Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - ESPN's Kevin Seifert thinks Vikings are best fit for Kyler Murray

Episode Date: March 13, 2026

ESPN's Kevin Seifert joins Matthew Coller to talk about Kyler Murray's fit in Minnesota with Kevin O'Connell and answers the essential questions about what it will take for him to win and breaks down what's next on the roster for the Vikings. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider presented by Fandual, Matthew Collar here. And on the show today, ESPN's Kevin Sefer. All right, Kevin, here's what we're going to do on the show today. I'm going to ask you every single question that I've been asked about Kyler Murray. We're going to go through all of the most common questions regarding Kyler Murray's the quarterback of the Vikings. And, oh, by the way, they haven't really signed any free agents. We're going to get into that. and the Jonathan Grenard rumors persist, but there has been no movement.

So why don't we just start out with this? What was your reaction to Kyler Murray becoming the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings? My first initial reaction was, man, I can't believe they did it because as cheap as he is on the $1.3 million guarantees for veteran minimum and just a one-year contract. and seemingly no commitment. To me, it represents like kind of a massive organizational decision. I mean, two years ago, they drafted J.J. McCarthy to be their franchise quarterback. And if it works out the way they hope it does and everyone hopes it does with Kyler Murray, then that means J.J. McCarthy is done.

And that, at least with this franchise, and that is a pretty monumental potential decision. And they know that's one of the many outcomes. and it would be in a way a good outcome because it meant that Kyler Murray played well and that they would be able to move forward with him potentially. And so that was my first reaction, and that was the reason I was, you know, to the extent that I had any doubts that it was going to be Kyler Murray, you know, I'd been saying he was at or near the top of their list all along, and you've obviously been doing that as well and many others have.

But like that, it required them to make that determination and be willing. willing to accept that as one of the possible, if not the likely outcomes of this. And that's a big deal. And since the start of the 2000 season, there's only been three quarterbacks drafted in the first round who have started 10 or less games with the team that drafted them. And that list is not good. It's Paxton Lynch. It's Johnny Mansell and it's Trey Lance.

And so the potential that J.J. McCarthy could end up on that list is wild. even though we all had a front seat to that, to the season and the 10 games that he played last year. Well, and especially thinking about the fact that they moved on from Sam Darnold in favor of him. I mean, that's a little bit different than some of those other quarterbacks. I mean, Johnny Mansell, as much of a celebrity as he was, was not drafted all that high in the first round. It was the first round, but it wasn't like 10th overall. And the same thing goes for Paxton Lynch. and they didn't sell out on a guy who had won 14 games and thrown for 35 touchdowns in order to turn the ball over.

So it is a very bold decision to go to someone with such an extensive record of starting and the fact that he is the former number one overall draft pick. We know how immensely talented Kyler Murray is. Although I have been saying, I guess that's one of the more common questions is does this have to mean it's over for J.J. McCarthy? and I have been saying it doesn't necessarily have to be over because Kyla Murray put into his contract a no tag clause. And he also does not always play 17 games. I think last year they made sure that he played way less than he was actually physically capable of playing. So they could draft high this season. But at the same time, he did have an injury last year.

It's happened before. So there's always a possibility that J.J. McCarthy could still, end up getting time. And I also think, too, as much as you are working within the constraints of a rookie quarterback contract, there is precedent for quarterbacks going to the bench and then eventually becoming good. They usually just do it with a different team. It's usually after they've left, right, always. But it's not, it'd be impossible that he could go to the bench, develop for a year, because there's so much about this that's unorthodox, even from the beginning of him missing his first season. Yes. I mean, and I don't want to, and I don't want what I said to be confused with

J.J. McCarthy will never be good or never be a starter in this league if this is the way it plays out. But what we've seen, really, in that time frame I'm talking about in 2000s, there's never been a quarterback who was drafted as high as he was, who was essentially replaced in the offseason, and then suddenly came back at some point in the future to be. become that team starting quarterback. Not a single instance of that. There's times when they have gone on with more than 10 starts, but they've gone on to become good quarterbacks for other teams. And the Baker Mayfields of the world are the perfect example. And so it would be sort of part for the course in Vikings quarterback history of J.J. McCarthy were to leave and become somebody else's long term starting quarterback. But that's a discussion for another day. But I don't want it to as if I'm saying like this means he's cooked. But what it means is that all the teams that drafted those guys, they usually gave it more than 10 games.

And when they didn't give it more than 10 games, it's because they, with the intimate knowledge of everything that they know behind the scenes that we don't, decided that they couldn't trust that to be a winning formula in the following season. Now, not every team that faced those situations was in the Vikings, situation in terms of the overall talent of their roster and the time frame of their leadership. I mean, the quarterback decision has essentially already cost one of the two people who made it their job. If you made a list of why Quasi Adolfo Mensa was fired, the fact that they

were not able to at least so far transition from Kurt Cousins to the next quarterback is right at the top. If J.J. McCarthy had been a Pro Bowl player this past year, I bet Cui's still here. And so that's something to consider. And then obviously Kevin O'Connell is the other one. So the scrutiny is now on him. And that hasn't always existed in every other situation that we're referencing. But the bottom line is that it would be an unprecedented situation for JJ to be replaced this offseason and then to come back in like 2027 and be the Vikings quarterback.

