Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Jeremiah Sirles wants the Vikings to stick with JJ McCarthy in 2026

Episode Date: December 31, 2025

Former Vikings lineman Jeremiah Sirles joins the show to discuss what Minnesota should do at QB next season and what's left to learn about this team in the final week of the season. Plus, Maggie Robinson joins for the weekly Robinson Rundown. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, presented by Fandul. Matthew Collar here. And it is time once again for Tuesday morning left guard. And when Jeremiah logged in to do the show, I could see the fear in his eyes. I could see the terror, the concern, the worry, because he thought we were going to talk about Vikings and Packers. But Jeremiah, I just can't do it. with no juice to this game, no meaning. Had the Packers been in a spot

where you could knock them off the top of the NFC North, then this would have been kind of great. And if we were sure J.J. McCarthy was going to play and then it has something on the line, ooh, all right, let's go to the stadium. But you've played in a few of these games, week 18. You got your Louis Vuitton bags, as, you know, of course you did when you played ready and packed up

to fly to whatever location you're going. to. So I don't expect much out of this game. Is there anything you're looking for before we get into more pressing matters? Not really. I mean, I'm looking forward to some of the games that matter. I mean, there's some fun ones there on that piece, but I don't know, you watch the game last night and you go, well, Atlanta showed up and gave a fight. And so maybe the Vikings, but again, it's one of those things where it's like, just get out healthy. I think that's, you go into these week 16s ones and you're like, hey, come out alive. Week 18, come out alive. at her going to the off season, all those fun things. But yeah, I mean, I don't expect to learn much

about either one of these teams in week 18. Right. Even if J.J. McCarthy plays. Who cares? Why? Don't even do it. Right. It's, it's preseason. Because if he goes out there and sucks, then everyone's just going to remember him sucking going into the off season. If he goes out there and does really well, people are going to be like, uh, did it matter? It was week 18. Like, I feel like just sit him down. There's really no point if he's got a little hairline fracture. Don't make it worse. Well, and if you get another fracture of any kind, you could set back a very important offseason for him and for some players I'd be like okay well come on it's football go play but for him he's been injured so many times were it to happen again you would be concerned

about the same problem that he dealt with last year which was not being able to really work on the technical elements and more of just trying to get his body back to 100% to play but I have are you into role playing I was thinking about a big role play guy huge actually I was a I was a Thespian in high school. Were you? Two times. I could see that. I was in musicals.

I loved it. I'm a big role play guy, put on a face. Okay, yeah. I mean, you have a big personality. I could see. You project like one does on the stage. So I think that what I'd like you to do is sit in the general manager's chair and allow me to ask some questions about this offseason.

But you don't have to play general manager as in GM speak. Like, this is. the, we're sitting down for a beer to talk about the Viking. So you're just, you're just sitting there, just talking ball. Should we go get a beer or a Dr. Pepper for you? I got a, you know, di Dr. P. here for me. I also recently went to a bubbler will do. Went to Taco Bell.

Yeah. So if either one of those companies would like to sponsor the show, please do. Let's do this. Let's start out with this. I'm going to present you some ideas and you're the general manager and you're going to tell me whether you like them or not. And the first idea is that we just stick with J.J. McCarthy for 2026. No real competition for him, just a regular backup quarterback, Gardner Minshue, Carson Wentz, whoever it is. And it is J.J. McCarthy time 2026.

What say you about that idea? I say, yeah, we probably, that's where we have to go. And that's probably where we need to go. But I'm not willing to go in it without a certified insurance plan. I don't think Gardner Minchu does enough for us if J.J. gets hurt. I don't think that we can put all our chips on the table and say, well, he won't get hurt. That's just he hasn't proven that to us yet. Durability is a huge piece of being able to perform in this league and perform consistently. So while I still do think it's all in for JJ in 2026, we need to go out and get a higher level backup than that to make that happen. Okay. Then my follow up is who we talking about here. because the problem is there are so few good starting quarterbacks in the NFL,

or I should say so many teams that are in need of starting quarterbacks in the NFL, that if you are above a Gardner Minshue, you are probably starting. I mean, we know now that Daniel Jones was capable of performing pretty well, but as he went to Indianapolis, his team had released him. He had won three of his last 16 games. He had more interceptions than touchdowns. And that was a promising idea for the Indianapolis Colts. I mean, who are we talking about here?

Because as I was trying to make my list of different quarterbacks, I mean, I came up with in this category of regular backup, the Tyrod Taylor's, the Marcus Mariotas, the Jimmy Garoppelos, Joe Flackos, but they're all just some different version of a Carson Wentz or of a Gardner Minshue. So how do you find that person who is not really competition for McCarthy, but you'd feel pretty good. with, I'm not sure who that is. I think a guy like Jacoby Berset is a guy that I would probably look at. I don't know what his deal is with Arizona right now. If it's a one year or two year, if he was on a one year and he's done after this year, probably go try and get Jacoby Berset would be my number one goal just from watching how you look at how he can operate an offense, a veteran presence, a command, knows that he's not

the guy, right? But was able to go in there and take that locker room over when Kyler. Murray played too many video games, went in there and looked on that piece there. I'm not about Mac Jones trying to give up draft capital. I don't think we are there in that position to say, hey, yeah, we have all these draft picks and we have really like a cheap roster so we can just afford to get rid of those picks. We need our draft picks. So I think it's got to be on the Jacoby Berset level.

