Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Carson Wentz returns to Vikings; what does it mean for JJ McCarthy?

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

Matthew Coller talks with Manny Hill about the Minnesota Vikings re-signing Carson Wentz. Is he going to be QB2? Are the Vikings going to trade JJ McCarthy and keep Wentz as the backup quarterback or is there a serious competition between McCarthy and Murray and Wentz is just the backup? Plus, Matthew makes a schedule and Manny has to pick the wins and losses based on having Kyler Murray at quarterback for the 2026 NFL season. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider presented by Fanduil. Matthew Collar here along with Mani Hill on this Thursday evening where the weather has finally turned towards spring and it's going to stay that way. We've got March Madness going on and the women's tournament is getting going and it's a great time of year. Normally, though, Manny, we're getting into this time of year and going, wow, what a crazy free agency it was for the Minnesota Vikings and get a little bit. bit of a break and we could all sit back and watch some college basketball, but, um, there really wasn't. It really wasn't at all.

The Vikings got a new quarterback and they picked up an RFA tackle and they needed that. And they have a new punter who's kind of an old punter. And I don't know is going to be as good as Ryan Wright. So, you know, he can hold well, I think. And, uh, there you have it. Oh, and they got Carson Wentz back, which was something that was thrown out there by Adam Schaefter a couple of weeks ago. And I think all of us when.

chef to report it went like, oh, like, okay, I mean, I guess so. And today, I saw a lot of attempts to make this interesting. I saw a lot of reaches to make this controversial. I saw a lot of, well, I guess they have to trade J.G. McCarthy now. And I'm here to make a declaration, Mr. Hill. It's not interesting. It's not controversial. It's not shocking. And it will have no ripple effects whatsoever. Carson Wentz is back because in two out of the four seasons that KOC has been the head coach, they have ended up with QB3. And you know who QB3 was? It was Jaron Hall and then it was Max Brosmer. And you know who does not want it to be Jaron Hall or Max Brosmer again? Kevin O'Connell. It works on a lot of different levels where Carson Wentz knows the offense. Kyler Marie does not.

It's great to have a veteran around who knows what he's doing, who can help you through that. Also, Josh McCown is here, a very good friend of Carson Wences. They played together. The connection between KOC and Wence was really good last year. I mean, there was that whole thing against the Chargers, but apparently Wents didn't hold it against him. As he said, he did not. And he's probably the 10th best backup quarterback in the NFL. And if you are saying, like, what?

No, he's no good. Oh, you're right. Of course he's not. But are there other great backup quarterback? that are running around, I don't think that there are. If Philip Rivers came back to play in the NFL last year, then there is not an abundance of useful backup quarterbacks. And that's the whole thing.

Although, Mani, I do think we might be able to conclude, again, not shocking, that the battle, the real battle, the true competition is for QB2 and not for QB1. So there are all of my thoughts about Carson Wentz, and I would like yours. So you mean we're not going to break down the advanced punting stats of Johnny Hecker for the next hour? You know, you bet you bet I don't know them. I know them. I know where Johnny Hecker ranked by PFF last year and it wasn't ideal.

So let me just say that. But don't, don't mess with me because I might. So get to your, get to your Wence take. Yeah, I'm with you. When I saw the news break of Wentz returning to the Vikings, I was like, oh, okay, all right. Bringing them back. Why not?

You know, just add another quarterback to the quarterback room. Why not? I mean, KOC said he wanted it to be a competitive quarterback room in 2026, at least going into camp. And you bring in Carson Wentz and you just kind of, again, see what happens. I know listeners and viewers might get tired of hearing me say, just see what happens, but this is kind of where we're at now with this position.

You brought in Kyler Murray because it made sense to bring him in. And I think it makes some sense to bring Carson Wentz in because you just, you never know. Things happen. I mean, like you said, we've seen this team get down to playing its third quarterback in two of the four seasons that KOC has been here. And if that third quarterback is Carson Wentz, in like week seven of 2026, then it's better than Max Brozer or Jaron Hall.

So I think you just kind of take it for what it is. And, you know, if things, a lot of different things can play out over the course of training camp, you know, someone could get injured in training camp. And then that makes the competition a lot easier to figure out, you know. So I, you know, I don't want to call it a nothing burger. But, I mean, it is just kind of like, I think you just kind of shrug, your shoulders and just say, okay, this makes some sense. And here we go into camp and here we go.

This is, it just is what it is. And we are well aware that Kevin O'Connell does not mind juggling a very crowded quarterback room because at one point, they had five quarterbacks in the room in 2025, if I'm not mistaken, right? Because Brett Rippin was there and also Sam Darnold. And then you had Daniel Jones coming in. So there's been a lot of quarterback. in that room before.

And I remember when they picked up Daniel Jones, my initial thought was, now why would you do that? Like, why would you bring in somebody dedicate any sort of time or resource to working with this quarterback that maybe we'll sign with you or maybe he won't and whatever, whatever?

And ultimately, Sam Darnold just continued to play really, really well. It made no difference at all that, you know, Daniel Jones was in there. He worked with some of the coaches after practice and stuff. He worked on the preparation. I think he was ultimately useful to Sam Darnold down the stretch as another set of eyes who had been in the NFL. And with Carson Wentz, I also think that it's good for J.J. McCarthy to have Carson Wentz around because those guys did click from my understanding last year. And he has also been through everything you can go through in the NFL.

Well, Wentz has been the king of the mountain. He has had the injury. He has been the guy who grinded out a 9 and 7 season on a really bad team. He has been traded. He's gone to the bottom. He's been a backup for a championship caliber team that went to the Super Bowl. He's literally done everything. And he also knows this inside and out.

I have no doubt about it that Carson Wentz mastered that playbook very quickly as someone who's been around to a lot of different places. understands what Kevin O'Connell is looking for in this offense. To me, that is a good resource for J.J. McCarthy, not someone that you trade J.J. McCarthy because of. I did see a lot of that. Well, you know, now they're going to trade J.J. McCarthy now that Wentz is here. I don't see any real use in doing that unless somebody came by and said, we're going to give you the, I don't know who's drafting 10th overall, the 10th overall draft pick or we're going to give you some really high return in draft capital for J.J. McCarthy.

And if you feel like, ah, this is probably run its course to the end, then maybe you would consider doing that. I think that if there was any consideration whatsoever of trading J.J. McCarthy, that it comes at the end of training camp. It would not come now because you'd have no idea if you're the Vikings what J.J. McCarthy has been doing, how much better he can improve himself. and that answer might be none or it might be a lot. I mean, this is his first healthy offseason now in a while. So he has the opportunity to go back home and put in all the effort and all the work

into truly mastering everything O'Connell wants. Justin Jefferson has said that he's going to work with J.J. McCarthy. Now, I think we're all wise enough to say that you don't go get someone who's been a top 12 quarterback in the NFL three times and is in his prime. unless you want that person to be the starter. So you can have, oh, there's going to be a competition. No, not really. But what you want to see from J.J. McCarthy is you should be able to beat out Carson Wentz

for that number two spot pretty handily if you are on the right trajectory. And how about it, JJ, force the Vikings to feel uncomfortable about the quarterback spot because you've performed so well behind the scenes and they just got Kyler Murray. The onus is really on him. But I would want to see it in OTAs and in minicamp and all the way through training camp. I want to get as big of a sample size as possible because this is something many people talk about a lot is, well, he's only started 10 games. He's only started 10 games, which I get, but it's also that's actually a negative because he's been injured so much. And in those 10 games, it hasn't been anywhere close.

So you're really not working with a great sample size. And the sample size that you have is quite bad. So, like, show us. Show the world that there's more there in this entire off season before you decide something like, yeah, we're just going to do the Trey Lance thing and send him out of here. Yeah, I mean, listen, J.J. McCarthy needs to be pushed. That's just the reality of it. He needs to be pushed.

I mean, if we're being honest, after 2024 and the way that season played out with Sam Donald struggling the last two games and everybody kind of pushing them out the door and you know, basically anointing J.J. McCarthy as the guy without having him see, without seeing him play a legitimate down, a single legitimate down in the NFL. In a lot of ways, he was kind of handed that starting job. And there was just this assumption that he was just going to pick up where Sam Darnel left off. And it was going to be all systems go. And we saw that that wasn't the case, that he wasn't ready.

