Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - ESPN's Courtney Cronin talks Kirk Cousins' future and looks at a Vikings mock draft

Episode Date: December 14, 2021

ESPN's Courtney Cronin joins the show to talk about a mock draft that has the Vikings taking a cornerback. How did the Vikings get to a place where they do not have an impressive secondary now or development corners for the future? Plus they travel to Imagination Land in which the Vikings have an offensive minded coach in the future who needs to make a decision on Kirk Cousins. What would that offensive coach say? Also what happens if the Vikings make the playoffs and win? Does everyone stay? Get your football tickets at TickPick.com/Insider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether you own a bustling hair salon or a hot new bakery, you need business insurance that can keep up with your evolving needs. With flexible coverage options from TD Insurance, you only pay for what you need. TD, ready for you. I want to remind you before we get started, that TickPick is the exclusive ticketing partner of Purple Insider and the Blue Wire Network. TickPick should be your first choice to buy football tickets because they save fans money by never charging service fees ever. Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here alongside ESPN's Courtney Cronin. Courtney, I need you to go check outside, look around and see, put on your binoculars and see if Courtney,

our draft scout is around because I did something today that I usually don't do. Usually until the season ends, I don't peek at any mock drafts, but Courtney, our draft scout might need to analyze one because I opened one up and I have it on my computer and I want to tell you about it. All right, hold on. Let me text her. Hey, you busy. You busy. Oh, we got, we got, we have some dots. We have some dots going. I didn't even know she had an iPhone. I thought she was an Android person.

What do you want? That's how she responds to me. She knows I want something. So let me, let me work on her for a minute. And, but I'm sure she'll be able to come. I'll make her a deal. It is Courtney, our draft scout's off season, because it's not draft season. What do you think she's been doing the last couple months? I mean, she's off the road right now because all the games are over,

but like, gosh, she's gearing up for the college football playoff, all these bowl games, all these last second visits. I mean, God, she's busy. Yeah, you're right. Kind of rude of us to be like interrupting her at this time of year. This is true. football playoff all these bowl games all these last second visits i mean god she's busy yeah you're right kind of rude of us to be like interrupting her at this time of year this is true so uh i opened up pff's mock draft uh that has the vikings picking 12th by the way which would be is that the highest that they've picked at least least in quite a long time. Since I've been here. Yeah, quite a long time. And this has the Vikings with the 12th overall pick taking Kair Elam,

who is a corner out of Florida. And I think that this sort of sparks a little bit of a conversation about the cornerbacks because I wrote about this today. I know that you did not have a chance to get on Mike Zimmer's Zoom call on friday but he ranted about the corners kind of a lot he went through this entire laundry list of all these things that he hated that they did against the steelers this guy was wrong in his technique we're playing outside on this play and that but like uh you know there was a lot going on there um so I think it's interesting that they go with that because the outside world is maybe not believing that the Vikings would be in the quarterback draft conversation.

That, that is the most notable part of this mock draft, I think. Yeah, I think I could absolutely see this happening when, you know, when you're talking early, you know, early projections for what they might do with their first round pick cornerback defense, anywhere in the defense, really. I mean, whether you're going to be drafting an edge rusher because they certainly need one. Cause there's so much uncertainty there with Daniel Hunter and like,

you know, what do they do? Do they pick up his option only to trade him? Do they cut him before the fifth day of the league year, before that $18 million option becomes guaranteed? Like, what are they do? Do they pick up his option only to trade him? Do they cut him before the fifth day of the league year, before that $18 million option becomes guaranteed? Like, what are they going to do there? Doesn't feel like Everson Griffin's going to be coming back anytime soon or to play football maybe ever again. And even still, he's 33 years old.

This was a one-year thing. So you were going to be thinking about the other side of the defensive line regardless. So, you know, whether you see an edge rusher that you really like up front like with one of you know top 12 top 15 pick or it's going to be a cornerback because Patrick Peterson he's got you know it's a one-year deal for him so they've got to figure out what they're doing beyond this season with him Bashad Breeland probably gone uh Mackenzie Alexander, maybe he comes back, maybe he doesn't. But the answer is not Cameron Dantzler. The answer is not Chris Boyd. It's not Harrison Hand. Those are backup quality players who have been forced into playing some considerable minutes

because of the injuries that have happened and just because they're so thin at that position. So I don't know who that player is. I'm, you know, draft scout hasn't talked to me in a while. She's been busy. So I've left her alone. Obviously in the next couple of weeks, she and I will reconvene. She'll walk me through her, her trials and tribulations of the last four or five months since I last talked to her and last saw her. And then we'll really get into, okay,

who do we need to be looking at the Vikings targeting but I think it's like a broad picture thing cornerback or defensive end are the first two positions that come to my mind but you know when you hear what Mike Zimmer had to say and I mean I looked over the transcript um from from Friday's press conference he did not mince words just about the way the way he felt his corner for playing. And, I mean, all season long, though, it's been this constant push and pull of learn the technique. Do the right things. Don't play four yards off your receiver backed up into the end zone. Learn how to defend the goal line.

