Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Day 2 of free agency: Tomlinson has become a debate topic and you can't laugh at the Bears

Episode Date: March 17, 2021

Matthew Coller and Sam Ekstrom talk about everything that happened on Day 2 of free agency's "legal tampering period," including a surprise exit from Ifeadi Odenigbo. After a day of sitting on the Dalvin Tomlinson signing, how are we viewing it? Why we like Tomlinson as a player but have to wonder about the price tag and now that Shamar Stephen's become a cap casualty, who's next up on the DLine? Does Danielle Hunter's social media mean anything? Plus the Bears signed Andy Dalton and while your podcast hosts can laugh at them, Vikings fans can't look down upon the sorry Bears. And fan questions, including about Mackensie Alexander's potential return. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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So what do you think? Stock up or not signing a run-stuffing defense attack? Well, I don't know. That Nick Vigil signing might bolster the stock. I don't know about Delvin Tomlinson. Yeah, it's true. No, you know, you talked about it with Eric Eager. We did a Purple Insider Extra about it on YouTube.

And my thoughts haven't really changed throughout the day. I think he comprises a very fearsome tandem with Michael Pierce on rushing downs. I think the defensive line shapes up to be pretty good if you can retain Daniil Hunter. Still don't know exactly what they're going to do on third and long, whether they kick Weatherly inside. I mean, it feels like they're going to draft somebody to add to the mix. And we'll get to this later.

They probably aren't bringing back Afadi Odenabo. So there are still questions to answer on the defensive line. I think he's a good player, but he's also expensive and he's also redundant. And this feels like Mike Zimmer still reacting to week 16 against the New Orleans Saints. When Alvin Kamara ties a record with six touchdowns, they give up the most yards in team history, most rushing yards, like history, most rushing yards, like top three most rushing yards ever, and they get embarrassed. And Mike Zimmer calls it the worst defense he's ever had.

And it still feels like this is the fallout to that. Like Mike Zimmer, who back in 2014, like led off in his introductory press conference, we're going to stop the run. And he did that with Linval Joseph for so many years they tried to replace Linval with Pierce he didn't play they got embarrassed for a year and now they're doubling down and they're gonna do one thing really really well but I don't know if this is like the panacea to their defensive problems they have many leaks and i don't think this solves all of them so while they will have a very beefy like beyond beefy like we're talking like ribeye chateau

brionne um cut of steak here this is still i think a flawed defense and they've spent most of their money so I like the player and I don't love the contract so what I can figure right now messing around with over the cap they have about five million dollars to work with and there's probably an Adam Thielen thing coming a restructure and maybe a Harrison Smith contract extension keeping an eye on that one and you're right it is a lot to put into it. They also cut Shamar Steffen, by the way, today, which I guess we'll talk about. I mean, is there much to talk about? Like Shamar Steffen, a guy who definitely played here more than he should have and who was decent in a certain role and not decent in another role.

And that's why Delvin Tomlinson is here and also i'm sorry they didn't have like a press release with emotional quotes from the gm and the coach and teammates as they do with with star players when they leave i kind of half expected that it's really hard not to snark about this and this is not shamar stefan's fault that he was talked about as if he was what i mean like like linval jose Joseph is kind of how they talked about him. Like, you guys do not understand how good Shamar Stephan is. And Andre Patterson once compared him to Tim Duncan. And we're like, what?

I mean, are we talking about the same guy? Like, Linval Joseph was worthy of that, hey, you know, you don't understand how much he does for this team. His 2017 season was one of the best nose tackle seasons of the last decade, but not Shamar Stephan. He's a nice role player who they gave too much money to to come back and then gave way too much responsibility to and should have gone out and gotten another nose tackle, let him play three technique and maybe done a better job with the defensive tackles last year. But a good move or at least an expected move to just let go of him.

Although this gets us into, and then I'll circle back, but this gets us into that, well, yeah, you can let Jeremiah Searles go. You can let Jerry's right go. You can let this guy and this guy and this guy go. And then whoops, someone got hurt and you don't have any players anymore. And that was one thing that Shamar Steffen was good at. If someone was hurt, if someone was banged up, he could come in for a game or two games and do a good job and be an NFL player. 16 games was too much as a starter, but now it's, okay, Armond Watts, or is James Lynch a defensive tackle still?

Is he on the team still? I mean, right? Like, what's behind these guys is a pretty big question, and who they're going to rely on to rush the passer in passing downs, also a big question. So that's where I'm at is a similar spot where I like the player a lot. I like that when you read about him from things that the New York media says about Delvin Tomlinson, you see that he's a very high IQ player, a high character guy, a tenacious player, like a nonstop, high motor, all those things that you like to go along with just good at his job, one of the better run stuffers in the league. The yeah, but to that is a couple of guys got signed who do similar things today. Derek Wolf, three-year contract, $12 million. He was the

second best run stuffer by PFF, and he's going to make $4 million a year. Also, Malcolm Brown was traded and then signed. He plays for the Saints, another situational run stuffer, two-year deal for $11 million. So what you're paying for one year of a run stuffer is what other teams are paying two or three years for a run stuffing defensive tackle. And that's what makes me wonder, did you reach to overpay to make sure that you got somebody on day one who could improve your defensive line. He certainly does that. There's no question. Going from dead last to even a top 25 player, which Delvin Tomlinson is, is a humongous jump, and there is a domino effect.

