Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Examining 4 Vikings NFL Draft approaches with Emily Leiker

Episode Date: April 9, 2026

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All right, Emily Liker from the Star Tribune back. And the last time you were on, we invented a little bit. It was very creative with your name, super proud of it, called You Like That. And the last time, we went through a bunch of off-season ideas and you decided which one you liked. I don't even remember if we had a thought of Kyler Murray at that time. Maybe we did. I think there was a Kyler-Murie one there. Did we have a Kyler-Murie one?

Okay. I was on that for quite a while. maybe just maybe I mean maybe it was a little bit of just hoping for entertainment value for the offseason we've gotten that at the quarterback position but not so much elsewhere so I've come up with four draft ideas for the Minnesota Vikings and you have to decide which ones you like but let me get a take from you first so you were down at the owner's meetings in Arizona and so you know we sat there together talked to Mark will talk to Rob Brasinski and Kevin O'Connell when it comes to the Vikings overall direction with Rob Bersinski and doing kind of nothing this offseason outside of getting Kyler Murray, like what did you think as Rob was talking about that? Like, what do you think of the approach that they have taken? Like, is this the right way to go?

Do you feel like it was Rob just sort of holding down the fort to they get a new GM? Or is this the new way that the Wilf's want to manage things? Like what was your big takeaway there? Yeah, I think it's a little bit of both, right? I mean, obviously, I've only been here for one off season prior to this. So I got the 2025 off season and now this one. But it feels like in the past couple years, off seasons were defined for the Vikings by some brash moves, both during free agency and during the draft and maybe some

impulsive moves or as we've heard some reaches, things like that. And the big word that we've heard from Rob in particular, I think this offseason is patience and being deliberate about who they're grabbing and why they're grabbing them and not just acting for now, but looking at what can 2027 look like based on what we're doing ahead of 2026. And so I do think they'll want to carry that like a little bit more because I think you need a few years of that to really establish a good foundation, which they just don't have. in youthful talent right now, then maybe eventually you can mix in some more of those, hey, we do want to trade up for someone or we do want to make a really splashy free agent move. But I would guess that it's a mix of both what the Wills want and just also kind of tiding things over until they make whatever move they're going to make permanently at GM. It was a bit of an odd free agency where there were, I don't know, 10 guys that I could come up

with in circle and be like, hey, this guy would fit and this guy was fairly affordable or whoever it might be. But when it came to the big names, A, they decided not to push all the money down into 2027, 2028 and 2029 to make money to sign certain players. But also, most of the top names landed with a lot of teams that are in pretty rough shape. And when you actually start adding up the dollars and what those players are worth and the risks, that go along with them. I don't think it's a rationalization on my end to say, I'm not sure that those investments would have been the right way to go.

Because as you mentioned, this is a franchise that if you look one year down the road, you go, what is this going to be? Like, you don't know who's playing quarterback in 2027. You don't know what the defense is going to look like. They are picking up Jordan Addison's fifth year option. But, I mean, aside from that, tight end, the running back room is.

empty after this year. I mean, there's a, even an offensive tackle, like, there are so many questions across the roster that I think that Rob acting as the restrictor play and just, like, we can't make some of these moves that next year we're going to be lopping off like we did with, you know, Jvon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen. We can't make those moves. We have to find a way to set ourselves up for the future, whether that's, you know, trading down for multiple draft picks and trying to do it that way or just maintaining the cap space that you're expected to have so you have as much flexibility to resign and go into free agency next year. So everyone just wait till next March.

We'll have more emergency podcasts. But that seems like what Rob has laid out for them. But I'm curious about your thought where that stands with KOC because my impression was from KOC that he seemed pretty comfortable with where they're at with a lot of different things. even the idea of like having Blake Randall play center when, you know, maybe there was some guys they could have gone out and signed. But there's a lot of pressure on KOC to win this year, to get to the playoffs. And he's also got the guy who's in charge saying, hey, man, this franchise is going to

keep existing past that. I wonder what you think of that dynamic. Yeah. Well, I think part of it for this year, right, is that KOC got a quarterback that it seems he feels pretty confident in for the upcoming season. So that helps, I think, a lot for, as we know, a quarterback-centric coach. But, yeah, that is, I hadn't really thought about that part of it and how he's kind of in a very win-now situation. Whereas Rob, particularly, I think, if Rob does not end up GM and just remains in his post as like a VP and working on that side of things, like, he's going to be the one that outlives the next year unless he becomes GM.

and then things kind of all change if that happens. But yeah, I think, you know, there were part of it too, I think, is there were glimmers last year, right? Like the defense was still good last year. Obviously, you have Justin Jefferson, you have Jordan Addison, so you can never feel too bad about your offensive talent. It was just that quarterback position. And so I think the fact that they came out of March feeling,

or at least seeming to feel really satisfied with where this quarterback room landed has kind of dictated the entire demeanor for for KOC, for Rob, for even Mark Wilf and what we heard from him at owners meetings. It feels so basic and obvious to say like quarterback is the key and is the thing that solves all this, but it is. Like for them, like having, being in a more stable place at this point with that position than they were last year, I think has completely shifted the tenor of what OTAs. is set up to be what training camp looks like a couple months down the road and just how they

enter this season and looking towards that hopefully getting into the playoffs next year. I felt like COC sounded pretty excited about Kyler Murray. I know that he is going to present this, hey, like everybody's going to be getting the reps and it's the learning phase and all those sorts of things. We know Kyler would not have signed here that he would have had other options to be a starter with other teams. So clearly that's going to be the case. And then it was also reported by Albert Breer that he told Kyler, hey, you could potentially be a multi-year option. You're not saying that for somebody who's going to lose the job in minicamp. But, you know, I felt like there was a,

