Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Danielle Hunter's second opinion, another cornerback combo and how well you know the Texans

Episode Date: October 3, 2020

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and maybe the Vikings will win one of them before too long. Do you want to start out with that? I've got lots to get to here with Daniil Hunter news via his own social media and then confirmed by Mike Zimmer. But do you usually end a podcast with, hey, do you think they'll win? But how about we start with it? Do you think they'll win? I don't know.

I don't even know how to answer that. This is such a weird year. And I thought they were going to win in week two, and then they were horrible. And then I thought they were going to win in week two, and then they were horrible. And then I thought they were going to lose last week, but I had kind of a weird feeling that they might win because that's kind of what they do when no one expects anything of them. Then they suddenly play well, and they did, but of course they found a way to lose the game.

Steven Gostkowski made six field goals. It was a whole – it was actually a pretty entertaining game at least. But this week I don't even know because the Texans are 0-3, but they've played the Chiefs, Ravens, and Steelers, which are probably the three best teams in the AFC. I still think they've got a lot of talent on offense, and then they've got Deshaun Watson. So with no Mike Hughes, it doesn't even really matter who's back there

at corner for the Vikings right now. They're all young. They're all probably going to get burned for six of eight catches for 80 yards. So I don't know. I could see another fairly high-scoring game. I don't know how losing a day of practice is going to affect things or if that will affect things with that whole Titans coronavirus scare this week, but we'll see. What do you think is going to happen?

Well, I think that I'll throw this stat out there if I haven't mentioned it on the podcast yet because I ran the numbers and used the quarterback rating calculator. And when opposing quarterbacks are throwing at Vikings corners, they have 135.6 quarterback rating. So basically they are way better than Patrick Mahomes when trying to throw at the Vikings corners they are having a ton of success so far I don't think that that changes a lot even though my respect for whatever's left of Brandon

Cooks isn't that high Will Fuller is good Randall Cobb is not a scary wide receiver, but if you forget to cover someone entirely, as the Vikings have each week, including Kalief Raymond last year, I'm sorry, last week, then you give up giant plays to pretty much anybody with two legs. And I don't see that changing with this week, that Deshaun Watson is terrific at throwing down the field, and even if they start to perform a little bit better, you're still talking about big mistakes that lead to huge explosive plays. I don't think that that's going to change right now. Maybe by week 12, they'll have that somewhat figured out,

but I don't think it's going to change week four, especially with the shortened practice. And I think we're looking at another shootout, which is okay. And this is what I was trying to say right after the Tennessee game is strap yourself in and enjoy the ride. And if it's crazy each week and they lose to Seattle 42-36 or something, and they lose to Deshaun Watson 38-31, at least it'll be fun. And probably that means Justin Jefferson has played awesome.

And I kind of think that's how this is going to play out, that the Texans will win, but you'll still walk away going, well, Justin Jefferson had another 100 yards, so you can't feel bad about that one. Yeah, I think we could see plenty more of those games, although I am worried that there might be some more Colts-like performances mixed in there, given what we've seen from the interior offensive line and what we've seen from Kirk Cousins both this year and in the past

with just randomly having those atrocious games where, I mean, he has six picks already. He probably should only have like three, but I think they're still going to play Drew Samia this week. If he lines up against J.J. Watt, that could be a disaster. I mean, will be a disaster. So we'll see what happens there. I think there's going to be a mix of some of those shootouts and then the Vikings might also lay a few eggs on offense because I'm not totally convinced that will be a disaster. So we'll see what happens there. I think there's going to be a mix of some of those shootouts, and then the Vikings might also lay a few eggs on offense because I'm not totally convinced that they are going to be really good on that side of the ball every week now. But we'll see.

With the wide receivers, it's going to be interesting because, like you mentioned, Cooks and Fuller and Cobb, none of those guys are stars. And that DeAndre Hopkins trade obviously was horrible, but those are three guys that are NFL caliber receivers. They're all pretty fast. I mean, maybe not Cobb at this point, but Cooks and Fuller can stretch a defense. I asked Harrison Smith just now about the speed of those receivers and what they might have to do to prevent guys from getting over the top, which we've seen from Marquez Valdez-Scantling and Alan Lazard

and Kalief Raymond last week. He kind of said that all receivers in the NFL are fast, which surprised me a little bit considering he was a former teammate of Laquan Shredwell. Wow, rolled it. Got him. But I think that's a legitimate concern, that the Titans have fast receivers. Deshaun Watson can move around. He doesn't have a great offensive line either.

