Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Fun with free agency: Which FA signings would have changed the Vikings' outlook and all-time busts

Episode Date: March 22, 2021

While we wait for more Vikings moves to happen, Matthew Coller got together with his old 1500ESPN teammate Manny Hill to have some fun with Hot Routez... 5 questions about free agency that always send us down interesting paths. Which free agents would have seriously altered the 2021 season, no matter how realistic? What are the worst busts in NFL free agency history? When's the next time the Vikings will be equal at quarterback in an elite matchup and what were the worst signings this year? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate. Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider presented by Scout Logistics and Symbol, the stock market for sports. And joining me, my friend, Manny Hill. Every so often, Manny, we have to get together to do some hot routes. And recently, we've had some really fun hot routes we got together, including before the Detroit Lions game,

where we just made fun of the Detroit Lions for five, six, seven questions. So we come up with some questions that are fun and then answer them. And we've been doing this for a long time. So how are you, man? I'm good. It's good to see you. I think it's been a really long time since we've like actually been like in the same like studio together doing a radio show or podcast or whatever the case may be. But it's good to see you. I'm glad you're doing well. And Purple Insider seems to be really, really doing really well. So I'm thrilled for you. Well, thank you.

I really appreciate that. And hopefully soon you and I could get together and do some hot routes like in person or something. I'm hoping, I'm very hopeful that we'll be covering OTAs normally and training camp normally and the world will get back to normal and we'll go from there and we can actually do things that friends do. Lynx, we need to hit up a Lynx game. Hopefully they're letting fans in the stands this year. So anyway, get vaccinated. That's all I know.

Hopefully getting vaccinated soon. Let's get that together. So let's also, because there have been many things that have happened around the NFL, including Kenny Galladay signing just before we did this which the vikings are celebrating kenny galladay now playing for not a team that's in their division um but i i want to begin right here with our hot routes is who is the player that the vikings did not sign this year regardless of how realistic it was that would have gotten them the closest to being a very good to great team so it doesn't have to be someone that was technically reported on their

radar doesn't have to be somebody who would have fit with their cap just the one free agent that you would have said if it was regardless of cap space this guy could have gotten us over the hump well joe thune is probably the easiest answer, right? Because he fills a significant need. He was the best at his position on the market. He got a ton of money from the Kansas City Chiefs, which is just crazy. Like the rich getting richer. The Chiefs signed the best offensive lineman on the market.

So he's the easiest answers. But I thought about this a little bit. And you mentioned Kenny Galladay being out of the division. How about Marvin Jones jr. Going to the Jacksonville Jaguars for two years and 14 million. And you and I have both been in lockstep on, can the Vikings give Kirk cousins as many weapons as humanly possible? You've got two really good wide receivers already.

What's wrong with adding a third? And I think if you add Marvin Jones Jr. to Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson, who do you cover at that point? Who do you cover? Now, you've still got some offensive line issues, and the protection stuff with Kirk is still going to be a question mark. But I think you add Marvin Jones jr. Who has also been another guy that has kind of terrified the Vikings for

years, all his years in Detroit, you add him to the mix. I think it would have made this offense almost unstoppable provided the head coach decides to throw the football. Yes, of course, which might be one of the reasons that the cheap wide receiver threes have looked elsewhere because they want big contracts like people brought up keelan cole and he signed for a very reasonable one year 5.5 million dollars but he's going to sign with a team that he thinks he's going to get the ball from and it also could be the fact that when you have a clear cut number

one and number two there's no chance for movement like if you are hired by this company you are not being bumped up to upper management not here uh unless adam thielen or justin jefferson gets hurt which is one of the reasons that they probably have to look farther down the line for wide receiver three i'll tell you who i picked i mean you guys are probably not surprised by this and manny you and i are on the same page but, but Curtis Samuel is the guy that I went with for someone who can not only go deep because of his speed, but he can make plays. You could put them in the backfield.

You can throw screens to him. You can run end arounds for him. And if you were looking for that extra dynamic element, so you were thinking Marvin Jones is more of a complete wide receiver. I was thinking who's the playmaker and I've gotten a bunch of tweets from people and I see that Cordero Patterson is out there tweeting that he wants to come back to the Vikings he's been trying that for a few years and they never bring him back that would be like your poor man's Curtis Samuel situation because Samuel is more of

an all-around wide receiver and playmaker but that was the first name that came to mind for me the other one was Trent Williams that even though i think i think they should be moving ezra cleveland over to left tackle maybe he competes with rashad hill if he doesn't win the job maybe they bump him back to guard or something i'm not sure how they're going to handle that but trent williams is an all-time great player and even though last year he was on a San Francisco team that wasn't great, he was PFF's number one rated left tackle. And if you're looking for upgrades, it's going to be hard to upgrade

on what Riley Reif gave you last year. That would have been a big upgrade. And I'll add one more because we've, you and I focused on the offense, cause we agree that the route to being far better is having an elite offense instead of just good, but I'll also throw Carl Lawson out there. I mean, Carl Lawson was one of the best in the entire NFL in terms of quarterback pressures

last year. And even if the Neil Hunter comes back, as we speak, it's Steven Weatherly starting at the other defensive end. And that doesn't gives you a ton of confidence that they're going to increase the number of pressures and sacks that they got out of that position last year. Carl Lawson would have done that, I think, immediately and would have been someone who really thrived in Zimmer's defense. Yeah, 100 percent. And back at Trent Williams, too. Good for him, man. I'm so glad he got paid. That whole situation in Washington was so ugly and the whole medicals and stuff with the with the tumor that he had and just how that whole thing was handled by that organization. I'm glad he got himself in a situation that's good and that he got paid.

