Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - ESPN's Courtney Cronin talks Danielle Hunter on IR, Dalvin Cook without a contract -- so now what?

Episode Date: September 10, 2020

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make a difference but instead the Minnesota Vikings will never ever allow us to have a day to have an average regular old podcast together because Daniil Hunter was put on injured reserve and Delvin Cook still doesn't have a deal so where do you want to start with this we should probably start with the hunter news just because it is i mean in a very newsworthy day it's probably the biggest news so far but really it shouldn't be a surprise to many people because he hasn't practiced for nearly a month and you know if we want to take dr. Zimmer's um you know words of uh encouragement advice what you want to say like oh yeah I anticipate that he'll play this week well I anticipate the world could end tomorrow so I mean you can anticipate a whole lot um in 2020 I'm not

sure you want to test fate there I don't want to but just, you know, it's the whole way that the way this whole situation was handled just is mind-boggling, and nobody should be surprised, though, that this is the outcome here. I mean, it's basically like anytime Mike Zimmer says he expects someone to practice or expects someone to play a game, think the opposite. So I did this the other day. If people listened to the last podcast with Myron Medcalf, there were a couple times where Myron alluded to Daniil Hunter playing against Green Bay, and I edited them out because I was like, I just don't trust that Mike Zimmer is telling us the truth. So I thought, I'm going to take that out so it doesn't look bad like a day from now, and then there you have it. He ends up on IR.

And that was the part of it that surprised me, Courtney, not that he wasn't going to play against the Green Bay Packers. I think we had a pretty good sense for that as we went along. Like even Daniil Hunter, even the freakiest of the freaky, cannot play NFL football after missing all of camp and not even like ramping up, not even doing things on the side. Normally, if someone was rehabbing, we would have seen them on the side field working out and getting better, but we didn't see that from Hunter. So week one was a real long shot for

me. But now at least three weeks that Daniil Hunter has to sit out. And who knows if that ends up being more than that. That was the part that I said, okay, this was really serious. And yes, they did know how serious it was for a long time. They've known. That's the thing. This is something that's been monitored for a while. And I know that even way back when, when Mike Zimmer said it's a little tweak and that it's up to Eric Sugarman, their head athletic trainer,

when Daniil Hunter would return. You knew then that it was something that was probably in luck. Like I will, you know, my sources all along have been very consistent in that this is a precautionary measure. It's not like he has something that's going to be a season ending injury, but you don't, it's, it's his neck. So that's a really serious part of the body that you just don't want to play with or just don't want to leave to chance. So I understand the short-term

IR essentially. It's like a 21-day DL. I think it's what Bruce Arians called it. It makes sense, but he can't play for three games at minimum. he be back for the Houston game it's going to depend how this thing progresses but you're right we haven't seen him do anything like even when I was inside for practice today like they go through stretching and he comes out during the individual period and he's just doing some I don't know what he called calisthenics like he was stretching with Mark Uyema on the side and you know not really going through a whole ton of vigorous motion. So, I mean, we haven't seen him run. We haven't seen him do anything other than team stretching.

But even this week they've scaled that back. And obviously with him and the IR designation, he's now going to have some time to work through that injury. But I think that him going on IR now, it's not like season's over type injury because you do have the short – it's not eight weeks. It's not, you know, half the season. Like, he'll be back, but it certainly is a blow to your pass rush

right as you thought, hey, things are getting good here because you got unique in Gawkway. I think it's kind of twofold. Like, it definitely – you got in Gawkway um I think it's kind of twofold like it definitely you got in Gawkway because he was available and you wanted to shore up your pass rush but also you could hint to the fact that Daniel Hunter was not going to be ready to go for week one even back then two weeks ago so this kind of made a few things make sense that every time we asked anyone about oh well you've got in Gawkway and Hunter now I mean this is a pretty good combination we would get yeah well I think so like there were very muted responses to how awesome at

