Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - LIVE DRAFT COVERAGE: Further Banks selection reaction; Picks 30-32

Episode Date: April 24, 2026

Matthew Coller is live breaking down the NFL Draft pick by pick and then giving a deep dive into the Minnesota Vikings' selections. We will have a check in from TCO Performance Center and Jonathan Harrison standing by to cover the draft buzz. 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 FanDuel. I do want to just say that one of my favorite stories that I did or articles, it wasn't really like a deep dive or anything. I rewatch the O3 draft where the Vikings missed their pick. And the fan reaction was rage that you can't, there was missing a field goal to lose a game doesn't have the amount of rage that drafting Kevin Williams came along with because they not only missed their pick, but they also didn't take Terrell Suggs, and he turned out to be a superstar.

So Draft Night is not the time to be sure of the take. That's for sure. I just think that this here is a little bit on the riskier side than I expected, and I was down on it because I don't think the data speaks well of it. I really don't. I mean, in terms of his movement skills, sure, but in terms of the production and the injury red flags, the history is not great on this. but, you know, history doesn't always factor for 6-6 and 330 pounds.

So, uh, all right. Let's get some of your reaction. Um, and I asked for react, uh, rational reaction. Um, Joe says this doesn't make sense, um, because most likely if banks does fulfill his potential, it will be a whole different coaching staff that. I mean, I don't know about that. I really don't. I don't get any sense that, I mean, we talked about because of the same

Arnold thing that KOC, you know, hot seed or whatever else. But after talking to Mark Wilf two different times this offseason, just not got any sense of that. The owner's meetings after Quasi was let go have not got any feeling that there is the same sort of pressure that there might be from us on Kevin O'Connell. I think they really like the way the organization operates. They just paid Brian Flores to be the high. paid defensive coordinator in the league.

I don't know if they go nine and eight, if they're just going to blow everybody out. So there is that. We also did talk about. And this is why I'm trying to really weigh both sides as well as I can. And I kind of land in the middle a little bit here because Caleb Banks scares me a lot. And all the, all the podcasts I did leading up to this, I would throw his name out there to different analysts. And they would all have the same sort of, it's a risky one.

but, you know, kind of feeling, I have never been on the side of draft for 2026, draft to try to fill a need right away. Hey, just get this guy because that's the last piece of the puzzle, right? That's how teams end up drafting running backs and making mistakes or over-drafting Dylan Thineman. And I think they were right to not overdraft Dylan Thineman. If they believe that in two years, Caleb Banks could be a top five player at the position and be worth $25 or $30 million if he was a free agent.

Okay. Yeah. I mean, then, which it really truly is his upside. He truly has the upside of a top five to seven player. The chances of getting there are just not that high based on the data. But in terms of his actual, actual talent, then it is there. It is in there. Talent wise, skill set wise.

And if he doesn't get there until 2028, are you still a fan that? because I think you probably are and I'll very likely be sitting here doing the 2028 draft. So if he ultimately takes two years to become a top player, well, then that's still a major hit. But it doesn't feel like something that quite resolves the defensive tackle position either because you're not really certain about how far is he going to be in his development. He should play right away. But how much is he going to play right away? can they mix and match the role to make it work to get him on the field immediately? Probably can, but it's not the type of decision that just resolves a spot.

You're all set. It is a player that's going to need some time. I have never been afraid of that. I was the one that was behind, hey, if they like Caldric Falk, do it even though he's young, even though he needs development. So that's not really part of my thought process is that it's going to take a while because that's okay with me. If it, if next year, Dallas Turner becomes great after being good this year,

then it's a good draft pick. It just, that's how the NFL works. It's a really hard league. And players don't automatically just become great right away. Bigfeller says in a non-blue chip draft, I'm fine with swinging for the fences, taking safety at 18 would have been dull. Oh, it's not dull, especially if you saw the, comment section right after it happened. It was not dull. And there were a lot of, you know,

the reach thing is real. I mean, these are the, there are realities here where you have to talk about the things that the historical data says to you. If you go this far against the consensus board, you're putting your life in your hands. If you go this far against the PFF grades at defensive tackle specifically, you're putting your life in your hands. If you are taking a who's had injury history, say it with me, you're putting your life in your hands. It's very risky. Historically, there have been a lot of these guys who do not click, but there haven't been a lot of these guys that were not that productive and who did not have the best, you know, PFF grades or whatever, who were this skilled and who were this size. So it might be an outlier,

but going for the outlier is, is risky. And that's the best way to put it. Had they drafted Dylan Thineman, I would have been okay with it. Just like, okay, I get it. It's fine. It's not a draft of blue chips, as you said. So that's okay. And you got a guy who I think is going to be fine, and I don't think he's worth the 18th pick and all right.

So they did draft very much on my side of positional value, which was safety's not worth it here at number 18. And they went for a position that if it hits, it's going to be a monster home run. Look at, I mean, I use Cam Hayward. Look at that guy. and what he is meant to Pittsburgh for so long. You can see Brian Flores saying, oh yeah,

I saw what that was like in Pittsburgh. I want one of those. And if it hits, oh my gosh. And I think that they're saying, you know, he could play a little five tech because he's quick enough

and that's interesting. He could play over the nose. He could play each gap, which is going to be important to Brian Flores. And you do have to give, he's not perfect, but you do have to give Mr. Flores his flowers when it comes to his ability to evaluate.