I don't doubt that at all. But when you look at the numbers that similar players got on paper, my question would be, all right, do you see something in this guy that says he can pressure on first and second down? Because teams are throwing the ball 50 to 60% of the time on first down. And you don't really have a tandem at defensive end that tells you, okay, we might not get pressure up the middle, but when we had Everson and Daniil, we were going to get pressure off the edges. And now you're like, well, we might have Daniil, and we don't know who else we have.

I find it interesting that the team did exactly the same thing as last year. They had limited funds, and they spent them on a nose tackle or a run stuffer. They're claiming this is a three-tech signing, but it is sort of a converted nose tackle or a run stuffer. They're claiming this is a three-tech signing, but it is sort of a converted nose tackle or a hybrid at least. And they're spending, you know, 8.5 against the cap this year. That's a pretty sizable number compared to some of those other deals out there. But I guess this is a tenant of the Mike Zimmer defense. Like, we shouldn't be shocked. Look at one of the first guys he signed when he got here, Linval Joseph, the second Linval Joseph left. They try to replace him sort of apples to apples with Michael Pierce.

And now I, is this like the ultimate Michael Pierce insurance? Oh, if Michael Pierce doesn't play again, we've got somebody in reserve. That kind of feels like what this is. And then if they both play together, it's going to be a two or two force in the middle, but doesn't necessarily help your susceptible pass coverage, doesn't really help your susceptible end position. I think they'll be fine at nose tackle depth with Armin Watts. Obviously, Tomlinson and Pierce can be a little bit interchangeable. I think the Shamar Stephan release was sensible and saved them money,

and it takes the sting off that cap hit for Tomlinson. But three techs still. I mean, Jaleel Johnson's not coming back. Let's be honest about this. James Lynch barely played in his rookie year. So do you have a pass-rushing three tech today that you like? I don't. I don't know who that is.

And I thought Odenabo might have made sense too, and maybe they can bring him back at a discount. I thought he would have made sense as sort of a edge three tech hybrid like he's been in his career. And the word is they're not non-tendering him, so they might not have that piece. I'm even more confused about how they're going to get after the passer from a pressure standpoint. Well, I would not count on Afadi Adenabo coming back because he tweeted, as we speak,

we were wondering what news would come out as we were talking. Do you have a breaking news sounder of some kind? I'm going to need one. We've got a bulletin from Twitter. It's Afadi Adenabo, and he tweeted, well, I forgot my sword at U.S. Bank Stadium. Daniil, DJ, you guys can have it. Thank you, Minnesota.

DJ, DJ. Who's DJ? Wanham. Oh, DJ Wanham. Okay. Yeah, well, see how much he factors into my mind, the pass rushing, I guess. Maybe he should.

Maybe he should more. I think he'll be in a rotational role with Weatherly next year and maybe someone they draft. But that pretty much signed, sealed, delivered. Afadi Adenabo not coming back. Signing Steven Weatherly, letting Afadi Adenabo go, I'm not sure that I'm on board, Sam. I mean, I thought that Afadi Adenabo proved that his ceiling as a situational rusher and someone who moves around on the defensive line was pretty high. And they didn't do that with him last year, which I thought was a mistake. He was at his best when he was lining up

over the guard and then just going after the quarterback on third down. That's where he got a lot of those, what was it, eight sacks the year before. And he was just the pure, you are the defensive end every play. And that didn't work out as well for him. He still ended up with 42 pressures, which is solid. Yeah. I mean, it's not great, but it was the best on the team. So just letting him walk here, maybe there was a contract difference of opinion that he didn't want just to sign the RFA tender and wants a bigger contract

and wanted to go. But if you're giving me the choice between him and Weatherly, I think he proved that he could be better in that role than Weatherly was. Well, he jumped Weatherly in the rotation in 2019. So that's evidence number one. Evidence number two, they let Weatherly go. Like to sign a pretty cheap deal in carolina it's not like they couldn't have have tried to make an effort to get him back um and there was a stretch last year and i know it's poor statistical analysis to choose an arbitrary range but there was a period where he was getting like four or five pressures a game you know that's that's what really good edge rushers do and he didn't sustain it for a full year, but he also had very little around him as well.