Like Bashad Breeland drawing DPI every single game. I mean, it's just like when is enough going to be enough and you know it also begs the question are they being taught something that's almost impossible to do with the way that the nfl and games are officiated right now i'm just talking about the penalties and all of that and just do you need to kind of overhaul that position entirely because it kind of felt like they were on the verge of something jeff gladney situation happens. Cam Dantzler gets hurt a lot as a rookie, and then it's kind of behind the eight ball and never was really in the mix for the starting job.

So they have to go find a cheap veteran in Bashad Breland who really hasn't panned out. It's just it hasn't worked out the way they anticipated it would. So why not hit the reset button and just try to start over? Yeah, so I'll give you a stat here on the corners. I typed in the numbers for the top three corners that have played like the most times targeted since Mike Zimmer has been here.

And from 2016 to 2018, I mean, actually every year before 2019, they allowed under 95 quarterback ratings. So just the cornerback group allowed under a 95 quarterback rating, which is extremely good. So you're talking about when opposing quarterbacks are targeting their top wide receivers against your top corners, they were getting like average NFL results or worse. 2016 was really, really good in this metric. But since then, 2019, 20, and 21, it's been over a 110. So basically, anytime you target a corner for the Vikings, you are turning yourself into an MVP candidate over the last three years.

And that does make you wonder, is it something that they're doing? But then you look at the players that they have run out there. So Xavier Rhodes fell off the face of the earth one year. I think he was trying to play through injury and also asking him to be that shutdown guy in 2019 was not the same as 2017. So maybe there was some coaching error there. But last year, like you said, you're talking about Chris Jones playing Chris Boyd playing a lot. Jeff Gladney struggled a lot as a rookie and Cam Dantzler had his ups and downs when he was actually playing, but they, I mean, they were getting deep into the Harrison hand is in the game and so forth. would be at least improved, at least closer to average with this year. And it has not been, but I think that it was foreseeable to say Patrick Peterson will probably just be Patrick Peterson from Arizona, that there isn't some magic button that Mike Zimmer could push to turn back

the clock on a guy who's just not as fast anymore as he once was. And Breland was always a penalty monster. The one that is disappointing, I would say from his previous performances, Mackenzie Alexander, who has had an awful year. He's one of the lowest graded in terms of coverage in the entire NFL. And then if you thought Xavier Woods was going to be a game changer in some way at safety, well, you know, they signed him for $2 million. So I think that it's probably much more personnel and roster building to try to patchwork a group that is so important to Mike Zimmer and the way that he wants to play defense. That's probably the fundamental disconnect for me because all of these were flawed. And then, you know, Mike Hughes has a

big game yesterday for the Kansas City Chiefs. You go like, I still don't really get what was happening there, that Mike Hughes has been healthy and playing football for another team. The assumption was that the guy's legs don't work anymore or something. And that's why you're giving him away for absolutely nothing. And instead, they gave away a player who's been useful for someone else. So I think it's more roster process than it is Mike Zimmer. But I also think it's possible that he still coaches his defense like it's really talented when it's not.

And he's learned this year that you can't just throw out your defense and be like, all right, go be 2017. Go pull out a stop at the end of a game when you need one. You can't expect that that defense that we saw gave up that big drive in the touchdown to jared goff and the lions but that wouldn't have happened in 17 but it felt like zimmer was in that moment coaching them like it was the 2017 defense rushing three dropping eight yeah i know we've been over this before but that's where i think it is personnel but i think it's the way that the personnel has been coached too where you can't just kind of jam

this thing through the mail slot and expect it to fit like it's just not the way that way and when you're talking about roster management decisions and everything else that's gone on with personnel and you know they thought mike hughes and the neck injury was going to be the end of his career yet he's over playing for the the Kansas city chiefs and has had a pretty considerably good season for, for what he is. And, you know, I, so much of what they do in the draft obviously is going to depend on who the head coach is. Who's calling the shots in the front office. Like there's still four games left here. There's six and seven.

