Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Do the Vikings pre-draft visits tell us anything? (Hour 2)

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.

Uh, let's see. Not now says, uh, back to the Oh three, the Oh three drafts. Some say that red McCombs made them wait. That was something that was talked about a lot on the broadcast as I was watching it back is they were like, did they do this on purpose to try to save money because they thought they could get Kevin Williams anyway? They might have it might have been a draft hack. I don't know. They got a six-time opro It just tells you how random the draft can be because they looked like such goofs at that moment

What is this team doing? Are they out of their mind? They missed two draft picks and then they get Unbelievable prospect who becomes one of the best players at his position NFL history and belongs in the Hall of Fame. By the way, you know, six all pros, there's very few guys who aren't in the Hall of Fame with six all pros. Sue says, what would make the 2025 draft a Christmas gift for us? I think the best players Well, you know what it would for me If they drafted the wide receiver that would do it for me then I'd be like, all right christmas on purple insider They actually did the receiver thing. I don't think it's likely so other than that

I would say just the players that I think are the best could be totally different from the players that they think are the best. But Derek Harmon and Melkai Starks, Gray Zable I have maybe in that ballpark, maybe not quite as high as those two. I think if they got Harmon or Starks, those are instant, very, very good contributors. If not guys with ceilings that could be pro bowlers and it's hard to get it 24, but at those positions, uh, that could, that could be a thing for them.

Those are the two guys that I think you, you run in the pick, you celebrate maybe more than anyone else, but I'd be curious about some of your other answers. Uh, Derek says, might read into the Jacob Bayer visit as a potential late rounder held his own pretty well. One on ones in the senior bowl, set a pretty good baseline and pass pro. I think they're always looking for guys to develop for offensive lineman. Derek also likes seven. I am.

Yep. Me too. Me too. Tackles converting into guard. I don't always love it because the Ezra Cleveland thing and What I've talked about a lot is hey if you got this sixth round tackle and you're trying to make them a guard It's a pretty tough transition for those guys because they were already a sixth round tackle But seven IA is somebody who is projected as a top three round player physical beast, moving him inside would be pretty good.

I think there's a lot of options potentially. Aaron says they met with Cam Ward at the combine to KOC doesn't leave a rock on tour. Oh, he's going to talk to every quarterback. He wants to know every single quarterback in the world. I mean, just because, hey, you never know. You never know when that guy could be a free agent down the road or whatever, and you've got a relationship with them. Skywalking McCarthy says on Melkite Starks, the Vikings brought in Ben

Urasek, the guy who guarded Starks in practice. Well, now that's a neck roll for you, my friend. That now you're deep into it. Now you are fully into. Gum shoe mode of like looking into Sherlock draft homes is what you are. When you're looking into the guy that guarded him in practice. That's good. I like that.

See, I've never gotten that deep into it like that. Derek wants CJ West at That's good. I like that. See I've never gotten that deep into it like that Derek wants CJ West at 97 sure. I like that good run stopper not necessarily a pass rusher. I'm looking for there David says I do think we are moving back if not twice from the first to the second round We will end up with seven picks or more in this draft and the next will be a lot of youth replenishment in maximizing value. That's, uh, that's absolutely possible. Uh, I think the farther you move back in any draft, the lower your odds are of getting difference, making players. And that's where I wonder about quasi Adapaphal-mensa if he has changed his

theory from when he first got here, because the last two drafts, they have stayed at their spot or moved up because they wanted to get game changers. They wanted to get guys who could be superstars like Jordan Addison and Dallas Turner, not guys who can just be, you know, okay. In the second round, maybe a potential star here or there. But if you look at the difference between the middle of the second early second and the late first, there's a lot of busts in the late first, but there's also a lot of guys like Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison,

Christian Derriss who have turned out to be great. And they might be looking at it that way, but you could be right. I mean, depends on how important it is for them to stack up picks. They also might say, look, we're in a mode now where we're not really looking for let's fill out this position or that position with a fifth rounder. Let's just try to get the best possible star player that we can get. We're going to find out because I'm curious which way that goes trading down makes a lot of sense in this draft.

I did it once in a drafts. And I traded down to 54 and I was still happy. I traded down twice all the way into the 50 and I still got a guy that I thought, I mean, this guy could fit the Vikings pretty well. It's a weird draft that way, but still the history is what it is. The 24th pick is a lot better than the 34th and the 44th. That's just the facts. So we'll see.

CJ, about a month away from the schedule reveal. Ooh, thinking about the schedule reveal already. Somebody's trying to get a neck roll. Without knowing the dates, what away games are you looking forward to most? Um, I think, uh, I think that Pittsburgh is one that I hope they don't move to Ireland because I would love to go to Pittsburgh when I lived in Buffalo. I went to Pittsburgh all the time, all the time. So amazing, beautiful city. If you've never been, it's great.

And, uh, I used to go to Jerome bettis's restaurant, which is right near the stadium and I had Jerome bettis on a radio show and I told him how much I loved his restaurant. So I love Pittsburgh, the Hills, all the houses built in. You could take that thing up the Hills and the, the crazy bridges. It's a beautiful city. I'd love to go there where I really love to go. There is like December, Pittsburgh, December, some snow in the air or something like let's's let's get let's get football here. Right. I'd love that.

