Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - FansOnly: What prospect are you dying on the hill for?

Episode Date: April 8, 2025

Matthew Coller answers your Vikings questions, ranging from which prospect he is dying on the hill for, any Asante Samuel steam, and long term defensive roster build.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 Insider, Matthew Coller here, and this is a fans-only episode where not everybody gets a chance to log on and ask me questions during the livestream, so people will send them via direct message on Twitter or send me emails, and I like to answer them every so often. So if you want to get on the show but you can't join the streams to ask questions, that's a great way to do it. At Matthew Coller on Twitter, my DMs are open or Matthew Coller at Gmail is a great place to send me a note there and I'll get you on the show.

So let us start out with Bradley who says, die on the hill for one prospect, the Vikings should absolutely want who you got So I know what you're thinking is that oh here. He goes. He's gonna make the Luther Burton argument again He's gonna talk about wide receiver again, and hey, it's a good argument So if you got a good argument you should use it over and over all right and Luther Burton is the tackle-breaking wide receiver out of Missouri And I can't help but envision what it would look like if the Vikings could add Jefferson Addison Hockinson and a wide receiver that they could throw underneath passes to and get yards after catch It's a pretty good idea to surround JJ McCarthy with as much talent as they possibly can and hey

We're only a couple years away from Jordan Addison and his rookie contract running out. Wide receiver 2s are already getting 22 million dollars a year these days. You've heard the debate that I've thrown out there to a bunch of people, but I won't die on that hill. Here's why. I wouldn't criticize the Vikings for not doing it, right? They could draft a receiver next year, they can draft and develop one in the later rounds. This draft also has some very compelling wide receiver options in the third round. So, you know, I think that it's not a hill to die on because if they don't do it, I will understand and they could take some swings and see if they can find another player to bring into that

role slowly and to pair with Jalen Naylor, and they don't really have to address this right away. But there are a few players that I have started to feel, the more research I do, the more I read, that would be absolutely fantastic fits for the Minnesota Vikings. So I'll give you a couple of them. Number one is So I'll give you a couple of them. Number one is Malachi Starks, the safety from Georgia. This guy, high intelligence plays in different spots, has really impressive moving skills, playmaking, tackling. Intelligence is really something that's talked about big time with him and a

safety. I wrote about this over at purple insider dot football. There's been a lot of safeties that the Vikings have found and developed into very good players. We've seen it happen with Josh Metellus, Cam Bynum, Anderson Dayhull, Anthony Harris, but if you're looking for a game changer, well, they've had the game changer in Harrison Smith. And those are not as easy to find, and Malachi Starks has the potential to be that player. Not that anyone should set the bar at Harrison Smith when you draft them, but there's some traits in there for Malachi Starks that are similar.

He's also pretty young, so he's someone that you could draft and you could develop, but well playing, mixing in with someone like Theo Jackson, who we know they like, and Josh Metellus. And then when Harrison Smith someday finally decides to call it quits, that would be a nice player to slide right into that role with the other guys like Jay Ward and like Theo Jackson that they have been developing over the years. So that would be the first one. If he ends up there on the board, the Minnesota Vikings should very, very strongly consider him. Now there's a lot of other players that I kinda like. If they took, I could see the fit and say,

oh, well, like a Trey Amos from Ole Miss. I think he's the best fit for the Vikings. Siobhan Revelle is another guy who's very interesting and is apparently visiting the Vikings on one of their 30 visits. And he's got a high ceiling and great athletic traits. But Torres ACL, which might bring down his draft stock on one of their 30 visits and he's got a high ceiling and great athletic traits but Torres ACL which might bring down his draft stock a little bit enough for

the Vikings to potentially take a look at him. Those are not as strongly as I feel about Malachi Starks but the other one is Gray Zable the offensive tackle but will likely be moved inside from NDSU. And the reason I like it so much is the high athletic ceiling, but you don't have to play him right away. Because Blake Brandle is there, you can have a competition, you can develop Zable until he's ready to go. And it does take time for interior linemen to develop, but should he win the job right away,

you'd be talking about someone who is a better athlete than the Vikings have had at that position. I don't even know when. I literally don't know the last athlete of that caliber. Maybe it was Steve Hutchinson. When we go through all the years and the guards that they have drafted, Ed Ingram would not qualify on the same caliber. He was a high draft pick. Ezra Cleveland was a tackle that moved inside. There's a question about that later, but Zabel is somebody that I think they could draft, could potentially win the job now

and be a difference maker with his athleticism and the way they run the football. And plus he was an absolutely dominant pass blocker at the tackle position. I know that the caliber of players he was going against were not in the NFL, but we did see in the senior bowl him match up against some really good prospects and hold his own. So I have become a Gray Zable enjoyer. A guard, a safety, not usually positions that I would be dying on the hill for, but those

two stand out to me specifically as because the Vikings could get the best player on the board at those positions. That intrigues me for a backend of the first round where everybody in front of you is drafting tackles, receivers, quarterbacks, the things that you don't really need, and you sit there and wait and get the number one player on the board. It's hard to say whether the Vikings like Zabel or whether they would like Tyler Booker Moore, who is a beast. He's got great tape.

