Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - LIVE DRAFT COVERAGE: Reacting to Vikings' Day 2 moves

Episode Date: April 25, 2026

Matthew Coller reacts to the Vikings taking Northwestern tackle Caleb Tiernan and Miami safety Jakobe Thomas with the team's final two picks of Day 2. Jonathan Harrison jumps in to discuss the experts and fans' reactions to the Vikings' Day 2 moves. Coller wraps up the show getting listener's reactions to everything that happened on Friday night. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Vikings go with an offensive lineman. Okay. Caleb Tiernan, offensive lineman from Northwestern, 6 foot 7, almost 6 foot 8, and 323 pounds. The developmental offensive tackle, hard to complain about that when there is uncertainty in the future at offensive line. Now, when you pick one in the third, that's pretty high. It's not the same as picking Monroe Freeling, which they can. could have done last night. So once again, they don't pick the positions that we expected.

And, yeah, Brian O'Neill didn't announce his replacement. But this clearly is someone at 6 foot 8 and 320 pounds that you're thinking is an offensive tackle. I'm going to have to now read up. Let's get to because this was, this is a player. Now, this is one. I remember I just said like, hey, there's probably something. coming that I have not prepared for.

And Caleb Tiernan is a guy that I did not prepare for. So let's go to the beast with Dane Bruegler here at the athletic. And let's read up on Caleb Tiernan, 23 years old, fifth year senior. Dane Bruegler's takeaway, Tiernan relies on refinement to compensate for his average length and redirect skills using his discipline hands and poise to execute assignments, have swing tackle ability, although his best position long term, oh, here we go. His best position long term might be guard. And now it makes a little bit more sense.

Okay, now the Vikings take a safety, Jacoby Thomas. Another one that was not so much on the radar. Boy, they just threw the mock drafters for an absolute headspin here with this draft. So let's talk a little more about Tiernan and then we'll get to Jacobi Thomas, the safety from Florida. So Tiernan, thinking that he has maybe a potential at Guard, didn't do much in terms of the Combine or really his pro day. Under his strengths, this is all from Dane Bruegler,

because this is a player I didn't expect them to take, is tall, broadshouldered frame with a smooth bulk throughout. Same. A efficient pass blocker with enough range to reach landmarks, making it tough for him to get around. Obviously, he's humongous. A level work ethic here. Quick to sniff out stunts and pass off, pass off stunts in games.

That's pretty good. In terms of his weaknesses, shorter arms for his size, susceptible to long arm moves, inconsistent knee bend, and his balance is too easily disrupted as a run blocker needs more consistent hitting target at the second level. And he has some experience at right tackle, but almost all of his snaps at left tackle.

Let's get over here to the PFF data and see what we can find there about how he graded last year. So it looks like in 2024, he graded extremely well last year in terms of being a pass protector. Very good pass blocking grade, very poor run blocking grade in 2000. And wow, his gap run blocking grade was quite poor. All right. So there you go. they draft a guy, Caleb Tiernan, who is a tackle with certainly tackle size and has the potential to maybe be a Will Fries replacement or even depth.

I'll throw this out there. Obviously, surprised by both. Didn't have either one of these players on our radar. But safety makes sense for the draft pick. offensive line, it just didn't feel like they were going to do it now. It was almost like if you didn't do it already, why would you be doing it now? It's valuable. And depth is valuable.

The Vikings have been burned now multiple times by not having offensive line depth. Last year, they got crushed by it. 2004, it hurt them. So here, hey, look, it's Chris Trappaso's guy, Jalen Husky, going above the consensus. That's nice. But, so they've been burned on. offensive line depth. And if you are, now it kind of looks like, doesn't it, with they go get Ryan Vandemark, who's a younger player, and now they draft one in the third round that they're at least

preparing for trying to develop somebody at offensive tackle over the next year and then have depth. Certainly not a win now type of play or a fill in immediate need. I guess wide receiver is going to be saved for yesterday. I spent a lot of time. time preparing for guys they didn't get. All right, here is Jacoby Thomas. This we did prepare for, but not necessarily, excuse me, not necessarily this guy from Miami. There were other guys who were kind of pushed ahead of him. He was a one-year starter at Miami and moved up from middle Tennessee state to Tennessee before 2024. So this is 13. The takeaway here, a passionate competitor, which can lead to missteps, but will,

also put him in position to play fast and make plays. He has a floor of a special teamer with a potential to earn a starting role. In terms of his pro day, it looks like 4-5-740s pretty unimpressive. Doesn't look like he's got great numbers there. Big hands, though. Terms of strengths from Dane Bruegler, adequate frame for the position with no room to add, with room to add more bulk, fast and physical attacking gaps in the run game, runs to the alley with conviction and fearless throwing his body around.