So I think this is an easy one as Judarian Price goes to Seattle, as everybody had for a long time. This is an easy one to look into your crystal ball and see it working because you have a premier defensive coach and a freaky skill set. I just think it might take some patience for this to click if it ever does. not a twerk says coin flip exactly what you want at 18 can't wait for the rest of the draft i i don't know if it is exactly what you want at 18 it might be what you feel that you have to do at 18 that's probably a better way to put it that if you're going to get a top talent at 18 the only way to do it is to have it go along with a lot of risk and the vikings have done this and it has worked uh they

took a player in Justin Jefferson who a lot of people said couldn't play on the outside, which sounds hysterical now, but it's true. And so that was the risk. The risk was maybe Justin Jefferson's just a slot guy. That was the risk. And it ended up working out huge. Christian Darrisaw. Maybe he's not, maybe he's not physical enough. Maybe he's got injury history. Now, the ACL thing was a freak accident. But in terms of what he was, I mean, instant star for Christian Derisaw because he had the freaky talent. And I will, I will concede this that one of the things we talked about leading up to the draft, and clearly Jermad McCoy, by the way, must have serious, serious issues with his health,

because he was not taken tonight and that's crazy. By his talent, it's crazy, not by the injury. Going into the draft, I said, one thing that's missing from this team on defense, is freaky talent. If you go through the Vikings defense, you have a lot of guys like Byron Murphy Jr., Josh Mattelis, Jalen Redmond, Blake Cashman. Cashman's a pretty good athlete,

but even then, he's not quite as big as you would expect for that linebacker. It's a lot of guys who have squeezed every single ounce of talent out of their bodies and their souls. It's not a lot of guys who walk off the bus and you go, Oh my God. It's not a lot of DeNeal hunters. It's a lot of guys who have worked super hard and are very intelligent and play with their hair on fire.

And those guys are great. And they can form a really good defense. But I don't know too many elite defenses that don't have one guy where the other team goes, what are we supposed to do with that? And what the Vikings have done here, if you're playing the Talk Me Into game, what the Vikings have done here is they've gotten the one guy where you'd say, if you're the opposing team, if you are Chicago and you have Garrett Bradbury and you're going up against the Minnesota Vikings in November and Caleb Banks has been developing throughout the season, you're going to be Ben Johnson to go, what do we do with that? Because what Ben Johnson has been able to do against the Minnesota Vikings is block up their blitzes and find answers to their blitzes.

This guy doesn't need to blitz. He just is a defensive tackle. It is right in your backfield if it. works out. So the risk for them, when you have people talking about consistency, it's really scary. I don't like to hear that when you're talking about draft prospects. Well, he's good, but he's inconsistent. Okay. Well, hope you can learn that at the hardest level ever. But there isn't a guy on this defense who really scares the opponents, who terrifies the opponents. When teams prepare for the next game, they put something like a star or whatever.

a blue dot, whatever it might be on the guy that they say, we're not going to let this guy beat me. Who is that for the Minnesota Vikings right now? I mean, it's Ben Grinard. They're talking about trading him. That didn't happen tonight. Aside from that, Harrison Smith. And he's 100 and might retire.

So, like, there isn't a lot of that. Purple Faithful says, you have to have elite defensive tackles to win the Super Bowl, hard to get them without drafting. This is a, this is an argument. that I think makes a lot of sense, which is that the defensive tackle position, as we have seen. Now, I don't like the data, and I don't like the injury history,

but it's not, it isn't like the analytics pick from his particular numbers, but it is from, if you look at, your point is well made. If you look at the teams that have dominated in the playoffs, what do they have? The Texans are two passes from C.J. Stroud away from being in the Super Bowl. And instead, C.J. Stroud melted down. But what do they got? They got freak monsters on the D-line and no one could stop them when they get to the postseason. What did Seattle have?

Freak monsters. What did the Eagles have? Freak monsters. What did the Tampa Bay Bucks? How did they beat Kansas City? When you get into the playoffs, how did the Rams beat the ever-loving heck out of the Minnesota Vikings in Arizona in the playoffs? How did they do it? Well, they destroyed them with the Ntie.

So there, that is, that is an absolute fact. Mick, Mick, give it to me, says, uh, with, I think with each passing minute, I hate the banks pick more. See, that's not the rational take I was looking for, but I, I am a little bit surprised that I, maybe by how much anger there's been toward it, a little, a little bit. Because normally on draft night, people get very excited about their team's draft pick and talk themselves into it. Normally on draft night, people don't get like super enraged,

which I was maybe not totally prepared for with the chat up on the screen to have the amount of rage. Maybe it's a little bit of an issue that I think about from this perspective when we all become draft analysts during draft season. So we know what the, the consensus board says. And we know what every person's scouting report says. And all these different things, it can make it a little. little bit more like we have more certainty than we deserve to have.