He didn't have a Daniil Hunter taking up attention on the other side, but I would have preferred him as the inside pass rusher to Hercules Mata'afa. Sometimes they had Johnson in on third downs. They had some weird interior combinations last year, like, why is Armand Watson on third down? I didn't understand some of those moves, but that's what they rolled with because maybe they didn't trust their end depth. It was a mess on the defensive line last year. It would not have cost them much to at least offer Odenabo the tender.

The original round tender, I might have the decimal point wrong here, but I think it was around 2.1 or 2.3 million correct 2.1 that that is not expensive by any means and if another team signs them to an offer sheet the vikings get a seventh round pick out of the deal so what would have been wrong with that i don't fully understand because they paid weatherly 2.5. So you got me. Maybe they just believe that Odenabo's value is so much higher that he's going to get signed to like three years, 15 million, and they think they couldn't have afforded it. I still don't know why you don't put the tender on him. So I'm befuddled. I'm a little befuddled too. Other than we're just trying to save money and wanted Steven Weatherly back

because we see him as a better fit going forward than Odenabo, but the numbers don't really point to that, that Odenabo's performance was objectively over 2019 to 2020 better than what Steven Weatherly did. So I'm kind of left to shrug my shoulders here at why you would want to be short one guy, unless it is DJ Wanham that they really believe in. And so they're saying, all right, let's bring back Weatherly. We don't want to sign Odenabo to a long-term contract,

so we'll let him go. But one thing they can't really afford to do is let go anybody who can play on the defensive line. And again, not a superstar, but can play, can be effective. Let me just run through some other things here that are worth talking about. One being that Daniil Hunter put his Vikings photos back on his Instagram. Does that matter to you, Sam? Does it titillate me?

No, that was not my question. That is not what I said. I follow about two Vikings on Instagram, and Daniil Hunter is not one of them. But I'm glad people alerted us to this hard-hitting, breaking news. Unfortunately, we have to become social media sleuths in this era. First, it was the Twitter investigation. What is he tweeting? What tweets is he liking?

Now it's the photos. I feel, didn't Harrison Smith do this at one point too? I think there was something around the trade deadline last year where he, it all turned out to be white noise. He didn't, I don't know, he unfollowed the Vikings on Insta. I don't follow that stuff. I'm glad other people do, though. I'm glad that we can outsource the work to our loyal following.

I would like to point out that Stefan Diggs' tweets were weird before he was traded, and they have been weird after he was traded. They were always weird, and that was why I thought, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do with any of this. But it turned out that, and the Bills general manager admitted this on a podcast, that when they saw him tweet, it was time for a new beginning, that's when they picked up the phone and called the Vikings. So yes, we have to sort of take them seriously, but I don't know what I'm supposed to take

away from it. Like, well, maybe that's a sign that things are going in the right direction, but I can't definitively say that based on his social media interactions. And some players have so much money that somebody else does their social media interactions. Very hard to say. Now I do get the sense that Daniil Hunter does his own from the sub tweeting, but that, yeah, i don't know what to do with that i would say sam that they need to figure it out with daniel hunter because all these things the tomlinson signing won't look anywhere near as good if they have to move on from daniel hunter or if this thing gets really ugly and and and we're going into august and we August and then letting Odenabo go.

If you're talking about DJ Wanham and Steven Weatherly as you're starting defensive ends going into the season, but, hey, man, you got some really big human beings at defensive tackle, well, that's not going to be very exciting. If you start talking about a defensive line that includes Daniil Hunter, who, in my opinion, does deserve to have his contract redone, even coming off of the injury. And I know people will say, but he signed it and everything else, right?

But you only have so many years as an NFL player to earn. So you have to maximize what you can get. And it wouldn't be wise for him coming off an injury to play without any guarantees. So it makes sense for him to fight this fight and try to get more guaranteed money and stuff going forward. Let's say they work that out. Then you have Hunter, who you know is very good. You have two defensive tackles who are very good at their jobs, and you can draft someone, whether it's multiple players in the third round

or whether it's a first-round pass rusher, and then rotate in, Stephen Weatherlyly rotate in, DJ Wanham. All of a sudden, you go from being maybe the worst defensive line in football last year to pretty good. I mean, you might be on the cusp of being a top 10 in terms of overall talent. That's a huge swing from having Hunter and not having Hunter. I tweeted this earlier today. I looked at the week six starting lineup for the Vikings. Defensive end, Yannick Ngakwe, traded.

