Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Clay's Corner: Vikings on Hard Knocks chances and rule changes

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

Matthew Coller talks with Intern Clay about what they would want to see if the Vikings were selected for Hard Knocks. Also, how they view the plethora of rules changes instituted by the league this offseason.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Once we reach the bottom of the comment section, that means it is time to go to the bullpen and bring in intern Clay Petrie at the University of Pennsylvania to have a little Clay's corner action. So, Clay, what is on your mind about football this evening? Anything that I was talking about that you were thinking behind the scenes you wanted to discuss? Well, you had me shocked with your list that I didn't see a receiver, but your explanation afterwards kind of made up for it and kind of eased me a little bit because I know you're a big on the receiver train at 24.

So I am on the receiver train at 24. And I did think about putting Luther burden there because I really liked the way that he fits specifically into this. But I also think that when you look at just the general grades from the mock draft community of the wide receivers, there's a lot that fall into a similar category as Luther Burton and I don't think he's some sort of perfect flawless fit. This isn't Randy Moss falling to the back end of the first round or something. He's the most interesting to me for the Vikings, but it's kind of the opinion is look,

if they draft a receiver in the first round, like it would be great for now and later, tons of value, but also this group has some guys in the middle rounds, could be a third round pick. I just, I think they need to make sure that they add one. But yeah, I did think about putting Luther Burton as the stick and pick. But I also think it's possible that you could trade down and still get them. We've seen this happen with wide receivers that go early in the second round instead and still turn out to be very good wide receiver. So that is why.

But, you know, I'm not moving off of the wide receiver thing. That's for sure. Yeah. I think it'll for the Vikings, the flow of the draft is gonna be really important this year, just seeing which position has more availability and which one they can probably like push back to the next round. So it'll be interesting to see what they go with.

Over under if Clay is going to call him old. Well, I guess we're going to we're going to find out depends on depends on these questions. You are getting called a Caleb Williams look alike. Does he kind of look like Caleb Williams? Maybe well, maybe that's it. We know that you're a Chicago guy. So maybe you just speak. Maybe you start to look like your favorite quarterback.

I don't know. Why don't we stop messing around with the comments section? Although you guys can still ask questions and throw your comments in because I'm good enough at this to answer your questions while also answering Clay's question. So toss them in and react to his along with us. Where would you like to begin, sir? OK, so the NFL changed its policy on their stipulations for who can

and can't be on hard knocks, and that makes the Vikings eligible for next season. If they were to be selected, what were what would be some things you look forward to seeing behind the scenes? So the thing about the Vikings and Hard Knocks is that I don't think it's very likely because they were also part of NFL Films productions on Justin Jefferson and the wide receiver thing and Kirk Cousins. And those were very recent. However, if they were to get picked to be Hard Knocks,

they are a team with Super Bowl aspirations, but a really interesting dynamic of having a rookie quarterback essentially, or a first year quarterback as a starter. And I think we would all be interested in the same exact thing, which is how does Kevin O'Connell really coach quarterbacks? We know that he coaches them and we get inklings of how he coaches them, how he communicates, how they meet, how they watch film,

how they set up practices, how he designs the scheme. And they're not going to show us his old scheme on hard knocks. But the communication is the biggest part and fundamentally of why Kevin O'Connell is freaking good at this. And it would be incredible. I would just watch the whole thing of just how does Kevin O'Connell is freaking good at this. And it would be incredible. I would just watch the whole thing of just how does Kevin O'Connell coach J.J. McCarthy?

What does he say to him? I mean, we got clips of that with her cousins, but this is totally different. He was taking a quarterback who was 30 something years old and working with him. But with a guy that he's molding as a young quarterback, that to me would be incredibly fascinating to just see the guy who is at the top of his craft at developing quarterbacks, working with young JJ McCarthy. So, I mean, from that perspective, I think Vikings fans should be rooting for them to get selected because it would be so much interesting insight into that.

I think that's part of the reason why there was a lot of hype for the Bears hard knocks last season because they had Caleb Williams come in. But we were exposed to like awkward conversations between him and Ibra flu's like you good like checking in like it would definitely be way cooler to see Kevin O'Connell a quarterback whisperer and see how he operates. And another thing I would love to see is the Vikings always crush the NFLPA report card, and I would just love to see why or how they build this culture. Everybody seems to love it there, and it would just be nice to be able to go behind the doors and kind of see how they how they run things. Yeah. And I think once again, with the Jefferson one, we got hints of that. But truly an examination of how the Vikings and it's, you know, we give KOCO the credit, he deserves it.

