Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Let's talk about Zach Wilson with CBS Sports' Chris Trapasso

Episode Date: October 31, 2020

Draft analysts are starting to buzz about BYU's exciting quarterback Zach Wilson. Chris Trapasso did an awesome film breakdown of Wilson's skillset and he joined Matthew Coller to talk about all the things that have draftniks so intrigued and why Vikings fans should keep a very close eye on Wilson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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And more. Subscribe to Front and Center today. Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collard here along with Chris Rapasto. He covered the NFL draft for CBS Sports. One of my favorite draft analysts. And yes, Chris, it's October and we're bringing draft analysts on the show in Minnesota. That is a thing that is happening, sir.

I know. And recently that hasn't been something that has happened during the Mike Zimmer era. It's all about can they advance the next step in the playoffs, can they get over the hump and not lose that game in the NFC title game or the divisional round. So it's kind of uncharted waters for Vikings fans, but it's not too early. We're almost to November. You've got to start watching these college games on Saturday, not just because they're good games, but watching specific prospects at all positions.

Okay, and that is why you are here, because I have become enthralled with Zach Wilson. BYU, as people know, has a wonderful quarterback history that includes a Detmer, Steve Young, Jim McMahon, and now Zach Wilson. And the first night that I saw Zach Wilson, I was just clicking around the TV, saw BYU's playing, knew nothing about Zach Wilson. He made three throws, and I went, what is going on here? Who is this quarterback from BYU? And then I have seen film breakdowns and so forth from people like yourself. Explain to me where Zach Wilson came from.

Like, did we know this was going to happen? Did I just have my head in the sand, or is he kind of Joe Burrowing right now? He's not exactly Joe Burrowing. He started as a freshman two years ago at BYU, and you saw some of those splashy throws

earlier in his career. He dealt with a lot of injuries. BYU hasn't been as good. So, if you are an avid BYU fan, I think you were maybe hoping that something close to what Zach Wilson is doing would happen or materialize this year. I don't know if even the most fervent BYU fan would have expected 78% completion, 13 touchdowns, one interception, six more rushing touchdowns and beyond just all those stats we we know watching college football schemes a lot of talent around the quarterback can produce

those statistics he looks like a legitimate NFL draft prospect with his arm with his playmaking ability I'm as enthralled with Zach Wilson as you are because he looks like that modern-day quarterback that can make those plays outside of structure and from inside the pocket as well. So this is exactly where I want to go in terms of his playmaking ability. And this is a frustration of Vikings fans with Kirk Cousins. He is not a playmaking quarterback. He is more of a system quarterback where everything has to be right. The scheme has to be spot on. And in 2019 with Kevin Stefanski, it was. And I think Baker Mayfield is finding out the benefits of having Kevin Stefanski running your offense as well. But that's not always going to be there. moment with Zach Wilson where I went, okay, this is what I want to see from the next Vikings quarterback. He's rolling to his right and he's got a receiver coming over the middle, kind of on

his right side. And he just flings himself around and fires a BB. And you think the ball is kind of going to come down, but it has velocity all the way into the receiver's hands. And I just went like arm talent. And it kind of had, and I don't want to be overly hyperbolic, but it kind of had a Mahomesy Rogers type of feel to be able to throw on the move like that. And I think that that is like you're saying, like what you have to have is that playmaking ability and the arm talent in order to be a top tier NFL quarterback. Yeah. And I actually just wrote a scouting profile, like you mentioned on Zach Wilson earlier this week at CBS sports.com. So I remember that exact throw against UTSA. So the competition that he's played obviously has not been top tier, but that throw. And I wrote,

that was an elite level quarterback play that we see on Sundays stepped up into the pocket, drifted, right. It did not have his feet set perfectly. level quarterback play that we see on Sundays. Stepped up into the pocket, drifted right, did not have his feet set perfectly, almost looked like a shortstop throwing the ball across the diamond. That's what teams want to see. And as a draft evaluator, that's what I want to see.

