Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - ESPN's Courtney Cronin has questions about the offensive line and breaks down how Mike Zimmer is doing the offseason his way

Episode Date: April 1, 2021

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Follow them on Twitter at Symbol ExchangelExchange, and check out the Marketplace for Sports. Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, by Scout Logistics and by Stim Bowl, your stock market for sports. Matthew Collar, ESPN's Courtney Cronin here following Mike Zimmer's first off-season press conference or first press conference since the signings of everyone. What is up, Courtney? Not much. I am partially vaccinated. Oh am partially vaccinated oh good I have that to report I drove all the way down to St. Peter Minnesota which I have actually this is gonna sound make me sound like an idiot but I've never been to Mantecato before oh right because you came here after training camp yeah like I got here in the midst of that 2017 preseason, that weird in-between time when they were back at Winter Park.

So I'd never been down to Mankato. So I went to St. Peter yesterday. And then I went to Mankato because I was like, I got to see it. So cool. Cool town. Yeah. No, it is. It is.

There's a part of me that misses that experience. Not necessarily the drive of going down there. But I really like the getting away training camp kind of thing it just feels like nfl music should be playing behind you the whole time and it's a nice like stadium nice little town there's a couple cool places so and i think i did the first adam theelin is from mank. Did you know that feature when I got here in 2016? Because he had his breakout game, and then they had a bye week. So right after that, I drove down to Mankato and did the whole thing.

So since then, that has been a very in vogue story, but I'm crediting myself for the first. Hey, I'm all for it. Well, good for you. Good for you. Congratulations. And let's just hope all of that continues to go well in America so we can have fans back in the stands for all 17 games and we can go from there. So let me ask you a quick question before we get into all these things, because I've basically been taking a poll of everyone who comes on and how they feel about this.

If the Vikings were to go 10 and 7, is that a good record? i can't decide whether 10 and 7 is a good record 10 sounds good and 7 doesn't sound good i mean it's not it's 9 and 7 plus 1 so no it's average it's above average above average it's a it's the last spot in the playoffs team a team that probably unless you're in as competitive a division as, what, was it the AFC South last year where you had teams like vying for, you know, what was it? The Colts might not have gotten in. There was one division where it was like there were a bunch of 10-6, 9-6 teams. Maybe it was the AFC North. Where it was like, wow, like you may have a team that was 10-6 or 9-7 that doesn't get in.

Well, this rate is kind of like unless you're in like a super competitive division it feels very much like participation trophy here you go here's your spot the postseason okay so i guess 10 and 7 is basically the new nine and seven and we just i believe that's correct you get like half more credit i guess i i don't know i. I'm writing a little article about it, and I just can't figure out whether I think that it's good and how we evaluate everyone. And even like you said, they expanded the playoffs. So if you make the playoffs at 10-7, did you have a great season?

I feel like we now have to set the bar at 11 for you did really well. Even 11-6 is sort of okay, and it's got to be now better than that to have a very good season so everything is everything is changing when it comes to how we view this but um on the matter of mike zimmer's press conference i just want to say one thing before we dive into like the specific issues that mike zimmer is the happiest man of all of his times of year right now when he is in these meetings grinding tape and trying to figure out schemes and everything it always at the combine when he's been doing that or whether it's now and he was talking to us today you could tell what kind of

excitement and joy he has for trying to scheme up new stuff to stop offenses. And it's like the one time of year where I think, Mike, you seem so frustrated with us the rest of the year, but you love to tell us around now how you're trying to fix defenses. And I just thought it was interesting how excited he seemed to talk to us about new defensive players and new defensive things that they were doing we got everything you wanted right like i mean there wasn't a single position that they didn't address in free agency at least at one point i mean and the fact is he kind of alluded to the bpa strategy when he was talking about like offense and everything else that we have what we did in free agency is going to allow us

to take the best player available at wherever we draft. Well, if you are someone who believes in offense, that should scare the absolute hell out of you because that means that you're probably taking a defensive end at 14 and that the offensive line is in trouble. I also think, too, I mean, the pressure of the season's not on him yet. He's great when he's at the combine. He loves talking to us about roster development and players that, you know,

he was able to bring in because he saw certain traits. So, yeah, he was in a great spot today to be able to talk about. I wish we had a little bit more time with him to delve into, you know, Delvin Tomlinson as a three-technique defensive tackle because he did talk about him and Michael Pierce to a degree about them and, you know, Dalvin Tomlinson as a three technique defensive tackle, because he did talk about him and Michael Pierce to a degree about them and, you know, keeping the quarterback high and pushing the pocket. But neither of them have been known for doing that in their career. So I'm curious as to like what he's what he sees as far as a, you know, the pass rushing

traits that lead him to believe that Dalvin Tomlinson will be a good three technique. But other than that, I mean, like he seemed pretty chipper. I mean, they seem that there's a lot going on with the defense, obviously, that he's happy about. So tell me what in your life you act as giddy about as Mike Zimmer about Dalvin Tomlinson. I mean, it's probably long snappers to be quite honest. I mean, yeah, it's the obvious answer. That is the obvious answer. Grinding long snapper tape is definitely the right answer for you, but it's just like find something in this world that makes you as happy as Mike Zimmer is talking about a run stuffing nose tackle.