And it's a fact that the consensus board is pretty telling historically. It just is. If teams that reach have a less chance of succeeding, that's a fact. But at the same time, I think if this same pick was made like 12 years ago before every person in the world had so many draft resources that we could all be. front office members. And I don't even say that flippantly. I actually mean it.

We have so many resources in the draft universe that you could draft. I mean, you know all the players, almost anybody watching if you paid attention to draft analysis. And this is what's awesome about the NFL now. You know the consensus board. You know the data on the guy is production, all the stuff. 12 years ago, we would have seen Caleb Banks height and wait and went, hell yeah, let's go. So, I mean, maybe we do need to keep that perspective in mind.

a little bit as we evaluate this of like, we can over, overdo it with the amount of certainty that we have. One thing I know for sure is that you never know. And guys I've thought would be busts have made it and guys that I thought would make it have been busts. It's just, I think it's all about if you're making a, like a chart of some kind, you would put like the bar for risk, like an NBA jam. for the old people here who played NBA jam.

If you had like the little bars, how far it went up, the bar for Caleb Banks and Risk would be very high up. And the bar for his ceiling would be very high up. And some people are going to like that a lot more than others. Folks, if you find yourself hunting search engines for different hairstyles that might cover up your receding hairline, or if you're studying every actor and athlete you see of a certain age, to see how they're handling their hair loss.

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Individual results may vary based on studies of topical and oral monoxide and finesteroid. Featured products include compound drug products, which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety, effectiveness, or quality. Prescription required, see website for full details, restrictions, and important safety information. Kurt says, if Darnold was here, then the pick would have been Lemon. Seems like the team is aiming to lean on defense. After a year with subpar quarterback play, disappointed Lemon could have really changed the offense. that one's uh when i spend every draft season talking about the receiver position and then one of the guys that was ranked in the top 15 by most people is just sitting there now maybe they

didn't like how there there's like a lemon joke in here like it um they made a face or whatever when they met mckeye lemon maybe they didn't gel with him well maybe they didn't think that he was going to fit whatever culture what i don't know anything. thing about his personality, but it was strange at the combine and his interviews are strange. And there were a lot of people who said that he could drop in the draft because of the interview process that didn't go the way people expected it. So maybe the Vikings just thought, I don't know. And Denzel Boston, who I really, really liked and talked about a lot, did not end up going

in the first round. So that, who knows, even in the second round, if there's a receiver who ends up being there, potentially for the Vikings, but it's just hard to pass up on somebody like Mackay Lemon, that his level of talent where he would have fit in on the offense. Once Sadiq was off the board, the Lemon idea was very attractive because this year, yeah, you need Kyler Murray, but what's going to happen after that? If you have to sign Kyler Murray to a long-term extension, then I don't know how you also sign Addison with Justin Jefferson here, and it becomes a little more complicated.

Matt says, I think you have a real advantage and your medical staff is pie in the sky BS. It might be a little bit on the aggressive side. There are some teams that have very bad medical staffs around the league that don't grade very well. I think that leaning as heavily as they have on health projections has its advantages and disadvantages over the years. Because I don't want to make it sound like I think that they're not doing it. a good job. The NFLPA survey has been very clear about that over the years that the players feel that the Viking staff does a great job. Aaron Jones has just praised the heck out of them. And I believe him. I don't believe that they're magic. I don't believe that they could look

into a crystal ball and say his foot's going to be fine. I mean, I think that they could say it should heal properly, but I don't know if they could say that a guy who's had an entire miss season, basically, and then another injury at the combine that your risk isn't there. It just is. The more times you have injuries, the more it adds up, the more time you miss, the more development you need. There's no question about that. It's kind of like Ryan Kelly going into this year where, yeah, I mean, your medical

staff might feel good about injury X, Y, and Z, but what about the other potential injuries that he could suffer as well? And then it worked for some other players. Jonathan Allen was fine when he, you know, joined the. the team after an injury the previous season. And there have been other guys who it was not okay with. I think injuries are pretty random overall. But there are guys that you have to admit, six foot six, three hundred and

30 pounds and multiple injuries. That just kind of screams like be careful about someone like that. So I, you know, I think that your your general sentiment is right. It's sort of like you might be leaning a little too heavily on something that's not easy to predict. that's why I like the weather comparison because the weather, the best weathermen are insanely smart. Like Paul Douglas is a guy I follow.

He is so good with the weather. And he would tell you, yeah, sometimes I don't get it right because the weather is hard to predict and it changes and injuries are that way too. Joe says the only thing I've heard positive about him is that Banks has outstanding character and leadership. His coaches and fellow defenders love him. I know it's a reach. But well, that could absolutely play into exactly what we're talking about here,

which is Cam Hayward is probably the comparison. I would make a, were I, were I a better on one of those weird markets where you can bet on crazy stuff? I'm not into that. But if you are, when does Brian Flores compare him to Cam Hayward? Like first three sentences, character matters, work ethic matters. how bad do you want it? It matters.

And that, I'm sure, and would end up playing into it. Is it snittily? Sorry, if that made me laugh in our number three here. What is your grade right now? Mine is B minus. It's probably, having a grade is tough. And I will be very interested to see what Chris Trapaso says about this, because he always comes on the show after the draft and gives us his grades on every player.

