Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Is Byron Murphy Jr. returning? End-of-season lessons.

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

Matthew Coller discusses the Vikings pushing Byron Murphy Jr.'s void date back and what that means about his potential return. Plus, Coller answers your Vikings questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here, and this is a fans-only episode where I answer the questions that you have sent me, either through DM or email, and I'll give you the information on that in a second. But we gotta start out by talking about a little news item that came out today on Tuesday, which is that the Vikings have indeed moved back the void date for cornerback Byron Murphy. So we talked about this the other day on the show, and we did not know that they had done this. We had only heard the information that Aaron Jones and the Vikings had agreed to move back their void date to right before free agency.

And what this means is that the Vikings can negotiate with Byron Murphy Jr. all the way up until free agency and not have his void number hit the dead cap. So if he had become a free agent, if his contract had voided, then the Vikings would have been hit with a dead cap number before free agency. That didn't mean that they couldn't negotiate with him again or that they couldn't bring him back still. It just meant that you want to do that so his contract doesn't void. So if they do sign him to an extension, they can spread out that number rather than just having it hit and then signing him to a new contract and then having kind of double the cap hit after that. So it would be if they signed him to a cap hit that was $10 million,

it would actually be $14 million because of that dead number, or they could spread it out over a couple of years and have that not make much impact. So it's not so much that it makes a huge difference. It was not a very large dead cap number. And the same thing goes for Aaron Jones. And that has to be paid out at some point. It's really just more of a hint that the Vikings could want to bring back Byron Murphy Jr. The same way it was for Aaron Jones, that it's just a suggestion that they might want to have more time to negotiate with him because there is a chance that he returns now i did bring this

up the other day it is true that they have done this with other guys who have not ended up coming back and delvin tomlinson is one of them they wanted Delvin Tomlinson to come back, but he was way above their price and they couldn't afford him. And he went to Cleveland and that could very well happen with this situation. And I think when we compare the two guys, Aaron Jones and Byron Murphy Jr, there will be teams out there that want Aaron Jones, but how much difference will there be in the price that other teams are willing to pay versus the Vikings for Aaron Jones, but how much difference will there be in the price that other teams are willing to pay versus the Vikings for Aaron Jones? I don't know that that's a huge difference. Maybe the Vikings are thinking 8 million and maybe another team's thinking nine and Aaron

Jones likes Minnesota and wants to keep beating the Packers like he did last year. And so he stays here, but with Byron Murphy jr. I could see other teams going a little more nuts because he had a ton of interceptions last year and there's only so many good corners in the world and some teams just have a lot of money to spend to where they could go up and over the top to make sure that they get a good player in their building rather than with the Vikings. I think they might have more options at cornerback to bring players in where maybe they don't always have to go crazy with their contracts to get players to come to play for Minnesota. So if just for example, you look at the Raiders and we bring them up all the time, but they have a ton of cap

space, an absurd amount of cap space. They could be a team that says, you know what, Byron Murphy Jr. 18 mil a year. Let's go. And if that's going to be the case, then the Vikings, I think, are priced out at that point. And what Byron Murphy Jr.'s agent is going to try to figure out before this happens, before his contract voids and they can still negotiate with the Vikings. And this is what you do with the NFL combine is just how much money

Byron Murphy Jr. is going to be worth on the open market. So if his agent meets with the Vikings and they say, all right, we're thinking about 15 a year. It's been a great player for us. We really like having him on the team and that's what we're willing to offer. And he has other conversations with other GMs that maybe nod, nod, wink, wink, and suggest, Hey, you can do better than that. You can get more guaranteed. You could get a higher per year salary. Then Byron Murphy kind of doesn't have a choice and would have to go with the much better money if it's out there for him to get. Do I think that he's worth 15 a year in that ballpark? I would say yes. When you look at the other comparable corners who are making somewhere

between 12 and 15, Byron Murphy and his value to the Vikings falls right in that category. And I think it matters that Brian Flores and Byron Murphy Jr. have gelled really well. And even if he didn't have any interceptions last year, I thought he had a good season, just a good season in coverage. He rallies to the ball. Well, he tackles, I think better over the last couple of years, but he also misses some tackles because he's flying in from somewhere and can't bring the guy down, but he's involved a lot. I think he understands the defense. He's a smart player.

