Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - LIVE DRAFT COVERAGE: Will Ragatz on Vikings' needs; Reacting to Golday pick, Greenard Trade

Episode Date: April 25, 2026

To kickoff our coverage for Day 2 of the draft, Matthew Coller is joined by Vikings on SI's Will Ragatz to discuss Minnesota's needs after taking Caleb Banks with the No. 18 overall pick on Wednesday. Coller and Ragatz also discuss the best available players for Minnesota to take during Day 2. After our chat with Will, we skip ahead an hour to the Vikings' second round pick and react to the Jake Golday pick, which is quickly followed by the blockbuster trade of Jonathan Greenard to the Eagles. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It is an exciting night two here as the San Francisco 49ers are on the clock with the 33rd pick. We'll give you updates on each pick and also have a good conversation about the Minnesota Vikings as we do so. And we're going to bring in here in just a second. Will Raggots from Vikings on SI to talk a little bit more about the Caleb Banks pick and what to expect tonight. Will welcome into day two coverage. It's been a while for Purple Insider. I was doing some vocal exercises today to keep the pipes going. I've got the Diet Dr. Pepper here.

I am ready for this. How are you, my friend? I'm good. I mean, I knew it, but I don't know if it had fully processed that the Vikings haven't made a second round pick since 2022. That just seems absurd. So here we are. This is a really fun night.

The first round gets all the hype and the headlines. And it's very important, especially. interesting too when the Vikings make a pick like they did. But this is where they really have to find some building blocks, some starters, address some of their many needs. So I'm looking forward to seeing what they do. I did see a lot of people say last night,

like bring back Quasi because as I'm sure you notice, the internet's response to drafting Caleb Banks was, I would say shifted pretty heavily toward not positive. And yet Quasi didn't have second and third round picks ever. So at least Rob Brzynski has that. going for him. But what did you make? Why don't we do reaction to the reaction first? And then we'll talk a little more about what we think the path is for Caleb Banks. What did you think about the way that Vikings fans and the media analysis universe at large,

how they responded to the Vikings taking the big swing of the draft at number 18? Yeah, I guess I wasn't really surprised by some of the reaction. I mean, people look at these draft rankings and the consensus board and people spend a lot of time familiarizing themselves with these prospects. And I just think the fact that this came out of nowhere. Like Caleb Banks going back early in the process, like coming out of the senior bowl was somebody who I thought made a ton of sense for the Vikings at 18, filling in need and having a really high ceiling.

And then this injury happens and everybody's kind of like, all right, he's not going to go in the first round. This is, he's going to fall to the second where somebody, where some team's going to have to take that risk on his foot. So for it to happen at 18, just being kind of a shock, I think was the first thing. And then, yeah, like, I understand the frustration or maybe the disappointment or why a lot of people weren't thrilled by it and thought it was a reach. I think the risk thing is the obvious one, but then also just like the value. I think that's, that's a fair question to ask. were there all of these other teams who were prepared to take banks shortly after the Vikings pick at 18? Could they not have found a way to move down a little bit?

Of course, we don't know what the options were there if they had any sort of option like that. You can't just kind of magically make that happen. But yeah, I guess I wasn't shocked by the reaction. I'm a little surprised it's maybe been as negative as it has been just because I think, and I and I do this a lot, and I think a lot of people do this. like the fun thing about the draft is just talking yourself into it. And with Banks, if you can talk yourself into it, like the ceiling is immense. The upside is crazy.

So I've seen some people who have kind of gotten on that side of things and are like, all right, if this works, watch out. But yeah, it's been a lot of negative. So that'll be interesting to kind of follow moving forward. This feels like if it was 14 years ago that Caleb Banks was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings, that the fans would have said, oh my God, we just got the freakiest freak in the draft that he dropped us because of a foot injury. And I'm not saying that 14 years ago, people didn't understand foot injuries.

So that would have been a concern. But in terms of the height, weight and where he went to college, that was a lot of the knowledge that you had going in. And then you would have listened to, well, this analyst liked him or that analyst. But it probably would have just been like Mel Kiper and one or two other people that had the biggest voices in that space and then some draft magazines and that's all we had. But now every one of us becomes a draft analyst, a draft evaluator throughout the process because of the amount of information.

And I don't mean that in a sarcastic way. I mean that in a fans have a more educated response to something like this than ever before. And I think what fans can see here will is all of the potential pitfalls. I don't think anybody who says they know how this is going to play out can be taken seriously because we never know this. We've seen projects turn into stars. We've seen sure things turn into absolutely nothing. So we know that until they get on that NFL field and in that NFL building, no one really knows. Not Brian Flores, not me, you, nobody.

So we know that. But also through the years, if you reach, your risk is higher. If a guy has injuries, your risk is higher. And my biggest concern is production. If a defensive tackle who's taken in the first round doesn't have top-notch production, then the chances of them turning out to be a elite starter, a top-notch starter, Pro Bowl, or even somebody that plays seven to 800 snaps in the league effectively is not really that high. But that doesn't mean that those chances go to zero because there's pitfalls.

And I think people should understand that part of it, that it's not like just because this guy, this guy and this guy in the draft previously didn't have successful results. It doesn't mean that this other person, Caleb Banks can't succeed. And we talked to Brian Flores for about 20 minutes today about Caleb Banks. And one thing that I took away, Will, is that there is a very clear path for them in development. Like, they have an idea of what he needs to do to get. there and they have identified those things. Can he get there?

