Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Gamer BearDaBeast explains how Khyree Jackson could have made it in gaming

Episode Date: May 8, 2024

Vikings draft pick Khyree Jackson said he nearly became a professional gamer rather than sticking with football so Matthew Coller visits TWolves Gaming star player BearDaBeast to find out what life is really like as a gamer and whether Jackson could have actually made the cut. Follow them on social media @TWolvesGaming and @BearDaBeast Then Hobie Artigue of WVID in Detroit (previously FOX9 in Minneapolis) joins the show to talk about covering JJ McCarthy up close last season and Detroit's outlook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🎵 Hey everybody, welcome inside Wisdom Gaming Studios here with T-Wolves Gaming. Legend, do you want to go with? Bear to beast. And I'm sure that my audience is wondering why I am here interviewing a 2K gamer. But the reason is because the Minnesota Vikings vikings drafted kairi jackson out of oregon and kairi jackson had a choice in his life of whether to play football or to become a professional 2k gamer he chose football now he's with the vikings i think he made the right choice but that really got me thinking as a fan of video games what would it have been like if Kyrie Jackson had instead chased the video game career so I found a guy who has a video game career in 2k

bear thanks for doing this man I really appreciate it and I would love to just hear you talk about your career to start off and then we can talk about how you got here but the day-to-day basis of being a professional gamer, what is that like? Shout out Kyrie because he's a really good guy. I had a few conversations with him. Oh, you did? Okay, that's awesome.

He's a really good dude. But it's kind of just like any other profession or any other job, any other career. We put in a lot of time, a lot of hours. I wouldn't say it's so much 9 to 5 because we play video games. So in season, we're more like 11 to 5, and then we go home from 7 until whenever we can get some sleep in. So it's a lot of time, a lot of hours. We enjoy what we do, so it makes it a lot easier to put the time in. But for the most part, man, if you just think of NBA structure

and not so much what it takes physically, but the time that these guys, the athletes, have to put in. If you think of my world consists of trades and sponsorships and the whole thing is just kind of NBA, but virtual. Yeah, that makes sense. What is a practice like for you i mean how do you go about in staying sharp improving your game building chemistry with your teammates like what what is the process like for that so i played football growing up and i was absolutely terrible oh i was horrible i was absolutely bad so i was you got length i mean could you at least be a wide receiver or something can you not catch the ball i was was on scout team 100% of the time.

That was me. I was scout team dummy. They put me out there to go get banged up by the starting defense. That was me. So we come in, and instead of a scout team, we just scrimmage these other professional teams. So we might play the Lakers. We might play Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers. So we play these other teams all day long we scrimmage them so uh my five so it's five of us on a team

we're us five are controlling five players on the video game and they have five and they're controlling five players on the video game ten people playing at one time uh we run plays we have strategies uh and we pretty much do that all day long. We break down film, we find out players' tendencies to try to get better. There's so much to it to break down. So I want to go back to when you started on this path. I mean, first, I guess I imagine, I won't reveal your age because you're the older guy in the team but thank you you probably started out when there was no such thing as a career in gaming or not even an imagination that there could be a career in gaming so at what point did you discover that hey this is actually a possibility this is something that I could really chase and pursue so probably similar to uh Kyrie was just

you just grow up and you have a gaming system and we're outside, you're playing sports all the time, streetlights come on, you go in the house, you're bored, start playing a video game. Then you start to realize that, hey, I'm pretty good at this. And you start beating all your friends in the neighborhood and then you start, you know, rivaling other neighborhoods and they're bringing their best player, you're beating them. And then it goes to a thing of like, all right, who's the best guy in the city let's start bringing the neighboring

cities around let's start playing them and um you know you set up some games and you play for you know 20 50 100 whatever the case may be then you start to realize that you're pretty good and you start going to these game stop tournaments um i actually started out playing madden first and uh when i really figured out that i was really really really good, I about made the Madden bus. I was one game away from a Madden bus. I was running the clock out. Instead of kneeling the ball, I ran the ball, fumble, scoop and score, and six. And I should have just kneeled it, but I was one game off the Madden bus,

and this was like 12 or 13. And from that point on, I was like, yo, I'm pretty good at video games. But like I said, there was no career in it. And as the years went along around 16 17 2k came out with a big tournament 250,000 and my team finished fourth and that was with just my point guard from college my actual brother my actual cousin and a guy we just found off the line and the other teams was playing with the best guy from Texas the best guy from Florida the best so'm like, if I go do that, I got a really good chance to be successful. So that's kind of where it started at.

Now, I thought that Madden players were supposed to be great at game management. You not kneeling the ball down. I don't really understand your thought process there. It was horrible. It was horrible. In the moment, I don't know why. I could have just took my kneel and I would have been on the bus. One of the worst decisions of my life.