And so he needs to be pushed. he needs to be, you know, I don't want to say he needs to be motivated. I think he's a motivated young player. I mean, I think he wants to be great. He wants to be a very good quarterback in the NFL. But I think a message needs to be sent that like, hey, kid, you got to really, you got to really work at this. You know, we maybe have made a mistake a year ago of just kind of handing this to you

and anointing you without you having really earned it at that point. Now you got to really earn it. If you're, if you're going to be the guy, you got to put in some serious. work. You've got to get in the lab and get this thing going. And if you do that and then you perform well, it translates to the field in practice and preseason

and everything, then you're going to have a chance and an opportunity for some success. It's going to take a lot, I think, to certainly surpass Kyler Murray, but I think you have to let him know like, hey, dude, we're not, you're not, nothing is guaranteed in this league.

And just because you were to the 10th pick of the draft, just because you won a national championship at Michigan, and just because we handed you the job last year without really having to put into work to really earn it, it's going to be different now. You got to, you got to go up, you got to go out there and you got to perform. And I think, you know, bringing Carson Wentz in there is going to push him a little bit. The other part of this, if things play out a certain way in camp and J.J. McCarthy does sort of beat out Carson Wentz for that number two spot, guess what you can probably do? You can probably trade Carson Wentz to somebody else that,

you know, you're not going to get a high draft pick for him or anything like that, but you can get, you can probably ship him off somewhere at the end of camp and get something in return for him. So to me, it makes a lot of sense. And I don't really understand why so many people are up in arms about it. Well, people might laugh at you saying that and then forget that they got a fifth round pick for Sam Howell after one of the worst training. camps wasn't the worst. There's some few nominees for that at quarterback, but it was one of the worst. And they still got a fifth round pick for him.

That's how quarterback desperate teams are. Though I think the QB3 thing is very real. I mean, Kyler Murray has had some injuries. And we know that J.J. McCarthy has had some injuries. So you would want your quarterback three to stick around. And also, I think, just be there for Kyler Murray throughout the season of it's great to have someone in that room who knows just as much as you or more.

about how the system works and just the NFL in general defenses, how to read certain things. I'm not sure how often Kyler Murray even ever had that in Arizona. When we go through the setup and the things that he had, there's not a lot to write home about outside of when he had DeAndre Hopkins in terms of coaching and the scenario and situation. So I don't even remember who their backup quarterbacks were, but I don't know if there was ever someone in there who was kind of his equal at one point, a former high draft pick, somebody who had won stuff in the NFL, not necessarily Super Bowl that was won by Nick Foles, but who has kind of been to the top and been back down.

I think that helps for Kyler Murray as well. And if Wents wins the job and J.J. McCarthy is in the press box, then it will be unbelievably clear where things stand and what they think about J.J. McCarthy. But if they end up either keeping three active on game day, maybe unlikely, but you have the emergency guy who's going to put his pads on over there. But if that ends up being Carson Wentz, that would show an immense amount of trust for J.J. McCarthy to be the backup quarterback to come in and potentially win them a game. And that's what he has an opportunity here to earn.

And so now it's kind of baby steps. But to your point, I do think last year that, and entitlement is just such a word that is like a heavy word. And it feels, it's sort of the same thing with immaturity. Like when you say entitlement or immaturity, they're just. just they're just hitting someone with a sledgehammer. And I don't mean to do that. I mean, this is sort of what happens with people who have never failed ever before.

There was some entitlement probably with Kyler Murray. And I know this offense and I don't have to do this or that. And I just see it out there and I'll just scramble early in his career that eventually in 2024, he had to go back to the drawing board completely and really learn from top to bottom an offense. So everybody gets humbled at some point in the NFL. Patrick Mahomes missed the playoffs. last year.

Like nobody gets out alive in the NFL. So when I say the entitlement part at the end of the season after the last game in McCarthy's last press conference, he was asked like, do you think you've done enough to be the QB one for next year? And he said, well, I think I did. And it was like, can you point to it with your hands for me? I mean, obviously, obviously not since we're asking this question and your head coach is not committing to you.

And I know it's right after a game. and it's not an answer. What is he supposed to say is fair, right? But also it was sort of like, well, I'll dance into the end zone if I want to dance into the end zone. And I think I've earned the QB1 and you go, hey, man, this is a production based league. This isn't a promise in the future base league. And they have certainly showed that to him now.

So he's going to have to come in with a lot of humility. But I think that that's a hard lesson most NFL players at some point have to learn. they all have their welcome to the NFL type moments and it's welcome to the NFL. If you play like that, someone else will be the starting quarterback and that's going to happen. But this, I think, Mani right here is going to be the most important, how many months? When do they show up in OTAs? Like April, maybe, whatever. Call it like four or five months of J.J. McCarthy's entire career because you can really take two different paths.

And we have no idea which one he's going to take. you can have that same sort of I've done enough to be the QB1 and you know oh okay they they they're haters or they've fallen out of love with me and that's not my fault or whatever I've seen a handful of free agents who signed with other teams who said yeah well my new team's going to use me the right way like oh okay all right your other team was just a bunch of morons I'm sure so anyway uh like i think quay walker said like I don't know if the packers were a really dumb franchise but anyway, are you going to have that attitude? Or are you going to have the attitude?

We've seen this from some backup quarterbacks before. That's for sure. Or are you going to have the attitude like, I better wake up. Whatever work I thought I was putting in, oh, it's got to be a lot more than that. In order to perform at a level that has KOC saying, I want you as QB2 on game day. I just don't see a world where he can perform well enough in these practices to not have the guy who's been a multiple time pro bowler as the starting quarterback that KOC reportedly said you might be our multi-year quarterback. I don't see that world, but I do also see a world, mani, that if he's ready to go,

and Kyler Murray gets banged up, which he has been known to do, that J.J. McCarthy comes in there and shows what he is. So the way he approaches this, I think will tell us a lot about what he's going to be in the future. I think the biggest thing for him is I think he has to embrace this challenge. He's being challenged now. being tested. His very livelihood as a viable quarterback in the National Football League is being put to the test now over the last or over the next four or five months, as you said, you know, this is an opportunity. This is the first real sort of adversity. I mean, you could you could say the injury in 2024 that wiped out his rookie season. You could, you know, you could point to that as a point of adversity. But this is like on the field adversity where

You walked in, you were handed this job, you know, in year two, despite missing all of the year before, and it didn't go well. And I'm sure you thought it was going to go really well, and it didn't. And this was after, you know, two years in college where I think you might have lost, I think he lost three games total in college and won a national championship. So everything was pie in the sky playing at Michigan and getting drafted in the top half of the first round. and then everything just, everything got real for him for J.J. McCarthy in 2025, where it's like, hey, dude, no, this is, you got to, you got to really bring it and you got to get in the lab and you got to get to work.

And how he handles this is really going to decide whatever direction, you know, his career is going to go, like you said. So I think he needs to embrace this challenge and, and, you know, use it as fuel, use it as motivation. We always hear about these professional athletes that something happens in their career, typically early on, that really kind of changes their outlook on everything. And it kind of opens their eyes like, hey, this could go away pretty quickly, whether it's an injury or if I just don't put in the necessary work to really get to a high level. It can all, it can all go away just like that. So I think he should embrace this, let it feed his, you know, his competitive spirit that he has. And, you know, if everything goes well and he really puts in the work, he's got an opportunity to really kind of turn things around. But it's not going to be handed to him this time, obviously with the bringing in of Kyler Murray.

And with Carson Wentz kind of sitting there saying like, hey, dude, this is serious. You better get to work. So for the record, would you trade J.J. McCarthy? No. Not right now. No. I mean, depending on what happens in training camp, you know, maybe explore it. But I think as of right now, I'm not thinking about that because a lot of things could happen in training camp. Somebody could get hurt and then you're really screwed. So I wouldn't even think about doing it right now.

For the Vikings, a quarterback getting hurt. We've never seen that before. Training camp? I don't know about that, man. But here's the only scenario that I would trade J.J. McCarthy. if he was around the team and was just not putting in the work that you want. And I don't expect this from McCarthy. I mean, we know that one of the main reasons he was drafted was the personality,

the energy, the enthusiasm, the work ethic. And I think that one thing is, we saw this from really Caleb Williams, his first year, even just knowing how to do the right work can take time for a young quarterback. I think I was probably snarky about it and maybe Caleb Williams deserves a little bit of that for I didn't know how to watch film and like, hey, well, you have free will. You could go maybe figure that out. But then you realize, and you and I have both had interns in the past, you realize sometimes that young people, they don't know the way and they don't know how to do these things themselves. And sometimes you don't even think of stuff that you're like, oh, that's right. You might not really realize that.

but if he did come into training camp, into OTAs, with a completely different attitude than we've seen from him before. Because I've never, at least my standpoint, felt like it was an attitude issue for J.J. McCarthy, which is why I've continued to say that I think he could be a successful quarterback at some point. It's really a throwing issue and a timing issue and a touch issue and a knowing how to run an NFL offense issue.