He's an absolutely enormous dude. But I am a little bit concerned about what happened at the combine. I think raw athleticism does matter and history has not been kind to interior linemen that don't do well in some of those quickness drills because it's a fast league. It is a quick league where you have a lot of DTs that are getting smaller and faster, not bigger and slower. So that scares me a little. Of course, if the Vikings draft them, I think everyone would be happy. But because I have that concern, I have less concern about Zable making that transition

from NDSU to the NFL than I would about Booker and some of the indicators from the combine. But no draft pick that you get at the back end of the first round is ever going to be without some sort of asterisk to him of, well, you know, he's got a question about this, that, or the other thing. But Starks, Zabel, those are the two guys that after, I don't know how long we've been doing this,

weeks of research and lots of draft Simulations and reading what everybody has to say about the prospects Those are two of the fits that I really like the most on the next question This comes from Wade says is there anything to the Asante Samuel steam as far as you can tell any other? signings we might reasonably expect once the Compensatory Pick window is closed. I don't know about the Asante Samuel Steam, I don't really even know what steam exactly

there is, other than it makes logical sense for the Vikings to look at another cornerback in free agency who's still remaining, number one, because there are good cornerbacks still remaining. And I agree with Mike Zimmer. And this is why I would also still make the argument for drafting one, despite us finding out that Brian Flores really loves Isaiah Rogers. I mean, Isaiah Rogers is played 500 snaps one time in his career and he's 27 years old.

And he also has been suspended once, that to me is not lock it in, set it in, forget it. The only set it in, forget it guy that they have is Byron Murphy Jr. So you can never have too many of those, and I really like their approach, which is to take a lot of swings. Take a swing at Isaiah Rogers, the third-rounder, Makai Blackman from two years ago, take a swing at a third-rounder that you really like, the third rounder, uh, Mackay Blackman from two years ago, take a swing at a third rounder that you really like, try to develop him.

And I'm sure he was developing behind the scenes last year, but mixed in as a 400 to 500 snap player in 2023. But again, not somebody you would say, Oh yeah, lock them in good to go. He's your starting guy for a long period of time. And then they've rolled the dice on Dwight McClothern who Kevin O'Connell mentioned and we know that they like and someone like Jeff Acuta Why not it cost you almost nothing and the guys a former draft pick if they did the same thing Very high draft pick if they did the same thing with a Santa Samuel, I mean, by all means, go ahead. I mean, it's not going to cost the whole heck of a lot bringing as many corners as you got. I think corners can be unpredictable and I think they get injured a lot just based on the nature of that position. Those guys are asked to come up and tackle people full speed jump way up in the air.

Like there's just a lot that can happen. And so if you tell me, oh yeah, they're going to add a corner. I'm never going to tell you no. But as far as whether there's something to whatever's being said out there that I do not know for sure, I guess we'll all find out once that compensatory window ends. I mean, I think the obvious answer here is quarterback, backup quarterback, that they have somebody on the line, I would assume, whether it's Flacco or it's Wentz or whoever it might be.

There's only a handful of guys that are left that have actually played in the NFL. One of them will be a Minnesota Viking. I do not know which one. And anybody else out there who fits the bill like Asante Samuel Jr., anybody. It could be any position. You want to get one more guard? Hey, someday. I'm going to keep saying it. Will Hernandez will play for this football team. But one more guard to compete with Blake Brando. If you're not going to draft Gray

Zabel or Tyler Booker in the first round, then you could use another body in there because right now it's Michael Juergens. And that's kind of it on the interior for competition. Maybe they'll move Walter Rouse inside, especially after going out and getting a veteran like Justin Skool to be their swing tackle for next year. So there's not a lot of competition at those guard positions and you got two guys there that are starting and really one proven backup, maybe Dalton Reister comes back for another bite at the apple here with the Vikings to compete, but some other guard, some other depth on the offensive line would

be good. Maybe Keenan Allen, if he wants to play football, is anybody going to tell him? No, I wouldn't. That guy has destroyed the Vikings every time he's played them. So there are a couple wide receivers even who are veterans still out on the market and maybe Keenan Allen would like to have a quarterback who can find him and throw him the football and I like that as an underneath option as Always more options are good, but somebody who can get open in short areas He was still getting open last year this Caleb Williams wasn't really getting him the football So there are a few options and hate a linebacker backup linebacker. You know, they brought back Eric Wilson, but you'd like a little more depth there.

