Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Kirk Cousins talks on locker room cleanout day about his future

Episode Date: January 8, 2024

Matthew Coller and Brian Murphy discuss Kirk Cousins' comments about his future with the Vikings and try to analyze the QB decision from Cousins' perspective Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here along with Brian Murphy. And Murph, we had a chance in the locker room today at Locker Cleanout Day to talk with Kirk Cousins. Are you interested in what Kirk Cousins had to say? Or would you rather just break down every play of Vikings-Lions from Week 18? Which would you rather do? Cousins is dead to me at this point anyway, so there's no point getting it. No, I'd love to hear what Kirk O'Chain's or Captain Kirk or Kirk or just plain old cousins had to say today. Well, there was a lot of stuff. There was a lot of

stuff. And I'll just give you a couple of the highlights. I mean, number one, he said that he felt like his recovery was coming along exactly how he expected and he kind of commented about not being worried about teams and the achilles injury because he feels that the achilles will heal and and also mentioned there's you know a lot of need for quarterbacks out there in the nfl and we asked him about, and he's right about that. Kirk is not wrong that there is a lot of quarterback. One person's bluntness is another person's transparency. Well, I mean, Hey, look, there's a quarterback scarcity in the United States of America. And Kirk cousins has made a lot of money because of that. He both at the same time said that when you get to a point

in your life where you've made a lot of money, money becomes less of a thing that you are concerned about. But he also told a little story about a coach saying more or less that what they pay you is a reflection of your value and how much they value you. And I think what Kirk Cousins was trying to tell us, and this is me and my interpretation, not putting words in his mouth is look, I will come back to the Minnesota Vikings because I like it here. If the dollar amount matches what I think I'm worth, that doesn't mean I have to get every single dollar, but I also can't be paid $12 million a year, right? That there is a sweet spot in between that. And another thing that stuck out to me was that he was asked what the number one thing that he was looking for in his new team or

in his current team. And he said that it was winning and the ability to win. And that also is interesting to me because part of this formula for Kirk in deciding whether he wants to come back could be whether he thinks they can win. Now, they could certainly win with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, but Kirk is very aware of a lot of things. And I think he's aware that he hasn't had a good defense that he's played with in some time. And by all said and done, this defense was not that good, even if it looked like it for a bit.

So is he going to believe that they are just on the cusp here? Or as he says, looking to win, does he have other teams on his mind? He gave us a lot of words and a lot to think about. But of course, he was not going to come to tco performance there and say guys i'm coming back or guys you'll never see me again so have

a good life uh but a lot of interesting stuff nonetheless yeah just based on what you told me and i've been in a news blackout most of the day so this is and i know this just occurred within the last hour or two as well. Let's start first with the the value question. I absolutely agree with Kirk Cousins. He's reached a point in his career where he well he's had maximum leverage several times with the Vikings but he really does have maximum leverage and I'm all for player empowerment. I'm all for the guys who are putting their bodies their minds their souls on the line, snap after snap, playing the most demanding position in professional sports, maximizing

their worth. So to dissect what Kirk is saying, I've made a lot of money in my career. I could retire tomorrow and never work a day in my life again, nor will my children work a day in their lives if I wanted to make it that way. But I also know what my true value is in a cutthroat business, in a brutal sport, and I'm not just going to take a major haircut because my neighbors shovel my lawn in Invergrove Heights. All of that said, too, he's going to be under a lot of pressure, I think, from his agents, certainly the NFLPA as well, to not take a below market value contract. And I don't think the Vikings should even count on that.

I think what's going to be interesting is maybe more so than the dollars, because, you know, $35 to $ 40 million seems to be, you know, the number that's floating around out there to measure his value. Clearly, the Vikings need to get a handle, and I know they have a handle, will have a handle on what his health is going to be, what that's going to look like for a 35-year-old about to turn 36-year-old in training camp quarterback. What coming back from that injury is projected to look like for somebody of his age and of his value that's going to factor into it I'm sure there'll

be some wiggle room on the numbers because of that but what I'm more interested in is are the Vikings going to be talking two years three four is Cousins going to be talking two years, three, four? Is Cousins going to be talking three years, four years? Because if you think about it, two years, I think if the Vikings can find a number that's comfortable, that they feel like they can move around their cap and address other needs, two years gives them the opportunity to draft at number 11 in April their future quarterback and groom him under Cousins for a year or two. But I'm not sure Cousins is going to settle on that. It may not be dollars. It may be more long-term security that is his priority, which as you get to those late 30s age groups, it's not even so much just the payoff, but the security to play more. Will there be a longer term perhaps on the table somewhere

