Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Let the Vikings GM search begin! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: April 30, 2026

Matthew Coller breaks down an announcement from Minnesota Vikings ownership that they are officially beginning the search for a general manager but there's a twist... so what kind of GM should they be looking for? Also Rob Brzezinski will be in the mix. Plus Matthew's list of 5 most interesting UDFAs. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider presented by Fanduil Matthew Collar here and let the general manager search begin. Today, the Wilf's announced that, yes, the GM search will be starting for the Minnesota Vikings, and we will read their statement in just a second. Also, I did finally get a chance to dig into some UDFAs, and I got a list there. And the Vikings signed a player, but, it was not a wide receiver. So we are going to refuse.

We're holding out. We are not talking about another player that the Vikings sign here on the show until it is a wide receiver. If you're not going to draft anybody, you're going to bring them in for visits and not come away signing him the next day. Then we are on strike. Okay, I'm just kidding. But we will talk about the player the Vikings signed a depth signing on defense, but we'll

get into that as well. But why don't we begin with the statement from the Wilfs? And then here's the question for you for the comment. section, start loaned up the comments with this. What do you want to see from the next general manager? Not necessarily names, but attributes, or put it this way. If you could offer the next GM a little bit of advice, what would you toss his way? And what type of GM are you looking for?

That's what we're going to get into a little bit later on the show. So let us begin with the Wills sent out this announcement today. Quote, with the conclusion of the 2006 NFL draft, our search for the next general manager, the Minnesota Vikings, is underway. This will be a thorough and deliberate process by ownership and will have support from a small internal advisory committee of senior leaders. We have also engaged the respected firm Turnkey ZRG to assist in conducting a wide-ranging search that includes experienced football executives,

emerging candidates and individuals with diverse professional backgrounds. It doesn't say not podcasters here, I'm just saying. Back to the statement. Our focus is to identify a decisive leader with a clear vision for team building, strong communication skills, the ability to build alignment across the organization. Out of respect for all involved, we do not intend to publicly announce candidates and will provide further information when

the search is complete. So I know that some of you have said, Hey, can you, you know, give us a list of people that it could potentially be? But when you look at this statement, not only are they not going to tell us who it's going to be or who they're going to interview. I suspect that maybe some names will make their way out into the public, although we're down one NFL insider. But, you know, maybe a few names will leak out. So we'll see when the reports come out of this person or that person.

But if they keep it totally quiet, then we won't know. until we know, I guess, until maybe there's a final list or until they have made a decision on the general manager. But it doesn't seem like the search is going to be quick. It feels like it's going to take maybe weeks here and that they are going to look high and low, beat the bushes for every possible candidate that they could bring in. But there is also something important to mention in regards to their GM search, which is per Tom Pelliserro of NFL.

network. Longtime Vikings executive Rob Berzinski, who has run the team's football operation since January, has expressed interest in the full-time GM job. That was something that we weren't really sure about. I mean, Rob has been with the team for such a long time. He's been the cap expert. I mean, executive VP of football operations, like, that's a pretty good title in the NFL. But Rob, after this experience of working as the general manager has decided to toss the hat in the ring to be the next Vikings GM. So I want to start there with the show of just like, let's break down what we think of that idea and then get into what we think that would be good for the next GM if they decide not to go

with Rob, what ideas you'd share, what advice you would give the Wilf's. I was not invited to the committee. They said that it's a small committee. And once again, no podcasters have been invited to the committee. But I'm available. I've only, you know, I've covered the Vikings for 10 years here. Seen the GM succeed and fail. I don't know.

If you want my help, I'm here. Anyway, I'm mostly kidding. And I'll get to those UDFAs later. But I want to talk a lot about the GM search here. So let's just begin with the Robert. Prisinski Park, because I think that this is easier than the, what we want from our imaginary candidate for Vikings GM. With Rob Brzezinski, here's the way it would feel to me if the Vikings went with Rob.

It would feel very secure. It would feel like this is someone who 100% knows how to do this job. He is incredibly experienced. He is professional. He is respected. he has relationships across the NFL and even we heard from one of the Vikings longtime scouts on draft day who talked about this being

the most fun that he had along the way for whatever that is worth but the responses to the way that Rob handled things internally through the NFL draft and I just implore you to not project your own take on the draft as being evidence he shouldn't be the GM. Like, if you didn't like the draft, that's not a reason for him to not be the GM because we don't know how it's going to play out. And I think we could also very clearly see from the draft picks that they were driven by the coach's belief in the fits for the players. So again, we're going to see how that plays out over a number of years.

We certainly know better than to judge a draft right away. it's really more about the operation of this entire time through from January all the way to the end of the draft. And I think what you could say for Rob is that he really did a good job of setting up the Minnesota Vikings franchise, whether he gets the GM or job or not, to be in better shape than it probably would have been if Quasi at Al-Felmenzo was running it. I think because, you know, Quasi had created this time horizon. for 25 and 26 and the chips were getting pushed into the middle of the table last year. And what Rob was able to do was kind of tidy up some of the mess that was made of the salary cap and make it look for the future a heck of a lot better than it looked going into

this offseason. And he did it by not allowing them. I'm sure that there was some push inside the building to, hey, let's restructure all these contracts, hey, let's go out and get this free agent and put 50 million void years on it and you know, whatever it might be. I'm sure there was some thought of doing that in free agency. And what he was able to do is sort of say, all right, let's, let's, you know, redo this deal, redo that deal, you know, restructure Justin Jefferson, set up T.J. Hawkinson to be a free agent for next year, bring back Aaron Jones on a very cheap contract. Keep the band together and not sacrifice

the future for this one last piece here or this one last piece there. And while that created not really the most exciting free agency, I think that a lot of us would agree that it was a better way to go about it. Were they one, you know, I don't know, overpaid defensive tackle or something away from, you know, Super Bowl contention? Like, I don't, I don't know. Like maybe as we get throughout the season, we'll see that. But then more of the picture becomes clear.

when they trade Jonathan Grenard to get the salary cap right for the future, $22 million opens up next year. So maybe there's moves to be made in June or whatever after they get some more cap space from the Jonathan Allen contract with him going to Cincinnati. So a lot of things set up well for the future. And then even with the draft, whether you like it or not, you have to look at each one of these players and go, yeah, that might not necessarily be for right now. I mean, we could see Dominique Orange making an impact right now, but Jake Olday, that's probably for the future. Caleb Banks is definitely a guy who's going to have to develop quite a bit before he's ready to play 500 plus snaps effectively in the NFL. And, you know, the guys in the later round, someone like Chuck Demings is, that's a project. That's someone who's super athletic and there's a lot to like about his personality, but he's going to need development in order to get there.

