Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Mark Schofield of USA Today joins to talk about the top 101 free agents list

Episode Date: February 24, 2021

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Mark, you know, the Internet has its limits, man, of how many words and how many video clips can be in one post. Like we haven't figured that out yet. Matthew, what's going on, man? Great to be with you. Yeah. I mean, the poor hamsters running my laptop. I always tell you before we started the show that like it literally crashed my laptop. I told Doug at one point, I'm like, I can't upload my videos into it. He's like, well, why don't you open it,

give it a few minutes to load and then it should work fine for you. Well, what I did was i opened it i went outside to shovel for an hour and i came back in and it was still loaded and that's the point why i reached out back out the deck i'm like look you're gonna have to do this i'm gonna need a new laptop i don't know what's going on poor hamsters in the little spinning you know running wheel or just struggling right now to try to drink some water they can't do it so yeah it's it's a behemoth but i mean i think there's a couple of interesting things in there yes it's fun to do it was fun to do this is as much as me giving you a hard time as a compliment for all the incredible work that you put into this so i retweeted it if you follow me on twitter you'll

find it there uh or of course usa today um is you is where you've got it. And your Twitter and Doug's Twitter. It's ridiculously detailed, though, and I love it. And I'm like, there are video clips of everyone. This is amazing. And not only that, but the statistics, the situations, all those things. And so, in a way, I was like, man, when we talk, where do I start? I've got a good place, though, Mark. Dak Prescott, number one.

Number one free agent. Let's start with him. I want to get into some of the guys that might be intriguing for the Vikings, but I feel like we've really left this Dak Prescott thing kind of alone in the offseason this year because we've got Carson Wentz being traded. We've got Matt Stafford and Jared Goff being traded for each other. There are rumors all over the place with more trades that can happen. Where's Deshaun Watson going?

I feel like we've overlooked that a really great quarterback is an unrestricted free agent. So do you just think that Dak Prescott ends up back with Dallas, or is there any odds that you're giving that he would go somewhere else? I mean, Matt, it's like that meme with the two girls and the guy, right, where all football media stared at Carson Wentz and Deshaun Watson and whatever else. And poor Dak's like, what about me? I mean, like we ranked him free agent one. Part of what's been driving the entire football media conversation the past, say, like month or so is the fact that teams are trying to get that guy, that quarterback.

Whether it's Deshaun Watson to trade it for him. Whether it's trade it for Carson Wentz and try to resurrect what was an awful season from him. You know, and it just highlights the fact that teams either need the guy, or if you don't have the guy, you're going to go get the guy. Dallas has the guy. Dallas has the elite trades, athletic, mobile quarterback,

that fits the modern game. They can't let them walk out of that building, right? Like they have to tag him again. They have to figure out a deal with him. They can't let him get to the free market. And I know, look, if you tag him, it's a 20% jump in his salary. Well, look around. You might have to pay what you would pay Dak Prescott for some of these other

guys that aren't Dak Prescott. I mean, I feel like this entire offseason is that family guy mystery box me where you've got all these teams being like look a boat's a boat but box could be anything it could be a boat like why are you gonna pay why are you gonna pay like a lot of money to a quarterback that you might hope could be Dak Prescott when you could just keep Dak Prescott so I think it'd be insane if he gets out of the building, if somehow he gets to test free agency. I'm 40 minutes away from where the Washington football team plays.

And you could bet that Daniel Snyder would love nothing more than to back up the branch truck to Dak Prescott's house and say, look, I want to take you away from Jerry Jones. I mean, those two owners, I mean, probably don't like each other. And I could only imagine that Daniel Snyder would love to do that. And there would be no shortage of teams that would love to, you know, back up that Brains truck to Prescott's house. So Dallas can't let him walk.

If they do, they're going to regret it. It does seem like the franchise tag is why this thing has not really been discussed as much, that there's like an inevitability, yes, the Dallas will franchise tag him, because then what is their answer if they don't? Ben DiNucci around? I mean, bring Andy Dalton back? The definition of QB purgatory? I don't know.

What else do you do? You draft a guy and hope he becomes Dak Prescott again. It's the mystery box. They've got to bring him back, Matthew, right? Like, what else do you do? They have no other answer. Right, right. Drew Henson is maybe still throwing some footballs around.

Is that so available? I know he's a vinter now with his vineyards. I mean maybe he could come out of retirement. I will go with Quincy Carter with this one. Oh, yeah. Yeah, throwback there. But, yeah, I mean if Dallas does this, here's what I think about with Dak, though, and what I'd love to know from you, because you are tremendous at pinpointing things about quarterbacks.

