Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Everything we learned at Vikings minicamp (Part 1)

Episode Date: June 13, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about the end of minicamp and all the things reporters on hand were able to take in from the action combined with what players and coaches had to say.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everybody. Welcome to another episode of purple inside or Matthew collar here. And it's a big day because today was the final day of Minnesota Vikings mini camp and what a mini camp it was. There were three practices. There were probably about a grand total of maybe 25 full speed throws that we saw from JJ McCarthy, but there were a lot of press conferences, conversations and other players emerging and popping up that we were able to see. So I would love to get your questions, your comments,

but I'm actually trying to catch my breath because I just ran downstairs to time this out. So let me take a deep breath here. Okay. Cause I do have a lot to talk about and I'm very excited to get to, I ended up writing down everything, every note that I took from mini camp and I came up with 14 different things. So there's a lot to get to. So intersperse your questions and I'll talk about all the different subjects and everything else. Uh, Edwin, yes, hopefully Colin Cowherd is watching. My thing with Colin Cowherd, by the way, I did not expect that my tweet was going to blow up of me just saying on Colin Cowherd's rant about JJ McCarthy that there's real reporters, not just myself, but at least a dozen of the rest of us that are watching these practices with JJ McCarthy. And if you want to know what he looks like, you could

just ask. I don't, you could go on the show, but I don't even need to go on the show. Just ask me or just ask Alec Lewis or Dane Mizutani or Ben Gessling or Andrew Kramer or Kevin Seifert or any number of other reporters who have actually been there at these practices instead of saying that he's thrown three interceptions in three days when there were only actually two practices. That was my only thing with that tweet. I wasn't even trying to attack anybody or whatever else. And I am well aware of how the sports radio game works, which is where Colin Cowherd came up.

And I was just telling a friend of mine that when I was starting in Sports Talk Radio, I had program directors who pointed at Colin Cowherd and his very unique ability to latch onto a subject and sort of ride the take all the way through a season. And he's very, very good at it. Like he's good at what he does. That's why he's on TV and has his show. And I respect him as one of the most successful sports talk personalities. But my thing is the correct information.

And so when we're going to talk about what JJ McCarthy looks like at practice, I don't think that two interceptions at a mini camp practice is really a good amount of proof to start calling him a bust or a bad decision. And also this comes from my perspective that people crushed me on this show in the comment sections and in every single podcast when I said, Hey, if they brought back Darnold for a year, I think it wouldn't be that bad of an idea. And I got destroyed for that. So I'm not even against what he's saying about Sam Darnold

and thinking the Vikings should have stuck with him. I'm not second guessing the Vikings decision now at this point that we've gotten down the road. But months ago, when they were trying to make that decision, I would have been understanding of that perspective. It's just to me, it's more about the actual facts. The actual facts of how JJ McCarthy has looked out on the practice field are right there. There's many people who have reported them. There's press conferences where people talk about how JJ McCarthy looked, including JJ himself today, but Kevin O'Connell, his head coach,

his wide receiver Justin Jefferson, his defensive players who have been playing against him here in these practices, and then all of the objective observers. And I saw my friend Judd Zolga just wrote a story debunking the idea that JJ McCarthy doesn't have a strong arm. He most certainly does. But I guess I do understand. And I didn't mean to get down this road cause I have 14 different things from mini camp that I want to get to.

I understand when people say that he doesn't have a cheat code to him. I do understand that. And that was something when he was coming out of college where I thought the same kind of thing, like what is it that's going to put him up over the top, uh, versus some other quarterbacks in this league that have freakish physical skills, the freakish athleticism of somebody like Josh Allen, or the reason that Caleb Williams was drafted. Number one was because he could contort his body and still make

strong throws to any area, anytime he's lightning quick. You guys have seen that. Drake may was humongous and fast. Jayden Daniels clearly as you see is an absolute freak show. And there isn't something that is really clear about McCarthy where you walk into the practice facility and watch three practice throws and go, wow, that's Jeff George's arm or say, wow, he's faster than Lamar Jackson. But I also think that there's quarterbacks in the league who win a lot of football games that throw the ball really, really well, and that run their offense really,

really well, and that lead their teams really, really well and win a lot of football games. And I was thinking about Justin Herbert when he first came out, uh, where the talk was that he didn't really have a lot of touch on his football and then he improved it. And then it was, well, can Justin Herbert really be a leader? And then you saw him last year lead them into the playoffs. And that's without even really a great team in Los Angeles,

but we have seen quarterbacks with great teams around them. Jimmy Garoppolo is one of them. I think Jalen Hurts does have a cheat code in his running ability and his QB sneak ability and his clutch ability, his ability to never get rattled, but none of those things are Lamar Jackson and none of those things are Josh Allen and yet that's the quarterback who has been to the Superbowl two of the last three years. There's a lot of very good quarterbacks in the league and what usually propels their success is what they have around them, how well coached they are, then how well they execute and whether they can make big plays at big times. how well they execute and whether they can make big plays at big times. And there is no quarterback better set up with all of that to master and lock into his offense, to operate a team as a leader.

That's really what JJ McCarthy was known for. And then he does absolutely have the arm talent to fit balls into the windows that Kevin O'Connell needs him to. And we have seen that day after day after day, the velocity that McCarthy has on his ball and it's still going to have to progress. There's no doubt about it. And he's still going to have to learn. There's no doubt about that. There are mistakes that happen. There are misreads that happen right now. And through training camp, we will have a much better sense of where JJ McCarthy is.

