Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Is Jalen Ramsey worth talking about for Vikings? (Part 2)

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.

Anyway, OK, well, feel free to continue throwing your questions in. But it is that time once again that we welcome in Maggie Robinson. I think, Maggie, we are still going with Mondays with Maggie at the moment because the other suggestions have just not been that great. So it is time for Mondays with Maggie. You have four subjects were a little bit crunched for time with the Wolves game, but still got plenty of opportunity to go through what is on your mind.

So how are you this evening? I'm good, I'm good. I've been running around today. I'm in the middle of moving out of my New York City apartment. So it's been a little stressful, but I'm here. We're ready, I'm ready to go. We're deep in the off season.

So was I pulling for strings a little bit to find things to talk about? Yeah, sure, but it's gonna be fun and I'm ready. So I kind of had to put the baby carrot drama behind me. I think we got a little caught up in that, probably my doing last week. I'm not anti-carrot guys. I'm just anti-slimy baby carrot. I don't want to let that rest. Okay. So to start it off, we're going to go back to the football news that you guys actually signed up to listen to and PFF dropped their edge defender rankings, the top 32 of the 2025 NFL season. And we're going to go through it because I think this is interesting. And we're also in list season.

It's off season, it's list season. The writers are making lists and I'm here for it. So we're going to break this down. Okay. To start it off, we're going to go through the top five, discuss a little bit, and then I have some thoughts. So first off the list, Miles Garrett, Cleveland Browns. This one makes sense to me.

Like yeah, the guys unit, point blank, kind of end of story. That one speaks for itself. Then we're gonna, we're just gonna go through. Number two, Micah Parsons, three TJ Watt, four Nick Bosa, and five Aiden Hutchinson. This one kind of stood out to me that he is ranked this high when he got injured what like week six of last year, I believe pretty early on nasty leg break. And you know, I think it's kind of shocking

that he's up this high, but he had insane stats for that early in his career for last year. So does it make sense? Maybe yes, maybe no, but I think this is definitely a guy that the Vikings have to watch out for. Yeah, no, I think so too. Obviously number two overall draft pick last year though. I did think about how many times we've seen players in the NFL have great half seasons and if they

got hurt we're like oh that's just the truth for what he would have become and it was pointed out I think it was Sam and Steve on the check the mic podcast that Hutchinson had played like a bunch of backup right tackles not very good right tackles and annihilated them I still think he belongs in that conversation as being a top five guy he doesn't have quite the resume of the others. Miles Garrett just deserves that status as being up there. The TJ Watts, the Nick Bosa is like, those guys are pretty well proven, but I am curious where Jonathan Grenard lands on this list because I think if

you asked a hundred people, random NFL fans around the league, like how many quarterback pressures, like where did Jonathan Grenard rank in quarterback pressures last year? They'd be like, I don't know, like top 25? Oh no, top five actually in the entire NFL in quarterback pressures. So where do the Vikings, Edgerushers fit in this list?

Glad you asked. There's actually two of them on this list, which is impressive given that there's not many team repeats on this list. So Jonathan Grenard is number 15 followed quickly by Andrew Van Gingel who's number 17. Jonathan Grenard as you just said fifth in solo tackles first in stops with 44 last season first in hurries with 59. Like he's ranked so highly and he's honestly a very all around good player. It's not like he's

just stand out in one category. No, he's a consistent dominating force. And I mean, this makes sense to me. I think could he have been a little bit higher? Sure. But this is also a Vikings podcast. So I'm going to say that. But I mean, yeah, I think he just did really well in this defense and he fit in and played that role as he was supposed to. Well, that's where usually you don't have a chance to get elite players in free agency. Normally there might be one or two guys in free agency that everybody is vying for and somebody lands. And I think when we our reaction when they gotinard was to say like, Oh, okay. Well, that's not bad because you save $10 million over Danielle Hunter.

He had double digit sex like the year before Grinard did, but okay. We shouldn't set the bar at where to Neil Hunter was. And then he got there and was every bit as good as the Neil Hunter was last year with the Texans only about 8 to $10 million cheaper. His ascension was I think pretty surprising and if you only look at the sacks well okay that's doesn't really tell the true story because the crazy part about Jonathan Grenard to me is just how much he's on the field. He was on the field for almost every single defensive play for all of last season so I wonder if some of those numbers that he racked up last year will go down a

little if they rotate Dallas Turner in. But we've also seen Brian Flores just play guys every single snap when he loves them like Harrison Smith every year. It's well, you know, we'll try to take Harrison Smith off the field. Not really. They're not actually going to do that. That matters to me though, because if guys are playing 600, 700 snaps and they get double digit sacks and they get, you know, good numbers, okay, good for you.

But if you're playing almost a thousand snaps at edge rusher, that is so much more valuable. So there's probably guys on that list who have just as good a numbers that get high rankings, but we don't consider snap counts as something that matters toward a player's overall value. Yeah. And I was just looking and so Hunter is actually ranked higher than Jonathan Grenard. He's number 12 on this list. But I mean, I think people watching the game kind of don't take into account how taxing it is when you are playing everything.