And I think there's a very distinct possibility. So I want to cop out because I don't really love draft grades anyway. I want to cop out and say there's a possibility this becomes like an A and there's a possibility it becomes a D. So put me in the middle at C plus. Put me in the middle at C plus. C plus with a very high variance is where I would put it. But B minus is kind of where you're at.

well cold something Vikings have a great defense banks got picked for a reason I wanted Lee hunter but banks is good well I mean I know that he got picked for a reason and I know exactly what that reason is that reason is he is irreplaceably talented that you cannot get a free agent like this you cannot get this level of talent normally even with the 18th overall pick normally this level of talent is Derek Brooks Derek Brooks is a good example No. Who am I thinking of? Derek Brown,

Derek Brooks. Derek Brown is the example here. Derek Brooks is a linebacker. Derek Brown. The defensive tackle from the Carolina Panthers. Derek Brown had great production in college, was a freaky run stuffer. It was pretty decent at getting after the passer as well.

But when you watch Derek Brown play, you go, what the heck is that? How is that man of that size moving that way? You think of Vita Vaya for this. you think of Dexter Lawrence for this. And those guys are bigger in terms of weight than Caleb Banks is. But it's the same sort of effect.

Akeem Hicks, I mentioned Kenny Clark a little less so, but Akeem Hicks was definitely one of those guys where you're like, what in the world is that guy doing to our center? That's what Caleb Banks is. That's why he's drafted. That's what he is from a physical perspective. Brent, who do I think made the decision? what I think probably happened is that they got in their meetings and they went over their reports and they said all around the only way to get blue chip talent is this and they have similar

rankings like I don't know I don't know them exactly but it's like they have they call it blue chip for a reason they just make that up like they have blue chip guy like can this guy be a superstar and they probably have him as the last guy on their board in this draft who could be a superstar. And they probably looked at Dylan Thineman as, hey, you know, he could be a solid player, but probably not much more. They might have looked at Mackay Lemon as being more of a wide receiver two, but is he going to fit with your culture?

There might be something there type of thing with him. I don't know for sure, but there may have been more of a, hey, he doesn't have that blue chip ceiling. Let's just get the best player regardless of what we think he's going to be right away. And regardless of some of the risk. So, yeah, Darisal was hurt coming out and Englehart. Don't be dense on purpose. People do get hurt playing football,

but guys who have multiple injuries coming out are more risky than guys that don't. I mean, that's just, that's pretty obvious. A guy who you draft him and he can't get on the field right away because he got hurt running at the combine is a little more concerning than somebody who's played three years of college football without any injury. Darisaw was hurt coming out and did not get on the field right away and also has had injury issues throughout his entire career. So I'm not sure that he's actually the best example. Did I say David Boston again?

Denzel Boston might have something in the tank. Yeah, David Boss. Oh, yeah, somebody else said it. I've done that a bunch of times, though. I do not, I do not blame you for there. Yeah, I mean, I've, Skoll Doc is a long time listener to the show, and I believe you, I believe you, that it's an injury that can heal. It's more about when you've had multiple issues like this, is that a trend with this player just based on how he's built? That's really the question.

And for me, the injury is not even actually the biggest thing. the injury is not even the biggest thing. It's the production. I have a very, I did a whole article about this. You go see it Purple Insider dot football. I did an entire article about this with defensive tackles specifically. There are a few guys that were Banks's size that did work out. And that was Dexter Lawrence.

He was 17th. Banks is 18th. But Lawrence was much better as a pass rusher. And one of the best you'll ever see at run defense. And that was just not the case for Banks. in 2004. And then this last year, his numbers aren't really great at all.

Kevin says, Banks, if healthy was projected to be a mid-first rounder, that's where we took him. So this wasn't a home run swing. I'm not sure that I agree with that because you said we took the risk without upside. That I don't agree with that generally. One is because from every scouting report I've seen,

it's the upside is a home run. So the skill set is rare. and I believe in that in terms of taking the big swing. But the odds of hitting the home run are not that are not super high based on the numbers and the history. I think that's kind of where you're going with that. Is like it is a big swing. There's no question about it.

But what's the percentage chance you actually get there? And then what are you if you don't? Now, that's something to talk about too, though. What are you if you don't? Because one of my big issues with Dylan, Thinaman was, what are you if you don't become great? You're a very replaceable player. If Caleb Banks becomes okay, let's say he plays 500 snaps and he gets 35 pressures, four sacks, and he does a pretty good job against the run. And he's above,

he's above average player. Is it worth the 18th overall pick? At this position, the answer is probably yes at defensive tackle, because it's just hard to get those guys. Even average defensive tackles or defensive tackles who are 33, someone brought in Javon Hargrave, the Packers, at a huge price again this offseason after the Vikings overpaid him last year. That just shows you how difficult it is for them to find, for anyone to find the defensive tackle position.

Matt, the fact that he didn't have great production, the numbers before the injury is what gets me. That's right. That is my main issue. is that if you are grading by PFF in the 60s and 70s coming out in the draft, it's just a fact of the matter. I mean, all PFF is doing is just watching every play and writing it down. And when you win, they give you credit.

