Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - It's really happening, Aaron Rodgers is actually going to the Jets

Episode Date: March 16, 2023

Matthew Coller reacts to Aaron Rodgers making it official that he is leaving the Packers for the Jets in an interview with the Pat McAfee show. He talks about the NFC North's future and what comes next for key Vikings players Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another Purple Insider Emergency Livestream. Matthew Collar here, and we finally have the news that Aaron Rodgers is going to be a New York Jet. Now, the trade is not official of Aaron Rodgers going to the New York Jets, but earlier today he went on the Pat McAfee show, and I think a lot of us were thinking, is he just going to mess around with everybody again? No, he actually made an announcement, among a lot of other things. And it was a filibuster for the ages that, you know, senators would have been impressed by. And he went on and on and he had a lot to say. But mixed in there was the important announcement that he intends to become a New York Jet.

And his time with the Green Bay Packers is no doubt over. So that means that he is gone from the Minnesota Vikings division. And the Vikings are rid of the last 30 years of elite quarterback play from Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. And I was going over some more factoids and things like that to write an article about just Rodgers against the Minnesota Vikings. And one thing I came away with was this stat that in his regular season games against the Minnesota Vikings, Aaron Rodgers threw 57 touchdowns and eight interceptions through his entire career as a Packer going up against the Vikings. 57 touchdowns, eight interceptions, won 17 of 29 games against the Vikings in the regular season.

And along the way, we'll talk about some of the different moments that went both ways. But along the way, it was actually a very good rivalry between Aaron Rodgers and the Vikings. A lot of times when we talk about rivalries, it's one-sided where one team is just haunted by a particular player or a quarterback completely annihilates another team through the years. But in this case, this was a back-and-forth rivalry. Of course, Rodgers got the best of it more times than not, and the Packers won the division, I think it was eight times, during Rodgers' run.

So they were clearly the dominant team in the NFC North. They were clearly better than the Vikings overall during that stretch. But the fact that there was a legitimate back and forth between these two teams, that Rodgers would have big games against them. They would shut down Rodgers from time to time. The two games with Brett Favre going up against the Aaron Rodgers Packers and winning both of those in 2009. Both teams had their moments during this run that I think enhanced the rivalry even more so than where it was when it was just Brett Favre beating the Vikings in the 90s. I mean, this one took it really to another level, especially when Favre came to the Vikings and went up against Aaron Rodgers.

And that took it to an even different level there. But then through the years, it was a really good matchup between Aaron Rodgers and Mike Zimmer. If you remember in 2014, Mike Zimmer gets the job as the head coach of the Vikings. The big talk is, well, they need this defensive mind because there's great quarterbacks in this division and there most certainly was. And, you know, he got his face beat in those first couple of times. But in 2015, the Vikings came back and they went down to Green Bay and they beat Aaron Rodgers and slowed him down and won the division. I mean, you know, it's just, it has kind of gone like that over the years. 2017, the Vikings injure Aaron Rodgers and that becomes

part of it. And Rodgers goes on national TV, one of the talk shows Letterman or Leno or something, and is complaining about how Anthony Barr hit him. And that took it up a notch, although Anthony Barr took a lot of maybe undue abuse on social media after that. But that was another event in this rivalry. And then in 2018, the Rodgers' washed thing started to come about as the Vikings had that epic game where both kickers missed field goals and they tied at 29. Both quarterbacks played amazing games, Cousins and Aaron Rodgers. And at the end of 2018, Cousins outplayed Rodgers in a national TV game. And it seemed like that might be it. And then he bounced back. They changed coaches.

He wins two MVPs. The 2019 both games were maybe evidence that that Vikings team wasn't as strong as some of the numbers looked for them at the end of the season. So the sort of last laughs kept going back and forth between the Vikings through the years, you know, Green Bay winning 13 games a couple of years in a row, but then ultimately getting beat in the playoffs. And then most recently the Packers knocking the Vikings out of the playoffs in 2021. And then here in 2022, eliminating any chance the Vikings had to get that number one seed. But in week one, the Vikings blasted Aaron Rodgers. And at the end of the year, the Packers needed just one more win to get in the playoffs, and they didn't get it in part because the Vikings beat them in opening week.

So, you know, it has been an incredible rivalry. And just from reporting on games of Vikings and Packers, the atmosphere inside US Bank Stadium, you cannot tell me that Aaron Rodgers isn't at the center of why that building goes up to 11 when they're playing the Packers. It's always going to be a rivalry. It's always going to be your neighbor to the east for Minnesotans and your neighbor to the west for everybody there in Wisconsin. But it is not going to feel the same when Jordan Love trots out there next year.