He's someone from a character perspective that you want in the locker room. All of those things are the reason that they brought him in in the first place, because in part, they had played against him. Kevin O'Connell had played against him kevin o'connell had played against him in arizona thought he was a good player and so they've liked him because of that i think they should like him still now it's just that if he's pressing top dollar in the market that becomes more difficult because the vikings have a lot of different needs and they have a lot of different needs even at that position they probably have to sign multiple corners at that position and if you were going to spend 16 18 20

million dollars there's at least one guy who i think is a little more worth that dollar figure because of his ability and man-to-man coverage which would would be DJ Reed, who has a long history of being a really excellent corner. And he was a very difficult guy to go against for the Vikings last year when they faced him, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison. He gave them heck when he played against them. And that matters. We know that the teams, if somebody else does really well against you, they're going to

look into, how can we get that guy? We see that all the time in the nfl but i think reed has proved that over several years uh even when he was with i think what san francisco seattle he's been a good player for a long time and he's still at the tail end of his prime but in his prime it might be an upgrade and at that cornerback position they do have to consider what could be an upgrade. And at that cornerback position, they do have to consider what could be an upgrade because even though they played really well last year, there were limitations to the cornerback group last season. And I think they want to have a little fewer limitations. They talked about playing more man coverage. They did when Shaq Griffin statistically

was on the field, but Shaq Griffin also is not really in his prime, is not the player that he was a few years ago and did a good job, by the way. I mean, for what they paid for Shaq Griffin, he did a good job. But I think you're looking for one of those top end guys that you can match up with a top wide receiver and say, kind of set it and forget it. He's going to take care of that guy. The Vikings have not had that in a long time. That would be maybe my preference, but if Byron Murphy comes back on a reasonable contract, no complaints here. He is fit really well as part of a defense that has reinvented itself over the last couple of years. I mean, think about where this defense was in 2022 to be here at top five, and he's been been a main player and also they fell off in 2023 when

he got hurt if you recall they were one of the 10 best defenses in the league in 2023 before byron murphy went down so no complaints it makes total sense i was actually surprised when we were talking about it the other night because i thought, wait, they wouldn't do that for him, but apparently they will. But now the franchise tag is off the table for Byron Murphy Jr. And that is completely fine. That didn't make a whole lot of sense to me from the beginning. So here we are and we'll see where that goes with him and Aaron Jones. So there's your update on that situation. As far as Sam Darnold, they did not do this with Sam Darnold naturally because they want to have the franchise tag on the table. And I've been very interested over the last few days because some people are now kind

of definitively saying they think that Darnold will not get franchise tagged. I've always been of the camp that it makes sense to tag and trade him. We're along for the ride i guess and i'm gonna have a few guests that are gonna break that down in depth over the next couple days including kevin seifert from espn so keep an eye out for that i don't know about you guys but i tend to have an impulse buy problem i'm always signing up for stuff and then forgetting about it and then i end up getting charged month after month. Well, it turns out that I am not alone.

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Cancel your unwanted subscriptions. Reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to rocketmoney.com slash purpleinsider. That is rocketmoney.com slash purpleinsider today. All right, let's get to your questions that you have sent to me either by email matthew collar at gmail feel free to use it and or go to purple insider dot football sign up for the newsletter and when you get the newsletter in your inbox you can respond to it that sends me an email or if you want on social media on twitter just hit me up with a dm my dms are open

any of those ways can send me a question to get on the show in the fans only episodes and i'm trying to do as many as i can here through the off season so fire those away to me we'll start with this one comes from boogeyman 2012 says why are you so sold on bringing darnold back when him and jj ended up being neck and neck in the qb competition this past offseason darnold put up great stats but overall his warts proved to be too much to overcome so the first part of that when you say so sold on it uh i've tried to lay this out the best i can because i think it does go a little bit misunderstood at times when i'm talking about darnold because people remember what happened in the playoffs in those final two weeks and the disappointment and how poorly sam darnold played

and i think there's a little bit of the brain shuts off and you only hear this guy wants Darnold back must harm. And I think just bear with me here. I'm sold on the idea that if Sam Darnold came back for next season, the franchise doesn't have to shut down and move to Toronto or something that it does not ruin the competitive rebuild. It doesn't destroy JJ McCarthyJ. McCarthy's career. You don't have to quit being a fan and go watch European soccer instead. That it will be okay if they bring back Sam Darnold because they can work around a contract situation. He was really good this year, if you remember. Year two in the offense was better for Kirk cousins.

