Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Is Jalen Ramsey worth talking about for Vikings? (Part 1)

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about seeing Vikings fans discuss a Jalen Ramsey trade. Does it actually make any sense or are we just bored? Also, as we rank stuff, where do we think most rankers will put Kevin O'Connell among head coaches?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Inside or Matthew Coller here, and this is another pre-Wolves game chat while we all anxiously await the Wolves game 4 and still an opportunity for Wolves in 6. We'll see what happens later on tonight, but as we wait, let's talk some football over the next hour and a half or so. I just wish the NBA, just please, please start your games when you say you're supposed to start. So if we end up having a little longer conversation,

that's usually okay, you'll probably miss nothing. But in about 45 minutes or so, Maggie Robinson will drop by with Mondays with Maggie. We've had some other suggestions. Most of them are not good for a nickname for when Maggie comes on. So if you got anything for that, please let me know. I would also like to wish you all the best Memorial Day

and thank you to all of you who have friends, family members who have been in the services appreciate you. And I hope everybody took some time to think about that today. So anything that's on your mind is of course open for all of you to ask. And we got OTAs coming up very soon. I did a podcast yesterday, accidentally recorded it in the same video quality that you would get in a 1993 camcorder. But nonetheless, it's up there with my preview for OTAs. But what do you guys want to know from OTAs?

They start Wednesday in terms of media access, and then we'll have a day next week. And then after that we'll have three days of mini camps. So at that point we can glean quite a bit about the Minnesota Vikings. So I'm curious what you would like to know. And also before every show, I like to Google Minnesota Vikings just to see what's out there. What are people talking about? Because sometimes I could get ideas or things that I know you guys are interested in might be interested in having a conversation about.

And one thing that keeps coming up when I go to Google news and type in Minnesota Vikings over and over again is web posts about the Vikings and Jaylen Ramsey. Should the Vikings be interested in Jaylen Ramsey? Are the Vikings on Jaylen Ramsey's list of teams that the Dolphins would consider trading him to? And I know that Jeremy Fowler from ESPN has done some reporting on Ramsey. It looks like he's going to be traded by the Miami Dolphins. The Vikings have not shown up on his list of teams that could potentially, that he could

potentially be moved to. But you know, every time that it's coming up. I think should I talk about this should I talk about? Jalen Ramsey and the Minnesota Vikings And I guess the question is that to you tonight should I be talking about Jalen Ramsey? That's what I want to know from you Is it worth having a discussion about whether the Minnesota Vikings should go after Jalen Ramsey now? about whether the Minnesota Vikings should go after Jaylen Ramsey. Now, I've done a little research leading up to this, and there's a few things that I've discovered about Ramsey and his situation.

Number one is that his contract is maybe not as bad as I thought that it was originally. So looking at over the cap, I had not looked at June 1st cut if they needed to do that down the road. So his cap hit for this year is $16 million. That is workable. If the Vikings maybe did some restructuring, I haven't looked recently what their salary cap space exactly is.

So let me go check that out at this moment after their huge spending off season. So they've got about 14 million so they could do a little bit of work on that and potentially maybe change some guarantees to base salary and the things that they're able to do. So that's feasible. And then, so that's number question. Number one would be the short term. Could you actually make it happen? And I think the answer is yes, that they could, from a salary cap perspective, they could make it happen. The part number two is how much would you have to trade for Jalen Ramsey? Now the Vikings have shown a very big interest over the years with quasi da Fomensa in trading

for proven players. Like they really like trading for proven guys. I think it's easier for them to project like what they're going to get for proven players. Like they really like trading for proven guys. I think it's easier for them to project like what they're going to get for proven players, even if they are a little bit on the older side. They have shown no fear whatsoever when it comes to older players. As we've talked about with Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen and Ryan Kelly, like they like to bring in players who are experienced. So there's that, but also the fact that Jalen Ramsey is expensive and 31 years old, that should lower the price. Is it a third round pick?

Is it a fourth round pick? Is it higher than that? Like what are other teams offering? It's very hard to put a finger on because some players that have been traded over the last couple of years get pretty good return. And then other players, you go, I don't really know how to calculate this. Like what did Cooper cup get traded for? Because it kind of reminds me of that situation. Only Jalen Ramsey has been healthy, which we'll get to. Was he traded? Oh no,

he was just released and then he was signed. How can I find like a comparable old guy trade? Amari Cooper has been traded a couple of times. It's hard to find somebody who is similar to Jalen Ramsey that's been traded where I could say, Oh, well, you know, a guy who had a big contract and was a really good player once upon a time, and this is what he's he's getting moved for Douglas makes a good point that you know, they do have a likely third round comp pick coming So would you be willing to move a third round pick?