I don't know, like a jolt of energy into KOC in the way he was talking about the offense. And to go along with potentially new ideas from bringing in Frank Smith from Miami, I think that this offense has the potential to take a big step forward in just its growth in how you're building the pass off of the run game, which they just have struggled so much to be able to run the football that I feel like they're, they've been limited in their ability to run that to how often you can even do play action stuff. So bringing in somebody new, I think they're going to draft a running back. We're going to get into the ideas in just a second.

But I'm trying to get your view of the over arching kind of themes of this offseason with KOC. But I just got like when I asked him the question at the breakfast table about, you know, adjusting the offense. He was talking about all the things that Kyler does well on a play to play basis. And then later got into these ideas about, you know, running the football. I think that he's going to be in the last. lab this year and we're going to see stuff that we've never seen before from Kevin O'Connell. Yeah, not to say there wasn't an openness from him to evolve this offense, but I do think

that having to change it for JJ last fall opened him up to being a bit more receptive and a bit more interested. Maybe it's a better word in really finding some ways to kind of mix this up. And yeah, the answer he gave about Kyler Murray, the answer he gave. about Frank Smith, and he had talked about that even back at the combine, too, of some of the things, the principles that he thought that he would bring in from his time in Miami. So yeah, it'll be really interesting. I think, I agree that I think running back is a position they're going to draft at. And so then it becomes, what does that split look like? Obviously, Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason returning from last year, how high you're drafting a running back will impact whether that player

actually plays this season, how much they play. So run game will be very fascinating this year and both in the running back position and just in how Kyler Murray is used and adapts the offense based on his skill set. So before we get these ideas, I need to know how good you think the Minnesota Vikings are right now. So the over under on Fandul for the Vikings is eight and a half. Okay. Are they good enough? And they are last four out of four in the odds.

to win the division, but it's plus 550. So it's not like they're a million miles away from the other teams. Like where would you have them right now? What is the bar? And we are talking, I know, very, very early here in the off season, but things can change. And also I should mention too that we got a pretty strong hint of, hey, other stuff could happen here, guys, like in this summer. So baking in to how good you think they are, drafts and other potential moves.

over under eight and a half. I mean, they won nine games last year, and we all know how last year went for most of the season and some of the struggles there. So I would say over there. Now I'm not going to go like, oh, they're going to have a 15-win season and it's going to be incredible necessarily at this point.

But I think it would be silly to think that somehow they're going to be worse this year when so much of what we talked about last year was they were one position. position away from being a playoff contender. And now they now they have someone at that position, now they have depth at that position that it did not feel like they had last year. And I think that that's what a lot of that prediction would rest on is I know they have depth, but Carson Wentz, I mean, he was okay. And I like him as QB2 or QB3. But if you have to play

a combination of Wentz and McCarthy for 10 games, it's going to be a hard ride. If you could play Kyle or Murray for 14 or more, then I think you've got a very good chance to hit the over on that. So here's what I came up with, four different ideas and you have to answer whether you like them or not. And then we'll break down, like what that would actually look like in practice and how that might impact our feelings on how good this team could be right away and long term. So the first of the four ideas for the Minnesota Vikings in the draft would be to do nothing spectacular at all. You draft where you draft. just 18, 49, whatever it is, 82, 97.

You just draft where you draft. And your picks are the ones that we most expect. They're a safety, a running back, a center, a corner. And that's what you got. I mean, if you want to throw in like a DT or whatever into the fourth round, that's what you got. It's as safe as it gets. It's Dillon Theeman.

And maybe it's Mike Washington Jr. Or, you know, I don't know, somebody unspectacular at the running back position, Emmett Johnson. Sorry, Emmett. I mean, you got good tape, but you understand where I'm going with that. It doesn't move the needle. It doesn't shock anyone.

It would be kind of almost the free agency version of the draft. There it is. You like that. I do like that. And I think it is the most plausible thing we will see based on how free agency went, based on everything we've heard about draft strategy and setting up some barriers and boundaries. and Rob having a bit of the final say

and getting to put some parameters in place like sticking to that like very straightforward well also talent stacked kind of board like that feels like it makes the most sense and I think too the fact that they have nine picks including that compensatory pick works in favor for that type of strategy because it gives you room to say like,

hey like we can almost pick one of, every position or like whatever like there's you don't have to stress about is running back in the second round more important than a center in the second round because you have nine picks and like yes obviously I get that there's variance between rounds and the further you go the the less likely that person is to be an impact starter or whatever but having nine picks I think plays like sets up your ability to take a really realistic and steady draft approach very nicely. I've been a proponent of them taking a safety at number 18.

