Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - ESPN's Courtney Cronin talks about the timeline for the Vikings GM and head coach search and Dalvin Cook's future

Episode Date: January 20, 2022

ESPN's Courtney Cronin joins Matthew Coller to talk about the Vikings' process of interviewing candidates on both sides of the ball and why Raheem Morris is interesting. When should we expect the Vikings to make a hire? Why are they interviewing coaches before GMs? Courtney also discusses why veteran contracts like Dalvin Cook and Adam Thielen are a challenge for the incoming GM. She also gives the Vikings late Christmas gifts with things from the remaining playoff teams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TD Direct Investing offers live support, so whether you're a newbie or a seasoned pro, you can make your investing steps count. And if you're like me and think a TFSA stands for Total Fund Savings Adventure, maybe reach out episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here. And Courtney, I'm sure you just got the same text that the Vikings completed their coaching interview with Dan Quinn the minute that we're starting this show. Now, let me ask you just to begin, I didn't even introduce you, ESPN's Courtney Cronin, if you don't know by now, what have you been doing? How's this going to play out? When are we going to know some stuff? I'm getting messages every day from fans. What's going on? Are they going to play out? Like, when are we going to know some stuff? I'm getting messages every day from fans. What's going on?

Are they going to interview this guy? Are they going to name this person? And whenever. What's your feeling on the Vikings GM slash coach search and how this thing is going to play out? Yeah, it feels like everybody everywhere is slow right now, right? Like, across the league, you're waiting for that first domino to drop. And when that falls, like who, you know, is there going to be a ripple effect that like, okay, this person gets put into this spot. And because this team missed out on this

GM candidate, they're going with this guy. And, you know, you're starting to see people withdraw their names from different searches. So it's kind of narrowing the pool, which I think is good because we want to see movement. We want to start getting pieces in place so we can learn about who the new leaders are going to be for the Minnesota Vikings. And the team itself wants these people in place. So they're now able to soon start making decisions, the hard ones that they're going to have to make on the roster. You can't go too much longer with that in mind of thinking how the future is going to look with the roster and giving people ample time to get together to figure out what the philosophy is before they have to start making really tough calls on some people that might not be on the roster in 2022. So I think that by the end of the week, we'll know at least like who the, who the head,

like the top GM candidates are, because remember they had eight that they had to interview over zoom. And the second interviews I imagine will probably start taking place, you know, at the very earliest end of the weekend, early next week, because they had so many candidates, they cast such a wide net of candidates for this pool, you know, of this pool for candidates. And same thing with the head coaching search. Now that we know there's eight, you know, I don't think that we'll get any sort of,

the GM will certainly be first, but I don't think we're going to have any sort of indication who the next head coach is going to be until after the divisional playoffs at the earliest. So probably, you know, pro bowl week, that kind of feels like what this thing is trending towards just because of the way the timetables worked out. So what is your theory on why they're interviewing coaches before they have a

general manager? Well, we know that the GM is going to be the one who like has the, probably a pretty loud voice in who the next head coach is going to be this is to do this now I think is them getting their background them doing the vetting process and and maybe you know getting ahead of it to where they realize hey we have to have a GM in place to make this higher of course but we need to do the legwork first because you can't be like just starting this process three weeks from now potentially it could be you know like a while out like you just can't so I think it's the smart thing to do to start getting all of the like introductory stuff out

and figure out okay are these people even going to be a fit for the team and then when you have that pool narrowed down then you bring your GM in and have them, you know, whittled down even further with you. I mean, there is a good chance though, that some of the GM candidates are going to have their own head coaching candidates. So don't be surprised if you see names that are not currently out there, all of a sudden out there, once a GM is brought in, like the Vikings could, it sounds like they're just doing their due diligence on figuring out who, you know, who they want to look at, people that they think would be a fit. And the big question I've gotten is, well, why are there so many defensive candidates?

You see people like, you know, D'Amico Ryans, Raheem Morris, Dan Quinn, obviously, you know, a handful of other names, Jonathan Gannon, that the Vikings are considering for this opening. And I've had a couple of people point out, well, why don't they go offense trend the way the rest of the league is going, you know, do opposite what you had with Zimmer. And I don't think that, that you necessarily have to, you know what I mean? Like, I think that you can still get a lot out of this offense, get a lot out of your defense and where the roster currently is. And truthfully, the defense and the rebuild that they're about to go through needs far more guidance, I think, than the offense.

And maybe that's why they're trending towards a defensive coach. But it was never going to be, oh, they're just bringing in, you know, the Eric B enemies of the world. And that's what they're sorting from. Like they're trying to do their due diligence and cast a wide net and get a lot of candidates. I can understand that. No,

I think so too. And when you have the league in every team with openings, looking at certain guys, why wouldn't you put your name on the list? I mean, if you have Dan Quinn, who's interviewing with everyone, but you're not necessarily interested in Dan Quinn,

but everyone's interviewing him. Okay. Throw us in there too. Let's have, let's have a conversation with Dan Quinn, but everyone's interviewing him. Okay, throw us in there too. Let's have a conversation with Dan Quinn, see where he stands, see if we're on the same page with him, and maybe he surprises us. I mean, there's no limit. There's no, you can only interview X number of coaching candidates. So the Wilfs can sit on Zoom for 16 straight hours and talk to coach candidate after coach candidate, and there's no limit to why they're doing that. So why not?

Especially someone like D'Amico Ryan's who is fairly new in the coaching world. I mean, a guy who is a player and then a position coach, and this is first year as a DC, well, you know, there have been good finds that way before there have been some that didn't work out, but you might be surprised and say, well, this guy's vision really matches ours. And we're going to put him on our list for when we hire the GM to then have those second interviews. I think that that kind of makes sense for them to be comfortable with someone when the GM comes in and says, okay, here are my three or

four. And how does that match up with your three or four that you've already talked to? So they could say, instead of starting the process a week from now of even talking to coaches, they could say, Oh no. Yeah. We really liked D'Amico Ryan's. We really Raheem Morris is a really interesting one, Courtney, because both sides of the ball, right? How often have you ever heard that? Very rarely. And at least, I mean, obviously at least at this level, like usually, you know, once you're an offensive guy at the college ranks or wherever you start out on one side of the ball and typically stay there. Like it's not, you know, it's not normal to see kind of the path that he took, but I was happy to see his name thrown into the mix. And it felt like, you know, kind of what's taking so long here, right? Well, the Rams then had a really good outing on Monday night football against the Cardinals to advance to the divisional playoffs. And you see his name start to pop up, and rightfully so.

So I was kind of waiting on that one, as I think a lot of people around the league were. Yeah. Raheem Morris was the passing game coordinator slash assistant coach for the Falcons when they went to the Super Bowl. And I mean, that's the type of offense that I think you want to be looking at. I mean, of course, you'd love to have the Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes offense, which is you're in shotgun. Make plays, my friend.

