Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Clay's Corner: NFC North over/unders, Vikings stick and pick, Giants QB conundrum

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

Intern Clay joins the show to discuss the NFC North over/unders, whether the Vikings should just stick at No. 24 and pick a top propsect, and what the Giants are doing at quarterback.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

All right, let's bring in intern Clay, who has spent some time thinking about himself writing also about the NFC North and expectations. Clay, I want to go through your article looking at the over unders for all the NFC North teams. And then you've got some other questions as well. But first, if you haven't been here when Clay is here, he goes to the University of Penn, played football and lives in a semi war zone sometimes from an audio perspective. But what what is up, man?

How are you? I'm good. I'm good. How are you? Well, I'm doing just fine. Let's let's let's talk about this. So let me get your opinion first on what has been the main subject here. Eight and a half wins for the Vikings. Are you buying or selling that? Um, I'm I'm buying. I'm buying for sure.

And I I see a lot of comments calling it disrespectful and they're hating. But it makes sense. Like JJ McCarthy, we haven't seen him in live action. But at the same time, Kevin O'Connell, since the head coach, he's never had less than 10 wins except for the year that JJ McCarthy and Sam Darnold or Kirk Cousins were hurt. So I have them winning 11 games this year.

Yes, schedule is hard, but I think they have the right pieces in place and the right coaches to mentor McCarthy and make things work out. And if I'm not mistaken, trying to think of the schedule for next year or at least the expected opponents. But I think the Vikings do have more home games than road games, which does matter when you're playing at US Bank Stadium. They don't have to go to London this year, as far as I know, I guess. Right. I haven't seen the schedule yet, but I don't think there's

international travel, which has thrown a wrench in things in previous years. But I agree with you that 10, 11 games should be generally where we're starting to set that bar for the Vikings. And a major part of it to me is if you go into an offseason and spend like they spend and improve like you've improved with coaching that's already shown us that they can get more out of the players than they are given on a year in and year out basis, then why wouldn't we put it at

making the playoffs? The only reason would be if things get in the way that just happened in football, which would be the injuries, the random stuff. But aside from that, I mean, that's where you should be. And I think that putting it at the expectation is the right way to do this. So let's look at these other teams. The Green Bay Packers are at nine and a half, which to me says that Vegas is sort of one foot in and one foot out on the Packers. Yes, we think you're going to be a good team and a competitive team,

but here's what the Packers risk this year by having their only big move be Aaron Banks, a left guard who's mediocre. And I mean, they're celebrating. Nicole Hardman being signed over there. I mean, congratulations. celebrating me Cole Hardman being signed over there. I mean Congratulations, you got McCall Hardman. I don't think that's exactly Jordy Nelson or Devante Adams in his prime They are risking something that they have not been in a very long time Definitely not in your lifetime almost not even in my lifetime

mediocre middling average run of the mill. That is something the Packers have not been. And that doesn't mean bad because Matt LaFleur is a good coach. And I think Jordan Love is a good quarterback, but it just means stuck in the middle. Like where the Vikings have so often been in their history. Do you agree with that? Yeah, I do. And it's weird because I feel like in my article,

I kind of give the Packers a hard time, but I still think they're going to win nine games. And it's like for them, it's like weird seeing them like fall off. But it's still like a highly a good team with high potential. And I think it's pretty fair because last year, honestly, if Jordan Love gets hurt against three different teams other than the Texans, Colts and Jaguars, they might not have even made the playoffs in the first place. And where our perception of them might have been completely different this off season.

So I think nine and a half is definitely a fair place for them. I was just thinking about and you're right about that. Like all of the AFC South just helped everybody except for the Bears. Although I guess the Bears did have a great game. Who was it against the Jaguars? They almost lost to Tennessee week one. Oh, that's right. Yeah. There was a Caleb Williams game.

I guess it was against the Jaguars. We played really well and we're like, well, I know it's the Jaguars, but I don't think anyone realized how freaking bad the Jaguars were. But anyway, I mean, if you go back, though, how many years in Packers history? I wonder about this. Have they been a team that's a nine win type of team? They had one or two bad years against or with in the Brett Favre era, where he threw a bunch of interceptions or they had injuries. Maybe the transition

over to Rogers and then 2018 when he got Mike McCarthy fired. I think it was 18. Yeah. 2018 aside from that though. I mean they are a double digit team all the way from the time that I'm like eight years old in 1992 all the way until you know the present and if they don't make gains in this division with the Bears improving and the Vikings improving their overall roster and possibly having a good young quarterback they could get stuck in the middle they will not admit it because they're in Green Bay and they all have Brett Far's face tattooed on the side of their heads. But I think it's possible if Jordan love does not take like that next

step as a quarterback, it's going to be very quick that he gets expensive and then they are limited things that they can do. Yeah. I think I just looked it up. This is insane. I think the Packers had less than eight wins four times since 1995. That's just unheard of. So it's hard to really say like a team or an organization like that will really take a step back. But they have a lot of question marks on offense with Jordan Love's consistency and his injuries. And who knows if they're like which receivers they're looking at in the draft or if they're even looking at receivers in the draft.

