Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Jeremiah Sirles breaks down where the Vikings' offense can improve

Episode Date: September 6, 2023

Matthew Coller and former Vikings offensive lineman Jeremiah Sirles deep dive into the trenches to preview Vikings-Bucs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. And folks, guess what's back? It is Tuesday morning, left guard time with Jeremiah Searles. That is right. We are going to be doing it once again every Tuesday-ish, all season long. At least weekly, it will definitely happen. Sometimes things get in the way, but mostly on Tuesday. Jeremiah, how is

your summer how you been what's going on man it's been good man you know august was a nice break you know the agency is full up and swaying and rolling and we're cooking with gas now which is great to get back into that you know we had a second rounder and a fifth rounder this year in the previous draft so really helpful there our second render is actually going to start for the giants john michael schmitz at center. And Evan Hall, the running back from Northwestern, drafted by the fifth of the Colts, is going to get a chance to start with Jonathan Taylor and Zach Moss being out.

So really good opportunities for our young guys. And then obviously our guy, Cordell Volson, up in Bengal country still getting after it. So, you know, it's been a great, great year for the agency so far. I'm really excited to keep that going. Husker Stadium, Husker football is in full swing now, unfortunately. Got to get back into the Saturdays are for pain and sadness type of mindset there after what happened up in

Gopherville last week. Overall, great summer. We added a new addition to the family since I think we did our last show. I have three kids now. Chasing after all them, but I also got snipped, so no more kids. Super excited. Maybe TMI, but it's something I'm excited about that I so no more kids so super excited maybe tmi but you know it's something i'm excited about that i have no more children on the way

definitely tmi but uh also starting the show hot matt not you're not the only one of men of a certain age that i know who have gone down that route so everybody speaks highly of it uh but uh i'm sure that that procedure was more fun than watching the Huskers play against the gophers the other day not exactly a great start to the Matt rule era I would not say I was there I went up to the game I was in the stadium and right after we fumbled I was like hmm I think I've seen this movie before I'm pretty sure I know how it and how it ends and sure enough you know costly turnovers turnovers in the red zone you know i will say this i'm excited about where we're at i'm not sure how good of a gopher team that is you know i think that the defensively they got some players i mean obviously tyler newbin is fantastic in the back end you know but i they don't have mo ibrahim for the first time in 20

years so trying to figure out who's gonna be a quarterback but that that young qb they have up there he can spin it now he had some pretty cool throws on the run angle throws and he's got some legs to him so i think that offense is probably gonna run through nine yeah he's got uh he's got kind of that sidearm type of throw but also you can't throw an interception in the red zone like he did anyway but uh this would also assume that people would have watched that game which i'm not 100 sure that anyone did uh so we'll just move forward and we'll see. I mean, you can't judge Matt rule just getting there. It does take time for him to put his stamp on the program, but it was absolutely classic Nebraska losing a one score game.

They are the anti 2022 Vikings. When it comes to all those one score games. Well, I mean, this has been a fascination for Vikings fans for the entire offseason is the fact that they ran back all five offensive linemen. And I think that there's something to be said for having five offensive linemen back as opposed to trying to place new players into an offensive line all the time. So maybe you could speak to that like if there's if there's a reason this works it has to be because their chemistry is is good from last year so they bring back bradbury they don't make changes at the guard position but how do we think this is going to go and what could that mean that they had everybody back yeah you know the biggest thing we talk about all the time is you want to develop young alignment right that's what you want to do you want to have a chance to let them go in there and develop, but you want to let them develop under the same coach, under the same scheme, the same calls, right? So that they're truly just developing physically and getting more comfortable. I think year two under Chris Cooper, year two under KOC, you know, all those things play a huge factor into having that chemistry and that cohesion where you're now able to put more on their plate because you're not

worried about, does this guy know the offense? Or does this guy know the snap count or whatever it may be? All those guys should be so comfortable with all of the scheme and everything that now it's just really honing in on the certain techniques that coach Cooper wants really honing in on the certain, like against this look or that look, what are the wrinkles, right? And having confidence that you can call anything in the playbook at any time something you installed in week one you can call in week nine even though you haven't practiced it because these guys have done it before over and

over and over again between otas and training camp you know whatnot like you're just much more comfortable as a play caller you're not worried about like hey if i if i have to get to this play or if i get to this protection does the right guard know what we're doing right like so from that standpoint it's great now we need to see big jumps from the guard positions you know Ezra Cleveland I think he kind of is what he is right he's a proficient left guard but you need to see a big jump in year one to year two in Eddingham right and I think you do you usually see giant jumps in rookies right first year they're kind of flying by the seat of their pants not really sure what's going on trying to keep their head above water but you know you go into year two and you really start to see what guys can become how do they treat the offseason

did they get bigger faster stronger is the game slow down for them like all those things are really going to be important i think ed ingram is going to have to take that big jump you know he took a lot of scrutiny last year as a rookie that happens right but that means that he's going to come out and be under the microscope even way more than he was last year because people are going to see that from him so i think having year two with coach cooper all those guys back together is going to pay dividends you know but we really they have to go out and earn it yeah and i think that what one thing that's hard to figure out is the offensive line coaches impact. I think you need multiple years for that. And we've,

we saw Rick Denison in and how he impacted the run game. And he's like legendary for that. But then when he wasn't coaching, then it was Phil Rauscher and then the guys are having to change who's coaching them. And then it's a totally different system last year with Chris Cooper coming in. So even just understanding how he wants things done and what he's trying to teach,

