Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Is Trey Smith worth $25 million? Why the Raiders shouldn't pay for Darnold.

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

From Indy, Matthew Coller is joined by Sam McDowell of the Kansas City Star to discuss the Combine but, more importantly, Chiefs star guard Trey Smith, who could be a target for Minnesota this offseason, and what he's worth on the open market. Then, Coller chats with Q Myers of Raiders Nation Radio to discuss Las Vegas potentially going after Sam Darnold in Free Agency and why Q thinks dishing out a big contract wouldn't be a wise investment for the Raiders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome back into radio row here at the NFL Combine. Matthew Coller here and joining the show for, I don't know, second, third time ever. Sam McDowell, Kansas city star. Sam, how would you like to talk about your free agent guard? Would that be fine? Sure. Let's do it. Okay. What do you want to say about your free agent guard? Trey Smith is the, uh, the bell of the ball when it comes to free agency. Everybody. What do you want to say about your free agent guard? Trey Smith is the belle of the ball when it comes to free agency. Everybody, I follow all the other NFLB reporters. They're like, you know our team could

make an offer for Trey Smith. And I'm like, well, that's about 14 teams now. I've seen talking about wanting Trey Smith. He is going to get $1 billion on the free agent market. Is that what you would pay Trey Smith? Yes, exactly that amount. I'd pay him probably, what, like 90% of the cap? Is that too high?

No, not for a guard. Of course not. No, in all seriousness, no. My stance on Trey Smith has been like him, really like him. Of course, he's better than any Vikings guard that they've had since Steve Hutchinson. But at $25 million a year, I don't like him as much. Is that or do you think he's worth that? So look, this is a different question for different teams like the chiefs, I think, need to let him go. And it's not because of his quality

of play. It's not because he's the teammate he is, because those things are great. But from a Chiefs perspective, they're already paying Creed Humphrey as the highest paid center in the game. Joe Tooney, when they signed him a few years ago, was the highest paid left guard. Now he's dropped to like fourth or fifth. And they paid Joann Taylor, right tackle,

an obscene amount of money. Like you can't pay three interior guys and then your right tackle when you need a left tackle. And so the Chiefs are in a bad spot with Trey Smith. So I expect him to hit the open market. I don't expect them to franchise tag Trey Smith, in which case the numbers you're talking about are going to be the numbers that you're talking about with Trey Smith.

Now the things to like about Trey Smith, he's entering free agency a year earlier than a lot of guys do. He's just 25 years old. He is a terrific teammate. I mean I can't say enough about the kind of person he is in the locker room. One of my absolute favorite guys to talk to. You will be hard-pressed to find someone to have a bad word to say about Trey Smith. Now the reason that the Chiefs got him as a sixth-round pick is his background story. I mean obviously he went through a lot of stuff in college with with blood clotting issues and it scared teams off and it didn't scare the

Chiefs off and they say that though but it had to scare him a little you don't wait till the sixth round because he was a second round type talent so there's a ton of pedigree there but it is going to be a lot of people bidding that's going to drive up the price. And let's face it, when it comes to free agency, you don't pay market value, you pay above market value for your needs. Right, or if you pay market value, it's for the second tier type of player, which I'm kind of in the camp

that that's a good place to live at the guard position because you get your like Kevin Zeitler last year, the Lions paid him 6 million bucks and he gave them a lead performance. Yeah. I think you're trying to look for that. But at the same time, this has been my assessment of looking at Trey Smith is he does bring a physical nature to the game that the Vikings have been lacking a imposing your will, if you will. I mean, that, you know, every time the Vikings got to the goal line, they're like, we better pass. We just can't run the

football behind any of these offensive linemen. That's not a place to be at the guard position. We are talking about a league that is trending a little more toward running the football. And the Vikings have not run it very successfully. This is a guy who I think thrives as a run blocker. But the pass protection does concern me at times.

I feel like I see bigger misses than I want to see from someone who's gonna reset the market at the guard position from him. Or is that just nitpicking? Like is that just being a little too harsh on him because I know the price is gonna be so high? No, I mean I think it can be both.

I mean I think when you pay a player that amount you should be nitpicking at all aspects of his game. Like you're never going to find the perfect free agent but you're right in your assessment about Trey Smith. I mean, look, the Chiefs have Patrick Mahomes, so I think a lot of people have a perception of what the Chiefs are. But once Rashi Rice got hurt last year in week three,

the Chiefs became a run-first team for the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era. And I judge that based on the fact they were running more on first down than they ever had. They were running more than half the time on first down compared to pass and the reason is because their interior line was terrific at run blocking. Before they moved Joe Tooney out to left tackle, they had Joe Tooney, Creed Humphrey, and Trey Smith on the interior and he is a major component of that. Now obviously that changed once

they moved Joe Tooney out to left tackle and there are a whole complexion of their offensive line change, their strategy change, but you're right that his strength is as a run blocker. He's very physical in the running game and you notice the whiffs and the pass game not only by the pressures, but he does commit quite a few penalties for a guy that's going to be making that kind of money. And so yes, you are not going to be getting the perfect prospect in Trey Smith, even though I think you're going to, you know, whoever gets him is going to be getting a very good player in Trey Smith. On the other side of that, nobody's perfect. We have typos from time to time. There's so few good guards in

the league, right? I mean, there are so few good guards in the league that if you have one that is even above average and is way above average as a run blocker, and in previous years, I might have not even looked at his PFF run blocking grade. I would have been like, yeah, I don't care. Let's focus on the pass protection. But since the Vikings really need to improve their run game to just keep up with the rest of the league, they have two high safeties all the time with Jefferson. You need to be able to take advantage of that. And the fact that the Vikings, three years in a row, have been either 20th or worse in run EPA is unacceptable when you don't even have an extra safety ever in the box. And so to have a guard that can be a

physical player, can be a difference maker, now matters a lot more to me. But I also think that replacing him, there's so few great guards, there's so few guys that are even in his ballpark, that if a Robert Hunt is getting 20, and that guy's just okay, I'm not even sure he's even that good, that's sort of the price of admission to have one of the rare good players at that spot in the entire league. Yeah, I mean, look, for a little while now, specifically in Kansas City, we've been talking about how can the Chiefs solve the two high. That's become a league wide phenomenon.