I'd hope so for their sake, but who knows? Yeah, I think that maybe they might have to bite the bullet on that, but they it's like not been part of their philosophy to do that. So, OK, let's look at the old Detroit Lions here. I mean, the Lions still have everything as far as their roster goes, and they get Aiden Hutchinson back. But that doesn't necessarily guarantee that they will be better than last year. Well, you can't really be better than the regular season record that they had last year,

but it doesn't guarantee that they're going to be back to that same spot at the same time. They didn't lose almost anything and they got DJ Reed to replace Carlton Davis. I also think that there is potential on the defensive side for them to be even better defensive coordinator wise. I know Aaron Glenn was a head coach, but I always thought that the Vikings, except for that last game, had answers against Aaron Glenn. They think they could get more complicated, but really the biggest question plays on the offensive side with their different offensive coordinator.

Yeah, they're they're line set at 10 and a half wins and I have them at 10. And it's just it's really hard for me to not think of Ben Johnson's impact as something like outstanding. Like, yes, their roster improved tremendously while he was there, but it was such a rapid turnaround where it's me. I feel like a lot of that happens because of coaching. And another thing I think about is all the season ending injuries they had last year. turn around where it's me. I feel like a lot of that happens because of coaching and Another thing I think about is all the season-ending injuries They had last year when we think of the Vikings like we are concerned about Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave and will fries Because we don't know if something's gonna linger or if it'll re-injure or whatever might happen And I feel like we don't give that same focus to, to players who are staying on the same team.

So even on their D line, I think three of their starters had season ending injuries. So it's just, they have a lot to fight against, but again, they have one of the best rosters in football and they might've even gotten better. So you can never really count them out. If the new coordinator step in and continue what? The other guys started there are contender all day the coordinator thing is a serious concern though because I look at

2016 to 2017 Atlanta Falcons they had Kyle Shanahan as their offensive coordinator And then they go to I believe it was Steve Sarkeesian, and it was not the same And they were okay, but they were much more of a middling team and they lost in the playoffs to Philadelphia on the last second Julio Jones missed time jump in the back of the end zone. So they made the playoffs and they were still good. I kind of look at it this way. And they also had an insanely stacked roster in 2016,

but when they should have won the Super Bowl, obviously. And then the next year, it wasn't that much different, but they didn't get the same level of performances from everybody. And there were different injuries and things like that. The other example is Philadelphia after 2022, they go to the Super Bowl, then they lose Shane Steichen. They didn't replace him with the right person. They couldn't handle protections.

They had issues. And then, you know, him with the right person. They couldn't handle protections. They had issues. And then, you know, they got the right person in Kellen Moore. Even they're going to have to replace him with somebody else. It's just I think that your concern about that is legitimate, even though their roster is stacked all the way up. So now to the Chicago Bears, I think this is the one that irritates Vikings fans the most because.

So I don't know if I'm I think I did. I say the Lions was ten and a half. If I didn't say it, then that's what it was. The Chicago Bears, theirs. Hold on. I'm scrolling. What is it? Do you have it memorized? What is the Bears? Eight and a half, eight and a half. So it's the same as the Vikings.

This is where I think Vikings fans have a legitimate beef because they've seen this story so many times where the Bears get all the off season discussion, oh, they know they're going to take this big step forward. And Justin Fields or Mitch Tepeski or whoever else is going to be the guy. And then they're not. And they don't get there and they don't have a better record than the. I mean, it has happened. I don't know how many times.

So the skepticism is legitimate. I also think if Ben Johnson can even just drive his car to the facility and park it correctly and walk inside, he's ahead of Matt Eberfluss. He was legitimately one of the worst coaches in the entire NFL that we've seen in a long time, especially with game management. But even with what they tried to do offensively last year, it seemed like they just threw everything on Caleb Williams. And then when they realized in real game action, oh, maybe that was a bad idea.

That was like, uh, throw a screen or get sacked. And it just it was a lost operation from the beginning. They go out and get two offensive linemen who are beasts in the run game. I think eight, eight to nine wins is right for Chicago. I think if you're looking at it from a Vikings perspective, you should be higher. You should be in the 10 to 11. They should be in the nine to the eight, but I think it's a fair number to just expect that that team is going to be better with a new coach.

