Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Jeremiah Sirles thinks fixing the Vikings D-line is key for 2025

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

It's sadly that time of year again as we air our final Tuesday Morning Left Guard (on a Tuesday night) of the season. Matthew Coller and former Vikings lineman Jeremiah Sirles get together one last time (don't worry he'll be back sporadically throughout the offseason) to discuss the Super Bowl and what the biggest area of need is the Vikings this offseason. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TD Direct Investing offers live support, so whether you're a newbie or a seasoned pro, you can make your investing steps count. And if you're like me and think a TFSA stands for Total Fund Savings Adventure, maybe reach out to TD Direct Investing. Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here, and sadly it is our final Tuesday morning Left Guard of the Year. Jeremiah Searles and I will connect throughout the offseason, but as far as the weekly shows go, this is the last one post-Super Bowl.

A very disappointing Super Bowl, but hey, at least guard play is in the news. Am I right? I feel like that's our brand here. But it's exactly what happens when guards play poorly. That's all you ever talk about, right? And then also, hey, there was two guards that played amazingly, and that's why the Eagles won. But those two guards on Kansas City, no, no, no.

Right? So it's a love. It's a love, and it's a gift and a curse, right? Hey, we're talking about guards, but it's really just talking about how they are in the NFL right now. Right. It's just, it is what it is, but Hey, listen, as bad as the Superbowl was, you can't tell me that there wasn't a little piece of you that was like, this is actually enjoyable.

Watching Mahomes pick his teeth up 38 out of the 49 drop backs. Well, there, there were some things that I did enjoy about Philadelphia winning. I mean, earmuffs for everybody here for Vikings fans who don't want to hear that, but I love a darn good roster construction. And I got to say that this was a piece of art. You know, the guy who does the art is sports on social media. It's like do art for this roster, man, because it was incredibly well crafted. And what the Philadelphia Eagles did was a they drafted a lot of players at those positions that maybe aren't considered premium, but maybe now should be interior offensive line, interior defensive line. They fell ass backwards into Cooper Dajin. Let's be honest, that guy should not have been a second round draft pick, but they were the smartest ones to be able to go and get them. They made a lot of good selections. They built in a good way.

They trade for AJ Brown a couple of years ago. It's really the culmination of years of reworking that roster and even overhauling it from the last time that they were in the Super Bowl. And then when you look at their salary cap, it's something to behold because they pay their quarterback $51 million a year. And my friends, he makes nowhere near $51 million a year. Someday, somehow in the future, this will be a problem for the Philadelphia Eagles. They will not have 10 straight years of no cap trouble, but the way that they opened up this roster window

so they could still spend, and you can have Darius Slay and Saquon Barkley and veteran players to fill in these key pieces. It's just a great job and it's something to emulate. And I made the joke on Twitter. Like, you know what Philly did? You know what their model was?

They had a great player at every position. Wow. What a model. Hey, all 31 teams. I'll be your consultant. I'll tell you how to do it. You just get good players everywhere.

Now off to the off season, find an all pro at every level and you'll be okay. It's like I tell people about college football. They're like, why is it so hard? We got to go, you know, what's the best college football secret? They're like, what? I go, have NFL players on your team. Right?

Like have players that are going to play on Sunday on your roster. Right? Like it's no secret Michigan won the national title. They had 11 players drafted, right? Like it's no secret Michigan won the national title. They had 11 players drafted, right? Like 11, 18 of them went to the combine. It is no secret. And the Eagles did a great job. But the real thing is I got to give some love to the front office and the scouting department

for the Philadelphia Eagles, because a lot of that talent is homegrown drafted developed produced right I mean I was looking at their draft class you go back 2020 right they get Jalen Hurts in the second right they missed a little bit on Jalen Rager that happens right if he goes there right but they get Kayvon Wallace Jack Driscoll another tackle that's been around then you go to 21 Landon Dickerson Devontae Smith right Milton Williams you go down to 2022 Jordan Davis Kan Juergens N'Kobe Dean were their first three picks in that draft right and then you go up to 2023 Jalen Carter Nolan Smith Tyler Seen Sidney Brown all of those guys are contributing and then last year obviously Kenyon Mitchell Cooper Dejean like You can't miss when your draft picks are hitting.

I think back to when Tampa won the Super Bowl, right? Antoine Winfield, Tyler Johnson, rookies contributing at minimum scale dollars. It can allow you to spend for a Saquon Barkley and those type of players, like you said, Darius Slay. So you have to give some love to the top down of not just the GM, but the college scouting department, the whole bit. And that's why people say like, it's so hard to win a Superbowl because it truly does take everyone. I mean, everyone has to be on point. Everyone has to be doing their job

well, because it's not just about the players. It's about the roster build, the cap, everything. So no happy for Philly in a way. And I know that's weird coming out of my mouth. I don't love saying it right, but I am happy for Philly that they did everything right. But what's crazy is they're all now behind in draft and they're behind and everything. And the years just keep on rolling forward. Well, and maybe one of their players might be a $20 million guy who is important in the Superbowl and Milton Williams. The draft point is something that I have a fundamental belief because it's been so deeply studied about the randomness, the draft point is something that I have a fundamental belief because it's been so deeply studied about the randomness of the draft and the randomness of the draft drives