It's just like, of course he's playing. He's good. Like that makes sense for any sport. I think you're like, yeah, he's a starter. He's going to play as many minutes as we can get out of him. It is so incredibly intense, especially in football, because it is so stop start. But that's why it's so draining because you're like on and to stay locked into a game mentally and physically for that long. And trust me, like we were the ones doing the TV commercial break. So like we're dragging this game out. The guys are in their element and then we're stopping it right as they're like in the zone. So for him to be that consistent over that many games, that many snaps, like week after week,

I think that just says a lot about his character and his mindset too, that we don't necessarily think about right off the bat. It's not like a physical attribute, but that's something that should not be discounted. A hunter says the scheme is a star maker. I think that that is true in some instances with this one though. I mean, okay, so you are throwing linebackers and blitzes and there's confusion, but there was a lot of instances of Jonathan Grenard just straight up beating his guy. I think that Grenard is a

development story in the NFL where he had raw talent and he had a good college career But he wasn't there yet And then some injuries early in his career set him back and he was just starting to take those big steps to where he Could actually be which is an elite player in the NFL. The scheme does clearly make guys better. I don't think there's any question about that. And that's more applicable in my mind though, to Andrew Van Ginkle, who plays in a lot of places, rushes up the middle a lot, swings around on blitzes.

You never know where he's going to be lined up. He's not as much, see this is where with Van Ginkle, he's a tough player to rank as an outside linebacker or edge rusher because he lines up in different spots, has a different role where he's actually dropping back in coverage more than most. But I don't think he's as pure of a rusher, like line him up against the other guy, just he's gonna go around him,

he's gonna go through him. He's going to go through them. I don't think that he qualifies that way. So he's, he's almost like a linebacker slash edge rusher. And that piece is great for the Vikings defense, but it's hard to rank like where I would put them. Cause if I was putting them next to a Granada, well, I think Granada is a much better pure edge rusher, but I think that Van Ginkle is so much more dynamic.

Yeah. I was going to say one of the stats that PFF called out is that he dropped into coverage 212 times in 2024, by far the most among edge defenders. It's hard. That's like apples and oranges almost because you're asking him to do a completely different job and also he's still making this list. So like the guy's clearly very talented. He had the most productive season of his career.

And I do think there's something to be said for him coming back to play under Brian Flores. He played with him originally for the Dolphins. Having a good coach, just really, if you vibe with them and you understand the way they coach and what they want out of you and they get the best. That's hard to beat. I, I can understand like that really clicking with him and it making sense. So I'm excited to see what he can do.

I'm also excited to see what they do with him to see if they push him more into coverage or if they keep him in kind of this hybrid role and just make the most of it and hope he can stay healthy. Right. I wonder if Dallas Turner makes any kind of list for next year, because if he is into a more rotational position with Andrew Van Ginkle, we could see Van Ginkle's numbers go down like that, like sacks and pressures because there are more opportunities for Dallas Turner rushing off of the edge and maybe dropping back Andrew Van Ginkle even more into coverage. If we're not seeing

on this list Dallas Turner for next year somewhere, then we're going to be asking what happened with Dallas Turner. And I think the fact that the Vikings didn't go out and get anybody else says to me that they believe he will be someone who ascends into this role and maybe it's a similar role to what Van Ginkle has. You could also say, well, they did extend the Andrew Van Ginkle for another year, maybe giving Dallas Turner a little more time. So that is one of the more intriguing things going into the season is where he ends up on this.

Was there anything else on this edge rushers list from PFF that stood out to you? Yeah, there were three, three guys that I want to highlight. So the first, these guys are kind of at two different ends of the spectrum. Khalil Mack coming in at number 10. This man is turning 33, not very old in the scheme of life, but in the scheme of football, decently old to be making a top 10 list for PFF in any position in my mind.

So here in the 90.2 overall PFF grade and ranked second among edge defenders in run defense only behind TJ Watt. That's pretty impressive, indicating that he's still got it in him. He can still be super productive. He also had 50 plus pressures for the 10th time in his career. man is nothing if not consistent once again going back to it consistency trumps everything like if you can keep doing the job You're gonna keep making these lists So that was kind of I don't want to say surprising but just stood out to me is like this guy's still got it keep An eye out for him Judging by age probably gonna not be able to keep this that

much longer. But if he can go out on his career on a high note, more power to him. That's awesome. On the other side of the spectrum, we're talking very youthful. Abdul Carter, this man has not even played a snap in the NFL. He's 21. He is only allowed to legally drink as of his last birthday. I feel like it's a big projection to have him in the top 32 when he hasn't played a single snap. I understand that he is highly, highly rated coming out of college football. I can, I can understand all that.

However, he didn't really compete at the combine. He had a stress fracture and a shoulder injury, both of which he was cleared for. Fair enough. He was picked number three. We thought he might go number one. There were a lot of like, will he, will he not? But I just struggled to have him at number 20 on this list above guys who have already done the time and proven themselves when, when all we're doing is just playing the what if game that feels a little blown

out of proportion to me, but I would love to hear your perspective. Well, a few things. Thank you for saying 34 is not that old. It's not, it's just in the scheme of football. It is in the scheme of football. Although an older, a reporter older than me said that you're not old until all the players in the league are younger than you, which is not the case for me. I believe Andrew DePala, the Vikings long snapper is still older than me.

So I think I'm good there. But I also, for whatever reason, it popped into my mind, maybe because my entire Twitter is just Jordan Hudson all the time for days on end. But I was like, Khalil Mack's like 10 years older than Belichick's girlfriend. That's weird. But I digress on Abdul Carter.