I could see for sure Max Bredesen and Demand Claiborne having an impact right away. But for the most part, a lot of the draft capital was spent with ideas on depth right now and into the future later that while they did take a big swing in the draft, they did not scramble to try to fill a spot just to fill a spot. They did go for a position they needed, but they went for trying to swing for the David Ortiz fences. which you can debate whether you like that or not or whether that's too risky for you. It's a little risky for me. But in terms of the operation, it felt like this was Rob Brzezinski setting the board and the coaches liking the fits.

And that's the way they did it. So if you hire Rob Brzezinski to be the general manager, your operation is going to, I think, cease to be dramatic. I mean, this has been dramatic for quite a while now with Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer and their fallout and then things behind the scenes with Quasi Adolfo Menzo where there were rumors for, you know, several years that things weren't quite aligning in the front office. I don't think that you would have that problem with Rob Berzinski, where his superpower exists is managing the books. And, well, we would love every single general manager to be some sort of. Super Scout, that's usually not the case. Usually, while they may come from the scouting world, they're not sitting in their office

24-7 alone watching the film and then walking out and saying, folks, I've discovered the next great prospect. That's actually not at all how the general manager job works. It is much more manager than you think. And I think Rob, with his experience and with his personality, I think that he's, I think that he is an excellent, excellent manager of people and that he is a guy that could get everybody on the same page. And you see in that statement, it even continues to mention something that the Wilf's have considered very valuable, which is getting everybody involved, finding consensus

consensus within the building and having the coaches feel like their voices are heard, having the scouting department feel like they're involved, sending different, you know, position coaches to meet with Caleb Banks. You know, their D-line coach, Ryan Nielsen, going down and spending time with the guy who ends up being the first round draft picket was a collaborative effort, which you and I might say, hey, man, maybe the GM should just pick his favorite guy, but we know that the Wolf ownership wants that. And I have no doubt in my mind that Rob Brzezinski can keep all trains on the tracks

can keep collaboration being the main thing and having a real, I think, separation between the front office part economics and the football part, meaning Rob's strength is that. And his strength is being able to say, look, guys, trading Kevin, trading Jonathan Grenard is actually a good idea. And here's why. Because if we sign him, then this and we could get this back plus this amount of cash, plus this and free agency, etc. etc. Like, that's where Rob Brzezinski is very strong. Where Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores are very strong and, you know, the coaching staff and so forth is in the, in the player evaluation, in the fit, how's this guy going to work in our

offense or our defense, what skills does he have, that sort of thing? And then those two sides come together to form a front office and coaching relationship. I think it would be a steady and solid relationship between those two sides. And the coaches would probably get, it would be like a make the grocery list, go to the grocery store type of situation where here's what the coaches want. The front office is going to try to acquire it. And that's how it ends up working. I think that that is something that could be perfectly fine for the Vikings. And they have flown steady for a while as a franchise, despite even some rockiness there.

They have not had a truly bad record since, I don't know, was it 2013? Every other year. Yeah, right, right? Under, that's the only season under seven wins. So every single year, they're at least at this baseline. And I think that they stay at that baseline with Rob Brzynski. And I think that they probably get to a point where if things go right, then they're going to have a chance to legitimately compete.

And I really mean at the quarterback position, because so many people's jobs just rest on that. quarterback position, but I think Brazinski in collaboration with the coaching staff would have a harmonious relationship to build solid quality rosters that should they have great quarterback play,

they're going to be there in the mix. That's the case for Rob Brzynski. Now, there's a little bit, though, in my mind, and it's not a disrespect to Rob at all because he's incredibly deserving for this position, but I can't help think about what might be behind door number two. Now, if you say, well, door number two could be Quasi Adafel Mensa, I would also say, well, I mean, it's not like that was a horror show.

They did have 13 and 14 win seasons with him as the GM. But I don't just mean like a data person who is not been around very long, which was the case for Quasi Adolfo Mensa. He came from a different background. They wanted a hire that was completely different than the old scout and Rick Spielman. but I guess what I wonder is, are there people who can kind of split the difference? Not somebody who is completely an experience that leading a front office and may not have even known enough people in the league to build his own front office. But the idea would be that you've done things a certain way, even when Quasi was here

for so long, do you want a czar who is going to come in and revamp your front office entirely? and who is going to bring different ideas, who is going to try to put you in a different echelon, maybe that works and maybe that doesn't. We've seen it in town, right, in Minnesota, where sometimes you go out and get the smartest guy in the room and it works. That might be Tim Connolly with the wolves, or sometimes you get the smartest guy in the room and it does not work like Derek Felvey and the Minnesota twins. So it's always just like a draft pick.

It's always hard to say. but maybe thinking about someone rooted in some of the teams that consistently seem to be one step ahead. I think we would all agree that the Philadelphia Eagles, the Los Angeles Rams, the Seattle Seahawks, now they're the Super Bowl champs. But even then for years, John Schneider in the way that he ran his front office was successful. But the Rams and the Eagles are the two teams and maybe toss the 49ers a little bit in there, although you might just argue they have the best coach in the NFL, that's possible. But I would say when you assess front offices, the Eagles kind of set the standard in the NFL

and the Rams are not too far behind, are you maybe apt to prefer someone who comes from a background with those teams that could bring you a different set of ideas. And rather than staying the course, which has gotten them so far and a lot of successful seasons and a lot of middling seasons that were entertaining in their own way, but they were really not that competitive. Are you looking for someone who says, this franchise has gone down that route for so long and it hasn't won many playoff games and how can we shift? And when I say that, it's like, well, what's what is a shift?

And I guess I would use the consensus board a little bit in a way of, do you understand like what's happening in football data analysis and application or not. And I, again, I don't need this person to be a data-driven GM. But I think what I mean is, are you really up to date on everything that has been studied and analyzed in the NFL to the point where you are the most modern decision-making front office? Like, do you understand what some people in the, I guess the tech world, I don't really fully understand the language, but like the meta of what's happening in the NFL today.

And you feel like when Philadelphia makes certain decisions, and I don't mean to just heap praise on them, but they really do win all the time. And Howie Roseman is really good at this. They just seem to get it. And there are times with the Vikings where you go, I think that the same decisions they made today were probably decisions that they would have made 10 to 15 years ago. And that even existed, well, Quasi was here. And it's not a slight at anybody in particular.