Well, that's how it goes. As you're discovering that you're good at this, what makes you good at this? We were talking before this about just how I played video games growing up. I was pretty nasty at NBA Jam. I was pretty good at 007, you know, first person shooter, less so than the sports games. But I could hack Madden pretty good when they came out with 64 versions and so forth. I would never think that I was actually great at it, though. Like, oh, I can win games on all Madden or beat my friends or whatever little

friendly tournament we would have but I didn't think I was actually great at it so what what type of skills do you have that separates you from every average person like me just playing away in my basement so um so I will stick to the I'm gonna stick to the 2k side because I was pretty good at Madden um but 2k side so I actually had a real life basket so I played college for four years I basket. So I played college for four years. I graduated, but I played college for four years, played college ball four years. And from this field where I'm at now, that gives me a competitive advantage because I actually understand flare screens and bumping on the down screen and when to switch, when to soft hedge, hard hedge.

I'm used to running plays. I'm used to the concept of actual basketball. So one thing we get to do is what our team is a lot different other teams we actually convert real life into 2k mechanics which is different but because everything doesn't work exactly the same but we implement 80 70 of real life into a video game so so you get on a real court with this not this but i did before oh you did college yeah i'm washed up now i'm all the way yeah you don't want to see me go hoop in real life now i'm terrible so but we we bring some

of those same timberwolves plays horn sets uh one four low uh five out uh what boston is running now so we different concepts and we bring them into a real 2k and then uh for me just being a like a natural competitor i'm i'll probably uh go over the top with preparation as far i can show you man i got notebooks like i've notebooks and tendencies of players and the tendencies of him bouncing the ball twice to the right then he wants to get back left or this is his hot spot and or this is where he likes to shoot he tends to go 80% more to this right wing. Just I nerd that type of stuff out. And then the amount of time I put in is ridiculous.

So we put way too much time into it. And that's going to help you be good. So if you add the brain with the actual plan of the game, it's a good combination. But all of this sounds like, as we relate it to Kyrie Jackson, stuff that an athlete would have built into them so probably his love for football his ability with football would have played into him doing these things what separates those so obviously what separates you from me is everything you just said but what separates so he was talking about being in like the top 250 but to be at this level the absolute

top level to win a championship as you did to be mvp as you did uh what is the difference between someone who's good and great so uh is i would say just the the mental behind it of understanding the nuances of the game uh and and the amount of time and preparation that you can put into it so if you could put the time and the preparation into it and then you have the mental to understand what goes on within the game, and for him to make it to that level, who's to say he couldn't make it to the NBA 2K League? When you got that competitive fire, the difference is he's an athlete.

You know, I'm nowhere near the athlete of that. But if he could put the time in and the level that he's an athlete you know I'm nowhere near the athlete of that but if he could put the time in and you and and the level that he's playing at um and and the concept that he's already learned on a football field uh we're not going to be running any more complex than a d1 team is running at an NBA 2k professional level so mentally he's probably got it and work ethic he's probably got it so that's he he he might be right there with us I mean, I do think that there are so many things that cross over. And when you're talking about that preparation, I mean, that's everything in football, is that there are a lot of great athletes in the world, but the guys who understand the game the best are the ones who get that little bit of an edge.

And if he already has that mentality to make the NFL, then he may have been able to take it a step farther. Correct. So explain to me what game day is like for you. Because, I mean, I know what it's like for NFL players, but what is that like for you? What is the game like? Just take me inside of that. We want to mimic those guys as much as possible. We're playing the music.

We're hyping each other up. We're doing the push-ups, and we're not about to go be physical at all. So we're doing the push-ups before the game. We got the loud music going. We're hyped because it's something we're not about to go be physical at all so we're we're doing the push-ups before the game we're we're got we got the loud music going um we're hyped uh because it's something we're passionate about so uh we come in and and we we come to practice uh it's a good it's it's a high vibe day right here it's a good vibe day it's game day so we're watching our film we're going over who the guys were about to play and then we get the vibes going we got the music going we got the push-ups going.

You know, the guys are rallying around, the hoo and the ha. And we're doing that, but we're about to go play a video game. But the passion and the love is so high that that energy has got to be released. So they're very, very similar. It's just we're not about to go knock somebody's helmet off.

Right, right, right. What do you make of the way that this industry has kind of come together and just where it stands now? To have a league like this is, again, I mean, it's just something I couldn't have even dreamed of, but I think is really, really cool. And when you go to your YouTube page or you go to just, you know, streamers and things like that and the careers that are being created in this, I guess, what do you make of where things stand now with gaming?

I never thought it would get to this point and i couldn't see a world to where people are influencers and content creators and your whole job is twitch and youtube um i probably make just as much on my 2k salary off season i do in season from content creation and i never thought it'd become this thing of showing people how to play a video game where you're entertaining to play a video game. I didn't know it would be a professional league. So this is, I mean, from us growing up and the way kids are growing up now, it's a lot different. So it's probably we're used to seeing kids outside doing whatever.