Maybe another safety in that. I mean, really almost any position you could say a one more guy would be helpful here, a journeyman running back who might fill out the room. There is a decent number of players in free agency who are still out there that you could see them looking at. And if it's not a Santa Samuel, maybe Russell Douglas at corner, he's had a pretty good career, 31 years old. So options and the Vikings have enough cap space to add a couple of those guys

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who will determine if a prescription is appropriate. Restrictions apply, see the website for full details and important safety information. All right, next question from Griffin. Do you think KO sees comments of essentially best player available as nice, but we want them to be on the field as well? Change what you think the Vikings focus will be on for their first round pick. It does not. It does not change

what I think they'll focus on because we all know what he's talking about. I mean number one I think he was addressing a little bit of my obsession with the idea of drafting a wide receiver. It's not too easy to get on the field when you have Jefferson, Addison, Hockenson and they still like Jalen Naylor a lot and they should. But it's not the easiest to get 100 targets as a Minnesota Viking. I'll throw out this stat. It's KOC if you're watching. KJ Osborne in the year 2022 was the wide receiver three.

He had 90 targets. I'm just saying, just saying. He had 90 targets. So sometimes that wide receiver three is pretty valuable, but that's not the point It said I never thought that they were looking at wide receiver 3 in the first round anyway I would have figured that it would be a depth thing that they take a swing at somebody Maybe even someone who can kick return because it's clear the NFL Wants a lot more kick returns and they got nothing out of their punt returns last year

So maybe something like that, but I mean we're talking about positions like tackle, tight end. I mean the guy from Michigan the tight end is a phenomenal prospect but you can't pick him he would never play there's two really good tight ends in front of him and you're not gonna pick him to be your tight end too after Josh Oliver's contract runs out just doesn't make sense. You are not drafting an edge rusher. You have Van Ginkle, you have Grenard, you have Dallas Turner. You're not going to spend two years in a row with that big of an investment. Think about the money they spent and the draft pick to rebuild that position. You're not going to pick

something there. Linebacker is a little more interesting because of the way Brian Flores uses it. But even then, two linebackers on the field, you have two linebackers and a third one in Eric Wilson who can play not super likely, even if it's the best player available. And I think that was his point more than trying to give us like a hint, hint, wink, wink, nod, nod of who they're gonna draft but more hey we can all use our common sense here safety is open guard is open cornerback for me is always open and wide receiver is maybe a bit of a wild card defensive tackle in

my mind is also open because it's a rotational position so Philly can draft a Milton Williams play him 500 snaps and then he gets 26 million dollars But you could do that with Derek Harmon you could do that with Walter Nolan You know that that those rotational positions are always going to be able to get onto the field and also You know how much longer do you have Harrison Phillips here and things like that? so they could look at a Kenneth Grant or a tie-leek Williams if they wanted somebody to kind of be the You know the Sun that everybody else rotates around Kind of thing stuffs that middle if they wanted to you could definitely do it, but it didn't change what I think of that

I mean I think any of us could make a list of Our top positions of need and maybe your order would be a little bit different than my order. Maybe you like the idea of a tackle or I'm sorry a guard or a defensive tackle higher than I do and I like safety better but I think we all kind of know the big four or five positions that the Vikings should be looking at in the first round. Let's get to this one comes from Tim. Tim says, what do you think of Minnesota drafting the Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts with the 24 pick? I watched all the Notre Dame games this year and every year and this kid

was versatile and very football savvy is a safety of reach at 24. So this is just my understanding and I watched Xavier Watts play a bit as well. Not as much as you. You watched every game. So you know more about what he looks like on the field than I do. But my process is usually reading what all the draft analysts have to say. The people who watch the film and do the scouting. And I like Xavier Watts as one of those players if they were to trade down or if he was available in the third round a little bit more than taking him at 24. So at least my understanding is, and this is the way I like to frame it

because I didn't make a big board. I didn't watch 500 players. I don't know what I'm looking at the difference between Xavier Watts and Melikai Starks. I'm not a scout. So I trust the people in the aggregate, especially with the consensus boards and things like that, that ultimately the wisdom of the crowd

will give us the best snapshot we can get. And in that snapshot, Xavier Watts is more of a second round type of prospect. The Vikings do not have a second round pick, so this would be if they were trading down or if he's available in the third round, which is very possible. My feeling on Xavier Watts is that the upside

is not quite the same. He's a playmaker, he's got a ton of interceptions, that does not happen randomly. Even in college football where the quarterbacks aren't so good, you just don't pick off what I think 13 passes in two years because the ball floats right into your hands So there's clearly something there and I love production if you're drafting players pick guys that got production

