Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Final OTA and minicamp takeaways and Kirk's contract comments

Episode Date: June 14, 2023

Matthew Coller and Sports Illustrated's Will Ragatz get together inside TCO Performance Center to discuss the Minnesota Vikings' end of minicamp and Matthew runs down his list of all the things we learned, from Kirk Cousins being OK with playing out his contract to Justin Jefferson showing up at camp to Lewis Cine and the 2022 draft class being under pressure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purple Insider is presented by Oakley. Express yourself. Build a look that's made for you. When you wear Oakley, there really is more than meets the eye. Try it for yourself. Oakley is not only the best looking, but the best quality. So head on over to oakley.com for more information today. so so Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider Inside TCO Performance Center Matthew Collar with Will Raggetts of Sports Illustrated And Will, I have written down a list of 423 observations From OTAs and minicamp

And you are going to react to my list Are you ready? I am ready I do not believe that there are 423 items on there, but I'm ready. Wow, you caught me. There are a lot, so we can rapid fire them. But we have to start with what we just heard from Kirk Cousins. And my note is Kirk Cousins is fine playing without a contract extension. He told us in, what was it, workouts, phase one, that he was fine with it.

He went on a whole thing where he said, well, back in high school, I didn't know where I was going to play in college. And we were like, okay, pal, we get it, right? We're good. And today he said, well, you know, we'll look at that next March. So I don't know if that means that he's done looking at that or his agent is, or the Vikings are, and they've made that clear to him and we can put off any discussions. I don't know if that's a blow off answer very much could be, but it seems to me that my headline is the fact of the matter here that no matter what

happens kirk is fine with it there's not going to be holdouts he was fully participating he wasn't like standing on the side or something wasn't you know folding his arms or it wasn't a hold in it was him completely playing quarterback for the minnesota vikings the way he always had in minicamp and in comparison to some of his compadres here that's an interesting approach for a guy who doesn't have a contract in the future it is and I had kind of not even really thought about that in a while like I it had just kind of been settled in my mind that all right Kirk's playing the last year in his contract and and we'll worry about it next year I think it's a really valid question because that's an unusual

situation when you have a franchise quarterback a guy who just took you to the playoffs last year, and he's going into the last year of his contract. So it's natural to wonder have there maybe been any extension talks since they didn't draft a quarterback and the future is unsettled. But he almost seems surprised by the question. He just seems to be, I'm locked in on this season. I'm going to do whatever I can in year two in this offense to show that I'm still a really good quarterback in this league and put up better numbers than I did last year and try to win close to as many games, if not as many games, as they did last year.

And then we'll figure it out next spring. And I think it kind of makes sense from his perspective. He has made enough money and he is at a point in his career where, like, I don't know that he has to really be worried about the long-term job security. He's 35 years old. If he plays well this year, some team is going to give him a lot of money next year to be their starting quarterback because there just aren't that many starting caliber, top 10 to 12 caliber quarterbacks in the NFL somebody's going to do it whether that's the Vikings in continuing down that path or maybe we would prefer whether that's somebody else in the Vikings finally decide to go in another direction I don't know but it makes sense from Cousins

perspective and he's he's done it before on the on the franchise tag in Washington and he's a guy who likes to bet on himself and he's doing it again this year so I don't want to get into like everything regarding that because this is rapid fire and there's a lot of things to discuss but now the door is open to a lot of different stuff it has been asked by some Vikings fans like hey what if they started out really bad like could they trade him to somebody whose quarterback gets hurt remember how many quarterbacks got hurt last year the answer is maybe yes i i don't know or if they do well could he sign an extension next march if they overachieve but what do they view as overachieving is 10 and 6 overachieving there's a whole barrel of questions of which we will address

on further podcasts throughout the summer, but rapid fire. The next note I have is the running back competition appears to be wide open behind Alexander Madison. Interesting to me though, today, I saw more of Kenny Wong Wu with the second team than I saw of, or I'm sorry, with the first team that I saw Ty Chandler, who was mostly working with the second team that I saw of, or I'm sorry, with the first team that I saw Ty Chandler, who was mostly working with the second team. And Dwayne McBride is not in this discussion right now. I mean, we, I think we all watch the highlight reel and look at his numbers and say like, Oh, Dwayne McBride. Interesting.

This is a two man game right now. This can change, but I think it's Chandler versus Wong Wu. And last year, a lot of us were saying, Hey, maybe you just like he's four, three, just toss them the ball or something. But if he went into the off season and said, all right, I've got to shore up those details that maybe weren't there last year. They had a meeting of Kevin O'Connell and Kenny Wong Wu, like, dude, you might have a chance here.