And now they're more inside and they're playing video games. Like this is the next, this is what's hot. This is like each generation is different. And right now the video game wave, it's got a good chance to it's some video games right now that like perceive viewings of the super bowl their champions that perceive views of the super bowl so like it's gaming is huge and and i think i think it's here to stay and i hope with my league it continues to get bigger so i can get paid more well what i do like about your story though is that uh most the video game tropes are sort of like oh this guy's in his basement or

whatever which actually is where my video games are set up so uh that is true uh but the fact that you are a former athlete it's like you you don't have to do just one thing right that that that sort of story uh and i think that kairi and you are are both evidence of that if you were to play an average person what would that look like like if i if we dialed it up here in this studio how bad would that be for me yeah it looked like me trying to go catch a pass on kairi right now it's just it's it's just he's a pro he's a professional i i do it all the time and we and that's a part of the content that i get to sell is I go play the average joes the average people of the world and I do it all the time on my twitch and it's let's say about about halfway through the second quarter the pros are we're pretty bored if

we're going four quarters we're pretty bored because halfway through the second quarter we're probably up 20 30 40 points and if we kept that pace up we're going to win every game by 100 it's it's just what we do for a living. It's different. And people don't understand that when you do it for a living, it's different. And y'all can have plenty of time. I got my five a lot. We can play whenever y'all want to play.

My offseason is about two months from now. It ends about – I think we end around June, late June. So, when new 2K drop, my five is ready to play. We're ready to hoop against anybody. So there's a chance for them to play. But, yeah, it could get bad. Yeah, I just enjoy when there are people on social media that say about NFL players, like, oh, you know, I could get out there and I could get a couple yards against those guys.

Like, nope, you'd be dead. So at least you're just emotionally dead if they play you as opposed to physically playing against Kyrie Jackson I wanted to ask you just for my own curiosity about your first Madden game and uh what like got you excited about Madden because people who listen to the show know that I make Madden comparisons to the real NFL all the time because I've played it since childhood. I've gotten actually quite bad at the most recent games because I feel like they're too complicated, right? From some of the old games from the NFL Blitz and so forth where you're just dropping back and passing. But what was your first, what did you love about playing Madden?

I want to say the first ones was kind of 99 2000 i think that was some of the first mans i played but uh just in the house at the time you know got we you know we just got we got the playstation playstation news around the time my older brother and all his friends would come over and that was the hot thing to do was play the playstation like that hop so as me being a younger brother i'm like yo my big brothers are playing that's what the guys are playing that's what's cool to do so i just wanted to hop on and play the game and they would absolutely destroy me and then around 11 about 10 to about about 2010 i didn't lose to those guys is i didn't lose to him anymore but uh that i got hot really hot amongst the world in like

2012 2013 so were you a pass first guy run first guy yeah i was as soon as they come out i could tell if you're in a cover three i could tell if you're bliss and i could tell if you're on the cover two uh we're i'm flood concept the whole game i'm sending too many people to one side that you don't have in your zone if his man was in the crossing routes uh if you got you don't got enough in the box i'm running i so understanding the concepts is where i excelled at and so understanding the game i can't do any of that in real life but i was more of a i'm gonna pass i'm gonna pass all game long and then if you make me run i'm gonna take this four or five yards every time for me four verticals running back comes out underneath that everybody chases and then that

guy's wide open underneath i mean if i'm playing playing with Marshall Falk or something back in the day, I mean, I'm getting 200 catches in a season with Marshall Falk. Yeah. So last thing for you, how about this? I'm sure that Kyrie has not given up gaming. I'm sure he's still doing it. I'm sure he's still extremely good at 2K. What's your advice for him?

I mean, because he's going to have time. He's going to be studying the playbook. But if you think that everyone has to be studying their playbook for 100 of their life you're wrong uh don't make fun of kyler murray in his video games please stop doing that but uh if you're gonna give him some advice if he says hey man help me get even better than i am what would you shout out shout out k1 k1 a good dude too he loves 2k and k1 is a k kyler mary is a dog at 2k oh yeah i've actually so i haven't hooped with kairi i've hooped with uh collar a lot i think he could be in the league hands down oh really like not even like i if i had to put money up i would bet money that if he and this is just a time off from

him he's smart you could tell that he's smart you could tell this dude does something else and he understand he could read like it's fun to watch him because i'm a fan of his game and then when i watch him play the video game i'm like i know he'd be picking dudes apart on sunday i know he picked dudes apart on sunday because he doing in two case he he's sharp man he's smart but shout out shout out k1 but uh no kairi gonna play the game anyway he's a gamer so. So it's those guys, Kyrie, Kyler Murray, once they're going to go, they're going to do their work. They're going to do what they're supposed to do on the field. And then they got downtime.

