Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Justin Jefferson talks new contract, Sam Darnold looks good at minicamp

Episode Date: June 4, 2024

Matthew Coller and Alec Lewis of The Athletic talk about Justin Jefferson's comments after signing his new deal and how Sam Darnold deserves to be called intriguing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Inside or Inside TCO Performance Center. Matthew Collar here along with Alec Lewis of The Athletic and we have just walked off of the practice field. As you can maybe tell, we got a little sun out there today. It was a summer-ish training camp-like weather out there today on the practice field. But everybody here in the building buzzing because Justin Jefferson signed his contract. They had the press conference. I did hear that as well. We also got the unequivocal denial that the Vikings ever tried to trade Justin Jefferson, which, of course.

Wait, but Malik neighbor. I didn't see him out there. I did ask. They handed him. We have a roster. I have in my pocket here. And I was looking to see if Malik neighbors was on this roster. What number is? see him out there i did ask they handed him we have a roster i have in my pocket here and i was looking to see if malik neighbors was on this roster what number he is uh so i i won't get

too derailed but andrew van ginkle's wearing number 43 which just seems wrong but that's a totally different podcast this is about just the jefferson signing and what we saw today out there at mandatory minicamp i asked ke Kevin O'Connell about the timing of this, how important it was. He kind of downplayed that, but I disagree. I think it actually was very important to get Justin Jefferson here. He looked great today out on the field

practicing with Sam Darnold and just eliminate any drama, any tension going into training camp and get him on the field with his new quarterbacks. Yeah, I mean, it's just great to have this done, both for us that we don't have to worry about waking up at seven in the morning and seeing it and for a team that i mean look like you you talk you watched it we've been out here for the last few weeks when justin's on the field there's a different energy to it the guys look at

him differently it looks like sometimes they they practice harder like you never want to say that but it's just there is an intensity with it that he brings and I think from what he said today that he really wants to bring more of like that we can get into this but I was pretty impressed by just and I was struck by how much he really wants to to use this uh contract as a correlation for like I want to be more of a leader almost in the like I just saw what Anthony Edwards did so with some of that team then I kind of want to be more of that guy for what we do here but yeah I mean they can downplay it as much as they want had he not been here today I wasn't going to freak out about it because I and you I'm sure thought like ultimately this is going to get done that was the indication we got uh from the get-go but the fact that it is out of the way that he can build a rapport with sam darnold that he can get to know jj mccarthy and that he that he can just be around

and do what he loves to do which if you know anybody anything about him like this dude is like a kid and that he loves to play the game that he's played since he was a little kid so it was awesome to see him back out there i'm glad it's over uh and i can sleep in again as far as his uh leadership uh yeah i slept in anyway and then woke up to the alert and was like some of us some of us you know i'm gonna have to wake up well i thought i had an inkling but i thought waking up at maybe 8 30 9 o'clock would be okay and it wasn't they got it out there before that so anyway they couldn't wait they couldn't wait 140 million i mean come on i can't yep shame on me for not for figuring that they would wait until i got up uh but as far as jefferson and the role that he wants to take now with this organization when you get that

contract it does come along with leadership credibility of like this organization has decided with its pocketbook you are the franchise franchise player. And one player once said, it's not about the dollars. It's what the dollars represent. And I got to tell you, it actually is about the dollars here and what they represent, but that part can't be ignored that they did not try to fight him tooth and nail all the way through training camp and so forth. They got this done and signified with the highest contract, by far the highest guarantees that this position has ever seen, to say, we don't just like you.

We truly love you. We just liked Kirk. That was the offer we gave him and other players as well. Think about the players who they've negotiated with and said, yeah, you know, thanks, but no thanks. Over the last couple of years, this is different with him. Andesia da fomenta said something very interesting i thought when we had a little side session with him before practice where he said that when he and kevin o'connell got here they made a list of the things that they wanted to accomplish and this was on the list and

there were a lot of different things that they've been able to check off in quesadilla like a legit like piece of paper yes like like plan bullet point i don't i don't know what it looked like but like a legit we didn't see the paper yeah not yet no we were only told to get the pdf for this afternoon right well uh that that would be some some great sourcing from the athletic uh if you were able to come up with that but no truly that they made this list of things that they wanted to accomplish in their first couple years within this window of, we're going to call it the competitive rebuild window forever. And this was the final check mark there.

