Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Jeremiah Sirles breaks down Vikings free agent options

Episode Date: March 5, 2025

NFL free agency is just around the corner. Matthew Coller is joined by former Vikings offensive lineman Jeremiah Sirles to discuss the Vikings' options in free agency.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of purple insider. Wait a minute, not just another episode. This is a Tuesday morning left guard free agency preview special with former Minnesota Viking Jeremiah Searles. Jeremiah, already this morning we have a trade for an offensive Lyman to the Chicago bears. They also did one yesterday. They're loading up. The Vikings are sitting around with no draft picks

to trade anybody. So it's gonna have to be the free agent in draft route. There's Sam Darnold reports that maybe he could come back. Even though most of society had already moved on. We got a lot going on, my friend. Yeah, I mean, first thing I noticed is Ben Johnson's taking a play out of old Dan Campbell's playbook. We win up front, right?

F'em, we don't need them draft picks. Let's just bring in dudes. I mean, Jonah Jackson is 28 in the prime of his strength. He got dinged last year. I mean, he signed a decent deal to go there from the Lions familiarity, right? And then you get a Joe Thune, a Hall of Fame wearing rings this all over his hands, multiple position playing for a fourth. My goodness. I mean, Kansas

City obviously is offloading a bunch of cap because they got some issues. But that is that I did not see that was not in my bingo card of a fourth round pick in trade for Joe Tooney. But hats off to Ryan Poles and what they're doing there at the Bears. Hey, we got a young quarterback who got the sack the most in the league last year. Priority number one, sure up the offensive line. I have to imagine when Ben Johnson did his interview there, that was the very start of it because that has been really central so much to the Detroit lion success, and this is what happens when you tank and then lose a lot is that you have a ton of draft picks and you can throw them over here and you have a ton of cap space and you can throw them over there.

The Vikings have a ton of cap space, but they do not have the draft picks to go make a trade like this. I also think that the Vikings are thinking maybe a little more on the long-term side at the offensive line positions and we could get into the draft. I felt like it was an extremely good combine for teams that need a guard. I went into the combine being like, I don't know, there's this one guy and a, but listening to their Daniel Jeremiah talk about it, there's a lot of these guys who are tackles that could play guard and the potential is there

for the Vikings, but do they spend number 24? We'll get into that. But from the free agent offensive line perspective, this now comes into no matter who is playing quarterback. Priority number two, figure out your quarterback first. Then you have to figure out your interior offensive line. So clearly the Vikings can't really play in the trade sandbox. If there's anyone else out there, how about the free agent class? When you look at it and I made my list of top 60, that was when I ran out of people that I would potentially want

on your wish list. Your list for Santa Claus. Yes, I made a top 10 and I wrote a lot about the top 10 and I had two guards in it. In fact, can you guess the two free agent guards that I had in the top 10 purple insider wish list for the Vikings? I'm sure Trey Smith had to be number one. He was already franchise tag, so he was already tagged. Okay, yeah. Yeah. Is it the the interior guy from Atlanta, the center? I did not. I did not include centers in this because I just don't get

the sense that they're going to make a move with Garrett Bradbury. It seems like he's going to be their guy, which I know is the bane of some people's existence. But let's just start with the other positions for guys who clearly can't play at all at the guard spots. So one of the guys sounds delicious. And another one of the guys has been around for a while. And Vikings fans really wanted him in the draft in 2018. Oh in 2018. Is it Jenkins from the Bears? It's a good guess. Tevin Jenkins is a good guess. I'll just tell you. Just tell me please. Will Fries who sounds delicious and the other one is Will Hernandez who Vikings fans

wanted in 2018. You do not want Will Hernandez. He can't stay healthy, right? Like that. And so much is funny. I sat in so many meetings at the combine, right? I met with 27 of the 32 teams officially. I hit all 32 with the unofficial late night visits. Um, but that being said, no, you did it. That's a joke. Clearly. What do you mean? What do you mean? The late you mean the late night? The late night like hangouts and you run into each other and things get done. I don't know.

I do not know what you're talking about. You don't know what I'm talking about. So you should just move on. Alright, let's move on. Anyways, every single person I met with, they all said, you know, so much is availability, right? When they're talking about buying guys in free agency and you're looking at guys of longevity of hey, how can we get them on a roster? They're like, we're tired of paying people a bunch of money to come in and play eight games a year, nine games a year, right? For paying you, we want you available. And so they're starting to look a lot more at that type of stuff.

Thing with Will Hernandez, I think he's a road grader, and he's a monster of a human being. He struggled to play full seasons consecutively, right? He might have one full season here and there, but consecutively, as he's gotten a little bit older now, he is really starting to kind of be on that age where it's on the decline, where he's going to plan on missing probably four or five, six games a year. And that's what you know, you have to get with him. Okay. I've got the numbers on that.

These snap counts, uh, in 2021, he was over a thousand snaps, then 843 in 2022, 1100 in 2023 and last year ACL tear. That's pretty tough. So a little bit, uh, two of the last four years over a thousand, I definitely understand where you're coming from. My thought on that was he is a well above average pass protector and has the beef to actually move people in the strength and ACL tear is kind of random.

So if he can come back and play like he did in 2023, but you know what I notice about this free agent class is that that's all over the place. That's at every position you're saying, well, the guy missed a lot of last year. He was injured. He was banged up. And this also goes for Will Fries as well. He had, I think a broken leg last year and he was looking like an ascending player, but I also think he's going to get a ton of interest because there just aren't a lot of guys. ton of interest because there just aren't a lot of guys.

Yeah, I mean, the market is very small, right? The question for me is it's a very talented interior line quest class, like how many people are willing to say, Hey, we're gonna pass on the big, big agent, the big money, eight free agent and gamble on a late day to top of day three type of pick, because I do think there's going to be some guards that have second round grades that fall to the top of day three just based off of the middle part of this class and the needs there. So I mean, it's one of those things risk reward if the price is right. Absolutely. But I mean,

he could be a guy that's commanding 8 to 12 in that realm, right? 8 to 12 a year, maybe even more depending because it is the scarcity of the market. So if that's what you're looking for great, but he's also coming from a system that's more of a run-first system. And if there was a weakness in his game, it is that he's not very big. He's not a huge human being.

