Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Do the Vikings pre-draft visits tell us anything? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

Matthew Coller looks at some numbers about the Vikings visits and one position is standing out in particular. Does it really tell a story or is it just noise?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Coller here, and I have a fun topic for you today, but I am very interested, as always, in having a fun chat with all of you this evening. And if you were watching the other day, you would know that intern Clay had his time shortened a little bit because I had to go to dinner with my wife's family. So he is standing by very anxious to jump in. But where I wanted to begin the show today is the other night when we were talking ball, one of the questions that came up was about the 30 visits that the Vikings have had. And it's always been my feeling on the visits

that you just don't want to put too much emphasis on that when we're trying to figure out who the Vikings are going to pick. And I also sometimes think I don't really want to necessarily guess it right. I don't care if I guess it right or wrong. It's sort of like taking a look at your Christmas presents before you open them or something, or seeing your parents shopping for Christmas.

So I'd rather be surprised and talk about all the options. And I also don't want my opinions to be shaped by who they bring in for visits, because sometimes teams bring guys in on purpose to sort of do a little subterfuge or whatever, make somebody think, well, are they really interested in that guy? Why are they looking at that guy?

And so for all those reasons, I've always put those aside a little bit. And whenever I get asked about, well, they had this guy in for a visit, my response is always, eh, you know, maybe he'll be their guy. Maybe he won't. And someone pointed out the other night that they have had most of their players that are their first picks in four visits before they take them,

which is interesting. I don't know if it's exactly predictive of what they're going to do this year, but it is interesting nonetheless. So I decided, let me go look for some information as we are marching down the stretch to the NFL draft and see what I can see about who the Vikings have had in for visits. And we could toy with that information a little bit, have a discussion about it. But of course your questions, comments, thoughts doesn't have to be on who's been in for a

visit, but I thought I would go looking for what can I find on this? Is there anything interesting out there about who the Vikings have had in for a visit? And the answer is yes. And actually it's a guy who is from Minnesota by the name of Kent Weyrauch, I believe is how it is pronounced. He's got a website that deals with analytics and football. And one of the things he does, and I think that this just shows you

how absolutely ludicrous we are about the NFL draft that Kent has been tracking all the visits for all the teams in the NFL, which again is absolute madness. And if this man isn't walking around Minnesota with a neck roll on 24 seven, then I don't know what he's doing, but we will take advantage of the fact that he has been keeping very close track of all this on his website. So let me show you guys his website.

And this is what it looks like. Let me bring in me in the corner here. There I am. So here's what it looks like. Let me bring in me in the corner here. There I am. So here's what it looks like, his website, and he's got all the different types of visits. He's got the top 30, the pro day, and I don't know what other types of visits it might be. And he's broken it down here into all the different positions. And for those just listening on the audio side,

I'll read you off the positions that have been most visited by prospects to the Minnesota Vikings. Defensive tackle is first. Offensive tackle, interestingly, is second. Running back after that, interior offensive line, wide receiver, then corner, and one linebacker, and one edge rusher. Now this is not weighted in any way

for the caliber of prospect, right? So we're gonna look at some of the names and see what we can see for potential first round picks or early second round picks. I do suspect that the offensive tackles, a lot of them are either guys who are going to eventually be guards or are maybe late round tackles a lot of them are either guys who are going to eventually be guards or are maybe late round tackles that might be a development project for some day down the road, which

they seem to like to take guys like Walter Rouse, but maybe more positional switches instead. So if we added up the offensive tackles and interior line, they would have more of those two positions than anything else, which I think tells a story that we would all agree with that the offensive line is not completely set with that left guard position. So why don't we take a look at some of the players that the Vikings have brought in? So here is the list of 20 of them that they have brought in.

Now I would assume that Kent gets his information just by all the reporting that is out there. So there may be other players that they've met with there. In fact, very likely that there are other players that they've met with that are not on this list. But let's talk about a few of the names that stand out right away that the Vikings have had visit. And you can toy with this website yourself.

It's just Kent's name, Kentwayroush.com slash draft visits is where I got this. So again, shout out to Kent for putting this together. This is very cool. Some of the names that stand out to me right away, Derek Harmon at the top here is of course the name that jumps out. This is somebody that we have had connected

to the Minnesota Vikings really since the NFL combine because defensive tackle makes a lot of sense to me. I wrote about it today over at purple insider dot football about why defensive tackle makes so much sense. And it's because nobody on the D line currently is locked in after two years. So Harrison Phillips, they can move on after this year, but it's a contract through 2026. Jonathan Allen is technically a three year deal, but it's much more like a two year deal.

And Javon Hargrave is a two year deal. And these guys are on the older side. And if when you look at the defensive tackles that are paid the most, and I even in the article broke it down into how many first rounders out of the top 25 highest paid guys are in that list. And it's 14 out of 25. So the top 25 highest paid DTs, 14 are first rounders, which is ridiculous.

And there was only one guy, Grady Jarrett, who was even a fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh round pick. And there was one undrafted free agent, Tershawn Wharton, who just got signed this off season and maybe got overpaid a little to go to Carolina. So the point being that you draft a defensive tackle knowing that you gotta get those guys in the first round that you draft a defensive tackle knowing that you got to get those guys in the first round if you want to get the elite players. Derek Harmon

had the, I believe, second highest pass rush win rate in all of college football. I mean, this is a guy that you have to look really, really closely at. Not now mentions that a lot are in the later rounds and blowfish is that the local there's a lot of local prospects, right? So that's why I want to look at the guys that don't fit that bill that are not necessarily Later round guys and not necessarily local prospects But people that we've been talking about that they had in for visits. So another Name that stands out is Jonah So another name that stands out is Jonah Salvinia,

I believe is how it's pronounced. The offensive tackle slash guard from Arizona, somebody that could be very interesting to them in the third round. He's gotten as high as second round projections, big giant tackle, but probably doesn't have quite the quickness to be a starter at offensive tackle. So he is a candidate to move in from guard. Uh,

Siobhan Revelle is another one, the cornerback. He is the only notable corner that they've brought in. And I imagine that they would bring in Revelle because of the health concern. Uh, he tore his ACL. He missed a good percentage of his season with that torn ACL. And if it's somebody that you are considering has high end potential like Ravel does, but the guy has an injury, then you're going to be more apt to bring him in. Marcus Embo is another guy who, if I'm not mistaken, let me check on this.

