Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - CBS Sports draft analyst Chris Trapasso gives the camp outlook for every Vikings draft pick

Episode Date: July 30, 2022

Matthew Coller and CBS Sports draft analyst talk about the outlook for every Minnesota Vikings draft pick, from Lewis Cine's chances to make an instant impact to Andrew Booth Jr.'s odds to win a job and Brian Asamoah's possibilities of being a situational player and all the late-round picks' odds to make the team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

hello welcome to another episode of purple insider matthew, and he makes a triumphant return, Chris Trapasso, our draft analyst. In fact, you know, Chris, I mean, it's not draft season anymore, but we might have to just dig up the intro anyway. I mean, how you been, man? What's up? Even if we don't have the intro at the beginning of this podcast, I am super excited to be back to talk about a draft class because it's like we have so much of a buildup and lead in and speculation and draft Sims. And then we certainly have that first two weeks in may where I get probably the most radio requests and podcasts requests that I get all year.

And then it's easy for people to just be like, okay, let's pack it up. It's the summer. Let's not think about football. And then just forget about it. I I'm ready to talk about every team's draft class all the way up until the football season and like i was telling you off air we had a great summer but i'm ready for football to be back like i'm gonna probably

watch the first quarter of the preseason hall of fame game and then be like oh it's a hall of fame game uh but no i'm very excited to be back to talk about uh this 2022 very interesting 2022 vikings draft class yeah i mean a great topic is your favorite hall of fame game memories and the answer is there are none but you're glad it's happening yes it's the perfect way to put it yeah so the what we're going to do here is we're going to go through every draft pick and their training camp outlook as we get set for the pads to come on on Monday. We're recording this just before I head to US Bank Stadium for a practice that they're holding inside the stadium. But really, until the pads come on, we can't get that great sense for where

everyone stands and so forth. And even the coaches will tell you that as well. So we've got some space here to go through every draft pick, what their outlook is, and then maybe at the end, if we've got some time, we'll talk about some other draft picks who could impact the NFL this year. So let's begin with Louis Seen. And so far, Louis Seen has not played with the first team. It's been Cam Bynum next to Harrison Smith. But I suspect that that won't last all that long once they get into the pads and he'll take over that position.

And, you know, Chris, I think that if you're trying to get really excited about what this defense can be, it kind of starts with Lewis scene because his athletic ceiling is so much higher than anyone who's played with Harrison Smith, the highest drafted guy who's ever played next to Harrison Smith in his entire career is a fifth rounder. And that was Xavier Woods last year, right? It was the highest guy. And so now you have a first round draft pick, but also I think this defense asks a lot of safeties. And I also think that, you know, you're talking about playing next to a rookie where he's usually been next to very experienced guys. So the outlook for Lewis scene here, as we get into the uh exciting part of

camp yeah that's the other fun part for me is to jump onto these podcasts with guys like you that have you know that do such a great job covering the team on a day-to-day basis this is the beginning of seeing if i was right or wrong on prospects like there's some guys like like man kellen mon just he he can't do it like and it's fun to kind of get even the super early on I'm like anyone else I cling to those early training camp reports um and try not to draw too many conclusions early on but for Louis scene I think I I totally agree with you that it almost seems like it's just that formality at the beginning of a camp that like even first rounders like to begin with the second team but obviously that's not where they ultimately want him to be i love lewis scene i i had a late

first round grade on him like right around where the vikings picked him actually and the funny story with him during my film watching process was that i remember watching i don't know what game it was but a few georgia games early on And I see big hit after big hit after big hit, running that alley from the free safety spot to the outside on a run play. And I actually kind of thought at first, oh, this is just one of those hard hitting safeties who can't cover. He's just downhill, reckless abandon. And then I see him have an interception where he changes directions, flips his hips, accelerates,

finds the football, contorts his body. And I kept seeing those plays in coverage from Louis seen, which ultimately led to me having such a high grade on him. I thought he was probably the more, the most underrated safety in this class that I see a three down ability. And I think like what you mentioned, playing next to Harrison Smith and being someone that has the high athletic upside and being able to kind of pick the brain of Harrison Smith early on, who's been an elite three down, do everything safety during his entire career, I think is huge. I think they saw a lot of Harrison Smith in Louis Scene after they traded back, and that's why they picked him.