Defensive end, Afadio Denebo, non-tendered. Defensive tackle, Shamar Steffen, released today. Defensive tackle, Jaleel Johnson, who, by the way, I looked into this. He was like 132nd out of 137 in run defense, probably not coming back. He's a UFA. So you are going to do a complete overhaul. 100% of that starting lineup gone. The trade obviously happened last year with Ngakwe. Some of it's happening right now, but it's clear that they're, and Mike Zimmer's been signaling this for a while,

it's clear that they needed more pass rushers or defensive linemen. They haven't really gotten the pass rushers yet, other than Weatherly. They focused more on stopping the run, and I still think these are the tremors of the Alvin Kamara game sort of lingering here. But the more time goes by, the more I think I'm expecting an edge rusher early in the draft. I can't see a route where they don't find someone to partner with Hunter early-ish in the draft. I just, I can't see a route where they don't find someone to partner with Hunter early-ish in the draft. I don't know if it's first round, but I think it's third round at the latest. It's just leaning that way to me. Well, trust me, I have offensive line questions though that are on the way. So that's still maybe the leader in the clubhouse right now,

considering that they don't have two starting positions and haven't signed anyone. But what popped into my head as we were talking about Jaleel Johnson, quick ranking from you. Most delusional players you have ever covered. Jaleel Johnson is not number one, but he's very close. He called himself in a press conference a great player this year, this year. And he tweeted at us that we didn't know anything for questioning whether he would have a key role on this year's team, which he wasn't supposed to, by the way. It just kind of worked out that way. But he was not supposed to. That was supposed to be Michael Pierce's job, not his job. And seemed like by his social media interactions and the way that he would talk,

as if he believed that he was on the cusp of stardom. And that could not have been any farther from the truth. I think he's on the cusp of the CFL. I've got three, and I want to spit them out before I forget, for delusional players mount rushmore so if jaleel johnson's on on the mountain the other three would be uh bucky hodges yes laquan treadwell and kyle sloder gosh they they all right right on right on absolutely one thousand percent correct absolutely correct i mean k Kyle Slaughter was hands down and his family, the most delusional that I've been around because he would get mad if people said he wasn't going to make the team and tweet them and his family would send us emails. And we'd be like, look, the head coach said you can't even get people lined up right what do you want me to say it's not personal Kyle

but he would take every interview and each time would talk about how he wanted to compete for the starting job and all those things incredible Laquan Treadwell called himself a hundred catch receiver once after catching 20 passes in a season what like but I'll give you the one I'll give you the most delusional guy that doesn't make the Mount Rushmore because he didn't play for the team. And I'm trying to think of his name, and I hope you can help me here. The CFL guy who said that he wouldn't sign with the Vikings to compete for a backup job because they told him he wasn't taking Kirk Cousins' job.

Like, he came and talked with the Vikings, and now I can't remember the guy's name. Yeah. Wasn't it like one of those hyphenated last names, like he had three names? I'll look this up. It wasn't McLeod Bethel Thompson. No, Bo Levi Mitchell. Yes.

Bo Levi Mitchell. Bo Levi Mitchell. It's one of my favorite stories ever. Has a chance to come to an NFL camp. If you get a backup job, the least you can make is like a million dollars. And if you're good at it, you can make $20, $30 million of American money, which is worth more than Canadian, I think. And I mean, but think about Chase Daniel's career. This man never plays football and has made 30 million dollars.

If you think about what you make at your job, let's even say you're in charge of your company, how much money you're going to make. Probably do really well for yourself. You can have a house right next to Lake Harriet. Right. That's not even close to 30 million dollars for doing nothing and yet this guy was like well if you're not gonna let me take kirk cousins job what you the guy they the guy they signed to an 84 million dollar contract who was in the pro bowl like okay bo levi or bo levi mitchell yeah which comes first? It doesn't matter. Bo Levi or?

It does not matter. Bo, yeah. It doesn't matter at all. That's humorous. Anyway, speaking of quarterbacks, oh, and being delusional. And I already know some people aren't going to like this. You can't make fun of the Bears for signing Andy Dalton. You just can't make fun of the Bears for signing Andy Dalton. You just can't.

Not when you went 7-9 with one of the most expensive quarterbacks in the NFL who's kind of like Andy Dalton. Andy Dalton beat you, by the way. Not when Andy Dalton beat you, and not when Andy Dalton has four 10-win or more seasons in his career when he played for a good team. You just can't. It is funny, but you can't make fun of them, Vikings fans.

That's the way I'm saying it. Yes, it's funny. I can do it, and Sam, you can do it, and we're going to in a second. But Vikings fans cannot laugh at the Bears for their quarterback situation because you're looking in the mirror, except for their guy is $20 million cheaper. Bears have a first-round pick, yes, number 20. So they can draft somebody if they want. Sounds like the Russell Wilson thing fell through.