I do not like to hear well The reason he didn't catch any passes was the reason he never got any pass breakups was that's always concerning to me I know there's one DeNeil Hunter But there's only one DeNeil Hunter who didn't get a lot of sacks in college and then did it in the NFL. So you're talking about the type of guy that I would really like, but if his projections have him mostly in the middle of the second round is that kind of level prospect, then he's a trade down and draft candidate or he's somebody that maybe you could see if he slips through the cracks and eventually gets

there. It would be surprising to me if they took him at 24, but we kind of have all agreed on this, and I'm with it. If Brian Flores says, no, that's the guy, then that's the guy. Then that's the guy that we're going to believe will fit in the Brian Flores system because he has such a good eye, especially for defensive backs of position. He came into the league scouting, a position that he coached for a long time. So if he likes Watts as much as Nick Imawhire or Malachi Starks, who are projected as top 20 players, top 25 players. OK, I would be down with it. And as far as the safety position goes, I think because of Flores's defense,

because what he asks of the safety and he was a guy that drafted in Miami, Javon Holland, because he knows what he asks of those safeties. You got to be a pass rusher, you've got to be a linebacker, you got to be a nickel corner, you got to be a deep guy. Starks really fits that description a little bit better than some of the other guys, but I think Watts being the playmaker that he is, they could really like that production. So I'm not against it, I'm just saying that the outside world,

the draft analyst universe does not seem to see him as quite high of a level of prospect enough to spend number 24 on. Could change just because, look, we're talking about a team with four draft picks, so it could change where, yeah, this guy's supposed to go number 40, but we can't wait till number 40, so let's just take him now.

But not out of the question. I would say not out of the question, and I like the player. Isaac emailed to say, Andrew VanGinkel is a dog. I agree with that. Dallas Turner is VanGinkel except swap dog with Tracey. Kind of a tweener where he can play edge and off ball but is not great either. Well, so I think when it comes to Dallas Turner, we're just going to have to wait and see what Dallas Turner actually is. When he came out, I thought he was going to be a pure edge rusher and I did not think of him as traity because he was very productive in

college and when you use that word I think of someone who just has a lot of tools they usually translate into the NFL and not necessarily refined or not necessarily the production in college but he was one of the top producers of sacks and pressures at Alabama, a program that tends to produce a good player to here or there. I don't think they're exactly the same type of player because Dallas Turner has much more of a physical upside coming out in the draft. Now, Andrew Van Ginkle is maximized it, he's strong, out in the draft. Now, Andrew Van Ginkle is maximized it. He's strong. He's quicker than maybe they thought he was coming out of the draft when he was a fifth round draft pick out of Wisconsin. But he was somebody that really took time and

needed to develop. And I think with Dallas Turner, it's going to be the same thing. That when you already have Van Ginkle and Jonathan Grenard, you're not going to put Dallas Turner in over those guys when one is a top three guy in pressures and the other guy's second team all pro with multiple picks, sixes and double digit sacks. I mean, where were you going to play him? You could say over Patrick Jones, but Patrick Jones had been playing in the system for a couple of years, veteran player, and they also asked Jones to rush into the middle a lot.

And I don't think that rushing up the middle was really Dallas Turner's thing. So his role is going to be fascinating to see how it plays out this year. But I wouldn't say Dallas Turner isn't a dog. I mean, I think if you go back and look at his just the scouting reports when he was coming out, there was a lot of that, like a high IQ player driven. So I have to take a look at some of the old reports. Maybe I'm misremembering there, but I didn't think that he was

just soft and tracy or something. I think what happened was he was behind two other players that were just thriving and stayed completely healthy for the entire year. Remember, Van Ginkle went out for a handful of series and Turner came in against Indianapolis, played really well. He had a lot of flash plays down the stretch in a unique role that was a little bit different, but we might not see him...

I don't know what's going to happen with Van Ginkle's future, but we might not see him really play a thousand snap type of role for a couple of seasons. And Brian Flores has said he's okay with that. I think Turner needs to put on weight. Last year he looked to me like he had lost a lot of weight from the beginning of the season, which happens to a lot of players. It's not a J.J. McCarthy thing, is he injured or whatever.

It happens to a lot of players over the season, but you learn as you go on how to keep that on with your workout schedule throughout the year and I just thought he needed to learn how to beat offensive tackles at the NFL level which takes time and I'll just keep bringing this up there was a study on it in 2020 by Timo Riski of PFF who found that the least productive position as rookies was edge rusher, pass rusher. So let's give Dallas Turner some time before just saying, well, he's a, a soft version of Van Ginkle. Hey, Van Ginkle, how many years did it take him to become this version of himself?