That I think 10 years ago, Kirk Cousins, and why he's had such a long career is that coaches wanted that system quarterback. I'm going to tell you to throw it here. This is going to be the coverage. Make the throw. But Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, Josh Allen, that new age, even Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow, new age of quarterbacking,

you need that ability. And just watching all of Zach Wilson's film, I mean, I don't want to come on here and be that guy that says he has the it factor because as a draft analyst, I should be able to describe what I'm seeing. Right. He just makes plays, though. It's like Russell Wilson-esque that he has the nickname Mormon Manziel, which I think is hilarious.

He's bigger than Johnny Manziel. He has a better arm than Johnny Manziel. He doesn't make as poor decisions as Johnny Manziel that even at Texas A&M. But you kind of get that playmaker type. Like there was a pass where he threw like a shovel pass on the run for a first down. Very deceptive as a runner, too. I don't think you're going to use him in the designed run game. But he just gives you all these elements to his game.

He can make throws from in the pocket, strong arm, and just has a knack for making a blitz or miss or getting rid of the football off platform, still throwing it accurately down the field. I think he could be that Joe Burrow type of quarterback that ascends, maybe not to number one overall, obviously, with Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields, but be someone that two months ago we weren't even talking really about on the draft radar that ultimately goes in the first round. So people should go to your Twitter at Chris Trapasso and check that out because as soon as I saw you posted it, I slid into your DMs and said, come on the show. You're talking about Zach Wilson. You have no other choice. And here we are. So how do you

deal with the quality of competition issue? Now, the way I look at this is that you always evaluate the skill set first before you talk about those types of things. And the skill set is through the roof with him. But I also think he's kicking these people's asses. Like this was the criticism of Josh Allen was, hey, you know, the numbers weren't really that good when it came to playing for Wyoming. And then is his, you know, supporting cast any good? And was his offense for Wyoming? And then is his supporting cast any good? And was his offense any good? And back and forth and back and forth. And I think that everybody has kind of gotten their turn being right about Josh Allen.

But in this case, you have a guy who's whipping other people. And it's sort of the Steve McNair thing where McNair went to what? Was it Elkhorn State? And no one's heard of Elkhorn State. But he put up historically great numbers and you mentioned the 78 completion percentage not a perfect stat of course but when someone is completing eight out of ten passes and is throwing the ball down the field I mean I I think that you have to say like that's what should be happening if you play against lesser competition

yeah and two points to the competition topic. Number one, it's not as though BYU has like four first-round wide receivers out there. I mean, the level of competition in all these games is relatively even, so it's not like he's being boosted by a great offensive line and amazing receivers, and he's not dink and dunking. Like, there's quarterbacks in those air raid offenses that are completing 75, close to 80% of their passes. I did some research. He's actually throwing the football down the field, 20 plus yards down the field at a higher rate than Trevor Lawrence, around 17% of the time, Trevor Lawrence was just under 17%. So it's not like these are inflated statistics.

He wants to throw the football down the field. And when he eludes pressure, he's not just instantly trying to run. He's not doing it after his first read is covered. You see him scanning the field and he likes to test defenses vertically. So it's really when it comes to the competition and the elementary statistics, don't scoff at them and say, oh, well, it's probably because he's got great receivers and they're dinking, dunking, they're throwing a lot of screens. Yes, there are screens in the offense, but they're letting him unleash that strong arm that he has down the field relatively often. So where's he going to go as of October, what's today, 30th? Where's he going to go?

Because you mocked him to the Bears, which was a huge mistake. But Eric Edholm, a friend of the program, mocked him to the Vikings. Not a huge mistake. But I'm curious to what you think about where he stands as a prospect. Because when I see someone like Dane Brugler saying, hey, all of a sudden this guy could be at the very top, we've seen this before where there's shuffling, where we think someone is the fourth quarterback and they all of a sudden boost themselves up and end up as the second quarterback. Lawrence is pretty much deadlocked in the first spot. But after that, it seems like it's a toss-up. Daniel Jeremiah is saying that Trey Lance could be the second guy off the board, and hey, Justin Fields just completed every pass in a complete whooping

of Nebraska. So where do you stand right now on how these guys end up playing out? I think where he is right now, he is firmly in contention with Trey Lance from North Dakota State to be the third quarterback off the board. I still think Justin Fields, because he was a big recruit, he was at Georgia, at Ohio State, he'll ultimately be the second quarterback, and that's probably where most scouts and GMs view him. But Trey Lance at North Dakota State only played that one showcase game this year, and before that was his first year as a starter last season at North Dakota

State. Famously didn't throw any interceptions, but you saw that that was a run heavy offense. They didn't really ask him to do a whole lot. He does have all the talent to be a first round pick, but the fact that Zach Wilson will have all this momentum playing a full season. And if he continues on this track and I don't see, if you look at their schedule, they play Boise State that I believe is ranked 25th right now.