I believe played tackle, but is more of a guard and And if they might want to meet with some of these guys, that's right. So he played tackle, right? He played guard two years ago and then moved to right tackle and was a pretty exceptional zone blocker known as a good athlete for his position, but only about 300 pounds,

not really strength wise, a tackle, so likely to end up moving into play guard. And that's interesting that there's a couple of tackles here that project as, as guards. And that makes me wonder if they want to meet with those guys and just get a sense for how comfortable they would be playing guard or, you know, maybe they are potential targets, but that's kind of it for guys that are projected to go really high. There aren't any other players that I could spot here that have been picked as first or second rounders. Ingram Dawkins is an interesting defensive tackle that they brought in.

You could see maybe potential there. And then the other skill players. Oh, actually, Carson Wessinger is another one that has been projected in the top two rounds. He is a linebacker. And I did want to talk about that a little bit tonight about linebacker and Jahad Campbell and Carson Swessinger, because it's the one position that we haven't really discussed at all that I think could shock us. If there is a shocking

outcome for the Vikings on the first night, it's probably picking a linebacker and maybe it shouldn't be quite as shocking. So again, if you're just joining, taking a look at, uh, Kent Weyrauch's tracking of the Vikings visits that they've had in and which top names that they have had. Uh, so Sweshenger and the linebacker position, something I did want to discuss because I really haven't even thought about that until I was looking at this list and went, wait a minute, that guy UCLA linebacker, I think is getting a fair amount of hype. And then the other thing that stands out is just the skill position guys they brought in

Rashad Smith running back from SM you can really catch the ball He was moved from wide receiver to running back so he could be a little bit of a dynamic player for them Jordan James from Oregon had a really good season out there Ty Felton the wide receiver from Maryland and good season out there. Ty Felton, the wide receiver from Maryland and, uh, Trash on, uh, Holden, another wide receiver that they brought in was kind of interesting there. So you guys were asking about the list of players they brought in. Those are the ones that stood out to me.

And I'm sure, you know, when they look at someone like Ariante or say that might just be because he's a Minnesota guy, it doesn't seem like there's a big chance that they would draft him and move him into guard, but maybe they have that discussion anyway, because he is a first round caliber talent. So there you go. There's kind of the rundown of all the players that or at least Kent has been able to track that they've brought in.

As I mentioned, I'm sure that they have brought in a lot more players than that, and we just don't know about that yet. I'm sure that they have had 30 of them. But there you go. The only thing that really stands out is that linebacker, because I just have not considered that at all. But I started to take a look the other day at Jihad Campbell and Sweshenger. And something that did come to mind for me is that maybe we have given Ivan Pace

junior a little bit too much credit as an every down linebacker. Now that doesn't mean I'm down on Ivan Pace junior because I think that he's gotten off to a tremendous start to his career, but there might be some limitations to Ivan pace jr. Because of his size. So he's a fantastic blitzer and he is, I think good enough in coverage at times last year, he struggled. He had the interception two years ago against the Raiders last year's numbers weren't all that good.

And against the run, he's very good. I mean, he is a missile coming downhill but what we know about Brian Flores is that he loves these linebackers who could do a lot of things and We saw the cross training of Dallas Turner last year Now Dallas Turner sort of projects as what Andrew Van Ginkle was doing. Jahad Campbell is much more of an inside linebacker type. He's more of a Blake Cashman than he is an Andrew Van Ginkle. I don't think he's as much of a pass rusher. He can do it,

but it's not like he is a Micah Parsons or something. I don't see him like that. I see him as much more of a inside linebacker who can rush the passer when he's asked to, but is really dynamic playmaker. I mean, a Blake Cashman is kind of how I've looked at him. Just looking at him on paper, watching a little bit of him today when I was thinking about linebackers and whether that would be something the Vikings could actually look at. at i think the other guy who's projected to be this similar walker uh what is his name jalen walker what is it yeah jalen walker well you know what he's actually by on pff sport his average draft position is 18 he's another guy that i was looking at as could they just load up so many front seven types of players and

Walker is a guy that lined up as a linebacker lined up as an edge rusher and if one of those guys is there and is by far the best player on their board that might be intriguing. That's the only scenario that I haven't really thought of at all that after looking at Swesinger, I was like, you know what, maybe that's not insane to consider the linebackers as well. And I'll get you a little information on Swesinger, but someone brought him up to me as an intriguing player that may get drafted higher than most people think. So average draft position by PFF for Swesinger, Carson Swesinger is 55, but he might go higher than that. Great pass rushing grade, 90 pass rushing grade by PFF graded well against the

run and in coverage, it would seem just by their needs that the Vikings would not like if they did it, I think there'd be a lot of questions. What are they? What are they doing? Do they not like Dallas Turner? Why would they take another linebacker? But when these positions for the Vikings rotate in and out so much and are used in so many different spots, and they also might not be planning on extending Andrew Van Ginkle because of the price. And even though Blake Cashman is incredibly valuable to this team, he does get banged up from time to time. They brought in Eric Wilson. I thought that was a very good signing,

but more dynamic players who can do more things seems like just the ethos of Brian Flores. And if it's the best player, they may consider it. I would still put offensive line safety corner DT maybe not in that order all over linebacker But if there's one wild scenario where we all go wait a minute what they want they drafted who? Then jihad Campbell or Jalen Walker could be those guys. So there you go