That's not always easy. But what you see from San Francisco, from Los Angeles, is making things very favorable on quarterbacks. And I saw a stat about Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers offense that on first down, they've been one of the best teams in the league year after year after year after year with Kyle Shanahan. And it was that way for Kyle Shanahan's offense in Washington and in Atlanta. And that's just big because that's a scheme down. That's where you can kind of dial up anything, run or pass. You're not forced into a third and 10 where your quarterback just has to make a play and you can set up your quarterback in a favorable situation with first down. And we've seen just how successful his passing game has been with

Jimmy Garoppolo. So I think that that type of offense is a good fit. I know that the Vikings wanted that sort of thing, but I felt like after Stefanski left, they never really had it. I mean, Gary Kubiak was kind of running his old school, Gary Kubiak offense, and I'm not really a hundred percent sure what Clint Kubiak's offense was supposed to be. Um, so I mean, cause it had elements of like play action and stuff, but they didn't run play action all the time and they didn't have motions very often. And there wasn't like a whole lot of creativity where it's moving before the snap and all those types of things. We didn't see that. I think that you want that. And Raheem Morris having that connection. It's always hard to just

say, well, he worked with this guy, so whatever, but he was the passing game coordinator when they had one of the best passing offenses in NFL history and Matt Ryan won the MVP in 2016. So that's at least that catches your eye, I think. Yeah, no, I mean, there's, there's so much of that where it's like, okay, well, how, how was this offense successful? And I guess the last time you can look at their success would be the 2019 season and trying to find candidates who might be from those coaching trees, who might have those same philosophies where if you're going, like they have to plan for all things, right? Like, are they going to keep Kirk Cousins in place? Are they going to go a different route

with a different quarterback? But that doesn't necessarily mean your offensive philosophy, given your playmakers and what you have and what you've built on needs to change like so, so drastically where it would require all new personnel. Like, that's why I think, you know, when you, when you look at people who come from those sorts of coaching trees and what we know about the Vikings right now is that they're not going after anybody who you'd look at and be like, wow, I don't see how that would fit with Kirk cousins. Like assuming just going forward, like just for the basis of this argument, no trade talk, no nothing, like assuming Kirk is your quarterback. And I also think that maybe

there's something to be said too, with their head coaching candidates that, you know, trust me, it's not the first time that they've like vetted these people. Like you've got to be looking at it, wondering, okay, do they already know, Hey, this person would be comfortable working with Kirk or would be comfortable not working with Kirk. If that's the direction that they're going to go. Like, I don't think it's completely blind. If, if that makes sense where they've got an idea about how the, how the people would mesh together, obviously like someone like Raheem Morris, like was, he was in Washington when cousins was in Washington,

Kirk has talked about, you know, their time together and how much he respects him from both like the offensive he was in Washington when Cousins was in Washington Kirk has talked about you know their time together and how much he respects him from both like the offensive and defensive perspective kind of bringing up what you did earlier about how rare that is so I don't think it's any coincidence that the eight candidates they have now for head coach kind of all come from those you know similar systems at least or if from or if they're offensive coaches would be able to bring out what they believe would be the best in the personnel that they currently have while also realizing

that upgrades absolutely need to happen on this roster considering the parts of the team where they fell short this year. And there have been some names that have not come out there yet that we've talked about, and I would just say be be patient because sometimes early, like it really is. We're not even at the divisional playoffs yet. And I think maybe it's truly because this time last year, this time, every other year, we're two weeks into the off season, not a full week because of the extra game. So maybe that has something to do with the impatience. Yeah. And I, well, and I think that, I mean, you sometimes are looking at the people that you aren't really

convinced on first to see if anyone pops out to eventually be a finalist and you've got your person in mind. I mean, somebody told me that Matt Nagy was the last person that Chicago interviewed and then they hired him. And so maybe it's kind of that way that you're saving your interviews for last or maybe there's some reason but i don't know what reason there would be to not interview brian dable or not interview byron leftwich especially when they're talking to someone like todd bowles who's on the same coaching staff it just feels like those things will eventually happen

um as this continues to play out and as they get a g and so forth, do you have any hot take on any of the candidates? Because we've been talking about how Kellen Moore ended the season pretty poorly for Dallas. And I'm not sure that he's necessarily ready to be a head coach. And there've been other people like Brian Dable who have made an incredible impression so far in the playoffs as we, as we speak right now. So I just wondered if you had any sort of like opinion, I know that it's hard to say, oh, well, this guy comes from there.

So he'll be good. Who knows? Right. But, um, if, if you've sort of had any thoughts or, or feelings on who they've talked to already. Yeah, I think like there's, there's obviously the want from fans where they see what Byron Lefkowitz has done in Tampa, working with Tom Brady, wanting him to get a shot in seeing Eric B enemy's name, always kind of out there, but never, you know, never truly considered as a, as a finalist for a job wondering, well, why not? Like, why, why has that happened? I think there's a number of different factors for those things, but, you know, we're never going to truly know the whole story. And I, and I'm with you in like Britain, you know, breeding caution,

breeding patience about like, you'll, you could see names floated out there. I mean, Jared Mayo is a name that is now just coming out for Denver. I believe that they had an in-person interview with him. I think another, there might have been another place that was interested in, in getting in on Jared Mayo. And I've heard that there are several candidates who might, if as for the GM job, who he would be on their short list of candidates that they'd reached out to. So like, I think you could potentially see those names pop up later, but you know, seeing what people are doing in the playoffs right now, we always want to put so much weight on that, right? Like how, you know, oh, look how far,

look how far this team went. Like look what Brian Dable and the Bills offense did to Bill Belichick's defense. Like one of the most impressive playoff performances potentially of all time, like in wanting to zero in on those candidates and sure, like they're going to be sought after. It's, it's a big part of why, you know, you're, it's a good thing to be playing in January and it's a good thing to have your product. So other teams that want to hire you as a head coach would potentially want to bring you in. So I, I get it. I think that your point, your point's obviously a valid one. I, and I understand kind of the frustration of fans, but like, I also say caution to like, you know, it's not over yet.

Just because there's eight people that are out there for like initial interviews. I don't think that means that it's over by any stretch. It's long way to go. Would you be comfortable covering a coach with the name Mayo? I don't know about that because I'd have to get his preference on whether he actually likes the food or not, or excuse me, the condiment. But I, I, I, I think I could get past it. I think I'd have to like put that into like, you know, this is just my personal skepticism of your last name because it's the worst condiment of all time. But you know, I think I can get past it. Well, I'll tell you that some of the

most, uh, afraid I've ever been was getting you a sub and disgusting, making sure I didn't get any mayo on it because I thought if I go all the way over to James Johns, get this sub and bring it back and it's got mayo on it, this is just going to be a big problem. Um, so, you know, I, I would be, I'd be worried about that. Maybe it's one of the first questions that you have for him is like, you know, are you OK with me really disliking mayo? I'm OK with it, but you despise it. So anyway, it's disgusting, but condiment takes.

