Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - ESPN's Courtney Cronin says goodbye to Minnesota and talks Vikings future

Episode Date: February 24, 2022

ESPN's Courtney Cronin joins Matthew Coller to talk about leaving Minnesota to take a job covering the Chicago Bears. She discusses whether she believes the Vikings have a bright future, whether Minnesota or Chicago will be more competitive in the next couple years. Courtney talks about her favorite game she covered as Vikings reporter and her favorite three players to report on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, welcome to a very, very extremely, ridiculously, outrageously special episode. Matthew Collar here along with ESPN's Courtney Cronin, who now is leaving to go cover the Chicago Bears in the same way that you've covered the Vikings, but you also have some more opportunities with radio in Chicago and the ESPN radio stuff you do. And so this is your final episode as the Vikings reporter. It is not Courtney, your final episode on purple insider, which a lot of people had questions about. And I was happy to tell them Courtney, our draft scout will continue that. You will continue on the show on a very regular basis. It'll just be that you'll be talking more

about the team you're covering, which will be the Chicago Bears. But welcome to your final episode as the Vikings reporter, and congratulations for your step forward. Thank you. It's been an emotional whirlwind of a week. Like I told you before we started the podcast, I feel like Rick Spielman, when he gave Harrison Smith that absurd contract last year, that a lot of people were like, wow, that's quite a deal. So I felt like a dying person giving off my possessions right now or giving them away because that's literally what I'm doing. I'm trying to sell all of my furniture before I leave. So it's been chaotic, but it has been such an incredible week in hearing from people I didn't even think honestly cared whether I'm here covering the Vikings or not. And it really does mean a lot. Like there have been the outpouring of support

for, you know, the last five years that I spent here is like brings me to tears. Like, and I won't cry on this show because this show is about fun and I'm not going to be like, you know, a sappy emotional mess because remember like football people don't have tear ducts, and I'm not going to be like, you know, a sappy emotional mess because remember like football people don't have tear ducts. So I'm not going to have a tear duct, but no, I mean like, in all seriousness, it's been absolutely incredible. I will miss it here. I will miss the beat. I will miss the overall shenanigans that we partake in. And I'm glad to say though,

that I won't miss Purple Insider because I'm still going to be on Purple Insider. And trust me, next week is the Combine. Draft Scout's actually returning phone calls. She's answering text messages. She actually called me the other day asking, all right, well, what do you need from me at the Combine? I was like, to show up first and foremost

and be on time, be reliable. Because you know how sometimes she gets like, you know, she gets off in her own world. She hasn't answered the phone for six months. Grinding tape. Yep. I think it's more that she has an issue with me and she's just annoyed by me, but she's excited.

So she, she, she, she'll come with me to Chicago. She's a little like, well, you know, how is this going to be different for me? And I'm like, it's not like just answer my phone calls when i call you so that's right courtney our draft scout will uh it'll be like snapping your fingers and she will appear uh out of nowhere at the combine she told me today though she was looking at the bears like draft uh board for 2022 she's like wait is something missing they only have five picks right now. And I was like, yeah, I know. Like, you're not going to have to put in nearly as much work.

They don't have a first round pick, two picks in the first four rounds. She's like, well, what do I do with my Saturday? I'm going to have all this time because they're done in the sixth round. I'm like, relax. It's not going to be like, there's no surprises. Probably you're not going to have to expect like four seventh rounders or any craziness. So she's actually like, doesn't really know what to do with herself about, you know,

the third day of the draft this year, because it's going to be wildly different from our, our time covering the Minnesota Vikings and how crazy Saturday typically is with all of the late round draft picks. So before I get into what I wanted to talk to you about, and then I have the goodbye Courtney quiz and there will be a pie chart as well. talk to you about and then i have the goodbye courtney quiz and there will be a pie chart as well um there are new listeners to the show who may not understand the courtney r draft scout bit so i just wanted it's like your third person it's you there's not a separate person and uh

it's another personality yeah another personality yes and so when you transition into that mode we do mock drafts and mock draft analysis and draft simulations and everything else. That is Courtney, our draft scout. I just wanted to make that clear since over the last couple of weeks with everything going on with the Vikings, I've seen like a lot of new people come into the show,

which welcome, and we're glad to have you here, but you're not talking about an actual other person. I mean, one could say she's a different person but no she is she's literally she lit she lives inside of me she's my she's my soul she's within my soul she's my spirit animal um and she's very excited to be part of the show going forward i want to clarify this for people it's r as in my middle initial because you know my twitter handle is courtney r cronin and r stands for rosalind it was my great grandmother's name that's my middle name

but eric eager our good friend from pff turned that into our as in i am your guys draft scout so oh you are so honestly it's either one if you want to do our draft scout is one of my favorite things i've seen on on twitter which is oh you are draft scout or just our letter draft scout. That's me. She will respond to any of those. And part of the Courtney goodbye. Courtney quiz is going to be some of our inside jokes that we've had here. And one of them is that I bought you a shirt that said draft scout and you got it on TV last year during draft season.

What I'm planning to do this year. So God willing, we will be back out in Bristol in April for our typical summit that we do our NFL nation group. And we do the mock draft. Now I don't have a first round draft pick because I am going to be covering the bears in a couple of days. So they typically do this shot of like the draft room, which is our green room and supposed to be covering the bears in a couple of days. So they typically do this shot of like the draft room, which is our green room and supposed to be behind the scenes.

And then, you know, everybody who goes on stage and then the NFL live crew reacts, I'm just going to be in the draft room in my draft scout shirt. Like I'm going to wear it. Like you guys are going to see it, like kind of doing the Leonardo DiCaprio meme of like pointing at the TV. That's you're going to see your draft scout on TV.

I'm so proud of the way that that shirt came out. It like came out really nice. I shout out to whatever illegitimate website I used to create it and send it to your house. I remember I came home one day and you're like, check your mail. And I checked it. I was like, what is this? And I was so excited. And then I

knew last year I had to put it in like to the backdrop of my, um, when I did my mock draft, where I picked Darisaw in that one, that was my mock draft that went on ESPN. I, I, except that we had to, we didn't switch draft order. I picked it 14 initially, but yeah, I got the same player and you can see over my right hand, my right shoulder in the corner draft scout. I think my lava lamp was on top of it, which is another bit like just all my weird nonsense that I have in my backdrop. Um, my overbought thing, like, you mean that, that got in there too. Like I just went like, kind of like I was out of control with this.

So rogue, you might say like a corner in 2016. Here's what I want to talk to you about though. As you exit this beat, do you think the Minnesota Vikings have a promising future? What do you think of that? I do. I think because eventually the quarterback situation is going to have to be solved. And what we know right now is what the team is saying publicly about Kirk cousins, that they envision him as part of their plans.

