Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - ESPN graded all Vikings free agent moves (Hour 2)

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

Matthew Coller reacts to ESPN's underwhelming grades of the Vikings free agency moves and answers fan questions.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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It would be a great bridge. I mean, I don't think it matters to Carson Wentz at this point, who he's a fan of probably, but I get where you're going with that. Uh, a local nonetheless, we count the Dakotas, I think, or at least parts of the Dakotas as being Minnesota. Um, I think he's fine just from, he's played in this kind of system before with the Rams as a backup and he can be that guy who's a veteran who's been through it has been a first round draft pick who, when he was brought in, Sam Bradford was supposed to be the guy.

And then they traded Sam Bradford out. It's got those experiences. Now that matters. So as long as he's comfortable with his role, Carson Wentz, which he clearly was from going to Kansas city last year, that he's comfortable with who he is as a backup now, yeah, it's fine. How much money wants to be paid could be a thing, but I don't know. Mike says.

In 2024, the Vikings agreed to terms with 17 post draft UDFAs. You expect a similar path this year, having less draft capital. I don't know what they usually did in the past. It's always a lot. But what they did in the last few It's always a lot, but what they did in the last few years with quasi-adapthalmenses, they've spent a lot, a lot, a lot to go get the top Gabe Murphy, Ivan Pace Jr. And yes, I do. I do expect that they will be one of the, if not the biggest spenders in undrafted free agency. And I also think that this draft, at least from my understanding,

is that it's really deep, that it's not great at the high end, but it's really deep. And if you're the team that is spending and spending in undrafted free agency, think about from the fifth round to the first 20 undrafted free agents. Just think about that. Like all that. I don't know if you've ever seen any of these videos. from the fifth round to the first 20 undrafted free agents. Just think about that. Like all that, I don't know if you've ever seen any of these videos, like the Eagles put out a video

where Howie Roseman was going through their meeting. I think it goes this way around the league. Going through their day three meeting. And Howie is saying to the scouts, who's your favorite guy? Who do you want on day three? Okay, that's the guy you want on day three. OK, that's the guy you want to day three. OK, that's the guy you want on day three.

And then they just pick those guys. It's Scouts Day is day three, an undrafted free agency. They're just going, they're just going. So each team has their guys that they like. OK, the Viking Scout love the kicker, love the kicker. So they got the kicker. And we all go, is that the most efficient uses of the fifth round? It's like,

probably not. It's a sixth round pick. Like just, just do that. But every team's doing it, which means some guys fall through the cracks if they weren't some scouts favorite. And if the Vikings can have the best situation, now they can say, Hey, we played Gabe Murphy last year. We played Ivan pace Jr. He became a star. Dwight McClotherloathren's got opportunity. Bring your udf a's here. I heard this from an agent last year that he was calling the Vikings. Take get our guy there. Give our guy a chance. An undrafted free agent. That guy didn't

make the team, but still like he this agent really badly wanted him in Minnesota because he thought there's no better chance than he's going to get there because that coaching staff doesn't care where you were drafted, especially Brian Flores does not care where you were drafted. So I think it is a hack to be the biggest spending team in undrafted free agency because you can't tell me there's a massive difference between the 14th pick in the fifth round and the first pick in undrafted free agency. There just can't be. pick in the fifth round and the first pick in undrafted free agency. There just can't be.

Let's see. Good stuff for you guys tonight. Good stuff. I was thinking to myself like, what do we got for today? You know, there's don't have a big news item, you know, but you guys are coming up with some good stuff, including kicker talk. Mark. Do you have a number in mind that would be the furthest

you think the Vikings would trade back to? Good question. Picks 35 to 40, I still think we could get a starting caliber player. So having simulated the draft and it's been suggested to me to use some different simulators, so I'll probably do that. I like PFS because it's just so functional and I've always used it. But maybe I need to just adjust the sliders to get some different results sometimes. But when I use PFF and they have their own draft board,

so sometimes it does come out a little different and you can use the consensus one, whatever. We'll mix it up. What I end up with almost every time is a starting caliber player still being there 35 to 40 and historically this is only my perception. This is not the draft studies that have always found. Yeah, the 33rd pick has less of a chance than 32 and 34 has less of a chance.

Right. That's how it goes. It goes straight down historically over 50 years of drafts. Right. But I think in recent years you see a lot of quality caliber starting players If not good players take it in the early part of the second round Well when you get to the back half of the second round it falls off pretty significantly that's how I viewed it and

If you can stay within those first ten picks of the second round and then get extra picks in the third, the fourth in this draft where I think there's going to be a lot of guys, I agree with you. I would not go past 40. If you go past 40, but I'm looking at like corners and seeing in mock drafts and things like that, Trey Amos, who I really, really like, I'm seeing him, uh Siobhan Revelle, who's got the injury, but has a ton of talent. I'm seeing corners not going until the middle of the second round, because

there's a lot of defensive tackles and some other positions running backs who usually don't see in there. So, I mean, I, yeah, I wouldn't go past 40, but I think there is plenty of opportunity there to trade back and still end up. And, uh, I saw Barnwell wrote about that. The Vikings were the main picture of the trade back teams that need to trade back easier said than done. But, uh, I definitely think that they are a trade back team if you can find the right

situation and then we need to not go through and fight over. Did they get enough for it? That happened in 2022, but my issue in 2022 was 12. They were picking at 12 in the top 15 is superstars. And once you leave that top 15, there's not many. And even look at that draft. There's Trent McDuffie, and that's kind of it.

Carl Aftis is a good player, but that's kind of it. For stars past the top 15 and then the top 15, there's a lot of really great players. Once you leave that, I would not leave the top 15 if I had a top 15 pick in the NFL, pretty much ever unless someone was giving me crazy. But Quacey basically admitted later that he was trying to chase a bunch of different future weaknesses with one draft.