And when you don't, they don't. And so if you have Quinn and Williams, a good example, Quinn and Williams had like a 95 pass rush and run defense grade. He's like the best player in the league. And there are guys who were better on the run side than they were pass rush. that turned out to be really good. There are not many that were only good at pass rush, funny enough,

that were only good at pass rush, but not good at run defense. Very few have worked out. And when guys didn't grade well on either side, which is Caleb Banks, when they didn't grade way above average, I'm not saying he was terrible, but when they didn't grade way above average on either side,

it was pretty much every player didn't work out. So the production there is what would be the most scary. So I think what they're seeing is we've got a development plan for him over a couple of seasons. And that's not going to be something that people have a lot of patience for. Certainly Vikings fans have not been very patient with any rookie that didn't produce right away. Antoine says his upside could make our opponents terrified. That I agree with. His upside could make the Chicago Bears and the Bears have to be on their mind.

The Chicago Bears could walk into a game against the Vikings if Caleb Banks works out and go, what are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to stop that guy? And you know what? Brian Flores will do is line him up at the zero tech right over Garrett Bradbury and throw him back into Caleb Williams. That sounds good. That's the upside.

That's if it works. Truth Bombs says could have taken the Eagles trade offer and got 115 and 137 and still got banks. That I don't know, but it might be the case. The trade down thing is very attractive. The trade down thing is very, when we look at the next bunch of picks, very good edge rushing prospects, Dylan Thineman, it's very, Michael Lema, it's very attractive to trade down. I don't know what phone calls they got, but it is very attractive to trade down. Charles said if the only way to get blue chip talent is to reach, doesn't that scream trade back?

Yes. This would not have been my direction. So it's true that it is the only way to get blue chip talent. and it is how they got Christian Darrasaw. But I tend to agree with you under these circumstances because Darrasaw, go look at his college production. Holy cow. It's like the best tackle in college football. That's not the case for Caleb Banks.

Dara saw a drop down because he had the injury and there was, I think he actually dropped down in part because there was reporting about the injury on the day of the draft or something like that. And there was concerns he wasn't physical enough of the player, which, you know, he obviously proved those wrong pretty quickly. But that was one that went along with insane production. This one doesn't. Son of beavers, you think this is the type of pick that gets scouts fired?

No, I don't think that this is what scouts job is. I think people don't understand what scouts job is. But I can tell you. So what the scouts are going to do with a player like Caleb Banks is, number one, they're going to find out who Caleb Banks is. That's what scouts do. They go to Florida. They sit down with their coaches.

They watch them practice. And they write a report on everything they learn. They talk to people. They talk to people around campus. They talk to whoever they can. People that they trust in a certain building. If you're a Southern scout who's covered Florida, you're going to know a lot of people there. So you're going to find out what the character of the player is like.

You're going to find out who their family is, who they're connected to. Is there any concerning people in their story? circle. Do they have any problems off the field? Where do they go at night? Kind of thing. You're going to find all that stuff out. You're going to also deliver on what their skills are if you're a scout. You're going to watch them play and watch them practice and you're going to tell the front office, this is what Caleb Banks skill set is. And you're going to go to the team and deliver the report in the draft meeting. That's your job as a scout. The guys who make the decisions are Rob Brzezinski, Kevin O'Connell, Brian Flores, the Wilf's.

These are, those are the decision makers. The scouts are information gatherers, and they bring it back, and they present it. And I imagine that they give their opinions. I don't know how every meeting goes, but that's what they do. So when the Vikings draft Caleb Banks, I bet I would guarantee you his report says inconsistent in his production. And it says that there are probably. details of things that go wrong with him for why he doesn't have more production as a defensive

tackle and things like that. And then it has character and background and all that stuff. And they present that. And that's what they do, right? That's what a scout does. So when the scouts get blamed for picks, I'm always like that they're just giving information. The people who make the picks are the decision makers. That's why they're called that. Antoine, there were better players available at a team, but I definitely understand what you're pointing to. Yeah, I mean, I think that there were not, there's not another player who was drafted after a Monroe Freeling's ceiling's pretty high. That's a Carolina pick right after them. That's, that's a high ceiling player. I don't know that anyone that was drafted after him has a higher ceiling. That if it clicks,

this guy is going to be X, Y, or Z. I don't know that anyone has that. I don't even know if Lemon has that. So there's that. So like raw talent, pure talent, he probably has the most of any player after 18. but likelihood of being successful, he might have one of the lowest percentages, just based on the historical stuff. Penny says if this keeps B-flow around two more years, that's okay. I think that this team really likes its coaching staff. I also think they're going to win enough games with Kyler and with this defense.

I'm very curious to see what they do after June 1st. Somebody asked if this means that they were in on Dexter Lawrence. I would be curious about that. Yeah, for sure. Sauce says we should have traded down. if this is who we were getting. I would have been pro trade down here. I definitely would have been pro trade down.

Stick to the model. Gives a C for the pick. It's probably fair. Paul says, talent is the wrong word. He has irreplaceable physical characteristics, mid-level talent. Okay.

That's fair. That's fair. Actually, I think you're probably right. That the talent has not shown itself. Talent, yeah, okay.