I think most people are. I'm curious for your take on this, it feels like Dylan Thineman at number 18 has been the most unanimous mock draft I've ever seen for any player, any team, like every mock draft you open, Dylan Thineman, number 18 to the Vikings. I've never seen anything quite like that

except for maybe J.J. McCarthy to the Minnesota of Vikings because it looked like it was going to be their best option. But in this case, they've got a lot of other options. The reason that I'm pushing back a little against safety has nothing to do with Dylan Thineman as a prospect. I've watched a bunch of him. And he is a great athlete and he plays all over the field. And you could absolutely see Brian Flores, Dylan Thineman, clicking really well.

It's really about what we were talking about earlier, about 2027. When Rob Brzezinski says that, I go, well, let me think outside the box. here like edge rusher or tackle or like other positions wide receiver which you know i'll continue to bang the drum for but you go one year down the road and there's a lot of questions about a lot of different positions that are not just hey harrison smith's not playing as of this moment so let's throw in the best possible safety and i also think too that when you look around the league how hard is it to replace the safety i was reading the beast by dane brugler today and he made a comparison to Justin Reed, who is the chief safety and now place for the Saints in Dylan

Thinemann, like high intelligence, a good athlete, that kind of thing. What did Justin Reed go for in free agency? Was it like $14 million? I mean, that is almost what Jalen Naylor went for in free agency. That would be my pushback against the safety position is that they've developed guys kind of repeatedly through the years. You can find them in second. Xavier Watts was a third round pick last year for Atlanta.

he was a major impact player. You don't necessarily have to spend that much draft capital to get a good player at that position. Whereas edge rusher, good luck getting an edge rusher in free agency. Good luck getting an impact defensive tackle in free agency. Look what the Vikings paid for two guys that were old and injured last year. To me, there's just so many better options there. And that would be the reason why I would not love the chalk. Like, hey, this is what everyone thinks they'll do.

And then they do it is because I think that that is a little bit, on the, hey, we're just trying to fill what we need right now and not really taking a big enough picture approach. Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean, safety is something they are going to need, regardless of if Harrison Smith comes back this year. Like, even if he were, then it is a 2027 need because I can't imagine we're having this conversation again in 2027 if he decides to come back. But yeah, it does feel like it's a deeper, deeper position group this year. I don't want to spoil if we're going to get into it later, but who's like your like wide receiver that you would want them to take at number 18 if someone was there? I'm not sure exactly where Denzel Boston's

going to go. Like he actually could end up in the second round. He has been my favorite wide receiver in this draft for them. A big, strong actually kind of reminds me of Adam feeling with these crazy strong hands. But if you're talking about somebody dropping to them where you go, all right, well, this is just our best player we have to take it. It's probably Mackay Lemon because, I mean, you watch him, the route running, the separation, the attention to detail, the ability to go up and get it when he's called upon. He's not a freak athlete of any kind, but just an open all the time guy, route running technician. And yeah, I know that they're going to pick up the fifth year option for Jordan Addison. It's kind of an obvious procedural move unless you are really terrified of his future.

but how about, I mean, one, they run 11 personnel all the time. So three is good. T.J. Hawkinson won't be here after next year. So you're going to need weapons. And we don't know if Jordan Addison turns into a George Pickens situation where they go, you know what? We're just kind of done with this.

And we're going to trade him away, even though you picked up his fifth year option. So he's probably my favorite guy in the list. I just, I'm counting out Carnell Tate because I'm just assuming that he's going to go in the top 10. but let me get let me get you to the next option then we'll all things will be revealed of your takes here in in this exercise so the next option is that the vikings trade down to number 24 and they pick up an extra day two pick they go heavy on defense this is a brian flores draft they get a pass rusher a corner a linebacker and maybe just throw in a third round center so this is the hey we're just going to stockpile draft picks for the future we're not going to pick at 18 even if mcc

Kai Lemon is there. No matter who is there, we're trading down to number 24 to just get as many draft picks as we possibly can because Rob did say that he believes in building through the draft. So you like that. A point of clarification, you say defensive build, but you left safety out of that list of positions.

Are you assuming they would also take a safety in there? They can take a safety in there. I'm not going to go first round pick with the safety here. Right. But it's just a, it's a pass rusher. It's a DT. it's like kind of all onto the defensive side

except for maybe grabbing a center in the third round or running back in the third round, whatever you want to get. But it's mostly on the defensive side, but you're trading down and you're trying to get as much draft capital as you can. I think where I push up against this one is I don't want them to be pigeonholed to one side of the ball.