It just doesn't feel like when we analyze the signings, the timelines, the draft picks and all those things, the way that draft capital has been managed over the years, the way. And by timeline, I mean that in 2021, they made panicky moves at the end of training camp, like trading for Chris Herndon or bringing back Sheldon Richardson or whatever, just be. because they looked at the roster and said, oh, man, like, we got a win to save our jobs. And last year, where they make the panicky moves of, uh-oh, we won 14 games and we're going in McCarthy, so it's all chips to the middle of the table. And I know that they didn't like that framing, but what the heck else would you call it when you spend more money than anybody else in the NFL and you damage your long term with majorly risky moves with older players, guys with injury histories, and you didn't get a deal on any of

them. And when you look at that kind of offseason, you go, well, that's just what the Vikings would have done with Kirk Cousins, Sheldon Richardson the first time. Like, where is the edge, is the question? Where would you point to right now and say, this is the clear edge? I think the edge is in the coaching staff. And I know all of you are better at calling plays from your couch than Kevin O'Connell is, but I think the Vikings do have one of the best passing game minds. And we'll see on the run game. Guess who has 10 fingers and was watching Alec Ingold fullback tape from the Miami Dolphins today, this guy for an article I'm doing tomorrow about where Mex Bredesen fits in.

But not the point. Like, I think that coaching staff just in general, the cultural element, the passing game element, the relationships like with Justin Jefferson. Kevin O'Connell is a top half of the league head coach, and he has to win in the playoffs to be called anything better than that. But he is a very solid head coach, and you have maybe the best defensive coordinator in football. That's your edge right now.

But can we point to the front office in recent years? I have one example I can think of, of where I said, okay, the Vikings have an edge. One example in the Quasi Adolph-Menza era and all the way through this off-season to this moment, since, I mean, I don't know. I honestly don't know. I think Rick, I think Rick at his time when they built the first Zimmer team was doing a great job.

And then it just kind of got away from them, especially if you're going to sign Kirk, you can't just keep operating business as usual. You have to adjust and they really didn't. That's not the point. But the only time that I would say the Vikings had a true edge where they made a move that I went, okay, I don't know who else in the league makes that move. And that's what puts you ahead was in 2023 when they moved on from all the those veteran players.

But even then, it was only kind of a half measure because they didn't even, I think, go far enough to realize that when you're doing a rebuild there, then keeping Kirk Cousins just keeps you in the middle and doesn't get you a high enough draft pick to get the quarterback you really want. And here you are drafting QB5. So even then, they didn't go all the way into what a truly galaxy brain next level general manager would do. And I'll give you an example of that.

Like when they when they were playing Jalen Hertz, what was this, 2022 maybe or 2021 and they benched him so they could get a better draft pick. And they fired Doug Peterson. The locker room was mad and everyone was upset. And they drafted Devante Smith and he's awesome. Like it's just stuff like that. I know like it always kind of comes back to losing to win. But I mean everything.

I mean identifying. And here's where they did a good job to, 2024, Blake Cashman, Jonathan Granard. Andrew Van Ginkle, identifying those guys as ascending players was very smart. Like Blake Cashman is an ascending player, very smart. Jonathan Grenard, reaching a peak as a pass rusher, very smart. But those are really the only examples I could come up with. And I could come up with 50 more where they overpaid in draft capital, overpaid in a trade. The Adam Thielen thing is egregious.

And the, you know, all that sort of stuff. Like, there are so many examples of, yes, by. Ryan Murphy is a really good cornerback, but you paid him the absolute top dollar at that position. I think Will Fries is a fine offensive guard, but you paid him the top dollar. So are we talking about looking for a general manager who is finding every single edge, staying at the absolute forefront of the NFL when it comes to being forward thinking, and sometimes it might be a little bit different, and it might get criticized for being

a little bit different. But are we looking for someone like that or are you looking for sort of stay the course? And I don't mean that as a disrespect at all to Rob Brzynski because the course has put them, the people they have in their building and the coaches they have that would have a lot of influence if Brzezinski is in charge. Those people have had success. I mean, we just move on so quickly, but it's not that long ago that they're, you know, playing a game in Detroit for the division and their 15th win, right?

So this is why it's hard because I actually don't know what the right answer is. Is it behind box number two? I think the thing that I would not necessarily be too on board with would be just another person who's kind of been around the block and has done things a certain way and will be largely status quo with a different name and maybe make some small tweaks or whatever. I think you are looking for either can you be quite a bit different? from a fully different background, fully different organization, or completely stay the course of where you are, which is essentially the roster is Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores driving

that bus. So I'm very curious about your guys' opinions on this and where you see it and what type of GM that you guys are looking for. Like, are you looking for somebody who is much more along the lines of? A Rob Brzynski, do you want to stay the course? Do you want to go a different direction? Like, how are we feeling about it? So let's jump in.

Oh, I wanted to give you a Fandual question today, of course, because we do it every day. That's why it's called the Fandual question of the day. So here is the order post draft on Fandul for the NFC North. The Lions are plus 150. The Packers are plus 230. The Bears are plus 310. So that's your order.

Lions Packers, Bears. and then the Vikings are quite a bit behind at plus 600 to win the division. I would be curious about post-draft. Your order, if it's different than that, and if you think who won the NFC North in the draft? It wasn't the Packers probably, but did you feel like there was a winner in the NFC north of the draft? Okay, let's get into your questions and comments and thoughts and so forth, then we'll go from there. JP, why won't the Wilfs make the candidates known to the public? Any thoughts?

I don't have a very good answer to that question to tell you the truth. I don't, I don't know. I mean, it may be, gosh, I mean, I guess I would be, I feel like I'd be reaching to try to figure out an answer there. Maybe that's just me being the reporter who wants to know. Like, I want to know just as much as you guys do. like who are the candidates that are going to be involved in this race. But I'm not sure. Maybe it's just, I, yeah, I don't know.

I don't have a good answer for you other than maybe they just don't want everybody talking about their GM candidates. Like I've got, I truly just don't have a great answer for you there. I wish that I did. I wish they included that in the statement of like, here's why. Maybe just because they don't want everybody sort of having takes on. is it going to be this person, that person. Maybe they think there's some competitive advantage to not having it out there as much for who they talked to and who they were interested in.

I don't know what that competitive advantage would be. So I'm not really sure. See, they're robbing. Who they're robbing is not me and you. Who they're robbing is their social media team who could make like slow motion videos of candidates walking in and make it all cinematic and stuff. Mama says have a bad feeling about the Caleb Banks pick, just like I did with McCarthy pick. Never wanted us to draft McCarthy.