We talked about this a lot with Dallas Turner last year that PFF did a study a few years ago, looking at which positions had the toughest time going from college to the NFL and carrying over their production. And number one on that list was defensive line in terms of sacks. And even you're talking about Khalil Mack, I think he had four sacks in his rookie year and then 15 when he was in his second year. So for now saying Abdul Carter, I think is pretty aggressive to put any rookie, no matter how high he's drafted

among the top when this is a league that is filled with great edge rushers who have produced, even the Vikings have multiple, even the Texans have multiple great edge rushers. And to put them that high is probably one of those things that you just have to do because like he's drafted high and he's got a name and all the Giants fans will be like, Hey, come on, where's our guy? But Aaron brings up a good point in the comments that the Giants D line is so stacked that this might be one of those scenarios where Abdul Carter can step in right away because there's a lot of attention that already has to be paid to Dexter Lawrence and the Vikings are going to play this

defensive line. And they went out and got guys like Ryan Kelly and Will Fry's to give them any chance to survive against the Dexter Lawrence. So if there is a situation for a player stepping into normally if a guy's a number two overall pick edge rusher, it's like, hey, how about you just go be the whole defense? That was when Chase Young got drafted that high. Keys turned out to be a pretty good player, but asking him to be their whole defense was really hard to do. I think Abdul Carter stepping into a great situation. Yeah, I think we expect so much of rookies coming into the NFL and I know that I know that we're all aware that it's a big jump from college to pro, but I don't think the average fan fully comprehends the amount that is thrown at these players

football wise and otherwise. Your entire life changes in the span of like two months. And there is, like I just speaking from the NFL side, seeing all the programs that we have in place to help our rookies, like our player personnel and our player engagement staff and every club has their own player engagement staff, they're getting tons of money. Let's not act like that's not a crazy life changer. They're expected to be at their athletic peak and ready to go against guys who have been doing this for four plus years at the highest level, who have put on serious weight, who have done these fitness tests before, who have played with a pro quarterback before. And like they're moving cities. They don't know anybody. You're asked to gel with

a team. Like it is so much. And I just, I stress to the viewer to take a second and think about everything that's thrown at them and take a holistic view and be like, all right, honestly, we talked about it with JJ McCarthy. I think he had the best, not getting in, getting injured is not good, but the best scenario of essentially redshirting his first year so he could just get a feel for everything that's expected of an NFL player, especially an NFL starting quarterback, and just know like, okay, this is how I handle it. And now let me add football on top of it. I think everyone would benefit from redshirting their first year. And I know that's a hot take,

but I genuinely mean that. If you can just get the practice hours in and understand the film and the hours, like just let them adjust. Like I think DJ Willie G, thank you. He said, that's why you got to give rookies at least a year to adjust. Agreed. You can't be setting out with these insane expectations

because like they're probably not going to meet them. If they do, that's awesome. But then the bar is set so high and the pressure to reach that every year is almost insurmountable. I don't know I think we just got to be a little more forgiving a little bit more. Well this is one of my team building theories which is do not draft a rookie to save any position group like with Donovan Jackson, it's still going to be a transition, but similarly to Abdul Carter, he's stepping into an offensive line that has a superstar left tackle. A guy who has been at what I think four time pro bowler at center who's been around for a long time, a right tackle. Who's been a pro bowler,

a right guard who's been in the league for a while. He is not being asked to save their offensive line. Hey buddy, be perfect. Or we're going to be really screwed. So Donovan Jackson's even got a good situation and it might be really hard for him at first when he has to make that transition into the NFL. And I think it is overwhelming with the amount

of information that they're asked to take on. But when you play in college, think about how many actual football games are against elite players playing against you. If you're a wide receiver, how many corners did you face that even play it down in the NFL like three in a year, possibly if you're playing for an SEC team. Right. So that, uh, that does lead to a question for you though, that pops into my mind

as we're having this discussion. How about this? Which rookie from this year do you think will have the biggest impact right away? Cause it is crazy sometimes where guys do step in and they don't have any problems becoming rookies. Like this Justin Jefferson guy, 175 yards in his first start week three, 2020. So it does happen from time to time. I'll give you a second to pull up the list. And I'm looking, so are we talking to spiking's players? Like, no, anybody, anybody in the NFL who's going to have the most impact from this

year's, let's just call it from the first round for this year as a rookie. Okay. Guys, bear with me. We're looking this up in real time. Cause I, I would love the answers too. From the comments, Ash and Gentie is a great answer. That that's the one position where you really can step right in though. And no disrespect to the amount of information that running backs have to take on, but you can just be like, here's the ball. Just go that way. Just run, just head down.

You'll be all right. Yeah. I was thinking, I was thinking for this skill position does make a lot of sense that Ted McMillan has a great chance. I think for Carolina, they don't have a real number one wide receiver. Uh, Adam Thielen is still there. Xavier LeGette, I think they want to take another step, but he can be their number one wide receiver really fast. And you know that they are going to pour everything into trying to have Bryce Young continue with that big step that he took last year. Yeah, I think here's maybe I'm just firing off hot takes. I think the Panthers are like

slowly on the up and up. I think that they're they're crawling their way out of this rebuild hole that they've been in for years, but I do see that with, um, Ted Arroa, I think is, is that, are we just calling him Ted? Ted feels easier. We're gonna go with Ted. I'm just calling him. I think he goes, doesn't he go by Ted or does he go by like TMAC or something? Okay. I think TMAC could be a great addition there and what they finished third and the NFC South's okay, like tied with the saints. So not, not great. Maybe I'm over hyping them as a team, but I do think for someone like him, it's almost easier for a rookie to come in on a not so good team.