football Yannick Ngakwe is and usually they're really excited to talk about the new shiny toy that's coming to town and there was a lot of hesitation there which made it feel like some people thought this is just trying to put dots together, no one has said this specifically, that they only traded for Ngakwe because of Hunter, and I don't see it necessarily that way. I mean, it makes sense that they would need someone else to come in here and be a pass rusher if Hunter was going to be out, but if it isn't a super long-term injury, you're talking about someone who is under the age of 26, who you could lock up for a long time and have this combination. So I think it makes sense in the short and long term. The question I have is, is it only going to be three weeks? Because he is so not anywhere close to football at this moment. He has had no ramp up period at all. When he does return, what version of Daniil Hunter are we going to see? It's not going to be the one who plays

every single snap in Houston, I don't think. I would guess this is a half a season type thing because we've seen injuries from guys like Mike Hughes or Latavius Murray where they had off-season surgeries or issues where they couldn't fully participate in camp it set them way back they were not the same person for quite a long time I would expect that that's going to be the issue with Daniel Hunter that he won't be himself really until the second half of the season assuming that he is even coming back in the first half of the season so now my question is now what like now what is the answer on the left side at defensive end? Because I don't know if it's as simple as, hey,

just have Afadi Odenabo play there. He has not played there. No one has played there because Daniel Hunter is always there. Yeah, behind him on the depth chart is Jalen Holmes and then Eddie Yarbrough, and behind Yannick Ngakwe is Afadi Odenabo. So you'd think logically, well, if Afadi was in line to be a starter this year before the trade, why wouldn't you just move him over and have him play Daniil's spot?

Is it easier said than done? I mean, it sounds like it because that's not, you know, I'm not saying it can't be done. Ifadi's moved around a whole lot, and Jalen Holmes and Eddie Yarbrough did split reps there throughout training camp. But I just think that to – I mean, that's going to make Ngakwe's job a lot harder when he's going from, you know, standing as a defensive end in a 4-3 last year to having his hand in the dirt this year.

I mean, he's still learning how to – he's learning this defense. He just got here. So, I mean, it's kind of like you're going to be throwing a whole hell of a lot more at him, and at the same time, all the attention is going to go his way on that left side of the offensive line that's going to be trying to throw a tight end over there. You know, they're going to be using multiple guys to try to block him. It's going to be using multiple guys to try to block him. It's going to be tough. So how this team, like, you can't force Aaron Rodgers to play the way you want Aaron Rodgers

to play when you have such a young secondary if you can't pressure him up front the way that you want to and the way that you expect to. And I think that is going to be their hardest thing this weekend. If you, you know, if you put a Fadi Odenabo there, if you put Jalen Holmes there, I think either way, it's still going to be very, very tough to pressure this quarterback because, you know, they're still trying to, and it's not even just that. Like Aaron Jones is a very good running back. Like how does this affect the run defense is my question.

I think that's going to hurt Hunter, having Hunter, like not playing, if that affects going to be even more because Yannick Ngakwe is not very good against the run. He's a finesse pass rusher that's what he's good at and you know defending the run and getting dirty up there is just not his thing now do we think Shamar Steffen can hold his own I mean I think I'd like to think he's better at nose tackle than he is as a three technique but this is a team that sets up a lot of their play action off of what they do with Aaron Jones and their other running backs so that's going to be a really tough test, I think, for this front seven. The linebackers are going to have their work cut out for them.

So there's the short term this week and then the long term. You mentioned Aaron Rodgers. Last year, week two, Aaron Rodgers had 17 dropbacks where he was not pressured. He went 17 for 17 with 143 yards, two touchdowns when they did not pressure him. And then in the week 16 game, he went 21 for 29 when he was not pressured. If you give Aaron Rodgers time to throw, he is going to shred you. I don't care how washed we talk about Aaron Rodgers being. The only thing that kept them in both games was the fact that they were able to pressure him,

