Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Brett Kollmann of "The Film Room" breaks down what the Vikings' offense will look like in 2020

Episode Date: August 12, 2020

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Starting point is 00:02:04 I'm Matthew Collard here as always. And joining me, one of my favorite people from YouTube, a guy who started a tremendous channel called The Film Room, whose videos I have watched and learned a ton from, Brett Coleman. What's up, Brett? I'm doing wonderful. Thank you for having me on.
Starting point is 00:02:22 I haven't talked Vikings in a while. I know. I know. Exactly one year almost since you released a video breaking down Kirk Cousins. And the name of the video is Kirk Cousins is not the problem in Minnesota. And this is what I wanted to talk to you about because this was one year ago coming off of the 2018 season that was really, I don't think you can qualify it as anything but a disaster for the Vikings. They went into that year thinking, we just went to the NFC title game. We're going to add a better quarterback.
Starting point is 00:02:53 99% of the roster is the same. We're going all the way, baby. I was at that training camp every day when national media came in and said, Kirk, is it Super Bowl or bust this year? And Kirk was like, I don't know what that means. And they were like, but is it Super Bowl or bust this year? And Kirk was like, I don't know what that means. And they were like, but is it Super Bowl or bust this year? And then it was a bust. But I want to know, one year later, after Cousins had a Pro Bowl season in which he was, by PFF, I think the sixth best quarterback in the league, somewhere in the same ballpark for quarterback rating, by any metric you want to look at, had one of his best seasons of his career. What was it that was so much different from when you did that video that you
Starting point is 00:03:30 could kind of envision changing and Cousins having a much better year? Well, the big thing was John DeFilippo not being the OC anymore. And Kevin Stefanski, when he took over, there was certainly a difference in late 2018 when he took over. I still think there were a couple games where he was a little bit too pass-happy instead of really grinding on the run game. But then Stefanski, the following year, under the guidance of Gary Kubiak, they really started to get back into what their bread and butter was supposed to be all along that John DiFilippo, for some reason stayed away from, and that's running the ball,
Starting point is 00:04:06 running the ball, running the ball, and then really working the pass game off play action. You know, this past season, Kirk, I was looking at some numbers before it came on here and Kirk's play action percentage in terms of percentage of passes that he threw on play action was 31.4%, which was really, really high in the NFL. Like that was top seven, I think, among starting quarterbacks, if you want to count Marcus Mariota as a starter.
Starting point is 00:04:32 So let's just say top six. And that's really his bread and butter is being able to lean on Dalvin Cook, being able to lean on Madison. And then when they want to take shots, you bootleg them out. You're buying him, you know, three seconds for these deep crossing routes to work down the field. Sometimes you get a boot throwback, which they like to do where the running backs leak out and they're wide open by 30 yards. Like it's creating, I don't want to say easier completions, but it's creating more
Starting point is 00:04:59 defined completions, more defined reads. It's a lot of half field reads. It's a lot of very simple if then statements, you know, if this route's covered, you progress to this route and then you finally check it down. And if nothing's there, you either keep running out of bounds or you just throw it away. Like it's, it's easy stuff that John D Filippo was not really focusing on. He was trying to make things as complicated as humanly possible for whatever
Starting point is 00:05:22 reason. They were not built to do that. Not to mention, you know, going back to 2018, like the starting offensive line, like the interior three was, if I remember correctly, Tom Compton, Brett Jones, and Mike Remmers, which is, that's not going to cut it. You know, Brian O'Neill was a rookie, a good rookie, but still a rookie. And then the upgrades to the offensive line they made going into 2019, the Garrett Bradbury pick was huge, and the offensive line in general was just so much better. So I think it was a combination of a shift in offensive philosophy,
Starting point is 00:05:52 really getting back to play action where Kirk is comfortable, upgrading the offensive line so that the run game could actually be functional, and next thing you know, you have an actual efficient and, dare I say, deadly offense with really not many changes to Kirk Cousins himself. The offensive line point, still last year I would say they were below average. PFF had them as 19th, but the year before in 2018, they were like dead last. Disaster. The worst.