You just have to give young players time to develop. I know everybody wants to call it, oh, he's a bust or whatever. Like we just don't know. So why don't we give it time? And we'll see what Dallas Turner becomes this year And then we'll have a much better idea of what he's going to be it might not work out But I'm not gonna try to call it right now Patrick also has a Van Ginkle adjacent question says do you think that we will see a Van Ginkle extension?

says, uh, do you think that we will see a van ginkle extension before or during the season? And a second question, odds that they are saving some cap money to resign Stefan Gilmore in August. I would be surprised if they brought back Stefan Gilmore. I would not be surprised if Gilmore just decided to hang it up. And he's not the type of guy to put out some big statement. Probably. I think he just would not play and that would be it for Stefan Gilmour he's a quiet guy but I don't know if he wants to keep it going after last year played really well played on a 14-win team had a lot of fun and made some extra dough to go along with his earnings for his career he's had an incredible career I don't know if it's quite Hall of Fame but it's borderline or it's Hall of Very Good at. I don't know if it's quite Hall of Fame, but it's borderline or it's Hall of very good at least I don't know if he wants to play or not at this moment The Vikings have seemingly replaced the Shaq Griffin and Stefan Gilmore roles with Mackay Blackman coming off the ACL injury and Isaiah Rogers

But you never know what's gonna happen I mean, they're trying to develop Dwight McClother and it seems that they really like what they see there that position Has a good number of players at this moment, but things can change in an instant as we know from what happened with Mackay Blackman last year. He was in line to be the starter and then he ends up getting injured on the first day So we'll see I don't know what's in Stefan Gilmore's head, but not against it If he wants to come back, he played pretty well and clearly speed is not really required or top speed is not really required to play that position well in Brian Flores, his defense. As far as Van Ginkle, yeah, that's an interesting question because they may want to figure out

what they want to see from Dallas Turner first before they decide. But also if they just said to Andrew Van Ginkle, hey, let's get something done here. Let's get a two, three year contract worked out an extension for you. Make sure you're a Minnesota Viking for a long time. Everyone would be on board with that. I don't know anybody would be against. I mean, already the guy I think is one of the most popular Vikings

because look at the way he plays, look at how he's used. You see the hair go flying around out there, but just the uniqueness of him, the playmaking ability that he has, it's very, very different from pretty much any player that I could say that I've covered with the fact that he can play in coverage, play it linebacker inside linebacker, outside linebacker, doesn't really matter. And you can ask him to do pretty much anything.

But here is the issue with giving him an extension. If Andrew Van Ginkle has another year of 11 and a half sacks and two or three interceptions, whatever, number of picks or pass breakups or scores well by PFF and coverage grade, I mean, what is he worth? Is he worth like $25 million in free agency for somebody else to bring him in?

$20 million? Like how much is this extension costing? And that's why you drafted Dallas Turner because the surplus value if the guy hits is enormous. It's so hard to go into free agency and find edge rushers. How many edge rushers this year in free agency signed? I can't remember too many that signed for big dollars in free agency. They just don't come available that often.

So if you're Van Ginkle and maybe you want to be a Viking for life and you want to work something out with the Vikings, you say, let's get this done. But also and look, he grew up a Vikings fan. He's from Iowa, all that sort of stuff That only goes so far when somebody else on the free agent market next year if you have a good season might give you 25 million dollars, so we will see on that matter I'm sure that they're gonna have that discussion and this franchise does have a way of convincing people to stay around both by Working out the financial details fairly and also the culture that they have built.

Let's see, Ben says with the schedule coming out just around the corner, what's a team that you look at and say the Vikings should beat them by two plus scores? Two plus scores, I mean this team loves to play close games, Ben. Conversely, what's a team you look at and say if the Vikings beat them, they would be contenders. Yeah, the order of operations does matter here, because let's say you have a week one game against a really good team, and you beat them. Well, I mean, it's week one, we're not gonna say, oh, oh, they're contenders now, they beat Baltimore in week one or something. I think there's lots of options for that second one and maybe the biggest is Philadelphia. It's just, you know this, if the Eagles have been that big scary monster that the Vikings have

struggled to take down, whether it was 2023 fumbling that thing out of the back of the end zone, the 2017, they did beat them in 2018 and 2019, but it's been a clash, you know, a bit of a rivalry there with Philly and they won the Super Bowl. They're the best team in the NFL roster-wise. If you beat the Philadelphia Eagles, maybe if it's in the middle of the season, wherever it might be, depends on how they're playing, but if you beat the Super Bowl champs, yeah, people are going to pay attention. And I would say the same thing for Detroit Detroit the Vikings need to beat Detroit at some point Who thought that would ever be a sentence that someone would say with their face? Gosh, the Vikings really need to find a way to beat them Detroit's huh? I mean think about all the times we kind of laughed at to draw. Well, you know, Matt Patricia's over there

Wayne Font's team can't keep up with the Denny Green Vikes. I mean, how many times did Mike Tice beat them? They were just always there as a punching bag for the Vikings. Wayne Font's had some good teams back in the day, but a lot of times for so many years, even for Mike Zimmer, not that many losses against the Detroit Lions, and especially after they moved on from a very good coach in Jim Caldwell. And here we are saying, Kevin O'Connell can't get an edge here on Dan Campbell.