And that's kind of what happened. Uh, Kerpluppy says, how did they treat the bears? I feel like we've got similar rebuilds, just minus a bunch of early round picks. Um, let's see. Well, I'm sure that the, well the drew-dahlman deal got a B- and the other ones were trades oh the trade for Tooney got a B so no I don't think that they went crazy grading the Bears moves I agree with Jonah Jonah Jackson being a D grade for the Bears. I mean just hasn't played well recently and If the Rams are getting rid of a guy you always have to question that if Sean McVeigh is moving on you have to question

That so they were pretty they're pretty harsh on the Rams a lot of times with grades. You'll see this with draft grades where Nobody wants to get a thousand tweets that tell them to go jump off a bridge. So they usually just give every like the worst grade is like a C plus and the best grade is an A and everyone does well because they just don't want to hear about it. Um, I ESPN did not approach it this way and, and Seth Walder did not approach it this way. He was, he was fearless about the responses, but the yeah, the Bears got criticized pretty harshly here too.

Steven says the best case scenario for a trade down might be Dart and someone like New York or Cleveland, whoever doesn't get Russell Wilson wanted the fifth year option. Oh, yeah, I see what you're saying. Yeah. All right. So if someone wants to draft Jackson Dart and they want the fifth year option that they trade up with the Vikings, I could see that.

I don't know if Jackson Dart is actually a high draft pick or not. There are not very many great quarterback options in this year's draft, and maybe that's maybe that's one of them. Digit says JJ was working on his mechanics when he went out with the injury it stands to reason that with his immobility he will now resume mechanics work, an area of development that is a big concern to me. Yeah I don't know I mean that OTA practice that first OTA practice will really be something to see where he stands But I don't want to overreact to it

I'm yeah overreact and football with the Vikings with quarterbacks and knees who would ever do that? Whoever overreact to things like that So to your point That's the long road for JJ McCarthy So to your point, that's the long road for JJ McCarthy. But because he doesn't have to play a football game, we're almost at April, April 1, May 2, June 3, July 4, and he will start practices on like July 24th.

So five months from now, that's a long time to get back what he was learning from last year. And he understands it. He just has to make his leg do it. He understands it now. Last year he was having to learn what it is. Just what do I do? How do I take a snap?

I mean, it is so detailed in the NFL that they changed how JJ McCarthy stood there in the shotgun. Like that's how detailed this stuff has to be because it's two and a half seconds and the ball comes out. So it's take the snap and the ball has to come out. So he's gotta get those mechanics back. And I think that's a reasonable concern and something we'll be watching for.

But I also don't wanna see a bad OTA practice and be like, oh my gosh, he's screwed. He'll never do it because he's got five months to figure it out and you know, he's going to work at it. Uh, Rob says during COVID, I analyzed all the quarterbacks drafted since 2000. Love that for you. It's a good project to do 50% of first rounders do fine. Yeah.

It's a coin flip, but the thing about that stat is You can push that needle with just the Jefferson with Jordan Addison with KOC with TJ Hockinson, that's what they're betting on is that it might be 50% overall But what percentage with an elite receiver, a coach of the year? I mean, I don't know if there's ever been like a guy in maybe there is in year two,

Patrick Mahomes had Tyree kill and Andy Reed. He is Patrick Mahomes, so you can't really compare too much. But how about even Josh Allen by year three, uh, Stefan Diggs got pretty good coaching. I think Brian Dable was the office of coordinator there. So there, the opportunity is there because of the circumstances that they have laid out for him to be very good. Uh, Noah says, and of course we wouldn't, it wouldn't be football talk if we weren't in March with not using the word fired, But I know what you're saying here.

Noah says, even if JJ were to bust, I wouldn't want KOC or way seat Alphamonza fired. They've done everything else. Well, quarterback is a crap shoot. Yeah. It's so unfair and unforgiving of a league when you could build a team this good with players this good and make good moves, hit on free agents, have great coaching,

and still have the potential that it doesn't go right. I mean, that's, that is how harsh the NFL can be just because of one person you put together two through 52 and you feel great about it. And then one person goes wrong as it can take it all apart. But when you've seen Kirk play well in this system, when you've seen Sam Darnold play this well, the percentage isn't 50% with McCarthy, right? Health though, is always a problem, but it's higher than that. This isn't the North Turner,

whatever the heck he was doing with his offense with Teddy Bridgewater in 2015 and they still got to the playoffs. This is a coach who has elevated his quarterbacks in a very unique way. But you're right. I mean, it's when we talk about we always want to talk about firing everybody. I think the structure of this thing is sound. That's the most important part. The structure of this thing is sound of how they make decisions, how they coach the team, the culture they create. But we know this. If it goes bad, all that stuff goes bad too. When Wence is from Bismarck, North Dakota, do we claim them? There's just, there's parts of North and South Dakota that I feel like are mostly Vikings fans and kind of are viewed very, like we're kind of the same. I don't know if Bismarck is on the list there. I don't know my Dakota geography. I actually don't know a whole lot about anything outside of football.

So, but you can tell me if we claim Bismarck or not. Scott says QB 2 is a meaningless discussion All he needs to do is hand off in garbage time Anything serious happens to McCarthy and the Wilfs will demand trading for Bradford 2.0 it matters to some extent in that quarterbacks get hurt all the time and you don't want a Season to just go down the drain because of that. You want to still have a season if your guy gets hurt for half the year. That's the key.