And I know that sounds questionable, but like then you're kind of big fish, small pond. If you perform well, you're not thrown in there with guys who are like insanely established, going to box you out of your position. You're getting no reps. Like he's in a position to have a lot of playing time, to have a lot of time on the field and to like over the course of the season, make a name for himself in the way that he might not be afforded on another team where there's four year starters ahead of him who like, good luck, you're

going to play when he's injured, you know? I definitely agree with that. Opportunity is a big thing. I'm sure the fantasy community is looking at Tet Macmillan like, yeah, this guy's going to have a chance. And I agree with you about the Carolina Panthers. I don't think they're going to win 12, but I think that I think they can be the 2022 Detroit lions that tanked in 2021.

And then on the last day of the season, they beat Aaron Rodgers at Lambeau Field. They didn't make the playoffs, but they had a winning record. They had a great second half of the season to give you look at what Bryce did in the second half of last year. And I know that could be a little bit of a flawed way to look at it. But when we're talking a number one overall quarterback who was in such a bad situation, but for him and Dave Canales to kind of lock in there, there last year, they almost beat Casey. They had several games where they were, I guess everyone almost beat Casey during the regular season,

but they had several games there where if they had any defense whatsoever, they would have won. So I think that that is a really good bet. Tyler Warren is another good one, I think, because Indianapolis, they need an outlet for Anthony Richardson. The only concern would be that Anthony Richardson can't throw it like eight feet. So I guess is Daniel Jones checking down like Richardson is the funniest profile where he can't throw five yard passes, but his 55 yard passes are totally fine. If not really good. Okay. I would like to, I would like to step to his defense here because I have a personal anecdote to this. So I was a goalkeeper in soccer and I compare that a lot to the quarterback position. Maybe that's also unwarranted, but it's a lot of communication. You're leading the team from the back. You have full view of the field.

You're dictating the style of play, whatever. Sometimes when you're in those high pressure situations, the small passes you overthink to the point where then you mess them up. But you can bomb a pass down the field. That could be the best goal kick of your life. It could be the best 55 yard throw you've ever made. But like, God forbid, you like freak out and throw a mistake of a five yard pass. So I can understand it. Does it make it right? No. But I can understand where he's coming from. Just got to get the nerves out. You got to get more comfortable. Get loose. Get out of your head.

You know, now, if you were the team USA goalie, though, I think you should be able to just do that. That's like around the NFL they complete like 80% of passes under 10 yards. They should be able to I think I think a huge part of it with Richardson is that when you get hurt, you can't develop and get better. And the other part is to that and maybe it was a window into him and his preparation. The fact that he couldn't stay on the field and had to check himself out of the game. That if you're not prepared

and your timing isn't on point with guys on short passes, then you're not going to hit them. And it can even look like you're inaccurate when you're just, your timing wasn't good. And so even if you threw the ball where you meant to throw it, it's not to the receiver because everything is so timing- you threw the ball where you meant to throw it, it's not to the receiver because everything is so timing based in the NFL. One of my favorite things to do on the all 22 film is to stop Sam Darnold's arm when

he starts to cock it back and look where Justin Jefferson is and then look where he actually caught it. Like that's the anticipation that has to go through in your brain. Oh yeah. Exactly. Okay. What else? What else you got on your list? that has to go through in your brain that comes from the world. Yeah, exactly. OK, what else? What else you got on your list?

If other people have for the most impact rookie, feel free to throw that in the comments. I mean, you kind of mentioned USA football. Let's get into USA flag football. This was news of this week coming out of fresh out of Minnesota from these owners meetings. Flag football is now an Olympic sport at LA 28 and NFL players are allowed to be on teams. I have a lot of opinions here coming from the inside

and also my own personal opinions. And whether you want them or not, I'm going to give them to you. So let's get into the basics just so we can level set. These games are five on five and teams can roster up to 10 players. A single player from each NFL team can participate for their respective country. College players and anyone else in the general public can also try out. Okay, those are the basics. This is a unanimous vote. All 32 agreed. Let's do this. Okay, USA football will be making the decisions for tryouts, not the NFL.

That being said, there's going to be some arm of the NFL, probably the flag football group, that has some level of sway somewhere in this because that's kind of how the NFL works. And this wouldn't have gotten put into the Olympics if there wasn't that much backing. So let's just kind of keep that all in mind as we go through this. I personally don't love that we're allowing NFL players into this league. It doesn't feel fair. I'm all for the inclusion of all of it, but I think if we're looking at inclusion, if

we're looking at the way the NFL is trying to pitch this as like, we want to elevate this for youths, for women, for girls, for it's like a non-contact sport, you can't get a concussion playing it, it's a, for, it's like a non-contact sport, you can't get a concussion playing it, it's a safer alternative, it's the future of football. Then let those players be the future of that and make it a branch of the NFL, but not the NFL. I think it's just really unfair for you to have someone like Justin Jefferson coming in against some guy

who played like maybe Juco flag football this year at a small school and is a baller by all accounts. But like, there is no way I'm sorry, like the athletic and physicality that you have to be an NFL player at any position is going to outmatch that of a top flat player. In my humble opinion, don't quote me on this. These are just my thoughts. It feels unfair. The only thing I could think of that might even the playing field is if you're a flag football player only,

that maybe the games are different enough to give you an edge. And also think about it this way. Like if you are a really good pro wide receiver, that skill set might just be different because you could be a crazy springy and quick athlete. Like let's say that you're 162 pounds, right? And you can jump 43 inches in the air, like an NBA type of player. But if you got on an NFL field, they would just pick you up and throw you in a garbage can.

