Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Jeremiah Sirles on Kirk landing spots and Justin Jefferson ignites Radio Row (part 1)

Episode Date: February 8, 2024

On Radio Row Matthew Coller talked with radio stations about Kirk Cousins, including Las Vegas, who seemed mildly interested. Is that a good idea for Kirk? Who are the favorites for his services right now? On Wednesday Justin Jefferson talked about his contract and Kirk Cousins on radio row and oh boy here we go Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purple Insider is presented by PrizePix. Go to prizepix.com and use the code PURPLE for a first deposit match up to $100. prizepix.com, code PURPLE. Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here from inside my hotel room at Circa in Las Vegas. I spent the entire morning at Radio Row. Jeremiah, I got up at 5.30 in the morning to take a taxi over to Mandalay Bay. And then I was on with Ross Tucker, a former offensive lineman. We talked offensive line PFF grades in my book, and it's been a pretty wild experience.

Then I was just down here. Anybody who knows Vegas knows Fremont Street and how interesting that can be on Fremont Street. I had another radio hit down here. So it's been a's been a, it's been a pretty fun time, man. But you know what I've observed is that, um, people want to talk about off seasons and where quarterbacks are going and what's happening with Kirk and not as much about the football game. Is this one lacking some buzz or what's going on here? I think it's just still

building. You know, I think everyone knows these are two incredibly talented teams. There's no really underlining storyline for either team right now. The most is, hey, Patrick Holmes' dad. You're the best. No, you're the best. And then I think everyone's now either planted their flag in Purdy sucks or Purdy's great camp, and they've been fighting all year anyways. I just feel like there's not a lot of bad blood between these teams. There's not a lot of hate. There's not a lot of trash talk back and forth. It's like the Niners are like, oh, the Eagles suck, and they suck, and the Chiefs are kind of doing their own thing. So I just think it's a lack of storylines besides just the game, which us as talking heads, we can only talk so much about for two weeks in a row.

Right, exactly. So I want to get into some of that, though, because I think it has, well, a lack of lead up buzz that maybe Detroit being here would have had about, you know, the city has gone through so much. Well, Kansas City has gone through nothing. It's been one year and even San Francisco, look, I think San Francisco has the second most playoff wins over the last decade or so. I mean, this is a team that is kind of always there and always succeeding, but the matchups individually are super interesting. And you being a football man, we'll break those down in a moment. But I wanted to ask you about this. So I was on Las Vegas radio this morning and the number one question was, what do you think? What's happening with Captain Kirk?

That is correct. And should the Las Vegas Raiders pursue Kirk Cousins? Yeah, that was kind of an interesting angle. Now, my initial feeling was, I don't think that Kirk wants to go be in a division with my homes after he was in a division with Aaron Rogers for most of his time in Minnesota, but I haven't really taken them seriously as a team that Kirk Cousins could join. I should, I, I don't, I don't think Kirk wants to live in Las Vegas. You take it down to who the guy is. He's made a gazillion dollars.

I don't think he wants to take his family. I mean, it's no secret Kirk is a Christian man, honors family values. The last place he wants to live is Sin City. I can't imagine him wanting to put that on his pop resume, especially he's looking for an end-of-year, probably, end-of-career-type destination. Maybe maybe the money's worth it maybe that all speaks to it but I feel like Kirk is not the type of personality that the Raiders are going to want at their quarterback position especially with their Antonio Pierce being a big personality like I look at

those locker rooms after the wins with Antonio Pierce I don't see plug and play Kirk Cousins walking in there doing the cigars and French inhaling through the nose type of stuff with Max Crosby and the boys I just don't think it's a great personality fit which is an equal part of being a quarterback to our franchise as much as the playing is no I completely agree I didn't really think of that part of it yeah the well and look personally i haven't seen any sins committed oh i'm sure and well did you go to bed before 9 p.m let me tell you what yeah let me tell you what a weird time of day is in las vegas five o'clock in the morning because you walk out and there's like somebody who's all strapped up in their jogging gear, like out there jogging because the weather's awesome. And then there's somebody who's having

a really tough evening still at five o'clock in the morning. So it's a weird place to be. You're right. But I think that that does go for, if you're looking for a different type of like breathing fire quarterback, we know that Kirk Cousins is not that guy. And he was a good personality fit with Kevin O'Connell, but not necessarily with Mike Zimmer. And if I were to put Antonio Pierce in a bucket, I would put him in the Mike Zimmer bucket, much closer to Kevin O'Connell. Do you think it comes down to, cause I, I rejected it. They asked me, do you think that the Raiders should get Kirk Cousins? I didn't say because of Jesus, but I did say like, I just don't think it's a good timeline fit for them.

I don't think that that team is really in a position to compete for a Super Bowl. They are, I think, a decent roster. And Devante Adams being there is awkward, I think, with where the rest of the roster is, because I think they've got a lot of young players. But I don't think they're a Super Bowl contender. I think they need to be way stronger as a top-to-bottom roster. Is it basically Atlanta, Pittsburgh, or Minnesota with Kirk Cousins, you think? I think so.

Unless he truly believes, and we don't know, that he's got six, seven years left in him. That's always a factor, too. We look at some quarterbacks, and we look and go, okay, he's 36, coming off the Achilles, probably two years left in his prime or maybe he's already on the back end. But sometimes these quarterbacks, you know, reinvigorate themselves when they go somewhere else or they feel like, oh, I could play until I'm 45. Like, I'm just going to keep taking care of my body. I'll be fine.

So if he views it as a long term fix, like, hey, I want to go with a young team, build a roster around me type of thing i have davante adams there probably but i think you nailed it with teams that are closer than the raiders and also are kind of in that window of young players that are contributors but also some really good vets on that team right you look across the board on the raiders i don't see a ton of like vets besides Max Crosby and Devontae Adams and kind of who's the other big voices in the room you know what I mean so you're an agent and I am very curious about why you're not as good as Mike McCartney at being an agent no that's not what I'm

talking about but you're not and no one is but when it comes to uh that's like saying you're not my homes right but when it comes to um when it comes to all the other stuff that is not money like how much would you factor that in in a situation like this like i'm curious about this conversation with kirk cousins that's going to go on because i feel like with him it's gotten to the point where he has to really decide basically on just the best fit for him for all the other factors and assume that someone is going to pay him as much as franchise quarterbacks generally get. Yeah, I mean, a lot of that's going to come down to before the combine, Kirk and McCarthy have to sit down and say, OK, what are your parameters, Kirk? Like, is this just, hey, go to the combine and find me the team that's going to pay me the most money, right? Cool.

If that's the parameter, sweet, game on, right? Or are there bumpers in the lane here of like, hey, it's got to be this team that has these type of supporting cast, or, hey, it needs to be a team that has this type of max deal, but they have the plan laid out for their draft and what they're going to do and all those things and he has to take into factor all those and he's going to walk into the combine with a plan that kirk has laid out for him and i don't know i mean sometimes i think kirk's going to be like i want the right fit i want this but then there's another part of my brain that's

like kirk loves him some kirk and he's going to want to go make some money right i just don't know which camp kirk's in right now i mean you hear him talking with the suit on looking good and talking about like, you know, I still feel like it's the, the, the dollars represent whatever it is. Like, I don't know where he's at in his career of chase the ring or still wanting to get paid. If I were her cousins, I would be saying, what's the one thing that bothers me the most in my NFL career? And it would be left guards who couldn't block. No, that's a joke, but the Vikings don't have a left guard under contract. So that's not great. But if I were Kirk Cousins, I would say, well, was I rewarded financially for my performance? Absolutely. One of the highest

paid quarterbacks of the last decade uh was i empowered as a leader eventually not always but eventually do i have people that i like if i was i given great wide receivers oh absolutely blessed from the time that he stepped on the field what's the one thing i don't have i don't have playoff wins and what's the thing that that podcaster keeps bringing up over and over again it's playoff wins and that's where i think that if you're putting everything in order i'm sure that the city is a factor but i think it's probably playoff wins that he wants to be like steve young saying i got the monkey off my back and like i like all the people who have said he can't win in the playoffs including us a lot of times i would want to be able to win and then go to that podium after the Super Bowl and be like, oh, oh, I couldn't like I hope I know he's not like this.