else that may actually have a few less dollars? So what is Cousins' priority going to be? Which number is going to be more important to him. That is all going to resolve itself in the bare-knuckle negotiations in which he has the ultimate leverage. Now, the other question is, what kind of team is he going to be returning to? Well, depending on the decisions that Cousins makes, i.e. dollars, will dictate what kind of returning roster he will come to. And as you mentioned, they've got a lot of core pieces in place on offense. I mean, besides Jordan Addison and TJ Hawkinson, assuming he comes back fully healthy from his knee surgery, you know, KJ Osborne may be looking for a payday too, but you've got receiver,

receiving depth. You have two core players that tackle, a payday, too, but you've got receiver receiving depth. You have two core players that tackle Brian O'Neill, Christian Derrissaw. Oh, by the way, I believe he's doing extension or a deal as well. Offensively, they seem to be in a pretty good place. He seems to be very comfortable with Kevin O'Connell. Defensively, what are the Vikings going to be? Is Brian Flores coming back where are they going to address their holes at cornerback their pass rush uh fell short uh they got to pay Daniil Hunter do

they want to pay Daniil Hunter what kind of decisions are is Daniil Hunter going to make regarding his value his turn that all of these moving pieces come together I'm not sure which is going to resolve itself first but if Cousins feels like he has an opportunity to either play longer or earn a few extra dollars more at a more robust with a team with a more robust roster on both sides of the ball that could dictate his decision too so a very long-winded answer to a very multi-part question, but the bottom line is we don't know anything today on January 8th. This is all going to, you know, it's going to be interesting to see the decisions the Vikings make in what order they make them. And that should reveal maybe where their philosophy is going into the offseason. I spent so much time, Murph, so far talking about

this from the Vikings perspective and the challenges that come along with having a quarterback as expensive as Kirk Cousins and rebuilding all those things that you just talked about around an expensive contract. And if it is only two years, what that means is there's only really one way to hide the money under the couch cushion. And guess what? That couch gets turned over eventually and you find all the dead cap space that's there. Now, of course, if you're a management, maybe you look at it like, well, we've got a two year window then. And we're going to try to go all in and move all the cap space and whatever. They have done that before as an organization. But I haven't thought of it really so much from Kirk Cousins' perspective of the Vikings selling him on the Vikings,

which does likely come along with a hometown discount. Because when you compare what he's likely to be offered from other teams like the Atlanta Falcons, like the Raiders, who I'm sure Mark Davis is tired of losing as much as they have in Las Vegas and the Pittsburgh Steelers who are in the playoffs despite playing Mason Rudolph and whoever else, Mitch Trubisky, Kenny Pickett. That team also has to feel like with its coaching, its weapons, a new offensive coordinator, a quarterback, that they could be a legitimate

AFC contender going forward. But Mason Rudolph is probably not going to play this well forever. And they could be looking at Kirk Cousins. So he has to be aware of that. His size has to be aware of that. So how are you selling me as Kirk Cousins on? I should not only stay here, but not listen to anyone else, because it is a key point that bears repeating, Murph, that he has to sign with the Vikings before hitting free agency.

Now, of course, there is the backroom discussions at the combine. But the point is that because the way the dead cap is structured, he would have to forego free agency. So the Vikings pitch to him can't just be, here's the dollars we want, because I don't think it's going to be enough. And it wasn't enough for him last year. It has to be on all those other things, which are exactly what you said.

Your offensive setup is very good, but if you're cousins, you got two, three more years to try to win a Superbowl in your NFL career. Are you going to try to do it here? And can you be sold on Kweisi Adafomenta has a good enough vision for the roster around your contract? Cousins is smart enough to know that he costs a lot on the cap. So are you going to look at it and say, yeah, we're almost there.