You're the front door of the franchise. When you're the head coach, everything starts with you. Whatever they paid him versus what franchises are worth is probably not enough. I mean, if you think about the France, if the Vikings sold today, it'd be over $5 billion. What is it worth to have a culture inside the building that players want to come play? It's worth Jonathan Allen, J Von Hargrave. Look at all these guys who signed Byron Murphy staying Aaron Jones staying.

You don't have players running away from your team. And then what the owners have set. It's almost sometimes you like, is there a criticism I can toss in there like with this, but they are the premier franchise for how they treat players in the NFL and it's not just some random thing. It's something that Kevin O'Connell wanted to create. And I think the biggest thing for him is he had bad experiences in the NFL with culture. And then he was all over with different coaches as a coach. And I think that he is a very analytical person in that way to look at a room and

understand what everybody's thinking and what they need and be able to figure that out and understand the mistakes that he saw before. So rather than saying, well, this is how Bella check coach. So this is how I'm going to coach say, this were the things where he missed and I'm not going to do those. And even somebody told me, I think it was Garrett Bradbury told me that he's like, he really talks with us a lot about the schedule. And that means a lot to us.

That means nothing to us. But think about this. I mean, if I used to work at a grocery store and radio stations and if the schedule wasn't out I mean, if I used to work at a grocery store and radio stations and. If the schedule wasn't out or you just got thrown in wherever and nobody ever asked you when you needed to work, it could be chaotic. It could be frustrating if you're constantly trying to figure out. So even just to have a guy who meets with the leadership is like,

when should we do this or whatever, means something to them and how families are taken care of. You and I don't care about the family room underneath the stadium or if the wives and girlfriends and all that and everybody's family is invited to parents and stuff are invited to different events and stuff. We don't care. Whatever. Play football, right? They care. They care how their families are treated. So you're right.

I do think that that would be, uh, very interesting to see behind the curtain with that. It's funny that you mentioned the schedule because even in college sports, like when I played football, it was, there, there would be so many days where it's be like, why, why are we here? Like we really don't need to be here. Y'all, y'all just kind of like keeping us captive. So it definitely does get frustrating in senses like that. But culture is one of the most, from a fan's perspective, I guess is the most like slept on attribute or contribution to winning.

Like we always look at the players, the coaches, what are they like the X's and O's and all that. But it really doesn't matter if the people in that building are not all on the same page and are all playing with the same mindset. So a son of oh, sorry, son of Beavers says him getting cut by the Jets, KOC was a really awful image. And he's you know, he said that that's not how you treat people. It was I don't know if you've ever seen this clip, probably not. But in the hard knocks that had the Jets where Rex Ryan says now, let's go eat a snack

KOC gets cut and it is an ugly scene Because and they won't even show these on some of them anymore Which really shows you how much watered down it's. Cause it used to be like really raw. I think the, the, the, how mean I think it was, it maybe it wasn't who was the GM at the time, maybe son of beavers remembers whoever the GM was at the time. He didn't even let KOC sit down and he starts berating him about, we traded a draft pick for you and you let us down and all this stuff. And all Kevin is trying to say is like, thanks for the opportunity. And I'm sorry, I let you down.

And he wouldn't even let him talk. And it was just so awkward. And it was not how you treat people is exactly right. And I think that that really impacted Kevin O'Connell for him to look at the way that he treats people and understand that every single player is trying to make it work and wants to succeed. And probably a lot of players have a path to success if they are treated the right way.

And I heard somebody say once that he believes that you're not going to help every single player by believing in them. But what if you help five? I mean, like, that's five more players than you would have had before. And a lot of times guys teeter on the edge. I mean, think about Josh, Mattel's career. If Brian Flores doesn't come in and believe in Josh, Mattel's he gets cut. Who knows what he becomes?