people crazy because we always want answers for stuff. I think of the draft as either getting in car accidents or missing car accidents. How many times have you been driving and you think about you know it's going from green to yellow i'll i'll just stop and then somebody else runs that thing behind you whoa if i had done that i might have gotten hit right and there's also then sometimes where you do the right thing perfectly and then someone rear ends you like, what the heck? And the draft is that because if you ask somebody, if you told somebody, Hey, I got in a car accident, they'd be like, Oh, what'd you do wrong? Like they just assume that you must have made a mistake driving. And I got rear ended once. And I, I, you know, called my family or whatever. Oh, what'd

you do? Like, what did I do? You know? So that happens. That's kind of how we view it. If so, if there's something that bad has happened, we want to blame someone. And if something good happens, then that we want to praise somebody, even if it is pretty random. Now I think Philly has good strategy. Jalen Carter was a good bet to make because they knew if it was going to hit, it was going to be amazing. So I think they make good bets. Also Georgia players seems like a good bet to make Georgia defensive line. However, the same person drafted Andre Dillard, the same person drafted Sidney Jones, the same person drafted Jalen Rager.

It's like they did have great ideas, including Carson Wentz. Ain't going to be worth it. We need to go get a different quarterback. The league is going toward running quarterbacks. We need to get one. That stuff's smart. A lot of good bets. But also, I think that you have to win the randomness bowl as well

in order to get this big of a benefit. They don't have to apologize, but it's just sort of a fact of team building. You can't just sort of count on, well, I'll just, well, college scouts, like just, you know, go draft the good players i mean it also goes to the fact that i think that nick sirianni is the only coach that can coach in a chaotic environment right i don't know of any other place that disorganization is not the exception it's the rule and. And I feel like that's what Philly is, right? And I feel like a player is going to walk into Philly that's been in a buttoned-up, like, Jim Harbaugh type,

and they're going to walk in. There's going to be guys, like, I just picture, like, when the substitute teacher's in, and, like, kids are in the back, like, throwing, like, spitballs at each other. And Sirianni walks in. He's like, hey, shut up and sit down. And everyone's like, oh, okay. And he's like, what is happening?

Right? Because it just seems like they thrive on chaos, and they thrive on disorganization and dysfunction which all i've ever been preached to my entire life is like you can't win with distractions can't do it was there more distractions in the eagles this year like you've got your star wide receiver reading a book on the sideline you've got your defensive end on podcasts like, oh, yeah, A.J. Brown. They do not like each other, not friends. It's like, what is happening? Like, what is going on? And yet they still just found a way to meld and find a way to go and win in the whole bit.

So I don't know, man, whatever they've got cooking up in Philly is different. It's just completely different than anything I've ever seen. Well, I think it really speaks to, you know, when we talk about coaching and all that sort of stuff, it's often just how much talent that you have, that almost everything is overrated. Like the distraction bit is overrated. Sure. If you're a team that's teetering on the edge with your roster and talent and you have a distraction, well, it's going to hurt you when you have a star at every single position. It's probably not. I mean, the Dallas Cowboys of the nineties are kind of a great example here versus today versus today. They have a flawed roster and a flawed quarterback and flawed coaching. They had Jimmy Johnson, Trey Aikman, Emmett Smith, and no problems dealing with distractions. It's like, well, if you have 10 hall of famers on the same roster, you're probably going to do pretty well.

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as being the same way that Kevin O'Connell and the way that he led this team, it really gelled well with people like Sam Darnold, Aaron Jones, Jonathan Grenard, these guys clicked in with that. And I think that that is absolutely vital for leading a team. I also think it's absolutely vital to have Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio. And what we saw is Vic Fangio only goes where he's got a bunch of great players. Is that that man is very clever. He goes to Denver. They got a bunch of great defensive players. He's like, you know, I'm just going to chill for a little while. Maybe Miami was a little less so last year, but this stacked roster, that's why that system works is you have to have some of these boxes checked and rushing with four is one of them and interior pressure

remember Akeem Hicks is one of them and when the Vikings tried to emulate that Fangio system they didn't really have much for a nickel corner they didn't really have linebackers that were in their prime and they didn't have pressure from four outside of Hunter and Zedarius Smith. So anytime the quarterback had time to step up in the pocket, he was finding guys open. And then you end up with Vic Fangio system ruling and the Vikings in 2022, not, but I also think it really tells you that there's no one way to do this. Like Fangio's playing so wildly different than Brian Flores, but Brian Flores had a

top five defense that was really, really good. It is similar to the fact that you just have to have it fit with your roster, your skill sets. And with Philly, they seem to know exactly what they wanted, how they were going to build it, the type of corners they were going to get, type of rushers that they had to make everything work with Fangio. Yeah, that's a great point. You know, and I've been thinking about this too, is forever and always, we would always talk about like, oh, this guy's from this tree or that tree in this tree. I don't really think that exists much anymore. Like obviously you have your basic, like, is this a four down or a three down structure,

but the great coordinators, offensive and defensive coordinators now adapt to what they have, right? It's no longer walk in the door and the Shanahan system, right? We are going to run outside zone and bootlegs only. It's like, that's great. But if you have a quarterback to run the zone, read really, really well, what are we doing? Right? It's about the adaptation of okay what do i do well what does he do well how do we mold this together and create my own tree to come down off of this and you saw that with shane steichen when he did that with jalen hurts and then he goes with anthony richardson you're seeing some more of that very curious to see how ben johnson does it when he gets to the the bears right i don't think you can just say oh this guy's from the McVeigh tree

or this is the Andy Reid tree or whatever anymore. It's just not like that. I mean, the great coordinators have to be adaptable and they also have to be creative unless you have monsters. And then if you have monsters, just don't screw it up, right? Just that's like if you have monsters, I mean, I think of Ben Johnson in Detroit this year. The only time he really screwed it up was when he did too much, right?