Who's now going to play three technique. It's just, uh, he had the biggest smile on his face and I, you know, here. Okay. So here's the question. Is he too giddy? Is he too giddy about this defense? Because Sam wrote for our site the other day about, like, comparing them to the 2017 defense and how far you'd have to go to be great with this defense. And there are still all sorts of questions at every level.

And yet the big grin on Zimmer's face made me think like I don't know maybe they will have a great defense like I'm not feeling like at this moment they are in a position to say we'll have a great defense next year but he seemed really pumped well I think it's also because he called the shots it is obvious to me who hijacked free agency his name's mike zimmer like he went in like he was said he was down in the dumps last year at the end of the season when it's the worst defense he's ever he said he ever had he was looking at the depth they're signing guys that i've never even heard of that i still don't believe are real people um clearly he felt the same way and he was embarrassed by it so like the fact is like

on paper they are a much improved unit because of who he was able to get in free agency now we're not going to be able to judge with this free agency period like if if mike zimmer taking over the reins of the control and you know getting all these defensive free agents in, we won't be able to tell if they're actually good until we find out, can Dalvin Tomlinson be an effective pass rusher from the three-technique position? Can Xavier Woods look like he did in 2018 and 19 versus giving up on plays in 2020, the way he did last year? He didn't look good at points last year. Will the secondary, will the cornerback group actually be able to take the next step you won't be able to judge any of those moves of where you bought brought those free agents in for quite some time so honestly that's a lot of pressure off your head

coach at least for right now at least for the next couple months i mean sure and so when guys get in here i think the tune will change uh when you start seeing how people are going to fit but for right now for him it's pat yourself on the back, mission accomplished, I addressed defense and free agency. I got what I wanted. Like, here was my Christmas list, minus getting, you know, Carl Lawson or Trey Hendrickson, which was probably, like, my N64 that I really wanted.

Like, I still wound up with a big bag of loot that I'm happy about. And maybe then that means, you know, in the draft, he's able to get that edge rusher that he's still seeking, which, you know, we didn't really have too much time with him today. That would have been my next question for him, you know, at the end about, well, is your pass today that he hadn't talked to Daniil Hunter but that Hunter had been in touch with Andre Patterson and that at least everything kind of lined up just with what we've been told about, like, yeah, he expects to be part of the plans and everything else. It can't just be him, though. And Zimmer did mention Weatherly and DJ Wanham and other guys at the opposite defensive end spot. But that's probably not going to cut it. That's probably – it can't be all that you do.

So there's still a wishlist for Mike Zimmer. I think that's out there. But you know, I, to me, the way that I look at is that you cannot think that you're done right now. And when I asked him about kind of the defensive spending versus all these other needs that you have on offense to kind of nearly ignore that offensive part, like our offense was great. We were six and whatever last year. Like, Oh, that makes me cringe because you're expecting, I mean, your offense got worse when Riley Reif left, like,

and you're now expecting them when he talked about that, which we can get into. I'm getting into it right now. When he was asked about Riley Reif at left tackle and who's going to replace him and all this stuff and he just starts naming off well we got Rashad Hill we got Ole Udo who's played uh 31 snaps at right tackle and that meaningless BS game against Chicago in 2019 and two snaps as a jumbo as a tackle on a jumbo package last year that's cool uh last I checked Brian O'Neal is your right tackle if you want to move him and then create another opening. And Ezra Cleveland is your right guard, which Zimmer did say for right now he's a guard.

So it's almost kind of like, yes, defense, defense, defense. Okay, a little bit of offense. Yeah, like whatever. We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. Defense, defense, defense, defense. That's how the press conference came across to me, which is fine if your defense can actually pan out to be

as good as you think it is right now because we have no proof that it's going to be that good because we were saying the same damn thing last year with Yannick Ngakwe being like oh man this is a top 10 defense look at all the things not all the things worked out so don't you love that he said we were sixth last year and none of us know what you were sixth in? They were fourth in yards and they were 11 points. And those would be the most basic statistics. I don't think that Zimmer uses DVOA. I mean, I suppose. No, I don't think so either.