And instead he comes in and the first thing Mattel's told me this. The first thing that he said to Mattel's is like, I think you could play. I think you could play a lot more. I mean, imagine one of the best DC's in the league comes in. First thing he says to you is nice to meet you. I think you could play more. Let's go like alright. Let's go You know as opposed to here's what you can't do or I don't you know care about you or whatever Yeah, and it immediately gives you that confidence and confidence is another slept on thing like if a player loses his confidence

It's so hard to get it back I know this isn't football but Draymond green like like he used to be able really shoot the ball and then stuff happened and he will say himself he lost his confidence and now he's not even close to the player that he was and he's even scared to shoot the ball at times he said. So that confidence is huge too. It's still in your players and I think they do a really good job at doing that. Seen it a million times. Imagine that you're, now I don't think Kellen Mond was going to work out one way or the other, but imagine you're Kellen Mond and your head coach says he doesn't even want to see you on the field

because he sees you at practice. Like, dude, what? Yeah, it was Mike Tannenbaum. And I will say, you know, like the league is nasty. It's not a nice friendly league. And I don't blame Mike Tannenbaum for acting the way that most of the league acts. But I think Kevin O'Connell looked at that sort of stuff and said,

you know what, if I do it differently, players are going to want to come to me. And that's you know, it's not analytics, but it's like analytical of thinking, how can I get an edge? What if my edge is treating players like people? How crazy is it that that's an edge, but it's an edge. And so many guys come from that Bill Belichick tree and they go berate people over everything. And it's like, what good does this actually do you?

But anyway, what else you got? Yeah, so this is for Steven, who wanted some of the rule changes. The NFL talked about the hot hawk eye technology and how it will be the new primary method to measure first downs. Do you like this change? I don't think it does a thing to tell you the truth. Do I like it? It's well, I mean, okay, go ahead, go ahead, get the look on

your face. Like, oh, here goes, here goes Gramps with talking about how about used to be. But look, they used to measure all the time. And then one day, and it wasn't actually that long ago, you were watching football when they used to do it, just kind of stopped. I think the NFL, somebody said to somebody, we just need to stop wasting our time

with these measurements. Just look down the line and say first down or not. And they can also, as we saw multiple times with the Vikings last year, including screwing up Will Reichard before a field goal, they can call in to adjust it from whatever magical booth that they're in, in New York or wherever watch the games. They can buzz down and say, well, actually, the guy got the first down or actually he didn't. And they were already making that adjustment

based on what someone somewhere was seeing. So having the Hawkeye technology to just not use the chain gang. Plus, there's still going to be a chain gang, I guess, just for for the looks of it, the vibes, the vibes. How can you have football without a chain gang? Let's just keep them there as a backup. If the Hawkeye technology fails, we all know what the real problem is.

The real problem is a guy goes down on the ground. They pick up the football and they go, let's see, let's just 37 yard line, 37's just 37 yard line 37 and a half yard line and then the center walks out picks up the football sets it down at the 38 and you're like Where did he fall? Where is this? I mean in a game that I just mentioned franchises are worth five to seven billion dollars We are really spotting the football just on vibes just on like, you know

I just like some guy think about sometimes the guy spotting the ball is running for behind the play. Where'd it go? 37 if you watch a game sometimes you just comical of where they set the ball down versus where a guy was actually tackled Until they can resolve that problem. I think that they could resolve that problem 90% can resolve that problem. And I think that they could resolve that problem 90%. But the problem is from my understanding, Sam Schwartstein, who is actually the guy who invented the kickoff and is big into NFL and technology and works for Amazon. He was tweeting about this. You

start putting too many chips in the football. You got yourself a problem, which is that the football starts to weigh different and you'd be like, well, what do you mean this little tiny chip? Yes. The smallest amount of weight can change the way a ball travels. So if you put it in the front and you put it in the back and you put it right now, there's one tiny chip in where the laces are. So if you're using the over the top technology, whatever the tennis uses, I mean, maybe you can get an accurate depiction,

but it's really where the middle of the ball is, but we're not spotting it on that. And I feel like a complete fool here talking about this, because the answer is so simple, which is a person in a booth reffing off of the broadcast film, who, right, Skycamcam who can just see it. And if they see a miss and that's another stupid thing, if it's a national TV game, then you know that they're watching closely and they'll adjust. If a first down should be a first down, if it's like the fourth rated CBS game or something,

they have three camera views and no one's paying attention. It's just what the heck anyway., I don't think this does anything. And I don't think it solves the major problem we all know needs to be solved. Stick a ref in a booth so he can watch what we're watching. Period. Until they do that, I will not take any of this seriously. Yeah. I don't, I'm kind of in the same boat. I don't see how much it changes, but if it does lead to more Better accuracy on the placement of the footballs and then I'm for it

