Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Dane Mizutani thinks the Vikings are aiming for the Super Bowl with their moves

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

Matthew Coller is joined by Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press to recap a busy couple days of big Vikings moves and what they say about the team's intentions going forward.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Coller here along with Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press. And the last time we talked the other night, Dane, a lot of Vikings fans were saying, is Quasiduffelman going to do anything? What's going on here? And then all hell breaks loose over about, I don't know, 14 hour period where the Vikings bring back Byron Murphy Jr. They signed Jonathan Allen. They are going to sign Javon Hargrave. They sign Ryan Kelly.

Here's, here's a question here. Just big picture. How much better are the Minnesota Vikings today than they were at the end of last season? If at all, because they've still got some things to do. It's a hard question to answer because a lot of that hinges on who the quarterback is. A lot of that hinges on if JJ McCarthy is any good. I think he's going to be we've seen. I don't know if we've seen enough, but we have seen promising signs about JJ McCarthy being able to adapt to

the NFL and obviously watching what Sam Darnold did in this offense. Is he gonna win 14 games? Probably not, but it's not too far of a stretch. I don't have to squint too hard to see JJ McCarthy being successful in this offense. That being said, like in a vacuum with the surrounding pieces, quarterback notwithstanding, I think they're exponentially better than they were at the end of last season. Because all they've done so far is spend the most money in the NFL. Take that, all the people who want Kwesi Adolfo Mensah fired. They've spent the most money in the NFL. Take that all the people who want Kwesi Adap and Mensa fired. They've spent the most money in the NFL and they've done it in a strategic way

where the structure of these contracts still affords them cap space moving forward. And all the while they've filled every single need that I think me, you, any fans sitting at home on their couch had circled going into this off season. Interior of the offensive line, they've improved it. Ryan Kelly, when he plays, he's missed two games or 10 games in the past two seasons,

but when he plays, he's one of the best centers in the league. Will Fries was on his way to a breakout campaign before breaking his life last year. They've addressed the interior of the offensive line. What other weaknesses do they have? Well, the interior of the defensive line. They did that today too. Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave, both guys who in the past have shown that they can get after the passer. You don't have to send a blitz when you have those guys

because they can put pressure on the passer alone. They've done that. They've locked up Byron Murphy Jr., locked up Aaron Jones. So I think they're much better than they were at the end of last year because I think they've done a really good job circling their weaknesses, being upfront with them, and then immediately going to address them.

Well, and knowing that they have an inexperienced quarterback, getting a center who has a reputation as being one of the best in the NFL, especially in past protection is a huge improvement. You just can't really, if Ryan Kelly is Ryan Kelly, you can't really even put a number on that because you can look at the pressures. Of course, Ryan Kelly is much better at not allowing pressures, but it's not just that. It's also the stunts, the twists, the blitzes and all those things that seem to haunt the interior of the Vikings offensive line. And we could put some of it on Garrett Bradbury for being the communicator there. But I think what it really says is that opponents went into every game thinking we know what

we're going to attack. We're going to attack that interior. They don't communicate well. The guards aren't experienced. The center can be pushed back or can be taken advantage of and create pressure through Russian guys right over him. It takes away kind of the cheat code for defenses. And we really saw this down the stretch where Arizona was the one that started

it, sending blitzes from the second level, sending stunts and twists at Blake, Blake Brandel specifically that seemed to really hurt the Vikings offensive line. So putting a lot of it into the interior is something that you and I, as long as we've been covering this team have not seen them do. And I think that alone shows an awareness that the league is changing. And this is what I love about football. Dane is that the league is always changing, but it's always changing in subtle different ways.

In 2020, there was this explosion of deep passing. It was wild because all these defenses were playing single high safeties. And so offenses were running play actions and boots and hitting deep shots down the field left and right. Kirk had his best year 2019 and 2020 in terms of statistically because he was so good at running that stuff. And then defenses went now, wait a a minute we've got an answer for that we're going to play two safeties back there and we're not going to let you run that deep stuff

now kevin o'connell said i've got an answer for that he wears number 18 but across the entire league the response has been well all right well we're going to get defensive tackles who now can run through your face and pass rush you we're going to rush up the middle. And the Vikings were not prepared for that. And teams that had guards were, and teams that didn't have guards went, wait a minute, we used to get our guards off the trash heap and be fine, but now all of a sudden we're not.