This sounds like a Flores guy, sticks his hat into the midsection of targets and drives through. So we've got a physical, aggressive player, and not surprising here, described as coachable, someone who wants to be great, in terms of his weaknesses, mediocre recovery speed. This actually sounds a lot like a Josh Mattelis, doesn't it?

Average hip fluidity can be manipulated by veteran quarterbacks, too willing to leave his feet, launches a tackler. And, oh, he was the one right. He was the one that hit Fernando Mendoza in the national championship game. I remember that. Brings pop as a tackler, but average strength will complicate his finish. And only one season of high-level production.

All right. Let's go take a look at the PFF for Jacoby Thomas. I mean, this is, this is fine. His consensus is not great. but that was great 89.1 coverage grade for this year run defense was solid played 7774 snaps shocker here right played deep safety played in the box played in the slot a little bit and in terms of passer rating allowed only a 55.8 passer rating allowed five interceptions to only two touchdowns this this guy just seems like there's a lot of Josh Mattelis there that's

that's the takeaway. So another little wrinkle with a third round offensive lineman that I did not expect. But Jacoby Thomas, not someone that I put a lot of effort into pre draft because he was not projected to go by the third round. But he clicks a lot of boxes for Brian Flores. And now we get four out of five defensive players as they continue to build the foundation defensively. And maybe we can get Jonathan Harrison in here to give some reaction. And then we can get your reaction. Whoops, that's the wrong button.

There we go. Jonathan Harrison, who's watching social media and reading the reports on the Vikings draft. Offensive line. Jonathan, not something that I thought was going to happen today. No. And you go back to the pick before the Vikings picked at 97, where the Steelers jump up and take Jennings Dunker. Clearly they got intel that the Vikings were going offensive line. Probably didn't know who, but they wanted their guy in Jennings Dunker, which me is a massive

Jennings Dunker fan. I am disappointed. We didn't get the guy with the greatest mullet of all time and the big Culver's fan. I did check his nearest Culvers is in Canton, Ohio, which is just across the border. So it's a little bit away, a little bit away from Pittsburgh there. But yeah, it's a bit surprising. I asked the chat. I put it in the poll instant grade on both of these picks. It's been shifting between B and C. So the fans kind of, it feels like a B minus C plus pick are a pair of picks for the fans and the and the viewers in the chat right now. So, uh, interesting pick for the Viking or a couple of picks for the Vikings. Well, I'm looking just at different places on Caleb Tiernan, because he's not a guy that I spent much time with. But in terms of he had a very impressive vertical

jump, which I know is like, who cares, but that's like an explosive kind of thing. His performance and athleticism scores by the NFL.com metrics put him in the top 10 combine offensive tackles. So he does have good grades there. He kind of is a little bit like a more explosive Blake Brandl, where he's being talked about for his mental capacities, but doesn't have the arm length to be a starting NFL tackle more likely than not. At 6'8, though, is arm length, this might be a stupid detail, but it does matter.

Like the width versus arm length. Your arm measurement starting here does not measure your chest. So wingspan would matter for an offensive tackle more because you're reaching out with your body, whatever. It doesn't matter. But he has very, very short arms for an offensive tackle at 32 inches and 9 inch hands, which is kind of like a normal person almost. So that's not an offensive tackle.

But guard potential, I just think Jonathan that in terms of taking a tackle with potential to be a guard, they're saying, A, we obviously just like this guy. B, that they're looking at Brian O'Neill and Will Fries and going, one of you might not be here.

We don't know which one, because we don't know what the conversation is going to be like. But if they want for they, their run system, these huge towering linemen, they got to be one of the tallest offensive lines in the league. Will Fries is 6'7, 6, 8. You know, Blake Brandel is that big too. I don't know if this guy has any potential to play center.

It's almost 6 foot 8, but their center is already 6 foot 7, so maybe they do. A little surprise, though. It's a good thing for the short quarterback who people make fun of all the time. Yeah, yeah. He can throw over the offensive line, folks. don't worry about that. But I just feel like we had a lot of targets that we had put stars next to. Sam Hecht from Kansas State made so much sense here if they were going offensive line.