So let's just say as we're going down this road All right, the contract for this year is a little more feasible than I thought. He's around 16 and a half million They've got 14 at something in cap space. They could make a little more if they needed to without a huge problem, without damaging themselves down the road. Let's say a third round pick is the price to play poker for Jalen Ramsey.

I don't think that's crazy to do. Third round picks in the past for the Minnesota Vikings, some have turned out to be pretty good. Others have turned out to be, you know, like an Alexander Madison caliber type of contributor, but maybe not a star. Oh, Marcus Lattimore. What was he traded for last year? Tell you, you look it up. What was he traded for? I thought it was too much. I thought Washington gave up kind of a lot, but that is a good comp, Douglas. Thank you for Lattimore. But let's just say within that

third round range for next season okay so a fourth and a seventh that's all I got traded for okay I mean a fourth and a seventh that's not bad let's just say that it's something like that a third multiple picks that include maybe day three something in that range okay so let's just say that that's all doable. We got to get to that part first is before we can talk about any trade or any acquisition, could it actually be done from a logistic standpoint? Do you have the draft capital to give up? Is it going to be too expensive? Is he going to be too expensive in the short term? It seems like the answer is no.

So then that brings us to a couple other questions. And the next one on the list being, well, is it a good idea for the long term? Because as we look down the road with the Viking salary cap, they do have the JJ McCarthy advantage and the NFL after this year, uh, there's a lot of games on like Netflix and Amazon and they're being played every single day of the year once September comes around. So I promise the NFL is going to make money and the salary cap will go up, but still, as we look forward, there's a lot of money

that is suddenly locked in with the Minnesota Vikings salary cap situation. I've talked about how Jonathan Allen's contract is pretty locked in for next year and that's a big chunk of money. Byron Murphy at some point they will be able to readjust some of these contracts to make cap space but you don't want to start getting into that New Orleans Saints land if you don't have to right away and we're talking about a two, three year, four year window that they're working with, with JJ McCarthy to try to build the strongest rosters. So would this feel like it was a big risk to mess with down the road?

They also have to have that conversation as well. And what I was looking at with jail and Ramsey's contract is I'm always thinking how soon could you get out of it is a big part of whether you're going to what I was looking at with Jalen Ramsey's contract is I'm always thinking how soon could you get out of it is a big part of whether you're going to acquire a player or not, because next year his cap hit in 2026 goes up to $25 million. That would be too much for Jalen Ramsey. So that's a renegotiate if you want, but his guarantees also run out after that,

which might mean that you've got some leverage in that discussion, but you could cut him post June 1st and it would be fine into the future. You're only paying $6 million in dead cap money for the next couple of years. If you're doing it post June 1st, the problem with post June 1st cuts, as we get deep into the weeds of this conversation, I thought, look, if every blog is going to post, should we trade for Jalen Ramsey? Well then why not?

Why not dive deep into this? Right? If you're going to have somebody that it's feasible to only cut them after June 1st, that's fine. But that means you can't use that cap space until June 1st. So if the Vikings need next year to use cap space during free agency to go hunt whatever other big fish they might be after that could be harder. If Jalen Ramsey doesn't work out and they needed to move on from him because

that big cap hit would just be sitting there and they would not be able to deal with it until after June 1st. So you think about it right now, like how many free agents are left right now as we get toward June 1st, like not that many, right? And it restricts what you can do in free agency in that short term in that window where all the biggest free agents sign, unless you do other stuff to mess with contracts, to create that space. So that would be a lot of potential juggling and could be challenging if they

didn't like the results and had to move on. So that answers, I think most of the logistical questions, but then the big question with Jalen Ramsey then is, do you want Jalen Ramsey on this football team is Jalen Ramsey then is do you want Jaylen Ramsey on this football team? Is Jaylen Ramsey a fit? Do they need him or are they good? Are they okay? Should they not be in this competition? And how good is he still? Because when you're talking about a corner who is 30 years old and is going to turn 31 next year, you do start to question while is there going to be a drop off? And also why is his team trading him? That's another part of it. Now maybe it's that he wants out if he's not happy and he doesn't feel like they can win. That could be part of it. Maybe that salary cap situation,

they're not looking good in the future with Tua and his big contract So maybe that's part of it is we know when you sign that middling quarterback to the huge contract Then sacrifices have to be made. So maybe you have to take Jalen Ramsey and throw him into the volcano because of that, but If we look at his recent performance, just how he's played over the last couple of years and how much he's played, of course, he's not the same exact player that he used to be. That would be impossible for anybody to be the same player that they were when they are