So you really got to get some of these things, right? This guy has the physical potential to be lightning if he can get on the field and i don't know how this is going to play out chandler versus wong woo but it seems like there's kind of a battle between those two maybe a throwback to the rock thomas versus um who was it mike boone uh yes i think maybe these guys are better but your thoughts on the running back competition from OTAs and minicamp I think it's I think it's interesting because you have Alexander Madison who is not going to just jump in to the Dalvin Cook role I don't think there's really any chance of him being a true workout workhorse three down guy he's going to be the main guy he's going to be out there quite a bit and he might catch the

ball a decent amount and do certain things but I just think his skill set like he's just not at that level where you want him to be in that every down role it can help a lot of teams across the league that haven't had a Dalvin Cook kind of guy for the last five six years they are using running backs by committee and keeping these guys fresh and bringing in different guys with different skill sets to show different looks to defenses and I think that's what the Vikings are going to do and you have two guys in Ty Chandler and Kanae Wongu who both on paper seem to complement Alexander Madison's kind of physical thunder approach and then they can be the lightning now which one will it be I've kind in my head, thought that Ty Chandler was just pretty far ahead in that because I like what he did in his rookie preseason last year.

I think he had a little bit more experience coming out of college than Kanae Wong-Wu did. Kanae Wong-Wu was really just a backup throughout college, and he's still developing as a running back. And Ty Chandler was too until his last year at North Carolina. But yeah, Kene Wangwu, just from a pure physical tools, pure like with the ball in his hands, obviously if you watched him return three kickoffs for touchdowns in the last couple of years, the guy can flat out fly and make people miss. And that aspect of it is really exciting. If you're the Vikings, I think you want to give him every chance to show that he can get on the field he's got to have to he's gonna have to earn it and it's gonna come down to the details and the nuances of playing running back right which are

pass protection and hitting the right hole and you know making the right read whether to cut it outside or cut back or whatever it might be and so I do think Dwayne McBride, just from a reps and from a college tape perspective, he has a chance down the road to surpass both of those guys in playing the running back position. He's never going to be as athletic as either Chandler or Nwongwu. But right now, it's those two guys. McBride has a long ways to go to enter into that conversation. It's so funny how fast things can change after we watch one practice. But the last practice is the last thing you're going to see for a while. And Wong Wu getting all those first-team reps made me go, okay.

And then I even looked back at the Kevin O'Connell quote, and he starts it out by saying, with Kenny Wong Wu and Ty Chandler and obviously the rookie. I noticed that yesterday too. He just called him the rookie. The rookie. We want to allow a real competition to take place. We feel there's talented guys behind Alex that can provide roles within our offense,

maybe depending on down and distance, depending on situation of the game, we can get some different guys in there. And if you're talking about someone who seems like a situational player kenny wong woo with his speed is just he's one of those guys where the first time he showed up at camp and they handed the ball he just exploded like whoa okay something something is there um and him not getting a lot of work in college obviously we've had two years now of we're watching these training camp practices, watching what he can do with the bone.

We're like, you can't find some way to get this guy the ball on offense. Shovel pass? Yeah, like two touches a game or something. I don't know. No, totally agree. Yeah, and I think that maybe if he's proving himself, and this is a long way to go, but suddenly today I started to tip my meter

over to the maybe kenny wong who does get more opportunity than ty chandler next thing on my list justin jefferson says he will be at training camp and i have to say that just in general the way that justin jefferson handled this whole thing i probably should have come to otas and blaming endorsements is kind of just come on man like you could have done your endorsement responsibilities and still come to otas everybody knows that but no one cares okay no one cares that you didn't come to otas what people care about is training camp and if you're not going to show up to or mandatory minicamp is is pretty important but training camp is the real deal you don't show up there then it's a big problem he was very matter of fact about the

thing didn't really answer about his own contract kind of left it up to his agent standard handling of such a situation but i thought that he just poured cold water on hot drama and left it with everyone going okay well i guess we'll just see where this is at there was a chance for him to say other stuff and just that jefferson could say whatever the heck he wants i mean he if he came out and said pay me everyone would be like yeah yeah yeah yeah show me the money right if he said that'd be fine but he kind of just handled it in a very matter-of-fact way and now i don't think it becomes a huge TV debate topic or big discussion over these summer months.

I thought that was good for the organization and going into next year and probably the right way to handle it with so much time between when there's real true pressure to sign an extension. No, I agree. I mean, you're right. Like maybe be a team guy, show up to OTAs. Don't say you're doing marketing and endorsement stuff. But, yeah, he showed up for minicamp.

Look, I have an Oakley endorsement as well, Justin. I was here every day. And you were here. Yeah. No, I mean, he handled it well. He didn't address any of the contract stuff. He said, that's my age. He handles that. I'm here to play football. I want to win a Super Bowl. He didn't address any of the contract stuff. He said, that's my age. It handles that.