Uh, then, uh, jihad Campbell or Jalen Walker could be those guys. So there you go. Uh, on your questions and your comments and your thoughts. Got any thoughts on who the Vikings have brought in for the visits? Whatever else is on your mind, uh, for tonight's chat. And, uh, then Clay is standing by with Clay's corner for later on the show. So let me start with, uh, Jason brings up that the Vikings had a Michigan running back in today. I had that name. That is not Donovan Edwards. It was the other guy. Donovan Edwards kind of fell this year. He was obviously really high up after they won the national championship, but Kaleel Mullings,

I believe, was the guy they brought in who is a beast. This guy 6'2", I believe was the guy they brought in who is a beast this guy six to 230 pounds just a massive human being now I did think about when they bring in a guy like that and I was looking at his usage and he was used much more In a gap scheme than he was in his own scheme at Michigan Whether the Vikings are going to redo their running game they brought in the guy from the J, the office of assistant office of line coach to take the reins, it seems on their running game. And you look at Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones, both of their

histories would suggest zone. But at the same time, San Francisco does not do what they used to do when Kyle Shanahan first got there. When he first got there, they ran outside zone all day long and that was very Shanahan Kubiak like, but I don't think that they do that as much. I can pull this up for Jordan Mason and see how much he ran both. I think that they did change to some extent with their offensive line to doing more gap stuff, but luckily we have stats for all this stuff and

I never have to make up anything. No, you know what? Actually, Jordan Mason did run a lot more in zone than gap 110 carries to 41. Interesting. Okay. So I guess what got me thinking about that was if the Vikings look at somebody like Tyler Booker and he's such a hulking beast, but he's not super fast and Then you add him with Ryan Kelly another big giant guy and Will Fries Big giant guy the tackles are built for running the zone and being more mobile and quick The tackles are built for running the zone and being more mobile and quick, but the interior would be really set up to run more gap stuff and power up the middle. But Jones and Mason have run more in their careers in the zone.

Now maybe they see Mason, he's so powerful as someone who can run in a gap scheme and Aaron Jones could pretty much do whatever you ask him to do. I will be very curious to see if they get a left, a left guard that gives us an indication of what they're going to be. I mean, if they take somebody like Marcus Embo, who's a tackle and want to move them into guard, I mean, that could kind of tell us, now maybe they're looking a little bit or Salvin. I, sorry, if I'm mispronouncing his name uh that's a tackle who's enormous maybe they are thinking about just being a little more powerful on the inside uh evan says thoughts

on the 464 pound uh defensive lineman desmond watson out of florida a 593 40 at that size is insane and faster than me all these guys are faster than us I would think I don't know what I Run as a 40 Cracking 6 might be kind of tough at this point at one point in my life I could crack 6 for sure, but I don't know I have not done any sprinting in a very long time I'm not I'm not into that. I just don't think you could be fast enough in the NFL to be 460 pounds. I think they'll just run around you. There have been some players before through the years who have been around 400.

I just, I don't see being able to really survive. I mean, at one point, Pat Williams was probably up there at 350 plus. It's just so difficult. Even if you're a great athlete to play at that type of weight There's a few offensive linemen who have been a fillet lay Daniel fillet lay who was what I mean He was maybe 370 or something like that Absolutely enormous dude, and he's able to play in the NFL, but I don't know that you could be quick enough it's such a quick and fast game and

If you're not even no matter how heavy you are, if you're not the one throwing the first punch, then you're going to get pushed around no matter what. Because these guys, they lift tractor trailers with their teeth in the off season. I mean, there's the strength on the inside is so much that I don't think they're going to struggle like college guys would against somebody that's that big. Maybe as an undrafted free agent, but I would not spend a draft pick on someone like that. Not when no one at that weight has ever made it in the NFL.

Blowfish just says, does Sam Howell have any connection to Josh McCown? We all have a connection to Josh McCown, truly. It's the seven, what is it? Seven degrees of Kevin Bacon or so. I don't even know what that means, but the seven direction, uh, seven, what is it? How does it go? Degree Oh, degrees of separation from Josh McCown.

I'm sure that all of us have some connection to him. You guys listening to the show and I cover him on the team. Uh, but I have no idea. I just assume all backup quarterbacks know each other. That could be a potential option with drew lock going back to Seattle. I was really unimpressed by Sam Howell when he got his chance to play last year. He looked like he was totally unprepared. Uh, he was an interception machine when he was with Washington. I don't know.

Uh, I'm not excited by that. I do believe that the Vikings have some targets for potential trades that they would not spend this year's draft capital on. It would be more like sending, I don't know, we'll give you this year's whatever, give you 2026 fifth and get back your sixth. I mean, you're not giving up much if you're trading for somebody else's backup quarterback And you guys know how I feel about that. I'm not too concerned about it They'll get somebody that somebody apparently is not gonna be drew lock

But it could be Sam Howell and if it is then okay sure that's fine Still thinking it's curious that Carson Wentz is on the market Well, everybody who's exactly like Carson Wentz is on the market, well everybody who's exactly like Carson Wentz has already been signed, and the Vikings, I mean, sorta wink wink nod nod on, yeah, we're gonna sign somebody after the comp pick does not matter, and that just screams Carson Wentz to me. If it's not, okay, then they'll find somebody else to be their backup. Maybe that's Aiden O'Connell for the Raiders if they want to move on from him and he wants another chance.

