Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Does Kwesi Adofo-Mensah want the Vikings to trade down? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about the Vikings GM's pre-draft press conference and his discussion of trading down and how he looks at value of draft picks. Plus Vikings fan questions and the first ever INTERN MOCK.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 we have a little bit of new information to work with. Is it a lot of new information? Not really, but at least it's new information. Of course, when we only have a little bit to talk about from the news side, that means that this show is very much open to your questions and I'm turning it over to you, whatever you want to ask draft off season around the NFL stuff, fire it up here because we've got a lot of time before the draft to answer your questions and intern Clay is standing by.

He's done a first ever for an intern on this show. He's done a full first round mock. So we're gonna go through intern Clay's mock. I texted one of the previous interns and they were very jealous that they did not get their own mock. So it is a first for Clay, but he has earned it with all of his hard work.

I have put together five or so quotes from Quasi Adolfolfo Menta's press conference today that stood out at least to some extent for me. And we also have one that I wanna play you, which was my question to Quasi-Adolfo Menta. So we will get to that right off the bat. The big takeaway is that every pre-draft press conference that I've ever done,

the general manager does not reveal their pick, but there were times in the past where every once in a while, Rick Spielman would say something like, yeah, I mean, it is a pretty amazing draft for running backs. And we're like, oh, is it? And then they draft Delvin Cook. But I think, uh, Quasidafel meant a few times when he was attempted to maybe pin him down on a different position and a wiggled out of that.

So it's a fun little cat and mouse game that we play every year, but we did hear from the general manager today at least, and there were no questions about Aaron Rodgers. Remember, I promised you guys that there would be more press conferences and we would ask about other stuff. And here we are, nothing even about his contract situation,

which we will wait and see till after the draft. Wouldn't make any sense to ask about it now. Of course, he's not negotiating his contract in the final moments before the draft, but we moved on to lots of other subjects. So I've pulled some quotes to read from you, and I also have this one to begin the show when I started off the press conference

by asking quasi at Alphalmenta about the big subject. Will the Vikings trade down? I'm trading down as a big part of the conversation. There's a bunch of different trade value charts that people have invented. I guess, how do you view that challenge of picking the best player that's on the board versus the idea of picking up more draft picks by moving back? Yeah, two separate questions and a great one. I'll start with the first part of that, just draft strategy. A lot of times it's impact, and that impact can be one great player or multiple good players also realizing that it's uncertain, and you don't know necessarily for sure that the one

player is going to be good and all those different those different dynamics. Uh, so that's really the conversation you have. Um, you know, right now at this point in the draft, we try and make sure our board is correct or in terms of how we view things. Um, you've got to prepare yourself. There's you're picking 24th. You better be able to call 24 and a half, 24 names that you're willing to stand up and clap and feel great about. So that's the first and foremost and the foundation of how we build this thing. The trades and all those things, scenarios, they come.

Moving over to the charts and different valuations, it's a difficult exercise. It's something that I've been fascinated by. I built the chart myself. I've seen other different charts. And they all take different assumptions that, quite frankly, this is a hard exercise. How do you value a great player in a great position?

You could assign a number to it, right? When you assign that number to it, does that incorporate the scarcity of that type of player? If you don't get that player in the draft, you can't typically get that player in for agency. So how do you put a number on that aspect of it? It's, and different people have different ways of doing that, and I've, again, I've seen people in San Francisco do it, in Cleveland do it, myself, all the different things. And you appreciate the different methods.

I think the best thing you can do is understand why each chart is built the way it is, and kind of maybe for each decision you make, understand kind of how you're using it for you, and kind of go with that chart value there. It's a great question, it's a fascinating thing. I don't know that anybody's gonna solve it, because you're trying to

assign a number to a thing that's not really perfectly. So there you go. I always think that a quasi-daful Mensa is at his best when he is speaking philosophically about the way that decisions are made in the NFL. And that was, I think a great answer to point out that there are a lot of different draft charts that we'll use to evaluate his trade down if he makes one. And we'll say, well, you know, by the Jimmy Johnson chart, it says that they lost the trade or wait by this Rich Hill or Spielberger and Jason Fitzgerald or whatever.

When you Google draft value chart, you're going to find five or six of them that have different values and different methodology to figure out whether your team won or lost the trade by those points systems. But ultimately, I think the word that stuck out to me so much there was scarcity. And I've talked about that a lot on the show. When we go through all the different Viking scenarios, one of the things that I put a focus on is how hard is it to get one of those guys? That's really great at position X, Y or Z.

So you might say, how hard is it to find a safety? And the answer is not that hard in free agency, but you look at defensive tackle. Well, that's actually very hard to find in free agency corner might be a little bit easier as we saw the Vikings last year Build a corner back room for a top five defense Using free agency after a McKay Blackman went down even Byron Murphy was a free agent a couple years ago And then Shaq Griffin and Stefan Gilmore agent a couple years ago and then Shaq Griffin and Stefan Gilmore. So they might view corner as being something that isn't as scarce because you can go and find those guys. And there were what four or five corners that we talked about the

chauvaris ward and the DJ Reed, uh, that might've been available. If the Vikings couldn't get Byron Murphy back, it makes me think about defensive tackle, and it also makes me think about whether guard is one of those positions because I do think if you're going to get an elite guard, you probably do need to draft them at the top. You think about Trey Smith, who's been an elite guard for Kansas city. They didn't let him walk out the door. The Quinton Nelson's of the world don't get allowed to walk out the door very

often, but the Vikings also were able to go out and get Will Fries. Probably had to pay more than you would normally pay Will Fries. And you know, the Aaron Banks thing we've made fun of with the Packers paying crazy money for a guard. So that position may have moved into this conversation where five to seven years ago we would have said about a guard. Oh no, no, no, no. That's, that's a position you should find anywhere. Get your Joe Berger or whoever your brand and Fusco and just throw them in there and they'll be fine. But I think the league has changed for the amount of talent on the interior and suddenly teams are gripping onto their few good guards that are really good.