Beyond that, there's not a game where he has to face, you know, a Pac-12 opponent where he could just tank and then all that hype would kind of be, kind of dissipate. So I think playing a full season, he will be in contention and be a candidate to be the third quarterback off the board. And I think three or four, if you look back at history, that's usually the number that goes in terms of the quarterback spot in the first round. Go to SodaStick.com to get your original Minnesota sports-inspired goods. If you have not seen this stuff yet and you've been listening to this podcast, what are you doing? Make sure you go check it out. A couple of my favorite designs.

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Code Purple Insider for free shipping. And I wanted to ask about that too because the vikings are in a spot where if they have a really poor second half of the season uh we picked their schedule the other day on the show and we came up with 5 and 11 for the vikings which there's a lot of bad teams in the nfl i think that puts you somewhere around sixth seventh somewhere in that ballpark um how many other players do you think end up in the mix with these quarterbacks? Because it seems like all four of them are great NFL prospects, and considering there are a number of teams that have serious needs at the position,

even some that we didn't necessarily expect. I don't think we looked at Washington initially and said, oh, yeah, that team's definitely going to need a quarterback because they had just taken Haskins, but now they definitely need a quarterback. But then there's other teams like Cincinnati and Houston who are awful and they don't need quarterbacks going forward. So how do you think that that mix kind of plays out with these tanking teams or in the Vikings case, just bad and have no cornerbacks left? How do you think that that works out? I think quarterbacks are going to be pushed up. It sounds crazy now, but when you're talking about the draft this far out,

I don't think anything's too crazy. To have Trey Lance or Zach Wilson or both of them go inside the top half of the first round. I think the fact that COVID will play a role in the 2021 draft, because some of the blue chippers, Micah Parsons, the linebacker from Penn State, Gregory Rousseau, who had 15 and a half sacks on the defensive line for Miami last year, they're not playing. So some of the blue chip prospects that if they probably would have played, they would have had huge seasons. They could have locked them inside the top 10. I don't know if they're guaranteed to go there. And like you mentioned, there's a lot of bad teams,

and most of which beyond Cincinnati and Houston need quarterbacks. So if you're the Vikings and you're looking for the long term and you're saying, all right, well, we have Kirk Cousins for 2021 because of the contract, but after that, we want to plan ahead. Two talented guys in Trey Lance and Zach Wilson sit for a year. I think that would be the perfect scenario. And really, I think it's tracking for Zach Wilson to be picked higher than anyone would have expected a few months ago. So I want you to expand on the Vikings part of that because the fan base, it feels like

they've sort of made their decision on Kirk Cousins. I don't think anyone hates Kirk Cousins. They just realize the shortcomings and how much you need around him to succeed. And I just feel like you have a perfect situation to draft Zach Wilson or Trey Lance or Justin Fields, however it plays out. And then you wait for a year. He sits on the bench and it just, I think it just works when guys sit on the bench and they learn how to be an NFL quarterback. And then you can figure it out down the road.

But the other element of this, Chris, is that you have an opportunity to build the roster first, which I think plays into why some guys sitting for a year, why it works. I mean, even if you were Joe Burrow, like imagine you get another year, he's doing fine, but another year where you can build the roster up around him and give him a chance to like not get sacked every third play or something like that. And I was just going through the potential needs for the Vikings. If they make some trades, if they move someone like Harrison Smith, I mean, they could need seven or eight

positions next year to be able to fill without a second round draft pick as we currently speak. I think that the plan is kind of laid out for you. It's just, are you going to have the guts to do it? Because that means not drafting a tackle, not drafting a defensive tackle, not drafting a safety or a corner, all these things that it looks like you're going to need. Yeah, I think in the Vikings situation in the first round, it would come down to positional value. That if Trey Lance is sitting there, that's obviously the highest valued position at quarterback. If it's Zach Wilson, I think you have to make that pick over a safety, over a defensive tackle, over an offensive lineman.