He's really good athlete good technician, right? But when you're looking for size to sure up the interior there, that's really not his strong suit, right? But when you're looking for size to sure up the interior there, that's really not his strong suit. Right. And he is a guy that was drafted late and developed into a good player, which I think is a reliable path, but it's also not a freak type of player, which you usually get in the draft. So the other guys that I had on my purple insider free agent watch list, which I feel like I need like a big purple inside a free agent watch list. Um, Kevin's Eitler is 127,000 years old, but he's still still is really good. Yeah.

He's still really good. I think that he, for a one year option is pretty good. And Tevin Jenkins could be a multi-year, but Jenkins is another guy who has never played a thousand snaps. And these are the type of risks you have to take. It's so clear that the Vikings want to shore up this line and they want to invest in this line. But the question that they have to ask themselves is, is it really prudent to spend even on a Will Fries?

I mean, I think that the numbers will be higher for him because there's so few of these guys. I think he'll get like 15 plus. And is that really what you want to do for someone who is more along the lines of an average player, but you're paying for, as you said, the scarcity, that's where someone like Brands Sheriff or Kevin Zeitler might be a better option

to fill this spot for now and try to develop some guys through your pipeline. I think Walter Rouse will be a guard at some point. They drafted Michael Juergens. You could draft other guys this year. I think it's better to be less risky at this spot for 2025. I would agree with you because Will Fries is gonna want a four-year deal, right?

I mean, when you're coming up on your first free agency, you're trying to, as a player and an agent, ring the catch register. And if you're not completely 100% sold on the guy, it's a risky thing to lock a guy in for a four-year deal. I know there's always outs, but dead money gets pushed across that time. You'll be paying for that if you're not 100% sold. First, as a guy like Sheriff or Zeitler, right? You could really do a one year or even a two year deal, right?

And have more of the front end loaded because sometimes we get up in that higher age range, you want that two year deal because there's some injury protection guarantees going in if something were to happen to you at the later part of your season that would then cause you to miss part of the following season, right? There's some injury protection there. So I mean, I would, I could see Brandon Sheriff, Hey, I'm tired of Jacksonville. Minnesota was really good last year coming in on that piece, or even Zeitler too. I mean, seeing what they played against with Minnesota's defense, familiarity with that. I can see both those guys wanting to come and chase a ring,

right. Wanting to come say, Hey, that defense is really good. There's Justin Jefferson. There's a lot of pieces there wanting to come up there and say, hey, that defense is really good. There's Justin Jefferson. There's a lot of pieces there. Wanting to come up there and say, I'm willing to take one year or two year to fill a stop gap for you as you go here. That then allows them some wiggle room to draft a guy they maybe really like on day three, develop behind guys that have played a ton of football,

right? And then hope that they turn into that starter a couple of years down the road or compete for a starter or at minimum, a really good backup that you're gonna need at times during the year. Guys, if you watch the show all the time you know that I'm a hat guy, but if you're wearing hats to cover up for your hair loss, then I've got something that can help you. It's called HIMS. If you've lost your hair, that doesn't mean you can't find it again.

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see the website for full details and important safety information. So the idea that I liked was to go after, uh, that I liked was to go after, uh, Mackay Beckton because last year he started off when he first transitioned into a guard pretty rough. But then when you look at from week six on all the way through the Superbowl, he was a serious impact player for the Philadelphia Eagles. And I know it helps to have good players around him, but you look at that guy's physical traits, where he came from and the draft, he could be a monster guard and just improve and improve and improve.

And especially in the run game, he was an absolute beast. But then the Vikings hired an assistant offensive line coach that has some history with Mackay back then that doesn't sound like it was very positive. So I think that this option might end up being off the table. I don't know if you have a take on that. If that's something that a player would consider or not consider so much when we're talking about, you know, free agent decision, I would think that a player, especially the relationship between O lineman and their coaches is one of the most vital in the sport. I would think that takes back then off the table. Yeah, I would tend to agree with you.

You know, if you're if it's like an only option type of thing, you can okay. I want to be in the league so be it, but when you're looked at as a high-end free agent, you have choices. There's times where you're like, I don't want to deal with that that I dealt with with that or I don't want to go back to that place where I was. I wasn't a good place as a player there, right, mentally, physically, whatever it might be. And, you know, if I'm a Kai Bekden, I'm not willing, regardless of what the money says, to put

myself in a position like that again, where I wasn't happy and I didn't play my best, right? Because he's going to be a guy that, regardless of what he gets, it's going to be kind of a proven deal with the structure of it, because he was only kind of that, that one-year starter piece. So he needs to put himself in a situation that surrounds him with the best opportunity to be the best version of himself. With the addition of the assistant line coach there in Minnesota, the history there, I don't think that that's something Bechtin's going to want to subject himself to, honestly. I have trouble formulating too much of hot takes on assistant offensive line coaches. But when I read some of the stuff that was out there, especially from Taylor

Luan, who is a very highly respected lineman, I do raise an eyebrow a little bit at this decision to bring him in because I think that Chris Cooper's done a really good job. Fantastic. You can only do what you can with the talent. When you lose Christian Derrissa and I see I see other teams reporters saying, you know, Cam Robinson, they might give him 18, 20 million dollars. I'm like, oh boy.

OK, respect for what he had to do last year. But that's not going to go too good. You lose Christian Derrissa to Cam Robinson to me is going from the fifth best offensive lineman in the game to like the 58th. And I don't know what Chris Cooper is supposed to do there at right guard at Ingram had three years to prove it. He didn't at left guard. He was tasked with moving a sixth round tackle who lacked in athleticism to guard and he managed over the season. And then Brian O'Neill is playing hurt at the end of the year trying to play

against the Los Angeles Rams line. I think Cooper has done better than they did before with this offensive line group. I didn't feel like they needed somebody else with different ideas to come in. I did feel like the run game coordinator thing mattered, but this person also had Derek Henry when he was in Tennessee and I could run game coordinate for Derek Henry. So again, I don't want to make too much of it, but I also think if you can't chase someone like Mackay Bechtin or there's a reputation out there that other people are saying, I don't know if I want to go to Minnesota because of what I've heard about this person. If that hurts you, that's not a good decision to bring them into your organization. Yeah, and I never had first-exam experience with him as a coach, but I have had friends and buddies that have played with him, and they weren't his favorite, right?

