Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - CBS Sports' Mike Renner has a new Vikings QB idea

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

CBS Sports' Mike Renner joins the show to discuss the Vikings' QB situation and why he thinks a low-risk trade is the best option for Minnesota, over going for one of the bigger names being talked about. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider presented by Fandul. Matthew Collar here and joining me from CBS Sports, one of our favorite draft analysts in the world and a nearly daily podcaster with pushing the pile. Mike Renner. What is going on, my friend? How are you? Not too much. Just rolling through draft prospects, as usual, for the Combine, but spend every time in the year. We were just talking about them. Well, you know, we do have some things to talk about with the Combine, but there's just this one particular subject that won't.

quit with Minnesota Vikings history and that is the quarterback situation. So why don't we get into that first? And then I want to know a couple of key positions that the Vikings should be looking at going into the combine. What do they do here, Mike? What do they do? I mean, all you prospect freaks, you love the idea of stick with a quarterback, develop him because you live in a fantasy land where there's plenty of time to do that. But I don't know that the Minnesota Vikings live in a fantasy land where they have three or four years to develop J.J. McCarthy. The last time you and I talked, you kind of laid it out of what you had seen on film from McCarthy. So after seeing the total picture of his first season as a starter, what would you do, Mike? It's tough because on one

hand, I would love to find a more competent quarterback right now. Your roster's too good. You know, he's almost, so we're in the playoff mix and it was about as bad as you could have at the quarterback position in the NFL. So on one hand, I'd love to. On the other hand, I don't know where you're finding it this year, unfortunately. This just is not the year seemingly, whether it's free agency, whether it's the draft to find one of those quarterbacks. It's just not a good crop. So, you know, maybe it's a trade for Tanner McKee. Maybe it's a trade for James Winston. That, that to me is a little bit more intriguing than the big names that are out there, whether it's Tua, whether it's Kyla Murray,

specifically because the Vikings aren't in a good cap situation either, right? You know, they kind of one of the underrated things of Question, why maybe he was shown the door was they did push the chips all in without having to pay any quarterback, and it still resulted in, you know, not even winning season. So that's kind of where my head's at is a low risk trade of that nature. is probably your best bet for some competition with JJ McCarthy. I feel like they just cannot do a half measure type of thing. I mean, James Winston in this offense would be hysterical.

There's no way there's less than 28 interceptions if he's playing for Kevin O'Connell. And I mean, we've saw even, you know, Sam Darnel got sacked a lot last year with Carson Wenton and J.J. McCarthy, they got sacked a lot. He would be sacked 100 times in a season with this offense. and, you know, I look at some of the other options of a, okay, bring in a Marcus Mario Dio, you know, somebody to compete with J.J. McCarthy. And again, that sort of sounds nice to be able to see if he could take a step forward with how he runs the offense, see if he could take a step forward with the way that he throws the football. But it feels like those things are a ways away, that they're not right around the corner and he just needs some competition to give him a little nudge.

it feels much more like they have to look for someone who can save jobs because you mentioned Quasi Adolfo Mensa. I mean, once there's one firing, it's like they don't just stop there and be like, oh yeah, that guy was the problem and now we're all set and everybody is safe for the next five years. I mean, I think if you're Kevin O'Connell with no playoff wins at this point, you need to find somebody who can kickstart your offense. I have liked the Kyler Murray idea because I think that it will come cheap. I don't think that they're going to have to trade for that contract. More likely than not the whole league's going to know that they're getting rid of Kyler Murray and just release him.

But there's also the Malik Willis idea. There's Derek Carr coming out of retirement. There's Mack Jones. And with every one of these, Mike, you could see them working for exactly one season with just come here, throw the ball to Justin Jefferson. And then you probably end up right back in the same circle of hell that you've been in for a really long time. Yeah, I mean, I could see whether it's Kyler or Tua, obviously, the two biggest names being on the market. Like, they would be more successful there, I think, than we saw this past season.

It's just a much better situation. And I trust, you know, Kevin O'Connell to maneuver his offense to whoever it is. And obviously, they're just much more proven than J.J. McCarthy. They just aren't good enough to be making $55 million a year, which is where, you know, the price points at right now, unfortunately, for them in their franchise. So that's why they're trying to move on. It's not because they're not one of the 32 best starters. It's just because of that.