I mean, like even Cincinnati when Burrow got hurt and Jake Browning almost made the playoffs, it's still an exciting season. Your season is over. If your quarterback gets hurt for the whole year for sure. But Joe Flacco makes the playoffs. You can still have an exciting season. You can still feel good about what the franchise did that year for sure. But Joe Flacco makes the playoffs. You can still have an exciting season. You can still feel good about what the franchise did that year at least, or you can keep yourself in a race

for when the starting quarterback comes back. So it does mean something. It's just that we're down to all options where you go, eh, I can't form a very hot opinion about Tannehill versus Wentz. Okay, this is the real discussion here of the offseason with Andrew DePala's age. When do we need a new long snapper? That's a great question.

I have no idea. I don't know if the wear and tear gets to a long snapper. I don't think they have to do. I don't tell him I said that, but I don't think they have to do a whole lot other than snap it right. So as long as you can still. Yeah. You should be fine. How old is he? Like 38?

He is really dang good at his job, though. It's insane. It's insane how consistent he is. Anthony says, surprise first pick. It'd be a wide receiver would I think surprise the world. I'm getting on that bus because I like it. I like the idea of Luther Burden or Matthew Golden and having everyone go.

What are the Vikings doing with another wide receiver? They already have wide receivers. I would love that. I would love that. And then they would just throw to him and he'd be awesome. And then they would be better. That would be the more I could if it's a weapon. I'm good with it.

The biggest surprise would be like a tight end, but they're not going to do that. They have two good tight ends. Wide receiver would be the one that most shocks the world. Edge rusher would be like, uh, what? That's the only position I can't see them doing. But if it's, if it's wide receiver, I'm, I'm, I'm still really good with that. There would be a lot of shock. But if J.J.

McCarthy can throw to the human being that they draft success, running back would be the one that would be kind of ludicrous. But everything else is on the table. That's what makes it so fun. Randall says, Ravel, Hairston, Amos, Thomas at thirty seven thirty. I assume you're drafts him. Yeah, that's what I mean about the corners like that. If you're by the way, if you are doing a draft sim,

while listening slash watching the show, I mean, that's like, we need to, we need to hand out badges or neck rolls or something like you get a neck roll for that, my friend, like Rob, who did the study from 2000 with the quarterback, like you get a neck roll for tonight my friend like rob who did the study from 2000 with the quarterback like you get a neck roll for tonight you get a neck roll that's hardcore but your your point about the corners is that the expectations are a lot of the corners are going to go in the early second round here we go this is a neck roll level other the long snappers a neck roll level question and so is this son of beavers do you think the vikings bringing

another punter to work out? I mean, once again, if it's March 24th and you're like, do they need another punter? Neck roll neck roll for you, son of beavers. Uh, yes, I do. I do think that they will do that. I think they will bring in competition just like they did last year. This is a good point from Hunter. Vikings fans have a skewed perception about backup quarterbacks because of 2017-98 and what other backups have done against the Vikings.

Now I agree with that. It is a myth. I looked that up one time. I went through, I don't know, a bunch of years of data of backups versus the Vikings. That's a myth. You just really remember the ones where it went wrong, but their win percentage against the Vikings is no different from anybody else. Steve says, just complete the old line and take left guard Tyler Booker at 24 in a trade down situation. He's not

a great mover, but he can move people. I was listening to Sam and Steve the other day on check the mic and they were talking about how guard has the least correlation between their NFL combine and actual success in the league. So if they like Booker, go with Booker. He is a big giant human being. This is Jade says, can Quacey draft if he's not drafting for need? I think that Quacey has not drafted enough players for us to really say, can he draft or not? I'm sure that over a long period of time, some teams, but with some leaders, have very bad processes and it doesn't work out. That 2022 draft is biblical. I mean, that is like the worst draft ever, but also pretty much the same results as Rick Spielman's 2016 right after his 2015.

So I want to see. I want to see a lot more. There's a difference between does he need to hit on it? And is there any real control over whether the guys work out? I just got that question yesterday about why guys go bust and I ran through like 12 reasons. I mean, there's a lot of things that can go wrong, but best yet. I mean, in this case, it's the best player on the board that I would say they did that with Jordan Addison, the best player on the board when they

took him. We also really can't when we say I can't draft at all. He did get a wide receiver that if he was a free agent today would make $20 million. That does kind of matter and a starting linebacker who plays 800 snaps and gets sacks and pressures in undrafted free agency, like that kind of matters. I'm not saying 2022 didn't go wrong. It's just that they have drafted players. Uh, just not like a huge number of them. Uh, Harold Fanon, maybe undrafted free agency if he doesn't get picked, but

Um free agency if he doesn't get picked but frat boys ink that's funny so Zabel is more valuable because he can move to any position on the field yeah I like that about him I like that about him that he could play center or he could play guard or he could play guard and then move to center that kind of thing Yeah, I mean Steve's talking about the history of players from NDSU I'm not concerned about that like you could do that with any you could do that with any university You could do any university could be like, oh Ohio State quarterbacks can't play Until CJ shroud and then suddenly they can play

I'm not worried about that. You have a bunch of people who are supposed to evaluate these guys, let them do their jobs with that. And if they like what they look like at the senior bowl and their tape, I mean, there's been guys to come from those universities that are fine. This is gonna need some development though and that's why you keep Blake Brandle.

All right, well I told the intern Clay to keep his eyes on. I thought tonight that was like, I don't know. Our Vikings fans excited tonight like there's no real news. They didn't even bring in like some random free agent or something. And guess what? Neck rolls for all. All of you get neck rolls for a great conversation tonight, stemming off those ESPN grades. So I really appreciate that.

But now it is time to welcome in for Clay's Corner Intern Clay, University of Pennsylvania, former football player and innovative question asker. I don't know whatever else you want to be known for. What is going on, Clay? How are you? I'm good. I really enjoyed all the neck neck roll worthy questions in here today. There was a ton of good stuff in here for such a quiet day.

