Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Mullens starts again, Pro Bowl snubs and everyone wants to talk quarterbacks

Episode Date: January 4, 2024

Matthew Coller answers Vikings fans questions about the Pro Bowl and discusses the future of the QB situation and the final game of the year (probably) against the Detroit Lions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everybody welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar here and I was just looking over all of the Pro Bowl snubs because the word snub has a great day when they announce the Pro Bowl everywhere. Go to social media and search snub and it will just be all Pro Bowl snubs. How did this guy make it? How did this guy not make it? What is going on here? It is a disaster. That's just basically my entire social media at the moment. Although I will say Antoine Winfield Jr. pretty good, probably deserved to be in the Pro Bowl. But I don't know that the Vikings had any actual snubs. So if you guys want to go over it, we can. Also, the huge news that Nick Mullins is starting again week 18 so you know that that's happening uh mostly I want

your guys questions so I can spend this time having fun chatting with you because neither one of those topics that I just talked about were any fun at all I mean I the the Pro Bowl stuff is you know it's fodder and it's fun to look at and debate, hey, this guy had a better year than that guy, and so forth, and maybe this guy deserved to go in. And I only remember one time actually being legitimately upset about the original or the initial Pro Bowl roster, and that was when Harrison Smith got left off it, the initial roster in 2017.

He eventually went in because of an injury or something. And he finished third in defensive player of the year that year. So I think they missed a little, he was all pro. He was third defensive player of the year, but somehow it wasn't a pro bowler. And I remember when he got an interception to close out a game in green Bay to clinch, whatever it was was clinch a division or what, whatever it might've been. And my lead to the story was pro bowl, like with LOL. And so it can be pretty silly, but I think that if we're looking to you know, the Vikings with just Daniel Hunter and Andrew DePaula, does anybody have any complaints there? I mean, Justin Jefferson was hurt for most of the season.

The alternates, I guess there's alternate. They do games, so they need alternates for the games. If you're an alternate for a flag football game, do you get Pro Bowl on your record, on your career record? I think you do, so that's kind of odd. CJ Hamm, but Kyle Juszczyk is the starter here. That's fine. TJ Hawkinson probably deserved it. I would say T.J. Hawkinson was deserving, but the other two guys were George Kittle and Sam Laporta. I think you could make a pretty good case that T.J. Hawkinson had a better year than

Sam Laporta. Laporta was very good, caught a lot of touchdowns, but Hawkinson had way more catches and was a downfield threat. It was probably deserving. Josh Metellus got a second alternate. There are apparently, I'm just remembering this right now, four alternates for the Pro Bowl and Josh Metellus is a second alternate. Okay. How about that though? Like in consideration for the Pro Bowl, after last year he was a special teamer and played 200 snaps. That's pretty good. That was quite the blow-up for Josh Metellus this year. One of those guys that we're looking at as a future franchise foundational piece,

if I can use some alliteration there, for Josh Metellus with the way he played this year. Impact player for them. He was deserving for that. And Garrett Bradbury is a third year. Impact player for them. He was deserving for that. And Garrett Bradbury is a third alternate. I don't know. Last week was not his best showing.

Christian Derrissaw is a fourth alternate. Surprised me a little. When you look at the Pro Bowl tackles, though, Lane Johnson, Penny Sewell, Trent Williams, no argument there. And then Harrison Smith is a fourth alternate for the safety position. So again, if you're just tuning this in and you didn't see it, it's only Daniil Hunter and Andrew DiPaola for the initial Pro Bowl roster, but then they have all these alternates. And Harrison Smith, the unfortunate thing there is that if Harrison Smith gets a seventh Pro Bowl, he will be an extremely rare heir all time among defensive backs,

which could really strengthen his case for the Hall of Fame, which, spoiler, I'm writing a massive article about Harrison Smith and whether it could be his last game and his legacy and his Hall of Fame case and so forth. So I've had that on the brain quite a bit. And when I looked at the pro bowls, there are a number of guys who have six pro bowls who didn't get in the hall of fame. But once you get to seven, you get to that rare air. There's only a handful of defensive backs ever at seventh. Doesn't look like as a fourth alternate that

they're going to have so many safeties go out. I don't even know how this is done. Is it just the guys in the super bowl or like, I don't even know. So I'm not sure that any of the fourth alternates end up getting there. If he does, even though it's kind of strange, that would help his hall of fame case quite a bit. So there you have it. There is the big breaking news about the pro bowl. And as far as Nick Mullen starting, it's just the biggest man. I think it was the obvious decision. You can't go back to Jaron Hall. He may hurt himself. He may hurt someone else. He's I mean, he just clearly could not play in an NFL game. And next year, he'll have a whole other training camp. He'll have a whole year under his belt and still be in that discussion for the backup quarterback, but not ready to play now. And once you put Dobbs as QB three, you might as well just stay there

because then it seems really goofy. If you're going to put him at third quarterback and then be like, Oh, well, we have a small chance of winning and then having a bunch of things go right and making the playoffs. So back to you, Dobbs, then everyone would say, well, we have a small chance of winning and then having a bunch of things go right and making the playoffs. So back to you Dobbs, then everyone would say, well, why don't you just stay with Dobbs the whole time? So Mullins was the obvious and only choice. And I mean, at least we could say this about the Nick Mullins experience. It was fun. It was entertaining. A lot happened there. A lot of interceptions. A lot of things went on with the Nick Mullins experience in those couple of games. I mean, think about Cincinnati and Detroit.

You probably will not remember them in the long run because they were just losses. But those were wild and entertaining games. And if the Vikings didn't do that all the time, for another team, those might be the game of the season. For the Vikings, it's like, ah, be the game of the season for the Vikings. It's like, ah, another game that came down to a crazy ending. But if you were looking at it only as I have nothing to do today, so I'll watch this football game. You would have loved Nick Mullen's last two starts. So maybe it'll be fun with nothing really on the line. Uh, it'll be interesting to see who gets in the game, how they handle it, how Detroit handles it. They seem to be very unhappy and are playing for stuff.

So that's going to matter as well. And will the Vikings go to putting in backups and giving young players opportunities to play? Although they've kind of done that all year. So it's not like there's a ton of guys that they could just go to. Oh, let's play all the youth. They've kind of been playing all year. So it's not like there's a ton of guys that they could just go to, Oh, let's play all the youth. They've kind of been playing all the youth all year. But you know, we'll kind of see how they decide to handle that with Nick Mullins.

And I imagine that for the first half of the game, they're going to be playing to win, doing everything they can because there is some small chance still remaining. And if the game is out of hand by halftime, then they would maybe make a change for how they handle it. So throw your questions in the chat. The thing is showing me here a little bit of internet struggle. So I apologize for that. I'm going to close out some tabs here if that's causing the problem. Maybe it is. Let me know if there's any audio issues on your guys' end.

So let's start it right out here with Skull Vikings asking Pennix or Daniels. Love where your guys' head's at. It's exactly where it should be. It should not be on Pro Bowl snubs. I put it in the headline for fun, just because I thought maybe YouTube algorithm would pick up on Pro Bowl snubs. But I don't think any Vikings were snubbed. And congratulations to Daniil Hunter. He deserved it.