So I see someone that together with Louis Scene and Harrison Smith can be a really kind of fun, complimentary veteran and rookie, but super talented blitzer outside run stopper. And again, flipping his hips, making natural plays in coverage in man in zone, the traditional free safety stuff. So I really can't rave enough about Louisine. Yeah. I think that when it comes to his skillset, it's kind of like, what doesn't he do well from what we watched with Georgia. Now it was an unbelievable defense and there was a lot of, uh, great players that were drafted and so forth. And I guess that was going to be my question is like, if there's something that could hold them back, because my first impression of him, at least personality wise was very good that I thought that he showed some maturity just even

at the podium in front of the media, but not everyone does. And Harrison Smith said he has a good head on his shoulders. He seems to be a film junkie, all those things that you need to be, but he's also got a bar to reach and combine him. Who's a pretty good player. And I think there's a very smart player. So I wonder what you think, if there's something that could hold him back from jumping in right away or winning this battle or being the Lewis scene that we think he's going to be, what would slow him down early on? The only thing, and this is kind of nitpicking because, like I said,

I was a huge fan of Seen's game, is that in today's NFL, we know that safeties have to be slot corners too. And in the vast majority of the scouting reports that I write over the last couple of years, almost every safety I've written, like probably don't want him covering a slot receiver because he's not that twitchy. He's not that incredible with his change of direction. That's kind of how I view Lewis scene that he's more like, if you have to say, okay,

he's a great free safety and what other like position could he play? Like what would be his secondary position? It would obviously be strong safety as opposed to nickel corner. That if you have that safety, that's like a Buddha Baker that can literally look like a slot corner, stay with the quickest, most sudden slot receivers in the NFL, then that's super-duper valuable. I don't think the Vikings want him on an island with a veteran slot corner in year one or year two, or probably really ever in his career. He's more of a free safety, rob the middle of the field, attack downhill,

still make plays in coverage, but man-to-man in that kind of new role that safeties have had to take on in today's NFL. That's not really where I would want seen in this defense. Yeah. And I think what could really play in his benefit is, I mean, the guy ran a four, three, seven. So he's extremely explosive. What could really play in his favor though,

is they want to play two deep safeties, which means that anytime the opposition is running the ball, they need someone barreling downhill to fill gaps. And if you can't do that which you know cam bynum i'm not sure he's not he doesn't have the same type of physical profile as lewis seen doesn't have the same type of speed and explosiveness i think that could be a real asset because a lot of times if it's two deep safeties other teams are thinking all right we're gonna run it down your throat all day and force you to bring somebody up. But if you have Harrison Smith with the instincts and the study that he has, he often

knows when it's runner pass and then somebody else who can read and react like Lewis seen. I think that's what's going to separate him as long as he can capture a lot of the intelligence stuff and a lot of the scheme stuff that he's being taught right away. Yeah, that's exactly where he thrived at Georgia, that they had that great defensive line in front of them. They didn't feel like they needed to insert that extra defender in the box. And he would just fly from free safety on outside runs, on screens, on quick swing passes to the running back. And a lot of times watching that Georgia defense, I was expecting it to be one of the you know linebackers that got drafted or a defensive end it would be Lewis seen making that play getting to the ball before anyone else because of that like you mentioned you know elite

explosiveness and that sub 4-4 speed yeah for sure and uh as as we just move off Lewis seen here I think that if we're talking about the best case scenario, I think it is when we get to the end of training camp and we're watching the practices that it just looks like he's got all of those parts down, like that he is playing in different spots or different. I mean, it's going to look like the same spot, but like different rotation. So sometimes it's going to be where, like you said, he's going to be robbing the middle, which means coming down into the box after the snap, or it looks like he's reacting quickly to those run plays. And then also I'm always looking for what people are saying.

If they're seeming a little nervous about starting a rookie or are they feeling like, okay, I mean, this guy is really got it and everybody looks like they're confident in him. And I also want to know, like, when is it that he takes over the job? Is it kind of a week from now or is it right before the season? Is he playing in those preseason games? I think he probably should and probably has to, to get a little bit of experience out there, but it's one of those things where it's almost like a day to day. But I think the best case scenario for him, especially based on recent young safeties is that he could be very good in the NFL right away, because I think the best case scenario for him, especially based on recent young safeties, is that he could be very good in the NFL right away.

Because I think this is a position that does translate from college to the NFL without a huge learning curve. Yeah, I think for safeties, especially ones that are picked first, second, maybe even third round, you probably want to see a lot right away to have an indication that that player is going to ultimately be pretty good. One last thing that I want to say on scene, the explosiveness jumps off the film. But a lot of times in watching safeties, especially because of how many different responsibilities, like what you just mentioned, different roles, rotations, I write in scouting reports, oh, like he's explosive, but it takes him a second to understand where the play is going, and you can almost see that he's a tick late. But then he's so fast that he can get there.

