Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - CBS Sports' Chris Trapasso joins to talk about the 49ers' big trade and grades a Vikings draft sim

Episode Date: March 29, 2021

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Victory Home Team is sponsoring all of our draft coverage, so thanks to them, you heard their ad at the very beginning of the show. What is up, Chris? I'm glad we're doing this, man. I'm really excited. We are about a month away from the 2021 NFL Draft, so we have a lot to talk about in the next four weeks, and then everything after the draft to really be able to dive into what every single team did draft-class-wise, trades, who picked prospects too early, which guys fell a lot further than I expected. It's going to be a lot of fun over the next two months.

So you and I are going to talk about the entire draft on this podcast, not just the Vikings. Of course, everything will tie back into the Vikings as we talk. And I compare players to Vikings and things like that. And we use those examples. But this is to cover the entire NFL draft because there's so much interest in it it's like the offseason Super Bowl that I thought people would love perspectives that go beyond just the Vikings as it pertains to the NFL draft so here we are Chris and I think even if you want to only be focusing in on the Vikings it's good to know about the

rest of the league especially the teams that pick 11 13, what they might be thinking in front of the Vikings. So it's good going into that draft weekend to have a firm grasp on the entire league, the prospects at the top, the second round, good value players. So if you're like, oh man, I just want Viking stuff, this is a good podcast to listen to leading into the draft. Yes, absolutely. And there's so many interesting things going on in NFL draft world. So many. And I don't know if anyone sent the memo to the Miami Dolphins and to the San Francisco 49ers that the draft doesn't happen for weeks now, but they seem to get started early.

So that's where we got to begin with the San Francisco 49ers trading up to the number three pick. Now, I, Chris, have felt like the first two quarterbacks are going to be Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson. And this will leave a decision for the 49ers between Justin Fields and Trey Lance. I am not buying that Mac Jones is the guy you trade that far up for. But with the other two, with their raw skill sets, I could see Kyle Shanahan saying,

if you put an athlete in my system with a rocket arm, this could go to the next level. If you're getting Mac Jones, I feel like you're just replacing Jimmy Garoppolo with essentially Jimmy Garoppolo. If Mac Jones actually works out, if he doesn't, then you've got Jimmy Garoppolo like the worst possible version.

So what is your feeling on what will happen now with the number three overall pick? I have a pretty similar feeling to you that it's either going to be Justin Fields or Trey Lance because of their physical attributes. The athleticism, throwing on the run in that system would be outstanding for either Fields or Lance and their arm talent, their ability to push the football down the field, throw it through tight windows. But it was so fascinating when this trade goes down, it was like, oh, Fields, Lance, Fields or Lance. And then Chris Sims from NBC Sports was like, this is going to be for Mac Jones. And then when Chris Mortensen chimed in to Chris Sims' initial tweet that it was going to be Mac Jones,

I was like, oh my God, is this legitimately going to be what the 49ers are going to do, pick Mac Jones? I think that would be absolutely preposterous. And just a quick rant on this, you trade up for a quarterback who is a freak. And look at the last five years of trade-ups at the quarterback position. There have been a few that the quarterbacks weren't freaks, most namely Sam Darnold, Jared Goff. I think Carson Wentz, borderline freaky because he was big and had a good arm, wasn't really a tremendous athlete. And we kind of saw that rear its ugly head over the last couple of years in Philly. But all the the other like those are the quarterbacks who have not worked out that were the result of a trade-up Josh Rosen being another one all the quarterbacks who have worked out from 2016 to 2020

and we obviously don't know Jordan Lovey at anything about him, they were all physical freaks. Deshaun Watson, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen. Those quarterbacks are the ones that you trade up for. You don't just say, hey, this is a good quarterback prospect. Let's trade two future first-round picks and a third-rounder, like you said, to get Jimmy Garoppolo. And the one thing that blows my mind more than anything else, again, when Chris Mortensen came out with that tweet kind of saying that he thinks it's for Mac Jones and actually there was a

49ers beat writer for the athletic that thought that it was going to be for Mac Jones too because of the accuracy forgot which guy um but I saw that over the weekend I was really taken aback don't you think the 49ers could just sit there at 12 and get Mac Jones like the thing that blew my mind was like if these big NFL insiders are really thinking this is there like this stealth operation that the NFL is doing right now that like the 49ers don't believe Mac Jones will fall to them at number 12 like does every team love Mac Jones and they feel like they need to trade up to number three, not number six, not number eight, but number three to get him. So you kind of alluded to it. I think it is a smokescreen, and I think Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch are pretty smart football guys.