So I like that this group, this leadership, is looking at what's happening and going, you know what, why don't we just get in on that? Because nobody can, you know, do this. Even the short passing game, if you're getting interior pressure, it messes up everything. If you could stuff the run with interior players, that gives you even more of an advantage against teams that are trying to run and loading up the D line, watching what happened in the Superbowl and saying, Hey, that seems

like a pretty good model. I like that approach. Yeah, so do I. And I just think it seems so well done when you really think about it, like building from the trenches. But there is something to be said, like, it's not just the Vikings. Like there are teams across the NFL that have just tried to patchwork their trenches and The teams that are generally near the top of the league are the ones that have made a concerted effort to make sure those things Are fortified from the jump You like you said you look no further than the Philadelphia Eagles

Fortifying the trenches wasn't new. It wasn't this new idea to them last year. It's something they've been very, very intentional about for the last decade, ever since Howie took over. So I think it makes sense. And to your point, it is good that the Vikings have realized, okay, well, we have a major weakness. It's not just something we can Galaxy brain our way out of like you just got to spend you have to address the problem You have to go to the head of the snake and address the problem and they've done that and I think that's that's a very good thing

I Just you go back to last year How many times were plays dead upon on arrival by just the fact that Ed Ingram lost immediately at the end of the year like Blake Brando losing immediately. I know some of that has to do with the fact that Cam Robinson was there instead of Christian Derrissaw but the wear down that we saw on the interior of the offensive line in particular, it was palpable and it needed to change. Will the NFL ever shift in a way where tackles are not the premium position on the offensive line?

Probably not, because I think the idea of protecting your blind side, setting that edge is just something that's always going to take precedence over the guys in the middle. But you are seeing it start to come back to equilibrium. Now it's not the left tackle and the right tackle get paid up all these dollars and the left guard and the right guard are happy with the pennies. No, Wilfries is going to make like $17 million a year moving forward. Aaron Banks is going to make like $20 million a year annually. Like like $20 million a year annually. Like it shows not just a correction on the Vikings part, but just across the league.

They're getting serious about that. And the same thing applies to the defensive line too. Like how do you generate pressure outside of just blitzing all the time? You get super talented guys on the interior. I don't have to say the stat about well the Philadelphia Eagles they generate all this pressure they didn't send the blitz in the Super Bowl everybody knows that but you get that by

really investing in it you invest in it through the draft if you can't draft a guy like that you invest in it in free agency if anybody comes available the Vikings did that they got two guys on the interior, the defensive line that solves a lot of their problems. So, I mean, really across the board, I don't know if there's a team that's had a better start to free agency. Maybe the Bears, maybe the Patriots. Those teams also had a lot of money to spend, so it makes sense. But high marks across the board for the Vikings so far. So I've always thought it was a little dubious to look at who won the Super Bowl and be like, do that. I mean, especially since it's often been Kansas City.

And the answer to do that was just the do the moms. But in this case, I think do that actually makes a lot of sense. And part of it is that it works on both sides of it. And part of it is that it works on both sides of it. The gap between defensive linemen on the interior plus blitzes that come up the middle and guard talent has grown and widened. And I looked at this, I studied this from the PFF grades that since 2017, even the top 20 graded guards

have dropped by an average of seven points from where they were before. So they used to be graded over 80. Now they're grading in the mid seventies and they're giving up more pressures because teens are attacking them. So you want to be on the right side of both of that. You want to close the gap on the offensive side. You also want to take advantage of it because when you look at Green Bay and that bank signing,

I've talked about a bunch of times and how bad it is. It's not a great player. It's not a great pass protector. They spend a bunch of money on it. You want to go into that game as opposed to us always saying, Oh, here comes Kenny Clark. Wait for certain death. Like you want to be instead saying, Oh, yeah, let's see if this guy's worth 20 million because Javon Hargrave, who was a top 10 pass rusher in 2023 and Jonathan Allen,

who has also been that in his past. Now they're coming to get you. And the other teams are going to say, great, now we're unprepared. The thing about the middle too, is they just didn't use to have those guys because they thought they needed to be bigger to stop the run. But now that they don't, and a guy like Hargrave's undersized, now that they are basically putting defensive ends from 1520 years ago at defensive tackle and saying go get the

quarterback. There's no real answer. Kevin O'Connell would use CJ Ham on the interior to try to help. There is no great answer. It's not like you could chip on the edge or something like that. So the Vikings finally taking advantage of this after so many years of letting this be a massive weakness is gonna get high marks for me. But let's just try a little to be skeptical here on this because the one thing about free agency,

no doubt about it, you get the moves coming in, your team's at the top and you're like, everything's the best move I've ever seen in my life. But the skepticism would come in this way, Dane. This is a team that has its quarterback at 22 years old. This quarterback has probably never seen an episode of Seinfeld and there's a lot of players on this team that have. That is what would concern me is that Hargrave is 32.

Alan is 30. Kelly is 32. And even when we're talking about the guys in their prime, it's still 27 for Byron Murphy. It's 27 for Will Fries. I think those guys will be fine for several years, but this is not even remotely close to a young team. This is an old football team now.