They can improve the interior offensive line and they can go back next year. And don't forget the guy beat the heck out of the Packers twice played super well at home, had great chemistry with Justin Jefferson. Like these things happened. And in my world, I have to use all of the information that happened right i flew to the game in seattle and watched sam darnold do something special and beat the seattle seahawks that may mean nothing to you you may be getting angry hearing me talk about it because you're so sold on getting rid of him and you don't ever want to see him again because of what happened. And I get it. And I get it. I did not enjoy having to change all of my flights from LA to Arizona to fly out there to stay in a hotel, to go to the game and spend all that time just to watch a nothing that was over in the first quarter because the quarterback melted down. And the same thing with Detroit,

nobody enjoyed that. And no one thought that was good or acceptable or anything like that. But there is a world where it makes sense to have Sam Darnold as your quarterback. And that world is if JJ McCarthy needs more time. And I am also in the same camp as Kevin O'Connell feeling like the most important thing to the future of this franchise is developing JJ McCarthy correctly. That's how I have always felt. I felt that last year. If you go back and you listen to me talk about McCarthy, it's like, Hey, we're going to need to give this guy time. We're going to need to give this guy space. We can't treat every training camp practice like it's a referendum on what JJ McCarthy is going to be because there's going to be good ones and bad ones and bumps along the way. And Kevin O'Connell

has a plan to develop this guy. And I think Kevin O'Connell knows what he's doing. That's really the opinion. I would prefer to see JJ McCarthy. I banged the drum for how many years about the quarterback contract. I mean, all of them from 2018 to the time they drafted JJ McCarthy, like go back and watch me on draft night where I'm saying this, they, they did it. They did it mission accomplished. They finally got there. The whole plan came to fruition. And that plan was to draft a quarterback, create the the preseason game and reported over and over about how good McCarthy looked. And I reported that they were considering him going to those joint practices against Cleveland as maybe having a chance to challenge Darnold. Like that's how good he was playing. Like that stuff, that's all the stuff I said. And if he was ready to start, well then go ahead and start them. Don't worry about Sam Darnold. So it's not like I have a, I heart Sam Darnold tattooed on my chest guys.

It's more that I'm just not afraid of this outcome in the same way that other people are because I think they can compete with him. I think he's got monstrous talent and a great rapport with his receivers. I think he led the team really well last year. And what it really comes down to is I trust Kevin O'Connell to make the right call. And I know how badly you want to see McCarthy, but I trust that Kevin O'Connell who puts his life's work into quarterbacks just knows what he's doing. And I think he's earned that over the last couple of years we spent so much time questioning spielman and zimmer because they earned us questioning them

they earned us questioning giving kirk cousins an extension after 2019 they earned that but with this group they've earned from winning football games and acting competently the the benefit of the doubt that if they bring back Sam Darnold, they've got a reason. That's how I'm looking at that. It's nuanced. There must be a reason if they're doing it. And that would be to give JJ McCarthy more time. But when you're talking about training camp, you're right. It is relevant how good McCarthy was at training camp last year. It absolutely is. And I think what that tells you is that he can get there and he can potentially be the starter, but he also had an entire year

taken away from him. And it's not easy to snap your fingers and just have all that come back and get in the same exact shape and be ready to play an entire season. And he just doesn't have a ton of experience. So they might want to be a little more safe. And one thing that a five-year, potentially, contract extension for Kevin O'Connell, let's just call it multi-year, long-term extension for Kevin O'Connell, affords, is that O'Connell can play things more long-term. He does not have to panic and bring Darnold back if he doesn't want to, or he can develop McCarthy slower if he wants to,

because he is here for the foreseeable future. So that's the full opinion. The full opinion has a lot of different nuances to it. A lot of, if then, if this happens, then I feel like this. If Kevin O'Connell tells us he wants to give McCarthy more time, then it's fine. If Sam Darnold is your quarterback, if he feels like McCarthy's ready to go QB one, here we go. Then it's fine. If they move on from Sam Darnold And I don't need the cap explained to me every comment section. I am well aware of the benefits of not having Sam Darnold on the books. I also think that there are a lot of different ways that you can deal with that

for a very short period of time. So there's kind of the whole opinion. And also if I move my head, you're going to see behind me, Matt loves Sam Darnold. Come on guys. I feel like we've gotten a tad juvenile, uh, with some of the responses to me laying this out, but, uh, such as the internet. So anyway, that's the whole opinion. Hopefully that clarifies everything

for you. Uh, the next question here at Matt Verrick or matt verrick uh says what do you think is something that quesadilla flamenco learned after watching how the season ended for me i'll just tell you for me what was sharpened i don't think that quesadilla flamenco would have learned a lot from the philadelphia eagles winning with a great roster. Truly, there's no model. People are trying to make a model. The model is, yeah, defensive lines are very scary and you better have a defensive line of your own and you better have the ability to stop it or at least give yourself a chance.

