Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Matthew Stafford returns to Rams, Giants and Raiders in on Darnold

Episode Date: March 1, 2025

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Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of purple insider Matthew collar here and over the last few days from the NFL combine and then as I have returned here to Minnesota, I have been talking about how the Matthew Stafford timeline will impact the Minnesota Vikings. Will it happen soon? Will he be traded three weeks from now? Will it mess up everything for the minnesota vikings and then We got our resolution pretty much right away. So matthew stafford is going to Drum roll the ramps And yes, it does seem like Matthew Stafford did this entire thing.

Maybe gone skiing with Tom Brady, talking to other teams, seeking permission to talk to other teams just to get a little bit more money out of the Los Angeles Rams. So congratulations to Matthew Stafford. You have more money even though you are already Insanely wildly rich and I don't understand you but I'm also not you I guess I mean, I never really understood why Matthew Stafford would want to go to the Las Vegas Raiders and Play for a team that doesn't have a whole heck of a lot of talent I never really understood why he would consider the New York Giants,

where the coach is on the precipice of being fired, and they have one great receiver and not a whole heck of a lot else, and it's in the toughest division, and he'd have to go back across the country. It always seemed like it could be just the power play for Matt Stafford to try to get a new contract out of the Rams. But the other part that I don't fully understand is their team was one drive away from beating the Super Bowl champions because

they're a good football team. They've got one of the top receivers in the world. They have a defensive line that is probably the only one in the league that can match up with the Philadelphia Eagles. They've got some needs. They've got to improve their line a little. They've got to improve their secondary a little, but they're a very good team. Why wouldn't you do something team friendly for your last year to try to get as much talent or maybe it's not his last year to try to get as much talent Why try to restructure your contract to get you more money? I don't really fully understand it, but maybe we haven't seen the numbers yet Maybe it will lower his salary cap hit and maybe that's why the Rams were like Yeah, go seek a trade go check it out

And then he has to come back to the table being like well you see what happened was The Raiders and the Giants are bad, so let's work this out Oh, we'll wait until we get all of the numbers it just seemed odd to me that Stafford would want to try to hold the feet to the fire of the Los Angeles Rams to get more money when You want to have as good of a cap situation as you can for that team when you're in your last couple of win now years. But I'm also not an NFL player that's always competing and wants to be considered and paid

at the top of the market. Like Kirk once said, it's not about the dollars. It's what the dollars represent. I think it's the right choice for all parties for the Los Angeles Rams, who did not have another good option, unless that was Sam Darnold or for Matthew Stafford, who did not have another team that was interested, that was really ready to win. And unless he saw it as a two or three year vision with the Raiders or with the Giants,

why would you leave a team that was close to playing for a Superbowl for a team that's not close? It just never quite fully added up. And it would have been just pure ego, I guess, to go somewhere else just to get that money. But ultimately the logic shined through here for both squads. And Stafford is now back with the Rams But that does take the Rams off of the market for Sam Darnold And I was just listening to Ian Rappaport on NFL Network talk about the latest on

Darnold and he essentially said everything's on the table He briefly mentioned a return for the right dollar amount, but I still coming out of the combine don't feel like that's very likely at this point. So now what it comes down to is can the Vikings tag and trade Sam Darnold? Who are the options? Is it possible? And Alexander mentions that Darnold could refuse to sign the franchise tender If they are just doing it to tag and trade he could if he wanted to But I also think that he's probably gonna get tagged Well, yeah, I mean I guess if he wanted to net yeah, I mean you can refuse to sign it But if you get I'd have to look up how exactly that works

I mean the only reason he would be doing that is just to drag his feet. Uh, there are rules around what happens when a player refuses to sign the tender. It is, it is an option and it would basically just screw over the Vikings. If he tried to drag that out so they couldn't trade him. But is that really going to happen or would he work with them in order to get a trade to somewhere else? I don't know. I don't know if that's a wrinkle to this that can happen, but I As of right now, I'm assuming that that's not going to be an issue because there have been

previous tags and trades and I think Darnold understands the deal of How this is gonna work and whatever team is acquiring him, I guess some teams might be most interested in extending him, which means that we could just do the tag and trade, get to the other team and get the extension. And that's where all the moving parts come in. When you look around and go, all right, what teams not only want him, what teams could want him over multiple years. All right, what teams not only want him what teams could want him over multiple years and with Stafford back with the Rams The other question is how much is someone going to be willing to give up? With Sam Darnold in a tag and trade scenario would the Raiders give up an early third round pick Is there a bidding war potential because rapaport in the teams? He mentioned was even more teams that I've

been mentioning. He threw Cleveland into the mix. We've talked about the Raiders, the Giants, and those two teams have been connected to Darnold from different reporters. There was Connor Rogers at SNY mentioned Darnold and the Giants, and I believe was it Rappaport Schefter and Mike Silver of the Athletic both mentioned the Raiders as potential options for Darnal. We've been talking about that a lot. Another team that doesn't come up as much in our conversations because

they're just off the radar of the entire NFL is the Tennessee Titans. Now cam ward might be their number one pick. They might try to draft a quarterback to save the marriage with Brian Kalahan as their coach, but they also could take Abdul Carter and try to get Sam Darnold and get back to relevancy pretty quickly in the NFC South. Remember the bar in the NFC South is not as high as it is in a lot of divisions in terms of getting back to that competitive, you know, competing for a playoff spot, at least competing for the division.

That division still has a lot to prove. So Sam Darnold in the AFC South after crushing the AFC South last year might be very good there. It might give them a chance to get into the playoffs again after they've been down bad for the last couple of years. So when we start going through, even with Stafford back with the Rams, we can still come up with a half dozen teams. And I've felt all along like someone is going to want to jump the line, right?

Some team is going to want to say, all right, we don't want to wait till Darnold hits free agency. We don't want to bid, all right, we don't want to wait till Darnold hits free agency. We don't want to bid against everybody else. We want to trade for his services right now. And a team like the Raiders is at the top of that list. The other guys that are mentioned for the Raiders and giants are just so underwhelming. I mean, Justin Fields, his name was thrown out there.

We know Russell Wilson. This is from reporters Insiders today talking about what could happen now with the quarterback situation around the league I mean the the gap between what Sam Darnold did last year for the Vikings and what Justin Fields and Russell Wilson did for the Pittsburgh Steelers is absolutely enormous Just absolutely enormous. Just absolutely enormous. I mean, he was so much better last season

than any of those guys that would be options for the Giants. And then Aaron Rodgers is now thrown out there for the Giants as well. So it looks like, at least as of right now, Rodgers wants to keep playing, which means maybe one of these teams will sell their soul to get Rogers and let him run the organization.

The giants might be the most likely to do that because I don't think Tom Brady wants to, uh, seed any power to anyone, but Brian Dable might just have to sign his name in blood to get Aaron Rogers there just to try to get himself back to the playoffs worked great for the jets, by. By the way, I don't understand much of that of why anyone would be interested in Aaron Rodgers, but I guess, you know, he, it wasn't like he was the worst quarterback in the league. And maybe they think they could get to seven or eight wins and keep their jobs. Maybe they think they can draft Chaudhuri Sanders or something who I was unimpressed with at the combine today with his interviews and what I saw from

those. And just seems like more and more people are talking about Chaudhier Sanders, hyping himself versus reality. It just doesn't really match up. Uh, and you know, maybe a year ago, it looked like he was going to develop into one of the top quarterbacks, but did not improve the way that some people thought. And cam ward might be the only first round quarterback and Sanders might just be a bunch of one liners that he pre wrote before going to the, uh, the podium at the combine.

