Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - ESPN's Courtney Cronin reacts to cutdown day moves, including cutting Everson Griffen and trading for Chris Herndon

Episode Date: September 1, 2021

Matthew Coller and ESPN's Courtney Cronin break down why the Vikings cut Everson Griffen and why he's likely to return plus talk about how Chris Herndon is a band aid that might be hinting at a longer absence for Irv Smith Jr. Plus the backup QB situation and ranking biggest surprises and importance of certain depth players. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to another episode of Purple Insider and the Vikings have cut some people, they've cut some people that they're bringing back. They traded for a guy. We don't know who is the long snapper. Matthew Collar here as always with ESPN's Courtney Cronin. And I just can't live in a world where we don't know who's long snapping. I'm very upset. As we end the day today, there's no long snapper on this 53.

How are we doing? I mean, how are you going to – what are you going to do? Have, like, one of your, like, backup tight ends be the long snapper too? Like, that doesn't seem like a very feasible option. I saw that among the cuts that included Everett Griffin, Amir Abdullah. Who else am I forgetting here that was somewhat of a surprise? Probably just, like, those two at first. Then I see long snapper. I'm like, Oh my God, they don't have a long snapper on the roster. What are they going to do? What are they going to do there?

They're going to have to just have people sign up each week. So players will have to go to the long snapping signup sheet and then they'll practice it. And they'll pick out of everyone who signed up. Who's going to snap the ball to the kicker. I think that's the only way that they can handle it. Okay. I'll stop this now, but this was maybe the weirdest cut down day because they're cutting people that they're not actually cutting. And this is, it has happened before with someone like Brett Jones. It was dubbed in our media room, Brett Jones, Tom foolery yesterday. But now it's happening all over the league where they're cutting guys who they're actually going to bring back so they can snatch other dudes to then put

people on IR and make room for those things. So let's explain that more or less explains what's going on with Everson Griffin. And so he's going to be back with the Vikings. Yeah. I mean, it's a lot of like, because there's so much time now, remember usually cuts happen on Saturday before week one, at least they have. And, you know, for as long as I've been covering the league and there's not this week in between period because they got rid of that fourth preseason game so that's why there's all this extra time so there's all this extra gamesmanship so to speak between now and the start of week one I mean really when people talk about like the final

roster is set no it's not um you know the fact of the matter is you know where we're at right now like we like you know cuts are you know even cuts though cuts are done today the true deadline is actually next tuesday at this time because that's when week one salaries kick in 401 eastern time so the 53 today is the initial 53 not the final 53 so yeah like what you saw with everson griffin like at first it's kind of like whoa why'd they do that and then you like you know making a few texts here and there and kind of like actually greeting into it's like oh okay like there's total reason behind it and i think a lot of it could be who they didn't want to expose off of their current 53 roster i mean when when i I saw Jalen Holmes on there, I'm like, okay.

Because I had heard some rumblings last week that Jalen Holmes might be somebody that they're interested in moving. I don't know if they could get anything for him or if they even really tried on that. Nothing really came to fruition. But, you know, they're at a point right now where they can move some pieces around. Like, so the whole whole ir in guys and then you know designating certain ones for return you can do that with irv smith maybe you do that with christian derisaw that seems pretty realistic to me right like derisaw is not starting week one and it's probably not gonna start for like the first couple games of the season so why not create

two roster spots there when smith has surgery and dare saw is doing whatever he's doing and rehabbing um and you know get two extra guys onto the roster then and you can constantly like be adjusting it and move it around later right so with everson the other part of this is that he didn't want to sign anywhere else so you can cut him and he didn't have anywhere else to sign like let's call spade a spade here like no one was paying everson griffin to go anywhere else you didn't hear about him working out anywhere else yes he wanted to be here and it's a great story and it's not like oh my god the place that like you know helped him throughout all these tumultuous times and you know made him made him into a pro bowler. Like they saved him and brought him back.

Like this was his only option. Like let's. So I think that that's the reason that they're comfortable making a move like this. Cause they know that he's going to clear waivers. That's what it goes down to. That's what they say. Right. Same with the same. Yeah. And,

and even with the long snapper, whatever his name is. So better be. I mean, right. Cause you do need one. But yeah, that's the,

it's just so a little bit of moving the puzzle pieces around because it was shocking when I first got the email from the team and opened it up and it says released Everson Griffin is like, Whoa, did something happen? And then you go, Oh, okay. I see what they're doing. Other teams are doing this too. Um, I just knew this year because it's, you know, typically the claims process happens right away and it will like, you'll start to see the practice squad formed, all things like that. But it's just now a matter of there's all this extra time where you're effectively exposing guys to 31 other teams. So you've got to get creative.

