Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Is Adam Thielen on the Mount Rushmore of Vikings receivers? Is Za'Darius Smith going?

Episode Date: March 9, 2023

Matthew Coller and SI.com's Will Ragatz talk about the possibility of Adam Thielen being cut and what his legacy among all-time great Vikings receivers will be. Plus injury updates on Lewis Cine and Andrew Booth Jr. and whether the Vikings should be moving on from Za'Darius Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collard here along with Sports Illustrated's Will Reckitts. We've got a few injury updates to talk about with the Vikings and also a report that Adam Thielen's final days are on the way, which by the time you're listening to this, maybe they already are, or maybe we end up being very surprised and they work out a contract restructure. But I feel like when reports come out will that someone might be on their way out it is either kind of a call for anybody want to trade for him or it also could be just hey fans we know you love this player but prepare yourself for the fact that he's not going

to be there and this just is in line with what we knew coming in, that there were going to have to be people that lots of fans like, and who've been here a long time that are no longer here. But I think that it's probably a plus for the Vikings. If they do move on from Adam Thielen, considering that kind of his name and previous role with this team made it so he really couldn't be a number four wide receiver or a number three wide receiver like he's likely the best fit somewhere now. He kind of needs to be that 1A or 1B if he's

going to be here and that's just not really his role. So your thoughts on that report and the impending emergency podcast that will sometime soon come as Adam Thielen is eventually released. So it seems. Yeah, it just makes sense. I mean, I think you looked at after the season ended, you looked at the guys on the roster, you started to look at 2023 cap hits and who made sense as possible cap casualties, because you knew it was going to have to happen with the cap situation. And with just some of the veterans who got big, maybe questionable contracts in the last few Rick Spielman years and,

and what they were going to do there, Adam Thielen kind of jumped out because the cap it is almost 20 million. It's the highest of any non Kirk cousins player on the roster. And he just isn't really the Adam Thielen that he used to be in 2017 and 2018 and that's fine like he's still a valuable player and in uh the red zone and he's really smart with creating space and getting open and all these things but uh just the fit next to Jefferson it seems like they probably want somebody who can stretch the field and bring a speed element and do things that Adam Thielen just can't do at this

point in his career. And that was never really kind of the selling point of his game anyways. But it makes sense. And then you hear that Adam Thielen is maybe a little frustrated with his role, which I don't really get because he's the number two guy still behind arguably the best wide receiver in football. And he was still getting a lot of targets and stuff but I think for both sides this just seems like a logical point to to break up and feel and contest the market and he can choose where he wants to go I imagine he's at this point he's going to want to go play with a really good quarterback and a contender and he's gonna maybe maybe the Chiefs want him or maybe if Aaron Rodgers goes to New York ends up in the Jets or he goes and plays with Diggs in Buffalo,

there's lots of possibilities there. And then for the Vikings, that clears up some cap space, especially if I imagine they would do a post-June 1 designation because otherwise there's a lot of dead money there. But more importantly, it clears up that role for you to, whether it's free agency or maybe early in the draft, go get somebody who fits Jefferson's timeline and is going to bring a little bit more of a speed element to this offense.

Yeah, a few things there. One, once the toothpaste is out of the tube when it comes to not being happy with the role, you can't put it back in. And that's something that if he comes back would just linger all the time. Is he happy with his role? Is he happy with his role? And the end of

Kyle Rudolph got kind of ugly and the end of Chad Greenway wasn't really very, you know, ideal either for guys who had been huge players on their team. And eventually just the NFL, you're going to fade and you're going to be replaced and that's how it goes. But can you get out before it gets a little bit tense or a little bit uncomfortable and the answer is yes you can as far as the june 1st thing goes i would encourage the vikings not to june 1st anyone even though it makes more cap space after june 1st that doesn't make it disappear that just makes it go down the road. And I think that their main goal should be for this off season to go into 2024 with as much cap space as pro as possible,

even if it hurts them this year. So it only creates like $6.3 million in space. Okay. That's fine. Take the giant hit, but only take it once as opposed to take some of it. Now, some of it later,

some of it down the road. That will tell us how they handle it, kind of how they are planning. Because when it comes to, quote, time horizons, I think they should be looking for going into next offseason, being the team everyone talks about. Hey, keep your eye on those Vikings. They got a lot of cap space. That's where you want to be is the one that every analyst is connecting you

to all the free agents because you have cap space to work with not the well the vikings once again lead the league in dead cap space so they can't spend that much you don't want it to be that way so i think it would be better if they just bit the bullet here if they do indeed cut adam thielen rather than trying to kick it down the road not to mention that after june 1st there's a whole lot of money you can spend or whole lot of money you can spend or a lot of people you can spend money on after June 1st if you wanted it for the immediate. Yeah, that's a good point.

