Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Day 1 of Vikings camp and whether Justin Jefferson will keep rising

Episode Date: July 29, 2021

Live from TCO Performance Center, Matthew Coller and ESPN's Courtney Cronin record their first in-person podcast in a very long time. They talk about what Justin Jefferson had to say about taking on his second season where he knows the NFL will be gunning for him. Matthew and Courtney play a game of "is this a thing," that's focused around the injury situations, including Dede Westbrook, Christian Darrisaw and Danielle Hunter. Plus whether they will keep three QBs and talk about Kellen Mond's first camp practice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. For the first time in Purple Insider history, we are inside TCO Performance Center, not on Zoom, but actually sitting across from the table from ESPN's Courtney Cronin. What is up, Courtney? In person. I'm trying to rack my brain right now to think of the last time you and I did an in-person podcast that wasn't over Zoom or over StreamYard or anything over the computer. And now I'm starting to think it was back at the combine in February late February 2020 when we sat in some wing of the convention center and we were that's when honestly that's when Courtney our draft scout might have been like just at her peak she was just coming out of her shell that

year because she's been around for a couple years I mean she obviously is not here today but man that might have been the last time that we did that. Yeah. This is weird. Because the thing that I use to record in-person episodes has not been used really almost at all. I know. Have you dusted the cobwebs off that thing? You could see it's really, it is actually quite dusty. I used it for an episode with Eric Eager when he was here in Minnesota, visiting his parents and stopped by my house. And this is the only other time right now that we're actually using this. So that's exciting. And I will say we'll get into all the hardcore stuff. And the way I want to frame everything today is, is this a thing or not? But I will just say from the general feeling of having

the murmur of the crowd, the music playing, guys out there practicing, and mostly feeling back to normal is pretty good. Because last year was just weird and spooky, and I didn't enjoy it. No, last year was such an anomaly, and hopefully we'll never have to go back to that. I mean, it wasn't a full crowd out there today, but there were quite a few people. I mean, seeing the concourse that packed before practice started where people are doing like the fan zone thing and the family fun area was neat.

Like I did miss that part of it because it actually felt like real training camp. I think the hard thing was last year they only had three weeks, remember? So it was like hybrid training camp slash preseason without preseason games. And now you actually have the ramp up period. And I mean, today was hot. So they were in a good, like it was a good situation where they could be without pads on.

They don't have to rush into it. Because remember, they definitely had to rush into it last year. They started on a Friday and they had pads on by Monday. So this was a nice change of pace. I know when we talked to Dalvin Cook and we talked to Kirk Cousins today and even Xavier Woods, who this is his first training camp, they talked about that sense of normalcy coming back to where you realize that you don't take these practices for granted when you're in camp.

Yeah, it's the dog days of the NFL season, trying to make a roster for, you know, the guys are at the bottom half of that 53. But being out there, feeling the energy off the crowd. And once the pads come on and we get into some 11-on-11, and I can remember some really heated battles dating back to when Xavier Rose and Stephon Diggs would be going at it and get themselves kicked out of practice. I hope we have stuff like that this year because that was what made training camp so fun in years past,

and it feels like we're on the cusp of that happening. It really does. It really feels like a real training camp. Like you said, last year was just right into practices, and we got to watch practices that are kind of normal for what you would see right before the season or even during the middle of the season. And it was very hard to get a sense for even where everybody stood last year because it was so rushed. I mean, even the team didn't recognize, we didn't fully recognize how far along Justin Jefferson was for example that is the biggest thing that I think I've taken away

just from like one day out there of training camp but also like thinking about OTAs like that's crazy that's an anomaly right there because of thinking how much time it's going to take these young receivers to develop and yeah they don't have a first round pick receiver out there but what he did last year and he talked about it today um you know all the he used the word inconveniences he had his rookie year and he really that's the right word like everything that was thrown at him there were just hurdles he kept having to cross of no normal offseason no normal throwing session that they typically do Kirk Cousins Adam Thielen whomever down wherever um he had none of that ain't even start till week three. So it's

