Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Immediate roster Q's the next Vikings GM must face (Part 1)

Episode Date: May 5, 2026

Matthew Coller talks about the post-June 1 and training camp questions that the next Vikings general manager must face and takes ideas from Vikings fans about how to approach the current roster. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider presented by Fanduil, Matthew Collar, here. And we've got about an hour and 15 minutes until the Minnesota Timberwolves take the floor. And apparently Anthony Edwards is going to be back, which is insane. So that should be a very interesting series between them and the San Antonio Spurs. I don't want to miss it. I know you don't want to miss it. But we've got some time now to talk about football. So I want to start a little bit of a series here on the show of looking at decisions that are facing the next Minnesota Vikings general manager, whether it's Rob Brasinski or somebody from the outside.

They're going to have to make some choices with this roster. So I've got a couple parts to look at now, some parts to look at later. And what I want to hear from you guys in the chat is what would you do with these decisions that I'm going to go over in just a second? also everything's on the table. I mean, it's May, it's early. We've got a lot to think about, but not a lot of action, not a lot of news that is changing right now, which means every question, thought, comment, whether it's going back to the draft or if it's about what the next GM's going to do or upcoming mini camps, OTAs, all that sort of

stuff and beyond, I'm down for whatever is on your mind. So let me jump right into it here and begin with the first part of upcoming roster decisions that must be faced by the next Minnesota Vikings general manager. And that starts with post-June 1st signings and post-training camp moves. So right away, when they name a general manager, they will have to make some decisions on moves. And I don't know whether a Joanne Jennings situation is impacted by the Vikings not having a general manager. I mean, they had them in for a visit, but they get extra cap space after June 1st. They have enough to agree to a deal and then, you know, get it done then. But, you know, maybe there's just logistical situation there because it's not like anyone has signed Joanne Jones.

I'm sorry, Joanne Jennings. Who's Joanne Jones? was that like a running back uh joan jennings they have not signed joan jennings uh and no one else has either so i don't know if every team is kind of waiting for that or if he's waiting for some other offer to come in and then he's going to go back to the teams that he met with i actually haven't seen jennings meeting with any other teams because i kind of expected him to go on some sort of tour so does this mean that he wants too much money or that there are some concerns about him in a different way i mean there was a little bit when it came to Jennings, the thing with Shelby Harris, where he talked about

after a game, you know, the trash talk that Jennings was using on the field was a little too far or whatever it might have been. And I don't know what the situation was in San Francisco if he was happy with his role or not happy. But he's been a good wide receiver for them. I would have thought that somebody would have come in and signed him. But it actually, you know it reminds me of is it kind of reminds me of Dalton Reisner, where we knew that Dalton Reisner was a good offensive lineman, but I don't think anyone ever thought Reisner was a great offensive lineman, except for maybe him and his representation that wanted certain dollar figures that no one in the NFL was willing to reach. And that might be the same situation

with someone like Joanne Jennings. So obviously they will have to make a decision there. If he's interested, what's your offer? How much would you be willing? to pay him, how many years would you go multi, you know what I mean, multi year, how many dollars, you know, whatever it might be. And if he's not signed before the Vikings hire a general manager, that will be on the decision list. I've included on my graphic here other available free agents that I think could be a fit. So right after the new GM arrives, there are positions that I think could be addressed in free agency. And there's a surprising number of proven players that are still available in free agency.

You just, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe every year it's like this, but I feel like this year in particular that there were a lot of guys who have kind of fallen through the cracks that have significant histories in the NFL. And some of them might have been older, but if you go through every team that wins or reaches the Super Bowl or whatever, there's usually a couple of guys who are kind of ancient that came in and filled the spot. The one that's coming to mind right off is like Eric Weddle playing for the Rams.

kind of coming out of retirement and then signing with them as a free agent in the playoffs and playing for them then. But, I mean, the Patriots used to do this all the time. That Ravens team that won in 2012 had a bunch of those types of guys. So Randy Moss was a San Francisco 49er that year in the Super Bowl. It does happen a lot where good teams will pick up a guy or two that's a veteran who's bounced around. So where do they want to add or do they want to add with those veterans?

do they want to wait until after training camp? So the positions that I think that the Vikings could address in some way or another, wide receiver seems pretty obvious that right now it's Ty Felton, it's Miles Price, it's undrafted free agents that they've brought in that are competing for wide receiver three. And no matter how much you want to have extra tight ends out on the field, they didn't draft Kenyon Sadiq and they didn't draft a wide receiver. So what are you going to do at that position? and their interest in Jennings right away shows you,

yeah, they're looking at guys who could be wide receiver three. Also, I think interior offensive line, there are a couple guys out there that maybe I didn't put on my list because I think that, you know, maybe there's more starters that are out there right now, but there are some guys who have bounced around the league like Greg Van Rotten as a backup who they could potentially bring in unless they think that Michael Juergens could play guard

or that they could move in Caleb Tiernan or Ryan Vandemark to guard if they needed to, but I think you would prefer to just have a proven offensive guard as a backup, one of those veteran guys who maybe could play either side if they needed to. So I've got wide receiver, interior offensive line, edge rusher for sure, because you sent a guy out and you were already light at that position. I mean, last year there were a couple times where they had to throw Chas Chambliss out there or Bo Richter because they just ran out of edge rushers.