It was obvious he wasn't ready out of college. All of this is to say, hire me is the GM. Yeah, yeah, okay. That's funny. But Mama continues, I'm curious how the collaboration between the GM and KOC and Flores, I want the new GM to truly be old school and do what's best for the team, not catering to what the coaches want. well, yeah, I mean, there have always been teams with different relationships. I had a really good conversation with Doug Whaley, who was the former general manager

of the Buffalo Bills. I wrote an article about it a few weeks ago about exactly what you're talking about. And what Doug said to me was you have to have a clear, if you hire somebody from the outside, you have to have a very clear defined who's in charge of what. and that's where I think that the Vikings may have failed a bit with Quasi Adolph-Menza. Now, they might have had that behind the scenes, but it never felt like anybody had a real understanding of, well, does this guy have the final call? Does the buck stop with this guy or how, how is it work?

And then, you know, they go up there and always say, oh, yeah, well, our decisions happen together and so forth. I don't need them to even tell us. I just need it to be obvious who it is that is making those final calls. So this is a really interesting question for the Vikings general manager search is, do you want somebody who is over Kevin O'Connell and who clearly is the person saying, it all stops with me? And if Kevin O'Connell goes into the office and says, you know what, I just, I just need camakers one more time. Just one more. I swear, not in 2027, but just one more time. Just send a sixth wherever.

I need that GM to be like, no, I'm not going to do that. And there's much more extreme examples of that. But the dynamic of the GM and the coaching staff, the organization is going to want it to look like it's a united front, it's collaboration, whatever. But I think we all know in a competitive universe, that can be hard to do. I think actually, if you're looking for that, Rob Brzezinski is the guy you're looking for because they really live on two different sides of the team building. Like they live on the economic side versus the X's and O's side. And those two do a clash, of course.

But, you know, Rob, that's like his superpower. That's his strength. And the strength of the coaches is the player evaluation. So, you know, those two things, I think, can pretty seamlessly come together. But the other universe is you hire someone to come in and be, I am. the roster building guy and we're going to do it my way, that doesn't sound like what the wolves are looking for, but I also don't think that it's a bad thing. And Philadelphia would be the example. I also wonder how much Les Need just straight up made the draft pick in Los Angeles.

And I wonder about, you know, does Les Need have that in L.A.? where he's the guy that builds the team and Sean McVeigh coaches it, but make no mistake, Les Needs the guy that's sending the draft picks out or he's the one that's picking that quarterback. or, you know, however it might be approached, that dynamic is super important. And, you know, it really kind of comes down to in some ways, too, just do you think that Kevin O'Connell needs to be evaluated or do you think that Kevin O'Connell running the organization from his side, head coach, working with the roster and having a great influence over it and maybe being the final say on the 53 and things like that,

like, do you think that that's a good thing? And I guess I could go back and forth on that too. I don't think coaches are good at it. Just in general, I think there needs to be a separation of football and state where it's front office is making those decisions and it's not just based on, and I think this draft could be okay or even could be good, but it's not just based on how much you like sitting in the room with the guy. It also has to be based on playing the board.

it also has to be based on value, positional value, all these different things that are layered into it, that maybe a general manager is going to say, I know you guys like that guy, but that's not a guy we take here. It's just not happening. Or I know you guys hate the fit of this guy, but he's the most talented and that's who we're taking. That could be an approach of a different general manager that they could be looking for. So I don't, I really truly cannot say with any conviction, I think one would be better than the other. One gives you a better chance to win the Super Bowl. I know which one probably sounds a little more enticing after going nine and eight.

And let's not forget allowing the Super Bowl winning quarterback to, you know, leave the building. You know, I think that maybe that does need to be evaluated. I also think when you get a coach of Kevin O'Connell's level, you have. have to think very hard about, you know, putting that person on the hot seat or moving on from that person because there's a lot of coaches that get hired every year who the minute they take the job, you realize, uh-oh, that guy's actually not that great of a head coach. You already have a coach who can win 13 or 14 games and is not 59. Like if he was 59, then I would say, hey, he could probably not win in the playoffs because

X, Y, and Z. But what is he? 40, 41. So, like, I think that there's plenty of time to continue to get better there. And a lot of this all does come down to the quarterback, too. I mean, if, if you're planning on Kyler Murray as your quarterback in the future, you might need, you might need the best cap guy there is running the show to work around that, rather than somebody who is going to say, we're going to do everything different.

We're going to, you know, make a lot of changes. What I really would like, no matter who the GM is, is to have a vision and stick to it and have a plan and stick to it. And it's not always easy in football. But what seems to happen to this franchise all the time is they sort of sense the moment and it's, hey, the future be darned. Here goes all the chips into the middle of the table. Let's go win. And I would suspect that that comes from the top because how would you not want that if you're the ownership? If you go to the NFC championship and you feel like the thing that really cost you was not having a quarterback, how do you not sign Kirk Cousins?

Right. I get it. That's a different seat that I'm in than the ownership is. But they've just done it enough times where, okay, this is our time. We got to make all these moves and do all this stuff and everything else and future be darned and spend the most cash and whatever. And it's like, okay. But if this doesn't work out, history is going to repeat itself here. Oh, David, any intel on Jennings, on Joana Jennings.

Yeah, no, I haven't heard anything. But, you know, those are things with the visits where timelines are always different. Sometimes the, and I appreciate your guys' endorsement for a general manager, I think I'd be better on the advising committee. You know why? Because I listen to football people talk for a lifetime, right? Like a decade long of listen to football people talk. I've heard everything you got.

So I can hear through, you know, BS. I'd be the good BS meter of the committee. They look at me and they go, yeah? Like, no. That's what I do. That's my job on the committee. But no, I haven't heard anything about whether Joanne Jennings is going to sign here or not. Love the idea.

But he might be visiting five or six different teams. And then we'll make his. decision or it could just be entirely on he has a dollar figure and we'll see and you know maybe it it actually could be later on in the summer sometimes players visit and it ends up being like eight weeks later that they end up signing so we'll see that was the case with stephan gilmore gilmore came in in like the early part of camp or something and then it was when camp ended that he finally signed and i uh not a report but i suspect Carson Wentz may have talked to someone with the Vikings before he just up and signed

at the end of training camp last year. Joker says, can't be a nice guy. This is the GM. Be able to tell the Wilfs that we're doing a plan that includes years with losses and to deal with it and don't be obsessed with proving how smart you are and make obvious moves. I think that's all good advice. I think that's all good advice, Joker.

And can you, this was something that Zach Lowe's had. on his podcast a long time ago, is always kind of stuck with me. He said that a lot of GMs in the NBA, and I imagine this applies to the NFL as well, one of the best things that they can do is they can really get through to ownership on the approaches that they need to be taking. And now I think we need to also give like the Quasi Adolfo-Menta era credit to get them to a certain point where they were winning 14 games and they built a very good team. and, you know, they did the right thing in 2023.