That's not really new. We've kind of been talking about that for, I don't know, a really long time about the interior offensive line and all that what i think that it sharpened is the idea that your roster is only as good as its worst parts so just for example the vikings offensive line on the left side last year going into the playoff game had a offensive tackle who had been playing some pretty tough football maybe dealing with an injury i don't know cam robinson he had fallen off big time from where he was at the beginning of when he was traded to the vikings maybe it was just i

don't know exhaustion i i'm not sure or matchups i i don't know but cam robinson over the final couple weeks of the season really faded. And they had a left guard who was a guy who was a tackle that got moved over into that position also really faded, had never played 17 games before. And then they had a center who historically had really struggled with pass protection. Now you go to the right side and you have a right tackle who had gotten leg whipped against the Chicago bears. And I think that injury was problematic for Brian O'Neill. And then at right guard, Dalton Reisner was fine at pass protection.

And honestly, it just was fine. But when you go across the line, that's a lot of warts there. That's a lot of weaknesses across the offensive line. Now you go to the fact that they did not have an explosive run game and they were last in the league in 20 plus yard runs for the last three seasons, but they had no explosiveness from the run game. And you look at, they had a tight end who had been coming back from an ACL injury. They did not get a whole heck of a lot outside of the green Bay Packers game from their wide receiver three. They had a quarterback who took a lot of sacks. And all of a sudden you start to add that up and you go, yeah, that doesn't sound like the Eagles. That sounds like a lot of weaknesses on

the roster. You look at the Eagles, they had a completely healthy offensive line. I know in the NFC championship, they were banged up by the time they got to the Superbowl. They were good to go. They had an elite running back at least two elite wide receivers tight end is playing great their quarterback had two weeks to get his knee healthy and he was good to go i mean they just had everything they didn't have a weakness on that side the vikings offense this year was pretty much justin jefferson and then if not justin jefferson jordan addison and if not either one of those they struggled and they occasionally could run the football with effectiveness they did it against someone like jacksonville but that's jacksonville and they were asking sam darnold hey

make several unbelievable plays outside the pocket a game that's hard to do every single week hey sam darnold do that thing against the falcons we can't really pick up blitzes but you need to scramble around then find jefferson it's a highlight play it's incredible but it's also flawed it's not something you could do when they have kobe turner and jared verse coming after you you can do it against atlanta who stinks or arizona who's not that. Like they're not that talented. And they had to pull it out at the end against Arizona. They had to pull it out against Seattle, who is pretty talented and they were getting pressure and he's got to scramble around and

throw the touchdown to Justin Jefferson. Like that's not a model. That's why so often what we see with scrambling quarterbacks, if they're, if that's your offense, if your offensive plan is for the quarterback to scramble around and do stuff and not be consistent, that time runs out on that because you just can't ask someone to be magic all the time. That's Patrick Mahomes for this year. You just couldn't ask Mahomes to be magic all the time or for them to have the screen passes work all the time as they did through the regular season, and they relied on that. But it was about their weaknesses too. It's great that Joe Tooney was able to move to left tackle, but come on.

When you're facing the best of the best, it's not going to work. When you're having backups in there. When you don't have a run game for Kansas City. And so I think as they build this, they need to have that in consideration. Now, injuries are something you can't do anything about, but they need to have it in consideration that you can't just sort of let a weakness live there and patch it over and then hope to win the Superbowl. You can't just have left guard and be like, Oh yeah, we'll just kind of like, whatever, it'll be fine. That's not how it's going to work.

And, you know, they did that with corner to a pretty good effectiveness. But when push came to shove, Matthew Stafford, Puka Nakua, like they were there. I mean, I didn't blame the defense for what happened in Arizona or Detroit, but still like there were some weaknesses and the interior pass rush. Oh, we've got a blitz all the time to create pressure. Well, eventually that's time to create pressure. Well, eventually that's going to get you. So, you know, look, building a complete roster is not really a model or something you can learn, but I think it sharpens it that when you're looking at a position and going, Hey, maybe we can survive with somebody who's going to be a weakness.

The answer is you probably can't because whoever makes the super bowl is most likely to not have very many weaknesses and so always in forever in football build the strongest roster have the best trenches a great quarterback great running back great corners great way like that's gonna win for you well that is what's going to win for you so yeah i don't know i don't know if there's like a lot to learn there other than maybe hey you need a quarterback who can run and jj mccarthy can run that might be a thing you need to focus on a little bit because also maybe you could look at it and say a running back is only as good as his circumstances because saquon barkley averaged four yards of carry or less last year. And then this year he averages six yards to carry circumstances matter. You can't just keep running in different running backs and hoping for different results. If your scheme and your blocking are