26, 27, when they're in their prime. But from his numbers, Jalen Ramsey is still playing pretty darn good football. And I'll get to a more detailed stat here in a minute, but he played a thousand snaps last year and had a 76.9 PFF grade, a well above average was actually effective. Pass rushing last year when he's never really done that a ton before coverage grade was still over 70 and quarterback rating allowed was 93.5 which is fine. That's pretty good. His career is 80.8

so it's a little above his career mark and only committed five penalties last year only gave up two touchdowns. Longest pass allowed was 42 yards that's not too bad like not giving up huge plays yards per pass into his coverage. 11.9 for receptions. That's not bad at all. But what really stood out to me, and sometimes it takes this, uh, on PFF, like a little while to load. So you'll have to give me a second is I'm always interested in their coverage

scheme stats in how much these cornerbacks played man versus played in zone because that's going to make a difference for how much you're going to want them and what you can do with them. So it just for whatever reason, the coverage stats take a long time to load. But I think that Ramsey schematically is the biggest discussion that the Vikings would have to have. Does he fit in to what Brian Flores wants to to do does he want to play more man coverage? Does he want to stick with the way that they've played before and how does Ramsey fit into all of that? and is he good enough to still make a huge impact that is worth all the financial rigmarole that we just went through because

Yes, I mean he if you could get Ramsey for a reasonable contract, then of course everyone would like to have Jalen Ramsey on their team because he's good at football, but there's so much more moving parts and some of that is schematic and some of that is financial, but is his performance going to be worth all the stuff that it takes to deal with that contract. So last year, this was the stat that stuck out to me last year, 25% of his snaps, he played man to man coverage. So he's playing a lot, a lot of zone last year with Miami. Well, that kind of fits with the Minnesota Vikings and what they do.

But when he did play in man coverage, he had a 70.7 grade which was 13th best in the league Among starting corners among guys who played a lot Right behind him is Pat Surtan right ahead of him is JC Horn and Quinion Mitchell and AJ Turrell So he was still out of all the guys who played enough stats to be, uh, snaps to be considered starters, 78, he was still in the top 15 in man coverage. And that's what makes me think that he can still play. Now does it, is it worth the shot at it though, with the roster that they have, I think we've determined from what he did last year that he can still play.

And we have determined that with the financial stuff, it's not perfect or easy, but it's doable, all of it. So now do you want to do it? And the Vikings have a few days until Ramsey becomes tradable post June 1st is what the Miami Dolphins would have to do here. As we look for the first time this week in OTAs at the corners, I promise you we will not be able to figure out on one OTA practice how good the corners are going to be because they can't put their hands on the wide receivers. But as they look at the group that they have, Isaiah Rogers, Byron Murphy Jr., Mackay Blackman, Dwight McClothern, Jeff Okuda is in the mix. Someone brought up Ambrie Thomas yesterday.

He's on the team. Is that a unit that's good enough to take you to a top five defense in the NFL like they were last year? And the answer is, I don't know, because I don't know how good Isaiah Rogers is going to be as a full-time starter. And I don't know how good Mackay Blackman is going to be when he comes back. So there are questions. If they were able to figure out a way to get Jalen Ramsey and put him next to Byron Murphy, it's a lot of money that's invested in the cornerback position, but it's money that I wouldn't think they were crazy to spend because of the expectations of this team.

And that's what really sent me down this road was I was thinking about trying to answer the question like, Hey, should I, should I talk about this? Is it worth talking about this? It worth going through the whole thing and, you know, debating and do you guys want them? Do you not want them? Or should I just like rank something today? And the reason I determined that it's worth talking about

and have spent the last 20 minutes doing so is because of where they are as a football team right now. They are going to have to make decisions like this as we go forward forward when players come available who are stars that maybe don't have the best contracts or are unhappy in their other locations and they want to take a run at trying to win a Super Bowl. This is now a team that you start to look at. Should I go join the Minnesota Vikings to try to win a Super Bowl because their team is that stacked and they just won 14 and they've got this coaching staff and all those other things the Vikings should have some opportunities to acquire disgruntled players or players with tough contracts or whatever else teams that want to tear down a little bit whatever

other reason that players might get moved. You've entered the mode of that's a good idea in past years. I would have said, that's not a good idea. It's not a good idea to go get somebody who's past their prime, who's expensive. And we don't know how many more years they're going to be really good. This team has also really done a good job with older players and they've made bets on them this year.