Lewis seen seemingly in a pretty, what I assume, complex defense for the collegiate level at Georgia in Kirby Smart's defense. He was getting to the football first on a defense with tons of insane athletes around him, not just because he was a 4-3-7 guy. It seemed like he would read his keys, he would see that pulling guard, and then he was gone. So I think certainly everything's faster in the NFL than it is even in the SEC. But I have a lot of confidence that the Vikings will be confident

in starting him sooner rather than later because he's not just this freaky specimen that is kind of lost when there's play action or doesn't understand where to go with the football that's again i mean again i i can't rave enough about him because i think he really ticks outside of that slot coverage ability and man which is pretty rare to see for a safety he ticked all the boxes for me athleticism smarts uh explosiveness ball skills zone coverage ability range he really had it all so the um yeah the national championship game there's a play where they run a screen and he he's just there like like lightning from the back end and uh you know that's what you're talking about yep yeah right like right right there you go like oh okay i see it yeah that's that's what you're

looking for to translate that was everything on that play. Now we got to talk about Andrew Booth jr. Who already is sort of making some waves and Kevin O'Connell did not try to downplay the hype on Andrew Booth jr. He basically said, yeah, I love the way he's moving around. And a good sign for them too, was that he couldn't take reps, full speed reps because of his health in mini camp, but then came right away in training camp and looked like he knew what he was doing, which I think is a good sign for somebody who learned from that. But you know, what I see from him just, just off of no pads, just helmets, whatever is already a confidence about him. And the footwork is just very clear like these are things when you're

standing right up next to the sideline you can very much see up close there's some things you don't know like what they're asking him to do or techniques or whatever but when you see somebody moving their feet and mirroring a wide receiver like that it's like okay i think that there's uh there's something here with andrew booth jr yeah i don't think you needed to have me on to talk about andrew booth because everything that you just explained is exactly how I felt about Andrew Booth. Extremely confident on the field that just he kind of exuded that

at Clemson. And the first thing that I wrote in my scouting grade book on him was this is a corner with outside corner size and nickel cornerback feet. I thought of all the corners, even Derek Stingley, Ahmad Gardner, Andrew Booth had the best feet, the lightest, most lightning quick feet of any

cornerback in the class. And if you're telling me that he's been able to play and be on the field and he's healthy, that was it with him. Like he fell in the draft because there were so many injury concerns that, you know, I certainly didn't have any information on. And he was a top 15 prospect for me. Like I really thought he had it all that had the ability to play in this slot. If he's manning up with a outside receiver that motions down into the slot, Andrew Booth is one of those rare cornerback prospects that you should feel relatively comfortable with pretty early on in his career. He can motion down with that player, stay on an Island. And like you mentioned mirror with the best of them. So I think the fact that he's healthy is a great sign. Cause there was some concerns. Some people I talked to during the pre-draft process, like he's never going to be

healthy. He's always going to be dinged up. And if already in training camp, he's on the field, maybe he did make the right decision to not work out and to just say, hey, look, I showed what I can do at Clemson. I want to be ready for the NFL season and for a training camp because physically recognizing routes and then all those highlight reel interceptions and pass breakups were what made him a top half of the first round prospect for me. So I think I'll explain in a minute why I think this Vikings draft was so interesting because it really started off trading back, getting Louis seen and Andrew Booth. I thought it was like one of the best starts to any draft of any team in the NFL.

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We questioned not taking the wide receiver just because of the structure of the team and Adam Thielen's age. And also, are you leaning into Kirk Cousins or are you not leaning into Kirk Cousins? But I always wanted to separate that from what I thought of the first two prospects, which I think that when you have the 24th ranked defense and corners and safeties who were struggling last year that were veterans, you're trying to replace those with young, good prospects. And I wonder if this is going to end up being something we go, oh man, that guy could have been this, that, or the other thing if he only stayed healthy or if we end up saying with andrew booth jr this was a draft hack this was like everybody else said no you know let's not uh let's not go with this guy because we're too afraid of him going bust but they picked the exact right time to take him was where he's not going to

destroy you if he has those health issues as a first round pick that would have been like kind of devastating if he can't get out on the field. But if it's a second round pick, it's kind of like worth that risk. So you sort of matched up the two lines of like the talent versus the risk exactly in the right spot with Andrew Booth. And I think you see it right away. Now it's just day after day, those padded practices. Like, is this guy going to even make it through training camp but if he does i think that would be a very good sign for him yeah i just think there's there's multiple ways to look at how a team's draft goes like you mentioned you could

say who could they have picked instead of like that's one way to look at it did they get enough in the trade back maybe not but from just the perspective of trading back, the overarching philosophy of trading back, I like that. And then, like you said, the two prospects that they picked. And that's what, again, why I love putting out my big board super early because there's no hindsight. I can't say, hey, someone thinks I'm a Vikings hater. I can't suddenly change it.

I had them both inside my top 25. So to get those two prospects at positions of need, I think, again, was one of the best starts. And just in terms of the prospects that they were able to get after trading back and especially the value with Andrew Booth, I absolutely love what the Vikings did in those first two rounds. Now the next pick is where we questioned it the most, not only because of the background issues,

but also because of the position that he plays. And I'll give you a little bit of a hot take, and you can tell me if it's too hot of a take. But Ed Ingram, the second round draft pick, is with the second team. He's the second team right guard. Chris Reed has been moved over to left guard. So there doesn't appear to really be a competition there, except for maybe Ingram against Jesse Davis, who's the starting right guard and is a veteran and has played for many years in the league.