You trade up at the quarterback position and really all positions for a freaky specimen, and that certainly is not Mac Jones now I will tell you the one way that I could see it happening is that the guys from this tree from the Mike Shanahan Gary Kubiak type of tree they really love their quarterbacks who are accurate and not super mobile and run play actions and can execute their offense they love the guys that they can plug it into the machine and that guy will execute it. And then what we see so often with Kirk Cousins, with Jimmy Garoppolo, with Jared Goff, is that when things go wrong, they can't often make a play with their legs, especially to make up for that. And in some cases, in the case of Jared Goff and sometimes Kirk Cousins, they don't

have the elite arm strength to make up for it either. So I'll give you a schematic example is you run a play action and the defensive end comes straight upfield. Well, that usually is enough to throw Kirk Cousins off or Jimmy Garoppolo or Jared Goff. They are not able to escape that a lot of times and have to just throw the ball away or check it down to the tight end. If you have Justin Justin Fields who can stick his foot in the ground and explode past that guy you can run for 20 yards he can make the throw down feel like those guys are just different when running that type of scheme and if Kyle Shanahan doesn't see it that way I would just be really really surprised and also questioning just him in general as a decision maker and john lynch is a decision maker because i think it if you're at 12 and you take mac jones and you say yes we want a cheaper

jimmy garoppolo now that makes a lot of sense if everybody else is off the board but if you are giving up everything you have you better have a quarterback that who at some point can make up for shortcomings around you with his pure talent, the way that someone like Patrick Mahomes has to in the future with his contract and with the fact that they won't be able to afford everybody. You have to kind of look down the road with this and say, we're drafting our franchise quarterback for a long time, and someone who's going to make up for deficiencies,

not someone who's going to need everything to pretty much go perfect. I want you to do this, compare these guys' skill sets, because I look at Mac Jones as an NFL starting prospect who could be an average quarterback and on his rookie deal could win with a team. But those other guys are franchise-level talents. Yeah, absolutely. And the one thing that you said that Kyle Shanahan, which I kind of feel this is the case for any offensive play caller, really places a high emphasis on accuracy. Justin Fields is super accurate.

You watch his film, even in those bad games, quote unquote, against Northwestern and Indiana, there are a ton of short, intermediate, and downfield throws that could not have been placed any better. So it's not as though Justin Fields is this big arm quarterback that can't hit the broad side of a barn. I think at this point, Trey Lance would be a little bit more of that quarterback, and it doesn't really align with where we would think the 49ers want to go, that they probably feel like getting George Kittle back, getting Nick Bosa back, that they might be Super Bowl contenders again. They were just in the Super Bowl with Jimmy Garoppolo as their starter two years ago. So there's this thought that Mac Jones

is the only hyper-accurate quarterback in this class, and that is simply not the case. I think early in the season, Justin Fields was completing like 90% of his throws through like the first couple of games. I don't think that is any issue for him. And the one thing I don't get though, about why some of these bigger names, Chris Mortensen, Chris Sims, and again, that the name is escaping me of the 49ers beat reporter that kind of echoed those sentiments about Mac Jones. What does a smokecreen do for the 49ers right now? Like even if John Lynch is like texting Chris Mortensen and like straight out lying and saying,

we're going to pick Mac Jones, like they're at three. Like nothing is going to change that. We know Lawrence is going one. We know Zach Wilson is going two. That's where I was like thinking that there might be some legs to this because it doesn't give the 49ers any advantage to leak that they're going to

pick Mac Jones. I really don't get it. But in the end, I do think to all those points that you said, and just look at history, teams typically trade up for freaky specimens at any position, especially a quarterback. And the ones that aren't freaky, I mean, even Mitchell Trubisky, the Bears traded up one pick to get him. He would land in the, I was a quarterback that my team traded up to get me. I'm not a freaky specimen, and I ultimately failed in the NFL recently. We're not talking about 1998 when the NFL was completely different. I think that would be extremely risky for the 49ers. And maybe Mac Jones is like slightly more NFL ready than Justin Fields.

But Justin Fields has more experience than Mac Jones. He was two years of a full-time starter. Mac Jones obviously didn't take the reins at Alabama until midway through 2019 after Tua's injury. So that was just the most baffling thing. It seemed very blatant to me that it was probably going to be for Justin Fields, who would be an exquisite fit with Kyle Shanahan. It feels to me like it's just a lot of people speculating the type of quarterback. Like if you only date brunettes or something and then, you know, okay, what's, you got

a new girlfriend. What is she got brown hair, right? Like that's the type of quarterback that Kyle Shanahan has had pretty much his entire career. Now, I think Matt Ryan is a cut above what a lot of the other guys are, like Kirk Cousins or like Jimmy Garoppolo. He's a better athlete, not in the running way, but in the, like, being athletic, making athletic movements, being a playmaker type of way than Garoppolo or Cousins.