For people who don't really maybe fully understand what we're talking about, like if they cut Adam Thielen now, all of his signing bonus stuff left on his contract comes up to the front and that's dead cap for this year. So it would be over 13 million in dead cap that you're not spending on anybody. But if they post June 1 it, then it's like half that this year. And then you also have half that in 2024. So I get what you're saying. If they want to just kind of flush the books as much as they can this year and move on

from various people and aim to have as much cap space as they can in 2024, then that makes sense. And you're also right that when you post June 1, you don't get that money, that cap space. Now you can't go spend that on an address or receiver in free agency. You have to wait until it comes off the books after June 1. So yeah, whichever way they go, I think the reality is you weren't going to get a trade for Adam Thielen with his current contract, with his production, even with all the touchdowns he scored. So I think just a release is going to end up making sense. It's going to be weird. Like the Eric Hendricks thing was like, I can't really picture him in another jersey because he's been here for eight years.

Adam Thielen even more so. I mean, he's been a Viking for 10 years. He's the ultimate like underdog local success story. He grew up cheering for the Vikings and all that. So that's going to be bizarre. But, you know, it happens eventually. It's the NFL. It's not, you can't hang on to things forever. And like you sort of hinted at, I mean,

it's better to move on from guys too soon than it is too late. If Adam Thielen stuck around and was brought back and took a pay cut and maybe had some tension there and then questions about his role and you're trying to feed a guy who's 33 years old while you also have Justin Jefferson and TJ Hawkinson and all these things, there's just the potential for that to become a weird distraction of a situation. So I think with Kendricks, they recognize it. I think with Thielen, they're ultimately going to recognize it, but too, too early versus too late that you want to be a kind of proactive with these things.

I have a two sort of fundamental Adam Thielen questions. One of them is whether it's worth criticizing what they did with him last off season, because at this point last off season coming out of the combine, there was still the same feeling. We may have even podcasted about it of, it could be done with Adam feeling they could move on. They could create X number of cap space and Hey, last year he was injured and he wasn't as good and whatever else. And they said,

Nope, let's redo this contract. So he comes back and then it's got this massive cap hit the following season which could totally burn you on your salary cap situation they know that but they're signing him anyway and i get let's just kind of move to the side the wilfs conversation and everything else wanting to keep these players around wanting to stay competitive and so forth but that one seems like when we talk about moving on a year early, a year early would have been last year. This is, this is not too, too late.

This is kind of just right. If we're doing the Goldilocks comparison, the next year would be a year too late. This is right. Just right. But I think that this was one you could have seen coming. I think you could have seen coming that he wasn't going to rebound in terms of his numbers or his impact on the offense or his happiness in the offense with justin jefferson taking over and it would have been um maybe a difficult bet to make but i also think like this is what you want your front office to be is to

see things coming a year early and not wait till it's already over where now it feels like it's already old yeah and maybe like i said i mean you're not trading dealing this offseason maybe you could have got something for him last offseason he was coming off in 2020 had 14 receiving touchdowns 2021 he had 10 of them like it's possible that that could have been a time where you're able to put some feelers out there and maybe get a draft pick for them so you're right doing the too early proactive approach would have been last year this year is just it makes sense like you don't want to drag this thing out any longer than where you currently are so i think these reports like yeah adam feeling uh the vikings it's a real possibility that they move on.

It seems to me like this is a 90% plus outcome here that it's going to happen. I would be quite surprised if we turn around and we get some report that, hey, the Vikings have actually restructured his deal. It seems like it's kind of over here. And I think, like I said, I think it makes sense for both sides.

Sorry, my camera jutted out there for a minute. Not really sure why that happened. I don't know know did that happen on your end did like my video disappear yeah i noticed it i was i wasn't sure if i should keep going but i did oh okay yeah no you're good uh that's i mean i still said recording but you just went blank for like oh okay all right no problem then so the other question i have with adam Thielen is just about his legacy as a Vikings receiver. Obviously, this is a guy who's made a good case for himself as a ring of honor type and someone that we'll talk about in that way, who put up some of the best statistics and was the guy before Justin Jefferson was breaking Randy Moss records.

Adam Thielen was breaking Randy Moss records at times in 2018. In the annals of all-time great Vikings wide receivers, though, Will, there are many candidates to choose from. I don't really love Mount Rushmore conversations, but where does he stand in that? Is he a Mount Rushmore Viking wide receiver? Well, I mean, you mentioned Ring of Honor honor he's a lock for the ring of honor like he i think that was the case even a couple years ago just you have to consider both the production and the the level that he played at for a long time

but also i think the the added like narrative stuff like he's the he's a minnesota kid he was the rookie child play like he's he's a lock for the ring of honor mount rushmore is is a far more interesting kind of debate because you look at the career totals and he is third all-time in receptions he's fourth in yards and he's third in touchdown receiving touchdowns so that right there tells you he's probably on the mount rushmore but then it's's considering like the length and peak, the two different debates that you have, like with Hall of Fame debates and things like that. He was, Adam Thielen was here for a while.

