Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - NFL Insiders all think Sam Darnold is coming back????

Episode Date: March 5, 2025

The Vikings didn't put the franchise tag on Sam Darnold. That's not a shock. What is surprising is that everyone from Adam Schefter to Ian Rapoport to Jordan Schultz is all saying that they believe the Vikings and Darnold are trying to work out a short-term contract. Really?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. And look at us. Who would have thought? The Minnesota Vikings indeed did not franchise tag Sam Darnold today. The deadline was this afternoon at 3 p.m. Central. So the dream for a lot of you of the Vikings making a trade to the Titans or the Raiders for a second or third round pick, well that is officially out the window. But the rest of it still seems to be up in the air. But that is really the question here of the

evening and I am interested in your questions, comments, thoughts, reactions to today. The question is, are you buying the reports that the Minnesota Vikings have mutual interest with Sam Darnold about a reunion going forward? Do you think that this is just a replay of 2024 with Kirk Cousins where the Vikings say, yeah, we'll negotiate with you. Sure, we love you, but you know, maybe you should go check out the market and if you come up with something else that's more expensive, well, I guess you'll have to enjoy another city. Or is this a situation where the Vikings actually really want Sam Darnold back and they would like to convince Sam Darnold to stay on a short-term contract because they would prefer to have two talented quarterbacks instead of one

in a world where most teams have zero or at least maybe 50% of the league as quarterback confusion or worse. Do they want to give JJ McCarthy more time to develop, to actually practice for a year, to have a full training camp, a full pre-season? Are they thinking that JJ McCarthy is only 22 years old and that he would benefit a lot from a real healthy season behind Sam Darnold? Is Kevin O'Connell in his mind feeling like I have to make sure that I don't fail JJ McCarthy by putting him out there too soon?

And then there's other ways that this could be real, which is that maybe the ownership of this team does not want to change quarterbacks again after winning 14 games. I have said many times on the show that I feel like around the NFL that roster number 52 or two through 53 are determined by the general manager and the head coach and scouts and all that and roster spot number one is often determined by the ownership. What they want to do at quarterback. Do they want to give extensions? Do they want to draft? What do they want to do? And if the ownership of this team doesn't want to roll the dice and go to somebody else after a 14 win season in which Sam Darnold beat the Packers twice. And you know, and I know how important beating the Packers has been in the past to the

Wilfs. And they also won a lot of games at US bank stadium, which is another thing that is really important to the Wilfs. So could it be that ownership's preference is to work something out with Sam Darnold? Does Kevin O'Connell feel that his team let Sam Darnold down against the Los Angeles Rams. I believe that that's at least some of the case, whether it's blocking or coaching. They got certainly manhandled by the Rams upfront and out coached by Sean McVay

and the Los Angeles Rams in that game. And that's not to say it wasn't Sam Darnold's fault, but you could look back at that game. And I did on tape and Kevin O'Connell admitted to doing it way too many times looking back on tape. And you could come away with the conclusion that Sam Darnold wasn't given much of a chance the same way that Mahomes wasn't the same way that Herbert wasn't and you could convince yourself if you're the Vikings that if you signed the right type of deal for the right type of dollars for Sam Darnold, that you can still have the spending spree that you wanted in free agency. It's also important to note that free agency this year has a lot of B players and not a

lot of B players and not a lot of A players. It has a lot of guys that you sign for two years, 25 million and not a lot of guys that you sign for four years, a hundred million. So the Vikings may look at the free agency market this year and say, you know, we could add a lot of talent and still work around a cap hit for Sam Darnold. We could work out a contract for Darnold like Geno Smith,

like Baker Mayfield. The first year of those three year deals had a $10 million cap hit and a $7 million cap it. And their teams were able to do whatever they wanted in free agency that year to try to win around those players. So the Vikings could look at it as if Sam Darnold will sign the right contract, then we can do a lot around him and give him a better situation in year two of Kevin O'Connell's offense and it will be stronger. Will you win 14 games? I think everybody knows that's a silly place to set the bar. But could you be at the end of the day, a stronger playoff contender with a better offensive line tj hawkinson for an entire year and more talent on the defensive side and another first round draft pick or maybe multiple draft picks thrown into the mix if you are the vikings can you talk yourself into one of our favorite games on the show talk Into, are they playing a game of talk yourself into that being a good idea? And then on the other side of things, now here's where even if the Vikings thought this

was a good idea, I would have expected that Sam Darnold would have enough suitors somewhere between four and six teams looking for his services to the point where he couldn't come back to Minnesota on some sort of Geno Smith type of contract because some other team was going to go crazy and they were going to throw four years and $140 million at him. But the reporting today and even people who aren't necessarily insiders but are in the league, the rich Isans, the Daniel Jeremiah's, those guys. Daniel Jeremiah had a tweet about thinking that, no, he's not gonna get $40 million a year from anybody in the NFL.