I'm here to play football. I want to win a Super Bowl. He said the right things. And he also said, I believe the exact way he worded it, somebody asked, are you going to be here for training camp even if you don't have a contract? He's like, oh, yeah, I'll be here. So, yeah, I think that's good because now it's really not much of a topic anymore. And that doesn't mean it's not going to become a topic again. It would definitely become a topic instantly if he was not at the first day of training camp but i don't really expect that to happen i think there's a chance he gets a deal done by that

point him and the vikings and in his camp now they can kind of just engage in discussions and not really have any rush or pressure they've got some time about six weeks or so until training camp starts but if they don't have a deal at that point it still seems like he's going to be here and he's going to be with his teammates and and working on trying to get better and get ready for the season because again it's a weird situation where he's eligible for a contract extension and he's like one of the best players in the league and the face of your franchise and thus it makes sense to extend him as soon as possible because the price is probably only going to go up but they don't have to it's not like he's entering into a contract year like t.j hockinson or denny hunter or whatever

like he's got two more years left on the rookie contract if you count the fifth year option so yeah it's it's something that would make sense for them to want to get done but it's not like there's there's no real super urgent ticking clock here and trust me we will tell you when to press the panic button that is one thing we know how to do uh and we have said and we raised it a little bit uh earlier in this this off season but now we can we can turn it off and put it aside for now patience yeah that's the word that's going to continue to come up. And I think we'll know. You will.

I don't know. Like, there's probably situations in life like this where you just know. And if it feels like it's going bad, you'll know. Next note, nobody knows how long Daniil Hunter's situation is going to play out. Agree? Agree. Comments. Your thoughts. Well, should I elaborate

on that? No, I... That one is just really strange, and Kevin O'Connell talked about it a little bit and kind of gave the boilerplate. We're trying to be solution-oriented and we'll keep dialogue open, and that's what he said about Dalvin Cook and Zedaria Smith and now they're not here but I think the Daniel Hunter thing

is a little different I mean he also did say somebody asked him is there is there a scenario where he's back and he said yeah I think that's a real possibility and I agree that it's a real possibility because Daniel Hunter is not like so many of the other guys that have left this offseason in that he's been here for a long time. He plays a premium position. He's really, really good. He's still just 28 years old. He's not 32. So, I mean, we've talked about this. It's just going to come down to how much does Daniil Hunter want? Does that number make sense for the Vikings this year and for the next few years, however long the term would be? And then how much could they potentially get back in a trade?

And if you're talking about Daniel Hunter wants $26 million a year, but you got this team over here offering you a second and a fourth and a future fifth, it's just something you really got to consider you get you have to be solution oriented and take in all the options and and make make decide what the best one is and i don't think the best one is going to be giving him just a blank check like he that justin jefferson you get the blank check denny hunter sorry you're older and you missed some time with injuries and you don't get the blank check. So if this can work out with them, with both sides, then I think there's a chance he's back. But to the original point, I have no idea how long this goes, when this gets resolved, if it gets messy when training camp rolls around. You ever hear, I don't know if this is a common phrase, but I heard somebody once say that the truth always comes after the word but and i think in here in

kevin o'connell's comments the truth comes after the word but he says i definitely see a it as a real outcome meaning returning hunter returning but there's a lot to be determined there and i want to be sensitive to allowing that process to play out for both our organization and for Daniil. And I think the words, there's a lot to be determined there, is kind of where this thing stands. I don't read that necessarily as saying that he's going to be gone or necessarily that he's going to be here,

but it seems like there's a lot to be determined there means are you going to be here, but it seems like there's a lot to be determined. There means, are you going to cave or not? That, that seems to be how, uh, Casey is playing things. I mean,

like it seems to be a little bit of like hardball here. And I don't mind that approach that he's going to play that way. But when he says there's a lot to be determined there, it just feels like, Hey, are you going to take what we want to give you or are you going to force our hand? And those are the only two ways that this can go. I don't know that.

And of course, don't know behind the scenes. I don't know that they're really negotiating at this point with these guys that they have moved on from. It's basically like take it or leave it. And I think for where they stand, you can act that way. I agree. I mean, I think they have a plan. They have a time horizon. And they have all this stuff that they consider in the salary cap for this year and for 2024 and 2025.

And all right, Daniil Hunter, we can fit you in. You are a very good player at a premium position. We can fit you in at this price. Here's what we're willing to offer you if you want to take that and and come back be happy to have you think you'd do great in brian flores defense if you're gonna hold out for more than that then well we'll wait and we'll we'll field the best offer and and we'll see what happens there i i agree i think that that there's a real chance that that is the way that they're handling things. And I don't disagree with that approach.