If they don't make the playoffs, you've got to be thinking that you know and even still even if they do if it's anything i've heard every argument of if they don't make the playoffs or if it's anything less than the nfc championship game that everybody's gone which you can understand if you overhaul though the entire coaching staff and you bring in an offensive coach, is he going to see that the same way where you need to take a corner right away with the 12th overall pick? And same with the front office. They've had some hits and misses, especially at that position, but the last corner that you can really think that Zimmer developed probably was Mackenzie Alexander in 2016,

but think about what a fight that was to get that to happen. Like before that, it's probably Trey Wayne's and he's not even playing here anymore. So can you bring in at that position? Can you bring somebody in and make it work quicker rather than this long drawn out process that it's been the last couple of years with the Mike Hughes and the injuries and Jeff Gladney and, you know, his off the field stuff that got him out of here. And, you know know Cam Dantzler was a third round pick and there was a lot of

promise around him but again he was a third round corner and that's never a sure thing so I I think you just try to keep swinging get as many bites of that apple as you can at that position because that's just been your demise I mean defensively there's going to be a lot of turnover this offseason. There always is. I mean, why? Because based on what you have to do with Kirk Cousins' contract, that's going to determine where you have to release veterans, where you have to cut guys that are going to be cap casualties.

Whatever you have to do, if Cousins is on the roster or not, it's still going to affect what you can do defensively. So the draft might be your best place to try to shore up that position from the start. Yeah, I think that the cornerback position shows itself every single week for how incredibly valuable it is. If you have somebody who can track number one wide receivers, because you think about how many there are in the league in terms of number one wide receivers,

and I'm watching Devontae Adams just take apart the Chicago Chicago bears and they have a good one Jalen Johnson, but still you need someone who can at least stay with them because even when the Vikings game plan is to just throw to their best receiver, it works when the other team does not have somebody who can stay with Justin Jefferson. You know, you see the value of someone like Jair Alexander, and then you see when Jair Alexander is not in there and what that results in. So I think that that position is incredibly valuable. You could see when the Vikings could island Xavier Rhodes, how much difference that made because they could roll their safeties to the other side and give Trey Wayne's help. Then it was like, where are you going to go with the football?

In the middle of the field is two really good coverage linebackers. And then you have, you know, maybe that's why the nickel corner position was so effective and isn't now because you can't Island somebody or you can't play single high. You need to play two safeties to give help everywhere. I think that there's a while since they've been able to do that. Like truly think about it like even in 19 there were so many flaws with that with that scheme with what they were doing because athleticism wore off injuries became an issue for xavier rhodes all those things so it's like

they kept trying to piecemeal that thing together by going to the draft by getting a first round corner in 20 by getting a third round corner in 20, by getting a third round corner in 20 yet, it almost makes you wonder in hindsight and yeah, hindsight's everything, but if you would have just blown it up differently, could you have been a little bit further ahead? Like, you know, if this would have, if this was different, how would things look now? I mean, of course,

that's always the risk that you run that you're going to be like kicking yourself in hindsight, but they've been trying to like again this is like their overall philosophy one foot in one foot out like contending yet rebuilding retooling this part of the defense yet also keeping some of the same personnel it's been an issue for you like that's just not the way to do it i think that uh drafting gladney and dantzler made sense from rebuilding it that way, but they never panned out, but they also spent $15 million or whatever it was, 13 million on Anthony Harris to franchise tag him when that position has really shown itself to be one where you can sort of put someone just next to Harrison Smith and there'll be competent. So you spent a lot of money in that spot.

Then we're very light on guard, very light on corner, where you're hoping that rookies can come in and succeed. And it's just not something that can really happen in the NFL at that position. That's 2020. So then this year you say, well, we made that mistake last year, so we're not going to draft any corners, which was very odd. I mean, Cam Dantzler, I'm sorry, Cam Bynum was a move to safety immediately. He was announced as a safety by Rick Spielman at the draft.

And so they draft zero corners. And I think all of us went like, oh, that's odd. Because I remember even having this discussion of if they drafted a first round corner or a third round corner, that everyone would be kind of okay with it, even though you want the more flashy positions. And will they draft a quarterback in the first and all that. But I think that there was kind of an agreement that people are tired of drafting corners, but it really is necessary with the way that things look at the moment.

And they just decided, nope, we are not drafting any corners, not at all. We need a backup quarterback. We need a guard who's not going to play. I did like that pick at the time. I did too. We all did. But even a linebacker, a fourth linebacker in chess, Surat who might someday be good, but converted linebacker, right? Another one of those like, Oh, you picked a project linebacker, huh? Instead of, you know, a corner.

