Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - EMERGENCY POD: Vikings will NOT sign Aaron Rodgers -- it's McCarthy time

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about Tom Pelissero's report that the Vikings are not going to get Aaron Rodgers and will instead go forward with JJ McCarthy as their starter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Good morning everybody and what a good morning it is. You know, there's nothing quite like waking up to the news that you've been all waiting for for, I don't know, a couple weeks now since the Aaron Rodgers thing has lingered in the air. But this morning, Tom Pellicero comes out with the report and I will start the show by just reading these sweet words to you guys. Pellicero of NFL Network, as you know, tweeted out this morning, the Minnesota Vikings have rejected multiple trade calls on JJ McCarthy, telling other teams they're moving forward with him as their quarterback.

The team plans to add a veteran, but they are not pursuing Aaron Rogers at this time. McCarthy enters the off season as QB one. So there you go. Sigh of relief. Aaron Rogers, at least for now will not be a Minnesota Viking. Now there is still some reporting that Diana diner seen he said the vikings are not in or out on erin rogers there just not pursuing him at this moment. Which i think you could put it this way if jj mccarthy were to get injured. were to get injured, then maybe they would go back to the Aaron Rogers plan. I guess that would be the way that you could frame it.

But at least for now, the Aaron Rogers speculation is over. JJ McCarthy is the quarterback. And hey, how about this timing wise? What a coincidence. The Vikings free agents are going to talk today. Wow. How about that? There are three free agents that are going to talk with the media today.

And then tomorrow there will be several more. So that's great. I'm excited about that to get to know some new Minnesota Vikings players and Aaron Rogers is not going to be the quarterback, uh, barring some unforeseen something, uh, with a JJ McCarthy, but also there was some noise about Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers getting closer yesterday. It seemed like the momentum was growing more and more yesterday as Adam Schefter was saying, it just doesn't sound like this is happening and kind of hedged a little

bit but was saying, no it just doesn't really sound like this is happening and kind of hedged a little bit, but was saying, no, it just doesn't really sound like this is happening. And then Josina Anderson said that she was hearing the Steelers to getting closer to an answer and said, yes, I think this does have to pertain to Aaron Rogers. And then the Vikings sent out a email to us, the media that said, Hey guys, we've got a schedule now for the free agents. And I start to think yesterday, okay, maybe we're getting closer now to this Aaron Rogers thing being over.

And let me just say that I know a lot of you are going to be unhappy with certain reporters reporting certain things. I don't really want to get into that and go down that road. Because I think based on the way the Vikings acted that they did consider this and they probably considered it strongly. And I think when it's somebody like Aaron Rodgers, you probably do have to have that conversation if he wants you so badly, like it seemed like Aaron Rodgers did. I do think it was probably more Aaron Rogers, loving the Vikings than the Vikings wanting to go all in on that road. But if it is one of the great quarterbacks in NFL history, and he wants

to play for your franchise, the team should have a meeting with the owners, with the head coach, with the general manager, and they should talk about it. And the people in the personnel office and everybody should get their opinion. Is this something we want to do? Because it is Aaron Rogers. The guy has won a super bowl. He's won multiple MVPs. And even last year, it's not like he was Peyton Manning in 2015.

It's not like he had fallen completely off the map or something. And with JJ McCarthy, McCarthy, there is a level of uncertainty. So with no extreme rush to make that call. Totally understandable that the Vikings would sit down and talk about this and mull it over and think about it. But ultimately landing on the right decision, it seems by going to JJ McCarthy as QB one, and I wrote this the other day that we always think that someone who hasn't played yet that there's uncertainty. And there is of course with JJ McCarthy, cause he hasn't played yet, but I think that there's more uncertainty about an older quarterback in Aaron Rogers and what he could still.

Bring to the table as opposed to young quarterbacks who have been thriving around the NFL when they're given the right coaching when they're given the right circumstances. given the right circumstances, we have seen it all the time in the NFL recently, almost every year, almost every quarterback draft class that's worth anything has produced young success, including last year with Jayden Daniels. And we saw it from CJ Stroud the year before we saw Brock Purdy go to a super bowl in year two. You can run down the list. Jared Goff by year two was leading the number one offense. Carson Wentz by year two, by the way, Carson Wentz, an option, an option.

Uh, but Carson Wentz by year two, before he had that terrible injury, he was in route to competing for an MVP season. It doesn't have to take forever for a young quarterback to assimilate himself, to take over a franchise. And especially when that young quarterback is surrounded by the things that the Vikings can give JJ McCarthy. And that's the most important point to me about this decision is that the Vikings have done everything else this off season to

help JJ McCarthy. Like, let's not forget about all the things that happen because Aaron Rogers took over our lives for a week with the threat of him potentially coming here. Uh, that they went out and they got two offensive linemen. One of them is a specialist in pass blocking. The other one is at least above average in his recent performance. Then in the backfield, they go out and they get Jordan Mason

and make a clear effort to improve what they can do in the running game around McCarthy. I still expect them to go get another wide receiver for McCarthy. TJ Hockenson will be back. Christian Derisal will be back. And remember, they went out last year and extended Christian Derrisaw on a deal that looks tremendous now, but to make sure that they would have their

franchise left tackle for a long time to come. So they have done everything around the quarterback position to make sure that JJ McCarthy is stepping into a great situation where he will have pass protection, a running game, open wide receivers. Oh, and by the way, the head coach just won 14 games with Sam Darnold who was previously considered one of the biggest busts in NFL history. And this is why I never really understood going after Aaron Rogers, the idea of going after Aaron Rogers, because this was the plan all along was to draft