We just need me back i'm not so sure that that is going to be the way that kirk cousins looks at it when he evaluates the whole thing especially the way the defense came apart at the end and the people that could potentially leave including and especially daniel hunter right and decides hunter again is brian flora is going to be on a short list as more openings i mean we've already seen washington is already seeking permission from detroit's two coordinators uh to replace ron rivera as these coaching you know there's probably going to be a domino falling in atlanta uh are the raiders going to hang you you mentioned the selling point. Let me just get to that right away. If I'm the Vikings, I may be thinking, right, the Falcons, the Raiders,

Pittsburgh may, you know, back up the Brinks truck for you. All three of these teams may be in the process of transitioning to a new coach or getting rid of their interim coach. I mean, you know, it doesn't sound like Arthur Smith's, you know, got a very short window of opportunity. Yeah. He seems gone. If he hasn't, if the headline hasn't come out, he already has. Yeah. Thank you very much. I was in a news blackout apologies. I knew that was coming. Pittsburgh is interesting. Cause we don't know,

you know, the Steelers are in the playoffs, but there's all the speculation that Tomlin may not be back anyway. So the Raiders, are they going to, you know, have they removed the interim tag? Will they remove the interim tag from Antonio Pierce? What direction do they want to go? So if I'm the Vikings, I'm selling stability. Your familiarity with Kevin O'Connell, your comfort level with Kevin O'Connell, this offense, these offensive weapons, that might be what I'm going to throw in the

middle of the table. All of that being said, though, as you mentioned, I don't know all the dates of all the machinations with the rosters, but it's the timeline that's going to be key. What information is going to be clear to both sides before major decisions are made. Will Brian Flores be back? Will free agents, if and when Cousins is re-signed before hitting the market, whatever case the Vikings make, they won't have been acquiring other players to bolster a defense. They're certainly going to have to make this decision before the draft. So I don't know if Cousins is going to have a real clear picture of what the potential returning roster will be before he has to make his decision about what he wants to do, so you may know a little bit more about the deadlines and the various weavings of that timeline, but there are

dominoes will have to fall in a certain order before either side is going to know fully what their offer is or what their acceptance level is. That's going to be what's going to be intriguing to watch as this plays out in the weeks and months ahead. Folks, if you've been listening to the show, then you know how much fun we have been having with prize picks this year. Just go to prizepicks.com slash purple. Use the code purple for a first deposit match up to $100.

And let me tell you how it works. If you haven't heard us talk about it enough yet. Or you haven't tried it yet. Very simple. There are yardage totals on prize picks. You either pick more or less. And boom. You are playing.

So last week. I'm going to be honest with you. I had a very tough week. I went Kirk Cousins more than 250 yards, Justin Fields more than 196, and Jordan Addison more than 54. And I went 0 for 3. This is by far my worst week.

So this week, I have to bounce back. Each week has been a rollercoaster ride of fun. And the best part is that when I have to bounce back. Each week has been a roller coaster ride of fun. And the best part is that when I have a bad week, I didn't lose much. It doesn't cost much to play. You can turn 10 bucks into 250 very easily. And if things go sideways for you, you're not out a whole heck of a lot of money, but normally I do much better than this so that is prizepix.com slash purple just more or less on yardage totals and you are in prizepix.com slash purple the code purple for a first deposit match up to 100 and that's why the whole point about and how they have to sign him before they hit free agency is so important, because it's going to have to be on a vision, not on things that have happened yet.

And maybe you could extend Daniel Hunter before you extend Kirk Cousins. But if I'm Daniel Hunter, I've been through this so many times with this team, I am unlikely to avoid testing the waters. Sorry for the double negative. But if I'm Hunter, I want to be a free agent. So it's really unlikely that Hunter next week would say, yeah, sign me up for a five year contract extension without even testing the waters himself. And then similarly, once Hunter, this is my understanding, once Hunter hits free agency, he's not coming back either because there's dead cap space there, which they could potentially spread out easier than Cousins. But you're going to you're going to get a 14 million dollar dead cap the minute he hits

free agency. So you won't know any of this until after free agency starts, who you could bring in in free agency, like you said, who you're going to draft. And in maybe an ideal world in some people's minds, not mine in particular, but in some people's minds, it would make the most sense to draft a quarterback, try to do some Jordan Love stuff, have that guy sit for two years behind Kirk Cousins. But there's an issue there. Number one is Cousins was asked this question and he said, oh, well, look, you know, they've been drafting people since I've been here. They drafted Kellen Mon. They drafted Jaron Hall. That's not the same as drafting a first round draft pick that everybody's