No, it certainly would. I mean, once you go to the bench, the odds drop very, very low. that he's ever going to come back. I just always am leaving the door open, especially with this franchise to unpredictability at the quarterback position. But let's focus on Kyler Murray because I think we would agree

that there is not a real quarterback competition. There's no reason for Kevin O'Connell to come out and declare Kyler Murray the starting quarterback, but I don't think there's any chance Kyler Murray signs with this team unless they were talking about him as the clear cut QB1.

you are the guy from day one of OTAs. You run the team and J.J. McCarthy is the backup quarterback. So the question really is on Kevin O'Connell, how well can Kyler Murray and O'Connell fit together? And I have viewed this, Kevin, as the highest possible ceiling of any of the available quarterbacks. That doesn't mean it's the highest ceiling of all time. It just means of any potential option, knowing that they wanted to replace the starting quarterback position and the players they had to choose from, this guy, you can go back in his

past and point two seasons where he was legitimately around the top 10 in the NFL. I can say that for Aaron Rogers and Kirk Cousins for five years ago, but you probably can't say that trying to project forward. But what do you think of the relationship here that these two are going to have to form and the offense that Kevin O'Connell is going to have to build around Kyler Murray? I mean, there's going to have to be adjustment either on both sides or a lot of adjustment on one or the other. I mean, that's just facts. And that, you know, there's never, if there's never going to be a perfect scenario where you get some guy who's been running your exact offense and exactly the way you would want it. And he's available and you can just bring him in for $1.3 million and everything is smooth.

And so there's going to be friction in terms of the transition, no matter who they went to or no matter who they acquired short. of probably Sam Darnold or Daniel Jones or Patrick Mahomes or somebody that is very established Joe Burrow. And so the adjustment to the scheme, adjustment on the part of the player was going to have to happen no matter what. Now, the question is, is there the aptitude and the ability and the willingness of Kyler Murray to meet Kevin O'Connell somewhere closer to the pure progression, multiple reads over the course of every SNAP system.

And Kevin O'Connell, willing to meet Kyler Murray, at least in some cases where his instincts take him out of the pocket after the first read, or in the case of pressure. And that's been something that has been pretty well documented with Kyler, is what he does when there's pressure. And it's not that he gets sacked or it's not that he turns it over. It's just that he may or may not stand in the pocket as much as some of the other quarterbacks that we've seen run this offense. And so, and the offense is geared towards there eventually being a read and somebody eventually being open in those situations.

But you have to, you have to see them and wait them out. And so I think there's going to have to be some adjustment. And I also, the other thing I think about a lot is just that every veteran quarterback that's been through here has commented with really, without being asked about the complexity of the offense for the quarterback. And receivers have talked about it too. And we're talking about Kirk Cousins talking about having flashcards to help him. And he'd had some experience with Kevin O'Connell in Washington and running and the Kyle Shanahan sort of scheme, the Jay Gruden scheme.

And so he'd had experience with that. I remember Adam Thielen talking about that when he went in 2022, when, when, when he was first exposed to it, Josh Dobbs, the literal astronaut, talked about how complicated it was. And it's not that it's not learnable. It's just that there's lots of things happening that are different than what you may have experienced. And so I think about all those things and I think about the fact that they have a relatively short period of time to come together on that. The burden is going to be on Kevin O'Connell to do that.

I mean, that's just the way sports works. there's more burden on Kevin O'Connell to figure out how to get the best out of Kyler Murray than there is Kyler Murray figuring out the ins and outs of the subtleties and nuances of the scheme. And everything depends on it. So I think Kevin will be highly motivated. And I think he sometimes gets a bad rap for being stubborn about his scheme. And sometimes I think it's justified.

But the time for that is over. And it's time to create a scheme that. best fits Kyler Murray. And by the way, J.J. McCarthy, if he were to play, has, you know, it's not like he's not able to escape and make, you know, plays on his own as well. And so it's not like you'd be creating a scheme for Kyler that J.J. McCarthy couldn't run if he ever has to come into a game. But the burden is on Kevin and the urgency is very much now. Yeah, I think that we're going to learn a lot about Kevin O'Connell in this process. But I also think, too, that the he can't adjust the offense thing is overstated and probably

started with Josh Dobbs, who really shouldn't be mentioned in any conversation with Kyler Murray. I mean, it's just not the same. He had to show up in the middle of the season. And I think he did put too much on Josh Dobbs' plate as a guy who was showing up in the middle of the year. But that's not the situation they're in now. it's much closer to what happened with Sam Darnold.

And with Sam Darnold, the scheme progressed throughout the 2024 season. It started off when we saw them against the New York Giants in week one of 2024. He threw like 20 passes and he was under center running play actions a lot. And I remember complimenting O'Connell and Darnold and hey, you all kept it simple and you won the game with your defense. You didn't, nobody tried to do too much that was crazy here. And I think with Murray, it probably has to be the same. sort of thing. But I do think that it is not true that Kyler Murray needs some sort of

training wheels type of offense or that he needs an offense where he can't throw to the middle of the field or the triple option or something. I mean, it's just been made to say one of the things that's become extremely clear is that people haven't watched Kyler Murray play football in a long time. Because he was running a Shanahan inspired offense when he played under Drew Petting and Jonathan Gannon. And when you watch them. There's a lot of pre-snap motion. There's a lot of different formations. There's a lot of personnel packages. There's a lot of play actions. And he is under center more than he ever was before. So I think that it was one of their goals as an organization with Kyler in 2024. And we saw it.