They need to be Detroit. And if you beat Detroit, you beat Philadelphia, Baltimore, those teams, then yeah, you are pretty legit or some combination of those teams. As far as teams on their schedule that they should absolutely blow the doors off, there's only really one that comes to mind because they're super bad, but there's probably two. Two that come to mind. One is Cleveland.

I don't care who they draft. If they're playing Kenny Pickett against Brian Flores, yeah, that should be a couple scores. And the New York Giants. Russell Wilson trying to run around, trying to identify defenses. He struggled against Mike Zimmer to identify defenses, and that was when he was actually good.

So, not having a whole lot to work with there other than Malik neighbors. Their offensive line is still problematic against the Vikings D-line, which is overhauled. The interior pressure. I mean, you know, that, yeah, those are a couple that should be hands down. Vikings wins, and if they're not, then you got some problems, but we'll see how the schedule plays out. I'm always excited when it comes out. You know, I love to do the show, do that first pick of the schedule.

It's always great. So I can't wait for that after the draft. Next question comes from Ale. Wanted to get your thoughts on this and hoping you'll address it on the show. Well, you're lucky, Ayl, here we go. Listening to your top five stick and pick players, and I know you've been a huge Zabel guy,

but I look at him and see Ezra Cleveland, small school tackle with elite athleticism that gets kicked inside. To me, Ezra Cleveland isn't a first round pick. What am I missing? So the biggest thing I would say just to start is they're two different people. Uh, I get, I get it. We do this in sports. We see one guy who has some things that are similar to another guy and we go see,

but that would kind of not be that different from saying that, you know, hey, Malachi Starks to it's a Georgia safety. It's just like Lewis Seen. And I mean, okay, we all know that Starks has been used differently by Georgia and has maybe a different IQ profile. I don't know what it was with Lewis Seen. If we said that he, I thought he was high IQ coming out. I mean, Lewis Seen had a great college career and it didn't work out.

So it's easy to say, well, Georgia safety didn't work out. A small school tackle moved inside. It didn't work out. It kind of worked out, but it didn't work out right to be worth a first round pick. The issue I thought with Ezra Cleveland is that he never really had the violence of a guard, that he was more of a finesse type of player, and that would get him sometimes,

and he never really learned to understand the twists and the stunts and how to deal with them. And this could be an issue with Graze Abel because things are happening a lot faster at the NFL level. But let's all remember, too, with Ezra Cleveland, they did that thing that they do, right? They draft him, they put him at right guard. So you're asking him to move all the way across the other side of the line.

Then they move into a left guard and then you're saying and they never really get settled. And then by the time he starts coming into his own a bit, they send him packing and they replace him with a guy who's kind of the same guy in Dalton Reisner, but just a little bit better at identifying, you know, those stunts, twists and everything. And I guess I, you know, Reisner is another guy who didn't go to the biggest college and has had a good career for himself as a starter, but probably, like you said, not necessarily a first round caliber type of player.

So I'm sure that there is history and some people have brought up well this NDS you guy worked out But these other guys haven't and I don't really I don't really try to draw from that stuff because I'm not sure how relevant It is I always think of the Ohio State quarterback problem of well This guy failed and that guy failed from Ohio State, so CJ Stroud is just the next failure Ohio State. Oh, no, he's not. I mean, so I kind of look at the same thing. I get where you're coming from, and we all try to do this around draft time, but I look

at Zable as having a lot of edge to his game. I never saw that with Ezra Cleveland. What I saw from Ezra Cleveland was a guy who looked like a tackle playing guard But I think that Grey Zable has been prepared for a long time To be a guard and a guard only and I think we were all perplexed and hey all's well that ends well, right with Christian Derrisah being here But I think we were all perplexed at them Spending the draft pick on Ezra Cleveland and never even trying him at offensive tackle so I don't think that that was ever in his cards whereas Gray

Zable it seems to have been written in the stars for him to play guard for a long time rather than hey you're drafted oh by the way kid you're not playing your position I think maybe set up a little bit for failure but I just see a different get off quicknessness, violence, attack mentality and Zable, which makes me like him and like him for the inside. But it's a fair, it's a fair question that there's, and that's what I keep going back to always with late first round type of picks. We're always going to have questions.

There's probably five guys in this draft where you go, okay, that guy franchise player like, hey, he might bust, but he could be great. That's, you know, that's your Travis Hunter type of player. That's your Abdul Carter. But once you get past maybe the top 10, 15, you're always talking about, well, there's going to be some questions about this guy, but I don't equate those two and say, well, because that failed, I would stay away from the other thing. I just liked that he is a top notch athlete who plays with serious this guy, but I don't equate those two and say, well, because that failed, I would stay away from the other thing. I just like that he is a top notch athlete who plays with serious aggressiveness, looked

good at the senior bowl against some high level talent. And I think if he was put into a line with a former first round pick in Ryan Kelly, who's a big giant beast, who was very experienced and then a violent guy at right guard, two of the best tackles in the league. What I'm looking for is the upside of this thing is that this offensive line is one of the best in the NFL. That's the upside of the thing if it works out. So that I think Zabel's got a big upside.

