Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - LIVE DRAFT COVERAGE: Reacting to first round; Picks 8-17

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 Fandul. Dave says, just got here. Did you see the rumor slash leak that the Vikings have traded Grenard to the Eagles for a day two pick? I did. And you never really know when it comes to the pre-draft stuff because I was joking about this a little bit last night about the NFL trade rumors website. where if you start to go through all the rumors, some of them have been right so far, the Jeremiah Love going to number three.

I think there was talk of Kansas City wanting to trade up, so that's been correct. But, you know, there's going to be stuff that we didn't see coming for sure. I don't think anybody had Carnell Tate as the number four overall draft pick. I don't know that there was a whole lot of buzz for that to happen. So things can change.

You might end up having a deal done with, Grinard, it feels like there's been buzz for him to Philadelphia for months now since Adam Schaefter put out that tweet. I guess it would have been over a month ago. In the first day of free agency, Schaefter put out a tweet saying that the Vikings were looking to potentially trade Jonathan Grinard. And then I think it was Jeremy Fowler who said that the Eagles were interested. Since that happened, we have not really heard a lot.

And then the buzz started to kick up a little bit more recently. I will wait to see if it actually. happens or if it's something that has been kicked around and then teams can always back out. Like you might have a verbal agreement and then someone might say, actually, we got a better option and we're going to move up. So it's not official until it's official. But if the Vikings trade Jonathan Grenard to Philly, I might not be super high on it to tell you the truth because I don't love the idea of helping the Philadelphia Eagles. I mean, they are a team where it looks like.

they're down a little bit in the mud if they're going to trade AJ Brown to the New England Patriots. So they're already a little down. And they had drama last year. They were not as strong last year. And one of their big weaknesses was edge talent. So now this team that's been so annoying for the last couple years and so good is down in the mud. And you're reaching your hand down and saying, here, let me help you up with the Jonathan Granart.

I don't love that idea. And I know that you can't really always do it that way. I know that sometimes you have to just make the best deal that is on the table. And that's how you got to approach it. But gosh, can't you give them to, I don't know, Jacksonville, like somebody where he can't hurt you? Even though they're not playing Philadelphia next year, it still feels like he's within hurting distance. And Granard is a really, really good player. So, yeah, that's right.

That's right. Not a twerk that there was a true. trade that was done for Max Crosby and then there was a failed physical and Grenard does have an injury that he's coming off. So he did end the year on IR. You never really know if these things are going to play out. There's a lot of trades that get talked about and even agreed upon. And then something happens. Sometimes a team misses the draft pick, for example, with the Vikings. Like, you never know until it's actually done. But I don't like it. I don't love it because also, I think that this team is good enough to have Jonathan Grenard help them win.

But you could see from a financial perspective where they might be just saying, look, we don't want to give you a contract extension. We would much prefer to just maybe draft the next guy. If they are going to trade Grenard, the second round is filled with a lot of edge talent, actually this year, or at least the projected second round. they could also go with someone this year like a Caldric Falk. They could also go with Akeem Messador. Those are two guys that have been thrown around out there, T.J. Parker from Clemson.

So there's good talent at the edge position in this draft. But with Kyler Murray at quarterback, it kind of feels like, are you sure you don't want to just one more time for kicks with the rest of the roster? but I could see where if Grenard's side is coming out saying, hey, guys, we want a 32 million, let's just throw out a number, 32 million, this is not like I know the number per year extension. Well, that's too much. That's too much to do.

So the Vikings would have to go into it and make a financial decision. Not only that, but when it comes to Dallas Turner, And that also has to be a consideration because they noticed just like you did last year that when Dallas Turner was playing the role of Jonathan Grenard, then he was a lot better than when he was trying to play the role of Andrew Van Ginkle, which fits because that's what he had been for his entire career. Jim says Grenard for a few day two picks seem so cheap.

I know the trouble is with trying to trade Grenard is that he is coming off an injury. also coming off of not a great season in terms of sacks. And we all know that pressures are more, more important or I think more predictive is the right way. And they are important. But they're not more important because people have said that over the year. Well, no, it's pressures that really matter. Well, kind of.

But if you take the quarterback down 10 yards away from the line of scrimmage, I think that's pretty important. So he didn't have the best year. He has an injury. He wants more money. and well, he is a good player. He's definitely not of the same caliber as someone like Dexter Lawrence who went for 10th overall. Like Dexter Lawrence is the top five player at his position.

I would not say that for Jonathan Grenard, even though he is very, very good. Pepper, do draft day trades wave the physical component? Oh, yeah, you're right. That is an interesting thought. Maybe they do if you're going to get it done or maybe something happens beforehand. that we don't hear about in order to get it done. But yeah, that's, that's an interesting take there because we've seen plenty of draft day trades get done.

I mean, are you on draft day fly? That's a great question. Are you flying the player out to get that settled before you make the move? I think that that might be the case. But you might also just be saying, look, we're going to take him because he doesn't have a serious, serious injury. and then maybe you have some trust with the team you're making the deal with. Dan wants Grenard for a fourth rounder now and a 2027 second.

I think that would be a really good deal for the Vikings. I don't know if Howie Roseman is going to be willing to do that. So on the board right now, the pick is in for the New Orleans Saints. And Raj is about to announce that they are going, yes, wide receiver Jordan Tyson goes to the Saints. How about all the folks who tried to make Jordan Tyson into a weakling that nobody would want? This does go to now two wide receivers have been drafted higher than expected and a corner. So could this drum up a little bit of potential move up possibility for some team in the back? If somebody, if the run on wide receivers presents itself for a trade up to the Vikings,

that could be the case. Not that Tyson wasn't projected high. He was always projected high, but maybe not this high. So if that pushes another receiver up, that a team feels like, well, we better do it now. And you're right. You know, positional value is certainly winning so far with Sunny Stiles and Arvell Reese dropping a little farther than expected. Caleb down still on the board and two wide receivers taken earlier than expected and a corner.