So like when, you know, that was why it was such a big deal with the IR rules this year and the short, like basically it's a short term IR, if you want to call it that where the three weeks until players can return. I believe that's something that they introduced last year. So that's where I expect Irv Smith to go. He made the 53 roster, and then they're going – because at least of now, they're not going to call it a season-ending injury

if it ends up being that, which sounds like it's pretty serious. Everybody I've talked to has expressed, not that we really know yet, but it sounds like it could be more serious than just a cleanup or something, which could keep you out a couple of weeks to a couple of months. There's a major swing here in the timetable. It's a wide range so that's why i think with someone like smith you put him on ir tomorrow i would say the same for christian daresaw i would not say the same for anthony barr and um dd westbrook i like that they'd be ready sooner than that you wouldn't want to be without them for those three weeks so yeah right yeah so there will be guys that go on ir we could

pretty much predict who they're going to be. If D.D. Westbrook goes on IR, then it will be very head scratching. But they have acted like he was going to be ready fairly early in the season. And he's acted that way, too, when he's talked. So the fact that he's gotten back on the practice field makes me think that maybe he's ahead of schedule or at least on schedule when they signed him because he didn't practice for the entire time. But now that he is practicing, he's got a chance to at least be out there week two or week three. So they don't have to put him on IR. It wouldn't be totally shocking if they did to keep another person. But so they make this trade for Chris Herndon,

the tight end from the New York Jets. That's the bigger thing that happened today or big biggest that matters. Like the Everson Griffin thing won't really matter. So that to me says with the fact that they gave up a fourth round pick and there's a lot of stuff. Yeah, that to me says that they are very worried about Irv Smith long-term because I don't think you give up a pick that high. And I know they got a sixth back, but like it's a sixth. I don't think you give up a pick that high, unless you're saying we might need this guy as the number two tight end for the entire season. Now that's just my speculation, but it matches up with what you've heard that there should be some serious concern for the long term. And I think that that solidifies

it with the fact that they were willing to go out and pay this much for a tight end that the New York Jets did not want. No. And I mean, Chris Herndon has not had, like he said, he had a great rookie year, very promising. And then he got suspended his second year. He comes back after pulling his hamstring, trying to rehab to come back. And then he cracks his rib and he comes back after pulling his hamstring trying to rehab to come back and then he cracks his rib and he's put on ir he played like one game had one catch against the giants in 2019 then like last year he has a couple drops he fumbles a few times he kind of develops into a block tight end for him which is great. But then he came on a little bit more. He came on towards the end of the season.

It's like, okay. I feel like every single time we've talked about this guy, it's like, can he return to form as a rookie? Will he be able to top what he did his rookie season? We've heard that for the last two years. I don't know if that's going to be the case. To me, and I understand what the trade compensation was and the NFL Network's reporting, it's a great value deal.

I still think a fourth-round pick for a guy like that is um you know pretty high in my opinion like yeah you're right that does that does scream we are worried that Irv is not going to be back anytime soon it also speaks to the sort of general theme of this team, which is desperation and got to win this year for everybody's jobs, because like there are other tight ends in the world. There are other guys who got cut. There are some people who had decent preseasons that got cut that they could have had as a placeholder or they could have just sort of gone forward and tried to look for somebody with a high ceiling.

And here's just the facts about Chris Herndon. The words high ceiling and promising should not be used. The words like once briefly flashed some decent performance several years ago, which is true for a lot of the NFL. At this point, if you are saying that they are, and this was NFL Network saying the words promising and high ceiling, you are misleading your audience. I mean, you know where they're getting that information from.

Like it's, it's water carrying. So, I mean, call it what the F it is. It's water carrying. And that's frustrating because you're giving people the under the, under the guise of getting that information.

You're putting that out there saying this guy's going to be the replacement for Irv Smith. Matthew, this is a Band-Aid on a far bigger issue, and this is an issue that is going to really hurt this offense for as long as Irv Smith is not there. He is the de facto number three receiver, and that has been the case. That's why they've been okay rolling the dice out there. D.D. Westbrook, you you're like okay to take as long as you

need to recover from your acl surgery we'll work you in slowly but like look at the other receivers they had chad bb he's hurt he's probably done as a viking after with the news that i reported today that he's having a foot foot surgery uh kj osborne great okay in preseason games is that really your number three receiver amir sm-Marset hasn't done anything yet like Irv Smith was supposed to be that guy yep who was like yes he does he had an absolutely great offseason he was terrific in camp and this is the I've said this stat like a hundred times already they finished last last year by throwing only 9% of passes to targets that were designated as other wide receivers, i.e. not Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen. They don't use a number three receiver that actually has W, who doesn't fall down after he catches the ball,

who is able to stretch the field, who creates that mismatch over the top. You cannot put out there that you expect that Chris Herndon's going to be that guy. I'm just trying to be real with you and keep this like a buck because putting that out there makes you believe that Irv Smith is replaceable and you can at least like get by for right now with what you have with him. No, you – I mean, I honestly think this is not good. I really don't.