So I think that corner makes sense for this mock draft for something they need to look at. I also think it's going to drive everyone insane if they do that, just because they've struggled so much at this position in recent years. But that actually leads me to where I wanted to go with the rest of the show, which is to Imaginationland. Now, I don't know if we have ever gone to Imaginationland together on the show, but in Imaginationland, we think of how something either could have been or might be

and then discuss it. And so I want to connect this to this mock draft because we'll have plenty of time to preview the Bears game and the playoff scenarios and everything else. But I was thinking about

Imaginationland and what it might be like at the draft if Byron leftwich was their new head coach and i don't know some other guy is the gm i'm not sure like brilliant young genius is their gm and byron leftwich is their coach how different do you think that they would approach the draft than if it's Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer in Imaginationland? Well, my first question for Imaginationland is, does Byron Leftwich want Kirk Cousins as his quarterback? That's the big thing. Like he, you know, is dealing with a pretty great situation right now. Got a Super Bowl ring with

Tom Brady. Probably going to get another one this year. I don't know if you've seen the Bucs schedule the rest of the way, but whatever. I'm just bored with that. But anyways, like Byron Lefkowitz, yay! He's just coming off the Super Bowl title two in a row, and now he's coming to Minnesota. And he's thinking, there are a lot of pieces in this offense,

but I need to have my guy at quarterback. I don't want to be inked into Kirk Cousins for the next three years when I've got my mind on this person. But as it pertains to the draft, if you're picking 12th, will the quarterback be there? Sure. But this is not a very deep quarterback class. Are you potentially looking at like a Matt Corral or something? Like, is that who you really want? Is that an NFL talent that you think is going to win you a lot of games? I mean, regardless, we've seen this happen.

Everybody outside of Mac Jones and even Mac Jones to a degree, all rookie quarterbacks are struggling this year. This was supposed to be the year that broke the mold and it hasn't because he's, I mean, Zach Wilson is a disaster right now and he's number two overall pick trey lance hasn't done anything um justin fields i watched him last night he had one good quarter and then like after that so i mean it's just like if if byron left which offensive-minded byron left which is coming in and saying well i need to start with my side of the ball

now there's gonna be a there's so many questions you, like it's such a chicken and an egg type conversation because if Kirk Cousins is willing to agree to a two-year deal, let's say like a two-year, another two-year extension, like he did a two-year extension before. So maybe that would be what he wants. Could Byron Lethbridge get by with that and be able to build around him even further, maybe get another receiver in the draft, maybe, you know, get another offensive lineman that you actually anticipate will play. I don't know. But I think that if you're a head coach coming in, you've got to look at your weakest

link first. And to me, the weakest link is still the defense on this team. But it's compounded by the fact that you have this massive quarterback question mark of what you're going to do, because financially, you have to figure him out first before you can do anything else that's just the order of things so can you get by with kirk cousins for another two years okay ink him to another two-year extension give him 66 mil whatever the hell it was last time i don't care i i'm not even gonna like try to do the financials but then that'll allow you the space that you need in free agency to, well, first off release Anthony bar. He's a, he's a free agent after the season. Anyways, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe you decide that you want to move on from Harrison Smith.

And I say that because of the contract and what it is right now, because of the financial strain of Kirk cousins contract, you might be having to cut a lot of very expensive veterans. Yes. I know they just paid him, but there's look, look at the way that contract, you would trade him in that scenario. Yeah. Yes. So I could, you know, I could see them still going cornerback, but I could also, if, if the cousin situation, if they ended up moving on and they have to draft somebody like,

or be realistic, like who else is out there in free agency that you would potentially get? I mean, unless somebody comes to you via trade, like a Russell Wilson, but even then I can't see that happening. Hey everybody, Minnesota football is in full swing and there is no need to exhaust yourself searching all over the internet for Minnesota football tickets because TickPick, that is T-I-C-K-P-I-C-K, is the original no-fee ticket site. It's the only one you'll ever need as your go-to for football tickets. TickPick got rid of all those awful

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That's TickPick.com slash insider. This is the interesting question from imagination imagination about the offensive head coach. If they are to move on from Mike Zimmer and hire an offensive head coach. And I use Byron left, which because I think I like him as a candidate. I know he's had Tom Brady. That certainly helps. I also like people who have been in the NFL for a long time. I can't,

