Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - EMERGENCY PODCAST: Harrison Smith returns for another year!

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

Matthew Coller and Manny Hill were mid-podcast when the news broke the Harrison Smith had agreed to terms to return to Minnesota for another season. What does his return mean for the defense and his legacy. Plus, Manny picks Coller's made up schedule.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. We got, we got news. We got news just as we were talking about it. Manny six time Pro Bowl safety Harrison Smith will return for a 14th NFL season per hour. Friend, Tom Pell, a Sarah. How about that Manny? Welcome back. Harrison Smith, just as we were saying,

we're reading the tea leaves and it looks like he's probably coming back. Harry is back Manny your reaction. I love doing this stuff live because when it comes in right away, it's just like, boom, there you go. We got, yeah, no, it gets, that's good. I think it's good. I think Harrison Smith can still play. I think he can still bring a lot to this defense and he is. I mean, he was already solidified as a Ring of Honor guy in my book and I think in a lot of other people's eyes. But this is he is, I think you come back for 14 years now, he is really, you know, instilling himself

as you know, just an all time great Vikings player. And to have him back for another year is going to be really fun. And I think he's going to do a lot to help this defense continue to ascend. I think with everything else that they've, that they've added to the table. Now, um, I think this is a defense that has a chance to be really good again, and even better than what they were in 2024. And I think Harrison Smith is going to help with that a ton. So that this is big.

Harrison Smith gets $10.25 million base with incentives up to $14 million for his 14th season. So a lot less half of what Javon Holland got to go to the New York Giants. And I know there's a big age difference there, but just the point for this year's salary cap, that that's a fairly big investment on Harrison Smith, but one that's rightfully deserved. Now, when it comes to Harrison, I think the biggest part of it for him is his

relationship with Brian Flores. And I have talked to him about this and how Harrison Smith said last year that one of the reasons he wanted to keep playing was because he connected so well. And Durante Jones, who's a, their defensive backs coach. This also applies to him, but Brian Flores that he connected so well with Brian Flores and they just clicked. And if you know, these two guys, Flores is an intense football psycho and Harrison Smith is an intense football psycho.

And they're both brilliant. And these are two of the best defensive minds in football. And they just worked with each other so well. And what Harrison Smith became for Brian Flores is the coach on the field. The connection to Brian Flores can't be out there seeing everything that's happening before the snap and the checks and the changes and the motions and all the things that offenses try to do, but Harrison Smith can, and when they're working with the same

brain, like think about musicians where you have the bass player and the guitar player and the drummer where we're all on point. They're all in the pocket, they call it. And I feel like it's the same way with Harrison Smith and Brian Flores, where they're just in the pocket. Like they're in the same spot. They see the same things. They make the same changes and adjustments at Harrison. They get the call in. He knows exactly what they're going to do. And he leads those other guys. And even though it's not a young defense, it's going to be an experienced defense. Everybody is looking to the leader to get the calls. And then because you have so much experience on this defense, when you make the calls they can execute them and now i think that has continuity going into a third year with now interior rush that they didn't have before they bring back byron murphy who knows again brian forces defense inside and out which i think was valuable valuable and Theo Jackson, who's been training in this defense behind the scenes while cam Bynum was in front of him, but I expect him to step in and be

a very similar level player. And you look around and go, what are they one corner away from feeling really good about this now that safety is solidified, they have, uh, Josh Mattel is still in his role. That's another part of this. The only thing is that Mattel is can play that same role. Yeah, that's that the role that we have seen Josh Mattel is play for the last couple of years, especially last year is exactly

what he should be doing. It's where he is at his best as a football player. And if you put yourself in a situation where you have to kind of move him away from that, and he can still be good if you just have him be a straight up full fledged safety. Like I think he can do very well at that. But if you can keep him into doing what he is absolutely fantastic at doing what his what's his bread and butter, that's you can't even put a price on that.

So I think getting Harrison Smith back to sort of keep everything stabilized, certainly in the defensive backfield, but also allowing other guys like Josh Mattell to not have to sort of change and switch into something else and deviate away from what has made him such a valuable piece of this defense, I think is absolutely huge.

And you mentioned Theo Jackson now, he can kind of step into the Cam Bynum role now. You know, so you lose Cam Bynum to free agency, got a lot of money from the Colts, congratulations to him. But now you've got Theo Jackson that can just step right into that spot, and he's been kind of groomed and developed into being able to do that. Now this is a, this is a really, really good scenario for this defense. And Patrick says, buying them at 15 or Smith at 10. So the thing about the contract is well, Binums was a four year contract.

