Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Can the Vikings be Super Bowl contenders in the next three years?

Episode Date: May 18, 2021

Matthew Coller and Paul Hodowanic get together to kick some things around now that the offseason madness has calmed down. They talk about how many teams you would pick over the Vikings to win the Super Bowl in the next three years. Plus will there be quarterback madness next offseason? What were the craziest storylines of the offseason? And would you draft a kicker who could make it from 75 yards away? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Folks, do you feel like everything these days is go, go, go? It's nonstop from work to friends to family and a million pressing issues. Sometimes you just need to take a playoff and hit the reset button. That's when you reach for a Coors Light. It's made to chill. Hey, it's that time of year in Minnesota again to get out on the lake, go to the cabin, sit back, watch some baseball. Coors Light is the perfect refreshment to chill during these summer months. There's only one beer out there that's made to chill.

The mountains on the bottles and cans turn blue when your beer is cold, and that way you know it's time to chill. Hit that reset button with some mountain cold refreshment. Coors Light is cold lager, cold filtered, and cold packaged. It's literally made to chill. It's crisp and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies. Coors Light is the one you should choose when you need to unwind. When you want to hit the reset button, reach for the beer that is made to chill.

Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate. Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider presented by Scout Logistics. Matthew Collar here and along with me, formerly known as Intern Paul, now he's just regular Paul Hodorwanek, writes for the Pioneer Press, among other media entities these days. How are you, Paul? I'm doing good. Do you think, will it always be formerly Intern Paul? Do you think we'll always need to do that?

Yes. I'm cool with that. I thought about changing my Twitter name to just Intern Paul, so I'm fine with that branding. But like five years down the road, are we still going to say formally intern? Okay. Yeah. A hundred percent. Yep. For sure. Uh, that is your brand. And, uh, because you interned for everyone in the twin cities. So everyone, if I, even if so, like, if I just say that, Oh yeah, intern Paul helps me out. People are like, Oh yeah, I know injured Paul. So every, everyone knows you that way. And it's going to stay that way, even though you are professional

Paul now, which I guess that maybe that should be the new brand professional Paul. Um, speaking of which, uh, a very exciting announcement for the Vikings today that, uh, Kelly Klein is leaving. She is one of their high ranking executives in the scouting department to go work for the Denver Broncos. So just a cool thing. She started as a PR intern and now she is the highest ranking woman executive in the NFL going from the Vikings to the Broncos. So that's a very just a very cool thing for the Vikings. So, hey, you never know. You start off as the intern person, Paul, and the sky is the limit. I can't wait to be running the denver broncos someday this is exciting news for me this is great yeah i think that's exactly

what i meant uh there there was another one todd downing too started i think as a pr intern and he ended up as an offensive coordinator for the raiders and he was a tight end coach here for the vikings so yeah uh dream big i guess all of you people who are interning. So since there is nothing in terms of like pressing Viking news at the moment, I wanted to get together with you and just have some fun. So we wrote some questions for each other and I've got a lot to come this week. Brad Spielberger is going to come on for PFF and talk about the Vikings future cap situation, what they could do with the rest of their cap space. Steven Ruiz is also scheduled to come on from USA Today and break down quarterback situations and who has the best short-term and long-term quarterback situation.

So, and of course, Sam will be around, Courtney will be around. So there's lots to do. But today I thought it's a beautiful day out. Let's just have some fun with the show. And so you've written three questions for me. I've written three questions for you. So I'm just going to start out with my first question. I was thinking about where the Vikings stand right now amongst other organizations for a long-term outlook. And I want to ask you this question. How many teams are closer to winning a Super Bowl in the next three

years than the Minnesota Vikings? Would it be zero to five teams six to ten teams eleven to fifteen teams more than fifteen teams like if you go through the rest of the league over the next three seasons and we're trying to project forward how many will have better odds to win the Super Bowl than the Vikings this was just a really intriguing question as I was going through all the teams and trying to figure out because it brings in multiple windows of where teams could be and kind of what their outlook looks like this year, but what it could look like in a couple years. And same thing for the Vikings. Three years from now, the Vikings could look a lot different, specifically at that quarterback spot than they are right now. So it's an interesting kind of thought exercise of where teams could be. I generally was around that 10 to 15 range. I think if you're being generous, you could maybe sneak them into the back end of the five to 10, but most when I was going through it, most likely it seemed like that 10 to 15, as you're just kind of going through the teams, obviously the chiefs, the bills, the Ravens,

I all had had Tampa 49ers,, I think probably have a sooner window. They would have a better chance. Seahawks, Cleveland. Those were kind of the no-brainers for me. And then you can make arguments for a lot of teams, whether that's the Rams, Miami, Dallas, the Chargers even, if Justin Herbert. So that kind of middle tier of those teams, Arizona, Washington, even Atlanta, all those teams are just kind of like right on the edge where I wouldn't be mad if you said Vikings

and you made a compelling argument for it. But I think there's also things pointing in the other direction. So for me doing this, it made me realize just how many teams are kind of in that third tier, maybe not the top tier, not maybe even that second tier, the perennial in the playoffs teams, but those ones that are kind of sniffing around it all the time. And one hot run, uh, one maybe player that you didn't expect to hit hits. And then things kind of blow up. The Vikings were kind of right in that window for me when you were going through it. What did you see so a few things different things

