Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Daniel Jeremiah has the Vikings drafting.... (Part 1)

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

Matthew Coller looks at Daniel Jeremiah's second mock draft of 2026 and his choice for the Vikings. Plus a new list of QB competition options for the Vikings. A Kyler Murray update. A draft sim... oh my! The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

everybody welcome to another episode of Purple Insider presented by Fandul and we've got a lot going on tonight in the Minnesota Vikings world. We've got a Daniel Jeremiah mock draft to look at. I did my own draft simulation. Also, after the other night, we made a list of quarterbacks for the Vikings if they're looking for a starting quarterback. I was inspired to make a list if they're looking for just competition for J.J. McCrubachers. So I've got 10 quarterbacks there of 1 through 10 who I would like to see the most if they had a quarterback competition with J.J. McCarthy to, we'll call it the least. I mean, the least would be, you know, I mean nobody. But the 10 guys that are at least mildly realistic and could be quarterback competition if they still have belief in J.J. McCarthy. So I've got that along with a Kyler Murray update from Adam Schaefter. much more. So how about we dive right in to Daniel Jeremiah's latest mock draft? And I just want to say first that Daniel Jeremiah to me always at the top of the list for draft analysts. This is something that I would like to do throughout draft season, analyze a mock, get your guys feedback. So jump in the comment section. Do you like Daniel Jeremiah's idea here? What would you grade

Daniel Jeremiah's idea for the Vikings in his mock draft? I'm curious about what you guys think of and then we'll look at my own. And Mr. Jeremiah and I were kind of thinking along the same lines. I'll give you a little bit of a hint there. So let's get right into it. Daniel Jeremiah will jump right to number 18, has the Minnesota Vikings in his most recent mock draft, taking safety Dylan Thineman from Oregon with the number 18 overall pick.

And let me get you a little more information on Dylan Thineman. This comes from Lance Zierline. of NFL.com and his breakdowns. This is the best resource. If you've never used these, these draft profiles from Lance Zeerline, the best resource at getting you an overview of every single prospect that can prepare you for draft season.

This is how I do it is, you know, look at who Daniel Jeremiah is mocking, and then I click on their pages and read everything that Lance Zeerline has to say. So, Thineman from Oregon, six foot, 205 pounds. Of course, hasn't gone to the combine. We don't have official measurements yet, but that gives you a basic, not a huge guy,

not any sort of specimen. But I'll tell you what stood out to me as I was reviewing this decision by Daniel Jeremiah and thinking about, well, what do I want to say about it? And do I think this is an exciting pick? Do I think this is safe? Do I, you know, what do I think? And I got down to the part where Lance gives his overview of the prospect and listen to this and tell me this doesn't scream Brian Flores.

So first of all, his NFL comparison is Javan Holland, who was drafted by Brian Flores. And then the overview says a savvy three-year starter with NFL size, speed, and alignment versatility. Hmm. Uh, Thineman is an extension of his defensive coordinator aligning and adjusting the secondary to motion with pre-snap shifts. Hmm. Who does this sound like? He is an instinctive, rangey safety who can roll down to a big nickel or robber position, has a good feel for play design and route concepts in zone,

but has average change of direction to match breaks in man coverage. He's not a thumper near the line of scrimmage, but rushes into the action with a relentless pursuit that should allow him to keep stacking high scores in the tackle columns. Thinaman checks in the important boxes for teams looking, to add versatile playmakers in their secondary. Every single thing right there in that overview sounds like a Brian Flores safety. A guy who got everybody lined up, a guy who lined up in the big nickel, but also could play

deep, could play zone and came down from the safety position to be a quality tackler. There's a lot there that clicks with a quick instant contraband. for the Minnesota Vikings. And then Javan Holland is sort of the chef's kiss there of, could you make this pick any more Minnesota Vikings? So here's what I want to know from you guys is do you like it? Do you like the idea of the Vikings picking Dylan Thineman? That is what Daniel Jeremiah thinks they will do in his most recent mock draft.

And for my perspective, I love the fit. And I've seen Dylan Dineman play with Oregon. they were on a lot of national TV games. He stands out as a very instinctual player. And I think that he is the type that you would expect. There's no guarantees, but you would expect to come in right away, click with this team, become a starter. And of all the positions that become starters really quickly and succeed really

quickly from college, safety is at the top of the list. Now, I know that there was a other safety prospect that did not work out within the last couple drafts for the Minnesota Vikings. But normally, safety is one of those where if you draft one, the guy is probably going to be a starter for you. So the debate would really come down to, all right, the guy is a good fit. And he could start right away,

which the Vikings would be looking for a right-of-way starter, if Harrison Smith decides to retire, which we should be within a couple weeks of getting that decision. I would expect that he would tell the franchise. Last year he told them in March, so I would assume that he was going to tell them his decision somewhere in that ballpark of right before a free agency so they know what their needs are. Filling the need with someone who has a similar profile to Harrison Smith sounds good to me. The only but is the positional value that safety is an important position. There's no doubt about it.