And I'm watching Kyler Murray tape and they run a motion where the snap has to happen as the guy is starting to kind of curl up field, which you're not really supposed to do, but you can get away with it if you time it right. And Murray's doing it like every play right on. And that's a veteran. And that's something that McCarthy couldn't really get down and they kept having false starts and stuff. And you're like, these are the things that you're going to have to pick up on and learn. I think those are the issues, which are mostly due to experience and not due to attitude. But that can change when your franchise goes out and gets Kyler Murray and brings in Carson Wants and everybody's meming you and everything else and,

you know, where does he really mentally stand with this? And if he were saying to the organization, like, get me out of here, whatever else, then I think you do have to consider it because the rookie contract has made everything so complicated, Manny. It's like you have this short window to take advantage of it. And then if you don't, it gets very complex after that of how you're going to deal with it. Now, it doesn't make it impossible, but if Murray started most of the year, but you saw some stuff you liked from J.J. McCarthy, and let's say you missed the playoffs, but you know, you're sticking with KOC or whatever, you could maybe consider going back to McCarthy, but then you have to have a quarterback competition. And then if he wins it and then plays okay,

and he's average, because one of the ways people have talked about this who want McCarthy to start is, well, shouldn't we just find out? And I mean, one, we did find out quite a lot. a bit last year. But also, well, they're sort of assuming that there's like a high end and a low end and those are the only two results. But what if you are eight, nine and he throws for 3,300 yards and 18 touchdowns and 12 picks or something? Like, then what?

Like, what is even that? What are you supposed to do with that? But the rookie contract ending is looming. So even if you wanted to go back to him and then he did play really well, then you have to pay him, which makes your life more complicated. So this is a situation that is sort of ripe for a quarterback being traded. And that's what we did see with Trey Lance. And we may eventually see with Anthony Richardson, heard the Packers.

I didn't hear this. I saw this that the Packers are sniffing around Richardson. No, bad Packers. Back off. We don't need them doing it again. Here's Anthony Richardson in the year, 2013, becoming an elite quarterback for the Packers. But I see this as.

as a little bit dicey from that standpoint to how McCarthy could go from where he is now to being a starting quarterback. So the point to draw it all back in was if they were to trade him, I would not at this moment. But if they were, I would understand because it's a bigger decision than just do you like him or could you see him ever becoming good? It's almost if he does become good someday, that's hard on you. And you will have missed the entire thing that was supposed to help you, which was the rookie quarterback contract advantage. That is the point. that there is a case for that based on team building, not really having much to do with the actual player.

Yeah. And the other thing to think about, too, is because I've seen a lot of people say, well, now you got to trade him. You know, if you're taking away this opportunity for him to really, you know, compete with Kyler Murray for this starting job, then, you know, trade him to somebody who, you know, who will give him that opportunity. And, Carla, you look around the league.

If the Vikings were to trade Kyler or J.J. McCarthy right now, the only team I could think of where he would have like a legitimate shot to win the starting job is ironically the Arizona Cardinals. The only team I could think of because everybody else, even the teams that kind of need a quarterback, you know, I mean the, the Raiders are going to take Fernando Mendoza with the first pick. So that's not happening. The dolphins, even though they pretty much gutted their roster, just gave Malik Willis a lot of money. So that's out of the picture. The Falcons went and got Tua to compete. Pete with Penix and they don't know what Pennings' future is going to look like.

Like every, no matter where you, you know, Gino just went to the Jets. I mean, you trade him somewhere. He's going to be kind of walking into the same, you know, or at least a similar situation that he's in right now. So, I mean, I think you just have to kind of let this thing play out. A lot of things can happen between now and camp. And this is still, I view this as still an opportunity for him to turn things around and, you know, get, get his career, you know, sort of back on track before you get to that point where you're like a Josh Rosen and you're just out of the league after three years because nobody thinks you're any good.

He still has an opportunity to really kind of get this thing turned around. The Browns. Do you want to be the Browns quarterback? It would be, it would be much better for J.J. McCarthy. That's why I'm saying that this is a really pivotal part of his career. It would be much better for. J.J. McCarthy if he puts in every ounce of work and makes it hard on the team to make a decision at the end of 2006 because if he wants to force his way out and he doesn't put in the effort and they trade him to the Browns, good luck, man. Good. Could you imagine? Freaking luck. Could you imagine all of the J.J. McCarthy fans going at it online with all of the

Shador Sanders fans? That would be get your popcorn out. And at the end of the day, they'll win five games. It would be the same freaking Cleveland Browns, but they'll have had fun on the internet, which they did last year complaining about Kevin Stefansky or whatever. But yeah, I mean, is that the environment you want to go to? And there aren't many other teams. I guess you could say Pittsburgh.

I don't know what they're doing. I'm assuming that Aaron's coming back to Pittsburgh, and that's why they've been inactive. I saw there was a report today from Andrew Philiponi, who's a radio host there, that they did not inquire about Murray. But I also think that no one inquired about, Murray because he was going to be a Viking. Like it was sort of out there already.

Everyone knew every NFL insider when he was officially released was like, yeah, Viking. It was a formality that that was happening. So I don't know how many other teams really checked in. There were apparently teams checking in about him in 2027, which I think maybe shows that there are teams that think he's a quarterback that you can win with. But speaking of which, Mani, got two other things that I want to get to on show today. One is we made a promise the other night that you would pick a schedule. And for those,

we have a lot of new viewers to the show recently, which is really cool. And I'm very, very happy about. So if you're not familiar with Manny Picks the schedule, every week during the NFL season, we will react to the week's games, essentially by having Manny pick wins and losses for the Viking schedule. And over the last couple of years, it has been quite a journey from week one into week 17 of watching you either be super high or super low or whatever and come back to I think last year when they were four and eight I think you picked them to win five and they end up winning nine and you know it's just bounced all over the place the 14 win season I think at one point you had him winning 10 and then 15 and all over the place so we we use it as a way to

keep track of how we feel about where the team is going so why not do it after the Vikings have signed their new quarterback in Kyler Murray. Of course, the schedule is not out yet, but that didn't stop me because we know the opponents. So, here is the disclaimer, which I will give multiple times for people who are just popping in. This is a fake schedule. The Vikings didn't secretly release the schedule and you missed it. This is a fake schedule, but Mani is going to pick the schedule with Kyler Murray as the quarterback. And here's the assumption, Mani, that Kyler plays at least 15 games. That's the assumption. We don't even have to try to decide. I was going to miss this one. 15 games is what Kyle Murray is playing in this schedule that I have made up. So the over under on

Fandul is eight and a half and I am very curious to see if you get there. So let us begin with game one of my fake schedule for you to pick for the Vikings, but with the proper opponents, the Vikings will open up against the Chicago Bears at U.S. Bank Stadium. Will Kyler Murray in his U.S. Bank Stadium debut for the team he grew up cheering for, come home with a victory. Kyler Murray versus Kayla Williams Week 1. I know. That's what I was going for. Like a repeat of last year, you know, the put it on Sunday night football or something.

Like, let's go. Yeah, I can see this being a Monday night last year at Soldier Field. Yeah, why not? It was a Monday night game. This could be, this could be interesting. I'll take the Vikings to win here in week one. I think it'll be a little sloppy, but I'll give the Vikings to win here a week one against the Bears.

Okay, week two. And the Bears real quick, we're just going through the schedule. Let's do this with every team. Just give a little like take about their offseason, that kind of thing because these are the opponents. So they're all relevant to the Vikings. My take on the Bears is,

huh. That's it. I just, I thought there would be more. I did too. I thought they were going to get in on on Max Crosby or, you know, Trey Hendrickson and they got in on neither.

So I think there is going to be a little bit of a regression from the Bears just because I think Caleb will be better. I think just because naturally he's going to just be better with more experience. And I think them getting to the playoffs and winning a game in the playoffs last year, I think is big for him and his growth.