going to be exactly the same in terms of quality. So maybe that's something that they need to look at as well, that offensive line and blocking and scheme are a big deal to that running back success uh next question comes from drew sick ink i think is how you uh sorry if i'm really butchering that name drew uh if you were the gm with increased cap space this offseason will provide with the increased cap space that this off season will provide. What would be the ideal pie chart of allocation for the available salary cap resources? Let's see. So if we were doing, let's say four positions, is that maybe how this has to work? This pie chart, like what percentage of salary cap space goes to corner defensive tackle offensive guard and do we say running back or safety maybe running back slash safety because neither one of those positions

should be crazy expensive well for me i would like to see the most money put into the cornerback position because first you have to have multiple of those corners. And I think you can draft a defensive tackle and I think you could draft a running back. So I wouldn't go crazy to pay Aaron Jones too much to come back because this is a great running back draft and you can bring somebody in. It's a passing offense. A running back should have it fairly easy if they improve the offensive line. So the cornerback would be first guard slash interior O-line would be second to me. And I know a lot of you are like, no, no, no, that needs to be first. But I'm thinking about how they need to have all three positions be solid

rather than just spend all the money on Trey Smith. That's the way I've thought about this all off season. If they sign trey smith i'm not gonna say oh you're stupid like of course not but i think that if you look at the available offensive linemen there's multiple guys who could come together as an offensive line and make it so it doesn't have weak points the same way that it did this year, I would prefer two or three guys. Let's say you sign, you know, Kevin Zeitler, Makai Becton, something like that. And you are a much, much larger there, some combination of two or three of the guys and what that costs. Maybe that's like 30 million. Maybe it's even, maybe it's even between the corners and the interior offensive line.

Cause I kind of see both as costing somewhere between 25 and $30 million. And of course that's not how the salary cap hits will work out, but just, you know, bear with me there. And then after that, I would have interior D line a little less because I'm not willing to pay $25 million for the guys that are available. Milton Williams is great. Milton Williams also played with nothing but great players on the D-line. And if you play next to Jalen Carter, you probably don't have too many double teams. If you make $20 million and you come here, you're going to get double teams. And I don't know, the effectiveness will be the same.

Oso Degazua, I think maybe would be a better bet because he's had a little more success longer, but still it's really a one year type of thing. And if you're talking $25 million on one player, that's a lot. I would prefer them go into the draft and try to nail a guy there in the first round, maybe with the third round pick, but first round DT is kind of where I've got my mind at. And as far as like the, let's see the rest of the roster, I safety safety is a tough one because I'm sure they want combine them back. There's a price tag. That's too much. If Harrison Smith doesn't return, I think that they can move Josh Metellus into a traditional safety type of role. I do have a lot of confidence in Theo Jackson

as someone that can play there. But even if you do some of that, you'd like to have one other guy. I don't think you just want Jackson and Metellus playing back there at the two safeties and leaving it at that. And then not having that hybrid role or option with Josh Metellus. So I think you want to go into free agency and maybe sign one person and then have them paired with Theo Jackson and play it like that. Safety is a position where there's a lot of guys and you shouldn't have to pay tons of money. I've been looking at the free agent list. Trayvon Morig is a favorite of mine from the Raiders, but even there's guys like Elijah Molden who played kind of a deep safety role for the Chargers last year. Justin Reed for the Chiefs has been a good player for them for a long time

i don't know if he hits free agency there's options there where you should not have to spend huge huge dollars so just in terms of allocation i would have even the corners in the interior o line and then probably the interior d line if the options are good enough and safety slash running back after that um but you but you know, it all depends kind of what they think they could get in the draft and where the deals might be. I mean, last year they get Blake Cashman and Andrew Van Ginkle and they didn't really have to pay that much. I mean, you look at Andrew Van Ginkle's contracts, crazy, the deal that they got from him versus the production. You never know who's going to kind of slip through those cracks

a little bit. So you kind of have to know that part as well, and not just the, like, how many dollars would I spend? So yeah, but that, those are the two positions I think that they need the most work in. Next question comes from Leonard061. How can KOC learn this off season to avoid falling into the Tomlin trap? I assume what you mean by the Tomlin trap is that you make the playoffs and you don't win in the playoffs. Is that the Tomlin trap where you're always good and not great? Well, I think that the Tomlin trap is just not having a good quarterback. That Mike Tomlin is a really good coach but he's not perfect same with everybody uh he's really good coach he's not perfect and he can always put a good defense out on the field and they've never quite figured out the offensive scheme that really works there since ben roth has burger left but that's really because of the quarterback position when arthur

smith their offensive coordinator was in was in Tennessee and he had Derek Henry, A.J. Brown, Ryan Tannehill, Arthur Smith was a genius. Oh my gosh, this guy turned around Ryan Tannehill's career. Whoa, well done. Bravo. You deserve a head coaching job in Atlanta. The man goes to Atlanta, they give him Desmond Ritter and are like, just, you know, do the same thing. Nope. Then he goes to the Steelers and they have a reasonably good offense for half a season with a bus, Justin Fields and an old completely washed Russell Wilson. And then they fall apart. Eventually that doesn't work. And they go, Oh man, Tomlin know what he's doing out there. It's Arthur Smith.