I thought of off of this question one would be would you factor that the Vikings have not made a Super Bowl since the 70s into whether they could make the Super Bowl within the last three years I do not I don't think that that matters I mean the New Orleans Saints were an atrocity of a franchise for a long time and then they were pretty good in the late eighties and early nineties, but they were never a serious contender, even when they had the dome patrol and then drew breeze shows up and there's super bowl contender every year for what, like 15 years. So, you know, I think that it can change very quickly. And with this team, I mean, we've seen all sorts of different teams go to the Super Bowl. You build a strong roster. One year, the Vikings were one

game away from it just in 2017. And the way that they've rebuilt a lot of this roster is through the draft, through young players, building with Justin Jefferson, building the offensive line. So they sort of have this every decade decade this sort of peak type of season and could that come within the next three years I think that it could and and I don't think that like history says no you can't do it I do know a lot of Vikings fans who feel that way they just feel like I'll never ever ever see a Super Bowl but tell me would you factor that in because I would not I don't think so I think the fan base would. I think the general overall media maybe might,

just in terms of that's kind of the narrative of they haven't gotten here. And then, I mean, Vikings fans don't have to look far for bad postseason play in the city in terms of the Twins, the Wild, the Timberwolves just never get there. So it's not exactly a town rich with confidence in terms of what happens when it comes to the playoffs and the Vikings have had their own shortcomings in the past, you know, five, 10 years in the playoffs as well. So, I mean, from player to player, I don't, I don't really think it's going to have an effect on that. And so, no, I wouldn't say so. And like you said,

there's teams that are bad that suddenly jump up. rams were doing nothing until sean mcveigh got there they go to a super bowl tampa was kind of always one of those teams people thought might be good but then just always disappointed tom brady comes in that's just what's going to happen when you have tom brady so i yeah i don't i don't put much stock into the hat it hasn't been it hasn't happened in 50 years or whatever. So here's another thing I thought of is if you're comparing the AFC and the NFC over the next couple of years, the AFC, you have, I'm still skeptical on Josh Allen. I'm going to have to see it for multiple seasons because Carson Wentz once fooled us and he was nearly the MVP of the league. So let's see it a couple of years in a row, but let's just go off what we know right now.

So Miami has built a strong roster. The Buffalo bills have a top quarterback with a really, really, really strong roster. Kansas city is Kansas city. Um, Denver might get Aaron Rogers. Cleveland is a rising team. Baltimore is always good. Cincinnati is a rising team. Uh, the, uh, South, I mean, if urban Meyer has any idea what he's doing, he should be able to build a good team in Jacksonville. You know, Indianapolis is always competitive. Tennessee's always competitive. The AFC is tough. There's a lot of different teams you could see. And even the New York Jets. I mean, if Zach Wilson hits, the New York Jets could be great. The NFC is a little more up in the air. Now, Justin Fields, Trey Lance, same sort of deal. If they hit,

they could be great. Russell Wilson might want want to leave not convinced that Dak Prescott can necessarily win a Super Bowl just yet although I'm maybe higher on Dallas than some people for this year San Francisco is certainly a contender but if Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady within the next three years and Drew Brees has retired and maybe even Matt Ryan who hasn't been a huge contender in a couple of years, but like you start looking at it and going, I mean, unless somebody like Kyler Murray or Daniel Jones or Trey Lance or Justin Fields, unless one of these guys emerges as being the next Patrick Mahomes, the NFC is just kind of going to have a lot of teams that could all be about the same. And, and, and, you know, who knows how much that could change with other quarterbacks who get drafted in the next couple of years. We don't

really know that yet. Who's going to get Spencer Rattler and whoever else emerges, but just right now, if you're kind of projecting forward, there isn't anyone that I look at, including Matt Stafford in Los Angeles that says, Oh no, they're going to be so much head and shoulders above everybody else. Like you say, with Kansas city, they're always going to be there. The Superbowl is always going to go through them. And, and that to me opens the door for, for a possible appearance. And then whether you can actually win the Superbowl or not. So I guess I haven't given my answer just sort of working my way through it. I would say, I also have to go backwards a little bit. Like who do I think has

a no chance at winning the Super Bowl because this is I mean this is football as everyone feels like they have a chance but I mean do we think Philadelphia in the next three years can win one uh no I don't think so um Detroit in the next three years they would have to have something really change Atlanta has kind of put themselves in a tough spot with Matt Ryan. Carolina is run by manatees. I don't think that they're going to do anything. South Park fans will appreciate that joke.

Houston. What? No, no. Indianapolis with Carson Wentz will not win the Super Bowl, I don't think. Tennessee with Ryan Tannehill. Pittsburgh is not winning the Super Bowl. So there's a lot of teams that i can sort of count backwards from and i think that teams that i would decidedly put way over the vikings is more in the five to ten range and there would be then

there's this huge section of teams that are sort of even where it could go either way and then you know after that there's a handful that you couldn't possibly do. So I think I came up with seven teams I felt was like no brainers. And then there's a pocket of seven or so teams that seven, eight teams, even that feel kind of on the Vikings level. And so at that point, if you're just slotting them right in the middle of those, then you're right at like 11 or 10. And I think that's kind of where they've been the last few years and i think that's kind of kind of the trajectory that they put themselves in is every year they're kind of the 10th 11th 12th best team kind of going into the season and then if things break right maybe they move forward a week nfc they move forward but um yeah i think i think that's kind of right where they should be and and not being necessarily sure who will the quarterback will be for the Vikings really changes this.