Those all matter. And I'm a big advocate of, as we've seen for a lot of these new wave of quarterbacks, building a really good offensive line and giving them weapons. I mean, I'm seeing it in Western New York with Josh Allen, that that helps a lot. But you need to get that quarterback first. And I think if you're sitting there saying, man, should we pick a safety, our number one safety, or should we pick Zach Wilson, who we really liked that we had as the third quarterback behind Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields for the long-term stability of that organization, you have to kind of lean toward the positional value and fill out some of those

other positions, third round, fourth round, in free agency, and then the following drafts after that. Yeah, and that's where we're not really certain, Chris, is the people who are in charge, I think, really want to win in 2021 to keep their jobs. And if you're not willing to look down the road with the draft, I think they've made some mistakes in doing this, in looking at their roster and saying, we have to fill this position for this year. Garrett Bradbury, I think, is one of those picks where we're going to go to a zone blocking system

so let's spend a first round pick on the best zone blocking center okay great but um you know you can find centers and there were other guys wide receivers that they could have used and if they knew that Stefan Diggs wanted out maybe that that would have been a good idea. But I guess that's, you know, over litigating the past. So other quarterbacks, I want you to tell me, is there other people we should be watching? Because I've invented a hashtag, as one does in the year 2020. People are just clicking on the words skull searching. And this is just, yes, I'm tagging all the quarterback highlights. I'm sure they've already, people who have clicked on it have seen plenty of Zach Wilson,

a little bit of Justin Fields. But is there anybody outside of that top four that, let's say, the Vikings end up seven and nine, they get hot, and they can't draft one of those top four, what do they do? I mean, is there another quarterback that you're looking at as, hey, this is an end of the first round guy, a Teddy Bridgewater type of situation, somebody who could drop, um, that maybe is a first round talent, or is it a huge, uh, fall off a cliff after the top four? I don't think it's a fall off a cliff. Um, but the player that I'm going to talk about first, he opted out. So we're not going to see him. Jamie Newman, the quarterback who started at Wake Forest, transferred to Georgia, and there was a lot of hype because Georgia's just behind only Alabama in terms of their recruiting, and then he opted

out before the season. He's 6'4", 235 pounds, big, very athletic, big arm, and he really elevated that Wake Forest program over the past couple seasons. Down the stretch in the ACC when they faced Clemson, when they faced some better competition, a few of his wide receivers were hurt. He got hurt, had some bad games, but he's someone I think value-wise, and we're talking about the positional value for the quarterback position, second, third round, I could see him still going there. There was some talk before this season that because he opted out and just showed flashes at Wake Forest that he could go later in the draft, that he could be a fifth or a sixth-round pick.

I thought that if he would have gone to Georgia, and he didn't have to set the SEC on fire, but if he would have had a good season, we could have been talking about him as a first-round pick because I saw first-round traits, was very keen on throwing through tight windows, not afraid to make those difficult throws. So Jamie Newman, can't really watch him, but he's someone to keep in the back of your mind. And two other quarterbacks, Kyle Trask from Florida, not a strong arm,

although he's a bigger quarterback. And Florida's kind of had some COVID problems over the past couple of weeks. That's why we haven't seen the Gators. Good decision maker, pocket passer, can get outside the pocket a little bit. He's not Kirk Cousins 2.0, but he's someone like Kirk Cousins that I think coaches are going to like because you don't see him put the ball in a lot of precarious situations. Gets through his reads pretty quickly for only being a second-year starter. And the last guy, someone that has a fascinating college story,

Kellen Mond from Texas A&M. Now, he's playing there with Jimbo Fisher. That is a traditional, quote-unquote, pro-style system, a lot of drop-back passing play action. Kellen Mond came to Texas A&M as a highly recruited dual threat quarterback. And if you watched him in his freshman season, he like almost couldn't complete a pass. He wanted to run on every play.