Maybe Tyrod Taylor's one, too, that I look at from a veteran standpoint. It needs to be a guy that's been around a long time, understands offense. and can come in and know his role while also not making it weird of like, oh, I'm competing with the kit. Okay, but you're sitting in the GM's seat here. Aren't you nervous about doing this? Because Jacoby Brissette's not winning you anything. I mean, you look at what he did in Arizona this year. Was it mildly serviceable play for a little while? Sure. But he lost like every single game. So that's not going to get it done. Tyrod Taylor has had a lot of different stops. hasn't had much success as a starter like every single one of these guys that we could bring up

you'd be perfectly fine with two to four games but that's a lot of trust in j j mccarthy with a just a jefferson season coming up that's huge with the jordan addison season that's coming up that's pretty big and with your head coach really in the limelight here if j j j mccarthy doesn't take a step forward and the thing is though also it's not a step forward it is a leap over a mountain skipping a jump right so does that are you still comfortable like considering all that

are you still comfortable with that idea or should we talk about some other guys I don't think we have a choice there Matthew I think from the GM seat that I'm sitting in from the cap that I'm looking at from the how we've structured our roster from the five year vision that we started down this path when JJ got drafted

I don't think we have another option. I don't think we have another choice. I don't think there's another discussion to be had, unfortunately. Right. I think if I had my druthers, then yeah, you could probably just be like, hey, it didn't work. Let's go get the next giant. But that's just not how it works in the NFL.

You know that. I know that. We just have to go out and go, hey, this is the chips we have right now. We have to find a way to make it work. The only way this is going to work is if J.J. McCarthy does take that big jump, that hop, skip, and a jump, that leap the mountain. And so we have to prepare like he's going to and have a bit of an insurance plan,

but we don't have the cap to go out and sign a really good quarterback to compete with J.J. McCarthy right now. Okay. I'm going to work through that then. See if we can find a guy. The names that come to mind for me, so you said already that you don't want to trade any draft picks for Mack Jones. I think that that's fair. Mac Jones is a reasonably decent quarterback. But as we've seen from San Francisco, when they got their starter in there, They are like one of the best offenses in the league. And when Mack Jones was in there, he helped them survive, which is high level backup quarterback play, but not really save your job type of play.

In order to find save your job type of play, you have to reach the level of, say, I don't know, like an Atlanta quarterback like Kirk Cousins. Do you have any interest in bringing back? I'll quit the show. I'll quit the show. Stop it. I will, this will be the last episode of Tuesday morning left guard. if you make me argue this point, because no, you don't bring Kirk back.

Stop it. Door shut. Next option. All right. I have to try even a little bit, even though I tend to agree with you. This team where it's at, and look, Atlanta might not be able to get rid of Kirk because of Michael Penix's situation. They might just have to say, well, we're going to have to stick with you. But the argument would be that next year,

they will have more talent on the team than Kirk ever had before. And he's finally started to look like himself again with the Achilles thing, with the way that he's been playing. Knows the offense can step right in. You can still have a quarterback competition if you like. And if J.J. McCarthy takes a huge step forward. Well, this happened to Kirk one time before. But at very least, he can get you back in that conversation to be in the playoffs with what you have.

probably won't be that expensive, especially when he's made $200 gazillion dollars in his career, and he said he regretted leaving Minnesota and look around like the lions are not as strong as they were. Green Bay is still kind of a seven-seed type of team. The bears are certainly on the rise. I don't think it puts you in the Super Bowl discussion,

but it's certainly if they had Kirk Cousins playing quarterback for them this year, they're winning at least 10 games. Did KOC and Kirk? both put their pride away and let bygones be bygones and coexist again. Is that is, I think that's, that is, listen, Kirk's a nice guy. No one's ever going to disagree with that. But I don't think Kirk forgets. I think he forgives, but Kirk does not forget.

And what Atlanta did to him, he will not forget. I don't see or foresee him wanting to go into another situation that is similar to that where, hey, bring me in because you want me to be the guy or that piece there. But if JJ outplays you or whatever, like, we're going to go with the kid. I don't see him wanting to walk back into that type of situation again with a team that basically let him walk and offered him, but he could have stayed and over that, but there was not a big push of like pound the table. Kirk, please stay, don't go.

We love you so much. How could you do this to us? Like there wasn't that piece of it there. I can't see. He's hitting close to the age. Cliff two, not mobile, all the things, I would, I'm, I'm out. I'm out on the Kirk Cousins thing, bringing them back. I'd rather bring Aaron Rogers than Kirk Cousins. So there's probably, yeah, I mean, the way that Rogers played this year was extremely average.

And I mean, he played like the 18th best quarterback in the league, which is good enough to get you in a discussion for the playoffs, but not much farther. And I think with Kirk, you're probably talking about that same ballpark of where he is physically as you could get somewhere between, the 12th and 18th best quarterback performance in the league and you would need great offensive line play great running which they don't always have uh at least the wide receivers would be given a chance to catch footballs um drake london had a lot of receptions with uh kirk cousins when he was healthy last year so uh look i i don't like this idea anymore than you do because it just to me has a cap on it which is maybe you can make a wild card and then not

much more, which was always our issue with Kirk Cousins before, but I think there's also a ton of pressure on KOC to get back to the playoffs after this and then win in the playoffs at least one game. I mean, his predecessor, Mike Zimmer already had a playoff win by now, should have had two if, you know, Blair Walsh and the whole thing. And then by year six, Mike gets his team to, or now, it wasn't even year six. Let's see 14, 15, 16, 17. No, it was year four.

They win. And then by year six, they have multiple playoff wins because that's 2019. I mean, to have zero in five years, okay, so you don't like that idea. How about somebody in that same range, which would be like a Gino Smith? Would Gino Smith intrigue? Not after what he put on tape this year. I mean, what he put on tape this year was maybe as bad of quarterback plays as we had already. So you definitely don't want to go. on that realm there because also

I don't think Gino Gino for me has never looked like a mentor. I've never seen Gino take the young kid under his shoulder and be like, hey man, this is how it's supposed to be done. He seems to me more like the shut up pissant. I'm on my way. Like you're young. You're trying to take my job.

I'll teach you when I'm dead type of thing. You need a guy that's afraid to mentor J.J. McCarthy and not afraid to not just say, here's my job, take it. But hey, I'm going to challenge you, but I'm also going to teach you along the way. And those guys are the ones you need to look for from that piece. And I don't think Gino Smith is that guy.