JJ McCarthy and do everything they could to surround him with talent and with great coaching and Hey, Josh McCown is still here. Remember there was some conversations about whether Josh McCown would get hired for an offensive coordinator position somewhere else. They did lose one of their assistants, Grant Udinski, to the Jaguars. But aside from that, they still have the same people in charge

and the same wide receivers and a little bit better blocking, if not a lot better blocking and a little bit better blocking, if not a lot better blocking and a little bit better running, if not a lot better running in the backfield around JJ McCarthy and then potentially a better performance from TJ Hawkinson next year. And I think that Hawkinson and McCarthy will be two that work together a little bit better maybe than Darnold because Darnold was often looking, you know, down the field. So the Vikings, what they have here now in turning to JJ McCarthy is what everyone was waiting for, for so long.

And I felt like I was saying this almost trying to like jump around and wave my arms to the Vikings. Like guys, guys, remember what you were doing this for. Remember the reason why you did all this, the competitive rebuild, the spending, the tearing down of a 13 win team. The, the, even when they traded for a second first round draft pick, they did so to make sure that they could get a quarterback. They ultimately didn't need it and took Dallas Turner, but everything

was around this quarterback who you drafted, JJ McCarthy, and everything that they saw last off season caused Kevin O'Connell to say that the guy has shown me as a franchise quarterback. And this is why I just could not get my head around the idea of Aaron Rogers because JJ McCarthy and I, and I saw what chase Daniel said. I saw chase Daniel said that he talked to people with the Vikings and they said it wasn't a competition last year between Sam Darnold and JJ McCarthy. And it wasn't yet.

It wasn't yet. Sam Darnold was QB1 the entire off season. That's true. But McCarthy was growing so much on a daily basis that he was going to start getting more first team reps before he got hurt. And it was not a competition as in Darnold was not gonna competition as in Darnold was not going to start week one. Darnold was going to start week one 95% chance last year. But the point was that the way McCarthy grew, it was nowhere close when McCarthy

got to Minnesota, and then it got closer and closer and closer to the point where. If JJ McCarthy had been healthy last year and Darnold had struggled so he wouldn't have played anyway because Darnold, you know played so well, but if Darnold had struggled then they would have felt comfortable with McCarthy. That's how far he grew last year folks. I'm trying a new thing to try to stop going to fast food restaurants all the time with my busy schedule. It is called Tempo Meals. Tempo is a weekly delivery service that delivers chef crafted meals from a dietitian approved menu, fresh to your door.

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apply. Now that doesn't mean that he's going to be perfect and every young quarterback that we see goes through growing pains. So this is something that as excited as everybody is that you will have to be patient at times. There will be times where McCarthy is a young quarterback. There's gonna be tough training camp practices. There's going to be probably losses that you go, how did they lose that football game? Because it's just like even Jordan love who had three years on the bench came out and had some games where it wasn't that great. So I think that even with the Vikings and McCarthy, we need to look at the

expectations and say that it could be a roller coaster with McCarthy, we need to look at the expectations and say that it could be a rollercoaster with McCarthy. But it's, I think that there's plenty of patience within Vikings fans for the rollercoaster of a young quarterback because this is the best plan to chase the super bowl over the next five years. It is by far the best plan. The odds of somebody who's won 13 games out of their last 34 and had last year, Garrett Wilson and Devante Adams and Breeze hall and a, and a good defense. The chances that that guy would find four years ago and take the Vikings to the

super bowl are so beyond minuscule that the risk to me was always way too much versus the reward. Whereas even if there's bumps along the way with McCarthy, think about even what happened with Jade and Daniels last year. Daniels starts the season and they had training wheels on and he's thrown a lot of short passes and they're just trying to feel it out and figure out what he can do, what he can't do. And then as the season goes along, it starts to click and it starts to get better and it starts to get better and they get to the playoffs and Washington is a contender at the Vikings are looking for the same result with McCarthy. There will be moments where he's going to look like an inexperienced rookie. There's going to be picks that he throws where you go, Oh man, you can't

make that throw, not in the NFL and that kind of thing. But I, I think that in the long run, even over a single season or over the next three seasons, it's so much better to bet on JJ McCarthy than it is to have him sit another year and, and not get a chance to play and not really chase a championship unless some miracle happens and we go back in time. It's so much better to deal with some Rocky moments of a young quarterback than it is to sign the deal with the devil and make your franchise, the

Minnesota Aaron Rogers and have all the attention and all the obsession with Rogers and all the politics and all the other things that he brings along for what you say, well, for a real shot at a championship, really though, really though, because the guy hasn't won a championship since 2010 and hasn't been good since 2021. So to me, that always was the biggest factor was this quarterback, Aaron Rodgers has not played well in a long time. If you're betting on the past, I think it's not going to be a good bet for you most of the time. And instead, betting on the future where we have seen a lot of teams succeed quickly. And we've seen a lot of quarterbacks who, well,

is he going to be ready? Should they really start them in year one? All those things. And this is, you know, he's had all this experience behind the scenes, but they're the Herbert example is the one I really love. They're like, oh, he's, you know, they're going to have to develop him for a year. And then he gets in the game and throws 30 touchdowns in his first year and as a franchise quarterback instantly and it's like even his own coaches weren't very good at reading the room with Justin Herbert and how ready he was going to be. Christopher says, what are the Vikings up to 30 million in cap space for 2025? Currently nine over the cap for 2026.

