Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Day 1 recap: Where is JJ McCarthy looking to grow at camp?

Episode Date: July 24, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about what he saw at Vikkings training camp on Day 1 and answers Vikings fan questions.

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Coller here, and I made a promise to all of you that after every training camp practice, I will go live that evening and answer your questions. So that's what I'm here for right here, right now. Whatever questions you have on what I was able to see out at TCO Performance Center and the folks we talked to is a pretty good rundown of people that we talked to today. Had a short conversation with Donovan Jackson, Ty Felton, Blake Cashman, TJ Hockinson, Kevin O'Connell, and of of course JJ McCarthy too. So that's a lot of information was taken in today out at TCO Performance Center and unfortunately the weather was not great so we had an indoor

practice I much much prefer to be outside you can just see a lot better this on the sideline versus being up on the hill where you can kind of see things develop. It's a little bit easier, but we got a lot of lineup information, who was out there, injury information, just based on who was taking reps and a lot of stuff going on day one Vikings training camp. And I wrote yesterday that, uh, what quasi-adapthal Mensa said was now we get to see an idea of the 2025 Vikings turn into the reality. So that's what it felt like a little bit today. It won't feel like campus truly started until they put the pads on. It never really does. But at the same time, like, Hey, we've talked

about this team, this group so much and to see them actually out there practicing and starting their season. Well, it's, it's something. And the biggest thing that I think about when I see everybody else out there, it's like, this is a really good team. I mean, when you just see it all together, there is a lot of talent on that football field. But also I had the thought today, there's a lot that could change. And I want to talk about JJ McCarthy, of course, but I also want to talk about where we stand now and where things can change because this is just the start of the race. It is a long, long time that we'll have here at camp preseason and a lot of ways to go. Remember last year when we started training camp it was Andrew Booth Jr. and Caleb Evans were the starting corners

after Mackay Blackman got hurt so you know there could be a lot that will develop as we go along. So questions, comments, thoughts I'll get to an interesting thing JJ McCarthy had to say to a question of mine. Also I asked TJ Hockinson to break down JJ McCarthy's football and how he throws it. And also got, got a little video for you guys too, from practice today as we talk also. So we'll start out here with a question from sauce bucket 23. Do you interact much with the national writers that travel around to different training camps like Elber Brear? I do. Yeah. From time to time. I did not have a chance to chat with Elber today. He was

talking with KOC and Quacey and doing his thing, but a lot of writers come through and I've, you know, built relationships with them through the year. So sometimes you see those people show up on this here little podcast from time to time. Robert Mays is a good example of a person that I got to know really well through, uh, just him coming out to Vikings training camps and hanging out in the sideline and having conversations and stuff like that. So yeah, that's a, it's always interesting to get people's perspective who are not here every day and they're watching, uh, you know, every practice or going from practice to practice to compare and correct, uh, contrast, uh, his, uh, teammate by the

way, Matt Verderam, um, last year from si.com, we were having a conversation as practice was getting started. And he mentioned where he went to college in central New York. And I was like, wait, I went to college in Western New York and our two D three schools were like competing against each other in hockey and that kind of thing. So sometimes there's a little small world element to it. So yeah, you know, that's always interesting when those folks come out. But let's get to, I'll start out, you guys can get questions, more questions in the comment section. And I'll start out, you guys can get questions, more questions in the comments section and I'll start out with, I think the most interesting answer from JJ McCarthy today. And I'm not just saying that because I asked the first question, Ben Gessling had a follow-up on his answer and

I thought it was pretty good. So here is JJ McCarthy talking about situational football, which Kevin O'Connell was discussing with us yesterday. O'Connell was talking about the next level for J. McCarthy is to understand how to handle every single situation as a starting quarterback, so just you can run plays all day long. You can just. Sure. OK, you throw in you're doing your footwork and everything else seven on seven.

But when you're in the actual game and they try to simulate this and O'Connell cares so much about simulating this in the red zone, simulating two minute drills, simulating, just being able to see how much time is left, what kind of plays do we need, all that sort of stuff. And that was going to be an emphasis. So I asked McCarthy about what O'Connell said about focusing on situational football. I'm seeing a lot on situational football. How much was that an emphasis when you were in college with Jim Harbaugh and how much did you learn about that last year in camp that you built up? A huge emphasis when I was in college. We were very successful back in college.

And a lot of that, it's the same game. So it all corresponds to what we're doing in the NFL. And Coach O'Connell, Coach Ryan Cordell, it's just like a world class operation when it comes to situational masters and being able to be in the right mindset in the right time and execute at the end of the day. And that's what this

Camps all about been getting put in those situations and getting those reps of working at it and you know reacting to those I think Kevin was talking yesterday about the decisions you make on third Three or something different the first potato when you think about situational mastery, how does that change the way you play the position? I would say it is the way you play the position as a quarterback. You have to know the situation in every single play of the game and just understand that the defense just get off the field.

Are we really trying to take a shot here? Are we really trying to move the sticks and just kind of keep the possession know, the possession going and really take in a multitude of factors within each drive. But I feel like that's just the number one thing with the quarterback is, you know, handling the situations and making the right decisions. And you know, ultimately that leads to the most, you know, probability of winning football games. Yeah. It made me think about something that O'Connell said yesterday about how all 32

quarterbacks have to manage the game correctly or you're not going to win very much and there's a lot of things about JJ McCarthy that stand out that I think correlate to success that are very hard to pinpoint in terms of like a data point or putting a number on them. And McCarthy's focus on things like this. Maybe that's what you just call,

hey, this guy's a winner. When people say things like that, like, well, what does that mean? I thought always that Tom Brady, the best thing that he did was always understand situation and know how to manage every single situation in the right way. Is this a time where I can go deep? Is this a time where I could take advantage of a matchup? Like I remember in the AFC championship 2018 where Rob Gronkowski got matched up on a corner. And I think it was maybe, you know, I don't know, was Tony Romo calling the game at that point just screamed out like he's going to attack this matchup because you know, they've got the tight end on the corner and Brady of course found it immediately.

It was actually what Kirk did when Kyle Rudolph caught the game winning touchdown in 2019 where it was a mismatch between the tight end and the corner. So knowing the situation isn't just what's the score as it first down, it's everything. It's where your opportunities can come. Or is this a time where you want to force a ball in? Or is this a time where you want to play safe? And I think McCarthy has a really good sense for that and also understands that that's what he is going to be developing throughout this training camp. So I thought that was an interesting comment. And another thing that came up with TJ Hockinson,

who was talking about playing catch with McCarthy. McCarthy went down to Nashville, through with TJ Hockinson. He also had a throwing session with his teammates in Minnesota as well, which good news for everybody to get that chemistry going before they get to training camp. But, uh, so I asked TJ Hockinson pretty simply, well, what's it like catching the football from him? Because look, we had

this discussion in the media room. If JJ McCarthy threw the football at any of us, we would either get hurt by the football hitting us in the body and going right through our hands, or it would just break our fingers right in a million pieces. That ball is going a lot faster than it looks on TV in real in real life. So only a guy like Mr. Hockinson knows what it's actually like to catch footballs from JJ McCarthy. So I asked him, how would you describe how JJ throws the football like you have caught passes from a lot of different quarterbacks and what is different or unique about catching the ball from him?

Yeah, I mean he he throws a tight spiral which is which is incredible as a receiver to be able to catch because you know you don't have to worry about the wobble of the ball where it's going to hit in your hands that kind of stuff It's just it really is You know if you miss it, it's on you So it's like it's fun to have that and then he puts it in a spot where it needs to be almost every time so it's like

You know, there's times where he'll fit it in the side window as you saw at the end there You know, but you know where it's gonna be. It's not dropping off the table, it's zipping on you. And that's a fun ball to catch. In the past, I've related it to staffs ball a little bit where it just gets on you, and it's a tight spiral. So it's a really good quarterback to compare. And I just have such an expectation from JJ for his futures.

That is a guy hitting a sled by the way in the background of that, that hammering. That's right, training camp is back folks. When you hear the background audio, bang of a sled. Let's go. And the thud of the jugs machine. That's another thing with the ball coming out of the jugs machine. Boom. It goes really fast. Also, a new addition to the post training camp practice videos is I have what is called B roll. So just like your local news, we got a little video here from inside and maybe you could see outside there that it was raining like crazy outside and that is why they practiced inside. So enjoy a little bit of sites of the Vikings at practice today.