And that allows you to put up numbers. I think like maybe someone like Stefan Diggs has a higher peak, although he kind of reaches peak after he left the Vikings. But clearly Randy Moss and Chris Carter are the first two spots on there I think you can already put Justin Jefferson on there three seasons in and maybe that changes if some weird thing happens where they don't get an extension done and he ends up going somewhere else and he's only here for a few years I think the Vikings are going to do absolutely everything they can to make sure that doesn't happen but But let's say we put Justin Jefferson on.

That leaves one spot. Are you putting Adam Thielen there? And I think the competition is Jake Reed, Sammy White, Anthony Carter. I think those would probably be the main ones. And nobody else is jumping out at me. Like Percy Harvin wasn't here for long enough probably. So I don't know. I think Thielen has a legitimate case

I'm curious to hear your thoughts but I think the the two Pro Bowl seasons you might want more than that but he was really really good in 2017 and 2018 and then just the consistency of reliable hands touchdown production um doing it but but was he ever like the top guy for more than a year or two i don't know so it's an interesting debate i think between adam theil and jake reed and anthony carter it is a very difficult conversation to decide which one of those guys deserves it because if you go back to the mid 90s before chris was really, well, before Randy Moss, I mean, and you had Chris Carter and Jake Reed as a duo, Jake Reed is going for 1500 yards.

I mean, he is a dominant player during that time. And then Randy Moss shows up and then it's Carter Moss and Reed is the side car and, and deserves a lot of credit for taking that role because he made a ton of huge plays for them in those seasons with Randy Moss while he was here. sidecar and and deserves a lot of credit for taking that role because he made a ton of huge plays for them in those seasons with randy moss while he was here but at the same time you know it's not the guy who was randy moss who was taking them to a completely different level but from maybe like 94 through 97 jake reed is an a pro bowl caliber star level wide receiver uh it just didn't yeah he had super long he had a

thousand yard seasons between 94 and 97 four of them and thielen has two so that's that's a higher peak or a more sustained peak it is and if you look at some of those i think he's averaging like 15 16 yards a catch i mean he was a really big play receiver for them for a while it's hard to catch. I mean, he was a really big play receiver for them for a while. It's hard to say for sure that Adam Thielen would go ahead of him, but Thielen's 2017 and 2018 are pretty darn amazing. And the catch he made the Minneapolis miracle game. You know, that's the go sort of forgotten where he jumped over Marshawn Lattimore and fell and actually broke his back on that play and then kept playing throughout that game. So he's got his moments for sure. And so, you know, maybe Jake Reed during that era didn't have quite as many of those,

or maybe they're not as memorable to us right now because that was such a long time ago. Anthony Carter is a guy who had a lot of playoff memories and stuff like that. The greatest playoff performance in franchise history was part of a team that went to the NFC championship was part of some dominant teams there is their clear cut number one Anthony Carter got banged up a lot and maybe didn't put up the huge huge totals that Adam Thielen did a different era where quarterbacks threw for 3,000 yards so if you had 700 yards receiving that was huge how long do you have it in front of you? How long Anthony Carter did it for? Yeah. So Anthony Carter and Adam Thielen both spent, well,

Adam Thielen spent 10 years with the Vikings or has spent 10 years, but he wasn't really on the roster in 2013. So he has nine seasons listed on pro football reference. Anthony Carter also had nine seasons with the Vikings and Anthony Carter has about a thousand more yards than Adam Thielen did. And he did that in the late 80s and early 90s. So you adjust for era. He was the more productive guy there.

He had three 1,000-yard seasons, three Pro Bowls, all the playoff stuff. Never had quite a season like Adam Thielen's 2018, where he had nearly 1, nine touchdowns he had the uh I think it was eight or nine straight 100 yard games to open up that season just absolutely unbelievable but Anthony Carter more yards yeah I mean I'm looking at these and these three guys have pretty similar resumes when you look at the yards Thielen um clears both of them by quite a bit in touchdowns which is an interesting one but there i think it's kind of you could make you could make a really compelling case that i would be able to buy for any of those three guys as as the fourth spot on that mount rushmore