So it is something that's. very clearly being thought about and compared in this draft class. And yes, yes, Mad Red, I totally agree with you. Thank you so much to the chat for not spoiling picks. You guys are doing a great job. And I can't tell you how much I appreciate you doing that because it makes it so much more of an enjoyable experience for everybody watching to not have the picks showing up in the chat.

So thank you very much for not spoiling. But, you know, Tyson, when I watch him. There was a little bit of me when people started calling himself that thought, ooh, maybe he'll drop to number 18. He is so shifty. He has amazing ability to go up and get the football. His quarterback play, along with some of the other QB play in this draft, not so exceptional to help out the wide receivers.

And he was a guy that probably had the most receptions on throws where you're like, that wasn't very good throw. but somehow you made an adjustment in the air. He's one of those guys that floats. Like he goes up in the air and it looks like he's never going to come back down. You know, there are basketball players who have that. Anthony Edwards has that Michael Jordan, you know, AI, Alan Iverson. And Jordan Tyson kind of has that.

I don't know what it is. Like it's not a vertical jump. It's something else, like a body control. He's a really good football player and very cool to see the emotion on his face here. right now getting drafted in the top 10. You know, this means so much to these guys who battle for such a long time. The Cleveland Browns now are on the board, and Tyson being taken is probably the first time that we would call it a reach, if you will.

I don't think taking a wide receiver this high is a reach by any means, but he was not always mocked into the top 10. So Jordan Tyson goes there. This is another great decision by the New Orleans Saints because they have Chris Olivae, but are they going to pay him? What's his situation there? And they really like Tyler Shuck. They really, really like Tyler Shuck. And this is from talking to Nick Underhill who covers the Saints.

They feel like they found something as their starting quarterback. But if you don't give Tyler Shuck enough to throw to and they traded Rashid Shaheed last year. so if they don't give him enough to throw to, he's not going to thrive. I don't think he's the type of quarterback that's just going to elevate everybody around him. So now they gave him a guy who can catch everything. Good yards after catch. He's super shifty, hard to tackle. People have talked about him going down on the ground after he catches the ball too early.

I mean, I'd prefer he not get hurt. So I don't know. Like I don't need my wide receivers trying to fight through four tackles and fumbling the ball. Do the Browns go offensive? tackle here. Well, the Browns were the team that was consistently connected to wide receivers. So now the two receivers are off the board. Would they go Mackay Lemon, or is the NFL not as high on McKay Lemon as everyone else? Offensive tackle makes so much sense. There are no offensive tackles that have gone off yet, which I think speaks again to the positional value thing. While

tackle is very valuable, left tackle is not clear in this draft. Maui Noah, Spencer Fanon, Blake Miller. There's a number of guys who are high draft picks, potentially, that are more of right tackles than they are left tackles in the NFL. So it would make sense, of course, and right tackle is a meaningful position, but it's not quite the same still considered in the NFL as left tackle. The receivers, though, for the Browns are pretty atrocious,

as Hunter says, they're pretty bad. They should probably go with a wide receiver, but now we're kind of rolling with picks. as the pick is in here for the Cleveland Browns. And we're starting to see if they don't pick Caleb Downs, a little bit of a tumble. If Downs gets past 10, then all of a sudden, then we're talking. Then we're talking Minnesota Vikings as a potential option to trade up for Caleb Downs.

So here is coming to pick with Spencer Fanow. There you go. So the offensive tackle, that was a guy that I had talked about a lot, really, really like Spencer Fanon. This guy is very athletic. He kind of reminds me of Brian O'Neill. He plays hard. He's very, very athletic.

And I think that Fanon in general could even play guard if you needed him to. So that's the guy that, yeah, you're right, Hunter. My dream is dead. However, Caleb Down's still on the board. If he gets past the Giants, things are very, very interesting. With Caleb Downs, would he go to Dallas, maybe? Would the Vikings try to trade up to get him potentially? You know, it becomes quite interesting.

So let's take a look over at the draft board here now and the best players available. So if you just tuned in, here's what it looks like. Fernando Mendoza to the Raiders, David Bailey going to the New York Jets, Jeremiah Love Pick third to the Cardinals, Carnal Tate. to Tennessee. Arvel Reese is picked by the New York Giants, Mansour Delane, the chiefs trade up for him.

Sonny Stiles goes seventh to Washington and Jordan Tyson to the New Orleans Saints and now Spencer Fanos. So best players available there on the right side, Caleb Downs, Rubin Bain, Francis Maui Noah, Mackay Lemon, Kenyon Sadiq, Vega, Yawani, Dramad McCoy will see. And then some other tackles like Monroe Freeling,

Caden Proctor, Keldrick Falk, Dylan Thineman, a lot of talent on the board here with only a few spots to go before things start to get very interesting for the Minnesota Vikings. So, at what point would you say that the Vikings would have to consider trading up

if the, if Caleb Downs drops, at what point? I think 11. I think that if this picture, Well, we got the pick already. Francis Maui Noah, going to the Giants, a tackle to the New York Giants. That's interesting. They just brought, well, they might be drafting him to be a guard, actually, right away.

They might be drafting him to be a guard, potentially. So that is an interesting pick because they have two offensive tackles. Thank you. I shot you 99. Appreciate that for the super chat. Is taking love at three really that bad of an idea for the. Cardinals. O line at three seems like a reach. Nothing wrong with BPA. It's when will he matter is my question. When will he matter? We have a trade. We have a trade.

