Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Mike Zimmer trade scenarios and Kirk Cousins's contract with PFF's Brad Spielberger

Episode Date: October 25, 2020

Matthew Coller and Brad Spielberger from Pro Football Focus talk about his article arguing that the Vikings should trade Mike Zimmer to the Cincinnati Bengals. Would it be better for Zimmer to coach somewhere else? What would it mean for the Vikings' rebuild? Plus Brad talks about why it's tough to get out from under Kirk Cousins's contract and what to do with Danielle Hunter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Folks, do you feel like everything these days is go, go, go? It's non-stop, from work, to friends, to family, and a million pressing issues. Sometimes you just need to take a playoff and hit the reset button. That's when you reach for a Coors Light. It's made to chill. Hey, it's that time of year in Minnesota again to get out on the lake, go to the cabin, sit back, watch some baseball. Coors Light is the perfect refreshment to chill during these summer months. There's only one beer out there that's made to chill. The mountains on the bottles and cans turn blue when your beer is cold,

and that way you know it's time to chill. Hit that reset button with some mountain cold refreshment. Coors Light is cold lager, cold filtered, and cold packaged. It's literally made to chill. It's crisp and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies. Coors Light is the one you should choose when you need to unwind, when you want to hit the reset button, reach for the beer that is made to chill. Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door

with Drizzly or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate. I'm Shanae Obumike. I'm Lisa Leslie. Golden, Colorado, and as always, like Emmanuel Acho. People that show love to me, I forever got their back. Vivica A. Fox. If the foundation isn't right, then the rest of it's going to go wrong for men. And more. Subscribe to Front and Center today. Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, one that I am particularly excited about. Joining me is Brad Spielberger from Pro Football Focus to talk about his article, which is titled, The Minnesota Vikings Took a Gamble and Now They Have to Bottom Out.

Oh, I am excited for this one, Brad. What is up? How's it going, man? Yeah, you know, the Minnesota Vikings, never boring. I think one reason for that is because they don't sit on their hands too often. When things start to go one direction, they kind of steer into the skid. And that's what we're seeing here. And I kind of argue they should continue to steer even harder into that skid. And that's what we're seeing here. And I kind of argue they should continue to steer even harder into that skid. Exactly. And you came out with it here in this article suggesting that the Vikings look

for a trade for not just players that are on expiring or expensive contracts that are veterans, but with their head coach, Mike Zimmer, as well. And I can tell you that I've confirmed this with enough people to feel confident about it, that ownership probably would have traded Mike Zimmer last year if they did not beat the New Orleans Saints. And Dallas was the obvious place. Jerry Jones loves Mike Zimmer. They were looking for a coach. And it was no coincidence that the week after the Vikings beat the Saints, all of a sudden, hey, we're announcing Mike McCarthy is hired in Dallas. So let's talk

about this idea though, because there would be a couple of different minds here. I mean, one would be that where the Vikings are at is not really Mike Zimmer's fault. I mean, you look at the roster, any head coach, no matter how good he is at defense, with three rookie corners starting games in the year 2020 where they had no offseason, it would be hard enough anyway. And then they go up against some really good wide receivers, get shredded by those wide receivers. There's no scheme.

There's no, hey, why don't you just use your hands this way technique that you can do when it comes to Julio Jones abusing your rookie corners. And Zimmer's had a lot of success. He does not ever mind pointing out his top five defenses or that he has had a very good record. So if you're the Vikings, even though you're in a position to rebuild, I think with this one, it makes sense to trade Mike Zimmer because he might have some value for you

and you might want to go a different direction. But we've seen around the league that coaches are not the easiest thing to replace when you know that you have one who is competent and that you can win with. So break this one down for me. Yeah, 100%. I think you've touched on a couple key points there for sure. The first really being that, yeah, I do think Mike Zimmer is an elite coach. I do. And I think that's touched on a couple key points there for sure. The first really being that, yeah, like I do think Mike Zimmer is an elite coach. I do.