But I think if you're trying to plant a flag right now and you're trying to be anti McCarthy and again, that's okay. That's like what TV talk hosts do. It's just not my job. That's someone else's job. My job is to give you 14 freaking things from mini camp, like different jobs, different parts of media. My part of media reaches a very, very, very knowledgeable fan base about one specific team

where someone like who's on television, like Colin Cowherd with a big audience, he's trying to reach a lot of people with a broad opinion. But if you're going to be on the, they should have kept Darnold anti-McCarthy thing, I think the focus should really be just on how well Darnold played last year and how risky it is, regardless of how much we've liked from JJ McCarthy, how risky it is to go with a quarterback that hasn't played before. I think that's the easier way to do it, rather than trashing McCarthy based on what you saw

in Michigan. And this is why on draft night, when the Vikings picked McCarthy, I said, I'm throwing out anything that I ever thought about him as a prospect, and I am only going to judge JJ McCarthy as a pro. And so far as a pro, all I've seen is improvement, leadership, work ethic, getting better

and better all the time, the right attitude, a football junkie, and a guy with an absolute rocket for an arm. And we're going to see where this goes. It looks to me like this is a starting quarterback in the NFL that under the right circumstances, we'll have a chance to compete for division titles and more into the future. But that's right now. There's a long way to go. And as I like to say, sometimes we still fight over quarterbacks. We still fight over Dak Prescott and Justin Herbert and all those different

quarterbacks. So what are the odds that we never argue about JJ McCarthy? Probably pretty low. So quarterbacks are catnip in the sports talk radio world. I get it. I just think if you're going to talk about it with so much confidence, maybe ask somebody, maybe just ask somebody who's there. That was my only point. Anyway, let's get to the 14. I think it's 14. You guys can count along with me things from training camp. And that begins with JJ McCarthy and his arm. Is McCarthy is good to go physically.

He talked about that today, passing a physical. He said that his knee feels stronger than ever, has not noticed any issues whatsoever. And if there were any problems, we didn't see them. When McCarthy was out there, he looked like he was moving fluidly, smoothly. There was no hitch in the giddy up. There was no tentativeness when driving into that back foot

and letting it loose. He looked like a very confident thrower of the football, which is why I was asking him about it today. That's why I was asking KOC about it because he just has looked like he's developed and grown quite a bit and that he is just very confident throwing the football right now downfield. We've seen him hit on a few passes. Really the ones that have impressed me the most are over the middle, the

in breaking routes, rocket throws into coverage. And there's a few that you can see on the Vikings website. If you go and watch their daily recaps, that you'll see some of the throws that I'm talking about over the middle of the field. I think to the outsides of the field, still work in progress. I think timing is still a work in progress for him. Again, mini camp phase. It's a little bit difficult to figure out, but as far as the, what does this guy look like on a football field? Does he look healthy? Does he look like he's throwing the ball like he was last year?

Does he look like he's improving the touch and the accuracy? I think he's been a lot more accurate at this time of year than he was last year, which you could say is just because he knows what to do, but that's part of accuracy. Like part of accuracy is knowing where to throw the ball. It's not just every quarterback in the NFL could stand 20 yards away from his receiver and whip it

at him and play catch, but accuracy is anticipating guys out of breaks. It's throwing it before they get there. And that's when you have to know when they're going to get there and how the timing is going to work. And those things are continuing to progress. It seems to me, but the physical part was the most important part that we needed to see. And then just did the operation work smoothly? Did it look like a practice is supposed to look like in the NFL? And I would say undoubtedly yes. And he's talking about focusing on layering throws. And this is something that I will be watching a lot for

in training camp because when McCarthy came out and he admitted this today and talked about it today, that he pretty much, he said that he had one pitch and that pitch was a fast ball. And if you watch his college tape, that's absolutely true. That he dropped back and he whipped that ball as hard as he could at whatever receiver he was trying to go to.

And where now you see there are check downs or underneath routes, things like that, or just a guy coming across, but you can't just fire it into like straight through somebody as if you're trying to throw a spear right through them. You're trying to fit it over some linebackers in front of some safeties.

And those are things that he needs to improve on and is still working on. But I think he's also taken huge steps from what we saw last year. Look, guys, I am just about at the age where I'm starting to notice that hairline fading a little bit. So if you're struggling with the same problem, allow me to make a suggestion. Give HIMS a try. Try HIMS hair loss solutions, and you'll be joining the hundreds of thousands of subscribers who found their hair again.

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I remember doing the podcasts after last year's OTAs in Minicamp where we were saying this is gonna take some time folks and we're gonna have to all be patient here and that was one of the reasons we thought Darnold would probably start the season and beyond was because McCarthy just wasn't even there as a thrower. I think he's much much much closer than he was before and and really what impresses you the most about JJ McCarthy is it's now only a couple situations that we've seen, but we build the sample size of he needs to prove

that he's going to put in the work to be the guy. And last year, I remember leading up to this, we talked a lot about JJ McCarthy between mini camp and training camp last year and how much he improved in that time. That was evidence that even Mark Wilf mentioned when we talked to him and KOC had mentioned it repeated times. And then this year, he only gets back on the field in January. And this is where he said today that he's going to take some rest after this, but he gets back on the field and starts throwing in January. That's just a couple

months ago. And by the time he's back on the field in late May in early June really running things He's back to the full weights that he needed to be that was something I was very curious to see myself because you just don't know with these guys with young players You just don't know how they're going to respond to difficult situations like that Is he going to put the weight back on is he going to come back and look as confident and playing football? Is he going to take on this leadership role, which is the next takeaway from minicamp? I thought that what Harrison Phillips said about JJ McCarthy connecting with his teammates was really important now