and versatile players are important, and Harrison Smith has really proven that over the years. Certainly, Nicky Menwere did that this year, and there's been plenty of great safeties over the years, whether it's, you know, Ronnie Lott or, you know, John Lynch, like, that have played on these great teams. And I think if you have an exceptional game-changing safety, that they can be worth a high draft pick. But even going back when they picked Lewis Seen, one of my concerns there was, I didn't know that it was going to turn out the way that it did, but one of my concerns was the positional value that safeties are often available in free agency and they also are often available in other rounds of the draft where you can develop them from a second round pick, from a third round pick, you saw that

from Exaibir Watts, you can find them in free agency as the Vikings have at times in the past or develop players even from being undrafted free agents to turn out to be pretty good or Cambine, I'm a fourth round pick. Josh Mattelis, a sixth round pick. So, you know, it happens all the time that these guys are kind of everywhere that can play the safety position. But the other side of that is if you want someone to play it exceptionally, if you want someone to be a game changer in a defense that I think values safety higher, which, you know,

as I mentioned, Javon Holland, he was in Miami, that was a guy that they valued higher because in this defense, the safety is the one who's making a lot of the calls, a lot of the checks and changes, and he could come in and work with Josh Mattelis right away. I like the pick from that perspective. Also, when you get to the back half of the first round, I think that you do look for best fit type of players that you like the most. And even though positional value, the wide receivers, the offensive tackles, the corners, the edge rushers, and I think D.T. is sort of snuck its way in there.

you don't see as many linebackers, you don't see as many running backs, you don't see as many safeties taken high. And this discussion is going to go on with Caleb Downs a lot of like, is he worth the third overall draft pick when you play this position? But I think for Brian Flores specifically in the 2026 and beyond defense, as long as Flores is here, that Dylan Thineman makes a lot of sense. So let me know in the comment section what you guys think of that pick from Daniel Jeremiah's mock.

And just to scroll through his mock on the whole, every mock is going to start just like it did last year with Cam Ward with Fernando Mendoza at the top. David Bailey is a guy that seems like he's going to go in the top five going to the New York Jets. I won't read every one, but just kind of some of the interesting players, Tennessee, getting Ruben Bain. This is going to be next week, a big week for Ruben Bain, but in ways that he can't really control.

He can't. I mean, maybe he's, maybe he's like. dangling from the edge of a door or something every day to try to make his arms a little longer, but I think he will still end up being a top draft pick. The Giants getting Carnell Tate, where the wide receivers go is going to be super interesting to me because I will be very curious if the Vikings get to a spot where they're sitting at 18 and one of these top wide receiver prospects is on the board with uncertainty about where Jordan Addison is going and uncertainty at the quarterback position.

I mean, we'll know by then who the quarterback's going to be, but it's not going to be Joe Montana. So there's still going to be, hey, can JJ take another step or whatever? The best way to help that, can Kyler Murray, you know, revitalize his career, whatever the narrative is going to be. You know, it can help that be a success is, of course, if the wide receivers are there. So I, you know, I'm going to bang that drum again. I'm going to advocate if there is a good wide receiver prospect. for them to strongly consider it. Last year, now, Donovan Jackson, I think he should be very happy with.

But last year, I was talking about Luther Burden. That was kind of my guy for the Vikings, did very well with Chicago. And they feel good about having that extra playmaker. So I wouldn't count that out of a draft sim at some point for me, but not this most recent one. Arvel Reese drops to seven here. I wonder if that's going to happen. Mackay Lemon, the top wide receiver. He goes number eight to the new.

Orleans Saints. Caleb Downs all the way down at number 10. And then we see the run on corners. And this will also impact what the Vikings do as well. If Mansour Delane goes number 11, like they've got it here, Jermad McCoy is off the board already. And here is an interesting one is Emmanuel McNeil Warren. Daniel Jeremiah has him going all the way up at 13th, which is probably the highest that I have seen him ranked by anyone in any of these mock drafts. But he could be your classic. riser if when he goes to the combine and performs and puts on a show, then he could be someone that everyone says, oh, this is the next team in Warray or whatever else.

But him going at 13 really did surprise me to the Los Angeles Rams. Sunny Stiles is someone that I am keeping a very close eye on at 15. Because even though linebacker is not considered one of those positions, Sunny Stiles, I thought, was just as good of a player for Ohio State's defense as Caleb Downs and Arvel Reese. Now, that doesn't mean he's just as good of a prospect, but I thought in terms of performance, he was the linchpin to their defense, super, super instinctual coverage linebacker. Could be very valuable in a defense like this where we've seen, you know,

Eric Wilson step in and succeed. He's got maybe a little bit of versatility to him. So he goes 15th. I wonder, I mean, if he's on the board, would the Vikings consider that? Like, there's always someone who drops a little bit more than we expect. And then right before the Vikings is the Detroit Lions taking T.J. Parker, an edge rusher. And that seems very, very likely. So I was curious, though, and let me scroll here.