Another offensive line question, this comes from Todd says, here's a solution at left guard. I would sign Jedrick Wills and ask him to compete at the left guard position with Blake Brandle. He projects out as a nine point five six. You mean relative athletic score guard, which is 95th percentile. And could play offensive tackle in a pinch. His PFF scores are not great, but would be a great backup. He's exactly the type of player where I go, okay.

I mean, sure, that's a good idea, I guess. If Jedrick Wills wants to play guard and if they feel like he's healthy enough, he's had some serious issues with injuries through the years, and it kind of has a little bit as a high draft pick. It has a little bit of that Mackay-Beckton type of curve of, wow, it looks like this guy's a total bust. And whoa, OK, he found the right spot. I like taking lots of swings.

There are positions to me that are just you don't really know until the guy gets there. So take a shot and corner is one of them. All the corners. You want Jeff Okuda? Great. You want Jedrick Wills? Great. Just, the odds aren't good.

But the upside is potentially there, and the investment is usually low. The Vikings have shown a propensity to want to do that. A couple more questions here. Jeremy says, how would you describe what Flores is looking for in Nose Tackle? Harrison Phillips certainly gets it done inside, but doesn't look like the prototype guy. He's more of a D end for me. I would love to add a big 320 plus guy in the middle to provide stout run defense and push the pocket with power.

It's a lot of football there, Jeremy, a lot of football. I look at Harrison Phillips as being versatile in that role. He is not the weight that you're talking about for a Gilbert Brown, a Pat Williams, one of those humongous beasts, which is what you want at that position. But I do think that Harrison Phillips can handle centers, can take up multiple blockers and what he's really good at. And this is something you can go check it out. Just Google Harrison Phillips and Purple Insider, and or maybe defensive tackles and Purple Insider, you'll find it.

It's an article I did with Harrison Phillips about how it's tough for PFF to grade the Vikings defensive tackles, he thinks, because they do a lot of stuff that a lot of teams don't do. A lot of teams will line up their nose tackle right over the center and those drive-in to guys, and what he was talking about is how, and you can watch it on tape, it's actually kind of cool, they are body movers sometimes,

where Harrison Phillips might start shaded on one side of the center, and then immediately jump to the other side when the snap happens and he might get pushed back a little, but the blockers follow him and that creates gaps for linebackers. It's a really interesting way of doing it. So it's not always big, giant dude pushes lots of bodies. However, I think that what you're onto is this is why I've liked the Kenneth Grant idea if it comes up is

That Harrison Phillips can also play that five technique or the four I if we want to get super football II that just means now over the guard Or over right over the tackle kind of directly in front of him He could be he can move out a little bit into that Jonathan Bullard type of role if you have move out a little bit into that Jonathan Bullard type of role. If you have somebody else, that's that big beast on the inside. And if you had a Kenneth Grant to go along with a Hargrave to go along with Harrison Phillips to go along with Jonathan Allen, that's a lot of dude in there. That's a lot of really, really good football player and a lot of talent

and a lot of size and a lot of nasty on the inside. So I'm not against it for sure. I think that Phillips can play this role if they need him to, but if they went out and got one of those guys, if there's even a Tyleague Williams, if they may be traded down, I think the Vita Vea, the Derrick Brown, like those guys have a lot of value in the league, but they got to be paired with the right people.

They can't be somebody who you just say, Hey, go do it all Vita via. There's gotta be linebackers, which the Vikings have. They got, they gotta have different rush schemes around that player because I mean, think about my favorite example. I'm sure you guys love the Pat Williams example. My favorite is Casey Hampton with the Pittsburgh Steelers back in the day. I get that, that, that dude would just push humanity and create so much space for everybody to work around him.

So no disagreement here. And. Keep keep up with that football attitude. That's that's serious. You got deep in the trenches there. DJJD says, let's say the Vikings have another top five defense this coming year with all the quality additions. This likely improves the odds of Flores getting a head coaching opportunity. The other day you mentioned players can be considered bus when drafted in specific scheme.

