Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Let the Vikings GM search begin! (Hour 2)

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.

This episode of Purple Insider is presented by Fandul. A third and nerdy would like to see some GM with bravado. If there was any point that that actually, you know, I think Rob showed it a little bit. I think bravado came in the, in the form of not doing anything in free agency. Like, don't you think that there was some behind the scenes like, hey, we need to get this free agent. We should restructure this deal. We should do this, that, or the other thing. Like, and he stuck to his guns there.

and, you know, with the Jonathan Grenard trade. So I think there was some bravado there, but maybe not, like, he's not a big media guy. Antonio, if things go bad this year, will COC get fired and Flores become the head coach? Like, I have no idea. I mean, I honestly think that the way the Wills feel about Kevin O'Connell, things would have to go horrifically wrong. Absolutely horrifically wrong in order to fire Kevin O'Connell. Kevin O'Connell. I just, I don't see that making a lot of sense. Dirty Mike, managing the cap is pretty trivial. Rob has amazing PR with great at the cap.

All it takes to navigate the cap is elementary math and an owner willing to pay guarantees. Rob is kind of a self-deprecating guy. He might agree with you when it comes to that. But I don't. I don't agree with you when it comes to that. I think it's way, way more complex than you are trying to make it when it comes to the cap. But I think the point about the cap person being good as a general manager is that this is a game of bean counting sometimes. This is a game of just put it, put it, pull up two hands. And in one hand is Jonathan Grenard. And in the other hand is two third round draft picks and $34 million of cap space. And you go, oh, also it's Jonathan Grinard and 50 more million guaranteed.

And you go, all right, this is hard because there's a really good player involved. but we're going to have to take the $34 million and three or two third round draft picks. That's accounting. That's cap management in some sort of way and asset management. So you want somebody who's really good at that. And I mean, I don't know. Like I think saying he's got good PR. Like he's considered around the NFL.

This is from other people around the NFL that talk about his ability in this area. But yes, of course, cash. Cash is important. the fact that they, you know, ownership is willing to spend. But Rob was the one who was making it all work. Dirty Mike. Why do we trust Flores with player evaluation? He wanted Turner over Verse.

Man, I mean, these are just bad points, dude. Like, yeah, yeah. Well, first of all, I wouldn't even say, I don't, I don't even know if they got that wrong. Like, at this moment. Yeah, Jared Versus has been a really good player for the Rams. According to Vikings fans, he's Reggie White. but he's been a really good player for them. Dallas Turner's on a different timeline.

Jared Verst was older than me when he got drafted. Jared Verse remembers Bill Parcell's coaching in the NFL. Dallas Turner was one of the youngest players in that draft. The Vikings drafted players this year who are as old as Dallas Turner. I mean, Chuck Demings is as old as Dallas Turner. That I can look up their birthdays for you. It's got to be pretty close. I think they're both 23.

So, you know, they took the younger player and last year, Turner showed what he's got. But I mean, if you're saying, well, Flores doesn't know how to evaluate, I mean, come on. Like, this is now, now we're being ridiculous. Now we're just being mad for being mad. Like, that's, I mean, he's, look at all, look at the turnaround of this defense. He's had one top 100 draft pick. And this defense has gone from bottom three to consistently top 10, which is hard to do for anybody, consistently. And, and I mean, saying that, like, he can't evaluate. It's like, all right. I mean,

was, you know, Kobe can't shoot a jumper. Like, this, he's as good as it gets when it comes to that. It's not flawless. Like, every single, you know, you take a guy, Mackay Blackman or something, who they got half a good season out of, you take him with the 108th pick or whatever. If he doesn't work out, you guys treat it like it's committed a homicide or something. Norse force, it would be awkward bringing someone else in after the outstanding work from Rob Brasinski. Well, you know, I think that Rob would just probably, you know, he's done this for a long time. So if they went in a different direction, he would, I assume, go back to doing what he did before and be professional about it.

So, you know, I don't know. I mean, yeah, like, I guess a little bit if people are sold on him. Son of Beavers really, well, actually, you know, Matt, you make a point about, well, it's a little bit weird because you're right that the Jaguars general manager, who came from the Rams, right, has done some bizarre stuff. The Jags were in the playoffs last year, but their draft was very weird. I don't know, you know, maybe it'll work.

Maybe it won't. It was very weird. Just because this is a fair point to make, just because someone comes from another organization that's good does not mean that they are a genius or that they'll be perfect. That's for sure. Son of Beavers, I really hope we bring in someone from outside the building. maybe all these teams with other front offices,

people quitting are going to come here and work. I don't know. The Philadelphia guy that everyone was convinced was quitting to become the Vikings GM, apparently he's leaving the industry. That's at least what it says. So if I become the GM, will I keep doing live streams?

Yeah, sure. Yeah, because the odds are not particularly great that I will be named. I'm not asking to be GM. I'm just asking to be part of the committee. I don't think it's crazy. I really don't. I mean, when you think about, like, how closely we reporters study the team, like, I don't

know, how closely we study people, we listen to every word, we write it down, and then we share it with everyone. I don't know. Just want to be part of the committee. Just let me in. I'll help. Antonio, do we really want to bring in someone who will upset the apple cart? Oh, this is, in my opinion, this is the right time because this Apple cart is headed for a cliff.

Wee. And it's going over regardless. When you just go, you know, go to over thecap.com, look at 2027, look at the free agents they have or the contracts that are void, the number of openings on the depth chart, the quarterback situation, which is completely up in the air. It's the right time. There is no cart. I mean, the cart is teetering right now. And at the end of 2026, just real, just real quick, I'll save you the time.

If you think Aaron Jones is probably out, T.J. Hawkinson, maybe Will Fries, could be Brian O'Neill. We'll see. I mean, Jordan Addison seems like he's pretty well settled, but, you know, Cashman, Grenard's already gone, Van Ginkle, don't know his status. Isaiah Rogers is a free agent. Byron Murphy gets very expensive next year. Might be up for being cut. Well, that's like nine or ten key players right there. And they got to pay Will Reichard, right?

Is that next year? The year after. Pay him now. Whenever he becomes available. That doesn't matter. But the point just being that like a lot of key, it actually does matter that they keep him because he's amazing. But long term, there's a lot of key players, even to next year that are not going to be here or are their statuses up in the air. And the same goes for Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy.

So if there's not a better time. to bring in a new GM, you know, right? So now it would be the time. Son of Beavers, a surprise you brought in another DT. Eric Johns. Oh, yeah, I wanted to get to that. Yeah, they did bring in Eric Johnson the second. His dad apparently played in the XFL, which sounds like a Purple Insider story, if I've ever heard one.