especially week two, Everson Griffin dominated that game. I had it go through my mind that they could play Yannick Ngakwe on the other side because he has before, and then keep Afadi Adenabo in the same spot. Because even though Adenabo is a guy who's moved around, it's moved around over a guard and practiced throughout entire training camp at the right defensive end position. It would be a lot to ask him to move over to the other side, or you're going to play Jalen Holmes there on early downs and hope that he helps you stuff the run because he does go about 280 pounds. So he's a bigger guy than Odenabo. I don't think any of

these options are very good at all. And it seems to me that when you get into, well, hey, the way to pressure Rodgers then is going to be through blitzes and so forth. A lot of times the veteran quarterbacks are good against blitzes, though. And so that makes it really difficult to just say, oh, well, blitz them. Right, but if you blitz in the wrong situation and they run instead or throw a screen behind you, we've seen the Vikings take advantage of that. Then you're talking about giving up a lot of big plays.

This is a game changer. If they had not gotten Ngakwe, I would have been more confident that Daniil Hunter could dominate the pass rush on his own than I am with Ngakwe. Even though I think Ngakwe's good, Hunter is so much more of an all-around player. I was already expecting Ngakwe in this game to only play like 35 or 40 snaps, and now it's like, oh, not only do you have to work yourself in, you've got to be the guy who is responsible for beating David Bakhtiari, one of the best left

tackles in the league, and dominating this game. And that would be the case for me to move Ngakwe to the other side. So he's not going up against Bakhtiari, but rather mystery right tackle X that Matt LaFleur won't tell us who it is. I think that trying to take advantage of that matchup with someone who has rushed from both sides before is a better idea than just sticking Jalen Holmes in at that left defense event. Yeah, especially, I mean, like they obviously kept Holmes on the roster and, you know, all this kind of makes sense now, right? When you think about, oh, it's just a tweak. Well, why'd they keep 11 defensive linemen on the roster? Well, clearly they knew they were going to inactivate, or excuse me, that's how tired I am. They're going to make one of them on IR. And now you're down to 10.

Like you need that depth because it's just not a lot of proven quality depth. I mean, yeah, they got reps in at camp. But do you trust Jalen Holmes in that situation? Do you trust, I mean, I would trust Eddie Yarbrough more. He's had more playing experience. I mean, Holmes could be good. But do you, I mean, what's the path of least resistance here? Is it starting a Fadi Oden about the position he was playing all throughout training camp? Is it moving unique in Gawkway? Is it keeping Gawkway there? I mean, you're right. He's probably, there's probably going to be quite a rotation there as with our edge rushers,

because you can't anticipate that guy who started practicing for the first time all of 2020 last Thursday is going to be 100% up to speed. Like, I don't care how much he's in the building and, you know, how much of the playbook he's in and staying late and all the great things that Mike Zimmer said about him. I'm just trying to be realistic about this. This is not somebody who's going to be, it's not somebody who knows the ins and outs of the defense and the checks and the calls and everything. I mean, that stuff takes time. It's institutional knowledge that he just doesn't have yet. And, you know, I'm very curious to see how Andre Patterson wants to play this because you know how many times have they

talked about in the past oh we want a defensive line rotation well now's your chance you can finally put that into action if you can really do it yeah really I'm not even being a smartass about that that's the time you can actually do that except you lost Steven Weatherly who was a key part of whatever defensive rotation you had last year, defensive line rotation, and you've never really built it out. I mean, so they tried this year drafting Kenny Willikies and DJ Wanham. Willikies is hurt. DJ Wanham, we didn't see a whole heck of a lot of in training camp working with the second and none working with the first team, which to me indicates that he's a guy that's not going to get that many opportunities to get on the field. But, you know, just in yesterday's podcast, Myron Medcalf and I were talking about how if they get one significant injury, there is a domino effect, similar to how we said there's a

domino effect of Ngakwe in a good way. But in injuries, this team is so short on depth in many different spots that it goes the opposite way. They don't even have any backup safeties. I mean, the only thing you can really lose would be a linebacker because Eric Wilson is good. But aside from that, I mean, you are now asking Eric Hendricks and Anthony Barr and Anthony Harris and Harrison Smith to be the defense, and Yannick Ngakwe, because you're getting probably really questionable play from all of the other positions, unless these corners really stand up and surprise us and come out and are just outstanding from the very get-go. But I was expecting a learning curve from these guys