And from the conversation you had with Lauren Cox of PFF and Locked On Bears fame, didn't sound like that was ever that realistic to happen. The Seahawks are now reneging. They're saying there's no intent to trade Russell Wilson like were the Bears banking on that being their only recourse like it's we got Russell Wilson he's in the crosshairs and were they stunned when it didn't work out and then they had to fall back on Andy Dalton is that what happened here because that seems like maybe an overestimation of your ability to woo a hall

of fame quarterback i don't know am i am i wrong here here's my guess at how this went and how it goes the bears had no idea that russell wilson would want to play for them is my guess and all of a sudden they see schefter's tweet like everyone else and goes oh my God, like hit the panic trade everything button. Like they're making phone calls to everybody in the organization. Who can we trade? How can we move space? Make this happen. And they make the phone call and they get together the offer and Seattle just says, sorry guys, we don't have another answer at quarterback and you can't give us one. If there was a team that was making a deal like you mentioned Vegas that could give them a quarterback, then it suddenly becomes more interesting

because, you know, you're not being left out in the cold. So Seattle says no, and then the Bears say, well, what if we use that trade offer to move up in the first round? And that is my guess, is that the Bears got Andy Dalton to be their Ryan Fitzpatrick, their bridge quarterback, and that they will be making all the phone calls in the world to try to get Trey Lance, Justin Fields, Mack Jones, whoever is the one that drops. Adam Schefter, I think, said today he expects four out of the first seven picks to be quarterbacks so maybe they end up trying to trade all the way up there maybe they end up taking the guy who drops that's the fifth quarterback I don't know but that's my guess

I don't think that they settle for Andy Dalton yeah that would be just bizarre to me um I think that we are we're kind of in the era of, like, the highly compensated veteran bridge. Like, I think some teams are starting to realize that it's better to have, like, a very competent backup plan to your rookie because the rookies are not always going to work out. And you don't want to spin your wheels for three years with uh sam darnold which by the way is is pete carroll okay like did i read that he's interested in sam darnold potentially um that was reported today and that was flabbergasting to me that's not even a word but that's how i felt about it but yeah, another veteran backup who gets to face the Vikings potentially twice next year.

That seems like it will go well for Minnesota because it always does. Hey, everybody. I want to tell you about our friends at Sim Bowl. Sim Bowl is a new sports marketplace where you can trade shares of professional teams like stocks. So, as we jump fully into free agency season, you're going to want to get in on teams now before your team's stock rises. Go to symbol.app, that is S-I-M-B-U-L-L dot A-P-P.

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to find out how Scout Logistics can minimize risk and overperform and go the extra mile for your company. I think there's a comparison with Seattle to my marriage and I'm working it out in my brain, but I'm going to try it. Okay. Careful, careful. I'm going to, I'm going to work this out. So, um, my wife and I, uh, like sort of got together randomly as most people do. You just meet through a friend or whatever. And then I was very lucky to have found such a great person, right? And I would be foolish to think that it's worked out so great because I'm amazing, right? I'm more just lucky that it fell this way. And then I have been the beneficiary

of that. That is Pete Carroll with Russell Wilson. But if you get overly convinced that it's you who actually did it. So when she says, why didn't you take out the garbage? You're like, what? I am great. I am perfect. I am amazing. I don't know what your problem is. That's what I think happens to football coaches a lot. When they get convinced that it's them, Mike Zimmer saying, I've never had a bad defense. Well, guess what, buddy? If you lose Everson Griffin and Daniil Hunter, you will.

Because it's not you, it's the players. And I think that that's exactly what it is for Pete Carroll. Like, oh, well, I can bring in another quarterback, and I'll just have the same thing happen. No, you won't. And I think that that happens a lot, and that's how mistakes get made by coaches and front offices. I remember reading a quote, this is the all-timer,

that some of the offensive staff in New England thought that Brady's success was because of their system. Like, what? I mean, like the best quarterback to ever play who can bring you back from down 28-3 to win a Super Bowl. Yeah, okay, pal. Like that is the ultimate you've just like, you know, taken a bath in arrogance. And there's a little bit of that, I think. When they start questioning Russell Wilson, that's the feeling that I get yeah I I guess when you're in a position where you're constantly like out surviving your players and a lot of the personnel around you um when when you're seeing

that much turnover you start to feel like you are the foundation um we you know we we probably feel as journalists like we're untouchable too because all these players are getting cycled through and we're going to outlive them and we're going to outlive the coach. But I'm guessing the coaches feel that way sometimes about their own jobs because, like, they'll probably be around longer than a lot of their players. Not in every case. I mean, a lot of coaches get the plug pulled after two years. But the good ones at least.

And I could see, you know, Mike Zimmer maybe feeling some of that with his defense. That's 100% correct. When in reality, and we've talked about this, the Vikings just had an incredible 2015 draft that set them up on so many levels for a long time that was franchise altering. I'm not exactly sure that it was the system that got them in the place they were. That's right.