like all of that stuff that he did on the fly, I think truly untaps a look into how great he actually is, which makes it scary this year being like, how much better can this guy be assuming, you know, no sophomore slump, no injury, anything like that. Right. And he talked about that. Kirk talked about that. It's one of the things on my list of, is this a thing or not? So we might as well just start there and stop waxing poetic about, um, you know, how camp is back. But I, I, it was just a good feeling. I think for everybody and even the PR people that we've interacted with, um, over the years, having to only almost always interact with them through zoom was pretty nightmarish. And, uh, i remember today because we haven't been that close to the players in a while how big they are they're all very very big oh my gosh extremely big seeing michael pierce in person like i knew

he was a big individual and yeah he didn't do much out there in way of practice because he's still recovering from the calf injury he sustained while training. But, oh, my goodness, that guy is a Mack truck. And seeing Daniil Hunter again in person, wow. And even Justin Jefferson being at the podium. I thought the same thing about Jefferson. He's a big guy. He's a full 6'1", and, like, a big 6'1 at that. Like, I just really was not – I guess, yeah, they look like ants

when we're – we were usually so much further away from them at practice. Like that's one thing that listeners of the podcast might not know. Like we are typically so far away because before the protocols came in for training camp, we had to stand on the, on the very far side of the field and up and kind of elevated. So you're looking down at them and it's almost like they look like ants. So seeing them, you know, only a couple of feet away is, you know, I forget how big these dudes are. And as we go along, we'll get a much better feel of how things are going with the battles. I feel like last year was very difficult, like you said, to be that far away. And it was, how's this guy performing at right guard?

I'm not really sure. And then we would, you know, we didn't have any preseason games. So we're just going to have a much better sense of how things are going this year as as opposed to last year but let's begin in terms of is this a thing the sophomore slump idea expectations that rest on the shoulders of Justin Jefferson like is this a thing or will this not be a thing and Justin Jefferson will do what Kirk Cousins challenged him to do, which is. Do it again.

Right. Do it again. Exactly. Do it again. I think there's always going to be some regression, right? Because you know that defenses are going to change the way that they game plan for Justin Jefferson. But even last year, like, I remember, wasn't it Pete Carroll and then Matt LaFleur uh Pete Carroll said like something just about how great he was and then Matt LaFleur going into week eight was talking

about Justin Jefferson and that's before they'd even seen Green Bay it's not like or no that was the second time they had played Green Bay so it wasn't like but he not like he had seen Justin Jefferson in the form Justin Jefferson was going into week eight because in week one he wasn't the same, like he wasn't playing like that. So you know that like teams had to adjust for him last year and they really couldn't. And I think that defenses were certainly behind offenses by and large last year. So maybe there will be some regression to that standpoint. But throughout the course of the NFL these rookies who

have had incredible thousand plus yard seasons there's always some step back but not necessarily a major step back if he's performing at like a Julio Jones type level where Julio was rookie year to like his second year because I looked this up from a fantasy perspective the other day like he's not in a bad spot whatsoever like I think Justin Jefferson when you look at what he and Adam Thielen can do together in 2021 and what that offense looks like they're both going to be really successful like I still think Adam Thielen will probably end up being the bigger red zone threat just given that that's where a lot of his you know his targets and his in his what he turned his targets into in terms of touchdowns last year.

That's where they all came. But I think that he will draw more attention. I think that he's done an excellent job this offseason of being exactly who he is, relishing in the moment of such a tremendous rookie season. I think those questions he will start to downplay everything about last year. I think he's kind of at that point, I could sense it a little bit today, of turning the page to not talk about how great I was as a rookie and like, you know, he's got to get ready for this

year. But the one thing that he talked about is the confidence factor. He didn't shy away from that and say, oh no, I'm starting over a year or two like starting from zero etc he said that that's the reason he's going to be even better this year I mean he put that out there and I think having that sort of confidence that doesn't wane like he you know it's going to be interesting to see what teams will do to try to slow him down and how the Vikings now that they may have an actually a number three receiver you, to be able to actually use more 11 personnel and not just run out of those formations. And, you know, they're a team that uses two receivers and they don't really throw to anybody else. So now what could that do?

If you have Jefferson and Thielen on the outside and have DD Westbrook in the slot, let's say, and I know I'm getting like way ahead of myself. This is another topic. Yeah, I know. But like, it's just, you know, that to me thinks, okay, Jeff, Justin Jefferson can make good on that promise because the offense becomes a lot more explosive. So I think that they're going to have to help him not reach that sophomore slump by putting him in good position. I mean, he can obviously do a lot of it on his own, but there is a lot there to be desired with how good he can be this year.

