Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Interpreting O'Connell's O-line comments and making the case for the Vikings' offseason bets

Episode Date: August 8, 2022

Matthew Coller analyzes Kevin O'Connell's comments regarding Garrett Bradbury, Christian Darrisaw and Irv Smith Jr.'s recovery and then answers fan questions, starting with whether the Vikings made better gambles this offseason than they did the previous year, whether Kellen Mond will be the backup quarterback and if cold water needs to be poured on some of the camp hype.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar here. We will start off with Kevin O'Connell press conference breakdown and then all sorts of fan questions still to get to. I apologize for letting it back up a little bit. Training camp has been kind of hectic, but I am trying to get through all of your questions as best as I can.

So if you've sent one, be patient. I'm working my way through everyone's. Go to purpleinsider.com use the contact us to send an email to me or you could send me a tweet or dm just say that it's fans only and i'll get it and if you haven't heard yours yet feel free to reach out and say hey am i still in the queue have you got my question and uh i'll let you know but uh keep keep sending them we'll get through them and we will have lots more to talk about as far as your questions. But we have to start out with, let's start out with the good part of the Vikings offensive line.

And then we'll get to the questionable part. That is Christian Derrissaw. That, well, the center position has been at center stage, if you will, during this camp so far. And not surprisingly, the left tackle has looked very good. Christian Derrissaw, when you talk about will the guy take a next step, the place that you begin is does he have the physical tools to take the next step? And that is absolutely the case for Christian Derrissaw. I think on a daily basis, he's looked like one of their stronger players so far in training camp.

So I asked Kevin O'Connell how he felt Derrissaw has come along since, and I know he wasn't here last year, but it was a difficult situation for Derrissaw last year and how he feels like he's made a first impression to the new coaching staff. Kevin, what have your early impressions been of Christian Derrissaw, a guy who missed camp last year, had to step in halfway staff. Kevin, what have your early impressions been of Christian Derrissaw, a guy who missed camp last year, had to step in halfway through the season, but now had a full offseason to prepare for this? Yeah, he's having a really good camp so far. Kind of challenged him coming out of the spring just to kind of be able to pick up where he left off. And I'll tell you one thing about him. He's so physically gifted, the strength, you know, he's got great feet. You know, he's got the length to strength you know he's got great feet uh you know

he's got the the length to play that position that's tough against some of the rushers they have to go against but i i think it's an underrated thing we don't talk about enough as the game makes sense to him he's he's not one of those guys that needs to be told every little thing every little adjustment he naturally sometimes just does things based upon the right play, the smart way to hit a block, how to pass off a stunt, just understanding how we want to execute in the screen game, the play pass game. I couldn't be more excited about where he's at right now. And then pairing him on that side with Ezra,

you're really starting to see two guys. I think that's important as we talk about the right side and knowing we've got Brian O'Neill on the other side. Having that left side, you know, getting as many reps as we possibly can, you know, in conjunction with some of those other competitive spots right now is really important. Something that we'll be keeping our eye on through the next couple of weeks is Irv Smith Jr. and how much he is able to do after hurting what Kevin O'Connell said was ligaments in his thumb. So how much is he coming along?

How much is he participating in practice? And Kevin O'Connell gave us an update on what he thinks will be the timeline for Irv Smith Jr. The protective nature of it was post-surgery. He's already changed out from a hard cast into kind of a temporary one, and then he'll continue to kind of transition but you know the best part about it is right now he can be you know part of those our walkthroughs that you guys see us doing once he's allowed to truly start sweat and then we can possibly talk about getting him out there for some work maybe non-catching see if he can you know be a part of some

run fits it's all gonna be a matter of what he can do to make sure ultimately with that eye on our opener of seeing how much we can keep him in good shape. Mentally, he's dialed in. He's in every meeting. You know, he's getting great coaching from Ange and Ryan Cordell. So I feel good about, you know, you're never going to feel good about a guy missing time from those competitive reps, but the timing of the injury the way we're able to be swiftly you know getting it fixed and and potentially getting back you know on the grass able to kind of prepare himself for that game I think we'll really get a sense in the next few days whether the Vikings want to do something else a tight end or if they're just going to leave it as is with

