Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - ESPN's Courtney Cronin breaks down who Vikings-Saints matters to most

Episode Date: December 24, 2020

Matthew Coller and ESPN's Courtney Cronin talk about which players need to show up against the Saints, regardless of the outcome. Does Eric Wilson have something to gain? Will we see any less of Dalvin Cook? Will the Vikings finally go all-in throwing to Justin Jefferson? Will Cam Dantzler continue his strong play? Plus a pie chart involving Mike Zimmer's future? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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with Drizzly or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate. Hey, everyone. It's Lindsay Rhodes, and as always, celebrate. previewing games. We'll get you set for the weekend fantasy with our Fantasy Friday episodes, and we'll answer some of your questions as well. So subscribe to the NFL Roadshow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, welcome to another episode of Firmly Insider. Happy Christmas Eve or Merry Christmas, depending on when you're listening to this. Matthew Collar, along with ESPN's Courtney Cronin, and a very happy holidays to you, Ms. Cronin. Well, thank you. Happy holidays to you. I hope you are surviving the blizzard. Yeah, it's terrible outside.

And, of course, the dog doesn't know the difference, so she wants to go for a walk and is begging for that. I don't know how to explain to her that with whipping winds and ice and snow, that's not a great idea, that maybe she should just go in the backyard, but she's not really getting it. How come she doesn't just go do her zoomies in the backyard and go like she loves the snow like let her go play in that that's the thing about greyhounds is like once you get them into a routine they stick with that routine and then if you don't do it then they whine at you and that's exactly what my greyhound does so we let her out back sometimes to zoom around but she gets full walks around the block a couple times a day and if that's not

happening she doesn't understand the explanation for why so it'll be a lightning storm and it'll be like excuse me why aren't you taking me out because this is the time where we go so there's no there's no really breaking it down for her that's okay um as long as i mean what did she do last year she sliced her foot open on something like in the winter time like as long as i mean what did she do last year she sliced her foot open on something like in the winter time like as long as she doesn't do that that's straight right there are always little problems like she injured a toe and we spent five hours at the vet the other day yeah she once fell on her rear and kind of split her skin open and we have stitches like just part of being a greyhound it's either

zero or a hundred um but just like mike zimmer and the commitment to the run there's not a whole lot you can do to change it i feel like there's a metaphor here a little bit um except for there's no one as fast as her on the vikings anyway so um here's what i want from you for this i want from you the most interesting players of these final two games I'm gonna lump them together because I don't know what we're gonna see week 17 if they're eliminated does Sean Mannion play or Jake Browning or something to try and improve their draft status a little bit I don't know if they would do that but week 17s there's a reason why they're not in fantasy football because they we don't know how to predict them.

So this, I think, is the last opportunity for a lot of players to leave an impression and say, I belong on this team for next season. So I'm going to start out not in that vein necessarily, but in terms of the most interesting players for the final two games with just Justin Jefferson, I mean, he set rookie records and will they show anything that's more aggressive with Justin Jefferson in terms of getting him the ball, you know, using him in playmaking type of situations or anything like that in a situation where they have nothing to lose in new Orleans. You'd like to see it just once, just to show that they know that this is

something they're allowed to do. Yeah, I do wonder about that because, like it or not, take what you will from the little thing that we heard get picked up on the field mics the other day. Like, he's a competitor for sure. Like, if you're not getting the ball if you you know if it was a throw that you could have gotten like if Kirk wouldn't have been getting drilled whatever like that was a sign of frustration good or bad legit reason not legit reason whatever that was that was a legit that was a legitimate outburst and it was it was what it was so I'm like you know you have to get him the ball that's not just like an isolated thing like you have to be able to show that you're going to use this guy and you're going to use him well into the full you know breadth of his case capabilities here um because

he's in a run first offense like he's the limitations on a player like that are unfair. And I think that I kind of like lump Justin Jefferson and Dalvin Cook together in this whole thing because how much run is Dalvin Cook going to get? I mean, they've got a 4% chance to get to the playoffs, right? So there's still some hope. It's not a lot. But it's enough to where, I mean, at least for this team, they had no shot when they were one in five, nothing leads me to believe they're just going to mail it in here and like

play backups the entire time for these final two games, especially, especially with it being like a national game and being on Christmas day and the whole thing when they have an audience that's just not going to be the way that it pans out. So if they're going to pull back though on Dalvin cook, that should lead you to believe that that justin jefferson's going to have a pretty decent game in terms of targets maybe the targets coming to him earlier finding ways to get him the ball finding ways to you know get him in a position where you know going in the next year like yeah

we can be run first but we can also be a pass heavy offense if we want to um because I feel like the only times that they are now are when they're forced into it because they're playing from behind and even then they're still probably going to run the ball when they're down 10 points because that's just their mo so you know you're seeing a very good Justin Jefferson right now probably the best of any rookie receiver since Randy Moss just in terms of what he's done this rookie year I think it's what earns him offensive rookie of the year because when you think about you know where Justin Herbert is now like he broke he tied Baker Mayfield's record for most touchdown passes as a rookie that was two years old like what Justin Jefferson's done is he's broken a 22-year record and he's probably going to break another one and with this next 132 receiving yards so um i'd like to believe that the vikings not that they're going to like listen to what