What I think they need, and this is why I am interested in Gino Smith, is I think they need a bar that is set fairly high. And I guess this is what Kirk would do as well. But I agree with you that if you bring back Kirk, you better be the starter. You can't bring back Kirk to be competition with J.J. McCarthy because Kirk is going to have other offers.

to be a starter somewhere else. I mean, if Philip Rivers can play, then Kirk can get himself a job for another team after what he's put on tape for Atlanta in recent weeks. With Gino Smith, he performed so poorly with the Las Vegas Raiders. I don't think that he has too many offers to come be a starting quarterback for Miami or for Arizona or for Pittsburgh teams that are likely to need

starting quarterbacks. So if you are coming in as competition for JJ, McCarthy, you do set a certain bar of this guy's played in the league before. He does have a very strong arm and he can get the ball to Justin Jefferson. He get the ball to a number one wide receiver. Can you beat him out? And if you can, that means that, like, you've made enough progress over the off season to prove that they can trust you.

And if you can't, you have a guy who just one year ago won 10 games for the Seattle Seahawks. I kind of like it from that perspective. I like every option that puts the onus on J.J. McCarthy to beat someone out and prove it. The Gino thinks interesting, but the problem is what is his cap hit? What do you pay a guy like that? Is that a $15 million a year guy? Is that a $10, $8, $6? Because he's going to command a certain level of respect that he's going to feel respected as,

hey, I've started a lot of games in this league, I've played a lot of games in this league. you don't get me for $5 million to just come in and be the mentor because that's not who I am. Like I want to go somewhere where I have a legitimate chance to start, where I have a legitimate chance to contribute and where my pay reflects that. And so you're looking at, I think he made $58 million this year on that piece there. I think he has a $16 million on his contract for next year or close to $18. So that's probably the ballpark you're going to have to pay him. And again, that goes back to is that worth buying Gino's,

Smith at 15 to 18 million, I just, I don't know if I feasibly can look at that from my GMC and go, that makes financial sense. Okay, then the next question about the quarterback situation would be, let's say that I am now Kevin O'Connell. I'm not just a random person asking the GM questions at a, at a bar. We're now in the meeting room and we're having this real discussion. And I tell you, look, I think JJ can someday be a good quarterback, but he can't write. now i like i'm just i'm telling you from all my experience as the quarterback guy i played in the national football league i don't know why i just started to get a texas accent there so i play in the league but uh can you touch lais you have a national high school ring high school national

championship i got a super bowl ring that i won with sean mcvay um this is it this that's not even remotely how kevin o'connell talks but let let let's just say i I turned him into Gary Kubiak there for a second that he says, look, I just, I think he's too far away. I think this needs multiple years of development, and I'm willing to do that behind the scenes. But if my job is on the line and not only that, but the careers of Brian O'Neill, Jonathan Grenard, Andrew Van Ginkle, these guys, like, you never know how much longer you're going to play in the NFL. And I can't have them run out there and be as good at their jobs as they are, Justin Jefferson, and waste another year of their lives because we can't get the ball up.

and down the field to open wide receivers, I need you to get me somebody else. Who is that somebody and how are you getting them? And you're allowed to be as bold as you want with this, Mr. GM, because this is an ideas session we're having in this meeting. What are you willing to give up is my first question. Who are you willing to let walk out of that door for a cap casualty to create the room that we're going to need?

Are you okay with trading Jordan Addison and getting him off of the books? Are you okay with restructuring and telling T.J. Hawkinson he has to take less money or else we're just going to have to cut him and have him walk? Are you okay with maybe telling Harrison Smith, maybe don't come back one more year, right? There's going to be things that you're going to have to sacrifice to build the money that we're going to need to go get your guy. Now, then that becomes a question. Who is your guy? Is it Daniel Jones? Are you saying, hey, let's bring Daniel Jones. Jones in here and name him the starter from the day he gets here, I think if that's the conversation that you're going to have with me, then Kirk Cousins might make a little bit more sense in my mind. If you look at me and go, I need a guy to start and we need to guarantee he's going to start and we need to pay him starter money because my job's on the line. Totally different conversation than the first one we had with, well, maybe we can bring Kirk back, right? Hey, that's truly where you feel. Great. Let's go get him. Right. The other piece that you look at is who are you willing to

trade for. We have some really good players. Those guys that you just mentioned, who are you willing to package up and say, okay, who's your guy? Who's your guy that you want to go make a run for with a trade? Is it C.J. Stroud? Is it Baker Mayfield? Is it one of these guys that you just want to go and say, hey, let's go all in for the farm and see if we can't make a blockbuster trade and get these guys and offload some of that cap hit with the trade and that piece there? But, but you better tell me, KOC, who is your dream guy to go get? And I'll tell you how we can try and go get it. Well, there are several dream guys that have a possibility,

but it is an extreme long shot of those guys would be like Lamar Jackson. If the Baltimore Ravens are just out on Lamar Jackson and his relationship with John Harbaugh has corroded and they just don't want to pay him. And remember, I would never bring this up, but remember what they did a couple of years ago, where they made him available. And all the teams were like, no, we're collude. Oh, no, no, they wouldn't do that.

We are all individually by ourselves deciding not to pursue an MVP quarterback. Very, very interestingly. But they didn't do that last time. He needs a contract extension. I would start with that phone call to them if they missed the playoffs and ask, like, what you're interested in there. I don't think there's any chance Joe Burrow is going, but I'm still calling Cincinnati to say, how would you like a first round recent quarterback on a rookie contract? And I mean, I think

Jonathan Grenard has to be in the conversation because you have to include a star in this. Like you probably have to include a first round draft pick or to a star and J.J. McCarthy to another team if you're going to get a quarterback. Nothing is impossible. You know, Stafford for golf was not something that any of us saw coming so it's all it's all on the table if it's not one of those two guys and it's not kirk then daniel jones and kiler murray are the two names that come up and kiler with his personality every person who hears me say kailer murray to the vikings turns green when they say it but when we look at you would have said to say let's go back and look at your take when i said hey what about sam darnold for the vikings and you're like no no no no

I was totally different reasons. It is different. It is different because personality was not a part of the issue. Kyler Murray or Daniel Jones, which one would you prefer if I, as KOC told you, I must get a starting quarterback. Daniel Jones. I would take Daniel Jones because not only skill set wise when you play the quarter exposition, leadership wise matters a lot.

