Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - How did QB Max Brosmer look in Vikings rookie camp?

Episode Date: May 10, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about attending Vikings rookie mini camp and what QB Max Brosmer looked like and other players that stood out and answers Vikings fan questions.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Purple and Cider. Matthew Coller here. And if you could see it got a little sun today outside because I was out at TCO Performance Center covering the Minnesota Vikings rookie mini camp. I also have a little hat hair going on the hat had the hat on, I had the sunscreen on, and it doesn't matter because my face is still going to burn

and get red anyway, but call it just preparation for training camp and OTAs mini camp where we'll be out there starting in not next week, but the week after that, after Memorial Day, is when that's going to begin, which I think is a little bit later than usual in the NFL schedule. But next week we'll have the schedule release. So we'll have a lot of fun with that, but had a chance to spend, you know, about an

hour and a half watching the Vikings try out, invite people along with undrafted free agents and a handful of other players as well. So questions, comments, of course, are open for you. Anything that's on your mind with the entire Vikings roster, what's coming next? Any questions, comments on really anything is open for you on the floor. But just figured I would start by telling you what I saw today. Now, it all comes with a bit of a disclaimer because once upon a time the rookie mini camp was open for I think three days to reporters and they would do a lot of 11 on 11.

So we would really get a good idea of seeing what everybody looked like after a couple days. So you guys have probably heard me reference in the past, Kellen Mond and what he looked like when we went out for rookie mini camp. I think we were out there for multiple days. Maybe it wasn't maybe I'm misremembering but I seem to have that in my brain that it was multiple days.

Now. It's only the one day. So it's just today's practice can't make as many bigger statements about what someone looked like over a couple days when you just get one practice. The other thing is that the Vikings used to under Mike Zimmer, they would have a 11 on 11s, some pretty intense stuff at times with the rookies out there where they were really fighting for position. But Kevin O'Connell doesn't believe in doing it that way.

In part, I think because he doesn doesn't believe in doing it that way. And in part, I think because he doesn't want the valuable merchandise to get hurt. And he had talked about how in the past that he's seen in these rookie mini camps, that there are guys who are so desperate to make an impression that they come out and they're throwing their bodies all over the place and then guys get injured. And that was something that he really doesn't wanna see. So if you ask how did Donovan Jackson look,

the answer is he didn't, because all they were doing is really individual drills with the offensive line during this practice. And even if you go look, the Vikings tweeted out a video of Donovan Jackson, and it was like, hey, Donovan Jackson puts on, you know, purple for the first time. And it's just him doing drills because that's really all someone like Donovan

Jackson can do on a day like this. So what we end up getting a good look at is the pass catchers and the quarterbacks and on the defensive side, that's also almost impossible as well. To tell what somebody looked like because they're only doing a limited amount of Seven on seven type of stuff but there were a couple of guys that intercepted passes or made plays that stand out at least a little bit and one of those was Kobe King who intercepted a pass and So I'm just getting a little bit of a tiny impression on everybody else

But the pass catchers and the quarterback, those are the ones that we can actually see pretty well. So that's the disclaimer of if you're hoping for rookie mini camp, oh my gosh, these guys all stood out their future stars. Well that's pretty hard to do. But I can tell you what the quarterback looked like, Max Brosmer. So we should begin there. And then a few of the pass catchers that stood out to me.

And the first question, not surprisingly, is about Montego Moss. He had a really good catch down the sideline today on a pass from Brosmer, where he kind of went up and got it. And then when he went back to the huddle, got a dap, a pad on the helmet and a pad on the back from Josh McCown. It was actually a very nice play.

Now, I don't think Montego Moss is likely to stick around. It would be pretty surprising if they offered him a contract, if he even got a chance as an undrafted free agent. But maybe it's one of those things with wide receivers where it's the most open position on the very backend where if you can catch passes and you can make plays and you can stand out, then you're going to get a shot

because they need 11 D billion of them in training camp and OTAs guys got to get out there running routes for the first team, second team, and the third team. And even in years past an OTA or mini camp hero, like Thayer Thomas, who is still on this team or lucky Jackson, who is still on this team, those guys have made an impression at the early parts of these off season camps and then gotten to stick around and maybe someday we'll see one of those two guys be active for a game. So I don't want to count out Montego Moss.

It's just that the odds are stacked very much against the player like that. When they're showing up, just trying to learn enough, just trying to make a few plays, but at least he did have a standout highlight type of play down the sideline. And maybe there's a shot that they try to keep him around. I guess we'll see. Blowfish is how does Trace Stewart look? Now Trace Stewart was one that Kevin O'Connell talked about a lot after practice. And I have the quotes here about Trace Stewart.

This is somebody for me who I have been intrigued by. Now, how does a running back look in a camp where he's not getting tackled or anybody is even running between tackles or there's no offensive linemen? I mean, that's not easy. You can see the explosiveness, you can see the quickness, you can also see that he's pretty small.

He's not a giant human being. You just get a little bit of a sense for the speed that Trey Stewart has. But I'll read you what Kevin O'Connell said, because it's as valuable to listen to the coach talk about these guys or more valuable to listen to him talk than it is for me to just watch him out there running some routes and pretending to pass block people, you know, that kind of thing. And then we'll get to Brosmer. So here's what Kevin O'Connell had to say about Trey Stewart. He said we really wanted to try to find looking at Aaron Jones, Mason,

Ty Chandler and a guy they have on the roster. The practice squad last year, Xavier Scott said, who got a chance to get some reps. We wanted to find skill sets, explosiveness, some physicality. We wanted to find out much like we were thinking for the receiver room. We wanted to find some traits in a tie Felton explosive, a guy that can fly four, three, seven catches away from his body, multiple positions, smart enough, tough enough to do a lot of what we're hoping to accomplish. So I think what you hear there is that they were looking at a tie Felton in the draft and then a Trey Stewart, as in how can we get more speed?

And Trey Stewart brings that. I think there's a good chance for him because when you just look around who else is behind Ty Chandler, Trey Stewart at this moment is the next man up and he had great numbers at Jacksonville state, an intriguing player for me going forward, assuming that, you know, because he's an undrafted free agent, they'll give them a chance at OTAs and a mini camp. So he's somebody that stands out to me. Uh, but when we talk about Max Brosmer, my expectation for a lot of guys that they bring in is undrafted quarterbacks for this type of environment is,

let's just see if the guy can even get the ball from here to here and throw it to someone fairly accurately to give them a chance to catch it. I mean, there's not that many quarterbacks in the United States of America who can in a rookie mini camp in the NFL even make the throws they're asking you to make. And in years past, it's been rough at times. And they've even had some random guys show up just to have somebody who can do it in the past. I think Brett Hundley was here one year. I don't know how that qualified as a rookie mini camp, but he was there, throwing it maybe a tryout or something. Either way, it's just hard to find quarterbacks.

