Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - ESPN's Courtney Cronin gives some new (league) year resolutions for the Minnesota Vikings at pass rusher, receiver and corner in free agency

Episode Date: March 17, 2021

The NFL league year officially began on Wednesday and Matthew Coller and ESPN's Courtney Cronin got together for talk about some new year's resolutions for the Vikings. They end up talking about free agents who are still on the market that the Vikings should chase and how they are going to make up the big gap in pass rushing from last year now that they've added Dalvin Tomlinson and let go Ifeadi Odenigbo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate. Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, presented by Scout Logistics and Symbol, your stock market sports. Matthew Collar here, along with ESPN's Courtney Cronin. What is up, Courtney? Newly years here. I'm not feeling any refreshed or any resolutions coming forth from me because for me, the new year started a couple months ago.

But it doesn't feel any different. It just feels like we have turned the calendar to 2021. And, yeah, we're marching along. See, this is exactly where i want to go with this episode is we should make vikings new year's resolutions for the new league year uh and maybe sing the song you know do do do do will you get a guard or will kirk get sacked again is Right? Yeah, that's good. Let's start real quick with some news items, and then we'll do league year resolutions because I think that's fun.

Chad Beebe's a Viking again. How do you feel about that? Cool. Yeah? Yeah, I mean, like, great. I guess it's a $920,000 vet minimum. There's no split in the deal. Like, it's a safe move.

What does it mean? It means that they can't get complacent at the wide receiver position. Like, yeah, you have Adam Thielen. And what we know and from what I've talked with sources about, that they're trying to convert, obviously, that base salary that's 11.1 into a signing bonus, lower his cap hit. That should be done by tomorrow. That should hit the books by tomorrow morning, Thursday. So what do they do with that money after that?

I hope it's something because the Dalvin Tomlinson signing, he's a good player, don't get me wrong, but is he the right player for this scheme? I don't know. I mean, is stopping the runs more important to you than pressuring the quarterback than maybe? I mean, he's an average to an above-average pass rusher, which, I mean, is it better than Tamar Stephan? Yes, but by that much, I don't know.

But, like, you know, they did some things that were good, but then there's others just like, okay, you know, because you have spent that $920,000 to go do something else. And, you know, when we talk about BB in the receiver position, they still need a number three. And before we started recording, I was just racking my brain being like, who's still out there? And there's a lot of names because I think this wide receiver market, either guys, you know, thought that they could get paid a little bit too much or they were, you know, just the market is kind of depressed right now for receivers because there are so many of them.

I mean, when you think about the names that are still out there, you know, T.Y. Hilton, Larry Fitzgerald, Golden Tate's still there, Deshaun Jackson, Sammy Watkins, Adam Humphreys, you know, Cordero Patterson's still out there if you actually want to play him as a receiver, Will Fuller, Kenny Stills, like, there's a lot of guys that you could bring in here on a one- to two-year deal and shore up that position that isn't the type of receiver move that they made in the past, where it's Tajay Sharp, or it's Kendall Wright, or it's Jordan Taylor, or any of those people that just never panned out. I still think that this is the only move they made on the actual day that free agency, the new league year started.

When all the deals came in, guys pending physicals, they will be able to get their contracts done and sign. We'll talk to them. Cool. But they still have so much work to do, which I think is going to be interesting to see how they handle it now as we move towards the second wave of free agency and those big names are off the board. Funny, we were talking about Chad Beebe for just a second there.

We didn't really have much to say about it. But I looked down at my phone and our friend Manny Hill texted me and said that bringing back Chad Beebe is like when the Twins would bring back guys with 4.80 ERAs who threw 88 miles an hour. It's like that's absolutely perfect. It is extremely Minnesota to keep bringing back the same player who doesn't make a whole lot of difference over and over and over again. To your point, there are so many wide receivers that are out there that, of course, I have been obsessed with the add more weapons, and I have just brought it up so many times that I'm tired of myself saying it. And yet, here we are, though, after the first wave of free agency is not quite done, but it feels like it's

sort of slowing down. And there are so many talented human beings who play the wide receiver position that it would just be flat out negligence not to add one, because you're going to get one for a decent price. And if you don't go above that, let's just call it the Kendall Wright line. If you don't clear the Kendall Wright bar, then you're just going to repeat history over and over again. And I think that that would be where I would start with New Year's resolutions. We could talk about all their options as we sort of go forward here. But mine would just be don't repeat history.

Like don't do the same stuff that you've done over and over and over again. Don't look at this and say, yeah, B.C. Johnson and Chad Beebe, they were fine against Carolina, so they'll be totally fine. Was it? Yeah, Carolina. Seven catches in that game for B.C. Johnson and Chad Beebe. Like, yeah, okay, for one game against one of the worst defenses in the NFL. That would be where I would start, is that they have had these tendencies at times to do the same things over and over,

and maybe starting with Delvin Tomlinson and not rushing the passer from the interior, which I know is something that drives you crazy. The hot button. Right. But that would be like a broad, for me, New Year's resolution for the Vikings in the new league year, is just like you might have to take a different direction on some of the things that you've had your process in the past. And I know that Mike Zimmer, when you look at the way that free agency has played out right now, it's very clear that Zimmer is driving the show, right?