Like if it speeds up the game, I'm for it. But but again, I don't really think this is the main issue. I Maybe if they tried on all plays, it's kind of weird that they're just using it for the first downs. But I don't know. I'm I'm confused. I kind of want to see how it plays out and then I'll see if I like it or not. But you'll just never notice it. Like, that's the thing is you'll never really see. I guess who's going to tell them someone must have to tell them

if they've got it wrong or it's really just a measurement. It's really only if it's is it a first down or not very close to the line. And that's how it will be done with this Hawkeye technology. So it sort of made it sound like, oh, they're going to do like digital spotting, but they're not. It's really no change at all. I have to give a neck roll to a son of a beavers for asking if there's any UfL players to keep an eye on my suggestion with the UfL would be to watch it like three four weeks in Where the teams have actually gotten together because imagine trying to play pro football after having a two-week training camp plus

they had issues with their pay and whatever which always happens and Some of the guys sat out practices like it's going to be a mess for the first couple of weeks. So give it time. So that is the rant on that. The obvious answer is right there for the NFL. It always has been. And they refuse to use it. What is your next Clay's corner question? So the next one is about the overtime rules.

They changed it to match the playoff, the playoff rules to where each team possesses a ball. Now, how do you feel about this change? Didn't need it. I would like OK, here's here's an opinion that probably the most people would disagree with that I have. There's a surprising number of people who love the wide receiver opinion. And I applaud all of you for that because you guys get it. You get where I'm coming from.

I thought that people would dislike that one, but they like it. Maybe because Randy Moss was a wide receiver three when he was drafted. And so you get it. But the opinion that I have that I don't know how many times I've ever shared on this show, but I think most people would strongly disagree with is I would be perfectly fine with ties. I would be perfectly fine if there was no overtime in the regular season and it was just ties. Here is why. One is it would encourage teams if they score a game tying touchdown to go for two or oh, we're just going to pull up and tie the game with a field goal with 40 seconds left, we're going to kneel down on the ball.

No, no, you have to go for the touchdown. You got to try to win the game or you're going to get a tie. And I also think like you had all day to try to win this game. So I was fine with sudden death in overtime. And I would be fine with, well, you played the whole game and you ended up with a tie. I don't need more of this but The the playoff format, I guess it's fine. We'll probably see it four times in a season I mean, there's just not that many overtime games in the regular season

I someone will have to tell me how many there actually were last year. There couldn't have been that many We won't see it that many times. I guess it's fair But yeah, again you had again. You had all day for somebody to win this football game. I don't need everybody to touch the football games to go on much longer. Players to be out there playing way more snaps. You already have 17 games. Imagine if you have two overtime games in a season

and you're playing for an entire extra quarter. You're playing 80 snaps in a game like I just I didn't need this change, but I understand why it's fair. What if it's 35 to 35? I what it doesn't have to be three to three or seven. Well, that that probably means that someone tied it either on a last second field goal or they tied it on a extra point where they could have gone for two.

Actually, 3535 sounds to me like five touchdowns go for two win the game and teams would play the whole fourth quarter to win the game rather than tie. Yeah, this is I was not expecting this, but I know I can see it. I don't I don't love ties. I want a winner and loser. I like your points. I get the whole extra quarter of play. 16 overtime games last year out of how many games did they play? 32 teams

playing 17 games and 16 were overtime. It's not going to matter that many times. I don't agree. I'm not sure why yet, but but I don't but my initial reaction was I was just confused why they didn't change this when they changed the playoff rules. I think it's weird to have playoffs and regular season different. But hopefully this will have teams more prepared, I guess, and won't have any more 49ers Chiefs moments. Not that that is an excuse for the 49ers, but I think it just makes

everything more consistent and clear. One of the reasons that I am pro-tie is that I've never come up with anything and Bob mentions like having the kickers kick, you know, 60 yard field goals or something to try to win it. I've never come up with something that I felt like really worked for me. The college thing is such a mess and a joke and it's laughable. And I love it. I love watching it, but it's so silly. You couldn't do it in the NFL. I don't think especially since they are there all day sometimes. And this doesn't this feels fair ish. But then also, like, are they going to be able to finish the game?