Again, like they have so many, they have so many picks in this draft. I guess there are teams that have more. but like nine picks for the Vikings in the past what five to ten years is a lot of draft capital already so like the the idea of them trading down needing to get more I'm like do they feel like they need to get more when this is already kind of like a bountiful harvest for them comparatively I don't know and they've been more successful it feels like with free agency on the defensive side at the ball. And obviously they picked up. James Pierre was one of the only, was the only other

first week of free agency signing besides Kyler Murray. So they're kind of set up there. And yeah, I think the main thing I push up against this with is just pigeonholing them into one side of the ball because I do think there is room for them to add it wide receiver. There's definitely room for them to add it running back. And while I would also love to see them get another young player on the defensive interior, get that safety, maybe get a corner. I don't want them to pigeonhole themselves. And it seems unlikely that they would pigeonhole themselves into one side of the ball. So let me add to this option because what I wrote down was the first pick would be a pass

rusher. Are you interested? Because we'll talk about the trade down part of it. But are you interested in them taking a pass rusher high? I've been looking at it as like their second round pick. It feels like there's a couple guys. could get there. I haven't done too much of like the crunching tape yet, but just kind of like running through the big boards and like looking at like, oh, who would be available potentially around

that pick? And it feels like that's an area where there's edge rushers. It's what number 49 that they have. Yeah. That's right. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't mind seeing them take one there. I don't know that they need to take one higher than that, even if there was a trade involved and they traded down. they saw improvement from Dallas Turner last year. As of this recording, they still have Jonathan Grenard. They plan to have Jonathan Grenard. And then they have Andrew Van Ginkle.

And yes, he dealt with injuries last year. But I don't know that you need to, I don't know that that's the best place to add at a high pick right now for them. Okay, I'm going to make the case on both. Trading down, number one, it really has so much to do with just projecting a year out

where you need bodies on the defensive side. And you could say that Flores hasn't been great at developing young players. And I would come back with what young players? What young players have they taken? What young? I mean, all right, Nashan Wright, they should have held on to. I think we can all agree on that. But, you know, aside from that, it just hasn't been a lot of guys that have been top 100 picks.

His only top 100 picks since Brian Flores got here is Dallas Turner. So give him the opportunity to build the next foundation of this team. And there are certain positions where we only think about quarter. is surplus value, but a rookie contract edge rusher, the top guys are making 45 million. That's Daniel Jones type of money is what Michael Parsons is making. If you hit a home run with that pick, the surplus value is outrageous for an edge rusher. So that's a big part of it for me as well. And Andrew Van Ginkle has been banged up and he's not under contract after next year.

And Jonathan Grenard wants to be paid $30 plus million, which I just don't think this team is going to be willing to do with some of his injury history and the regression with sacks. I know sacks aren't everything, but there's something. And it's hard to argue that $30 million should be on the table plus when, you know, you couldn't bring down the quarterback last year. So I look at that position as Dallas Turner and kind of nobody for the future. And it's, I think, the second most valuable, third most valuable. I probably have wide receiver is the second most valuable.

Although the NFL in terms of price tag says that it's edge rusher. So if you can nail that pick and develop somebody behind these guys and then be ready for the future, you could have Dallas Turner and Caldric Falk or whoever it might be, T.J. Parker, whoever you think, that would be my reasoning for doing that. And just the trading down is pretty simple. This draft is not full of megastars. It's got a lot of B plus players that I think runs all the way through the early part of the second round. So moving from 18 to 24 is just not a huge sacrifice to get even one more potential player.

Yeah, yeah, I can see that. I can see that. It's still not, it would not be my, if we were eventually going to rank the four options, you're going to present me. It's not necessarily one or two, but I don't know that it's last either. Okay, well, that's why we've got a lot of options for you.

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Option number three. Emily, here we go. They get nuts. Let's get a little nuts here. Let's get a little wild. They take a wide receiver, you know, as you mentioned, that possibility at number 18. They trade a third this year and a third next year for Devon A. Chan running back from the Miami Dolphins.

And then they take a corner and a running back. with the remaining picks. So they're going wide receiver and then they are going with a big trade to get one of the fastest running backs in the NFL to go along with Frank Smith in this newfangled running game we're going to see out of the pistol. And then they get a corner. And I said running back, but maybe replace that with something else. That's why I wrote down was another running back, but they wouldn't need that.

So throw in whatever defensive position you want there. So kind of corner and whatever else like with their other draft pitch. but the main story here would be wide receiver in the first and a trade for Devon A champ. Hmm. Hmm. I was going to say when you mentioned running back at first, I was like a five man running back room would be quite deep and quite the change for the. Yeah. Okay.

Throw that, throw that out. That was maybe meant for a different option, but throw that one out. Yeah. Hmm. I think I would rather see them draft a running back and get someone in there, young and talented and fast, yes, because I do think that's something they need. Like Jordan Mason's a bruiser, but he doesn't, we haven't necessarily seen speed out of him. And Aaron Jones is, is getting, getting up there in age for a running back, for an NFL running back,

not just in the general scheme of things, right? I see the intrigue of A-Chane with the Frank Smith connection and that side of things. I don't know about, I just don't know about trading for him when it feels like there are options. It feels like they've already kind of settled on some veterans to have in the room. Now, like you mentioned earlier, we do know that they feel like they have the resources to make some moves later that may acquire more veterans. That might be at the running back position like we're outlining here. but I think one of the other things we've heard right a little bit is like they don't have they haven't had a Dalvin cook type player and that was someone they drafted and that just was a young talent

who kind of handled things for them and so for that reason I'm going to say like I don't like this one necessarily because I think getting the young talent in there is better than having three guys who've been around for at least a couple years and you don't know in what order they're going to flame out or you're going to need to get someone young in there eventually. Like they are going to need a young running back in the room in the next year or two.