And if Harrison Smith comes back, they very well may be the oldest football team in the entire league. Now that doesn't mean that it's a super bowl or bust year, but it does mean that there's some injury histories to pay attention to here. And it also means that there is no real grace period for JJ McCarthy. It's all right kid. Now you got this veteran O line. You got a veteran defense that's ready to go veteran wide receivers.

Your tight end is 29 years old too. Your running back is older than dirt. Oh, it is 30, but in running back years, that's like 77. I mean, I think that's an interesting dynamic. And I think in a lot of ways it could play out really well for J.J. McCarthy. But it also is, hey, like there's no slowing this train down for J.J. McCarthy. It's you better hop on and go and win football games right away. Yeah, it's why him missing last year,

not getting any practice time was so damaging. I know there are some people out there that think it was a good thing that he tore his meniscus because it didn't create any sort of tension. It was always Sam Darnold's job. I can understand that if I like try hard enough to convince myself that my 21-year-old quarterback tearing his knee is a good thing.

But that was supposed to be like, okay, say everything went the same. Say Sam Darnold balled out, they went 14 and 3. And instead of Nick Mullins, it was J.J. McCarthy. And I get it. He did the GoPro thing. Like he learned. He was in the meeting rooms. But he was never getting any practice reps because he wasn't allowed to he was on injured reserve

He literally cannot be on the field during practice That's why it's damaging because now it's like sink or swim JJ. Hope you learned a lot from the chair Hope the GoPro film was good enough because they're gonna need him from the chair, hope the GoPro film was good enough because they're going to need him. The thing is, it could work out really well. And the reason they were able to spend so much money is because he is a rookie quarterback on a rookie contract. And when you see the money continuing to shift, like a rookie contract used to be a cheat code. Now it's like a super cheat code. Like you can't get any better because that money hasn't changed nominally. And the other contracts are exploding. So it's a lot of pressure on him. And it does create an interesting discussion here

moving forward with whoever they sign for this backup quarterback. It's not gonna be Aaron Rodgers. I would be stunned at this point. I guess I can't write it off completely because if we record this on Tuesday at 740 and we get a text in the morning, or a tweet notification that Aaron Rodgers is signing with the Vikings, I'm gonna look silly. But it just doesn't make sense.

But whoever they do bring in, I don't think it will ever be this guy is now starting in place of JJ McCarthy. But I do think insurance is important. And I think someone who can help him through maybe rookie struggles or confidence issues, like I think Josh McCown is going to be super important in this. Obviously, Kevin McConnell is going to be super important in this. But guys who have been there done that understand the amount of pressure he's going to be putting on himself and kind of get him to have tunnel vision and just kind of see forward. Instead of looking at everything that's kind of happening around him. We're going to see what JJ McCarthy is made of and on one hand, that really excites me because,

man, he might be the next big thing. On the other hand, it makes me a little nervous for him because it is a lot. And this team is old and this team is in a Super Bowl window. And all of those things come crashing down if he doesn't live up to expectation. So it's a lot to put on a 22 year old kid. It is. And it's been pointed out. And it's true. He hasn't thrown a lot of footballs in his life in football games. I mean, he won a national championship at IMG,

and then he had two years starting in Michigan as a quarterback. That was kind of the oh, we got into third and seven. Now, can you throw the football? And he was good at it. But still, they were only really throwing when the running game was not working or they needed clutch drives and he executed them. And then we saw enormous gains from him last year. And I think a lot of it comes down to believing in the small sample size

of what you've seen about who JJ McCarthy is as a person, which I always think is so fascinating about quarterback. It's one of the reasons why we love talking about it JJ McCarthy is as a person, which I always think is so fascinating about quarterback. It's one of the reasons why we love talking about it so much is that it's not just, Hey, like this, this tight end has a certain skillset and catches the ball or this defensive tackle gets after the quarterback. It's a lot of it is you are an executive on the team. Basically you're are management position. You are running an offense and you are the center of all the pressure. If you go Owen to you know what?

How crazy is football? What they call Owen to is Owen Tombstone, because teams that go Owen to have such a bad record of making the playoffs. That's the two games you lose two games in a row to start your career. It's like, oh man, let's, uh, what's going on with this McCarthy? Is he going to let it like, that's how fast it happens. I saw Sam Darnold from the ringer from an article get called mediocre yesterday. And I almost had my head explode because I was like, what?

The guy won 14 games through 35 touchdowns. And then the national anus is like to joke. Why did you even why did you put on shoes if you were going to do that and not win the Super Bowl? You dope like that's how harsh it is to be a starting quarterback in the NFL, especially when Justin Jefferson's your receiver. And when you have Grenard and these great players that you're signing and Flores, like everyone's here to win the Super Bowl.