And of course, you know, O'Connell did address whatever rumors and made it very clear that there was never any indication. We knew that. We knew that the whole time. I never wavered on that. You never wavered on that we knew that the whole time uh i never wavered on that you never wavered on that in your coverage of course not but uh i think that the importance of him as a franchise centerpiece was really signified by the timing and the way that they

did the deal that they could have tried to fight longer to get one more year or to structure it a different way and quacey also told us that they did try other things with Justin Jefferson, and they kind of went down that road and everyone said, this isn't working. And they had to go back to the table and to complete this negotiation. So there was a little bit during this time of,

well, what's going on? Everyone knows he's going to be the highest paid, but they had to work through the details in order to be on the same page to get this deal done yeah and it's interesting like people have made some i've seen some stuff just about people like man the guarantee really jumped for this wide receiver market and it did like without question and and and a lot of people said like i don't know if my team should like every team is in a different situation and for this team and what with what they want to do, it just totally makes sense.

I mean, you have a rookie quarterback. You have a guy in Sam Darnold who you're going to need as many weapons as possible to bring him along as best you can. And so to pay a guy with your ample cap space that you have, a guy at a premium position who's young, who's barely gotten injured, and even when he did, he amassed 1,000 yards. Like, it's just a total no-brainer, which is why the employee in Cincinnati at the Kroger who said he was going to be traded to the Bengals, it's why the Patriots hype, it's why all that stuff never made any sense. And look, like, in negotiations, there's going to be – it's going to get contentious when there's this much dollar capital involved.

Like there are going to be times where you feel disrespected or probably you feel like, you know, it's just not going to happen down this road. But ultimately, as you heard today, and I believe them fully, they were both committed to making it happen at some point. And so to your point earlier about Justin Jefferson, the leadership role, like I don't I think we often think of leadership as like the vocal get in your face. I'm not sure if Justin's ever going to be fully that guy. And I don't think you have to be like there. I read a book recently, Captain Class. It talks about some of the greatest captains in the history of sports. And some of those people were not always your rah rah leadership guys.

And so, Justin Justin I think him being expecting excellence like you know if they lose he's gonna be really pissed about it because he really cares about winning and you also know that he has this chip on his shoulder that he's had since he was a two-star recruit coming out of Destrahan High School so it to me all of it kind of just it makes sense. It makes sense with where this team is at. And to the point about like them creating this plan. I mean, I think the first year Kweisi and Kevin got here, both there weren't many great quarterbacks in that draft.

I think Kenny Pickett was the highest quarterback taken and they were never going to do that. I also think at that time, I mean, they felt like they had enough pieces on this team that they could win more games. And guess what? They did in the regular season at least. A lot of them were by one score. But ultimately, they wanted, it seems pretty obvious to me, to get to a place where you have a rookie quarterback, where you have maximum flexibility. And now you can take any amount of routes and have a long-term sustainable window i mean you weren't gonna be able to just keep pushing money back forever and so the way they

built this is a pretty flexible wide open future a lot has to go right in terms of quarterback and draft picks and all that stuff but you can totally see the path that they've gone down it's taken some time to get here and it might not be smooth sailing this year and with the schedule specifically but but i think um in terms of building the right way they it's it's pretty hard to argue with what they've done well and what's really stood out is that they have followed up on all the things that they wanted to do and that they've said that they've wanted to do which this was a very important part of it and when you talk about leadership and culture and so forth i can't remember where i heard this but someone said

usually those things are just the product of your best players what are how good are they and how do they act yeah and with justin jefferson the way that he handled himself through this entire thing including getting this done now and making sure he was here now but the way he practiced last year during ota or uh sorry minicamp didn't go to otTAs, but mini camp training camp, annihilating people on the practice field. And then there were not leaks. There were not reports. The insiders that maybe even the athletic hires to find information couldn't get a whole heck of a lot because nobody was running to the media, trying to intimidate the other one or push a

certain narrative and so forth. And that's the way Justin Jefferson wanted it. So he's handled this entire thing like a leader, which I think gives you more confidence that he can elevate into that role. And he even talked about it today that it was kind of Kirk Cousins team as a veteran quarterback. And now it becomes his with the rookie quarterback. And he talked about, I can't remember word for word on this, but just about tellingj mccarthy like i got you i'm here for you believe in me trust in me right that whole thing give him confidence and i can't think of anything better to give your rookie quarterback

contract than this person and then just two minutes out there on the minicamp field and watching him run around versus the other receivers he's just like yeah that just reminder everybody don't forget what this looks like this is the best guy on the field every time he's out there he was doing this thing and i on a podcast like probably shouldn't do this but he's like doing that he's always reminded me and it's people are gonna be like this guy's an idiot which they usually say and that's okay like he's always reminding me the way he runs routes is like a jet ski on the water where you can just jerk it anyway. You don't really know where it's going to go. That's just how I've always I tell I've always jets jet ski. That was pretty good. But that's how he's always always. You want me to just move on to the next time?