I think is good for these players and the experience of Ed Ingram. And I do think that there's something to Ezra Cleveland having another year playing left guard after having to play tackle in college, right guard is a very chaotic start to his career i think that's the most like positive way you could try to spin it is hey maybe you got this guy back and like the year two jump and so forth i do think they showed their cards a little bit though when they brought in dalton reisner for a visit like okay we're a little concerned about this uh and the way that it's going with the guard position i don't know if it was right or left guard, but the fact Ingram played in a preseason game kind of, to me, indicated that they weren't too thrilled

with the way it was going and maybe wanted to send a message by putting him into a preseason game. Now, you can't fix it unless you diagnose it. So after watching it all last year, what is it that could improve that would equal the jump? Because I think from a physical perspective, Ingram is a huge guy, and I think he has strength. And at times, he looked like a good run blocker to me. But in pass protection, there were just too many huge misses.

Yeah, you know, the biggest thing, you talk about a huge miss, the death of an offensive lineman, especially in interior, are the quick beats, right? Getting beat quickly. It's how Aaron Donald had 20 sacks that year, right? He's beating dudes off the rip, right? Right away. And so as an offensive lineman, as you grow and develop, you have to understand it's better to survive and die a slow death

than it is to try and like, let me just get my hands on this guy and rough him up, right? And that just takes time with learning that, you know, he played at LSU, he played against good players, but they're werewolves every single week, right? Every single week, like you're going up against one of the, arguably the best players on the team, right? The three techniques in the NFL are evolving to become game changers, game wreckers, right? So I think that for him, he has to understand patience and technique, right? Understand, Hey, I got to trust right understand hey I got to trust my technique I got to trust my set I got to trust my hands so that if I throw my hands and I'm not

all over the place this dude's not swimming and screaming up into Kirk's face right or if he swipes my hands I had good feet so I can try and push him by the pile or or widen the pocket or those type of things and he just has to limit the the quick beat right and I think Ezra Cleveland did that I mean we we talked about him as a rookie, too. We were like, man, this dude's getting beat off the rip. DeForest Buckner was just running right through him like he was standing still. But as you've seen, he started to understand, I'm a big, strong guy. Let's make this dude run through me instead of trying to have him play an edge.

That was the biggest thing as an O-lineman is don't allow them to get to your edges. If they beat you, make them go through you. You're 300-plus pounds. It takes time to push that backwards. But if you allow them to play half a man and they're playing 150 pounds and they're able to get moves and get outside, it's a lot easier for them. So I think the biggest thing is just having more trust in his ability to pass, protect trust in his hands and understanding where his help is. Hey, am I sliding to the tackle? Am I sliding away? Like understanding how to use my help to my advantage so that i can make this defensive lineman go somewhere that he doesn't want to go right make him play me not me play him yeah that's interesting

because uh i did a story about brian o'neill and i think i called it like the old bleep moments that make brian o'neill because even when he gets, he doesn't like he finds a way to get a hand on a guy to, to push a guy off balance, to just get enough. And last year there were way too many times. And from both of them really where there wasn't enough, there was actually nothing that they didn't even get hands on guys. And I think a big part of it was identification because when you are a defense going up against the Vikings you know a couple of things number one is that Christian Derrissaw is awesome and Brian O'Neill is awesome so of course you're not going to stop rushing people over them but your plan isn't probably to go after them

because they're not the weak points in the offensive line it's the inexperienced interior so what we saw all the time was these stunts and twists and blitzes that were just targeted at these guys. And there was a lot of times where it was like, Oh, was I supposed to, did you have the, what happened there? And I know that, you know, there's pre-snap communication, but there's also identifying it after the snap because defenses are good at showing a lot of different stuff and then sending something else and i think that if there's anything that's going to show us whether he can improve or not it's how he handles those because he's had a year to see them he's had a year to study them and if

you still don't understand what's going on there and i know some people get beat sometimes but if you're getting beat all the time then it's going to be very hard to improve because that cal like that strategy against you is not changing like that's going to be very hard to improve because that strategy against you is not changing. That's going to be the way that teams attack this year as well. Right, and the number one reason for that too is because what frustrates Kirk Cousins the most? Pressure right in his teeth, right? That's been since he entered the league. That's been what really gets him rattled.

