Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Clowney vs. Ngakoue, Peterson is a Lion, Vikings name a practice squad

Episode Date: September 7, 2020

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with this team, and then we know oftentimes there's that one surprise that comes out of a little bit of nowhere, like when they cut Alex Boone in 2017 or when they cut Alex Boone in 2017, or when they cut Brian Robison in 2018. But this year, there was no real surprise cut. The only surprise is that they have no backup safeties. But also the rules are so much different, where literally everyone can be on the practice squad. You had to be way down the depth chart to not be on the practice squad, which we'll get to because there's a few guys that are actually somewhat interesting in that realm. But also you could take two guys from the practice squad and bump them up to the active roster for game day, which I think allows the Vikings to have those backup safeties, Nate Meadors and Josh Metellus, remain on the practice squad and then

bump one or both of them up on a game day if they want to, or somebody else that they need. So I'm not even sure now that they're going to go after a veteran safety. And if they're going to do it, it might actually be after week one because of the rules with veteran guarantees. So if they want to bring in a veteran, then they might wait till week two when they don't have to pay the guarantees if they cut them. So there's all these rules at once. Like, can we play some football? But you can tell me what the biggest things that stuck out to you over the weekend were in terms of Vikings moves.

Yeah, well, I agree with you on the safeties. That was obviously one of the things that jumped out was just having the two. And I think most people were assuming, okay, this means they're kind of going to look through the waivers, look through some veteran cuts, and go find a guy who can come in and they would trust to play. If Smith or Harris have to miss a few snaps or a whole game or whatever the case may be.

But like you said, with them bringing Metellus back and Metters back to the practice squad, and they continue to list Metters as a cornerback for some reason, even though he worked nothing but safety during camp, at least from what I saw. So, yeah, if you have those two guys, maybe those are your two candidates to make the extra two guys on the 55 man and dress at least one of them.

And you wouldn't need to go after safety. And like you said, also the veteran thing after week one, something I actually just found out about today, trying to learn all these rules. So that could be something they do. But beyond that, I thought the seven receivers was really interesting to me as well, with Dan Chisina making the roster and Tajay Sharp and Chad Beebe and all these guys. And I know that Chisina and Osborne were more for the special team stuff than for what they can do as a receiver.

So you kind of have five receivers and two special teams guys who could potentially help you out at receiver later on. But that was still interesting to me considering last year it was four receivers and this year almost doubling that. So is that an indication of the Vikings maybe throwing the ball a little bit more, maybe spreading the ball out a little bit more under Gary Kubiak like we kind of saw during that scrimmage at US Bank Stadium? Or is it just kind of the way it worked out this year,

where some of the special teams guys who in other years might have come from other positions this year are receivers? Right, yeah. Kentrell Brothers was the guy that was on the team as a special teamer only for quite some time, and then he's not here anymore. So maybe Dan Chisna is that guy even though one was a linebacker and the other is technically a wide receiver though it seemed like they fiddled with him at safety for a day or a couple hours and decided that that really wasn't going to work

and then he went back to wide receiver it's a bit of an odd situation and maybe they thought that because Chisna has this really interesting athletic profile, that he's basically a freak athlete for the NFL, that maybe some other team would pick him up if he wasn't on the 53. And I think that that's a little bit what throws off the scent in terms of getting some of these right, is just factoring in who they thought wouldn't get picked up on waivers versus who deserved to make the team or who will have a role. And so I'll be very interested to see if Chisna is playing or if he eventually gets cut and moved

to the practice squad because all the dust has settled and that was really their plan all along. But I want to ask you about the wide receivers because everyone's nightmare is over. Alexander Hollins is on the practice squad. It's okay, everyone. Take a deep breath. Hollins is still around. I've never seen someone become so popular on Twitter who has like two catches and a handful of games that they've actually even appeared in. But Alexander Hollins became extremely popular on Saturday when

he got cut and people were upset that Chad Beebe was staying. What are your expectations for Tajay Sharp and Chad Beebe now knowing that those two guys are ahead of Alexander Hollins on the depth chart but also this is a team that's going to play two tight ends a lot? Yeah well I think with Alexander Hollins first of all I think we are partially to blame for his popularity on Twitter. 100%. I know myself I having been at all the training camp practices I wrote about him a lot because, I don't know, I was looking for things to write about. And when Adam Thielen does cool stuff, it's not really that much of a story