No, I want to say this, like you mentioned last year and him showing up for for OTAs and stuff. I mean, I'll never forget that one day he didn't have minicamp excuse me not OTAs he came out here did not have to be he trotted out with these gold cleats and they're reflecting on the sun and he was just bawling that day like like spin 360 catches the top cornerbacks it was it was wildly impressive and a lot of credit to me I mean it starts obviously with his family like he has a really tight family with his mom, Elaine, his dad, John, his brother Jordan, his other brother Ricky. Like they are a very tight family, and I don't think the way he handles stuff is a coincidence

considering just the way they've approached everything as well. And I also think a lot of credit is deserving of guys like Keenan McCardell, who Justin made a point when Kevin O'Connell got the job to, to keep Keenan and Keenan has been through and Keenan went through a holdout. So Keenan, in terms of the advice that he could provide, I think it's really, I think it's really important. And so, um, yeah, it's, it's, I've been impressed from the time I moved up here, you know, like you, I knew he was an incredible player. But you never know. Like, you always think about wide receivers and wanting catches and touches. And just really with everything, he just, I said it earlier,

but he just is like a kid who loves the game and doesn't want to. He's just almost, like, cooler than wanting to make a mess of things. And so, yeah, to see this happen the way it did um the vikings deserve credit to your point like without for not leaking things the way they probably could have at some point so um yeah it's it's good to see that this got done and and um not just not surprised by the way it played out there's a little bit with him of like tim duncan and the type of star he was where there's no real controversy to the guy. And there's no debate topic that we can really fight over it where I can't make any case to ever trade him. A lot of people tried and those cases were not good or compelling at all to trade

this type of player. He is the franchise centerpiece he acts exactly like that and there's nothing controversial about him and this was the most controversial thing and then he just gets the deal done before mandatory minicamp and we all carry on with our lives uh so how much the one last thing i would say uh is just how much he impacts the quarterbacks is something that quasey brought up to us and saying you can't just factor someone's performance, their stats, whatever else. You have to look at the greater impact on the offense. And it keeps being subtly brought up what he did with Nick Mullins at the end of the year with no one trying to insult Nick Mullins. But like, man, even when Kirk was out, you know, like, yeah, wink, wink.

We know what you're trying to say. What did you think of the structure of his contract? Because I didn't see it when I did my emergency podcast reaction. I had not seen the structure yet, but now that I see it, it's really what I thought it was going to be the first two years, this year and next year, lots of flexibility, probably a restructure at some point in the third year. That's where it gets a little more tricky. But there's nothing here that says you guys are screwed because of this contract. And Kweisi has talked about two-year windows. I look at it as next offseason.

It's spending spree time. And then they'll have to pull more levers with the salary cap after that. But in the immediate, in the next two seasons, I don't see where this is going to change what they can do yeah no I completely agree part of me wondered like if they'd front loaded a little bit to be able to both benefit on the back end and also to take advantage of some of their space but I think to look at it that way would be losing sight of what exactly you just said like the way like if I've learned anything from what how Kweisi Adolfo Menta operates, like, he wants flexibility.

He wants, like, I mean, places to go if he can find them. And I give him credit for it because it gives you levers. The more levers you can pull, it's probably, you know, I had a conversation with somebody. It's like the more decisions you make, the more you can be scrutinized. But the more decisions you make, more you can maybe uh surround things in the in the most optimal way so i wouldn't be surprised if two years from now or what have you there is a restructure or there is there three years there is some reworking that that's fine but um you're exactly right in that in the immediate um i mean they have some money to

spend now if they want to they could roll it over they could really spend next year which is what i probably expect them to do in terms of you probably have the rookie quarterback starting at that point pretty obviously. There's some stuff you could do with Brian O'Neill, TJ Hawkins. There's flexibility. But I don't worry at all about just what they can do with the cap. That's been behind the scenes, very non-sexy thing that Kweisi Adofa-Minsa

has done and Rob Brzezinski and Emily Battis that's been a focus of theirs since they got here was to to smooth that over and they have and that goes to their two-year plan initially of like this is going to come up so we have to make sure we can afford that eventually and had they been in Super Bowl or bust mode last year then this might be more difficult because they would have been extending contracts they would have been putting out more void years and everything else but even the way that they set up Cousins was to be done with them after this year as part of their salary cap which allows them to be able to deal with this now let's talk about the quarterbacks

uh so Sam Darnold thrown to Justin Jefferson for the first time I can't imagine how that must feel for Sam Darnold. It must have been like, I was throwing to Terrace Marshall, and look at what I have now. Jermaine Curse. Jameson Crowder. I don't know how far we could go. Braxton Berrios. I think the tight end's name in New York was Chris Herndon.