I would want him to be just as snarky as me. Matthew Stafford should have. Oh, it was my fault. Detroit. It was not my fault. Detroit. Actually, you know, that's one of the things that's missing about this Super Bowl is nobody can be like FU, except for Brock Purdy, I guess a little bit, but not really. Not most people like Brock Purdy.

It's like 5%. But I think that would be the biggest thing for Kirk, though, is that I think that he has tried super hard to tune out what people say about him. But I think he's always cared about what people say about him. Okay, so if that's the case, what's the right answer? Is it Pittsburgh? Is it Atlanta? None of those teams that you just mentioned, in my opinion, scream win the Super Bowl over the next three, four years unless they make some drastic changes. I mean, Atlanta is probably the closest.

I mean, Pittsburgh is always, but Mike Tomlin, how much longer does he want to be around? Those type of things. I don't know. I don't know the right answer. But if you're if you're kirk cousins like you just laid out and your your goals playoff wins where are you wanting to go and do you think fits you best so i think that atlanta and pittsburgh is a hard conversation because in pittsburgh lamar joe burrow and and Cleveland's roster are tough to overcome. If not for quarterback injuries and stuff in the division, I'm not sure that Pittsburgh even makes the playoffs this year with Mason

Rudolph and such. And so, but you're also be saying like, I don't know, Mike Tomlin wins all the time. Like I'm going to be in the playoffs. Probably we'll find a way with Mike Tomlin. They have great wide receivers.

And, but then you go to Atlanta. It's a little less proven. It's a head coach with not a ton of experience, Tampa Bay years ago, and then interim head coach, but a similar offensive system. How much does he care about not having to relearn all the language? Well, Zach Robinson came from Los Angeles. It's probably a lot of the same terminology and also a former quarterback that he can work with that understands the way that he's viewing the game as well. I lean toward Atlanta over Pittsburgh for that, but also for you're going to be in the dance, brother. I mean, look at that NFC South.

My God, it's horrifying. If Baker Mayfield goes somewhere else,olina's not going to be anywhere anytime soon new orleans needs to make like 90 million dollars in cap space uh i had a long argument with someone over whether the cap was real today um it is so uh what hold on back up someone argued that it wasn't yeah so there's a little like there's always been a meme of like new orleans or the cap isn't real they could just keep pushing money down the road but eventually the bill came and their roster is kind of a mess and that's what happened to the vikings eventually the bill came for all the money they pushed down the road to sign like anthony barr and give everybody an extension

and kirk obviously and that's what happened in 2020, 2021, et cetera, is they couldn't really pay for anything. Even 2022, they couldn't beef up the roster as much as they wanted to around that like last all in kind of season. So yeah, there's restrictions, but I think the argument was more that like, if you want to, you can do whatever you want, as long as your owner will pay for it, which is not true. But what is true is that you can pry your window open for a couple of years by messing with the salary cap, as long as you're willing to pay the consequences years down the road. And that's where, you know, I would give the Vikings front office credit is like, they've had to undo all of that over several seasons here from what

rick spielman and mike zimmer did to pry the window open so the cap yes very real but like that's definitely part of it got it okay i'm with you i'm picking up what you're putting down now okay i was like i was just very confused like how would someone argue that like it's a set number every single year yeah i think it's really just about um manipulation like manipulation is real but only for so long yes would be uh the salary cap so the chicken the wolf of wall street eventually the chickens come home to roost like eventually eventually the chickens come home to roost my friend it's not just free money you can't just print more of it. And we have been roosted, right? Like right here, we have been roosted.

$28 million in dead cap doesn't go anywhere for Kirk Cousins. You could spread it out, but it doesn't disappear. I have another question for you, a draft related question. Yes. So you did not go to the senior bowl this year, but you are very familiar with the bowl of seniors, which now includes juniors. So it's just the bowl. But here's my question. Post senior bowl, the mock draft universe, the Illuminati of mock drafters have dumped the stock of Bo Nix and Michael Pennix.

And you can actually see this on paper if you go to mock draft database. And now your guy, J.J. McCarthy, of whom you have a jersey of and a signed tattoo of his name across your thigh, he is now projected as the only other first round draft pick other than the top three. My question for you is coming out of the senior bowl. Do you think mock drafters are overreacting or do you think that that's the reality that we were overrating some of the other quarterback prospects? I think it's a little bit of both. You know, you have to be really careful falling in love or turning on a guy based off of an all-star performance,

right? Especially the quarterback position, you know, there's obviously red flags that can pop up, but in three days, can you really tell what a quarterback is or is he who he is on tape? Right. And every team values that differently. Like there's certain teams that could care less about the combine. Like for example, the Rams don't even go to the combine. Like they don't even show up. Like you look across the board or up on the boxes in indie when everyone's running and the rams is dark right so it just really depends on what teams put as heavy like make breaks and i always tell guys when i'm recruiting them like hey your film is 85 of what's going to get you drafted or not the pre-draft process is 15 of that right, right? What you do in that time, including the All-Star games,

you can go up or you can go down. But I don't think it's a drastic thought to think, hey, man, Penix and those guys, maybe they're not the pro guys that we're ready for. And I'm not saying that they're not the pro. They're maybe not just top 10. Maybe they're not top 15. Those are the guys that you have to count on right away

to come in and be the dudes. And I still think Penix is still the most accurate quarterback in this entire class based off of his tape. Did he have some error? Those are the senior bowl. Yeah. But none of the guys down there besides Spencer Rattler apparently had a great week, but are we really going to say, oh, because of three days in mobile, Spencer Rattler has now vaulted

all these dudes. We've watched Spencer Rattler. We know what he can do. We know what he sees when the bullets are going. He is who he is. So I don't buy too much in the mocks because everything's going to change at the combine. Right. All of a sudden, the Panics goes and throws at the combine, which he probably won't because

most quarterbacks don't. But, you know, if one of these guys goes to the combine and throws really well and runs really well, guess what? Their names will start to trickle back up to the top. Like everything's just so fluid right now. And the NFL is putting puzzle pieces together on each one of these players, right? Trying to put the picture together of who they are, what they matter. I don't put too much stock into it right now in February. We'll have a much better picture as we get closer in April. And so I looked at this

and what I noticed was that a lot of players stock in the public will rise and fall with things like this that even interestingly at the combine a bunch of people in the mock draft universe dropped will levis last year and then must have not had confidence in that and brought him back up as the process went along but actually he went to the combine and people weren't impressed his throwing wasn't all that good at his pro day which is right around that same time. And I think that was really the truth, maybe, that what people thought about him. So trying to figure out now is, I think, really difficult. And we can't put too much into where people are mocking those quarterbacks right now.

But I think we will be a little closer after the combine to at least having some sense for those three. Cause I think the other three are pretty much locked into that top five at worst seven or eight. But if you get there, then you've got other teams like the giants, the Falcons who might draft a quarterback. The Falcons could do the get Kirk and draft a guy type of thing if they wanted to.