I think he will have to be better at football to achieve the same results. It's going to be more challenging, yeah. Right, because of the amount of attention. Because of the defenses they face, that's another thing that we need to keep in mind is the environment was very friendly to the Vikings' offense last year. Not necessarily their offensive line was not friendly, but they did not face a whole lot of great passing defenses last year I expect Detroit to actually like put a defense on the field against the Minnesota Vikings this year they should have a defensive line I think this year they didn't

have one last year and a coach who has some idea what he's doing he might be a psycho but I think their defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn knows what he's doing sure I do not think that format Patricia at all. So there will be more challenges along the way. We're also going to have to adjust our brains because it's 17 games instead of 16 games. But I think what we saw from him today is the understanding of what it's going to take to continue, like her cousin said, putting up numbers at that level and performing at that level.

And Jefferson even went into detail about his training and how he was trying to improve his body control and like I'm like wow you're like really giving us some good stuff here because that to me I mean he was working out with Jarvis Landry he said he was not working out with but he was like on the same field I took it as like with Stefan Diggs they must all have been in the same place together in Miami. And KJ Osborne was there. Like, he's putting in the work. So it's not like this guy's resting on such a great rookie season. Like, he's trying to do the work to get to that next step, which that's kind of a heads-up thing.

I mean, the guy's 22 years old. Like, he's young, so he's very much, like, not even on the cusp of the prime of his career, scratching the surface of it. So he said all the right things. And I don't think it will be difficult to see that go translate onto the field because he's put in the work. What's so interesting about his mentality really from day one to me is that he was such a big superstar. And I talked to his receivers coach in high school, which tells you about kind of where he came from, that they had a receivers coach and like the guy's well known. Um, but I talked to him last year and he was saying that anywhere you go in Louisiana, Justin Jefferson is a huge star. And this was

before he even stepped on an NFL field because of what he did. Exactly what he did at LSU. So he's sort of used to this level of stardom he sort of expects this level of stardom for himself and i think that there's something to that from someone who suddenly becomes a star and then has to deal with that to this was what i expected for myself and now i'm going to do whatever it takes to get to that next level. It's been an interesting path to follow with him and to sort of track what he sounds like talking to us. And it hasn't changed. He seems to have the same disposition toward us that he had in our lines of questioning the first time we talked to him as he did just today when we talked to him. Yeah. And could change um stefan diggs was you know he he had a disposition

about him before the miracle play happened and then before the ball started not getting thrown to him so i think honestly not like it's it's on like what the scheme is going to bring out of um out of justin jefferson to keep him happy too he's, you know, a people-pleasing person. I mean, you hear the way that he answers questions, the way he talks about like wanting to perform and, you know, not just, you know, for people, but for himself, meet his own expectations. Because I'm sure, you know, he may not be talking about this stuff publicly, but I'm sure that he feels some pressure on himself. Like, hey, I did this all my first, like first year. I mean, you heard Kirk and what he said, like, don't be a one-year wonder.

No, he wasn't speaking directly to Justin Jefferson, but in the general sense where the guy – Kirk's played for 10 years, and he goes back – he was talking about going back to his Michigan State days of seeing guys who were a flash in the pan, and that was it. Nobody wants to do that after an incredible rookie season, be the guy who fell off or became the know, became the receiver who just, you know, lost his top end speed or wasn't, you know, wasn't the version of himself that he was those, you know,

week three through week 17 last year. He wants to be that guy. And I think that the work that he's put in and just even talking about like the little things, his balance, I wanted to be like, did you get a BOSU ball or something? Have you been doing a lot of core work? Because he says that, and he's talking about body control and movement. And those are things that are the tiny, finite details

that we don't necessarily always talk about first, even though they are so important to playing receiver. It's not just beating your guy off the line of scrimmage or beating press coverage and hand fighting and all things like that like there's so much that goes into that so I really do think he has all of the tools there but it's the mentality part too like he knows he knows he can do it like it's not it's not this fake like oh I got you know I'm you know go back to year zero type thing like he's not that like he's he's a star and I mean you're D.D. Westbrook talk about him too he called him an all-pro and he's like Adam Thielen's an

all-pro maybe I can be an all-pro I mean it's probably part of the reason why he signed here because you get to be around guys who are really really great last year and um for a rookie to be that great and then that conversation like he very much has arrived now it's just staying there and I don't think that'll be hard for him yeah and that and that is I think a reflection our confidence in it in his disposition and his personality and how he's approached stardom in the NFL and we've seen you know different variations of this but even with Delvin Cook like a guy who is a big star in college and expected that of himself. Like they have handled this very well. Even Eric Hendricks sort of emerged from being a good player to an actual All-Pro. Someone's going to have to sort of explain to D.D. Westbrook like what All-Pro is.