everybody's saying even though it would make sense but you know stop letting your identity politics rule what you do because you have a very two very good receivers and the fact that like they were criminally under targeted especially adam thielen last week um now you have a chance at least to right the ship a little bit there and Jefferson being you know the crux of that what's really interesting to me is just that they've played behind in a lot of games which usually means that you're throwing a ton and the last time they played behind in a lot of games we saw Kirk Cousins clear 600 pass attempts which is not necessarily ideal because that means you're playing behind in a lot of games in 2018 but right now Kirk Cousins is 17th in total pass attempts and he's behind Carson Wentz

who was benched two weeks ago and and uh he's barely ahead of Joe Burrow, who's been injured for weeks. And, you know, so you have other quarterbacks who are throwing just so much more than him that have also played from behind. Like Matt Ryan has been losing in a lot of games. He has 547 attempts, whereas Kirk Cousins has 435. So it's not just entirely about Justin Jefferson or Delvin Cook or the exact number of targets that Jefferson or Thielen gets. It's even just like the percentage of total offensive plays in which they are a part of those plays. has you know 99 targets at this point and delvin cook has 300 runs like three times much as much delvin cook as justin jefferson is not the ratio that you're necessarily looking for um even if you know of course you're splitting the target share with adam thielen and a couple

of other receivers you're not even maximizing the number of past attempts you can have so if they were winning in a lot of these games how how many attempts would Cousins have? I mean, he would probably be at the bottom of the league in attempts. It would be like Case Keenum was throwing, you know, 10 passes a half in 2017 if they were a winning team. So if you're going to use Kirk Cousins like Case Keenum, then I guess sign Case Keenum then. Like don't sign the most expensive quarterback.

And if you have a receiver who's a complete game breaker, throwing the ball 130 times by now, like DeAndre Hopkins or Devontae Adams or any of the other receivers, there are other receivers on run-first offenses who are also getting the ball 130, 140 times by now. And, you know, Jefferson is not one of them. And by the way, like Stefan Diggs is splitting the target share with Cole Beasley. Cole Beasley has 97 targets, but Diggs has 143. Like I, no one says bench Delvin Cook, trade Delvin Cook.

He's awful or anything. No one says that. Like he's great and you want him and he'll help you win. But when your offense is three times as much or even 33 percent more one player than your other two stars that to me just says you've done this wrong and and it's hard to not obsess over it I feel like that's what we're doing but and yet it just it is so not the way they should be going with these players that it's hard not to get stuck on that every time we talk about it well it's just so stubborn because you know that there's another way to do it like it's not that oh well we can't throw the ball to

Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen because they're getting taken away every single play that's just a sorry excuse like sure some plays are going to draw more attention from defenders than others but it's not like that for 60 snaps a game I I don't want to hear that. Like that's just not accurate. So, you know, I think there's ways to do it. I think they're just so stuck within their philosophy of this is how we're going to do it. You know, that's why I think that there's kind of a cap on this team because they haven't shown you that they can truly adapt to the personnel that's outside

of their philosophy. Right. So Justin Jefferson of making him the focal piece of your offense when you just paid Dalvin Cook like there's a lot of money tied up and I think the decisions of why they do what they do offensively but that doesn't mean that you can't get other guys involved at a rate that is consistent with how often you're getting Dalvin Cook involved I don't think that has to be the same from game to game they're run a run-heavy team, sure, but you don't have to be that every single game. In fact, I'm kind of surprised that they continue to force that identity when there have been games where they shouldn't be, you know, doing that.

They shouldn't be in that position to run the ball, and they aren't, yet they're still doing it. And, you know, against a team like Chicago, I felt like, you know, when you're checking down to, you know, the fourth and one play to Tyler Conklin. And even like the fourth and one with Dalvin Cook, where in the second quarter, where Mike Zimmer brought the offense back out into the field, they run him right up the gut. Like, why aren't you throwing a short pass to Justin Jefferson? Why aren't you trying to do something get your other two stars involved that's the part that's a little maddening because I feel like there's options for it I just don't want to believe the excuse of oh well they were taken away we couldn't because it's it's just not the case

all the time Adam Thielen plus Justin Jefferson is in total targets I mean so we could just put it as plays that went their way I think Jefferson might could just put it as plays that went their way. I think Jefferson might've had one run. So plays that went their way, 192 so far this year, Delvin cook plays that went his way, 349. You are you. So 350 to 200. So, I mean, that just does not add up to players. Yeah. When you have two of the best 10 receivers in the NFL. It just doesn't add up. So anyway, we could try to move past that with who's first on your list to watch against New Orleans, because mine is Jefferson, of course, and to see also how close he gets to these rookie records. But how about you? Well, I'd say Justin Jefferson and Dalvin Cook are kind of my like 1a 1b because I am curious then about like what the Vikings are going to do with Dalvin Cook here down the stretch

so that naturally leads me to like my next most important player that I'm looking for to watch would be Alexander Madison because you know we've heard um and obviously he's been on the injury report last few weeks like he you know had appendicitis like he's clearly recovering from that I'm even shocked that you know at this point that he was able to play um you know be active and all things like that considering how dangerous you know he's thinking injury like that is but um you know this is their chance now to save dalvin cook for next season to be able to spell him some more um and you know if they can play alexander madison then great that's what i'll be watching but if they can't then who's going to back up dalvin cook are you going to have to run him as much as you did because madison has a concussion so it's