He's the best left tackle in the league right now, and he got paid as such. So good for Trent Williams. I'm happy for him for sure the other guy probably I know they signed a corner who I think they are projecting to be very good whether he ends up being very good I guess we'll find out in the future but William Jackson was a guy who's younger than Patrick Peterson more in his prime coming from Cincinnati and he didn't have the greatest numbers over the last year or two but I think that that's because Cincinnati's defense was so bad when he came into the league he really exploded on the scene as a really good cornerback and if you were able to pick for me which corner you would have taken at a very valuable position I probably would have added him also um maybe there's uh if you really wanted to go like Galaxy

brain you could have said wasn't Tom brady technically a free agent or something um i don't know if he was or not like they're bringing him back i think so whatever uh but next question for you manny is uh so the the vikings brought in patrick peterson which is to me it's a classic vikings move and where you have to appreciate it is like this is what they do always since free agency started this is the type of thing that they would do and i know that the herschel walker trade is a trade but it's still like a very vikingsy thing to look at another shiny toy and be like that will be the difference for us so patrick peterson you know he comes with his eight pro bowls aside from brett farve who is the best over 30 NFL great that the Vikings have ever brought in via free agency or trade. So the guy was already great. It's not like a Chris Carter where he was just okay.

And then became great. The best already great that they brought into Minnesota. Uh, yeah, this was a really good one. And I actually thought about a few different options um i'm gonna go with jared allen just because i think you know and jared allen's one of those cases too where i guess technically it was a trade but you could maybe call it a free agent signing too because they traded for him and then like gave him a brand new spanking new expensive contract which he totally lived up to and everything um but yeah no he he was he gave them exactly what they were looking for they were that year before they signed him in 2007 you had kinechu deza and you had i don't know if was it erasmus james or somebody as as kind of your bookend pass rushing

defensive ends. And they just were not getting it done. And it basically cost the Vikings a shot at the playoffs down the stretch of the season because they just, I remember that the Sunday night game in Washington came in and Todd Collins just picked them apart because they couldn't get any pressure on them whatsoever. And, you know, to Brad Childress's credit i mean they said look we got to go get somebody i can get after the quarterback and jared allen they they they paid a lot to get

him gave up a lot of draft capital to get him paid him a lot of money but he lived up to it man he gave them exactly what they were looking for for the duration of that entire contract the todd collins game i mean how about that as we love journeyman quarterbacks but that specific storyline was so good from that year because Todd Collins had started with the bills he was a bus second round draft pick that didn't work out for them he became a backup for Kansas City for like 70 billion years it was just he was in the league for such a long time and never played he was the chase Daniel where he held a clipboard for like seven years for the same team and then all of a sudden he gets his chance with football team and then wins games and shows that he could do it

took him to the playoffs man yeah including against the vikings because of course just like matt moore beating them uh and chase daniel beating year. It's like, just of course. So for this one, I went with Warren moon. Not only did they produce historic at the time passing numbers, when you look back at these numbers on pro football reference, you go like, okay, well like a 4,200 yard season or whatever it was. But at the time throwing for 4,000 yards was crazy. I mean, I remember I had these football cards in the 90s that would be like the 3,000-yard club. So if your quarterback threw for 3,000 yards,

they made a special football card for you. And now, I mean, everybody is going 4,000 or even pushing 5,000 yards every season. But back in the day, I mean, that was historic. And the, let's see I think it was was it Carter and Reed set records for the most yards by a duo and Chris Carter sent a ton of set a ton of records and I think Warren Moon turned out with his time with the Vikings clearly they didn't win a championship or get to an NFC championship but that was a huge win for them in a trade