Well, somebody needs to come in, I think, as a edge rusher to be behind Dallas Turner and Andrew Van Ginkle because Van Ginkle has been banged up and maybe you want Jake Golda to be his backup. But that's a lot to ask right away. Can you find some veteran edge rusher or defensive end? Because I think what Dallas Turner is going to be is more of a defensive end. Even if he stands up sometimes on the outside and they run three, four looks. But he's going to be more of just a pure pattern. rusher this year. So that gives you a little more flexibility to add somebody else. So edge rusher, defensive tackle still, I know they added a guy the other day who's played a little

bit in the NFL, but there are some good defensive tackle still available. And I think asking Caleb Banks and Dominic Orange to just be the guys or Tyongrum Dawkins, Levi-Drake Rodriguez, I think we know can play a fair number of snaps. But if you're kind of developing a specific role for Caleb banks and don't have anybody else that can jump in. Like, what if he does get banged up? Or what if he isn't really ready to play 40 or 50 snaps in a game, which seems like it would be a huge ask for someone who missed the entire 2025 season and is going to miss working out in the off season due to his recovery?

So defensive tackle is pretty important slash 3-4 DE. And safety, I would still toss out there. I mean, I know they got Jacoby Thomas. I know they've got a real competition going on. but one more veteran if Harrison Smith is not going to arrive here would not be a bad idea. So the free agents that I scooped up off the free agent list and Mike Clay tweeted out maybe a week ago the entire list, which again has a lot of players. Then you're like, oh, yeah, I know that guy. Obviously, DeAndre Hopkins is probably the top wide receiver if it's not Joanne Jennings that the Vikings could consider.

Cam Jordan, I kind of don't see how that would really be a great fit based on the systems that he's played in his career. But he's Steve Jordan's son and he's awesome. So that would be fun. Kyle Van Ney is a guy that would fit much better. If you're looking for someone who could kind of be the poor man's, Andrew Van Ginkle, play that outside linebacker role. He's been with the Patriots.

He's been with the Ravens. And he was okay last year. So maybe that's your veteran player. You add Dante Fowler is. much more of the Dallas Turner, Jonathan Grenard, previously role. And Fowler, despite the fact that Dallas was really bad on defense, he was okay last year. And so that might be a depth player there. Bobby Okariki at linebacker, I kind of threw him in there as maybe someone that could be

one of those versatile pieces for them. DeQuan Jones, I'm interested in. He's Caleb Banks size and has been around the NFL for a long time. A couple corners that don't excite you, but are veterans that maybe have slid a little bit and they might be looking for starting jobs, but I don't know if they're going to get them. Trey White, Marshawn Latimore, and Trayvon Diggs are the top corners that are out there. Safeties, Taylor Rap, Donovan Wilson, and Gibral Peppers are all guys.

And I've always thought that Peppers would be a good player within the Brian Flores system. So there are your first bunch of decisions for the next general manager is, who are you going to add right away to try to try. to enhance this roster, if anyone. And then the post-camp moves are where it could get really interesting because Quasi and Aflmenza loved to play in the post camp, along with, you know, Kevin O'Connell, Brian Flores. They made a lot of late ads, including Dalton Reisner, but also you look at Stefan Gilmore.

That was their best one. There's a few more that didn't work out exactly how they thought, like trading away Harrison Phillips or trading for Jalen Rager laid in camp in. 2003. That was not a good choice. But will the new GM have ideas about what to do with the 53 man roster and hey, we could trade for this player, we can acquire that player, how are they going to address these positions of need and how aggressive do they want to be? Because now that they have the extra cap space, they have some flexibility to make moves like that if they want to. And it doesn't feel like it's a total reset. It doesn't feel like they let go.

every single veteran and are trying to just build this super young roster for 2026. They kept Aaron Jones. They kept T.J. Hawkinson. So, you know, like, are you going to continue to add and do the best you can to try to win? Or are you going to kind of let it play out? So will you add veterans right now? Or do you want to see Ty Felton for an entire training camp and then decide, is this guy ready to go or not?

I'm very curious about how that might go. And then if you get to the end of camp, and you need this, that, and the other thing, how aggressive will they be willing to be? I tend to think that end of camp training, or end of training camp moves are not the most effective. A lot of times a guy's been cut from another team for a reason, or is being traded away for another team for a reason.