But it's still that play-action quarterback. It's still someone who's highly accurate, who can execute the offense. So he's had that at every stop. And I think it's just naturally putting together those dots for a lot of people around the league. But I also think that there's probably debates about Justin Fields when there really shouldn't be. I watched the bad games too. And I think there were some COVID elements to those he was missing other players and I see the weaknesses and that's why I think he would actually be great in this system but I also know NFL people and they love to overanalyze these quarterbacks and it also popped into my brain Chris that it's not a hundred percent chance that Zach Wilson is the number two I mean I think it's very high right now, but in your mind, any chance that Zach Wilson ends up with San Francisco? The only way I could see that happening

is if the Jets really feel like they've finally built around Sam Darnold. Like I'm surprised that Sam Darnold hasn't been traded already. I mean, maybe the Jets are holding on to him and saying, hey, we like him. We're going to go into 2021 with him as it started to keep that trade value high. And they could like trade him right before they make the selection to hold out. But it just seemed like it was very obvious that three years there, no, the team wasn't great. The coaching situation wasn't great. But a new GM comes in. Darnold didn't play well this past year.

We've seen Lamar Jackson in his draft class win an MVP. Josh Allen got MVP votes last year. Baker Mayfield was in the divisional round. At this point, it seemed like Darnold was going to be shipped off to another team. So I think, though, if the Jets are ready to move on, and I'm assuming they will, it will be to pick Zach Wilson at number two overall. Well, that was actually the next thing on my list to talk to you about is where Sam

Darnold should go. And the Denver Broncos make a lot of sense for taking shots at quarterbacks because now the way things are laid out, it feels to me like Carolina is going to take Trey Lance or Justin Fields or Mac Jones or somebody who's not the one that everybody else took at the number eight overall pick and then have that player develop it. Trey Lance makes a lot of sense here if San Francisco doesn't take him, develop behind Teddy Bridgewater and go from there. But then that leaves Denver, unless they trade up with Detroit, to end up not drafting a quarterback and getting something else.

Now, they have work to do on their defense and so forth, but they could be a team that is in a position with a GM in his first year to take a swing. And if the swing doesn't work and you have this competition between Sam Darnold and Drew Locke, and it looks like the Spider-Man meme where they're both pointing at each other, which I think is probably the case. This was my feeling on Sam Darnold. I think him and Drew Locke are pretty much the same guy. Like they have their moments and their moments are really impressive, but they're way too few and far apart and they make way too many mistakes.

But it's a move that you're not going to get throttled for in Denver. It would be pretty exciting. I think for Denver fans, if you trade for a former top pick, you bring up Ryan Tannehill a bunch of times in the media, and then, you know, there you go, and you see if it works out. The other thing, too, is you go from almost no weapons in New York to all sorts of weapons in Denver. That makes a lot of sense to me. Is there any other target outside of them for teams that should be looking at Sam Darnold? No, that's the perfect team right now. I think earlier in the offseason, the Saints made a lot of sense, but it seems as though they want to have this super strange quarterback competition between Jameis Winston and Taysom Hill. But yeah, I think everything that you laid out with the Broncos, they seem like the team that could make that ascension to trade up

or to trade for Sam Darnold. And I don't really think there's a better team because of the skill, position, talent, the new GM, even if he can't, sitting there at number nine overall, get one of these top-tier quarterback prospects. Let's pick Sam Darnold and plug him in with Cortland Sutton returning, Jerry Judy, K.J. Handler, Noah Fant. There's a lot of weapons.

The offensive line has gotten a lot better. I think that team, the Washington Redskins, or sorry, the Washington football team seems to be a team that would make somewhat of sense because it's like Ryan Fitzpatrick's there. It's like sound the alarms. Like he's your ultimate bridge quarterback. They have Taylor Heineke there. But beyond him, I think it wouldn't hurt that team that did a great job in free agency,

bringing in Curtis Samuel. We know that the defense, especially up front, is very good to throw Sam Darnold in there and say, hey, now you're throwing to Terry McLaurin and Curtis Samuel. And you have Antonio Gibson, this kind of Swiss army knife, running back, H-back, wide receiver. That's a team that we haven't really heard a lot about being in even the veteran quarterback market after signing Ryan Fitzpatrick. But that's the other team that's kind of I've had in my head that I think would be a nice landing spot for him just because their situation has