I feel like this is your superpower, Mark, is that you are really good at observing things about quarterbacks that other people don't observe. So tell me why they have not signed Dak Prescott to a long-term contract yet like is there something that you think that is in his game that they would question because I look at him and say no it's not perfect no it is not quite Patrick Mahomes but it's right in that next tier underneath where if you build a good team I mean the guy can go 13 and 3 the guy could get you to a Super Bowl I think he's he's that good am I missing something on Dak Prescott? You're not missing anything. I mean, I think the factors at work here are Jerry Jones being Jerry Jones, and that's pretty much it.

If you did want to sort of sit down and write, say, a current free agent type scouter report on Dak Prescott, and you were forced to sort of get to that list of cons, the negatives column, whatever you want to term it it is he perfect with ball placement no like does that lead to some yards being left on the field yeah has he struggled at times when he's pressured yeah what quarterbacks don't struggle when they're pressured like most quarterbacks tend to sort of see their stats see the production see the execution revert a bit to the norm when they're under duress in the pocket. And, yes, the ball placement, then that's been an issue with him

dating back to his days in college. It's a reason why, look, I'll fully admit, I had Dak as like QB 15 in that draft class. Like I thought, look, the ball placement is an issue. It's always going to be an issue. You can't be a successful NFL quarterback without it. What I missed on him, I had it in my notes. I literally wrote it down.

You can find a piece where I talked about this. It was competitive toughness. And he had that ability to sort of be a leader, to take on responsibility. He had a game his junior year against Alabama where they lost, but he was fighting to the fourth quarter. I was really impressed with that. And that's what allowed him to sort of step into a situation as a rookie and take that offense over.

Obviously, look, Ezekiel Elliott helps too. But I think, look, the ball placement is just a nitpicky thing. The pressure thing, these are nitpicky things where, you know, if you want to make the guy take a little bit less on his salary, you can put that on the table. But I don't think it's worth, you know, fighting over. I don't think it's worth letting him walk out the door. This is still a guy that you can win games because of, you know,

and that's kind of the way I like to put quarterbacks into buckets, right? Guys that you win games with, you know, guys that like you need to sort of help schematically talent wise. And the guys that you win games because of guys that will like lead you to where you need to be, where if you have guys that are out injured, if you have, you know, structural problems in the offense, schematically, they can rise above that. They can raise the level of playing those around them. Prescott's one of those guys. And so, yeah, I don't think there's really anything wrong with him. I think it's more Jerry Jones being Jerry

Jones. And if you look at the situation that Dallas is in right now, too, they have incredible weapons. They need to rebuild their offensive line. Their defense is a complete bus fire. But you can fix defenses a lot quicker than you can fix a quarterback position if it's gone awry. And in the NFC, this is something I've been thinking about quite a bit, is, okay, Aaron Rodgers is king in the NFC. His situation is going to get a little bit harder, I think, next year. Drew Brees looks like he's going to retire. Tom Brady, we'll see. I'm not looks like he's going to retire. Tom Brady will see. I'm not sure if he's going to or not. If he comes back, well, he's still Tom Brady. But beyond that, I mean, what is your competition in the NFC? Like everybody is sort of up for grabs. Like we don't know who football

team's quarterback is yet. And we, you know, don't know some other situations, but you look around and go, if you're Dak Prescott, and I've even felt this way about Kirk Cousins, but like Dak Prescott might be the second best if Tom Brady retires in the NFC. And even if you're Kirk Cousins, you might end up sort of fourth by default that there just aren't that many. If Kyler Murray does not emerge as being one of the best, you know, quarterbacks in the NFC, like, I think it should be a factor for them. Like you can really win. Even if your team is imperfect in the NFC. Like, I think it should be a factor for them. Like, you can really win even if your team isn't perfect in the NFC

just because there aren't any quarterbacks in the NFC right now. They're all in the other conference. Matthew, look at the NFC East. Like, Philadelphia looks to be a dumpster fire right now. I mean, they're in a bad cap situation. They just traded Carson Wentz. You're either hoping on Jalen Hurts or you're drafting a guy at six. And the guy at six might be QB five in this class,

given how this draft class is starting to shake out. Washington, yes, they've got a great defense. Don't get me wrong. That defensive front is fantastic. It got them to a playoff spot. But they won the division at 79. And you don't know who their quarterback is going to be. And they're picking at 19.