like can you get cleared in time that's what i'm a little worried about but if he can like just because that feels the most natural like the logical like um you know progression there would be what can he do in place of Dalvin Cook assuming you know if he can play yeah so I mean at this moment as we record this two straight days of not practicing I'm not confident he plays but i think if you add and friends i think alexander madison and friends and how often they play but i i just think that they again are like you said so committed to their way of thinking about how they do this that no matter how much we yell into the void it never seems to get there with with them and change anything that they want to do so you said it was four percent there are other websites that have two percent you know uh in terms of the vikings playoff chances but they're going to look at that as well if we're

still alive and we're not eliminated then hey delvin strap them up and go run there but i mean he's at 297 carries and has missed the game I mean we are talking about close to like a historic number of attempts per game when you factor in the era I mean that this is not you know 2001 where they used to hand it to Sean Alexander and LaDainian Tomlinson every single play that the fact that he's getting the ball this much is a pretty serious concern for next year. I mean, he can say all he wants to try to speak into existence that this won't happen to him in terms of the slowdown and in terms of, you know, having this workload eventually hurt him. But I mean, history just goes the other way. And look, I mean, he could say Todd Gurley's different than me. Devante Freeman's different than me. I mean, you could say that all you want. You can believe that all you want. You could think that you are Superman and your body will just heal right up as soon as you get off the field. past the level of like red being concerning but are you going to run delvin cook 35 times against

new orleans and just like blow up the meter i mean it's just i mean i don't know like maybe we've already gone too far and you might as well just use them these last two games but i tend to think that um resting him is a is a better way to go about it if you're thinking that you're going to have high expectations for next year no i, I'm with you. I mean, and I've been, you know, pounding my fist on the table about that all season long. And I wrote something about it last week and, you know, where he's at on pace to finish with 380 touches, you know, getting close to that 400 mark. Like there's a natural drop-off most times. Like, you know, I know that Eric Dickerson and, you know, Adrian Peterson, and there's a couple others, like they,

they never had the drop-off after, you know, the big injuries and all of that. They've still remained a machine in spite of what's happened to them. Well, that's great and everything. That's just not reality for everybody. So yeah, we do have a small-ish sample size of Dalvin Cook being, this is his fourth year. But, like, I'm just trying to look at it logically and think if you put all this wear and tear on him when it doesn't matter, you're fighting for a seventh seed that you really have no chance to get at this point, what are you doing it for?

Like, you just pay this guy. Like, you know, what's your return on investment? Protect that. Like, it doesn't make a whole ton of sense to grind him into a fine dust this season when it's just not worth it. It's not going to help you win a Super Bowl this year. So the last six games for Delvin, after he averaged six yards a carry through the first seven games that he played, he is at 4.09 yards per carry.

So he is at essentially a league average or a little bit below in terms of yards per carry since he had all that crazy usage at the beginning of the year and you mentioned Adrian Peterson that's an example that gets brought up a lot and the thing that I think of is okay so in 2012 Adrian Peterson ran for 2,000 plus yards one of the greatest seasons by a running back in NFL history the next year he runs for 1,200 yards he has a couple games where he's out his yards per carry drops by 1.5. His yards per game drops by 40 per game. His yards from scrimmage drops by 900.

Like this is the indestructible Adrian Peterson. And yet the tooth, the last effect, every time he led the league in rushing yards, he went from 1,700 in 08 to 1,300 the next year, 2,000 to 1,300. And in 2015 from 1,500 to the next year, getting hurt and running for 72 yards. I mean, so even when we're talking about the, the Superman at the running back position, it still has had an impact when he's led the league in rushing. And that's why you don't see it very often from a guy from year to year to year. So another thing that's sort of been belaboring the point about it, but even the history when it comes to the greats has been a little bit problematic with this. So I'm just going to move on to my next player here.

I think that Cameron Dantzler is really interesting for this game because he's been terrific. He's also faced Mitch Trubisky, Mike Lennon. Teddy was not great in the game they played against Carolina. It hasn't exactly been a murderer's row of quarterbacks and Nick Foles. No, actually he didn't play Nick Foles. So, but you know, since then, it hasn't been the best quarterbacks. And so now you face Drew Brees. Maybe his lungs are back to being uncollapsed,

and they have some weapons, even if it's not Michael Thomas. I think it's a really good test this week, and then assuming that Matt Stafford and Marvin Jones are going to play, and next week to see, okay, where does he really stand? I mean, is he an emerging star or was it kind of, hey, Mitch Trubisky shouldn't have thrown that ball? Yeah, I think it's going to be probably a little bit of both. I mean, he's been really good these last two weeks. And I think that that's a nice way to kind of wrap up the season. If you're Mike Zimmer and these defensive coaches

to know, hey, our strategy worked, like whatever we did to tweak things, whatever we did to make it easier so these young corners can come along when you're having, you know, all these injuries and guys getting signed off the street, like, every single week and having to, like, work through that. You know, if Dantzler has a good couple games here to finish out the stretch, you know, against New Orleans and the Lions, and you're confident that, you know, it's going to affect what you do in the draft, because they need to draft another corner. It's very obvious. Who knows what Mike Hughes is going to do beyond this season? They're definitely not picking up his

fifth-year option. There's no reason, there's no reason to, but you want to go, I'll even throw Jeff Gladney in the mix there. You want to be confident that the picks that you made this year are going to allow you to not have to start over at ground zero again next year in the secondary because there's inevitably going to be some changes like I don't know what Anthony Harris is like you know I don't think he's going to be here next year uh at all so you're going to have a new safety probably opposite Harrison Smith is going into the final year of his contract like shore up the cornerback position know that you're know that you you know, if Jeff Gladney is going to be your nickel, keep him there.

