Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Mike Renner analyzes 4 Vikings draft plans

Episode Date: March 29, 2025

Matthew Coller is joined by CBS Sports draft analyst Mike Renner to discuss four different paths the Vikings could take on draft night.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Coller here and look who it is looking interesting. Mike Renner of CBS Sports and pushing the pile podcast with Kyle Long. And for those listening on the audio version, there's a mustache. It is telling that you live in Florida now with the shirt that you're wearing, but you are the same Mike Renner, ready to talk about the NFL draft.

So what is, I gotta ask what's with the look? I mean, what are we doing here? I think the mustache actually might come through on the audio version, I don't know. You guys tell me if I'm wrong. But it's, I don't know, I just needed a change. I hate, I've been rocking just like stubble for the longest time because when I like go clean shaven,

I'm 34 years old, but I look like a child and I hate how I look completely clean shaven. So this was kind of the in-between. We talked about a little before the mustache kind of having a moment. I tried it out. I liked it. Piaz liked it.

That's all I needed. It's got great reviews. When you look at the NFL combine, you see a lot of guys who are rocking a mustache. It is a look. It's kind of coming back from the seventies. So and I think that it will enhance your work here. I was listening to you talk with Sam and Steve on the check the mic podcast. I was like, I don't know.

It's a different edge. There's a different, uh, different Mike Renner here. So here's what I got for you. I have four Minnesota Vikings plans that they could execute on draft night. And I want you to analyze all of these plans. So why don't we start out with the first one, which would be the most obvious way to handle the NFL draft for a team, which is staying at the number 24 overall pick and picking the best player available, considering all the things that the Vikings were able to do in free agency.

Mike, I feel like this one is very plausible because they don't have to reach out to grab a particular need. How would you feel about that? Best player available never works. No, you need to go grab a need. You got to trade up for it too. Now. I mean this is obviously You're in that position Where you just need to draft well, you know when you have a rookie quarterback deal you just need good players So it doesn't really matter where they play

You just need those players to be making an impact on the roster and be doing it cheaply Which is like the whole notion of why you need to draft players instead of signing them for agency is because you get that deal on that rookie contract. So yeah, I think that's good. I'm wondering how many of these four involve Aaron Rodgers. I assume all four do, but we'll obviously discuss that afterwards. But no, I do think the Minnesota Vikings right now, you did your big swing last year, right? Last year was this massive quarterback edge rusher, trade all their picks to go get it done. Now it's like just just keep the ship moving in the correct direction.

So that strategy for the Minnesota Vikings, nothing drastic needs to be made here. So the problem with staying at 24 is that the Vikings have very few other picks. If you add up all the value to the picks, they are, I believe, last in the entire NFL. In fact, the other day I was asking your colleague, Chris Trapaso, hey, if the Vikings were to trade all their picks up for somebody, who would it be? And he was like, they can only get to like 15 or 16 if they traded every pick that they have. So there is not a lot of juice to this draft outside of 24 for the Vikings. The next pick is going to be 97, which we will get to trade downs and things like that.

I think the natural question is though, who is going to be the best player available if they stay at 24? Because I really like this draft, Mike, between 15 and 40 and that kind of range. And every time I run a draft sim, I end up with really good players there just right now. Just pulled it up just before we started, ran a draft sim at 24, Malachi Starks, Walter Nolan, Gray Zabel, Derek Harmon, these guys were all on the board.

And I know it's not a perfect thing with the drafts in, but there's almost no world where there's not a very good prospect for the Vikings at 24. I agree. I think there's about 20 guys in this draft class. I don't want to say like first round grades. I don't really ever do like that first round grades that ground grade. But like guys who I just feel very good about, very confident about. And that includes like some other positions

that maybe some teams don't draft in the first round, running backs, linebackers, tight ends, whatever. But 20 guys who I just feel good about their projection. Then after that 20, it's like 21 versus 40. It's not that big a deal. So if you can nab one of those top 20 and of those Malachi Starks is one, out of those Derek Harman's one,

and the way the draft works is usually you do, right? Usually one of those will fall to you at 24. So if you can nab one of those 20, I'm happy. If all those 20 are gone, it's obviously a rarity. You know, last year Quinian Mitchell fell to almost this spot, Teran Arnold, I think was like at this spot. So like it happens that one of those guys can fall.