Chris Herndon was here for a year. Yeah, they traded a fourth-round pick for him. How about that poll? That was a great poll. Yeah, he was good for a year for them. Not here, though. So anyway, I think that after seeing another practice today, Sam Darnold has been quite good.

I actually liked his practice today. I thought he was pretty accurate. It's really windy out there, but he was pretty accurate. Throwing the ball on time. There's not a ton of reps that are very high speed, which makes this difficult. But his comfort and the way the ball is coming out, I thought it was pretty strong today. On the other field, it was a shrug. It was a struggle for J.J. McCarthy.

He had a couple interceptions. One may have hit the ground, but close enough. A couple of balls that got batted up in the air. Some inaccuracy today. I just thought it was a little bit more of a battle for J.J. McCarthy today. Probably the worst we've seen him. And I don't want that to be aggregated. It's just, oh, no, the worst practice ever for J.J. McCarthy.

The point just being when I asked O'Connell about it, he keeps going back to learning phase learning phase learning phase with this and we have to approach it as such but if you want my takeaways JJ McCarthy I thought I had a tough time out there and Sam Darnold looks better each time he's gone out which just makes me lean more and more toward when we get to training camp it's probably Sam Darnold's show until proven otherwise yeah there's no question with that you know it's it's so i i find the um takeaways of these types of days so interesting like i get why people desperately want to know what's going on they can't be out here it's our job to give it to them no question but i have a hard time sometimes where

i'm like do i track passes if he goes eight for ten then people think he was great but was he great or was he just checking the ball down if he goes two for ten was that terrible did he throw that pick because he was trying to fit it in I think so but like could it have been the receiver it's just very hard um to but yeah I mean there's no question like he sailed a couple balls I which is. I think I've said this so many times publicly, but I commend the Vikings for the way they've handled this from the outset, which is we want to take a long-term view in this sport, in most professional sports, but in this one specifically,

teams have a very hard time doing anything, but thinking about their job this week, this day, my ego. And so the fact that they, they they have they have taken the approach of learning um i i i it's great and i expect sam doll you know i was i was laughing there was one pass where justin jefferson kind of ran a corner out on the left side and it looked like he kind of cut his route off but sam kind of not airmailed it but they just they didn't link up and i was thinking like what if sam just went over there? It's like, would you run?

He just screamed at Justin. It would have been very out of character, but I would agree. Like Sam Darnold's looked efficient. He's looked comfortable. And I mean, three years with the jets, two years with David Tepper and Matt rule. Like it's just so hard to know what a guy's ceiling or potential might be given what he's, he's been through. And it's, it's, it's just going hard to know what a guy's ceiling or potential might be given what he's been through.

And it's just going to be, I'm like, people are going to be like, it's so boring, Sam Darnold. We want to see the new guy. But I'm really fascinated to know when you take a guy who was in the situations he was in and you plug him in this type of situation with these skill players, with this coaching, like, what does it look like? I'm really just like that football experiment question is interesting to me. Maybe I'm just a nerd. No, I think that a lot of people are in the same boat as you,

including me, that I wasn't sure how this was going to look as far as first impression goes. And I don't mean to suggest that Sam Darnold has looked like Drew Brees or anything. It's not that. I mean, like you said, there are some throws that sail and so forth. He had Johnny Munt running over the middle and overthrew him by a little bit and kind of slapped his hands together. He did hit Justin a couple times on over routes.

I was like, oh, that's bad. There were some very good throws. I mean, ones where you go, oh, okay, all right. And that has happened each practice, but today had the most of those. Maybe it helps that Justin Jefferson is out there and a few of them where the ball leaves the guy's hand. You go, I don't know if he's going to get, oh, and he got it. So that's how it goes.