You are the front face of that entire offense, most of the time, the entire organization. And if you have issues where people lost their minds, Kirk was like, I like to take Tuesdays off to because I love my family. How do you think Vikings fans would be like, he does what with Call of Duty in November? We had to build what into his contract so that he would study? Like those are the type of things that when you already have that stigma and then you get IRed kind of benched in Arizona for Jacoby Berset and you go, okay, we already had a disaster at quarterback this year.

Also, he doesn't stay healthy a lot. He's another issue of staying healthy. And I know Daniel Jones is coming off the Achilles and has the ACL, so that's an issue for both of them. But when you just side by side, compare him together, I'm taking Daniel Jones from a leadership, a personality, an ability to come in and operate an offense like he showed in New York when they went to the playoffs, like he showed an indie this year before he got hurt.

I'm taking him over Kyler Murray. So the reason that I would probably go Kyler Murray is. ceiling that the ceiling for Daniel Jones, I think we've seen it. He played pretty well for the Colts, but then as the season went on, people started to kind of figure out Daniel Jones strengths and weaknesses. Talk about injury. I mean, Daniel Jones had 100 injuries. And he does have that issue of hanging onto the ball too much, taking big hits. He did it in New York. It got him killed in New York. And then he goes to Indianapolis. He gets injured there. I think that's a big concern. I also just think that it might as well be Kirk.

Like if you had Kirk Cousins or Daniel Jones and you said, who's going to play better for the Vikings? I'd be like, I mean, I don't know. They probably close to the same for next year. If not Kirk, who has been historically a much better quarterback than Daniel Jones, what Kyler Murray offers is a ceiling because of his skill set that at times in his NFL career, like people forget how good this guy has been at times. And even last year at times, where he was a top 12 PFF quarterback last year.

He threw for 3,800 yards, 21 touchdowns, 11 picks, which sounds like God's quarterback play compared to what it's been this year. And not to mention the rushing element of Kyler Murray that, you know, he's run for as many as 822 yards before in his career. DeAndre Hopkins enjoyed playing with Kyler Murray once upon a time. it's not a good idea but none of the ideas are good ideas they are desperate ideas and i also think that kiler as much as it was maybe personality related why he was soft benched completely benched whatever you want to call it i also think tanking is real in the national football league

and kailer murray would mess around and get you to four five six wins and you didn't need that as the arizona cardinals for this year that's that's my case for it but i think it's really sort of six or a half dozen with all of these guys. The problem with both Kyler and Daniel is you probably need to lock them in for three or four years with the contract. You know, that, that maybe not. I might be looking at it differently. But if both those guys, I don't see either one of those guys wanting to play on a one-year

deal. And if you're talking about a two or three-year deal, you've now completely wasted J.J. McCarthy's rookie contract. And if that's the case and that's where we're going, you have. have to be fully okay with signing off going, hey, we're going to go get Kyler for two for 30, right? Let's just throw it out there. Two for 30. Okay, well, then that means we're going to have to make a decision on JJ McCarthy's fifth year option without really knowing if he's had to play or not. And so you put yourself in a bit of a pickle on that,

on that side too. But if you're fully out on JJ, then sure, waste it, burn his contract and go find someone else. What about this is now, this is my last. last one, and then we'll talk about something else, I promise. It's just so, so fascinating to me, the number of options. What about signing Malik Willis to a three-year, $75 million contract, and trading J.J. McCarthy to the highest bidder for a second round draft pick? This would be like the Josh Rosen. And I went through quarterbacks that performed at this level for two, who were in their second

seasons. And I know the first one was a wash, but still. And not many of them made it to age 20. with their franchise. Like we talk about this all the time. Oh, he's so young. He's so young. Arizona was done with Josh Rosen when he was 22.

So like this happens all the time in the NFL. But Sam Darnold got traded for a second from the Jets to the Panthers. Josh Rosen got traded for a second to the Miami Dolphins. Would you do that? Or do you just need or you just need to see more J.J. McCarthy before you could do something like that. I'm not sure you could get a second for him. I mean, I'd have to go look at what Sam Darnold's and Josh Rosen's numbers were the year before they got traded. Bad.

But I can't, I can't imagine they were worse than JJ's. Maybe. I don't have the stats in front of me. Rosens were for sure. They were a little bit worse. Yeah. I think the thing, though, with both those guys is they probably played that whole that year. They're probably, they're coming off a full body of work.

Right. And so if you're looking at what can we get for JJ. man, if you give up a second for a guy with eight starts, nine starts, where's he at? Eight and a half. Eight and a half starts. You're going to catch some heat as an old GM there if you're willing to go and do that. So I think if that's the case, you need to do it next year. You need to get a full year out of JJ.

And if that's the case, then you push and go, okay, second round pick, take him away. I'm done with him. I don't think you could get that for him in anything less than a six round. first second round pick for him would be a travesty. I think the only scenario where you trade J.J. McCarthy, where you would do this. And I'm a, I'm a buyer on Malik Willis, by the way. Like, I think that Malik has a lot of talent. Yeah, I think he has a lot of talent. And every, here's my, here's my biggest thing with him.

Every single time he's been put into a game, he's prepared to play. And we know that he has the talent. We know he could throw the ball. We know his running is elite. And that his arm strength is very, very high. And I think accuracy was a concern coming out, but he was very accurate in the time that he has played so far this year. But it's not even as much about that as it is when you see somebody have to come off the bench and they get right under center, let's go. Play call is in. Guys are lined up. They run the play.