But if they're all gone, yeah, by all means, you're trading back. And at that point, because I get like I said, 21 versus 40, 35. You really splitting hairs on the evalus there. So let's talk about some of the guys that might be available. I mean, you mentioned Malachi Starks to me. The way that he moves is just different for that position. Uh, there's just something to it. Like, do you remember when, uh, was it Stingley did his pro day and all you had to do was see like one clip of him and you went, Whoa, okay, that's not normal

for how a human being is able to move. I feel a little bit of the same way with Malachi St Starks, but for the Vikings' safety in the first round, that's not one of the positions we usually talk about. And the last time they did it from Georgia, it didn't exactly work out. That wouldn't factor into my analysis, but I'm just saying that position does not carry the same type of weight as some of the other spots.

But is he worth that first round pick? Yes, 100%. To me, it's very similar to Brian Branch coming out in that you can look at the measure bowls and stack them up historically, do all that you want. Just go watch the film and see what this guy's capable of. Every single play, he is playing the fastest of anyone on a Georgia defense that is loaded with, obviously,

every year it's loaded with obviously every year It's loaded with NFL talent, but he's the one consistently the first mover to action and his versatility Like that's one that I've put Malachi Stark to the Viking so many times one because he lost can't bind him too because just If you wanted him to even play outside cornerback, like when you go watch his reps where he plays man coverage in the slot it's like I think he could do that and I think you do it at a really high level. The guy's just a football player through and through. And that's a scheme. And that's a coaching staff in Brian Flores that dude, he takes advantage of those guys that roster is full of those guys, right? That just like, you don't measure their impact on, you know, a combine workout sheet or anything of

that sort. They're just guys that know how to play the game. He's the guy that knows how to play the measure their impact on, you know, a combine workout sheet or anything of that sort. They're just guys that know how to play the game. He's the guy that knows how to play the game. Right. And I look at him as somebody that could play in the box, could play deep. And you know that Brian Flores is going to line up guys all over the place. I think safety in this system has more positional value than it would normally. And that's how, like when we use analytic studies and things like that, we always have to factor in the team content text, the defense context

and how you're going to play someone. And at this very moment, their safety position is fine for next year. Harrison Smith, this team really likes Theo Jackson. They signed him to a contract. Josh Metellus is a key player here, but every year we're going to do the, is Harrison Smith still going to play? And not only that, they like Theo Jackson, but if you're talking about adding someone who could be a potential star next to Twilight Harrison Smith,

I really like that idea. Now I want to ask you about the defensive tackles, Nolan versus Derek Harman. I've heard very good things about Derek Harmon. I think locally he's someone that's being circled a lot for the Vikings. They spent a lot at that position. Two 30 plus year old guys on shorter term contracts. But compare those two because they seem to be the two that come up a lot toward the back end of the first round.

Harmon's far more versatile. And so for that, he'll be on far more boards, like no, what, no scheme is going to take Derek Harman off the board because he can get up the field. He can play blocks and just, you know, two gap. He could do basically all the things you want to defense tackle to do, even if, you know, maybe there's not an aspect to his game that's necessarily elite at this point, but it's like, he's so clean. And so I'd be surprised. I'm pretty high in them. I think he's top 15 guy on my board.

I just would be surprised given that those guys tend to go higher because then every single guy has them on their board. Whereas Walter Nolan's like a three tech pretty much three tech only, not playing them on the interior. Now he can play the run. He's uniquely good at. Playing the run for three technique. I usually, when we say three tech only, you're thinking like just pass rusher, but he's a

great run defender just in a much smaller, tighter frame than if you threw him at the nose tackle position, he would not be able to hold up double teams consistently. Aspen to two gap, he just might not get off blocks consistently. So I think that's the biggest difference between the two. I have Nolan just slightly higher. I love both of them. I think they're both biggest difference between the two. I have no one just slightly higher. I love both of them. I think they're both awesome DT prospects. No one's slightly higher

because I think the athlete is better, but it's like Derek Harmon's comment, it's pretty damn good for a jumbo, big time, large defensive tackle. So either of those guys, I'm sold. I mentioned my top 20, those guys are both one of those. I feel very good about them translating Translating to the league. Well, I think the fact that the Vikings went out and signed the players that

they did in Jonathan Allen and J Van Hargrave, it kind of tells you that they're okay with guys who are just going to go after the passer and they'll fill in those other spots. And I've always thought, I mean, look, Jonathan Bullard last year was a $3 million player for the Vikings and was a good run stuffer for them on the D line. They've got Harrison Phillips there. I don't think they necessarily need someone who will do absolutely everything. I would prefer that myself, but if it's someone who just gets after the passer, I think that's okay. And they'll work it out. Otherwise, Kenneth Grant, is he off the board by this time for sure? I don't know. I've seen opinions of him all over the map.