And I don't think anybody else did.ubbed and congratulations to Daniil Hunter. He deserved it. And I don't think anybody else did. So anyway, Penix or Daniels. Well, for me, this would be an easy decision that I would go with Jalen Daniels. If I was given both of them to select that, say 10th overall,

that would be an easy choice. Daniels is younger. He is less injured. As far as his history goes, He can do everything. I mean, if you go and look at the PFF grades for Jalen Daniels throwing the football, they're not that far behind Michael Penix. Now, Penix is about as good in college football as exists. What we saw the other night was not a fluke. If you've watched them all year, which weirdly I have, like I just enjoyed watching their offense and they were on TV a lot. So I watched them. But yeah, what Penix did was

not unique. He led all of college football in big time throws. And the next best quarterback was Drake May for big time throws. And May was like six behind Michael Penix. So what he was doing the other night is very much who he is, which is pushing the ball downfield, letting it rip. It's got a rocket arm. Like that's him. But with Jalen Daniels, he kind of reminds me of that. Like, I mean, he's going to get compared to Lamar because Lamar is the best running quarterback in football, him and Justin Fields, he might be a little bit more like Jalen Hurts with a more advanced passing ability as far as being a dynamic runner and a playmaker

and then being able to throw the ball effectively. I don't think he's as good as Penix throwing the ball, but as far as how he scored in big time throws, did not turn the ball over a ton. He did take sacks, but that kind of goes for every running quarterback that they're going to try to scramble around. They're going to make plays. I like the fact that Michael Penix does not take sacks for an immobile quarterback, because

if you are a immobile quarterback and you take sacks, that's a big problem. But I was looking at these numbers last night and Michael Penix only took a sack when he was pressured 8% of the time. The best in the NFL is about 10%. And that's a really good skill to have. So if you're getting pressured, they're sending blitzes, he was able to find who was supposed to get the football and not take a sack. And his numbers under pressure were pretty good, which has mattered as far

as like Kevin Cole as an analytics guy who's been on the show a number of times. He's done some work on what stats translate from college to the NFL and the pressure to sack rate and the sack rate matter and the performance under pressure seems to matter for translating to college to the NFL which makes a lot of sense I mean you're kind of constantly under pressure in the NFL even when you're not just because you've always got blitzes coming you've always got great defensive ends bearing down on you so there's an urgency to get rid of the ball and I love that about Penix that he is very well equipped to get rid of the football when he's not going to run away from

defenders I always think you just need an answer what What is the answer? Is it in the pocket like Brady who would shuffle around, climb the pocket? Is it Peyton Manning kind of like being able to do that hopping thing and get rid of the football quick? Dan Marino with the quick release? What is it? Or is it running away that is going to keep you from getting sacked and have pressure destroy you. So I like that about Pennix, but Daniels has the upside of an MVP. I mean, just you watch him play against Florida, particularly with his legs, his ability to throw the football downfield and there's room to develop. And this is going to be a big conversation with Michael Pennix is there is there room to develop? The answer is not really, but what do you really need to develop

other than his understanding of an NFL offense? Of course, but that goes for everybody. And I don't know that that's really age related. Normally, when you talk about a player's age, we talk about having to develop their ability to throw the football, their technique, their footwork. And that's why with a Patrick Mahomes or Jordan Love, those guys sit for a year and then develop for a couple or more in Love's case, they develop for a couple of years and they work on the technical elements of their game. Even Kirk Cousins was like this, that in Washington, when he first got there, he was far behind and he worked with a throwing coach even during the season. There's stories about him flying in a throwing coach to work with him after practices because

he was trying to develop the throwing skills. The football in the NFL is harder to throw. The windows are tighter. The release has to be quicker. The reads have to be faster. So with Daniels, you've got the raw skill to develop all that stuff to where you need it to be quicker. The reads have to be faster. So with Daniels, you've got the raw skill to develop all that stuff to where you need it to be. But with Penix, he already throws rockets. So all you're developing is really hit the eyes. Can you see it? Can you put the football where

it needs to go? It's not like you're developing like footwork to be able to throw the ball effectively because he's already the best thrower other than probably Drake may. Um, so that's kind of the comparison, but I would take the upside of Daniels and the mobility of Daniels over Pennix if I was given the choice, but my choice would be, yes, that's, that's the choice. Uh,ikings follows up with the fourth overall pick in the draft the vikings take jayden daniels uh and that is an interesting discussion in itself is where are they going to finish up the year could be as high as ninth i believe and if that ends up being the case you are within shouting distance of getting to that top five but how the top five ends up looking after this week we're going to know can, can the Vikings actually target a team that they would be able to trade

up with? Or are all those teams going to be interested in quarterbacks? And then where are we at? So Kyle asks, will Louis seen sniff the starting lineup on Sunday? I would say 0% chance that he is a starter on Sunday. Remember if you're on their team, if you're in their building, you are thinking, all right, are we eliminated? No. So here's what we're trying to do. We're trying to win this football game. We're trying to win this game and give a chance that four other things or three other things go right. And we end up making the playoffs and go somewhere and play in the playoffs with Nick Mullins. That's what they are thinking inside TCO performance center. As far as the coaching staff goes in the front office, they're talking

about Jane Daniels versus Michael Penix, probably just like us, but in the coaching room, when they're laying out their game plan, when they're laying out their starting lineup, all that stuff, they are not thinking at all about, hey, let's figure out what we got for 2024. That's where maybe the second half that happens. If the game ends up out of hand, then yes, you would do something like that. Like last week, it would be earlier. I think it would be earlier. Once it was, did it get to like 30 to 10?

Once that happened with Green Bay, be earlier. I think it would be earlier. Yeah. Once it was, did it get to like 30 to 10? Once that happened with green Bay, then everybody who's a backup would have gone in at that point, I would guess, uh, or everybody, you know, who, who they wanted to take a look at. And Louis scene did eventually end up on the field at the very end of the game, but they would get more work if it was a blowout. If this is a close game, then I would not expect him to play. And as far as Louis scene goes in general, I mean, as of right now, the season is an incredible failure for him to not have any type of role at all, to barely see the special teams, to not take any defensive snaps until just now with that blowout. It's gone as badly as it could have gone uh they were picking anybody and everybody other over him including theo jackson who was kind of just a guy but not to disrespect theo jackson who played pretty well when he was called upon but uh i suspect

especially if brian floris is here next year but just in, that this was the last we'll see of Lewis seen in purple. He could, will likely come back for training camp. And then I would have him as a guy who gets cut out of training camp next year, unless there is a massive, massive change. And then we get to write the, what happened? And I think what happened is that Brian Flores likes a certain type of player and Louis seen is not that player. And that means dedicated love for the game. Passionate, smart can handle everything that they throw at them. And that's Harrison Smith. That's Cam Bynum. That's Josh Metellus and Theo Jackson. And I just don't think that that's Lewis scene. That's my read on the situation is that like,

it's an effort thing. If you can't understand a defense and you know, that's, that's probably where we're at. So from JP, if we bring back Kirk and decide to continue with this competitive rebuild, is it time to think the Wilfs are calling all the shots?

That is something I probably would think it would, I'd be very interested in the explanation from Kweisi Adafo Mensah. I would also wonder about Kevin O'Connell's role in that. Is this a, would it be a Kevin O'Connell decision as much as the Wilfs? Because nothing, nothing that Kweisi Adafo Mensah has done since Kirk Cousins has gotten here has indicated that he wants him to be his long-term quarterback. And it's hard to say why that would change. And I keep seeing it pop up, and I don't understand it at all. The bad quarterback play should push the Vikings back toward Kirk Cousins.

Why? What does Nick Mullins have to do with the Vikings' future at quarterback? He ain't going to be it. You're not making the choice between Nick Mullins and Kirk Cousins. Why? What does Nick Mullins have to do with the Vikings future at quarterback? He ain't going to be it. You're not making the choice between Nick Mullins and Kirk Cousins. The choice is between Jaden Daniels or Michael Pennix or Bo Nix, who's going to the senior bowl, by the way, that'll be interesting. We'll get to see him. So, you know, Bo Nix or JJ McCarthy or whoever else might come available. The Arizona Cardinals have just said that Kyler Murray's their guy, which is always like the kiss of death when it comes to the Cardinals. There's a Josh Rosen's our guy tweet that was out there, you know, way back when,

but I mean, they, they could still trade Kyler Murray. Anything could happen. We've seen all sorts of crazy stuff happen in the offseason when it came to quarterbacks. I don't know that any of us really expected Detroit to trade Matthew Stafford when they did, Russell Wilson getting traded, Tom Brady joining the Tampa Bay Bucs. I mean, and Brady, by the way, said the other day that he was thinking about coming out of retirement. I wonder what that would have looked like if he had joined the Vikings. They win those games, right?