So they might be having to draft QB6 or a Marcus Mariota or Cam Newton, two names that have been linked with Washington recently. That's a lot of question marks. And then the New York Giants, Daniel Jones hasn't taken that step forward. Dak Prescott coming back with some new pieces on the defensive side of the ball. I think you're immediately the best team in the division. And then as you sort of expand the view window, yeah, look, Green Bay looks to be good.

You know, Minnesota looks to be in a position where they could get to another playoff run. Who knows with Chicago, another team with, you know, issues at the quarterback position. Detroit just made the trade. So, you know, they're a couple of years or two away. Maybe the Rams, if Stafford performs the way people expect them to. But it's not like this conference is loaded with deep, good quarterback play.

And so, yeah, if you're Dallas, you have a window here to not just perhaps win the division, but make a legitimate run. You just have to keep Dak Prescott in the building because, you know, letting Dak walk, you know, side in a ride Fitzpatrick or drafted Kyle Trask, like drafted Mac Jones, it might save you some money. But I don't think it takes advantage of the window that you have, particularly when, how are you going to rebuild the defense if you're having to use an early pick on a quarterback? Right. Yeah. You get yourself in. This is the thing

that is so interesting is the teams get themselves into the situation of, we don't necessarily want to pay what it costs to pay the guy, but then at the same time, if we don't pay the guy, then what are we doing? And I think this is exactly how the Vikings landed on an extension for Kirk Cousins, where it was like, well, what's your other answer? And when you have a GM and a head coach that are feeling pressure to win, then if you don't have another answer, who are you drafting? How are you approaching this? Who are you getting in free agency? But I've got a theory mark i want to run by you every year i think from now until the end of eternity with

football we are going to be talking about wow there's a lot of quarterbacks available in free agency or on the trade market because of this issue with the price it's like teams will compete they'll pay a lot of people they'll pin themselves up against the cap and then they'll be like ah darn how do we get out from under this we've got to trade our quarterback or there will always be more guys coming and I also think that quarterback development is better than it's ever been so instead of one guy at best in a draft class there might be three in every draft class and I think that even smarter teams might be saying, let's not lock into these guys, even if they're good. The only situation we'll do it is if we have the best quarterback in the league.

So I think that if you're a team considering an extension, and I think Prescott meets this threshold, but if you're considering extension for just under Prescott, you go, eh, maybe we shouldn't. I think there's a lot to that, Matthew. I think it's a fantastic point. And, you know, part of it is the developmental side. I think there are a lot of things happening at the youth football level

that are starting these quarterbacks on a path to being better by the time they get to college, right? If you think about, you know, when you were probably growing up, when I was certainly growing up back when we were playing with one, you know, face mask bar type situation and leather helmets, like you ran the football. Like, I remember in high school, I threw 12 touchdown passes my senior year. People were like, oh, my goodness. Wow.

That's a that would that's that's like a first three games for a high school quarterback. Right now, you look at the fact that a lot of parents are saying, look, we're not going to let the kids play tackle football when they're young, when they're 8, 9, 10, but we'll let them play flag and you throw the football all the time. So these kids are now in these flag football leagues. There are these seven-on-seven leagues where obviously you're not going to do inside run stuff. You're going to throw the ball all the time. So these kids that are coming out, that are coming out of high school, that are going into college, these quarterbacks are better. And it also looks at the look at the wide receiver position too now we're seeing these wide receivers come out year after year after year that these

guys are nfl ready hi justin jefferson is a prime example of that and so the quarterback developmental pipeline is such that when these guys get to high school when these guys get to college they don't need to learn you know how to drop back and read a defense they've been doing it since they were like 10 and so i think, you're going to start seeing more quarterbacks coming out of college that can take on the responsibilities of an NFL passing offense. Maybe not to the extent that you'd like to see from a veteran guy, sure, but they're ready to run an offense. And so when you combine that with the fact that more and more organizations have decided that we're not going to put good money after bad, right? Like, look at the Rams. They signed Jared Goff to the extension, but they've realized at this point he's just not the guy.