So that's a big investment that you're talking about over many years. And his contract should really be compared to Theo Jackson who is taking his spot and they're paying a lot less for Theo. What was it the next three years it's 12 million or something like that for Theo Jackson but with Harrison Smith it's a one-year deal so it's only gonna be here for one season if you can afford it this year you're fine and the way that the Vikings set up all of these cap hits with Jonathan Allen Byron Murphy all that the Vikings set up all of these cap hits with Jonathan Allen, Byron Murphy,

all of them are set up to be very low in this year. And we'll see, I don't think we'll fries is yet in the system, but we'll see how that comes out. I imagine it'll be exactly the same is to be able to do stuff like this where you could say, all right, Harry, here's your 10 million bucks. Come back and play. And what I've seen from Harrison Smith is once upon a time, 2017, that's some of the best safety play I've ever seen in my life.

MVP caliber. I mean, every game Harrison Smith is doing stuff that is just incredible from a mental perspective, from a physical perspective, game winning interception against the Chicago bears sacks. I mean, it was, it was everything. He was, wasn't he like, wasn't he like second or third and defensive player that you're voting or something like that? He was really high on that list for DP.

Oh, why he was. And it was the only year that he was all pro, but obviously he should have been all pro many other times during his career. he should have been all pro many other times during his career. But what I see now of Harrison Smith is somebody who has grown even from there, which I thought he was brilliant intellectually. The physical element is not the same as it was. I don't think that he would say that it is, but I also think he could still play at a top 20 ish level at his,

uh, current state where he's in the right place at the right time. He's going to catch the football if it's coming his way. He's going to get past breakups. He's going to come downhill and make tackles. This is still a player who is much better than what you would normally expect to go out and get much better than where Justin Simmons is right now in his career. But I think the most important thing of it is and this was what Mike Zimmer used to tell us this about Anthony Barr all the time. And I believed him that he would say you guys don't understand all the mental stuff that Anthony Barr does out there as the play caller as the guy who is adjusting the defense.

out there as the play caller, as the guy who is adjusting the defense. And when you have a defense that's always moving and changing shape and is designed to read and react, the defense is designed to go out there with one defensive play call, see something from the offense and Harrison Smith does a hand signal and then it changes that defense. And that's one of the reasons they've been so freaking good. and then it changes that defense. And that's one of the reasons they've been so freaking good. And this is why you have to have a veteran defense and why Dallas Turner doesn't play a lot in his first year in part,

because there's a lot to this. And that's how you get into the top five without as much talent as you would normally expect from a top five defense is by having players like this. So this keeps most of the band together. Really, when we go through it, Manny, it's Theo Jackson replacing cam by them. I'm comfortable with that.

Uh, Dallas Turner replacing Patrick Jones. I'm very comfortable with that. I think that should be an upgrade. Actually. They loves playing Patrick Jones and it was a little much for me at times on the defensive line. Now, with Hargrave and Allen and Phillips, that's really solid from where it was the upgrade there.

And they still will play. There's probably another run stuff for they're going to play that in there somewhere. But think about from Jerry Tillery and Jonathan Bullard, who are like one million million players that could be playing for the Birmingham Stallions, honestly, and no disrespect because Bullard, I thought played a really good role against the run last year. But I mean, those are barely in the league players versus now

guys who have been stars in the league and can still rush the passer. You're keeping Van Ginkle. You're keeping Cashman. You're keeping Grenard. You're keeping Granada. You're continuing to develop Ivan pace. Mackay Blackman comes back. You've added Isaiah Rogers. You've kept Byron Murphy.

I mean, this is nothing short of a defense that should be in the top five as long as it's healthy. And it's amazing the kind of domino effect that bringing in a couple of guys just, you know, just upgrading on the interior of the defensive line. What kind of impact that can have on even the guy next to those two guys, Harrison Phillips, what, what, you know, what kind of impact is that going to have on what he's going to be able to do? It takes some pressure off of him. Um,

so that he doesn't have to be a guy that you rely on to apply a lot of pressure from a pass rushing standpoint because Allen and Hargrave can do that. That's what has made them such good football players over the last several years. So that takes a lot of weight off of Harrison Phillips. It takes a lot of weight off of your edge rushers. It takes a lot of pressure off of Van Ginkgo., takes a lot of pressure off of Van Ginkgo, takes a lot of pressure off of Jonathan Grenard. And when the pressure is off of those guys, that then takes even more pressure off of somebody like Dallas Turner, as well, who can kind of step in and continue to develop and get

better. Not a lot of pressure on him to produce even in year two. Obviously, we want to see a little bit more and see some growth from him. But again, it's not for the second year in a row. It's not all right, Dallas, go out there and get us 15 sacks. He doesn't have to do that. He still got some guys in front of him that can really kind of hold some of that load. And now some pressure is getting taken off of those guys in front of Dallas Turner as well.

So I love what they've done, the way they've constructed his defense. And now again, you go back to the draft. Now you look ahead to the draft, the Vikings can really have some fun here and they can really kind of look at all sorts of options and everything's on the table for them to address whatever kind of need that they want at this point. And at this point, it's really just about bringing in some depth, bringing in some younger guys in the draft that you can kind of slow cook and develop, and there's not a lot of pressure on them

to produce right away. They're in a really good spot. And this kind of proves the method that we've talked about a lot, about building around the young quarterback, investing that money into other areas of the roster, um, and building it the right way. This is, we've just seen it work way too many times to think that, you know, the Vikings are to suggest that the Vikings are doing this wrong.