He came off with very little genuineness there in his interview. It kind of reminded me of Ryan Mallet years ago, who was talked about as a first round pick and then did his combine interview and was a third round pick because everyone was scared off by it. I don't know if that's gonna be the case as far as his interviews behind the scenes,

but it was kind of weird. And Cam Ward might be the only first round pick, which leaves a lot of potential for tags and trades with Sam Darnold. Thank you very much, by the way, to PY314 for the Super Chat. Thank you so much for that. Not necessary, but always appreciated.

And all of you support the show and what we do here just by showing up, watching, listening, and being here and chatting. So that's kind of where we stand right now. Trying to put odds on whether he actually gets tagged and traded is very hard. And the reason why is because we just don't have a lot of history for this.

We have Matt Castle in 2009, which was 15 years ago. And aside from that, there's just not a lot of players that have even been tagged and traded in general. But this is also not a situation that comes up very often where you have somebody who won 14 games and played top 10 football. And you know, I was talking to Andrew K, Andrew Kramer star Tribune the other night, we were having dinner talking about this situation, how just kind of crazy it is that a quarterback with that

season is going to get traded or is not going to return to his team. How many times in history of the NFL, just in general has a quarterback played as well as Sam Darnold and not come back to his own team. I mean, is there 10 instances of it in all of NFL history? Is there five? I mean, when Brett Favre left the Packers, he was not playing this kind of football. He was old. When Russell Wilson left Seattle, he was falling off. When, I mean, maybe Stafford is kind of an example there of someone.

He didn't win 14 games before he got traded, but someone who was really playing very good football, but his team was down bad and they really had to trade him to go under an entire rebuild. That's what's wild about this situation and makes it different and makes the possibilities of the tag and trade so much more likely than it would ever be in any other scenario because if you are the titans the raiders the giants the browns these teams. I mean they've got to be thinking this is the best type of quarterback that we can get. This is the best type of quarterback that we can get. Ever, I mean, there's almost no scenarios where you end up with a free agent this good. Maybe when Tom Brady became a free agent, but his team wasn't

actually playing that great like the Patriots had fallen off and Brady didn't have a very good year. Like this is the best year of Darnold's career. It was one of the best years in the league. It's one of the best teams in the NFL last season and then you know that guy's getting moved. So you know Whether they can tag and trade I you know Matt mentions that Kramer talked to some people who didn't think a tag and trade was likely

So that's what's really funny is everybody you talk to has a different take on this. And if you listen to, if you want to, after the show, cause you're busy right now, or you could pause it, I guess, and come back. But with Ian Rapport, I just clicked on his video that he tweeted of him talking about the situation and Rapport lays out the different options, but he doesn't really put odds on it because I don't think he knows. And I don't think anybody really knows Exactly if they can do it or not

I have always been in the camp that they could because All you need is one team to just say all right. We'll give you the third. We'll give you the second Like let's just go Let's just get Sam Darnold and not have to worry about this other stuff. Or another team can go to his agent and say, Hey, what about three years, 120 will sign and will sign the deal as soon as he gets traded over to us. It's kind of what happened with Matt Castle and it's kind of what happened with Alex Smith when they pulled off the same thing, which maybe actually Alex Smith is probably the

best comp when Alex Smith led the NFL and passer rating and then was traded to Washington because they had Patrick Mahomes, but Mahomes at least had played in a game and had practiced with his team for an entire year. So this is a little unprecedented with the Vikings potentially moving on from Sam Darnold, but Rappaport did throw out there the possibility of a return. That percentage went way down for me after the combine and talking to people there

and listening to KOC and Quasidafel Mensa. It went, I would think I was 60-40, but now I'm probably 90-10, if not less than 10% that Sam Darnold is back. But the Vikings always have a way of keeping everybody in the dark including the insiders until we actually get our resolutions So we're gonna know this very quickly It'll be the next couple days because the deadline is March 4th for the franchise tag, so it'll happen pretty quick That he either gets traded tagged and traded or not

happen pretty quick that he either gets traded, tagged and traded or not. But if he doesn't, it's not like it's a tragedy. I mean, it will almost be a disappointment now if they aren't able to tag and trade him, because it feels to me like they should be able to. And it feels to me like it's a good idea for these other teams to strongly consider it. But if no one's willing to do it, like think about even, and I know it's not an exact comp, but like the Lamar Jackson situation where Lamar becomes available and all the teams were kind of saying, well, we're not, we're not going to put

the Ravens in that position. We're not going to reset the market with another huge contract for him and they didn't collude, but maybe they kind of did collude if they all came to the same conclusion at once. And it might be that kind of thing where all these teams say, we'll just bid for him when he arrives at free agency. We're not going to give up our draft assets for this year. But if the Vikings absolute lowest price is a third round pick, which it should be, even if they got a third round pick this year

that's not a comp pick, that's better than getting nothing and then they can move him. But if they don't, it is disappointing because they need draft capital this year and they need to be able to fill some of these needs through the draft. At the same time, they'll get that comp pick and you got a 14 win season out of

a $10 million contract, and then you get a third round pick the next year. Not a bad deal. Uh, overall, A S says, I think the Titans make a lot of sense for Darnold heard Robert Mays and Dan Graziano talking out about it on Mays podcast and they made some good points. Rossiano talking out about it on May's podcast and they made some good points. I am fully, fully in belief that the Titans are a great location for Sam Darnold. I just don't think that Cam Ward is a very good number one overall pick somebody that probably needs a lot of development in last year's draft.

He's the seventh quarterback on the list. Or six, that absolute best. Is that somebody you want to spend your number one overall pick? Warning. I've got this condition where I don't feel pain. You're a superhero. This is how intense Nova Kane sounds. Imagine how it looks.

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Based on a true story. New season Mondays only on W. Stream live and on demand on Stack TV. I don't think so. So Abdul Carter is somebody you want to spend your number one overall pick. He's insanely productive, crazy athletic. That's a guy you can have for 10 years and be great for you.

So go out and get that edge rusher if you're the Titans, and then a quarterback who can get you back into the playoff race. And that could be Sam Darnold. Strizzi mentions how Case Keenum performed after he left. I don't think those are remotely similar. I think Sam Darnold will be good after he leaves. I don't know that he'll be as good,

but I also feel like sometimes we acted like Sam Darnold was just given a golden throne to sit on this year, and I don't agree with that. I think the Vikings had a good supporting cast. I don't think they had a great supporting cast. Not after Christian Derasaw went down. You have good coaching and you have a great wide receiver and a good wide receiver. Hockinson wasn't the same and wasn't even available for the first half of the season.