And I think that's not really an opinion. I think you look at the numbers, some of the numbers in the article just talk about, you know, he's generated the fourth most pressures or the percentage of pressures since he's been in Minnesota. So over a six-year sample size now, he's getting after the quarterback consistently. Obviously, they've had talent, but, you know, that's a long stretch of games. And I think the whole argument basically was that they thought they were going to have Hunter and Ngakwe and then, you know, lost Hunter and thought that, okay, the way you'd bring on these young corners is,

well, if the quarterback has no time because we have a great pass rush, you know, Michael Pierce maybe was clogging up the middle too. He obviously opts out as well. So all of a sudden you then have no pass rush and, you know, a young, you know, inexperienced secondary. So basically the point is Zimmer is incredible, but no one can overcome that. Like, you know, even Belichick, I think he's the only other person really in the same conversation.

Those two guys are just defensive geniuses. Like no one's overcoming that. At the end of the day, talent trumps all. I think he's the only other person really in the same conversation. Those two guys are just defensive geniuses. Like, no one's overcoming that. At the end of the day, talent trumps all. But the key is that when you look at the past trades for head coaches, it's Belichick, Parcells, Holmgren, and John Gruden. So you're not getting traded unless you are an elite head coach. So it almost kind of feeds into the, you know, it is a crazy hypothetical if you want to call it that, but it feeds into it a bit.

And then the last piece there is really just that the two teams that Zimmer has an extensive there. And then you have Zach Taylor in Cincinnati, who is a young coach and hasn't been there too long, but you have players putting the depth chart on Instagram. You have other players laughing at the comments. And in my head, I think the key for me, why Cincinnati makes sense, even though they're also not really a franchise known to make big splash moves or trade away assets and stuff like that. But if you compare Joe Burrow and Mike Zimmer on the defense and you say, hey, Mike, just like Minnesota was defensive, can you have an offensive guy control the offense?

You make the defense elite like it used to be when you were here. That combo has to be really enticing. Tyson. And the other point is that if you draft a Joe Burrow with the number one overall pick, you don't expect to win the next year that you draft him or the same year that you draft him. You do plan to win the following year. Usually quarterbacks, if they're good, they'll take a pretty quick step in year two or year three. And if you look at when the Vikings, now that their plan was with Teddy Bridgewater to build up around the rookie quarterback and so forth, of course he gets hurt, but they still built that roster around a lot of great defensive players through the draft and so forth, and that was what ultimately drove them to

the NFC Championship in 2017. So if you paired that philosophy of his and his schematics and his ability to teach players with, of course, they would have to improve their talent. Then you have the quarterback who's on the rise. I mean, it makes a lot of sense for Cincinnati. It also, I was thinking about this as much from the Vikings perspective as from Mike Zimmer personally in his perspective, because Mike Zimmer wants to win desperately. One in five does not mean give up. It doesn't mean play Sean Mannion or Jake

Browning or Nate Stanley and lose the rest of the games like he's not playing Madden here like he's coaching for his career record and he's going to coach his butt off and try to win and I think if you're in Cincinnati you still want that this year you're not trying to like tank for uh the tackle from Oregon or something like you're trying to win. You want to show progress because if you go 2-14 again, that means that Burrow wasn't good and it means that your organization still has a really long way to go and is a mess at coach and so forth. And you don't want to get into that jet cycle where you just assume a quarterback is going to solve everything and then you keep bringing bad coaches and bad drafts and all those things. So you want

to kind of get your culture together as well. and I think Mike Zimmer would be someone who could do that but from his perspective you want to take away Harrison Smith from him now and get a high draft pick you want to take away Riley Reif from him now you want to move out anything that isn't nailed down if you're really doing this a full rebuild to get yourself a future quarterback as high as you can in the draft and even if it's not if it's a tackle if it's a defensive whatever it is like you need to draft high and you need to rip this thing apart if you're going in the right direction and Mike Zimmer is just not the coach for that and it's almost a disservice to make him do that if you're going to trade away everybody and say sorry buddy but now