I have no idea. But I think in terms of an organization that gives Caleb Banks a chance to make it because of who's working with him, the Vikings probably give him the best shot. Yeah, I would agree with that. This is a, I don't know if cocky is the right word, but this is like a pick that the Vikings are making a big bet on themselves. They're making a big bet on Caleb Banks too and how hard he's going to work to get to where he needs to be. But they're betting on their doctors, who they say are the best in the world,

which is kind of funny. And maybe true to some degree. I don't know. And they're betting on their coaching staff. Ryan Nielsen and Brian Flores and everybody else, Pat Hill, who's going to be working with Kayla Banks, being able to get him to a point of being a starter and they hope a star in the NFL because yeah it you make a good point like it's not just the medicals that make this a risk it's also he had one productive season um he had two fairly productive seasons if you look at the the snaps played in pff grades only one where he really got on the stat sheet which was in 2024 when he had four and a half sacks seven total tFLs a couple force fumbles so like it's not a glowing production profile but you see the flashes and that's what

Banks has talked about and Kevin O'Connell's talked about if they can unlock those flashes and get him some more consistency, like you can see what the upside is. Now, teams say that about a lot of players if you can just become more consistent. So when you pair that need to develop on a snap to snap basis and become more consistent with the medical concern, like I understand that there are risks involved. for me it's just the reason i can get behind it is like at 18 there are no sure things and there's no sure things anywhere but in the top five sometimes you feel pretty confident about a floor and a ceiling of a guy at 18 like there's going to be something you're sacrificing sealing floor there's

going to be some risk for a team that's never won the super bowl and wants to get to that point to become a legitimate contender um having watched the past five Super Bowl winners all have these freak defensive tackles, Aaron Donald and Chris Jones and Byron Murphy and Leonard Williams and Jalen Carter and Jordan David. Like these guys are all drafted in the first round. They don't fall out of the first round when they have traits like that. Now, the banks, the medicals are their own thing. But like you draft those guys in the first round, you can't find them on, you know, day two or day three, certainly, outside of maybe very rare instances. So I don't hate the home run swing.

though it has a low floor and maybe won't pay off, I can get behind the idea of taking a shot on a guy who has a chance to be special because, frankly, I don't think that like Caden McDonald, for example, has a chance to be a special, special player. He might be an instant day one starter, a good run defender, a Harrison Phillips type of guy, but I don't think he has the upside, anywhere near the upside of Caleb Banks. So that is why I can understand what the Vikings are doing, even if in an ideal world, maybe they trade back and are able to do it in the mid-20s. Okay, first two picks of the second round, Desaunt Stribling, the wide receiver from Ole Miss, talking about high-sealing players, goes to the San Francisco 49ers.

So they are, once again, they are at it getting wide receivers that maybe people thought were a little lower on the board, but I'm sure fit them in whatever way they see. And we'll probably be effective if they're going to San Francisco. and now the Cardinals go with a guard, Chase Besantis from Texas A&M. So those are the first two players off the board in the second round. And I thought the Vikings might, I mean,

a few weeks ago I wrote about some receivers. And I thought, I thought stripling was like maybe an 82 candidate, if not a 49. And he goes 33. He's 99 on Arif's consensus board. So shout out to the 49. I like DeJon scribbling.

That is a lot earlier than I thought he would go. but you know what if you have if you have conviction and if you're kail shannon i'm i'm going to trust the process there it's a little bit like we have to believe that brian flores knows stuff and that doesn't make him perfect and it doesn't help a foot if the foot keeps being an issue there's nothing that anybody can do to develop kaleb banks and i think that when you have you remember when we used to talk about how we'd go into a season and we go well one of the chances the vikings could be a serious contender and we would say well this this this this this this and this have to happen and each one of those are a coin flip but any mathematician knows that five coin

flips not a very high percentage for all of them coming up heads it feels a little bit of the same way with Caleb Banks where it's like he has to have a very specific development plan and patience and he has to really dig in with that and he's got a master technique it seems from the scouting reports that I've read the technique is a pretty serious issue with Caleb Banks where he's getting pushed off by double teams he's letting lineman get into his chest, like stuff that, uh, you can't have in the NFL. He's just any six, six, six. And like, sometimes when you're six, six, it's hard to have your pad level be down. And NFL offensive lineman, if you're not on your technique, are going to

fully take advantage of that. Absolutely. So you play, you know, top offensive lineman and they're going to have better technique because they're 28 or something. Uh, so that's something that he has to learn. So that's like one potential coin flip of whether he gets it or not. And then there's the production being low, which makes it less than a, coin flip that it works out if the production isn't high. And then there's the red flag medical wise, at least from the outside world, not from the Vikings, but we've just heard them use this a lot of no, no, no, we know better when it comes to predicting injuries.

And I guess sometimes they've been right like Hargrave and Allen last year, but sometimes Aaron Jones, Ryan Kelly, et cetera, they have not been right with taking risk after risk after risk. The whole roster is an injury risk at this point. And that is certainly, I think, pretty concerning. when they maybe lean on this too much. I believe that they have, they should have said in the league.

You should have just said in the league. Shouldn't have said in the world. Some brain surgeon in Tokyo was probably like, come on, man. I'm the best in the world. Like, they fly people to Tokyo for me. But anyway, I just thought like that one, that one is going to stick with Rob Brzezinski

if this does not end up going the right way. But the point being that if those things click, then Caleb Banks has a chance to not just be okay, he has a chance to be phenomenal, which I think you can make an argument for the swing. I think more than anything, though, because, yeah, big swings in the draft, sometimes you do it. I think it's the shock of it also that that's the way they decided to go because Prab Brzynski said to a question, I asked him just this week, he said, well, you don't want to talk yourself into the glass being half full just because it's a position of need and a player you're like,

like, what's this? So I think that I think that risk scares everybody and the potential potholes scare everybody. But I also think, though, we're only talking about the ceiling for Caleb Banks. Even if he gets to 90%, 80% of his projection, what's that? Like a guy that plays 500 snaps and is really hard to block for some people, but isn't a superstar? Is that like a Shelby Harris? I know this is, I don't know if everyone knows Shelby Harris. but Shelby Harris was a guy that, well, he's still in the league, kind of.

He's played for Denver. He gets like four or five sacks a year, 30-something pressures, and he's very helpful. So I think that even if you go down one notch, you're still talking about a player that might be worth $15 million. It's just that the negative here would be if he gets hurt again, doesn't develop at all. You could be talking about an enormous, enormous bust. But let's move forward to day two here as we're just getting going on the, clock in round two.