It's just somebody will be the backup and the difference between the fifth best backup in the league and the 25th best backup in the league is basically nothing. There are probably four or five teams that could lose their starting quarterback and still have a chance to win a lot of games. But even when you're talking about Drew Locke or you're talking about Joe Flacco, I mean, Flacco kind of grinded his way on an amazing running team and defense team

to the playoffs and got blasted. And Drew Locke played a couple of good games for Seattle and then bad games. And then last year, same sort of roller coaster, 500 type quarterback. There are 15 backup quarterbacks in the league who could keep you at 500 for a handful of games.

And you want one of those. If they get Wentz, he's one of those. And after that, it is pretty bleak. I will say it is pretty bleak, the list of available backup quarterbacks after that. But as you mentioned with Sam Howell, somebody will lose a backup quarterback competition somewhere. That was Nick Mullins. That's how they got him. And Nick Mullins at least made things very entertaining at the end of 2023. That's for sure. Aaron says, what is your favorite draft story with the Vikings after the draft interviews

stories? Hmm. That's a good question. I think maybe the most wrong and shocked that we were. Or maybe not wrong, but yeah, no wrong is the correct word in 2018. The Vikings were a hundred percent locked to take an offensive lineman in the first round. I mean, I don't know that I mocked anybody else at any other position in 2018 other than offensive line to the Vikings.

Every every mock everywhere the whole time was Vikings taking offensive line because you know, you remember Joe Berger retired and They had Mike Remmers a tackle. It just was not looking all that sharp and I think it was maybe later that Nick Easton got hurt But Nick Easton was still a guy that you could replace on the offensive line So we were shocked when they called for Mike Hughes and his name went out because we're like, wait a minute, Mike Hughes, how the heck are they not drafting an offensive lineman right here? Are they out of their minds? Like this is when now they just got Kirk Cousins.

They need someone to come in right away. Why? Why is Mike Zimmer so obsessed with these freaking corners? Is he a crazy person? I remember going nuts the next day on the radio and just blasting them What are they doing? And so the next day they take Brian O'Neil And when we all look up Brian O'Neil who I believe I had mocked to the Vikings in the first round So it's like oh they got him in the second

But you looked at the guy and you watched him on tape you go What is this a tight end and this must be the smallest tackle I've ever seen in terms of girth. I mean he's not small in terms of height and once again, we were like a Converted tackle. What are you doing? Why are you I'm sorry not tackle tight and converted tight end What are you doing drafting this converted tight end? He's got to develop for two years He's not even gonna play. Are you out of your minds? This is win now. Of course, you know, I mean, Mike Hughes had the injury. I think he would have become a pretty good player. He's still in the league and still plays, but Brian

O'Neill became maybe the one of the best second round draft pick offensive lineman of the last 10 years and has become a pro bowl star for them Captain he's everything you could dream over that pick even played in 2018 and he played well in 2018 and you know So I guess that's just goes for the reactions on draft night are not always going to be reflective of what happens For the rest of that players career because couldn't have been more off about how quickly Brian O'neill was gonna play and the thing That you just don't know is when Brian O'neill got to the Vikings I mean he put on a bunch of weight put in the work came back for training camp ready to go and we were impressed

Like wow, he still didn't start a whole lot in his first Training camp because they were playing Rashad Hill But him making that jump not everybody's willing to do what it takes to be great and Brian O'Neill was and then I remember his first start and how shocked he looked after going in to that tie game Against Green Bay. And I talked to him in the locker room after that and I sort of joked with him since then about how shocked he looked.

Like I just got in the football game. It was crazy. But you know, a guy who stepped in right away. The other one is probably, and none of these stories are necessarily mind blowing, but in 2020, the Vikings had traded digs and my big take on that was, man, you better trade for a receiver. You better get somebody else because you are just not getting the top receivers in this

draft. It was supposed to be thought of as this unbelievable wide receiver draft. The guys were supposed to go off early and I remember being asked the day of the draft by a listener, but what if Justin Jefferson drops? and I was like, what are you taking drugs? There is no way that this league lets Justin Jefferson drop this guy just led NCAA and receiving he has a 98 percentile Relative athletic score like he's a freak What are you talking about? No chance and I've never been so shocked in my life.

And the video of Zimmer and Spielman cackling when they get Justin Jefferson is, is pretty good. It's pretty good moment for the franchise. So stuff like that kind of sticks out. I wish I was covering the team. I'm writing today about rewatching the Kevin Williams draft where they don't pick the, and they had the number seven pick where they don't pick The end they had the number seven pick and they don't pick till 11 Or was it was it 11 or or 9? Maybe it's 9 Must have been 9. Yeah, so they don't pick it till 9 and I was watching that back today

It's just I wish I was there for that one because that was pure chaos calamity and The funniest part is that they had a camera at Eden Prairie at the Winter Park so they Go it there Byron Lefwich is getting drafted and Chris Berman's losing his mind the Vikings didn't pick they didn't make a pick What are they doing? Are they crazy? So they show Eden Prairie when Kevin Williams is picked and a guy throws his hat He's so angry. He takes his hat off and throws it right on TV right on ESPN It was so ticked off and once again There were two or three defensive tackles taken ahead of Kevin Williams that became nothing in the league

There was a guy named Jonathan Sullivan Just nothing that became nothing in the league. There was a guy named Jonathan Sullivan. Just nothing just became nothing. Dwayne Robertson. You never even heard of these guys that were taken ahead of Kevin Williams. He becomes a six-time all-pro freak huge part of great defense like this the draft right? You just can't predict it. That's what makes it so great.

That's why I was talking earlier. It's like Christmas Day. I don't, I don't want to know. I want to find out what's going to happen that night because that was, that was really something. And probably my all time favorite moment with the draft is when I was not an adult yet and I didn't have cable growing up so I couldn't watch the draft. It was on ESPN. So I listened to it on the radio and I was listening to the 98 draft as they were going through and the guys on the radio were just trashing Randy Moss and they're talking about, well, you know,

he showed up here with his leg sleeve pulled up or whatever. Uh, and he, you know And he doesn't care. And this why he's dropping in the draft, all this stuff. They were just hammering this guy, bad character, all this. I was like, man, screw these guys. I hope this boss guy becomes the best freaking receiver in the league. And I knew nothing about him.