Yeah. I, the fact that they won five games last year and four of them, I, I purely put that four of them on the coaches, the Seattle game, Washington, uh, first Vikings, first Packers. I feel like there were yes, plays are not one lost in singular moments of the game, but there was just so many meltdowns where it's like, how can you do this? And then outside of the meltdowns, there's like receivers running the same route on too many plays. Guys just aren't blocking.

They clearly just were not on the same page and didn't know what to do, which is why I think the coaching for this team is going to be huge, and which is why I'm projecting them to get 10 wins. It's, I feel like this roster was already in a spot to compete. I think their secondary is up there with some of the best in the NFL. I think they have a great receiving core. They made additions to the O-line and brought in Grady Jarrett. And they also have four picks in the top 100 of the straps. So if if they don't improve to at least eight, nine wins, it's going to it's going to be a tragedy. If this doesn't work, nothing will work for Chicago. So that's probably true.

So let me ask you this question, because I noticed this and I was going to bring it up to you with your article, because I was looking through it for you going to publish it soon on purple insider football. And if you want my recap, by the way, from yesterday's press conference, got over there. The Friday Mailbag. Great way to support the show. Just saying purple insider football. I noticed that the wins, they add up to a lot of wins in the NFC North, like almost impossible number of wins for all these teams to each win

more than nine games. So how about this question? If one of these teams is not good, who is it? Oh, Chicago. All day. It's there. They're the classic team that will like have the offseason champs and then fall apart in the season. So even though it seems like they're finally on the right move, I they're still it hurts me to say, but they're still little brother in this division. And well, actually, Detroit had their like last three, four years, but are they still little brother? I don't know. That's up for debate anyway. But you know, they're not they're not the obnoxious favorites.

They're the favorites now. Yeah. Yeah. But they've leaned into that. No, I think that's the I think that's the clear answer. But there's another answer that's the Vikings. And this is something because I like the direction so much that they took. And it's the one we've been waiting for a long time for them to take. I have not in this discussion talked about, well,

what if they hit the under badly? And what would that look like without even a J.J. McCarthy injury? And that's if he's just not good. I mean, that that is it's an outcome. Like if we're looking at range of outcomes, pie chart percentage is not terribly high that someone can't play quarterback for Kevin O'Connell and with Justin Jefferson, who looked good last year in training camp, but it's an outcome and it's happened before where

they've drafted a quarterback that didn't work out. He his name is not to be spoken on the show because it got so obnoxious with people's whoever they draft is the next, you know who and I was like, okay, whatever. But just like if that doesn't work out, the other thing is that if the players that they signed who are on the older side have a regression and they hit a wall and the schedule is so much harder, you might not win those close games if that ends up happening.

So it is an outcome. It's not a very likely one, but it is one. And I would say the same thing for the Packers. If Jordan love is a variance machine, it's either hot or cold, high or low. It's the deep balls hitting or not. If they don't and they start to slip a little bit under Matt LaFleur, because I think he's a great X is a nose coach, but I don't know about, can he hold the whole ship together if it starts to slip? And then they could fall backwards, although that 20 million dollar left guard,

he'll probably be the difference. I can see why they never pay a wide receiver, though. This is my argument for drafting wide receivers. Who are you going to pay? Who's out there? I mean, Stefan Diggs just got a bunch of money from New England. That's a good move for them, but you just can't get receivers. Well, that's why I'm I wish I knew how aggressive they were for guys like D.K. or even like Devante Adams,

like guys that I think they come in and really make a change. Like it's one thing to say, oh, they missed out. But we don't really know if they were targeting those guys that were interested in the first place. So I wish I was some information that we knew. All right. Let's go to your pre-prepared Clay's Corner questions. What what do you got on the slate for tonight? So this is actually kind of a continuation of the stick and pick question that came up earlier, because I was looking at a bunch of my drafts and Mel Kuyper's recent one

has the Vikings taking uh Jaday Baron at 24 and then Daniel Jeremiah has them taking Nick Eman Worry um and then a bunch of other ones had um either the same players or some D-TAC was mixed in so my question was if Baron Eman Worry, Derek Harman and Walter Nolan are there, which four are you taking or which one are you taking? That's a good question. I would go Baron because he is one of my favorite players in the draft. If I'm sticking and picking what that mock tells you is exactly what I was talking about. All those players are there in these mocks.