You have to make hard decisions. And they've shown a total willingness to do that so far this offseason. This one, as we've said, would be a different level of, all right, this is real now. This is a rebuild. This defense is going to have zero pass rush. But I think there's more important stuff than having one guy here or not on the defense this year when you're not really a Super Bowl team. Folks, I've been wearing Oakleys now for a few weeks, and let me tell you, there is a reason that Justin Jefferson and a bunch of other football players

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go to Oakley.com and do your own research. And while you're at it, get yourself a pair of everyday glasses that will be sure to change your look for the better. When you wear Oakley, there really is more than meets the eye. Try it for yourself. I've worn sunglasses in the past, and I can assure you that Oakley is the best looking and best quality out there. So go on over to oakley.com for more information today. Oakley express your style and build a look that's made for you. It's wild to watch them hit the bags. Like that's what they do in warmups. They go over in the defensive line and hit the bags. When they used to walk by us, it was like Everson Griffin,

Daniil, Zadarius, in previous years, Linval, and you'd just be like, man, got some beasts there. Doesn't feel that way now. Dalvin Tomlinson, Michael Pierce. Oh, my gosh. Dalvin Tomlinson's like the hugest man of all time. And you'd just be like, whoa, Linval, Joseph. And there's some mountains that are walking by you at that point. Doesn't feel that way as much so far right now.

Marcus Davenport's a big guy. They got Harrison Phillips and Marcus Davenport right now. They sure do. And then it thins out really quick. Yeah, and I think with all due respect, those guys are not Linval and Tomlinson. You know what I mean? Not just size, but there's like a mystique to an Everson Griffin. He's like, look at that guy.

Those guys are the like, you'd like them to be your nice complimentary pieces, not your stars that you're relying on. You're 500 to 600 snaps type of guys. All right. Louis Scene will likely begin camp as a backup. And I wrote likely, but I don't think I need likely will begin camp as a backup. We've talked about this a little bit. Now it's over with mini camp and today didn't change anything. Still the same guys. Um, we've talked about when to kind of push the panic button on that one.

This might just be a situation that never comes to fruition, or it might be one where we're like, whoa, okay. He really emerged in training camp, but it's definitely notable that he went through this whole thing and was never the guy out there next to Harrison Smith. So he is clearly starting behind Cam Bynum and Josh Metellus yeah there's there's no there's no doubt about it I mean we this is why we're here we we not only to kind of look at what happens on the field but just as importantly or probably more importantly is who is playing with which unit and how often are they playing getting those reps and yeah it's it's been Harrison Smith and Cam Bynum at safety and then it's been like been Harrison Smith and Kambine at safety and then

it's been like Josh Metellus playing everywhere all over the field and getting a ton of reps and playing some just standard safety but a lot of like lining up in the box and and coming up on the edge in a pressure look and and roving in the in the nickel and doing all these different things and I think that's a fascinating storyline but there's not been a lot of lewis seen with the first unit and he did have an interception today with with the two so that was good for him but i think i mean i even look beyond that i don't know you may have had this written down but the whole 2022 draft class on defense to me is really interesting and you have one guy out of those there's a big four of defensively you have one guy who's running with the ones right now, and that's a Caleb Evans.

I'm getting to the other guy later, so don't go too far. Okay, but I'll just say it is interesting to me that you have seen, you have Andrew Booth, and you have Brian Asamoah, and they're all with the twos right now and not getting really any type of reps with the ones. So I'm going to be paying attention to all three of those guys very closely when training camp comes because you'd like to think that at least two of those would be emerging and forcing their way into the starting lineup this year based on draft pedigree.

Yeah, I got to tell you, I didn't even write down the Brian Asamoah thing. But he's not with the ones either. And that's a mistake on my part i should have because it's been troy reader and if you're saying who is troy reader i know right like what but is this so here here's why i i didn't maybe i put it in a different category in my mind in the like is he is troy reader like jesse davis or something i know to take cam bynum seriously because he won the job last year but when they had jesse davis playing over ed ingram in minicamp like okay well i don't know

that jesse davis is taking that job that's how it feels with troy reader i i guess i was less into the like oh what if it doesn't happen but it should be right i mean it should be happening that brian asamoah should be considered as a centerpiece potentially of the defense based on the small sample and how he was talked about. If he's not starting and scenes not starting and Booth Jr. isn't starting. We got ourselves like a 2016 Vikings draft on our hands. And I think that by the end of the second year, you should see all of these guys on the field if they're going to actually do something yeah it's this is such a big year for that draft class because you had the one guy who played every snap last year was the worst guard in football so he needs to take a big step forward and then all these defensive guys just need to get on the field and i i will order them in terms

of how confident i am in their abilities and their role this year. I think one is Caleb Evans. I think he's a starting cornerback for this team. I just think with what you saw from him last year, his combination of size and speed and the traits, and he just seems to be in the right position when you watch minicamp practices and fans will come out to training camp and just watch 21. He looks like he has significant potential if he can avoid concussions. So I have him at one.