The 2015 draft was lucky. You got stupid, crazy, insanely lucky. And you don't have to apologize for that because that's football. I mean, that's drafts. I mean, the Chicago Bulls got insanely lucky drafting Michael Jordan, and they just don't have to say sorry to anybody. They weren't genius that the other guy got taken by Portland. But, you know, you have to recognize, though,

sometimes where you got lucky when you're making decisions in the future. You won't find another Daniil Hunter in the third. It's not going to happen. Those players now get drafted in the first. It was a lucky thing that happened to you. It won't happen again. Stephon D happened to you. It won't happen again. Stephon Diggs in the fifth probably doesn't happen again. So taking Stacey Coley and Rodney Adams and K.J. Osborne and on and on,

like that's not the way to find the other guy. It's probably signing someone who can actually play or drafting someone in free agency. So that's one thing that I think that the Vikings have actually struggled with, this same sort of Pete Carroll thing, where they think, oh, it was our processes that so brilliantly built this. And that's not to say they have stupid processes. It's only to say that if you can separate the, well, you did a really good job with this with, whoops, you got stupid lucky with that one, and maybe we shouldn't try that all the time or rely on that, that's where I feel like they've made some mistakes. But I'm going to declare the Vikings, Lions, and Packers the winners of free agency, period, because Russell Wilson does not play for the Chicago Bears. That's what I'm going to do.

And it is hysterical that they end up with Andy Dalton when anyone could have had Andy Dalton last year who was okay for Dallas and beat the Vikings and instead they end up having to give him a lot of money and they end up having to give Nick Foles a lot of money and still at the end of the day we're playing Mitch Trubisky in a playoff game like their botching of this entire thing is objectively stupid funny and it's tough to believe that they're gonna pick right in the draft like think of think of the the possibilities think of all the shrapnel that could be flying out of chicago once once this is all said and done because what have we just discussed they they didn't get like a sweet veteran who's already good so now they're gonna have to trade up give they just you know they

just lost all those first round picks for Khalil Mack now they have one back they're probably gonna give up a bunch more to get the fifth quarterback in the draft now. It might be Mac Jones and he might be a bust. Think of the hilarious possibilities that fans across the country will be able to reminisce about throughout the 2020s. I'm so excited about it, honestly. But again, not you, Vikings fans. Sorry, you can't. You just can't. You just can't.

Stop it. I see you. Don't do that. You can't do it. Don't do that. You can't do it. You can't do it when Andy Dalton beat your quarterback last year. And in that very game, your quarterback had the ball at the end of the game with a chance to win, and Andy Dalton was the one that registered the game-winning drive.

So, sorry, you're going to have to hold off on that one until you win at Soldier Field. Yeah, you can't make fun of the Bears either just because the you know the bears beat you with anyone at quarterback they've made the playoffs two out of the last three years i mean right you just can't that's not somebody that you own or that you can dunk on not currently not to try and even not really for their history either because like the vikings have cycled in just as many quarterbacks as they have, although cooler and more effective quarterbacks. But still, same sort of story. Why don't we get to some of these questions that people have asked here?

Why don't we? Why don't we? Okay, so the discussion with Eric Eager last night on Delvin Tomlinson, Rocco asked this one, do we think that the Delvin Tomlinson signing is urgent or important? Like, did that role fall under those two categories? Because that's how Eric put it, was he said that, you know, the Vikings have focused in

recent years on things that were urgent, and they've left important things kind of missing. So meaning like the wide receiver three or the nickel corner spot like you know those types of things so i i think it would be urgent like their defensive line situation was urgent and that's how you end up with overpaying someone is when you have a situation that's urgent did it feel a little bit and i've got no clue what was going on behind the scenes but did it feel a little bit of a panic move that uh-oh um our alleged defensive end targets are off the board and we want this money's burning a hole in our pocket let's spend it all today and make sure we do before the clock strikes midnight i felt like they were they were kind of

hitting the panic button there because they were getting shut out of day one it was going to be like a crazy quiet day for the Vikings. And we did the show yesterday about this time before the signing, talking about how the team's just not a free agent destination. Like a lot of these guys have better places to go that have more upside and more potential. So they signed Tomlinson. Again, I don't know if it's that intelligent of a signing. I think the urgency you

felt wasn't even necessarily at that position. It was, I mean, it was more at the defensive end spots to me. So I don't, what were the two options again? Urgent or what? Or important. Or important. Yeah. So like, I don't know if, yeah, definitely more urgent than important. Right. I don't know if urgency is, I guess they felt urgency. I don't think they needed to, but they felt it for whatever reason. Yeah. I think that's an interesting way to categorize needs because like if your house is on fire, then it is urgent that you get some water to put it out if your house has a hole that was dug by bunnies you might want to like fill that in or something that's important now you can't let it go though because then it can get into the foundation and they can build nests and

there will be problems for you but you know it's still it still matters though and that's like wide receiver three for me is they have looked at wide receiver three as well. Yeah, it's important, but it's the one we can let go. They've looked at left guard that way. Well, it's important, but it's the one we could let go, let go. Left guard has been pretty important. Even if you think a positional value, it's not quite, which is where our next question goes from Tim Rod, Rodney Hudson, question mark, an upgrade, question mark.