I'm truthfully far lower on Grant than the consensus. And like his pro day was good, but I don't think it was quite what he was being billed as. Right. Like we heard four eights and it was a five one. That's like the classic Michigan thing in recent years. Every guy comes in the freaks list or top five, and then they go to the combine. You're like, this guy's a freak. He's just like kind of good athlete, but nothing great.

That's my Notre Dame Homer rant there against Michigan. But I do just think he is not gonna be the pass rusher that the other two guys are. He's just not built like that. And while he's literally explosive, he's not laterally explosive. He doesn't have the agility to make guards centers miss. He just has to play through them.

So much more of a run defender, but he has great range in the running game. And in this nose tackle class, like if you're looking at pure nose tackles, he's kind of got like a Don Tari Poe-esque potential to be that guy who's, you know, everyone, so few nose tackles in the league can do anything as a pass thruster.

He could at least give you something. And so more often than not, those guys get picked. So 24. Yeah, I do just think the NFL probably covered him a little higher than maybe the other two. I was thinking like a Delvin Tomlinson for somebody who played here where the guy's going to get 30 pressures because he can rush the passer a little. But it's not going to be a five plus sack type of player. And you love that player on your team, but it's not quite the same impact as

somebody who is consistently getting into the backfield. Let me scoot back over to my list. Are you on the train of Darius? Alexander is a first round pick or not? I'm not. I think he's talented guy. I think he's got a really high floor. I just, I worry about really, really old defensive lineman that didn't quite dominate. You know, he's so old, going to be 25 as a rookie. And that just gives you such an, like, especially at DT, because it's such a strength based position. And for as much as maybe you can't improve explosiveness and like, you know, those sort of traits that much from 21 to 25, you can get a lot stronger physically. And so the fact that he's really

not overpowering on a consistent basis at that age, you just, there's probably just not a next step to his game. Or you just worry about that being the case that there's not a next step to his game. So I think he's fine player again. I think he's a high floor, and I think he's probably more of a second rounder, but that's just not quite a first rounder for me. OK, yeah, I've kind of had Nolan and Harmon is circled as the two guys that would be most likely if they went DT. Now, interior offensive line is another one where they invested a lot in Will Fries and in Ryan Kelly.

But the left guard position is open ish. The guy who played there last year, Blake Brandle was okay. If he has to play, it's not like your offensive line is going to collapse. But I think there's a few guys who you could make an argument that if they were slotted in here would be true impact players. Gray Zable is one of them. And then Tyler Booker. There seems to be a lot of different opinions on Tyler Booker. I have gone back and forth.

I've talked to some people who really like Tyler Booker and are like, Hey man, doesn't matter what he did at the combine. The same time I saw a tweet from a guy who covers the Bengals, Joe Goodbury about guys who had the relative athletic score below where he's at, who were big and talked about it. Oh, it doesn't matter what they did at the combine, not a very high hit rate when it comes to those, hey, this guy is massive, but has no real quickness or speed to his game.

Yeah, I still am in on Howard Booker. I just think his technical prowess is so good. And for all his other bad measurables, his short shuttle wasn't a disaster like his short shuttle was okay. And that to me is the measurable that if I'm projecting the guy who plays the way he does definitely a phone booth type of guard, if I run any sort of stretch zone, if that's that's an aspect of my running game, I am looking elsewhere. I don't

you know, he's been mocked to Miami a lot. I'm just like, there's zero chance Miami drafts this guy. He's just not athletic enough. He is, he has to be in a duo heavy, power heavy gap sort of scheme, inside zone heavy, like just not get him wide, stretch zone, those sorts of things he can't do. But he has an insane frame.

I mean, a lot of guards that, you know, are lesser athletes, you need another trait to get by. He's built like an offensive tackle. I mean, he's 34 and a half inch arms, 11 inch hands, 321 pounds, like he gets by on other traits that help him out. Massive wingspan, like that can still get by. And now, there's been very few guys reach like all pro

status with his left leg testing, right? I think it, it's probably going to limit him to a degree at the NFL level, but he, he is, he's the most impressive, I think office alignment in this class, just on a play for play basis consistently, just like technically. If, if I had to bet on anyone being, you know, who has the highest PFF grade of any office alignment in this class, one, it'd be Tyler Booker. So how do you feel about Zable? I mean, you're making a big jump from NDSU.