So I could see it working out, right? And even more than just one year, but it is going to be the price point that is the big sticking. That is if they were, they were in a much better cap situation, I would say wholesale, let's do it. It just the number is going to be tough because say they do get cut out, right? and then even then you get like a one-year rental. Well, then if they do play well, then it's you in the Sam Donald situation again. And then you're back to paying them. So it is a bad spot to be in that I just find myself coming back to your best bet is just

JJ figuring it out. Okay. So take me through how you felt about JJ McCarthy at the end of the year. Because I think we talked after a couple weeks into the season, seeing some concerning things. Or maybe it was mid-season and he was in the middle of some of. some of his struggles. I mean, how do we figure out in a world where Sam Darnold just won the Super Bowl, how do we figure out when someone will click if they will ever get there? If it's the right thing to just stay with J.J. McCarthy, when I did my what they should do at

quarterback rankings, it was in the top five to stick with J.J. McCarthy. It's just that we've really seen no signs from the team that that's what they want to do. Like no one has come out and said, how dare you guys talk about, you know, other quarterbacks and he's our guy and so forth. But that doesn't mean they're right. They were dead wrong about letting go Sam Donald. So they could make a mistake here. I mean, how do we figure out what of the things that he did last year are projectable or correctable or anything like that? I'm not encouraged. I'll just say. I'll start with that. The end was better. But I think it was more better just because the jittery, he stopped being so, I mean, you saw it early on it.

I was just like pumped up. You know, we talked about that one first. And so that kind of went away. And that was always going to go away. That was just seemingly early, you know, career sort of stuff that you see from every quarterback and it goes away. But it didn't go away. And then all of a sudden, his accuracy greatly improved.

It just went away and you stopped seeing some like really boneheaded play. So I'm not super enthused because, again, it's just two years in and it's it's things that we saw in michigan for his whole career there and it's like things that every single person you know his he's probably quarterback coach knows the staff at minnesota knows like every single person who watches tape knew these were issues right and they still are and not only are the issues he's getting banged up consistently you know that is a thing too that was a worry with him given his size was that is he going to hold up in the unfil and quite obviously has not so all that put together

it got better. It didn't get encouraging is how I'll probably say it. I definitely agree with you. I mean, the turnovers did start to reduce. But at the same time, that came along with Kevin O'Connell putting two tight ends and a full back on the field and trying to run, you know, as much play action, trying to make it all throws to the outside. There are games that, you know, shows progress, but throws for 160 yards.

And that's not really what you're looking for. the thing that would be concerning to me. Now, he did change some stuff. Like he was doing this hop, skip and a jump in the pocket and running himself right into defensive linemen who were rushing. So there were things that he showed a little bit of improvement. But even in games where it was going well, the touch on the football never really arrived. And I also think that the, just the wild errant throws.

If you had told me that his last game was his first game ever, I wouldn't have known the difference. If you had told me he just came from Michigan and arrived in Minnesota and got under center and started playing, it looked like the same exact quarterback from college. And this is what I think the really hard part is about quarterbacks and about, I mean, any prospect in general is that they all have a checklist of if this person doesn't do this better, they probably will not work out in the NFL the way that you thought. And I think that J.J. McCarthy's checklist was pretty long when he got to the NFL. NFL. Nobody needed more that entire year behind Sam Darnold to practice and practice and practice. And it feels like that's what he still needs. But the nature of the beast is if you go to the bench, this isn't 1988, like you're probably not coming back. So that's the awkward situation they're in.

I don't think that they want to just throw J.J. McCarthy to the curb. But I also think when you don't show enough of that progress from the technical elements of it and you have to pare down your I mean, your head coach is here to run this offense and succeed with passing the football. That's why I think I lean towards the, like I said, the Tanner McKee trade or something like that, where it's a guy who is also kind of like, you know, high risk, low, low risk, high reward sort of thing. Like it could be a starting quarterback in the NFL. But also he's more likely than not going to just be a guy who will push J.J. McCarthy. Like it's not going to be, if you trade for to a, if you trade for Kyler, you're basically saying, hey, JJ, thanks. This is it. You know, that that's, that's what that is. But that would probably take, you know, a mid round pick, uh, or trade of for someone of that caliber mid round pick. And then all of a sudden, it's just like, there's more of a competition there. And it will get that competition aspect out of JJ that obviously wasn't present this past year. And heck, maybe JJ lose the competition. That's probably a good thing. You know, you know,

You know, like that that means that other guy probably played well. So I do think that's why that's where my head goes. It's just because there is no other just ready made. This guy's going to be a sure fire starter. Like when they signed Kurt Cousins, that's not an option for them this time around. So unfortunately, and especially in the draft too. So unfortunately, you're either that you're doing that and then in the 2027 quarterback class, if neither of those were.

