Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Cooper Kupp????? Myles Garrett???? Vikings????? Let's talk about it

Episode Date: February 4, 2025

Matthew Coller and Manny Hill talk about Myles Garrett's trade request and whether we can work out any way the Vikings could be in on him. How would they even do that? Plus other headlines and Vikings fan questions about the offseason. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here along with Manny Hill and Manny within the last half an hour, the world has been set on fire with trade rumors. It's not even the Superbowl yet. this the nba with all the things going on today so even with the headline my headline is like outdated by a few hours because we've got new trade news in the nfl and does it involve the vikings could it involve the vikings i don't know but we're going to talk through it along with some other things that have come out of the super bowl today but wow like i was coming into this thinking, you know what? We should have a bunch of different topics and answer questions because I'm not really

sure there's like a main story today. And then boom, Cooper cup goes on to social media and announces that the Rams are going to trade him and he's not happy about it. And also on social media, Miles Garrett demands a trade away from the Cleveland Browns. So why don't we begin with Miles Garrett and then we'll get to Cooper cup. And I follow a lot of different writers, reporters, content creators from all across the league, people that have come on the show throughout the years and everything. Something I noticed about Miles Garrett was every single one of them was talking about their team and the potential options of trading for Miles Garrett. So why don't you begin here with this Manny? Is there a reason for us to have a discussion about the Minnesota Vikings and miles

Garrett or not. I think there's a reason for us to talk about it because it's the idea of it is fascinating because it's like, we already know Brian Flores is really, really good at scheming things up and putting things together, applying pressure on opposing offenses. And the idea of incorporating Miles Garrett into a defense that already has Jonathan Grenard, one of the best pass rushers in the league, Andrew Van Ginkle, one of the best pass rushers and do-it-all players in the league. The idea of adding Myles Garrett to that is really, really juicy and really fascinating.

I don't think it's very likely because of some convoluted things that we're going to get into here in a little bit, but the idea of it is really fascinating. The other reason is, you know, you could see a team like maybe the Detroit Lions might get interested in bringing in Myles Garrett to kind of make him a bookend pass rusher with Aiden Hutchinson, who they're going to get back next year off of the off of a leg injury. And that would be something to watch for from a Vikings perspective, because the Lions are the team that the Vikings are chasing in the NFC North right now. So, um, yeah, this is going to be fascinating to, to, to figure out where exactly he's going to go. And it's nice to kind of fantasize a little bit on what he would look like in purple. Well, it most certainly is just because we have talked so much about, well, the, we haven't really gotten into the draft, but we've talked a lot about the free agency and all right, who are you going to go get? We've all looked at free agent lists. We've started to throw around some of those names, but something that we have not talked about

really is trade options. And Kweisi Adafo Mensah in his press conference, I kind of, my ear perked up a little bit when he was talking about, well, you know, it's either free agents, uh, the draft or however we might acquire players. And I was like, which mean, however, and Kweisi Adafo-Mensa has enjoyed himself a trade for a player from now and then including going out and getting TJ Hawkinson, but also Cam Robinson, Cam Akers, like they have not been afraid to make that happen. And I think that what Kweisi Adafo Mensah believes in is proven versus unproven commodities, if you will, where if you are him, it's a safer bet to get TJ Hockinson than it is to draft someone in the second round. Even if that bet costs you a little bit more, but you know that that guy is a proven

star with miles Garrett. What you know is probably the next five years. He will be a top three defensive player in the NFL. As long as he stays healthy, he has consistently been the most unstoppable player getting to the quarterback in terms of pressures year in and year out in the entire league. And maybe it says something about the value of that, that, uh, you know, it's not going to overcome a quarterback being horrible. So the person who, I don't know, I saw someone was proposing on TV, like the Vikings trading JJ McCarthy for him. That's going to be a no from me, dog. I don't think you're trading your future quarterback for an edge rusher, but to your point, if you were to pair him with someone as talented as Jonathan Grenard,

you would have the best duo to rush the passer from either side since I don't even know where I can't, I can't even think of one that is of that type of magnitude where we're talking about two of the top three edge rushers in the entire NFL, how it would get there is such a difficult question because there will be 31 teams. I mean, can you imagine being the secretary for the Browns today who answers for Andrew Barry? He was like, Oh yeah. Miles Garrett, trade call. Let me put you through. Yeah. All right. Miles Garrett trade call. Let me put you through. And I think there's a few moving parts here.

One is his contract. It is worse for the Browns to trade him on their salary cap for next year than it is for them to keep him. So right away, you're starting with, you've, you can't make it worse if you're the Browns than their current salary cap is already so right away you're paying them to do something there and maybe there's an extend and trade option because he's only got two years left his salary cap hits are pretty low his money that's owed is not that impressive and again he's the best in the league. So if you could convince them to renegotiate his contract or negotiate an extension before they

trade him, okay. Uh, the difficult part about that is that now you're taking on another massive extension. Uh, John Randall and Chris Dolman is a pretty good combination. That's for sure. I mean, throughout history, Carl Eller, Alan page, like there's a lot of them, but as far as just pure edge rushers, I mean, that's, there was one year where Bryce pop had 17 sacks and Bruce Smith had like

12, but there's just not many examples of, of being of that talent. So in order to make it happen, they would have to extend them to lower the dead cap for trading him. And then you would have to give up. lower the dead cap for trading him. And then you would have to give up. I mean, what you're talking about massive return. I would expect. I mean, even if you feel like the Browns are not in the strongest negotiating position, there are so many

other teams that are making this phone call and trying to get them. If you're the Vikings and you have the 24th overall pick, it's just not really an easy deal to try to make. So I think that there's so many other teams that could do it. But from a salary cap perspective, if the Vikings were moving on from Darnold, then that would create enough space to bring on someone like him. And what I did think of Manny, the one thing the Vikings have that no other team is going

to offer the Cleveland Browns is a quarterback that they could potentially trade. Now this becomes even crazier because now you're talking about tagging Darnold, trading him there. Then he has to agree to an extension there. And that place like the Ohio river is on fire. And so why would he do that? Why would he sign an extension with the worst franchise? He's seen that before. So again, there's so many moving parts to make this happen that it feels more far fetched than when we talk about Cooper cup, which I think is actually mildly realistic, but in my brain, my trade Manny

was essentially Sam Darnold for miles Garrett. And I think if you're the Browns, that might sound not the worst to you, but the other part of it is too, that the Browns want someone to take to Sean Watson's cap hit, which again is possible because a team can take it, they can restructure it and they can hide it in their salary cap. If you're like the Patriots or the Raiders who have the most cap space. So if you're the Browns, every call you get, the first question you're asking is, but will you take Deshaun Watson? And for the Vikings, they just can't do that. They just cannot blow up their salary cap situation by taking on Deshaun Watson's contract. So all of this kind of gets in the way