We've seen guys make that jump before. That's why they have the senior bowl. And it apparently looks really good down there. I kind of keep doubting this one because of his athleticism. And you mentioned how a team is going to run. The Vikings don't run the Shanahan super wide zone, but they do a lot of zone stuff. And they just picked up Jordan Mason, who is a zone runner.

So I wonder if that would be a better fit for them. Yeah, I think it would be. I think that's more of the guy you're targeting. And him, if I just go back to last year's class, because last year had so many interior office alignment, right? I probably would have put him behind Graham Barton in that year's class. So like last year He probably would have been around 40 on my board, but this year is closer to 30

Just just basis of like who's in this class. Um, I think he's gonna be good. I'm not sure I see you know high-end power to his game or Place strength that really gets you excited about what his ceiling could be at the next level. But he's a great athlete. And for him to do what he did at the senior bowl, playing multiple positions and using his hands, as well as he did, you just speaks to his natural coordination, I think the guy's gonna figure it out. I

think he's got a super high floor. And again, if you're gonna run him, if you're going to put your guards on the move a good amount of time, he's much, much more athletic than Tyler Booker. So is there a guard or let's throw a couple other positions in here? I mean, even like cornerback where I haven't seen a ton of cornerbacks in the late first mocked. Is there a interior lineman or say a corner that you think is worth sticking

and picking at 24? For the Vikings? No, I don't think so. I have all my corners past 24. So today and, uh, Will Johnson, I assume are gone at traps on her too, but I think he's more of a wide receiver. Assume they're gone. Interior office lineman.

I said, Tyler Booker, I have him higher, I have him in my top 20. I think he's just gonna be very good at the next level, not the scheme fit. So after that, I don't think any interior or cornerback is worth pick 24. Well, that sounds like we should go on to plan number two then Mike, which is plan number two for the Vikings is trade down to the early second

and take a corner back there, which I think other than guard is their biggest need. And then add guard and maybe a project defensive tackle to develop behind your veterans in the middle rounds. How do you like plan number two for the Vikings? Yeah, I like this one too. And again, for a team with little draft capital, it will depend on who's on the board.

Like I said, if Malachi Starks is on the board, I just say, stay and pick him. I think he's that good. If he's gone, if Harmon's gone, if Nolan's gone, it's like, sure, I'm trading down. And the cornerbacks, you know, Savon Revell from ECU after his ACL tear, he probably won't be a first rounder.

Benjamin Morrison from Notre Dame with his hip injury, probably not gonna be a first rounder. Morrison from Notre Dame with his hip injury Probably not gonna be a first rounder. I If I had just seen those guys fully healthy with their tape last year I probably would said 24. Yeah, go ahead and pick them. But obviously you do have to discount with injuries Gwesee No stranger to discount with injuries. That's all he did in free agency, right? I think he recognized marketing efficiency there maybe he's gonna do the same thing in the draft and Target one of those guys

By after trading down because that again, those guys talent wise, if you just watch their tape, it's better than where they likely ended up drafting just because the nature of injury, the injury risk and re injury risk, especially when this is I think, Morrison's second hip injury. So but both those guys, their tape is probably, again, after those top 300 Johnson Baron, those two guys have the best tape in this corner class, in my opinion.

So you think Baron will be gone? I've kind of felt the same way that once he had the combine that he probably will be. Yeah, I do. So many guys just like love him. So and it's hard not to. You know, he doesn't take every box. He's got some 30 inch arms. But his play style is, is just so tailor made for what a lot

of teams are doing around the NFL schematically with his ability and off coverage to see through receivers that I think he'll be. Yeah. I think he'll go higher. Yeah. I feel the same way that, and we were talking about this the other day, just about how even a few years ago it was get the lockdown corner, get that line them up on the outside one on one with the wide receivers.

And then every offense went, you know what? What if we just didn't let teams do that and we just moved all our receivers all over the place? And I think the skill set for elite corners has mostly changed outside of a handful of guys who try to run through those bunches and run with those motions, but that's just really hard to do. So I think Baron is a perfect fit for that. Now, when it comes to the other guys, the one that stood out to me the most for a Vikings fit was Trey Amos, but at least if I'm looking on the board and I'm draft simming here,

Hairston is kind of interesting. I don't know how you figure out what revel is going to be with such a small sample size and maybe a sleeper here would be Darien Porter after he had the really great combine. How do you weigh those guys? Yeah, so Amos, I think just solid across the board to me of those. He probably has the highest floor, but also the lowest ceiling. He's just probably going to be a good NFL player kind of like like how I felt about like a Kool-Aid McKinstry last year. I didn't think Kool-Aid, I don't think anyone's going to name him a pro bowler anytime soon. But if he's a bust, I'd just be very surprised. That's kind of how I feel about Amos. Whereas to hear in Porter, like very well could be a bust. The guy's barely played football.