I love what they're doing overall. Well, and if they were not a cap healthy team, this might've been something that would have knocked off another signing. Like if they had to bring back Harrison Smith in the past, there were times where they were bringing back players like Kyle Rudolph, who was still a good player, but that meant they couldn't sign someone else. And now they're able to do that. I was thinking, as you were saying, takes pressure off this, that, and the

other, it takes pressure off JJ McCarthy. If he knows that he has a good defense and it was a big part of Sam Darnold success last year was the fact that he was often playing from ahead. I mean, I don't know how many passes Sam Darnold threw from behind last year plan, trying to catch up, not that man. I can only think of a couple of games and part of it was, and I know they allowed some teams back in games later in the season, but they had such a good defense that they were getting ahead. They were causing turnovers, make it plays.

And I think Harrison Smith kind of solidifies that is knowing it's going to be a lot of the same looks. It's not a lot of overhaul. It's just a few new veteran players popping in rather than feeling like, okay, this is very different. Also probably confirms the Javon Holland saying the Vikings didn't make him a big offer because now Harrison Smith is back. Benjamin asked what's the weakest part of our roster right now.

I think it's probably corner still they can use one more and just really depth. I think it's depth left guard. They still need, but I think it's depth. I think they just need. They need another running back. They need another receiver. Last night, Chris Trapasso floated getting a receiver in the first round. And my first I went like, really? And I was like, oh, well, you know what? Since they're paying bad receivers, a ton of money and free agency

and the Vikings have filled all these spots, I don't hate that. I think it would be confusing to Vikings fans at first. And then you go, well, maybe, uh, maybe not. So, uh, anyway, uh, Manny, can I pay you over time to hang in and continue to talk about this? Because I've still got this fake schedule I made and you need to pick the wins and losses. And now it's even better to pick the wins and losses with Harrison Smith, knowing that he is back with, uh, the Minnesota Vikings. Now, let me real quick though, talk about before we get to picking that schedule,

that my fake schedule that I just made up the legacy of Harrison Smith as a Viking, I think a 14th season does help him as far as his argument for the hall of fame. The hall of fame has become even more stingent, I guess. Uh, and I don't like that. I think like you already, you already have too many guys that are on the outside, like don't do that. That's going to make it harder. But one of the things that Harrison Smith is missing that he could really use

would be some more playoff moments. And this gives him another opportunity to do that. Playing on elite and elite defense gives you a little more time in the sun to show off. But I think that we are talking about Harrison Smith and it's kind of cool to see him still playing at a high level late in his career. One of the all time great Vikings. No question about it.

I mean, this franchise has a lot of as a deep, rich history of great players, Hall of Fame level players, even some guys who are not in the Hall of Fame and probably should be Jim Marshall. But you know, and I think Harrison Smith, the fact that he has spent his entire career here and he has gone through multiple head coaches, you know, he has had to, you know, endure being on some bad teams,

but he's also been a part of some really terrific teams as well over the course of his career. And he's so beloved in this town by the fans. He is so well respected by the organization. Obviously they love him. And I'm sure they're just over the moon that he's coming back for a 14th year. He is, you know, when you start thinking about Vikings football over the last two decades, certainly you're going to think of guys like Adrian Peterson. Obviously you're going to think of guys like Justin Jefferson and what he's been able to do his first handful of years in the league.

Harrison Smith has been a staple piece of this organization through all of that, through a lot of what we've seen over the last decade and a half. And so he deserves his flowers. I have all the respect in the world for him. The fact that he's been able to sort of maintain this really good level of play at that position for this long. I think he deserves a lot of credit for that. Um, he's, he's an all-timer man. He's that ring of honor for sure. And uh, I think when his legacy is, is finalized, he's going to be remembered. I think for a long time, one of the great Vikings of all time.

Yeah. Dwayne brings it up. There are very few safeties in the hall of fame and the hall of fame monitor on pro football reference does not love his chances despite how accomplished he is. And I did a study on this now two years ago. We've been talking about Harry may be retiring, but I really looked close into this and talked to Brian Flores about it. Talked to Dr.

Jones and his teammates. And then I also looked at the data and I think the PFF data might actually help him as much as any player. Cause it really demonstrates not only how good he was in his prime, but the longevity that he's had and the impact that he's had where interceptions in this day and age where quarterbacks don't throw a lot of picks is just not a good way to do it. Now, I mean, Paul Krauss was a goat, but those quarterbacks were just hucking that pigskin 40 yards down the field, overthrowing people left and right.

And in that era, you just got a lot of picks. If you played a lot, that's not how it works. Now it's much more of a position that's harder to just say, oh, tackles, oh, interceptions. But that's where some of the extended data, especially how he's used and all those things could help his case. And I hope we've also moved on from Pro Bowls when there's some really funny Pro Bowlers at this point. And all I want to do is to implore Harrison Smith to start a podcast talking about his final season.