They're going to do what they enjoy, the same way everybody else do what they enjoy. It just looks different. But he's a gamer. He's going to play the game. So continue to play the game. Don't let nobody knock you from playing the game. Bear to Beast. And that is your YouTube, right?

Everything. Across the board. YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, Facebook, everything. Well everything oh bear it was really great to meet you i thank you so much to you guys here for letting me come by and uh i feel like it was a pretty random request to come by and talk about a football player but great job breaking it all down so uh thank you so much for for doing this it's great to meet you no i appreciate you for stopping by thank you thank y'all for tuning in and uh it was good meeting you we definitely could do it again joining me old friend hobie artig who used to work at fox 9 here locally in minneapolis but now is in detroit at wdiv local 4 news what is going on man how are you not too much just making my tour of the nfc north i was in

wisconsin a little back in my career then went to minneapolis and then now in detroit so just after chicago left but i'm happy with where i'm at we have a lot of family here in detroit so it's good to uh it's good to be around family well there is an issue with uh the time zone that you're in eastern time it's not great central time is much better but exciting times to be in detroit and michigan sports with the national champion michigan team and a detroit team that went to the nfc championship so we're going to get into both because you had a chance to cover jj mccarthy in fact uh a picture that was shared around the internet a lot of jj mccarthy had you sticking out a microphone as one does.

I just want to hear about it. I want to hear what it was like for you to cover that championship team. It was, it was incredible, especially from the Ohio state game on, well, let's go back a little bit, probably the Penn state game on because that's whenever everything went crazy with Jim Harbaugh and the suspension, but from Penn state and then you had another game, and then Ohio State, and then the Big Ten Championship, and then that Alabama game,

that Rose Bowl was probably one of the most incredible sports experiences I've ever had, bar none, just because it is the quintessential place to watch college football. That was great in and of itself. I would say it was better than national championship game because just the allure of where you are but as for the team itself i mean it's hard to go 15 and 0 in any year of college football leading the way is your new quarterback in jj mccarthy and uh that picture by the way was taken walking off of the field at the rose bowl and that moment in time i can tell you in that picture we were walking in the tunnel with all of the fans chanting his name that's that's from that that exact moment um but great quarterback on and off the field uh you guys uh should be happy to have him so the season is interesting

because you know we get to the national championship game where against washington he largely just has to hand the ball off there wasn't a lot that j lot that JJ McCarthy had to do in that game, but in against Alabama, he did have to do a lot more. How did you view that entire thing as it was going on where you mentioned the Penn state game, they're mostly handing off in that game, uh, focusing on their defense. It was a completely stacked team. Uh, but as it went along, how did you kind of see that team come together around McCarthy? My whole thing with everybody wants to talk about his stats in that Penn State game where he did throw the ball in the second half. Think about the context of what was going on there. They're on their way to Pennsylvania.

They land and find out that Jim Harbaugh is suspended. They are just put on the spot and then just kind of taking it as it goes. And think about it in the context of they were just trying to get in there, get a win, and get out to keep their undefeated season going. I think that's what a lot of it is. And this was a team that liked to run the ball a lot. Against Maryland, JJ had an up and down game. I believe he had an interception in the red zone, if I'm not mistaken. But then Ohio State, he made all the throws he had to make. Against Alabama, though, if you go back and watch the final three minutes of that game,

not the overtime, the final three minutes where they needed to tie the game to force OT, J.J. really took control in that situation right there and i think that that's when you saw him really rally the troops and move forward to keep that national championship hope alive because in that second half they were not moving the ball against alabama alabama had their number but somehow he provided the spark and uh drove him downfield to tie the game and then they went on into ot to win it the one thing that comes to mind with mccarthy the most i think is just how young he really is when we talk about even his last season in michigan and the fact that you know he comes out at the right time after you

win a national championship and if you're being talked about as a top 10 draft pick you should probably just go into the nfl and and start your process there because you know that's your ultimate goal but I think it has to be contextualized versus some of the other quarterbacks in college football that this was not somebody who had three or four years of starting experience like many of the other quarterbacks and I I wavered on this a bit because you can certainly find a lot to work with if you're looking for tape that makes him look good or stats that make him look good and then there's the other side of it where you try to weigh hey this guy was playing for one of the best college teams that I can remember I mean they just blew the doors off

almost everybody including Washington in the national championship game how do you think that he grew throughout the season as a quarterback that's a good question because at the beginning of the season, he had one of his worst games of the year against Bowling Green. He had three interceptions in that game. And I think he was forcing the ball a lot. And I think the more time went on, the more he would let the game come to him. Because his first year starting, he wasn't the starter going into the season because he was battling with kate mcnamara to win that starting job he wanted and then he was the starter moving on but actually from that tcu game where they lost in the fiesta bowl i think that that changed him as a quarterback because he had two pick sixes in that game and that really changed the trajectory

of that fiesta bowl and i think that's why he took it so hard on himself after that game but the way he was able to manage the offense and be the calm within the storm i think that is one thing you can tell that's how he is off of the field but also on the field too he doesn't really get rattled especially in that second half of the year teams would blitz him and he would roll right or he would even roll left and then throw darts down the field i think that embracing that calm side because you see him meditating before the games i think he was able to hone that aspect of his game and being the calming presence with all of the weapons around him and somebody said to me about mccarthy that some of his mistakes throughout the year i mean of course youth would play a role in McCarthy that some of his mistakes throughout the year, I mean, of course, youth would play a role in it, but some of his mistakes were,