because we know what Adam Thielen can do. But Alexander Hollins, to me, I mean, I think most people I've talked to agree with this. Every practice we saw, he was standing out, and he was not only just this fast, skinny guy that we know he is, but he was going up. And Mike Zimmer said he's gotten a little better in contested catches looks like he might have put on a little bit more weight I mean he's still still a lanky kind of thin guy but he looked

to become to be more of a well-rounded receiver for than what we saw last year so I think we kind of helped build that hype train up a little bit and but don't worry yeah he's still on the practice squad he's still gonna get his chances eventually, I would imagine. But it's interesting that Tajay Sharp to me was a guy who, when you're looking at the receivers on this roster, there wasn't one thing that he could really do that none of the other guys could do. I think that's where Chad Beebe gets his roster spot because he's a slot guy

who can separate really well and you know what you're going to get from him. You can get open. Tashi Sharp does a little bit of everything. He is an outside guy. He's got good size. He's got some good route running ability, but I wasn't sure he was actually a lock for the roster. I think if you're looking for a fourth guy who's going to be on the field, if they're in a hypothetical four-receiver set, I know the Vikings don't do much of that, but I think that would probably be Beebe over Sharp at the moment, just given what we've heard from Gary Kubiak, what he can do there. Maybe you have Jefferson and Beebe as the two inside guys with Thielen and B.C. Johnson on the outside.

Maybe they think, in terms of Tajay Sharp, that if B.C. Johnson or Adam Thielen gets hurt, he's the guy with the most experience who could step in, and he comes from an offense that was very, very similar in Tennessee, and so he can run the same routes as they do, not maybe at quite as high of a level. But could he be just as good as B.C. Johnson if B.C. Johnson gets hurt for six weeks? Probably, but can Justin Jefferson handle that role at this moment? Maybe not.

Can Chad Beebe handle that role at this moment or maybe ever, considering his size? Probably not. So you look at him as sort of an in case of emergency over Alexander Hollins, who's still a young player, and that's the one thing we never know, is just how much they know about the offense. Because a lot of this offense is reading safeties, reading linebackers, things like that, like knowing how to process a defense, which Taze Sharp, being in the league for as long as he's been,

would be able to do that in this offense. You're not really certain about the others. Is Justin Jefferson caught up as an outside wide receiver yet? I do not get the impression that he is. So do we view Justin Jefferson as locked in as the slot receiver in three receiver sets, or are we going to see Beebe there and watch Vikings Twitter explode? Yeah, I think that's a possibility, and I think that would absolutely be the result. A lot of people would not like that just because of the draft pedigree of Jefferson and the whole hype

train and everything we've heard about him. We know what he can do and the highlight plays he can produce. But like you said, there's a lot more that goes, goes into being an NFL wide receiver than just being able to make the highlight plays and put up tons of yards in the SEC. I mean, Chad Beebe has been in the system as his third year.

He, he knows what he's supposed to do and he can get open over the middle of the field. We saw him get some, some reps with the ones in the slot, and then sometimes Jefferson would come in quickly after that. I think in the long run it's going to be Jefferson just because he's too good to keep off of the field, and he brings kind of an extra dimension that Beebe doesn't

in so many ways in size and contested catchability and that burst after the catch. But early on, could I see Chad Beebe being that guy in the three receiver sets and getting some of those looks early on? I think I could because, like I said, you know what you're going to get from Beebe, and the coaching staff has that trust in him. And if Jefferson hasn't fully earned that trust yet, which it seems like he's on the way to doing but might not be all the way there yet, then, yeah, I think you could see Beebe factor into that rotation. It was fun to watch Twitter be apoplectic over Beebe for

whatever reason. I'm not sure. I mean, when he's been in games, he's performed and he's gotten open and he's made some plays. He's only got a handful of catches, but when they've given him the opportunity, it's not like he's fallen flat on his face. He's done what he's supposed to do. They just need to be able to keep him healthy. And last year, it's a freak injury that takes him out on a very strange play where he was trying to block and gets run over. It's not like the guy has gone out there and been a complete mess and dropped the ball over the place. wide receiver that he could be someone like Jarius Wright and I think that that's what they see him and I know that you didn't cover Jarius Wright but they call the Mr. Third Down in the locker room because he had something like 17 catches and 14 first downs and a lot of them came on third down I think that that's Chad Beebe's role and if you bring in a guy who gets 20 catches in a year and half of them or more are on third down and seven,

well, that's good for you. That means he was worth keeping on the roster. And then if K.J. Osborne, because we have no idea, if K.J. Osborne is a terrible punt returner and the first three of them bounce off of his shoulder pads, then at least Chad Beebe could step in and do that too. So I think that this one is not worth losing your bleep over. Now let me ask you about the practice squad because more than ever,

normally I would not have even discussed the practice squad. Like who cares? We'll find out if those guys are good in a year or two. But this year it's interesting. They left off Courtney Davis and Neville Clark, the two guys that they paid the most for as UDFAs. Tell me if you saw anything different in camp. I saw nothing from either one of those guys that would suggest that they belonged here.