Not to name names, but like Ty Felton, that man is tiny. He's got a book up. He could be great. If like, no, he does. He does his skin. Very skinny, lanky, but very skinny. Well, I thought you were going to say, I thought you were going to say Jordan Addison. It's, it's remarkable that Jordan Addison at 170 can deal with the physicality, but there's the most people can't.

He is so freakishly talented at getting open, but most people can't. If you were just a crazy athlete, but you had no chance against NFL strength, this is where you might be able to even the playing field. Plus you know the rules and how the defenses work and everything else. Where I would be concerned about this. And I don't think we're going to see star players play is just the, the money involved in the money invested. The Minnesota Vikings organization is Justin Jefferson. I mean,

he is the most, I know McCarthy, but he's a, the most, the highest paid, the most important, the face of the franchise. The last thing I think they'd ever want to see is him rising up, grabbing a ball, one-handed and getting undercut by some guy from Argentina. Like that's just not what you want. If he's going to get hurt, he's going to be doing that to try to win a Superbowl on your team, not doing it in the Olympics for a gold medal. It will be interesting to see who teams, because I think the team has to be able to like agree to allow them to do it. But if you have like a number, you're like Lucky Jackson, who's the Vikings,

like number seven wide receiver. You'd be like, sure, why not? Go ahead. Like, go ahead. Be my guest. Yeah. I'm, I do have, this opens a lot more questions for me, but I do agree. I watched, so the NFL had the NFL flag championships. It might've been on your guys's radar. It might not have been the inaugural one was last July in Canton, Ohio at the pro football hall of fame was streamed on ESPN and also a bunch of their digital partners. It's a different game watching those games. It is genuinely like the way that you have to move your body and like dip and like move your hips and the way that like the flag's getting yanked. You can't just rely on brute force at all. And like I was even watching

girls do it. And a lot of the girls who were really good at flag were girls who were going to play college soccer like they just had that like shiftiness that fit like that kind of physicality not as much of the straight football so I could even see on the men's side that like that's gonna be like you're more like life you're more quick players are gonna be more this kind of vibe I don't. But I did see them play flag at the Pro Bowl and they had a great time. The guys were balling out. Justin Jefferson looked like he was having a blast. So I don't want to rob a man of a good time, but I'm just saying.

Right. Let's keep it to the Pro Bowl where everyone's going like half speed and so forth. Yeah. Okay. So how about who would you like to see if there were no if we could turn injuries off, who would you like to see? Oh, like you could turn injuries off. I want to see Saquon Barkley jump over someone who's. I mean, that would be so baller. It would be insane.

I think. I'm looking someone up right now to see if he proves my point. One moment. I think like a Jamar Chase, I think he'd be a fun one. Like, yeah, he's way too valuable to their team and there's absolutely no way that they would let that happen. But I think like.

The guy can get around. He's not insanely insanely big, but I think he's athletic enough to make this work. His speed and his yards after catchability are out of this world. Yeah, I mean, sometimes I think with Jamar Chase, he's like if Barry Sanders had played wide receiver, that it would look like that. Uh, I think, uh, even, but I, there's like a lot of guys though, that might be kind of low key good at this, even though they're not actually great NFL players.

Someone that came to mind was Rondale Moore. Uh, I think Rondale Moore would be good at this, uh, even though he's not become a great NFL player, but so quick, so shifty guys who are punt returners. Brandon Powell was a punt returner. Punt returners is a good shout. Yeah. That shifty is a good word for it.

You gotta have a little like, a little, yeah. You gotta have that in you. I have a question for you now. If you, let's say you're, you have three years to train for LA 28. If you, let's say you're, you have three years to train for LA 28. What sport, let's be so realistic, what sport do you think you could make? And we can go niche.

We can be talking archery if you so desire, but what sport are you making for the LA 2018? That I would have enough talent to like make some argument that I could do this, I guess, or what I would just like. Well, for me, basketball would always be the thing I'd want to do. Not that I could in any way, but I do have a very good shot in basketball. And if there's, if there's one thing that I know that I can do that's actually in the Olympics, it is to play some form of basketball, not with the rest of the world,

not with Steph Curry and all the other crates or anything like that. But if there's like one sport that I actually can be good at already, uh, I was fascinated cause, uh, my wife is a broadcaster and she did the Olympics and she did the shooting events, which were really interesting. So they're like the target shooting. And I have never tried anything like that, but I do have good hand eye coordination and it looks, it looks fun as hell, honestly, to shoot the targets and stuff.