Explain to me the Tanner McKee thing. I feel like you've been on the Tanner McKee. you are like the Tanner McKee guy. And it is, I will say that it is a fun thing about football to like a quarterback and then follow the journey, right? When Sam Darnold came out, I was not much of a Sam Darnold guy. And then I saw Sam Darnold throw in training camp and I became a Sam Darnold guy. And then, you know, that went all over the place over the last, you know, two years and so forth. It is, it is part of our journey watching football.

But Tanner McKee was someone that you thought deserved to be drafted high. higher than he was. He played for this absolute joke of an offense with Stanford and has sort of become a name of someone that has gone up a path that we don't see anymore of actual development behind the scenes. But we're only really talking about preseason games from Tanner McKee. So what is it that for you makes that any sort of option for a team like the Vikings that needs a quarterback? Well, he has played in the regular season two. And technically I believe he has the highest EPA per dropback of any quarterback over the past two seasons. But it was two week 18 cleanup starts.

But, I mean, he almost beat this year. He almost beat the commanders week 18 with pure backups. You know, he was playing with the second string there and almost beat the commanders. Last year looked a lot better. I think they had some more starters the year prior. But it's very accurate. It's tall. It's a quick decision maker.

And I think he at least has a little bit of a floor that you've seen now through, whether it was the preseason where, again, he's lit it up in the preseason or the regular season where he's just, just look competent enough, you know, competent enough at leading NFL offense. He's not wild with the football. He's not turning it over left and right. He's not making bad decisions. And so I think he see that, at least with him. And one of my biggest things with him coming out of Stanford was just his accuracy. He was in a terrible situation. And that's one of the hard things to quantify about quarterbacks is the opportunity that they have on any given play.

And I thought objectively for any quarterback in that, what was it, the 2023 quarterback class. This was his third year now. Any quarterback in that class, he had the least opportunity per play event. You know, just like there were so many plays where an incompletion was truly his best chance on that play. So I was encouraged by how he kept his head above water then. And I like guys that playing bad situations keep their head above water because more often than not, it's not going to be, it's going to be like that once you get to the NFL, there's going to be a lot of plays like that. So he did that while, I think he had the lowest turnover-worthy play rate in the country that season while having that situation. I was just, I think that's, that gives you a high floor in the NFL is so why I was a fan of his.

I think I had him just, you know, not as a first round quarterback at the end of the day when it was all said done, but in my top 50 is just like a guy that's worth taking a shot on. And from what I've seen the preseason, the two Rayo season games, that hasn't really changed my opinion in terms of I just think he still could be a starter at the NFL. I don't think he's going to be a top 10 starter. but again, you're not going to give up like a top two-round pick for this guy. So it's just very encouraging through his three seasons down. Folks, have you noticed that social media has now been around long enough to the point where you can see old posts of yourself only with a better hairline? Well, unless you're one of those genetically gifted few people with amazing hair for life,

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We used to see trades like that all the time. So I was watching Vikings Packers from 1999. And they show over on the sideline. They're talking about how the backup quarterbacks help Brett Farv. And it's Aaron Brooks and Matt Hasselbeck. So you have two guys over there that ended up being starters. So did Mark Brunel. You know, they used to do that.

these backups. Yes. And then someone would take a shot on them. And every once in a while, you know, it would turn out. And maybe this, it's funny because I think the Packers then kind of ended that trend with Matt Flynn. Matt Flynn was like the guy was like, okay, we got to stop this. You know, the guy who plays one game well, it's like we got to stop hitting those guys.

Yeah, 100%. But, you know, even that I would say from Seattle's perspective was worth the shot at it that they took because someone who is somebody else's development project is kind of perfect for you because it's the main issue. issue in football is not having time to develop these quarterbacks. If the Vikings were in a position where let's say J.J. McCarthy had had, you know, just the 24th best PFF grade. And we saw a lot of stuff that was pretty good.