I'm not gonna trash a guy because I never played for him, right? I'd have a lot better opinion if I did, but I will say I have plenty of friends in the league that they were not his favorite coach when they're in the league for one reason or another. Another big reason being he's not great with rookies, based off of just the way that rookies are coming into the league. A little bit softer now, I would say, not as battle-hardened with the transfer portal, with the way college football is going. If you get a rookie in there and it's a jump down your throat, MFU type of thing.

Sometimes I've seen rookies really melt with that stuff. So it's just something to think about when you have that type of personality in your room, who's the voice? Is it Cooper? But I'll tell you 90% of the time, the assistant line coach takes the young bucks, right? Cooper's got his own deal to worry about with game planning, development of his guys, putting the best five undrafted free agents, late round picks rookies usually always go with the assistant align coach and that's tasked with development really falling.

It'll be interesting to follow and watch that and see how that goes. But again, I don't want to speak ill will too much of the guy. I just know that I haven't heard a ton of stellar reviews. I don't want to speak ill will too much of the guy. I just know that I haven't heard a ton of stellar reviews, so the only thing I could say there is that you know Brian Flores had some issues previously with players who said things about him. The Vikings culture is different. The head man sets the tone, not the assistant offensive line coach, so things are done a

certain way in Minnesota that may have not been done the same way in other places that he coached, but it is a factor if you can't chase one of the best guards because of someone that you brought in. And that's kind of how we got there. Uh, anyway, the other names that I got on this list are, I don't think anybody that's going to make you squeal with joy. Uh, Patrick McCurry is an interesting name for the Baltimore Ravens. He played every position. He was a Jeremiah Searles, if you will, but unlike you, he got better and and he has actually established himself as a pretty good, a pretty good player.

It is kind of interesting to me. He's more like a Joe Berger than a Jeremiah Searles. Uh, and Aaron Banks is a gigantic guy who's 27. He could be a difference maker in the run game. Matt Pryor played for the bears last year. He definitely had a Jersey and a job. And then after that, Lucas Patrick and other guys been around Lake and Thomas, I just would like to see Lake and Thomas and up close,

but he's not a great player. My point is that the options are you're hoping to get improved, but I don't think there's anybody unless they would have been able to get Smith or Bechtin who is really gonna change your life here. Yeah, I mean, no one on that list screams game changer, right? And that's a weird thing to talk about a game changer at the offensive guard position, but there are a few of them and they're very well paid and

teams don't like letting them go. I mean, Landon Dickerson was a game changer for the Philadelphia Eagles last year. I mean even Robert Hunt who went to Carolina helped them big time down the stretch and they put Damian Lewis and Robert Hunt paid those guards big money. You saw the improvement of Bryce Young this year as the year went on because he had better protection in the interior was offensive line. All those guys I think are solid players. I think they're middle to back half of players at that position in the league, right? I think all the other guys

that you talked about, Bechtin and Smith and those guys are all upper one third of players in the league. But that list, man, you get below guys like Aaron Banks and stuff. You're talking about average to below average type of players, starter level players in this league. That's why I'm thinking the best plan is probably to entice a proven veteran like Zeitler or if they can't, I still like the Hernandez idea. I totally understand where you're coming from, but a proven veteran with aler or if they can't, I still like the Hernandez idea. I totally understand where you're coming from,

but a proven veteran with a huge number of snaps that has shown what he can be. And then go to the draft with this. And in the first round, I noticed that most of the big name mockers like Dane Bruegler, for example, Trevor Sikama for PFF, they've all got the Vikings taking guards. Gray Zable is a name that keeps being connected to the Vikings.

That do you like Gray Zable? I took second on Gray, man. I recruited him for two years. I love that kid. I love that kid. He's going to be a late first day one starter. No doubt. I think he'd be a great fit for the Vikings. Okay. Tell me why.

Yeah. So I mean, first of all, you look at the pedigree of the guys from the NDSU to come out, right? Going all the way back. Dylan Raden's 2020. Second round pick. Started a lot of games for Tennessee. 2021, my guy, Cordell Volsson. Fourth round pick. Day one starter for the Bengals. Cody Mock. Day one starter for the Bucs. Right? Jalen Sundell last year was my guy. He got hurt, ends up making active roster for Seattle, starting games for them at center towards the end of the year, graze the next one on that line. There's a pedigree there of guys that come out of NDSU ready to play and watching the way that he played at the senior bowl, I got a chance to catch up with him with the combine, his preparation. He's getting bigger and bigger every time I see him still a little bit on the young side too, and he could play literally anywhere in the interior, right?

His arms are going to lack him to play on the outside. It's a little stubby, right? But that all said the athletic profile, the toughness profile, all that. He's a day one starting guard in the NFL. It was funny. The other night on the show, I said, without even realizing how football this is, I was like, you know, he weighed in really well at the. But he did. He did. He was he was over three ten. Which to me, that would be when a guy doesn't go to an Alabama or Georgia.

You say, all right, well, is he really going to be the size profile? But if you're up over that and then he put up the numbers and the drills, I know this is ridiculous. But when it's that guy, you're looking much closer and going, okay, his movement. I also felt like Donovan Jackson was another guy that had great movement skill. He's played tackle, he's played guard.

The questionable one now is Tyler Booker because of just the way that his workout went. And I try not to go crazy on this because the Orlando Brown thing where Brown dropped to the third round. He turned out to be a really good starting tackle for his whole career after running like a seven four or forty or something. But Booker didn't really show the athletic prowess that I expected.

He's never if you go back to the tape, he's never really shown it. He is who he is. He is a downhill, play in a phone booth, mauler guy off the line, incredible inline power. He puts his hands on you on inside single blocks. He's displacing. I mean, he fits more of a gap scheme type of player. That's all being said, as I was having this conversation with you in my brain, I'm going, wait a second. What are we as a system of a zone? Are we a zone? Are we a gap? Are we a pin pull? I don't know what we're going to be. And I think who we take interiorly

is going to be a little bit telling of what kind of system we want to go to for our run, right? We draft Tyler Booker, and we're going, okay, this is gap scheme all the way. This is we're coming downhill, we're going a little bit similar with Donovan Jackson, right? You could have a guy like Gray Zable, this dude can run, right? Okay, let's get out. Let's get some outside zone. Let's get Brian O'Neill and him on the same side and really stretch that defense and stretch and sync.