And what I like about the Vikings is that we felt like everyone was here to keep their jobs for what? Four years from 2019 to 2021. 1920, 20, 20. Yeah. Four years, four seasons. It was like, we're just here to keep our jobs. We just want to make sure that we're getting to the next year and not getting

fired and hoping that, uh, you know, the football gods bless us with a playoff appearance. That was the Spielman Zimmer last four seasons since quasi awful Mensa and Kevin O'Connell have gotten here. They have created a four year plan or three year plan to get to this point to chase the Superbowl, but now it's all on this kid to do it. And that is a lot to ask at the same time though. Jared Goff in his second season runs the best offense in the NFL with the Los

Angeles Rams. CJ Stroud is a rookie. Jaden Daniels is a rookie. Bo Nix is a rookie. Jaden Daniels is a rookie. Bo Nicks is a rookie. There's been more performances by young quarterbacks that step in recently than we've ever seen before in the past. And even a Bryce young in his second year, uh, takes a huge step forward. So I don't think that it's a crazy notion to actually put these expectations on them and just, you're going to have to talk me into caring about the backup thing.

I'm completely fine with whoever they get. It doesn't matter to me. They could get whatever backup they could get. Todd Bowman, they could get Bobby Brister. They could go back and get Spurgeon win for all I care. As long as the guy's nice and friendly to JJ McCarthy and they work together, that's fine because if McCarthy's not your quarterback, you're not winning anything. So that's kind of how I've looked at that like, oh, Daniel Jones left.

That's a shame. I hope he likes going to prime 47 there in Indianapolis. I don't care at all. But as far as just the expectation as crazy as it feels to put it on him, the fact that Daniel Jones was the only guy they were really interested in keeping. And Sam Darnold, I think the interest was extremely lukewarm at a very small price. They must feel like this is the right way to go. And I should throw in Brock Purdy, too, by year two of Brock Purdy,

the guys in the Super Bowl. So it's it's just not crazy anymore. Yeah, you mentioned all those rookie quarterbacks are all those young quarterbacks that have found success. And it's because the nature of playing quarterback in the world on planet earth has changed. And it's something we dug into when JJ McCarthy said it right after he was drafted. He said something like, I edited my life for this from the time I was 10. I don't know what his age was, but he edited his life to one day

play quarterback in the NFL. I think a lot of guys are doing that now. So I think with that, coupled with the experience you get in college, the quarterback camps you've been going to since you were 12, like guys might just be more ready than they were 10 years ago. Not even might, guys are more ready than they were 10 years ago to come in and make an impact immediately. So if you're trying to look at this

with a positive outlook, that's something to latch on to. Other guys have done it. If JJ McCarthy, if we're holding him to Super Bowl or bust standards, success is going to look tough. But if we just want to see growth, if we want to see, do we think in X amount of years this team can win a Super Bowl? Does he look like a guy who can lead a team forward? He doesn't have to go out and be Jaden Daniels is what I'm saying, but he has to look like Bo Nix. He has to look like someone who can lead a team forward in two years to come. That's something to latch onto because it's been done. It's not something JJ McCarthy has to do, go out there, do something unprecedented to be considered successful. I also cannot get out of my head just how different he looked from the moment he stepped into TCO Performance Center for his introductory press conference to the moment his knee exploded randomly. Like the growth that kid showed from the first time I see

him throw a pass in rookie mini camp and I'm like, he can't even throw the little ball into the little net to a guy who commanded the offense in the preseason game against the Raiders. And damn, I wish I got to see him in joint practices against the Browns and against the Browns in that following preseason game. Because while I've always held the belief that this was Sam Darnold's job, that's how much steam was growing in J.J. McCarthy's favor because of the growth he showed each time past coupled with the experience that guys have across the board, it is a reason to think that while it's a high bar for him to clear, it's a lot of expectation to put on his shoulders, there's reason to believe he can do it. It's just going to be really hard and it comes with the territory of being a franchise quarterback. But Kevin O'Connell said it himself.

When we were standing there in Cleveland, me, you, Alec Lewis and Mark Craig, he announced to everyone that I think that we have our franchise quarterback in JJ McCarthy. He wouldn't just make that up. I think he feels like they do. Now JJ McCarthy just has to't just make that up. I think he feels like they do. Now, now JJ McCarthy just has to go out and prove it. So I want to I'm sort of oscillating between how I want to be rational and reasonable to young JJ McCarthy because he is 22 and he just has never done this before. And that doesn't seem right to be like, I don't know. Go make the Super Bowl. What are we doing here?