And then they go guard tackle. So you're more like, okay. Now, I have never been concerned about this is sort of like a half win for me. Because I was talking about Spencer Fanon. And then he went way early off the board. and is like, okay, well, that, that dream is dead. But offensive tackle has been on my radar the entire time of, you just look at the uncertainty on the right side of that line and go,

well, that's somewhere where somebody's probably not going to be here. Somebody's probably going to get hurt. And now you have Van der Mark and Tiernan of two guys who could be development players or just solid depth. And with the amount of injuries that happen on a. offensive lines across the NFL. It is so hard to survive two injuries even on the offensive line without collapsing. Now they have two offensive tackles that could, I don't know if Tiernan could start, but

one, Vandemar could start if you need them to. And this guy, you want to develop to be at that level or potentially even a replacement for Will Fries at right guard. So it's another one that's a surprise and is not exactly who we were thinking. but makes a lot of sense. I feel the same way about Dominique Orange, where I'm like, okay,

well, I didn't really think you would go with Dominique Orange, but okay, I get it. I see the vision. Jacobi Thomas, what's the thought,

what's your feeling on him? Well, before we get to him, I want to add to your point, I feel like when you look at, especially when you look at the gold day pick adding to this, you look at kind of the uncertainty

on the defense as well. I mean, uh, Van Ginkle signed the deal this, offseason, correct me if I were wrong. That only goes through next year. They got a bunch of void years. So clearly there's maybe some conversations about extending that long term.

But if he's not back, you have the guy who can replace him in Gold Day. You have now Tiernan, you have Vandemark on the offensive line. It feels like these day two picks are insurance. As I said before, insurance for maybe the future going forward in the future, not necessarily win now guys, but they're looking forward at their roster. at pieces and places that they may need guys in the future and they're getting them now. Folks, you guys know that I'm a hat guy. I've always been that way because I sunburn easily and my wife likes how it looks.

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details, restrictions, and important safety information. Yeah, and I think that that's okay in the third round where you have question marks. And even, I mean, the second rally, Golda could play. So you're right about that, but Golda can also mix in right away. Right. It is interesting, though, that foundationally, they were looking into the future. So even though Rob Brzezinski did some stuff in the first round that went a little against the way that he presented filling for need, this is a lot of 2027 type stuff. Offensive line uncertainty, Golda and Van Ginkle that you pointed out, the safety position

is a little more immediate need. And as I look into Jacoby Thomas, I actually really like this pick, even though it's another consensus reach. I think if there's an issue there with the draft, this is a pretty big reach. But it's in the third round. It's the last pick of the third. This guy, though, it's funny. You watch these college games. And then if you didn't look into the scouting report, you're like, oh, yeah, I remember that guy.

This is a, oh, I remember that guy with Jacoby Thomas. he was the MVP of the semi-final against Ole Miss. Remember, their defense was great against Ole Miss in that game to get them to the college football final talking about Miami. And he was like that dude in that game against the very explosive Ole Miss offense. He had two past breakups, five tackles, five interceptions overall started 16 games, three and a half sacks, six past breakups. tied for seventh in interceptions.

Like, this dude just plays football. And this is the productive type of player that I talk about all the time. Is, like, look for the production, even if the specs don't work out. That's Jacobi Thomas. Most people had him as a fourth rounder or beyond, which is why I really didn't go to the 170th pick or whatever. So you can miss some of these guys. But he was drafted a little bit earlier than expected.

But I like that as it feels like, Mattelis, it feels like the type of safety that's worked for them in recent years is this guy was a, Anthony Harris, this guy was a playmaker in college, bring him in. It's not a speed position necessarily. Cam Bynum was a playmaker in college. I like this for safety a lot as someone who can compete for a role right away. And if not, special teams, rotational player. So I think that overall, Jonathan, because I want to get to the chat here, go ahead, chat,

Fire away. Your grade. What's your grade for the Vikings drafts for the first two days? Mine is like noises. Oh, well. What's the emoji face? The emoji reaction you're giving to it? Yeah.

Like what what grade do you give a draft that has nothing sexy about it at all outside of the first pick? But a day two that had. nothing sexy about it at all. Nothing that fantasy football people will be writing about. Nothing that you're going to get CBS sports gives Vikings A plus. Like that's not going to happen. They're going to get B minuses for most of the graders. And yet, when we talk about building through trenches, defensive tackle,

offensive line, I totally get it. And I like that. They got one position of need with a playmaker. who's very productive safety. I like that. They got a versatile made for Brian Flores defensive player in Jake Golda, who I think is very unique. I don't think there was another one.