But even with Stefan Gilmore and Shaq Griffin, like those were two guys that I think were thought to be washed last year. And this system doesn't necessarily require the most quick twitch, the most speed, the most lightning fast of its corners. It's clear that experience intelligence, which Jalen Ramsey, I just saw a Giro Evero the other day. There was a clip of him talking about how smart Jalen Ramsey is, that he was one of the smartest players he ever coached.

And I think you've got my wheels turning a little bit on Jalen Ramsey. And just a couple of years ago, was it 2020? Shoot. No, when was it 19? Maybe when Ramsey was on the trade block the last time, when was it? It was a 21, 2021 must've been because he ended up on the Rams, uh, when he was on the trade block at that time, I thought, well, the Vikings are going to lose their jobs. So maybe they should trade for Jalen Ramsey right now and try to save their jobs

and try to go all in. But this is a different world. Now this is a spot where you take risks and you roll dice because you can get away with it. Number one, with the rookie quarterback contract, and also you need to do everything and anything to get your hands on as much talent as you possibly can because you're trying to win in this short window. So I don't want to say that I'm all in because if they don't do it, I'm not gonna say,

what are you thinking Vikings? You crazy for not trading for Jalen Ramsey? But I also think that if they do, I'm kinda in, even if he's not the best that he's ever been in his career, the players that they have in that spot are pretty unproven. And the other thing I wanted to mention is that Ramsey has a remarkable record, like a Harrison Smith level record of being on the field. He played 659 snaps in 2023, and that was the lowest of his career.

He has one, two, three, four, five, six, 7,000 snap seasons. So I'm interested. I'm interested. I'm intrigued. Are you guys intrigued? Let me know. And then look, any other questions that you got, throw them out there next 20, 30 minutes. And then Maggie's got her rundown of things that she is interested as well. And then the Wolves will beat the Thunder again after that. How about that? The other night.

Well, I was jogging by halftime. I was like this and I don't leave NBA playoff games these days. I mean, look at the Knicks. What happened to them last night? Like I it has to be 30 if it's 30, then I go for a run or I'll go do something else, but it's got to be 30 Maybe we'll see that again tonight Okay, so Danny says any proven starter would help a moderately shallow DB room. So this is the thing I Don't know yet whether they have a moderately shallow DB room or it's great because I think it could be really good

Isaiah Rogers has in small sample sizes and four to five hundred snaps. He has really good numbers over his career and When you hear them talking up Isaiah Rogers saying hey This is a florist guy and like this is somebody that Brian florist really wanted. You think, well, the chances that they replace him then are probably pretty small, right? Uh, that they go out and get somebody else if they really like Isaiah Rogers. And then with black men, florist drafted him in the third round. He was here when florist was here when they drafted him, presumably he was

involved and made a good impression two years ago. So could he be somebody that actually is good? And we just haven't seen enough of him yet for both of those players. They would know a little more behind the scenes than we know about these guys, but not truly until they see them practice in training camp would they really know.

And maybe Miami's not in a rush. So maybe this is something you can wait on and it ends up being kind of like a Stefan Gilmore type of move, but we just don't know if it's shallow or if it's good because there is a realistic possibility. I mean, Isaiah Rogers has been on the field a good amount in his NFL career and put up good numbers and has great physical talent. He's like a four, three guy or even under that. And black men is a young and inexperienced player, although he's not as young as you think, I think he's like 26, but he's inexperienced and has had small sample sizes, he might be good.

And then Byron Murphy is solid. We also don't know what Dwight McClothern is going to offer, but another small sample size of him performing pretty well in training camp last year. We know that that means a lot to the Minnesota Vikings, what they've seen in camp, because they're making their whole Theo Jackson bet based on what they saw in camp from him last year. And then in little sample sizes on the field. So they've been comfortable with making those decisions without, you know, the, uh, without the sample size, without being able to look and say, Oh, this guy has played thousands and thousands of snaps. If you get Jalen Ramsey though,

it has to make you feel a lot more confident about what it's going to be. The variance right now is pretty extreme because if Rogers can't handle a full-time role and Blackman is just a guy, then you're mediocre in the secondary having to go into the playoffs potentially facing some offenses and some quarterbacks that are really good. With Jalen Ramsey, it gives you this pretty much guarantee on the box of what you're getting. Again, is he going to have this freakish skill that he used to have in terms of his quickness and pairing that with his size? No, it's not going to be exactly what it used to be, but the numbers would tell you that he's still pretty darn

good and is pretty darn good worth trading something for next year for and dealing with the cap ramifications when you're in a situation where you really want to win. It might be. It might be. If not, then I think that down the road as we get into the middle of the season there will be other discussions like this with other players that come up for a team that starts one in six or something. Then you're going to say like, okay, are they going to make that move at the deadline to dip into the future capital again, to try to enhance this team? And my guess is that they probably would be thinking that.