You know, he only just switched a corner corner a couple years ago and his traits are off the charts, but he's the worst tackler in this cornerback class. Didn't show much interest until like the second half of the season. That's the only reason he got to see the football field. But if you want to play man coverage, no one else in this class, I can include Travis Hunter in that, has better traits to play man coverage. The guy is a freak of nature in every sense of the word. So yeah, that guy, this is where he's in my top 50, right at the backend, but he is going to be just a player I'd bet on because of what he could be if he hits. Harrison's just like trim. He's very fast, but an undersized corner. And so I think if he, another guy who got hurt this past year, didn't put out his best tape, better tape

probably as a sophomore, but four twos helps a lot at the cornerback position, especially when you're playing man coverage. So I don't love him mashed up against bigger wide receivers, but I think he has You know a nice blend of some upside but also has put out some good taper ready that Darren Porter probably Doesn't have the reason I like a most the most for this is well one I think that it Brian Flores likes guys who do a lot of things well as we talked about I also think that he is not that interested in, while you have amazing traits and you can't play football that well. And, uh, I think at least from the way that he's been talked about,

like maturity, he's played a ton of football, which I also think matters to this coaching staff. They don't want to bring in guys who they have to teach how to play. And when we talk about being solid at a lot of things, but not really great. I mean, I think of Byron Murphy, who they just paid of someone who is really good at a lot of things, understands the defense extremely well, but doesn't have some insane, oh my gosh, he runs a four, two type of thing. So I have been looking really closely trying to figure out Brian Flores fits

because I think that he is a huge element of who they're going to draft. Yeah, I like that call out and of that a most fits that bill for sure. How about middle round corners and DTs it would this be a quality? Let's say you're a team that doesn't have that much draft capital in the middle rounds. Is this a draft to wait on guard and defensive tackle? It is uniquely good to find DTs in like the third and fourth round in my opinion. I think there will be guys, whether it's, it's always hard to project where someone's

going to go. But I think like Tyleek Williams, Alfred Collins are your two various Alexander, TJ Sanders, those are probably like round two DTs. You're probably not gonna get them. But after that, someone like CJ West from Indiana is an awesome run defender. Someone like Joshua Farmer from Florida State is like this incredible physical specimen

with not a lot of production to speak of. Jamari Caldwell is like a great nimble nose tackle. There are so many mid-round DTs that I like in this class that that's the one position where like year on year, this is unique. Usually by the third round, you're like scraping to find someone who can see the field. If you had defensive tackle,

I think this year there will be a bunch of guys at defensive tackle that can see the field for you. So it's a good deep class in that regard. Corner, I think a little differently up to me, this is a so thin, this cornerback class. It's just you got some okay top guys You've got that middle group that we've talked about and then after like the guys we've talked about Az Thomas from Florida State's probably gonna be like a second rounder. I really like Jacob Parrish from Kansas State. I think he's like a third rounder

But there's not a lot of guys who I am for sure that they will be day two corners after that I think that might be I think we may have touched every single one at this point there I'm like that guy is definitely gonna go to day two There's no one else in this class I can point to for sure and say that so it's it's thin in that regard So if you are draft one fourth fifth it it might not be necessarily the year to do so. How about the the guard position in the middle? If they wanted to try to get a starter there in the middle round. So this this year's offline class is interesting because true

guards and centers, guys who played garden center at collegiate level. It's awful. It's one of the worst classes I've seen for those guys. I don't think I have a true guard or center. I'm trying those guys. I don't think I have a true Garter Center, I'm trying to know I have one I one true garter center in my top hundred is Willie Lampkin the North Carolina The five ten and a half guard just because it's tapes that good, but obviously that's not gonna be for everybody You know if I can stand uniquely know that your undersized center sometimes can be Can be a liability and pass pro. So after that, it's all tackle converse. It is all gonna be guys like a,

you know, like a Wyatt Milam from West Virginia, like a Jonah Savi, Sabaniah from Arizona. That's just like, they play tackle in college, you're gonna ask them to play guard. So it's, there's a lot of tackles, you know, it's a deep tackle class, but that's where you're going to ask him to play guard. So it's there's a lot of tackles. You know, it's a deep tackle class, but that's where you're going to have to find your interior office alignment. All right. Plan number three, which is trade down twice.