Now, if you were to ask me in a cash, like on Monday, it's kind of, you know, ironic timing. So like I, we have this very benign posts that we all have to do at NFL nation where we just kind of lay out best case, worst case scenario for the offseason and who the top free agents are, cap space, whatever. So it's a very benign post. And this was hours before I announced that I was leaving for Chicago. And oh my goodness, you would have thought I really hurt some people's feelings by listing out what I believe

is a best case scenario for the Minnesota Vikings and what I believe is a best case scenario for the Minnesota Vikings. And what I believe is the worst case scenario for the Minnesota Vikings. Now, I have said all along, what I anticipate the Vikings will do is what they're doing right now. And a lot of that's the public speak of we're going to keep Kirk Cousins. We envision him as part of our plans. Why? Because he's under contract. Now, the best case scenario from a perspective of long-term viability is Kirk Cousins getting traded. Because I just tend to think that if you extend him right now to help your cap situation and think, okay, well, we can try to run this back, just fix a few more pieces. How many times have they been the one foot in, one foot out, like not completely committing to to either rebuild or going all in type approach they've they've straddled

that fence for a while so i think that i just think that they would be in the same situation as like an eight and nine or maybe like wild card first round exit team next year if they went the route of the extension just to help your cat purposes. Now, you know, I say all that to say, I do think this will be a very good team in a couple of years. I really like the direction that they're going offensively bringing in Kevin O'Connell. I really like the structure of the offensive staff so far. I do think that Justin Jefferson, Dalvin Cook, Irv Smith Jr., your two bookends at tackle. You have a lot of pieces that can be really good on this offense.

It's just you have to – if they make the right call at the quarterback spot, then you can start building towards the future and eyeing it out. And that's part of – I mean, this is just like an opinion of mine. I've never covered outside of Derek Carr, who i think i got there in 16 so that would have been his third season when he was still on his rookie deal and he was um you know the only rookie rookie uh ish quarterback that i that i've covered somebody on a rookie deal like i've never seen what i'm about to walk into a justin field somebody coming off their first year like first thrown into the fire experience of the NFL. I think you're better set up for success from a roster building perspective when you have a quarterback on a rookie deal. So I do think that at some point,

the Vikings are going to want to turn to finding that person via the draft and seeing if they can try to build that with Kevin O'Connell as their head coach. I think so too. And whether that's right away or if it's a year down the road, I believe that that is ultimately what they do. I would be at this point in the way that Kevin O'Connell talked about Kirk Cousins, I would be really, really shocked if they signed him to an extension. And if O'Connell and Kweisi Adafomensa decided to lock their futures with Kirk Cousins, that just has never really met the smell test.

But the other thing, too, is I was going through on yesterday's show with Ben Lindsay from Pro Football Focus, going through Kirk Cousins' statistics, and one thing just stood so far out, that when he was on his first read, he was terrific. When he was doing anything else, next read, check down, scramble. He was equivalent to Tua, Daniel Jones, Taysom Hill, like doing anything except for the first read. He was a well below average quarterback, which says to me that you can put other people into this job.

And you see this all the time. Well, who are you going to get? The reality is Justin Jefferson, when he was targeted, had 117 quarterback rating when Cousins was targeting Justin Jefferson. Is Kirk Cousins the only person wandering around this spinning sphere in the atmosphere that can throw the ball toward Justin Jefferson and have him catch it? Like, I don't think so.

And I don't think they'll view it that way. Why would you, why would you want to pay? And this is just like, it's just a logical thing. Why would you want to pay a $40 million quarterback to be a half field read quarterback? Right.

That makes no sense. Right. When, when there are limitations that like, it's sort of like finally a statistic that told the story. There it is. That's a good one. Yeah,

there it is. It really painted the picture truly not with, you know, an all encapsulating quarterback rating that takes a lot of things into account and has a ton of blind spots, but really paint the picture of how someone plays football, which is what we're looking for for statistics. And I've got to think and get,

and guess what? Matthew Stafford was in the complete other quadrant of this, this chart. He was the guy who was succeeding not only on his first read, but second read on the scrambles on the check downs, everything this last year. So there's your difference. But anyway, I think that they are in a great place for the future because flexibility is super valuable flexibility at quarterback flexibility with your roster to build it your way and cap flexibility, which I believe that after this year, they will be able to create and go forth. And I think that, and this is, it always comes across harsh on Kirk personally. And then we never mean it that way, but the minute they trade cousins, if that's what they do, they'll be the closest to a Superbowl they've been in a long time. I think, because that will mean they're going the direction of teams who have been able to build around rookie quarterback

contracts. And they have one of the best players in the NFL, Justin Jefferson at 22 years old to be able to build with that is very hard to replicate. You don't just find Justin Jefferson. That's why I would say it's, it's really, it's literally him and this opportunity to get a quarterback on a rookie deal that would suggest to me that they do have a good future ahead of them. And that is the long-term approach that they should be taking. And I know that ownership doubled down last week, like we talked about in the pod after O'Connell was hired, that they want to be super competitive this year.

And I understand the pretense of that. I really do. When you've put this much money into the team, you don't want to take a step back, but I think long-term viability, they know the decision makers know the direction they have to go, which is why I said this on NFL live last week. If you really, if people are so adamant that you try to be competitive this year,

I could absolutely see them letting Kirk play out his, his deal as is, let him, I guess, if you want to call that lame duck or whatever, he can be at four and not touch it. I know that seems like a really high number, but you can do a lot of cap gymnastics to, to keep him there. But that just means that other parts of your roster are going to suffer. Like there's always a given a put a given a push and a pull, but realistically the best option for them long-term, are going to suffer. There's always a give and a pull, a push and a pull. But realistically,

the best option for them long-term, unless you are so convinced that Kevin O'Connell is going to be the one from the Shanahan-Kubiak system that is going to get the most out of him, which I think that argument's played itself out. But if you are so convinced that that's going to happen, that's the only reason you give him an extension. But I just think it's either trade him, let him play it out and then just part ways. Right. And then I think the statistic that I brought up really sort of tells the story of like, I don't know that there is more to get out of someone when they can't produce on a scramble drill when they can't produce past their first read uh then there's not a whole lot you can do it really says that they have dialed up an offense that has given him successful first reads and when you have two receivers who are open one-on-one every time yeah um pretty pretty helpful now here's another question

relating to this as you head to chicago is which of these teams has the brighter future and the better timeline to be good? The Vikings or the Chicago Bears? This was a tough one when I was trying to rack my brain about, you know, they're both in a very similar situation from the starting over perspective, like new coach, new GM at both teams. If we were looking like a five-year window here, the Bears have a lot more to rebuild than the Minnesota Vikings. Like three of their five starters are on the offensive line are about to hit free agency. They have no one for Justin Fields to throw the ball to. I don't think Allen Robinson's going to be there