I can't think of why I'm saying that, but people not Matt rule, not urban Meyer, people who have been in the actual NFL should get actual NFL jobs. I'm just throwing that out there. cousins and say, man, I mean, this guy really operates an offense and all I need to do is X, Y, and Z. And then that will take the offense to the next level. Or if a former quarterback would say, you know what? I know his numbers are good, but I'm a former quarterback and I see that he just doesn't have whatever. And you see this very varying of opinions because there are former players that i've talked to former quarterbacks who will say dude cousins is unbelievable and he just needs whatever and look at his technique and look at how well he throws when he's got a clean

pocket everything else there are other former quarterbacks who i've talked to who say it hurts their soul to watch kirkins because of his lack of athleticism and because the throw that Justin Herbert made yesterday is not within imagination land for Kirk Cousins to be able to just make special next level winning plays. And there's not the leadership, there's not the baller kind of element to him. So there's such a wide varying of opinions. I think even within football people about kirk cousins and that would be your number one question if you're the wilfs and whoever is doing the interviewing for the next head coach it's like what do you want to do at the quarterback position because i think it's i think you could talk yourself into like

oh if i just do this or you could well, they had a top 10 scoring offense. So what's the problem there? We just need the defense to be different, or we just need another guard for them. And that's going to be the issue. And then I think you sort of wrap yourself into a cycle of the same things continuing to happen. But I think it's a very, very difficult question for whoever, if they do change coaches and imagination land whoever they talk to like what what is your thought on that i would say more likely that cousin stays than goes if there's a new coach because it's so tricky financially because you need to but like you don't want to bring in a coach and already have like the decision i mean granted you will have a couple months that's a thing. It's not like you have to like ink cousins to an extension the Monday after

week 18 ends, if they're not in the playoffs or even if, you know, week 19, whatever, like you, you have a little bit of time, you get the head coach in and you get to feel out, okay, what does he want? It's not like you have to get cousins figured out first. You have until really the start of free agency to do so. I like the idea of having an offensive-minded coach or a former quarterback making this decision in imagination land because the people who made the Cousins decision last time in 2018,

the big quarterback thing, were a general manager who has never gotten the quarterback position right and a defensive-minded head coach who wanted a game manager and did not want to overpay for a quarterback, which is exactly what they ended up doing. So you bring somebody in who actually understands in intimately what the position requires and what that whole, the whole mess entails of the finances that go into it,

of the pieces you need to put around it. If you can, if you had somebody who could look at Kirk cousins and say, I, we see each other I see you and I understand what you need because I understand this position and what goes into it and what a quarterback of your skill set and you've reached your ceiling like Kirk has reached his ceiling skill set wise I mean yes he's cut down on interceptions last this this season like he's got a great touchdown interception ratio he's been able to when he's actually going for the one-on-one ball been really really good in those situations much of that has to do with Justin Jefferson and his emergence over the first two

seasons but also Cousins willing to take those shots and be able to air out the deep ball so whoever's making that decision has to look at this and say can we work within the confines of this offense what more do we need here to make you successful? Certainly the play calling aspect of that is going to be a big factor. Like if Byron Lefwich becomes the head coach here, I would imagine that he's calling plays, right? Like it's not honestly at this point, does it feel like Clint Kubiak's going to be back next year? Like, I mean, he's football royalty. You cannot really just like can him without like canning the rest of the staff. But I, I think that in imagination land, that's something that you have to like factor in here.

Like it's the play calling helping my quarterback. Could I do better in that respect? And I think that that just kind of like factors into the whole thing because he'll have to make that whoever the new head coach, if there is one one we'll have to make that decision probably within like the first week or so of you're coming in knowing do i want to work with this quarterback or do we have to move on because if we have to move on then you're looking at blowing up the entire roster in a lot of different areas because of you know moving on from cousins financially what that does to you that's why his contract right now as is is basically untradeable unless you're willing to take on a big portion of absorbing some of his contract.

So what does that mean elsewhere? What does that mean for Adam Thielen? What does that mean for all these other expensive veterans who you're thinking maybe we should restructure them to? Like, are they part that you are trying to push to win with your new coach in Imagination Land? Or that you're going to kind of hit the reset button? And if you're going to hit the reset button, then you trade Cousins to Pittsburgh for a first round draft pick. And you draft Kenny Pickett. And you draft whatever corner to start or pass rusher.

I really think the thing about pass rushers, that's different from corners, at least from my feeling is if you get one and he's good, they're good every year for a really long time. And they're just good after good after good. And I know Hunter has been hurt, but corners, it seems like there's much more of one year. A guy is great.

And then the next year, unless it's Jalen Ramsey, someone who's just completely next level one year, they're great. One year, they're great. One year, they're kind of down. Pass rushers seem to be a little more consistent. I think there's value there in drafting, even though the basic chart of draft value would say maybe they're not quite as high on that list. And I mean, it's not like, you know, with the edge rushers, too.

I mean, I'm looking at this mock draft that pff did they're not going to be in position for a cave on tibideau and aiden hutchinson who might go you know first overall to detroit you know there's there's a lot there though that beyond that mix and i know i had mentioned matt corral like pff has him going one one above the vikings to philadelphia um like they could be in the mix for a quarterback there or an edge rusher. It's just, you're not going to be getting like the cream of the crop because it's actually a pretty good edge rusher classic. Unlike last year's class,

it's kind of like flip where the quarterbacks are, you know, there's less value for a first round quarterback than there is, you know, edge rushers this year because there's actually a considerable amount of them that you could, you could theoretically see at 12. Yeah.