gotten better yeah no I totally agree and if you're the team that's trading for Sam Darnold you need to look at what you have around him first and say can we support this guy because if we're asking him to come in as a bad team and just pick us up and make us better or show anything other than what he's already shown well then you're just making history repeat itself like the reason that ryan tannehill is so much better is that well for one he did show a good amount of talent with the miami dolphins and there were years where he was probably like the 14th best quarterback in the league so it wasn't like he was garbage for four years like sam darnold has been but uh if you're giving a situation just like they gave with Tannehill,

where he can run a lot of play actions, he's got playmakers to get the ball to, he's got a good play caller, all that stuff can add up. I think to him being an average quarterback, maybe who makes a lot of mistakes, maybe he could be Fitzpatrickian in that same kind of way in his best case scenario. And if you do that on the cheap, that can be really good for you right away. Cause you're talking, if you're Washington Washington sharks is what we call them on this show.

Sharks. Chris. So you have to work on that. But if you're them, you're ready to win and you have a good defense and you have good weapons and you have a good head coach finally for the first time. And I don't know how long. So I think he, that's a perfect position for him. But my question would be, what would they give up? Because I'm not doing number 19 overall if I am football team slash

Sharks. Yeah, I have no idea what Sam Darnold's trade value would be right now. I think notoriously on Twitter, I'm like lower on what teams can get back for players. So I'm probably not the best person to ask because I think probably half the league and not that half the league needs a quarterback right now, but it wouldn't surprise me if half the league still thinks pretty highly of Sam Darnold being the number three overall pick in 2018. Say, hell yeah,

we'll trade, you know, late first, early second for him. And it would not surprise me if the other half would say, we'll give you like a fourth rounder for him. Because yes, he's young, but he started a lot of games and there have been like two to four, like, oh, this is the Sam Darnold breakout game. The rest of his games have been average or horrific. And yes, that can speak to the Adam Gase effect,

no weapons, but like show a little bit more than like being one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL over three full seasons. So definitely not number 19 overall for as much though as the Sharks are. It's kind of weird saying that, but I'll get used to it. Are in win now mode. I would not trade number 19 overall. I would maybe offer a third round pick. They have two third rounders. But again, I'm assuming the reason why Darnold hasn't been moved is either the Jets haven't gotten any trade requests or they're like third or fourth rounders and they're holding out for a second. I would be stunned if it was a first round pick, but I agree they shouldn't get crazy, the Sharks, in trading number 19 or even a second round for Darnold.

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social media. Follow them at SodaStickCo on Twitter and at SodaStick.com for your original Minnesota sports-inspired goods. Code PURPLEINSIDER for free shipping. Well, one thing we know is that every off season is going to feature quarterbacks who are available that is just going to be a thing from now going forward so if you are a football team then you should look at it and say fitzpatrick can get us to the playoffs especially based on the division and you never know after that when you have a great defense, maybe that helps you.

But probably playoffs is where you set your bar. That franchise really needs to get back to the postseason. And then you can be that attractive team. Think about Tampa Bay. When Tom Brady became a free agent, who was saying you've got to go to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? I mean, they had those jerseys that belonged in the XFL. They had been a 7-9, 6-10

type of team for years. And Brady looked at their roster and said, with me on it, we can win the Super Bowl. And he was right. But they were not on the radar for very many people at the beginning of free agency. So football team might be the team that is that next year for whoever ends up available, surprisingly. That's a tremendous point because we always talk about in today's NFL how quickly things change, that you can be like the darling young quarterback one year, and then like a year and a half later, you're cut and you're a backup. You can be a bottom feeder team in the next year. You can be in the AFC title game.

I mean, look at what the Buffalo Bills have done. No one, they were free agent Siberia, and now they've had such a turnaround team. Players want to go there. You're absolutely right about the Bucs. So it would make a lot of sense that right now, or even a year ago, if someone was listening to this podcast, if we recorded it in 2020, and we're talking about the Washington football team with their owner, Daniel Snyder, as an attractive free agent destination, it would sound crazy.