You did too much. You let Jameson Williams throw a pass in the championship game. That's too much, right? Like, other than that, it was like, oh, let's let David run. Let's let him run. And I thought KOC did that too. Like, well, we have Sam. We have Jefferson.

We have Addison. Let's just throw it to him, right? But you can't just rely on the monsters when you start getting into years two, three, and four of your system because the coaches in this league are so damn good. They will find ways to stop you, right? They will find ways to beat the cog in the machine, to find the crack in the armor, to do all that. And so I love to see these coaches that have great years,

how they come out and reinvent themselves year after year, because that's how you stay ahead of the curve. That's how you stay one step above your division, one step above all of that. So I'm super curious to see how all these coordinators that did great stuff this year, including Cliff Kingsbury in Washington, right? Brian Flores, how do you evolve still, even when you are a top five defense, you're a top five offense, you're a top five offense, you have to improve every single year in this league or you're toast. I totally agree that offenses now are kind of a hybrid of all sorts of different things.

The old school identity of, well, we line up in the I formation and we run play actions, or even after 2017 with the Eagles, while we're an RPO type of team. Now, what you see is, oh, they're going to run an RPO and now they're going to run a bootleg and now they're going to run this. And I'd like to see more rushing concepts from the Vikings, but when you watch them pass the ball, I mean, it's a lot of it is rooted in getting downfield passes, which does play to Sam Darnold strength. And I think we'll change with JJ McCarthy because he sees the middle of the field really well and was a downright prolific middle of the field passer in

college. That was where he really thrived with Michigan. So he will change it up, but that's kind of the point, right? I don't think that with Kevin O'Connell, I think we proved this year that he's always going to lean on the quarterback heavy, but he did make adjustments to kind of swing for the fences and try to balance out some of the differential in talent on the offense, whether

it was a guard or whether it's just in Sam Darnold, where he does have weaknesses to his game. And he balanced that out by playing the variance game, pushing it down the field. But I think what Philly really does show, and I know it's funny to say, but if you have a weakness, it's going to get taken advantage of at some point in the playoffs. And it would have for the Vikings, whether it was first round, second round or the NFC championship, just like Washington couldn't stop the run. They get to the NFC championship and you're out the Houston Texans. They couldn't pick up a stunt to save their lives. And that ended up getting them in the playoffs with the blitzes. Even the bills did not have a number one receiver and neither did the Packers and guess

what got them. So I think that that's going to shape my mindset going forward for the roster build of the Vikings is what is it that teams are going to be able to take advantage of? Because if you have something, you either have to find a really good way to fix it, or you're probably just going to end up losing. But I wonder what you think, like where running the football falls into this, because a major discussion for you and I throughout this year, and a lot of people covering football was the return of the run game. Kansas city did not have that answer against the Philadelphia Eagles. And that was very obvious at the very beginning. They just could not run the ball and had no interest in

doing it. But I also think about like maybe two or three teams with running quarterbacks and great running backs like Barkley or like Derek Henry or Josh Allen, these teams have a huge, huge advantage. What is everybody else supposed to do though? And I think that finding a way to still be a downfield passing team in a league of short passes is something that I don't want KOC to go away from just because they got beat the way that they did in the playoffs. You can't, yeah, you can't go away from what you're really good at. You have to find ways to add of, okay, we're down the field and that's our a, like that's our a game, right?

That's our fastball. Boom, boom, boom. We can't just say, oh, well, our curve balls is going to be some random run play, right? That doesn't work. You have to have true things that compliment each play, right? That doesn't work. You have to have true things that compliment each other, right? And that's what the Eagles do so well is they never stopped running the football in the Super Bowl, even though it wasn't really working, right? It was okay, but it wasn't what we were used to seeing. We weren't used to seeing Saquon four yards in a cloud of dust, three yards

in a cloud of dust. Like he didn't rip off a 20 yarder, right? He didn't have that explosive, but Philly didn't care. They're like, we're still going to be on first down. We're going to run the football. And then you're going to continue to go. They're going to run. They're going to run. They're going to suck up. And then here comes AJ Brown down the field. So if you flip it and you go, okay, the Vikings are the opposite, right? They're going to throw the ball, throw the ball, throw the ball. Well, once you get a few shots down the field, the changeup has to be light box, bam, right? That's complimentary football. You have to find a better compliment to this offense than just the random throw a run play

against the wall and hope it sticks type of mentality, which I felt like was at times this year was like, well, we kind of have to run the football, don't we? Let's just do it. No, no, no. Let's really put work in, in this off season and the way we build this offensive line and build the running back position and how we want to use the tight ends and the receivers in blocking to compliment the passing game. And it's a lot easier said than done. And you and I can sit here and be like, yeah, just do this, do that. But it really does take personnel change. It takes a change in your fundamentals of what you do in practice, where you put your time into

practice, your time into install in the weight room, your footwork. It takes a lot to change the base fundamentals of what your offense needs to be at times, but that's how you have to adapt. And that's how you have to continue to move on. If you want to be a super bowl champion, I want people to find something in their life that they love as much as you love saying complimentary football. Like there was a, there was a light that came into your face of joy. Football people love saying complimentary football. It's the truth, man. It really is.

