Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - JJ Watt? Going all-in on a guard? Drafting Mac Jones? Let's talk aggressive Minnesota Vikings ideas

Episode Date: February 15, 2021

Matthew Coller is joined by Will Ragatz of Sports Illustrated to talk about the most aggressive moves the Vikings could make that do not involve a Kirk Cousins trade. JJ Watt is available and doesn't have a good chance at joining the Vikings but would it be a good idea if he wanted to come to Minnesota? Also Mac Jones is reportedly expected to be drafted around where the Vikings pick. Should they be interested? There are also two really expensive guards that the Vikings could chase and maybe there's a good argument for going after them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Yeah, I do. Okay. Here we go. Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider presented by Scout Business. Matthew Collard here along with Will Reggans who covers the Vikings for Sports Illustrated. What is up, Will? Not a whole lot. Just enjoying a nice negative 25 wind chill on this Valentine's Day.

Staying inside and excited to talk some Vikings. It could be worse. You could be my dog who I have to dress up in about 13 ridiculous different ways. We've got booties, we've got jackets. I have taken a mask and put it around her little muzzle thing to strap it around her nose so it does not get frostbitten. And that doesn't even count how much I have to do to go walk the dog because for some reason she refuses to do what she needs to do in the backyard and requires that i walk her so i can't even just stay inside when it's 25 below windchill i still

have to go outside yeah and the good news is we got like five more days of this and it's been non-stop but then it'll get back to like 30 degrees and we'll get to put the shorts and t-shirts on and go outside so guarantee guarantee you'll see a dude jogging with no shirt on when it gets back up to 35 degrees absolute guarantee and then it's officially it wouldn't be minnesota if you didn't see at least one of those one of those guys or a dude working on his car in his front yard which was no shirt on in january anyway so uh the reason i want to have you on is because you were tweeting a little bit about J.J. Watt. And, of course, I'm sure you know what I think of this idea of J.J. Watt and the Vikings, that it's ludicrous, that it's not going to happen, that there's no reason why J.J. Watt would want to become a Viking. But it did get the wheels turning a little bit, Will. I started thinking about all these ridiculous kind of things or unlikely things that end

up in my mentions or in the rumor mills or on Reddit or in the comment section. And I thought, why don't we just talk about all of them? Like, let's just get it all out there. Let's talk about all the ridiculous things that probably won't happen, but what if they did? And we will just put aside Kirk Cousins trade rumors for now now because that has been exhausted by i think all of us so let's start with jj watt um he is more likely to go to a team that he thinks is going to win the super bowl and i know that's got a sting for vikings fans to hear because you were the team for several years where

you were like hey sheldon richardson want to come play for an awesome defense get a bunch of sacks make some money come on over here buddy you could maybe win the super bowl hey come on kirk cousins come here we just went 13 and 3 they're not really that team right now and i think if you're jj watt that is probably how you view the minnesota vikings convince me of Will, is there any case that they could make that would even slightly interest J.J. Watt? Yeah, well, I'm kind of with you on the fact that it's very, very much a long shot. You point out it was that was a lot easier to sell that vision of come join a contender back in 2018 than it is now when they're coming off a seven to nine season and only made the playoffs once in the last three years with Kirk Cousins.

So I don't think it's something that's going to happen. It was a situation where I was seeing that J.J. Watt had been released, and the day of I wasn't going to write anything about it, and then I was searching for content because, you know, it's the week or two after the Super Bowl, and I was like, all right, I'll write about why J.J. Watt probably isn't coming to the Vikings. Same thing I did with Deshaun Watson because, you know, got to get those sweet, sweet clicks on the Internet.

And I started writing about J.J. Watt, and I started, like, writing a paragraph of, like, all right, let me play devil's advocate and see why it maybe could happen. And I came up with a few reasons. I was like, all right, you know what, I'll just do, like, a a full propaganda tweet and i'll tweet all these reasons and make like dumb vikings fans sorry not dumb vikings fans but easily believing in things vikings fans exactly use those passionate exactly yeah so i put all this in a tweet and then i knew that was gonna get a bunch of likes and stuff on twitter but um in my actual article I wrote, most of the time was spent talking about how,

A, he's going to want to go to a contender. The Vikings aren't that. And, B, he probably still wants to make a good amount of money, which I don't think the Vikings are capable of giving him. Now, the salary cap's a myth. And if he wants to go to the Packers or the Packers want to sign him or the Bears or whatever, a team that's in a similar spot as the Vikings, you can make it work with a long-term deal that backloads money

or a bunch of signing bonus money or whatever the case may be. But I can't see. I think he's probably going to go home state of Green Bay or go to Pittsburgh and play with his brothers. But getting off track, I will give you a few of the reasons that I came up with, which are the Vikings, well, Minnesota is somewhat similar to Wisconsin, where he's from. It's the upper Midwest if he wants to return to some sort of area near his home.