But the velocity of the ball coming out of his hand, the way he's leading the offense just the the accuracy i think has been okay it's not kirk cousins but it's also mini camp and it sets up for a training camp where we might go through it and feel like you know sam darnold in this offense may have a chance to be mid-pack or something like that with the weapons that are around him and just this opportunity that he has to take a step in his career and he still is in his mid-20s it's always a battle push and pull for me how much do i want to buy this as i watch him have good practices i go well maybe i feel more like i want to buy this uh with sam darno but i think he is one of the more intriguing players on this entire team

because it's a one-year shot. It's not a commitment at all. We know who's coming behind him and it's just, it's JJ McCarthy. So how does he play? Does he let loose? Does he play great? Does he play totally all over the map? You know, I have no idea, but I've, I've really liked what I've seen from him so far. Yeah. And to me, I mean, so much of it might just be about, like, does he feel a genuine belief when he goes out there, both in training camp and on Sundays in the season, given he's starting, which I expect him to, at least from the get-go. Like, does he feel a genuine belief from Kevin O'Connell,

from the players, from the offensive line, from the skill players? Like, those guys, it's hard to hide like your, your real belief about somebody. It just, it just, it really is. And part of me thinks Gino Smith and I'm not comparing, I just use that as an example. Like Pete Carroll is such a supportive, um, like just positive vibes guy. And, and I think Kevin O'Connell could definitely be that way, but, but Sam will probably be able to feel how the people around him feel. And that, to me, is going to be pretty important. But, I mean, and not to drift off quarterback, but, like, I thought it was interesting.

Justin Jefferson made a pretty obvious point to mention Aaron Jones and his explosiveness. Like, Justin did not have to mention that name in that press conference today, and he did. And so you put a guy like him around to Sam Darn Donald to keep him out of third and long situations all the time where he's throwing to Jermaine Kirst, Chris Herndon, and Braxton Berrios, and you have a chance to succeed. And, like, again, I think the schedule out of the gate is so tough. I mean, if he looks good in training camp, which against Brian Flores' defense we'll see because last year was a disaster for the offense against Brian Flores defense we'll see because last year was a disaster uh for

the offense against Brian Flores defense but if he looks good I mean it's it when the bullets are really flying come week one and week two San Francisco Houston some of these games like it's uh that that'll be when I'm really like I'm not I'm not gonna judge off a practice like this he's looked good it is what it is people are going to aggregate it all right that he looked good in the takeaways but does it really mean anything I mean I hate to tell you but like for me not for me at least I just it's just so unimportant I hope that one of the things that the Justin Jefferson situation taught everyone is that it's okay to let something play out and we're going to talk about it we're going to talk about it. We're going to talk about the different factors. But with J.J. McCarthy, for example, I thought it was a pretty tough day for him.

That's all right. We'll be back tomorrow and we'll do another podcast talking about him. And it's going to take time with him. It's also going to be a while until we really know about Sam Darnold and whether these early returns end up resulting in something. If the day-to-day and training camp starts to flow smoothly then we've got a pretty good chance here but even then man I remember with Kirk Cousins throwing like five interceptions in his last practice before the season and we were like man this offense is gonna be a problem and then they ignite Green Bay and

week one so a lot of times we won't know until it's really on the field but i am excited to see how it goes when we finally do get to uh the actual training camp where they can do more 11 on 11s that are full speed and not these kind of drop back and oh well he doesn't see it right away so you know okay we'll just kind of wait and figure it out it's gonna be a lot different when we get there now we are deep into this podcast but we have not mentioned the most important thing that is going on it in this organization if people think it's the jefferson contract i can't imagine what you're going to say personally i believe that it was kevin o'connell's strong statement about the left guard situation dalton risisner and Blake Brandel I asked him about this

and he had I think about a nine minute answer breaking down how he wants competition at the position but he did not say we brought Dalton Reisner back here to start he's going to be the guy in fact went more toward talking about Blake Brandel and how they told him going into this season, focus solely on left guard. That's going to be your position. I think that's a pretty strong signal that they would like Blake Brandel to emerge here and win this job. But also it's a long season and you have to have depth.