Can you trade down 10 spots and still have one of them there and then take them? But I don't think Baron based on his numbers, based on his combine, I don't think he's going too much later than this. I am always suspicious of mock drafts that and this is why I like where Kuyper has him that have corners too high. It feels like you have to be a freak corner to get really high in the draft. And most of them go in the backend of the first or in the second.

I mean, look at Quinian Mitchell, Cooper Dejean, the two guys that Philly takes those aren't top draft picks. So this is an area where I could see a Jaday Baron. I like him a ton. He was productive. He's a high IQ player, a playmaker on the ball. It can play inside and outside. Seems to fit for Brian Flores. That would probably be my favorite one of those, but it's hard to argue with any of them.

I mean, M and war, I might be the one where I would say as freakish as the guy is, and it's insane. I just don't know about the safety position there if I can trade down and if they do it, okay, I get it because it's important in Flores is defense, Malachi, Starks or M and war a but if it's if the safety is the best player on the board and there's other guys that would be available 10 picks down. I'd rather trade out get those like higher because you talk about safety.

How many safeties were there in free agency this year? Five, six, seven. The people went out and got Justin Reed can't buy them trade on Morig. Like they were everywhere. I think you can get safeties. I don't think you can get great corners. I think you get good corners. I really don't think you could get game changing

corners in free agency. They get paid huge money. They stay with their teams. So that's what you would be looking for. Who is your answer? Yeah, I think Baron at 24 would be an absolute steal, but similar to you, I've seen so many much as where he's going top 10 top 15. So it's hard to really know where he's going to be at. So I think if he's not there, I think it would be a great pickup if they went and got Derek Harmon, if they don't trade back. He's a guy that can stop the run and pass. He's huge. And if Alan and Hargrave seem to be struggling or taking a step back

or maybe an injury pops up, I think he can be a good guy to kind of take a bigger role for them. I also think that when you draft and Dallas Turner is evidence of this, we talked about last year. I remember asking guests like, what do you think's a good sack number for Dallas Turner? And the answers were like eight. I was like, what? That's it's way too high for a rookie. Right.

And then when he doesn't play that much and he has great players ahead of him, we all go, what's wrong with that guy? Is he a bust? Like, no, this is how it usually works. Except for in the top 10 where guys come in right away and play. But for the most part, you're usually developing a player. Christian Deris, I didn't play till halfway through his first season. And then when he did, there's some bumps along the way before he really clicked in. That's just how it's going to be.

So if you take Walter Nolan or Derek Harmon, and he can rotate in behind those guys and then be ready to take the reins, that's a pretty good outcome for them. Okay, what else you got? I like that question. All right. So the Giants added Russell Wilson to their busy QB room. Does this indicate does this indicate that they'll still be drafting a quarterback at three or do you see them going going a different direction?

I don't know what the hell the Giants are doing. I really don't. They talk about just getting backed into a corner and having to be like. Russell Wilson, I just, I don't know. They are. When we look at this franchise, the Vikings, we talk about where they are with the roster, the timeline, the functionality, all that stuff. And you just look at a team like the Giants.

Is this the same league? Are these two teams in the same league? Because the Giants are just so lost at the plate. Now, I think that if their owner had not put so much pressure on them, this would be a good total rebuild, complete tear down, tank again. That's why I don't get getting Wilson, because you think, well, it'd actually be great for them if they lost again and just get another high draft pick, and eventually it's going to click in because they're never going to compete with Philly and Washington doing this. But this sort of smells of panic. We don't really know what we're doing.

If we draft, I mean, why bother it from their perspective? Why bother drafting Shader Sanders for someone else? So, so the next coach can have Shader Sanders. Why even waste your time in doing that? I think they need to draft someone who could come in today, make plays for them, whether that's Abdul Carter, Travis Hunter, whoever's gonna be there. Get Travis Hunter, put him next to Malik neighbors. If I'm them, I'm putting him a receiver and just hoping,

just hoping that he could drive the offense along with Malik neighbors and pray that they get you to seven or eight wins And keep your job. That's that's probably it. I would just I mean Randall says Palazzolo and Monsigny I listened to their podcast Of course check the mic that they speculated the Giants are afraid Sanders goes at two I mean, I guess should her Sanders could go anywhere from 2 to 42 I I have no sense for how much the league likes Should her Sanders could go anywhere from two to 42. I have no sense for how much the league likes. Should her Sanders.

I don't think it's as much as some of the hype, but you could definitely see a team like Cleveland being like, yeah, we got to do this to kind of save our bake. If the Giants get Hunter, they should be the only team to play him both ways full-time because they need to. But yeah, it's weird. I've seen reports like that are still saying giants are open to take a quarterback and it just it would be so messy to me like three guys that all believe they can start that are all on different like stages of their careers. It just doesn't make sense to me. Bring in Russell Wilson when it's like a do or die year for Brian Dable and Joe Schoen. How are you going to put your trust in him?