And he floated that the Indianapolis Colts would be interested in having him in a competition with Anthony Richardson. Now, if that's the case, if the Indianapolis Colts are trying to throw $30 million a year at Sam Darnold, if you're Darnold, why would you do that and have a competition with their top draft pick rather than staying in Minnesota and taking back the team that you already led to the playoffs last year? So Darnold's market is a major part of this because there has to be a number where everybody says, all right, well, if that's going to be the number,

then that whole cap advantage is not being taken down by Sam Darnold. And I was just looking at Gino Smith's contract. It was three years, 75 million, which of course, if we adjust that for inflation would probably be like a hundred something. But he only had a $10 million cap hit and then $26 million in the second year. So that's kind of the why all of this would happen is if Darnold goes out and his offers are from the Titans,

that's a bad organization. The Raiders, if they're interested in Chaudhuri Sanders, and they're not saying they're going to go for him, maybe it's the Browns. Well, they're a terrible franchise. The Giants, he's not going back to New York. If he looks at these teams that are giving him offers, and they're not crazy, impressive offers,

and they're all from bad teams, nobody knows better than Sam Darnold. What happens when you play for a terrible football team? You get a reputation as being a bust because you played for the Jets under Adam Gase or you played for the Panthers under Matt Rule, two of the worst coaches over the last decade. And then he comes to Minnesota and proves that he could play at a very high level, if you're Darnold I think that you are tiptoeing carefully to another franchise not just running toward the money. And that's another thing that I do know about Sam Darnold is that I don't think that he's the type of player who is just going to consider money. I think he is going to consider

who his coach is. I think he is going to consider who his coach is. I think he is going to weigh heavily that Justin Jefferson plays football here. If the Vikings truly want him back, I think he will weigh these things heavily knowing what he's been through previously in his career and also seeing how a San Francisco operates, seeing how a Minnesota operates and then comparing that to what he had in the past. Well, does the Tennessee Titans sound more like Carolina or San Francisco? Well, they sound a lot more like Carolina.

Do the Raiders now they're run by Pete Carroll. How long is that going to last? Chip Kelly is there hasn't been in the NFL in years. Are we really trusting? Oh, by the way, that's in the AFC West where there's this guy named Mahomes that wins 14 or 15 games every year. It could be a favorable situation for Darnold,

even if it's tenuous, even if he knows it's probably only a one-year thing. To give JJ McCarthy time to become the franchise quarterback, Sam Darnold could still see that as the best possible option. So what I've been trying to work through is not just the why, I think that's the why. And we all know the why on the side of J.J. McCarthy.

And when I laid this out weeks ago for why they would potentially bring back Sam Darnold. I got a lot of pushback on it. And I also thought at the combine that Kevin O'Connell was trying to push back on these reasons, but then now we've got this. So we've got to figure out the why, the how, and then whether we think it's real or not. That's the process I'm working with here and I'll get to your questions and comments.

So the why is that Sam Darnold might not see these other teams as favorable and it might push the number down low enough for the Vikings to have him back on a 10 or 12 million dollar cap hit for next year which would make up I don't know 8% of the salary cap and they would be able to do whatever they want. He might look at those teams and say no no I would rather be back in Minnesota and whatever happens happens, but that's where I want to be. That's where I know I'm going to be good. And from the perspective of Kevin O'Connell, he may look at JJ McCarthy and say, if he does not play this year, he will be the disgusting old age of 23 by the time he actually hits the field in 2026. Kevin O'Connell has a contract extension that goes for a long time and he doesn't have to look at this like I have to win next year or

I have to play the rookie next year. How many times have you heard me say on the show if you are having a baby to save the marriage, then you should just break up. Well, that's how I've always felt about teams like the Bears drafting quarterbacks to save people's careers. Well, if you're forced, if you're in a position where you don't have to try to save your career, if you're KOC, then you don't have to force this timeline. If you're Kevin O'Connell, and you feel like you're going to be the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings for a very long time to come, you are thinking more along the lines of, let's try to potentially,

I'm saying potentially, I'm trying to work through this. I'm not saying for sure what Kevin O'Connell thinks, just to clarify. Potentially Kevin O'Connell is thinking that he could try to run it back this year and compete with the best teams in the NFC, which they did last year with a lot of the same pieces and then add some and stay with the same quarterback for a second year. And then in the longterm over the next five to seven to 10 years of his tenure in Minnesota,