But he's more of just kind of a run stuffing guy, and he's got some physical ability that's impressive. But it hasn't played a ton of snaps in the NFL. It was a later round like a day three draft pick who shined at the senior bowl. They must see something. They need some veteran on the team, some veteran depth. Hasn't really performed at much of a high level so far in his career. Maybe there's something there.

Antonio, so you're saying that Kyler will only be here for one season. He might be. He might be. there's there's no way we're paying him top money for salary cap reasons well so here's the thing about kiler murray is that there is a middle ground of quarterback that has emerged in the NFL that is baker mayfield sam darnold gino smith last year there's a number of guys daniel jones and with the amount that the cap goes up every year and the way you can structure contracts it's just all very different than when it was with kirk so if you're

he plays well and they really like him and they think that they can win long term with him and Jefferson has 1,700 yards or something, like they'll, they'll sign him if he wants to stay here. They'll do that because they're not going to repeat the same mistake twice and let a really good quarterback walk out the door. That is very risky for salary cap reasons, but, well, and I say that now, but I don't know who the GM is going to be. So that does depend. But, I mean, more likely than not, and well, that might be a good thing.

And actually, now I'm bouncing around a little on this because it might be a good thing that the last GM who made the darn old mistake or was part of it is not here to try to chase that mistake that whoever is the GM will be evaluating Kyler Murray based on is it worth it to sign him and can they do it? But with all the money coming off the books that I just mentioned, you could do it with Murray. It just has to be at a decent price and a good structure. But you can do it. I mean, Seattle built up a roster through really, really good decisions and really, really good drafting and won the Super Bowl with the quarterback who was being paid like the 12th best, whatever it was. He was making like 30 something, but it wasn't a ton. I think it was maybe 33 or whatever. His cap hit was maybe $16 million for last year.

So there has emerged as a middle ground in the NFL that was not there before. Purple Kool-Aid will the Wulf's refusal to let a GM rebuild cost us another performance. preferred candidate like it did with Ryan Poles. I don't know if that's the reason Ryan Poles didn't take the job, but that should be a part of the discussion is, hey, if there's a point where we got to have a reset year, is that going to be something that is allowed to happen? I think the answer is never going to be yes with this team. So how do you work within the confines of that will definitely be a question.

Lewis Riddick has been interviewed at times, I think, for general manager jobs. I don't know Lewis very well. I mean, I think he's a smart football guy, but I don't, I mean, he's as football as it gets. And he's got the background played in the league and was a scout before. So maybe he's somebody that they'll consider. I don't know. We can only guess until I make my way on the committee. Then we can only guess for now.

Speaking of the NFC North, by the way, the Fandul question of the day, don't forget about that is did your, what's your order? post-draft, and which NFC North team do you think won the draft out of the four? Right now, the Lions at plus 150 are still the favorites to win the NFC North after the draft, and the Vikings are still at the bottom at plus 600. Their odds actually went down a bit. Pete Seagery, why are we so afraid to start asking questions about the Wilfs? They've made some very, let's say, inexperienced-type decisions when it comes to selecting managers and coaches, et cetera.

I mean, I don't know that anyone is afraid necessarily. I think that where it's fair. I mean, it's very easy when it comes to anyone to just sort of take some mud in your hand and throw it at them when things didn't go the way that you wanted it to go. Like, so while they didn't tank in 2023, which led to them not getting Drake May, so yeah. And look, I've been the first to kind of pound that drum. But we got to tell the whole picture of this ownership. The franchise that they've built, the coaching staff that they currently have,

the roster that they've invested in has been, I mean, you just don't get much better in terms of ownership than that. And when it comes to making bad coaching decisions, I'm not even sure who you mean. Like Brad Childress, maybe. They did go to an NFC championship with Farvin Childress, but maybe he wasn't a great coach. Les Frazier, I guess, you could say. Les kind of got hung out to dry with the roster.

Mike Zimmer and Kevin O'Connell. Mike Zimmer overall was a very, very good coaching hire and got the franchise back from the doldrums after where it was with Les Frazier and went to an NFC championship. So Mike, I think, was a good Vikings coach overall. And I don't know. I mean, with Kevin O'Connell, I was about to say, I'm not sure how much more you could ask.

Well, yes, you could ask to win the playoff games. Yes, for sure. something, but I don't think they missed the Kevin O'Connell hire. I mean, every other coach except for Todd Bulls from that hiring season is fired already. I think there were 10 and 8 are gone and Todd Bowles is barely hanging on. So I think that they clearly hit with Kevin O'Connell. It's just they haven't, you know, gotten over the hump. And he was also, you know, at least significantly or somewhat responsible for Sam

Darnold leaving and winning the Super Bowl. So there's ups and downs to just about everybody. But I'm not like the G I mean GM. Yeah, you could say Quasi was a miss. They end up having some success in that era. But yeah, I mean, the fact that you have to fire him pretty quickly. Sure, I'd say that. Overall, the Wilf's spending a metric ton of money on this franchise to provide the best possible situation for players, coaches, everybody else to give them all the resources to win.

and then wanting to win is a hard criticism for me and probably always will be. Even if I think that there are times where they have just not really seen the light in the future of if you just take a step back now, it's going to be way better for you. David says, Vikings, Packers, Bears, and Lions, I think that we will look back and see that this is the first of a number of drafts that we're going to win over the next several years. So, well, you think that the, uh, the Vikings had the best draft or should be maybe the best, uh, or is that the order that they should be favored or you think that it's going to turn out. Either way, I mean, not surprising that, uh, we would get the Vikings at the top there on a

Viking centric show. But I, the thing about the NFC north is that any order that you put in there, you could absolutely justify. If you said, I think Chicago is going to take a big step forward, um, you could justify that. If you said the Vikings just need good quarterback play and they're going to be at the top, you could justify that. Definitely. Antonio, the Vikings will probably lose one game against the North, probably to Detroit. I believe Kyler will bring the video game aspect to the offense.

Clever, Antonio. But they have not had a quarterback like this since when. I mean, Farve was the different kind of swashbuckler. but he was not a running quarterback. He was going to make plays on the move a little bit, but he was also old, so he was mostly playing for the pocket. Who's the last Viking quarterback who was really a playmaker?

It's like Case Keatom, but he was nowhere near as fast as this. So trim says they don't make it public because those people might have other jobs. Okay. I don't know. Like, they're not, I would imagine that they need permission from their teams.

I don't think that they're doing. it in the middle of the night. Son of beavers, if they're asking other teams to interview. Yeah, that's what I was saying. Purple Kool-Aid. I think the rankings are the lions. This is a Fandul question of the day.