If Cameron Dancer is going to be one of your outside corners, great. Go draft another outside corner. And then have the unit be complete and not this revolving door that it has been. So, you know, I like to look at Dantzler the last few games, ever really since what was it, week 11, when he returned. He had a major concussion um and he had a rib injury early can he stay healthy uh that's a big thing because he's you know we don't want to see him get a third injury and then they're kind of have all these what ifs

but you know this is a really good quarterback it's probably the best quarterback he's faced since the very brief quarter he had against Aaron Rodgers in week eight. Let's see some improvement against, you know, let's see if you can carry that improvement that you've mustered up against some bad quarterbacks, against somebody who, you know, is struggling right now. He's coming off injury and all of that. But, you know, still one of the most accurate quarterbacks of this generation and a pretty good one at that.

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That's SodaStick.com original minnesota sports inspired goods code purple insider 15 for 15 off anytime you purchase at least two items this holiday season right and when you go through the game to game coverage grades from pro football focus i don't mean to get too much in the weeds here but it really shows you how there's like small samples and one game can really jack up your numbers as a corner and why it's hard to predict from year to year so he comes back against Dallas his coverage grade is a 63 which is average Carolina 58 okay that's like a round average Jacksonville 92 because he picks off Mike Glennon and makes a great play and then

he had a really good play causing a fumble as well. Tampa Bay, 47, and then Chicago, 91, because he jumped. He was only targeted five times, and he jumped in front of one of them and picked him off. And so it's like, am I convinced that he has talent and that he's an NFL player? Yes, for sure. He's shown that.

I want to be further convinced that he is like a pillar of what they're going to have for a long time same with Jeff Gladney who I think has played decently um you know down the stretch here but you want to see okay you know where is this going to go and I think that this is a good test so uh whom is your next player on your list? Probably Eric Wilson. You know, Kendricks is still dealing with the calf injury. I, you know, wouldn't be surprised if they, you know, want to shut him down at this point. Like, I think with some of your guys, like a Dalvin Cook, and certainly there were a lot of people on the injury report, the final one comes out Thursday, but you have a lot of linebackers on there right now

outside of Kendricks who still has that calf injury Todd Davis didn't practice Troy Dye didn't practice um so they're going to be in the weeds there like digging to try to find some depth uh it's a good moment for Eric Wilson to be able to shine yet again kind of like he did you know against that Tampa Bay game that was a big test for him because he's going to make money somewhere next year I don't think it'll be in Minnesota because I don't think they're first off they're not going to pay three cornerbacks they can't afford it they already have Anthony Barr on the hook unless they can somehow restructure and do him like Eric Kendricks and keep kicking that down the line then I don't know but um it's a big game for Eric Kendricks and I think when you have someone like Alvin Kamara and, and excuse me,

big game for Eric Wilson. And when you have someone like Alvin Kamara in that offense and just how, how much they rely on him running back screens, the whole thing. And, you know, some of the knocks that we've heard are just really seen with our own two eyes against Wilson, with Wilson against the run, because he is a little undersized and, you know, there is a big drop-off between Anthony Barr and Eric Wilson. I think the whole notion that you can just plug and play and you replace,

replace would be difficult. If you want to go that direction, that's one thing, but you're not replacing Anthony Barr with Eric Wilson. You're going a different direction. This would be a good opportunity. You know, if he has a good game against Camara, then I think we're talking maybe in a different light about this and what potentially that could be. But, you know, know nonetheless if he wants to go get a blake martina style payday here in a couple months if it's with another team this is the type of game to do it when there's nothing else on until nba and everybody's going to be watching you um on

christmas day i think that um linebackers like er like Eric Wilson are kind of like running backs where they are greatly impacted about what's by what's going on in front of them and watching the tape last week I thought I don't know how Eric Wilson's supposed to stop anybody in the run game when the guard gets to the second level as easily as he does and we just saw that over and over with the defensive tackles getting double team blocked and then all of a sudden it's six yards down the field when the guard is taking care of Eric Wilson, and he's not huge enough like Anthony Barr to take on a lot of those blocks and just throw the guy to the side.