I thought Max Brosmer looked really good throwing the football, that he stood out to me as one of the better looking quarterbacks I've seen in a rookie environment. There was not obviously JJ McCarthy. Okay. JJ McCarthy last year was the best looking rookie quarterback coming into a rookie mini camp that we've seen because the only other guy they've drafted fairly high during my time covering this team was Kellen Mond. And we've talked about that before. It did not look very good from the outset for him. I thought Max Brosmer looked much better

than we saw from Kellen Mond and even more refined from what we saw from a JJ McCarthy last year. Now that's not saying he's better than JJ McCarthy. Obviously I just mean a little more refined because he is an experienced player. I was impressed with the velocity he put behind the ball, the size of Max Brosmer up close, where on TV, I think it's hard to tell how big guys really are. But in terms of his strength, the power he was

putting behind the football, that looked to me like a guy that you want to keep around, that you want to give a chance to compete for a practice squad spot or even a quarterback three, not the backup spot because he's just coming out of college. But what he did with the gophers last year was very impressive considering it's not like they had Tyler Johnson and Rashad Bateman last year. They had one good wide receiver, not much else to work with a pretty good running game and he played well, but you can't really tell if a college quarterback is going to make NFL throws until you actually get him out there on the field. And even though he did throw two interceptions,

one was a nice play by Kobe King, the sixth round linebacker. I thought that Brosmer had a very, very good rookie mini camp practice and just the pure throwing of the football. His throwing motion was pretty compact. Like it came out quickly. Some guys you see they have to like an outfielder. They have to like bring it down by their side and then really heave that thing. Like if you or I was trying to throw an NFL football, but it wasn't a very

long motion for him. And, uh, Kevin O'Connell talked about it. So I want to read you what Kevin O'Connell talked about with brosmer. But when the Vikings bring in a guy from the gophers, they had a guy in from St. Thomas from Augustana. Like, this is a thing that every team should do. This is how you find a Adam Thielen, but there's immediately a little bit of. Okay.

Like you're giving a guy, a local guy a chance and you're just sort of, you know, doing it for whatever coach that you've got locally and maybe it's his favorite guy. So he gets to get some gear. He gets to be a Minnesota Viking for a couple of days. It's a great experience for him. And then he's going to go on with his life with the rest of society. Right. That's how it mostly works with a local product.

And, you know, Tanner Morgan showed up for a couple of days when they had some injuries because they needed a practice quarterback or Mitch Leidner came in for a preseason game. But there was no real chance either one of those two was ever going to play in an NFL game. But just based on what I saw today from Max Brosmer, he got the, uh, he got the purple insider eyebrow race.

Like, Oh, okay. We might have something here in the competition for that third position where you have Brett Rippon, you've got Sam Howell, but a lot of times Kevin O'Connell wants to keep four quarterbacks anyway, because you're developing one and he's also a mature kid. He's been around, he's played a lot of college football, but you're developing a guy in the room at the same time where you have a Brett Rippon who's played a little,

a Sam Howell who's played quite a bit and then you're starting quarterback. But I think they like to have four and last year five and build some comradery within those guys. And Brosmer might be that player that they actually end up keeping around to be their practice squad quarterback. So I will read you what Kevin O'Connell said about Brosmer.

He was asked like, what did you see in him that you liked? And he said, quote, I think a lot of it was on display today. The starting point of just being an efficient thrower of the football from the standpoint of fundamentals technique and his ability to generate some pretty good revolutions and RPMs on the ball. Kevin O'Connell gets a neck roll for today for saying revolutions on the ball. There we go. That's football

With a pretty limited movement in the pocket. I think he means like he doesn't have to Like do a lot to get the football to get the revolutions if that makes sense And also it's not like in this environment You're doing big bootlegs or putting a lot. It just means you're not doing that big jump type of throw where you're using your whole body that it's an efficient movement. He said, I have a lot of respect for PJ Fleck and his staff and how they've coached football over there from the standpoint of his high football IQ.

I think it shows up when he can really arrive here, spend a couple hours in meetings and he's out there making connections in the middle of a seven on seven and a walkthrough, leading it into whatever period it is. So you're seeing a lot of the things that we identified in Max to bring him into the quarterback room and we're pretty excited about. I mean, we know this about Kevin O'Connell,

that every quarterback who straps up his cleats usually gets a high review in front of the media. But I've told you guys before, what I usually look for is specifics. And it's like, are you telling me exactly what it was you liked about the player or just sort of platitudes to get through the answer?

And I think in this case, it matches up with what we saw from the sideline on Max Brosmer that he did have an efficient movement and the ball was traveling. I mean, I didn't measure its RPMs, but traveling through the air looking like an NFL type of quarterback. So just maybe paint me as being somewhat intrigued because my expectation is always, all right, you know, can't really pay much attention to who's playing quarterback at a rookie mini camp. And that's kind of how it is.

Uh, as far as past catchers go, there was two that stood out to me, probably the most, and they were both tight ends. Uh, Gavin Bartholomew was one that I thought he caught the ball very well. And the other one, uh, was, uh,'re a sec. The, what is his first name? The other time Ben, you're a sec who is, uh, pretty big looking guy, but seem to have good hands. Again, this is not a high challenging type of situation, but I mean, how does he catch the ball? A lot of times when guys aren't good at catching the ball, it kind of rumbles around in their hands. You sort of hear

it slap their hands. And I thought both of those tight ends caught it pretty well. And I asked O'Connell after the practice about Bartholomew because I thought he had a really good practice. And he talked about how sometimes with tight ends, you will watch their tape and you'll go to a pro day and you'll sit down with them. And then when you actually get them into your building, you go, uh, is that the same guy? Because it's so different playing tight end in college than it is in the NFL. And he said with Gavin, it's the same guy.

It's, it's who we were looking for when we made that draft pick in the sixth round, he compared it to somebody putting a picture up on Instagram That doesn't look like the real person and he said that without being inappropriate, which I think was a dicey Metaphor to go down that road, but no, I mean, so I thought Bartholomew looked really well I talked to him after practice about his experience with multiple offenses at Pitt and also just about him playing quarterback as a kid in high school. It's got a little bit of an interesting background story there where he had been a tight end and was committed to go to Pitt and then his coaching staff went to him and I'm writing

about this. His coaching staff went to him and said like, about this is coaching staff went to him and said like hey could you just maybe kind of play quarterback for us because our quarterbacks are really struggling and we're losing games and so Gavin just jumped in having not played quarterback before and O'Connell said that that experience for guys he feels like pass catchers really helps them if they've played that position because they understand the value of certain things like leverage and also how important it is to run certain routes when maybe you're not the primary target and things like that so that was interesting as well but I think with what he also said was these three guys like they're probably our guys uh he was open about, like going forward into this competition

of the tight end three, which on a roster that's really deep, we're going to latch onto every competition we can get my friends and tight end three between, uh, is it Bryson Bryson Nesbit? Yeah. Bryson Nesbit, Ben Urasek and, uh, Gavin Bartholomew, those three guys. But I thought at least two of them stood out to me quite a bit today. And with Ty Felton,

now I don't wanna get crazy specific about stuff on a rookie mini camp. So it's again, disclaimers, take it for what it is. There were a few catches there from Ty Felton. The one thing that I notice about him that he's gonna have to probably work on is when he comes off the line of scrimmage, he's kind of like straight up, like a little bit more track runner type, and he's going to have to like get lower. But he is a little bit bigger than maybe I expected him to be when you have a guy who runs a four, three, whatever it was, and is a playmaker tackle breaker quick and stuff like that.

You kind of expect them to be five, 10 and he's more like six foot one. Uh, he was standing next to one of the other guys, uh, the undrafted free agents, who is the short guy? Hold on. I've got, I've got my names here for some of the guys that I don't. Robert Lewis is one of them who caught a nice pass today from Auburn wide receiver, but that wasn't him.