This is what a warmup looks like. It's a lot of people, you know, doing a little and getting ready for practice. So let me answer your questions. Now feel free, throw them in the chat, whatever's on your mind, whatever you want to know from, uh, practice. But I thought those were two interesting little comments from McCarthy and from TJ Hockinson because, uh, McCarthy, uh, I think he's working with the best coach in the universe to understand situational football, uh football as a young quarterback.

I mean, you saw Kirk Cousins in 2022 completely change who he was and his reputation as a situational quarterback. Like, think about how we talked about Cousins before 2022 and how often we criticized him for calling a timeout at the wrong time or checking down. I guess he did do that in 2022. Maybe not being aggressive enough or just not coming through in those big spots. And until the check down at the very end of 2022, that changed completely. And then you talk about Sam Darnold as a guy who was barely in the league. And then in the clutch moments throughout all of last season seemed in total

command. So I think that Kevin O'Connell does have a specific talent for this. Maybe for understanding where he could take advantage of defenses, which helps his quarterback feel more confident and understand situations better or be better in the clutch. But I think it really goes throughout the full game and not just, oh, while it's in the fourth quarter and you need to make a big play, it's also at the end of the half. It's also, Hey, and this was maybe as much of a Sam Darnold thing as it was a Kevin O'Connell

thing of, you know, maybe you don't need to make that throw at that time into that coverage and so forth, which, you know, we saw a lot from Sam Darnold in a good way. And we also saw it sometimes in a bad way. So a lot to learn for JJ McCarthy there. And I just think it's always interesting to ask about his arm to people that aren't him, whether it's O'Connell and his development as a thrower Mechanically, I thought today he looked very good throwing the football. One of the highlights was a long touchdown Well, I guess it's a touchdown, right? It would have been a touchdown for sure But a long completion to Jordan Addison where you just saw the touch on the football and there was velocity as well, but it wasn't a low line drive that the defender Harrison Smith could just knock it down. It had

touch on it. But then on a later throw, uh, he let it rip over the middle on a comeback route to Justin Jefferson. Their timing looked like it was pretty good. Hits him right in the numbers. Like there's an easy first down and knowing when and how to do all that stuff is part of his development but his throwing has improved so significantly and that's why I like asking people about it and TJ Hockinson talking about Matthew Stafford there and I think what he means is that just the pure velocity of a Matthew Stafford fastball is coming in there at a similar rate. And that's why there was the discussion of why did the draft analysts think he didn't have a good arm. And I think when you look at JJ McCarthy as a 20 year old starting

quarterback for Michigan, just look at his shoulders, look at the, you know, I don't know, let's not be weird about it, but just like, you know, his body is development, how different he is now that he's not having to throw the football with his entire body. And I think he's also learning that, that he's got a strong enough arm where he doesn't have to rear back and throw a hundred percent every single time. And we're seeing some of the fruits of that, uh, as he goes along here in day one of training camp. But the biggest thing was just that for me, for JJ McCarthy is that he looked every bit as comfortable today,

as he looked the last time we saw him in training camp, as he looked in mini camp, it's been a while since JJ McCarthy has had an uncomfortable practice and there will be some of those During training camp and we'll talk about them and we'll pick them apart and ask why and what happened But today was a pretty comfortable quality start for JJ McCarthy Maybe we need the training camp stat quality starts for JJ McCarthy. So let me get into Some of your questions here. Of course. Yeah, Bill, how did McCarthy look is always the question that will be the first for where we start pretty much every single night. But beast mode 56 says, how many years do you think Harrison Smith has got

in him? I think it's probably a maximum of two and a minimum of one. It would be shocking if he played any more than two years. I would be kind of surprised if he played even to next year, but let's say that they end up in the NFC championship or something and miss a field goal wide to the left. Not that that would ever happen, but just in case, I think Harrison Smith would probably say we were that close. I'm going to come back one more time.

If, you know, they go nine and eight and the team just ends up being surprisingly kind of average and maybe a lot of the things that we thought were going to go right, go wrong. Uh, you could see him saying, maybe we're not as close as I thought. Uh, but I don't know. I mean, with Harrison every single year, he does a whole assessment. He's taken us through this before about how he asks himself, am I still fast enough? Am I still into it enough?

Do I still care enough? Can I still give everything? Am I willing to sacrifice the body again and play through pain? I think there's only so many more times you can ask yourself that. This might be it. And with Harrison Smith, I think it was the end of 2023, I wrote an article about like, hey, if this is it for Harrison Smith,

he has a hall of fame resume. I talked to Anthony Harris, I talked to Anderson Dayhoe, Durante Jones. And the one thing that everybody kept coming back to was kind of what an honor it was to have him, to coach him, to have him as a teammate, to was kind of what an honor it was to have him, to coach him, to have him as a teammate, to play alongside of him, uh, because he is such a unique type of player and brings a unique type of value to the field. And so I think the same thing

for the fans of a, I don't know if it's this year, I don't know if it's next year, but every time you watch Harrison Smith make a play on the football or blitz or whatever it might be, I take it in because there's not too many Harrison Smiths in the national football league. Even in the history of the national football league, there's not too many Harrison Smiths. Looks fine out there today. Other than, you know, he didn't quite get over for that Jordan Addison play. I don't know if it was a, what, you know, what the defense was or whatever, but I mean, first day of training camp, uh, echo warrior with the super chat.

Thank you so much. Echo warrior. Really appreciate that says, it seems that Tyler Batty is getting an unusually high amount of attention for an undrafted free agent. Do you think he makes the 53? Any idea how the staff feels about him? Well, the one thing I noticed today was that he was getting a good amount of reps with the twos so that the starting outside linebackers were for the twos, I should say. So not the starters, but the, uh, the first group of the twos, does that make

sense was a Gabe Murphy and Tyler Batty. And if you look at his athletic profile, also he was a guy last year that created a ton of pressure, but didn't have a ton of sacks. And usually pressure is a stat that's more, people say sticky or carries over better than sacks. Cause sacks can happen at random. You know, it's DJ Wannum sacking,

Justin Fields a bunch of times like that. You know, that was just kind of random that Justin Fields always got sacked by one guy and he racked up a bunch or Patrick Jones last year getting, what was it? Six in the first couple of weeks and then one for the rest of the season. Those kind of come and go, but pressure is something that's consistent and he created a ton of it last year for BYU and then is a really good athlete. He's also older, a little more experienced. I think he might be 25.

You know, the guys who come from BYU are grown adults by the time that they land here. So I wouldn't count out anybody in that battle like Bo Richter who was mixing in today. We'll see what Chaz Chambliss has. He's another undrafted free agent from Georgia. He actually did have a bunch of sacks last year, but Baddie kind of makes a lot of sense as the guy who's a little more experienced, played a lot of college football, has got the athleticism to do it and we'll see if baddie proves to them and gave Murphy if those guys prove to them this is the backup situation to Dallas Turner and to Van Ginkle and Granard that you should stick

with because two undrafted free agents being the backups is a little okay but there's no veteran there there's no guy who's kind of been around the NFL to back up. If somebody gets hurt and then you're rotating in an undrafted free agent. So they have to be confident in these guys. And I think it does say something about how they feel about baddie, that he is in there with the first group of backups. But last year we saw Bo Richter have a really great training camp preseason when he was not on anybody's radar at any point last year.