He knows where to go with the football. He's progressing. You're like, okay, that's real quarterback play right there. It also shows how dialed in the guy is. Like he's not sulking. He's, oh, man, I'm not going to play. Who cares? Whatever.

We've seen that many times. when Sam Howell had to go into a game in Seattle or, you know, there's been plenty of backups who come in and just look totally lost. So, you know, I do like him from a tools perspective, from an arm strength perspective, from experience. Hey, let somebody else develop your quarterback for three years, right? And then put him in so you don't have to. The only scenario where you do that is if Kevin O'Connell doesn't just say, oh, you know, I could, I could work it out with McCarthy. I'm going to need more time. I need more patience. Can you give me three years, that kind of thing? If he said, I can't work with him. Like, he's just not that coachable.

And there's been little, little tiny hints of that with like the dance into the end zone or the, you know, some of the mechanics talk and things like that. I'm not saying he said he's uncoachable. I'm saying that if that was something that he felt, like I, he's not listening to me. He's not connecting with my coaching. I don't think I can make him. to a star quarterback in the NFL, then is that an option that you like? Yeah, I do. If that's, if that is the hard line in the sand of I am out on JJ, I can't do it. I can't work with this dude.

He makes me want to pull my hair out. This is going to end up being a huge public fracture explosion. This is not going to end well for the organization. This is not going to end well for him, for me, for you, Mr. GM. then yeah do it take malik put them on and cut your bait and go i think you know you go the indianappas colts method with anthony richardson this didn't work right i just don't know gosh that's that's that's a lot to try and is that how kevin o'connell feels or not because from what he says on the outside i don't think that's how he feels but no one really knows what goes on in head coach's brains

because they just break a lot like head coach's brains just they just don't function at a normal person's level a lot of the time. Right. It's, and he only knows what the day to day is like. I mean, what he says in front of the public, you know, we don't know. He could love him. We're just not really sure. And how he really feels is going to be revealed within this decision. Okay, well, thanks, Mr. GM. This was productive because we came to no very clear conclusion about what the Vikings are going to do at their quarterback spot. Let's get ourselves some love to it, hate to see it. I love to see it. San Francisco versus Seattle Week 18. It's just beautiful. This is two great football teams, really good coach on both sides. Offense versus defense, big time

players all over the field. Football. Yeah. I mean, that is as much as you can ask for from a week 18. It's very similar to last year with Vikings Lions where it's like, hey, number one seat or go on the road the whole time, man. I don't know what to tell you. Like that's, it's another one of those. And so I can't wait to hear the, we need to reseed and conference wins don't matter. That crew is going to be out in either San Fran or Seattle after this weekend. Yeah, super excited to watch both those teams go.

It makes you really wonder what the San Fram team could have been if they would have stayed healthy. If they would have had Brandon Ayuk and Nick Bosa and Fred Warner and George Kittle and Purdy all year long and all those things. It's like, man, is Shanney really just the goat? Like, it's Kyle Shanahan with really one of the goat talks here with how he's he's been able to keep this whole thing together and push the ball up the hill. Also, Robert Sala, I'm sorry that the Jets did what they did to you because you, sir, are an impeccable defensive coordinator. Yeah, he's done a great job to talk about holding it together.

On Fandul, the Seattle Seahawks on the road are one and a half point underdogs in that game. Where would you like to go? I'm going to do, I love to see it slash hate to see it, the end of Phillip Rivers. I think it was fun. It was a ride. But things that you saw from him that you don't see from quarterbacks anymore, the command at the line of scrimmage, the seeing the picture before the play is snapped, the understanding where to go with the ball. And I had Mitch Morris on a podcast about a month ago. And he said it best. He goes, by the time you've got it all figured out in your brain, the body just can't do it anymore. And that's kind of what happened with Philip is he still, you can tell he still sees it. He's still five weeks, five years out, five weeks and it doesn't matter. He sees the pick. sure he sees the safety he sees it all i just have to turn my body so far sideways to generate so much momentum that i just can't fit it in those tight windows alec pierce no longer exists to me and so it was much it was fun and i love to see it from that piece i'm sad to see him go

uh my hate to see it would be college football not taking advantage of the day after christmas for those big games for the championship i forgot who's playing it was so exciting here we go it's college football championship and then i was like like, all right, we're going dark for a week and a half and we'll see you sometime. I'm like, I don't even know what's going on at this point. And then the NFL just sweeps in and it's playoff races and everything else. And it just feels like they lost the thread there. Yeah, it's too long.

It's too long. It should just mean, you should be done on Christmas on New Year's Day. Yeah. I think the national title, you should be done on New Year's Day. Then you have the transfer portal to go into, which is a whole other thing. I think I read some there's 3,300 kids. that have declared or intended to go in the transfer portal, I don't think these people realize you have two weeks to find a home

where you're sitting on your butt. And that's going to be a fascinating thing. Because this is not like last year. It's like all of December and all of January. You got two weeks, man. So if you don't have a plan and you don't have something going on, you could very easily be sitting there in November or February 1 going, the hell just happened.

I am needing to go get a job at the grocery store. Right? There's a lot of craziness that's going to have with the transfer. for Portland. That's a love and hate to see it for me. I think it's going to be really fascinating to watch how it's done this year, but also there's going to be some sad kids. Yep, no doubt about it. Do you got any more? Are you good? My last hate to see it there is going to be the fact that we have to watch two terrible divisions fight to the death at the end for congratulations. You get one more week of practice.

That's really what you're fighting for here because all four of those teams, I don't think, win a playoff game. I totally agree. And I'm going to be that person who will bang the drum as long as I can, that it should just be seated by record. It's great if you won your division, you could put up a banner. No, no, no, this is wrong. The Carolina Panthers hosting the Seattle Seattle. The divisions have to mean something, Matthew. They have to mean something.