And they're paying those guys a lot more than they used to. So guard might actually fall in that category. And you know, this is a major part of my wide receiver argument is most of the top rated wide receivers from last year and most productive guys did it with their own team. Those guys get signed unless there's a real reason why you don't want to sign them to a big extension. So when he talked about that scarcity being baked into the

discussion, it makes me think that as they break down their scenarios, they have, if it's this player at this position at 24, we've just got to take them because you got to make sure you get the best you can. But if that player in that position isn't there, then maybe it's a trade down to look for something else. But trying to pick apart the pre draft press conference always tricky. I just thought him going through his thought process and how he tries to solve these problems sort of shows you the important role that quasi daful Mensa has in this entire thing, right? Uh, we think of a general manager overall as being someone that manages the player personnel, people, the coaching staff in some ways and, and all that. And the front office side and works with the coaching staff.

But I think what he brings to the table, that's a little different is a lot of those questions because of his analytical background. I don't know how many GMs, maybe they should all know this, but I don't know how many GMs could tell you they built their own draft chart and they understand how those things work or are most GMs just working off it saying, well, we've got a chart and someone gave it to me. So I think his understanding of those questions is next level for general managers and, uh, whether that helps them draft all the best players this year. I don't know. Uh, so let me get to a few other quotes from quasi at Alphamante that stuck out to me, I wrote them out, uh, instead of grabbing all the clips cause I want to

read them. So let's start with, um, with this one. He said, you earned the rights to be the type of organization that drafts for impact and not for need. I think we were able to do that in free agency and things we've done the past couple of years to build to that place. So that's another one that we've talked about a lot on the show about all the different options that the Vikings

could potentially have in the draft because of what they've done in free agency. And the way that he phrases it here, I think is, is correct. Like with your roster building, you earn the right to be able to say, we can look for one impact player instead of just having to take whatever it is that we need the most. And that, you know, as we're trying to put on our, our gum shoe or our, uh, Sherlock Holmes and look at every single word and say, well, what does that mean? I think what that means is that there might be players at positions that we don't necessarily have as the number one need on the roster, uh, and that they would be willing to take because

they're doing it for impact. The other thing too is when he says that you draft for impact, I thought comfortable not trading down. That's what I thought because if you're talking about need, a lot of times it's not just one position. It's sort of a volume of need in 2022. One of the reasons that they traded down to get all those extra picks was because they had a ton of needs. They needed everything for the future.

They were so old and so expensive in 22. They needed rushers. They needed corners. They needed guard. They needed safety. They needed linebackers. Like, oh my gosh. And I think when quasi said not that long ago that he was trying to solve every problem with one draft like you could see it in the way they went about it rather than drafting I believe they were 12 in 22 rather than just drafting the best player at 12 to get the most impact. If it was this year, they would have just drafted at 12 and not traded back and so there's a little bit of maybe a hint there of a look we've earned the fact that we could draft at 24 and look for the player who can give us the best impact because we don't have to go out and hunt a need and I think that's absolutely true. On to the scarcity thing a little more on that

later in the press conference Quacey said it's about scarcity of the thing it's going to take four years for a certain position, but if you don't draft it, you're not going to get it anywhere else. That's got a fact factor into your impact calculation. I read that as defensive tackle. I mean, we know that he, maybe he was talking about quarterback. I don't know because quarterback, but I know the quarterback takes four years. I think that past rusher is the thing that takes maybe the longest to get figured out

for players. And that's not just my guess. That's some of the PFF research that was done in the past by Timo risky. One of their data scientists, it showed edge rusher was the slowest to develop. It also says guard because we've talked about this, the guards don't start to peek until year three, sometimes even year four defensive tackle. And quasi later use the words, uh, dark arts of rushing the passer. And I think he was talking more about Dallas Turner and how he's going to have to learn and continue to learn to beat offensive tackles, but defensive tackles can but defensive tackles

can make an impact right away. But if you look at even a Milton Williams, uh, Levi on, on Wazirky, the, uh, things that some of those draft picks did that were maybe second or first or third round picks, a lot of them did not come to fruition until their second, third year of really true pass rushing. And I think that even about Dexter Lawrence, I got, I don't recall his exact sack numbers for his first couple of years, but he was certainly good early in his career,

but now he's like the best player in the league. And it often takes some development for that position. Well, that's something where you could say, Hey, it's going to take a couple of years for that guy to reach his peak, but we can't just go out and get another one in free agency. And I very much think that's the case about the defensive tackle position. So, so what have we, what have we got so far?

Our investigation has led me to their drafting. Derek Harmon. I don't, you know, I don't really, you know, I don't know, but I'm trying. I'm trying. It's, I don't really, you know, I don't know, but I'm trying. I'm trying. It's hard to say based on this press conference, but that's, I'm trying. Okay. Here's some more.

Here's some more that lead us maybe to defensive tackle. Maybe, uh, quasi on the safety position said we bring back Harrison Smith, being able to sign Theo Jackson and have Josh here for another year, we get continuity and communication on the back end. Jay Ward's another young player that we have there. We're excited about being versatile. Now he did go on to say, we're always looking at our options, but does this quote knock down a peg, the safety position. And I understand what I'm doing here by trying to use these quotes that.