He's standing next to the really, oh, Silas Bolden was the guy from Texas who's very small. And I was like, man, is Ty Felton like six four? But then he stood next to Kevin O'Connell and Josh McCown and he's not, but he is very, very quick. No surprise. You see that in college. You see that in his combine performance, but just coming off the line of scrimmage, breaking down on his routes, it looks to me like somebody with pretty, pretty good footwork that they, that there's maybe going to have the potential

to get better and better, but just that he's taller, but has really, really impressive straight line speed. They had him running some hitches and stuff like that today. I thought it wasn't hard to figure out which guy is the draft pick because that type of height, I know he's not like beefy, but that type of height combined with that speed,

you just don't see it very often. So it's not like he made 17 highlight reel catches or something today, but you just get a little bit of a glimpse from somebody like that. So there's kind of the guys that stuck out. I did mention Robert Lewis had a really, really nice catch. It looks to me like they've got some guys who are going to compete for spots.

And that's all you can really look for in a situation like this. Sadly, if he was punting, I didn't see him or pay attention to it. I didn't get a look at the punter and I apologize. I mean, that's on me. And I try to take responsibility, but I didn't see what Oscar Chapman was looking like and any of the defensive players, they were doing their own thing for the most part on the other side, but there was another guy who had an interception. It was a Zamiya Vaughn, the quarterback from Utah had an interception.

And the thing is with these practices, it seems almost kind of silly to be like this guy made a player, that guy made a play, but the coaches are looking for that who shows up and makes a play. So maybe there's some names there to look for. So that's, that's what I got from rookie mini camp again, like not to be taken too crazy seriously, but just they might have a quarterback here who's going to compete for that third or fourth spot in Max Brosmer. And the way they talked about him didn't sound like he was

just here to kind of mess around and get some people some footballs, but really that they're going to give him a legitimate chance to be on this team in some capacity more likely than not in the practice squad. But you got my attention Max Brosmer. I wasn't sure if I was going to have to pay attention or not, but but I am. A good day for him. So let me get to your questions, comments, and we'll go from there.

Mr. Mayor says, since the draft class is kind of small, yeah, kind of very small, do you think the coaching staff will be under pressure to have late round draft picks make the 53, even if some UDFAs beat them out. Well, that's the kind of good thing about this draft class being as small as it is, because when you talk about late round draft picks, we're talking about three guys. I mean, it's really just Kobe King, Gavin Bartholomew, and Tyreon Ingram Dawkins. Ingram Dawkins is the most interesting of that group

because, and you mentioned, well, UDFAs beat them out. Ingram Dawkins is the most interesting of that group because. And you mentioned, well, you DFA's beat them out. I mean, the late round picks, there isn't really a lot of you DFA's that have a chance to beat them out at those positions. Maybe there's a linebacker who shows up, but Kobe King, you get the sense right away. There's one guy who you would have assumed is the drafted guy out there because he's actually big. He's he's pretty beefy. Like if they need run stopping situations,

like I think he's a guy that they might be able to use right away because he tackles well, but also brings more size to that position than with Blake Cashman or Ivan Pace or Brian Osomar, or even Eric Wilson. Those are all smaller guys. Kobe King brings something different, but those three late round picks. I mean, if if Ben Eurosec beats out Gavin Bartholomew, if he's much better,

then he'll just get the job. They're not going to worry about whether he was drafted in the sixth round. And the reality too is if there's a sixth round pick who gets cut as Josh Mattel is a kill get to the practice squad that almost 99% of the time will guys get cut in last year remember on cut down day I'm gonna have to remind everybody when we get there if your favorite prospect from training camp gets cut He's probably still on the team because there was a lot of I can't believe they cut this guy And then he was right on the practice squad. So even if a Eurosec beat him out,

but even O'Connell tossed out the idea of four tight ends, if they like multiples of these guys. So I think their first impression of those tight ends was pretty good. Mr. Mayor adds, just thinking of the fact that Osamuah and Chandler are still on the team, seemingly a safe face for 22. That's not, that's not the case. Those guys actually have roles on the team, seemingly a save face for 22. That's not, that's not the case.

Those guys actually have roles on the team. They are not just here to save face for 2022. If they were trying to do that, they would have kept Lewis Seen on the roster or Andrew Booth Jr. Those are the much more valuable merchandise. I don't think anyone gives a care at all about that. I think that Asimwar,

what maybe we don't talk about very much with him is he's one of the better special teamers on the team. And to us that's like, well, what does that mean? But they're going to have a lot of kick returns this year. And they were anticipating last year that there was going to be a lot of kick returns, so you need somebody who is above average, who can make, go and make tackles on those plays because if you don't, they're going to give up a lot of returns. Now that the league is

pushing the ball all the way out to the 35, if you kick it out of the back of the end zone, the Vikings have to kick off more often and have guys like awesome. And with Chandler, remember how good he was in 2023. Ty Chandler was excellent average, what 4.6 yards of Carrie had some big plays that he made and last year just seemed to lose the coaching staff's trust. But that's where if Trey Stewart's better, they're just going to get rid of Ty Chandler. He's a fifth round pick. What, what would they care? You know?

So, um, you know, I, I, I think they don't care at all about that. About, uh, they're not going to say we got to keep a fifth round pick around just because we picked them. Uh, if Trey Stewart's better than he gets the job, or they might go out and get somebody else. Uh, Jason says, uh, heard the Vikings had 51 players in camp today. A lot more than I was expecting. I don't know what the average is, but it's usually a lot because the tryouts,

it costs you nothing. Like the tryout guys, there was a huge list of tryout guys and you just bring them in, give them shirts. So I guess is the price of shirts. You bring them in, give them shirts and see if there's anything there. It's really a no risk type of thing. And you can give everybody a shot that I mean the wider net that you can cast in a situation like that, the better.

So I don't know. I actually don't know how it compares to others in the past, but I'm not surprised that there was a lot of guys. I feel like there usually is. Mark says any corners stand out a little with the seven on sevens or techniques. Yeah, the hard part about where we're standing is the offense is in front of us.

So obviously I want to watch the pass catchers and the quarterback the defense is on another field. They're doing their drills and they get together only a little bit as you mentioned on the seven on seven, but the one guy who did make a play was Zamy Vaughn, the Utah corner. But aside from that kind of hard to get a real look at the corners. They have a couple of, they have a couple of those guys, right? That they had a Kenan Garber.

I can't say that I took too much note of him, but Vaughn made a nice play for an interception and maybe that catches some sort of attention. I don't know. So, uh, let's see. Yeah, this is, uh, this is my mistake. Mike, how about Chapman the punter? Could he beat out Ryan? Right?

Uh, I'm real, I didn't make a note of where he was or if he was punting anything. They didn't do any drills where they got together to actually run something for a punter, but to your second question, could they actually have him beat out Ryan Wright? I mean, absolutely the answer is yes. Last year, Ryan Wright was a pretty good punter for them, but I think it was really inconsistent. It was his first year where he was great. And then 2023 was a struggle for Ryan Wright.

Last year he improved and they had a high percentage. If you go look, I think they had one of the top five percentages of punts inside the 20, but a lot of that might be just because they were moving the football better last year. I didn't think he was horrendous or anything last season. It's just that he didn't sustain what he did in his first year where I think everybody thought, well, they're gonna have an above average punter for a long time.

