Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - ESPN's Courtney Cronin does the first Vikings draft simulation and talks Bears first impressions

Episode Date: March 8, 2022

Matthew Coller and ESPN's Courtney Cronin talk about her first impressions of the Chicago Bears' leadership and how they feel about Justin Fields. They also simulate the Vikings' draft for the first time in draft season and talk about what the Bears would want the Vikings to do at quarterback. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here, along with ESPN Chicago Bears reporter Courtney Cronin, who is returning from the NFL Combine. Courtney, how are the Bears? You know, it doesn't feel all that dissimilar from the time I was covering the Vikings, except that I know very little about this team and I'm swimming upstream and I'm not HBIC like I was with you and I. So I'm kidding. There's a lot. It's been great. I mean, the first week on the beat, I think I started literally a week ago today. It's been great. People have been incredibly kind. I got a chance to get in front of some

people from the organization at the combine, which was really helpful. I figured if there's a good time to make a switch, it's probably when everyone else is brand new and there's a new coach. There's a new GM, very similar to that in Minnesota, except I don't have the institutional knowledge that I'm trying to build right now of, okay, well, where's this team going based on the last few seasons? And it's not hard to do. It's just a matter now of reading a ton and really trying to talk to people to be like, all right, well, what went wrong during the Matt Nagy era? Why, why did Alan Robinson have a fractured relationship with this team? It's really just trying to get myself up to speed on issues like that. So I can be well-versed in this team, but no, I mean, it's been really, really fun to get to be home. I mean, I've only been home for a couple of days because like you,

I was at the Indianapolis. I was in Indianapolis for the scouting combine all week last week, and I'm still recovering because those are late nights and I'm very tired. Yeah. And when you get back from that, it's always like, it takes a couple of days to get back in the mode. Well, plus Eastern time throws you off anyway. I mean, if you're staying out until 3 AM Eastern time, it's just like, what is even going on with my life when you return? But I want to know about your first impressions of the Bears new leadership, because like you said, I mean, you're not dropping in where everybody else knows everything about the coach and the general manager you're dropping into a situation as a reporter

where you're learning the same as the other reporters are so they may know more about the 52nd man on the roster but they don't know more about uh Matt Eberfuss and uh Ryan Pace of yes I'm going to call him Matt Eberfisch. And you're going to call Ryan Poles Ryan Pace because RP and RP. That's right. Ryan Poles. That's right. Do you think that they had to take his whole nameplate off the door at

Hallis Hall? They could have just taken the A-C-E, like chip those parts on P-O-L-E-S. And they did that? Depends on how cheap they are i mean soldier field does have about the worst actual playing surface so if other things are dealt with that way yes sorry ryan poles is what i meant one time viking gm one time at least he was offered the job and didn't take it uh so for a day there uh but But give me your first impressions of those two. I feel like it is more more similar, at least this marriage. It feels like it's got a lot more of the same vibes that

I experienced with Spielman and Zimmer. Like what I've noticed with Kweisi and Kevin O'Connell is that that's like the new era, right? Like it's a complete departure from what Minnesota had previously with two super football, the football guys and, you know, hardcore scout and Rick Spielman, hardcore football, gruff guy in Mike Zimmer and defense and all of those things. Yes. Matt Eberflus is a defensive head coach, but just the way that he's building his staff and constructing kind of what he wants to do defensively, you know, feels a little bit different. Certainly a different system, all of that than what's going to actually be run in Minnesota this year. It just kind of feels like I've got a little bit more of what I experienced in Minnesota now in Chicago, because Poles is a football guy through and through.

He's a former college scout, former director of college scouting. He's got the scouting acumen and the football background in terms of being a player and then truly knowing player personnel. He's an expert in that area. Now, the thing I don't know about the Bears is that who's going to run their salary cap because they hired this guy, Matt Feinstein, who was on the NFL NFL management council and unless that was Poles guy he would have worked with him because you know the the new cap guy or director of football administration for the Bears is in player personnel so I would imagine he and Mayan Poles had crossed paths at some point but who's going to be running their salary cap situation because it just

doesn't it isn't completely clear yet and they've got about 27 million in cap space to work with. So it's like those types of things are what I'm working through now to figuring out, okay, here's how the sausage is going to be made. Here's how all the puzzle pieces fit together. And that'll take time. But my first impressions are kind of the way they were in Minnesota, except in Minnesota, it feels like this gigantic breath of fresh air because it's so new. They don't have newness there like they do now all that often. Chicago has a coaching search or a GM search every couple of years. Like that is just what it's been. So in, in talking with people on the beat and talking with people who work for the team or

previously worked for the team, this is more of status quo of what we're seeing now of, okay, these two get a shot now. Let's see if it works. So that's kind of where things, at least from my initial impressions of both Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus are. But speaking with people who know Matt Eberflus and know that defense, it's interesting to see what they're going to do in free agency because you have two critical pieces that are not free agents who may end up being great trade bait for you and Khalil Mack and Robert Quinn. And I'm wondering if Eberflus coming in, it's going to say, eh,

I love these guys too much. I took the job, not just for Justin Fields. It'll be as I've got some all-stars on the other side of the ball. You know, do they trade them? Do they try to get draft picks? Do they want to keep and build around that? not just for Justin Fields, but because I've got some all-stars on the other side of the ball. You know, do they trade them? Do they try to get draft picks? Do they want to keep and build around that? Time will tell, but it's interesting learning a new roster in that respect too to find out what the priorities are going to be

for the players that are currently there. I wonder this about both Kevin O'Connell and Irberflus of whether, you know, they will allow the team to do the thing that they should probably do front office wise. So the Chicago bears should probably trade Khalil Mack. They should probably trade Robert Quinn to franchise record in sacks last year. You will never get a player like that at his, with a higher value than he has right now. Right.