He's been sacked 13 times. Only Joe Burrow has been sacked more. But Watson's going to move around, and he's going to take some shots, and it'll be interesting to see if the Vikings can avoid giving up some of those big plays. I am excited to see Cameron Dantzler this week back for the first time. I think people have kind of forgotten a little bit about how impressive he was in training camp because the one sample we've had in the regular season was that game against Aaron Rodgers where he actually had a decent PFF grade. It was like 60 or something, whereas Gladney and Hill and Hughes have mostly been in the 40s. But

I mean, he gave up a few big plays that stand out. But I'm excited to watch Dantzler this week. I think Gladney in the slot is a better spot for him. Maybe Holton Hill will show some signs of life eventually, but we'll see. Yeah, I think that what has the potential to happen here is that if Cam Dantzler plays well, then when Mike Hughes returns, which he has not been placed on IR, so I'm expecting that they didn't think he was going to be out more than this week I guess that's what because now you could put guys on IR for just three weeks which I by the way as an aside like way better and I'm sure the teams do definitely than having to put guys on for the

whole season or half the season this is a better option to have it be like a DL in baseball and I don't know why this hasn't happened before and I I hope they keep it this way, and I'm sure teams do too. But when Hughes returns, assuming that he does, then I think it might be Holton Hill who's the odd man out because he's the one who's had several years of development. There's no, hey, but he could. All he needs is a little of whatever. You should be performing at a much higher level at this point, even a couple of games into the season.

So with Dantzler and Gladney, those guys have ceilings that they are far away from. And with Mike Hughes, you really just need to find out, can this guy play? And do you want to go forward with him? And to even miss two weeks is a pretty big setback for a guy that's had so many injury issues before,

but now, and I saw your tweet and I'm going to embed it in my article that I'm doing. Cause it was perfect of just the combinations of corners. It's been different each week. I mean, how hard is it to develop these guys when, Hey, Jeff Gladney, guess what? You're an inside corner. Now we know you were an outside corner before, but we really don't have anybody. And Chris Boyd gets in the game and he does okay. And then, okay, now he's out. So it's just, well, doubtful technically, but it's been such a cluster bleep with the corners where it's hard to even just say, hey guys, go in there, play your hearts out. You're going to have some tough times, but develop. It's just been throwing

them in and out into different positions. And I don't think we have a good sense or will have a good sense after this game for how far they've come in the first quarter of the season. Yeah, I definitely agree with that assessment that when Hughes returns, and it's a little concerning that he's now missed two straight games with the neck injury. I know Zimmer said, I believe it was Zimmer who said it's not related to the neck injury, that the broken vertebra that kept him out of the two playoff games last year. But given that history, it's a little concerning. But, yeah, the fact that they didn't put him on IR, hopefully we'll see him back next week against the Seahawks.

But I think once he does come back, yeah, they're going to keep Gladney and Dantzler in there because those are your two rookies. Those are the guys that you want to get a good long look at and hopefully start to develop for next season and beyond. So given that Hill has struggled, I think that's going to be the three that you see once Hughes comes back, considering both those guys are 2018 guys, Hughes and Hill, but one's a first-round pick, one's an undrafted free agent. So you're still trying to figure out what you have in Hughes,

and Hill could be a good depth piece going forward. I was a little discouraged by these first few games because I thought Colton Hill be a good depth piece going forward. I was a little discouraged by these first few games because I thought Hilton Hill had a good training camp, but yeah, it's been kind of a mess. Their fourth different trio of corners in as many weeks, so hopefully by midseason, by later in the season, we're locked in on the same three every week and we can start to see some progress. There's just things that keep happening with Hilton Hill that shouldn't be happening by year three. Just, you know, giving up third down and seven where he's playing too soft and not attacking after a break, not knocking the heck out of Phillip Rivers when he had a chance to

take him down and even just send a little message there. I mean, it's just been way too easy for opposing teams to target someone who's supposed to be coming along. And so I think he's on the edge here. And I'm much more interested to see what Cam Dantzler can do. And I think that probably the coaching staff is getting there too. All right, so we're both on kind of the same page with Houston wins a shootout. Now the Daniil Hunter issue. Something stands out to me right away with this is that Daniil Hunter issue, something stands out to me right away with this is that Daniil Hunter said something on social media to tip everyone off to where he was and essentially what he's doing in terms of getting a second opinion. Now that right there is unusual because Mike Zimmer