You can't really but why not so if we're just using these quotes and trying to figure out what they'll do what they like what they don't. So far i'm landing on stick and pick a twenty four and take a d t right take can of grant take their carmen. But even when you mention pass rushing their carmen so, but the safety position is an interesting one because where you could go back and forth is we haven't seen Theo Jackson play a lot of football. Everybody who's watched Theo Jackson or played with him is high on Theo Jackson. He had a phenomenal training camp, but I could tell you like, it means something. If somebody has a training camp that good, it almost has always correlated to have it that good over the years into that player becoming something.

Now there's always the training camp hero who we give Mr. Mankato and is the fifth round pick. And that doesn't always mean something. And sometimes it does. Sometimes it turns into Stefan Diggs or Adam Thielen. But if there's a guy who is playing first and second team reps, who's consistently making plays and in the right position and they're talking about them, they're going out of their way to talk about them, their teammates are

talking about them, it usually means something good and especially if they pay them, it means something good. Now it's not a guarantee that this paying Theo Jackson and him getting the mention here and them talking about the communication, how good it is, the backend, it's not a guarantee that they won't draft a safety because. Mattel is under contract for one more year. Harrison Smith is, you know, TBA, but maybe one more year here and Theo Jackson will be here for multiple years.

So there is a little bit of now and later to a safety pick, but those are also fairly young players outside of Harrison Smith and they could resign Josh Metellus and he just throwing Jay Ward into the mix to Jay Ward, someone that I will have my eye on as we've seen the cam binums and the Josh Mattel is after a couple of years start to blossom in that position and Jay ward was very good on special teams for them last year. Does this make me lean a little bit away from the safety position with him talking glowingly about that and throwing out the fact that they resigned the O Jackson, ever so slightly ever so slightly not completely but ever so slightly okay two more quick ones.

I crazy said i can sell this was on. The experience that they've had together over a couple years and evaluating what they've done in the past the draft trust me, enough of you have brought it up that they've missed on the 2022 draft, they have brought in some successful players from the other drafts so far. But in volume, they have not had big hits. Of course, Addison, Ivan pace, who for me, undrafted free agents are part of a draft class and you know, JJ McCarthy, of course courses a big one and we'll see what happens with dallas turner but. We have looked at the draft is an area that they have not been as successful as the free agency where you know they brought in so many players that have worked out so regarding what they've learned about working with each other. Quacey said, I can say to somebody, these are the odds if something happens and I can look at them in the eye and say,

hey, remember this conversation we had three years ago and how that went? There's so much you learn from that shared experience together. And this is why a lot of times when the whole Quacey can't draft thing comes up, like, you know, the first draft that they had was very different than now the fourth draft that they had was very different than now the

fourth draft that they have. The circumstances are different and I'll always point to the luck element of it. And just say, man, I mean, it Louis scene at a 99th percentile relative athletic score and was an absolute beast at Georgia. I don't know why he didn't work out stuff happens, but at the same time, maybe there are things that they should have identified about Lewis scene or about their process or whatever it might be. And I think that that experience is one of the reasons that you want the leadership to

continue together because the longer you have, this is like a quarterback in an offensive system. The longer you have a front office working together, the more you know, the strengths and weaknesses, the longer you have a coach and a GM work together, the more you understand how each other views the world. And I think that Mark Wilf is right on when he talks about wanting this leadership to go forward. And we'll see how this all plays out.

They have four picks. So I don't know how harshly we're supposed to judge it if they take four players, but at the same time, I think that's overall a good thing and maybe speaks to the growth of the front office in general. And one more thing, that backup, that pesky backup quarterback situation that you guys love so much. He said, it hasn't only been about the comp pick situation. been about the comp pick situation. What does it mean? It hasn't only been about the comp pick situation.

What does that mean? I don't know what that means. Could it mean a trade? I think maybe a try. I think it might mean that they are looking into trade options. Now remember the backup quarterback that they had over multiple years

Nick Mullins, they got him in the middle of August They they might just run Brett Ripon in an undrafted free agent all summer and trade for somebody in the preseason You can do that. It's fine, or they might have a handshake deal with Carson Wentz also fine. So there you go There's your update questions comments thoughts We'll have a good conversation here and clay is standing by he is so proud of his mock draft. He's got a mock It's pumped about it I haven't even looked I've tried not to look at it because I want him to

To just reveal it at the same time so we can all rip apart his mock together So we'll do that in a little bit as well. Let's start off with Manjuice here. Why not? What a place to start. Quasian 22 didn't get as much value as I think he could have got from his trade down. Do you think he's changed in that way?

Well, it always depends on who you ask when it came to that trade down because well, number one, you may think he could have gotten more, but if he could have gotten more, he would have traded for more with someone. I think what happened in 2022 was that he was dead set on trading down, that it was hell or high water trading down. No matter what, we're not staying at 12 or moving back. We're getting more picks.

We're taking more swings at it. Overall, there are plenty of charts analytically that liked the trade down. And then there's the traditional Jimmy Johnson chart that did not like it. Personally, I did not like it because I think you draft hall of famers in the top 15. That's what all the evidence says. And we talk about impact, but that's the thing when he says you earn the right. At that time, they didn't have the right to draft for pure impact, or at least he didn't see it that way because

they had so many needs, uh, you know, for the future that he felt like he needed to stack draft picks. Uh, but I also think that at that time, everybody and their brother knew the Vikings wanted to trade back. And so no one was going to say here, we'll give you some humongous hall in order to let you trade back. They were trying to get a deal and Detroit got a deal. Now had Lewis scene worked out or Andrew Booth Jr. worked out, we would look at this completely differently. Those were two good prospects. went they were drafted booth was drafted way after he

was projected and lewis seen was drafted around where he was projected and that's the randomness element that always go back to look if the vikings had stayed and they picked jordan davis he's okay but i think he's kinda just the guy at that, doesn't play anywhere near as much as some of their other defensive tackles. So I don't know what he would have done here. Maybe he's, maybe he's Delvin Tomlinson. Like, I don't know. Uh, and a lot of those picks on the offensive line or busts that went there. If they picked a corner there, like Trent Mcduffie would have been