And if there's anything else that you look at the practice squad and you thought stuck out to you. Yeah, so I actually, I didn't see really anything from Courtney Davis. He was a guy who I think some analysts, some analysts had like a late round grade on him. So I think some people got excited. They saw him do some things at Texas A&M, but he didn't really stand out to me as a guy who brings anything that the Vikings don't already have in five or six other guys. So I wasn't shocked. I mean, it was a little surprising that he's not on the practice squad given the amount of guaranteed money they gave him and things like that. I actually did see some things from Neville Clark throughout camp that were intriguing to me.

I actually had him making the 53-man roster over Harrison Hand. Oh, wow, okay. You were very high on Neville Clark. Yeah, I had him making it over Harrison Hand, but I wasn't remotely shocked that the fifth-round pick made it over the undrafted free agent. They were pretty close, I think. So I am surprised to not see him on the practice squad.

And I think there's still two spots left. But I think I saw something that said that Clark is not going to be on it. So that's interesting to me. I don't know. They didn't keep a ton of the veteran guys, as far as I can tell, that you can keep up to six guys with any level of experience. I think Brett Jones is the main one that jumps out there. Avion Collins, I don't know if he's qualified for that status yet

or if he would have been eligible for the practice squad regardless. But the keeping two QBs makes sense to me because in this year, I mean, you never know if Kirk Cousins or Sean Manion is going to test positive, and hopefully that doesn't happen. But it makes sense to keep both those guys around, try to develop them, have them available. They kept a few linemen. Obviously, you've got the backup fullback, things like that. You just want guys that, in the positions where there's only one player,

like a fullback or things like a quarterback, you want to have those backups available because this is a weird year, and you don't know if you're going to get a little breakout and be down six players all of a sudden so you got that depth on the practice squad is going to be important this year for sure want to remind you to go to sodastick.com to get your original minnesota sports inspired goods they just launched their official collaboration with bud grant yes bud grant you can now get your official Bud Grant shirt and Man Cave art print. If you haven't seen it yet, you have to check it out.

And we're going to hook you up with free shipping for your order. Use code PURPLEINSIDER for free shipping. That is SOTASTICK, S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com, original Minnesota sports-inspired goods. Code PURPLEINSIDER for free shipping. Yeah, I think so. And hopefully it doesn't play into it. the sports inspired goods code purple insider for free shipping yeah i think so and and hopefully it doesn't play into it hopefully we're talking about hey remember covet in the nfl they did such

a great job that's what it's been in camp they've done such a great job that there have been no problems and i do think that if the nfl was running america we would have done a lot better because they took it very very seriously yeah from the start and now they're putting in extreme measures even for travel so they know how much is at stake if they screw this up and end up with a bunch of positive tests but if you're a team you have to prepare for the reality that there could be positive tests and have these players in position to step in and maybe that's what it was about when it came to Neville Clark or Courtney Davis was just Nate Meadors is more able to step in if you need him to in terms of a defensive back

uh you got like Mark Fields too right who's been around here for a little bit and um and Holland is the only receiver on there but he's also been around for a year on Lake Davis so I think that makes sense for sure having guys who uh in a pinch can give you some snaps. All right, I want to turn the page in a second to week one, but there's a couple other things that I wanted to ask your opinion on. So Adrian Peterson is now going to be a member of the Detroit Lions, because why not? As soon as Adrian Peterson left Minnesota, you thought, how many more jerseys will that guy wear? Like five, six, seven? He's just going to keep playing and people are going to keep giving him jobs. He's never going to give up. I mean, he has this mentality where he thinks that if he

gets in the right situation, he's going to play five more years and run for another 2,000 yard season. And it just, I mean, I respect that season. I respect that mentality. I think that's what's gotten him or what led him to the career he had. But I can't see it working out super well in Detroit. I know he's put up some numbers in Washington recently. But were they really getting a lot better and gaining a lot of expected points and added value when they were handing the ball off to Adrian Peterson? I don't think so.

