Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - JJ McCarthy crushes Vikings joint practice, Day 2 (Part 2)

Episode Date: August 15, 2025

Matthew Coller talks with Dane Mizutani and then Vikings fans about how JJ McCarthy performed exceptionally well in his second joint practice against the Patriots. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.

I also wanted to bring you a couple of quotes, though, from J.J. McCarthy. We have talked about all the different plays that he made, and Dane Mizatani estimating that he had 15 good throws today. That might be a little on the high side, but Dane asked J.J. after practice about his favorite throw of the day. Is there a throw from today that you're most proud of? Um, throw from today. It was nice to hit Aaron down the field, that's for sure.

There was a little pocket movement before that. But I think, you know, just closing it out with JA on a little post in the end zone. That was, you know, I felt like the location was where I wanted it to be, but that was one of those throws where I learned a lot from, you know, just the feeling the pocket and, you know, manipulating my arm. Would like it a little bit higher, but, you know, he made a great job. you know he made a great catch and a great play um but yeah there's a there's a lot of good ones out there the one to jordan in the red zone a little layer ball over the corner that was something

that i was working on a lot this uh off season so but the guys made the catches they got open and it was a lot of fun today i like how he said there were a lot of them out there today and all of us probably went yeah yeah there absolutely were so the two minute throw that i've mentioned multiple times because this is just something where every time they go into the two minute I mean, I'm getting out my notebook, which is just my phone, and I'm staring, I'm looking, like, I'm ready. Like, I want to see everything that happens here. And McCarthy has succeeded on almost every one of their two-minute drills in this off-season. And then to do it again today with such a great throw and some good management as well of the pocket was very impressive.

So I asked him about that after practice. Last couple of J-J did success in the two-minute drill and both last couple days. What do you think is the key to executing those drills successful? The mentality, the different mindset you have to step into. But I feel like, you know, just treating it like it's a game. Like these are valuable, valuable reps. Kind of going back to your question, Judd, just being able to put yourself in that uncomfortable situation, go out there and execute the simple things because, you know, the noise could get loud.

You know, you could be thinking I've got to make this play right here. But, you know, one of Coach McCown's favorite plays is when we got seven up. I made a protection call, rolled out, threw it away, saved time. Like little stuff like that is kind of what makes our breaks a two-minute drive and the momentum. So, yeah, it's just, you know, keeping level head and just focusing on the little details and going out there and executing each play. You know, when it comes to McCarthy, there's some things about the pre-draft reports that I haven't really fully understood. I mean, arm strength questions from day one of rookie camp, I never really understood. Like, I don't see where that comes from.

of because the velocity on this football is, is good. But the pre-draft reports that talked about him is having a great mind for the game and really understanding how to run an offense. And think about being taught by Jim Harbaugh first and then Kevin O'Connell, guys who have had a ton of success teaching quarterbacks and elevating quarterbacks, right? He looks to me in those two-minute situations, like, yes, he keeps his head on, the same way he did Michigan versus Alabama. and key drives in that game.

But I also think that you can be calmer when you know what you're seeing and what you're calling that your anxiety and heart rate is not elevated. So I like to watch these chess tournaments. And some of the chess tournaments, they'll put a heart monitor on the player. And at the beginning of the game, when they've seen everything a million times before and they're just starting off kind of on autopilot because they know all the moves at the beginning of the game, their heart rates are perfectly calm. But then as things get more complicated, that's when the stress rises and the preparation

for J.J. McCarthy and the command of the offense, T.J. Hawkinson said yesterday that it was really impressive to see how fast it all happened because it feels slow sometimes on TV and in the press box where you're looking around and all right, they challenge to play and now we got a time out or a fan on the field. or whatever right and you're just waiting for something to happen but when it's really happening when you're really in those headsets like 30 seconds or whatever is pretty quick calls coming in everybody's looking at you you got to spit it back out you got to tell everybody where they got to go and if someone's lined up wrong you better have them in the right spot and you got to get

that snap off and the clock doesn't wait for anybody so to see his execution in two minute where he's not running out of time he's not looking around confused. He's decisive in his throws. This is the stuff you're looking for from a first round quarterback who's going to command a really good team. Something that you guys have asked about that I don't have a great answer for right now is about the severity of Jalen Naylor's injury. So Nailer had a hand injury and left practice today, which made it even more impressive, by the way, that J.J. McCarthy did not have his starting or a starting wide receiver who's

wide receiver two and a big credit to Thayer Thomas for coming in knowing the offense, where he was supposed to be making plays. I saw somebody else in the chat had the same, you know, comp as me as as a BC Johnson of someone who has enough talent to make plays, catches everything his way, smart kid,

but doesn't have any physical tool that's going to make him jump off the page. Lucky Jackson is kind of the same way. they've got these smart wide receivers who know where they're supposed to be. But if Jalen Naylor's injury is at all serious, and again, I don't know if it is, I was not told anything special. And Kevin O'Connell said, I think that it was more of a precaution, but we were never quite sure about that.

The Justin Jefferson precautionary hamstring injury has kept him out for all of training camps. So you can never really get a sense right away. How long is this going to keep somebody out? But if Jalen Naylor is injured and has to miss any sort of time, then I think that they do have to look somewhere else. As impressive at times as the different receivers have been. Lucky Jackson, he was on this show. He's had a great camp.

And everybody loves that story. And the same thing for Thayer Thomas. Like, they keep these guys for a reason. They don't keep them just for the vibes. They keep them because they think they might need to use them someday. That's why they keep a Lucky Jackson and a Thayer Thomas. At the same time, an Odell Beckham Jr. is out there and he's looking for a job and Kevin O'Connell knows him and was his offensive coordinator with the Los Angeles Rams.

Is that connection enough? Now, there's never been any conversation about OBJ and the Vikings as far as I've seen. I don't think there's been any reports or any tweets or any visits. or anything like that. But this situation with wide receiver is starting to remind me a little bit of cornerback last year, where they do have to make a last second type of move. And if Naylor is even going to miss one week. And you guys are mentioning, you know, Gabe Davis, Amari Cooper.

I don't know where any of those guys are at. Does Amari Cooper want to play? Where is Gabe Davis at physically? He was injured last year. Like, where is he going to be at? So they have a really, really good set of weapons with Addison playing the role of Justin Jefferson. Hawkinson has been all over the place. The running backs are catching passes and the other guys are just doing what's necessary.