Warren Moon at the time was kind of like on his way out of Houston. I remember at times Houston had benched him maybe in the previous years for Cody Carlson or something like that, and he comes to Minnesota, and at very least, if you went to Vikings games those years with Warren Moon, you got to see lots of fireworks, and it was fun. And I think that that was probably one of their best signings ever and you saw how bad the oilers got to as soon as warren like warren moon's first year with the vikings i think the oilers had went like 2 and 14 or something and i think that was

the year jeff fisher took over like halfway through the year and you know he ended up being with the franchise forever um very quickly the question said over 30 guys, right? Guys that were over 30. Yeah. And so I said, Jared Allen, and I'm thinking, okay, as I got halfway through, I'm thinking, okay, Jared Allen was like 25 or 26 when they got him. But it's fine though. I mean, acquiring someone who was already a big superstar is fine. I was thinking more along the lines of washed superstars. And that's why I went warren moon because in houston they would have said good riddance warren moon is washed and then he comes to minnesota and then he even goes to seattle and plays pretty well in seattle and where did he finish his career maybe kansas city i think it's kansas city yeah i think he's like 42 or something

so yeah i was thinking more along the line of wash like maybe your greg jennings type of signing yeah but you know another guy i thought about though too if we're thinking guys that are that were older that ended up being pretty good like pat williams is one that comes to mind right away i mean he was probably a 32 33 year old nose tackle coming from uh your buffalo bills i think at the time, if I'm not mistaken, and he ended up being, you know, a pro bowl run, stuffing nose nose tackle for quite a few years with the Vikings. So that's one that, that I think is certainly in that category. Is he, was he great with Buffalo before that? Probably just good.

He was part of a number one defense or a top top five defense for the bills. He was probably under the category of just good. Basically I designed the number one defense or a top top five defense for the bills he was probably under the category of just good basically i designed the question for me to say warm moon so that works that's that's how it went but you know these these signings though when you sign a guy who is already an eight-time pro bowler it is very much a toss-up i mean every signing is a toss-up but in terms of the numbers play it it's like you mentioned, actually, we were talking off the air. And of course we talked about Rod Woodson. Um, but like Rod Woodson is a guy who goes to Baltimore at the end of his career. And you would have thought, I mean, what does he have left after all those years in Pittsburgh? And he turns out to play on the number one defense,

but other times we see your Dion Sanders sign in Washington and it doesn't work or, or Bruce Smith signed in Washington or, uh, Jerry Rice was a Raider and all this, like, you know, sometimes, although white went to Carolina, right? Actually didn't Reggie. Um, Reggie white did go to Carolina and Jerry Rice went to, I think Seattle, but that would have been, that would have been super washed for those guys at that time. I think maybe Rice was a decent Raider. Uh, all right. Next question. Next question. Which free agency signing as we're talking about, which one's super washed for those guys at that time I think maybe Rice was a decent Raider uh all right next question next question which free agency signing as we're talking about which ones work and don't work were you sure at the minute it happened it was going to be a bust and this does not have to

be the Vikings and which free agency signing this year are you sure is going to be a bust so I thought about I thought about, I thought about a couple of these. I came up with two, but I'm going to go with the second one. Cause it's a little bit more recent. I knew the moment the Eagles signed DeMarco Murray, I knew what did they give him?

I think it was like five years and like 50 million or something. He had, he'd come off that big year with the Cowboys where they basically ran him into the ground he led the league in rushing but he carried the ball like 400 times they ran him to the ground because they knew they weren't going to sign him um and he goes to the eagles and i just knew right away i was like yep this is not going to work this is just not going to work i think that was was that chip kelly's eagles too i think at the time when they signed him yes i want to say yes 2015 it was he was on my list as well they gave him 40 million dollars 40 million dollars after he just carried the ball 400 times goodness yeah the other one i thought

about and this was just more of uh i just hated it at the time because i was just kind of bitter and salty at them for jettisoning uh trent because I was like super happy for Trent Dilfer when the Ravens won the Super Bowl. But remember, they went and got Elvis Gerbach. Yes. They won the Super Bowl because they were like, we got to upgrade. I mean, the idea was sound because, you know, they kind of did the Case Keenum Vikings thing where the vikings figured okay we got the nfc championship we're not going to be able to you know case is not going to keep this up we're not going to be able to sustain this we got to try and upgrade the position they went and got kirk

the ravens did that with trent dilfer where it was like okay we just won the super bowl but we can't keep going out there with this guy we're not gonna be able to sustain this we got to upgrade but like your upgrade was elvis gerback it didn't really work out for the ravens they did make the playoff so there is a comparison there though with vikings going from case keenum to kirk cousins is you thought that it was going to be a big upgrade and maybe it wasn't quite as big as you had projected because when you say elvis gerback i think he's like the same as trent dilfer like there's not a huge difference and right there is a difference between kirk cousins and case keenum how much well depends on the situation they're playing in i guess so i went with oh for what was your one for uh for this year oh the one for this year i don't i mean well there were two um i'll go with the one that i'm actually pretty there's another one that i'm

kind of confident in but i'll go with the one i'm really confident is not going to work out and that was pat elfline getting three years with the panthers and i mean you know some of it is poor Pat cause he got hurt in the NFC title game and he really hasn't been the same since. Cause he was really good as a rookie as a starting center for the Vikings in 2017, but he just has not been the same guy since he's been bad really ever since then. And then the Panthers turn around and give him a three-year contract, not for a ton of money, but still it's like, you're,

you want to tie up three years to a guy that has not been good in four years? Good luck. And you're probably expecting him to start and be a difference maker. And the funny thing about that is that the guys they're getting rid of in Carolina, John Miller and Chris Reed, because now we know every team's offensive lineman.