of Miles Garrett moving. Yeah. It just seems like a very, very tall order for as great as he could be ideally in a, in a Brian Flores defense, just the, the, the, I mean, and I got to think Brian Flores would be a guy to just be salivating at the idea of getting, you know, really the, the elite defensive end of, of the NFL for the last decade, basically the last, the last eight seasons he's been in the league. I mean, the guy's on his way to Canton. That's how good he's been. Um, but it just seems like a really tall order to

get all of those dominoes to fall into place to be able to get somebody like that here. As great as it would sound, I just think it would be too many things would have to go right, I think, for both teams in order to make this happen. And when you're

going to have probably that amount of teams lining up to try and get them, I think there's going to be other teams that are going to be able to sort of sweeten the pot a little bit better than the Vikings would. Even though the Vikings have the one thing that nobody else can really offer the Browns, which is a quality starting quarterback. So real quick on Miles Garrett, there are maybe five players in my career as a NFL reporter that I have seen up close and gone. Oh, and Miles Garrett is one of them. When I went to one of the practices in Cleveland, just him taking practice reps in a training camp practice was one. It was like watching Vince Carter dunk in his prime.

It was just like, what is going on? This guy is so huge. Like when we see a Grenard move and it's lightning quick or some of the, you know, Vaughn Miller in his prime, you're like, okay,

but the guy weighs, you know, 245 pounds. Grenard might be a little bigger than that, but this guy weighs like 270 and is as fast as any player. I think you could put him in a running back wide receiver tight end. Like he is so insanely fast. He gave Christian Derrissaw a harder time in practice than Nick Bosa did.

And Nick Bosa is the cream of the crop in the NFL as well. So if there's any way to do it, you have to have an immediate meeting with everybody in the building just to say, how could this happen if it was our team? And if the Vikings could somehow convince them to want Sam Darnold because they've got to try to save their careers in Cleveland.

I mean, are you saving your career with Mac Jones? Are you saving it with Kirk Cousins? Are you saving it with Russell Wilson or even by drafting Cam Ward or Shadur Sanders and hoping that they save you in year one? No. I mean, you could maybe get eight or nine wins out of Sam Darnold with that team

and Kevin Stefanski's running game and their defense. Even without Garrett, they've still got a lot of pieces there. I've actually been more interested in like, would they trade Denzel Ward? Because I feel like Denzel Ward would be a great fit for the Vikings. So I can't see it actually finding a way to make it work. But if the Darnold thing intrigued them at all,

how about both teams sign their guys and then trade them? I don't know. I don't know. I really think that the issue would be that Darnold would not want to sign an extension there because he would be not sure about them. He'd want to see them first. So even if the Vikings signed to the transition tag and traded them, that's still like $35 million.

And if you're the Browns, your whole thing here is trying to get rid of cap space. It's not that you're bringing on another expensive quarterback. That's why they are pretty much the most screwed team in the entire NFL. By the way, before we talk about Cooper cup real quick. So the other night I threw it out there about the transition tag. You probably saw this Manny that Jeremy Fowler said, maybe the Vikings could do it. And I said, what if the Vikings signed Darnold to the transition tag? This is the off season here, folks. And they waited until a team gave him an offer. They matched the offer and then traded him to that team.

And a lot of people in the comments said, well, what about the bonus that that would throw it off? I asked someone in the league, is this possible? Is this allowed? It would be allowed if you made it roster bonuses instead of a signing bonus, or it would be feasible to do. So I just wanted to clear that up because the other night I was saying, I kind of feel like I'm playing 3d chess here, but I don't know if this is actually allowed. So I wanted to give that, uh, that update, uh, Wade says that Denzel Ward is rumored to be on the block. Okay. Well, you've got my attention, Wade. I'm very interested in that. So, um, right. I mean, I think, uh, that would be more interesting to me and more feasible because then you could just do a regular trade. What you would give up, would you give up 24 for Denzel Ward? That's hard. He's 28. That's hard. He's expensive.

That's not old, but that's probably about four years of good play from him left. I probably wouldn't. That's hard. Yeah, that's a tough one. He is really, really good. Yeah, I probably wouldn't give up 24. Yeah, and if they're trying to dump salary, then you're not wanting to really give them first round picks, but I've got to think there would be interest in him too.

Miles asks any remaining concerns about Addison? I know he's great, but we're in the off season and we know how it's gone the last few years would. Yeah. I mean, so I, I don't know what to tell. I mean, I certainly can't say no, that there's no concerns about Addison. So let me throw this out there to you, Manny. How about this? Jordan Addison to the Los Angeles Rams for Cooper Cup and the Rams first round pick. Would you do it?

Yes. Yes, I would. Let me think about it. So the thing about cooper cup's contract is that a lot of people are concerned that you would take on 20 million dollars in cap space but you can renegotiate and it sounds like cooper cup is going to have the kind of option with the team to work together to find a spot so they're not going to send them to the Raiders. But if you're the Rams, well, I was going to say, if you're the Rams, do you want the Vikings to have Cooper cup?

But if you're the Vikings, do you want the Rams to have Jordan Addison? I mean, but like you're sort of winning and losing there and a first round draft pick the bills and chiefs have traded a couple of times. So see the first round pick is what is why i would say yes if i'm getting cooper cup and the first round pick for jordan addison i would do it just because the first round pick i think adds a lot because now because now you're getting now you got to what where are the rams picking at 20 a little later than the Vikings slightly later. Yeah. For reasons we don't have to talk about.

Um, yeah, yeah. They're they're later. I don't know if it's 20, 27, 28. So it's a late first round pick, but you would be talking about Addison and maybe a defensive tackle, maybe a corner and Cooper cup comes your way. My concern about Cooper cup is that he's 31. There's not that many years left, but you are talking about a secondary type of receiver here for Justin Jefferson. And if they reworked his contract and made it so that maybe some of the stuff is incentive based for him staying on the field, then you've

got something interesting here. I mean, I think Addison is a really good player, but he isn't like this unbelievable. This is not Randy Moss and Chris Carter. This is Randy Moss. And who do I want to say? Like Nate Burleson? Like it's a, it's a good, really good receiver. But I mean, the reason the Rams want to move on from cup is similar. Well, is would be in the same vein as what the Browns are doing, which is they have to get cap space.

Remember that whole, like going full Rams, like they went full Rams, which means that there are issues that they have to deal with that. If they just restructure cup themselves, they're still dealing with $20 million of cap space that they can't really move or do anything with. So that's why you're trading him. And Puka Nakua has taken over as wide receiver one, the Vikings have cap space, but also they want to partner for Puka Nakua.