And that's where that whole, Hey, when the pads come on. So this is the starting point. We know the beginning of the race and where the race goes from here. We're going to see, uh, Connor says, I think people are over hyping the secondary being bad just to have something to talk about. We're way better this year than we were in 2020 with guys like Holton Hill and Cam Dantzler. Yeah, that is true. But that was about the worst defense in the entire league. And this

expectation for the Vikings defense this year is that they will be a top five defense and that they will go to battle with the Eagles and the commanders and the Ravens and et cetera. So they have a lot. Oh, Cincinnati. How about those wide receivers? Even the Atlanta Falcons, uh, right off the bat, Chicago's got some wide receivers as well, which I saw some crazy updates from Courtney Cronin on Ben Johnson

telling his first team to get off the field today after they were struggling to execute. We'll see how that plays out, but you do have to wonder is Ben Johnson know what he's doing here? Does he know how to coach a training camp? Because freaking out on the first day might not be the best idea. We've seen some guys like Josh McDaniels, Joe Judge, be kind of in over their head as the leader of a franchise, even if they were really, really smart Xs and O's wise, kind of wondering if that's the case. I know that is not your question, but the point just being that the bears and the Falcons and the Bengals, like you're starting your season against some

really, really good groups of wide receivers. And then eventually you're going to play the Eagles and you're going to play the lions. And there's a lot of really strong wide receivers and quarterbacks on this schedule. And when your expectation is that you need to be in the top five to seven defenses in the league to go where you want to go, can you do that with guys like Isaiah Rogers, who is not that experienced or Mackay Blackman or Jeff Okuda and Jeff Okuda was getting the

first reps with the nickel, uh, package today over McKay Blackman. Blackman did mix in with the first unit when they went to a dime package. And I think that they're given the Okuda thing a real chance. It's day one and there's a lot of ways to go and a lot can change. But it seems that they're either using Okuda as a bar to clear for McKay Blackman or they believe that there's something there. Now Okuda is the type of player who is so physically impressive that yeah, when you get him out there in shorts, I mean, wow,

like he has the longest arms I think of any corner I've ever seen. And even probably longer than Xavier Rhodes or on par with Xavier Rhodes, the size of the guy and the way that he moves for that size is so impressive. Will that sustain throughout training camp? And then we're starting day one going, wow, okay. They've really got something here in Okuda or was it, Hey, remember when Jeff Okuda was starting in day one and everybody talked about it? So I think when you set that standard as high as it is, there is a concern there that we

don't have big samples of these corners playing really well. But the other part of it too, as you mentioned 2020 guys like Holton Hill and Cam Dancer probably would have been better if they could have pressured the quarterback. They didn't even pressure the quarterback in 2020. The worst pass rush and that was always a Zimmer thing. You know, he had to have the pass rush from the front four so he could just blitz on third down. But they didn't have any pressure at all in 2020. I mean, these two defenses are way, way, way different in the talent in front

of the secondary. But when the bar is compete for a Super Bowl, be one of the best defenses in the league, you do have to ask that question. If this was a transition year where you're just, Hey, let's see if there's something there. Then, then it's a little bit of a different conversation, but it is important to note that it's a long training camp and we could get three weeks into now and they're not happy with the corners. and then they go sign Stefan Gilmore or somebody else who's still out there. Uh, or we could get a couple of weeks in and we could feel great about it. So, uh, that's one of those, let's see how it plays out things. Uh, Bob says, uh, how was the run in the past divided? I, I don't think we could pick out in,

uh, practice yet, Bob, about how their run pass ratio is going to look. Uh, usually they're divided. Most, I mean, there's more passing plays that they need to work on than run plays. So it's probably two passes to every run, but it's always that way in every training camp that I've ever been a part of. I mean, the passing game is, or that I've covered, I have not been a part of any on the field, but been a part of on the sideline. It's so much more intricate with the passing game that you've got a bunch of receivers

you're trying to evaluate, you're trying to get the quarterback as many reps. They're not going to ignore the run game, but that's just how it works generally in these practices is it's pretty much two pass plays to every one run play and you can't really figure out if it was a successful run or not standing on the sideline. Like, all right, everybody kind of crashes into each other. And then sometimes the running back, if he's really feeling excited, will run all the way and the crowd will cheer. Joel says, Will Raggits wrote that Theo Jackson had a nice pass breakup today. If you were able to witness the play, I was indeed able to witness the play on my podcast

with Dane Mizutani, which I suggest you check out after this one. I mentioned that there's a rule. The rule of Theo is that he will have a pass breakup or interception every single day of training camp ever in his life. Theo Jackson looks like he's going to play as a nickel or well, as a three safety, safety as a dime safety, a dime defensive back. Let me get that right. It appears as of right now, the plan is to have Josh Mattel is be the cam by them to slide back into that role.

But when they are in a dime package, it seems as of right now that that's when Theo Jackson is going to come in. So as much as they love Theo Jackson and we had expected, or at least talked about the idea that he could just slide in next to Harrison Smith as of this moment, it seems the plan is to rather have Josh Mattelis be the Cambynum and Theo Jackson be somebody that is in a little bit of a dynamic role or a little bit more of a just in passing situations. He's out there to go make a play on the football like he did today.

Jackson always looks confident out there though. Never looks lost, never looks frustrated, never looks like they're going after me again or something. And he does have a nose for the football. So I was not shocked to see him break up a pass today. That's for sure. Uh, beast mode 56 says who is going to step up in Jordan Addison suspension. He needs to get an Uber. Yes. Uh, I agree with that. And it seems over the last year, he has also learned that lesson. And we'll hope that he does into the future as well. But who's going to step up is something that we struggled to find out today.

Now, of course, you know, we're going to find out over a long period of time, but the reason we struggled to find out today was that the quarterback play was pretty suspect outside of JJ McCarthy, who looked good and fine. But Sam Howell, Brett Ripon had a pretty tough time. There was a couple of pick sixes. There were some under throws, one to Josh Oliver, where he was wide open running over the middle and it was under thrown. There was a deep ball that didn't quite get over the top to tie Felton and that was broken up by Dwight McClothern, who's another guy that has a hand for the ball as well. Always seems to be able to find it.

And so it was hard to evaluate the wide receivers. Ty Felton had a nice catch over the middle of the field in seven on sevens, but if the quarterback is not getting the ball out on time where it's supposed to go and is not seeing the field very well, it's really hard to say, Oh, well, Rondale more is coming along or lucky Jackson or whoever. And as much as you guys could not stand Sean Mannion being the backup for all those years, or even Nick Mullins, but especially I remember the Sean Mannion, uh, people really didn't like that, but Mannion in practice would get the ball to the second teamers and Nick Mullins ran usually a pretty darn good practice.

It allows them to evaluate. So we don't have a big evaluation yet on who's behind the starting three, but Felton got a ton of work with the twos and Rondale Moore looks good to go. He was a lot of the times on the opposite side of me. So, you know, is his quickness look great and things like that would be hard for me to say from, I don't know, you know, 70 yards away from him, but he was out there. And the fact that he's fully healthy and is running with the second team gives him a chance and the other guy to watch the dark horse for this is lucky Jackson, who is I think

27 and has been on this team for three seasons now. I think it's three years since he was an XFL or UFL player, whichever one of those he's been developing behind the scenes and might be a next man up deep into the roster. If he has another good training camp, he said two good training camps already. If he has another one and they're not confident in Felton or in a Ronda more than it's possible, we could see lucky Jackson be in that spot and kind of be one of the better stories of training camp, but I think they do want Felton to be there and I liked liked how Ty Felton looked today.

Just the caveats are going to have to be there that it's shorts and it's not yet with guys getting up and being super physical. So he should look great. He runs a sub four four, but just the way he was getting off the line of scrimmage into his routes certainly looked like he had been working on it. I thought it was a little stiff during many camp and we'll watch for the progression of that as we go forward. But the answer is it's a little up in the air behind those top wide receivers.

Matt says sounds like howl and ripping had rough days. Yes, they did. What's the way too early to panic level on the backup quarterbacks? You can't, you can't yet. You can't yet. Uh, today it did not seem like Sam Howell was ready to run a practice for the Minnesota Vikings with the second team. I will say though, that they like to do this thing where they have the second

team defense play against the first team offense, and then the second team offense play against the first team defense. And then the second team offense play against the first team defense. And Brian Flores is not screwing around at these practices. And I do, I do have to wonder if after a day like today, Kevin O'Connell was a little frustrated with, okay, man, yeah, he's already dead. Like, let's like, let's get them some confidence. Let's let them get him some confidence Let's let him get a couple of collisions here because they were throwing a lot of stuff at him and this

reminded me not when McCarthy was playing but when how was playing it reminded me of some of the camps with Zimmer where from the outset of camp and his defenders had been with him for so long He just ran the whole defense and the offense was still trying to learn what they were supposed to do so long. He just ran the whole defense and the offense was still trying to learn what they were supposed to do under a new offensive coordinator, whether it was D Filippo or Stefanski or Kubiak. And here's Zimmer just saying like, all right, let's double a gap them. Let's do all the stuff we do with coverages and everything else. And it was hard on the offenses sometimes. And even Kirk, I think got a little bit frustrated with Brian Flores in 2023 because he was like, come on, man. Like I gotta, I gotta get some stuff done here today. So can you let me please without

trying to throw your all out attack on day one? But it was a, there's a lot of attacking that may have played into it with Sam Howell at the same time. You gotta get something going when you get those second team reps. They didn't today. You can't panic at all after one day. You have to give him time to learn it. He's new here. This is his first year and it takes a while.