And yet there's a very strong part of me that wants to say, go make the Super Bowl. What are we doing here? When you look at the contracts that were handed out, this if they had I was fully ready, Dane yesterday to and I went through all the contracts on the live stream that had been handed out. And I was like, did you want that one? Did you want that one? Did you want Aaron Banks? Did you want this one? Did you want $20 million for chivalrous ward? Who's coming off his worst season? Like probably not. And then just not too long after that, because I was ready for them to play in the sandbox of the

second wave of free agency, which I would have been okay with and often produces some really good deals in the second wave. Like James Daniels signed for three years, 24 million. That's a nice little contract, but it doesn't really lock you in. And so it's a more rational type of signing than Will fries at almost $18 million. But they went out and got Will fries and they went out and got Jonathan Allen for a guy who is coming off an injury and has not been as good the last two years,

Javon Hargrave coming off an injury like they didn't and Ryan Kelly who has a extreme injury history and they, so they have not treated this and this roster like, Hey, we're going to slowly progress. We're going to go get 25 year old free agents. And I honestly thought this was going to be their deal. I thought maybe a Sunday Samuel Jr. Who's 25 or maybe if it's a big investment, it's Javon Holland who announced on Twitter that the Vikings did not give him

a 21 million dollar offer. He made that quite clear that that was not on the table for them. But I thought younger guys continue to build this roster sort of slow and steady wins the race rather than go all in. And they said, no, actually we would prefer to just go all in. And if that's what you're going to do, then I think that the standard is get back to the playoffs, be in that conversation, outscore your opponents by a hundred points, be right where you were last year, not 14 wins that was cartoonish because of the AFC self, but there will be a lot of bad

teams in the NFL this year again, and they're going to have a chance to do that. And you look at what they got to go up against though. The bears are making moves. The lions are just going to be as good. The Philadelphia Eagles are keeping a lot of parts of it together. It is a lot to ask, but it's also what everybody's been asking for forever, which is to really truly chase a Super Bowl. So I, I put it as in like, show me, show me that this made sense because

I understand everyone wanted to move on from Sam Darnold and I get it and they they should have it's a better outcome if you have JJ McCarthy at the same time the Spending in the roster age and everything else is more indicative of a quarterback who would be coming off 35 touchdowns So if you're letting that guy walk out the door I think I'm gonna hold JJ McCarthy to a standard where he's competing for the top of the NFC Even if I understand that it's a little bit unfair based on his age and experience. Yeah, it's a big bet to make by Quasidofa Mensen,

by Kevin O'Connell, but clearly they feel comfortable making this bet. Remember, this is a regime, this is a collaborative effort of the two, whatever buzzword we wanna use to show they're in lockstep. That when they sat down, when Quezadaf and Mensa sat down with Kevin O'Connell the first time for his interview, I'm sure this was laid out.

When they hired Kevin O'Connell, this was certainly laid out. They were going to competitively rebuild with an eye on the draft class that featured JJ McCarthy. Did they know it was going to be JJ McCarthy? Not necessarily, but there were people in that draft class, players in that draft class that they were willing to essentially bet their careers on. And when you see everything that's happened from the moment quasi even trades I don't know what it was like a fourth round pick to move up from 11 to 10 to ensure they get JJ McCarthy Like it's just their whole plan coming to fruition So when you zoom out and think about where this thing started in like a conversation between the two and then you zoom back

In and you realize like Oh my god, are they really going for this with the rookie quarterback? It makes sense because this was their bet all along Now I think their bet was we're going to find a way to get to the next Quarterback that we want to build our franchise around we're gonna have a roster that's ready to win and then we're gonna pray to God that we're right and Right now all we have to go off of is the improvement He's shown in training camp the person he is and the one preseason game against the Raiders Which again goes back to my point why? Him tearing his knee will never be a good thing. You would like to have more

Feelings and good vibes of like, yes, we saw it in that game. And week 18, when he came in, when the division was locked up and then he did this and that, obviously doesn't apply to last season, week 18 meant a lot, but in a vacuum, like you would have loved to see him play one NFL game last year. Kind of like what Sam Darnold did to earn a one year, $10 million contract with the Vikings two years ago. He played one game with the Niners. He looked pretty good and they were like, yeah, he's pretty if the JJ McCarthy had that I think it would be easier to be like yes I can project that this is what it's going to look like

We don't know but it really doesn't come as a surprise I guess that they're willing to make this bet on him that they're, they're so sure that he's the guy that they're so sure that he's the guy that they go out and spend more money than any team in the NFL and free agency. They're ready to win. They're ready to go. And I think you brought up a good point. Like, glad we got here, because there are a lot of teams in the NFL that are not serious about winning the Super Bowl. There are a lot of teams in the NFL that are not serious about winning the Super Bowl. There are a lot of teams in the NFL that are trying to sell tickets, that are trying to save jobs, that are trying to do the bare minimum that it takes to not get fired. It's a big bet for the Vikings to make. If they're wrong, Quacey's gone. If Kevin

O'Connell is wrong about JJ McCarthy, he's going to be on thin ice too. But at least they're willing to make this bet. At least they're willing to make this bet. At least they're willing to say like, we think we can win a super bowl and everything they've shown over the past, I will say 12 months since they let her cousin walks out the door. Everything they've shown is that they believe they can and they're invested in trying to do it. Right.