He compared it to Josh Allen. He wasn't saying that JJ McCarthy is Josh Allen. Nobody is. But his point was that when you walk in the building, you walk out to practice and you see JJ McCarthy and Phillips is saying, inside the locker room, we see it outside. There is no doubt about whose franchise this is. It's JJ McCarthy's You see him leading his teammates you see him being the dude and that's the kind of confidence that he had at Michigan it's one of the reasons he was drafted so high is because of his personality because of how teammates connect with him and Harrison Phillips used the example of just new players coming in and JJ McCarthy going up introducing them himself Making those players feel welcome and then you see the way he leads the offense out there. He's been in command so far Yes, it comes along with all the caveats of all

This is just mini camp, but it's all we have to work on. These are mini camp takeaways folks These are not 10-year projections of what JJ McCarthy is going to be. So Harrison Phillips comment, I thought I always listen for comments that are very specific, right? That to me was very specific. So his overall command and leadership in mini camp, I thought checked that box. Now, as far as I mentioned what he was going to do a little rest and recovery during this off season. But another thing that would check a box here is that McCarthy said he was going to stay in Minnesota and he was going to work with his wide receivers,

which of course might require him going somewhere else. But he did this last year where he didn't go to Cabo necessarily. I, he said, he mentioned he's got a baby shower on the way. But as far as his time in between mini camp and training camp that he plans to spend it here and to get extra time with his wide receivers, leading up to training camp, which is the right thing to do if you can do it.

And that leads me into one of the next takeaways, which is that Justin Jefferson and his attitude. Now I don't ever think that Justin Jefferson had a bad attitude at any time for the entire time that I've covered him. He is what you think he is. Like when you see him on TV doing the gritty or the interviews where he's got a big smile and that sort of thing. It is as genuine as it gets for Justin Jefferson. Like that's who he is. Like people will say the happy go lucky kind of personality and that's who he is. But the last two times we

spoke with him once last week and once this week, I have sensed a different tone from Justin Jefferson. I think he realizes a few things. I mean, number one is that the where this quarterback goes is where this franchise is going to go and where this quarterback goes is where Justin Jefferson's going to take him. And he is really taking this leadership role as something that now feels very important to him. Whereas earlier in his career,

I mean, being happy go lucky on the quieter side, he had said, and maybe I was a little more shy, but now he's talking about trying to get Jordan Addison to do X, Y, and Z. Addison, get him to communicate more and to help Addison work out with him during this five or six week time before training camp, which is something we've never heard from Justin Jefferson before,

that he was going to take a young wide receiver who, you know, is a guy who's had some issues and could go either way. But look, if you follow Justin Jefferson, you're going to do good things normally. And so Jefferson talked about how important it was on off the field, the way that he represents himself in the franchise and how important it is to be there for JJ McCarthy. Again, these are things that it's not that Jefferson wasn't any form of this before, but he seems to have put so much of this now on his shoulders of being that franchise player. And I think some of that has come along with the contract

that when the team gives you the contract, guys can go one way or the other. And sometimes a guy gets the contract and he's like, I made it, I'm the best, whatever, I'm just gonna be me over here and whatever happens, happens. And in this instance, it seems that Jefferson has really put the onus on himself to command this franchise now and be that guy. And again,

this is just not stuff we heard from him before in the past, but you're seeing somebody mature into their mid twenties into their prime into that type of role as a superstar. And it's really something to see. And I think that if you're talking about planting flags on JJ McCarthy and things like that, whether he's going to be a great white, a great quarterback or not, the one thing that you can point to for, if you want to plan a flag that he is going to be good,

is this guy number 18, because I've always thought that he's a kingmaker at wide receiver just because he's open all the time and he can catch anything and he's as competitive as you will ever see. And he's also crazy smart at understanding defenses, coverages, opposing corners. He was talking about today, how he's already banking things that Jeff Okuda does to him physically to try to work on those to defeat physical play. Like this is how Justin Jefferson works, but it seems like he is

taking this other step intentionally to another level of leadership, which is a huge deal, I think, for the entire franchise and for the success chances for J.J. McCarthy because he's always going to have the best receiver in the NFL in his corner. The other thing that was noticeable is that Jalen Naylor got bigger. We mentioned that and looked more comfortable as wide receiver three.

And the thing about Naylor getting bigger that I think it was maybe Jefferson mentioned or Kevin O'Connell. It was funny because Jefferson kind of laughed when we brought that up to him. Everybody noticed how much muscle Jaylen Naylor put on. Clearly he was putting in some effort in the off season. But the one thing he mentioned is that, you know, the wide receivers might have to hit some people. Trent Sherfield was kind of the, let's throw this gritty wide receiver out there and have them smack into people,

but you really need that to be one of your starting wide receivers because it was very obvious anytime Sherfield came on the field, all right, they're either handing off or running a play action here. And every once in a while, I mean, it worked and he was good, but you need that to be your starting wide receiver.