He has an open offer from purple Insider for a weekly appearance because Harrison Smith is one of the quietest players in the NFL. And having had this opportunity to cover him for all these years, I can tell you he's an super interesting dude. It's got a lot of funny opinions on things like golf movies, like all that stuff. You could talk to about off field stuff all day long. He's a really interesting dude and is also brilliant and has played long enough where if you want to go check out my articles, search purple insider and peanut punch.

Cause I talked to Harry about the peanut punch and the development of peanut Tillman being in the league and him being the only one that did it to now everyone does it and that kind of thing. So it's, it's been a really cool. And I told Harrison this on the way out of Arizona when he left. I said, hey, if this is it, man, it's been an honor. And that continues to to watch him to learn about football from him. So I hope he I hope he finds a way to let everybody in a little bit.

He's kind of always kind of kept everybody at arm's length. Let everybody in Harrison Smith and let the Vikings fans know how cool we are in the in the last year. So let's do this, Manny. Let's pick a fake schedule. Now that we know that Harrison Smith is back, I think we've got 80 percent of the answers for the Vikings. We know who the quarterback is.

For sure. And we know we know who else is back. We know we know what this roster looks like now. So let's go through it. Let's go through this and just a reminder. It is a fake schedule. This is not the real Viking schedule, but it is their real opponents. And if you are new to the show, which I think a lot of people are this week,

welcome. Great to have you here. What we do all the time in the season is have Manny pick the schedule and then we just see where the expectations are and see how it comes out. So I've created this fake schedule for Manny to pick with the current Vikings roster and how many wins you think they will get and JJ McCarthy, a quarterback. So let's start it out. My fake opener with real opponents is Vikings and lions at us bank stadium. Is that a win or a loss Manny in the opener of the 2025 season?

I'll call it a win. of the 2025 season. I'll call it a win. Oh, JJ McCarthy not only starts out with a W, but starts out with a W against his hometown club. OK, I could buy that. I think I mean, we know Lions Vikings are going to play close games. Yeah, week two, I've got them playing in my fake scheduled real opponents, the Atlanta Falcons at home, Michael Pennings coming to play J.J.

McCarthy, two guys that were drafted right next to each other. How does McCarthy and the Vikings fair at U.S. Bank Stadium against the Falcons? I like Michael Pennings a lot. I think he's going to be really good. I'm still not sure. How good Atlanta as a team is going to be yet. You know, I think we're going to need to kind of continue to see some

growth from panics as he develops. They've got some good talent around them. Um, you know, I'm not sure if they've really done a whole lot to improve their defense. I'll give the Vikings the win at home to take care of business against the Falcons. All right. A two and O start to the JJ McCarthy era week three, the Vikings go out to a familiar place

and play a familiar quarterback at Seattle against Sam Darnold. How about that? Two years in a row where they've let a quarterback go and then they got to face him the next year. And again, if you just pop it in here, big audience tonight. So I appreciate all you guys were picking a fake schedule, but it's the real year. And again, if you just pop it in here, big audience tonight. So I appreciate all you guys were picking a fake schedule, uh, but it's the real opponents. And now with Harrison Smith back, we have a lot of the answers of the off season and we can tell how strong this team really is.

And we can try to project what they're going to be for the first time. And then we'll track that throughout the off season training camp preseason. It's always a fun bit. So a week three at Seattle, you're not going to say you're not going to have the Vikings lose to Sam Darnold, are you? I don't know. You know, Seattle is a tough place to play. And when the Vikings went out there last year, they ended up winning the game. Big throw from Darnold to Jefferson to win the game.

But that was a tough, hard fought win that the Vikings had to go into Seattle and earn that crowd was nuts. Um, but the flip sides, I don't really know with the Seahawks moving on from DK Metcalf, I mean, they still have JSN, which is, I think he's going to be really, really good. He's going to continue to get better. Um, and I think Sam has a chance to go there and play pretty well. I just don't know like how good that team is actually going to be overall.

So hmm. It is Seattle, though. I'll give the Seahawks a close win. Wow. OK. Sam Darnold, a literal revenge game. And yes, I know that J.J. McCarthy is not from Michigan, but he went to Michigan hometown team. Same difference.

I know he's from Chicago area. You could also say he gets revenge against the Jaguars when he faces because he went to IMG. I don't know. He's been around. Okay. Just make the connection with me. Let's not be too serious.

All right. So they start two and one with a tough loss at Seattle. And that was one of the rare environments that I've covered a game where I did think it may have impacted the game. I thought the Vikings were kind of like a little shocked by that noise. Eagles come into town. Super Bowl champs will play the Vikings at US Bank Stadium.