But at some point, if you lose Naylor, who knows the offense inside and out, is at least capable. I don't think he ever sets anybody on fire as far as how exciting he is. He's not mind-blowingly large. he is very fast you know he's hit on some big plays down the field he's had some drops down the field like he is a serviceable wide receiver for a couple games but if you miss him and then you drop down to two guys who haven't played and then tie felton who also you know hasn't played and hasn't taken a lot of first team reps in this training camp then you are talking about going out and looking for some other option and you know i keep saying it that at first

at first. And I don't disagree, Stephen, that OBJ has not looked like his old self. And that's happened to a lot of great wide receivers over the years where they try to hang on for one or two more years and it's, it's just not there. But I got to tell you, like the Adam Thielen idea just became less crazy today. Adam Thielen still played pretty well when it came to last season, was banged up a little bit, but still is a veteran wide receiver and the price might not be very high if Carolina is looking to move on and just get anything for him. If Nailer is banged up, then that might be a direction that they want to go is to give Carolina a call and see if Adam Thielen could come back. You know he's going to be reliable. He's going to catch the ball when it

comes his way. He's going to block when he's asked to block. He's going to pick up the offense. And when it comes to Naylor, every deep receiver who's not Deshawn Jackson drops the ball, every pure deep wide receiver has that happen. They could also look into bringing back Brandon Powell if he still wants to play. KJ Osborne, as you guys have mentioned, might get cut. Like there's a number of potential options out there. And I agree, Rach, that you're right. Like, why would they, why would Carolina trade Thielen? I think the only reason why Carolina would trade Thielen is if they just really like

what they've got from Tetero and McMillan and the guy Coker is there and Xavier Liggett and if they just feel like Thelan doesn't really fit into that mix very well and are looking to play their younger players. Now, I'm on your side. If I was Carolina, I don't think I would do this. I would just rather have four good wide receivers. But if they've got somebody else developing, if they've got somebody else who's in the pipeline, then I could see Carolina being interested. And until this moment, until Naylor got hurt today, I was more in the camp of, look, it's three games. So just get through three games.

And then if somebody gets hurt, like Lucky Jackson's development has been really good. And I've liked what I've seen from Felton coming along recently. I think he's played better. They've got some, you know, other guys like they are taught. Like, you could fill in that spot for a day. But if you're talking about Naylor being out, and I'm not, I'm not reporting that. I'm not saying that. But if there is some issue where he's banged up going into the regular season and we'll

just have to see when we come back out to, you know, camp next week, then they would, I think, have to start making a phone call. And they should still consider it anyway. I saw enough of the offense succeeding right now that I don't think that they need to do that if Naylor is healthy. Because McCarthy looks confident. He looks like he's on the same page with these other wide receivers. I don't feel like they have to sign an OBJ. I don't feel like they have to trade for Athelan.

But in the situation that Naylor is hurt more seriously because they don't have to put out an injury report in the preseason or anything like that. So if that is the case, then I think that Adam Thieland does make sense. And, you know, of course, I know some of you are saying, well, he's cooked and whatever. Here's kind of the point is, folks, I know a lot of you out there either own your own business or you are in a management position where you have to hire people and it can be such a headache. You have to sort through all sorts of resumes of people who aren't qualified and you end up overlooking some of the best candidates. It's tough.

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before that were on the practice squad, I mean, I think we're talking about, you know, two very different things there, even where Thelan is at in his career. I agree he could be a good red zone threat. I think more underneath stuff. But he caught the football last year. year from Bryce Young. And when he was in the lineup, Bryce Young found him quite a few times. So, um, yes, uh, Aaron, I think Powell makes sense. What I believe the Vikings will do with the wide receiver situation. And this really depends on Naylor's health. If they think he's going to be fine, what I think that they will do is they will go in, they'll go back and they'll look at all the tape from these last two days. And they will go and they'll watch this preseason game. And they'll

make a decision like are we going to go out and get someone else or are we going to roll with what we have because i think rondale more made this easier because you know rondale even though he is known as a short wide receiver and a quick kind of underneath guy rondale was running the whole route tree he was becoming more of a complete wide receiver even in arizona and then was starting to do a lot of the complete wide receiver stuff for the vikings and I think they would have felt pretty darn comfortable with Lucky Jackson, Rondale Moore sort of switching in and out. Maybe you throw in Ty Felton a little bit as an option for wide receiver three.

But more now being off the table, that's where it's Lucky Jackson, Thayer Thomas, and then Ty Felton, and you feel like you've got nothing proven there whatsoever. That's where going after an Adam Thielen, it does feel almost cliche, it does feel almost corny to talk about. And that was my initial thought when it was brought up that idea. I was like, oh, you know, is it, isn't that kind of cheesy to go after the old Viking? But now with Naylor a little banged up and they're having to put in guys who have never played games before, that's where that conversation doesn't sound so crazy.

And even though you guys are saying, hey, you know, he's cooked or whatever, which, you know, he's not the same Adam Thiel and he was in 2017. that's for sure. But let's assess the other options. You know, Odell Beckham, who hasn't played what, really since 2021? Is that right? Not like truly played and made an impact. That's a long time.

Or you're talking about Gabe Davis, who had a pretty terrible year last year, Brandon Powell, who didn't make much of an impact. I mean, it's not like there's a lot of great. You guys are joking about Leo Lewis and Jake Reed in the comments. Like, Jake Reed's not available to go get right. now to help get you through a couple weeks. So I do think that conversation gets ramped up. Aaron, I believe Lucky Jackson will play in the game. I think he still needs to. But if they don't play them, it's probably a sign, like probably a good sign.