You can't take a starting wide receiver off the field every single time that you're going to run the football and have Josh Oliver on the field every single time you're gonna run the football. Well, he's very good at blocking. It just can't be that way. You can't be that predictable. So I think that looks like it was part of Naylor.

And the other thing is too, that he's gotta stay on the field, he's of Naylor. And the other thing is too, that, you know, he's got to stay on the field. He's got to stay healthy. And there's an opportunity here for him to take a step forward. I think what it says is just how seriously he's taking that opportunity. And he knows that if he has a good year, free agency is going to come calling and deep threats are not easy to find. And he's already proven that he can be that guy. But my feeling from watching

these OTAs and mini camp is that the top three are set. There is not a competition. Now that doesn't mean there's not roles that can fit in, but there is not a competition for the first three spots. There is a great competition that is going to play out in front of us in training camp after that. And you can go see Kevin O'Connell's answer to my question about that. I think it was the last question he answered in the press conference or no, that was about the secondary. Um, I guess it was in the middle of the press conference. But when I asked him about the wide receivers, he was talking about just how

much is up for grabs there that some players who have been here a few years have developed. I will continue to shout out just Sean Jones as a guy who catches everything in these camps and in practices last year. Uh, also, you know, your Thayer Thomas, your lucky Jackson guys who have been developing and every once in a while, one of those guys gets their big opportunity. But Ty Felton, I should mention Ty Felton had the catch of the day, the catch of mini camp today at practice, it was from a throw from Sam Howell. So he has not been working with McCarthy, but he's been working with Sam

Howell. And he was just running a deep route. And they had a double team. And how went for it anyway, just threw it up over the top. And Ty Felton really tracked that ball up over his shoulder and reached out and grabbed it. Not an easy play to make to even see the ball coming in double coverage, but I noticed when I was watching Ty Felton after they drafted him just how well he can track the ball. I think when we talk about guys who are often yards after catch guys, we sort of assume that they can't double as a downfield wide receiver, but he lost some people in college and he had a tremendous,

tremendous catch today. A good sign for him. We just hadn't seen a lot over the first few days of OTAs in minicamp, but a really good sign for Ty Felton there. I think he's going to need a lot of work though. In and out of the routes is just not the same when you compare it to The starting guys that's gonna have to develop but with the ball in his hands I think maybe potentially in the kicking game, which we'll talk about he could be something but Rondale Moore will be coming back

He was working off to the side They got Tim Jones in here who's a special teamer, but has taken a lot of reps So there's quite a few players in that wide receiver battle that should be really interesting. But as of right now, I mean, it's Jalen Naylor's job. There's nobody who's coming for it. Christian Derisaw is back and we asked Kevin O'Connell about him today.

Now O'Connell does not wanna give a timeline and that's fair. And maybe the other day we were a little over exuberant talking about week one for Christian Derisov, but just the sheer fact that he was back doing actual work in these practices is a very good sign for the chances of him coming back at least really early in the season that he is on schedule or maybe ahead of schedule.

And I think O'Connell said something like, we can't have somebody who's that big and strong hitting our coaches. So we needed him hitting players as he was doing some of these drills and getting back. But O'Connell just said that they have been wildly impressed with Derrissaugh's rehab and the way he's approached it.

And the proof is in the fact that he was out here for mini camp because if there I saw I didn't want to he could easily just wait until training camp and nobody would have blamed him We did not expect to see him. We all walked out into the practice field and went 71 Wait, he's not supposed to be back already So ahead of schedule if you want to call it that or on schedule if you want to call it that one way or the other Good signs for Christian Derrissau being back. Now

on the other side of things Will Fries was not practicing at any point during minicamp that has not sounded like it's a concern from Kevin O'Connell but we did get the sense earlier in the offseason that there was a chance he was gonna be ready for OTAs and mini camp. It was a broken leg that he's coming off. That's not a very easy injury to rehab and to return from. So we expect, or at least from what O'Connell has said, we expect Will Fries to be back for training camp. And Rondale Moore has looked good from what I've seen from him just on the side. He looks like he's close to being ready to come back.

He is not a very big guy, but I am really interested to see what he looks like out there because when he was at his best for the Arizona Cardinals, Rondale Moore was a legitimate weapon for them. He would get the ball in his hands, could make plays, could go downfield a little bit. He sort of developed over a few years there and he's also a guy who could make some noise in the return game. But the injuries, things fell apart in Arizona, which hasn't really worked out. He goes

under that category of just spoiler for a later episode of this podcast where we'll talk about the most interesting players in training camp. I promise you, Rondale Moore is going to end up on that list. All right, next thing here on my list, and I hope you guys are getting your questions in the chat so I can answer all questions and comments after,

but I got a few more things to get to. On the defensive side, Dallas Turner looks bigger, looks stronger, and just from his usage right now. And I try not to go crazy with usage and things like that because in training camp, that's a really good indicator of what's gonna happen in the regular season. In mini camp, there's a lot of experimentation. Well, what does it look like over there for one rep?