yeah i hate to cop out and say that there's no easy answer there for where those three should rank i think if i was absolutely forced i would probably say anthony carter then feel and then jake reed but there's no disrespect to any of those guys you mentioned sammy white too if you're going back that's a completely different era of football and so those numbers you'd have to try to make an era adjusted type of thing for it but point just being that paul flatley in the uh in the 1960s way back in the day right so it's always hard to kind of you know factor in guys who played so long ago and that now goes for even jake reed and anthony carter but um hands down a guy who deserves to have consideration for the ring of honor and everything else

part of a lot of big moments but just a you know the reality of the thing is that you've got to move on eventually from players like this. And I think that moving on from Kendricks and Thielen, and we're talking as if this has already happened, but it's always possible that it doesn't. If it does happen, this starts to signify, this is Kevin O'Connell and Kweisi Adafomense's team, because now you're removing major, major holdovers from the last group and i think that as far as offseason goals maybe i should have written an article on this like what their bigger picture not offseason goals as in sign a corner but as in like from the time horizons

perspective making the roster theirs i think is one of the biggest goals they completely tossed the 2021 draft class in the garbage last year, started to bring in their own draft class. This will be their second draft class. I think this is a reason to be okay with these things happening, even though people have been such big fans of these players is it's a new regime. Now make it feel like a new regime. Yeah, we've been talking about this since the start of this offseason that last year when they came in

there was probably these kind of directives from the top down like all right let's run it back with this core let's see if if coaching was the big issue here let's see what we can do with this group of players that's been around for a long time and and let's just run it back essentially and you know what they had some success they won 13 games they won the division at a home playoff game but the underlying stuff that we've we've talked about so much were they actually a great team maybe not so now this off season it seems like ownership has kind of approved and we don't know this for sure but the sense that i get is that they're like, all right, you know what, make this your team and put your stamp and do what we hired you to do.

And they've started to do that. And moving on from Eric Hendricks, who was a beloved Mike Zimmer player for so long, that's part of that. And Adam Thielen would be a huge part of that if that happens. And I don't think that it's going to stop there necessarily. I think Dalvin Cook is a guy who could be traded could be moved and that would be a really kind of a move from Quasar Alphameta that would make sense in terms of the analytics background and not paying running backs big money there's other guys that we've talked about what what's Harrison Smith's future a bunch of other a bunch

of other players kind of in that mold where i think yeah this is the off season where they make it their team they kind of enact their visions for this roster and maybe that means like saying hey we know we might take a step back this year but we want to kind of get this cap situation a little bit more healthy we want to bring along some of our young players from our draft picks last year who got hurt and the players we're going to draft this year and maybe have an eye on 2024 as being a year where you really kind of have this cap space and this flexibility and you can kind of go for it again with your team and not with the remnants of the previous regime. Now, a lot of that conversation is obviously going to hinge around what happens with the quarterback but we've talked plenty about that i don't know if we need to do

any more of that today uh not until there's some movement i think because yes we have probably exhausted that over several off seasons actually all the debates about kirk cousins and it is time to just get some movement on that but somebody asked a really interesting question on the live stream that I did after they cut Eric Hendricks, which was, does this signify that the Wilfs are going to let it be Kweisi and Kevin's team? And my answer was, I don't know yet because we just need more information. And I think this is, again, if it comes to fruition,

it is another step toward that. And moving Delvin cook would be a really big step toward that because now we're talking of three of the most popular players in this franchise over the last decade all being out and there hasn't been any real reporting on the situation with delvin cook whether they're going to move on or not tom pelissero said he didn't think so there have been other reports about potential trade offers for Delvin Cook, which I would say, whatever the trade offer is, do it. I don't know if you noticed in the article I wrote the other day that Delvin Cook had more negative runs or runs of zero yards than anyone in the NFL last year. So that's not something you

want to repeat if Kevin O'Connell really wants to improve the running game. And it probably will repeat based on his age and usage over the years. So I think the answer is getting closer. If this happens, getting much closer. And now it goes to kind of, do they draft a receiver? Do they draft to make Brian Flores happy? And that's something we can get into during draft season. But they did have some very positive news when we met with Tyler Williams the trainer who I mean what a time to

meet with the media right after the NFL PA says you're the best not hey he deserves it I you know I said this will I don't know we haven't talked since that survey came out so we'll get to the injury updates in a second but I'd like to get your take. I think this is about as good of a thing as you could ever have happened to you. As the players who are playing underneath you in an anonymous survey say, we love you. We appreciate the way you're handling us.

