Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - EMERGENCY PODCAST: Aaron Jones re-signs with the Vikings

Episode Date: March 9, 2025

Matthew Coller reacts to the news that Aaron Jones is staying with the Vikings on a two-year contract. What does it mean for the future of the backfield? What are expectations for next year?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everybody, welcome to the very first emergency podcast of the free agency period. The Minnesota Vikings have signed Aaron Jones to a two year, $20 million contract with $13 million guaranteed. So Aaron Jones returns to the Vikings backfield. And here's what I want to do. I want to start this emergency podcast with a little PSA. Every time you see a price for a player, there's going to be some sticker shock for two reasons. Number one, that's how the marketplace works in a year where there's not a

lot of very good free agents. So we'll go over that, what their other options were with this situation. The other thing too, is that the salary cap just went up. And so since the salary cap just went up last year, paying Aaron Jones, $7 million is not different than this year paying him $10 million. So two years, 20 million with 13 million guaranteed is also essentially a one year contract because 13 million and fully guaranteed is more like one year contract type of money. So if he does not play well next year and they need to move off of him,

that's not a lot to be able to move off of and deal with in dead cap space. So it's essentially more of a one year contract unless he plays well. And then it will be a two year contract for 10 million. I mean, immediately what I'm seeing on social media in the comments section is it's too much money. It's too much money for Aaron Jones. social media in the comment section is it's too much money. It's too much money for Aaron Jones. Well, last year, Aaron Jones was the ninth best running back in terms of rushing yards in the league average 4.6 yards per carry caught 51 passes and

played too much. I think we all would agree that Aaron Jones was on the field more than he should have been last year was one of his highest usage seasons that he's ever had. But when you look at in comparison in the free agent market for running backs, and I think that we can agree that even though this is a really good class in the draft, that if you're planning on picking say a guard or a defensive tackle in the first round and then you have to wait until either trading down or wait until the third

round to draft a running back, asking that player to come right in and play every snap for the Vikings would have been too much for anybody to ask. If you're drafting RJ Harvey in the third round or something and then, Hey, you're the guy you don't get anybody else to be paired with Now if the Vikings do draft a running back, they'll be able to pair them with Aaron Jones So knowing that the Vikings were going to need a veteran running back to go along with likely drafting one If you look around at the free agent market, here's the other options

The other options would be Rico Dowdell who has never really played before last year and barely went over a thousand yards, but not a, not a bad option, but not proven outside of the one year you have nausea Harris, who is going to end up making more money than this and he has not been a great running back. I think that there's more upside for Najee Harris in the future. If he's not playing with a team that never passes the football or passes it successfully.

But even then Najee Harris has four years of him being just okay and not a great running back and he's going to get paid probably a lot of money. So do you want to pay Najee Harris a ton of money? Not exactly. Do you want to pay Rico Dowdle about the same or more than this? Maybe. But does he have the all around game that Aaron Jones has? They threw the ball to Aaron Jones a lot last year. Does he have the experience? Does he have the locker room stuff?

Maybe they decided, or maybe Dowdle's got other plans to stay with the cowboys. Or maybe they decided that that wasn't somebody that they wanted to go after because he really only has one season of playing in the NFL. The next guy who is available in free agency after those three, after Aaron Jones, Najee Harris, and Rico Dowdell is. Those three after Aaron Jones, Najee Harris and Rico Doudel is JK Dobbins who has been injured and who played about 50% of the snaps last year was pretty good and has some explosiveness, what is still a wild card because of the injury that he had in the past that was very serious and does not have a big sample size of playing all that well either. So those are your only options.

You start talking about the rest of the class and it's, well, this guy's kind of a scat back free agent class. I mean, this guy's a scat back. This guy was good two, three years ago, but he's not that good anymore. And they know exactly what Aaron Jones can do. I think they know exactly how much weight they have to take off of Aaron Jones' shoulders for next season. do. I think they know exactly how much weight they have to take off of Aaron Jones shoulders for next season. And they know what he brings to a locker room and it cannot be ignored

either that no matter what happens a quarterback, which now appears very clearly will be JJ McCarthy. Although we can get into the Aaron Rodgers stuff if you want to, we certainly can get into the Aaron Rodgers stuff eventually because I'm thinking that it's going to be kind of high comedy in a few days. But with Aaron Jones, they throw the ball a lot in Minnesota. And for Aaron Jones last year to have 51 catches, he was used on crossing routes. He was used underneath. He was used on screens. He's somebody that can do a lot of things. If you need him to pass block, he can pass block.