It just will not have that same level. This rivalry has been amped up so much to the point where, you know, have any of you ever seen urinal cakes with the Lions logo on them? Probably not, right? Do you see stickers on the back of cars and trucks with the Bears logo? I don't think so. I mean, I think that this was a big part of it, Aaron Rodgers, that he played a role in it. And Vikings fans all day long can say how excited they are and

how happy they are. And that's absolutely true. It's absolutely true that having him out of the division is a bonus for the Minnesota Vikings. But at the same time, you can look back and think about how exciting every Packers game was because of that, how much it meant to you, how much it mattered. I guarantee you that when the schedule came out, the first thing every Vikings fan looked for is when are they playing the Packers? And that is not true for next year. I know some people will say, no, I'll hate the Packers forever. And I know you will, but it does not have the same juice and it not, and it won't probably for a really long time, unless of course, Jordan Love becomes some sort of

legend. But I don't think that the Packers were going to be a major Superbowl contender if Aaron Rodgers stayed in Green Bay. Today is much more about just the fact that it's over, that he's in the ground. He's not coming back to the Packers. He's going somewhere else. He's playing for the New York Jets and then may not play again. In fact, he said today in this interview that he was 90% ready to retire before his darkness retreat. And then he went on the darkness retreat and apparently saw images of Joe Namath and thought that he deserved to wear number 12 in New York, which I guess he's talking with Joe Namath about because he's Aaron Rodgers and he has to do stuff like that. But the entire journey was really something for Vikings fans to watch from afar of Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers coming apart at the seams,

which maybe gave you a little bit of joy despite the last five years not being as successful as Vikings fans wanted. But as they were winning, there was still these major problems between Rodgers and the Packers. And it will be ultimately a major, major irony. If Rodgers, the thing that stuck in him the most was the fact that they drafted Jordan Love, I think without telling him or without preparing him for the fact that they could, that they drafted Jordan Love. And then if Jordan Love becomes good for the Packers, it will be the exact Brett Favre thing. And that maybe he treated Jordan Love a little bit better with a little more respect than Favre did for him in Green Bay. But at the same time, it was very similar deal. A guy who was a legendary quarterback, egomaniac at the end, wouldn't leave, and also had, you know, kind of a boost in his play for Aaron Rodgers the last couple of years. But, you know, I think that, you know, when it

comes to Aaron Rodgers leaving the Packers, now you start a new era in the NFC on the whole. And, you know, where the NFC North, I mean, the NFC in general, but the NFC North is now so much more up for grabs for which rebuilding team wants to go take it, right? I mean, is it the Lions who dropped back a couple of years ago by trading Matthew Stafford and now have put themselves in a potential position to win the division and be a legitimate contender? As weird as that sounds, because that's never been the case for the Detroit Lions since the mid 90s, that they have been a legitimate contender. But when you look at their roster and you look at how they've put together their team in free agency here, I mean, it's hard to argue that the Lions are anything but one of the best teams in the entire NFC.

And they are bringing back their offensive coordinator. They were top five in offense last year. And the biggest problem for them was that they couldn't cover anybody. I think they were third in yards passing allowed. And now they've signed multiple cornerbacks. The Lions look like a strong team. They also got David Montgomery, who has been a nightmare for the Vikings to stop. That's a really good football team at this moment who's done their rebuild exactly right so if we're

doing like the horse race or whatever for which rebuilding team is ahead right now just at this spot right now this position where we stand march 15th it's a long way to go a lot of things can change detroit looks like the favorite now and they look like they could be for a while, but their quarterback situation is complicated, right? We don't know how long Jared Goff is going to be the quarterback of the Detroit Lions. He's got a contract situation coming up. He is a guy that can lead a team to a Super Bowl. He's done that already in his career and he can, he can lead elite offenses, which he's done now three times in his career that he's had offenses that scored in the top five. But is it enough for Jared Goff? Because he kind of falls into that same category of somebody like Jimmy Garoppolo, where, you know, is he good enough to get a team like that over the hump, even if they're excellent?

Is he good enough to win throughout the playoffs? That's a question that is going to be answered here because Detroit has one of the best rosters in the entire NFC, I think. And right now, easily in my mind, number one in the NFC North. And then behind them, it's very, very interesting because the Vikings are showing right now that they are a team in transition, but they're not a team that's willing to completely rip it apart. That's very clear that the Vikings have decisions to make still and guaranteed money kicks in on Zedaria Smith, Harrison Smith, Delvin Cook.

So, you know, we're still not getting answers yet, even though the Vikings are officially, as of this moment, cap compliant. I hope you guys are all celebrating their cap compliance. Yes, all 32 teams once again became cap compliant. So, you know, the fact that there's still decisions to be made makes it a little bit harder as far as us figuring out how good the Vikings roster overall is going to be. However, I think when you look at the totality of it, we could take a pretty good guess. The Vikings will be a competitive team.

Kirk Cousins is going to be their quarterback, which gives you a floor. You're not going to have a horrendous season most of the time when it comes to having Kirk Cousins as your quarterback with Justin Jefferson. They could still sign another receiver. Receiver prices are very low. By the way, right now, if they create some more space, they could sign a veteran receiver. They could draft one. They can continue to beef up their defense. And then there's a lot of questions to be answered. It doesn't look like the Vikings are going to have a Super Bowl contending roster this year.

They are not on the level of the teams that are still viewed going into next season as the elite NFC teams. And then you have Chicago. And Chicago is the most interesting team of the NFC North in my mind, because they are trying to stack up everything they can around Justin Fields to find out answers about Justin Fields. They're getting him a top-notch wide receiver in DJ Moore. They're getting him defensive pieces because last year's defense was an absolute joke.

So even the games where Justin Fields played really well, they couldn't win in part because their defense was the worst, I would say, in the entire NFL. By the end of the year, it was the worst defense in the NFL. And now Chicago has done a lot of things to go out of their way to spend as much money as they can. They've picked up multiple linebackers in Tremaine Edmonds and TJ Edwards. They have beefed up their offensive line with Nate Davis from the Titans. They've just done a lot of stuff so far here and then stacked up more draft capital. So they are the sort of apple of everybody's eye in free agency because they've made the most splashes.