I actually didn't look. If Lee Hunter is another one to keep an eye on, Colton Hood, the corner, he does not have Ty Simpson going in the first round, but does have a lot of wide receivers. So there you have it. there is Daniel Jeremiah's mock draft. How would we feel if that ended up happening for the Minnesota Vikings? Now, I'm going to give you a moment to grade that one. And I'm going to show you my draft simulation, the one that I did today.

I ended up, wait, that's not the right one. Here we go. There it is. I ended up also taking a safety for the Minnesota Vikings. I traded down in my draft simulation from 18 to 22. And I did pass up on Caleb Banks when I traded down. Now, that would be a tough one because a six foot six, 300 and whatever pound defensive tackle with some pass rushing upside is very

attractive. And I think Downs looks to me like a very good prospect, another guy that it might be a big week for him at the combine. But I decided not to do that. And I moved back and I took with the 22nd pick, I made a deal with the Chargers, Emmanuel McNeil Warren. And I've been watching more of him,

been watching more breakdowns of him. And, well, coming from Toledo does mean that there might be somewhat of a curve, a development curve in comparison to Oregon with a player like Thinnaman that, you know, is really versatile right off the bat. This guy's physical tools are really, really exceptional. And also, wasn't it a Quinion Mitchell who came right from Toledo right into the NFL and was playing. I mean, it doesn't have to mean, like, just because the guy went to a school that isn't as

big as Oregon, it doesn't have to mean that he is someone's going to take years to develop. And, you know, there's players who come from Georgia who don't develop at all, which we've also seen. It can go either way. It really depends on the individual. So I went with Emmanuel McNeil Warren. And then in the second round, I took Sam Hect, the center from Kansas State, which, of course, PFF, was very.

very down. They thought I reached on McNeil Warren, which, you know, then Daniel Jeremiah has got him up at the top. So it looks like there's a debate over McNeil Warren. Sam Hecht, though, might be the best center in the draft. Jake Slaughter, Connor Lou, like, those are the three names to really watch. So Hecht was on the board. I decided to take him at 49, get them a starting safety, a starting center right off the bat. Then in the third round, I went skill players with the Emmett Johnson, the running back from Nebraska, the wide receiver from Tennessee, Chris Brazel the second.

And then I took a corner in the 97th pick. So I did a three-round mock and PFF gave me an F for some reason for this pick. But trade in Stukes is the guy's name is who I took. So I end up getting a couple DBs, a couple of weapons and a starting center in our most recent mock. And really the reality is it's draft. season, my friends. That's, that's what we've learned here today is that it is draft season on the show. So let's start to get your reaction to that. And then I'll go through my list of quarterback

competitions, Kyler Murray update, Fandual question of the day. We'll get into all of that. So I'm curious about what you guys think. I mean, when it comes to, you know, that safety position, I think if it was another team that it was a lot more replaceable, that I would probably say, I just don't like it. But in this spot, needing a commander of that defense, the way that this works out, I could definitely justify it when you're picking number 18. Folks, have you noticed that social media has now been around long enough to the point where you can see old posts of yourself only with a better hairline? Well, unless you're one of those genetically gifted few people with amazing hair for life,

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care for hair loss, ED, weight loss, and more. Visit hymns.com slash purple insider. That is hymns.com slash purple insider for your free online visit hymns.com slash purple insider. Individual results may vary based on studies of topical and oral monoxideal and finestrade. Feature products include compound drug products which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety, effectiveness, or quality. Prescription required. See website for details, restrictions. and important safety information. Mr. Mayor says, I think we need to approach the offseason, assuming that we're looking for long-term solution.

I don't think there's any chance of a rookie quarterback riding in on a white horse on the 27 draft. I mean, it depends on how this goes. I mean, you're right that it is possible that they could approach the quarterback position like they need a multi-year answer. So that would be a Kyler Murray. It might even be a Derek Carr over a couple of years,

years. It might be a Mac Jones over a couple of seasons. If it is just a one year filler, now I saw an update on Aaron Rogers that said that he might not even really be considering a return to Pittsburgh. So is Aaron Rogers the one year filler? But you're right about not assuming that the 2027 draft just has all of the answers at the quarterback position. And here's what we know. Like the Vikings aren't going to lose 13 games. Even if you, because you could always say, well, if they had terrible quarterback play that, no, they even ended up last year with a winning record. They ended up in 2023 with seven wins and a lot of close losses that year,

even when they didn't have good quarterback play overall. This isn't a team that's likely to completely collapse and be drafting at the top of 2007, which means that you might need a more viable multi-year answer and then someone to pick in 27. You could also, you know, try to be the team that moves up in the draft. I mean, that's far in the distance. I did write today about the Vikings timeline. And what I kept coming back to is, man, it's all about the quarterback.