And everything you named down the stretch of every playoff game we watched this year, the team that didn't turn the ball over, that took care of the football, that took the ball away, that played complimentary football, won every single playoff game, every single one, because you can get away with it in the regular season when you're playing against the Titans or Indianapolis or a team that's not looked at as a true contender. But the second you walk into the dance, everything matters. Every play, every snap, everything is so different. And if you can truly find and be the most complimentary football team, you can honestly win without being the most talented. Now, if you're the most talented and play the best complimentary football, like the Eagles did, like, I don't think

anyone could have stopped the Eagles the other night. Ravens, Bills, name one team from the AFC that you've watched and said, yeah, they probably beat the Eagles the other night. They were on it. It was their night. I mean, Jake Elliott was probably good from 70 if he wanted to be. Like, there was nothing stopping those dudes. And when you play against a team like that,

it's literally like running into a buzzsaw. I'm going to tell your wife that if you're in a bad mood, you're having a tough day, you come home, you're aging stuff, you had a bad podcast, you lost a client. Oh, man, Jeremiah's having a tough day podcast, you know, you lost the clients. Oh man, Jeremiah's having a tough day. Hey, just ask him about complimentary football. He's just like, oh yeah, we're good. Yeah. Right back. Oh, thanks. Thanks babe. This brings life.

Everything you said though, I completely agree with. And I think that that is something where when we talk about this Vikings roster, I've had this conflict over the last few weeks, because especially after the way the super bowl went down and I got 4,000 emails, DMS tweets, all say, see Vikings need to run and have guards and DTs and stuff. And it's like, look, I, no one disagrees with you. No one has ever disagreed with that. No, no per no person ever has said, you know what? We need to suck a guard. No one has ever thought that the thing about the Vikings is that they played so well during the season and they did such a great job of covering up their weaknesses. And they hit on so many free agents that we just raised the bar to like, why weren't

they the Eagles, even though they were dealing with $70 million in dead cap and the previous regime and the current regime have not drafted that well so far. And there are realities that they are working around that they are still trying to undo from the past. And this wasn't how the timeline was supposed to go for them, but getting ahead of themselves now is like, well, why didn't these idiots get some better guards? It's like, well, because this wasn't the year where they're supposed to have that cap space or that they did. And I thought there should have been more competition, but it's not like they had

20 million to spend on a guard. Would you like a guard or Jonathan Grenard? I'm sorry. I'm going to have to take Jonathan Grenard here or Cashman or Van Ginkle. These guys are all pro or pro bowl caliber players that they spent their money in the right places. But now is the opportunity for this. So I don't think that there's that reasonable of a criticism before that Reisner is a proven player. They tried drafting a guy in the second. They tried developing someone and moving him into a position. These things just didn't work. There are things that have worked for other teams and they just didn't work here. And there's so few guards that are thriving in the NFL today. Your odds are just not that good.

So all of that is to say rebuilding the interior of both lines is the top priority. We all agree with that. No one thinks it's not. How realistic is it though, in your mind to be great at both of those areas next year, based on what's available, not super high for a couple of reasons.

One, the free agent guards, they're not great. I mean, Makai Becton is a one-year, he was a rent-a-year tackle. They moved a guard, had a really good year, but he's been injury prone his entire career. He had one great year. Are you willing to put the five-year $110 million deal in front of that right? I think about a guy like Zeitler, old man, right? You start looking, you go down the list of true free agents. I mean, Trey Smith is obviously the best guard free agent this year. I'd be shocked if Kansas city lets him walk out of the door. And that's the other piece of it. If you find a guard that can play and is great in the NFL, you never let them leave. Look at Quentin Nelson, Zach Martin.

You think they're ever going to wear another helmet besides Colts and Dallas until they're over the age of 35 and the team finally decides to move on? No. If you get that type of caliber player that can play interiorly and not be a question mark and you don't have to say his name until he's getting announced to the Pro Bowl, you found the guy, right? It's hard to do because the guard position is so unique because it used to be, be big, be strong, be Mahler run forward, right? That was what a guard was in the NFL. That was before the age of Aaron Donald, Grady Jarrett, can't see these dudes that are so twitched up and they're two 75 to 80, run four sevens, four eights, have all kinds of quick twitch. It's a mismatch on the interior. And so then you go, okay, well, let's put tackles

in there now, right? Like, okay, we're going to put tackles in there now. Tackles are used to playing in space and not having a dude right there. So the run game gets kind of screwed up and takes some years to develop in the run game. Now you're saying, okay, well, it takes a couple years to develop. Oh, that guy sucks. Move on on it's just such a unique position in the nfl right now of you have to almost be more talented at times than a tackle and it's completely different skill sets i'm not saying like everyone's gonna look at me oh do you have more talented than deris that's not what i'm saying but you have to no longer just be proficient as a pass blocker and a great run blocker right you have to be very proficient in

both because if you're not, you're going to get exposed because these dudes on the interior of the defensive line are nuts. I mean, I was just down at the senior bowl. The defensive line class this year is bananas. It's, it's so talented from the edge rushers to the interiors. Like it's unbelievable. And Mason Graham wasn't even there. And he's going to be the first D tackle off the board for Michigan. It's just a position that is going to have to continue to develop and evolve, and you're going to see the emergence of more $100 million a year guards because they are becoming that much more important because tackles, you can get beat running around the edge. There's no saving a defensive tackle running up the A gap because he just clubbed your guard out of the way, and now your quarterback just turtles and falls and dies, right? There's no escaping the quick

beat at the guard. You can escape a quick beat at the tackle, right? Step up, move, manipulate the pocket. You cannot beat the quick beat at the guard. You cannot run the ball if the guy's getting ejected, not creating a new line of scrimmage. It is just a hard position to be successful out in the NFL right now. With that said, the Vikings have invested nothing in this position for a very long time. I believe the highest contract they gave out was Josh Klein, a three-year, $15 million deal of which he made one year and 5 million out of.