He is familiar with Gary Kubiak, who was his coach from 2011 to 2013 with the Texans, who he's very fond of. Gary Kubiak obviously just retired, but I think it's not really a secret that he's still going to be involved in some unofficial capacity with the Vikings with his son as the offensive coordinator. Also, Rick Dennison and Brian Periani were on that Texan staff. He could play with Daniil Hunter, who I think would be the best defensive player he's ever played with, especially the defensive lineman,

with all due respect to Mario Williams and Davion Clowney and people like that. And Andre Patterson is a really good defensive line coach. Those were the reasons I was able to come up with. With that said, I think it's very, very much a long shot. There are like 12 teams, 14 teams at least, that I would probably rank as having a better shot at landing J.J. Watt. The thing about the J.J. Watt conversation is I'm not even convinced if J.J. Watt wanted to come to Minnesota that it would be a good idea for the Vikings to sign him because he's spectacular. I mean, a great player can dominate a game to take over, and this team is empty in the cupboard for the defensive line outside of Daniil Hunter and I've got to see some Michael Pierce when he comes back I mean we're talking

about a guy who hasn't stepped on NFL field in a year and where he's going to be at I guess we'll find out when it comes to uh July so for I mean but we'll go forward saying they have two decent or great offensive defensive linemen and then nothing else so then you know you add a jj watt to that picture and he is really good and you're a lot more dangerous however when you're talking about the price versus the risk you would be taking versus where you're kind of at when it comes to rebuilding this thing you're talking about somebody who's 32 years old who's going to be very expensive this would be much more of a 2018 type of move than it is now i i just think that that's what's going to come

back to when we talk about a lot of these sort of really risky moves or should they sign this guy or that guy is do you want to push the chips to the middle of the table for someone with an injury history and who is not the same player as he used to be for a five or six year span I mean he's got a case for the best defensive player in the entire NFL but that is several years ago this is a guy exactly the type of like Charles Woodson or Julius Peppers who taxed themselves onto the Packers at the very end of their career and maybe still has a little something left yeah it's a good point. And I was actually surprised to see how many people were in my mentions on that tweet saying,

no, we don't want JJ Watt. And like on the surface, I'm like, what? You don't want JJ Watt? You don't want to consider? I mean, obviously the tweet wasn't super serious, but I think when you do look at the broader kind of context of it, I don't know if it makes a ton of sense for the reasons you listed. I mean, I think the Vikings could almost, you could make the argument that they should be looking to add a bunch of just capable players

at different spots. Like, let's get a capable left guard and a capable three-tack and a capable replacement for Anthony Harris at safety and maybe a capable third receiver. Things like that, instead of kind of putting all the money into one player, especially a J.J. Watt who, from 2011 to 2015, unreal, like never had any issues, three-time defensive player of the year. But since then, the only really great season he's had is 2018

when he stayed healthy. Other than that, it's been missing time and not playing at 100%. So I think the upside is there, and some team for sure, a bunch of teams are going to be pushing for him because they know what he can do when he's healthy. And it will be interesting to see what kind of price tag he eventually ends up getting, but it would be a big risk for a team that I'm not sure can afford to miss on something like that. Okay, let me shift gears now.

I want to kind of bounce back and forth between some crazy free agent stuff some crazy draft stuff and the crazy draft thing that comes to mind for me is something that todd mcshay said about mac jones he said that he expects mac jones to go somewhere between i think he said like 8 and 21 which is pretty wide or maybe he said like 8-21, which is pretty wide. Or maybe he said 15-21, something like this. But whatever it was, it allowed for the possibility for Mac Jones to be on the board when the Minnesota Vikings draft. So if we're talking about things that are unlikely, but is there a case for them, let's talk about Mac Jones for a second. I think he's really interesting because he's got all those big numbers that Tua had at Alabama he's got the weapons that helped him go at you know crazy he goes down to

the senior bowl and has a pretty good showing and then all of a sudden it's okay could he be the fifth quarterback that goes in the first round if Mac Jones is sitting there on the board four other quarterbacks have been taken and you're the Vikings at 14, is there any argument to select Mac Jones at that point? I think there's an argument. I don't think it's something they would consider, and I don't think it's something that fans would get very excited about because when you look at the top four quarterbacks, they all have that element of something special that you're looking for in the NFL where they can get outside the pocket

and make these ridiculous throws on the run and kind of create off schedule and do things like that. And I'm not saying Mac Jones can't do any of that, and he had a fantastic Heisman-worthy season for Alabama this year. But I think when you look at him, his ceiling is probably something similar to Kirk Cousins. And maybe that's too lazy of a comparison. I haven't admittedly fully studied Mac Jones' game. I've watched plenty of his games this year, but I think the better possibility there is if Mac Jones is on the board, I think Rick Spielman uses that, kind of dangles that as