Starting point is 00:06:20 But also part of that is, and I'm sure that you find this all the time when you study film Brett is that you have to also help the offensive lineman if you are Gary Kubiak and he said this the other day about Riley Reif and some of his past protection issues at times where he said I can help Riley even more myself with the way that we scheme things the way we draw up some of these protections and I think play action is about the best thing you could possibly do to help offensive linemen so a lot of times we analyze these things and we say well this guy ranked here by PFF so sucks and sometimes that's true but sometimes you also have a lot of imperfect players in the NFL who can succeed if you give them the right tools to succeed. And DeFilippo did not do that with his offensive line or Kirk Cousins in 2018. Yeah, it was the failure to call an offense to fit the strengths of what they had in 2018.
Starting point is 00:07:17 And admittedly, there were not many. You know, they had some good wide receivers, Delvin's a talented back. But in terms of talent up front, they really didn't have it. It was pretty much skilled position players and an immobile quarterback who is okay, but not elite. And so the lack of ability to do what was necessary to get the most possible out of their situation, which as you said, is protecting your offensive line with play action. You know, if you want to run some RPOs to get the ball out quick, you can do that within that system. You know, you can build those into a Kubiak-style zone run scheme. Kyle Shanahan's doing just fine with it. You know, Zach Taylor did just fine with it. McVay does just, like,
Starting point is 00:07:57 you can do that kind of stuff. But the almost Andy Reid-ish kind of influences that we saw from DeFilippo and the Peterson influences where they're trying to run all these gaps games out of nub looks and they don't have the offensive line to make that work whatsoever. And, you know, you're trying to, without play action, you're trying to make them hold the ball for three seconds for hitting four verts for the third time in a row. Like it's not going to work.
Starting point is 00:08:23 It's not going to work. So it almost felt like they were trying to run, like, a hybrid version of the Reed West Coast with, like, the Bruce Arians chuck it down the field mentality back in 2018 without running the ball. And they just were not built to do that. So, again, the complete lack of understanding of what they had and what they didn't have ruined that season.
Starting point is 00:08:45 I'm not saying they were going to be a Super Bowl team that year, but they should not have been as horrible as they were. Right. They should have been in the playoffs. No question about that. Let's talk about that relationship with the run and pass, because this is something that I kind of volley back and forth about how I feel about it. Because the PFF guys will tell you that by the numbers,
Starting point is 00:09:05 you don't have to run the ball successfully to have play action. But just from a visual standpoint and looking at tape and what you see from opposing defenses and how terrified they were of Delvin Cook in the outside zone scheme and how much attention was paid, it's hard for me to buy into that. And I also think that the ability to make passing plays look like running plays and vice versa, it just leaves linebackers and safeties with their heads spinning. And there was a lot of that last year where you saw against Detroit or
Starting point is 00:09:39 against Philadelphia, three linebackers in the game and they're just diving at Delvin Cook. As soon as there's any look that it's going to be a run play, as soon as the offensive line goes left or right on the zone look, and then here's Kirk Cousins, you know, 15 yards the other way with nobody around him with the ability to throw down the field. I mean, I don't tend to think that this will work exactly the same if you're not succeeding on the ground. Yeah, and it's, you know, to your point, one of the staple Shanahan, you know, I'm talking Mike Shanahan-esque West Coast plays is called PA slide.
Starting point is 00:10:17 I guess the true term is like 19 fake handoff PA slide or whatever they want to call it. But, you know, Kyle Shanahan runs it, McVay runs it, Kubiak, you know, Kubiak was one of the architects of this play. And it is literally the exact same thing as 19 handoff H-sift, I think is their nomenclature for it, where the tight end, you know, comes across the back of the line of scrimmage and he's doing a sift block on the backside end so that you get the backside tackle up on the wheelback, or it creates this huge,
Starting point is 00:10:48 you know, seam in the B-gap that every single Shanahan back you can think of, even, you know, Arian Foster, like, literally all of them have been able to get Pro Bowls off of that one play. And then, when you call the fake 19 handoff, PA slide off of that, now all of a sudden the sift block doesn't take on the backside end. It just keeps going to the flat with the boot. And the player on defense, usually the will linebacker that's responsible for covering the B gap, which is the main cutback lane on outside zone that you typically see hit, all of a sudden that B gap player is conflicted
Starting point is 00:11:23 because he doesn't know if the running back has the ball, and he has to deal with the slider out of the backside, and he's wrong no matter what. And it's a very simple, you know, sequence of plays that look exactly the same for any Will linebacker, and they don't know what's coming. And it's been happening over and over and over again in all these Shanahan-style offenses since, what, the 80s? And it hasn't changed. It's been the same.