Johnny Munt and Zach Davidson when you consider consider the options out there, there's nothing all that inspiring. If you look at the free agent list, it kind of reads like a lot of Chris Herndon's. So I'm not sure that they want to go out and spend money and get another player here, but they do have to consider the fact that tight ends get banged up a lot. Not only is it a possibility that Smith Jr. does not come back by week one, but also that he gets hurt again at some point, and then you're still left with the same guys, Johnny Munt, Zach Davidson, and so on. We haven't seen anybody else get first team reps aside from a little bit with Ben Ellefson, but he's more of a blocking tight end. So I think

that what they'll have to do here is go through a few more very intense practices and then decide, are we doing something about this or not? When you get about one month away from the season, that's still enough time for somebody to come in, get themselves acclimated, be able to take on the spot. But if you get closer than that, you get preseason games in already and then say hey we're two weeks from the season come on in learn an entire offense that would be pretty tough all right to the center competition I'll tell you the way that I phrased it in my article like apologies for the double negative here but they don't not have a competition at center based on Kevin O'Connell's comments. And the best way that I could describe

his responses to questions about Garrett Bradbury were both telling and also convoluted. Like he did point out the issue with Bradbury that has really been the problem for his entire career, which is when they get in second down and long third down and long that other teams start to target him and try to take advantage that he's the weak point in the line by matching up people one-on-one with the way that they set up their pass rush. But with O'Connell, this will not be the Mike Zimmer era folks. We will not get a three second answer that says he's got to be better or something like that. So I'll let you listen to the entire first answer of what Kevin O'Connell said about Garrett

Bradbury, and then we can read into it. Yeah, Garrett's been, you know, Garrett's been really good in the run game. All the different phases of how we run the football in the zone game, some of the gap stuff we do where we can hit some of those combinations differently. He's shown a real understanding of the scheme. We do a lot of different things in the run game that sometimes looks like a lot, but really as long as the center can get us dialed in and targeted the right way, everybody else, all other ten guys, can be on the same page and he's done a great job with that. Obviously, in pass pro, he's had some real moments of some strong performances, and then there's been some other ones where, you know, listen, Mike Petten and Ed Donatel and Mike Smith and these guys,

they know how to isolate people just like a lot of great coaches in this league do, and that's where we're challenging him each and every time. Technique, technique. He's got a good anchor when he's got his feet underneath him he shows power in the run game so we're really finding ways to to try to simulate those tough downs O'Connell both went on to say that he was definitely not worried but also that there is still competition there and I'll play you the Chris Reed comment in just a minute in which he implies that Chris Reed has gotten some first team reps but I'm not sure when that he's referring to. Like maybe it was in walkthrough or closed minicamp practices, but I haven't seen that.

It's possible that he's mixed in for a rep or two and nobody spotted it from the sideline. But, you know, that's a position that we have been watching and haven't seen too many reps from Chris Reed at first team center. So I'll play you that whole that's a position that we have been watching and haven't seen too many reps from Chris Reid at first team center. So I'll play that whole comment in a second. But I think if we're reading into it, there's concern there from Kevin O'Connell. He's talking about the things that we already know that Garrett Bradbury does well, which is he's a good run blocker. He's not an unbelievable run blocker, but he's a good run blocker. He's not an unbelievable run blocker, but he's a good run blocker. And I remember doing in 2019, or maybe it was into 2020, a look back at his film and looking for the good and the bad and what we could figure out about Garrett Bradbury. And there were times

where the way he moved was just like next level. I mean, getting out, uh, reaching, uh, you know, defensive tackles, opposite shoulders, which is a hard thing to do in zone blocking. It takes a lot of quickness and he was able to get out there and great athleticism. And so you. And that's always been the issue for Garrett Bradbury. So the way I read into this is we're not benching Garrett Bradbury yet, but if he doesn't improve in this one area, which we're going to practice a lot and we're going to get him looks at a lot, then we might have to have that conversation. That's kind of the way I read into it. And similarly with Irv Smith and a backup tight end, I would say over the next week or so, if you're going to do something, then you probably

have to do it around that time. Like after the night practice or, you know, leading into that first preseason game, that's where you have to make a decision or, you know, just start getting Chris Reed more first team reps, working with Kirk Cousins more but here is what O'Connell said about Chris Reed playing center how comfortable is Chris Reed at center at this point with not having done it in an NFL regular season game and all of the kind of details that that position requires yeah luckily a lot of the communication between that guard spot center kind of goes hand in hand a lot of those combinations you know whether you're working with the center or away from the center and protection so I think there's some carryover in our system, a lot of those combinations, you know, whether you're working with the center or away from the center and protection. So I think there's some carryover in our system and a lot