It was, it was, it was a pleasant shock. Kicker punter and long snapper on the show. Right. But if you still have questions, throw them in. I will mix in the questions. Clay has five that he has come up with for me So, what do you got? Where do you want to start clay? Yep

So the first one I got is that the Vikings brought in a lot of key additions this offseason And I just wanted to ask you which one of them Do you think needs to make the biggest impact to ensure that the Vikings have another successful season? hmm, I to ensure that the Vikings have another successful season. Hmm. I guess my answer would probably be Will Fries, because if Will Fries is no better than Blake Brandel was last year, then you're probably getting a lot of the same results. Now, based on where he was headed in his career before he got hurt, it looked a lot better than that.

And his 2023 was better than that. But if he's sort of coming off this leg injury and is just a guy and not an impact player at the price they paid for him, then that's gonna be still that bugaboo that it's been for such a long time. It's not going to be the driving force to the running game that we want it to be and all that sort of stuff.

I also think if you have a good guard in this world because there's so many good defensive tackles because there's so many good defensive minds that are sending those blitzes that it can have a huge impact now to have a guy there who solidifies the interior of that line So I think that I might actually pair them together that Kelly and fries When you combine them with their saw O'Neill and whoever they put it left guard This might be the first impact offensive line that I've covered in my career covering the Vikings

that's what you're looking for. There's only like five offensive lines that have a serious positive impact. Then there's about 15 that are hanging on for dear life. And then there's about 10 more that just can't play football at all and ruin everything. And you wanna be in that five. They can be in that five if Will Fries is great. If Will Fries is just sort of, eh, you know, he's there.

Then it's not gonna be that way. So I think he has an opportunity, the rare guard to swing the offense in quite a positive way. Who did you have? Um, yeah, I liked the offensive line. I, I think I'm just so confident in them and their film that I feel like they'll be fine, especially with the tackles they're surrounded by and their, their offensive coach. So I feel like I'm just more confident in them. I feel like right now, like today,

I'm looking at Isaiah Rogers, which is weird because there was so many more like big moves, but he's like the number two corner on this team right now. And I think I'm gonna lean more towards the defensive tackles. I think Jonathan Allen and Hargrave are probably gonna be more important because I see the Vikings going out and getting a corner in the draft.

But if they stay the same, I think I would go with Isaiah Rogers. But I think they'll get a corner and then Jonathan Allen, he's going to be well, him and Hargrave. But I think Allen with the more expensive contract is going to be the one we really look at to to see the impact he makes. Rogers was the guy that when he signed, I said, like this could turn out to be a big signing that we don't think about at all because his numbers are really good and he could win that job.

He could play a lot. We are expecting McKay Blackman to come back from the ACL injury. There's going to be a battle there for position. They might draft one in the first round. I could still see them or trade back and draft a corner I could still see that but it might be one of those where and I've talked about this through the years about how it's A weak link system in the secondary your secondary is only as good as your worst player And if your worst player is actually good

And that's the area where they need to get a little stronger from Shaq Griffin from Stefan Gilmore the area where they needed to get a little stronger from Shaq Griffin, from Stefan Gilmore, that could have a serious impact. I would probably go with Allen or Hargrave, whoever's going to play more. So if Allen's going to play more than I would go with him as having the potential biggest impact because if they don't need to blitz all the time, they could be a better defense than they were last year. And looking at who they're playing for quarterbacks next year, they need to be a better defense than they were last year and looking at who they're playing for quarterbacks next year, they need to be a better defense overall to get the same results. They can't just roll out the same stuff they had last year and interior pressure is really

where that starts. Uh, Rob says he thinks, uh, Jordan Mason is the biggest one that could have an impact. I mean, that could be touchdowns. It could be actually getting first downs on third and short and not having to throw down the field because of Jordan Mason adding a toughness element to it where this team just was not really known for that last year. I think was important and Jordan Mason's a big part of that. Yeah, I agree. And going back to Jonathan Allen with Brian Flores,

I feel like everybody talks about his creativeness and all the blitzes he sends at quarterbacks. But if you have pressure coming from the interior, it allows him to be even more flexible and may not have to blitz as much and still get the pressure and it could just take this defense to a whole nother level. So if those D tackles work out or even if just one of them work out, I think it'll be a huge impact for this team. Son of a beaver says biggest impact will be tight end three. She's trying for more neck rolls. I see what you're doing. I see what you're doing.

But yeah, feel free to answer that that question in the comments. Which one of these guys could have the biggest impact? And I wonder about like a wins above replacement, like what's worth the most in terms of value a Running back is not going to be that most of the time unless they're Saquon Barkley It probably is a defensive tackle would likely be if you were doing Because PFF does have a wins above replacement stat that they do not always share publicly I think they do once a year with the free agents, but they don't show everybody's and

I think they do once a year with the free agents, but they don't show everybody's and Defensive tackle is pretty far up there on the list I think and I also think the way it impacts every single down for a quarterback But you have to think about that interior pressure all the time So I would go the one that has the potential to be the most disruptive and have the most wins above replacement value is The defensive tackle position. All right. What's next? So next up, James Winston back or quarterback. He signed with the Giants on a two year deal. And I feel like he's such a unique player because he's so bad.

And yet we all love him still. So if you had to pick another quarterback in NFL history, who's the most comparable to him? Like, who would you pick? quarterback in NFL history who's the most comparable to him? Like who would you pick? So the funny thing is that Nick Mullins played just like him and we don't think of those guys being at all similar. And yet the first name that comes to mind is Nick Mullins for me, just because he threw so many interceptions

and for so many yards all the time that, but that's a very Vikings specific reference because you would never expect Nick Mullins to be like him. I would go with Vinnie Testa Verde historically, which is one that is a deep throwback. I know to the nineties, but Vinnie Testa Verde finished his career fourth all time in interceptions, but also had some awesome years. And I think that if James Winston would play a lot, he would have that like wide variance between. Yeah. He's thrown a ton of like one year, one year Vinny Testa Verde through 33 touchdowns, 19 picks and went four and 12. Like that's, that's kind of James Winston. He just stayed lots of passing lots of picks and sometimes it's fun and sometimes it's not.