Does this suggest going heavy on offense in this year's draft guard running back wide receiver since we know KOC is locked in for a long time instead of drafting a corner or a safety. Yeah, I mean I think when that's the thing when we go back to that Lewis scene issue where he was drafted to be an Ed Donatell scheme, which is different by a million miles from what Brian Flores is. Now, I don't think he would have made it regardless, but still I mean Andrew Booth Jr. might even be a better example, someone who's supposed to be an off-corner, that's mirroring, and here's Brian Flores who wants aggressiveness. He wants you to get after guys. He wants to play up close, or he wants tacklers, right? I think actually that's probably more it. He wants tacklers, he wants aggressiveness,

he's going to ask you in press situations to be very aggressive. That was not necessarily Andrew Booth Jr. So fit is going to matter with players in the draft for sure. But I would not think that if Kevin O'Connell loses Brian Flores that he is going to change the scheme. It's been so successful. And this is where I've brought up Dorante Jones who has this great history as a defensive backs coach and would probably be the next man up or at very least someone in that tree in that Belichick type of style thinking to replace Brian Flores because I just don't think that Kevin O'Connell is going to see them build this defense in Flores' vision and then go

alright let's go to the Fangio stuff. That would be too much of a change. And what you're really looking for, yes, it does matter sometimes with scheme that can blow up in your face, but what you're looking for is just talent. And they're looking for the highest talent that they can get. And that's who you draft at number 24. Yeah, it's not the tight end, or it's not a position that clearly can't get on the field. But other than that, I mean, if the best talent that you could find is Malachi Starks, you just take him, then he'll be able to fit into whatever scheme. I mean, I think there is some of that for sure.

If you are completely different on defense zone versus man, if you were playing Detroit's defense, then you try to play the Vikings defense, they're way different and that might hurt you. defense, then you try to play the Vikings defense, they're way different and that might hurt you, but aside from that, maybe corner qualifies. There aren't that many positions that that makes a huge difference for, I think. Just try to get talent. I wouldn't think too far down the road. And unfortunately, and we all know Brian Flores has more than earned the opportunity, but if you can win 14 games of the top five defense and talent, that's only pretty good.

And not get a whole lot of attention. I got a couple of interviews, was never seemingly a finalist. I just don't know if it's going to happen for Brian Flores. So I think what will happen next year is they'll try to make him the highest paid defensive coordinator in the league would be my guess to stick around long term. You want that Andy Reid, Steve Spagnolo type of connection. The Vikings have built it over a couple of years. It's a cheat code to not have to change schemes every year. Uh,

last question comes from Dan talk about some names that could be available when the Vikings pick that some other teams would want to trade up for names I could think of would be Jacksonson dart colston loveland Let's see egg buka yep the receiver from ohio state many names for 24 to 34 seem about the same So with someone on another team Need, oh i see you say yeah so Well the way i would i would look at it is There's not that many that I could think of right

off the top of my head from the way that mock drafts play out. Because as you said, that 24 to 34, there's a lot of very similar caliber prospects. But here's the thing we don't know. Let me do you a little wind horse here. The thing we don't know, who's going to drop? Somebody's going to drop. They always do. Every single year, somebody drops.

And the position that I could see dropping that's getting a lot of hype at the top, but it's a lot of questionable players is edge rusher. There are a lot of edge rushers who go, you know, I could see it because he's an athletic freak, but he wasn't that productive. Or while he was that productive, but he went to Marshall or whatever. There's a lot of those guys in this draft. There's also a Will Johnson who could, who could drop. I don't think Will Campbell is going to drop now that we know his arms are long enough

to add whatever, but you just don't know who that player is. And if you get around that area and there's somebody sitting out there going You know the Loveland is definitely one of those names Jackson Dart is one of those names if the quarterback hasn't been taken yet somebody behind him really wants it that's drafting in the second Let's say it's the New York Giants, and they think there's another team in there that could take a quarterback Although if he gets past Pittsburgh, I think he's falling But I could see it. Yeah, I mean, I think you nailed a couple of the names, a wide receiver.

But really, it's who's expected to go in the top 15 that actually starts to fall. Maybe it's an offensive tackle. Maybe it's Kelvin Banks, because some people think that he's actually a guard and he starts to slide down the board. Vikings are sitting there at 24. Maybe they would take him or maybe they would say well we actually like Tyler Booker we actually like Grey's able we actually like Derek Harmon or whatever and that would be maybe another one is the defensive tackles if someone loves Nolan or Harmon

and the Vikings aren't going to take him this draft you know they're talking about it at the top like oh it's it's so boring. It's not that interesting. It's kind of everybody knows what's going to happen and not a lot of debate going on. And we're sitting here like, hey, you guys through how many scenarios at me here? And we could talk about 20 more. And guess what? We will as we go forward. So great questions from everybody again at Matthew Coller on Twitter, a great place to reach out by a direct message or send me an email Matthew collar at

Gmail and hit me up there and we'll get you on a fans only episode and let me throw one more spot Substack there is a substack app and Purple insider on there and every Friday. I do a Friday mailbag That's where I usually draw my questions from is people who are on the Substack app who subscribe to the newsletter. So there's a bunch of different ways to connect with Purple Insider.

Feel free to do so. Thanks everybody for watching slash listening and a lot more to talk about going forward. We'll do it then. We'll see ya, football.