of systems really, but still there's nothing like, you know, having to be the guy making the calls. And obviously the snapping element, as you guys have seen, probably some of my more stronger frustrations through camp is when the ball's been on the ground via quarterback center exchange. So that's a real thing. And every single one of those has its own story but uh we do not want to see the ball on the ground at all and and especially in that center quarterback exchange but I think where he's at right now I think he's able to handle it as a veteran player that he is and he's played and he's played enough football to be able to make that transition I don't worry at all about the mental side it's just the physical nature of having to deal with being the starting point

to every play on every down while also still having a critical role in our communication. I think that's where we've seen kind of with Kirk in that first group, really kind of whether Chris has been in there at center at times or even at right guard, just that group's ability to communicate and of the non-verbal stuff they're even already progressing to within our system it's really cool to see them kind of start pushing the envelope there because that's what we're going to need to do throughout 17 games this year so once again he did not dismiss the idea of Chris Reed being the center he didn't say say, Oh, you know, we were just trying something and that's not really a thing.

And you guys look into stuff too much. No, he said, actually, we like a lot of things that he could do at center. And he has a pretty good understanding of the offense. So even though there's been some fumbled snaps, he still,

you know, could figure out what he's doing. So not a full, full endorsement of Chris Reed center. Number one for the future, but also not saying, uh, no, no, no guys, you have this wrong. Chris Reed was just getting a few reps there. No big deal. And also in his comments, he layered in mentioning Ed Ingram getting a few first team reps and mostly when Jesse Davis has not been at practice, but I also feel like they want Ed Ingram to win

that job. And I think there's a very decent chance that he does, but similarly to Louis scene, who just started getting a few first team reps the other day, it's, we're going to bring in the rookie. We're going to have a beat out somebody with more experience. So we can say, yeah, I mean, he had to overcome this other guy. Wasn't handed the job, had to play his way into it. But when you draft somebody at guard that high, usually you want them to win that job. So there is another place where there is competition. It's just not what we expected. We expected Chris Reed versus Jesse Davis with Ingram lurking in the shadows, but instead it seems to be Davis. It has been given

the job at the start of camp locked in and then Ingram it's his job to take it away. And we'll see how that plays out as we go along interior offensive line discussions, big shocker. We'll have a Brandon Thorne on the show who, uh, we've, it's been called the offensive line guy in the past. Um, but, uh, an offensive line experts who runs the website trench warfare planning on having him to go through the Derrisa progress and, uh, what he sees and what he projects in the right side in the center of the line. So, all right, let's get into some of your questions here. Uh, this comes from Matt via email says the Vikings rolled the dice on a number of new players and coaches, notably Xavier Woods, Patrick Peterson, Bashad Breeland, Kenzie Alexander, Everson Griffin, Michael Pierce, KJ Osborne, Oli Udo and Clint Kubiak in 2021. They are re-rolling the dice. And again, almost all of these positions in 2022, do you think that the Vikings will have

better success with their gambles this time around? That's a good question. And I think I would say the same thing that I said last year about similar gambles, which is that some will probably work and some probably won't like when there's a 50, 50 chance of X, Y, and Z, and z all of them hitting is not very high odds but which ones they hit on will be very important here so for example patrick peterson is a good one if patrick peterson looks as good as he has in camp which is very solid so far i think that you could have a secondary that's serviceable. I'm not going

to predict that they're going to have the best secondary in the league, but good probably if Patrick Peterson does not slip with age. That's one of the bets they're making. They're making a bet that a rookie safety can come in and presumably if lewis seen as the starter that he can come in and be an instant difference maker that based on recent history is probably more like a 55 45 bet highly drafted safeties have had some early success not all of them of course because not all of anyone has success uh at any position in the nfl but there's been a lot of recent examples of guys who have stepped in at that spot and been instant difference makers. You get to play alongside Harrison Smith. So the situation is very favorable for you if you're Louis seen. So that's not a

terrible bet. That's probably a little bit more toward it works than it doesn't. Harrison Phillips is another guy that has a very good health record, which Michael Pierce, that one was probably more of a 40-60 than it was a 50-50 because Pierce had not played football for the entire previous year. And though he looked good when he was in there, he got hurt pretty quickly and wasn't able to play a whole lot for them last year. But that will happen, and I can't predict which guys are going to get hurt. Making the bet on Kevin O'Connell is a pretty good one.