They put the boot to the Rogers talk. Yeah, we can get into that. I talked about the cap space the other day, and I just think that when you still have holes in the roster and players you could sign and a draft class to sign and cap space that you can carry over that there really isn't. Something that has to be brewing. Now, I mean, maybe I don't know what it is. Sometimes we get surprised by trades or signings.

I don't know who you would sign that would take up that much cap space, but sometimes you get surprised by a signing or something. And maybe look, maybe they were setting up these contracts for the idea or the possibility that they would just be able to do it with Rogers if they decided that's what they wanted to do. That's also possible. We don't really know how this came to an end ish. It's, I say end ish because if JJ McCarthy was walking down the stairs and

Torres meniscus again, they would probably call Rogers back. So put JJ McCarthy in a bubble and let's make sure that doesn't happen. But, uh, and just having cap space is something you guys have to get used to. When you go to the, uh, middle of the season, let's say that JJ McCarthy starts off six and two, and then you're at that trade deadline and okay, well now some random player who was really good is available and you can go out and get them and you can afford

his cap hit and, and you know, you're good to go. And as far as, uh, the being over the cap for the next season, well, that's the point about rolling over the cap space is to be able to deal with that. They also have plenty of chances to restructure contracts and the cap is going to go up and all those things. Right. But I think that's really the way that they're thinking about it is, well, we can roll over this cap space. We can create as much as we need right now and then deal with the rest next year.

But I'm guessing that they're still going to be able to work things out for next year. So it doesn't have to mean that they're going to go out and make a trade or, or something like that, but they could. And that's the point. And that's really the point about JJ McCarthy in general that go all the way back to the Kirk cousins era. And the last couple of weeks with JJ McCarthy, we went over this over and over again about how this was the plan.

And the reason it was the plan was during the Kirk cousins era, it was such a struggle for the Vikings to have a free agency like this. It was such a struggle for them to have a free agency where they could go out and fill the spaces that they needed and where they could bring back the players that they wanted. Like think about from 2019 to 2020 where Xavier Rhodes left, Everson Griffin left Trey Wayans, basically half the defense, Lindvall Joseph, they all went out the door because the Vikings

couldn't afford to keep them. And in this case, now they look at their weaknesses, this off season, they go into it and they say say we can add a defensive tackle. Can add two defensive tackles actually two offensive lineman actually not, not one player with the hope that that guy can revamp the whole defense. Remember the Delvin Tomlinson or the Michael Pierce? Well, we'll make one signing and we'll hope that that guy just completely has a trickle down effect and changes everything. Well, that's not really how it often works.

Those moves were hoping and praying to try to save their butts. Really? That, that, that average type of signing was going to be so significant. It was going to change everything and it didn't work, but now they end up bringing back Byron Murphy. They can bring back Harrison Smith. They can sign the defensive tackles and now have a complete defense and add Isaiah Rogers.

There could be another cornerback in the mix. And then, uh, you know, when it comes to the backfield, being able to add to the backfield, being able to add to the backfield, being able to add to the offensive line. So there's just. So many opportunities for them in free agency this year to fill up the spaces that they needed and they're able to do it because JJ McCarthy is their quarterback. And when you talk about next year, like that's the thing, right? McCarthy is not getting any more expensive for next year.

And the quarterbacks are the highest paid quarterback in the NFL is $60 million. And JJ McCarthy is going to be about five. I mean, it just tells the story right there of what the Vikings can do. And there was also talk about a story. There was something out there that the Dallas Cowboys and I think CD lamb and Dak Prescott had gone to, I forget where I saw this. Sorry. I had gone to Cooper cup and they were trying to get Cooper cup to become a

Dallas Cowboy and they were recruiting him and they were like, Hey, come to Dallas, play with us, we're going to win all that stuff. And then when Dallas is front office, found out how much Cooper cup wanted, they said, guys, stop talking to Cooper cup. It's not going to happen. And that tells the story right there of the $60 million contract for a good quarterback who has led top offenses before when he's got everything around him, but they are now not going to be able to do stuff like that, make that extra signing.

Whereas the Vikings could make the extra signing, they could take the risk of saying, all right, we're going to invest in a Jonathan Allen, even though he is a little on the older side, but you can take that risk because if it doesn't work out, they got another defensive tackle. Like this is the point about the Vikings for so long with Kirk Cousins is that they did this dance of, all right, well, if this goes right and that goes right and this guy develops and we don't have any depth at that position, but if everybody stays healthy and then how often did that ever work out?

I remember doing the math on it. Let's say there's a five different things that have to hit for the Vikings to win and they all have 50% chance. Well, it's takes a miracle for all those things to hit statistically. But in this case, if Aaron Jones gets banged up, well, they went and got another running back. And if the defensive line, if it gets banged up or it's not perfect, they've got multiple guys there.

Even in the cornerback room, where I could see more additions coming. In the cornerback room, they go out and get an Isaiah Rogers to be quality depth and a proven player. Well, you have to give that guy money and we'll see what happens at backup quarterback. But even then the backup quarterback position was skimped on for years.

I mean, it's Sean Mannion, it's Nick Mullins, and you know, you guys know how I don't really care that much about the backup quarterback position, but still they were in a spot at backup quarterback for so long where they couldn't pay it any money. So if they lost the starting quarterback, it was just pretty much over. And that's exactly what happened in 2023. Well, if they need to go get a Carson Wentz and they need to pay him $7 million, they can do that because they've got the cap space.