Why? Why do they have to mean something? And why have them at all? No, you can put up a banner. No, they have to be a champion. It doesn't mean, ultimately at the end of the day. If I said to you, do you want, you're a player for the Minnesota Vikings, okay? Imagine it.

And I can say, Jeremiah, your team gets to win a division or you get to win a playoff game, which would you prefer? Well, of course, because it's way more important. And you wouldn't ever ask again, if you went deep into the playoffs with a team that was second in your division, no one would ever ask where they finished in their division. It would be all about where you finish the playoffs. Please. I disagree.

But yeah, football. Football. Thanks, Jeremiah. Appreciate you. Folks, as you know, Purple Insider is always growing and changing and I'm looking to take steps forward in 2026, just like your business. Now, I'm lucky to have a great crew, but as a business owner, I am well aware of the challenges of trying to find quality people to add to the roster. So if you're hiring for your company in 2026, let me give you a little advice. Check out ZipRecruiter with new goals in 2026.

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Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter, find a quality candidate within the first day. See for yourself. Just go to the exclusive web address, ZipRecruiter, and try it for free. ZipRecruiter.com slash audio. That is ZipRecruiter.com slash audio. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. All right, now we welcome into the show, Maggie Robinson, special contributor to Purple

Insider for our week. rundown of what's going on around the National Football League. Maggie, this is it. Week 18, it's crazy how fast it goes by. How are you? It is truly crazy how fast this has flown. I'm good. I'm on break from grad school.

So I'm having a little R&R back home in Tennessee, which has been really nice. But man, this season has just flown by. And congrats to us all for making it to the final week of the regular season with some amount of our sanity, I guess. I know. It feels like it wasn't that long ago where we were having you try to track down any stories around the NFL in June, just to give us something to talk about. And then the Hall of Fame game and everything else. And now here we are with teams playing four divisions and everything else.

That's how it goes. So what are we looking at? All right. So you talked about back in June and off season. We mentioned Stefan Diggs. Okay, we're going to talk about Stefan Diggs again today. But the Diggs brothers, actually, they have both made headlines today, but for very different reasons. So let's start down in Dallas with Trayvon Diggs.

He was waived from the Dallas Cowboys today. They said, thank you so much for your service. You've been injured a lot. You have not been performing the way we expected you to. You're on NFL waiver. And if you don't get picked up, then you can sign with any team. That's a big move because he was great for them in 2021, still good 22. and then just injury after injury really sidelined him.

And it's interesting that they chose to cut him now versus June 1st. And I think per Jane Slater, for her reports, she said this is more of like a financial decision for the Cowboys. It opens up a little bit of cash for them. They don't have to pay some sort of guarantees or unguaranteed money. It's a whole financial decision. But just very interesting that they were like, all right, we're going to let you try to find maybe a playoff team to land with.

And thank you so much. We're good. Yeah. And I also read that there was some. sort of conflict about him staying in his, where he's from in Washington, D.C. after Dallas played against Washington. And it seems like that's been really the story of Trayvon Diggs over the last couple years is injuries and conflicts with the team. Even when they played against the Vikings, he was supposed to come back and had practiced and then didn't. And I don't

know what type of discussions ended up going on between him and the team at that point. And I think it speaks a lot to, I mean, the NFL is like this in general, where guys rise and fall all the time. They can have a great start to their career. And it shows you how longevity is extremely, extremely difficult. But especially at that position where he gets a bunch of interceptions early in his career, but then teams start to adjust and they start to attack him with double moves because they know he's a risk taker. So he went from one of the most exciting young cornerbacks in the NFL to now your team is just saying we'll see you later that is quite a fall at the same time where's he going to land like who's going to pick him up i mean i think

if you're the green bay packers with the number of injuries that they've had they need to be the first one in line making that phone call to travon digs because i think of all the positions in the league corner is probably the one where you can just pop onto a team and play like maybe that edge rusher. Hey, go play this coverage. Hey, go guard that guy. And if they can get something out of him, they will. But I imagine that a lot of teams that have had injury issues going into the postseason will be at least checking in with Trayvon Diggs. But an odd situation there and unfortunate for someone who looked like they were just a rising star that was going to be around for a long time with Dallas. Right. And he's in his late 20s, which again, isn't very old

but by NFL standards, it's like, okay, well, if you're still not like upward on this upward trajectory, then you're kind of just falling off. So unless you can prove in these next few weeks, like, you still got it. I'm also intrigued, like, let's look bigger picture. Where does he end up next year? Is he staying with the same team that he gets picked up with now? Is he just going to be one of these floaters who bounces around? Because like you said, he can kind of slot in anywhere.

It's essentially the same deal on any team. But really intrigued to see who will pick him up. If you guys are listening to us in the chat, let us know where you think he's going to go or what you've been seeing on the internet. because I think this is like a great storyline to follow for the next few days. Yeah, and I wonder if he can get it back. I mean, because we saw, you know, someone like Jair Alexander might be a comparable for this where Jayae landing with the Ravens was such a big deal.

And then he ends up like retiring or something halfway through the season. I forget exactly how that went down. But when you see a guy with someone for a really long time and then get that second chance, is it actually going to work or is it just going to kind of be more of the same? And Corner is a position where quickness matters so much. And if you've had a lot of injuries, it can take away from that. I was just looking up his numbers over the last couple years. He just hasn't been the same since he burst on the scene in 2021.