Starting point is 00:11:48 You know, Denver won Super Bowls with it. Houston went 12-4 with it. Shanahan's been to a couple Super Bowls with it. And now I think we're going to see the Vikings abuse that as much as humanly possible with Justin Jefferson, who's great after the catch, and he's going to be running that slide route now. And it's going to be deadly because you you don't see it coming it's a remarkable I was in the press box in Chicago I think it was with Sage Rosenfels who played for Gary Kubiak and he would know the plays in Tony
Starting point is 00:12:18 Romo like fashion I guess a lot of quarterbacks can do this but he being in Kubiak's system knew exactly where everybody was running exactly what the play was going to be. Sometimes just by how they lined up or little indicators that they showed, Kubiak's still doing a lot of the same things, but they just work as long as you execute them. But we have to talk about some of the kryptonites to this, because this offense certainly works, and it certainly works for Kirk Cousins, but when you go to San Francisco and they have a defensive line that's great that could stop Delvin Cook on their own,
Starting point is 00:12:50 or when you have a team that can play single high but also get back into those coverages, then it seems like that's where the Vikings really struggle, is when they still get blown up up front or when the run does shut down, and then you ask Kirk Cousins to throw out of the shotgun or in straight drop back situations, and that just does not play well to his strength. So is there a way that they can overcome the fact that, like, there is a blueprint for how to slow down this offense with Kirk Cousins in charge? So when it comes to this system, Kyle Shanahan was the pupil that became the master because he recognized a long, long, long same thing. They run a very similar style to Wade Phillips's 3-4 under that traditionally
Starting point is 00:13:48 blows up this style of defense. And so what you do is you box the front, you get the two edge players outside the tackle, so they're setting hard edges on either side, which then forces early cutbacks into interior penetration, which would be Armstead and Buckner. So if you have a defensive end like Bosa that can set a hard edge on Reef, and Reef's not going to go anywhere, and then you get Buckner and Armstead screaming in through the backside, and then you have an athletic end on the other side like Dee Ford that can literally just wash down and wait for the bootleg without really having to worry about it, plus a linebacker who's athletic on the second level like Fred Warner,
Starting point is 00:14:27 who can cover, I mean, freaking Hollywood Brown in man coverage, you know. That kind of athleticism and commitment to penetration really shuts down outside zone. So what Kyle Shanahan did, ironically speaking, since he's the 49ers head coach, was he started mixing in more gap concepts, more traps, more power, stuff that punishes penetration and really puts a hurtin' on a defensive line that starts penetrating into these gaps if they feel outside zone is coming, and especially trap runs. I mean, even going back to the 49er days under Harbaugh, you know, when Jim Schwartz was in Detroit and it was all penetration all day, they would abuse them,
Starting point is 00:15:07 get like over 100 yards on trap runs alone with Frank Gore. So Kyle Shanahan augmenting that outside zone system with more staple gap concepts that punish penetration, that's what really keeps defenses off balance. We saw that when the Niners were just obliterating the Packers who were trying to penetrate over and over again in two games. It's even worked against Minnesota too, where they've really, really hurt them a lot with it as well. So that's, I think, what Kubiak needs to do is kind of learn from his former student and implement a lot more of
Starting point is 00:15:41 those style of runs just to make themselves that much more unpredictable, or else this system, it does tend to get shut down that way. Get back to the conversation in just a minute, but first I 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
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Starting point is 00:16:44 Like, yeah, he's not allowed in the house anymore after running gap schemes runs. You know, it's like only outside zone allowed in the Shanahan house. And the Vikings did mix in some of that last year. And I think Kevin Stefanski was a part of that. Rick Dennison is their run game coordinator. And they do get pretty creative with how they use the offensive line. One thing that is always fascinating to watch, and I love your take on this, Brett,
Starting point is 00:17:07 is that the uses of the fullback and second tight end. I never tire of talking about it and watching it because it's remarkable, one, to watch linebackers follow a fullback the wrong direction where the play's not going, like a moth to flame, like must follow fullback. Yeah, the ball's way over, like must follow fullback. Yeah, the ball's way over there. Must follow fullback. But it really is unique because the Vikings are one of only three teams or so in the league who are using these bigger personnels. And I think that when defenses are used to facing 11 personnel all the time, and then they come into Minnesota to
Starting point is 00:17:44 play this type of offense I think I just think it's very different and hard to prepare for something so so unique and and I wonder how they'll adapt to this year after seeing it last year so it's funny because when I was at the senior bowl back in January I ran into my buddy who's uh with the Browns you know where Kevin Stefanski just took over yep and I asked I asked him, I was like, okay, what are you guys looking for? Because they had a lot of talent. You know, they didn't have that many huge, egregious needs. And he's like, Kevin's first day on the job.