And that would be my thinking about Addison. The other part is that as good as Addison is, there is the concern about off the field stuff, which would make him a little more tradable and the likelihood that he has a three game suspension for next year. The other part of this too, is I probably wouldn't really be that into it, but think about the Vikings coaching staff. I mean, Kevin O'Connell coached this guy in a Super Bowl and Wes Phillips coached this guy in a Super Bowl and they still talk about him. Like they love him that much. So it makes it intriguing. I feel like we're edging into NBA territory where we just throw trades

at each other, but, but them wanting to get rid of, this is why they would have to throw their first round pick in because them wanting to get rid of that salary makes them desperate kind of in the same way that it did with Brock Osweiler once upon a time where the Texas traded Osweiler. And I think they threw in a second round draft pick just to get them off their books. This is what the Rams are doing. They're not getting big offers here. They're not, it's not the miles Garrett situation. This is quite different action. Well, Cooper Cooper cup is what 31. I think, does he turn, do you think he turns 32 this year, right? So you maybe have to wonder, you know, he's coming off a season in which he was injured a little bit,

dealt with some injuries. You kind of wonder like how much does he really have in the tank? Is he already kind of on the other side of his prime, which was, you know, maybe a couple of years ago? He's still obviously very good when he's healthy, but you do kind of have to wonder like, all right, you've got the money, you've got the money in the contract. How much does he really have left in the tank? How much can you really get out of him over the next couple of seasons? I got to think still he can still be very productive for you,

but I think you just wonder like how much left in the tank he actually has at that age. Because some guys just start to sort of tail off at that early 30s age mark of their careers. That's completely right. And that would be the concern that I would have is it's really about the injuries. And we saw this from Adam Thielen,

where Adam Thielen was still playing at a pretty high level. But every year he would end up, you know, getting some sort of injury. Even he did that in Carolina, pulls a hamstring. He misses a handful of games. When he comes back, Bryce Young starts to play better because Thielen's still a good receiver and he can catch anything out there. But once you get to that point in the early thirties and cup has had a lot of injuries recently, I don't think he has quite the burst and the quick Twitch that he used to have as far as getting open. But one thing that he would help in that I noticed the Vikings are really bad at, and this is not apply for Jefferson necessarily,

but their receivers are not blockers and they kind of have a run game where you need your receivers to block. And Jordan Addison, I think he tries, but he weighs 170 pounds and you're just not taking on safeties and linebackers and stuff with him. So every time they wanted to run the football, they would have to have Oliver in there. They would have to have Trent Shurfield in there. If they wanted the receivers to get involved, which was a tell,

I was talking to one of my friends who is a football coach and he studies X's and O's. And I said, can you please watch the Rams game for me? Cause this is what, this is what the reporter in me always make sure that I do is I don't trust my own knowledge on anything. I go ask other people. So by the time you've heard me say it out of my mouth, I've asked a bunch of other people

about stuff. And so I asked my friend, can you like, he's really, really sharp. Can you go watch that Rams game and just tell me what happened? And he said, one of the things that he's noticed through watching the Vikings is how predictable the run game is. Look at the formations, look at the personnel. He knows when they're running. If he knows it, then the Rams know it and every other team knows it.

And just to throw it out there, uh, the Vikings have the fewest number of 20 plus yard runs in the NFL since KOC got here. The fewest 20 plus yard runs in the NFL since KOC got here. The fewest 20 plus yard runs. I mean, that's something that I think does tie into the receiver blocking too, is that they just need to be more dynamic there. That's getting extra blocks downfield. That's having an explosive running back. So it made me think about Cooper cup. And here's the other thing too, the quick game, the underneath stuff, the little in and outs, the little slot routes that somebody wins off the line of scrimmage instantly. And what is Jordan Addison's weakness?

It's getting stuffed at the line of scrimmage and it's, it's, you know, breaking tackles yards after catch, just not things that he does particularly well. So I don't love, love, love this idea because it means giving up a cheap young wide receiver. But if it came with a first round draft pick, then I could very much made this make this work. Also, do you think Matthew Stafford's playing next year? This has to factor in for them too, right? Is he playing?

Do they want Darnold? Like, what's going on? Well, yeah, right? I mean, because Stafford's 36. I think he turns 37 this year. So he's going to be 37 when the season starts. How much, I mean, there was talk that he might retire after the 2022 season, I think, when he had the big injury.

And so, you know, and he came back, played really well in 2023, you know, got them to the playoffs again, and he kind of did the same thing this season too. But you got to wonder, like, that's a guy too, like even going back to his Detroit days, like he got beat up a lot. That man's body is beat up, and it's remarkable that he's been able to still play at a pretty high level even the last couple of years. Um, yeah, you just kind of wonder like

how much, how much more does he have left? How much more does he really want to play? And then yeah, to your point, maybe, maybe the Rams might be interested in Sam Darnold if Stafford moves on. Clifford wants, Clifford has gone down a road here with this, wants a tag and trade of Darnold if Stafford moves on Clifford wants Clifford has gone down a road here with this wants a tag and trade of Darnold and Addison and with a first round pick swap with the Raiders and a second round pick uh you're winning the heck out of that trade Clifford a first round swap with the Raiders aren't they picking like third or something i think they're like fifth or sixth okay yeah i don't think they're doing that uh but maybe the second round pick part of it would be so well i don't know i mean if you're giving them darnold and addison so here's a question because i i don't like we're in the

mode of if you want to throw a fake trade proposal in the comments like tonight's your night in fact there's a lot of nights that probably will be, but especially since we're jacked up about traits, like feel free. That's interesting. I don't think the Raiders would give away that top draft pick because it's got to be foundational, but you have to consider that their coach is 1000 years old and he can't be sitting around. Right? I mean, if you're the Raiders, that's why would you trade? If you're the Raiders, would you give Cleveland your pick for Garrett? I would if I'm them because what am I waiting for? Pete Carroll does not have time to draft and develop players.

He's going to be coaching for two to three more years at absolute best. He's got to be wanting Miles Garrett. And that's the issue with the Vikings trying to get him is that there's just other teams that have better offers for miles Garrett. If they're going to actually do that. But let me ask you a bigger picture question about this, Manny, would you prefer, and let's just assume that they're going to go to McCarthy here and maybe they could trade Darnold for a second round, third round draft pick. Let's just make that assumption that that's not like a wild thing to do. Would you prefer that the Vikings try to do stuff like we've just said, like they try to make every phone call, try to make trades,

whatever else, or stay the course, just go with what you have and kind of slowly build on that, go into free agency. Or do you want Kweisi Adafo Mensah to start going Mark McGuire and try to go out there and completely revamp what they have here? I think it, I like the idea of some of the stuff we've talked about. I do really like the Cooper Cup idea. If it's Addison for Cup and the first round pick, the first round pick being thrown in there, that's the sweetener for me. That's the difference maker for me on whether or not I do that.