He's not that big. But I think that if they did decide, and I'd be very surprised, like you said, if they did, but if they did decide we're actually going to keep Wilson over Anthony Barr, part of the case for it would be you're getting a real nose tackle coming back in Michael Pierce and he could play better against the run which I think he's capable of if I'm another team though I love the idea of Eric Wilson because he's a playmaker he could catch the ball he could cover he can make plays you know he's fast and he's smart and i i think that he's made a really good impression so far i totally agree with you against alvin camara huge test especially when

you know that drew brees is not thrown at 50 yards down the field not going to happen so definitely a big game for him but i would be surprised and i mean you kind of already laid it out but give me uh just real quick a percentage chance that it's wilson or instead of bar that we're seeing next season oh man i'm gonna put it in the low maybe like a 20 chance right now because just financially bar has the third highest cap hit next year so they're gonna probably have to bring that down somehow and restructure but you know what's his trade market coming off a torn pectoral muscle like if you want if you really wanted to keep eric wilson like you got to probably move on from anthony barr and how are you going to do that like you know you can't cut him really without like a

severe penalty i mean yeah you have like what is it seven or eight million in cap savings but you'd also have a ton of dead cap so it's like seven and seven um not good so what i would probably do is like if you can find somewhere to trade anthony bar you'd look into it but they're gonna it's a hard question they're gonna have to ask themselves come february you know even before that with the off season starting soon um it's weird that we're already talking about potentially with like free agency. I feel like it just kind of happened even though it was obviously nine months ago. You know, so yeah, we're I don't put it in a very high percentage chance. Right. That contract is just very hard to move unless somebody believed that he was the final

piece to their defense and they had tons of cap space and with the cap might not go down as much as we initially thought but still if it's going down even a little that means it's not going up like it normally would to create more space for you the next guy on my list is Ezra Cleveland I think Ezra Cleveland has gotten his tail whooped recently yeah we haven't been blaming him but the interior is not just a Dakota Dozier problem. And the reason that I wouldn't blame him necessarily is because he's playing out of position. And so there are going to be ups and downs. You know, the couple of times he's played against Chicago, it didn't go super well, did not go well at all in his past protection against Tampa Bay. I watch him closely on the film and I really like

some things that he's able to do, especially in the run game where he just explodes and he's very, very fast and quick to linebackers and all those things. But this is going to be a really tough test. I mean, this is a violent defensive line in New Orleans, one of the best defensive lines in the NFL. And you're still talking about a guy learning the position. I want to see where he's at on the whole with the big sample at the end as a guard. And then I'll be very curious to see if this is where they want him to stay or if there's ultimately going to be a change back to tackle there.

Yeah. I mean, that's, that's huge. I don't, I don't see how you can draft a guy like that and at the position like he did not come here thinking he was going to play guard and move him out of position and be like well we're going to go ahead and draft a left tackle next year because we like Ezra Cleveland at right guard I just can't see how like the player would be happy with that. Like to me in, in our interactions talking with him and what we've heard from him about, you know, this experiment and learning and sure it's a learning experiment, but he didn't come here to play guard. He came here. I mean, let's just be real that affects your career earnings.

Like if you came into the league to be a left tackle, which is one of the most lucrative positions, if you're really good at it in the NFL, that's going to, you know, money is like, you know, playing in the love of the game and all that stuff aside, money talks. That's an important thing. So I think that that's part of it, too. And, you know, probably there'll be some pushback there if he, know is looking long term with this but you know I am curious like if he is that good in their eyes will they have some sort of discussion or at least like some sort of belief that they can you know keep him there long term I don't see it I think that this is just a temporary thing and they probably sold him on like hey we're injured right now our other options aren't great we need you here and it's a good chance for you to get on the field.

Like, to me, it feels like there should only be two more games of this, and then they can move on and move back where he goes. I totally agree. I mean, this is a guy you drafted as left tackle. I mean, you did not draft him as a guard, and if you did, then why did you do that in the second round? I mean, you had lots of positions that you needed. And guard, I know they've struggled with that severely.

But if you're taking a guy and then moving him out of position and hoping that that just works and you snap your fingers, your odds aren't super low. Some guys do go from tackle to being very good NFL guards. But the value wouldn't really necessarily be there in my mind. I think that you draft him to be a left tackle. And if it turns out that it was a good experience for him and he learned a new position and, you know, got to play against NFL players, then great. Then, okay, that's no problem. I don't think it's going to ruin him for life if he had to play on the right side of guard for a year and then move over to left tackle with regular, presumably OTAs, mini camps, all those things that he'll have to work on it. If that's the way they go, if they stick with them here after this, then I think I'll be a

little confused. Like you never tried it. You never just wanted to even see like, I mean, maybe they didn't practice, but they didn't in camp. And then he's just been a guard the whole way. So I'll be, I'll be confused by that. Who is next on your list? Hi, DJ Wanham. Really, I think the, a lot of the rookies here, because they're going to have to overhaul that defensive line. It's not good. The fact that Yannick Ngakwe is probably going to finish as the team's leader in sacks, and he hasn't been here since week six that's a problem they can't pressure the quarterback they can't stop the run a lot of that has to do with the play on the interior so to me the focus is probably going to be on a high priced uh defensive tackle and free agency or in the

draft which leads me to wonder okay is dj one on the type of guy that you think you can actually get some good production out of on the edge next year. I mean, he he's made strides like, you know, it hasn't been, you know, monumental this year, but by, by no means has he been the problem with that defensive line. He's a rookie learning how to play this, this, this spot. So, you know, they, the way that I look at it, they've got some big decisions to make with how they're going to spend those that first and those two third rounders because they don't have a second rounder at the to spend as much draft capital on addressing that position because you know a Fadio Denebo is hurt right now so like and he was limited he had an ankle injury he's been you know he got hurt in this game he was hurting or hurting the last game he was hurting