Starting point is 00:18:12 He walked in the building and said, get me a fullback. That was what he wanted. Because C.J. Hamm was a difference maker for them in a lot of unseen ways. And the thing with fullbacks is that they're, they're mobile pieces in the sense that they can give you numbers advantages in places that you don't expect. You know, again, when you are mixing in when these trap runs, like it means that you don't need to use a guard to run trap, you can use a fullback. And as long as, you know, he can just kind of be that Vontae Leach human coke machine and just give a little crease for half a second, that's all you need.
Starting point is 00:18:47 You know, and you can use him to plug a backside hole on power. You know, if you want the center to not focus on washing down, you want the center to get to the mic depending on, you know, if it's like a thick or thin alignment in the backers, and you want the fullback to then plug the three technique and have the center go up to get the mic while the pulling guard goes to the front side. It's almost like a human eraser that can just fill in exactly where you need him to, give you the proper angle, and just give the running back a little bit of extra time
Starting point is 00:19:19 to hit the hole that you're really trying to scheme. And Kyle Shanahan does it better than anybody. You know, Stefanski, I think, took a lot of pages out of his book in terms of how to use fullbacks to create angles. It's not like the old days where we're just running ISO and we're using fullbacks to blow people off the ball. Like, no, it's fullbacks are now used to create angles on defensive linemen, not necessarily just on linebackers. Linebackers still get taken a task by them quite a bit, especially in the past game, but that's really how modern offenses that stick to 21 personnel use fullbacks is in the trap run game and also to kind of give a little bit of an extra angle to the edge on outside zone.
Starting point is 00:19:58 Not to mention we see Stefanski really kind of learning from how other offensive coordinators around the league use fullbacks in the past game, like running four verts with them. Like we saw with, you know, Juszczyk and San Francisco and all that kind of stuff. Like we saw CJ Hamm do a little bit of that as well. So I think Kubiak is going to take a little page out of that and, and get CJ Hamm also involved in the past game. Like Stefanski was able to do a little bit last year.