He's 30 or something like that. And also a gigantic human being, you know, when you're like football players are huge men, Jesse Davis, I present you everyone. This is a huge, huge man. But here would be the take. If he doesn't start, if Ingram does not start, if he doesn't win this job, I mean, the pick kind of looks goofy, I think. When you're picking in those top, I mean, it's a top 60 draft pick

with a team with a lot of spots that are open, and you go out and you get a couple of veterans who can play there and then draft somebody really high. If you're going to draft someone really high there, I think they've got to play. And I think they've got to be good right away because guards specifically, no one's taking them in the top five or 10. So if you're taking one at 60, you should be everything with the background and go so far against the consensus draft board and all those things to take him here, it feels like if he doesn't start, and especially with a second round pick, you're talking only the four years of the rookie deal, and you're just wasting one of the years of the rookie deal on a non-premium position like it just doesn't look particularly great but I'm not sure if it's if it's really going to be a competition with him and Davis or if Davis is just going to start yeah it was my lowest grade that I gave uh for the CBS sports draft tracker I ran that from round two to round seven gave it a c- everything that you mentioned

was spot on it that a second round guard, should be an immediate starter in my opinion. Like I'm not someone that, that, you know, tries to make very strong conclusions on a player in his rookie season. But I mean, I think we've talked about it a lot during like the draft season that in today's NFL,

you don't have four years to develop, especially when you're a second round pick. So I had him graded a lot lower. I don't have my scouting grade book up right here, but I think I had him in like the fourth or the fifth round. And beyond that, like even if I was just wrong on my evaluation, I saw someone that was pretty powerful, but his balance wasn't very good in pass protection, his recovery ability, which I think is huge, especially early on in pass pro was not great because he's kind

of has clunky feet even if i'm just wrong about that the scheme fit is so weird because lsu is like gap scheme like pulling guard downhill uh kind of static man-to-man blocking and we assume i mean you could probably tell me kevin o'connell is going to incorporate a lot of Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan blocking scheme. That's more you want mobile guards. You want mobile centers, guys that are smaller, quicker. You're not necessarily as concerned about how powerful someone is and that you almost need that ability to make blocks on the run, sliding laterally across the field. I didn't see that at all from Ed Ingram.

So if they picked him in the fifth or the sixth round, okay, I just get another body in there. But in round two, someone that I had graded a lot lower, that does not seem like the right scheme fit. That's why it was an interesting draft because I was loving what the Vikings were doing. And then at, you know, inside the top 60 to pick a power blocking guard that has seemingly path

protection limitations. That's a weird scheme fit that kind of threw me off and to make it clear in your evaluations the off the field stuff is not something that you put into you're just scouting them as a player and even when i was looking at you know some other evaluations that were like it wasn't the off-field stuff for why i put this grade on him it just was i didn't believe believe this player belonged past the fourth or fifth round. It was the strangest pick that they had, especially since the first two picks in scene and booth junior matched up

pretty well with like consensus boards. And I think everybody thought that booth had the talent to be a first round pick. I didn't see anywhere where he wasn't listed like that, at least somewhere in the first round talent wise. And then to go so different here and of a non-premium position, I think that if they're not right, right away, then the pick, and I mean him emerging as a starter,

then the pick looks bad because this is a position where you should be getting either a starter or someone with development potential, like DK Metcalf who just signed. Everyone knew that DK Metcalf was not going to be a perfect receiver right away. They drafted him because he could be a freak show and they hit on that. There's freak shows in the second that don't hit, but that's not what he is either. Like you look at the athletic profile and you go like 70th percentile or something like a pretty average type of athletic profile. So that one I think has to prove right pretty quickly here in training camp.

One last point on that too. And I get it like every new GM, every front office, they have their convictions. They have probably analytics that factor in, they have a whole team of scouts, whatever the case may be. But I think to your point about the consensus big board,

which I don't know how much teams look into that but if you pick a player that's that high like that much higher than the consensus big board we'll never know for sure like no team would ever admit hey you know if the Vikings didn't pick him there at 59 we were going to pick him next but chances are most of the rest of the league viewed at Ingram as probably a third or a fourth round pick. So if the Vikings are right, then like they can, you know, I'll tip my hat to them and say, you know, they knew something that I didn't, that no one else saw, but that's kind of what's, what is baked into that, that not only would it be like, Hey, you picked a guard in the second round. Who's not starting for you. Like that's, that's not good, but it's like, man, you were