So it's probably the right move to move on for those guys to fix the cap situation. And also, you know, Khalil Mack is amazing, but he has been hurt. This sort of sounds like the Daniil Hunter conversation as well. And as you go forward, is he going to be worth that as opposed to maybe drafting a defensive end in a draft that clearly has an incredible group of pass rushers coming in it and with the vikings it's you know kevin o'connell is he going to say okay yes give me a worse quarterback to work with if they said okay we're going to move on from kirk cousins and bring in mitch trubisky or ryan fitzpatrick is your head coach who's an offensive coordinator is he going to be okay with moving on to bring in something worse and then

training a rookie quarterback? Like these, these are the things that you wonder about, like, what is the influence with these huge decisions that need to be made for both of these teams? Yeah. And I think that the next couple of weeks as we get towards the start of the new league year and with free agency, we'll know, okay, the team is definitively going in this direction or that direction,

because it's hard that when you have such important decisions to make, if you're Minnesota with a quarterback, you will know very soon whether Kirk cousins is going to be on the roster or whether he's not going to be on the roster. And by soon too, could also mean going up to the draft. Like it doesn't mean like the day that the new league year starts, like everything's already been fully guaranteed with his contract like they don't have anything left to do unless there's a team that's trying to to move on from their person or bring him in via

trade and do it quickly in free agency because they want to make sure their finances to go after other free agents are in order and that would be something you'd have to execute first like you know but as far as it pertains to as it pertains to Minnesota we'll know relatively soon what direction they're going to go at quarterback and who's pulling the strings behind that like if it's you know and I know that you sat in on all of the availabilities that I was not at last week with the Minnesota Vikings and I heard what Kwesi said that everything's on the table and I think that's the right thing to do to kind of walk it back a little bit to give yourself some flexibility that if teams want to call and if they want to give you what you want for Kirk Cousins that you're willing to listen and not just that the

door is closed don't call us we're not answering I think that was a smart play to show all options are on the table because the team the leadership group that they have in there right now is serious about winning. And it might not be winning in the way that a lot of people think would be, you know, the, the, the short-term plan to get to 10 wins, things like that. It could be a long, long-term game. They could be doing a lot of different things, but I think in saying all options are on the table, doesn't necessarily mean we want to move on from Kirk Cousins we want to get out from under this contract it could just mean well we're looking long term he might not be our answer but we're going to let him play it out this year to like figure out if he actually is that guy or if he's not then we move on from him in a year there's a

lot there and I think the same thing with the Bears too about which it's probably because I'm so much closer still to the Minnesota side of knowing, you know, how that front office works. I will be very curious to see what they do in free agency because Ryan poles is coming from a place in Kansas city that has a ton of wide receivers that are going to free agency. You know, who does not have a lot of receivers under contract after March 16th, the Chicago bears. So do they go after a Brian Pringle? Do they go after for Matt Eberfluss, any of the You know who does not have a lot of receivers under contract after March 16th? The Chicago Bears. So do they go after a Brian Pringle? Do they go after for Matt Eberflus, any of the corners that he had in Indianapolis? I do not personally, just from what I heard this week, I do not think that Xavier Rhodes is going to get reunited with Matt Eberflus in Chicago and I'll get to cover him again

as bummed as I that would make me to not get to do that because he was awesome. And I love the, you know, the resurgent story from him, but it's those types of things that are fun to get to draw the ties to be like, all right, when, if you see those moves, specific moves happen, then you know, who's behind them. Yeah. And that's always an interesting conversation to have too, is like drawing the connections and will this guy follow this guy there and that sort of thing.

I was at a place of business in Indianapolis one evening, early morning, and I chatted with somebody, let's just say familiar with the situation of Justin Fields. That's all I want to say. I don't want to say who it was in any way, just with knowledge of the situation of Justin Fields. And that person told me that they felt like the details of the offense were not coached very well at all by Matt Nagy. And they felt like the offensive system of which we've heard someone like Sage Rosenfels come on the show and talk about this was not really conducive to Justin Fields that this person thought maybe running more play actions, maybe giving him more time to throw designing things, the terrific in the boots maybe. And I believe also when he was rolling out of the pocket, he had one of the highest grades in the NFL by PFF or something like that had a very good

big time throw rate, but also had lots of mistakes and things like that as well. And this person felt strongly that that was more Matt Nagy. Was that the feeling that you got talking to people in Indy? Yes. And for a number of reasons. And I think much of that had to do with just the information I was finding out about why the offense fell apart last year, and not just Justin Fields, but the offensive line and Allen Robinson and the fallout that he had with the coaching staff. But as it pertains to Fields and why now you're in a situation where you have to build around him and do it quickly, if you're going to be able to yield success,

any sort of indication that's going to show you beyond year two, this is our guy is because none of it played to his strengths. It's kind of going back to 2018 with the bears when they ended up going to the playoffs. And that's the year, the double doink, the whole thing. And then the year after that, it's like, okay, so what happened? Like you got away from all the stuff that like made the offense look good the first year and Mitch Trubisky now looks not good. And it felt very much like that.

Just from what I gather with Justin Fields, that he was not put into a system that played to his strengths and Luke Getzey, the offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears, who is a former green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach, has talked about making this a quarterback-driven offense. So what does that mean? Play action, designed rollouts, moving the pocket, putting your quarterback in the best position for him to succeed. And I found this answer kind of interesting, though, because I asked Matt Eberflus during that.

The annoying thing about this was last week, you know, unlike what you guys had in Minnesota, where you get the podium session for both GM and head coach, you get a side session too. My only introduction to Matt Eberflus was yelling very loudly. I had like three false starts trying to ask a question at the, I heard Kwasian out of my left ear

because he was at the podium at the same time that Matt Eberflus was last Tuesday. So it was difficult to get a question in. But when I finally asked about it, I said, okay, Luke Getzey said, this is a quarterback driven offense. How do protections and protection in, in general offensive line, how does that play into what, you know, it being a quarterback driven offense, basically help protect your quarterback, make sure that he is in a system that's going to bring out the best of him. And his answer wasn't what I thought it would be.

I thought it was going to be about addressing the offensive line. And, you know, cause Ryan polls had said, basically they don't want, they need to get thinner. They don't want fat offensive linemen. And that's, that's, that's just like the long and the short of it where they need to be more in shape because last year they had guys who were too big, couldn't move, couldn't execute the scheme, all of that, not saying they need to go like the complete opposite direction of these zone

schemes where you basically have tight ends playing guard, but you know what I mean? Anyways, Eber Flus's answer was, well, we need to get the ball out quickly. He needs to get the ball out quickly. And I thought that that was kind of like, huh, I didn't ask the question to get that. I didn't think that that was the answer I was going to get. When I asked that question, I thought the answer was going to be along the lines of offensive line has

to be one of our focal points. You have three or five starters. They're hitting free agency. We might try to move some guys around like a Tevin Jenkins. I know they like Larry Borum. You know, what are they going to do with James Daniels? All these things. But that part was very interesting to me about him needing to get the ball out quicker when

I'm like, shouldn't you be doing things to buy him some time to get the ball out in this quarterback driven offense? So I just thought that that was kind of an interesting thing. And, you know, if it kind of makes you think that if they are going to be in a spot where they're asking Justin Fields to just like, you know, pitch the ball out real quick, maybe that's not the best thing for him. So, and that could just be, you know, an introductory thing of a head coach who's on the defensive side of the ball saying what he thinks would be the right thing, because that would make it harder on a defense, right? You get the ball out faster.