talked about as a reach and he would have turned out to be pretty good. But, uh, of course, Kyle Hamilton would have been great for them. But then maybe Josh Mattelis doesn't play. So I don't know. That's what makes the draft so interesting and so baffling and beautiful. But I think when he was going into it, and this is why this year is different when he was going into 22 locked in to trading down. That's maybe how you make a mistake. And the previous regime did the same stuff, not with necessarily trading down,

but locked into, we have to get a center. We've got to get our zone blocking center. We've got to get our tight end for the future because Kyle Rudolph's not happy with his contract or something, or the Gary Kubiak offense needs another tight end. And so you pass up on some good players because you're locked into that spot. This year they are not, which is good for them. Uh, go wolves says, uh, rank these left guard options in order. Zabel Booker, Jackson, uh, seven Naya and Tate Ratledge. Well, Ratledge is probably going to be the last one there, Jackson, Sevenaya and Tate Ratledge.

Well, Ratledge is probably gonna be the last one there just because he's not projected by anybody to be a top pick. He's probably gonna be a third rounder or something like that. Sevenaya is kind of interesting because he's freaking massive and he moves well for a tackle that's that big. I would probably go the order that you have them.

Zable, Booker, Jackson, Savanaya, and Ratledge. I'd probably go in that order. But if they take Jackson in the first because they love his movement skill, I'm not going to be like, how dare you? You know, like, I don't know. Whoever they think is the best fit is fine with me. Booker, he feels like someone who has the maturity to grow and the upside to grow into that body. Zable is a little more of a development curve than Booker, who is more NFL ready and can grow on the fly. Jackson, I think there's the red flag in Jackson for me is just the numbers that when he played guard, his numbers were just okay at Ohio state. When he played tackle, his numbers weren't all that good.

Seven, I a ratledge, ratledge is a really great athlete. Rattledge might be the guy taking the third round, but I mean, each one of them, they all have something that is good about them and something that maybe you have a little bit of a concern. So, uh, Kyle says by quasi press conference, seems like another stud DT would be the ideal pick. Hey, that's exactly how I was reading it too. When you talk about scarcity, I think, well, what's really the position. That's the most scarce in the NFL outside of quarterback.

And it's probably defensive tackle and wide receiver for guys that just do not make it to the free agent market. Wide receivers, man, if you get Justin Jefferson, he is not leaving your building. If you have Jamar chase T Higgins, those guys don't go anywhere. Uh, but you know, there are other positions. Guards, uh, is one of them corners, one of them where safety they're out there linebacker they're out there and you can get them in free agency and maybe the gap between whatever linebacker you're going to bring in versus somebody else is not that much.

Uh, so defensive tackle along with him mentioning the development curve. Definitely, definitely, uh, was, was striking me there for sure. Let's see. Kyle says, I don't care how far we move back, but it would be great to get four top 100 picks. Really odd draft picks. 16 through 55 have solid starters. Yeah, it would be great if they had more picks.

That's true. So I was looking back the other day, just trying to figure out, okay, what could they really get back for some sort of trade back? And the best I could do was maybe they could add a third or something like a fourth and a fifth by moving back a little bit. So you have to decide whether that's worth it. Of course, yeah, four top

100 picks would be great for them. And from, I was even talking to someone today for an article who is in the league, just asking about this whole trade down thing. And the thing that I ask everyone in the NFL that I know is, is it real this year? Cause we always hear the middle of the draft, you know, and that sort of thing. And the answer is yes, I've gotten that from, call it multiple sources if you want to call it that, from people in the NFL that are involved in drafting processes, not necessarily with the Vikings, but I just tend to ask everybody at the combine,

at the owner's meetings, whoever I can get my hands on, is it real? And one person said, ah, you know, they always say that, but I think this year it probably is more than ever that pick number 40 versus pick number 24 just may not be that different. It may be almost a matter of preference for a particular team.

Overall though, the league is good at this. The top picks always outperform the lower picks every single year every single draft outside of outliers so you don't want to move too far back to get more pics but if they could move far enough back. Into the early second and completely ruin our first night of draft coverage. into the early second to pick up another third and have something like number 40 number. I don't know. 97 and number 105. Let's just say, I think you can get players who could be contributors at that. You'd like to get even a little bit higher, but I think that the thing about a trade back when there's not a quarterback involved or there's not some big run on a position

maybe there will be is that The return is not gonna blow your socks off It's not like anybody's gonna trade from number 40 to number 24 and give you a first rounder for next year Or give you the whole rest of their draft They're probably gonna throw you a fourth and a sixth and say, like, be happy with that. So they have to decide whether that's worth it. What I was hearing a little bit in Quacey's voice is like, not sure that it is.

Not sure that it is. Randall says Zabel's the only guard I'd stick and pick at 24. That has been my favorite pick for them. Is Gray Zabel because I think the upside is extremely high. The physicality is impressive from him. The way he performed against top talents at the senior bowl, I think was pretty telling and the physical upside, the actual raw athleticism of Grey's able is really impressive on paper.

I mean somebody who you would put in the very high nineties percentile instantly in the NFL at the guard position. And then with flexibility to being able to kick out, to tackle if there's injuries or to play center in the future. I like all of that, but you know, right away it might take some time, but they can also do that with the fact that they have a veteran starter right now in Blake Brando Jake says Zabel is worth five players to me. Wow, you are a sable guy He can fill in at a high level at every position for need or injury

He's not the most fun on draft night, but he changes this team significantly. I'll tell you for this fan base for this fan base, a guard who has a mullet or whatever. Does he have a mullet? I seem to remember a mullet, but a guard who maybe it's just a mustache off to look back at it. A big old guard who could potentially be the last piece to an offensive line that if he's the pick would be the best offensive line the Vikings have had since oh nine. I think for this fan base that there would be a celebration. I would I think it would be the most fun for these fans.