So there's, I mean, there's the whole thing. It's just such a better idea to go with JJ McCarthy, stick to the plan. This is where they started from in day one. This is where they wanted to get to, which is to have McCarthy ready to step in to a very good roster. Now, as far as how he's going to look, how he's going to perform, I think that that will be a fun journey to follow because he did miss time and he's going to have to come

back to the point where he was last year. But now we're going to see that progress from day one. And this is something that Vikings fans have not had in a long time is seeing a young quarterback coming to his own from day one and in the best case scenario, that's a really cool thing in football. I mean, if you think about, all right, the coolest thing in football is clearly winning the super bowl, obviously. But right behind that is but right behind that is what

right behind that is when your team drafts a young quarterback and is developing in front of your eyes and you see that player becoming better and better and better, and then takes that next step at some point. And I don't know if it's going to happen. You don't know if it's going to happen. Nobody knows how it's going to work out with JJ McCarthy, but if it does, and he's being given every opportunity to succeed, if it does, it's one of the coolest things in sports. I mean, think about if you were in DC last year or Houston the year before, and I know

Houston is screwed a lot of stuff up since then but if you were in Houston the year before and CJ Stroud is your draft pick and there's some bumps and some good games and some bad games and then you see it click and he takes this big next step few things for a franchise are more energetic more fun, more exciting. And that's what you're looking for with JJ McCarthy. The expectations are high with a team coming off of 14 win season. And McCarthy does have to take over a veteran team. And this is why I said, I understand why they would consider this because

McCarthy is taking over a team with a bunch of players who just won 14 games last year and the bar is set high. The NFC North is really tough. The schedule is really tough. And I remember talking about this when we discussed the idea of bringing back Sam Darnold. And my thing was I could see the Vikings saying, okay, this is going to be a really, really tough

season to go up against these teams and these pass rushers. And maybe we do want to give JJ McCarthy more time. Now I would have understood that with Sam Darnold because you already know how Sam Darnold fits in the offense. He's in his prime. He was a top draft pick. He led the team really well. So if they wanted to do that, it would have made more sense to me because they

already know how he fits in and what they can do with him. But the minute that it was over with Sam Darnold and he went to the Seattle Seahawks, it's time to put it on to JJ McCarthy and it's okay to set the bar high for him stepping in and he does have a year and you'll hear it probably a million times. Well, this is a guy who has no experience and that's true and it is true. And that's again, that's again why it would have made some sense to bring back Sam Darnold if they did it is that he doesn't have any experience and there is going to be a learning curve, but at the same time,

it's not like he's never seen a football before he's been with the organization now for this entire time and a full off season is key. And I think that also is another takeaway here because I've mostly been focusing on like, this was right. This was right. This was the right way to go. So that like, good job Vikings. You did the thing that you planned to do forever and you were supposed to do. Well done.

And I can't wait to talk to them free agents, you know, like, okay, that was my first takeaway, uh, but you know, as we look forward to what JJ McCarthy, uh, has done already and like what he's going to do, I mean, he has gone through a lot already and set himself up for having that knowledge of how he needs to train this off season. That's the key point that I should focus on is that with this, with the report from Tom Palacero that the Vikings are not going after Aaron Rogers, and I'll read it again, just if you're joining the

show, what that would say to me is that over the last six weeks or so, since JJ McCarthy got onto the field, that his health is in good shape. And that was also the most important thing because as we were talking about the Rogers deal, I just could not make heads or tails of it. Just could not, you know, like, why would they do this? Why would they do this? And one thing that I kept coming back to the only reason that they might is if they

felt like they didn't love what they saw behind the scenes, if they didn't love what they saw from his knee, if they didn't love what they saw from how he was looking early on, that that would maybe scare them into signing Aaron Rogers. But what this means today with the Vikings turning to JJ McCarthy kind of semi-officially, but not exactly, but sort of, I'll read the reports again and we can get into that. But with them more or less coming out with this today, that it's JJ McCarthy's team, that means to me that he's good to go health wise.

And what I heard at the combine, and if you guys listened to those podcasts, what I had heard at the combine was that McCarthy was up over 200 pounds. So he was putting the weight back on and that he was going to start the off season program on time, ready to go all set, which again was why I thought, okay, it's McCarthy time. That was the one thing I was waiting to hear. And then once I heard that, here you go. And then it made me question myself. So once again, this is just exactly like so many other situations.

And it is something to think about going forward with the Vikings, but maybe our drama is over. I don't want to totally declare it because you never know what could happen next, but KOC there were talks that he could get traded. Didn't happen. Justin Jefferson talks that he could get traded. Didn't happen. Kirk cousins.

There were reports that the Vikings wanted him back and they went out and told everyone they wanted him back. Didn't happen. that the Vikings wanted him back and they went out and told everyone they wanted him back. Didn't happen. Throw this one in the bucket of stuff that was speculated about and I'm sure they talked about internally. I am not saying that reporting is wrong, that they talked about it internally. I'm not saying that, but there have been so many over dramatic type of things that have been tossed into the atmosphere with the Minnesota Vikings and what have they done? They've just done the rational thing all along.