Maybe. Or he just couldn't play at all and got hurt immediately. I don't know. But to your point, my answer would probably be yes. And I will say that if you went around the league and you asked, I don't know, I mean, 32 general managers off the record entirely. And they had to tell you the truth. They were under oath. And you said, is your owner calling the shots with the quarterback? They would say probably yet 30 out of 32 would say yes, that the owner is the one calling the shots with the quarterback. And look, there were rumors in this last draft that Bryce Young was drafted by Mr. Throws a drink on fans, David Tepper, the owner that he was, that he wanted them to trade

up and draft Bryce Young the whole time. There were also rumors in Houston where Cale McNair wanted, I think, right. Junior Cale, whoever their owner is, McNair, wanted CJ Stroud to be drafted. And they drafted CJ Stroud. One team looks great. One team looks stupid. How about Jim Ursae? Do we think Jim Ursae hired Jeff Saturday because he thought they were going to turn around the Indianapolis Colts? Or did he hire Jim Ursae, or I'm sorry, did Jim Ursae hire Jeff Saturday so they could get the fourth overall pick and take Anthony Richardson? I mean, Jim Irsay was tweeting about how they were going to draft a quarterback. Like most of the owners in the league are calling shots when it comes to who they're

picking and what they're doing at QB. And I think that even for a minute there, and I could be wrong, I'd have to go back and research this, but for a minute there,osh allen looked like he was uh on the on the rocks 2018 2019 can he really play that kind of thing and i think there was some stories out there like oh they had the owner pushed for allen because he's got big hands they're just like let's try to make them look silly and all that sort of stuff and then sometimes they get it right sometimes they get it wrong it was john Johnny Manziel who texted the owner of the Browns and said, come get me. And then they did. So my point is that if you are a bazillionaire

and you own a football team, you do call the shots no matter what. Everything runs through you anyway. So it's hard to be like, oh man, this is crazy. The Wilfs, they're doing stuff. That's what they do. They own the team. But I do believe, yes, that the original plan based on their actions and not extending Kirk was to have kind of a three-year plan where they moved on from Kirk and drafted a quarterback. And even the fact that they were trying to make phone calls last year and supposedly had conversations with the 49ers and so forth that there was buzz enough buzz to believe that they were thinking about moving on from cousins even after the 13 win season so why would that change aside from the owners watched how horrible it looked against the packers and said we need kirk back

that will be the likely conclusion And they will say that's not the case. They'll say they love him and he's, he's their guy and they love everything about him, but it will be impossible not to think that the owners didn't just call down and say, we want Kirk cousins back because nothing else lined up that way for the way that they handled things since they got here. And if you go back and look, and I went back and watched this press conference the other day, go back and look at the July press conference from Kweisi Adafo Mensah and tell me he doesn't know they're winning seven or eight games. Like he does by the way he's talking, he's talking about competitive rebuild. He's talking about

moving on from guys. He's talking about the quarterback future and he's saying loudly like, yeah, well, you know, a big part of that quarterback is, uh, can you put enough around him? Wink, wink. Right. And why would that change now with a roster that needs a lot of work? I saw today that a PFF tweeted out. I didn't realize this, that Dalton Reisner hasn't allowed a sack since he got here. So just speaking to the money that will have to be spent this offseason on the roster. Skull Vikings asks, do you want Brian Flores back? I don't see any reason not to want Brian Flores back. That's an easy one to answer.

I mean, it's been great. The last three weeks, they've fallen apart. They've run out of gas. Players have gotten hurt. They need more talent. I mean, they need more talent. But if, let's say, they finish where they are right now, which is 12th in the league,

that's a huge victory and a great job by Brian Flores. Absolutely want him back. Will he be back? I tend to think so. I am 70-30 on he returns. I can't find a team outside of the Patriots that I would think, Oh yeah, that's like a perfect fit. Maybe Seattle, if they're looking to stay defensive and Pete Carroll retires or they fire Pete Carroll, then possibly. And there's probably going to be one team that we don't expect. Maybe Tennessee. Uh, if that's

a possibility that there's this rumor out there that they could trade mike vrabel coach trades are coming also that's another thing that's going to i i think be a thing in the future after sean payton is coach trades uh dustin says i want to sign andrew depaula jersey on twitter by retweeting his vote sent it right away to congratulations. Andrew DePaula, great guy. Great long snapper. You always take a long snapper for granted until it's not going good.

But Andrew DePaula has been incredible for them the last couple of years. They execute punts. Matt Daniels was talking about how he's kind of a coach in the locker room and all that stuff. He's like 38 or something. So I mean it when i say congratulations to him i mean this guy was out of the league and then shows back up in the league with the vikings goes all pro last year pro bowl again this year maybe all pro again and he's deserved it he has really really been terrific uh let's see kmac eight 50 says Darisaw is the only Viking. If there's a snub

case, Hawkinson probably gets it. If he doesn't get injured late, that's true with TJ Hawkinson, but I don't know when I saw players voting because they give them an iPad and they vote even as recently as last week. So that might've been the case, but I don't think you should miss it just for missing one game. I mean, he played through all that stuff earlier this year and he's got the numbers to back it up. I don't have it up in front of me of what TJ Hawkinson has reception-wise, yardage-wise,

but he was, when they played the Lions, quite a bit in receptions and yards over Sam Laporta. And I think that his value in Jefferson went out was immense and he's deserving. I mean, George Kittle, of course, is the cream of the crop for tight ends in the NFL all around player. And maybe there's some credit to Laporta as far as his blocking goes and touchdowns matter. So catching touchdowns was a big thing for Sam Laporta. It almost felt more like Laporta had a couple of big games on national TV that bolstered his case. And people remember

that and they were talking about it. Whereas Hawkinson signed this huge deal in the off season and then, you know, had a very good and consistent week after week after that slow start to the season, and he got less press. There's a lot of press for the winning team, and this is not a takeaway from Laporta. Great player, great draft pick. He deserves to be in the Pro Bowl. But when you compare the two, I think Hawkinson has a slightly stronger case. It's just that when you're playing on one of those teams that is the up and comer, they're making the playoffs, they're getting all the attention.

He's a big part of it that he was going to get more than TJ Hawkinson playing on a team that has seven wins right now. And you're, you know, I think you're right about Darisaw. Those other three guys though are just phenomenal, phenomenal tackles. And you could see why, you know, Trent Williams, who's keeping him out, Panay Sewell, these guys are great. And Derrissaw, again, if we're judging just by last week, probably had his worst game of the year last week.

But I think Derrissaw is going to be in that conversation for a long time. Breck asks, what the hell is going on in the front office? I don't know. i would imagine they're preparing for all the off-season questions i there's a kind of a thought sometimes with this team because i think it's been so much wreckage in the past that like if things aren't going right at the moment it must be a disaster. It must be a mess. They have no idea what they're doing. They have no plan. They're lost. They're out of their minds. And you know what? That was the case a little bit at the end of the Spielman era. And by a little

bit, I mean a lot. You had the GM not talking to the coach. You had them disagreeing over draft picks, disagreeing over who to cut, who to sign, who to keep around, and all that stuff. And it was just not a good situation. But as of this moment, it feels like they have followed their plan from when they got here to this moment. And if they continue to follow that plan, I would feel very good about what the front office is doing. If they deviate from the plan, I will wonder why there was a plan that they laid out to us right in front of us. I mean, they told us all about it at the combine last year. It was me and Alec Lewis and Ben Gessling talking at the combine with Kweisi Adafo-Mensah, and he was explaining to us that they feel like

they can't project more than two years out with players. And it was sort of a, again, a wink nod to Kirk cousins and what he would want for a long-term contract and so forth. And it was just very clear. Like we're not going to extend cousins. We're going to have quarterback flexibility and everything aligns to a competitive rebuild that leads to trying to set up the next quarterback to succeed.