The edge rusher class was weird last year because they were in the bottom of the first round, but they weren't really in the top, which they usually are. Yeah, it's flipped this year. Likewise, quarterbacks are usually all the way at the top, though I tend to think that we're going to see some quarterback, at least one or two, go higher. And there is a point, just to make an aside here, about Justin Herbert, that he was the third quarterback drafted. And there were a lot of questions. There was a lot of,

does he really do this? Does he really do that? And I myself was like unimpressed watching him play at Oregon and he's an unbelievable talent. So like this always kind of happens that you talk yourself out of guys. And then if they're in the right situation, and then they have the physical skills, it can work. Anyway, so in imagination land with our offensive head coach, do you think it would be a better plan with Byron Leftwich, which is the coach, to try to win right away with a new coach? Or would it be to take the longer term rebuild of the rest of the entire roster? They needed to do this in 2020 and they shot themselves in the foot by being one foot in one foot out. They shot the good foot, not the bad foot. So you need to rebuild. Like, I think that you, I mean, depending upon what the roster look like, looks like,

that's obviously a big part of it, but I think you can fix your cap situation like where you're not if you're going all in right now it's going to still be the same sort of cash strapped situation where you have an expensive quarterback because like if I'm thinking long term I don't think Kirk Cousins is part of that I think trade him get a first round pick from Pittsburgh maybe even from Denver I mean remember like they need a quarterback too there are a lot of teams that need a quarterback I just wrote about this like the Saints need a quarterback potentially um and who knows maybe there's even some swapping of quarterbacks like just throwing this out there what if Derek Carr ends up here

right like that's that's a possibility like the Raiders might not be they're gonna have a new coach next year like is he part of their future plans? Could the Vikings – I mean, he's got the game manager label on him to some degree too. So what do they want at that position? But regardless, if you're going to be tearing it down, you should probably start over from a lot of different respects, which also you've got to wonder too though if you're doing that what

does that do for someone like a justin jefferson who's in win now mode and he's two years into his career he's a superstar like how do you factor him into your plans like that's why it's such a tricky equation to solve because if you take a step back you have like this one superstar talent like dalvin cook at this point, you know, he's, he's good when he's good and he's good when he's healthy. He's been less healthy recently. And like, do they potentially, I mean, there's ways for them to get out of that contract, not too far from now. So, but with Justin Jefferson, it's such a guy. I mean,

you're not even like close to like at the point of picking up his fifth year option yet we're talking about, do we need to think about where he would fit into the plans of what you could get for him trading him, which I think if Byron Lefkowitz came in here and had to trade Justin Jefferson away, that would probably break his heart because you could see how much damage you can do offensively with him. But if you are taking the long-haul approach of give us two to three years

to get back to where we need to be, where we're actually contending and not doing this seesaw of an up-and-down season, it might come at the cost of getting rid of some really good players in the short term for the long-term gain. Yeah. But Justin Jefferson, you only need to be good. This is how they should really think of it. Because I think Jefferson, it's so important to this franchise that everything should be based on keeping him long-term and having him be happy in your franchise. I agree. I wouldn't want to get rid of him. Right. I wouldn't want to get rid of him. You don't want a redux of what happened with Stefan Diggs and that's going to haunt them.

But, you know, I think that all you have to do is be good the year he's signing his contract, which would be his fourth year. So not even necessarily 2022 that you have to be competing for a super bowl but more 2023 because he has no power like he is a minnesota viking until that contract situation comes up because no one's ever trading him for anything and he could be as unhappy as he wants which he seems like he's not unhappy at the moment seems like he's getting better at um i mean he seems like he's in a better spot ever since that, like week 10, week nine. Yeah.

When they started throwing in the ball more often and, you know, his numbers are phenomenal and everything else. So I think he doesn't have much reason to be unhappy aside from the guy wants to win. I think he has a winner mentality that maybe not everybody on the team does. And I think that if you have your plans

dead set on 2023 is the year you could compete for the Super Bowl. If you go 13 and four that year, we saw this in 2017, everybody signs the contracts, right? Kendricks and Diggs and Hunter, they just signed. We thought somebody was gone. They just signed right up. Okay. We're staying team friendly deals until they realized, oh, shoot, we shouldn't have done that, i.e. Stephon Diggs. Right. Well, let me take us to a different imagination. Imagination.