But they make the playoffs last year. They give Brady and the Buccaneers a pretty good game with Taylor Heineke at quarterback. They make good free agent moves. I think the stability at the head coaching spot is huge. You're right that we could be talking about the Washington football team as, hey, some free agents are willing to take a little bit lower pay to play with Ron Rivera, or their free agents that are ready to hit the market are taking a hometown discount to return. So they shouldn't throw all their eggs into sam darnold's basket at this point because quarterbacks will be available and they're building the right culture

there in washington they're also a team that probably doesn't want to throw away any assets because what if they do have to move up on draft night i mean if the four quarterbacks are taken at the top but the middle teams do not take let's just say it's mac jones but there have been other guys that we've been surprised on the all-time example is jimmy clausen who was being mocked top but the middle teams do not take let's just say it's mac jones but there have been other guys that we've been surprised on the all-time example is jimmy clausen who was being mocked as the number one or number two overall pick he ends up being a second rounder and a complete bust in the nfl so we do see that there's always guys who drop i never would have expected lamar jackson would have been 32nd or even teddy bridgewater when he was drafted was talked about as the top

half of the first pick he ends up having the bad pro day like you never know so if you're Washington do you want to give up that third or something that might help you be the team that moves up to say 14th for example to draft Mac Jones if he's still on the board let me ask you about the other parts of this big trade that has shaken up the entire NFL draft. And that is the Miami Dolphins, who are playing four-dimensional chess here with the NFL draft. And the way that they moved around with the Laramie Tunsil picks, and they've slid themselves back to six. Who do you think they want at six? Because they went back to 12, where you're still going to get a very good player in this draft but six to me says kyle pitts i think it has kyle pitts written all over it and here's

why i think that because the way that tua plays football is not hey let's give him jaylen waddle and throw down the field uh let's give him you know jamar chase and have him throw tight window throws to a guy who's going to dominate at the catch point to me it's let's give him, you know, Jamar Chase and have him throw tight window throws to a guy who's going to dominate at the catch point. To me, it's let's give him a possession guy. And Pitts can go down the field. But let's give him a possession guy who has this giant wingspan, who's a freak athlete and a mismatch, and let him throw intermediate passes to that guy. Because Tua's best skill is, I think, intermediate passes.

And he wasn't really allowed to use that last year. They just didn't design their offense for it. They didn't have the personnel for it. And I think Pitts would be a huge boost to that. Do you think I am crazy? I don't think you're crazy, but I'll slightly disagree just so we have some disagreement on this podcast. I just think it's to move from 12 back up to six. I think they just want one of the Alabama wide receivers. And at 12, I don I think they just want one of the Alabama wide receivers. And at 12, I don't think they were guaranteed one of those two. Kind of looking at the teams, it feels like 12, you're getting into that territory,

especially with how hyped, obviously, the top three receivers and Kyle Pitts are, that you might miss out on all four of those if you're sitting there at 12. So when that first trade went down, I was like, man, the Dolphins don't want one of these top tier skill position players. That was a little interesting. And then like 15 minutes later, they move up to six. I just think they want to pair Tua with a familiar target. I think at Alabama, and I've said it on the Prospect podcast before, that in grading Tua last year

a lot of times like he was my number three overall player but I felt a little weird about that and I wrote continually that I feel like it's an incomplete scouting report because there were so many screens and go routes like that was the Alabama offense because they were just so talented for their offensive coordinator, Steve Sarkeesian. It would have been stupid to try to get crazy and have them run different rounds. It's get Devante Smith,

get Henry rugs, get Jerry Judy, get Jalen Waddle, the football on a screen and let them do work. So I think what you said about pits and pairing him with Mike Kosicki too would be awesome. And it would be fun to, to see both of those two tight ends.

And you're right that Tua is good over the middle. I think they want to give Tua those high percentage throws from zero to nine yards that can turn into 30 and 40 yard gains, whether that be with Waddle or Smith. And it's obviously hard to put a finger on or quantify the connection from Alabama. But Tua did not look that good in those nine starts last year. I think they're like, hey, we'll get you someone that you've thrown a thousand passes to in practice and in games. You know their movements, their subtleties, running routes.

That's why I think they ultimately made that next trade, which again was fantastic. Because at 12, I don't think the Eagles are guaranteed to get one of those top four pass catching targets in this class. Fair point. And I want to say this about Kyle Pitts. After watching some of him, he's a whatever. He's a receiver that can catch the ball. Right. I mean, so when it comes to, if you've already got a tight end and Vikings, if you already have a tight end, that's okay. Like that's okay because you're going to be able to do anything with him. I think that he'll be used in the NFL,

the way that Jimmy Graham was in his prime with the new Orleans saints, where he was basically a gigantic slot receiver who could go down the field. So if you are the dolphins and you do that, then you've got a very big target for him. Good point though, on the quick passes and making plays. I think that if that is the case, they should be a little nervous. If they're thinking, oh, we need a playmaker to throw really short passes to, they should be nervous that Tua maybe wasn't the guy

and maybe they should have picked someone else to quarterback, which was the other part of this that I wanted to ask you about. If I were the Dolphins, and I love what they did in terms of draft value and all that stuff, I probably would have just picked Justin Fields because there's nothing more important. And the Sharks last year, yeah, they were like, oh, no, we're good. We'll take Chase Young, franchise-changing defensive end. We're fine with Dwayne Haskins.