a way to move down, and maybe the Colts, I think, who are at 21 or something like that and want to move up ahead of the Patriots at 15 to get them. And I think you can kind of use that as a leverage piece there. But I don't think the Vikings taking a pocket-passing quarterback at 14 would do a lot for that. Obviously, he would be a significantly better backup than Sean Mannion. And he may well have the ceiling to be better than Kirk Cousins. But I think like Kirk Cousins is like his 80th percentile outcome or

something like that. Cause cause Kirk Cousins for all the rumors and stuff is still pretty good. And what was, has been pretty good the past few years outside of weirdly not showing up until like week five every year. But so I don't think there's really any possibility of that, especially with the Vikings in win-now mode with Zimmer and Spielman kind of feeling their seats get a little warm.

I think they're going to want a player who can contribute right away. So I don't think they'd take a quarterback at all. I think if Lance or Fields or somebody like that were to fall, I would be kind of pounding the table for at least taking a look at that and making that argument. But with Mac Jones, I don't think there's as much of a case. So I'm not for this either because also, I mean, not just to mention that they're trying to win in 2021 and you have a head coach and general manager who are feeling the pressure and they want to make moves to get contributors right away. But there's also just the fact that Mac Jones not being an athlete, there was the picture that came out after the championship of his body

and it kind of looked like me. And I thought, I'm not sure that NFL, even like Baker Mayfield, is shredded. And has serious arm talent, can really whip the ball down the field, can fire it. And I don't see that from Mac Jones either. And it's a good point that the ceiling probably is Kirk Cousins. And Mike Renner made that same comparison, I think on another PFF podcast that I was listening to where he said, yeah, the ceiling is Kirk Cousins, but let me try anyway. So if the ceiling is Kirk Cousins, and we like a lot of other things about Mac Jones, his personality, his intelligence, his pocket presence is pretty good in college, and his accuracy is terrific. It's just that he doesn't have this big, strong arm. of this if you had a cheaper version of this that would be great like two teams went to the super bowl in recent years with the same type of offense and let's even make a different comparison of mac jones to jared goff i mean jared goff was in the super bowl because they were able to stack up his

team so if you could have kirk cousins for no money then it would make a lot of sense now of course there's the christian ponder thing that comes to everybody's mind that, hey, yeah, well, he might be Kirk Cousins or he might be Christian Ponder, and if he's Christian Ponder, then you're really setting your franchise back. But you would have, and here's the benefit of this, you would have a year at least this year to figure out what you have of him in practice and in training camp and all those things. And then you could decide, do you want to trade Kirk Cousins before next offseason?

And then you plan on getting, you know, draft capital back for Kirk Cousins. No doubt we see from the other trades that are happening, you could get a lot back for Kirk Cousins if you wanted to move him. So if that became your long-term plan, and then if you think that Mac Jones is terrible, you just don't play Mac Jones and keep Kirk Cousins, right? It gives you kind of an option for where you might want to go in the future at the quarterback position. And then there's that other thing.

You mentioned trading down. Remember that the Buffalo Bills traded out of the Patrick Mahomes pick. And imagine, like, okay, so Josh Allen works out. But if Josh Allen never worked out, never got them anywhere, how haunted their franchise would be. If you're the team that trades out for Mac Jones, and then he surprises us because quarterbacking is random when it comes to who's going to make it and who's not,

man, that would be like an all-time Vikings-y thing. Can you take the risk of that happening if you're Rick Spielman? Yeah, that's a good point. I think the risk of Mac Jones blowing up and becoming this world-beating perennial All-Pro QB is low, but it's always possible. Like you said, the NFL is pretty random and hard to predict. So, yeah, I mean, that would certainly be painful. I think you make a good point, though, with just the money point.

I mean, I think a lot of people, I think you could make the argument that getting Mac Jones, say he's 70% of Kirk Cousins in year one or 60% of Kirk Cousins even, but for 10% of the price. Like, you can make the argument that that's a net positive for the Vikings. You can also make the argument that it isn't, because of how important quarterback play is, and how important even a slight difference in play there is. But allowing you to build up the offensive line and build up these other positions and make actual splashes in free agency,

which they're not going to be able to make this year, or really any year while they have Kirk Cousins, it would absolutely allow you to fill out a better team. So I think that's an interesting one. I don't think there's any real shot of them drafting Mac Jones, but, yeah, he's going to – all of those quarterbacks are going to be so fascinating to see how that plays out early in the draft and the trades and which maybe veteran QBs could be on the move on draft day and things like that.