Do you put anything on stuff like mustard or anything else? The only thing I'll put on, if you bring up like Subway is that Sriracha, the spicy Sriracha sauce. I'll do, I say one strip. That's about it on my order there, but everything else, I'm very plain. Always tricky. Always tricky. Like if you say light on the Mayo light on the ranch, it's like, uh, they, they just, they like to load it up. They like to get you your money's worth, but I don't really want a mayo sandwich necessarily. Or a Crisco one. You know, so with us just kind of sitting here and waiting, there's a Mel Kiper mock that I want.

Sure. I don't need Courtney, our draft scout, to really break the open. Don't worry, she's not here yet. I called her and she declined my call. The combine is when she really comes out to play, but we should look at that. I also think that we, because of this firing of Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman and the GM search and everything else that we just haven't talked about some guys and their seasons. And we should do that because we just sort of left it out and their futures as well. I want to start with Delvin Cook with you because I wrote about this the other day about how Delvin cooks futures up in the air. And the first couple of comments that I got were,

Hey, Delvin cook is, is a great player. Why would they move on from him? And, uh, Adrian Peterson didn't fall off until he was in his thirties. So Delvin cook should be good for a long time. And I, you know, Adrian Peterson is an all-time outlier in terms of his age and performance, but I looked back since 2015, how many running backs over the age of 27, which is what he's going to be, uh, have succeeded, have even gained over a thousand yards. And it was like eight or nine. I mean, it's very rare that there are guys even who go into their late twenties. It's so bizarre to talk about like a player in the NFL being only in their late twenties. And that's where the fall off is. But there were some signs this year, I think with Delvin cook, where it just didn't look the same

as it has in previous years, in terms of his burst and his big play ability and his ability to make something out of nothing. And his PFF grade reflected that he graded 19th in the NFL down from second last year. There were more injuries. There were more missed games with Delvin Cook. And I would be very surprised if a new GM came in and said, okay, got to get rid of the star running back. But also it's a little bit of a, of a litmus test for the next GM of how do you feel about your very expensive running back in Delvin cook? Do you think that

there's any chance that they're moving on from him at any time soon? And also just like, how did you feel about his season? I'll start with the second part of your question. I don't think that anybody feels like super great about his season. Yeah. I know he's a pro of your question. I don't think that anybody feels like super great about his season. Yeah. I know he's a pro bowl running back. I think name carries a lot of weight in, in, in that category that that's, that's important. And yeah, he rushed for over a thousand yards, but was there any game outside of the one against Pittsburgh where they had no defense? Like they left their defense at home. I don't know how that happened, but that was just like egregious,

just the way that that game turned out. But was there any other game besides that? Maybe Carolina where you're like, yeah, that's the consistency we've seen from Dalvin Cook. No, like, and that's the thing, I think at this point of his career, where you're going to see him

go in spurts like that, which is important. Like you're not going to see him put up 140 rushing yards a game, every single game. I just, that's just not at this point of his career, knowing what we know with his injuries, knowing what we know with body of work, that's not what you should expect. Like there could be a couple of games where it's like 61 yards rushing,

131 yards rushing, 34 yards rushing, 140 rushing. Like that's what I'm reading you right now is coming straight off of his stats from this year for the first four games and usage for him. You know, they, they kind of, when you look at it, the first two years of his contract, new contract that he got after they gave him the extension in 2020, you kind of have to look back and say, well, because the team didn't get where they wanted to and get to the playoffs, they kind of wasted two of, you kind of have to look back and say, well, because the team didn't get where they

wanted to and get to the playoffs, they kind of wasted two of the most important years where Dalvin Cook's 25 and 26 years old. And now he's going to be playing this season at 27. Like you got to wonder, okay, the value that you have for him going forward. So he's going to be making $8.3 million as a base salary next year. Like remember how they constructed his contract where they would probably end up coming back to the negotiating table two years after. I think that that's probably what the GM is headed for with, with Cook and his representation because he doesn't have any guaranteed money left, which is good. If you do really want to get out of this, there are ways to, but I just don't think

that this team wants to get out of Dalvin Cook like he's still an effective player for them when they when they need him for the most part but I don't think anybody can like look back at this season and say yeah like that was you know the perfect season from Dalvin Cook like he still has not played a full slate in his career and you you have to expect that going forward. Like the anticipation now will never be, oh, well next year he'll play all 17 games. Does any running back play 17 games anymore, given the wear and tear on the body and everything else? No. So I, um, you know, I think that he will be part of the plan, but like, you've got to wonder financially speaking, if he's going to be playing at that number, even though it's going to be hard though to negotiate down considering

where the negotiations were the last time his representation went to the table with the Vikings and how contentious those got that. Um, I just don't, I just don't see him taking any sort of discount, even though he probably is in line too. I just think that would be hard to get there. Folks, we've got an even better offer to tell you about from SodaStick. If you use the promo code PURPLEINSIDER, one word, you can get 15% off your purchase. That's right. At SodaStick.com, your place for Minnesota sports-inspired apparel. You can get 15% off just by using the code PURPLEINSIDER. I've told you about all the great football designs but they've added a few more including the axe is back for minnesota

football fans you can get that on a shirt on a hat and also randy moss is the goat the purple people eaters bud grant designs for the old school fan plus the hockey and basketball teams are both 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. So I know this isn't the right way to do it, but when I look at the teams that are in the playoffs, and you think about their approach to the running back position and you have the Rams, the box, the bills, Kansas city, San Francisco, I mean, green Bay, uh, of course, is an entirely different beast in himself. But even then, he got hurt in some of their biggest and most important games.