49. Give me an idea, Will, of what is on your mind because I think everything is open. Corner, receiver, maybe offensive line

if they want to reach for a potential starting center. What would you be targeting here today? Yeah, the fun thing is that there's like six positions that I think

make a lot of sense. You could go offense after using your first pick on defense. I don't know if you want to do the center just yet. I think you'll be able to get one of these guys in the third round.

But a wide receiver, I think, could make a lot of sense, especially if the 49ers are going to start a run on them here, and you think that there's maybe a tier break between the guys you could get at 49 and the guys you could get in the third round. I don't think you're not going to do a running back quite yet. So then you look at defensively, I put out a tweet on Super Bowl Sunday where it was like, should the Vikings just draft Kayla Banks at 18

and draft a defensive back at 49 and go full gym? juggernaut mode on defense. And that was granted before the Combine and Banks' latest injury. But that first part of that has come true. So maybe they'll go defensive back here. And there's a lot of guys, cornerbacks, safeties, if DeAngelo Pons, the Indiana corner, I don't know if he's, if Brian Flores is okay with the size there, but he is such a fun player to watch. Trayden Stukes, the kind of versatile corner slash safety from Arizona is a guy I really, really like. There's a bunch of them. So that would really intrigue me.

But I think you could see them take a linebacker. I think you could, we can't completely rule out like an edge rusher. What's going to happen with Jonathan Grenard? So it's really fascinating. And I hope they just go with the best player available approach and maybe minimize the risk a little bit more on this one. Yeah, that's the thing about Caleb Banks is best potential football player available. they definitely took that. He was the best potential football player available, but if you don't weigh into the chances of that player's success at all and just say, well, he's got the best potential.

That kind of feels like what they did a little bit. So I understand the pushback for it because of that. So, but I think people also forgot as they're analyzing this is that they have other picks. And you can make other safer picks or guys with higher production or guys who are a little more ready to play in the NFL in day two. of this draft in particular, and you named a bunch of those guys. I'm really curious how far Emmanuel McNeil Warren goes on the draft, because down the draft board, because he was talked up by so many draft analysts, I got to be honest, I just never really saw it.

I watched him a little bit, and you looked at the data and you're like, okay, six foot three, 200 pound. He's probably not a box safety. So he's going to, I mean, he's presented that way, but I don't know how many six, three, 200 pound box. safeties there are. It's a little bit of an odd guy that got way, way, way hyped up in the draft process. Is he going quick here? Or could he be there at 49? Because if he's there of 49, I'll put my

takeaway a little bit with, I don't know, like, I don't really see it because that would be great value in this draft. And I think no matter what happens in these first handful of picks, there's going to be somebody at 49 where we go, that guy tumbled down the draft board, because there's just too many good players here. So why don't you, before you check out here, Will, and then go back to cover in the draft for Vikings on SI, why don't you give me two predictions? I know they got three picks. Give me two players that you think they'll go after this evening.

Okay. Yeah, I, McNeil Warren would be awesome. I don't know if he's going to make it there. I'll just go a name I already said, Trade and Stukes from Arizona. he just seems like such a Brian Flores defensive back to me with his versatility, his ability to play multiple spots, his playmaking, he can play man to man in the slot or even out wide and he can line up as a deep safety or as a box safety

and just there's just a lot to like. He's an older prospect, but really experienced. I think that there's a real chance if he's there at 49 that that fit makes a lot of sense for the Vikings. And then, I don't know, there's offensively, there's a lot of wide receivers that we could talk about. There's the running backs, Mike Washington and Emma Johnson on day three, or in round three. I think they're going to draft a center because I think that for as much as they've talked about, ooh, BPA, this team like most in the NFL does draft for need sometimes.

They did it in the first round yesterday. They did it in the first round last year with Donovan Jackson. I don't think that they want to go into this thing with Blake Brandl kind of unquestioned as their center. So I think they're going to take one of these guys in the third round. I really liked Logan Jones from Iowa, another older prospect, but he was the best center in the country last year. He won the Remington Award, really experienced a little undersized, but there's a lot to like there. Sam Heck out of Kansas State is another one. I guess I realize I'm not giving you a prediction.

So I'll go Logan Jones from Iowa. That'll be my prediction. Trade in Stoaks and Logan Jones. If I get either one of those right, that's pretty good. I'll buy you a milkshake if you nail either one of those for the Minnesota Vikings. Will Raggitz, Vikings on SI. Always appreciate your coverage, man. People can go check that out.

And thanks for popping in, dude, really appreciate it. Yep, have a good stream. 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 searcher, 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. Hems brings expert care straight to you with 100% online access to personalized

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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. So here you go. The pick is in for the Minnesota Vikings. No spoilers, guys. Wait till it shows up on TV.

I'm actually going to, I'm not going to scroll the chat. Last night, there were a lot of Adam Schaefters in the chat breaking the pick. So let's see who the Vikings go with. I think this board has fallen great to them. They have as many options they want. And if they had wanted to trade down five more spots, they could have and still had a ton of talent. This is when I looked at this draft going into this, every time my conclusion was exactly the same, which is there is a lot of talent in the second round. And that doesn't mean that it's superstar talent, but it means starter talent.

it means playmaker talent potentially. And I felt like they should be able to come out in the second round with a very, very good prospect. And if they take somebody who is, I mean, it would be so ironic here to take somebody who is mocked way higher. It would be so ironic if they did that. And then you get, well, a steal and a reach. So I guess it evens out. Brian O'Neill here announcing the draft pick and the Minnesota Viking. select

Jake Golday I feel like this is a big victory for Purple Insider who I've been banging the Jake Gold Day drum over and over again leading up to this draft this is when I tell you

Andrew Van Ginkle part two watch the highlights here look up his numbers look up his height weight he plays so much like Andrew Van Ginkle. I am a enormous fan of this draft pick. It's somebody that we've been talking about for probably a couple of weeks

as a versatile type of player, outside linebacker, can play edge, can rush the passer, but also is very, very good in coverage, plays with his hair on fire. This right here is a Brian Flores draft pick. And let's take a look at his profile here because Gold Day is, I think you'll see a very, very athletic player, super athletic player. He ran a 462 at 239 pounds. And if this looks familiar, it's very like Andrew Van Giggle.