If they don't play Lucky Jackson, it probably means that they want to see everybody else. And J. Sean Jones made a couple catches. Like, I think that there's a lot there to work with with these guys who are unproven, but still, it's not, it's not as a sure of a thing as players who have been around for a long time and are as proven as Adam Thielen. So if they sent, now, what it would cost? I mean, I think you're talking about like a sixth round pick or something, right? Like, it's not going to be much. If they were, if they're just shopping them out there, who wants Adam Thielen, you're probably offering them a sixth round pick. They probably want a fifth. Maybe you could throw in a swap somewhere else. It can't be much. And it might depend.

on the contract, which I think is very reasonable with Carolina at this situation. And Stephen, you know, you mentioned Tim Jones. Tim Jones has made quite a case for himself over the last couple days, but we do have to keep in mind. And Tim Jones has been, he's made some really nice catches. He has been in the league before. I also think that, you know, we're talking about catching passes from Max Brosmer with the third team. And he's got to do it in the game. He's got to do it a lot more to show that he's somebody they can really trust because he doesn't really have a sample size of being a significant wide receiver in the league either. And it's not like he was playing for a good team before. I've been impressed. And I think if I'm doing a 53, you know,

that special teams position, the fact that he can come in and play a little bit, the Trent Sherfield spot, you know, he could potentially do that. But if we're talking about someone who can really slot in and be a difference maker just to some extent, just play the Jaylen Naylor role, then I think you have to probably look elsewhere. And I don't know, you know, when somebody's not signed right now, that usually means health is an issue.

Like when he talk about Gabe Davis, I mean, Gabe Davis has enough of a career in his history that he should be on a team right now. And you're right, bloody soup. That's an interesting name, very footbally name, that they will play a lot of two tight ends. And they were doing that during this, during these joint practices.

They were putting out a lot of Josh Oliver and T.J. Hawkinson, but you can't do it all the time. And, you know, when it comes to Ty Felton, I just feel like Ty Felton needs more development. He's been coming along, but he needs more development. and he will eventually get there because he strikes me as a guy who's motivated, he's got the physical skill, he's made some very nice plays. You're going to see him as a kick returner, but as of right now, it feels like a lot to ask.

Because Lucky Jackson and Thayer Thomas, those guys are like 27, 26 years old. They've been developing for years behind the scenes. It would just be a lot to ask in this complicated of a system. It took Jalen Naylor a few years to get it down to come in, and then have to take on a role like that. A dystopian utopia. How did Xavier Scott look? He was back there doing some kick returning.

I'm intrigued. I want to see if he actually gets to have some kick returns in the game. Those kick returns are going to be big. I mean, kick and punt returns, I'm going to be really dialed in when it comes to those kick and punt returns. But Scott had a big play. I'm actually not sure from my angle. I couldn't tell if it was a screen or run.

but he had a big play today looks really good had a you know celebration around him when he got back but those guys weren't getting a lot of action so when you ask about like the second teamers third teamers or guys who mix in not just not getting the second team got some but this was a first team first team like that's most of the reps that were happening out there i did think sam howell continued to look like a backup quarterback who can make some plays and talk about turning a corner. I think that Howell has turned a corner. Now, he hasn't turned a corner onto somebody that I think could win 10 games for this team if they, you know, lost J.J. McCarthy. But I think he's turned a corner into, yeah, like this is what, you know, Nick Mullins would look

like. Or this is what Sean Hill would look like, you know, backup quarterbacks who you could trust for a couple games and it would be fine. As far as the punting, there was not a lot of punting that went on. If I had to guess, I'm going to say Saturday after, there will be a lot of punting between the Vikings and the Patriots based on who is going to end up playing. But, you know, Ty Chandler was another guy who was out a back there, kick returning. I don't know where they're at with that competition because Chandler's still getting a fair number of reps and Scott's getting a lot of reps. And maybe there's a way that they could work something out to keep both of them if they want to because Chandler has more experience.

Scott has no experience whatsoever. Maybe they don't want him to be the next man up just yet, even if they really like what they've seen. And, but, you know, maybe the writing has been on the wall a little bit. I think, I don't think it's quite something we can conflate with Assemwa. If I'm doing my 53, based on how they've played in camp, I'm leaning Xavier Scott. He's had a lot more big plays than Ty Chandler and he catches the ball well.

But with Asimwa from day one, it was Kobe Kemp. ahead of him. He was never in that conversation, it seemed like. In fact, he's never been in the conversation since Brian Flores got here. I mean, truly hasn't been. It's been kind of remarkable, actually, how little Brian Asimwa was ever on defense. They went out and signed Anthony Barr one time to play a handful of snaps. So they didn't have to play Brian Osama. I don't think it's quite been like that with Ty Chandler. And if he's when they were doing, just for example, when they were doing the number one kickoff unit it was tie felton and tie chanler so if they think that he can be that number two returner that spot's going to get the ball and maybe they want to have him and maybe

they want to have uh zavier scott as well you know but sometimes we also worry a little bit too much when it comes to you know the the poaching like we've liked zavier scott but i mean is our other team saying, let's get rid of our guy to bring in Xavier Scott off of the Vikings team. I don't know. Maybe if he really dominates, but I think there's still most of the time, even if you love a guy and your local media has been all over, some guy, he's been great in the preseason. Most of the time, they still end up getting through, through waivers and ending up on your practice squad.

That may factor in the percentage chance that Xavier Scott makes the team. Bob with the super chat. Thank you so much, Bob, says, I've seen a lot of alarm bells around Addison's three games, but can we take a breath and remember Justin Jefferson will be stepping back in? Side notes, has Jackson's past blocking been progressing? So, of course, you're right. I mean, last year, their plan without Addison when he got hurt in week one,

was to throw a 97-yard touchdown to Justin Jefferson. and then they sprinkled in every other receiver. It was Brandon Powell had a couple catches. It was Trent Sherfield had a catch. It was Johnny Month. It was Josh Oliver. It was Aaron Jones. Right.

So they did a really good job of mixing and matching when it came to the other guys last year. And they could do the same thing here. But at the same time, if Naylor is banged up, and that's where I would say there's some alarm bells. if Naylor is banged up, then you're talking about your number two wide receiver has never been in a game. I mean, that's that right there is something to be nervous about. And this is the Lucky Jackson show, right?

I mean, this is the show that he comes on. This is, you know, somebody that I've followed his career since the XFL. So to see him come along like this. But still, it's, that's something that would fall into the category of making you nervous is having to put out there a guy who's never done it before and then the next man up has also never done it before no matter who the next man up is that's where you start thinking about going and getting somebody else but if nailer is fine next week he's back at practice then i don't think that they necessarily have to do something they still could but

i'd like to see them just evaluate everybody else and then decide uh when it comes to let's see was the question there. Oh, David, thank you very much when it comes to the super chat, says, has anyone considered if JJ is going to take time off for the birth of his kid? Oh, I have no idea, David. I would guess knowing football people that the answer would be, no, I don't think so. I don't think so. Maybe a day, I don't know, but probably not. I mean, everybody has been there in the National Football League at one time or another. I remember Everson Griffin. You know, Everson Griffin was in 2017.