Mac Jones is an interesting piece right in the middle of the first round there. Hey, everyone who listens to this show knows that I am an old-school gamer. So if you're still playing the games from the 90s, trust me, you're going to want to check out the new gear from SodaStick. Football, hockey, and a Minnesota logo in the form of another famous video game logo. I'll just say that. If you use the promo code PURPLEINSIDER, you can get free shipping. Go to SodaStick.com to check out the old school gaming designs on shirts hoodies all their apparel is screen printed here in minnesota that is sodastick

s-o-t-a-s-t-i-c-k.com original minnesota sports inspired goods code purple insider for free shipping remember we still have our giveaway going on with sodaodaStick, a $50 gift card. All you need to do is if you have not signed up for the Purple Insider newsletter yet, go to purpleinsider.substack.com and you're automatically entered. And if you have already subscribed to Purple Insider, respond to any Purple Insider email just with the word video games. That's all you have to do and you're entered to win a 50 gift card from soda stick i will get to or find an idea that we both actually like that's sort of off the wall and aggressive i promise you but just the last thing on mac jones if you're making this argument if this is debate club and they issue you the you have to argue for mac jones and that's what i'm

doing right now uh i would say look i know you want to draft a defensive tackle, but there are other defensive tackles that you can find. You can sign one. You can draft one in the second round and develop him or something like that. Defense events, same thing. There's a lot of defense events in this draft, and, hey, you're supposed to have a great defensive line coach. Draft one, develop him.

Or there's like eight pass rushers who are good in free agency. Go get them to fill your spots.ers who are good in free agency. Go get them to fill your spots. There's cornerbacks in free agency. There's wide receivers in free agency. There's all sorts of stuff. You know what there's not is cheap ass franchise quarterbacks. So if you have any chance of getting one, even if it's like a 60 40 that he's not good you might take the 40 just because of how important that is in comparison to a guard which i say you can find a guard but this franchise

you know maybe struggles in that area somehow so uh but let me move on to the next point because i'm always intrigued too and i would love to just hear from some people on twitter who listen or whatever just like what you think of some of these because um i think it's fun to kind of make arguments for stuff that maybe even you don't think is a great idea uh so there's two guards who are real good joe thune and brandon shirsh i'll learn how to say his name right someday some people say sheriff some people say shirf i've always just said shirf i don't know. Maybe that's wrong. I think it is Sherf, but I've also heard Sheriff, and I think it's just Sherf. Anyway, the dude from Washington who is amazing but also kind of old, and that's the problem with both of these guys who are great players,

but Thune is 29, Sherf is 30. Do you think that putting all the eggs in the basket finally of a really good guard would make sense here or is it going to be the josh klein route i think from what it's going to be it's going to be the latter it's going to be like josh klein route or i i just wrote about the uh the saints releasing Nick Easton, the old friend alert, who really has not been very good. You have to. You have to write about him. He's not been very good recently,

but not very good still makes you like eight times better than Dakota Dozier. It does. Although he had several concussions last year, so I wonder if he goes the Josh Klein route, literally, and just does not play football. But, yeah, I mean, personally, I would love to see Joe Thunier, Brandon Scherf, just because I'm so sick of watching terrible guards. It would be kind of just, as someone who enjoys watching football and enjoys watching the All-22, it would just be cool to see a guard just win their one-on-one matchups in pass protection and anchor against defensive tackles

and still do cool things in their own game. It would be very helpful for the offense, but I think from a positional value perspective, with the money that they have, I don't know if it makes sense to kind of pour all your money. What they need is just, and I used this word before, is just competency at guard. Like I think Ezra Cleveland can get there this year if he stays at guard.

You just need somebody on the left side who is not actively terrible. And I don't think they have any of those on the roster. I still am. I'll always be a believer in Ole Udo, but I don't think that's going to happen. Oh, great sentences from this podcast. Someone needs to start a Twitter of great sentences from the Purple Insider podcast. I'll always be a believer in Ole Udo. Let it go.

Hey, we were at training camp practices last year, and he was winning those one-on-ones. But, yeah, I will not pretend and know or act like I know more than the coaches. But, yeah, they just need someone who can hold up decently at guard, and you can get that player somewhere for, like, a just need someone who can hold up decently at guard. And you can get that player somewhere for, like, a million dollars or something. Like, you can get them on a minimum deal. The problem is the Vikings clearly, over the last whatever sample size, don't know how to do that. I mean, Josh Klein was a good pickup.

He was fine in 2019. But find somebody like that. Like, just ideally somebody like that. Ideally somebody who then isn't going to retire after the season because of concussions and stuff. But find somebody like that and then use some money on the defensive line and the secondary and wherever else. I would much rather see them make three or four minor moves than go for a Joe Thune or Brandon Scherf or even

maybe a J.J. Watt, as fun as that would be hypothetically. So with the just side note, I need to someday do a podcast on all the players who the fan base gets convinced can play in training camp that really probably not. Alexander Hollins last year was a thing. People lost their minds that alexander holland's didn't make it it's like guys this is probably fine i lost my mind i know i know we all do i mean good yeah i'm not even saying training camp yeah i'm not saying that any that fans are necessarily wrong with kyle sloder they were wrong but like not necessarily wrong to want Alexander Hollins' fast, deep threat over Chad Beebe, who, you know, caught 20 passes.