The whole timeline is totally dictated by the quarterback. Jack. Jana says love Mr. Thinaman. Thinaman. Oh, is it Thinaman? I'm sorry. Is it Thineman?

I apologize. Thinaman. Okay. Gotcha. Appreciate that. Oregon fan. Okay. Thank you very much.

I had not seen the official pronunciation. Dylan Thinaman. Okay. Got it. Thank you very much. Matt says, don't hate it. He's a playmaker. has an impressive highlight reel.

Mr. Mayor, drafting a versatile playmaking safety, sounds like a fantastic idea in a post-hitman world. Matt's heard he had mistackle issues, but feel like all the things you can coach of a guy that's pretty high on the list. Yeah, I mean, mistackle is always a little bit tricky. I know that we went through this with a discussion last year. There was somebody, maybe it was Derek Harmon,

who had a high mistackle rate, and it will happen sometimes. with guys that are in on everything, and they'll get mistackles because they're just always around the football. And if they don't bring people down, then it's, well, he had this many mistackles. But maybe he shouldn't have even been there in the first place,

but he broke into the backfield or came downhill fast enough or whatever it might have been, that sometimes will pump up that. And also, I think you're right that you can coach it a little bit. I would be curious about the numbers for, if guys had struggles with tackling, if they also had struggles tackling in the NFL. I think the answer is probably yes, but of all the things, you're looking for someone who can blitz, someone who could cover in man, cover in zone, and then help out in the run game.

And if there's some mistackles from time to time, you can work your way through that. It wouldn't be a reason for me to not like someone in the first round if they've got those other skills. DLM says first round, no, second round, yes. I have seen Thinaman mocked in the second round at times as well. And I think that has a lot to do with just the positional value. And when you think about it, how good of a prospect, someone like Imun Ware was, you look at his physical freakishness from the combine last year,

had good production. And there were a lot of people that watched him play that said, you know, I think that the narrative about him maybe being raw or whatever was a little bit based on the maybe perception rather than reality of like, oh, it's the athletic freak who doesn't really know how to play versus Melichai Starks who was the guy who really knew football, but wasn't as athletic. I mean, it kind of fit this perfect, you know, this guy versus this guy type of situation. And a lot of people who really watched him play closely said that that's not really the case.

He isn't stiff as an athlete or he isn't somebody that, you know, had a very simple assignment or whatever, and he turned out to be a huge start right away. But that wasn't a high draft pick. I mean, that was somebody that was taken, what, was he early day two? Last year, someone that athletic with that much upside, which does make you think that Thineman could possibly be someone that is not needed to take at the 18th overall pick. And even, you know, Jeremiah having McNeil Warren in the top 15. And then, you know, PFF has not even a good grade for me getting him at number 22 because

they think he's going to go much more like in the second round. DLM says you could sign safeties still at a relatively low cost. You don't get the equity in the first round where you could get better value. Yes. And Holland was a second rounder. That is, that's right. Yeah. And I think if I'm not mistaken, Flores was the one who picked him, right?

So they could wait until the second round to do that. How it plays out. And when you start doing the draft simulations, And normally what I do is I will do a one time only draft sim. I will just start it up, fire it up, whatever. The first time through, I'll take it. But this last time, I was kind of like, I'm going to need to try a couple more times to get something that I feel like is more

realistic and to see how I want to play it from round one to round two. Because what they do in round one impacts round two. There's enough positions that the Vikings are looking for, that you could make a case for where you could say, well, if you get a defensive tackle in round one, then you might have to get your center in round two, or if you get your running back in round two, then you might have to get your center in round three, or maybe center is something that they will sign in free agency and won't be looking at in the draft by the time we get there.

Free agency is going to change a lot of stuff. But, I mean, I think that you're being very fair to say, I'm just not sure that the positional value is quite there. At the same time, you know, these first round, Harrison Smith was a first round safety. If you haven't heard, Kyle Hamilton was a first round safety. Derwin James. There's been the guys who have put their name in that conversation often have turned into very good players. Not always, but often.

Ron says hopefully hitman doesn't take as long as Aaron Rogers to decide. I think he'll figure it out shortly. I think it will be at least in the next couple of weeks. Mr. Mayor, Flores uses safeties like crazy. I feel we need a starter at the position if we can get one. And that's why, you know, Thineman is not a crazy idea, even if the positional value isn't there in general broadly. But for somebody who has to come in and play multiple different positions

and has to really understand a defense inside and out, that's maybe worth that kind of a draft pick for this specific. scenario. It's like back in the day, the Denver Broncos ran that outside zone all the time, right? Gary and Mike Shanahan and Elway. So they needed offensive linemen who could do that. And they needed a Tom Nalen, like, and I don't know why this is the example. Although, look, you can get it wrong that way. That is an example, but you can get it wrong that way. In that offense, you kind of need a star for the outside zone to really dominate. But the Vikings put a little too much emphasis on that and picked Garrett Bradbury in the first round.