And, I mean, you had to do something. I agree you had to do something. You don't have the money, apparently, for Zach Ertz. I don't know why you didn't trade for Dallas Goddard. You know, this is the best that they could do, apparently. I think teams, honestly, I think teams smell the desperation because word gets out quickly in the NFL. And if people know that you're starting star breakout player,

whatever you want to call him candidate nerve Smith is going to be out probably for a little bit. And by little bit, I mean more than a quarter of the season, then, you know, teams will call your bluff and be like, no, we're going to try to rake you over the coals and get what we can. Yeah. And I thought, right. I thought that the jets did very well in this trade because now here is an

unbiased perspective on this. That doesn't come directly from an agent telling someone what to tweet. This is from Connor Hughes of the athletic who says Chris Herndon began the off season as the jets starter before losing out to three other players tyler croft someone named griffin and someone named wesco so those are the guys that he lost out the job to here is his analysis on herndon is an okay blocker but drops passes lacks explosiveness and seem disinterested at times. That is not high ceiling and promising. Yeah, maybe a fresh start, a clean slate, whatever, will be good for him.

The Vikings are banking on him having that fresh start and that all coming to fruition because they need that to happen. You have one competent tight end on your roster right now, and that's two now, like before this you had one and it was Tyler Conklin and Conklin can't handle that load like there's a reason for that like he's a very good number two tight end now is he your number one I guess like it's just it is it's just not a good spot to be in here um considering all that was expected of Irv Smith you can line him up as an H-back you can put him out wide you can put him in the slot you can do so many things

with them more than you could do with other tight ends who have been on this roster in years past where you know Kyle Rudolph's role got shrunk to being an inline blocker for a lot of things and think about what we saw in training camp with Irv Smith and Kirk Cousins it honestly felt like Kirk found his safety his safety net there in the red zone like Irv was taking pass after pass into the end zone during training camp practices and that is going to be I mean this honestly probably means in you know a lot of aspects Adam Thielen's the top red zone target and will probably end up scoring the most receiving touchdowns. If we're just talking from like a fantasy perspective,

because my brain's all over the place with this, like what all this means, because it means a lot of things. But, you know, where that target share goes, what those other two tight ends, like how they utilize those other two tight ends, do they end up trying to go find somebody else? I feel like it's not, I mean, to me, this is a bandaid over a far larger problem. Like this is not like, Oh, immediate fix. Chris Herndon, good to go. Guy's a fourth round tight end for a reason. And he's looked like a fourth round tight end for the last couple of years. Right. And I think that that's what sort of stuck in me as being so misleading. It's like, you know, as far as getting a tight end with some previous experience to plug him into tight end two

and hope he just sort of survives that role and gives you anything is what this really is. It's not some sort of for the future move. You picked up a high ceiling guy that could eventually turn into someone very valuable on your team. That ship has sailed with Chris Herndon. He's just got to be kind of more solid than Zach Davidson or Brandon Dillon, neither of whom can really play in the league, especially not Zach Davidson, who looked as lost of any player. Not a great Mr. Mankato pick by me, I must say, but looked as lost as any player that we've ever seen come in as a fifth round pick and just not be able to catch the football or adjust to having to block

NFL players or do any of the things that tight ends are supposed to do. So they whiff on that draft pick and then spend another draft pick. So now in order to get a depth tight end, they've spent a fourth and a fifth because the fifth got lit on fire with Zach Davidson and they get back a sixth and they're able to save some cap space uh on this not pay the full price for Herndon but that had to be part of it from the Jets perspective because how are you getting anyone to take Chris Herndon at more than the minimum it's like I I've seen people with every explanation for this like well he played for the Jets and they've been bad, right? But they've got a new coaching staff who watched four tight ends practice all off season and

decided this was the one they didn't want. And so, yeah, you're right. You're talking about putting a Band-Aid on top of a player in Irv Smith who is just looking fantastic and was supposed to be a centerpiece of your offense. That's very difficult to find anywhere. So I'm not saying that this is some atrocity of a decision. It's not, it's fine.