If you get a long touchdown drive and a long touchdown drive and then you're still tied well and we get a tie after that like we're here all day like our ties eliminated or is it just would assume if you're tied after overtime it's a tie yeah okay but what if the team what if a team takes all of overtime with a single drive it doesn't score. I don't know. Anyway, I don't I don't love any overtime option that's ever existed. So that's why I'm like, OK, with ties. Plus, I grew up with hockey and I was fine with hockey ties.

I didn't need shootouts for that either. And here we are. I cover. I actually covered a tie in 2018 Vikings and Packers. They tied. It was the weirdest thing because usually to get down to the press box in Lambeau, you have to walk outside. So you walk over the fans, which is wonderful. In late December, you walk over the fans and if the Packers won, it's usually very rowdy.

And if the Vikings won, you hear like a smattering of skulls and then booze or whatever. And it's you know, there's just a lot of noise going on. The tie, dead as quiet. It was like there was no one there, even just people walking out. What do I what do I do? What do we just tied? What the heck do I do with my hands?

So it is awkward and weird when you tie. I understand no one likes ties. I would just be fine. Yeah, I would need to see the numbers on what the ties that we have now are like if a lot of them are more like boring, low scoring games, then I could get on board with your point. But I think it is exciting when it's a high scoring game teams can't really separate themselves from the opponent. And then it all comes down to overtime. I think that's cool. But I definitely there's a pomp and circumstance of overtime. There's the coin flip. You're going out to the whole thing.

And you know that. But I just think it would increase the drama of every fourth quarter because no one would want to tie. No one wants to be at the Superdome with 70,000 crazy people or something and then tie and everyone going to what? So that would be some digital planes. Media hates this. I mean, ties exist in the sport.

That's the most popular in the entire world of soccer. I mean, it's not I don't think that the worst sports take you've ever heard. I mean, have you watched television? Anyway, let's move on then. No, where sports take ever heard. Somebody said today in a worst sports take season like that. How about this? Right. And today in today's world, like log on to anything.

Yeah, I just I just said they should do it like other sports. But and also you can't you cannot deny the entertainment value of its 20 to 21. Last second touchdown, you can't just tie it and go to OT. You got to go for two. That's the best drama in sports. So anyway, can't argue that. Also, Bob says it's like kissing your sister.

I would love to know who the first weirdo that came up with that. I've heard that a million times. I don't who thought of that? Well, anyway, here's the worst sports take that I've ever heard. Stephen A Smith was talking today and this is something he's quoting. So it's not him. I'm not insulting Stephen A Smith. He was quoting someone from the NBA that said if Steph Curry had played back in the day

years ago that he wouldn't have scored more than a handful of points a game because they would have just beat him up. That's the worst sports take I've ever heard. Okay, that's like 50 times worse than I'm fine with fourth quarter drama being increased. That's so much worse. Reggie Miller played. He just had big guys around him. Anyway, that's we're off the rails. What's the next thing? Yeah. All right. The next thing. So the tush push is still alive, at least for now. The league couldn't come to a decision on it. Do you think it will survive the offseason? I do because nobody can come up with a real explanation for it. It sounds like people are just mad. They're just mad. We can't stop it.

There's no real clear evidence about injuries. And there's not even actually a lot of teams. Yeah, Steven points out the Del Curry played back in the day and was a good player. I mean, shooting in basketball, it would never work. What? I mean, the greatest shooter, he'll never make it. It's impossible. The way they make it sound.

Look, I am old enough to say there were brawls and stuff. There was more. It was more of a violent game. But like, it's not like every night they were just hitting each other with crowbars. It wasn't it wasn't WCW slash NBA guys dribbled around and shot the basketball. And what are we talking about here? So three would make his shots in any era. My goodness. I was watching the bad boys documentary earlier

and all those incidents happened right under the hoop. So it's like. Right. Joe, Joe, I get it out 40 feet and throwing jabs at Steph Curry. It's not like Joe Dumars, who was a great shooter, was just like, all right, it's fighting time. Just throw down the mitts and like it's center court. I mean, they are they are so exaggerating how that used to be. But the to your point about the tush push,

somebody put out the numbers of how often teams did it. The Philadelphia Eagles, of course, did it a million times. And then the Bills did it a lot because their quarterback is seven feet tall and weighs 300 pounds and they screwed it up in a playoff game. So maybe they'll do it less. Everybody else barely used it. And if you're going to tell me this is some sort of widespread problem, I was this unstoppable cheat code play that everybody's using to succeed.