We were there. We watched a game where he played very well against Brian Flores to get him to play more traditional style quarterback and then use his mobility when necessary. Yes. And you can you can watch tape and see him make every throw. Kevin O'Connell talked about this yesterday. You can see him making all the throws that you would require in the offense. And you see him naturally be very accurate, which is, we, you know, we spent so much time talking about that last season. It's sort of the basic thing you'd expect for any quarterback. But he's exceptionally accurate, especially when players are covered or they're double teamed or, you know, finding that open area, using armed talent to get the ball on the right, whether it's layering or lining the ball, line drive,

he can do those things. And so to me, like, just from a scheme perspective, what will be interesting to watch and what I think will be a key leverage point is, we already mentioned it once, but like what will Kyler Murray do either A under pressure or B when read number one or progression number one is not there? And that's not to say he can't do that. It's not to say he hasn't done that, but like that's kind of the key to this offense. And it's not, you know, and it might be that he can make a play on his own, you know, people adjust their routes, but this offense is designed to provide answers if you are patient and you are able to quickly process through all that. And so whether it's because of his size or whatever,

you know, just the fact that he's always been such a good runner. he's had a tendency to not necessarily make it to those third, you know, second, third, fourth reads. And you can you can live that way for a while. But I think over time in this offense, like the, the secret sauce, the lethality, if that's a word of this offense, is being able to stick there and get it downfield to the guys that they have schemed open that might take some time to get there.

There's such a give and take with that on his tape. Because even from the first game of 2025, he's playing the New Orleans Saints, multiple times his offensive line just doesn't block the edge rusher for reasons. And he on one of them, it's Cameron Jordan coming right at him. And he runs away from Cameron Jordan. Now he's not the fastest eddressure in the NFL. Like he's not even moving. Like that's how fast.

And so they leave him unblocked and he runs for like 30 yards. And so it's the like Sam Darnold's not running for 30 yards. Kirk Cousin wasn't running for any yards. And here you have a guy who if you make a mistake up front can make you right. but also can frustrate you because there are times where it looks like someone's kind of breaking through the offensive line, but they don't. Like the offensive line recovers or someone steps up and makes a block and he's already gone and the receivers are looking around like, oh, I guess we're running on this play.

And you do see it from some of the body language of the receivers at times where it's like, well, I ran that one for no reason again. Yeah. And so I think with Kyler, what you have is a quarterback that when he's had the right circumstances has performed at a very high level. But I don't think anyone would say that it's pure perfection and you've just acquired Josh Allen or Joe Burrow. It probably would have taken the illegal five first round picks to get Joe Burrow.

So instead it's $1.3 million for Kyler Murray. Right. But I was working on this last night trying to sort it through in real time a pie chart of potential outcomes. Like the four, I think it was four outcomes that came up with. were it works amazing and he's here for a very long time. It works okay and they barely slip into the playoffs or miss the playoffs in the last day. The other option would be that it doesn't really work at all and JJ McCarthy ends up finishing out the season or it's just a complete implosion and it totally blows up.

I don't know if you want to try the percentages on the fly here. The math can be a little tricky to add up to 100. but I am curious though what you think about that range of outcomes and what the most likely possibility is for Kyler Murray with this team. Well, I'm okay at math, but your bit with Courtney Cronin on the pie charts just freaks me out and assumes that I'll get something wrong. But on your four, to me, like the likeliest one is it works okay and they're, you know, they're in playoff contention.

I think that was your second choice, like whether that's, you know, 45. 50% and the other ones, you know, split the other three. I, like, and I've already had people asking me, but what, you know, what are they going to do with Kyler Murray next year if he play as well? And, you know, they don't, I can't franchise tag him. I say, well, that's a great problem to have. And then you start talking about, like, well, would they, would they automatically sign him for whatever he wants because to correct the mistake of Sam Darnel, which wouldn't really correct that mistake as they're two different players? and maybe two different long-term trajectories.

But it's, you know, when a quarterback is available and really only one team kind of jumps in on it, it tells you a lot about what the rest of the league thinks. And like I've talked to some people from other teams who maybe had some quarterback were in the, potentially going to be dipping their toe into the quarterback world and really didn't, you know, their research was that they didn't want to get near him. you know everybody you know there's probably very few NFL players who don't have a wide range of of thought from across the league and Kyler is certainly not one of those so there are is a wide range of thought around the league about how good he can really be and how much of a student he

can be or will be in this in this particular environment and so like I don't feel like there's a strong chance that he's going to be so good and they're going to go so far that there's going to be this wild, massive contract at the end of the year. Like that feels like there's a chance of that, but it doesn't feel anywhere close to being the likeliest. The way this is played out and the way you just kind of hear about everything around the league, like I think the likeliest scenario is that, and this would not be a terrible scenario by any means that they're in the playoff contention at the end of the season and potentially get in.