And if he doesn't shine, then they know what the baseline is for Dalton Reiser. You agree with that? Yeah. I mean you're also trying to keep personalities okay in the locker room like I think that's also a thing if Blake Brandel assumes he's the left guard and then all of a sudden you bring a guy in that I mean Kevin said like we wanted to bring Dalton and I believe that and ultimately the money made it to where they felt like they could do that but but if Blake thought he would be the guy and if

the other offensive lineman thought Blake was going to be the guy and now you're bringing in the guy who started way more than Blake, probably need to make sure we're managing this the right way. So there's part of that. But I fully believe Kevin when he says we want to play the best five. And there are a lot of combinations out there to do that. And I mean, for me, it's something we've talked about a little bit. I'm sure you've hit it a lot. But I still have a major question with the interior of the offensive line whether it's reisner brandel ed ingram like

bradbury i don't really care i i i don't have the utmost confidence in that group that's just me having watched it for two years that's just how it is now um and with that said when you start against the 49ers who they did play pretty well against last year, the offensive line, when you play against the Texans, when you play in Green Bay and against the Jets defensive line the first five weeks of the season, like, again, playing the best five to me has to be the situation or you're going to lose potentially the confidence of Sam Darnold, any idea of the run, like it could be a disaster. So that's why when I, that's why I fully believe when he says it's going to be the best five and whether that means Blake's at right guard and Dalton's at left or what, what have you, that, that's just how I, how I view this. I also saw some of the numbers, I think of Reisner's contract earlier. I don't think it's, it's this massive major commitment. So it doesn't, they didn't tell me with their their their commitment

to Reisner that it's this obvious starting situation even if he does have way more experience than Blake Brando there's nothing that points to we desperately wanted this guy back to start that there's really more of well you know we'll take him back at a price which is always kind of how they operate and today and I will say this was secondhand, I was at Kevin O'Connell. So Andrew Kramer of the Star Tribune mentioned to me that Dalton Reisner basically said, I didn't have a lot of other options. And it's sort of interesting that the rest of the league looks at Dalton Reisner and says, yeah, I'm good. We're okay. I thought he fit in all right last year and it was serviceable guard play, which is better than they've had most of the time.

But I did want to get to Aaron Jones a little bit because he talked somewhat today and every time he's out there, I think he moves different than the other running backs. I think he just, he's so good at catching the ball when it's coming his way, adjusting to the ball. And there's a vibe about him. That's totally different.

If they can't figure out the run game with Aaron Jones, I mean, I know the guards and everything else, but even I thought it was one of the funny moments today at the press conference where Justin Jefferson was asked about the team airing it out, throwing a lot of passes, and off to the side, Kevin O'Connell was kind of looking at him like, he's like, he did this, like, come on, man. Yeah, come on, man.

We're going to throw the ball. We just paid this guy guy 35 million dollars you think we're gonna run first uh but i also think that they won't have a good offense if they can't run first at times so where where do we stand with this line aaron jones and is there any belief that this can be much better than it was last year well i mean to me it feels like their hope is that aaron jones skill set is going to elevate the run game now will they do some different stuff schematically like probably and i don't know if that's running out of the shotgun more i don't know if that's using more polar inserting more from the wide receiver position the way the rams did last year like the rams i mean you got to give sean mcveigh it's a very not fun thing to talk about but like they really overhauled their run game all last year they ran well yeah it was

their priority now when you have block first wide receivers like puka nakua uh cooper not block first but block uh really skill incredibly skilled blockers and puka nakua cooper cup skaronic like they were able to to use those players to create their system. And with this offense, the only, I mean, you have CJ Hamm, you have Josh Oliver. So I don't know how much different you can really get, like from a receiver blocking standpoint, I don't want Jordan Addison anywhere near blocking within the liner scrimmage. So it feels to me like they are hoping that Aaron Jones skills and his ability to create yards after contact, which is definitely better than Alexander Madison, and from what I know, better than what Dalvin Cook did in 2022, that that will help them. and paying Justin, but running the football efficiently in the NFL makes everything easier.

It makes it easier on your defense. It makes it easier on your quarterback. And again, to me, you have to pass to win, probably, yes. But I really believe you have to run. They have not done it well through Kevin O'Connell's first two years here for whatever host of reasons, and I think it's a, it's a, it's a grouping of them. I think we're going to find out whose fault was it anyway, because if Aaron Jones comes in and is great averages 4.7 yards carry,

then we're going to just kind of go, Oh, well, the Alexander Madison decision didn't work out. And really with Ty Chandler averaging four and a half last year, pretty strong insinuation that somebody could have made up for some of that but I also felt like there wasn't a real rhythm and understanding of when the play calls for runs should happen maybe they didn't have an identity with their scheme of the running game and it's possible that Aaron Jones is one of the highest intelligence players you'll ever run across can actually help them with that uh in figuring that out they struggled with pass protection from running backs that's going to improve they struggled with screens they struggled with catching the ball alexander madison had a lot