Show me the numbers that prove that. And here's the best counterpoint to me is that Tom Brady over his career. I did a story on this once. I actually asked Bill Belichick about it, about Tom Brady had a 90 percent success rate on quarterback sneaks. What they used to do, though, was the opposite of the tush push. They used to put all the wide receivers out, spread everybody out, and then have him sneak because you couldn't put everybody in the box. So you create a light box, five wide receivers or maybe a running back. And then he just sneaks up the middle and it was great.

And they had one of the highest rates of all time on you're going to band that. Like, I mean, what are we talking about here? Ban you're banning, advancing the football in a sport. That's all about advancing the football, not unless it's so dangerous. People get hurt and it's not. So it's just cry babies who can't stand that the Eagles won the Super Bowl and used a play that was not stoppable. But, you know, Patrick Mahomes running around like a crazy person,

making throws and stuff was not really been stoppable all that often either. Keep banned. Quarterbacks leaving the pocket. You can't stop Lamar. He keeps winning MVP's. It's just so so silly. Yeah, I hearing Sean McVay talk about it like made me rage. He said the optics of the play don't look like a football play. Who cared? Like what?

I think banning a play because of the way it looks visually is probably the most insufficient argument I've heard in a while. And well, you know, all those Eagles fans left the stands every time it happened. They threw garbage on the field. They were so mad that they just wouldn't attend games. I mean, come on. Oh, you know what? All the they have the TV ratings as soon as somebody pushed.

Everybody sponsors pulled out. Yes. I know. And you touched on it like I don't. I tried to look into the injuries and I I'm pretty sure there's a 0% injury rate on push push plays. I don't think there's been a single injury. So until they have until they could like point to stats and be like, this is why we want to ban the play.

This is who's got hurt. These are the injuries. I don't think they have a real argument. Bob says Larry Bird used to carry a revolver in his shorts to get space to shoot threes. I mean, that's the thing was. And look, Larry Bird got into his handful of scuffles and everything else. But are we really treating NBA players in any era like their UFC fighters? Come on, they they're about as good as major league baseball pitchers

of fighting each other. Are you serious? I mean, this isn't this isn't Tony Twist versus Rob Ray. Those are really old NHL fighters. This isn't like I mean, the NHL with its fighting at one era was very dangerous. It's stupid. Really. It was so out of control. They used to just have like UFC fights in the middle of the ice to start a game. That is dangerous and not right.

The NBA never had that the great shooters in all time basketball. How about like pages Toya Kovach? I mean, that wasn't the toughest guy I've ever seen. And he's just he shot 40 something percent from three. I mean, come on. The only thing here's the only thing that was different. And also we're acting like Steph Curry doesn't get people like trying to defend him. Here's the thing that's different is that his coaches never would have let him shoot this much.

He would have made crazy high percentages and been a star. If you're making a point about why it would be different, it's that his coach, no coach would have ever believed it would work. And that's why he revolutionized basketball single-handedly is he actually showed that it will work. But there's been all sorts of smaller shooters throughout NBA, Steve Nash, multi-time MVP. What was he like? Six foot tall? Come on, come on. That's the, that's a way worse opinion than they should have ties. So people will just try to win the game in the fourth quarter. Way worse opinion.

Anyway, all right. Next thing. So they really got to you on that one. But it's fair. It's like, come on. Watch some. I mean, what are we taught the old NBA? And look, I lean into it. I loved the NBA in the 1990s. I love Michael Jordan, the the Knicks, the Pacers, all that. All those things that you saw in the documentary watching.

I watched them live and all that stuff. I loved it. But now to hear older NBA players be like this current player, you would stink. You're just like that. Who wants that? Who cares about what anybody thinks about that? So you shouldn't love Anthony Edwards. Like, I don't know, man.

I watched Edwards play against Jokic the other day, and that was one of the coolest things I've seen a long time. Maybe we could just like sports as they advance. But yeah, anyway, let's, let's stop the generation comparison comparisons, but anyway, my, my next question, the Cowboys traded a fifth round pick for Joe Milton and it's blowing up my social media pages. And I'm kind of confused. Why does this move really, really matter?

Algorithms. That's why. No, truly. I mean that I really truly mean that. I mean that transactions trades, especially, but signings, they they do clicks. They move the needle with people. They start debates.

