Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Draft night highlights: Falcons pick Penix Jr, Vikings land McCarthy

Episode Date: April 26, 2024

From Matthew Coller's live draft night broadcast Matthew reacts to the craziest move of the night and the Vikings landing JJ McCarthy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. The Atlanta Falcons are taking Michael Penix? Oh my, what? Are you serious? Jonathan, are these people, are you serious? Albert Breer is reporting that the Atlanta Falcons are taking Michael Penix Jr. with the number eight pick.

Wow. What? What? The first big draft. One of the biggest draft shocks of the night. Absolutely wild. J.J. McCarthy or Bo Nix.

I am completely shocked. That means that they want Michael Penix to sit on the bench for two years behind Kirk Cousins. I'm at a bit of a loss, folks. I am at a bit of a loss. I understand why. Now, I'm not shocked that Michael Penix went ahead of J.J. McCarthy. I am not shocked at all. You know why? Because draft analysts told you there was no way. So then I knew it was possible because no mock draft had that. That's how I knew it could happen

because as usual, they got the quarterback order wrong because they always do. But Michael Penix going to the Atlanta Falcons is truly incredible. And I have to say, I mean, you guys are saying, you know, is it part of a trade now? Okay. Maybe, maybe it's part of a trade. It doesn't seem like it though. If now, if the Atlanta Falcons, that would be like an NBA thing. If the Atlanta Falcons took Michael Pennix to trade him to the Vikings,

that would really be crazy. But we've never seen that before. They usually just trade picks. So they want Michael Penix. And that means that they think that Michael Penix can be their future franchise quarterback after Kirk Cousins. But what in the blue hell are they doing? I mean, they just signed Cousins to a hundred million dollar.

I'm sorry. I'm laughing. Penix will be 45 years old before he plays. You're not wrong, Tom. You're not wrong. If you are Michael Penix, you got to be completely baffled that they are not just taking one quarterback at a hundred million dollars, but then also drafting one with a top 10 draft pick which does not help Kirk Cousins win uh wow of all the scenarios this is why we draft this is why we really do the draft because of all the scenarios all the draft sims all the mock drafts all the things that I thought that I knew I never in a million years would have guessed the Atlanta Falcons would have spent that much money for Kirk Cousins

to then draft a quarterback in the top 10. In fact, that's kind of funny because Kirk was that to RG three almost, right? There was like the RG three and then cousins gets drafted now cousins on the team and his old team picks a first round pick that really means that they think that pennix can be their future franchise quarterback they will waste two years of his rookie contract or not because we don't know how well kurt cousins and his achilles are going to hold up, but I am struggling to find the justification for them taking Michael Penix aside from just their, I don't know, their management really loved what happened with Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love. Could that be the only thing? I mean, I'm looking now at the TV tv at these reactions and everybody seems confused

i mean michael pennix is smiling but he's even got to be confused there is no way that he even saw this coming and now we are sitting here i guess adam shepard saying it was raheem morris was just in love with michael pennix now it is either JJ McCarthy or Bo Nix. And Hey, my scouting turned out pretty good. I'm not even a scout. I liked Penix more than McCarthy and that's where they went. Hmm. Good stuff. Anyway. Hey, look good for Michael Penix, one of my favorite quarterbacks in the draft. I think he would have been great as Minnesota Vikings quarterback. I think he would have been a great fit. The way that he played, the leadership that he showed last year, and in a couple years, he is going to have a chance. And this could be a great situation for him because

the offense they're going to play is a Shanahan inspired type of offense and that he's very good with play action so forth it's just clear uh that they wanted to draft and develop a quarterback in the same way that so many other teams have not been able to do over the years. So in two years, we're going to see Michael Penix take over for Kirk Cousins, and he's going to have a fully developed type of team with Kyle Pitts, Drake London, and so forth. And this is shocking, but also knowing that Michael Penix is worth a top 10 pick and the Vikings not getting him, I think is the first disappointment of the night. Would Tennessee have been willing to trade out? Could they have ever guessed that Atlanta was going to do this? Were the Vikings thinking,

oh man, once we get past the Giants, no one else is going to draft a quarterback and now they do and they take michael pennix the great washington left-handed fireballer who i thought would have been a tremendous pick for the vikings this is now the disappointment of the draft for the vikings is not getting the actual fourth quarterback off the board not the the alleged, not the presumed. How many times did I say this by the way, through draft season, don't assume we know, don't assume we know the order. Don't assume JJ McCarthy is somebody's actual franchise quarterback. I mean, now if you're the Vikings, JJ McCarthy falls in your lap potentially, or you go with Bo Nix. We've heard no Bo Nix