I don't know. They just seem lost. It doesn't even seem like they have a plan. Go best player available. Move on. I don't know. Yeah, it's desperate. It screams fired and they should have fired them last year. I have said this a million times on the show. If you're thinking about breaking up with somebody, just break up with them.

If you're thinking about firing someone, just fire them because everything that happens from here on out, you're going to be like, oh, should I fire them and not even evaluate them fairly? I think that those two, the leadership, I this maybe it's like a hot take or whatever. I think it'll be fine if you let it continue to play out. They got roasted for the Barkley thing. Why would you sign Barkley to a big contract? It only looks bad because you couldn't get that

out of him previously. Why would you do that? I think their asset management has been fine. They let some older veterans go for big contracts, but they draft high. They get franchise players. But it takes like three years when you're this far down. Like, look at Carolina. My gosh. Like last year was a huge victory for them to take any progress because there was nothing there when Dave Canales took over.

I mean, it's just nothing. The ground is burnt all the way to a crisp, so you have to give them time, but they were almost a victim of their own success. But they win a playoff game and then it's like, well, that's who you're supposed to be. But that's not where the roster was for them. So I think that ownership is probably gotten a little too involved there rather than giving them time and space for a couple more years to figure this out. And they're going to win six games and everyone's going to get fired. And we already kind of know the outcome for that team. Yeah, it's one thing to root for a bad team like the Bears, where it's like

every offseason, it seems like you have hope, like whether it's false or not. At least you have hope. The Giants every year is like, well, can we to lose again? How do you get excited for the season? I don't know. It's been a long time. They went from a franchise that was very stable and successful, and now they are just lost. The best also the best player for a team like that at quarterback to take a shot

at is the one guy they can't, which is Zach Wilson. Like you can't bring Zach Wilson back to New York, but that's the best move. Zach, look at what Zach Wilson had to work with with the Jets. Go go look at his offensive line rankings, their rushing game, their defense, just atrocious that a couple of years he's been a backup. Like, I think that's a good swing for a team, but instead they can't do it. They have to go with Russell Wilson and the proven guy who has been tossed out to the street now by

Sean Payton and Mike Tomlin Who kind of might be good coaches? So, I don't know whatever i'm glad it's not my job That would be a brute if we're talking about that every day. I don't know what to tell you guys Yeah, Russell Wilson's on his shack run collecting all the jerseys. So pick another podcast for a few years is what I would tell people I was covered the diet. All right. Well, next question. The Stefan Dyrd he signed with the Patriots.

Do you think he has guests still left in the tank? And how does this impact their strategy picking forth or does it? Yeah, I don't think that it impacts their strategy at all. For they should take Travis Hunter if he's there. I mean, this is a best player available, but they should also probably take, um, the tiny armed Matt Campbell, uh, or Will Campbell, sorry. Uh, who's Matt Campbell? Iowa state coach is Matt Campbell.

They should take, uh, Will Campbell, regardless of how long or short his little arms are because they are just lost lost out there at offensive line. And if it's not him, take somebody else. Take the top tackle in the draft, even if you overdraft them a little or maybe trade down, whatever you gotta do. It shouldn't change though their strategy, because it's essentially a two year deal

for Stephon Diggs at 20 something million dollars, not the three year 69 million dollars that got thrown out there that is ludicrous. If he wins the Super Bowl three times and has a thousand yards each time, then he gets all that dollars. But it's just completely silly how they put those maximum. That's what that's what tricked everybody on Byron Murphy. It was like, oh, my gosh, 22 a year.

And I was live. So I'm like, what? And then the contract comes out. Oh, okay. So he got the same contract as everybody else. Back to Stefan Diggs. I do think that Stefan Diggs is one of the most competitive people that I have ever been around in my life.

He is a fighter. He is not, and sometimes with other people but most of the time with the other team and He is not going to go there to just Just hang around keys. He's gonna play and he's gonna be good. He's not going to be what he was with the Vikings He's not gonna be what he was with early Buffalo ACL injuries are tough. We know that from Hawkinson last year, but he could still catch the football He knows how to play

He's an extremely smart football player. They kill be he'll be good He'll be good for Drake may Drake may just these dudes dudes who could play in the league not even just superstars He just needs anybody and I think variables done a really good job in there in their front office of getting football players not just I've always thought your team is about your weaknesses. And last year, what did they have? Ten guys who belonged in the NFL and the rest probably could play here. The U.F.L. It was really that bad of a roster.