They made the big trade. Everyone's talking about the Chicago Bears. That doesn't necessarily mean next year they're going to be good. It means next year they're going to find out what happens with Justin Fields. And I think that when it comes to that, there is a very real possibility that he can take a step next year. He has had some of the most abysmal circumstances in the league, showed that he is instantly an elite runner, and it really depends on if he can make progress from last year where they had a poor offensive line, no receivers to speak of. Now they look like they have a much better group of weapons for him to work with. So if Justin Fields takes that step that Trevor Lawrence took last year,

or we've seen other athletic quarterbacks take like Jalen Hurts or like Josh Allen, then all of a sudden things get very, very dicey for the Vikings in the division because two of the other teams' rosters are set up to be very good for quite a long time, where the Vikings are going to try to play this game in the middle where they replace their quarterback while still building up the rest of their roster. Next year, they're going to have more cap space to work with in free agency, though, because of the dead cap hit for Kirk Cousins, it will be a little more restrictive, but more likely than not, we're talking about the Vikings being able to add

some of those bigger free agents for next year, have a more robust draft next year, like lots, lots of things to figure out with these timelines. And then here's the Packers. And the Packers are in maybe the most difficult position, which I'm sure makes you all very sad to hear. But they are in about the most difficult position. They have a quarterback that if he plays really, really well and wins 12 games, unlikely, but who knows? Didn't think the Vikings were going to win 13 games last year. Let's say Jordan Love has a great season.

He is going to then become very expensive for the Green Bay Packers. And then here's all the problems, again, that come along with an expensive quarterback. And that makes it pretty tough. So they're in that spot where they also have an aging roster, where all these players have been sticking around for Aaron Rodgers and for his final run that every year you came back to the Packers every contract that they restructured or kicked down the road every veteran who signed there they did it because they thought that they could win a Super Bowl potentially with the Green Bay

Packers but now that has made life very difficult on them for the future, where their best players are not necessarily, not all of them, but some of them, not necessarily in their primes. So you have Christian Watson, who might be an up and coming good player. They've got a rebuild offensive line. They don't really have any other weapons. They've been drafting tight ends and fullback hybrid tight ends for a while. Aaron Jones is reaching that age where he's going to eventually hit the wall more likely than not. And then on their defense, there's still a good number of holes on Green Bay's defense, as we saw last year, even though they are talented on the defensive side and have some superstars there, Rashawn Gary, Jair Alexander.

But Aaron Rodgers is going to leave. Presum presumably, we don't have the details of this yet, but when he does get traded, he's going to leave a lot of dead cap space in his wake as well. So what it comes down to for them is finding out if Jordan Love can play, but also if he can, then they become expensive and it's not the easiest thing to rebuild the rest of their roster around Jordan Love. So that looks like a team that unless Jordan Love is great, might have a tough time escaping the middle. Although, hey, you know, now it's also very possible that players could actually want to, you know, sign with Jordan Love because maybe he'll be easier to work with than, say, Aaron Rodgers. So, you know, there's a lot of moving parts here

to all of these teams in the NFC North. But now that we have this news and we know what's happening with Aaron Rodgers, we can kind of pull back a little bit and look at where everybody stands in the NFC North and say the Green Bay Packers are finally not going to be thought of as the dominant team. And that's really something different. So happy to take any of your questions, by the way, in the comment section. I see that you guys are fighting with each other about the Packers and the Vikings and so forth, which I would expect nothing less. That's exactly what you should be doing when Aaron Rodgers leaves the division is arguing with each other over it.

And every comment section, of course, has to be fulfilled with Kirk Cousins debates. But that is a major part of this that's very interesting is for the first time in how long do the Vikings have an opportunity here to draft a quarterback, whether it's this or next year, and be in this conversation? Because for so long, whether it's going all the way back to the 90s or it's just recently with Kirk Cousins it has always been kind of looking to the next quarterback and are they going to move on from Kirk Cousins after 2019 are they going to move on from him after 2020 we've had this conversation for what several straight off seasons about Kirk Cousins and now it feels like and this is not a guarantee by any means, but it feels like we're headed toward resolution with Kirk Cousins. It feels like it's going to be the end of the road at some point here. that chance to pay Justin Jefferson, pay Christian Derrissaw, and drop a rookie quarterback into a really strong roster that they'll have built over a couple of years. But they might have to deal

with the fact that there might be a transition period a little bit when it comes to this. And that could be next year. But also if you draft a quarterback in 2024, then you're still in 2024 looking at a rookie quarterback dropping himself in. And oftentimes, now you're trying to give that player the best possible scenario as a rookie, but oftentimes it's difficult for rookie quarterbacks to step right in and play. So as we try to figure out these timelines and what's going to happen with the Vikings, I think that it's becoming a little more clear, you know, just a little bit more clear of what the long-term is going to be for each team in the NFC North. The question in the comment section is the natural question here, which is, can Aaron