He's not getting us to where. They started John Wolford in a playoff game over Jared Goff. That tells you all you need to know. Now, granted, Goff came back from the injury when he had to and got them a win. But teams are just going to look at it and say, even if we've paid the guy, we're not going to put that good money after bad. If we can improve at the quarterback position and maybe have to trade to get an established guy or even draft somebody, we'll do it because we're just banging our heads against the wall. It's that quarterback purgatory idea that we've talked about in the media for years now. Teams are finally buying into that. And especially, especially look we know this is a copycat league you know the team's copied the rams model already oh let's hire sean mcveigh oh let's hire sean mcveigh's assistants oh let's hire the barista that made sean mcveigh's latte in the morning like anybody

that bumped into sean mcveigh got an interview for a head coaching job now if the rams make a playoff run win a super bowl give it up on golf got an interview for a head coaching job. Now if the Rams make a playoff run, win a Super Bowl, give it up on golf and trade in for a veteran quarterback, what do you think every other team facing a quarterback decision is going to do? The same thing. And so I think that's what we're seeing. We're seeing quarterback development improve because of the fact that these kids are now throwing the ball 365, 24-7.

And teams are willing to give up on younger guys, give up on quarterbacks because they can get somebody given the influx of talent we're seeing at the position. I want to remind you to go to sodastick.com to get your original Minnesota sports-inspired goods. If you have not seen it yet, you've got to check it out. A couple of my favorite designs are the Duck Duck Gray Duck and the Randy Moss Goat, which you've got to see.

All their apparel is screen printed here in Minnesota on super soft, super comfy shirts and hoodies. You will love it. We're going to hook you up with free shipping on your next order. By the way, use promo code PURPLEINSIDER for free shipping. That's SOTASTICK, S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com. Original Minnesota sports inspiredinspired goods. Code PURPLEINSIDER for free shipping. Right, and I think that trying to put it into some sort of context,

like there might be a lot of quarterbacks who are a 5 out of 10 that if you build a perfect supporting cast, which I think goes underrated about the Rams, by the way, with those two years with Jared Goff. Unbelievable offensive line, multiple weapons, and not that Sean McVay isn't a genius, but a lot of people in sports who are coaches have looked like geniuses because of the great players that have been put together in front of them.

So, you know, I think it might be a 5 out of 10 that raises their play to an 8 out of 10 because of supporting cast. And I think there's a lot of those types of quarterbacks who are out there. And so teams need to focus on building the supporting cast. This is a Carson Wentz thing. Like, let's not overlook that Carson Wentz's offensive line and weapons in 2017 were ridiculous enough to raise the level of Nick Foles to a Super Bowl caliber quarterback. And that's something that, you know, we always talk about in Minnesota, kind of how they no-showed in Philadelphia, but they couldn't pressure Nick Foles.

And even Nick Foles, if you can't pressure him, he's going to throw for a lot of yards. So let me move to a different topic here because you covered, again, 101 free agents. And I want to know, as this was being put together, because there's one position that I think of where you went, oh, my gosh, there are so many guys at this position. I want to know if we were thinking the same thing. So tell me if you had that thought at all because I did. Yeah, wide receiver.

I mean, for me, wide receiver, I was i was just like man between the draft and free agency if you're a team washington new england any other team that needs weapons this is a pretty good year i mean you look at the top of the wide receiver free agent person alan robertson kenny godwin curtis samuel like it is so deep there and then you combine that with the draft class where we might see like five, six guys in the first round. If your team needs a wide receiver, like you must be really happy right now. That was 1A for the, oh my gosh, there's so many guys. For me, 1B was safety, that I was amazed at the number of safeties who are out there. And so when you're looking at the

wide receiver and safety class, to me, these are two needs for the Vikings. Wide receiver doesn't seem desperate from the outside. But when you have Kirk Cousins and he is going to throw to where his read takes him no matter what, for better or worse, that is what is happening on this football play. He will target Laquan Treadwell on fourth and eight in a big game. He will do that. He has done that. I have seen him throw a 30-yard bomb on fourth down to Tajay Sharp. I have seen that happen with my own eyes.

So you can't have Tajay Sharp. But you also don't have any money. So find me a guy. Tell me. Because I think I love the idea of Curtis Samuel for the Vikings. I just think, oh, my goodness, what a track meet. That would be every week with Jefferson and Thielen and Delvin Cook and Curtis Samuel. But I just think he's going to be too expensive.

That I am not the only one who has noticed that Curtis Samuel is a great modern player. Is there somebody that comes to mind that might sort of slip under the radar here for you? Yeah, I mean, obviously mean obviously look like you said you'd love to sort of go out and get like a top name guy at the position alan robinson aj greed ty hilton whatever but those guys are probably going to be priced out of things what i look at say a brashad perryman right yeah you know he's a guy that turns sort of a three-game stretch at the end of the 2019 season in a year where his quarterback threw 30 interceptions and put up some really impressive numbers. Turned that into a pretty big payday with the Jets, but he did that day where he bets on himself, has a pretty good year. He's going to be one of those guys in sort of what I like to call the secondary, even the tertiary free agency market, right?