And then I think he retired. He never announced it or anything. Quiet guy, but I never saw him again in the NFL. So one of those ones where the NFL tells you, you retired, I guess. So you didn't retire. The NFL said, Hey, you're retired. You never really got any confirmation. Like, was it an injury or what?

I mean, cause he actually played pretty well in 19 19 but then he just was done in the league but they had the point being that if the most money you've spent at that position and they've tried draft picks they tried ezra cleveland they tried ed ingram and this is the draft luck both of those guys well especially cleveland i think ingram was a lesser prospect who got overdrafted uh based on the expectation from the outside. But, you know, both of those guys were second round draft picks. They're high picks. They were evaluated and it just didn't work out. And you have a first rounder at center that is not really built for a system like this.

And I think that when we go into this free agency period and talk about, well, which guys should they get? There's going to be a few names that get talked about a ton, and I don't really want the most money spent on those guys. I would much rather see them take a lot of shots at these positions and see who emerges because I think chemistry is a big deal and you're unlikely to build Philadelphia's line just in free agency. Because as you said, teams only let these guys go. If there's a reason for letting them go and that's that they don't believe they're worth the money. So I think that's a big challenge on the other side of the field. I do not think it should be as challenging.

There's DTs everywhere. There's five, six in free agency. There's five, six in the first round. I was going through Dane Brugler's top 100 big board. I was like, these are all defensive tackles. It's crazy how many are out there. Draft one in the first sign one in free agency, develop them in Levi Drake, Rodriguez, Jalen Redman. And I think you could be a lot nastier at that position and make a massive upgrade to go along with granard van ginkle dallas turner and so forth yeah and that's the kind of really crappy thing about the vikings not having a ton of picks this year's years a lot of value in the day three picks this year a lot of value for a couple reasons one the draft class is enormous right it's the perfect

combination of all the covet players that this is the last year of the covet year it's the fifth years that don't have a covet year it's the true seniors it's the juniors it's the perfect combination of all the COVID players that this is the last year of the COVID year. It's the fifth years that don't have a COVID year. It's the true seniors. It's the juniors. It's the largest draft class on record, right? It's over 2,000 kids. 2,000 kids are in this draft class. There's going to be guys that have fourth, fifth-round grades that go undrafted strictly because there's 45 second-round grade players, right? Like, that's just how it works. And so late in the draft, there's gonna be a lot of value there at those positions,

D tackle and offensive guard. It's a very quality offensive guard class, right? So this is, we're not having those draft picks late in the day. Three is going to come back and bite us a little bit, but I agree with you. If you have to pick one, it's okay. We need to bolster the interior of the defensive line. We need to get better that position, right? Bullard. We love you. You're not the guy, right? Redmond, you showed some flashes this year. You were supposed to be, you're going to be a guy that develops, but we need that, that ass kicker, man. Like you just need the guy that you can say, Hey, if they slide away from you, you're going to win, right? Yeah. No problem. Got it. We haven't had one of those since Dalvin Tomlinson, maybe. I mean, even he was not a 100%

win rate in the one-on-one situation. There's guys I watch in the league now, if you don't slide to them, they're winning in one way, shape, or form, whether it's a bull rush putting you in his lap, it's a quick beat affecting the throw, it's a sl slant and he's in the backfield tackling the guy we have to have that guy on this defense and that's going to open up so much more for Flores if he doesn't feel like he needs to blitz every single play because he has these guys interiorly to pair with his edge guys and I feel confident that they can do that whether they take the free agent or the draft route and also I guess what you said just sort of sparked the Kweisi Adafomenta has done really well in undrafted free agency. And this seems like a really big year for them to go out and be a huge spender again

and get two or three of the top guys, which they've been able to do in recent years. So those rebuilds will be fascinating to watch how they deal with the quarterback situation, the corners, the safeties is harrison smith coming back we are just question marks everywhere going into the offseason but before we wrap up on our season of broadcasts together our bit each week love to see it hate to see it i want an expanded version of that here to look back on the 2024 season, the things that happened that we loved to see and that we hated to see. So I will begin with what I loved to see from the Vikings this year was the competitive rebuild work, the proof that this organization is functional again, proof that they have their

head coach going forward, that moving on from Kirk Cousins was the right idea. And you think about all the management or coaches who have been fired even since 2022. And this team feels like it's proven that it's going to be in the mix and it's going to be, do they get the right DT? Do they stay healthy? Does McCarthy workout, et cetera, et cetera. But what we know is they're going to be there. And if you set that baseline, you've got a chance going into every single year. I didn't feel yet super confident that they had set that baseline. Now I do. And you love to see that. Yeah. I love to see it slash hate to see it as the fact that blind Brian Flores is back in

purple. Right. I think it's a love to see it from a Vikings fans perspective, having congruency among that now another year of people that have been in that system, more comfortable with that system. We'll know it like the back of their hand. That's all great. Don't love that. He really didn't get another shot at a head coaching job. I think the guy deserves it. I think he is an unbelievable football coach. I think we've seen it. I think he is an unbelievable football coach. I think we've seen him grow from his press conferences and how he handled himself and just the personal development. I love when you can see a coach that doesn't have the ego of, I don't care what those guys say.