That's what gets him on his toes is when he has a big werewolf in his face breathing down on him and he can't see down the field or where he wants to go which is why you saw teams like the Giants just line Dexter Lawrence up and say mush right like run and you're going to see a lot more of that and then you create the chaos you go through the twists and the TTs and the NTs and going back to what we kind of said earlier that should help having the fact that all three of them have spent all off season together like right last year he came in as a rookie he was battling for that spot so he didn't really just roll with the ones the whole time right he was with the ones then the twos and then all of a sudden season came it's like okay now you're a one right he's had a

full off season prepared with that one group and understand hey where how does Garrett set like this right if we're setting this, does Garrett set back and off? Does he set up on the line of scrimmage? Or, hey, if I'm passing this off with O'Neal, how does he do it, right? Or how does Ole do it, right? He has all these chances to figure out because of just the reps that he's been able to do it over and over and over again. That's where I talk about when the game's slowing down.

That's what it means. That's where it's like, okay, I trust that I don't have to physically watch this dude as I pass him over to the center. Right. I can trust that if I use my hands and throw him to the center, I can now get my eyes tracking back to the looper coming across. Right. That's the trust that you have with the guys inside where you don't have to physically like, OK, is he there? OK, yes, he's there now move right those are half seconds that are causing you to get beat versus just having that trust and that feel that cohesion with that middle three to pick up those stunts and allow Kirk to stand back there for only two and a half seconds right he's really good at getting the ball out and like we talked about

Kirk's in a contract here Kirk's not going to stand back there and take smacks right like he's going to get the ball out and so we have to make sure we give him the time we give him that ability to do that because when he does good things happen well if i say like we talked about we haven't done a podcast in months but we have talked at other times yes so we did have maybe have that discussion uh but uh so here's the question i guess fundamentally, fundamentally, I thought they had to bring back Garrett Bradbury because when you looked at the other options, I don't know who was better than he was, but these guards, there's no parachute here. Chris Reed has been hurt for the entire training camp. He's not ready to go to start the season.

I think he's a serviceable player that maybe if he's healthy, you could bail on Ed Ingram if you have to, or Ezra Cleveland, if you feel like you have to, that it's collapsing and you end up in a Drew Samia situation where you've just got to do something else. But they really didn't give themselves any other parachute or any competition for Ed Ingram. The most competition they had was bringing in Dalton Reisner for a day to show him the facility. And that's it. Reisner's still out there, by the way, which is weird.

I believe so. I don't really know what the deal is. Maybe he just wants too much money or doesn't like football. I don't even know. I mean, it happens sometimes, I guess. A Vikings fullback stopped playing football and now does Dungeons and Dragons on Twitch. I'm not even making that up.

That's a fact. Some guys like different things. Or he just is digging his heels in and waiting until somebody gets hurt. That could be the thing. But should they have done something else other than just bringing them back with Blake Brandel as the main backup guard I thought they should have drafted an interior guy you know I felt like that was a position

we talk about you want to develop you want to grow bring in a rookie that Chris Cooper can say you are mine right you are mine and I will mold you and I will shape you how I want you to be and how I want you to come in and compete for the starting spot or become the starter in a year or two or whatever it might be and I'm not talking about like should draft one of the first right like take a guard in the fifth take a guard in the sixth right take a developmental type guard that you can come in and you can find those guys those diamonds in the rough that turn into really good serviceable backups role players or eventually even starters you know so I would like to see them bring in some Youngtown on that.

I don't think we had the cap room to bring in a starting quality guard. I think it really comes down to you can say all the live long day, like why didn't we go do this or why didn't we go do that? It costs money. It costs money to go get caliber players that are ready to plug in and be an upgrade from where you're at versus you're talking about two guys that are on rookie contracts. I mean ezra's still on a rookie contract correct this is last year right so yeah so eras on ezra's on a rookie contract ed ingram's on a rookie contract

those guys combined don't cost what one high quality starting guard costs in the nfl these days right and so you have to think about it from that they're spending money elsewhere they're getting ready to pay jefferson they just had to pay tj hawkinson they didn't have the cap room to go out there and spend it on that position which you and i on the podcast on we've talked about like that's kind of been the mo for what the vikings have done for a long time is that's the position that seems to suffer at times but you can say we need upgrades and all the things but if you can't pay for it it it's not going to happen. It's not a charity, right?

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they have a sec, a second contract for Bradbury, a first round pick ported to him and second round picks into the other guys. So this isn't exactly the Spielman approach, which was, uh, who wants to make $800,000 and come get destroyed every week? Uh, I mean, at least we're talking about highly talented players, high draft picks who have not reached

their potential so far. And I think what Bradbury showed us was that there's always potential to improve for alignment after a couple of seasons. But the hard thing about that is you don't know if that's ever coming. So you can sort of talk yourself into, oh, yeah, like they'll progress and they'll just have this linear progression and get better each year. But it wasn't even that way for Bradbury. The dude was benched in 2021 for Mason Cole. And then the next year he has the best year of his career.