So, but a part of it has made me like a little, Oh, you know, and I was talking to at radio row. Uh, the best I description I could give is a former head coach who had a lot of success in the NFL and they could do this and they could do that. And I was like, and then there's JJ McCarthy. And I don't know about this. And he just stops me and he says, rarely can you win with a game manager was exactly what he said. Rarely can you win with a game manager? And so I guess what I thought was Pennix McCarthy and Bo Nix and which one of these guys in the NFL would have to be a game manager. I think McCarthy has potential not to be, but certainly was at Michigan and Pennix has the arm

not to be. Nix can make some plays, but one of the hard things Jeremiah is like somebody in college looks like they're a playmaker and then goes the nfl and like they can't run away from defensive ends nicks runs like a sub four six but like if he does that at the combine i'm like trying to figure out like it was sort of this cryptic like rarely can you win with a game manager i'm like who do you mean sir like do you mean kirk do you mean like what do you mean and then he just walked away and i was like oh i mean what do you mean i'm with you on a guy in college can deceive you right i mean a bo nicks running away from a guy from washington state is not the same as him running away from joey bosa right those guys close so much quicker in the nfl and you can see it with guys like jayden daniels or even when lamar jackson in

college like not just pulling away but like leaving dudes in the dust right like it's like oh there's no one catching him he's got one step and gone none of those guys you mentioned are the elite playmakers with their feet right like they're just not they're not the dude that's going to scare you in the nfl to go now i think all of those dudes have the playmaking ability with their feet like brock purdy right hey i can escape i can go get 15. I can go get 20. But is the argument when you're drafting a guy in the top 10

or even in the top 15, is that what you're looking for? Are you looking for a dude that with the arm talent paired with the athletic ability can take the top off at any time? And it's just a conundrum because people probably didn't think Josh Allen could run the way that he could, right? He wasn't running all over the place in Wyoming like he does in the NFL now. And at the same time, Joe Burrow, we know he can't really run, but he can still move just enough, but the arm talent is there.

I think when you get outside of the top three, Drake May, Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels, it's kind of pick your poison of what are you putting more stock into. Is it the arm talent? Is it the mobility? Is it the kind of jack of all trades, master of none, like a J.J. McCarthy, in my opinion? I just don't know where you look at it, and everyone's going to define it differently,

but every scheme is also so different. Jalen Hurts does not fit well in a Kevin O'Connell scheme. So every team's going to be able to force one way or the other. The problem is if you don't get what you want to in free agency you almost force your hand into having to take one of these guys as a quarterback at some teams because you don't really have many options left so let's say just throw a scenario at you let's just say that the mock drafters as of right now are pretty right for where these guys should go which most of them are projected late first

or early second type of talent. If it was Madden, it would say first-second in the draft. Anybody who's done those Madden drafts knows what I'm talking about. And so those players in the Madden drafts, sometimes they surprise you, turn out good, and sometimes they turn out very bad. Well, back end of the first round is kind of that way too.

Let's just say if Kevin O'Connell and the scouting department went to Kweisi Adafo-Mensa and said, look, we've only got a first dash second round grade on any of these quarterbacks. We don't really fully buy into any of them as a franchise quarterback. We think at best they could be like what Andy Dalton was in Cincinnati, which is we'd have to build a really good team around that. But you could potentially be in the mix. If you're Casey, do you say, you know what, we're doing it then? Or would you say, no, we have to wait until we can get our guy who's going to be our quarterback for 10 years.

We need to do better than that. Which way would you go with it i would go towards you get the andy dalton and you get that guy at the in the first because like we've talked about for the last few weeks you don't want to be picking in the top 10 again right unless you accumulate it from a pick or a trade or some way that like you luck your way into a top 10 because of a trade some way or another the roster in my opinion for the vikings is too good to be thinking we're going to be back in this position next year we're going to be back to picking 11th overall with a chance to trade up and get one of these dudes it's just you have to play and roll the dice without hurting the

longevity of the team by signing another quarterback to a multi-year deal who's 36 years old right or you go the other way and say hey we're going to bridge the gap like uh um baker mayfield or some of those other guys we talked about last week and then try and hope maybe we're in like 15 to 17 to 20 range of picking in the first round and then maybe have some draft capital pickup but i think with where we're at this year as a vikings organization you say hey if he's got a late first early second and we find ourselves in position to take this guy we need to take it or as Rick Spielman said trade back accumulate them picks to see what we can find out there in the back end of the first if some of these guys are projected to still be there I'm trying to think about who the worst quarterback

comp would be that you would say yes like if Kevinvin o'connell said hey i'm comparing bo nicks to this guy if you'd be like all right you know what we're gonna do that then like what's what's the last guy on your list is it like is it like tua maybe i mean tua was amazing this year though so i don't know then he led the league in passing and people act like he's just a dope uh so uh derrick that's a tough one yeah i mean derrick carr he's up there um i mean gosh i think i might have it okay what about ryan tannahill there you go that's a good one i'm in on the ryan tannahill i but he's won a lot of games he's won a lot of playoff games right he's not in a lot of playoff games but he's led that team to a lot of winning seasons and eventually but the difference with tannahill is they had the run game built around

him and they had king henry standing back behind him no i think of the comp for me is maybe early baker mayfield right like a guy that is going to come in and a lot is promised. And you think, I know he's the one number one overall pick, but he's going to be a guy that's going to need to take some lumps and some growth, but has the potential. The issue with all these quarterbacks is lumps and growth for them. Now they're 27, right? And I'm not, I mean, they're not, they're old. They're not old by normal people's standards,

but when you're talking about lumps and growth as young players. You want the Lamar Jackson lumps and growths of 22, 23, 24. Oh, now you're in your prime at 25 years old. Right. That comes the issue. And that's where the age factor comes in when you're talking about guys that may not be right away ready to walk in there and contribute and win at a high level. I think if you told me it's what Baker Mayfield was this year, I'd be like, I think so because of the rookie contract and how much you can do around that, but it might have to be like a shade better than that. I think I would need a shade better than what Baker Mayfield was this year. And I don't know if any of these guys are going to get that comparison, if they're going to be better than that. If it is Ryan Tannehill and you can create an efficient offense with him and build it off of a run game, you can win a lot of games that way. If you have a great

team and give yourself a chance. But I think a lot of people would say no to all of those. They would say like, no, I want to shoot higher. i want to shoot higher i want to shoot higher and that's when we get into the trade-up scenarios so both you and i are a little pressed for time you have a life and i'm here with like 700 radio appearances and stuff so keep it short here i want a rapid fire love to see it hate to see it but tell me what like the kansas city players hate to see with san francisco and what san franc Kansas city players hate to see with San Francisco and what San Francisco players would hate to see for Kansas city. Yeah. So love to see it is the Kansas city run game against the 49ers run defense after what the Packers and the lions both did to the niners initially, especially the first half of the lines of running the football, how the Kansas

city has got here with the running back of pacheco and just pounding up the middle with stutter and counter schemes and really through the a gaps that's something i'd be very concerned about as the niners defense you know i think the other side is brock purdy it should be the niners should be scared about pressuring brock purdy because he has been excellent this year against the blitz he has been fantastic you think of like 119 quarterback rating very good at identifying seeing the field, knowing where his answers are with guys like Kittle, Debo, and Ayuk. So Spagnola and his all over the place,