But yeah, I mean, it's really interesting about how this team has a lot of star talent, but they don't have anyone who you would describe as a diva. I don't really like that word, but someone who's sort of... A celebrity. Yeah, they don't have anyone who you would describe as a diva I don't really like that word but someone who's sort of a celebrity yeah yeah they don't really have that right technically Justin Jefferson is that the guy's in a video game he's in fortnight like and he's got the gritty in fortnight and he's been all over the place with it like technically he is that celebrity because there's you know like you're talking about him in Louisiana and you bring up that name. Every single person knows who he is.

So but he doesn't come across like that, which I think is still the the newness of his NFL career, where this all came at him so quickly last year. And he just had to, like, dive headfirst into the 15 foot deep end and learn how to swim. And he did a good job with it. Like, maybe there will be some leveling off where, I don't know. I mean, Kirk was talking about, like, if he does what he did last year, 12 or 13 times, he'll be in Canton. Yeah, he will. It's too early to project any of that.

But I do think the position he's in right now, you know, when we talk about is this a thing, sophomore slump shouldn't be a thing for Justin Jefferson, but like it very much like preparing for how he can top what he did. 1,400 yards. That's a lot to ask for, but I think he can get close to it. I certainly do. Yeah, no, I think so too.

And if you put the bar kind of at the same spot and even a little lower statistically, but he plays just as well, then I'm going to go with not a thing for sophomore slump. sure then i'm gonna go with not a thing for sophomore slump and it sounds like you're going not a thing yeah sophomore slump um next not a thing or a thing for me is the health of some of the players that are new dd westbrook bashad breland michael pierce and uh i'll even add daniel hunter to that because they love to say, well, it's like getting another free agent, having Daniil Hunter. Like, okay, well then let's play it that way. Those guys were not at full go in practice for the first day. And you could say,

hey, come on, it's the first day, who cares? And I think you'd be fine in saying that, but we have also seen other players who dealt with off-season injuries, off-season surgeries take quite a while before they were back to a hundred percent. And even into the season, that was the case with Latavius Murray when he came here. Oh, he had surgery. It's no big deal. And then it took until like week five until he had his burst back a thing or not a thing. Some of these guys are showing up either in hunter's case slowly getting into it or in the other case um injured banged up were injured head surgery some combination of all those things yeah i mean throwing christian deris out of that mix right because he's dealing

with the core surgery which i kind of wonder what happened in otas andamp. Because remember, he was out there for rookie camp. He didn't really do – I mean, they were wearing, like, shorts and stuff. But, like, he was going, and then all of a sudden he wasn't. So he had some sort of tweak with the groin. I wonder how soon he'll be ready to go. I'm willing to say this is maybe a thing. I do think it is day one, and I want to wait to see before I put, like, fully this is actually a

thing that's going to hurt them. Michael Pierce calf injury. I mean, he was moving in the weight room. I watched him in there a little bit. We saw him out on the field. He was doing like the walkthrough drill, so he's not going at full speed. Daniil Hunter at first, I thought he was just going to do walkthrough speed, but he looked like he was going during live action. Obviously, it's 11 on 11, like you bop the guy in the head if you're sacking him, or you just like, you know, put your arm around the running back like a hug. So when those pads come on, I'll be curious to see at that point what they're able to do with him, but he looked like he was moving around okay. The thing that was intriguing to me about Hunter was him going from right to left, right to left, I think both defensive end spots. You would think premier pass rusher, he's going to be going against left tackles at some point. This is

probably the year that they'd move him to left defensive end. Like he's earned it. I mean, he's obviously the best defensive lineman, edge rusher that you have. so yeah but I I think that them slow playing stuff is not the wrong thing because let's remember D.D. Westbrook had ACL surgery eight months ago the Vikings clearly think he'll be ready to go soon otherwise you don't make that signing this close to the start of the season you don't because you don't really have any other receivers that stand up and jump out the page those are number three guy or what what can we do to put this person in the mix they're also looking at him as punt returner so I'm willing to like say it's maybe a thing but like let's check in next week to see which of these guys that you know and by the way Dancer