is very, very adamant that players do not reveal what is going on with them in terms of injuries to the media or to the public. And he always has been very aggressive on this point that he does not want, he doesn't talk about injuries to the media when we ask him. He certainly does not do it honestly when he said it was a tweak. And I don't believe him when he talks about Mike Hughes injury not connecting to last year. I can't say for sure that I believe him on that because he Mike Hughes injury not connecting to last year I can't say for sure that I believe him on that because he is simply just not told the truth when it comes to injuries and the fact that Daniil Hunter would kind of hint to everybody hey look here's what's going on

is interesting to me because Hunter has been around long enough to know that that would not be something that goes over particularly well with his coach. Yeah, that was interesting. I mean, the thing you're referencing on Thursday, Daniil putting the kind of a video of him in Times Square in New York City, and Zimmer said today that he's seeking a second opinion on what I believe is a herniated disc in his neck or something. Courtney Cronin had some more medical term that she tweeted today. But, yeah, it's interesting. I mean, it seems like something obviously that's more serious than a tweak. But I'm sure we'll get into this.

I mean, I don't know. I'm not a doctor. I have no knowledge of what this means for how long he needs before this starts to heal or what the pain management is like or what. But it seems like something that at the very least is going to keep him out until week six, seven, or eight. And potentially, and I wrote about this, I tweeted about this in the past, like if they keep losing,

I don't know that there's much incentive to try to bring him back if there's any sort of long-term risk. I mean, this guy is probably the best player on your team. He's still only 25. It would be an unfortunate break for him to miss an entire year when he's potentially chasing all-time sack records in Vikings history and things like that. And just a very competitive guy who I'm sure wants to be out there.

But I don't know what your opinion on this, but it seems like if this is something that continues to linger, I don't know that there's much reason to, to kind of have him come back. Well, what I hear when I hear second opinion is surgery is what usually is connected to second opinion is probably someone told him, and I'm entirely speculating. I have not seen anyone say this but usually when those words come up someone has told you you have to get surgery and then you go to someone else to see if they agree before you do it and if that has to happen and he has to miss an entire year for long term his neck to be in a better place in the future so he can come back in 2021 and be the

same Daniil Hunter then if you're the Vikings, you encourage him to do so. If you're Mike Zimmer, I'm sure that that really upsets you because you probably wanted him back for this game to chase around Deshaun Watson and for you because coaches just have an entirely different mentality. And it's the reason they really shouldn't have any involvement in injuries at all because they're always going to push guys to come back, and there have been some conversations about this being an issue at times with Zimmer pushing guys to come back.

But just circling back to Hunter, if he has to miss the season, I think all of us from an objective view can say, who cares, right? I mean, give Afadi Adenabo as many shots as you want. He had a really good game last week. Let's see if he can continue that and get comfortable playing all the time at that position. And then maybe you, you know, keep him around or he gets a big contract. Yeah, you keep playing DJ Wanham. You keep seeing if Jalen Holmes is worth the second contract, maybe, things like that.

I think the attitude on that has probably shifted a lot in the past just three weeks. From beginning of this season, everyone was panicking about Hunter and when can we get him back and obviously how important he is. Now you lose three games and of course, fans are fans. They're all over the tank for Trevor stuff and I think nobody would be too upset to not see Daniel Hunter come back. Given that it probably means the Vikings defense is going to be worse. Want to remind you to go to sodastick.com to get all of your original Minnesota sports inspired goods.

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you have a situational rusher there uh you know if Afadi Adenabo shows he could be a defensive end maybe not saying this is going to happen but maybe you reconsider signing Yannick Ngakwe long term or something like that like a lot can change as we go forward but I see no reason at this point unless you were talking about and they might not have the benefit of this much time to make a decision if it is a surgery or something like that but if you were talking about this team getting hot winning four games in a row and all of a sudden they're four and three let's say they just shock the world and beat Seattle crazier things have happened not much crazier but not predicting it no but I'm saying crazier things have happened um not much crazier but not predicting it no but I'm

saying crazier things have happened uh there was a Houston team just a couple years ago who went oh and three and then made the playoffs so let's just say then maybe you'd be talking about Daniel Hunter potentially changing his mind if it is not a surgery related type of thing I just wonder about the other sort of like, I don't know what you call it, like lingering element of all of this is, is Daniil Hunter happy with his situation here, including his contract.