So maybe, maybe just sticking to principles there. I don't know that the Vikings will stick to positional value principles because they haven't really done that in recent years. I mean, they picked a guard last year in the first round. Who's a good guard and guards are growing in importance, but still, you know, it's not like they've only picked edge rushers, wide receivers, corners, and so forth. But that would be a counter argument. If you say, hey, for this scenario, it makes a ton of sense.

Then you could say, well, so did Bradbury. And Bradbury's a starting center for a very long time. It's not like he was a miss of a draft pick. But if you don't get excellent play out of that guy, then you're going to say, you know, exactly what was, I think DLM was saying earlier of, I mean, then you're just not getting your bang for buck unless the guy's really great.

Sean says, love this pick. Don't get cute and try to trade. down, just pick the dude at 18 and get an instant day one starter. So when you say getting cute, the one issue I have with that is that it's often much better to trade down statistically. Like in my draft simulation, I end up getting an extra day two pick in the third round. That's better for me to trade down. I get what you're saying.

The Vikings traded down that one time and it blew up in their face. They also traded down when they drafted Darrasaw. and that was a great move by Rick Spielman to move back. And I think it was Vera Tucker ended up going to the New York Jets. And he's become a decent player. But they moved down and ended up still getting Derisaw and picking up extra draft capital. So it's not something that like, oh, it never works. It's often a good idea.

And to get more draft picks is really what they need to do in this draft for the long term. I don't expect them to take any sort of long term approach to this draft because they need starters right away. That's why you could see, you know, someone like, you know, Thinemann being picked this high because they want a starter right away. But they make no mistake. I mean, we need to also consider that the most efficient and smart things to do is how we should grade them. And trading down from 18 might be the most efficient and smart thing to do, rather than taking a safety there. Because that would feel like once again, there's, they're bucking those things that have been proven over a long period of time to work.

which you can do and still hit sometimes, but if you're going to consistently do that, it may bite you. KFT says Thineman is not worth taking in the first round. They should take a defensive tackle or corner. De Mani Jackson is the fifth round cornerback that could be an outstanding safety. Okay, I haven't gotten that deep into fifth round safeties yet.

DLM says in this mock, Peter Woods is still on the board. No way I'm passing on Woods for a safety that isn't K. downs. I'm not so sure what to do with Woods because when I look at his data, it's just not that impressive. And that's a position that is correlated very strongly with if you have this, this level of pass rush win rate, this level of, you know, quarterback pressures and so forth, it's very predictive for what guys are going to be. But if you're below that, it's usually been predictive of guys that do not reach their ceiling as a pass rusher. Now,

maybe Woods would be a dominant run defender and that could be worth more than it used to be. But if you want to talk about a position that's generally replaceable like in free agency, run stuffing DT is is often that. I guess I'm going to have to see more about Peter Woods and what the analysts think of him because it's felt like he's the top name that's been out there and thrown about. And yet it's just hard to find like where is the special part of him? if Thineman, the special part is that he's super versatile, high intelligence, can do a lot of different things. Well, that makes sense to me.

But if you're talking about, well, he's, he's kind of good as a run stuffer, kind of good as a pass rusher, is the upside really there? At the same time, you usually have to get good defensive tackles in the first round. That has been clearly proven, whereas safeties you can get in other places. I think it's fair argument. DLM says, Denzel Boston could be a nice pick at wide receiver. You are not going to have to twist my arm to get me to like wide receiver picks. Definitely not.

I think they should do it. I mean, if you're giving me my choice right now, if you said they have to stay at number 18, what should they do? I would say take the best wide receiver on the board. Because yes, you have these other, well, you need a safety, well, you need a defensive tackle, well, you need a center. but who's going to bring more value right away if the guy clicks. And then in the long term, it allows you if the person works out to walk away from

Jordan Addison and then have another cheap wide receiver next to Justin Jefferson also gives you a year to find out if that guy is going to be something for the future. It was the same logic of picking Ty Felton last year. I don't know what Felton's going to be, but more rolls at the dice at the wide receiver position. Felton was also the last pick of the third round. Like, that's much more likely to become a role player as opposed to a first rounder where you're taking right in that same ballpark is where you got Justin Jefferson.

The potential is very, very high. I mean, Jackson Smith, the Jigbo was not the first pick overall, right? You've seen a lot of successful picks in the middle or back end of the first round at the wide receiver position. I'm going to bang the table for it as always. But, you know, in doing my draft sim, was trying to be kind of realistic of slide down a few spots, take a big time potential playmaker,

and then fill some needs rather than taking the guy that I know I would take, which is, yeah, Denzel Boston if he was on the board. KFT, I think McNeil Warren could end up being perennial pro bowl safety, but I would be reluctant to take him at pick 18. That's kind of why I traded down and took him, because his physical tools look that way as well. They look like if you meet a certain threshold, the physical ability at the safety position, then you can make an impact that's different.