You're doing it in a straightforward and honest way where we trust you and believe in you. That's a huge deal for this organization to be able to say that. And I think that, you know, when you talk about, we got to the end of this year and I said, I think the Vikings have their coach for quite a while in Kevin O'Connell and there will be ups and downs as there always are with any coach. But if this is how the players are reacting to you and to your system with

how you treat them, how your medical people treat them and everything else, I think the other stuff will come and go your rosters, your schematics, whatever else, and what works on a given year. But that's that stuff like that is hard to replace when you can be the best situation for players to play in the entire NFL. Yeah. Number one out of 32 in that survey. And like people might say might say oh the players are just going to say nice things but you look at that survey not the players were pretty honest about their teams they were like the Jaguars had a rat problem and like the Cardinals like made you pay for dinner that might not be the right team but there's all these weird things where players were being really honest and they gave the Vikings high remarks in every single one of the eight categories there they were at least an a minus they only had one a minus it was mostly

a's and a pluses and that's a real thing like the culture stuff people might roll their eyes at it when Kevin O'Connell mentions it 47 times in a press conference but it it matters and like even I mean I tweeted about that survey and I got oh hang the banner like yeah no it doesn't it doesn't mean you won the Super Bowl that's the most important thing but having a good culture having a good work environment that people are happy and they're well treated well and like like that that is a big deal I really think that is a big deal and I know you do too like maybe tangibly it'll mean something maybe a free agent is deciding between a couple teams and he looks at that serve and he says hey i want to go to the vikings but i think just more importantly it's a really good reflection on kevin o'connell and on this entire organization and the priorities

that they've had and on the ownership as well the wilfs have spent a lot of money to build a first class facility in tco and do all these different things that prioritize player wellness. And yeah, I really think that that is an important thing and a good look for the Vikings organization. I mean, when you talk about how does it translate to winning? Oh, my camera did that thing again. How does it translate to winning? And the answer is in a lot of different ways. I mean, one of the ways being the healthier you are, the more you can win. That's a pretty big deal.

Look at all the teams that usually they're among the most healthy in the entire league. That's a great place to start. And the other part is just that, yeah, it's going to be, do you have Mahomes? A lot of times that's the history of the NFL who's playing quarterback in Kansas city. They don't trust their trainer and they won the Superbowl. So I don't know, but you can't tell me health doesn't matter. You can't tell me that how happy players are in their environment. Doesn't matter at all. It's always going to be skill and talent, but this is a league of tiny edges where out of 32 teams, 26 go into the season

thinking they can be pretty good most of the time. And who's going to win with the small edges that you have. And you can't tell me that it didn't matter that they were healthy in the fourth quarters, or you can't tell me that the communication between Kevin O'Connell and his team didn't matter when it came to those close games. Yeah, a lot of it's random, but some of it's not. And so I think that doesn't guarantee that they're going to win. But would you rather be your team as a joke? Would you rather be that your players are angry and don't want to stay and don't want to sign extensions? There's some pretty big names, Hawkinson, Derrissaw, Jefferson, that you're asking to stay for a long time. And when you sit down with their agents, you have that survey printed out and it's right there. First thing they see, find a better situation.

They're putting that on the walls at DCO. Anytime somebody walks in and visits, yeah, that's going to be a big, big fight. Exactly. So they should celebrate that but uh one thing that they did give us uh in tyler williams presentation was that lewis scene might actually be back on the field by late in otas which are a couple of days a week practices in the spring i'm sure people know what otas are by now but uh those organized team activities in the off season. And I have to say that is a pretty stunning development. I know that he's young and they've said he's been out at the facility every single day, which speaks well of him and how much he wants it. But I thought if this guy comes back by week four and we'll see how he even looks based on the severity of that injury, the idea

that he could be a hundred percent by training camp is really spectacular news for them and that he can get himself implemented into this system and now you're looking at week one it should be if harrison smith is still here harrison smith and lewis seen that is something i didn't necessarily expect yeah there's been a lot of kind of stunning developments in this recovery process for Lewis. And I think back to it was like a month or two after his injury and I'm in the locker room and he's just walking by like without any sort of crutches or anything. Like so he I don't know what's going on. I mean, clearly really good work by the by scene, by the whole training staff. I think medical technology has come a long way. But that was a gruesome looking injury that he suffered in week four in London. And for him to have made the strides he did,

he's been posting photos and videos on social media of him working out this off season. And yeah, to hear the update today with that, you know, he, he might be ready for phase three of the OTAs, much less training camp. Like, he might be out there in May. That is pretty – it's pretty miraculous. And it's a really, really good development for the Vikings because I think this is a big season, the second season for this draft class. It really matters.