I wouldn't do Addison for Cup straight up just because of the financial aspect of it and Cup kind of being towards the end of his career maybe and Addison still being a young prospect. But, oh, boy. Because the Vikings are in a very interesting spot, right? I mean, theoretically, they're going to transition to this young quarterback that they're going to try and build around but this is also a team that has a lot of veterans especially on the defensive side and these are guys that like i would imagine are in the mode of especially coming off a 14 win season are in the mode of hey we just won 14 games made

the playoffs we bowed out earlier than we thought we were going to. We need to keep the pedal to the metal here and try to continue to push towards making a run to the Super Bowl. But at the same time, you've got this young quarterback, and that's not we just don't see that that often for just a young quarterback to step in at 22 years old, which is what McCarthy will be, and just lead a team to a Super Bowl like that. You kind of conflicted on sort of the two different timelines that you're on right now.

I would probably, considering the amount of veteran players that are on this team, I would probably consider making trades and trying to continue to bolster this roster to go on a deep run now. But I think the question is, is just, do they have enough draft capital to really do a lot of the things that we're talking about? I like the way your wheels were turning there because there is a great argument for staying the course, which the course is going into free agency and getting guards. Like I know, I know I saw, I saw in the comments, we got to get guard. Okay. No, look, no one on this show will ever forget that you need to get

guards. Okay. That's part of the process. Uh, but, uh, I mean, we're talking a lot about more bold things than just going into free agency and revamping a couple of positions that we know that they need. So there's this two options where you can make every phone call and kind of go buck wild. And we see NBA teams go through this all the time where you can sort of stay the course and develop some of your players or Kevin Durant shows up. And a lot of teams will take the Kevin Durant shows up option, which sort of feels like the Miles Garrett. And I generally agree that the Vikings don't have the force to go get him unless they're interested in Darnold and you can make that work.

But that's the sort of move that you're trying to get one player who just shifts where you're at as a team. And in the comments, Wade saying that, you know, their schedule is harder in 2025. The road is going to be hard in the NFC with Washington and the NFC North. And I think Ben Johnson is putting together a good coaching staff in Chicago. Like finally,

they look like they're doing some things, right? That's not what you want to see as the Vikings. And there is this case for, all right, you were really good, but it was also a year you played the AFC South. And how are you going to build on that and take it to another level where you can actually win in the playoffs? And that might take something bold.

Now I did ask for potential trades in the comments. So whatever comes from that, I'm just going to throw out there. Uh, so Bradley wants miles Garrett and a second rounder for Van Ginkle and Hawkinson. I, I don't think Madden would let you get away with that one, uh, Bradley. I don't think so. Well, they're also looking to gain cap space in Cleveland. So you, you can't give them expensive players unless it's a quarterback. So that's a difficult, uh, Matt says not convinced that teams would give up a first for Addison. No, I'm not either. The point is that Cooper cups contract is so bad that the Rams have to add in that draft

pick to make it actually work. So that would be the thing. Micah Parsons getting traded this off season. I can't see it. I think Jerry Jones will just wait until the first game of the season and then extend him like he always does. We should trade for Luca Donchic on the offensive line. Yes. Okay. All right. All right. We're jumping the shark here. So you kind of, but you kind of have this, this split in the woods here where one direction is McCarthy comes in, you draft a first round corner, you sign a defensive tackle, you sign two offensive guards and you roll the ball out and say, look, we've got a lot to work with here. And next year we'll have a full bevy

of draft picks for the first time ever and cap space along the way and pillars to work around. I don't dislike that idea, staying the course and then slowly adding these other pieces to replace some of the weaknesses that seems smart, but then something trots by that really catches your eye and you're like, Oh, Oh, maybe, maybe I do want to go all in. And I feel like Kweisi Adafo Mensah has been the type of GM so far to see the TJ Hawkinson thing come up and go, oh, maybe I do. Or a Dallas Turner drops in the draft and he says, oh, maybe I do. Is there anybody on the roster, Manny? Because he mentioned Hawkinson, Van Ginkle. Is there anybody on the roster that you think could be traded for the Vikings?

And I'll throw out there. Think about that for a second. I'll throw this one out there from KPFAU. Don't know how to say that. Sorry. Uh, Dallas Turner in a first round pick for Garrett. I mean, it's probably Luca Garza from, sorry, I didn't mean to put that on the screen, but that's funny though. The NBA trades, uh, Turner is an interesting part of this. If Turner had had like eight sacks or something, then you could probably convince them, but you have to reach the level of getting the team with the best defensive player in the league to say, sure, you're the team we want to give them to. Now, maybe if it's Dallas Turner and Sam Darnold and Darnold's already worked out a contract,

but that seems like a lot of steps to take. I can't, I can't figure out a combination that makes Cleveland go. Yeah, that actually works for us except for Darnold on a three-year deal with a cheap cap hit in his first and second season. That really is the only way I could figure that out. Yeah, and I feel like the first-round pick would have to be higher to really intrigue Cleveland. I mean, 24 is not a bad pick. Obviously, it's still a first-round pick. But if that's like a top-seven-ish pick, I think the Browns would be much more interested.

Even just like the idea of Dallas Turner kind of being sort of the possible replacement for Miles Garrett and then you've got like a top six or seven-ish type of pick to be able to get to add another talented player too I think that would might intrigue Cleveland but not not with just the pick being 24. Clifford's not wrong when he says that Addison has his best value right now and the Vikings won't be extending him. Well, we don't know that they won't be extending him. I mean,

think about when he's had these problems and I don't want to do the, remember when you were 21, but like, remember when you were 21 and then add like $20 million, it wouldn't be the first guy to have bad decisions. And that's not to excuse them. And trust me, like the, I was as angry as

anybody and I never get angry at the team because it's not my job, but just from a human perspective, when the Kyrie Jackson accident happens and then days later, Jordan Addison does that just from a, we need to care about each other as humans and have some awareness here. I was very upset. Like something like that goes beyond transcends draft picks and trades and statistics and football and stuff. So, but if they feel like those are isolated things that happened and he's moved on and he's grown up, then they still could extend him eventually. But to your point, if they don't trust him and they think every single off season, it's a ticking time bomb, then you're right.