Vikings are in the playoffs. They're headed to Lambeau. They got the seven seed. Packers got two seed. We're driving back down there into the belly of the beast, dodging deer on the way, as we always do driving through Wisconsin. And the Vikings kick a last second field goal for 52 yards out. Greg Joseph, one of the great clutch field goals in Vikings history to beat the Green Bay Packers.

They will have finished, say, eight and nine, made the playoffs because Washington melts down. In imagination, playoff land. What does that mean for everyone? If they were to go to Lambeau, despite going eight and nine, and beat A.A. Ron, and especially with a kick. I mean, it means Greg Joseph gets a statue at that point. Yeah, they're exonerated from all of their past kicking woes.

If they win a playoff game, it would make sense when you're looking at this from a rational perspective, right? Do the one thing that you didn't do last year. Get to the playoffs and win a game. But I don't know. I still think playoff get to the playoffs and win a game but i don't know i still think i believe in the school of thought that if it's anything less than the nfc championship they can't they can't go on with this group this ownership group has to look at this i mean

and they there's something about the packers that you know is really ingrained like oh we have to beat them that's like what the wilfs think like that's that's always kind of driven like they want that's that's that's their that's who they keep pace with like green bay that is their measuring stick that's who you know they are able to kind of gear gauge like hey are we on the right track or how far are we out of you know being green bay level because they're in your division i still i going to go with my gut here though, in imagination land and say that even if it's a 52 yard field goal, I think there's, I think there are changes with this coaching staff. I think they changed with this front office,

maybe not for Kirk cousins at that point. Cause it's like, shoot, how much better can you get? Like if, if, if they think that it's not Kirk and it's not been, I mean,

it's just, he's just very expensive and makes it very tricky with his contract situation. But if you're able to get a coach that you want in here that's going to go the right direction. Because I feel like they've just... I hate saying this, but it feels like that's a scenario based on a lot of luck. Taking a 52-yard field goal as time expires? Well, why did the game come down to a 52-yard field goal in imagination land? Is it because your defense sucks again?

And it was a situation that they gave up a game-winning drive just like they did against the Packers the last time we see them play, and it takes Kirk Cousins leading a game-winning drive to come back after the defense gets torched up and down the field by A.A. Ron. Then I think you're looking at this and saying, hey, we've seen as far as we can go. you know, gets torched up and down the field by Aaron. Like that, I think you're looking at this and saying, Hey, we've seen as far as we can go. Like great. That great that you want to play off game, have fun divisional playoffs.

You're done after that. I mean, they learned their lesson the first time around when they won on that pushoff from Kyle Rudolph in new Orleans. Yes, I said it. That, that win gave Kirk his extension. That win gave Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer their extensions. I think that this ownership group learned from their mistake with that of just let's not knee jerk our way into doling out millions and millions of dollars in years on these people's deals when we're not sure we want to be locked into them anyways. I don't know about you guys, but I've gotten very good in my life at admitting when I need some help. If you are struggling to figure out how to navigate workers' compensation and disability laws, I've got a team that can lend you a hand. Kemet, Sanford, and Kramer are dedicated and experienced disability attorneys,

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I mean, the Vikings, what, uh, well, there's never been a seven seat obviously to do this because there's just new seven seat, but, um, you know, like 1987 Vikings are a middling team that ends the season poorly and then goes to the NFC championship game and is a drop pass away from maybe beating Washington. But you don't see this much. The Giants are the example that always gets brought up, but the Giants are pretty far in the past. Now the team that was- Can't wait till they blow that one up this year. Right. I mean, so basically what you're saying is you think that it's inevitable then,

because I think the best case scenario for this particular roster, especially one that's capable of almost blowing a 29-point lead and losing to the Detroit Lions two weeks ago, the best case scenario would be go play a team you're really familiar with, beat them, surprise them, and then go on to the NFC Championship or not the NFC Championship, the Divisional Round. Divisional Playoffs, yeah. And then lose there to a better team on the road, going on the road twice in a row, super hard.

That seems like that's the best case scenario for this season. And you think that it still ends up with you're making major changes. They're running into a brick wall, regardless of how far they go into the playoffs. Cause contractually they have to figure something out with Kirk cousins. Like, could you keep him at 45 million, that cap it and just be like, play it out. Like, could you keep him at 45 million, that cap it, and just be like, play it out, like, we'll decide after this year?

You could. You'd have to. The pain is going to come from somewhere else, right? Like, it's going to come from what you have to let go of defensively. It's going to potentially come from what you have to do offensively. Like, are you cutting Adam Thielen? Like, are you trading Dalvin Cook? I mean, what are you doing there?