How does it feel to you over there? And if we're standing on the hill going, oh my gosh, they're gonna use this guy in this formation or whatever, it's just maybe not an accurate representation. But it looked to me like Dallas Turner is going to be very Van Ginkle like where he is lining up in multiple spots. He was on the left side, he was on the right side,

he was at linebacker sometimes and I could see him playing a very dynamic role where someone's coming off and Dallas Turner's coming on and maybe rotating on a certain play for Jonathan Grenard to give him a rest. But on another play, he's pass rushing up the middle on a third down or something like that. It looks to me like all that last year was trying to train him to prepare for this year where he was going to take on a lot on his plate. That's how it looks at this moment. So Dallas Turner's role and how that develops again,

another thing that's going to go very high at the top of the list for training camp intrigue, but the fact that they haven't brought in any other edge rusher, any other backup edge rusher, and that battle will be something to watch as we go forward. But the fact that they haven't done anything else at that position and he's out there with the first team moving all over the place, I think a good signs there for at least how they feel at this moment about Dallas Turner. Folks, I'm trying a new thing to try to stop going to fast food restaurants all the time with my busy schedule. It is called Tempo Meals. Tempo is a weekly delivery service that delivers chef-crafted meals from a dietician-approved menu,

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That is tempolemeals.com slash purple insider. 60% off your first box temple meals.com slash purple insider rules and restrictions apply also on the interior the d line we saw a lot of Levi drake Rodriguez a lot of Jalen Redmond and surprising a little bit to me a lot of Tyreon Ingram Dawkins Tyreon Ingram Dawkins is not a high draft pick and went to Georgia and got a handful of sacks but didn't play a ton of football there. But everything that we've heard about him

from Brian Flores is, and even from draft day and then it's carried over when Flores was talking about him the other day, is intelligence, IQ, smart player. And these are the types of guys that Brian Flores has a history. He's a tweener, he's not quite an edge, he's not quite a DT, but you might even see them using 5D linemen

and having somebody line up kind of over the tackle and between the tackle and guard. Who is 270 pounds and who isn't your traditional like defensive end and isn't your traditional defensive tackle, but is something in between that can work for them. And that could be Ingram Dawkins. They also might be just seeing how something looks. Levi Drake Rodriguez did get a shout out from Brian Flores is getting bigger and having

made improvements. That's somebody I think they're going to need because you can't just run these three defensive tackles for the entire season. You have to have rotations and Jalen Redmond, they're looking forward to take another step there, but there's potential with this group to be one of the deeper D line rotations in the entire league. If even one of those guys click or two of those guys click,

and at least from Levi Drake Rodriguez, you're seeing him get a ton of reps. We'll see what happens with Ingram Dawkins as we go forward. But at very least you've got my attention Tyreon Ingram Dawkins. Speaking of Brian Flores, he talked pretty excitedly about the secondary and the way he talked about it made me think now they could do this tomorrow and we might have an emergency podcast. So who knows, but it made me think that these are all bets that Brian Flores himself is willing to make in the secondary, a bet on Theo Jackson, a bet on McKay Blackman, a bet on Isaiah Rogers, who I thought if we're talking about somebody who looked really good out there, I thought Isaiah Rogers

looked really good. I mean, he stands out. It's hard to stand out with pure speed and movement skill in the NFL on a mini camp practice because everybody is so talented, but Isaiah Rogers stands out the fluidity in which the guy moves is kind of crazy. And I think he ran a sub four, three. So the speed is out there, but he looked to me like his natural ability to stay with wide receivers, to move with wide receivers was really exceptional.

So I could see why they're making these bets, but just listening to Flores talk about the thought behind them, why he liked these guys, why he's to Flores talk about the thought behind them, why he liked these guys, why he's confident in Mackay Blackman coming back, it just seems like for right now that they're not going to be players in the Jalen Ramsey or Jair Alexander market that they're not looking at this as wow, we better go out and add a guy. What they I think would like to do. This is just based on Flores's comments is wait and see.

And if there are any issues in training camp and they're not happy with what they see, then there's always a corner who's out there that they could potentially go grab and they've left themselves enough salary cap space to do that. Now that might not be at that time a Jalen Ramsey, but we saw last year them make a late ad of a Stefan Gilmore. Shaq Griffin is still out there. Rasul Douglas is still out there.

Those guys tend to sit through training camp till somebody gets a corner injured and then they get a job. I think it's one of the easier positions to come in and learn for any team. So that looks like their plan. If I had to guess, I think that's their plan. I would be surprised at this moment if they do the Jalen Ramsey or Jair Alexander thing. And part of that too is the way that Kevin O'Connell talked

about the secondary. I asked him about that. And he said that they would like Byron Murphy on the inside more often, which makes me think more nickel defense, more pure nickel defense with Rogers and Blackman on the outside. Now this would be a good argument for getting Alexander Ramsey, by the way, that you could plug one of those guys in if it's Rogers and Ramsey and then the nickel is Byron Murphy. Well, you're now you're cooking. I mean, you're talking about a really good cornerback group at that point. But you know, I'll,

I'll leave that rant for the other day when I was pounding the table and demanding that they go get Jalen Ramsey. But that comment also made me think about, well, wait a minute. What does that mean for Josh Mattelis? What does that mean for Theo Jackson? What does that mean for the linebacking group? If you're going to have Byron Murphy playing in the nickel more often, does that mean that Josh Mattelis plays deep safety? And then occasionally maybe on early downs,

Theo Jackson's in and it's not Theo Jackson just directly replacing cam buying them. That could be something. You know, maybe we'll end up seeing Josh Mattelis play next to Harrison Smith a lot when they're facing three wide receivers. but then if they're facing bigger personnel that's when Theo Jackson will come on the field and Mattelis will move up into the box I could see something like that playing out because if they want more of Byron Murphy in the nickel

Well, that means having two outside corners Which changes the calculus a little bit for the rest of the defense and could have kind of a trickle down there. So, uh, but every time, by the way, every time they talk about Byron Murphy, you just get the sense of how important it was for them to bring him back. I think O'Connell called it special, the communication that he has, and it's not sexy to talk about, but we've really seen it over the last few months. Every time they've talked about it and how much money they spent on him that they are seeing more beyond just, Hey, is he a shut down guy or, or not? Uh, speaking of Josh Mattelis,

we also learned in training camp that it will not be an easy negotiation for Josh Mattelis because considering how beloved he is within the building and look, Brian Flores was the one who showed up here and said, shouldn't we be playing Josh Mattelis? And then he becomes this huge part of the defense that is multifaceted that can play in the box, that can play nickel corner, that can play safety and does all of them. But the issue is, well, how do you figure out what that's worth?