And yes, they have Xavier Scott who had some flashes last year, but he was in a UDFA. Like he, they need someone who is preferably probably a top 100 talent to be in that room. So with Devani Chan specifically, he hasn't turned 25 yet, which is crazy. Right.

Yeah, that is crazy. And I think he is maintaining the four three speed. He also doesn't have a ton of workload on his body. It's not like he's ever been, you know, a 300 carry type of guy. I think those things are favorable. The downside probably is because you would go like, hey, man, that's like spending a third round pick on this rusher that we already know is great, is that you are going to have to pay Devon A. Chan.

And he's going to want that would be the reason Miami's giving him up, not because they want to be without a really good running back. So how much is that going to cost? When you trade for a player, you have no leverage in the negotiations. You have to pay top dollar. So are you trading for a guy, then signing him to a contract that is enormous?

And how's that rotation going to work? Because they love Aaron Jones. They brought him back for a reason. You still, I mean, Jordan Mason average, what, 4.8 yards per carry last year. He was really good. So you are kind of pigeonholing yourself in with A.

I also really like it though because the guy is awesome and he led the NFL in rushes over 10 yards last year. Even though that offensive line for Miami was nothing special, he's just a great fit for the scheme. So that part of I like, how about the drafting a wide receiver in the first round? Yeah, I can see it. I understand the value of that. I think for me, like the drafting a wide receiver, they took Ty Felton in the top 100 last year. So you have, if you're going to pick a wide receiver this year who you think is going to usurp, like, jump Ty Felton in the order of things and potentially be that number three and replace Jalen Naylor or whatever, I think it has to be round one or round two. Because if you're getting like the number, not the 97, I don't think they'd use it there, but the number 82 pick, then it's like, how much better is that guy hypothetically than Ty Felton who's already been in the scheme for a year?

who they really liked, who has all the Maryland connections and things like that that they talked about last year. If they are planning on a rookie to come in and be the three to Justin and Jefferson and Addison, I think it has to be one or two, like round one or two. I just don't see a scenario where you can say, yeah, this guy that we also got with our comp pick this year is that much better than time. And maybe there is, maybe there is some scenario where that happens. but it just feels unlikely that you could kind of like make that that setup work. Yeah, I think when it comes to the, if there's a drop off from the second to the third where you're going from starters to probably projects or backups.

And that's why with Ty Felton, when last year he didn't get in the game much and people are asking, well, what's going on with Ty Felton? Why is he playing? It's like that. That's where you get, that's where you get projects. And the Vikings have had projects at that position before that have worked out really well. So we shouldn't count out Ty Felton. And if they have a ton of confidence behind the scenes, then they wouldn't be considering something like this.

But this is very much a now and later type of thing. I mean, you're looking to maximize. We have to think of Kyler Murray as a rookie quarterback contract still. He is on a one year type of deal. It's like being in the last year of your rookie QB contract for $1 million. You are trying to maximize every bit of the last. run of this offense, or this roster, really, with so many players that are going to be free agents after this, the last run of this roster. And if you can add another impact wide receiver,

if you have a rookie who catches 45 passes, that is worth like $20 million. Romeo Dobbs didn't even get to 50 passes and he got $17 million. I mean, that is incredibly valuable. And, hey, let's find out if Kyler Murray can really do it, right? Give him everything he could possibly need on an offense. I would like to see it. I think it's a smart move and you don't know what is going to happen with Jordan Addison, but I do know that paying Jordan Addison 30 million dollars a year into the future is very, very risky to me. And I'm not sure that it's a great idea for a wide receiver too to get that much money. So you'd be kind of starting that process a little earlier by picking a wide receiver. I think it's kind of a next year thing, but I theoretically,

I really like this. The downside to this, though, is there's just no defensive help. And that's pretty tough. It would be very tough for them to come out of this draft, not having anybody to step in and help them at DT. I think I threw out maybe a corner would be a pick somewhere in here. That might be fine. But, I mean, they just would not be doing anything to revamp the future of this defense. And you're continuing to say to Brian Flores, can you just like,

the thing you do, like just do that into the future. And it might be a difficult ask. Yeah, yeah. It is pretty similar to that last situation we talked about and kind of pigeonholing to one, one side of the ball in a way that I just don't think, I just don't think is the answer because there are spots all around that both in the immediate future. And as you look down the line and whose contracts might be up or who might retire and all of those things, there are positions that they need to fill on both sides of the ball. And so

leaning too much towards one direction just doesn't feel like the, I don't want to say safe, because that sometimes has negative connotations, but doesn't feel like the smartest play for them. All right. Fourth idea. Fourth and last idea. Let's say that Jeremiah Love or Caleb Downs, I wrote down number 10 originally, but now I'm thinking about like Kansas City number nine, because of some trades that have been thrown out there. Trade ideas, I actually think is somewhat plausible that Kansas City could be interested in Jonathan Grenard. So let's just say, let's say that's the trade.

They're going to take Jonathan Grenard number 18. They're going to move up to number nine. And they're going to take either Jeremiah Love or Caleb Downs with that pick. And then, hey, they get a center. And I wrote just, just chill for the rest of the draft, basically. Like you're moving up. You're also planning on to grab a center, but you're looking to get a franchise type player in Jeremiah Love or Caleb Downs with the ninth overall pick. You're giving up Jonathan Grenard and then you're trying to grab a center at some point.