considering what happened last season after he was tagged. They're rebuilding the interior of their defensive line. I think that they have a longer process to go to get to being competitive. I do not believe that they're going to be contenders next year. I think it's a pretty realistic thing to say. If the Vikings made the call right now and on cousins to to be able to like okay let's set ourselves up for the next two to five years I do believe that they would be in a better spot to win more games collectively over those five years like I still

think the Bears would be a year or two before they're in that conversation because there just is so much to rebuild they've got like 26 million in cap space and i know that the general manager ryan poles had said they're going to try to be selective in free agency like they want to they want to sign a lot of guys in the second and third wave which makes sense when you don't when you have five draft picks you have to use free agency to address everything but that just means that process probably going to be a little longer but honestly i know aaron rogers is still you know trying to figure it all out after his 12-day cleanse but we you and i are going to have such an interesting pod in a month if he's not on the green bay packers and we're talking about okay a where's kirk cousins b what does this mean for the rest of the division if kirk is not on the

minnesota vikings after free agency because he gets traded somewhere and you've got quarterback x with the vikings jared goff justin fields and no air and roger so Jordan Love, NFC North becomes super interesting. And it's anybody's game at that point, if that scenario played out the way that I just laid it out. I decided today that I think Aaron Rodgers is going to come back and play for the Packers again. I do too. I think that I've felt, I know they haven't gotten past the NFC championship

with him and LaFleur in that marriage, but I just don't know if Denver, as much as that sounds like the hot destination, I don't think he can have all that he wants there that he has with green Bay. And you like, I mean, they're doing all of these moves right now. I think it didn't, they just restructured Kenny Clark today. They they're doing so much to try to – I mean, they have to. They have like $49 million over the cap, and they've got to figure out what they're doing.

But they're doing a lot of stuff with their current roster because they think they can win with their current roster if they upgrade pieces of it as long as they can keep Aaron Rodgers and Devontae Adams there and keep everybody happy. I decided that since he lost in the divisional round, that there's only, you know, one way he can really separate himself from Brett Favre in green Bay.

And that would be to win another Superbowl and for him to have two and Favre to have one, that's his only way of being better than Favre. And the other way, if they're equal in Superbowls is for him to finish his career in Green Bay. And I think that what you have to do to track Aaron Rodgers is you got to think like a Rodgers. What is the crazy, not doing any weird cleanses,

but think as in the ego. Like what is the most egotistical thing that Rodgers would have in mind? Like it would be trying to better Brett Favre. And that's the only thing I come up with his, with his ego and the size of his ego. I just can't imagine him saying like, Oh,

the way we lost in the divisional round, that's it for me. I'm going to retire. I just can't see that. I can't see him leaving. I agree. I can't see him leaving under those circumstances either. Plus they hired Tom Clements, who I believe Aaron Rodgers is closely.

He was a QB guy early on, his coach early on. And I don't, some are going to argue, is that a little, a too little too late move? We'll see. But that's, I don't think you bring somebody out of retirement if, if you don't, if you don't know if the quarterback's going to be staying there or not. Folks, we've got an even better offer to tell you about from SodaStick.

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actually exciting this year and soda stick has you covered there as well. Go to SodaStick.com. That is S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com. And use the code PurpleInsider for 15% off. I want to leave lots of room for the Courtney, Goodbye Courtney quiz, which again is not goodbye from the show, but just from Minnesota. It's not goodbye forever. It's just goodbye from Minnesota. But I want to ask you what your cleanse is.

So, uh, Aaron Rogers did this insane cleanse that, I mean, look it up. Just look it up. I don't even want to describe it, but it involves throwing up on purpose and yoga.

And it is very, very strange and bizarre. Uh, healthy. I said that my cleanse is watching NFL games from the 1994 season. Like if you're trying, if you're trying to just completely cleanse yourself and step away for a week, which may be, well,

you won't have much time because you'll go to the. No, I am going straight from one thing to another. So I'm basically cramming for a final exam. I still have like something I'm writing on the Vikings this week. And then I'm trying to figure out, okay, well, what is is uh you know what's going on here with everything else that I cover at some point though yeah right before the season you'll have like before training camp you'll have a couple of weeks off to cleanse what would you do to cleanse well I've done a cleanse before I did a juice cleanse and let me tell you how great that worked out. I did it in, when I lived in California thinking, you know,

just drink a bunch of like celery juice. And by the way, that was your dog. Like that was not me groaning. I didn't, I didn't know how it's great timing for her though. She just gagged on something as you were saying celery juice. She just went like, I totally agree with that. So I made it like it was, and I don't drink, I don't drink milk or like any dairy. So like this thing was basically like four juices a day plus like a protein

thing. So basically a cashew milk and you know, like a turmeric shot, something like that. I was like deceased by day three fam famished, literally like on my deathbed. And I remember my dumb ass thought that this would be a great idea to do during NFL season. So I remember covering a Raiders game and I brought all this stuff, these juices with me and my colleagues were making fun of me as they should have, because it was a dumb decision.

And by like the fourth quarter, like fourth quarter, I was like, blanket, I'm going to get something. I remember just like scarfing down popcorn because my body had revolted against me and be like, we're going to give you a migraine if you continue this. But so, yeah, don't ever do a juice cleanse if it does not work. My cleanse would probably be before I try to do this every year. I love to take a nice trip in the summer, one where I'm not focusing on anything work related. And that's hard because I don't consider myself a workaholic. I think that I just like my life is intertwined with what I do. It's, it's like an ecosystem that I'm a part of. So I don't, it's hard to kind of like pull that out completely, but probably, you know, if I could do like a full thing, I mean, a lot of, you know,

a lot of reading, um, some pool time, maybe some, I mean, I would do yoga. I wouldn't try to purposely throw up after yoga, like Aaron Rogers. I usually, I didn't make that up. That's really, that's, that's messed up. Um, I, last summer I was into two a days for a while. I'd go to hot yoga in the morning and then orange theory around lunch. And like when I had the time to do that, my body had never felt better. And my mind was really like really sharp and really clear at that point. But, uh, that takes a lot of work and it's hard to do during the off season. So maybe I, or right now, at least maybe I'll do that in like June. Yeah. I hope you get a chance to do it,

but you're the one who was breaking the Rick Denison news last year, right before training camp. So I know that. I was at a bachelorette party when that happened. Like I was in the re you want to know the story behind that? I was in the, it's in the Reno airport. You anybody been to Reno before it's casino, like a slot machines everywhere. So I had been like chasing, chasing this thing for, like, two days. And then I finally get what I needed to in order to write the story and go with it. And I'm sitting.