go with your you know backup left tackle and we're going to take away your best safety and if you try to go in the middle of making Zimmer happy by not trading Harrison Smith and yet still trying to kind of half rebuild by moving Yannick Ngakwe who they didn't like anyway um that's where you get yourself into trouble is when you get stuck in the middle. No, 100%. I mean, the worst place you can be in football is purgatory. It's that kind of 7-9 level. You know, I think I get pushed back on that, and it's funny. The Dolphins literally went 7-9 ten years in a row and then finally bottomed out,

and now it's like, oh, my God, look at the Dolphins. Like, yeah, go figure. But I think Mike Zimmer, like you said, is actually, my expression is GMs can tank, coaches and players can't. So you basically have to just take pieces away. But Zimmer is so good. So the article points out in particular, one thing that I've always noticed about him, and it's like this weird, like incredibly good stat,

is him on third downs. Mike Zimmer defense on third downs. And from his entire sample in Minnesota, they had the best third down defense in the NFL. Them and the Patriots were off in a stratosphere of their own. And this year, it's an obvious passing down. And as we talked about, they have no pass rush.

And they have three rookie corners. And they're still the eighth best defense on third downs this year. So the guy is incredible. But like you said, to really bottom this team out and get the Vikings where they probably want to be, I mean, you mentioned Penny Sewell from Oregon, trade Reef, and maybe you do take him, like, sixth overall. Like, that's not even out of the question. So, they do. There's no point in being sixth and ten when you can be fourth and twelve or, you know, whatever numbers you want to be.

So, in so many ways, it started to kind of make sense to, like, float it out there. And the last piece, too, was kind of, you know, he signed the extension, obviously. So people say, well, they just re-signed him. Well, that could actually help in a way because then Cincinnati says, okay, we have the terms of a deal already set. We don't have to renegotiate with him. You know, again, I mentioned they're not a franchise that likes spending money all that much. So it could kind of ease that a bit. So, yeah, it is a bit far-fetched

but in a lot of it like we're saying it it actually does make more sense when you kind of break things down and there are already several teams because we mentioned Cincinnati we mentioned Dallas because they make sense with his previous connections but there's no reason if you're the Vikings ownership and management that you have to care about that if you don't want to and you look at somebody like Atlanta and they don't have a coach right now and they're kind of in a rebuild too but it would be a fresh start for somebody like Mike Zimmer somewhere else which I think was really why they were considering it at the end of last year you consider last season is a good year for the Vikings overall they win 10 games they go down to New Orleans. They win a playoff game. But going into that, there was a lot of tension around Mike Zimmer. There was sort of

a feeling of this is kind of it in terms of he built this last team up. He had his couple of shots. He didn't get to a Super Bowl, but he's done a really good job. And now it's about to get ugly. And what they did was they just buried their head in the sand. And they said, no, it's about to get ugly. And what they did was they just buried their head in the sand and they said, no, it's not like, no, it's not going to get ugly. And I think a lot of us believed that he would just coach him up and that they would be better and that they would be somewhere between eight and eight and 10 and six, but now they're not. And now you're asking him to take apart all those players, rebuild again. And I think if you're the Vikings management, you might want somebody else in charge of that, especially if you still believe that Kirk Cousins can be the guy in any way,

which is where we have to kind of pivot to here a little bit, because I wonder about how they're feeling about that. Because if you're the general manager and you sign Cousins to an extension, you have to kind of go all in sign Cousins to an extension, you have to kind of go all in on Cousins. But Zimmer has been holding them back in a way because they've always tried to get Zimmer everything you wanted on defense, and that includes Yannick Ngakwe. And so I think that there's kind of a little bit of this might actually work for everybody.

And think about this. If they go down to Green Bay and they lose by 27, is it better to try to get something for Mike Zimmer or is it better to fire him? Is it better to have that contract go to somebody else or is it better to pay the contract when someone else will absolutely hire him anyway? 100%. And those last two pieces there are huge in that I also, I mean, I was blown away when I did the research. You know, I knew, I remember the Gruden trade, like, it being, like, great value where they got back, what was it, multiple first-round picks?