His best value is now when those things are kind of in the rear view mirror and he's just had a really good season and he's shown to be a dynamic downfield receiver. The other thing is too, Vikings fans never realize how desperate other teams are for receivers. Cause this franchise is just always has them. So, so wonderful. Hollywood Brown got a first round draft pick from Arizona. Like there there's teams that are so desperate for wide receiver talent.

Nick says the most sensible and realistic path. This off season is probably the most boring. Darnold walks trade down from 24 sign free agents in the trenches. Yeah. The only thing I'd change there is trading Darnold on the franchise tag, but you know, that's, that's probably right though. So what, what about Van Ginkle? I mean, I see people Van Ginkle and Hawkinson.

I see people bring up their names a lot, which makes me think that they just kind of want trades because I can't justify those. You're planning on winning. You don't want to take Van Ginkle, who's on a reasonable cap number. I'm thinking extending Van Ginkle. I'm not thinking getting rid of a second team all pro who just had double digit sacks he's 30 but he's not 34 so i'm more in the mode of keeping both of those guys and i'd like to see hawkinson and jj mccarthy wouldn't you yeah because i mean i think with the way hawkinson plays and what you're able to do with him that we kind of talked about this the other night like feels like hawkinson could be a nice sort of that prototypical safety blanket type of guy that McCarthy can really rely on especially early in the process of developing him um he's just a big target catches everything finds ways to get open I think that's a valuable piece for a young quarterback for sure uh hold on let's see Hunter says garrett to washington that seems like a likely spot that

was my first thought as well first team i thought of yeah that'd be pretty bad but they're gonna want if they trade him they're gonna want to send him to the nfc they're not going to want to put him because i see all my friends in buffalo on social media how do we get miles get why would they give you to why would they give an afc team miles care? And then, Oh yeah, good luck. We're going to play you every once in a while. You don't want that. And if they plan on making the playoffs, you don't want that. So I think NFC and that's where the terror should really set in for Vikings fans about miles Garrett potentially being available because the lions actually have a shocking amount of cap space, a stunning amount of cap space. They also have players that they could trade for miles Garrett. They could do three players.

They could give up like Sam Laporta, Jack Campbell, and some other guy and get miles Garrett and not have it be a problem for them. Like they would still be really strong. So that's a concern. Washington is a concern. They've got a ton of cap space, the best young quarterback coming up in the league. I mean,

this is where we're talking about the, the NFC by one player showing up here and a one coach who might not be a, a joke in Chicago. like really, and Atlanta getting a quarterback that might be better. Like they NFC, this was the year where the NFC was still kind of a laughing stock. It might quickly not be a by next year. You think green Bay would do it? Green Bay like never does stuff like this. That that's because it, because yeah, I mean, you're right. Like this that that's because it because yeah i mean you're right like that's why i was that's why i was kind of asking the question because they never do stuff

like this but it would kind of make some sense for them to do it it would make a lot of sense for them to do it i mean if they were to trade and here's the the trades that i saw thrown out there because of course i follow those guys got to keep an eye on the pack. Uh, they were thrown out like two firsts and Lucas Van Ness, who's kind of a bust for them, but maybe you might have potential. And if you're Cleveland, you're trading for anybody with potential to, for, I mean, that's a, that's a pretty good offer. If they were trading multiple firsts and a recent first round draft pick. That's like two and a half firsts. Chicago's got cap space to be able to do it. If you're green Bay, I don't know if you notice they're the youngest team in the league. As we hear every quarter of every game that they play, but even with a Jordan

love contract, they've got room because they haven't extended all these other players yet that they drafted and built the roster with. I think Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago, Washington, all these teams are in play if Miles Garrett actually gets moved. And I think the domino that we can't really predict is for Cleveland to do it. Do they need someone to take Watson? Cause if that's the case, there's less teams. Now Washington probably could, but there's less teams that actually could. Wade mentions Brian O'Neill. I just don't think that you're trading a tackle.

Who's good. You just, you pay them. You keep them. Once again, we forget that Mike Remmers was over there. Just get crushed. Like you just don't,

you don't want that. Uh, Daniel wants more guard talk in time, Daniel in time. We've got rumors tonight. Well, I need to, I need to do the, the live show where it's literally just every guard option for the Vikings and, uh, see how that does Darnold and Addison for Garrett and a fourth. I don't think it's enough. I think they're going to want picks because they have to get their cap situation corrected. Reggie White 2.0. Yeah, it would kind of be right. Washington really seems like they're the place. It was the first team I thought of when I saw him put out the letter to saying that he wanted to

trade out immediately, I thought commanders makes a ton of sense. I thought the same thing. And, uh, yeah, Matt points out that O'Neill can be restructured, so it's going to be okay. Uh, in terms of him and he is on the older side, but offensive tackles, they go until they're 33 to 35, as long as they don't have super severe injuries. So I want you guys to continue to think about trade options. I want to talk about Hawkinson a little bit more because I just don't with Van Ginkle. He's not expensive. He's coming off such a great season. You're not sure Dallas Turner can play yet. I don't really, that's a, that's a, I, I love lamp situation. Like I'll trade. Let me look at the roster van Ginkle. Like, I don't think that makes a whole lot of sense other than just the age and possible regression. But with TJ Hawkinson,

I do have some questions at least about the fit going forward. If he's going to perform the way he did before, but continue to think about trades because the show has sponsors and I need to tell you about them. One of them is underdog fantasy and my friends, what a week to be an underdog fantasy. What do you call them? Believer subscriber, enjoyer, whatever it might be this is your week because there is the big game coming up on sunday and it is a no sweat sunday for underdog fantasy which means that all customers and users they call them users how about that uh believers i think is better uh it means that everyone will either cash in on their big game entry or get their money back in terms of bonus credit.

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insider to get 60% off your first box tempo meals, 60% off purple insider is the code there. So tempo meals.com slash purple insider. There you go. Okay. So let's circle back to Hawkinson because I feel like we said two sentences and then got caught up on people saying Luca Donchic for Darnold. Um, so I think with TJ Hawkinson, that he was a perfect fit for Kirk cousins because cousins was going to look at the first read. And if it's there, he was going to look at the first read. And if it's there, he was going to go with it.