And he had a 87.5 quarterback rating, just stuff like that. Then I think, okay, yeah, trade for a guy like that to kind of push him, but you're really still hoping that he develops. The numbers were catastrophic. I mean, there's really no other way around. it. So that's where I look at someone like that and say, that's a good idea in theory, but I think in practice, you need to have someone who's more proven. And also, I mean, with this offense, I think that a proven quarterback, if you could just throw it where it's supposed to go,

that you could do pretty darn well. That does lead me to you have been known to follow the Green Bay Packers from time to time. So what is the take on Malik Willis from you? I was talking to a Packard report of the other day who was extremely high on Malik Willis as an idea for, the Minnesota Vikings. I know he's going to be looking for more of a starting job, but what do we think about that? I think he's going to get in the Justin Fields range of contracts. If I had to bet, just given that just field didn't show much, right? And Malik Willis, I think, has shown more high-end games even, even though he's never been, you know, the starter than Justin Fields did in his time. He actually, so I said Tanner McKee is the highest EPA for dropback.

I think Blake Will is the second. So like he's been, when he's been called, upon, he has outproduced Jordan Love. Now, a lot of that is because his legs are so dynamic. That's why I think he's going to be coveted, is he is truly like a running back at that position and his scramm, his ability to scramble, his ability on the run game is, you know, if it's not top five in the NFL, it's just close. It's right outside of that. That kind of weapon that he is at that position. So that's what you're getting is that. And then he's got a cannon for an arm. And kind of the book on him coming out was really raw. You know, he started at Auburn, went to Liberty, and even at Liberty, you saw this guy whose footwork,

it was improving, but it still wasn't good. His accuracy was all over the place, but like you saw incremental improvement. You're like, hey, if this guy down the road keeps going, because his tools are uniquely good, high in arm talent, high in rushing ability. And then with the Packers, he went 13 to 15 on deep balls in two years with the Packers. That's obviously going to come crashing down Earth, right? That's not sustainable. But even cutting through the wind in that game against the Chicago Bears where he came in, like,

he was dropping them where they needed to be. I don't think it was, I mean, to that degree, it's a fluke, but I don't think he comes back next year and all of a sudden he can't throw a deep ball to save his life. I think he's actually very much developed. And, you know, so much so, and this is crazy for me to say, but if the Packers were to trade Jordan Love and to pay Malik Willis, if that happens within the next month, I would not be upset about it.

Like I would not be, that's crazy. that's just more like because where Jordan Love's contracts going, what they get in return for Jordan Love, the fact that they're not going to get anything from Link Willis, he's just going to walk if he walks. You'll get maybe a third round compensatory. Maybe we'll see where his contract ends up. But like that's how much I think his talent is special and could be special.

Because he could get you to a Super Bowl if he hits. Whereas Jordan Love right now, I think we just see where he is. The roster needs to be better. So I know that's crazy for me to say. And I can't believe I drop that take. That's just how it be a lot of Leeu'll go. It's not to say that he's going to for sure be a home run because it's been, I believe, four games over that span.

And a lot of those were run heavy, which is what it's going to be with Malik Willis. But it's from who he was as a prospect to who he is now. He's obviously worked his ass off. He's a great kid. And I would love to take that chance if I had the cast. Everybody that I ask from the Packer World seems to be very, very high on Malik Willis, which I think, well, when I did my ranking of the best ideas for the Vikings, I had it as the number two idea.

Could he, you know, make a decision to come here instead of a bad franchise that might hold him back? I don't think that that's all that crazy either, but there's so many moving parts to this quarterback situation. Like, when do you make that offer? Do you bump into his agent at the combine and say, what is it that you guys are looking for? Because he's one of the most difficult quarterbacks to price out that I can ever. remember someone who played so well, but it was such a small sample size. And yet it all kind of aligns with what we thought. I was mentioning to you before we went on that you and I did I had some construction of my house one time. We did a podcast in the park. And I remember asking you during

the park pod about Malik Willis. Like, well, what's the, you know, chances that he turns out? And I think you said exactly how it's gone for him to get to this point. Like if he doesn't play and he develops and he works on this, this and this, then he can get there. There's probably more similarities between him and J.J. McCarthy than people would like to talk about because of their draft status. So this quarterback class is Fernando Mendoza and then Mike Renner, then Matthew Coller, then J.P. Acosta, then Kyle Long, right? I mean, this, we're not doing the Ty Simpson thing, are we? Is that a real thing? I would take Ty Simpson in the first round.

if I was desperate. Now, if it's like pick 10 through 15, all of a sudden, not top 10, there's probably too many, 10 through 15, just because this draft, it's not great. I would really have to see how his workouts go, see what his medicals are, all that sort of stuff. Talk to him with it. Like, I need more information before I'm going to go that far. But just based off of what I saw on tape, and specifically, because his body was breaking

down towards the end of the season, you watch towards the end of season, I believe he had a back injury or a core muscle injury at the end of the season. That was just like he was not the same guy you saw. But there was probably like a six game stretch from the beginning to the middle of the season where a lot of good stuff on tape. He's got plus tools, I'd say. He's a solid athlete and he's creative with his ability to throw. You know, he can do the layering things that J.J.