If you need to just patch that hole and there's no reason to worry about future draft picks, because this is it for you. So that's the approach they've taken the whole off season. You might as well commit to the bit. And that's what they've done here. They've committed to the bit. We're going to sign all these one-year players. We're going to overpay Harrison Smith on an extension. We're going to send off a fourth round draft pick for

a guy who another organization soured on to fill a spot. And everybody hold onto your butts is the way that I kind of look at this. That's the, that is the way I look at this. Not that the Vikings grabbed some diamond in the rough. So if, if if he gives them anything if he gives them any shade of his first year which by the way he he had 39 he had 39 catches okay not like 80 so no yeah I mean it was promising it was scratching the surface of like okay how you have to remember too his first year of 2018 that was um you know he's been through i'm not giving much credence to this but like it's been on three in three systems in four years like some really crappy coaching like all things like that and they just kind of determined

that hey he's not the jets run a west coast system and they determined that he wasn't a fit in that so i don't really know what that means here considering they're running a similar offense there are a lot of west coast concepts within this offense but um but yeah i mean that they had every chance and it's not like honestly like when when we find out about irv smith a couple days ago and then mike zimmer talks about it and we don't know the timetable it could be a couple weeks could be a couple months who knows like you know it's very slim pickings and they have the cap space to probably pull off something but it couldn't be one of these like astronomical um you know Zacherts is making like north of like 8.5 million dollars this year they couldn't do that that's just not realistic. But I think there's

also a price to pay too. And that you have to be realistic with yourself that you get what you pay for. And I don't think that you're getting anything more than an average player at the position. Yeah. I think they hope if he's average, that they can sort of paint over it. And if you want to check out purpleinsider.substack.com, I did some research on how they can use three wide receivers more effectively. And I think that's still very much on the table. Now, here's an important question for you before we move on to some of the other cuts, because I think we agree that the Herndon thing is no sort of travesty of like decision-making. It's just that, um, the, like the relative impact of something like this

probably isn't that much. You're just trying to sort of like, uh, I don't know, not play Zach Davidson. So, um, have you ever heard of, I'm going to try to pronounce this, uh, post axial poly dactyly. Have you, okay. It's something likely. Okay. Something like that. Okay. What is that? Postaxial, which is like the word post

and then A-X-I-A-L. Polydactyly. Chris Herndon. It does. It does. Chris Herndon. This was sent to me from somebody who follows the show, Ben.

And he says the Vikings dot com posted this about Chris Herndon, that he was born with that genetic condition resulting in him having an extra pinky finger on each hand. But he underwent surgery to remove the extra pinkies. Make your jokes. So there you have it. Do you think you'd be able to catch the ball better if you had like six fingers? I actually don't know. I'm not trying to be an ass,

but I'm just like, honestly asking like, does that, I don't know. I mean, it's cool. Like it's a cool, like little nugget.

I'm sure. I'm sure. I know certain people who will be asking that question. In a press conference this week. Well, I was just thinking that like, this is, this is sort of,

I don't know. That's like our perfect type of thing. It's like the six fingered tight end makes another play or something. But there was a, there was a pitcher for the Florida Marlins back in the day, Antonio L Fonse, who kept it. Yeah, I remember that. So you could see it.

Totally unfair advantage for him. So maybe if Herndon had known as a child that he was going to become a tight end, he would have kept the six digits. Anyway, so as of right now, as we speak, and this may have changed by the time anyone listens to this, if they are continuing to listen after what I just said, um, there could be other changes. There could be other players who go, there could be other players, um, who are here as trades or signings or waiver pickups or whatever. But from the initial 53, was there someone who stayed or went that surprised you that was not obviously the initial like, whoa, what's going on of Everson Griffin?

Probably not. And I know that that sounds like kind of like a boring answer, but everybody that you look at on this roster who got themselves, who got cut and anybody who's not around right now um it just doesn't surprise me I mean maybe like I don't really even know if you could say like I mean they've waived fifth round picks before and put them on to the you know the practice squad which they'll probably end up doing with Zach Davidson because you don't really give away fifth round picks. And just that there is so much gamesmanship. I anticipate that Everson Griffin will be back. I anticipate DiPaolo will be back. I anticipate Amir Abdullah will be back. I'm looking at these cuts right now, and honestly, no one here really stands out to me as like, that is kind of surprising in terms of

guys who made the roster though I was a little little surprised about Jalen Holmes and I know I'm going like really in the weeds here with like a backup defensive end um I just kind of had I had heard that they were maybe interested in moving him and I also really don't know if he's ever carved out a true role for himself like he's an inside outside player like he actually they've been moving him inside and it's been okay but of anybody who like made the initial 53 I guess I looked at that one and I was like huh okay like and then then you find out obviously Everson Griffin does not make the roster initially but like he's you know expected to be brought back so it's probably the only one that I can think of probably other than that I just think of like the depth that they have at safety like that's probably that's what I expected I had three on my um initial 50 or my final 53

that finally is at loosely the one that I did after the game the other night and I had six corners all along I know other people did not. And they thought that Harrison hand was going to get cut. I don't see in what world you think anybody else can play backup nickel. If it's not Harrison hand like that to me, like I tweeted this morning, that was a no brainer. And I know other people on the beat did not see it the same.