I didn't see Marshall highlights or anything like that. I just thought, what is it? What difference does it make what he's doing with his genes? And so I was like, I'm going to follow this guy's career. And well, here I am. I've been in a Randy Moss press conference a couple of times and talked with, you know, him a little bit. So that's kind of cool.

But that was one of those. I want to have I was like 12 and I'm like, I want to have takes. I want to have sports takes, want to argue with people. I want to I want to go on and argue with these guys What are you guys talking about? The guys are great receiver. So here we go Anyway, there you go Blowfishes says KOC will have time with all the solid QB options because he learned from Belichick in New England That you get info on players who might be available later in their career Yeah, no, that's the reason why O'Connell goes to the combine every year is

that he wants to meet with them wants to get to know those guys and we've seen him bring in multiple players that he's built relationships with including Daniel Jones, even Josh Rosen. He brought him in very briefly. But I mean, I just think as far as the backup quarterback, you can take your time and not blow a comp pick. If you're going to spend some serious cheese on somebody, because it's just not that big of a deal who the backup quarterback is, the quarterback is JJ McCarthy, and if something happens to McCarthy, you're in a lot of trouble. Just like in 2003. And that something happens to McCarthy, you're in a lot of trouble, just like in 2003.

And that's why I remember 2003, 2023. And I remember having this discussion every off season with, well, they drafted Jaren Hall, is he going to beat out Nick Mullins in camp? And I was like, I don't care what happens. I mean, not unless the guy looks like Drew Brees or something. And. Alas, they end up with Josh Dobbs Mullins Hall and they miss the playoffs if your quarterback gets hurt You're probably not making the playoffs and you're hoping to be able to survive. So that's why I don't worry too much about it

They'll get somebody. I know they'll get somebody. I'm sure of it Christian says should the Vikings just focus on the trenches this year and next year try to get Notre Dame's running back? Jay loves I don't know his name, but well, I think that it's a good strategy in general to take a running back late. So if it's Bichard Smith says name. Yeah, Rashad, Rashad Smith or Jordan James, a couple of the guys that they've had in. I mean, we see this happen enough where mid to late round guys at running back end up being good.

And in this year's draft, my goodness, I mean, there's you look at James from Oregon, look at his numbers. You go, wait, this guy is supposed to go in the fifth, sixth, seventh, really? That's crazy. And Smith was really good too. Jarquez Hunter caught my eye with a guy who averaged over six yards to carry. There's 10 running backs that are projected in the fifth that might have been projected in the third in previous years if there wasn't so many good ones. And the last time that we heard this about a running back draft, it

actually turned out to be true. That was the Delvin cook year and Aaron Jones ends up going in the fifth. Elvin Camara ends up going in the third. I feel like it's going to be the same way with this year's draft, where you go. Yeah. Okay. But take a swing. I mean, I don't think that's a bad strategy when you have Jones use on either

last or second to last year, we'll see how Jordan Mason plays, but that's another thing too. I'd rather see kind of how this plays out with Jordan Mason is a main part of their team and then bring in one other guy because it just feels like the tie Chandler thing is over after last year. When you go from running for 400 something yards and a hundred carries to barely seeing the football at all, even when your team needs you on the field, even when Aaron Jones is struggling or with some injury and battling through

and could probably use a week off. They're like, nah, let's go get cam acres instead and have him mix and match. I respect the heck out of cam acres and his toughness and he's a good running back, but like that's what you're doing instead of the guy who was battling in training camp for RB to. And even last year, when you go back and look at some of the fantasy writing on the running back position, a lot of fantasy people thought that Chandler was going to be maybe RB1 if Aaron Jones showed some signs of aging and it just did not come to fruition.

So I think they're looking for another project guy. And you're right that next year if they feel like they really need one, then they would do that. Edwin says Zable at 24, Damian Martinez at 97. I'm thinking make it as easy as possible for McCarthy. Yeah, I mean, I don't dislike your strategy at all. The only thing is Damian Martinez at 97 might be a little bit rich for me to spend a running back at 97. I would rather do it when you already have

two guys that are going to be on the field. The thing about the running back position is one of my favorite articles, I reference it all the time, is the one from Timo Riski at PFF where he looked at the development curve for each position and how long it takes for somebody to become good. The least productive position is actually edge rusher as rookies. So maybe that tells you about some patience for Dallas Turner and you could see why. I mean the adjustment is so enormous from college to the NFL at edge rusher. The other worst position is usually offensive line but the running back position is almost nothing at all. I mean it's it's just I

mean they come in and they play and they're great right away. So you draft The running back position is almost nothing at all. I mean, it's, it's just. I mean, they come in and they play and they're great right away. So you draft one when you need one for running back. So I wouldn't spend a 97 on that position. I would probably, if you're going Zabel, I would probably go with maybe a safety or a cornerback. There could be some good corners that drop. Uh, mama says, uh, thoughts on Rory winning the Masters. Well, I loved it just as much as everybody else I mean I followed Rory's career like any golf fan for a very long time and