McCarthy really can't. He can throw guys open. He understands leverage. Like there's really high end encouraging stuff on his tape. but he is, and the season was bad, off injured, one year of starting. It's just like, eh, there's a lot of just wild card to his projection, but he's much more of a polished guy than that one year starting would suggest. So that's why, you know, if I'm in the 20s and it's him or like the third guard on the board,

you take, I would take that chance. It's just because of where, you know, a lot of teams are and where the Vikings are and how much it matters to just find that guy and have some competence at the position. It's just so much more valuable than anything else you can get. And again, specifically in a class like this, where I'm not super enthused about any of the guys I'm drafted in a pick 25. That's probably where it starts to make sense. And so I think you'll come off the board because it, like you said, it is then after that where I'm like, no chance I'm taking anyone else until pick one-fifty. It's just no chance.

I'm not even like considering quarterback in this class. It's so bad after the top two. is it really as good as it's supposed to be in 2027 because I've heard that before. In fact, I think I heard it last year. Oh, man, when you see that Nussmeyer, when you see Aller, when you say these guys are going to all and then it just didn't happen. So is, but before the 2024 class, a lot of people were saying this 2024 class is going to be really good.

And it mostly has been. So is this real? Like, because I'm thinking a little longer term here for the Minnesota Vikings. If they're done with the experiment of J.J. McCarthy and they go get, you know, somebody to play for one year for them, Derek Carr or Aaron Rogers or something, then they're going to be in that discussion for drafting a quarterback again down the road. So how I would describe it, it's not like 2024. We're going into 2024, that quarterback class. So that would be 2023 season. I could have told you Caleb Williams and Drake May were like locks. You know, that they had shown that right. I don't think there's anyone who I've seen who I've seen who I, would just for certain, I probably put Archmanning in that category, just given his last name, given where, but that's for certain in that category. I don't think all the other guys, it's just, it's way more up in the air.

But I think what we've reached is this inflection point in NIL where all of a sudden everyone got convinced to come back. I think that if this was, you know, four years ago, Lenora Sellers would have been in this draft class. Arch Manning would have been in this draft class. Like that, that was just how it went. You went because you were going to be a top 10 pick because everyone needed a quarterback. It didn't matter if you were a polished product.

The desperation was too much and you were going to get, you know, $20 million instead of making $0. I think the money is such now where guys are making $5 plus million in college. And, you know, $5 million on a college campus is like $15 million in the real world. So it's, they are truly like deciding that it's more worth their while to go back to school, even like from a financial perspective, it can be more worth their while. So we reached an inflection point where the money was so much that a lot of these guys made that decision that they would not have made otherwise. And so I think it's got to stack up that class in a way that we just haven't seen because NIL didn't convince all these guys. And so I think that 2027 class, we saw it at the deadline.

Teams opting for first rounders of 2027. I think it could be a uniquely special class a la like 2021 or 2011, one of those sorts of draft classes. I actually think it's a really good thing. mean, every, you know, everyone wants to flip a table whenever the letters NIL come up. But, you know, who I think of right away is Anthony Richardson, because Anthony Richardson had to come out because he was going to be a top pick. And it's like, how could you not come out to the NFL if you've had this one year where you flashed and everyone's looking for the next Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes? But what Anthony Richardson really needed was a couple hundred million more

passes to throw in college. And, you know, Chambliss just did this thing where he saw, soos so he could come back and and I see people saying oh well you know he's soft he can't compete in the NFL like I think this is great for him so you had a hot run at the end of the season where you started to show potential but look at someone like jaden Daniels who did not really have a click until he was 24 bow nicks is a good example of that and now I have become and this goes back to Simpson I have become the biggest like attempt pilled person with quarterbacks in college after what happened to J.J. McCarthy because when I look at him, I think this guy could absolutely be a good starting quarterback in the NFL, but he threw 700 passes. And then, of course,