And I don't understand that at all. Yeah. We had Harrison hand on every one of our 53s because like you said, you need someone who could play nickel. And I also think that even though he had more extreme finger quotes, splash plays in a mini camp, I thought he was fine during training camp and preseason. Yeah. He kind of leveled off during training camp because we actually got to see Patrick Peterson. We got to see Bashad Breeland. We got to see a lot more um of the remember he was playing a lot because Peterson wasn't playing

in the preseason um I don't think right like OTA or excuse me OTA's mini camp um Breeland was hurt recovering McKenzie missed like one or two days like he had a lot more opportunity in the spring yeah Dantzler didn't practice either yep and that might have actually I didn't even think of that before but that might have played a role in sort of where he's at right now um so anyway uh let me just now be Dan Chesina sort of surprised me a little but I guess not they love their one special team guy and because well and because uh BB like I wasn't surprised that when i saw that chad bb was you know going ir right so chad bb like the story of his nfl career is pretty much just like

i think it's done like and it sucks because like you know the guy had an ankle injury in his right angle he tore some ligaments he got that repaired he's fought back from injury every every year and he's had like a pretty decent camp like for his standards like he's never going to be more than a role player for you he's a third down guy he's out of the slot like that's what you use him for but you know i think this i would i would anticipate he the vikings are going to part ways with them when he's healed like yeah they had two options here they really really really liked him they could have 53 at him and then ir'd him tomorrow but this is an ir move he got waived with injury designation so that's ir and then he ends up you know getting a heal and they'll pay for you know the surgery they'll do all the stuff and

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Check it all out at SodaStick.com. That is S-O-T-A-S-T-i-c-k dot com everything is screen printed here in Minnesota and I can tell you that the shirts are comfortable and they last because half of my closet is now soda stick at this point again that's soda stick dot com Minnesota sports inspired goods and keep your eye out for our soda stick giveaways I think that's right And we had sort of waffled over him. I, when I say we, I mean, Sam Ekstrom and I on, on the website sort of waffled over you know, just whether to keep him or not, because with Westbrook coming back now, it sort of takes that spot and Westbrook plays a lot more in the slot. So let's get to the backup quarterback situation though. So they wave,

that's a good one. Yeah. They wave Jake Browning. Now there's like a couple of different ways that we could have seen this playing out. And my initial read on it was not the way it went. I thought that they would just keep all three. And then if they saw another veteran, they would just then decide to cut Jake Browning. And the reason I was thinking that is if they didn't have another veteran that they wanted, then Browning would be on the 53. So he could be number two, the guy who comes off the bench if Kirk Cousins gets hurt. Now it looks like if they don't sign someone else, Browning is going to be a veteran on the practice squad who they will elevate if there's a problem

and otherwise leave him on the practice squad. I don't see a whole lot of point to that, but that's sort of where that looks like it's going. So Kellen Mond is active and is on the 53, but if Cousins got hurt and then the next game comes along, like if Cousins got hurt, Mond would go in, but then the next game Browning would probably start. And I just it seems a little bit I don't know goofy to me so I think that they should still just look for a veteran back up here to bring in and then stick with three quarterbacks just go that way I think that neither as we've talked about neither Browning nor Mond are capable of playing in an NFL game and like doing well and like, you know, being,

being a game manager. Like we saw what that looked like the other day in Kansas city. Like that's when I cut Browning from my 53. So he ends up on the practice squad. Will he stay here, sign with somebody else's practice squad? I don't know. We'll find that out soon, but you know, they are not out of the woods with the quarterback spot at all. I think they should absolutely be looking to find a veteran somewhere, go parse through these cuts. I mean, that's what they're doing tonight. They're going through everything with all these rosters

and trying to figure out, okay, what more changes can we make now that we see 31 other teams as cuts? And backup quarterback should rise to the, if it's not already there, it should rise to the top of the list because, you know, it's not that Kirk Cousins isn't durable. I mean, the guy has not missed many games at all during his career. He's a very good quarterback in terms of staying healthy, but you're worried about COVID.