It's almost weird because of almost a 40 inch vertical, top in the three cone, top in the broad. And from a statistical perspective, he didn't have tons. of sacks because he didn't always rush the passer, but he was very, very good in coverage. He could drop back. He could get after the passer. If they asked him to, he could blitz. He could play middle linebacker. This guy was all over the field for the Cincinnati Bearcats.

And I just think that this right here is something that you can put in for a more versatile type front seven you can have him kind of learn to be andrew van ginkle over the next year so because van ginkle is in his 30s and van ginkle had does have some injuries and he also ended up you know being um let's see uh somebody that for them was on the i r last year was he i'm trying to remember if he was on injury reserve maybe he wasn't on injury reserve but he was somebody that was banged up for them last year and and as great as Van Ginkle has been over the, um,

over his time with Minnesota, like all things come to an end at some point and they have a guy that plays very much like him. And this right here now is a draft that is focusing on stocking up on the defense. And Golda can help them right away, for sure as a rotational player. He has a multiple level of skills. where you could work him in to be outside linebacker,

to be inside linebacker, to put his hand in the dirt and rush if you need, to have him rush up the middle on third down if you need, even if he's not in the game to play special teams, which is kind of important these days with the kickoff as well. So yes, Julian, I did talk about him as a Van Ginkle type of player,

but not just because of that, because he is, it's weird. Like, look up his, height weight, his performances in the combine and even the college production is kind of, it's almost spooky. Like this is, are we living in a flat circle? Because the universe just produced another Andrew Van Ginkle, but I could see why the Vikings

would really like him. Evan, thanks so much for the super chat. You're right. Time to grow out his hair, time to wear number 44. And so far as I know, Bruno, he does not have any. injuries. Patrick, I think with McNeil Warren, the next pick is going to be not until 82 unless they trade up. So now everything is on the board. We'll talk about that in just a moment because we're going to have quite a while before the Vikings are up next. So let's let's talk about McNeil Warren, though.

That would have been another potential option for the Vikings here. In my opinion with McNeil Warren. Now, I don't interview him at the Combine or have him in for a 30 visit or know his injury history. So all those things could play into it. But just from a viewing of Emmanuel McNeill Warren, if a guy is going to be a first or second round, early second round draft pick at the safety position, and he's much more of a free safety. He played in the box in college. But I don't know if he can play in the box in the NFL. It's a little bit, if you're going to be.

a box not and also that's not that much of a role in the NFL now but harrison smith does it if you're going to play up toward the line of scrimmage a ton i'm sure they'll do it with caleb uh downs there you got to have a violence to your game you got to have usually a little more weight behind you but you got to have some josh metellis some aggressiveness some violence i never saw that from emmanuel mcneal warren he kind of perused the the secondary and he forced some fumble and he had some past breakups, but it wasn't a dominance that you would expect from someone that was at Toledo.

And once he went to the combine, I think I remember talking about this with Chris Trappaso, at the combine, he just didn't blow everybody away. He was supposed to be the McNeill Warren as the Packers take Brandon Cise, so they get a corner here. They badly needed a cornerback.

But he went to the combine. It was just okay. So I think that people, wanted McNeil Warren to be the next Nickyman Warren. It's just not there. He might end up in the third round and he might end up being a good steal in the third round eventually. I also wonder about Mac players and the draft because if you're a good player in the

Mac or some of the other lower level college teams, you're probably taking the bag and going to Alabama or Georgia or Florida or something, right? Like, aren't you trying to work your way up to those top teams where you could get money? And the fact that McNeil Warren didn't do that makes it really hard to compare him with all the players that did. And we haven't seen, have we seen, I mean, hardly any players that are drafted from schools that are not at the very top. So, but still could end up in the third round for the Vikings, which I think would be a good pick. Last Samurai is KOC going to get offensive players? LMAO.

I think the third round has a lot of potential for center and wide receiver. Could still be some good corner prospects. I haven't seen a lot of linebackers. Jake Rodriguez went and that was it so far. We've seen some corners start to come off the board now with C-Say and Pons going. Now the pick is in for the Indianapolis Colts. but if I were to look and project forward to the third round, I would probably say that the offensive players will be there,

that it's center and wide receiver would be my picks there. But it is exciting. I don't want to get too far away from Jake Gold Day because it is exciting to see a player that you kind of circle and identify. This is what makes the draft great. And you go, that's a flores. that is a, that is a Brian Flores type of player. And he was in my article where I wrote 10 Brian Flores fits and, you know, there was Jake Olday.

So, you know, I've kind of looked at him as someone being versatile and a good fit to line up in a lot of different places. But also he has a motor to him. He has, I think, range to him like sideline to sideline and legit size at 6,4 and 240 pounds. to play on the outside. It's a little bit like if Anthony Barr played for Brian Flores. Barr was heavier. I think he was like 255. He was heavier and Golda might be a little bit faster.

But this makes so much sense for the Vikings to have a bit of a plug-in play type player to rotate in and just give them more depth in the front seven. And look, when we talk about Banks and Gold Day now, loading up in the front seven, as the Colts take C.J. Allen, and there's another linebacker, someone who dropped way farther than I thought, but makes a lot of sense as a run-stopping linebacker for the Colts. With Banks and Golda, I don't know what Banks is going to be right away. None of us really have any sense for what he's going to be from the start. But if you look at a long-term plan for the Vikings of trying to find a replacement for Van

ginkle. Dallas Turner is a replacement for Jonathan Grenard, though all of that Jonathan Granard buzz has just gone poof into the atmosphere. I haven't heard a thing about Jonathan Grenard being traded. Maybe we'll be surprised here at some point. But I also wondered if the Eagles trading yesterday, if they used any of the capital that maybe was talked about for the Vikings, I suppose that, you know, that's possible as well that maybe they had something cooking with the Vikings, and that's why calling anything definitive is not a good idea. Maybe they had something cooking with the Vikings, then went, no, actually, we got to use this draft capital to go get McCoy Lemon.