So the athleticism is there, but I think Jimbo Fisher has worked wonders for him. Very comfortable drifting away from pressure inside the pocket, pretty strong arm in that win over Florida. Kellen Mond actually outplayed Kyle Trask. He's probably going to be a senior bowl quarterback if that event happens this year. Tons of experience in the SEC. And he's someone I think almost like Kirk Cousins' career at Michigan State.

Three or four year starter, didn't set the world on fire, but had a lot of the traits and the experience that coaches covet. Third, fourth round for Kellen Mond is someone that I really think has the skill set and the experience to be a better pro than he was in college. Even though sports took a break, your business didn't. You have to keep moving, and that means hiring is more important than ever. Indeed is here to help. Indeed.com is the number one job site in the world

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That's BLUEWIRE, all one word, BetOnline, your online sportsbook experts. I think it's worth noting that if you get someone of Kirk Cousins' talent level for a rookie quarterback contract, you are golden. Like, that's great for you. It's never really been the criticism that Kirk Cousins can't play. He absolutely can, and he can win games and put up big numbers, but it's hard to maintain a roster when you just have one guy taking up such a huge percentage, and that becomes even more problematic as the salary cap drops, and if we don't get our stuff together, that will keep dropping because of not having fans in the stands, just saying. So Chris Trapasso is a must follow on Twitter. You do little fun

videos and things like that. You know, reacting to things and breaking things down. I have one more question for you, which is how hard is it for you to see the Patriots struggling? I mean, you've just, it's gotta, it's gotta break your heart as a Western New York guy. Personally, my dog is really upset. It's just, it's hard to see. You know, we're all emotional about it. I don't remember watching, like, when that game last week, when the 49ers just ran up and down the field against the Patriots, Cam Newton looked completely out of sorts.

Jared Stidham comes into the game, couldn't complete a pass. I was like, has this ever happened before? And I didn't see what year it was, but it was like the worst loss since, like, has this ever happened before? And I didn't see what year it was, but it was like the worst loss since like early 2000s in Gillette Stadium for the Patriots that they've certainly had a few, like I can count on one hand, disappointing losses at home over the last 20 years, but not a total beatdown like that and not an offense that can't move the football. The Patriots over the past few years, the defense has been great,

but they had some porous defenses in the past. Tom Brady would always bail them out seemingly in the end. A lot of those games against the Bills. But to see them be able, to see an opponent be able to run the football at will against them and the offense to not even be able to muster a lot of yards in the second half or score a touchdown at home is just completely baffling to me. But as a Western New Yorker, I think I speak for all of us in New York until the Bills actually beat the Patriots. I'll believe that it happened.

Yeah, that's true. That is a good point. You're I don't even know if you're old enough to ever remember a time where the Patriots were trash. Like you you have to go back pre-Drew Bledsoe, and you have to, I mean, when I was a kid, like a little kid, playing my first Madden game, where they were actually complete garbage and not, like, good at all, and that's where they're at. Yeah, because even with Drew Bledsoe, they made that Super Bowl when they, like, lost to the Packers. So, like, they were still pretty relevant because Drew Bledsoe was, you know,

one of the better passers in the league in the Packers. So they were still pretty relevant because Drew Bledsoe was one of the better passers in the league in the 90s. I really, I'm 32, I really don't remember when the Patriots were irrelevant, no one wanted to watch them, they weren't on prime time. It's been like 25, 30 years that that's been the case. I know. Yeah, you and I are around the same age, and it's amazing that you have to go back to literally childhood for that team

not to be good. So it is both of us being Western New York natives, it is hard to see. And we're all in mourning about it, but, you know, we'll see how it goes. So make sure you follow Chris again on Twitter. Go look up the Zach Wilson piece. It's fantastic. And I know that some people I'm probably driving insane, but I think this is

the most fun thing about this season is we never get to talk about this being, you know, covering the Vikings. We're never get to be those people looking at college quarterbacks with awe and wonderment. Thanks again, Chris Trapasso for coming on. And I guarantee that we will be doing this again as we go down the stretch here. Thanks again for coming on, Chris. All right, Matt. Thank you.