Let's get Jonathan Harrison in here. What's our trade? Yeah, Stephen, the chat also has it. But Mike Garifolo from NFL Network saying the Cowboys are trading up one spot to number 11 or a couple spots up to number 11. Oh, okay. So this could be Caleb Downs. Thank you very much, Jonathan Harrison, producing tonight. 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, well, maybe it's time to get yourself a solution instead of obsessing over what's happening on your dome. I present you with that solution. It's called Hymns. Hymns brings expert care straight to you with 100% online access to personalized treatment plans.

that put your goals first. Hymns offers convenient access to a range of prescription hair loss treatments with ingredients that work, including choose oral medication, serums, and sprays. No hidden fees, just personalized care on your schedule. For simple online access to personalize and affordable care for hair loss, ed, weight loss, and more, visit Hems.com slash Purple Insider. That is, hymns.com slash Purple Insider for your free online visit today, hymns.com slash purple insider.

Individual results may vary based on studies of topical and oral monoxide and finesteroide. 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. This could be Caleb Downs. I would assume that that is what they're doing here to trade up to get their. defensive player. Okay, hold on. Let's get the, what's the trade package, Jonathan?

Dolphins are getting picked 12, 177 and 180 for the Cowboys to move up one spot. Okay. So that's not that much for them to move up one spot. That's a pretty good trade if they're going to get Caleb Downs. And if you are Miami, I mean, what do you care? Because you're not taking a safety when you need absolutely everything. They should be looking to take. I think they should be looking to take Mackay Lemon or one of the wide receivers to build their offense.

Could be. Oh, it could be Rubin Bain. Yeah, that's a good point. It doesn't have to be Caleb Downs. If this is not Caleb Downs, then I think the Vikings have to at least pick up the phone. I mean, Caleb Downs is the guy that we've been talking about, hey, maybe, you know, Dylan Thineman can become this, that, or the other thing. But Downs is the one that is a Harrison Smith prototype.

He's a little bit smaller than Harrison Smith, but in terms of the football IQ, he is supposed to be the smartest player in the draft this year. And also he is a rock solid run defender, tackler, plays with his hair on fire, makes plays on the football. If this isn't Caleb Downs, then the Vikings have to be at least thinking about it. Because if you built a player in a lab for Brian Flores, I think Caleb Downs would. be that type of player. But also, Pepper, could this increase the odds of the Vikings getting Thinaman? If Caleb Downs goes here to the Cowboys, then yes, it does increase the odds. But the odds are, I think, decent right now that Kenyon Sadiq and Thinaman could potentially be on the board.

Or would Miami take Kenyon Sadiq because he might have the highest ceiling of anyone? the drama. The drama is happening, my friends. But I got to say to the New York Giants, I know that they gave away Dexter Lawrence, and that's pretty tough. But getting a top-notch offensive linemen in return, who's going to be cheap and also having the fifth overall pick, thinking that the New York Giants will get some high draft grades, as often happens when you draft twice in the top 10. But that team is just filled with excellent.

young talent. Wouldn't trading up for a safety be inefficient? Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. It will be. If they were to do that, it would be inefficient. Right. And there is a concern that I would have about Caleb Downs playing up in the box at only about 205 pounds and he is not built like Harrison Smith. Harrison Smith is a tank. He's like 220 pounds. So there's a difference there between him and Downs. but I also think from the Vikings inside their building, you have to be talking about it because when we go through the blue chip players of this draft, unless there's something we don't know medically about Caleb Downs, if you go through the blue chip players in this draft,

they're pretty much all gone already. And there's one guy that is left. And I'm not including Rubin Bain just because of the arm thing. Obviously, that is an issue with the NFL. he already now is kind of the guy that drops. I don't remember what his over under was going into this for where he was going to be picked. But I mean, the NFL does care about the arm length thing.

And Ruben Bain also didn't do workouts at the combine, which I think hurt him. I think if he had put on a great workout, then it might have helped. But he didn't. So he is the guy that's dropping. And now, you know, could the Vikings actually, could Bain drop that far? could the Vikings be in play for Ruben Bain? Let's take a look at the, let's take a look at the board here. Let's take a look at the board.

So Miami, you know, well, the Miami pick is traded to Cowboys. Their pick is in right now. So we'll see how that plays out. But even if we look a few spots down, I mean, we're only a handful of picks away. And there's a lot of talent that's on the board still. Kenyon Sadeek. Germant McCoy, we don't know what's going to happen there. Mackay Lemon is an interesting one that if he started to slide,

would the Jets pick him up? Or could someone like Omar Cooper Jr.? Could there be a reach there? We don't know if a team is eyeballing someone like Peter Woods as maybe the best defensive tackle in this draft. Casey Concepcion is still an interesting one. Keldrick Falk is someone who could be, you know, overdrafted. There's a lot of talent there.

And every time we ran the same. simulation. What I kept coming back to every single time I ran the simulation was somebody drops and the computers they knew. Somebody drops. Somebody surprising. And every time it's like, oh, no way, that guy's on the board. But there would be sometimes. I mean, there almost had to be that one player would slide. Chris, do we think that teams are put off by Baines off the field stuff? That is certainly a possibility. because one of the reports that might have slid under the radar a little bit was it's not what happened with Ruben Bain because the charges were dropped and look, I don't know.

I don't know exactly what happened, but it seemed like from the family and what they put out there that it was an accident and it was horrible and, you know, that kind of thing, but maybe not something that you'd be concerned about happening again. but then there was another report that said that the way Bain had responded to teams questions about it were not maybe the best. And if it felt like he was trying to hide something from his teams, that may have put them off a bit. I tend to think it's the arms.