When you cover the Vikings, you know every other team and what's going on with their O-line. Those guys graded better than Pat Elfline last year. And those are the guys they're moving on from. And so bold plan, I guess. And then they brought in Cameron Irving too, which I also don't get because he's been an NFL backup by any metric for everyone.

So, okay. I mean, very odd decisions in Carolina and I feel justified earlier this month, wondering aloud on this show, whether Carolina just had no idea what they're doing. The answer is yes, that they have no clue. Yeah. Which is unfortunate for Teddy Bridgewater because he's not going to be playing with better pass protection for next year. I could guarantee you that if he's their quarterback still, we'll see. So I went with, so you picked DeMarco Murray. That was my pick. I went with Nick Foles with the Jags and DeMarco Murray.

So those are two obvious ones. And then Le'Veon Bell with the Jets and Sam Bradford with the Cardinals were my other two because Bradford, I mean, he was in such bad physical condition that I thought his career was over after the Vikings. I mean, you're talking about three seasons lost to knee injuries alone. That was it. And the Cardinals gave him a bunch of money.

I don't have the details right in front of me, but they paid him a lot. It was like 15 million for a year for a guy who had played one and a half games and the half he shouldn't have even been in and i mean that that is a again bold strategy arizona cardinals and then they draft josh rosen and he ends up in the game by like i don't know week three or something sam bradford was so clearly done and it was like they were bringing him in to be a bridge quarterback was like don't you want a bridge quarterback to be healthy? Like, isn't that one of the reasons Ryan Fitzpatrick is such a great bridge quarterback for everyone is that he just never really gets hurt. So, you know, he's going to play and you know, he's going to fill that spot and you won't

have to play the rookie too early. That was one that was insane. Le'Veon Bell with the jets. I think when his own team says new, new, new, not going to pay that guy, he's had a lot of work on his body. And you mentioned it with, um, DeMarco Murray way, way, way, way, way, way too big of a workload to ever bet on. And yet, and he was also in not a good position to get paid because he had sat out that whole year. So he was one year older and the Jets said oh no we'd be happy to and that that that was always that was always an odd one the one that I have earmarked for not working for this year is A.J. Green to the Arizona Cardinals I just don't see it A.J. Green has been hurt in previous years last year he looked like he couldn't really play with a rookie quarterback who has talent that one just screamed to me like chad ochocinco with the patriots yeah just somebody who is kind of washed

now the other one too is trey hendrickson with cincinnati they paid him a lot of money and looking at his numbers it might just be one of those one year things where a guy gets a bunch of sacks one year because everything kind of goes his way and then it comes apart because his previous years were not that good and also his past rushing grades from pff weren't that good so like was it a bunch of cleanup sacks that kind of thing there's always that one big signing that everyone gets excited about and then just implodes i i think if the vikings were after him he did them a favor by not signing here Because at least you could predict Alvin Tomlinson and what he'll bring. Trey Hendrickson, you could have brought him in.

He gets four sacks or something next year. Yeah. Well, it helps when you have Cam Jordan on the other end of that defensive line, who's like really good and really fantastic. And you have other pieces on that defense that are really good too. Yeah. I actually thought about Trey Hendrickson too. Um, I just wonder too, if like, I don't know,

I don't know exactly what the Bengals do defensively with their scheme, but it just seemed like a weird, it, that one just sort of seems like, Hey, we're, we're the Bengals. We have a lot of cap space. Let's just go sign a guy who got a bunch of sacks last year, just because we have the money and we can do it because we have a quarterback on a rookie quarterback scale so hey everyone anybody who listens to the show knows that sam and i may not be scratch golfers but we love to have a great time playing golf and that's why we have partnered with birdie golf in woodbury birdie golf is hands down the best indoor golf experience

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them on twitter at symbol exchange and check out the marketplace for sports today. Let me tack one onto the all-time list that I thought of Brock Osweiler. They gave us 72 million for going what five and two or something with that all-time great defense. And he was okay when he stepped in for the Broncos, but there was nothing there that said, oh yeah, this is your franchise quarterback. And he ends up going eight and six his first year with the texans with like a 72 quarterback rating i mean they blew it if they had even had decent quarterback play that

year that texans team might have been actually good and instead not but the texans you know they rarely make mistakes didn't um and and i'm i'm getting ready to pay Bill O'Brien a compliment here, which I can't believe I'm going to do. But didn't wasn't the deal with that, too. Like Bill O'Brien didn't really even want him. Like that was sort of like a front office thing where they went and got him and signed with this big money. And even like Bill O'Brien was like, I don't know if this guy is really it. Now, Bill O'Brien is not without his own flaws, but he was kind of right on that whole situation.