And honestly, if J.J. McCarthy was even the 17th best quarterback in the league, they are in the playoffs with a really good chance to win in the playoffs last year. And Quasi is not fired, right? So we got to remember that. It's not like everything he did was wrong. Understanding timelines is huge. But there's a, there's just a, here's what I want. I want a general manager.

And maybe this is Rob. Because Rob just got a pretty good trade done with Jonathan Granart. And I don't mean that the. the draft picks were great. I mean that the overall thing, when you add up the cap space for the future, not just sort of bending to sign him, that was actually different than Rick and Quasi era.

Because Rick and Quasiara, I mean, I almost thought they won't trade Grenard. We'll just get into like a four-day little spat and training camp. And then they'll sign him just like with Hawkinson, just like with Hunter year after year. And it was like, oh, they traded him.

Because he kind of drew a line in the sand there. Like, we're not going to extend this guy. And we can either make a big old mess or we can get draft capital for him now because if we try to trade him after next year and he only gets three sacks, we're not getting jack for him then. So I, I liked that as kind of a, hey, this is a tough decision. We got to do it from Rob Brzezinski. I thought that that did take some guts to do as the just acting general manager sending out one of the best players on the team. I think we should give Rob credit for that.

but whether it's him or it's someone else, I do think, and I agree with your point where I'll give you an example that just, it just lives in my brain. I just cannot, it's like one of those, I can't let it go. In 2003, Kirk Cousins goes to Green Bay. He's playing a great game and then his Achilles tears. At that moment, it is clear to everyone under the sun, they are not making the playoffs unless Tom Brady shows up.

Tom Brady didn't show up. Did they maybe text him? Possibly. But he did not show up. At that point, you have to trade DeNeal Hunter. He's the best player on your team. All he's going to do is help you win games that you don't need to win. And you're not a contender.

Now, the way that that team was headed, it was picking up steam. And I think they could have made the playoffs and things could have been interesting. The way that Kirk was playing. I mean, that was the best we saw Kirk play. or it was up there. But that's not what happened. He tore his Achilles.

They won a game. Oh, we're still in the mix. We can play some combination of Jaron Hall, trade for Josh Dobbs, throw in Nick Mullins, to do what? Like, that's, I need the general manager, whoever it is, to be able to say, we're trading him because we're not making the playoffs, period.

And if Kevin O'Connell, no, I know I can coach him up. No. No, you can't. we got to live with where we're at. And, and when you have a 14 win season or a 13 win season that's maybe driven, although they handled the 13 win season well, but, you know, it's driven a little bit by something that's surprising, uh, maybe some schedule elements to it and so forth,

playing the AFC South that year. So to just say, hey, actually all the things that we did that were smart to get here, we're going to throw those out the window. We're just going to make now bad decisions. Like, That's not what you, what you want to see from the next general manager. David football junkie with a scouting background and front office development.

I imagine that the person will be a football junkie because they're applying for general manager jobs for a football team. But in terms of like the scouting, well, the scouting is a part of this entire thing because are, do the Wilfs have the, the stomach for someone to tell them, for someone to sit in a room, if it's a really good general manager candidate, be like, look, your front office around the league is respected, but you're not feared. So I'm going to fire a bunch of people. And I'm sorry, that sucks for them, but I'm firing them. And I'm hiring my people and we're going to do things our way top to bottom. I'm not going to

have your people trying to convince me to do things their way or struggling to adjust or, you know, whatever else, I'm going to move on from most of the people in this front office and I'm going to bring in all of my people. Do they have the stomach for that? I don't know that they do because I think that they love a lot of people in that front office who have been with them a long time. I think the wills are are loyal and I think they care about people, which I don't want to criticize because those are good things in real life to care about people, to be loyal. I also think that blaming scouts for stuff is something that sports talk radio callers do because they don't know what scouts do.

At the same time that when you've had all these same people here with the same results and a lot of them are very, very good at their jobs, if somebody else has a completely different vision, then you just got to make a change and I'm sorry, that's how the sport works. It's ruthless and it's tough sometimes. but if somebody else has a totally different vision, then you need to make major changes rather than saying new person, just work with everyone here, it'll be fine.

I don't know how well that works in sports. This is why it's so interesting. And I want to know the candidate names. Tell them to me, Wilf. Doesn't matter which Wilf, any of them. Just tell me. The mat trackers is based on how things have gone for them. I'd like to see them take whichever candidate they like

and then hire the complete opposite. Okay, yeah, we've gotten, we've gotten very cynical in the comments at times, Matt. That's too much. That's too much. Third and nerdy, I'd like to see some outside influence that is given the authority. I feel like the Vikings have kind of become a country club of nice people.

It's kind of hard to disagree with that. And look, nice people can finish first, okay? Like, you don't have to be a sociopath to win in the national football league. You have to have a good team and usually a, a good quarterback and that's the way that you win in football. So if you have a bunch of nice people making decisions or a bunch of mean people, we've seen, actually we've seen 13 win seasons either way. Like, right?

Within the last decade, we've seen the mean people, we've seen the nice people. And, you know, it usually comes down to the players you have on the field. I think what you might be talking about is that does everybody show up to work every day, you know, over the last number of years thinking my job could be on the line, I got to push, you know, whatever it might be. I mean, maybe you're getting to that point, but I don't want to disrespect people who are working hard to win a championship. And if you've been here, like a lot of the people for many years, this becomes your home,

your family, your blood, like Rob Buzinski, for example, I mean, this man cares about the Minnesota Vikings, this state, you know, everything else. So it's not like, oh, yeah, okay, I'm just going to kind of put it in, cruise control or something, I think he would push very hard to win. It's really about do you want to make a franchise shift? And if you do, then now is a good time to do it because this is the last year of something. And then there's something new at the end of the rainbow. And the rainbow might take you to the divisional round, the NFC championship.

I don't know where it's going. Once upon a time, I thought the Vikings would win like 10 games in 20. or in 2020. I probably had them as a nine or 10 win team, and they ended up winning a lot more than that. So we don't know where this is going to go. Kyler Murray could be incredible. The defense could be top-notch.

Caleb Banks could be great right away. They could just be a dangerous, super good team. They could get Joanne Jennings, and then they could, you know, make a chase for it. But the reality, based on contracts and age, is for a lot of these players, it's just not easy to see the future. So this is a time that if you want to make a shift, that you can do it because the next person is going to have a lot of roster flexibility.