And you know, we, I think overlook the fact that the solution didn't have to be change your passing game. It could be run the ball a lot more effectively and you have to bring those safeties down or you have to put an extra linebacker in the game. Then you can get a mismatch, a tight ender in the slot. Like that is one way to change the way defenses play you

is be more effective in the running game. And so the running back market's gonna be really interesting because of the way Saquon Barkley and Derek Henry as free agents made major impacts. And also it's a really good running back class this year in the draft. But I think we're overlooking the fact that it's the philosophy that can change a running game more than anything. And some of that is the player we're talking about with Trey Smith is like,

what kind of offensive line do you wanna build? But a major component of this to me with Trey Smith is, how does your quarterback play with? different types of offensive line, you know one thing I studied with Patrick Holmes, for example is He you know, there was obviously I think a lot of people watch the Super Bowl and said well their offensive line was terrible Patch Worms didn't stand a much of a chance the right he didn't have much of a chance But he actually was under more pressure two years ago when he won MVP than he was this last year. He handled it poorly in comparison. He's terrific. He handled it poorly in comparison to what he had in the past. The difference in the pressure was he

used to take pressure from the interior. Then they short up the interior and now he takes pressures from the outside. He doesn't handle that as well. And so I think a lot of this, you know, obviously Sam Darnold did not handle pressure well late in the season. And so if I was the Vikings and, you know, Darnold was going to be another year or, you know, your evaluation of J.J. McCarthy in college or whatnot, where do they escape pressure well? Like, can they handle pressure from the edge as well? Can they handle from the interior? So that to me, if I'm looking at Trey Smith, I would say, what does my quarterback operate better with?

No, that's a great point. And I think with the Vikings, if they're going to JJ McCarthy, they don't know the answer to that yet, but they do know that they have two of the best tackles in the league. And if you've already got that, you are so far ahead of everybody else.

Absolutely. But yet this, it's just been this guard position where it's one guy after the next and they've never really invested in it. They drafted two guards in the second round. Both went bust. Ezra Cleveland and Ed Ingram. They drafted a center in the first round to be a zone run blocker and then they change coaches who don't really run outside zone and they've just tried to make it work and it's just been kind of a cluster. You know what at the guard position it's moving tackles to guard been kind of a cluster, you know what, at the guard position, it's

moving tackles to guard and sort of just hoping that a guy can actually do it. So I feel like I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth because in one way, I think all three need to be solid. You can't just have, oh, here's $25 million Trace Smith and a bucket of potatoes. And then the other team's like, okay, well, we'll just go after that guy, the weak link sort of system. But at the same time, he is a difference maker and he is a needle mover that I think the Vikings would be in the mix for someone like his services.

Yeah, I mean, like I said, I mean, he's a good enough player to where there's a certain floor there that you're not gonna have to worry about. Like, I mean, I talked about him and you mentioned him in past pro that that's not, he's not as good as he is as a run blocker, but there's still a floor there that you're going to meet on a week to week basis.

Like Trey Smith is not going to be the reason you lose games. If you pay a guy 20 to 25 million, you also want him to be one of the reasons you're winning games on a weekly basis. And so that to me is what teams are going to have to ask us as they look at us take. And I also wonder too, it is a very different offense. Kansas city has run a short passing offense last few years. The Vikings don't do that. The Vikings run a deep drop. Justin Jefferson's running 30 yards down the field. So asking him to block longer, is that going to change the data? Because the one thing I love about PFF's data is it gives us the results. But the one thing that's hard about PFF's data is it gives us the results.

But the one thing that's hard about PFF's data is it doesn't give us the context. And that I think they have to ask as well. You're going to have to hold up at guard for three seconds. It's not going to be, hey, there's 20% of our plays, our screens are quick passes, or 40% or 50% are quick passes. It's going to be different. So that is all things I think that they need to consider. I want to ask you another chief's question and get some Vikings opinions from you just because, you know, we're here and we're at the combine talking football. So the chiefs are terrible now and everyone should hate them and it's over and my home's legacy is

ruined and was it not the strangest season for you because they go 15 and 2. One of them they don't try. So essentially 15 and 1. And they beat the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo, a Bills team that looked like maybe the best team in the entire league for the whole season. And they go to the Super Bowl and then it just never happens. It just falls apart because you and I are similar in this way, only it fell apart at different times. It falls apart for the Vikings in the wild card round to a great Rams team, and we're like, is everyone stupid now? Like, did everyone do everything wrong now?

Because that's what it feels like. We just pick apart and pick apart. At the same time, the Vikings in Kansas City are similar in this. There's a lot to do on the rosters. I guess, like, how did you process what happened this year to the Chiefs?

Yeah, I mean, it was a team that was flawed all year long, more flawed than the past two teams had been, probably as about as flawed as any Patrick Holmes era team had been in Kansas City. But in the last two minutes, they were perfect somehow. And, you know, they won six games on the last snap of the game, and that does not include the Raiders game, which they knelt on the last snap.