So why wouldn't you be thinking it now? If you're going to be thinking it later, you should be thinking that. So why wouldn't you be thinking it now if you're going to be thinking it later? You should be thinking it now and Ramsey is I think a good option for this team. Alex says, I think the Jalen can be the one to take the secondary over the top. And if so, FM picks. Yeah, well, that I mean, FM picks worked for the Rams when they did that. The problem, of course, was that it took them a few years to get back to where they are and they had to hit on a bunch of picks in order to get there. And that is the concern I think if you're trying to trade for Jalen Ramsey is if the

whole thing blows up in your face, if he doesn't stay healthy and you've given up draft capital for the future or he doesn't fit or he doesn't play well and then you've given up draft capital for the future or he doesn't fit or he doesn't play well and then you've given something up, it's a double sacrifice because you have the future draft capital plus the ramifications with your salary cap, which as I mentioned are not terrible if you cut him post June 1st, but that just restricts what you can do in the short term and you have to do a lot of other juggling in order to make that all work. So it does get, I think it's kind of walking on hot coals a little bit there with a move like this. There is risk involved. And yet the Vikings have said that's OK with other guys.

They've said it's OK if there's risk with Jonathan Allen. There's okay that there's risk with J von Hargrave and Ryan Kelly with the injury history that he has. So would they do the same thing with Jalen Ramsey? Again, their name hasn't popped up, which is surprising because it feels like the Vikings end up in every rumor ever of all time, but here we are. And that other guy still keeps showing up in rumors. Well, we don't have to talk about that

until there's an actual reason to, but it just the other day in my googling in my pre show googling, I was like, Really? That former Packers quarterback is still showing up in Vikings rumors, huh? Okay. Well, we just we just wait and hope that we don't have to talk about that anymore. Just sign with the stealers, would you? I mean It it does the rumor that he is maybe waiting out the vikings To see if anything goes wrong with jj mccarthy and then I don't want to sign with the stealers And in case something happens over there, right? That sounds pretty plausible to tell you the truth. Honestly, it really does that from his perspective, he would be

waiting on the Vikings and that's why he's not signing with the Steelers. The other reason might just be so he can vibe and do nothing while his. Maybe potential teammates practice and he doesn't have to show up because he doesn't belong to the team. So that could be another reason. Uh, Danny says, what's the overall impact of OTAs? Is that like the first implementation of the new playbook or just running plays and working out?

Yeah, that's why they call it the learning phase. My finger quotes here on the screen. Learning phase is because they are implementing the offense. They are installing would be the proper terminology for football. So they have their meetings and they do their installs where they're putting in all their base type of stuff that you build off of.

So you put in this basic offense, and then each week you take those plays and you add alterations to them. You adjust to your opponent. You, uh, look at, you know, different things that maybe those base plays show and then try to change something. Uh, that's kind of how it tends to work, but you have to have that basis. So if you're like, just to use a basketball example,

if you were a three two team in a zone or two, three, everybody understands a two, three zone. So you're in a two, three zone. Well, you have to start with the two, three zone first of how it basically works on the first day of training camp. And then you start putting in, all right, if this happens, then we do this or we're playing this team. And then we're going to send two guys at them, that kind of thing. Well, it works that way on a million different levels in the NFL. So you have to get the basic stuff in there first.

That's what they use OTAs for. And that's why us treating it like a real practice is a little bit tricky as far as evaluating JJ McCarthy, because everybody wants to know, including us, how's he going to look out there? Does he look comfortable? Is he throwing the ball? Well, like, does he look in command? Does he look like the same guy that we saw last year in training camp at the same time?