I really don't. Like, when you go through this draft, I don't think there was another Jake Golda who fit as well into this defense. I kind of want to go like B plus. And even this is, this is, you could see my soul collapsing with no wide. receiver taken, but it actually does, somebody brought this up that it does maybe speak well of

Ty Felton or they might use this cap space for Joanne Jennings because the whole thing with Joanne Jennings was he wants too much money. So if they could sign Joanne Jennings to like a, I don't know, $14 million contract or something, that would be great. Yeah, absolutely. I think the thing that I want to compare it to not totally, but like you look at how they've focused on the trenches, the defensive tackles, defensive line. Isn't that what the Eagles always get praised for is hitting on those defensive line picks and going after that? And they're competitive every year.

They've won the Super Bowl a couple times in the past five years. That's a team that you, that's a team in front office, you want to try and emulate as best as you can and hitting on these defensive, going after these defensive line picks and taking swings at these guys seems to be the right path. On Jacoby Thomas, I would like to point out that he played for former gopher's defensive a defensive coordinator, Corey Hederman, who plays an ultra-aggressive system. So coming from that system to Brian Flores' aggressive system that likes to blitz, that likes to fly around their safeties all over the place.

Coy Perch had a great freshman season in that same defense. So he's, it's not really, it doesn't feel like a big, or big difference for him going from Miami's aggressive system where he had big production in his final season there. So I think for me, I would give it. around that B, B, B minus B plus range for what we've seen because of the similarities to what the Eagles like to do every year. I think you could grade like different parts of this and I'll get to your guys grades in

just a second and we'll talk about them until my voice completely falls apart because we've been live streaming for four. Those people who live stream for like eight hours a day, I don't know how they do it. Maybe they're not talking about the draft the entire time. But it's like if you view it through a certain lens. of did you address a lot of stuff on the defensive side that you needed to address, then you get a high grade. You did.

If you look at it through the lens of, did you do stuff that hit on your clear offensive needs? Then the answer is absolutely not. And we went into this saying, hey, running back. Hey, center. But the thing about it is when Rob Berzinski says you can't manufacture stuff, I was hearing running back. like guys these running backs are bad

Mike Washington is bad there were people who are mocking I know that Mel Kiper did this at one point sorry Mel you're wonderful but like Mike Washington in the second and I was like what like I must be taking crazy pills because that guy's not a good running back prospect

Emmett Johnson Jonah Coleman they're middling type prospects I like them but they're middling that's where you're trying to squint and make it work and it is very possible that they were going to take Jennings Dunker who might have had a little more center potential than Ternan, but the centers very clearly, they just weren't sold. Because if they were sold on a third round center, then they would have gone with one,

but they just weren't. They were right there to be taken. Sam hacked, Connor Liu, they must have thought, we just don't see it with either one of those guys for fit reasons. They have Frank Smith now here running a certain type of system, whether it was fit or specs or whatever it was. They were not impressed or they just didn't have them that high on their board. So they decide not to take them.

That's where I would agree that you can't force it. I think they would have loved to have taken a starting center if one was there. But if we're talking about it number 98, that's where you get like Pat Elfline. That's where you get a like replacement level type player. Logan Jones clearly was the guy in Jake Slaughter. Those were the guys that were top center prospects. They went in the second. The rest of the guys are probably day three projects.

that's just how the league is viewing them. And other people might have different opinions, but Jones and Slaughter were athletes. And I think that's maybe the difference between the other guys. So I could see that. And the wide receivers, it's such a deep class. Like my favorite wide receiver for day two, Skylar Bell's not even off the board yet.

Bryce Lance is not even off the board yet. They may have viewed it as so deep that they could potentially trade into the fourth. So like, keep your eyes open tomorrow morning. my friends, they might trade into the fourth and take a wide receiver that they just thought, why do it now when there's five that we like? So it's a little bit navigating the board. I think Jacoby Thomas is someone that we look at as maybe a reach, but also just a really good football player.

So multiple different lenses to look at it through. Jonathan, I'm going to get the reaction here from fans. I have one final thing for you that I found. You know how ready Jonathan Grenard was for this trade today? he was at the 76 or Celtics game in Philadelphia after performing his physical. So he was ready to go. He was in Philadelphia today, ready to go. Look, he got $50 million guaranteed.