Maybe that happened. But when you start to look, you go, all right, well, you have this, this B6 foot six six guy that you're really hoping. Jalen Redman, very, very good player on the interior. I think he's a top 25 defensive tackle in the league. And outside linebacker, Andrew Van Ginkle, but for the future Jake Golda, Dallas Turner for Jonathan Grenard, but also, as you mention, Evan, Cashman has an injury history. Wilson is over 30 years old.

Gold Day could end up playing in the middle at some point, too. Kevin, I don't think that this pick means that Grenard is gone because Goldae is not really a Grenard-type edge rusher. He is much more of a Van Ginkle. He is much more of a guy where you could just. see the wheels spinning for Brian Flores. Watch and play and go, yep, that's a Minnesota Viking defensive player. And he makes so much sense for all the things he could do.

But he's a great athlete. And he's got great range. That was what stood out to me the most when I watched him because I ended up kind of being a bit captivated by Jake Olday throughout this draft time. And finally, a bad team didn't draft one of the players that I had on my, like my guys as the Eagles get Eli Stowers. So that's kind of their replacement for Dallas Goddard. Yeah.

Eli Stowers is actually kind of just like Dallas Goddard. Goes to the Philadelphia Eagles. These teams, they have their vision, these teams. That's why when I said earlier this week that teams only have draft boards that are like 100 people or whatever, they have the guys that fit what they want to do and then they go with them. But to your question, Kevin, I don't think it guarantees that Jonathan Grinard is gone. And then also Philadelphia just used their second round pick. So are they doing it for third rounders?

Maybe. But I don't think that that would go over particularly well, trading a great player for third round picks just to not have to give them a bit of a pay bump. So I don't know. And yeah, he's he's huge. He's like 6, 4, 6.5, Gold Day and 240 pounds and runs extremely well. And that's what I was talking about is why he's not, he's not like a Grenard. This is not a put your hand in the dirt, go chase the pat. That's not Gold Day.

He is much more of a stand up. Oh, why is he over there? Look at his usage. He actually lined up in the slot like 200 times or something. Like, oh, he's over there. Oh, he's right over the quarterback. Oh, he's got his head. hand in the dirt. He did a lot of different stuff there and it makes a ton of sense.

Dave wants the package 82 and 97 together to move up. Yeah, I'd rather just have two players. I mean, the way the board is going and I know we're a long way away from this, but there's a lot of wide receivers. No centers have been taken so far and a lot of wide receivers that are still on the board a lot uh, Aaron. KOC starting to get the shakes with two defenders taken. But I, I like where they are with just their overall front seven. The secondary has its questions. But one thing I wondered about in the secondary is, A, can you get one in the third if you want to?

But also, I mean, Jay Ward and Theo Jackson are guys that they've developed. Josh Mattelis is someone they trust to do just about an. anything. Could they just be okay with that with the safety position? Because they had a chance there to take A.J. Halsey, if they didn't want Emmanuel McNeil Warren, they could have taken McNeil Warren. And they decided, no, we're going to go with the versatile front seven player. I also view it as when you do look at the Seahawks and you do look at the Eagles over the last couple years, teams that had freakish front sevens with big rotations and a lot of talent coming off, the Ben,

staying fresh they did well so i think that they kind of had their eye on a like if you can build the biggest and baddest front seven there is then you can have some success let's go back to our board here so you've got c j allen stowers germad mccoy man i just feel bad for him anthony hill junior i thought was another what did you say emmanuel myth neil warren can we work myth into Hill Jr. I know that he's not dropping too far beyond where the expectation was, but he was one that I just had trouble seeing as a top pick when some folks had him really, really high. I just thought he didn't play well enough on the actual field. But looking down the board a little, let's take a look at the offensive players that we could

project forward. Connor Liu, the center from Auburn, Logan Jones, center from Iowa, Jake Slaughter, Center from Florida and Sam Hacked Center from Kansas State. All of those guys are solid prospects. I like Jake Slaughter the most, but I don't disparage anyone who likes Logan Jones. I just see a little too much Garrett Bradbury and Logan Jones, and I shouldn't do that, but I kind of do. He's under 300 pounds.

Slaughter is bigger and also had a great combine. I felt like it wasn't talked about enough that Slaughter is 6 foot 5 and was in the 80th or better percentile in most of the workout stuff in the 40, the 10 yards split, the vertical, the broad. According to Brandon Thorne, who does trench warfare and covers offensive line, he thinks Sam Hect is the best player here.

Those guys all being on the board midway through the second doesn't guarantee that they'll get there to the Vikings at 82, but it gives it a chance. Here's my favorite position right now in the way things are playing out. Oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, we got a trade. Okay, the Vikings are trading Jonathan Grenard. Wow, here we go. The Vikings are trading Jonathan Grenard to the Philadelphia Eagles

for a third round pick number 98 overall and a third round pick next year in 2007. So Jonathan Grenard is traded. Reactions, everyone. Jonathan Granard is traded to the Philadelphia Eagles. and the Eagles have signed Grenard to a four-year $100 million extension that includes $50 million fully guaranteed. Wow. Right after picking Jake Gold Day. So there,

guess I was wrong, Kevin, who asked if he was a replacement for Jonathan Grenard. I don't think he necessarily is. I think that's actually Dallas Turner. I think he's there. But the compensation, so the reaction from you guys on the compensation,

I think that when you start to. add this up. When you start to put it all together, well, why wasn't Jonathan Grenard worth more than this? And you look at the money that they just had to spend on Jonathan Grenard in terms of his new contract where it's going to be $25 million a year, $50 million extra dollars guaranteed, and he's coming off an injury and he's coming off a year where he didn't sack the quarterback. And so all of those things are going to bring down the overall value of someone in the trade market. And I think it's clear when they put Jonathan Grinard out on the block that having to have Adam Schaefter put it out there for them like, hey, knock, knock, anybody

you want Jonathan Grinard told you that teams around the NFL were just not willing to go very high in their compensation for Grenard. And I had heard from another team that fourth round picks were thrown around a lot for Granard because everybody knew once you get them, you have to give him a huge amount of money, which the Philadelphia Eagles did. I'll give you the two sides of this. I think in terms of the compensation, considering that the offers were not good, and considering that all of those things knocked down injury, lack of production last year,

things like that, wanting a new contract. Getting two-thirds is not a disaster for the Vikings. But losing a player like Jonathan Grinard is pretty tough in terms of the pill to swallow. Because Grinard has become such a big player for the Vikings in their locker room, in their pass rush. He brought a motor that was ridiculous. He brought drive, intensity to their locker room that they needed.