And it's like, okay, if you're kind of going to somebody's yard sale, you'd rather pick up a free agent who's still out there right now that may have been asking for too much money or may have slipped through the cracks, rather than saying, uh-oh, we need a corner. So I guess we'll just pick up and no disrespect because Fabian Morrow was good. But like, we'll just grab Fabian Morrow. Like, that's usually not the best way to approach it. Major changes at the end of training camp.

I don't know how often that works out. I remember how much we discussed Tremaine Brock. I don't know why that one comes to mind. But when they traded for Tremaine Brock or signed him or whatever it was, at the end of the 2017 training camp, it was a big, are they getting rid of Trey Wayans? Is he a bust? Whatever else is like, this didn't mean anything to that team. And oftentimes it doesn't.

So those are the kind of the first decisions. And I'm curious for the chat, you know, what you guys would like to see right away in the post-June first moves or if you think that they should wait until post-camp to decide where they stand in a lot of roster decisions. Okay. the next group is 2027 veteran free agents. So the old guys and who to give a contract extension to. Now, I did include two names that it's very unlikely that they would do that right away since they just reworked their contracts. But like, stay with me here.

So Brian O'Neill is the first name. I think that's the hardest decision to make because O'Neill is excellent. He's a captain. He's a guy that you want to go maybe in your ring of honor someday. Like, he's that level of a player, pro bowler, and was still playing at a super high level last year. Even though he was banged up at times, he was still playing really well. But expensive. It is not cheap anymore to sign your right tackle.

Your right tackle is going to cost between $25 and $30 million if they're at the top of their profession. And I would say that Brian O'Neill is right up there with any other right tackle in the NFL. And the data backs that up and his performance backs that up and his leadership in the locker room and all that sort of stuff in the O-line room. It's just a great player. But into his 30s and are you going to spend $60 million basically between Christian Derasaw and Brian O'Neill? I think that's not an easy decision to make. And maybe drafting Caleb Tiernan gave us at least a little bit of a hint of where they stand. Maybe it didn't.

Maybe it's more about Will Fries and he's going to be a guard. If he starts out completely a right tackle and they don't sign O'Neill to an extension, that feels to me like they want to get a look at that. So O'Neill's the first player on the list. Andrew Van Ginkle, I would call him the most unique defensive player in the entire NFL. I've never seen anybody like him. I don't know if it'll ever completely be emulated ever again the way that he plays. And maybe historically, there's been some guys like him.

But I was, I asked Brian Flores this maybe two years ago. Like, who does he remind you of? And we were struggling to come up with comparable players who drop back in coverage. And I tried to look at the data on this. How often some of the guys who created double-digit sacks also dropped back in coverage as much. And you kind of have to go back to the old three, four days to find some guys that are like him. So he is super unique, but 31 years old. And his contract comes up after this.

Do you give him an extension and keep him around for another year or another year, too, and kind of go year to year with him like they've been doing. Or do you just say, hey, it's been great. But once you get past this, the age curve, there is not an age curve for guys that get to 32, 33, 34. So you really do have to kind of go year to year. And Van Ginkle might be looking for that one last contract from somebody else that says, no, we'll take this really unique player.

So do you come in and extend him or did you draft Jake Golda to be him? and you're going to wait and see how that plays out. Blake Cashman is a do-it-all middle linebacker. He can blitz. He can drop back in coverage. He's physical against the run. When they haven't had him in there, it's been very noticeable. He is the green dot player, but he's another guy that's going to be entering his 30s.

So do you give him a multi-year extension when he's had a lot of injuries? And he plays like an absolute cycle, like his hair on fire, which sometimes leads to, you know, getting back. hanged up. Aaron Jones and T.J. Hawkinson, I included. I know that they have already reworked their contracts, so they will eventually be free agents. So maybe it's a little less immediate. But what if halfway through the season, T.J. Hawkinson is clicking with Kyler Murray. Like, Aaron Jones probably, this is a decision you have to make at the end of the season. But T.J. Hawkinson might be one that you talk to him if it's going really well about, like, what about a contract extension? Even though they reworked

his deal to make him a free agent after this year. And Blake Brandel is another one that they would have to let play out through this season. But what if he's good? Like, what if they are really happy with the way that Blake Brandel plays center for this team? Because so far, they have brought in no competition at all, really at the center position. So the first three guys are really big decisions right away. They're star players. They make a lot of money.

And they're getting on the older side. So do you extend them during training camp? is that the we show up to training camp third day and they announce a big extension and the other ones are wait and see i would be very surprised if farin jones is here after this year but you never know and uh hawkinson i i would leave the door open uh i don't think that he would take it personally the way that they reworked his contract to keep him around and i think if they really like what happens with kiler murray that they would consider uh an extension for him all right last part of our three-part upcoming roster decisions for the next general manager.