And that sometimes was deep balls. But a lot of times, if it wasn't there, it didn't present itself right away. He was going to check down to TJ Hawkinson and we can all make our fourth and eight jokes, but it was really quite a relationship that they built because Hawkinson is a very detailed player,

really high football IQ. Kirk Cousins wants things done a certain way, and it would have to depend on what somebody else would want from Hawkinson. But after watching back, there was some concerns that I have about him as a complete tight end. And this is, I think he's a great player, but he is not a blocker. And I was talking about the run game earlier and what you have in non offensive linemen for blockers is you have a fullback that they've never really figured out how to use in the run game. Since Gary Kubiak was here. You have a backup tight end. Who's a great blocker, but every time he's on the field, you're running in Josh Oliver. And then you have one of the not so great blockers at tight end and two of the worst blockers as far

as receivers and Jefferson, who I would just prefer go stand over there on the run plays. And there's some plays where Jefferson's blocking his butt off. And I'm like, let's not and say we did. And so I do think there's a little bit of the kind of fit to this if they really want to commit to having a run game. But I just can't. I just can't move Hawkinson when I feel like he's such a great safety blanket for a young quarterback. Yeah, that's, yeah, that's really tough. And, and TJ still at an age where he's still young enough. I think he's 27. He's going to

turn 28 this year. So he's still at a pretty good age where he's probably just entering into his prime at this point. But if you're trying to really bolster the running game, is there sort of a sacrifice that you have to make? and maybe you do end up moving on from him some way or you trade him away for something. And I don't know if Josh Oliver can be a TE1, but he's a very good blocker. He will catch the ball if you throw it to him. But yeah, I do kind of wonder, does there need to be maybe a little bit of a sacrifice in the passing game to sort of help bolster a running game that really that really needs help.

But then there's the tradeoff of what are you doing for the development of your young quarterback by taking away a valuable safety blanket in the passing game. But then on the flip side, flip side, if you bolster your running game by making, taking a little bit away from your passing game, it might actually in a roundabout way, help your young quarterback because he's got that running game. That's a little bit more effective. That's kind of why I wanted to talk about it more because I think, well, it's hard. So they played the first, how many games? And I know they lost to Detroit and they lost to the Rams. And so they went, and I don't want to do tight end wins. Cause like, it doesn't, that doesn't make any sense. But if you look at Darnold's passing game through the first, maybe seven games of the season, I think Hawkinson came back for the

Jacksonville game. I'm not blaming him for the Jacksonville game and the underneath passing was better as the season went along when he had Hawkinson. He is much more Darnold is much more a down the field type of guy. So, and, uh, who, uh, I'm sorry, someone mentioned this, uh, Matt mentioned that Hockinson excels in the kind of 10 to 25 yard range. And that's very much true. And, you know, he makes a point here that, uh, they have a lot of weapons that sort of attack that part of the field. And I agree with that, but I wonder how much of that is just because Sam Darnold is your quarterback and he's not really going to be checking down all that often as he proved repeatedly throughout the season that he was going to go for broke down the field.

And how much of that is just the way that he plays football. But if you were able to get some money off the books, get something in return and put Oliver into that position, I didn't feel like you lost as much as I thought you would with Oliver in there and not Hawkinson. And I know that, you know, Munt was in there too, and he had a handful of decent plays, but it's more of Josh Oliver. Can he take on the bigger role? I think I'm not in favor of taking anything away from the weapons overall, but it's worth thinking about when you start to compare the

price and what he brings in terms of, you know, is he getting huge yards after catch? That was a thing when they got them that was sort of touted and I haven't really seen it. Uh, contested catches, his numbers are pretty good on contested catches, which is nice to have more explosive plays down the field than most tight ends. But is it really truly game changing over a tight end? That's only making like six or $7 million. That is a little harder to say now. Now we're deep into it with Nick asking, what if the Titans offered number one for McCarthy? The idea of him learning from KOC for a year could be appealing. That's I couldn't do that.

I couldn't trade away the future franchise quarterback for anything really. Right. I mean, that's even the trade that got thrown out there on ESPN with, well, what if they gave up McCarthy for miles Garrett and like you're giving up a 22 year old quarterback who you love for a pass rusher. I don't think you can really do that. If you, if you do, then you better open up the wallet and

make sure that you keep Sam Darnold here. Right? Yeah. Right. Well, that's the problem is that you would have to get miles Garrett, pay him and pay Darnold and Darnold would know you have to pay him. So then it's like, it's not transition tag money, buddy. It's more like Jordan love money at that point. So yeah, I don't, I don't really think that, uh, trading JJ McCarthy, I've always thought that was a pretty bad idea. Hot take. I've thought that was a bad idea. I had a few other things on the list that I wanted to talk to you about tonight before this broke with Cooper Cup, which just to circle back, I'm not against it. I think that the main priority is and of intrigue and possibility and trying to work our way through it. So we're, I'm more on the side of staying the course than going crazy.

But if the opportunity should arise to get more draft capital, to get a receiver who can make plays, then, then I'm interested. But before we wrap up for the evening, because I feel like it's been a very energetic conversation, Manny, I did want to ask you about something that a listener sent me a note on, which was the other night we picked the Vikings schedule. I made up a schedule with the real opponents, and we picked it as if J.J. McCarthy was the quarterback. And his question was, how many wins would you have given them if Sam Darnold is the quarterback. And his question was, well, how many wins would you have given them?

If Sam Darnold is the quarterback, because it's not off the table yet in terms of Sam Darnold. So what do you think? Honestly, I think it'd probably be about the same because I think, you know, I mean, and Sam had a great year. They won 14 games. But like you have said many times, they're not playing the AFC South in 2025. So the schedule is just going to be harder.

They're playing the AFC North, playing Lamar Jackson. They're playing Joe Burrow. They're playing, you know, they're going to have to account for TJ Watt in the pass protection game when they play the pittsburgh steelers regardless of who the steelers have at quarterback might be sam darnold who knows um so the schedule is just gonna be tougher either way um so i i think even if you were to bring back sam darnold and play him through this schedule, I just feel like a 10-7 type of season is still pretty likely. I tend to think what we saw overall from Sam Darnold is closer to what he's going to be over the next few years versus the unfortunate crap that we saw him go through in New York with the Jets and Adam Gase and all that.

But I think there is some possible room for maybe a little bit of regression from him, just because teams are going to have a full year of tape to watch on him playing in the KOC system. People are seeing what happened in the last two games, and we're probably going to see a lot more teams start to do some of the things that the Rams and the Lions were able to do in the last two games of the season. So I think there is a lot of room for some regression from Darnold. But I still think Sam's going to play well enough to give you a chance to be a playoff team and compete. So I think if they brought him back, it would be very similar to what we predicted with McCarthy, like a 10 and seven type of year. And the difference is that if you're projecting McCarthy, you're doing it based on training camp and preseason and that's it. Whereas you're doing your projection based on

an entire season of very good football from Sam Darnold, an occasional rollercoaster, but overall a really good season. And so if you're project, it would be like a confidence type of thing. So you would project 10 wins for either one, but your confidence in the Sam Darnold one is much higher than it is in JJ McCarthy, because you're projecting a good version of JJ McCarthy that has a few rookie moments, but it could be an incredible season from JJ McCarthy that looks like Jaden Daniels. And he's just way better than Darnold, or it could be way worse because we just have no idea what the guy is going to look like when he plays real NFL football.