And they had one good offensive lineman, one above average offensive lineman in the second half of the year. And he had to make those plays. So I thought that Darnold took a huge step in his career and will be a good quarterback for someone else going forward. 14 wins was a little bit juiced up by the division, the sheer number of bad teams. But if Darnold continued his career and was still a good quarterback in Geno Smith or Baker Mayfield style,

I wouldn't be surprised at all. I think there's no similarity between him and Case Keenum. Case Keenum was a cartoon, silly season that, I mean, he didn't have any of the physical talent, but just tossed the ball up in the air and made it work for a year. But that was more kind of just a lucky hot run as opposed to Darnold really proving it. And those two games at the end, I wouldn't, I would say that Darnold is always gonna have ups and downs and he hit the downs at the wrong spot. They hit the wrong matchups of teams

that knew how to beat them. But that's not erasing what he did against the Packers, what he did against the Seahawks, the game winner, winning drive where he was fantastic against the Cardinals. Like we don't have to tear down Sam Darnold just because you want to move on to JJ McCarthy and moving on to McCarthy is if he's fully healthy and KOC thinks he's ready to go. It's the best thing for the long term future of the Vikings. I would agree with anybody who says that, but I'm also not going to sit here and pretend

that Sam Darnold just fell ass backwards into his great season Great season. I didn't think that at all. I, I saw it. I don't think it was luck. I saw both of them actually up close and personal. I think the kingdom one, even the guys in the locker room were like, this can't continue, right? Not, not with the guy's arm talent, but with Darnold, uh, I think through what 17 weeks? Everyone was believing that he might be the franchise quarterback. So let let's not let's not talk about Darnold as if he's not good It's just is he the best option on a big contract for this team going forward versus McCarthy? Probably not Aaron says I think they should take a third or fourth round pick for this year Seems like a a deep draft, a lot of key positions, and you never know what next year will be.

You could take an early fourth. The thing I was thinking about is more of a conditional situation. Like think of it. It's a third round pick that becomes a second if Sam Darnold starts 15 games or if Sam Darnold starts a playoff game, right? I mean, that's. I think the best way to go about it, because then the Vikings, well, that then it would have to be next year's draft pick if they were doing a conditional. So maybe there's some downside to that.

Maybe it's a fourth rounder this year and a third next year that can become a second. If they make the playoffs. How about that? I don't think the Vikings have to go into this, these conversations with the Titans or the Raiders and saying, give us the whole world for Sam Darnold because they know that Sam Darnold is very, very unlikely to come back to the Vikings. So they're not going to come and say, please take the sixth overall pick or the first overall pick.

Of course not. But if you're talking about the early third round for the Raiders or for the Titans or for the Giants, it just seems more than reasonable to ask for those teams get a quarterback that can get them back to relevancy and has one of the best arms in the NFL. The Vikings get a draft pick a year before and everybody's happy. So I think it makes a lot of sense to happen, but there is the complication of potentially trying to play hardball and not signing the franchise tag. That's something you could do. You could drag your feet on that.

I mean, that's why I've always said about this scenario that there's just so many moving parts. That's why it's so hard for anyone to predict. Uh, Wade says no one will know what happens to a Pro Bowl quarterback is a rare scenario. It most certainly is. You are absolutely right, Wade. That does not happen that often

where you have a quarterback coming off of one of the best seasons in the NFL and then everyone is, where is he gonna play next year? Who knows? Usually the team would just extend that guy, but usually the team didn't draft the top 10 quarterback and Love the guy the year before Alex says it really So bad to tag Darnold now and trade him during camp for potentially hired. Oh, is it really so bad to do that?

Well, it is it is bad to if you're going to tag and trade him you have to do it right away because free agency is coming and that week is where he needs to find a new home. I don't think, I don't think you can tag him unless the deal is already set, unless Kevin O'Connell has already set up a deal with, I say O'Connell and quasi at Apple Mensa, their leadership have already set up a deal with, I say O'Connell and quasi at a FOMENSA, their leadership have already set up a deal with another team. If they do that at the combine or did that at the combine, I have sources

that say Kevin O'Connell is back in Minnesota. The sources that he was on the same flight as my wife today. So, uh, he's back in Minnesota, I guess. Uh, but if O'Connell is now back in Minnesota with the knowledge and information that a team is willing to trade for Sam Darnold, then they need to work that out and get that done before they put the tag on him, you can't get left holding onto that $41 million cap hit because the Vikings have to go into free agency and they have to get as much as they possibly can in free agency. They have to go after every top free agent. That's how the plan was supposed to work for this offseason. You go like when they signed Arnold,

you get Arnold, you get him for a year, you play McCarthy the next year, you spend crazy money in free agency. McCarthy is the best version of himself because he's got all this talent around him. Like that's the plan. That was the plan when Quacey got here, was for 2025 to be the year where he finally is Scrooge McDuck. He's Lil Wayne throwing money everywhere.

Like he's got all this cash to go out and get whatever he wants. If you signed Arnold to the franchise tag and then wait to trade him, that limits how you can structure those deals. You can still do them, but you have to structure them differently as opposed to maybe evening out the cap hits over the years.

You would have to make them very small for this year and much bigger into the future. I don't think that's something they wanna do. You also would have to make them very small for this year and much bigger into the future I don't think that's something they want to do. You also would have an entire Summer of what is going on is Sam Darnold here? Is he not and if you're Darnold you're just In in flux. Do you want to trade me? Do you want to keep me? I don't think they really want to do that to them Ned said Minnesota deserves nothing nothing for signing Donald. Well, they will get, no matter what, they're getting a comp pick. So they deserve, by the rules of the land, a third round pick.

They will get a third round pick no matter what. The worst scenario is a third round pick. So they deserve a third round pick. He gave them one year, and Quacey should have signed him to a multi-year contract. Ned, I think we're not on the same page there, man. A one-year, $10 million deal for a bridge quarterback last year, who's the best possible bridge quarterback that does not lock you in long-term or hurt your salary cap long-term in any way is awesome. It was the perfect deal.

It's one of the best deals that we've seen in the NFL for a quarterback in how long, how many other quarterbacks were signed to one year, $10 million, no strings attached, bridge quarterback to your rookie, and they give you that kind of season that puts you in a position to go and play against Detroit for the number one spot in the playoffs at the end. I mean, that was a phenomenal, phenomenal deal and a phenomenal decision. You're telling me that Quacey, this is like, you know how, it's one of my favorite quotes. So I may have said it at another time on the show, malfeasance for malfeasance's sake,

which is Dwight Schrute on The Office. So I'm gonna come up with a new one, which is Quacey criticisms for criticisms for quasi criticisms sake. Like this is a quasi criticism for quasi criticisms sake. Just to have one. There's no person on earth who would have seen this season coming from Sam Darnold based on his past. And also the Vikings drafted a quarterback tenth overall.

Why would you sign someone to a multi-year contract? Quasi criticisms for Quacy criticisms sake. Strizzi says you're going to be heartbroken when we let go of Darnold. You know, over many years of doing this, people have always accused me of loving this guy, hating this guy, you're gonna be heartbroken. Ugh, what?

I cover the team, man. I'm going to be here one way or the other. It does not matter to me who comes and who goes. They, I have seen this franchise completely overhaul the entire roster, the entire front office, the entire coaching staff. And I'm still here doing it. I didn't quit when they signed Kirk and I didn't think they should. I didn't quit when they signed Kirk and I didn't think they should. I didn't quit when they extended Kirk and I didn't think they should.