And Cincinnati has Joe Mixon. It's just that the running backs aren't driving success. And even though Delvin Cook has had these amazing years, what has it really meant? Their offenses have still ended up being average, even as good as he is. And being able to go back to the negotiating table and move money around is a helpful part of this though we know his representation makes things rather difficult on the franchise at times but the way i look at it is if you're a gm looking to create as much cap space as you can to rebuild this positional value wise from the most efficient economic way to use

every single cap dollar, putting a lot of it into Delvin cook, even as much as they did the last couple of years, which wasn't a ton, but it was four or 5 million. Yeah. It's just not the most effective way to do this. Uh, as good as he was, you also have to ask, what will he be? And do you feel obligated to give him the football and to make him the center of your offense and not say like rotate him with a faster, younger player? Like can I Wong Wu it's unfortunate what has happened to the running back position as an appreciator of the, know old school running backs from whether it was thurman thomas barry sanders era or the sean alexanders of the world or or things like that jamal lewis's um chris johnson's the great running backs of the early 2000s and going into the 2010s

that's just not the game now and we saw this play out over the last few years where it was pay delvin cook, make him the centerpiece of your offense. And yet they made bad decisions on when to give him the ball. Somebody sent me a chart on Twitter the other day about just like them, even when they were deciding to run was inefficient compared to the rest of the league and a lot of the smarter teams. And if you have a running back, that's a major part of your offense and of your cap hit and everything else, there's like a negative impact that you almost don't realize there of having a player who's really good. It's weird. And I understand that's hard to explain, but it makes sense when you think you're obligated to that player, as opposed to if

you had, if you had Kenny Wong Wu, Alexander Madison and draft pick X, you feel like you could just use those guys however you want, whenever you want, as opposed to, no, our offense has to center around Delvin Cook. There's good reason to believe that. And of course, there'll be people who say, no, Delvin's so amazing, he cannot be replaced. Like, okay.

I think there's honestly very few running backs. I mean, take a look at Tennessee. Not saying they didn't want to have Derrick Henry, but didn't they get by okay without him all those weeks since he got injured like on Halloween or whenever it was? Well, they earned the one seed, so. Yeah, so I think they're okay. And you look at his offensive snaps,

the percentage of the offense that went through him this year, starting out the season, he's taken 71% of their snaps and it goes, it fluctuates through like the mid seventies to like the high eighties against Carolina, um, you know, excuse me against yeah. Dallas and Baltimore. And then it goes down and he's at a point at the end of the season where he's averaging like 54% of offense of the snaps, like taking the snaps on offense. And I think that's honestly more of a manageable number for somebody like that, who can still be a big part of your offense, but doesn't have to be like the main part of your offense.

And you think you have to also factor in with a new staff coming in, are they going to want the same sort of approach offensively where it's, I mean, I think we have to kind of like rid ourselves mentally of, okay, Mike Zimmer did it this way. He wanted to run the ball. I, you may have somebody come in who actually does want what balance actually is not what Mike Zimmer's version of it was with the run game. So does Dalvin cook suit the purposes of that, or would you be better suited? Would it be less expensive to go in probably better for, you know, viability reasons too,

with players and injuries and all of that to go a different route where you don't, where you have more of a rotation where honestly, you go back to what they did in 2017 after Cook got hurt and what made them successful there was the rotation that they had between Latavius Murray and Jarek McKinnon and the play that you get out of your fullback too. So there's reason to believe that he doesn't necessarily, he doesn't need to be as big of a focal point of this team where it's like they can't possibly part ways with them.

I think it'd be very hard to see that happening just because of, you know, what he means to this franchise, the role that he has in the offense. He's still, you know, going to only be 27 years old next year playing. And he's got a lot, he's got some mileage left on him. I mean, he signed this massive contract. He didn't anticipate like being off the roster by the third year of it. But I think from a financial perspective, it puts a lot of strain on them with, you know,

the cap hit that he does have next year is $12.01 million. It's a lot of strain on them with, you know, the cap hit that he does have next year is twelve point oh one million dollars. It's a lot for running back. So do they want to try and negotiate that down? Because they've also got to look at Adam Thielen's cap hit is incredibly high. It's almost 17 million dollars. And maybe they go to him and try to get the cap healthy that way. And all the other pieces that you have that are eating up a lot of money. Isn't that the hardest part of this new GM's job aside from the quarterback decision, which is the hardest thing in sports, but it's, you have a lot of inefficient money being spent on players who are really well-liked and Delvin cook is one of them that Delvin cook is up at the top of the list for player jerseys that fans wear that we see in the stands.

And he has endeared himself to the fan base. And maybe some of that shine was taken off by the accusations that came out from his former girlfriend for some people. But, I mean, on the whole, he has been a very popular player. The coaches love him. The teammates love him. All those things. You know, Mike Zimmer was talking about how he's just this great leader and everything else and uh you know he's a legitimate NFL superstar over the last four years and my question is just like what has that

gotten you I mean you brought up that Latavius Murray and Jarek McKinnon were the guys that took them to the NFC championship game like the the best year of the zimmer era was the year that they had just these you know two guys that you could get off the scrap heat of free agency and in the third round was jerick mckinnon um which good for him by the way having the game yeah absolutely pittsburgh we we always enjoyed covering jerick he was one of the like those guys that uh everybody likes being around but you know that's kind of the point about the league. I mean, is Kansas city has the great quarterback and the passing offense, and they just sort of rotate these running backs in and they still have a fairly effective running

game. And you just wonder, is that going to be the philosophy of whoever comes in coach wise and general manager wise, but also if you're the GM and you tell the Wilfs, yeah, one of the first moves is I'm moving on from one of your most popular players. And I mean, this goes for hard. That's really hard. Yeah. I think it also goes for Harrison Smith too, where it's like, well, that's just not a good contract. No, I mean, it's not a good contract. There's a lot of those that if your ownership and you're like, okay, you can't touch X, Y, Z, that's going to make, it's going to make the job of any GM a lot harder if they, if they know that coming in, because like you say, like if there was some sort of, you know, directive from, you know, the higher ups that you can't touch Dalvin cook, like, I feel like you need to have,

and I am not saying that that's like on the table at all, but if, if stuff like that was, that makes the GM job less appealing, you need to like come in here or if there or if there was a directive like trade Kirk Cousins get him out of here we don't want to pay for that anymore and if you had a GM who really believed in Kirk and a coach too that makes it a lot more difficult but I just I feel like there are a lot of pieces here that should, you got to take the emotion part out of it. Daniil Hunter should be somebody that you want to build around, but are you that worried about like him playing seven games over two years and the two injuries that you say, okay, either maybe we'll pick up the $18 million player option and then trade him, or we'll

just cut him before then, before it gets to the point where you have to guarantee that. Harrison Smith, the contract there was absurd. He's 32 years old and his cap hit next year is $14.5 million. That's not smart. It's just like not smart financially for where he's at in his career. Of course, very important piece in this franchise, but he's at the end of, he's nearing the end of his career. I can't envision them paying him that much. So do you renegotiate or do you end up saying, okay, well, thank you, but we're going to end up either trading you while we have value for you or cutting these players. I mean, feeling's another example.