But they still kind of skated by with some games last year that I think, you know, really helped them get to the playoffs and win the division. And I think there's a little room for a regression here. So I think they'll be good and competitive and wouldn't shock me if they won the division again. But I think they're going to take a little bit of a step back. Drew Dalman, last year, all offseason, we said Frank Regnow. like this is not a household name by any means. I know that our listeners know who that is

because they are dialed into the NFC North and Drew Dalman was a great center for them last year. Them losing him to retirement makes their life much more difficult and they have Garrett Bradbury. This is why I want the Vikings to get a 6 foot 4, 338 pound defensive tackle is because they're facing Garrett Bradbury and they might for a couple of years. I get get somebody that's just going to shove him back into Caleb Williams. really, their regression is really comes down to, because they're not going to intercept every

pass that comes their way again. It really comes down to how much better Caleb Williams is in terms of being an accurate passer. If he's just okay, they will not be as good. And if he takes a big step forward, then they, watch out. Okay. Oh, go ahead. I was going to say, what's the Keem Hicks up to these days? I know, right? Bring him out of retirement. Have him go after Garrett Bradbury again. All right. Well, so week two on this fake schedule with real opponents, the Vikings will face the Buffalo Bills at home. So they start the season with two home games. This is going to be a noon one with Spiro Ditas and I don't know who does the games with SpiroDis.

Adam Archiletto. That'll be the broadcast crew for this Bills and Vikings matchup, a rematch of 2002's gem only in Minnesota. I'll tell you what. Josh Allen is a much different quarterback coming into U.S. Bank Stadium this time around than he was in 2018. And even then he kicked the Vikings ass still. Leaping over Anthony Barr, that play still just burns in my brain like it was yesterday.

It's one of the craziest things I have ever seen on a football field. Unreal. And Kurt getting strip sack two possessions in a row. just, yeah, that was a rough, that was a rough afternoon. I'm going to give Buffalo the win here.

I think we're just going to see Josh Allen do superhuman, you know, superhuman Josh Allen things. And I'll give Buffalo the win here at US Bank Stadium. Kyla Murray did beat Josh Allen once in, was it 2021 where he had the Hail Murray? Yep. That's right.

What a game that was. Okay, one in one makes a lot of sense. Buffalo's off season. They fired their coach. I have no idea. what to expect from Joe Brady. They traded for DJ Moore, who I don't think is good anymore, but I also think he's

better than anything that they have had and that it will prove helpful to Josh Allen. I also think they're finally going to draft a first round wide receiver, despite the fact that their general manager yelled at my old friends on the radio about that if people didn't see that story. So, okay, one in one at the San Francisco 49ers. And the key here is that all the 49ers are injured because of an electrical substation. Oh, and also they signed every player who has injury problems. Have you seen their offseason? It's like every single guy who's had a lot of injuries, Mike Evans and Christian

Kirk, like, well, you're not making it better 49ers. And it reminds me a little bit of last off season for the Vikings where, yes, it can help you get a deal if someone has injuries in their past, but also they have more chance of getting hurt again. So out to San Francisco, which has not been a friendly venue to the Minnesota Vikings in recent seasons, but won't be any surprise at all to Kyler Murray, who really should have won his game against 49ers last year, but Marvin Harrison Jr. dropped the footballs. Okay, so how do they do against the 49ers? It has, Levi Stadium has not been friendly to the Vikings, but it has kind of been friendly to Kyler Murray over the years. He hasn't won every game there, but he's performed well there.

I'm going to give the Vikings a win here because I think that I mean Kyle Shanahan is a great coach and John Lynch has done a great job just running that organization, keeping them in contention for so many years despite all the injuries. But I just think at some point all of these injuries and just the window kind of closing, all these guys are getting older, McCaffrey's getting older, George Kittles getting older, Brock Purdy is still young. but you know you kind of wonder like where his ceiling actually is you know when guys are getting so banged up and they went and got old receivers Mike Evans probably a Hall of Famer but he's just not the same guy that he was for all those years in Tampa I think the Niners are going to be going to kind of take a step back this year and I'm going to give the Vikings uh it might shock some people at first when it happens but I think later on in the season people will be like oh okay yeah that that wouldn't make sense and Brian Flores. as vastly outcoached the 49ers last time they played in 2024 and actually really in 2003 as well. That was one of those. Oh, Brian Flores knows what he's doing games against that 49ers team. They're key signings in the offseason.

Evans, yes, that's a big one. Christian Kirk, I mentioned. But what you didn't bring up was the Vedarian low revenge game that's going to happen here. Former Vikings 2022, I think. draft pick, who they got rid of before even playing it all, and signed a nice little contract with the 49ers. But I don't see that as a team that has improved anywhere near as much as I thought they

were going to on the defensive side. So they're really just hoping that Nick Bosa being healthy is going to help them. So a two and one start to the Kyler-Murie era. And now, Tua, I mean, you're talking about a revenge game. It could be Tua and the Falcons coming to U.S. Bank Stadium or Michael Pennix. we don't really know, but I'm kind of assuming it's going to be Tua as of this moment because of the recovery for Pennix, Tua v. Flores. How does this one play out in our fake schedule with real opponents for Kyler Murray? I still like Kevin Stefansky as a head coach.

I still think he's pretty good. It ended badly in Cleveland. But I just, I, dude, I don't think Tua should be playing football anymore. I agree. And I just kind of worry about what this is going to look like. And I think this is going to be kind of a rough year for the Falcons. They have some talent on offense and a couple of nice players on defense. But I just with the quarterback situation there and them kind of leaning into Tua here,

I think it's going to be a rough first year for Kevin Stefansky. So I'm going to give the Vikings a win here. I could see Brian Flores doing disturbing things. with his defensive scheme to Tua. That one is going to be taken personal. When you call somebody a bad person, it's a little bit different from, you know, we just didn't see eye to eye and there was some really rocky times between us. That's the way to normally do that, not come out and say this is a bad person.

But the Falcons have not done a lot. And I'm reading off of the athletics top 150 free agents to just see who teams have signed. Deshawn Hand and Austin Hooper on one year, $3 million contracts are the only moves that they've made other than bringing in to us. So not a ton of movement there for the Atlanta Falcons. Oh, also, by the way, their top pass rusher is in jail. So that is a bit of a problem for them, James Pierce, who they traded up for it. We don't even think about the Falcons in the pantheon of bad organizations.

We think the Cardinals. We think the Jets. We think the Browns. I'd like to nominate the Atlanta Falcons post Matt Ryan as being a, complete laughing stock. So congratulations to them. Ever since they fired Thomas Demetrov is just gone to complete hell. They have no first round draft pick. They have not a lot of money. They franchise tagged Kyle Pitts, which takes up a huge amount of cash. They don't know what they're doing at quarterback. Yikes. And they traded up for a guy who, by the way, I had heard

last year behind the scenes that there was a lot of concerns about James Pierce. As you know from Tennessee. This is a guy who was projected at one point to be a top five draft pick. And then all the sudden it was like, no, he's not going to be. Everybody at once was like, uh, oh, no. And it wasn't because of production. It was because of what everybody knew about him behind the scenes. And now he's got this issue, uh, with the police and ramming into his ex-girlfriend's car and, uh, all sorts of crazy stuff. And they took that risk. And it ended up, yep, it, whoops. It ended up biting them. So, okay, well, the Vikings are three and one start to the Kyler Murray era.

And now Gino Smith, they will face out in New York. Now, the Jets, that is a team, Manny, who has, well, we know the Jets. But, I mean, they have, like, got a whole new football team. Let me run through the signings here. Nishon Wright, Vikings legend, David on Yamada, DeMario Davis, Joseph aside, Dylan Parham, and Kingsley and I'maer. They signed a lot of dudes to the New York Jets. They have two first round picks too, right?

Yes, yep. And they have first round picks, and they have Gino Smith, who is a vast improvement over Brady Cook. So who was the last quarterback for the Jets? But do the Vikings go to the Meadowlands and win this football game? Well, the Jets have an interception.

Oh, yeah, that's a question. That would be the biggest question. And I think the Jets will be a better team, you know, almost kind of by default because they were so bad last year. But I still think I still like the Vikings in this one. It could be a little sloppy. But I like the Vikings to get a win here. I don't think it'll be particularly competitive. The Vikings are healthy going into this game.

I like their chances to come out of the medal lands with a win. So four and one start to the Kyla Murray era. Let's hope call of dude. doesn't come out at this time. Okay. Yeah. It had to be said. Has KOC adjusted his offense for Kyler yet?