connection whatsoever to the Vikings. I don't even know how much that they visited with them. I know they've visited a lot with Michael Pennix and I'm very curious what it looks like in that room right now, but the bears, the pick is in for the bears. The jets are not moving and the Vikings will pick their quarterback at 11. Now I think it's a loss to not get Michael Pennix. It is a big loss to not get QB four when he was almost there, but it is a big win to select your quarterback at number 11 and not have to trade up. And yes, Jeff, you're right. All of us Pennix people were right. The people that thought that Pennix was a better prospect than McCarthy, like myself, were right. That he was drafted higher than JJ McCarthy. But if McCarthy goes to the Vikings, it doesn't suddenly mean he's a bad prospect. It still

means he's a top 11 pick and a quarterback that they'll be able to develop. It just tells you that all these people saying that McCarthy was clear cut top four. No question. We're wrong. Well, what do we got happening? What's going on? Vikings have traded up to number 10. This has to be on the clock. Has to be McCarthy, right? I would imagine so. This has to be on the clock has to be mccarthy right i would imagine so this has to be them backing out denver backing out the raiders so the vikings trade up to 10 thank you jonathan all right here we go here we go like in hollywood they go action action here we go number 10 minnesota vikings this has to be jj mccarthy right only trading up for one spot to get your quarterback here is a very big win for the vikings especially if they're

getting as roma dunze the most known pick ever goes to the Chicago Bears. It's a great pick for them. But if the Vikings go to number only 10 from 11 and they barely have to give up anything to move one selection to take their quarterback, they're using a fourth rounder to take their quarterback, assuming that's what they're doing here. I can't see any other choice of what they're doing. They're just trying to make sure that they block out Denver and Vegas from getting their guy. This could be a big win for them if they end up getting their quarterback at number 11, that would be a really, really good way of playing this. I don't think anybody could have seen coming that Michael Penix was going number eight. Okay. So I don't think that

there would have been any way you could have as the Vikings sat there and thought, oh yeah, yeah, we'll, uh, we're going to, we'll get QB5 because Penix will be off the board first. No, I mean, not based on any information that was out there did we think that Michael Penix would go number eight. So that's pretty shocking. But if you still end up with the person that you thought you were going to get

by trading up to number four, I think you have to feel pretty good about the economics of that decision now wait a minute so they're not moving up one spot what's happening jonathan what's happening pelissero reporting that the vikings traded number number 11 they traded their fourth and a fifth round to the jets to move up one spot and get picked 203 so they did not have to move up one spot and get picked two Oh three. So they did not have to give up 23,

but they moved from 11 to 10. Yes. Yep. Okay. Okay. So they're still picking twice in this first round. All right. Okay. So then we're still talking about a defensive player here at 23 and a

longer evening for us. As we continue to break this one down, the Minnesota Vikings around the clock, folks. This is what we have been talking about. This is what we've been waiting for. This is what we've been discussing for weeks and weeks and weeks since Kirk Cousins left and now has a buddy in Atlanta, in Michael Penix, that shocked the world with that draft pick.

But the Vikings moved up for one reason and one reason only that is to draft their quarterback. And I'm going to think that it's very likely JJ McCarthy. And that is, it's going to be well played. I mean, if they get the quarterback that everyone had them mock draft, move up to number four to get JJ McCarthy and had them

giving up 11, 23, whatever else. And it's Jim, it's not stupid because if the Broncos or Raiders came in with a bigger offer, they would have been able to jump ahead and get a quarterback. Yes. Jonathan. I'm going to spoil the pick here. Go ahead. It is JJ McCarthy, JJ McCarthy. Wow. The Minnesota Vikings land JJ McCarthy with the 10th pick after trading up with the New York jets, just one spot and not giving up the number 23 pick and as weird as it was to get to this position as shocking as it was to have Michael Penix go of which I will wonder myself for a long time did they have Penix or

McCarthy higher I'm sure they'll tell us that it was McCarthy higher another team put Pennix higher and he ends up being QB five, but QB five was often throughout this draft season placed by the draft analysts and the draft reporters as a top five pick. And the Vikings end up getting him with number 10 without giving up 23. I have to say that the biggest concern for the Vikings and the pick with McCarthy for me was always going to be the price. If it costs them multiple picks, first round picks, it would have been really concerning to have to give up that much for a quarterback like McCarthy, who's going to need time to develop and that they are going to need a great team around him. But instead that is not what happened. They gave up almost nothing. They move up one spot and they get their future franchise quarterback. Now I will say

it is going to take some time with JJ McCarthy. He is going to have to develop and we're going to have to see this thing come together from the first OTA and minicamp through probably 2025 when he is starting to fully develop as a quarterback. But what we know about JJ McCarthy is that he is one everywhere that he's gone, that he has played in NFL style environment with Jim Harbaugh, that he has a tremendously strong arm, that he has a playmaking ability with his legs and that the Vikings didn't have to give up almost anything for him. That right there is a big victory for the Vikings.