That one's on my mind the most. I don't know if there's another one that is as unique as that. I'm not excited about going to Cleveland. I'm not even sure I'm going to do that trip, depending on where Cleveland, where they're at. I kind of mix and match in the middle of the season sometimes on road trips like last year I tried to go to almost every one of them because of how the season was going but Cleveland might not do it. I Don't know Pittsburgh definitely stands out that's not I think the Vikings haven't played there since 2017

The the the game where Ryan Quigley threw a punt That was the game where Case Keenan was so bad. We're like, uh, can they get another quarterback? Nobody knows nothing. Dusty says, uh, Revelle first and then even Jordan Phillips from Maryland, very strong guy, Jordan Phillips on the interior might have some potential or Caldwell from Oregon in the third. That's more of a nose tackle type of guy. They could go with that.

Somebody to pair with Harrison Phillips, get them off the field. Sometimes David says, I mean, I like that. I mean, if they picked Ravel and Phillips, I'd be fine with it. Probably like to mix in a guard there. Uh, David says, I also think, uh, defensive secondary has to be their first and second priorities. I mentioned that before free agency have to have two high functioning, versatile safeties. So the Mattel is yeah, no, I don't disagree with that at all.

David, if they were to draft Malachi, Starks or Nick and Warray or Derek brings up Kevin Winston, somebody else at safety. This defense does require a lot of the safeties. And are you okay with throwing in Theo Jackson when he's never really done it for a long period of time before you're almost in a mode right now where you don't want to be doing that too much. Uh, they did that with Blake Brando last year where it's, Hey, we kind of like this development guy. Let's see if he can play 17 games and the answer was not really kind of but not really it wasn't horrendous But it wasn't great either if you can have that replaced so uncertainty replaced with

Super high ceiling for talent I would be willing to do that and I don't disagree that it is important to stack up the Secondary that was the only area a little bit in the cornerbacks where they got beat sometimes last year to do that. And I don't disagree that it is important to stack up the secondary. That was the only area a little bit in the cornerbacks where they got beat sometimes last year. Uh, Tate Ratledge at 97, good athlete, really crushed the combine. Uh, let's see. Uh, now I, I think you're, you're trolling me with, uh, let the fans know if we let Addison go in free agency, they might get a compic.

Yeah, that's right. Then everybody will be on board with my draft or receiver. Like, wait a minute, we'll get a compic in four years if we let Addison go in free agency. That's funny. That's funny. Rob's is trading back for a late third or fourth. If they could get it, it really all depends on who is interested. That was the thing about the Lewis Seen trade back is

the team trading up for Jameson Williams went up 20 spots, they didn't give up a first, we all know that. But who else was interested in making a trade up? And for what? That's at 24, someone's gotta be interested in making a trade up and for what that's at 24. Someone's gotta be interested in making that trade up. So who is the player that's going to be there that someone else is trading up that they're giving you a third or a fourth round pick for that means that

they're not going up that far either. And I'd be good with that. If the Vikings go from 24 to 29 or 30, okay, well that's good. But that's not, that's not leaving that space where you still can get star players That's going back to 40 45. That's too far for me But how much can you really get for a short move up that maybe someone's doing for a defensive tackle? Maybe you should just take your guy Aaron Jade Baron another high IQ player don't think he'll be there at 24. Yeah, I just think it's very possible that the

Corners drop a little bit more than we think That they're just historically over the last few years. There's been a lot of corners that are projected in a certain area and they end up Going lower than they're expected Mama says is the hype for Jackson dart valid, you know, I really don't know Because when we look at the recent talk about history the recent history of the quarterbacks the draft Will Levis projected top five. Malik Willis, first rounder guaranteed. There's been a lot of these Daniel Jones.

Oh, that's a second round pick. Michael Penax. That's a second round pick. Bo Nick's second round pick. Those guys go in the first. It's probably the position that draft analysts have been the farthest off and the most mystery and the most misdirection from teams about in the draft process. I don't think that the Jackson dart hype is valid.

I also know that the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Kenny Pickett in the first round and he really didn't have a great skill. He was supposed to be accurate, a good leader, that kind of thing. I mean, there was nothing really there. Jordan Addison is the one that pumped up his statistics, but they were willing to take him anyway. So maybe one team gets crazy. I don't see it. I don't see it. I mean, Sanders even is a hard sell to me to make a franchise quarterback. Maybe the Saints are that desperate, maybe the Giants are that desperate but it's really hard to squint and go Does that look like the quarterbacks who have really emerged as superstars lately?

Only if it's Brock Purdy with San Francisco and Purdy's a better playmaker I'm sure he's faster than Cheddar Sanders definitely quicker and Way more of a playmaker Accurate really good leader. Like, I mean, but also dropped into a spot with the best tight end in the league, the best running back in the league, the best left tackle in the league, two top notch wide receivers. And that's what it took for Brock Purdy to have that season.

While anybody you can put Jackson Dart there, he'd probably have a good situation. And I like Purdy a ton. But if that's what you're saying as a defense of drafting, Cheddar Sanders high, I'm not sure it really fits or Jackson Dart, not sure it really fits. It's hard to build a team that good. Dusty says his corner becoming the new running back. Yeah, kind of.