way off on your evaluation relative to the rest of the league that probably saw him on day three of the draft right i got a good fan question the other day about can we judge their ability to evaluate based on going so far against the big board and i don't think the answer is yes but i also think that when we try to give opinions based on like what we know consensus board and all the data that we have and then we compare it to what they did i think we can say if this doesn't work out there were warning signs there now if it doesn't work out with lewis scene then i mean just you know bad luck is bad luck but that guy checks every box if it doesn't work out it's kind of like

the treadwell where it's like maybe you should have seen that a guy who runs slower than most tight ends would have some troubles here you know what i mean like first first guess kind of questions about him but like you said if he hits it's a big boon for them because then you look at this offensive line and it looks like it's solid and it's all first and second round draft picks making up this offensive line. So it's really a swing player because I think Jesse Davis is not really going to be a difference maker. As we go on to the next pick with Brian Asamoah, I'm intrigued by Brian Asamoah. I don't think he's any bigger than you are. When I first saw him, I thought he was like the fifth string running back or something they're making a bet with asamoah that the undersized super speedy high motor

linebacker is kind of the modern player for this defense and i mean you've got my attention like i think linebacker at the third round maybe i, I don't know. I still would have probably gone receiver or something, but like this, this player has my attention based on his skillset and sort of this bet that they're making that this guy is someone they're going to be able to use in a lot of different ways. Yeah. Again, Matt, you kind of took the words out of my mouth. He looks small on film, ran four or five, six at the combine. And he, I think he plays faster than that.

Like everything that I wrote, I was just rereading my scouting report was just like speed, twitchy, fast to the football, like plays with his hair on fire. Like that is Brian S. Moat. What I think is interesting, they got him in the third round in watching him. He was at Oklahoma. He reminded me so much of Kenneth Murray, who went in the first round in the 2020 draft to the Chargers. They traded up to get him. He's kind of been a disappointment as a first rounder, but if they could rewind and the Chargers picked Kenneth Murray in the third round, I'd be like, okay, you know, he's solid player, not great, not bad. I think that is Brian Asamoah and the Vikings got obviously better value than picking him in the first round. The coverage ability is not, it's kind of an unknown because in that Kenneth Murray role, it's just, you're playing quarterback spy, you're blitzing or you're chasing a running back.

You're not really having to cover whatsoever, but he was effective as a blitzer. He was very fast to the football, twitchy, read his keys in a hurry, was a pretty steady tackler, did not miss a ton of tackles. So from those kind of fundamental aspects of playing linebacker, I think Asamoah was a good player. That's right around where I had him graded. It's just that final step that separates the bad from the good and the good from the great. How well can he cover?

He'll have to learn it. He's got Eric Kendricks there. That should certainly help him, an elite coverage linebacker. But it's kind of an unknown on his draft resume because Oklahoma did not ask him to do that whatsoever. How hard do you think it is to project a linebacker for coverage? Because I think it's extremely hard. If not, it's so hard. Yeah. I don't want to say impossible, but almost because, because the schemes are so complicated, you know, and there's

so many looks that you get in the NFL. The players are so good. Somebody like Anthony Barr did not get enough credit for coverage because the coverage stats are only when you're targeted. But I remember doing a film piece on him and being like, look at the times he wasn't targeted because he was in the right spot. So we don't even really have good metrics to tell us whether guys are good at coverage. So you can't really go to their PFF numbers in college and go like, well, you know, when targeted, he had an 80 quarterback rating or something. Cause I'm not sure that really captures it either. There's so much IQ

when it comes to this. And also like, can you make the right decision? Can you guess right? More than wrong for offenses that are all targeting you and trying to throw you off. Well, yeah, that last point is the best one that I think most offensive coordinators and quarterbacks, they go into a game plan and say, oh, we have a rookie linebacker on the field this week that never covered in college. We are going to throw so many different looks at him. And you're right. I mean, Brian Asamoah, even Kenneth Murray of the Chargers, athleticism through the roof, I think that certainly helps and that matters. But there are so many really athletic linebackers, Kenneth Murray being one of them, that have really struggled in coverage because of all face. They want me to take that crosser because behind me is going to be a dig route

that's going to be wide open, like stuff like that. That's where the Eric Hendricks, the Matt Milanos, the Fred Warners are so good because they're good athletes. And they understand, like you mentioned with Anthony Barr, where to be. And I'm going to just say that chances are Brian Asamoah is not going to just emerge as the next Eric Hendricks in coverage, but he has, again, the fundamental elements of being a good kind of sub package linebacker, stopping the run, blitzing.