He's not the most efficient guy for this current league at his current state. So, yeah, it's interesting from the Lions, and it's a big name and things like that. But when they already have, I mean, DeAndre Swift and Kerryon Johnson, and then you've got Stafford with all these different weapons, Marvin Jones and Kenny Galladay and TJ Hawkinson. Like, is handing the ball off to Adrian Peterson going to be the best thing for that team? I'm not sure it is, but we'll see how that works out.

You know he's going to relish the opportunity to, assuming he sticks around in Detroit, play against the Vikings twice. At this point, you're probably looking at Bo Scarborough giving you just as much as Adrian Peterson. It's like really Adrian Peterson in name only. I have two things for you on that. First question is, is he helping or hurting his legacy by playing for the Detroit Lions? The case for helping would be that he might, might, if things go really his way,

be able to pass Barry Sanders for fourth all time. It would have to be a very good season, but it's possible. Hurting is just the Emmitt Smith factor of, or Hakeem Olajuwon, or like, this has happened a lot. Michael Jordan playing for the Wizards. Like, is there something to players hurting their legacies by playing for a bunch of teams at the end of their career after they had a supreme career with one particular team? Yeah, I don't know that there is. I mean, I think if you drag it on too long and it becomes a little sad, then maybe there is.

But for the most part, my opinion is that, I mean, in 10 years, people aren't going to look back and remember that Adrian Peterson played for the Saints in Washington and the Lions and I don't know. Was there another team? Cardinals. The Cardinals. Yeah, there was. So I don't think it'll tarnish his legacy or anything.

I think there was a certain event that probably did that more than any extended trip with other teams could. But you're still going to remember him as the guy who was a beast for the Vikings for a decade. So unless he drags this out too long, I think it'll be fine. As for how effective he can actually be in Detroit, I think that's another question. But he's going to be motivated. We know that. And we'll see how much they actually utilize him on the field. I want to go through some running backs here of a similar era. And you just tell me, is Adrian Peterson better than that running back? So ahead of him in third place is Frank Gore. Is Adrian Peterson better than that running back. So ahead of him in third place is Frank Gore.

Is Adrian Peterson better than Frank Gore? Well, that's an interesting comparison because that is the ultimate, like, longevity guy in Frank Gore who has just been around forever. And I don't think he's ever been – has he ever been a, like, top five running back in the league? I mean, maybe early in a couple of years in San Francisco. But he's the guy where you look at the all-time rushing leaders and you're like, Frank Gore is sixth?

How is that possible? Just because he's played for 18 years. So I think, yeah, in terms of career peak, there's no question. I mean, Peterson won an MVP, and I think for the vast majority of their overlapping careers, Peterson's been better but could Gore age better has he aged better than Peterson maybe I don't know they're they feel like kind of similar players to me at this point it is wild though that uh since 2015 Frank Gore

has only averaged more than four yards to carry one time and people keep employing Frank Gore I think part of it is in terms of your personality, they're pretty opposite. Frank Gore, the ultimate unselfish team guy. And I used to do shows with a teammate of his, Alex Boone, who worshiped Frank Gore, like literally worshiped Frank Gore, talked about how he loved pass blocking and anything for the team. And I'm not sure that Adrian Peterson's always been the same way. So there might be like that kind of edge, but in terms of peak, there's no question. And plus Peterson's went on for a while in terms of him. Now, how about someone like LaDainian Tomlinson? How would you compare those two? That's tough. I mean, I'm pretty young, so I don't even remember. I think the peak LT days

were like right as I was becoming a big NFL fan or maybe slightly before, but he was awesome. He was a touchdown machine, could catch the ball out of the backfield. I, of course, am biased towards Peterson because I grew up watching him every Sunday, but I think I would probably give that to LT slightly. I don't know. Where do you fall on that one? I would definitely give it to Tomlinson because of his all-around ability. I mean, the fact that he could lead the league in touches, he had the longevity standpoint, but also 100 catches in 2003, consistently 50, 60, 70 receptions. I think that's a big deal. And that's the big knock on Adrian Peterson and what's hard to kind of evaluate, like where does he stand in the history of the NFL is just if if you have such a one-dimensional player in an era where

all the other running backs were trending toward being Marshall Falk like the guys who could do everything and LaDainian Tomlinson then where does he stand in in terms of his value and that's where I think it's it's interesting how about Adrian Peterson against Marshawn Lynch? That's an interesting one because when you talk about the LTs of the world and guys who are a little bit ahead of their time almost, and Marshall Fawkes in terms of guys who could really catch the ball out of the backfield before that was even a super necessary skill as a running back, and then you have guys like Marshawn Lynch