I start going to pro football reference and looking up college pass attempts. And I go, oh, oh, there's really not, unless it's like Cam Newton or something, there's not really many guys who turned out to be good. You got a lot of Mark Sanchez, Mitch Trubisky, you know, Alex Smith eventually becomes good, Ryan Tannhill eventually becomes good. but there's just not that many guys who didn't play that much in college. And it kind of feels like it's what a minor league would be for them to be playing at that level. Oh, 100%. I think it's great. And like I said, I think it's actually the better financial decision now to stay in college because you're getting, let's say, 50% of what you would have gotten on your first year in the NFL.

but it increases the chances of that second contract by a lot and increases probably the number of that second contract by a lot. So I do think that stay as long as I stay until mastery is kind of how I would describe it. When it looks like you've truly mastered college football, that's it. Come out to the NFL. Until then, I just don't think it's in a lot of these guys best interest. You know, Dante Moore got criticized. Probably going to be the number two overall pick at order.

again, I think that was the better decision for them, truthfully. I really do because you needed to work on things. If you need to work on things, that is the place to do it where the risk is lower, the pressure is lower, temperature is lower, it's just like it's, that is where you need to do it. And like you said, it's equivalent to a minor league and should be really utilized as such. We don't want to be calling these guys up from double A ball who aren't ready. Before I ask you about, you know, some positions at the combine that the, Vikings are going to be interested. Are you a Fernando Mendoza guy? Are you a believer in Fernando

Mendoza? I am and it's not only the on field, but like he's, you can't deny what he did at Indiana, right? Turn a program around. The personality is one of the oddest, I'll say, I've ever seen at the quarterback position, but I think, I mean, I think it works. It obviously worked. It worked at Indiana. That team rallied around him and just like, you know that guy's going to to do what takes. You know, you know he's going to do what it takes to be a franchise quarterback in the NFL. So I can't wait to, I just want the clips of him talking to Tom Brady in that building. I can't wait for that because two just hyper on this outliers personality wise. And just to see them interact, it's going to be incredible content. They wanted to break into this conversation real

quick to let you know that Fernando Mendoza has actually moved to minus 20,000 on Fandul to be the number one overall pick. So the Fandul question of the day is, who is your second most interesting player in the NFL draft? If the top quarterback is clearly going in the number one spot, who is right behind him for intrigue for you in the upcoming draft? Who do you think could move the most, slide up or down the most? who are you most intrigued at watching? That is the Fanduil question for today. But you know, I saw him talking with, I don't know,

it might have been McAfee, somebody that, you know, whatever, Radio Row interviewed that he was doing. And of course, he was asked about Clint Kubiak. And he started going into a little bit of the history of that offense and the wide zone and the play actions and things like that. And I was like, this sounds like a guy who is really going to get it, like who's really going to understand. the fundamentals of how this all works,

why it all works the way it is, and what the reasons behind everything are. And I feel like that level of IQ that he brings to this. I mean, yeah, I went to Cal and all that, you know, background of his education and stuff. But it's also like there is a nerdy passion to this guy that I think people don't recognize how important that is the quarterback

position, like somebody like Peyton Manning, somebody like Andrew Luck, or even a Kirk Cousins. like these guys are obsessed with every single detail of the X's and O's and you only play 17 games a year. So you've got to be hyped for that every single day coming to work and and putting in the homework that it takes to be an NFL quarterback. And I just get that vibe from him.

That's the thing. It's like I think we've had nerdy quarterbacks in the NFL or like guys who are, you know, and he comes off a little awkward. Like we can be honest about that. But what he is nerdy about is football, you know, like what he geeks. out on like the thing that really gets him going and like that he gets in the weeds on is football. We haven't had a lot of guys really like that. Like I said, some of the guys you mentioned fit that bill,

but it's a lot of those guys who have fit that bill are successful. And I think a lot of people would be surprised on the outside looking in how rare that is. You know, because we're huge fans, right? We nerd out on this stuff. But even amongst guys who play the game, it's like that's kind of all they've been doing for the last decade. I don't want to say you get sick of it, but like they like their time away. It's not all they live for 24-7, but with Brandon Mendoza, quite obviously, it's.

Let's talk about a combine here as, you know, we're getting ready for one of the most interesting weeks of every single year. I don't exactly know where to look for the Vikings because you can make so many good arguments. You can make a good case for a cornerback. And it looks to me like there is a number of quality cornerback prospects. I think if they cut Javon Hargrave and even if they don't, you could look at defensive tackle. There's even a case here for wide receiver based on some off-field things with Jordan Addison and you start to look down the road and go,

well, do you want to fit your option him? Do you want to pay him a big giant contract? What do you make of like, though, like how the position strengths look like going into the combine they play out in this draft? Yeah. for the Vikings specifically, I think it's going to matter a lot how they get under the cap, right? Like, what did they choose to do? They want to cut those DTs.