And I don't mean at all to come across. Like, I don't think this was right. Like this is the thing we talked about for. It's not only right. It's a relief. I mean, it's just so much frustration of talking about the salary cap thing and who, Oh, who are they going to sign? My free agency special was so fun. I mean, I had a ball and how many times would I have been doing a free agency special being like, now listen guys, I mean, there's like some fourth day corners that might, you know, just so many times like, well, they got Michael Pearson, then he didn't play the first year because of COVID or whatever. It's just we went through that so many times. Oh, they're trading a fourth for Chris Herndon at the end of training camp. Goodie, that'll be the difference like that they were so stuck for so long and I

got I honestly got bored I mean I'm sure that Vikings fans did too at some point like 2022 was a nice infusion of fun but that same result over and over again and what last year felt like or looks like now in hindsight is a transition into this now it's it's go time it's pedal to the metal and it's every year and that counts this year my only point is that i don't think we should just lower the bar because they moved on from the quarterback. Put them in that position so we should not lower the bar and maybe the example to look at is even though he was a seventh round pick it is garoppolo Purdy where they saw what they needed to see in a very small sample with Purdy. He played some games, but it was only a few games, it was like five games or something at the end of that one season. And we're like, okay, he's our guy. We're good to go.

We're going to move on from Jimmy Garoppolo who was a quality quarterback and won a lot of games, but had limitations. And it's sort of the same thing with, with this, where it's like the roster is set up to do it and I also feel Dane that the success of young quarterbacks is so Much about the supporting cast that what they've done here is they've given them Or him about as good of a supporting cast as you can get and I think it could get better Which is what I want to ask you about.

The next thing for the Vikings, when you look at the depth chart, when you look at what they've done, what is come on? I mean, it's been almost like this. We're recording this almost 14 hours since we've gotten a signing. Come on, Quacey. What are we even doing here? But what do you think that next step is? Because just let me add that there's still cap space to work with for this year.

I, I, I, I'm, I paused and I laughed because it's the name that's been thrown out there, but if I can get Cooper cup at the right dollar, mom, I love it. I really do. And, And I think he's going to get released on Wednesday afternoon. I find it very hard to believe that a team is going to come in at the 11th hour and trade for Cooper Cup. So he's going to get released by the Rams. There is obviously a past relationship there with Kevin O'Connell, not just Kevin O'Connell, with Wes Phillips too. Those guys rave about Cooper Cup. I don't necessarily think wide receiver three is the most important thing, most important area of need for this team. But I think if you can get a

guy like Cooper Cup, as long as the money's okay, he could unlock certain things in this offense. the money's okay. Like he could unlock certain things in this offense. We heard so much about how Cooper Cup, like it wasn't just his route running, it wasn't just his ability to catch the ball. They loved him as a blocker. Last season, anytime Trent Sherfield was on the field, we knew it was going to be a run because Trent Sherfield was on the field. Even just bringing Cooper Cup in for that, for just the facade of like, what is coming? We don't know if it's a pass or a run. Like that's beneficial, but everything he could open up for Justin Jefferson, for Jordan Addison, but everything Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison can open up for Cooper Cup at no point

in his career since he became Cooper Cup, has he been a complimentary player? It's always been, like, I know Pukka Nakuha emerged, but it's always been, we gotta make sure Cooper Cup doesn't beat us. And then it became, we gotta make sure Cooper Cup and Pukka Nakuha don't beat us. He can't really do that with Justin Jefferson

and Jordan Addison in a room that now has Cooper Cup. So that's why I want him. I think he could unlock things in this offense at the right price. We talk about quick game. I think Cooper Cup and his 150 or 700 catches back in 2020, like can like contribute to that quick game. So he's probably the pie in the sky target and it might not even be that much of a pie in the sky because you can see an avenue where it would happen. So he's what I want.

He's the guy that I think if they can walk away from free agency or the first week of free agency with him in tow, with everything else they've gotten. I think I already think it's a home run, but I think it would be just a plus plus plus. I do wish the best to the training staff for next year. They might need to hire because you've got I mean Van Ginkle played a lot of snaps Jones played a lot of snaps. And I think you could point to the training staff and those plans of not pushing those guys the off season

and creating individual plans for them. But Hargrave's coming off an injury. Alan's coming off an injury. Fry's is coming off an injury. And now you're going to say a banged up Cooper Cup. But there's something. Well, two things you said there. One, you said at the right price.

I don't care. That's the bar. That's the best part. I don't care about the price. there. One, you said at the right price. I don't care. That's the bar. That's the best part. I don't care about the price. Finally, we don't say at the right price. We can just say whatever. Just do whatever you want. This is the best part. This is going into a store

when your grandma gave you a thousand dollars because she hit the bingo. And you're just like, I don't care how expensive that is. I'm buying it. And the same thing should be for this team. We just said the bar is make the playoffs. The bar is compete. What I love about Cooper Cup is something that I can't define with a PFF grade.