We didn't see Sam Darnold start to really take off till I want to say three to four weeks into training camp. It was three to four weeks for her cousins to learn it. JJ McCarthy had a training camp last year, also had the full off season OTAs, everything else. He's got a lot of built up knowledge that Sam Hall doesn't have. Howell on paper looks like your run of the mill backup quarterback. He does not look great in practices and that might motivate them at some point to go out and look for other options. But I'm sure you're assessing the options all the time.

But after day one, no, it's not going to be something that you raise a panic level over, but it's got to, if it's, if it is two to three weeks of this, then they have to start putting that under consideration because it kind of looked the same way that Kellen Mond or Sean Mannion looked in practice in 2022 when they made a change day one though. So we'll see what happens tomorrow and we'll talk about it then, but it's, yeah, it's got to get going pretty quick. How many interceptions did he throw today? None.

No interceptions for JJ McCarthy today. Uh, any Jeff Okuda highlights? No, I don't think there were any highlight plays that stuck out like past breakups or interceptions or anything else like that. It's just that the fact that he was out there playing with the first team and the nickel packages that was interesting. And it's a little bit difficult to figure out with corners when they're not in pads, how it's actually going because they can't be

ultra physical with the wide receivers. Kevin O'Connell doesn't want anybody hitting the ground. Even if he wants a more physical camp, he does not want anybody hitting the ground when they're not in pads, right? He just doesn't want any injuries because somebody gets a little bit over the top, you know, just overly excited. So, you know, I think that on the first day, Okuda being out there is interesting in itself. But even if he had had a or two, like we're going to have to wait until the full caliber of physical play and much more consistent 11 on 11s. I mean, they did a handful today and then it was a lot of seven on seven still. When we get into the second week of training camp, that's where we see

situational drills goal line. Like the, the energy gets turned up. And then where we really know is at the end of camp when they do The joint practice that's when you can really see Okay, these are the guys that they truly believe in this is the lineup that they truly believe in Because they're treating that as if it's a preseason game used to be treated back in the day So to be a process with Jeff Okuda. I didn't see any like huge, incredible play from him today. Um, but we'll see where it goes as he goes along.

Uh, LDR believer it's day one time to get excited. So many lists to come in the coming weeks. Do you have a list of your favorite player nicknames of all time? Uh, so I don't, um, but for me, I mean, I've joked about ironhead Hayward before, but I love that one. Um, I'll leave the rest to you guys, uh, for that, because to me, day one is list season is over list season ended yesterday and now it's everyday practice season.

No longer are we ranking quarterbacks. Not that we do that here on this show anyway, but no longer are we looking at anybody else's lists. It's, it's go time and it means everything that happens in practice is exciting and interesting. So that's kind of what my focus is going to be on. Uh, John says, how's Jordan Addison looking compared to last year? I think he's awesome. Just curious if he looks even better. Um, uh, how's Jordan Addison looking compared to last year? I think he's awesome. Just curious if he looks even better. Um, yeah, I hate to say with everything that it's one day of practice, uh, because I mean, Jordan Addison is a really good football player. And I think that there is

one more level to Addison. One thing I can say, and it's just such a classic camp thing. There are guys who look like they've been working out. Jordan Addison is one of them. The thing that came up today with Addison was that he worked out with the other Vikings wide receivers in the off season, which I think is a enormous positive that Addison was a little bit on the quiet, a little bit on the recluse side in his first year. And I think what he realized, and maybe with a lot of nudging from Justin Jefferson is that you gotta, you gotta buy into this being a complete team and let these guys who are on your team, be your friends and let these guys who are on your team be your friends and let these guys help you

and guide you and let Justin Jefferson be a leader for you and work out with Jefferson in the off season, like buy into that because Jefferson is as successful as anyone has ever been at this point in his career. So to hear Addison say that he got a lot out of that experience, I think that, um, that's pretty important for him and his maturity. And I'm always willing as, as much as he deserved all the criticism for what happened off the field. And we wait for a very likely three, or maybe if he gets

lucky at two game suspension, but very likely three as critical as I was of him off the field and his actions. And he deserved that to have it happen two years in a row, like fully fully once. Right. But if that corner has been turned for Jordan Addison, that maybe also translates to the field and inconsistency. And I don't just mean in fantasy stats inconsistency. I think Martin a little bit over the first two years, but this is where you're starting

to come into your prime. And if he can be a little bit better at fighting through a contact, a little bit better off the line of scrimmage, a little bit more usable in the short yardage game. I mean, you're talking about somebody who their ceiling is the best wide receiver to our top three wide receiver to in the entire NFL. I think, you know, the Rams could argue that Devante Adams is wide receiver too, is pretty great. T Higgins is pretty great.

Devante Smith is pretty great. He's not, he's already not that far away from that, but if there is that one more level, uh, then you could be talking about Jordan Addison is one of those unstoppable wide receiver twos because so much attention is going to wide receiver one. So this is a big, big, I think off season for him. And then a very big season for him. Uh, Don and Bethany hearing JJ talk about Ryan Kelly sounds like they already

have begun to build a strong connection Really believe that will be a difference maker great observation Whichever one of you don or Bethany or both of you maybe came up with the comment. Um, but great observation either way because I thought the same thing when he said Ryan Kelly's already one of my favorite teammates ever. I was like man You've only known the guy for a couple of months, but I get it. I've only spoken to Ryan Kelly once I'm sure that I'll get to a little bit more as we go along here in the offseason, but

Who couldn't be impressed by the leadership capabilities of Kelly the experience that he has and the fact that they were talking about stuff that is even just beyond the field where he was Talking about Ryan Kelly and dad advice because JJ is gonna become a dad pretty soon here things like that I mean the center and quarterback bond is So so important for those guys to be on the same page Everything starts right there before the line of scrimmage, um, or before the, uh, the snap at the line of scrimmage. And as defenses get more complicated, as coverages get more tricky.

And I had a conversation today of something I want to write about through camp with Blake Cashman and I asked Cashman about zone coverages and like, why, why are we seeing more zone coverages? And the thing that he said to me was, well, it, it allows for more deception and everything now is not just about, Hey, my guys versus your guys on defense versus offense. It's how can I trick you, uh, on defense? So if you have a center who's good at working his way through the tricks, uh, that's, that's pretty impressive. I mean, that's, that's pretty impressive. I mean,

that's, that's really, really good. It's like having a cheat code for a young quarterback to have someone who can figure out the tricks before you have to and can set the protections. And so those two building a relationship. Yep. That, that popped out to me from his comments as well. Uh, any players shown up looking out of shape? I don't think so. I don't think that happens much anymore It gets 2025 you don't see too many Albert Hainsworth situations where guys are just showing up and you know Way out of shape although it did happen with Wyatt Davis, but I don't know that he ever got into shape after Showing up to camp out of shape. So that's the only player I could think of. I'm sure behind the scenes, football people could tell me a lot more.

Um, but I don't think with a team like this that has the expectations that it does, that you're going to have many of these guys who are showing up out of shape. I will mention though, that for those who's in shape, watchers, if you were hoping that Dallas Turner put on the muscle in the off season, I thought so at mini camp, but when we're on the sideline indoors, we get to see a little bit more up close. And it looked to me like Dallas Turner had put on, I'm not going to take a guess, a good amount of muscle on top of his frame from last year. And I thought it was a bit of an issue last year that throughout the season, uh,

he looked like to me, wasn't able to keep the weight on, which is a huge challenge for NFL players as they go through the season to still have to do the workouts and still eat in a way that they keep the weight on. And some guys naturally do it. And some guys don't. But it seems anyway from my eyeballs that it looks like Dallas Turner took that into account that this off season. So that's the that's the in the best shape of his life training camp as we try to check every box on day one. Evan says do we have any updates on B flow contract?

Do not. I'm sure we'll find out about that whenever we find out about it. Um, whether that's this off season or whether it happens next year, I don't know. It's interesting. Uh, and Andrew Kramer and I talked about on yesterday's episode. It's interesting that he does not have an extension yet, but we are so far away from Brian Flores contract situation coming up that what can I say about it? It feels a lot like the quasi at a FOMENSA conversation where if a extension doesn't get done immediately, then it has to be a dramatic thing.