Drew Tranquil coming off the edge, Sneak, all over the place, risk-reward, right? You may be able to get to him and get to him early and rattle him, but they have the playmakers to rip them up over the top. I think if Joe Tooney is hurt, I'm not sure if he's going to be in playing or not. Eric Armstead is a big difference maker. Hargrave is a big difference maker on the interior there. And same thing, Chris Jones on the interior against John Feliciano and those guys on

the interior. I think he's probably not going to bump out over the tackles as much this week because they have pretty really good tackles. But Chris Jones is going to be a nightmare in the middle yeah I think if you are uh Kansas City you hate to see Debo Samuel have a lot of time to rest up that shoulder because he is what makes it tick and I think Steve Spagnuolo his number one goal is how can I take Debo Samuel out of the game because I mean I think of course McCaffrey has been super, super valuable for them, but it seems like when Samuel is not there and we saw that against the Vikings, that's the guy who you can do nothing and have tons of success. Do nothing, throw it behind the line of scrimmage. Oh, 18 yards. Wonderful. We'll just trot up there and do it

again. And then the opposing team gets so anxious that they try to load up. And then you go over the top to Brandon. I, you like that all kind of builds off of that. Uh, I think if you are San Francisco, the thing that you hate is that my homes has one sack and no interceptions and is just seemed unfazed by anything. And he's the thing you probably hate the most is he's beaten better teams than you. Like Baltimore is a better team than San Francisco and he beat them with no real problems. And, and their, I mean, their team did it, but his chemistry with Travis Kelsey, I think was hurt by Kelsey's injury earlier this year. Like he didn't have the same burst. Well, he's healthy now too so it is a uh

it i mean it really is like a matchup of two of the best teams and we shouldn't be mad at it because i think it will create a really really compelling game that we can analyze from a bunch of different ways but like without so much super bowl radio row hype and all that sort of stuff yeah i agree i think it's two teams that you don't maybe didn't expect the Kansas City Chiefs to be here, but no one expected them to not be here either. Everyone's always like, hey, they're down here, but they might still be able to. Two fantastic teams going to battle it out. Really excited to watch this game. I mean, the true hype has been around my book on Radio Row.

I just couldn't fight everybody off you know and so forth uh okay well it's a little bit shorter of an episode because we got to run but uh next week will be our final Tuesday morning left guard of the season you'll still pop in and out but as far as like every single Tuesday uh we'll break down the entire Super Bowl and then preview the Vikings off season like what is coming next so that'll be really fun. Thanks for your time, as always, and I will see you when I am back in Minnesota. Thanks, Jeremiah. Put it all in red.

Folks, if you've been listening to the show, then you know how much fun we have been having with PrizePix this year. Just go to prizepix.com slash purple. Use the code purple for a first deposit match up to $100. And let me tell you how it works. If you haven't heard us talk about it enough yet or you haven't tried it yet, very simple.

There are yardage totals on PrizePicks. You either pick more or less and boom. Each week has been a roller coaster ride of fun. And the best part is that when I have a bad week, I didn't lose much. It doesn't cost much to play. You can turn 10 bucks into 250 very easily. And if things go sideways for you, you're not out a whole heck of a lot of money. That is prizepicks.com slash purple, just more or less on yardage totals. And you are in prizepix.com slash purple, just more or less on yardage totals. And you are in prizepix.com slash purple, the code purple,

for a first deposit match up to $100. I'm back in my studio inside my house in Minnesota and not on Radio Row anymore, not at Circa anymore in Las Vegas, back home. And I'll tell you why. Because all of my radio appearances on Radio Row to promote my book were scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. The secret is before the real guests and celebrities show up, right? Like Justin Jefferson. Justin Jefferson doesn't show up to radio row on a monday he shows up on a wednesday when everybody is there all the biggest radio stations tv stations everything else to do the rounds to do his interviews and i'm sure part of it was you know what actually i made a mistake I should have brought my Oakley sunglasses

because Oakley sponsored me. So I assume they're sponsoring him. So I should have done all of my radio hits like this and talked about, and if you're listening on the podcast version, I have my Oakley sunglasses on that look just like Justin Jefferson's. I should have done them all like this and talked about analytics in this way. And maybe people would have been like, whoa, actually analytics are amazing. We want to buy your book because they are so cool because someone with Oakley's is talking about them. But instead that didn't happen. But I did have a lot of fun and a lot of great conversations with all sorts of stations throughout the nation and even Canada a little bit as well. So I left, then Justin Jefferson shows up with his Oakleys and he's doing a lot of different

interviews. And so I get on a plane flyback. I land, I watched a movie on the way I watched the big Lebowski. So I'm having a good time, open up my phone as everybody does. And I look and I see one of these big old quotes on Twitter. You know, when they put the picture of the guy's head, I don't know if you see that when they put the picture of the guy's head and there's a quote, you know, something happened. They're like, oh, what did Justin Jefferson say? And the quote here, this is the score, but everybody does this. They take a picture of the guy's head and they put his quote next to it. And then there's a bot that I think does it with joke tweets. Anyway, it says Justin Jefferson,

quote, I want to break the bank and be part of an organization that wants me and is willing to give me what I deserve. Wow. What a quote. So, okay. All right. and i'm seeing it shared all over the internet people getting worked up and um then i went back just on my phone while i was sitting there waiting to get off the plane and looked at what justin jefferson had said before about his contract situation and it was that um it was exactly that that's this is all that justin jeff Jefferson has ever said about his contract situation. Justin Jefferson said that before the season, he had done historic things and deserved to get that type of contract and was correct about that. He's done nothing but talk about his contract in exactly this way, where he has said, yes, I deserve a big contract based on my talent. And also, we'll see if that's here or whatever happens happens um and we always have to keep in mind the situation when it comes to his contract and how the nfl system is set up to benefit the minnesota vikings which is

they have two franchise tags that they can use on Justin Jefferson. And they also still have him under contract. So it's not like he's set to free agency right now. He is under contract through next season and then could be franchise tag two more times after that, which gives them the leverage in the negotiation. Now that doesn't mean they could be like, screw you, Justin Jefferson, because eventually he could leave. And even if he did, he, even if he fought through the franchise tags, uh, there's probably going to be a lot of drama in between that. And that would be problematic for them. There's probably going to be a lot of holdouts and a lot of frustration and then public posturing and everything else. You don't want that. You want to sign Justin Jefferson to a contract extension this spring or summer

and then not think about it again. But from the negotiating at the table perspective, the Vikings have these things in their back pocket that make it beneficial for the player to sign a contract extension now get guaranteed money now as opposed to having to fight through those franchise tags to eventually hit free agency and you know i mean maybe even this year showed you how delicate life can be with a hamstring injury that kept him out he had to go to the hospital at one point i mean i don't think he's going to have injury problems long term, but it should kind of

be a reminder. Hey, you know what? Getting guaranteed money now because you never know what's going to happen in life is a pretty good idea. And this is why most first round draft picks, they stay with their teams and they sign big extensions. And then if things get uncomfortable down the road from there within the extension, that's where the player makes it known that they are unhappy and they push their

way out. As we saw from Stefan Diggs, he wasn't a first round pick, but you know, players can do that in the NFL, make it known that they're unhappy. Then teams start calling with trade offers and then you get huge trade offers and suddenly Khalil Mack, you're a bear or, you know, Tyree kill is more of a cap situation, but we do see top notch players get traded at times, uh, in their contracts after they've already signed extensions. I think Tyree kill signed his extension afterward. Uh, and maybe that was the case with, uh, Khalil Mack as well. So it does happen where players will get traded in this situation, which I'm sure we'll talk more about. But normally, I think if you're that player, then you sign the contract to make sure you've got the guaranteed money and then see how it plays out

with your team. And then you can decide what happens after that. If Jefferson really was unhappy, super, super unhappy, which I have never gotten that indication from him, then he could be going to the team and saying, you're not giving me what I want. I want to get out of here and so forth. But that's just not been Justin Jefferson. He has said, I deserve all the money. I'm a really good player. He's not going to say, he's not going to say I'm not like that would be another thing. Like, yeah, using a phrase break the bank, though, is a very Justin Jefferson thing to do. Like having interviewed Justin Jefferson now for four years. One of the things I know is that usually if you ask him a question, he will give you an honest answer.