I mean all of you have watched that guard position just be problematic for so long. And look, it's problematic in 25 NFL cities where it's not perfect and they change guards every year because it's tough to find these guys. But it's been beyond just, hey, you know, it's not that great, but the guy's fine. It's been downright awful for so many years. And I think it got better last year with Reisner once he came in, but even the previous year, I mean, how about 22? You're starting at Ingram and he's leading the league at pressures and Kirk's

getting his ribs broken and all that stuff. It's like, what do I, what's happening here? So, uh, if they were to draft Zabel and there's the potential for finding a high end left guard to go along with an expensive right guard, an expensive center and two expensive tackles, you couldn't try any harder to build a great offensive line than they have. So I think there would be a lot of excitement for that.

Aaron says, one week to go, if they draft a wide receiver, people will say, what are they doing? Just like we did last year with the Falcons drafting Michael Pennex. That I am always looking a year down the road with the draft and teams that look right in front of their face often make mistakes because of desperation. And if they were to draft a wide receiver a year down the road is when you start negotiating with Jordan Addison for one, receiver, a year down the road is when you start negotiating with Jordan Addison for one, but also a year down the road is when you're expecting to

compete for a Superbowl with your young quarterback. I think this year we're a little bit on the like, Hey, they should be in the playoffs and then we'll see what happens. We'll see kind of where everything stands right with JJ McCarthy. And that's the goal is to make the playoffs and you got to win and you should win in the playoffs. But a quarterback starting his first year, we're still going to have some leeway there. But in his second year in 2026, you're thinking this is where you chase the Super Bowl.

And if you have Jefferson Addison still on the last year of his contract, another wide receiver in there, endless weapons for him to work with. Hawkinson. I like that. I like that projection. That's what the Falcons last year, they looked at it and they said, look, we don't know how Kirk Cousins is really going to look. And once they found out, they went, thank goodness we drafted Michael Pennings, but they

were looking a year or two down the road When they made that draft pick and you're right people I think non listeners to this show Non-listeners to this show will be like, what are you doing drafting a wide receiver? But all of you will know that there's a lot of logic behind it. I don't think they're gonna do it I think that the defensive tackle right now would be my first guess I think that the defensive tackle right now would be my first guess. Uh, or, you know, trade down and maybe take a corner or a corner who drops, but you know, defensive tackle would probably be my first guest right now or guard, but if they do the wide receiver thing, it'll be cool for all the listeners of this show, at least cause you've listened to me rant about it

for so long. Uh, go wolves says, I read that comment is Dion Walker. I think you're talking about the four years of development. Dion Walker. He's one of those where did he really drop or not? Uh, because after the combine, all the analysts dropped Dion Walker, like a stone to the bottom of the lake. But I don't know if that means that the NFL did that.

Uh, or if they did, maybe you're looking at a third round pick for stone to the bottom of the lake, but I don't know if that means that the NFL did that. Uh, or if they did, maybe you're looking at a third round pick for Dion Walker or something like that. I mean, he still is a big giant dude with really freaky movement skill. And he might be the one that ends up being undervalued by the outside that put more emphasis into that combine than everybody else. Uh, Alex says, uh, do you think that teams will try to take advantage of quasi knowing he wants to move down in a perfect world? No, I don't think so.

I think they're going to move down if they believe that they can still get the player they want. So if they look at it and they're bored and their expectations for their hundred simulations, a hundred thousand, whatever they do, uh, their expectation, I'm sure they've built a mock draft simulator. And there was an article today in the athletic about teams using the mock draft simulators and stuff and reading the mocks and all that kind of stuff. Uh, and they should, because they want to have an expectation of where other

teams are going to go when they get there. So if you arrive at 24 and you look at the next five, six teams and you go, because they want to have an expectation of where other teams are going to go when they get there. So if you arrive at 24 and you look at the next five, six teams and you go, look, nobody here is going to take Malachi Starks. This team wants this, this team needs that. This team's been projected a 70% of the time to take this guy, right? Then well, you can trade down. But if they think that someone else is going to take their guy, right? Then, well, you can trade down. But if they think that someone

else is going to take their guy, they'll just stick and pick. I think also too, that everybody at this point knows that teams want to trade down in this draft and it's just a willingness to do it or not. And there's probably no real taking advantage of somebody, I mean, you could look at maybe 22 sort of like that, uh, as well, they knew that he wanted to move down so he didn't get the best offers, but in this case, they don't need to do it. They can take that draft pick because they're not dying for more and more players on the roster. They've got players on the roster. What they're looking for is to get a difference maker.

on the roster, they've got players on the roster, what they're looking for is to get a difference maker. Rob says, I'm a process analyst by trade, okay? Initially, I thought it was 80-20 that they would pick a 24, but all their due diligence visits are rated between 30 and 50, so I've changed to 80-20 trade back. Okay, well, that's interesting.

Maybe though, let me just throw this out there as part of the process in your analysis is Rated between 30 and 50 by whom right? I mean, it's by the mock community But the mock community will even admit that in this draft, it's harder than ever I've seen people have Maxwell Hairston, for example, the corner from Kentucky being taken by the Vikings or being taken in the middle of the second round. The same thing for someone like Siobhan Revelle who did visit the Vikings, but I've seen him taken in the first in these mocks. I think more than ever this year they are having some trouble figuring out where that back end of the first and second are.