The Lions, Packers, Bears, and Vikings for now. Draft, I think we won out of the four. The Lions reached for Miller and Thinaman to be, well, and, yeah, the Bears. With Thinaman to be a needle mover must be exceptional. So we had some good picks. Yeah, I don't think that anybody in the North

really blows me away with the, way that they handled the draft and the Packers didn't have their first round draft pick. So I can buy that. I can buy that in terms of the actual order. Yeah, I mean, the Lions, it's weird because the Lions of the Vikings had the same record last year. But the Lions probably deserve more benefit of the doubt. And clearly in the betting market, they're getting it.

They had the best point differential. That's odd. They had a bunch of injuries. They still had a good offense despite their offensive coordinator, not knowing what he's doing because they've got that much talent. they feel like they still have the high end skill players around Jared Gough. That offensive line still scares me, though, or doesn't, you know, terrify me. But if I were them, I would be concerned about the offensive line.

They drafted, as you said, a reach at right tackle and they're going to ask him to start right away. Is that going to work out? I don't know. Packers drafted a kicker. Hey, you know, when the Vikings drafted Will Reichard, I just point. it out that historically speaking, undrafted kickers do better than drafted kickers. Doesn't apply every single time and it's a sixth round pick.

So the Packers drafting a kicker, it's fine. It wasn't like when, didn't San Francisco draft one of the third? That was absurd. And the guy didn't even work out. Parker would prefer Rob stays on for cap management and think he's valuable to have in the building. And then for general manager would love to see someone from Philly and poach a Howie disciple. I mean, if you're going to go get somebody, get somebody from the best team in the league at this.

And that is Philadelphia. Leonard, there are plenty examples of Kevin and Brian misjudging players was Blackman, evidence of good judgment. There is not a team in the league who has not misjudged a third round draft pick who was like a hundred and fifth overall. I just, sometimes I'm like, you guys are reaching. this is that is a stretch i mean with kevin o'connell there's a much easier uh young player that he misjudged it's right there it's right there if you want to point out a player that kevin o'connell misjudged uh mckeye blackman is really not the one you need to throw the stone at they haven't given

brian flora's jack for draft capital ever they just since he's been here nothing they gave him dallas turner and nothing back end of the third round players. The fact that Blackman gave them 400 snaps one year and was fine and was probably going to be better if he didn't tear his ACL is like a decent third round pick. I don't know why expectation. Maybe it's because you can Google these guys and draft analysts. They fall in love with certain people that we treat third round late third round draft picks. People saying, man, this Ty Felton. I can't believe it. It's like, what? Like the first and second round draft picks have legitimate odds to be good players. Everyone else is a dice.

roll. And yet there's some expectations. It seems that there's supposed to be these like star players. Dap bones as I want Rob B to be present of football operations than hire a bright young GM mix the old school wisdom with modern ideas. It doesn't seem that they're, well, actually not. It doesn't seem. Mark Wilf told me directly when I asked him, is how I should put it, in Florida, that they're not going to have someone who's over the GM. The GM and the coach are going to be at the top, and they're going to answer to ownership. That's how it's going to be. Truly, during the draft, it was wishful thinking the Vikings would trade with the Jets and

the Vikings get a seventh round pick back. I mean, what does a seventh round pick really mean? When were you talking about? I don't know how much opportunity. We always assume that teams just had a chance to trade back. We don't know that they actually did. so they stayed and they picked the guy that they liked the most. Matthew says thoughts on the Eagles assistant leaving for other opportunities,

think he might be an option. It's been reported by multiple people that he's leaving the industry. Not that he's just, I mean, I don't know. Could they talk him out of it? But I'm not sure where it came from that he would be a candidate. He's, at least from my understanding, is like going somewhere else to the finance industry or something, just straight up like leaving football. So that would make him maybe not.

so much of a candidate, but maybe, I don't know, maybe they can talk them out of it. Antonio, we need someone who has played the game at the highest level and has been in the front office, a football guy, not some kid who's new to all this. Definitely don't need someone who's played the game. If you, have you ever seen Howie Roseman? Not, not definitely not Caleb Bank's size, put it that way. You don't need to have played the game to be a general manager. It's a management position.

It's not a Madden position where you just click, click and pick players and stuff. It's leading a whole franchise. There's a lot more to it. It can be a former player. Dan Morgan and Carolina, Ozzie Newsom I mentioned, John Lynch. There's former players who run front offices, but it definitely doesn't have to be one. Benjamin, the Wilfs need to learn to get out of the way and just sell the team. Or just sell the team.

They've yet to put together a competent front office. Rick and Zimmer are as closest they've came. See, this is the hard part because clearly, clearly that's not true that they've never put together. Like, they've had really good teams over many years as the owners of the franchise, whether it was, you know, far of going to the NFC championship or the Rick and Zim or most recently when Kevin O'Connell has his starting quarterback, they're 31 and 11 when he has his starting quarterback, either Kirk Cousins or Sam Darnold.

I just think that, I think a lot of this stuff, to just tell you the truth, this is just my feeling, a lot of the stuff for people on the outside with the Wilfs is you just don't really know anything and you just sort of throwing stuff out there. Like, I mean, I think that that's mostly it because they don't talk a lot. We don't know what their conversations are really like. We don't even really know what their opinions often are like or how much they're involved in certain things unless they tell us directly. were involved with that or we wanted that.

One thing that we do know, because Marcus said it numerous times, is that anything less than competing for the playoffs and making the playoffs is a disappointment every single year. And they're always going to fight tooth and nail for that. So whoever gets hired. And I say that both like admiring it and also being frustrated by it at the same time, because that's not how there's 32 teams. You can't just always win.

So there is a little bit of, come on. Sometimes you got to live in reality there, but also I appreciate that an ownership is trying to win because look around the league. There are not 32 serious franchises. There are definitely not 32. So the fact that your team is one of them is a major benefit. And look, there are teams whose own players give their owners Fs when they're asked about their ownership. I mean, you could, I mean, look at the Browns. They're going to start to Sean Watson.

I know, like, hey, you're not the Browns is definitely not. It's like a backhanded compliment, but your team trying to win all the time is just not a level that they set that should be so hard that it should crush you under the weight of trying to win, right? Like, it shouldn't be that hard. Like Seattle is a team that never tanks or whatever. They made the right Russell Wilson move and that ended up being the thing that tumbled down to Sam Darnel winning the Super Bowl for them and getting. a lot of draft capital. So they were good there. And they were willing to take a step back with Gino Smith.

They actually thought they were going to take a step back and ended up being competitive. They had a lot of good draft picks. They had a lot of good decisions to get like DeMarcus Lawrence, trade for Leonard Williams, all that sort of stuff. But that's not a team Seattle who has ever said, let's tank and draft the next quarterback number one. So it's not like it's unfathomable to continue winning. San Francisco.

No, I shouldn't totally throw San Francisco out there because they got Nick Bosa through an accidental tank. Super Rod, we got a GM. We need to get a GM that is a great negotiator and ownership needs to know that we have down years instead of we need to make the playoffs. I agree with that part. Yep, I agree with that part.