Right? So I do think watching this, who they pick up in free agency and who they pick up in the draft will be telling of the type of zone or downhill scheme that we will want to run but Booker is gonna fit great with I mean I would almost venture to say like hey Tyler Booker you're a Raven right mean that type of thing because that's the type of system He's gonna fit into with the Chargers the Ravens Tennessee maybe New England now with variable back up there like he's a true downhill north south type of offensive lineman. Not like some of the really athletic guys you got to see that can really run

laterally and get going on that, on that plane. We got one guy off the list as we speak, Alex Kappa signing with the Las Vegas Raiders was not really on my list the way that he's played in recent years, but the Raiders jump in the line a little bit and getting him. He was a free agent you could sign now because he was cut by his team, by the way, if anyone's wondering. But when it comes to Booker and how they're going to play, I also think that depends on who the running back is because Aaron Jones could come back. If Aaron Jones comes back, I don't think you're designing your future run game around Aaron Jones, but he is his own guy.

He's an outside zone. Last year, they did a lot of pitch stuff to him on the outsides, and that worked pretty well. That would be more of if it's a gray's able type of thing. But if you draft like a Caleb Johnson from Iowa, that guy is going to be much more north and south is running. I really like him still. He didn't have the best combine, but his movement.

It's so funny how this works. It's like, oh man, it's 40. But then he's catching balls and stuff and he's running. You're like, oh, okay. That guy can really move. His tackle breaking ability is unbelievable too. I mean, he just guys just bounce off of him. Which, you know, if we're trying to connect some dots a little bit here, like a bigger runner, the guy who they just hired to coordinate run comes from Tennessee.

Like, is that the kind of thing they're looking for? And that would connect with a Tyler Booker. So I'm not that concerned about that. If anything, maybe it drops his stock a little bit so they could trade down and still draft a guy like that. But this kind of speaks to the bigger overall picture. Like we've started with the offensive line here, but there's a lot of trickle down to other positions. It's okay if you draft a guard at the spot of the 24th

overall pick or you trade into the second, which I think they can do and still draft a guard. Where do you get your defensive tackle? Then you go to free agency and you go all right with osso diggazua off the list, Milton Williams is going to get 21, 25 somewhere in their range. That's a lot for me to give a guy who plays like 500 snaps. But then you go through the rest of the DTs. It's like, you know, they got, you know, they're okay. Like I am intrigued by on on wazirki and I'm intrigued by I like BJ Hill as a longtime player, but these aren't total, like we said, game changers. So as a as just as a bigger picture free agency approach, like what would your priorities be? You know, I don't know if you've done much like studying on it, but this is a historic detangled draft class. There was I think think there was 75.

Wait, did you just say you don't know if I've looked at? I mean, I was, I was listening to me. I was drafts. Simming CJ West in the late third the other day. Okay. Fair, fair. I, I have a lot of confidence that you're going to be able to find a contributor at D tackle anytime on day three this year. Anytime on day three. I mean, it is so deep. I mean, watching the guys at the senior bowl, watching the guys at the shrine bowl, like just looking at the tape of guys that didn't do any of those things.

It didn't even mean, I mean, you're going to have guys all over the place from edge and interior and the draft that you can get. And those dudes historically are more ready to play because it's not like an alignment that you're asking to start every single play and go out there and do everything. D-Tackles and stuff can have packages. They can have roles. They can be a 25 snap a game and they play really well for those 25 snaps. It's a meaningful contributor. Right? So I'm not over buying D-Tackles this year in free agency. No stretch of the imagination of my panicking

and over buying a guy that isn't great. And there's no one on that list that is screaming. I mean, there is no Leonard Williams on the market this year, there is no Quinton Johnson, like, there's just not guys that are willing to lock into a four or five year deal on that free agency scale. Much rather we get a draft on that piece. I do think corner is a position that we need to take a look at for some depth in free agency. I'm not saying like tier one free agency, but as the week goes on

later and later, find some guys that are veterans that have played in the league to come in and compete and push and have depth at that position. Because as we saw this year, one or two guys starts going down, you start hitting the panic button in that position big time. And as you look in our division, really good receivers all over the board. I would say corners of spot in that, like late tier two to top of tier three free agency that you'd want to take a peek at. So let me get your opinion on which current Vikings free agents are coming back.

Let's start with Trent sure. Feel. No, I'm just kidding. But actually don't truly though, like Trent sure field should come back. He was a great, great special teams option for them. He should come back. But that conversation begins with Byron Murphy around the combine. When talking to people, I got the sense that there's a ton of interest in Byron Murphy.

If he's coming back, it's probably for the vibes and the locker room and your friends and all those things. It's probably not for the money because it just feels like they would have to go above and beyond. But the big names are really Byron Murphy Jr, Cam Bynum, Aaron Jones for who they could potentially bring back. How do you feel about each one of them? I'd love for Cam Bynum to be back. I think that he's a key piece in that Brian Flores defense. He understands the system. You move him around, you can let him blitz.

Sometimes he was decent blitzer off the edge, but he's gonna command a lot of money. I think because like tackles, there's never enough corners, like true starting corners that you feel comfortable about or safeties in that realm. Like there's just never enough those guys like true starting corners that you feel comfortable about or safeties in that realm. Like there's just never enough those guys. So I agree with you.