They try to maybe avoid having him do too much of that because he's not the biggest guy, but he is as good of an all around running back as exists in the entire league. One thing that is gone from Aaron Jones that used to be there was the burst that he has the jolt that big play explosive type of speed. It's not the same as it was five years ago, but in terms of being a very effective, solid quality running back, that's what he was last year. He wasn't going to be fourth and one and break three tackles in the backfield. Didn't get a lot of help with that by the way and that's another part of this is the vikings

had some serious flaws once christian derrassol went down and you saw erin jones's numbers come down when they had to put in cam robinson who is routinely been one of the poorest run blocking left tackles and imagine they designed a lot of their run game to follow the left tackle Christian Derrissaw and then suddenly Cam Robinson's in there. That's a big change at right guard. Ed Ingram started the season. He is a more physical run blocker than Dalton Reisner, but he was so much of a liability that they had to bench him. So the line got worse significantly as the season went along and Aaron Jones's play

went down. Now I have some concerns about just the broader picture regression in general about running backs. So last year, just for example, and I know this is injury related, but that's kind of how it goes. Christian McCaffrey in 2023 was as good of a running back as you're ever going to find on earth. And then the following season, they can't get them on the field. That happens kind of a lot in the NFL as running backs get older. And that's my biggest concern about this move. It's not the dollars because I just implore you when it comes to everybody saying this is too much, it's too steep, it's a just go look at the percentage of the salary cap that 13 million guaranteed or 10 million per year takes up. And I would also be surprised if it's even structured to have a $10 million cap. It probably won't because that's just how the Vikings tend to do business. And 13 million guaranteed is the number that really matters.

And as far as him being injury prone, I mean, yeah, the injuries are a concern. Prone, I would not go with, I mean, he's had times like any other running back where he's been out over his career, but it's not like he's had full seasons that he's missing all over the place. It's more that he's been banged up a lot and he was banged up at times last year. It is a legitimate concern that age and the workload that Aaron Jones had last year when

you re-sign him and bring him back and look for the same results. So that's the main question for the Vikings in signing Aaron Jones is, are you looking for the same results? So I just think when we talk about his injury history, it really for this position in this age and the way that the Vikings kept him on the field for the whole season last year, I'm not saying it's not a factor. It is a factor. Age is a factor. Workload is a factor, all of that. But I think for the position, he has a pretty good record of being on the field. It's just that if you're asking Aaron Jones to play.

How many of her snaps he had last year, I don't know, was it 800 snaps or something? It was over 250 carries or in that ballpark. I actually have this right here. Why am I guessing he had last year 255 carries and 51 catches. Like that's a lot. That is a lot of workload for Aaron Jones. That's the big concern.

It's not the money to me because the money is only 13 million guaranteed. And that is where we are these days. I mean, think about it this way. If you want to make a comparison for $10 million a year, the Los Angeles Rams just signed to, to at well for a $10 million contract to, to at well as a 30 catch wide receiver who's been a bust for the Rams. So at the wide receiver position, you're getting for $10 million, a guy who's at the backend of your roster for $10 million, you get Aaron Jones who plays a big role in the receiving game and has been a well above average

running back for his career. And last year I would put him at average. If we put him by, let's check the PFF grade. Where did they have him among starting running backs last year. They had Aaron Jones 13th among starting running backs last year. So if he can repeat the performance in terms of his efficiency, in terms of four and a half yards of carry catching the football, and you know, he's going to bring a lot to the locker room and all that, you know, he's going to be a great leader. He's going to fit. He knows the system he's going to work with. Whoever else comes into that backfield.

Like there's all those good things that Aaron Jones brings. And if he ends up with 160 carries next year for 800, don't test my math here, 825 yards, 160 carries, 825 yards, and he catches 40 passes for the amount of money that they're giving him. That's good production. And I can check on the salary cap. Maybe I can get a look at what even if it was $10 million, even if it's a $10 million cap hit, which I promise you it will not be if we look at what that is. What is the what is the salary cap this year?

It's what is the number? What is the, I'm trying to find the number for the salary cap. It's going to make up like what? 2% or something. I mean, it's not going to be very much. It's not going to be very much. So the thing about this that makes it very justifiable to me, even though I think your concerns are reasonable, if we're talking about which concerns are reasonable and which aren't, I'm not worried about the money. It's very little money compared to what wide receivers are going to get. It's not going to take up a big amount of the cap space.