and Adrian Peterson who are almost, I don't know, the opposite behind the times. Like they are really just these downhill, hard-hitting running backs that would have thrived in the 70s and 80s, and they look like they're cut out perfectly for that era. But they've managed to, just through sheer physical dominance and also, I mean, both guys had some great acceleration and explosiveness in their peaks, of course, but they've kind of managed to be throwback guys in an era that's super pass heavy

and like the Jamal Charles and Le'Veon Bell type guys and Matt Fortes. I think Peterson and Lynch are an interesting comparison because Marshawn's got the Super Bowl um and AP never did that and we saw in his biggest game in 2009 he had a couple fumbles yep um so I don't know that would that one I think if you're taking a guy at their peak for one game I think you're probably taking Peterson just because I think he had that extra gear uh of breakaway speed and open field that that Marshawn didn't have but you ask people in Seattle they're probably going to say the other field that Marshawn didn't have. But you ask people in Seattle, they're probably going to say Marshawn. So I don't know.

That one probably comes down to personal preference almost. The way that I might look at it is let's say that you are the worst team and your one hope to win a game because you don't have a great quarterback, not that the Vikings would know much about that during Peterson's era, and this is the guy who gives you a chance because he could break two or three 75 yard runs and you end up right in the game or potentially winning because he does that if you were a good team and you were looking for somebody to be your workhorse and somebody to just pound the ever loving hell out of the other team and then do play action off of it with your good

quarterback and so forth like a perfect fit for having Russell Wilson there and just being able to slam into the other team and draw attention put eight men in the box and then play action over them but Peterson the thing that it was always so frustrating with him is just the number of negative runs that would happen and Marshawn Lynch was not that. Like, Marshawn Lynch rarely was caught in the backfield. And so he could continue to drive an offense and not ruin drives like I think Peterson did at times. And then they didn't have the quarterback play to overcome it. Yeah. And I think if you want a guy who's, like you said, a guy who's going to give you five, six yards, maybe break off a couple, like, 15, 20-yard runs and set up play action, things like that.

I think Marston Lynch is your guy. Because with AP, it was always the loss of two and then a one-yard gain, and then he would do that six or seven times in a row, and the next thing you know, he's busting one for 65. So I would agree with your breakdown there. All right. So I want to talk about the Packers and the Vikings here and the most important players in that game. And so I promise we'll get to it, but I've just got a bunch of

things from today. It was a very exciting final Sunday before there's sports. And one of the things is Judeavian Clowney joining the Titans. I am very high on the Titans and I think that they will beat the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium when they come here, even though Ryan Tannehill's last trip to U.S. Bank Stadium went very, very poorly when he was a member of the Miami Dolphins. But I think that this elevates, even for, I was already high on them, but I think it elevates the Tennessee Titans to being just a shade below what we talk about with Kansas City and with the Baltimore Ravens. And I think if you're the Vikings, you look at the way that Clowney has played the two times the Vikings have gone against them, what their biggest problem is in interior offensive line,

where the interior of the O-line has ruined games for them over the last couple of seasons. The last thing you wanted to see was Jadavia and Clowney join a team that you're going to be playing. Yeah, my first thought when I saw that was, okay, Jadavion Clowney's on the Titans. Titans are coming to here in week three. We got to get Dakota Dozier and Pat Elfline the heck out of here

or get them ready or something or it's going to be ugly. I mean, with the way that he's been utilized by various teams throughout his career, moving inside in sub packages and just his strength and size, I I mean I could see him tossing back Pat Elfline like he did to that Michigan player in the Outback Bowl so many years with that viral clip but yeah that was an interesting thing to me where that Saints and Titans kind of fight over Clowney and right and you think right like why wouldn't he go to the Saints because they just have that kind of that aura of Drew Brees

and seemingly being a Super Bowl contender, or at least talked about a Super Bowl contender year in and year out. But then you think about it. Actually, the Titans got farther last year than the Saints. The Titans were in the AFC Championship game. They brought Derrick Henry back. Ryan Tannehill had a great year last year. That defense was already, I think, ahead of where the Saints are defensively.

Now you add Clowney to that, and that's a really, really good-looking front seven. Plus you get the chance to play for Mike Rabel if you're Clowney, which I think had some appeal for sure just with the amount of respect he has around the league defensively. So that's an interesting one. I was high on the Titans too. I mean, I think they have some comparisons to the Vikings in some ways, where you've got like the Tannehill-Kirk Cousins comparisons are super easy to make.