And I remember that. But you go through the list, and Parcells, Belichick, Holmgren, Gruden are all going for, like, first- and second-round picks. So my perspective, again, on the Cousins aspect, which I agree, that's the next question because that's – I mean, that's the franchise. At that point is – we've obviously talked about his contract, and I've, you know, filled a lot of questions about it, if they trade him this date, if they cut him this date, like all the permutations, I think it's most likely

he's a Viking in 2021, but that doesn't mean you can't draft a quarterback in the top, wherever they are, it doesn't mean that at all, so, I mean, like I said, the Packers just did it, there's like three or four years left of Rogers. Again, he's a lot better than Kirk Cousins, but, but so you can do, and it took him 26 overall. There's no reason to think you shouldn't pivot to that strategy. And yeah, I mean, I think I also, you mentioned, I just had to touch on it because you know,

us at PFF love using it as an example, but the Vikings, yes, their cornerbacks last year were maybe not good, or we can say average, or whatever word you want to use, but we try to stress so often how hard it is to find an average NFL player at any position, and it showed. These guys could be good. I think they will be good. I think Dancer's probably already playing better than draft slot expectation for a rookie, like all those things, and I think Zimmer probably would be a good guy to coach them out.

But it just shows, like, it's really hard to be an average NFL player. And, yeah, I mean, they tried to keep catering to that defense. I think the couple deals that are going to kill them now, and, again, why I think they should bottom out because they're delaying the inevitable. But, I mean, the bar contract, even pre-injury, I don't want to, you know, pile on the guy, feel bad, you know, suffered injury but that let him go to the jets and you're probably sitting better now i'm not going to dive in on the dalvin deal i think everyone knows where we stand on that but a couple deals at the end there where if those don't happen if you go the aaron jones

route and this season happens you're like okay we're definitely not paying dalvin cook now you know we're definitely not doing abc xyz We're definitely not doing ABC XYZ. And we can be good again basically a year earlier. I always stress, like, it's not that hard to turn around pretty quickly in the National Football League. It's not. But when you make moves like that, you delay it by a season sometimes. Go to Stoatostick.com to get your original Minnesota sports-inspired goods. If you have not seen this stuff yet and you've been listening to this podcast,

what are you doing? Make sure you go check it out. A couple of my favorite designs. sports-inspired goods. If you have not seen this stuff yet and you've been listening to this podcast, what are you doing? Make sure you go check it out. A couple of my favorite designs. They've got new gritty gear after the Vikings' young superstar receiver and the Duck Duck, Gray Duck, and much, much more. All their apparel is screen-printed here in Minnesota on Super Soft, super comfy shirts and hoodies, a few of which I have myself. You will love it.

We are going to hook you up, by the way, with free shipping on your next order. Use Purple Insider for free shipping. The promo code Purple Insider. That's SodaStick.com, S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K, original Minnesota sports inspired goods. Code Purple Insider for free shipping. That's a great point. And not living in reality and miscalculating is exactly how they got themselves into this position. And I also wrote a column at purpleinsider.com about how they have also paid top dollar for everything.

And when you pay top dollar for absolutely everything, eventually you're going to max out the credit card. And that's exactly what they did they paid a high price for Yannick Ngakwe when nobody else in the league wanted to give them a second round pick they paid a high price for a running back they paid a high price for a linebacker and they paid the highest price for a quarterback and Kirk Cousins is going to have higher cap hits for 2020 2021 and 2022 than Patrick Mahomes does. That's not how you end up building a full, complete team, is by pouring so much into just a couple of players,

and now they've got the Daniil Hunter issue on the horizon. And I was also thinking about this between Zimmer and the front office and whoever is calling the shots going forward, if it's Rick Spielman or someone else, that Mike Zimmer will want, in the first first round a defensive player to help their defense. You can guarantee that. And now they don't have a second rounder, so you're going to have to draft, you know, in the late third round with Baltimore's third round pick. That doesn't help you a whole heck of a lot.

So that even pushes more chips to the middle of the table on the first round pick. If you're the front office, you should be saying, Mahomes route, let's draft a quarterback here, have him sit 2021, move on after that from Kirk Cousins. But if you're Zimmer, you're going to say, wait a minute, I want to go win the division in 2021. Give me a defensive lineman. And this is where they got themselves into trouble to some extent with drafting Garrett Bradbury, a decent player, but a center that you didn't get value out of in the first round because you were desperate to find a center who could run block the way you wanted. And it's a lot of moves. And the Ngakwe, same thing.