And the other part of it too, is we know that Sam Darnold has been through the attrition of the NFL 17 games. And he's done that in his career. He had some injuries in New York and Carolina, but for the most part, like this guy's proven he could go through a full NFL season. We don't know that about JJ McCarthy body wise yet and what he's going to be able to

deal with. So that's how I would look at it. I agree. I thought the same thing when Patrick sent the note. I thought the same thing. I was like, I think I would have it very similar. Maybe one win difference over Darnold. It's just, I would believe in that projection a lot more.

Let's get in a few more comments here. You know, I opened the floodgates with a trade suggestion. So Randall wants a tag and trade of Trey Smith for Addison, young cheap receiver for a guy they're likely to lose in free agency. Are they likely to lose them in free agency? This is one thing about free agency, man. He is. Everybody talks about it as if like, oh, Trey Smith's just a free agent, but this trip, if like they're in the Superbowl, does Trey Smith want to leave Patrick Mahomes? And we don't know that. And so they're going to

go to the combine and they're going to offer him a contract. They want Trey Smith to be back. And I'm also not super sold on the Trey Smith idea because when a guy plays for a team that has Mahomes and goes to the Superbowl, and I'm not saying he's not good. I know he's good, but is he $10 million worth of good over the next guy that plays for the Colts or something like that guy for the Colts is probably close to good, but he guy that plays for the Colts or something like that guy for the Colts is probably close to good, but he doesn't play for the chiefs. There's like a Super bowl chiefs bonus that you have to pay on top. If he leaves, I haven't really loved that idea because of it. Yeah. I mean, and admittedly I'm a little biased with Trey Smith because he played at Tennessee.

But but yeah, I mean, I think you bring up a great point of like. He's good. He would absolutely be an upgrade over what you've, what you're actually going to get out of him? Because he is very good, but like, how good is he? And also to your earlier point, like, are we sure he's even going to want to leave Kansas city? They might just pay him. I mean, they're in the Superbowl for the third year in a row for the third time in his career in his fourth year in the league in the last three years he's playing in the super bowl so like if i'm him why would i want to leave that i want i might want to stay

in kansas city and keep winning as long as number 15 as long as i'm going to be blocking for number 15 give me my money and i'll keep playing here. Why not? Right. And for them, they have let certain players go at like Tyree kill for a pretty big return, but they have also kept their guys. And the contract that my home signed was extremely reasonable for them to keep their guys. Chris Jones is the best example of that. He's still a superstar there. And I think with someone like Trey Smith, they've got to consider that the guard position when you're playing for the chiefs is pretty important. They've invested a ton on the interior of that line. They still have to improve their tackles somehow. They've

got Joe Tooney out there playing tackle, uh, which could hurt them in this Super bowl, by the way, but I don't think they want to get worse on the line. So that's where, and I've just thought when you compare on paper by PFF grades, things like that. And it's harder when you play for the chiefs because your quarterback scrambles a ton. So you give up pressures, but at least by the grades, there's a lot of guys who are similarly graded to Smith that I think they have to consider and not get stars in their eyes because he is playing in the Superbowl and has had so much success. Wade says,

we can't expect McCarthy to outdo Darnold in the regular season. We can't expect him to not melt down in the playoffs because he's wired differently. Yeah. Are we sure? History just is not on your side on that take. I mean, there's just so many. You just have no idea.

Yeah, you have no idea. I mean, I know JJ played in the national championship, but I also watched him throw two pick sixes in a college football playoff game against TCU like three years ago. I like that. How do we know how he's going to handle these big moments? We just don't know. I like that people have invented a McCarthy that they already know.

This is kind of fun. It's like I hope that my reporting in this offseason about how he looks will matter because there is an invention of a J.J. McCarthy that is much smarter, much more clutch gets rid of the football every time. And look, what I saw in training camp was a guy who was really coming along in those areas. And I saw a quarterback who sees the field really well.

And I don't think that's always been Darnold's thing. And it's one of the reasons he hangs out of the ball too long. If JJ McCarthy faced pressure on 51% of his dropbacks, he's losing the football game. If he faced a unblocked cornerback blitz twice in two of their biggest situations, he's getting sacked. Like they have other issues that they have to resolve to help JJ McCarthy. Uh, I mean, I, I appreciate the sort of imagination land McCarthy that you've made, but we really don't know what it's going to look like. And I was thinking about this and maybe writing about it with McCarthy. Oh, in the mailbag the other day, purple insider.football sign up

every week mailbag. It never stops 52 times a year, unless they play on Thursday night football and draft night. So 50 times a year, any, anyway, uh, where I use the example of all these different quarterbacks throughout history, whose first playoff games went terribly. I mean, Joe Flacco didn't have a great playoff career early on. Matthew Stafford did not. Eli Manning did not. There's a lot of quarterbacks who've gone through that. Now, no one wants anybody to defend Sam Darnold. They would rather drink acid than defend Sam Darnold at this point. So I get it. But my point was not even about Darnold so much as about McCarthy, where we just don't really know CJ Stroud looks tremendous in his first playoff game. And you think, well, this guy is just going to Super Bowls. And then he looks bad in his last two.

Like these are one game samples of things that we can't really. Well, he might be wired differently than Darnold, but that doesn't guarantee really anything. I mean, I think what will help you with the odds is building a stronger football team. Your best argument is if you have a stronger offensive line and you have a stronger football team, then you've got a better chance for him not to have those issues of getting sacked the way that Sam Darnold was so many times. Cause I only thought a couple of the sacks in that game were really on

Darnold. And the reason his held the ball numbers were bad was because he was trying to scramble and escape and make plays like he did all year. The pressure got there quick. Let's answer a couple more, Manny. If you got time, you busy doing anything? No, let's do it. Speculating about trades. That seems like a thing to do on a Monday evening. Miles says, how are we feeling about Naylor? Is he consistent enough? I feel like we're still lacking in the slot. So that's a, that's the thing miles about why Cooper cup is interesting to me because they don't have a true slot. They've got outside receivers and we propose the trade that was fake and made up. So they don't have to give up Addison.