Like, they didn't cut Barr outright. They structured his contract, made him a free agent after next year, but they kept him in the fold. That's Zim's guy. That's who they want. That's a Zim move. With Dalvin Tomlinson, Mike Zimmer sees his team give up 199 yards rushing to, I believe it was, it was David Montgomery in the Chicago Bears. And then a week later on Christmas day, they get dragged up and down the field by Alvin Kamara and the Saints. Like, that was the moment where you should have been able to point out, okay, we know what their free agent strategy is going to be. We know that Shamar Steffen's gone, Jaleel Johnson's gone.

All of the replacement-level defensive linemen that they had last year are out the door because you just can't get by with it anymore. Like, I know that they think that they can develop these guys and that they're in their system, they're working. You I know that they think that they can develop these guys and that they're in their system. They're working, you know, within this, this scheme,

they'll be fine. Well, you can't, you can't make somebody more talented than they are. Like you, the scheme is the scheme, either they get it or they don't. So that's at least at that point we kind of knew,

okay, that's why it's going to be so important to get people in here to stop the run, but they didn't necessarily address the need that Mike Zimmer told us after the season, which is getting more pass rushers. They signed Steven Weatherly. They did not tender Fadi Odenabo, so clearly I think they think higher of Weatherly and where his ceiling is potentially opposite to Neil Hunter, maybe mixing in a DJ Juan, and then they do with Odenabo. But then, you you know beyond that they haven't really fixed the interior pass rushing problem like I was looking through the numbers and I try to like be a little bit more I mean honest to god anything is better than Shamar

Stephan like I'm just gonna be frank with you anything is better than Shamar Stephan I mean Dalvin Tomlinson had 28 pressures last season uh Shamar Steffen had like nine. And, yeah, I mean, he's much better a pass rusher. But, like, when I say much better, let's take that with a grain of salt. He's an above average pass rusher playing from the interior position. But he's a nose tackle that they're going to try to make play three technique. So, once again, it's kind of like flipping it, you know, on the other side. Like when the offensive line, when they're making Ezra Cleveland move from left tackle to play right guard like will it work I don't know but Zimmer's priority number one is getting some beefy guys in there to create this

pseudo Williams wall or maybe the next version of the Williams wall by you know trying to say hey teams you can't run on us so you're gonna have to have to throw the ball, and we're going to let our edge guys do the work. I just don't know how feasible that's going to be for a 17-game season when you're going to have teams that are going to be able to get the ball out quickly and do that. Maybe a 17-game season. I'm kind of curious. It's got to be, right? Like, they want to earn their money back, so I think it will be.

Especially after last year. Right, exactly. Okay, so I was thinking about trying to put a number on how much better they have to be for rushing the passer because you mentioned uh the fact that you know yeah delvin tomlinson is better than shamar stefan and it's not really even close when it comes to rushing the passer even if he's not above average at it which is absolutely true um and sham Steffen, out of all starters in the NFL last year, was second to last. And you know who was last in terms of pressures? Jaleel Johnson.

So they were last and second to last. And I'm trying to pull this up, which is like how many sacks do they need to get to where at least they're considered a decent defense? And I'll get that in just a second. How about more than 23? That was a number that they finished up with last year. Does that work for you? Well, yeah, I mean, and right now you're only probably like two or three better than 23 with Delvin Tomlinson. And I'm just fuddling around here, screwing up this search,

trying to find exactly, I've messed it up. Anyway, so good teams, though, usually end up with about 45 to 60 sacks somewhere in the range. So you need to double that. Let's say that Daniil Hunter comes back, which is a let's, you know,

definitely let's just say, you know, theoretically at the moment. Vikings are expecting him back. I'll just throw that out there. I know I saw the report from The Athletic that he's unhappy with his contract. I kind of feel like at this point, at this point, from what I've heard, the Vikings are kind of like tough, deal with it, play well, we'll work on it next offseason.

You didn't play, you're expecting to become the highest paid player at your position coming off a season where you had a neck injury. You didn't even play a snap of training camp with pads on. Tough. So I don't think this is going to come to a Deshaun Watson level Texas holdout, but I do think that the Vikings have a very different view from what has been reported about Daniil Hunter and where they expect Hunter to be going into this season.