Moral, any chance that they add an analytics GM after Cui Cui. Well, Quasi always despise the, frame of him being the analytics GM. He did have a different background, and it was more on the data side. He also was an assistant GM for another team already, but he had come from the research side of things. I think that they will go with someone much more experienced. If there's, if there's a thing to knock Kwayze on, it's not the analytics.

It's really the experience that even if they had said you can hire all your own people. I don't even know if he had his own people, that they might want to go with someone who, has much more time in the game that maybe is not like the they were looking for something that was totally the opposite of Rick Spielman vibe and they got it and overall they built a team that had a 14 win season and a 13 win season and won nine games last year despite bad quarterback play so it's not like he did horrendously but what you need is someone who truly understands the value and the application of data whether it's brought to them from the analytics department or whether it's their own analysis, they need to get it.

But here's the reality of the NFL today. Everyone has to be into data. Everyone. If not, you're going to get run out of the building by every other GM who understands how to use it. I mean, we've seen such monumental shifts in data usage in the NFL by coaches, especially, and I think also by front offices and where it really shows. up is in how much they pay for stuff. It's not random that they all decided that a offensive tackle is worth X and a C. You would see so much different variations of that if the data didn't

clearly point to what you should be paying for those things. That's what's driving a lot of stuff, a lot of decisions. They're using, they're using NGS for evaluations. They're using PFF data for many years now. I mean, Quacy, this is a thing. You could be like, oh, Quacy used his analytics or whatever. Yeah, used them to help San Francisco in the draft many years ago, which is how he made his bones in the league, was by using PFF data and presenting it to the 49ers organization to help them get an edge when that was first coming out. So if you know that stuff, you know that every, it doesn't mean they're all going to draft versus a consensus board, but like it does mean you need to understand it and what that can tell you, what that can't tell you, and then every other data thing and how it can be used to your advantage,

what you can study that might give you the slightest edge to evaluate a free agent, to understand circumstances better, right, to give out, you know, a smaller contract to somebody who's just as good. You know, the whole Jason Giambi, we need to replace them in the aggregate, like that kind of thing. They actually did that with the defensive line and then didn't realize how well they had done it with Harrison Phillips and Jonathan Bullard and so forth. So, yeah, if you don't understand data now, you are, you are at a loss.

And Rick used it a lot, by the way. Rick definitely used it a lot. There's a guy named Mike Band, who put out an article on Twitter about the 2015 draft where they had developed a draft model and it influenced the 2015 draft for the Vikings when he was working there. So, you know, Rick was, Rick was into the data as well. He just didn't have the same, like, fluency with it with Kway. but I think he was better at, you know, being a decision maker and kind of being the guy in the room that

everybody trusted. So there needs to be a mix of that. Tim says the organization needs to collaborate and develop their plan and align with it. If so, it will show on the field for all to see if the GM needs to say the buck stops here and make, if not, the GM needs to say the buck stops here and make hard decisions. Yeah, I agree with that. Like, everybody loved the idea of collaboration. and then it got messy and then then they didn't love the idea of collaboration. But I think that's what you need.

And that's what they had in Rick. Like they had a good situation where Rick was clearly the guy. And no one questioned. And I talked to Scott Sudwell about this one time. No one question who was the guy that was making the final call. And it was Rick. And they respected that. And when it was Quasi, it was like, we're not really sure.

And if it's Rob, I think that we'll know that. and it's been shown. I think this offseason with the Grenard trade and with the lack of free agent movement that the buck can stop with him. Because otherwise, I think if you gave the coaches a blank check, they would have gone out and spent, you know, whatever they could to win in 2026. So, Remmer, are they notably leaving KOC out of the hiring? Didn't see him mentioned in the note.

Well, they don't have to tell you if he is. They could, they said a small group, which again, I'm available. but a small group, I don't know who that includes. I don't know if that includes Kevin O'Connell or not. And you are right to point it out that it didn't say that O'Connell will be involved. But I would have to imagine that in the first, my guess is that in the first run, maybe he would not be. And then once they whittle it down to certain candidates, that would be, that's just a guess.

That makes logical sense to me. Like, cast the wide net. don't have Kevin O'Connell who's trying to put together his mini-camp plan or whatever, just going to every single meeting, but then bring him into the process when you've whittled it down. That could be it. Stop treating Paper Tiger 13 and 14 win seasons as if they mean anything. Look, I, the 13 win season, fair enough. The 14 win season, they outscored their opponents by 100 points.

And they had a top 10 offensive defense, right, that year. so stop treating the winning like they won. I mean, if you just want to be that person who thinks everything is horse crap, I just don't know what to tell you. Like, it's my job to lay out everything as objectively as I can. And the wins and losses, they happened and they're a part of it. And so if you have a head coach who and a general manager who built a team that was headed to Detroit with a chance to win their 15th game,

because they built such a good team, then it's pretty hard to say that everyone is just stupid and terrible all the time. But that does seem to be like a thing. It does seem to be a thing. Like, no matter, there are certain folks that no matter what happens, it's like, well, they didn't win the Super Bowl, so everything is garbage. I feel like it's my job to sort it out, to sort it out into different little categories and like try to pick it apart.

What was it really, right? Like, what's, what's the most fair way to look at it? That's what, that's my job. You can be as angry as you want to be. That's your prerogative. But my job is to try to pick it all apart and say, let me look around the entire national football league because I, I don't know if this was a response to, you know, the O'Connell point, but like, look around the entire NFL, look at how often teams are hiring and firing

coaches and do good franchises do that all the time? Do they just sort of like, oh, well, you know, this guy had a down year, like Arizona. those brilliant leaders in Arizona where it's like, well, the guy had been a good coach for what we had, but they had a down year and we're just going to fire him. Like, we don't, we don't know what we're doing, but we're just going to fire him. You don't want that to be the case. You want to have your franchise, if you have a good coach, that you give him plenty of room to grow and to see where it takes you rather than just saying, well, you know, the next coach. will be better. But how often does that even happen? I mean, sometimes you can tell me,

yeah, well, they fired this coach and then it worked or whatever and here, here, or there. And you're probably able to come up with some examples. But I also think that teams like Philadelphia, teams like San Francisco, teams like the Rams have, they have, I think, had success by playing it through some of the hard years. Kyle Shanahan has a, what, two four win seasons or something like that, a six-win season, a four-win season to his name. He's missed the playoff several times. You're not firing Kyle Shanahan. And, okay, yeah, he did make a Super Bowl and he's won in the playoffs.

That's true. And O'Connell needs to get there. He didn't necessarily do that in his first year in San Francisco. That was what? 2017. Took until 2019 to get there. Sean McVeigh had a down year and they didn't fire him. Like, I don't know.