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for details, restrictions, and important safety information. So let's see what you guys think. Oops. 61 wants Harrison Smith back for another year. So I think I had it at like a 20% chance that it's unbelievable. And they're in the NFC championship game, which, you know, wouldn't be the craziest thing in Vikings history. And 40% that it's the exact outcome you're talking about. And I think I had it maybe a 30% that it just doesn't really work out. And whatever the rest was, that it's a complete calamity.

It's kind of hard with a team that's this good, that wasn't even a complete calamity with Carson Went or Nick Mullins starting. And the one thing about Kyler and his personality is it feels like no one really knows Kyler Murray all that well. And Kevin O'Connell does have the ability to communicate with football players, unlike many coaches that I've ever seen. I mean, to have a season that went the way that this did with all the drama, the travel overseas, the decision at quarterback, and to have the players in the locker room still vote

him an A in the NFLPA survey. I think it says a lot. It's very easy to give him an A when they're 14 and 3, but it's a heck of a lot harder when you go through all that sort of stuff. And I go back to a lot, the game against Green Bay at the end of the year with Sam Darnold, where he's talking in his headset before a big play. And of course, he's leaning into the quarterback when they could just hand it off because he's going to continue to do that forever.

And he says something to Sam Darnold like, I believe in you, man, or what? whatever. And sometimes, yeah, we can sort of like, okay, here's O'Connell being Friday night lights coach and stuff like that. But I really do think that this level of coaching is not something and belief is not something that he's had before. His previous coaches, I don't think you can say what you want about O'Connell, but I don't think that they hold a candle to what he's been able to do as a head coach and how he's been able to connect with veteran quarterbacks, Kurt Cousins and Sam Darnold. and when O'Connell arrives here, what's Kirk Cousin's reputation? He's not a leader.

He just works here, that sort of thing. And then they're putting chains on him and, you know, he's taking his shirt off with it blows the gallo horn or whatever. Like the difference was unbelievable. Yeah. So I don't want to count out the idea that the Kyler Murray narratives could change under Kevin O'Connell. Yeah.

And it just depends on like how high can that push him, you know. You know, he, it was notable as you talked about that. I'm thinking back to when he, when Kyler talked to us on Zoom yesterday, and he was just kind of saying, and I don't know, we obviously don't know him very well, so I don't know how expressive he normally is, but he was just saying, like,

really talking about how much during the visit he was treated with respect and how, and I can only imagine how, like, the meeting in Kevin O'Connell's office went, where they're going through the tape, and Kevin's showing him, you can, this is great, you know, this is awesome, you, this is what we want, this is, you know, and then they stop

and they talk about, you know, Kevin O'Connell's career. And anytime you, like, I think Kevin O'Connell brings it up a lot, but it's kind of like a humbling moment towards a player who is much better than he ever was that he's basically can identify with Kyler Murray and say, like, look, like, I try to do these things. I couldn't do them. But, like, you can't, like, and so that's Kevin O'Connell's kind of approach with players

is to make them feel, hey, I actually am pretty good. You know, I, you know, and it's not, you know, blowing steam. at them and it's not, you know, trying to inflate their ego. It's like, to me, like, everyone would want a boss who is, like, believes that you can be maybe even better than you think you can be. And like, it just, we've all had people probably praise us at different times and it makes you feel good and not just makes you feel good, but it makes you think that the things you've been doing actually were noticed and you actually can achieve some of the things that other people don't think you can. Football especially can be a very,

very negative, very alpha, very belittling place. And that is not what happens when you're in this particular Vikings culture. Now, some other people could say, well, that's great. You know, you like that helps, but you also need to have that edge and you need to have people, you know, your foot on people's neck. And it's in order to get the best out of them at the very best at the most important times. But that's not who Kevin O'Connell is. He has a very clear idea of how he is trying to get the most out of players, which is what every coach is trying to do. It could not be more clear what that approach is. And I would think that after seven years with Arizona, that a franchise, no one would say is anywhere close to being a model NFL franchise

and has a lot of things swirling around it that most people outside of that market don't even realize that it would have to make you feel like you have, like, you have, like, you have, you want to show them you can be what they want you to be and that you actually can do it. And believing that you can do it is more than half the battle already. And so long story short, like I think there's absolutely something to what you're saying about it. And I think that that's one of Kevin O'Connell's secret sauces. I've written about it.

I've talked to other people about it. I've talked to him about it and his sort of feeling like, that's the way I do it, but don't mistake that for me being soft. don't mistake that for me being a pushover. And that's not even what we're talking about here. But it's almost like he recognizes that that's sort of an outlier in the way football people act. And most players that we see coming through here appreciate that.

And whether it's the NFLPA vote or frankly just the regular season record. Like they've won a lot of games. And when they were four and eight, like I was fully, not fully expecting, but fully prepared for them to just, it just to finish four and 13. And like, regardless of who's on the schedule, like every team they played down the road was basically had given up, you know, themselves, you know, whether it's Washington or Dallas or it felt like. And Green Bay obviously didn't even, you know, use their starters in that game. And so, but the fact that, like, there was definitely something to be said for the way they finished the year. And it wasn't, and it's not, you know, just perfunctory, like, ra, raw stuff. Like, there's something to it, like that the veteran locker room stayed engaged.