Kerry Collins might be another one that's a throwback there where you could see under the right circumstances at working, but he's never really had a lot of that. He went seven and three. I think he's a starter for New Orleans. And aside from that, I mean, Tampa Bay had a good team and he went eight and eight, throwing like 30 touchdowns and 30 picks. Those are a couple that come to mind for me. Big arms that just throw a ton of interceptions.

What did you have? Yeah, I was trying to think of like tier two gunslingers because I can't put them like the level is like the FARs or the other guys where it's like, yeah, he made a lot of dumb plays, but he still won and had a good career. So I had to think of people who were just not that great. And someone that hits close to home, Jay Cutler, it's like, I thought he had a cannon and sometimes you would see him throw the ball and it's like, wow, is he actually a good quarterback?

That's crazy. But then the other 90% of the time he's throwing it straight to the defense. So it's kind of hard to stick with him and cheer him on. But I remember growing up watching him play and he would give me like nightmares because I'm like, what is he? How many times is he gonna give the ball up this game? Brett says Ryan Fitzpatrick, you know what I think Jamis is? And Fitzpatrick was like that too. He'd throw for a million yards, million interceptions. I think that Jamis is kind of the worst version of what you're talking about.

He's like the bad Jay Cutler, except for all the time. He's the bad Carson Palmer all the time. Like Carson Palmer had a year where he threw 26 touchdowns, 20 picks and went seven and nine. And he also had amazing years where he threw 35 touchdowns and 11 picks with Arizona late in his career. But he was kind of an interception machine. Let me just search this from 2010 to 2013. He threw 85 touchdowns at 72 picks, Carson Palmer. So he was kind of, he was kind of an interception machine for a really long run there

and then found the home in Arizona. But I like the way that you frame it, like second tier type of gunslinger. How about the bad Gino Smith, the bad Sam Darnold, like that's kind of exactly what he is. What I'll never understand is why people love the guy. I mean, I think it's because he brings a lot of energy and stuff, and maybe they're comfortable with forgetting what happened in college.

But even just as a player, as a player, why I think maybe entertainment value, it's like if he doesn't play for your team, you're like, Jameis is on. This is going to be fun. But if he plays for your team, you're going to absolutely hate life with him as your quarterback. Yeah, I was trying to think of like former former like high end draft parents who are bus that we still root for. It is like not really a lot.

Normally they're just known for being in that bust or the disappointing pick. So the fact that we're over here cheering him on, looking forward to his quotes, or at least I look forward to his pregame quotes, even though he might not be playing. So he's just such a funny player to me. He is kind of a throwback in this way because nobody throws picks anymore. Like, it's just not how, like it used to be

even 20 years ago, 15 years ago, you'd see guys with 20 picks all the time. You just don't see that. It's like the early there were years where Matthew Stafford won like four games, that kind of version of him. But he's never had the high end. So he's just kind of always always the bad version. Yeah, always the bad version, not where you want to be, James. But it's all right. Good luck.

I mean, is anyone more screwed? Is anyone more screwed than the New York Giants? You know, it's bad when you go from Cleveland to the Giants. It's like, if he doesn't end it here, he's going to be on the Jets next. So it's, it's going to be bad anyway, for, for my next question. Um, as I was looking through all the NFL rumors and news to try and come up with all these questions, I was thinking, what if there was no reporting in the offseason? Like, imagine you just show up game one and that's where you learn about your team's new free agency moves, who they drafted, who they traded. How would you feel about that? Do you think it would make the league better or worse? So there's this is something I think about all the time. I mean, first of all, for my purposes, like look at our audience right now. And there's nothing that happened today.

Like, this is awesome. And thank you, everyone, for loving football. So this is why we're we're throwing neck rolls like the the passion. The three sixty five passion for football is so awesome. And I love it. It allows me to just talk about this all the time. I mean, I think maybe before the internet was as big before we had live streaming like this in a local market like you're in the Philadelphia area. I'm in Minnesota like they would have just turned their attention away from the Vikings at the local media would have focused on the twins all summer long and the wild in the playoffs and you wouldn't have heard much from the Vikings at the local media would have focused on the twins all summer long and the wild in the playoffs.

And you wouldn't have heard much from the Vikings for months and months. No one would be talking about them. And now we are, which also leads to some downside to that, which is that every single thing. And I named my Friday mailbag mystery Vikings theater because like sometimes we just have too much information. Like the w and we'll, we'll see when it comes to quasi and what he has to say about his contract and all that.

But like, we know every player's contract. We know every single draft analysis of every single player. We know the last guy on the roster. We know all this stuff. And sometimes it can be a little bit information overload where we're obsessing maybe too much over who the backup quarterback is or looking for any. I mean, because you have so many media outlets that are covering it all the time, you're just looking for drama all the time. And we've definitely seen that with the Vikings coverage over the last few years, where it's anything that might even be hinted at behind the scenes is this huge story, even if it doesn't come to fruition.

So that could be a little frustrating and would be like kind of nice in some ways, but I also love training camp and love going to practices. So maybe if you said at training camp, that would be, that would be actually really fun if there was a 24 hour NFL off season reveal show that started the first day of training camp and your team Cincinnati Bengals signed your wide receivers, wow, they go crazy. Yeah, we did what? Yeah, that would be pretty funny. I like the way that it's structured now because it just is so many opportunities to talk about

it. I'm going to go cover an OTA practice in a few weeks here. And I guarantee you the numbers are gonna be great for that because everyone wants to know how's JJ look. I like that part of it, but it would be very different and fun in its own way if we all had to like find out what had been going on behind the scenes for months about their new teams.