He's not the type of guy to say it. I don't know if his agent is the type of guy to come out and say it or, or leak it through Adam Schefter, but we know this. Daniil Hunter is vastly underpaid. And what led to DeAndre Hopkins being traded by the Texans is he was vastly through Adam Schefter, but we know this. Daniil Hunter is vastly underpaid. And what led to DeAndre Hopkins being traded by the Texans is he was vastly underpaid and he wanted to be paid like a top receiver, and they said no. And, I mean, the Vikings have just said yes to everyone when it comes to money, so we assumed that they would say yes and rework something with Hunter.

But if that hasn't happened or those talks have not been approached or if there's any tension there about his contract, that could add into where this ends up going. Yeah, so maybe are you putting on the tinfoil hat a little bit with his post from New York and maybe some discord there? I'm not too worried about that just yet. I think, like you said, the Vikings have such a tradition of paying guys like that, and especially Hunter, who, I mean, there's zero off-the-field concerns.

He doesn't even really say anything. He's a model guy, a teammate, just works super hard. I think if they feel like he's under pay, and he is under pay, I think that something will get worked out there. The one other last thing I'll touch on with this that you alluded to a little bit is how it works with Ngakwe. And I think part of the reason he might have been sold on coming here was playing with Daniil Hunter and having that elite edge rusher tandem.

And he talked before the season about, like, when you talk about edge rusher, he wants people to talk about Daniil and Yannick. And if that pairing never comes together, if Hunter misses the whole season, and I'm sure Ngakwe didn't come here anticipating playing for a 4-12 team because he just had the opportunity to do that the last couple years in Jacksonville. I wonder if that affects his opinion on staying in Minnesota long-term. Maybe they could sell him on, okay, this year sucked, but Hunter's coming back next year and you can actually have that duo if you stay.

And this defense is growing, and some signs of improvement, I think, will need to be showed. I don't think this team's going to go 2-14. We've talked about this. But if they can get some positive momentum and kind of sell him on having a big season in 2021, which I think the pieces are in place to do, then maybe you sign him to a long-term deal, which was the reason to give up a second-round pick for him in the first place.

But I do think there's an outside shot that maybe he's kind of fed up and he's like, I didn't come here to lose. All right, I'm going to hit free agency and go somewhere else where maybe my quarterback isn't going to be Kirk Cousins. So real quick on the tinfoil hat to Neil Hunter, it's the Vikings. You have to discuss all potential avenues. That's all I'm saying. A lot of speculation there, a lot of like pushing the edges of what could be going on in terms of speculation. But just having seen some of these

things play out in the past, the Sheree Floyd thing coming to mind for me, you just, sometimes there are things working behind the scenes that we don't really know out front and so we have to kind of wonder i guess aloud so i'm putting that all under the speculation category not the sources are telling me yeah so i just want to make an important disclaimer right uh now on ngakwe i was asked about which players the Vikings might trade at the deadline, and the obvious names, you know, Anthony Harris, Riley Reif, potentially Kyle Rudolph if he wants to go chase a championship with somebody. But Yaniki Ngakwe is sort of interesting. If they went to Ngakwe and said, so next year, how are you feeling?

And he said, well, A, I'm not playing on a franchise tag, so don't even try that. And B, I'm going to be very expensive, and I'm not sure I want to actually sign here now. I mean, if somebody calls you up and says, we'll give you a second-round pick or a first-round pick for Yannick Ngakwe, I guess it would have to be a first, and they'd have to be desperate. But if that happened, he's the guy that I put in terms of the most interesting to watch here because he was already unhappy enough to force his way out of one losing situation.

Would he be again in this situation? It's definitely worth thinking about. I mean, just over these past few games, he's shown how good he is. There's no doubt about that. And there was never a question about that based on his four-year track record. But these last two games, I mean, he has such a crazy ability to get the ball out. Andre Patterson was talking about it. He has two sacks already, and he hasn't got the quarterback on the ground yet,

but he's gotten the football out twice. So I can see potentially a team that feels like maybe they're one edge rusher away from having a really, really good defense. Off the top of my head, I can't think of who that might be down the stretch. Seattle is who I think of. Seattle, yeah. They traded their first-round picks, though of who that might be down seattle that's who i think of seattle yeah they traded their first round picks though for uh jamal adams but okay but you know and players or other picks or whatever if ngakwe is unhappy so a team like seattle though who can't pressure the quarterback desperately needs someone it's an inspiring