That's just on another level from what your average good safety can do. So if McNeil Warren is that guy and you trade down and you grab some extra draft capital and then do it. But Jeremiah's draft having him go at 13 is wild. Whoa, okay. So is the league turning into, you know, all about the safeties? And what we hear is this draft just not being the same in. terms of depth of talent might, you know, push some teams to go get their guy early on rather

than saying, well, positional value, whatever like, no, we just like this guy and this is not a great draft, so we're doing it. Zen Clover, uh, brazil in the third. I'm thinking he will go early to mid-second. Great pick if he's still there. Yeah, so I was looking at his trend line today before I drafted him. Uh, one of the things that's nice in PFF's mock draft simulators, they have where guys are been have been moving in mocks and big boards and his dropped, but it was pretty high,

like in the second round, every year has a guy or two that just sneaks through the cracks because of the way the cookie crumbles and I grabbed him there. But I think that if you are going to go with defense early, try to fill that center spot, then you are looking at trying to get those skill players later on. DLM says Emmett Johnson, the third would be nice. This is not from my understanding, a running back class that has a bunch of guys that are expected to be next level. But Emmett Johnson is a very smooth runner. I saw a good amount of him this year with Nebraska.

I like him as a fit. What I'd really like for the Vikings is somebody who ran like a 4-29 and had rockets in their feet. That's not really him, but young legs could be used in that backfield. and just feels like they haven't had a lot of bursts since Delvin Cook was here in quite some time. SWAT, what do you think of Max Bredison for the last pick? Is that a fullback? You said FB. Is that a fullback?

I don't know. I don't know who that is. If that's a fullback, then yes. The answer is yes. Justin is a Washington-based Oregon fan, Vikings fan. Okay. Jay says your draft is like Quasi, you're fired. How's it like, I mean, you trade down and draft a safety.

I get it. It's really, what it actually is, is trying to project what coaches would do if they're doing it. That's what I've been doing with the draft sim. I have not yet done a, I do the draft sim as me as the GM. I've been doing it as what's a realistic projection of how I think they're going to approach it. So just for the record, even when, I did the, you know, Kristen Miller pick a couple of days ago. I think I got Jake Slaughter too.

It's still how can they fill the needs that they might want to fill in the draft and not so much, hey, this is what old Purple Insider would do. Purple Insiders taking a wide receiver, breaking news. And I'll get whatever else I need later. But I'm, that's what I'm taking in the first round. If there's one there when I do the, like this is exactly what, what I would do in my theoretical world. Just call you Kib.

Like Thinaman, my question is how much can we trust PFF? They have them available in the second in most mocks. Well, you can't trust anyone's mocks because they're just mocks and no one knows how it's going to play out. But there is a little bit of, I think, positional value that's built into that with the PFF board, that PFF, of course, is going to usually push down centers, running backs, linebackers, safeties, because those tend, and interior offensive linemen, because those tend to be the positions that are not paid as much in the NFL. And when we talk about positional value, that's really what it

means. You hear it all the time. It's not just, does this matter to your football team? It's that 32 teams have decided what matters the most to your football team. And they have decided that the guys who get paid are wide receivers, edge rushers, and what you're looking for is the widest possible gap between your young rookie player and what the top free agents are being paid. So if you draft Justin Jefferson in 2020 and he is instantly a top three wide receiver in the NFL, then your gap between what the top receivers are making at that time, which was probably 20 million and Jefferson making, I don't know, four is that's value. you right there, that's positional value.

Whereas if you draft a safety and the top safeties are making, I mean, right now, top quarterbacks now are making 60 and wide receivers are making 40, safeties are still making like 20? I mean, so if you draft the top guy versus the top paid, your positional value is not the same, if that makes sense, is that gap surplus value between what you're getting? but in terms of like an actual impact on the field, I think that in certain circumstances,

you have safeties and centers and linebackers. Fred Warner was a third round draft pick, but he's an example of if you get somebody that good. That's what I think of those positions, though. It has to be that good in order to justify it. So can Thineman or McNeil Warren, can they be that good to justify that high of a draft pick? But in terms of can you trust this?

mock or trust that. No, I mean, I don't know. Nobody really knows exactly how it's going to play out. I think that we'll see more and more compressed after the combine. After everybody goes there, after there's a lot of chatter, a lot of conversations going on after we've got all the data, then you'll be able to check off some boxes for some guys or say, wow, okay, this guy's definitely going higher than we expected because look what he did at the combine.

we'll have, I think, a little more closer to consensus there. But there's going to be differing opinions. How much somebody fits in a certain environment is going to differ sometimes. Nano Joe is Theo Jackson replaceable. Yeah, I mean, I think Theo Jackson, by the end of the year, you saw that he is a role player. Like, he can be in there.

I think in nickel, dime packages, third downs. I don't know that he's in every single down type player. more of a deep safety that can make plays on the football, but his issue was coming up in run defense. And that's why we saw more of Jay Ward. Now, they might like Jay Ward, Josh Mattelis, Theo Jackson as a trio. I just don't know if they do.