going to want to see if you aren't playing well. You know how Kirk has that shockingly bad game every year. Guess what people are going to be calling for? Hey, if you're in the hunt, if you're seven and eight down the stretch, people are going to say, ah, it's time to go to the first rounder. It's time to move on from Cousins again. He knows that the pressure goes way up when there's that guy behind you. It certainly broke Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay when they drafted Jordan Love. So Cousins can say that, and it's the right thing to say in the moment. I'm not criticizing him or calling him a liar, but I'm saying that that's a lot different if it's a first rounder than it is if you're drafting Kellen Mond. And that has to be

a factor, too. The other side of this coin. So there are a lot of reasons for Kirk maybe to have a tough time with this. The other side of the coin though, is that, and I'm curious on your opinion, Murph, over the last two years, Cousins has ingratiated himself to the locker room and the fan base way more. And I don't think it's a coincidence that he was on Netflix or they won 13 games or that the coach suddenly likes him, that that's where everybody takes their cues from but uh could could that be a factor that he has been really embraced by Vikings fans over the last two seasons in ways that he was not before I think if this was the Zimmer era he might be already looking at property in Atlanta as opposed to wanting to stick around potentially with these

fans and Kevin O'Connell and this locker room which when it turned over and all the older players left they really looked to Kirk Cousins as their guy yeah I don't think it can be understated that without you know with Mike Zimmer still in the picture I'm not sure he would have lasted these last two years I think Zimmer would have found a way to either shove him out the door or made it so untenable for him, as Zimmer seemed to have done with the rest of the building, to be around. That maybe he would have tried to force a trade or force his way out, that this was just not a relationship that could work. So I don't think it's a coincidence that with a new regime, I'd love to know exactly how, you know, cousins really did come to terms and come to agree to that Netflix documentary. Now Netflix made out well,

because not only did they get all access to sort of the aw shucks, you know, boy next door, but they also caught him on a 13 win season that nobody had saw coming and nobody could ever expect to see how the 2022 season played out. It was a shrewd bit of marketing on the behalf of the Vikings. I'm sure they had to sign off on it, on Netflix getting involved, and Cousins making the decision or his camp or his family saying, this would go a long way to burnishing your image scrubbing your image as sort of an aloof uh maybe uh not take charge kind of guy just the guy who happens to take the snap from center who's earning the most money you could

see his metamorphosis under o'connell he has grown, you know, I think his durability, his playmaking at various times during his regular season career, certainly in Minnesota, I think endeared himself to fans, his toughness, especially. I don't think anybody would doubt, nobody was ever doubting his toughness and durability, certainly before October 29th. And that was one of his calling cards was that C that cousins shows up every day and gets up after every tough hit. I think the fan base really saw what it takes both with him and Mahomes even

for a NFL quarterback to not only succeed, but make themselves and will themselves to be ready to prepare day after day and to be on the field week after week in such a brutal sport. I think that did go a long way. And again, he made some plays last season with the help of Justin Jefferson and a good offense, of course, but the way that that season took off in the fairytale way it did, I think did a lot to sand off some of the rough edges that were really, if you look, only as recent as the year before when he made all of his, you know, boneheaded or hackneyed or naive at best declarations about, you know, COVID-19 and the

virus and protocols. So I think that was probably the bottoming out of his tenure here in Minnesota. Once Zimmer was let go, once O'Connell came in and sort of, I think, met him eye to eye, peer to peer almost, as opposed to boss employee. And when things started going well for him last year, again, playoff loss to the Giants notwithstanding, and then the source of social media ridicule which is a valuable lesson for all of us i guess to take them take knowledge of we're all human beings here we're not just you know avatars on a screen so all of that said yes i think he's earned a lot of goodwill faith and you know i think there's a today there's certainly probably a vast majority of the fan base on paper want him back because of what he's accomplished on paper but as we know the only

paper that's going to matter here is money and that's going to dictate everything and the prudent fan and the prudent journalists like you who have been saying it's time, it's time. You got to rip the Band-Aid off and go a new direction. You got to empower this new regime to make the hard decisions like this. This is why you're hired and you're building long-term. You're not trying to patch everything together year after year, two year after two year. All of that is coming to a head this off season, which I think makes it intriguing to watch as an observer, because really, I do feel like this is the this is the moment that Kevin O'Connell and Quasey really do, I think, dictate how long they're going to be in Minnesota and what their tenure is going to be. The decisions they make in the next couple of months are probably going to determine whether or not they have a successful run or not. And from their perspective, are they looking at it like this year put them into the spotlight? Not I don't want to say hot seat because that would be too far. I mean, in a season where you