Which is why I have thought that there's a real possibility this thing gets ugly, where Daniil Hunter says, I want more guarantees, I'm not playing without them, and they say, you didn't even play last year, so maybe you should come back and show it. And then we just end up with an impasse for these two sides, and maybe that's when it does get to a trade territory. I think they have to resolve it quickly, but I don't think they will. I think the smart play is to resolve it quickly, to talk to Neil Hunter and say, look, if you're not going to play on your current contract, then we're going to trade you, and then you

do that so you can get a draft pick now. Yes. If you wait, the one thing about the Khalil Mack deal, as good as it was for Vegas, is they waited until the week before the season so they couldn't use those draft picks until the next year. And then those players got to develop. And it's like a really long-term thing.

You could get a quicker fix if you decide on it now. So maybe put that in your resolutions bin to try and figure that out quicker, even though I don't know that they will. But let's just say, though, that Daniil Hunter says, fine, all right, guys, I'll come back and I'll show you this is the best neck anyone's ever had on a body. So there's like, I'm not going to say 15 sacks. Let's say like nine and a half.

Nine, yeah. Yeah, let's just be reasonable and say nine and a half. So let's see, a 23. Maybe you add another four with Delvin Tomlinson. You have nine and a half. You are still only about halfway there to where you need to get to be a really good pass rush and a really effective pass rush in terms of sacks. Where's the rest coming from, Courtney? to be a really good pass rush and a really effective pass rush in terms of sacks where's

the rest coming from Courtney I mean you're gonna have to use 14 or somewhere in that first round to go get another edge rusher right because they missed out on Trey Hendrickson they missed out on um Carl Lawson you know Bud Dupree was also out there they've missed out on all of the high-priced defensive ends, which is good and bad. I think that if they're really that convinced that they can get by by drafting one, then they'll be in a good spot, at least for potential. But does that mean that you're working that person with Stephen Weatherly or were you having Weatherly play? Because I'm thinking if the line's solidified from the left side

up until Michael Pierce, you're okay, but I'm worried about what's going to happen because Neil Hunter's still going to draw double teams. How are you going to combat that? Folks, March is quite the month for Minnesota sports, and SodaStick has you covered with Minnesota sports-themed gear. The hockey team is headed down the stretch, so you've got to check out the Dollar Bill Kirill shirts and baseball is ready to get started. Go to SodaStick.com, check out the Touch Them All shirts, the Twinkies hats, and the Tomorrow

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And he ranked around 30-something in pass rush productivity. He was right around Yannick Ngakwe, actually, in terms of pass rush productivity, which is the pressure rate with it weighted towards sacks. And that's the guy that you had leave. So you're either the same or a little bit worse in terms of your pressure as we stand right now. And are you going to be able to solve it by drafting someone with 14? So do you think that that rockets up the board still,

now that Christian Barmore probably isn't going to happen with them signing a defensive tackle? Do you think it is defensive end that is number one? Or offensive line, though, with Riley being cut? Well, I mean, free agency isn't over, right? So we said that with Adam Thielen and converting the base to a signing bonus, they're going to get some relief there soon. So is there any guard that you want to go after now

so you could potentially move Ezra Cleveland out of that spot? Is there a tackle? I mean, last I checked, Orlando Brown is still with the Baltimore Ravens. Could that potentially still be in play? You never know. But, you know, to your point with how crappy the defensive tackle class is, it was the right move. I know that some people, when I tweeted out that this was their top free agent

target when they landed Tomlinson, it was to a degree where, yeah, if you knew you were going to strike out on the other guys, like, because you just couldn't pay them what they were worth. I mean, look at what Carl Lawson just made from the Jets. Like, that's a lot of money. They couldn't afford that. Like, the Bengals couldn't even afford to keep him at that price. But just, you know, I think that, you know,

they did the right thing because this is a position that they have struggled with in previous years to address. So address it now with somebody that's more of a proven commodity and take the risk there that it'll work out somehow, some way with him and Michael Pierce next to each other and that you'll get the production you need. Ed Rusher, to me, becomes your next top priority. Now, do you answer that? I mean, are there still guys that are available out there? Probably, like, I don't know, probably not anybody that much better than Steven Weatherly. Like, can you really think of it?

Because I just feel like there was such a drop off from the top part of that class to, you know, the guys that would be like that next level, you know, of Ed Rusher. I'm pulling it up right now i mean like the first the first couple names that you know come to mind for me um you know melvin ingram still out there can they afford him carlos dunlap's out there jadavian clowney's still out there olivier vernon is more of an outside linebacker he's kind of probably more that bar position anyways but like what do they do there?

Because there are some still, but there's always a weird reason that those guys don't get signed until later. So maybe that is what you do at 14, and that that is the focus, at least, that you place your focus there more than anywhere else. And you can still adjust the offensive line. Sorry, I was thinking Carlos Dunlap would make a lot of sense as someone who could be a rotational guy, or do you think he's going to get too much money?