He's going to be our guy for the future. And maybe even Alex Smith for the future too remember they were saying that and uh well Alex Smith's legs don't work though he did you know win some games for them uh but Dwayne Haskins was a truck fire and is not even on the team anymore like if Tua is good enough that's great then you can trade him or you can trade Justin Fields and you'll get a lot back and if he's not good enough then then you have your other quarterback, but you're going to waste a year of a really good roster or two years of a really good roster. If you just keep kind of running this thing back with Tua and he isn't the guy. So I think that yes, absolutely. It's to get him one of those

playmakers, but I wonder if they're going to regret it, even as much draft stock as they got. Yeah, that's exactly how I feel. I did a what I would do mock draft last week at CBS Sports. Most of the people that tweeted at me didn't read that I included twice in the intro. This is not what I think will happen. I repeat, this is a what I would do mock draft. I just had the Dolphins staying at three and picking Justin Fields for a lot of the reasons that you just pointed out. I don't like to throw out a lot of blanket statements when it comes to draft analysis, like, oh, always draft a corner from Ohio State or never do this, or the Bill Parcells checklist that you want for your quarterback when there's like

the completion percentage at a certain number, any of that, because things change so quickly in the NFL. But I think the closest you'll hear from me giving a blanket statement, if you are picking in the top five or the top three, and I know this year that Dolphins number three overall pick was originally the Texans, you should be considering a quarterback and you should be leaning toward a quarterback. There are very rare occasions. And I guess the Houston Texans, had they not traded for Laramie Tunsil would have been there with the Sean

Watson, but you need to be considering a quarterback and the Dolphins, like you could say, Oh, we need this. We need that. If you're a team that won two to four, like you could say, Oh, we need this. We need that. If you're a team that won two to four games and you're picking inside the top five, your quarterback should have been doing more to get you to five or six or seven wins as a rookie in his second year, third year, whatever it may be. So I agree. I think the Dolphins have all the ammunition to build up this roster. And I think they just right now look like a team that has made all the right moves on paper. And who knows what they'll do with those picks. But even if they have a really good roster,

it's like an, I guess, let's say 11 and 16 now that we have that 17th game. And they maybe win a playoff game where Tua doesn't have to do too much and then in that divisional round they face the Chiefs and it's the disparity between the quality of each quarterback is just gigantic and it's like oh now what do we do and yes there's quarterbacks in every class but now you're picking number 28 overall and now you're in a bad situation so whenever there's like a team like like last year, the Washington football team, like it was penciled in that they were going to pick Chase Young. And I went on Washington DC radio spots all April.

And it's like, Hey, should they be considering Tua or Justin Herbert? And I was like, yes, yes, yes. Both of them. Oh, but everyone here, we really want Chase Young to build the defense. And I'm like, they don't have an answer at quarterback right now. Oh, well, they drafted Dwayne Haskins last year. It's like, no, if you're that bad, your quarterback that you picked even a year or two ago probably isn't going to be the guy. Right.

And you don't get to hang banners for drafting a good player. Like, oh, put up the banner in the stadium, drafted a good player, and went 7-9. I mean, that's the thing with that Washington decision is if they had taken Justin Herbert, then they would feel really great about where their franchise is right now. If they took Tua, then they might feel like, oh, no, we blew it. But can you find another defensive end to do the job? I think they already had one there in Ryan Kerrigan, who was doing a good job already. Like, how many good defensive ends are there walking around this world?

Like, a lot of them. How many quarterbacks who can really change things for you? And also, with the development or reemergence of the mid-pack quarterback who bounces around, Teddy's going to be this, and Fitzpatrick is this, and Andy Dalton is now this, those guys are, and you know, Winston is in some version of this too, those guys give you an option to not draft a quarterback who is only okay in the first round, who only has a ceiling of being just all right, which maybe, you know, I like Tua coming out too, but

you could always see this is not a guy who's a freakish athlete. This is not a guy who's going to compete with Watson and Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers for arm strength or anything like that. So I think that that's going to be a philosophy that comes out of this off season and out of this year and the past couple of years, especially when teams did things like overpaying Jared Goff, like that's a guy who is a really good player when everything is great, but there's a lot of middling quarterbacks can be a great player. And now those middling quarterbacks look like they're going to cost you about 10 million bucks, which is like a first round pick.