He's meant a lot to this franchise and he's been a great player, but he's making, you know, his, he's already kind of had to go through this before with his contract. And now, you know, he's got a massive cap hit next year. Like they keep doing this where they lower the base salary and they increase, you know, give them a big signing bonus to try to like balance things out. And ownership has been willing to pay for these things. But that being said, I just don't see, there's a lot of hard financial decisions. The team has to come to right away when they bring the GM and head coach in that

are going to determine how the rest of the roster looks going forward. And what a hard thing to say to fans is, hey, yeah, I'm very excited to be here as your new general manager. And boop, boop, boop, the three players that you have their jerseys, they're gone. I think that would be a very tough sell, especially, and this is where I want to know if you, how much you believe Mark Wilf when he says, this is not a rebuild because that points to, we're not getting rid of all of your favorite players. Even if getting rid of some of your favorite players is the efficient and smart thing to do.

And I'm not saying you're a better football team by not having Harrison Smith, but it's just like the Kirk conversation where everything comes with a price. And Harrison Smith has been a great player for them the last two years, not the all pro that he was, but still very good. And they've had two of the worst defenses in the league. Like how valuable is that position? How replaceable is that position? Like that's the league. That's the game is as much as you have your favorites and don't want to see players leave. It's always trying to do that math equation of what does this player bring in terms of their value? How much do they mean? And, you know, even will a new head coach look at that and say, well,

that position doesn't mean as much to my defense as it would have to Mike Zimmer's defense and things like that. Or Mike Zimmer's offensive philosophy of wanting to run first. And that's not how we're going to do it. You know, and there's, there's a lot of things that are moving parts, but I feel like it's a very hard position to be in for the first year for the GM, where they might want to say that's a thing to do after the first year and not come in right away and make your first impression is whoops. We got rid of all

your favorite players. I just feel like that's a really, really hard, it would be bold and I would respect it. I would have a lot of respect for any GM who came in and said, my roster, I'm going to look at the dollars and cents of every one of these players and what they bring in terms of how many points they're worth, how many wins they're worth versus how much we pay them. And I'm going to make those cold, hard decisions. I would respect that a lot. I just think it's not super realistic to think that that's a possibility. No, I mean, politics come into this too, right? Like you may be the GM coming in and think you have carte blanche, but in no building do you, because there's always people who have been there

before you who play into this, like the dynamic and the nuance and all of that has to be, you know, that, that stuff is real when it comes to roster decisions. And that in theory, there might be guys who are untouchable or man, that'd be really hard to move on from that player. Even if you saw, Hey, the finances don't meet, like, don't match up with how productive this player's been. You know, we see that stuff all the time. we shake our head and wonder why is this player still on

this roster well you know there's politics behind that so yes it would be bold for a GM to come in here and just start cutting mowing things down and making his or her stamp on on this roster and that I mean god you saw it in Houston last year, right? Like Nick Casario came in and just mowed that thing down, but they already knew going in that they were headed towards a full rebuild. Yeah. Mark Wolf said that he didn't believe that this team was rebuilding as a GM. You cannot come in here and start going into automatic, like decimate the thing down to the studs rebuild. You have to keep that in mind, considering the guy who's hiring you and ultimately paying your salary said, we want to be competitive, which is so hard when you have to come in and

you're basically given the, Oh, we're just a couple of pieces away from being, being really, really competitive. That, that to me is kind of scary. I think honestly, as a GM, you'd probably want to go into a place that's going through a rebuild or really bad because the only way to go is up when you're stuck in the middle and you're told, hey, we think we have a good roster, sure, you can come in with some honesty and say, no, I don't actually think these parts of the roster are any good or hope that somebody gets to ownership that has the ability to be blunt about it. But yeah, that'd be really difficult to see somebody coming in here and just start trading away or cutting pieces no matter how expensive they are. Right. And I think that if the first

question of a GM interview is how good do you think that the roster is? If I'm doing that interview, I would say there's not a lot here. And I don't know if other GM candidates are telling you there is, but there's not. I mean, there's Justin Jefferson. Of course, that's huge. And there's Irv Smith and there's two tackles that you feel good about. And there's a linebacker you feel really good about. And aside from that, everything else is kind of up in the air. I mean, Delvin Tomlinson is a fine nose tackle and he'll continue to be that through his contract. I don't know what they'll do with Michael Pierce when he was in, I thought he played well, but his total defensive snaps this year was 251. That is not what you paid for.

So, um, you know, I, I just think that if you're telling them the truth is there's a lot that has to be done here because there's so many free agents on the defensive side that we could be a competitive team. You know, you'd be saying we could be a competitive team because of our offense, but you can't have this expectation that you're going to next year because I'm here and not Rick Spielman. All of a sudden it's back into, you know, deep into the playoffs. Like this thing is going to take some time and whether they want to hear that or not, I don't know, because it seems like they, they don't want to take steps back, which makes you wonder, will they say, and I don't think it's the worst thing in the world if they say, we're going to let it play out the first year, kind of how it is with a lot of these guys and then make

the big moves. But then I feel like you're just not seeing down the road, which is the job of the GM is to see down the road. So let me ask you about Daniil Hunter and what you think happens there, because this is a hard one. When he played, he was amazing. I mean, he was just fantastic. Right. And, but it was only 384 snaps in seven games. And that's what seven games in two years. Now, all of a sudden, and this is a sign of us getting old Courtney, Daniel Hunter's not young anymore. Wow.

How weird is that? But he's just not. He is now middle-aged in the NFL and very injured recently and going to still want a lot of money. This is a hard one because again, this is a great player. Yeah. And that roster bonus makes things so tricky. And we thought going into the season well the plan was

going into the season hey Daniil go earn go earn that like make us pick that up and make us make you a high paid defensive end maybe not like the highest but show us where your ceiling is this year or show us how much further you have to go before you can even get there which would be great but he gets hurt against Dallas and he can't play the back half of the season and you have to go before you can even get there, which would be great, but he gets hurt against Dallas and he can't play the back half of the season. And you have to wonder what you're paying for with a player coming off of a neck injury two years ago in a pectoral injury, which is awful for defensive line. And that's like probably worse than the neck.