That's probably a 55 or 60-40 bet as far as new coaches go. Now, if this was Jim Harbaugh, I might look at it a little differently where it was just maybe I'd say it was 25-75, but that 25 means you go to the Superbowl or something. Right. But Kevin O'Connell with his background with McVay, the ideas that he has about keeping players healthy, the offensive, uh, you know, progressiveness of Kevin O'Connell, where he came from comes right off winning a Superbowl with Sean McVay here. Like all these things are a pretty good model. Ed Donatel playing a more modern defense.

That's another shaded toward 55, 60%. So I think that the bets this year are better than the bets last year. But that doesn't guarantee that it all goes right. I mean, if Jordan Hicks and Eric Kendricks don't have anywhere near the chemistry that Kendricks and Barr had, well, that could be problematic. Or if Louis Seen comes in and struggles right away or doesn't win that job and Cam Bynum has a tough time or Patrick Peterson struggles,

or even if Cam Dantzler isn't good right away or Andrew Booth can't come in and make a difference. Like, there's a lot of things, like you're saying, that they're asking to go right to be a great team. And what usually happens with that is the most likely outcome, at least, you know, lot of things like you're saying that they're asking to go right to be a great team and what usually happens with that is the most likely outcome at least you know for what Vegas thinks which is you end up as something like a nine win team because some of these things hit and some of them don't the only antidote to this is kind of the antidote across football always and forever, which is offense, which is if they can improve on what they've done. If they go back to 2019 and end up with the eighth or seventh best offense in the NFL, then they have a chance to be a 10, 11, maybe. Okay. 12 seems like I'm going too far,

but 10, 11 win team. If the offense is that much better than it was last year. The average offense since 2019 for the Vikings is 11th. And if they're that, it's probably not good enough to overcome some of these bets. If they're better than that and they're sneaking into the top 10, or at least even in the NFC, if they're one of the top three or four offenses in the NFC because I mean, look, the AFC has got most of the great quarterbacks, but the NFC is what you have to worry most about. So if they were to do that, you can overcome some of this other stuff. You're still taking a risk at center. As we talked about at right guard, as we talked about, there's always injuries,

Irv Smith already being hurt, not having a real backup tight end, but Jefferson Thielen Osborne cook is your meal ticket. It's been your meal ticket that has not really clicked. If they were ever going to overcome being the 24th defense, well, they could have done it if they had had a top 10 offense. And that's my point is these things on defense that they're asking to all go, right. Some of them will, and some of them won't, and they'll probably just be okay, but unless they're completely healthy and we're all surprised because that just doesn't happen that much, it's really can you drive your entire franchise

with passing the football and succeeding that way? That's why every year I go to the stat at the end of the season and go, well, let's look at the teams who were number one in passing expected points added, how you perform versus the situation. Oh, the Rams were number one. Look at that, right? Like the, the teams that were at the top, those are the teams that go deep in the playoffs and reach the super bowl. That will be what determines where this team goes. All right, on to the next question here. This from Sean Sorrow on Twitter. Is Sean Mannion really going to be the backup quarterback or does Mon elevate to that spot? Possible trades out there to upgrade that spot. I don't know that there's an obvious trade

as there was last year with Gardner Minshew, unless you're talking about like Jimmy Garoppolo, which would only be a thing if Kirk Cousins were to get hurt. Then Jimmy Garoppolo would suddenly become an option. I forget on a daily basis that Jimmy Garoppolo has not been traded yet. And I have to like check right now, like, wait, they still didn't trade him. But maybe you're talking about if Drew Locke wins the job in Seattle that they would trade Eugenio Smith, but probably not because they want to have a pretty good backup there. So teams that have proven veteran backups, as long as none of them are super miserable,

you're probably not going to be able to trade for him. You have to see who ends up getting released. Maybe somebody loses out a job for the number two position and gets released. But then again, if they lose out a number two job and get released, like how confident are you that whoever it might be, I don't know, CJ Beathard is your guy or something, right? Like, I don't know. I'm not sure that it's really something to be too concerned about. Like that's very possible that they do that. But if you're picking up somebody else's backup the day before the season, unless it's a guy who's got a lot of starting experience, you're probably not winning any

games that that player has to come in and play. We've always been surprised in NFL history, who sort of shows up and emerges and wins football games at quarterback every so often. But as far as your total confidence, if you're picking up a, I don't know, just throw out a name like a Kevin Hogan or something, or a, you know, Blake Bortles, if that's who you're picking up in the last day, I wouldn't be too happy with that. So they might as well let it play out unless they're super, super frustrated with Kellen Mond and Sean Mannion.