And as we were just talking about with third round picks, like, I don't know, that's just take whoever you like. Take a DT that can stop the run. Take a corner who you think could play nickel or something. But the main headline here is you're making a big bold move with the idea of grabbing someone who can be. potentially top five to seven at their position for the next four or five years on the rookie contract. Yeah. Before we attached to Grenard's name to this, I was going to be like an immediate. I like this.

I think throwing him in there then creates like a little bit of a wrench of, well, they do need both a running back and a safety in those top 100 picks. I think if they can swing it. But then if you get rid of Grenard, you probably also need an edge rusher in those top 100 picks. So you don't mind the idea of doing it if you're just using draft capital to move up that. Yeah, I would say so, particularly with Jeremiah Love, because everything we've, I've heard, everything that you read out there with this draft cycle is it's love. And then you drop a whole bunch before you get to his teammate, Jedarian Price,

who doesn't have like a single start in his. his time at Notre Dame because Jeremiah Love was getting all the starts and then he was just the backup. And still, he's the number two guy in this class. And I think he would still be worth a pick on if they were looking at running back and wanted to make that in the second round. But if they thought that it was reasonable to move up there and get Jeremiah Love, I wouldn't like be upset with that move for them. Because I do think if they are making these changes, is wanting to bring in more of a run element to this offense, or at least capitalize more on what they believe this offense could look like with a better run game.

You want to get a franchise guy in for that. Like you want to have somebody running backs are a position that we've seen get more expensive. I think that was like the big signaler and free agency this year was when all of the running backs went off the board really quickly. at really high price points. That was kind of when I was like, oh, they're not playing ball on this in free agency. Like they do not want to spend this money.

That one probably means that they're comfortable taking someone in the draft and two are also just comfortable with who they already have in there. Obviously, the Aaron Jones deal came a couple days into free agency, getting that sorted out. I think for safety, like, I don't know that like trading up has as strong. of a sway on me because it feels like that's a deeper position in this draft and you could go into round two or even early that earlier three and get someone who can step in, especially with some of the returners that they have in their safety room and in Josh Mattelis and Theo Jackson

and some of the other guys in there. They have a little bit of a core there that they can work a younger guy into who maybe is a bit more of a project they don't need necessarily to have like a marquee player in there at this point i mean also just because of how good brian flores is at reworking what his defense looks like and being able to capitalize on whoever the guy might be in a season um so yeah i i like this option more for trading up for a running back less so for a safety or trading up specifically for Jeremiah Love because he's the only one that's presumably going to go in the first round. As for the other stuff, yeah, I, Center feels like a third round pick me. That's where I've been kind of looking at,

either that 82 or that number 97. Jake Slaughter, I think, is the Florida Center or Sam Hect from Kansas State. I think that's how you say his name. Like those names have been popping up a lot. So that feels like very obvious there. And I think I think you would have the right kind of arrangement to still get to a third round center if you made some of those other moves that we listed out there. So let me make the case there. I mean, with adding Jonathan Grenard to it, I know that's a little bit of a harder one because you're saying, well, this is kind of like a win now type move to get a running back

and you're removing someone who's really good from your roster. That does make it a little bit on the dicey side. the case for this would be that if you draft a running back and the rest of your offense is really good, you can get everything out of that running back. So for the olds, I'll throw out there, Marshall Falk. Like Marshall Falk with the Indianapolis Colts where he was originally drafted was not worth the draft pick because the Colts were terrible. They're one of the worst teams in the NFL. You can't do a whole heck of a lot with Marshall Falk.

It's not going to matter how good he is to you. He goes to the St. Louis Rams, and they are the greatest show on turf because him with all that other stuff, with the Hall of Fame quarterback, with Hall of Fame caliber receivers, like that's just an impossible nightmare for anybody to stop. More modern examples might be Saquan Barkley going to Philadelphia. What did he average like 3.9 yards per carry with the Giants? The next year he is a legendary season because he had receivers and a quarterback and an offensive line and everything around him. And if you have that and you have that freakish of a talent, that guy's going to go crazy. I mean, I think Jeremiah I love here. There's a decent go crazy chance with an offensive line that's been healthy, rarely.

But when it is, it's been good. And then, you know, revamping the run scheme, the receivers, the amount of times that they face too deep coverages and shell coverages is like all the time. This is why they should be running more successfully and everyone complains about it constantly. but if you have that with Jeremiah Love, plus a quarterback who doesn't mind checking down and throwing underneath to someone who can turn a three-yard pass into a 70-yard play like Bijon Robinson does, it's like you shouldn't, if you're the Raiders, you shouldn't draft Ashton Genty, because it's not going to help you. If you are, you know, the Lions, you should draft Jemir Gibbs because you're ready to actually

compete. So I think that there is a case there. It's just so hard to do one of these moves. for a non-premium position when we don't have any idea who's even playing quarterback for next year, what things are going to look like into the future. And you're saying, all right, well, great, if you get Jeremiah Love. But if you have to rebuild major parts of your team, do we get into that scenario that I was just laying out where you're just not doing a lot with Jeremiah Love if you're drafting a