did more today than he's done for months he didn't't play in the, in spring or at all. Like, so, and he looks thicker, he looks bigger, like more muscular. So I thought that was a good sign. No, for sure. Yeah. That was a, another thing I wanted to mention is that the fact that Dantzler was out there taking the first team reps, um, after not being available in the spring is a good sign for their secondary because their whole thing is going to be look we've got all this depth we've got a lot of players who can play and when he was out and all of a sudden it's Harrison Hand in there it's like well it looks like you got a little less if Jeff Gladney's being indicted and not here today which was I guess we expected I was not a hundred

percent sure how they would handle that but because our friend Brian Murphy found him in town, but here we are with him not practicing. So I guess we just wait and wait, and we'll find out eventually what's going to happen with him. But Dantzler being out there, it makes a better case for their depth. I don't think it's a thing with Hunter. He's got to ramp up, but he looks in freakishly great shape as you would expect yeah I mean I know everyone looks big to me right now but he looked especially like back

to old Danielle Hunter he looked like he did when we saw him at training camp last year at this point and I mean just still like muscles in places I didn't know there could be muscles and he was moving he was bending I was watching him talking with um Janarius Robinson like he was just working with him off the side just about like a bend move um you know coming off of like the right the right edge and I thought that was kind of interesting just where you know little things like that trying to take away like okay how is he actually moving out there he looked like he was moving okay which is good like and probably even better than okay like I don't know where to judge him on that until he puts pads on and I see him hit somebody but it'll be interesting too when Christian Derrissaw gets out there against

Daniil Hunter because that's going to be a big step in figuring out can you start week one at left tackle hey everyone summer is here and you're trying to get out on the golf course but if you're like us here at Purple Insiders spending all day golfing isn't always an option. That's why you need to check out Birdie Golf in Woodbury. I'll give you an example. My wife is new to golf and she's intimidated by the big courses. But at Birdie Golf, she could come and play without the pressure. You can make golf a family experience at Birdie Golf.

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other things to check out there. Go do that right now. It is a thing for Darisov in my mind. I do too. It is a thing for Michael Pierce in my mind because Michael Pierce has not played football in a very long time. And I mean, I don't know if he was like he had like injury issues when he was with Baltimore, but he didn't play that many snaps. He had weight issues when he was with Baltimore. That's just like I'm not even saying that to be funny. Like it was a big thing. Like when he got told at training at mini camp and OTAs,

leave because you're 390 pounds and he's a big thing like when he got told that training at minicamp and OTAs leave because you're 390 pounds and he's a big guy like so I do wonder you're dealing with the calf thing now like and you could tell he was really trying to like get out there and do whatever he could um even if it was like in limited fashion the good thing is they have Sheldon Richardson and you can put Dalvin Tomlinson back where he probably belongs at nose. And so I think that that's a good problem to have if you're the Vikings. But you want to see Michael Pierce at some point. I mean, you've paid all the money to get him here. He was your big free agent in 2020. That's why I say this may be a thing because there's some of these

I don't think will be as big of a thing. Dairsoft for sure. I don't know if he's ready week one. And I know that they said they're going to slow play him. Mike Zimmer said they're going to be, quote, very careful with him, as they should be. He's your first-round pick. You cannot afford to screw this up.

So if you have Rashad Hill for the first couple weeks against Cincinnati and then Arizona, I think that that's not the worst case scenario when you talk about moving somebody along, quote, very slow. I mean, Mike Zimmer kind of laid out the scenario that Christian Derrissaw is not going to be ready. Yep, and I would almost expect now at this point, unless I'm very surprised by the progress of Derrissaw, that he's not going to be ahead of Rashad Hill.

And then when that happens, if that happens, I guess we'll have to see. But that's the projection as we stand right now trying to decide, is it a thing? And then as we go along, we'll obviously update where these people stand. Breland, to me, I don't have too much concern about. No, he'll be ready. I was told in the spring that it might be like a week maybe, but he'll be ready to go.

And he was out there with the second team. I just don't know, you know, would you call him full speed yet? I don't know. Yeah, probably not. It's a shoulder thing. He's still recovering from it. He had surgery late, remember. It was right around free agency.