They create a lot of discussion. We take advantage of here. I made the joke early, like, Hey, if they sign a fourth string corner, is that an emergency podcast? And the answer might be yes. Because it moves the needle with algorithms, with interaction, with engagement, all that stuff. So people make way more out of it than they need to.

Cause everybody knows that it draws a lot of clicks. If you wrote the best analysis piece of Dak Prescott 2023 or something, and it was brilliant. And you just made all sorts of great sweeping statements about his game and the you would do nothing in comparison to instant reaction to Joe Milton to Dallas, even though Joe Milton may never play for Dallas. And I don't think he's even any good.

I don't. He played that one game at the end of the season when no one's even trying. And I don't really think he's an NFL starting quarterback or anything like it. Even I don't know, maybe somebody can have that happen. He's a great athlete. Yeah. But I mean, I thought he's going to be a tight end coming out. He's got a crazy arm. He could throw it over the mountains.

You know, it doesn't really look like a starting quarterback to me, but those types of things, they just drive clicks and they just drive debates. And when it's Dallas, then it drives debates even more. Oh, Dallas wouldn't got a quarterback. So yeah, you're going to wake up tomorrow. You're going to turn on the TV and two people will be screaming at each other about Joe Milton. And because then they could put out the video and then that gets more react and like everything. This is a, this is a rant about how things are now is so much in football coverage. Maybe this is Aaron Rogers adjacent with this, this irritation. Everything is just about what gets people fighting with each other rather

than what we should actually be talking about. And I don't mean everything. You know, Dan Orlovsky does great stuff on ESPN film breakdowns and things like that. And I enjoy that. But so much is just how can we rake in the most viewers who will yell at each other when we tweet out the video? And I get tired sometimes. So the Joe Milton trade doesn't matter anything more than Trey Lance Go back and look at Trey Lance to the Cowboys and how much?

Coverage of that versus what that meant it meant nothing just like this so yeah I remember when Milton got drafted there was jokes going around people saying he still needs to learn how to play football So the fact that he's getting all this attention after one meaningless game is kind of crazy. Um, and demanding a trade. I think that's actually the funniest part. Oh, he demanded it. I didn't, I didn't ask to be traded. So it sounds, at least from the report, it sounds like he asked to be traded to a team where he could compete for a starting job. So they traded them to, uh,

the team that has the highest paid quarterback in the entire NFL. Well, I don't know if that was like on purpose or what they got back at Joe. They're like, oh, really? Well, I mean, they should be right. You play one game in basically preseason. Yeah, but that deck does have an injury history. It does. If he gets the backup spot, who knows? We might see him next year, but until we do, I'm not going to be thinking about Joe Milton a lot. I will not be either.

What do you got one left? Yeah, one last one. So the Browns owner called the Deshaun Watson move a big swing and a miss. So what are some other trades that happened in an awful history that you also consider a big swing in the mist. Now, this is we might have to tell a little history lesson here. I mean, we might have to do it. The Minnesota Vikings made the worst trade in NFL history until this.

Hey, actually, we should talk about that. The Minnesota Vikings trade is officially no longer the worst trade for Herschel Walker in history. This Deshaun Watson is the worst trade and the worst contract at the same time. They gave up a lot. Didn't they get Will Anderson with one of the picks? The Texans became a good team that went to the playoffs. they use their picks for good players. They gave out the worst ever contract and he played so bad. I mean, this is, this isn't, if he wasn't like an average starter or mediocre that went eight, nine or something, this was biblical. This was the worst quarterback you will ever see playing football in the NFL.

My friend Austin Gale for the ringer was tweeting out stats on him like about QBR and different stats about like, hey, there's been 400 quarterbacks that have played since 1987 and he's like second to last or something. I mean numbers that just you can't believe in how bad Deshaun Watson was. I think it easily clears the Herschel Walker trade as being that awful.