This is, and I mean this, this is a great, a great person, Jonathan Grenard. He is a great, great person who I know is going to, unfortunately for Vikings fans, bring a lot to that locker room in Philadelphia. And that's the part of that trade that scares me. So I think we have to factor the trade into it. and that's where I guess I guess B feels like such a cop out it's just like but that's where I'm at with it because I get it I get it trading Jonathan Grenard to the Philadelphia Eagles on its face is kind of bad but you get cap space and you get draft capital and you get an

opportunity for Dallas Turner it's just like drafting a nose tackle who's a zero technique is probably not the overall best who doesn't rush the passer, but also this could be a great fit for them with what they have on their team and how they want to play. And drafting a backup offensive linemen seems kind of odd in the third round. But if we look one year down the road, it makes total sense because there's two guys on this offensive line where it's completely unclear what they're going to be. So this is a, this is a draft. The way I want to like encapsulate this before I just read fan reaction is it's a you you kind of got to put on your uh or get out your like research tools and your look into the future and your front office let's use

over the cap dot com and like also you have to put some trust in brian flores for this and the medical staff for this. It's a little bit like leap of faith type draft where you got to believe in them, the front office and Brian Flores. You got to believe in what their plan is with Dallas Turner. How about that is it's a, it's a, how do I want to put this? Like leap of faith type of draft where you've got to kind of take a leap of faith on a lot of things that Caleb Banks will become what he's supposed to become, that Dallas Turner will be what he's supposed to be, that this offensive lineman will become relevant at some point, which I think is a very strong possibility, but we don't know that as of right now, that a safety who has middling athleticism and one year of production

will be able to step right in and make a difference, that you didn't pass on an awesome wide receiver to take a nose tackle, right? There's a lot of you got to buy it. How about we put it that way like you like a buy in you have to buy in type of draft rather than a this is obvious it's not a this is obvious draft we can't just sit back and go well duh they drafted a wide receiver running back center and safety and there you go there's your draft they just filled all your obvious positions this is one where you got to like get your microscope out a little more you got to put your lab code on and get really research to come to, okay, I think I understand it.

But I don't know how well that's going to go over with a lot of people because I saw, I saw a lot of mocks that were like four round mocks, three round mocks from leading into this where I was like, oh yeah, that makes sense, total sense. This draft doesn't really make total sense. Not in the same way that the expectation was. It's not, it certainly doesn't scream a, we're in a win now mode draft. When you look at the rest of the roster. it feels like they are, but this is more of a draft where they're preparing for the long term.

They're preparing for the future. And maybe that has something to say about the heat level on Kevin O'Connell's seat that he may feel a little bit more comfortable being able to draft with a more long-term view rather than drafting for the immediate need. Okay, I got 20 minutes left of voice. So let's do that. Thank you so much for Jonathan for your contributions tonight. Really appreciate it. Okay, you guys got 20 minutes left. That's all I can do.

Otherwise, my vocal cords are going to implode. So, all right. Truth bombs. Hope that Turner Van Ginkle don't get injured. We have no edge rush. I would expect that this cap space is going to be used for something, maybe depth there, but it's a fair point.

As of right now, it's three guys, and one of them's never played before. So that was kind of where they were at last year with their depth and they survived it, but they can't do that again. So maybe there's another free agent out there. There are several positions that after this draft are left very, very light. Although they also do use Eric Wilson as an edge rusher. So that might matter too.

Evan, the DTs were obvious in terms of position. The players were surprises. Agree. Agree. 51 picks before our next pick. We'll see. we'll see if that's how they do it. Hunter says not buying it,

not because of the positions, but the players. The players were a surprise. Dumer, not buying it. Marauder thought that Rob could redeem himself tonight, B minus. Dave said, I wonder if B-flow was given assurances when he signed that they would spend a bunch of high picks on the defense,

or even if you're just looking to the future, they kind of had to spend on the defense. Purple faithful, Flores knows what he wants, and a safety, no doubt on that. That I agree with. I think that the safety is, uh, I like that pick a lot, even though it wasn't as high on mock drafts. I like that pick a lot for the production and Brian Flores.

I mean, it just seems like his type of player. Stephen has the front office deserved our leap of faith. What evidence have they provided that we should feel great about that leap? Fair point. Not going to argue on that one. I'm going to try to get as many of your, uh, responses as I can just because you guys have been awesome in the chat and I've been trying to just jump in and out but I'm going to I'm going to leave this up to you so I won't talk for 10 minutes about a one comment like I tend to do

too often here. Y'all just submit resumes for the GM job. Hey, I mean, it's it is open. Hunter says with three of the top 100 picks, they reach pretty heavily. That's very bad odds for me. I definitely understand that perspective and is someone who has long. long believed in the data and what the consensus tells us, my question is, why is that still happening? And if they're going to change general managers, I'd like the next person,

this is harsh. It's four and a half hours in. I'd like the next person to care about what the consensus board says about success. I'd like the next person to have some sense for what the data has told us about the draft and us to be able to pick up on it. Because they, hired a data-driven GM who never did that, who never seemed to use the data. And now they've done another draft with a different GM that never seems to use the data. So I don't know. Like, it doesn't mean they're going to be wrong, but it is a little bit like, history isn't on your side here as you're doing this.