I've handed off for two quarters here and I'm tired of handing off and I just want to make a play. I want to be the reason that we win. And that's another thing that you can go back and forth all day long on was, well, the office is not built for the quarterback. Shouldn't it be if he's a first round draft pick versus the way that he managed it and the nfl type of stuff that he had to do how i mean how ready do you think he is from watching him more up close uh you know obviously i've gone back and watched the games but really seeing it progress because we're kind of debating this as well he hasn't thrown a lot of passes but he did play for a coach that was an nfl coach and i guess you can make an argument a lot of different ways and you say that nfl coach now

who is jim harbaugh jim harbaugh was saying how jj mccarthy is going to be the best quarterback that has played at michigan i mean that's that as a guy who played at michigan for him to say that that just shows you how much confidence he has in him if they didn't have Justin Herbert in LA J.J. McCarthy might be a charger right now but uh the the way J.J. has played the game as it has come to him especially as I was saying down the back half of last season he didn't need to be the guy and I said going into the draft process that he needed to go to the right situation for him because if you're relying on him to be your quarterback that is going to be like the Lamar Jackson that is going to make every single play that his offense needs him to make, he might not be your guy. But I viewed the Vikings for him as a perfect situation. He has a wide receiver one.

He has a wide receiver two. He has a tight end in TJ Hawkinson. He has two bookend tackles with Derrissaw and O'Neal and a solid experience interior offensive line. You put him behind that, it's very similar to how it was at Michigan. He didn't need to be the guy. He just had to be the guy to get the ball in the right spots and make things happen when his name was called. If he can carry that over, it kind of

goes hand in hand from college to the pros. If you look at it from that scope, I think that he can to start off, but ultimately Kevin O'Connell is going to want a lot of throwing of the football. I mean, we saw that from Kirk cousins where it was an interesting approach because cousins previously they had tried to hide him. It was hand off to Delvin Cook, play action, hand off to Delvin Cook, hand off to Delvin Cook, play action for Cousins. And what O'Connell said was, you know what, that's who you have been, but I'm going to put it all on your shoulders. And we did see quite a bit of success from Kirk Cousins in doing that. So I think that his goal would be to take JJ McCarthy over the years. And this is where you have to look into the future because what you saw is has

to grow on multiple different levels. And by the way, I'm impressed you showing off your Vikings knowledge that you haven't forgotten. Although I will question the interior offensive line comment. You know how people feel about that around here, but, but, but I think that with McCarthy, a lot of it is just looking at what he did last year and going, I can see the tools that can become something to two years from now. We're saying, hey, this offense is entirely on your back. And you saw it at the combine and you see it in game film.

He throws great out routes and he can get the ball down the field if he needs. But you mentioned like interior pressure. Watch how he scrambles out of the pocket and uses his legs kirk got better as at that as time went on in minnesota hey look and she did he did compared to when he started to where he finished he used his feet a lot more to escape pressure if that's what you're looking for from a quarterback though that's what jj can do because he can he if he feels the pressure and he feels the pocket collapsing he might not take off downfield he did that in the national championship game against washington and he did that multiple times last season but he can roll left and make the throw there's a throw in the nebraska game if you can find it go back and watch it where he rolls left and just fires a laser into the end zone and that is

extremely hard for any quarterback let alone a guy just starting for his second year um he can do it right he can do it rolling right he can do it rolling left i think that his legs in addition to his arm could be the total package for a quarterback if if put in the right situation like he is right now with the Vikings I remember that play because it looks like he's going to throw to the guy underneath and he actually fires it all the way to the back line which was extremely impressive uh you are right that in 2022 Kirk had a couple of notable scrambles that we never saw coming he he reached like 19 miles an hour on one of them. He ran in the Buffalo game. You are right about that, but not, but that's the thing about, you

know, I get this question all the time about the interior offensive line. You can't put them in if they've got a bad interior, kind of the point of drafting him is that you can. And in the NFL, there will be pressure up the middle, no matter who you're playing, that 90% of the league is pressured at least 30% of the time. So you are going to see that. I'm curious about what you found out about his personality because so far, I would say from my perspective, not a lot. Like this is someone who has been really singular minded, and this is not a criticism at all, but singular minded since he was a little kid to become the football player that he is now. I mean, the meditating, I made a joke about it.