I mean, it's a little nitpicky, Paul, but I get what you're saying, that talent, being, I was putting those two together. Like, you just don't find people like this. But in terms of movement skill, call that talent if you want to. But if you're talking about, yeah, Aaron Donald, for example, undersized, but talent-wise was a 10 out of 10,

you know, 100 out of 100, whatever you want to say, but maybe didn't have the irreplaceable physical traits. This is the opposite. This is somebody who has irreplaceable physical. physical traits, but has not developed, or maybe we should say raw talent, because I don't think he'd be the 18th overall pick if he didn't have the raw talent. The highlight reel is absurd. I looked at Caleb Banks a lot during this season.

We talked about it. And the highlight reel is pretty ridiculous. So I do want to say that the talent is in there. The consistency is talent, though. So I get what you're saying. Brent's giving it a D. Sauce says he's a great player, four foot injuries, three surgeries. there's wide receivers on the board he's six foot six three 20 yeah there is wide receivers on the

board the the three surgeries man the three surgeries is pretty tough uh purple rain do we know if the eagles trade offer for dallas was on the table for us i don't know that i haven't seen anyone say that uh should have traded down i would have been okay with that i would have been okay with that uh penny says an a in two years hopefully that's what they're aiming for and there's a chance that they get there but i do think if he becomes a if he becomes a B player and let's say he plays 550 snaps and he's like everything kind of works in PFF grades in my brain. So let's say he's like a 72 PFF player who gets 30 to 40 pressures.

That's pretty good. That's going to be worth a lot of money in free agency. Neil B plus when healthy banks is going to be a stud, but it's a massive risk. Just another dude goes C minus combo of injury risk player and not exploring. trade down when there may have been several after 18. There definitely were. Angel just gives it a C. Not drinking the purple Kool-Aid.

Okay, I wasn't asking you to. I've not asked anybody to do that. This wouldn't have been my pick. But I got to present everything and you got to present the upside to Caleb Banks. That's for sure. The mat tracker, it's not an A because you didn't need to take him at 18, even if it works out. Brent, it was a reach. truth bomb why not trade down with the eagles we don't know it was on the board for them

a lot of C's lot of C minuses lot of Ds I think for me I would have to go probably C plus Keith why do we go through this every year I don't I mean have you really like I'm not I mean Donovan Jackson was the most like everyone was totally fine with the pick so I don't know if it's every year SWAT should have taken a safety or corner at 18 seems like corner would have been a reach. Jermad McCoy was not taken, so there's got to be massive concern there. But safety was pretty much the enameen. And as I predicted, Emmanuel McNeil Warren was not taken in the first round.

VX. Presuming he had to say in the pick, I'm trusting Flores. Oh, yeah, I mean, Flores would have had to say in the pick. I could just, I could see the wheels turning for Flores. And that, it is going to push the needle in his direction. bitter Bruce for them to take such a huge risk on Banks. Flores must have absolutely loved him for that reason I trust the pick a little. Well, that's not a bitter take, bitter Bruce.

Vikings are a joke. That's something I would have expected for bitter Bruce. Let's see, T-Bay, CBS had Banks ranked 92nd. The draft analysis world was not all that high on Caleb Banks going into this. They just weren't. and I think the injury risk was part of it. And I also think that the tape only showed some high-end stuff, but did not show consistency.

And that's what they're going to look for. I can take a look here. Let's take a look together at more of the, sorry, that that's just a big blue screen. More from the beast here from Dane Bruegler. Let's take a look at the strengths and weaknesses. Officially 6'4.3.27 and almost the last, 11 inch hands. Oh my gosh. 5.04, 40, and a 32 inch vertical jump is pretty crazy. Strengths for Caleb Banks. Rare frame with well-distributed mass, huge hands and exceptional arm length. Natural athlete with raw power and a basketball background. I did not know that. Flashes of quick win potential because of his heavy and fast swipes and clubs has quick feet and fluid movement to work.

laterally or dip his shoulder through gaps. I've seen him do that. He does like kind of a Pat William. Remember Pat Williams? He used to do that. Just kind of dip the shoulder and then like, whoa, there he goes. And guards would be shocked. He'd be like, what the heck I can't get to him?

Banks does that. Gains full extension into contact to latch and pull blockers on skates. He's very strong. Able to lock out blocks and read in the run game. Fights back versus washdown blocks to mind his guess. competes with consistent effort to chase away from his spot, and scouts describe him as a good person who is slowly but surely finding his voice. Well, that's nice.

The Vikings do draft a lot of people that have very high character like Donovan Jackson. I give him credit for that. That's not sarcasm. I mean, I mean it. Weaknesses plays tall and can be moved, especially by double teams. That's not great. Hands are active and strong, but wild and aimless, often wild and aimless, gives blockers a big target to get the upper hand with body position and leverage.

Most of this stuff sounds like technique, and that's my guess at why they were okay with drafting him. Like, they think that they can coach the technique because this is all technique stuff. Like taking on double teams is technique, hand placement and active, you know, active usage of hands, total technique, giving blockers a big target, all this stuff. Wears down on drives. Injuries could have affected conditioning. Not great.