They're just all getting the offense back under their feet again. And there are a lot of players who were on the team last year, the wide receivers, they should know the offense by now. They've been here for a couple years with KOC. They understand the lexicon, all the different words and everything else. And so should JJ McCarthy. So my expectation is that it looks pretty smooth, but judging it as in, oh, well, you know, he went 14 for 16 with whatever. That is like a little bit hard to do

So it's more of just the general feel of an OTA Like does it seem like this seem like they're on the same page to start this thing off? But last year showed us just how much you can take away from those with a young quarterback Because McCarthy struggled throughout and he talked about it after minicamp Or was it whatever, there's a final OTA later in June, but I remember standing with him at TCO performance center and we're all asking him, you know, like, how do you feel? How did it come along? And he was kind of going, yeah, there's some pretty tough days out here guys. And then he comes

back for training camp. And within the first three weeks of camp, we're going, this is a different quarterback. And so that's why the PSA keeps getting read by me to like, let's not make all our conclusions just so soon. But I think that where the progress stands is really what we're looking for from JJ McCarthy. So does he feel like he's got the offense good and ready to go? And now it's just about mastering all the pieces and all the details because he was here last year. Or does it look like this learning phase is going to need a lot more learning? I think that's yeah, that's a good way to put it. Uh, Nick says a great time for Minnesota sports Vikings have insane potential. If McCarthy is who we think he is,

wolves hopefully tied up tonight and twins are looking a lot better. Uh, I saw that 10,000 people are at Xcel Energy Center watching the frost. I got my link shirt on here. They're 4-0 tough match up tomorrow against the storm. That'll be a good one. Yeah, it really it's almost doesn't it feel like sometimes that it all either goes or it all fails like every team is in the playoffs and doing great or every team is massively

disappointing you in big games Well, that kind of happens all the time but or like failing or struggling kind of feels like they all go together, but You know the wolves win this one. They've got a great chance to Come back from down to oh, and it's really weird I saw a stat just for I logged on here about how Oklahoma City Thunder They play so much better at home than they do here which Or on the road at all during this playoffs, which is interesting I don't know why that would be why they would play so much differently, but it is it is a good time

You're right about that funny quick quick funny story. I'll get back to your questions and comments so two weeks ago, I was filling in hosting on WCCO radio. And one of the things that I want to talk about was the twins, because I just don't get a lot of opportunities to talk about other stuff. So I like when I can talk a little basketball, a little baseball or some. And, uh, they were 15 and 20 at the time. And Derek fell. We had just done his little state of the team were

struggling and he had said something like, yeah, we're all disappointed. I'm disappointed. Rocco's this point. Everybody's disappointed. And so I went on a big old rant about how like, oh, congratulations for being disappointed. That's great. Like what are you going to do about it and all this sort of stuff. And they did not lose a game for like 15 straight days

after that. And then they had like two or three walk-offs the other day. And I was like, see, all he needed was a little accountability on AM radio for me to get the team. I think it was probably actually their health getting better. But now they're a good team and we'll see where it goes from there. But I thought that was funny.

Like just, I get my chance to talk a little other sport, just go on a on a football level type of rant, and then they don't lose a game after that. So good for the twins. Ivy Studios says by the end of the season, which position groups do you think will have improved from last year? Which do you think will have regressed by the end of the season? It's hard to say.

That is a very long time from now. Well, I mean, I think the most obvious is the defensive line and the interior of the defensive line. You just saw last year, the last two years, really, that patchworking that can work against certain opponents. And I've really started to think about this recently is just how you play in the playoffs versus how you play in the regular season. I don't think that they're hugely different, but who you play the caliber of coach, the caliber of player, that's what we have to think about a lot. And that doesn't mean, you know, those records sometimes are kind of silly of, well, against

winning teams, they have a bad record and against losing teams, they have a good record. But there is probably some truth and some signal in that. And I felt like when the Vikings would play against better teams, Detroit is certainly example of this that comes right to mind. But even even in the Josh Dobbs game where they couldn't stop Atlantis running game, I know that's going back two years, but it just popped into my head or Atlanta this year where they kind of expose some stuff on the Vikings defense before Kirk started throwing interceptions in that game.

And that wasn't that it wasn't that easy until late in the game against Atlanta. Sometimes you just see those cracks in the foundation. And the one for me was no interior pressure over the last couple of years. That has the biggest chance to go from, Hey, their interior is good at run defense, but when it comes to pressure, they probably rank 32nd in the entire NFL to, Hey, they're a top 10 unit. I don't want to quite put them top five because we got to see what Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave look like as far as an interior group, but it's,

it has the potential to be one of the better ones in the league. And then you add Granada, Van Ginkgold, Dallas Turner, and that whole front seven has a chance to be a top five unit in the NFL. That's the one that has the most as far as regression goes. I mean, well, and I should also say offensive line, my mind went to defense first, but offensive line has a chance to be a lot better. Last year was an odd thing because through about, well, I shouldn't say it was odd. Christian Derrassaw got hurt,

but through about even 12 games, like Cam Robinson came in, looked pretty good. The numbers on the Vikings offensive line were solid. It was just as the season wore on. Blake Brandel had to play more than he ever played before. Teams got a beat on offensive line were solid. It was just as the season wore on. Blake Brandel had to play more than he ever played before. Teams got a beat on what they were doing run wise with Cam Hayward in there.