He was a tremendous, tremendous culture player for the Vikings, but not just culture as in he's a great guy, culture as in a driving force to the defense, somebody who's going to give you everything he's got. I'm remembering him chasing Caleb Williams around in 2024. And I think they had to call a timeout because he was so gasped, but they needed him on the field. And then he goes and gets a big sack.

He's a great player. and being around someone like Jonathan Grenard, there were times where I would ask him like, hey, teach me a pass rush move. And then he would take me through the long arm technique or the swim or something, just, you know, messing around in the locker room. But a really intelligent guy was a pleasure

to be around for the last couple years and to watch him play football. It is not good when you lose a player of that caliber. It is, it's hard to lose a player of that caliber. and I think with Kyler Murray being a Viking and the fact that you could actually compete and you could actually win this year, win the NFC North, trading Grenard doesn't feel great. And I started to not like the idea very much after they signed Kyler Murray because I think like, dude, you could get a, you could have a top 12 offense.

And with Grinard and everything else that they have, you could also have a top five, top seven type defense and there you are. You're a serious contender. And all you get back is two third round picks. It is hard to get starters in the third round. Next year, it is supposed to be a little bit of a stronger draft, but third round might not apply to that. Thank you so much Willie. Appreciate that. He was a fun watch. And he was also just a really, really good player. But I think that a part of this that has to be brought up is that Dallas Turner last year, when he was put into Jonathan Grenard's role, he was a beast. He played his best football. He ended up leading the team in sacks. And most of those sacks came when Dallas Turner was replacing Jonathan Granard.

So they traded the farm for Dallas Turner. And doing that to have him sit behind Jonathan and Granard on an extension, that just doesn't really fit, right? If you had Dallas Turner just trying to fit in somewhere, hey, this guy's injured, play over there. This guy's injured play over there. Well, that's what his last year was. I mean, they didn't trade all that stuff up to get Dallas Turner to have him be a fill-in player. They had, they traded for him to be a star.

And now we're going to find out what Dallas Turner. can do and whether he can be a star that has to be factored in in the conversation about jonathan grenard now the return is not great but when every other team in the league was saying day three picks for granard and the league was not excited to pay granard a hundred million dollars i mean this also by the way this is important too that this opens up and i think uh shepter just tweeted, let me take a look, that this opens up a bunch of cap space for the Vikings. If I can find this tweet that he just threw out there, because I think he just tweeted about how much cap space they have.

So he mentions, yeah, Shafter mentions Dallas Turner. Yes, wow. This trade, this is actually kind of crazy. Saves the Vikings 34 million in cap space? What? Is that true? Or does he mean like total over the next two years? He probably means total over the next two years.

But nonetheless, when they talked about keeping the powder dry, that is got to be part of it, right? They could go out now into free agency and get more talent. That there's still free agents who are out there. There's wide receivers who are out there in free agency. There's still some skilled players that they can now spend some of their money and they can maybe, you know, give extensions to players they want to. to extend to, but, you know, that, that cap space matters too.

So the Vikings, the Vikings don't just get two thirds. What they get is a pretty big chunk of cap space and a lot of opportunity for Dallas Turner. And I also think that just the way that this is going for the draft and the talent that they are projecting forward into the later part of the draft, because now they're going to draft three times in the third round, four, I mean, this makes five, right, five top 100 picks. How crazy is this, guys, that the, the Vikings drafted eight times in the top 100 during

Kwasi Adafel-Menz's time here, eight. They're going to draft five times in the top 100 this year. This is how you build for the longer term. And this off-season has really been. been how you build for the now and the later because they've set up certain players contracts to not hurt them later like T.J. Hawkinson or Aaron Jones. And they have also found a way to get a lot of extra now cap space that they didn't have before. And they have kept, you know, their players that they can win with and gotten a lot more draft capital. So this is splitting the

difference. And maybe you could call it a competitive agreement. No, this is. isn't a competitive rebuild. This is splitting the difference, though. This is not not going into tear it all down mode, but also not going all in mode on 2006, especially since you get more of a development project in the first round and trading away Jonathan Grinard, which I think is a really, really hard thing to do, just looking at his resume and what he's meant to the Vikings over the last couple years. But it does have a lot of benefits to it. And a third round pick in this draft where maybe you use it to move up. I mean, the Vikings could still try to use 97 and 98 to move up. They could also move 82 and 98 to move up.

So getting that draft pick this year and a third for next year just allows them to do a little bit more. And this, especially on the offensive side as we go into the third round here eventually, the third round could have starting center, wide receiver, running back. As somebody mentioned Mike Washington. It's competitive rejuvenation. I like that. Competitive rejuvenation. What it really is is something I've said quite a bit over the last how long, I don't

know, since Rob Brzezinski took over, is that Rob Brzezinski has a sense for this franchise continuing to exist after the year 2026. And he has protected that. That is one thing that is clear. Now, I didn't think that they would take the big swing for Caleb Banks. But Caleb Banks is not necessarily a pick for 2026. He's a long-term pick. And trading Grenard is a long-term move.

And I think it's a hard one to swallow for Vikings fans because he has been a fan favorite. He's become a great player here. Whoa, wow. I guess the bears are not totally sold on. Garrett Bradbury being the guy is they just drafted Logan Jones. So we've got the first center off the board as Logan Jones is taken by the Chicago Bears. Interesting. That would be a reach right there.