Yes. They landed the quarterback that everybody thought, but not in the way that they thought. And this gives now, I think, a perfect partner personality wise between J.J. McCarthy for Kevin O'Connell. Between those two, the perfect partner of someone who is a great communicator, who can execute an offense, who understands the game extremely well, who takes the game very seriously, as you've seen from every article, every feature about JJ McCarthy. And when people talk about him as a Kirk Cousins type, that's kind of odd to me because he is much more of a playmaking quarterback. He's much more of a natural athlete than Kirk Cousins was. And you saw that in the drills that he did do at the NFL combine. So the Vikings have their future franchise

quarterback in JJ McCarthy. And again, without giving up almost anything. And this has to be a dream scenario for McCarthy to be able to go to Minnesota and have a chance to play with Justin Jefferson and have the supporting cast that he's going to have. But they now have to develop JJ McCarthy. It's going to be a process with him. It won't be plug and play as it might've been with say, you know, Michael Pennix. And throughout this time, I have wondered about McCarthy. I've wondered about the hype around him, if it was truly real. It turns out, yes and no. He was a first-round pick, but he was not a first-round pick that you had to trade up this much for. I am somewhat skeptical about putting a lot of emphasis on certain parts of a quarterback's game that aren't about

quarterbacking that are, Hey, he's a great guy. He's a good leader. He won. And for the record, Michael Penix would have been my choice if both of them were on the board. But here's what I know that JJ McCarthy and Michael Penix and Drake May and Caleb Williams and Jaden Daniels, they all have about equal odds of succeeding historically. They're all top 10 draft picks. They were all chosen by NFL teams as top 10 draft picks as the Vikings pick McCarthy at

number 10. And the grade for this is the same grade that I told you I would give the moment the Vikings got their quarterback. It's an A. In fact, they didn't give up any, almost anything. It's an A plus because now, and by the way, I was so close all week. I said, my hot take was that they stick and pick at 11, get McCarthy. I was so close. I was so close. They didn't stick and pick. They did have to trade up, but they've got their guy and he's going to get every opportunity to succeed. If JJ McCarthy is good at all, he's going to have a great chance to succeed.

And that's what we know about this situation. We don't know how he'll develop. We don't know if he is going to, over the next five years, become one of the best quarterbacks in the league. If he's going to be a middling quarterback, average quality, if he's going to fall apart and bust, we don't know. We don't know tonight. We won't know tomorrow. We won't know when I report at TCO Performance Center from Rookie Minicamp. We will not know in year one when he sits for Sam Darnold in week one through seven. We won't know about whether J.J. McCarthy

is going to be that guy that this organization has yearned for for so many years since Fran Tarkenton. But what we do know is that the Vikings gave themselves a chance to find that. That's what they did tonight. Gave themselves a chance to find that true franchise quarterback. And that when you put everything around him, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, TJ Hawkinson,

the two offensive tackles, a running back in Aaron Jones, a quarterback coach in Josh McCown, who played for a long time in the league, a head coach as a former quarterback who changed Kirk Cousins, truly changed Kirk Cousins. He instilled confidence in Kirk Cousins that we had never seen before. And that relationship grew over two years to the point where, and it took two years to the point where he had complete command of that offense. If JJ McCarthy can get to that point of having complete command of the offense, if he can make plays with his legs, if he can deliver the football where it's supposed to go,

and then if he can use his ability to throw on the run, which is excellent, his escape ability, which is very good, scrambling, escaping rushers, he could be a quarterback that the Vikings win with. Throughout this season, draft season, I kept trying to come up with JJ McCarthy comparables. And there were many different names that got thrown around. There was Alex Smith, Matt Hasselbeck, I thought of, and that's going back a little bit, but Matt Hasselbeck was kind of like his size, little bit of playmaking ability, strong enough arm, tough guy, good leader, so forth. Won a lot of games under the right circumstances with Seattle

the other one that I came up with was Dak Prescott that you know potentially uh Dak Prescott you know can lead a top offense because he throws to the right spot because he's got a terrific arm because he's got enough playmaking ability and even even when you see the highlights of JJ McCarthy, he's able to make plays out of structure. Can he win the Superbowl? I have no idea because that's going to deter that's going to be determined by a lot of stuff. But what I also, but I do know and can say confidently about that, about the Superbowl part is that they didn't give up anything. They did not have to go up to number four and give up 23. So if the formula was always, hey, here's what we'll be happy with.