And if they go a different direction, it'll be like, I don't get it. I don't get it. Cause now you're kind of going back to doing the same old thing. So at the moment, I feel like what the hell is going on in the front office is exactly what they told us was going to go on and is a good way to do it. Is it the best way to do it? You guys heard my post game rant the other night. So no, it was not the best way to do it, but it is what they said they were going to do. And so far they're following that. That doesn't feel dysfunctional to me. I don't, there's nothing about this team right now that has ever felt dysfunctional. And I have seen dysfunctional, my friends. I have seen dysfunctional. As about as dysfunctional as it gets in 2021. CJ says, where in the draft do you think Penix gets picked? Could the Vikings trade down and still get him too risky? So I want to give the disclaimer, the always and forever disclaimer,

that I have no idea. Because last year we were told that Will Levis was going to go at the top. And two years ago, we were told that Malik Willis was going to go at the top. And those things did not happen. Now, historically, and there's a website that tracks sort of consensus mocks and things like that, or the accumulation of a bunch of mocks and what they think. Traditionally, they've been pretty good at figuring out where the first and second round quarterbacks are going to go the order, not so much, but just in general, like where, what range? So is it one to five? Is it five to 10? Is it 10 to 15? So the mockers have been

decent at that. And I don't know where they have Michael Penix right now, but I've seen him mostly mocked in the middle or late first round. But I think that changed the other night. And if you don't think that a game like that changes opinions, I mean, of course it does. Everybody, I mean, everybody had to be thinking the same thing you were thinking, which is like, whoa, this is a big game on a big stage for a great, uh, great talent, great arm talent and Michael Penix. So as of right now, I would suspect that he would be the fourth quarterback taken, and it would really depend on the order of how the draft falls. And it feels like the Vikings are going to be in that range because in the range of Pennix, just because there are issues and concerns about him as a quarterback and maybe other

teams at the top. But I need to know the order for the official order. I mean, we can look at it right now, what it is right now and take a look. Is there anybody who would be able to stretch a little bit on? Let's see. So the official order here, teams in front of the Vikings would include that could draft quarterbacks, obviously Chicago, Washington, New England. That's what I would guess is either Marvin Harrison Jr., but probably Caleb Williams, Drake May and Jane Daniels at the top.

And then the New York Giants have a great case for drafting a quarterback. Tennessee, I think, needs to stick with Will Levis and see what they've got. The Jets probably won't pick a quarterback if they think Rodgers is coming back. Atlanta definitely can, but I think they look for a veteran option. So that would put the Vikings with a decent chance to get the fourth quarterback, even if there are some other teams that may consider it. But as of right now, I would guess, just a total guess, that Michael Penix would be a middle-of-the-first-round type of quarterback because of some of the downside. Kyle says, time to replace Bradbury. Well, they won't. Bradbury will be the center next year. This game against Green Bay was horrendous. I mean, absolutely horrendous. It was his worst game in years. He just got totally bowled over.

Maybe he's dealing with the back thing again and was trying to play through it. Before that, though, the previous 15 games, Garrett Bradbury was fine. I think by PFF, he was the 16th best center and at his contract as the 16th best center and a guy who runs the operation really well in and out of the huddle. Communicating with multiple quarterbacks this year. Had a really good relationship with Kirk Cousins. Led the offensive line. Communicated with those guys. I mean, that game against Green Bay is as bad as it gets. Aside from that, it was a fine season for Garrett Bradbury.

I see that as not a position that you necessarily have to replace. I don't think you have to replace that. Breck says, I thought it was a terrible decision to bench Dobbs. I saw this nightmare before it happened. This is terrible. Well, this is not terrible because I just read the draft order. And let's be honest, if you're playing Josh Dobbs, did anybody else see anything past the second

half of New Orleans that would indicate you could really compete with anybody? If you gave me the choice of making the first round of the playoffs with Josh Dobbs by sliding in the back door and then losing in the first round or drafting 12th, 11th, 10th, or ninth. I will take 11th, 12th, 10th, or ninth all day long, all day long, a hundred percent of the time because Josh Dobbs, well, we thought for a moment that he could potentially be a bridge quarterback. If he played really well and was a great fit and so forth, there was never, he's the future of the franchise. That was never going to be the case there was a oh okay like all right maybe he could be a guy that you draft a guy and then you develop

the guy while josh jobs plays or he's a mentor or whatever um but the best case scenario with josh jobs was always like you win nine games you barely get in the playoffs and is that what anybody wanted i mean i guess you could raise a fake banner we got in the playoffs. And is that what anybody wanted? I mean, I guess you could raise a fake banner. We got in the playoffs with the seven seed with a backup quarterback. Yay. I mean, I don't know. Like you're not an actual contender at that point. And the defense was always going to run out of steam with everything that had been asked of them and how thin they were, if they had any injuries. So I think this is a better outcome. Now that's two different discussions though. This outcome is better. Are you right though, that maybe they should have just stuck it out with Dobbs? Yeah, probably. Like if you were

trying to make the playoffs, if that was the goal, something didn't click with Josh Dobbs and Kevin O'Connell. That is quite clear because to be put down to the number three quarterback and to play Jaron Hall with the playoffs on the line really says that something went on there that Kevin O'Connell, and I'm not talking personality wise, just what he saw from him as a player that he really did not like in that Chicago and in that Las Vegas game. But could Dobbs have had more ups and downs, hot and cold, or protected the ball a little better other than that four-interception game? What are we talking about here? Like, what are we talking about here?

No, no, no. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who you play. It really doesn't. They're all bad. Josh Dobbs is not a good quarterback, and neither is Nick Mullins, and neither is Jaron Hall. So there was no choice that was going to be right.

And Josh Dobbs, before he got here, averaged 5.9 yards per attempt. In Minnesota, 5.9 yards per attempt. Nick Mullins, before he got here, turned the ball over like crazy, played for like four different teams, turned the ball over like crazy when he win it. Like these are the guys that you have. Maybe if you could go back in time, you would signed joe flacco i don't know and maybe it would have been him who was leading this team into the playoffs but even then this team is nowhere near as strong as cleveland so i on

defense and so i'm not sure that would have actually worked here the same way it did there anyway there's not much to regret here You had the only backup quarterback you could afford. You traded for the only backup quarterback you could get without giving up anything. And thank goodness you didn't give up anything. David says, making the Hall of Fame as a defensive back in this era is so challenging as interceptions are at such a premium. League leaders used to get 12 to 13 a year. David, you are wise, my friend. And it's what I'm looking into in comparing Harrison Smith by more advanced statistics and more anecdotal evidence. I had a

chance to talk to Anderson Dayhoe and Anthony Harris about playing with Harrison Smith and the defensive backs coach Durante Jones for my article. And the biggest thing those guys talked about was that it's hard to understand the value of a safety outside of interceptions, outside of sacks, outside of forced fumbles, because so much happens on the field. That's not those things. So here's a crazy stat for you. You can tell everybody at your, I guess there's no holiday party coming up. But if some friend of yours is talking to you, you can tell him this stat. John Lynch played 224 games, okay? He only had an interception or a sack in 35 of those games. So 35 out of 224.

All the rest of the time for John Lynch, it was the other value. It was tackling. It was making plays on the football. It was being in the right place. It was directing people as a leader of a defense. And that's really what Harrison Smith's value is, even though he's on par with contemporaries in those other stats. And then by the advanced PFF stats, he actually has better numbers as far as when opponents target him than most of the other guys, including Earl Thomas of this era.

So I think that he has a strong case for it, but he's facing a real serious uphill climb because exactly what you're saying. And most of the time with safeties, what you find is they needed to win a Super Bowl, which is totally unfair to Harrison Smith. I mean, he can't win the Super Bowl himself. It's going to be a difficult climb, but I think there's a very strong argument there that he belongs. You are completely right, though.