And I think they've done a great job of building around him and digs as part of that. Yeah, I agree with everything you said about the draft. As far as Dirge goes, I like this move for the Patriots. He he was one of my favorites in Minnesota and Buffalo, and it's because he has that dog in him, and he's a great route runner. And I think he'll be, I think he could return

to how he was last year in Houston, kind of playing that complimentary role, even though they don't really have anyone else right now. But like a 60, 70 yard a game kind of guy. Maybe like six, seven touchdowns on the year. But I don't know, I did see some training videos of him recently. And I know he's only five months out, but he looked so stiff. It kind of makes me concerned. But even if he does, like maybe miss week one or maybe even week two, I think he'll get back and it might be rough to start.

But once he gets that chemistry going with May, I think they'll kind of build as the year goes on and just keep getting better together. I saw an interesting discussion Ryan Fitzpatrick was involved in about whether Bill's fans are going to boo Stefan Diggs. And I don't remember Vikings fans booing him very much when he came back. The game was such a blowout that he never even really had a chance to do much. Vikings Texans. I don't recall that there was a lot of booing. Maybe his first catch, some fans were like, boo.

But like, I don't think either of those franchises that he's played for, just because it ends badly. You know how much ends badly in life? Everything. I mean, everything. How many things can we ever look at and be like, oh, that was really great. The way that it ended most of the time, what it did. Yeah. Most of the time, that's what is that? Like, is that like a Facebook post or something like it only ends

because it's not great or something? I mean, but like if no matter who you are, if you are a journalist who gets tossed out on the street after 50 years on the job of writing for the old newspaper or something like that doesn't take away from what you accomplished. And no matter what job it is, no matter where you work, it probably is not going to end all that nicely. If you have a job where it is a defined 25 years

and then you get to retire and you have a big party. OK, maybe it's going to end nicely. If you have a job where it is a defined 25 years and then you get to retire and you have a big party, okay, maybe it's going to end nicely. Aside from that in sports, how many franchises, I mean, what LeBron in Cleveland didn't end nicely with him going to the Los Angeles Lakers. He kind of stiffed them twice. Are they LeBron in Cleveland though? Are they mad at it? Like, come on, Right. So with Stefan Diggs, I think for both the Vikings and Bills should be thrilled that what he's brought to them. I don't know if it's going to be the same in New England, but if he's average, he's way better than what they had before.

Yep, I agree. He can only be a positive for them unless he takes apart the whole franchise. But usually that at least a year. Yeah, normally. Yeah, normally they wear number eight and they do darkness retreats and stuff like that. So anyway, the my next question, the Titans revealed that their light blue jerseys will now be their official

home uniform. And I was wondering, what are some of your favorite all time jerseys? First of all, the Titans take all your jerseys, every single iteration, put them all in a room, maybe a barn in the middle of nowhere where it can't start a bigger fire and douse it with the same gasoline that they put in spaceships

and light that thing on fire, okay? I want every bit of the Titans jerseys incinerated to the point where I can't see any part of it, all gone. It's the worst jersey in sports, hands down. I mean, every NBA team is like dark blue now, so forget them. But aside from that, it is the most abominable jersey and they're like, oh, well, we're bringing back this cut.

What? It's all it's all bad. It's never been good. I love the the Steve McNair, Eddie George. That was bad. The little stars or whatever they had all bad. It's never been good for the Titans. They've tried to sort of tiptoe around this. We still technically own the Houston Oilers stuff.

Did you notice that all gone? You stole their team and you moved it and you tried to keep some of the colors. So maybe someone would be like, oh, yeah, I still like this team. It ludicrous. It's always been terrible. They should completely revamp it. I don't care what version I hate it. That wasn't the question. The all time classics are the best.

The 49ers, the Steelers, the Vikings. I think you could probably throw in the Cowboys as the all time classic. Yeah, you can. The Cowboys. I mean, whatever all the coverage and all the stuff that everyone hates about the Cowboys, put it aside. Look at the stuff that everyone hates about the Cowboys put it aside Look at that uniform the star on the helmet. It's the iconic uniform When the Giants are doing their right uniforms, they deserve it. I

think they got it right the first time with a lot of these jerseys and Since then it's when new teams have come in the Jaguars. Oh, you're dressed in all black and like some teal. OK, that's great. That's fantastic. The Panthers probably the best newest jersey, but again, it's black. OK, dressed in black. Good for you. Texans joke. Just awful.