That week would be the most fun week in football for sure. Yeah. I'm I love talking ball year round and I could do it all the time. And obviously we do it for work and it would definitely be something to think about for that part, but just as a pure fan, it would be like another Superbowl. Like I think it would end up being one of the biggest sports events in the world. Just there would be so many eyes on it. And imagine like when Tom Brady went to Tampa Bay, it was like,

my God, he just runs out of tunnel hits the fist pump and oh yeah, or whatever he says. And it everyone would just be like, wow, this is real. This is actually real. And I don't know, I just think that drama would be crazy, but I don't know, I do like talking ball year round. So I'm cool with the way things are, but it would be really interesting to see. There is a major change that's happened

in the way we consume football though, with so much knowledge of what goes on in the off season, where sometimes I've felt like during the season, fans can't wait for it to be over to on in the off season, where sometimes I've felt like during the season, fans can't wait for it to be over to talk about the off season again. I last year, I remember at the near the bye week, I think I was like, okay, I'll allow future questions tonight and tonight only for like future off season. It was the most questions I had all year because a lot of it is so interesting and you could play along at home.

And that's maybe the favorite part is like, we all can get on over the cap.com. We could draft some. That's why I say we, when we have these discussions because all the fans that are here tonight asking questions are so knowledgeable that you guys know as much as I do about this team. And so we can have this conversation but where you get into the Vikings playing the Las Vegas Raiders and we're going down this rabbit hole of like how their defensive tackle is going to match up with your center or something.

It's like not the same of where like a convivial element where we can all play along together, which I think is really fun about the offseason. But I Also think what you're talking about would be an amazing thing if they did it one year like nothing gets out Until the last minute a lot of insiders would not have their jobs anymore Mr. Mayor says how much you think the media coverage affects the team's decision-making on free agency in the draft? I don't think really at all, but they have owners and owners consume media and I think the Vikings owners are very good at not letting what's being said on the outside impact what's being said to them by the general manager and the head coach who they're communicating

with the most. I think it definitely impacts like some teams that have absolutely crazy owners. I definitely think that that's the case. But as far as this team goes, I don't think much. I mean, they're clearly more, I would say they're more aware of what media is saying about them than ever before. But I don't think that they like read,

oh, the Vikings need a defensive tackle and they're like oh yeah you're right about that most of the time it's us telling you or us all figuring out together the same thing that they already know you know what I mean like hey it seems like the Vikings need a guard and free agency like this isn't the shocker to them But you know what they do a quarterback I don't know it's hard to say because I think after what happened with Darnold everyone was comfortable with moving on but if Darnold had played differently in those playoff games and there was Stephen A Smith and Mike Greenberg and NFL Network all saying they have to bring back Sam Darnold with the owners have been a little more on the on

the side of Yeah, a lot of these experts are saying, you know, like we can anybody could say they're not influenced by media. But if the owners are watching the TV shows and stuff like that, of course, there's going to be some level of influence there. Yeah, I hope my owner doesn't pay attention to what the fans are saying. Like, what's the saying? If you listen to the fans, you'll be sitting with them

or something like that. So yeah, it's hard. It's like you said, like they already know what they're gonna do weeks, months, maybe sometimes years before like we know what's going on. So yeah, that's a tough line to stand on. King Dickham says, remember waiting impatiently for pre NFL preseason magazines. Oh, yes. Oh, I did the same thing.

Yeah, this is this is old guy time. Old guy talk here, Clay Vinnie Testaverde came up. What's a magazine? And yeah. But no, truly, the NFL preview Sports Illust, they'd predict all the team's records and I would keep it and see how far off they were at the end of the season. I would read every single one of those from start to finish. And I can't say at that point that I knew what was going on. There would be my local newspaper had a transaction wire thing and I didn't have ESPN.

I grew up without cable. So I just had to get the newspaper and the Sports Illustrated would be how I got everything, which is so different from getting it from Adam Schefter instantly right now. But there was something that was really fun about, like you get the new Madden game and you get the magazine and you fix the roster and everything else. There was something fun about like you get the new Madden game and you get the magazine and you fix the roster and everything else. Uh, there was something fun about that. Uh,

yes, Steve and I will be traveling to the owner's meetings this week and we'll see what we get out of that. That's always fun. That's, um, conversation with Mark Wilf. Um, so, you know, I mean, it's been a pretty big off season for spending Mark Wilf's money, Mark and Ziggy. So usually there's a conversation with Mark and there is a 7 45 Eastern breakfast with Kevin O'Connell that we'll all be at. And that's that's tough on everybody. I don't drink, but like it's I mean, that means 6 45 central time

waking up to go ask the head coach questions. I mean, that's, that's pretty tough. That's kind of a grind. I know it's going to be tough. I'll be in West Palm beach. I have to get up early. Feel bad for me. Uh, anyway, uh, King Dickens says, I remember paying attention to ESPN draft coverage, whatever

year it was. Trent Dilfer was drafted. No, that, so that's the thing. When I didn't even watch the draft, I actually listened to the draft in the first round on the radio. I would just have it on because I didn't have cable and it wasn't on any major networks. So I would just listen to it.