I'm doing it my way. I mean, it makes me sad for him, but very excited as a guy who is going to cheer for the Vikings that he is back in purple. Love to see it. For me, Sam Darnold and his story for this year, you could say whatever you want about the contract situation, what they should do in the future.

I think we need to separate those two things. It's one of the coolest stories in Vikings history of finding a quarterback, a guy who was at the bottom of every ranking. The Vikings are mocked for signing him. Already given $10 million to this bust for the way he handled himself through this entire season. He got hit a bunch of times. He made a bunch of plays.

He was a lot of fun to watch. And there's just not many of those stories that happen even all through NFL history. It's only a handful of guys that have ever been picked that high and then prove they could do it. My favorite football quote of all time is that Bill Parcells, after they won the Super Bowl, he said, now nobody can ever tell you you couldn't do it. And it's like, no one can ever say that Sam Darnold couldn't play quarterback. Even if he doesn't have a great career from here, no one can ever say that guy's the biggest

bust in history. He can't play. He was terrible. He's a joke. He sees ghosts because he won 14 games and he was a top 10 quarterback and he proved he could do it and i enjoyed the heck out of following that story this year yeah i hate to see it for me was the fact that we didn't get to see derisaw all year long right i mean the guy was playing at such an unbelievable level such high and to watch him him tear his ACL and to go down in

such a meaningless play right before half, right? It just sucked all the way around. And, you know, it makes me sad that we didn't get to see him paired with all of this because that was an issue going forward, right? It was DQ and then it was Cam Robinson and then kind of everything in between. I would have loved to see if he could have been an impact player because I think he could have been. I really do think he could have been an impact player. Does he help us win a playoff game? I don't know. Maybe. But him not

being there was a big piece of the machine that was missing. So hated to see that, but I really hope that there's no setbacks. He comes back, doesn't miss a beat because he is just so fun to watch. He's just one of the most dominant players in the NFL. I hated to see it most of the nfl playoffs and maybe this was just the way that it started for uh myself traveling to arizona and going to glendale and covering a horrendous playoff game but if we go through the whole playoffs, there were a couple games that were

great. The Philadelphia snow game was pretty great. I think Bill's Ravens was really good. Bill's chiefs was really good, but there was also a lot of bad football that we saw in the playoffs. I did not feel like this was a great collection and it ended with just a big stinker at the end. Overall, this would not be one where I would go back and say, you know what I'm going to do this weekend. I'm going to watch every playoff game from that year, which sometimes I do. And, uh, 2012 was recently, but not one, not one for me. And I hated to see it just with so much that the Vikings did this year to build up their, their vibe, their locker room, their coach, all the energy that they had. And the way that it disappeared was as big of a letdown as I feel like I've ever seen.

I mean, coming off the Minneapolis miracle, sorry, but that's probably the biggest, I know that's probably the biggest letdown I've ever seen, but this was pretty big to have Sam Darnold go from beating the packers at home wow that really makes this season great and now they've got a chance and then you know that that's i hate to see it it was so deflating and then to have the playoffs not really be great uh was it was sort of doubled it yeah i'm gonna keep it that theme i hated to see that there was no middle class in the NFL this year. It was the haves and the have-nots. It was double-digit win teams and three-win teams.

There wasn't this growth area team of where you could kind of like the Detroit Lions for a couple years ago, where in the middle of the year they turn around and you're like, that team next year is going to be really dangerous, right? It was all, man, the Raiders, okay, they stink again. Okay, Bears, they stink again. And holy crap, 12 wins, 14 wins, 15 wins. It's not good for the league when it's terrible teams and really good teams, right? It's not good from a growth perspective for the league where you're having just the same teams on TV every single week, tired of seeing the Cowboys at 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. I don't want to see that anymore.

I want to see the Jaguars, the Titans, like those type of teams turn it around and be competitive again. And it just feels like we're kind of stuck in this cycle of the same six or seven teams where week one rolls out and you're going well we're gonna watch those guys in january like there was no disparity in the nfl this year and i i don't know maybe it's just a fan in me that wants to see better football but i just didn't love that there was no middle class with the nfl this year i thought it was fascinating that we had so many teams win 13 14 15 games and there's a lot of times i was looking back at just a couple

years ago the titans won the afc with 12 wins and if you're a 12 win team this year it's like oh well they're kind of you know a little behind normally a 12 win team is a really good like meeting the baseline for a super bowl but then we end up seeing a 15 win team that was pretty flawed and a 14 win team in the Vikings that was pretty flawed. And you go, how bad were those bad teams? If a 14 win team, we're talking about them as if like they did everything wrong. This, you know, it's just a, it was a strange season from a competitive perspective. I'll, I'll build on that. The love to see it, hate to see it relationship with the NFC North. Because when KOC takes over, the NFC North is a joke. It's Aaron Rodgers toast or leaving.

It's Detroit tanking, Chicago tanking. And that was a major reason they won 13 games in that first season is those teams were garbage. And now you look around and go, oh yeah, I forgot about how tanking there's like another side to it. It's when they win. And if Chicago has a better coach that gets more out of Caleb Williams and he maximizes that talent or even gets to two thirds of that talent, they're going to be a problem. Detroit's going nowhere. They're still going to be good even with different coordinators. And I think the Packers will still be for a formidable and maybe Jordan love doesn't try to play the season, uh, banged up. And I would also offer that for

future advice to Jordan love, not that he's listening, but don't try to come back too early from those injuries. They'll mess up your whole season. So the Vikings have done things right. Roster wise, they've set themselves up cap wise. They have a really good coach. They have a sound quarterback situation. And then they're running into these giants of the NFC. And then, Hey, by the way, Jaden Daniels just showed up and guess who you play next year, the NFC East, and they might have their Lamar.