And where I kept coming back to was this would be so out of character for this leadership. This is not how they have acted since day one. They have had a pretty specific plan, the competitive rebuild and they have gone along that road exactly the way that quasi Adolfo Menta laid it out for us early on was they were not going to tank, but they were going to get their salary cap, right? They were going to be aggressive and make moves to stay in, in the competition, not necessarily looking five years out, but make moves like trade for TJ

Hawkinson, even trading up to get Dallas Turner, like aggressive moves to make you know, big splashes right away. So they've done that. They, they never told us that they were just going to sell every, every part and try to get as many draft picks and tank or anything like that. So they didn't do that. They, they never told us that they were just going to sell every, every part and try to get as many draft picks and tank or anything like that. So they didn't do that, but they did move on from veterans. They did get the salary cap right. They did go ahead and work out extensions with key players that they had drafted,

like Darasaw and Justin Jefferson, pillar players who are going to be here a long time and they did draft the quarterback and they did move on from Kirk Cousins just the way that they had signaled the entire time and then even with Sam Darnold at the end of the playoffs. The most obvious thing was that they would move on from Darnold or he would move on from them because JJ McCarthy was ready to go. And it sounds from Palisero, I guess he was on Kayfan, like they did make an offer to Sam Darnold to come back maybe for a year, which his contract in Seattle is only a year anyway. So, just in general, they have stayed with the plan. And the plan was even to have Sam Darnold for a year

and then move on to JJ McCarthy. So here we are. We have reached now the point, it seems anyway, it's hard to declare with 100% certainty of anything with the Vikings, but here we are with the Vikings executing the plan that they laid out. And all along the way on the outside, there was a lot of, well, they could do this crazy thing.

They could do this other crazy thing. What about this crazy thing? And they haven't done anything crazy. But now to the reporting, because I know that this is a fascination. Here's my read on the reporting about Aaron Rogers is that the Vikings were seriously considering Aaron Rogers and Aaron Rogers was very serious about considering the Minnesota Vikings. I would guess that Rogers was

always more interested in them than he was. Wait, he was more interested in the Vikings than the Vikings were in Rogers. But I promise you with a quarterback like Rogers that there are people inside buildings, there are owners, there are coaches, there are GMs, there are our personnel people, there's scouts, there's whatever who would look at Aaron Rogers and say, man, let's just sit JJ for one year and this guy can still sling it and go for it. So I have no doubt whatsoever that the Vikings were talking about. Aaron Rogers for this entire time.

I don't doubt that at all that they were debating it, that they were mulling it over, that maybe they were in communication with his side about what it would cost. And which is a huge factor. How long does he want to play? Does he want to, does he want things done a certain way? Remember there was a story that Peyton Manning almost joined the San Francisco 49ers instead of the Broncos. But the reason that he didn't was because Jim Harbaugh wanted his offense his way and Peyton Manning wanted his offense his way,

which could also be a potential conflict. So they would have things that they would have to go through when it came to the Aaron Rogers decision. And there's a lot of people involved in decisions like this. The head coach, the G I know that's one of the reports was like, well, it's basically on KOC. Well, that's not really how anything works in the NFL because you have these guys who own the team that are worth billions of dollars, who really are the ones that call the shots at the end of the day. So they're the ones that get ideas presented to them and then make decisions. That's the way that I've always understood this with the Wilfs since

quasi-dafile Mensa got here was the Vikings leadership on a story like Aaron Rogers, they would go and have a meeting with the owners and present the ideas and they would make a decision together, which I think is a very rational way of doing it and not all NFL owners do it rationally like that. So as that's going on, I think Aaron Rogers felt like there was a possibility. This is trying to put together the tea leaves felt like there was a possibility that the Vikings could make that decision and go with him. And I have no doubt whatsoever that from Roger's side, he was telling everybody. I want to be a Viking.

I want to go there. I want to throw it to Justin Jefferson. I want to have KOC as my coach. That team can compete for a championship. They just won 14 with Sam Darnold, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And that's how it continued to live. And then when they got to the end of the road on the decision, that's when they say, all right, we're not doing this right now because you

never know what can happen, but you're not doing this right now. It's time to introduce the free agents. It's time to get it out there in the media that we're not doing it. So Palisero goes and does his report and they say, stop trying to trade for JJ McCarthy and all that sort of stuff. So, uh, you know, it, it's totally understandable that there would be these reports and I would suggest just not wasting your time on social media,

attacking a reporter for telling you what they were hearing essentially from Roger's side, because you're not going to attack Palisero for telling you what you wanted to hear, right? Which is clearly coming from the Viking side. And that's fine. Like that's, that's how it works is these reporters, they gather information. And sometimes I think there is a lack of vetting when it comes to it, but think about how long this dragged out. Like this to me was real.

This was a very real possibility. This was not some reporter just making it up and throwing it out there because it took a while before we got this news. They could have come out at any time with with telling Tom Pellicero. They could have come out at any time with the same exact report, but they waited, it appears until they had made an actual decision to not go after him. Now Diana Rossini reported that they're not in or out on Rogers. They're just not doing it right now. So I think all that means to me is just that when it comes to, uh, Aaron Rogers,

if they got into the off season program and let's say they don't get Carson Wentz or they don't get Joe Flacco and they end up with whoever as a backup quarterback that they wouldn't trust. And McCarthy gets hurt in practice, then they might do something like that. And at that point it would make sense because your team is so good from the roster perspective that you have to have somebody who can win with them. And this is why the Wentz idea is fine with me.