So there might be someone who is between 30 and 50, but in their world, that person is a first round draft pick. Uh, there's, there's a few players that I've heard, well, you know, this guy, uh, the media loves him, but the reality he's not that high or, you know, just for example, Kenneth Grant, I've heard the opposite that there are teams that are pretty really high on Kenneth Grant and that he probably won't get to 24. But if you do the PFF mock draft simulator or whatever,

he's there. So there's a lot of different ways to look at that problem of trading back or not. The other part is too, if they don't have someone visit, it doesn't guarantee they're not picking him. If they might have a top 15 player and they don't have him in for a visit because they don't have any questions. A lot of times

they bring in guys. They have questions about now you would bring in Jordan Addison because you might have some questions about Jordan Addison, right? And then we go. Well, they have every player visit that they draft for three drafts. I don't know if that's enough to really qualify. Maybe it is. D.O.D. says I did a mock trading up and then I received trade offers and traded back to get more picks.

Well, this is the thing about the mock draft simulator is you can hack that thing. So the video game, Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball came out in 98. I still play it sometimes. If you trade for a player that's ever so slightly better than you, but you add a random free agent to it, they'll do the trade so you can just keep trading up and up and up and up

till you get Ken Griffey Jr. On your team and the PFF mock simulator is kind of that. You can just slightly win every trade and then end up with a ton of picks. Uh, I don't know if it's going to work that way in real life, but trading up is something that, you know, if we're trying to address every single potential option, they could look at maybe one or two spots and dip into next year if they want to get a really specific player.

Uh, but that is funny, though. Trade up and then trade down, down, down, down, down. So you get 37 picks. Yeah, we have definitely reached the point. You get a neck roll for that, by the way, because you're you're hacking the PFF simulator. But we have reached the point where that's that's a new one for options for the Vikings.

And I'm impressed. I'm impressed that we could get to this point and have a new idea, but them trading up and then trading down many times to get as many picks as possible. That's a good one. Uh, Randall says, uh, Harmon is the one DT who really knows what he's doing. Past Rush wise. I agree with that. The reason that I liked Eric Harmon so much is because of the data. When you look at the defensive tackles in the NFL, and I did this the other day, I went through

guys that were drafted since 2018. I thought that was the most relevant data. I looked at their last college season and how much they produced in terms of pass rush, win rate and PFF pass rush grade. Almost all of them were over 80 grade or upper seventies. And some of the best of the best, like Jaylen Carter were up around 90. And that's where Derek Harmon is. I mean, it's not just winning in college. It's dominating in college on the interior.

And I think if, you know, that is a good correlating thing, which I think it is, then you should go for someone like Harmon because interior pressure is an absolute cheat code in the NFL, as you saw in the Superbowl. But you've seen it every week. You've seen it every week when the Vikings have these bad guards. But we always blame the guards. How about credit to the other teams, the team that drafted Kenny Clark or the team that developed Grady Jarrett or that right? Like they deserve credit, too, for having guys that can absolutely maul the Vikings most weeks.

If you think about it this way, most weeks, those bad guards over the last how many years have been Okay, probably 60% of the weeks. They're okay When are they not okay when I keem Hicks is there when Kenny Clark is there when it's some beast and now there's more Beast than ever but the Vikings have not had one of those on their side in some time See cave foul 77. Sorry if I mispronouncing it. Uh, what if they trade it up for one great player? So here's the funny thing about trading up and, uh, now they would have to

reach into next year's draft capital. Maybe you could make that argument, but if they, we looked at this on the draft chart, the draft value chart, if they used all of their draft capital to move up, they could only get to like 16. That's how little draft capital they have. So they would have to go into next year and I would not be a fan of going into next year. That would not be my choice. I think they need to continue to try to reload. Blowfish says, does Sam How'll have a coaching connection with Josh

but count not that I know of, um, I mean, I guess Sam how is a fine backup quarterback, he definitely falls under the category of, I don't really care. I mean, he's got some experience. He's been pretty terrible. Um, I don't, I don't know. It's the same as anybody else. Same take as anybody else if they, but, but that might be one of the things that quasi is talking about when he says it's not all about the comp pick formula is

they may have somebody in mind for a potential trade that they want to get through the draft and then pull off that trade that is an option for them. Sam Hall does have a strong arm. I will say that But if he has to play a full season, you're probably not making the playoffs Like every other backup Zack says am I crazy or do we have everything we need mostly? Yeah, I Mean if they ran the roster out today with no draft pick whatsoever Versus after they draft do we feel any different about the win loss total?

Not really. So they have built a very complete roster that even has depth at multiple positions. I mean, we're talking about wide receiver, but Jaylen Naylor was an impact player to some extent last year at times last year and filled in pretty nicely for Jordan Addison for a couple of weeks. And if you look on the defensive side, the cornerback room, you could add to the cornerback room, but if you don't, are we going to go, oh my gosh, what are they doing?

It could, no, we're not because they signed Isaiah Rogers and they were able to bring back Byron Murphy. So yeah, I, I think that they are in a position where they have everything. And that's why he said you earn the right to just draft the best player rather than needing to go draft something. Uh, go wolves says, what are the chances that the Vikings draft Jalen Walker or Jahad Campbell to play inside linebacker if they fall. Uh, and make pace a rushing only linebacker.

Pace is also very good against the run. One of the higher graded against the run. So, you know, he could do multiple things, but the chances are okay. I would still have it pretty far below almost anything else that we've talked about. The guard position the Defensive tackle, but I think it is a wild card

So I've been trying to consider wild cards like what if what if we're shocked on draft day? How could they shock us probably drafting a linebacker would shock us? but then when you think about it, they miss time with injuries because they play so physically and you have the defensive coordinator that's so good at this, just so good at saying, all right, if it's Jaylen Walker, I don't, by the way, I saw a little Jaylen Walker's workout being shared around on the internet. That guy's not making it to 24. That guy is a beast. Uh, but, uh, Jahad Campbell might. And he is a little bit of a, somebody brought up Anthony bar. Maybe that was for Walker, but a little bit of that can pass rush really well.