No, was it 16, 17? I think it was, maybe it was 17. Yeah, I guess it might have been 17, where he was in Detroit. And he wrote something like, I had a baby today on his shirt or something like that. So, you know, that's the nature of the beast is that usually you got to play when you got to play. And maybe they'll time it out. Kevin O'Connell, I think, in his first year, his wife had a kid and they kind of timed it out nicely. I actually don't know what date cut down day is.

Maybe somebody can Google what date it is because it's usually, I don't even, they've changed this over the year. Somebody could just tell me in the chat what day it is. How did Naylor hurt his hand? I didn't see what happened. He went down for a catch and then dropped it and then was not back in practice. And I wondered at first, like, oh, did they just decide? They wanted to see some Thayer Jackson, but then, you know, he didn't come back. I'm sorry, Thayer Thomas.

I put those two guys together, some Thayer Thomas, and then he didn't come back, the rest of practice. And then after it was like, okay, his hand was in a wrap. So that's how we figured that out. Mattelis did get banged up, but that did not look too serious to me. It was kind of like a go up and get it play. And he came down a little bit hard. and then it looked like his shoulder at first the way he was holding the shoulder but they also kind of looked at his ankle

he's just been a little dinged up during this training camp and maybe that's not ideal but i don't think it was serious i saw josh after practice walking around dapping people up smile on his face so usually that would be an indicator that it's not too serious otherwise he would have gone right back to the training room uh nailer dropped a pass then came up lame we call that at the Xavier Rhodes. Yeah, I don't, since he missed the rest of practice, I don't think we could put that on him. But that was, that was a motif for a while for sure.

How's the defensive backs been looking? I thought today that the front seven was great and the defensive backs did not have as good of a day as the front seven. Now, the front seven has been phenomenal in these joint practices. There were some completions against them. There was a jump ball to Matt Collins, who's like six, four. and he went up and got it kind of, I think it might have been over Mattelis.

They made the incredible catch at the end of practice where May just threw up a Hail Mary and they went up and went and grabbed it, Kishon Booty over Mattelis and somebody else another corner. If there is one thing that is still hovering over this team, now remember, like Drake May is a top three drafted quarterback and he's got a huge arm

and he's going to make plays in practice, too. They weren't going to just shut out Drake May. And, okay, August 26th. Okay, got it. Thank you. Thank you very much. That is when it is. So we got 12 more days, 11 more days, kind of.

And two more preseason games for them to watch and assess. And I believe it was when they signed Stefan Gilmore. You guys can correct me on this. I think it was something like August, I want to say 20th. 21st, 22nd, somewhere in that range. So there's still some time that they can go out and get a wide receiver and plug them in. If it's a veteran, usually that can work out okay, just like Stefan Gilmore last year, even if it's the late, late ad.

But going back to the defensive backs, I would say that they were the only ones. And this isn't to say they were bad because the Vikings defense definitely won. they were the only ones at times when I was looking over that I thought, oh, May made a really good throw there. There was one play where Dobbs was in and it was the backup defensive backs and they kind of got fooled on a play and left a receiver wide open for a touchdown. I saw, you know, a handful of receiver celebrations against the Viking secondary. And it remains a question mark.

Coming out of this, I've felt pretty darn good about Isaiah Rogers. I will kind of hold on to some skepticism about Jeff Okuda. I think he's been a great story so far. We always like the redemption story. I think he's played well so far in training camp. I can't say I saw every single rep of his, but I think that he has had a very good camp overall, but he is somebody you're still asking questions about.

And, uh, brand, he's, he's not going to be the second. corner. That's going to be Isaiah Rogers. And it's going to be Byron Murphy. And Murphy, we know, has been really good. So far in training camp, he's been really good as a Minnesota Viking. He's elevated his game under Brian Flores. He's a great fit for Flores, really smart, tough, all those things that they talk about all the time inside the building, all that sort of stuff. But, you know, with Isaiah Rogers, his sample size is small. And how much are you going to play Okuda is a question for me. And one of the things I think that Flores is really good at is, and we saw this last year with both Shack Griffin and Stefan Gilmore, that they were, I think, used in a way that fit them.

So Shack Griffin, they played a little more man coverage. And you can look at the data on this that they used more man coverage because that was kind of his thing. But with Stefan Gilmore, he was one of the lowest in the league. So I think with Okuda, they can try to set it up to where he's playing a lot of coverage. cover two and the cover two corner just to kind of paint a picture of what this could look like the cover two corner sort of hangs around over in his area in a zone and then waits to if it's a short route he's going to stay there if it's a long route he's going to let the safety take it and drift back underneath and then read what's in front of him and go make tackles if that's how

they're going to use jeff okuda which i've seen a lot of in these cover two kind of defenses i think he's really good at chasing people down he's really good at making tackles they can blitz them off the edge occasionally and you're kind of talking about like trying to survive those reps and play him to his strengths while he's out there and then get back to having you know the three safeties and that's where i've thought theo jackson if theo jackson doesn't turn out to be a good player. It will be just a huge shock. Because at every turn, Theo Jackson's just good. He makes plays in games. He makes plays in practice. He seems to know where he's supposed to be. He's got good speed. He's got good hands. I mean, he was a draft pick. It's not like he's a totally random guy.

And when we talk about all this, you know, the draft stuff, it's like, does, do we get to count Theo Jackson since they identified him in that draft and someone else got him? but then they picked him up and he's been good like does he count can we count him as a draft pick how's the draft record look if we count theo jackson like i don't know maybe a little better but you know snark aside theo jackson i think is at a really good training camp i'm a little bit concerned about metallis being banged up from the beginning of camp missing some time when he's got to play a different role you're always talking about you know harrison smith and age and what that's going to look like i think that harrison smith ages super well

as we've already seen because he doesn't win with pure speed. But it's still a question. When you go guy to guy, I feel like it's all leaned in the direction of, okay, like this is probably going to work. But I've also seen enough to say, like, let me wait and see on this a little bit when it comes to Rogers, when it comes to Okuda, when it comes to the rest of the secondary. But when you have one of the best defensive lines in the NFL,

and also two of the best linebackers. And then, I mean, you have good backup linebackers. I think it makes life a lot easier for your secondary. Sorry, someone asked about how T.J. Hawkinson has looked fantastic. I mean, really truly fantastic. Truly fantastic. Like the same that we saw from 2022 and 2023, T.J. Hawkinson, he has been everywhere in these practices. He has been the go-to guy of J.J. McCarthy.