I did this in a draft sim, and I moved all the way from 24 to, I think, 45. And I was still not terribly unhappy. And I think when you have four draft picks in a draft, it's not the craziest thing to try to just stack human beings who are young and have cheap contracts, especially when you look forward. And I know JJ McCarthy washes out a lot of this, you know, the 2025 quarterback for the Vikings, absolutely unequivocally JJ McCarthy. Uh, he makes this a lot easier with the salary cap, which, you know, the 2025 quarterback for the Vikings, absolutely unequivocally, JJ McCarthy, he makes this a lot easier with the salary cap,

which, you know, we've been over a hundred times, but I also wonder how far you could go and still feel like you're getting a quality prospect that could be a starter. Yeah, and I agree with that because you look at this Vikings roster and say, you always have to, or how I always evaluate rosters is how many guys are on rookie contracts contributing, right? Versus how many guys are on, you know, either vet or free agent contracts. And with

the Vikings, they are, the scale is tipped heavily towards vets and free agents. So they do not have a lot of contribute, like the jets have more contributors and the jets are like an awful team, obviously, but they have far more contributors because you can always go out and pay guys, right? You can always go find free agents and sign them to be on a roster, but it's hard to have those guys who are cheap playing away above their contracts. It's like, it's been great identifying free agents that are better than that. But I do agree that keeping that young base is something that's going to be completely

necessary because you know, next time, say like, like Cashman's contract comes up, Brandon van Gankles there, they might be getting more like they might be commanding more and all of a sudden you can't afford them. So more picks better where it stops for me looking at my board right now. I think once I get to around 80, I'm like, these guys are not guys I like anybody like so I so very back end of the third round I'm not super excited about guys I'm drafting or necessarily I think the talent could be tough you know kind of how we saw shooter the Packers last year drafted like special teamers at the back end of the third round I was

like what the hell are they doing? It could be similar this year where you're already down, down your board. So I don't think it's that deep, but I do think there is this unique kind of area in this draft class that just, if I just look at one board to another, 40 to 80, they are all over.

I mean, there is just a group that there is no consensus on in that area of this draft. So there's a lot of jumbled mess when it comes to day two. There'll be a ton of surprises there. Last year, I thought there was a fairly, I don't wanna say consensus, but like you kind of knew how the draft was gonna flow. This year, I have no clue how the draft is going to flow.

It is unique in that regard that really evals are all over the map this season. Which makes me wonder about trading down. And if a lot of teams see this in the same way, like how challenging will it be to trade down? I mean, I guess we always do get to draft night. Somebody's like, Whoa, that guy was so high on our board. We got to go trade up like kind of the Vikings did last year with Dallas Turner. But I also think that if the word is out, if everybody is coming to the same conclusions,

I've heard it from you and I don't know 10 other people, how strong this draft is in that middle area. It might be a challenge for the Vikings to get other teams to want to move up with them unless maybe someone's trading for Jackson Dart or something. If a quarterback is hanging around, it's just hard to find too many scenarios when you actually look at the teams that are drafting in that early second where you go, Oh, well, that team's going to be super desperate for this because a lot of the positions have multiple guys that should be good in those spots.

Yeah, but it does always happen just because of positional runs, right? If a Wells running dry, say at, you know, wide receiver and Wells run dry and you really wanted one, your 10 picks away, it's like the urgency always ends up creating itself at some point in the draft. So I think there will be something like that. I don't foresee it. There are a lot of well-run teams now. There are a lot of teams that understand the rationale you just outlined. Just a lot of teams that don't.

And still a lot of teams that panic come draft night. All right, so before I tell you plan four, you have a guess what plan four is. We've covered a lot of ground here. A lot of different guys, a lot of ground here, a lot of different guys, a lot of different ideas. But I got a curve ball here for you. Would it be to trade up to the top 10? If only that were possible, I would say yes, maybe I would have thought of that. But I think they'd have to reach into 20.

Is it a is it a trade J.J. McCarthy plan for that is also not in the mix. Here's plan. Here's plan number four. It's not completely foolish. It is take a wide receiver at 24 and apologize to absolutely nobody. This is what we call the patented purple insider plan. I love this plan. I'm writing about this plan and I will fight people in the streets about it. Let me lay it out for you before you react to the plan.