quarterback in 2027 and the plan is to kind of win six or seven games and then you have this guy wasting a year of his rookie contract. That's where it gets a little dicey. Downs is a unique one because if you told me that Flores was absolutely for sure locked in for the next like five years as the defensive coordinator, you're like, Caleb Down is probably pretty good. That's like getting a linebacker,

a pass rusher, a safety. It's like he's kind of everything. I don't know that that's going to be the case. He could get a head coaching job. Everyone could get fired. Like, it's the NFL. Like a lot can change. That makes it a,

a little bit more tricky. I think Downs is kind of an exception to the safety rule, though, just because he is that Harrison Smith level prospect, the Derwin James, the Kyle Hamilton, that can completely change a defense. Yeah, that's fair. I would still probably hold on, like, do you trade all the way up there for him?

Just because that room is deeper in this year's draft, but I can understand that rationale. Okay, rank the ideas. Let me go through them one more time for a refresher. The first idea was to do absolutely nothing spectacular. Total chalk draft. What everyone's got, you mock in. That's what you do.

You get them in. You grab a center somewhere, running back, a corner or defensive tackle, and that's your draft. It's totally fine. Everyone's going to give you a beat, you know, and all the draft grades. The second option is trading down and going super heavy on the defensive side, try to rebuild for the future and solidify depth. for right now. The third option is taking a wide receiver, just going full absurdity on the offense, whatever Brian Flores, you don't need depth. They're going to get Devon A. Chan. They're

going to get Mackay Lemon and it's going to be wild. And the fourth one is trading up for one of the two top 10 prospects. The reason I put them together is just because I think those are the only guys you do it for other than sunny styles. Maybe you would. But aside from that, probably the only one. So rank those ideas. I don't know if this is what Vikings fans want to hear. They're probably split on this because obviously they're not just one big mob. But I think that first option and just go in chalk and just going what we expect, like that feels like what they will do, feels like what they should do. Like, I think they need a quiet year where there is not intense dissection of what their draft was after the past four years.

Like, that has just been the name of the game for them. The past, like in this regime, obviously, with when Kuezio dao Menza was GM, was picking apart every single draft choice. Because there were things that deserved to be picked apart in there and that you had to wonder about it and scratch your head over. And I think with that context, with the context of this is an interim GM, we don't know if Rob's going to get the job. We don't know if they're even going to consider Rob. They've kept their cards very close to their chest on that. Like, again, I don't want to say the word safe because I feel like that sometimes has a negative connotation in this type of discussion. But like playing it safe feels like the smartest move here.

You have nine picks. you can really spread out and address these positions. I think there is more clear what you would use your top, your four top 100 picks on, go with it, get out of the draft and focus on like taking what you have, taking that stuff, and putting it into a good product for 2026. And hopefully that product is good enough that when we get to free agency next year,

we're not back asking so many of the same questions that we've asked in both of the off-season. covered so far. I think the word you're looking for there is practical. Practical, yeah. Practical off season. It's the restrained off season. That's really what they've been. And I've been generally overall in support of it. That would not be my favorite idea. I'll give you my rankings at the end. But so that's your favorite. What is, what's number two? Now, this goes, this feels like it's in complete opposition to number one. But I think my number two is the, the trade-up for a

marquee talent, like someone that's going to be a franchise player for the next few years, especially because, like, if you, if you're hoping that they're going to be playoff-bound next year, they're not going to get a better pick. And so it's like, do you trade up this year for someone like Jeremiah Love or do you look at next year and you're maybe down at pick number 22 or 24 or further down the board? So, yeah, I think that is my number two option. is that if you're going to take a swing around this draft, it needs to be for very good reason and for like a very specific position of need that will that will remain a position of need quote unquote going forward.

I think the argument there, the best argument is in this draft, how many franchise players are projected? And the answer is probably like four or maybe or five. Yeah. Even potential like sealing. If you can get one of them, then you're going to feel like you've got something for right away to help you. Those top 10 players step in.

They play right away. And you're also going to feel like you have something to hang your hat on going forward, along with Dallas Turner and a handful of other players that are under contract into the future. Okay. So number one, then number four, you also have remaining trading down and going defense and then also getting a wide receiver and trading for Devon A chance.

I'm going to go trading down defense. three and then the trade for Devon A. Chan, four. I think they're kind of close in my head, but ultimately the trading down for defense and going heavier on that side I think makes just a tad bit more sense to me in terms of you do probably have some more players who are aging out there. It has been more expensive to get marquee players at some of those. defensive positions. You've still got Justin Jefferson, who is going to be your number one for the next, what, four years. I think he's a hits free agency in 2029.

So, um, 2029 or 2028. I can't remember. But, like that I would. Yeah. I think it's, I think it's 20. They're void year. Void years always throw you off when you look at that over the cap page. Yeah.

Um, but yeah. So I would go, I would go defense heavy three big. trade for an established player for. Okay. I totally understand your rationale for how you've ranked these. I would have it, and I'm sure my audience who's listened to me yammer about this for weeks, I would have it pretty different. I would have number one drafting a wide receiver and getting Devon A Chan.