I'm like, I need somewhere to sit. So I'm like, well, here's a slot machine. Let me just, like, put my laptop on top of this thing. It's, like like smashing the buttons and I broke that from the Reno airport which then like you know driving from Reno in an Uber to Lake Tahoe for my friend Sarah's bachelorette party you know getting there the house is like bachelorette stuff everywhere not like the inappropriate stuff but like balloons and streamers and i get a call from like my producer um for nfl live be like can you come on i'm like yeah like i'll and so i used floaties like for the pool uh the the day we had on lake tahoe

like you know pineapple floaties giant piece of pizza floaties are the boxes so i stack that up and i put my uh my tvu app my my what like, gives me a signal so I can go live from anywhere. I literally did that from like a bachelorette party. So maybe I won't do those things this year. So I can actually like when I'm off, I can be off. And then you were attacked from all angles for reporting that as well, which, uh, goes along with the gig. And sometimes, but some people, let's just say have relationships with other people. And so not everything that they put out there is a legitimate criticism of your reporting. That's all I want to say about that. But okay, let's get into the goodbye Courtney quiz. So this is a lot of Vikings related stuff. Oh,

I was going to say, I totally forgot, but you know, they're one of the things is inside jokes in here. And I just wanted to mention, like, as you were talking about the cleanse, like there there's a keto diet inside joke that can't be mentioned here, but I wanted to say it's horrifically inappropriate. You know what it is. There might be other people who know what it is too, but anyway, so let's start. Okay. Here's, here's your first question of the goodbye Courtney quiz. I want the favorite game you covered your favorite game covering the Minnesota Vikings.

So you're going to hate me because like I went through this and I went by like category, like there are certain games that I loved covering because of the travel that's associated with it. Like I love those Monday night games in Seattle. I know that Vikings fans probably did not like those. Maybe some members of the coaching staff didn't like those either, but those games are always super fun. I really enjoyed that. I'm biased, but like being able to go home and covering games in Chicago, those were always really fun.

The only time that I ever covered an exciting Bears-Vikings game was the 2017 game where they trot Sam Bradford out there and he takes four sacks in the first half. And, you know, it's just really struggling. And then they come back and win that game and the Harrison Smith interception. But other than that, like the Vikings bears games and, you know, it just haven't been great, but the one game that like always sticks out in my mind is Vikings Rams,

2018, just the back and forth and back and forth. And, you know, that's when the Rams were on their rise with golf and, and girly and, and all these pieces now were key then that are not now for that team and seeing that situation where, you know, they, they trot Dalvin cook out there because they have to, and he's got the hamstring injury and ends up honestly, like really hurting them that season because he tweaks it again. I'll never forget, you know, just the more inside jokes, but it's,

you know, Kirk Cousins on that final drive at the Rams or Vikings 42 yard line where Michael Brockers just like, you know, Riley Reif can't hold Michael Brockers for three and a half seconds. I'm sorry. That is a very tough task. And then it's how deep is Kirk supposed to be in the gun? Nine and a half seconds. I'm sorry. That is a very tough task. And then it's how deep is Kirk supposed to be in the gun? Nine and a half yards? No, no, we're never more than seven and a half yards. And like a lot of that is some, some people who have been listening long enough will understand those jokes. But I just remember like how back and forth that game was Thursday

night football, like a really high scoring affair for kind of what set up. I mean, remember two months after that was Rams Chiefs, which is, it was an instant classic on Monday night football, but that was kind of the beginning of that. I remember like the Vikings had a chance to go and win that game at the end. And, you know, Kirk got strip sacked and that did not happen. That is up there for me too. One, we were in a trailer and it was super weird because they trailer that they oh that was awful they were redoing the press box there and so reminder it

was not so high stadium it was the la coliseum which is oh my gosh the locker room situation after the game i remember you had to fight through the fans to get down into where the locker room was and then you actually couldn't go in the locker room because it was too small well i went in the locker room it was like me and i think andrew kramer and i remember eric wilson uh former vikings linebacker had just gotten out of the shower he was you know dressed enough but he was like took his hair and just started shaking it and just like water everywhere i'm like ow it got all over me and i was like i need to get out of here. That was rough. But the, well, the Kirk.

The you tell me. You tell me was the, like, what happened on the intercept or what happened on the strip sack, you tell me. Yes. Was the Cousins response. He played great in that game, by the way. I mean, he really, it was such a fun game going back and forth. A few other things, even from that one, the the rapper yg performed in the end zone during a

time out yes but he also like jumped out of the stands or wherever he was standing from and high-fived robert woods when he scored a touchdown he like dapped him up in the end zone like it was we're in la folks it was the most like Crenshaw-esque thing that you could ever expect that day that whole week was chaotic because you'll remember that the week before they four days before they played Buffalo and they got annihilated and that was while the team was like dealing with Everson Griffin's mental health episode and no one really knew what was going on. And I was on like no sleep for, I missed my flight to LA on Wednesday morning because Tuesday I had been, you know, reporting on the Griffin situation and what was happening. And, you know, now obviously

we know a lot more about it, but like, we didn't know what it was like the mental health part of it at that point. So I had had a sit down on Tuesday with digs and feeling to talk about their relationship. And I was like, this is the only time because they wanted that. They were ESPN likes to, we'd like to have bigger features for primetime games Thursday and Monday games. And that was, I was like, I have to write this. So like I stay up all night after chasing the Griffin thing Tuesday and reporting on it.

And I missed my flight because I'm writing about the digs and feeling thing. And then I have to do NFL live all day on Thursday. It's me and Lindsay theory. Who's our Rams reporter. And I just remember being there at 10 a.m. Pacific and that game remember was not till much later. So I was there literally all day and their sound're sound testing all of YG's songs. So, of course, Sam Newton, Vikings PR, remember, like, we were talking.

I was like, I hope I never have to hear the song Big Bang again. Because they would just play, like, the first 45 seconds of it. Because when he did his impromptu concert in the end zone. Like, this wasn't, like, a halftime thing. Like, he literally performed in the end zone during a time out um and then there was this other song that i don't know what it was i remember trying to look it up it was it was what is yg song and all of a sudden there would be this like something something i hit him up with my ar and i was like i had to hear this on repeat for like six hours like a wildly inappropriate b

like not great like not great rams but like the most la thing in the world of like where that stadium is and just you know yg is that area that was like nipsey hustle was alive at the time i don't know if he was at the game or not but but that's that culture. And I will never forget that on top of everything else we dealt with that day. Very different. And, and, and, and Kevin McDermott losing his pinky. Lost his finger. Yeah.