I mean, if next year, let's say they go nine and eight, which which I have a very interesting note on that. Someone sent me a great email. Maybe I should just bring it over. Maybe I should just bring it up right now. I'm going to bring it up right now so I don't forget this great email from Dan. Let me find it. But, you know, let's say they go nine and eight and they decide they're moving on from cousins. And is it Mond? Is it somebody else? I mean, that's really hard to tell, but if they get a good quarterback on a rookie contract with this roster already, and then you add free agents to it all of a sudden, like this can change pretty quickly, I think from where they're at right now. So a listener, Dan sent me an email because I've been constantly asking people whether 10 and seven

was good. And the answer is not really. So Dan broke it down by your chances to make each seed by record. And if you go 10 and 7, you have, according to Dan's math, 89% chance to be the 7 seed, 61 to be the 6th, 42 to be the 5th, and under 30% to be a 1, 2, or 3, obviously a 10 and 7. And he did this by winning percentages and what seeds they make, um, you know, in comparison to like nine and seven. So if you want to be good, if you want to have a good chance to get anything higher than a seven or six, you have to be 11 and six, according to Dan's math. So I really

appreciate him taking the time to break that down. So we should set the standard of good season is at 11 and six, not 10 and seven, which is where I picked the Vikings to be this year. So onto your next question, Paul. Sure. Well, we kind of had a little bit of a quarterback discussion, so let's kind of stick with that. I think I was just struck this off season and how many quarterbacks were, could have been on the move, were on the move in kind of how that sets up. Obviously, Aaron Rodgers, Deshaun Watson, notwithstanding all the legal stuff that's going on with him. Jimmy Garoppolo obviously was out there. Stafford got traded. Darnold got traded. People wondered if two might be traded. There was just so much happening on the quarterback market. And I think that's kind of a trend that we feel like

we're going to continue to see. And so I'm wondering this time next year, who do we think the big quarterback names are? And I think one of them has to be Kirk Cousins, but maybe we can get into that. But if we're forecasting out, I think we maybe saw the Rodgers one coming, but I'm not sure we saw the Sean Watson one coming at this point last year. I'm not sure. Maybe we saw the Stafford thing. We thought Tua was set up perfectly. That one was going to go great. And obviously all those have since changed. So if you're looking at this time next year, May 17th, 2022, what are what's going to kind of be out there in terms of the quarterback conversation? This is a great question because it's actually part of the reason why it makes sense for the Vikings to kind of run this thing to the end and trade away Kirk cousins. If they

decide to do that, why it would make sense because there is always so much quarterback movement each year. And if you had asked me the same question last year, I don't know who I would have said. I mean, I don't know if I would have said Jared Goff and Matt Stafford get traded for each other, but two years ago, I probably would not have guessed that Tom Brady would eventually be in Tampa Bay. Who would have guessed that? Right. So this is, this is a very hard question, but guys that there's always questions about like Derek Carr in Las Vegas. I think Derek Carr is a good quarterback. He's very much in the ballpark of a Kirk Cousins or Jimmy Garoppolo type. Jimmy Garoppolo is the first name that comes to mind for me. Along with Derek Carr, these quarterbacks who are not like game changers, but are good that fall

into that same category. Will they hold on to Jimmy Garoppolo for the whole year? I mean, probably right. Or will they do like a Sam Bradford and Carson Wentz thing where some quarterback gets hurt and they say, ah, we have a Jimmy Garoppolo. Would you like him? But I wonder if this, so there's the San Francisco cousins Garoppolo thing that got talked about. So cousins clearly won't be going to San Francisco, but Garoppolo is going to go somewhere. Would cousins go somewhere with like Garoppolo end up here if they don't like Kellen Mon?

I mean, that seems to be a possibility. Ben Roethlisberger, I think is in his last year in Pittsburgh. Is he in his last year playing football would be another question because at some point Pittsburgh might say, I'm sorry, Ben, we've got to move on. You just went seven and 10 or something, right? And you looked washed. Would he be a guy to go somewhere else? Russell Wilson is another one. He was clearly unhappy. His agent put it out there. What teams he wanted to go to that, that doesn't seem like a tenable situation rogers is the other one because i think it's a it's a decent possibility that aaron rogers plays this year for

the green bay packers under sort of the wink nod agreement we will trade you after next season just play us play us one more year here win us an n NFC North, and then we will grant your wish. So those are the ones that came to mind for me. Am I missing any, Paul? No, the big one that I thought of was Russell Wilson. He felt like it could be on a similar trajectory to Aaron Rodgers last year, where you kind of see the signs a year early and you see, okay, he kind of wanted out. We knew Rogers wasn't happy with the Jordan Love situation. Then they go through a whole year and let's say the Seahawks, something happens in the playoffs.