The first day of free agency when we're all like, you know, drinking band energies like one after the other and trying to stay up with the news. You'll see Robinson come off the board. You might see Galladay come off the board, maybe Hilton. But that as it starts to sort of peter out a bit, that's when you get into the sort of secondary market. That's where I think the Patriots have always done over the years. Such a great job at signing under the radar type of guys.

Perryman's one of those players that I think look it has a complementary wide out right you look at looking I always like to put together a 13 personnel three wide receiver package right Justin Jefferson as sort of your slot slash Z Adam Thielen as sort of your slot slash Z those guys can be a bit interchangeable and then you add Rashard Perryman and there's more of that X type guy, the more vertical boundary, you know, B press coverage type of player. I think that could work. Now, in terms of what that might cost, I mean, I've got SpotTrack up right now, and they're, you know, their market value on him is probably more in the 8 million annual range, which is still pricey. I mean, I don't know if that's something the Vikings can do. That's a little steeper than I would have expected.

Yeah. You know, so then you sort of take a step back from that, right? Do you bet on a guy like, say, Will Fuller? You know, because Will Fuller might also fly under the radar a bit because of the injury history. You're talking about a guy that hasn't put together like a full 16-game slate in a while. But he does one thing, and he does it it extremely well which is just run by people i just flat out

you could be giving him a 10 yard cushion he's going to run by um that would certainly help you know and if you're talking about a guy and kirk cousins is going to throw to his primary read if his primary reads a go route and fuller's getting open no that could work too and because of that injury history matthew I think he probably sort of falls down. Now, suspension to deal with too. There are some red flags there. SpotTrack says $16.9 million for him a year. I don't know if he gets

that because of the injuries. I don't know if he gets that because of the suspension. So I think that's going to come down. I don't know if it gets to maybe $8, $9. Again, so it's still pricey. They'd have to do some work, but you're not talking about the Allen Ruggs and Gaudet, Godwin-type money that's going to be floating around there. And I think there will be at least a receiver or two that surprises us

of a guy that just nobody picks up, that everybody kind of finds a chair in the – what's the game there where the – Musical chairs. Musical chairs. Yeah, that's right. How could I forget? And somebody just doesn't have a chair at the end of the day with all the other big names that are out there a player like that might be richard higgins um holiday higgins

from browns you know spot tracks at 6.1 million for him so you're sort of get into that range now where the vikings might be able to make a little bit more of a move um certainly more of a complimentary type guy, but if you're talking about him, he'd ask to be receiver three, which he would be in Minnesota. I think he could certainly do that. And I think when you look at what he was asked to do last year with the Browns, some vertical stuff, some stuff along the boundaries, again,

he could fit into sort of that X-type role where he fits so well with what you're doing with Adam Thielen, what you're doing with Justin Jefferson, who I loved coming out. That could be an 11 personnel package that works. Hey, I want to take a second to tell you about our friends at Scout Logistics. And I really mean it when I say friends. They are fans of Purple Insider over at Scout Logistics, and they reached out wanting to support this show. And I want to tell you about what they do. Scout Logistics is just-in-time transportation for perishable, non-perishable, and fragile freight from source to door. And if you're wondering what that means exactly, well,

if you own or work for a company that needs shipping solutions, they're the preferred carrier of Fortune 500 companies across North America, and we have quite a few of those in Minnesota, right? They can ship perishable, non-perishable can minimize risk, overperform, and go the extra mile for your company. I just think at some point the Vikings have to say, look, we've had these two wide receivers, we've had receiver duos, and it's been good, but at some point you have to say we're going to really lean into Kirk Cousins and give him everything he needs and not leave any questions about whether you tried hard enough

or if you were sort of trying to go to the fork in the road and go straight with spending a little on defense and a little on offense and everything else. And I think the same thing for the offensive line, too. And I wonder what you think about the offensive line free agents, because I look through and I go, okay, obviously you have your top couple of guys. After that, though, there's a pretty big drop off the side of a building. And that's where I look at kind of what Buffalo did in the free agent market and even the Jets.