So, yeah, I don't know. That was pretty much like a strictly rep space. Like you get out there, you do it enough. I'm definitely oversimplifying this. Apologies to anyone who does this professionally, but I could see it you put in the time you got three years Yeah, well, I'll start tomorrow. We'll see what happens What else you got on your list? We got about 15 minutes till tip. All right, okay. Um Where are we? Oh

My favorite continuing the trend of highlighting for you guys, underdog UDFAs who you might not know about. This is my new favorite thing. This guy is Joe Huber. Joe Huber, we like to throw around in the football community the word gritty quite frequently. I think it's kind of overused. It's a buzzword. But I think this kid actually lives up to it.

And I'm going to tell you why. I dug deep into his background. So we're going to go back to high school. He was started off as a wrestler. This kid was the best wrestler in his high school coming out of Ohio. He made it to the division one championships. He didn't make the varsity football team until his junior year of high school. He was riding on JV and he was also only 6'2", 170 on the JV squad for two years. That is an insane height to weight ratio. So he wasn't that big, super lanky dude. He's also in O lineman currently. So you can imagine he had a lot of growth to do. Somehow had a huge growth spurt in between like sophomore and junior year. This kid comes back. He's currently around like six, four, 220. He puts

on some weight, he grows a little bit, he eats some food. He has now earned a spot on varsity. He's a two-way starter on the O line and the D line was like all conference, all Ohio, Ohio honors, like player of the year No colleges have him on his radar. He has no stars Like he's essentially a nobody Akron and Cincinnati are like you can walk on I guess cool Like we need bodies come join our practice squad. So he goes to Cincinnati He red shirts his freshman year because again, he's still not good enough and like no one really knows. And then gets pretty good has played two seasons there gets more snaps underneath him bulks up dudes putting on the weight. He's getting after it. And then his head coach

transfers to Wisconsin. He follows him there where he becomes third team all big 10 was invited to the East West Shrine Bowl and the NFL combine. So let's just look at that in the span of six years, this kid went from an unknown wrestler who weighed 170 pounds to a very large, very athletic O'Lyneman who is now being looked at at the NFL Combine and signed to the Vikings. If he can do that, that's a huge jump in six years. Who is to say that he couldn't be just an athletic freak of nature that the Vikings found and like really have a jam that they just got a chisel out of there.

So the Vikings really believe it's so clear in the undrafted free agents that they think if you spend enough money on them, I think they totaled I saw this, the strip guys had this it's like $3 million in bonuses for undrafted free agents, which is a ton. Like there are some teams that spend like 25K max on undrafted free agents per guy. And the Vikings have been spending hundreds of thousands on the best guys.

I don't know what Huber got, but this is another one where if you look at his numbers from college, especially in past protection, the last three years, he's been a very good pass protector. Last year allowed only seven pressures in 409 drop backs, one sack the previous year, zero sacks in 496 pass blocking snaps. I mean, that's a lot of snaps to take and a very few pressures, really good production. And this looks like a, another one of those guys that they could grab and develop and see if there's something there. Also Logan Brown is another one. Uh, I don't want to take away any UDF phase that you're going to be

featuring as we go forward, but that's another one that they spent money on. And we're able to bring in for development behind the guys that they have already on the offensive line. So this I think has become quite a front office strategy and a spending strategy for the ownership as well, because if the guy doesn't make the team, he just gets to keep your money. So they're knowing that they're probably burning some money on some of these guys, but Huber might be one that either makes the team as extreme

depth or just possibly as a practice squad development type of player. I like that. I did not know. See, this is the thing that I, when it comes to guys like this, I've always had this rule with undrafted free agents where you got to make me learn your name. You got to make me Google your background. So now you're sort of doing the work for me, which is the, that's what you're supposed to be doing here. But that's great. I had no idea that he was no star, no interest in college whatsoever. And now he's here. Right. Like the kid has heart from some articles I read. It also sounds like the Vikings are really good at this drafting really quality guys, like sports aside, they're getting good people for their locker room. And I think

that speaks a lot to the culture that they're trying to build, that Kevin O'Connell is trying to build, that the ownership ones. I think that's also something that is kind of overlooked. You can have some ballers who are total stars. If they don't jive in the locker room, if they kind of have an ego, and if they think they're better than everyone else, even as, especially as an undrafted free agent,

like that's not a guy you want on your team. I think your energy speaks so loud and if you're in there thinking you're entitled to things, no, there's no way. This kid I was reading, one of his Wisco teammates said he ran a half marathon one day and then showed up for voluntary summer conditioning the next.

He's an o lineman, who does that? He's also so athletic, how can you be running a half marathon at 220? I just run around the block, so I have no idea. But no, this you make a really good point, though, that I think under Kevin O'Connell, they have put a huge emphasis on character and personality, and they're always going to look at that as one of their top things. Some of these guys sometimes are amazed that when you look at the guy's resume and the athletic profile and the past protection profile, and then you're like, yeah, but teams are drafting punters or long snappers in the late rounds. And sometimes I just don't understand fully how that ends up happening. And I know, uh, that every scout has like their favorite player

that they want their GM to draft in the seventh round and so they want to make the scouts feel Appreciated I love this punter more than life itself So I guess we're taking him but I look at this ago. How did this guy not get at least the seventh round pick? So maybe a good grab for the Minnesota Vikings. We'll see yeah, we will see definitely a guy to keep an eye out for and Then quickly as we ended the last one, we're going to be talking about a star player who is not Vikings related, but just big NFL news. Because I feel like I would be remiss if we did not mention it. You probably already know, but

we're going to say it again. Brock Purdy just signed a five year, $265 million deal. That's a lot of money. I, okay, let's break this down again. I like when we have the big numbers, but that's obviously not what he's getting. That's not just the check he's been written. So the base salary for 2025 is 1.1 plus the signing bonus. Signing bonus, 40 million. That's pretty nice. I would love a $40 million signing bonus for my next job.