We can't judge it by interceptions. Harrison Smith actually has more interceptions than Troy Palomaro, by the way. But Palomaro had that one-handed one in the playoffs. That's what did it. K-Mac says, Mullins is a wild card, never afraid to let the ball go at any moment, which is true. And wouldn't it be funny if they ended up beating Detroit because of that? I mean, that would be very bad for the draft status. I don't, I don't know if it's like obscenely bad for the draft status, but not great to win this game and then still miss the playoffs. But with Nick Mullins, you really do never exactly know what's going to happen next.

From Matt and Katie, watching press conferences, KOC seems more beat up, disappointed, and just not as positive as he was last year. Do you think the season is weighing on him more than he leads on? Oh, you betcha. Oh, you betcha. Man, I cannot tell you how horrible it is for a head coach to lose games. I mean, it just consumes these guys' lives. Otherwise, you just can't exist as a head coach if it doesn't. It is everything. It is your whole existence as a head coach if it doesn't it is everything it is your whole

existence as a head coach during the season and then i mean really there's about a month where it's not and that's where everyone goes to cabo or whatever and other than that from the start of training camp to the last moment and then into the off season still but to the last moment of the season it is 110 of your life being the head coach. You live and die with every single game. And one of the hardest things for a coach. And I, and I know this from talking with some other people who have been head coaches in different pro sports is what you're trying to do is push every button, every button you have. And this is where I think Kevin O'Connell has gotten maybe a little annoyed about being asked about adjusting his offense and so forth.

And not to the point where he's like reacting like Zimmer, but I think you could see sort of a, okay, we're going to talk about this again. You know, when he's asked what, what could you have done better for the quarterbacks and so forth? And my guess is that they, as a coaching staff, have put in so much to try to figure out ways to do it. Now, whether it was executed or not doesn't mean they got it right or not. Doesn't mean the play calling was right. Doesn't mean that your critiques were wrong, because I agree with a lot of the things that you guys have said through this run.

But the hours that have gone into that but the hours that have gone into that, the stress that has gone into that. And also there's a helplessness to this team, helplessness with the fumbles earlier this season. What is the coach supposed to do when Brandon Powell, who's never fumbled his life, fumbles against the Eagles and gives away potentially great field position? What is he supposed to do when the Eagles fumble and you don't pick it up? And then as we, you know, when cousins gets hurt, they felt like they had a lot of control over the result with the quarterback by getting in his ear and winning that one game against Atlanta. But it turns out there's only so much you can control and to lose

the close games that they did against Chicago, against Cincinnati, against Detroit. Aren't you guys exhausted? This was one of my original arguments against 17 games is that I get tired and you get tired. Like, we don't need, like, give me the playoffs already. Let's go. Everybody, like, we go through this thing with so much stress watching an NFL team every single week.

By the time we get to week 17, like, oh my gosh, everybody's completely gassed. Imagine how the head coach of the football team feels after all these things have gone on. Here's where I will give Kevin O'Connell credit is that he has not broken. I have not heard anything, seen anything, gotten any indication whatsoever that O'Connell is a broken man and has started to do Zimmer like things and has lost his marbles and has started to do crazy stuff. Uh, that's maybe for next year. I don't know. He's only been a coach two years. So, uh, it may be Zimmer. It took a Zimmer went through a lot if you recall, and it took a little bit longer, but my point just being that I think Kevin O'Connell has managed it fairly well.

The play calling, all those things, those are different from this discussion. Those are to me like micro versus macro big picture. I think just staying more even through the ups and downs is the right way to go. And he's done a good job of that. And has probably, I would think, learned along the way that that's how you have to handle things. But man, I mean, it has been a tough season, I think, for everybody. Let's see. Let me scroll down a little bit here. A lot of comments on, uh, Michael Penix,

uh, Dan says Penix feels like he could climb in the draft. Easy to fall in love with that arm. Even if he has just a good showing in the championship game, the championship game is going to be really tough. Now remember last year when CJ Stroud was amazing against Georgia? I think Michigan's defense is on that level. That is a nasty defense. They have talent everywhere. Their secondary was phenomenal against Alabama. They've got pass rushers. How many times did they sack Milton in the first half?

I think it was five sacks. I mean, sheesh, like that would be, you know, that would be crazy to, to be able to have a good game against that Michigan defense for Pennix. And if he does, then yeah, that draft stock is going to be pretty high. I think if he has a great game against Michigan or if they beat Michigan, looking at the numbers, people, they think Michigan is a much stronger team, and that is fair overall. So it's going to be a huge challenge. That offensive line for Washington, those receivers for Washington, I would pick Michigan, to tell you the truth.

I mean, I think Michigan has been the strongest team. I saw them blow out the Gophers in person. They just have everything. Superstar running back, receivers who can make plays offensive line defense top to bottom Washington might be in for a tough night but you're right that if Penix is even good doesn't necessarily have to be incredible but if he's even good then there is a good shot that he goes very high. David says who is the consensus best running back and how high should the Vikings

take one? They desperately need to improve their running game. I have no idea who the consensus best running back is. Could not tell you. I have not looked at it. I am only in draft season mode like yesterday. So a Monday I became in draft season mode Monday night when Michael Penix threw his first pass. Okay. So I haven't looked at any of that. I mean, I, until then it was all like game after game after game and you know, what was going to happen with the Vikings and their playoffs. So I have not taken any look at all at the draft situation. And I probably won't for a little bit here until the end of the season. And then I get into breaking down each position. We'll probably do shows focused on

position by position, but as far as their running game, how high should they take one? I don't think you could take one very high. I mean, you have a coach that doesn't like to run the football. I'm not sure understands fully how to run the football and they don't throw screens really effectively. I mean, when, what's the highest pass blocker that you can get? If it were me, I would just bring back Ty Chandler, Alexander Madison, and one more guy and draft one in the fourth round, fifth round, if you have to. But even then I don't even like that idea. I like the idea of just getting a veteran, a Jarek McKinnon type veteran and, and doing that. Just, I'm not, not into the idea of drafting a running back really anywhere outside of what they did with Dwayne McBride seventh round. Give me the seventh round guy before that. It's just too hard. I mean,

think about like, what have they gotten out of drafting middle round running backs? I mean, Madison Chandler is a fifth rounder. That's I'm more open to that. Like it just, I don't think it's a good use of your draft capital. Dustin says, Ben Gessling said today, if the Vikings lose and the bears Rams and someone else wins, the Vikings will get the eighth pick. Okay. Well, that would be great. That would be great for them. So losing is losing is kind of big here.

I think Javier says, and I'm sorry, it's showing me a little bit of internet problems. So again, I, I apologize if there's any struggle there. I'm not sure why that would be here tonight, but Javier says, I know reporters talk about relationships between player and the front office, but it's hard for me to believe that a professional front office executive like Kweisi DapAffomensa would be governed by warm and fuzzy feels. Yeah, I assume that you're talking about like the Kirk Cousins stuff. I would agree with that. Well, look, if Kweisi D'Affomensa was governed by warm and fuzzy feels, then they would have kept everybody last offseason. There was what I really liked about the what I really, really liked about

last offseason was how ruthless it was. Last offseason was icy. It was cold. It was like Adam Thielen. You take this price or you leave. You're not taking it. Leave Delvin Cook. We're going to let you hang around until you skip minicamp or something and then cut you. At the last minute, you can't even get a good deal from anybody else because I think they were trying to trade him. Eric Hendricks, see you, buddy. They really handled it. And Kirk Cousins, oh, you want that extension? You did Netflix? Good for you.

We're not signing you. That's what they should continue to do because I think that's what you have to do as a front office which is to be very much calculated and not so much uh as a front office that works on as you said warm and fuzzy feels I I think that that was the biggest thing that I was praising them for last off season like this is what they needed to do. Finally, they are doing it. Skull Vikings said, did Matt want KOC or Harbaugh, Kevin O'Connell in a landslide?