Rodgers be a Viking? Give it a 5% chance. I don't think that Aaron Rodgers is going to go that far. He has followed every other part of the Brett Favre journey though, really to a T. Although I don't remember Brett Favre doing darkness retreats or drinking strange teas or anything like that. I don't think Favre became a hippie. Maybe he became even more of kind of the, oh, Brett Favre from Mississippi at the end there where it was Vikings players having to go down to his ranch or something and talk him into coming back in 2010. But he did have the slip in play, the roster coming apart. They drafted the other quarterback. He wasn't happy about drafting the other quarterback. They've had all those things. And now going to the New York

Jets of all the teams, of all the teams in the AFC, it had to be the New York Jets, but no, I don't think there's any legitimate chance that the Minnesota Vikings could have Aaron Rodgers because partly, partly, even if he went to the Jets and it blew up, I think he would just retire. That's one. But the other part of it is that the Viking salary cap situation is unlikely to be set up for someone like Aaron Rogers, even if it did play out the exact same way. Kirk Cousins leaves for free agency, but Cousins has a $28 million dead cap hit if he leaves for free agency after next year. I don't know how you manage that with the contract extensions that need to be handed out. So in this very small percentage that you're talking about, I don't think that that is very much of a chance.

All right, you guys make me laugh sometimes. So I'll put this one up there because it's funny. Aaron Rodgers gives hippies a bad name. I agree with that. It's probably the wrong way to label him. Usually hippies are sort of laid back. He does not seem like a laid back guy to me. Seems like he needs to spend all of his time in a dark room to relax and think to himself a little bit. So yeah, not, not really your traditional type of hippie. I would agree with that.

Let's see. I am once again asking for Delvin Cook to be released, Zeland says, if that's how you pronounce it. Yeah. And I am once again doing a live stream where we're waiting for something to happen as it pertains to that. And I don't know when that's going to happen. I guess if we were putting odds on it, trying to figure out what they're going to do as we count down until some of these guaranteed money things kick in, I believe it's Friday with at least Harrison Smith was reported that Friday is when some of his guaranteed money kicks in. And so then we're going to definitely get resolution there. So the Vikings,

maybe the way that they looked at it. And yesterday there was some ranting on the channel here about the $28 million dead cap hit and the Vikings moving 16 million into next year for Kirk Cousins, which is something that I was fundamentally against hurting themselves for 2024 in any way. And I do feel like it did that. But I think what we're seeing at this moment, at least, is that it did buy them a little more time to make decisions on those other guys. Now, I think that every other decision in my mind wasn't that difficult. The Delvin Cook decision shouldn't be that tough. Maybe they're trying to trade him. I'm not sure how much you can really get. They might surprise me.

If they do, they'll deserve praise. If they surprise me and trade Delvin Cook for anything, then that would surprise me. But Zedarius Smith, once the guy wants out and you replace him with someone else, Marcus Davenport, then let it be over. And again, they can try to trade him till the last minute, but what are you really getting? They could have released him and earned almost as much money on the cap as they did by redoing Kirk Cousins and restructuring and pushing more money down the road. They also could have pushed less money of Kirk Cousins. That was another thing too. And I checked this with Brad Spielberger of PFF, their cap expert. And he said that he expected that they were going to move only a little bit of Cousins

money just to get cap compliant and not almost the whole thing when they could have just cut Zedaria Smith. So I don't know what the delay is unless it's Brian Flores trying to talk Zedaria Smith into staying because he wants to have a good defense next year. That could also be the case. I'm not really sure. A question from Matthew here. How would Cousins camp react to the Vikings potentially taking a quarterback in the first round? Would he request trade? I'm going to guess now it's hard for me to put myself in Kirk Cousins shoes. We're different people and he doesn't really ever say what he's really thinking publicly when it

comes to things like this. He's never been one to go out to the podium or go on the Pat McAfee show, for example. He's never been that guy. He's never been the guy to leak to Adam Schefter what he's thinking. In fact, I think every contract extension has surprised us. And that's notable about Kirk Cousins. He's not that guy who really lets a lot of his cards on the table. So I don't know exactly how he would feel. I have to imagine though, that Kirk Cousins, by the time we get to the draft, if there's no extension, that he will be ready for that. I mean, it's a great question. Would he request a trade? I don't think so. I don't think so. I'm sure as they're having these conversations, they would tell him it's realistic that we're going to draft a quarterback if there's

no extension in place. And I believe the team told him when they were going to draft Kellen Mond that he should be prepared for that. But even last year, think about this. When the Atlanta Falcons chased Deshaun Watson, Matt Ryan said, I'm out, see ya. Which was probably better for the Falcons that he did that. But that's what happened. He said, get me out of here if you guys want a different quarterback.