I definitely know he's not looking at PFF overall offense grades, which I think the Vikings did grade pretty well offensively. But I just thought it was so perfect for Zimmer to say, you know, we were good last year. We were sixth or something. It was like, I'm not sure what we really were in offense. And that's someone else's problem. Like if you ask them a defensive statistic, like, hey,

how often did you guys play nickel package last year? He'd probably know. He likes the numbers, I think, with stuff like that. He might say, like, oh, it was like 68%. I asked. But with anything offensively, you know, I don't know. There's Akubiak whose problem that is. But this is what I like about this press conference.

And actually, I'll tell you what I like about how they've handled the whole offseason is Zimmer has planted the flag and said, if I'm going down, I'm going down my way. So if it doesn't one thousand percent, that is the story I wrote for tomorrow. At least I did it the way that I wanted to do it. And I went out and I got an aging corner who's got a big name and I got got a fat guy for the middle to stuff the run because I want to take away the run. I got myself another damn corner for Mackenzie Alexander. I got another safety. Like, if you're going to do it, if you're going to go down, then I guess go down your way. And you know what's interesting, too, with Zimmer is when he talks about changing things on defense,

which he does all the time, and you can see it when you watch on tape and all that, how roles change and assignments change and everything. He's always so interested in that, and he's always talking about, well, you need to adapt. Isn't that obvious that you need to adapt on defense? And offenses have changed in the last four years, so we're doing this and we're doing that but if you ask them about like but what about the run game like on offense and how you still run on second and ten and be like yeah duh of course you still run second it's just it's just so interesting it's like someone being extremely right-handed and then with their left hand they just can't even pick something up. That's Zimmer with offense and defense.

And that's what they've pushed all the chips to the middle of the table on, is this defense. Let me ask you, though, this question. If you hadn't seen last offseason, let's say you had gone to Bosnia and you didn't have any internet there. This is for people who watch Schitt's Creek. They'll get the Bosnia. I was about to say, the crows have eyes.

Yes. So you were shooting the crows have eyes in Bosnia. All right. And so you came back. You didn't have proper internet there. You came back. You didn't see last offseason. You just got here and looked at the roster.

Would you think, oh, this will be a top 10 defense because Mike Zimmer handpicked all these players? If I was looking at 2021's defense or last year's defense? So you didn't see it at all last year's defense. You know nothing about it. You were in Bosnia. I was in Bosnia with Moira. Okay. I don't know if I'd say it's a top 10 defense.

I mean, but then again, I'd be judging Patrick Peterson off of 2019, right? Like, and I'd be judging Dalvin Tomlinson off of when he was a nose tackle. And I wouldn't even know who the hell Michael Pierce was. So, I mean, like, I guess, I mean, I guess you'd probably be like, yeah, like, this looks pretty good. If I left in 2019 and, like, didn't watch any football and then came back and was like, yeah, like, oh, Daniel Hunter got 50 sacks. That's pretty great. Did he do anything last year?

No. Like, I don't know. Like, I think that on paper, it looks good. On paper, it looks improved because how much worse could it have possibly gotten from last season, right? Like, you know, you got some guy named Cordaea Tankersley playing some defensive back position. I don't honestly even know. Bryce Riley, what a year he had.

Luther Kirk. Like, I don't even know who that is. I still don't think he's a real person. But I just think the way that you look at it is, like, they have to be markedly improved on defense. But we also said the same thing last year after they let all of these free agents go and they bring all these players in. They bring all these rookies in and then they sign Ngakwe and you didn't know about Hunter.

I mean, it's weird because we're playing the retrospect game here, but it looked like at that point what I'm trying to compare it to was, oh, they got young corners they're gonna be fine they've got enough people to like insulate the young corners well this year they have depth and they have options which is something that just didn't have last year like legit options not cordia cord drea tankersley or whatever the hell the guy's name is or anybody else The R is silence. I think it's just Cordaea, not Cro-Daea or Cor. Is it Cordrea? I think it's Cordrea. Oh, it's Cordrea?

I think. Sorry, it's his family. I thought it was Cordaea. It doesn't matter. I mean. None of this matters. Do we even know who he looks like? Oh, of course not.