intentionally were overturning your roster and lost your quarterback, seven wins is about what anyone would expect and how we analyze sports is all about expectation this year my expectation was that they would win eight to nine games and they won seven and with Kirk they probably win nine assuming that the defense still had the troubles that it had maybe 10 I'm not sure but I don't think we any of us and if you go back and look at Vegas they had the 16th best odds or something to win the Super Bowl to start the season. The over under was eight and a half, and they likely would have been in that ballpark had they kept Kirk. So if this was part of your plan as this regime to ownership that everybody agreed on, it's pretty hard for them to be suddenly under the white hot light if that's what your plan

was from the outset but then are you going to pivot from that because of how hard losing is losing is hell on everybody inside of an organization even when you're led by a nicer guy than mike zimmer but it's hell on the owners they i think were probably horrified at what happened against green bay. And I think that's going to linger throughout the offseason. But I also look at this maybe in some ways as two people, let's say two people who have been together for a while and it's gone. Okay. They've had their rocky times. They've had their good times. And somebody else is taking a job in Chicago. And so you either have a choice to move to Chicago with them or try to meet in the middle somehow

and work it out to keep the relationship alive. And so you end up at this crossroads where you have to decide, is this relationship worth meeting the other person or turning down the job or whatever? I think there's a lot of people who have been through this in their life. You have to have this discussion. Is this going in a way where we are going to get married and stay together forever? Or should we just say our lives are in different places and we're going to go? And I really hadn't thought of it too much from Kirk's side. But there is a case from Kirk's side to say, we've had a great relationship, but it's time for me to go and move on. And so how are you going to get on the same page with each other? Because last year they couldn't.

Last year, Cousins said, I want a full commitment from you. I want a ring, not the Super Bowl ring. I want a wedding ring, like put it on me, make sure that we're staying together forever. And the team said, what if we just keep dating for a while? And at that point, you know, that's how we ended up with no contract extension right now. So from his perspective, I wonder if that also lingers with him that they didn't put a ring on it last year. And then now everybody loves Kirk because they watched Nick Mullins play for a while, or if it's all dollars and cents, it's really,

it's always been hard as much as Netflix brought us in as much as, I mean, he won media good guy this year, as much as he has been very open on a lot of things, it's very hard to pin down what the real conversation is like between him and his agent, Mike McCartney. And one thing I know about Mike McCartney is that guy is good at his job. And if I'm, if I'm Kirk's agent, I gotta be like, I'm not sure. I just playing with Justin Jefferson's really great, but they also played together for a while and didn't win a playoff game. And there's other great receivers in the league. Pittsburgh's got George Pickens, and they think a lot of him.

So I don't know. I guess if you were Kirk Murph, would you want to come back or would you want to test the market? I would want to test the market because I do believe, just based on his comments today, anybody that's in the position that he's in, 35 years old, he's been in the league for 12 years, a starter for seven or so of those, well, more than that, probably eight or nine now.

I just feel like this is your one opportunity. It's not your one opportunity to cash in big. He's already done that. It's your last opportunity to cash in big. And it's also your, you are now on the, not even the back nine. You're probably coming in on the, you're teeing off at the 16th hole right now of your career and it does matter in his realm he's got one playoff win and I don't know if he believes that is a byproduct of the circumstances he's been in in Minnesota that but for better scheme better coaching better defense better matchups however you want to look at it he could find greater success elsewhere I think that's probably going to drive his decision more his true value finding out what

his true value is really the only way to do that is to test the open market and then to find out what his options are in terms of a fit whether that is a new team with a new head coach a new team with an existing head coach an an established receiver, a solid line. I mean, he has a lot of things to weigh in, but all of those are moving parts with other suitors as well who are not going to have their roster solidified maybe within that time frame. So there's going to be a lot of faith involved in this decision on Cousins' part and on the Vikings' part.