He's going to get a small raise, but the cap already went up. Like we don't have to be too concerned about that. And for all intents and purposes, it's going to be a one year contract. It's got a two on it. So if they love how he plays, they'll have them for another year. But with only $13 million guaranteed, you could certainly move on from him. So the money to me is not a concern. The workload from last year, the amount of times that he was banged up, the amount of

work that they gave him, 250 carries was his second highest ever. And in his thirties, that is a reasonable concern. So if you're saying, I don't like this Aaron Jones move because he had so much work last year, so many receptions, so many pass blocking reps, so many handoffs, so many times that he was kind of limping off the field that I'm, that I'm concerned that that is going to be a problem going forward. I would tend to agree with you that as a enjoyer of the analytics and the numbers and all those things, I can't tell you, Oh yeah, 30 plus year old running back who just is coming off of a huge year workload.

It'll be fine. I can't, I can't tell you that because the numbers are just not very nice when it comes to that historically. And I wrote about this in my future of the Viking series, when I went over the running back options and I looked at how many running backs were able to gain even 800 yards at this age. It's not many. It was like Adrian Peterson, Frank Gore, super randomly Raheem most start. Like there just was not very many running backs at this age that

we're able to produce. So you are making somewhat of a bet on an outlier, which was already an outlier last year. So you can see where this does become dicey. And if it was more money, I would be more concerned. It's a little less, it's less money. And I think the key to this is two things about bringing back Aaron Jones. Number one is when we look over, if you say, man, I don't like this move, don't like bringing Aaron Jones back. You got to tell me who else you were bringing in.

What other running back were you interested in signing as opposed to Aaron Jones? Because I think we can all agree that if the Vikings spent the 24th overall pick on a running back, it better be Ashton Gentile falling down the board. It better be somebody who's unbelievable. It can't just be, well, you know, this running back's pretty good, spend 24 on him. In the draft, they're going to have to spend

their first round pick either at guard or defensive tackle. And Cam Akers is a try. That's a try. You're also suggesting if you say Cam Akers, a guy who tore both Achilles. So I think that Aaron Jones has way less injury risk a guy who tore both Achilles so I think that Aaron Jones has way less injury risk than someone who tore both Achilles and has missed two full seasons. Aaron Jones has he missed one full season his entire

career? I don't think he has or at least not in a really long time and last year played every single game so I can't buy Cam Akers. Khalil Herbert was good a couple years ago. J.K. Dobbins, didn't he have the Achilles injury? Rico Dowdle is one year of playing well. I mean, that to me is not a great bet. Najee Harris, you pay way too much. Like all those things.

I mean, you guys who want acres re-signed, I mean, can camakers run the ball 150 times? Like I don't even know. I like camakers a lot. I think he's a warrior the way that he came back. I mean, can cam acres run the ball 150 times? Like I don't even know. I like cam acres a lot. I think he's a warrior the way that he came back. But if that's your bet, like that to me is, are you trying to save like 5 million bucks

to make a much worse bet on cam acres? And he didn't look to me over the last two years like anything more than just a contributing running back. So if you are looking for somebody who could have to be the guy, I don't know that acres is the one. I mean, what I mean, you're some of the comments who cares about torn Achilles, who cares about torn Achilles is a pretty bold statement. I mean, come on, like that's pretty serious. If a main part of this concern is Aaron Jones, I mean, that, that to me is, is absolutely wild.

Like that you just don't have a better option if the best thing that you guys are coming back with Jordan Mason is an RFA. So he's not a free agent. He's a restricted free agent, which means if you make an offer his team's going to match it the same with Jaylen Warren. So if you're telling me that Aaron Jones is not a better option than every, I mean, or as, or as a worse option than Cam Akers, that's bizarre to me, then Khalil Herbert, then J.K. Dobbins, who's also had injuries.

I think those are arguments that don't really hold up very well. I mean, show it to me. Show me how it's going to be a better option for not that much money for Aaron Jones. And that's where we're really going to have to work on this throughout the next half hour or so as we break this down, is it's just not that much money. I will Google it for you. What is the salary cap, NFL salary cap, the exact number for this year, 2025? It is $279.2 million. 25 it is two hundred and seventy nine point two million dollars.