I mean, you know, just another dude says that it might be the historically short arms. A lot of these pass rushers are built in a lab where their arms. go down to their ankles and they can just get hands on guys. But if you're trying to rush off the edge in college, okay, in the NFL, it's different because most college tackles. I mean, they don't have NFL arms. That's why the tackles are in the NFL because they're the right size and they have the

right arm length. So here we go. Caleb Downs to the Dallas Cowboys. Make sense. Make sense for them to trade up. That's a good move for the Cowboys. I know they do some crazy stuff sometimes. but that is a really good play for them to get the best safety and probably the last true

top-notch talent in this draft. Now it drops off a cliff to every guy we're going to have some discussion like Ruben Bain. It's can this guy stay healthy or does this guy's shortcoming? Are they going to be able to make up for it? Is he a wide receiver too? Is he we're going to have those discussions for all the players going forward? But this is a good play from the Dallas Cowboys to get this level of talent. And now it becomes worth it.

Now safety is worth it. Top three, safety was probably not. And once again, the safety drops lower. So if you were somebody that on Fandall the other day, when Caleb Downs over under was nine and a half, if you said, hey, all the safeties always drop, then you would have been right. and Caleb Downs ends up dropping to the Dallas Cowboys. And now the pick is in for the Miami Dolphins as we start to get closer and closer to the Minnesota Vikings selection here. And now that Downs is off the board, there's nobody that the Vikings would consider trading up for. I don't think.

I think Downs would have been the one that if the Cowboys picked Rubin Bain, then maybe you call Miami and see what they want. Anthony, which players would you stick and pick if a trade was on the table? Kenyon Sadiq would be the one because he is just so different in terms of his physical abilities and his upside. I'm not sure how many other guys right now are on the board that I would say that for because, okay, there's an there's an asterisk next to that because if Jermad McCoy's knee is fine and that's all smoke, then take him. that guy is an awesome talent. But it's probably not all smoke. There's probably truth to all rumors say. Who do the Vikings want, Hunter?

I think Dylan Thineman is starting to make a lot of sense. I mean, as we look at the upcoming picks, where is Dylan Thineman going to go? And if we spent all that time talking about everybody else that is Dylan Thineman, that's going to be kind of funny. But let's take a look. Let's try to project it forward here. So Dallas takes Caleb down.

Miami's on the board. I'm thinking Miami goes wide receiver. The Rams also could want wide receiver. Baltimore seems like a perfect fit for Vega-Ewani. Tampa Bay is a total wild card. Jets, another receiver team. And then Detroit offensive tackle, there is a pretty clear path to Dylan Thineman ending up as a Minnesota Viking looking at that next couple of picks. but also are any of those teams taking Kenyon Sadiq would be another question.

Because if Miami goes wide receiver here, they could also go Sadiq. The Rams, I suppose they could. They love to play tight ends, but that would be a pretty big shock. They were kind of a wide receiver team. Baltimore has been plugged in with offensive line forever here. And then Tampa Bay is totally up in the air, maybe whoever they don't take. But do they need a safety? probably not.

Detroit, I think Detroit probably does need a safety, but they also need offensive line even more than they need a safety. So the Dylan Thineman projection is kind of looking pretty good right now. Hawkeye, could they trade down and get Thinamon? Depends on how much they really wanted him. If you think that he is a great prospect and you don't want to take any risk, then you don't trade down. You just take him.

But let's say they were just okay on Dylan Thineman. Then you have to think about trading down maybe. Richard, think we get sniped on Thineman. Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out like who that's going to be with. The teams coming up are really big into, I think, wide receiver and weapons. Oak Dog can Thineman play slot corner or corner? I don't think so. I think he can be a big nickel, but I don't think he can really play.

slot corner. I don't think he's quite fluid and shifty enough to do that. He's much more, in my mind, he's a free safety who could come up to the box and make plays. But I would not have him in a Harrison Smith roll up in the box all the time. He can move around. He did it in college. I definitely would not have him, like, lined up one on one with wide receivers. Okay, this is quite a surprise. Folks, we have our first big reach of the night. This is Caden Proctor from Alabama, the offensive tackle going to the Miami Dolphins. Goodness gracious. I mean, everybody had him with Detroit because they thought he was going to fall.

And even most recently when Nick Saban said that he had a lot of trouble staying in shape when he was away from the facility made me think, maybe Proctor doesn't go high. Another situation where if we go through this entire draft board, it just screams positional value. And this is why we talked about it so much going into this draft because Arvel Reese and Sunny Stiles got drafted lower than expected. Caleb Downs, the safety way lower than expected. And now Caden Proctor gets overdrafted.

Spencer Fanon gets overdrafted by consensus by most mocks. the same goes for Jordan Tyson, the same goes for Carnell Tate. Teams are drafting tackles and wide receivers. They are just throwing their draft capital there. But you're right, Hunter, that, you know, you don't think it's a that, well, you don't think it's that big of a reach. No, I think it's because of the positional value, it's not. You're taking an offensive tackle who's 350 pounds.

So it's not like a, I don't mean a crazy reach as in the prospect, the talent, the size, I only mean from the mock drafts and from the expectation that I don't know that anybody had Proctor going quite this high. Aaron, Detroit is scrambling right now. I mean, yeah, I mean, if you're Detroit, you got to be wondering, like, do you have to make a trade up potentially to get Monroe Freeling? And if all these safety, or I'm sorry, if all these offensive tackles go, then maybe safety ends up being the best position on the board for the Vikings if the premium

positions are gone. Caldric Falk remains a wild card here. Now that we've seen one player or actually several players that are drafted in very different spots. And already, already folks, we just need to stop and say NFL draft, baby,

this is why we watch, right? We try to project so many different times, so many different ways of looking at it. and then the teams take players that we just didn't expect because they have different ideas and they don't tell anyone who they're taking. Ruben Bain though, you know, Ruben Bain is still on the board. That one is going to be interesting because if he's on the board for the Vikings,

I mean, would that make sense? Could he drop that far? Ruben Bain? Would he make sense for the Vikings even because he's a football player? I mean, you saw that with him playing in college. He could get after the passer. He's a dangerous player. But he is probably going to have to be in a specific spot.