Do they win? No, I think this is going to be an Eagles. town Super Bowl champs will play the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. Do they win? No, I think this is going to be an Eagles win. I mean, the Eagles have lost some guys off of their Super Bowl team. You know, Milton Williams losing him, I think, was pretty big, but they still have a lot of talent and still one of the best rosters in the league, one of the better quarterbacks and one of the best running backs, if not the best running back in football. Um, and I think,

you know, just coming off at Superbowl, it's an organization has a lot of confidence in what they're doing now. Uh, so I'll give the Eagles the win, but I think the Vikings are talented enough now to, to compete with them and keep it close. So I'll give the Eagles a very close victory at US Bank Stadium. All right. Two and two start with our fake schedule with real opponents on to the Meadowlands to face the New York Giants and Aaron Rogers.

This is a little harder because we don't know who the quarterback is. But I think one thing we can assume is the quarterback won't be good. There's no good quarterback that they, I mean, if it's Chaudhuri Sanders, if it's Aaron Rogers, if it's what there's no option, that's Russell Wilson. That's going to make them a good team. Uh, so Vikings at giants. Yeah, this is, I'm going to call this a win and I don't even think it's going to be particularly close. Okay.

Now this one, the next one is interesting. They got to go from New York to Dallas and face the Cowboys. The Cowboys became a meme again the other day where all the signings were coming in as like, Oh, this guy's signing there. This guy's signing there. And they like resigned their long snapper. They seem to refuse to want to do anything, which is pretty strange. I gotta say, because I always used to think of Jerry Jones is it's like,

he's going to go out and he's going to make the big splash and whatever. And they got to pay Michael Parsons. And they've already paid a ton of money to Dak Prescott for the biggest contract in the league. They seem a little bit asleep at the wheel, but yet they still have talent. So will the Vikings go into Dallas and get a W kind of a tough place to play. That crowd can get pretty loud when the Cowboys are really, really good. Son can get in your eyes.

Yeah, that's true. Um, I'm not entirely sure how good the cowboys are going to be. Like you said, they have talent, but they got, you know, Brian Schottenheimer as head coach is just, how's that really gonna go? Not really wowing anybody with that, with that choice at head coach. Dak is good. We know Dak is good, but like how much winning has he really done? I think JJ McCarthy, I think this is gonna be the first game that JJ McCarthy like really has a really good game. On the road, gets a decent opponent, but I think this is where JJ like really breaks out and has a like,

wow, okay. Vikings have their young quarterback. Like this is going to be the out, the eyebrow ways in game for JJ McCarthy and the Vikings come away with the wind. All right. I agree with you there. And I think that Dak is just not the same as he used to be and is more of a middling pocket quarterback. Now I think he had a run where he was leading top offenses and was that good,

but just there's a lot of injuries now on deck Packers home against the Packers Jordan love JJ McCarthy futures of the NFC North. This battle will be going on for many years to come. Who will win JJ McCarthy's first chance at the old cheese faces. Not really sure what the Packers are doing right now. The bank got a really expensive guard, is he? Yeah, the bank's signing was just I saw that I was like, really? What do you get?

Seven football still who's having a football? What do banks get 77 for four years or something like that? Yeah, it's just like, what are they doing? I don't know. Yeah. The Packers are well coached. I think Jordan Love is really good, but they haven't really done a lot to really improve their roster. So as of right now, give the Vikings to win at home.

Might have a different feeling once the Lambeau game comes up. But right now, if you're telling me U.S. Bank Stadium kind of first third of the season, give me the Vikings to win comes up. But right now, if you're telling me US bank stadium kind of first third of the season, give me the Vikings to win that one. Okay. Uh, that means they would advance to five and two to start the JJ McCarthy era. And I don't, I just don't think high expectations for JJ McCarthy are crazy based on what we've seen from young quarterbacks, the development he's gotten behind the scenes and the confidence

from KOC and not only that, but what we saw from KOC last year, it's a, it's a big factor when you're trying to project JJ McCarthy, what he was able to do with Darnold and the fact that they were close during training camp and there's a lot of talent for both of those guys as first round picks. So I think it's fair to project a high performance from JJ McCarthy if they're ready to go to him and he's the guy. So commanders at home with a five and two record, they will face Jayden Daniels. And this is some kind of battle.

I mean, this is can we have this tomorrow? Brian Flores is defense. Jaden Daniels on the offensive side. They went out and got Laramie Tunsel. I don't know what the tech. How about the Texans? Just as a side note, it's like what it was a JZ who said they love me, then they hate me, then they love me again or whatever.

It's kind of like the opposite of that. It's like the Texans are stupid and then they're smart and then they're stupid again. It's like they were they were so dumb for so long. And then they get Stroud and Will Anderson and Hunter and you go, oh, are you smart? And then the no, they're not. So that doesn't matter, though. The Vikings are playing the commanders in this fake schedule with real opponents as a five and two team.