Pete Carroll's not throwing the ball enough and they lose again, kind of in one of those first couple rounds. And you're left wondering, okay, Russell Wilson had those two, like those couple of great years where they're going to the Super Bowl, but what's happening? And then he says, I want a better roster around me. I want a better protection. I want a better system that fits me. And so that kind of is the one for me to keep an eye on because it follows the trajectory

trajectory we're on. But yeah, I think there's a lot of unresolved ones that we have this year that probably linger into next year. So like you said, with the Jimmy Garoppolo, I would say like, just because the dolphins didn't take a quarterback this year, if two is bad again, next year, that roster is really in a position to win. You'd think they'd be aggressive, just like they were. They looked like they were aggressive this year. So I'd say that, um, I think same goes for Carolina. Some of the moves that people made with quarterbacks weren't exactly long-term fixes. That's it's, can we see what we have here or we're going to roll the dice for one more

year? That's again, what you saw with Matt Ryan, that's the Kirk cousins thing too. And obviously the Vikings have a potential quarterback in waiting in Kellen Mond, who knows if he'd actually get the job, but yeah, there's, I think a lot of the stuff that we're hearing this year, isn't just going to go away during the season. Once football is played, if anything, it's going to get amplified. So I think that's kind of the fun of it is we probably don't know there's probably one or two guys that we think is perfectly comfortable and

something's going to pop up that we have no idea about uh so for now the most likely one seems like the ones we already know and so that's why I'm looking at Russell Wilson as that big one but I wouldn't be surprised if one or two pop up because something goes wrong this season. Folks, if you are pumped up about how the Vikings did in the draft and now the schedule's out, it is a great time to get yourself a Skull Flag or Bud Grant shirt. And of course, there's much, much more. If you go to SodaStICK.COM you have to see the Minnesota golf hats. They are classic. All of SodaStick's apparel is screen printed here in Minnesota on super soft, super comfy shirts and hoodies. You will love it. Follow them at SodaStickCo on Twitter.

Go to SodaStick.com for your original Minnesota sports inspired goods. Code Purple Insider for free shipping. Hey everyone. Anybody who listens to the show knows that Sam and I may not be scratch golfers, but we love to have a great time playing golf. And that's why we have partnered with birdie golf in Woodbury birdie golf is hands down the best indoor golf experience you will ever have. There are eight of the world's best golf simulators where you can sharpen your

swing. And luckily for us, never lose a ball, but it's not just for hardcore golfers birdie golf is for everyone bring the family play arcade style games while dining on great food in an upscale and comfortable environment they have private bays for social distancing a luxury lounge for private events outdoor patio and scratch kitchen you'll want to try the whiskey or beer float flights and the best boneless wings in the Metro. Make golf a night out or the place to hold parties, events, fundraisers, even your fantasy football draft. Check out Birdie Golf at 494 in Valley Creek in Woodbury, just a short drive from anywhere in the Twin Cities Metro and at birdiegolf.com, or you could call 651-998-2200 today i'll see you there

so who is drafting spencer rattler next year who do you who do you think is picking number one and is going to take and if you haven't seen him play for oklahoma he's really fun i mean he's got like incredible bursts he's got great arm talent he's i mean he's kind of like a souped up Kyler Murray well that could be Detroit then um right if they're bad that seems like that could be a possibility because if you're running through it this year the Jags you wouldn't think are that bad but they were the last pit or they were the first pick the Jets aren't going to take them. Maybe if Atlanta has another horrendous season, they're up there. I don't know if the Texans have even next year's first round pick. If they do, that would seem like an obvious spot, but I think they do. I wouldn't be surprised if that's still like to the Dolphins. So then you're

like, okay, the Dolphins. But if, if, if the Texans have their pick, that kind of seems like the obvious one. But Detroit could also be a possibility, which wouldn't be fun for NFC North fans. OK, I'll give you a low key one. And I will say this about Detroit. And we're going to get the guys from the Detroit podcast on at some point to make fun of them. But I think Detroit did the same thing that Carolina did. They made the same mistake as Carolina that Detroit went and got a quarterback who is decent and proven and can, and won't lose you 14 or 15 games. Like there's no way

that Jared golf goes two and 15. It just is not going to happen. So what does he go like six and 11 or something like that? Seven and 10, because just by proxy of being an average starting NFL quarterback, you're going to win an average amount of games with a mediocre team. They made a mistake. I mean, they were right there where they could have tanked and they could have played Jacoby Brissett. And so you traded Stafford away,

but you should have immediately traded Jared golf to Washington or something, a team that's ready to win and needs an average quarterback to do it. And instead they kind of doubled down and made sure that his contract locked them in for two more years. I like Jared Goff more than most people, but I just don't really understand this fit. It's I think he, I think Goff and Teddy are kind of similar in a lot of ways where if they're with a team, that's really good. They can win a lot of games. And if they're not, I mean, they're not going to carry you just like Carolina last year.

I mean, Carolina has just an atrocious roster. But I don't really get them either with Carolina, with what they did with Sam Darnold. So I would put Carolina there. The low-key one is New Orleans. New Orleans lost a ton of talent last year. They're going to run out Jameis, the pick six and, you know, Winston or Taysom Hill. I mean, it's just like, what are you guys doing?

If you're not hitting the reset button, Philly is another one. Philly has a chance. If Jalen hurts, isn't good to be absolutely atrocious. So I think there's a lot of contenders actually, but Houston would be the by far leader in the clubhouse. They're going to, is Davis mills going to start like day one. This could be really bad for you. I forget what I was listening to,

but I can't remember the backup that they have there. I think it's Tyrod Taylor. I think Tyrod Taylor. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Okay. Tyrod's going to start. Yeah. He's kind of, yeah. He's the ceremonial you're, he's going to start three or four games and then he's going to do fine. Cause he's a, he's a good backup quarterback, but then everyone's just going to clamor for the backup. So I could see them putting in Davis mills, but yeah, I think it's, I think it's Tyra

Taylor. Okay. Next question I have for you. Give me your two or three. If you have three craziest storylines of the off season, because what usually happens with the off season is something nuts happens. And then like a week later, something else nuts happens. And then there's free agency and a bunch of signings.