another game how much does he play like how much can DJ Wanham do that's going to be an important thing I think going forward to figure out like how are you going to spend that draft capital and on which position on the defensive line comes first the only thing I think about with that um with DJ Wanham is and you have used this reference before and so I'm stealing it from you is the mean girls like are you guys like stop trying to make what is it what what is this stop trying to make stop trying to make fetch happen okay well it's like are we next year going to be saying stop trying to make dj want him happen i mean because look he's been okay he's been all right he's looked like he can play maybe in the nfl but they've talked as if it's like he's been one of the like grand successes of the draft, wow, we just love DJ Wanham. I look at him as maybe a Steven Weatherly type where he can play

and he can be a rotational rusher at some point. But I haven't watched DJ Wanham or looked at any stats from him that would suggest, wow, you've got something here. This guy's in the backfield constantly. Like they don't pressure anybody. Nobody on the defensive line pressures anybody ever. And so, yeah, it'll be really interesting. I got a great question on Twitter about this, about like, would you rather try to develop some of these guys through the third and fourth round and see if you hit another

Daniel Hunter or something, or would you rather spend in free agency, or would you rather try to draft one in the top? And the answer is, I think, probably yes. I mean, if you really want to rebuild the D-line, and you feel like that's the thing that has to be great, the answer is you probably have to draft them, draft them late too, and sign guys in free agency. And there's only, you know, so much draft capital and so much money to go around.

Yeah, they don't have a lot of that next year, which is, you know, are they going to be in the exact same spot that they were in a year ago with just like not a lot of flexibility to do much in free agency? Probably. They won't have nearly as many departures on one side of the ball like they did on defense last year, so it probably won't have nearly as many departures uh on one side of the ball like they did on defense last year so it probably won't look as glaring but they've got to figure out safety they've got to figure out the defensive line they've got to figure out okay are we going

after a veteran corner are we going to draft another one knowing like how long that process took like they've got a lot still it's like a two to three year process i think with the rebuild on the defensive side that you've got to plan out what you want to do with your money that you have and the draft capital. All right. Um, was that, was that, was that your pick? That was your pick. Yeah, I did want them. So I'll give you, I'll give you my last one, which is, well, let's find out his middle name so we can be proper about this. You know, let's, uh, let's's figure it out here just give me a second to pull up his wikipedia page and then we'll we'll make it official here oh he doesn't have a middle name or at least it's not listed on wikipedia just dan bailey

come on does he not have a middle name that would be crazy i mean i think that your obsession with the middle names and finding them on wik on their, like, pro football reference page. He has no middle name. I have to ask him if he has no middle name. Okay, let's, like, find him and see if he's on. On pro football reference, there's no middle name. It's just Dan Bailey. Do they not have a nickname for him?

I always love the nicknames they have, and I'm like, who calls them this? Mitch Trubisky being Mr. Biscuits was a little confusing to me. Yeah, there's no middle name here. That's kind of disappointing, actually. Now I'm sad. Wow. I'm going to see if, like, I think he has an Instagram here. No, that's some other really jacked Dan Bailey.

Okay, well, Dan Jameson Bailey, I'm watching you. Yeah, I mean, he just got a three-year contract extension. Like, that's the crazy part. Like, I'm honestly, coming out of last week, nobody talked about what was going on with the Vikings kicking game because it was more, you know, there was a bigger storyline there of, shoot, they're out of the playoffs. Like, they fought so hard,

and now the number seven seed is even further out of reach. Dan Bailey didn't miss a kick last week. I mean, Mike Zimmer made the right call by not cutting him, which we all knew was going to happen just based on COVID protocols and everything else, but it was the right decision. The guy was in a funk and you can't just be knee jerk reactioning to everything with kickers because you're never going to be in a good spot. If you don't just be knee-jerk reactioning to everything with kickers because you're never going to be in a good spot if you don't let the guys you know work through some of

these faults and yeah it does stink because it completely played into their um obviously them losing the the game against Tampa Bay you know how poorly he played against Jacksonville things like that but you know to know, to know that, okay, we're not going to have another kicking competition in camp, like, at least you wouldn't think, like, he's got a three-year extension. Britton Colquitt has a three-year extension. These guys should be your punter and kicker for the long haul here, because you clearly trusted them enough to pay them that much initially. Let them work through their kinks. It clearly was a rough patch. Hope it was just a rough patch at most.

Searching Dan Bailey middle name, and it says his name is just Dan Bailey. Like, there is – I bet he has a middle name. I bet he just doesn't want people like us searching for it. He probably, like, scrubbed the – he probably scrubbed the internet and, like, said, like, I don't want my middle name out there. I think so. Oh, you think it might be something really funny? Like, Dan like dan no i think it's probably something like john or something boring

like jim but he just doesn't want to know on it out there because it's because it's a boring name and he's like i'm not a boring person oh okay all right i he is kind of a boring person like not in a bad way i mean he's analytical and stuff but he's not like hilarious or anything um or like a great singer like justin tucker i don't know if you knew that he's a amazing singer he's not like hilarious or anything um or like a great singer like justin tucker i don't know if you knew that he's a amazing singer that's not a joke i did not know that is he on the mask singer uh no he never has been but maybe he should be actually i have no idea if he ever has been because i've never watched the show uh so good luck dan wichita bailey and we'll see how it goes for you. Who is, who's your last player?