I think right now that Kellen Mond will be the backup, but it's more like if we're doing a pie chart, like 30% Mannion, 40% Mond, 30% someone else. So this is one that the preseason games might have the most to do with determining, but you could see Mond showing up and flashing in preseason games because he's just more physically talented than Sean Mannion. But if Mannion looks in command as he does sometimes in practice and has throughout the years, then we're going to end up with the same results. But I think that they would prefer that Mond wins the backup spot. Because if you think about it, like having Mond as your backup this year, next year, and what the year after on his rookie deal, that's a cheap backup. And if you can rely on that person, even a little,

you need to give that every chance to play out to maybe he could get comfortable. We have not seen that yet. Still doesn't look all that comfortable. Still doesn't look like he's getting the ball out on time. Still throwing some bad passes, some interceptions and so forth. It just hasn't looked like it's taking another big step, but the next few weeks will probably determine if they're going to look at other people's quarterbacks or not. All right, on to at Papa chase one-on-one on Twitter. How does Thielen look after the injury and getting a

year older? Has he lost a step at all? I don't think so. I don't think that he has lost a step. He still is getting open. He's still snapping off his routes and making every catch. I don't think he's had a drop so far in training camp. Maybe I missed one, but Adam Thielen open and has great hands and looks quick. He might not be as quick as he was when he was 27, but it's really about the technique. And this is not an exciting take at all, but it's selling routes and then doing something else, right? Selling an outside break and snapping it back inside, being precise to the exact yard markers and the exact number of steps that you need to go. And then when the ball's in the air, making a play on it, these are the things that have made

Adam Thielen a special NFL player. And I don't see anything different. I think overall, he's had a very good camp and I would expect that he goes into the season looking the same as Adam Thielen always has. And remember last year, the average depth of target is going to stay lower. And that's just the fact of the matter when you're over 30 as a wide receiver. Larry Fitzgerald was like this and Quan Bolden was like this. Guys who are not super fast as they get older, you're not throwing it deep down the field as much unless you scheme them wide open which you know we could see happening but more likely than not he'll be the quote possession receiver now as opposed to the downfield threat that he was earlier in his career but he was still like on pace to get 90 catches last year when he got hurt and i suspect we're

going to see a lot of the same. And then the health, it was a random injury last year. It wasn't like, oh, it's typical feeling hamstring stuff or whatever. No, it was just a, what, a broken ankle or sprained ankle. And he's been healthy so far. That's really the thing. If you get through all of this preseason, all of these padded practices, and you go into week one as much as

close to a hundred percent, how the season plays out, who knows? I mean, who knows if you, if you snap an ankle by accident or fall wrong or whatever it might be for the various injuries that NFL players have, but how he looks in camp right now is basically the same as he's always looked. All right. Next question. MPS MSP on Twitter, Alexander Madison trade value. That's the whole question. None. Alexander Madison does not have trade value. Nope. Running, running backs just don't. They just don't. If you were trading Alexander Madison, the other teams who needed a running back of which there are not many would be probably offering you a conditional

sixth round pick. That would be about as much as you're going to get for a running back. Because if you sign the best running back out of the USFL, what's his likely outcome? If you have to play him a lot, is it like four yards of carry? Well, Alexander Madison last year was what under four yards of carry. I think he's a good player, especially throw him the ball, highly intelligent, good pass blocker. And if you get good blocking, the guy's going to rumble and smash into some people, but it's not a position where teams are giving away draft capital or other players or something like that. You're much better off just having Alexander Madison on your team as insurance for