Once people got upset in the comments, I was just kidding. Uh, but aside from the meditating and a lot of that sounds very Kirky and in the way that he has a lot of different techniques for dealing with certain things and wants to put all the effort into it again not a criticism there uh but aside from that seems like a football boy raised to be a football man and i don't know that there's a lot else which again i think is probably a good thing for someone who has to dedicate everything to this position he likes listening to bob marley okay jamming is his favorite song that he said that's that's his hype-up song i asked him that before the national championship game interesting is that a hype-up song i don't know look i think that's a chill song in the zone i guess and he's just

ready to jam on the field um i have never he he is an overly optimistic and positive person. He always had a smile on his face. And granted, when you're undefeated, there's a lot of reasons to have a smile on your face. And a lot of teammates that I talked to, so like during the pre-draft process, we went out to pro day. And we interviewed a lot of the players that were drafted. And I talked to a few of them, whether they were offense or defense. And I said what is a team getting in J.J. McCarthy that was the question that I asked him

and a lot of them just mentioned his leadership and I'm not naive to think that college locker rooms and NFL locker rooms are the same in any way shape or form but one teammate it was uh it was Chris Jenkins he said that guy gives 110 every time he gets out onto the field and as good as he is he's humble enough to carry everybody with him like that's a ringing endorsement then i asked one of his offensive linemen i said at what point did you know that he was he had it and he said from the first time i saw him huddle i knew he was gonna be a first round pick and he just mentioned how he has this aura and this confidence about him that rubs off on other people whenever you get around him. And when teammates are saying that about you,

that's an acknowledgement that didn't have to be said. And guys are going out to say that about him. But I will tell you after the game, if you want to know how badly he wants to win, all he did at Michigan aside from that Fiesta Bowl was win. After that game, he goes to the podium. Somebody asks a question about TCU. And did they show that they belonged with the big names and the blue bloods of college football

jj was the first person to answer he says his piece and said i promise you we'll be back in this spot next year and left that's how much he wants to win it's just that it ate him up that much that he just needed to say his piece and leave um what's one thing I'll always remember from him. Which is rare because he always would finish press conferences or give you his undivided attention for any interview that we ever did with him. What I keep finding about him is that there are a lot of football cliches that we try to stay away from as journalists.

So when someone says, hey, the guy just gives it all all the time, you're like, all right, tell me something interesting. Does he do anything weird? But yet at the same time, a lot of them matter at the end of the day. And when you talk about the overly optimistic element, you and I have seen this up close and personal, how much drama is involved in an NFL season. If there wasn't, there wouldn't be so many people who watched,

but there's a lot of ups and downs. I mean, through the years, one thing that impressed me the most about Kirk cousins was that he could have pretty much anything going on. Truth to all rumors with Stefan digs or whatever off the field type of thing was going on with teammates or criticism for Mike Zimmer at the podium. And yet the next game, he would just play like her cousins again, that it never seemed

to be something we could say, oh, well, this week they had this problem. So he's going to be off. He was never like that. And I think that overly optimistic person, that would be the one thing that's opposite. And I know I bring up here just as a matter of comparison, since we covered him for so long, Kirk was so hard on himself to the point where you were like dude it's fine you threw it to yourself yeah and i think that mccarthy being overly optimistic could actually play highly in his favor for dealing with adversity that comes along but also maybe not driving

himself into a hole sometimes where i feel like that did happen to cousins. And, and with, and with the way it's overly optimistic, but it's also a confidence too. I think that's how it is with JJ. I it's, he likes to go out and just have fun and be with his teammates. That's what he says is his favorite part of the game. That's that that's the big thing with him. and i think that you see that very naturally like i don't i the sense that i got and this is like one press conference we met one time here but the sense that i get is that it's natural it's not forced because you and i've seen this enough we know when it's forced right and also to to your point of him being in the spotlight and being able to block out distractions.

The kid was a starter, very young in high school, brought his team to a championship game. Then he goes to IMG Academy where for high school, the spotlight is on you as a high school football program. Then you come to Michigan as one of the premier colleges where you're the starting quarterback. He has had to deal with being the guy or under the microscope his entire career from the time he's in high school. So I think that if you're questioning if he's mentally ready for the big stage and the bright lights of the NFL, I think it's no question that he said to through through the pre-draft process. He goes, I'm just trying to keep uh keep uh what was it i'm trying to just keep uh the house clean and he was talking about the house being my head um and trying to block out all the distractions of being a guy who was

considered a second round pick to now being considered potential top five top ten pick and so i think he i think he's how i was saying how he keeps the calm on the field that's what he tries to do off of the field too to just kind of keep it all at the perspective so nothing gets magnified too big all right now in the matter of journalistic integrity if there is something that's going to not work what would that be with mccarthy and his transition from college to the NFL trying to force the ball trying to force the ball when the play is not there wanting to make a play when it just isn't there and he might do that whenever he's starting out in the NFL because every every