The Vikings have me at the point where any offensive lineman available, I go eyeball emojis. Well, I'm the same way, Tim. Rodney Hudson would not just be an upgrade. I mean, that would be almost as big of an upgrade from Shamar Stephan to Delvin Tomlinson. Actually, probably bigger. But what do you do with Garrett Bradbury if Rodney Hudson, the Raiders center, who is, I mean, I don't know if he's a Hall of Famer, but he's an all-pro caliber player.

I just don't think that they have much of a shot at him because he's going to want the thing that's called money. And Corey Lindsley signed for $12.5 million per year with the Chargers. So if that's the bar, and Rodney Hudson, I don't know his age off the top of my head, he's going to cost a pretty penny. So let's play this out. Let's say that they free up the maximum cap by restructuring Thielen, saving, I think I've seen 8 million reported, and Harrison Smith signs that extension and clears up, I don't know, seven more. They might get up to 20 best case scenario available. So you could do one more big splash in theory and still have enough room to sign your draft class. So is it possible?

Yes, it's possible. Is it smart? I don't know. Do you think Bradbury would move to just one of the guard spots? I can't remember what he played at NC State before they moved him to center. But it would be the Elfline thing. Elfline got two years at center, then they moved him, and they have an opening at guard. So it's not the most absurd thing I've ever heard it could be swung it would just be again like you're trying

to fill this hole while you have other leaks in the boat that are going to be completely unaddressed um you know so again pick your poison i it feels like a no to me. It feels unlikely, but not impossible. I'm going to stand on the same place that I was with Brandon Sheriff, which was if you make a huge, huge signing on the interior of the offensive line, okay, okay, I will say okay. I'll say good. Do that. Because all the other times that you've had these chances to do that they haven't and it's cost them big time and just once you'd like to see how it plays out and anything that

improves Kirk Cousins performance his yards per attempt his time sacked his times pressured his whatever all that stuff I'm for anything that improves it. So far, they've done nothing to improve it. We're only two days in, so no panic buttons. But if they were to sign Rodney Hudson and move Garrett Bradbury to guard, that very much improves their pass protection. And I would give it a thumbs up. Now, you'd also be like one ankle tweak with Rodney Hudson away from, uh-oh, you spent all your cap space on one guy who tweaked an ankle or opted out like you mentioned with Michael Pierce. Next question comes from Brandon. Curious the way that the wide receiver market is shaping out.

Me too, man. I thought it'd be wide receiver bonanza, and yet we haven't seen too many guys go. Does that allow the Vikings to get a decent wide receiver three at a reasonable cost i say yes i say that guy will be out there i don't know which guy it is somebody is getting left out of this party where the music stops and there's no chairs left for that guy so he has to sign with the vikings yeah amazingly the it's the mid-level guys that the vikings might have had a chance at. They're the ones that are going.

I mean, I think maybe some of these, like Golden Tate, for instance, Sammy Watkins, they might think they're worth big money, and that's why they're not signed yet because no one's paying them that. The intermediate contracts, like I wrote about Kendrick Bourne and Marvin Jones, Bourne goes for 3-15, Jones goes for two and 14.5. Tyrell Williams goes for one and four. Emmanuel Sanders for one and six. I think they all could have contributed.

And they're not getting paid a lot of money. So you hope, I think, that this trend continues and you can pick someone up for a cheaper deal. Because there are good names on the market. You know, John Brown, I'm fond of him. Adam Humphreys, I think he's pretty good. Brashad Perriman has some upside, some intrigue there. We haven't seen Keelan Cole go off the board yet. That was a trendy target from Jacksonville.

Demarcus Robinson from Kansas City. Curtis Samuel still lurking. I think he's going to get paid a lot of money. Me too. But there are some good names that I think would be content in a wide receiver three role that I'd keep my eye on. I think that could be a sneaky area of value for them to capitalize. All right, next question. Mackenzie Alexander, our friend Ben Gessling, reporting that the Vikings have some interest in bringing back Mackenzie Alexander. I believe he said offer on the table for Alexander.

Now, such a funny relationship with him and Mike Zimmer. So when Alexander got to Minnesota, he wanted to be an outside corner, and Zimmer was forcing him into the nickel role, rightfully, considering where they were at. So Alexander hates that and is a pain in the neck for a year. And then for two more years, we got to hear about how his attitude had changed. Then Zimmer inexplicably plays him week 17 against the Bears. He gets hurt and then signs for almost nothing in Cincinnati. If the wounds have healed, yeah.

I mean, he's exactly the type of guy we've been talking about, someone who is a good player. And I know it's going to be a Tom Thibodeau thing where it's like, is he really bringing Derrick Rose to his next team? But that, you know, when it is a guy who's good and not amazing and very affordable, Mackenzie Alexander, yeah, I'm good with that. And even if he wanted to play outside corner, he's probably an average outside corner, and Jeff Gladney could play inside.