So I think in the future, we see a lot more of that that only the game changers are the one who's taken high, which means that Mac Jones will be taking third, of course. I was just going to say, that sounds perfect. But to me, if we see Mac Jones go number three overall, or truly anywhere in the top half of the first round, then I don't think that the NFL is there yet. And maybe the other 31 teams think that, and the one team that picks Mac Jones inside the top 16 doesn't think that.

But, yeah, you have to, if you're trading up for a quarterback, and a lot of first-rounders are ultimately traded up for, he has to have, like, all pro upside himself. And one last point on the Washington football team, Chase Young wins Defensive Rookie of the Year. Good pick. Like you said, you're not going to hang a banner for making a good pick at number two overall. And yes, they made the playoffs. And yes, they were in a game in the fourth quarter with Taylor Heineke at quarterback with Chase Young on the team. Don't you think the Washington football team would have been way better if they had Justin Herbert

as their quarterback all season. They had Ryan Kerrigan. They have Jonathan Allen. They have Montez Sweat, another defensive end they picked in 2019. Quarterback changes everything. If you have a quarterback, yes, you need to build around him. But even, and I'll go back to a Buffalo example, even in Josh Allen's rookie season, early on, he did not look like an NFL quarterback. But down the stretch, I believe they went four and two down the stretch. They finished with six

or seven wins. He showed those flashes. And if you're not really showing those, even in your rookie season in today's NFL, I think that is a gigantic red flag. You could say that about Josh Rosen. Hey, you know, the team in Arizona was so bad, but he never really flashed for more than a couple of series where he led a touchdown drive. It was never two or three games in a row. And that's what I'm worried about with Tua

or any team picking inside the top five says, oh, hey, no, we're set at quarterback. Let's pick a tackle or let's pick an edge rusher. Josh Rosen beating Aaron rogers is one of the most bizarre outcomes maybe an nfl history um so yeah with uh washington justin herbert probably wins like 11 games there last year considering how bad the division was speaking of which this big trade around also means the the Eagles go down from 6 to 12. Now, I like this for the Eagles because their roster is horse bleep.

It is in a bad place. You just need draft picks. You have so many needs on that team. You need more selections to rebuild over a number of years. I think the Philadelphia Eagles are going to be one of the worst teams in the league, unless Jalen Hurts is amazing, that they're going to be one of the worst teams in the league, unless Jalen Hurts is amazing, that they're going to be one of the worst teams in the league. And they did the right thing here, realizing that like they tried to keep patching all the holes and then said, okay, we're, we're kind of screwed here. We have to do this. So I

thought it was a good move for them because there will be a lot of talent there. There will be top 10 players there at number 12 because of all the quarterbacks who are going. Yeah. And I like this for them, not even just for this year, but for 2022, I'm one that's not super high on Jalen Hurts. I like, I mean, we've been talking about athleticism. He's a good athlete. I think he is very far behind as a passer. Maybe they can kind of turn him into like somewhat of what we saw from say Colin Kaepernick or Tyrod Taylor that is a good scrambler and you can use him in the read option game, but he's not ever going to really elevate you as a passer. But they could have three first round picks in 2022 after that Carson Wentz trade. If Carson Wentz plays 75% of the snaps for the Colts in 2021, the Eagles get the Colts pick.

Now they get that pick in 2022 from the Dolphins and then still hold their own. So I think talk about a team that will have ammunition to trade up. And like you said, with their roster, I don't know if they're going to be picking at like 25 where they will need to. But even if they're at number six again or they're at number 10 or 11, they can move up for a quarterback. I know there was a lot of a push or there has been a lot of a push for, hey, let's give Jalen Hurts a chance and see. And for as much as I don't think that will work out, I'm fine with them at least trying it, especially as they're kind of quietly starting a rebuilding process. If Jalen Hurts doesn't show those flashes in year two, then you're all set to pick a quarterback and really hit the reset button. So initially, I think people were like,

why would the Eagles trade out from six? They're going to potentially miss out on one of the top tier pass catchers. But I think they're almost like, hey, you can give us Jalen Waddell. And I don't know how much that's going to change this team. We want to load up in 2022, 2023 to kind of rebuild this club, because that's what they need more than anything else right now. Hey, everyone. I want to tell you about our friends at Scout Logistics. And I really do mean it when I say friends.

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and overperform and go the extra mile for your company. Well, I think one thing that we're seeing is really important is just the situation you drop somebody into i mean if you drop a baker mayfield into a bad spot um maybe he really blows up but they were kind of on the upswing when they decided to draft him they passed on other quarterbacks in previous years because the roster was horrendous so when he gets there within a couple of years it's strong enough to compete for maybe a Super Bowl or AFC championship. And so now he's in a good spot hitting his stride.