I mean, you can get corners in free agency. I just think that what happens is teams are willing to spend on them first round picks, but I think draft analysts overrate that. It gets really become edge rushers, defensive tackles, offensive tackles for sure. Quarterbacks, wide receivers. That's what's getting taken in the first round and in the very top of the first

round, we really saw that last year. Who was the first defensive player taken? It was like 14 or something last year. Teams are putting a lot of focus on those absolute premium positions and corner has kind of slid a little bit, uh, partly because they're hard to predict. They're so scheme dependent outside of the top guys like, you know, Sertan. And the other part of it is that there's a lot of them available in free agency. Every year, a ton of corners hit the

free agent market and you can go out and get them a lot easier than some other positions. And I also think that they, they do like running backs have a bit of a shelf life for their age, but not quite in the same way Maybe a little bit. I just think I think Derek's right with corner. It's high variance Doesn't have the highest hit rate. Yeah teams are afraid of them a little bit where offensive tackles I mean you get a great offensive tackle. I think it's a very high Mean you get a great offensive tackle. I think it's a very high Very very high percentage if you take one of the best offensive tackles in the draft, but that could be the Vikings gain I mean look at Quinn Yon Mitchell last year Cooper de Jean those guys and even de Jean He was his consensus was like 22nd or something. He ends up in the second round

So I think there I think one of these corners will be there if they want them. TRZ 03 hypothetical question for a lot of Vikings fans wanted Bo Nix last year. A year later, would you rather have him over McCarthy? Can't be a wait and see right now answer. Okay. Well, I was impressed with Bo Nix in the second half of the season last year. Very impressed. He did not have a running game. Good offensive line.

Very good offensive line. Doesn't really have wide receivers and found a way to get his team to the playoffs. That is impressive. It's a hard question because you already know what the floor is on Bo Nix. You just saw it that he can make the playoffs and win 10 games. That's pretty good. Is the ceiling on Bo Nix now? We haven't seen him get a great offense around him and they're probably going to draft some people to try to do that.

Um, but we haven't seen Bo Nix with a great offensive around him. That would be the difference for me of why I would go McCarthy because well, no, I guess you're saying if Bo Nix was here that, yeah, I don't know. That's a tough one. Cause if, if Bo Nix is here that he's got Jefferson, he's got Addison, he's got all the stuff that the Vikings could give him. Um, that's going to be a tough comparison to make. If Bo Nix doesn't get much better offensive weapons and McCarthy does

McCarthy, I think is a little more on the raw skill scale than McCarthy or than a bone X arm strength. They're both pretty quick. I mean, they're drafted right next to each other. That's a hard one to say. Yeah, because we already know what bow Nick's worst case scenario is. We've already seen it. The rookie year is the toughest year in the NFL and the guy played well and got

his team into the playoffs. But I still think I would rather have McCarthy than Bo Nicks based on what I think the upside is, but it's not going to be a fair fight because one of them has Justin Jefferson and the other one doesn't. That's a good question though. That's a very good question. I don't, I don't think you you would you would go with Bo Nix But he's got one playoff appearance and JJ McCarthy hasn't played yet. I still think McCarthy has a little higher ceiling than Nix

Rob says do you think KOC will automatically start JJ week one if Darasaw was out there on the road at Cleveland Facing Garrett or Abdul Carter TJ watt or you know and stealing yeah, they're gonna start JJ McCarthy It's the NFL man. You can't avoid edge rushers I mean good luck trying to avoid edge rushers look at this schedule. You got to play Aidan Hutchinson twice Montez sweat is still a really good player What team what team in the league is running nothing out there at that position the Vikings have Jonathan Grinard Roshan Gary's in Green Bay Every team has got some freak that you're gonna have to stop and you're not always gonna have perfect circumstances I'm not trying to hide JJ McCarthy if he's ready to play he's ready to play Go play him

All right couple more than I got to get clay in here I promised I would get him into the show earlier and you guys made me wrong with these great questions So he knew what he got into Uh, let's see evan says remember when you said teams don't show us their draft board a few episodes back What are the odds dallas? Yeah The odds dalas has made that into a bit. I don't even know if their draft boards that they put on TV are real at this point because they always find, or on Twitter,

they always find a way to be able to do that by accident or whatever. I think that the first time was an accident and then after that, it might be a bit. I'm not really sure though, but you're right. Teams don't show us before the draft who they're going to draft Skywalking McCarthy, I think a run stuffing DL as a priority in the draft whether it's Grant Caldwell Jackson Watson Tylek Williams also an option there doesn't matter

We lost our run-stopping DL's this offseason need replacements Those are guys as you saw that are pretty easily replaced in a free agency if you want them. Takita Imani is probably an answer there. Jaylen Redmond I think is more of a run stopping guy than a true pass thrusher. I think he had one pressure. He gets in the backfield in the run game though. So I look at it as if you can get a guy that is a absolute difference maker like Grant or later on someone like Caldwell who is enormous, then yeah, I think nose tackle is a position that they would like to have and all those Belichick teams usually had those guys. Most of them usually had those guys. Rob says 3D chess.