So let's just assume that Aaron Jones's cap hit is not going to be $10 million. But even if it is 10 divided by 279, is that how you do that 3.5% of the cap? I'm not really concerned about 3.5% of the cap. And it's not even going to make up that this year by the way they're going to structure it. That's just not much. If, yeah, maybe O'Marian Hampton is the guy, but here is the other part of it,

is they do have to draft someone. I completely agree with any of you who says Quin John Judkins, Ryan wants Kam Skattaboo. Okay, perfect. That is the plan that they should have in place. They should not have a plan in the backfield where you're talking about having Aaron Jones do this again. And I don't think that the money is reflective of that

because we just saw like Saquon Barkley reset the market and what did he make in his new deal? $20 million per year. So if you're talking about half of what the top of the market is yet, his workload was extremely high for last year. I think the contract really strongly suggests that they are not planning on having Aaron Jones carry the ball 250 times. So if the plan is you have a proven running back who has already bucked the

age trend, who knows your offense, who could catch the ball is good out of the backfield is more of a smart runner and a tough runner than he is blazing speed for his entire career. You go back, what did he run? Did he run a four or five, 40 or something? He was at UTEP. I mean, my goodness. Like we're not talking about a first round draft pick

who only ever did this based on his speed. It's always been vision. It's always been tackle breaking, toughness, his ability to find a little bit of space where there isn't any. And if you look at last year, four and a half yards of carry is very solid for Aaron Jones. But if we're projecting going forward,

we're projecting into next year that he would not, that if he could be that efficient, but he would not have the same type of workload, then I think you're in very good shape as long as you're looking to the draft. And this is the exact right year to look to the draft. There are a dozen running backs who you can make an argument for will be really good. Very good talents, guys who crush the combine, guys who have huge statistics. Just to throw an example out there, someone who stuck out to me at the combine

and with his numbers is RJ Harvey from UCF. So let's just say that in the third round with that 97th overall pick at the Vikings spend, the 24, they trade down and they draft a defensive tackle and you get Derek Harman and then you get RJ Harvey with the 97th overall pick and you pair him with Aaron Jones and they split the carries 150-150 let's just say. And RJ Harvey is the young guy who's explosive who's gonna learn for a year behind Aaron Jones or alongside Aaron Jones not behind him necessarily alongside Aaron Jones. behind Aaron Jones or alongside Aaron Jones, not behind him necessarily, alongside Aaron Jones. They split the carries and you have explosion,

maybe a little less polish. And then you have the veteran who could catch the ball extremely well. I mean, remember last year, there was a game where, and I can't remember which one this was, was this the Texans? Where Aaron Jones lined up as a wide receiver and ran a crossing route, full speed,

caught the ball for a touchdown. Like that's just not something you see a ton of NFL running backs doing running crossing routes like a wide receiver, having to catch in space and traffic and all that sort of stuff. I mean, that's stuff that Jones can still do. His age is not going to keep him from doing that unless he's not on the field. And one thing that I know, because Aaron Jones said this to me and several other reporters who were talking to him about it is when he arrived in Minnesota, the

training staff laid out a plan for Aaron Jones, a full fledged thing. This is hour by hour, how Aaron Jones is going to play the entire season, right? And it worked and he played the entire season So the Vikings training staff and Aaron Jones understanding his age understanding where he's been injured in the past I think did a really good job of keeping him on the field They just asked too much of him last year and it started to fade at the end of the year along with the quality of the run blocking of the offensive line, which is another part of this as well. That as the Vikings go into free agency tomorrow, which by the way, real quick free agency special tomorrow. All right, so I'm going to have two different shows tomorrow is going to be an early show and free agency opens for. All right. So I'm going to have two different shows tomorrow.

It's going to be an early show and free agency opens for a couple of hours. And then there's going to be a night show. So if you're enjoying this live emergency podcast, well, there's going to be a lot more of it tomorrow breaking down all the moves. So I'm not going to give every single free agency opinion now before everything changes tomorrow. But my expectation for tomorrow is that there will be some new fat guys and that the Vikings are going to put an emphasis on improving their run blocking because a part of Aaron Jones's

stats last year probably would have been better. I might be able to look this up, but when Aaron Jones was running in short yardage, there was a stat that Ben Gessling and the Star Tribune had. It was absolutely crazy where it was like Aaron Jones got hit in the backfield on 50% of his runs that were on third or fourth down and two or less or something like that or goal line or whatever. They were not able to get a heck of a lot of push when he was in there in short yardage last year and still averaged, uh, around four and a half yards

of carry, which is pretty good. So I think that when it comes to signing Aaron Jones and keeping him that it keeps the core together of this offense of Jefferson Addison Hockinson Jones in the backfield you have also something to consider as well and a reason that I Really liked the Aaron Jones signing last year was that it appears and we will get this answer really soon but it's locked in now it seems that Sam Darnold will not be here and soon, but it's locked in. Uh, now it seems that Sam Darnold will not be here. And I am not buying the idea that Aaron Jones or I'm sorry, Aaron Rogers will be the quarterback.