because they have to play good quarterbacks here. Yeah, I mean, look at their five-week stretch. They open the season with Aaron Rodgers, and then it's, you know, Ryan Tannehill's no slouch. I mean, I would throw Phillip Rivers in there, but just for the sake of this, I won't. Deshaun Watson, Russell Wilson, like, you have a really good stretch there. In the first five weeks,

it's really going to show you what you have with your cornerback group. Like, yeah, they look good in camp, but they're also going against their own offense every single day, and you're going to get tested. Aaron Rodgers is no slouch. Like, I know that we think he's washed at certain points, but he's going to see Cam Dantzler go in there and he's going to pick him apart or at least attempt to. So I think that's one of those situations where you just kind of have to temper your expectations to think that these defensive backs might not be able to hold their own as well as at least as anticipated. That's just being a realist about it. Like, you know, as Harrison Smith told us yesterday, and even Eric Kendricks

today talking about that internal clock, like, you know, the way that Rodgers plays now at what is he 36? Yeah, almost 37. almost 37 is probably different than the way he played when he was in his early 30s like we get that but he's still able to improvise he still can move in and out of the pocket and he can make plays on the run he can do he can extend drives the way that he's he's done his entire career but the way to beat him in a lot of places is making him play you know make him step up into the pocket and make a throw take away his personnel on the outside I mean he's got limited personnel to begin with since he doesn't have many weapons to throw to so they're going to rely heavily on that run game it just makes sense and you know it's just it's really

it really makes that job tough for the people on the back end of that defense. I mean, Harrison Smith, my like, here's like, you know, like brain exploding onto the table right now. They still have two safeties on the roster. That's it. Did you know that? Because it buried within the Dalvin Cook stuff and the Daniil Hunter is they haven't made a move for a safety yet. So I don't know what

they're doing there um but that is the pressure that's going to put on those safeties to pick up the slack for the cornerbacks is going to be immense and it's only week one and everybody's conditioning sure they feel like they're you know ready to go all that it's only been a month though of seeing guys in actual football you, football mode where they're doing football things. And everybody's together on the field as a team and all that. Like, I expected the play to be rusty to begin with. I think everybody did. But now you throw in another, you know, another hurdle into this equation.

I think it's going to be really tough on Sunday, especially on the back end of that defense, when you're not getting the help from the pass rush up front to keep him high and, you know, try to, you know, pressure him as much as you can. I want to remind you to go to sodastick.com to get your original Minnesota sports inspired goods. They just launched their official collaboration with Bud Grant. Yes, Bud Grant. You can now get your official Bud Grant shirt and Man Cave art print. If you haven't seen it yet, you have to check it out, and we're going to hook you up with free shipping for your order.

Use code PURPLEINSIDER for free shipping. That is SOTASTICK, S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com, original Minnesota sports-inspired goods. Code PURPLEINSIDER for free shipping. I think what we'll see is them activate the two backup safeties on the practice squad. Yeah, they have to. Right. And then after week one, they'll look at signing other people because then you don't have to

pay those guarantees if it doesn't work out with the way that the CBA works. So I wouldn't even be surprised. We'll find out how serious Hunter is because Ziggy Ansah is still a free agent. There's a couple other guys who are pass rushers who are like, would they look at somebody else to bring in? And if they do, if they brought in someone like Ziggy Ansah, then you have to say, okay, this might actually be pretty serious. So we'll see kind of how that progresses. But you know, I'm actually a little surprised that you have not pimped a home run like Sammy Sosa in 1998 here. And I don't mean that you had the report that it is a neck injury for Danielle Hunter and that you have been banging the drum on this show and previous iterations of this show for an interior pass rusher,

for somebody at the three-technique position to bring to this team what Sheldon Richardson did in 2018 and Tom Johnson did in the past because it's valuable. And now you have Jaleel Johnson and you have maybe Armond Watts. We'll see how much he plays. I think that it will eventually become a lot that Armond Watts plays, but they didn't go out and they didn't get one of those people. They didn't draft them.