And will they keep Chapman as the international player exemption? That I don't know. If they bring him in and they like him, but they think he's maybe not there yet, then yes, because there's no cost whatsoever to that international player exemption, or it just might be somebody else.

I don't know about the Sammy's Reyes situation. I mean, with these international players, a punter is probably your best shot because the odds of somebody coming in as a skill position player are pretty low. I mean, it does happen every once in a while. The offensive tackle from the Eagles was he that Jordan? What's his name? The left tackle, my myata, was he that guy? I don't know.

But, you know, I mean, the punters, they happen all the time. The Australian guys. So maybe. But I wouldn't be surprised. I the point is, I think it's a real competition. And Kelly says would love to watch a punting competition. I think that it will's a real competition and Kelly says, uh, would love to watch a punting competition. I think that it will be a real competition with Ryan Wright, even though they, you know, did keep Ryan right around that Oscar Chapman is going to get his shot. Uh, rain valor says, uh, hope he does well enough to be a backup with Max Brosmer.

Here's the way I try to just evaluate from the sideline with very small sample sizes on a player like this. If I walk out there and watch the first five passes and go, Nope, then there's not much of a chance that the guy is really going anywhere. I mean, because they've just seen so many of these practices, so many players through the years that you kind of know right away. Does he throw the ball well enough to have a chance to play here? Because most people don't great college quarterbacks often don't throw the ball at even a baseline NFL level.

It is a big football, my friends, and it's hard to put the velocity on it, but they had him throwing routes down the sideline out routes and things like that that brosmer through I thought at a NFL Looking level now whatever happens next after that That's gonna be up to him like how it looks in training camp how the practices actually look and everything else That's gonna be up to him. But I think that he met the smell test, the initial like, Hey, here's five passes. Do you think this guy looks like a real quarterback? I thought he really met that test.

And then can he compete or can he get a spot on the practice squad? If he does well enough. Yeah. And if he gets the offense down, then I think the answer is yes. Dennis says, uh, we do need a corner hardest position and I'm hoping we find one with the UDF phase, uh, is not going to, oh, and hoping we find one of the UDF phase is not going to happen. Hoping we get one in a trade, even the ones that will be cut in camp aren't

worth it. So the quarterback position, people seem to be very fixated on the cornerback position. Uh, I've, I've noticed and I had it as a potential draft need because my thought was in the draft that there were a few guys like I didn't realize Will Johnson had a knee issue. Apparently nobody else did either until draft night and Jaday Baron was around where the Vikings were and he goes to Denver. I don't know if the Vikings were looking at him or not But those two corners those are guys that you'd be drafting to have as a as a big part of your team for a long period of time, right and Once they didn't draft those guys and they take Donovan Jackson

Then we look at the corner back room and go Alright Jackson, then we look at the corner back room and go, all right, they apparently have a lot of a lot of trust in what they see in Isaiah Rogers, who has played in the league enough to show a good sample size. He's got good data. He's got tremendous speed and he's, you know, playing significant time last year on the Super Bowl winning team. Okay. So that looks like somebody they have some confidence in and Byron Murphy, they

love, and that's why they paid him all the money. Then McKay Blackman is someone they also have a growing confidence in for 2023. That was drafted by Brian Flores and played pretty well in his first year. Behind that, the Jeff Okuda thing is just a shot in the dark. And then they also liked what they saw from Dwight McClother. And last year, that's five guys who I feel like they look at favorably as a unit overall, could they add someone else? I think so.

But you also have to ask, is the person they add going to make a difference at all? Is the person they add going to make a difference at all? Is the person they add going to be somebody that they're actually going to play or they're going to start or would we rather see it play out? Because remember last year, there's a lot of consternation about the same thing. Rightfully so when Mackay Blackman went down, but what they decided to do was they decided to let it play out first and then after they let it play out for a while and they had to decide. We are one step on gilmore away from having a really good defense here that's when they went out and they got him corner is the most. Available position throughout the summer like rossoul douglas doesn't have a job yet mike hilton doesn't have a job they can get Hilton doesn't have a job, they can get these guys in to OTAs, mini camp, get a bunch of practices under their belt and see how they fit chemistry-wise

and then probably even get to training camp and start camp and see before they go out and sign someone else. So I think that it's going to be a little more of a slow evaluation and they are going to roll the ball out for some undrafted guys, but maybe they add one more person. I don't look at it as a desperate situation because if Stefan Gilmore, Shaq Griffin and Byron Murphy could form a unit good enough to be in the top five, then you got younger and faster with Isaiah Rogers and with Makai Blackman actually a lot faster than they were last year But you are you are one injury away from a Dwight McClother And that was an undrafted free agent

But they know behind the scenes what he can do better than us just having seen him in training camp I just think that they're that at this moment They're okay with it and they want to see how it plays out if there's an injury There will be guys available later on they got two of them last year Fabian Morrow and Stefan Gilmore. David says hearing a lot of skepticism of McCarthy amid national talking heads. Okay, fine. But one criticism I don't get is that he had a slight build. Is that true?

I looked up his height and weight and Same as Matthew Stafford Mmm. I don't know about that. I don't know about that I I've seen I don't know what Matthew Stafford's listed at but I've seen Matthew Stafford up close and That's a big guy. That is a big guy. So I don't think he's the same size as Matthew Stafford. Last year, the one thing that I noticed about JJ McCarthy that I thought was different from a lot of the analysis was actually his size. If you go back and listen to the very first, how about this? Like one year ago today, when I was

doing a rookie mini camp breakdown, probably the first thing I said was he's actually bigger than I thought he was going to be in college. He did look kind of small and he's just come a long way since then. I know he lost the weight, but from the time we saw him at the podium the other day, he was looking mostly the same as he was last year. So he put the weight back on, which was, I'm sure a question for them going into his off season of would he be able to get into a hundred percent shape?

He's definitely not Matthew Stafford size, but I, what I, I think is that he's big enough, uh, that size is not a concern for me, uh, even the idea of being slight, like there's slight, slight ish type of quarterbacks in the league, but I don't look at it that way. Like he's got he's not as big as Sam Darnold, like who had this huge barrel chest, but he's a big he's a big enough quarterback. I mean, he's bigger than Kirk Cousins. So I don't know.

I just don't think that's a very reasonable thing to look at. But what I would say is he doesn't have difference making size. He's big enough to see the field six foot, two, three ish somewhere in that range. And he's strong enough to have people run into him and him not collapse into dust. But it's not like he's six, five or six six where he's going to be Josh not like he's six, five or six, six, where he's going to be Josh Allen and he's intimidating with his size

or Philip Rivers, who I stood next to once after a Vikings Chargers game. And I was like, OK, I didn't know Philip Rivers was this huge. He's just enormous. So it's not like that. It's not like a guy who's going to be six, six and stand in the pocket and just see the whole field easily They're gonna have to create lanes for him and stuff like that but even even comparing somebody's build to what are we talking about like if

He gets hit if he's gonna get hurt I mean it was really more of a knee thing that I think just having watched the You know the game back a of times when he hurt the knee, I think it was actually like a non-contact on a juke and then he went down and hit the knee and that was where he got hurt. But if that's the concern, I don't see that. I don't see it as being a concern of him not being able to take hits because he's not big enough. Somebody would have to be like 190 pounds as a quarterback for me to wonder about that. I think McCarthy when he plays is probably going to be sitting at like two hundred and fifteen.