Uh, I'm pretty sure it's going to be JJ McCarthy hot take. It's going to be JJ McCarthy, the guy they drafted 10th overall, but yeah, Aaron Rogers doing a great job of pushing his own name to Minnesota from behind the scenes. Uh, but Aaron Jones, having the experience that he has and the leadership that he has, when you say leadership, it's like, well, what does that even really mean? But somebody who's a calming voice, somebody who's a great communicator,

someone who knows football incredibly, incredibly well with a young quarterback who is just taking the reins of a veteran team. I think that having him in the backfield is a great thing with somebody who is that kind of leader and someone who has that much knowledge in football IQ. So there's always going to be things. And for the Vikings, we also have to consider this, that every signing they make going forward, or even in the recent past, there is always a focus on the culture that someone's going to be a part of. And we know that Kevin O'Connell and culture are

synonymous. They're enormous. It's a look at the NFL PA survey, number two team in the league, a plus grade for the head coach. And part of that is being able to bring in the type of players who can be leaders and carry out the message of the head coach. And Aaron Jones is one of those players. The respect for Aaron Jones inside of the locker room. These are things that are hard to point to because, Hey, you know, you're not drafting them on fantasy based on leaders, but I'm looking at it through the perspective of the Minnesota Vikings winning football games, not your fantasy team winning fantasy games. So when it comes to that type of impact that one person can have one character person, I think it's enormous

and we saw it last year with Aaron Jones. So you have to add that as part of it. And I'll say again, for those just joining, we've got a huge crowd here for an emergency podcast. I can tell how excited you guys are for free agency and moves and things happening, which is really cool because tomorrow all hell breaks loose and I'll be on here all day. So it'd be a really fun opening of free agency, especially now that we all know the Vikings

are going to have a ridiculous amount of cap space to go out and make moves. They've got a lot of holes. They're going to be extremely active in bringing in players. But the point about Aaron Jones and the money is that if you look at what he made last year and where the salary cap was and Then you look at what he's gonna make this year and where the salary cap is It's basically the same and that's only if we're using Average annual value which the Vikings are not gonna structure a contract out

to have, oh, it's 20 million over two years, it's exactly 10 million. That's not how they're going to do it. It'll be less than that. So for me, this is not a huge investment for someone who brings a lot to the table. And throughout history, we have a lot of things that we look at, and to go back to the analytics point.

We have a lot of things that we look at through the lens of well this is what the bigger picture says. Just to the stream of tomorrow the stream is gonna start at eleven central i believe is the beginning of free agency. So I'm going to have my NFL network TV over here and I'm going to have my social media up there and I'm going to have the phone here and hopefully get a few friends in. Dane Mizzetani has agreed. So, but just to circle back, the point being that there's a lot of big picture stuff. Just for example, they don't shoot mid range shots. I think that's bad in basketball. And that's absolutely true. But you know, a couple of years ago, Chris Paul and the sons went to the finals and he took a lot of mid range shots

because he was the exception to that rule. He was efficient when he did it. It's not efficient all the time. And I think about the same with Aaron Jones, where if you look at the way he performed last year and there's a number of running backs throughout history who have been good contributors into their thirties, whether it was Tiki Barber a few years ago, Frank Gore continued to be a good running back.

He's probably the best example of this. I know he was bigger, but still he's a good example of somebody who continued to bring a lot to a football team. But they're paying him not like a running back who is Saquon Barkley. They're not going to sign this contract with somebody who is the guy and hears all the money and is a huge contract and everything else. That is not what this contract is for Aaron Jones. This is so much more of a contract that's reflective of we want you back. We want you in our building. We want you to run less than 200 times. We want you to catch

passes out of the backfield and we want you to mentor a younger running back. That's what this reads to me in this contract. It's what I would have expected if Jones was coming back. And if you go out and you sign somebody who you don't know Rico Dowdell, for example, uh, you know, maybe based on one year, he could come and bring most of the same stuff, though I don't think he catches passes like Aaron Jones and that's going to be a big part of it. I don't know how he passed protects or JK Dobbins with his injury history. He's a little more explosive than Aaron Jones. But if you look at his success rate, it was not that great in comparison. as well. And so a lot of the running backs you're talking about in free agency, I think we all can agree that you can't draft someone with the 97th overall pick at running back and just be like, you're the guy like RB one, my friend.

I mean, that's not very good. And, uh, no, nine Oh three. I, it's not a $20 million mentor and we need to not focus on the 20 million anyway. It's really 13 million guaranteed is always the number to look at. And so that's more like a contract that's six and a half million over the two years. And 13 million guaranteed is, is a, they can get out of it after one year. It's not that he's just a mentor. Last year he was, what did I say? 13th PFF grade and ninth in total russian yardage where was the i can look this up in terms of running backs in terms of receiving. You had to be one of the better receiving running backs in the league was any.