Flacco I'm a little less high on because I mean, when it's like, when it's been fine as a backup for a couple of teams. He worked for, uh, the Rams. He worked fine for the Kansas city chiefs last year. So if he ends up being the backup quarterback and McCarthy were to get hurt, you can win a lot of games still with Carson Wentz. And I mean, that's the thing. So, you know, Daniel in the comments saying it's funny how the

reporters were, were wrong, but I don't think that they were. I don't think that reports that the Vikings were considering Aaron Rogers were wrong because look how long it took in order for us to get this. And yes, uh, Randy drew lock is a fine decision to whence is the one that I think you'd be totally comfortable with like winning, right? Like, like winning. Uh, he could actually, I know yet. Nobody likes Carson Wentz. I guess it's fine. Like nobody likes any backup quarterback. That's why they're a backup, but you could still win games. The last time he was a starter in

Indianapolis, they were close. Now it's, let's not make it too much about Carson Wentz. You know, I don't care about the backup thing. The whole point is just that, uh, if they have a backup that they can trust and they wouldn't have to necessarily go to Aaron Rogers, if McCarthy got hurt in the off season, that's why you can't fully close the door. That's why the Palisero report is that they are not pursuing Rogers at this time, because you just never really know what's going to happen. But as far as the reporting goes, my initial reaction was probably similar to you guys, which was, look, it just seems like, you know, Aaron wants to be

a Viking. So he's trying to push that and he's trying to tell everybody he wants to be a Viking, but they could have easily signed their free agents come out, done the press conferences, told us all, Hey guys, like we love Aaron Rogers, but it's just, we're, we're JJ McCarthy people. And, and don't worry about that. They could have done that at any time and they didn't do it until today, which is much longer than any of us would have expected for it to go on when

you have an off season, like they did. So, and you know, I joked about that and everything else. And I assume all of you knew that I was just messing around, but it was a pretty clear indication that they didn't want public statements being made. Think about even like what cam Hayward said to the media for Pittsburgh. Cam Hayward said is something like, I don't care if Rogers wants to be here. It doesn't want to be here. Whatever.

Yeah. They didn't probably want anybody saying anything like that. So now we're going to hear from free agents today. I'll do another podcast reacting to that. What we hear from the Vikings free agents that are going to talk to us this afternoon. I'm excited to get to know some new players. So that will be fun. I don't think though.

I really don't think that. Yeah. I see the, I know what you're saying, Daniel. I know you're a rational, uh, person and you're not trolling or anything, but I don't think that what was being said behind the scenes and I know maybe the wording was, was very like couched and it was well, 50 50 and behind the scenes, they're talking about it and they're thinking about it and it made it maybe seem like it was close but then Schafter would keep coming out and say well it's not close and it was just it was not a fun time for anybody to be sitting here on pins and needles wondering are they going to do the right thing here and go to their guy or are they gonna sign this dude who is torn apart franchises recently. What is it in my mind it's that they were reporting what they were hearing.

Accurately that the vikings were considering it that is what i think. we're considering it. That is what I think. And having talked to people myself, Hey, is this real? Is this something that's being considered? Kevin Seifer came out with the same thing talking about it. Yes. Were the chances ever high? That's what I don't know because Mike Silver said 50 50.

I don't know if it was ever 50 50, but it was a thing that the team was discussing. So don't waste your keystrokes going after a reporter who was sharing the information that they were hearing. You can get annoyed with the insider language. I feel you on that. I have been very frustrated myself with reports like the, you know, where are they going to trade Justin Jefferson and all that? Because things get talked about. This is the problem a little bit with every insider needing to get any

information out there is things are talked about in organizations all the time. There was a report that the Carolina Panthers last year talked about trading Bryce young. After he had struggled and after they benched him and now they feel great about Bryce young, they decided now it's not a good idea, but they had to have that conversation. They had to go see if someone was going to give them a first round pick for Bryce young, right? You have to have the conversation.

I'm sure at some point in the Vikings front office, somebody in a meeting said, should we trade Justin Jefferson and draft Malik neighbors? He's that good. I'm sure somebody said it, but that doesn't mean it was ever close to actually happening. And that's how I feel a little bit about this is I'm sure that they were having the discussion. How close was it really? That's what I can't tell. But it also is water under the bridge at this point

because the Vikings are doing the right thing. They're moving onto JJ McCarthy and that means salary cap health in the future, because if you sign Aaron Rogers, okay, you have 30 million in cap space. You can't use all of that. Guess what they would have had to do? Probably use the void year monster and stuff like that, right? They would have had to have done some stuff to that cap that would not have been good for the future and would have been damaging potentially to JJ McCarthy when he was ready to take over. So not doing that means cap health. It also means finding out. This is something that I have believed in for so long, which is that finding out has value.

Finding out what you have in JJ McCarthy in 2025 is so valuable because if JJ McCarthy plays really, really well, then it's on. And that means anything and everything it takes, pedal to the metal, which they've already started doing to some extent, but it means any trade, any draft pick you gotta give away, anything you need to do to win, well this guy's on his rookie contract. You do it. If he plays really well, if he plays in the middle, maybe you're taking your time with it. If it's a seven and ten season and there's ups and downs, then

you're taking your time with it. I mean, look at what Washington is done by the way, like they realize Jayden Daniels, the guy so they go trade for Laramie Tunsel and Debo Samuel. Like that's you. If JJ McCarthy plays well this year, it's just, it's on, it's all in. If he plays okay, then you keep, keep the path and you look forward to him taking a next step, right?