That would be a reach. But that is the first center off the board in this draft. Interesting. That's a Ben Johnson player, if I have ever seen one. He is lightning quick out of his stance. He's actually kind of a Drew Dalman clone. lightning out of his stance, great in terms of the zone blocking, getting to the next level. Like, that's Logan Jones.

So he goes to the Chicago Bears. Infinite Nova. Granard is a great player, but great move. Seems like they never move off players, not in the long-term plans while they still have values. This is a great point, Infinite Nova, that the Vikings so often in their previous iteration and even pretty similarly recently, have most often held on to their assets too long. And I'll give you a really good example when those guys weren't going to be long term. The best example of that in recent history is DeNeal Hunter.

DeNeil Hunter, Kurt Cousins gets hurt. They're going into the trade deadline. Teams are offering, I don't know, call it a second round pick. And the Vikings are saying, no, no, no, we need to try to make the playoffs. We'll get that pick back as a comp pick, which I don't know that they ever. forgot because they signed a bunch free agents. But the potential was right there to trade a player while you're not in a Super Bowl mode. I think that this Vikings team is in a win the division type of mode, that that's what

their aim is to do. But they're also really believing in Dallas Turner taking a big step forward. And they get, now the Browns go with McNeil Warren here at number 58. So, but I think that they are really buying the idea of Dallas Turner. Andrew Van Ginkle, Jake Golday, who is much more of a Van Ginkle type player, but they could still get another edge rusher at some point in this draft, and they could still also sign somebody. They could also trade for someone.

Like now the options for what to do after the draft and after June 1st, they all just come alive because they actually have the cap space to do it. And, you know, we talked about that Dexter Lawrence potential deal. one of the reasons why Dexter Lawrence would have been a really tough deal is they just didn't have the cap space to do it. Thank you, Evan, for the super chat. Did the Bears take Jones because we took Banks? Could be, I think he's a guy that's going to get run over by Caleb Banks in the best case scenario,

in terms of the size differential. But I think they took him because of Drew Dalman. If the center run starts, yeah, then that's going to be tough for the Vikings here. Brad is Emmett Johnson still a possibility? I think he is very much. third round well that's the thing is like if you are kevin o'connell and you're looking at the third round going there's going to be some offensive players there receivers centers running backs they're all going to be there at the back end of the third round why don't we load up on those guys and use

all the draft capital there for role players on offense or guys who could step in right away and then eventually develop but when it comes to trading a player like jonathan grenard if you have the best player, one of your best players walk out the door, that's always really tough. But now with a path there for Dallas Turner, you get to find out, and this is really important too in year three with the first round draft pick, you get to find out where Dallas Turner really is because he's had two years to develop. And last year, the second half was very strong for Dallas Turner.

but is he really a finished product probably not there's still more room that they have to go and they need to find out was he worth that draft pick you don't spend that much on a draft pick like Dallas Turner to have him sit and watch Jonathan Grenard play and then try to just rotate in when someone gets injured we saw them try to play that that middle with Turner the last two years and it didn't work out so I think that if you're just looking at this from kind of a broad perspective of like, wait a minute, you traded a really good player for a couple thirds. You're, you're missing like a lot of the layers to this thing. And this comes from someone myself that very much enjoys talking to Jonathan Grinard and watching the man play

football. And I think he's, I think he's very, very good. I think he's very, very good as a football player. But age is an issue. Injuries are an issue. Recent production is an issue. New contract is an issue. All those things that you would have to as the Vikings overlook to then keep Dallas Turner behind him. So this is why something like this happens because you have Dallas Turner needing that path to be able to play and to find out what he is going to do. be into the future, but also, I think that they were really impressed. And I also, it hit them last year. It really did hit them last year that Dallas Turner is a pass rusher.

He is not Andrew Van Ginkle or what maybe Jake Olday will be. He's not a guy who's going to line up in the slot. He's not a guy who should be really in coverage very often. He needs to line up on the edge and get after the darn quarterback. And I agree, Aaron, that the, the 2027 third rounder is pretty good. good. So overall, when it comes to this trade, the saving of a ton of cap space, multiple draft picks, including a day two pick this year, giving Dallas Turner a chance.

I think this is the best you could do. I think this is the best you could do because I didn't get any sense at any point leading up to this draft that the Vikings were getting a ton of attention for Jonathan Grenard. So it would have been nice had they been able to keep him. because it is a year where they can, you know, potentially win the division. But I think that trading him doesn't preclude you from potentially winning the division still if Dallas Turner takes that step.

And if he does, then it could be very good. I mean, you might get the same type of production out of him that you got from Jonathan Grenard. And then you know you have a foundational player. And if you don't, then you know you have to replace him in the future and that you blew it. What are the edge options in the third round? Let's take a look. Let's take a look.

Also, I wanted to peek over at Fanduel here, what we got. I don't think any of the odds. Let me reload and see if we got some draft stuff there or, uh, or what? Some rookie, some rookie numbers. Interesting. Okay. I would assume the Vikings numbers have not changed from eight and a half wins. That's right.

They're eight and a half wins on Fandul. Well, I guess that's a Fandual question of the day. We haven't had one of those for the draft coverage, but without Jonathan Gernard is your win total different. So if you're very angry about the, that would be a good test, right? A good, a litmus test would be if you're very angry about the Vikings trading Jonathan Granard for a couple thirds and cap space, would you change the over under number? Because I wouldn't just with that trade.

But let's look at the board. So we're at number 60 now. That means we're 22 picks away from the Vikings unless they trade up. The best players on the board, Jermad McCoy. Oh, man. He is the guy. Oh, that's tough for Jamad McCoy, just to not be drafted yet.

But let's take a look at the edge rushers. So Joshua Joseph's is a productive, I think, no, I guess not. I guess he was not a productive player, but maybe he's more of a, yeah, okay, he was, Joshua Joseph's is more of a ceiling projection, more of an athletic freak type of player at, at 6-3-242, good numbers in the NFL Combine, but not necessarily huge numbers in terms of production.