They have to keep these guys healthy, and they have to start to get them developing on the field and get them some reps. Louis Seane and also Andrew Booth Jrr who there was some updates on today and uh yeah seen i think his skill set is still what it was when he was coming out of georgia which is somebody who can fly around and um has the kind of not not only the athleticism to to make plays but um the intelligence and the awareness to diagnose them and the experience in a pro system in Georgia. He can read these plays and when they're happening

and then fly downhill and make them and hit people. And I think that's a huge skill set to have in a Brian Flores defense where he's going to probably be moved all around and be used in a versatile way, as would Harrison Smith if he ends up being back. So that safety combination that we thought about last year, we never really got to see. But if that ends up kind of coming to fruition this year, if Smith is back and if scene's healthy, that should be a lot of fun to watch, especially in a Brian

Flores defense where they're not just going to be 50 yards deep on every play. I think now we can say officially that if Lewis scene is not starting day one, then you should have some really big concerns about what he's going to be. No longer is there the, well, you know, he's coming off that injury and we'll see, he should not get beat out again. And this is, this is a make or break training camp for him, make or break off season. The first year I'm always willing to be patient, but second year, that's pretty much where the rubber hits the road. And we've seen that with almost every prospect that they've had,

where if you're going into year two and they're still not buying in, then there's a problem there. But with him, I agree that he's a better fit and now he can be in that system from the very start. Less confident about Andrew Booth Jr though, with a knee surgery that is eight to 10 months is what Kevin O'Connell said today.

That sounds like maybe training camp you're talking about just coming back and that puts him farther behind. I think that this strengthens the idea that they need to go into free agency and get a cornerback. I saw Patrick Peterson is still kind of saying that he wants to return. I don't know about that. I just don't know if it's a good fit. But free agent corner is almost inevitable. And that even goes if they draft a corner, like if they signed a free agent and drafted a corner in the first round, and then you're seeing what's coming of, of Andrew Ruth

jr. I mean, that's, that's fine because I just look at it. Like there is so much uncertainty with a guy who's had so many injuries. And then this one, when they say he'll be back by camp, that's a hard time to just come back. Like we saw a couple of years ago with Latavius Murray came back for camp and it set him back a few weeks. Mike Hughes was the same kind of thing that he wasn't really ready right into camp and couldn't come back till halfway into the season. I mean, that's there's nothing you can rely on with Andrew Booth Jr a luxury at this point. He is not somebody that you can count on and pencil into your lineup. And you need to go out and get people that you can count on. And they need to go out and get a free agent cornerback. And I agree with you. There's been some buzz that maybe they want Patrick Peterson back.

That doesn't make sense to me. It doesn't seem like it makes sense for Patrick Peterson. He just had a career year playing in a Fangio-style defense where he's in zone coverage and he gets to look at the quarterback and use his 12 years of experience and his instincts and all those things why would he want to go somewhere where historically Brian Flores is going to play a bunch of press man and that's just not your game when you're 33 years old even if you were elite at it for a long time it doesn't make sense to me from Patrick Peterson's perspective doesn't really make sense to me from the Vikings perspective unless it's like a one-year three million deal because he is a great leader and he can still play a little bit

of man coverage like he's not horrible in that area but yeah I mean I think Andrew Booth is if you go out and you fill your your roster with some cornerbacks who can contribute for you and then you get Andrew Booth Jr healthy and he's competing for a starting spot and that all works out that's great like that would be awesome but you just can't rely on that and he's competing for a starting spot and that all works out, that's great. Like, that would be awesome. But you just can't rely on that. And that's why they need to go get a free agent because I don't like the idea of maybe bringing back, like, a low-level free agent and then you draft a corner in the first round and you're like, all right, this guy, Deontay Banks out of Maryland or whoever, like, we need you right away because that's just – it is historically, and we've seen this a bunch covering the Vikings,

it's a tough position to come in and be successful at right away because that's just it is historically and we've seen this a bunch covering the Vikings it's a tough position to come in and be successful at right away and so I think they need to go get a Cameron Sutton or a Jonathan Jones or like a starting caliber corner who fits this system and maybe has played under Flores before there's a few guys like that those two I just mentioned and then draft a guy in the first round anyways if you want if the value is there if that's the best player at your pick I also think drafting a wide receiver in the first round is really tempting especially if this stealing thing uh happens the way we think it's going to so yeah you cannot rely on booth because what he had the meniscus surgery in november so eight to ten months that's putting you at july end of July, best case, maybe August and September.

And then maybe he's at full speed like week six. So you can't, you can't rely on him at all. And then there's just the fact that he hasn't been healthy since he was in high school. He literally said that last year after the draft. And that's why he wasn't a first round pick. He has first round talent fell to the second round because of these questions. And unfortunately it popped up for the Vikings anyway. So they have a great training staff.