I didn't think that McCarthy was my top guy for quarterback for this team. I thought it was Penics. I was not heartbroken when they took McCarthy. Instead, I went out to training camp and I watched him practice and I said, he's better than I thought. How about that? I'll go back to YouTube and I'll report that to all of my listeners. There is no heartbreak here. My friend, Sam Darnold had an effing great season and he carried himself in the best way

that he ever could have. He won over the locker room. He won over the coaching staff and he proved to the coaching staff, and he proved to the entire NFL that he should not have been considered the bus that he was. Those are the facts, pal. Those are the facts. So yeah, I mean, Sam Darnold deserves to be with a good team and to have a chance to go compete and continue. And I think based on what we've seen from him,

that he will continue to be a good quarterback in the NFL. And there's the evidence to prove that I think. So that's really all it is, man. And you know, here's the funny thing. What I always say to you guys, and I'm not sure that it always sticks, is when the information changes, I change, right? Which makes it tricky to say crap like that to me, because that just means when I learn new things or when different things happen, I'll change my opinion. I'll give you an example. The example would be throughout the last couple of weeks, what I wondered was how is JJ McCarthy's health?

How is his recovery? And how will that impact the Vikings decision? And I had the thought that if McCarthy's recovery has been slowed at all by the weight loss or by the second procedure that the Vikings will potentially bring back Sam Darnold on a Baker Mayfield contract or on the franchise tag. So they can give McCarthy more time and they can see him and they can see his recovery. The thing is they don't let me in TCO Performance Center to check it out. The only ones who are there are Kevin O'Connell, the training staff, they

know right? So I was leaving that door open and then of course said you know people would say every night why don't you marry Sam Darnold? Okay, whatever. And then we go to the combine. This is why I do the work so I can go to the combine and I can listen to Kevin O'Connell talk and I can talk to people outside of the podiums and hear them talk and their perspectives and what's going to happen. And then I could change my mind, which is what happened about where I stood with this thing and where they were. Once I heard Kevin O'Connell talking about a JJ McCarthy being ready for the off season program.

And once I heard that he was up over 200 pounds, I was like, okay, well that, that resolves those issues that I had or those questions that I had. So now I'm thinking it's 90% chance that JJ McCarthy is starting. And now we're talking about how they're going to go have a free agency bonanza and how they're going to go and sign offensive linemen, right? And get safeties and corners and defensive tackles. And now it's the spending spree that I was talking about. That's so funny because anytime somebody tries to say,

Oh, this is what you wanted that what that's what you want. Let's go back to why I was against the Kirk Cousins signing because I always thought the better plan was to get a quarterback on a rookie contract and spend around it. This is my plan, guys. J.J. McCarthy and the rookie contract and the spending is my plan since 2018. So nobody's heartbroken man. In fact, guess what's really good for content for me? Free agent signings. I'll give you a secret. My biggest numbers are

in March every year. You know why? Cause you people get excited about free agent signings. Heartbroken, they can sign more players? Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. You know how good that is for me? That is great for me. So yeah, heartbroken.

No, I don't think so. But maybe I'll be Scrooge McDuck. They signed five, six players. JJ McCarthy OTAs You guys are gonna watch that like crazy heartbroken. No. No, I'm thinking about buying a new guitar my friend Come on now. Come on. Now. Why don't you guys try to do that to me? Alex says Could you speak to the Keith Carter being hired as run game coordinator slash assistant O line coach?

Does it signify they want to change the scheme? Yeah, I mean that's one that's mostly been talked about because there's some concerns about Carter from the past which are hard to figure. Sometimes those are individuals having a certain problem with a certain person and they put stuff out there and sometimes there's smoke where there's fire. So I guess we'll have to find out when it comes to that. Probably will be a follow-up question at some point for Kevin O'Connell when they announced it,

that didn't come along with a statement about whatever happened with the New York Jets. So that'll be a question for the owners meetings probably. And let me tell you, if any information changes at the owners meetings, I may have new opinions that I don't know. We'll see guys. Uh, but as far as the run scheme thing, yeah, they, we discussed this, that

they needed somebody who had a lot of knowledge about the run game to not just change the scheme, I think form a scheme and their run game to me has been very much haphazard it's been a little of this a little of that a handful of Decent runs from Aaron Jones because he's talented, but I thought Aaron Jones was making a chicken salad out of chicken you know what sometimes with the scheme and the line I thought they were predictable and So the line is a big part of it in terms of the players and their run blocking, but I do think they need an identity. What do you do well?

And I feel like we were lucky and I joke around, but I feel like we were lucky that, uh, to see Gary Kubiak at work, like when he was in Minnesota, because when Gary Kubiak and Rick Denison came in and they put in that run game for Delvin Cook in 2019, 2020, it was so fantastic. Delvin deserves a ton of credit, but it was so well-coached for as bad as they were and as weak as they were in the pass blocking at times.

They knew every single detail of that run game. And it was really something to watch back on tape. It's like these guys get it. They're hitting the right guys. They're communicating right. They understand it down to a T. Have we felt that way watching the run game? No. And I think that that's what they want with someone like Keith Carter is to bring in a run game that can be taught the specifics of it. Everybody understands it. Everybody knows what the scheme is and they can follow that. And they probably want help building an offensive line

with guys in his vision to try to work the run game a little bit better. So there is at least, at least there is an acknowledgement. There's at least that acknowledgement that this was needed. This was needed to have a run game coordinator that was on the offensive line spot. I think I brought this up a couple of times where I always like the run game coordinator

to be in the offensive line room. I learned this from Jeremiah Searles that the linemen are really where it all starts with the run game. So they need to understand the footwork and understand what they do well versus what they're trying to do. Scheme-wise a running back coach does not understand that it, like an offensive line coach does of what his guys can do. So that's where the differences and that's where I would like the higher in

general. There is some reservations for me about Some of those past things that have been brought up But as far as like did they need to do something like this? I think the answer is is absolutely true. Yeah Wade says I like the idea of the conditional component based on performance Smart take. Oh, thank you, Wade. I appreciate that. But it would have to be kicked down the road though, uh, to next year, if you're going to do that, cause they have to see the performance first, but maybe you can get something this year in terms of a lower draft pick. And then next year it ends up being conditional or something like that. But,

but I don't even know, right? I never even really know. Uh, when I'm looking at this situation, which is the best option for the other teams? Like, is it better to do something like that? Is it better to just give up a third round pick now? Is it better to try to play a game of chicken with the other like, if I'm the Giants, I don't even know what's the best option for the Giants. I know it's not to sign your name on the dotted line with Aaron Rogers. I know that that will that's going to one place and that's fired town. That's for sure. But as far as like what's

their option for Sam Darnold, is it better for them to trade or is it better for them to sell Sam Darnold on signing with them or give him the biggest contract? Is it better for them to have him on the franchise tag and try to extend him or to battle with everybody else in free agency? I tend to think if you're the giants or the Raiders, especially the Raiders with all that cap space, it's way better to trade for him on the tag, go into free agency, try to build up that team and then see if you want to extend it. But at least for one year, you know, you're going to be competitive. Uh, I, I don't know. Uh, I actually don't know exactly how that's going to work out. And Ron

mentions, yeah, Kramer Kramer, Andrew Kramer doesn't think that they're going to franchise tag him. I kind of do last year we went through the same thing and, uh, I'm not going to say Kramer was wrong, but, uh, he thought they were going to bring back her cousins and then they sort of tried, but they didn't really truly try. And then it didn't end up working out and he ends up going to Atlanta. So we were in the same spot at the combine last year with Andrew and I doing