But it's just funny. Look, if Alexander Hollins is making a difference this season, then something has gone horribly wrong, right? I mean, that's how it always goes. Same with Ole Udo. It's like if Ole Udo is in there, then, you know, it's not good. It's not good. So, anyway, Brandon Schurk, he's amazing. He's really good.

So I was pulling this up. Last year Dakota Dozier allowed 40 quarterback pressures by himself for a guard. In one game? In one game. Here's the thing. That's what it felt like. I've mentioned this before, and people think it's because I used to do radio with Alex Boone that I've said,

like, Alex Boone was way better of a signing than signing than like anybody else because it didn't work out long term Alex Boone allowed like 16 pressures in 2016 and Dakota Dozier allowed 40 so so like I think it was like 46 yeah maybe it was 46 like that uh so um I don't have that up because I'm looking at Brandon Scherf, but he has 40 in the last three seasons, 2018, 19, and 20, 40 pressures allowed. And he's had all sorts of quarterbacks back there. The guy is a beast and he's coming off his highest graded season of his career and a season in which he was actually healthy, which has been somewhat of an issue for him.

I know he's 30 years old, but there's never been a quarterback who more desperately needed the beasts at guard. And the other thing, too, is I look at Garrett Bradbury and his PFF grades, and they are just miserable. But I also think, could there be a worse situation than being stuck with guards that can't pass protect and a quarterback who doesn't

move when you're getting pushed back into the pocket i mean i just can't think of a worse situation for someone who is undersized like garrett bradbury it's like at some point do you just say it's worth spending the money to get some monster to put next to our first round guard and try to protect the interior because that's where Kirk Cousins is the most vulnerable. Yeah, that's actually an interesting point I hadn't thought of, like the maximized Garrett Bradbury argument who, like, obviously that first-round pick is now a sunk cost,

but getting somebody like a Brandon Scherf and just, yeah, Garrett Bradbury has not had two solid or above average guards next to him in either of his two NFL seasons. And I think that absolutely impacts his play. I think irrespective of who's next to him, he has problems with his size and just I don't know if he'll ever be able to kind of anchor at a really high level, and that's more so on the Vikings for prioritizing a run-blocking center in the first round, which I saw, I think, PFF, I think it was Mike Renner,

ranked as the Vikings' worst draft mistake in the last five years, which is hard to disagree with. But there's still, yeah, it's only been two seasons for Bradbury, and it would be nice to see what he can do next to two good guards, and especially just one guy like a Brandon Scherff who is just a mauler. And then if you keep Riley Reif, they'd be 40% of their way to the all-Iowa offensive line with Riley Reif and Brandon Scherff.

Then you've just got to get, like, James Daniels and, I don't know, Tristan Wirth, but that. They wish, yeah. In their dreams, they do. But a good point to use the word sunk cost on Garrett Bradbury because Garrett Bradbury is not going to not be a first-round sunk cost, if that makes sense. Like, he was a first-round pick,

but that doesn't mean that he's just, like, magically going to be able to handle these things because there's a part of you that would say, well, you was a first-round pick, but that doesn't mean that he's just like magically going to be able to handle these things because there's a part of you that would say, well, you spent a first-round pick. He should make other people better. That doesn't seem like that's going to happen. So now you have to work with what you have. He's just another player at this point.

It doesn't matter where he was drafted. It's what you have. And he is cheap. So how can you work around that, that you have someone who's cheap at center, so can you fill in at his right and left? And not only has it just been, well, not above average or not helpful, it's been literally the worst guard in the league two years in a row. Pat Elfline and then Dakota Dozier.

You're right, I called it up. 46 pressures allowed last year for Dozier and six sacks. Brandon Scherf, five sacks in the last three years allowed. I mean, this guy is on a completely other planet from Dakota Dozier. They don't even play the same position, it seems like. They just do completely different things. Right. So I think the impact in terms of wins or points or whatever value

would be higher than you would ever expect for a guard just because of where you're coming from to where you're going and who your quarterback is uh let me uh just bounce back to the wide receiver because i do i do think there's a lot of vikings fans going please get a guard uh so i i actually do just to put a bow on that i do like that idea i do like the idea of finally just taking a shot and spending whatever it takes and making the money elsewhere however you want to because I think guard is actually more important than tackle with this quarterback. Okay, so I was going to ask you a question.

Would you be on board with then cutting Riley Reif to free up the money for a big-time guard. I would, yes. And then you move Ezra Cleveland to left tackle, and then you need another guard is the issue. I think. There's kind of some dominoes on the O-line there. Tell me if I'm nuts. What about playing Rashad Hill in that spot, who has been fine?