of drops like it was a calamity but last year in the backfield and then the crazy thing is worse the year before and worse the year before and uh there was that you know the fumble in denver that cost them the game like the backfield can't be worse. It really comes down to the health, I think, of Aaron Jones. Right. So I wanted to ask you about something that was brought up in the press conference, which was everybody kind of talked about their favorite Justin Jefferson play. So before we wrap on this reaction, Justin Jefferson day out here, unless you had any other things you want to talk about. on this you know reaction justin jefferson day out

here unless you had any other things you want to talk about oh you know what i was going to throw out one more thing so think about this while i'm talking uh so i i want to talk about our favorite justin jefferson plays over his career but do you think that they're going to run more like too tight end stuff they don't have a wide receiver three they haven't gone out to get one i don't know where jaylen naylor was today uh maybe hurt like already i hope not for him but he wasn't wasn't out there today tristian jackson looks fine they're moving nikhil harry to tight end which makes so much sense it's so much sense that was the first thing we said last year when he came it was like is that who's wait is, is that – that's Nikhil Harry. I suggest they move him to edge rusher.

He's so big. He's enormous. But so they've got this deep tight end room with Robert Tunyon. Looks really good out here. Yeah, he does. Johnny Munt can play Oliver. You're going to bring back Hawkinson. You're probably going to keep four.

They're not cutting Johnny Munt. They're not cutting Johnny Munt. So I think they're going to run aunt they're not cutting Johnny Munt so that I think they're gonna run a lot of two tight ends yeah I mean I thought they were gonna run a ton of it last year but I think it was only like 20 percent and what happens is when they get into third and long situations Kevin O'Connell typically always resorts to 11 personnel three three wide receivers on the field now if they can run the ball more efficiently then maybe you could just you you could roll with two tight ends or or even cj ham i mean there's ways around it i think that's what they would want to do now in terms of the wide receiver three i i

still think jaylen aylor i also like i don't know if they're in that market i really don't have it would just be purely speculating but adding another player there to me would make sense if they could do it. So I will see, but I think, yeah, if they had it right last year, they would have used the two tight end sets a lot more. I mean,

that was why they paid Josh Oliver. I mean, that was, I remember, and I've written this 700 times, but I mean, at the combine in 2023, I believe Kevin was like,

we got to run the ball more effectively. And it's like, okay, our question was probably like, how are they going to do that? And then the first player they signed to free agency was Josh Oliver. And then from a scheme standpoint, they used C.J. Hamm as kind of an insert guy. But other than that, there wasn't a ton of different – I mean, they didn't use the pistol. They didn't really do very much different. So, yeah, it would make sense if they if they do that there's no there's no doubt i was thinking robert tunyon might change the math here if he makes the team

and he looks good which he has so far and then you can move tj hockinson around when he comes back so you might not do it right away but brandon powell to me is more of a fourth type of wide receiver and you need a third one or maybe they just want somebody to emerge, and who knows? Maybe it'll be Lucky Jackson. We'll find out. I like Lucky Jackson. He makes a lot of catches out here. I shouted him out because he makes some plays. We talked last year, he and I did in the locker room one day,

about like scheme, XFL, NFL. He was a great guy, really. Every time I see him, I root for him. Okay, Lucky Jackson season. All right, so I'll give you mine. You can think about it. So Kweisi Daffomensis said that when Jefferson recovered the fumble against Detroit, where he could have just sat there and stood and watched the ball and nobody would have ever

blamed him, but instead he came from out of nowhere, dove on it, gave him a chance to win the game. If they had won that game, that play is iconic, right? But it goes forgotten because, you know, the that uh nick mullins threw in for an interception at the end of that one but uh for me it is the touchdown he scored in his first game that he started it was during the pandemic so there was no fans in the stands and it was a long throw to him down the sideline he makes the catch he shreds the tackle and then gritties into the end zone with no one in the stands and it was a long throw to him down the sideline he makes the catch he shreds the tackle and then gritties into the end zone with no one in those stands like they're just completely

dead empty situation and like this guy in his first start is like no i'm gritty and i'm just i like dancing into the end zone like this guy this is different and he went for 175 yards in the game totally took over the game but as a rookie to just have that unreal confidence and to be so locked into the game i don't think he even realized he wasn't dancing for anyone except for us up in the press by there's like it was the national 20 people from thousand miles away being like oh well he's dancing uh but I just like that is in so such insane confidence that even at that moment you went I think this is immediately different than what you usually see so that was one of my favorites yeah I mean I'm trying to think um O'Connell's was the catch in Buffalo obviously yeah I mean that's that's an easy one but I mean I think for me it might have been that move he put on

Stephon Gilmore against the Colts where it was just like I don't I've never seen anybody tap like that like it was in out but and I think earlier that game Gilmore had like kind of targeted him in some way and his helmet flew off and he looked mad so I mean that's really some of the ones that come to mind, like the Patriots game in double coverage, like just getting crushed on these jump balls and coming down with it and flexing and doing his little whatever thing that I can't do that he looks weak.