High IQ, good in coverage, but isn't an edge rusher. I think Jahad Campbell is that maybe he's just like a Blake Cashman. Remember Blake Cashman was talked about as somewhat of an edge rusher. I think Jahad Campbell is that maybe he's just like a Blake Cashman. Remember Blake Cashman was talked about as somewhat of an edge rusher coming out of college and instead he's turned into this all around linebacker. Well, if you had two of those, uh, that's worth its weight in gold. And I've had pace can rotate in. Yeah. I mean, that's the point about it's really hard to find a position that you think, what are they doing?

Some of you have made the tight end thing. I'm okay. Maybe that's the one I would go with. I would just fundamentally not draft a tight end in the first round, probably ever, uh, but there's very few positions where you'd say, what are you doing? And so if they could get a Walker or Campbell, I think Walker is going to be gone in the top 10 probably. But, uh, Campbell, I'm intrigued by the idea of pairing Blake Cashman

long-term with someone who has that much talent and IQ and kind of create two little Blake Cashman's out there when, and have Ivan pace be a joker type of player that you could do stuff with on third down or on run specific downs. I mean, the more talent that you can run out there and players get hurt all the time, we always do this with the depth chart. We're like, well, you know, that's all set. But if you go one spot down for many years, one spot down has been,

all right, it's virtually unplayable. And now they're not in that position. So, uh, blowfishes says what didn't help seen outside of a severe injury in London was the emergence of cam by them. He was drafted then not needed in the first expect. Yeah. You're right. That's one that's going to be picked apart forever.

It will always be kind of amazing to me that it didn't work out in any way at all because it's not see this is where it's not really just the emergence of Bynum because if Brian Flores wants to play you, he'll find a way to play you and he was throwing out Theo Jackson instead of Lewis scene. Personally, I think that and this is not like Lewis didn't tell me this. No coaches told me this. This is just my theory. I think some guys come in with An attitude that they're the man like I'm the guy I'm a great player and we're gonna do things my way and I'm gonna show up when I feel like it and I'm gonna put in however much work

I feel like I should put in and I got the bag as being a first-round pick. I got my money and I'm going to put in however much work I feel like I should put in. And I got the bag as being a first round pick. I got my money and I'm the guy and you either figure out how hard the NFL is or you don't, uh, Theo Jackson, just for example, I had, I don't know, 15 minutes chatting with Theo Jackson last year for a story and what you immediately get is great attitude and really smart guy. And a lot of times in the NFL, the skill sets, how fast you are is pretty close. I mean, Theo Jackson was like the best player in the state of Tennessee coming out of high school. That's how good everybody is in the NFL. So a lot of times

it's how do you work and do you have a humility about you to learn from everybody else? Because Durante Jones told me last year, he called the cornerbacks, the four horsemen, it was Bynum, Smith, Metellus and Jackson that would all sit in the front row of the meetings and all talk to each other. And imagine you've got your chance to ask Harrison Smith anything you want because he's right there next to you. Like the hall of Famer, right? And a great coach like Durante Jones.

If you're not asking those questions, if you're not engaged in those meetings, if you're not going home and studying every single week and putting in way more work and trying to really learn and understand how this all works, it's just not gonna, it's not gonna happen. And I remember, I think Matt Daniels led a little bit of the cat out of the bag with that. Cause he said something like for Lewis C and he was asked about him in year two and it was like, yeah, you know, he's learned a lot about how to be a pro, you know, show up on time and things. It's just like, okay, I think we understand kind of what happened, but also I won't discount how traumatic that injury probably was for him. And sometimes with injuries, we will just assume it's only physical, but it is a scary thing.

And this is why I've said before, you have to be a little bit of a sociopath to make it in the NFL. There has to be a little bit of this, nothing breaks you. Because an injury like that can really break somebody. I don't know who wants to go back on a football field after that. But at the same time, Jordan Hicks, dude, almost could have died with an injury.

The guy played like five weeks later. He's crazy. I mean, really, really great dude to deal with as a, as a reporter, but you gotta be nuts. Oh, you gotta be insane to have an injury like Jordan Hicks did. And then not everybody's insane. So there's a lot of different reasons why it might not work out. When you look at the logic of it, a safety didn't love that positional value for sure, but I mean, look at his production, look at his.

Performance for George. I mean, there's just a, that's how, that's how the draft goes. I was just watching the 2020 draft back for an article, purple insider dot football, go check it out. And I was right. I was just doing a rewatch and I was writing along with watching it. And it'll just blow your mind. Some of the players that were picked before Justin Jefferson, the Miami dolphins took a tackle from USC that no one was really even sure was a tackle.

And not just the Jefferson, like if they knew anything, then this would be so much less fun. Uh, Ron says I'd be satisfied with Zabel, Donovan Jackson, Calvin Banks, Walter Nolan, or Derek Harmon. Calvin Banks is a wild card that we never really talk about because. We expect him to go higher, but if the NFL doesn't see him as a tackle, it just Jeremiah, Daniel Jeremiah, the other day was saying that he feels like Kelvin Banks

is going to go super high, but you never know if he's the guy that drops, maybe the Vikings make him into a guard. Zuma Kev, what is your general strategy for drafting prospects? Do you lean towards high floor, safer picks or more towards boomer bust? I don't really ever think of things in that exact terminology. Uh, I think of it as more of this is just for me over the years. What does it sound like when I hear the smartest people talk about a player? When I hear the Dane Brueglers, the Daniel Jeremiah's, what does it sound like the risks are?