I see very little chance that the Texans could have had some problems with, you know, people being on the same page or anything like that. I don't know. They seem to be in lockstep as an organization. That's a foreign concept to them. All right. So next question for you. I was watching Vikings Colts colts monday night football

from 2004 dante culpepper versus peyton manning great game peyton manning throws a left-handed pass to win the game for the colts and i tweeted it out and you will not be surprised that one person because there's always one person was like that wasn't that great of a play like yeah it was yes it was yes it freaking was the vikings totally blow up a screen pass and are about to destroy Peyton Manning he switches the ball to the left hand like you see Patrick Mahomes and almost no one else is capable of doing it and throws it to Adrian James for a first down it was unreal so that's the way you lose but that night I can imagine if it was 2021, the hype for two of the league's best quarterbacks at the time, the two MVP quarterbacks leading up to this big battle in Indianapolis. And I was thinking about how rare that type of event has

been in Vikings history, where the Vikings are going up against an all-time great quarterback, but also have a quarterback where you don't feel overmatched. So that would be Brett Favre. Maybe there was some Warren moon games that we were talking about before Dante call pepper 2004. And this is not intentional to like dunk on Kirk cousins or anything. I promise you, but it just made me think about when the next time that will happen is. Because every game that you go into against Aaron Rodgers or Drew Brees or Tom Brady, it's always, well, the Vikings clearly don't have that level of quarterback. And you can't expect that despite the paycheck. When is the next time?

Because I think that other than Favrev that's the last time with call pepper where you had full seasons of playing elite quarterbacks and feeling like you were right there with them when is the next time that happens um yeah i i love this question um i've thought about this well when's the next time the Vikings play the Chiefs? I think it's 2023, right? The next time, because they played them in 2019, so they'll play them again in 2023. And it'll be here, actually, I think,

if they go the home and away rotation deal there. But yeah, I'm going to say, well, the Vikings have moved on from Kirk at that point in 2023, though. Probably. Right. Maybe by 20. Yeah. I'll just say 2023, 2023, they'll move on. They will have drafted somebody. And that guy will be amazing. Even as like on a rookie scale contract, that guy will be amazing. And he'll match up with Kirk Cousins'm with patrick mahomes sorry so next year they will trade cousins use

all their draft capital to move up to get spencer rattler and it will be spencer rattler against patrick mahomes on the marquee okay all right at u. Bank Stadium. You know, even with the Kirk Cousins era, any matchup with the Packers is Mike Zimmer versus Aaron Rodgers. That's just what the kind of the like I said, like the marquee would be is, oh, it's Mike Zimmer's great defense. Obviously, last year, notwithstanding. But Mike Zimmer's great defense against Aaron Rodgers. And can the Vikings defense shut him down has always been the big storyline going into a game. 2023 is very optimistic, but I think there's a path to that, which includes because Cousins contract was just guaranteed for 2022 the other day, being the third day of the league year. So there is a path to that if they decide to go that route, or if Cousins just said, guys, I'm not signing an extension with you. And then the Vikings had to draft a quarterback.

And I think that this is actually the most likely route. If the Vikings go nine and seven next year, and then Cousins says, look, I'm just not signing an extension. I want to play out my contract. They can either trade him or they can draft a quarterback and do the alex smith thing and then let him go to free agency after that and then you are talking another quarterback but i can just hear people saying yeah and then they'll draft the next ponder which you know could happen could happen but that's that's the

might be a different gm by that time you never know That is a good point. But 2023 probably is the soonest that that could happen, where it is a superstar quarterback and you're sure of it, because then that guy would probably have to play in 2022 or he would have to have a really good start to his career and they would be hyping him up. And the other part of this, too, the Vikings do have a history of chasing after legendary quarterbacks when they get a little bit older so maybe by then they've moved on from kirk and they've just brought in

a legendary another legendary quarterback i don't know you know maybe i don't know i mean maybe maybe there's a guy in uh seattle that's pretty good that might be on his way out of there by then. I don't know. Who knows? I'm being really optimistic here. Rodgers is destined for Minnesota. Yeah. Yeah. I just don't know when. Okay. Here's the last one that I've got. Where will Andy Dalton rank for all time bears quarterbacks by the end of his tenure in Chicago. When the Bears signed Andy Dalton, all I could think of was like Jim Miller.

For some reason, like Jim Miller just popped up in my head. And I just remember, because I remember two things. One, I remember Dalton coming into US Bank Stadium and beating the Vikings in 2020. But also, I just thought about how Jim Miller used to just, like, torch the Vikings every time he played. The Vikings might still end up winning the game, but then you'd look up and, like, Jim Miller would have, like, 400 yards passing.