And then we have to see, is Dantzler still with the first team as we go along and as Bashad Breeland gets back to 100% D.D. Westbrook I'm going to say yes a thing because of his contract they gave him one year one million and what that means to me is that nobody else in the league was willing to say we're going to give you more than one year one million and I'm sure you know D.D. can say oh he wanted to come here for Keno McCardell. He was his coach. They were going to find the most money for him. And there was no money out there for him.

That says nobody's really sure about where he's going to be back to. Mike Zimmer talked about loving the way that he looked in his workout, but he's not out here practicing full just yet. So until we see that he's getting off to a start where he's behind everybody else until we see that I could say it's not a thing if he looks great when he comes out here but it wasn't that long ago that he had this ACL injury it's just like well why would you sign him if it was going to be something that's like a four month more recovery process to get you basically to the one year mark of October week seven when he tore it, why would you sign him?

There's other wide receivers out there. You could have gotten Larry Fitzgerald. He's still unsigned last I checked. Maybe. Like, you know, I don't know how that one, like, to me, it's twofold because they expect him to be a contributor and punt return, which they need because they were not good at that last year. But at this point, when do you expect him out on the field?

That one, it is concerning, but it's just like if you're the Vikings and you gave him this knowing that he's going to be like four more months, why'd you do that? Like that would be really idiotic in my opinion if that was really the case. So to me it kind of hints that maybe they think he'll be more ready. Like maybe it wasn't as severe of an ACL. I know that we talked to him, and he said the doctors told him it would be a minute before he'd be back, and he's like,

no, I want to go now. And so I really am going to be curious to see when he is full go because I don't understand why you would make this signing if he wasn't ready because there are still free agent-wide receivers you could go get. And with Delvin Cook, it was week four. With go get and with delvin cook it was week four uh with dd westbrook it was week seven when they both tore their acls delvin cook was back for the next year i think he played in the third preseason game of the next year and obviously started the season and was very very good acls are a thing that we

look at like tommy john surgery these days where a where a guy has Tommy John surgery and you go okay he'll come back and he'll pitch next year that's what we're assuming with D.D. Westbrook my only concern here in terms of it being a thing is if he gets behind in training camp because he can't do everything and then where is he at with the offense his chemistry with Kirk Cousins and we've sort of been down this road before of here's a guy who's supposed to be wide receiver three who doesn't ultimately end up doing a whole lot for the team like we projected on the day that they signed him I guess there's a little bit of skepticism there from the price from when he suffered the injury that will he be back to 100 by even the time preseason is over that's what we're going to want to find out I'm going to say for right now I think it's a thing I just don't understand why you'd sign him if you didn't see movement in the workout like that would almost be negligent if you're just like oh yeah like we

are going to spend I mean they have still have money to spend right like they could go they go get somebody else if they want to but I just feel like since it's this close to the season starting maybe it's not as severe as an ACL like I really don't know I just don like since it's this close to the season starting maybe it's not as severe as an ACL like I really don't know I just don't understand like why you'd bring somebody that's injured like that is literally not ready to go until week five that wouldn't make any sense to me as you're trying to figure out your best 53 like and receiver as we know wide receiver three is always a thing in training camp like you have a bunch a bunch of rookies, and yes, Amir Smith-Marset made a great catch in the back of the end zone on a play where Kellen Mond, you know,

would have been sacked had it been real time. He probably would have moved around in the pocket, but nonetheless. I haven't seen anybody else really stand out, and I'm not even just talking about, oh, it's day one overreaction. Like, I go back to minicamp, and I go back to OTAs. None of the rookies did much that like were really impressive or you know even even Chad Beebe and Ola B.C. Johnson they were kind of like just winning by default because they were veterans right and and so with Westbrook I think

that they think that it will be fine and that's why they brought him here and they and they waited till the very last minute to see just how far he would be along. And their assessment said that he would be, it's just, we've, we've seen this happen before where it's, oh, this guy will be fine. He'll be fine. And then is he fine? And I'm not comparing it to Pat Elfline's injuries, which were much worse, but it was the same sort of deal where we waited and waited and waited and then it took a little while for him to get in until he's in and until he's looking back to football shape and being wide receiver three on a daily basis and the first team reps i'm gonna say let's let's sort of wait and see before we say he's locked into that spot and nobody else could come up and get it um the other thing i wanted to talk about was offensive line okay and whether it's a thing that uh ollie udo is mixing in with the first team with dakota dozier i will just say first that they've done this many times where you have a guy who's kind of on the bubble getting his last chance and they give him first team reps to see how it goes and then they decide at the end we saw it with TJ Clemmings we saw it with Avion Collins