Always came across to me and we don't know these people but always came across to me like the most genuine person There's a ton of YouTube videos of him teaching golf and stuff that I like to watch. Uh, and you saw it yesterday, just the, I felt that the genuineness of his emotion and how much it meant to him really shined and what a day, but my favorite part, and thank you for asking, is that my former intern, Paul Hoda Wanek was walking there covering Rory for a PGA tour.com and his article is walking with Rory in the round. So go to PGA tour.com and read Paul's article. It's awesome of him with, I mean, how cool is that? Him at Augusta getting a chance to walk behind

for this historic all time great moment. Golf means different things to different people. For me, I love playing golf, but as far as watching it, historic all time. Great moment. A golf means different things to different people for me. I love playing golf, but as far as watching it, I've been the most basic guy. I take a Saturday nap in the middle of the day and a major, and then I kinda, Hey, is tiger playing? Like I'm that guy. And it's sort of been the same thing for uh, for Rory where it's like,

hey, it seems like, I mean, he's a great golfer. I love to see him hit the ball and he seems like a genuine enough guy. And, and you know, emotion pouring out like that is just, that's why we watch this stuff, whether it's golf or basketball or whatever it is, is how much it means to the people playing. That's why it's so incredible to cover playoff football games, and I have done this in my career, believe it or not,

where your team wins that you're covering because the outpouring of emotion after a playoff win, there's nothing like it in that locker room really isn't. And that's like that's why we all do this, right? Because sports, it means something. So to see it means so much to somebody who fought so hard. It was great. Sean says Walker seems like an Anthony bar clone to me. I could buy into that.

He is an exceptional rusher who's played inside and outside. And that's why I can't really rule out entirely the potential for the Vikings to take a look at him and Jahad Campbell. I think Walker's a really good player and he'll probably get taken earlier, but both of these guys, I mean, these are the types that make Brian Flores is defense what it is, which is these versatile players inside outside. I mean, I think about them almost like

I've always kind of rejected the, let's call it a three, four defense because how often are they in a three, four where it's four linebackers, three D linemen. It's usually in some kind of nickel and the nickel guy these days is Josh Mattelis. But if you called Mattelis a line backer, it kind of is an old school three, four. So you can move these guys around, put some from

different spots, always have four rushing, but they never know where the four are coming from. And if you have somebody who can drop back and coverage really effectively and blitz, you got to be interested. And I don't mean to be down at all on Ivan pace jr. I'm not I think he's had two really excellent years, but when you look at him and Blake Cashman, they've been banged up at times and if you were bringing in somebody else to be more physically freakishly gifted to give you some other weapon that you can rotate in for 600 snaps and then have pace be a rotational player that might just add a level of freakishness that makes your defense

even more nasty. Zach says, who's on the bench if you draft a safety in the first round? Well, right now I want Josh Mattel is playing the same role as he's been playing. And what you'd be doing is just replacing can't buy them and not starting Theo Jackson, which I I've been as high on Theo Jackson. You could go back to training camp and you can read about my article calling him one of the four horsemen of the safety group, which Lewis Seen was kind of left out of that conversation. But you know, the four horsemen is what Durante Jones, their defensive backs coach, called them to me when I was interviewing him about Theo Jackson. And he said, you know,

he's the first guy in he's they sit up front in the film room and they all like understand the game at a high level. And Theo's part of that. And every time he gets in the game room and they all understand the game at a high level and Theo's part of that and every time he gets in the game he makes plays. So I like Theo Jackson a ton. The same time, if you have an opportunity to draft Melikai Starks or Nick Emmanuari, you might just have to do it. I mean Harrison Smith has probably got one year left and if Harrison Smith plays one more year, even if you didn't even play Starks or Emmanuari, which of course you should, but that still leaves Theo Jackson under contract

for the next couple of years and he could eventually slot in there. But you're looking for someone who could be short-term really impactful next year, which a safety is another position by the way, that has a very short development curve. So safety is often step in and play well right away. And Brian Flores saw that from Javon Holland when he was in Miami star instantly with Brian Flores. So Starks say steps in, he plays with Harrison Smith. Theo Jackson rotates in, waits his turn plays if somebody gets hurt.

And then next year, Stark slides over or M and war, a slides over into the Harrison Smith role. And then you could, you know, kind of carry on having a really dangerous position there at safety, even after Harrison Smith retires. So it would be Theo Jackson, but I'm not that concerned if that happens. I mean, Theo is a special teamer, great fill in player, but it's not like he's so good that you just can't keep him off the bench. He's, he's a nice player and he's coming along and I'm impressed, but I wouldn't say, well, Hey, don't draft this first round. Fantastic

prospect because you have him. Uh, Ron says I don't draft this first round. Fantastic prospect because you have him. Uh, Ron says I don't rule out wide receiver. If someone slides, I know I saw my friend, Steve Palazzolo from the check the mic podcast, formerly PFF. He was going, uh, a Mecca Bucca with for the Vikings in his mock. And I tipped my cap to that, that I am not the only person in the entire world who is thinking, hey, draft a wide receiver, do everything you can for JJ McCarthy, get another playmaker, and then a year or two down the road

when you gotta pay Jordan Addison instead of giving him $30 million, you just don't. And you have Ibuca step in. But I don't. And you have a book, a step in, but I don't think that everybody's on board with me, including maybe Kevin O'Connell and the Vikings. But if they draft a wide receiver, uh, myself and Steve will at least be the two guys who have pounded the table for that. I just think that you don't get wide receivers

in free agency. You have to draft them and they do have a little bit of a development curve. So you can play a guy in a rotational role. I'll keep throwing this stat out there in 2022. KJ Osborne wide receiver three had 90 targets, 90 targets. That's valuable. That's a path onto the field. And I don't think that Jalen Naylor or Rondo Moore or anybody else keeps them from drafting someone who's really talented.

So I'm into it. I'm into it. A placid. A taxia. Sorry, if I'm saying that wrong. Is it possible they think Brett Rippen is the number two? Yeah, it's possible. I think that O'Connell had mentioned at some point last year that he was extremely impressed with Brett. Now he's mentioned Brett Rippon 50 times, but he was impressed with him

in practice specifically, which always perks my ear a little bit like all. I mean, because practice matters to these guys in their evaluation process and we don't see Brett Rippen getting to play and he has played before in the NFL. He has had games before where he's done well in the NFL before. So at least there is some experience there. I still think as of right now, it feels like Carson Wentz is coming here. I don't know that. That's not a report. Just kind of, there's one guy left.