And the Vikings also reportedly made a phone call on Deshaun Watson. And Kirk Cousins, I guess, kind of shrugged. And there was no trade request. And there were offers last year, as my understanding, for Kirk Cousins. But he didn't make a trade request there. He didn't take the same approach. I would be very surprised if that happened. If it did, it would throw things into complete madness. But the other point of it, and this is important to mention this too, that the way they just restructured his deal, he really has no choice. They can't trade that deal

because if they trade it, it would be million dollar debt uh dead cap for this year so they would have to trade that and then make way more cap space if they were going to trade him it would have happened before yesterday but now uh that's not going to be that's not going to be the case uh efelt says quesadilla flamenza has shown in so many words that he doesn't want to start an unproven quarterback i think it's a rookie this year to sit behind kirk or bust well i don't think it's or bust i mean i i think that there's a very real possibility that the vikings could draft a quarterback this year that that is very real once they do that restructure and it doesn't seem like an extension is coming that becomes very real that they do that restructure and it doesn't seem like an extension

is coming that becomes very real that if somebody drops and i've just been saying will levis i don't know though it could be any of them maybe maybe the league isn't as high on cj stroud as i think we've been surprised before we were surprised last year but if a quarterback drops it would be very hard for them not to decide to do it because of the situation that they are in with this position. But I don't think it's robust because if they don't draft a quarterback this year, then they will play out Kirk Cousins and draft one next year. Or they'll look at who else is available for other quarterbacks like the Raiders going with Jimmy Garoppolo. I wouldn't endorse that strategy. I

think drafting one is probably the best opportunity they can have. But once you're that team with quarterback flexibility, then you have the opportunity to sign somebody else if they come about or trade for somebody else if they come about once you're beyond that. But for next year, that would be hard because Kirk's hit is going to be 28 million. So everything points to this year or next year, drafting a quarterback. And I think that that is the right way to go. Let's see.

Music is my religion says, if the Vikings draft a quarterback this year, they will be reaching again and we'll end up with another Kellen Mond. Well, Kellen Mond was a third round quarterback. And if you look at third round quarterbacks, historically, not too good. Yeah, there's some.

I mean, there's Kirk and there's Dak Prescott in the fourth, Russell Wilson in the third. But that out of all the picks that have happened, I think I added this up once, that since Kirk in 2012, that there were something like 20 quarterbacks drafted in the third or fourth round and one of them made it. So maybe you have a 5% chance of that hitting. You don't want to do that if you're the Vikings. I don't think you want to take swings. I don't think you

want to go for development quarterbacks that will probably never work out. But if you're talking about drafting a Will Levis or any of the top four guys, that's not a reach. Those are first round prospects that go up there with the same level of prospect as many of the recent quarterbacks who have come out and succeeded. And that's something that you would say is making a good bet for finding your next great quarterback. That's not a reach to me. If Will Levis dropped to say the 14th pick and the Vikings traded up and took him, I don't know who has 14th. I'm just pulling a number. But if they traded up and took him, I would say there it is. There's a guy you can develop for a year,

hand him the keys next year, and expect him to be really good right away with the circumstances that he has. So I don't think that those guys would be a reach. I only think that if you're trying to draft in the third round, a Hendon Hooker or Clayton Toon or somebody like that, you're probably, not always, but probably wasting a draft pick by doing so when you could take other positions. So don't reach on those guys, I would say. Let's see from Brandon.

Any thoughts on reports that we will keep Delvin Cook? Doesn't make sense to me based on other moves. It doesn't make sense to me either based on his performance from last year. This is the time to do it now by the cap. And this didn't really matter with Adam Thielen, I guess. But by the cap cap it would save them more if they waited another year but then why did you draft Ty Chandler and I mean he looked like a guy in preseason that could have potential as a starter and there's also been reports and

this is where we just don't really know I think what they're doing reports have not been super accurate when it comes to the Vikings, or I should say rumors over the last couple of years since Kweisi Adafomensa took over. We usually knew already, we didn't need reports for what Rick Spielman was going to do, but a lot of the stuff has kind of been like, oh, okay, that's what they're doing now, huh? Including the restructure. Did you get reports on the restructure? There wasn't any, right? So i don't know how much to believe that that they're going to bring him back but it does seem like there is momentum for that because why wouldn't this have been an instant move uh this would be something that goes along with the kendricks and

theelin in my mind of things that were kind of obvious and should have happened right away the zedarius smith thing now that came in a little later and happened right away. The Zedarius Smith thing, now that came in a little later and seems to be complicated with Zedarius and the team having different views of what his future should be. But a running back who's passed his prime, who was ineffective last year and is very expensive is just not something that they should be keeping around. And maybe Kevin O'Connell is a huge fan. Maybe the Wilfs are huge fans of Delvin Cook, but I don't really get it. It's always better in my mind to move on

from a running back a little early because even if he has a resurgence somewhere else and a good year somewhere else, you're just taking so much of a risk for bringing back a running back at his age. And look, if you're going to try to compete, you're bringing back a guy who didn't help you be competitive. They had one of the least efficient running games in the NFL last year with Delvin Cook.

And I don't think you could just say, oh, it was blocking or, oh, it was scheme. We all saw it, right? We all watched it. So yeah, I don't know. It doesn't make sense to me based on other moves as well. I agree with you. From Sean, is Harrison Smith and Z'Darrius Smith staying? So the thing is that they got to figure out something, right, when it comes to this, because they have a million dollars in cap space right now. that got them just barely under that cap to be compliant again congratulations to them for doing that but that doesn't mean you have enough cap space to sign

the players you've agreed on contracts with I mean they've spent quite a bit of money here and even if the contracts and the cap hits in the first year are not huge which I saw Byron Murphy's is not that big Garrett Bradbury's is not that big. I haven't seen the Marcus Davenport numbers yet, but even though, even if those only add up to $12 million or something, you only have one right now. There has to be some sort of movement on these guys. If I were to guess, I mean, you saw what happened with Darius Slay today that he ends up getting cut. Darius Slay is a great player. Zedarius Smith's a great player. But when you're in this type of position, it's very hard to trade