No. No, because he didn't arrive here during camp, so I would have seen him then. But do you know what he looks like? Absolutely. There was a guy who I think name was like Abdullah Anderson who played in games. Oh, that's a team was from last year because they were signing defensive backs off the street. That's what that's what the whole point of this argument is that like of course they're better than they were last year because they're not at least right now running into that same issue um and just like how quickly I mean like looking how how much they address the secondary and how important that was to them over the last 10 or so days since signing officially signing

Patrick Peterson like it can it to me it's like it can't get any worse than it was right like but can you really project that like this defense is going to be that much better I mean if you want to take Mike Zimmer at his word for it then sure because he looks you know he looked really you know pleased at least with the signings and but when you hear some stuff behind the scenes about how Xavier Woods wasn't even really the guy that they were initially going after, and, you know, we don't have a damn clue if Dalvin Tomlinson can play three technique. We really don't. I don't know.

Like, I mean, it's too early to tell, to be quite honest. He can pat himself on the back. You know, they did a good job in free agency getting allegedly who they they wanted we have zero idea to know if it's going to pan out and also the one thing we know though is that they left the offensive side of the ball vulnerable like last I checked you can't do that to be a winning team no matter how many great signings you can tout defensively if you don't get it figured out on the offensive side of the ball or how many great signings you can tout defensively if you don't no matter what you do on the offensive side of the ball if it's not to address like some major needs with people that are actually like good at fixing the problem that

you have in pass protection it's not going to matter okay so it is cordrea you were correct it's got an r and another r in there two r if you can tell me one thing about abdullah anderson i will venmo you ten dollars he has a name that's similar to amir abdullah no not really it's his first versus the last he um went to bucknell and played 10 snaps for the min Vikings last year because I remember saying very loudly in a silent U.S. Bank Stadium, who is number whatever number he was wearing? Like, oh, 66. Who is number 66? Like, who is that that's on the field for the Minnesota Vikings and why do I not know him? So let me circle back, though, because I think you made my point. You were in Bosnia and you didn't see the 2020 season. But with everything you said, you still said, like, well, last year this happened, last year this happened.

So maybe you weren't in Bosnia. I don't know. But the point is that I think if we hadn't seen what happened last year with Ngakwe and with Harris, that we would give them the benefit of the doubt. And with Daniil Hunter, too. If you didn't know about that situation and you just assumed, oh, he's still on the roster, he'll still be great. And, oh, they've got young corners. So Zimmer will probably teach them to be good at football.

And they got this guy from Dallas. I think that what would make us skeptical, and this is fair, is that last year they tried a lot of the same things and it didn't really work so is it going to be different this year when you're still flying without a parachute at a lot of different positions like they have some cornerback depth now that was really important but you are a uh you know broken pinky toe at safety away from josh metellus or Abdullah Anderson. No, he's a defensive tackle, but maybe. They love moving positions.

Cordrea. Cordrea. Yeah, and Curtis Riley. So, you know, that still feels like the roster from that perspective is very thin, and they could still end up in the same situation. I did think it was interesting, though, when Zimmer says he was literally downtrodden looking at the roster on defense I know I know nothing here like uh what a what a ringing endorsement of their previous year's drafts uh that you know just have not produced a whole lot on the defensive side so

they have to mind free agency in order to do it but the the offensive side, it's just impossible not to keep going back to this because they have taken the same approach each year. And each year we wonder, will you do anything different here? And it speaks to the Zimmer doing it his way. He's saying our office is fine. We're in a good position, but do you believe him when he says best player available will be what they

take in the draft? Because a lot of draft Sims end up with some real interesting best players available that are not necessarily pass rushers. Well, I think best player available to him is an edge rusher. So that's what he's saying without saying we're going to take an edge rusher at 14. Like, that should scare the absolute crap out of you if you are a Vikings fan or if you're an offensive coach on this team like if you don't go draft your left tackle if you don't trade up to go get him and I'm not even talking about needing a quarterback because I still think there should be an argument to do that too and make an actual

splash and do something of real importance but oh my god like the way that he was talking about it today like if you're just hearing him talk about this today and not getting the perspective of rick spielman who's the general manager and you know effectively calling the shots on everything even though mike zimmer hijacked free agency you're looking at this being like they may not take an offensive lineman till uh i don't know they don't have a second-round pick right now, until day two at some point? Is Rashad Hill your left tackle? Is Dakota Dozier the worst guard in America going to be back at left guard? Like, if you're looking at that, you're like, holy bleep.