Delvin Cook and to create a running back room that you can mix in a lot of different guys. Even maybe Ty Chandler can get in the mix here, but can a Wong Wu back at practice, Alexander Madison, Delvin Cook in a lot of different spots in order to save some of Delvin Cook's health. That's what you really want. You want Alexander Madison on your team. There's no use in trading him for, at best, maybe a fifth-round pick, but I don't even know if somebody would do that unless they were insanely desperate to get a running back. But there's also 10 teams that have a backup running back

who's as good as Madison. And if the Vikings are trying to get X, Y, or Z in a trade, there's always another team that would step up and take less. So I don't think it would be smart to be shopping Alexander Madison. This from at Southern Skoll on Twitter. What is the linebacker depth look like? Yeah, that's an interesting one because it feels like by the end of this thing, it's going to be Blake Lynch as the number three

linebacker. Brian Asamoah is getting a ton of work. I've seen Troy Dye getting a lot of work and Chaz Surratt has been in there as well. A little bit, I think a little bit with the second team, but less than the other guys. And right now I would say if I had to guess, it's Brian Asamoah goes behind Jordan Hicks, along with Blake Lynch, and then probably one other guy. So maybe it's five. It's possible, depending on special teams, that they could keep six. On my initial 53, I had six. And I went and looked back, and it's never consistent.

Sometimes it's four, five, or six with the linebackers on an initial 53 throughout Zimmer's era. And then I even looked with the bears for like Vic Fangio. It seems to change because I think that special teams element is a big part of it. So they may not think that Chaz Surratt could be a really good linebacker, but they keep him for special teams purposes. They also might be giving Troy Dye a ton of work because they want to find out if there's anything there, if he's a fit for his system, because so far in his career, there has

not been a whole lot there, but I think I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being Kendricks, Hicks, Asamoah, Lynch, and then, uh, who am I missing? One, one more after, uh. Lynch, Asamoah. And then, yeah. And then one more, I guess, I guess that's the answer is one more and we'd have to see who it is. Maybe Surratt. So we'll see. But as far as the depth at linebacker goes, the answer is, look, I don't know that anybody in the league at this point has depth at linebacker. I'm not sure that in the NFL, anyone has ever really had depth at linebacker four or five six guys who can play it's an extremely difficult and complicated position it only gets more and more difficult as the years go along here and you know I think that teams are trying more and more

and more to mess with the linebackers to use the motions the play actions and find any different way to open up the middle of that field to use the motions, the play actions, and find any different way to open up the middle of that field for receivers for easy completions for their quarterbacks. And it's a high IQ position. So that one's going to be tough. I wouldn't be very confident at all if anyone had to play outside of Jordan Hicks or Eric Hendricks. But Asamoah, I would say, has some physical gifts there for sure that you can see and the high motor that you are looking for when it comes to a linebacker. I think that's the one position where you could say it. And it's actually really right is the high motor because

you need that to be a linebacker. So I've liked what I've seen from Asamoah so far, but I don't think that they would leave this group without someone with some experience in it. And that's why I think that Lynch and maybe Dye will be there. We'll see about Chaz Surratt. All right, on to the next question. This is from John D. And I don't know how to say what I think is your last name. K-U-E-H-N-E. Let's see.

I've seen some posts saying KJ Osborne is being challenged for his wide receiver three spot. Is that really happening? What might that look like if he gets beaten out? No, no, no, no. He's not being challenged. No. I mean, there are other guys taking first team reps, which is BC Johnson, which is Amir Smith-Marset, Albert Wilson. I'm not even sure how much Albert Wilson has gotten first team reps, which is BC Johnson, which is Amir Smith, Marseille, Albert Wilson.

I'm not even sure how much Albert Wilson has gotten first team reps, maybe just a little with Kirk cousins, because I think they're going, uh, trying to get everybody in with Kirk cousins a bit to work on that chemistry. But KJ Osborne is wide receiver three. He made that very clear right from the word go stepping in, making plays, getting open. And the other thing is, it might just be me, but I think he even looks a little bigger. And it was someone who commented, maybe Wes Phillips about the size of KJ Osborne. We didn't realize that he had some girth to him and he definitely does. But it's really just making plays, catching the ball. This, this is not a complicated process when it comes to how's that guy look like that was our last episode. How's that guy look? Well, the answer is that if he's making plays, then he looks good.

Like that's football that if you're a wide receiver, you should be out there making catches or getting open, making plays. That's, that's the easiest way to tell if someone's looking good. And KJ Osborne's been doing that on a daily basis. As far as behind him though, there is some guys, Jalen Naylor, Dan Chisna, like there's something there with this competition. Even Tristan Jackson is like the dark horse, but I'll mention him anyway, because he's made some plays and maybe there could be something there as far as a depth receiver, a surprise cut. But Amir Smith, Marcet will be on the team. BC Johnson will be on the team. It's what do they

do after that? Is it Dan Chisna for the special teams? Is it Albert Wilson? Cause he's a veteran that I don't know, but KJ Osborne locked into that position. And I think that, you know, this team should be extremely happy because they made a bet. Like we're talking about the bets. They made a bet that Osborne was going to be that guy. And, uh, he has so far been that guy. All right. This from Astro Gardner, Zach Davidson. He's received a couple of compliments from the staff. How is he physically looking? Can he block? And is he going to make the 53 man?