I think, you know, we all know it's going to come down to numbers, but I think the term, and as you brought up before too, having a hot shot prospect, first round draft pick, potential top 11, if not top 10 or more, breathing down his neck, and he knows how fickle this market can be and how fickle any market can be when a quarterback is scuffling, there was no threat from Nick Mullins. There was no threat from Kellen Mott. There would be a threat from J.J. McCarthy.

That's just a fact. So I think that could factor into his decision-making as well. What I want to see Kirk, I don't think we're going to get anything beyond what he said today that's going to be any more definitive. But I think in his mind, he's probably made up what it's going to take numbers-wise, roster-wise, and playoff success-wise. He's just going to see if the Vikings can fit that puzzle together. And he might be able to give a little bit on the dollars, but it's going to be more about the opportunity for him. And there's just so many other factors that go into it. And then you mentioned too, I'll end on this point a little bit, but the fact that there is a little bit of heat now forming on Kevin O'Connell

and some of his game planning, did he overreach? Was he a little bit too ambitious with the backups in trying to push the ball downfield? The failure of the running game this year, the overestimation maybe of Alexander Madison's potential and contributions going to Ty Chandler as late as he did for a starting position. How's he going to respond to a little bit of the self-analysis? And again, this is what Quasey was brought here for, making tough decisions.

He's made some hard decisions, but not really tough franchise-defining decisions that you may see Harrison Smith walk out the door. He's got to answer for the Marcus Davenport fiasco. What kind of draft is he going to have? And what are they going to prioritize? And really, what's the top-down pressure from the Wilfs? We may never know that, but how much are they going to be in this room dictating not just the dollars that are coming out of their pockets,

but what is the potential for the team in 24, 25, not just in 26, 27? I don't know if this regime can be as comfortable to presume they're going to be around in 2026 and 2027 to see a new quarterback come to fruition and fulfill his potential. questions that all come at the end of a seven and nine or seven and ten season that really did because of Cousins injury expose sort of the the holes that are in the roster mainly on defense and I say that because the defense was on the field so often because of the failures of the offense that really pulled the curtain back on how much magic Brian Flores was spinning in the middle part of the season, but also exposed how unsustainable that was with a hybrid scheme, with draft picks, journeymen thrust into different positions,

a lot of blitzing. But where's Lewis Sine? Where are some of the other players that have been drafted under this regime? They have not been able to fulfill their potential mostly on defense and again Davenport oft injured still injured will probably end his career injured it just seems like these are decisions now we have a sample size now in which to evaluate and judge and you know I think after last year's a minus b plus type feelings, they're slipping into, you know, C plus C minus territory. And that's not sustainable either. Right. And the question is, how do you get yourself out of that is the fundamental question that we have been asking about the Vikings franchise for quite some time. And I'd love

to see the PowerPoint presentation to the Wilfs of the plans. Maybe it's maybe they lay out three plans and the Wilfs get to select which one they like the most, or maybe the plan has been laid out for a long time. That is also possible as well. Before we wrap up, Murph, I want to just ask you about the rest of the season and what you think the biggest thing that you learned from this season was because we were talking today a little bit on the way up to the locker room and just you know i think it was very it was a very hard season to evaluate all those things that you mentioned all the critiques of the general manager and the head coach i think that there's

a lot of validity to i i i you, I, you know, have appreciation for the fact that fans are really dialed in so much to this team where they can talk about the run pass ratio and the cap management and the drafting and all those things. And at the same time, I just keep coming back to, you had to play Nick Mullins, Josh Dobbs and Jared Hall. And so I think that was, it just made it very muddy, very muddy, as opposed to more clarified if Kirk Cousins had played. So what's what is your kind of the season's over RIP 2023 big picture takeaway? I think some of on both sides of the ball, you mentioned the backup quarterbacks. You know, it's fine to have somebody come in for a week or two, maybe three at most, where you can plug and play.