And I actually wonder if that's why those extensions we've talked about have not happened. Why a cashman? Why an O'Neill extension? I mean, you don't know if the next GM wants to extend Brian O'Neill or not. So they draft another tackle and you kind of see what happens. And, you know, like that's okay. But are they, you know, are they going to? to feel like, no, that's not a player that you extend because of an injury history or whatever,

or let him play out his contract. Like, that might be how the next person feels. So, um, there's a lot that's up in the air for next year that the next GM could make a decision on. So if they look at it like, you want a full shift, then change out front office, change out scouting the major parts. Make it yours. Make it the next persons and go into the future with something that at very least you rolled the dice on. and said, we're going to try something that might work over something that we haven't seen work. I mean, once you, once you start to think about, like, what do they have, three playoff wins? I mean, it's, it's that, that's where this franchise is, is tough to talk about. Because I completely believe that the Minnesota Vikings are a top franchise in the NFL.

And yet, what they have is a lot of regular season to back that up and not a lot of playoffs to back that up. What they have is good, but they do not have like the next level for their results. And a lot of that does tie back to the quarterback situation, which is also why it's a good time to do it. Because a new GM comes in with new ideas about how to build the roster and that guy gets to pick his quarterback. And that's a pretty favorable spot for a general manager to be in. So if you're going to do it, if you're going to make a total overhaul, then do it right now. now because there won't be a better time than this roster-wise.

Antonio says clear vision for the office of defense, culture, and mission to draft blue chip players. Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, most people are going to have that. O'Connell and Flores do provide you with clear visions for the offensive defense. I mean, I think that's a nice thing is that you know right off the bat what that looks like with them, like what Flores wants for players, what O'Connell. These guys are proven. It's worked.

In terms of the mission to get blue chip players, that's the tough part because if you're not drafting high, then that's, you know, not always what you're going to do. Okay, you guys are, it's a comedy hour a little bit here. Purple Kool-Aid says hopefully someone with a football background, someone not afraid to take the franchise by the reins and do what needs to be done if it's not always popular with every coach and the fans. That second part,

I mean, whoever it is going to have a football background. I mean, I know Quacey didn't exactly, but he worked for the 49ers. He was an assistant GM. It's not like he was picked off of the streets of New York. And they just said, hey, financier, why don't you come run our team? Like some Disney movie from the 90s. He was in the NFL. But I think what you mean is like a scouting background.

I don't need it to be one thing or the other. Howie Roseman came from the Cap world. And that's where Rob comes from. and the cap people, they are much more in tune, I think, with, you know, paying attention to weighing options of what gives us the best cap flexibility in the future, what gives us the most draft capital. Rob said, you know, I believe this team needs to be billed through the draft. And, like, I agree with them. Thank you very much for the super chat, Antonio. Bruno says strong analytics skill optional.

Totally disagree. Totally disagree. One gazillion percent disagree. Every general manager in the NFL now has to understand what this stuff says. Because not only is it not going away, the best teams are using it in the best ways. And here's the reality of the Quasi Adolfo Mensa era. He may have been the best analytics mind to be a GM. I'm not sure that he was, but he might have been.

He may have been the analytics mind most capable of building a model by himself, but I promise you he did not end up applying with actual moves, the best analytics principles. Sadly, that goes to your friends in Philadelphia. I think Philadelphia, by far, has run away with the best analytic principle application over the last decade. It's just a reality. Like, when you look at all the things that have been deeply studied by smart people

And that doesn't mean you follow it every time, but all analytics are is studying stuff. And when you study that certain things should warn you about certain players in the draft and you do it anyway, it's like, okay, I mean, you can. But you have to understand the risks that come involved with that. There's a, there's a, and I'm not saying the Vikings never paid attention to it. It's just, it was hard to find right there of like, this is why, you know, they've hacked the comp pick system. Well, they didn't. This is why they have some of the. the best fines in free agency deep in the woods.

Well, sure, a couple of them, but they mostly came from Brian Flores, just liking people. The best contract structures or the best, whatever it might be, are you hacking the league in some way? And, you know, one of those ways is drafting freaking McKay Lemon.

Of course they did. I have no idea if he's going to be good or not, but of course they did, right? They ran AJ Brown right to the end. They, they structured their whole roster build, where they got AJ Brown at the right time. They squeezed every amount out of him.

Now they're going to send him off to New England, bring in the next wide receiver, who's a high draft pick, and it's like, there he did it again. They build the best offensive line, and then they make a little bit of an anti-analytic move to get Saquan Barkley, but they recognize that Saquan in the right scenario would be a beast,

especially because running quarterbacks have an impact on running backs, which maybe will help the Vikings this year with Kyler Murray, but a running quarterback like Jalen Hertz helps, we've seen this from Lamar Jackson, we've seen it from Josh Allen. So understanding that you can give Sequin Barclay more, I'm not saying that Philly has done everything perfect for sure. It's just that it's not hard to find that they get it,

that they understand how to apply, you know, all these data principles. So I need someone with the credibility to apply them. I need someone with the background to understand them. But that could be the oldest school GM. Tell you a quick story. One of the first people to have an analytics guy in football in the last, you know, whatever number of years that actually involved computers was Bill Parcells.

It's in my book over there for New York Giants. The guy who first worked with pro football focus worked for Tom Coughlin, but he was originally hired to do stuff with IT and computers and data. under Bill Parcells, who is like the most old school coach, but also Bill Parcells in his era was the most go for it on fourth down coach in the entire NFL. So you don't have to have, you don't have to look a certain way. You don't have to wear a bow tie and have big nerdy glasses to understand the data.

You just got to understand what it tells you. And, you know, we see some teams that have former players as coaches who apply data successfully all the time. So I don't think we need to stereotype people in terms of that. So if they hire an old school person or former player or whatever, it doesn't mean that that person doesn't understand analytics or how to apply it. The Ravens under Ozzie Newsom for a very long time, they emerged as one of the most analytical front offices.

And that's a former player. Jay says the Vikings need a GM that everyone likes. However, be willing to say no, also be a better negotiator. We have not had that in a while. Yeah, I mean, the negotiating does seem like one of the troubles. And this is why I like the Jonathan Grenard trade in principle is that Jonathan is such a great guy. Grinard is just the best. I mean, he is as hardworking, as energetic, as likable.

He is an ultimate pro. And it was just a black and white decision. And I feel like Rob showed something there. Do you think that Flores wanted Jonathan Grenard gone? absolutely not you think Kevin O'Connell wanted him gone no I'm not saying that they fought over it I'm not saying that like do you just as like a coach you want the most talent you can have you want the most leadership you can have but at the end of the day Rob looked at it and said this this this is the reality of the situation and we have to be real about it and trade him and that's what they did

I think it it took some guts to do that especially as a guy who's not sitting in that chair and could have easily said I'm going to let the next guy deal with it so I I like that. I like that from Rob. But, you know, the negotiating part, it has felt a lot like when you overly love guys, and this would happen at times, that you just kind of end up giving them what they want. Third and nerdy thing that bothered me in hindsight was they hired Quasi, but decided they weren't going to really let him bring in his own team beyond Ryan Grigson.