Starting point is 00:20:26 Keep in mind, Scooby X fullback, and I'm a Texans fan, so going back to when he was in Houston, the fullback was Vontae Leach, who couldn't catch at all. The fact that Hamm can catch is a weapon. So I think it's, I don't want to say it's a trend around the NFL, because not many teams do it, but the teams that do use fullbacks effectively, I mean, really, really use fullbacks effectively right yeah and last year you do have to look kind of closely you have to be looking at CJ Hamm to see how it works and
Starting point is 00:20:56 usually you're looking at Delvin Cook running for 20 yards as opposed to focusing on the fullback but it sort of sounds like oh yeah these football guys love their fullback but it really is a weapon I just think the reason that they don't exist in too many offenses is because best of luck to you finding this guy I mean with CJ Hamm he was I think from Minnesota and they you know thought he might be a running back like a bruising running back and that's where he started with the team and then they had to develop him over a couple of years and work him into maybe 10% of plays early on and then build this role out for him. So it took four or five years for him to master what he's supposed to be doing. And a lot of teams are just not putting that effort in or finding people who are willing to do that. A lot of running backs come out of college,
Starting point is 00:21:44 they want to be the guy. They want to be a running back, which they've been their whole lives. So finding someone who is willing to make that transition is pretty tough. But once you have it, you can do a lot with it. And now, Brett, they also can mix in two tight ends whenever they want. And I think one of the huge advantages that people can look for when they're just watching the game is where does Irv Smith go because I think it's going to be just about everywhere and this is
Starting point is 00:22:11 the reason that I would say I don't think this offense drops off the side of a cliff because Stephon Diggs isn't here because they do have these other ways to scheme people the ball like Irv Smith who can make plays with. Yeah, I don't understand why everybody just assumed that the Vikings were going to be bad once Diggs left. Like, they drafted Justin Jefferson for a reason. They're going to be fine. Like, it's not like Diggs was some – like, Diggs is a great receiver, but he's not Julio. Like, let's be real.
Starting point is 00:22:47 Like, there's nothing that Diggs can do, in my opinion, that Justin Jefferson cannot do. Diggs is not an irreplaceable talent. Great talent, not irreplaceable talent. So the fact that they were able to get a first round pick plus more back for him and get a guy with a similar skill set, in my opinion, Justin Jefferson, that you're paying fractions of Stephon Diggs's salary, like, that was a great move. I think receiving core wise, they're going to be fine. They're thin, but in terms of starting starters, they're going to be fine. But to your point, again, when you're looking at 21 or 22 personnel looks, and you've got Kyle out there, who I think is still an effective tight end, a little bit long in the tooth, but he's still effective. And you've got Irv, who's kind of this young, quicker than Kyle,
Starting point is 00:23:29 certainly smaller than Kyle, but he's almost like a Delaney Walker type, in my opinion. So you could theoretically go 22 personnel with Ham out there. You know, you've got Kyle as a true Y. You've got Irv as like an H-back. You could almost go full house with it and then just have Adam as the sole receiver out there. And if you're doing that, it's going to be really hard to A, figure out what side they're
Starting point is 00:23:55 running the football to. And then by the time you figure out exactly where they're running it to, that's when you start mixing in the play action stuff and all the misdirection stuff. Like, again, going back to Kyle Shanahan, theme of the day, they do a lot of that in San Francisco as well, and they're going to keep doing it because they drafted Charlie Warren out of Georgia. He's a great blocking tight end as well. You're going to see a lot of 22 personnel from them,
Starting point is 00:24:15 and I think you're going to see a lot of 22 personnel from Minnesota because they have the horses to make it work. Last thing that I wanted to ask you on just the Vikings and their offense and how it all works around Kirk is just if you were looking at really creative that another team or another scheme is using that might work what would that be because I think Brett that even though I agree with you that Diggs leaving is not the end of the world he was your one guy that if things were really tough and you're down by 20 points on Denver he can smoke some corner and get you a big play. You know, we'll have to see how Justin Jefferson comes along. Adam Thielen does have that capability, but it's not like having two elite receivers or top-notch receivers still that can bail you out.