They've got the big name backs. Obviously, Henry and Cook are different stylistically, but then they want to rely on their defense and their defense first head coach. So that's going to be a fascinating matchup in week three. I think I picked the schedule a super long time ago, and I think I had that being like a 14-13 slugfest or something like that. I could see that one being pretty physical and low scoring. So that's going to be fun, but I think Clowney, if the Titans didn't already have not an edge because they're the road team, but they were right there,

and I think Clowney maybe puts them over the top in that one. The over-under maybe 70 runs between the two teams in that football game. Now, here's a question for you. Yannick Ngakwe or Judevion Clowney? You look at the price that Clowney took, it's not that different from what they're going to pay Yannick Ngakwe, and it's a little different, and they would have had to do more fiddling with the salary cap, but let's suppose that that was the choice. Which player would you rather have if you're the Vikings, Ngakwe or Clowney? It's tough, and I was thinking about that earlier when Ngakwe signed and people were saying, hey, why don't you get Clowney instead

and not give up the second-round pick? And my answer to that was I think they made the right move with Ngakwe. I think he's two years younger to start with. Assuming you plan to re-sign him to a long-term deal, and I know that's going to get a little expensive, but I think he's going to be worth it because of what we've already seen from him in four years as a guy who's still 25, and now what he could potentially add to his game with Andre Patterson. If he can become even just a capable run defender, that's not the most important thing and that's not what

you're asking him to do you're asking him to go get to the quarterback and get the ball out and make huge plays and I think that with that cross shot move he has and with his speed and his burst he's going to be a guy who's going to make more game-changing plays than Clowney at this point in their careers I think so I think he's a great complement to Hunter the Vikings got to figure out their the interior of their defensive line a little bit because if you're playing Hunter and Gawkway and then maybe on on later downs you don't even have Shamar Stephan in there whatever the run defense could be ugly but I think going forward when you've got Michael Pierce in there and you hopefully somebody steps up at three tech whether that's

Armand Watts or whoever I think this is going to be a really good defensive I think the Vikings that's a long way of saying I think the Vikings made the right choice by by making the splash to get in Gawkway instead of trying to get Clowney get back to the conversation in just a minute but first you've always counted on restaurants and now they're counting on you and well their dining rooms may be closed they're still open for delivery with DoorDash. DoorDash is the app that brings you the food you're craving right to your door. Ordering is easy. You open the DoorDash app, choose what you want to eat,

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to Clowney if they had, say, paid Clowney, because we're both on the same page, assuming that Ngakwe is going to be here a very long time. So if you were saying sign this guy to a long-term contract versus sign the other guy, the fact that also in the deal for Clowney, they can't franchise tag him. The Vikings can franchise tag Ngakwe. So a small detail there that might be important. I think that Clowney is the far better player, but I like the age factor of Ngakwe, the fact that he maybe hasn't peaked yet, and how he might fit potentially here. But I think when you look at sacks, okay, Ngakwe has more sacks. But when you see the whole picture

of Clowney's pressure rates, Clowney versus the run, how many snaps Clowney takes when he's playing a full season. Last year, he was injured and still played as much as Ngakwe. And the year before, 2018, he played almost 1,000 snaps. I think there's more value in that from Clowney. And the other part of it, too, is Ngakwe has a couple of flash plays a game where you're like, whoa, wow, what a move. Like you said, he gets to the quarterback. He might force a fumble.

I think that Clowney can win games on his own when he really has it going on or has a great matchup. He will just annihilate the other team. I'm thinking of, maybe it was a game against San Francisco last year with Seattle before he kind of got banged up where he had 11 pressures. And the movement, too, is more valuable. You can move him inside, outside, linebacker if you want him to. So I think he's the better player, but maybe the better fit for the situation was Ngakwe. Yeah, I don't hate that argument at all. I mean, I understand it definitely. I think he's the better player, but maybe the better fit for the situation was Ngakwe. Yeah, I don't hate that argument at all.

I mean, I understand it definitely. I think Clowney is a more well-rounded defensive lineman, even an end, obviously. But he's going to do various different things, and he can stop the run, and like you said, he can kind of take over a game. But I think Ngakwe, the thing about him is he – the one thing is, yeah, he's going to maybe make fewer splash plays, but he needs fewer plays to take over a game than Kalani does if he's going to be getting back there and getting the ball out,

forcing fumbles, doing things like that. So as long as you kind of get a few of those per game from him, that makes such a huge difference in just getting the ball back to your offense. And I think that forced fumble potential he has. And I think he's got the potential to be a 13, 14 set guy, even though we haven't seen that yet from him. I think his career high was 12 and a half, and then he's been under double digits.