podcasts and we're talking about like, Hey, do you think, what do you think they're going to do? Who they're going to draft? Do they like McCarthy? Would they like Pennex more? They bring him back Kirk. It's like the same kind of stuff with this where we just don't really have that answer yet, but we I think are much closer to an answer when it comes to what's at, what's going to happen here at quarterback for the Vikings, which is the most important part. I mean, this is the next step,

but there's no bad result here for the Vikings. Uh, if Sam Darnold ends up leaving in free agency, that's completely fine. Like that's totally fine. Um, and they get the third round comp pick and you go forward and you've got all your cap space and it's all good. It's not like, Oh my gosh, they screwed it up. All it would mean if they couldn't tag and trade him was that there was something in the way teams didn't want to do it. Maybe there is a complication about him signing the franchise tag before being traded and not wanting to do that. If he didn't want to get traded to those teams. And if you think about from Darnold's agent perspective, it would be a little

bit messed up, I guess, to say, you know what, I'm not going to sign this thing and you guys can't trade me and we're just going to make a whole mess of this. Because then what? Like he has to sign it eventually or he's going to sit out the year. He's not going to do that. So yeah, that, that doesn't seem like a likely scenario, but if teams are saying, we're not going to let you gain from this to the Vikings, like say the giants or something and other NFC team,

we're not going to help you out. We're going to just, we'll put our cards on the table, but that game of chicken, man, it ends up with you with Justin Fields or Aaron Rogers sometimes. And I would not want to be that team. I would not want to be the team that doesn't have a seat at quarterback and your Tennessee or you're the giants. And you've got what? Like Tyrod Taylor and Tommy DeVito and drew lock and Russell Wilson are your quarterbacks and good luck giants.

Welcome to, uh, Brian Dable needing a new job and maybe going back to Alabama or something. Right. I mean, I just think if I'm the Vikings, I'm selling those teams like that. And I'm saying, are you seriously going to play, you know, Carson Wentz or something? Or what are you going to do here? Uh, because there's not a ton of great options. Otherwise they go, welcome to Kirkland. Don't run a play action because he can't move. I think they I think they all because that's why I think they can tag and trade him but Kramer might be right and those teams might just say we'll sign it.

So Connell helps rejuvenate Darnold's career and the Vikings deserve nothing for prepping him for success going forward. I assume you're responding to the earlier message, but no, I mean, the rules are that you do deserve it. The rules are that you get it. Like there is no deserve here. It's just, it is a team willing to pay or not. Uh, you know, there, there's no, uh, justice really, there's just rules. There's like, yeah, I guess in a, in a just world, the Kevin O'Connell did some other

NFL team, a huge favor developing Darnold and showing his true success. So he deserves something in return, but that's not how it works. It's really economics. It's the economics of the NFL is a team willing to pay a second or third round draft pick for Sam Darnold. And if they're not, the NFL will pay in the form of a comp pick. And that's really all it is. There's no real discussion of who deserves what.

Alex says, are you legit going to miss Harrison Smith when he goes? Is he on a different level? I assume you mean as like an interview subject, missing Harrison Smith. I mean, I'll definitely miss watching him play because watching him play, it's fun to watch him play on Sunday, but it's even more fun to watch him play on Monday,

which is when I go back through the tape and you see all the things that he does. You see all the communication, you see the different places He lines up how he interacts with his teammates the blitz is the run stopping a fitting into gaps Make it plays where he reads route combinations, and he gets to the right spot the quarterback hesitates where I realized this my first year When they played the Giants and I think it was maybe week three against the Giants 2016 and Harrison was just getting into his real peak

17 he could have been deserving of defensive player of the year But 16 he was just as good for the early part of that year till he got banged up late in the season and he Was playing against the Giants and I don't know that I've ever seen a quarterback so frustrated by a single player that wasn't an edge rusher just beating his man. Eli Manning was completely out of his mind with where Harrison Smith was going to be on each play. It was coming up to the line of scrimmage, dropping back, blitzing. And I just remember the frustration on his face. I mean, of course, there'll be if Harrison Smith retires a whole shell dedicated to Harrison Smith, but as far as Talking to him Harrison Smith for a lot of his career was a guy that wanted to kind of stay out of the media

You talked to him occasionally, but he wasn't somebody that wanted to be upfront and center and over the last few years Since Kevin O'Connell got here, uh, he's been a lot more hanging out at his locker a lot more. He could go up and chat with him and things like that. And I've learned a lot from him just in those little chats. Uh, there's all, there's been, you know, a handful of stories that I've done. One of them was on the peanut punch. I asked Harrison about the peanut punch becoming the way that they teach in the NFL.

And he kind of took me through the history of that with him and his own career and how he's been taught to tackle. And so, yeah, you got a Hall of Fame caliber player talking to me about the peanut punch. That's pretty football. You know, the article's out there if you want to go find it. purpleinsider.football. But yeah, I will absolutely miss Harrison Smith

if he ends up retiring. I know the locker room, the Vikings, everybody will, and they are going to have to get a decision from him, I think soon because they need to know whether they're spending money at safety or not. They do. So we saw that Travis Kelsey's coming back and I expect a decision from Harrison Smith will have to be made to the team fairly soon and maybe we'll be covering a press conference where he's talking about retiring and maybe we'll be covering something else when he talks about

coming back. He could still play last year. He was in the middle of the league in terms of the PFF grade and the production. He's still a good player. It's not like he's gone from like really excellent to terrible it's more have been Like really really great like one of the best players to play this position in NFL history To very very good and his wealth of knowledge is still super helpful the last two years

I mean, they're good defenses top five last year. So if he comes back, you know, he could still play I mean, they're good defenses, top five last year. So if he comes back, you know, he could still play. A.S. says, compic formulas are weird, but the Vikings are almost guaranteed a third rounder for this year. Well, next year, next year. Still not great. Yeah. I mean, no, it's not great, but it's something. And they've got a third rounder from Kirk.

The thing about the formulas. Yes. And they've got a third rounder from Kirk. The thing about the formulas. Yes, I am driven insane by questions of whether the Vikings get comp picks for players, because the answer is always, I don't know. And neither does anybody else except for the Vikings. I believe the Vikings and the other NFL teams have a very general sense of what the formula is, uh, and they are pretty sure when it happens. But if you think of it this way, when it comes to, uh, you know, somebody like Sam Darnold, if they were to sign a, another player for a huge amount of money or two other, three other players, and not lose two or three other players, that compic could be washed away.

It could potentially be washed away. And that's why they would have to do a lot, but it could be, and they are going to do a lot, so that's why they want to get something back for Darnold. If they don't get anything, well, I don't know, then it's unfortunate, but what are you going to do? Like if the teams aren't going to trade for them, then they're not going to trade for them. There, you can't know, then it's unfortunate, but what are you gonna do? Like if the teams aren't gonna trade for him, then they're not gonna trade for him. You can't make them, right?