I have Brian Asamoah at two. So I'm not overly worried about Brian Asamoah just yet, not getting a ton of reps over Troy Reed. I do actually think he, now that I think about it, I think he's mixed in with the ones a little bit, maybe more in sevens than in 11s. But, yeah, I think Troy Reeder, just you look at what he did with the Rams and Chargers and whatever, I think he's a placeholder kind of guy.

Three would be, I think three would be Andrew Booth. I'm kind of torn between Seen and Booth there, which, you know, it's not great that those were the top two picks. And the two guys I have ahead of them were a late second round pick or no, an early third round pick and then a fourth round pick. But that's just kind of the reality of the way I've observed things. I think I would put, I think I'd put booth three and I think I'd put scene four, but they're really, those two are really interchangeable. And I will say it's, it's still early june it's mini camp as we've said it's not time to panic yet but just we're just setting the context here for when training

camp rolls around don't be surprised if we start raising some uh some red flags about this for those f1 fans it's kind of like when they do the qualifying so this is like the qualifying and the qualifying and we could talk about the corners now uh but the qualifying is that you have andrew booth jr not qualifying as the the front runner right now it's mckay blackman who's getting a lot more work out there and that it's not lewis seen who's the at the, at the pole. That doesn't mean you lost the race, but it does mean you start the race behind. And I wonder what you think of the Mackay Blackman getting as many are probably now more reps at the one than Andrew Booth jr.

Does that say more about Blackman being instantly like in there and showing some ability to them or more about Andrew Booth jr. And just not feeling like that's happening at the moment? I don't know. I would I would I would love to get an unfiltered answer from Durante Jones or Brian Flores about that. But I think I think as with everything, like the thing about training camp is, you know, somebody makes a big play and you're like, oh, that's good for him. But, oh, maybe not. Maybe not great for the guy that that came at the expense of it's it's hard to know whether it's who it says more about um i think if you want to take the optimistic view you could say all right

mckay blackman this guy came in as a rookie and didn't even take him until training camp to start running with the ones i mean this this was both days of minicamp dating back to some of the OTAs that we got to see where the three cornerbacks are Makai Blackman, Byron Murphy, and Caleb Evans. And I think you could choose to say that that says a lot of good things about Makai Blackman. This is a guy who PFF absolutely loved what he did last year at USC. Granted, he was in his sixth year of college football,

and so maybe a slight age advantage. So were a lot of people in college football. But played really well, had good tape, ball skills, just man-to-man coverage, all of these traits that you look for. And he's like 24 years old. He's older than Justin Jefferson. So he's a guy who, rookie cornerbacks, we always say, takes time for them, and it's a hard position to start at from day one. If there's ever a guy, I mean, he's got the age, and he's got the kind of lack of proven competition around him. I think there's a chance he's a starting cornerback day one.

You could also look at it as, all right, Andrew Booth, who's been here for an extra year. That's not great, but we'll see let's we'll we'll let's give this a chance to play out um over camp and preseason i would also factor in that brian flores seems to have played a big role in who they drafted and he did not draft andrew booth jr that's true did draft mckay blackman that is true and he may feel that Blackman is a better fit because they understand details that we don't and that the draft analysts don't of how certain people are going to play in a specific scheme. And it was kind of explained to, I say me, but us. We were in the same room when it was explained about how NFL teams do not have a 400-player board.

They have like 30 guys. They'd be comfortable with drafting and they know as approximately where they're going to be, but they have narrowed it down or at least the way that this team does it. They have narrowed it down to the guys that they have identified. And when they got Blackman, they like celebrate. I know that, Oh, everybody celebrates when they get a kicker, they celebrate. But when you watch that back, like they were nervous, they weren't going to get him and then they end up getting him so they were excited about him and then if he comes out picks up the defense well and that could just leave the other guy in the dust and these these teams think less and the coaching staffs don't think at all i i don't think

about where you were drafted it's like you're just a guy on the team to brian floris and if he doesn't fit as well then he doesn't fit as well but somebody does fit and i am very very interested to see what josh metellus does for this defense and i i'm gonna try to start a thing and try to start a thing here okay i want to call him joker metellus because in college football they have a lot of these guys who kind of move around, do different things. They're hybrids. And sometimes they call them like the Joker role or there's, yeah, there's the star is another one star.