But he mentioned in that press conference, he's seen Daniil Hunter the past couple years has been double digits. He's trying to get back to that level. So I think that pairing of Hunter and Gakwe and that fit is going to work out very well for Minnesota. Growth potential with an organization that knows what the hell they're doing. And respect to Yannick Ngakwe for holding his tongue, it seemed, in that press conference. Because as much as I would have loved the quotes if he had been completely honest

about what happened in Jacksonville, as some other players have been, I thought that he probably took the right direction in just saying, yeah, hoping for a fresh start here, but Jacksonville, yikes. All right, give me your three most important players, Vikings, Packers, since we are here, Will. My God, we have waited so long for week one. Three most important Minnesota Vikings players to beating the Green Bay Packers. Whom are they?

Well, there are a ton of options that I could pick from. First of all, it is pretty crazy that one week from now, we're recording this on a Sunday evening, one week from now we're going to have a full slate of games, including Vikings-Packers in Minnesota in week one for the first time ever. It doesn't even seem really real yet. No, it doesn't. I think it will hit me midway through this week or something like that. When I'm watching Thursday Night Football with Chiefs-Texans, that will hit me.

But three most important players. No, I'm not going to order this one. I'm just going to give you three names. I think one obvious one is Riley Reif just because of what we saw in those two Packers games last year. And, really, we know the number one thing with Kirk Cousins is if he's going to be under constant pressure, especially from that blind side last year in the Chicago game in Chicago is Khalil Mack and whoever else on that defensive line with the Packers.

That Riley Reif-Zedaria Smith matchup is so important, I think, maybe even more so than the Vikings' past rush against Green Bay's tackles. I think if Riley Reif can have a solid game and kind of prevent Zedaria Smith from having like six or eight pressures or something like that, I think that's going to go a long way in giving Kirk time to have those long developing plays and play action and let Adam Thielen and BC Johnson, Justin Jefferson get open down the field. I think that's a big one. So I'll go Reef as one.

I'm not going to do Kirk Cousins because I just think that's obvious. Let's just say Kirk Cousins is in kind of a category of his own. Yes, of course. He's the most important player for the – you get what I'm saying. That should have been a stipulation. And also what we know about Kirk, he'll be as good as everybody else is. Exactly. If the rest of the team is good, he'll be good.

If they're not, he won't be. If he's throwing off his back foot doing the YOLO plays towards the back of the end zone too many times, the Vikings are going to be in trouble like we saw against Packers last week too. So I'm not going to count him. But I will say Riley Reif for one. I'm going to say Mike Hughes as my second one. Now, I don't know exactly how the matchups are going to work with Devontae Adams if it's going to be somebody moving around. I don't even know off the top of my head who's going to be playing left corner,

right corner, where Adams is going to be lining up. But I'm going to just assume, for the sake of this exercise, that Mike Hughes is going to get some snaps against Devontae Adams. And I think that makes sense. He's probably their top guy right now. I mean, Holton Hill's had a great camp. But Mike Hughes is the first round pick from a couple years ago. He's over his injuries. This is kind of the year where he needs to step up and play some really good football, and it starts in week one with the challenge against one of the best receivers in the league.

So I'll go with Mike Hughes as my second one. And a number of options here for the third one. I would say Daniil Hunter. I mean, kind of is he going to play is the question right now. If he does play, he's always a very important player for the Vikings for the same converse reason why I mentioned Riley Reif, just because pass rush is so important in the modern NFL and getting Aaron Rodgers uncomfortable.

And we've seen Daniil Hunter have some great games against the Packers. And they don't have Brian Belaga anymore. They've got a new right tackle there, Rick Wagner. So if Daniil Hunter is healthy, which we're not going to find out until this injury report comes out, we're probably not going to find out if he's playing until 11.45 central time or 11.30 or whenever the inactives come out. Or maybe even after the inactives come out.

But I'll go with Hunter because it's going to be just fascinating this week to watch whether or not he's able to get out there for week one, whether he returns to practice at all. Will he play if he doesn't practice at all? Like, does he need to have a few practices? I mean, obviously he's the Neil Hunter. He doesn't need to work on anything in particular. But do you want to just throw a guy out there when he hasn't played in full pads

since, I mean, I don't even know when. The one practice he had in camp wasn't a padded practice. Is this going to be the Eddie Yarbrough game is my question. Yeah, really. Are we going to see Eddie Yarbrough or Jalen Holmes or whoever? I guess it would be maybe a lot of a foddy, depending on if they still view him as a – if they ever viewed him as a potential three-down defensive end.