Give him whatever he wants. Bring him back because right now your situation is very rocky. I agree with everything except give him whatever he wants because i think it's a pretty deep nickel free agent class i wouldn't overpay him because nikel roby coleman kawan williams brian pool um troy hill like all of these guys i think are better nickels and they're still available so i'm not going to give mckenenzie four if I can have someone else for two, because I think other options are better. So I'm going to wait this out, but sounds like they've offered him. So that ship might have sailed. I guess it comes down to whether he takes it or not.

You know, could be a case where grass isn't always greener. McKenzie wanted to get out, probably held a little bit of a grudge about that week 17 injury. Had like a really rough year personally. You know, his father disappeared, some bizarre stuff in Cincinnati. Came back and played decently late in that season. But falling back to a place where I think the Vikings desire his scheme knowledge. He knows the system. He's probably pretty comfortable and maybe could fit into a bigger role than he had before or at least in the same role in the nickel uh yeah it's not it's not the worst thing in the

world but again don't be over enamored with your own guys there are really good nickels out there brian pool is like one of the best in in football the last couple years in the nickel so if alexander says nope guys, don't freak out, because I think you can still get a nickel out there. Folks, March is quite the month for Minnesota sports, and SodaStick has you covered with Minnesota sports-themed gear. The hockey team is headed down the stretch, so you've got to check out the Dollar Bill Crill shirts,

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That is SodaStick, S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com. Original Minnesota sports inspired goods. Code Purple Insider for free shipping. And let me clarify, I didn't mean whatever money he wanted. I meant whatever role he wanted. If he wants to be, that's what I meant. If he wants an outside corner spot and you play Jeff Gladney inside, then that's okay with me.

I didn't mean cash. Cash really matters in this scenario. There's $12 million, McKenzie. Yeah, right, right, right. I didn't mean like back up the Brinks truck for Deshaun Watson and trade everything and give him whatever he wants. I just mean if he wants an outside role, I think he would be fine at it.

He's probably a better nickel, but you just need average corners right now on this football team. And at the moment, probably only place a bet on one actually being that. That's at the moment. We'll see how they go. How about this one from Aaron? What player will be the biggest free agent signing regret? And I think that means for every team and not just for the Vikings.

I'm going to have to think for a second on that one. The biggest free agent signing regret. Yeah, I mean, I've seen this tossed out there. The Bengals letting Carl Lawson go and basically giving that money to Trey Hendrickson, that could be a bit of a regret because you've talked about Hendrickson playing in that pass-only role, not really a three-down guy. Now he's getting, you know, $60 million from Cincinnati, although his guarantee was low. Only $16 million guaranteed, $16 million, and they have an out after one year. So I guess they structured it team-friendly, good for them,

because it seems like Carl Lawson was the better option there. What about the tight ends in New England? That's a lot of money to give two tight ends, and I know they're trying to recreate the Gronk and Hernandez dynamic, but is that going to work out? I was just going to use the Gronk and Hernandez dynamic. But is that going to work out? I was just going to use the words New England. I was just going to say that it's very possible that they regret all sorts of things from what they've done. Because, you know, the team that goes out and signs every free agent doesn't necessarily end up winning.

Absolutely. There is some benefit of the doubt with them because they have been good at this in the past, bringing in free agents. But also Tom Brady was, I think, a part of that. So any team that paid a lot of money on day one has a good chance at regrets. But you're right about Cincinnati and Carl Lawson. You probably let the better player go and sign the less good player for about the same amount of money. So yeah, I like that answer. One last thing, Keanu Neal, his name was tossed out there by Josina Anderson as the Vikings.

I forget what words she used, like checked in or have whatever, you know, favorited something on his LinkedIn. Like, I don't know. There was some language about the Vikings and Keanu Neal. I'm in with that. I'm good with that. You know, he does have an injury history, but he played all of last year, and he's a good player.

He is a good player, playmaker. But something that really concerned me though is someone else tweeted that keanu neal was willing to play linebacker if they wanted like well that's not exactly what you want to hear right like that someone you're going to pay to be a safety is also like cool being a linebacker yeah i know that linebackers are going light i don't think you need a 215 pound uh linebacker i think i think keanu neal's got enough enough uh challenge just tackling guys in the secondary we don't need to get him playing linebacker that that's troy die was rough enough last year let's be honest yeah no that's true that's true but yeah

i'm into that i yeah, I'm into that. I mean, I'm into them checking out the safety market. There's a bunch of guys and there's no hurry, I think, with safety because those seem to be the players who are about the last to go. So, all right, Sam, I look forward to, and I'm looking at my Twitter right now, just to check, I look forward to whatever move happens right after we finish up this podcast. So great stuff. We're going to have Arif Hasan on the Friday roundtable. So that's when we will talk again and we'll continue our coverage.

Courtney's going to stop in and all sorts of things will happen. Corey Heppola is going to come by, too, from WCCO tomorrow. Well, not tomorrow. You'll hear it the next day. Whatever. It doesn't matter. There will be podcasts, everyone. Okay?

So thanks, Sam. You bet. It is awesome.