And I know this didn't work out great for them. But kind of like sign everybody to very small contracts. And there might be guys who didn't make your top 101 list. But I think if you're approaching it, like what's my strategy? Who should I spend on? That spending on one defensive player is not a great strategy. That's where you kind of need to throw numbers at it. And I think the same with offensive line line but when it comes to a weapon the gap between guys who are legitimate weapons

and guys who are just people out there with jerseys to me is so big in terms of the impact in an offense that it's worth it to spend on that even if the fans go uh don't we need a guard yeah no i think that's right and i do think that jets model even though it didn't quite pan out but like you know throw it as many bits of spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks it does work that's something that the patriots have done too where you know you give yourself the opportunity to take more bites of the apple um and if you sign three guards and one panzo well you're going to start a guard now And I think that's an area that the Vikings could probably look at. Interestingly enough, you know, it's a difficult guard free agency market.

You've got the two guys at the top, Tooney and Sheriff, that are fantastic. But it certainly does peter out. And one of the other guys out there, Feliciano, is a guy that that's how Buffalo handled it. They signed him, and he's probably going to get a good deal out of it. Michael Schofield, I mean, maybe, but he's 31 uh more of a backup guy but that might be worth a flyer um you know some of the other names austin blythe maybe um if the rams don't bring him back you know it's also a position that gets sort of devalued in the draft and so you might have an opportunity to draft say a wyatt davis at you know, who's probably the best interior guard in this class,

or he could even address it later, you know, even on day three. There are some guys who might be available on day three. Deontay Brown, the massive human being from Alabama, or even a guy like Robert Hunt from Middle Tennessee State. So, you know, because of the way the guards are, I think, valued, it might be an opportunity for Minnesota to sort of improve the offensive line, but not have to put as many resources to it, whether it's salary cap space or draft capital, because of how that position seems to get pushed down the board a bit.

But in terms of like weapons versus offensive line, there's a reason people pay for weapons, because you can't replace some of that stuff. You know, if you get five guys working together together you could have a group of sort of cast offs at times but if they're coached up and they're working together and they're on the same page an offensive line can become great but one guy with the ability to sort of be a defender in a man-to-man situation be a press coverage defender in a man-to-man situation that's what teams have to pay for right now and that's why you're seeing guys like Rashad Perryman be valued at like eight million and Will Fuller at 17 million it's because that's what teams want I love Deontay

Brown by the way not I love him too for the Vikings but man he looks I think he looks like Bowser like the Mario that's exactly right he does look like Bowser but I was blown away watching both on film and at the scene but But he actually moves better than I expected. Yes, he does. I mean, and the other thing is, you get him moving upfield, and you're like a safety coming down to try to stop the run. You get that coming at you. I mean, that's a business decision moment, man.

I mean, you got a turtle. You got a turtle because you're not going to come back from that. I think calling him a fire hydrant is like not doing it justice. But my buddy Jeremiah Searles, who played in the NFL, he co-hosts the show sometimes, he brought up a good point that somebody at that weight is a few cheeseburgers away from not in the league. And like, that's the thing that you kind of worry about. He certainly does walk the line. I mean, there are moments when you, I feel like I'm watching that movie, The Replacements. The wrestler who's like eating the eggs before the first game. Like, yeah, I mean, we could be in a situation like that where I think that's a good line,

a few cheeseburgers away from being unemployed. Exactly. I have two more questions for you. One is about Chicago Bears and Sam Darnold. So Field Yates kind of did his, where are guys going to go? And that's who he had going to the Chicago Bears. I want to know if you're a Vikings fan, do you root for that outcome? Or are you afraid of that outcome? That's a tough one because you can see it going in either direction. But I think what gives me pause about the Bears' entire quarterback situation right now, whether they draft a rookie, whether they try to fix Sam Darnold,

who I do think can still be a good quarterback in this league, what track record of quarterback development does the Matt Nagy regime have right now? Sam Darnold. That's their big experiment. It didn't quite work out. I mean, not Sam Darnold, Mitchell Trubisky. So if you're a Vikings fan and you see whatever the Bears do with quarterback, you probably feel okay about it because they haven't shown that they can develop

a young quarterback, whether it was Trubisky, whether it was even this year with Nick Foles. I mean, obviously Foles is a more established player, but it's not like they took Nick Foles and he suddenly got away from being this wildly high variance guy where on one night he can win a Super Bowl against Bill Belichick and on the next night he's throwing three interceptions like that's who Nick Foles is they didn't fix that they certainly didn't develop Mitchell Trubisky and so if you're a Vikings fan watching whatever the Bears do um you might feel comfortable about it because there's no evidence that they're going to figure out how to fix a guy.