And I've got more, but for another day, about a little bit longer-term type of decisions. This one is young-ish players. Jalen Redmond is not that young. He's like 27, but, you know, and the same goes for Isaiah Rogers, but less experienced players than, say, Brian O'Neill and Blake Cashman and the decisions there. So Jalen Redman is going to be an RFA after 2027. which allows the Vikings to potentially, you know, just sign him or match an offer or whatever and keep going with him at a very cheap price.

But that's not, it's not that fair to Jalen Redmond the way that he's played. So if you would like to keep him for the next five years, because he is a good and emerging player, then maybe just signing him to an extension now rather than letting this continue to drag and play out of, well, he's a exclusive rights free agent this year. so you only have to pay him a million bucks and that's not right. The guy's worth a lot more than that. And then, well, he's an RFA, so we don't have to give him that much unless he gets a huge offer elsewhere.

Well, that's not great either. And look, I mean, you get to play by the rules. But if you want to keep him for multiple years, then it might be a good idea to extend him now and just sort of forego all of that, you know, into the future and get him locked in. Isaiah Rogers is a really interesting one because his quickness and speed, I think it's going to age really well in the NFL. He was very healthy last year and, well, not perfect, still had a very good season overall, had one really bad game against Philadelphia. But other than that, like Rogers played very well in this system. He was a great fit.

Can be a game changer. Very explosive. Yeah, I just thought he was a good corner, but good corners, as we've seen. sometimes are worth upwards of $15 to $20 million in free agency, if not. I mean, the great ones are going to go for more than that. But the good ones tend to go from 15 to 20 something. So are they going to be willing to invest that in Isaiah Rogers? Well, Byron Murphy is still on the team.

Would they do something with him? Jordan Mason is an interesting one, too, where his contract comes up. He's 27. There's that scary age cliff. But he doesn't have a lot of mileage for his. his career and you could really see a Demand Claiborne, Jordan Mason combo working out. So will they extend him or will they look elsewhere at the running back position? And then Jay Ward is another one as well, which, I mean, this goes for, like, they could do

a Rogers extension soon. They could do a Redmond extension soon. I mean, they could even do a Mason one if they wanted to, but that one they might let play out just to see where he's at health-wise. And the same goes for Jay Ward. there you go. There is our list of players who are short-term decisions for the Minnesota Vikings' upcoming general managers. So let's get to you guys and your thoughts and feelings on what they should do in the short-term. As soon as the GM takes over and some, I included

short-term as in throughout this year would be short-term as well. And there are ones that we could stretch on. There are certainly ones we could reach on like, is it a short-term decision that if J.J. McCarthy loses the quarterback competition to Carson Wentz that you decide to trade him. I think this would have been a little hotter discussion if that were the case. But I just don't see that as realistic. I just don't see if J.J. McCarthy is behind Carson Wentz because Kevin O'Connell does not trust him as much with the offense as he trusts Wentz. Trading him away, I mean, I guess if he's pulling like a George Costanza back in the day, dragging the, you know, the trophy around, uh, the parking lot or whatever for Seinfeld fans.

Um, if he's like trying to, uh, get traded and, you know, I don't know, acting up or something, I guess then maybe you start to consider that, but I mean, Kevin O'Connell has gotten to his third quarterback several times. Uh, now two times in four years. I think he wants to have that room be as deep as possible. And why not let it play out with J.J. McCarthy rather than trading him away. So I mean, I guess we could include. that under decisions if there is any type of trade that they would move a player out but now that granard is gone i don't really see that maybe you guys see something differently so why don't we get to your thoughts and ideas and uh and we'll have a good conversation here oh uh real quick i did

want to get to before we jump totally into all of your thoughts and questions um fandul question of the day the vikings so they've not now that the draft is over phandul has dropped a bunch of new odds on their website, and the Vikings are plus 198. Not sure exactly how that happened. Somebody who's an expert may want to explain that to me, but plus 198 to make the playoffs. So meaning they are slightly not favored to make the playoffs this year. Do you think that that is, is it disrespect from the market or is the skepticism deserved? That is the Fanduil question of the day.

So let's jump into your comments. here. William says, I don't know, why not give Rob Brzezinski a shot? Seems like he works well with KOC and B-Flo. Well, I have no issue with the idea of them giving the job to Rob Brzezinski. I think that in terms of a functionality, it would be very easy to figure out how that thing would function, right? Like where you have Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores wielding certainly a lot of power, but it would be kind of a give you the grocery list, go get the groceries, and what you would have. And I had some NASCAR people explain restrictor plates to me the other day. But I like it as a way of framing the metaphor is you have the restrictor plates on.