Can he see over the 6-7 center? Well, wouldn't it be shocked? Kyler Murray has had great starts to his seasons before. And often the issue has been over time that has fallen off toward the end of the season. And some interesting stats kind of being brought up Seth Walder of ESPN. noted last year about just sort of how much was on his plate and how rarely he faced heavy boxes, you know, meaning an extra safety up in the box to deal with the run game and so forth. And then when you look back at his dropbacks and just how much weight has been put

on him, he's basically been asked from a dropback perspective to almost be similar to Patrick Mahomes in the amount of like offense that just runs through him. And that and that air raid, you know that that air raid thing early in his career is like that. And I wonder if Murray did get worn down. I mean, not just the scrambling and mileage you put on your body, but also the hits that you take over an entire season if that wore on him. And it's something the Vikings have to consider. But a four in one start with my fake schedule with real opponents would not be all that

shocking. They go from New York now to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road with Kyler Murray as their starter. As if you're just joining, we are picking. the Viking schedule that I made up with real opponents with Kyla Murray at quarterback playing at least 15 games. I'm going to take the Buccaneers here. I think what's going to be interesting to see with Tampa is how much of an improvement

do we see from Emeka, Buka, you know, kind of, because he's going to get a lot more targets now that, you know, Mike Evans is, is gone and moved on. Like, he's going to be really, he's really going to become the focal point of the offense for Baker Mayfield. And, you know, Todd Bowles coaching for his job maybe in 2026, possibly. I think it's going to be a motivated team. I think they're going to play fairly well. And I'll give the Buccaneers a win here over the Vikings.

Okay. I mean, Baker and Kyler Murray being the same quarterback and the Vikings and Bucks kind of being the same team almost, although, you know, Mike Evans isn't there anymore so that, you know, Jefferson has the advantage. But a good defensive mind, a good defensive team with a quarterback. back that is, I don't think there's enough comparisons actually between Kyler and Baker Mayfield. I see it as being pretty similar. They're both undersized. They can both make all the throws.

They're both really good scramblers. Probably Baker doesn't run quite as much as Kyler Murray, but he runs a lot. And they also have these ups and downs, these highs and lows when they're at their best. People talk about them as MVP's and with it their worst. What in the world went on with Baker Mayfield at the end of last year and injuries have played some role. So an interesting battle here. So you're picking the bucks that takes them to four and two. Just in terms of offseason, Alex Anzolone, definitely mostly a Viking killer. They signed him to a two-year contract. Cade Otten, they brought back their tight end,

Kenneth Gainwell, who really crushed the Vikings actually last year. Those are the only major additions to the Tampa Bay roster. Isn't this also a point as we're going through this schedule that the Vikings are not the only team who have kind of sat on the sidelines here. I mean, Tampa Bay, we talked about the 49ers only. I mean, they added Mike Evans, but it's not like they've added way, way more. It was kind of a lot of the really bad teams soaking up these free agents and not so much the teams that were competitive last year versus the Packers. I'm going to say the Packers coming to town here with the Vikings sitting at four and two

in the Kyler Murray era. and now they will face, it will be actually Jonathan Gannon, who is the defensive coordinator, which is his former coach. So that should be a very interesting matchup, somebody who knows where the bones are buried, but also is probably not quite as good at his job as Jeff Halfley was for the Green Bay Packers. So do the Vikings get a victory at US Bank Stadium against Green Bay? I'm going to say no.

I'm going to give the Packers a win here. I think it'll be a tightly contested game, a fun game entertaining. I think the crowded U.S. Bank Stadium will be rocking. And I'll give the Packers, Packers the edge here. The Packers of, yeah, offseason kind of, eh, all right.

You know, Zeyer Franklin getting him in, you know, might help that defense a little bit. Obviously, I think the biggest key for the Packers is getting Michael Parsons back and healthy, and he's the key to any sort of success that they're going to have on that side of the ball. You know, and I think this will be, you know, the time of the season, again, hypothetical schedule here that we're dealing with.

But this will be the time of the year where Jordan Love, I think, is playing at his best. And I think it'll be an opportunity for a big performance. So I give the Packers the win. I did think about Micah Parsons and putting the Packers match up when he would be in because it sounds like the projection is the first three or four games for Parsons to miss. So I thought, well, let's get, let's get Parsons in. So they dropped to four in three, this sort of. tracks with Kyler Murray, who's been hovering around 500 really since his rookie season and a

team that I think is good and has its flaws. They will now go to Detroit and Ford Field and play against the Detroit Lions, which has been, I would not call it a house of horrors all the time. They won last year, but for Kevin O'Connell, it had been a House of Horrors before that, not only the week 18 game, but remember 2022, where they had that chance. to go to Detroit and they threw the pass to Penae Soule at the end of the game to close that one out. There was the Zimmers definitely getting fired game that they lost there to the winless Detroit lines. So I guess other than McCarthy's win there last year, which we all thought was going to be the turning point of the season and then they lost four straight after that.

Yeah, it's been a little bit of a rough ride. But does Kyler Murray walk into Ford Field and come home with a victory? It feels like Mike Tyson, Bud Grant are the only Vikings coaches in history that like seem to not have any trouble with the Detroit Lions for some reason. You know, I guess Chile did okay with them too. I'm going to give the Vikings a win here. I think it's going to kind of shock us a little bit, kind of like last year's win in Detroit did. And, you know, it might be crazy to think the Vikings can go into Ford Field and win two years in a row. But I'll give them the win here just because.

you know, I've already kind of given them two straight losses here, and I think they'll pick it back up. And the Lions, I think the Lions are going to be good, but, yeah, how, you know, they're another one of those teams that didn't really, haven't really done a lot in the offseason. And you kind of wonder, you know, it feels like they're just going to kind of run it back.

You know, Jemir Gibbs is kind of the, you know, they got Isaiah Pacheco, but I don't know how good he really is anymore. They brought him in as the kind of the replacement for David Montgomery, who they shipped off to Houston. It's going to be the Jemir Gibbs show, I think, and with that running game with Pacheco maybe kind of spelling him a little bit. And we know how talented he is, but this is kind of a different role now where it's everybody's really going to be focused

on him in the running game. So I'm curious to see what that looks like, but I'll give the Vikings a win over the Lions here. Their top 150 free agent signings, Cade Mays, so they have a veteran center there who should be an improvement, but also is not exactly Frank Reg. Now, Roger McCreary, who is a journeyman type of cornerback and Isaiah Pacheco, who you mentioned. So not a huge, huge change. And they're losing DJ Reader. Also, the draft will change things like this, starting lineups and who knows what first round picks are going to make big impacts and stuff like that.

but this has not been a super active offseason for the Detroit Lions. So the Vikings get the win there. They go to eight, not eight, five and three through eight games. Something that I realized that I hadn't thought too much about looking through their schedule is that they have nine home games and only eight away games. And playing the NFC South, there are some benefits here for the Vikings. Not only that, but they play the AFC East, which has two very hard teams, but also two teams that are not particularly serious about playing football.

So, okay, after they get this victory over the Detroit Lions, they will face the Carolina Panthers. And that is going to be at U.S. Bank Stadium. And, many, I believe this will be the shortest matchup in history for quarterbacks. I think it will be, right? Bryce Young against Kyler Murray, the shortest matchup in NFL history. Yeah, that'll be plenty of jokes leading into that week. I, you know, I think the Panthers won their division with a losing record in 2025,

but that was still really cool. And obviously they fell short against the Rams in the playoffs. But that was really cool to see that crowd and that fan base reignited by them getting into the playoffs. And that that was a really, really fun atmosphere for them. So they kind of feel like a rejuvenated franchise a bit. And, you know, Bryce Young is not a total disaster like they maybe thought he was a couple of years ago. But I think the Vikings are still the better team in this matchup. And I, you know, I do like what the Panthers have done in the offseason where they've kind of, you know,

subtly improved their roster. And I think they're hoping that some of their young guys continue to grow and develop too. But I still think the Vikings are a better overall team and them being. at home, I think will be in their favor. And I think they'll get the win. So a six and three start would be phenomenal. The Panthers have added a lot of talent. Jalen Phillips, Devin Lloyd, those are two of the top three ranked by the athletic. They get Rashid Walker at left tackle, Luke Fortner at center, and they bring back Nick Scott. I mean, that that's a lot of work that they have put into

this offseason, a lot of dollars that they've put into it. I mean, they're feeling the, hey, that Bryce Young rookie contract is breathing down your neck. So if you're going to spend it, it now because if you're not spending it now, then you're going to use your fifth year option and then see where you're at from there. The fifth year option isn't really that bad, but you can't move it at all. So if it's $22 million, that is a chunk. That's staying there. That's not something you can restructure or you can void year or whatever, which makes it harder. So you might as well go all in ish. I mean, it was a big, big spending offseason for the Panthers. But Bryce Young, Flores defense.

We did see this before in 2003 and it was gnarly. It was one of the grossest games you're ever going to see. And Bryce Young was in hell in that game with Harrison Smith coming off the edge. That was the one game where Marcus Davenport

was just awesome. You're like, where did this come from? But a six and three start with this schedule and I think not unrealistic. If Kyler Murray at this point through halfway through the season is playing an average version of Kyler Murray, they can get to this point with the rest of the team, assuming health and everything else.