It's like, how did that happen? It's Jim Miller. But, yeah, I have the feeling that he's going to just end up being another kind of quarterback that was not really all that good that the Bears just signed and tried to make good. And it's just not going to really work out for them very well. OK, why don't we go through the list and you could tell me whether Andy Dalton has a better or worse career than these guys. Now, I've thrown out like Jim McMahon. He'd have to win the Superbowl to be better than Jim McMahon. Right. So he gets thrown out. Jay Cutler had a long career there and like him or not, it would be hard for Dalton to be as good as Jay Cutler was. So I've tossed those guys out and I've tossed out Sid Luckman because he played in the forties. So,

um, uh, will he have a better or worse career than jim harbaugh with the bears uh yes because harbaugh didn't really get good until he got to indy yeah so he could match jim harbaugh for the bears i sure i think that's probably right harbaugh was with the he was really like their main starting quarterback for like five years um how about er Kramer? Will he have a better or worse career than Eric Kramer with the bears? Eric Kramer had some moments, man. Uh, I'll say no. Yeah. I'm going to say, I'm going to say worse. I'm going to say he has a worse career. He could have a better career than, uh, you know, Rick Meyer, who they traded a first round pick for, and then he played like three games. That could be better.

How about, so Jim Miller, would you say Jim Miller better or worse? Andy Dalton? Um, I will say, I'll say better, but not much better because Jim Miller was another one of those guys that just, he just had his moments, man. He had his, he had his, he had his good moments. See, I think by going better, you're implying that Andy Dalton will have his moments man he had his he had his he had his good moments see i think by going better you're implying that andy dalton will have his moments and i am not sure about that

they did keep alan robinson for him and he did go four and five as the cowboy starter last year with a defense that was absolutely horrendous so i i don't want to say that it's him this is why i like the question because yeah it's a great question i love it dalton has not been a horror show for his career but also like how much confidence do you really have and he's just so perfect just so perfect for the bears will he have a better or worse bears career than rex grossman uh well rex got i mean regardless of how he did it, Rex got to the Superbowl. So I'm going to say no. Yeah. I'm going to say worse.

Kyle Orton. Will he be better than Kyle Orton? I like Kyle Orton. Uh, I'll say no. Kyle Orton was pretty good. He wasn't bad. He went like 13 and three checking it down for five yards of pass attempt. Yeah.

I mean, I thought i i honestly thought lovey should have benched grossman when he when he got about halfway through the year and rex grossman was throwing picks all over the place he probably should have lovey probably should have benched him and went with kyle orton the rest of the way okay so this one really tests how good or bad you think this one is going to go um Josh McCown. Because he had, I have a feeling. Yeah, I have a feeling how I answer this question might impact our friendship. Because you love Josh McCown so much. I will say well, that was that one year where he was like, really good, right? For them. I'm pulling it right now.

Yeah. I'll say Andy Dalton will be worse. Okay. So that year was that. Let's see. I'm pulling it up right now. That year, he only played five games. So if Dalton plays five games, then maybe it's better.

But he ended up with, let's see, 109 quarterback rating in those five games and averaged over eight yards of pass attempt so if andy dalton does not ever have a stretch where he gets crazy hot and has 109 quarterback rating it will have been worse than josh mccown that was 2013 that was the uh mark tressman year wasn't it i believe i think that was the that was the year. Why do I know this? Why do I remember this? That was the year they lost. That was the Randall Cobb, like fourth and whatever in week 17. That Rodgers had missed most of that year because he got hurt.

And he came in to start week 17 for the NFC North. And the Packers ended up winning on that randall cobb hill mary fourth down whatever thing but i think cutler had got had came back from injury at that point that year but mccown had started like a handful of games and was really good for the bears and then he got a big contract with the bucks and went one in ten as a starter for the bucks uh last one is mitch trubisky will he have a better or worse bears career than mitch trubisky um i'm gonna say no because mitch was a starter for a couple of years and he was the starter on a team that won the division even though he was had very little to do with it

but i will say i'll say no i will also say that he does not clear Mitch Trubisky because Trubisky was in the playoffs twice and Mitch Trubisky kind of owned the Vikings. I mean, I know Chase Daniel won one of those games, but last year he tried to give the game away by throwing a late interception. But I mean, had a great game against the vikings there the week 17 game bears vikings in 2018 trubisky played well he had some big third down conversions in that game and got them to a win it was largely their defense but he actually played all right and then the other game in 2018 that got hyped up so much and remember kirk cousins saying they moved us to sunday night football or whatever it was monday night or remember kirk cousins saying they moved us to sunday night

football or whatever it was monday night or sunday night they moved they moved this game because of us and then all the bears found out after they beat them uh but trubisky was fine in that game too i don't think andy dalton will end up owning the vikings the way that mitch trubisky did and i don't think he'll get to the playoffs twice. So I'm going to say that he does not match Mitch Trubisky's Bears career. Hey, man, all I'm saying is since Kirk Cousins signed with the Vikings, the Bears have made the playoffs twice and the Vikings have only made it once. That's all I'm saying. I'm not saying nothing.