Because I do think that Kirk Cirk cousins does not have a huge problem with guys coming off the edge because you could just push them by him you know he's not going to drop any deeper than he's supposed to so they could kind of survive tackles can survive but guards cannot because he doesn't move away from that pressure and if if you were to tell me okay they bring back rashad hill on like a two-year deal for 10 million bucks because he's been a swing tackle to give him his first chance and he's improved a lot by the way since you first got here and then you spend all that money on Brandon Scherf I think you're a lot better with Ezra Cleveland developing and then Brian O'Neill

being legitimately very good yeah so sorry Rashad Hill Brandon Scherf, Bradbury, Cleveland. Yeah, I think that's good. I mean, Rashad Hill, you kind of have to be skeptical. Like there's a reason why he's been a swing tackle, but at the same time, just the fact that he hasn't gotten a chance to start doesn't inherently mean he's terrible. Like we've seen him get out there for, what, like, five starts or something. I don't have the numbers in front of me.

And it seems like every time he's pretty solid, and he's kind of one of those guys who can pass protect. The issue is you're maybe sacrificing a little bit on some of those pulls in the run game or whatever. But when you have Dalvin Cook, like, it's fine. You don't necessarily need all five of your offensive linemen to be former tight ends out there. Dalvin Cook can still make things happen, and you probably shouldn't even be running as much as you are anyway. So I'm on board with that.

I think that could be a good tradeoff right there. Hey, everyone. I want to remind you that if your business is in need of transportation of perishable, non-perishable, or fragile freight, and you want someone who has a 99% delivery rate and is trusted by Fortune 500 companies, then you want to give Scout Logistics a call. If you've been hearing about Scout Logistics here on the Purple Insider Podcast and wondering how you can connect with them to learn more, or even if you work for a business with shipping needs

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So if you have shipping needs, check out Scout Logistics today. So 2017, he played 737 snaps for them and allowed two sacks for shot out yeah rashad hill 2018 he struggled with the d filippo we're going to leave our offensive line out to dry all the time and throw in the last two years he has over 70 grade pass blocking when he's been in there i mean by the numbers this says if you can get that for really cheap, the difference between him and Riley Reif is probably not massive. It's not like a giant gulf between the two. It's probably pretty close, and the price is a giant gulf. So I'm into it.

I'm into it. Let me throw another draft one at you, which is drafting the coolest and most funsies wide receiver that exists on the draft board at number 14 jaylen wattle jamar chase drops probably not davante smith like who whoever the most awesome wide receiver is at 14 you take them and you say look kirk if you can't get it done with these guys then we're trading you just like that's the end of the conversation. You will be traded to somebody next year if we get you this amazing third wide receiver and it can't be done.

Yeah, the funny thing about so many of these, funny or painful if you're a Vikings fan, is like a lot of them are, okay, would I do this? Yeah, I would consider it, and I think it would be super cool, whether you're talking about quarterback or receiver or whatever. And then you start to think, hey, would the Vikings, as currently constructed, actually do this? Probably not. But even in the event, and I don't think any of those three make it to 14,

just because there's going to be teams that talk themselves into all those guys. But, yeah, say one of them, and probably the most likely would be Jalen Waddell or maybe Devontae Smith, is there. Sign me up. I'm interested. I mean, Adam Thielen's 30, 31. Like, he's not going to be – maybe he transitions into more of like a possession slot receiver.

I don't think he's in danger of a massive drop-off over the next couple years. But if they could do that, and then the thing is you would need to, once you do that, kind of transition into just a more modern offense and use 11 personnel and actually use all three of these guys and have all three of them out there instead of being like, no, we have to have both Irv Smith and Tyler Conklin on the field at the same time when neither one of those guys can run and get open like a receiver who runs a 4-4. So if you could convince me that they would actually be receptive to doing that and that

Clint Kubiak wouldn't get the door slammed in his face if he went to Mike Zimmer's office to propose such an idea, then I'm all on board for it. But the reality is I think they keep the same system, and CJ Hamm is out there, and two tight ends are out there, and I don't think they prioritize that third receiver. And I would hope that they still at least address it so it's not Chad Beebe or B.C. Johnson.