We'll be happy with trading everything for Drake May. We'll be happy with trading nothing for JJ McCarthy because we know we can put other things on the field that will help him succeed. Then they landed one of the two ways. It wasn't Drake May because the Patriots were never giving him up. So it's the next best thing, a quarterback with potential, a quarterback who has won, a playmaking quarterback,

and an excellent communicator. This is very important that J.J. McCarthy is an excellent communicator. That will matter because so is Kevin O'Connell, and they're going to build this offense together. excellent communicator. This is very important that J.J. McCarthy is an excellent communicator. That will matter because so is Kevin O'Connell. And they're going to build this offense together. I mean, that is an ideal situation. And also what this means is that Kevin O'Connell met with J.J. McCarthy and that he worked with him and he believed in him more than he believed in Bo Nix and more than he believed in clearly Michael Penix in a trade up, unless they had no idea that Penix was going eight, which will be interesting to find out, but enough to make this pick, but they also did not freak out. They didn't panic. They didn't trade the farm to the chargers. They didn't trade the farm to

another team that to the titans even to move up and get mccarthy and essentially got them with their own pick i mean i don't care about the fourth rounder it's you know i was suggesting they draft a punter in the fourth round the other day so not too concerned about that uh this is a big this is a big win for them this is their quarterback who is a great fit um I think that 90% of draft analysts who did their content this year put McCarthy with the Vikings because they felt like it was the best pick. Now, the other side of this, there is another side of this, which is the things that I've talked about through draft season. This is somebody who's thrown very few passes and it's harder to figure

out how good someone's going to be when they've thrown fewer passes. And even if he's played with a winning team, his team was much better than everyone else. That's going to change. The Vikings are not much better than everybody else. They're good, but they're not much better than everyone else. So he's going to have to be that much better he's going to have to grow he's going to have to develop and become a better version but there is something that i always noted along the way which is when we compare the other quarterbacks where would mccarthy be in a year where will he be in two years that's what you're really betting on here with jj m McCarthy. This is not a one-year thing and ownership has to be patient. Fans may have to be patient. It's not a, Hey, you're

drafting him for next year, but the fact that they can keep number 23 is so vital. Has there been a defensive player? There has not been a defensive player off the board yet. The New York Jets just took for Sean who the offensive tackle from Penn State. There has been no defensive player, poor defensive guys, but you know what this means at number 23, the Vikings can get a top 10 defensive player. They're almost locked into a top 10 defensive player after these next two picks.

Now is Denver going to take Bo Nix? What a fascinating turn of events that the Vikings get their guy at number 10 and now have a chance to draft another player. What do we got? Just some quick reactions to the JJ McCarthy pick our buddy, Chris Trapasso tweeting out the picks and his grades after every pick, saying tools are there for him to be a stellar QB, athletic natural improviser, arm talent, plus accuracy.

Some misses will appear. Comes up big in key moments. Young but plenty of experience. Can be quick liftoff with Vikings grade A-. Also put out a poll in the chat. Among 315 votes right now. I asked him with how it all played out. Do you like the McCarthy pick at number 10?

89% of people say yes, they liked how it played out in the pick. I am on board with the 89%. And you know why? Because even though throughout the draft season, I did a lot of watching of McCarthy, a lot of talking to people about him. And I always have had some hesitation about the idea of trading up for him. Always wondered if that was really it

always wondered if he was actually QB four, which he wasn't it's QB five, but, and you're right. The 11% are always going to be the loudest. That's how life tends to work is the, um, unhappiest, uh, are always the loudest, but I, I, I have questions and I have concerns and we're going to see how that plays out. But I also know that throughout the last, how many ever years that I've been doing this, that there have been quarterbacks that I've had concerned about who have turned out to be really good. One of them is Justin Herbert. I didn't think that Justin Herbert would be very good. And, uh, you know, he's turned out to be a really good quarterback. So the college game is just so different than the NFL that you can never really know how someone's going to react

to the NFL environment. What I understand about JJ McCarthy though, is that his maturity and his love for the game, as in his dedication to the game, sounds like a match with Kevin O'Connell. When I listened to McCarthy at the combine and he talked with NFL network and he talked with the media, everything said, this guy kind of reminds me of O'Connell. Just in the way that he handled himself and the way that he talked. And now you also have Josh McCown in there as well. So he is in the hands of two accomplished quarterback minds, McCown playing for a bunch of different teams, McCown already coaching quarterbacks himself, and Kevin O'Connell, who was a quarterback coach, then offensive coordinator, and won the Super Bowl

in Los Angeles, and then comes here and works with Kirk Cousins, excuse me, Kirk Cousins, and sorry, the Diet Dr. Pepper got me for the first time tonight, but so he comes here and works with Kirk Cousins. And even though I didn't think that Kirk Cousins was crazy better than he ever was before, he was a different person when Kevin O'Connell was his coach, when he did not have Mike Zimmer breathing down his neck, but also Kevin O'Connell clearly understood how to work closely with his quarterback on a day-to-day basis and be in very close contact with him every single day,