I'm not calling him Ron Burgundy, but he will answer your question. Right. So if you say like, Justin, what do you think about your contract situation? He will tell you most of the time. And I appreciate that about him, that it's rare that he would say, I'm not talking about that or whatever. He seems unafraid to kind of say what's on his mind. That's cool. And sometimes he'll use phrases and stuff like that, like common phrases or whatever. And, you know, just like that's part of how he talks and so i wasn't surprised to see that he used kind of this phrase of like break the bank but and i'm sure as soon as that came out of his mouth he knew uh-oh that one's gonna fly around the internet all over the place but we already knew this we already knew that the vikings were not going to be able to come to justin jefferson and say hey here a 18 mil. What do you think of that? No, we already knew this. And you know, Scott says Bosa money incoming when Nick Bosa signed his contract, which I believe was $34 million per year to become the highest paid non quarterback. That was likely to be the bar. And Tyreek Hill has $30 million per year.

We focused maybe a little too much on that, on the $30 million, $31, $32, whatever, when the agent would look a little bit more at the guaranteed money. And this is where I think Jefferson wants his contract to blow everybody else's out of the water is in the guaranteed money. Because A.J. Brown set the highest mark for guaranteed money, which was $56 million. And I would guess that's fully guaranteed, $56 million. I would suspect that Justin Jefferson wants to be $75, $80 million, fully guaranteed, completely destroy everybody else's number, reset that market for

the next crop including jamar chase of elite wide receivers that are on the way and so that's that's likely what he wants and what the vikings will have to do everybody here should know what the price is to play poker and i think what happened last year with the v. And this is more of a suspicion rather than I'm reporting. This is what happened. I would guess that the Vikings said, we don't have to do this right now. Like we don't have to sign you to an extension right now. We can wait and we can kick the ball down the road and not ask our owners to put up that guarantee, all that guaranteed money and so forth. Like we, we could do that. Sorry, I've got a dangling wire here. Uh, we could do that and we could push, you know, push that down the road and pay that bill a little bit later for Justin Jefferson. So let's see if he will take a

very, very reasonable deal. And they probably got fairly close to that. And then it just didn't happen. They couldn't get over the goal line because they had that imposed deadline of the start of the season. If they did not have that deadline and they continue to negotiate into the season, then maybe they do end up getting it done, but deadlines make deals. And now there's a real deadline, which is you have to get it done. If you're the Vikings, this offseason, this training camp, you have to get it done. Now, you do not want to go into a situation where you are talking about he is technically a free agent, but then you'd have to franchise tag him.

That's where things start to get ugly. But as far as what Justin Jefferson has done and actions always mean more than words, Justin Jefferson came to training camp last year and he went full out a hundred percent, destroyed. Everyone had an unbelievable training camp. He had no inner ear issues like TJ Hawkinson, no back issues, didn't sit out like Daniil Hunter for a few days, and then played every possible snap that he could. And maybe, maybe he could have come back a week earlier than he did in the season, but I didn't want that. Did you want that? Nobody wanted that when he pulled the hamstring. I don't think anyone was in favor of pushing him back to try to win one extra game with Josh Dobbs as opposed to making sure he was at 100%.

And then when he did come back, he also annihilated everyone and made it very, very clear that even with Nick Mullins throwing him the football, he could dominate opposing teams. So nothing that he said today, it's a, it's a cute little phrase that everyone is going to easily grab onto. And I guarantee we'll show up on every single website known to man. He said, break the bank. He said, break the bank. Well, okay. That's I mean, we knew he was going to do that anyway. We knew he was going to be at the very top. He just said something that was very easy to latch onto that he had already said before. Now, the other comment, and I'll get to your guys' reactions to this. The other comment that he said was talking about Kirk Cousins and Kirk Cousins is his quarterback

and wanting him back. Once again, stuff that he said numerous times before. He has done nothing but praise Kirk Cousins. Why would he do anything else? He has gotten along extremely well with Kirk Cousins, especially over these last two years. He's set records with Kirk Cousins. He has had insane catches that won crazy games. He's had comebacks. He's been in the locker room with him.

The whole thing. All with Kirk Cousins is his veteran leader quarterback, especially over the last couple of years with the offense really tuned to throw from Kirk cousins to Justin Jefferson. He knows that Kirk is very accurate. And I'm sure that after having Nick Mullins thrown the football, he was like, Oh yeah, Kirk is very accurate. And he is. And there's no question about it. If you're a receiver, look at the number one receivers Kirk Cousins has had over the years. He pumps that football to his number one guy. I mean, even when they weren't passing the ball, really a whole lot

in 2019, Stefan Diggs goes over a thousand yards and like 60 catches. I mean, 2018, where he's getting the ball to Adam Thielen like crazy. And he set some, maybe it was a four game record or a stretch where he had the most yards and beat out some Randy Moss mark. So anybody who's ever had Kirk cousins as their quarterback has put up big numbers. Why would you not be in favor of that person? Or why would you go on TV and say, I don't want him. Get rid of him. Also, when the team could bring him back, that would be very, very foolish to do. Justin Jefferson does have a seat at the table, though, when it comes to decision making. But I don't think that his voice would be the loudest voice or the one making the call

versus the future salary cap versus how you're going to build the rest of this team. And I think that Justin Jefferson wants more than anything to be in the playoffs and to be winning games in the playoffs. And if that takes a different quarterback, but a better overall team, he must be aware that he's gone crazy year after year, offensively put up all these numbers and on defense, it hasn't been enough many, many times at 2020, 2021, 2022. Like that's the whole start of his career. And last year they had a good defense for the middle portion of the season, but the beginning and end were very rough and they lost all those games. And he's got, he's got to know this. He's got to be looking at, you know, teams in the Super Bowl and saying, you know, there's a lot of defensive talent. There's a lot of complete talent on these

teams versus what your team has, which is not so much. And if Jefferson's taking up a big amount of the cap, then how are you going to also have Kirk Cousins do that? Now you could structure an extension to have Jefferson's big time money, not really kick in until Kirk Cousins was already done. So maybe you sign Kirk to a two-year deal. That would be the way that they could do it, is sign Cousins to a two-year deal and push it down the road for Jefferson where he doesn't become expensive until a couple years from now. That's what Philly did with A.J. Brown. So it is possible, but is it ideal? Is it likely that you could build around that?