And then still was playing okay in 2022. But then he's only played about 1,200 snaps since then, which if you're signing him, I'm guessing that whoever is going to bring him in for next year is going to do so on a one year type of, hey, prove it to me type of deal. Exactly. Yeah, he's got his work cut out from it's definitely an uphill battle. Let's go over to his brother, though. This was a bizarre headline to read, Stefan Diggs,

facing felony charges of strangulation and assault from an incident in early December. This is one horrific statement. Let's just address that right there. But the Patriots released a statement saying he categorically denies these claims. The Patriots support Stefan. everyone on all sides are fully denying this

and they're trying to keep the police report sealed because they don't think the media needs to see this is going to create this whole hub of blue that just doesn't need to happen right before their final regular season game but it does beg the question is the timing of this important what does this mean

Stefan Diggs was also implicated in this weird like drug incident earlier in the off season with the pop rocks on the boat if you recall there's just so much here what is going on Yeah. And, you know, with Stefan Diggs in his past and having covered him, it was usually the issues surrounding him, his inability to kind of contain himself, whether it was on the sideline during games or when he decided to skip practice or, you know, having, you know, outbursts at times. And one of the things I always thought was that this guy is an insane competitor. And sometimes when people are that competitive and you know this as a former Division 1. athlete. There are people who take it to a level that is too far. And at the pro level,

you often just work around that because it's hard to find guys with hands and speed and everything else. But even then, someone of his talent level, war out is welcome here, war out is welcome in Buffalo. And then this year has seemed to be the perfect soldier for the New England Patriots and a great weapon for Drake May. But having off-field incidents was not something that was an issue here and now seems to be becoming an issue with Stefan Diggs, which definitely threatens his long term there in New England. And the last thing that you could ever want is a distraction going into the playoffs. When you are a team that has a chance to go compete for a Super Bowl,

I don't know if they're strong enough to actually get there as a complete team yet, but they have the quarterback play. Diggs is a big part of it. And their defense has improved greatly under Mike Vrable. and this is what you're going to be dealing with. Now, oftentimes distractions can be a little overrated in the NFL. People show up to work and go forward, but something of this magnitude is a major problem for them.

That's all we can really say, because we don't know the other details and everything else involved. Other than I hope for him that this is not true, whatever it is that he's being accused of, because otherwise it could threaten, well, first of all, there could be a victim involved and there could be, you know, threatening him for his future. So not, not good for Stefan Diggs and the New England Patriots. And one thing I will highlight is that the NFL by policy could place him on the commissioner's

exemplus, which is just essentially paid leave because of these felony charges and crimes of potential violence. But it's important as these kind of decisions roll out. That's not dependent on whether a court or a judge finds him guilty or not. Like the NFL decision is by like their definition different than the court definition. So just when you're reading these headlines, just be a little discerning of who's coming down with these things and what's being said. I just think this is important to call out because this is a huge player on a big team like you're saying that has really important playoff implications. So that's definitely true.

Though I think in recent years what we've seen is that they do tend to wait on this until they get more information. I think the NFL was put in a position at one time because of some really big incidents like Ray Rice to be reactionary. Kareem Hunt was one of those. And recently they've been a little more patient when it comes to that and the courts. That's just been my experience from seeing these things play out. But it sometimes depends. Is there video, right? Is it something?

And there is no letter of the law exactly. The NFL can act the way that it wants. I'm assuming that they're not going to jump right out and suspend Stefan Diggs or something for playoff games. But that could change everything if something happens like that. Yeah. All right. Let's go to some more actual football.

And this did actually change a lot. The L.A. Rams just lost to the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night football. Did anyone else see that embarrassment of the L.A. Rams? Oh, my gosh. Just when you thought this season couldn't get more crazy, the L.A. Rams got it on lock. It's in the bag. just figure it out, smooth it over. No, 2427. Couldn't score the whole first half.

What were we watching? I was shocked by that as well. But at the same time, I've always had a little bit of a theory about, you know, how teams respond the next week after really crazy games and the way they lost to the Seattle Seahawks the week before, not just because the game is nuts and it's emotional and everything else, but also because of the sheer number of snaps. that guys had to play the week before. They got a little bit of extra rest, but that late in the season, when you're asking NFL players to have 90 snaps or something, and then, hey, you've got to go on the road the very next week.

Seattle didn't play all that well in Carolina. They got a win, but mostly because Bryce Young was terrible, but their offense did not do all that well. And then we saw this from the Rams, seeming like they weren't awake yet. And now it doesn't have the most implications overall, but Sean McVeigh said that, he's going to play starters next week because they need more reps and getting back into playing

good football. And I thought that's interesting because last year, McVeigh did not play any of the starters and prepared for the Minnesota Vikings. And it helped them greatly when they matched up. And so now does this loss change how they play in the playoffs because McVeigh has decided to play guys in the last week. Do they suffer injuries and so forth? I think that might be, I think that might be a bit of an overreaction from Sean.

McVeigh to change a plan based on how they played in Atlanta in one kind of strange and funky game where you are a pass interference call away from maybe winning that game, by the way, at the end of the game where their receiver, I think it was two to at well, his arm is grabbed and they don't end up getting that call. But it was gnarly. It was not what we've expected at all. And I think before that game, we were probably talking about Matthew Stafford is the MVP. it might have swung the MVP and just gone like tie goes to Drake May instead that was an odd one and then also the implications for Carolina now next week if Atlanta wins against New Orleans Carolina wins the division no matter what which bizarre right that they're they could potentially

win the division at eight and nine seeing that pop up on the TV have been like wait are we sure did someone double check that research fact? Because I don't know. Yeah. The Panthers are now like a legit contender thanks to the way this is all shook out. And something that I really noticed in this game was DJ Humphreys. They are missing Alaric Jackson at left tackle. They desperately need him back. Obviously you still have Devante Adams is out. Kevin Dotson's out. You've got three big players. But the penalties that DJ Humphreys cost this team really just like. You hate to see it in a game like this when it's one person. You don't want to call someone out. But like he really cost what, Pooka Nakua a touchdown. There were so many just game altering penalties that he had himself of like, man, I don't know if that's your guy. And then looking forward, are you going to get either dropped here or picked up by someone

else? Because this is biggest, kind of like the biggest show on the road and you are not holding it down. Yeah. And it also shows you just how few good backup tackle. there are. I think there's 10 guys in the world who are great at it and another 15 who might be able to do it and that is it. And then it's basically like quarterback, how few good offensive tackles there really are. And I think for Sean McVe, as great of an offensive

mind as he is, he is not immune to offensive line play harming what his quarterback can do. That still exists. He has an older quarterback who has done a great job this year of getting rid of the ball. But they've also had really good pass protection. And Stafford's not the same without Devante Adams either. I think we've seen that. So his health going into the playoffs, this is something that we never really want to talk about. But a lot of times,

healthiest team wins. My pick has been the Los Angeles Rams. If I check out our friends on Fandul, I don't think they've moved. Let me look here. I don't think they've moved. Oh, they have. Oh, my goodness.