And it just sort of gets washed away along the flood. And the same thing goes for the draft. But what would you say were the wackiest or craziest things that happened this offseason? I hear you because I feel like I'm going to say three. And then there's going to be like eight more that I forgot. I mean, the Rodgers one is like just kind of craziness in terms of how much it affects. So that one was just kind of huge news. I think we just kind of forgot. Well, no, we didn't forget. But once Mac Jones didn't go three, I think we were like, oh, OK, cool. Like that was all that

was all kind of like fake or that was just kind of drummed up. But looking back now, like there's no talk about that anymore as probably there shouldn't be now that the draft's gone. But the fact that that was just so cemented in our minds, I remember the last time I think we did hot routes, we did which quarterback is going to fall. And that was right after the Schefter report. And I think we said Trey Lance at that point, because we were like, well, I guess Mac Jones is going three and we're just accepting that. But the fact that a quarterback of his kind of athletic build was going to go that high to Kyle Shanahan when there were all these other quarterbacks on there, that'll still be wacky to me. The fact that we still keep talking about is it disrespectful to someone else who could be on a roster that Tim Tebow is going to take a 90

spot on the 90 man roster which it's not just like he's probably not going to make it it's one of 90 guys like he's a backup backup tight end like let's get over that and then I mean the stuff we still don't really know about is the Deshaun Watson stuff, and I don't want to get too much into it, but that one just kind of seems like it's lingering, and we don't know what's happening at all. At one point, he's the hottest name on the trading market. How many first-round picks are you giving up for Deshaun Watson? And suddenly, is he playing again?

And so that has to be ranking right up there as well. What did you have? Okay, so I had a few of those. Deshaun Watson was one of them, like people are like is he playing again and so that has to be ranking right up there as well what did you what did you have okay so i had a few of those deshaun watson was one of them and i mean we can talk about it for a second here massage people like that i mean right the team has uh professionals who are contracted with the team to give players massages in a professional manner, whenever those players need a massage. And I don't know if he's guilty or not, but that's weird as hell. I mean, it's at very least it is weird as hell that this guy was contacting 20, 30, whatever number of you know people who what

are they called masseuses uh masseuse i i don't know uh but like so so strange and the allegations are just like real you are letting your career crumble over this potentially if this turns out to be true so that's nuts not only that but deshaun was like the shining star of character quarterbacks like the leader and just beloved by teammates there was the video of jj watt saying hey we let you down this year buddy you know you played great he had an unbelievable season last year like that for them to even go four and twelve it tells you he was four wins above replacement because if that's anyone else they're going on 16 that's how bad that team was and he almost and he almost won like four or five other games including against the vikings so uh that's nuts the mac jones thing i don't like to comment often on what other

reporters do because we focus on the v. We don't talk about the media. There are media analysts for that. Follow Richard Deitch if you want to. But can we get an apology from all these people who sold us on Mac Jones? Can we get any acknowledgement? Hey. Sorry, I'm Mike Silver, and I wrote 30 tweets about why it's Mac Jones, and it was all BS.

And then we get to the draft and the 49ers say, yeah, we didn't actually tell anyone. So all those sources, Michael Lombardi said, I'll put my sources up against yours. Like, okay, so your sources were dead ass wrong. Can we get an apology for that? I thought, and you are more recent in journalism school than me. I thought when I was in journalism school, that getting reports right was what you were supposed to do, or there were consequences, but apparently there aren't in draft season. So it's not crazy to me because it happens almost every year, but I just look around like it's all it's almost like um one of those disaster movies where on speed they have you know people die on the bus and everything else and things blowing

up and then at the end it's just like oh everything's good now you know we're good yeah it was crazy but we're good like what you know i don't know so that that was on my list i i laughed out loud i think i got a notification like yesterday or something on my phone that mac jones was just is just a star of rookie minicamp so far he's been he's just been great great with everyone's been blown away so i don't know if we're ready to be done with the mac jones discourse quite yet but i was like okay you got him at 15 like we're done can he just can he just be normal we don't have to say he was just the, the goat in waiting now in rookie mini camp. I don't, I wasn't there. I don't know what you saw, but I don't know how much you can stand out in that, in that setting. Okay. I kind

of love that though. Like I just, I kind of love when people try to figure out in rookie mini camp. I don't, as people have heard on this show that, you know, we went and watched some seven on sevens. I couldn't really tell you like about kellen mond other than i think his throwing motion might need some work but um kellen mond also said he's trying to get the footwork down for rollouts and plays and stuff so you know it's a long way to go but i also love when the local media is like whoa this guy looks amazing okay i'm sure he does uh but the mac jones discourse will not end because that's one that we'll we'll keep coming back to and losing subscribers to the podcast because of it um i'm not afraid of that so i i guess uh that was part of it how about even

just eric b enemy not getting hired for a job and urban meyer getting hired for a job what i mean how how is this continuing to happen would be my question yeah and then the urban there was like a a coach that urban meyer hired for like a week but then everything came he was like formerly an iowa coach and then he had to get rid of him right away because there was so much backlash yes yes yes yes Jacksonville is just a whole a whole mess in itself and it's like I we want Trevor Lawrence to be really good and I don't think anyone is discounting what Urban Meyer can do like offensively it just it's it's been a weird mix there and so the Jags the Jags are their whole own story in itself. And as I was kind of thinking about this, it was like,