My friend Cooper Cup brings a grit to his game. And I know what I'm saying about him, but I'm going to make a comparison that is a cross race comparison. So I'm not about him, but I'm going to make a comparison that is a cross race comparison. So I'm not fast. I'm not stop it. Coaches kid, you know, he's gritty. He's gritty. He's one of the best blocking wide receivers.

I could show it on paper. When Antoine Bolden was late in his career, he signed with a couple of teams, but one of them was Baltimore and they were a really competitive team. I think early Joe Flacco, young quarterback that was trying to lead a team. And they brought in this dude who had violence to his game, who had strength, who could be that eight yards kind of easy completion type of wide receiver who could block, do everything for them, a veteran presence. And he wasn't their star at that point.

He had already had his day and he was there to win with that team. And I think that with Cooper Cup, when you talk about him going to New England, OK, well, that's interesting, but they're not winning. I mean, they're going to be better. I think they could be like a playoff team even or fringe. But on this team, I mean, they're going for it. And what they've done by paying Jonathan Allen is they've sort of sent up the flair of like, what does it say up there?

Come over here to Minnesota. We're trying to win and we got money for you. And I think for someone like Cooper Cup with the familiarity with the coaching staff, it makes a lot of sense to overpay him to show up and for him to catch. He catches 47 passes, blocks his butt off. coaching staff, it makes a lot of sense to overpay him to show up and for him to catch. He catches 47 passes, blocks his butt off. Hey, by the way, the next time I see them throw a screen and ask Jordan Addison or Jalen Naylor to block, I'm just jumping from the press box. I just can't do it again. Like that's just, they can't be, it doesn't work.

Okay. So Cooper Cup though, it's going to lay out some little corner and they're going to get 15 yards on a screen. That's a different story for me. I like that a lot. I also want to know what you're doing in the backfield because Aaron Jones is going to be better with more physicality upfront, but I really want to see a draft pick here.

I know they don't have many. We just got the, the wonderful comp pick that everyone. Number 97, baby. Oh, my gosh. That guy, whoever it is, that guy will be the pick they got for Kirk. But so think about what Kirk gave them, though. Kirk gave them all this cap space and a third round pick. Thank you, Kirk. But it's really not about the pick.

It's what the pick represents, which is that they don't have Kirk anymore and they can spend that in the backfield. I really like that idea of adding a young running back to Aaron Jones and then let's just, let's just throw this scenario out there. Last question for you, Dave. Let's say they draft in the third round, Caleb Johnson from, uh, Iowa guy that I like a lot and

They get Cooper Cup. They might have him by the time people listen to this. I don't know Where does that rank for supporting cast for a quarterback in the NFL? He's I'm thinking because I want to say one. I really do. Maybe I'll just give the Eagles one because they still have AJ Brown, Devanta Smith, and Saquon Barkley who just reset the market for all running backs. I might be inclined to just say this is what champions have the crown.

But Vikings like 1A, like Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Cooper Cup, Aaron Jones, and top flight running back that we have circled on our board and said we want that guy. Plus all of the additions you've made, not only in your own trenches on the offensive side of the ball, but on the defensive side, like supporting cast wise offensively, it might be 1A, but then if you expound that to like the team as a whole, it might be it might be better. I don't really, I don't know because it's really high. I'd be inclined to say top five for sure and top three maybe. It's the best receiver in the NFL on the offensive side of the ball.

It's a running back. If you can get a draft pick in there, it's a running back who just is coming off a career season who is one of the best guys in the NFL. And then you infuse that with a young rookie who can hopefully bring some sizzle to that room. You look at kind of like what Detroit did with Montgomery and Gibbs.

Like obviously if the Vikings got someone like Gibbs, they'd be over the moon kind of rabbit holeing here. But I really think, I didn't even mention TJ Hawkinson. Like there is a supporting cast, even if you don't add a running back, but if you do, it's among the best in the NFL. Philly and Detroit set the standard, I think that's clear. And it would be right after that depends, you know, they have to get another guard.

And maybe that's something that they also do in the first round. But the opportunity is there. And OK, I said one more question, but let's end on this one instead. This to me day. Do you remember I was next to you because you do the post games with me and it was in 2023. I think they played the Cardinals in a post game or in a pregame preseason game and we were doing the postgame show and the chat was upset about I don't't know what, you know, as a third preseason game could be anything, maybe the 2022 draft. That's still like what chats love to focus on. And I remember getting flustered and yelling out, this is the closest you've

been to a Superbowl since I don't know how long. And I think I also then yelled that out after they had lost and gone to like one and four, like, this is going to be better for you. You're going to draft higher. You're going to get your quarterback. This is the closest you've been. And then I remember saying on draft night, the minute that they took JJ McCarthy. Now, this is the closest you've been to a Super Bowl since you walked off the field in 2019.