contract like i don't expect to happen i I think you always want to, as general manager, you want to look like you won the trade. So if you trade for somebody and then trade them right back out of here for less, you look like a fool. So they can't really do it. But you mentioned just how he might perceive this, Yanni Ngakwe himself, and that's the extra wrinkle that's thrown into it. Yeah, if he, like you said, if he gives kind of those indications that maybe he's not thrilled

with how this is all played out, then maybe the Vikings could be convinced to do something. Otherwise, I don't think they would want to just for the optics of it and just because he's really good and salary cap problems are going to arise. But I think it's worth probably paying him instead of paying like Anthony Harris, for example. So that could be interesting. I don't know if a team is going to give up a first-round pick for him when he was just traded for a second, but I guess a late first and what's going to be an early second for the Vikings aren't that far off.

So, yeah, that'll be very interesting to watch. But for now, we can just enjoy watching him and hopefully see if he can take down Deshaun Watson a couple times as we go. Yeah, it just comes to mind if you're Casey or something and Frank Clark gets hurt. You start looking around and go, well, any year we have Mahomes, we can win the Super Bowl. So maybe we would do something like that. But that's a little ways off, as you mentioned. Now, here's a question just sort of in a broad manner for you. A lot of players that the Vikings have drafted and tried to develop have just been bad in these first few weeks. Guys who are getting their first real

opportunities. Hey, this guy's getting his big old shot, and he's really excited in training camp, and so far in the first three weeks. That's been the story for a number of players on this team. So which player that fits that description, guy who's getting his big chance, turns it around, and which one definitely does not turn it around? Are we talking just rookies here? No, not just rookies.

Guys over the past few years. Yeah, I know. I said draft picks. I should have mentioned – I should have meant like recent draft picks. So you're, you know, Jaleel Johnsons of the world who have kind of been in waiting your Jalen Holmes and then finally getting playing time that they never got before, and now here they are. And you could throw in rookies too if you want for this. Yeah, I think I'll probably stick with a rookie there and go with Dantzler.

He's only played one game, but it was, as we've mentioned, he had some of the kind of highly publicized struggles against Rodgers and the Packers. I still am really high on him out of all the cornerbacks. I mean, even over Gladney, what we've seen so far, I think Dantzler might have the brighter future. And then that was kind of, there were hints of that in training camp, just with his size, his length and his instincts and what he showed as a cover corner at Mississippi

state. So I'm really high on him. I don't know if Garrett Bradbury counts. I think he's, he's, he's struggled a little bit, but he, I think I'm, I'm still high on him is what I'm trying to say. I think he's shown some better bit, but I think I'm still high on him is what I'm trying to say. I think he's shown some better signs in pass protection so far, which has been encouraging. He hasn't been quite as good in run blocking, weirdly, as he was at times late last year.

But I think Bradbury, it's been overall encouraging. I know that the PFF grades still aren't super high with him. But I would say those two, I think, are going to be important pieces down the stretch of this season. As for someone who I'm maybe more out on, I think Jahliel Johnson is an easy answer. I mean, I just haven't seen it from him really. And I think he's kind of just a placeholder guy at defensive tackle right now.

And you're going to get Pierce back next year. Shamar Steffen's actually been weirdly good this year at nose tackle. I know he gets a lot of crap, but he had a good game against the Titans, including the batting down a pass and then tackling Tannehill after he caught his own pass. So, yeah, I think that would be one guy I would say who I don't have a lot of hopes for turning it around. I mean,

Drew Samia, I don't, has looked kind of hopeless. I mean, he doesn't, he doesn't look like he can play in the NFL and that seems a little harsh, but no, I agree when you, when you give up 11 pressures in two weeks and you have a pass blocking grade of like six, I mean, that's just one point in his technique. Yeah. It's something like his, his technique has just not been there. He's been, like, leaning forward too much or whatever. I'm not an offensive line expert, but I've read some stuff about it. And he just hasn't looked good. So I'm curious to see if Ezra Cleveland gets a shot on a similar vein sometime soon and how that all works out with the guards,

if with Elfline coming back, if you would have Cleveland go in for Dozier or how all that would work. But I think Samia and Johnson have not shown much, and I'll go with Dantzler and Bradbury as guys who I still think are going to be really good even though they've struggled a little bit at times. Okay, let me correct that. It was 1.4 last week, 6.6 overall is his grade out of 100, which is astonishing. He's dead last in PFF overall grades for guards and dead last in pass blocking grade by about 15.