Like, they just don't get it. And it's not that your defense can be so abundantly better. It's going to compensate for the nonsense that you just have perpetuated with this offensive line by not addressing it on a consistent basis, or at least a good basis, where you're not waiting

until the sixth or seventh round and going after guys who are not fits and just bad offensive linemen. You're going gonna be seeing the same story play out expecting different results I don't understand how you can have that logic and think it's gonna be okay like right now if you're anybody on that team in the front office or in the coaching staff you should be looking at it being like all right we got we needed in defense on in defense on free on defense and free agency let's cool our jets let's

go find a guard I mean I know there have been rumors you know on Vikings Twitter about Austin Blythe uh what you know deciding to sign with you know leaving the Rams deciding to sign with the uh Kansas City Chiefs like I don't know how much in play he was here but I also think that you know I tweeted this yesterday free agency is a two-way street if the Vikings aren't offering good deals for offensive linemen because they think they can do this on the cheap with, like, the Mason Coles and Dakota Dozers of the world, you can't fault people for not wanting to come here. But with that said, they are nowhere, they're worse. They're absolutely worse than they were the day that Riley Reif took his last, like, breath in Minnesota. I mean, still alive. I don't even know. than they were the day that Riley Reif took his last breath in Minnesota. I mean, he's still alive.

I don't even know. When Riley Reif exited, I would say when he exited the building, but he wasn't in the building in March when Riley Reif left for good. When he went on his last fishing trip at his cabin or whatever here in Minnesota. So I was looking at, and I like to always kind of go back to this as a reference point, for the fact that the top scoring teams, the top passing teams, are the ones that are routinely making the Super Bowl. So when you go with expected points added, which kind of compares situation to performance on Pro Football Reference,

the top four teams are Tampa Bay, Green Bay, Kansas City, and Buffalo. Those sound familiar because they were in the championship weekend. And the Vikings were 10th, which makes it sound like, oh, well, they were not that far away from that. But the Bills' expected points added from passing was 239 points, and the Vikings was 140. So you're actually like 100 points different in terms of how much value your passing game brought than the Buffalo Bills. So you need to make that up if you're going to have a chance to go really deep in the playoffs, because that's just been the trend that every year since 2016, so now we're working on like five Super Bowls, it's somebody who's in the top five and expected points added in passing game that's what drives you there and you're not one point better right

now in fact you are in the negative points than you were before because Mason Cole is not a difference maker Rashad Hill at his absolute peak of Rashad Hill performance can probably bring you what Riley Reif did, but also probably not because Riley Reif was a first round pick and a $50 million tackle for a reason. We talk about him as if he's average, but average is really good. And last year he was above average. So Rashad Hill probably can't bring you that. In the passing game, Justin Jefferson had a legendary first year. I expect that he'll continue to be good, but Kyle Rudolph was a contributor to the offense. He is now gone.

You're hoping that Tyler Conklin can do that job. You're hoping that Irv Smith can take another step forward. To add nothing to the most important thing so far, and this is where I don't want to get too judgy on the Dakota Dozier move because that is so far, but that says to me you're not a lot closer to really being there, and you are closer to doing what we were talking about is going 10-7 as opposed to 7-9 because you improved the defense enough to not be absolutely horrendous.

Well, I mean, Zimmer's philosophy is keep teams under 20 points or around 20 points, have a top 15 offense. Like, he wants to, he's not changed his philosophy as, like, the Vikings have adapted over the last couple years offensively to what the rest of the league is doing, or at least, like, you know, attempting to. In certain points, they have a long way to go, in opinion like you mentioned running on second and 10 but like they they just haven't like he does he just I think he feels that he can win in spite of the offense and if you pour all of your resources it's like 70 30 like obviously it's not the way it plays out financially with cousins and other things but like if you go all in on defense the defense is elite, then how can, no matter how bad the offense screws up,

the defense can get it done. That's how he views it. Like, he's a defensive coordinator who is a head coach. That is how he views it. And you can't fault him for it because it's worked in 2015 and 2017 and 2019 when they were, you know, as good as they were defensively and where they ranked in offensive efficiency.

Like, that makes sense. But, like, it doesn't excuse the fact that, like, your offense, you're leaving them so vulnerable right now. Like, and if you're going best player available, like, if that's how he really is thinking about the draft strategy, which, you know, that's just an easy way to get out of saying saying oh well what you're actually looking for but like best player available could be a safety at 14 and like I don't think honestly I would not hate that pick um but if you you just like it's almost like neglect at this point like in in one note on the Dakota Dozier thing because I wrote this today um because there are a lot of people who are upset about it and I understand like it's still march

like if this guy's you're starting left guard that's a problem sure but like he might not be on the roster like they can cut him there have been plenty of guys that they've brought in in free agency i know they do this pretty much every year with wide receivers that like they end up cutting before cut down day or on cut down day so So it's not a lock that he's there. Like they're trying to bring guys in for competition. I'm not trying to like tote a team line here whatsoever, but I'm just trying to think of it rationally. Like you can't tell me that any of them honestly think that Dakota Dozier is like an elite guard.