Because I just don't think that you have much of a chance in the NFL to compete for a Super Bowl if you don't have an elite offense. Even I could look at Seattle and say, well, you know, some of their numbers were only top 10ish or whatever, but I think they did score more points than has ever been scored before in Seattle Seahawks history. They have an elite number one wide receiver. They have an elitely talented arm talent quarterback. They had a top two round draft pick running back who ran a four three.

They stocked up on offensive tackle in the draft in the top 10. They drafted Gray's able in the top. top 16, I think last year, whatever it was. So I think having the elite offense around Kyler Murray, and then if you don't want to keep Murray, you go and draft a quarterback and give him the best chance to succeed. I'm not very solid on Jordan Addison's future. And I think a wide receiver three, you could throw the guy 50 passes. Like he can make an impact. I think KJ. Osborne had like 50 catches in 2022. You can get this guy, the football. And if you have that level of playmakers around your quarterback. He's a scrambling quarterback. You add a four or three running back,

whoever just five and a half yards plus a carry. And I think we're going to have a lot of fun covering the Minnesota Vikings. And you say to Brian Flores, we're going to have the ball all the time. We're going to score a ton of points. So we'll take the pressure off you. That might be my favorite. Number two, though, I think for me is the is the chalk. Like, okay, you just, you didn't break the draft. You didn't try to get too cute. Sort of a little bit like last year, you took the two times that they've just sort of stick and pick. It's been Addison and Donovan Jackson. Guys they really like, good offensive players, they're helpful.

You didn't try to get too cute. Okay, fair enough. Rebuilding the defense I still like of trading down. I've liked the idea of trading down in this draft specifically. And trading up for a running back or a safety is probably my least favorite because those are just positions that, well, Jeremiah love is pretty special. You can find other guys. I would probably much rather have Judarian Price, who was a.

big play monster when he did play for Notre Dame in the second or third round, then I would want to spend extra capital or trade up with Grenard. If I'm trading Grenard, I want to stockpile picks. I want a lot more draft picks. I don't want to just do that all for one guy. So very interesting that we see it differently. I know that I'm just going to keep banging the drum for right receiver, though. Wasn't completely different.

No, it wasn't completely different. All right. How about this since we've already spent? a lot of time on this. Brazinski, you know, I mentioned earlier, he kind of floated like, hey, keeping the powder dry, that kind of thing. What do you think they're going to do? You think they're going to do something like free agent signing or trade for Dexter

Lawrence or like, what do you think they're going to do? Yeah, it's interesting. I think my inclination would be that it would be something on the defensive side. because we know that Brian Flores tends to kind of scout these guys out that he's like, this is someone we could pick up. Yeah. And I know he's going to fit into my scheme and I know exactly how I want to use him and all of that stuff. Like there's a reason that it feels like their defensive free agent signings in particular

have like really strong ties to the team. And you can like really clearly like trace a line of like, oh, this person knows. this person coached with this person, yada, yada, yada. So I think my inclination would be it would be something on defense. I don't know if it'll be something as big as a trade. Obviously, that comment was made before the Dexter Lawrence stuff came out publicly. So something is going to happen. And it seems like it'll be post June 1st. That was kind of thrown out there as it'll be a little bit later in the cycle, which is interesting because post June 1st, presumably, and I think hopefully they think, they will have a GM permanently in place by then, whether it is Rob or otherwise.

If it's Rob, then, yeah, all of this still holds true. We're talking about this. If it's someone else, who knows if they're viewing that situation in the same way and viewing acquisition the same. But I think my gut would say that just based on how we've seen free agencies, go and like the types of kind of moves they've made that something on the defensive side might be more likely. Yeah. I guess we'll see. You're right. That's a good point. I guess I didn't even think of it that way as like, well, new GM might be calling that first shot. It might be making a move, which is why in part you keep the powder dry and give that person some options. And after June 1st,

they get some extra cap space and so forth. Emily Liker, great stuff. Access Vikings is the pod with you, Ben Gessling and Andrew Kramer, you guys do a phenomenal job. You have been an incredible addition to that podcast over the last, what are you on now? Is this like 18 months of Covering Vikings? How long has it been? It was mid-20204. Yeah, I got here in mid-November, 2024. So, yeah, coming up on like 16 to 18 months.

Okay. You're fully into it. You've seen a first round quarterback fail. You've seen a playoff. meltdown. The only thing where you haven't really become a true Vikings reporter. And I'm just not sure this is going to happen for a while is the kicking. The kicking has just been unbelievable.

You haven't seen the tragic missed kicks because Will Riker's just too good. I have seen wired controversies though. Yeah. Yeah. That's a new one. Something in order to cover the Vikings, there has to be something where someone else could say to you, hey, so what's the weirdest thing that's ever happened? And you don't have to hesitate all.

You're like, yeah, I don't know. in London, they hit a wire with a, like, what are the odds of that? And then it maybe happened again. People like to say it happened again. I don't think it happened to get. I do think it happened the first time. Yeah. I think, I think Raj is covered it up.

But the fact that we talked about it two times last season is kind of crazy. I know. Tell the truth, Raj. All right. Thanks so much for your time, Emily. Thanks for having me.