I think they have some great jerseys this year, did it? Let me see. Texans or maybe some dark Navy's. Yeah, but it's the same deal. It's like everything in sports is just like a dark blue. Hey, that is true. The the Titans and it's like the Titans have such a good color scheme. The baby blue with the red. I feel like they should have something cool and they it's just yeah, or Titans my fault, my fault. Titans. Yeah.

And and it's they just have these weird like color blocking stuff. And it's like, what are you doing? But some of my favorites, I didn't really go just teams. I went with like specific jerseys. Like I love the Broncos orange crush. Yeah, bright orange with the blue helmet with the stripe. It's beautiful. Raiders, raiders, raiders and chargers. Yeah. Matt is right. Raiders and chargers. They they are at the absolute top. Yeah. I should negligent to not say the right.

See, since the Raiders moved to Vegas, I just can't do it with them. It's like, I don't know. You're not the Raiders. It's not the same. There's somebody in their underpants, but you're not them. You're not them. You're in their jammies. You're not them. But chargers, of course, classic. I'm sorry. Yeah, I like I like the old like L.T. powder blue. I don't really like the powder blues they have now.

I feel like it's too electric. It's not powdery enough for me. But I do I do like those. But the Saints current alternate jerseys, the whites with the gold numbers. I think those are pretty clean. And then Seahawks, the one Steve Larchant was rocking with the silver pants and the silver helmet. Those are cool. Yeah. Well, and you got to give credit to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It's so bad. It's good with theirs with the creamsicles. Yeah. It's so bad. It's good with theirs with the cream sickles. Yeah, it's so bad that it's good. The Vikings Vikings fans are blessed that they're other than the far era ones, which were regrettable, regrettable.

But other than that, I mean, it's a team with one of the best uniforms ever. One of the best helmets ever. Just historically. See, their standard uniforms are clean. And I completely forgot about their whiteout ones from this past year. Yeah Oh, you know, okay. Yeah, those are good I like the the white on white all the way up to the helmet So I think they made it look clean there like me and my family were like the bear should do something like that That's how good we thought it was but

Yeah All right. What else we got? All right. So for my for my last question, it's a U.F.L. question because the season starts tomorrow. I want to know, will you be watching? And if it survives another season, how would you like to see it grow and kind of evolve? Those listeners to the show for a long time are laughing. Will I be watching?

Oh yes, sir, of course, I will be watching. It's football. The reason that I've always enjoyed watching is twofold, these leagues. Number one is they always have innovations. How long ago, one of the first podcasts in Purple Insider history was about the, it was the XFL coming back with this crazy kickoff. I was one of the first articles I wrote about was interviewing

the guy Sam Schwartstein who invented the kickoff that the NFL is now using and for years I was saying hey this XFL kickoff is pretty crazy. Like I think they're going to use it. There's buzz and then it happened. I think that they're I saw Seifert wrote about it. They're going to have more innovations now of like spotting the ball and they're trying different things.

I love the replay review. The replay review is incredible. Imagine me saying I love replay. But last year, I'm watching a game. There's a pass interference penalty. They call down to the ref and they're like, I think we should take a look at it. Within 30 seconds, we are listening to Dean Blandino. He's like, here's where it is.

Here's where it was in or it wasn't interference. There's a bad penalty call to touchdown like play stands bang back to playing football in two minutes. And we had full transparent. I mean, my gosh, all of my dreams come true. So watching them, which is eventually what we'll have in the NFL when it pulls its head out of its rear. But I mean, these innovations are very cool. Like they try new things and sometimes they're stupid, but I'm glad they're trying them. And the other thing is the stories. There's never going to be good enough quarterbacks and it's always going to be a

problem. AJ McCarran went to that league and like lit it up. I mean, he's not good, but he lit it up. So,, he's not good, but he just lit it up. So, uh, yes, uh, son of beavers, that's where, uh, Jalen Redmond came from. That's the other part. Guys are summer playing, just hang on summer playing for one last shot at the league and every once in a while, there's a guy who makes it the product, the problem with the product. And here's what I would advise anybody.

The first week of games will stink. It's going gonna be bad I'm telling you every year it is they get two weeks of practice they come in there There's been like some argument over their CBA and the money. It's gonna be bad. They barely gets practice but Three weeks four weeks into the season that's when you should circle back and take a look at it because after after that, they've got the quarterbacks are going the run and real offenses. And some of the environments are now really cool.

Like St. Louis has created a really cool environment there. Like they've really bought in as a town because they had their football team stolen. So they bought into that team and it's it's been a good time. So and random names show up. Wade Phillips is coaching a team. Wade Phillips is like 77 and he's coaching a team. So, yeah,, I couldn't, I can't talk enough about how much I love those leagues.