Do they win? Jonathan Allen revenge game. Here we go. This could actually be a game that could be a Sunday night primetime type of game. Yeah, definitely good team, you know commanders with a rising superstar quarterback. Yeah, I I like this game. I'm going to give the commanders the win here. I think I think Washington is going to be really good again. There's always going to be the questions about, you know,

can Jayden Daniels is there going to be a little bit of a sophomore slump saw a little bit of that with CJ Stroud last year with the second year and people get a little more film and tape on them. But I think he, I think Jayden Daniels is so talented that he's going to overcome some of those questions and the commanders are going to be really good again. So I'll give Washington the win at US Bank Stadium here. Yeah, I think the commander's going to this season with top five Super Bowl odds and Daniels.

I don't think there's a sophomore slump coming for a player with that level of town. I think this is more like even a blow up even more than where he was at. Uh, understandable to take an L there. Now the Vikings travel and again, don't scrutinize whether this is how it's going to work or not. This might not be but I think don't usually play the last two weeks against division opponents and then there's another game in the middle of the season against the division opponent. It doesn't matter. It's a fake schedule with real opponents. So they're playing at the Lions at a five and three record.

They go to Detroit. I'll give the Lions this one. You know, I gave the Vikings the win a week, one at US Bank. I can't imagine. I can't see the Vikings sweeping the Lions considering where both teams are at right now. So I'll give Detroit the win here. OK, next game on the list is and I think that's solely fair.

Next game on the list is at the Pittsburgh Steelers. And once again, who knows who their quarterback is, but it doesn't matter because it's not going to be good, but they do have a good defense. They do have a good coach and it's not the easiest place to play. So does JJ McCarthy go to Pittsburgh and get a W? I think this is actually a game that the Vikings can win if the Steelers have not really figured out what the hell they're doing at quarterback,

which they right now they still have not. So I think this is a game that JJ McCarthy can go in and play really well and the Vikings defense can play really well as well. And so I should take the Vikings to win a close, a tight one in Pittsburgh. That might be a little sloppy. One of those snot nose kind of physical games. Um, but I think with the way the Vikings have kind of built themselves now,

they're, they're built to kind of play that style of football now. Um, hopefully with an improved running game and everything. So I grew the Vikings to win in Pittsburgh. It's been a long time since they've won there. Yeah. The only game I think that I've covered since I've covered the team, uh, was. The 17 one where they tried to throw a pass with the punter. Yeah, that was the case. Case's first start 2017, right?

The last time they won in Pittsburgh, I want to say last time I remember them winning in Pittsburgh was the game where Bill coward stuff the photo into the referee. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, back to the locker room. That was 95. That was 30 years ago. So let's see, because I wasn't one of the far losses at Pittsburgh. I want to say yeah, nine. Yep. That was in Pittsburgh. Thought so. But that that one. That was in Pittsburgh. I thought so.

But that, that one in 17 was funny because I thought the case was absolutely done. And like the team's not going to be any good and they're going to, you know, they're going to go seven and nine or whatever after that loss of the Steelers. And instead they go 13 and three. So, uh, what we have right now picking this fake schedule with real opponents, six and three as they will play the Bears for the first time. And this is going to be at U.S. Bank Stadium. I will call this a win. I think the Bears are going to be a better team.

I think Ben Johnson is going to be a little bit more of a competent coach than his predecessor, then his two predecessors really last year. So, but I still think the Vikings are going to be a better team being at home. I think they'll take care of business against the Bears. Okay. They will play the Ravens is their next opponent at home as a seven and three football club, and I imagine Baltimore is going to be very good and that will be JJ McCarthy against another really good quarterback.

That is the theme here. This is why you had to go get Alan Hargrave bring back Harry. This is why you got to load up and probably another corner still in the mix here. Maybe draft on defense. If you are playing some really good offenses here, including, I mean even just Lions and ravens and commanders, a lot of good quarterbacks, but can they beat the Ravens at US bank stadium?

I don't think Lamar has ever been here. This, this will be his first trip to Minneapolis. Yeah. Um, and I'm going to give the Ravens the win here. I think the Ravens are going to be really good again. I think they're going to be one of the best teams in the league. Once again, one of the best quarterbacks, one of the league quarterbacks in this league, and they're going to be tough to handle.

So I'll give Baltimore the win. All right. On to at the Cleveland Browns is the next opponent. The Vikings. Where are we at now? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven and four going to Cleveland once again. Don't know who the quarterback is, but I know it's not going to be good.

Actually could be Kirk. Sounds like it could be Kirk. Wouldn't that be something? Kirk reunited with Kevin Stefanski. Wouldn't that be something? Yeah. The Browns are just not. I think Kevin Stefans fancy is a good coach. I think that situation out there is just not good.

And Hey, they're giving more money to miles Garrett. Congratulations to him. They're not trading him. They're just paying him more money. Um, and he's going to have, he's going to be somebody that obviously he's going to probably present some problems for the Vikings, but, um, the Browns overall just not good. So I'll give the Vikings a win here. Sorry if I said seven and three, I meant seven and five. Sorry about that.