Okay. The Indianapolis Colts are up next. And Daniel Jones revenge game? The Vikings getting revenge at Daniel Jones because they're mad at him for not coming to the Vikings and saving their tails last year and instead going to the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts are another team that it's funny. You know, somebody said, I think it was Greg Rosenthal who works for NFL.com. NFL network he he said something last year that every fan base seems to be very angry with

their teams and i feel like this has been mostly the case in free agency that there's i mean maybe panthers fans are pretty excited because they have a couple guys but 25 teams are like what are we doing why haven't we done enough and the colts they bring back daniel jones at a preposterous contract two years 88 they top the ridiculousness with signing alick alick pierce to a four year 114 million and then add Arden Key, who is sort of just a guy. Those are their big signings. And then they send Michael Pittman out, who I thought was actually really good. So he's gone.

And here they are. They had drafted Adani Mitchell. They sent him to the Jets. I really honestly don't really know what their depth situation is at wide receiver and tight end. But they do have Jonathan Taylor, a really good offensive line. But can they beat the Vikings? at U.S. Bank Stadium.

The last time, quite memorable, quite memorable in 2022. It was their first win, I believe, over the Colts since 1997. If I'm not mistaken, it had been a really long time since they'd beaten the Colts because they never beat Peyton. Yeah, the Colts seemed, I mean, they made some moves and, you know,

kept a couple of their own guys, but they shipped out some pretty, impactful players that were huge parts of their success over the last couple of years. And so, you know, is Shane Sikin, another guy that maybe coaching for his job? You know, there was some speculation that they might pull the plug on that. I think it was good that they didn't to give them, give them another opportunity to kind of turn this, turn this around. Yeah, I'm just not sure what they're going to look like, though. It doesn't feel like they're going to be, they've been active, but it doesn't, it feels like everything is just,

kind of been sort of a push in terms of in terms of what they've done at best. So I'll give the Vikings a win here at home. And I think that puts them at seven and three. It does seven and three. And we'll make up a fake buy. So seven and three at the fake by. Fake schedule real opponents. And now they will have to go to New England and play the New England Patriots in a joint practices revenge game. I have I have vowed manny that I will never again make too much of joint practices that there will be a disclaimer when we go into joint practices folks let's all remember that the Vikings dominated their joint practices and then the Patriots went to the Super Bowl and the Vikings missed the playoffs so we can't make too much of that that is what you will get for me if they have joint practices this year but uh... Vrable versus KOC two guys who know each other extremely well. Drake May, the quarterback that Kevin O'Connell probably really wanted, and Kyla Murray on the road, maybe in some potential weather here, going to New England as a 7 and 3 football team.

How does this one play out? I kind of like what New England did in the offseason. You know, I mean, they moved on from Garrett Bradbury, but, you know, they went and got Romeo Dobbs in free agency. I think that will help Drake May a little bit. I think it was a low-key kind of a significant loss. for the Green Bay Packers. They've never,

the Packers never really had a true number one ride receiver over the last couple of years, but, you know, Romeo Dobbs might have been the closest thing to that and them losing him, I think, is going to hurt them a bit. And so I think New England getting him,

obviously this is a team that was just in the Super Bowl. And I like what they've done. So I think the Patriots, I can't remember the last time the Vikings won in Foxborough, like 2000. I think it was the last. last time they did that pre-Tom Brady era. So I'm going to give the Patriots the win here,

dropping the Vikings to 7 and 4. The thing I'm most curious about is Stefan Diggs was pretty darn awesome. For the Patriots last year, Romeo Dobbs has had some injuries before at times. In terms of who they've added and lost, they got Elijah Vera Tucker at kind of a big contract, but he's been hurt. If he's healthy, though, he is a really, really good guard. and low-key signing was Draymond Jones,

who's just been one of those consistent quality pass rushers for a long time that no one ever really talks about, but is always good. And Kevin Byard is a safety who clearly no one was really believing that he's an interception machine because he got a one-year, $9 million contract. But the Vikings seven and four, if they lose to the Patriots,

you said loss, right? That they, the Patriots. Okay, so seven and four. And then they will travel from New England. This is going to be a tough run here. travel from New England to New Orleans to face Tyler Shuck, who if he was standing in this room right now, I might not know who he is. But he played well enough for the saints to be pretty sold on him. They went out and they spent and Travis A. Chan, not E.T.N. If you miss that,

Travis E.T.N mentioned that his name has not been pronounced right for his entire career. It's actually Travis A. Chan. So there you go. The Vikings were interested in him, but he's from, I think he's from the New Orleans area. That is where the pronunciation is rooted in. So he felt like he could finally tell people, this is how you actually say my name. Uh, that's a big ad for them in the backfield. And they have been active in this off season. But can they beat the Vikings at the Superdome? It's kind of like when we found out it was Javon Hargrave and not Javon Hargrave when the Vikings signed him last year. I know when they introduced it. I was on the press conference. And when they introduced it,

they're like, okay, questions for Javon. I was like, all right, everybody, hold up. Hold up. Did you just say Javon? He's like, yeah, it's Javon. I'm like, did you not? And I can't criticize any player because if, you know, my name, some people call it Collier or whatever.

And I just don't, you know, I'll go on some radio station. They'll be like, all right, Matthew Collier here from Purple Inside. I'm not going to be like, yo, you disrespecting my mama's name. But it's like, you know, okay, you just let it go, whatever. it happens, but we would vastly prefer to know the correct pronunciations of everyone's name. So appreciate Javon Hargrave telling us that. Uh, and oh, Jonathan Granard, he was not going to, he was like, you can call me John, you call me Jonathan, but do not call me greener. We're like, okay, sir, we will not be doing that. So, and I still hear that sometimes from people,

uh, you know, greener, but, uh, anyway, none of this is the point in our fake schedule with real opponents. The Vikings are seven and four and they're going to the Superdome to play a quarterback that we're kind of unsure about and showed some things last year and a team that we're kind of unsure about but has enough talent to be at least interesting. Do they win against the Saints? Ryan Wright Revenge game. Man, it's a loss. I know you keep going back to it and I feel like you're a little snarky, manny, but it's a loss. It's a loss for them. It's, you know, Will Wright How Will Riker kicks in 2026 is going to be fascinating to watch because Ryan Wright, in addition to being a really good punter, was also a really good holder. And that goes a lot into how kickers perform.

Johnny Hecker do some of the same things. I don't know. We'll see. But yeah, the Saints, I kind of like what the Saints have done this offseason. They're another team that's going to, you know, they're kind of getting out of the salary cap hell that they were in, you know, the remains of the Drew Breese era. and all of that. And they spent some money to try and build around another rookie quarterback contract in Tyler Shuck.

I like what they did, getting Travis A-chan to boost that running game. It's the old cliche, right? A young quarterback's best friend is a really good running game. And so now something that they haven't really had. Alvin Kamara's really aged and just not the player he once was, you know, six, seven years ago. So I think this will be a tough matchup.

for the Vikings. Last time, Kyler Murray was in the Superdome, though. To start the season in 2025, he played pretty well and the Cardinals got the win. I think Kyler will show up and play well again,

and I think the Vikings will squeak out one of the in the Superdome. All right. So 8 and 4 then, and to update on the offseason for them, Travis A. Chan, David Edwards, guard. They paid him a lot. Noah Fant, who is still around, and a guy who is one of the most

underrated signings of the offseason, Caden Ellis. Caden Ellis, yeah. He played really well for Atlanta. It's just, there are some franchises, and they have absolutely earned this, where players get buried and they can be really good and they would be loved anywhere else and talked about anywhere else, but no one cares. And that is the Atlanta Falcons.

No one cares that Caden Ellis was really good last year and signed a nice contract there. I think they will be tough, but the Vikings actually have not been overly intimidated in the Superdome recently. You know, since the Saints stopped. like doing the bounty thing. It's been a much more calm and smooth experience. No, wait. Now, well, 2020, they lost,

but they gave up 50 points in 2020. Alvin Kumar, that was a six touchdown game from Alvin Kumar, right? I guess I was, Christmas Eve, was that like Christmas Eve or something that game? Yeah, yeah, it was Christmas Day, I think. Was it Christmas Day? I think, I feel like it was Christmas day.

Like, Merry Christmas, everyone. Here's six touchdowns for Alvin Camara. I actually don't think that they've played there since. Am I wrong on that? I don't know that they've played there since. Probably not. I don't think so. I don't think so.

I was thinking of 2019 playoffs, but then forgot about that. Anywho, all right, so eight and is eight and four now. And they will play at home in my fake schedule with real opponents. The Washington commanders, another late season battle with them, should be in a much different spot than they were last year.