I don't know because I know Seattle cut him because he's a cap casualty, right? And it's also like let's not just guarantee that all these guys want to come back and play for Zim. I mean, I know that it's easy to draw those ties. I mean, Nick Vigil, for example, played for Paul Gunther in Cincinnati from 16 to 19. Carlos Dunlap played for Mike Zimmer. I don't know if he necessarily wants to come back and play with Zim again. I honestly don't know. I mean, we'll see, but at what price is what you have to ask yourself, because if you're overpaying

for rotational edger, I mean, why did you just sign Steven Weatherly then? There's a few guys that I like on this list that are still available. I want to ask you what you think the deal is with Jadavian Clowney because I don't think there's any value left, right? I don't get it. Like last year I remember they were kicking the tires at this time, and then I got yelled at because I asked around about Jadavian better than that um like you know I was like okay well maybe I

mean you guys are sniffing on him like I mean clearly there's something and I don't know if it was just that they didn't have the money to do it or what not but at this point his value I feel like has dropped off so considerably the last couple years from Houston to Seattle to Titans and now to team mystery team um you know that's you know that's that's like that's just kind of where things are I think with him and I don't know I mean where you know could he play here yeah he absolutely could he's 28 years old like he's still got a lot left, and the injury stuff, I believe, is behind him. I know that that was something he dealt with even last year, but if you could get him for cheap, a two-year deal potentially,

why wouldn't you? Feels like he just never really fit for Tennessee, but I'm not sure. He didn't have a huge impact on the game against the Vikings, did he? Or did he? Usually these guys have their best game against the Vikings, so let me check. I remember Jeffrey Simmons sure as hell did, and the interior guys did. Yes. So he only played 425 snaps last year, so still dealing with the injury problems,

and that was less than he played the year before for Seattle when there were injury concerns. He graded pretty well by PFF. 28 pressures and 266 pass rush snaps is good, but zero sacks. And he hasn't really – he has four sacks since 2018. I mean, that's not super good. I'm telling you, like, and that's not just scheme. Like, I think a lot of that is a drop-off from him as a player.

Like, something happened when he left Houston. I don't know if it was, you know, the injury stuff, the, you know, the holdouts, the what have you. I mean, these one year deals haven't really helped him. Imagine, God, I mean, that's a fun game of hindsight. Imagine what would happen if you would have just signed a damn tag and then stayed in Houston and all of that. But my goodness, I I mean if you could get him at this value I mean I'd be curious to see what they think if they would like him at 28 where he's been at or a Carlos Dunlap who's 32 and you know kind of in the prime of his career as a as a pass rusher and you could sort of treat it like chess pieces move him around a little bit if you wanted to.

I know Mike Zimmer is not huge on that, but he would probably really like Javion Clowney against the run where historically he has been one of the elite run defenders in the NFL. The injuries certainly concern you. So if it was a one-year deal for five million, right? Yeah. I mean, I'm into that. Those are the type of moves.

And let's be frank about this. This front office, this coaching staff has one more shot to probably get this right. They probably don't have longer of a leash than they do this year. So why wouldn't you try to get those spots shored up now with proven players? I know I'm kind of going back on what I'm saying with next priority in the draft has to be getting an edge rusher, potentially at 14, potentially even moving back. But, you know, if that's a low-risk move, let's say that they can create, let's say they have like, let's call it a solid 10 million in cap space

that they would have to work with, right? Like after they get the Thielen thing taken care of and everything else. So then what? Like how can you make that move to where you're in a position like to get Clowney and somebody else? It's short-term deals, and guys like short-term deals. I mean, clearly Jadavian Clowney does because he keeps hitting the market every single year.

I don't think that's necessarily a great thing, but it's probably not the worst play. You would have to pencil him in for 500 snaps and then assume that he's not going to give you much more. And if he does, then you feel really good about it. Oh, wow, he bounced back and got eight sacks and was really dominant like he used to be. Other than that, it almost reminds me of like Sean Merriman. Remember when Sean Merriman was unbelievable and he's a big star and then he just fell off the edge of the cliff. I don't know if Clowney is that severe,

but it sort of feels like the guy went from a superstar to has disappeared pretty quickly. Some other names that are out there, Carlos Dunlap, we mentioned. Justin Houston, probably not a fit. More of, you know, I mean, he's old, but he's also not a good run defender. Ryan Kerrigan is a guy that I think makes a lot of sense for them. Yeah, and they like, I remember last year, was it the year before, that they, it's kind of recently, his name was popping up in the mix. I don't remember exactly what year that was, but that name is absolutely one that has been tied to the Vikings before. Do you like the Solomon Thomas idea at all?

I don't personally, I don't, I don't think he's a good pass rusher. And I mean, I was there when the 49ers drafted him in 2000, 2017. Yeah. I, I have not liked it. I think he's's undersized i don't think he has a lot of reach um i i don't like that move i really don't i think i think that's the first round bust in my opinion i also think that you usually like you see this all the time where first rounders get that second chance with someone and it every once in a while pays off. And then everyone goes, oh, why'd they let that guy leave? But usually it doesn't. Usually it doesn't help the next team all that much.