And going against the numbers work sometimes if you punt rather than going forward on fourth down, but there's a reason why everyone goes for it on fourth down now is because this stuff has been looked into. So yeah, I get that perspective. Definitely get that perspective. Scoliosis, big, big S-K-O-L. Love how many people in the comments know what a reach looks like. No, there is a definition for a reach. That's the point about the consensus board. These consensus boards have been created by all sorts of, I know I say it so much, I don't explain it. all sorts of like hundreds of the best draft analysts. And you could say, well, those draft analysts, they've got Chedur Sanders wrong.

They don't know what they're talking about. But there's a, it's been studied over different subjects, not just the draft of wisdom of crowds. Like there is wisdom in crowds. If you take 100 experts versus one team, the Vikings have been outperformed in recent years by the consensus board. If you just draft the highest player available with no regard for any other factors, it would outperform the Minnesota Vikings in recent drafts.

Not only that, but it outperforms a lot of teams. So it's been shown that if you reach versus the consensus board, your chance of a bust is higher than if a player drops or if you draft them in the same range. And when you're doing that on most of your picks, you're just not really playing the odds very well. If you go to a casino and you've got a 15 or a 16 on the board playing blackjack and you say hit me.

I'm not a blackjack expert, but just hang with me. And you say hit me, well, okay, you might win. But a lot more often than not, you're going to go over and you're going to bust there. So there's probably better blackjack players who could explain that better. But you're just sort of going against what the numbers have said many times. And that from a person that wrote a book on the data revolution in the NFL, it's very hard to get on board with when you're doing that repeatedly, not just with one player you love, but almost every player. Let's see.

Matt says reach pretty big on the safety with the Grenard pick. I like the production and the performance that I've seen from him, but it is versus where he was expected to go a huge reach. That's one where you wonder if you could have gotten that maybe in the fourth or fifth, but maybe the league was higher on him. Hunter says a bee is too nice for you. Toll House, wonder, worried about what they're going to do at center. I'm very curious.

I mean, Blake Brandel's going to be the center. This is something that was made clear to us at the owner's meetings a few weeks ago. Blake Brandel is the center. But I thought that they might look at guys to be an eventual replacement. Logan Jones and Jake Slaughter were just drafted really high. So the Vikings would have had to do that in the second. And I really like where they took Jake Gold Day. John, I like big citrus and the linebacker, not sure about the others, but, well, we're all armchair

quarterbacks in some ways. But I like, I like the concept of Dominique Orange. This is where I'm a little back and forth. Like, is it a, is it a reach for him? Maybe it is. But this, having a nose tackle in there is important for them, that they have not had this. And teams have had an ability to run on them in certain situations where, Dominique Orange gives them something different.

He definitely doesn't give you some sort of deep threat wide receiver or star running back that you might have liked, but it's very clear that the running back class is just total garbage. And no one was interested there. Toll House going with a B in Brando we trust from Phenom. Still want Jonah Coleman. I do too. Yeah, Purple Payne.

I still like Emma Johnson and Jonah Coleman. Luke can't depend on players who are over 30 and hurt consistently. Love Jones, but he's not. a two and um yeah no i mean he's not you're right erin jones but but that's where you can't just invent a running back prospect no one drafting these running backs means that there's really bad really really bad uh truth bombs as i thought brian parker would have been good at center um maybe that's a day three guy maybe that's more of a day three prospect toll house i like the citrus pick kind of like vita vea not sexy but disruptive veaa is a different type

of beast as a top 10 overall draft pick, but I get what you're saying. He's just, he's more of like a, like a very traditional nose tackle type. The Michael Pierce comp was pretty good. But the Vikings play like the three, four that the Ravens did back in the day. Joe, is there any shot that Tiernan could play center at almost six, eight, I don't know. That seems a little far fetch that he could play center, but they're having Blake Brandl do it. Maybe.

I think they like him because there's like a quick. there's like a little bit of explosiveness there and seems like he's really good with stunts and twists which would be a factor uh purple rain got a wonder if we got de hop waiting and the wings with a deal could be casey the viking still need uh well they took a tackle but um center running back wide receiver cornerback not taking a corner there malik mohammed was there and they don't go that direction either they did get the safety uh scamping around big orange flip the mood there's no one who cannot be happy around a giant nose tackle. Everyone should be happy with that.

I was big on drafting defensive tackle overall. And doing that, it's very hard for me to say, how dare you? After the whole time, I talked about this guy and defensive tackle and the position and everything else. Penny says, fun draft overall. The theme is trade. There has been a lot of trades in this draft. Absolutely.