Most teams have their backups. He doesn't have a chair. Kind of makes a lot of sense. But whether it's him or whether it's somebody else, you know, it's fine. Evan says, liking, sticking, and picking Melchized Starks the more and more after watching your podcast. Everything I and picking Melchized Starks, the more and more after watching your podcast, everything I hear about Melchized Starks is that the folks inside the league, the league really love Melchized Starks, that he has looked at as somebody

who can be an impact player, versatile, high IQ plays the run extremely well. You could put them in the box. He moves well enough to guard somebody out of the slot. If you need him, I just hear a lot of good things about Melchi Starks. And if he gets to 24, he could be the guy, but, but MN Waray still is a freakish type of player with his size and speed that they might see

as an ability to develop him. I like when I hear what I hear about Melkai Starks more than Emanuari, if that makes sense, like having read draft analysis now for how many years trying to figure out who's going to be good. When I hear high IQ, super smart player, super instinctual, all those things that kind of sets off little fireworks like, oh, OK, that tends to translate better to the NFL than just athletic freakishness. I have no idea who's going to be better. But if you're giving me my choice of the two today, I'd probably go

Starks because I just think you lean toward in a floor as defense. The the smarts are probably the thing that's gonna shine through. Sid's ghost says, did you see the Todd McShea mock draft where he has the Giants trading up with the Vikings to take Jalen Milrow and we take Benjamin Morse, I assume Morrison, the Notre Dame corner at 34. Yeah, I saw today that the Giants are bringing in

Chaudhier Sanders for another workout. That is reminiscent of the Atlanta last second workout with Michael Penick's. Does that mean that they're desperate and they're going to draft Chaudhier Sanders or does their front office not really like him? And the ownership said, can you just take one more look just for me? Because we really need a quarterback.

I think the Giants would be nuts to draft a quarterback when they're trying to save their bacon. And when you can draft a Travis Hunter and Abdul Carter, they can actually help you right away somebody of that level of talent. Drafting a quarterback is just drafting it for the next regime. I think for the giants, but to your point, Jalen Milro is a fascinating player to talk about because I look at him like a fourth round pick. He's a crazy athlete.

But I mean, if you watch some of the worst games that he played, I don't think he sees the field at all and just sorta chucks it. And he has enough arm strength to push it down the field. And I'd love him in the old Brad Smith role or something where he plays special teams and it's a receiver and occasionally he's a quarterback. That would be fun. He could be the next slash.

I mean, I mean it. I think that's a cool thing to be in the NFL. He could be Cordell Stewart. He could be Brad Smith. But as a quarterback that you're going to start, probably not. As far as Benjamin Morrison goes, he's got that hip thing that I don't think any of us really knows how that's going to work out or not with the hip injury for Morrison. But when I read, I'm always reading now these draft profiles and guys,

you know, athletic scores from the combine trying to think what would Brian Flores do WWBFD? What would Brian Flores do? Just make it what would Flores do? It's probably easier. And one of the things that I notice is the Vikings don't really care about the speed of their corners. They are not necessarily looking for now.

They could draft Maxwell Hairston and totally change this, uh, in general, but mostly, I mean, you look at their corners last year and they did really well, it's gotta be the slowest cornerback group in the league last year. I mean, Gilmore Griffin and even Byron Murphy, I think, ran a four or five something, four or five, five, four or five, seven at the combine. I mean, he's not the fastest, but it's really instincts, some toughness elements, smarts, some playmaking on the football. And Morrison fits a lot of those bills.

So he's somebody that I've had my eye on. That's why I've brought up Trey Amos as a corner. I think he's intriguing. One of the other guys that we haven't talked about a lot is Will Johnson. And I think Will Johnson for Michigan has a real chance to drop. I was looking at last year

and where the cornerbacks were projected and where they were actually picked. And one thing I noticed was that Quinian Mitchell and Terry and Arnold were top 15 projected and they both went in the 20s and that kind of sounds like Will Johnson, not the fastest. He's afraid to run his 40 but playmaking interceptions high IQ. There's a little bit of concern of whether he dogged it last year a little bit but I mean a super talented corner don't overthink it he might be the guy that drops and

If he does then you heard it here first But I mean I was just thinking like corners are a position that the NFL has let slip a little bit How about Joey Porter jr. years ago, again, another guy that was a top 15 projection that did not end up going that high. And I think he was the early part of the second round. So we could see that from someone like Will Johnson or Jaday Baron is another one.

Anthony says, I thought they liked Redmond, LDR and Tayamani. I understand D-line is older and only on contracts for two years, but these guys could develop into something behind these vets. I agreed that they could develop into something, but this is a position that historically, and look, John Randall, who I saw at the owners meetings in Florida, uh, John Randall is an example that blows us

out of the water. Uh, so the Vikings, one of their best DTs ever is not the first round draft pick but normally, and that's where that stack comes from about 14 of the top 25 and 23 So how about this 23 out of the top? 25 players that are the highest paid in the NFL are drafted in the first three rounds.

I think that really tells you something. Now yes, most positions first rounders get the most money. Yeah, I know that, but it's extreme when it comes to defensive tackle. And the reason is because it's usually a physical thing. The freaks get taken in the first round, the Kenneth Grants get taken. The Derek Harmons. The guys who put up crazy college numbers. They dominate. They're monsters. And those guys that you're talking about I think are nice rotational players. Drake Rodriguez, Levi Drake Rodriguez might have a little bit higher of a ceiling because his origin

story is so random. Coming, coming from Texas A and M financial district college or something. And I'm sorry, Levi, that's unfair, but I don't remember the name of it. And, uh, so he, you know, he comes in the league like a seventh round draft pick. He might develop, but all those guys to me are rotational filler type of players and someone like Harmon or Kenneth Grant Those are game-changing freaks so that and you can always rotate them in So let's say one of those three guys becomes good and develops into a good rotational player a Tom Johnson type Okay, that's great or a Shamar Stefan. That's great. But Lin-Val Joseph is the guy that changes your life in there.