Because I think it's the risks that get you or are more accurate than it is the Upsides so sometimes they'll say well this guy could do this in the NFL It could be that he could be so great at this or that there's no guarantee of that But a lot of times it is the downsides that get someone. Well, you know, he is a little slow with his processing and you're like, oh, there you go. And so over many years of studying this, there's certain things that will ping for me that, oh, hey, like the draft analysts are saying this about a guy that's pretty concerning

and that would make me lean a little bit farther away. So Will Johnson is a good example. Well, you know, he wasn't really a good tackler. You're like, how many guys in the NFL in a zone league can just be bad tacklers at corner and be great corners? I don't know. That's pretty concerning. Oh, well, he's got great instincts for picks, but he gives up big plays.

How many guys, six picks led all corners last year? There's 17 games. What do you mostly have to do? You see what I'm saying? Like, this is kind of my process. And then I've just really focused a lot on what the data says. I mean, so I look at and that's been real. That's been really good for me over the years of just looking at,

well, what what did the guy do for performance in college? Because performance is the number one indicator of success in the NFL. Nothing is a one-to-one correlation. Nothing's even close. But if you're going to look like who becomes the best players, production is the most. So when they draft guys without production, I'm always going to be a little down on that when they draft guys with certain red flags or certain criticisms from the

experts, I'm going to be down on that. Uh, and, and the opposite goes, this is why I like Derek Harman so much and Joday Barrett, the numbers. And when you listen to those guys talk, you're impressed. Uh, they're talked about as high IQ people. Like those things tend to translate pretty well. So it's not, not the craziest philosophy philosophy you ever heard but kind of my own thing after a lot of years of doing this Aaron says try to get one of the top three defensive tackles Harmon grant and Nolan

Why not go get one of the best guys from a loaded DT class? I agree. I agree DT is the position where I would say, man, they probably got a guy who's going to be here a long time. If that even slightly works, this guy is going to be here for a long time. Uh, and I would probably like it the most for a stick and pick out of all the positions. I'd probably like defensive tackle the most for a stick and pick. probably like defensive tackle the most for a stick and pick. Uh, Rob says, what about, uh, or say, or or siree at guard six, six, three 30 moves well enough. Sounds to me like he's a tackle, like that.

He's not a guard. I asked Jeremiah Searles the other day about him because the Vikings brought him in. I also think the Vikings bring in everybody who is local, uh, just to, to have a conversation with him. Get a look, but. I don't think that guy's a guard. I don't think there's that explosiveness that physicality that power. I don't know. I mean, maybe he is, but I don't think so.

I think that he is more of a tackle and someone will pick him in the second round to be that James says now that you have all but the last week of information for the draft, what do you think the Vikings will actually do in this draft? We want the on the record prediction. Well, I think that they'll do the thing. I think they'll stick and pick the thing that we were talking about earlier, and they will draft their Carmen. That's going to be my prediction. I Don't know Could be a lot of people. That's what I love about this year's draft could be a lot of people there is

15 different guys that if they drafted I'd be like, okay, that's not surprising at all, but that's what I'm gonna go with right now I'd be like, Oh, okay. That's not surprising at all, but that's what I'm going to go with right now. Uh, Matt says, I don't think any of the wide receivers this year are good enough, but I'm sure I'll talk myself into it if it happens. So here's the thing about the wide receiver class. I was just talking to someone today. Wait for it in the league about the wide receiver class. And what I was told is that there's a lot of

Jordan Addison's but not a lot of Justin Jefferson's and I think that sounds good I mean is that worth a first round pick if a buka is a Jordan Addison type a number two wide receiver if there ever was one and in type a number two wide receiver if there ever was one and you have two of those guys, that sounds really good to me. That sounds like it's worth it because what do number two guys get in the free agent market? They get $30 million. DK Metcalf to me is a number two. I don't, I don't know that he's a clear number one.

I mean, I think he's more of a number two and he got 30 million dollars How about T Higgins 28 million dollars clear number two? So the surplus value is worth a lot Rob says rated by the consensus board Harmon Amos Ravel Jackson Connerly or say oh you decide so are you talking about the guys that they've had in for visits that we were talking about earlier? Yeah. Well, I mean, there's a lot of those guys that if they're on a consensus

board at number 30, that doesn't mean the Vikings won't love them at 24. Right? I mean, that's, that's what I mean is that consensus board is not the truth. It's not the facts, a hundred percent locked in the absolute flawless truth about the draft all the time. There's situations where the consensus board thinks way more or way less of a guy and is a million miles off. So we don't know what, uh, and I like it as a tool and I love it as a

conversational tool, but if they bring in someone like Ravel and the consensus people have them at 37, that doesn't mean that most teams in the league don't have them as a first round pick. See what I mean? Like those gaps exist with certain players. And sometimes if somebody goes against the consensus board by three picks, what are they doing or something like, come on. Uh, grateful dad, a 78 says, uh, quasi and his team has only gotten better every year since 22, our GM is going to do his thing next week.

Uh, the best thing about where they've put themselves is that even if things go sideways, they are still in a position to compete, uh, it would be much better if they hit on this draft. And I think their process has gotten a lot better. I mean, it's not probably talked about enough with quasi da Fomensa that we were talking about somebody who was not traditionally brought up in this game as a general manager in waiting. He wasn't, I mean, he was an assistant GM in Cleveland, but it wasn't like he had

done the whole scouting and slowly come up the ranks and everything else. And it never really been in a leadership position before. So now three years into a leadership position is probably in a better spot to make better decisions with the people that they have, but that doesn't guarantee anything when you have four picks.