Not any team can just have Ruben Bain with his arm length in their system. But I don't know how much the Vikings care about that. I mean, they do have players with longer arms. Fin Ginkl, I think is okay arm wise and Gernard has crazy long arms. but if Bain continues to fall and he's just the best football player on the board, I don't think anybody would have any problem with the Vikings picking him. It sure would be a shock, though. I'm trying to remember if I even wrote a Ruben Bain draft profile for my draft guide

because Ruben Bain, I thought, was going to go much higher. Do the Rams take Theteman? I think he is got to be in their view. I was thinking Mackay Lemon though because they could use another wide receiver. Marcos says looks like we can trade down. All depends on whether someone wants to trade up with the Vikings. The way things are falling, there's a lot of talent on the board. And I'm not sure if there's going to be a team that feels like they need to trade up.

Because if you think about it from a Vikings perspective and you have like 18, 19, 20, 21, where you look at everybody on the board and go, well, yeah, there's like five good players there. Well, other teams might think the same thing that are behind you. You know, Carolina might think the same thing when they're right behind you. The Rams, are they going to go Ty Simpson? That would be a pretty odd pick to me unless they feel like he's their franchise quarterback to develop.

But at least they'd have a good plan, which would be to develop him maybe for two more seasons, depending on how Matthew Stafford plays. Maybe they're sold on his character, makeup. His arm talent's pretty good. His size is underwhelming and hasn't played a lot of football. But, I mean, once upon a time, the Vikings had, you know, a quarterback with some of those issues. And they didn't give him proper time to develop. So, you know, I guess we'll see if that ends up being the case.

Hunter says, I think there's a lot of talent, but I don't think the Vikings are eyeing wide receiver tackle. Makes me think they want to stick and pick. Red, what's your center ranking? Well, you know, I think that, um, okay. So just in terms of the chat, if you guys want to like not spoil the picks for TV, that would be, that would be great. Um, just for everybody who's got the TV on and is listening to me.

Um, if you can avoid it, you know, I know it's fun to be an NFL insider and, Some NFL insiders have more fun than others, but if you, you know, kind of ruins it for the people who are watching and trying to watch this. So you guys have been great about that. So I appreciate it. But in terms of center, I agree with, um, high boy that's Logan Jones in, I think you have round five. I think round three.

Um, Jake Slaughter is one who I'm not sure I understand why Jake Slaughter has gotten more attention. His athletic profile was great. and his performance in terms of his PFF grades across the board really good. He's six foot five. He's got size. I just don't really understand why Slaughter hasn't gotten a little bit more attention for being a potential third round pick.

So I go back and forth because Logan Jones just flies out of his stance and hits people. And that's enjoyable to watch. And he's very strong. But Slaughter's bigger. And I think that we agree that bigger does. matter after watching years of Garrett Bradbury. Third and nerdy, wouldn't mind taking, is it, is it David Boston's son, Denzel Boston? Oh, the age, the age just hurt my back and my knees, if that's true.

But Denzel Boston, I really like. He's one of my favorite players in the draft. He's strong, he's got great size. He runs through tackles. he runs through defenders and he just tracks down everything. I mean, he just has such great hands. I enjoy watching him play and his quarterback play was awful. And he caught everything.

So I like Denzel Boston a lot. So Cowherd predicted Ty Simpson to the Vikings today. I mean, I guess I understand where he'd be coming from with something like that. I think the Vikings are looking at Kyla Murray to try. to become the franchise quarterback. And if it doesn't work out, then maybe they're surprised. Then it happens with J.J. McCarthy. And if that doesn't work out, then it's draft next year, 2027.

But it is in a little bit of a dicey spot. So I get where he'd be thinking like, and I've talked about this many times, you know, you draft for a couple years down the road. You don't necessarily draft for right now. So the Vikings did it. Okay, well, I get it. But it's not something I would necessarily advise for this player. but that's kind of just my take on Ty Simpson is he looks like a guy that's going to need a lot of time in order to become a good quarterback.

But here you go. Ty Simpson to the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams, they are doing this right because if you're going to take Ty Simpson, you do it in a spot where he is going to be able to develop over multiple years. I don't love this for the Los Angeles Rams. For me, and if I'm Matthew Stafford tonight, I am not happy. I mean, this is not exactly like Kirk and Michael Pennix. They probably told him first, I'm guessing, but I would not be happy if I were Matthew Stafford because I would be looking at this and saying, dude, why aren't you getting something

to help me right now? A Mackay Lemon, a Dylan Thinaman, like somebody on the other. defensive side. They could use another defensive back, even though they've invested there. So I am very surprised that he went this high. And this is one of the biggest reaches that I can ever remember when it comes to a quarterback. Somebody can correct me if I'm wrong. But in terms of the consensus boards had him at something like 38 and he ends up going 13.

but now this right here does change the math for the Minnesota Vikings because nobody had this. Everyone thought, okay, they traded away their other draft pick to get Trent McDuffie. So there's no way they're going quarterback. They're going to go wide receiver, maybe even offensive tackle. And then they go quarterback. And nobody projected, including me, that there would be a push now for extra talent goes down to the Vikings because of the quarterback. We all thought, well, there's one quarterback that's going to be taken and then we'll see. Now Ty Simpson comes off the board to the Rams.

They're going to have a good development plan for him. They have the best of the best. And he's going to have a chance to succeed. But I don't know, man. I don't think I would be doing anything except for giving Matthew Stafford more talent around him, even if you really like this quarterback. It's hard to question the Los Angeles Rams of Los Angeles because the scoreboard says what it says.