I don't know if it will be or not, or if he's thinking if we have a top five defense that maybe I can become the highest paid defensive coordinator somewhere else and go save a team, or if he just wants to put a little heat on the Wilfs by saying, I'm not gonna sign whatever you put in front of me, I'm not really sure. What I know is that this year,

they still have Brian Flores under contract and they have super high expectations for this defense. So we kind of have to cross that bridge when we get there. I don't recall ever having discussions before in my career about assistant coaches contracts. So there's probably been plenty of times where somebody had one year left on their deal and we just didn't know about it. This one happened to be reported. So, uh, LDR believer, how many bad practices before KOC just take second team reps, uh, to get these receivers, good reps. I promise you don't want Kevin O'Connell throwing instead of somebody else. It's, it's not the best throwing motion I've ever seen

in my life with O'Connell. He's very self-deprecating about it and he could throw the ball better than 99.9 continuous percent of society. But I don't know if the cannon is in shape enough to go back and throw a bunch of actual reps. They really need Sam Howell to do it. He's the professional quarterback. He, I just, you know, the last time I saw Sam Howell in a game, it left a bad taste in my mouth. And what I want to do is make sure that I am not letting that shape how I feel about his practices. And that was the game where he had to come in in Seattle against the green Bay Packers and looked completely lost and just played terribly.

It didn't look like he really even knew the offense wasn't getting the ball out of his hands. That was the last time that I saw him play. And the end of his 2023 season was also pretty hideous as well. And so it's been quite a long time since he's played any good football. And then to have a poor practice to start off, it's that well, it's not, it's not great. It's not ideal, but I don't want that to, you know, change the way I think about this, which is you're just going to have to be patient and let this play out.

And then we'll know when we know, uh, just for example, if it's a couple weeks in and they're playing their first preseason game and he hasn't had great practices and then doesn't play well in the preseason game, then the conversation starts to happen. I think even with someone like Helen Mon, they gave time to bond in 2022. And then when he had that, uh, that game against who was it? San Francisco, maybe where he threw a couple of interceptions was like, okay, this is, this is, oh, I mean, this is, this is can get, it cannot continue.

So we'll know when we know it is what I think we'll know when we know about Sam Howell. Uh, Bradley says, if Addison only gets a two game suspension, it's because of his off field stuff that he's done since getting arrested. Right. Yeah. That's a possibility that the NFL would take into account what Jordan Addison has done off the field, which means staying completely out of trouble and participating with mothers

against drunk driving. And I hope that he learned throughout that time, uh, more than just, you know, Hey, I'm gonna do a little bit of this on the side to make myself look better. I hope that he legitimately took a lot away, um, when it comes to the drunk driving and it wasn't just sort of for show. Um, so we'll, we'll see. I think that with Jordan Addison, there is a very real possibility of him understanding what's ahead of him and what's ahead of him is a $25 million a year, $30 million a year contract, 10 years playing aside from Justin Jefferson. That's all there for him if he wants it and doesn't throw it away by making a mistake

behind the wheel or otherwise off the field. So it's important that he knows that I hope that he learned that two game or three games suspension, whatever it might be. It's a potential learning experience. Digital planes media says shouldn't bother me, but it does. Why do people like coward take such strong stances against McCarthy without seeing him play it down in the NFL? Well, they're acting like he's the same players two years ago. Yeah. So, uh, Colin coward and I do different jobs, um, my job and I blended a little bit with takes and with live podcasts like this

one where I chat with you guys so I blended a little bit with being an opinion-maker as well as a reporter but my job is to focus on every detail of the Minnesota Vikings and to attend every practice and press conference and then bring you the most information with some fun and some good conversation and discussion and things like that. That's what I do. What Colin Cowhert does is he takes strong stances. He's been doing this for 30 years where you decide based on the information you have at

your fingertips that you're going to be in one camp or the other on certain players or certain interesting topics. And that's what you're going to be in one camp or the other on certain players or certain interesting topics. And that's what you're going to ride all the way down. And I think we all know friends like this and people like this in our lives, where there are some folks who are very overconfident in their sports opinions. And compared to the rest of the world and media world, uh, it's pretty harmless. Uh, but sometimes I do think, Hey, like you don't have to ask me, but ask somebody who's there before you have this opinion.

But that's just not how that works. It is, it leans more toward the entertainment side than it does toward the reporting side. And I lean way more toward the reporting side than the entertainment side. So we're just different people Jews is what you DFA looked the best or was the most impressive so caveat One day I'm gonna need I used to have a scroll. I used to be able to make a scroll

Maybe I could still do that. I wonder if I could still do that. Is there a scroll maker here on this thing a Ticker, let me see. I think I- okay. Hold on one second. All right, I think you guys will enjoy this. Here we go. Okay, there we go. I've got a scroll for those listening that says it's only been one practice at the bottom. So with every- so I don't have to just keep saying it, I could just hit the scroll and it just says it's only been one practice. Tyler Baty and Zamiah Vaughn are the guys so far that stand out the most. And this goes back to mini camp as well, where Vaughn had a really good mini camp, but he got some reps out there today as well. And he is so lanky and moves so well for a guy his size.

I just, we may have to start asking this question all the time with some of these undrafted free agents. Like what happened there last year with Gabe Murphy, Gabe Murphy's not likely to be the next miles Garrett, but could looks like could be a useful NFL player based on what he did in college and a little small sample of what we've seen from him. Teams drafted punters like what happened there and you know, Tyler baddie, I get because he's on the older side and there is a cutoff, like, Hey, you know, 23, 24. Okay.

You get a little past that and you're talking a long in the tooth and what's the upside, but you know, baddie is a physical player for sure. But Zmaevon, I don't understand. Like he's not older. He didn't go to a college like BYU where half the players are like 28 years old and have three kids. Like he made plays on the football. He moves. Well, I don't know. I don't know. Sometimes guys just get a little bit left under the radar or maybe there's something I don't know or something that's missing.

I felt the same way about Dwight McClothern last year where I thought, is there, what am I missing here? And my friend Chris Trapasso, who does the draft show here on purple insider said that he had McClothern as a third round prospect and he thought, oh, well, I guess I was really wrong, but not really because he looks like he could play. Um, so again, look at the scroll. It has been one practice, but I thought if there's two undrafted free agents to watch,

it is Zmaevon and Tyler Batty as of right now. Uh, oh gosh says Brett Rippon, hopefully looks decent. Unfortunately no. Unfortunately no. Oh gosh says Brett Ripon hopefully looks decent. Unfortunately, no, unfortunately, no. Oh gosh. He did not look decent. He threw a pick six and he under threw one down the left side that got knocked away. It wasn't a good scene. Uh, LDR believer, Tannehill still a free agent. So as Wentz not super worried about QB too. Well, that's my thing is that, uh, if we're talking about the,

the scroll, I need another scroll that says, um, uh, okay, here you go. Well, we'll do this. It says, I don't care that much about the backup or at least backup QB. Let me add QB to that. There it's probably not a good thing for the show that I found the scroll. I don't care that much about the backup QB that I agree with. If I did have the thought today, like, does Ryan Tan? He'll want to come by.

Like, maybe he could just tour the facility, see the offense, sit down with KOC for an hour and see if he wants to be the backup quarterback. But let's, let's all give Sam Howell a chance to see what comes of him in the first pre-season game, first two pre-season games and not get out in front of ourselves here based on one practice.

Steven says, uh, did any, uh, mr. Mankato candidates look or how did any of them look on day one, anyone day three picks or UDF a standout? Uh, I think when I did the, uh, mr. Mankato the other day and tried to put kind of odds on the favorites, I think I mentioned baddie and Vaughn as guys who could be favorites But the other guy as far as draft picks goes is Kobe King I think a lot of you guys could fall in love with Kobe Kobe King if he makes a couple of plays in the preseason games

Or if you come out to practice and see him play He's a big dude And he looks like he's gonna be a very physical player and the fact that he was out there with the Second team not Brian awesome. Ah, which isn't a surprise to a lot of us Just having followed awesome. Ah and Brian Flores They have never seemed to click and Flores hasn't wanted to get awesome on the field and he drafted Kobe King So, of course, he's gonna like Kobe King, but seeing a move out there size. I mean, Eric Wilson is a little bit of an undersized linebacker. He's not tiny, but King looked bigger than him, thicker than him. And, uh, I think he is,

um, got a chance to make a couple of plays. And this is where it goes for baddie or Vaughn too. If these guys make a couple of plays, you get a pick six, you get a couple of sacks in preseason, and then you make the team on the 53, like you're Mr. Mankato. It happens that quickly. Uh, I am interested to see if they could get the backup quarterbacks up and, uh, running because there are some opportunities for some wide receivers as well. And there was a debate a few years ago over whether a third rounder can be Mr. Mankato.