Emmett Johnson isn't explosive at all. Sean says, I agree with you. I mean, I think that he's just a, um, a quality prospect at running back, but he's not one that's going to be a game breaker. Magic scientist overall B plus is fair would be an A minus if Banks wasn't so risky. Ron is still concerned with the running back position. That's probably for day three. Take a swing.

Take two. Take two swings there. John, our running back room needs help as the Nebraska. Is Emmett Johnson? You're talking about Emmett Johnson. John, I would not say, don't say Felton isn't it. I mean, they just didn't draft a wide receiver. You don't know what Felton's going to be.

And if you said, well, KJ Osborne isn't anything because he didn't perform in his first year, and then he had 50 catches. The book is not written at all on Ty Felton. But in terms of Emmett Johnson, I think he's obviously just a day three guy that they might be able to get in the fifth round. And if they did, I would be happy with it. Matt, cornerback and wide receivers should have been the picks at the end. It's hard to disagree with that with some of the guys on the board. Vikings might be moving to a bigger offensive system. They have used two tight ends quite a bit.

Too much reaching. Agree with that. Truth bombs. They must be concerned with Darisaw's knee or O'Neill's health. Both of them, but also O'Neill's not under contract after this year. This seems like kind of a half measure. But if this guy can also play guard, then that has to be part of the discussion as well. Purple Rain maybe not drafting a wide receiver implies this is the year KOC runs the ball.

Probably not, but it might imply that they are high on Ty Felton or that they have another wide receiver who's a veteran lined up to go after they get the cap space to make a signing. I would love to see them get Joanne Jennings. I think he's a really excellent player. Joanne Jennings, free agent who apparently has been asking for too much money. Well, you got some money. Give it to him. Sean Gold Day and Big Citrus made my day, but wish we snagged one of the top running backs. No one snagged the top running backs. That's the thing. C minus or Cish, John says. Don't love the reach. Matt's going with B minus.

Six Shooter Nation because they didn't take wide receiver. They might just play 12 personnel packages. That's true. Or they might have somebody else coming in. I'm sure they will. Slurms aside from one guy, whose contribution will depend on health. They drafted guys who are going to contribute,

unlike previous drafts we had. Well, they had draft picks. That would be a difference. I mean, they're not drafting guys in the second or third round to contribute if they didn't have draft picks. But Orange should contribute and maybe Thomas. Maybe. Gold Day definitely should. But it wasn't a big draft contributors draft, though. That's the thing.

Purple Payne finally addressed the trenches. Impostors says you're supposed to be a better team by adding players in the draft. I think so far the Vikings got worse. That's not true. is Jermad McCoy going to be a UDFA? I could see that. The way it's gone, I could definitely see that. It just means, I think it just means what happened to Jermad McCoy

that no one believes he's even going to have a career. Because otherwise, someone would do it. Haynes or Hans, if you draft a tackle, draft him in the first round, you could have gotten a wide receiver. I mean, if they see him as a guard, then it makes more sense. but generally I agree there's not many tackles that become starters. Maybe I think seeing him as a potential guard makes much more sense. When I read that, it was like, okay, I get it.

Because his arms are short and his hands are small and that's not going to be a starting offensive tackle in the league more often than not. There's almost nobody with short arms and tiny hands that's playing offensive tackle as a starter. But guard, Will Fries will be a free agent after this year or not, he won't be a free agent, but they can cut him if they want. And his contract goes way up in terms of expense. So maybe there's a plan there and then just a swing player.

Does feel a little odd to take a swing player in the third when you could get a potential impact receiver. I'd agree with that. Kenneth, why did we trade Grenard if we have the money? It's not that you don't have it. It's that you don't want to spend new money on him. 50 million guaranteed is what he got from the Philadelphia. Elophie Eagles. That's a lot. Four-year, $100 million contract extension is enormous for Jonathan

Grenard. And they didn't want to do that when they have Dallas Turner there waiting in the wings, who they spent a first round draft pick plus on. Jonah Coleman would be good in my eyes. DeAndre Hopkins could be here. Yeah, take Skylar Bell, figure out the rest, could see that. They might just see this being so deep with wide receivers, like One Hunt review mentioning. Lance, they could be so deep on receivers that they decide like they're going to wait till the fifth, but it feels like you're sacrificing a lot there. Is Joey Bosa possibility? I don't know if he is, but somebody out there maybe as a defensive tackle.

Matt liked Muhammad and like, yeah, Keiote Scott, that was somebody, that was somebody I had had targeted. Dumer K.O. has been very dumer. C plus grade, mediocre forever. That's tough. Yeah, I mean, there's there would have been there would have been a different approach to this that I would be curious about maybe studying in the future of like if we did tiny hand. No, everyone's an expert. No, literally. See, some of you don't understand.