And they won on the second to last snap of the game. So that's how they won seven games this year. So I think you look at them, you say they're probably more like a 12 and five to 13 and 14. You know, that Vikings team a couple of years ago that won a lot of very close games, I think you could relate. But the Eagles were the first team that could expose all their flaws at once. And those flaws of course were on the offensive line, but they solved their offensive line not by getting better on the offensive line, but rather with that short passing

game. They passed short a lot, you know, literally short, but the quickness of their passing game changed a lot. They moved Xavier Worthy from this, hey, he's gonna revitalize our deep passing game to no, no, no, let's have him fit into the short passing game. And they were throwing as quickly as anybody in the league for the last month of the season and their offense started clicking. But the Eagles, when they don't blitz

and they've got seven guys in coverage and their cornerbacks, even though they're young or really good, that's taken away too. And so the flaws upfront suddenly become exposed as well. And so the Eagles, I mean, this is, I think, like you, when you cover one team, you always look at it from your own,

the team you're covering their perspective. The Eagles also are just really freaking good team. Like they're really talented at a lot of places and you should have gone into that game thinking the quarterback has to outplay the other quarterback. That's the only way you've got a chance to win this game and that didn't happen in the game. Yeah, I said after the game that the model in the NFL

is to have a good player at every single position, have them be healthy and it's just like also younger players who were maybe not as worn down as some veterans like Travis Kelsey, who has been there year after year after year and has played probably more football games than anybody else over the last five seasons. And it just, I, it just felt like they were a little rickety, a little bit old, a little bit like, Oh, this is this young Philadelphia team with all these freak athletes. And they just couldn't really keep up at the same time they won 15 games. So I like, it, this is this young Philadelphia team with all these freak athletes. And they just couldn't really keep up at the same time.

They won 15 games. So I got to the end and sort of went like Kansas City, their toasts, they were they were so bad in this game. But the Vikings haven't been in the Super Bowl since the 70s. So you've got to respect it. But in dealing with a season like that, I struggled in 2022. And this year, I felt more confident that the Vikings were good, ultimately not good enough to beat the Rams in the playoffs.

But the point differential was better. They didn't need cartoonish late game wins. I think it's one of the hardest things to analyze, though, because you just cannot avoid the big glaring standings. That's the reason that everybody shows up to the stadium, not for point differential, whatever else. And with the homes, you could buy it the whole way through of like, well, he is different. He is, he is different at the end of a game from anybody else. So he can sustain it, but not when you go up against the Philadelphia Eagles. Yeah. And look, there is

something to that, which I think is I thought the hardest opponent the Chiefs would have this year was just complacency. I mean, when you win two straight Super Bowls and let's face it, they they were 11 and six a year ago. Like they had a lot of flaws a year ago and they were underdogs three times in the playoffs. They were underdogs in Buffalo in the division around. They were underdogs in Baltimore by four and a half points. And then they were underdogs in the Super Bowl against the 49ers and they won all three, but they had something to latch onto. They hadn't been in that role, you know, really since Patrick Holmes arrived to where they're

an underdog, even his first year in the playoffs and the FC champions against the Patriots. The Patriots used the underdog factor against the Chiefs because they were underdogs for the first time. And so I thought, what are you going to use this year when you were able to sort of coast through the regular season a year ago and it didn't matter? You still won anyway. Like, how are you going to treat the regular season like it mattered? Well, they did in the final two minutes. Like, that's when you're like, wait a minute, we're in a game here against the Raiders, against the Panthers, like against not the cream of the top of the NFL this year. And you're still in games. And that's when you realize you got to

switch it on. And it's a real thing that the rest of the league, when they have the Chiefs on their schedule, they grade themselves based on how they play the Chiefs. Like I know that these guys only get one game a week. And a lot of people think you can be at your best every single week, but it's not reality. Like the mental part of the game is a real thing and I think it absolutely has an effect when you're like getting other teams best shot is a real thing and that's hard on a week to week basis. So they're done, right?

They're not ever gonna be good again. I mean, that's not a real question, but you know, you look around and at that roster, and there's a lot of work to do. I don't think Mahomes is going anywhere as top quarterback. But statistically, this was by far his worst year. It wasn't even close. And now they're going to get Rushy Rice back.

And I'm sure they're going to figure something out at offensive tackle. But when you look around. I'm not sure of that. Yeah, I know. You and I last night were talking about Cam Robinson and would not recommend honestly, but you know, he's probably going to get paid 15 to 20 million

dollars just by being a left tackle and existing. That's how rare they are. So you're right. That might be a tough thing for them to figure out without a high draft pick, but they're still going to be them. Buffalo is probably going to get better and probably have some desperation still to make that happen. The Texans are going to take another swing at it. Maybe do something better like coaching their offensive line this year. The AFC is not getting easier is my point. Do you think that next year you're still talking about a team in the AFC championship or is it like that they could ever reset? Not you never really reset, but a step back at all. I think we're going to see like the most revamped roster we have since Patrick Mahomes got here. You mentioned the holes. I mean, you know, every year I sort of, you know, at this time as we're sitting here at the combine, you sort of go through their needs. And usually you kind of rank them one through five. And once I got done through

five, I was like, wait a minute, like I've got two more positions, three more positions I need to throw on this list. And they have key free agents as well. You know, it's not just Trey Smith, Justin Reed had a really good season for him at safety. Nick Bolton has been the play caller of their defense for a while now. So you're losing key pieces and I think it's very possible none of those guys are back. And this is what happens when you end up having to pay the quarterback at such an amount is you have to make really hard decisions. And to me, that's what's intriguing about the Vikings window here. Whenever you consider paying a quarterback is really when you look, the chiefs have bucked the trend.