There's like 50 different teams have it based on their own. So it'd be like the Husky or something, you know, whatever they have it. But that's one way to call it would be the, the Joker role. So I, I think being that his name is Josh, Joker Metellus,

we saw him on the field all the time in all sorts of different places. And I think he's like the perfect Brian Flores player. Oh, I agree. I think it's absolutely one of the, if not the single most kind of intriguing thing about this whole phase of the OTAs and minicamp is just you look up and 44 is in a different place than he was the last play and he's moving around pre-snap and he's doing all these different things working in tandem with Harrison Smith and and the linebackers and the other guys in the secondary and yeah it's it's a cool story I mean this is a guy who was a

sixth round pick who is like a legitimate star safety in college. If you look at his Michigan numbers, great player in the Big Ten. I think it was maybe athletic limitations that caused him to fall and maybe a little bit of like, is he a tweener? What is he? But you can answer that question and that can be a good thing sometimes and having the versatility to to do a bunch of different things and then he barely played um on defense his first couple years uh instantly was one of the most important special teams players on the team i mean um i think each of his three seasons he's been top three in special team snaps on the roster and block punts and fumble recoveries and do it like he last year i forgot about he blocked a punt two games in a row at the end of the year uh giants and and packers um so really really good special teams player also clearly a guy who his teammates really respect they voted him as the ninth captain when brian o'neill got hurt but now in his contract year there is for the first time a real opportunity for him to be a 400 kind of 500 snap guy potentially even if he doesn't have this defined like i'm a starting safety or i'm a starting slot corner or whatever it just seems

like they're going to find ways to get him on the field and he did play i think 200 250 defensive snaps last year and played well he sealed that that lions game in week three with an interception um i think he started again against the lions later in the year and played well. He sealed that Lions game in week three with an interception. I think he started again against the Lions later in the year and then in that last Bears game. But yeah, he's really, it's a cool story of kind of a slow burn development here. And I agree, he seems like with what he can do, not just athletically, but kind of instinctively and with his intelligence and versatility, it just seems like a great Brian Flores DB. The next thing I have, total different conversation from Brian Flores' defense,

but Jordan Addison did not participate at all in this entire thing. Watch from the sideline. He supposedly will be healthy to start training camp uh why don't why don't you do a little concern meter concern meter of uh blue is nothing yellow is a little something orange is pretty concerned and red is obviously completely freaking out okay um i would put it in the yellow, which is like the second to least concern. I wouldn't say it was blue or green or whatever where it's not something I'm thinking about at all. And I'm like, oh, he'll be fine because it's one thing to miss camp with an injury if you're just like a normal sized wide receiver it's another to miss

camp with an injury when you're a very small wide receiver and that was kind of maybe one of the reasons why the three teams that also pick wide receivers right in front of you maybe didn't take you um and that is not again a knock on Jordan Adson's just part of kind of the evaluation it's part of the his his situation coming into the league I do think like talent wise route running wise all that I think the Vikings potentially made a really good pick and I think a couple teams in front of them potentially messed up by taking different wide receivers but he has to stay on the field for that to happen and he missed a couple games last year at USC with an ankle thing that I don't believe we know what he's dealing with right now I don't I think we don't I think it's completely undisclosed

the nature of his injury but it's enough that it was something that flared up in rookie minicamp it was enough to keep him out I believe all through OTAs and minicamp not a single one in the the five or six practices we saw and then we can assume that he didn't in any of the ones we didn't see. But, yeah, if he is indeed healthy by training camp and it's true what Kevin O'Connell said, that they're just being extra cautious with him, then fine. We're okay. But it's something to at least monitor.

I have no reason to doubt Kevin O'Connell's comments. No, he's been good with telling us about injuries for the most part. Yes, yes. But he is not a – he doesn't have a crystal ball, as Mike Zimmer once said. And it's just – it's only concerning because that he's small. And when rookies come in, a lot of times they've been through a lot. Like their bodies have been through a lot.

We saw this with Derrissaw where Derrissaw had had a surgery. And then, you know, you have, not only do these guys go through the combine, but they have to go through a whole other process before the combine to train for the combine. So he was going from a season where he was banged up a little bit to training for the combine, to he was going from a season where he was banged up a little bit

to training for the combine, to doing the combine, to getting here. So that's a whole lot of mileage on your body. And I think they all talk about this, that rookie year is the longest year of your life. So kind of, if you could survive that you're, you're good. Uh, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are some lingering effects of whatever it is not knowing what it is makes it harder to guess but someone who is undersized and has had some injuries leading up to this that's not at all to say he won't just be fine in training camp and it'll all be good but the last couple of guys we've seen that were drafted who were very thin they all had injuries and again that's not me trying to predict it either. It's just, it kind of makes you go, I don't know. Like, is that going to be a thing?