I had to be there was not a lot of running backs last year that put up huge numbers it's loading i'll tell you when it shows up. There's not a lot of running backs who were legitimate threats in the receiving game. And he was, this is somebody who can still add a lot to your offense. And I think can be a little bit better in certain circumstances. If he has better blocking, that's really a part of this too, that they're okay. So he was eighth in receptions with 51 and he was seventh in receiving yards. That's, that's a lot. I mean, that, that's a lot of contribution and just take this player and put them

at a different position where they pay more for it, take the value of this player, what that brings and put them at wide receiver, put him at corner, put him at edge rusher. I mean, those guys, the equivalent to an Aaron Jones, the somewhat risky, but is coming off a really good year at any other position, is blowing this contract out of the water. It's not, it wouldn't even be close,

because there's going to be so much attention on a very few number of free agents that can actually contribute. So just to give the bigger picture here, and then I could give a couple other opinions on some things that have been out there, and we can talk about that for a bit. But the bigger picture on Aaron Jones is,

I don't think that this contract will restrict them from doing anything. I think that there is some risk involved in bringing back someone who carried the ball so many times. However, the Vikings and their training staff did have a plan for him that worked, and the Vikings do have Aaron Jones's medical information. There's something I think of a lot with going outside and signing free agents who have,

are older or have injuries and everybody loves big names. But if a team is letting an older player go, that means that they know how much that player has been banged up, right? If it's somebody who's good. So the Vikings must be confident in where Aaron Jones's body came out of 2024 and even though he was not quite the same in the second half, it wasn't like he became abominable.

I looked at this not too long ago. I think he averaged like 4.3 yards per carry in the second half and 4.8 in the first half of the season, It wasn't a massive change. And I think some of that could certainly be attributed to the offensive line. But the only way that I would really co-sign the move and say, all right, perfect, good job, is if they come away with a draft pick as well

at the running back position. This could require trading back. It could require taking somebody in the third. Maybe they do move back. It would be great for them to pair someone like Trevion Henderson if he falls or Quinchon Judkins, both guys from Ohio State. I've been very impressed with and what they do

at the offensive line. Ben jokes, Kenny play guard, but this is absolutely true. What they do on the offensive line makes a big difference for how Aaron Jones is gonna play or how the Vikings are gonna run the ball at all. There's only so much running backs can do. And Saquon Barkley is a good example of that. Before he went to the Eagles,

he averaged 3.9 yards per carry with the Giants. A lot of your running back success will be based on how you do with the offensive line. To me, I like Jones as part of the team. Jones as a receiver, which I mentioned is what separates him is him being a receiver. So the first Domino falls, Aaron Jones is a Minnesota Viking going forward. I don't have too many complaints.

It comes along with some risk, but this is a guy that your organization is better if you have Aaron Jones in it. I think everyone would agree with that. The other things that are percolating right now is there was a report that Byron Murphy Jr. is not coming back. And I think now that we've reached 5 PM central and they don't have a contract with him because we're really getting to that deadline, they move back the void date to today, notorious BIG birthday, March 9th, they moved it back and they

sign Aaron Jones, but it seems like at this point it would be shocking. Like, I don't know if I'm going to have to do another emergency podcast, but it would be shocking if they came up with a deal for Byron Murphy with the way that that's been talked about, which means that the free agent, the Paul Sinodibo, the DJ Reed, the Sharvarious ward, the Vikings, if they were ready to spend 15 plus million dollars on Byron Murphy, they should be a big player. Asante Samuel Jr. They should be a big player. Asante Samuel Jr. They should be a big player for all of those guys.

Uh, there's also safeties that are out there. And someone asked earlier about Harrison Smith status. We don't know Harrison Smith status, but that might be something that also is an emergency podcast later tonight. And that is a, another thing worth noting is that I've got no plans. I'm going to be in the house. I'm going to be ready, uh, to do an emergency podcast for whatever comes up. So if I finished this one up in 10 minutes here and then something else

happens, 10 minutes from now we'll be back. So, uh, make sure you set the notifications. Okay. And, uh, sign up for the newsletter purple insider dot football, cause there'll be a reaction over there as well With a little you know more cleanly thought out than just the emergency. Oh my gosh. What's going on? The one other thing Oh Carlton Davis. That's a good name. Thank you, Jackie. That's a good name so there's a lot of corners that I think fit what the Vikings can do and