He's a defensive guy, but I would like to believe that what they're going to do with Justin Fields this year is going to be a far departure from what it was last year. I mean, Matt, Ryan poles had talked about having to give him kind of the security blanket. He said, I forget the exact phrase, but you know, giving him that guy who's either a slot receiver, a tight end, your security blanket, your secret weapon, finding those players. Cause they just don't have a lot of them on the roster right now. Well, um, didn't they have Jimmy Graham on the team?

I mean, they had Cole commit. He's still there. Um, but yeah, Jimmy Graham is one of their expensive free agents who I would imagine probably going to retire soon. Like, I don't know. I feel like the guy's been in the NFL for like 10 years already, but you're right about that. Yes, they did have at Allen Robinson, and he went from like 9.4 targets a game in 2020 to five and a half a game last year. And that shows you that there was a massive disconnect

within the offense and really the execution of the play calling, which started with the head coach. Yeah, I mean, I was being sarcastic about Jimmy Graham. Like I couldn't believe he was still in the league when we got to Chicago. I was like, come on, what he's on the team. They seem very high on Cole commit though. That second round tight end from Notre Dame, which I remember they drafted him during the COVID year. Cause I believe that that was another year. Correct me if I'm wrong. They didn't have a lot of picks in that draft, and he was there. Honestly, it's a pretty good draft class that they have there

because they had him, Darnell Mooney, and Jalen Johnson. So that's kind of their crux of what they're trying to build around right now. A draft class that's only two years old. Yeah, and with Justin Fields, I think that a lot of it was on him that he took on a lot of water himself by not getting rid of the football and it's always one of those chicken and egg type of things is how much is him not getting rid of the football and how much is the offensive system and all those types of things I think that with rookies it's really hard to know because the game is moving so fast for them but he was still doing it toward the end of the season, even when he was showing improvement.

And we even saw him run into like three DJ Wanham sacks. That's something that I don't know that you just figure out. It's kind of like, how do you work around the fact that he has this problem? And for Russell Wilson, Seattle has always worked around it by running the football a lot on early downs and then running play action. And everyone wants them to throw every play, which I think is probably leaning toward more, right. But they want them to throw every play, but he also takes a ton of sacks. And so it's like this balance of like, how do you kind of protect them from himself a little and maximize what he can do down the field? I mean, that's like the number one thing that everyone cares about with Chicago is if you're in Minnesota is Justin Fields going to be good because in the

first year we know that you can't really figure that out. But if he turns out to be good, then all of a sudden this weak division looks a lot stronger. If he's taking sacks like he did last year and doesn't improve, then the Chicago bears are going to be stuck in neutral for quite a while. And this year feels like it's the situation for them to fill out their depth as much as George McCaskey said that they want to still be competitive and kind of echoing a lot of what Mark Wolf had said about the Vikings this year. You've got to imagine that Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus did not take this job thinking that they had to go win the NFC North this year, whether Aaron Rodgers is there or whether he's not.

Now, obviously, if Rodgers is not in Green Bay, all bets are off. Everyone in the division, even Detroit, is like, hell yeah, we're going to contend. We're going to at least try. But I think the realistic thing for Chicago is that if you've got just under $30 million in cap space and what Ryan polls has said about hitting the second and third wave of free agency, this is your year to build out your depth to get quality, you know,

guys are going to be quality backups for you in a year when you think maybe you can contend or at least be in the running in 2023. Now, as it pertains to what that means for Minnesota, like I would think that the Vikings, be in the running in 2023. Now, as it pertains to what that means for Minnesota, like I would think that the Vikings, the way that they are right now, and we are assuming at this moment that Kirk Cousins is still the quarterback, they shouldn't have all that much to worry about. Right. Cause it's not like the makeup of that bears team is changing all that much. Now, if Justin Fields is eons better, or even like just below that and showing like a ton of improvement as a, as a second year quarterback, then watch out because it shows you, you have somebody you're

going to have to face twice a year. They spent a first round pick on, they clearly like him that that's, that's something you're going to have to prepare for. And not saying that it's going to make you change your draft strategy and go like the Randy Moss rules on a team, but it could, it could certainly play into that. The thing that why this year is so important for, for the Chicago bears is that next year's quarterback class should be pretty good. You've got the current Heisman winning Heisman winning trophy Heisman trophy winning quarterback in Bryce young. You've got the quarterback at Ohio state. You've got all of these other players who are like up and comers and causing more noise

now as juniors going into their senior year, or even like some who are not who some are sophomores going into junior year. And then like the current junior class is actually just from some scouts that I talked to because I was like, is this quarterback class currently really as bad as they're making it out to be? And you'll get mixed opinions on it, but it sounds like the juniors from last year who are going to be seniors this year making a little bit more noise so that should I say all this to say the Bears better figure it out this year with Justin Fields because you don't want to be in a situation where it's like after

year two we still don't know what we have and the interesting one the scenario that was brought up to me is kind of a comparison here is Dwayne Haskins in Washington. So Ron Rivera and his staff comes in there and they're clearly not sold on the quarterback. They don't, they're not all that fond of the quarterback and the quarterback ends up being off the roster by the end of December in 2020, in 2020. So, and I know there's some off the field stuff with Dwayne Haskins and some of the rhetoric around his work ethic I'm not even going to get into that but I know that that all factored into the ultimate decision for them to move on but Justin Fields is now going to be coached by a

staff that didn't draft him so it's so important for him this year to prove okay I can be that guy because we'll soon find out did Did Ryan poles take this job for, for Justin Fields? Did Matt Eberflues take this job for Justin Fields? And we'll find that out soon because if he starts playing poorly and you can start seeing the writing on the wall that, Hey, they might draft somebody in 2023. That just shows you he's on borrowed time. Let me talk about the fail. Quick thing is if you can decide after year two, that he's either your guy or not your guy, then you can make a thing is if you can decide after year two that he's either your guy or not your guy then you can make a decision because if you lose a bunch of games this year

because Justin Fields can't play then you can draft somebody else next year and just move forward it's better to know sooner rather than later and a lot of teams never get into that because the person can be just good enough and then you you find out, wow, we wasted his whole, this whole rookie contract and it never ended up being something that yielded another deal or made us comfortable that we got it right. And hell the bears just went through this with Mitchell Trubisky. Did they not? Yeah, they did.