I'd love to have them back. I don't think we can afford them. I mean, because we'd have to overbuy them. Like I think that's the piece, whenever you come back to your own home team, you kind of have to overbuy because you're looking around the league, guys are having a lot that have more cap space than you

can throw more money at him. So you almost have to overbuy, but he might be a guy that I'd be willing to say, it's all right, put the higher price tag on him, lock him in for a multi-year deal, bring him back. Aaron Jones, I kind of feel like let's let him walk. In a weird situation, like the DBs class, also a very good running back class. You can get a lot of value on day three running backs. Obviously it's not a guy you want to hang your hat on to be an all big time starter, but I don't again, he's getting up there in age. He did great things for us. He missed some games last year. I just feel like that's a position we want to get younger at and we want to bring some more pieces in. So I think you let Aaron Jones walk. The hard part about Aaron Jones is as far as his actual performance, four and a half

yards of carry is pretty good. He had 51 catches. He was a legitimate impact player in the receiving game, which if JJ McCarthy is starting home, I'll get your opinion on that. But how about this? We've gone 29 minutes without really getting into that, which is refreshing for me because I've spent a lot of time on it. You know, you know where our eyes lie. We did 20 of it on the old line. Yeah, I know exactly. Yeah. That's why it's Tuesday morning. Left guard,

my friends. So, uh, as far as that safety position, oh, or I'm sorry, Aaron Jones goes, Aaron Jones. Yeah. Aaron Jones, uh, Naji Harris, if he wants to leave Pittsburgh, which I was surprised to see that Pittsburgh got some low grades from their players. And I wonder about the happiness there in Pittsburgh, uh, from, yeah, the NFL PA was surprised by that Harris. I think his numbers, if you're a fantasy person, you're like, whatever, he's just kind of okay. But what we really see from these running backs is that the situation

often dictates their performance if they reach a certain level of quality, if that makes sense. So the Pittsburgh Steelers have not had a passing game since 20, not just Ben, but since Ben was good. So like 2018, right. Uh, not when he was in my kind of shape at the end of his career and throwing it as fast as I could throw it too. So I think that Harris has been a victim of this. Like it's been run first, every first down, then play action and

like the safeties play in the parking lot against the Vikings. I think this is different for Naji Harris and Rico Dowdle was over a thousand yards last year. He's got, he has, I don't think he's great, but he's got no mileage on the tires at all. So if you were talking about a pairing of a Rico Dowdle and a Quinch on Judkins or something, now I'm going, all right, this is pretty explosive. Judkins suddenly became my favorite guy along with Caleb Johnson after the combine, because I was like 221 pounds and he ran that fast. So yeah that's what the Combine does to you but he was also good at football. So that would be my plan is to look for a draft pick running back and pair them with someone. If

it's Aaron Jones it's okay but the upside to that we know I think is limited. The safety position Cam Bynum's reputation is as sterling around the league and in the Vikings locker room as it's going to get. When you look at the free agent list, though, there's so many guys. Jevon Holland is a guy Flores drafted who's an absolute beast and has been a top three by PFF safety twice in his career. Justin Reed is not going to come back to Kansas City. He's a good player. Like there's so

many safeties that I just don't think those guys are going to get incredible dollars. If someone else is going to pay buying them, you might have to just let them. Yeah, I agree. You let buying them walk. You let him test. You let him test the market. If the market's not where he wants it to be, you might be able to get him back, right? I mean, it's one of those things too where he I it to be, you might be able to get him back. Right. I mean, it's one of those things too, where he, I think he might get looked at around the league. And again, this is me projecting.

I don't know if teams around the league look at him and think immediate plug and play in my system starter. I think he's good enough to do it. But the question all becomes, are we paying him to be in every down safety? Maybe. I mean, I think that there's guys that are more talented than him out there, and it's a good fit for him here. And sometimes those type of guys you can have a conversation with and go, Hey, do you want to go somewhere where you're competing for the safe, strong safety, free safety number two? Or do you know your role here and you're going to come be the guy? Right? Those are the conversations you have to have. But it only takes one team to

look at you and go, No, you're the guy and we'll pay you this much money. Right. And that's the hard part about free agency when you're looking at it from the team's perspective, but my heart wouldn't break if he walked. I think that we'd have to make sure that we did not swing in a miss on a good free agent safety though, which is always the risk you take. The one thing I wonder about, and I guess I shouldn't be too concerned because of what happened last year is

they have this ecosystem that's worked so well with certain types of players that seem to connect really well with Brian Flores. Now, if it's Javan Holland, he's going to know Flores and know whether he wants to play for him again or not. Uh, some guys, it's funny how defensive guys, Andrew van Gingel's like, yeah, I love Flores came here for Flores and then, and then maybe a certain quarterback is like he hurt me. So you know I I don't know right. Maybe I think defensive guys seem to be fine with. They're a little different than quarterbacks, but you know, I mean there's a there's a fit

like Byron Murphy Junior. Do you pay for fit can bind him? Do you pay for knowing that it's going to work rather than, Hey, they brought in Marcus Davenport and that just did not work. You know, and I, it was injury related, but it was also Davenport related. And so you just don't really ever know when you bring in somebody else who's been in a different environment, what it's going to be like with Granard, with Van Ginkle, with Cashman. I think they had a really good sense for what kind of people they were and that their

mentalities were going to fit. So you'd want to do that, but you're never sure. You are sure about Bynum. You are sure about Murphy and maybe there's an argument just for that. One more piece on that. I do think that someone that's not going to be a sexy signing, it's not going to break a headline, but the Vikings need to find a really good lb3 right because we saw last year when

Those guys when pace was off the field when Cashman was off the field when they both were off the field It was not good. Like it was kind of chaos. I mean everything going around I think with the the scheme that Brian Flores plays I mean everything going around. I think with the the scheme that Brian Flores plays They need to have a good LB three that can come in and spot start can come in on bigger packages Right. I think that was an area that I pegged as I was watching them going This is a need and you can get a good LB three That's gonna be a four core special team or guy for four a year Right for three point seven five kind of like a Jalen Ree, maven guy from Detroit who obviously just got released, right?

But an special teams ace can come in and play really solid snaps I do think that's something that's gonna be on the Vikings radar this year going in because that's not something you want for a rookie In this system you want a veteran in that spot for this system. I Totally agree Kamu Grigé Hill is a guy who's been around. He's played a lot of football, but he's not going to be able to play over. There's in front in front offices. They have colors for this stuff. Maybe you know these. It's like blue player, red player, magenta, ocean blue.

Like there's different colors. And one of the colors is if we got to play this guy for four weeks, we'll be okay. If we have to play him for any longer than a couple of games, we're going to be really in trouble. And that was kind of the case with trying to play someone like Grigio Hill. It's just a position that's hard to find that guy. I mean, that's they had Eric Wilson. Remember when he stepped in, he was nice for that role. And I grew a Hill really outside of like one or two splash plays did not do a very good job there. So, and they, the thing that's weird to me is, and I've never gotten an explanation.