You're worried about a lot of things. And it's just a scary spot to be in not knowing that you have a competent backup behind you. Not saying you need to go trade for somebody. I'm not saying you need to spend out the wazoo on somebody. But I think you need to have somebody who's a little bit more, you know, game clipboard holder type guy, somebody who can help in the room and prepare you. And it's, you know, just things like that, that Sean Mannion was so good at. Like, there's a reason that, you know, he stuck around here for two years and he's in

Seattle now. I'd actually did. I was going to ask you, cause I haven't had a chance to look. Did he get cut today or is he still on the, on the Seahawks? He made the team. Yep. He's there. So it's russell yeah yeah it's russell wilson geno smith and sean manion and so i i like everybody loves sean manion i mean he the guy can learn an offense and throw the football and if you can do that you are ahead of all the jake brownings in the world oh for sure

i mean that's like he knows he's not like, he knows he's not there to, he knows he's not there to like win the job, right? Like he is there to prepare your starter to be the eyes and ears on game day to help you win from the sideline. He's not there to pressure the starter and like think he's going to take his job, but if need be, and we did see it in that Bears game, it didn't look very good. You know, with him going in, what was that, two years ago, 2019, right?

Like when all the starters didn't play. You know, it's tough. But he's, I think they benefit from having somebody like that on the roster. And they were probably hoping that they could find their way back to him, but hell, maybe he didn't want to come back. I don't know. I mean, he signed a deal with Seattle and early on in July 31st, the day that the COVID thing hit the quarterback room here. And maybe he didn't want to be part of that because of the way that things

are with the quarterbacks here in Minnesota. I don't know. I fully believed when Sean Mannion was here, that if they lost Kirk Cousins for two games, it was possible he could win one. And that was based on watching him in practice every day, how he operated the offense, knowing where to throw the football, his arm strength to get the football down the field. He actually had that unlike their present. Well, I guess, I don't know what we're called Jake Browning. Is he QB two QB three QB question mark, I guess for right now. Do you want to, do you want to rank some stuff?

A little game here? Sure. I'm off for ranking. Okay. Let's do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. Why don't you rank some stuff? Do, do, do. Okay. I want you to rank the biggest thing that surprised you during the entire training camp up to this point uh so so things that have happened or emerged of being surprised so i'm going to give you the four and you can rank them in order uh one is that they have not changed kickers that they just stuck

with the same kicker the whole way through um that jake browning is still part of the conversation here after cuts, even though he was waived, but still like there's still discussion of having him be the backup over Kellen Mond or the guy who would start otherwise. The fact that we saw Ole Udo be the uncontested right guard and Dakota Dozier gets cut today. He may end up back on the practice squad. Hard to say. So you've got the kicker, the backup quarterback situation, and the fact that they didn't bring in anybody else also adds to that. The last one would be the, uh, that we didn't really see any of DD Westbrook. Like those four things rank them in terms of the order of how surprised you have been during training camp.

So number three, you said, was the offensive line, right? Like you said, Ole Udo specifically, like being the uncontested right guard. Right guard, yeah. Yeah, by third week of preseason or whatever. So number one, my least, or should I start at four? Like least bit surprised. Yeah, you can start at four. Four is least four all right so i guess four least bit surprised dd westbrook because the guy tore his acl in october of last year like these

are not injuries that yeah i know modern medicine and sports medicine is great but like for him to recover and be ready to play week one which i mean mike zimmer said yeah he's on the timeline that we expected him to be on. You don't sign somebody like that. Yes. He was the best slot receiver available at the time that they signed him, but there's also a reason that he was still available at the end of July. You know, there's, there's just, there's just like all those things that pointed to, okay.

I don't think I, you know, I didn't think he was going to be ready anytime soon. I did hear that he might've been able to play in that game in Kansas City on the final preseason game. This held him out. So I think that's a good sign. But I was kind of anticipating that this was where they were going to go with that. So that one for me is probably number four, probably the bit um of a surprise you know number three i guess i'll

put browning there because they just don't have other options and with the practice squad rules of when you can like put you know put guys um you know how many times you can elevate them and protect them and things like that like you know you can protect up to i think it's four each week they'll protect him probably probably right like you think they'll protect him every week i think so like yeah not that anybody's gonna be chomping at the bit to sign him off the practice squad but remember they did that with the kicker last year so i just think that because they don't have any options right now like he stayed qb2 because Kellen Mond could not challenge him. Like Jake Browning,

like open that door himself and said, come on in and take the job by the way he played. But Kellen Mond was not capable of doing that. So I guess that's probably why that's like the second least surprising thing to me. Number, number, I guess I'll say,

okay, I guess I'll say only Udo is number two because he was uncontested. The day of the Denver game is when the right guard battle ended, in my opinion. You bring Dakota Dozier back in spring, fans are pissed about it, and they're just like, what the hell is this? It doesn't make any sense. There were a lot of fans, I think, earlier in camp who looked at this and said, why don't you cut him when you're cutting from 90 to 85 and then 85 to