I say no, I say it has to be day three. So I don't think Ty Felton can be, even though I do think that a lot of fans will really like Ty Felton. Ron says, how did Will Fries do in a limited role after missing OTAs in mini camp? The fact that he was out there was a really good sign without the ability to be truly physical.

Hard to assess that just the fact that he was able to get some reps. It wasn't a ton. They're going to have to work him up to it when you don't have the OTA and mini camp and you're just joining a new team. You can't really throw that guy out there and he's recovering from a serious injury. Hey buddy, go out there and play every single rep. Like that would be a lot to ask for Will Fries, but the fact that he's out there puts him on track to be in a good place, very likely ready for week one. I would assume

if he's taking 11 on 11 snaps right now, we're going to see the physicality as we start to go forward, uh, in training camp. And that's where I think when the pads come on, those battles are going to be really something with Jonathan Allen, Jayvon Hargrave. One of the things that I, I know Jonathan Allen's big, he looks really big, really big guy. So those, those battles are going to be crazy crazy physical on the interior During this camp and the I mean those joint practices too So will fries will have a long time to go before we get a sense for that

But when you pay that much for a right guard you do expect him, you know to be good So he's not somebody that I'm going to be watching super close because of the guy who's on the other side, Donovan Jackson. That's the guy when the pads come on that we're going to be watching really closely because if Jackson is even average and then with his physical upside, this offensive line could be spectacular. But if he struggles, are we going to see any Blake brandle rep or whatever? The fact that, uh, Jackson took all the reps though at left guard, even when Will fries came in,

it's not like Blake brandle move over there. Like Jackson's the guy he's starting. He's, he's all set in that position. Now what's it going to look like? Uh, Derek says, um, McClothern had concerns about his long speed and some difficulties in press coverage, but we run so much zone that those issues aren't super concerning. Yeah. But when a guy makes plays on the football, it just makes so much sense

to me to give that type of player a shot in the sixth round, as opposed to a punter or somebody with quote, physical upside in the sixth round as opposed to a punter or somebody with quote physical upside in the sixth round that never did anything in college. Like McClother was very productive and sometimes guys who are productive, even if their physical traits aren't as great, they can figure it out. Uh, Steven says, I know it's early, but curious on kick return and punt return battles, anyone seem to be taking more punt return reps than others if they actually did. So they really didn't. I mean, they did some like punt return warmup drills and it was, I think the same guys as mini camp. I was trying to take my videos. Did you guys like

my little videos? I was trying to take my little videos. You know, I think it's a nice little touch. I think it's a nice little touch. So I missed a little bit of who it was that was taking all of the, it wasn't even punt return reps. It was just like someone throwing a ball in the air and guys catching it. We'll get a better sense of that. But the guys that I'm the most interested in are actually miles price who hasn't gotten mentioned a lot, but Silas Bolden as well, those undrafted free agents, if there was ever a position where you could make something happen and all of a sudden just on the scene, Johnny on the spot, undrafted free

agent somehow wins a job. I mean, it's a part returner, right? Like that's the most available position to just jump into and make something happen. But I think that the guys to watch there for intrigue purposes are those two price and bold and probably the most. And if you are wondering, how about this? You want to go full camp? I'll go full camp on you.

I think it was Silas Bolden who was the last guy off the field today. I think Max Brosmer and Bolden were throwing after practice. And I didn't mention that, but we didn't see Brosmer take reps. Right now, Brett Rippon is in there, but after today, maybe we do see Brosmer start to get some reps. So, Aaron says, uh, awesome watch, uh, Chandler, Nailer, the only ones left in the 2022 draft. Will Nailer be the last one standing? Maybe not after next year's free agency where someone picks him up. Hey, if Jalen Naylor catches like 50 passes and gets a $20 million contract, was the 2022 draft a success? I'm joking, but at least that would be a little bit more, right? If

he did that, yeah. O'Connell answered a question today about Ty Chandler in a, in an interesting manner, because he said that he felt like Chandler has grown and he's working hard, but he used an example of how Chandler had a good play and then they ran no huddle and he had to pass block. And then there were issues last year. And it just told you everything about, uh, the Ty Chandler situation. And this will be a big camp for him just to prove to them that he is a guy that they can trust, or maybe they feel like, well, we've developed them over a couple

of years and he can kick return. And where exactly are we getting the best RB three? I mean, who's the best, who's the best are, well, let's see, I think I actually have an answer to this. The, the best RB3 that the Vikings have had since I've covered the team was probably Jerick McKinnon, who was RB3 in 2017, Delvin Cook, Latavious Murray, Jerick McKinnon. McKinnon was a pretty darn good player. It's not often that you have three good running backs though.

It's pretty rare that you even have two good running backs. And for that reason, they might want to just stick with that rather than trying to get cute and go elsewhere. But I think one of those players that's competing against themselves is Ty Chandler. Now how about this scenario? How about Brian Awesome law goes to the pro bowl as a special teamer. Uh, Chandler comes in after a couple of running backs go down and runs for 900 yards and nailer catches 50 passes. Then is the 2022 draft to success?

Probably not. No, still no. I'm, I'm just kidding. Uh, digital planes media says, I think the two prior quarterbacks, Kirk and Darnold, are really good reference points for KOC to use in terms of JJ's readiness to step on the field. What say you, Matthew? Well, those two guys are, I mean, quite, quite different in their experience. Kirk had just played a ton of football, but Kirk had played mostly in a certain type of

system. And I think it may have hit him a little bit off guard because in 2020 and 2021, that Gary Kubiak, Clint Kubiak system is designed to make quarterbacks lives pretty simple. There's a lot of play action. There's a lot of bootleg. There's a lot of, you know, deep developing routes that are kind of laid out for you. And I'm not saying anything is ever easy for the quarterback, but simplified from the complicated stand in the shotgun, read the defense, move this guy, move that guy. And it took Kirk a while to really get that down. And as far as Darnold goes, it took him, I thought less time to get it down. But I also think that O'Connell made it easier in 2020, 2024 than it was when he got there in 2022 because

he knew that Sam Darnold was just arriving for the first time and he couldn't put everything on his plate yet. That didn't come until later throughout the season, but I think he's probably using Sam Darnold a little bit as a reference point for sure, because now McCarthy has experienced seeing what the NFL is like doing all the work behind the scenes. And I'm guessing is teaching it a similar way, depending on personality and how each player learns.

Um, but that's right. I, I thought where you were headed with that, when you mention like the, it's not just the readiness, but even like the play style and how Kirk cousins was more, much more prone to throwing intermediate and of course check downs, but intermediate was where he did a lot of his work in this same offense as Sam Darnold did deep. So how does that work with JJ McCarthy? Like, are we going to see a lot more of TJ Hockinson? And there was a, there was a legitimately great play today by TJ Hockinson where he ran on a crossing route and McCarthy rocketed a ball into him.

And this is where I show now this is, it goes under the, like, we can't take video of these plays because obviously Kevin O'Connell doesn't want other teams seeing his plays During training camp and that's why some of these sections are open as you'll see from these here scenes This is me taking video of warm-ups and not of the plays So I have to describe them to you and maybe they'll show some of them on Vikings comm they kind of make sure they crop Correctly and that that kind of So you can't see the whole play. But the point is that the highlight play of today, other than a long pass to Jordan Addison was an under or like an intermediate 15 yard crossing route for TJ Hockinson, where he made a great throw rocketed in between the defender and

Hawkinson. Hawkinson makes the catch kind of flies out of bounds or down to the ground and rolls out of bounds, that kind of thing. I think that JJ McCarthy is going to love those throws. I think he's going to love when he's got that crossing route from somebody, when he's got Hawkinson there and he can just see and let it go. I think he's really going to like that. Uh, did I notice talkie-tie Imani?