And if he plays really poorly, then at least, you know, you, you didn't hit it. At least you know that you didn't hit it, or at least you know that there's a realistic possibility you didn't like even with that's probably what's so frustrating about the Anthony Richardson thing in Indianapolis because he's been hurt so much and they, he hasn't played well, but he's done enough winning and they're sort of not finding out. And the Vikings need to find out about JJ McCarthy.

If you sit them another year and Aaron Rodgers comes in and wins 10 games and you lose in the first round of the playoffs, you didn't find out a thing and now you start from square one and you never really know how the, you know, how the season's going to go. Like you never really know like is Detroit going to fall off or is Green Bay. They're not going to be as good as they once were. So there might be opportunity there to be the top team in the league or in the NFC, NFC North, even if JJ McCarthy is just pretty good. And Randy says, you know, expecting a Bo Nicks type year.

If he has a Bo Nicks type here, that's great. And that's the thing about Denver. Denver knows that Bo Knicks is their guy. So they're making moves to build around him, but no one is declaring that JJ McCarthy is the next great quarterback in the entire universe. Right. No one knows how good JJ McCarthy is going to be. I have a sample size to work with having seen every training camp practice.

And the Vikings have a much bigger sample size to work with having seen him behind the scenes last year of what he's like with the work ethic as a teammate, what he knows intellectually and all that stuff, but nobody really knows until he plays, but it's so much better to find that out than it is to try to take another one of those rolls at the dice, big swings. Let's just give it a shot and see if something crazy happens with a 41 year old quarterback. It's just so much a shot and see if something crazy happens with a 41 year old quarterback. It's just so much better to go forward.

So now we can talk about a lot of other stuff. Yes. All right, because it was pretty rough having this discussion and I, you know what? I am. I am proud of you guys though, because I really thought when the Rogers thing came out, that there was going to be like half the fan base was going to fight about this and they, you know, it's just going to be this big battle. And I feel like everybody in Viking land sort of galvanized together, put your politics aside, put your backgrounds aside,

everybody gather around and sing that you don't want Aaron Rodgers. Uh, so at least there was that at least there was that. Um, where am I getting the idea that green Bay had a bad off season? Did they have a good off season? Did they do anything that moved the needle at all? They signed a mediocre guard. I don't know. So what do they do with the cap space? Hmm. I think that now this has been thrown out there that Jair Alexander might get released and you could definitely see the Vikings being interested. I'm a little less interested in Jair Alexander, but hey, it worked with Aaron Jones. The only former Packer Aaron that anybody needs in the Vikings building.

Aaron Jones. Uh, it really worked with him. The kind of, Oh, well, the Packers are letting go of this washed up guy. And then he wasn't washed up. He played really well. Uh, Jair Alexander paired with Byron Murphy, Mackay Blackman, Isaiah Rogers. If that's what they're looking forward to and waiting with their cap space to

be able to outbid everyone on Jair Alexander. It is a tale as old as time though. The Packers move on from some player and then the Vikings are like right here. Uh, you know, that, that is something that they have done many times. Hey, just over to the West a little bit. Come over to Minnesota. They've done it many times, but I would not blame them for it. I just am not very sold on where Jair stands right now.

Is he still good? Because he hasn't played a ton of football recently and seem to be having problems inside that locker room. Those are things I would be a little concerned about with him. But if somebody gets cut because they can't be traded, the Vikings are there. If there's a last minute person like Tevin Jenkins, who is weighing all of his options and is just taking longer. Like think about what they were able to do is Stefan Gilmore last year. Stefan Gilmore had multiple offers and the Vikings were able to knowing that they'd have cap space this year, create a deal for him where he

could come in, but they also didn't spend every dollar last year. I think we have the same conversation is that they at the end of training camp or at the end of the offseason beginning of training camp, they still had like 15 million bucks or something and we're going to look, where are they going to spend it? What are they going to do? And they were able to sign Stefan Gilmore with that. It could be that it could be that they just want to be cap healthy. It could be that they still need other positions.

I mean, they need another wide receiver. They're still unclear at left guard. They have some depth that they need another wide receiver. They're still unclear at left guard. They have some depth that they need to fill out in the cornerback room. I think they might just be looking at it as if you nickel and dime some of those signings and spend eight to $10 million in a free agency to get a backup quarterback because Flacco's not doing it for free. Wentz isn't doing it for free. Whoever they bring in backup quarterbacks do cost money. So that eats up some percentage of it. You sign a few more guys, you sign a draft class, and all of a sudden

you're looking around going, Oh, okay. Actually we only have like 20 million left. And you want to be in a position where you can trade for somebody and. Bring them in. If there's a trade opportunity in the middle of the season. So that's important. Wade says, what do you think that JJ came into our camp with a, um, with a hundred percent meniscus, it seems more likely he came in with some level of it.

Oh yeah. I have no idea. I mean, as far as like last year, you're saying. If he came into training camp last year with some meniscus issue. Yeah, I don't know. A lot of times just in general with players, they have injuries that are existing and they're playing through that they don't even know about or whatever. I think that's probably what happened, but I'm not a meniscus expert. out or whatever. I think that's probably what happened, but I'm not a meniscus expert.