Thank you for the correction. Blind shadow vortex. I love you guys names. So all right. Winning against the Browns would then make them eight and five. And now I have them going out to face the Chargers. And I made this late in the season on purpose. So Vikings fans will come out to that game.

The Chargers will be good and it will be quite a foe there. And they haven't always had the best luck in that building against the L.A. teams. So do they get a win at L.A. to go to a nine win team down the stretch? Or do you think they lose to the Chargers here? I think the Vikings will have a contingency of fans out there. Um, especially with it being the Chargers and your Chargers.

I agree with you. I think Chargers would be good. Harbaugh's a good coach. Um, but I just still kind of wonder like, you know, they lost me. Joey Bosa is off to, off the Buffalo now. So that was a loss. They bring, they do bring back Killio Mack on a one year deal. So he's going to be somebody that they're gonna have to monitor, but, um,

I'll give the Vikings to win. I think they'll have a pretty good, uh, group of fans out there and they'll play well, um, in a, in a pretty friendly environment and, uh, they'll come away with the win. So a nine and five team going into the final three weeks of the season. And I'm just going to shout out Andrew for asking me what we could, I think the bye week will be. I didn't put two seconds of work into my fake schedule because it's fake.

All I tried to do was just get the right opponents and then put the games against the bears and Packers at the end. I didn't think about the buy. All right, Manny next is the bye week. Like for just one of these games will be played on Thursday night. Caller. Yeah, this one is the Monday night football. It's part of a doubleheader.

So it'd be the eight fifth. They want to the commander's game being a Sunday night game because it's it's going to be Jayden Daniels against JJ McCarthy. Like that seems like it would be a being a Sunday night game because it's going to be Jay Daniels against JJ McCarthy. Like that seems like it would be a pretty good Sunday night game, but I don't know what the hell these games are going to be. Oh, apparently Blind Shadow Vortex is a band name. I mean, it sounds like a band name, but I also thought maybe you're just dark. Like, maybe that's just your thing. I don't know.

I mean, if you're a Vikings fan, you're watching this. You could be a little twisted. I mean, if you're staying with over all the years anyway, nine and five, three games to go Bengals at, uh, at us bank stadium. Ooh, man, the Vikings got some good quarterpacks coming into town next year. Oh my gosh. Woo. You're a season ticket holder. You are getting a treat in 2025. Um, yeah. Joe burrow coming in. The Bengals are still trying to figure out, I mean, they're always gonna be relevant because Burrow,

but their defense is just wasn't good last year and they haven't really done anything to- O-line. Yeah, O-line, they haven't improved that. So I will give the Vikings the win here and I can't remember the last time. It's been a while since the Vikings have won in Cincinnati. I can't remember the last time the Bengals came into Minneapolis

and won. It's I don't know if it's happened in my lifetime and I'm 40. I mean, trying to think of how many games I've covered at US Bank Stadium with the Bengals, probably just the one where they murdered them in 17. You gave it to him. Game back in. Yeah. Yeah. That was the one. Because the other times they've gone to Cincinnati and there was the

the Brandon Powell tush push game and also the Delvin Cook didn't actually fumble. But they said he did. Yeah. That twenty twenty one set off set off the the rocks Also the Delvin cook didn't actually fumble, but they said he did that 2021 set off set off the, the rocks tumbling down and turning into an opener. Wasn't it in 21? Yep. Turning into what the, you know, the one in four start or whatever it was. And then Zimmer getting fired.

If they win that game, then maybe it would have been different. KOC wouldn't be here and JJ McCarthy wouldn't be your quarterback. And who knows? Anyway, that's for a different summer podcast. So you've got them getting on a roll here late in the season. They now have 10 wins, five losses and the final two games. Manny will be at the Bears and at the Packers. So Soldier Field and Lambeau Field.

How will the Vikings fare in this fake schedule with real opponents? I will give them losses in both of those games. Oh, road games meltdown. I know. I know who we thought they were. They were fraud. I'm sorry. I'm getting ready for how this goes sometimes. I mean, I do think the Bears are going to be better. And the Soldier Field thing is, I mean, Vikings have won games there

the last few years now, so it's not as much of a thing anymore. It's all the field. But I think it kind of still is if the Bears are better than what they've been the last couple of years. So they almost blew it last year. I mean, that bears team was completely melting down and they they came really close to screwing that up. So if you're talking about week 17 in Chicago, so that's what December whatever the last

Sunday in December is probably. Yeah, that's a that's a tough one. So I give the Vikings a loss there and then Lambeau kind of the same thing. Week 18, probably first Sunday or Monday for in January. Two, uh, two tough places to play week 17 and 18. So I'll call them both losses. Okay. So you have the Vikings as a 10 win NFL team for next year, which would put them in the playoffs more likely than not. And I would say, let's just do this before you go, Manny. I kept you longer than expected. But we had breaking news, which was awesome about Harrison Smith coming back.