Or, you know, in the case of Josh Dobbs, here's the roster, memorize some names. We'll see if we can get you down. We can put a game plan together that's a little bit rudimentary, and maybe you can improvise a little and make some magic happen. But eventually, defenses are going to figure that out. And backup quarterbacks very rarely can sustain success over a long period of time, especially unpro And backup quarterbacks very rarely can sustain success over a long period of time, especially unproven backup quarterbacks. I mean, you can make the argument that Joe Flacco, what he's doing as Cleveland is miraculous. Well, he's a Super Bowl winning quarterback who's old and slow, but he's smart as hell and he's got a lot of scar tissue and a lot of wins under his

belt. The guys, the Vikings rolled out, you know, would not, you know, would be battling for XFL and USFL rosters. We know that. So the, I think how fickle the quarterback position can be if you don't have a long-term backup in place. And then defensively, I think what Brian Flores did from the time Kirk Cousins went out, probably through the Raiders game, was incredibly impressive. And we're talking about, oh, wow, he's going to be out the door because obviously every team that needs a head coach is going to want to tap him again because of the miracle working he's done in Minnesota and the fact that he does have NFL head coaching experience. You know, the bloom has fallen off the rose on that a little bit. Not saying Flores is a bad coach, but again, long-term success in the NFL. It's an 18-week season, 17 games.

You have teams that are all with scouts and personnel directors and coaches getting paid a hell of a lot of money. They're the best in the business. They're going to find your weaknesses, and they're going to exploit you and you cannot go seven eight weeks at a time with journeyman backup quarterbacks and a suspect defense and really expect to win double digit games or take a division i think the vikings squeezed every bit of juice they could out of this lemon of a season it's disappointing uh disheartening but ultimately there's some valuable lessons I think that should be learned and taken from a second year coach and a second year GM. They know now what they have. They know what they can't do with what they have and they know what holes they need to fill. how they go about addressing that financially, philosophically, and certainly from a locker room standpoint,

is going to go a long way to determining whether this is a dead regime walking or something that's building something long term. I think that the biggest accomplishment of this team was knowing now the answer to a lot of questions that we started the year with. Number one, you mentioned the Lewis scene. We now know where that stands. Coming into the year, we thought, well, maybe if he has a good camp and so forth, then maybe he's still got something there. And you don't. But someone like Josh Metellus, I didn't expect Josh Metellus to play every snap, not even close. I thought that he would be a little bit of a trick kind of player that would come in for 15 plays a game. And now he's a foundational player.

We know that you have a linebacker to work with. We know that you don't really have a running back to work with. So we have a lot more answers about the roster and we can very clearly see where the construction needs to be done. And then the question is, can it be done with Marcus Davenport style signings? Or do you have to shop in a little bit more of expensive of a store in free agency if you're going to get game changing type of players who end up as success stories? Because when you shop in the bargain bin, sometimes you find a great deal and sometimes

you find some maybe defective products, which has happened quite a few times to the Vikings in the bargain bin over the years from Michael Pierce to Bashad Breeland and so forth. So they now know it's all there for them. You can see it very clearly. And how do you fit Kirk Cousins on it or do you not?

And how do you fix the rest is the big question uh i appreciate it murph how about this just 30 seconds for you your emotions watching the detroit lions as a detroit guy somebody who grew up somebody who was there the last time uh they won their division in the in the playoffs how do you how do you feel today with the lions doing what they did this year? Well, I'm impressed by what they did, and I'm impressed the way the season started from winning that Thursday night game at Arrowhead.

They have been exposed, I think, defensively as somewhat vulnerable. I think Dan Campbell and the locker room and the city kind of fit hand in glove right now. I view this more as a building process, though. I don't, you know, yeah, they won 12 games, but I'm not looking at them as a Super Bowl contender. I want to see them win a home playoff game, almost like the twins, you know, like win a playoff game, take the edge off, and then we'll talk longer term. I think they, you know, if they can win a home playoff

game and advance into the divisional round and put up a fight, however far they go, it's building toward next year and the year after that, where you're going to, again, I always say scar tissue. I mean, the toughest losses sometimes put you on a path for success because you see where your shortcomings are. Pain is a great motivator, emotional pain. And I just feel like they're building something special. Now, what I find most intriguing, and I think maybe some of my buddies back home are shuddering at, is that it's Matthew Stafford that's rolling into Ford Field as their big test. The best quarterback in franchise history that they basically shoved out

the door i don't think you're going to argue with what jared goff has done for them uh but this is the ultimate revenge game and it would be very lioness for stafford to go in there and while that was the moment that brian mur Murphy actually got cut off because of our little internet issues while we were recording, but he was in his final sentences anyway. So thanks everybody for watching the conversation with myself and Brian Murphy, and we'll carry on into a very interesting off season. And we'll also have a recap of the national championship game that you're going to want to make sure that you tune in for as well.

So thanks everybody again for watching and we will catch you next time.