I think there is a little bit of an area where we're entering a trend on defense, where defensive coordinators are getting so many of these linebackers that are only like quarterback spies and blitzers that they're like, you're going to be our sub package blitzer. We know you can't cover, or we're facing so many athletic quarterbacks today. You ran a four or five, six run with this quarterback. If he leaves the pocket. So there could be a little nitrile for Brian Asamoah beyond just the normal

duties of playing linebacker, stopping the run, stuff like that. And for year one, that's where I see him as far as best case scenario is if you have some sort of role and if you're kind of the next man up or if you fill in and dime packages or something like that that's probably really good for you and then maybe there's a development piece to this because eventually they're going to have to move on from eric kendricks whether it's retirement or he just goes somewhere else but when you get to this age, but linebackers are just a very, very tricky thing. I do think because of that, that there's opportunity in the middle to late rounds for, uh, for linebackers to

surprise you. And you mentioned Warner. I mean, Kendricks was a second round pick. He's an all pro like everyone would take him in the first round now. Um, but you just aren't really sure in the first round linebackers have often gone bust really sure. In the first round, linebackers have often gone bust. So I think that as far as mid-rounds, if you're taking a linebacker, we question a little bit positional value, but I also think those guys might have the best chance to develop into being a significant player. Yeah, I think it's really all just comes down to film study, the intelligence side of the processing that we always hear about with quarterbacks that I think that matters so much with linebackers.

Fred Warner was a third round pick. Matt Milano was a fifth round pick. And just, I always got to throw in the bills here. Matt Milano at Boston college, he was like a strong side linebacker that was like on the line of scrimmage, like almost playing as like an edge rusher in college. So he didn't have a ton of coverage of like a ton of coverage experience the bills somehow knew maybe like you know during the interview process or i mean again he was a fifth rounder so they didn't love him a ton but since he's gotten to buffalo he's been so good at

like you mentioned with anthony bar being in the right spot at the right time so if you want to track brian asamoah's future of maybe becoming the next Eric Kendricks, beyond just watching to see if he's in the right spot, see if there's anything to glean from him learning from Eric Kendricks and putting in extra work on his coverage ability. Because from the athletic standpoint and the run-stopping standpoint, he ticks those boxes. All right. So let's go more rapid fire through the late round, guys.

But they're always intriguing here. We have something that's called Mr. Mankato because they used to have training camp in Mankato. And there was always a player who was a late round draft pick or a UDFA who's surprised in training camp. So let's talk about kind of most likely in best case scenarios. I'll just run through them. I mean, I, uh, Caleb Evans, we'll start with him. I mean, best case scenario is always like the guy makes the team and he's something but like what what should maybe reasonable expectations be for him he was someone that watching him i wrote time and time again that nothing really stood out about his game the one area that where he could carve out a niche best

case scenario is he is a rare cornerback prospect and I think it's part of the reason why the Vikings traded up to get him is that he spent time as like a slot corner and on the outside like there were he was you know three four year player at Missouri and some seasons he was their slot corner and sometimes he was on the outside and there was he had no problems moving in and out because his fluidity was so good now he's someone kind of the opposite of lewis seen that i think it takes him a second to recognize what's going on the route concepts but he's fast and he's explosive so i think they saw this is a legitimately versatile guy that like we don't have to say hey you're quick enough can you play inside he's done that so i think it would just be to carve out a

role and say hey hey, look, I'm this utility corner on the team. If someone goes down on the outside, I can fill in and not be a huge liability. And I can also fill in in the slot. That's kind of where his role would be early on in his career with the Vikings. I think anything with second team reps involved is good. If it's a week into the padded practice or two weeks into the padded practice. And we're talking about this guy's on the second team.

That's a big win for him because that means he's showing something where he's going to be a direct backup. If somebody goes down now, let's see a Sazia Tomo, the Minnesota guy, basically once we're in the fifth rounders, it's kind of like make the team. And I think that's where we're at with somebody like a Tomo low is show that

there might be something there for the future. Yeah, definitely. And he, as big as he is, six, six to 85, I was actually a fan of his, but what I always, what I've kind of found funny over the last like three to five years, I always hear defensive coordinators and head coaches say, hey, we drafted this guy, let's say like him, in the fifth round. He's big.

We're going to use him inside and outside. And then when the season comes around, they almost just want a player in one spot. If the Vikings allow him to rush from the inside and the outside and say, hey, look, we're playing, even if it's in the preseason, we're facing a rookie fifth round, right guard and a really good right tackle. Let's let Otomo play over that right guard and rush because he has the long arms, the girth, the power to win on the interior.

That's where you could probably get the most out of him as again, kind of similar to a Caleb Evans, not going to be a 10 sec guy to a Caleb Evans not going to be a 10-set guy on the outside and not going to be an amazing interior rusher but to be someone that should legitimately learn two spots because that's where he was best at Minnesota and that's where I think his future lies in the NFL where he can be maximized yeah no Tomo I think that you're talking about like the bar we've discussed is high for Lewis scene. It's not high to make it as a depth defensive lineman here.