Like sometimes this just happens and maybe it's scheme or maybe he just said, Mike, NFL career is not going to last. If I don't like do something else this offseason, it's hard to know. And it's hard to know whether these guys are going to take a step forward. I guess if I was still trying to project, I would say it's going to be problematic. But even if it's less problematic, just even by a little, that's a big improvement over what they had last year. Now, on the defensive line, we've talked a lot about Brian Flores blitzing the hell out of everybody. And that's been super fun to watch in training camp. Cause normally you don't see that in training camp of a guy just blitzing his own quarterback over and over and over again.

But the, the actual trenches when you lose the Darius Smith and you lose Delvin Tomlinson and are replacing them with Kairos Tonga and Dean Lowry, I think that that leaves a lot of question marks to be had about whether Tonga can hold it down when he's asked to play all the time, how much is left for Dean Lowry, who drifted off a little bit from his production in the previous year. And there's only, in my mind, so much that could be taken care of by just blitzing people. But I think the swingman here is bringing back Daniil Hunter.

I mean, if he wasn't here, I'd be saying, I don't know, maybe you should just trade Kirk. Like, I don't know. Like, how are you going to pressure anybody? But with him there, you can look at it, I think, through a little more of a rosy light than if he had decided or they had decided to trade him yeah i mean anytime you have a pass rusher that can win in a one-on-one battle 60 70 of the time he's going to take a lot of attention right and flores is going to use him in a way of like let's rush deniel off the right and blitz off the left right because then you have to make a decision do i slide into the blitz to pick up the blitz with my o-line and then i put one-on-one matchups with daniel hunter or do i slide my my way to

daniel hunter to get a double team on him and allow my running back to then have to come into the protection scheme and have to ask him to protect right so offenses are going to get put in a bind based off of that of kind of pick your poison, right? Because when you are playing aggressive defense, right? I think about like the Wink Martindales of the Giants, right? Guys coming all over the place. You have to figure out, who do I want to put my bets on, right? And usually it's the O-line, right? You don't want to put tight ends and running backs in protection.

That's not what you want to do because it's just not a winning formula. So usually it's like, okay, let's slide our O-linemen into the blitz, pick it up, and then, hey tackle left tackle earn your money right earn your money and when you have a guy like daniel hunter who has been so productive when he can stay healthy get to the quarterback on a consistent basis then everything else helps now i do think i'm big on the idea of brian flores blitzing because we have create pressure. I think so many times last year we sat there watching going, okay, he's going to stand in his five area bubble. No one's going to get around him.

And I don't care who that is. He's going to be able to deliver a football, right? I think we, I think he watched that Flores watched that last year. All Vikings fans were like, no more, none of that. And so I do think he's going to come out super aggressive and get after guys, but a lot is going to be asked of davenport a lot's going to be asked of um daniel hunter to create pressure and win one-on-one matchups so that you can blitz the other side davenport is a really interesting swing man to this defense because his numbers would suggest that the man has always found ways

to pressure quarterbacks and some years he sacks them and some years he does not sack them. But at very least, like every pressure is an impact. I mean, if you go to the PFF numbers and look at when a quarterback is pressured, I mean, you're talking about the best quarterbacks, the league quarterback rating drops from 105 to 78 or something like that. When they're pressured, there's almost nobody. I think Josh Allen is kind of the exception to this, but almost nobody is consistently above average. Well, they're pressured. So if Davenport can even just pressure the quarterback, like that's real value there. And if he gets five sacks, seven sacks, whatever, that's good for them. But also he's never played more than I think 500 and something snaps. And now they're going to ask him to play this outside linebacker type position, move inside on some third down stuff, put DJ Wanham out there. I think it could either be this great find and Brian Flores getting the most out of a player,

which I lean that way, having seen training camp, or it could be, well, you signed a guy that just played 500 snaps again. It was kind of banged up and didn't really produce what you thought. If he gives them half of what Zedarius gave them last year and they can fill in the gaps with blitzing, they could create a lot more pressure than I think they did last season. Yeah, and you're right. Those pressure numbers, though they might equivalent to sacks, but pressures in the first and the second quarter,

those add up into the fourth quarter. When you can knock a quarterback down a few times or you hit his arm funky or whatever it might be, it makes quarterbacks start thinking more about the rush than it is the routes, right? And so, yes, we love the sacks. We love when the guys do the sack dance and the whole bit. But anytime you can affect the quarterback's throw or get him off his spot or get him moving around, that's a win because those things add up over over time it allows you to also feel weak points and pressure points of okay where is

this offensive line weak at where can we take advantage of it hey Davenport's killing this dude on the left let's blitz off the right right that's the kind of stuff that allows you to have so many bags of tricks that Flores defense is of guys run all over the place whoever's kind of feeling it that game, whether it's Davenport or whether it's Daniil Hunter or maybe Wanham's figuring it out, it's all of a sudden you're like, okay, those two guys are figuring it out.