Right. They don't want to be in the same spot. They tried to talk themselves into it for a couple of years after it being clear that he was not going to be the guy. And then they end up trying to throw in Nick Foles into the mix and everything else. It just became a mess because they couldn't be honest with themselves about what Mitch Trubisky really was. And then they had a completely fraudulent quarterback competition. And remember that Teddy Bridgewater was going to sign with Chicago and then decided not to because they told him he was going to have to compete with Trubisky and he knew he wasn't

going to win that because Trubisky was the guy that they invested so much in. So you don't want to make the same mistake and think about if Washington had just drafted Justin Herbert instead of drafting Chase Young, who was amazing, but not Justin Herbert. Amazing. Um, so we'll, I guess we'll find out if that ends up happening, like, do they double triple down or do they move on quickly? Here's a question for you. If you're the Chicago bears and you're looking at the Vikings quarterback situation, what do you want the Vikings to do? Like what would, what would a Chicago bears Ryan polls or Matt Eberford say, here's what I want the Vikings to do because that's better for us and us would mean the Chicago Bears because name me a game that Kirk Cousins has gone lights out against the Chicago Bears you can't you can't and yes I know that they won as in Soldier Field that the actual convincing win that they had in 2020 the COVID year on the Monday

night game like Kirk played pretty well that game but there's not anything that leads you to believe, man, this guy is a division killer. Like get him out of there because we, you know, we, we need something. We need, we need somebody like a little bit, you know, a step down to, to compete against that would give them a chance to win. Like the bears have been in just about every single game. Like the reason the last time that they played, or I guess the second to last time the game in early december 2021 they couldn't score points because their offense was atrocious like it wasn't a matter of like the defense you know giving the viking the vikings defense giving or excuse me it wasn't a matter of like the bears offense going toe-to-toe with the vikings offense and and you know they could barely score like 10 points so i think it's now a matter of, okay.

It will certainly depend on who they have rushing the passer and what they do with Robert Quinn and what they do with Khalil Mack. But I think it's keep Kirk cousins staying put in Minnesota. That's probably the best thing they could wish for unless, because you know, like if they know it wouldn't be, it would only be a short-term thing. If like the Vikings were terrible for a year with a quarterback who takes a step back in terms of quarterback play, they know that would be short-lived because that would be Minnesota's way of taking a step back to grow for the future.

And then they would end up getting a first-round quarterback or trading to get somebody better. But I think that they know what they've seen in Kirk Cousins. And yes, this is a new coaching staff, but Matt Eberflus was a part of the defensive staff that played against Kirk Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings in 2020, when they got embarrassed on the road, they've have other people on that staff who, who know him and have played against him too. Like I think that we all know what Kirk Cousins is. Do we not?

We know what the ceiling is. We know that Kevin O'Connell is going to get a certain level out of Kirk Cousins. It's just never going to go above a certain level. If that makes any sense. I know people want to believe always his quarterbacks coach. He vouched for him. He wants him here. He knows how to take Kirk's game to the next level. There is no next level. Like what you see is what you get with Kirk Cousins. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just, there's's a there's limits to it and I think the Bears know that so that's probably what they would want to see happen in free agency and also knowing like that they wouldn't have to compete against any the bear the the Vikings for any free

agents because Kirk's contract is an albatross and you know gonna unless they do something else they are not going to be able to be active hell they're like over the cap by a lot right now. So they're not even like at, they're not even in the black yet. So that would not, not saying Chicago would be going against any of the same free agents, just from like a wide scale thing that Minnesota would potentially want, but at least it prevents one of 31 other teams from going after guys that they might want on veteran deals. Well, that's what I was thinking is if you're the Chicago bears, you are not afraid of Kirk cousins at all.

Recent history would tell you you're not afraid of him at all. And I'm not sure who in the league would be, would be terrified. Like here comes Josh Allen or Justin Herbert or Patrick Mahomes to play. You're like, Oh man, it's going to be a long day. Of course. But what is it? I mean, okay. If we, as a defense play like the Seahawks and leave everyone wide open, I mean, you're afraid of Justin Jefferson killing you,

but I'm not sure you're ever really afraid of Cousins, and you're especially not afraid if he has a mediocre roster around you, which is how it's always going to be if his contract is taking up $40 million of cap space. And I think that what you'd want as an opposing team in the NFC North is the Vikings to lock themselves in to a quarterback you're not afraid of for a ton of money. And so when you think of it, it's all, it's sort of like when a team kicks a field goal at the eight yard line and you go, the defense is so happy that you just did that. The last thing the defense wanted you to do is go for it and

potentially score that touchdown. They love that you just kicked that field goal and they feel great. I feel the same way about this. If you're the lions and you're the bears, you're laying your head down in your pillow every night going, lock them in 40 million bucks guys, lock them in long term. Cause we know that we could beat them. Uh,'ve seen that of course. So do you think that the bears though, realize what we all kind of realize that the Vikings, I mean, yes, like the long-term extension, give me five more years of Kirk cousins signed Matt Eberflus. Like, of course,

but do you also think that they probably have the self actualization to realize, okay. Or at least just like the awareness that he's probably not the answer there long-term that they might be running out of their days of seeing Kirk cousins. this year and then have that person sit behind cousins will they trade cousins will they do something with his contract to keep it one year but when Kwesi Adolfo Mensah said something alluding to is it a one-year thing or I don't know if it's the five-year option is like okay I think I get what you're saying when you're talking about this and there's just no world where you really make it work where you say okay it's going to be locked in to a contract that goes to elite quarterbacks. Like, you know, Patrick Mahomes is going to make 40 million on the cap.