And if there's any training staff that might be able to help Andrew Booth stay healthy and get his career on the right track, I think it's this one. But the training staff can only do so much. What positions on the entire roster would you be willing to kind of let ride? And I mean, you can't fill everyone with free agents. I guess you could try. And there's also an argument for when we're talking about what you want to accomplish for next year, which is you compete for the division. I don't think anybody says that they're not going to even be competitive for the NFC North next year. So you're competing for the division, trying don't think anybody says that they're not going to even be competitive for the NFC North

next year. So you're competing for the division, trying to win, trying to get a home playoff game, all that stuff. We pretty much can lock in that that's going to happen. But also in my mind, you should be looking to find out a lot of things about your roster, find out where everybody stands, find out who you have for the future, like which guys are going to be dudes for the future who's going to be starters but that means you have to let some things ride uh where you can't just go out and replace now you probably have to for corner because you just don't have bodies there

if you can't rely on andrew booth jr we don't really know what the status of caleb evans is he's going to be back but he had three concussions. Very concerning. Duke Shelley might resign. I'm not sure really what he's going to be for the future. So there will be some position where you have to say, all right, well, young player, you're going to have to go ahead there that, and this just doesn't go for the defense, but on offense or defense. So which ones would you be willing to say, all right, you know what, just play your young guys and see what happens.

Yeah, I'll start quickly with the ones that you can. You mentioned cornerback. I think they need another wide receiver if Adam Thielen's gone. You can't just rock with K.J. Osborne and Jalen Naylor as your Justin Jefferson protection. He's just going to get doubled on every play, and you don't want that. I mean, he's going to get doubled a lot anyways, but you need some other guys there.

I would say, depending on what happens with Jordan Hicks, you might need another linebacker. Although, you got to let Brian Asamoah cook, but I don't know if they had anybody even on the roster right now who can play that other spot if Hicks ends up getting cut. And then maybe, like, you need a little more defensive line help. But I think the offensive line, you kind of just – outside of center where you you need

somebody who can play center but you got it you got to just see if Ed Ingram is a real is a real guy I think because you you put enough draft capital into him and and more importantly I mean he showed some strides and some potential in his rookie season I think you you want to see what he can do tackle you're fine Brian O'Neill was the other guy who I believe there was a somewhat positive update on him today in that Achilles recovery um tight end you're fine you you have TJ Hawkinson I don't think you need anybody else there um and then I I would say I mean the way I would approach this is I would trade Dalvin Cook for a seventh round pick if that's what it was

and I would go with Kanae Wongu and Ty Chandler and like an undrafted free agent at running back and I would I would see if if we got any dudes there um which is I like the way you put that but yeah I think I'm trying to think of it or any other I think safety if if if Louisine's healthy you absolutely you put him out there and like last year there was some like hey lewis he doesn't need to be the starter right away because a he's a rookie and b like cam bynum was interesting in 2021 cam bynum i think we can declare is just a guy he's not a dude he was just a guy who can play safety and can do some good things but um i don't think he's ever going to be like above average starting safety in this league so you want to see seen there and then yeah yeah i think that's i

think that's most of all and let uh let ryan wright cook it yeah yeah kicker they might look for somebody else but they also don't have a lot of money to do that. I would say running back is the clear to me, let it ride. But you know, if they moved on from Harrison Smith and let them fight it out, the three guys that are there, Josh Metellus, Cam Bynum and Louis seen, I'm not offended. Um, I think that's okay. Cause you're looking for who's going to be your future. Nickel corner would be a place I would not really want to let ride because usually that takes a veteran experienced player. And we saw if you have a bad nickel corner, it's just a nightmare. It's just a disaster and it hurts everyone around you. A corner, I'm not really willing to let it ride either. I think you've got to throw as many people and bodies at that as you can. So look for

free agents who could be there for multiple seasons. Look for high draft picks. Don't just kind of let that one play itself out. Center's an interesting one. They don't really have anyone to let it ride with, except for Chris Reed, who's their backup. But I think let ride could also mean sign two free agents for very cheap and see which one of them wins the cage match for center rather than giving Garrett Bradbury $10 million a year. I would also look at defensive line where I'm okay with letting it ride, which means draft somebody move on from guys. If you have to don't resign Delvin Tomlinson. I think I'm okay with a

lot of these positions of Brian Flores being able to evaluate next year, get as most as he can out of them, and then kind of figure it out from there. Last thing for you, Will, is just what's on your mind? What's on your mind? I mean, you could talk about life, your feelings, your emotions, whether Carl Anthony Towns is ever going to come back. No, I mean, with football in general, there's a lot that's just sitting in the air right now. And we're just all, and it's us and it's the jets and it's Lamar Jackson and it's every quarterback situation, the draft. We're all just sitting here waiting for stuff to happen. What is the most on the forefront of your brain? Uh, well, actually I wake up every day and I think about Kirk Cousins.