You can't say, no giants, I'm forcing the trade like I did on PFF the other night in the draft simulator. I'm forcing the trade. You have to take him. If they all say, we're not giving you anything for Darnold then because you gotta get rid of them, so too bad. Well, it is what it is. And if they don't get the comp pick because they signed too

many players again, you still got a 14 win season out of a 10 million dollar bridge quarterback and we move on but they're trying. I know they're trying. I can tell you with a hundred percent certainty. They were in Indianapolis trying to find if there are teams that are willing to trade for him. Alexander says, your rhetoric toward,

well, it's not really rhetoric. I mean, rhetoric implies that I have like a motive toward playing J.J. McCarthy weeks ago was scary schedule next year, you really wanna do this, but now it seems you're more comfortable with new information Yeah, because the thing about the new information is about him in terms of his shape and it was really What I was trying to do with that discussion about him not playing not having thrown a lot of passes is

put myself inside the thrown a lot of passes is put myself inside the front office and the questions that they might be asking with and Kevin O'Connell, the questions they might be asking if they feel like and they've been around him. See, I have not, Kevin O'Connell did not invite me to those meetings where he went through the tape with JJ McCarthy. They didn't invite me to go watch him work out on the field after his recovery. Right. So I don't know this information. The only people that do are inside the building. So I could always have seen, and I guess it's still possible a situation where

they said, he's not really there yet. We think he's going to be, but we need another year to be sure. And it's risky because of whatever, if it's the recovery or if they feel like he's got to relearn all this stuff and it's a tough schedule and he hasn't thrown a lot of passes and all that, that maybe you bring back to Arnold for one more year and you try to recreate with some better guards and take another swing at it. And the reason I'm more comfortable with the idea of that not being a worry for them is the way that Kevin O'Connell talked about it. The way O'Connell talked about all that they went through to prepare him mentally for next year and the way he talked about him physically. And if he's physically ready to go and he's mentally ready to go, then

those questions are answered. But sometimes when I ask questions like that, maybe it comes off as, you know, and I tried to say, like, I don't think I'm not trying to put him in a glass box or protect him. I'm just saying that that might be a consideration for them. Try to think of it from all angles. Right. And, uh, you know, the same with the same with the cousins discussion from last

year, where you try to think of it from all angles, like why would they want cousins back, could he be their bridge quarterback? And I always thought that was a bad idea. How much are your other teams going to pay him? What if nobody offers Kirk cousins and then he's forced to come back to the Vikings. Like there's the, we do this every day. I did like 12 podcasts from the combine.

I'm going to say a lot of stuff. So I'm, I'm going to say, I'm going to, you know, end up having a lot of discussions on a day-to-day basis and things change so much. Look, I wasn't even planning on going live tonight, but something changed. Stafford came back, so here we are. Yesterday I would have been saying, hey, it all hinges on Stafford. Now we got new information. Anyway, real quick, by the way, this show has a very cool sponsor.

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For my listeners 60% off your first box go to tempo meals comm slash purple insider again tempo meals comm purple insider Let's see. So everything's always changing all the time. Hunter says the Raiders don't want to spend big money and time on Darnold. Okay, maybe, maybe or maybe not. It's funny because some reporters for the Raiders have said that they don't want him and then Schefter mentioned their name as that they were considering him.

And so did Mike Silver, who has long been like dialed in with that Raiders organization. And once again, the answer is we don't really know what those discussions are like, because if you're the Raiders, I just think that the Raiders, uh, should want Sam Darnold. I really think that they should want Sam Darnold because they need to be relevant. They've got some pieces there. Uh, they've got a receiver, J. Kobe Myers, although there's some conversation they could trade him, uh, Colton Miller, they've got a few offensive linemen. They need to improve their running game, but they've got a few offensive linemen. They need to improve their running game,

but they've got enough pieces to at least start building something. And I think if you're chasing the quarterback, the Lions should really be looked at for this. If you're always chasing the quarterback, then that means you're spending so much time, so much capital, always trying to figure that out. And when you have a bad quarterback,

you can't evaluate your other players for the Raiders. How do they know if their wide receivers can play? They were having Aiden Hutchins and Gardner Minshew throw the ball. How do you really know? I think a good quarterback, at least at a baseline level. And this was what I said about Jared Goff. And then, you know, he got better and better, but Jared Goff gave them competent quarterback play

so they could evaluate and build around that and not have to spend all this capital on the quarterback position. So it becomes very favorable for the Raiders. Also, Darnold was one heck of a bridge quarterback this year. If they want Chaudhuri Sanders, he could be one heck of a bridge quarterback again. Let's see.

Steven says, is there a website that describes how the salary cap, He could be one heck of a bridge quarterback again. Let's see. Steven says, is there a website that describes how the salary cap and other aspects of the business signing players works? Yeah. So the other night I had a guy Texans cap Troy Chapman on his just check just to just Google Texans cap. I can't remember what his YouTube page is, but he's got like a nine part series that explains it all. Also overthecap.com has a ton of explainers of all this sort of stuff with free agency and all the rules.

If you just go to over the cap, there's all, and search whatever you're looking for, you'll find it. I think more than likely, that's how I do it. Almost every time. Gazink Ed said they haven't announced this year's compics, but Nick Cordy's projections on over the cap showing a third from losing Kirk, but nothing else. Yeah, that's the point about how they lost to Neil Hunter,

but they signed Jonathan Grenard. And then you just, you kind of go like the formula works like what did you lose? What did you gain in free agency? And that tries to make up the gap. So if you lost the Kirk cousins and a Daniel Hunter, but you signed a Jonathan Grenard and you lost, I can't remember who else left in free agency last year,

but they lost enough to get, and how that's determined is the contract those players sign elsewhere. So when Daniel Hunter signs that huge deal, that's bigger than grenades. So maybe that's worth grenade and cashman combined, but it's very hard on the outside to kind of figure that out. And Nick has a good sense for it. You can eyeball it for sure, but you know, the Vikings ended up basically just getting that Kirk comp pick

and that's what could happen next year or they could not get anything depending on how much they spent. So Schefter is a Raider hater. That could be, he could be a Raider hater. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, he wasn't the only one though. There were multiple people who were saying, including Mike Silver, who's definitely not a Raider hater,

who was saying that they'll consider Sam Darnold. But the way that everybody has framed it, when you look at every report from Indy today on this situation, every single one is like, this could happen, this could happen. This could happen. It's like they could tag and trade the Giants could want them. The Giants could want Aaron Rodgers. The Raiders could wash it or Sanders should or Sanders might not be a first round pick.

Like we are in a spot right here where there are so many different avenues to go down. All I know is that I'm leaning much toward Darnold being able to draw a draft pick out of somebody on the franchise tag. I could be wrong, because everybody's just kind of taking a guess. There is now only one scenario that would shock me. After today, after Stafford returns to the Rams,

I would be shocked if Sam Darnold agreed to a multi-year contract with the Vikings. I can't see him doing that at this point because look at the way they talk about JJ McCarthy and that's all legit by the way, just everything that I have heard about and seen with my eyes out at training camp last year. But everything that I've heard behind the scenes about JJ McCarthy is all on the positive side that they've seen everything that they wanted to see from him in the way he handled

last year. And I'm sure it was incredibly difficult for him, but the work ethic that he had, the contributions to the room, even though he was injured, just everything that they were hoping for in the way that he handled it. Because I know they tried to kind of spin it and say, well, hey, it might be good for him because he can learn without the pressure and stuff, but you never really know how someone's going to respond to that type of situation. I think they love the way that he responded to that. They got him down on the sideline. He was pumped for his teammates, uh, very, very genuine in that. So I think you don't, if you're darn old,

even consider any offer from the Vikings that short term, because you know that JJ McCarthy is the guy they're always going to want to turn to. That's the only situation that would truly shock me. Maybe franchise tagging and keeping him would also really surprise me, but it did happen once. There's always an example. It did happen once with Anthony Harris, where we didn't think that there was any chance Anthony Harris wasn't traded after he got franchise tagged. And then he wasn't. And then he just ends up on the team at 15 million for a safety or something. It was ludicrous because they kind of got tricked. They thought that they were going to be able to trade him and then were not able to do that. So But everything else is on the table