like in the office, breaking it down, building the offense together, and then leading the team. And that was what I really saw from Kirk Cousins that did not exist until Kevin O'Connell got here. And that's what's going to be instilled in J.J. McCarthy is the confidence to lead the team. If you can do that, if you can master the offense, you are most of the way there for McCarthy. He's going to have to learn to put some touch on the football. It can't just be all rockets. He is going to have to learn a little bit that, you know, launching the football downfield is going to have to look a little better. His deep passes were not

perfect thrown to the outside. It's going to have to be a little more, a little better. The footwork is going to have to be adapted and adjusted a little bit better for him at times. But that's everybody, right? It's everybody that is going to have to improve from college to the NFL. The sample size is smaller. That's what makes it harder to know and harder to look at and go, all right, well, look, I can see it because I have two years or whatever. But with McCarthy not having that sample, it leaves the door open for a lot of development that can happen at the NFL level. If McCarthy had stayed in college, they don't really develop quarterbacks in college. Instead,

he's going to get it with the Vikings and in a position where he is not under a lot of pressure to start right away. And this is going to be our next big discussion. I'm sure at some point, it's not going to happen right now, but you're going to have to, with J.J. McCarthy, I think be prepared for the idea that he doesn't start week one and be okay with that. They paid $10 million for Sam Darnold for that reason. They picked someone who is younger than everybody else.

And that means that he is not as far along as everybody else. And it is the job of Kevin O'Connell. And it is the job of Josh McCown to work closely with him and develop him into the quarterback, the best quarterback he could possibly be. There's two sides of this. There is the Vikings got their quarterback without having to move majorly up. And then there's how, how does it get done? How does he get from point A to point B to where you could take these raw skills and make McCarthy into what you want them to be.

But the quasi-adopto mental part of this, any complaints? I mean, what I called this was the completing of the circle of the competitive rebuild right now. It's just competitive. Now it's just off we go, right? With there's no more competitive rebuild. It's just time to win time to develop this quarterback time to win next year is a bit of a transition year for sure, but it's time to be in the direction of winning for the Vikings. It's no more competitive rebuild. You've got your quarterback off you go. But the way they handled this from start to finish, if I told you that in 2022, as the Denver Broncos pick is in here.

And I think I know you guys were leaving in the comments here, but I mean, Bo Nix, wow. Six freaking, it was that good. The quarterback class was that good. Wow. Six quarterbacks in the first 12 picks. That is freaking crazy. And look, everybody gets to be right about their quarterback. At least tonight, if you said Bo Nix was a first round draft, actually everybody except for the big board people, the consensus big board people were way the hell off on Pennix and Bo Nix.

That's not surprising. But if you had an opinion on any of these quarterbacks and you said, I like this guy more than you do. I like this guy more than you do. Y'all get to be right. Top 13 picks on every single one of these quarterbacks. That is freaking wild. So what we can't say is,

well, they should have done this. They should have done that. They're all taken in the same range. And now we get to see how it plays out. How about that? And you know what? I feel good because I liked all these guys. And I thought I was,

I thought I was like out of my mind. This whole time I was saying, well, I kind of, you know, I like Pennix. I like Knicks. I I thought I was, I thought I was like out of my mind this whole time. I was saying, well, I kind of, you know, I like Pennix. I like Knicks. I like, you know, I like the idea of McCarthy at a certain price. And I was made to feel by the draft analysts. Like I was nuts for liking Michael Pennix and Bo Knicks. Nope. Top 15 draft picks. Guess not. But I like being a real reporter so i'm not going to switch over to draft scouting anyway uh this is this is really something though we're going to look at this draft class for a long time and break this down about how this played out with pennix shocking us by going number eight bo nicks absolutely the day one starter the vik Vikings having a chance to pick Nix or McCarthy.

They go with McCarthy. Interesting choice. Someone they can develop a lot more. The one thing I would say for that is that Bo Nix is much, much older. So it's harder to compare them. I'm sure that we would like to look at, hey, here's Nix. Here's McCarthy. They're on two different wavelengths.