I wonder if Casey will use 2026 picks the target QB needy teams on day two for a trade up could happen. I mean that everything is on the board. I wouldn't want them to reach into the 2026 bucket anymore, unless they have to. John says, I think we need to be careful of what positions we draft this year, especially for defense with all these random ideas for defensive positions. We're assuming that Flores will be here forever. Well, if you draft somebody like, and I see what you're saying, because I was talking about what would Brian Flores do. I do think Brian Flores is going to be here a long time. It's possible he gets a head coaching job at some point,

but he just had a top five defense. They won 14 games. He got a couple of interviews, but the lawsuit is still out there. Just seems like that's not happening. He's going to keep trying and he's deserving, but it just seems like it's not happening. I think you might be able to make that argument, but if you're talking about Will Johnson or Jadai Baron or Melchized Starks or Derek Harmon, all these guys, they can fit into a different

system. And I also don't think that KOC is gonna change the system if Brian Flores leaves My guess would be that Durante Jones would take over and they would continue to do Exactly what they've been doing defensively Julio says I've been doing some homework on the running back class. There you go. Get a neck roll for that wide receiver class I have some guys no one's talking about, let me know what you all think. So I'm assuming that you're leaving those guys down here somewhere.

Okay, Laquint, Laquint Allen reminds me of Adrian Peterson, he's a sleeper. Okay, there we go. All right, Laquint Allen, I have not heard of that player, but if you're doing enough research looking for running back sleepers that remind you of Adrian Peterson that I haven't heard of you get a neck roll for that I appreciate the effort thank you okay I reached the bottom of the comments and this I'm not I don't know if it's a new record

for that but an hour 23 is pretty good that means it's time to bring in intern Clay for Clay's corner at the University of Pennsylvania and a guy who is just just enraged with jealousy over my former intern getting to cover the Masters this weekend. How are you, Clay? You got big shoes, my friend. Big shoes to to fill. I'm good. No jealousy at all, just all inspiration. So it's cool to see people have been. I'm good. No jealousy at all. Just all inspiration. So

It's cool to see people have been where I'm at now and see where they can go. So it's cool to see. Well, and I have all the faith in the world that you can get there yourself, Clay, but that all hinges on Clay's corner today. If you mess it up, it's actually the second most important corner next to Amen Corner at the Masters. actually the second most important corner next to Amen corner at the masters. So, uh, it is that important and vital that you succeed here. So where would you like to begin? Yep. So first off, uh, Derek Carr is dealing with a shoulder injury that could keep them out of all next season.

And what, what should the saints do? What's their best option at quarterback? Fold the franchise. Uh, that's what they should do. I mean, they are. If we ranked all 32 teams on a how bleeped are you meter? They might be number one. I they have OK.

They find a way to sign players in the offseason. They are still screwed with the cap. They can only spend so much money. They do not have young players that you look at and go, wow, they've got this guy coming, that guy coming. In fact, some of their best players are still super old and their coach, I think, has a lot of potential, but he's never coached before.

And now he's handed this situation where they're talking about, are they going to just start Spencer Rattler and win two games and try to draft arch Manning I mean, that's that's pretty bleak, but that's actually the only way out of this I really think it's the only way out of this is to go full Jimmy Claussen mode Which the Panthers played Jimmy Claussen for an entire season to make sure they got Cam Newton. That's the that's the way out It's the one and only direction out if they go sign Aaron Rodgers or they draft Shadr Sanders. I mean, what are you giving Shadr Sanders like a broken version of Chris

Alave, that other guy who's fast? I mean, you just there's nothing. They don't have a good offensive line. They don't have an experienced coach who can kind of navigate them through it I just the only way out is them to just be a total disaster which as Gazink had points out Vikings fans are very upset about I Think I actually think that the Saints are maybe the number one Most hated team by Vikings fans next to the Packers and Packers is one and then Saints and then

Eagles I think but there's like a healthy respect for the Eagles their fans are You know pretty nasty when you go there But there's a respect because the Eagles do a lot of things right and like yeah Well, you know they win because they did a lot of stuff good, But with the Saints, real real nastiness there. But anyway, what do you think they'll do? Yeah, it's it's such an unfortunate situation for them. If I was a Saints fan, I'd be miserable right now. I'd be absolutely going through it.

And my first reaction was they have to pitch a door at nine. But like you said, that's not going to really do much there. He's he has a long way to go. And with a team in this situation, that's not going to really do much. He has a long way to go. And with a team in this situation, it's not looking good. And I just feel bad for Kellen Moore. He has his hands full going into his first full year. But yeah, it's just really unfortunate for them.

And if they don't go Shador at nine, what do they do? Does it matter what they do? I don't know. It's just they're in a rough spot right now, and it's hard to predict where where they'll be at or how they'll handle it. Well, clearly they didn't see this coming because otherwise they would have done something else at the back of quarterback position. They would have jumped in and maybe this could complicate the Carson Wentz thing

if that's who they decide to go for. But it seems like they are really in a spot where they were taken off guard. And there was no reporting on this whatsoever. And then all of a sudden it just kind of comes out. It wasn't like, oh, Derek Carr has been dealing with something for a long time. And that's why they're picking up Drew Locke or whatever else. They just let all the other backup quarterbacks come off the board and now they're holding the bag. I think that if they decided to pick Chidur Sanders, they would be putting him into a bottom five

overall situation and also putting their head coach in a spot where he's forced to take a quarterback. And I don't ever like when that happens. I don't ever like when a team is absolutely forced to reach for a quarterback. That's where it feels like the Giants taking Daniel Jones or something. Like they're just for they just well, Eli's pretty much done. So they just kind of have to take somebody. So they do it. And it doesn't work out. I don't know. Yep. That's it and it doesn't work out. I don't know.