those guys. So more likely than not, I would say that Zedarius Smith ends up getting cut. And if I were to guess that Harrison Smith ultimately says, okay, I'll restructure my deal because here's what it usually comes down to. If the Vikings cut Harrison Smith, is he making more money than he would make here? My guess would be no, right? My guess would be no, that his agent will eventually say, look, you're not going to make that more money on the free agent market. And this also, if you remember, and it was later, it was in training camp,

but this happened with Riley Reif. They cut Riley Reif and then his agent went out and looked for other teams that would pay him. He couldn't find it. And so they went, oh, okay, well, I guess we'll just come back because there's no other options that's going to give us more. So if I had to guess at this moment, I would say Delvin cook and, uh, and Harrison Smith are back and Zedaria Smith is not, but it could go either way because it's not resolved yet. Uh, this from Kyle,

what an off season so far for Kwesi and O'Connell, a breath of fresh air, getting faster and younger, Like the signing so far, not a big fan of the Kirk deal. What does it say about Cousins? Well, and I agree with everything you said there that if we just go over the other moves that they made, signing Garrett Bradbury to an extremely reasonable deal that's over multiple years, got to like that. Byron Murphy, Marcus Davenport, I would give both those moves A's. I mean, those are very good moves for potential short-term and long-term could help you next year, but could really help you in the future if it ends up working out. So yeah, I think those moves

are good. Who they've moved away from, Adam Thielen, right way to go. Eric Hendricks, that one probably stings a lot of people but right way to go and now and and look even with Delvin Tomlinson they wanted him back but I think that saved them from themselves a little bit that would have been a ton of money to invest into a run stuffing defensive tackle who is a very good player and uh you know impressed with him it worked out as a signing but is not one of those true impact defensive tackles in the pass rush. So all those things have gone the right way for them so far. And how we grade the off season as a whole will eventually depend on, you know, these next couple

of moves that are coming and then how they handle the draft. But aside from pushing that money down the road, yeah, I think they've handled everything right. What it says about Kirk Cousins, I think is simple. I mean, number one, that Kirk Cousins is going to want a lot of money and is very expensive and is not young and hasn't won. And he restricts what you can do, but he also doesn't elevate everybody around him to the point where you can make up for these other problems that you have on the roster. So every problem on the roster kind of shines because Cousins is a limited quarterback. That doesn't mean he's not really good. He is really good. It just means

there are limitations that you can't just like Kansas City trade Tyreek Hill and still get the same type of production out of Patrick Mahomes. It doesn't work that way with Kirk Cousins. So I think what it says is that this team is not willing, and this brass of Kweisi Adafo-Mensah and Kevin O'Connell, they are not willing to lock their futures into an older quarterback who hasn't won. that they're finding their way out of it and taking a big chunk of a cap hit in 2024 so they can have rid of him in the future and rid of his cap hit in the future and move on from there. And then they're also trying to win this year with Cousins. But I think it's really about the details with Cousins, not just is he good or is he bad, but also you have to factor in all

those other things. And history fans will remember how the Vikings worked out with a 35, 36 year old quarterback when Donovan McNabb came here. That doesn't mean all, you know, all old quarterbacks aren't going to work out. It's just that you take a big, big risk. If you're signing an older quarterback like him, who is not a great, great athlete, doesn't have a mega monster arm, things like that. You're taking a huge risk giving him top dollar. So I think they're just being smart in not doing so. Let's see here. From Greg, I would certainly take a Max Duggan type with the last pick and roll the dice.

Yeah, I mean, I guess so. It doesn't really make a difference when you get that late in the draft. I think Max Duggan is going to be a sixth or seventh round draft pick. But I think what you're really looking for is to find your future starter. If you take a backup quarterback in the mid to late rounds, that's good for you. Backup quarterbacks are really necessary and you don't want to pay them. But if we're talking about trying to get the franchise quarterback, look around. I mean, most of these guys are high draft picks.

A lot of them were traded up for your Joe Burrows, Tua, Herbert, Josh Allen, Mahomes, all these guys. I mean, even Jalen Hurts being a second round pick is pretty much an outlier, which really says quite a bit. Let's see. Do you think re-signing Garrett Bradbury was a mistake for a guy with one good year? Yeah. I mean, I could see your point on that for sure. I do think that there's some context that's relevant here. One is that this is kind of how offensive linemen are now, maybe not to this extreme where Bradbury really struggled and then improved pretty rapidly, but this has been studied about the development curves of different positions where say like

corners usually need one year, but by year two, they're good. Quarterbacks, it's like by year three, you can usually tell if someone's good or not. Offensive line is more lengthy of a development process, and that's the case with Garrett Bradbury. I also think it's circumstantial as well, because when you look around at the situation with other centers, so you got like a Bradley Bozeman who signs a similar deal. A lot of them came off the market. Gosh, I'm trying to think of the 49ers guy who just came off as well. So the Browns, the 49ers, the Panthers, these guys all signed their centers and they're not out there anymore. And who are you signing? So you kind of had to go back to