I did repeated articles and podcasts saying, please, if you want your future, do not go get Jim Harbaugh because Jim Harbaugh is a perfect, perfect fit for exactly what he's doing right now, which is being a total nutcase at Michigan. That's what he's doing. And he's built a great team, but that's at Michigan. I don't think that Jim Harbaugh is fit to manage an NFL team these days. I think it's been a really long time since he did before and the circumstances have changed quite a bit and I also think that he is different from how he used to be so I know that's that I was

100% on get the offensive coordinator that worked with Sean McVay that just won the Super Bowl and a guy who has been in the NFL stayed in the NFL is up to date on everything knows who the players are. Look, I mean, you hire somebody from college, even if they were once a good NFL coach, they are way out of date on the NFL game. That's to start. Much less, you're not just handing over the coaching reins to Jim Harbaugh.

You would have handed over the whole organization. That guy becomes like John Gruden. That was the problem with the Raiders. It wasn't just that they, you know, hired John Gruden for his offensive scheme. I think his offensive scheme was fine. It was that John Gruden's nuts. And he decided that he was doing all the draft and he was doing all the roster and everything else. That's how it would have been with the Vikings. And I don't, I think what would have happened, they probably would have had short-term success like they did last year. And then this year it would have been a complete calamity as things started to

go down rather than guiding the ship back to shore and going into the off season with an opportunity, you know, to do something else with this team. So I was very much, very much not on the Jim Harbaugh side of things. Josh says, Kweisi Adafomensa and Kevin O'Connell are going to be in the third year of a four-year contract together. That's why I believe they will bring Cousins back. They're probably afraid for their jobs to start with a rookie quarterback.

Here's the way I look at it. Contracts don't matter. That's how I look at it. Contracts don't matter. That's how I look at it. Contracts don't matter. The length of their contract doesn't matter where they are in that contract. Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because owners have billions of dollars and they'll fire whoever they want, whenever they want. So you might as well just play out your plan. And what keeps you from getting fired is going in the right direction. If you bring back her cousins, then in my mind, it is win now or bust. There's no rebuild year. There's no competitive rebuild year.

There's no, we're still reworking the roster. We need to develop this part of the team. We need to find this, that, the other thing. No, no, no, no. You bring back her cousins. You better compete for the Super super bowl for real next year. Not Oh, 13 wins, but a negative point differential, not seven and 10, not eight, nine, not nine, Nate, not 10 and seven, not first round, not wildcard. If you bring back her cousins, it better look like the Rams. When they got Matthew Stafford,

it better be all in. And it better be, you have a team that you believe can win the championship. Otherwise, what the hell are you doing? Otherwise, there is no excuse whatsoever for bringing him back unless you think you can actually compete for the actual Super Bowl next year. It's like somebody else said, it's not about warm and fuzzy feelings and having a better season than you did this year. Who cares if this was nine and eight instead of seven and whatever, 10, who cares? What difference does it make? That's not competing for the Super Bowl.

But if you draft a quarterback and you have a bridge guy and you go eight and nine next year, nine and eight, whatever it is, then you might feel good about where you're going. If you drafted Michael Penix and you won eight games, you'd feel pretty good. You're like, all right, well, this guy adapt to the NFL, get that team with all the cap space. Here we go. What? So which one actually gives them real longevity? Uh, I think it was Dane who was talking about Mizutani. He

was talking about how he feels like a front office is tenure really starts when they pick their quarterback. And this is a pick your quarterback. If they pick Kirk, well, then your tenure now has the pressure to go compete for a Superbowl. If they pick somebody else, then there's a lot more leeway, but it's not about keeping the job as long as you can. It's about trying to win a championship. So yeah, I mean, does do those things influence coaches and GMs? 100% they do 100% they do. But I don't think in this case, it's better for them to bring back Cousins. I'm sorry. I'm laughing at this one, Dan. Feels like Cousins is trying to appeal to the mob like a politician. Yeah. By taking his shirt off. And it was like, I guess it was Howard Dean. Like, if you guys remember that, uh, to hype up the crowd, maybe it was a little that way. I don't know. No, I, I don't know.

I mean, I think, I think what Kirk cousins, Kirk cousins has kind of gone through something this last year, which has been interesting to follow. And he commented on it himself that I think, I think Kirk for a long time had like a defensive stance a little bit, as in my contract, and he had been criticized so much in Washington, criticized so much when he missed the playoffs in 2018 when he got here. He didn't handle that very well. Then the head coach didn't like him, and there was always a little bit of a people don't like me kind of thing.

This last year, people did like him. The Netflix documentary, the winning of the games last year, and then his head coach and how he was empowered. The locker room, by the way, most players that were there in 2018 are gone. And so all the new guys came in with Kirk as their leader. They weren't the leaders from 2017. So the dynamic changed with Kirk. And I think that stuff like taking the shirt off and doing the skull chant, I think it's just more evidence of him kind of

feeling more comfortable in his own skin and being himself as opposed to like having more of this, like, I'm going to recoil a little bit because I think people don't like me. So, you know, things change like that. But I don't think, I don't think Kirk is putting on a campaign of bring back Kirk. He's going to get paid by somebody. I don't know who it will be, but it will be somebody. Jeff says, if Denver releases Russell Wilson, can he sign with any team for the minimum and the Bronco keep his cap hit, Russell could play here for the price of a rookie. Is that true? Is that true? I haven't seen the details of that situation,

but I would assume that Russell Wilson would not want to sign with someone for the minimum because he could make a lot more money. I guess I haven't seen the reporting on Russell Wilson and his contract situation, but that seems odd to me that he would sign for the minimum with somebody. Are they paying his actual price? Or like, I'm not, is there a trade?

Is that what you mean? Is there a trade situation? Or is it just release him? Like, I don't know. I haven't looked into it with the Russell Wilson option, but I'm not a huge fan of that idea for the Vikings. There is a part of Russell Wilson's game where he could throw downfield effectively,

and that is part of the Vikings' offense, a big part of the Vikings' offense. But did anybody watch Russell Wilson this year and think, that is the same guy in Seattle. He could win the Super Bowl. I did not have that feeling. Now, if what you're saying is true and they could have a really, really low cap hit, maybe it would make sense.

But once again, I mean, are we talking about a team in position to compete for the Super Bowl right now? Maybe with Russell Wilson, but even if he doesn't take up a lot of cap space, you still have Kirk cousins, dead cap it that makes up a whole quarterback in itself. And there's still so many holes to fill. I have a tough time with that. There are some people that really love that idea of Russell Wilson, but I'm not sure. I mean, in comparison to drafting a quarterback, it just seems so much more favorable to find your guy and not continue to pull this classic Viking stuff where you just sign somebody else's old ass quarterback. That's been the whole history of the Vikings. So I, you know, I, I, I don't love that,

but I mean, that, that to me would feel as desperate as bringing back her cousins. Um, even if it was on the cheaper side, I'm not sure that, uh, that's a good idea. Some people really love it though. I don't know. Uh, Bradley says, uh, I'm not a Minnesota lifetime Vikings fan, but the city deserves a town hall from ownership about the direction. This ownership has always been very closed off and there has not been, um, really any time where we felt like it was clear what they thought or how they felt because Mark Wolf does a couple of availabilities with reporters a year. And there I'm not, that doesn't, I shouldn't say it as it as in we don't get anything from those because I asked him directly in 2022

how much he had to do with the team's direction in hiring Kweisi Adafomensa, and the answer more or less was a lot. And so we do get answers from them during the coaching search. They were clear about what they wanted. But it's more of there aren't leaks, there aren't Wilf associates, who are saying to people behind the scenes to Jay Glazer, or to the newspaper, hey, this is what the Wilfs actually think, like people aren't doing that in their camp. So we've never had those kind of, here's what's actually going on behind the

scenes with the ownership. But I don't think that there's a lot to hide for how they feel. We know that they want to be competitive, but we also, I think, know, or at least before we thought we knew that they wanted something different. And that's why you hire Kweisi Adafomensa and Kevin O'Connell. Could you think of two more different human beings than a Princeton analytics guy from Rick Spielman and a super tall former quarterback, positive guy from Mike Zimmer? So why would you go back to the same direction if you had done things differently? But yeah, I mean, I don't think we're ever going to have some, like you said, a town hall or some press conference where they say, all right, here's our entire plan. Here's everything we think. Thanks for coming. But I also think that

if you are to rank ownerships for a team, and I know people get frustrated with the middling stuff and trust me, nobody is there with you more than me. But if you were to check a lot of boxes, they're not psychotic. So there you go. There's a good place to start. They don't strike me as being wildly overbearing. In fact, they probably were a little too disconnected during Zimmer and Spielman to not know what

was going on as much as they should there. And look at the facilities, look at the organization, look at how the players are treated. I mean, look like everything is there. You need a quarterback. Everything is there. If you draft a quarterback and you get the cap space and it's the right guy, then these are going to look like the best owners in the league. That's how I look at it. Let's see. Bron fricking solo says draft Cameron Ward from Washington state.