Know what he's doing? Like, I don't know if Arthur Smith was really fit to be a head coach, but as an offensive coordinator, he's had success. And it was probably because he had great players. That's so often what it comes down to with is the coach a genius or not. So with Mike Tomlin, I think the fact that they're there every year is proof that he knows what he's doing. He's a great coach, but if they don't figure out the quarterback position, he'll never get past that. Look at the quarterbacks who are playing on championship weekend, a second overall draft pick. One of the highest paid quarterbacks, the league Jalen hurts and Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. And then before that it was Lamar Jackson. Like you're just not going to roll out there with mediocrity at the quarterback position and have the 27th best quarterback in the league and just win in the playoffs. Not going to happen. And we were just talking about how the playoffs is so often about what you can't do or what your

weaknesses are. Okay. Well, if you go into every playoffs with Mason Rudolph and Russell Wilson, you just, what are you going to do? You're not going to beat Josh Allen. You're not going to beat the best teams in the AFC who have great quarterbacks. If that's what you're trying to roll out. So that's really the Tomlin Travis. They don't have a quarterback. So my suggestion to KOC would be, Hey, make sure your quarterback is good. Uh, let's start there. He needs in the future this year or beyond. He needs JJ McCarthy to work out. He needs JJ McCarthy to be not good, but really, beyond, he needs J.J. McCarthy to work out. He needs J.J. McCarthy to be not good, but really, really, really good. Not perfect.

Jalen Hurts isn't perfect, but really, really, really good. And they're not going to have that running element in the same level as Jalen Hurts. So he needs them to be really good if they're going to win in the playoffs. You look around the league, there's a lot of even quarterbacks that we consider to be good who haven't won in the playoffs. Justin Herbert is one of them. I mean, even as good as CJ Stroud is, he hasn't gone deeper in the playoffs than the divisional round. It's tough out there, man, when you get into the playoffs. But I do think that, you know, Kevin O'Connell's two trips to the playoffs with very flawed quarterbacks, flawed offensive lines, flawed defense in one of them that they lost against the Giants. Both are bad losses. Both times in the playoffs are very bad

losses. It felt like they were outcoached against the Rams and the whole thing with not moving on from Donatello mid-season where it became very clear that there was a problem there. The fact that, hey, somebody called the play on the fourth and eight check down, like nobody's perfect there. So they couldn't outscore the Giants in a year where they kind of had to outscore everybody. They were two very bad losses. The Giants were not a good team. They got killed the next week.

The Rams at least were a really good team. But those are two pretty tough losses in the playoffs. Not the first coach to have it go that way. Certainly won't be the last. But I think what it comes down to is if you're going to go deep into the postseason, they need to continue on this path that they started of the competitive rebuild and create a roster that's stronger than what they had this year. Sometimes it's not a super complicated league. Sometimes it's if you're

the best roster, the best team. I mean, people make fun of Nick Sirianni being not that great of a coach at times. Right. And, and, and look, Nick Sirianni last year gets on the hot seat because they lose in the playoffs. Because why? They had injuries. Their defensive roster wasn't all that good and they just lost. And then the next year he's a genius. He did something different.

No, they put a lot of better players on the field. That doesn't mean I think Kevin O'Connell has been perfect. But with the playoff losses, there's been a lot of nitpicking of him where I think that they've maximized what they've had. So when you look at, I always look at coaches this way. I judge coaches this way. What is it that you have versus what did you get out of it? So when you have Sam Darnall as your quarterback who had some of the worst statistics of any

quarterback who had been drafted as high as he was and over had had as many starts as he did and you win 14 games and you're in the playoffs with the top 10 offense it's hard for me to say man you got to be better it's like wait a minute whoa right so that's not to give an excuse for losing that game the way they did it was pathetic the way that they played and they did get out coached i think pretty badly against the rams but did kevin o'connell over his first three years get more out of it than he had there's no question that he did and if you keep doing that and eventually you get that roster then you get a san francisco team that goes to the super bowl then you get an eagles team and that's who they're following that's who they're tracking They're trying to do a lot of the same things that those teams did. Kweisi Adafomensa came from San Francisco and they've got a coach just like a Kyle Shanahan. Just like, I mean, you mentioned Mike Tom is not the same exactly, but they have a coach who can elevate