Because Cam Dantzler, the needle, like, well, the needle was on the shelf a lot. And Andrew Booth Jr., the same thing. And when you look at Jordan Addison out there, and he doesn't look like this when he plays football in college, he's dominant in college. But when you look at him on an NFL field, I don't know that I've seen anyone smaller. That's not a kicker or a punter. And a lot of times the kickers and punters are much bigger than him. The Vikings kicker is much bigger than him, much bigger.

He's a jacked kicker, but I mean, and the punter is much bigger than most human beings, but like that's, that's all. That's not like still like the pick still think he's got most human beings. But, like, that's all. That's not, like, still like the pick. Still think he's got a great chance to be a really good NFL player. But I think there is a level of, okay, let's just kind of keep an eye on this thing and see if that becomes a thing. Let me really rapid fire through some of these less consequential ones. Okay. Nick Mullins very much QB2.

We learned that this week. Yeah. These weeks. He wasn't very good today, but Jaron Hall is not going to take his spot there. Yeah, Jaron Hall wasn't working with the twos at all. Don't expect him to. I haven't really even gotten to see Jaron Hall

because when he does take reps, he's on the backfield while the starters are also playing, and it's hard to watch that. But, yeah, I don't think there's any question there. J uh jaylen no sean manion kellen mon drama here jaylen nailer a winner of this but also along tristan jackson i think with the two receiver winners and uh maybe thayer the slayer thomas would be the well you'd be the deep deep sleep sleeper to keep an eye on. But yeah, Jalen Naylor, clearly wide receiver four, in position to benefit if Jordan Addison were to miss time at any point. And then, yeah, Tristan Jackson, standout, I would say.

Maybe not cracking the roster, but I feel a lot better about his chances of doing that than I did a couple months ago. And there appears to be as of today a kicking competition but the last time we thought that in otas and minicamp they cut the guy right after so i don't i don't think there's any you don't think there's a kicking competition it's greg joseph's job no so last year the guy was gabe burkett who just had a cool mustache, I remember. But, yeah, he didn't even make it to training camp.

I don't know if this Jack Podlesny from Georgia, I don't know if he makes it to training camp. Because we were standing there ready to go walk over to the podium and hear from Kirk Cousins, and he was shanking quite a few of the kicks while he left. So I don't think Greg – it makes sense that you bring a guy in because Greg Joseph isn't Justin Tucker. He led the league in kicks missed last year, but I don't think he's really in much danger

of losing this job. I don't think so either. But I did think maybe because he missed some kicks last year, quite a few, especially on the extra points, that they would at least have a legitimate competitor for him yeah but i don't know if it's this guy and and they could certainly bring in another if if they decide this guy maybe isn't it you could bring somebody

else in for camp but weirdly there's like some usfl kickers that are crushing it this year in the usfl i mean i'm not joking i No, I believe you. It's real. But there are some USFL kickers who are doing really well, and there's no difference between kicking there and kicking in the NFL. Could be a little more projectable, although fans being at the games is, sorry, USFL. It's a tough ride. Atmosphere and stakes, maybe.

Yeah, definitely. Well, you know, it's still a game, but atmosphere is certainly different. But I think there will be a kicking competition of some kind, but I don't really know. I mean, they haven't said anything about it, and they seem to want to really pat Greg Joseph on the back and make him feel good.

And Jack Pudlesny did that today by missing field goals. So I don't know. I wrote down kicking competition question mark. Probably not. Yeah, I don't think so. Actually, I have an unrelated question question mark. Yeah, I don't think so. I actually have an unrelated question for you. Oh, sure. Because we were talking a while ago, or not a while ago,

but recently about who will have more catches between KJ Osborne and Jordan Addison, which is an interesting one. But I have another one that just popped into my head today. Who will have more catches this season between jaylen nailer and josh oliver oh i like that so josh oliver had like 14 last year and nailer had nine yeah something like that so this would probably depend on whether you think jordan addison stays healthy for the entire that is the topic that uh made me think of this question again yes i'm gonna say nailer i think

nailer does okay i think josh oliver ends up with about the same amount of catches they do have the the bootlegs that kind of run that second tight end underneath he is an absolute house of a human being so big it's ridiculous how freaking big this guy is. We were, that was a sideline discussion. We were like, is he's the biggest tight end the Vikings have ever had? He's not, but maybe Mike Tice actually back in the day was, but there's very few tight ends bigger than him in the league. He's like bigger than Kyle Rudolph, which is a large human. Nope. No question about it.