That would be awesome. If anyone's willing to offer that, please let me know. But the guaranteed amount is over 182 million. So it's not close to the 265. I think it's spread, you know? Average annual salary, 53. So it's all kind of chunked out. It's not like he's getting like an insanely fat paycheck.

He is, but it's spread. In my mind, I don't know if it's because he came and he was a great story and we all just like attached the underdog mentality to him and we really can't shake it because every broadcaster ever will only remind you that he was the last pick of the draft. And like, that is the only thing he's known for, even though the guy literally brought a team to Superbowl. Um, I, it still feels like, is he at that caliber of quarterback? And I know this is just like typical NFL podcast fodder, but it is something that is intriguing. Cause I don't know if it's just like a reputation thing, like that we've

created in our minds or if his actual play dictates that like, yeah, he is valuable, he is worth this amount of money. Yeah. There's a few things that come to mind for me. Number one is that it was years ago that we started talking about the rookie quarterback contract advantage when Kirk cousin signed for $30 million a year. We're like, Whoa, how is anybody ever going to afford that? It was 90 million or 88 million guaranteed.

And we all went, what, that much money guaranteed. And now these contracts have exploded, but the rookie contract, the rookie wage scale, uh, has not caught up with them. So the gap just keeps growing and growing and growing. And at some point Brock Purdy is going to have a huge cap hit while JJ McCarthy's is 5 million bucks. And the Vikings just have a massive, massive advantage over the San Francisco 49ers and every other team. I was going to bring up, you already covered it though, the level of fake for these contracts,

when they get put out there by the agents is just like, why don't you just subtract about 25% from everything that comes out. When Byron Murphy's number came out, I forget what the fake number was, was the 20 something million. We were like, Whoa, I don't know. And then the real number goes and you're like, Oh, it's like 16. Which is fairly reasonable for Byron Murphy Jr. And right on point with the other corners that sign. And like, is it too much to ask the NFL insiders to just not copy and paste? I guess it is like, that's how you become an NFL insider is you just copy and

paste from the agent. Uh, and even, I think even the teams like it when it seems like it's a huge number. Like, look, we pay people, we reward our guys and stuff like that with rock party. He's a, he's a difficult evaluation as so many quarterbacks are, because I think about how even a hall of famer like Kurt Warner, when he didn't have Torrey Holt, Isaac Bruce, or Larry Fitzgerald was just not even all that good. And with the giant, he was really bad and he was a hall of fame quarterback. And this exists for everybody.

And I just don't know how good that team's going to be going forward. I think under the right circumstances, Brock Purdy can make plays, he can deliver the football on time, he knows the offense and he's got a little baller mentality so he could throw it up to guys and make plays enough to get his team in the Super Bowl. But is it going to be enough if they're not there? Like we've seen from Josh Allen, it's enough if he doesn't have those guys, even Patrick Mahomes, he's in the super bowl and Rashid Rice isn't there. And they don't have great receivers. And it doesn't matter. I don't think Brock Purdy is one of those guys.

They need to revamp that offense without, you know, Debo Samuel there anymore. Who knows what Brandon Iuk situation is. George Kittle is gonna get older. Trent Williams is toast. I mean, so I don't know what the future is gonna hold for him, but it does, I think fall into the category of kind of like a Trevor Lawrence contract, where we all go, whoa.

And then you look at it and you go, okay, well, it hedges, it hedges a little bit. So would you have done that if you were San Francisco or would you have just said, you know what, we'll find somebody else. I mean, and I don't know how open the guy is to a negotiation because he was probably fed up with that rookie contract. I'm sure. But if there's any way to keep him on like a shorter term deal for less money, that's

not insulting, but also not like skyrocketing him into like the upper echelon of quarterbacks. Like he's not a Josh Allen, he's not a Patrick Mahomes, he's not a Lamar Jackson. He's like, that's just like, there's a realm of like, and Jalen Hurts, there's like a realm of untouchables kind of where like that, I think they're worth whatever you want to pay them if you can afford it, because they are really leading your team. And it's been proven and they have a consistently solid track record. I think he definitely like you're saying depends on the players so I would shorten the deal, drop the amount but like maybe we have it. Maybe we have him on like a two or a three year deal for like,

I don't know, maybe we just give him the 180. Like maybe just like the guaranteed amount. Maybe 182 is his whole thing. Oh, that doesn't feel crazy. It's definitely not crazy to think about. Like, hey, can you prove this over multiple years for him? Because it really was the one great year mixed in with five games, playoffs. And then last year is so.