I think every team probably has like two or three storylines that are like the craziest for them. And you're probably forgetting all the storylines, like just with the Vikings, there's been so many things that could pop up. And so that's really like, I mean, we could eat the Jeff Gladney stuff. Now the Kellen Mond, like there's just so much for any team. So yeah, I totally forgot about the Eric, the enemy thing. And the fact that he doesn't have a job, hopefully he will at some point if he wants one. But yeah, that I totally forgot about that one.

And I don't mean to say, I just want to circle back. I don't mean to say that like the reporters who said that Mac Jones is going to be number three should be fired. It's just that I would love to have them explain what went wrong for why they believed so strongly that Mac Jones was going to be number three when it just didn't pass the smell test. Like nobody believed it. Nobody.

I mean, maybe at one point there was some conversation and it got out or something, or maybe, and this is possible, the 49ers. Cause I know teams do this. The 49ers told a couple of people who they think have big mouths to see if it would get out

and if it would end up in other places. And then it did. So that's possible, but you got to vet that as a reporter. I would just love to know what exactly happened there and why we were led to believe Mac Jones was going to be number three and that that's, you know, what was reported. I also think next year, just keep it in mind, just as, as you go through the reporting from the inside experts and whatever insiderers just know that in draft season, they don't know anything. They really don't. You'd be better off with like Chris Trapasso says he tries to stay away from agents. He stays away from sources because all they do is just muddy the water for you. They make it worse and not better.

And he ends up being more accurate a lot of times by not doing that. So bad information is worse than no information at all. All right. On to your next question. Cool. Well, you guys did all the stuff with the schedule release last week. And I'm not sure if you had this conversation on the live stream um or at the podcast but every year we talk about what team's going to go first to worse and I think it's a pretty easy conversation this year I think people probably

are looking at the 49ers as kind of that obvious team they were in just like injury hell last year they couldn't buy like a a healthy player so it was that that seems like the obvious one and trey lance just some ascension that happens so if we're going off the board outside of the 49ers are there any teams that you're looking at that makes sense to to go first to worst i have a pick the atlanta falcons under new head coach arthur smith who did an amazing job with the Tennessee Titans in their offense and a similar quarterback like Matt Ryan and Ryan Tannehill at this point in their careers are probably pretty similar. Ryan Tannehill has a little more mobility to his game, but they

both need a lot of help. They get Kyle Pitts in there. If they can improve on defense a little, look at that division. All of a sudden, Carolina is a joke. New Orleans lost half their team. Tampa Bay played in the Superbowl, which usually means the next year you get a lot of injuries. They still have Tom Brady, but he is 44. I'm not counting them out. There's still reasonably a favorite, but this happens a lot when teams go to the Superbowl, look at the 49ers. The next year they get a lot of injuries, they drop back. So I think the Falcons, even if they won like 10 games, might have a chance to tie for the division lead. 11 games, they can really get fat against New Orleans and Carolina there.

That's a possibility. In the AFC, I'm not sure that there is one. The one team I would say is Denver if they get Aaron Rodgers. But I still don't know that even with Aaron Rodgers that they could go to number one. The long shot, but you might even think about it, even though it's a tough division, would be the Cincinnati Bengals because second year with a rookie quarterback,

if Joe Burrow comes out, lights the world on fire with Jamar Chase's new weapons, that'd be the extreme long shot. But I guess I would mention them too just because of how the trajectory of teams goes yeah the Bengals stuck out the one to me as the one I wanted to pick like that's the one I wanted to pick badly based on their roster I mean they bring in Riley Reif they have I think their right tackle was out with an injury most of last year they bring him back so I know they didn't go offensive line in the first round. I believe they got a tackle in the second round. And then Jamar Chase, Joe Burrow.

I'm just interested to see what that head coach can do. Because it feels like he's just been getting a pass these first few years. Zach Taylor, it's like he was one of those Rams, Sean McVay disciples that just kind of got a job. And we still really haven't been able to see what he can do. So I'd be excited to see what kind of happens there. And so they feel like the team that I want to make the biggest jump, but I just see the Ravens and the Browns as teams that are going to be really good.

I think, I guess if Trevor Lawrence just was absolutely like generational, that could happen because I don't think any team is exactly running away with that division either. We just got done talking about the Texans probably being the worst team in the NFL. The Colts went, we don't know what happens there. And then it's just the Titans. And so at that point, things happen with injuries. Things just happen with teams regressing.

And so if they were just, if Trevor Lawrence was just everything that anyone expected him to be, that's another one I could see. The one I wanted to go to a little bit was the Eagles, but I just don't, like that division is just such a tire fire that I was like, well, maybe anyone can win it. But I'm not a huge believer in Jalen Hurts, so I don't foresee that one. But just because of how bad the division has been,

I don't know if that one can be ruled out entirely. Their coach might also be a nut too. Like this is the guy who is playing rock, paper, scissors with the prospects to decide who is competitive. And that to me is an immediate red flag. Uh-oh, what did you do not hiring Eric Biennemi? That might've been a mistake. Jacksonville is a great pick.