Yep. That's it's it's funny though. How often it happens where a team that has an all-time great quarterback and they are just so and this is the Patriots. They're so full of themselves. Oh, it's the Patriot way. Oh, the Saints are so classy with Drew Brees and they're just run so brilliantly. And look what they do with the cap.

And look at that one draft they have. Oh, my gosh, their genius is Sean Payton. He's just God's gift to coaching. Oh, we should make a Netflix about him and have Kevin James play it. And all this stuff is just so brilliant. Everybody gets to be a genius. Brady goes. Everyone's a dope. The same thing for New Orleans.

As soon as Drew Brees retires, nobody knows what they're doing anymore unless you get the next great guy. So kind of funny how football works like that. Yeah. Just re-emphasizes how important the quarterback position is just can completely setback franchises for years and years. So Tyler Huntley's available. Go get Snoop. All right.

Anyway, so for my next question, Patrick Peterson retired as a Arizona Cardinal today, and you got to cover him for years. So are there any moments that stick out to you or things that you remember from his time with the Vikings? And then also, who were some of your other favorite DBS from the Pat P era? Yeah. So he was a Viking for two years, but one year we weren't allowed in the locker

room because of COVID. So we didn't really get to know him all that well. And then his second year he was our media good guy of the year, uh, because he was one of the most available players that I've ever been around for a superstar like that. Normally your superstars do press conferences and then sometimes you can ask for them on the side if you have something specific to write about, but that's usually how it works.

Like with the Justin Jefferson, they get so many requests, the biggest players in the league that the PR is trying to kind of manage all the different media for somebody like that. Peterson was always available, always willing to talk, always so open. And it just stood out to me that Peterson was the perfect intersection of athletic gifts. A complete freak show of an athlete. He's a great golfer.

He's a great basketball player. When he came out, he's running a four or three or whatever He returned three punts for touchdowns in a single season This guy was a psycho but as he aged What you really saw from him was his brilliance as a player where you know, he gets those two interceptions in Buffalo He knew exactly where they were going with the football and he could be at places before anybody else knew that the ball was going there. And it really stood out when we got to talk with him, when you would ask him to break things down and is incredibly high intelligence.

But the other part was his competitiveness and it was one of the most fun things to see when, I mean, think about this, a hall of fame career. And I did an article with him about why he kept playing after he was done in Arizona. He had a 10 year Hall of Fame career. Like, why are you still here? Uh, it's not for the paycheck. He had made tons of money and he said he just wanted to keep chasing a Superbowl, which was pretty cool.

And I remember when they played Arizona, cause he was still really ticked off about how it ended in Arizona and he was so emotional and so worked up. And again, this is a guy who doesn't even need to be here and is putting that much juice, that much competitiveness, that much violence into that game and energy into that game is like that's that's what if you want to know what a Hall of Famer looks like, folks, that's it. Competitiveness, intelligence, toughness. I mean, he's not Steve Atwater out there, but, you know,

for the amount of games that he played being on the field, availability takes a lot of toughness and hard work in the NFL. And then the physical traits to make it happen. It was it was really cool. I mean, there's how many Hall of Famers do you cover in a career? Justin Jefferson, I think, has got a great chance to be one. Patrick Peterson. That's probably it for all the players that I've covered that will go to the Hall of Fame.

Maybe Harrison Smith. We'll see. Um, so that was a great experience. How about let me throw this back at you. So you like wide receivers, of course, but, uh, where's Pat P for you? We're watching football for corners for the coolest corners. Cause I think the other thing about him too, it's all that stuff is great.

There's a vibe. There's a Pat P vibe that he has. I think he's one of the coolest corners. We talked about cool receivers. I think he's one of the coolest corners to play. Yeah. Growing up, it was, he was definitely one of the players that I was drawn to, even though I was an offensive guy,

I'm more looking for the receivers and quarterbacks, but CN 21 in Arizona with the dark visor and The his arms leaving how fast he was like being fast is cool Like i'm sorry, like it just is and he was blazing fast and like you said his competitive fire You could just see it from a mile away and I always like uh going back and watching his mic'd up moments of when he played Calvin Johnson and just seeing how he was preparing for it and his mentality.

It was just awesome to see. Not a lot of DBs made me feel that way. Another one coming in that time, Daryl Rivas. I know he was a little bit before, but talk about pure dominance. That 2009 year was just unbelievable I think he owns the greatest sports graphic ever where it's like the eight Elite or Hall of Fame receivers that he held under like 40 yards

So he's another guy that I think about when I'm thinking of the cool TVs I have to think I mean outside of see Revis just owned so much of that conversation for such a long time But I will throw a Viking out there. That was one of my favorite players And I don't know if I've if how many times I've mentioned this on the show Sometimes people will ask me because I grew up in Buffalo like oh are you a Bills fan? And the answer is always not really. When I was a little kid, yes, because that was Jim Kelly and Andre Reed, Thurman Thomas and Bruce Smith.