And it's kind of all the same area too. So you wonder, will there be risk of re-injury? Can you, and are you willing to risk that in bringing Daniil Hunter in keeping him where he's at, you know, picking up the option, extending him the whole thing. Cause if you were to ask me like big picture wise, is, is this one of the cornerstone pieces I'd build around? I'd say yes, because he is still young ish, right? Like, so he's, he's gonna be like late 20s by the time you would think he'd come back and then um you know like what 27 ish 27 28 i don't have it like exactly

in front of me but that's still really he's really young like and so okay like you think all right pick up the option extend him them out, make, give them a big contract. So then like 28, 29, 30, maybe he's like hitting kind of like the peak of his career at that point. Cause we know defensive linemen can do that. Like they, they don't, they don't like peak at like 23, 24 years old. It takes them a while. So, you know, you're, you'd have many of his best years still yet to come, but it worries me just with the injuries. So this one's the hard one, but honestly, I know it's not going to be popular. I would say goodbye. If I'm the new GM coming in, I am

looking at this contract. I'm looking at like what the defense is from like a realistic perspective. Like I know Mark Wolf said that he thinks the team's still going to be competitive next year. The defense needs to like invoke a full rebuild. Maybe you're not rebuilding on your, on your offense. If you keep Kirk cousins, if you do all these other things, the defense has a long ways to go. And yeah, it's frustrating because they poured in $46 million of guaranteed money last year in the contracts that didn't help the defense return to form. They're 31st overall. You have to make changes. So I think this is a tough one. But financially, if you want to get your cap healthy and be thinking about 2023, this would

be one of the first ones that I do. I mean, well, Harrison Smith is the first one that I would do. As much as I like and respect Harrison Smith as a player, I think that that's just the price that he's at right now is astronomical and they can't afford it. This would unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, but this would be my second one. Sometimes I feel like a bit of a soulless jackal when we're talking about this stuff. It's hard when you have to look at finances and production and all of that. And of course, again, politics and nuance play into this, but this would not be an easy decision for any general manager coming in. Well, and I look at Daniil Hunter too, and think about Khalil Mack and, and, you know,

Chicago trades for Khalil Mack and they were thinking they were going to be ready to win at that point. And you're like, okay, great. I mean, that's, that's a great player. He's, I mean, the player at that position in the NFL. And then, you know, the minute that their defense slipped a little bit around him, all of a sudden the defense isn't quite as dominant. He's still fantastic, but he's not bringing that defense up to that elite level by himself. So they lost a couple of corners. Then it's not the same. And then you're paying him quarterback money and then they can't rebuild their offensive line because they're paying so much to Khalil Mack and then he gets injured and it's not quite the same, even though he's still very good. It's like, man, there's

always this difficult push and pull because players will be in their prime, but you can look down the road a little. And Las Vegas blew a lot of different things with Mike Mayock as their GM. And he got fired for, I think, good reason, especially the drafting. But I think that the trade and maybe Mayock wasn't there then it was Gruden and Reggie McKenzie possibly, but the trade of Khalil Mack was a smart one. It was really unpopular. Everyone ripped them for it, but it ended up being a smart one. If they had done anything with their draft capital that they got back and not drafted, Not like overdrafted players. Yeah. A running back.

Alex Leatherwood or all the other ones, all the other first rounders that they had that year, they could, yeah, that was bad. So bad. But if they hit on those, then all of a sudden that roster is unbelievable this year, as opposed to they drafted a running back in the first round. But I mean, that's how you have to look at it

is sort of harshly in that way of, well, look at this Khalil Mack deal. And I think it worked. It should have worked out better for Vegas had they not had this horrendous process when it came to drafting, but not paying him and locking themselves in. And then here comes another guy. They get Yannick Ngakwe at a very reasonable price. Max Crosby shows up and starts sacking everyone. And you go, oh, yeah, well. He's an all-pro player this year, right?

There are, there are other people who can do this job. And, you know, I think there's an abundance of them, you know, coming out in the draft every year and in free agency, you can usually get them. Trey Hendrickson is a good example there. So it's a, it's a tricky one though, because you talk about players that we respect. I mean, Daniel Hunter is all the way up at the top. That's just like the hard part. Like the, Daniel Hunter is all the way up at the top. That's just like the hard part, like the, the hardest decisions they have to make. It's not like there's anybody

here who, when they are talking about redoing the culture and fixing things, like all of these players are on that leadership council, like an Eric Kendricks, you know, Adam Thielen, those are the ones who meet with ownership about what's going on with the team, what's wrong, what needs to get changed. And now you might be pushing those pieces out of the equation. Like that just, that's just seems like so difficult. I, I don't envy the job of the GM coming in because of how tough that's going to be. Like in theory, all of it makes sense, but politically speaking, and then you also worry like Daniil, for example, if he goes somewhere else and is an all pro player and you let that guy walk out of your building, of course, it's always going to be in the back of your mind

that he works out somewhere else that he doesn't work out in Minnesota. And what does that say about you guys that you traded him away? Like could be, I mean, before giving him a chance to be with the new staff. But edge rushers are basically quarterbacks with the price that they cost now. And that's what's it's caught up. I mean, they're talking 20 something million for some of these guys. And if you make a mistake on one and not that it's destroyed Kansas city, but they're Frank Clark, uh, contract where he just, you know, was good maybe for the first year and then fell off after that, it's been really restrictive for them to build some other parts of their roster. So I do have a mock draft.

It is from Mel Kiper. And here's where I want to start out is the pick right before the Vikings is football team. And he has football team taking Malik Willis from Liberty. And I just want Mel Kiper's confidence in Malik Willis, like have confidence about someone you love like this. So he says that um he he loves willis he says the more tape that i watch of his past two seasons and the more i talk to evaluators in the league the more i like him willis is the most talented

quarterback in the class he didn't always get to show that at liberty which didn't have much nfl talent around him but this is a dual threat signal caller. I love how, I love how Mel writes, just like he, he talks, um, he rushed for 1800 yards, 27 touchdowns last two years and has a powerful arm.

And he says, I'm really excited to see him compete against the other top QBs at the senior bowl. Um, so right before the Vikings go, he's got Washington taking Malik. Willis is the first quarterback off the board. What's your thought on that?

That the first quarterback off the board is a guy who's a raw talent with a huge arm and can run. And it's in the middle of the first round. It's not top three. Yeah, I was surprised that he was the first one, right? Like, did we all not think it's going to be, do we all still not think it's going to be Kenny Pickett? Like this is the time of year where that stuff, the jockeying for seats starts happening. And if somebody has a great performance at the senior bowl or the East West shrine game or any of these other things that could potentially impact this in a big way but I don't

know I mean I don't know if you look at him as more of like a project or you know there's just the quarterback class is just so bleak this year I'm sorry you have to look at Liberty and you know who they play and yeah I know he put up absurd numbers last year and like that's great and everything but does that translate to the nfl does it translate to being somebody that you could build a franchise around i don't know like and so you know there's a lot of teams that you also have to think about like washington they need a quarterback right are they going to be getting in the mix for any of the potential veterans that are going to be on the market or want to be out of their current place via a trade like i throw out

like an aaron rogers maybe a cut i mean you can kirk's not going back to washington but like in that same group of people who still have time left on their contracts um like a russell wilson or anybody like that it might be considering moving on. I don't know. So maybe that's why he has them from what he's heard behind the scenes that Washington isn't going to look to go get somebody else. And the market's really bleak this year for backup for veteran quarterbacks and in the draft too. I just am surprised that he has him being the first one going. Yeah.