There's actual data on the stuff. The stuff that you're like, no one knows. Like, no, we actually literally do. We literally do. We actually know that his hands are in the second percentile amount of offensive tackles. We actually have this data. This isn't me just saying it. Like, I literally looked it up.

That if you have nine inch hands as an offensive tackle, that's like what you'd expect from a running back or a safety or something. So that's, it's a huge deal for offensive tackle to have long arms and big hands. What do they use to block people with? It matters. It's not that nobody can do it, but it's not everyone's an expert. It's just the fact. It's a fact what his arm length is.

That's not even like some sort of random guess. That's it's an actual number. Purple Payne Banks was the only risk. It depends on your definition of risk. I mean, taking a nose tackle where they did might be looked at that way. I wouldn't say it's crazy risky. So, I mean, we'll just, we'll just have to see how, you know, it works out eventually, but it's not a draft.

Let's put a cap on it because I don't, I literally can't talk anymore after this, which I greatly thank all of you for your enthusiasm in the chat. It's been great. You guys have been awesome today. It's made this a lot of fun. It's made it go by quickly. It's been super entertaining and fascinating. But at the bottom line, I think the bottom line is that we just don't have an obvious way to feel about this.

Had they gone with the most blatant plan, which would have been center, wide receiver, and maybe a safety earlier that we had heard of, then it would have been so easy to just write in A, good job, thumbs up, well done, Minnesota Vikings. You did the draft you were supposed to do that everyone expected from you and everyone liked that idea. And they didn't do that. I remember saying there's so many different combinations of ways that I would give

the Vikings an A in this draft. And this is just honestly not one of them the way that they have handled this one. It takes a lot of head cocking and eyebrow raising and microscope using and you need a whiteboard and a chalkboard next to each other and write down formulas and everything else and go, well, this guy, if this happens and that happens, that makes it a little bit harder. One thing we know is that it's not a guarantee that it's bad just because we can't fully see how things are going to play out in the future. I think with, With Gold Day we do, with Dominique Orange, we do. And definitely we see their plan with Caleb Banks.

But some of the other picks and what they passed up on, it does make you wonder, could there have been a weapon that's your one extra guy? Could there have been a safety a little earlier that may have brought you a starter potential as opposed to, you know, Thomas, who might be more of a special teamer? Is there ceilings on these players that are like Caleb Banks? or were these kind of safe in some ways for the Vikings to take? And where does this backup offensive linemen fit into things? So I think each question sort of has its own questions.

Did they really get the best return for Jonathan Grenard? Is it worth it if they got a safety who turns into a special teamer and a third rounder from next year? That doesn't feel great if that's what the projections are for Jacoby Thomas. So I think it's hard to look at this draft and go, obvious A great job, well done, shake hands, everybody celebrate and on we go. You much more have to go, how is this going to look in two years? And where are these guys ultimately going to fit in?

Because I think there's good prospects there, but I also think that there are question marks as well about all of these picks and the approach that they took. So it wouldn't be the Minnesota Vikings if we didn't leave this draft going, huh, okay. I also think that if it's hard to hate because stacking up trenches, hard to hate stacking up trenches. When you go interior defensive line and a guy who has tackle potential but also might move into guard eventually, I mean, it's those are things that are needed for this team. But there's not a whole lot of flash to this one, especially, and even, you know, Jake Golda is a little flashy because we know what Andrew van Ginkle does, but it's a linebacker. So there's not a whole lot of fireworks for the Vikings.

And I'm very curious to see how the draft world responds to what happened here tonight for the Vikings. Wow. What a night. What a long night. There will be another live stream. I promise. I'm going to rest up. I'm not going to speak to anybody.

It's not going to be the whole day tomorrow. It'll be a reaction to day three where we break down each pick and then start getting the sense for the UDFA's. But that'll be its own podcast as well. So again, thank you so much, everybody for joining the breakdown here of the Vikings draft day two. It was a lot more fun to have a lot of picks than in previous years where they didn't. So I, and again, subscribe, like, go check out the newsletter, Purple Insider. Dot football. But you guys have been amazing.

And I can't thank you enough for all the support and the time that you put into watching and listening to Purple Insider. So I'm just feeling very appreciative tonight and thankful that we had picks and interesting things happen to break down. So take care, everyone. Do your research. Look up your hand sizes, percentiles. I mean, come on. Why isn't everybody doing that? And we will talk to you tomorrow.

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