If Jade and Daniels is healthy. but also, I mean, kind of an odd offseason for them. They spent a ton of money on Adafelway. They bring in Caleb on Chase on, so they're looking for edge rushing talent. Nick Cross was a guy that I liked. They got Rashad White for their backfield. They've been extremely active. Leo Chanel, another linebacker.

So they have really stacked up with defensive players. They put a ton of effort into a proof. And Durante Jones is now their defensive coordinator. So from a defensive perspective, very, very different look than it was last year. I think they got a Meek Robertson, too. I think they gave him like a two-year contract, something like that, a familiar face from the battles with the Lions over the last couple of years. Yeah, the commanders are interesting.

This is a home game, right? Different team. I think we're going to see a different team than what we saw in 2025. A healthy Jaden Daniels, I think will make a huge. huge difference. And I think it'll be a tough matchup. But if this game were in Washington, I would probably give the commanders the edge. But I think with the Vikings being at home, I'll actually give them the win here. Okay. So the Kyler Murray era in your mind. When I get to the next opponent, you're going to be like, oh, man, I may have picked too many wins.

because you're for you're you may forget if you were trying to aim for a number you may have forgot this team existed and you may forget how like this is a lock in of the century victory so nine and four and I think that the commanders are one of the harder to predict teams of what they're going to be who I mean what is the receiver room ultimately look like for them at the end of the day do they add anybody else do they draft a wide receiver is it possible that Jeremiah Love could get to them? I don't really know what their approach is going to be. It feels like they need another weapon.

Their offensive line last year was not great, and then they lose Tyler Beaudish, their center. They decided to move on from him. This defense is being stacked up with a bunch of free agents, which worked for the Vikings once upon a time. Will it work for this team with their new edge rushers? I don't know. Their coverage was not that great last year.

And Brian Flores, this is where it really, comes down to. Brian Flores really got inside the brain of Cliff Kingsbury. And he may have been fired because of that game. They were so lost against Brian Flores. I do wonder if they saw that. We're just like, okay, this is just not going to work. And you also wonder if they hired Durante Jones in part because they saw how good that defense was. So the ripple effects of the NFL, I feel like Jayton Daniels is going to bounce back really, really strong. And I think they're going to be a good team. I just don't know if they're going to be a great team. You know who else I think needs a bounce back year for them is Terry McLaurin.

Oh, yeah, for sure. You know, he, he complained about the contract and they gave him the new contract, and then he came back and he wasn't healthy. And just when he was out there, he wasn't very productive. I know that because I had him on my fantasy team and he did me no favors in 2025. Thanks, Terry. Appreciate it. But, yeah, I think they need a bounce back year from him as well.

Because we've seen him as one of the best wide receivers, one of the better wide receivers in the NFL, and it was not, uh, 20, 25 was not, not good for him either. Okay. Three games left. You know who they're against because it's the divisional games to end the season. At the Packers at Lambo in December,

I decided to make it the Packers turn to host the Vikings. In recent years, it's been mostly decent weather that the Vikings have gotten to play in. Let's make it gnarly. It is a nine and four Vikings team going to play. presumably a playoff, hopeful Green Bay Packers team. Does Kyler Murray come through in this one at Lambo? I don't think so.

This is figuring to be a December game at Lambo. And Kyler has had his struggles when the temperature is below 40 degrees. I would imagine it's going to be below 40 degrees if the schedule hypothetically plays out this way. So, yeah, I'm going to give the Packers a win here. And that would mean I believe I have. the Packer sweeping the Vikings in 2026. Which could play to tiebreakers for the division, depending on how these next two games play out. So the Vikings currently nine and five after losing at Lambo in our hypothetical schedule with real opponents.

And now they have to play the Detroit Lions at US Bank Stadium. Let's even put it on Netflix on Christmas Day again. Why not? That worked out great for the Vikings and not America the last time that they played. so do Kyler Murray and the Vikings get to double-digit wins here with a victory over Detroit, a U.S. Bank Stadium on Christmas Day, although they might have been banned from Netflix after this or after what happened last year. I don't know. You are never allowed to come to Netflix ever again with that defense at Max Brosber. So as long as Max isn't playing, okay, it's fine on Netflix.

What do we got? I think it's safe to say the Vikings will throw for more than three yards this time. I'm around against the Detroit Lions at home. There's been some rough Kyler Murray games, but I think he's usually cleared three net yards. Yes. So I have a hard time seeing the Vikings sweeping the Lions two years in a row. And I'm going to give the Lions a win here at US Bank Stadium,

mainly because I've already given the Vikings the win at Ford Field earlier in this fake schedule. So I'm going to give Detroit the win here. So now things have gotten very, very interesting for the Vikings as they will play the final game of the season against the Chicago Bears to get to either nine or 10 wins with Kyler Murray. If I added this up correctly, I think I maybe have hopefully. If I didn't, I'm sorry. If I missed, I don't think I did I miss something? Did we skip the dolphins? Oh, I'm sorry.

That was a wit. I actually did skip the dolphins because I was like, it's a win. We can skip the Dolphins. We literally don't need to talk about it. Like that's a victory. If you picked anything else, you're trolling. So I'm sorry, 10 or 11 wins. That was the mistake is I just moved right past them.

So 10 or 11 wins for the Vikings. It is at Soldier Field, the last game of our fake schedule with real opponents, with Kyler Murray's the starting quarterback for the vast majority of the season. Do they get to 11, man? I think you're going to be a rough finish of the season. I'm going to give the Bears the win here at Soldier. Field again you know Chicago week 18 cold first week of January presumably was when how the schedule usually plays out for the last week I'm going to give the bears the win here and kind of

a snot nose low scoring kind of nasty game at Soldier Field to end the regular season all right and what we always do when manny picks the schedule for again those new to the program is we talk about what it would mean if things played out this way. So the Vikings will have a decision to make about the quarterback. We'll also be talking about whether, I mean, is it crazy that 10 wins could win the division if they all beat up on each other? It's not that insane that the last game could be or the last two games for the division. 10 is, you know, and I think it is, Manny, the hardest number to work with with Kyler

Murray. Because if they win 10 and then Kyler goes to who knows where, let's say, Phil. Philadelphia. And it's like, oh, man, got to go to Philadelphia. They're going to get killed. And then plays really well. And they win a playoff game. Kyler's coming back. Wait, didn't we just do this? Didn't we just do this like a couple times with Kirk and? 2019. Didn't we just judge someone's future on one game in the playoffs? I don't know if we want to be in that situation again. And yet, that's what it feels like. Because if Kyler is leading a 10-win Vikings team, you go to Philadelphia and you lose 32 to 12, then you're going to be like,

ah, it's just not good enough, just let them go, draft a quarterback and move on. Or maybe they will say, you know what, we did this last time and that was kind of a mistake. So now we're going to sign them to an extension to which people will say, wait a minute, isn't this Kirk again, the 12th best quarterback who couldn't win the big game? Like, right? So 10 is a very unique circle of hell, but probably a very entertaining season that at least would give them a chance to go into the playoffs and say maybe. Rumor swirling of Kevin O'Connell being traded to the Dallas Cowboys.

If I might be convinced. If they don't win the playoff game in Philadelphia. Him being here is already spooky enough. Like it's happened so many times this exact same thing and including that JJ had a knee injury at one point. Like, come on, right? If that happens, Manny, I will think that we're living in a simulation. I will think time is a flat circle that the aliens that are making us dance on their puppet strings have made a mistake and forgot to type something into the Vikings algorithm or whatever.

I've watched a lot of Twilight Zone in my life and I'm going to be very creeped out if that ends up happening. But in all seriousness, 10 is tough. Yeah, it's it's tricky because and I think honestly, Matthew, I think it's going to depend on if it's 10 wins. I think it's just going to depend on how Kyler Murray looks. If he looks okay, if he looks decent, you know, solid and they win 10 games. And some of those wins are, you know, because the defense really had a strong performance and kind of carried the offense to a win. I think it makes the decision a little bit easier.

But if Kyler Murray plays well and they just lose a couple of games that don't go their way or if they lose a couple of games because he's injured and misses two games and, you know, McCarthy comes in and doesn't, doesn't play really well. If Kyler has a really good season statistically and they make the playoffs and are competitive in that playoff game, I don't know how you go into 2027 without anticipating him continuing to be the starter. Now, the money and the contract will always be, you know, a conversation there if that scenario plays out.