Like even the ones who don't believe in pro football focus and advanced metrics and are just about like ball, you know, ball and coaching and all this nonsense. Like Dakota Dozier was not good last year. Like he really wasn't. He was a liability. Like coaches see that. They watch a lot of, they watch a lot of film.

They see that. So like right now, to me, it's not a lock at all that he is your left guard. But if he ends up being like, that's why I'm not like going crazy, like just annihilating it right now. I think it's fair to point out he was absolutely terrible last year point those numbers out but also realize that there is still time before you know whatever cut down day is this year to make sure that they get it right for them to make sure that they get it right which is why I think the pressure's on them in the draft like I said this months ago on the show, that whatever they addressed in free agency,

the opposite would have to come during the draft because you probably cannot address both. And they couldn't. Like, they just guaranteed, with Anthony Barr's restructure, like, $41-plus million to the defensive side of the ball. They guaranteed, like, $3 or $4 million total to offense. And most of that was to, like, Rashad Hill. Folks, the football offseason is off and rolling and SodaStick has you covered with Minnesota

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sports-inspired goods. Code PurpleInsider for free shipping. What's funny about the PFF numbers and the Vikings when it comes to offensive line is that they always point to a certain thing happening or almost always and that's how it plays out but the team will only go with the numbers after it already happened if that makes sense so the numbers would have said look starting to go to dozier for 16 games not really something you want to do and they did it and then when they bring them back it's for $1 million and no guaranteed money.

So they could just cut him for absolutely nothing. So that matches up. The same thing when Tom Compton was starting. It's like, this guy really has never put together a season that you'd be okay with. And so they bring him in, they play him, it's not good. And then they move on from him. So their decisions post knowing the results, after seeing it, were very – I mean, it was very predictable what the results would be, but they end up going with the numbers only after it's already happened, if that makes sense. I'm sorry if that's confusing. But a lot of times we can just look at the numbers and say, well, this is probably what's going to transpire here. If you start an older Josh Klein, who wasn't very good with Tennessee and he wasn't great here with Mike Remmers at guard, this is what's probably

going to happen. Pat Elfline at guard, this is what's probably going to happen. And then later they go, okay, I guess we got to move them or or I guess we got to cut them, or I guess we've got to bring them back for only 1 million bucks. And that's where I always wonder, like, did you guys think that you need, like, you need to do it this way and leave other guys out on the market who probably would have been better? And to speak to your point, there are still guys on the market who are better. Chris Reed, in terms of pass blocking efficiency, was ninth last year. Dakota Dozier was 60th. It's a pretty big gap that you could maybe improve at that position without getting a great superstar player.

So there still will be opportunities. But I also caution a little bit about if they draft a player and throw him right in there, especially if he's out of position, if he's going to be a huge game changer right away, there's also that part. Like if you go all the way through the rest of this free agency and don't bring in anyone else in the offensive line, I think that you are still playing with fire. Even if you spend your first round pick on offensive line.

Yeah. I mean, and they have the money to do on, I know there are going to be some people who argue, well, they just spent a million dollars on Dakota Dozier well go read the contract language like that's not going to affect your cap that much like you can move things around like he's not make or break I just think it frustrates people that the worst player on the offense was brought

back I think that's honestly what it is that there's no there's no consequence yes and there's no consequence at least right now for crappy play which honestly I mean it kind of shows you I guess just like the margin of like what separates like there must be like more really really really bad players out there than the ones that are serviceable I guess in their mind Dakota Doge are serviceable but you're not going to get any better if you don't like I think that they still have one more move in them in free agency to get a guard um and potentially if you want to move on uh in free if you want to move up or if you want to stay at 14 you can get your tackle it's going to be a

weird mix with this offensive line that we still don't even know. Like, I know Mike Zimmer said that today, is there Cleveland's a guard? Is he a guard in camp? Is he a left tackle? Is he the right tackle? Because you move Brian O'Neill over to the left side. Like, that's, I'm honestly kind of excited for that. But then again, it's like, right now,

signs are pointing to where, like, if it starts, somebody asked me, it's like, what's the depth chart? I'm like, don't predict a depth chart right now because Rashad Hills shouldn't be your starting left tackle like don't you neither should Mason Cole or Dakota Dozier be factored into any of your starting plans but like I get like the need for wanting to do that because it's like all right well it doesn't look like they're going to be able to do much more but there are still ways that they can address it. You know, there's still a lot of guards out there. It's not a deep guard class just from like the draft perspective, but there are still