We got to win this year. We got to trade for Yannick Ngakwe. Uh-oh, he's not that good. Now we've got to get rid of him because we can't pay him in the future or don't want to pay him. And so I think that's why there's a lot of heat on Spielman. he's not that good. Now we've got to get rid of them because we can't pay him in the future or don't want to pay him. And, and, and so I think that's why there's a lot of heat on Spielman, but it's also the reason that Mike Zimmer and Spielman and the situation

doesn't really fit. Now, if you could, and every appearance, you're going to have to do this because not everyone heard it. The cousins contract situation, people go to over the cap.com great website. Doesn't get any better than that,

and they see the $10 million in terms of the dead cap with Kirk Cousins for the third year, but it's deceiving. So explain how the Vikings can get out of Cousins' contract and the pitfalls in trying to do so. Sure, yeah. So the thing about Kirk Cousins' contract is that in this upcoming offseason, we have it listed as March 20th, which generally is going to be the first week of the official league year. So the NFL league year typically starts the second week of March. And so there's a trigger date on March 20th wherein his $35 million base salary for 2022 will become fully guaranteed if he's still on the Vikings roster by that date.

So there's basically like everything that you're going to talk about of what's going to happen with Kirk Cousins is going to be before that date and after that date. Because if that date passes and he's still a Viking, then a cut's obviously not happening. It's trade or nothing. But, yeah, so anyways, coming into this offseason, the remaining prorated money is only $20 million. It's two $10 million, you know, signing bonus proration amounts for 2021 and 2022, which, honestly, for a quarterback, really isn't actually that bad. You can stomach that.

Again, the Vikings are in a precarious cap situation. We had the salary cap essentially going down next year, which makes it less palatable. actually that bad. You can stomach that. Again, the Vikings are in a precarious cap situation. We had the salary cap potentially going down next year, which makes it less palatable. But in a normal circumstance, I wouldn't necessarily characterize them just eating the $20 million. I wouldn't say that's so bad as to prohibit a trade. But the only option is red. You need to find a team that's interested in taking him on. And at this rate, it's like, you know, are they taking on a quarterback's salary as a favor to you? Are you actually getting any value in return? Like, what does that trade even really look like?

And also, it's weird to say this, but we're kind of in a phase now where a lot of teams have quarterbacks. Not all of them, but never all of them, but we're talking about this draft coming up, and all these people are saying, well, is this team still going to take quarterback even if they have that high of a pick? know Giants you know you go down the list so finding that suitor isn't going to be the easiest thing to do either so in my opinion I don't see

how he's not how he's not a Viking for 2021 and as I just explained that kind of makes him a Viking for 2022 as well okay so if they were to cut him in that small window, what is it, like three days that they have to decide to cut him? What does the cap situation look like for 2021 and 2022 if they do cut him? So if they were to cut him before his, you know, his salary comes fully guaranteed in 2022, they would still be on the hook for his full $21 million in 2021, and then they'd have dead cap of two different $10 million bonus prorations. So they'd have a $41 million dead cap charge for a quarterback that's not on the roster. I mean, it's not going to happen.

I mean, the guy's only 32. Right. And at that point, it's like they'd be like clearing contracts just to fit like his dead cap hit on the salary cap. So, I mean, the thing is when you sign that extension last year, I know it's a bit easy to pile on. Kirk Cousins for sure has had some scarily bad performances at times. But that just shows how hard it is to find a quarterback in the NFL.

I mean, I remember I tweeted a while ago, and I kind of feel bad, but if I was a Vikings front office and if I felt like my job was at risk, which in my opinion shouldn't be, but I don't want to go into that full conversation, but if I thought it was, I would say, you should trust me to draft Kirk Cousins' replacement because Teddy Bridgewater was a good draft pick. It's not my fault, the epic injury and all that, which is so unfortunate, but look, even after that, he has the charisma, he's got a great attitude,

he's a leader of men, and he's good. Like, I would point to that and be like, trust that I can find the next guy. Yeah, I screwed up on this one, but I'm not that bad at, you know, I being quarterbacks. I think the best option for them at the quarterback position is to draft quarterback this year to hope that, like you said, maybe some team decides, no, we're set with whoever, Daniel Jones.