They are not the trend as far as paying quarterbacks a lot of money and winning anyway. It's usually, you know, the the Vikings approach, what they intended to be their approach was don't pay the quarterback, pay him on a rookie deal and try try and surround him with talent elsewhere. And that's what's fascinating to me about where the Vikings are is because that is more the model than what I've seen the Chiefs do over the last five years. Well, that's a great podcasters transition into the discussion about Sam Darnold because they're in a spot that is sort of reflective of an Alex Smith and Patrick Mahomes, which

is what everybody talks about when you have a quarterback that you draft and somebody who plays that first year, except for Patrick Mahomes was practicing the entire first year. And so they could get a look at him. And then he played that week 17 or 18, whatever it was back then. And he was awesome. And then they're like, okay, we're pretty confident after seeing this guy for a whole year that can move on from Alex Smith. The trade of Alex Smith also is in my mind a lot because they got a third round pick and a player back. And I think if you're a franchise tagging Darnold and trading him, that's kind of what you're looking for. If not a little bit better. You and I were debating a little bit whether they could get a second round pick out of somebody. I think there's a lot of desperation there, but a third rounder in somebody's corner. Okay. That seems reasonable,

but there's just that fear factor of with JJ McCarthy, you just haven't seen anything outside of one training camp and literally one preseason game against one of the worst teams in the league's backup players as great as it was. And I was like, you go back and watch my podcast and I'm like everybody else, like really wowed. But at the same time, you know, he's throwing to like a trencher field or whatever is his wide receiver at that point. How would you approach it with no medical information or anything else, just the sort of facts of the matter? Yeah, I mean, so you're right that I don't have the full context of it. But to me, if you're Minnesota, you know what your ceiling is with Sam Darnold. And so it depends on what your expectations are. If you want to be a team that's getting to the Super Bowl,

I think you have to try the other approach, which is don't pay the quarterback much money. And look, if they make that decision, free agency is going to be a hell of a lot more interesting for them than it would be if they decide to pay Sam Darnold. I mean, Sam Darnold is probably going to cost more than the player we talked about at the onset of this podcast with Trey Smith. And so do you, you know, do you want JJ McCarthy and a player like Trey Smith or do you want, you know, Sam Darnold and then JJ McCarthy is not even playing? So that's what the Chiefs had realized that they were a very good team with Alex Smith,

but they had a ceiling with Alex Smith, and it wasn't where they wanted to go. And before they made the decision to trade Alex Smith, they first have to make the decision to even draft Patrick Mahomes. And that mindset starts from, we can't get to where we wanna go. And I think that's the similarity that I see in Minnesota.

I mean, Kevin O'Connell, I think, has also proved that he can coach quarterbacks. And so that to me would factor in if I'm making the decision, if I'm making the decision in Minnesota is to say, I believe this coach can develop this particular player. But so much of it is the context that you mentioned that it's not just that we don't know a ton about what he can do. They didn't they don't have nearly as much information as what they would like on what he can do. Right. I mean, that's the thing is if they were able to see him practice all year,

because I don't think he actually would have played all year with the way that Sam Darnold was. I mean, he starts out five and oh, when are you going to bench Sam Darnold? Maybe after the Jacksonville game, but even then they were seven and two at that point. So they wouldn't have done it, but they would have at least gotten a look at him every day. And he wouldn't have to go through this physical thing where he lost weight and he's had multiple. One was a major surgery and then an extra procedure to go along with it. And he starts to go, what's the long-term best thing for McCarthy, which has been my stance on this. If the long-term best thing, because remember McCarthy was a raw player without a lot of college experience.

I mean, you talk about Patrick Mahomes and another deviation is Patrick Mahomes through like five thousand times a game. Yeah, right. I mean, I don't know. Was a run first team. Right. Exactly. And so you were talking about a guy who had so much more experience and I go, well, can they fix his footwork? I don't know. But he could certainly throw the football. Where with McCarthy, I loved his development last year. I was so impressed by how much better he got accuracy-wise. Now he's got to do that whole process again, though, relearning on a new knee all of the footwork and everything.

It's a lot to ask, I think. And something I wanted to get your opinion on, because the Vikings and Chiefs both kind of had, and this is unfair, but it's just the word that comes to mind, kind of bogus records for what they really were. Normally, if you're a plus 100 point differential, I think Kansas City is like 59 plus 59, something like that. Your records would be 11 and six and maybe 10 and seven. And this year they were 14 and three over here and 15 and two over there. That's not happening again, right? Because the league had so many bad teams

that I just think that there were some records that got pumped up. So the Vikings also have to look at it as, how strong are we really around JJ McCarthy? Can he win right away? What are our expectations going to be? I think that we kind of have to deal with this fact that last year was just weird. It was an outlier year with so

many bad teams and it will be probably different next year in terms of the environment. So setting the bar like, Oh, JJ McCarthy, you got to go win in the playoffs right away. You got to go be better than Sam Darnold. Like that just doesn't seem realistic. Yeah. And it's also different from, I mean, look, Minnesota competes in the best division in football too. So I wonder like how much their competition's going to affect their own decision making. Like how do they judge themselves against, you know, a Lions team that's going to look different

because the coaching is going to look a lot different, a Packers team that isn't going anywhere, and a Bears team that at least has the confidence they're going to be a lot better than they were a year ago because they believe they can develop the quarterback better than they did a year ago. And so I wonder, like I said, about how that's going to factor into the Vikings decision because I think if you start J.J. McCarthy to your point about thinking about the long term, you're not going to be getting J.J. McCarthy at his best next year. It's going to be about he needs to play to get to where you think he could be at his best. And that's going to depend on what you do in free agency, how you evaluate the rest of your roster and where you think those windows are. When the Chiefs moved on from Alex Smith to Patrick Mahomes,

it was always a two-year plan. They always thought 2019 was going to be... And look, they were right about that. Now, I think they were better in 2018 than even they anticipated because they were an overtime coin toss probably away from going to a Super Bowl. But that was always a two year plan. They knew they had more monies to spend in 2019 and we can certainly debate how they spent that with Frank Clark and Anthony Hitchens. But that was always what they looked at was two years away once they put the plan in place to make that happen. And I think the Vikings leadership is very comfortable

with that same concept. And I think the fans should be too. If they go to McCarthy, then it's like, okay. And that's really the timeline fascinates me for teams. I mean, for the Chiefs, they're always going to be all in from now on, but we've gone through this kind of competitive rebuild thing they called it, where it was moving on from Kirk, getting the salary cap right, drafting your quarterback. It's been a lot of transition.