Uninspiring career production with 10.5 tackles for lost, 6.5 sacks, and then the injury and then the other injury. So that's the weaknesses for him. And I'm not going to read the entire background. I just scrolled it if you want to do that or just go get the beast. So let's do this to wrap up the evening and hopefully you guys have had a good time is I will run through the draft board real quick, a little rapid fire. and then let's see just want to shout out jack for the the huge super chat thank you so much jack really appreciate that not necessary but always appreciated um so let me run down the draft board real quick before we call it a night and we'll take a look at some of the best players available

for tomorrow and then i want to check in on what fan duel has for their odds as well because they are a wonderful sponsor of the show so what have they got up there right to now for us to look at. So let's go rapid fire here. The start of the draft threw us a little bit of a twist at number three with a shocking pick from Arizona. I am not giving the Arizona Cardinals the benefit of the doubt for anything, but I think Jeremiah Love will eventually be really good for the next team that he plays for after Arizona wastes his first contract. Carnell Tate, one of the best picks of this draft. Tennessee did it right. They got a potential star wide receiver for their quarterback.

The Giants, they may look bad because they traded Dexter Lawrence, but they got Arvel Reese and Francis Maui Noah, a guard to put in and build the offensive line around Jackson Dart, a dynamic chess piece, if you will, to go along with a bunch of talent on their D-line. Great job by the Giants. Chiefs trading up for Mansour Delane, probably not the best use of their assets,

but they needed a corner desperately. steal of the draft, maybe Sunny Stiles at Washington. He was projected by a lot of people higher, ends up with the commanders. Jordan Tyson, a bit overdrafted by some people, but I like getting a weapon for their young quarterback. Spencer Fanow will be blocking for absolutely nobody. And congratulations to him on going to Cleveland, a prospect I really, really like and pray for Spencer Fanow at the ninth overall pick.

Caleb Downs, the not shocking. safety drop that we bet on every single year and happened again. But Dallas moving up that one spot to get them. I mean, they get, I don't know if it's a steal, but they get a really, really good player to build on their defense. Caden Proctor is a huge risk for a team in Miami that needs hits. I'm not, though the guy who's 350 and there's worries about his conditioning always scares me a bit. Ty Simpson, probably the shock of the draft. The Rams not doing anything to help Matthew Stafford is a little bizarre to me. I think that with, if I were in, in Sean McVeigh's shoes and he must plan on

coach it for a long time, what I would be doing is I'm going to take two more shots at this with Matthew Stafford and then I'm going to go be a broadcaster and make $15 million a year having nice hair. That's what I would do. But that's, but I'm not Sean McVeigh. Let's see, Ravens took the most obvious guy. Ruben Bain with the big drop to number 15. So Tampa Bay feels good about him.

The Vikings will never know. Would they have taken Kenyon Sadiq? The Jets get him. The obvious pick from the Detroit Lions, Blake Miller. I really like Blake Miller. Tons of production, tons of performance, great athlete. I think he's going to be a good starting offensive tackle. Then the Vikings go Caleb Banks, Monroe Freeling, an easy pick for Carolina, another high tackle.

Trading up for Mackay Lemon, that A.J. Brown deal is locked in, isn't it? That is all set. But that might be a steal right there. Messador going 22, Malachi Lawrence, projected by a lot of people in the second round, ends up with the first round with Dallas. So they do a lot to rebuild their defense. Again, the Browns, pray for this guy, Casey Concepcion, because I have no idea who's throwing you the football dude.

Dylan Thineman, you're going to have to play him twice a year in Chicago. So we'll see how that plays out. That'll be something we'll remember for sure. It's the year that everyone mocked the wrong guy to the Vikings and he went to Bears. And then the end of the draft had a bunch of trades. Caleb Rutledge overdrafted, I thought by a lot by the Houston Texans as they try to rebuild their offensive line. The Miami Dolphins also probably reached a bit on Chris Johnson, but I like them. The Patriots have bigger things to worry about. Peter Woods goes 29.

I'll be curious to watch how Peter Woods plays out versus Caleb Banks. The Jets got Omar Cooper probably later than people expected. Keldrick Falk goes 31 to the Titans and Jedarian price now off the board. as he goes 32. So here's the best players available. And there are a lot of them, folks. And this is what I wanted to point out is I get it, the reaction. I'm part of it. But there is a second round this time. Last year there wasn't. This year there is. There is another pick on the way. So Dramad McCoy is the guy to watch. Where is he going to fall to with this knee injury? Avion Terrell, I have hit targeted, but usually corners go early in the second.

Denzel Boston, very curious how this plays out. Emmanuel McNeil Warren, the Vikings could still probably, I mean, I shouldn't say probably, could still potentially get Emmanuel McNeil Warren if he drops a bit. Caden McDonald did not go in the first round. Colton Hood, I've got my eyes on for the Vikings second round. Edge rushers, lot of good edge rush talent in the second round. Love that potential for the Vikings.

T.J. Parker, Cassius Howell, Zion Young. Brandon Cese, another corner. So corners, DeAngelo Pons, another one. Corners and edge rushers are everywhere in the second round. So are linebackers. Jacob Rodriguez didn't go. Neither did Anthony Hill. There's some opportunities there.