And that's a credit to him. And so all those things are, are reasons that I think that they have a good chance of getting the best out of Kyler Murray, but we don't know what that best is yet. I also think, too, that his particular teaching style, and I did a story at one point where I had him break down some routes and routes. combinations for me, which eventually got to a point where I had no idea what he was saying. I mean, this just shows you how deep football really is when you go behind the scenes versus how it's often analyzed. And we try to go as deep as we possibly can. But I think what

he's very good at explaining. So even when I sat down with him for that story, I did understand it by the end, the way he was able to explain it to me because he really dives deep into why they do this. And I know that, you know, Mike Silver wrote that book, The Why is Everything. It's really there that ethos of the McVeigh and Shanahan is having every player understand this is exactly the reason behind the concept. So you understand it much deeper than here's your first, here's your second read. Yeah. And when veteran quarterbacks have played for this team, and I mean real starters of the level of Kyler Murray, I think, well, they're insanely different. Kirk Cousins and Kyler Murray fall under the same bucket.

And Mike Sando and his quarterback tears, if you look through those year after year, Kirk and Kyler Murray are not that far away from each other. This team is 31 and 11 when either Sam Darnold or Kirk Cousin starts. So I feel like sometimes we have lost that with everything that happened last year, with a quarterback who wasn't ready to take on that pro level. But I think that there's a lot of reasons to say that that 20% that I'm giving it, that it's amazing is possible that the ceiling of Kyler Murray could be reached. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen here or it's probably not going to happen

anywhere. But a lot of Kyler Murray's career, just like Sam Darnold and just like Kirk Cousins, is impacted greatly by circumstance. And that's not just the coach. That's also the roster around him, which leads me to James Pierre, I think is a nice signing. Tavier Thomas is a delight. person to speak with. I'm glad that he's back. The Vikings have the single greatest long snapper in the National Football League. I'll argue that all day long. He's back. Aaron Jones, which just real

side note here. Aaron Jones, Justin Jefferson, T.J. Hawkinson, Brian O'Neill. I think the leadership on offense, I'm not sure that there's ever been a group like that in Arizona to work with Kyla Murray, but not just their talent, but I mean their personalities and their character. So that's a thing. But do they have a roster that is worth talking about being good enough to elevate, not just Kyler Murray, but have Kyler Murray elevate to the level where they can win the NFC North?

Right now, they are plus 600 on FanDuel to win the NFC North, which is fourth out of four. And their over under is eight and a half, which is uninspiring. but also not like tragic. So like how good is the team around him right now as they've gone through phase one and phase two of free agency watching from the sidelines? Yeah. And obviously Eric Wilson signing was probably the most money that they spent,

but that was just to bring back somebody they already had. So they definitely have operated like I've called it a course correction, you know, and Rob Brzezinski talking last night said he feels like they've done a good job of navigating the future versus being competitive this season. And so, like, it has not felt like a full-throated project to, like, in the past two years, to build up a team around the quarterback. To the extent that their plan for being competitive in 2026 is, is that they already had a competitive team.

We're bringing back the bones of that team, a few of the players. saying goodbye to because they cost too much relative to their contribution. But for the most part, they feel like they have a good playoff team and just needed to insert a quarterback. That's the approach they've taken. There's something to be said for if you stay the same, have you gotten any better? But then again, how much better would their record have been last year with the players in the team that they had? every year is so much different and everybody's gotten a year older, you know, and not to wish anything on anybody, but, you know, there's some aging players that, you know, Andrew Van

Inkel worked very hard last year to be able to come back from the next issue that he had and have a productive season, you know, so he can be able to fly through 17 games, you know, that's just an example. Brian O'Neill had a few things going on, but he managed to get through the season. Christian Derrissau, you know, where is that going to be? And so, you know, the running backs, you know, they managed to get through the season with those two guys, but was it good enough to think that they could even repeat what they did last year, this year? And so I think that they have, I don't, they're certainly not any better around the quarterback than they were last year,

maybe a little bit less, you can project a little bit less success around the quarterback, just because everyone's a year older and they haven't really added any impact people. And whether they do in the draft or not is another story, I guess, but immediate impact from the draft, no matter how good your draft ultimately is, there's a low percentage chance for that. So, you know, it really feels like a course correction, a bridge to something else. a recognition that they have, you know, the bones and the skeleton of a good team, but not the conviction to go, you know, pour on top of it additional resources, I think,

is the best way to put it. It will probably be the best for their long-term health. But in terms of, do they have, like, I remember last year, everybody was saying, like, they had built up such a good team that it almost didn't matter who played quarterback and you find out that actually isn't the case, even though once every, everybody got back healthy towards the end of the year that they were a pretty decent team. But this year, I don't know that you can just say, you know, if Kyler Murray just plays average Kyler Murray football, that this team is going to the playoffs for sure.

Because they're just, I don't know that you can have the same conviction in a running back situation when a lot of these guys were already kind of getting to the far end of their range of their primes. Well, this is where that second, third wave. Now we might be at the fourth wave. This is the fastest the waves have ever come. Usually it's like the first day is pretty exciting. The second day cleans up some of the bigger names. And then there's a little bit of a delay and then they trickle in. This year was like everyone's gone day one. Those last couple of guys are gone day two. And now it's everybody that's left over.