And there's a few different ways of doing that. And one of them is to say, well, if you became a free agent today, what would your offers be? I have no idea what his offers would be if he became a free agent today. I truly don't, I really don't. I mean, I've tried to come up with at least one comparison

for, you know, even Justin Reed might be another one. I've used Trayvon Morig. Justin Reed might be another one for a guy that was a multiple in his role. But I think it is really tricky to look at other safeties and decide where does this fit in? Because if I'm Mattelis, I'm saying, hey, you know, my guy can't bind them who was just a deep safety got 15 mil a year. I need to be getting paid more than 15 mil a year for this dynamic role.

And the Vikings might be saying, ah, yes, that's true. But are you going to find that dynamic role anywhere else except for right here? Plus, you know, you can always franchise, tag a player and things like that, that that's another part of the calculus. I'm not saying I don't think it'll get done. I just think it will get tricky and it already is tricky. And we saw Mattelis once again today,

not taking part in the seven on sevens, but only doing the walkthrough period. I don't like to call that a hold in. I think that's unfair. I, because he's doing stuff. He's out there. He's taking part in some of the key portions that are not super fun for us to watch. Cause it's slow motion, but those walkthroughs are a big deal. So he's out there doing that. He's out there leading the team.

It's not like he's just standing on the sideline with no helmet or something. He is participating just not in a handful of seven on seven drills that would be faster where you could potentially turn an ankle or something like that. I really love the hold in terminology for this instance because it's not like there's insubordination there. I think it's more of just playing it safe while they're clearly negotiating a contract. So that one, it might leak into training camp. We'll have to see. Couple more things. One is the Vikings freaking love Josh Oliver.

They signed Oliver to a contract extension and there's not a lot more to say about it. They just love this guy. And we found out just how much they love this guy. We thought they love this guy. They freaking love this guy. And I did an article on it. If you want to check it out, purple insider dot football, go over there. And uh, I included some film clips of different things that Josh Oliver can do that has stood out. He's an elite

run blocker. He is, I was watching him catch a pass today over the middle and I was just wondering like, is this the largest, fastest man to ever catch a pass of that degree of difficulty? I mean, he is so massive and so strong, but he can really catch the football. So he's a legitimate asset for this team, and he's one where if you know, you know kind of thing, like if you really understand and dig down on this Vikings offense, you know what he can be for them. And what I discovered too, in my research for my article, was that when the Vikings ran to the edges, to the outside last year,

Aaron Jones was over five yards of carry, but he was only about four yards of carry when he was running up the middle. Now that makes a lot of sense, right? Dalton Reisner, Blake Brandle. It's not like Garrett Bradbury was really moving the needle a ton last year and that interior. But when you ran to the edges where Josh Oliver was, they were succeeding in the run game. So now if you add the rest of the pieces to the

puzzle, this can be a very big weapon for them. So the Vikings love Josh Oliver. That's a big takeaway. Two more. Who's kicking and punting return in that will be a very interesting question to find out in the preseason games. It might be one of the best things that we see in the preseason games is just who's back there. And Matt Daniels, it didn't sound like from Matt Daniels perspective that he had talked KOC into using Isaiah Rogers just yet from what I watched. And we're talking about they're not getting tackled or anything like that, but the guy who's the fastest is Isaiah Rogers. He looks like lightning quick when he catches that football, but do you really want your starting outside corner returning kicks? I don't think so.

So who else is going to do it? Is it, I mean, is it gonna be wide receiver three, Jalen Naylor kicks punts? Will it be Rondale Moore? Does Ty Chandler stay on this football team by just being able to return kicks? I think that would make sense. And Daniel's also mentioned that the other kick returner was one of the guys who got hurt the most last year.

Not the guy getting the ball, but the other one that's back there. And so who do you put back there that you're willing to get hurt? Is that Ty Chandler for like a kick return or two roll, uh, some intrigue there in the punt returning job up for grabs Silas Bolden is a name to continue to watch undersize very good punt returner in college made some places, a wide receiver at Oregon State, a little less so at Texas,

but he has stood out to me as someone who is able to catch the ball. And we saw a couple other guys, they got hit in the dome on punts during a mini camp, which is always my favorite. It's so hard to catch a punt. That thing is coming in at crazy angles and you see guys doing it for the first time, I got it.