You just, I think when you have one of the guys who's better at this, you stick with that. And I also think that when we're rewriting the Quasi Adolph-Menza era, you can't just go, well, everything that he did was garbage and was terrible and he stunk and should never be spoken of again when you had good seasons and you've had three winning seasons out of four years that he was here. I don't really think that that was the reason that he was fired. I think it had a lot to do with the trust of going forward knowing what's on the horizon. So, I mean, it's, I guess it's a, I guess it's just a little bit odd to, uh, oh man. Yeah, a little bit odd to see this many people who are like pissed off, which is just

unusual to me because it's, it's like not the time of year where we usually get that. It's, I don't know. It's like I'm, I guess I wasn't really prepared for that type of response to like a general manager discussion, but I guess some of you are very angry. like two days after the draft. Not where I expected you to be. Bryson, I hope Rob doesn't get the job. He'll eventually get fired or force to step down

and it's the awkwardness I don't want in the building. I don't know. I mean, yeah, I don't know, like, unless it goes right. But I guess the chat is not seeing any chance of that happening today. Mr. Mayor, I feel like the last several years of inefficient trading started to snowball. I don't know if we've had the same offers on the table as other. teams drafting around us have had. Could be you're right about some of the trading, giving up.

I mean, one of the problems with being in a mode where you're having a 13 or 14 win season and you feel like you got to, you know, try to go fill that need in the middle of the season and you move draft capital or when you're taking your big swing and you want to, hey, let's go get our big time player and take that big cut at it. There was a comparison. Somebody made, actually, Quasi made this on this show one time. He made it about, kind of, like, implied the Timberwolves going to get Rudy Gobert and taking that big swing is sort of similar to when they got Dallas Turner, which is, yeah,

they overpaid for Gobert. It's worked out really well overall. For the Timberwolves, the problem is you can't really justify every big swing as well. You know, it's worked out that one time. It's like, did this really make? sense to do. The Dallas Turner one might make a heck of a lot more sense this year than it has looked like for the last couple of years. But to your point, it's always seemed like they've paid top dollar in trades. And do you, although they did get a, what did they get a sixth or a fifth

for Sam Howell? So maybe they won that trade. They won the heck out of the Sam Howell trade. But point being that it did seem like that, that they had trouble getting over the finish line with trades and they do need someone who's a little, you know, I don't know, more connected in the NFL, more respected in the NFL, that maybe that was an issue with Quasi Adafo Mensa, I don't know. But you're right. If they couldn't get an offer to move back for number 18 that was significant, then why was that? Maybe it was just because in this draft, nobody really wanted to move up. That probably could be part of it as well. BM's zoned out for a month and came back into the draft with many, without many draft thoughts.

Honestly, came away happy overall. And I'm actually high on the season and where they're set up for the future. Well, you're in a different spot than some folks. I'll tell you that. I think that where I'm at with the future in general is they've done a lot to help themselves for the future under Rob Brzezinski this year, regardless of whether he's the GM or not. This offseason did a lot to set them up for 2027 and beyond. And clearly that was on his mind.

He was talking about it numerous different times throughout the process. So the fact that they did that is an overall positive. But what I find in general, both, you know, great about the draft and also off-putting about it is that people decide right after it happened whether it was any good or not. And I just can't get there with you. I can tell you about the risks. I can tell you about concerns that I have about each. player did you spend the draft capital the right way did you manage the board the right way did

you take players that were too risky did you play take players that even if they hit their peak might not have as big of an impact as you think they're going to have or whatever like there's that in different areas of this draft but there are some folks who seem to have like come out of the woodwork after this draft and decided like now is the time to burn down tCO performance Center. And I guess I would just ask maybe to wait till they play a football game again. But the first quarter is a great time of the first game. That's usually when that overreaction starts. But like, let's see a couple of guys get on the field. And then maybe we could start to assess it after that. So BM, you're in a different spot than a lot of other people. Mr. Mayor, I think that

teams feel that they don't need or want to offer us fair market value on trades because then then they'd be the only losers that could fleece us. Well, I mean, in any sort of trade, you're looking for fair value to go back and forth. And a lot of the trades were. I mean, they traded for Cam Robinson. They, well, trading back, that was a controversial one in 2022. I didn't think that they got enough value for that. Some charts liked it.

Some charts didn't. I think common sense there. If you're moving back 20 spots out of the top 15, you got to really, really get. you know, something big for that. You definitely do. And they didn't and didn't end up working out. Palm Tree Yeti. Do we have a read on if Bersinski wants the job?

Job security for being a cap guy seems pretty alluring. Tom Bell Serra reported that he does, that he is, that his hat is in the ring. And he's probably decided, look, I've worked for this team for long enough. And I just had a good time being the GM and everybody seemed to be happy. So why not, right? Why not take the shot at it? You're not going to, you're probably not going to get another shot, maybe ever. So take that one shot.

I agree. Now, this is where we agree, Dirty Mike. Analytics is great if they actually follow it. That, that's true. That is true. Guitar, I see you, maybe. Spielman did not draft a guy who couldn't throw in the second round. That was actually the third round.

That was actually the third round. if you're talking about Kell and Mon. But yeah, the Ponder thing also. Yeah, Kellynmon. That was the third round. Yep. CJ, you're right. Philadelphia did pass over Jefferson.

And that's why when people bring up like Ty Felton hasn't done enough for Mackay Blackman, it's like, okay, even the best teams make mistakes. But I think we also agree that Philadelphia has done the best job of building a roster of any team in the NFL. Probably hands down. But everyone's going to make a mistake. Yeah. Of course. I mean, it's like, that's what it's weird where, you know, these these grudges end up getting built up for every single mistake. That's like, it's really about having as many swings as you could possibly get. Yes, Philadelphia made that mistake. The next receiver they got became a superstar because they had another swing at it because they did things to set themselves up to have that. uh, Stephen, my ideal GM would be, uh, Bill Belichick, the GM, not Bill Belichick, the drafter.

Uh, he put the best team available, but not always the best players, never overpaid for players. Yeah, you mean so like, not the current Bill Belichick who, I guess his girlfriend would be the GM, but you mean like the way that he, Bill Belichick makes the Jonathan Grenard trade, right? That, that's what you're getting at, I think, is that Bill Belichick would do stuff like this guy, we're moving on from before he falls off or if he's too expensive or if we can replace him. And Belichick struggled with drafting. Do you ever wonder why? Because they drafted 32nd all the time.

That's why he struggled at drafting, I think, was that they, but they were really good at identifying Patriot players. And I think that Flores is good at that. Proctor, they should have never let George Payton leave the building. I have a lot of respect for George. I think, yeah. I think he's done a very good job of managing the Sean Payton-related. And the next GM might have a similar thing where they might decide they want KOC to largely dictate what happens there.