Because financially, something's got to give here. If you don't want to extend Kirk, if you won't take a team-friendly deal, whatever, you could keep him at 45. It would be absolutely idiotic if they did that, but you could. But beyond that, I feel like they've seen everything they need to see. This team nearly gave up a loss of historic proportions with the largest comeback in NFL history. That was,

you know, a dropped great tight window throw, but like a drop pass from Pat Fryer moves away from that game going overtime and potentially the Steelers winning. Like I've seen enough, like the Wolfs have got to look at themselves in the mirror and say, it's not just like, keep giving one more chance,

one more chance, one more chance. It's like, this is who you are. Do you want to be this team? Like, yeah, you're, you're more relevant than, you know, I was talking to somebody last night and I'm like, man, like, you know, watching the bears offense. And I'm just like, Jesus, this is brutal. And then sometimes you have to put things in perspective. They're like, well, yeah, like now don't you like, you know, don't you,

don't you feel a little bit luckier that you cover the vikings versus this crap and i'm like yes and no because while the bears struggled to get to 30 points after an explosive second quarter like the vikings have their flaws offensively and i don't think that it's just like a matter of oh you fix the defense like this same unit is going to be okay doing what it's doing like you have to do something like you because some it's all coming to a head. There are questions that have to be answered, questions you can't push off to the next year. Of course, it all starts with Cousins' contract, and it starts then beyond that with Zimmer and Spielman. Even if things were

in a perfect world, I don't think you want to be dumb and give them more extensions on top of the one. They're in the first year of three-year deals for both of them. Like they have two years left on this thing. Why would you extend them again? Like I've always heard that fear from Vikings fans, like great. They're going to win a playoff game and everybody's going to get extended again. The quarterback I could understand, but the other two, absolutely not. You still have two years left on your deal.

So I still think regardless of what happens there were too many embarrassments too many near misses too much of the same old same old for the Wilfs to sit back and say yeah we're going to continue this one more year just give them one more year because like we've seen how far this team can get is more time really going to help I think the answer ultimately is no. So in, in they learn their lesson the first time they did this by locking themselves into the three parties after the new Orleans game in 2019, don't do it again. The difference between missing the playoffs and even with the same record, even with eight and nine missing the playoffs and winning a playoff game and then getting bludgeoned the next week is I think that ownership,

if they miss the playoffs, we'll view it as there needs to be a lot of things that are fixed with this roster. And it needs to be a lot better in order for us to be a contender versus, and we're not that far away. I really think that that would change the perception entirely. Even if nothing is different, even if they finished the same exact way,

they split these final four games and they finish eight and nine. I, it feels very much like they would be like, well, we, you know, we want to play off game and we're in the divisional round. All we need is X, Y, and Z. And then we're there. All we need is a guard and a corner or two. Um, even though there's a lot more that is necessary to happen here in terms of changes, I think, in order to aim for the actual Super Bowl. Before we stop, how many games do you think they win here out of the final four? Because I watched Chicago last night and said that should be too automatic. That Chicago defense is as bad as its offense. It is bad that i mean they're ahead in that game and aaron rogers is great but i mean everyone is wide open they can't cover they can't pressure khalil mack and akim hicks were both not playing mack is done for the year like they've got nothing that team has is

given up it's done it's over quinn and ball nichols had a good game but outside of that like i'm looking at like jaylen johnson i'm God, I remember when Courtney, our draft scout, had him mocked in a couple of her drafts, and she's probably shaking in her boots right now. So, you know, they should win. I'm going to pick them to win. It's Soldier Field. They don't play well there.

Would it surprise me if they lose? No, it wouldn't. But that should be two wins right there and you're six and seven so like let's just say that that's you know that pushes you to eight and six now do we split the final two games with um with the rams and with the green bay i think that's probably fair i still think eight and nine is probably where this team ends up though just kind of feels like you know it's not going to be a 9-8 situation. I can't see them winning four games here in the final stretch. I just can't. Yeah. I think I'm going to break my rule this week, probably. After watching

Chicago play, I'll probably break my rule of never picking the Vikings at Soldier Field. I mean, I'm picking them this week. That's for sure going to happen. All right. Well, we sure going to happen, but yeah. Well, we will see what happens, and we will be on top of it going forward, and you get to travel back to your home state for a Chicago game, which is always good. So thank you for joining me in imagination land, Courtney. You are more than welcome. Imagination.

Next time, give me more of a heads up, and I'll call Draft Scout, and I'll get her a little bit more prepared. She was just like really, really like off putting when I was texting her. Because we interrupted her. She's in the middle of important tape grinding time. Yeah. Yeah. Unlike you, you're never grouchy. Never. Never. I'm an even keeled human being. OK, goodbye.