I've got one for you. This is your sneaky, this guy will play for the Vikings. Tyrone Crawford. And I will tell you why. Because Tyrone Crawford's highest graded game of his season last year was against the Minnesota Vikings. And when that happens, they're bringing him in. You know, for the Dallas Cowboys, he's a guy who's kind of been around a while and at one time was a very consistent and good, effective pass rusher,

but has had some injuries the last couple years. But that one seems like every time someone has a great game against the Vikings, Anthony Zettel had a random super great game against the Vikings, and then they signed him. Yeah, but that name sounds very familiar. Wasn't he on this team for, like, a couple games last year? Zettel was at training camp, I think. Yeah, signed him for free agency last year.

Was it the end of free agency last year? Yeah, it was, like, in April when we were all at the stay-at-home order because I remember doing his conference call right after we did Tajay Sharp. Doesn't get any more excited than that. So what? We're thinking that one of these guys ends up as a Viking, and then a corner, and then guards. Like there's just too many things,

and I know that you're saying that they're going to create more cap space here, but it still feels like if you want to get anybody significant it's too many places to fill with free agents because you also have to convince those guys to come here so what do we think the approach ends up being like if i if i give you all the positions tell me which one gets left out it's you know you need at least one guard maybe two you need at least one edge rusher maybe another defensive tackle who's just a pure pass rusher you need at least one corner maybe two at least one safety and at least one wide receiver like what's getting left out of the party here cornerback probably um the reason i say that is it's such a deep class this year that i think you'd be

okay waiting um maybe pick somebody up for training camp maybe i know that there's a bunch of guys that are still left out there but i think the other needs like i kind of the underrated one that nobody's talking about right now is safety like did all these guys just like play uh price themselves way too high and that's why nobody nobody signed safeties outside of the ones that were, like, franchised early on in, you know, in free agency? I'm pulling up the list right now. I mean, there's so many that are left out there. I mean, there's Deion Bush, Cody Davis, Justin Simmons,

obviously Anthony Harris. I don't know what Anthony Harris' market is. Do you? Like, that one confuses me because I'm like, the guy had a good year in 2019, sort of a down year last year, but let's also take it with a grain of salt considering the adjustments they had to make to some of their coverage schemes on the back end. Yeah, he didn't have an interception after leading the league in the year

before. Oh, well. But he's, you know, what is Barkett? I don't know. That's you know what is Barkett I don't know that's very confusing to me so I I don't know I mean but then again it's like you have a lot of guys who are like in their 30s and beyond I mean Harris is 30 Kareem Jackson's 33 Lamarcus Joyner's 31 I mean are you paying how much are you going to be paying for a deep safety anyways like can you really address that during the draft if you have that many other needs? Especially considering you probably should be taking a quarterback with one of those high picks

and you're trying to get a second-round pick to at least take one then. I don't know. Yeah, the safety thing is odd because it's extremely have and have not. There are a handful of safeties who get paid and they get paid a ton of money and then everyone else just waits and looks around and sits on their hands and hopes that they can be in the halves but the halves are only a few and mike zimmer did say at the combine that they didn't like paying safeties a ton of money and they did it last year and it kind of blew up in their face so i've been thinking more

along the lines of that they would offer anthony harris something small and tell them look pal if you want to come back for a small amount of money because nobody else is offering you a ton then you know you've always you've always got the guest room in the back that you can stay in but if you want to get a huge contract then it's not going to happen. And then there's a half dozen guys who could probably do the job alongside Harrison Smith. The corner position, though, there are so many decent corners. I feel like they can't leave that one out. It would be just a negligence by them if they were to leave that out and roll into 2021 with Mike Hughes and a draft pick

holding down key spots but like if you think about all those other positions that you mentioned if they do get a guard if they got even two guards or if they got a tackle like what money are they going to have left over for uh Desmond Trufant or Richard Sherman or anything like that those are the names that I think of at least when I when I've been perusing the free agent cornerback market. Like, is it possible? Sure. But, you know, I do. I think that's one thing that they messed up on last year. Right. Not bringing in a veteran veteran to play in the slot. And then you had Mike Hughes and obviously the neck injury hurt him. You're relying on two rookies to play significant roles when that probably wasn't

the right approach but what's the order that things are going to happen here if you're talking about like resolutions for this team i agree don't get that one wrong because you've gotten it wrong in the past do better by do right by yourself this year by going after somebody in one of the earlier rounds but or in still free agency but with with that said, who, how are you, who are you going to prioritize? Which position are you going to then like kind of flop into a little bit further down the order? If you're not going to go after, you know, the guard that you need and certainly the defensive end. I mean,