I can so see the New York Giants doing this. We're set with Daniel Jones. He needs a whatever, needs a receiver. And so maybe a couple of those teams who are drafting high, they're set. The Chargers are terrible. And okay, we like Justin Herbert, so we're not going to draft a quarterback really high. Again, they probably should, but they probably won't. And so you end up with Trey Lance or zach wilson or kyle trask okay good so you take that guy

and he sits for all of 2021 behind cousins and then you work out a trade and his agent works out an extension with a new team so you trade him to wherever he signs another three-year extension and then you're good to go because nobody's going to take a $45 million cap hit in 2022 and say, yeah, let's just keep him on that, unless their cap situation is unbelievably good. That's pretty unlikely, but that other team could take him, sign him to an extension. So what you actually want is next year it to be the exact Alex Smith situation. 110 quarterback rating, trip to the playoffs, Justin Jefferson's great. That's what you want.

You want to be a competitive team with Cousins, and then you can move on with him and hand the next guy a competitive team. It's a thing with Mahomes we never talk about. He was given a great team to start with. Joe Burrow's team is garbage. Their coach is garbage their roster is garbage like I don't know what he's supposed to do with Mahomes he had a amazing coach a great offense and they just had to add a couple of defensive players and a new defensive coordinator I think and improve there but aside from that he was gifted a great situation you

could do that again and I also think Sam Darnold is proof of this so much of whether these guys succeed or fail is just circumstance if you can hand them a good circumstance you up your odds by a ton no I totally hear you and I think there's also something that I would say I've learned it's been kind of pushing back on like me wanting to tank basically at all times but I think there is there is value for sure in a team learning how to win football games and win games that matter, win games against good teams, win games in the playoffs. And if you can, like I said, if you can trade Riley Reif

and put Ezra Cleveland at left tackle, and he plays just as bad as Drew Samia has all the rest of 2020, but in 2021 he starts to click, and like Colton Miller in Oakland, now Las Vegas, who was awful his first season, and now looks pretty good. Like, let that happen. Let all of that happen in 2020. Like you said, there's no reason to think, okay, if the corners take a step, if Justin Jefferson becomes,

he's already a star, but maybe even a higher star. Like, they could, yes, go 11-5, win one playoff game, and then you hand the keys to Trey Lance, who I've been to one game at US Bank Stadium, and it was against the Eagles, and there were more North Dakota State jerseys there than Vikings jerseys. So let that happen, and I think that's like an ideal scenario, yeah. All right, give me your take before we wrap up on Daniil Hunter, because Ian Rappaport's tweet the other day, welcome back to Twitter, Ian Rappaport,

after he was suspended for a couple weeks, he comes back to Twitter and drops the bomb that not only Daniil Hunter is going to be out for the season with surgery on a herniated disc, but also the fact that he wants to either be traded or be given the highest paid contract at the position. And, you know, Brad, I got a few tweets about people saying, well, he's coming off an injury. How is he going to get a huge contract? Players in that era just have different rules.

Like for an average pass rusher, that would hurt their value. For Daniil Hunter, it does not hurt his value. I don't think at all. And when Vegas, then Oakland, traded Khalilil Mack they got two firsts from your Chicago Bears and I just look at this situation and say as much as Daniil Hunter is unbelievably good at football that's a hard sell unless you were believing that you're going to win the Super Bowl in 2021 or 2022 which is also a hard sell for this team. I think they could be good, of course, but if you're looking on the long term,

again, and this is why you need people making the decisions who are really focused on the long term and not how can you try to go all in on 2021, I think if that's dead set what Daniil Hunter is at, and I think he should have a new contract. His contract is not good. But, like, if that's what he's dead set on, it's is at. And I think he should have a new contract. His contract is not good. But, like, if that's what he's dead set on, it's either option A or option B, I'm taking the trade option.