So it's kind of like you missed your window there. and guess who you play next year, the NFC East, and they might have their Lamar. So it's kind of like you missed your window there. And I will, this is a hate to see it. I'll never stop thinking about Jalen Hurts in the 2020 draft because I, I pounded the table and I've been wrong about guys, of course, quarterbacks, but I pounded the table Vikings. This is the time. Take the future quarterback who you can develop. Who's an athlete, but Kirk be your bridge, build around that guy in the future. Take the future quarterback who you can develop, who's an athlete.

Let Kirk be your bridge. Build around that guy in the future. Go, go, go. And they got to it four years too late. And they missed when the NFC North was garbage. And so if they had been building up, and I guess I'll never stop thinking about that as he has his second Super Bowl appearance and his Super Bowl victory because his franchise said, you know, this mid quarterback who is pretty good is not really worth it. Let's move on to another guy.

Yeah. I mean, the changing of the guard of a quarterback position is a love to see it for me, right? Stafford's on his way out. Gops getting older. Tom Brady's out. Aaron Rodgers has just been told he's no longer going to be with the jets next year and you look at the last two years of quarterback drafts and you

stay really comfortable with a lot of those guys of those guys are going to be really good right you look at uh jane daniels drake may anthony richardson cj stroud bo nicks right michael pennix at the end of this year like there's a lot of really young quarterback talent that is exciting in this league that is going to be really good for a long time and it's just going to make it even that much harder to win the big one to get out of your division I think that is going to be what's going to make the middle class again is these quarterbacks are going to continue to develop into years two three and four of their careers and be better and better and if teams can build around them it's going to continue to develop into years two, three, and four of their careers and be better and better.

And if teams can build around them, it's going to be more and more competitive. But I felt like we went on a run there from like 2020 to 2023 where the quarterbacks were just awful, right? Any drafted quarterback was like, whoa, what is happening? This is not good.

You got your one or two. But I feel like out of the, I think it was nine quarterbacks taken in the first round the last two years, or maybe it was eight, something like that. I feel really comfortable about all eight of those guys being franchise type level quarterbacks moving forward, which is just going to make for the NFL to be a lot more fun. JJ McCarthy, hopefully being another one of those guys. Uh, as always, uh, serious injuries are, I hate to see it yeah um the i think the the most that comes to mind for me and i know there's a lot of guys who missed the year and all that but

was uh was really tua and his career because i know he's not a perfect quarterback but they were starting to get something going there and the league announced that concussions were down i think that's good i also wonder if mean, these have to be reported. So does that mean concussion reporting is down? But Tua going through what he went through was really, really tough to watch. Now, we didn't have as many quarterbacks go down this year as I think we did the year before where it felt like half the league was out, which might have been one of the reasons the teams won so many games but that one specifically really stuck with me that he came

back and he kept trying to play and just really hate to see when something like that happens to a top player like it did yeah injuries are always one i think about like stefan diggs losing him early in the year tank dell what he went through went through, I mean, what the Lions went through. I mean, just so many injuries, but it just reminds you of how violent this game is and how you have to just be ready to roll with it and how important depth and building your roster is. Right. When a guy goes out, you can't have this drastic drop off to the second and third guy in your in your room or else it's just that much harder to go out and win games and you see the teams that build the correct roster depth with the development and that piece being able to come out of those injuries and be okay obviously if you lose your franchise quarterback your toes like there's really no coming back from that

but there is ways to still win games with your your backup guys in right think about look at the eagles tyler steen had to step in a few times for Landon Dickerson or when Cam Juergens went down. Or, you know, you talk about guys that are able to step up in big moments. So the developmental piece of the NFL is not going anywhere. You have to continue to develop

and have players on your roster that aren't superstars but can get you in and out of games. I will throw out one more love to see it. And this is sort of a vindictive love to see it. But the bad franchises paid for being bad this year. It was the good franchises that made the playoffs for the most part, the good coaching staffs, the good ownership.

It was a lot of the same coaches that have always been doing it. And I guess it's a love to see it that Jim Harbaugh is back. The NFL is certainly more unique with Jim Harbaugh. and they were playing 1993 Indianapolis Colts football out there. But the, the franchise is like the Raiders. Even the Patriots have become a bad franchise that make bad decisions all the time. And they made them again with whether it's hiring coaches, the giants are in this category,

hiring coaches that were unqualified. Hey, let's just have Gerard Mayo. You're a head coach now. What? With no real experience working your way up the ladder, just kind of a linebackers coach, and now you're supposed to run a whole franchise? Great, great decision making.

A lot of bad decisions they paid for it. Let's bring back Daniel Jones for another year and see if he could justify our contract for him this time. Or, and I, I, I respect them letting go Saquon Barkley because paying him would not have been a good idea. They wouldn't have won anything. He would have just been worse still though. Like they've been bad.