In the first half. And then his, I got a text message of what it looked like when it got bandaged up and it was like all tied up at the top. And. Oh God, that game. I mean, now you're jogging the memory that was insanity it was and it's and it really is like when you go to cover the games in la it's

just like being transported into a different universe i mean it's just very very different with the the just culture and football and everything else uh covering something in la than like minnesota or green bay i will say my least favorite game to cover. And I wrote this one down. Speaking of LA chargers game at the soccer stadium, by far worst setup ever. I know you had it worse than I did because I was outside. So,

so, so was I, but at least I was on a press row. You were like in the stands. Yeah. I right. They just had like auxiliary press area in the stands. So you guys were in like,

I wouldn't call it a trailer. Would it be like a garage? Like if someone just stuck you in a, in a garage, it was kind of where it was their press area, but it was outdoors and my very small too. Yes. And I was like cramped up and it was just like, not, not, it was windy and it was like 50 degrees. I oh la december like i'm getting away from minnesota for a weekend and it's you know very cold here it was not warm because we were in the shade and that game was one and you know uh one o'clock kickoff and by the time we got out of there i was freezing so there yeah for me there's like a difference between like games of actually the game to write

about it, what happened. And then there's the, like our personal times, like you, me and Judd finding our way into the stadium for the NFC championship. Just like what a bleep show that was. Watching people get like pelted with beer cans.

The cops just standing there being like, yeah, get them. I mean, it was like, it was just not. And I remember that the, like the cops didn standing there being like yeah get them i mean it was like it was just not and and i remember that the like the cops didn't even want to help us like find the parking lot we were looking for and it was just it was totally insane bizarre like and i mean gosh the

stories that came out of that game from parents of vikings players like i remember pat offline when he got hurt in that game you know people were saying some really terrible things like to to his now uh now wife I believe Emily and his parents were there like I got a bunch of like correspondences with the family about like gosh like he broke his ankle in that game remember he was playing through an injury that he sustained in Atlanta a couple weeks prior. That was not good. But I guess Philly fans kept up with the Joneses, so to speak. I mean, they are who we think they are, and they were absolutely that then.

Oh, yes. I mean, don't you remember what happened in the Super Bowl? Poor Millie, who was like 100 years old. That's right the the lovely vikings fan that michelle steel did a from espn my colleague did a great piece on there was a big banner like when they're walking down broad street saying blank millie and i was like you people are awful which i didn't do anything to you yes you did it's i printed out and put in here it sits in my

cubicle so whoever ends up taking over for me is gonna have to like stare at that every day you're gonna clean that out right like there's i cleaned it out already but i left the mementos for you basically okay did you like uh like when a president leaves a note for the next president you you know you just left uh i left a bunch of instructions yeah i left the the couple trophies that i won from some games that i played um and then there was a questionnaire for sid actually somebody i think it must have been somebody from pr printed out a questionnaire of questions for sid hartman to ask the fadio Denebo back in like 2018. So there's a ton of mementos in there.

I hope you all, you know, enjoy it. I'll protect them. I will gather and protect them. Okay, so the next thing that I have on the Goodbye Courtney quiz is your favorite three players to write about during your time covering the Vikings. Sure. I wanted to put Teddy on this list. three players to write about during your time covering the Vikings? Sure.

I wanted to put Teddy on this list. I didn't get to write about him nearly as much as I had wanted to because I wasn't there in 2016. Like I didn't get to do the huge comeback story, all things like that. But he's on my honorable mention because I did obviously write about him during the 2017 year, and I was on KFAN today. Or excuse me, which one did I do? I did KFAN, I did Vikings Entertainment Network, had me on with Tatum and Gabe. We were talking about my favorite moments.

And top of the list for me was Teddy Cincinnati Week 15 and the chant. And when he's covering his ears because he can't hear because that place is deafening. I was talking about and i was like getting goosebumps talking about it because that was such an unbelievable moment but my three favorite players to write about latavius murray justin jefferson and daniel hunter and i'll give a little bit on each one. So Latavius and I actually came to Minnesota at the same time. He was a free agent signing for the Vikings after his pro bowl year with the Raiders, the first year that I had covered the team. And, you know, I was a nobody out there. Like I was still learning my way of like how to cover a beat and I was doing

videos. So I wasn't really doing the stuff that I do now. Like I was fighting for any opportunity to write, but we were like, I was producing our show and hosting it, the whole thing. And Latavius was so kind to me out there. Just, you know, just, I was just basically like a, you know, glorified camera person from time to time. Like it wasn't, you know, sitting down with him every single week, but then we got here and I remember he was my first player I talked to at Winter Park for this big Dalvin Cook feature I was writing. And he was like, Courtney, like he was the first thing he said to me. This is August of 2017 when I am as overwhelmed as I feel right now trying to go like, you know, I just had moved here.

Like my stuff wasn't here yet. Like I'm trying to cover a beat. The season's a week and a half away, like all of that. And he showed me such a, such kindness right away to, to, to know someone's name and to be like, of course I remember you from Oakland. Like it hadn't been like that long, but it's just like, it meant a lot to me.

And I think the way that Latavius handled the situation where he thought he was coming in to be as Adrian Peterson was on the way out as a free agent he thought he was coming in to take over that job and then they draft Alvin Cook and I think the way that Latavius in coming back from the ankle surgery and then being a backup but then assuming the role of lead back when Cook gets hurt that year the way that he handled that was a pro's pro and he was so gracious anytime we needed him that year and any other year that followed after losses after everything latavius was always available my like i i glow about this guy he is just one of the most genuine humans i have covered love latavius Murray. And I loved writing about him.

Completely agree. I mean, Latavius Murray, I would just say like, he's just different. I mean, just completely different in his approachability and his, uh, egolessness, his honesty and straightforwardness. Um, you know, oftentimes, you know, players try to talk around things and everything else. And I, that wasn't him. He him he the thing with him so when he arrived in minnesota it wasn't long removed from his best friend that he grew up with getting killed that you heard that story right kind of a random thing uh but it was really tragic and it was someone he was super close with and that person actually went to the same college as me but his his, his friend, and we had never met before. He had just arrived and he let me sit down with him for a really long time and went through the whole story and was really honest about everything that

happened. And like, this is a person he's never met before in his entire life. And he allowed me to do that. So Latavius Murray, I think goes on a lot of lists at um, at the very top, uh, who are your other two? It was, uh, Jefferson and Hunter. Yeah. Justin Jefferson and Daniil Hunter. And you know, with Jefferson, that is one thing I will truly miss, but we'll love to watch from afar. The guy is a certified superstar and it is so cool to watch greatness like i've always wanted to cover greatness and i got to do it with the golden state warriors and watching them win titles and

and lose titles um but just seeing steph curry up close like that's you know that's a one-of-a-kind player kevin durant draymond green clay thompson all that this was my version of it in the NFL. He is head and shoulders above, you know, anything I have covered in the league, as far as, you know, a player of his skillset. And he's so young, the guy's a baby still, like he's not even scratching the surface of how good he's going to be. And, you know, from a personal perspective to a superstar, willing to do a gritty interview with me, a story about the history of the gritty for this piece that I did for