Clearly, Denver wants their quarterback right away. here's nicks here's mccarthy they're on two different wavelengths uh clearly denver wants their quarterback right away and the vikings preferred somebody that they can develop over a couple of seasons but going back to what i was saying i just got distracted there by the quarterback who was 38th on the consensus big board going 13th because he was actually a much better prospect than a lot of draft analysts thought um with quesadilla fomenta it if i told you day one when he got the job here's how this is going to play out he is going to win 13 games this first year have a rebuilding year the second year i won't tell you how that happened with an achilles injury. And in the third year, clear out all this cap space for the future, extend Justin

Jefferson's the next step. Got to get that done. Draft quarterback and acquire another first round draft pick in the same draft of which the Vikings are now one pick away from being guaranteed a top 10 defensive player. If that is what, if that is what I told you that on day one, they would win more games than they ever won before with Kirk cousins have a tough transition year, but draft their quarterback in the top 10 and then have a hundred million dollars or whatever it is in cap space to go forward. I mean, how could you ever be down on that? What do we got? I'm going to spoil the next pick for you

just so to continue this conversation you're going on. The Raiders are going tight end and picking Brock Bowers. There has never been anything like this in draft history. So they will have a guaranteed top 10 defensive player pick at number 23. Wow. Top 10 defensive player pick at number 23. Wow. Top 10 defensive player in the draft to go along with. And look, even if you say, well, that means they weren't as good at prospects, I guess,

but there's a historically good wide receiver prospect and six quarterbacks. So even if we just took that out of it, you're starting with basically the seventh pick and going to 23. So 23 is like having a top 15 draft pick on defense. This was, this was handled really well. This was handled really well. If the number one option was never going to be Drake May, which it seems that it was not the number two option for everybody was what JJ McCarthy,

but it was mostly JJ McCarthy at five or four. And instead it ends up being JJ McCarthy at 10. And then they get a top 10 defensive prospect. I mean, this, you couldn't have drawn it up any better than this. You really could not have drawn it up any better than this. If you're Kweisi Daffelmensa. And this is where you go back to. We don't know how these draft picks are going to work out, but you're allowed to learn and get better at your job. And so when 2022 draft happens for Kweisi Daffelmensa,

that was a real, maybe learning experience about how to handle the NFL draft because tonight it was handled as well as it could have been. They did not panic. They did not freak out. They didn't trade way up when they didn't need to. And now they're going to land franchise quarterback and top 10 defensive player. So I guess, Hey, we need to start talking about which defensive player that they are going to get personally. Byron Murphy. The second would be my pick if I could have anybody, but I think we're going to start to see now new Orleans though,

could take a tackle here. New Orleans, I think is almost likely to take a tackle because they are in offensive line hell. Their great offensive line has fallen apart. What do we got, Jonathan? Ian Rappaport is reporting that the Saints are listening to trade offers so they could move out and not take a tackle or a defensive player. Trade up and get Dallas Turner? Like, I don't know. Okay, now we're getting greedy here.

Now we're getting greedy. But, I mean the the players on the board right now are pretty remarkable for the minnesota vikings it's everyone on defense i just i can't believe how this has played out i I mean, so I guess I sort of can, because that was my, my hot take was that McCarthy was going to get to 11. He didn't quite get there, but can McCarthy play guard? That's yeah. I, that had to come up at some point. You know what? That's actually a good point. When you draft JJ McCarthy and you're not pressured to play him right away, you can improve the interior offensive line and have it ready for when he is able to play. The other part of it is that he can run away and he's a scrambler and a playmaker.

And, uh, you know, that's a big part of it, but Terry and Arnold is maybe my favorite pick outside of Byron Murphy that I think that Murphy is, is going to go pretty soon at some point here. Dallas Turner definitely wanted to go pretty quick. Jared Verse, another one. And if they're able to draft a defensive tackle, then you have this opportunity to move around Andrew Van Ginkle. Right now, Andrew Van Ginkle is basically your edge rusher. And I don't even know who the backup is. Is it Andre Carter?

They don't really have much depth for defensive end they may have added somebody else for depth at defensive they added somebody else so some other guy whatever outside linebacker from the giants that i'm blanking on right now but i mean if you were able to get any of those defensive ends then you can now move Andrew Van Ginkle around. And Jonathan Grenard's not very old. That means a duo at the edge or a duo of pass rushers. That's pretty attractive. I, Oh, Jihad Ward. Yeah. Thank you very much. That was who it was. That's not a difference maker at all. Uh, would I trade up for Murphy? Maybe it's not a bad idea now what do you have to dip into is it i mean do they have much to dip into at this point how much could they give up from day

three not very much and they don't have the second round pick for next year so trading up would be pretty difficult at this point but would it be great if they could trade up and get byron murphy oh 100 it would be. So now more likely than not, we're just going to wait here because there's going to be such a good player on the board that there's no reason not to wait because you're going to be able to get best player available and be able to get someone really good on the defensive side. So this, it just looks like this is all going to be

really, really well played out. Jackson Powers Johnson is an option. I don't prefer that. I think if you're getting interior linemen, you should probably draft them later and try to develop them and then use free agency where you could get proven players on the interior. I agree with you guys that if Terry and Arnold is there, that just, I don't know how in today's NFL, you can really win without having a shutdown corner. And it doesn't have to be the Darrell Revis type of shutdown corner.