At the same time, their two best signings last year were Isaiah Rogers two years and $9 million. and Eric Wilson on a one-year contract to be a special teamer. So it does feel like this is where, hey, you know, pro personnel group, it's time to earn your money and find some free agents here who can fill out spots for a very low price, which I know it is not easy. And the Bashad Breeland route has not really worked for them when they've tried it in the past. There's also trade potential that is out there that we don't know yet. And the draft, which I think all.

options are on the table for where they could go in the draft. But I think what we know is that the depth is very thin and there are certain positions that would have to be better than we're projecting. Like just for example, center would have to be better than we guess. And the offensive line has to stay healthy. Unlike last year, they were one of the least healthy offensive lines in the NFL overall. And some players have to be better than they were last year. A Levi-Drake Rodriguez, I thought was very good last year relative to what.

we think of his trajectory, but he has to be better. And, you know, Ty Ingram Dawkins would have to step up under the current look of the defensive line, right? So there are there are things that have to happen, boxes that would need to be checked in order for this all to come together. But I also am curious what you think that the next steps are because it feels like this is so far, if you were grading their offseason, it gets a big old eye. It's just incomplete. They just have not done really anything yet. there's still stuff when you look around the roster that needs to happen. Yeah, like that was the other point I was going to make as you're talking is like,

like they haven't really filled any of their holes. You know, every team has holes and there's different ways to do it. But, you know, they have not addressed center. You know, Ryan Kelly retires. They have not addressed the center. Do they really have somebody on the roster that they want to go through 17 games with? You know, maybe Blake Brandel, maybe they're going to give Michael Juergens a chance in a, in a healthy draft and developed system.

you know, Michael Juergens becomes that guy because you drafted him two years ago. You know, he got rid of Garrett Bradbury, Ryan Kelly bridges it, and then you put in your draft pick. But we'll see if they agree with that or not. But, you know, they've got rid of their two starting defensive tackles and have not acquired anybody. Does that mean that they're just going to promote the people that you just mentioned? Or do they think that there's a trade out there? That's the other thing that like, you know, because it's not like, I think there's a lot of teams who are in the similar boat where free agency just wasn't as fruitful. for them in terms of, you know, Tennessee seemed to sign everybody and the Raiders seem to sign

everybody. But like the teams that were just kind of, you know, were in position needing like this guy, this position or that position that, the Vikings are not the only ones who haven't filled those spots. But so maybe there's some, some trades as you go through the offseason player for player trades that you can, both teams can address needs with veterans that were under contract and didn't hit free agency. So that's something that people around the league are talking about because this free agent class was not that great. And whether it's or trades even into training camp, that that could potentially fill those holes, especially once you find out how you do in the draft. But it's that's that's definitely notable that like they're a team that has entered,

you know, like all teams do, entered the offseason with with holes at certain positions. And other than signing a potential number three cornerback, they really haven't addressed any of them. What do you think of the Grenard thing? Because now that you have Kyler Murray, I don't really see it as being a great idea to trade Jonathan Grinard unless somebody goes crazy, unless another team is like, yeah, we'll give you the ninth overall draft pick or something. Yeah. But if they're not, if they're going to offer third round draft picks for Jonathan Grinard, that feels to me like you'd just rather have the best version of this thing. Because when I'm looking forward and sometimes I get caught in between Kevin of hey can we just play this season before

we play the next off season right this isn't my Madden games where I simulate the season and build the roster over and over again but if you look forward it doesn't look like the band is going to stay entirely together that has been built for right now through 2027 just contract and age wise so if you're taking one more swing at it with the core group that you have, I don't really think lopping off one of the best players that you have, one of the best leaders in the locker room makes a ton of sense. The only reason to do it would be if you were thinking we might have to draft a quarterback in 2027, let's try to get as much draft capital as possible. Let's trade for a second. Let's trade down. Get more for 2027 and just have as much

ammunition if you need to move up in the draft if you're thinking that far out. Or, hey, we don't really want to renegotiate that contract that you negotiated. And after free agency, he's probably worth a little bit more than his contract, but he has a deal with them and has to play under that if he wants his money. So he will. I don't know what you think of it. I just found it to be a little bit like counterintuitive with what you're doing a quarterback because if you're thinking longer term,

then bringing in someone who might be a one year option doesn't really gel with moving on from someone who is in their prime as a star edge rusher. Yeah. And I don't know that the Vikings went into free agency saying, okay, we need to get a quarterback and we need to trade Jonathan Grenard and we need to sign a cornerback. I don't think that was on their priority list. But clearly there's two-way discussions about his contract. The Vikings potentially wanted us to get his cap number down. And he doesn't have any more guaranteed money in his contract and would like to probably at least rectify that part.

and if not get a raise given the fact that even though his sack numbers were down, his pressure rate was still very high. He's obviously still a very, very good pass rusher and very, very good three-down outside linebacker and wanted to be paid as such. And so clearly there's a little bit of a difference there. And if somebody wanted to swoop in and give them something that you can't refuse, I think that was probably where they were coming from from that and might still be. because now that Max Crosby appears to be staying in Las Vegas and Trey Hendrickson has already signed with Baltimore,

there's more teams than that who are looking for pass rushers. And so maybe they can get somebody who didn't want to get in on either one of those guys at those prices, but potentially would want to get in on Jonathan Grenard. I know there's teams that are still in the pass rush market. It's just how much they would be willing to give up and also sign Grenard to a new contract. So if they were to trade him, I hope it would be clear enough in the terms that we could say, okay, this wasn't, you know, you can't turn that down, especially when you have Dallas Turner, a former first round pick ready, you know, potentially to step in.