They've won the Super Bowl. They were in the NFC championship last year. I mean, McVeigh's been to another Super Bowl. They know what they're doing in L.A. So if they like Ty Simpson this much, I was not in on Simpson. But if they like him this much, and he does have a lot of armed talent,

and he does have high IQ, I guess Pennix is probably the biggest reach. Like a lot of people had Pennix as a first round. pick, though. They just didn't have him maybe necessarily all the way up at Atlanta. Daniel Jones was one that was a late first that was picked really high. This is a pretty big shock, but now the Vikings will have a chance. We'll see. Does Rubin Bain start to fly down the board and be available for the Vikings? Could Kenyon Sadiq make it there? We're at the Ravens. The Ravens, I mean, they could also, they have, obviously, Kyle Hamilton, but they're,

could go safety here if they wanted to. But gosh, I never thought that we would get to a point where Ty Simpson wasn't even on the board when the Vikings picked. I thought that we would kind of be joking around like, well, maybe Colin Cowherd's right. Like, maybe they should. But maybe also Cowherd had heard something about a team that was going to select Ty Simpson to develop him over a couple of years. But yeah, no, you're right, Jeff, that that's.

two players so far that were very unexpected. And this is why the mockers and the insiders, you know, nobody tells them who they're going to draft. And the Rams did a good job of keeping it very quiet. The Matt tracker. Oh, sorry, I missed your comment there. I was just about to read it. Did the Rams think someone else would take him?

Or is this just the F them picks mindset? I would guess that if the Rams were this high. high on Ty Simpson than probably other people were too. And there are a couple of analysts out there, Mike Renner from CBS and Dan Arlofsky. Now, those guys studied the quarterback closely. I watched Ty Simpson on some Saturdays and didn't think that he really met the right away I test.

But those guys who studied him, there were takes that people said, no, he actually is a better prospect than you think. I just think that he had more, not red flags, but concerning things of didn't play much football, half a season of good performance, isn't that big. His mobility's fine, but it's not difference making in the NFL. His arm is good. He's got a very, very live arm. But taking him there is very aggressive.

Joe, would you take a cornerback with an injured knee who has 25% chance of being a top 30 corner or a safety who is, safety was 60% chance of being a top 10 free safety. I would probably go with the corner there, even if it's, even if it's a little bit scary. You're talking about Jermon McCoy, and he's still going to be on the board here, maybe potentially as well.

Finally, hey, look, we have a pick that everybody mocked. And that is Vega Yawani, the offensive guard from Penn State, goes to the Baltimore Ravens. We got one, folks. all the other picks have been quite a bit different than was projected in most mock drafts. But the Vikings now are getting closer to having a choice between maybe Ruben Bain,

although he could go here, maybe Kenyon Sadiq, maybe Dylan Thineman. Let's take a look at our board and see who the best players available are after Vega Yawani just went. So this is by Stick to the Model, the best players available, Ruben Bain, Mackay Lemon, Kenyon Sadeek, Dramad McCoy, Monroe Freeling, the offensive tackle, Keldrick Falk, Dylan Thineman, Casey Concepcion, Peter Woods, Avion Terrell, Denzel, Boston, Caleb Lomu, who I'm interested in, and Omar Cooper, I don't know that Emmanuel McNeil Warren is going tonight. Colton Hood was a late riser in the draft process, just only recently started getting talked about as a potential high draft pick. That's a lot of good players on the board that the Vikings are going to pick from.

So we're only here now four picks away from the Vikings, even if it goes just the top players, they might have a choice between Falk and Thineman or McCoy and Thineman or Peter Woods is even a potential here, a guy that I haven't been that high on, but there are some people who have talked him up as a potential first round draft pick. So I mean, this is falling really nicely for the Minnesota Vikings, I think. I think this is falling very nicely for the Vikings to maybe have their choice of take a wide receiver who's highly rated. They could also potentially trade back because if Mackay Lemon makes his way to where the

Vikings are, then there might be a team behind them that wants to trade up for him. high boy wants Thinam in her woods. I'm just less high on Peter Woods. I just, there's not production there and that is very concerning. Mackay Lemon and recreate three deep. Sadiq is the pick for Aaron. Those guys could be on the board.

Setting up for a trade down would make a lot of sense. Is Fulk better than Bain? I think it's a different. They're similarly sized. Fulk is bigger and has the ars arm length and all the tools, but he's so young. That's the thing with Caldric Falk. He's just so young.

Lemon is a wide receiver from USC, who had great tape and then a weird interview. And I don't know what to make of that. I wasn't in the room, but people said he had a strange interview process and that might have caused him to Falk, to fall. I was reading the word Falk. take Bain or Falk and then trade Grenard. That makes a lot of sense if that's what they're going to do tomorrow. Dumer, how much draft prep did the Vikings do on Bain?