They didn't trade for them. They didn't sign them. And now you're looking at it going, okay, well, if you're one edge rusher can't pressure the quarterback, then basically no one can. It's like, what do you expect? Like all of it to go from like one side of the defensive line and then everything else just like spits out the other side.

Of course, Rodgers is going to roll away from that one side and throw down to Devontae Adams, wherever the heck he is on the other side of the field. But it just looks, yes, that's what's going to happen because you didn't prioritize that position. And I understand that they felt they needed to replace Linville Joseph and it's very unfortunate what happened that Michael Pierce had to you know opt out of the season because of coronavirus but you know now you're kind of in a predicament like can

Jaleel Johnson be more than what he was and more than what he is like that's what we've seen so far I mean sure you like the development of him in, but is that going to be enough when you're going against a pretty decent side, that side of the offensive line and to be able to, you know, force your way into the backfield and try to keep Rogers high in the pocket. I mean, you need to make him step into these throws to, to put some pressure on him. And I just don't know. I mean, we really won't know until we be able to judge if that experiment worked out at all.

But, yeah, I mean, that's something. And their kind of rationale behind that is the whole thing about Shamar's coach to do what he's, you know, coach to do what he's supposed to do. Okay, well, he played, what, 300-something-plus pass rushing snaps? Was he coached not to pressure the quarterback? I don't know. 350 with six pressures I don't think was the game plan. No, it wasn't.

And it's not – he's just not a natural three technique. There's some slight on him. It's just not a natural three technique. I think when they think about their, like, you know, their nickel package and potentially other, you know, obvious passing down defensive packages that they use that they'll be able to generate and manufacture some of that pressure with an Afadi Odenabo, with a Hercules Mata'afa, with those guys. Is it going to be enough?

I don't know because I feel like they did some of that last year and it worked and then other times it didn't. Yep. Yeah, I agree. Odenabo was good at it, but if you have to play him at defensive end all the time, then that kind of – it reverses the effect of getting Yannick Ngakwe. So a huge impact with Daniil Hunter being out. It will be fascinating.

I'm writing it down right now. I think they play Ngakwe at the other side. But that's just a pure guess. Have not heard exactly what they're going to do. And I'm sure that they will be very secretive about that when we ask them. Are you ready for a pie chart? You prepared? You got a pen? Got some paper? Can you draw a circle? Yeah, I already drew it. Okay. All right. Here it is.

Delvin Cook. Okay. Here's your choices. Choice number one, of course, it's got to be out of 100%, is that it has been a problem at times. I know. I know, you're right. It's been on fire. So choice number one is that Delvin Cook signs a contract extension on Sunday morning or Saturday night, right before the Vikings and Packers play in week one. Choice number two, Delvin Cook suits up against the Packers without a contract extension. Choice number three is that Delvin Cook does not suit up, does not play, holds out, and says, I am not playing against the Green Bay Packers until

I have a contract extension. And choice number four is that anything else happens. Like anything other, like crazy thing, this goes on for the whole year he sits out six weeks just like other is is your your fourth choice all right because you just have this situation you just really don't know no you don't and that's the crazy part about it um all right give me one second 30 percent is going do do Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. You're making a pie chart. Do, do, do, do. That's a really good one.

I'm glad that you came to terms with that one. I got the production team on it. We wrote the jingle, practiced it, worked on the chord progression, scales. All right, you ready? No, I need to figure out the percentage of the fight hard don't put me on the spot i feel like i want to put other at like 95 that's kind of what i'm doing right now season here has just been nuts and i'll i'll say uh again what i said yesterday is just that if it doesn't happen by sunday i don't think the Vikings are doing it because they have not signed anyone that I can remember the entire time during Zimmer's era in season to a contract extension.