and I think we're now seeing it with with Ole Udo where it's like well you clearly aren't a tackle we've decided but then he got yeah first team right guard reps him splitting with dozer i mean they've done this before to me it tells me wyatt davis isn't ready yet um and they really are going to make him earn that starting job like that he should be your day one starting right guard right but in theory i honestly kind of think it's dakota dozer at this point i think so too like so i i guess so this would be me calling it a thing right uh you're you're well, you would be saying that it's a thing to talk about this right guard situation and the fact that Wyatt Davis is not first team.

So I didn't clearly ask what is a thing. I think that's a thing. That's a thing. I do. And maybe they did it this way because Derrissaw was hurt. Wyatt Davis, remember, had a knee thing that, you know, he hurt himself, uh, at the end of last season and it's a national championship game. He had to go out in like the second quarter.

Um, but he played through a knee injury for the last five games of the big 10 season. Maybe they both are dealing with injuries that require a little bit more of a slow play, but that's still a thing for the Vikings. If you're thinking about revamping your offensive line, if you don't have your first round draft pick at left tackle and your third round pick at right guard right away, I think that's a thing. Do I think he'll be the right guard at some point this season? Absolutely.

But I think it's a thing. Hey everyone. I want to tell you about our friends at Scout Logistics. And I really do mean it when I say friends, they are fans of Purple Insider over at Scout Logistics. And since they do mean it when I say friends. They are fans of Purple Insider over at Scout Logistics. And since they reached out wanting to support this show, I want to tell you about what they do. Scout Logistics is just-in-time transportation for full tractor-trailer loads. And if you're wondering what that means exactly, well, if you own or work for a company that needs

shipping solutions, they are the preferred carrier of Fortune 500 companies across North America. And we have quite a few of those in Minnesota, right? They can ship perishable, non-perishable, FTL or LTL, and they have on-time check out scoutlogistics.com or call 855-217-2688 extension 232 to connect with them directly to find out how Scout Logistics can minimize risk and overperform and go the extra mile for your company. I think Dakota Dozier playing on the first team also is a thing, and he could very well start at right guard. I do not think that Ole Udo mixing in at right guard is a thing until it's proven that he is. Because we've seen this before.

You're right. Until he gets a start in preseason, you know what I mean? Until we really see evidence that he could actually be the right guard, I think it's more of just we've got to see what he looks like there to decide whether we're going to cut him or not. Yeah. That's they've done this often with first team reps and he's a late round draft pick, but they seem to love him. They seem to really be invested in this because what, what year was he? Was he part of the 18 group? Uh, 19, 19. So he hasn't even been here that long, but they seem to like what he provides from a depth stance they mentioned him a lot they

really do but it's not like you know we never see any evidence of it i'm just like you talk about i'm like oh like this could be a swing tackle whatever like right when is he actually played like last night check he really hasn't played much inactive they bring back rashad hill again like they're your swing tackle right that's clear as that's clear as day to me so there hasn't been a whole lot of evidence and then i think that this is further evidence that they're thinking this might be the end of the road um blake brandle is another guy that they seem to like and they're moving him around to different spots yeah and our buddy jeremiah searles says like once they start moving you closer to the middle from the outside like you only have so many chances

at that like that means you're kind of on your last legs so we'll see if it's a thing then it will sort of reveal itself as it goes along but as of right now um wyatt davis is going to have to climb up over this bar as we've talked about with other guys like you're going to have to if you if you're smith marset you're going to have to clear some guys to get to where you want to be to make a difference and the same thing is going to be for davis uh last one for you from day one of training camp is it a thing that kellen mond not only um is not quarterback number two but had a pretty rough first day i I would say. In warm-ups, he missed some very routine checkdowns, short throws to running backs. He made one great throw, but as you said,

he was clearly sacked by Janarius Robinson. I can't tell. Was Robinson coming off the edge, or did they use a stunt and move him inside? I mean, this is minutiae. I wish I had the tape. I don't, yeah. I think, but but he but yes he

essentially got to mond yes could have eaten a sandwich and he would have he would have strip sacked him easily so he took a long time to throw it and made a great throw i do think it's a thing and we knew when kellen mond got drafted that it was going to be a year-long process before he was even ready to be in the conversation of possibly taking over for Kirk Cousins. I don't think Mond is ready to be number two. To me, it's Jake Browning as of right now. Fortunately, this team never is in really throughout Cousins' career. He's never needed to turn to the number two because of injuries.