So I mean, I thought he probably played better than what it looks year mixed in with five games, playoffs. And then last year is so-so. I mean, I thought he probably played better than what it looks like for his counting statistics because the team was really collapsing around him. But there's also a little bit of the test of how much would someone else have paid for Brock Bertie. And I don't think the answer is this much. So you're paying like an extra tax to kind of keep him around. But if you franchise tag him, the problem is all of that cap hit goes in that first year and there's nothing you could do about it. So I think part of the reason that they made it longer is so they

could mess with the cap hits, spread it out and try to stretch open this window. Maybe I'll be completely wrong about San Francisco. It feels to me like they miss their window and it's over. Maybe I'll be completely wrong about San Francisco. It feels to me like they miss their window and it's over. Yeah. And they're still like scraping down the wall being like, no, we're still super bright and that's kind of how it feels with this, but pretty, I think is one of the hardest players to evaluate as a quarterback over the last few years, because there's just nothing exceptional and yet it works.

And even last year, like you gave the Vikings a hard time. Right. That's the kickers. Like it's still happening. Like he's still he's not bad by any means. I don't want this to seem like, oh, he's a terrible player. He's not. No, like, I still got it going. But as you're saying, but are you in a situation to win? We've seen other teams, though, like Denver.

OK, they had Russell Wilson and letting him go as a total disaster, but they were able to bounce back into the playoffs. Uh, Atlanta is going to eat all of that Kirk Cousins contract. They found a way with the rookie quarterback contract to still sign guys in the off season. The cap keeps going up. So maybe there's less fear these days of having that hit you in the face than there was in the past. Cause it maybe doesn't necessarily ruin your franchise if you just have to cut him or trade him to somebody else in a couple of years. That will

be one to really watch. But I've got them, I don't know, third in the division, maybe it's possible that they finished fourth in the division, right? Yeah. I think it, they're going to have a season. Is it going to be standout? Probably not. Are you going to pay a lot of attention to it? Probably not. I don't want to wish ill on any team, but like, it's kind of what

it seems like we're in for, but this, this whole signing deal brought up a thought in my head that I'd love to ask you, say you're signed with NFL team, what position are you signed to and what's the value of your NFL contract? Matthew? Well, if you're, if you can't be a quarterback, because obviously everyone would want to be a quarterback. There's two positions that you would want to be the guys that lead the best lives and that would be wide receiver and edge rusher because they are paid

the most and I think for edge rusher specifically, you really just have to focus on it. So this is why I would pick edge rusher over wide receiver. You really just have focus on you. This is why you never hear of unhappy edge rushers. You never hear of like, boy, this edge rusher, he's demanding out. You don't hear that much unless the team is really terrible because even miles Garrett was like, I want out. And they were like, how about some more money? He's like, I want in, we're a contender. Right. But you don't need that too much because it's them versus one other guy or two other guys. And that's it. You just do your job.

And that's what you get paid on with wide receiver. You rely on someone else throwing you the football. And that has so much to do with what you get paid and and how your life is going right like that's why I think because everybody calls these receivers divas when they don't get the football and I've heard this explained by a hundred football coaches where like I get what you're saying and calling him a diva for wanting the football but also all these receivers think that they are the dude and that they can win

every game themselves and that they like they are so confident to be here. The other part is too, there's like 70 offensive plays. If you get two catches in a game and you ran 40 rounds, you have to be so bored and tired. Oh, at the end of the game, you're like, did I, what did I do here? Like it's, it is a, it's got, and by the way, someone poked you in the eyes and like every play, right? It's like, it's a lot harder than people think it is, I guess. That's fair. Those are both really great points. And I definitely approached this from a different perspective of like me personally. What would I be good at? I wasn't actually thinking about the economics of economics, economics. That's crazy economics of this. I think I'd be best at a kicker. I also think they have a pretty

cushy lifestyle and I can get more into this. You're not, you're not really getting bruised. You're not getting tossed around. God forbid. Like you're not getting busted up on the field. Also like playing soccer, I got a good foot. I could do that. That's awesome. Sign me to kick a ball. It's a lot of pressure. Yes. Do I understand that? Absolutely. But I think you signed me to like the average kicker is making like 1.9 million. Give me a little two, two and a half million dollar deal. I'm a happy camper. That's more than enough money. I don't need a lot. I'm just a girl. So like also be the first female kicker. How awesome would that be? I'm just saying Sarah Fuller did it Vanderbilt.

I could be the next Tennessee girl to do it, but at the NFL, I rest my case. I think we'll see it. I think we'll see it at some point. If I mean, I don't really see why not. If they, if somebody can kick a 60 yard field goal and make it, then they can play. Uh, are you, can you kick a field goal? I can actually at Penn They put me in full pads and they had me practice running around throwing like a quarterback Hunting and kicking can send you the video. I wasn't the best. I'd never done it before I was on camera

Let me just preface by saying that with some practice. I think I'd be pretty good You know, I'm also nice wearing pads, so I had a lot going against me, but I was making some. Well, that puts you ahead of ninety nine point nine percent of the population that can absolutely not kick any field goals or punt the ball more than about 10 yards. So anyway, well, we've got we got Wolves basketball on the way. Still saying Wolves in six or maybe seven

We'll see about that. But Monday's another successful Mondays with Maggie So would you like to close it out Maggie? Let's round it out football, baby. See you guys next week There you go. Maggie Robinson our new intern and yeah, I'm gonna go watch some Wolves basketball I hope you do too I hope you enjoyed the show as well and thanks everybody for your questions comments and watching and Wednesday and OTA practice but got some fun guests coming up this week from the fantasy football universe so make your make sure you keep an eye out for that thanks everybody see you get soon. What ball.