But if they gave him away for a second round pick or a third round pick, maybe the second round isn't giving it away. But to me, that kind of is when you see that the Ravens were willing to give up two first rounders for Max Crosby. if they give him away for relatively modest draft capital, then that would signal, again, that they're sort of toggling between this long-term course correction and trying to still be competitive, but not really a Super Bowl team in 2026.

What I came up with was a 2026 third and a 2027 second would be the lowest that I could possibly come up with because that does help you if you need to move up in 2020. You can give up a second and move up. Plus it gets you an extra top 100 draft pick, which the Vikings have had so incredibly few of over the last four years. I've thrown the stat out a few times on the show. But Detroit and Green Bay have had literally double the number of top 100 picks

since Kevin O'Connell took over. It is time to get some of those back. Okay, fun question for you to end the show. It's a two-parter. Number one, why? That's the quite. Why is it always like this? Why is it always like this?

How can one franchise have this happen over and over and over and over and over again? And the Patriots just have franchise quarterbacks. And the Packers just have franchise quarterback. Why? Why does that happen? That's question number one is why. Question number two is out of all the quarterbacks who have shown up here from somebody else's team and had different degrees of success, like the way,

worst being Donovan McNabb, and the best being several, but I mean, Randall Cunningham is, I think, clearly the best. Case Keene went to, and Brett Farv, but even Cunningham, that season is like the greatest offensive season ever when it happens. But yes, of course, Farv. I want to know why, and I also want to know which one Kyler reminds you of the most, or which one you think he will end up reminding you of the most. And you have many choices of all the different quarterbacks who have shown up here.

Okay. I know why. You know, I was on the Vikings beat for a long, excuse me, for a long time in the 2000s. And then I started covering the NFC North and then I started covering the league. And so what I always felt covering the Vikings was that this was a franchise that was unique in its eccentricities. And none of these things happened to any other teams. And then as I was traveling around to other teams, I found that a lot of local media feel the same way about their own teams. because when you're right in the middle of it, you think, and it's all happening right in front of you

and you're covering it every day. You think there's no, this is crazy. There's no way every NFL team is crazy that has a history of crazy things. Like you never, like, you always wonder, like, how do they even like tie their shoes in the morning sometimes because of all the wild things that are happening every day? And people who work in the NFL will tell you the same thing. People, fans have this idea that it's this monstrous corporate giant and they're going to rule the world and people who work in the NFL tell you like, I don't even know how we get the lights in the stadium to come on sometimes. And so there is always that. But for the Vikings, it's very much centered on the quarterback. And so I don't know if it's like the curse of Fran Tarkinen,

but what I've always said is that they have spent decades and decades in the wilderness of trying to replace Fran Tarkinen. And they have never been able to do it sometimes occasionally through, occasionally through circumstances that you can't control, they drafted Dante Culpepper and he seems like he's going to be their guy for a long time. And then he literally has a guy dive at his knee and all three ligaments get torn. He's never the same. But for the most part, like if you're going to like the real answer for why is that when they drafted JJ McCarthy, that was the first time they've ever drafted a quarterback in the top 10.

And people talk about how many failures there are of first round quarterbacks. But for the most part, other than Tom Brady, most of those guys are drafted in that top 10, top 12, I think, for Patrick Mahomes. And they just haven't done it very much. And so why have they always had to go find the Kyler Murrays of the world or the Brett Farves of the world or the Warren moons of the world or the, I would say Rich Gannon, but I guess he left? But, you know, bringing back Brad Johnson, the Gus Ferratz, all those people because they have never really very often made it a point to draft or been in position to draft a quarterback when they have a high pick. And so to me, it's just a matter of like cause and effect there.

And so as much as we always like to think of being cursed or like the Vikings have these issues that no other team ever does, it's really just like, you know, if you don't swing the bat, you're not going to get a hit, you know, that type of thing. And so who does, what does the Kyler Murray situation most remind me of? You know, they've had situations where they've had to go out and get emergency people like Sam Bradford. People forget about Kelly Holcomb. They once traded for Kelly Hocom, right, I think right, during training camp, and he end up being a starter for them. They once traded for Sage Rosenfels in the offseason and Brad children didn't want to play him and so they did not use him. But I would say I would put this,

even though it didn't play out exactly the same way, I would put this in the Jeff George category because, you know, and I just, it's funny, I just saw Jeff George, maybe that's why my memory of him is fresh, but he was at the Combine, as a guest of Paul Allen on KFAN, and we were catching up. And he, you know, he was a guy. was also a number one overall pick back in the day. Unbelievable physical attributes as far as arm strength and talent. Certainly didn't have the scramble ability that Kyler Murray did, but was never a guy that anyone ever questioned his physical ability to be a dominant quarterback,

not even just like to play the position, but like both he and Kyle Murray have the physical abilities and skills to be dominant quarterbacks. And Jeff George, was assigned when after the 98th season that Randall Cunningham was basically like an MVP type candidate. And then he was, and Jeff George had kind of run into a situation where no one wanted to be the starter. And so he signed as a backup. And that's not quite the same as Kyler. But he was sitting on the bench and we all just kind of just knew, like, if he ever gets in the game, like this could be really just fun.