offense and is not perfect, but there's not too many coaches who are. And Andy Reid, man, Andy Reid was like known for this guy can't really get it done. And then he gets the right guy and then he gets it done. So a lot of it is just sort of written afterward. They need to run the ball better. They need to lean a little less on certain things, be a little less predictable and they need guards. Shout out to all the guard guys out there. So, all right, next question. Let's see. From take 156, looking at how much the offense is affected when one of the offensive tackles goes down, it seems like the Vikings need to have a solid backup plan there. Not sure if that's feasible. Who will play left tackle if Derrissaw is not ready in September. So I imagine that they will be looking at some swing players there

in the off season because David Questenberry, I mean, he tried when they put him in. He had a good career, but he's on the older side. It was clear that he didn't have much flexibility left, really couldn't be relied upon there. Moving Blake Brandel to left tackle wasn't really an option. He had struggled pretty mightily when he got thrown into the mix before in 2022. So those guys aren't really options, but the player that I actually kind of got excited about last year in training camp was Walter Rouse. Long-term, it's probably a better idea to move Walter Rouse to guard and to have him develop for a year at guard and maybe sign a one-year solution and kind of see where you're at. So sign a Kevin Zeitler, a Brandon Sheriff, and have those guys

play for a year and then see if Walter Rouse is ready to go. Rouse was a elite pass blocker in college. I mean, top notch. And he's one of the smartest guys that you'll ever meet in your life. And he's got some physical tools. I mean, this isn't like a Blake Brandel that was kind of a below average athlete. Like I think Rouse, he was a basketball player. Like he's got some serious athleticism. And when he was in practice last year, I liked what I saw from him and my understanding is the team did as well with rouse so i think there's some confidence that he could be that guy if derisaw isn't ready to go i'm guessing that derisaw will be good to go midway through the season with

an acl should be okay if it was the very end of the season it would be tough maybe he gets set back a little bit from training camp or otass or something, but the timeline on those ACLs should be okay for Christian Derrissaw. But I am interested to see about Rouse. I think he slides into that position as the swing tackle and they move on from David Questenberry. So that's my guess right now, but you can always bring in one more guy, one veteran journeyman just in case. And they probably should do that just in case it's not the same with Rouse when he gets more opportunity. But I think that they feel like they got a pretty good draft pick there from him. So we'll kind of have to see how that ends up going on.

From Angela KG on another podcast, someone suggested trading Jordan Addison. What's your take on that? I guess, but I could be wrong. What are the pros and cons of doing that in your mind? And where do you land on that? As far as Jordan Addison being traded, I think that this team needs to make sure that they're stacking as many good players as they have and not removing any of them from the roster. And I know everybody likes draft picks, but you're talking about a what, 23 year old who has put up 900 yards in back-to-back seasons, proven to be a very legitimate deep threat, can beat man-to-man coverage, especially down the field. I think they actually underutilized some of his playmaking ability

with the football in his hands and could have used them a little more in the short area and underneath stuff. And I don't see why you would give that away. I mean, somebody's going to give you a top draft pick, but they're not, right? No one's trading you a first-round draft pick. So I can't make that work. The only world where I would say yes is if they told me yeah we're really really worried about the off-field stuff like we think it's going to be a problem every single offseason okay then at that

point i could get on board and i remember after the dui arrest i remember saying like if they trade them because they just think this is untenable, then I'm fine with it. And I still feel that way. But if they feel like he's gotten it together and this is not going to be a problem every offseason, and maybe they get him a driver, that, I mean, he's just too good for me to even think about trading him unless you were talking about an amazing return, but I don't know who's giving you amazing return with the potential of a suspension. I saw that his court date got moved back again. I mean, I don't know. Maybe they just, maybe that disappears eventually. I don't know what's going to end up playing out there. But with Jordan Addison, his age is a big factor here. He came out of into the NFL very young and made some really stupid mistakes that are serious and deserve

to be criticized. And I thought deserved a lot more of an iron fist from the Vikings than they got. Maybe they felt like this is the wrong guy to come down hard on. And if they overreact or whatever, that he, they're going to lose him or something. I don't know. I don't know. Dealing with Gen Z athletes is seems like a whole different story than it used to be. But if they do feel like he's gotten his life turned around a bit as it pertains to stuff like that and his decision- off the field there's no reason to trade this player it's a first round draft pick who's a really really good football player no way no way not unless it's phenomenal return i'm gonna pass on that all right uh let me get