I don't know that it is. So, all right, let's dive into it. That's my thoughts is basically, this is stuff that Justin Jefferson has said many, many times when he's been asked about it. But if you say it at radio row in the Superbowl and then people hear it and make little graphics of it on social media, and then it blows up and it becomes a big talking point when really nothing has changed here about Justin Jefferson's situation. It's still way, way more likely that he signs an extension this spring or this summer than not. And it makes all the sense in the world for both sides to do that. And while he may enjoy Kirk Cousins as his

quarterback, I think all the locker room does, they all advocate for them. Everybody will tell you it is a business, right? So I don't think that what Justin Jefferson said indicated I will have Kirk back or I will walk. Did not sound like that to me. Just sounded like support for his guy, which is totally fine. All right, let's get into some of your reactions to this. Is the faithful says vikings need to rebuild not break the bank paying him so this is the thing if you sign jefferson to an extension that pays him like 33 34 million dollars per year whatever if you're trying to get

it to the the nick bosa number you can work around. It's not like you cannot have anyone who's expensive ever. And I was just talking about the structure of it. You can also structure it. So later on down the road, when you are a competing team and he's got higher cap hits to do restructures and create more cap space, even within that. But there isn't a single team in the league that has nobody making any money. I mean, I could go to over the cap.com here and see if San Francisco has any players making any money. Now I know they've kind of set it up for this year to be the year for them, but San Francisco has people who are making money and they will continue to. And they have before when they've had really good teams. It's fine to have players who are making money,

who are big giant mega stars. That is not what the problem is. The problem is when you have a quarterback who is just okay. So if Brock Purdy, who's good, and as you guys know, has a lot of my respect, but if Brock Purdy was making $44 million a year, San Francisco wouldn't be here. That's the, that's really what it is. Like when one player is taking up so much of that and quarterbacks are now still going to be 10 to 15 million higher, which is one significant player, 10 to 15 million higher, a Byron Murphy signing away over what any position player is going to be. So if you were talking about Jefferson making somewhere in the 30 million range, and then still trying to structure the contract around what you think your winning window is,

it's going to be okay. Like you can pay players. And in my mind, the biggest thing is you do not want to let go any one of this talent level. And San Francisco is a good example for this because they had a couple of down seasons. I think two seasons with Nick Bosa were six wins or less. Well, they didn't just be like, well, get rid of Nick Bosa. Like, no, no, no, no, no. You will not ever reach a Super Bowl without Nick Bosa type players on your team. Like go through these two teams. How many players, like, let's talk about that. How many great players do you need on your team in order to be in a Super Bowl? All right. If you have Patrick Mahomes, the number is less, but the number is not zero. If you have Patrick Mahomes, LeJarrius Sneed has been one of the best corners in the league. They'll probably lose him after

this year, but he's been incredible. Chris Jones is one of the best defensive tackles of the last decade. So they still have multiple great players. And Oh, by the way, Travis Kelsey is got an argument for being the greatest tight end ever. I don't think he's quite that, but it's close. So you've got one of the greatest tight ends of all time, one of the greatest defensive tackles of the decade, and also numerous other very, very good players. On San Francisco's side, how many all pros they have? Debo Samuel, one of the best receivers in the league. Brandon Ayuk, one of the best receivers. George Kittle, top two tight end. It's him him and Kelsey and that's the top two Trent Williams

one of the best left tackles of all time Nick Bosa I mean look at the amount of talent here and it's all the top end talent Christian McCaffrey is the definitive best running back in the league you can't say like oh well you know let's just move on from a top talented player and fill it in with four other draft pick players and hope that it works out. You really have to have numerous superstar Justin Jefferson level caliber players if you're going to win. So I don't think that trading them away and sometimes people will act like another team would guarantee give three firsts for Justin Jefferson. I don't know that that is the case. I don't even know what someone would give for Jefferson, but I don't think that they're giving you what you would give for a quarterback. So I don't like that idea of trading Justin Jefferson even a smidge,

even a little, because every team you go to ever, unless they have Tom Brady, but even then on defense, they would have like Ty Law and Richard Seymour going to the Hall of Fame. So even on one side of the ball for Tom Brady, or they would have superstar offensive linemen, or when Randy Moss is there, he catches 40 touchdowns or whatever the heck he had that season. What was it? It's like 20 touchdowns Randy Moss had.

Like, that is what will get you there, is great players. If you move on from them, then you are just rolling the dice. And if you end up using that draft capital on Laquan Treadwell and Mike Hughes, and you traded away Jefferson, I mean, Moss is a good example, right? Troy Williamson. Oh, we'll just trade them away for draft picks. Well, what if those draft picks don't work out? It's very, it's not very hard to find good receivers. It's very hard to find the best receiver. So there's no world where you trade him. You just have an expensive player. The salary cap is going to be like 240 million or something. And he's going to make up not this year

or next year or the year after more likely than not in the structure of a deal. He would not be making a huge percentage of that probably until three years from now. That's another thing that we need to keep in mind. And I bring up that A.J. Brown structure all the time, that he signed the biggest fully guaranteed money of any receiver ever, and he still, this year, does not have a super high cap hit. T.J. Hawkinson signed an extension, didn't have that high of a cap hit right away. And then when you get down the road a couple of years, you can extend, you can restructure.

With an individual, there's a lot of different options. And you're going to give that away to, I mean, I wouldn't give it away to draft Jaden Daniels, but that's the only thing I would ever even listen to is that plus other stuff coming back. But definitely not. Ken says, I'm like 60-40 on trading Jefferson because the reality is some team might actually use some rebuild equity. This is the thing. A rebuild doesn't take very long if you're good at it. If you're terrible at it, I guess it could take forever and you'll just rebuild till the end of time. But if you're good at it and you stack draft capital by drafting

high, by having a reset type of season, you get your salary cap correct and you make moves in free agency and in the trade market to use what capital you have in terms of draft and salary cap to acquire players and you get a quarterback who's good. You're right back. There you are. Look at, I was in Chicago and watching Tim Boyle and Nathan Peterman play quarterback against the Minnesota Vikings. Not that long ago, end of 2022, they were purposefully trying to lose the

game by playing Nathan Peterman and Tim Boyle and sitting Justin Fields to get the number one overall pick not that long ago. And now everyone's talking about here's Chicago on the rise. Chicago won the same number of games as the Vikings this year. Had Justin Fields been even a little bit better, they might have been in the playoffs early in the season when he really, really struggled. And then now they've got a chance to draft number one because of good trading and talent acquisition or asset acquisition. And that's where they are. The Detroit Lions, not that long ago, 2021 were 0 and 10, 0, 10 and one, maybe. And here they are. Everyone's talking about how they're the strongest team and they're only getting stronger and everything else. San Francisco had several down seasons and here

they are in the Super Bowl. And last year they're in the NFC Championship. It doesn't take forever to improve your team. It's usually one or two years. So if you go freaking out and losing your mind and trading anybody who's good, that's more likely to set you back, not get you to where you want to go. JP says, seems like Kwesi is losing control of the JJ negotiations. I wondered when that would up, that normally these negotiations do not take place until March, April, May, June, July, and then sometimes into training camp. And with a deal like Justin Jefferson's, it can get complicated because you have all sorts of moving parts and details to a deal like this that is absolutely massive.

And so the length, how long you want it to be, how much is guaranteed, what other things are we putting in this contract that he wants, that the Vikings want? It's not something you snap your fingers and make happen. But the fact that it hasn't happened yet is also extremely normal is another part of it. I mean, Nick Bosa is a great example. The fact that it hasn't happened yet is also extremely normal is another part of it. I mean, Nick Bosa is a great example. Normally, it goes till right now when players who are drafted in the first round sign a contract. It very rarely happens after the player's third year.