But if they win 10 games, make the playoffs and Kyler looks really well and, you know, plays really well, looks really good. I don't know how you look in another direction because you're going to be in a tough spot in the draft. And if this class is, apologies, I keep bumping my mic, if this draft class is what we think it's going to be with, with all the quarterbacks, the Vikings in theory, are not going to be in a position to take one of those guys. So you're going to be kind of in that tough spot of like, yeah, you're probably going to have to pay Kyler Murray, you know, giving like a three year, a new three year contract. And you just, you just play it out with him. And you kind of see what happens from there. It's very much like the Tampa Bay Bucks situation with

Baker Mayfield where they want to play off game against Philadelphia. He played really well in, I think of the next week was Detroit. And they came up short and played good enough at least to be competitive. And they signed him. But what is interesting is that when it comes to quarterback contracts, the reason why it's not exactly like Kirk is that Kirk signed the most guarantee ever when he signed with the Vikings. And then it was extremely short extensions with a lot of the dollars guaranteed. And since then, there's been a correction by the NFL to create a middle class where Kyler Murray would sit in if it was a 10 win team. And we've seen teams win with the middle class quarterback that's not making 50 or 60 million dollars per year. So it wouldn't be suddenly

all hope is lost. If you win 10 games and he's pretty good, but not perfect, you could still have an opportunity to succeed in the draft. The drafty bad man is gone. Succeed in the draft. Maybe actually stack some picks for once and see what you can do there. But it would put them in a spot that I think a lot of Vikings fans are wondering, how do you avoid that?

How do you avoid ending up as a 9 or 10 win type of team that can truly compete for Super Bowl. One more thing, Mr. Hill. Today, I attended a press conference with Adam Thielen and C.J. Ham, who both announced their retirements. Now, this is particularly meaningful to me in this way. My first preseason game ever when I arrived here, they had just opened up U.S. Bank Stadium, and I was with our friend Judd Zolgad, first time ever in the stadium, first time

ever covering a Minnesota Vikings home game. And C.J. Ham had a huge. huge game against the Rams as a preseason extra running back from Augustana. And that was, you know, like, welcome to covering the Vikings with Teddy Bridgewater just getting heard and they're trading for Sam Bradford a couple days later. And it was crazy, right? And then Adam Thielen in 2016 has his breakout season. And it was one of my first big feature articles that I know this has been written many

times since. But one of my first big feature articles was going to Mancato and talking to people about Adam Thielen and his breakout game against the Houston Texans where we started to realize that there is more there. And then both guys, I've been here for their most of their entire careers. I know with Thelan has started a little bit earlier, but his breakout happens in 16. So it's essentially both of their entire careers to see two guys who went from the practice squad, fought their way up, never stopped fighting for their spots. Adam Thielen's one of the most competitive people that I've ever been around and an incredible wide receiver, especially in his prime, 2017, 2018, where it seemed like every week he's setting

some sort of new franchise record for the Vikings, not just a great story, but also a great player. Adam Thielen was a pleasure to watch and deal with. He was our, he was our Corey Stringer award winner in 2017, which is the media good guy award. And then C.J. Ham, you know how much fullbacks mean to me, Manny. And I tried not to take too much advantage of it because C.J. is a guy that does not seek out the limelight, doesn't love doing interviews, you know, things like that. We saw him come out of his shell a little bit more today, but he's not somebody that seeks out attention in any way. And I always had a lot of questions for the fullback.

But what I really love about C.J. Ham is selflessness, it goes handed hand with being a fullback. You cannot be a fullback if you are not selfless. If you're not willing to take on every special team's job, ram your face into the face of linebackers coming at you. But here's what really tells you about why did the Vikings love CJ Ham so much? Why did they always keep them? Because when Kevin O'Connell asked CJ Ham to change his role and go from a key lead blocker under Gary Kubiak, Kevin Sifansky, that they used a ton of that outside zone system to becoming a pass protecting specialist on third downs. This happened really in the 2023 season.

You could see in the numbers where he starts to become their main pass protector. He became awesome at it and was one of the best past protecting backs in the entire NFL. And that was something that he had basically never done before and then became a weapon for them with other teams blitzing and pass rushers coming through with the 2023 game against San Francisco. he knocked down Nick Bosa a couple of times and helped on him and everything. I mean, he, he was able to take on a role that he had never done before, but this is one of the most intelligent football players that you are going to find. And he was able to do that anything he was ever asked to do, no matter how dirty,

no matter how grimy, he was always there to do it and set an example for every player inside the locker room as a person, as a community, both guys, Walter Payton, man of the year award nominees. and then from a work ethic standpoint and a willingness to do just about anything, it was a pleasure for me to cover these two players. I hope that Vikings fans take a minute, you know, whether it's on social media or whatever, to celebrate two great, great, great players.

And I love the fact that they did their press conferences together. They're close, their friends, their families are close. And Adam Thielen could have said, come on, man, I want my own day. I'm like, you know, I'm like ring of honor caliber type player. Put me. No, they wanted to do it together, which I think is really awesome. It was really special. And I didn't get a chance.

I did watch the press conference. I didn't get a chance to watch it in its entirety. But I think you could see the emotions with both of them about just how much it meant for them to, to have this, this opportunity. You know, there are a lot of players in the NFL. but there are astronomically more players, athletes, football players, who are really talented and have the aspirations to get to the NFL and just never get there. And for Adam Thielen and C.J. Ham to sort of overcome being overlooked as players going to division two colleges

and grinding their way into long careers, I think is just really incredible. And you mentioned it both just great teammates, great leaders, great people. It's really special for me as, you know, a Vikings fan and somebody who's followed this team for, you know, pretty much my entire life. These are the guys you remember. You remember the big name guys, the superstars and, you know, for their own reasons. But these are the guys, too, the guys that are around for a long time that really worked and grinded to because, the players that they were and the people that they were, you don't forget those guys either.

You know, I think of like somebody like Chris Walsh back when I was a kid with the Vikings and, you know, just special teams. He's a wide receiver, but he played primarily special teams. And he was one of the best, like, special teams players in the NFL in the, in the mid to late 90s for the Vikings. You know, Matthew Slater comes to mind, too, like with the Patriots for a decade and a half of just like really good teammate, did all the little stuff on special teams.

beloved in the locker room for them for a long time for that franchise. You just have such a huge appreciation for those types of guys. And Adam Thielen obviously became, you know, at his peak was one of the best, one of the elite wide receivers in the NFL. I mean, let's not forget that too. But really just, I think the people that they both are, Adam and CJ, I think just really, it's just been a great story. And I'm happy, just like you, I'm happy that they got to do this together.

It was really, really cool. This is, it strikes to the root of one of the reasons that I love football enough to do it for a profession is that so many players have gone to Georgia and Alabama and Ohio State and Michigan and had every opportunity in the world. And Augustana and Mancato guys beat them out. And, you know, you had the story of the Bengals players kind of laughing at him feeling during their joint practices and stuff like that. and then he becomes an excellent pro bowl wide receiver. And with C.J. Ham, you just like to see great people get rewarded. And that's exactly what it is with C.J. Ham that the appreciation, he's had his moment here. Because someone like that could sort of go quietly into the night and be a little bit forgotten with fans.

But for Ham to have the moment at U.S. Bank Stadium at the end of the season where they showed him on the big board, all the players gathered around him. Like, there is so much respect. And that's, you know, from the outside, look, you know, we're all playing armchair GM, an armchair coach and all that sort of stuff. But you do you really, do you really know ball or not is do you really appreciate that player in the locker room that sets a standard for everyone that will do whatever it takes that fought like crazy and bled to be here on this field for 10 seasons?

Just an amazing career for both guys, two of my absolute favorite players to cover. And I said to CJ, so I wrote an article about CJ being a past protector. and you know he's always every time i ever went up to him which was way too many times he would always be like oh it's you again asking me questions you know and i was like okay because i because he actually retweeted it and i don't see him do a whole lot of social media stuff and i was like okay you got you got to give it to me cj you like that you like that one didn't you you like that a little bit he's like oh you did an okay job at it so it's always always a super super humble person a quiet guy but, you know, both of them to the Minnesota community and to the Vikings organization gave

every single ounce that they possibly could. So great, great respect for both of them in their retirement. All right. Manning, I don't know when you'll be back, but it'll be sometime. We'll have some stuff happen, I'm sure. We'll have a draft and maybe we can do a pre-draft Draft SIM or if there's some big moves whenever they may come in the Vikings off season. I guess you just never really know, but we will connect again very soon at some point.

And then next week-ish into the week after that is owners meetings. We got something there and then lead up to the draft. So a lot still going on here on the show. So I appreciate your time, sir. And we'll talk to you all very soon. Football. Football.