quarterback goes through growing pains not everybody has a season like CJ Stroud just had um but most of the time, quarterbacks go through growing pains and it's just, can you let the game come to you and use your ability without having to do too much without trying to do too much? I think that would be the biggest thing for me. You know, who has this problem exactly is the Vikings other quarterback, Sam Darnold, when you watch him play and I went back and watched a bunch of games from Carolina trying to do too much is probably the hardest thing in the sport for a quarterback right because if you don't try to do too much then you check down when

you shouldn't be checking down which I'm not pointing any not pointing any fingers when it comes to that but that did happen probably too many times on third and long or fourth and eight, et cetera. But if you try to make too many plays, then you end up making a lot more mistakes than you need to make. And so trying to figure out where that, that line exists is really difficult. Patrick Mahomes makes it look so easy, but it's really not. And that's even Josh Allen, I think is probably the second best quarterback in the league hands down. And he still struggles with that. When should you go deep with it? When should you try to make a play? I also do think that McCarthy will have to learn to put some air under the football

because the deep balls, like if you don't put the right arc underneath them, they will just flatten out and they'll get intercepted. Yeah. I mean, there was a, there was one he threw against the gophers. I was at the game and he's just trying to throw like the, an outfielder from the wall to home,

like each row Suzuki style or something, just trying to throw, you know, laser beam. And this is, this is my knowledge of baseball at this moment, that that's the first name that came to my mind when I was thinking arm strength, but I think there's a lot, there's a lot to adapt, I think in his game and how he makes those adjustments and how he makes those decisions,

uh, will determine where he goes. But I also have come around even just talking about this the last few days too. I want them on the field earlier than later. If that's the only issue, if he's not having any trouble learning the offense, but he's just whipping it into traffic too much, like let's let him, let's let him whip it into traffic and figure out that he can't. I want to ask you about those Detroit lions that are now the darlings of the national football league. And tell me first though, I i mean you got there in what 2022 is when you arrive right i mean the heck is that like i mean with detroit getting to that city at just the moment where they're taking off i don't want to say i'm the good luck charm or anything but uh you weren't here you were not a good luck charm here so oh wow thank you no the vikings only made the playoffs a lot

hey i was i was there for the minneapolis miracle okay all right at least give me give me that at least please oh fair enough was that the year that you got here was it 2017 no no my first year in minneapolis was uh 2015 oh 15 okay so that was that was the blair walsh kick year doesn't sound like you're that good no man i don't think they made the playoffs, man. That a home playoff game. How about that? Blame the weather for that one.

Don't blame me. It was really cold that day. No, but as for the lines, it's been an incredible story to watch. They can buy. So many organizations say words and just, Oh,

we have these cliches that are going to stick. They put those words into action because all of the guys that they have wanted to mold their organization around, they've either gone out and get, or they've drafted, or they've brought in and said, okay, this is how it's going to go. Let's go forward together. They have truly built a team so many guys are not i wouldn't say similar personalities but they're all there for a common goal they all have the quote-unquote chip on their shoulder in some way shape or form with something to prove and i think that when you have that many people like that together and you forge ahead this is kind of the proof that you can't do good things.

You know, it's rare that a team in the year 2024 can build an identity because players are coming and going so much. But the fact that most of the team has been drafted by them and put together really in Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell's vision over a couple of years after they tore it entirely apart makes that possible. What I want to know from you is I want to understand what you think their window is because Jared Goff has played so well over the last couple of years that he is going to be asking for a lot of dollars to be stuffed in his pocket. I'm in Ross St. Brown gets the deal. N.A. Sewell gets the deal. There are a few other guys that will not be that far behind. Aiden Hutchinson is a legit beast and one of the best players in the league.

You also saw this play out in Minnesota where when they got expensive, it was a lot harder to build a complete team. How long do you think they have to fight potentially for a Super Bowl? Three years right now. Three years because Jared Goff's going into the final year of his deal. No extension's been signed yet. And I was kind of surprised by that because I thought that maybe he would have an extension before Amin Ra or Panay Sewell. And then they take care of both of those guys who are drafted in the 2021 class. But if you want to talk about

a quarterback who has really endeared himself to fans here you heard it at the draft how many people were chanting jared golf's name and he was just on the stage after getting drafted so many years ago um i would say with the way things are set up right now kind of like with the vikings a few years ago three years because things get expensive after a while and you can't keep everybody. And I think a big reason why the offense is so good is because of the offensive line. Hey, you got Frank rag. Now you have Kevin Zeitler who they just went get Graham Glasgow. Who's going to be your other guard who has a lot of experience and played in

the system for a few years. And then Decker's on the other side of tackle. That is a stout offensive line. And I think that's a big reason why Jared Goff has played so well. It's why a lot of quarterbacks would play well with that type of offensive line. But Goff has done some special things. He really has. I mean, he has reinvigorated his career here in Detroit. And he said that he wants to stay here. I just think it's going to, like how everything is with the NFL, does the money make sense? And how long are you going to have that window to go?