Almost always with first rounders, it's now after the fourth year. But why am I not surprised that it would be the gm screwing it up like i may if look if they don't get it done this year i'll be on board with you but that's a ways away and again with justin jefferson he's saying the same exact things that he's already said and that is fine that he's saying he if he pretends it's gonna be silly if he pretends that this is not there i'm sure that he even went to radio row thinking yeah i'm just gonna say the same stuff that i said to the local media which is again basically he didn't use the phrase break the bank but he said i've done historically good things so i deserve to

be compensated for that like that's what he said to us after they didn't get the deal done or I think it was maybe the last time he talked to us before they started the season. So none of this is new and none of this is extraordinary. It's exactly how this always goes. So this is where we have to follow along and be patient with this thing rather than making declarations that the Vikings are

blowing this. And I fully understand though, if you, I mean, having lived here for long enough to have known enough history of great players leaving this place, I get it. I get why that would be a reaction is while we let Kevin Garnett go, we let Randy Moss go, et cetera, et cetera. That doesn't mean that it impacts this, right? And this is a negotiation that I think will be a little bit tricky, maybe on the length especially, but it doesn't have to be insanely complicated with the fact that everybody knows he's going to be the highest paid wide receiver. So we start there. We should be pretty close to a number. And then, then look, if we get into the third, fourth week of training camp and Jefferson is unhappy, and now his side's putting

out leaks about the Vikings negotiating tactics, et cetera, then you can send that. Then you could say, well, it looks like the vikings are screwing it up and i'll say yep it does right now on february 7th no it doesn't look like the vikings are screwing it up it looks like he's saying i should get paid uh hyru says do you think this team would have made the playoffs if kirk stayed healthy because I don't think so. Um, maybe, I mean, 50, 50, 50, 50. I mean, they were four and four and they won a couple of games that maybe they would have won either way in Cincinnati. I mean, Nick Mullins actually played really good. Most of the game, Cincinnati at the end of the game comes back to win. Maybe they win that one instead of blowing it.

I don't know. Probably not. I'm not really sure. I mean, it's probably a coin flip of whether they would have made it in the wild card or not. But as we watch the playoffs, it was more and more evident that they weren't going anywhere, particularly with the state of the defense. If everything plays out the same and a couple of people get hurt on defense and it just goes collapsing into the ocean defensively, then it's pretty unlikely that they would have made any hay in the playoffs. They probably would have just had the same thing happen that happened against Detroit,

which is they just got outscored because Detroit was not being stopped at all by your defense at the end of the year because they don't have enough talent. So yeah, I don't know because we have to try to do that as a mind experiment, but it's probably better for them that they did not make the playoffs. So now they're at least drafting toward the top. Had they made the playoffs and been drafting 20th and then got the doors blown off them in the first round, that would have been worse than where we stand right now with at least in shouting distance

or at least sort of the first at the door for the second tier quarterbacks or within phone calls range of trading up if the top three doesn't go quarterback, quarterback, quarterback. So yeah, I don't think that they would have, range of trading up if the top three doesn't go quarterback, quarterback, quarterback. So yeah, I don't think that they would have, I don't think they would have been better off had they made the playoffs. And it wouldn't have surprised me at all if it had just been, you know, a situation where they make the playoffs and are one and done. Is the faithful says I'd rather they trade him for a king's ransom but i think the wilfs

are going to push to sign him and it will happen but i mean of course the wilfs everyone everyone everyone wants justin jefferson everyone in the whole league every single team all the time want justin jefferson and that's why you don't trade him because anybody else would be lining up to try to trade for Justin Jefferson. I just don't get it. I just don't get it. Are we bored? Is it just like I'm bored and frustrated take to say I want to get rid of one of the greatest players that's ever stepped on the earth to play wide receiver?

I mean, look at the records that he's put up already early in his career. I just can't wrap my head around it other than you're overrating how difficult it would be to get some defensive linemen and a linebacker and a number three wide receiver to build out the rest of this roster. And I know they haven't been able to do it

because of failed draft picks. And maybe that's what you think. I don't know. Maybe you think they'll just never draft a good player again. But usually you're one or two picks away always from having one of those good drafts that everybody needs, right?

That they haven't had it recently, but I showed you guys this, I think maybe a couple of weeks ago with Green Bay where their 21 draft was horrendous and their 2022 draft is great. Like this happens all the time. They have to draft well and they have to spend their money well and they can't be throwing cash at Marcus Davenport

and thinking that that's going to be something that does anything. They have to be throwing significant money at free agents. They have to be able to put the money on the table for the better free agents. They have to be able to trade for a star if he's unhappy somewhere else and be able to extend that star and so forth. But getting rid of the thing that makes your quarterback the best would be absurd to me. Look at San Francisco with Debo Samuel. They've had bad years with Debo Samuel. If they got rid of him, where is that offense? We saw that offense without Debo Samuel. It was not good. So I don't see any reason whatsoever to trade him. You can throw a bunch of proposals at me.

It's going to be very difficult for me to take it unless it was like Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow. I will take that. I will trade Justin Jefferson for Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow. JP says JJ's words and tone seem a bit different. I was standing right next to him in the locker room when he addressed this multiple times throughout the season. It's not different. It's not, it's the same stuff. He just used the word break the bank.

It's really not different. He's not raising the ante. As you said, the ante is everyone knows where it is. It's not being raised. It's at the top. It's at the highest. Everyone knows this is going to be the highest paid wide receiver. There's really no mystery to this. And I think Justin is just a very earnest person who does not BS very well. I've always thought that he's not a very good BS. He's not going to talk around it. He's just going to say what he thinks.

And that's what he's doing. But he's always done that. So I don't think this changes anything from where anybody should stand. But it definitely made for some fun on the internet for some people. That's pretty much all that was today. Good content for those out at Radio Row. Andrew says the fact that people want to trade a young quarterback's best chance to succeed is baffling. Well, that's my thing, Andrew. That's my thing is if you are going to draft JJ McCarthy or Bo Nix or Michael Penix, or even if you're going to go get Baker Mayfield and wait a year, or if you're going to bring back Kirk, whatever you're going to do, Justin Jefferson is your best chance to succeed. The Vikings offense survived for a couple of weeks without Jefferson, but over a 17 week period,

over years, he is going to give the best possible opportunity for your quarterback to be the best version of themselves. And for you to even not have the best quarterback, look what he did with Nick Mullins. I cannot say that enough that this man made Nick Mullins look pretty good. And Mullins, look, if he doesn't throw an interception or two on just wild throws, they might've won those games against Detroit with a guy who probably ranked 65th out of 70 quarterbacks who played this year out of for talent wise, just by pushing the football to Justin Jefferson. What can we do with a first round

talented quarterback putting him in with? What can he do with Baker Mayfield? How about the way Baker Mayfield played with Mike Evans? Mike Evans is not as good as Justin Jefferson right now in his career. And yet what didn't Mike Evans like lead the league in touchdowns or something? I mean, this top receivers, as we see from San Francisco, we have this debate. Think about it. I love the San Francisco example because they don't have the most gifted quarterback. Think about what the debate is. Wouldn't you dream to be at the center of that debate? Wouldn't you love that? Wouldn't you just be in the best that you'd be in heaven? If everyone on the outside was like, is your quarterback any good or is it all your great

players? They're like, oh no. good or is it all your great players? They're like, oh, no. What if it's all our great players? Right. Like if you're San Francisco, you must think it's hilarious. This is wonderful. Everyone is debating whether our quarterback is good or if we built the most amazing roster. Well, how did they do it? They did it by keeping great players, not by getting rid of them. They signed Debo Samuel. They signed Nick Bosa. Here they are. And look, it's very clear too that Bosa, Ayuk, Kittle, McCaffrey, these guys all drive the success of that team. And Purdy deserves all the credit for getting them the football because Nick Mullins didn't really do that when he played for San Francisco or CJ Beathard. Those guys didn't do it. So he's clearly very talented. And I really, really like Brock Purdy a lot, but he is

the go-to for this is what receivers can do for and a running back who's so gifted in the wide receiving game as well. This is what a supporting cast can do is you can take a guy who may not be perfect as a quarterback and elevate him. And that's what you're trying to do. You're trying to get the best version. And, uh, you know, look, if you're, if you're asking me talking about rebuild the roster, asking me, is it easier to get a couple of edge rushers? Or if you're talking about like a defensive tackle, linebacker a corner or the best receiver in the world like okay so you let's say you draft three players one is great one is average and one is terrible which is probably how draft picks work it's an edge rusher a defensive

tackle and a linebacker does that get you to the super bowl like what does that do for you if you're talking about three first round draft picks even for justin jefferson it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense but i guess we have to discuss it because that's kind of where we're at with jefferson making the comments uh you know so um jason who you know jason i i feel when you're in the comments that you're always kind of like a little on edge. That's how I feel. You said no contract before camp and he will not be there. He will hold out. We are a long way from there.