I think McCarthy understands that, that he's going to live with T.J. Hawkinson. And we saw him really push the ball today into more of tight windows, into tighter spaces in the red zone, had a good red zone. And one or two of those throws went to Hawkinson. He's just the guy he's going to have to lean on a lot. And he clearly knows that. And Hawkinson's is really good at understanding defenses. And I think McCarthy is too. I really think that the way McCarthy's going to play early in his career is,

he is going to take what's there and then expand that slowly. So you even saw this in the preseason game where, you know, maybe there's an opportunity on one play to throw it down field and he decides to go with an underneath route and you go like, okay, like that's good. There you go. Like take that route, get the first down, move on to the next. That's T.J. Hawkinson in a nutshell. Bob, if I noticed, thank you again for the super chat.

Donovan Jackson past protection progressing, or is he just going to pancake guys on screens? Well, let's not underrates the value of having a great screen game. Having a great screen game is going to be absolutely huge for this team. And I think that Donovan Jackson will make an impact there. When I was looking back at the preseason game, what I noticed was the initial, the initial punch would get Donovan Jackson. So just for example, and McCarthy showing already at 22, something that Kirk cousins didn't always fully understand, which is you probably shouldn't ever mention if

it was anybody else's fault, just kind of stay with what you could have done better. But when I looked back at the game again and how he played, I did notice the overthrow over lucky Jackson that Donovan Jackson was in McCarthy's lap a little bit and may have made the throw go a bit high. And that was because the defensive tackle got the initial punch and sent him back. So he hung on, but he got pushed back quite a bit. And I think he's still learning how to deal with the power. And he got a lot of that this week. I thought that this was big for him, though, these last two games, these last, or I'm sorry, these last two days of practice for Donovan Jackson. They felt like games the way we're breaking them down. But the last two days

of practice. I felt were very big for Donovan Jackson. The offensive line today was really good. They got beat up in that first day. They gave up a lot of pressures. I think I counted maybe one or two sacks for McCarthy today. It was not many. It was not many pressures that he ended up getting. Part of that's the ball coming out on time. I think part of it was the offensive line playing better together and that included Donovan Jackson. There will be learning moments for Donovan Jackson early. I can guarantee that he is in for the fight of his life when he's got to play some powerful guys because he's not a fully developed player yet.

And he's being asked a lot going there, start, be a difference maker, all that. That's hard to do. Uh, yeah, it was, uh, it was school today at left tackle. It was not, Derisaw didn't take any reps today, but major progress for Dar esau to take reps yesterday. And I also, I also thought that school was, you know, pretty good. Um, I thought he was fine today. He wasn't giving up pressures left and right, which was maybe a good sign for him. He kind of needed that. There were a lot of guys, you know, Sam Howell, Justin's school, the guys who haven't had great camps, Donovan Jackson, you know, I don't want to say it's not a good camp for him

because he's a rookie, but there were a lot of guys who needed this, including Sam Howell and J.J. McCarthy and, uh, you know, that needed to. to do some stuff in these practices that I felt like they did. I didn't totally come away from today thinking that about the secondary. I didn't think differently about the secondary. I thought there's going to be flaws. That's not a secondary that's got a bunch of all pros. And they probably will have to overcome some they're going to have to make plays when they're there. They're going to have to overcome that there's going to be completions when the opposing quarterback has some time to throw. But that's where they've got to force some fumbles. They've got to get interceptions. And I think

that that's a main theory of Brian Flores. I don't need perfect guys back there, but I need them to make some plays. I need them to catch the football. And that's where you got Theo Jackson and Isaiah Rogers, I think, can play the ball very well himself. Hold on. Let me scroll back. Rob says, agree about JJ being a little conservative early, which marries up with Addison's absence more mason and jones and t j and oliver right i mean we get we have to keep in mind and one of i mean he mentioned it one of his coolest throws today was a rail route where you go and a wheel is the other way to describe a wheel route you kind of know where the running back goes to the outside and it looks like it's going to be a swing pass and they just take off upfield and he dropped

it in the bucket he he flicked it up in the air and let him run underneath it and grabbed it you know for a huge play it would have been a 50 yard gain or 40 yard gain or something. Aaron Jones, there's a reason they brought him back. There's a reason they paid him what they paid him because he's very important catching the ball out of the backfield for J.J. McCarthy. Very important. Also, uh, if you guys had any answers to the Fandul question of the day, the Fandul question of the day was, uh, the Vikings are plus 120 to win at least 10 games, what is your confidence that they will win at least 10 games, knowing that JJ McCarthy has had a very good overall training camp. There have been no major setbacks.

There hasn't been, you know, many injuries or anything like that. So what's your confidence? Give me a percentage. If you want a one out of 10, whatever it is, that's the fan duel question of the day. So make sure that you answer that. Now, here's what I want to know before I wrap up for tonight. It's been a great stream. And I'm glad. that so many of you were able to drop in here tonight to talk about J.J. McCarthy's really big and exciting practice 10 out of 10 right away from, is that guitar person? Well, shout out to you. But, you know, nine out of 10. So, I mean, that's, yeah, I don't think you guys are wrong for setting the bar there. I really don't. I think the bar needs to be set at double digit wins. If J.J.

McCarthy plays like he did these last two days, you're going to win a lot of games. um so thank you for your answers there nine out of ten ten out of ten you guys are excited about that you should be i think dana and i felt the same way coming away from practice and just to make a real quick point this is why when there's a bad practice we talk about it and we talk about it honestly because that means when there's a good practice you know i'm telling you it was good right i'm not coming back every day just telling you every practice was good so here's what i want to talk about is uh if you guys want to throw this in the chat as well I'm asking for two things at once,

but number one thing you're looking forward to in the preseason game. Number one thing you are looking forward to in the preseason game. Dan, how did the O line look? Best day. Best day they've had. I think it was the best day they've had. A major part of J.J. McCarthy's success throwing the football was that the offensive line was way better.

And, you know, a main part of this is some of their blitzes got home in the first day. And the Vikings went back and watched tape. and they did better in the second day because they actually had something to work with for that practice. It also gave them a nice little, like simulated, we're going to go in, we're going to evaluate the tape, we're going to jump in, you know, and try to apply some of that stuff, just these little steps of training camp. And, you know, I always try to take it in, like really take it in.