And they were going to Super Bowls and then Flutie came along. And that was great, too. Flutie Flakes. The guy was crazy fun to watch. It was some of the best. Wade Wells or Wade Phillips was their head coach. Really fun teams until the Music City Miracle thing happened, which was a forward pass. But then after that, their ownership became very cheap

and they let Antoine Winfield go, Antoine Winfield Senior. They let him go to Minnesota. So I continued to follow his career in Minnesota, but I completely gave up on the Bills franchise. I was just like, I'm I'm out I'm just out. I think that's a cool players. They had like the Kio Spikes London Fletcher Travis Henry But I just like I can't I just can't I can't cheer for this team I was probably a teenager like I can't cheer for this team if they're letting that guy go and Pat Williams, too

And they both ended up here Antoine Winfield greatest pound-for-pound tackler corner that I think the league has seen a long time. His son certainly is reflective of his play, but talk about cool. How about a guy who's five foot eight, taking down 230 pound running backs like it's nothing. That was probably one of the coolest. And then for me, here it comes. Here it comes. Dion. I mean, some of us watch Dion actually play football and not just coach Colorado and Rod Woodson would be the other one Rod Woodson he was an all-pro corner and then later in his career Either Pro Bowl or all-pro safety, which is crazy to be able to move and he had he had a cool face mask Too played for great defenses. So your point about how the corner looks 100 percent.

And I think Xavier Rhodes for fans was a pretty, pretty cool corner to somebody who was gigantic and had really freakish movement skills. So they're out there. Your wide receiver guy, but they're out there. It's funny you mentioned the bills. This guy is probably probably not that cool, but someone I really liked. Micah Hyde. Oh yeah. During that Peterson era. It seems random, but I was lucky enough to work out with him for an off season. And he was like, he showed me that there's levels to this football

stuff. And he is one of the craziest athletes I've ever seen. I've never seen him tired. He is one of the craziest athletes I've ever seen. I've never seen him tired and it, it just made me a fan of his. So I was watching his career as he went on and that's why I was a big fan of his. Every time I see it pop up and not recently, but every once in a while you'll see like, I mean, I could get a couple of yards on an NFL field. You're like, nope, you could get a couple of broken bones and a couple of trips to the hospital and maybe surgeries. But you could not because Mike hides just he's just a guy, right? It's like five foot 10 or 11, whatever.

He would kill you with his bare hands. Yep. Yeah. I had no idea it was him when I first walked up. I'm I'm doing my dynamic stretches and he's talking to the trainer about like Lamborghini,. Who is this guy? And then the more and more I kind of started putting the pieces together to talk about Buffalo. I'm like, Whoa, this is Mike. So yeah, super cool. That is a very cool story. Yeah. What else you got? So for my third question, every every draft has some kind of surprise, but some picks end up exceeding all expectations. Which NFL pick or draft pick caught you off guard, but ended up being a big success or were there guys that people were skeptical skeptical about, but you had your eye on that turned out to be a star or just some big draft surprises that you remember?

star or just some big draft surprises that you remember. Well, I think the biggest draft surprise, I think this was the first time that I had worked a draft on radio. And as the day is progressing, we started to hear some strange rumors about this this offensive tackle who's supposed to go pretty high. And we're like, well, what's the others word that he could drop? And there's pictures of him smoking weed in a gas mask. supposed to go pretty high and we're like, well, what's the others word that he could drop? And there's pictures of him smoking weed in a gas mask as Laramie Tunsel. We're like, huh? So then our radio station had somebody who, um, did a lot of partaking. So then he became the

expert on the air about how you and this was not me guys But just a co-worker of mine. He explained how someone would use a gas mask to do that and I'm not even sure that today the NFL Wisely moved on from all that stuff and just said like whatever dude if it's not performance enhancing do whatever you do But at that time, there was still enough concern over guys who were big weed smokers that they were going to have problems off the field. And there's probably some truth to that depending on how much you do. But the gas mask did not keep Laramie Tunsel.

So I was big on somebody's just draft this guy. Like if he's falling, I mean, just take him. Like this is where I came up with always draft the weed guy. And that used to be my thing until the NFL stopped caring because another guy that I was really huge on that I thought it was shocking that he dropped because of how good he was was Tyron Matthew. He got thrown out of college for smoking too much weed, which what level do you have to do to get thrown out of LSU? But I was like, have you seen this guy you talk about cool corners cool defensive backs?

So I was pounding the table non-stop for Somebody who I think I was you know In Buffalo at the time like draft this guy draft this guy he became, I think, one of the best defensive backs of the last decade. So those were a couple of I didn't mean to necessarily turn this into. Here's all the guys that smoked weed that I thought everyone should draft. But those are definitely the guy. Oh, and, you know, maybe one other is kind of obvious here. But I was apoplectic that Lamar Jackson was

dropping in the draft, just losing my mind and, you know, kind of nailed that. Yeah. For good reason, as we can see now. But, uh, one big surprise for me was in 2020 when the Packers drafted Jordan Love in the first round, I thought the Packers were trying to do everything except help Aaron Rodgers because I think there this was the stretch where they lost three NSE championships in five years and they still go out and draft a quarterback around one instead of Trying to find the piece to get him over the hump

So that that one was surprising and also funny because screw the Packers but then Another one was Jamir Gibbs in 23. I just didn't know who he was leading up to the draft. And then they picked him so high. And I was like, who is this guy? And these past two years, he's shown me exactly who he is. So I understand why he was drafted so high. But the the one player that I thought was going underrated that ended up being a star got to be Jalen Hurts.