Another edge rusher, R. Mason Thomas, very productive. Gabe, I think is Joccas, maybe someone who went to Illinois can tell me the pronunciation. But he is another one, very highly productive. Jake Golda, I've talked about. And then we get into the wide receivers, Jeremy Bernard, Chris Brazel, A.J. Halsey, another safety. Eli Stowers, if they want to go the tight end route. There is a, and trade in Stukes was kind of like a quiet. Maybe he'll be a first rounder. There is a lot of second round talent, my friends, for the Vikings to look at.

A lot of these guys, some people had going even potentially in the first round. There's, if you see here on, can you see it? Okay, you can. on stick to the model where they were expected to go. And McCoy was 16th. But look how many guys were in the top 32. One, two, three, four, five, six were in the top 32. And then there's a bunch of guys that could potentially go somewhere in the top 50.

So look, there's a lot of options here for the Minnesota Vikings. So I guess my advice on this one would be patience, my friends, because we're not going to know whether Caleb Banks is a home run hit or a strikeout, probably for a little while. He's got to get healthy. And from what it sounds like and what it looked like on tape, he's got to learn to play football. And that's going to take some effort from Brian Flores. It's going to take some effort from their defensive line and coaching staff and other players. But they're all young on that D line.

The defensive line coach is going to have a lot to work on with Ingram Dawkins, with Elijah Williams. I mean, they're going to have a lot of young talent there that if it works out, they can have a deep and young and gifted room at defensive tackle. But it might not be right away. And I think they may have to go out in free agency and find another defensive tackle to help them out who's a veteran because asking banks to step in right away might be a lot. And trying to determine whether he's reached his ceiling or not during training camp, during the first six weeks of the season. I just don't think we're going to really know with this guy.

So what we'll be looking for is the flashes, the talent, the natural gifts, how he translates that over, and then the health. They believe in something here that there is a high-end potential of Caleb Banks, and they would not have drafted him if they did not believe in that high-end potential. Whether he reaches it is now suddenly a story going, forward for the Minnesota Vikings, and this is the type of freaky talent that they just don't have a lot of. Dallas Turner has it.

I'm not sure anybody else does on the entire defense. So they've got it, but now they have to hone it in order for it to work out. So this will be something that will be covering closely, watching closely, and seeing how it plays out. But the Vikings here did something that I truly did not expect, which was they took a big risk. they reached versus the consensus board massively, which when Rob Brzezinski was talking about knowing what mocks are saying and things like that, I thought, oh, and they're using some of the consensus data.

And then they went wildly against it. And it does make you wonder, this will leave us questions. Every single draft, one of the great things about it, one of the wonderful things about the draft, why we love it so much, is that it always leaves us with more questions than answers walking out of it. what is Mackay Lemon going to be in Philadelphia? Does Jonathan Grenard was not traded tonight? Does he get traded tomorrow?

Can the Vikings in the second round take safer players to fill spots, which allowed them to take the big swing at Caleb Banks? What did other teams offer to trade up? Where did they actually have Dylan Thineman? Would they have taken Kenyon Sadiq had he gotten to them? All sorts of questions coming out of it. I will say that I had a really, really fun time with all of you guys tonight, even though the reaction was a little on the aggressive side and some of you spoiled the

pick, but it was a really, really fun time. Oh, I had promised to look at some fan dual stuff real quick before I officially say goodbye. So they've got, okay, let's take a look real quick. Then I'll say goodbye, but I really did want to say thank you to everyone in the chat who followed along and everyone who watched. There's a lot of places you could pick to watch your draft analysis tonight, and I'm so, so thankful and happy that you picked here. But let's take a look out just real quick at what Fanduil has up for the draft here.

So far, like the skill players, they've got the skill players for rookie over unders. Fernando Mendoza passing touchdown 16 and a half, I would go under because I don't think he's going to play a ton right away. carnell tate over under 750.5 yards receiving i would go over there and i would also oh i'd go probably under jordan tyson 805 receiving right away from uh new orleans that's interesting kenyon sedique okay his over under is for the jets 500.5 i wonder what that would have been if he went to the viking and mackay lemon those are the guys will be watching over under 700.5 which I'm going to shoot for the over on that.

So that's just a kind of a check of where FanDuel is at after night number one. But here's the good thing, my friends. If you enjoyed the coverage this evening, guess what? I'm going to go drink some diet, Dr. Pepper. I'm going to write over at purple insider dot football, my written reaction and analysis. And then I'm going to prep for day two. So I'll be back. Right at the beginning of day two, Minnesota Vikings coverage, and we've got draft picks.

We're going to have a lot of fun with it. We'll have multiple opinions. Maybe we'll get a trade thrown in there. Who knows what comes next? And I would imagine that we'll get an in-person press conference from Caleb Banks. Usually that happens after the draft. So if we get that, of course, I'll be there at TCO Performance Center. And off we go.

It's draft season, baby. It's not over yet. And then day three, I'm going to wait for it to play out. Then after day three is over and they've made their final pick and we've done our final press conference. I'll do a live show as well. can't give you any more of my soul than that, my friends. So thank you so much again for everybody who joined tonight.

I had a ton of fun. The NFL draft never fails to deliver. And we will see you tomorrow night. Football.