I think you could, if I, if I'm doing this for real, like I think that defensive end is something mean, I think you could, if I'm doing this for real, like, I think that defensive end is something you address in the draft. You know, we have talked about those names because it's probably a safer bet to get a guard with experience, one that's not still like bargain bin level guard, that you could potentially plug and play right away. I mean, that's what you use free agency for, finding somebody for an immediate upgrade right now, not necessarily expecting that like two years ago, Garrett Bradbury, drafting him and playing him right away and expecting this massive upgrade on the offensive line. It just doesn't happen like that in year one. That's right. And so what comes to mind for

me about the offensive line is, would it make more sense, as much as Ezra Cleveland would probably be hurt inside by this would it make more sense to sign the veteran pass rusher edge rusher look to the third round to take a couple of pass rushers to take swings on those guys and draft someone like Christian Derrissaw or Sean Slater the very high ceiling offensive lineman in the first round and have that guy start and Ezra Cleveland start at right guard and then replace one guard position as opposed to replacing two guard positions. I just feel like replacing two guard positions is very hard on the free agent market. When I look at the free agent market as it stands right this second, I mean, woof, it's not good.

I mean, Austin Blythe would be a good fit, I think. But aside from that, Forrest Lamp was not a good player at all, but was somebody who had a really good combine four years ago and then couldn't win a spot as a second rounder until last year and then didn't play very well. So that's not an attractive option. You know, Trey Turner played really poorly last year and then didn't play very well so that's not an attractive option um you know trey turner played really poorly last year you've got your you know beat up nick easton is still out there like these are not players that you really want well what about gabe jackson i mean yeah i like the idea i like the idea it's expensive potentially and i don't know what's going to happen i know that they brought um Raiders brought Richie Incognito back today so he's off the market but what are they going to

do with Jackson are they going to make him come back on a reduced deal like he's a name that I think that has not been talked about yet enough in free agency so far as somebody who was a seven year player for the Raiders um and you know can play either right or left guard, wherever you want to put him. He's played both out there. And he did play over 1,000 snaps last year. Also had, it looked like, a little bit of a decline in his play from last year to when he was at his absolute best a couple years ago, but still would have been better than anything the Vikings ran out there

on the offensive line. Don't hate it, of course, but he also weighs 335 pounds and is not fast. Like, he is a power. He's a power. Yeah. He's more like our friend Alex Boone than he is like Pat Elfline or something. So I wonder, and he gave up zero sacks last year. So, I mean, yeah, I'm in.

Anything that helps Kirk Cousins is a good idea. And anyone who gave up zero sacks last year. So, I mean, yeah, I'm in. Anything that helps Kirk Cousins is a good idea. And anyone who gave up zero sacks you want to look at, I just wonder, they seem to be very committed to the bit when it comes to the he's got to fit our scheme type of thing. And I think you can abandon that. I honestly think that, yeah, you can keep parts of that, but most offensive lines are running some sort of hybrid mix between zone and power.

Like, you're not always running an outside zone. You don't have to have pulling guards all the time. But I think that, you know, Gabe is athletic. Like, I covered him at Mississippi State. I covered him with the Raiders. I mean, he's one of the more athletic guards. He's a big dude, don't get me wrong, but he is very, very athletic, and he's quick when he pulls.

So I would not rule it out as a possibility of something that would actually be a scheme fit because you know that term is going to get thrown around by people thinking like oh it's not a scheme fit like you can make it work if the player is good enough I totally agree and if it's pass protection he's greatly improving that's the thing you need to greatly improve and it would be a plus if they were able to bring in someone who could all of a sudden cut the amount of pressure from the guard position in half so let me ask you this then if let's say the offensive line next year is brian o'neill right tackle right guard ezra cleveland garrett bradbury center gabe jackson at left guard and left tackle is christian derisaw how are we feeling about that

offensive line pretty good um I still don't know what to think about that is a Cleveland thing I mean that's still kind of frustrating when you look at it being like we're not even going to try to see what this guy's potential is at left tackle just because it's easier to get somebody else instead of reaching for a guard in the draft okay um if i'm him i'm not necessarily thrilled about it they took me out of position where i could be making a ton of money as a franchise left tackle but i think that that would be good enough because you know you're you know the necessary thing for them more than anything else is the interior pass protection and if you shore that up with somebody who's been doing this who's going into his eighth season now

gabe jackson i think he'd be in a good spot. But then again, like, this is kind of funny. Riley Reif still hasn't signed with anybody, you know? What if they, I mean, not saying, never say never, but, like, it is kind of wild that there's all these, you know, offensive linemen out there who got released because they were cap casualties who still don't have a home, and he is one of them. I'm not trying to put that out into there i don't think he'd come back here but you know there's eric fisher who also got cut because

he was a cap casualty russell okun um i don't know if any of those guys would come back here but we shall see hey everyone i want to tell you about our friends at scout logistics and i really do mean it when i say friends they are fans fans of Purple Insider over at Scout Logistics, and since they reached out wanting to support this show, I want to tell you about what they do. Scout Logistics is just-in-time transportation for full tractor-trailer loads, and if you're wondering what that means exactly, well, if you own or work for a company that needs shipping solutions,

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Yeah, Okung they chased before, and I'm not sure that he wanted to sign here then. And with Riley Reif, it feels like there's at least a brush fire on that bridge if it's not already burning with Riley Reif, right? I don't think Riley Reif wants to come back here. No, I don't think so. I don't think he wants him to mess with his contractor, ask him to take less money again. Do you like the Orlando Brown idea? I do. think so. I don't think he wants him to mess with his contract or ask him to take less money again. Do you like the Orlando Brown idea? I do. I do.