They figured out that they could expose them on stunts, twists and stuff going after the middle. And that was where it really came apart. Well, where this year, if the line stays healthy, you have a chance to be again, one of the five or six best offensive lines in the entire NFL That's that has a chance to be quite a bit better. And I think what we're talking about here the Jalen Ramsey Let me tie it into that the Jalen Ramsey thing

clearly the Area that could get worse is the secondary because you don't have cam bynam and he was a proven player I didn't think and he was a proven player i didn't think bynum was a superstar but certainly was i mean a 60 million dollar safety like he was a very solid and reliable player and now you're asking somebody who hasn't done it before for an entire season and you're asking at the cornerback position someone who hasn't done it before in isaiah rogers and someone who hasn't done it before in mckay Blackman for a whole season. If you're looking to kind of stave off the possibility of regression,

that's where you would go after someone like Jalen Ramsey. That's why I kinda like it. I only put it under kinda because I realize how difficult the cap stuff is going to be. And there are cap is fake people, but you know, we know that not to be correct. So the cap being real as it may be, it could be tricky down the road. But if you want to stave off the potential for regression, getting a proven player who is still playing like a well above average and a man coverage, a top 15 last year corner

when he was asked to do that, that could be a way to do it. I think that's the obvious unit that could drop off. It's hard to see the wide receivers. Hawkinson coming back for the entire year should be better. We know Justin Jefferson is quarterback proof and one of the most consistent players in the league. The running game has a chance to be a lot better. We got to see that a little first.

We're going to have to see it. I mean, offensive lines determine run game a lot of the time, but is Kevin O'Connell going to lean into it or not? And that's going to also play a role there. Shadow Wolf says he was washed years ago in terms of Jalen Ramsey in the Super Bowl for the Rams. Aaron Donald saved that game for the Rams when he went Hulk smash mode Uh, yeah, I don't think that that's really right. I mean his two years with the Rams are

absolutely fantastic elite elite numbers for him eighty four point four and eighty six point four grades by PFF for those two seasons and grades by PFF for those two seasons and had, wow, over those two years, 26 pass breakups and eight interceptions for the Rams. Now, I don't think, I don't think saying he's been washed for years is a good take, but I mean, you could say that he has regressed from his absolute prime for what he's done for Miami the last two years, but also his last year would have been basically on par with somebody like Byron Murphy is, is, was his numbers for last year. If you could have two Byron

Murphy's, is that worth the trouble with the cap? Julian says, watch the Brett Farr thing. It was pretty good. So I know one of the guys who was a producer on that and I was thinking about having him as a guest to talk about it but that means I have to watch it and I've just I've talked about a little bit like I'm just Do I want to do that? I used you're saying it was good. Do I want to do that? Do I want to watch? Because I try to avoid just in general like things that are soul-crushing that feels like it's gonna be very sad to watch. And especially having, you know, grown up enjoying Brett Favre as a quarterback.

And I'm not saying I want to cover for him or whatever, but do I, and I followed his story and I've paid attention, but like, do I want to do that? Like, do I want to see all the nitty gritty of the details of the fall of Favre? That I'm not entirely sure, but we'll see if you like it. If you guys like it, then maybe I'll give my friend a call and see if he wants to come on the show. Uh, Ivy studio says, which is a worse idea trading Jefferson or trading

aunt? Yeah, both of those ideas. Not good. Uh, Jefferson was talked about by some last year about potentially trading him. And I think you see now why you don't ever consider doing that because replacing him would be almost impossible. And the price tag for paying him, even just a year later, now you're like, Oh, you know what? That doesn't look that bad. Happens all the time with star players.