Like how can you make that work? And our buddy Chad graph has reported what we kind of already figured anyway, which was not taking a deal to create a bunch more cap space. So I knew this, right. I reported this when I was on the beat that like back coming out of the senior bowl, this is, and I'm, and I'm willing to eat crow. I'm going to say it now because we, you know, we got people listening to this podcast who love to hate on the two of us. And then they act like they don't actually consume our content. You people do, you know what you're doing. But I'll say this for those people

that he has no incentive to take a pay cut, okay? Why would he? Why would you give up the leverage that you have earned for yourself? Your agent has earned for you. That's not gonna happen. So I promise you, you're not gonna see him come in here and there are people who have no pulse on this team

who wanna throw out, oh well maybe after like three years they can get you know voidable years on his contract and all this other stuff it's great in theory in reality it's not going to happen you are going to be locked if they give him an extension if they don't go the route of letting him play out this year and then figuring it out beyond that because regardless he will be as expensive as he would be if you're paying him now if you let him play it out and he has a good year this year like you will be he will he he has no incentive to take a pay cut and i do not believe that he will i am i'm happy to come back on this podcast and um you know lick my wounds if I'm wrong on that, but I do not think I am

because there are a lot of the same people that we're all talking to who have a pulse on this thing and how this is going to work out. Kirk has no incentive to do that. Right. I can't figure out even why he would do a void years thing for them

because he has to agree to that. Maybe he does just for this year if they tell him straight up, we're not signing you. We're not trading you. Can you, can we work out something where you still get all your money? It's just that we lower it, but I don't really like that option for the Vikings. I mean, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to have Kirk cousins cap hit in 2025 when he's not playing for you. I mean, again, what would the bear, what would the bears do for the Vikings? Let's add a bunch of void years on. So it's tougher for them down the road. Yeah, exactly. They keep picking

that can down the road and it's like, damn, you still have to pay that bill. Right, exactly. So I have a Chicago bears quiz for you now that you are on the beat. So I'm going to get to that in one second, but I thought since we just came from the combine, we should really draft. Don't you think? I mean, I think Courtney, our draft scout, it is all in now and it is fully time to start draft scouting. So what an incredible week it was for everyone who ran. And I have to wonder about like, what was the clock a little off in Indy or like what the heck happened there with all the 40s? Because they were just out of this world. Did somebody like put some sticky stuff on the floor to make them run faster or like what happened there? Cause that 40 times made no sense. And that's the thing. That's why

pro days always tend to hold so much more weight. But I talked to a scout friend of mine this morning and I said, uh, do you, did you get any sort of explanation? Cause they were all there watching this stuff get time. And I was told that they thought the lasers were a little off the first day, but overall it's a group of really fast players and the handheld times that they had were obviously pretty fast too. So I'll be real curious when these pro pro days because if you see how many fast 40 times there were and then how many non super duper fast cone drill shuttle you know the shuttle run the whole thing like those times compared to 40 times huge discrepancy all that stuff's going to get

retimed at pro days and i think the numbers will even themselves out a little bit but the unofficial 40 times what we're seeing we're like holy crap like all the you know these dudes are just like maybe people are getting faster but i just tend to think that there was a little something that just didn't seem right with that because the amount of wide receiver running back and offensive line 40s that were just like blazing fast. I do think there's something to it that everybody trains to win the combine now that before maybe there was some of this, but there are a lot of guys now who do not play in their team's bowl games and go to straight up to the combine. Yeah. Right. Right. And they just go right into training, but there's even like, there's even a cottage industry of combine trainers because there's so much money on the line. If you succeed there that they're not practicing

necessarily as much football as they are winning the combine, not something you love to see, but I think that plays a role in it too. So I draft simmed and you draft simmed, but you also draft simmed not just for the bears, but for the Vikings as well. I only draft simmed for the Vikings because the Bears have pick 39. Are any of our listeners really that intrigued with pick 39, which will probably end up being a wide receiver? Probably not. So for the purposes of this, Courtney, our draft scout, and I talked,

and she said, go ahead and do a Vikings draft Sim, and I'll grade it. So I said, okay. So I did. She actually wasn't like two. I did two in a row and I ended up taking the same players both times. And she's like, you have no creativity, but I respect the players that you picked. So. All right. So let's, let's go into it with how mine went. This one has Kyle Hamilton going number one. I feel like Aiden Hutchinson after

this week is probably going number one. Yeah. And Kayvon Thibodeau going number four, which I still think he has a possibility. I don't really know what to make of the personality studies and all sorts of things on that. So I got to number 12 and every quarterback was on the board for the Vikings, which I don't think is going to happen after the week that Malik Willis just had. And maybe PFF hasn't updated their simulator to suggest that. But I that Malik Willis just had. And maybe PFF hasn't updated their simulator to suggest that, but I took Malik Willis. I feel like if you're the Vikings and you get to number 12 and he's still on the board with his raw talent, you are picking someone that has the ceiling of being a superstar NFL player. And you have to take him. He's the only quarterback in

this draft that has that as their ceiling. And that would be my selection far and away for them. If you pass on Malik Willis at 12 and he goes to somebody else and becomes Josh Allen or Justin Herbert, I mean, how can you look yourself in the mirror? If you're a quasi Adolfo Mensah, you can find another edge rusher. You can find another corner. You can find another guard. You can't find another dude who just throws the ball 75 yards and probably runs a four, four. So I took Malik Willis. I like it. He wasn't available to me in mind. He went at nine to the Denver Broncos because according to this mock draft simulator, Aaron Rogers is staying in green Bay. So this might not be all that popular to Vikingsikings fans because the next quarterback that

was on the board was sam howell and i'm just not sold right now i'm not so i listened back or i read that like back on what kevin o'connell said last week about being multiple within 11 personnel but not just relying on 11 personnel because i wrote a big thing on it before I left of, all right, not just like, okay, this is what the Rams did. Vikings take the blueprint. It's what have former Rams assistants done before Sean McVay or under Sean McVay. So Zach Taylor, Matt LaFleur and implied those principles of that offense to their own team. So I thought that was kind of interesting what Kevin O'Connell said,

and you probably know it verbatim, of just being multiple within those formations and building around Kirk Cousins. Adam Thielen's on the other side of 30 years old. He's got a very high cap hit for him right now this year. It's a 2022 cap hit, $12.045 million. I'm not really sure that they want to keep him at that number. You know, there's always a talk of a pay cut. There's always a talk of, um, you know, potentially restructuring his contract, but if they were to potentially find a good trade partner, and I'm not suggesting that that's what they should do. I'm just thinking,

how do you replace that? Because you've got to have a lot of weapons in this offense and for Kirk Cousins to be successful, a lot of those have to be wide receivers. So I ended up going with Drake London, the wide receiver from USC at 12 for the Minnesota Vikings. And I know that that's probably not the biggest need that they have right now, considering all the things they have to do defensively. But when you're talking about value and best player available, like you're not drafting, you know, at 12, you shouldn't be drafting for need at that spot.