Starting point is 00:25:13 So I think they'll have to be a little bit better overall as an offense to get the same results, if that makes sense, and they could also be in more shootout type of situations. So what's the thing that you would say, you know what, I saw this and the Vikings should use it? It's rather innocuous, but I think it's major at the same time. I'm looking at how teams use motion to get the matchups they want. Baltimore, I think, again, we are not going to be running the Greg Roman offense for this team because Kurt can't run. No, not at all. Yeah, absolutely. But when you look at how they use motion in Baltimore to get their weapons matched up on the exact people that they want to be
Starting point is 00:25:57 matched up, they are so good at game planning and understanding like, hey, for example, I was watching a lot of Ravens against the Cardinals this past week, again, because I'm working on an episode on the Cardinals' defense. Hicks, the middle linebacker for Arizona, is terrible in coverage. Absolutely awful. It's almost like when we see Anthony Barr get abused in coverage. Like, it's not a situation you want to see. And how Baltimore was able to use motion,
Starting point is 00:26:26 because that is not a defense that flips the linebackers on motion. They just kind of shift them over. And so all of a sudden they would go from Hassan Redick, who's really athletic, being matched up on the number three receiver strong side, to Hicks being matched up on the number three receiver strong side, which could be Andrews, the great tight end from Baltimore who was absolutely abusing him. Or a couple weeks later, Cincinnati took a page out of their book
Starting point is 00:26:53 and was using motion to get Hicks matched up with Tyler Boyd, which is never a matchup that's going to go in their favor. So I think using motion and kind of using a defense's zone coverage rules against them in terms of understanding when linebackers get matched up on number three, when they get matched up on number two, when they're just a spy, when they're blitzing, and using motion to get those really bad coverage linebackers matched up in coverage when they really don't want to be, that is crucial. Motion is what all great modern offenses have in common.
Starting point is 00:27:28 They all use it differently, but they all use it. And that is really something that I want to see the Vikings implement. Before we get back to the conversation, got to let you know that 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, DirecTV, Fantasy Zone channels. Never miss your favorite teams and favorite players.
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Starting point is 00:28:32 but every item starts at $0 and then goes up one cent every time you bid. The kicker is that the auction clock restarts every 10 seconds. That means every time you bid, everyone else has 10 seconds to answer or the item is yours. If you go ahead and buy now, DealDash is offering up our listeners 100 free bids upon sign-up on top of their other discounts. Go to DealDash.com and use the offer code INSIDER. DealDash.com.fm slash insider. That is D-E-A-L-D-A-S-H.fm slash insider that is d-e-a-l-d-a-s-h dot fm slash insider and by the numbers they match up with exactly what you're saying Seth Walder from ESPN did a piece about this last year and the Vikings were actually in the bottom five for the percentage of plays where they used motion now
Starting point is 00:29:20 some of that might be they went up tempo some of it might be that they were winning a lot last year and that they just lined up and ran the ball and didn't use motion as much. But you can use it a lot when running the ball as well. So I totally agree with you. You're going to have to ramp it up a little bit here when it comes to the motion because it's just statistically proven that it works and it creates so many problems. And maybe that's this year's play action. Like DiFilippo wasn't using play action. Last year, Stefanski wasn't using a lot of motion. Now it's time to take that next step. Whether Kubiak does it or not, hard to say. I think there's a concern over, like, is his offense still a little antiquated here? But I also think if
Starting point is 00:30:01 you're Gary, you've had success for this long because you can make changes. So that will be something that is really fascinating to see. Before I let you go, Brett, it's been extremely insightful and awesome, as expected. I just want to know your most interesting teams out of the NFC because it's such a weird year for the NFC. Steven Ruiz was on the podcast last week and I asked him the same question. He's like, I don't know, like nobody's that interesting outside of Arizona. So I, but I think, you know, I had a couple on my list, you know, Detroit, maybe, uh, is it actually going to work with Mike McCarthy in Dallas, but who can you not wait to see in the NFC? I mean, Arizona is the obvious one, you know, because I think the hype
Starting point is 00:30:46 machine is building for them and rightfully so. San Francisco and Seattle just kind of fall into that category if we expect them to be good. So if they're good, it's not really, you know, crazy to me. I would be lying if I didn't say I'm very curious to see uh how Brady works out in Tampa Bay but again this is a guy that's been great for for two decades so it's not really like a new thing of oh Tom Brady's a good quarterback like duh um I would say Minnesota is interesting to me but offensively speaking they're interesting to me. Defensively, I'm still not 100% sure how this is going to work, particularly on the defensive line, because the defensive line looks a lot different now
Starting point is 00:31:33 than those dominant defensive lines of years past. Like, I like Jeff Gladney a lot. I, weirdly enough, mocked him to Minnesota in the first round, and then they took him. I was like, oh, okay, cool, that works out for me. I like Hughes. Dantzler I'm kind of on, okay, cool. That works out for me. I like Hughes. Dantzler I'm kind of on, but we'll see how it goes.