Now, if we talk about first to worst, if Houston wasn't in that division, I would have picked Tennessee here, but that's probably not going to happen. Washington, I think, stays ahead of Philly. So I don't know if they could go to worst. The obvious pick here is New Orleans, that it's very possible that Jameis Winston throws 30 picks and they're just horrible. But I mean, actually, you know who is a first to worst candidate

if Aaron Rodgers doesn't play is Green Bay. That was the one I was thinking. If Detroit won seven games and Green Bay won six because Jordan Love is horrible, then that could happen. So I'm going to skip my last question, go to your last question, because it's kind of fun. And we did something really similar to this on the show. I asked Courtney this question.

So somebody emailed me and asked if you could have a punter who punted it to the other team's one yard line every single time would you draft him in the first round my answer was yes if it's from any point on the field now you found a similar internet question to ask that we can wrap up here on yeah it was if you had the first overall pick and you had a chance to pick a kicker that had a 100% chance of making a kick from any range, do you take them? Hey everyone, I want to tell you about our friends at Scout Logistics. And I really do mean it when I say friends. They are fans of Purple Insider over at Scout Logistics. And since they reached out wanting to support this show, I want to tell

you about what they do. Scout Logistics is just-in-time transportation for full tractor-trailer loads, and if you're wondering what that means exactly, well, if you own or work for a company that needs shipping solutions, they are the preferred carrier of Fortune 500 companies across North America, and we have quite a few of those in Minnesota, right? They can ship perishable, non-perishable, FTL or LTL, and they have on-time delivery rate of over 99%. So if you're like them and you enjoy the show and you have shipping needs, check out scoutlogistics.com or call 855-217-2688 extension 232 to connect with them directly to find out how Scout Logistics can minimize risk

and overperform and go the extra mile for your company. Would you like to answer first or do you want me to go? I think this question is almost too easy. Like I want to adapt it because I feel like it's too easy. Like the answer is so obviously yes, that you would take someone who could hit 100% from anywhere because you think about even like points per drive. I mean, that means if you go three and out after a kickoff, you get three points automatically.

Yeah, yeah. It should be amended to like anything like 75 yards or in or something like that. So you at least have to make some progress. In which case, I think it gets more interesting. But in my head, it's like, he's going to make any kick, even if it's just a 40 yard, like if he's just going to make every 40 yard or every 50 yard or like that is

extremely, extremely valuable. And you just look at the first round and how many bus come out of the first round every single year. If you're coming to me and you're saying, even if this guy's just a regular kicker and is kicking everything in at any point then it still might be more valuable like at this point or would we rather take that kicker over uh Jeff Gladney like I think there's a pretty obvious or like over Garrett Bradbury like I think when you look at first round picks we all think they're so valuable and they are until they turn into an actual player that sometimes isn't very good so if you're even just giving me like a uh justin tucker like like one of those

guys but even better like i'm taking that and so yes the 100 sets it up even even more but there are a lot of people that were saying no which is why i brought the question here yeah okay no is insane no is silly of course over a right like a middle of the first round corner like yeah you would take a guy who's gonna make every kick so but my amended questions off of this because that seems too obvious to me maybe there are people that disagree it just i don't know how you if you if the other team cough and cornered you and you ran three times and then got three points you'd win every game i don't know how you would ever lose it'd be so maddening for another coach too all right like no matter what they did on defense

you got three points for every possession so you end up with like nine possessions in a game and the lowest amount of points you could score is 27 so i yeah i think uh just when we do it that way it becomes a little more clear um i mean you could fumble a snap and run backwards 20 yards and get three points. Like, no, that's yeah. It's not going to do it. Um, but now here's the two things I thought of. If you had a kicker who would make every kick under 40 yards, guaranteed every kick under 40 yards, but could not make anything over 40 yards. Would that be worth a first round pick or, or was the average over 40 yards we'll say that

was like a guarantee under 40 but was average anywhere else like league average past that would that be worth a first round pick i think maybe a first round pick back of the first round pick for a team that had so many troubles like the vikings had like if i'm coming from this past of like sitting on like watching watching the Blair Walsh kick and then like falling to the ground and like staring at the ceiling for 20 minutes, not saying anything to anyone after that happened, like that's my personal experience. So would I take that over like Jeff Gladney had we picked like that pick or Garrett Bradbury or just even some of like the average first rounders, probably just to like save my, my like, just like stress,

like just to save some of that. If we're getting up to like the, the question that I had, it said first overall pick. And at that point, no, like you're trying to get one of those generational guys. Like if I have a chance to get Trevor Lawrence, even though if I have this like sure thing in the bag, like I'm going to go for someone who's a little bit more transformational, but yeah,