Well, it talkies hard guy to miss and he is quite large. And so when he came in the game, I did say, Hey, talkie-tie Imani is in the game. But if we're going by the order of when they came in as an indicator, not always a perfect one, but an indicator, uh, it was Levi Drake, Rodriguez and Jalen Redmond were the first two that came off the bench. And then Taya Mani came in after that, the mixing and matching changes throughout the summer. That I think is all about whether Redmond and LDR can show that they can still be run stoppers, even if they're not as big as Taimani and that they can be a copy in some ways of Javon Hargrave

and Harrison Phillips, because if they could do that, then they're going to get a lot of playing time in a rotation. Whereas Taimani, I'm just not sure. I mean, I like the way last year that he could get low and he's a fire hydrant kind of guy could stuff gaps. But is this D line going to be built on quickness and built on penetration? Get in the backfield because that's where Jalen Redmond is great is that guy.

He's not big, but he is lightning like he can get back in into the backfield. Is it more built on that than even what it was last year, where it was more on like power of Jonathan Bullard? Uh, Carson Wentz for CB quarterback too. Yeah. Uh, haven't heard anything about Carson Wentz and if anybody wants him or if he's waiting around, I did see there was an update on Keenan Allen that he's just kind of waiting. We will see how wide receiver rooms play out,

AKA we'll see if anybody gets hurt or panics and then calls me and offers me more money. But with Wentz, I don't know that there's been a peep from Carson Wentz. I felt like it was going to be a, maybe potential option because while there were reports that Carson Wentz was at the airport MSP, but he does kind of live what in South Dakota. So maybe he was just there for that, or maybe he doesn't want to play anymore. I mean, he made a lot of money. He's probably sustained quite a few injuries throughout his career. And if he's not going to start, if he's not going to get another chance as a starter, uh, maybe he doesn't just want to be a quarterback to, to somebody

like JJ McCarthy, uh, Derek says, uh, would love if Tye Imani could make a jump this year, getting a true nose mixed in on early downs, communicate some of the run defense concerns people have had over our free agent additions. But that's, that's the thing though, is are you taking out Jonathan Allen or Jayvon Hargrave on first down very often? Probably not because it's still a passing league. I mean, maybe, okay. Here's the exception to that Ravens Eagles, like those teams are going to run a lot.

But I think somebody can cross check me on these numbers. I think that first down is still passing down these days. Maybe it's 52% passing, but I think a lot of teams still view that is, Hey, they're going to still throw the ball a lot on first down. We got to get into the backfield. Are you keeping an extra DT and cutting somebody else just so you can have kind of a goal line package from time to time that that I don't know. I mean, I could see it. It might really all come down to whether LDR can play a Harrison Phillips type of role. Uh, first name,

last name says, I know your crawl said you didn't care that much, but, uh, would you still, uh, have would you still have to see Brosmer to think, Oh, what would you have to see from Max Brosmer to think maybe he could get a shot at a QB too? You're right. And I immediately forgot that I had that when I was talking about Carson Wentz. So sorry. Now I'll answer the, I'll answer the questions, but this is the caption or the scroll is just

so you know how I feel about it. So I'm answering the Carson Wentz question, but you know, read the scroll. So the same thing is, is for this. Now I don't, I don't think that Max Brosmer has any chance at being quarterback too, that if they are going to look for another QB two, they're going to go out somewhere else. And that is not a knock on Max Brosmer. I wrote a story about him the other day. I really like what I saw for Max Brosmer in Minnesota.

It was not working with top notch wide receivers was not working with a top notch run game last year, and he played really darn well. And he was one or two plays away from beating Michigan, beating Penn state. Like he was good. He was a really good quarterback for them. Probably the best the Gophers have had since that one year of Tanner Morgan. So I, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a brosmer bro, I guess. But when it comes to this type of situation, you're probably not making

QB two and undrafted free agent. You're looking for someone who's played in the league, but he could work his way into quarterback three and then even by next year have maybe some more confidence of the coaching staff to be because right now he's still learning what the NFL is and he's learning an NFL playbook for the very first time. That would be a lot to ask to be, hey, one play away from you're the guy. I think that's why you have your journeyman quarterbacks that bounce around the league and you go, really? That guy I saw there was a little tiff between.

Uh, I think it was the general manager of the Titans and a reporter asking about Brandon Allen being bad. The reason Brandon Allen's still around is because he's played. He's, he's at least been in an NFL game before and you think you could throw them in and not just have your entire offense collapse. Um, but you know, maybe the gap isn't that much if they start giving brosmer some reps. So, uh, will he get reps going into the next couple of practices? That is something that I'll be watching after a pretty rough first day. Steven says we do still have to find someone to fill the shoes of the best tight end three in the entire NFL. I did see some Ben Urasek, some Bryson Nesbit, some Giovanni Ricci today. I was trying. I wish I had that note, but I don't think they completed the backup quarterbacks any more than two or

three, uh, passes today. And so a lot of people didn't get a lot of work. That's the point about the backup quarterback and some of its importance, even though we know what the scroll said, but you need somebody to execute the offense and get some guys some catches Yeah, Tom, I know that cook was hurt in 17 But coming out of camp in the first four games the depth chart was cook Murray and then McKinnon so that's a pretty darn good

You know running back three. It's been a while since there's been a running back three that's been as good as Jared McKinnon. Uh, gladiator for freedom. Wow. What a name. Uh, situational mastery is something that's only superior coaches, uh, who masks a peculiar, peculiar ability, but I think you mean particular ability to transmit and translates info to QB one type that has the athleticism of a JJ McCarthy. I didn't entirely follow that, but, uh, I think that maybe what, what you're

getting at there is that if you're Kevin O'Connell and you're really, really good at understanding situations or teaching situations to your quarterbacks to the point where they understand and execute. And that doesn't mean just third down and five. It means every opportunity that you have any mismatch or understanding. And McCarthy said something like that, right? Like understanding who's on the field is a big deal for quarterbacks and where they could take advantage of anything. So getting the situation is so much more than just the quarter and the down.

But even that it's so easy for us on TV cause we have these little score bugs, but with the chaos out there, it can happen where you lose. Well, how much time do we have for this drive? Can I make this throw? And O'Connell as a play caller in the headset, I think he adds a little bit extra on top of the play call to remind his quarterbacks because his mind is always like a quarterback thinking in that way of the situation and understanding what should happen in the guy on the sideline has a better view of it than the guy on the field.

Um, son of a beavers, I appreciate the list of backup quarterbacks, but I feel like that we've then gone too far, like too far with the backup quarterback talk. So I appreciate it. And I will just carry on to the, to the next topic. Uh, Jude says, how does, uh, how did Tyree on Ingram Dawkins do? Um, let me get the scroll for that one, which is, uh, it's only been one practice. Uh, he was mixing in. So you had baddie and you had Gabriel Murphy. And then I saw Ingram Dawkins kind of coming in with the same group of

Tiamani, so that second, second unit. So when, uh, Mike Zimmer was coaching, they had a very clear first team, second team, third team, and it was really easy to identify with this. It's more of a first team is very clear. And then second team is a mix mash of guys who are second or third teams getting reps. So it might see, you might see Tyler Batty and outside linebacker to start a rep and then here comes Tyreon Ingram Dawkins. I think, cause I'm trying to keep track of every single player by myself. Um, sometimes makes my head explode at these practices, but I think he was on the outside.

I will double check that tomorrow to see where Tyreon Ingram Dawkins lines up. Cause I know he's one of the more interesting players. So we'll keep an eye on that. Or he may have been in multiple spots lining up today, but he was kind of one, one slot behind. And with Ingram Dawkins, he is a very interesting player, but we do have to keep in mind that he was drafted as someone to develop the, the bar for him should be show flashes, but carving out a role right away might be hard for someone who didn't play a lot in college. Um, I mean, it was really only one year and he didn't play an entire season. Uh,

Stephen says, uh, Murphy and baddie needs to play well on special teams because Richter does play well on special teams. Uh, agreed. And, and Bo honestly didn't make any noise early in camp last year. And it wasn't until they started putting the pads on and started playing games that all of a sudden Bo Richter was getting in the backfield and had a couple of sacks, had a couple of TFLs, that kind of thing.

So that's where all of this can shuffle around. This is day one, but we'll, you know, we have to see it all play out from there. And when the pads come on, maybe Richter's got a better chance or maybe we see Tyler batty become a very interesting player or Gabe Murphy, one of those two, I would guess that they're, they're hoping that one of them becomes someone that they could trust in a rotation. And then yes, great point. They have to play special teams. Like Richter should be on this team because he was such a good special teamer for last year. Son of a beavers. How did the two undrafted rookie tight ends look? I will say that you're a sec looks very comfortable. Um, Nesbit maybe a little less so,

but they just weren't getting the ball too much today. But I think you're a sec is the one that looks like an NFL player the most right away, like right out of the box. And we talked about that the other night, how Pete Bursich did his thing on your sec being kind of his more interesting or most interesting undrafted free agent. I could see why he, he just right out of the central casting tight end guy catches the ball like a tight end looks like he can block cause he's got some size moves like an NFL tight end, not somebody who's going to have a crazy high ceiling.