Cause yeah, you know, you laugh in every, I was guy loves wide receivers. What is he silly? Well, here's the thing. Look at the wide receivers who are acquired in free agency or trade this off season, the DK McCaff gets wildly overpaid after one of his worst seasons of his career. Cooper Cup has played 34 or 33 of his last 51 football games and he got $15 million a year. Debo Samuel has had how many injuries,

down production, unhappy guy, a team trades for him even with not the most favorable contract and a bunch of void years and everything. And then you get to actual free agency and people are paying like Josh Palmer to to at well, there's nothing available. And an older Devante Adams gets almost top dollar to go to the Los Angeles Rams. Receivers do not become available.

I'm going to throw you a crazy stat here, Mike. Twenty five guys with at least more, at least 85 targets last year, top 25 by PFF. Guess how many were doing it with their second team or more? Like not their first team that drafted them out of 25, the top 25 graded wide receivers. How many? So, so top 25, I'll say 20. We're doing it with their first team. 20 to 25. You're very close. Twenty two. So three guys out of the top 25 of the highest targeted players

were doing it with another team. And one of them was A.J. Brown, which the Tennessee Titans were doing crack when they decided to trade him away. So like and the other one was, I think, Jacobi Myers, who's kind of just the guy. And one more after that, Devante Adams was the other one was, I think, Jacobi Myers, who's kind of just the guy and one more after that. Devante Adams was the other one. I mean, I think that if you want wide receivers on your football team, you have to draft them and Jordan Addison is going to become expensive soon.

There's been some off-field stuff. There's some concern and you can't probably pay a Jordan Addison 20 plus whatever it's going to be in a couple of years with Justin Jefferson. There's the entire case to draft a receiver 24. What? Which receiver? You tell me the receiver and I'll tell you how I feel about it, because I feel differently about these guys for sure than maybe the consensus. So which receivers are you?

Which receivers are you taking there? OK, the one that I like for this is Luther Burden because I think he's a great fit for a typical sort of slot guy. Who? Yeah. Who could catch and run, break tackles, stuff like that. I mean, I think you put him with two deep wide receivers, pair him underneath with T.J. Hockinson. I mean, burdens a yes for me.

I like that. I think Ted McMillan would be a yes for me. I think anyone else would probably be a yes for me. I like that. I think Tet Macmillan would be a yes for me. I think anyone else would probably be a no for me. Those two, I do think are the best two in this draft. I think Travis Hunter's the best, but I think those two are the next two. And I think both have unique enough skill sets that can play alongside.

Whereas if you just threw in, say Matthew Golden or Mechig Buka, they just feel, I don't wanna say redundant, but they're just not bringing a new skillset to the table that you can deploy in a certain way. And then I think also in this class, there are more than probably any class in recent memory, there's a lot of speed receiver options who aren't ones, aren't twos,

but they would be a great third option when you have Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison. And there's just a bunch of Kyle Williams from Washington state, Jalen Lane, Virginia Tech, Lambert Smith from Auburn. There's a bunch of guys who aren't going to be, you know, featured in an offense anytime soon, but they can get vertical. And if you forget about them in that scheme, all of a sudden, if you're paying too much attention, Josh Jefferson, paying too much attention to Jordan Addison,

they can be massive big play guys. So I would wait, pick 139 comes on the board. I'm sneaking one of those guys in there. And I'm saying, you know, that's a dimension to our offense that usually like a third wide receiver just he needs to bring something different. So I'll say, yeah.

Yes, if it's one of I'll say, yeah, yes. If it's one of the first two, no, if it's anyone else. Well, and I do like the middle round guy and it's sort of funny how timing works. Like did a draft simulation article where I took Kyle Williams in the middle rounds and then I hear you talking about him. And then I see everybody posted all of his film clips and everything. And I think that the Vikings will do this. I think they will draft a wide receiver at some point.

But the way I look at it is those really excellent wide receivers who you take in the first and second round, they stay with their teams for a really long time. They are super valuable. Even if the guy gets 47 catches for 600 yards, how much would that be worth? And the free agent market, $20 million. I mean, I think that is if you look at it through that lens

and also you have J.J. McCarthy and anything that makes him better. This why I like a guard in the first round, even though that's not necessarily the right positional value. Anything that makes J.J. McCarthy better is good with me. So let me just wrap our conversation with that. JJ McCarthy has right now is going to be the Vikings quarterback. Do you, it seems so expected that he would just be the quarterback, but does it strike you as interesting at all that they let a 14 win, 35 touchdown

quarterback go for JJ McCarthy and then called another guy. And, uh, you know, a legend and said, Hey, uh, you know, what do you think about playing here or he called them or whoever called who? I mean, I just, it's such a unique situation. I can't think of anything like it where you would not franchise tag Sam Darnold, but then still consider having someone else be your quarterback. Yeah, it's, it's, it's kind of a zoo, but it's, it's just, I think like Quest, he said

it's like dotting your T's across your eyes, just any avenue to team building. He's going to explore. If you cut yourself off entirely from options, well, then you'll miss some low hanging fruit at times. So, I mean, obviously they haven't done it. It's just something very preliminary and from all sides, it doesn't seem like it's actually gonna happen. But no, it never surprised me that they let Darnold go.