I think you want to have Mattelis in the box as much as you possibly can. Jay says that was a terrible draft. I would grade it a D or you must be talking about my draft. You really hated it, huh? Let's go, let's go back to it. So I end up getting a top safety prospect, a starting center, a starting running back, a wide receiver, and then a corner depth. You really hated it that much, huh?

I mean, those seem like things that would be realistic for the Vikings to draft. If you're putting yourself in their shoes and you're saying, all right, well, let's just assume Harrison Smith just retired. Let's look at the center position, which is not easily replaced. There's three guys worth anything in free agency. Linderbom is not coming here more likely than not because of his price. Luke Fortner, Cade Mays. These are just guys at that position.

Fortner might be a bit above. But we're not talking about exceptional. So you might need to draft a center. Again, I know that these are not the top positional value. It just feels really realistic is what they would look for. They need someone in the backfield. They could use another wide receiver weapon. I don't know.

if, I mean, if they did that, you could certainly say that you didn't like it. If they did it. That's what I was trying to do is project what they might be thinking. DLM says, Brian Parker is a beast that the guy from Duke. Offensive lineman might be a little later on. Jay thinks that Thineman will go before the next pick that the bikes have in the second round, which I think is also probably true. If you're a very good safety prospect, the latest you're going to go is maybe the

top half of day two if you're a good one. KFT like Chris Johnson from San Diego State. I've seen his name pop up a few times. It seems like we're just kind of throwing out names, though, at that point. Viking Vikings TW. What are the analytics saying about Lee Hunter? So with all the defensive tackles, there's, I haven't found any numbers that say, wow. Like, remember a couple years ago with Colijah Kans.

is just, wow, this guy's numbers are unbelievable, but he's undersized or whatever. Lee Hunter's numbers are fine. They look like kind of an above average type of second round prospect to me at the defensive tackle position. My understanding is at the senior bowl, he was very good, but they don't blow you away, Lee Hunter's data. And that's the issue with the defensive tackle group is even like Caleb Banks has got good numbers for 2024.

then he had an injury. So that one's a little bit hard to tell. Denny says Vikings like to think they're playing chess in the draft, but it's been more like Parchisi. Well, it's been, it would be like playing chess with half the pieces is really what it is. I don't think that, I don't think that the Vikings have done anything in years that was bold in the draft.

I really don't. I don't even think that 2002 was that bold. They got a bevy of picks to trade back. Then they made a trade up to get Andrew Booth Jr. The guys just didn't work out. I didn't think it was nuts what they did. It was probably overdoing it. But even then when you looked at it, it's like, well, you know, some charts like it.

Some charts don't like it. But if those players had worked out, no one would have had any complaints. I was not for trading back that far. My issue is that that's where the Hall of Famers are drafted normally in the top 15. So take your swing at trying to get a Pro Bowl or all. pro Hall of Fame type of player rather than moving completely out of that position to where it's just dice rolls and guys with lower ceilings and guys that are more flawed that the hit rates drop so significantly from the top 12 to 14 to the back end of the first that I just

wasn't interested in doing that. And I remember being a little bit critiqued by Vikings fans that night when I was not very high on what they did, but I would still say it's a shock that those players didn't work out that well. And then the last couple drafts, I mean, there's been nothing bold there at all. There hasn't been 3D chess. It's just been as routine as you could possibly get for drafting as average and unexciting, which has worked out in some ways, Jordan Addison and I think Donovan Jackson. I guess the, okay, the bold one was Dallas Turner, which is as far as what,

Dallas Turner is is still yet to be determined. I think he showed a lot of flashes last year and had overall pretty good seasons, mostly a good second half of the season. Okay, that was bold. That was bold. But out of the entire time of drafting, it's not like, I never felt like, wow, they're trying to hack the draft. It never felt like that.

It felt like, well, this is another team in the league who's doing stuff. So maybe this year that'll change, but I'd be surprised. That's why the draft sim ends up as being like, yeah, that's pretty much. what I would expect from them is to try to fill needs with good prospects, but not exactly looking at, well, they're going to make crazy trades or they're going to, you know, get a wide receiver. I mean, they might get a wide receiver, but they're going to get a wide receiver because it's the most positional value or whatever.

Like, I don't really expect that. If they do, then I will be delighted because that's kind of my thing. But as of right now, I wouldn't be surprised if they went with something like safety and center with the first two picks. Sort of like where they were in 2019 when they picked Bradbury and Irv Smith. It's like, we need a center. We need a tight end.

We're desperate to win this year because we all know we're in big trouble if we don't. So we're filling needs. It's not theoretically the best way to do it, but sometimes it works out. Dan, which players who may be, who may realistically fall to the top 10 might be worth a trade up? Well, let's go back to. Daniel Jeremiah's draft here and take a look. Let's, here we go.