The first thing that pops into my head now, I mean, it's, it up every day and I think about Kirk Cousins, the first thing that pops into my head. No, I mean, it's the quarterback stuff, I think, is at the forefront. Like, the balance in the NFC North changes a lot if Aaron Rodgers ends up in New York or if he returns to Green Bay. I think the Lions make a lot of sense right now as a potential spot for Lamar Jackson. So that would change a lot of things as well, because they're already, I think the betting favorite in that division with Jared Goff, what happens if they get Lamar Jackson?

What happens if they get Anthony Richardson even in the draft? And so I, it's just the Vikings decision at quarterback is something that kind of endlessly fascinates me. And we've talked about it for the last three off seasons. I would not want to be the person making that decision because you have this known quantity in Kirk Cousins and then there's the unknown of all right if we let him play this out then then what's next so that always fascinates me I I'm thinking a lot about just what we've talked about which is

will this be like all right we're gonna release release eric hendricks and then maybe i'm feeling and then like maybe we're done there or is this going to be a thing where we keep going and we see dalvin cook gone we see harrison smith gone and maybe they trade zedaria smith which i want to put this out there i don't think that makes any sense like people are like all right zedaria smith he could be gone move on from him he disappeared in the second half that makes no sense to me because he is, he was unbelievably productive in the first half of the season when he was healthy, he was slowed by a knee injury, but he still finished like third and pressures in the entire league.

He's on an extremely affordable edge rusher contract. Like he's on a very good guy. He is when you look at what, where you could create cap space and not have dead money, he is one like, because it's just, it's not a long-term deal, where if you cut him, you get $12 million or whatever, and there's not much dead money. But why do that? You have a top-tier edge rusher for $15 million, who I think would fit brilliantly in Brian

Flores' system, and the ways that he could move him around, that doesn't make any sense to me, because I think that's such an important position. But maybe it'll happen, and maybe that would be part of all right let's let's get younger there and let's let's focus on 2024 so um i don't know there there are a lot of things on my mind uh i mean i'm thinking about the draft a lot too because i think that stuff's really fun and i'm thinking about like would brian branch out of alabama be a perfect fit for the vikings as like a versatile flores dv you can play safety and corner and all these different things should would Brian Branch out of Alabama be a perfect fit for the Vikings as like a versatile Flores DB who can play safety and corner and all these different

things? Should they take a receiver? Should they take a cornerback? Should they take an edge rusher for the first time in forever in the first round? So I don't know, lots to be, lots to be curious about. And it's nice that we are now into the month where a lot of things are going to happen yeah i think if um if tyler williams the vikings trainer reached over to you or leaned over the table and just said zadarius's knee is shot that would probably change things but we don't know the medicals i'm just you know if they release him i think we'll know because there were those medical concerns when he got here and they wouldn't answer any questions on it and then it survived, but there was an injury that clearly

slowed him down. So that would make a big difference to me, how that factors into the whole equation. Yeah, obviously the quarterback stuff. Wouldn't it be crazy if Lamar Jackson, Bryce Young, and Jordan Love were the quarterbacks in the NFC with the Viking or the NFC North, as opposed to, you know, what we saw last year, like things change fast. And the NFC's quarterback situations could certainly do that. So all that stuff goes under the category. Are you, are you, are you counting out Justin Fields with the bears then? Are you saying? No, I'm just saying it's all possible.

Just a matter. It could happen. Like it's all within the range, because if you're Poles, you're not telling everybody what you're doing. Because you don't want... If you say, oh yeah, we're definitely trading Justin Fields, then everyone's going to be like, oh, well, then we won't offer that much. But if you're like, no, we really don't want to. Well, how about another draft pick, sir?

Oh, okay. I don't know. Maybe it works that way. I've never been a negotiator when it comes to trading quarterbacks so i'm not sure how to do that it is a it is a fascinating offseason though in this division as a whole and i think it's funny because the vikings just won the division by a decent margin they won 13 games and i think i can say pretty confidently they are the least discussed nationally of the four teams because the packers have the roger situation the bears have the number

one pick the lions are like on the up and up and it might be good for the first time ever and could end up with a new quarterback so the vikings are kind of going under the radar i think a little bit nationally but there's still so much for us to talk about in this, in the great state of Minnesota with this, with this franchise. So also interesting that, uh, the gamblers are not buying the Vikings. They are third to win the division in the odds at this moment on draft Kings, which I think is kind of tells you where they think that this thing is going for next year. Uh, but we will be here to cover it, Will. So as our periodic get-togethers happen,

maybe next week after a bunch of stuff happens, we've kind of gone every other week and things are going on. You went to the Bahamas. I did go to the Bahamas. I'm going to Chicago next week to be with some college friends as the Northwestern Wildcats participate in the NCAA tournament for just the second time ever. But we can find a time to get a pod soon for sure.

Oh, stuff will happen and we will pod, no doubt. So appreciate your time and everybody for listening and we will catch you all next time.