I think that's still a high enough draft pick where it's like, you take the best possible player you can. And of course my brain always, at least until, until they aren't back in the super bowl, my brain's always going to go to what happened with the Cincinnati Bengals in taking Jamar chase over Penesol. It will always go to that and how that dynamic changed the offense and gave Joe Burrow another weapon.

And they became this dynamic three headed monster in the past game. So that's why I went with Drake London. I think if you pair him with Justin Jefferson, you know, you get Irv Smith back at the tight end position, whatever happens with Adam Thielen, like, you know, this could give you a chance to get out from under an expensive veteran contract, or you have another weapon. Like who knows how many more years, I mean,

Adam Thielen's coming off of an ankle surgery that he had in the off season. And once you get past 30 and you start having surgeries at that, you're going to naturally slow down. It's nothing on ceiling. It's just, that's just the, that's how bodies work. So I think it sets you up for long-term too. If you are willing to concede in a way that like, okay, this year might not be, you know, a divisional playoff year for the Vikings. I, I know that some people aren't going to like that pick and the, and there were corners that were available to me. I thought I might've been overdrafting a little bit.

If I were to have gone with somebody like an Andrew booth, who could the kid from Clemson, because there's a big gap between Derek Stingley jr. Where he was taken. And then Trent McDuffie, like in a mod Garner, all those guys went before I was picking at 12. And then there's a huge gap all the way down to the Raiders at 22. So I feel like I don't want to overdraft there.

And I know that like, there's reason to believe that like the corner order will switch and, and, you know, maybe there'll be more taken in the top 15, but that's how my board felt. And that's why I felt I can't go for need here and go get a center or do anything like that. And there's plenty of edge rushers. So I know I'm going to get one at some point. Folks, we've got an even better offer to tell you about from SodaStick. If you use the promo code PURPLEINSIDER, one word, you can get 15% off your purchase.

That's right. At SodaStick.com, your place for Minnesota sports-inspired apparel. You can get 15% off just by using the code PURPLEINSIDER. I've told you about all the great football designs, but they've added a few more, including the Axe is Back for Minnesota football fans. eaters, Bud Grant designs for the old school fan. Plus the hockey and basketball teams are both actually exciting this year. And SodaStick has you covered there as well. Go to SodaStick.com. That is S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com and use the code Purple Insider for 15% off. I love the pick. I think, well, first I would say that drafting a receiver helps you in the immediate because

receivers can step right in and help you right away. They are not like a guard or a tackle or something that is more of a developmental type thing. And I think mostly edge rushers, unless you're taking the top ones, they usually take a year or two to develop as well where receivers, I mean, if they're good, they're probably good and helpful right away, even if there's still some development to go. And it's a, it's a short and long-term it helps you right away. It helps Kevin O'Connell be better at his job right away, gives them more options for personnel. And then long-term, if this player is a major hit, then you have them on their rookie contract while Justin Jefferson is getting his big contract. And so you're always thinking with these draft picks, it's not just next year,

what's our immediate need. It's several years down the road. And whoever you have as your long-term quarterback, if we think it's not Kirk Cousins, you could take that person and put them into a situation with two first round draft pick wide receivers, and then a KJ Osborne who's developing free agents that you want, or an Adam Thielen who's still good down the road, like Larry Fitzgerald was because he's good route runner still, but you want somebody who could transition into that number two role and create this situation for your quarterback where he's got people open all the time and with guards and centers as much as we think like yes this is very valuable because in the past they've been crushed by having bad ones if you can spend some money some real money not like tom compton money not like or let's draft someone in the sixth round

and move them from tackle to guard type of plan. If you can have a real plan there, you can solve that situation without having it to be spending high draft capital. I mean, look, there's like five good centers in free agency right now that the Vikings could look at. It's hard to find freaky wide receivers in free agency. And then when you do, they're going to get $20 million. Like Amari Cooper, Juju Smith, Schuster, all these guys that are available this year, that's going to cost you. Right.

Because if you let those players hit the open market, they're going to get top dollar like that, like players of that caliber. So from a financial standpoint, I think it's brilliant, but you can tell draft scout that yourself i mean she's also not suggesting like in anything because i know there's going to be people are like why are you suggesting the vikings move on from adam thielen blah blah blah you have to start thinking longer term here longer term that's what kevin o'connell he didn't come in here to like win win year one, realistically, like it'd be great. And in Jefferson feeling that's an all-star duo, right. But Adam Theodolin missed a couple of games last year because he was hurt.

He has been dealing with a couple injury issues the last few years that have, that has cost him some time. So I think that you just got to factor all those things in on top of where they're at right now with this contract. I mean, for, for those of you who are like big on, you know, over the cap and, you know, monitoring the salary cap situation for the Minnesota Vikings, that's one to keep an eye on. What are they going to do with his contract? Because if you keep Kirk Cousins at $45 million, which they very well could, you've got to start pulling from other places in order for that number to go down. Yeah, they're about 15 million over right now. Restructures, pay cuts, things along those lines are what you're looking at right and if adam

thielen didn't want to take a pay cut then you reach an impasse and that's why these next few weeks will be really interesting yes they will uh second round pick i took uh my jay sanders from cincinnati who scored in the 90th percentile of um the relative athletic scores in terms of athletes as a pass rusher. He is undersized, but he weighed in differently at the senior bowl than he did at the combine because I guess he got sick. And so he lost some weight, got real, like, I don't know, just a bad illness and lost some weight for the combine, but everything that he did scored pretty well. He had good numbers at Cincinnati, had a great game against Alabama, which I think matters if you're facing that competition.