I think that's what you want to aim for. That's what the Eagles did a really good job of the first time with Wentz, where when he was ready to be a good player in year two, then they had this tremendous, unbelievable roster that could take Nick Foles all the way to a Super Bowl. And I think there's a lot of teams that want to do exactly that. Before we wrap up on our first Chris Trapasso draft show here on Purple Insider presented by Victory Home Team, let's talk about the Vikings and their spot. Yes, let's do it. They have to be pretty happy, I think,

when you're looking at how this top of the first round is going to go. All these quarterbacks are going to be taken and you're sitting there with kind of your pick of the litter, whether it ends up being Quiddy Pay or Elijah Tucker or Christian Derisaw, like their needs. Tell me about what you think. If you agree with this, I think their needs have been seriously narrowed in the last few days from, well, they could pick a corner, they could pick a this, they could pick a that.

But now I think it's pretty much a pass rusher or an offensive lineman, and I would be very surprised if it was anything else. Yeah, they have to go into the trenches, I think, at number 14 overall. And you're right, with all this positioning or repositioning inside the top 10 and top 12, the more quarterbacks that go off the board, they want to see five quarterbacks go before they pick. They're a team that wants to see Mac Jones thrown in there and Trey Lance thrown in there. And I think four quarterbacks seems pretty likely at this point. It seems like we should know who those four will be, but maybe we don't.

I think outside of Penne Sewell, they will probably have the pick of the litter at offensive tackle, at guard, and probably at edge rusher. And those are the three biggest needs on the team. So to be sitting at 14 and to have it be a top 13 that is not going to be featuring a lot of offensive tackles and edge rushers, that's kind of rare. So the Vikings should be like, hey, this is a great situation for us to be in. And they have 11 picks. So if they really wanted to move up a few spots, if Penny Sewell does fall, or if they absolutely love Rashawn Slater and how athletic he is, he can play guard, he can play tackle, they could move him around. We know they like to kind of change positions with

a lot of those offensive linemen. They could move up a few picks. Maybe the Eagles would trade back again to allow the Vikings to get one of those blockers. So they truly are in a good spot aligning with their needs, with the type of players and the positions that will be available at 14. Okay. I want to do this, and maybe we'll do this to wrap up every show. Grade my draft sim, Chris.

Okay? All right. Let's hear it. I want to do this and maybe we'll do this to wrap up every show. Grade my draft sim, Chris. Okay. All right. Let's hear it. I traded down for the Vikings from 14 to 25 with the Jacksonville Jaguars. And I picked up the 65th overall pick. And I took Elijah Vera Tucker at 25, took Joseph Asai at 65, the edge rusher out of Texas. Jalen Darden at 78, the wide receiver from North Texas, and Shakur Brown, the cornerback from Michigan State at 90 in a three-round draft sim.

Grade me. A-minus. The Vikings should sign up for that today. And I mean, Elijah Vera Tucker, truly, wherever you want to play him, guard or tackle, that is completely fine. To get Joseph Osai that late, he is a late first-round prospect. On my board, I think he fits the mold of what the Vikings like. He is big. He is chiseled.

He had a freaky pro day. We saw better pass-rushing moves from him in 2020. Shakur Brown from Michigan State is one of these feisty corners that I think plays a lot like Cameron Dantzler, although he's not the same body type, but he plays bigger than his size and his athleticism. And Jalen Darden from North Texas. I don't, I'm not going to say I think he's Stephon Diggs 2.0, but I think he would fit in with the Vikings scheme in that you get him the ball on drag routes and on short passes. He has some of the most explosive first step ability in this draft class. We're not hearing a lot about him because he's at North Texas,

but that offense was very screen and go route heavy. I think he can take the top off the defense too, that I think the Vikings take the top off the defense too, that I think the Vikings do like to throw it deep more than people think. And Kirk Cousins does have one of the better and more accurate deep balls in the league, and they probably do need to prioritize wide receiver a little bit earlier than people think. That would be like a, for casual Vikings fans, would be like Jalen Darden from North Texas his film is spectacular and I really think he is a top uh in terms of physical abilities wide receiver in this class make it happen Rick Spielman you're welcome uh Chris Trapasso your podcast is the prospect podcast people should go find that I show up quite often on your show and we have a good time talking about the entire league.

This will happen each week with you and I, the Chris Trapasso draft show on Purple Insider, and I'm excited about it, man. I felt like we really needed a true professional draft analyst on this show. So that is you. Thank you, sir. Thanks for your time. Thanks.