That for sure had an impact on the success of Quasi da Fulminza. I think that had that happened, it might have been a little different in terms of the vibe, that he would have been able to bring in people that were more along his lines of thinking rather than trying to sell a front office that, you know, you may have run to the end of your rope with Rick Spielman and so did Mike Zimmer. But Rick was very well thought of in the Vikings front office by people who worked there. He treated people extremely well. and he was very professional and Rick just had a lot of respect.

So when you fire Rick and you bring in someone who is so different, I think that he ran into a lot of brick walls right away. And then, of course, the, you know, that 2022 draft and the 2023 thing and everything, you know, it just, it kind of, I shouldn't say it fell apart from there because they still built good football teams that even when they had terrible quarterback play, were capable of winning nine games. So it didn't fall apart, but it was definitely uncomfortable. And it was ultimately the reason that people inside the building felt like they needed someone else to take them.

And I think that, you know, the overwhelming majority, I'm guessing, inside the building wants Rob Brzynski to take it over, not just like, hey, I won't get fired. But even if they were told they're not going to get fired because of the amount of respect they have for the way he goes about his business. Purple Kool-Aid. I think Rob did a good job. You can't run a team like you're playing on franchise mode and Madden. He made some smart moves and has us in good shape going forward.

I would agree with all that. I would agree with all that. I think that Rob Brzynsinski managed this offseason as well as an acting general manager could and put them in a position where they are not screwed for the future. And that's a pretty big deal. Third and nerdy, I want a GM that knows and has worked with KOC. I'm thinking of a McVeigh-Sneed partnership. Well, that depends on how the own.

ownership feels about Kevin O'Connell. I, no matter what happens, thick, thin, up and down for this season, whatever comes next, I think I've seen enough of Kevin O'Connell to say this is a coach that unless things vastly change is a very good person to have running your team long term, that you want to think long term, not next year if it doesn't work out, he's gone. or with Zimmer, one of the things that is just, again, sort of stuck in my craw for a long time, which is if Mike Zimmer wins this playoff game, he stays.

And if he loses this playoff game, he goes. What? I mean, that's, and then they do the same thing with Sam Darnold. Like, there you go. Whoever the next GM is, I need them not to think that way. And I need the Wilf's not to think that way. I need them not to think if Kevin O'Connell is nine and seven going into the last week of this season.

to go, well, if he wins, he stays and if he loses, he goes. Like, don't do it that way. Do it about who's going to put you in a position to be good long term. And I think O'Connell is that person. So the, and I also think Flores is that. I think this combination, I think without Flores, it might look a little bit different for O'Connell, but at least in recent years. But, you know, if you have a combination that's considered one of the better coaching

staffs in the league, then you want to, you want to stay with that. You want to stay with that. So the next general manager has to have a good sense for those guys and how that dynamic is going to work and how they're going to work together. So does that mean someone, if they hire someone from O'Connell's background who knows him, and that's really a double triple down on Kevin O'Connell as the long-term head coach of this team, don't think that's bad because the background is from the Rams who have just consistently, not only one once, but then built another team that's had them right there.

Very impressive stuff from them. Matt says, isn't him letting the coaches run the draft, him not wanting to not want to be a reason to not want him as the general manager. Well, I don't think so. I mean, I think that there's two different ways of doing it when it comes to the draft. There's either the general manager says, I'm drafting and you guys can go float on a boat during draft weekend, which I, you know, I don't think that that happens a ton, but I think that there are general managers who say, this is how we're going to go about it

in the draft and I'm making the calls and I'm picking the players. I think that there was a lot of that with Rick. I think that Rick and some of the stories we heard about 2021 and Zimmer walking out of the draft room when they took Kell and Mond or whatever else. Like, I think that Rick was, I'm running the draft and you're involved and your opinions are there. but I'm the one who's calling these shots. And then there's,

you're the one that's going to work with everybody to then decide what's a best fit for the coaches. There's two different ways of going about it. I would not say, oh, well, your coaches feel like they got good fit players so you're fired because that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I don't actually know what one of those two things is better. I would suspect that playing the board game

that is the draft long term over. a hundred drafts is better, but I don't know if they're going to fail this draft just because they let Brian Flores decide that he liked a fat nose tackle. Like, I don't know. Lance says, all I want to see is good, solid drafts. Then what you want, Lance's draft picks. That's what you want. That would be my biggest criticism of Quasi Adolfo Mensa during the entire time, is that

this team, you know, Quasi did an interview when he first got here and said, something about like not going full Rams or whatever. And yet they said bleep them picks and they went all in with a bunch of, you know, crazy contracts. So they kind of did that. And then this is what happens when it doesn't work out, which, you know, it did for the Rams. So they get to forever be geniuses.

But it didn't for the Vikings. So someone gets fired. But draft picks stockpiling draft capital is hands down the best way to do this. And there's ways to do it. There's letting players go at the. right times, there's making trades. Now, that's where I think Rob Brasinski would be very good. I think Rob Brissensky would care a lot about the comp formula. I think he would care a lot about trading players or letting players go in their prime to get draft capital back in return,

like a long-term stockpiling of assets that eventually comes through. And I think that after this year, they're going to have to have a longer-term vision. This is a good argument for Rob Brzezinski what you're saying. It's like who, whether Flores likes a draft pick or not, which I don't know, is he good at this? Yes. Like, but, you know, whether Flores likes a draft pick or not, that's not really the point. The point is that there are percentages for every draft pick that you take. And if you don't take many players, your percentages of the accumulation of your draft

success is not likely to be very high. When I analyzed Quasi Adolfo Menza's draft history in terms of hits or misses, just eyeballing it based on the percentages from a PFF study, he hit on the exact amount of percentage that you would expect him to hit on for where they drafted. But they didn't draft almost ever. I mean, I was sitting here on day two being like, man, this is fun. What have I been? Oh, yeah. We never did this. because they didn't have picks.

So if you're going to do it the next time, you have to take a stockpiling approach of how are you going to get as much draft capital as possible to build up a 2017-ish-type team that was built through the draft. But that might take a longer-term approach. That might take a three-year approach rather than just, oh, we got a little taste of success. Now we have to go all in.

Bruno, Canada must be good at drafting non-injured players. there's there's always going to be risks to that i don't love it either sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't i mean even last year with the free agents some of them some of the guys who they got that were injured played seven or eight hundred snaps and some guys were out most of the season um but the the banks thing is complicated it is because they clearly have much better medical information than we do but we also have the little common sense in our brain of you sure you want to draft a player with the many injuries so Leonard says some drafts could be evaluated immediately.