I do, though, I do think that Darnold is talented. And I do think that getting him out from Adam Gase might be all that he needs. I mean, the idea that Adam Gase is this quarterback whisperer, quarterback guru, that's built on the back of a year or two with Peyton Manning. You know, it's not like he coached up me. He coached up Peyton Manning. I mean, Matthew, you or I could walk into that Broncos locker room and say, okay, Peyton, here's the playbook. I'll see you Sunday.

Like, you got it, right? Like, I don't need to do anything. Like, you're Peyton flipping Manning. So this idea that Adam Gase was this, like, quarterback guru who could fix Sam Donald, no, I think that's a bit of a miscast situation. So maybe getting him away from Adam Gase will fix him. But, I mean, if I'm a Vikings fan, I'm looking at what's going on in Chicago right now, and as long as Nagy and Pace are there, I probably feel okay with whatever they do at quarterback.

Now, this is a good point because not only uh is it not a great situation if alan robinson leaves and i'm kind of at the point where i'm assuming alan robinson leaves so are we aren't we hoping just as football fans as as fellow humans that alan robinson gets to play with the quarterback that is it one of the three christian mackenberg blake bortles and mitchell trubisky since college that's's who his car passes from. It's unbelievable. It's cruel and unusual punishment, man. No, you're right. And I'm sure Vikings fans want him in the AFC also.

Yeah. Let him go to the homes and have fun. Right. Oh, my gosh. That's for everybody. That would be nuts. But, you know, who's coming to Chicago as a wide receiver, free agent to play with? You don't even know who at this point.

Right. And with the Sam Darnold thing, the problem for me is that he threw a ton of interceptions in college. And I don't think that goes away. When Jameis Winston did it, everybody went, like, no, it's okay. It's totally fine. And, like, it's not fine, though. Like, the other team is going to be getting the ball all the time. I remember, like, people seeing forced throws as a triple coverage they're like oh that will get coached out of him in the nfl five years later he's thrown 30 picks and it's

like well that's not going away right right and i think the same issue with sam darnold so it's uh it's kind of like hey actually detroit is the team that you should be a little more worried about not next year but long term being good because it's probably not going to be Chicago so the the last question I had for you was just um every year there's a team that gets a bunch of free agents where we go wow really that team signed a bunch of free agents like remember when it was actually LA when LA signed Andrew Whitworth and we're and maybe maybe Robert Woods. And we went like, why is everyone signing in LA aside from it's LA?

Who's that team this year? Because it's such a weird, it's such a weird situation. So many teams have cap issues, but then there are other teams that have a ton of space all over. I just wonder if you've got like a, Hey, this team's going to surprise us. And then all of a sudden grab a bunch of people.

I mean, there's a part of me that would love to say New England, just because they've got a ton of cap space, and it's Bill Belichick. But I do think that the draw of playing in New England is gone right now. Like, because you mentioned the wide receiver, Alan Robinson, wanted to catch passes from somebody. Who are you going to go play with? You don't know who their quarterback's going to be right now. Right.

A team that intrigues me is Denver, because they do have a ton of cap space, like 39 million. So it's a top seven in terms of cap space by team. They're rumored to be running it back with Drew Locke. And so the idea there is obviously you've got to build around them then if you're going to do that. And so I think, look, they might be a team that says, look, if we're truly going to try to build around this guy guy sort of the discussion we had at the start of the

show we need to really help him so we'll throw 20 million a year at alan robertson we'll throw money at chris godwin we'll throw money at kenny galladay we'll give him i mean you look at the package they could put together you know with with jud Judy, with Cortland Sutton, with KJ Hamler. Now you add another receiver into that group. Like, that's ridiculous talent. And so they could beef up the defensive side of the ball. So Denver is a team to watch. Another team is Cincinnati.

You know, they've got a pick at five. We obviously expect Joe Burrow to be back and healthy and ready to go, given the medical advances with ACL injuries. They could throw a lot of money out there. And you draft Sewell at five and suddenly you're building an offensive line. It wouldn't surprise me if Cincinnati says, let's look at what the Browns did. They threw money at the offensive line. They protected Baker.