And the GM is supposed to work with him. That's where George is at. But also, yeah, you're right. The Belichick looked like a good G. It wasn't, you know, it was because of Tom Brady. And it probably was because they were stealing other people's game plans and stuff. But it was also on the defensive side. That's where you could see Belichick and some of his mastery of team building was on the defensive side.

He understood exactly what he needed, how much it cost, how to get it, who needed to stay, who needed to go. The, you know, yeah, the Tom Brady part is why he's a genius. But, I mean, still. Brent's good or bad contract for Joanne Jennings, three years, $45 million with $30 guaranteed. That's a lot for me. That would be a 30 guaranteed as a ton for me. I would probably go maybe more like, well, if you can get him for multiple years. that's i think that's a lot i mean it's you know it is 15 million dollars a year but is there

another team that's giving him out that much i'm looking at that guaranteed money and saying that's a that's a ton for me uh but essentially if you if it's 30 million guaranteed well you know you know brent that's not as bad as i initially thought because if you think about the price for receivers three years it's essentially a two-year 30 million dollar deal which is about 15 million dollars per year actually you know what brent you're not bad at this That's not too bad, but would he sign up for three years? Because I think he's much more along the lines of try to sign up for a year and then look for a bigger contract down the road if no one's willing to give it to him. Because a lot of the money is already spent at this point around the NFL.

That's not bad, though. I don't mind that. Let's see. Let's see. Mama, everyone in the chat is an expert level GM. Yeah, I mean, that's, look, football. wouldn't be anywhere near as fun if we didn't have strong opinions on it. But sometimes it, sometimes it like clears a, it goes over. It goes a little bit over for me. I think having strong

opinions on football is why it's so fun to talk about. But sometimes it goes a little bit too far. BM says kind of surprised about how much negativity there is about the draft, perfectly fine with them betting on a player with huge upside instead of getting a homeless man, Harrison Smith. I don't think that Dylan Thineman is a homeless man's Harrison Smith. I think he's just not Harrison Smith's position. I just don't think he plays Harrison Smith's position. Harrison is a huge guy. He is, I know him.

He is big. He's 6 foot 2, 200, I don't know, 15, 20 pounds. Like Dylan Thineman's like 511 and 200. They're just totally different players. I really feel like it was just the white safety. white safety, guy wears an arm band thing. Well, he did play all over the Oregon defense, but that doesn't mean you're doing it in the NFL.

That's another thing that people need to kind of like get their mind around is there's versatility in college and there's versatility in the NFL. I don't know that a 5 foot 11 and a half or whatever he was, 200 pound guy is playing up in the box too much in the NFL unless you are a special type of player. But even that's even a concern of mind with Downs and Caleb Downs didn't go as high. as people thought, I think because of that. Neb, I think this draft

was a bit of take your medicine affair, especially for the fans in media, nothing sexy, nothing exciting, just good, decent meat and potatoes, depth at lunch pail positions. I would agree with that. They just didn't get, it's not even like the sexiness, it's that they didn't get the things that they kind of obviously needed, like a future center or a wide receiver.

And that likely played into some of the feeling. And I do also think that some people in the draft universe when you stretch on the first round pick, it doesn't really matter what you do the rest of the draft, even if you do have a solid rest of the draft. The first round pick is going to be weighed in those grades so heavily. Purple Sam Squatch says KOC is at eight starting quarterbacks with the Vikings. He needs a stable QB1. A lot of that comes down to it. A lot of whether you're a genius in the NFL or not comes down to whether you have the quarterback position.

and if you get it locked in, then you can really effectively focus on the rest of your roster, as opposed to always worrying about what's going to happen next to quarterback. Tyson says it seems like a good chance. The grade in three years will either be a C or A, mostly depending on banks. Right, I think that the other guys are pretty easy to be able to say what they're going to be. Like, you know, and there's no sure things at all.

but you can project certain guys of like I think, Daman Claiborne, for example, like you could kind of project what that looks like. Max Bredeson, you could project what a fullback's going to look like. Jake Gold Day, it's a pretty clear path. Banks, it's just not as, it's not as clear. I didn't say that verse was not better than Dallas Turner right now.

They're on two different timelines, is what I said. Caleb says if Rob doesn't get the job, would he be upset and leave the, Vikings all together. I don't know. I can't speak for him. I am not sure, but I think it's very possible that he could decide to do something else. But I doubt it. I mean, I don't know. I'm not in his head. I think that he'll probably just continue to be a part of the front office. He has a very good job and he's very good at his job. And any GM who comes in would love to have that guy unless they have their own. So it might depend on that. Learn to score.

Wimify watching tape of Kyler Murray, juke Jared verse out of his cleats will cleanse you of any misplaced hype over verse versus a really good player. What is weird to me a little bit is that I think that he has, am I wrong about, he is like 12 sacks in his career so far. And it's like he's sort of treated as if they gave up Will Anderson. And that's not a disrespect.

I think versus a powerful player. I don't know that he was what they were looking for. And this might be a fit thing. and I also don't know that he was what they were looking for in terms of age because they had Grinard, they had Van Ginkle, so they wanted to maybe develop a little more. And drafting guys who are 24, there is limited ceilings there a lot of times. Jeffrey says Vikings go top four, four of top 75 consensus board prospects and a handful of scheme fits. Not sure of the hand-wringing.

I think it's really more about banks. And some people didn't like Jacoby Thomas, but that's a back end of the third round pick. I just can't get too worked up over that, but there were some people who just hated that draft pick and killed them for it. I don't know what to say about that. That's like, if Flores likes a back end of the third round safety, then just take the back end of the third round safety. I'm not too concerned if, you know,

anybody in the outside world had him as a fourth round pick instead of a third, which the Vikings didn't have a fourth round pick. So you kind of had to do it. All the other picks, you're right. They matched up with consensus or were steals or whatever. and the especially DeMond Claiborne, there were some analysts who had him in the top 10 running backs in the class. It's really about banks. I think that's what it comes down to is that nobody had banks that high at the point of the draft.

They apparently did before. And I believe there was one person who mocked him to the Vikings. Was it Chad Reuter who may have mocked Caleb Banks to the Vikings way back when, like when we were first starting early out? but not at the end of the process. So they were going to get pretty well crushed for that. But the rest of the guys were drafted where they were expected to be taken. They just didn't take the positions that they expected. Jay, what would change would you do if I was the general manager?