They want to release T.J. Hawkinson. I think, like, that's going to dictate a lot of their needs is how they decide to go about this cap clearing. But in this draft specifically, I think there's three corners I love as first rounders, Jermad McCoy from Tennessee, Avion Terrell from Clemson, and then Mansour Delane from LSU. One of those falls to the Vikings, I've taken one of those guys. I think they're all great. I think they're all versatile enough. I think they all have high football at you.

Just take one of those guys. And it's big enough of a need. I think they'd be awesome. And Brian Flores' defense, just like make it happen. So those three, after that, I think anyone else that you're taken in the first round,

just feels like a reach. So that's kind of how I feel about the quarterback class. A quarterback also, you know, compared to other positions, can find it later on. I think the best, biggest strength of this draft class, and we'll probably see it bear out on draft night.

And it depends on how you want to, put some of these guys, but I think the guard class is great. So if they really want to go guard or interior offensive linemen, there's a lot and there's a lot that I think would be worthy of first round picks. And it's a position that gets paid really highly nowadays in the NFL. So I don't think you can stop treating it like a first rounder like a lot of people want to. And I think it will start to get boosted up in value. And these guys, you'll see this year get drafted fairly highly.

So guard I really like. Linebacker is a fantastic class. I don't think they're going first round linebacker, though. But those are the guard and linebacker are the two positions that are strong, which is why probably this is not getting talked about as a great draft class, because that's the strength of your draft class.

It's like those positions don't go first round traditionally. But that's where I'd say it's strong. Outside of that, it's deep at receiver, kind of just par for the course as the receiver classes go. So if someone like Carnell Tate, Jordan Tyson, Tyne, LeMacon, those are probably the top three consensus-wide one of them falls to you, by all means.

I would take one of those guys too. And I think they're all probably outside of Tate. I think Tyson and Lemoner probably would be better fits for what they need. But if you're replacing Jordan Addison, all bets are off. Your draft name of those guys. I should have a button in the studio that I smash every time about drafting wide receivers and it sets off strobe lights or something like he's going to say it again. Here he goes, bea, pew, pew, beo, yeah.

I mean, not only with Jordan Addison's situation, but also they're going to very likely lose Jalen Naylor. And here's my observation about the wide receiver classes for free agency recently. Terrible, absolutely terrible. If you want a wide receiver, you have to find a disgruntled one that's really expensive or one that's, you know, torn multiple ligaments in a knee. You cannot just walk into free agency and be like, oh, there's eight good wide receivers. Let's just get one.

not in a world where Tutu Atwell made $10 million last year, and he is bad. So sorry, Tutu Atwell, Josh Palmer, Diami Brown, like there's a lot of guys that aren't even good that made a lot of money. So I'm always for draft those guys. And I think that because that position seems to be ever increasing in value and scarcity, that you have to take them pretty high. And the, you know, the Pukkah's or Stefan Diggs every once in a while. but those are one out of a thousand. You probably have to grab them quick because everybody else wants them. I did want to ask about, though, you mentioned interior line because people don't need this

rant for me again about receiver. But is there anyone who can move to center maybe? I mean, I know Jake Slaughter, Connor Lou, these guys are being talked about as the top center prospects. The Vikings just spent a first on Donovan Jackson. They also spent a lot of money on Will Fries, but it's very unclear. I mean, I don't think Ryan Kelly's going to come back. So they kind of have this big gaping hole there that we've been trying to figure out,

like, how are they going to fill that? Yeah. So there's, I really like Connor Liu. He's my top true center. I think a lot of the guards are guards, though, I will say. Like if you were talking about, whether it's Emmanuel Pregnone from Oregon, whether it's Oliva Vanga, Yawani from Penn State, Chase Basantis from Texas A&M, those are kind of the three top guys in the tier of offline class.

They're all guards and I would probably not move any of them to center. So set true centers in this class, it's probably Sam Hack from Kansas State, Jake Slaughter from Florida, Conner Lou from Auburn. I think all good scheme fits. I think all could play there, but they're more, they're not the first rounders, right? It's the guards out of the first rounders. What about running back? Give me the running.

because I keep seeing, is it Daniel Jeremiah, I keep seeing somebody really hammering on the running back. And here's me doing every mock taking a running back in the second round. I don't know them that well yet. We'll start to see a little bit more at the combine and so forth as we get closer. But, you know, the Vikings have had no jolt in the back field since, I want to say like 2020 was the last time they could hand the ball to someone. They could receive the ball into their, you know, hands and then run it really fast.