the well there. His chemistry with Kirk Cousins is good and you didn't lock in forever with some sort of insane deal it's a pretty humble deal for Garrett Bradbury that I think is okay does that mean I believe he's going to be a top 10 center year in and year out that I don't know that I don't know because now they must feel confident in the back injury because otherwise they wouldn't have signed him to a multi-year deal. So I think that, um, you know, I think that it's okay. The price is okay. The commitment is okay. And I would suspect that this year was closer to who he's going to be in the future, but it's nothing is a hundred percent. I mean, if it blows up, then, um, then maybe we could look back and say, yeah, it was only one year

and you signed him on that contract year. Um, from David, sorry, but the fact that Delvin displayed breakaway speed tells me he still has it. He needs to run out of formations, not RPO with an immobile quarterback. Well, they didn't really run out of RPO very much. Uh, this year, I don't think run out of RPO very much this year. I don't think that that was the problem at all. I mean, I think that the numbers speak pretty clearly about Delvin Cook, that when you look at the rushing yards over expected, it really tells you the story. That is NFL next gen data. That is the trackers in the players showing you how good the blocking was versus how many yards you gained.

And if you go back, so you could say, well, you know, there's this, that, or the other thing. And that's true that there's context with everything, but that matches up with the PFF grade that dropped significantly. And if you go back just two years to 2020, Delvin Cook is a dominant running back in all of these statistics. Elite in the PFF grade, elite in the rushing yards over expected. And the other thing too is if they want a receiving back out of the backfield, he's not it. He's never been it. We've always talked

about him being that. And I don't think that he has been a receiving back. It's been screens or kind of nothing. Let's see here from Marco. I like Quasey's under the radar style. Can't wait to hear about the game theory. He's currently playing with Cook, Sedaria Smith and Hitman. Well, you know, we'll see on that. We'll see on that. And I'm very interested to see why it's taken as long as it has for this to get resolved. And maybe they know when the deadline is coming up at the end of this week with guaranteed money. So it's possible that they looked at it and just said, Hey, you know, let's not run it up or let's run it up to the deadline and see if we can get something in a trade for these guys and kind of go from there. That might be the way that they looked at it. But I think that the way we

evaluate this off season may come down to how things play out with those guys. If they keep Delvin Cook, I don't think I'm going to be able to say as confidently that I love everything they did this off season. Zedaria Smith is fine with me because they can move on from that one whenever they need to, the way they structured that contract. So if something does change, then, you know, that's okay. Like if he comes back, they'll have a much better defense and that's okay. Um, but you know, I think with the Delvin one, that's where it swings for me. If Harrison Smith returns, I don't have a huge problem with that.

You could wait and see how it goes with him and Brian Flores. But I think we're going to have to wait and find out until we really say, because those are such big pieces. Daniil Hunter also just such a big piece to the pie. Why didn't the Vikings rework O'Neal's contract instead of Kirk's contract is a relevant question that I don't have an answer to. I don't know. Because I would say, well, I don't know if they want to push money down the road, but they're pushing money down the road anyway.

Yeah, I don't have a great answer to that because it would have. And the same thing goes for cutting Zedaria Smith. There were other routes that they could have taken to make some of that cap space. And that's why I questioned it. Not because I think that it ruins their future or anything else like that, or it's the worst thing I've ever seen, but just why did you choose that and not the other thing? And maybe we'll know when we speak with Kweisi Adafo-Mensah next. I'm not sure when that's going to be.

Let's see. Sean Murphy Bunting intrigues me a lot. I think we inquired about him last year. Yeah, I mean, guys like Byron Murphy or Sean Murphy Bunting who are in bad defenses always kind of catch my eye when it's corners because a guy can have a down year and look bad as a corner, and then all of a sudden he fits better in his next team or they have a better pass rush or whatever like that. And that guy can be a good fit for you and be an effective player.

Because corners I think are affected a lot by schematics, by even the schedule, the receivers and quarterbacks you face off. You can look better or worse, but especially the pass rush that you have, the players around you, how much help you had. Remember, Patrick Peterson's numbers looked really bad when he got to Minnesota, and then they were really good here overall in a two-year sample because he was used

differently. He wasn't asked to go in the slot. He wasn't asked to play as much hardcore man-to-man coverage. Always matters for context. So I think you're always looking for guys that might have raw talent, but weren't used correctly or were on bad defenses that could improve. So I like that idea. I liked, I liked the idea of taking a shot at five of those types. Uh, let's see here. Could there be a shocking signing of Odell Beckham jr? There could, I mean, they went to his workout and that right there puts you in that conversation. And you said shocking and shocking would be right, but they have a position open. Justin Jefferson and Odell Beckham are close. I'm sure that Odell Beckham,

you know, I don't know actually if he wants to sign a long-term deal or not. I was going to say, I'm sure Odell Beckham's kind of just vibing and playing from year to year. So maybe he might not mind coming to a team that doesn't know what's going on at quarterback in the future, but I definitely can't speak for Odell Beckham and whether he wants a long-term deal or not. I think Beckham is more likely to do a little championship chasing than he is necessarily to come to Minnesota, but they do have, they, they do have, you know, a situation where you can argue, you have one of the best organizations that you'll be treated well, that your guys will be here, Kevin O'Connell and Justin Jefferson. And you have a quarterback that has consistently over his years, put up big numbers for his wide receivers in Kirk cousins.