Yeah, he's big enough. That was way too long of an answer on whether he's big enough just to say that I agree with you. I don't think that size is an issue. OK, this is funny. Generic name. Any news on tug buck? Here's just a lesson for the future for everybody the AI is getting pretty good these days and

You're always gonna have to need two sources when you look at anything on social media Because whoever created the fake tug buck from Idaho State. It was the funniest looking football prospect. It was fake. It was a I created image. Somebody put it out there, made it look real and called them tug buck, which is absolutely hilarious. Reminded me of the time Sports Illustrated did the fake picture who could supposedly throw it 160 miles an hour.

Like that was that was tug buck, but that's not a real person. It's fake. It was as it was AI. And you're just going to have to be careful in your life for deciding what's real and what's fake on the Internet. Shadow Wolf says, speaking of kickoffs, how did Silas Bolden look today? I think we have to keep him for kick return and punt return. P.S. I think Kene and Amir Smith-Marcet at least get another

kickoff return for touchdown. Yeah, both of those guys are really great at that. Kick and punt returning. Smith-Marcet, the issue with Smith-Marcet is that at least from my understanding is that he wasn't really a guy that was willing to accept what he was. And if you have a receiver that's wide receiver five or six, who's a good punt returner, that's great. But if the guy is always thinking that he should be wide receiver one and annoying the heck out of the coaches and not putting in the work he's supposed to do otherwise, then you're just going to move on from him.

And I think that that's kind of what happened a little bit with Smith. Marseille Kenny Wong, who I got the feeling that they were concerned about injuries with Wong Wu. And I don't think he had many returns last year. He also failed a physical as well. That was something that they probably didn't want to come out and say when they cut him, but then became apparent later. And what did he have three returns and one of them was for a touchdown.

But I think we sort of got the truth through what came after about Kenny Wong Wu that they were concerned about injury. And there's another thing too, and I am not accusing Kenny Wong Wu of this, but there are some players in the NFL who will not play through injuries. And again, I don't know that that's Kenny Wong Wu. It's just sometimes when a guy gets cut and you're pretty surprised, there's a reason for that, but they don't always say it. And if they felt like this guy's going to spend more time on the shelf this year than with our team returning kicks, then it made sense to cut them.

We just didn't know that at the time. So it was a surprise cut as far as Silas Bolden, very small, very, very small, but quick lightning quick. Uh, I don't know how many passes he caught today or anything, but you can, uh, somebody like that with their quickness short area quickness really stands out in the same way that like a Chad BB stood out when he came around. I do not know if he is going to have a chance to make the roster as a kicker part returner, but I do think that there's going to be a very open

competition for that position that Ty Chandler would be the leader in the clubhouse as the returner, but a kick returner. But as far as part return goes, if, if Bolden can do it, if he can catch returns, I think they want to try Ty Felton there, but let me tell you, man, trying to catch that ball flying out of the sky is no easy thing. And whoever can do it is going to have a chance. And that's Marcus Sherrill's, you know, like Marcus Sheryl's had a long career as a Minnesota Viking because he could catch the ball.

And then, of course, he had a really special ability to make plays after that. Who knows why? Like he was fast as heck, but not somebody that you would have thought of as being some star playmaker. But that was him. So maybe Bolden is that guy. I think you bring Bolden in to see if he's that guy because he fits the profile. Mr. Mayor, how many players should feel secure in their spots

due to special teams contributions from last year? We seemed awful. Bottom five in punt return stats and bottom two in kick return stats. Yeah, the stats on that side of it. Now, they did allow that one return against Chicago. They were pretty good at the coverage units last year and making tackles. But as far as how many should feel very secure, it look, if you're a special teamer in general and that's your main job, then you shouldn't feel very secure.

Period. And when you're talking about, um, probably referring to Brian Asimov here, I don't think Brian Asimov should feel secure. I just have him making the team at the moment because he was good at it. And we can, at least using like PFF grades and things like that, we can't identify who was good and who wasn't good on these things, as opposed to just taking the broader while they didn't really punt return well. So you know, we can actually look at like Jay Ward and Brian Osomal were two guys that

stood out last year, Bo Richter and a lot of that was just the coverage. They're going to have to be good there. But as far as if your job is mainly a special teamer and they don't feel like you're good enough to get on the field at any other position. Yeah, you're, you're on the edge. And I think that's Brian awesome. All is that he has to prove maybe in training camp or whatever, that he has a chance to

get on the field if they need him or he's going to be relegated to special teams. But if there's another guy they like in that spot too, they may move on. Um, that 22 draft class, it's just, it's nobody's, they call them sometimes like pet cats. I don't know if you use that in, uh, in like business or whatever, when somebody in charge has a person that they really like and it's like, Oh, he's got his pet cats or whatever. And when you draft somebody, a lot of times the coach who was in charge of drafting them is going to treat them as his pet cats and he's going to like them a little bit more than maybe even if he should. Awesome was never had that because at Donatelle drafted him, played him. He made a play against the giants and then we've never seen him

since because Brian Flores wasn't the guy who drafted him. Kobe King is a guy that Brian Flores drafted. Was that going to push him ahead? I think King has got a better chance to actually play. And when you look at King, he's so much bigger than Brian Awesome law that he could have a run stuffing role. But if they think, well, we're trying to save a roster spot, fit something in over here, over there, then he could be an odd man out. Evan is it too early to ask about the punter competition?

It's never too early to ask about the punter competition. Uh, it's just that I don't have any updates for you on the punter competition because I didn't see Oscar Chapman punt. He may have been, but I didn't, they didn't do like lining up to punt. Here are the guy punts it. And even if they did, I would be one heck of an analyst of Special teams if I could watch a guy pun a few times would be like he's got it folks Every every punt by a guy who's trying out for the NFL is gonna be pretty darn impressive

Sort of like if we all went to the driving range think about this way with a punting competition You have to see him in the games Because if we all went to the driving range and we watched a club pro and a tour pro that wasn't Tiger Woods level, how could we really tell the enormous difference unless the guy was a long hitter or something? But you'd be like, well, both these guys are way the hell better than me. And that's kind of how it is watching punters warm up and stuff.

You know, they wow, they're kicking the heck out of the ball. It's not until they get in the games that you can really tell. Blowfish says Jeff Okuda may reinvent himself within the system. That is possible. I don't want to say it's plausible, but I do think that it is possible. I mean, somebody like Okuda, it's a long shot that's worth it. I always think this when it comes to guys who are former first round draft picks, that if somebody liked him somewhere along the way, then pick him up, put him on the back end of the roster,

and see what happens. But the odds of Jeff Okuda reinventing himself are not super high. Just based on his history previously in the NFL, there haven't been too many of these guys who have been first round picks, especially all the way up at the first round, who suddenly find it somewhere else. If there is a coach who's going to figure out some role for him that he could thrive in, it's probably going to be Brian Flores.

So I don't want to count him out. I just also want to be reasonable with expectations with a guy like Okuda or a guy like Rondale Moore. It's like, I'm interested. I'm not trying to be down on the guy. I'm very interested in these camp stories of like, oh, is Jeff Okuda something? Is Rondale Moore something?