Like I think a name I've seen a lot is Keelan Cole from the Jaguars because of the Keenan McArdle connection at receivers coach or like Chris Conley is the other Jaguars receiver. There's a bunch of guys who could get out there to be a solid third receiver, but none of them would be nearly as electric as any of those top three and even like rashad bateman is awesome oh right if you trade back and get rashad bateman like i'm wearing i'm wearing this gophers pullover right now like rashad bateman is i think being even underrated because he's not one of those he's not as flashy as those top three i

think he's going to be like he could he could be like a justin jefferson type guy who gets picked like 25 and just has like 1200 yards if he's in the right circumstance but getting getting uh aside from the point but yeah i i'm interested are you interested i'm of course i'm interested i mean i knew you this is like of all the things we've talked about this is the best idea and one reason i'll I'll tell you why, one reason. Since 2016, when Cordero Patterson had 52 catches, and a lot of those were short stuff, bubble screens, and Cordero, by the way, would have been great for what they needed in this offense or what they've been missing. But since 2016, number three wide receivers for the Vikings,

20 catches, 35 catches, both of those were Laquan Treadwell, 31 catches, and that was because Thielen got hurt for BC Johnson and 20 last year for Chad Beebe that's not the third receiving person that's like the third wide receiver in terms of catches that's terrible in terms of your production for players that normally gain 12 to 18 yards per catch. I mean, that's just Irv Smith next year is going to have so many responsibilities. There's only so much he can do unless you make him the Travis Kelsey of your offense. But I think there's only like one Travis Kelsey. So there's no real comparison there. You just hope that he gives you what he gave you last year, the occasional big catch,

decent blocking, some yards after catch for some screens like a role player in the offense but if you're talking about somebody who could be the a deep threat an additional um threat to opponents when it's third down and 11 or something which they just don't have this is really important they were in the middle of the league last year in third down percentage you're going to need to be a lot better than that if you're going to have fewer three and outs and score more and get into that echelon of being teams that can really compete and i also think that there's value and i'll make a here's a weird comparison weirdest comparison maybe ever made on this jaylen waddle compared to ryan fitzpatrick i'll tell you why here's what ryan that is a weird right but go ahead here's what ryan fit Fitzpatrick. I'll tell you why. Here's what Ryan... That is a weird comparison, but go ahead.

Here's what Ryan Fitzpatrick does for you when your team is tanking and you're trying to help another guy, you know, take the reins eventually. He helps you evaluate your players. If you put in Tua and he's weighing over his head, then it's really hard to see like who else can play. Everyone will look bad when your quarterback is Josh Rosen, for example. So you put in Ryan Fitzpatrick, and you're like, okay, even though we went 5-11, I'm able to evaluate all these players going forward. If you have Jalen Waddell there, and let's say a competent guard, then you can really know what the peak of Kirk Cousins can be.

You'll have the exact answer because there's always been this well you know they don't have that guy and they don't have this guy they don't whatever and you get to the end of his time here are we gonna go I wonder if it could have been better yeah right like you don't want that and the other point is and this goes away from the Ryan Fitzpatrick it's just like you gotta lean into what you're good at. And they're not really probably going to do that, but that's always my biggest case. Lean into what you're good at. Take a bunch, take the whole rest of the draft defensive players. But if you get a difference maker to go along with this, and even, I'll just, I don't mean to rant on this, but like,

when was Jared Goff at his best when they had three awesome wide receivers Robert Woods Brandon Cooks was healthy and Cooper Cup that's when he was at his absolute best so I think that that having that extra guy is just such a big difference maker that it's worth trying to fill those other spots with average to good players in free agency because you can't get a special playmaker in free agency unless you're spending oodles of money. Yeah. I like that comparison of Ryan Fitzpatrick and Jalen Waddell. And, yeah, there always have been things that the biggest Kirk Cousins believers

can point to and say, oh, he didn't have this. You can't really tell because what would he be able to do if he had this? And it's kind of – we're getting into weird comparison territory, but cross-sport comparison, kind of like the current Minnesota Timberwolves, how everyone's like, oh, Ryan Saunders, objectively the worst coach in the NBA, by the way, terrible. They're like, oh, but he hasn't had Carl Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell at the same time.

Oh, now one of them's like, oh, we got to see everybody together. When like, no, he can't coach. It doesn't matter if he doesn't have everyone healthy. That's not going to happen in the NBA. But people are like, you got to see them together before you can fire. Like, it's ridiculous. Now, Ryan Saunders is not a good comparison for Kirk Cousins because he's not actively terrible, Kirk Cousins.

But it's the same idea of, like, all right, if the Timberwolves start playing some games with everybody on the roster healthy and they are still losing them, games or making a run in the playoffs, then, then, you know, you're not winning the Superbowl with Kirk Cousins. So I like that point. Now, now we're just getting into, into weird territory with these comparisons, but I hope that, I hope that one made sense. No, it does. In fact, I think there's a Carl Anthony Towns comp maybe for Kirk Cousins.