They got a playoff win. We're going to do that. We're going to throw money at Joe Tooney. We're going to throw money at Brandon Sheriff. We're going to throw money at Tyler Tooney we're going to throw money at Brandon Sheriff we're going to throw money at Tyler Moton the tackle down in Carolina we'll draft you know we might bring in four new names on the offensive line and protect Joe Burrow so Denver and Cincinnati are two teams I think you know a month and a half from now we might be like man they could be good next year yeah Cincinnati is an interesting one because there is no team that flies under the

radar quite like Cincinnati um and they're not known for being a team that really spends a whole heck of a lot um but if you're gonna do it you should do it right now while you have Joe Burrow on that rookie contract and then I can repeat on the show for the millionth time hey it's not bad to have a quarterback on a rookie contract just saying no but i mean that that was the initial model right the seattle model the rams model get that rookie quarterback spend money around him and have the talent around to make him good enough and then when you have to pay him hopefully he's figured it out the rams did the first part of that they couldn't do the second part of that which was golf the seahawks did the first part of that they won a super bowl and then wilson sort of figured it out although now there are

rumors about russell wilson which is right giving me stuff to write about which is great isn't it but isn't it funny how it always follows the same exact curve it's like the guys it has success and then the team falls off a little and even if the quarterback is still good like russell wilson is probably not going to get you the super bowl and then we go back to the start again of like well and now now now wilson's butting heads with people and now there's issues right i mean every time fascinated to think about as you were saying that i thought about the super bowl i thought about my homes running for his life and i sort of thought thought, could we potentially be having that conversation like two or three years from now where it's like, okay,

we all love Patrick Mahomes, but now what's happening, kids, is that now I'm not saying we will. Mahomes is still fantastic. He's still QB1 for a reason. But there's a non-zero chance we have that conversation a few years from now because it matters what you put around him. Right. It even happened with Tom Brady and Aaron Rod in new england when the roster falls apart and then with uh rogers there

are three or four years there where the roster's not as good maybe the coaching all of a sudden doesn't look as genius like which is one of my like all-time hills to die on it's like don't ever declare any coach as being the wizard who can fix anything because it's always about the talent and so it's really interesting to think about and even with Kirk Cousins where you drop them into a good roster for two years you've got a chance you don't get it done and then all of a sudden people are on the hot seat when the roster starts to fall apart and I wonder if someday and maybe this will never happen I just wonder if someday they'll work it out to where quarterbacks have their

own salary cap or something. And then it's everybody else because this is just such a problem. Or if it creates so much fun drama for people like us that they will say, let's keep it this way. I mean, I think logically having their own salary cap would be smart, but I think your, your latter point there,

don't do it. Right. We need to find ways to like write articles and do shows in like the mid of february and so if you do it if you structure quarterbacks differently what am i gonna do right after you know that's right um write about tackles right i don't do well they're brandon thorne smarter go read brandon about tackles don't read me about tackles trench warfare he's great exactly a great newsletter to sign up for. People can follow you on Twitter, at Mark Schofield.

It's kind of spelled how you think, S-C-H-O-F-I-E-L-D. Your work is great. You're a fun follow on Twitter. You're kind of a master memer, too, when you put your heart into it. When I read into it, although I will say the best 20 bucks I've spent in the past year are the Winnie the Pooh reaction masks, which I will say my family, we took a trip last summer to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for a week. And, you know, I was all masked up going to pick up, take out and stuff. Not too many people in the Outer Banks recognize that me. A lot of puzzled looks.

But that just tells you that life on Twitter isn't exactly real life. I had a lot of locals being like, but that just tells you that, look, life on Twitter isn't exactly real life. I had a lot of locals being like, man, what's wrong with this guy? Right, this guy's weird. Why do you have a guy wearing a witty poo mask? But it was the best 20 bucks I ever spent, Matthew. And look, if my last and legacy

in football media are the memes, I can live with that. I can live with that. Well, I think it should also be your incredibly detailed work, especially on quarterbacks. But now I have learned that you can also break down free agents with the best of them. So make sure you check that out. Best place to find is probably your Twitter, my Twitter.

But top 101 free agents, it is ridiculously long and detailed, in a good way. In a good way. So I appreciate us getting together i'm glad we can get together on a football subject the last time we talked it was about the virus and right i was kind of down after we talked about it but we got the season in and now we're like back to season it was good but yeah i mean i remember after that one i was like man we're in trouble aren't we like the time fell but hey kudos to the nfl they got us through an

entire season now we get an off season. It's going to be fun. But Matt, it's always great to catch up with you, Matt. I'm such a huge fan of what you're doing, what you're building, Matt. And it's just great every chance we get to catch up for a bit. Well, I appreciate it.

Let's not wait this long again until we talk again. And we'll get together soon, I promise. Sounds good, man.