And since then, it's been Alexander Madison. It's been, you know, Cook falling off. It's been Aaron Jones. It's been, you know, getting, I think Jordan Mason is good, but there's no jolt in his game. Is there a running back worth a second round draft pick? There's one. And it's to Darren Price. This is for my money, the worst running back class I've ever scouted.

Oh. That's Danny back 2015. His first draft it did. There's two guys and they both went to Notre Dame. And I'm not a homer. It's just like everyone has this exact same pick. they're the top two running backs, two guys that I would even consider in the top 100. And that's not even like positional value-wise.

That's just like if I'm purely saying how running backs have been drafted in the past. So like your your fourth round running backs from last year, whether it's Cam Scadaboo, whether it's Dylan Samson, guys of that nature, I would take all of them over the RB3 in this draft class. So that's where we're at in this draft class. It's just not good. So if you're taking one on day two, I just think it's going to be historically a reach year and year outside of Judarian price. All right. Well, we'll stop doing that then with every mock.

I did take Judarian price. I did take Judarian Price for them in the second round with a mock. It just feels like they need some youth there. Are you going into free agency and trying to pick up another 26, 27 year old guy with the mileage and, you know, the Rico Dowdoll or something for. $2 million. I just, I don't know if that's really ideal for a team that wants to increase its running efficiency by a lot. Okay, last position that has my attention is defensive tackle. There's a lot of names there. And I look at the data and go, does anybody, does anybody pop on the numbers for me? And the answer's not really. You know, Woods, Hunter, I guess,

made a Lee Hunter made a good impression at the Senior Bowl. Christian Miller is kind of interesting to me as like a first down, second down type of guy with maybe some upside. Caleb Banks was out for last year. Is there somebody in there that would be worth the 18th overall pick? It's all run defenders is I think what you got a wrapper head around in this DT class. There's not a lot. I think Peter Woods from Clemson is the one guy, I'd say for sure is worth 18th overall pick. I think he's the one guy with sort of pass rushing upside.

He's got you strong. She doesn't have traditionally the best frame, and his tape wasn't great this past year, but really not a lot of people on Clemsonsons. He's the one after him. I'm intrigued by Lee Hunter from Texas Tech. I think he had easily the best tape of any of the defensive tackles last year, but he's older. He's a nose tackle, a little more up and down.

I've heard he has off-field issue, too. I don't know exactly what they are, but that's going to be a thing with him. So those two are my top two, just in terms of pure performance, in terms of guys who could maybe rush the passer. After that, like you said, Krista Miller, whether it's Caden McDonald from our house, they're just run defenders. You are drafting anyone else after that for their run defense. If they can rush the passer at all, it's like icing on it.

You have no hope of drafting these guys to be impact pass rushers. So that's just the kind of class you're dealing with. but, you know, a lot of people want run defense at DT now. So it's not the worst class because of that. There's a lot of good ones in that regard, but that's just kind of what you got to know going in. And I kind of liked Miller for that reason, that, you know, the Vikings have a lack of now, you know, run defense.

And as teams are all talking about, we got to run better. We got to play off the run that maybe that position increases in its value. I also think, though, that those are guys you can usually trade for sign fairly easily in free agency, has to be, you know, factored into that. Why does your face keep turning green every time we talk about the draft class? It feels like it feels like all of you people, you draft freaks, you all are just not like very keen on this being an exciting draft year. It's what I said earlier.

It feels like this was the inflection point of a lot of people coming back to school that otherwise wouldn't have. And because of that, just thin. It's not that it's not that there's not that there's not. good players pick 18 you'll probably get a great player right you'll probably get a good player but it's it's that it just drops off the tier is sort of start to get really thin and when i'm talking about like a guy who's a back end of the third round pick in this year's class compared to you know stronger years probably would have been like fifth rounders it's just that that's how much of a difference this year is that's how just much the drop off gets to so certain positions you're just going to be truly scraping

the bottom of the barrel to get anything all right well good year for the Vikings to have more draft capital than they've had in previous seasons. Maybe they'll trade it. I don't know. Okay. Mike Renner, I look forward to bumping into you in Indianapolis. And I really appreciate all the time, all the insight, as always. And we will definitely do it again soon, my friend.

For sure. Thanks for having me out, brother.