He could be had in the second or third round, bring back cousins, copy the Packer method for two or three years of training can focus on defensive line that way. So not a bad plan. The one issue with that is that the Packers also tried this with Brett Hundley and he was horrible. So like it, it, it, it has worked and it worked with Jalen hurts as well. They, you know, the Eagles draft Jalen hurts in the second round. The Packers also drafted Brian Brom as well early in Aaron Rogersgers career doesn't always work uh it's probably not as

good of a hey remember Kellen Mond it's not as good of a method in my mind it's just drafting the quarterback with your top pick and then spending the rest of your draft capital and free agency money to build the rest of the roster uh Cameron Ward I've seen him play I mean I think he's talented but but I mean, if we're talking about taking somebody in the mid rounds, it's just like when they drafted Jaron hall and a lot of people did little film pieces and stuff and picked out his best throws and tweeted him out and said,

look at that journal. Look how great he is. And then he actually played and you went, Oh, okay. Well, you know, that's what a fifth round quarterback looks like because most of the time, if you're drafting him somewhere in the middle, then, well, you know, that's what a fifth round quarterback looks like.

Because most of the time, if you're drafting him somewhere in the middle, then, um, you know, that that's what you get. Usually it doesn't work. And even for the Packers, it hasn't worked every time. They just make it seem that way because they've hit on these, you know, two guys and then Jordan love looks pretty darn good. Uh, I don't hate it. I just think it's more of kicking the can down the road and the same thing that you've done before. And what if, you know,

the likelihood is that Cameron Ward isn't good. So then he's not, then you end up in the same position if you don't really win something. What about Bob says gut feeling does Casey move up into top three mortgage the future for a blue chip quarterback in the 2024 draft you know what so we got a pretty big crowd of people watching right now can you imagine how many people will be watching if they do that that would be exciting that would be something you want to talk about something different that would be something different based on the fact that there was the report last year that they made phone calls, even though they had no draft capital whatsoever to work with, does make you interested. But my question would be, who's giving that up and for how much?

Are you trading three first round draft picks? Are you trading number, let let's say 10 or 12 are you trading number 10 and next year and the year after that to move up to say three or four to get jayden daniels that is an all-in move i mean you talk about their contracts uh their contracts are entirely based on whether that succeeds or fails sometimes Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. It worked for Kansas city to trade up and to get Patrick Mahomes, but it did not work to get Trey Lance when the San Francisco 49ers did it. And the 49ers had a better all around roster than the Vikings have right now. So they could survive it. And they fell just backwards

into a really good quarterback in Brock Purdy. That would have to happen for the Vikings too, in order to avoid everyone getting fired. If you trade three first round picks, I mean, I do love it from the perspective of sometimes you just got to go for it. I was noticing today, remember last year during the draft, if you do, you are a like gold star, purple insider member. Uh, if you remember when the Texans traded up for Will Anderson, most of the draft community said they were insane. What are you doing? How could you be trading up for Will Anderson? Are you crazy? And my thought was yes, technically speaking, that's crazy, but i love that they're going for it i love that they got their guy and they are just like taking that shot and because sometimes you just

have to do that and if it doesn't work out everyone will call you stupid i would say san francisco they took their shot if trey lance it turned out to be great whoa that team would be unstoppable uh will anderson has turned out to be great. They look like geniuses. That's the draft. So if the Vikings traded three first round picks, I would see a lot of people saying that's crazy. They shouldn't make that trade up that. Well, we're going for it. We're going all in. And that's what we're doing. I mean, it would be a lot of fun to see how it played out. So Jaron Hall is a rookie. You cannot say he is no good. I didn't say he would never have any chance of playing in the league at this moment. He is not good. He is not close to good, not even remotely, not even the ballpark, not even in breathing the good air. Like that's,

you saw the game. I mean, that's, that's how he looked in training camp. Didn't have a great preseason. Like it doesn't mean he can't be good. Jake Browning was pretty bad in preseason too. And he can play in the NFL. He can develop, but right now, no, no,

no, no, not good. Not a good situation. Let's see. Okay. We're not talking about firing the general manager. Let me scroll down farther.

Oh man. Let me scroll down farther. Oh, man. Let's see. Oh, we've gone on for quite a while here. I've really enjoyed this conversation with you guys. Javier says, is there any chance the front office is actually seeing how fans are feeling about wanting a generational change in quarterback? This front office probably reads your tweets more than the last one. Maybe Rick Spielman could log onto Twitter. I think he had a burner and could see enough, but I think this one is more tuned in with what's being said, what's being written,

what's being talked about, and the fans' feelings. But I don't think that it influences them a whole lot uh it's either going to go one of two ways it's either going to go the way that they laid it out when they got here that every bit of evidence said that they're going to competitive rebuild and move on from cousins and draft quarterback that's what everything was laid out when they first got here they signed cousins to the shortest extension possible and then the next off season didn't sign them at all. Or the Wilfs are going to step in and they're going to say, keep Kirk or Kevin O'Connell is going to want Kirk and fight tooth and nail to bring Kirk back. And those are the only direction it's going to go. It's not going to have anything to do with what Viking fan 62 on Twitter says, or what the fan consensus is, or what I say, they don't do what I say. So I

think that they'll know and they'll be aware, but they're going to do what they're going to do. And that's, that's what it comes down to. What I would say is, though, it should not be irrelevant, like the history of your team should not be irrelevant to your thought process. You shouldn't let it guide everything that you do. But when you think about the history of this team, it's entirely grasping at quarterbacks from other teams and building good rosters that can't quite win because it's just not enough. That's all the teams for the Vikings, whether it's Cunningham, so close Jeff George, Donovan McNabb, case Keenum, Sam Bradford. It's always that right. And probably the closest that

they've been since Randall Cunningham was when they drafted Dante Culpepper. And then like it or not, I mean, 2015, if you make the field goal, it's a pretty good team going into the playoffs. And then if you had Teddy Bridgewater through 16 and 17, where you're able to win all those games with Bradford and then Case Keenum, that would have been the best chance. And these last five years, there has not been a legitimate chance to win a Super Bowl. The closest was 2019. It was not close.

You know, getting killed in the divisional round is not close so you do have to consider the history of the last five years and just how long this has gone on without a true franchise quarterback and that's when you talk about russell wilson like would russell wilson win some games like yeah i mean i think russell wilson would win some games? Like, yeah. I mean, I think Russell Wilson would win some games, but is that really the answer? Is that really like the long-term we're going to have success answer? No, it's, it's not, it's, it's probably another nine win type of answer. And if that's the case, then, you know, kind of what's the point, right? Uh, let me scroll down, maybe answer a couple more here before I run for the evening.