I mean, beyond – it's not something I should ever try, and I just did. But, yeah, I think the one against the Colts, there's been so many times where I'm like, that guy just moves differently jet ski um and and he uh yeah so i i think that's the one where it was like he he he fakes in he turns around toe tap comes back out it's just where i just like come on man that's where most of the time he catches these balls i'm like come on because the level of toughness for the wide receiver position is very important and it's not given as much credit because they're not linebackers and eating glass or whatever. But they go after him.

Like, every game, they go after him in a super physical manner. And week after week after week. And in that game in particular, he had caught a pass. Gilmore hit him in the head. They had to take him out of the game for a little while to do concussion protocol or whatever. Then came back in and did that. And it was a big part of the comeback that's the thing and they won the game i mean and that's like when i think of this guy it i mean he really like again there's so much self-assist there's so much like i literally believe him fully after some of these

games and he's so mad they lost that it's like he just wants to win more than anything to me that's that's just who this guy is and it's a special like you don't come across the guy who's the family guy the guy who doesn't make head make hay in terms of the contract negotiation the guy who's still young still improving who can be a leader who loves the game like it just who's a marketable kids love them flag football like you just it's just's just a rare, it's a rare deal. It really is. And it's a great day for him and for the organization. And you could tell just from everybody's face,

what they thought of this finally getting taken care of and locking up just to Jefferson for a long time. And now the true test begins, which is you're going to win some football games. Like, yeah, it's great that you signed him. And it's great that they have done this whole offseason plan and executed it and checked off every little thing on the box of the lists, except for nail the 2022 draft. They must have just forgot to check that one off.

But everything else, pretty good. But now they have to go out and prove it. It's not going to be easy. I mean, mean again this schedule every time i look at it i'm like is that they really did you pick the w's and l's did you i don't i have no don't put don't don't put me on that you don't do that no i i will at some point but i'm not i'm not ready i need to see the joint practices the clashing of the pads okay the yeah no i haven't i haven't i'm sure i have but i don't i don't feel comfortable

doing that i don't i don't like making predictions i'm terrible at them oh it's fun though yeah that's fun yeah it's fun yeah it is fun it is part of the fun just like like i was i was thinking earlier we're talking about like it takes time some of this stuff but like analyzing this stuff every day is is that's the most fun thing ever like we, we're not out here. We get to see it for the first time. People enjoying the stories, the podcast, get to see it. It's a fun time right now. How about this? Make me a promise.

When you're ready, that we'll do a podcast where you pick every game. Okay. That's fine. You're good? And people are going to be like, ah! They're throwing tomatoes at my face. Everybody gets it wrong all the time, so don't worry about it. No, I'll do it.

I had to stretch a little for nine wins because it is a very difficult schedule. So that's kind of the uphill battle that they're facing in this division this season and with their schedule. So anyway, well, there will be another one of these tomorrow. Dane Mizzutani will be sitting in this chair next to me and breaking down more from Vikings minicamp. So appreciate everyone watching slash listening. And thank you, Alec Lewis. will be sitting in this chair next to me and breaking down more from Vikings mini camp. So appreciate everyone watching slash listening. And thank you,

Alec Lewis. You've been doing great work at the athletic and people should go check it out if they have not already. So thanks for having me. I mean, it felt like training camp. I mean, I'm ready to go.

No, I'm not. The sweatiness, the really for sure. Usually it's like 70 degrees out here. Humidity would probably be the word. It's not the heat. It's the humidity.

Right. That's what they say in Alabama. But no, I'm actually not ready. They have that in Alabama? That's a English word? Yeah. Is that everywhere in America? Alabama's unto itself.

I mean, it's kind of a one of a kind place. I just mean anywhere where there's actual humidity. So I lived in Buffalo. They would say the same. Well, it's not the humidity. Yeah, I think it's just everywhere. But everyone, every place that thinks it's hot they that that's what they do but again not ready for training camp we're gonna we're gonna i want you to get aggregated on

the mccard's stuff a couple more times oh okay uh he went uh six for nine use that thank you thanks everybody football