Let's attack the other side. And I think that's what Flores wants when you talk about moving guys around from outside linebacker to inside is let's just put guys in their best positions to win. Maybe it's not the best position that like, oh, we don't want him to play a thousand snaps at three technique, but if he's having a really good game against this guard let's keep him inside and

kick someone outside right i think flores is very flowy with that you know watching back to his defenses in miami yeah christian wilkinson that played five technique nose guard like he had chubb like these guys were just all over the place and it just never let the old lineman get a great beat on anyone and i think that's gonna be a lot more of it's gonna look like chaos at times for us as fans or we look like what is happening but like it's gonna be organized chaos for them right they can all be on the same page they're gonna create a lot of confusion for offensive lines up front i want to ask you about what it's like to practice against daniel hunter because you have but also are you aware that if i'm adding it up correct there's only three vikings left who you played with that's only cj ham harrison smith and daniel hunter and

that's it they will soon potentially soon be extinct for uh vikings players that you played with everybody else has been turned over which is just kind of crazy because you haven't been out of the league very long. Yeah. I mean, what, 17 was my last year there, right? I mean, so it wasn't that long, but such is nature of the NFL, right? Guys get old, guys move on. And there's this huge youth movement right now trying to get younger in the NFL, right? I think the Colts are the ones that have like one player over the age of 30 or something crazy like that. Yeah. But I mean, Daniil Hunter, I remember when he came in as a 20 year old,

he was 20 years old when he got in the league to the point where he couldn't even buy the rookie dinner booze because he wasn't old enough to pay for it. Right. And to watch where he was and know how special he was going to be and to see the career that he's had, like it's to no surprise of anyone that was in that building when he showed up as a rookie. Yeah. I mean, the one thing about hunter every year we've done this dance with his contract and so then you're always asking

is he really as good as miles garrett or is really as good as this the guy the other guy but what i've always been just so impressed with him is that he seems to continually get better and he is the least dramatic or look at me superstar player in the league when you look at his numbers and then this even goes against the run as well where he's fantastic run or pass pff grades pressures sacks whatever metric you want to use the guy is elite and yet he is like the quietest just always kind of a part of that locker room and And it was, I don't know, a little bit odd to me that they didn't decide to put down all the money for Daniel Hunter to keep him long-term. And maybe that's just part of their strategy that they want as much flexibility as possible. You've got the

Justin Jefferson extension looming at some point, but if they had done it, I would have thought like, this is a guy who you want in the ring of honor this is like uh you you're never going to feel bad about having daniel hunter as a viking for life right and i mean i think everyone wants that but at the same time age plays a factor right age plays a factor and especially he's going to play every snap this year right like they're going to ask a ton out of him i mean they paid him what they paid him they're like all right earn it right like he's going to get asked to do a lot this year and they'll see, Hey, can his body hold up? Right. He's got the neck issue. He's had the other kind of, um, lingering stuff. Like, but if he can hold up, you're right. He deserves every dollar that he gets, especially if he goes out and has a double digit sack year this year, like he can.

All right. Here's what I want want to know so it has been a while since we have podcasted uh you must have been you know keeping some takes about the vikings in the nfl just pent up in your football-y soul you must have been spending all these months you know out there just like thinking of takes and and they must have been bursting out of your brain so i want to know what some of those takes are i want to know some of these some predictions some some hot takes who's going to win the super bowl who you think is going to be overrated like what do you got for him what even what have you been holding on to all summer long vikings takes or nfl hot takes it could be either one if you want to get out the vikings takes we could do that. I think Justin Jefferson breaks 2,000 yards receiving this year.

That's a hot one. That's a hot one. I think he breaks 2,000 yards receiving this year based off of everyone in this day and age is holding out for their contract. I'm not practicing. I'm not doing this. And I don't hold it against him. Get paid. Go do your thing, big fella.

But that's a guy that's been acting like a true pro, knowing he's going to get paid what he gets deserved because of the way he works, the chemistry he's built with Kirk, and also I think the Vikings are going to be behind quite a bit this year. So I think they're going to throw the football a lot, and I think Jefferson has a 2,000-yard year. Okay, that is coming right out of the gate, firing. I think his numbers are going to go down a little

because they're going to throw it to other people. Last year, it was Justin Jefferson, and I don't know if Adam Thielen can get open anymore, right? And they weren't good at throwing screen passes. I think they want to do that. They weren't really good at, like, bootlegs and dumping off to the tight end. I think they want to do that.

Like, use Josh Oliver a little. TJ Hawkinson just got paid. You're want to do that. Like use Josh Oliver a little TJ Hawkinson just got paid. They you're going to use them and Jordan Addison, but Jordan Addison is the swing man to this because if he's good, you can throw it to him all the time too. If he struggles or he gets hurt or whatever, then it's right back to the Justin Jefferson entire offense. And I also think, and maybe just a quick detour, cause I would love your opinion on this. I think what Jefferson and Hawkinson did with their contracts was different approaches. One did more of a hold in and the other one took every rep. I think you could compliment Jefferson by taking every rep without criticizing Hawkinson.