I just don't know, like, you know, with all that draft capital you'd be giving up. Like, I've seen some scenarios where it's like, all right, you get Orlando Brown in the 27th pick for Adam Thielen, let's say, in, like, the 14th pick. Do you like that? Well, what does that do to your receiver then? That kind of decimates it. I don't know. If it was Anthony Barr in number 14 for 27 in Orlando Brown, sign me up tomorrow, and you could have signed Eric Wilson.

But I wonder what all they'd have to give up more than what, you know, the two scenarios that I just threw out. I don't know if it would be enough to land him but i do like the idea in draft class brian o'neill um you could probably do both their deals at the same time it would work i say stop trading with the ravens like i mean yeah they'll probably find a way to fleece you on this one too third time's a charm maybe not what you brought up with the brian O'Neill thing is my biggest hesitation. Do you want two highly paid, high-priced tackles? I mean, most people would say, well, yes, if they're good.

And that's true, but those are big money positions. So you're having to not only give up assets, but also then pay the guy and then pay your other guy, and you're sort of setting yourself up for one of those uh-oh we paid these guys a bunch of money and have to try to work around them again in the future even if they are good and I'm I think Orlando Brown's good but I don't think he's great and I would rather draft someone that was cost controlled who has the same or even maybe more upside than Orlando Brown who played only 10 games at left tackle. That's my other thing, too, is he's out there demanding a tackle. But he only played a handful of games there.

And he's played a lot of right tackle, too. So I don't know what that means. If potentially, you know, you could move Brian O'Neill. I don't know if he'd want to play right tackle. I don't know. He's still under contract. That's the crazy part about the whole thing. Right.

It's kind of an odd situation. So give me some New Year's resolutions, you think, for the new league year, which someone actually did today, just a fellow reporter, non-jokingly wished me, like, Happy New Year for football. Oh, Happy New Year. Yeah, Happy New Year to you, too. Got a football New Year. I like that.

Exactly. I love it. So do that with friends and family. Wish them Happy Football New Year. Yeah, Happy New Year to you, too. Got a football new year. I like that. Exactly. I love it. So do that with friends and family. Wish them Happy Football New Year. So what's your resolution? I'm going to go back to wide receiver three. I'm going to say get it right this year. Address it before it becomes a serious issue.

Because right now it's Justin Jefferson, it's Adam Thielen, and then you have a group kind of like the miss it toys. Like everybody will play a role, and a lot of that will end up coming on special teams, which is fine. But you also need to, to not keep neglecting that thinking, okay, we'll just solve it. We'll get a, you know, somebody else come in and sign the vet minimum. No, you have a host. This is a good wide receiver free agent class with a lot of names that are out there that can solve a pretty considerable problem that you haven't been able to solve for years, like years and years and years. Like, I mean, if you even want to say that you solved it when they had Jarius right here in 2017

and before that, I don't even know if you call that solving it, but they've got to do something to fix it. So I say that's the number one, like, you know, fix that. Because, like, offensive line, defensive line, cornerback, those are always going to be what the Vikings strive for and what they're going after. Our group at Stats and Information did a survey of everything over the last seven years, you know, which teams have gone after certain positions more often than others.

And the Vikings are, like, one of six teams that have addressed that in every single draft class since we started tracking this seven years ago, all three of those positions that I, that I addressed. So it's kind of crazy. Before, before we wrap up, what is your favorite move that anyone has made so far in free agency? And let me say, while I give you a second to think, that I think that the teams that kept the right players were so far the winners.

Dallas keeping Dak Prescott, I don't think you wanted to leave yourself with no quarterback. Shaq Barrett and Chris Godwin staying with Tampa Bay in that division with the Saints now having a quarterback competition between Taysom Hill and J Winston you feel pretty good about beating them and you know Trent Williams staying with San Francisco like these these moves I think were really big wins for their teams and otherwise we've seen a lot of overpays or reaches things like that that I every year you question and a lot of times it turns out to blow up the team's faces. Like the Trent Williams one kind of got me this morning. Like, did he really do they really need to do that? Like, and I know people are going to say, oh, well, you know, use the running back argument.