I've did now it's come to fruition, I think, and we've got to see McCarthy and you and I are going to do post game OTA practice open to the media podcast. I promise you we will. We are that sick. We will be doing that. But because everyone's going to want to know how's JJ looking. But I think it's extremely true. I mean, I think that that vision even going back several years of like, hey,

this is the swan song for Kirk. He's not coming back. And him moving on is the closest you've been. And then drafting McCarthy is the closest you've been and then we see it come to light. I think that's why these if they just sign dudes, okay, it's going to excite any fan base. But I think the reason why this has been a real celebration and I've seen it in my viewership numbers and everything from Vikings fans is because now it feels like

this is finally that which we've painstakingly seen come to fruition Yeah, it absolutely is the closest that they've been to a Super Bowl. I Mean if we're talking at the beginning of a free agency period certainly But even just projecting out what this is going to look like down the road I mean, if we're talking at the beginning of a free agency period, certainly, but even just projecting out what this is going to look like down the road, the pieces are in place.

It's what we've been talking about. The pieces are in place. The team just won 14 games. I know that was kind of funhouse football with the AFC South, but what they showed last year was that they can find ways to get the most out of players on both sides of the ball. They can produce 14 wins, and even if it doesn't end the way you want it to, with Sam Darnold. And then they can take that roster that won 14 games, and then they can add to it.

They can look at all the weaknesses, and now they have money to add to it. And then they have this quarterback who they believe in, the first quarterback they've ever taken in the top 10 in franchise history. They have him locked, loaded, ready to go. It's absolutely the closest they've ever been to a Super Bowl since I've covered the team. And I just look at times in the past that they were close or that we thought they were close last year. We thought they were close. They were not. There were holes. There were still areas to fill. 2022. Man, when they kept winning these one score games, we thought they were close. Man, is this a team of destiny? No, they weren't close at all. They lost to the Giants. 2017. Oh, I think they're close. Case Keenums, they're like, no, they weren't. They got blown up by the Eagles. I don't know the last time the Vikings have been this close to a Super Bowl, where it makes sense, where you could

look and you can see it. You can look down the road and you can see it. You don't have to invent realities in your head. It might be since 2009. We just talked to Jared Allen last week and he said, damn, I wish we beat the Saints because we're winning that Super Bowl. Absolutely. They would have won that Super Bowl. They were the best team in the NFL that year. Are the Vikings the best team in the NFL going into the 2025 season?

No, but they have a vision and they have a vision that has been crafted over the past three years, competitively rebuilt over the last three years, and now they're ready to say screw any word of rebuild, we're just going to be competitive. They're competitive, they're full steam ahead. Yes, I think everything that's happened has set them up to this point in time and I think we feel like they're close to a Super Bowl and I think maybe more importantly certainly more importantly I think the front office thinks they're close to a Super Bowl I think the head coach thinks they're close to a Super Bowl the

coaching staff thinks they're close to a Super Bowl and when all of those people believe and when you see the moves that they've made, I think the roster is going to think they're really close to a Super Bowl. Can't wait to talk to these guys because I really think the expectations and what they feel they can do this year is going to be pretty sky high and it should be every time they've come close since I've been covering the team outside of I think 19 was just a good team

with high expectations that face the San Francisco team. They couldn't beat after playing a really difficult game against New Orleans. But aside from the 19 team, everyone that's come close has been this like, well, how about those Vikings? Are they really for real? But I think now if it happens that you're winning a bunch of games next year and you get to seven and two and the analysts are talking about your team, they're like, well, they did draft this quarterback

and spend a crazy amount of money and they do have a stacked roster. Like, it's no longer that, oh, well, we never saw it come in with old case. You know, like, I think that's what Vikings fans, the reason last year why fans never really connected with that team till late and then they got disappointed immediately. But the reason they were so skeptical was just how many times this. Oh, oh, there's the Vikings. They just I don't know why I just went into like a northern Minnesota accent, but like there they are again doing their thing, being a surprise.

And like then, oh, yeah, they got killed in the playoffs. This it feels like a different approach overall. The one that we've seen work in so many different places before and not just like an outlier you grab a backup quarterback and then make it work for a year because you have good receivers. So lots to still come in the off season. I think there are moves corner. We got to find out about safety.

I'm waiting for that. I'm waiting for Harrison Smith to tweet out the Prince photo so we know whether he's coming back or not. I think the Prince photo is he's coming back. So we'll see if he does that. If you don't get the reference, look up Harrison Smith, Prince photo, and you'll know what we mean. But there's a lot to still happen here and we will be here for it.

So thank you so much. Dane Mizutani, Pioneer Press for your time as always. And we'll do it again soon, man. You want to say football before we go? Yeah, I do football football.