One of my friends who I golf with said, you know, I don't really care about the training camp stuff. And I was like, man, it's such a big part of the journey. It's a big part of the journey. In the NFL films in all of those old videos, you know, the, the 93 Denver Broncos were destined for great. Like those videos, they always start with them out hitting some things in camp, right? Hitting the tackle dummies and stuff. The story of a team begins here.

And I think about, I was talking, you know, to different people about when J.J. McCarthy pushed Tyler baddy because. they got into it got chippy today it wasn't too bad it got chippy and you know like out well it's kind of been that way with this team and you know j j mccarthy pushed tyler baddy if this team becomes really good we'll we'll go back to that if this team becomes really good we'll go back to the joint practice and go that was the moment that was it actually wasn't for sam darnal which is interesting it was it was kind of after that where it really started to click uh it wasn't really in cleveland maybe the second day in cleveland where it's

started to come together, but right here, this is the moment, right? If it turns out to be really good, that we'll remember each one of those things along the way that presented themselves as the season went along. So it's been a big part of it. But I'm curious what you guys want to see in the second preseason game. I mean, number one by far, the most answered is Max Brosmer. And it should be. Um, had a good conversation with us yesterday, Max Brosmer and just really, really, really impressed with him as a person and as a hard worker and as a passer. And he, and he's got in a couple times and made plays. He's, I mean, how about this for a guy who's, you know, the third or fourth quarterback and he's an undrafted free agent? He's never playing this league before. And they're like, hey, jump in there and take three reps. But that's all you get today. And then he'll complete a pass or make a nice play.

hitting Tim Jones today. And then it's like, all right, get out of there. It's not an easy existence. And yet, Brozmer has really thrived with it. So I agree, of course, Max Brosmer is a big part of this. We'll see how much he gets to play. I would guess it's going to be quite a bit. Thank you also, Kurt, for the compliments.

I appreciate that very much. Good answer from David, Elijah Williams. How about Elijah Williams getting a shout out from the head man today? as Kevin O'Connell talked about the defensive line, and he just tossed out Elijah Williams name. I was like, oh, okay. I mean, I still think Elijah Williams is going to be probably somebody that ends up on the practice squad and is a development player,

and we're going to hear a lot from him in the future. Just a kid who's got some power to him, some natural power. How would I compare JJ at this point to Darnold last year? So Darnold, the week before the first preseason game, try to remember these these sections of camp correctly right before they went into the first preseason game darnold started to have a click and he was starting to find Jefferson a lot and remember i mean this is a big factor for McCarthy that he has not had Justin Jefferson like that matters that he's not had Justin Jefferson Darnold did and Darnold was starting to

connect with him a lot and had some really good practices leading into the first preseason game then he goes into the first preseason game looks great in his first drive hit some some nice throws gets moving and coming out of that the joint i think the joint practices came next the first day was really bad the second day was pretty good for darnold and it felt like that was his turning point and he built off of that and that next week he was just great he was on point that's when i started to feel like maybe i'm not crazy for picking this team to win 10 games last year and so i think it's this very similar type of timeline i think it is a very similar type of time timeline where Darnold would have some really good practices.

Darnold would have some bad practices. And I, and I will admit that last year, I didn't write down every Darnel pass. Why would I, right? I mean, I just thought, well, let me, you know, let me watch the guard on this play. Let me watch the corner on this play. And I'll see what happens and, you know, that kind of thing. This year has been different because I've watched every single McCarthy pass. And I've written down every single McCarthy pass.

and tried to convey those details to you guys because that's what you're looking for. And so it's been a little different, like how many percentages of completions that he have. I thought that Darnold's confidence in throwing down the field started to really show itself and looked terrific coming out of the joint practices. Also, when they signed Gilmore, there was a different vibe from everyone. Like, okay, like they believe in us. So I think it's really come around the same way where it's ups and downs, learning face, a couple padded practices that are good, a couple that might not go so good.

I mean, Darnel, I think a terrible night practice too last year where he threw an interception to Andrew Van Ginkle. Same with McCarthy having a bad one this year. So I think it's been really similar, actually, with both of them. And it just takes time to learn Kevin O'Connell's offense and to do it with a lot of receivers that are not the biggest names, although I will say most of his great throws have gone to Hocketson and Addison, as you would expect. and as will happen in the regular season.

Let's see. So what else you guys looking for in the preseason? The kick, yeah, they didn't do, they did not do kicking today. They did it yesterday and Will Reichert hit every kick. So Reichert is back. Yep. Dan says running back competition, Xavier Scott building on what he did before. Ty Felton, I agree.

Like, Ty Felton had a nice, a very nice start to his preseason. I got a kick or turn where he had to run the ball down and he had a nice catch on third down. And this is what I talk about. It's not like I don't see anything with Ty Felton. I see it. It's just he needs time. It's sort of like we saw it with Naylor and he just needs time.

Stephen, like I can mention, I can mention something about Dwight McClothern. Dwight McLeodern has a tendency to kind of troll and he broke up a pass and like threw it at the other team. It's just like he he finds a way to get under people's skin. But you know, you're right. He hasn't gotten mentioned that much because he wasn't out there as much as still Zamaiavon, Blackman and Okuda with that second unit. And it looks like he has kind of fallen down a little.

Does that mean they move on from him? I had him on my 53. So I don't think so. he's got some experience, but it really has felt like they've liked Vaughn better. Frank, thank you so much for the super chat. I'm glad that this has become a favorite part of your evening. I'm still trying to work out exactly how the schedule is going to go for the regular season, but there's going to be a lot of these.

A lot of these chats and conversations, probably Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Maybe if something happens Friday or Saturday, we'll see. but I've really enjoyed after every training camp practice. I think there was only one that was a walkthrough that I didn't do after every other training camp practice, we've gone live, we've broken it down. I've had a great, great time doing it, you know, love the chat every night, getting into different topics and giving great feedback and everything. So I really appreciate that.

As far as the Fandu question of the day, a lot of you were in the range of 90% chance, 70% chance. Zoom or Kev was at 70% chance. I mean, I think that's really fair when it comes to, uh, like being confident that they can win 10 or more because it's the NFL and things can happen. You just never really know, but I think there should be a lot of confidence coming out of this. Uh, Orion says Miles Price balls out in the next two games. I mean, look, I, I'm, I'm not disagreeing with you. Miles Price had a great catch today. Uh, he's been able to, you know, catch a lot of punts and he's got some yards after catch ability to him. So, you know, he's caught my eye a little bit.