It's February. It's February. I mean, it's possible that that happens. That happened with Nick Bosa. Does anyone remember it? Does anyone care that Daniil Hunter held out a couple of days? Did anyone care with daniel hunter held out a couple of days did anyone care with tj hockinson i mean i know some people tried to make it into this thing like that he dropped a pass

against the chargers in week three because he held out uh ish in training camp i don't think that uh tj hockinson ended up with a great season and nick bosa ended up with a great season like it's fine if it takes some time into training camp as as long as it gets done, if we are approaching the start of the season and it's not done, then this type of anxiety would be justified. Not February, March, April, May, June, July, August. Wow. That's a long time that they have to start working this out. So I am far away from any sort of concern or panic over the situation. Now, when we get there, then maybe, but, uh, I mean, this is the thing, you know, when you say that, that, you know, the, that Jefferson is worth more traded, he's not, I promise you he's not. We studied this.

We studied this. I had intern Haley, who you guys know, who longtime listeners know, that worked in the analytics department for the Detroit Lions. One of her articles that she did for us was, or for, yeah, Purple Insider, was looking at exactly how valuable Justin Jefferson is using PFF's

wins above replacement data, which is not public, but she had it. And we compared it even to quarterbacks. And what we found was that Justin Jefferson was worth an average quarterback, which is insane for any position player. So if he plays a full season, he's worth as much as like Baker Mayfield to his team, a good edge rusher, a strong defensive tackle, a quality corner. Even if that's the best you do with three draft picks, they don't add up to that. They don't not, not by, not by the numbers. And the number one thing that's going to get you to the Superbowl. We know this. The number one thing is passing efficiency. Passing success is number one.

Hands down, number one. How are you going to do that best? Are you going to do that best with another corner? Like, no. And this is another thing that's crazy. I knew this was coming. I knew this was coming. You know, it's been a long travel day, so I'm a little short on patience.

But I knew this was coming. Art Vandele. And I'm going to give you more patience because your name is Art Vandele, which is the Seinfeld thing. They should let JJ go if he wants to be greedy. I just don't know what to say to things like that. I knew we were going to get here eventually with Jefferson. We didn't really last year, but a little-ish with Jefferson last year

where people started to say, well, if he's going to want all that money, then he could just run away. All the great players get money. All of them get money. Greedy, no. He's going to get paid what his peers get paid. That's how this works. This is why this show has never criticized Kirk Cousins for trying to get money.

Now, criticize the Vikings for not being able to build around his contract and for extending him again after they lost all their talent in 2020. But not Kirk for him and his agent going out and getting the best contract they could for them. That's what Justin Jefferson should do. That's what every player should do. You're just going to have to completely miss me with the greedy diva, whatever NFL players with their TV contracts from Amazon that are worth $5 billion, they're going to make money. And there's a salary cap that has lots of millions.

And you give the millions to the best players so they stay on your team so you try to win. And there's nothing more to it. And if the negotiation goes out through the summer, you're going to hear a lot of this. And I'm going to be very unhappy listening to it. I'm going to be very unhappy listening to it. Justin Jefferson deserves to be paid as much as Tyreek Hill and AJ Brown, probably more because he's probably better than them. That's the reality. So I don't see why we would start calling him names and saying he's greedy and calling him a diva. But it happens. I also knew that this BS was going to come up, too.

They were one and eight with Justin Jefferson last year. Well, that was definitely his fault. Yeah, definitely his fault. Yep. Oh, he did that. Yeah, he was the one that did that. I mean, are we serious here? They were 13 and four the year before when he won offensive player of the year. Like now you're just not even being genuine.

This is just this is like now you're just throwing stuff around. This is like what next, next comment should be. They shouldn't draft quarterback because of Christian pot. Like you're just throwing stuff out there, but I do see enough of this stuff where it's like, we need to stop this. We need to stop this. These anti Jefferson talking points are just, there's just so bad this is so bad oh they weren't good last year with him oh yeah well he did that take a look at those numbers and what he did in those games that was him for sure anyway uh daniel says i saw a lot of headlines today jj wants kirk back i get him wanting to continue the connection they built but it's all talk right or is that really his way of telling them to keep Kirk?

No, I think that it's his way of saying that he appreciates Kirk Cousins. And I think everybody talks about Kirk Cousins in the same way. If you go to Kevin O'Connell's comments, or if you go to Kweisi Daffomenta's comments, it's all the same exact tone with Kirk Cousins, where everyone understands that the reality of the situation with him is he's 36 years old and he is coming off an Achilles injury and he's a free agent and he's free to go wherever he wants and he may not come back. But over these last two years under Kevin O'Connell, they went 17 and eight with cousins

and had the seventh best offense in the league in the time span that he was playing. They put up a lot of numbers together. They won a lot of football games together. They went through a lot together through their careers. Why would anybody say bleep Kirk cousins and radio row, knowing that every word you say, even when you say break the bank becomes headline news. Of course, you're not going to say that. And I don't think he feels that way. Why should he feel that way? That's it's not really the point of whether he likes him or not. Like, of course, I think he likes playing with him. I think anyone would enjoy playing with, uh, Kirk cousins as a number one wide receiver receiver because he knows where to throw the

football and he's accurate. It's so much deeper of an equation when it comes to Kirk Cousins and returning and how people feel about him. You kind of have to separate those two things. I think Kevin O'Connell likes him. I think he cares about him a lot. But if you told Kevin O'Connell, Hey, uh, Jaden Daniels or Kirk cousins at $40 million, how do you pick Kirk cousins at $40 million? Right. Considering where they are right now. Now, if this team was stacked and ready to win a super bowl right now, and the only thing they needed to do was bring back Kirk Cousins and take a swing at it, then I would be on the side of like, yeah, I guess they should bring him back because there just hasn't been that many opportunities and you can't let one go by,

right? You just don't get that many shots at it. So if you have the team and you have the roster, then you should do it. And you should just throw caution to the wind and everything else, just, you know, whatever it takes salary cap wise, if you're in a position to win right now, they are not. And that, so that's totally separate from whether Justin Jefferson likes him or not. Oh yeah. I forgot Percy Harvin. That was another one. Mr. Pink reminds me of Diggs and Percy Harvin. Yeah. And the Diggs thing, I mean, you could say that the Vikings did well in that trade, but you know, Diggs ultimately did go to a team that won the division four straight times. And if not for Kansas city probably would have gone to the super bowl. So yeah. Yeah.

Let's see. Harvin won the super bowl on a kick return and did like nothing else for Seattle. Right. And, uh, Randy Moss went to a super bowl. Diggs had a lot of success, uh, in Buffalo. So yeah. Um, that has been a thing that seems to happen quite a bit, uh, to, uh, to this, to this team. And why would you do it again? That's my thing. Why would you do it again? Why would you move on from somebody who's as good as Justin Jefferson

rather than just building your team around them? If he was 36 himself, then I would say, no, trade him. But he's not. He's still extremely young. Maybe when he's 28, he'll think more carefully than to say, break the bank.

I don't know. No, I'm just kidding. That'll always be Justin Jefferson, I think.