They likely need more than one of them But there's a handful of those big names that could ultimately be an upgrade on Byron Murphy Jr. I'm not surprised that that didn't work out for him to come back. It will be different in the secondary without if Cam Bynum is not returning because they signed Theo Jackson

and if they're not bringing back Byron Murphy. So there's gonna be overhaul, there's gonna be changes. Mackay Blackman's gonna step in and they're not bringing back Byron Murphy. So there's going to be overhaul. There's going to be changes. Mackay Blackman is going to step in and they're going to bring in free agents. But the way that, uh, Brian Flores was able to navigate a lot of new bodies last year, uh, gives me a lot of confidence that he can do that again, that whatever his onboarding process is for Blake Cashman and for Jonathan Grenard van Ginkel would have known, but Stefan Gilmore, he shows up at the last minute.

Shaq Griffin, he was new. I mean, they really brought in a lot of new people, uh, and they played great right from the outset. They were an elite defense to begin the season when they had everybody all coming together in training camp. And maybe some of that is Brian Flores throws the kitchen sink at the offense during training camp and all that. But the overhaul on the defensive side is going to happen.

It seems unless Byron Murphy surprises us all and signs within the next couple of hours. So that is a major thing to watch for as we go forward. And then just in terms of the Aaron Rogers thing, let's just spend five minutes on it. We'll call it an emergency podcast and then we'll be back for the next one. All I want to say about the Aaron Rogers thing is of course it does not pass the smell test at all.

It so clearly reads like Aaron Rogers wants to be a Viking and not a New York giant. I would too. I would too, Aaron. That's a thing that Aaron Rogers and I be a Viking and not a New York giant. I would too. I would too, Aaron. That's a thing that Aaron Rogers and I could agree on. I would much rather be a Viking and work with, uh, Justin Jefferson than I would the giants and probably get the coach fired there as he just did last year and the other side of town. But what I don't really understand from the reporting community is if Aaron Rogers side and maybe

even Aaron Rogers himself tells you, oh yeah, I want to go to the Vikings. And if it doesn't pass the smell test at all, you shouldn't put it out there. I don't know. We are in a age of infotainment in the NFL where there is so much demand for news for new stuff for what's the latest on the whatever that the insiders are now forced to take any information no matter the level of credibility and just throw it out to the world and then go, I don't know, it didn't come true, it's not my problem. But just thinking about the number of things that have come up already that have been

proven completely wrong. I mean, coming out of the combine, gosh, if you go back and listen to me and Dane Mizutani at the combine, we're like, okay, it looks like they're done with Darnold and moving on and whatever. We get back and then all the insiders say, no, they want to keep Darnold.

Huh, what? That was not the read at all I got from the combine. And then, oh yeah, of course they did. The insiders got played again. Wow. And now Aaron Rodgers is playing them again, saying, oh yeah, I want to be in Minnesota. Trying to force his hand to Minnesota,

trying to put that nugget in their head like, hey, yeah, you could have Aaron Rodgers. I'd put up all those big numbers with Jefferson. Let's chase the Superbowl. It's so clear that his side wants to play here. It reminds me of Richie incognito a few years ago. I saw he's in the news again, but Richie incognito a few years ago claimed that the Vikings wanted him.

And Mike Zimmer was like, no, we didn't want him. But he had one conversation with somebody with the Vikings. And then he just said like, no, we didn't want him, but he had one conversation with somebody with the Vikings. And then he just said like, oh yeah, they wanted me. What? And this feels the same way. Aaron Rodgers wants to be a Viking. No kidding.

If I was a quarterback, I would say, I want to go throw it to Justin Jefferson. Look what just happened with Sam Dardold. And you know what? If Rodgers came here, they'd probably win ten games Or he might be horrendous and they would win five games and then everybody's on the hot seat or worse So it's barely worth discussing. It's so clear what's happening here The Vikings drafted JJ McCarthy and they loved what they saw from JJ McCarthy and when this becomes official

Tomorrow, I'll talk a lot more about that and what McCarthy showed them write an article about it for tomorrow as well But they loved what they saw from JJ McCarthy and they would have fought much harder for Sam Darnold if they wanted anybody else to play quarterback except for JJ McCarthy so I think all that this has told us about how the Complex the industrial complexes my friend Aaron Nagler calls it, when it comes to the reporting is just that all the information you're getting kind of reminds me of Hollywood maybe 20 years ago.

Hopefully if you're younger, you don't remember this, but if you're at least of an age, you remember when Hollywood was so desperate for anything, the Hollywood reporting, it was like one, it was, it was big that anything would go out there and they would just run with it. And it didn't matter if it was true or not. It feels like the same way here, where as long as there's a sliver of truth, then it's worth putting out there.