He doesn't have the touches on body that old. Like you're going to get so much more wear out of him. Like last I checked, age still affects a 33 year old, whether you've been playing football or not. And yes, you pay millions of dollars to keep your body in shape whatever i think they overpaid for that i really do i think the patriots are paying a level money for b to b plus level players nelson aguilar excuse me like what are you doing um they went on a spending spree like it was going out of style and yeah i know because of the cap this year and all the voidable years people are adding to contracts, like what are the contracts, how the hell the Saints got underneath the cap

will remain a mystery. I don't think free agency – I think we kind of built this free agency up a little bit more, especially with the quarterbacks, than we expected, like than it actually turned out to be, which is kind of disappointing. But, you know, that's what happens when you have two months of speculation season going into March, that that stuff is going to be what it is. I'd like to welcome the Saints to 7-9 land. Come on by.

Come on in. The water's fine. Like, just, yeah, I mean, Nick Underhill, who covers them, was on the show a couple weeks ago, and he was talking about how he still thinks they'll be good and that the fans are still going to hold them to a high standard for this next year. But they are running into the exact same wall the Vikings did last year. And every, you know, oh, the cap doesn't exist. Well, but you've had to get rid of a lot of talent to make yourself under the cap.

So I think it does. I'll give you the low key team that I think is doing great in free agency, which is football team. I think Washington signing William Jackson is an A plus signing and Ryan Fitzpatrick. I mean, it makes so much sense for them, for him to step into a good team, which is rare for Ryan Fitzpatrick to get that opportunity after he's played some of the best football of his career. And he's a guy that you don't have to lock into so they can draft a quarterback as well. I think they have a good football team for somebody to step into. So if they traded up and they drafted Justin Fields, or if they took Mac Jones at that point, I think

they'd be getting good value for that. and they would be able to put that player into a good situation. And they brought back Brandon Sheriff, too. So I think they're having a low-key, like, really good offseason. No, I think Washington is. I like the moves yesterday and I think that it's good to see someone like Ryan Fitzpatrick find a new home and all of that i'm curious though they need a safety um is anthony harris potentially that guy for washington they've got some money i

don't know if rivera is willing to spend on that but that's a name that i've like heard like just brought up just like in some casual fodder would be somebody that washington would sign i don't know i don't really have any idea what the league thinks of Anthony Harris. We just don't hear talk about him. It's hard to get a read on that. If Harrison Smith was a free agent, we would know immediately that the NFL would want Harrison Smith. But Anthony Harris is not a guy when we do conference calls with the opposing team

where they're like, yeah, that's the guy. He just is sort of an under the radar guy. And I wonder if that's one of the reasons that they couldn't trade him last year for what they wanted. And the fact that they couldn't trade him last year also, it leaves you to question whether they would be able to, whether he would be able to get top dollar. And if you can't,

then you might as well come back where you know the defense, but who knows if there's some bitterness there from Anthony Harris for the franchise tag and all that sorts of thing instead of a long-term contract. So, all right. What do you think's next? What do you think the next domino is? Because it has been a trend that as soon as I publish the podcast, something happens. Yeah, something's going to happen.

What will have happened by the time everyone listens to this? Will they end up signing a defensive end, you think? Maybe. Maybe, maybe not? I'm going to say corner. I'm going to say that they try to get someone like a Dory Jackson. They get that feeling thing done, and then they spend a good amount of cash on a corner. That's my guess. Yeah. I mean, it's not a terrible idea. Oh, definitely not. I mean, who can trust the corners that they have right now? Not many, I'll tell you that.

My new football year's resolution is more neck rolls. We've already got enough. I'd say that your new year's resolution, I mean, maybe both of our resolutions can just be, we'll just stop worrying about the three technique position that should be yeah that's you that is you can consume my life yeah and if wide receiver three doesn't come to fruition that i won't lose my mind and tear out all of my hair how about that that would be i like that i mean it really is funny how the wide

receiver three has become my thing and pass rushing defensive tackle has become your thing, and they both look at our positions that we think they could really use and go, nah, I don't think so. Sorry, guys. So we'll never get our receiver or pass rusher. Sheldon is never walking through that door, and neither is Jerry's. Sad time.

Did he sign somewhere? Who's that? Sheldon Richardson? He's still in Cleveland, right? I thought he was there only on a one-year deal. Maybe he's not. I think it's a multi-year deal. Yeah, I think he's on there.

I mean, he's our guy, so you should know. Our guy, I mean, I should know. We need to practice our long snapping and holding because the Vikings couldn't get that right last year, so that should be under their resolutions. Sheldon Rankins is on the market, but it's no Sheldon Richardson. Very sad. It's like a Dumb and Dumber reference there, like, ah, Samsonite, I knew it. All right, let's end there because it will just get more ridiculous.

Courtney, thank you, as always, for your time. This was super fun, and I look forward to more signings, conference calls, and then this draft season. So much to come.