Well, see, that's a hard one because if you're talking about like, how would I build a team in front of my computer with just me doing the draft and everything else, those are two different things from being the general. manager. That means like managing an entire coaching staff and front office and scouting department and everything out like that. That's way more to that job than just being like, boop, I pick a player. I mean, I think that you guys have a good sense for the way I think about this stuff. Stockpiling draft capital would be a very huge priority, having realistic timelines, not being afraid to have seasons that were not ideal, but got you draft capital into.

of the future. And the quarterback decision would be really hard and would determine success or value for anyone, but really leaning into those positions in the draft that are the most valuable, which they, you know, did with defensive tackle. That's one of the more valuable positions in the league. But leaning on those would be really important. And, I mean, being as modern as we possibly could be. And it doesn't mean ignoring the other stuff, but like everything is data points.

It's not just stuff you scrape from a box score is the analytics. It's also all your years of scouting are data points too. So I would want to understand what we got right, what we got wrong, how we could become more accurate in the draft would probably be the number one thing, how to stockpile draft capital and how to become more accurate? How can we be 10% more accurate than the rest of the NFL on the draft? What are the things that would point us to that success? And then I think that free agency has a dozen guys every year that just sort of are under the radar and someone grabs them for almost nothing.

And it's great. Isaiah Rogers was that guy last year. How can we get all of them? That would be also my thought process too. I'd, you know, but look, it's not like, it's not like this team has done a gazillion things wrong. And I have 57. What is the, who was the guy? now this is, I'm a bad history major who, uh, put the, the list of grievances on the door,

whatever. It's a historical theological reference that I'm just, if my wife is listening, she's mad. But, uh, anyway, so, uh, you know what I'm saying? Like, that's, that's not what I would do with this franchise. I wouldn't have this super long list of you have to do this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this different. It would be just, uh, you. It would be just, just a sharper focus and not being afraid to build on a true timeline and stick to it and not have a little bit of a blip of success and then be like timeline out the window, here we go. But that's a lot harder than it seems.

It certainly is. Do you think that swing tackle was a bigger need than center with our injury history seems like the team did? I got the sense that they must have just not loved the centers that were there when they were on the board. Now, maybe they loved Logan Jones. Maybe they love Jake Slaughter, but those guys didn't end up being available to them. So it was really Sam Hect, who they could have taken. They decided not to. That must be about the player more than anything. And it might also be about the future with Tiernan, that they might view Tiernan as a future tackle or someone who can kick inside

to guard. And they might be sort of safeguarding themselves at those two positions, because both of them could be open after this year. And they might also just like what they see from Blake Brandel. It seems like a little risky to me to go into this with Brandl and then two young guys who have never played. That feels like that that's got some risk to it for sure. But that's the only thing I could guess is that they just didn't believe in the centers in this draft.

Oh, that's funny. You could just, you don't have to watch it on two times speed to catch up. You could just keep rolling until I'm done. Oh, you know, to be up in the in the chat. but I'm always way behind the chat anyway. Anyway, Beaver says the Eric Johnson signing seems to be a short-term fix to give Caleb Banks time. That way they don't have to rush him back from his foot injury.

Yeah, sure. I mean, in practice and then maybe he ends up going out there a little bit. He's played, but it just hasn't been very good. So I don't know if it's anything more than just like a deep depth guy for training camp because you need Vennel. veteran players and then hey maybe if there's something there more than that that they like they can find a role for it flores has been able to do that before so that's the best i could do with that signing i don't know that it's directly connected to kela banks just because this guy i mean he's

maxed out at like 400 snaps in his career unless they really see something uh a z bro love how long the pods are well you know i keep getting uh keep getting questions so i keep giving answers i enjoy it uh, BM, uh, we now have a college player going to gambling rehab. How long before we get an NFL player doing the same? That's something that I just, man, I don't even know. I don't know what you do about that. Uh, they just have to have, you know, we, the guardrails feels like the word we've used a lot, but like, I think you have to have, um, for players specifically,

maybe a lot more attention on that for them. Uh, usually there's at least some signs of, things like this, what was happening with Sorsby, it's a, it's a concerning situation. It is. And it's not just that, but like also what's happened with the NBA and what isn't Damon Jones? He's probably going to go to jail and he was given inside information and stuff. It does feel like a matter of time before a controversy like that hits the NFL.

I definitely agree with you. You know, what, what do you do there? I think that you really have to work with the athletes. I do think you have to work with the athletes a lot more in their education than they maybe do. And you have to let them know to seek resources a lot earlier. In terms of the Fanduil question of the day, no avoiding it, that connection, but responsible, everyone. Neb says Bears, Lions, Vikings, Packers for how the division will play out. That was the fan dual question of the day, is that the Vikings are plus 600 now after the draft

to win the division. So how do we think it's going to play out now that we have basically the full rosters, Bears, Lions, Packers, Vikings is how Nebs got it. I think that that's fair to have the most skepticism around the Vikings because we just don't know what Kyler Murray is going to look like. but the bears are kind of the regression candidate, not if Caleb Williams is good. I mean, man, it's hard to figure.

The lions are the team that might be most likely to hit that wall and fall off. That last year, that that was it, that they had sort of run out of steam. Their offensive line not good enough. And the bears are the ascending team. But any combination, honestly, it makes sense. Need to keep record at all costs. definitely, definitely.

Learn to swimify until proven otherwise can't take the lion seriously. Never forget how they couldn't beat Max Brosbert. Fair enough. Yeah, they did finish last. Jason says on your last episode, you were searching for a comp for Caleb Banks and his size, weight, movement skill. Got one for you. Albert Hainsworth, 6, 6,3, 20, 5.09, 40 time. that is the like the well the first half of albert hainesworth that would be the holy cow i can't believe

they pulled this off that's the 99th percentile if he were to become albert hainsworth uh albert hansworth is similarly those huge hands the power yeah like that's a that is a great best case scenario i came up with de quon jones as a like 75th percentile scenario um skulls shadow 6 and 11 is the floor 10 and 7 the ceiling. Jerry says to borrow a quote from politics, it's the QB stupid. Get that right. And a lot of the problems don't seem as bad. Don't disagree with that.

Fire everyone. The seventh round pick wasn't a first year hall pro. Oh, yeah. Chris Carter could be a good GM. I don't know about that. Fantos Marathon, the Thielen trade and the banks pick may be worry about Rob Brzezinski. He's respected and knows how to manage the cap, though. Yeah, the, well, the Thielen trade was, I think that that had some layers to it that makes it more complicated.

Maybe put it that way. I don't know. Steven says, are you saying football is a numbers game? Oh, is that a book that someone, someone read? Joker, it's hard to argue against the probability outcomes based on history. Don't use the data at your own peril. Yeah. in football, so much rests on the quarterback that you could be the best analytical team in the NFL and lose.