But I think he's clearly behind Silas Bolden for the punt returning competition. He's going to have to earn it. And look, when it comes to Stephen says that he muffed a punt today. I mean, look, when it comes to the punt returning, you have to do it in games. I mean, I asked that to Matt Daniels early in training camp. I was like, how do you evaluate him out here? he's like, well, you know, we try, you know, they try the best they can, but you really can only evaluate them in the games.

You know, that's, that's just kind of the fact of the matter. That's the only time you can really have the full speed. Let's see, guitar person, do you think not playing McCarthy in the preseason could make a difference of slow out of the gate? I think that this, this experience here, and McCarthy did talk about that. I don't have that clip, but he did talk about it. I think this experience here over the last two days is 50 times better than a preseason game. It's just, I wish that, I wish that they put it on TV.

I wish that they put it at US Bank Stadium where you could have 60,000 people see the entire practice because it was really that much fun today. But when you see all the stuff he had to do today, two minute drill, red zone, the, amount of pressure that the Patriots are putting on, the pass rush, all that stuff, and then compare it to going out there and just have vanilla, just totally vanilla stuff. I mean, it's, it's so much better. It's so much. And he said that.

He said it's just so much better, just so much better to get the experience from the last two days, just so much better. So, no, I'm not concerned about him not playing in the preseason. And when you think about it, you know, you go back to like every year it's been a question to KOC, like, don't you think you should play your starters more in the preseason? And he's always like, no. And look, Nailer might be banged up. We're not sure. Mattelis was a little banged up today. They lost roundale more. They lost Zich Corel. They lost those players during preseason games. It's just more dangerous to put them out there in preseason

games. They're going to go for now, what, what, the fifth straight, fourth straight season? No, how many are we on? Fourth straight season of Ok, no, two, three, four, yes. The fourth straight season of Kevin O'Connell, they're going to go into the season healthy. And that's, that's their main goal. And look, J.J. McCarthy running one series, I wanted to see more from him, from that first game. I wanted to see a first half. But then when you consider that, yes, you'd have to play the whole offensive line, I get it. And I kind of backtracked on that and said, okay, I get it because you have to play Ryan Kelly the whole first half and you can't lose Ryan Kelly.

And that's the other point. You can't just put him out there with like Michael Juergens and second unit and then get him hit like it's not not not ideal uh asa says if mccarthy's day was a 10 out of 10 what we say kirk's average training camp with kOC was out of 10 for comparison that's i mean there were so many there were so many practices that i saw of kirk cousins i saw every different form of kirk cousins practice look when kirk was on point it was like this and i'm and i mean that as a compliment to J.J. McCarthy. He looked like a veteran quarterback today. When Kirk was really on point, he was really, really good with his accuracy, his anticipation. They had, I think it was

San Francisco was the joint practices where Kirk was really good. I don't think he ever had an offensive line that helped him out too much at joint practices, but I mean, he knew where to put the football. He was very, very accurate. And that's the thing about Kirk is that he could make a lot of different types of throws. So he was very good at anticipating deep throws. He could hit intermediate stuff. He could hit the short quick stuff. And that's what you have to do. Like, Kirk was a top 15 quarterback. Like, he was really a good quarterback. And there's a lot of other complicating factors to the Kirk Cousins legacy in Minnesota. But he's a very good NFL starting quarterback for his career. And if J.J. McCarthy plays on the same, if he's the 12th best

quarterback, this team's winning the division because they're that good from top to bottom. So this looked like a fully developed pro quarterback. Now, it didn't look quite like Sam Darnold. Sam Darnold's best practices were breathtaking. I mean, they were just, oh my gosh, he just hit his fourth 40-yard throw or something because he was so dedicated to throwing down the field where I think that McCarthy is very much on point with where the play leads him, which is much more of a Kirk mentality. But, then and this and I always thought this like even let's say that McCarthy plays mostly like cousins but he could fit a little bit more tight window and then he scrambles every time for a

first down that he's got an opportunity I mean then you've got something because that was always the struggle it was the contract of course you couldn't build a team like this around Kirk but it was also the playmaking and McCarthy another thing that separates him too from Cousins. And again, this is with all credit to Kirk Cousins on a great career that earned him a lot of money and won a lot of games and all that sort of stuff, went 17 and 8 with Kevin O'Connell. There was a play today where McCarthy rolled to his right. And I'm trying to think who he threw it to. Maybe he was Lucky Jackson in the back of the end zone. And he flipped the hips rolling full speed and let it loose. And that ball was cooking and it was accurate. And he

was escaping pressure and you went, that's the one, that's the one. That's an athlete. That's a first round athlete. That's a guy who has top-notch quickness, top-notch athleticism. That's the difference and a playmaking, very much a playmaking mentality. And I think he really has that. And what happened here today is that I think his confidence really came together because we could talk about all day long, and I think he's a very confident person.

He's projected that from day one. He's run a lot of practices confidently. But every single human being having a practice like that today would walk off and be like, I can do this. I can make that throw. And that's what he did today. So it doesn't, it doesn't, you know, put him in the Hall of Fame. Like we were joking walking off, you know, first player ever to have a Hall of Fame ceremony

after his first joint practice or whatever, you know, that kind of stuff, joking around. but it just means that you're seeing a lot of the boxes that you wanted to be checked checked that's what it means that's the biggest thing um Conrad no McCarthy is definitely not playing no how is going to play though how is going to play and then it'll be Ripin and brosmer and uh I know for sure that you guys will be all in on brosmer which I will be too uh Asa good to see you this has been hearing from some reporters there's a legitimate chance of a punting battle you think there's actual steam there. Apparently Chapman has killed it so far. I don't disagree that Chapman has been good. He has the, there's different names for it. I think Jordan Barry said it was like a banana punt. There's the, what's the thing that you throw and then it comes back to you? Like there's some very interesting ways that Chapman punts the ball and I think they're hard to return. But I'm still leaning toward you don't want to mess with.

uh will rickard you don't want to mess with will rickard unless you are really concerned about ryan right and you can keep him on the roster the boomerang yes thank you the boomerang appreciate that you guys are on point tonight when i needed to know cut down day you got it when i needed to know the boomerang punt you thank you thank you uh frisbee no frisbee does not come back to you the boomerang comes back to you and that's that's what jordan barry explained it to me one time about how you where you kick it he was using a gatorade bottle because i I'm like, what is it that you do with that thing? And he's got a Gatorade bottle.