No, you mentioned his name earlier, and my eyes, like, lit up, and I wanted to make sure I got to Daniil Hunter. So I'm glad we're touching on Daniil Hunter for sure because that was a total bombshell. So, yeah, at the outset, I have been calling Daniil Hunter's original extension the best deal in the NFL for the team for the last, like, two years. I'm not denying that at all. That being said, if he thinks he's going to get Joey Bosa money on a third contract with already under contract through 2023, coming off a herniated disc and his neck surgery, like, he's out of his mind. And I think he's one of the best players in the league,

but you're still out of your mind. And I do agree, again, that like the rules are different, that they are different. But, and then if we, yeah. So basically, if he really does think to that, he basically says, you know, give me $28 million a year, you know, and rip off the last, you know, three years of my current contract, or trade me, then yeah, you do trade him.

And I think that it's crazy. He'll be, what, 26 or 27 years old still. So I think Matt was 26 when he got traded. So that's the freak that Daniel Hunter is, that he's both looking for a third contract and is the same age as guys that are finishing up their rookie deals. But, yeah, I mean, I would agree. That's a situation where, again,

you basically could change the whole trajectory of your franchise. Like I said with the Zimmer move, like getting a first and a second or two firsts or something like that to a highly competent front office that has some pieces, like you can be good very quickly. Yeah, so if that is the situation, I would explore the trade market. I'd say, you know, I'm happy to give you, like, Miles Garrett's contract, $25 million a year for five years with a ton of guarantees. Like, I have no problem signing that. But if he actually is like Joey Bosa plus or bust, okay, then we're going to take the picks.

And thank you for your service. You've been great. But we just can't justify that. Even though sports took a break, your business didn't. You have to keep moving, and that means hiring is more important than ever. Indeed is here to help. Indeed.com is the number one job site in the world because Indeed gets you the best people fast. Unlike other sites, Indeed gets you full control and payment flexibility over your hiring.

You only pay for what you need. You can pause your account at any time and there are no long-term contracts. Plus, Indeed provides powerful tools to make your search that much easier, like sponsored jobs, which are shown to be three and a half times more likely to result in a hire. And with 73% of online job seekers visiting Indeed each month, Indeed is going to get you the important hire that you need, just like they have for over 3 million businesses. Right now, Indeed is offering our listeners a free $75 credit to boost your job post,

which means more quality candidates will see it fast. Try Indeed with $75 credit at Indeed.com slash BlueWire. This is their best offer available anywhere. Go right now, Indeed.com slash BlueWire. This is their best offer available anywhere. Go right now. Indeed.com slash BlueWire. Terms and conditions apply. Offer valid through December 31st. You might not be at a game this year, but you can still be in on the action with BetOnline.

BetOnline is going the extra mile to make sure you can get in on every possible chance to win this season. From game spreads to totals to team and player and coaching props, BetOnline gives you more options to wager than anywhere else. You can get in on their season opening bonuses today and start off wagering on wins, division championships, and futures all day, every day. Head to BetOnline today and take advantage of all the great sign-up bonuses. Don't forget to use the promo code BLUEWIRE at betonline.ag. That's BLUEWIRE, all one word, BetOnline, your online sportsbook experts.

I mean, this is such a clear situation. You become really good at being a who's leaking that translator. And I think in this case, this would be on the agent side, obviously, because, like you said, I mean, yes, he is in a different air. But when you are under contract through 2023, pretty hard for you to say, I'll hold out. Like he could hold out. But like how long are you going to hold out till 2023? I mean, what are you going to pull a Carson Palmer and retire?

What's fair? Is it the Miles Garrett deal that's fair? Because I think we agree. And the Vikings are, this is one thing that has gotten them in trouble, is that they're very generous. Like, they will pay you. And we did this dance with Delvin Cook where you and I talked about all the different things that they could try to do and the negotiations.