I think, you know, Sam Howell, Kenny Pickett, there's a real debate here that's going to happen over the next whatever couple of months about these quarterbacks to Trey Lance and then they told everybody, Oh no, no, no, no. You guys didn't know anything like, well, was that the case? Or did you read what everyone wrote about your idea of taking Mac Jones and trading that much for him, which in the Mac Jones take, that was a key part of it is that the Vikings wouldn't have to trade anything for him. And I think that that is key to here. If they are going to take

quarterback, you let Washington take a guy ahead of you. You don't trade up. You don't spend additional draft capital because they flushed some draft capital with Chris Herndon. They have three sixths, but other than that, it's a one, two, three, and then fifth this year. So it's not like you've got all this draft capital that you can just spend to move up and so many positions to fill. If you're drafting a quarterback, you got to do it at 12 and just wait and see how the board plays out. Now who Mel Kiper has them taking is sauce gardener. Come on. Uh, I thought that was hilarious. Amazing. What a mod sauce gardener from Cincinnati. I think some people just took them off the draft board entirely for the

nickname, but he Mel Kiper talks about, he thought about putting a quarterback here, but said basically, you know, they've got no corners. I also think that if they draft a corner in the first round, people will be like, wait, what did they call Zimmer? Like what? I think, I mean, we're going to know so much more in the coming weeks because if they trade Kirk cousins, then this is a quarterback pick. Like there's

just no other choice to go in the first round. Unless what if, what if they trade Kirk and they get a quarterback back in the package? Right. Like if it's a Derek Carr, for example, or, I mean, I'm just, I'm just spit balling, but I, gosh, I mean, I, I wouldn't want to like waste waste. I use that word loosely because I don't think it's ever a waste to draft a quarterback, but if you drafted one that you just didn't like because he was there. Yeah. Scary. Yeah. You want somebody that you can fully buy into and build your franchise around, not someone you're just taking just because, so you have to be on the same page. That's what's always tricky because the analytical dead inside way to do this is if we were doing it all by computer is just pick

whoever is there, but you have everybody in a building that has all their opinions on every quarterback. So if you have a new coaching staff that doesn't like Kenny Pickett, but the GM wants him, and then you're starting out on the first step. And this is what happened in Chicago with Trubisky. I'm not saying Trubisky would have been good, but Nagy didn't like Trubisky and the GM drafted him. And so right from day one, it's Nagy trying to put his offense with a quarterback that didn't fit very well with that offense. And it never worked. You don't want that. You would rather wait than have that situation. But at the same time, what does a corner do here? Does a corner change your franchise

as opposed to what a quarterback could do if he works out? Of course, the answer is no. Yeah, we always have that discussion. I mean, if we're talking need-based, though, for this new GM coming in, again, it's how competitive do you think you're going to be next year? I mean, yes, ownership thinks one thing, but ownership's not the ones who are actually evaluating the roster on a daily basis. Now, as the GM, your job is to convey where everything stands to ownership and give them a realistic view on things and not sell them on a dream that they think we're, oh, we are only a couple of pieces away. If you're drafting a quarterback at that

spot, you are not a couple of pieces away. You're not even a couple of pieces away right now. Like I still think this is a very, very good job in terms of the talent you have on the roster, but I don't see NFC championship for this team next year. I don't, I think that you have to go through a full rebuild on defense, which by, by way of this pick kind of signifies that that's where you're going, not just retooling and reworking things that you have a long way to go. Right. Yeah. I agree. I agree. Because even if you draft quarterback this year, unless the guy is instantly the best quarterback in the league, you're talking about having to fill a lot of these positions over years and develop players. I mean, the Vikings started drafting to rebuild their defense that peaked at number one

in 2017, really in 2012 is when they started drafting those guys when Harrison Smith was taken. And then you have, you know, after that Xavier Rhodes comes in and then it's Anthony Barr and then it's Eric Hendricks and Daniil Hunter. And like, there was this process to be able to build a great defense. You can still be competitive and you can still be very good, but you can't build this elite defense just like right away. So it's going to take time and we'll see if they actually understand that. Now I have a game to end our show. Okay.

So this is called the late Christmas game because I was at home yesterday, just, you know, doing my thing, doing some work and a package arrived at my door. And that package had a Christmas present that was slowly shipped or whatever. It might've, it actually might've been a book that didn't come out until after Christmas that I was bought. That was bought for me for Christmas. Right? So a late Christmas gift showing up in the middle of January. What I would like you to do is I would like you to gift the Vikings things from the remaining teams. That is not a quarterback. Like obviously you would gift the Vikings Brady, but to give you an example, let's say that you gifted the Vikings Tennessee's ability to find interior pass rush or something like that, like taking from the teams

and gifting them that are remaining and gifting things to the Vikings. Does that make sense? Late Christmas game. Late Christmas game. I mean, I can, i can wish for whatever i want right you can you can take anything from any of the teams except their quarterbacks yeah and give them to the vikings give that it could be something about hey i'm gifting you the bills fans jumping through a flaming table so you'll have that outside that sounds that's gonna wear people that's gonna wear people out very dangerous very different tailgate culture sounds very violent yeah honestly the more i think about it like i want to give the vikings a gift on offense because it just kind of feels like the offense did its job and its little brother the defense this year kept getting in the way

and screwing things up and, you know, wrecked everything, right? Like, I'm taking that perspective of it here, and it's like, man, like, we know you tried hard. We know that you just couldn't get it done. You did your job. That's fine. I would give the offense the interchangeability with the run game.

Well, first off, the weapons that Kansas City has, but also the interchangeability with the run game. Well, first off the weapons that Kansas city has, but also the interchangeability with the run game that they're going to be okay. If Dalvin cook can't go because look at what happens, what happened with Clyde Edwards, a layer. He's been out for multiple games this season. Darrell Williams was a non-factor last week. I think he fumbled and that was the last play that he was in the game for

right. The one that there was a scoop and score by TJ watt. All right. And he had been hurt too. And that was the last play that he was in the game for, right? The one that there was a scoop and score by TJ Watt. And he had been hurt too. So they never like panic. And I know the Vikings say they don't panic. It's like, oh, we have Alexander Madison. Well, I'm sorry. Alexander Madison has not been very good for you in the times this year where he's had to fill in for Dalvin Cook aside from like the Lions game.