Danny Dennis Sutton is one to watch. He is kind of built a little bit like Daniel Hunter. I know that that's like a weird thing to say, but his numbers in the Combine are similar. And he did have sacks the last two years, a lot of them, eight and a half two years ago, seven and a half last year. that's somebody that I'd be looking at. Also, Ramello height, again, very productive player,

nine and a half sacks this year from Texas Tech. And he ran a 4-6-4 super fast, a little bit undersized at 239 pounds. I really like J. Sean Barham for the Vikings as a very physical player, maybe a little bit more of a run defender, but he's versatile like Jake Golda. Not the exact type of player, but he could kind of be linebacker, or outside linebacker. And Keiron Crawford is a guy that I'm surprised, was not ranked a little higher.

Maybe it's because he didn't do the combine stuff, but had a good number of sacks, kind of exploded on the scene this year, Keiron Crawford. There's options, and I'll give you a deep cut that I don't know where he's going to go, but Nadami Tucker had crazy numbers, 14 and a half sacks for Western Michigan.

I don't think he's going to go super high, but I think Danny Dennis Sutton, Ramello height, Kieran Crawford, and J. Sean Barham are the guys to look at. Finally, off the board, we have Anthony Hill Jr. going to the Tennessee Titans. So now the Rams are on the clock, and maybe they'll surprise their head coach again with a pick. So let me get back to your reactions. So how are you guys feeling about the Grenard trade? I think that there is probably a mixed reaction of, if you are, like, think about it this way,

if you are somebody that really, really studies the team building element and you think in terms of cap space and you think in terms of draft capital and those types of things, then I think a trade like this is for you because you're going to look at two draft picks, 2027 third. I mean, heck, you got that. You could trade that at some point for somebody, right? If you're having a trade conversation after June 1st and, hey, I would. want that third thrown in there so you can get it. Well, that might help you. Or even next year, moving up, moving down, it's another player that you could potentially build with. And the cap space, when you go to the free agent list and you see guys that are available that could help the Vikings still, I don't know, DeAndre Hopkins is the first one

that comes to mind. Then you could see where you could spend some of this money that you just got for Grenard. So you don't just get a third and another third. You also get a third. You also get cap space that you can use now and next year and you didn't have to sign him to a big contract extension. So you get a lot in return for Jonathan Grenard that is not just, oh, we trade him for a third. Well, then not exactly. You also traded him for $34 million in cap space, which is very helpful. And they signed him to a deal that upped his pay quite a bit, 50 million more guaranteed. so you really traded for actually more cap space than you even got over the next two years. That's a lot to have to explain, though.

If you're not in that camp of looking at all these things in a really like front officey way and a mathematical way and you look at it as in Grinard's a great player, they don't have a lot of depth at that position. They drafted Jake Golda, who I know is more of a Van Ginkle, but okay, that's great. now have only those guys, Bo Richter, Chas Chambliss, I don't know how much those guys will play other than special teams. So where are you going to get an edge player like him? And you could say, well, they've got Dallas Turner.

Well, what if somebody gets banged up? And then what have you got? Not much, not much. And this is a team that's been dealing with a talented but thin roster for several years. So those are kind of the two ways to look at it is that wait a minute. There is a wait a minute. you just got Kyler Murray to help you get back in action as an offense and win with defense and then you give away defense.

So, you know, I think that Jonathan Grenard was a really good player. And if you look at it that way of, hey, you just gave away the best player, then I can see where it would be pretty disappointing, especially if you are a huge fan of Grenards in general. and a lot of times there's the old saying if you gave up the best player you lost and they gave up the best player I'm just going to go with hands here Hans hands in that camp but we did not need to extend him just because the player wants more money that is true and I understand where you're coming from with that yeah if you wanted to fight it out with him normally though you try not to you try not to when it comes to a player like that of get into a big battle where you go into camp

and then they're not going to show up at camp until they get their money and then okay if you're going to hold out he's forced to play but he didn't have any training camp and then oh my hamstring hurts in week two and a lot of times with that it just gets ugly and why let it get ugly if you could get draft capital for him and get Dallas Turner into his rightful position Evan, what would it cost from 82 to the late 60, early 70 range? I would guess since they don't have a fourth that they'd have to give up the two thirds to move up. I don't know if a fifth gets that done. I don't have my Jimmy Johnson trade chart.

Maybe I should have that open. Jim had to trade him. Turner is coming up for a payday. Well, I mean, not. I mean, yeah, I guess. Like, not super soon for Dallas Turner. but you have to know what you have in Dallas Turner. You have to try to play Turner 750 snaps or more.

And what does that look like? Is that 10 sacks? Is that 12 sacks? Or is that five? Is in a full-time role, would he get shut down? I thought in a full-time role playing in exchange for Grenard when Grenard was hurt, that Dallas Turner was terrific. And that was the only time he's been.

terrific in the NFL is when he was playing in that role. That has to weigh into the decision for the Vikings is that your valuable piece that you gave up so much in the draft now has a clear, a clear path to the field where you can start, yeah, finding out is important, but also, you know, just making sure he gets to play. 34 million means some extensions coming soon. It could, but a lot of times extension will. lower someone's cap hit right away a lot of times what are you using the cap space on a free agency trades like those things don't end and rob brisinski said that at the owners meetings we don't he said

we don't kick off till september like there's a lot of time to potentially do that uh jeff yes the downside for this and something that i was a little bit out on and i'm not going to change my mind now if i said it three days ago. I don't like the idea of helping the Philadelphia Eagles. It feels to me like the Philadelphia Eagles are a little down and you're kind of lending him a hand. Would have preferred him go to Arizona or Cleveland or who cares. Someone in the AFC who's not good, the Jets, trading him to Philadelphia, an organization that is consistently found a way to bounce back, put together a lot of talent.

They've got a ton of good players still on their team. They're in your conference. I know that you don't play them next year, but they're in your conference and they just signed a four-year extension. So you're going to run into Jonathan Grenard again at some point. Don't love that. Definitely do not love that.