So those coaches can't just go out and make the general manager spend crazy insane amounts money, make crazy amounts of trades and whatever else that Rob Bersinski is going to make sure that they manage their asses assets well. And they manage their draft assets well. They move back to two spots in the draft. There's a little trade back, but it helped them. They did not overspend in free agency. They moved Jonathan Grenard, which was a decision that I don't love because it's

Jonathan Granard and because he went to Philly and those, he's very good. And Philly is not a team that you love to lend a hand to. But at the same time, like, okay, asset management. was very good. And I think that Rob Brzezinski would be excellent at asset management, which is something that we have complained about on the show, I think forever of, all right, last off season, I understood it, push the chips to the middle of the table, go all in, make all these big signings and try to stockpile around J.J. McCarthy. And had he been good, it would have worked. And we would have said, great job. And we would have said,

hey, who cares if you overpaid Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen? They were part of a top five. defense. What does it matter? That's not what ended up happening. But long term, you know, I really think that his asset management would be good. He believes in building through the draft, so do I. And he believes in keeping cap space open. So when the moment arrives to make a big move, then you're in a position to do it. So do I. Like, I think that those things would be good and then work within constraints in the shorter term to get the coaches what they want and what they need. And they have enough respect for Rob Brzynski from working with him for a long time now to, I think, appreciate where he's at in terms of building for a longer term. Plus, he has the trust of the Wilf's.

And all of that stuff, to me, checks a lot of boxes for Rob. I just don't know if they're going to go that way. And, you know, Mama says Rob is the safe option to keep the. staff status quo and I don't think that you're wrong by saying that and I think that that's probably true is what we saw this offseason is probably how it's going to work and I don't think that that's a bad thing but I also don't think that it's going into a complete shift by keeping basically the same front office group so it's a little bit of do you want what you know worked pretty well this off season and could do a good job

at managing assets and getting the coaches what they want? Or do you want someone to come in with completely new ideas, new evaluations, new scouts, new whatever, you know, executives and everything else? Feline Masters said, could Anthony Edwards play wide receiver in the NFL if he started football specific training right now and enter the league in two years at 26? No, absolutely not. No chance. Nope.

No way. No. No. He could not. I mean, look, Anthony Edwards is a freak athlete. So yes, he would have that. But could he, I mean, think about the NFL, though. Like, those guys are explosive too.

Those guys jump 40 inches too. Those guys run four threes. Those like, it would take, it takes a lifetime for an NFL wide receiver to even get to the point where they are an NFL wide receiver. Now, could you maybe get them in as like a wide receiver? receiver five that you tossed in and tried to throw them like a quick thing or whatever or jump balls or something like the but I think that you're referring to like be an actual starting caliber wide receiver and the answer is a gazillion percent no I mean that's kind of it would be easier for an NBA player to go to the NFL than NFL to NBA because the NBA is just so small

there's so few roster spots but if we're talking about any tour any sort of receiver who actually plays, then no. There's so much more that has to be ingrained over so many years in the NFL to have any chance to be able to get on the field, create separation from the corners who are freak athletes and are physical and know the routes you're running. And I have seen insane athletes, insane in the NFL, guys that are just as athletic as Anthony Edwards, who can't get out of a break. And they just don't make it.

So there's, I mean, the guy, Jeff Caldwell that the Vikings visited with, he went undrafted. He was as good of an athlete as Kelvin Johnson on paper and went undrafted. Moritz-Bowringer was insane. He was like an Andre Johnson-level athlete, you know, just never went anywhere in the NFL. So I don't think so. Jim says fine with Rob Brzynski, but he's great at his other job as well. That's, you know, that's, I mean, that's absolutely true that he is good at the cap management

and contract negotiation and structures. and all those things. And I imagine he's going to stay around one, you know, I mean, I would imagine. I don't think that in a complete overhaul of a front office that you would get rid of someone like that. And I'm sure that the Wilf's would want him to continue based on the fact that he's been here through multiple general managers already. I'm a little bit like bouncing back and forth on it because I'm often the person who

wants them to kind of take a major shift and start swinging a little. little bit differently at trying to win a Super Bowl. But at the same time, I also think that asset management for Rick and Quasi was not good. It just, how do you draft five times in a draft? How does that happen? Like, that's, I mean, they gave away so much capital over the years in the draft that I think if someone said, no, really, we're going to get a lot of it. And just for example, Green Bay, like they know, they know in Green Bay that they can't

really get free agents to come to Green Bay. And maybe it's a little different now, but I kind of think that that's true. It's hard for them to go into free agency and just convince everyone to come to Green Bay. So they have to build through the draft. And if you look at all their drafts, like them or not, love their process or not, they've always got like 10, 12 picks. And San Francisco, I was looking at their drafts because they often draft against consensus and have often drafted pretty darn bad in recent years.

but they got a million picks. So it's like even if they do draft poorly, they can still hit on dudes. You know, it's not like it's a percentage game. It's really a mass game. Like if you only hit on 10% of your picks, but you have a million picks, well, you get to keep all those players.