countdown earlier, like last season, it was the day, it ran the day that the team played San Francisco. And we had so much fun shooting that. And he's so down to earth. And I know that there are a lot of people who say, okay, well, wait till he gets his next big con wait till he gets his big contract. That'll change him. I don't know. Like some people will say that that happened with digs after the miracle, the whole thing. And I remember my first interview with digs was over

at 1500 the day that we did the kind of those bang, bang knockout century century link, set that thing up. And yes, digs at 23 years old i remember like walking down the hallway half asleep because we had just covered that monday night game against the saints the day before and i got like three hours of sleep he's like can i have a stick of gum because like i had like gum i just like i was putting gum in my mouth and i remember you know i didn't know anything about the team yet i'm still kind of like learning my way and he was very gracious and some people will say say like, well, he changed after he became, you know, the D word, diva or whatever, like after that, because of the meltdown at the Bears game and forcing his way out.

I never try to compare those two. I just see Justin right now in the light that he's at and the opportunities that are going to come his way. And he's so genuine and so gracious. And I just, I loved writing about him. I loved writing the story when he got, after he got drafted, the guy didn't like, he wasn't ranked. He was a zero star recruit to first round draft pick.

How does that happen? So rare. His, and I think that what's funny about Jefferson is that he was such a huge celebrity in Louisiana. And you know, this really well, Louisiana is like its own country. And so if you're big in Louisiana, that's like being big in England or something. I mean, it's just totally different. It's LSU winning a national championship. What it means to the

state of Louisiana is so insane that he's a celebrity there and sort of was used to being a celebrity by the time he showed up here. And it's almost like he's unfazed by it. Like, oh, these things that you've produced, he expected to produce them and that's what he's done. And there's no like, you know, but the thing about him that differentiates him from Diggs, who I got along with very well. I did too.

I never had any issues. Like he was, Stefan was gracious with me and Mike and like in his time. And I appreciated the interactions that I had with him. I really did. And I found digs to be, um, very, very intelligent person. I think, I think people realize that now, um, but he had walls up though, like digs was defensive and, you know, like even when you were having a good, you know, conversation, like with him, he's still a little like guarded. And the funny thing about Jefferson is he is totally unguarded,

but also clever enough to not put his foot in his mouth. Correct. He is candid, which I really appreciate. There were moments last season, especially, you could tell he was frustrated with the way things were going. You really could. And I appreciated that he wasn't willing to sugarcoat it. but no, everything's fine. Like blah, blah, blah. You've seen the moments of frustration and people are going to say, oh, it doesn't mean anything.

Like, you know, he, um, you know, whatever, but I just, I appreciate that he's an honest, like he comes across as like very genuine in that sense where it's like he wears his feelings on his sleeve. And I can respect that. Yep. And doing it in sort of like a non-disrespectful way or non-defensive way is really impressive. He doesn't, when you ask him a question that's a hard question, he doesn't get like, oh, how dare you ask this? It's more like, oh, that's a reasonable question. It's unusual.

He gets that we have a job to do. And I appreciate athletes that do that and don't get upset about it a lot that do like there really are usually it's not like that until they're like 31 where they're like that but so yeah his his maturity is uh sort of off the charts and yeah you mentioned daniel yeah so in 2019 ahead of the monday night game against green bay i had a 50-minute sit-down with Daniil Hunter, which you know how Daniil is. He's quiet. He's reserved.

Interviews are not his thing. And I remember I arranged that because I was doing this big profile on, you know, fastest to 50 sacks and where this guy came from. He's the quiet, gentle giant. I mean, the guy is built physically like Adonis, and he'll rip your head off if he's coming at you as the quarterback. But all the interest that he has, that was such a fun interview. We talked about his passion for racing.

I mean, he's really big into cars and all the stuff that he does and where he came from in Jamaica and, you know, his journey here and in like, you know, video games and just all stuff that I don't think a lot of people really knew about Daniel Hunter. And it was just nice for him to, for somebody who doesn't do those types of things that often for him to trust me and to, I mean, just to give me the time. That's the thing that I appreciate with athletes who, when you have a great idea for a story, like being able to tell that story requires time and requires a lot of work and athletes who are willing to sit down with you, I think, and give you the time that you need.

So you're not feeling like you have to rush through your questions. I appreciate that. And there, there are a lot more I could have put on this list for sure. Dalvin Cook is one of them. He and I have, you know, again, he's, I wrote that my first big profile that I did on this beat was about him and his draft stock and why he fell to being a second round pick and all that he felt he had to prove. And in this past season, he and I, like I cried during that interview when I talked to him,

when he's talking about his father dying. I just remember I was just like, why, why am I crying right now? It was just, you know, it was, it was, he was so raw and so real. And it meant a lot to me to be able to like tell that story. I mean, obviously I can, I know I'm going so long on this. I can go on and on and on. There are a lot of athletes that I've covered with the Minnesota Vikings that, you know, have great stories. Those are just like the ones that I can think of off on and on. There are a lot of athletes that I've covered with the Minnesota Vikings that, you know, have great stories.

Those are just like the ones that I can think of off the top of my head. Yeah. And when you do that and, you know, I felt this way with Latavius's story and there's others that we've told along the way, Harrison Hand I did about his hardship waiver. And when you do a story like that, it really, it really stays with you like for a really long time. And so you have an appreciation for the openness and the trust that some of these people in, in almost

in a way where you think like, I don't know if I would trust me to be as open with me as you're being, but I'm going to try to do this justice with this story. You take so much pride in that as a journalist of like, that's what I sweat over. That's what I get stressed about. That's what I lose sleep about. I'm like, did I do a good enough job telling this story, giving this story justice that it needs. So that's, that's the hardest part of your job. No, absolutely. Covering anybody. Yeah, absolutely. And then, you know, right. Writing the hard things when you know, it's going to upset people, but, um, okay. And then, you know, right. Writing the hard things when you know it's going to upset people. But OK, so let me look back at my quiz here. The goodbye, Courtney quiz. I've just got a few more things for you. Oh, the the best in the best inside joke that you are absolutely incredible because you guys know the jokes. Like a lot of us have not met face to face,

but like you're in on the same jokes that Matthew and I tell each other every single day. And it honestly is such a nice, it's such a rich community that this podcast has, you know, afforded me to be a part of. And I will miss that part of it but the jokes aren't going anywhere i mean obviously draft scout is his own bit and people like just go they don't care that i'm leaving they're just like it's draft scout staying yes um that to me

shows you that we we have created a monster and we've created something beautiful but one of the best inside jokes that i'm allowed to tell, because there's several that I'm not. Several. Many. When Dalvin Cook tore his ACL in 2017, it was like, oh, no. What's happening to the Vikings running back room? Like, you know, being Latavius Murray still coming off the ankle injury.