They've been run bad for a long time and they're paying for it. And I feel like that have and have not, there's also some justice in it because the franchises that don't know what they're doing continue to just, and the bears, my goodness with keeping Ibraflux around and not immediately trying to hire a coach to pair Caleb Williams with, and instead waiting around to waste a year and they paid for it. So I felt like this year did have a little bit of that poetic justice to it. Yeah. And you missed the biggest one, Aaron Rogers. You missed, you missed the biggest one you've got. And I give a lot of credit to Glenn of being able to say, listen, if I'm taking this

over, we're starting fresh. We're taking the scythe and, and we're just going to eat $49 million in dead cap and start and live to fight another day. I respect the coaches that have the nuts and the balls to do that because it's not easy. It's not easy to say, Hey, you're going to hire me. And we're going to, we're going to release the hall of fame or Aaron Rogers. We're just going to do it. Right. And so I love when coaches do that and they come and say, we're doing it my way. We're going to have the Hall of Fame or Aaron Rodgers. We're just going to do it, right? And so I love when coaches do that and they come and say, we're doing it my way. We're going to have it my way. I also don't like when good coaches get put in bad situations and then pay for it. And I think that's what happened with Robert Sala. I think Robert Sala is a very good football coach,

right? And he's going to go back to San Fran, back with his dudes, and he's going to be just fine. But he got handcuffed a little bit. And I don't think it was his decision to bring in Aaron Rodgers. Just like I don't think it was Kevin Stefanski's decision to bring in Deshaun Watson, right? Sometimes really good coaches get put in really bad situations. I hate to see that for those guys, but I like to see when guys can find their way and claw their way out of it to go and make chicken salad out of chicken.

You know what I mean? So it's just, it's fun to watch the really good coaches go, but it also is very telling when a coach is in above his head, right? He's underwater. He can't figure out what's going on. He can't get the ship, right? I mean, everything is going disastrous. It's really easy to tell those guys. And when you hire a first time head coach and pair them with some of those bad decisions, very rarely do they just skyrocket out of there and elevate everything up. Oh, I should. Yeah. I mean the Cleveland, I really should have jumped on first floor. Yeah. But there's so many Cleveland and the jets,

so many options to make fun of the teams that went badly. So how about this? Unless you have any more, I'll throw this out there to you before we put a bow on. What is this? Our fifth season of season. Yeah. Yeah. And by far the most fun podcasting wise. I think you're not even close.

Run it away. Yes. This season. Who's who's going to win the next super bowl in 2025, 26. And how many wins are the Vikings going to get? These are totally risk-free predictions, but,

uh, how are we feeling about it? I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Ravens are in the super bowl next year. I think they've been knocking on the door. I think their window is closing. I think they've been knocking on the door. I think their window is closing. I think they have one more year before big contracts start to hit.

Guys like Zay Flowers need to be paid. Ronnie Stanley's on his way out. You're starting to get some guys that are getting a little older in the tooth on the defensive side of the ball. I think they have one more year to really try and put a bow on this and go. So I'm going to say the Ravens.

I'm going to say the Ravens go. I worry about the Bills being able to push the ball up the hill again, um, on that front, just exhausting to do, to get there, get there and just keep getting beat. Um, but I do think the Ravens with Lamar, he's playing an unbelievable level. I think that's their year. I think the Vikings with JJ McCarthy is their starting quarterback. 10, 11 wins. I think this roster is good enough to get 10-11 wins. They're going to do all the stuff. They're going to listen to our podcast.

They're going to take our management advice. They're going to go get the players they need to get in free agency. They're going to draft well. Guys are going to be contributors. This roster is a 10-11 win roster with minus two on either side on strictly quarterback play. Strictly quarterback play will either be an 8-win or you could be a 13-win team. It's so much dependent on who the trigger man is and how well

he plays. And with no sample size of JJ McCarthy, besides the one preseason game that everyone lost their minds to, that is just such a question mark in the air. I really like this for a off-season mantra. Get the good players. That's what we need. You need to get the good players that's that's what we as we need you need to get the good players you're welcome uh i think 10 wins is a good way to set the bar lower than 14 because it's not fair that's not it's just not no you can't go into a year like repeat what you did last year with a harder schedule right with better teams with maybe not the same quarterback. That's not a fair thing to ask any team to do. I'm not even gonna ask Kansas city to do the same thing or Philly to do the same thing. I like the pick of Baltimore. The one thing I wonder about with

the Houston Texans is a new OC, maybe new offensive line coach rebuild some of that. Maybe we were a year early on them as declaring them a team that could play with those guys. And they might not be that far off depending on what they do with the receiver position. Tank Dell is going to probably not play anytime soon after that thing. Yeah. But it's back, right?

Does Diggs come back? I mean, there's so many question marks there. Joe Mixon, does he, how many legs, how many legs does he have left? Well, and Cincinnati would be another team that I would not sleep on that might just fix their defense and be, uh, be back. And I think the commanders have a great chance to be in it. I would pick Detroit or Philly to be in the super bowl for next year, but I would have the commanders probably third right behind them. Cause they are going to spend some money on some beasts on the interior as well. So, all right, well, let me just say to you, it was super fun. I cannot thank you enough for all of your time, your effort, and your reliability,

despite your schedule. Sometimes you always find a way to make it happen. You always bring something unique, interesting, fun. We have a great time every single week doing this and I could not do purple insider without you. So I just appreciate you so much. This was so much fun. We'll talk again soon this off season, but I'm looking forward already to 2025 baby. Yeah, no, I appreciate you having me on. It's crazy. You've been doing this for five years. It's fun to see the growth of purple insider from when you started this thing to where it's at now. So kudos to you and really just thanks to everyone that watches and

consumes and tweets me and sends DMS or whatnot. I appreciate all of you guys and I always will bleed purple. So yeah, wrap it up, sign it back up for 2025. Take us away. Hey, football.