But also be realistic with those expectations. They may want to see that first though, just speaking to my point about the depth, like, Oh, why don't they get this guy or that guy? They may want to see what they have in Okuda because if Okuda struggles and it's clear that that's not going to work out, well then go out and get somebody else. And there's always a couple of guys left over who get jobs late into the summer.

I don't think it's a hard transition position. As we saw from, uh, Stephon Gilmore last year, it's not a position that you're like, wow, this is going to be really hard for him to adapt or something like, yeah, no, it's a cornerback. He's, you know, if you're a veteran, you should be able to fit in there. So they might, but they might want to look at Okuda first and then decide. Jeffrey says in only 20 snaps, very small sample size. McClother and had an 80 PFF grade. There might be something there. I would say that, um, a thousand snaps for a corner doesn't tell the story.

So probably 20 doesn't come anywhere close. And to keep the golf analogy, that would be like watching my first drive off the tee and being like, this guy's got it, folks, he's making the tour because I can drive the heck out of the ball. But then you don't see any of my other game like iron. I hit the irons pretty good the other day But chipping putting you know, that's not Anywhere close to the tour level so we'll see with McClother

I think the bigger sample existed in his training camp The joint practices Dwight McClother was one of the better players on the field in the joint practices in Cleveland last year I think he had two or three interceptions and I know they were from James Winston, but still, still, uh, he was making plays. And if you can make plays in practice, you should be able to make plays in the game. McClothern is a big guy who has a very natural ability to move with receivers, but especially to make plays on the football. He did it at Arkansas.

He did it here and I don't know what it was that made him an undrafted free agent, but he was somebody that, you know, I was talking to Chris Trapasso from CBS. It does the draft show with me every year. He had like a third round great on him and he kind of looked like that. I would not have guessed if you just showed me Dwight McLaughlin last year camp that he was undrafted And there's more confidence in Him in the building it seems like then there is from the outside because he just hasn't played much

Whether they're right about that. We'll find out Alex is still upset about AI tricking me last night. Sorry, man. Sorry. It's not that hard with what was his name? Tug Buck. Tug Buck sounds like somebody that would have made on MVP 05 baseball game. It was the big giant guy Tug Buck who hits a million home runs or something. Whoever does that sort of whoever did that was very funny and doing it, but really should reveal that it was not real because we were talking about in the media room today. A lot of us got questions about this person were like, Ooh, what? That was fake. But when you look at the announcement, it looks kind of real.

I just would suggest always consider the source when it comes to Viking stuff. I mean, if Tom Pellicero puts out tug buck is coming to the Vikings, okay, well, you know that Tom is going to be right and that he's coming to the Vikings. Okay, well, you know that Tom is gonna be right and that he's telling you the truth. If it's some random account that you've never heard of before and ever seen before, maybe take a few extra minutes to look around and see if that's a real thing.

Because everyone on the internet does not represent everything properly. Put it that way. And, uh, tug buck was, I mean, I think it's funny. I really do think it's funny, but the number of people that have fooled is like, guys, we're going to have to, uh, we're going to have to have a conversation about this. Like let's, when it comes to Vikings news, make sure you're considering the source. I know we all want tug buck to be real. I certainly did.

David says still think they'll make a deal for a corner or a free agent addition like they did last year have concerns in terms of those players not having enough experience or healthy snaps more so than JJ. Well, I mean, JJ is a totally different conversation from the corners. That's I mean, the quarterback position is so much different. But I mean, Rogers has been in the league for five years now. And Byron Murphy is the centerpiece of this cornerback group. And Mackay Blackman has played in the league and had a pretty good season

already under his belt. So and Okuda has been around if he's going to be one of those guys. The point just being like, it's not like they're totally inexperienced, but I'm not against them adding someone else. I just don't think it's a mistake if they let it play out first and then they go from there to see if they want someone else. Let's see how it looks in practice. And then like they did this last year, they said, all right, Stephon Gilmore is still a free agent. We want him here, but he's not here. So let's see

if Andrew Booth can prove it. Let's see if a Caleb Evans, like how long ago was this in our life? Does this feel like when I say a Caleb Evans, it feels like 19 years ago that he was on the team, but they said a Caleb Evans prove it. Let's see it. And he didn't. And neither did Andrew Booth. So there's going to be a prove it situation and that didn't cost them their secondary last year. They resolved it. But if Rogers comes out and looks great, and if a McKay Blackman recovers,

comes out looking great, then they're going to roll with those guys and keep it this way rather than going and getting some 30 year old something. And I was looking this up for a question last night that someone asked about the age curve for corners. I mean, Stefan Gilmore playing as well as he did last year, and even Shaq Griffin pretty much outliers. And we just don't see it a lot that the number of even starts that a corner has after the age of 28, like goes down steeply, very much like running backs do. You see some other positions, defensive line where it's kind of a smooth goes down as they get older, but with corners that 28, 29, there's like a big drop off. So they've got younger guys now and maybe ascending guys if Rogers gets more

Work than he's ever had before and especially black men as well Jay Mulls says don't forget McCarthy is only 2122 same as Dallas Turner both really young you can keep growing until your mid 20s They will still both grow for a couple more years I I'm the size yeah The size is not a concern for me with JJ McCarthy Once I saw him in person the first time I was like he's big enough and he certainly throws the ball hard enough So I don't have too much worry about that with Dallas Turner. We'll see

About how he comes back. I'm really looking more at training camp than I am at OTAs or mini camp I mean if he put on 30 pounds or something since January, then something is weird there. So I don't expect him to look massively bigger right away, but you know, it was clear last year, I think with Dallas Turner, actually the thing was that he needed to maintain his size throughout the season. See, this is a huge challenge for players is maintaining those weights throughout the year.

And I've been, and I won't tell you who, cause you know, that, that to me would be like, uh, breaking a rule of reporters being inside the locker room. But one day I was standing near where the players weigh themselves and a guy who was listed at about 260 pounds stepped on that thing and it said like 240. I was like, okay now that that wasn't last year That was just in the past but I was like, okay And that was late in the season like these guys do not weigh what their height and weight say by the end of the season because you just can't keep the weight on with the games, the work they're putting in, the amount of effort it takes to even sustain your weight from

to keep it okay throughout the season is a lot of work, a lot of lifting, you know, that sort of thing. So, uh, that's something that Dallas Turner will just learn as he goes along. And I think he started to learn that last year from Brian Flores and the other players, but the way that, uh, Jonathan, Grenard and Josh Mattel has talked about Dallas Turner the other day, it actually really stood out to me because, uh, they didn't just say, oh yeah, we love this kid. Like he's coming along and you know, specifics.

They said, what we really like is that he gets it, that he understands last year was a welcome to the NFL year for him behind some really, really good players. And he is seen what he needs to get to that level of an Andrew van Ginkle and a Jonathan Grenard, and he wants to get there. And that awareness alone is a, that's a skill. That's a skill. Any updates on Will Reichard?

I have the funniest update on Will Reichard I could possibly give you. So when we went out there two weeks ago for off-season workouts, they had this thing. It was like a sled and it had a bunch of weight on it and they were tying these bands to it and putting them around their waist and they were doing like side shuffles and I don't know what this is supposed to do with the bands and the side shuffling, but Will Reichard was doing it alongside guys who are big giant

Jacked NFL players and it kind of looked like me out there. Will Reichardt, of course, is insanely more gifted at his thing that he does kicking than anybody else on earth almost. But as far as an intimidating human being, he is not. And so that kind of looks funny. There's your will right. Reichardt update. I mean, as far as I know, he's healthy and that's all we can do for now.