You can laugh at Hawkinson because the excuses were hilarious and weird. But for the approach, I think it's okay. If players are using everything they can to negotiate their contract, you only get so many of these, the owner's team will still be worth billions and billions of dollars. If Washington's worth 6 billion, imagine what the other teams are worth. So I think that you could say, Hey, Justin Jefferson, how he handled this whole thing nothing in the media whatsoever every rep in practice i think it's been very impressive how he's gone about it yeah i mean he's a true pro right we've watched him grow from our eyes from when i used to say he was a light blue

in our meter when we first talked about i was like oh i don't annoy rookies kings that dudes as red hot as they come anymore and you know in And you see, I think people are still jaded by the Diggs era, right, of how he went about and handled things. And he's a fantastic player. I love Diggs to death, and he's a superstar. But Jefferson's just gone about it in a completely different way, more of the humble approach. And that not being said, that when he makes $200-whatever million

in his next contract, things will change. But I've loved the way he's approached everything from the offseason approach to how he goes throughout the year how he takes care of his body how he is in front of the media all those things have been fantastic you know I watched them interview him during a preseason game and he was engaged he was watching the game while he was doing the interview and you know I think that that's a guy that you want as a leader on your football team for a long time, too. Folks, this fall season is an unbelievable time for sports.

And I'm always a fan of trying to catch other games when I go on the road to cover football, like baseball, hockey, basketball, just about anything. And that's why I use GameTime, the fast and easy way to buy tickets of any type of event even music comedy whatever you're looking for game time has last minute flash deals on tickets images of seats and a low price guarantee you don't have to plan your tickets months out in advance with game time there are deals on tickets right up to game day the game time guarantee means that you always get the best deal. If you find a better price in the same section or row for less, GameTime will credit you 110%. Buy tickets in seconds and have them arrive right there on your phone. It's great. Download the GameTime app, create an account,

and use the code INSIDER for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account, redeem code INSIDER for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account. Redeem code Insider for $20 off. Download GameTime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest price guaranteed. Yeah, and I mean, he's spoken to us and answered all the questions about the contract without,

you know, saying anything to throw anybody under the bus or making any sort of outrageous statements or anything like that. And also from his side, there has been no leaks. And I think that's another thing too, that they haven't tried to put pressure on the Vikings through the media or anything like that. I think handling it as down the middle as you can get. Uh, but anyway, 2000 yards would be insane. I am not ready to buy in fully to that because i think they have more weapons but i but i love the take uh what else you got i think that the jacksonville jaguars end up with the second seed in the afc wow second seed yes if you look at that roster and you look at what they were able to do last year, I think the Bills fall off a little bit this year. They're getting a little bit older. Their run game has been not very good. They lost some pieces of the O-line, too.

I think that Jacksonville is primed in a division that is hot garbage, ability to run their division, right? That's a lot of wins. And then they won their division, so they're going to have some tough games, but win some of those tough games on the road. I think Trevor Lawrence is going to be a superstar this year. Evan Ingram, I think, is going to be one of the top tight ends in the league this year. You add Calvin Ridley. You have Christian Kirk.

Like, there is so many weapons in ETN on that team. I think their offense is going to be outstanding, and if they can just continue to even be as good as they were on defense and not even get remotely better than they were last year i think that they're a chance to have the second seed in the afc i mean when you can start out like five and one uh in your division that's a pretty i mean that's quite different from if you're in the afc east and i mean even even if aaron rogers is disappointing they're still way more competitive than they were last year. And there's no reason to think Miami's not good.

I would never count out a Belichick team, especially if he has an offensive coordinator who maybe has a clue. Unlike last year, they won some games with the worst offensive coordinator situation in the entire NFL, because I have no idea what Belichick was doing, but they're still a competitive team. So if you're in that division or the west where Denver's probably getting a little bit better with Sean Payton. And I would also throw this out there. I think that the chargers would be a team that I might nominate for some time. You're going to be right. If you

keep picking the chart. So like last year I was like, okay, they've got all the signs. They just got Khalil Mack. Here we go. And they're going to take that big jump. And, of course, they blew like a 27-point lead in the playoffs. But they were also really banged up. I think their offensive line is better. I think they're healthier. They've added a weapon in Quentin Johnston.

I think that if I'm picking the seeds, that maybe they're a little higher than people think. And I would put them up there. Maybe even a rematch with the Jaguars I don't know yeah I mean I love the Chargers they can stay healthy I mean you talk about Joey Bosa like Keenan Allen was hurt most of the year Mike Williams was playing on one leg like they were so beautiful they lost for Sean Slater they're all pro left tackle in the first game of the year I mean they have so many pieces to a Chargers or another team that could be really really good with Austin Eckler still being a fantasy legend, right, doing what he can do. But, I mean, the AFC, when you start to look into some of the teams, the AFC's top end is really, really good, but the bottom end is awful, right?