So now do they approach this free agency like, Hey, we got to, we won 14 games next year. We got to compete for a Superbowl or is it more of let's be savvy and free agency and not lock ourselves into some crazy contracts that could hurt us later. But then are you giving McCarthy the best opportunity if you don't go get Trey Smith, right? So there's all of this kind of push and pull that I'm fascinated by. One more thing for you. So I know you got to go do some work back behind us where all the GMs and coaches talk and stuff. What is the most interesting off season story that has nothing to do with the Kansas City Chiefs to you.

Anything on the table for you, draft related or NFL trends or something. I'm kind of obsessed with this guards and interior D lines and O lines and how they're like increasing in value from what we usually thought of. But what is on your mind about the national football league? Yeah. So the draft obviously I think always comes up at the combine. It's always at the front of mind. And, you know, I just sat there and watched Mike Burgonzo who came from the Chiefs and he's going to the

Titans. And it's fascinating to me that he spent the last five years not even thinking about looking at a quarterback. And now it's you have to scout every quarterback. The Titans have no quarterback, but also Travis Hunter's a really good prospect, I think. And he's probably the only like top, like three pick to me that's worthy of like having that. And like, I don't think that, look, I mean,

people talk a lot about Travis Hunter. I'm not saying he gets any, he gets no attention. I don't think people realize how hard it's gonna be to play cornerback and wide receiver at the NFL But also like how fascinating it will be to watch Because it's been decades since we've seen a player attempt to do that And the Titans were up here talking about the fact they think he can return punts too If that's the way they go and it's, is he ever gonna be on the bench? And so like, we've got to, we have, even if we don't have a quarterback in this draft

that's transcendent, we have a player who's unlike any player we've seen come out of the draft in a long time. I was thinking about Shohei Otani and how we just, we thought, come on, hey, right? It's never been done, so it can't be done. That was the thought. It's never been done, so it can't be done. That was the thought. It's never been done, so it can't be done. And I think people have that thought with Travis Hunter,

thinking, you've got to pick one. Well, maybe he doesn't. 100 snaps a game is a lot. It's a ton, yes. The cornerback position would scare me a little bit with Hunter, just because corners get hurt all the time. And if you're banged up, can you be an effective wide receiver? And he's

not the biggest guy. You know what the other problem is with Travis Hunter at the top of this draft is that it's the Titans with the top draft pick. And we're all like, ah, they haven't been interesting since what? Vince Young? They made the UFC championship in 19. I'm not saying good. I'm saying like, hey, I want to use them on Madden. Like, I would like gold. Let's get a Titans. Remember, everyone used to wear football jerseys all the time.

We don't see as much anymore. But everybody had Vince Young or Eddie George or something. Steve McNair. They just haven't been that interesting in a long time. And they're at the top. I think if it was, and I know I don't want to say New York market or something, but Giants or whatever at the number one spot, maybe we would be a little more fascinated by this, right? So

Sam McDowell, Kansas City star, always respect to your work. You get, you know, you get the Superbowl, so you get kind of the like, I get to write the big Superbowl Mahomes story every year and somehow you find a new angle every year when you go to the Super Bowl. Maybe next year somebody else will get a chance. Yeah, well we're running out. So yeah, you know I'm from Buffalo, right? So yeah, I'm not saying I... There'd be a lot to write about with Josh Allen if he makes it. Not for me here, but you know my parents, my friends, they all want that to happen and it's has not happened. So it's been unfortunate for them. Anyway, well, great to catch up with

you, man. Always great to talk. I mean this when I say I think that you are one of the best football writers in the country. So if you get a chance, follow them on social media. If social media still works, I'm sure that there are links that you have posted there. Sam McDowell will talk to you again soon, man. Thanks for having me. Thanks. Football. Folks, I'm trying a new thing in order to stop ordering from fast food restaurants all the time with my busy schedule. It's called Tempo Meals. Tempo is a weekly delivery service that delivers chef crafted meals from a dietitian approved menu right to your door. They're perfectly portioned lunches and dinners. Take the guesswork out of eating as well. They're crafted meals from a dietic menu right to your door. T

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to make. They were my choices out of dozens and dozens that took about five clicks to get set up with Tempo Meals. For a limited time Tempo is offering my listeners 60% off your first box. Just go to TempoMeals.com slash Purple Insider that is TempoMeals.com slash Purple Insider for 60% off your first box. Rules and restrictions apply. Matthew Coller here and joining me on the show ESPN radio, Raider Nation radio in Las Vegas and I have to congratulate him constantly on social media for doing this doing that getting promotion, whatever it might be. Q Meyer is now truly one of the, should I say rising stars in our industry. I'm just existing.

I'm just existing, man. That's all. I'm trying to exist. I'm trying to stay in the lane, right? That's all. I am giving you a hard time, but it has been great to see you get your opportunities with ESPN Radio. Appreciate it.

And, but we're going to make up some rumors, okay? Why not? Let's do it. You ready for this? That's what we're here for, right? Because you are Raider Nation radio. The Raider's trading for Sam Darnold or what? You know, it's funny, man. That's a big conversation is Sam Darnold. And I'll tell you, I mean, I'll be 100% honest with you.

I don't understand the infatuation with him. I really don't. And this is why, not as slight to him, but he's only done it for one year, and you know Kevin Stavanski or not Kevin Stavanski sorry um O'Connell yeah Kevin O'Connell coach of the year who I just saw in New Orleans on radio rolls fantastic he's really good coach right Justin Jefferson really good wide receiver Vikings have a good offensive line good running game right I mean it's like if you're going to succeed you're going to succeed there doesn't mean you're gonna succeed everywhere, right?