And even then he nearly cost you the game with the fumble and, you know, in your own red zone. But I, um, I think that that's something as far as like having, having a tight end, it looks like Travis Kelsey. You don't have that currently. Maybe that's, that's that when Irv Smith comes back next year, Justin Jefferson's your star wide receiver. That's wonderful. He can be your Tyree kill in this example. Do you have a third pass catcher? Well, they have that, that role is interchangeable in that offense in Kansas city. So that's a good sign for them going forward, but the interchangeability of the run game to still be able to like lean on

that element of your offense, when your star goes down, kind of bringing it back to the whole Dalvin cook conversation we had earlier, I would go with that. Yeah. And you could say the same thing for San Francisco, that either one of those teams running back, you can, I should have just gifted them a Swiss army knife. I mean,

didn't you get those? It's I got one in my stocking when I was a kid, like when those were actually like things like, and that basically is Debo Samuel in the way that I, everybody wants a Debo Samuel. Yeah. Oh, yes.

Everyone does. Yes. A big bow on his forehead and a Debo Samuel. Yeah. Oh, yes. Everyone does. Yes. Bowen is forehead and be like, okay. Yeah. I don't, that's, that's one that's a,

that's out at the store. They don't have that at the store. There's only one. There was only one. It was custom made. It's Debo Samuel. The last guy like that was Percy Harvard, but I love it though.

Gifting them the ability to believe in all of their running backs is something that San Francisco and Kansas city have. I am going to gift them, uh, the offensive line of the Los Angeles Rams, because this is something that always goes under the radar. Uh, when you talk about the Los Angeles Rams and their success in recent years, when they were at their best and went to the super bowl, their offensive line was very good. And it certainly helped Jared Goff a lot, somebody who doesn't have much mobility. And then, you know, when we're talking about this year, they haven't run the ball particularly well, but they've protected Stafford really well. And that's been a major part of it. I mean, even with Sony Michelle in there,

we saw it against the Vikings where their offensive line was able to push the Vikings around and be versatile when they had to be, even though they want to run the ball all the time. And so I gift them the Rams ability to spot good offensive linemen, especially on the interior. It feels like that they rebuild it really quick, even though they lost a few of their key guys and they just found other dudes to put in there. So I gift them and the next GM and head coach, the ability to find dudes on the interior of the offensive line. I mean, has that not been like their wish every year? And Santa's like, okay, I'll get you next year on that for years. But also Santa is willing to, to, to help you out on your wishlist and, you know, push edge as long as you put the effort in to do that.

I think that with this new general manager, one way to win the fans, one way to in the introductory press conference, that we your staff is going to we're going to build within like we're going to build from the inside out from the trenches out because that will win the fan base over because a lot of people and they wouldn't be wrong felt like rick spielman neglected the offensive line yeah the best part the better part of you know his tenure as general manager since 2012 um i i can't I can't fault people for that. So I think that that's probably the way that you go in and sell that to the fans and all of that. So yeah. Okay. Gift them one more and then I've got one more. Um, I would probably gift them the creativity of a Brian Dable with their new, with their new

offensive coordinator, whether their OC is not calling plays, whether it's the head coach, whatever, like that touchdown, the last touchdown that went to the left tackle, like just screwing around there in a wild card playoff game. Like I just love the play design. I love what happened with Bill's offense this year. And that's something too, where they had to get creative because Devin Singletary is not enough to

carry that run game. When your quarterback's your best running back, it's kind too, where they had to get creative because Devin Singletary is not enough to carry that run game. When your quarterback's your best running back, it's kind of, you know, that's not always great because it's putting so much weight on Josh Allen. But the fact that he had to throw 24 passes, I believe it was, and he was effective in the run game too, because he was also getting contributions from the other running back. That's just good play design. That's just good overall scheming of what you can do offensively. So I like that. I think that that's something that they certainly missed this year. And I don't anticipate that the new head coach coming in

is going to want to keep a lot of the pieces on the offensive coaching staff. I know that Clint Kubiak already interviewed with Carolina. Do I think he gets the job there? No. Matt Rule's probably going to hire somebody that he knows, somebody that he's worked with. We've already seen people turning down that job anyways, which should tell you about the state of the Carolina Panthers. But no, I think that creativity offensively is like it with the play calling. Let's start over fresh with that, shall we? Shall we we not carry over the demons from the Mike Zimmer era of pound the rock, balance, which he really meant, run more? Maybe we can actually go into this and just truly wipe the slate clean

where you have people who have polar opposite views offensively for what works and what doesn't. I think offensive creativity is a great gift, whether you're giving it from Buffalo or Los Angeles, or there's a few other teams here that you could say it for as well, that it is felt like an antiquated offense that in 2019 had some elements, but the last two years, not so much. I will finish it off here by gifting them a late Christmas gift of the excitement of once tortured franchises,

the excitement of jumping through said burning tables in your pregames for Buffalo fans and Cincinnati fans who had not won a playoff game since 1991. I heard our friend Eric Eager tell a funny story that he was in the stands and when they walked out, a woman screamed, we're going to the Superbowl. And he's like, well, ma'am, that's not how this works exactly. But I could see because your team has not made the playoffs for so long. Right. I'm sure she was just excited, but like, that's, it's sort of a funny, like these franchises, Buffalo and Cincinnati have been down for so long and have gone through so much. And the Vikings have been much more competitive than them. It wasn't been like 20 years of just pure hell. But I mean, when we look at the number of playoff

wins since Favre was here, it's not very many. What is it? Two? I mean, that's not good. That's not a lot. That's a lot of pain that people have gone through. And when you go into divisional weekend, feeling like you're a team that's been down for a long time and finally you're there and finally you have a chance and really feeling like they have a chance, by the way. I mean, there's just something about that. There's something about that that's different from the Brady or Rogers that has the pressure to win the Super Bowl every year, or Mahomes being the team that has sort of gone through it and then come back, I gift the Vikings that for the future. I like that.

I mean, it's optimism. Everybody wants optimism, right? Like they're starting clean. I think there'd be a lot less optimism in this franchise if they had a holdover from the previous regime, which would have been Rick Spielman. Yes. Now, I do think that there is some skepticism about the team getting the higher

right, because they don't really, you know, they don't, I don't know who's advising. I mean, I, I know who's advising on the football side. I don't know if you really have like a whole ton of confidence that, you know, this internal search is going to get it right. If it really is just like an Andrew Miller, who's the COO. Like if he's, if he's the one who has like the biggest say here, or if Rob Brzezinski, Ryan Munnins, and Jamal Stevenson can bring their football personnel perspective and have that weigh heavier than

the chief operating officer, I get the skepticism there. But there's a lot more optimism now than there was maybe going into this realizing Zimmer's gone, but they might be keeping Rick Spielman. This is a clean slate approach. So optimism should be pretty high. I agree. It would have felt very bleak if we were talking about continuing the guy who pulled the strings to build the roster that failed over the last four years. So great stuff, Courtney, always good to get together with you and um you know maybe a week from now we'll have some finalists or something and we can start kind of whittling it down to uh what what's going to happen next for the vikings yeah that'd be fun