But they have a lot of young players too. And we'll see this year if Jameer Gibbs can take the next step, if Jamison Williams can be the true wide receiver too on this team because he didn't have a full training camp last year. He got injured in training camp and then was suspended at the beginning of the year um i think they have a lot of positive pieces but dan campbell said after they lost that game against the 49ers next year it's going to be even harder to make it back because we're not a secret anymore everybody knows who we are everybody knows what we're capable of um the one thing is the offense is set

defense will find out because they went out and drafted two corners back to back. They got Carlton Davis in free agency. They really reloaded on the back end of their defense. Do those pieces add up to the right fit? Because they gave up a lot of yardage at the end of last season, especially to Justin Jefferson in that game at the end of the year. And yeah, in both games and also left him wide open on a play that should have won the game for the Vikings.

But instead, yeah, Nick Mullins threw a ball that looked like one of those soccer player, like the goalies when they whip it like this and it ended up getting intercepted. But you're right about that. And that has been my big question about Detroit really this entire time is that I know they're very loyal to Aaron Glenn. I haven't seen it. I mean, I've seen it with Brian Flores or we saw it with Mike Zimmer, how a defensive mind can impact a defense. Now talent is always going to be at the top of the list, but I also felt that it was pretty basic. I thought, and teams can take advantage of it if they weren't pressuring the quarterback with one guy. So I do question that.

I think the secondary improving is a big deal, but I think we're going to find out now that they have a little more talent there and Jack Campbell developed for an entire year. Is this defense good enough to make them legit? Because if it is, then they are an extremely scary team. You mentioned putting the pressure on the quarterback too, and frankly, I was surprised that they didn't draft another defensive end to try to pair alongside aiden hudgenson because now you're you're relying on marcus davenport to be that

answer and he he showed flashes with the saints in his time down in new orleans but his problem was staying healthy with a lot of the guys that they got carlton davis has dealt with injuries too uh at cornerback can the guys that they got in free agency stay healthy and make a huge difference on that defense that's going to be a big key to the puzzle as well um but if davenport can play to what the expectation is and just provide a second person on the other side to not put all the pressure on Aiden Hutchinson. But in the middle, they have some, Alim McNeil is going to be a name to watch too. Great defensive tackle. If they can create more pressure, because I know a problem with Hutch at the beginning of the year was the sacks just weren't coming. And people were like, well, you're getting there. What's, what's, what's keeping you from getting there. And then at the end of the season, somehow, some way he just found his way to the

quarterback more and more often. Um, but I think pairing somebody alongside him could be a big difference maker on if this defense can take a drastic step or not. i think i've heard before if marcus davenport dot dot dot and uh did not work out so well here last year all right let's wrap up on this you did cover the vikings for quite some time here what was your favorite memory of covering minnesota vikings give me number one oh yeah use if you're gonna use the minneapolis miracle though it's too obvious oh man it needs to be something else. Oh, it has to be something.

It's just too easy. It's like all of us. Well, yeah, the miracle. How do you top that though? I know. I know.

You know, you know what it is for me? Training camps, training camps are always a great time because I got to forge so many friendships with people in that media room and everybody on the beat i whenever we're all there in that room together we share stories with each other that's probably the thing that i miss the most um just because i try to i i am a people person i like to connect with people and everybody in that room uh that's probably my favorite part of covering the vikings and the

and doing the pre-game shows i mean there's nothing nothing like doing a pregame show at us bank stadium before they're about to kick off, especially when the team is winning. That is, that is just a rush. Well, we try to keep the TV people in the other side of the room, but we would let you into our space sometimes.

No, I mean, I do miss having you around. We had a lot of great conversations when you were covering the vikings and uh so we miss you here for sure and hopefully uh we can do this again the vikings will play detroit a couple times so open invite to come on the show uh before those games so thanks a lot for your time awesome insight man really appreciate you doing this i i tried my best how How about that? Tried to be a wealth of knowledge.

I mean, you had Kweisi last week and then you gave me this week. Wow. It's already being downgraded this week, man. It's like going from the starter to the backup, you know, but that's okay. You go from like playoff football

to the preseason with me. There you go. I do. And I do have another guest planned later in the week. This is a tease for fans that also is going to top you. So you're kind of, you're just like, you're like the middle reliever here. We get the starter who's the ace. We get the closer who has the big music and everything else. And you're just kind of the guy who needs to get one left. Yeah, but you got it.

You got through the inning. Okay, good. Hopefully my ERA didn't spike. Thanks so much, Obi appreciate it man thank you man