Okay, but but so there's a lot of questions and people are saying hey the Raiders need a quarterback go in and get Donald But I just like I don't know how much money is gonna want it sounds like it's a lot and and I just don't know If that's the juices worth the the squeeze. Does Pete Carroll say Well, he had a good coach. I mean, I can't do that. Chip Kelly's gonna be like, well, I mean I could never do it. Kevin O'Connell works for Chip Kelly. I'm sure he's gonna say, right, I can do the same thing. Head coaches and offensive coordinators they're gonna think they could get the same thing out of Sam Darnold, but you're saying as a personal concern. Yeah. You are worried that it was only a one year wonder with Justin Jefferson and Kevin O'Connell. And the Raiders aren't built

like the Vikings are right now, right? I mean, Brock Bowers is fantastic. Running game, nonexistent last year. Offensive line, shaky, right? Yeah, Pete Carroll, really good coach, great resume. Chip Kelly just won a national championship at Ohio State. So I get that, but are the situations ideal for Sam? Right? And so that's my big question. So we've had a lot of people that call into the show and

yeah, give it to him, give him, give him the four year deal, whatever the case may be. I just don't want them to make a decision where they go and spend a lot of money on a guy. And then he reversed back to who Sam Darnold was before he went to Minnesota and won 14 games. How would you like this though? Because I totally understand. I mean, you're talking about a one year guy and giving him a huge multi-year contract.

And now in the NFL, you can't just be like, what if we just kind of split the difference? No, it has to be, we have to give you all the money at the quarterback. You can get your chance now. Right, exactly. And he did play like a top 10 quarterback that's worth a certain amount of money.

But what about this? You look at the Raiders cap situation we all have over the cap.com. Right. That's you got the biggest number on the board, my friend. Yeah. Would they consider trading for Darnold for 2025 on the franchise tag? Because I think what the Vikings want to do here in Indianapolis is to find out in, you know, prime 47 or wherever they are out in

the evening, sort of, oh, Pete Carroll, great to see you again, man. Do you want to trade for Darnold on the franchise tag? Because the Raiders also have draft picks, so I think you have maybe number, let's say, 68 or something like that, early in the third round. Early third round pick to get Sam Darnold, he plays on the franchise tag, and the team actually competes for a playoff spot. That sounds for a 74 year old head coach,

maybe kind of an attractive option. No, you know, I don't think that that would be out of the possibility, right? And the thing about it is, you know, the Raiders aren't in a position where they can't explore it at least. At the very end of the day, they have to explore it. They have to look at the pros and cons and figure out what would make sense for them.

I've had so many conversations on the radio about, yeah, I mean, if you get them for two years and you give them $50 million or 75, almost 100, fully guaranteed, but it's only a two-year deal, whatever like that, that's one thing. But if you're all of a sudden investing like a four-year deal, and you're up there close to 50 million a year, like to me, like 160 million, 180 million is just too rich for a guy who hasn't proven it.

But if you're telling me that it's only gonna be a couple-year deal, and it's a true bridge-type situation, you may interest me in that, right? Because at the end of the day, the Raiders have to find their quarterback, and they've gotta basically look under every stone to find him. Well, that's exactly what I was going to say is,

I'm not hearing better options coming from, although, you know, maybe Shadr Sanders does get to the Raiders, but even then, if you had Sam Darnold as your bridge, who did that? Oh, the Vikings last year with Sam Darnold as their bridge quarterback, and it worked out pretty well.

And I also think that the amount of quarterbacks recently who have gone bust and then become really good, you have to be considering maybe the whole Packers thing is kind of legit or the Mahomes and Alex Smith thing is kind of legit. I think on that level it would even make sense if Shadr Sanders is going to be the guy. Right. Well, and Pete Carroll mentioned that yesterday when he pulled us to the side and we did a little, you know, off camera type situation, little conversation with him and he was talking about quarterbacks and I had asked him a question about like the transfer

portal and how all these different quarterbacks are having so many more games under their belt coming into the league as opposed to like Anthony Richardson who only had 13 games and you know he started talking about a bunch of different quarterbacks and he's like look a lot of these quarterbacks we wrote off and now all of a sudden they're playing really well and so he referenced it he brought up Sam Darnall so clearly he understands he knows what it's all about and like I said I don't think that he's gonna leave leave any stone unturned just for my money and my peace of mind I don't want to see see the writers make a decision that's going

to come back to hurt them, right? I mean, they're finally starting to look like a serious organization where they're making serious good decisions, bringing people in that's got some skins on the wall and they know what they're talking about. Now they just got to keep that thing going. So they don't want to get derailed by a big free agent contractor, whatever like that, that doesn't work out for them. Where does Tom Brady fit into all this? Because...

He's at the top. That's what I think. Now... He's at the top. Let me throw out a little connection here for you. Tom Brady was in the broadcast booth. Have you heard that he's broadcasting and owning the Raiders? You know, it's a rumor that's out there. It's crazy. I thought I might help you out with your job... Good looking out.

...and let you know because no one's mentioned it. But Brady was in Minneapolis for Sam Darnold's best game of the year, where he threw for 377 yards, beat the Packers after the game. They're yucking it up on the post game. Great job, Sam Darnold. Now, I'm sure that Mr. Brady also has a TV and saw the playoff game for the Vikings in the week 18 game and knows some of the downside of Darnold.

But, you know, sometimes those impressions, they stick. I guess I wonder what Tom Brady wants out of this. Like, does Tom Brady want a, hey, we got to be competitive right away because I'm not going to deal with losing. Right. Or is he more of the mind of like, we have to build this thing over multiple years. It might be slower, but we're trying to chase down Kansas City. So it's not going to be this one year type of fix. I think he wants to win right away, right?