I'm sure they did their research on Bain, Messador. They would have been watching a lot of that team. You know, I mean, when you're talking about the top prospects, they're going to be prepared for those guys. They're going to be well scouted with the top players because they know there's always a possibility of somebody, surprisingly dropping it. And you know, this also, it might not be a surprise to them. Maybe we can do a quick check in. I don't know if Jonathan Harrison is ready for me to do this,

but a quick check in with Jonathan here on just the buzz, Jonathan. It seems like I'm also going to open a diet, Dr. Pepper here. I need one. It seems like Jonathan that there have been other than Vega, Yawani, some pretty darn big surprises here. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Ty Simpson's the biggest one because that one felt like it came out of nowhere with the Rams. Going back to your point, they reportedly did tell him Adam Schaeffer was a number of, was one of a number of reporters that reported it. The Rams did tell Matthew Stafford this morning that they were going to select

Ty Simpson if he was available. Someone else had the stat that there's only been three other quarterbacks that were picked in the first round that had fewer pass attempts in their collegiate career than Ty Simpson. Kyler Murray, Anthony Richardson and Traylands. Oh, I was going to. guess. I was going to guess. That's okay. That, that is shocking, though. That is shocking. And, and, you know, two of those are drafted, wait, all of those are drafted higher and all of them are

athletic freaks. That's the thing that's so odd to me, Jonathan, about Ty Simpson being taken here. It must be a huge bet on the guy because it is not a bet on the physical traits. Not that they're bad. I'm not saying, like, he doesn't have a good arm. He has a very good arm. But he's not going to be a runner. He's going to be a pocket quarterback with the least. little playmaking, but they're going to be able to do it right. They're going to be able to develop him. And I guess if you love somebody, then you really love somebody and you should go for it. But that feels to me like they overdrafted him and sacrificed some opportunity to get an immediate playmaker. What in your feed are Vikings folk saying about the board? Because I think getting a second

quarterback off the board, some reaches here of guys that were expected to go later. And Ruben Bain falling, I feel like this is kind of a dream scenario for the Vikings. Yeah, with how many names are still available on the board, you've also seen the run on offensive linemen push guys back, that the Vikings fans clearly had their eye on throughout the draft process. I think that's the overwhelming sentiment is that this draft board is falling very nicely for the Vikings front office to have their pick of the litter of who they want with some big names still on the board.

So overwhelmingly positive right now, We'll see when that pick comes in, though. All right. Thanks, Jonathan. We'll check in with you again shortly after the Vikings make the pick to get the reaction from Vikings fans. Also, Manny Hill expected to join us at some point as well, Jonathan, producing. And is our, we'll call you our insider tonight, Jonathan, even though you're just watching Twitter. Okay.

So we have the pick is in for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And this is going to be Ruben Bain. So Ruben Bain falls all the way to 15. the for a minute there i thought this would kind of be amazing for brian flores like if somebody was going to be able to do it and figure out how to use reuben bain correctly it would be him but he drops to the 15th pick and now the vikings are likely to have their choice let's go back and look at our screen here so bane goes and the players there's two more picks before the vikings it's almost locked in that these are receiver and tackle picks, at least in the mock universe it was.

You have Lemon, Sadiq, Jemad McCoy, Caldric Falk, Monroe Freeling. It feels like Detroit has to take a tackle because they are just so short on their offensive line. Could one of these teams take Dillon-Thienaman? I would be very surprised if they did. But if it comes down to Sadiq and Thineman, that's a tough decision for the Vikings, because Thineman seems like the most clear cut plug and play. That's your guy. Off you go, right?

As where Sadiq doesn't have as easy of a, you're going to have to work him into a role. You're going to have to do a lot of work developing him. But if you have Sadiq, Jefferson, Addison going forward, and then you draft another receiver in the third, that's going to feel pretty good. But the Vikings options here are excellent. because of Ruben Bain's fall and a couple of surprise reaches.

Excellent, excellent, excellent options for the Vikings. Aaron could lemon fall because of the weird combine press conference. Well, it's not just the weird press conference. It's also the fact that there were reports that he also was odd inside of the actual meeting rooms and that teams didn't really gel with him very well inside the meeting rooms. So now the jets are on the board and that might cause him to drop, but he's a very good prospect. I mean, if the Vikings end up with, and I'll throw Boston into this as well, Boston and Lemon both on the board, you might have to think about that. If they end up with Jemad McCoy, I guess we'll find out what the injury situation is.

Rochambeau, how does he compare to Vernon Davis? Well, Vernon Davis, if I remember, it's a long time ago, but I think he, I think he was like really productive in college. which Sadiq has not quite been that, but he's only really played for one year. So it's a bet that he's going to get there. And with Vernon Davis, it took a few years. And that's what it probably would take with Kenyon Sadiq, as it would take a couple of years. But the potential is there to be a very similar player. It's the only other guy I could think of that he is even that kind of athlete.

So there is, I think, a very high upside for Kenyon Sadiq. but there's also he might not fit the way that you expect him to fit. But it makes a lot of sense for the Vikings. It always has because, as Richard says, replacing 2007 and third wide receiver this year, 2007 tight end, that all jives and gives him a chance to have a nice development path to eventually get to the field. So Kenyon Sadiq still on the board, Dylan Thineman, no one has reached for him, positional value continues to kind of crush it in this draft that yeah,

Jeremiah Love was taken very high. But all the other players that were not considered, you know, edge rush or offensive tackle, they have, you know, maybe not fallen at the spots that we expected. The offensive tackles have been reached for and quarterback. That's another positional value thing reached for versus the consensus. and now you end up with some of the other positions like Sadiq. And I think Hunter to your fare with Sadiq scaring you,

he is kind of a scary prospect because we have seen that tight end not work out at times. We have seen that tight end turn into, you know, somebody that eventually goes on to another team like a Noah Fant or something. Like that has happened. So if the Vikings are going to trade Jonathan Grenard, both of the edge rushers that we've talked about could be. there. Caldric Falk and Aki Messador and the Lions just seem like they're going to be a lock for picking an offensive lineman. All right, here, Roger Goodell announcing the pick, and this is going

to be Kenyon Sadiq. So he goes off the board to the New York Jets and feels like the jets have done a great job here, getting an edge rusher, a playmaker. There were some people who thought that they would not pick Kenyon Sadeek, because, it was. because they drafted a tight end recently, but I guess his freakish nature was just too much for the New York Jets. So now the Vikings are going to have their pick of the litter, depending on where the Detroit lions go. Now, we've seen a lot of surprises.