I think he's 6.6, and I think second lowest is about 21. I might venture that a 30.5 grade over 119 snaps might be the worst grade in the NFL of any player at any position. I would have to check. But for 100 snaps to be that poor, I mean, that's like the worst week of your life ever as a player is usually something like a 30. And he has done that over two weeks. That's very concerning. And I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt after the Colts game with DeForest Buckner and just the first game being in there.

But the fact that we saw it two straight weeks, I know Jeffrey Simmons is good too, and the Titans have some other good interior defensive linemen. Judevon Clowney was lining up inside sometimes. But, yeah, it hasn't been good. I think this is kind of, I'm assuming he's starting again this week. I think this is kind of his last chance to show even that he can do anything. Yeah. I think that they should just pull the plug and go with someone else. I mean, it would be

usually when someone looks like this, that's too far away to fix the issues. And I do happen on the show to have a weekly guest offensive lineman who is an expert in Jeremiah Searle. That's true. And him breaking down the tape. Jeremiah sent me a few videos just throughout the week of him watching the tape. And he was talking about on the last podcast, there are simple basic rules of being an offensive lineman that are missed there. So it's not just high level stuff. Oh, this guy hasn't played before and you can make that mistake. It's how did you not know that one? That kind of thing. It's like, how did, how were you a fourth round pick type of questions?

Right. I saw, I saw Jeremiah Searles tweeted the, uh, that he had the Vikings that he can still play a little right guard. It's been funny. Like, you know, you're struggling when like Jeremiah Searles and like Captain Munnerlin are tweeting like, Hey, can you, we're like 38, but we could Searles and, like, Captain Munnerlin are tweeting, like, hey, can you – we're, like, 38, but we could probably do better than some of the guys that we're watching. Yeah, I think Jeremiah –

That's not a great sign for a team. He's at, like, 280 or something these days. I don't think he's quite ready to come back. But I do think if they played Brett Jones there at that position or even Avi at Collins, it would be a huge upgrade. And I'd be willing to do that right now just for the health and safety of Kirk Cousins if I were them. So he would be my answer toward I think it's hopeless. The Garrett Bradbury one is interesting because there's a different conversation between

can he be an okay center in the NFL and what you paid for him as a first-round pick. And when I was just looking, I was just counting up, there's only a handful of players who the NFL pays to be a center. Like it shows you that it's one of the least valued positions. Other than running back, it's probably the most replaceable where you can go into free agency and you can get a guy who will rank 15th to 18th by PFF and be average and fine. And if you draft a guy in the first round, he better be Mitch Morse.

Like he better be Darmani Dawson. Or Travis Frederick or something like that. Yeah, Travis Frederick, Alex Mack. You better be one of the best players at that position. And if you are not, then you have wasted a draft pick because those guys are kind of everywhere. Journeyman centers. Joe Berger was guys are kind of everywhere journeyman centers joe berger was here he was a journeyman center for a year pat elfline was pretty good at it

it's just it's not that it's a super easy position it's just that there are guys who can do it and so you paid a huge sum when debo samuel aj brown were there and you knew your number one receiver wasn't happy i know andre dillard is hurt, but that's a left tackle. Like these things are where there's questioning a draft pick that didn't work out and saying, why didn't you see it? And then there's just the position you drafted. If that isn't a monster home run, then you have failed. So I agree with you that Bradbury can play better.

I don't know if he's ever going to live up to that draft status. I'll tell you my biggest disappointment is Armond Watts. Man, I was on the Armond Watts bus. I was up front ringing the ding-ding, like, here I come. Armond Watts is going to be a star. And yikes. I was in the back. I had a seat on that.

What has happened there? He hasn't looked like a guy who can start in the NFL. Yeah, it's been tough because he looked really good in that Bears game week 17, and I think maybe that kind of got us a little ahead of ourselves with talking him up. The coaches were saying good things about him too, though, and that wasn't the only game where he had done some nice things. I mean, I think the Cowboys game he got in and did something. The Seattle game he had the batted pass that led to the Harris crazy pick six.