Okay, I am ready. Okay, go ahead. All right, so 20% – well, I won't spill the beans. That was going to go backwards. Number one is he signs an extension Saturday night, Sunday morning. I put that at 30%. Okay. The reason that is, like right now, what are we doing?

We're waiting on Alvin Kamara, apparently. If Kamara, the rumors out there, it's $13 million. If it's above $13, it's probably in the $14 range. I've heard a lot of different things that it could potentially be higher than most people think well if Alvin Kamara gets his deal and then Dalvin and his representation go back to the table um you're not going to get an Alvin Kamara deal I'm sorry that is not happening Alvin Kamara's had 81 receptions each of his three seasons in the NFL he's played he's played 45 games where he's been healthy that's the thing I mean he's more of a receiver they use him out of the backfield they use him on screens they use him in the slot they do a lot more pass catching with him than they do

with Dalvin Cook that's not to say Dalvin how weird is that by the way 81 81 81 I know it's almost like they like tried to do it that way but I mean the guy had 2,000 receiving yards uh over the course of his three years in the NFL I mean he really truly has a very split balance between running the ball 2,400 uh rushing yards his first three seasons and receiving just over almost like almost 2,100 receiving yards so I don't think you can go to the table when Alvin signs this let's just hope it's not Saturday let's do it tomorrow please somebody's do this tomorrow okay 30% on that uh I will just comment on each one that I never count the Vikings out for bending to sign at the last minute they've done it before. Anthony Barr was on his way to New York and then they decided, okay, we'll give you a little bit more cash to stick around.

But I think it's smart of you not to put too much on that because this feels like it's getting a little personal between his side and the team. And that's where I wonder, and that's why I just have a different feeling from any of the other deals that have ever been done before is some of the cattiness that seems to be going on between uh you know the team and his side yeah no i mean it's they need to get something done dalvin should not be playing on a 1.3 million dollar deal he's better than that but they tried to get a deal done back in the middle of august it didn't happen the team was like i'm sorry we can't waste any more time on this we're going going to table it for now. And you know, you got to ask

yourself, is the offer that was, to my understanding, the offer that was there August 19th that got tabled is no longer there. So you're probably going to have to redo this because in that time frame, Joe Mixon got a deal. Kareem Hunt got a deal. Alvin Kamara is about to get a deal. Where does Dalvin fall into that? He should be in the Joe Mixon range a deal. Kareem Hunt got a deal. Alvin Kamara is about to get a deal. Where does Dalvin fall into that? He should be in the Joe Mixon range, if not more. Mixon got 12. Dalvin should be 12-13.

So can he get that? I don't know. It feels like it's gotten so contentious to this point that I just don't think something is going to get done. But realistically, if you're smart, you shouldn't be playing on a deal like this. It's reckless in my opinion. Choice number two. Choice number two is he suits up without an extension.

Yeah, I put that at 40%. The reason I put that, I mean, you can take him for what he said at face value today, that if Coach Zim calls on him, what did he say? I want to quote him directly. I have it. Hold on. Stand by. Did you find this quote bizarre, though?

It was like, it was not, I am playing football on Sunday. It was talking around, if coach, well, tell me what it is exactly. If coach calls my name, I'll be out there. I read that as, I think you can interpret it a bunch of different ways. Without driving yourself to a loony bin I would say that that's Dalvin's way of just saying like I'll be there I'll be there like I mean yeah it does it's not a direct way of saying I will be playing a thousand percent like he said you know at training camp but I that to me that's if coach Sim calls my name I'll be out

there means that if I'm put in the game I'm gonna going to play. That's how I took that. Maybe I'm the only one, but that's how I took it. Hey, by the way, did Delvin seem sad to you? Seemed very sad. It was a not enthusiastic guy for someone who loves football and definitely could not wait to play football. I just think he's exhausted from it. I think that, you know, in talking to people around the building, that there's just like a different energy and a different vibe around him right now.