It's like, Jarek McKinnon, change of pace back. Like, what are they going to do? They signed this guy, Stephen Ridley, who coincidentally, because I spent three years in Mississippi and he went to a private school in Mississippi. And it's like the third all-time Mississippi Association of Independent Schools leading rusher. So like I had known the name just because of, you know, kind of like a little engine that could this small running back who, you know, was at a private school. I don't remember where he went to college, but okay. They signed Steven Ridley and it was like, everyone do your Steven Ridley is here to save the season story. They cut this guy after three days. I remember I missed his media availability

because I was at the coordinators and I was like, Oh God, Oh God, I miss Steven Ridley. Like I didn't write, I didn't write this. I didn't write the Steven Ridley story. Like my boss, I'm gonna get fired. Like, Oh my God, Steven Ridley. And to make matters even better. People don't know that feeling that when you feel like you really missed out on something,

it's the worst. And then three days later, they caught him. They caught him. Before any games. And the guy spells his name s-t-e-v-a-n that's not the normal spelling of steven sure because you and i like subscribe to slapstick humor we think that's hilarious um so in 2018 the first year of tco performance center one day matthew and i got the bright idea of like, wow, it's week four. Oh, you know what this is?

It's the one-year anniversary of the Vikings signing Stephen Ridley and keeping him here for three days. So we had a party that no one else knew about until they got there to celebrate the Stephen Ridley era. And I went to Hy-Vee over in Egan and I went to the bakery. Cause I'm like, you got to have a cake for a party. Matthew was in charge of printing out all of our stories that we wrote about Stephen Ridley and pasting them. Yeah. I created a hall of fame. I created, I also posted his statistics as a Viking, which was like zero runs,

zero yards, zero touchdowns. We, we, yeah, it was, um, it was like a shrine to Steven Ridley in the media, in the media room. And I got to Hy-Vee and I grabbed a cake from the case and I went up to, I was there with you at Hy there with you at miv yeah i we went up to the like the lady to like the baker or excuse me like the um pastry artist and pastry chef and i said hey can you write something on this yeah absolutely no problem like what do you want to say i was like thank you steven but like i'd spell out she's like with an a and i'm like i'm like looking she's like looking at me like I have five. Yes, just write it.

So thank you, Stephen cake. I still have the photo of it on my phone is absolutely incredible. So there's that one. But then like I can keep going. Obviously everybody knows, or most people on this podcast know my obsession with long snappers and Jeffff overbaugh and going the wrong way during the divisional playoffs and basically jeff overbaugh sparking the minneapolis miracle happening so that's obviously a chapter in my book yeah yes it literally is and that's for you i didn't need to put that there and you know what that's love i feel that um 2017 again

so like there's some really good stories here gosh our first my first year in the beat was just nuts um it was crazy sherry floyd the defensive tackle who sustained a knee injury in 2016 but then it was against tennessee it was the season opener i believe when they were at the titans and won that game and then he had to undergo surgery because of the knee problem that he had that I think got either exacerbated in that game, something like that. He's at the Andrews Institute. And there's an issue. That was also your dog.

That was not me. I'm sorry. Nora's just like, wrap it up. And I'm like, no, Nora, give me my moment of glory. So he has an issue with the knee. Something happens during surgery and it becomes worse so he's on the nfi and sheree floyd is arguing you know it is a year later we haven't seen him um and it was like okay what is he gonna get paid is his contract gonna kind of not become null and void but when you're on the nfi like he was a first round pick he had like a you know a big contract yep and so a very good player so during the bi-week uh media

availability with former general manager rick spielman you know i go in there with my list of questions like everybody else in there is like you know kind of more relaxed and i'm like no first year i'm gonna get some answers and um i asked about sharif and like i remember didn't i go at it like a couple different ways to try to get like it was like one or two times of like are you gonna pay him but not to like that effect you were completely shot down each time and after the fact matthew told me he's like maybe if you like you know sharif floyd I don't know who that is Sheriff F Floyd oh oh yeah like absolutely he'd give you everything like we thought so we started calling Sharif Floyd Sheriff F Floyd because it was a play on his name and maybe I if I would have asked it that way I

would have gotten an answer but do you remember my investigative reporting when we had his locker was untouched for a very long time oh yes, yes. And I remember, like, it was at the old Winter Park locker room. We, you know, were in there one day for media availability. And I remember, like, walking in, I'm like, huh, there's a pair of Uggs slippers over by Sheriff Floyd's locker that they have salt on them. And I was, like, kind of examining. I'm like, he's been here. He has been here. Like, he's here. Because I was like kind of examining. I'm like, he's been here. He has been here. Like he's here because I wasn't sure he was around.

I wasn't sure if he was like somewhere else. Like we went back to Florida or like, I was like, Sharif Floyd is here. He's receiving treatment from the team. And I never actually know what happened to Sharif Floyd. I remember he had some questionable social media posts after that, but I don't know whether he got paid no there was there was some member like a year later yeah they he like sued i think it was the andrews institute

for like 180 million dollars they obviously settled not to that amount but something else um so there was that and then one other that i think most people will remember, back in the 2018 preseason, they needed some help with the interior of the offensive line. Nick Easton breaks his neck during practice. Pat Elfland's unable to come back. Like, really serious stuff. They're shifting Joe Berger and, like, all this stuff. So, back in May, this was before training camp,

I had heard that, like, when, you know, Tony Sperano, God rest his soul, like was alive, you know, there were some conversations about Richie Incognito coming to Minnesota. Now, was it more than just like, hey, we're looking down in the sky? It wasn't like, yeah, surefire possibility. You and I on our old show, we were doing the podcast format. We were talking about this in May. If you go back and find that episode, I'd pay you $5. Talking about it, yeah, it's a very real possibility. Now, does it mean they were super down the line as far as, hey, we're going to bring you in for a tryout?