So he was an easy guy as like a late round rookie going into his second year to kind of talk up as a potential contributor. That might have been a little unfair given that he was a sixth round pick just last year. I mean, he's basically like same draft status as Chris Boyd, who we weren't talking about much this year, and like Marcus Epps, who didn't even last the whole season last year with the Vikings. So, yeah, I was high on him. Really, I haven't even noticed much about him so far.

It's tough to kind of focus on the defensive tackle play mostly, and I've been looking at like Shamar Stephan and Julio Johnson a little bit more than Watts. But, yeah, I just haven't seen much. I mean, he hasn't popped on tape. He hasn't made any flash plays just to the naked eye while watching the game. I mean, there's been no TFLs or pressures really or anything like that. I think he'll continue to get a bit of a chance going forward. But, yeah, the state of that defensive tackle position,

we already knew was a little rough, but Hercules Mata'afa hasn't shown anything. Jahlil Johnson doesn't look like a starting three tech, obviously. So, yeah, Michael Pierce coming back next year can't happen soon enough. And way too early, I think, to be talking about this, like some Vikings fans want to, but there's some good defensive tackles in the draft next year. Marvin Wilson from Florida State and

Christian Barmore from Alabama are two names that I've heard of. We'll wait a while for that. Thanks to a lack of natural athleticism or commitment or overbearing sports parents, fewer than 1% of 1% of 1% of people will ever

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and start off wagering on wins division championships futures all day every day head to bet online today take advantage of all the great sign of bonuses don't forget to use the promo code blue wire at bet online.ag that's blue wire all one word bet online your online sportsbook experts yeah let me tell you about the rules with that so there are rules now on podcasts that if you're going to bring up the draft or something with 2021, you have to enter the 2021 tunnel. You have to mention, okay, I'm tunneling to 2021. That's where you go down in the tunnel and we can talk about it.

And then we come back up to the season and what's going on. So you just went down in the tunnel and you just teased the draft coverage from April that we're going to have, but that's, but that can be done as long as you acknowledge that you were in the tunnel. So just letting you know for future podcasts that we'll do. All right. Before we wrap this up, I have, how well do you know the Texans questions for you? Are you ready for these? Because the last,

I don't know if it was the last time you were on, but once in training camp, you demolished all of the questions about players that didn't matter from training camp. You knew what every guy's, I don't know, favorite cereal was at that point. And it was almost concerning, but how well do you know your Texans? I think is a little harder. So let's start this. This is going to be tough for me, especially compared to that last one we did. In Texans history, they have all of six leading passers ever. Okay? Okay. Just six.

Can you name all six Houston Texans leading passers in franchise history? Okay, so six people have led them in passing yards in a season. I mean for a single season, right. Yep. Okay. So Deshaun Watson is easy. Matt Schaub is easy. I assume, did David Carr do it?

Oh, yeah. Ever? Because he was highly drafted, yeah. They gave him – He was the number one overall pick or something? He did it for five years. And the funny little factoid about that is they only got out of the top or only – yeah, into the top 20 one time in yards as an offense with David Carr as their starter.

And now David Carr is just known for defending his brother on the internet. Right, right. I might only get those three because Scha, like, the early part of this decade. Yep, yep. Now, I can help you here. Was there somebody between Schaub and Watson? There were three quarterbacks between Schaub and Watson. Oh, okay.

I was thinking before Schaub. Okay. 14, 15, and 16. And you know all three. These are not randos that you wouldn't guess. These are guys who are all journeyman backup quarterbacks, or in some case, journeyman starters. So one of them –

I can think of like TJ Yates probably didn't do it. It's a great guess because he won a playoff game, but no. He did win a playoff game, I remember. One of them is a current starting quarterback who is – let's just say his personality is very popular. Current starting quarterback, placeholder, personality very popular. Let's just say he's a very bright guy. Oh, oh, Fitzpatrick, right?

Yes, Ryan Fitzpatrick. Yep, that was 2014. There you go. The bright hint helped me there. Yes. 2015, this guy also played for the Cleveland Browns as a starter. Oh, Brian Hoyer. That's right.

And this other guy, famously, he's got a ring, Super Bowl ring, as a backup quarterback just a couple of years ago. He beat New England on national TV, filling in for another future Hall of Fame quarterback. He was very tall. Oh, Brock Osweiler. Yes, Brock Osweiler. The hints were a little too easy, but I appreciate them.