That might be the better one, actually. Well, where it's like, you know, oh, well, Carl, he's never had this. He's never had that. Jimmy Butler didn't like him, all these things. And, you know, you'd love to see him with D'Angelo Russell and some other competent teammates to where you could say, what really is the ceiling for this type of team? Because even when they had Jimmyimmy butler butler

got hurt they started to fall off and then they didn't have as good a playoff position as maybe they could have and they just lose to the rockets in the first round jimmy's hurt it you know just didn't go well and you didn't get a bigger sample with jimmy butler to see what he could do with another true star in the league and so there's still even a little bit of that like yeah well it's not really carl's fault and that kind of thing so um it's it's always felt that way with kirk cousins and you know who else is like that too is matt stafford so now we'll really know not that i yeah we're gonna see with stafford this year we're getting an exact example of this because if he can't get it done with sean mcveigh and with all the pieces around him on on the Rams and that defense then it's like okay maybe we were over hyping this guy and putting too much

blame on the surroundings in Detroit when statistically he's hasn't been that guy recently right right yeah and I think that if you look with a microscope you see that he has had some of those chances but people just never watch or care about Detroit. And so they go like, yeah, well, it must not be his fault. They see the highlights of him throwing sidearm 15 yards for a first down. And they're like, oh, what if he did that all the time? I think Matthew Stafford could be quite good. I'm not trying to disparage him.

But, yeah. Yeah, no, I think that it's a great situation for any quarterback so if they win 10 games like well they have one of the best coaches and defenses in the nfl so anyway uh before we wrap up give me one thing since we've talked about how unlikely all these things are give me one thing that's aggressive for the vikings and it could just anything drafts free agency trades whatever aggressive for the vikings anything, drafts, free agency, trades, whatever, aggressive for the Vikings this offseason that you do think could happen? Okay, that's a good one.

Well, the most recent player to come up in the Vikings rumor mill, and one that I don't know if this qualifies with your aggressive standard, but it sounds like Geno Atkins with the Bengals is going to be a cap casualty and I could see the Vikings going after him and if you look at the I mean you look at the the resume the eight-time pro bowler that I think that would be considered aggressive and uh he's still gonna he's I think he's 32 or he's in that same low 30s age range um and he's gonna want a decent amount of money but he was hurt last year but when he's healthy like that guy is really really good and even at his age i

think he could still be really really good so i think with the familiarity there with mike zimmer who he played for in early years in cincinnati and paul gunther was there too and since he with geno atkins i i could see that being something that they would actually do especially because you know how you know how Mike Zimmer loves the familiarity aspect and people that he knows so that's not like earth shattering I'm trying to think of one that's even more bold but within reach I think the uh the most obvious one for that is anything involving a Daniil Hunter trade. Like it's totally possible. It's not super likely, but it sort of lands in the, hey, if it's 25-75,

it's worth talking about. Yeah. Yeah, that would be up there. I just can't see them moving up in the draft for anybody because they don't have the second round pick. And they're not going to want to use more assets. I think they trade down to try to get back into the second round. But this wouldn't be aggressive. It would just be funny to watch Vikings Twitter light on fire.

But imagine if they draft another cornerback in the first round, which I think you have to kind of talk about because whether it's like if J.C. Horn falls or I don't know the cornerbacks fall. I think they should draft Greg Newsom from Northwestern in the second round because he's awesome. Of course you do. But you've got Dantzler. You've got Gladney who wasn't great at all in his rookie year. I'm not obviously giving up on him.

But you can't count on Mike Hughes with the injuries. You can't count on Chris Boyd or whoever. Like Gantzler is the one guy I think you can kind of pencil in for the next five years. But I could see Zimmer wanting to take another shot there. That would just be – people would not be thrilled, I don't think, if they went cornerback instead of one of the lines. But if you look at – because now we get to do this. If you look at Tampa Bay, they just kept drafting and drafting and drafting defensive backs.

It wasn't in the first round, but their second and third round the last couple years is basically just all defensive backs. Yeah, they did so well with that with like the Jamel Deans and Mike Edwards people like that there's certain positions that I think just almost aren't worth it past the second round and probably that's one of them or past the third round maybe and that's one of them so it makes a lot of sense to to get those in the middle round but if you have one of the best guys up there yeah that would be that would be fun to be in the draft room when Mike Zimmer if Patrick S certain is on the the draft board he's like caleb farley like come on guys you know they just hired the the alabama dbs coach so the patrick certain angle is interesting one it is the off

season where we're connecting defensive back coaches to draft picks that's what that's what we gotta do so uh well well you're doing really fun work uh at sports illustrated covering the vikings and i love that you're the guy who will be like okay vikings twitter is going kind of bat bleep about something like let me put let me put some writing down on it so i i love that you do that got nothing else to do and go for it negative 33 weather so that's true that's a good point so um really appreciate you coming on always have a good time with our little uh skull searching segments i kind of got away from that um but you know it's time it's time oh yeah i think it's like 75 days until the draft

or something i mean i'm gonna start ramping it, talking about third round defensive ends and stuff like that. Yeah. I mean, once you've watched the Senior Bowl, you're all in. And then, you know, you're on the roller coaster going full speed. So thanks for your time, man. We will do this again soon and have some more crazy speculation. All right. Let's do it.

Thanks for having me.