Like I didn't know like how successful it could be or not. but like this is a guy who's going to say, I'm throwing to Randy Moss. I'm throwing to Chris Carter. I don't care if they're open. I don't care if they're double teams. I just like I'm just, I'm playing. You know, this is going to be, and he did that.

And I remember when he came into it at half time of a game in Detroit and he just came out firing, boom, boom, boom, boom. They were losing by a lot. Boom, boom, boom. And I think he had like 215 yards in the second half passing. And so it was just this incredible elevation of. rarely seen skills. And so that that part of it reminds me of Kyler that they, they have signed someone who has it in him to be like a dominant guy. Hasn't,

hasn't been that yet, has shown flashes. Jeff George has shown flashes up until that point. And he was in the right circumstances with the receivers and the, Denny Green's offensive scheme that was perfectly set up for him. Kyle Murray is in a situation with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison and Kevin O'Connell that is probably the best case scenario for him in terms of moving teams right now. And we'll see if it has the same impact, but that's what it feels like. That's sort of the potential of a Kyler Murray reminds me of is the potential that Jeff George had, and that was the 1999 season.

And I mean, the reputation from a character perspective, was not the best with Jeff George and his fallout with June Jones and things like that. And then came here and seemed to have a ball when he was the Vikings quarterback. Yeah, he matched up well. And he had been dealt in immediate curveball. Like he signed with the Vikings and free agency to back up Randall Cunningham and potentially play if Randall like kind of took a step back. And then they drafted Dante Colpepper a few, you know, weeks later.

And so that was probably disappointment to him. And it's what ended up being the reason that they didn't really bring him back the following year. But again, not entirely congruous. But he was a great people in the locker room really liked him. Obviously, Randy Moss and Chris Carter appreciated that he could throw it to him the way they did. But I just remember Jerry Ball, who was a nose tackle talking about how impressed he was with Jeff George in the locker room and how all the things that he had heard about him ended up not being evident, at least in this particular case.

And so whether Kyler Murray has had some bumps in the road in terms of locker room and coaching and teammates, like he has a clean slate here, the same way Jeff George did, to show people who he is. And he'll do that. And whatever he is or whatever the best version of him is is what we're going to see. and if it works out, like he's got the potential to have the same kind of impact. And if some of the things that we've heard about him from the past turn out to be true, then he'll have the same outcomes that he's had.

And so we'll see. But there's the level of excitement of just what would it look like to see Jeff George throwing to these guys kind of matches the level of excitement of what would it look like to see the best version of Kyler Murray playing in this office. offense. Well, and I was thinking along the lines of Sam Bradford for this reason, too, that Bradford had had bumps along the road, had been, you know, kind of given up on with his franchise that drafted him, number one. Now, he had the injuries that are different from Murray's had one ACL, but there were multiple ACL injuries for Sam Bradford, but a number one overall draft pick

who came here basically out of circumstance of, I mean, for J.J. McCarthy, it's performance related, but for Teddy Bridgewater was injury related and the team had to scratch. ramble and get somebody else that was capable. And then he played his best football. But what is also similar is, I mean, the 99 team on offense was really amazing on defense, very questionable. The 2016 Vikings were incomplete. There was a lot of talent.

There were a lot of great players. You know, Harry's on that team. Everson, Griffin, Linval Joseph, Danielle Hunter. There's a ton of talent, Thielen and digs. But its holes ultimately ended up getting them. And Sam Bradford, well, he was really, really good, way better than anyone. actually ever thought he was before and he showed that. It wasn't enough to make up for some of that.

Now, the difference may have been that Mike Zimmer completely and utterly melted down that year as a coach. And I don't think Kevin O'Connell, if he didn't last year, then he's not going to this year. But, you know, we'll see how it plays out. One last thing I want to say is that, and we're all looking for the people responsible for everyone playing armchair GM. I hope to find those podcasters who do that on their shows and, you know, give

them a piece of my mind. But I would like to suggest that people just sort of strap in and enjoy the ride because it might be really fun and it might be really interesting. And I think at very least, and this is not a disrespect to Kirk Cousins at his best. We all know Kirk was a very, very good quarterback who had great moments with this team and a lot of fun games and a lot of entertainment. But if they had brought back Achilles' broken Kirk, I think you're in for a slog to get to 9 and 8. this could be some of the best and worse that you've ever seen, some of the craziest plays, some of the goofiest mistakes,

some of the just nuttiest things that could come their way with Kyler Murray. So try to enjoy it as we all play, you know, play caller and GM and everything else from the sideline. I will wholeheartedly support you on that, and I will try to reflect that myself in the, over the course of the summer and the season. But I was just talking to my editor.

You know, like this is kind of like you, this is the thing you want from our perspective, too. Like there's just like you could just like make a list of 20 stories that you might want to do right now based on the fact that Kyler Murray signed with the Vikings that are new and interesting and fun. And so I'm sure that, you know, we'll be responsible and we'll cover the fun stuff and the not fun stuff. But the potential for fun is is pretty high. Kevin Sefer, thank you so much for your time, sir. we will be on the ride together, wherever this is going to take us with Kyla Murray. So thanks for your time, man. Okay, thank you.

Football. Yeah.