Nesbitt might have a higher ceiling cause he's really lanky and tall and kind of long stride like downfield type. Um, but I think you're a sec has the best chance to make noise. It doesn't help, uh, Gavin Bartholomew that he's got a back issue and we didn't really get a timeline on that from Kevin O'Connell. Um, so right now I guess I would put Ben Urisak is the guy who is, uh, leading the tight end three battle after one day. Where's my, where's my scroll after one practice, but he's, he caught my eye in mini camp. Is there a punting competition yet that I don't know?

Uh, did not see them punt today. Maybe I wasn't looking or maybe they didn't do it. Uh, out there, they can punt a lot more outside than they can. Well, they can punt inside, but it's a little crowded. Like there's a lot, when you're doing a training camp, practice a lot of people that you can hit with a punt. So maybe that's why they didn't do it. I don't think so.

I think it's Ryan Wright's job, but that's on Oscar Chapman to prove that he deserves it. LDR believer, if the Vikings do as well as we expect this year on offense who's most likely to get a promotion Josh or Wes Josh McCown has future head coach written all over him if they do well McCown. I think we'll get hired by somebody I Don't I've never asked Wes Phillips if that's what he wants is to be a head coach asked Wes Phillips if that's what he wants is to be a head coach. Some guys don't necessarily want to be out in the spotlight and they like their role and they don't ever want to be the guy. I don't know that about Wes. Um, but I've also, I think Wes is a very, like not, how do I say this without screwing up grammar? Like he's not a self promoter.

He's not a guy that goes to the podium in front of the media and tries to pound his chest and say, well, you know, we're great because of me and I should be the next head coach and that kind of thing. And we've seen that a little bit in the past, I think from some guys, uh, but yeah, I, that probably hurts Wes's case a little bit. And there's so much attention on Kevin O'Connell that because Wes is not a big, Hey, put me out there in the media. Let me do a bunch of interviews and things like that. I think it was maybe two years ago.

Was it two years ago where I was doing a story and Wes kind of redirected the attention to somebody else on the staff that I was working for the story. I think he's that kind of guy. Like, I don't think he's inviting of, Oh yeah, everyone talk about West Phillips. And that might hurt him a little bit if he wants to be a head coach in the future. But McCown, I mean, I, a guy with those leadership capabilities and the knowledge and the experience that he has I mean he just He's just gonna be a head coach

I mean you can you can just see that that he will be a head coach in the league plus he also Understands like even the times that we've talked to him like he has a head coach demeanor even at the podium Head coach demeanor out there on the field I think he's just probably learning and understanding more from KOC over these two years of getting a masterclass and how to be a head coach and play caller and that kind of thing. Steven says curious about Rondale Moore's role this year. If he's healthy, could KOC use him as RB three? No, I know. I don't think so. I don't think he can play running back. He is small dude. Yeah. He is, he is very small. Um, you'd have to be, you have to prepare your body to play

running back in the NFL. You'd have to be a lot thicker. He's going for speed. Um, but could he be somebody that they run the football with occasionally? Yeah, I think so. And I'm just I think so. And I'm just interested to see if we get signs of him mixing in with that first team in the kind of role that you're talking about, which is get the ball in his hands and go from there. That is something that it's on my list. And I got a, I got a list of topics that I kind of throw out to, you know, during different press conferences and interviews and things like that. So see if there's anything there. Rondale Moore is something that at some point I want to ask some folks about because he is a very intriguing option. There's not too many guys that have his type of burst and speed.

But is it is it there? It looks fine today to me. It looked he looked quick today would like to see in a backup quarterback get him the football But you know looks fine to my eye and the fact that he's healthy gives him a real chance at that Let's see digital planes media does McCarthy strike you as the type of player that the coaches have to reign in or the type That they want to push the boundaries more um, I don't know that he falls really into either category. I think that they over the last year have gotten a really good

understanding of how he learns, how he works. I think he's got a good work ethic, but I don't know. Like, I don't know if you have to reign in his work ethic, like, oh, he's out there hurting himself because he's running stadium stairs and after practice or something and straining all of his muscles. I don't think it's that. Uh, I think that he is the type of quarterback that if you lay it out there for him and you're Kevin O'Connell and you've got these ideas that work and you've got the receivers who can make them work that he will be able to learn it and execute

it because of the effort that he puts in that he is going to put in the type of work as a pro quarterback you know i think that's the way I would describe JJ McCarthy. You watch his press conference today or you watch him in practice just as a pro quarterback. He's somebody who seems to have understood what a pro quarterback needs to be. And he's come in and acted just like that. I don't think he's a guy that you need to push or rain in. I think that he is somebody who already kind of knows how to handle himself and That's you know, that's interesting Rob says Why do you think that some folks want brandle out Rob? You're you're not gloating about Okuda getting some first-team reps

I'm disappointed in you. I thought you would have come in, uh, earlier with talking about Okuda. We'll see, right? Um, but you've, you've been pounding the drum all off season. Last year there was a commenter who said Sam Darnold's going to win 13 games and everybody went, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Block him. And, uh, he won 14. So, hey, plant your flag. I think it's always, I love when you guys, you know, you choose your favorite player, your favorite idea

or whatever, you know, that you think is gonna happen, that kind of thing. Anyway, the question, oh, Brando, yeah, no, I mean, how many good guards as backups are there in the league? I think Blake Brando is as good of a backup guard as you're going to find somebody who's played 17 games before survived a season, had good stretches, knows what to do as a professional. Um, he's going to show up prepared is taking on this role after being a starter, which is not an easy thing to do. Um, yeah. And just, you know, as far as any backup who isn't awesome,

you're always going to have a lot of people who are looking for improvements because, hey, that's part of the fun of football where you look at the roster and you go, hey, where could they could they get this? Could they change that? Could they get better at this? That or the other thing that is part of the fun. But sometimes it goes a little bit too far, which is to hey, the backup center, you know, like, I don't know how many good backup centers

there are. Is there a punter competition? Oh, wait, that's me. Who says that? So anyway, Oh, Jahad Ward signed with Tennessee. He was good for them for the Vikings last year. Anyway. All right. So here's what you guys got. You got some fun little video for me. This is what practice looks like. That's for me on the sideline. You got too much backup quarterback talk, which is expected for early training camp, a breakdown of how McCarthy looked. We got a discussion of, uh, you know, all the different, um, uh, Oh, Rob, you, you were the one who was calling, uh, for Darnold to go

15 and two or 14 and three. I don't know. Um, I, we're going to, we're going to have to go back and look at the record on that one. But anyway, we'll see. We'll see. Uh, when it comes to Jeff Okuda and how this works out, Hey, if they can find something that would be pretty good. But anyway, so a lot of stuff from day one, just beginning,

we got many days to go and guess where I'll be throughout those days. I will be out at TCO Performance Center, every press conference, every practice, every JJ McCarthy throw, I will be there and come back and bring you as much as I can. Sometimes just uploading things takes longer than you'd expect. Like that one JJ McCarthy clip from earlier took like a half an hour. So sometimes, you know, but my goal is to bring back sound, to bring back video, give you guys an idea of what it is like out there at TCO Performance Center.

And then please, if you can sign up for the newsletter, purpleinsider.football. Every night I'm going to spend after practice, writing up a daily journal of things that I took away, interesting stuff things I saw quotes comments, you know things like that. So yeah, LDR believer I I apologize for the the video of of Donovan Jackson. Well, he had good comments, but my video was a little much in his face, but you know, we'll we'll get there. It's day one for me as well, but a fun and successful day one.

Listen to the podcast with Dane Mizutani. That was a great breakdown. Right after practice our instant reactions and tomorrow is another day. So that means I will be live answering your questions and giving you everything that I took away from practice tomorrow evening, right here. Purple insider training camp edition after dark now with a scroll. that I took away from practice tomorrow evening right here. Purple Insider Training Camp Edition After Dark now with a scroll. Thanks everybody for all of your time and we will catch you all very soon. Football.