It can even be like what Kansas City had last year. They had just a physical corner who took on the best wide receivers and made their life difficult and luxurious need. And they also had Trent McDuffie adding to that secondary is very attractive, but also adding to the defensive line is also necessary. Defensive tackle would be my top pick because when you look at all of the best defensive tackles in the NFL, they're almost all first, first round picks that the physical element of defensive tackle is so significant

for playing that position that you can't just take a guy and hope to develop them. And the other thing is too, that they're hard to get in free agency. They're very, very expensive. And there's usually one or two per year that come out in free agency, but it's not like there's five. And so the Raiders end up landing Christian Wilkins and well, okay. That, you know, then there's nobody else really a defensive tackle to go out and get. So if you're going to get those guys, usually you have to get them in the first round of the draft. And, you know, like that's what they might have to do here. And we'll see if they can. So the Saints pick is in,

but number one corner is not a bad thing either. Terry and Arnold or Quinion Mitchell to Quinion Mitchell was a heck of a playmaker ran a four, three 40. Arnold makes more sense to me just because he was such a physical player when you watch them in Alabama. And I did take note of all of these players, these defensive players, uh, in my draft guide for those who subscribe to the newsletter, which if you don't, thank you so much. If you subscribe to the draft guide, then you saw all of the defensive players that I looked at and the possibility that they stay at 11 and 23. And there's just a lot of good

ones. Kool-Aid McKinstry is another one Cooper Dajin is another one from Iowa that's been brought up but right now we're kind of talking about cream of the crop we're talking about best of the best because these offensive players keep getting taken and when you guys talk about you know what I wanted before the draft, it was always through the same lens as Kweisi Adafomensa talked about it. It was, I thought that it was very risky to trade up all the way to number four for JJ McCarthy. I liked Michael Penix more than JJ McCarthy. Bo Nix, I thought was a very realistic pick for the Vikings. He ended up going one pick later. And McCarthy is the one that I have the least amount of a sample size on. So it was always the hardest. There's a lot of stuff that I think he needs to be better at in order to be a franchise

quarterback. I wondered why they didn't throw the ball more with him. Of course, all those things don't change. Those questions don't change, but his percentage chance to succeed is very hot with JJ McCarthy here and his ceiling with Kevin O'Connell with this offense is high. Oh my gosh. Another offensive player. Oh my gosh. They take Fulaga out of Oregon state. Can't believe this. Indianapolis has to take a defensive player right there has never been anything like this that is just madness that it has been all offensive players this is playing right into the hands uh we're gonna find out who's the better quarterback between i mean pennix mccarthy and nicks were clearly all equal level prospects because that's where they went it was i, that's what was proven to us by the league, that they were all equal.

And the Vikings went with the one that they could develop more. Bo Nix is quite a bit older. And you have to wonder how far McCarthy would have gotten in college if he had stayed for three more years and stayed with a great team. And maybe he has more raw skill than Bo Nix. And so they wanted to make sure at number 10 that they got their guy. I have questions about all of them. I think we talked about the meters just last night,

about the concern meter. With McCarthy, it was the highest because I have the smallest sample size on actually watching the guy play. That doesn't change. It doesn't change that there's possibilities of things I think could go wrong for JJ McCarthy, but let's consider how we got here and that they didn't have to trade up to get him and that he has long been considered a great fit, a best fit for Kevin O'Connell and their personalities together. So I said from the start that no matter what my opinion was through draft season, I would

throw it out on draft night and we start anew and I would give an A and we move on. And that's what I'm going to do. So I'm sure that there's going to be some of you who kind of come back and say, well, didn't you not love McCarthy? Oh, you're right. It doesn't matter now. He's the quarterback of the team. And I'm going to cover him the same way I would anybody else to see where this plays out. And I can't wait to follow this journey of JJ McCarthy from the first rookie mini camp. Heck, he's going to be here tomorrow at TCO Performance Center to be introduced, and I will be there.

And I'm going to be very interested in that. Having a skepticism about something, how good of a prospect is this really, is not hating on the person. So that's just, you know, we've started. That's how we do it as a society. Oh, I kind of have a question about that. I'm not sure about that. I'm not sold on that. Oh yeah.