No, but they were talking about it. Mike Zimmer's asked about it because like richie incognito talked about the vikings to tmz and zimmer's like no like absolutely not like to some effect richie incognito calls him a effing liar like has a meltdown um and i just remember it was like this whole day of like back and forth, like what's Richie Incognito saying about Mike Zimmer and all of us just being like, what are we doing? And yeah, that was a, the Richie Incognito experience was in Mike Zimmer, like going head to head through the media was hilarious when you think about

it. But when he said tweet that tweet that, yeah, that's what I was looking for. Yes. Tweet. So we had, yes, we had tweet that for many many uh instances with him uh okay so one more thing uh i have a pie chart for you it is just 100 that i will miss you uh on the road together i mean i'll see you in chicago of course but on the road together training camp together the daily grind of, you know, just leaning on you as someone who's always there and who has been a tremendous leader in our media group, because you've taken on the responsibility of so many things that no one would ever know

about or honestly on the outside care about, but we need to happen. And I have no idea how we're going to replace you. And I also just wanted to say that everybody knows you're good at what you do. This is not a surprise to anyone. I don't need to tell you that, but what people don't know is that you are an incredible friend that, that, that, that matters, obviously more to me than, than what you write and what you do. You're, you're a tremendous co-host, a wonderful ESPN radio host, a great writer, an incredible all around talent, but a, a plus friend with fierce loyalty that

cannot be replaced. And so I'll miss you from that perspective, but you will still be here. It's more than mutual. You know that like anytime. And I think some of our, our listeners know this, like time you've always had my back on everything like i have legitimately fought people like you've literally like gone after people on twitter on my behalf where you know and i just you know this this job can be can obviously grinds on you and sometimes like you know the the fodder on social media when we realize it is such a small sect of humanity but like when when it feels like it's just like eating you alive and you know people are yelling at me about kirk cousins and like acting like i have a personal vendetta against

this person all because i said like financially it makes the most sense given what we've seen from him to trade him and then people are writing articles about it and not adding me like by the way like if you do that you are you are soft like if you have something to say about me and i'll say it's still dead i come at me pull up like there is i have no issue defending myself like remember when last april um this is like me like burning everything down on my way out um but i was in florida and i had written an article, very benign draft article, but not benign because it actually happened because I was doing my reporting and it was the Vikings are very serious about drafting a quarterback with a

high draft pick day one or day two, which they were. What happened last April? Can you, can you remind me what, what did they do with that third round pick? What was, what'd they do?

They also tried to trade up for Justin Fields. And that too, but like what actually happened? They took. Yep. In fact, they took the quarterback and Kellen Mond that we had projected them to take on our podcast right before the draft.

But, but like people who want to write about me and then not actually like at me in, in their articles that they, that they put out for when they're, you know, playing journalist, that's, that's something that you and I have definitely had some fun with. And I always, always had my back. I remember like I was, you and I were chatting, I was like, can you believe this nonsense?

And you're like, okay. Like, and then a couple minutes later, just like just dunking. Like I just love when you dunk on my behalf and then I dunk on your behalf. We're like the Alley Oop slam dunk team. And that's why I'm so glad that I'm not going to the AFC West where it wouldn't make sense for me to be on purple or the side or right. I'm still in the division. I'm a couple hundred miles to the south, six hours driving a 45 minute flight.

I will see you minimum twice a year. Obviously anytime anybody wants to play golf, I'm on a flight, um, like up here, wherever, like, and I, and I've said this and most people on the beat know this, but you know, this is my work family. family this these are the people you spend endless hours with on the road training camp the grind like and that's half of the the the reason that we have so many inside jokes and all this nonsense is because if we're not doing that we're going insane and my dad always said if you're not laughing you're probably crying and that is rings so true to me to you to everybody on the beat like so many of the people on this beat I consider my extended family like

I believe that your family is a family that you were that you were given biologically but the family that you choose to and for me it's you it's Chad uh Dane when he when he's here and even when he's not like you know there's so many names of people that I interact with, Sam, on a daily basis that are the people I go to when I'm having a tough day, people I go to when I need advice on something career-wise. And you and I text like 10 times a day. And it's just like, I found one know, I found like one of my closest friends through work, which, you know, I tend to do this, like this, this happens to me, like in, in Mississippi, Mike Bonner, who was our Mississippi state beat writer is my family.

Like, you know, he is a piss cause I'm going to be missing his wedding. Cause it's during the draft this year. But like, that was my, that was my person there. Marcus Thompson was my mentor and my big brother when I was in Oakland and covering the Warriors and the Raiders and all that. My person here is you. And I am so grateful because I don't know how I would have made it through five years without you, because there were so many days where it was hard and long, exhausting hours. And it's like, I know that like, oh, God, like I am just deceased today. Like, I just want to go home. I'm defeated.

I can't write. Whatever. And then I can crack a joke with you, like text you some nonsense that I think is only hilarious and only you think is hilarious. And then we keep it moving. Like, you know, there are people who like drain your battery and people who like plug your battery or the people who are the plug to the battery and charge up your battery. And you are that person for me. And I am, I am so endlessly grateful. Like, and I held it together

on this podcast and didn't cry. So again, I'm a gangster and I I've had the best time on this podcast. This is like the best possible sendoff I could have. And I am so grateful to every single person who subscribes and listens to purple insider. Like you guys are getting the absolute best product, best coverage of the Vikings here. And I'm not just saying that because like I've been part of this podcast, like the coverage that Matthew and Sam,

what Matt has built here is unbelievable. And I'm just, I'm just grateful that I got to be a part of it and that I get to continue to be a part of the podcast going forward. Well, all of that is, means a lot. It really does. And I'm so glad that we have been able to build this friendship while you've been here. You never know, like when someone new is coming to the beat, like you were in 2017, you sort of like okay what's how's this person gonna fit in hope they don't suck yeah well they can suck at their job all they want just hope they don't suck as a person yeah and uh you guys probably all thought that about me and then it's like i'm the

one like cracking like the inappropriate jokes and you know organizing lunches and being team mom and you know just i i you know and everybody said like oh like one of the guys I'm like no like I'm just like one of the people on the beat like I know that I am the only female beat writer in Minnesota but you know you guys are all like I've never I felt welcome from day one and that is so rare on beats because some beats can be contentious I've been on beats that have been contentious I've been part of media rooms where it's like, Oh, this is uncomfortable. I've never felt that in Minnesota. And I've been really fortunate that literally every step of the way you've sat next to me, whether it's at us bank stadium with Judd or at the media room at TCO or winter park. And it's

been really, really fun. And I will truly miss that part of it. I'm going to sing you out. Okay. It's so hard to say good, but what will you make it a face? Just I'll get the notes to say goodbye to the Vikings. B was really good. Boy, Simone, be very proud of you. Okay. Well, thank you for all of your kind words. They're very meaningful to me. I am super proud of you and super happy to see you continue to succeed. And the next time we talk, I think we'll just be an indie hanging out and then we'll be talking Vikings

slash bears. Every time you come on, I'm really excited for it. So I'm excited for draft scout to return to share, you know, she's been a freeloader in my brain for the last eight months that she hasn't shown up and done any work. So I'm very excited that she gets to be part of the show again. Absolutely. So we will carry on good luck with your move. I will see you next week. And, uh, this was really fun. I'm glad we could do a goodbye Courtney episode. Goodbye, Courtney cover the bears.