And I guess I just think that there's limitations to that where he could be underneath he could get in the end zone a time or two but i still don't see on a team that has hockinson jefferson just even those two guys and osborne there being a lot of footballs that go his way but if somebody gets banged up nailer's right there and i think that even if hockinson gets banged up i don't know how much josh oliver is just sliding right into his role right so i think they would just then pivot to excuse me more three and four wide receiver stuff i i do think i would go oliver though think so yeah you don't think that this nailer thing is real no no i do and i'm i'm it's not because i don't believe in jaylen nailer i do i think he's i he looks good. Those are the most minicamp words I've ever heard.

It's not that I don't believe in Jalen Naylor. I do. No, I do. Within the boundaries of being like a number four receiver or something. But I just think, Oliver, the guaranteed snaps are there a lot more than they are for Naylor. And it really, I I mean it just depends on if so if one of the top three receivers and we are putting Jordan Addison in that for sure if one of them gets hurt but I just think Josh Oliver he's gonna be out there a lot they're

gonna run a lot of because he's such an important blocker they're gonna run a lot of two tight end stuff and then he'll catch the law I'm skeptical skeptical? I think he'll catch a lot of those little Johnny Munt flat routes when they roll out. And he was, I mean, Wes Phillips talked about this a little bit. He was like a big receiving guy coming out of college. I don't think he was quite as massive as he is now then. There's just, when you do this for enough years, and I know you've done it for years,

but I just feel like i hear some version of this every year and it's not exactly the same but it's sort of it's just like well they're going to run more two tight ends sort of sounds like they're going to have three safeties like that sounds good and you want to say that but i don't know and they did pay him money so that could be the case but are we going to have a tiger changes stripes with what kevin o'connell has always done which is three wide receivers? And that's my skepticism. I've also wondered if Josh Oliver was a hedge toward Hawkinson's future.

If Hawkinson doesn't want to sign, like, do they get a guy that might be something who has playing experience, like let the other team develop your tight end for you? So yeah, I don't know. I don't know. That's everything I have have but before we wrap on this and uh we'll probably get together again before camp i'm sure we will what do you think what do you think what do you think of this 2023 minnesota vikings kind of your last snapshot of them before going to training camp yeah i think it's it is a really intriguing team in a a really intriguing

position because they still are sort of in the middle and and they've taken more steps um this offseason than any of the last few for sure in resetting and almost rebuilding. I don't know if you can quite use that word yet. But at the same time, you can still kind of talk yourself into within the context of this division, within the context of the high-end offensive talent and Justin Jefferson and Derison, Hawkinson, all these guys, of them potentially being better than they were last year

but winning fewer games because, you know, one score of a Russian and all that. And that's kind of how I felt like post-draft, post-free agency, when the schedule was coming out and all that. I think maybe losing Zedaria Smith and Dalvin Cook changes things a little bit, although the Dalvin Cook one seemed inevitable for a long time but I still think there's there's there's quite possibly something here with with Kevin O'Connell and what this offense can be potentially a top eight type of unit and then I just I'm just curious to see, Brian Flores, with the way everybody talks about him on defense and offense, like this guy is a wizard of defense with what he's able to do

with all these chess pieces and put guys in different positions and simulated looks and pressures and all these exotic things. And so I'm just excited to see in training camp, A, who earns their way into the field defensively, but then can Brianrian flores almost alone take this from being one of the worst defenses in the league to being like 18th and if so you got a recipe i think to be in almost every ball game even against the really good teams on your schedule and also maybe just being a little faster as a group could play into that

as well or not and that to me is everything you just said you could take apart one thing at a time and come up with five wins i mean but that doesn't mean it's going to happen and the truth could be somewhere in the middle but the variance for last year i thought was higher than it had been before because it was like i don't want to write off the possibility but their schedule that they could be really good. And they, they were, and that's how I feel now,

but not really good, but instead really bad. Like, I don't want to write off the idea that they could be really bad. I thought there was almost no chance that they were going to be really bad last year. It was either going to be like pretty good or wow. Like better than we even thought this year.

It's, they could be pretty good or they like better than we even thought this year it's they could be pretty good or they could be really bad and that's really the only way this could go and uh i'm interested to see which way it goes and we will begin that process in training camp and we'll talk before then for sure when things come up could be emergency pods with daniel hunter's situation who knows but greatly appreciate will uh all of your appearances here inside TCO Performance Center, sometimes different locations. Sometimes outside TCO Performance Center. Yep, but after the mosquito incident, we've been inside.

They unlocked these doors for us, which was nice. Also, I'm not entirely sure it's safe to podcast outside with the weather, with the air quality. I don't know. It doesn't say podcasters are in danger of podcasting outside but maybe um i guess it was fine enough to have vikings practice anyway well thanks for your time will and uh we'll talk soon thank you it's been good