You sign them to the contract, you go, Whoa, I don't know what we're going to do with that deal. And then a year later, here we are and going, Oh, he's not even the highest paid wide receiver anymore in the league yet still is the best wide receiver in the league. So yeah, trading either one of those players would have been a bad idea. Rascal lover. My theory is that Rogers is not only waiting out the Vikings, but other teams to see if they have quarterback injuries to play on a contender. So he did say the other day, as we have to track every movement of Aaron Rodgers for

some reason, he did say the other day that he would definitely not play for the Saints. I clearly right why that team is rebuilding their in peril I that wouldn't make a whole lot of sense. But he made some crack about Louisiana I don't know. Whatever. He's the one of the worst trash talkers Like he thinks he's a good trash talker, but he's actually really bad at it There was that hard knocks thing where he was like, yo, I don't even know who you are, bro To somebody who hit him and is like, oh good one. I've never heard that before but anyway, not the point. Um, I

Oh, good one. I've never heard that before. But anyway, not the point. Um, I think you're, I think you, you have a pretty sound theory there because right now the options are Pittsburgh and nothing. And if he wants to come back and play Pittsburgh with Aaron Rogers on it, what do we think? Like nine wins, eight wins. They are a pretty flawed team. Good defense. Not much in terms of a running game, though. I do like Caleb Johnson.

They get DK Metcalf, but they lose George Pickens. Their offensive line is just okay. They are the middling of the middling teams. Your chance to win a Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers is almost nothing. Even if Aaron Rodgers is your quarterback, because as we've talked about, not the same guy that he was in the past but if There is a team with Super Bowl expectations that loses its quarterback for the year Let's say that and I don't think this team is great. But let's just say like San Francisco. Let's say San Francisco

They're always in all-in mode. They have to be Let's say Brock Purdy goes down in training camp. Okay, well it would make sense for Aaron Rodgers to say I'm here, I'm here because we know this. Backup quarterbacks around the league are usually not taking you anywhere. The Vikings are by far the exception when it comes to that. I looked this up a few years ago and I think the win percentage over the last 10 years for backup quarterbacks is something like 33%.

And of course the Vikings would have a case Kenan mixed in there that wins 13 games. And then you could even say that Sam Darnold really should have been the backup for the Vikings and he wins 14 games, but it doesn't happen too often around the league. So if somebody were to get a quarterback hurt, then they would be looking at Rogers and ironically, Kirk Cousins,

whose name is now coming up in Pittsburgh as well. Alex, as far as the WNBA podcast, I don't have like a go-to one, but I do write for her HoopStats and they've got some podcasts. So I would check that out. Like they're going to be the most analytical. So I would check that out. So let's see

Henry did not like the far thing. Okay It was All right. Well, I don't know. I don't I mean What what can I tell you I haven't really wanted to watch it, but also it does seem like maybe some of you want to defend far for other reasons than than just the stuff that has been done or not. So I don't know about that. That's why we're moving on.

And I didn't really want to talk a lot about it. Zach says I've been to a lot of stadiums and cities. If I'm going to an away game this year, which would be the best. This is a difficult year, Zach for that because the number one trip on my list was going to be Pittsburgh and then Pittsburgh went to Dublin. So I'm assuming if you're not talking about going to Dublin or London, then the road schedule,

well it gets whittled down to only seven potential places to go, I think that the best is probably just to go to either Lambeau or Ford Field. Or the open, the opener is gonna be pretty cool. If the opener is gonna be pretty cool. I don't love Soldier soldier fields press situation always, but soldier field is really cool. If you sit up on one side, you can see the city

downtown. Yeah. I mean, that's pretty cool to be in Chicago. Like you're right in the middle of the city. It's got that gritty old type of feel and that kind of thing. So, uh, you know, I, that's a pretty good one. Ford field was amazing last year. Unfortunately, the game was not amazing, but Ford field was incredible to go see when those fans are lit up the way that they were for week 18 Lambo is just all time. That doesn't, doesn't need any explanation.

I'd probably just try to pick one of those games because the other one might be Dallas. I mean, if you want to see Jerry world, that could be kind of cool. I guess, if you want to go to Dallas, I'm going to make, I have not made the trip to Dallas before, so I'm going to make the first trip to Dallas that I've made. And the other one is Seattle. I like Seattle that, you know, the, the showdown between

Sam Darnold and his former team so I guess the options aren't as bad as I was making it out But I mean if you've got a chance to go to either Detroit or Green Bay I would pick those as the top two road trips to make and you'll have a lot of Vikings fans in Green Bay as well Seattle maybe not quite as much. I'm not sure about Dallas is Chicago getting a dome. I hope not sure about Dallas. Is Chicago getting a dome? I hope not, but I think Buffalo is, right? That stinks. I don't know why, I don't know. They want to throw the ball more, I guess.

I don't know.