I was I saw him play at Oklahoma. I was doing a visit at UCLA and Unfortunately UCLA got smacked because Jalen Hurts was put up 300 pass yards three touchdowns. He had 150 more on the ground. I I was so impressed with him. And then when you take that, uh, like his play and his size and everything, and then match it with the adversity he faced at Alabama and how he handled the whole thing, I just thought it showed a lot of class. And I thought he should have definitely been a first round pick, but who am I?

Alex, our resident Packer fan, not happy with the comment. I'm sorry, Alex. It's what happens sometimes when you walk into unfriendly territory. The Jalen Hurts thing was another one for me. I thought there's old tweets on these that the Vikings should have picked him and they should have developed him behind Kirk Cousins and then been ready to have a succession plan there. And they did not pick him, but they did pick Justin Jefferson in 2020.

So I guess that was probably a good choice. And I said earlier, but Justin Jefferson was one of the biggest shocks. I thought there was no freaking way that Justin Jefferson would end up dropping that far. I was actually really shocked by Christian Derisaw, too. He got to 24 and the Jets traded up for Elijah Vera Tucker, who's still a good player, but that was crazy. And then I only found out later and this is really, really funny.

I only found out later that one of the reasons he fell was that he was too chill and like his interviews, which is funny because if you know, there is a key is the most relaxed guy and you know how many superstar left tackles to make thirty million a year. Just sit at their locker you can go up to be like. like, what's up, man? Can I ask you a question? Where, you know how I mentioned like the superstars, I mean, with this team, Jonathan, Grenard's that way the superstars kind of are that way with this team. But I mean, he's just the most regular, relaxed, laid back type of guy. And I think that they were fooled a little bit.

He's also kind of soft spoken, quiet. He is a violent man on the field though. And they did not give that enough credit, I guess. And you think about the people that the Vikings have been able to draft without top 10 picks, Darasaw, Addison, Jefferson's like Addison's too small. Darasaw is too chill and Jefferson played in the slot too much. I mean, those just unbelievable. And I was just as shocked that Jalen Rager went before Justin Jefferson. I just could not believe it because he was a second round, third round type of player.

And again, to the Vikings benefit. Yeah, it worked out for the Vikings. So sorry, Alex. Yeah, I didn't I didn't know. I didn't I didn't mean to be harsh, but it is what it is sometimes. I can't hold back on the Packers all the time. I think most of the audience is probably fine with your comments. Well, for my last question, we've been talking a lot about cool

players at different positions. I guess this will be the last one. We could kind of move on. I want to talk about the coolest college quarterbacks because we don't really cam wards nonchalant. I wouldn't really call that cool, but I don't care what what they did in the NFL, how bad they were, who were your coolest college quarterbacks? So I think what you mean is like cool,

but we're coming out in the draft and you're rooting for them kind of no matter where they get picked. But hey, this guy was really awesome. Is that is that where we're going with that? So the first name that comes to mind for me is Pat White. And he was drafted in 09 and I don't know how much of a Pat White remember you are. But the guy was so much fun. He was one of the dynamic running quarterbacks, big arm, but played in this wide open offense,

put up tons of crazy statistics. I could see if I could find his numbers here. Pat White's college stats. They got to be nuts, but he wasn't really set for the NFL. Now, if it was today's NFL, then he probably, he was at the top in terms of Heisman voting. Now, let's see. Oh, yeah, that's stupid. I'm sorry. The rushing stats are they include sacks. So even including sacks, he ran for 4400 yards in college and then through 56 more touchdowns, 66 percent complete your percentage top 10 in the Heisman, two straight years.

This guy was as fun. Occult Brennan is a great answer, Derek. This guy was as fun as any college quarterback I've ever seen. And he was one where you get the new Madden game. You get Pat White like you want him to be your quarterback right away. And unfortunately, it did not work out for Pat White. Again, if this was today, they would have built an offense around him. They would have had him running and on the move. He might look like a Jaden Daniels,

but instead that did not work out. And there is absolutely a trend to my answers here because Vince Young is another one that I mean, I was a Vince Young. I will fight you in an alley over Vince Young. I love the guy. Even when he was with Tennessee and struggling to complete passes, I was still like, this guy's awesome. He wins games, he finds a way. He's got a big heart. He's clutch. All those things that I shouldn't say about a guy just because he won

a big college game, but I don't care. I watched that. I watched that game against USC and I was like, I'm all in. I'm Vince Young. That bet did not work out very well. Those are probably two of the biggest ones. And the, oh, one more, one more Jake locker. I thought Jake locker was just this tough athlete who's going to run over people.

He was going to, he was going to fight you and he was tough and he was going to figure out a way. I kind of for whatever reason, like those quarterbacks that were imperfect but found a way to win doesn't always work so much in the NFL. I couldn't stand Peyton Manning coming out. It's like everyone's talking about. He's so perfect. Oh, he's just this, you know, his dad's in the NFL and he's just this

flawless prospect. Who wants that? I want a guy who has to fight his way to victory. And that's all right. I want a dog. And none of those guys ended up working out very well. But they were guys that I thought were a lot of fun and ultimately got drafted and just, you know, didn't click.

Yeah. Well, what I got a dog for you, I got Baker Mayfield as one of my top guys. I think just because of the fact that he walked on to two programs, bet on himself, won the job and did what he did. It's just, that that's cool. And yeah, he was off his leash at sometimes, but that, that's what it was. That was his chip. And I thought it was cool just seeing someone at the quarterback position play with that kind of attitude. Cause it's, we don't see that a lot. Um, and I guess the complete opposite of him, but I still think it's cool.