80? Look, he's better than some of the other guys that they had on the roster. It's depth pieces. Like, I hate to say it. It's really hard to play offensive line. Go look at the New York Giants and look at their dumpster fire of what they're dealing with. It shows you it's just not that easy to get five really good guys to play next to each other and block for your quarterback

and run block for your running back but i think the fact that it was kind of like ollie's job to lose but they're really trying to make this thing happen right like just prove that that late round draft pick you know entering year three like this is it for him if he doesn't do well this year he's done but like they tried to give him every possible chance within this thing um you know to make this happen so i think that they were like that kind of pointed to this is going to be his job to lose so that's number two and then i guess the most surprised i i thought that we were going to have a kicking competition we always have a kicking competition in Minnesota. So that's probably, you know, and Greg Joseph has been good, but I am worried about the fact that he hasn't kicked in a game since 2019. It's different kicking in preseason games than it is, you know, regular season games on the road, loud places.

Yeah, he got a little bit of experience with that on friday at arrowhead but the fact that we didn't have a veteran brought in like that is the most predictable vikings move and they didn't do it they duped us so i will say that that was probably my most surprising because i was in i was i think you can go back to like three different podcasts when i did this offseason or like yeah kicking competition bank on it august 5th they'll bring somebody in like they do every year so yeah and i really thought that that would be the case with riley patterson that we would have like a daily thing and then they caught him yeah yeah they waited for an introduction right and looked for no one else which was also very surprising uh okay so so I have a similar order. I would have had Ole Udo first, not because I'm shocked that they moved a player position. Of course not. Tackle the guard is a thing that they seem to have a lot of joy for doing, but that there was no one else who ever really competed with him.

I mean, it was Dakota Dozier, who we know is just had a lot of troubles and can't start. And then Mason Cole was never tried at guard. They did not attempt to acquire another guard. It wasn't like they signed Austin Blythe, who we talked about in the off season or James Carpenter, who I think is still a free agent or anybody else that no one else was brought in to even say, here's a, here's a veteran, a veteran who has started before somewhat effectively. And then you two fight it out and we'll cut the loser at the end. And so Udo starting at guard, it's like, well, we've talked about jumping over low bars. Like he jumped over the lowest bar. So we'll see how

this works out. It has a high ceiling. I think this is a real high ceiling by the way, uh, which is when someone has great athleticism and is unproven and they're getting their first chance. And I think they could be very good, but in a year where there's a lot of pressure to be starting someone who's never played at this position before is pretty risky. Uh, so that is, I guess, not surprising that the Vikings would do something like this, but more surprising that there wasn't even a real veteran who he went up against every day in camp that they sort of decided early on it. That's my most surprising. And then Greg Joseph and same order for the other two. I have one more game if you want it.

I had one point I wanted to make first before we play the game. Yeah, go ahead. This is something we, nobody's talked about, but like when you find out that Christian Derrison I know Mike Zimmer didn't call it a setback whatever you want to call it when you find out he's not going to be competing for your day one left tackle spot why don't you try to move I know it's more musical chairs but hell like that's what you do on this offensive line anyways why don't you try Ezra Cleveland at left tackle why did they not do it this offseason that's what I don't understand even going back to the spring when they had a chance to do it like yeah you signed you re-signed Rashad

Hill to the RFA deal that's great he could be your swing tackle why not try the second round pick after this left tackle play left tackle like we never saw it that's one thing I never will understand and I I understand like they already moved him that's one thing i never will understand and i i understand like they already moved him here's my thing you moved him from right guard to left guard why did you have to do that why not just bypass it and move him from right tackle excuse me right guard to left tackle if you knew dare you drafted derisaw come on don't don't play me you drafted derisaw knowing he had just had core surgery in january yes your medical probably told you okay it could be good but you also know about this guy you know his pedigree you know what was up when you drafted him so like why not have i just don't understand

why they never gave ezra cleave in that opportunity it's always going to be it's always going to be an odd one because they had to then spend it right they had to spend a first round draft pick on uh a tackle that's not gonna play probably for a couple weeks yeah right they had to spend another first round pick after already spending a second round pick and what they thought was their future uh left tackle which by the way i'm sorry but everyone i waited 41 minutes to say this and then we'll play a quick other game and then we'll call it a day but um cam newton got cut mac jones wins the starting job in new uh new england and that's maybe why that should have been a consideration on draft they they could have gotten him at 14 they could have that was always the biggest thing for me by the way that i never believed i'm some