Henry says darnold goes to the titans and koc was the reason for his resurrection. Yeah, I mean I think It yes and no like justin jefferson was the reason darnold was the reason Sam dar I I don't think we can give enough credit to Sam Darnold and this is every time I give him credit for anything people who are still mad about how it went in the playoffs just get angry. So earmuffs I guess because Sam Darnold came in and worked like crazy to get KOC system down and was never threatened by JJ McCarthy went on a golf trip

with McCarthy as soon as he got here. Was just a great leader and a great teammate from day one and he's the one that made the plays. He's the one that made the throws. There's nothing Kevin O'Connell did to make that throw against Atlanta. There's nothing Kevin O'Connell did to make that throw against Seattle to beat the Seahawks. Sam Darnold earned it with his work ethic. He never gave up. He never got down. He never got egotistical about being a backup and he learned so much from Kyle Shanahan.

So I think all that reflects extremely well if you're another team and you're considering, should we go after Sam Darnold? I mean, I think people in the Vikings building cannot say enough great things about the way he handled last season. It's just, this is an economics decision. It's also about how they feel about JJ McCarthy. It's, it is harder. There's no doubt about it. If you're going to sign them to an extension to go and sign free agents and

that this was their plan all along, they're going to stick with it. But as far as like Darnold, I think Kevin O'Connell helped him and work closely with him, no question. But he deserves credit as a really good NFL quarterback now who worked very hard to overcome all those things early in his career. Jax Park says, What do you think the realistic tag and trade return for Darnal will be? I think it would be similar to what the Bears got for Fields, a conditional sixth. No, I don't think it's similar to Fields at all.

Fields was horrible. Fields was absolutely horrendous for the Bears. I know Bears fans were like, no, he's secretly great. No, I mean, we all know that. This is Justin. They got him as a backup. They were trading for just the fields of backup. I don't see that as being similar at all. I think that this is much more of a, it's a third round pick at the minimum.

You just don't even do it. If you can't get a third round pick, just let them go. And at absolute best, see, this is why the range is so wide of outcomes. Cause you could see them just saying, all right, the offers aren't good enough. And maybe teams are trying to low balm like that. All right, well, forget it. We're not taking a fifth or fourth. Forget that.

We're just, you know, gonna let the comp pick do what it's gonna do. Or you could see these teams getting in a bidding war because they're so desperate and the Vikings coming away with a second round pick Second round is a little high now. I think but because teams now know that they want to move on Third rounders where the sweet spot is for me Sorry, let me get to real quick Evan was first here Could teams like the Raiders be pretending not to want Darnold to lower the price? Yes. Yeah, they could be. It's all a game, right?

Teams could be saying, I don't know. We'll give you it like that offer. They will give you the conditional sixth or something, but then they tag them and then it's the week before free agency and they're exploring the options and they don't like them. And then okay alright will give you the third so the vikings have to decide. By the time they trade they tag him if they can trade him for something good they need to know by this week it's the fourth. What day is that is that tuesday they need to know by tuesday. The thing about this it could happen tomorrow. The thing about this it could happen tomorrow or they could not franchise tag him at all and we'll get our answer on Tuesday So, you know, I'm gonna be inside the house

Making sure I'm close to my Adam Schefter updates on the phone because this could kind of go at any time But there is a deadline to this the so if those teams are trying to play coy They need to stop doing that pretty soon and make a real offer if they actually want them. Uh, bra says, uh, do you think KOC involves Kenan McCardell in the office of game playing to boost his experience in development? Don't want to lose him, but KOC seems to like a coach who can develop his staff. Now Kenan McCardell is a big part of it. The way game planning works just in general is all the coaches on the staff have different parts of the game plan they work on. So Keena

McCartle, yes, is 100% involved in the game planning. So they come up the way that it generally works. Like, KOC does not sit in his office and write out the whole game plan and then they go coach it. The whole staff puts together the game plan and then Kevin O'Connell will have his own ideas and they'll meet together and they'll say, all right, we want this, we don't want that, we're going with this. And those meetings take a really long time every single week. I know one of the days they stay, you know, deep into the night kind of thing. And then they come up with the game plan that everybody sort of agrees on, or at least the head coach has approved,

and then they go forward after that. That's usually how it works with game planning. So Keena McCartle is a huge part of it. Keena McCartle is a great, great coach for them. Tremendous wide receiver coach, tremendous person to have around, resource as a former player, and not just a former player,

but somebody who was a ninth round draft pick who became a great player in the league. He is a very valuable component to this team and I don't understand why nobody has brought him in as their offensive coordinator. I just don't get it. I just don't get it somebody like that with his record, but it's always the younger guy. It's always the all this guy's got the great ideas and everything else, you know,

Grant Udinski and pay credit to grant you didn't ski. That's a great, a meteoric rise, but Kenan McCartle has been doing this for so long and was in the league and doesn't get a sniff and they go with a 29 year old kid. I don't get it. I don't get it. Anyway, I don't get it. I don't get it anyway Bra asks suppose four years from now KOC had a similar Excellent regular season record and still no playoff wins. Do you want to move on at that point?

I'm not firing Kevin O'Connell tonight. We don't have to do that I get questions like this a lot and I'm always kind of perplexed by them. I had one in The Friday mailbag, purpleinsider.football by the way, on the written side about how we should already set our expectations below double digit wins for next year. And I just, a scenario where KOC hasn't won another

playoff game for four years, how am I supposed to say about that? Like, I don't know. Let's check back in like three years and we'll see that. I mean, I feel like this is it. It becomes less pervasive in the off season, but Vikings fans sort of setting up for, hey, what if the worst thing happens? Look, Kevin O'Connell has two playoff games.

Somebody asked me today. I mean, it's just it's just wild. Some of the stuff if because the NFL Aaron's got a question about the NFL PA survey and if the Vikings grade is too good for the NFL PA survey, I was like, what it's just, I, are we just pointing at things and saying they might be bad? Like probably that's kind of how it feels. pointing at things and saying they might be bad like probably. That's kind of how it feels.

Aaron says with the Steelers 28th and NFLPA and owners didn't get a good grade. Would the owners want to step in and want Darnold to show their players what investing in the most important position? Yeah, that was really surprising to me because they have long been considered a great organization and they always make the playoffs and yet their ownership got a really bad grade. And I wonder why that is, like, what do you have to do as an ownership to get a really bad grade? Is that negotiations that the owner gets involved in,

that they're cheap? It's in that they're cheap. It's probably that they're cheap. Maybe sometimes, and I think this is the case for that family. Sometimes when all of their money, this goes for the bears too, and the bangles, when all of their money comes from only the team, they're cheap.

That happens a lot. Like the Wilfs, they have their real estate and everything else. Even Jerry Jones has been accused of this just being cheap because all of his money comes from the team these days. I don't know. I, that was surprising though, with Darnold. I do think that Pittsburgh is a team that we haven't mentioned enough.