I guess it's just been so irrelevant that I haven't asked, but Brian Awesome wall was drafted in the third round, came in, splashed a little. He's actually been a legit special teamer. I do watch the special teams because I look for guys I might want to write about or like a Jay Ward last year was kind of good at special teams. I'm like, okay, he might be somebody interesting. Awesome was been fine as a special teamer, if not good and just cannot break through the Brian Flores wall of shame. And you know, he's out. He's over there with Lewis scene and to and a number of other players that just are not allowed to look at the field

Don't come don't even look at it when there's defense going on you look in the stands I just don't really understand what happened there I guess it was just not his guy and maybe they don't drive very well because I somewhat does have talent Yeah, I don't know. That's a great point I kind of even forgot he was on the team if I'm being completely honest because unlike you I do not watch special teams It's uh, oh, it's a punt I'm gonna go flip to another game or I like watching red zone and they don't show me punts makes me really happy. Right. I don't

watch special teams mostly because there's never an alignment on it. What you played some special teams. You were out there. Well, I was back before they took the wedge away right before I was when they had the wedge and they had a wedge buster. Yeah. Player safety my ass, right? Literally the job was like, okay, big old lineman, you go link arms with this like D end or linebacker. And we're just saying see that guy that's the craziest dude on their team, his job's to destroy you and your job's to double team and destroy him. I hated

it. I hated it so much. I remember the first time I ever did it in a preseason game. I felt like that scene from Talladega nights where Ricky Bobby's driving slow and everyone was driving by him. Like I remember I turned around and was like, so what was that? The other cars, like those dudes are fast. Like it's not like practice. So now I'm glad that they took that up. Cause the fact kids don't need to be out there for that. Yeah, no, that's true.

And maybe certain parts of the kickoff weren't safe as much as I enjoy. Edge Buster was the name. You're right. I mean, with those guys, you had three guys like arms running each other like this can't be can't be good. No, this is not. All right. So let's play a little game here. I like games. You like games. We like you do like games. Love games.

I'm going to name a football team and you tell me who their quarterback is in the year 2025. I'm ready. Let me start in a very obvious place. Minnesota Vikings. JJ McCarthy, my favorite guy. I was so in on this guy coming out of the draft. I thought he was going to be the man. No, I'm kidding. Anyways, I think it is JJ season. It makes a lot of sense to me why they did not tag Darnold. Um, I think that you could have got some draft picks Adam, but you really hamper yourself in free agency because the second you put that tag on that 40 million is gone. It's gone. You cannot use it in free agency. I understand the point that they did that there. And I do think, you know,

I appreciate that Brian, excuse me, KOC and Kwesi had a plan going into last year's draft we let Kirk walk we draft the young kid we build around a rookie scale contract they did not let what happened with Sam Darnold this year move them off their spot and I can respect that right I think you and I said the line was NFC championship then you really have to have a conversation didn't happen didn't allow them to move off their spot and I said the line was NFC championship. Then you really have to have a conversation. Didn't happen. Didn't allow them to move off their spot.

And I have a lot of respect for them. Not blowing up a long-term four or five year plan for one guy. So I do think it's JJ McCarthy. I still would say that. And I came out of the combine. It's just interesting because, you know, there's literally 50,000 people there in Indy. And so, and it's like, you know,

I was talking to somebody like, could be anybody. And so like, I see, you know, rich eyes. It's like, yeah, they're working on a long-term deal with Darnold and there's been some other insiders who said that. And I was hearing like, well, they're trying to talk to other teams about this tag and trade and they're hoping that someone does it.

Clearly, they were not willing to. And also the amount that I heard, hey, McCarthy's going to be ready, and it just nothing sounded to me like they would want to bring back Darnold. Then all the insiders are saying the opposite. So I'm like, wait, was I just in the wrong? Was I in high velocity when everyone else was in Prime 47? Be like, oh yeah We all know darn's come out like what the was I just that was I in shake steak and share with our friend Chris Thomas in low millers low key you missed it in low millers Laumers or whatever it is that little Irish pub

There's so many good places around there But you know I still lean toward they will go to JJ McCarthy because I think that someone's going to give Sam Darnold a better offer. Now here's the question is who and the way we find out is by asking you about teams and you telling me who's their quarterback. Let's start with the Raiders. Who do you think the Raiders are going to have as their quarterback? I think the Raiders are going to draft Cam Ward.

I think I think I think the Raiders find a way to draft Cam Ward, work their way up, whatever they'd, because they pick at, oh, I'm not ready for this yet, seven, right? They pick at seven. I think so. I think they find a way to work their way up and draft Cam Ward. I think he's clearly QB1 in this class. I think he has the most talent and ready to play. And I think Pete Carroll, you know, has a history of doing really good with rookie quarterbacks, obviously going back to Russell Wilson, uh, obviously didn't work great with drew lock, but I do think that cam ward is the Las Vegas Raiders quarterback.

Okay. I can buy that. I think the giants and Raiders are bidding war for him. And that makes sense. Now, how about the Tennessee Titans? I kind of like this for Sam Darnold kind of like this for Sam Darnold. I like this for Sam Darnold. I have another team that I like for Sam Darnold more. So I'm not willing to put the flag on him

yet. Okay, I think that if they're not in if they're not in love with any of these prospects, I think they just stay with Will Levis one more year. It's maybe not a great idea, but I think that they can see that they're not a quarterback away from being a contender in that division. They have a lot of needs. I'm taking Abdul Carter if he's there, but I'm taking another key piece that's going to help around the positions around and kick it for one more year. I think they probably stick with Will Levis one more year. The weird thing about Will Levis last year was he had some

of the funniest mistakes that I've ever seen in my entire life. He was a walking meme dude when he played against the Vikings though, and I always am going to weigh that heavier because it's what I put the most focus on to and it's actually been pretty good against them. Zimmer's good defenses or against Flores. If somebody thrives against them, okay, I'm impressed. I didn't think he thrived,

but I also didn't think it was that bad. And I thought their team was really bad and possibly their coach. Not really sure about that either. But is it worth trying for one more year to see if he develops versus giving Sam Darnold a four-year contract for 150 million or going out and getting a number of the other. I mean the Kirk cousins, does Aaron Rogers like Nashville?