And he's sort of your evidence of a deep edge rusher class. So if they're taking someone lighter who's had success and has really good athletic scores, second round, I think you've got a chance to get somebody who's really a fit in that finger quote three, four type of system that Ed Donatell is going to bring. So that's who I took. Who did you take in the second round? I took an address as well. I took Kingsley and Gabare. I think it's how you pronounce his name.

The address from South Carolina. I mean, this is a team that drafted DJ Wanham not that long ago. So they clearly know what that defense is and they have ties to to ties to that program they would they know the type of player they got and want them they know the type of player that they could potentially have I mean those two are teammates so to me the edge rusher situation that Minnesota faces this year of like you know I think Daniil Hunter will end up probably being on this roster I really do I think that they you can't just like take, even though he is still a question mark with the health of the pack and everything else, like you just can't take the best

player that you have on defense. Even if he's hurt, even if he's still coming off injury and be like, all right, bye. Cause then what do you have to build around? Like you, you, it's such a major hole. They already have holes with their pass rush. They've got to fix it so i think that getting in gabare um the defensive end from south carolina is a good value pick for where the vikings are picking at round two like he's physical but you know he gives you kind of some flexibility about like how you know you know where he can rush from right yeah power length it Yeah. Power lane. It's huge. Like he's massive. Yeah. Yeah. Six, four, what was it again? Six, four, two, six, two 58. It's what the NFL, like their official thing has them at, but like,

he's, he's a big guy. So I think that you're not going to have like this finesse pass rusher, like you're unique in Gawkways or whatever. You're going to have like a heavy duty pass rusher. And that gives you, it gives you power. It gives you the ability to, you know, stick somebody out on the edge, opposite Hunter, whoever, you know, if it's one, I'm like, whatever you're going to do, he can work into that rotation. So to me, I'm with you in the belief that pass rushers take a while to develop, unless you were a top 10 pick,

this is somebody who you get some time with. And depending upon what they're going to do in a three, four, you still need edge rushers. You still need guys to go after the quarterback. So there's, there's, there's reason to believe that he would be effective in that. So, um, this is where I just want to plug the PFF draft simulator. If you want to play around with this, because if you click, it's so good, it's such it's, it's the best tool that we've used, uh, on the show. If you want to play around with this, because if you click, it's so good, it's such, it's, it's the best tool that we've used on the show. If you click anyone's name, they have expanded this. You could get their, all their grades, the scouting reports from PFF, everything right there. So I just popped up, uh, and Gabare and he had a 92 pass rush grade.

Um, and then we looked at weirdly his draft stock has kind of gone down, but that might result in him being a steal because his production did not go down. So, OK, I really like it. I really like it. I like both of our draft Sims. You went with the let's get a receiver because the quarterback you wanted wasn't there. I went with draft the future quarterback and edge rusher in the middle rounds is definitely early. I should say not not like fourth round,, not for that, that hasn't worked, but in the second round, something like that, if you're not drafting one in the first makes a ton of sense. And I will say, if you look at PFFs big board, which is, is really well done. Um, cause we were kind of talking about is Kyle Hamilton, like the first player taken off the board is Aiden Hutchinson.

Like they're going to show you on their big board, kind of how things fall. Like, and if this were to fall just in order at 12, they have Tyler Linder, Linderbaum, the center from, from Iowa, you know, obviously a very good player. Do I think Vikings fans would be upset if, and I'm just like reading this literally as a big board, not as a mock draft, but you know, what I be, what I think Vikings fans would be upset if they take an offensive lineman that high, not necessarily, but you know that player has to pan out far earlier than Garrett Bradbury

because this is, I mean, last year was the make or break year. And I feel like at this point come may, you're going to be looking at a team that's not picking up that guy's fifth year option. So you'd be looking at, okay, who's the next offensive lineman? Who's the center that's going to come in here? And if you, just kind of worries me because this Linderbaum guy is 6'3", 290.

Who does that sound like to you? I know. So that's a little worrisome that like you, you know, I can understand if they, if Vikings fans like think, okay, keep addressing the offensive line. We're so close. We've got, you know I can understand if they if Vikings fans like think okay keep addressing the offensive line we're so close we've got you know our two bookends with Derrissaw and with O'Neill everything's set like if you can just find some like serviceable guys in the center uh you know in the interior of your offensive line whether it's the center whether

it's a guard like whether you can get in the draft like great like but just throwing caution to the wind here a little bit on that I know know. And with a center, my thing is always in order to make a real difference at center in the draft, the guy has to be incredible. He can't just be okay. He has find okay for a reasonable price in the free agent market or develop one, as a lot of teams have developed. It's a lot harder to take a defensive end in the third or fourth and develop them because there's a bar that you have to reach athletically that those guys just don't generally reach. So, well, good drafts and good first drafts, and there'll be plenty to go. And now are you ready for your Chicago bears quiz? Because I want to make sure that you're truly prepared to cover the Chicago bears. I know you got off to a, we'll call it a Rocky star. Let's just be honest. I mean, you're being thrown into the combine and it's going here, asking people trying

to figure out who's on the team. So I want to, I want to help you prepare with this Chicago bears quiz. Are you prepared? I am prepared for your quiz, I think, or at least I'm prepared for it to happen. I will say that what I did, what I'm doing now, cause they're still on their way. When I got the Vikings beat in 2017, I really didn't know much about the team. Like, yeah. And people are always going to accuse me of being a bears fan or growing up when I promise you they were terrible. Like I was talking to some of the beat writers about this the other night, like I can count on my hand three times. I went to a bears game growing up.

And by the time I mean, growing up means like either like until college, I went to a preseason game when I was in high school, I went to the 2010 NFC championship bears Packers. Cause I mean like awesome game, like, I mean, incredible environment to be there for that. And that was because one of my brother's close friends got tickets and I was home from college that weekend. And I went to bears Titans in 2012 or 13. It was the, it was just some random game. Cause I lived in Indianapolis at the time and we drove down. So like, I promise you, I have not been to a lot of bears games. I was not a bears fan and don't have that institutional knowledge.