Like it might be different, but Naylor is a pure deep wide receiver. That's what he does. His underneath stuff is just not really even there. And that's the thing that I think that they really need, whether it's Cooper cup or someone in free agency is a, is a quick Twitch type of like, get off the line of scrimmage, fight through some contact, catch a pass, come inside and block. The things that Cooper Cup does well, I think, match up with what the Vikings could use from that wide receiver three. gas left in the tank in terms of just him being a reliable target that's going to catch everything that's that's thrown to him you know i mean yeah he's 31 he's had some injuries you kind of wonder how much left in the tank does he does he have but i think for the immediate when you get him for the next year or so i think you can still get a lot of really good production from him provided that he stays healthy that's a huge part of it um but then yeah you mentioned like the little fundamental things that don't show up in

the box score that he does that can really make a huge difference in i mean his ability as a blocker can can be a huge huge huge uh boost for a running game that we've talked about needs some work that needs some evolution so if you're able to bring in bring in a guy like that we've talked about needs some work that needs some evolution. So if you're able to bring in, bring in a guy like that, it's going to do wonders for what you're able to do in your running game. And that can only help a guy like JJ McCarthy even more. So I was just looking at this cup played 12 games this year at 67 catches, 10.6 yards per attempt.

You know what kind of reminds me of a little bit it's like when anquan bolden was older he was still effective it wasn't quite the same but he was tough and he had great hands and he was smart and he could still get open he's playing for the ravens and a few other teams he was great in that super bowl for the ravens right i think it would be the same sort of deal uh but uh victorious says, you know, he's been hurt and he's expensive. The way you would do it is you would trade for him, take on the contract and then renegotiate the contract. He would have to be willing to do that. They're going to let him talk to other teams, which is an important detail. So they would have to be willing to renegotiate and restructure that as far as being injured. That's a great point. And there's, I mean, there's no way we can predict injuries, but when he hasn't played full seasons, you're kind of penciling him in for 12 to 14 games as opposed to 17.

But got a question about Aaron Jones. Aaron Jones was old and injured and played the whole season. So it's really hard to figure that out. But that's why what your point is, the old and injured is why you're looking to get something back from them as well, sort of as protection for taking on something that they can no longer handle. Nick asks if re-signing Aaron Jones for a year and drafting a running back is satisfactory. The running back has to be drafted by the end of the third round for me.

If that's going to happen, it can't be a six. Well, they don't have a six. It can't be a fifth round draft pick running back that they're sort of hoping. It's got to be somebody who could be a difference maker. I like RJ Harvey from UCF. He was in my draft sim, purpleinsider.football today, simulated the draft. But is that my draft sim, purple and Saturday football, uh, today simulated the draft, but

is that, is that satisfactory for you, Manny? Yeah, I don't want to, I would not want to dabble into anything past the third round because what are you really getting? I mean, at that point for a running back, you're just kind of throwing something at the wall and just see if, seeing if that guy hits and you get something out of them. I mean, I think you're just kind of throwing something at the wall and just seeing if that guy hits and you get something out of him. I mean, I think you're going to have to get somebody in. I mean, the running back that you draft,

certainly if you use your first-round pick on it, but really any draft pick that you use, they need somebody who's going to come in and be kind of a difference maker. I mean, Ty Chandler, that experiment is just, it just didn't work out. I mean, it's not, you know, somebody who's going to come in and be kind of a difference maker i mean ty i mean ty chandler that that experiment is just it's just it just didn't work out i mean it's not you know there was some potential there i think they had some high hopes and some expectations for him it just didn't it

just didn't work out you can't really go the let's just take a flyer on this guy type around anymore this has got to be a guy that steps in even as a rookie and can make a little bit of a difference for you in your running game if you can find that guy and you can bring aaron jones back at a decent price i'd be cool with that because aaron jones is still i know he's at that age now where you don't want to pay money to a running back but he's still a guy that's like going to be a professional and would be, I think a very good mentor for that young running back that you, uh, use a draft pick on. So, you know, he's just a good guy in the locker room that a lot of people like as well. And that, I think that has to play a role in it. Um, so if that's the route they go,

I'd be totally cool with that. I would just want him to get 125 carries and the other guy to get 150 yep and for them to have an explosive run you know people people talk about winning a super bowl before they expire i'd like to how about a 40 yard touchdown i mean just have not seen have not seen a good good running game from this team since i think 2020 their 2021 running game was not that impressive with cook. We started to see his decline. This is we're going on years ago now, since Gary Kubiak was here, that they had a real run game that you could lean on. So I would like to see that. And if you gave me the choice now, Aaron Jones has all of my respect. He's everything that everybody talks about him as far as a human being goes and his impact

on others. So that's not to discount that. But Rico Dowdle did not play in the NFL for three years behind Ezekiel Elliott. A lot of tread on that tire. Right. And Tony Pollard. And then he's got basically the same exact numbers as Aaron Jones, except for he has not had any

injuries on his body. And I don't think he's a guy that people think about a lot as far as a big name or expensive. Uh, CJ wants Adam feeling to come back instead of Cooper cup. Uh, I don't know if feeling would come back just considering, I mean, if the Panthers cut him, if I'm the Panthers, I'm not cutting him or is he a free agent or is he getting, well, they, maybe he's expensive there now, but if I'm the Panthers, I don't want less weapons. I want enough. So I would not release him if I were them. But, uh, I mean, if he wanted to come back, he's this sort of Anquan Bolden we're talking about, but I don't know if he wants to come back. He's this sort of Anquan Bolden we're talking about, but I don't know if he wants to come back after getting released. Like he's a pretty competitive guy. Uh, how many first round

running backs I would expect to, but I'm not like a draft prognosticator. Um, I think there's only really two that are going to come back. Tyler Algier. Well, that's another thing that, you know, other guys could get cut. Other options could be open. O'Marion Hampton certainly has my attention in the back end of the first. So it's a lot to go. It's a lot to go, but we can't talk about it all tonight. We've got to save some for the future, but in our future. So there'll be a lot more chats, a lot more fans only conversations. If you want to shoot me an email to get a question on the show, if you can't watch live

Matthew collar at Gmail, sign up for that newsletter. Thursday night is going to be a special evening on the show. Brian Murphy has challenged Manny with 50 American dollars of mine on the line. I will be hosting Superbowl trivia. I want you all to come play along and it's Manny versus Murph on Thursday night. I'm making it up right now, getting all the questions ready, a point system. There's going to be a lot going on. We're going to have a lot of fun on Thursday night. That will be a seven 30 central. So make sure that you drop on by for that. Any rumors, anything that happens, emergency podcasts, like we'll be here as always for you guys. And again, uh, purple

insider.football is a great place to support the show and check out all my written stuff. So Manny, great stuff tonight. This was fun. Thank you to a Cooper cup for tweeting that out. Like before the show, I was kind of like, uh, you know, I got, I was going to ask you about an 18 game season or whatever, just trying to kind of see what's going on. And then the blowtorch is taken to the NFL right before we get on. So thank you for your time, Manny. Thank you everybody for watching slash listening. And again, Superbowl trivia. We'll have a great time on Thursday nights and until then, football. Football.