It's a big drop-off from, like, the top six teams in the AFC to the rest. Like, it's pretty bad. All right, here's pretty bad. All right. Here's the one that I'm going to put down on, on paper that people can make fun of me later if it doesn't turn out, but in the national football conference where it's just on fire, like when you look at the AFC, it's like this beautiful castle.

And then this is like the fixer upper that's on HGTV that they're walking in. I, we're going to got to take down that wall, got to make it OB concept. I got to put a fence out back. Like that's the NFC. I think Seattle's going to represent the NFC in the super bowl. I, I think that they're going to take, they're going to take this next step for them. That Gino Smith is going to be really good this year with their receivers, the same offense they've improved on defense. And the NFC just does not make me think there's too many other great teams.

I mean, Philadelphia, it's very hard to get back to the Superbowl two years in a row. San Francisco can pretty play the whole season. He's been banged up. Is he actually even any good? And those are the teams that everyone sort of anointed as the best and then the lions who you can't really trust so i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm going out on a limb and i'm gonna pick seattle i can i just don't know if they can get past the 49ers like their tackles so seattle again i'm gonna talk to the old lions their tackles two young tackles right lucas abrams charles cross studs right but i wanted them

to pick my second round pick because they need a starting center bad and they didn't right but gino gino smith can he lightning in a bottle two years in a row right it was kind of the resurgence of last year can he carry on that was that the best he's gonna be is he still getting better i he's the giant question mark but i mean you add smith and jigba to that receiving room of tyler lockett and dk mccaff scary scary kenneth walker you add zach charbonnet a second round pick running back they have a ton of weapons too it's just when you talk about a division against the 49ers that's where i i wonder if they're going to run in the roadblock of the 49ers because that defense didn't lose anything. Right.

Assuming that Bosa's going to play, I figure. Yeah, I mean, you have to guess. You have to assume. Yeah, if he doesn't, then it's a lot different. So I don't know what's going to happen there. But the rest of the division, though, I mean, Arizona, that's two free wins. And the Rams, Cooper cup's having some health issues and they've got uh seven thousand dollar or seven million dollars but no it's much more like 70 80

million dollars in dead cap i i don't remember exactly the number it's like 80 million dollars so uh that's not good for them i think their roster is actually quite bad at the moment so you're in a division that's quite winnable. Who do you think is going to win the NFC North? Detroit. You're buying? I'm buying into Detroit. I think looking at it from an offensive line perspective,

they have a top three offensive line in all of college. All of the NFL win healthy. Taylor Decker, Penny Swool, Frank Ragnow. I mean, you talk about all pros at three positions, and you add Jameer Gibbs, who's going to be a very special talent, Amara St. Brown, one of the best receivers in the NFL, and then that defense is, if they can pick up where they left last year, I mean, they were smothering last year. The last eight games of the year last year, they were smothering. I really worry about the Packers and Jordan Love.

Anytime you have a new quarterback situation, not sure. Kirk and the Fighting Vikings, I love them to death. I think our defense is going to have times it's going to struggle. We're going to score a lot of points, I think, but we did that last year. We did that last year, and it's hard to do it again twice and i think detroit runs away with it because i'm not buying into the justin fields everyone thinks he's going to take some giant jump in year two i just i didn't see it last year he ran like a running back it's great for fantasy football but he's going to get hurt if he tries to do that all year long yeah i i think that i'm gonna remain skeptical on both he and jordan love until we see it and you know i think love doesn't have a super high bar to play as well as aaron rogers and that team

still has a lot of talent but to me it just sort of screams 500 style football team and with justin fields part of the bet that they made was that he could be bad and they knew that if he's bad and they win five or six games, that they're going to be in position to draft one of these, I don't know, eight quarterbacks who are going in the first round at this point from after watching week one, but that, that, that was part of the bet. So I think that we have to kind of wait and see on that. And, you know, if fields does improve, even then, like, can he be good? Because it's not an improvement. You're talking about like, that's the Ed Ingram thing. If he improves, you're hoping to get to

below average at this point, because it was one of the worst in the league. It's the same thing with fields. If he takes a big step, it's might be average. It's got to take, he's got to take an ungodly step to be actually good. So then does it even out with the running? I also think that football team is just not fully formed yet that they need one more off season to spend more of that cash and build the rest of the roster before they're a legitimate contender. Detroit, I have been very much waffling on Detroit for the entire off season because they are still Detroit. And you could still see a few things going wrong for them. The thing with Jared golf is if his offensive line is good and

healthy, that dude is a beast. He will sit back there and just, just throw passes all over the place. If they get banged up or they're, you know, a little shaky, he struggles if he has to move at all. And that that's kind of a definitive factor of them and how they got behind last year. We'll have to see about the defense it's supposed to be better and everyone talks about eric glenn as if he's great but has not shown that at any point yet so far so i'm a little skeptical that they could be great but i think they'll be more neck and neck with the vikings how many wins do you have the Vikings getting? I've gone back and forth on this one.