Well, I don't think he can block. No, not at this point. I mean, you're still talking about somebody who came from central Missouri playing against far less competition, who was never really a blocker to begin with. Now, I'm not saying that I could stand over there on the sideline and lock in on him and see whether he's got his hands in the right spot, feet in the right spot on every play like the coaches can when they review the tape. But I'm going off of kind of what I see, but also what they say about, well, he's got to

improve as a blocker. And so you get the impression that's not really going to be his strength. Can he make the 53? He certainly can. He's got to catch the ball more. He deserves compliments for getting open and being really fast. And I think would be extremely hard to cover for somebody with that height and that speed, but you have to catch the football in training camp. They have to be able to trust you that when you get open and Cousins

delivers the ball that you're going to catch it. But I think that it makes the most sense for him to make the 53, because if you cut Nick Muse, he just goes on the practice squad as a seventh round pick. I think he was their last selection. Yeah, nobody's taking him from you. So you put him on the practice squad, keep Johnny Munt, Zach Davidson. So you have a blocker and somebody who is more of a receiving tight end. So at least you've got kind of situational first down Johnny month, third down Zach Davidson.

I think unless they go out and get somebody else, they have to stay with Zach Davidson and what they have right now. But if they do get somebody else, you know, that's the guy who hasn't been living up to what they wanted to live up to. And they don't trust him. So that, that will be living up to what they wanted to live up to and they don't trust him so that that will be the indicator is what they do all right this from uh my friend zach an actual friend uh from the crackpot podcast on twitter where he looks into conspiracy theories

does not create them let's be very clear about that about zach and his podcast uh let's see not sure if this is fans only content or what, but would love to get a better sense of your perspective on the Vikings running back depth. What do you do with Madison and the others? Lots of hype around each of them individually, but not sure what it means as a unit. And more importantly, the 53 man roster. Well, uh, Madison and Kenny Wong Wu are absolute locks. And I think that Ty Chandler will also be on this team, but I want to see him preseason. I would be surprised if they cut Ty Chandler.

I think they'll keep five running backs overall, including CJ ham. And, uh, it will be Delvin cook who gets the vast majority of the runs, but Alexander Madison mixing in more. And what you'd like to see is Kenne Wongwu used in certain situations that I don't know that they trust him enough as a complete running back to be in there all the time. And with Delvin Cook, you're not going to have him in there all the time. But is he a guy that can come in motion and get a jet sweep?

Is he a guy that can pop in for eight plays a game? And maybe when you're looking for something game breaking, you throw him a screen or, you know, you pitch out to him and see if he can make a play and make a couple of guys miss. He once again looks to my eye as one of the fastest players that I've ever seen in person. And I think that what you want to hear is just to mix and match a little bit that it's, it doesn't have to be Delvin cook,

Delvin cook, Delvin cook. It's much more of Delvin cook for, you know, a couple of series and then take him out for one and mix in Madison. I think that's ideal. And then bring in Kenny Wong Wu for some packages that you've decide. But I also think that football coaches are football coaches and

they ultimately might land on the same spot as Delvin cook. But I think as far as running back rooms go in the NFL, this one is probably one of the most deep and versatile in the entire league. Okay. One more question for the show here. This from at Jimbo Stimbo on Twitter. That's a good name. How can the Vikings fans not jump on the hype train this season? Every press conference with Kwesi and Kevin O'Connell shows a major shift in philosophy and creating a winning culture and a system that is flexible, adjusting to players' strengths, and creating roles for players as opposed to Zimmer

meddling with the offense and having a very complex defensive system that was rigid. I don't necessarily agree with that part of it. I think that every defense is how good your players are. And Mike Zimmer tried to adjust to players that weren't good. And I mean, some of them, think about that they signed, are out of the league. Like now that they brought in last year, like Bashad Breeland. I don't think he's anywhere.