So if you make it as a depth defensive lineman and beat out some of these other guys that just haven't shown a whole lot and do something in a preseason game, like, like flash a little bit, because if they're not playing starters, hardly at all, opportunities are going to be everywhere for these guys to flash and to he's really strong yeah he's really strong as his bull rush is there i mean i i think he could be that type where you're in the third quarter of a pre-season game where you're facing a you know backup offensive line and you see a tomo bull rush a guard back into the quarterback and then swim off of it and get a pressure or a sack. Like that's the type of player that I saw at Minnesota. Not crazy twitchy, obviously being that size, but you're right. I think he, he, that's how he could ultimately

make the team. And I really think his length, his natural power, and the fact that he does have some pass rushing moves, I think he can be that guy, but do not just make him be a defensive end because he's not athletic enough and fast enough and explosive enough to be a defensive end. I like him as that perceived to be trendy, you know, hybrid rusher that's inside now, but I haven't seen a lot of teams that really let those players play multiple

spots. Yeah. It's kind of like the receiving running back. We always hear so much about, and you're like, how many running backs go downfield the answer is basically none um so speaking of running backs ty chandler the next guy on the list i had him making the team and i think that's like the bar of course is just make the team uh i haven't seen the vikings use their deep depth running

backs very often be a special teamer. But I think what you're looking for is that one preseason game where the guy flashes and you think, well, maybe in the future, he could be part of a rotation because if there's any position where you really have no idea who's going to show up and all of a sudden be really good, it's running back. It's definitely running back. We talked about it all during the pre-draft process that fifth, sixth rounders, it's kind of the opposite of what you mentioned with,

like, Otomo, like, you know, defensive lineman fifth round, you're kind of, like, not really expecting much. But I think in today's NFL, even if you have a legitimate elite back like Dalvin Cook, we've seen guys, you know, elite number one running backs go down and then fifth rounders come in. Elijah Mitchell last season, a sixth rounder for the 49ers, played a lot over the third rounder, Trey Sermon, and was good.

I think you can get a quality back, especially in this Kevin O'Connell system that we know is time-tested, the best run scheme in the NFL. I think Chandler was a good fit. He's kind of the anti-Ed Ingram, that he is a wide zone scheme, burst to the front side, and he can hit the front side, or one foot in the ground, get north and south. That's the type of running back I think he is. He was a little bit of an older prospect because he started at Tennessee and then transferred to North Carolina, but he was really good in his final season in college.

I think not knowing what type of running back Kenny Wongu is, like is he going to just be this special teams ace? To have Ty Chandler as a rookie be your number three running back, if Delvin has an ankle injury for two games, you've got Madison and Ty Chandler. I think truly that Ty Chandler can be not you know, not a crazy good running back, but he can be a legitimate backup that has the athleticism to be good in this scheme because he is a good fit with his running style. And I just think you're always keeping eyes on all of these guys for potential starter in the future, because this could be it for Delvin Cook in Minnesota

based on his contract after this year, if they were to move on from him, they wouldn't have such a dead cap hit or something like that. This is where I draw the line for guys who I believe will make the team. Their final three picks are Vardarian Lowe, Jalen Naylor, Nick Muse, all of them pretty hard to get on the team here. The Vikings already have two offensive linemen that are backups that are pretty reliable. Blake Brandel, Ole Udo. They've got Chris Reed in here as a backup as well. There's not a lot of space for Vardarian Lowe.

Jalen Naylor, the same thing. There's a lot of receivers who expect to make the team. He would really have to shine. And then with Nick Muse, probably a backup tight end maybe could be tight end number three if he does really well in training camp but with these three guys I guess my question would be is there anything there with any of them that could change my mind with Jalen Naylor there wasn't for me He kind of just seemed like a good college player that didn't have a ton of upside due to athleticism or size. And his floor was relatively low because he's kind of a skinnier framed wide receiver.

Didn't do anything amazingly in college. Decent yards after the catch. But Darian Lowe seems like just the quintessential practice squad developmental type because he's got crazy long arms, but he's like athletically was just not there. I didn't see someone that looked like he had the footwork that was good enough to even be like a backup in the NFL. But you're like, hey, it's this late in the draft. Let's draft this guy and say he's going to be on the practice squad.

He's 6'6", 320 with long arms. Get him in better shape. Maybe that'll help his athleticism a little bit. So that is completely fine with that type of pick that late in the draft. And then Nick Muse is, I'm not going to say he is the next Irv Smith, but there is Irv Smith qualities to his game that flash. I don't know why he wasn't super consistent with it, but there were times at South Carolina where would catch a swing pass and 90% of tight ends

catch it. They're slow to turn around. They lower their head. They fall down. Nick Muse would put his foot in the ground, plant and explode in the other direction, run over someone. You're like, whoa, but that you wouldn't see it very often. He wasn't a big part of that so maybe they kind of said hey we like Irv Smith's you know coming off this injury let's pick someone with a similar style that's kind of a underneath yards after the catch type that like you mentioned could be the tight end three or maybe he starts as a tight end four on the practice squad there's injuries he can be that tight end three um as a rookie but not a lot you're right with these final three um has me thinking that, that they'll make the team or be contributors as rookies.