So what guys that are in the top 10-ish could drop out? Well, there's a lot of edge players in this draft and there's a lot of linemen, which could mean, so Sunny Stiles is probably my answer to that, the Ohio State linebacker. He's got him at 15, but now trading up is not my favorite for this Viking situation, but could they do that if they were looking for somebody special like Sunny Stiles or if they were looking at a receiver and they wanted Jordan Tyson or one of these corners.

I think Mansour Delane, remember with corners, these mocks always have corners super high and it doesn't always work out that way. I mean, you could say that for a lot of different positions, but I'm just thinking of the Joey Porter Jr. This guy's a top 15 draft pick, doesn't end up being taken there. so there's always a corner that sinks. I mean, the answer is probably pretty clearly Caleb Downs or Jeremiah Love. I mean, everyone has the Kansas City Chiefs taking Jeremiah Love.

They've kind of signaled that from space that they would like to do that. But, and their backfield has just not been that good. But Caleb Downs is probably the answer to that question for me that, you know, if you're going to talk about a player that if they started to slide down the board a little bit, that you would mortgage some future to go get, it's probably him and he's probably worth it. Scamping around, can a safety, rookie safety learn to get enough of 80 to 90%

of Harrison Smith's ability to manipulate the defensive play calling? So no, they can't. I mean, even if you're a very high IQ player currently, it's hard to get to 90% of Harrison Smith because that guy is 37 and has been a great NFL player who's seen everything and anything. But what you could do is have someone still be a versatile piece, have Josh Mattelis called the defense and take over that Harrison Smith role, and someone like Dylan

Thineman or Emmanuel McNeil Warren play next to him. And they're just doing their job. They're just, all right, that guy's making the calls and you're hearing the call and doing what you're supposed to do. But their physical ability, their versatility, like that's what's making a difference early on. And then your hope is that long term, they are able to develop that six cents and continue to be a really good player.

But you can be an impact player right away with what I think is instincts is such a huge deal at the safety position. And this is having seen Cambinem workout, high IQ, great instincts. And Anthony Harris, high IQ, great instincts. Anderson DeHo is maybe a little bit of a different player. because he was a rocket out there that sometimes was out of control with the way he hit people, but he had good instincts for going and get the football. And he would get interceptions and was a high IQ football player next to Harrison Smith.

Their communication was great. So you can have that success right away and then build into what you're trying to get ultimately because, you know, no one's going to come in and be able to be Harrison Smith. It would be Josh Mattelis handling that right away. Mr. Mayor, I think that Cashman takes over quarterback of the defense role. Doesn't exactly work that way because, well, he, I mean, he's the defensive play caller. So he is in charge of what he's in charge of. But it doesn't work that way in terms of like he's not going to suddenly call the secondary.

That's got to be a safety. I mean, I guess it could be a corner to some extent. Byron Murphy is involved in the communication, but it really has to be a safety that's making the moves from back there. and playing that chess game with the quarterback. And Cashman is more involved in the front seven and how they align themselves and so forth. But I mean, these guys are all important. Like Byron Murphy at corner and the safety who's calling out the defense there and the linebacker who's taking in the plays.

Like all these guys are very important in terms of the communication of the defense, which is at the very top of reasons that Brian Flores has had so much success. Let's see. Denny says things hitman is coming back. I never know with Harrison. He's a mysterious man. It really felt like it was over at the end. Really felt like it was not going to continue into this year

with how emotional he was about those last games. But, you know, things could change in a couple of months. Matt says could live with love at 18. Don't really see a top 10 talent. I mean, I think Jeremiah Love is a top. 10 talent in this draft. And it really is going to come down to if somebody wants to make the investment in a running back, which we've seen teams do.

We've seen Jemir Gibbs. We've seen Bejan Robinson. It's not like the league has collectively fully decided. We are never going to do this. And in a draft like this, for sure, you could see somebody saying, well, why not reach to just get the best player? If he were to get to like 13 or 14, would the Vikings say, all right, let's just just go for it. I wouldn't endorse that necessarily, but man, you know, we never really talk about

this. It's so, so much of like, it's KOC's fault, it's fault with the run game. And I don't disagree that the run identity has not really been there. Run scheme, I think, has been just average. It's just another run scheme in the league. There's nothing about it that really shines. But also, who have they had in the backfield that's been really good? I mean, the first half of a 2022 with Delvin Cook, where it seemed like he still had burst. He was over five yards of carry. And that wasn't a great offensive line. But they have not had anybody in that backfield that you would say, man,

they can get that ball and make something special happen. Aaron Jones has been good. And I thought Jordan Mason was good last year. I thought that Alexander Madison was good in a certain role, not as the starter, but it was. And you even had some moments. of Ty Chandler that were good. But somebody who is a true, complete,

excellent running back in the backfield is something that Kevin O'Connell has not had. And a lot of times, I mean, that's what anything comes down to as we saw at the quarterback position. But it goes for anything. It's if you've got a really good quarterback, if you've got wide receivers who get open,

if you've got an offensive line, like all these things can make the play caller look so much smarter or so much dumber than they actually are.