I'm just saying. Someday we should make like a children's book of all the kicks in the gut for the vikings fans just like to try and lighten it up and that 2018 game the what was it 2005 was the josh mccown right was it 05 with mccown throwing it at the end to nate pool like oh that was uh that was oh sorry oh three and um it would be nice to like make it a children's book so you could teach young Vikings fans about the history while not making it devastating to them in childhood. So maybe this is my next book, Manny. I love it. Go for it. Manny Hill, Hot Routes. Did you write any questions for me, Manny? Did you let me do all the work here on my show that you're putting on for free i did not i did not come up with any this time i will definitely try to get some uh get some in my

head for next time though for sure okay this will not be the last time that uh you appear for hot route so i really appreciate your time it's always fun to catch up and kick these things around and we will do it again soon man thanks for coming on always a pleasure matthew I'll talk to you soon, bud. started go to sodastick.com check out the touch them all shirts the twinkies hats and the tomorrow night hoodies if you use the promo code purple insider you can get free shipping so go to sodastick.com to get your original minnesota sports inspired goods all of their apparel is screen printed here in minnesota on super soft super comfy shirts and hoodies, you will love it. That is SodaStick, S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com, original Minnesota sports inspired goods, code Purple Insider for free shipping. Hey everyone, I want to tell you about our friends at Scout Logistics, and I really do

mean it when I say friends. They are fans of Purple Insider over at Scout Logistics, and since they reached out wanting to support this show, I want to tell you about what they do. Scout Logistics is just-in-time transportation for full tractor-trailer loads, and if you're wondering what that means exactly, well, if you own or work for a company that needs shipping solutions, they are the preferred carrier of Fortune 500 companies across North America. And we have quite a few of those in Minnesota, right? They can ship perishable,

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to find out how Scout Logistics can minimize risk and overperform and go the extra mile for your company. I promised you guys that if you left a five-star review on Apple and left a question that I would answer it. So here's another one first, and then we'll get to some other things. This comes from TJGVikes76. This person writes, Matthew is someone who did not grow up in Minnesota or a Vikings fan and accordingly brings unbiased perspective. Thank you. He still understands in detail, seemingly, the never-ending roller coaster

of high hopes and crushing disappointments that characterize a Vikings fan experience. My question is, why on earth would you dedicate your professional life to this franchise? Well, first, I could say very strongly that I know exactly what you're going through. Having grown up in Buffalo, I saw Wide Right, the Music City Miracle, and it was kind of the same exact story with all these other little moments that the Buffalo Bills could have had things go right for them and ultimately went wrong. So I really get it when it comes to the mentality of the Viking fan and what they've gone through, where you had had great players, great teams,

and you kept coming really close. And it felt like it was sort of meant to be that I would end up in a place with four Super Bowl losses also. So I could say that. Also, when I got hired by 1500 ESPN in 2016, I was not sure how long I would be here. But the reason that I am dedicating my career to continue to cover the Vikings and build Purple Insider rather than looking for another radio job is that my wife and I love living in Minnesota and I love this job.

You guys hear all the great media people who come on this show. Those people have become my good friends. The organization and PR staff are very professional, and they've treated me incredibly well since I got here. We bought a house. Our dog loves the backyard. And when my job got cut, the team told me that I could keep a credential if I started Purple Insider.

And to me, that was such a big thing and such a big statement from them that I didn't want to look for another job. I wanted to continue to do this. And also how fun was last week, right? Like the start of free agency, who would want to give that up? So, you know, the, the way also Vikings fans have supported this project and purple insider, by the way, record downloads last week, the biggest week that purple insider podcast has ever had and cracked the top 50 of all football podcasts on the itunes chart so i cannot thank you guys enough i mean who would want to be somewhere else when you get that type of support so thank you thank you thank you uh we've got two new sponsors

joining by the way speaking of support birdie golf and woodbury and victory home team i'm really excited that those guys are on board and helping us grow purple insider so we've got some cool things for you involving those guys and i want you to listen for those messages and we'll have some other things that we're going to roll out with our two new sponsors um all right now let's get to some football stuff i wanted to bring you a cut up of delvin tomlinson's press conference because Rick Spielman and Delvin had some interesting things to say about his role and about who he is. So I saved you from 21 minutes of that and I cut it down to just a couple of

minutes. So let's get to that. But today, very excited to announce one of the guys that we targeted and our big prize was getting Delvin Tomlinson here. Not only is he a great football player, but he's even a better human being off the field. He was a 2020 Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee for the New York Giants. He was also a team captain. Since he's been drafted there in the second round, he has not missed a game, which is extremely important. Not only telling you what type of player he is, but how hard he works to keep himself in great shape and how he takes care of his body, especially at the position he plays. I know Coach Zimmer will get into a later date how they're going to utilize him and all our guys on the defensive front, but I know we're trying to get the best possible players

that we can at this time of year. And he, again, was the number one target we had. Delvin, I've heard a couple of times from people in New York that you were recruited by Harvard before deciding to go to Alabama. Can you, can you tell me about that? Like how does one decide between Harvard and Alabama? When I grew up, my mom was always big on academics and I used to always joke around that I was going to Harvard as a kid. So I was a big academic kid growing up. And just when they gave me an offer to go to Harvard, it was,

it was a tough one not to go, but you know, football is my first love. And with Alabama having a good business program as well as football program, it just felt like a home away from home. Alvin, piggybacking off of that, what is a good way or two that your work in school has paid off for you on the field? I would have to say that football pretty much in the NFL is like another class. You're taking college or things like that because you have to continue to learn on the field

as well as off the field when you're watching film and things like that. You have to break down film. And just like pretty much an extra class like you took in college. It's like a business course. You have to do extra work to improve on it. And it's also very mental.