And then they get hit in the helmet. It looks like they've never played football before. That's how hard that is. So you got to be careful with what you do there. And the last one, and I know you guys have been dying for this update. KOC seems pleased with his backup quarterbacks. Yes, that's right. He seems pleased. And he mentioned today that, you know, Sam Howell some of his

Throws that did have touch on them throughout this camp, which I thought he looked fine throwing the football during mini camp maybe a little shoddy and OTAs but again that you're just First starting to learn these things and it looked like as he learned more and more that he was getting, uh, more comfortable. Now, some decisions you'd probably question, but you'd probably question them for any quarterback in mini camp. Seemed to me like Sam Howell did fine in this mini camp and that KOC was comfortable with him. And he was talking about leaning into the experience that he has as a starter and the guy that I've brought up to you kind of folks

Multiple times, but I'm gonna say it again max brosmer max brosmer looked good in minicamp to me And then was shouted out by KOC today, and I think he said he was either the smartest or the farthest along I have to go back and look at the quote I believe it was the smartest guy that he's had in that role coming right out of college and then starting to learn and it shows He knows where to throw the football and it comes out with some decent enough velocity to potentially be an NFL backup quarterback The Gophers back the Gopher starter. I don't think he could be QB too. I don't think that's an actual battle Could he be QB three? I mean, I could see it. I could see it.

I think Brosmer has done a really good job. So there you go. Whew. 14 different things from Minicamp. Now your questions, your thoughts, your feelings. I'm gonna have to scroll back up here and get all of your reactions to all the different stuff that I have thrown out there, including

the opening about Colin Cowherd. So we'll see what you guys have to say. But an interesting camp though, an interesting camp. Every year we try to just take as much as we possibly can out of all of this. There has only been one year that I've ever covered the team that in mini camp, we came out and said the vibe was bad. The vibes were very good.

And it seemed like everybody was pleased with how much work they got done, with how smoothly the practices went. And I also think you could tell that the veteran players are looking around and going, you got a lot of really good players here and there are more good players and less questions than this team has had at any point in mini camp that I can remember outside of probably 2017 was the only other year where we went into mini camp and said, yeah, this team is really stacked. But even then we still had

some, I think questions like Trey, Wayne's hadn't really emerged yet. We were still talking about his Terrence Newman really going to be the nickel corner stuff like that. The offensive line. Fewer questions this year than even going back then. This is a strong roster and they sense it and coming off last year.

Even Jefferson talked about how it is hard because he's aware that there are expectations for this team based on all the talent they have, but that's so far away from right now to start saying, well, we've got to win the playoffs, but we're not even close to week one yet. It just, there is a very clear feeling from the veteran players on this team. They know how much is here. They know what the expectations are. This is no longer a, let's prove the world wrong guys.

Like that's just not who they are now. And that comes along with a different attitude from the veteran players. And I felt like you saw that from them out in this mini camp. Okay, I shot you 99, probably the least interesting position right now, but how his will Rikard looked, he was shaky when he returned from his injury. Should we still be worried? Uh, well, yeah, I mean, I have to say the normal it's mini camp, so I can't really

tell last year in mini camp, he looked like the best kicker I've ever seen in my life. And he looked great. I mean, he looked totally fine to me. Made every kick that I saw. Maybe there was one that I didn't catch. Because normally what's happened is we're on our hill and then they tell us, hey guys, this is the last period of practice. So we start walking over to the other side where the press conferences are as Will Reichardt is doing his kicks. So I'm trying to watch, but you know, you're also walking at the same time, but looked fine to me. He was kicking from a ways out. They were going in and the whole rest of the time, they're just off to the side kicking.

I think there should be confidence in Will Reichard because he really only had some struggles after he came back from that injury. And Matt Daniels did talk about this. He basically said, because I, somebody asked him about Riker. Maybe it was me just about like when you go through the pre-draft process, there's so much kicking. There's kicking in college and his team went deep in the playoffs. Then there's your pro day kicking and then there's the combine or whatever.

I don't know if you went to the combine or not, but there's there's like a lot of things that you're doing individual workouts and stuff like that, that he felt like rest was a factor or a lack of rest was a factor and why will Riker got hurt last year. And they're trying to, uh, make sure that he doesn't have that issue this time around. I think that we saw that last year that Rikard, I think pushed himself back too early.

We know because he told Mark Craig at the star Tribune that he did not tell them when he wasn't feeling a hundred percent. So I think there's a little bit, sometimes it could be too much dog in you. Sometimes you could be too competitive. There is that. It sounds like they've got to reign them in a little bit and that that's what they've been doing. But looks fine to me and I expect that they're gonna have a good kicker this year based on what we saw last year. Hamza says Matt want to get your thoughts since you cover the team but every time I hear JJ speak to the media, I come across blown away by him.

He comes across as honest, genuine and intelligent for his age. So this is a key point about JJ McCarthy. When we talk about like the, uh, the cheat code, when we think about cheat code quarterbacks, we think about the biggest, the strongest arms, which again, he has a strong arm. And we think about the fastest, the guys who can run. Now you would oftentimes trade some intangible stuff for somebody who has those type of things. And then when it all comes together, you get Lamar and Josh and Pat,

and that's the best of the best. But there are other parts to this game of playing quarterback and communicating is one of them. When you hear him speak, what you're hearing is someone with a very natural ability to connect with people. And I think you hear that there, and you're also talking about a very good communicator.