And Detroit has traditionally surprised everyone in the draft universe, but one of the top wide receivers is going to be there. And I really liked Denzel Boston. Lemon, uh, maybe not as much, but, uh, his route running is excellent, had great production in college. And maybe, you know, if a guy's going to drop because of some combine interviews, but he's a great football player, then okay. I'm going to advocate right here for wide receiver because there's great

wide receiver prospects on the board, two of them in my mind. Mackay Lemon has been ranked all the way. at the top for a very long time in this draft process by the people who just watched him but didn't talk to him in a room and his performance on the field made him in a lot of people's minds wide receiver two three four is where I saw him all the way through this draft process so if they can get him if that's who they want to take then this is a great place to go at wide receiver you get somebody to create a three deep right away. You get an option for the future. You get the best, you know, you could ever ask for a situation for Kyler Murray. So I'm all in on the wide receiver

position. But if they want Dylan Thineman, then the board, the mocks haven't gotten everything right, but they certainly have handed the Vikings a potential shot at Dylan Thineman if the Detroit Lions do not go that way. So the Lions pick is in. This makes a lot of sense to be offensive line, it has been from day one. But if the Vikings are going to trade Jonathan Grenard tomorrow, if that's locked in that they're going to trade Grenard, well, then you might want to take Keldrick Falk or you might want to take Akeem Messador. Those are great prospects at the right position for the Vikings to take.

So options, options, options for the Vikings. Again, they couldn't have asked for this to go much better outside of had the Vikings. they had a Kenyan Sadiq on the board, I would have been very interested to see if they would have gone with him over whoever else. But I think that positional value here, wide receiver, two top wide receivers are available for the Vikings or two top edge rushers. I would, I would trade down if I were the Vikings for sure, a couple of spots. I mean, if you could get, if you get Thinaman along with the draft pick in the third round. I mean, that's a pretty good value. But wide receiver setting up for the best weapons in the NFC North in a league where you got

a lot of good defensive minds, you got a lot of good defensive players, but you also have really good quarterbacks and offenses that you got to score with. I mean, go score with them. But you're right. I mean, if they traded down and they took, you know, maybe say Caldrick Falk still and then got a third rounder that turns out to be really good at wide receiver. I mean, I'm not going to complain about that. It's just Lemon is a very good prospect. And so is Boston. If they go with either one of those guys, that is the A plus for me.

That's the home run. I mean, that that's the one that I think could be the biggest difference maker. Because always in forever, how your quarterback performs is going to be the top, indicator of how much success that you have. So the options are everywhere for the Minnesota Vikings. And we'll see which way they go. Yeah, if you guys could try not to spoil the pick. If you see it out there on Twitter, just try not to do that so we can have the instant

reaction from everybody. That would be awesome if you could do that because it's coming in. And I'm sure it's going to get reported out on Twitter. but like let's let's kind of wait and see here. So the lions on the board, their pick is in ESPN is in commercial and they're coming back. And it seems that some of you are already spoiling the pick anyway. So that's interesting.

But I'm not going to. I'm going to wait and we'll see. But the Vikings have a lot of options here. They've got a board that has dropped very nicely to them. And everything that. they could want to do is on on the table everything that we've talked about every potential option except for kenyan sedique and that was the one where i really wasn't sure is sedique actually going to get to the vikings and then when he didn't do it with the jets you know that puts them in a position

to potentially trade down to potentially take receiver to take edge rusher everything uh is an option now for the Minnesota Vikings. So the Detroit lines on the board and then we are one away. But this has already been a fascinating draft to get us here to this point. Because there's just some things that have gone on that we didn't expect. Ruben Bain and Caleb Downs not going where we expected them to go. So we wait now for the Detroit Lions and then the Vikings will be on the board. and I'm going to wait to give my analysis till Roger Goodell actually makes the pick.

So I know that a lot of you are spoiling in the chat, but I'm just going to wait and analyze what the lions do and then we'll go from there. But this is, I guess, one of the unfortunate things about the NFL insiders breaking down everything first with the reports on Twitter and ruining it. but we wait. We'll just, we'll just wait. I know, I know guys. If you're,

if you're tweeting a hundred times who it's, who it is, I see you. But I'm just going to wait. So the, uh, lions are taking here. It is going to be Blake Miller that the lions are taking.

So Blake Miller was a guy that I looked at as a potential Viking target. If they were going right tackle because he played right tackle in college. He is a very athletic guy, but also has a ton of playing time. So he's been, Blake Miller has been playing a college football for three seasons, maybe even more as a starter. So now he gets to come in for the Lions and start right away.

And that means they're going to move Penae Soule over to left tackle and have Blake Miller. Clearly the Lions were locked in at offensive tackle. They needed to go in that direction after what happened last year with their offensive line because once their offensive line broke down, then the Lions obviously were in a lot of trouble. So here comes the Minnesota Vikings. The pick is in and Roger will be coming very soon to the podium to announce the way that the Vikings do. I agree with you third and nerdy that the eight minute has really changed this. I mean, in previous seasons, I felt like it was a grind

getting through to the next pick. And now picks coming off the board really quickly has gone very nicely here because we've been able to get quick analysis and then right back to the next pick. So the Vikings selection is in. Options all over the board for them. I do wonder about the potential of trading down because, I mean, can you really trade down in a draft where there's so much talent right behind? where the Vikings are picking, I think that if you're one of the teams behind them,

you're assuming that there will be some players that drop. So we will get Roger Goodell to the board here and we'll make the pick. And then we'll get a quick in a couple of minutes after that, a breakdown of the reaction to the pick from Jonathan Harrison. And then in a few minutes, we'll get Mani Hill as well into the mix to talk about the pick and then see what he thinks. So here we go.