And Pete Carroll reiterated that multiple times yesterday talking about, I don't want a grace period. I don't want two years to try to build this thing up. I want to win right now. That sounds Sam Darnold-y. So, I mean, it does, you know, again, that's why I can't shoot it down and say, no, it's not a possibility because again, he does want to win right now. It feels like that they have some good pieces in place and obviously knows that they need

some more good pieces in place, but they have a lot of draft capital. They have a lot of free agency money, salary cap space, you know, like you mentioned. So there's a lot of things that they can do. And he keeps talking about this ownership group, not only Tom Brady, but the other minority owners that Mark Davis sold some of the organization to and how they're trying to be really aggressive. He brought it up. Nobody asked him. He said, hey, you guys haven't asked us about this new ownership group, but you're going

to be impressed by him. So, I mean, he's all in. You know, Pete Carroll's got the energy. He's 74, but he's got the energy of a 30-year-old. So he's ready to go man he's he said the day to start was yesterday like everything is go go go we don't have time to waste so I'll see how they put it together I just want to see them make the right decision smart decisions so obviously looking at and investigating and deciding what makes

sense to them from every single guy that could be potentially available Matt Stafford who obviously you know was a big name yesterday here at the combine. That's another guy as well that you could look at. Well, that's what I was gonna ask is, what are the other options? Because drafting a quarterback and playing them right away is a possibility.

It's not like we've never seen quarterbacks come in. Jayden Daniels did it and CJ Stroud did it. And there were some actually similar questions about CJ Stroud as there are Shadrers Sanders and I could be Cam War too but you know every year we have questions about the quarterbacks you just have to take a swing that kind of thing and so maybe that's what they want to do but if not what I keep saying is who else though if Matthew Stafford is going to the Giants which everybody everybody else seems to think, then the Raiders, if they're not acquiring Sam Darnold, is it Russell Wilson reunion?

Do they hand off at the goal line instead of passing if they get a chance? I mean, Justin Field, what's the, the options are just not that exciting. They're not that exciting, they're really not. And I think that that's why the Matt Stafford conversation became a real one and was really the biggest subject yesterday here at the combine was Matt Stafford, Matt Stafford, Matt Stafford.

I asked multiple people, I said, well, look, the draft isn't that great when it comes to quarterbacks. No one is just wowed about anybody. And then the free agent market, like you just mentioned, is not very good either. So the Raiders could look at a Russell Wilson, maybe Justin Fields, maybe. And I think Pittsburgh wants him back. Maybe the Jets want him. You know, there's not really a whole lot to get excited about.

So you know, I think Stafford is a real possibility. I know a couple of my colleagues have been saying that that Tom Brady is going to try to, you know, persuade and be very heavily involved in free agency where he's trying to do basically a recruiting pitch to the Raiders, which he's been doing all along. That's how Ben Johnson even had an interview with the Raiders, right? I mean, obviously they didn't get him, but the fact that they had an interview was all Tom Brady. So it's just interesting, man, to see how they're putting this thing together.

But just know that Brady has a huge thumbprint on this team right now. So let's say Tom Brady, let's say he's going for a jog, right? And he throws in his earbuds and he says, you know, I'm going to listen to Q Myers because I'm just lost out here with this quarterback situation. Good luck. No idea what to do. What have you been saying is your favorite option for the Raiders?

Man, it's really a tough one. I personally think in the draft they need to get Shador. I think that he would do good for the organization because the organization needs to have that guy that has that star power that can attract more of the Raider fans to be at Allegiant Stadium. More, you know, Sanders jerseys in the stands, more silver and black jerseys as opposed to half the stadium being filled with the opposing fans. I mean, when Minnesota came to Allegiant, it was embarrassing, man. I mean,

they're doing the pounding of the drums and all of a sudden you hear, Skull, Sk man I mean they're they had to they're doing the the the pounding of the drums and also you hear skull skull and they're like okay let's not do that anymore right like that I mean just it was a takeover so that's one element of it I think he's gonna be a really good quarterback Brady obviously has mentored him as well so the connections are there but it's like who's the guy before him so you know I've thrown out Russell Wilson's name for a short term I know they have Aiden O'Connell. I'm not really you know too high on him but I mean if he's just gonna be there for a quick minute until Shador is ready to take over. The thing is like with Pete Carroll what do they

do in Seattle? They had they traded for a quarterback. They signed one in free agency and they drafted Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson ended up getting the job but they had three quarterbacks that they believed in that they can go out there and let compete. That's what I wanna see. I just wanna see the Raiders put a competent quarterback room together. O'Connell could be part of it.

Draft Shredor Sanders, and then maybe a Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, something like that. Maybe I can be intrigued by that. Someone threw a scenario at me where the Raiders trade for Stafford and then draft Jalen Milrow to sit behind him for a couple years. I'm not high on Jalen Milrow's arm. I don't think he's a really good quarterback.

I think he's a good college quarterback. But I mean, again, it's one of these drafts and it's one of these free agent class where there's not a lot of sexy options. Yeah, I watched the Oklahoma game for Jalen. Don't, don't! Burn the film. I'm pretty sure that's like a fifth round pick type of thing. I think that's what made him leave college, right?

They saw that... Alabama's like, hey dude, you gotta go. Can't bring you back. Well, and they also were, I think, trying to have him play like Michael Penick's, and those are two very different types of quarterbacks. And it wasn't until halfway through the season where they were like, you know, maybe we should just run with him, because he's unbelievable at running the football. But that's not like a real option. You know, let me try to sell you on Darnold.