Starting point is 00:31:50 Again, it's a third-round pick, so who cares? You know, Harris and Harrison I think are a great safety deal, and obviously you've still got Eric and Anthony at the linebacker duo. But a defensive line where the only, I think, kind of sure thing is Daniil Hunter. I'm a little bit worried about that. I think there are contributors. Like, I'm okay with Shamar Stephan. I'm okay with Jalil Johnson.
Starting point is 00:32:14 I'm okay with – I always butcher his name. Afadi Adenovo. Yes, there we go. Always butcher that name. But I wouldn't be surprised if Kenny Willekes comes in, and he's the starter by December. Like, I really wouldn't be surprised. I also wouldn't be surprised if he outplays Wanham. That was a pick that I wasn't super high on either, but I love Willekes.
Starting point is 00:32:31 This is a common opinion that you have of almost everyone who studied this draft. They're like Wanham in the fourth and Willekes in the seventh is a very – If you flipped those two, I would have been totally fine with it. Yeah. If you took Willekes in the fourth and wanted him in the seventh, I would have been like, okay, that's fine. This is good value. But, like, I remain convinced that Willekes will be starting by December,
Starting point is 00:32:54 and to me that's a little bit of a concern because now I'm banking on a seventh-round rookie coming in and being a heavy contributor in his first year without a true offseason. Like, right now the only guy that I can really truly count on to be that dude when you absolutely need something to happen on third and seven is Daniel Hunter. Yes. And that's a little bit worrisome to me. I think they're going to have to blitz bar a lot.
Starting point is 00:33:18 I think they're going to have to run a little bit more zero than they're used to just to make sure that Daniel's getting those one-on-ones. Because if they're used to just to make sure that Daniel's getting those one-on-ones because if, if they're not sending extra pressure or at least, you know, using those mug looks that Zimmer likes to fake extra pressure to give Daniel the one-on-ones, I'm not sure where their pass rush is going to come from.
Starting point is 00:33:34 So they're interesting from a perspective of, uh, I guess you could call it potential negativity, mainly because I don't know how this is going to work yet. Yeah. The, negativity, mainly because I don't know how this is going to work yet. Yeah, the credit I would give Zimmer is that every year his defense is a little different. And in 2018, when they struggled more, they ramped up the pressure more. And then all of a sudden it sort of readjusted itself.
Starting point is 00:33:57 And so that's the thing I think about is that their linebackers are very good and very capable of having success blitzing. And so I wouldn't be surprised if there's a lot going on there for Eric Hendricks and Anthony Barr. And even Eric Wilson, I think, could be a big contributor as well. Because when he's in the game in a base package, if the other team is using their tight ends or fullbacks, you know, he's an extra weapon that they can use as a blitzer. And that's kind of the solution I think they're going to have to use. Because I'm with you. I'm skeptical on a lot of things,
Starting point is 00:34:29 whether they can actually create pressure on the quarterback. Like James Lynch is going to try to change positions. Anytime you hear a fourth round pick is changing positions, I'm skeptical. Like I'm going to have to see that first in order to believe that it's going to happen. They said the same things about, you know, Jalen Holmes, who they drafted in the fourth. Oh, he'll just move into defensive tackle. Different ballgame there. Good luck with that.
Starting point is 00:34:51 Right. Yeah, that's right. That's right. It's just not the same of playing inside and creating inside pressure. So, well, Brett, this has been awesome. Your observations about the Vikings, I think, are tremendously good and insightful. People should follow you on Twitter at Brett, just two Ts, Coleman, which is with a K. So you figure that out yourself, K-O-L-L-M-A-N-N.
Starting point is 00:35:15 Like, did you go out of your way to have as many continents next to each other as you could fit in a name? You know those upper Northwesterners, man. We all got – this is the most German possible spelling of Coleman, which I think Minnesotans understand better than most. Thank you for not having an underscore. But on YouTube, the film room is where people should go and find your very, very good and beautifully edited videos that you have. So appreciate your time, man. Great stuff, and people should follow your work. you for having me sports are coming back so are your chances to bet
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