sort of quarterback whisper scout and saw Mac Jones and went, aha, there is my man. He'll be great. He'll win the job in new England and be marvelous. Never. It was only about if you're using your pick on someone with that pedigree of being absolutely marvelous in college, he's athletic enough to play in the NFL. He's got all the skills to be a first round draft pick you're using your own pick and not trading all your picks up to get trey lance or anything else you are not mortgaging your future for a quarterback it's kind of low as low risk as you'll ever get for a first round talent they decided not to do it because he wasn't

mobile and i think that that line of thinking is also flawed because we've seen a lot of quarterbacks have success on rookie contracts who are not runners. So that's, that's that. And we'll track his career. We'll continue to watch him, but a huge step for Mac Jones in the Mac Jones opinion that we will be following along. Okay. I just want you to rank these players in terms of their importance to the Minnesota Vikings. Okay, DJ Wanham, Nick Vigil, KJ Osborne, and Alexander Madison. Rank those players in terms of their importance to the 2021 Minnesota Vikings. DJ Wanham, Nick Vigil, KJ Osborne, Alexander Madison.

Number one, I'll go in reverse order this time. Since we don't know about Anthony Barr and his status for week one, I was told it's 50-50, and I checked in on Monday about that. I'm putting Nick Vigil as number one right now. Barr has a knee injury. he's recovering from it. I don't know if he'll be ready for one, but you better have somebody out there who can call the defense and can fill that void or that role.

Then number two, I would probably say Alexander Madison, just because they're going to be, I think with the injury to Irv Smith and knowing he's not going to be there week one and beyond that, like they're going to be play actioning and like, you know, bootlegging their brains out and using, you know, using Dalvin cook. Like you're not be surprised if you see like, you know, a 30 to 32 touch game for Dalvin Cook early on pretty frequently, and that's dangerous.

So let's mitigate that. Let's use the backup running back that you drafted to prevent that from happening and getting him hurt. So that's why Madison's number two for me. I will say that KJ Osborne is the third most important right now because what shape is D.D. Westbrook going to be in for week one? Like, we're hearing he's close, but, like, is he, you know, I think that you need to have some versatility with your number three wide receiver. And, like, you know, if Zim's claiming they're going to start going three wide all the time, it can't just be D.D. Westbrook. So throw in some KJ Osborne.

And then beyond that, I think Wanham has the edge over Weatherly yes they both made it and I still believe that Wanham will end up starting um at defensive end like but I still think they're gonna have a rotation Everson Griffin like I know he's not on the roster right now but like he will be like you know he's gonna be your guy on third down Stephen Weatherly they're gonna move inside like Wanham Wanham's gonna be a big deal but they're gonna have they're gonna make sure he doesn't have to do it all on his own opposite Hunter so that's where I put him like I know it's I'm not saying he's not important but like I just feel like that one's a little bit more solved uh with what they do than anything else

yeah I agree uh with your order and it was the order that I was thinking when I sort of made up the question is that I wondered how significant you thought DJ Wanham was going to be. I think that it won't be very long before Everson Griffin's just playing more snaps than anybody else. And they can call it whatever role they want to call it. He's just better at football still than the other guys. And again, this is assuming everything gets worked out and Everson does return. But Nick Vigil is incredibly important here because this might not be a one-week thing. He might be 50-50 to return, and then the next week he does,

and then the next week he doesn't because we saw this during training camp. Well, he's back at practice today, and then he's not at practice the next day, and then he's not at practice for a few days. And this doesn't seem like something that is just going to snap its fingers and be gone. K.J. Osborne, I think that is just going to snap its fingers and be gone. KJ Osborne, I think is very important to start because they're going to have to go more three wide receiver regardless. They bring in a tight end and Chris Herndon, but he's got to learn the offense.

Like they need to start the season by using multiple wide receivers here other than just Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That was good good it surprised me but it was good um okay well this has gone off the rails and i forgot who the fourth player we even talked about was so it's madison i think madison see with amir abdullah uh even if he comes back but kenny wong will being hurt i mean once again like you need that backup running back because they're going to ride down and cook. So all of them have their own version of importance. Well, Courtney, this was an eventful day as it always is. And I appreciate all of your time and do you know what you're doing next week?

Doing next week. What do you mean? On the show? Oh God. Oh God. You're making me pick a schedule. You're picking the schedule. That's right. Next mean on the show oh god oh god you're making me pick a schedule you're picking the schedule that's right next week on the show whenever it is that we do it i don't know which day but you are going through all 17 games and we're doing it again the post training camp pre-season pre-start of week one official pick be ready i'm all for it