And the Vikings basically made it under Quasi Adopo Menza where they needed to hit on every pick or they just weren't going to have any depth. And clearly that did not work out, considering the position they're in right now long term. So if Rob views it that way, then I like that a lot. And if he views it that way of let's keep the cap situation reasonable, let's get rid of a player a year early instead of a year late.

That is a philosophy that I totally believe in. So if he understands those things and we know these guys can coach, I mean, especially Flores is the best of the best, but even looking around in the NFL with someone like Kevin O'Connell, look, the play calling is going to always be a debate and stuff like that because it's football and that's always going to be a debate. But three out of four winning seasons, the only season that wasn't above 500 was when Kirk tore his Achilles and they lost a bunch of

one score games that year. I mean, that's not something that's easy to repeat. And if you go out looking for other coaches, there's a chance that you do much worse. I mean, look, I mean, the number of good coaching candidates is so low that the Steelers went and hired

Mike McCarthy. So I don't know. I think you'd just rather stick with a guy that you know can do the job. So if you have that combination of someone who is able to handle the numbers part, the economics part really well and get rid of players early and stockpile draft picks and handle the salary cap good for the future and I mean, those things are all good. It's not a complete overhaul of what they've been doing. But maybe, maybe it is Rob Brzynski understanding a little bit of the errors of the ways of the past because if this is Rick Spielman,

they're not getting rid of Jonathan Grenard. If it's Rick Spielman, men, they're extending Anthony Barr, they're extending Kyle Rudolph, right? So, uh, I don't, I don't have a problem with that idea. I think it actually does make a lot of sense. Um, feline master P. Uh, how did, uh, Frank Smith and McDaniels use in gold in Miami? Give me an 80s, 90s comp. Was he a Tony Richardson or a Lorenzo Neal? So the thing about the 80s and 90s fullbacks is that they were often, uh, ginormous. So, So it was, but it was in much more of a blocking role. Like they didn't give him the ball ever. But it's hard to think of an 80s, 90s cop because was there somebody as a fullback who also

lined up at tight end a lot? Because Ingold did. And I think that's why they drafted Max Bredesen is because Bredison, he is going to line up at tight end and shift into the backfield. They did that a ton with Alec Ingold. But sometimes he just shifts into, if you guys don't know what they're going to. the sniffer position is. There is a real, I'm not joking.

There's a real position called the sniffer, which is like behind the tackle. You're sort of a tight end and you are, but behind the tackle in between him and the guard kind of. It's like right there. It's like closer, not back like a full back, but it's closer.

And they call it the sniffer. So anyway, Google that if you want to look it up and make sure you include the word football and don't just type sniffer because that could send you into some weird places. But they are going to line up Bredesen like they did in gold in lots of different spots, which I don't know how often that happened. I'm thinking maybe like, I don't want to say a Larry Centres because Larry Centers caught

90 passes sometimes. I'm not sure how often this, this has. Well, okay, actually, it's right there. It's right there. Jim Kleinsaucer. They did this with Jim Kleinsosser. Line them up in the backfield, line them up sometimes at tight end. There's probably some other guys who were listed as tight ends who lined up in

the back field a lot. That might be who I would compare him to. Son of beavers, do we have a list of who got invited to rookie minicamp like Elijah Williams last year? Don't have that list yet. Probably won't have it until we actually arrive there. I think that's going to be later on this week, but I do not have a schedule yet for rookie minicamp, but I will be there like everything else.

So when that list comes out, I mean, normally we usually get there and wander out into the field and they hand us a list and then we take a picture of it. and tweet it out. That's where that's when we get the list. So I look forward to doing that again and hope it is nice weather. Not like today where it was 50 degrees and terribly windy. Jeremy says, who's our long-term center? It seems like we are always addressing needs on the offensive line. Both tackle spots are a question mark after 2026. Not great having those three holes to fill with wide receiver running back tight end safety and corner. Yeah, it's a great question, Jeremy. And I think that what they're hoping is that Blake Brandl can just rise to the

occasion and be a multi-year center for them. Even though it's been a long road, it was the same kind of way for Joe Berger is an example that I would use as a similar person to Blake Brandel, not size-wise, but similar in their journey. Berger had been a backup for Miami for a long time and then came over to the Vikings and wasn't a starter. And then he eventually beat out John Sullivan and ends up as the starting center in that would have been 16, he was a center and 17, he was a guard. Yeah, I think that's right, because Pat Elfline came in. Maybe next year for the draft, the thing about centers is there are always guys who are free agent veterans who are out there.