I think, I think you do, if you are guaranteed that he's not going to flame out, that he's going to be really good for a really long time. I think that's just kind of the thing with kickers. Like Roberto Aguayo goes in the second round and then is out like after a year. But if he was just the best kicker in the league and he's still a second

round pick, I'm sure people are still going to be mad at that, but it's going to be a little bit more defensible. So if this guy's really, really great from 40 and in, he's making every extra point, he's making every field goal and he can just be average 50 yards plus. I feel like that's an asset. Yeah. I just, I feel like, um, you have to be Justin Tucker to be worth it, something like that. And you can never predict which college kicker will be Justin Tucker. So you should just never do it. Like even Sebastian Genachowski had a great career, but was it good

enough to justify the first round pick? No. To the answer of the 40 yard and in the answer is no, I would not because you shouldn't be kicking field goals, 40 and in any way you should be going for touchdowns unless it's you know, fourth and 18 or something then you're allowed to kick a field goal but if it's fourth and four and it's inside a 40 yard field goal you better be going for it try to maximize your uh scoring now the last one i thought of was this if you had a guy who is a decent percentage let's say like 60 percent from 75 yards Would you kick field goals with him from 75 yards? Even if in practice, you knew that he could make them, would you do it? If it was 60% from 75 yards away, knowing that the other team then gets the ball at 25 in the 40% that he misses,

would you still take those shots? Man. That's hard. I don't think so. I think the field position battle, I don't know. If they're starting at my 25 every time you don't make it, well, 40%, I don't know. This is hard. What did you kind of think when you were looking at this question?

It would have to be only at the end of halves, I think. I don't think you can give the ball to the other team at the 25-yard line all the time. I mean, that is a bad turnover. That's like a horrible turnover if you end up missing one. And it's happening 40% of the time. 40% is probably too much. But in close games, you would love it. If it was like the fourth quarter and it's late in the game

and you're down by two points or something it's late in the game and you're down by two points or something you might as well or you're down by one especially you might as well because even if the other team scores it'd be an eight point game or you could stop them on the two-point conversion if have yourself another shot i just wonder like how valuable would it be to have someone who could bang them from that far away and at the end of the you'd probably win one or two games a year just at the end of a game where you had to kick it from 75 yards. Yeah, no, that I, I mean, it would be electric to watch someone hit 75 yard field goals just to win games. That would be absurd. So just for that fun factor, like I, it, it makes me consider it. I wonder if this is just like

totally off the wall, but it's summertime now if like is there a rule that you have to snap it seven yards back is there a rule like that or could or can you i don't know this every team kicks field goals the exact same way could you have your guy line up farther back to get more of a run up on the ball to kick it. Because this is part of the issue is that if you take too long, like these guys in practice can make them from 70 yards. It's just that it takes a big run up to be able to do it, to be able to kick it that far. Is it someone will have to tell me if it's against the rules

to snap it back like 15 yards. And even though you'd be kicking it farther, you could get a bigger run up and maybe there's a equation there. It feels almost like a kickoff, like they're kicking it off from, because then you see it. So yeah, if they could have that amount of time, it could be a lower trajectory, whatever trajectory they need to, and not feel like it's going to get blocked with a line because they're up front.

That obviously changes it a little bit too. So that would be cool. I wonder if there is a rule there. There probably is, but who knows? Yeah, who knows? Do you have any questions for me or just anything on your mind about the vikings i'll answer it right now we've got time just hanging out you're you're skipping work right now to do this podcast so yeah hopefully no one is listening that works uh with me but you know who knows um

quite vikings questions just you know anything on your mind before we wrap up rookie minicamp am i supposed to have questions after rookie minicamp i know a lot of people do but to me the roster looked like there were so many people out there there were quarterbacks behind kellen mond that i was like who are these people what's going on uh this just kind of feels like the dead zone but um no i don't know if i have any pressing questions but you know i, I'll ask him in the Friday mailbag. I haven't been asking questions, but I think I should, I think I should start asking you Friday mailbag questions.

It's time for you to jump in the yeah. The Friday mailbag already was asking me about which press box food was the best. So we're kind of, we are in that range of where we talk about whether it's legal to snap the ball back a little farther, but we will have very, very, very serious football talk on the way uh i was gonna tell you it's jake browning and nate stanley paul come on yeah okay now this was something i thought of that we've had all these discussions about kellen mond and what he means

and if jake browning ends up being the backup and kellen mond the number three it's all just gonna be right out the window i i mean it possible. It's who can run the offense better. I mean, well, wasn't that the whole like Jordan Love wasn't even starting or that wasn't even the backup. Like they had some random guy behind him. So, yeah, I don't think that would be at least for Vikings fans. I don't think they'd love to see that. But if we're really getting in the weeds,

you think it would be Jake Browning over Nate Stanley if we're really getting into quarterback three talk now in the deep in the office? Yes, I do. I think that I actually think that they kind of like Jake Browning over Nate Stanley, if we're really getting into quarterback three talk now in the deep in the office. Yes, I do. I think that I actually think that they kind of like Jake Browning is a potential backup long-term, but I mean, not enough to not draft Kellen Mond, but somebody who knows how to run the offense and in the practices last year, when they had the scrimmage, like the live scrimmage, uh, he played pretty well. So I don't know. I mean, it's hard. Like you don't see a whole lot of the guy. There't even a preseason last year but i guess his preseason reps will matter and it will

be interesting to see if he's the number three or number two i suppose and also tim boyle has a family don't call him some random guy paul come on i mean he's making so much money he's doing fine i think he can handle me calling him a random guy thinks you're a random guy so uh uh yes you are a random well no but not when you're well not when you have a brand you have more brand he's not backup he's not backup boil like your intern paul so all right that's it that's enough so uh we'll do this again soon paul this was lots of fun again there's lots coming up this week of very super serious uh vikings talk so i just want to have some fun since it's a nice day so we'll catch you next time here on purple insider