You could be the worst than you could win. I mean, I'm not sure how brilliant the chiefs have been using data or whatever. They've had Patrick Mahomes. They might have to be a little more brilliant going forward. Clearly, the bills are trolling their entire fan base in media by not drafting wide receivers, which seems like a bad idea for Josh Allen. But they've won a lot of football games because Josh Allen. But I think that if you want to be in the NFC where it's pretty wide open at the quarterback position,

that there's a lot of teams with B or B plus quarterbacks, who's got the slightest edges on team building? That's who's going to win. So, yeah, I mean, Jeff, what are my thoughts on bringing in Terrence Gray for an interview? I don't know if I, like, if I have specific thoughts on anybody. I just don't know how to do it. I don't know. Like, if you tell me, if you tell me, well, what about this guy from this? team. I don't know. Like, it's not like a coach where we can look at a scheme and a system and

everything. We could just say, this person worked for this team and that worked. But there's a lot of people who've worked for certain teams and then been terrible GMs elsewhere or the other way around. So I don't know. Anyway, debt bones says organizational stability over the years is key. Then decisions aren't based on job security. Totally great. That's a great point that you want to make sure that you have people not trying to play for their jobs, draft for their jobs, and it doesn't seem like that happened this year. A son of beavers, I would like a scouting department overhaul, also is Grigsend still with the team.

So far as I know, but usually contracts come up in May in the NFL, so we'll see if that continues. Dap Bone, draft wise, we need to improve in the area of managing the board. Could have had some of their targets later and added draft capital. I mean, you're, you think that they could have. I mean, that it's based on a guess versus the consensus of whether they could have or not. I mean, that's, we need to keep that in mind that it's not an absolute fact that you could have had this player there or that player there or whatever.

It's just your thought that may be based on the expectation they could have. Now, if you wanted to say, well, if the expectation is that that player should have been available, if they're not, let somebody else reach. And then I can get on board to some extent with that. To me, day three is whatever you like, just go for it. Just swing, swing at players you like. Like their personality, like their athleticism, whatever it is. It is so random past day two that I don't even know.

Get a fullback. He's got a pretty good chance of doing something for you. I mean, maybe there were some receivers I liked still in the fourth round. I like Skylar Bell. But if one of them turns out to be a star, then yeah, okay. Maybe some of that stuff doesn't look great of taking Jacoby Thomas. but there's just as good of a chance that a third round safety could become a contributor for you. I don't know.

How much do you think a cap guy makes? I have no idea. Dano, are you surprised that Mack Jones is still in San Francisco? Not from what I heard. I heard that they wanted to keep him and that they were asking for the moon for Mac Jones. And no one was willing to give up the moon for Mac Jones. No one is doubting that Jared verse is good. No one's doubting that.

Yep. I was Martin Luther. Okay. Yeah, that was the grievances. I knew of somebody. Or it was George Costanza and Festivus. Both of those answers are correct. All right. Well, we've we've closed in on almost 10 o'clock. So this is, we've, we've been far past the line where we get loopy on the show. I did a promise, though, that I would look at some undrafted free agents. So I might as well just do that now. before I hang it up for the night because I got something planned for tomorrow, tomorrow night for you guys. I won't ruin it, but it should be good. So let me just run through the UDFAs that caught my eye.

I've got four of them and then also just add the punter in your mind because that's always going to be interesting. So I'm going to run through these, give you my foremost interesting UDFAs and we could circle back to them. Rookie minicamp is always hard. It's one day, you know, they're not in pads. It's not as intense as it was for Zimmer where he wanted everybody out there going 110%. I think it's harder to have a big takeaway.

But these guys will be guys that we keep an eye on through OTA's minicamp. The first one on my list was Dylan Bell, who was from Georgia, undrafted free agent, obviously, had 27 catches, 279 yards of two touchdowns in 2025, but had 120 career receptions. He's a very experienced player. And even though he didn't have the fastest 40, he was still ninth. best by NFL next gen in terms of his athleticism score. So burst is there. And what you could see is we talk about this a lot of the players.

Hey, just get the ball in their hands, natural athleticism, strength, breaking tackles, playmaking. I see a lot of that from Dylan Bell from Georgia. And I will say that I was on the same page as Steve Smith when he did his breakdown of Dylan Bell and really liked him that Steve Smith was offended by Georgia's offense. and when I was watching Zachariah Branch thinking the Vikings might draft a wide receiver, silly me, I was like, what is this? What is this offense?

It just bubbles and screens and reverses and, you know, Bell was actually better when he had Carson Beck there and Beck more of a real quarterback. So he's a guy to watch just the playmaking skill and the wide receiver position should be pretty darn wide open past, well, we'll see if they signed Joanne Jennings, but at least past the top. two, maybe past the top three. UDFA number two, uh, Cajon Owens. He went, um, to Florida International University is kind of a one year breakout player, 1,300 yards, 6.3 yards per carry. He is not the fastest guy, but he has great vision, cutbacks, kind of a bowling ball, like, hard to take down. And a ton of mistackles, tons of yards after carry. I think four of his 6.3 yards per carry was after contact this year, which is pretty interesting.

And it's another room where you've got Xavier Scott, but you could, you could make it as something. You could make it as practice squad. You could make a name for yourself. He's not much of a receiving back, though, which makes me wonder, you know, can he pass protect? Can he play special teams? But at least in terms of his numbers for this year and his performance at a little bit

different, you know, competition, pretty dominant, though. So he's going to be someone that I'll keep an eye on in a room that doesn't have that many bodies. UDFA number three, this guy is very interesting. Cameron Stewart, who went to Temple, 6 foot 4, 244 pounds, and he only rushed the pastor this year 139 times and had 39 quarterback pressures, ran a 456 at the NFL Combine, or no, maybe his Pro Day, and 34-inch arms. this guy did not play almost at all for his college career and then finally gets his opportunity this year and lights it up as a pass rusher. So not very experienced, but kind of intriguing just with the measurables and then this production kind of out of nowhere. So Cameron Stewart and the edge position, another one that's very wide open for this team. And the fourth one on my list is Jacob Thomas, not to be mistaken with Jacoby Thomas.

five interceptions over the last two years, ton of football in his career and ran a 4-4-40, again at a position that should have a lot of competition. So a playmaker there went to James Madison, not a huge university, but James Madison was really darn good as a football team and he was one of their best players. So those are my four most intriguing UDFAs to keep an eye on.

But they brought in like 19, so we'll see if anybody else ends up emerging. Anyway, well, thanks for the great chat. tonight. Very interesting to get all of your thoughts on the GM, the bigger kind of picture for this team. And I've got something cooked up for you for tomorrow. Good conversation coming your way. And we'll see what else may come about. We'll see if there's a surprising wide receiver signing or anybody else added to the roster or any other news items for, I don't know, like another podcast. But my plan is, and this doesn't often work out in Vikings land, my plan was because it was a long weekend to actually take a Friday and not do anything.

But sometimes I just get ideas and need to a podcast anyway, so we'll see. Anyway, uh, thanks for the chat tonight. And we'll catch you all very soon. Football.