Let me just give you a shot. Last year, Sam Darnold was thrown into a situation where there was a lot of questions about, you know, are they gonna play J.J. McCarthy and whatever, handled it wonderfully, like as far as a person goes. Connected really well with Kevin O'Connell, and I think in the path to getting to 14 wins, I think he understood a lot more about playing

the quarterback position than he did before when he was younger in his career. And when you look at the Carolina Panthers and the New York Jets when he was there, I mean, to say that it was rough, no, no, no, that's like saying the Titanic had a little bumpy ride out there. I mean, we're talking about the worst offensive lines,

we're talking about the worst wide receivers, the worst coach, have you seen Adam Gase? Where is he? Nowhere, how about Matt Ruhl, went back to college? I mean, he had the worst of everything. The Vikings had a good sporting cast, Justin Jefferson's incredible. It wasn't like the Eagles though. I mean, he had to play that well. And I think he's grown as a quarterback. And even if you, here's a fun exercise for you to do, go to pro football reference and just look at his stats since

2022 in Carolina, after Matt Ruhl got fired and then go all the way through his most recent performance when he was in San Francisco briefly, you're going to see a bigger sample size now in Carolina after Matt Ruhl got fired. And then go all the way through his most recent performance when he was in San Francisco briefly. You're gonna see a bigger sample size now, maybe three years of this guy has been actually a good quarterback. I don't, and here's the thing, let me kill you. You're wrecked.

You're selling me, you're selling me here. So you got the character, you got the fact that he can make plays, elevate, he's grown, he's played point guard much more. Now he's not perfect. Yeah. But he also, I think, can handle the situation if you draft a quarterback.

We've already seen that. Right. You could play him on the franchise tag. But he also might be willing to take a little bit of a reasonable contract because of those last two games. It might help you. Yeah. Those last two games might have hurt his whole thing.

And I think that you need to look like a real franchise at some point. I mean, you need to look like a real contending, legitimate. Let's not just, oh, ha ha, they're firing another coach over there. And I think he can get you to at least relevancy, and then it gives you time to grow from there. How does that?

Oh, wait, wait, one more. What the? OK. Third round pick. Because that's what they would get as a comp pick. Right. So take a higher third round pick, you get it today instead of waiting for tomorrow.

That's not a lot. A third round pick when you got a lot of draft picks isn't a lot. No, not, and they've got two third round picks anyway because of the Devontae Adams trade. So it's a possibility. Man, I need to put you on my show to go ahead and talk to Raider Nation

and try to convince them. Because I'll tell you, they're very, you know, kind of hot and cold on Sam Darnold. But let me ask you this, the million dollar question, is he more of the guy you saw win 14 games or is he more of the guy we saw the last two weeks? Well, I think, well, first of all, we saw Justin Herbert, Patrick Mahomes, CJ Stroud, all have the same football game that Sam Darnold had.

And it was always because the pressure came, right? And yet only one of the quarterbacks did people say, well, you know, same old guy, he can't play, right? Because reputation. Because he's a free agent. Right, even though the guy legitimately has not played bad football since 2021, we're talking, what, six games in Carolina

at the end of the year, a couple in San Francisco, we're talking about 25 games that the guys played since 2021, and yet he has a bad playoff game, and he said, well, that's the real Sam Darnall. I think it was a little unfair considering the league now is if you have a D-line that destroys an O-line, you're not gonna win that football game, even if you have Patrick Mahomes.

So that's part of it, but I think that you're in for somewhat of a bumpy ride at times. I mean, we saw the ups and part of it, but I think that you're in for somewhat of a bumpy ride at times I mean we saw the ups and downs of him But how many quarterbacks are consistent in this league and they get 60 million dollars now at this point So 41 million dollars on a franchise tag and then you can decide at the end of that if you want to extend them or not It sounds great to me. Honestly. I mean it doesn't sound like a bad deal I said, I mean you basically sold me on a way and a path to do it.

Right. I mean, again, my biggest hang up and what I've been telling Raider Nation is, you know, I'm out on the four years, 160, 180, like, no, thank you. But I mean, if you're talking about a one year deal, talking about a two year deal maximum, OK, well, maybe we can have a conversation. And again, with the, you know, with the being able to have a guy sit behind you like a Chador if they were to draft him and be able to handle that the way he handled it with J.J. McCarthy behind him, I can be sold on that.

I'm not 100% against it because as we've already gone through, there's not a lot of great options out there. So he probably could be a really good option that's not named, you know, Matt Stafford where you have to give him 50 million a year because because that's what he wants to do, is be part of the 50 million a year club. So that's another possibility as well. Any questions for me?

I'm going to just put you on my radio show and let you go. I'm just going to go ahead and wind you up, tee you up, and get out the way. Because I think Raider Nation might want to hear what you got to say. But no, I mean, it's a situation where you don't have a quarterback, you have to have a quarterback. You've got to find them somewhere. And so again, that might be the way that they end up having to go depending on, you know, what they see and what they think and what this organization feels like they need most importantly, moving forward. They are, uh, the Raiders are my number two team for Sam Darnold to land on. If the Rams

trade Stafford, then the Rams become number one. It just makes so much sense. Kevin O'Connell and Sean McVey are good friends and the Rams aren't gonna take a step back. They're gonna want a real option there. So they won't do it unless they think that they can get somebody who's gonna, they're not gonna do it and then be like,

hey, Carson Wentz or something, right? Right, right, right. Yeah, I heard Aaron Rodgers wants to go there and I wouldn't go that direction. are you talking about that you're not talking about that are you I'm not talking about that I don't want nothing to do with that I know a few people have mentioned Aaron Rodgers and oh he can be the guy in Vegas and he's a he's a me guy and the Raiders don't need a me guy that's the last thing they need is a me guy in Vegas not at this stage of the game not

like that guy I just think about how old he is, and like I'm almost that old. And I'm like, no, you can't do that. Not after ripping your Achilles in half, and then playing the way that he did last year. But, you know, we'll see. I mean, that would be, it'd be flashy. No, no, no, no thank you. No, no thank you.

I'll tell Sam Darnal before I think about that. Absolutely horrible idea. Q Myers, I joke about you doing well in Vegas, but you're crushing it, and I love to see it. Thanks for popping on. Absolutely. I will be available here today. I don't have any podiums or anything to do today,

so I'm here. But I really appreciate you coming on, man, and we'll see if we're doing it again after a Sam Darnold trade. Very possible. I appreciate you having me on.