guards in free agency that would make sense. And still some receivers too. And someday we will get our non-Tajay Sharp level receiver in free agency at some point. So do you have anything else that stuck out to you that you wanted to mention before we do a quick draft Sim before wrapping up? Well, you know, I just think that like what Zim was talking about with, you know, the stuff that they want to do in terms of like defensive scheme change and adapting to offenses like it's just

kind of amazing to me is he's gone the completely opposite direction stand pat with defense and it's like as everybody else is evolving and changing you say you're evolving and changing to them like you know offenses are always going to jump out first and create the change the defense is then going to have to adjust to like obviously you're a defensive guy, but the smart money would be adapting on defense and adapting on offense. I don't know why it has to be one or the other. It's almost like defiance, in my opinion. Hey, everyone. I want to tell you about our friends at Scout Logistics.

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check out scoutlogistics.com or call 855-217-2688, extension 232, to connect with them directly to find out how Scout Logistics can minimize risk and overperform and go the extra mile for your company. It feels that way sometimes. It also feels like a basketball coach who would really, really focus on rebounding when rebounding isn't really the thing that's driving success in the NBA now. It's not that rebounding is bad. Rebounding is great, and it gives you extra possessions and so forth. It's just not the thing that teams are winning with anymore, whereas the 1994 New York Knicks would have won with rebounding. So they had a lineup out there that didn't shoot hardly any threes. It just had big rebounders.

So that's kind of how it feels to me. And it's sort of like that meme of like, bold strategy. Let's see how it plays out. And that's what our jobs are. So let's do a quick draft sim here. And no surprise to me, because this happens a lot with the simulator, Mac Jones is on the board for the vikings i don't know if that's actually going to happen but mac jones he wasn't when i picked it okay he wasn't

all right i think that they trade back in that situation if mac jones is on the board i don't think they take them i think they trade back oh that would be an absolute disaster like if they if they trade back and he's there because he's what the fifth quarterback expected off the board yep like you know maybe who do you mean you know well you just never know the order like the the Trey Lance hype might not be as real as we think it is I don't know fair but I don't know I mean like if they don't if he's there and they don't take him I think that's a mistake I really do and I think that there's going to be a lot of irritated people because you know they'll trade back to like 20 or wherever the Bears are drafting they'll let the Bears go get him and then they'll get like their second round

pick they'll get a late first they'll get whatever I don't know I mean it is realistic what you're saying I'm not saying I agree with it though but yeah I mean if he's they've got to take a quarterback this draft and they've got to do it on day one or day two otherwise it's not going to matter yeah there's no point in taking the nate stanley sorry again to someone else's family but like there's just no point like that guy's the tom brady thing happened once and it almost hasn't happened since like what tony romo was undrafted tyrod taylor was a sixth that's like it for the entire history of since Tom Brady. So I traded back in my draft sim here. And on the board is an interesting combination of players. Jason Owee is the guy who I'm sure the Vikings had to be salivating over because it was outrageous

pro day where he ran a sub 4-4. Quiddy Paye is still on my board here. That's an interesting one. Jalen Phillips is still on my board. I think Jalen Phillips could be a guy who they're really attracted to, even despite his injury history, because he, I think, is the most developed pass rusher who could help right away. So I think trading back and taking Jalen Phillips is a really realistic potential scenario for the Vikings. So that's what I'm doing here in the first round.

Okay. Well, my approach was going into this that I'm going to not overthink this. I'm not going to try to move around, at least not yet. I'm going to see what comes to me, and I'm not going to overthink it. So Rashawn Slater was available at 14. I know that Mel Kuyper said that he will not be there at 14, that if you want one of the top two tackles and Pena Sewell or Slater you've got to be in the top 10 I could absolutely see that

happening but he was available so you know what I did I didn't overthink it I didn't you did it I didn't try to get too clever and be like how can I get a second round pick out of this how can I move back in the first round like how many more picks can I can I you know pick up like I didn't I didn't try to get cute with it because honestly, I feel like that's what sometimes they do. So I took Rashawn Slater. I'm going to put him at left tackle and I'm going to forget about him for the next 10 years. And when he's ready to retire, I'm going to buy him a cake. Thank you, Rashawn, uh, on his cake from Hy-Vee. Uh, so I went into the second round. I mean,

I think that your scenario is also very likely, too, that they could just decide. Is it, though? I'm going to go with yes because, well, okay. I don't know. You know who's calling the picks here. And, I mean, it's just like they're calling the shots. It makes too much sense,

and they overcomplicate things that make too much sense sometimes. So would Zimmer say, hey, you've drafted a second round, first round, and second round offensive lineman in the last three years. We still need more defense. Yeah, I could hear that. I could hear that being said. If Quiddy Pace right there at 14, and he's thinking, man, that pass rush, I need somebody opposite to Neal.