You hate the guy. No, I just have questions. I would have had questions about Bo Nix or anybody else. The only one I suppose I wouldn't have is really JJ or is really Drake May. I, if they had traded everything for like, okay, well, I don't have the same level of questions I do as quarterback five, but I don't think that there's any difference in the odds outside of the number one pick. The number one pick historically has pretty much clearly been, you know, successful more

often than not. The number one pick. That's where, you know, you got your John Elway, your Andrew Luck. There's been only a couple of busts and they're super notable. So number one pick has a higher chance than anybody else. Cause that's the best quarterback in the draft past that though, historically we've never really known. And one clear determining factor has been that, uh, you know, what one clear determining factor has always been the circumstance for a quarterback and the Vikings are going to give the best possible situation for JJ McCarthy. What's up, John? Kirk Cousins reaction is coming in from the Falcons drafting Michael Penix Jr.

Top 10. According to Diana Rossini, the Falcons called Kirk Cousins when they were on the clock to let him know from what she learned. Cousins understood a QB would be considered, but did not believe his successor would be taken in the first round. I'm told he's a bit stunned is what she tweeted. Jane Slater also said Kirk Cousins is shocked and disappointed about the pick. Not getting off to a good start in Atlanta. It's too good. Football is too good. Who would not follow this?

This is too, you couldn't write that any better. He is shocked and disappointed. Sorry, Kirk. That's amazing. It's what the draft pick represents. I'm going to need a minute.

Oh, boy. What else you got? Our first defensive player is coming off the board. It is the UCLA defensive end, edge rusher light to lot to he's good yeah would have taken him yep he's really good at football that's a good pick by them uh okay i will stop i will stop laughing about this kirk cousins reaction uh but i i you know i look i was as shocked as anybody. This is the second time during the show that I have been speechless. And it's usually really hard to get me to stop talking. Ask my wife or Jonathan. He knows that. But this right here, there are twice

now the Atlanta Falcons have stopped me in my tracks first by drafting michael penix which is a little strange to tell you the truth because you usually don't think of a quarterback like michael penix as someone that you would um draft and develop for two years he's 23 years old he's going to be 24 he's much more along the lines of a quarterback that you would, I'm sorry, you guys, you guys are cracking me up in the comments. Now I can't even get through this. Let me try again. All right. So you just, you never would have thought that they would take a guy who's 24 years old as someone that would be a draft and develop. So I can see why Kirk cousins would be shocked because I'm shocked. Everyone's shocked. It doesn't make any sense to anybody.

Why wouldn't you take Leatu Latu there or some fat guy and just go from there, right? I mean, but instead they decide to pick a quarterback that is going to be the successor to Kirk Cousins. It makes sense from just a philosophical standpoint. But if you're Kirk, you wanted somebody to help you win now and they didn't do it. They didn't do the thing that we all thought they were going to do, which is get better defense, get a weapon, get an offensive lineman, whatever to improve his chances to win. They did nothing to help Kirk Cousins chances to win.

Instead, they picked an older quarterback who will take over at age 26, two years from now, when clearly they will be moving on from Kirk Cousins. And right from the beginning of the Kirk Cousins era in Atlanta, here's where it gets so good. They already say, we don't believe in you. Kirk Cousins. You see, okay so mike zimmer never believes in him

all right and then quesadilla fomenta and kevin o'connell come in and they sign him to the shortest extension that they could and then they don't sign him to an extension showing that they don't believe in him they have another chance to sign him to an extension they don't sign him to an extension showing that they don't believe in him. They have another chance to sign him to an extension. They don't. They say they don't believe in him. They could pay him what Atlanta paid him. They said, no way. We don't believe in you.

Goodbye. We're going to get JJ McCarthy. And then on draft night, their biggest opportunity to show that they believe in Kirk Cousins by getting a defensive player in the top 10 or getting him another receiver. They could have picked Roma Dunzey if they wanted another receiver. They could have picked an offensive lineman. I don't know their offensive line, but maybe a guard or something or a tackle. And instead they pick an older quarterback. So it's very clear that they want only these next two years out of Kirk Cousins and then they want to move on to somebody else. Oh boy. People have asked me, you know,

would you, would you do something else? Would you, do you want to be on tv or do you want to be whatever why would i do anything but this this is too good there's no way that tv would let me just sit and laugh hysterically for like 15 straight minutes and what the atlanta falcons have done to kirk cousins and the fact that he told people he's shocked and disappointed is too freaking good because the guy the guy sat there and yeah, it's all about the dollars, what they represent. I want somebody to fully buy into me. And the Falcons were like, eh, for a minute.

Hey, do you think he's going to wear the dirty bird chain? Or you think he's going to check down like freaking crazy next year? That guy is protecting the Achilles folks. He's already preparing for the next contract. Kirk's quarterback rating is going to be 128.6 and they're going to go six and 10. Oh man. It's going to be so good. Fourth and eight.

No first and ten check down second and nine check down that guy is going to make sure he plays to his next contract and you know what I bet Kirk the next team will believe in you anyway so

so