Well, honestly, it's probably going to be Kirk cousins. And I know that that's a stupid, like he's not going anywhere type thing, but the more I've been thinking about this lately and wondering what they're going to do with drafting a quarterback, do they do it at all? And don't give me one of these throwaway six seventh rounders that end up on your practice squad like if you're going to draft a quarterback do it with one of your first two-day picks because we know Kirk's the quarterback next year no question about that whatsoever because of the cap hit because you're guaranteeing him his

2022 salary on the third day of the league year there There's just no way. It's not an option. It's a thing that you have to do if you want him on your roster next year. But what about beyond that? Why can't you start building now? Yes, we're past the point of tank for Trevor, fail for Fields, anything else. But what about those mid-tier quarterbacks that are going to be there in the late second, third round? Is that something that you would potentially think to do, a move that you want to make because you're building out for 2022 and beyond?

Getting somebody in. So if you don't want to put yourself in salary cap hell, if you want to eventually move on from Kirk Cousins and not play the song and dance with financials, then you have to probably start thinking about that now. So that's where I'm at with that. I think that he could play you know he could play great he could play bad I don't it's not going to affect him being started in 2021 but like where are you going with this position because it's kind of remained a

mystery you know all this time and I'm curious to be thinking about like all right when I'm starting my own mock drafts what are we hearing you know it's almost draft season so I need to start thinking about that I do wonder what they think and by they I mean any of them like Zimmer Spielman Ziggy like what what what do they think when they look at the accumulation of Kirk Cousins time in Minnesota and go, yeah, you know, I mean like what, like what is the reaction, right? I mean, is that it? Like, well, like it's, I mean, the, the, the number one response that I think that they would have would be like, well, it wasn't all his fault,

which is like going to go on the Kirk Cousins gravestone of his time in Minnesota. It wasn't all his fault. i'll just give you uh i don't know if you have any sense for how everyone feels about this but i just like was thinking about it when they're more or less officially eliminated from the playoffs you get no playoffs sixth seed no playoffs and that's the era so far that's not what you were looking for no not at all um but they you know there was no track record to go off of that pointed to this is going to be better than that right they they can't they can lead you to believe that maybe they thought it would be different but like historically speaking and realistically speaking, there was nothing that showed you, yeah, there's this body of work going.

He can get us into the playoffs. We can be the team that sits out in the first weekend because we get a bye. That's just not the way that this worked out for them, and I'm not surprised that it hasn't worked out for them because that's exactly what at least most people would have expected when you signed him. 2020 has already reshaped how we work and it's almost over. Businesses across the globe are challenged to be their most efficient,

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I mean, he had three years in Washington, and it was, you know, make the playoffs barely miss the playoffs and miss the playoffs. And you're kind of looking at the same thing. So of course, all of that, again is not his fault and he's got some really nice numbers, but you know, that's the accumulation of his career is a couple of, you know, sixth seed type of type of things. So anyway, I want you to, before we wrap up here,

we have to have a pie chart and sort of a little game. So here's the pie chart for today is I want you to tell me chances of things involving Mike Zimmer happening. All right. So the first thing is with Mike Zimmer that he is fired percentage chance that they get to the end of the season and say, or trade it. And they say, you know what, Mike, the Cincinnati Bengals have a head coach who no one's ever heard of and is terrible and they want you. And I guess his name's Zach or whatever, so he's fired, and we're going to trade you to Cincinnati for a second-round draft pick.

Okay, so that could be – those go in the same category or just get out. So that's one. Number two is that he ends up on some sort of graphic on your station or on NFL Network or CBS or whatever, anybody's, that says, on the hot seat as we go through the off season and into, you know, the black Monday type of thing and all that. The third option is that he has no discussion whatsoever amongst anyone. No Jason Lock on for his reporting and none of that stuff, nothing about his job status. It's not even and when we talk to rick spielman he cackles at us about asking how they feel about

zimmer so that's the third option uh and the fourth option is that zimmer uh flips us all the bird and retires and gets on a motorcycle and wow rides into the sunset i mean he's gonna at the end when he does walk away he gives us the double bird right yeah probably um i can't see him getting on a motor i can't see him getting on a motorcycle okay like atv atv his uh his uh what's it called polaris ranger thing his little like um mobile that he uses at the ranch sure um it's just like driving a golf like a high-powered golf cart like that's not really like a cool way to go out the sunset he'll be in his truck with the mud flaps okay so if you are like shooting a gun in the air and flipping off the media on your way out on an atv is what do we give it for like a cool like maybe like a six out of ten

yeah probably if you do if you pop a wheelie on it sunglasses gives yeah m m frames wheelie like you've got all these things okay um i'll stop so all right so these are these are some tough ones um i am going to try not to make this confusing 40 put that at 20 um um, put this at 30. So 70, 89, 10. All right. I got it. Okay. So go ahead. Fired, fired slash traded 20% because the extension hasn't even kicked in yet. It's, I mean, unless it's a monumental collapse here down the stretch where they're close and gains and they blow it it or if they get completely blown