And then I don't even think we'll be watching all that close unless there's a problem throughout the off season. Will Riker. We know how good he can be. You know, we know how good he can be. Just last year, I think he pushed it. And that's a lesson that you have to learn as a rookie that you got to know when is a good time to say, Hey, I can't kick at my level. And when is a good time to say, Hey, I can't kick at my level.

And when is a good time to say, all right, I can push through something. We even saw that from Dan Bailey, who was a veteran. He was kicking injured in 2020 and it cost them. He should have pulled himself out of the game, but you know, he was hurt and it cost them in 2020, you had that meltdown game against Tampa Bay. That was tough. And that was one of the best kickers of the era. Brad says any thoughts about the rumored back to back international

games for the Minnesota Vikings? Yeah, it sounds like it's going to happen. I think that if you are a player's family member, you're probably like, really? That's going to be pretty hard and probably difficult on the entire organization. Having to pack it up for a week and fly it all back enough is very difficult but having to pack it up for a couple days and you fly back versus I'm going to stay in Vegas for an entire week. Then you got to pack a lot more, uh, multiply that by hundreds of people who are going to be going the whole roster, the coaching staff, everybody who works

there, I mean, it's going to be a one heck of an undertaking for them, but. From the perspective here's where I think it's a small advantage. You don't have to go to Pittsburgh. That's an advantage. If indeed it ends up turning out that the reports are correct, not having to go to Pittsburgh and play there. I think it's tough to play there. They got, you know, playing on grass, um, and the defense that they have, I think

they've known how to take advantage of that building for a long time, the passionate fan base. Now you're taking them to a neutral field. And even though it's a neutral field, a really far distance away, you don't have to lose your advantage or they don't have their advantage. They lose their advantage against you. And now it's a very even playing field. I think that's much different to play Cam Hayward in his house versus playing Cam Hayward in some random place in Dublin.

But the back to back thing is going to be, I think, challenging for them. Luckily, it's the Browns that they get to face in the second leg of the back to back, if that's how it plays out. It's it's bold for the NFL to make the Vikings do this. But I don't think that it hurts them in any way because you just don't have two road games and instead you get neutral field in a year where they only have eight home games and nine road games. Well, now it turns into eight, seven and two, which I think ultimately helps them.

I do pray for the London fans that have to watch whoever plays quarterback for the Browns though I'm sorry for that But they like kicking they'll punt a lot David says like with Okuda They need to get a corner with man experience who can adapt to zone if we could be more aggressive With the internal defensive line pressure they could be top five defensively So I thought about that a lot last year about how they talked as if they wanted to play a lot more man coverage.

And then they just really didn't. And Shaq Griffin was their best man coverage guy, but he only played it like 30% of the time. I think this defense is going to be a more of his own defense. And signing Byron Murphy back tells you a story there because they probably could have gotten DJ Reed or Sharvarious Ward if they had spent a little more money and those are man corners, but instead they decided to bring back Murphy who's more of a zone specialist and that tells a story to me that

that's their main guy who's going to be on the field every play, but they're probably going to play within that structure. I actually think with Jeff Okuda, that's that would be the argument for it like working out. I mean, is that I think what he was billed as is this guy who could just lock everybody down, but then he was way too grabby. Lots of penalties, except for when he was playing against the Vikings for some reason. And that one game, they didn't flag him very much, lots of penalties and just being bigger than everybody else worked for him in college, but didn't work from the NFL, but maybe in a system where he's not having to lock people down and instead

can use instincts, explosiveness, that there's a chance if he can get it mentally, that he could be a plus player for them in that regard. So I'm interested in just how that ends up working out. Uh, chances, blowfishes, chances of two international games this season, while it seems like it's high, um, being in the UK would love to watch them in Ireland against the Steelers and then Tottenham Stadium against the Browns. Well, that's something I thought of because I, you know, I've expressed on the show that

I wanted to go to Pittsburgh. So I'm a little disappointed that they're taking that one. There's it's one of my favorite cities of all time. I love going there. I would have loved it was in October or maybe September. See a baseball game there. September. They're not playing in October. So September, but for fans like yourself, the Minnesota Vikings,

and I have a lot of people who watch listen to the show reach out to me from overseas. I think they have one of the biggest overseas, if not the biggest, a fan base of people that are not located in the U.S. And that's amazing for them to have that sort of brand power that they're popular in places like that. And those fans, unless you're flying all the way across the United States, you don't get many opportunities to see, you know, that your team. But in this case, going over there and playing two games would allow a lot of international fans to travel and see the game.

So it's a really cool thing if it ends up working out or that's how it is, like the reports, it's a really cool thing for all of those fans. And I think it ultimately is good for the Vikings. It's just going to be I think it's just going to be taxing now to be overseas for two weeks and then come back. And in one week, it's probably not that hard to adjust to the time difference. All right, you just get back on track when you get home two weeks, though, then it gets ingrained and then they got to have to undo that.

So hopefully after that, they get their bye week. I would assume they would and then they can get back on the right clock, but The previous games in the last few years going overseas have not hurt this team's chances the last two times they went over They won 13 and 14 games, so I'm not too concerned about that Let's see Matt Matt Burke had a tough time keeping weight on yeah, there's some guys That it's crazy because they're not supposed to be this big. They're just not.

But they put the weight on because they're athletic enough to still play. Garrett Bradbury is one of those guys, and it was always a problem for him where midway through the season. Look, if you look it up, you guys are PFF people. You can look this up midway through the season. He was in the look it up, you guys are PFF people, you can look this up. Midway through the season, he was in the top 10 in pass blocking. And he was playing well. And I remember having this discussion of like, well, maybe this works now for him and everything else.

The second half of the season, it goes down the drain. And I think part of that is because he had trouble keeping the weight on throughout a season. Anything on Ty Ingram Dawkins? I can't say on the defensive side that I could see a whole lot from where I was today. I was mostly just watching Max Brosmer throw to pass catchers, but we'll see more of him in the OTAs and mini camp when they actually start lining him up. Where is he lining up is a good question.

Is it going to be more of a DT? Is it going to be more of you DT? Is it going to be more of, you know, an outside linebacker type? Like, how's it going to go? So, um, Stafford is listed at 214. McCarthy is listed at 219. Cousins is 205, all 6-3. Here's what I, here's what I could tell you the listing of weight of Matthew Stafford at 214 pounds Uh, what was I in college what was I in college I think I was uh, maybe 180

So let's say I'm 180 now It yeah, it's 30 pounds heavier than that. But like I'm 180 Matthew Stafford weighs It yeah, it's 30 pounds heavier than that. But like I'm 180 Matthew Stafford weighs 235 pounds I promise you he does I mean he's a huge guy and he has this big giant Chest like that's when you see him just rip the ball It's kind of like Sam Darnold like when he rips that ball that's all coming from like the core and his strength he rips that ball, that's all coming from like the core and his strength to 14. That means they weighed him at the combine and then never asked again.