Fink's used to draft four or five guys at one position. I really don't think, I mean, yes, okay, we can evaluate the process of, wow, you really did something that was way different than made sense. Or you drafted a player. And I actually do have an answer for you guys, by the way. I do have an answer for you guys. So last night, I was attempting to eyeball, and I got an answer from this. So I was attempting to eyeball what Caleb Banks is pre-combine workout where he got hurt, like what his draft stock was.

And Benjamin Robinson sent it to me. Benjamin has been on the show from grinding the moks. I don't know if you could see that. See that beautiful little chart there? I'll read what it says to you. So Caleb Banks draft stock before the NFL Combine, was that he was the 23rd player consensus-wise, at least by, you know, Ben's metrics. And there are a couple of different consensus websites and there's a Reefs board and everything else.

But 23rd was where Caleb Banks was before. So if we take them at their word with the medical evaluation, which, I mean, obviously, since they made the decision, they believe in it. If we take that out of the evaluation, which people didn't know he was going to get hurt again, he was more along the 23rd player that they drafted 18th. I'm not trying to talk you into it. I'm just saying it's a factor that we have to keep in mind. Now, he did have another injury.

It is something to be worried about. When really good analysts have him in the 50s, it's something to worry about. But that's just a point that needs to be brought up is in terms of their degree of reach, it may have actually been less of a degree of reach than it looked because people dropped him due to an injury they didn't know about. And to show you how awful the outside world is it knowing medical information, Jermad McCoy on consensus board was a top 15 player and was drafted in the fourth round and Will Johnson was a top 15 player that was drafted in the second round last year.

And Nicopi Dean was a top player who was drafted in the third round. The insiders are outside when a second round. comes to medical information. So that all that has to be factored into the discussion. What would I grade the Vikings draft? I think on draft night, I was hovering between C plus and B minus and I think I would stay there is I don't think that the accumulation of this amount of talent that they got is like franchise changing.

But I think, and I do believe in some reaches being troublesome. But I also think that they grow. grabbed players that will fit really well with who they are as a franchise and future positions. So that to me and the fact that they had to give away Jonathan Grenard, it's a fine trade, but it's in the discussion, you had to trade away one of your best players. That means as a franchise, you're taking an L overall, even if you did a decent job in the trade. So I was baking that into it.

Hey, like two thirds. I don't know, man, for a guy who's that good. But if we kind of take that out of it and just look at the players, Yeah, I would go B minus. It's hard to look at this and say, yeah, these are franchise changing players. Like Dominique Orange is a franchise changing player. Well, he could be really good. And I love that type of player.

I love a good fullback, right? It's usually not that hard to find defensive tackles and fullbacks. And, you know, I think that Jacoby Thomas, a safety, like playmaking safety, like, okay, like he looks like a good player from last year he was. but I have a little concern there that it might have been a one-year thing and they might have overvalued how much they love the character

and things like that. So I go back and forth. I really, really like the DeMond Claybourne pick. I think that one was a great decision to get him. And I really, really like the Jake Golda fit. So, you know, first pick is too risky for me and is not Mackay Lemon, who is there. And second round, I really liked.

You kind of have to, individually go through. I mean, the Dominique Orange one, I think he could be an awesome guy to watch. And he could do everything that they're asking him to do. I just wonder if, is that the best use of the capital right there with the nose tackle? And I didn't love how he played last year. So, you know, I wavered. I wavered.

Antonio, big citrus should bring a lot to the field this year. I think he's going to play a lot. I definitely think he's going to play a lot. Matt, if these picks are developmental, then why did they get Kyler? They seem to be trying to pull off the dreaded competitive rebuild. No, I don't, I just am not on the same page with you on some of this stuff, Matt. And I don't think that you ever really can draft for right now unless you have a top 10 draft pick. If they were drafting third overall and they took Caleb Banks, I'd be like, you're out of your skulls.

get Jeremiah Love and let's go. But that's not where they were at, right? Or Carnell Tate, like get those guys. They weren't in that position. Now, maybe Mackay Lemon could help them right away. Maybe Dylan Thineman could have helped them a little more right away than Caleb Banks. So there is that. But even then, the only positions that have kind of proven, and this is where Theneman would make sense,

the only positions that are really proven to impact right away are safety and running back. Everything else needs development. wide receiver in this offense might have gone a little faster, probably. If they had an idea to get Joanne Jennings, maybe that's different. But I look at every draft for the following year. It's just, that's the history of the draft most of the time outside of the top 10. So if you're the Vikings and you're drafting out, you know, look, if you get Jefferson or Addison, those guys are great right away.

Well, congratulations. That doesn't happen that often. and normally it takes a player a little bit of time. So I don't have an issue with these guys will need development. Everyone is going to. But I think I understand what you're getting at is if we believed that they were going to make a type of draft to try to squeeze out every ounce from 2026. They didn't do that. They probably could have taken a different approach to do that.

Dirty Mike, the operation was not good. Rob was a dormant for the coaches. Well, you know, I mean, if you're a general manager who has been in charge of the salary cap for most of your career and you've got your scouts and your coaching staff all working together in collaboration and they come to decisions on the players, on the evaluations, I think, I mean, it seems like almost too much belief on your part, like on fans' part, like you believe or too much belief in the mock drafters who thought Shadur, Sanders was a top 10 draft pick. Like, not say, like, I know all about the reaches. We've been over this a million times. But in some ways, I think, who do you think you are with some of these guys? Like, you give a bad grade because, oh, well, he wasn't as high on my board.

Oh, okay. Well, I guess, you know, you must know way better. I don't know. There's like, there's a narcissism to this whole thing that kind of is weird to me and always has been. But just in general, general manager does not mean I make whatever the F to decision I effing feel like. That's not, it is in some cities, but usually it's not.

It's more of you get your scouting reports and you bring them in and you get your personnel people and your coaches and you get together and you have meetings and you discuss this stuff and you look for the players that fit the best with your team and then you draft them. And that's what they did. I mean, in some ways, like, again, if we go, if we consider Dominique Orange a little less of a stretch then it looked like because of the men. thing. I mean, every other pick other than Jacoby Thomas, a late third rounder, every other

pick is either ahead of or in the same ballpark of where they were expected to be. Every other pick that they took was something that they need within the next two years. I mean, some people are acting like this draft was a bunch of just randos that we'd never heard of, that weren't on any, you know, the beast or whatever. It's like, okay, maybe we're going a little bit too far deciding today for some of you that you know how this draft's going to turn out when it's an absolute fact that none of us do.