And all that does is give me an opportunity to tell you what's really happening and also what information we don't know. You know, we, we were not in the room for their conversations with Darnold. So, uh, we don't know exactly how that went on. Um, I did not know that there were a JC Horn rumors. Is that still, uh, going on Lou? I have not seen JC Horn rumors. I've liked JC Horn as an option, but I think Carolina is probably just gonna sign him. Aren't they?

Carolina is about to get serious and try to win games. They're in on DK Metcalf I saw today. So they shouldn't be trading away really good players, but as far as the Vikings go, they also can't trade for anything. They can't. They don't have draft capital to go out and make moves like that,

unless they were trading the top pick for something really great, but it's not really out there. Gardner Minshew is a good option for a backup. That's something we may find out soon within tomorrow. It's not the top of the list, but it's something that's important who goes along with JJ McCarthy. So anyway, it's just, it's really hitting really hitting I think this year with the Vikings being at the center of this.

And after JJ McCarthy is officially the guy, the guy, the guy, then I think we could put to bed the Vikings being at the center of the news cycle all the time with quarterback stuff. And that will be quite relieving when that eventually happens. So maybe by the time you're listening to this, it will have already happened. But the news item that we're reacting to, Aaron Jones back with the Minnesota Vikings, for me, if there were a lot of other options, if there were a lot of other running backs and they said, Oh no, we've got, we got to have our guy back.

We can't go with all these other good players who are available then I would say I don't know man. That sounds risky But there's just not options and when there wasn't options and the price wasn't that high and the guy performed well and you could pair him with somebody else then I Think that it's a totally fine move. It's not going to be the difference between winning 10 and 14 games or going to the Super Bowl, but he's somebody that you want on your football team and he's already proven that he can buck the trend.

And what you're just going to have to cross your fingers is that he doesn't fall off of that ledge. He didn't have any serious injuries last year. They know what his health is, but it's always risky. It's always risky when you're talking about somebody who is of that age. The cap situation for the Vikings is basically, I mean, put it this way. First of all, I don't know what his cap hit for this year is going to be because that when you hear 10 million per year, you just assume that that

means he's going to have a 10 million dollar cap. It that never happens. If it were me, it would if it were me guessing, I would say it probably ends up being like four and they'll spread it out over the two years. And then if they have to restructure to keep them around, they'll do that. This is the cap game that they always play. Right. So it is not going to be 10 million dollars. So essentially, there's nothing really to think about here

when it comes to the salary cap. I think they had $62 million in cap space. So depending on the structure of this, they might have 57. I mean, that's the point about the cap. We are going, I'm telling you, we're going to have to recalibrate our brains because every single player you see who gets signed, you're going to go, oh my gosh, they gave this player that,

like, that's where we're at now. And also think about this, here's what I'll leave you with. Huge news item today in the NFL was what? Miles Garrett signing for $40 million a year with the Cleveland Browns. The Cleveland Browns went, okay, we know you're upset, but what if we gave you all the money

out of our pockets, right? Jonathan Grenard, his contract is almost half of that. Last year when he signs for over $20 million, so that's a lot to spend on a pass rusher, but you know, he's good, okay, we'll see. And one year later, the contract looks so much better. So I think prepare yourself for that with this free agency, anyone who hits the markets, getting overpaid, uh, saw Carlton Davis did a story with Mike

Silver saying that he wants to hit the market and get his due. All right. But if the Vikings pay him 18 million, I promise I'll come in here and sit down and half the chat will say that they overpay. You're going to overpay. So, uh, anyway, good stuff. First move, lots more to go when it comes to even the backfield in the draft. We'll be keeping a close eye on that. Make sure you check out the newsletter, purple insider dot football. Going to have something on JJ McCarthy, something reacting to this Aaron Jones news

and lots of free agency analysis. And remember on Monday, 11 o'clock central is when I'm going to go live with the beginning of free agency. Do a couple of hours to get those first big moves and react to them. And then later on in the evening, I will do a second free agency reaction show.

And that will be a lot of fun. So thanks everybody for popping in here on a, what is this a Sunday afternoon, very exciting to get some news before all the news comes. And if there's anything else that breaks tonight, we're still kind of waiting on the Harrison Smith thing. They could always pull last second extension with a can buy them or a Byron Murphy Jr. or somebody else. So if anything big happens, I will be staying right

here. I am planted in the house. I'm not moving so I can be ready for any and all breaking news. So thanks everybody for checking in and watching and we'll keep you up to date very soon. I'm sure we'll see each other again. So thanks everybody. Football.