And I'm glad that you brought them up because if you're Mike Tomlin, how much longer can you do this thing where you squeeze 10 wins out of a team with a good defense and a running game and you beat the Browns a couple times? I mean, we know this about the NFL and the Vikings and so forth. If you try, the Vikings always try. If you try to win and you have relative competence

in your coaching and your front office You will win eight games. You will be a middling team and that's what the Steelers have been That's what we've been talking about the Vikings escaping for so long and they have escaped it under KOC to get to the point where they should be a team that competes for a Super Bowl over the next five years, but At least I think so and maybe they'll prove me wrong next year, but I think so. I think we've gotten past that threshold where they have a good enough roster, enough superstars, good enough coaching and the potential quarterback to be in a different discussion. But the Steelers, I think everybody's,

there's just a malaise there with them. And does Sam Darnold completely change that? I'm not sure, but think about how bad the quarterback play has been. The last time they had a good quarterback season, even a good season, is 2018. And that's a long time to go without even decent quarterback play when they've had a ton of stars, a ton of stars over those years. I mean, they should be in this conversation big time, for sure.

They should, the Steelers should want them just as much as anybody else. So, yeah, Matt says, if I'm darn old, I'm pushing hard to try to get to Pittsburgh, right? That's the best option by far, I think. I mean, the NFL PA survey made me go Well, is it I don't maybe it's not I don't know like I thought it was but they're actually a competitive team They've got good coaching and their offense. I think with Arthur Smith with the right quarterback could be pretty good

Dante 1984 says still don't see the tag trade, not seeing other teams that excited about him for 40 million. What's 40 million these days though? 40 million is less than 15% of the cap this year. Now with the cap going up, that's where it does impact things, is when you franchise tag. Less than 15% of the cap for your quarterback is fine.

So, I mean, that's why I think that teams will tag and trade is that 40 million just isn't that much. When you look at the top quarterback making 60 million and the Raiders having as much cap space as they have, not all situations are the same. See, there are teams that would have to do a lot with their cap in order to make 40 million work, but not the Raiders. The Raiders would be in position. That's only that would only cut into I think they have 120 something million. I mean that would cut into their cap only a little bit and they would be able to work around that. Plus I still think the team that trades for Darnold

will extend him. Historically, that's usually how it works is a team trades for a veteran quarterback and gives them a contract extension. That's definitely how it works, is a team trades for a veteran quarterback and gives them a contract extension. That's definitely how it works. Let me just real quick, by the way, before I wrap up here, still recovering voice-wise, I thought, silly me, of course, I was like, well, I'll do the live stream on Thursday and then I'll have, like Friday, we'll let the voice recover.

I brought down the secret sauce the Gatorade tonight I didn't even go with the diet dr. P because that's not really great for the throat So I went with the Gatorade which probably isn't either But after all those podcasts at the combine Was struggling a little bit. I was like, oh, of course Stafford signed Back with the Ram. So now here we are again. It's emergency podcast time.

But look, I'll grind. I'll grind for you guys. I don't want to use the word hero, but if you do, I'll accept it. I'm just kidding. But, you know, the combine today, corners were at the center of the combine today. And I right now I have, uh, the position ranking right now, and this could change. No, it will change because of free agency, but just right now.

Okay. So, uh, the Raiders have 96 million. Yeah. I like Hunter, you're saying they won't do that. I'm, I don't know if they will, but that's not crazy at all. If they have 96 in cap space and you give 40 to Darnold and a third round pick, I really don't think that that's crazy at all. We're talking about a team in the Raiders who hasn't won a playoff game since Oh

two and has no other options. 14.7% of the cap to the quarterback with $56 million left. A third round pick, they have two third round picks this year, I don't, I mean, if I'm in Vegas right now, I would be demanding that the Raiders do this. You want that team to get to relevancy again. And there's just not a great quarterback to draft. And even if you draft sugar, don't play them right away.

We already saw that from the Vikings. Anyway, so, uh, just with the corners, the way that I would rank right now, the Vikings needs in free agency will change all of this is I would have defensive tackle number one in the draft, not in free agency, that's guard, but in the draft defensive tackle number one in the draft, not in free agency, that's guard, but in the draft defensive tackle number one. And then number two would probably be for me, corner or guard depending on the prospect. But I might go corner number two and then guard number three

just because drafting guards, we've seen them do that before in the second round. We've kind of, it's tricky. We've gone over that, the development curve and how you have to play the guy and just find out and all that sort of stuff. There is some good guards potentially. So corner and guard are kind of even and then running back is after that for their needs in the first round.

It would have to be an amazing running back for them to do it in the first round. So the corners did their stuff today. And this guy, Maxwell Hairston, the cornerback from Kentucky, my gracious, ran almost 25 miles per hour today at the combine. 4-8-40, but he's also a talented player. This isn't a scrub who's running this 4-2-8. Caught my attention for sure. I don't think he's being talked about as a first round pick, but might be somebody intriguing

in the middle rounds with that type of speed. But some guys that could be, Darian Porter is another one to pay attention to from Iowa State. He ran a four three, but I'll tell you the guy who did catch my eye as a potential first rounder and that is Jihadi Baron from Texas. If you go look at jihadi Baron and his conversation at the the combine where he talked with reporters, this a bright kid. I mean, it shines really quickly how smart he is, how well he communicates. is, how well he communicates. And that made me think like, that kind of reminds me of some of these Vikings players,

the way that he was talking at the podium there. And then he ran a four three nine, which is a really, really great time for him to go along with all the other stuff, the skill, the character. And another guy who was really important that he ran fast was Trey Amos, who's on the bigger side. He's from Ole Miss. I've asked a few people about him.

There's a lot of people in the league that like Trey Amos as being a first round pick, late first rounder. So those are the guys to me, Jahadi Baron from Texas and Trey Amos that passed the test today. You wanted to know, are they sub four or five guys? Because once you get past that,

once you get to four fives, it is a little bit on the harder side for players to keep up with some of the deep speed if you can't run that fast. And yes, I did see that Nick Anamuare had a Derrick Rose Rose like 43 inch vertical. And I know that NM war is a safety. And if the Vikings draft a safety in the first round

will all be a little perplexed. And I don't know that he's a first round type of pick. I think he's more of a mid round guy, but they may end up having a need at safety depending on what happens here. So the needs are shifting, Darnold situation is shifting, and we will find out what is, you know,

gonna happen in the coming days. So I appreciate the, everybody popping in here, huge crowd on a Friday night for this conversation and this update on Matthew Stafford he goes back to the Rams not that shocking looks like he tried to kind of play the Rams to get more money they caved or he caved or whatever and the Rams are a good team and they'll be there next year with Matthew Stafford as one of those teams the Vikings might have to face again in the playoffs so we'll see how they continue to add to that team around Stafford and if they can and what the details of that deal are.

But one thing we do know is that Sam Darnold to the Rams is not happening and now a bunch of other teams are scrambling for quarterbacks. And we don't know yet how those dominoes are going to fall. There's a lot of seats, there's not a lot of quarterbacks and somebody's gonna want Sam Darnold. So we shall see. Anyway, thanks again everybody for watching slash listening. Appreciate all of you dropping on in and if there's any breaking news over the weekend,

I am purposefully doing nothing, but watching the Combine, and I'll have a recap Combine recap show of all my takeaways just in total when the Combine ends on Sunday night. But if there's breaking news before that, if Sam Darnold's moved or anything happens that impacts the Sam Darnold situation, I got your back.

So thanks again, everybody, and we will see you very soon, I can promise you that. But ball.