Like those don't sound like good ideas. Darnold does to me in Tennessee because then they can just build the roster and they've got a baseline of quarterback play that can save somebody's job for a while. But, uh, roster and they've got a baseline of quarterback play that can save somebody's job for awhile. But all the other options that are potentially out there just don't feel very good for the Tennessee tight. It's Justin Fields, a free agent. He is.

I think he would be a good spot for Tennessee to, you know, bring a guy in that's an athletic profile. He looked okay. I mean, he's never going to be the guy, but I think he's an upgrade from Will Levis, right? And you don't have to pay enormous money for him. Right. And if you're looking for kind of a stop gap, you could pay him a Sam Darnold type deal one year, 10, one year, eight, somewhere in there. I think Justin Fields would be a good spot for Tennessee as well.

Okay. Let me go to the next team. Who is the next team? This team keeps coming up. So I'll throw you a little curve ball here. The Indianapolis Colts. Oh, it's because you think they're just going to stick with him. I think you got to give him one more year. I think you give him one more year.

And if it doesn't work next year, you cut bait and run. But you got to give the guy one more year because in reality, last year was his rookie season. Yeah. And that for me is why I think you give him. He played four games as a rookie, broke his shoulder, came in this year, I think a little bit too confident, a little too, I'm gonna be fine, it's not a big deal.

Got his eyes open a little bit. Played better down the stretch at the end of the year after he got benched for Flacco. So I do think they give him one more year to really prove it and then next year they'll move on or not. And how about the New York Giants? As much as I hate to say it, it's going to be either Shadr Sanders or Aaron Rodgers. I don't know where else they go unless they're in love with a guy like Jackson Dart, right? Or else they're in

love and just say because they don't have a quarterback on their roster right now, I believe. I honestly don't think they have one signed to their 90 man roster right now. So they might be a guy that bring in Aaron Rogers, signed Shider Sanders or draft Shider Sanders, or even, you know, draft a quarterback like the kid out of Louisville late in the fifth. I think he's a decent prospect, but there's not a lot out. I think they really tried to go after Matt Stafford,

Matthew Stafford. And when that didn't work out, now they're kind of just scrambling, looking around like, I don't know what we do. The only question I don't have with that is Brian Dable doesn't like quarterbacks that can't move. He is a look at his track record. He likes, obviously he had Tom when he was in New England,

but then you go to Josh Allen, right? You get Daniel Jones. Last year they really, Tommy DeVito can't move, Drew Lock really can't move. They really struggled in that system. I do think it's going to be a combination of some type of bigger quarterback that can run, which may be a Jackson Dart. I mean, in that realm too, but I really don't know

what they're going to do at quarterback. I have no idea. Marcus Mariota and Tyrod Taylor. I don't know someone it feels like will sell their soul for Aaron Rodgers and they make the most sense because they are the most desperate. They also could be a Sam Darnold team if he would be willing to go back and play in that football stadium. I don't think you can do it. I really don't. I just don't think he can let himself walk back into that life. I don't think the fans would love it either. Right. I mean you talk about if you sign Sam Darnold in that fan base, are they going to be excited? Are they going to be electrified? Is their owner going to be like butts in the seat,

baby? Sam Darnold? I don't think so. I just don't know who else does any of that. And also wins you football games. I actually do think that Sam Darnold, Brian Dable, Malik neighbors, and Andrew Thomas actually sounds pretty good to me. That sounds like a team that could actually compete a little bit. I don't think they'd be great, but I think they could win eight. Yeah. And I mean, Joe Sheen and Dan Dable might say, screw it. We just need to win right now. Let's sign them, give them a big deal. And if it doesn't work, then someone else will pay for my sins. Right.

I mean, that that's kind of the where they might be mentality wise as well. OK, I'm running out of teams here. I've only got a couple left. The Jets are clearly not a Sam Darnold team and I have no idea who's playing quarterback for them. Real quick. I really think it might be, I think it might be just, just a little side note, though, the Chaudhuri Sanders thing.

What is frustrating to me is that it feels like a lot of people really run to defend someone who very blatantly has some concerns. I mean, I only see the podium, but I think the podium is a reflection of what someone is talking about behind the scenes oftentimes. And his podium was just bizarre. I mean, he was asked about Pat Shermer and his answer was I turned around programs and you're like, okay, I don't really like he, he was asked about Pat Shermer and his answer was, I turned around programs and you're like, okay,

I don't really, like he seems to have an inflated view of himself where he has to be a pocket quarterback who plays with extreme precision and accuracy and leadership and maturity. And he's gotta be, if your athleticism is crap, which I think his is for this position, I think that you have to have all the other sliders turned way up. Like even think about what a great athlete CJ Stroud is at this position.

He's like, Oh yeah, he's like a mid athlete in this league, but his accuracy, his maturity, his toughness, his leadership. And that guy has still had tough times in the NFL so far. If, and I don't think, I don't think Shadur is anywhere near CJ Stroud in a lot of those areas. And then you come out and like, okay, kind of prove it to me. And he's like, I'm Deon's kid.

And you're like, that's not doing it pal. And then I see, wow, you can't, you can't criticize him. He's just, he's just confident. I'm like, I don't know, man. I've seen a lot of quarterbacks do those things and I've covered a lot of quarterbacks. Nobody talks like this in the league. And I think Daniel Jeremiah was listening to something he said where he goes he played in

college. He played at CU like Caleb Williams played at USC with the run around create, but he's nowhere near the athlete that Caleb is right and Caleb this year tried to do some of that stuff, being an elite athlete, and got murdered. Right? Murdered. I see Shajir in the same, in the same light of he can play in rhythm. And when he does play in rhythm, it's good, but it's not consistently in rhythm. And at the quarterback position, you need to be able to walk in as a rookie and gain the respect of your teammates. It's not given to you. I don't care if you're a first-round pick. I don't care what you are. a rookie and gain the respect of your teammates. It's not given to you. I don't care if you're a first round pick,

I don't care what you are. You have to earn the respect of your teammates. I don't know if he's ever had to do that before, right? Because he has been Deon's kid and he went to Jackson State or wherever it was down there. And then he goes to see you with his dad and with, and he's the guy immediately, he's gonna have a bit of a wake up call.