But at the end of the day, they're generous. They'll pay you. They ripped up an Adam Thielen contract because they looked at it and said, well, you know, it's not that great of a deal. I've also got to think there's another factor here, and that is the look. And this is your guy, Jason Fitzgerald, that's over the cap brought this up. And I thought it was a great point. I didn't think of it, and I thought I'm stealing that immediately is that Riley Reif highly respected captain in the Vikings locker room got screwed screwed bad and this team has not done this very often where

someone gets screwed but he got screwed they trade for Yannick Ngakwe they say hey sorry pal you got to take five million less that's a lot of cash and he says all right fine i don't have any other options i guess i'll do it and six weeks later the guys out the door that cost you five million bucks um we've also seen guys go out the door who they wanted back everson griffin xavier rhodes they actually tried to get to return mckenzie alexander they wanted to return stefan diggs demanded to be traded i mean if you also trade out Daniil Hunter there is a certain part of this that's just like what is going on with that team all of a sudden and I think that there is some value in that I think it's totally fair and I think that and this

is not this is not really a knock on Zimmer but I mean a lot of legendary coaches have said honestly after five six years your message gets stale. Like, it's just part of the game. It's just part of the business. So there could just kind of be some, like, frustrations, you know, pent up for all sorts of reasons. But as you mentioned, I did also want to say, the Vikings, literally, they went to Adam Thielen and were like, this deal is not fair for you.

Let's sign you to a better one. So I don't think they're opposed to doing that. But like you also said, they've unfortunately done that so many times now that maybe they've kind of run out of money and generosity. But, yeah, I mean, it's – there is – it starts to wonder. I think the Reef situation was definitely – like it's hard to come back from that when you then move in Gakuen. I tweeted that out. I was like, I'm sure he's asking for a trade right now. It's just hard.

Yes, like you said, I didn't even realize he was a team captain but yeah i just know he's been there for a long time and it's probably a respected guy you know i'm sure he's a leader he's 30 plus years old like yeah that that just can't it's hard to basically like i didn't say face or not even like have respect but just kind of like imagine that like imagine trying to just like navigate that tension it's it's it's not possible yeah with Reef, I know that he doesn't talk publicly a whole lot or very much, but anybody that you talk to about him talks about just being the consummate professional type of guy that has a ton of respect in the locker room. And when you see that happen, if you're another player, you're like –

and I think that the trend over the last couple couple years has sort of been I'm gonna get mine really since Cousins got here there was an off season where everybody signed reasonable deals to come back Kendricks Hunter Diggs and after those after uh Cousins got here it's pretty much been even Kyle Rudolph I'm gonna get mine if you don't want me trade me um if you're not gonna pay me top dollar trade me same with Delvin Cook not it's not a team-friendly deal. It's not a horrible deal, but it's not a team-friendly deal. And it was fought tooth and nail to the very end. So there's really been a change and a shift in the locker room, I think, in the overall feeling. And it does kind of feel like in some ways that they need a fresh start here. But a very creative idea with the trade Zimmer idea, Brad.

I think it's interesting for both parties, not just the Vikings, but if they can get value back and put Zimmer in a better position somewhere else, it's almost like that might be the best thing for him as well. So you at PFF are doing outstanding work, and your role there has grown and grown so I'm very happy to see it and you're also fighting with Packers fans so Vikings fans should be happy about that Brad well thank you I appreciate it always always you know love coming on always some good conversations and yeah I mean I guess I do fight with Packers fans from time to time, so that's a feature as well. Yeah, well, the Packers decided that leading the league in yards per attempt after six weeks is a ring, so I don't know.

It's weird. There you go. That's right. The season ends after five weeks, if you didn't know. What are you now? Are you PFF Brad now? Yeah, PFF underscore Brad. You can follow me on there.

This is a huge week for me coming up, trade deadline. It looks to be really busy. It already has so far. At PFF underscore Brad. You can follow me on there. This is a huge week for me coming up, trade deadline. It looks to be really busy. It already has so far. And I've seen speculation it's going to continue because a lot of teams are just trying to offload salary as we gear up to 2021. And go read the piece, the Minnesota Vikings took a gamble, and now they have to bottom out. Brad, we will talk again soon, buddy.

Thanks for your time. See you soon, of course.