They're just not any good. But they've played before and they can come in and they can, you know, snap the ball and identify a defense or whatever, but they can't be a difference maker blocking. And the hope I think is that Blake Brandel can be a difference maker blocking because of his size. Last year was a mistake by the Vikings, not cross-training Brandel there. And they said, well, you know, we had him take some snaps during practice or it's like, okay, well, he didn't take a single training camp snap at center. So now he gets an entire offseason to prepare to play that position. But you look at how he did.

it wasn't bad. I mean, there's one terrible snap over Carson Wentz, and he had a couple others that if he doesn't, Gailer Murray, he's going to be running back like he's catching a pass. But other than that, you know, he can work on his snapping, but he's a unique size for a center. There are not too many guys who are 6 foot 7 centers that are former tackles at over 300 pounds.

So can he go toe to toe much more with those giant defensive tackles that have given the Vikings problems for a long time? the Ryan Kelly doesn't become available very often. And when he does, he's in his later years. They usually have to draft one. And in an ideal world, maybe next year, they're looking to draft one. I don't think there's anything they could do right now. But your point is valid that if you start to look into the future as we were just talking about,

there's a lot of positions that look like they're going to need to be drafted next year. So I think what they're hoping for is that Blake Brandel is good, that Juergens continues to develop, maybe Gavin Gerhard, their seventh round pick, shows he could be a backup in the league. And then you've got kind of a center room there. Maybe you cross-trained Juergens this offseason at guard and you have at least a solid situation. I think that's what they're hoping for. It just shows you how hard it is to get center and maybe free agency next year is a place that they start to look.

But even the Linderbaum thing shows you how much money he got that those guys do not become available very often. JP, we can go in so many directions. It'll depend on if we hire Rob or someone that Kevin has ties to or truly an outsider who will be able to judge Kevin and the coaching staff and his vision. I think that's a really good observation, JP, and I completely agree with you that, you know, this is a situation where it could go several different directions, where it could feel like at the end of the, you know, GM search, it could feel like, okay, was that really a GM search? or did that just kind of, you know, they just wanted Rob Brzezinski and they got Rob Brzezinski. Or could it be where we're talking about a whole new Minnesota Vikings? I mean, that's what it would feel like if they decided to,

you know, hire somebody from the outside with, as you're saying, with no connections whatsoever to Kevin O'Connell, then it would be like, oh, okay, this is just a fully different front office now. if they're because what usually happens is you know guys contracts come up in may and the team decides do we want to keep these front office guys so if they came in with a full new GM totally different outlook and said we're clearing out this front office and this person doesn't even know kevin o'connell and it's it's just totally different ideas it would be like oh wow all right like into the future they go with a fully and complete new vision or is it just a just

going to be Rob Brzezinski and it's the team that we know. And it doesn't, the one sounds more exciting for sure because behind door number two always sounds more exciting. But there's sort of a devil you know, devil you don't kind of thing. We also don't know that, I mean, like I was talking about with the asset management, we don't know that Rob won't be better at this because of his experience. And I think that the ying and the yang of like the numbers guy and the coaches actually could work out really well. so I don't want to make it sound like, yeah, I'm really excited about them hiring a new person and firing everyone. It's an option, though.

Maybe it ends up splitting the difference. I have no idea. And with the fact that they're not announcing who they're talking to, we'll see if some of that gets out, but they're not announcing who they're talking to, it's okay. Like, this could be pretty much any direction. So, yeah.

Deplorable Neanderthal wants someone from the Eagles front office, smartest office in the league also hate the Eagles. Yeah, fair enough. You know, it doesn't always work that way. It doesn't always work like, hey, if you just take the number two from the best team, but sometimes it does. And I think with their ideas that they have in Philadelphia about team building. Now, I don't know how much the Wilf's, maybe they would, like, be okay with the way that they've structured some of their contracts, because if you look at some of their contracts, it's pretty insane. And they've really done everything to win right now. And they're going to be taking on huge amounts of dead cap into the future. But their ownership seems to be okay with doing the same

thing that they did in New Orleans for years. Just push it out, push it out, push it out into the future. We'll deal with it some other time. The Vikings did that for a little while. Like, do they want to continue to do that? Or I don't know. I mean, maybe the Philadelphia executive wouldn't do it. But the way that they built through drafting on the defensive lines, understanding their timeline really well with the Carson Wentz move was probably one of the smartest moves of the last 15 years in the NFL. If you go back and look at the reaction, and this is why draft grades and everything are pretty suspect.

But if you want to have fun, go Google like Eagles draft grades 2020 when they took Jalen Hertz. And there's a lot of people writing, what the heck? Why would they take a second round quarterback, even when they move on from Carson Wentz? there was a lot of questions about like, why are they moving on from Carson Wentz? He's a good starting quarterback and they're taking a huge risk here with Jalen Hertz.