And I think Deon will have him prepped and ready to go, but he's gonna have to walk in that room and earn everything that was given to him. None of this, no one cares you're Deon's kid. No one, in fact, it's gonna hurt you because I would be like, Oh, alright, Deon's kid, show me something. I don't know. I don't, I don't, I think if he was in last year's class, he's QB6, right? And now you're talking about him being QB2, I think he probably falls into the mid first or someone's going to fall in love with him and the owner is going to pound

the table and go butts in the seat and you're going to have to overdraft it. Right. That's the X factor that we can never figure out in a rational world though. I don't think that quarterbacks these days get really drafted in the second round so much. Just looking at recent picks, it's either someone is all in or kind of all out like Malik Willis. Fifth right like it's like that's really where the quarterback market in the draft is nowadays. That was the Spencer Rattler thing last year. It's like well I'd rather have Spencer Rattler in the third like he's not going in the third. It just doesn't happen that off. Third is probably the baseline for like guys

we don't love but you you're right. Sometimes the owner walks in the room, pounds the table, says we better draft quarterback and you're just going to have to deal with it. I just was because I enjoyed the heck out of Colorado football games. They were entertaining. Uh, Hey, the, you know, the Nebraska game, that was fun for you, but the, but you know, it was, they were a fun football team and I love watching Travis Hunter. So it was like, okay, this is really cool. And I liked him as a player, but I wanted to see, or I wanted to hear something totally different from him at the combine than

what we heard. So I wasn't surprised when McShay and other people, and then, you know, the whole thing, oh, this is what they always say about black quarterbacks. Like no, no, I saw, I saw and, and look, there's a long history of garbage like that. But this look at Michael Pennex last year, look at the way he handled himself. He blew people away. They walked out of those meetings going, Oh, man, that guy's special. I that's why I heard the word special. And so it's like, we need to be able to judge these on an equal plane

of he looked like a clown to me at the podium with the way he talked because no quarterbacks talk like this. So we also need to be able to evaluate it fairly. Anyway, let us just move on to what do I got left? Cleveland is Cleveland, your team, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh. Okay. I think, I think Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh is my ideal landing spot for Sam Darnold because it is, I know the grades weren't great. But I mean, you talk about a

steady-eddy head coach, a steady-eddy system to bring you in with people around you. I think Pittsburgh, and they put a ton of capital into their offensive line last year. Right? They dropped Troy Fontenot out of Washington. He got Dean this year, but he's gonna be a guy. Zach Frazier was an incredible starter at center for them out of West Virginia. Mason McCormick, a fourth round pick. They put some serious value into protecting their guys up front. It is a run first type of team. So you're not gonna come in and put everything on Sam.

But I think he unlocks that team to go and make the next level. I mean, they're still winning eight, nine, 10, 11 games every single year with an unreal defense. I think Sam is a piece that they'll go if I'm the Steelers, I'm making a big push for Sam Darnold. Cleveland's the other team that I had pegged for him to go to. You never know what's gonna go on there.

But again, lots of talent. Kevin Stefanski is a great coach, especially on the offensive side of the ball. So I just don't know if Sam's willing to go, do I wanna be the next long list of quarterbacks in Cleveland where everyone's talking about? Oh, it's not good. It's this, it's that. Or do I want to go to the Steelers that are well respected, well run head coaches, top notch hall of fame. I think the Steelers are where I say Sam Donald starts next year.

All the other teams I named to you are franchises that if we were going one through 32, just what do you think of the franchise? Not the quarterback, not the roster. Just what do you think of the franchise? There are a lot of them in the bottom five to seven. Yeah. And Pittsburgh would be one that's in the top 12. And somebody said to me at one point, somebody in the league that said to me, you know, we feel like we're competing

with maybe 12 other teams every year because there's just so few teams that are run really well. It's probably not 12. It's probably more like 18, but the half of this league has no idea what they're doing. And if you're Sam Darnold and you're his agent, you gotta be like, we need to make sure that we're not going to a place that's just going to be a clown show. And Cleveland is a clown show and has been a clown show. There's no chance I'm taking that phone call Pittsburgh. You can compete in that division. You've done it been a clown show. There's no chance I'm taking that phone call. Pittsburgh, you can compete in that division. You've done it for a long time.

And I think also Mike Tomlin has got to be tired of, and I file some people in their local media, they're getting antsy the same way Vikings. Fans want this quarterback because they've had done with the same thing for so long. It's like one or two years. You get to the playoffs without a good quarterback. Hey, great job coach. Seven years. All right. Can you get a quarterback please? I think that is

indeed the best location for Sam Darnall. Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. And I think that they'll get some weapons on the outside, right? Can George Pickens keep it all together inside the lines? Right? Obviously it didn't work out with Smith, I think is who it was. They brought him over and then he like quit. No, it was Baltimore. Nevermind. I'm mixing my names here. But prior me, it's really good. It's also not Smith either, but we'll just move on. You know who I'm talking about. See, you knew who I was though.

That's that. That's that sink that we have. But I do. I think if I'm Sam Donald, I agree with everything you said. I've been through the ringer as a player. I've been through ups and downs and everything. I want to go somewhere that is stable. Right. I also don't want to go somewhere that's going to be a one year turnaround with the head coach. Right.

Hey, if I go to New York and I go with Dable, I love Dave's, I love Joshin, but they're playing for their job this year. If things don't go well, you're two or three injuries away from things not going well and then a whole new regime is coming in and everything starting over. I don't want that if I'm Sam Darnall. I want consistency. I want proven track record. And I want someone that's going to sign me to a two or three year deal and I'm going to play that

deal out with that head coach. Tuesday morning left guard free agency special. This is good. I enjoyed this. Let's let's do it again after they signed some players. Yes, yeah. Post free agencies always way more fun when the dust settles. Alright, sounds good.

Well, thanks for your time as always. Great stuff. You shook the rust off and went right back to it. And I appreciate that. And we will definitely talk very soon. My friend. Absolutely. Football. Football.