And I remember when Randy Moss was drafted, they were criticizing his pants. I was like, man, I hope this, I don't know anything about this Moss guy. I hope like, man, I hope this, I don't know anything about this Moss guy. I hope he just kills the league. And so I always, that's like my early connection to Moss. So I got mad in 99 and I wanted to play with Moss and kill it with Moss because I was so annoyed

with the people talking about how he's wearing his pants. So anyway, and I smoked a pipe while I told that story to young Clay. Yeah, like they they get on me for calling you old, but you kind of do it to yourself, man. I got to I got to be real. You know, part of that is I think it's I think that NFL history and talking about it is is fun. I can as you go along in your life and you're like, yeah, man, that my home. So I'll tell you, you know, like there's having seen multiple generations of players and seen how coverage changes and how we consume it changes

and how my thoughts and feelings about the game changes. I like that part. I like talking. And plus, I think a lot of my audience is like the same age as me or older. So I mean, maybe maybe our YouTube success recently is bringing in more people from your age bracket. Anyway, what's next question? Okay, so the next one. So the Vikings have the 24th pick. Imagine they had the choice between a 2000 yard rusher, a defensive tackle was guaranteed to get 10 sacks or a kicker who

never missed from 65 in it. Who are you taking? So I got the first round pick and a football wizard from the future comes down and tells me if you pick these three players this one will turn into a 2,000 yard rusher, this one will turn into a 10 sack defensive tackle and this kicker will never miss from 65 and in I Mean, I think the kicker would probably be really valuable but kicking is so good these days I mean we saw from Will Reichard last year before he got banged up. He made literally every kick So that guy kind of exists for them. The answer is probably not the kicker at this point in the league where kicking's going.

I'll be watching some Rutgers game or something they'll run out a kicker here's Northern Iowa's kicker and the guy bangs it through from 58 like what is going on here kicking has been solved everyone has figured out how to kick at this point so I'm going to say no to the kicker Everyone has figured out how to kick at this point. So I'm going to say no to the kicker I think I would go with the 10 sack defensive tackle in part because Saquon Barkley runs for 2000 last year and averages almost six yards of carry the previous year with the giants He averaged like four yards of carry I think a lot of the success and it's not to say that him running away from people is not him

But a lot of the success of running backs is based on what you can do for them and how you play. So if you have a running quarterback and the best offensive line in football, that's going to result in 2000 yards. But if you don't have those things, you're probably not going to get that out of the guy. Although I guess I'm being guaranteed that a 2000 yard runner is pretty darn valuable. I think I would still take the 10 sack defensive tackle. How many guys get 10 sacks at DT like three a year? Yeah, not many.

I think I'll go with that. No one wants to play against the 10 sack defensive tackle. Yeah, I think initially I was drawn to the kicker because yeah, you really just get like past midfield and you got an automatic three. So but then I was thinking about it. If you're not the best offense or if you don't have the weapons,

like one getting to midfield might be a problem and scoring touchdowns might be a problem. And games are not won and lost by field goals most of the time. Normally if you see a team go up nine, zero early, does it like, just based off field goals is like the game's not over. It's still a young game. So if it would be like an automatic 15 points about every game, but if you have a 2000 yard rusher, it is especially I was thinking for the Vikings,

like on this team, like like it will record is a good enough kicker to where I don't think we need the magic 65 yard leg. I think and I think the offense is good enough to get into position to score. So I don't think they need a cheap way out. But if you throw a 2000 yard rusher next to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Madison, all these other weapons, JJ McCarthy is going to have the easiest job in the world. So that's how I view it. McCarthy is going to have the easiest job in the world. So that's how I feel it.

Now, yeah, I guess I have always have said anything that helps JJ McCarthy is what you want to go for. 2000 yard rushers going to be pretty darn valuable. And we're assuming that it's a high yards per carry rate. And I don't know if any team has struggled that's had a 2000 yard rusher. I mean, can't imagine all Lewis, Chris Johnson, Eric Dickerson, Adrian Petersen, well, Adrian Peterson's team

still won 10 games, even when they couldn't throw the ball at all. Steve has a question for you, says, who is the only starting player in the NFL that came from your University of Pennsylvania? Is J. Wada starter Justin Watson receiver. He played for the Chiefs. I think he's on the Texans now.

Is that who you're thinking? I think this is that what we got Steve? Because it would be just a lot of beavers wants the kicker. I understand the kicker. I understand the kicker. I mean hard to pass on that especially because so many games are close to within one score like oh all I got to do is get to the 45 yard line

and I just win the game. So, but it too, yeah, I mean, all of those are good. The defensive tackle, that's not who Steve was referring to. Okay, Steve, who are you referring to? There is a former Viking. Oh, Greg Van Rotten, how about that? The offensive guard. Ooh, I did not know.

There is a former Viking from University of Pennsylvania caught a game winning touchdown in 1989, and I'm forgetting his name right now. But there's there's there's some connections, some connections. You're when you chose Penn, your odds of making the NFL were not high, I think, based on. Yes. You kind of take that into account when you write decision. Yeah. Education. Yeah, whatever. Anyway. OK, so what's what's next?

How many got left? One or two. I have one more left. OK. And it's another March Madness theme question because it is the season. So what if the NFL eliminated conferences and divisions and for playoffs they did a March Madness style tournament for all 32 teams and the seating would be based on how the regular season goes. How would you feel about that? Would it make the playoffs better, worse? What are your thoughts? So rather than playing like the week 17, 18 instead, you would just start the playoff tournament basically. And your first round of the playoffs is the

who was the worst team in the NFL this year? The Tennessee Titans, the Tennessee Titans versus the Kansas City Chiefs is the first game. And then how many rounds would that take? You'd have a 32 sweet 16 elite eight final four. So it'd be five rounds. That's the same number of games for the Super Bowl champ. Right. They play basically the same number of games because you play for. You can play as many as four playoff games.