They were a little aggressive. I was going to guess like A.J. McCarron or whatever. I think he's their current backup. Did Case Keenum ever play for the Texans? He did, yes. I know he played in Houston in college. Yep. ever played for the Texans? He did, yes. He did. I know he played in Houston in college, but he's a good guy. Yep, and so one time, he played

for Houston, got picked up off their practice squad by St. Louis, and then got picked up again by Houston in the same season, or something like that. So, it was a wild ride for Case in Houston, but he never led them in passing. That's a good one. So, it's Carr, Schaub,

Fitzpatrick, Hoyer, Osweiler, and Watson. That's right. All right. I should have got Brock Osweiler. I remember him being on the Texans. Him against the Vikings. 6'5", or whatever he is. 6'7".

Him against the Vikings 2016 is the most scared I've ever been. Yeah, that's why I should have remembered it. I believe that was the week four, week five game when they were still undefeated and everyone was like, this team's so good, and then they went 8-8. Week five to go 5-0, yep. And TJ Clemmings got demolished by Jadavia and Clowney, which is still happening with the offensive line. All right, so I want you to tell me the leading rusher –

this is a little in the weeds, so don't get it we can move on to the next one leading rusher after arian foster the following season so arian foster finishes up as being his last season as the leader for rushing is 2014 2015 do you remember who took over because the guy has a great name who took over for arian Foster as the leading rusher of the Houston Texans. The only reason I would be able to think of this would be like fantasy football. Is it – well, okay, you're saying memorable name. The name that comes to my mind is Ben Tate. That's close.

You're in the ballpark, and Ben Tate did have a season leading them kind of in between when Foster was hurt. But this guy – I can't think of the one. and Ben Tate did have a season leading them kind of in between when Foster was hurt. But this guy, there's Paul Bunyan's Ox is what color? Blue? Oh, yeah, yeah. What is the guy's name? Alfred Blue.

Alfred Blue, yes. He was their leader. I should have known that. I'm sure Alfred Blue's been on a fantasy team of mine at some point. I'm sure of it. Who is their leading receiver all time that is not named Andre Johnson or DeAndre Hopkins? Now I think we might be getting two. I don't know if I even have a –

I think you can do this one because it comes up now and then with Gary Kubiak. Gary Kubiak's favorite person in the whole world. Huh. He followed Kubiak all over the place. Like, Kubiak was with the Ravens, and this guy just shows up with the Ravens. Oh, yeah. Not a receiver. Oh, not a receiver?

Not a receiver. Okay. It's not a receiver? Not a receiver. Okay. Tight end? I'm blanking. I don't have a good enough memory for this. This is why it's great, because it's the Texans, and, like, why would we care? And I don't think about the Texans very much. People are screaming Owen Daniels.

Owen Daniels. Yeah. Dang. I should screaming Owen Daniels. Owen Daniels. Yeah, dang. I should know that too. So their leading all-time kicker has 172 field goals. Next best has only 80. So in their history, they have one guy who dominates Houston Texans kicking. Do you know who that guy is?

No. I don't. Nor should anyone, really. It's Chris Brown is the guy's name. That's not even a name I know. I know. Isn't that hilarious? It's worth pointing out that I am – when did the Texans become a franchise?

2000? Chris Brown, you would have been watching football. Don't try to play this age nonsense. I'm young. He played from 2002 to 2002. I'm only five years older than the Houston Texans. You would have been

at least playing Madden by the time Chris Brown was still their kicker. You can't have any excuses. Last one. Now this one I feel like you should get. Behind J.J. Watt, who is their all-time SACS leader. This is not a deep cut.

This is not Owen Daniels or Chris Brown. Is it Mario Williams? It is Mario Williams. The guy who's first overall draft pick? All right. I maintained some respectability. I got a couple of these. You did.

With extreme hints, you got the quarterbacks. And I don't blame you for not knowing Alfred Blue. I just thought maybe fantasy i got ben tate which is even arguably a deeper cut as the texans running back i will give you a solid c on how well you know the text that's a passing grid you know i mean no one's taking away your northwestern degree because you don't know the text all right so uh will raggins make sure you follow him on Twitter for both Vikings coverage and Twins sadness. I'm sorry about that.

Yeah, it was a rough week. I don't know why I expected anything different, but oh well. But, yeah, always fun coming on the pod. Thanks for having me, and hopefully we get some more entertaining football this weekend. All right. Sounds good. Thanks for coming on, and we'll talk to you again on Purple Insider.