So would it, I mean, yeah, I would be pretty shocked if they landed Odell Beckham. The other thing is too, how much money he wants, because even if the Vikings do a bunch of other stuff, they're still going to be in a position where they are up against the cap, no matter what they do. David says, O'Neill coming off an Achilles. Let's see if he can play before we kick the can down the road. So the thing about his Achilles is that, and we just got an update the other day from their trainer, Tyler Williams. They had a few reporters come in, talk with Tyler Williams about some of their process. And we got updates on like Louis Seen, Andrew Booth Jr. It was very

interesting. And one of the things was with Brian O'Neill that it was not a complete Achilles tear. It was only like a 40% Achilles tear. And there isn't any expectation that that's going to even keep him out of camp, that he might not start the very first practice or ramp up slowly, but he's going to be back in camp. And this is not something that is expected to be a long-term thing. So I wouldn't say that about his Achilles, at least based on what Tyler Williams told us. Let's see here. Odell Beckham does not fit the age range that they have been signing. Yeah, I agree. I agree. Now, the thing is that I'm always okay with going a little crazy when it

comes to, if you're adding more weapons and you're kind of taking a swing for it, if you're not locking yourself in long-term, they can only draft so many positions. I mean, you know, I've advocated and will continue to advocate for them drafting a wide receiver and try to find that long-term wide receiver two next to Justin Jefferson. But in a year like this, where it's kind of, it's almost like anything you get is a bonus considering what they've had to subtract from their roster so far anything you get is a bonus and the only way you're going to be good is if you have an elite offense if they signed a one-year deal for odell beckham i don't think that takes away from anybody else we know kirk's not going to be here or at least it looks that way now and if beckham wasn't going to be here either, let's go for it.

Let's go for it. Have a really fun offense. If you win 10 games and rank seventh in offense and we all have a good time, well, that's good. But from Beckham's standpoint, is Minnesota a team he's going to want to come to? That, you know, I don't really know. This from, I'm not really sure how to pronounce the first part of your name. Uh, but, uh, just once in my lifetime, I would love to see the Vikings go all in

and draft for an elite quarterback to at least take a shot at something special. Yeah. I think, you know, what you're talking about there is where a lot of people stand right now. And yesterday, well, again, there was some ranting about a $28 million dead cap hit. Yeah. You know, I, I think that they took a big step toward moving on toward what you're talking about right there, which is drafting that quarterback who could be the next great quarterback. And you can't say it can't happen. I know people still go back to Christian Ponder, but once upon a time, they drafted a big giant 260 pound dude who was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL for a short standpoint for a short time period before he hurt his knee. But that's what you're looking for. You're looking for a guy who can take you to the

NFC championship, who has elite physical skills, who's dynamic. And now Red McCombs, rest in peace, is not the owner anymore. And they could actually put some money into the rest of the team if that were the case. But that's what you're looking for. You're looking to be the team that drafts the quarterback who has a greater skill set that you can build around. And they did get a step closer to that yesterday. And I understand what you're saying, old and slow. I don't want a good time. I want a title. This year, you're going to have to settle for a good time, probably. Just being realistic, you're probably going to have to settle for a good time this year. Now in the future, though, that's what you're trying to set up during this time is for the

future to really truly chase a title. And it will stick in my mind that Kweisi Adafo-Mentz said, great quarterbacks win Super Bowls. And that's exactly what happened this year. So that's the guy I think that he's going to be trying to chase, whether it's this year or it's next year, whether it's a trade up or whether it's a wait and see. So this year, this football season will have to be a lot of vibes. It will have to be, let's see if they can have a great offense. Let's see if some things can go right.

But I just have a tough time at this moment saying, oh yeah, they're going to be a Super Bowl favorite going into free agency. They weren't even the favorite for the division. So, um, yeah, I, I, I mean, I do think that they have gotten closer this off season to that goal that you're talking about. And that's really important. Uh, let's, let's end with this. Cause this is great. You miss all the shots. You don't take Wayne Gretzky and Michael Scott. It's perfect. That's perfect. Alex, perfect way to put it. You miss all the shots you don't take when it comes to drafting quarterbacks. You know, I agree with that. They can't afraid to be, to take a shot at a quarterback this year. Totally agree. Yep. I'm a hundred percent with you.

If the opportunity arises, go for it. Apologize to no one. If it doesn't work out, do it again until it works. And that's the only way you can approach this thing, I think. And again, they've set themselves up to potentially do that this year or maybe next year. So anyway, thanks everybody for jumping on in the middle of the day here to talk a little bit about Aaron Rodgers and to answer your questions about what comes next for the Vikings. Fascinating, fascinating next couple of years in the NFC North. Can't wait to talk about it and see how it plays out with the rest of the offseason. And as always, if something comes up with any of those players whose futures are just kind of floating around in the air, then we will be back always to do emergency pods here

and jump on the live stream. But what makes it great is your participation, being able to read and show your comments on the screen and things like that makes it great is your participation, being able to read and show your comments on the screen and things like that makes it so much fun. And also I'm starting to recognize some of you as well, which is great that you're kind of popping in for all of these. And if you're one of the people doing that,

really, really appreciate it. So thanks so much for all of your time and we'll see what happens the rest of the day. For right now, this will probably be the only live stream today, but if there is something big later tonight then we will be back on here so thanks everybody for watching slash listening and we'll see y'all soon