It was Joe burrow. I thought he was like the definition of, of cool, just calm, cool, collected, leading the greatest college football offense and winning a championship, having the burrow at Death Valley on his jersey. It's just, yeah, he was cool. Were you a Johnny Manziel believer or not? Um, like believer for the league? No, but God, was he fun in college. And it's so crazy to think about him. Cause I always think about Kyle Field and it is what it is today because of Johnny Manziel. That 450 mil that got put into this stadium was all off Johnny Manziel's back. So I still will never

forget when he jumped over like a lineman, hit his own lineman, bounced off, scrambled the lab jump path. It was like people don't do that stuff in Madden. So Troy Smith is a great answer. I was always rooting for Terrell prior. I know he became a receiver and had somewhat of a career for a receiver. But I thought and this take has aged pretty well. That whole thing of the guy got some free tattoos was so stupid to me. Oh, Reggie Bush, someone gave him a car. OK, I mean, oh, my gosh.

Call the police. Like, what are we doing here? And now these guys are getting million dollar contracts and Lamborghinis and doing all sorts of crazy stuff. And we've all just been like, oh, now it's fine. But before they treated these guys like they were criminals. If you did something like this, like what did what did he got a free tattoo and they ran Jim Tressel out of Ohio State?

What are we doing here? Which of course it didn't just change. It changed super fast and in the most insane way possible because the NCAA dropped the ball on that one. But Terrell Pryor was a pretty cool quarterback at first because he could run, he could make plays, that kind of thing. I do think that the cool. I mean, has there been one recently

that has that same level of cool as Joe Burrow? Probably not. I don't think Caleb Williams has a cool factor to it. I think he's fun to watch, but he does not have like Joe Burrow seems like any room you go into, everybody wants to be around Joe Burrow. I don't know that that's really the case for Caleb Williams. And some of the reason I didn't really love him as much as the rest of the world coming out.

But I don't know if there's been one recently that you could say, man, this guy's vibe is crazy, regardless of whether he's good or not. That was actually, it hasn't worked out, but sort of similar for me for Justin Herbert. I just thought, this guy's got no vibe. I need a guy with a vibe. I did not like Justin Herbert at all.

I I knew some people that went to Oregon at the time, and somebody told me that he like cried after losing a bit like not even a big game. It was just like a normal game. And he cried. And I don't know why that turned me off of him. But that was just my whole analysis of him. Just like he's crying after regular games. Like I need a guy tougher than that. But well, that was the Caleb Williams thing where it's he

it wasn't just the cry thing. It was like a game against Washington. I mean, it's a fairly big game, but it's not like it was the game of a lifetime or the game. And in the NFL, the emotions run so high that you do need to be able to control them. So there were some people who wanted to say, don't ever talk about that. It's okay for men to cry. I'm like, I'm not saying it's not okay for men to cry.

We're talking about the NFL and how you manage the emotion of it. And I've always felt like with Herbert, that was the one thing that was missing was the little bit of F you in his game that burrow clearly has. I mean, I think as far as you know, people bringing up JJ McCarthy, it's one of the reasons he got drafted. I think I don't know if I would look at him with the same level of cool factor as Joe Burrow, but if you're talking about that leadership aura, he absolutely has that. Um, that's a little bit of different.

He's a little too hippie and meditative to be cool, But yeah, he definitely has the leadership and the mindset to go, go win games. So yeah, I think that's true. Uh, what else you got? Oh, that's all I had on my list. That's it for me. Okay. Well, here's, here's what I think. So Clay's corner, great questions, but I think the new homework assignment is as you're listening to me answer the questions, you got to come up with some take you disagree with or that you don't like. That should be that. That's the new thing.

We're always adding levels to this. That's the next thing, because I'll talk with the fans for an hour and something. You got to find some take where you're like, now that's a bad take. You know, I'll get on that because we have been in agreement mode for a while. I used to fight back a little bit right after the season ended, but we've been on agreement mode. But if you want me to all look, I'll look. I'll look. But there's got to there's got to be something

with this much chatter to disagree with. Although we are in a spot with the Vikings where you can almost talk anybody into anything or it's like, do you want to offensive guard? Oh, yeah, it's a good idea. How about a defensive tackle? Also a good idea. But what about a safety? Oh, yeah, that sounds good.

So there hasn't been a lot of controversy, but we'll definitely work on that. So thank you for your time, as always, Clay. And thank you all for your great questions comments thoughts feelings emotions and so forth This is gonna be a really fun week. So if you're not subscribed I would definitely try to do that and go check out purple insider football as well where I wrote about the 2003 Vikings draft that I was watching back today. So yeah, you know what we will next week or actually Thursday. Let's do that Evan That's a great idea. We need to get a clay mock. That's a good idea intern clay mock is a great idea So that's gonna be his homework assignment for this week, but Sam Brookhouse from Sumer Sports

They are releasing some very fascinating draft coverage. Trevor sickom is coming up Chris. Trappasso It's gonna be a huge week. Also later in the week, we're going to hear from the Vikings general manager. Remember when I told you guys after the thing about the Rogers press conference that I promised he would talk again sometime? Well, he's going to. So we'll have coverage of that as well out from TCO Performance Center. So I appreciate everybody having the conversation as usual and we will see you all again very soon. Football!