He's a very durable guy. A lot of that's luck. A lot of that is also just like pocket awareness and things like that. And if they upgrade the offensive line and the interior, if it does actually pan out, then he should be in good shape. And not taking unnecessary sacks and hits, whatever. But I do think it's a thing because we've got, what, a month until the start of the season pretty much.

Like, how much, if you're drinking from a fire hose right now, when does it slow down? When does it become drinking from a stream? Like, I just, I worry that they want to prove that that draft pick was right. I mean, it's a third round draft pick. He's kind of got to be your number two, right? But don't put him there if he's not ready. Even if you know Kirk Cousins is going to be just fine and not have to turn to the number two I just wouldn't do it that way so they end they could end up you know what they could do is just keep three on the active roster I think honestly in

my 53 that I put out on ESPN.com we do one like before camp and then we do what basically based off of I wrote it at the end of mini camp and we just like put it out today it's based off OTA's mini camp and then we'll do one right before cut down but no I mean like I I'm gonna have you look this up but I do think back to your point about Kellen Mond that I just don't want them to like get into this like vision and like envision that they have to have this happen or in order to prove themselves right like I don't think it'd be a bad thing like look at Jordan Love he was inactive the entire last year and I don't even know who Aaron Rodgers backup quarterback was last year but it

wasn't the first round draft pick like I think there's there's circumstances where it's okay and we knew when Kellen Mond was drafted, he was going to need multiple, you know, a year, if not maybe even longer, to develop. I mean, he took him four years for it to all come together at Texas A&M. This wasn't a finished product by any stretch. So I think it's definitely a thing right now. Right.

And you don't want to cut the quarterback that you feel more comfortable with running your offense being Jake Browning at this moment so Kellen Mata has in my mind a very long way to go yeah much longer than I guess I thought it was going to look like when he got here um and I guess we'll just see what happens because I don't want to jump the gun and say like oh this guy's totally lost out there. Like that's how it looks, but it's also the first day. So absolutely. But I just, you know,

how many, how many, like, are we going to be talking like a week from now? Oh man, he's made a ton of strides. If we do, then I'll switch my opinion.

But right now I think it's a thing. Yeah. And the, and the presence of COVID still lingering. Yes. And not knowing who's vaccinated and sorry, when people get irritated about people asking the quarterbacks about their vaccination status, it's the most important position in football.

Most important position in sports. Right. But in football, you need to know. And if Kirk Cousins, he will not disclose his vaccination status, which makes me think he's not vaccinated. Otherwise, he would just say it. If there's an issue, like what do they do? So not good.

Right. If they had a Denver Broncos situation or something like they they need to have more than one backup option I think and with Kirk I don't know because he didn't reveal that today and I think some other quarterbacks around the league have been saying oh I don't want to talk about it because they don't want to alienate any teammates so I can't make a judgment there on whether he is or isn't we see some players wearing masks as we walk through um and we can't tell on the field i mean i know the whole thing about wristbands um was made to be a big deal uh i couldn't tell they were wearing something when they were lifting from when i walked by they

were wearing like a red thing the players who were unvaccinated and wearing masks but i don't want to say who was doing what because i'm not really sure like we were at a distance there's a there's a lot of um moving parts there i wonder like will we find out like is there some sort of tracking device like i asked eric kendricks about it today like some teams are wearing wristbands in the building are you doing it he's like well well, I'm not, I don't know if anybody else is. And he's also told us he's vaccinated. So,

right. So yeah, sorry. That's going to continue to be a storyline. Um, hopefully it isn't for any positive tests or anything else like that. And, uh,

we can just go forward with everything as normal. Courtney Cronin, ESPN in person. Amazing. Look at that. Man. What a time. Training camp. So it's person. Amazing. Look at that. Man. What a time. Training camp.

It's over. So day one's over. I got a little ahead of myself. Day one is over. Yeah, we have a long way to go from here. You and I will be doing this semi-regularly as always. So thank you for your time and thank you all for listening.