Right. That's what you'd be looking for by drafting them at the top. And that's where, you know, I think Javon Hargrave was a third rounder or second. And Jonathan Allen's a first rounder. Like that's kind of where they come from. Let's see. Similar question about McVeigh's mock. But do I think the Vikings are sitting pretty well to trade their pick?

So that, in that mock, it really is the only scenario where the Vikings could do this, which is somebody wants a quarterback, because otherwise when it comes to the other positions, there's kind of a lot of the guys at each position that are similar. So there's Derek Harmon, but there's also Walter Nolan and there's also Darius Alexander and there's also TJ Sanders and there's like a lot of guys at different positions. So who's actually making that move from the second round up unless they want to pick a quarterback? I think that is the one scenario where you could lock it in that they can move down Otherwise, I find it a little bit difficult for them to actually trade back too far

And I don't mind if they stick and pick in the first round Rob says a hundred percent the draft visits count. They had visits with Addison Jefferson and Turner. They also had another three or four players from those visits. Yeah, I mean, I, I don't disagree with you. I just kind of, I kind of think. That's a really small sample size to say that they're always going to draft off of that list of visits.

Uh, maybe it points us in the direction or maybe this year they don't draft the guide that they had in for a visit. It's like hard to figure out. I mean, out of that list, Derek Harmon is the one that stands out the most because that's a first round pick. Siobhan Revelle would be the other one. Aside from the list that they've had in, at least that we know about publicly, there aren't a lot of other guys that are projected to be first round picks. Revevel is absolutely interesting to me and Harmon we were just talking about. Aside from that though, there's only a couple guys there so are they just drafting those two?

Or are there other guys they've had in for visits that we don't know about? It's not like they have to put the list out there. So yeah, I don't know. I don't know what it means, but it's interesting to talk about. More interesting than I gave it credit for the other day. How about that? Let's see. I shot you 99 says I don't think Mike Hughes position was bad. Pretty sure we needed a cornerback badly that year. Did we not?

No, not right away. Not that year because they still had roads, Wayans and Mackenzie Alexander. I mean that was most of what they had taken to the NFC Championship. Terrence Newman was cut, which was a bad decision. They cut Newman and B-Rob that year and I just, I don't really, I still don't understand that. I still don't understand that I still don't understand I know that both of those guys were ramping it up a little bit slowly and be Rob had been banged up But that never made a bit of sense to me why they did that

To keep to Shawn Bauer and I don't know Holton Hill or something somebody random at the corner back I think it was Holton Hill I I'll never understand that in a win now type of season to take two of your biggest veteran leaders and jettison them at the end of training camp was just goofy, straight up goofy. But so they after losing Terrence Newman, yes, they kind of needed a corner, but not exactly. Hughes wasn't going to play right away. My logic then was, well, they've got these positions

filled for right now with players who aren't old. Um, Rhodes wasn't old. Wayne's wasn't old. Mackenzie Alexander, it seemed had proven to them that he could play. Uh, that was true in 2019 and you know, he didn't turn out to be that great, but I didn't think he was bad for either of those two years. But I didn't have a was bad for either of those two years. But I didn't have a corner on my radar because I felt like the three starting spots were filled. And then when they went with it, it was like, huh, but I guess they could have been looking a year down the road and saying, well, Trey, Wayne's, we're not

going to pay him and he's going to leave. And I think Alexander was a free agent too. After 2019, that might've been part of their logic, or they just thought you always draft a corner because you should always draft a corner. And I always felt really bad for Mike Hughes and the way that it played out with his injuries, because I think if I'm not mistaken, he felt like,

and I'm only speaking from things that he said, I got the impression he felt like it wasn't handled the best with his injury. And that's just an impression. I'm not accusing anybody of anything. It was just the, the, the feeling I got was that he felt like it wasn't handled the best. And maybe there were times where he was put back out there too soon or something like that.

And it just took a long time for his career to get back on track But I think he was a good player. I think he would have been a good player So it turned out I mean they picked two good players that that's where why I remember that so much is the reaction We were all what are they doing and it ended up working out really good for them Oh, no All the guards are coming off the board and most of the guards became nothing that was the will Hernandez obsession draft Which is still continued to exist to this day. Let's go to Brett here. Brett says with all the Rogers and free agent talk, we haven't talked about the kicker at all. You know, that's true,

Brett. We haven't talked about the kicker at all. Do you think Will Rikard will be able to get out of his slump that he was in at the end of the season. Yeah, I think he'll be fine. I mean, Will Rikard is incredibly, incredibly talented. The only thing that worried me about last year was not that he got injured. It was that he didn't tell anybody he got injured. Uh, he talked to, uh, Mark Craig after the game where he missed a couple of field goals and got hurt and told him that he'd been dealing with something throughout the week. And then when we asked Matt Daniels about it, he said, yeah, he didn't tell me that that's concerning because he's had a history of some injuries and if he's going to hide

them then he might be dealing with something. I think this happened with Dan Bailey too. I don't think you can kick with an injury. I've never tried it, but I don't think that it's wise to try to be booting 60 yard field goals when you've got some sort of leg problem. That was what concerned me, but as far as his talent goes, his nerve, I mean, I think that he should be fine, but you get a neck roll for asking about the kicker at this point, that is the first time I think anybody has asked about,

uh, the kicker.