And that ended up working out really well. So they managed that situation. They made the trade for A.J. Brown at the right time. They drafted unbelievably well. And if there's a reason for at least a stretch there to look into Philly, look into Seattle, and I tend to believe just historically that no one is better at the draft that, other teams, but that's historically, we have a lot more tools now. For a long time, the draft had operated the same exact way.

So if you're looking for historical data on, well, through 2015 or something, no one was better than anybody else consistently at drafting. And it was just often based on how many picks you had and how high you picked players. Well, in 2007, that may be changing about how teams operate, how they manage their draft boards and how they evaluate players because of the amount of data and things, or it could have just been that Philly got on a crazy hot run and it just worked out super well. But when you look at the players they drafted, it is often a guy like Mackay Lemon, like above the consensus and, you know, guys who have a lot of production and they took the right risk on Jalen

Carter and, you know, they've just made a lot of really, really smart decisions in the draft. So I think if the Vikings are now sort of shifting to we have to build through the draft because it didn't really work to shove all the money at it and free agency when the cap is going up, that means teams can afford players. You don't find it too often in the NFL now where a team just straight up can't afford a player in their prime or something, right? So I think that that means less good free agents, more focus on drafting. And if they've got the secret sauce, I suppose it makes sense. could steal a lot of their ideas from Philadelphia coming over here. Joker is the new GM actually going to be able to make their roster moves? I don't know if our ego can handle not being right on Jordan Addison.

For example, they might sign him no matter what. Well, yeah, I mean, I'm not sure what you mean by the ego when it comes to Jordan Addison. I don't quite follow that. Like, do you mean us as in we've been asking this question of what's going to happen? it would Jordan Addison and they just sign them. So we go, well, okay, I don't know. Or do you mean, like, if they don't want to sign them to an extension with the new GM, if Kevin O'Connell is not going to be able to handle that, not quite entirely following there.

But in terms of whether the new GM is going to make all of their own roster moves, first of all, no general manager just makes all of their own moves because it's their ideas in their head because they were in their office looking at overthecap.com and just said, Oh, look at that. Click. I'm making that move and I'm not going to tell anyone. No, they have a lot of contributing voices in every front office. I suppose it's possible that Sean Payton might operate like that in Denver.

There might be a few, but usually it is collaboration. But I think what you want is somebody who at the end of the day is the one who says, okay, I've gathered everyone's information. It's my call. and it's not, well, I'm trying to serve this person. I'm trying to serve that person. The collaboration idea with Quasi felt like that. It felt like, well, I have my own ideas.

And I know kind of the thing that I think might be right with the data, but my, you know, my defensive coordinator really wanted this guy or the coach really wanted me to trade for this guy. So do I do it? Or, you know, whoever really wanted Adam Thielen back. So do I do it? And that kind of thing. It's like you would want the person to have the credibility with ownership to say,

I think this is the right path, even if it's not popular with my coaches, to be in the, and this is where I think Brazinski earned that pretty quickly. It could not have been a well-loved idea to trade Jonathan Grenard, but to be able to put it on paper and say, this is better for us long term and it will be okay short-term and get that done, I think is pretty impressive. So every GM is going to have to manage relationships. But just like I'll use Buffalo for an example, I don't think anyone questions, especially after they fired McDermott, who is making the calls in Buffalo?

And they're going to live or die on Brandon Bean's decisions to never draft wide receivers. He's done a lot of good drafting, but not necessarily wide receivers. But nobody questions. Like that's the guy who at the end of the day is calling the shots. I don't know if they're going to have that or if they want someone to really work closely with the coaches. and have the coaches shape the roster. But I use the Sean Payton example, and Peyton is like a Hall of Fame coach.

As much as you all, I know, despise that guy. I think we all recognize one of the best coaches the last 20 years. So he's got a Super Bowl. He's earned it, all that stuff. The credibility and when he was available, like if you're going to pay Sean Payton that much, then you're going to give him all that power. But there are coaches in the league.

I think John Harbaugh is now becoming that, who have a lot of roster power, and they win. Sean Payton has built an incredible roster. So there's not like one way to do this. That is the clear cut, you must do it this way to win football games in the NFL. And isn't the league funny?

Like, the Dallas Cowboys have done a bunch of goofy stuff. They look like, you know, old man Jerry's lost at the wheel entirely. And then they end up with Caleb Downs in the draft. They make, I think it was a good trade to move up a two-fifths to move up. I saw that video today of, you know, inside their draft room, two-fifths to move up one spot to get Caleb Downs,

maybe one of the best, most talented players in the entire draft. And like, they have their own structure that's worked before in the past. That's kind of funky. And Jerry calls the shots and so does his son. And like, who knows? Like, there's no, I'm not saying that they should do that. And like the Wilf should just pick whoever. but there's a lot of different structures that can potentially work.

So they have a lot to sort through as they make this call.