Yeah, I could absolutely see that. I also think that they're going to look at some of these guys and say, that guy's just like blank, like Quiddy Paye. That guy's just like Everson Griffin. That guy's Jason Owee. That guy's just like Daniil Hunter. They've done that a lot with like fourth rounders that don't work out. But with someone like Quiddy Paye,

he has an Everson Griffin-like profile that they might really like. In the third round, so I traded down, I got an extra third. I wasn't able to get in the second, but I got a third. So I took Jameen Davis because I saw his pro day and oh my God, I think he had like a 40 something inch vertical, which I know is definitely football. But I mean, for a linebacker to run whatever it was, 4'4 with a 40 inch vertical, and you, I think, need a future linebacker. But this was kind of one of those, he can help a little bit right now and then a lot in the future.

And then I took Kendrick Green, the offensive lineman from Illinois, which I think is earmarked for the Vikings. And Milton Williams, another guy who had an amazing pro day and good production at Louisiana Tech. So he's a defensive lineman. It's like they're not sure if he's a defensive end or a defensive tackle, but he's just a pass rusher. So that was how mine turned out.

Okay. Since I stayed past, stood pat at like my 14, 78, 90, I actually took green at 78, which might be a little bit of an overdraft. He's a third-round talent, but he probably fits more of a power gap scheme, which, you know, I'm looking at versatility, though. I'm looking at somebody who can play multiple spots because we don't know where Ezra Cleveland's going. Like, do you want to keep him at guard? Like, is right guard the right spot? I don't know. So, like, I've got my left tackle, and right now I've got Green, who can play both spots, both right or left guard. I probably overdrafted, but at least I addressed the offensive line,

which kind of is crazy when you think about starting two rookies on the most vulnerable side of your offensive line anyways. But whatever, YOLO. And then with my second third-round pick, I actually took Jamar Johnson, safety from Indiana. You know why? Because they never draft safeties before day three before late in day three so i do think xavier woods will be better than he was in dallas i do i think that i think mike nolan deserves a lot of blame for what happened with

that defense last year um and i think that woods he's you know got he's playing for his safeties coach that he had at law tech somebody who knew him really well. If they don't play him up in the box, because I don't know, that's where Harrison Smith played. He played a ton up there last year. He's not bad. He's a deep safety. Let him play free opposite Harrison Smith, and he'll be fine.

But still, I want that succession plan in place. Not just succession. I want depth back there. Because think about like how creative mike zimmer he did you not hear him today when he was talking about experimenting with more defensive backs not saying they're gonna all of a sudden i'm not gonna saying all of a sudden they're gonna be playing dime every single snap but like i mean there's a bunch of different things that you can do in nickel packages think about the time that they used anderson dayho in the slot

in new orleans um a couple years ago. Like, and think about all the cornerback injuries that they had last year. Like, there's ways to get creative about what you're doing at that position with your defensive backfield. So I figure, okay, why not? Let's just address it now. And, of course, now it leaves me exposed with not having a defensive end. But, you know, you can get a day three defensive end I mean

they seem to like DJ Wanham can you find another one maybe um you're not going to find another Daniil Hunter those just don't come late in the third round or in the fourth round like wherever you think you could find somebody like that it's not going to happen but um I think that so I I needed to go offense heavy there and now I'm kind of like, okay, well, I didn't get a quarterback. Now I'm a little angry about it, but I think that getting a safety, like I just wanted to do something that was completely different than they typically do, because I think it's a very big position of needs still.

I agree. I agree. Having the no backups basically there at this moment. Um, what's Brian Cole doing? The guy they drafted in the seventh round last year cut before the end of training camp yeah i got caught like the the third week of training camp what did he do that is hard to do i can't even make it they have a whole day dedicated to cutting you and yet you got cut before that you must have really done something

uh i don't know but i think we need more answers with the remainder of free agency before we can really be sure how the rest of this thing plays out. Offensive line and defensive line now are way up at the top of the list than everything else after that. But in the second, if there is a second, third rounds, that's where I'm really not sure where to go just yet. So Courtney, great stuff. This was really fun as always. And we'll do it again soon. And I didn't know that you also liked Schitt's Creek. So I'm glad you do. Well, I did. I binged it when Minnesota went back to our pseudo shutdown in November. I watched all five seasons, I believe it was in like a span of a month and a half. I'm obsessed with it. That's exactly what I've been doing. So no spoilers. I'm in like season four, I think. So it's good. It's really good. So, all right, well, we'll do this again soon and

hopefully we'll have more news the next time we talk.