Just like when I started with the Vikings, like I rent, I bought a ton of books, just like Vikings history books, the 50 things Vikings fans should know type thing. And like Mark Craig wrote, and that's exactly what I did again with the with the Chicago bears. So I'm very excited to actually start reading about the history of this team. So I may fail this quiz. It may not be great, but I can at least try. And I can also, I have, I have all the self-confidence in the world to say, I don't know everything about this team yet,

but I will damn sure work my butt off to make sure I do. Well, I made it multiple choice and I made it easy to hard. So I'll get you right into it. And then I remember when you were forming this thing at the combine, so I'm excited to see kind of where you went with us. Wait, you were there. I only saw a bears reporter next to, Oh wait, that was you. Okay. So let's start off. First question, who coached the bears in 1985? Was it Bill Walsh, Vince Lombardi, Mike Ditka, or the bears weren't a team in 1985? Mike Ditka. That is correct. That is correct. So we're getting off. We're getting off to a great start here. Not all the questions are this easy. So number two, which one of these bears players was a bears quarterback? Or I should say, which one of these players was a bears quarterback?

A Sid Luckman, B Tony Romo, C Willie Beeman, or D Keanu Reeves. Okay. A Sid Luckman. That is correct. Wait were what were you thinking how did keanu reeves come into your periphery when you were coming up with this did you see something the replacements the replacements he plays quarterback but i uh i couldn't remember his name in the movie at the time that i made this and i could look it up and i'm sure people will be like what you don't remember whatever his name was but uh i also thought about saying Johnny Utah because that was his name in

point break, which you still haven't seen, right? I'm not seeing it. I'm sorry. It's on TV all the time. I'll watch it. Utah unreal. Okay. Number three, what year were the bears founded? Was it a 1920 B 1969 C 1955 or D yesterday. 1920. They're one of the original teams in the NFL. Okay. That's correct. You are three for three. Now here's where it starts to get a little bit more difficult. Okay. Who is the current long snapper? Is it a Patrick Man Manley, B, Austin Cutting, C, Patrick Scales, or D, Patrick Williamson? Okay, so it's clearly a Patrick because it's definitely not Austin Cutting, right? No, it's not.

That'd be tremendous if it was, though. Three guys named Patrick. Is it Patrick Manley, Patrick scales or Patrick Williamson? Can I get, my God, I want to say, can I, yeah,

I think scale sounds right. Patrick scales. That's correct. Patrick Manley played for them before Patrick Williamson is made up. You know, you know who played for them in 2017? Jeff Overbaugh. No,

no, I don't know. Overbaugh played for the Falcons a little Andrew DePaula. Oh, Vikings long snapper played for the bears. He was their long snapper. Okay. Next question. Who was the bears coach in 2012? See, this is where it gets a little harder. Was it Dave Wonstadt, John Fox, Lovey Smith, or Mark Trestman? I want to say it was Mark Trestman. That is your first incorrect answer. Was it Lovey?

Was it Lovey? Yes, Lovey. So that was pre-Tampa Lovey. It was pre-Tampa Lovey, yes. Trestman, I remember when that happened, just being from the area and like being like huh the CFL coach coming in like that that era the Mark Trestman era apparently there are some stories I would love to hear those are just like the dumpster fire that that team was I have heard the same thing he's a Minnesota guy but I've heard the same thing that it did not exactly go his way and he was the coach in 2013

so that's what I'm saying is that this quiz gets more challenging as it goes i was close i was there okay who is the bears all-time leading receiver is it willie galt brandon marshall curtis conway or walter payton i want to say it's curtis conway It is not. Curtis Conway is up there on the list. It is actually Walter Payton. And I just thought that was hilarious. A running back was their all-time leading receiver.

You know what? They were ahead of their time. They were throwing the ball. They were throwing screens. Or maybe they just didn't have any receivers. I mean, he's the greatest running back of all time. So apparently he did. I did not.

I never would have guessed that. All right. Two more. It definitely wasn't Brandon Marshall. I can tell you that. Right. He was there for a brief time. Curtis Conway was a great Chicago bear.

I remember him. So yeah. And saying leader receipt, I should have said leading receiver in yards, like in receiving yards that maybe three off. No, I never would have guessed that Walter Payton running back. Walter Payton was the leading receiver in receiving yards. Yeah. Yeah. Like, okay. Next question. Number seven. Uh, there's eight questions on the quiz. Cause that's where I stopped. Uh, the bears had the first 1000 yard rusher in NFL history. What was his name? Was it A, Runner McGee, B, Tony the Tiger Thompson,

C, Swanson Muskie, or D, D, Beatty Feathers? It wasn't Walter Payton. That was the name that I was going to. That was the first. He reads C and D again. I'll just go through it again. because it's not tony the tiger yes it is uh no it's not um so you're right about that uh who are the last two runner mcgee was a tony the tiger thompson was b swanson muskie was c and baity feathers was d which one of those guys was the first thousand yard rusher in NFL history?

Swanson, was that him? Swanson Muskie? It was not. It was Beatty Feathers. Where did you find this? I guess you're going to need to find some better books. All right. Final question.

Final questions is you've covered both of these teams now. Who has more wins in NFL history? Is it the Vikings or the Bears? I can tell you who has more wins since 2000. NFL history. More wins. NFL history. It's the Bears. Probably the Vikings. It is the Bears. They were around longer. So that means all the time in history, but the Vikings went to four Superbowls. I know. Yeah.

And the bears have been mostly bad, but they've been around longer. I mean, yeah, but yeah, they get basically the, the benefit of being around since 1920, like along with like,

aren't the New York giants together? Like there's like three or four teams that were a part of that original group. Cause the Vikings didn't become a team till the merger so or till around then right right yeah that's i mean uh that's right that's the thing so they weren't around until like are we kind of like real nfl team or are we counting a bit of a trick question uh but uh you did okay you did okay i did okay they didn't say feathers's family is very upset but aside tell tell them i'll tell them i'll reach out to them with an ohandran apology

baby or baby feathers uh let me see how it's spelled it's it's it's baity like what year was this what year do you think it was like 1924 or something b-e-a-t-t-i-e you know you said oh one you thought it was oh one you would have remembered baity feathers if he was there with like rashaan salam and curtis enos yeah like some awesome names like but i mean, he is a great name too. Good for Beatty Feathers. Once we get off this podcast, I'm not doing anything else this afternoon

except looking up his bio, Beatty Feathers. I'm sure he's got a wiki. Okay, well, good stuff. And we will talk again soon and we will continue to draft Sim and break down rumors and so forth. We didn't even get to the Rogers situation, but the next time we talk,

there might be resolution let's hope one can hope we all want an off season we sure do so uh okay courtney great stuff and uh get back to your bears stuff things me and baby feathers football