Yeah. I'm already itching for football to be back. So I'll definitely be tuning in, but I wish my dream for this whole league is for it to end up being like the NFL's G league. Um, I think it's so confusing, professional soccer pretty much every team has like a youth program Where like players will rise and grow with a team pretty much our whole lives and then we have like different divisions in baseball The G Lee like like why is the NFL the only league that doesn't have like a development system under them? I mean, I guess there's college but That's different. So I think if every NFL team had like a B team,

and that was like the UFL team, that focused more on cultivating younger talent instead of more like this last chance kind of idea. I think it would just make for a better product on the field and I think it would make the fans more involved. Yes, right now there's cool stories, seeing Wade Phillips coach or seeing a player here and there, but I think it'll bring like a real fandom to this and call me crazy. I think it's becoming so hard for high school athletes to get offers nowadays with NIL and the transfer portal.

I think if you don't get any offers or maybe if you do, I think you should be able to get recruited to the UFL right out of high school to go play. So that's just my take on it. I think there's a lot of potential for this league and or maybe not this. Maybe another league that stems off of this. But I would love to see the NFL have like a developmental. There was a player in a recent draft who went to Canada and played and didn't go to college and he played up there and then got drafted into the NFL.

And I forget who the players name, if somebody remembers, but it is time. And Pete brings this up for me to tell you about an old man story. Once upon a time, the thing that you're proposing did exist and it was called NFL Europe. They had a league where in the off season, teams could send their practice squad players over to NFL Europe. Shout out Ryan Fire, one of the coolest looking jerseys. You can look this up, the Ryan Fire.

It was an awesome looking jersey and they would have like Brian Baldinger and gosh, who was the other guy, the guy who hosts on Fox calling these games and it was a lot of NFL players or guys who were trying to get into the NFL made up this league, but you could send your practice squad players over there. So a lot of guys that made the NFL, especially quarterbacks, they had some history in NFL Europe. And I think it ended in the early 2000s. It was probably the last years of NFL Europe 2004. Yeah. But there has been a guest on this show who played in NFL Europe.

J.T.O. Sullivan, who now does QB school. He played over there. So it did happen. I would like to see. So here's what I know. Why did it fall apart? Money probably. Well, one thing is that these leagues never make money and no one ever wants to watch them. So that's always a clear thing. But the one thing that I think they should allow for I know teams view their

assets is valuable. Even if it's someone's on your practice squad. Hey, that's somebody we drafted. We're developing. We don't want someone's on your practice squad. Hey, that's somebody we drafted. We're developing. We don't want someone else messing with our merchandise. But I think that, yeah, Matt says like everything else in the world. NFL Europe didn't end well. That's for sure. I think that practice squad quarterbacks and only practice squad

quarterbacks should be allowed to go play in this league. Every team's practice squad quarterback should be allowed to go play in the league for one. Those players are better than the guys they're going to get in NFL Europe and they will play better football, which will make it more exciting. And that's the one position that you just can't develop without them playing. If you're a pass rusher, you can do your drills and you can improve and you're going to get a lot of reps and practice and all those things. You're going to be doing that every day. But I mean, quarterback, you got to play. And even if a guy gets hurt, I mean, the practice squad quarterback, like he wasn't going to make it anyway, but there might

be more Kurt Warner type of stories where somebody goes to practice squad quarterback And no one thinks they can play and then all of a sudden well actually they kind of can't and then they get their shot With their teams, so I would like to see some sort of agreement, but if you're the NFL, what do you care? Oh, you know you don't need this. You don't need a B team. You don't need a G League you you've got your NCAA and now Players will stay longer in college. They'll stay five years to make their NIL money and stuff and enjoy college. But when you can have guys coming out with 2200 passes as quarterbacks,

like that's awesome. Thanks for developing our guy for a year instead of us having to do it ourselves. So I'd like to see that to it, but I like it regardless. I like the product. It just takes a little while to, um, to ramp up just like, just like interns take a little while to get better and better every week. Uh, you're getting better and better clay. And this was, this was really good. Really enjoyed the conversation. Keep an eye out for his article over purple insider dot football, breaking down projections for the NFC North. They just came out from ESPN bet you and I will talk again.

It's not going to be Monday night because I will be in Florida at the owners meeting. So definitely next week though again for the next live show. So thank you for your time, sir. Great job. You talk soon football and thank all of you for a really fun show tonight. We 99% of the show was avoiding Aaron Rodgers. Let's keep it that way going forward. And I say that to you and to the Minnesota Vikings. Let's keep it that way. All right. Thanks everybody. I appreciate y'all. And

we will talk to you very soon. Football.