Got to finish up my Harrison Smith article, so still got some things to do here, and exercise maybe, leave the house more than just to go to TCO Performance Center at some point. That's after the season. And by the way, if you're just joining for the first time, welcome, and I appreciate you dropping by. We're going to do a ton of these during the off season where I

just log on, do nothing but answer Viking questions and comments and go from there. And we're going to have a lot of fun because you guys really get into, and I think really understand super well how all this works with the front office and the discussions of the off season so um yeah i really appreciate this is a lot of fun um if you argue with each other in the comments though it's harder for me to see and answer you uh hunter says if people treat a beeflo the same way they treated koc they would be calling for his head right now too. So let's chill on firing Kweisi and Kevin O'Connell. That seemed like a, a one week thing that fire Kevin O'Connell stuff. It really seemed like Cincinnati when they lost the Cincinnati game, people were so incensed that they just started saying stuff. They were just angry. And I understand that was a crazy loss.

If that had been Kirk Cousins, that would have been in the history books. To lose that game when they were up as much as they were in the fourth quarter, it literally set some sort of, it's been this many games since the Vikings blew a 14-point lead or whatever. I mean, it was literally a record setter or made history. So the anger was justified for that game. And the way that it went down, everybody had an opinion on the tush push,

which they shouldn't have done and shouldn't have tried and all that. Since then, I haven't seen a whole lot of the whole fire somebody, but you're right about the Brian Flores bit where sometimes we just have these kind of sacred cow type of things going on, or our impression is hard to move off of. So if our impression is, wow, this guy's done an unbelievable job, they can allow 90 points in three weeks, but you're like, oh, it's because of the players got hurt. Now it is, that's the right explanation, but he has not gotten much of the criticism from what I've seen over the last couple

weeks because a, we have a good idea that he's good at his job and B we've seen the injuries, but why wouldn't you give Kevin O'Connell the same benefit of the doubt when his quarterback got hurt, which is the worst thing that can happen to you. And as I've previously mentioned, they were seventh in scoring since he took over to the time Kirk got hurt. He should be considered good at his job still. But is he perfect? No, no. And I would never say that we should just not criticize somebody because I think overall

he is a good coach and they're in a good place. But if they, you know, could maybe mix in a good short passing game every once in a while, that'd be pretty helpful. So it's, it's, I think we can do both those things. I think we can criticize things about decisions and, you know, earlier we were talking, should they have stayed with Dobbs or whatever? We could second guess if we couldn't second guess, well, what would this be worth? This that's what makes this great. The sport great is that you can always second guess, well, what would this be worth? That's what makes this great, this sport great is that you can always second guess.

But I think that there's a line when you start saying, well, the guy called a QB sneak that didn't work, so he deserves to be fired. That's a little much. That's a little much. Aaron says, Imaginationland, you're the GM of the Vikings. Cousins Camp contacts you and wants to negotiate a team-friendly deal. What is your offer? It is the Michael Corleone offer. My author is nothing. It's just not, it's just not, it's not my way. It's just not my way. It's not personal. Some people think is that it's like a

thing. It's not a thing. It's a fundamental belief that you can't win this way. And there's so much evidence to show that. And that's what I go with. That's the way I do the job is always just following the evidence. When they signed Kirk Cousins, my opinion then was, it's going to be really hard to win with this contract. And then when they re-signed Kirk Cousins in 2020, my opinion was, it's going to be really hard to win with this contract. You'll my opinion was, it's going to be really hard to win with this contract. You'll never guess what my opinion is going to be if they do it again. It's just the fact of the matter in the NFL and the teams that made the Super Bowl last year. I remember writing this, like both of them had good quarterbacks. Carson Wentz had gone nine

and seven and was playing pretty much okay football for the Philadelphia Eagles. Alex Smith had played really good football for the Kansas City Chiefs, I think led the league in quarterback rating. But both the Chiefs and the Eagles, they knew they couldn't afford it. They went to younger quarterbacks. They hit on those quarterbacks. They went to the Super Bowl with strong rosters. I mean, this is life in the NFL, in the accounting problem that is the NFL. It's really a black and white numbers game with my opinion on Kirk Cousins. And it always has been through this entire thing, no matter what, at any given time that I've been covering this Kirk Cousins era, you'll hear me talk about this same thing. So I would not be interested in a team friendly deal or anything. I mean, it's, I just don't think they're in a position to win

a Superbowl with him, not to mention that he's 36 and he's going to be coming off the Achilles injury, which I just can't project. So in imagination land, I do the same thing I would do in, uh, in any land, which is, I just think it's better to move on. So, uh, let's see. Let's see. Uh, Bradley responding to what I said about the Wilfs. They'll be aware, uh, if the team's stakeholders in the suites stop supporting them and money stops flowing. Well, that's never going to happen. That's never going to happen. It is never going to happen. The people are not going to stop supporting the Minnesota Vikings. Never going to happen over what if I mean, over, over a roster decision, like that's, this is not Carolina. This is not Washington. This is, you don't have owners that are destroying the franchise. You have owners that want to win

is like the biggest thing that people complain about. I've heard worse. I've heard a lot worse things about owners than they always want to win. I don't agree, as I just laid out, I don't agree with some of the strategy, but people are not going to stop showing up at suites and filling that stadium every year.

That place is going to be 100% full. That's why I've never really even thought, I've never even really thought it's about tickets. Because they sell all the tickets. Jerseys, they sell the jerseys. This state is obsessed with this team. Look at you right now. Look at all of you.

You're here right now. This team's not, they have a three percent chance in the playoffs you're right here now talking about michael pennix how much do people love this team which is great it's what i do i i want you to be here but i i don't think there's ever it's like what are we gonna stage a walkout because they have tried to win too much like i don't know it's kind of a i'm at a weird place with that. I think that you have some of the best owners in the NFL, but that doesn't mean that they always have the right idea to try to win a Superbowl. Uh, David says, what would bringing back Kirk going to help a rookie? Uh, I don't love that idea unless you're drafting someone just like

him non-mobile. Oh, i see what you're saying as far as like helping a rookie uh yeah so oh that must have been something that came up in the comment section yeah i i don't think that kirk's the guy to help a rookie i just don't think that's who he is i think kirk cousins is very much focused on his job and that whole deal where you talk about that anyway i've never really bought too much into like backups can help a rookie starter but i'm not sure if you're a rookie veteran maybe i mean alex smith was great with patrick holmes i guess i'm just not sure that that's as much of a thing as you want it to be because the starting quarterback has to be really in his own world so um now we're now we're're relitigating the 2015 team.

Uh, if you go back and look at how that team was playing, they were really good. Defense was really rolling in 2015. I've had people with the Vikings say to me that if that 2015 team had beaten Seattle, they felt very confident about what was going to come next. So yeah, I don't know. I mean, you had Adrian Peterson led the league in rushing Bridgewater had, um, had a pretty good season. Defense was playing incredible. They would have had a shot. I don't know if they would have won the super bowl. They would have had a shot. Anyway, uh, once we've got to the, uh, the point of debating Teddy Bridgewater, who, by the way, I really hope plays this week and is going to retire from football as one of the all time great stories ever in the history of football.

All time. I mean, imagine being in an ambulance and hearing that you could lose your leg and then coming back and playing and winning some games and having a real career. Like I hope he gets a chance to get the standing ovation from the crowd in Detroit before he retires. And congratulations to him on that. I mean, everything you've heard, here's my experience with Teddy Bridgewater. Everything you've heard is true. Everything about him as a person, his impact on other people, his leadership, how much people gravitate to him, the things he does away from the stadium, how he led people and the potential that he had if he hadn't hurt his, his leg. That's, that's been my understanding from all, all the years of being around. So

anyway, all right, you guys have been amazing. I didn't even realize that we had gone on this long. I got to get back to work on my article. So make sure you look for that, purpleinsider.com tomorrow. Harrison Smith, and if this is his last game, he's made a Hall of Fame case. I'm going to lay it all out in my article tomorrow. Thank you all for coming by.

Huge crowd tonight. Really appreciate you guys. We'll be back here tomorrow with Manny Hill talking football and then going forward. This train does not slow down when the season ends. So keep that in mind that the podcast will continue to roll. So

thanks everybody so much for watching. Really enjoyed the discussion and we'll catch you all next time.