I think that was decided weeks 18 in the wild card round that just you can't lay eggs the way he did and expect to get the next chance when that's your MO, right? That was his problem at every other stop along the way. And when the plan was all along to shoot for the moon with JJ McCarthy, you don't draft a rookie quarterback to pay then of quarterback starting quarterback money. So you do that. So you have this window of superball opportunity. So, I I'm not necessarily surprised I do just think the Aaron Rodgers thing is just Again, I almost think it's you almost want your GM to explore that opportunity

And you know who Jajan McCarthy is you think he's gonna be rattled by that like that guy? That guy's like it might even make him better to bring in an Aaron Rogers, right? Like that that might Bring even more out of him come the fall. So yeah, I do think it's not It's it's good GM as opposed to bad GM if anyone's criticizing it so how good do you think JJ McCarthy be and or will be and Keep this in mind if I told you that last year in training camp was a best case scenario for him based on what you would have seen in your evaluation of him coming out. And I told you that he made huge gains and that he looked like a leader right

away and was picking up the offense, improving his accuracy down the football field. So best case scenario for a lot of those things, how good would you project him to be right away? I mean, I think you're, you talk about the Viking situation the same way you talk about, you know, like the 49ers and what they've had the past whatever five years. And if Brock Purdy can put up the numbers he can, I don't see what JJ McCarthy can't do similarly. I don't think, I mean, and he has much better arm I think is he better arm than even Darnold does in terms of his ability to tack down the football field now

There's obviously big things he needed to change and we didn't get to see live and lives very different from even preseason So we'll see but I think best-case scenario is I Think you replicate what Darnold did. I don't think that's out of the rental possibilities whatsoever. And I think it's fairly likely. I think it'd be more surprising if he really crashed and burned than it would if he played better than Darnold, just given everything around him. And the fact that it's better to sit the guy you're wanting. As much as maybe Vikes fans may not have wanted it to go that way, it's better to have that stress off of you when you're preparing every single week and getting that NFL playbook. And now he's going to have that stress off of you when you're preparing every single week and getting that NFL playbook.

And now he's going to hit the ground week one, this NFL season as ready as he can possibly be and not have his head spinning. I think what they can be is less of a boomer bust offense with Sam Darnold. It was so much whip it down the field, get explosive plays, but it was not really a consistent beating drum type of offense that was sustaining long drives over and over again. They didn't have a whole lot of a quick game and McCarthy, I think, sees the middle of the field a lot better and will have a T.J.

Hockinson for a full year of a better interior offensive line. I mean, I think if you superimpose the way that Darnold played last year into what they've added, you would have like a really incredible team, but you can't really do that money wise. I mean, that would be pretty tough to pay a guard 17 million, a new center, a new running back that they got and still franchise tag him, which I think he was leaving if he wasn't franchise tagged. So that is the risk that the Vikings have to take. But if you're going to take a risk with a different quarterback, doing it with Jefferson, Addison, Hawkinson, Darasaw, O'Neal,

I mean, it's about as good as it gets and the coach of the year. So he is well set up. If he can't do it, then he can't do it because, you know, set up any better. Right. Pushing the pile is the podcast with you and Kyle Long. CBS Sports dot net. I assume is still the website. I don't know. People don't use websites.

It's dot com now. Oh, it is dot com. OK, good. Though that's where people can find a lot of your work as always. And great to have you for the one hundred and 17th time on the show. I really appreciate your time, man. I'm glad we could do this for sure, but thanks for having me. Oh, you know what? I'm sorry. What was your favorite plan?

OK, of those, I probably like to sit at 24 and think that one guy's going to fall. I just think there are some very good prospects. And again, like I mentioned, Malakai Starks, those DTs that you touched on, trying to think of who else could even be on the board. That would be interesting. Even if like Will Johnson, seeing what he's, what's happened to him, if he

falls like close in your range, a mini jump up, I know it might cost a little bit and you don't have the picks to do it, but like that to me is probably just right at 24, I think one of those guys will fall. Okay. I like it. All right. Goodbye football.