So when Kevin O'Connell and Josh McCown and JJ McCarthy are working through things, there's not going to be any barriers there of him being able to communicate when he needs to talk to Jefferson, Addison, Naylor, Hawkinson about what he needs a quarterback and Ryan Kelly. There's not a barrier there. And I think that's one of KOC's sort of little cheat codes in football is great communication because This is the same way in basketball. What do they say about great defenders? They communicate really well great teammates They communicate really well and you have a center who has been through this and he needs to be able to work with JJ McCarthy I think that's part of his reason that he was drafted so highly is that anybody who sat down with him went? Reason that he was drafted so highly is that anybody who sat down with him went?

Okay, and I remember saying to somebody with the Vikings last year when we did our first couple press conferences with him I was like see 21 going on 29 like it just seemed like he had done this but remember he was at IMG He was at Michigan like this is not a guy who when there's a camera in front of him is gonna freak out Like he has not a guy who, when there's a camera in front of him is going to freak out. Like he has been this guy, he's wanted to be this guy, the leader of a franchise, QB1, like this has been his goal. And so I'm not shocked that he's like that, but I also think it's one of the things that makes him stand out and makes him unique is that there aren't too many quarterbacks of his age that I've run across that do have that type of natural confidence in front of people. So yeah, no, I think that's a good observation.

First name, last name says, who's burner are you? Pie chart of likelihood based on early impressions, backup quarterback is Howell, Rippon, Brosmer, or someone not on the team? Well, right now I would go as far as just the backup quarterback is how will rip in Brosmer or someone not on the team? Well, right now I would go as far as just the backup quarterback right now it's 90% Sam Howell and three and a half, three and a third percent for the rest of the guys to get to 100 and someone not that's

right. That's right. Isn't it 90% and then everybody else gets 3.33 continuous for Brosmer, Rippen and then someone not on the team. That's right. Now, if Sam Howell struggles, it will be someone else not on the team. It's not going to be Brett Rippen or Max Brosmer. Those guys will not be QB2. And that's me being really impressed with Max Brosmer, but you're not gonna take someone right out of college and be like, yeah, if our starting quarterback goes down, you have to start six games. Go ahead, kid, you've never played before,

but there you go. You need someone with experience for this backup job. And there's nothing I've seen that would talk me off of Sam Howell right now. It feels very much like he's gonna be be the backup. He's going to be the guy, but this pie chart can change in an instant. If he has three, four or five bad practices in a row and it doesn't play well in preseason and it was not gelling with the team or with the coaching or whatever, then you could be talking about someone else. But as of

right now, I think it's the heavy, heavy favorite that, uh, he is going to be the backup quarterback. Uh, Ham Darnold is dead says, I'm just going to go with Ham Darnold for that says, uh, Isaiah Rogers is going to be this year's Andrew Van Ginkle signing. Oh, that's a interesting correlation there or connection there because Andrew van ginkle was really underappreciated. The difference to me is that Andrew van ginkle was as good as he was last year in Miami, but he didn't get his quite as many opportunities

to rush the passer, I think, or at least in a situation like this with so many moving parts didn't play as many snaps in Miami either, which racks up counting stats when you're on the field more often. But if you go and look at some of the PFF grades that Andrew Van Ginkle put up, I remember when he signed and I went, guys, they just signed a great player. I, it doesn't matter if you haven't heard of him. He's really good. And I know he's got a funny name, but like he's really good. And, uh, you know, that turned out to be the case. They played him more and you really saw the true value of Van Ginkle with Isaiah Rogers.

I like what I see in small sample sizes from his data. I think, uh, it's an 86 quarterback rating when opponents have targeted him. He's always been above average in coverage. So making that connection is right, where it's an under the radar, hasn't had as many snaps. But I think Van Ginkle was already one of the better players at his position

and just didn't get a lot of love because he was in Miami. They're more about, you know, the offense, the coach Tyreek Hill, where Isaiah Rogers, there might be a little bit lower of a ceiling than there is for Van Ginkle. And there is a Van Ginkle.

And there is a signal in the fact that he wasn't playing anything more than a rotational player. But that is the type of guy that Brian Flores is very, very good at identifying who is on the rise. And he could be, I mean mean I think I like that connection I think I'm just saying the van ginkle was a little more proven than Rogers is but I get where you're coming from and I like that comparison Michelle hopefully I'm saying that right says over the cap has Mattel's at about five per year in the free market

Well, that's exactly the point that I'm getting at is Nobody knows what to do with Josh Mattel is there's no dang ways a five million dollar player when he plays this many snaps, this many different positions is one of their best tacklers. He causes fumbles, he gets interceptions, he makes plays and can even play on special teams if you need him to. I mean, he is a really valuable player. He's a captain, he's a leader, he's one of the smartest players on the team. Like this is there's more to this than just, hey, here's his tackle numbers and his interception numbers. And this is what he's worth. Because if he was a deep safety and played just as a deep safety and didn't get very many interceptions. Well, yeah, he's gonna be worth 5 million bucks, but we know better than that.

We know that this has to be adjusted for a half linebacker, half safety. And I just don't know how, I just don't know how, cause I was thinking more along the lines of 15 to $17 million. And I know prices seem crazy high these days, but you have to think about this is going into the future this is

adjusting for a salary cap that's going to go up and Basing that on what other guys in free agency got so more it gets like 17 per year So what if this is like 15 and a half? What if this is like 16 into the future, but they might not want to be going there. They might want him more around 10, 12, 14, or, or less than that based on saying, Hey, we could find somebody else to do this role as they always have. And they've developed him, but they don't want to say that. And he doesn't want to go anywhere else. Both sides know they want to be with each other.

They just got to figure out exactly how.