A lot of mental work goes into the aspect of playing in NFL. Just watching him on tape and knowing because I scouted him down to Alabama, he plays with great leverage, has great strength at the point, excellent with his hands, does a great job getting off blocks, finding the ball, making plays all over the field in the run game. I think the thing that he doesn't get enough credit for is when you sit down there and actually break down the tape, how he still affects the quarterback, even though he may not have the guy he sacked numbers,

but how he collapses the centers, how he collapses the guards, to get the quarterback off the he collapses the centers, how he collapses the guards to get the quarterback off the spot in the pocket, which could create a lot of pressure different ways. Like Rick had said, you know, sack numbers, big stats like that aren't everything. Don't tell the full story about a defensive lineman. For you, what's the biggest part of your game that you think allows you to affect the quarterback at the highest rate? I would have to say collapse in the pocket. It's not really a stat for collapse in the pocket or getting pressure up front on a quarterback.

Or even like you have an offensive lineman in the QB's lap about to step on his feet or he hit his hand on his helmet and things like that. That's not something you can really track with stats. So things like that in that nature, just to get the quarterback uncomfortable in the pocket or just like just affecting the running backs and quarterbacks throughout the game. I feel like those are very important, but they can't be tracked. Hey Delvin, there's a natural connection here with Minnesota of Linval Joseph playing for the Giants and then, you know, coming to Minnesota.

I wonder if he's a guy that you are familiar with or that if you had studied his game because he meant a lot to this defense. Yeah, Linval Joseph is one of the guys you pretty much have to look at if you want to be a good defense a lot. Because his play is just going from New York, coming here. And when he became a Viking, like that's the way he played and approached the game was amazing. And he was such so dominant up front. And yeah, I watched Linville's film plenty of times just since I got into the league. Yeah, he's a great player, great guy. And yeah, this is great. Hey, Dalvin, the last time this team signed a big outside of Michael Pierce, but last time they had like a marquee three technique that they brought in

with Sheldon Richardson a couple of years ago. And he was somebody who played about 70% of snaps. And I was just kind of going through the snap counts of what you had the last couple of years playing nose in New York. Obviously we don't, you don't know the intricacies of what your role is going to be, particularly next year yet. But how do you approach it this offseason of potentially needing to play more time and maybe with your conditioning, things like that? How will you go about that the next couple of months to be prepared if you end up playing that same amount?

Just as I would take it any other offseason, make sure I show up to OTAs and training camp in shape, make sure I'm physically feeling great and I'm strong in shape and just ready to go. And if I need to prepare to play even more snaps, I'll make sure I do my treatment like I normally would, cold tub, cryo chamber, things like that to make sure my legs are right and not heavy and things like that. Just small things make the biggest difference when it comes to staying

healthy and staying ready for the whole season. You mentioned that there's not a great way to track pressure stats. One company that does attempt to do that is Pro Football Focus. I'm sure a lot of people have talked around to you about them. They've indicated that your pressure rate has increased pretty substantially this last year over your previous three years in New York. Is there anything about how the defense changed or how you've approached the game that has made that possible? Just surrounded with great guys.

And as a defense alignment, you feed off of the guys you play around with, like you play with up front. And, yeah, just you have to make it a focus. As a defense alignment, you feed off of the guys you play with up front. You have to make it a focus. You want to get after the quarterback more and just rush more aggressively and things of that nature. When you're surrounded with great teammates who's also motivating you to get better as well as pushing themselves to get better, the only thing you can do is improve on the field.

We had a couple of things happen over the weekend in free agency, including Anthony Harris signing with the Philadelphia Eagles and Riley Reif going to the Cincinnati Bengals. There isn't really a hot take here, other than the fact that those guys made it pretty clear with those deals that they signed that they were looking to move on. And Sam and I mentioned the other day when the Vikings, you know, have to do things financially to stay under the cap, like franchise tag Harris last year,

instead of signing him to a big contract or ask Riley Reeve for a pay cut. It's hard to go back to those guys and say, Hey, can you do me a favor and sign a very reasonable deal here instead of hitting the market, going somewhere else. And I don't want to put words in their mouth and say for certain that the reason they left was those two things happening, but it's not hard to put two and two together with those guys. So the tally right now on free agency is the Vikings have had four starters leave and brought in two, maybe three if we count Steven Weatherly,

which says to me there is still work to be done and the Vikings don't have a lot of cap space right now. So we're going to continue to ride the off-season roller coaster and see how they make more space to add more players and how the draft plays into this. I can't wait for that. So thanks as always for listening, guys. Got a lot of great stuff coming this week and hopefully more moves to break down. So thanks for listening as always.