And I'm sure this is weighing on him. I asked him, like, are you worried about it? Like, it's four days away. Like, I get anxious if I know something's coming up in three weeks and I'm not prepared for it. Yes, definitely, definitely. It's four days away, and this is life-changing money in your career. And the fact that you could get injured because you play a position that is,

you're a battering ram. Like, your career could be over in one snap, quicker than a receiver, quicker than any other position on that team. You should be worried. I know he said he wasn't, and he's saying all the right things, and he's handled this with grace and with class publicly. Like, he's an excellent spokesperson for himself in that way because he has not thrown the team under the bus.

He has not thrown his agent under the bus. He has not thrown anybody under the bus. He's handled it as much as he could saying, you know, he's not going to get stressed out about what other running backs are doing. He's not this guy to look at this guy or look at the other guy. You know, he's got to wait his turn. He's saying all the right things. But, yeah, his decorum today, and granted, yes, we are over a Zoom call,

but we've been around this guy for a while, and he didn't seem like his usual self. And it would weigh on any normal person. If you have millions of dollars sitting out in front of you and you don't have it locked up, I'd be stressed out, real stressed. Yes. And I absolutely understand if that's how he's feeling. It is warranted. But this could all be ended by going in and signing, you know, going back to the table, signing the deal.

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You've really learned not to use the 5% because that's where it starts to get tough. Yeah, so all right. The next choice was that he does not suit up, that he says, Sorry, folks, sign me to a deal or I never step on that field. I put that at 10%. I just don't know truly how much leverage he has there. The one thing would be, it's like the accrued season calculation that stresses me out a little bit when I think about it with the COVID-19 rule. So before it used to be

that the player has to be full pay status for at least six regular season games to accrue a full season towards free agency well players with let them have at least three accrued seasons that are then eligible for restricted free agency and at least four to be eligible for unrestricted free agency right um so like dalvin alvin camara they all have three accrued seasons and one year left on their current deal. That rule now with the CBA would allow them to be unrestricted free agents next March if they're on full pay status for one game. So I just don't think he could do that because, you know what I mean?

Like that just doesn't seem realistic that he would put himself at a risk to hurt his earnings even further like here's what he's facing if you go and you don't get anything done or you know if Camara signs at like 10 a.m on Sunday morning and the Vikings either do something or they don't or God knows what happens um and he ends up not not having a deal you're probably headed towards a franchise tag, if they even want to franchise you. And then you're going to make far less than that. You're hurting your earnings anyways.

He'd make more if he would have signed the original deal. He would have made more. And it's just, you know, he's hurting his earnings by sitting out. I just don't think realistically that just feels like that high of a probability. And he could try to get around this by playing one game and then sitting out. But there are things written in to the CBA. I mean, first of all, if you decide to hold out for a contract issue, of course, there's the fact that they can fine you and that you have to pay those fines now. And then there's the other part where it's written into the CBA that if you are not honoring your contract,

that they can go after the accrued seasons anyway. So this is why you just want to work out a deal as soon as possible and get this thing done. But you don't think that he's going to sit out and I tend to agree with you. I just don't think it's a smart play. I don't either. I don't know if he has the leverage to do it, to be quite honest with you. I really don't.

Because it's like if you were going to do the pay me or trade me thing, wouldn't you have done that a month ago? Yeah, and maybe that was the play that they should have made, right? Oh, my gosh, yeah, maybe. So then other is what? Other is 20%. 20%, yeah, I like it. I don't know.