But, yeah, there's other guys that stand out dalvin cook obviously i mean we know you know you're going to get from like the safeties and like eric kendricks and uh i was tempted to go maybe anthony bar because i'm very curious to see what we see from him i'm just giving you an honorable mention section here now but um Jefferson, Irv Smith. But I'll go with... Just name every player. I'll name all the players. But you left out a couple that I'll make a quick case for before we wrap up.

I want to hear who you think is important. But I'll go with Rafe Hughes and Hunter, or the ghost of Daniel Hunter as my three. So Hunter, I thought I was going to be clever picking Hunter. So you're ahead of me on that one. My other two were different, and I've got a little bit of an asterisk near one. One is Dantzler Gladney. That is a person. Dantzler Gladney is a person.

And whoever plays there or plays more, you can guarantee they're going to try and take advantage of them. And even though they don't have great other receivers, they do have human beings who play other receiver positions who have been in the NFL before. So if they decide that they're going to attack the rookies, we saw this last year when Dallas went after Mike Hughes and he didn't have as much experience that it was a big night for the Dallas offense going after one guy over and over and over again. There's the potential for that with the rookies. So how they play matters a lot to me Garrett Bradbury is also on my list for sure I mean him versus Kenny Clark I think is up there

for top matchups of the entire game you could put a W next to Kenny Clark you know how we joked with Zimmer and tackle wins when he brought that up with Rashad Hill's win loss record well Kenny Clark could get a W for the week 16 game from last year, and Delvin Cook is obvious here, but when he was in the lineup in Week 2, they were much different than when he was not in the lineup in Week 16 last year. The Packers dare you to run over them, so if you can do it, you can beat them, and if you can't, it's going to be a lot harder, and there's a bunch of, like you said, there's a bunch of other, everyone's important when it comes to these things. Jair Alexander versus Adam Thiel, there's a bunch of like you said there's a bunch of other everyone's important you know when it comes to these things Jair Alexander versus Adam Thiel and there's a lot

of great matchups but uh those were going to be my three I think that that Dantzler Gladney how they mix those guys in how much they play who they match up against is going to be a big deal because if one corner is not pulling his weight you saw it last year with Rhodes it can unravel pretty quickly. Yeah, absolutely. I like both of those that you mentioned because the thing about Aaron Rodgers is, I mean, we know how talented he is, but he's also super smart. I mean, he's been in the league forever. He knows how to exploit weaknesses. So you can bet if the Vikings have a rookie cornerback playing a lot of snaps, which it seems like is definitely going to happen, whether it's Dantzler or Gladney, he's going to go after that guy,

and he's going to try to give them kind of a welcome to the NFL introduction game in week one. And if it's Dantzler on the outside in three receiver sets, and maybe you've got Mike Hughes in the slot, maybe my Mike Hughes pick isn't as valuable there, and it's going to be a lot of Dantzler and Holton Hill having to face Devontae Adams and I think Devin Funches and whoever else the Packers have out there. Yeah, Funches opted out, actually.

Oh, you're right. He did. He saw that they didn't draft any of the receivers and knew he would have responsibilities. He's like, I'm not doing it. Okay, so it's Alan Lazard and, like, Marcus Valdes-Scantling, I think. Very exciting. Regardless, yeah, the cornerback group as a whole stands out in a big way

because we've been talking about it all offseason. I'm excited to watch those guys, how they do in a tough matchup, specifically whichever rookie is playing a lot, which I think is going to be Dantzler. And I like your Bradbury pick as well. I mean, the entire interior offensive line is such a major question mark right now, but Bradbury's got to be the guy who kind of steps up and leads that group and takes a jump.

And we saw some good moments from him last year, especially later in the season. It would be big to see him kind of take a leap and put up some consistent play throughout the year and not give up as many pressures from guys like Kenny Clark and Grady Jarrett. They don't play the Falcons this year. But those kind of guys who he struggled with last year, if he can just hold his own in those,

that's going to make life easier for Dozier and Elfline, even though I'm not very confident in those guys. But we'll see how that all plays out. I might write whoever made the schedule for this year for the Vikings, dear schedule maker, thank you for this. And not like last year, the Falcons in week one. Or a couple years ago, the Titans in week one. Like, please, give me a game that matters right off the bat.

And they definitely did that. Will Raggetts, make sure you follow him on Twitter. The last name is R-A-G-A-T-Z. So find him there. And that's Sports Illustrated covering the Vikings great stuff man I'm glad we could do this let's do it again soon yeah sounds good thanks for having me on as always

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