I didn't know this. They have now moved the Seattle Seahawks to the Super Bowl favorite at plus 550. And now on Fandul, the Rams are. second at plus 600. So this, these recent games has actually slid ever so slightly Seattle ahead of the Rams. To me,

that's a bit of an overreaction. But if they're not 100% healthy, then I don't know, they are much more vulnerable than they looked earlier in the year. And since Rod Fandwell, is Fandwell saying anything different for MVP, Drake May versus Stafford? Because that feels,

hi, pop. That feels like a biggie. Drake May is now the favorite for MVP. at minus 340 on Fanduil and Matthew Stafford is plus 280 and nobody else is anywhere close. So it really comes down to those two. I think overall there's a really good case for both of them. It's probably unfair that Stafford's will be impacted by a loss to the Falcons this late in the season. When Drake May got to play the Jets and they haven't had an interception all year and that was his last

impression that he left. But, you know, I guess the tie goes to whoever finishes the season the strongest. Yeah, and obviously the Rams messy game, but someone to highlight from the Falcons, Bijon Robinson actually had a record-setting night for himself. He said the franchise single-season scruage yards with 2,255 and had a 93-yard touchdown run, which is the longest one anyone has done all season of this NFL year. And the final point, Bejohn is literally only 23 years old, you guys. So we are set to see Bejohn.

John Robinson just into his prime. It feels like we're seeing the next great running back. If he can get the people around him to play like they should and to get a good quarterback who's reliable, I mean, he had a night. It really feels like they've wasted one of the better running back seasons that we have seen in terms of complete years. I mean, Syquan Barkley last year as a runner was unbelievable, but was not really from an all-around perspective.

And this year, Christian McCaffrey leading all running backs in receiving is doing something similar. But his actual rushing has not been as efficient as Bijon. Bejohn is, I think, probably the number one player in the league at that position. And yet it's just been laid to waste by inconsistent play from Pennix. Bad kicking also has to be thrown into this. They lost a couple of games just from kicking. I mean, you go all the way back to the beginning of the season. They miss a potential either tying or go ahead kick.

at the end of a game. And those little things that happen early in the season, they can cost you. And they also missed one with the former Viking kicker, John Parker, Romo. They lost the game because of him. And now you look around, you go, Falcons,

they could have been you at the top of the division. But then, of course, Zane Gonzalez comes through with a 51 yarder at the end of the game. So I don't know. But to your point about, you know, Bejan Robinson, it also probably says a little something about just a running back and their value that,

while it's really important and if you get 93 yard touchdowns it's great even having the best season in the league doesn't guarantee you making it into the playoffs like passing is still king. Pretty impressive I do want to look ahead to this upcoming week. Let's

talk about a little bit of playoff implications so there's two open playoff spots and there's still four division titles waiting to be claimed which is feels like it again it's been anyone's game this entire season and that has not slow down for one minute. What games are you looking forward to this upcoming weekend?

And I did put you on the spot there. I'll give you a second to pull up. No, I'm, no, I'm good because I know what number one is, and that's Seattle and San Francisco playing for the division and playing for the number one seed. That is just like last year with the Vikings and Detroit. I hope it's a much better football game than that was and better for Sam Darnold. So he doesn't have to deal with that going into the playoffs of everyone saying he can't do it in the big moment. and so forth and San Francisco's got a struggling defense. Darnold has not played as well in recent weeks as he did earlier in the season. Brock Purdy is absolutely on fire,

but Seattle's defense has been incredible at times this season and maybe the best defense in the NFL. What an absolute battle that is. Then you have like the wooden spoon bowl with Carolina and the Tampa Bay Bucks. Right now the bucks are three point favorites on Fan Duel. over Carolina, but I mean, I don't even know how you put odds on these two teams who just have every single time one of them can sort of take the bull by the horns and that division has fumbled. The Panthers lost to the Saints twice, including recently when they had a chance

to really, you know, solidify that division. So which one of those teams can get back up and make the playoffs? Oh, and of course, Baltimore and Pittsburgh, another wooden spoon bowl of like these these two teams are both bad neither one of them has decided that they want to win that division and all the Steelers had to do was get a touchdown from Aaron Rogers against the Cleveland Browns and they were not able to do it so these these some of these teams it's as good as it gets and others are just tripping all over themselves truly like you can't predict the NFL and that is what makes it so compelling and what makes it such good TV but I mean man for this to be the week 18 conversation just feels like all right it's not rigged guys I promise no I think it

would have rigged for a little better matchups in some case from these teams but you know with Pittsburgh think about how crazy it is that dK mecalf punching a fan is really probably the cause of them having to play this game and then there could be implications that mike tomlin might not come back or john harb like loser might not have their job next year of this you game and I mean how I mean how many times have we ever seen that before uh not too many but a lot a lot of meaningless football and some absolutely fantastic or absolutely bizarre must see like who can I was joking the other day with somebody that uh the Carolina and Tampa Bay game has to end on that rule where someone fumbles it out of the back of the end zone it's a touchback and then everyone complains

about it like it's the only way that that division should be decided that's truly the only feasible like realistic way they could end that it would just be way too fitting that just sums up with a bow the entire season for those guys i agree well thank you uh maggie for the rundown i appreciate it and uh when we talk next there will be time to preview the playoffs we're there we've made it very exciting time so thank you for your time and we will see you next week all right football football Thank you. Thank you.