out like you've got to figure out where ownership is with this and realizing that they haven't even started paying him which you know albert rear reported it's an eight million dollar a year extension that's a ton so like i wouldn't want to throw that money out the window so i really honestly think he's safe but i'll give you unless you know traded would be one thing that just doesn't happen all that often last year was the first time we'd actually heard that being a thing so never say never uh i know that jerry jones said that he's not gonna fire mike mccarthy or at least like you know was kind of like poo-pooing the notion that like that's gonna happen so never say never but someone yeah um so 20 percent there the

hot seat graphic 40 because you know the extension's kicking in you've got all this talent you have a justin jefferson you have an adam theil you have an expensive quarterback you also paid dalvin cook get it done um and and this was kind of the one year that was supposed to be the figure it out as you go if you win it's it's gravy. If you don't, whatever, move on to next year. So, so stakes are certainly going to be higher in 2021. So 40%, no discussion about job status whatsoever. 30. I think there's other coaches. I mean, there's so many openings this year. There's already five, five head coach openings. What Texans, Detroit,

Atlanta, Atlanta. five head coach openings what texans detroit um atlanta atlanta uh i mean jacksonville for all intents jacksonville sure is going to happen um i mean there's a lot there's like you know potentially chicago depending upon what happens there chargers would be obviously the jets anthony lynn and the and the chargers yeah the whole thing so there are too many other coach openings for for mike zimmer to find his way into the mix there so there are too many other coach openings for for Mike Zimmer to find his way into the mix there so I think it'll be pretty quiet um and if he retires I give him a 10 chance um I I can't see him I mean the rumors about him retiring in 2018 really irked him yeah um when that would came out right after the Bears game I don't think

unless he is truly serious he he's going to retire. You're never going to hear about like the stuff floating around of, is he going to, you know, potentially do it? He's either doing it or he's not like there will not be any gray area there. So I put that at 10%. Okay. I mean, I think you're, you're on the money, that it's almost hard when you miss the playoffs and you've been around for a long time to not have people discuss your job status at all so like that's going to happen uh i think or at least i would put the highest odds on that

like you did i would be really surprised if they decided to trade him though i don't think it's a bad idea because if you're some of these other teams that haven't won in a while and you need like what he did for this franchise in turning them around from where they were is monumental to what they have become as a team that we constantly put right up there with the Packers for competing with the NFC North I know we didn't win a Super Bowl and that's all people care about but taking your franchise from like the Minnesota who cares to hey every year people are picking the Vikings to win the division. That's Mike Zimmer, and that's what other teams want. It's what other teams need, like the Jets or like the Bengals or Atlanta or a number of other teams.

So I like the idea from a philosophical standpoint. I don't think it's crazy at all. And then you could get your draft capital back, and you could bring in an offensive coach, and everyone is happy from there, and it's all all merry and they win the super bowl right so i don't know like that's i i don't want to close the door entirely because it got talked about but i think that your your highest odds are absolutely correct and with the retired thing i think i think mike zimmer retires when he literally can't like see or walk or breathe anymore what else is he gonna do this is what this what, this is like, this is his life.

Like, I mean, it's obviously like, you know, a huge deal to every coach, but like, this is Mike Zimmer. We've like talked about this before. Like, what is he going to do outside of this? Like he worked, you know, all these years, 20 plus years as an assistant in other leagues and this too, he finally got a shot. He's not letting that go without a fight.

Right. Exactly. So before I wrap up here and if you made it to the end, thank you. And you get this that right now until kickoff of the saints and Vikings on Christmas day, I have lowered the price for a yearly subscription to purple insider for you. If you're just listening all the way at this moment, just for you to, for me to say, Merry

Christmas to $30 for an entire year. So if you want to go to purple insider.substack.com, this is a super secret deal just for you folks who made it all the way to the end. And I appreciate all of you, um, for supporting me throughout this year. And it's been an incredible thing to see of the people getting behind Purple Insider. So I very much appreciate it. And that includes you, Courtney. And I can't thank you enough for all of that. So I appreciate it.

I am so proud of how this year turned out. This was a bleep show of a year and to think of where we were in may um in the uncertainty of not knowing what was going to happen um you know with the season with everything that you know transpired after the draft with us um i'm very proud to be a very small part of this but i am so thrilled to see how it's flourished i'm i love the book if you haven't read the book yet, you need to get it. There's an overbought chapter. It's literally been dedicated. Yeah, a whole chapter.

A whole chapter about my favorite moment in NFL history. So there's a lot, you know, there's so much to be thankful for this year and what was a really crappy year for a lot of people. But I'm so thrilled that this whole thing worked out, and I love getting to be part of the show. Yeah, very well said. And I apologize again to you for my terrible handwriting and signing your copy of the book. I didn't practice your Sammy Sosa. No, people call you John Hancock. I call it my Sammy Sosa. Okay. Well, I am no, for old school Minnesota fans, I'm no Harmon Killebrew, who is famous for his penmanship. That is not me.

So anyway, well, thanks again for all of your support, and we'll keep on rolling into 2021, into draft season. Courtney, our draft scout, will absolutely return. So we're going to keep going. All right. Thanks, everybody, and we'll catch you next time.