. Uh, you know, so this is what we get for the, uh, defense being healthy. Uh, yeah, I guess so. It's kind of, uh, Kendall Fleming's not going to be, he might make the practice squad, but he's not going to make the team. Uh, isn't Carolina over the the cap. No one is over the cap at the moment, but they may need some cap relief to do some things they want to do. Timothy hoping Felton would have been better. It's just, no, he hasn't dropped a lot of passes. I don't think drop passes has been the issue. It's just development. It's that he has to learn how to play wide receiver. And then he got banged up too, by the way,

in practice. But he has to learn how to play wide receiver in the NFL. It's not something that's easy to do like Jordan Addison made it look easy a couple of years ago or Justin Jefferson, but those are first round draft picks. Those aren't guys who played really one year in college as the guy as number one wide receiver. Son of Beaver's. Yep, DeAndre Carter. I did mention him earlier. Yep.

Let's see. Did Powell return? Yes, Powell returned punts last year. And if they need, if they desperately need someone, they could bring him back. He was just a non-impact player there, though. but DeAndre Carter seems like a great pick. Yeah, Carolina is not over the cap, but I'm sure they want cap space

if they're giving up Thielen. So, yeah, DeAndre Carter's been with, he's been with Chicago for a long time, right? So they would be familiar with him. All right. So, an epic, an epic night here, but, oh, what's contributing to these injuries, Silver Tongue?

It's just randomness, just total rant. There's total randomness. No, it's, it's nothing. They've handled their injuries great. Jalen Naylor got hurt falling to make a catch. I mean, this is one of the most healthy teams in the NFL. This team is almost completely healthy across the board. It's just that Jalen Naylor went down to make a catch in the joint practice and hurt his hand or wrist.

It happens. So, um, Ray away based on media hype, what percentage likely that we get feeling? I would go right now, I will still, I will say still a coin flip because what Adam Schaefter did not report is that it's over. Adam Schaefter reported that they've struggled to come to an agreement on compensation, which means Vikings pony up. That seemed, that message was written by the Carolina Panthers for Adam Schaefter and I respect it. And you put it right out there. Brian, do you think KOC would have wanted pick it over whence? I think that they are the same thing, the same.

same exact thing. Like, they're both a backup who can win some games that you don't want to be a long-term starter. I like Pickett, okay, for a backup. But I don't think it's any different than Carson wins. So is the, yeah, the NFC flag is, they're not taped down the best. I'm not so good at arts and crafts. So it's a little cockyed.

Yeah, it's, it kind of fell a little bit. That's all right. was the hope to podcast until another trade happened. Hey, I got at least one more Adam Schaefter update out of it, though, didn't I? No, actually the, when the show started, the, I was kind of thinking, what do I got to work with tonight? Well, Max Brosmer, people want to hear about that. And, you know, we'll talk about Amari Cooper and, you know,

maybe get into the arguments about the punter. And we'll see, I didn't, I actually didn't really expect. I didn't expect Blackman to be traded, but I wasn't surprised. Put it that way. I didn't expect it, but I wasn't surprised. And maybe this does mean that they're very happy with Vaughn. We'll see. Okay.

I should call it a night because now I'm going to go over and write for the newsletter. Some thoughts on Mackay Blackman in that trade and where they're at. So make sure you go to Purple Insider. Football. Subscribe. tell your friends, all those things. Would I send Isaiah Rogers out there to Faircatch? Probably not.

Probably not. And I'm going to have to wake up. You know what? I'm going to have to wait. It could be an endorsement of Okuda. Yeah. Oh, no, this whole thing. This whole thing has been an endorsement of Okuda, this whole offseason.

They have liked him from day one. Minicamp, he was out there as the guy, and that never changed. He's been very physical, very aggressive. And they have spoken highly of his role. I think that they have liked Okuda, and he clearly won the job. It wasn't even close, but also, you know, Blackman just did not perform at the level they expected. It was never even a competition. All right.

Okay. Now, are you still married after this? Yeah. Yeah, well, you know, my wife working for the Minnesota links just broadcast four games in six days. So this is our life. But Buddy the dog has been sitting right here almost this entire time when the Matt Verde-Ram interview was going on, my wife let him out, but he's been asleep just listening to all the trade talk. I think that he would send a third and a fourth.

All right. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Definitely after cut down, I will be here and maybe we'll have a trade by then. Maybe we don't. But that my plan is as soon as the Vikings release their 53, we will break down position by position and what is going to happen next. And we may end up live streaming all throughout the afternoon if other things happen i can't wait to find out like the rest of you but thanks everybody for joining and we shall see very soon so i would say probably put on those alerts is a good idea for when we go live all right thanks everybody appreciate the the marathon stream and we'll catch you all later football