And now it feels like we really know what the Vikings are for next year as a roster. If they win 10 games, go into the playoffs with this schedule and a young quarterback, how do you feel? You guys are funny. When's the next when's the winter whiteout? What? That's that's funny. That's the next, when's the winter whiteout? What game? That's, that's funny. That's funny. Will they play on Thanksgiving? Love, love all that. Love all that.

I, we didn't pick the preseason. We should have picked who let's pick the joint practices. Manny, let's pick the joint practice. Who's going to join practice? I'll guess the Bengals game. I'll guess the Bengals game will be the whiteout game. Locations around the world that the Vikings are going to play. Let's pick the locations around the world that the Vikings are going to play. Let's pick the locations around the world that the visor play.

I'll go with Berlin and you can go with Sydney, Australia. OK, let's stop. Let's pick the broadcast teams, broadcasting is for each game. All right. Last thing of the night for you, Manny. Great stuff. And thank you so much for taking extra time. I kind of held you hostage, by the way.

Anyway, I was like, you're staying. So. I'll buy a hot dog at a links game this summer. So what would we think of that? I'd be cool with that. I mean, I think if you're if you're going now, you know, maybe some expectations are higher because of what they've done in free agency. Getting all the veterans.

I'm sorry. The flight, someone say the flight, the flight games on the schedule. What? I know. I saw it. It's early wearing on the road, Manny. Oh my gosh.

So good. I love it. I'm sorry. Now I go ahead. Thailand is a great answer. I think I think 10 and seven would be good. I think considering the schedule, I know there's going to be you know, coming off a 14 win season and everything they've done in free agency, there's going to be a thought that this team should be very

good and be competitive. But it's going to be a tougher schedule, they're gonna have some great quarterbacks that they're going to have to face off against this year. And it's just going to make tougher schedule. They're going to have some great quarterbacks that they're going to have to face off against this year. And it's just going to make things challenging. So I think you can get through that schedule with like 10 or 11 wins. I think that's a good positive sign. And you're getting into the playoffs and you're getting JJ McCarthy playoff experience.

I don't think you can you can. I don't think you can be disappointed with that would be nice for him. If they if they do get in, maybe win a game or two, go on a run. That'd be cool. But I think just getting to the playoffs with the first year with McCarthy, I think would be a huge accomplishment. Accomplish what are the seed tiebreakers going to be? That's my question. I know I agree, Manny with this schedule.

10 Windsor 11 might be like 14 for last year. My question. I know I agree, Manny, with this schedule, 10 wins or 11 might be like 14 for last year. And I actually think that you can go into the playoffs as a stronger team. Then you were last year, even if you don't have well, they might have the same seat. But even if you don't have as good of a regular season record, you could go in with a stronger team overall. And if they get to that point and they're in the playoffs and they've won that many games with J.J. McCarthy, you're going to feel really good about where he is going forward. So OK, Manny, I'm sure you have something to do with your life.

So I'll let you go. But great, great stuff. Love having the breaking news with you. Our Aaron Rodgers conversation was earlier. If you want to go back in the video and watch what we had to say about Aaron Rodgers, but I appreciate you jumping in Manny a very exciting time for Vikings fans. So we will talk soon. The next time that we really need to pick the schedule will be the next time that we talk on the show.

So thank you for your time, sir. You got it. Always a pleasure. Football. Football. Don't worry. I pay Manny. He's fine. Okay. One more thing before I wrap up here, I've seen maybe 15 of you ask about a trade with

Jordan Addison and sauce Gardner. Can someone explain to me before I go for the evening where this came from? Is this a random person making up a trade that they like? Or was this some report that I missed? I mean, in general, my rule of thumb is that I, I work off of the reporters that we know to be solid with stuff like that, as opposed to just, Hey, this random person, this person that, you know, uh, I'd say, I definitely with Dusty with the NBA style seeding. The Viking should not have been a four seed last year. I'm just saying they should not have been and the NFL didn't change the rule though.

So is it just okay? It's just people making up stuff. Okay. Gotcha. All right. No big deal. Then I that's fine. People can have fun with made up trade stuff.

So that's it. Anyway, okay with made up trade stuff so that's it anyway okay that's all I needed to know I got nothing else so great stuff tonight breaking news Aaron Rodgers stuff that we tried our best to move on from and all that sort of stuff is really fun and I think there's a lot more to come for the Vikings I think there's a lot more to come for the Vikings. I think there's more signings to come. And if there are, then you'll have emergency podcasts. Again, I got nothing on the schedule.

The Vikings will be doing some press conferences with these guys virtually. So I'll be on those as I always am and be able to report back on those. And maybe we'll go through some of the things that those guys said and stuff like that. But if there's any kind of, uh, breaking news, you know that I'll be here for you guys and purple insider dot football. Go check it out. It'll have my, uh, updated depth chart, uh,

for the Vikings with the biggest questions, best available free agents. That's what I'm working on right now. And a reaction to Harrison Smith coming back. So again, purpleinsider.football, check out the newsletter and we will catch you guys later. Thank you so much everybody. Great stuff, football.