to a couple more um let's see jno027 or zero to just numbers your thoughts on how much of offensive complaints of koc are really his stubbornness or how much is his understanding of what guys can and can't do so i think what you're talking about is continuing to push the ball down the field throwing on fourth and two all the time and third and two all the time and being predictable in the red zone i think that it's 50 no it's not 50 50 it's i think that he has a very distinct offensive philosophy that works and he knows it works it worked to win a super bowl in 2021 it worked to get them 13 wins with kirk cousins it worked to get that. What did they go? 17 and eight with Kirk Cousins. And then with Sam Darnold, they go 14 and three. Like that's what is that? Was that like 31 and 11? Is that what that is with your starting quarterbacks? 31 and 11. Can we really tell

them to change? I don't know that I want them to like you know what koce why don't you just let's just do everything different after going 31 11 with your starting quarterbacks in the lineup that's where it's hard but there are times where i think that keeping that pedal down keeping that downfield philosophy as the one note song of the offense has boom or bust type potential. And there are times in games where I just want to like wave up in the press box. Hey, this game's almost over. If you just run, if you just play this one safe, man, you're fine. The game's over. Like don't do a drop out. Oh, he's sacked. Oh, he threw an interception. You gave the team life. there were a few times last

year where they really did that where their aggressiveness just gave teams life when the game should have been basically over that frustrates me at times the red zone stuff every time they handed it off they just went backwards so i don't know like there's got to be something different you can do there misdirection wise or whatever. I don't really know, but I certainly would have passed the ball as well. If that's what the running game looked like. I think that his offensive philosophy matches up with how a lot of sports work these days, which is in baseball, they swing for the fences in basketball, they shoot threes. And if you could be the team that hits on downfield passes, when the whole world is dinking and dunking and running, then you've got something of an edge there. So believing in that when you've

constantly won and had success with your starting quarterbacks is not a crazy thing. Oh, this wild man, he keeps winning games by doing the same thing. And then he just keeps doing it. Like, so I always want to make sure that my critiques are properly framed as i think that there's spots and there's a counter punch element there's spots where you need to to flip the script there are spots where they did i just didn't think it was enough like there were spots where they at the end of the falcons game they handed off a bunch of times and went down the field like there you go yeah do that like do that often. And there were spots like against Chicago where they flipped to the short passing game because Darnold was off down the field.

And maybe, I don't know, people keep kept asking about a hand injury. They, he wasn't on the injury report. I don't know. They kept taping his thumb, whatever it would have been. Some of the downfield stuff was off. So they switched to throwing underneath a little more and that worked. So it's not that they never did it. It's just that it would have been some of the downfield stuff was off so they switched to throwing underneath a little more and that worked so it's not that they never did it it's just that i felt like if you were an opposing team you understood exactly what they were going to aim for and they never made you pay for that they never said you know what like you think you got everybody playing back in the parking lot so we're gonna hit you with this run game we're gonna hit you with this

short passing game or you're only rushing four. So we're going to make you pay on the underneath stuff or something like that. That didn't exist. Some of that is absolutely personnel. If you have Justin Jefferson, he's the best downfield receiver in the league. That's why you're going downfield with him. But I also felt like there were times where they lost Jefferson in the offense. It's been a quarter and a half since we've seen him catch a football. I want him to catch a football. I need him to get a quick completion there.

And some of that also might've been Sam Darnold. Sam Darnold is as good at throwing the ball downfield as any quarterback that I have covered. He's the best at throwing down the field of any quarterback I've covered. It's not even close. And that's his strength his strength is not the dink and dunk his strength isn't picking apart the middle of the defense it's not getting rid of the ball quickly it's ripping it down the field so that's what they tried to focus on and they did really well on offense because of it as they become a little bit more of a complete team roster wise then i think this will be tested more of are you going to just live and die with this mccarthy is good at throwing

over the middle of the field short like this is a thing like he's good at he sees the field i think they'll change with the guys i think that's what koc will do but i don't think he's ever going to move off from hey deep shots no shots, no risk it, no biscuit. And it's hard to disagree with that overall overarching philosophy. All right. Plenty of things to come here on purple insider. We've got combine, we've got free agency. We've got news that will come flooding in like a waterfall. Like, uh, when all the water thaws and the Mississippi River is going crazy. That's the news. That's what the news will look like.

You feel? So Matthew Collar at Gmail is a good place to hit me up with a question. Feel free to shoot me a direct message as well on Twitter or X or whatever. And yeah.

So thanks everybody for watching slash listening. Hope you enjoyed the show and we will talk to you again very soon. Football.