There is no way on earth that JJ McCarthy weighs more than Matthew Stafford. Uh, cousins 205 probably right. Um, he was a little more slender because that's a, you know, cousins, a great point though about like, is there a concern about McCarthy's weight? Uh, well, once he's put it back on after the injury or his frame, Kirk Cousins never got hurt until he tore an Achilles, which has nothing to do with getting hit. Being durable is not a weight thing. Uh, Jordan Addison has been durable. Uh, did Ty Felton have any drops today? I don't recall seeing any drops from Ty Felton.

I only recall seeing maybe two or three passes that went to him in a seven on seven. So but none of them were dropped. Progress from the very beginning. That's what I mean about rookie mini camp is there's only so much that you can you can really do Bitter Bruce says Max Brosmer looked very good in rookie camp according to Vikings insider Who's that who's Vikings insider? Is that me am I purple inside who's Vikings insider is that the Vikings website I I mean I talked about this a lot. I'm just curious, like there's a lot of random, this is what I mean. There's a lot of social media,

random accounts that just steal reports from real reporters who are there and just say that what happened and you know, like, is it real? Like I don't know what Vikings Insider is if that's, but if that's the team website, like, yeah, I mean, they're reporting correctly that, uh, Brosmer looked really good. I just like we were talking about with tug buck. That's what it's like an AI creation. People think is a real person, just like people think that some of these random accounts on social media are actually at these practices or actually at the facility and doing the reporting and they're truly not. They're just taking stuff from the star tribute ESPN myself and I think it's really hard for fans to tell the difference and that's my point about like find a second source if you're not getting it directly from any of us.

Anything on preseason opponents being the Rams and Patriots yeah that's that's gonna happen because they're doing joint practices with those teams. So that's gonna happen. Yep. I Mean certainly doesn't matter Who they are but those are some Definitely some Teams that I think are interesting to have practice with Maybe McVeigh can reveal all the things that he did to Kevin O'Connell in the playoff game But the Patriots will be a fascinating team to be around. O'Connell and Vrabel clearly have,

you know, it's a network, huh? Yeah, I'm sorry, I've never heard of it. I just know that a lot of our work gets stolen and that's just the nature of the beast these days. But according to Vikings Insider, Matthew Stafford is barrel chested and 235 pounds. There is no way Matthew Stafford is 214. There's no way. I'm not that's not a criticism of stafford i just mean having seen him up close he's enormous. JJ McCarthy sizes zero concern to me until it becomes an issue but i'm not sure how it could other than.

Until it becomes an issue, but I'm not sure how it could other than him losing the weight was concerning because you went alright If he struggles to put this back on after the injury could this set him back a little bit? But he didn't and he looks normal now. It'll be okay. I'm not too concerned about his size Dennis says hoping that Brosmer jumps rip in to be quarterback three not a fan of howl Let's hope he never has to win a game for us I'd be happy seeing him take a victory formation. Well any backup quarterback is gonna be a terrible thing for your team There's no question This franchise has had the best luck with backup quarterbacks of any franchise in the universe But if we're being honest, Sam Howell Ryan Tannehill Carson Wentz

Joe Flacco any of the guys that they could have had as their backup quarterbacks, none of it is a good idea. One thing did catch my eye about Sam Howell. He actually had a stretch for Washington, a seven game stretch where he threw 14 touchdowns, four picks and led the NFL in big time throws. And then their team went to crap and so did his play. But I don't think he's without talent.

And if they can harness it with Kevin O'Connell and with their coaching staff, then he probably can be a good backup in the league. He's got the talent to do so. I'm not counting out Brett Rippen as the backup quarterback. He's a guy who's played in the NFL before he's developed. But, you know, when you're saying you hope Brosmer jumps, those guys, it's really for me, it's like the, if you're a quarterback who's never played before, everyone loves you because they haven't seen your flaws.

And once they've seen your flaws, they're like, okay, onto the next guy. But my, my takeaway from Brosmer was that he played well, uh, that he had, uh, in practice today, NFL caliber throwing of the football, which is a great place to start and he's going to get an opportunity here. And again, I just think that there's, uh, this is a franchise that is not going to just be like, Oh, sorry, we spent a trade down in the draft for Sam Howell. You stay out of here, Max Brosmer. I mean, if he's good, then they're just going to have him be there,

but he'll have a chance. He will definitely have a chance. John says we have to remember that they could trade for a quarterback if they think they need to if injury happens or if they just don't like how it looks. If Sam Howell ends up being not as good as they wanted him to be for the backup, then they could just go out, like you said, and get somebody else. There will be some quarterback, a veteran who doesn't win a job or whatever it might be, and they could look at it like Nick Mullins a couple of years ago.

The backup quarterback thing is much more. It's like how much it's talked about versus how much it really matters is way more talked about than matters. But I suppose in a situation like this, here's where you could try to sell me on this conversation. It's always tough. Cause I think if you go to the backup, you're just in trouble and there's no real solution, but this is a team that needs to have a backup who could win a few games if they,

if they have to, because of an injury, if JJ McCarthy were to get banged up for a couple of weeks, you need to have somebody who could win games for you and give you a chance to still make the playoffs. And how will, at least my point is just how well at least has had a stretch in the NFL where he's shown he can do that and John I agree with you that Eric Biennami Kind of showed you who was the reason Patrick Mahomes was so good was Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid And that's no disrespect

But I think the enemy a lot of people wanted him to be a head coach and there was a reason why he wasn't because It was really enemy. A lot of people wanted him to be a head coach and there was a reason why he wasn't because it was really Andy Reed and Patrick Mahomes. Blade Runner says Mullins was entertaining. He was. Look, I mean to me Nick Mullins is the perfect kind of backup if you don't have a great backup, which usually there's five of those in the whole league because he could come in, run the offense. He was going to be fearless, push the ball down the field. And really they should have won at least two of those games with Nick Mullins. I mean, the one was not his fault

because it was the tush push that shouldn't have. And then there was the T Higgins mossing in the end zone in that game in 2023. And then they should have won that Lions game as well at home, but instead of throwing it out in front of Justin Jefferson, he Let it go out of his hand bunny and it got picked off. So Blowfish is with KOC guiding the starting quarterback means you don't need to be the backup

To be on the radio telling him what he sees yet. No. Yeah, I mean, that's right. That's right But I think you do need as a backup somebody who is going to be good inside the room though as in helping jj mccarthy prepare for games and also helping your defense prepare for the next quarterback, but Just somebody who is there for mccarthy with experience which howl has at least enough of. I would have maybe preferred someone with a little more experience instead of a guy who's only a couple of years older than him. But, you know, I mean, how much of a difference should these things make? You're right. When you have Kevin O'Connell as your head coach.

So anyway, well, we've we've covered a lot here. We've covered the the future of AI and the machines running the truth for us on the interwebs and also the Gophers quarterback looking pretty good and I don't really have a lot of other takeaways from rookie mini camp But OTAs are around the corner. Those will be in two weeks and next week will be the schedule release We'll have a lot of fun then but also You know these chats to me are a lot of fun. Just you guys throwing out questions and i was having conversations so there will be a lot more of those mondays and thursdays usually live shows a lot more to do and always a fun time to kind of kick our heels back up and.

Just have a good discussion about football so thanks everybody for your your time jumping in I'm gonna go watch some NBA playoff basketball and Maybe maybe scout out. Ok. See the wolves next opponent I think if things keep going this way, so thanks everybody again for your time another fun chat and we'll talk to you all soon football