Even Sheldon Richardson, as I'm recording, this has not signed anywhere. Mackenzie Alexander is not like, like these were the guys that he was given to use. So I don't think that it was either very, very complex or that it was rigid. I think it was a, it was a good defensive system that when you have good players works, and I'm not sure how many people get more than the 24th best defense out of a very bad roster that had a couple of injuries and players who were not ready to step up. But I just, I'm always trying to correct the record a little bit on Mike Zimmer. Cause I think that we need to blame him for the right things and not the wrong things. Anyway, anyway, back to the question. We have a blazing fast offense at all skill positions

and hopefully improved offensive line, at least competitive depth for the most part behind the starters and several additions on defense like scene booth, Zedary Smith, Harrison Phillips, that will add much needed energy and leadership. I also think the competition in the secondary should also breed better results. Can you fuel the hype train for all of this could create an awesome season, but then also cold water as what could go wrong. Okay. So you want hype and cold water. I got you. The hype would be that everything you said does not sound ridiculous. I think that you did a good job of laying out the best case scenario for all those things. And I didn't read any of those things and think, this guy's out of his gourd.

I just thought, like, okay, well, you know, it's certainly optimistic and someone who's excited about football. And I don't blame you for that. The skeptical journalist in me sort of winced at a couple of the lines there. But, you know, I think that when you're talking about a more modern approach, sure. Those signings that they had being better bets than the signings from last year, like Harrison Phillips being a better bet than somebody like Sheldon Richardson or someone like Michael Pierce. Like I could buy into a lot of that.

Zedaria Smith will see on his health, but so far so good. I mean, I think that's it. That's what it is. If you're, if you're getting on the hype train, you're thinking new era, new approach. I like saying approach better than culture. I just think like culture is as good as your team is, but if you're more scientific in your approach, you've got a better chance to win. So I think that they are more scientific in what they're doing to give them a better chance to win. The cold water is when you say the offensive line might look a little better. Like, is it though? That would be my cold water. And also the quarterback is the quarterback. Can anything stop the unmovable force of Kirk Cousins games where he comes to the stadium and from the first

pass to CJ Hamm out of the backfield you know that this thing ain't going the right way like is that something you can overcome and even though we've talked about the opposing quarterback schedule being a little bit on the easier side the opposing defense schedule might be on the harder side and so you actually might do things smarter, but yield some of the same results because of who your quarterback is. And until Kirk Cousins shows that he can win more than 10 games in a season, we're always going to come back to that point and say, well, look like, yeah, they did a lot of things that are advisable this off season, but they also stayed with the same direction to quarterback and ended up with on that side. And I think that's the

coldest of cold water that you could pour on it. The other thing is too, you cannot control injuries. And if there are five injuries that are completely random at key positions where there are no backups, you're just in trouble. We talked about KJ Osborne. If KJ Osborne gets hurt, the guys behind him are not inspiring. If Harrison Phillips or Z'Darrius Smith or Daniil Hunter ends up out, the guys behind them are not inspiring. The secondary, Andrew Booth Jr. might end up being your depth, but anybody else in the secondary, you get a little hesitant about that. So I think that what this season will really come down to is what most seasons with Kirk Cousins come down to,

which is circumstances. How everything falls. Does it go your way? Does Greg Joseph carry over his wonderful training camp performance? Do other teams that you're playing, do they run into you at a bad time for them where their quarterback got hurt or their beat up or whatever might be going on? 2019, a lot of things fell their way. They made the playoffs and won a playoff game. Even a coin flip in the playoff game went their way. And then the next year, a lot of things didn't. And they end up playing something like nine cornerbacks or something in the season.

They couldn't stop the pass. They lost, you know, Daniil Hunter for the year. The Ngakwe trade doesn't work out. Like it really ends up coming down to that a lot of times with this team, which makes it super interesting to follow along because you never know which way it's going to go, but also leaves you feeling like, can you get the most out of everything that you have here? So I hope I did a good job of pouring a little bit of cold water on that while also acknowledging that you make some valid points. So this has been another fun episode. Keep sending your questions. I'm really enjoying them. Leave those five-star

reviews. And to the person the other day who wrote the nicest note and left a one-star review, presumably by accident, I also make mistakes with my thumbs, but don't do that. If you can avoid it, don't do that. But I, I was moved by your very nice note, but, uh, it looks funny to have one star there. So I don't know if you could delete that or not, but, uh, don't make that same mistake. Five stars. Anyway, thank you all for listening. And, uh, we'll talk to you again soon.