And I'll always just add this in. There was no guarantee the Vikings were going to use those draft picks to get Emmett Smith and whoever all the other great players that Dallas got. I don't remember the list right off hand. Some of you sickos probably do but Yeah, I mean I think it is as bad as it could ever be and Herschel Walker has now been moved into second place Do you have other examples? Yeah, I don't have like the worst trades but one that is like super weird to me. It was a Trent Richardson trade Oh, yes, so that's one of the worst trades in history. Oh, yeah

He was drafted third overall by the Browns and he had a good rookie year. Um, he almost had a thousand yards and 11 touchdowns. Um, but then two games into the next season, they traded him to the Colts for a first round pick. And it's, it's just really bizarre, but he did not do anything for the Colts and then no acid like the rest of that year and And then the year after and then he was done with football. So That's a pretty expensive first round pick to just give away. I found a list CBS Sports did a list

Last year in May of The ten worst player trades in NFL history, this is by John Breach. OK, I will read it. So we got Herschel Walker's obviously number one. Number two is the Broncos trading for Russell Wilson. I don't think that's nuts. I don't think I mean, they missed the playoffs both years. They got rid of them.

They had to pay a huge amount like Russell Wilson. And the Broncos have to be so happy that they drafted a quarterback that got them to the playoffs because and Deshaun Watson because no one really talks about this being as bad as it was for Russell Wilson I don't know if it's a number two in history This has the Packers Trading for John Hadle. Oh, he was the quarterback. That's a really old one. He's the quarterback for the Chargers or The Rams was it it was way back in the day. So that's OK.

The Falcons trading for Jeff George. I don't know. They had a nine and seven season. That seems aggressive. And Deshaun Watson was five, but it can't be five now. OK, where's the rest of the list? Oh, it says you have to click here to get the rest of the list. What is with websites? What is with websites? What is with websites?

So this list, Deandre Hopkins to the Cardinals. I don't agree with that. I don't agree with that because he was good for them. Twenty twenty one. It's not like they got nothing. I think it was bad for the Texans. Yeah, because they gave him up for. Oh, right. I didn't think of that. Yeah, I didn't think of that. OK. Yeah. Because they gave him up for. Oh, right. I didn't think of that.

Yeah, I didn't think of that. OK. Yeah. Oh, that was a bad trade. Yeah. I think that one would probably get remembered more if Hopkins extended his production in Arizona. Because that first year was there. It was like, oh, my God. Like he changed their whole offense and then the suspension happened and he kind of railed off.

But I think if he had three, four really good years in Arizona, I think that one would get a bump. Yeah, I was just looking at it the wrong way. I wasn't looking at it from the Texans perspective, who just got what Duke Johnson back and nothing, maybe a second round draft pick. OK, I agree with that. Trent Richardson on the list, Charles Haley being traded to the Cowboys.

This is another old one. But the 49ers trading one of the best defensive ends ever to their biggest rival is levels of crazy that you usually would never see. Teams would not do this one today. And in Steve Young's football life documentary, he's like, why would you trade one of the hall of fame defensive players to them, red far to the Packers. Yeah.

Atlanta may have messed that up. The oilers trading Steve Largent to the Seahawks is the rest of the list. So there you go. Yeah. There's some, uh, some bad trades, but I think this one has gone all the way to the top the Ricky Williams trade this was Yeah, I mean

Trading your whole draft for Ricky Williams is pretty bad, too Yeah for a guy that just wants to Hide out and chill But he what he was a great dog. He was a great dolphin. He was a great dog I don't the thing about this the Saints and did gun Ricky Williams trade is I don't. The thing about this, the Saints and Ditka and Ricky Williams trade is, I don't know if it would have made a bit of difference, but they were just a joke of a franchise then. Weird how they got a great quarterback and everything changed.

Interesting how funny how that works. Yeah. OK, so I'm not sure about next week's schedule exactly yet for going live. We're in a little bit of a lull here in the schedule, but no doubt there will be plenty of live shows. So make sure you set the notifications if you're enjoying watching the show. Set the notifications so you see when we'll be going live. Appreciate your time.

Clay's Corner, another well done Clay's Corner. And your mom was saying that you're better looking than Caleb Williams. So isn't that cute? She drops in and embarrasses you every time. Thanks mom. I love that. So, but great stuff. Well done.

And you're working on a film piece about Jordan Addison. So people should go over to purpleinsider.football. See my column about sticking and picking the Friday mailbag that I'm got to go work on actually right now and your articles soon to come. So thanks, Clay. We will talk to you very soon. Say, do you want to say football or something? Yeah, I'll hit a football baby. Let's go. Oh, okay. All right. Well, guess I can't top that. Was that like a do vol from Liam Cohen probably anyway we'll get that's why is the intern got to work on it so thanks everybody for watching

slash listening and we will talk to you very soon football