All right. Put on a pot of coffee. Cause we're going to do every undrafted free agent. No, I'm just kidding. Wait, let me see their undrafted. I love looking at the undrafted. Let me see. I refuse.

You have to, I don't, I try not to learn anything about them because make me learn something about you. Like there's only so much brain space I've got here. No, that's true. I just want to, Oh,

I know who's one. Cause I tweeted about it right after. And someone, I think it was like the last episode that I was on right after the draft, Luigi Villain, the edge rusher from wake forest. And someone like tweeted at you. They're like,

Hey, look, Christopher Paso really liked this guy. Like you need to talk about him. And someone like tweeted at you. They're like, Hey, look, Christopher Paso really liked this guy. Like you need to talk about him. And I think that was your answer on Twitter. Like until he shows me something, I'm not going to talk about him, but that would be the guy.

We won't waste any more time with that, but that would be the guy, Luigi Villain, who was a big recruit started at Michigan and was really productive, like slippery pass rush moves, pretty good athlete as well, who went undrafted. He could be someone that if there's a UDFA that makes a splash, it would be him.

I don't know every single one of the undrafted free agents. I didn't grade all of them, but Luigi Villain was inside my top 250. I thought he deserved to be drafted. Okay. Well, for him, just for you, I'll keep an eye out. We'll see. Hey, if somebody who's an undrafted free agent starts getting second team reps, we start paying attention. That's basically where I'm at. Uh, okay. So, but we will wrap up with this. I want one sentence to these questions. No more. Uh, I'm just gonna ask you a couple draft first

round draft questions, and then we can, uh, that we can call it a day but i want to know from you who will win rookie of the year offensive and defense uh i did i write about this yet for cbs sports because i don't want to like go against what i oh i think i had for offense trailing burks for the wide receiver from arkansas that's on the titans there's just so much opportunity there and defense i believe i had eight i have eight no i don't remember let's go with aiden hutchinson i think i went with him all right which first round draft pick will their team be saying oh no how did we pick blank? There was a few picks I did not like. I'm going to have to go with the guy that I just was dumbfounded that went in the first round.

It's not Cole Strange. Quay Walker, the linebacker from the Green Bay Packers. Okay. Yeah. Didn't have a lot of hype until almost right before the draft. Right. Like the week of the draft. He started showing up in the big big insiders mocks i just talk about not being able to cover and he's actually one to your point and this is way longer than one sentence his like his pff coverage grade it was

one of those and i'm not hating on pff because i love pff but like it was when targeted but i was like no there's a lot of times where he was just like looking around, like where's the ball. But then like when there'd be a dump down right in front of him on third and long that a team was just bailing on the drive, he would like tackle the guy right away. It's like, he didn't give up any yards after the cut. It's like, no, he was, I did not see him as anything other than a sure tackler.

He, to me, did not warrant going in the first round. Okay. First round receiver who finishes with the most yardage. Hmm. I'm I have to like re-remember all of these. Cause I kind of like check out after like June, um, most yardage will be,

I'll go with Traylon Burks again. There's just a lot of opportunity there in Tennessee after, you know, losing or trading away A.J. Brown. Okay, last one. Number of games started by the entire quarterback draft class, which we went with far too much of our life. We did, man.

We did. That is my fault. Anyway. No, it's not your fault. I mean, it's just how the cookie crumbled. Yeah. So the whole class the whole class every darn one of them let's go with 10 and that's probably being nice i want to see who the last quarterback drafted was who was the last quarter it was it was mr irrelevant wasn't it oh yeah brock purdy brock purdy all right we'll see hey ian book got in a game last year so if ian book can get that's true

brock purdy can yeah that's like me saying 10 is not that it will necessarily be warranted it might just be like injury like we've seen a lot of injuries at the quarterback spot that could be more so what why they get on the field i'm gonna go with four i think that i think that trubisky is gonna play over kenny pickett and they're gonna be competitive so this is just a hot take why not it's still july uh but they're gonna be fairly competitive because they have good defense and so they're just gonna stick with him and say they're developing picket um and then with the other guys they just won't get an opportunity maybe we'll see malik willis once when ryan tannehill inevitably like gets banged up for a game or two but that's that's as far as

i'm gonna go i feel like this draft class is just not gonna not gonna see a whole lot of the field so uh chris trapasso cbs sports.com is where your writing is you can follow him on twitter at chris trapasso a great follow and uh great to get together with you man like a refresh on where everybody stands and what our expectations should be and uh we'll do constant check-ins throughout the season on what's been happening with draft classes which draft picks are emerging throughout the nfl and like that. So I always appreciate you, sir. Thanks for having me, Matt. Really appreciate it.