You know, I want to say they're a 10-win team. I want to say that that's kind of the number, but I think it's probably more like eight or nine. I think it's probably more like eight or nine, just based off the fact of the pieces that we lost, you know, trying to figure out how to replace that. New coordinator on defense, some growing pains with some young players that are going to be asked to play a lot. I mean, you have an undrafted free agent starting at middle linebacker. Yes, he earned that. Did I

think he was incredible in college when I've signed him 100%? I thought he was a locked draft pick. I mean, he's as safe as a bet as you could have got as an undrafted free agent, but at the same time, he's a rookie play caller.'s your signal caller he's in the middle like it's just bound to make mistakes and you talk about losing some depth pieces on the front on the defensive front you mean you start talking post starters people have question marks of like who is that who is that how long has he what has he done like you talk about guys getting banged up the nfl is a war of attrition i just don't think the vikings have enough depth on the defensive side of the ball to win football games late in the year when it matters and you got to get after it and guys are hurt vets are old i mean it's just hard to do in the nfl that's my biggest issue with the vikings just the the ability to have young players in

really critical situations and then older players that are just low on the depth chart like that's my biggest thing that i think holds this team back in a lot of instances if you go one level down from the starter you are into who is that territory and i mean especially a cornerback where if a caleb evans or mckay blackman gets hurt it's either elevate joan williams from the practice squad who you know is joan williams and then andrew booth jr who has almost never played and didn't get a single first team rep as a former second round draft pick all the way throughout training camp like that's your starters if somebody gets banged up and i think you know we're always going to kind of go back and reference the 2017 team because you know you were on it and I covered it.

And when you look at some of the backups there, some of the guys coming off the bench, there was a lot of experienced players who were coming off the bench. Guys who had developed over a number of years, whether they were like special teamers or the kind of Josh Missalas types or Anthony Harris types where you knew that this player could step up if you absolutely needed him. And then there was even just depth players who were experienced like Brian Robinson, who is coming off the bench playing a role. But when Everson Griffin hurt his foot, I mean, you start B Rob, that's an NFL starting defensive lineman who is in there when someone gets hurt. That is not what they have on this team. It is okay. This guy's never played before, but we get to see his debut. That's pretty much every position except for receiver. Even at running back. It's if Alexander Madison gets hurt, Miles Gaskin has played some

football games before, but aside from that, pretty much nobody has on the offensive line. You're talking about Blake Brandel. You're talking about only Udo was very spotty in training camp has some experience, but not great experience. So I think there's, that's pretty much true for every spot. I went with 10 wins for the Vikings. I think it's fair when you have this good of a quarterback and this good of offense, but enough problems to see them having some really rough days on defense. They play Herbert. They play Mahomes. Last thing, who is winning the Super Bowl? Who is your Super Bowl winning franchise? I think the Bengals get it done this year.

I think the Bengals find a way to get it done this year. They've been so close. They bolstered up that offensive line, right? We now got Orlando Brown at left tackle. Kappa, obviously, I'm a little biased. They have a good starting left guard and record of Olson, Ted Karras. And then this is kind of their last year too, because after this, you got to page Marchase. Can you still afford T Higgins? Can you still pay Hendricks on the defensive side? Right? There's Hubber. Like there's a lot

of Logan Wilson. There's a lot of guys that are on the cusp of becoming mega millionaires because of their play it will be impossible to keep this team together after this year so i think the bangles are all in if joe burrow can stay healthy i think the bangles end up winning it this year that was actually my pick as well that's that's been my pick kind of through the off season it just it just feels like and this was maybe true for a team like new or. Sorry to bring this up for Vikings fans, but there's just been a number of times Peyton Manning with the Colts where a team was just knocking on the door, knocking on the door with a great quarterback and ended up finally breaking through.

It seems like that's going to happen at some point for burrow, but the AFC very, very much up for grabs. So I am excited. We have actual real national football league football this week. And by the way, those long time listeners would remember your hunting trip where you have to miss a week. Usually that's week one. It's not this year. So we will be able to get your full breakdown of Vita Veya versus Garrett Bradbury. And we'll see how that goes in week one one so I'm excited you're

going to be here all season long and uh Tuesday Morning Guard is let is back baby let's go hey absolutely I'm more I'm a grown-up now I actually have it on my google calendar so I'll make sure we have it more of our Tuesday actual recordings not to say three kids doesn't throw a wrench in that sometimes but I will try to be here on tuesday as much as humanly possible we've always made it work from hotel rooms from airports at times has happened on numerous occasions so yes we will be doing this for sure uh thanks jeremiah and i'm looking forward to another season with you man absolutely me too man