I like going 20% because you don't know. Something wild could like it I don't know I like going 20 percent because you don't know wild could happen I don't know exactly what wild I mean it could mean it could mean Alexander Madison and Dalvin Cook they're just running a lot of you know they run the ball Kirk throws for 10 times again uh like the season over last year and both of them you know I don't know I don't know what other is but it's just a good figure that feels solid yeah he suits up for the game and then says he's not playing after already being announced as being an active player for the game or something you just you have no idea what could possibly happen with this situation and uh with the Vikings involved you really have to always give other

a good percentage. I think this was one of the safe percentage. Yeah. I think this is one of your stronger pie charts. And I feel like it's just reps that the more reps you get, it's like an offensive lineman shifting positions. Like it really just comes down to reps and that's how you are with these. So let me ask you before we wrap up,

the most important question of the podcast is, are you changing your pick with Daniil Hunter out and not 100% certainty that Delvin Cook will suit up you have always picked this game as a win for the Vikings I have I think I might change it I'm not I technically you can't really hold my feet to the fire on this until I turn my pick in for you know when we do it on Thursdays, but I'm leaning towards that way. Is that a fair enough answer? Because I don't have the score yet.

I don't have a lot of things, but I do think that, you know, when we think about this defense, what was the story when Ngakwe got here? Okay, they're back at elite status. Yeah. They finally got the pieces. Well, the biggest, bestest piece of them all is gone now for three games. Biggest, bestest is a great way to put it. It's, you know, that's going to take an adjustment.

And you have a defensive end on the other side who's been here for 30 minutes. And I just, I don't know if it can come quickly together enough to where your corners just don't get exposed and you don't have any safety depth or reliable safety depth. And, yeah, I anticipate Harrison Smith and Anthony Harris will play the whole game, but that's just, it puts so much on them and it's,

you know, it worries me. I think Dalvin's going to play. I really do. I don't see a reason for him not to on Saturday, on Sunday. So that wouldn't, you know,

you know, I just, I just don't understand. Like that's just, yeah. But another key point is that we spent all offseason talking about how continuity, continuity, continuity is important, and nobody has more than the Packers. They have, like, the same exact team that they had last year that beat you twice,

and they didn't need preseason games or anything like that. And all of a sudden you say, well, yeah, the Vikings have continuity of scheme. Right, but they have two new players at the guard positions. They have a new number two wide receiver. They have, you know, a new defensive tackle, defensive end, defensive end, defensive tackle, right? So like corner, corner, corner. There's a lot of not continuity. And if there's anything that's going to be hurt the most when it comes to not having pre-seasons at least I think it's defense you look at any of the the bubbles the

WNBA bubble the NBA bubble and the first thing that happened everyone thought oh well nobody will be able to shoot the basketball anymore no they couldn't get on the same page defensively to start the bubbles and people were scoring 50 points a game. So I think we're going to see that in the NFL too, and I think it could be an issue for the Vikings. I had also pegged this one as a win, but not having crowd noise and not having Daniil Hunter, problems. I don't know if it's going to be a very pretty game to begin with. I mean, yeah, we talk about not having crowd noise,

and it's going to be easier on communication and calls with the defense. Sure, but it also means it's going to be a little easier on the offense on third down and things like that. Yes. I don't know. It's just I don't think anybody can truly know what to expect because this is just such an out-of-body weird experience, and I'm thrilled that it's here.

Trust me. I mean, like, it's been a long – it's a cold summer like we had we had a lot to get through to get to this point and I am thankful that the NFL has handled things the way that they have we haven't any massive outbreaks of COVID but like this is just the beginning um let's get through week one and see where we're at because that's kind of what I'm not trying to think too far ahead but like my head goes a lot of different places and you know it's it stresses me out thinking, okay, well, this is only the first week and we have so many boxes to check. I just hope that everybody can check and we can get through this.

Yeah, yeah, I agree. In a safe and healthy manner. I definitely feel like every podcast should be ended with, but it's not that serious. You know, just – but it really is okay as long as we can still have football and no one gets COVID and so forth. So, okay, deep breath. A couple more days until football.

And, in fact, probably by the time you're listening to this, Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson will be playing NFL 2020 football, and it will be wonderful. So thank you all for listening. Thank you, Courtney, for this energetic podcast that I really didn't expect to happen when I woke up this morning, but it was great. So thank you for your time as always. You're welcome. Hi, my name is Bobby Peters, and I've recently written a book titled the 2017 New England Patriots Pass Game Manual. If you've ever wondered what makes

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