All I know is that when it comes to the meniscus, it's a little bit more dicey than an ACL with an ACL. It's like, whoop, whoop. So that thing back together and off you go with a meniscus. And I had actually a knee surgeon on the show months ago talking about this, that there's less blood flow to that area and it can result in inflammation. And that's the second procedure and all of that. But that's why today is so important is that knowing now, at least the way Palisaro phrase it, they're not pursuing Rogers at this time, knowing

they're not pursuing Rogers says that time, knowing they're not pursuing Rogers says that they feel good about where JJ McCarthy is health-wise. It would have been very concerning if they had gotten Rogers because that would have said to me that they don't feel really confident about that. Um, just as, as far as the Packers go, yeah. I mean, I guess you can argue that banks is like, anyone is better than Myers and banks is better. I mean, that seems like kind of nitpicky or whatever, but, um, cause I don't think they got much better as an offensive line. I think they're the same team with a harder schedule.

The Packers had the same cushy schedule as everybody else in the NFC North. Uh, but Jordan love maybe if he doesn't try to come back early, like I'm taking the Packers seriously as a contender. I just don't think that they have done anything this off season to move the needle about where they were last year, which is a, which is a contender in the NFC North, but I could see them regressing with the harder schedule. And if the Vikings get really good quarterback play out of JJ McCarthy, they have strengthened their roster significantly from where they were last year.

They really have. Uh, Jared says, uh, Jefferson has raved about Jalen Naylor knows he could be a legit player in the league. One thing I'll tell you about just Justin Jefferson is that I could ask him about the long snapper and he would say that, well, that guy actually is the best. I could ask him about, uh, the 52nd guy on the roster and he would say that he loved them because Justin Jefferson's a good teammate. I'm not saying I'm not down on Jalen Naylor.

I think Jalen Naylor is a nice contributing player, but I also look at the options in free agency. And there was something I saw pop up about Tyler Lockett and I've been on board with the idea of a veteran wide receiver who could catch the ball underneath and Jaylen Naylor being a part of this, this isn't Madden with injuries off, you don't have to have wide receiver one, two, three, and no one else. And again, this is what the Vikings have done for so many years in the past. It was basically one and two and then nothing else. Now with the depth chart, you are allowed to go deeper than two

on the depth chart because you've got the cap space to do it. So this doesn't, this decision, if it is a decision or this report that they're not pursuing Rogers, just to put a bow on it, it doesn't change anything from where we thought the Vikings were going to be and what we thought the Vikings were going to do. But now what this report allows you to do is finally celebrate that off season as fans and really dive into what the depth chart looks like and really dive into what these players are going to bring and what they're going to do in the draft next because every discussion over the last week or two has just been. Yeah, you know, I'd like to talk about what they're going to do, but man, what if they get Rogers then what's going to happen? That's how every conversation is gone. Now we can slide that to the side and look at the draft and look at these free agents and talk about the future and study JJ McCarthy. And I can't wait for OTAs now.

I can't wait for, we get one OTA practice each week. So they have, I think three or four OTAs and then mini camp. And the media is open to usually one of the OTA practices and then all of the mini camp and usually, especially in the Kirk era, you kind of go out there and like, all right, you know, what's, uh, Kellen Mon look like, or maybe we'll get our first look at. Brian awesome or something, but it was not very intense. It was mostly just, all right, well, we're kind of here to just talk to people and see what happens now. OTA is like, let's see how JJ looks right. That it's going to be every single time we get a chance to see JJ McCarthy.

Uh, assuming we get to training camp. I mean, yeah, like J J, uh, Just said, can't wait till the camp reports. I can't wait till the camp reports. The daily assessment of JJ McCarthy, how the offense is coming together, how he's gelling with receivers, how he's working with the coaches, all those things. I mean, let that hype begin today. So it's a good day for you guys. I think it's a good day for you guys.

I think it's a good day for you guys. And now we can talk about like who they're going to draft and all that stuff. Like it's good day for you guys. So anyway, all right. Well, I'm good for now because I'm going to be doing some other stuff today as well. I've got a conversation scheduled with Courtney Cronin, Chris Drupaso, Chris Dupasso, Chris Pass or draft show.

And also we're going to have some free agents talk with us. So make sure you go over to purple insider dot football and get the recap there. But I will also recap what the new Vikings additions have said on this show as well, probably Thursday, cause we're going to get three today and three tomorrow. So probably, um, probably Thursday I'll have that full breakdown on that live show, but there is a lot to come here on the show and now I can finally shake off the Aaron Rogers and start talking about this plan that I have been talking about.

I said to my wife the other day, I was like, do you know how long I've been discussing the JJ McCarthy idea? Like not just him, but the idea of him. 2019. I mean, was that the first time probably 2019 after they missed the playoffs in 2018, I started saying, you just, you need to draft a quarterback. You need to get the cap right. You need to go for it.

And today it feels like, and there's been several other times along the way. It felt like it was really happening today. It feels like it's really happening. So once again, Tom Pellicero saying that they're not pursuing Rogers. They're not trading JJ McCarthy, which we knew they never were. And at least maybe today to all those people who proposed JJ McCarthy trades, they got their clicks in before today. So anyhow, fun show.

Thanks for the huge audience here on a random morning to react to this news. I love the emergency podcast. I hope you guys can tell, uh, always the energy that breaking news brings us. So thank you for your time. And I promise we'll be talking again very, very soon again, purple insider dot football. I did an article today about the lessons learned from this year's free agency. So make sure you go check that out and I will have a breakdown and takeaways from all the free agent press conferences that we do over the next two days over there and here on the show.

So thanks everybody and we'll see you very soon.