He's holding up and showing me like how some Australians kick it kind of on the side or with the side of their foot. It makes it fall out of the air all crazy. And he clearly did that on that punt that got fumbled. But the fact that they can keep him on the practice squad for free makes me think that Ryan Wright will still be the punter. But hey, look, there's always a competition. There's always a punting competition.

at least we've gone far enough where the second guy hasn't gotten cut so i i do think but Ryan wright holding he's he used to play quarterback i think Ryan right and he's got good ball skills and you know the difference difference is small the difference is small with the punting but it's huge with the holding that's just at least my understanding um the year that dan bailey fell apart I think holding was an issue. So, Redd, who's the punt returner? We're going to find out. But we are going to start, I think, that competition with Silas Bolden

or the conversation with Silas Bolden. He's got a chance. I mean, he goes back there and he handles the ball well and he makes plays. Then they're going to give him a chance, I think, for sure, where, you know, he was a really good punt returner in college. And he catches the ball well. I was watching him today after practice. He catches the ball smoothly, cleanly.

And if he can make some plays, I think that they might go for it and trust him. Otherwise, you're probably looking for somebody else because I don't know that they would go with price right off the bat. I don't know. Lucky Jackson was back there a little bit. I don't know if they would go with him. So, Jim, how many rushing touchdowns does McCarthy get? That's a good. That's a good point.

Yeah, I agree, Jim. If Bolden doesn't, if he doesn't muff punts, then that's all they really need. Just catch the ball. catch the ball. And if there's a ton of room, take it and just get down. I think that McCarthy will run for a handful of touchdowns. Yeah,

I don't know if I would go five, although technically I guess a handful is five. A couple, I would say a couple. Here's the question is how many first downs does he run for. I'm going to go with like 25. Maybe that needs to be a fan dual question of the day. Is,

you know, maybe maybe 20, 25 first downs. I think that would be a pretty good number. So anyway, a guitar person, are they going to go for O'Dell Beckham? I don't know. I could see it. I could see it.

Yeah, Brian, you're right. If they were in the Super Bowl, I think you're right. They would put Isaiah Rogers back there. He's clearly the best guy in the team. They just, you know, want him to play number one corner. Is holding more important than punting? I'd say hands down it is. Absolutely.

Absolutely. They need their kicker to be good. If the difference between the punting is a couple of net yards, it's three net yards. Well, okay, you'll just deal with that. But if you're not comfortable kicking off of a certain holder, which he missed the kick with Oscar Chapman in there, and I don't know if Chapman's ever done it, you're in for a long season if your kicker is unhappy. But as far as Beckham goes, I would give it maybe a 20% chance, 10% should, probably

10% chance of happening it's it just seems like it would be unlikely with considering where odel's been over the last couple of years is he healthy plus when you bring in odel beckham you know it draws a lot of attention it's hard to bring in odel beckham and say just fill in a little role that makes it harder um are there any uh undrafted free agent running back still available i mean there's a there's a lot of undrafted people who are still available i like the running back room though. I really like the running back room. The way that Xavier Scott has stepped up,

if Ty Chandler is the fourth running back and they keep him as a kick returner, like that's pretty good. Or if Xavier Scott just makes the team because he's been great, I mean, you know, ASA, no, the holding stuff, it's not, it's not

psychological. And here's how I know this. This is funny. This just shows you the number of football conversations. I have with people because when I get off here, I go talk football with other people. It's like, it's just, you know, that's, that's why we're here, right? I had a long discussion one time with Sage Rosenfels because he was a great holder and I believe he held for the New York Giants the year he was their backup about how to be a great holder.

And it is not something that is that easy to do. and there's a lot of punters who stay in the league because they're good at it and because they can be trusted. It is super hard to catch it and get it down there and spin it. And they have a great long snapper. Absolutely fantastic long snapper.

But it's not an easy thing to do. And the fact that Ryan Wright can do it and the kicker trusts him, you want to stay with that. Can Chandler actually return kicks? He's fast but not elusive. He's been okay. He's returned a handful of them.

He's been okay. I think he had 12 last year is fine. his best return ever got called back, I think, for something. Chris says defensive backs will be our downfall, hope I'm wrong. I don't, I mean, this last year, and I know it's different, but last year, the defensive backs were Stefan Gilmore, Shack Griffin, and, you know, Cam Bynum is a good player, for sure. But those were two of your corners, and they finished with the top five defense.

Again, I know AFC South, but they didn't have the pass rush they have. I think it's still, I think it's still a concern, but I don't think that it is, when you say downfall, I, where it's been in camp, I have felt like this is good enough to win a lot of games with. But I haven't felt like, wow, everyone was totally wrong for questioning the secondary. After the last few days with the Patriots, I thought, yeah, this is not a good receiving group and they did make a number of plays. So you could be, you could be right as far as, like, it's not going to be a downfall of, this defense is horrible, but could it be a big situation that they need Jeff Okuda one-on-one with somebody and, you know, that kind of thing. Like, that, that is a concern. I think that is a

concern. So anyway, well, it's been a really, it's been a really great chat, guys. It's been a really great chat. And I think that this was probably the most exciting training camp, day that I've had covering the Vikings, I mean, maybe ever because of the stakes, because of how interesting it is, to see someone kind of right before your eyes, taking big steps and developing and then thinking about what they're going to be. It was a fun day for everybody. So if you missed any of my conversation with Dane Mizatani, please go back and check it out. The plan for right now is to do a post game show after Saturday.

And myself and Dane will be at U.S. Bank Stadium as we always are and we'll be doing it from there. And if anything else happens, always possible that I will be back here tomorrow. So thank you guys so much, so much for such a great chat, such a great conversation. Again, just really fun day that maybe down the line we are going to be talking about, hey, remember when he had that great joint practice and we did a two hour and 15 minute live stream about a joint practice. so thanks again everybody really appreciate all of your time and you guys listening it means a lot to me and uh just can't wait to go forward covering the rest of this thing here so take care

everyone good night and hey sign up for the newsletter purple insider dot football