Usually, usually it's three if you have the buy, but it can be four. So you'd have to play one extra. Maybe we would have to work in like a first round by or something and cut it down, but I, I don't think it's the craziest thing I've ever heard. They would never go to it, but how insane would it be though, where you're in the playoffs and you are the, let's say 10th best team in the league, and you got to play the 20th best team in the league. Maybe some team got their quarterback hurt and they could go on a run or like, think about the Cincinnati Bengals last year. Would you have

wanted to play the Cincinnati Bengals at the end of last year? No way. Not the way that they were playing. And so some teams could get hot and they could go through the playoffs and all of a sudden you're the 20th best regular season team. Maybe that would be a reason not to want to do it is that it would make just like so much less sense. But then again, if you end up with a team that's the 20th best team that has to fight through a bunch of really great teams to get there, that would be an incredible story. I mean, I like when we were talking about the playoff format the other day and how you can win 14 games and somehow be a four seed, like, I don't know, a March

madness tournament makes more sense than that. Maybe if, uh, they added two more teams in the NFL and London and, uh, Quebec or something, I don't know, then they they could give two teams a first round by or something, but that would I think it would be a really, a really crazy and insane and super fun type of tournament. I don't know if they'll ever do this because they want the regular season to matter, but it would matter for seating so much where if you're the, and, and look, we see so many of these week 18 games that mean nothing.

It's mostly a throwaway week outside. What Detroit and the Vikings were the one game that mattered in week 18 all of last year. So you would have then you'd blow out week 17 and 18 and everything would matter after that. Coaches could save their jobs. Players could get contracts off of a hot tournament run just like they get drafted.

I mean, or you could end up with the best teams just going and winning, but making them play all the way through week 18 and then beyond. I kind of like it. Roger, what do you think? I think teams would hate it. I think teams would hate it because the one seeds they want that they want that bi-week. Yeah. But I'd rather see him play. I'd rather see them just keep playing.

I think it would be one of the most special electrifying tournaments out there. And I just, I can only think of the atmosphere there. Like one of my favorite parts about the game is just here in the crowd, go crazy. And like every single game is just hearing the crowd go crazy. Every single game would have Super Bowl atmosphere. I think it would be really fun, but I'm also conflicted because yes, the regular season does matter for seeding, but also if you're a team like the Eagles and say you have all the confidence in the world, what if you just sit your starters for a good half of the season and then just come into the playoffs completely healthy? Like everybody makes it

So I love how The majority I mean the last few weeks There's some games that don't matter but the majority of football games in the NFL They all matter and really anyone can win. There's so many close games, so many one score games and it's truly like a coin toss pretty much every, every Sunday. So I love how every game matters. That's my biggest thing with the NBA. It's like 82 games and it's like, I'm not watching all of these. Like the players don't even care about all of these. Like what, so that's a big thing that I like about the NFL would like to keep that

tournament would be insane. You're right that it might reduce some teams desperation, but I've it kind of already does anyway with the fact that you could sit players in week 18 like the Rams did. I mean the Rams it was a massive factor that was not talked about at all. And I probably was negligent on this myself, not talking about it enough leading up to Vikings and Rams, that the Rams set their starters and they could just come to that game super healthy and the Vikings had to go to Detroit and get all beat up. And then, you know, I ended up going and playing a really physical team that was fully healthy.

Uh, it would be, yeah, maybe there's some way to incentivize winning divisions or whatever else that would still be involved in it. But if it was just a pure 32 team tournament starts day one, I think it would be insane. It would be super fun. We'd be talking non-stop matchups as the season went along and getting higher seeds means you get to play worse teams, which is something that I think everybody would be fighting for.

So are you enjoying the NCAA tournament? It's been a lot of chalk on both the men's and the women's side. Yeah, I got to confess. This has been the first year where I didn't make a bracket. I haven't really paid too much attention. I'm just not the biggest college basketball person. I kind of felt bad about myself for not participating originally, but I don't know, I'm not going to force myself. So.

Well, I am very invested on the women's side, but on the men's side, very, very casual. I didn't make a bracket. I used to make brackets and then I would just get mad when they busted. So, you know, I, why do I need that in my life? Uh, on the women's side, the best player in the college world, Paige Becker's is from Minnesota. And also my wife being a women's basketball broadcaster, I watch a ton of women's basketball throughout the year.

So even just the game that happened earlier tonight with Maryland and Alabama, holy cow was one of the best games you'll ever see in your life. So both tournaments, though, I don't mind that they're chalk. I don't mind that you get to the sweet 16 and it's just great teams playing great teams. I don't always love when there's a Cinderella and they get there and then they just get stomped out and you're like, well, okay, that was cute, but I didn't need Fairleigh Dickinson to win and then just get crushed. I want to see the best basketball as we go on and I will forget about the ones that don't matter at all. So anyway, well, great stuff,

Clay. I appreciate your time and patience with so many great questions that were asked by Vikings fans tonight. We'll definitely be live again. I'm thinking trying to plan it out because middle of the week, we're supposed to hear from the general manager. So of course I want to do a recap show of that. I might do it out there though on Wednesday and then run it for you guys Wednesday night. Thursday though we'll definitely be here. Guaranteed Thursday, guaranteed for breaking news, maybe Wednesday depending on if we get anything really interesting from

the GM that you guys want to react to and then at the end of the weekend I'll be headed down to the owners meetings and I'm sure we'll get a lot from that as well. So thanks for your time Clay. We will see you soon on Thursday, and I appreciate everybody taking the time This is a really fun chat. I expect nothing less from you guys We'll have a lot of fun conversation leading up to the draft Chris or Paso draft show is gonna be worth checking out every single week. We'll do more draft simulations and There's a lot of positions that they could look at. So we'll have a lot to discuss.

Thank you again, everybody, for watching slash listening. And we will see you again very soon. But ball.