JJ McCarthy is his guy locked at the hip and it's those two going forward. But for the very short term, take the swing for next year and then make sure JJ McCarthy's 100% ready to go as the starting quarterback. That's the why. Now the how is a little bit complex because what kind of contract

can you get Sam Darnold to agree to? Can you get him to agree to a deal that is going to be so cheap that you can afford it and you can spend all the money in free agency? And this is where, this is where it does, it does test whether, because a lot of people have said, the only reason I want to move on from Darnold is because of the quarterback contract. But if I tell you that actually they can work out a deal where they could do everything they want in free agency,

then it tests whether you just really want JJ McCarthy, which is fine. But I'm just saying like, let's make it clear about that. It's not going to destroy their salary cap situation going forward. If he signs a very reasonable deal that is also tradable, that has to be a major part of this is it has to be a tradable contract that if Sam Dardell plays well, but it's not good enough and they're ready to go to JJ McCarthy, then they can't have a deal that another team's going to say, no, that contracts too much for us. We're just going to force you to cut them, right? You want to be in a position where, or even the fact that they could cut them

and still not get destroyed on the salary cap, that would be important too. The Atlanta Falcons didn't think of that and they're getting crushed and the Denver Broncos didn't either, but the Vikings would need to work out a contract like Geno Smith, who if Seattle cuts Geno Smith today, they only will have a one year, $13 million dead cap hit or $14 million dead cap hit and they'll move on. So they worked out a deal like this that was essentially two years. They could get out of it almost at any time and it was very tradable if they needed to. And the Vikings would have to have

it that way. They have to have the option and the opportunity to be able to trade Sam Darnold after a year. Now if you're on Sam Darnold's side, okay, so you can agree to all that. Hey, it's a year to year league anyway, right? I mean, look at Kirk signs a four-year deal and he's out after one. Like that's football, right? We can never look way down the road. I mean, T at Kirk signs a four year deal and he's out after one like that's football, right? We can never look way down the road I mean Trey Lance probably thought he was the future of the franchise for the 49ers and then it turned out to be some Other guy that they picked in the seventh round. That's football. That's the history of the game. It's always year-to-year Who would have ever thought like go back five years and look at the top quarterbacks you go? Oh what? Yeah, that's right, man. Carson Wentz was considered like a franchise guy.

And then all of a sudden he's a backup. So life comes at you fast in the NFL and you can't really plan two, three, four years down the road. So if darn old were to say, okay, that's fine. But if I'm going to sign a tradable contract and if I'm going to sign a one year essentially contract, then I've got to have my no trade clause

and I've got to be sure that I have control over my next location, that you guys just cannot trade me to the New York Jets or something to the highest bidder. I've got to give my thumbs up on that. So there's the whole logic of it. And you've seen all the insiders, all the reports say that they're both willing to have the conversation. They're both willing to talk about a potential return. That's the why and the how. Now we get to, is it real?

And my answer is, I don't know. I don't know. I honestly don't know because I was the one. And this shows you how both sides of the fence I've been all off season. I was the one that weeks ago going into the combine was saying, look, I wouldn't be surprised if I hear things that the Vikings want Darnold back and that they, you know, they want to take it slow with McCarthy and it really depends on how his recovery is coming along and that's information that we don't have. And like you guys heard all that if you watch the show or listen to the show all the time,

you heard me lay it all out. And then we go to the combine and what do we hear there? We hear JJ McCarthy's up over 200 pounds. We hear he's on track to start the offseason program. And so to me, that meant, Oh, all right. Well, that sounds like they're going out of their way to tell us how healthy JJ McCarthy is. So off we go to JJ McCarthy land.

And that's a fine outcome too. And that's what I'll get to eventually sort of the implications of all this but. I mean okay good alright then it's JJ McCarthy time and off you go into the future and even though there might be some bumps that's fine if if KLC thinks he's ready to go then. Then do it then put JJ McCarthy and I sense. then do it, then put JJ McCarthy in. And I sensed that that was the signal we were getting from Kevin O'Connell and Quasi da Fomenta that we're ready to go here. Thanks for the memory, Sam Darnold. There was a lot of past tense that was used in talking about Sam Darnold. And then we come back to this and there was some conversation a Rich Eisen mentioned it

Alec Lewis put in his article and I think Jeremy Fowler did too there was some conversation in Indy that well you know they actually might want to bring him back but also I was told that the Vikings were asking around trying to see if a team would trade for him on the franchise tag. So what is going on is the question. And the answer is either one or two things. It's either that the Vikings, and this is how they've done business, since Quasiadapho Menta got here, he has had a price. And you either match the price or you don't.

You either meet the price of Quasiadapho Menta and his plan and his salary cap hit price or you don't. You either meet the price of Quezada Fomenta and his plan and his salary cap hit, or you don't. So if Sam Darnold meets that price and meets that contract and nobody else can convince Darnold to sign somewhere else, they would probably do it because that's how they do business of, hey, if we're gonna get a quarterback back that threw for 35 touchdowns, top 10 season,

14 wins for a cap hit next year of $10 million, because that's the whole thing, right? Well, hey, at $10 million, he's great, but if it's more than that, well, if for 2025, it's $10 million just on the cap, and then it's movable after that, well, that might be a different story, right? They might view that as a good idea.

And if he wants a lot more than that, well, okay, then he's gone. And that's the way that they've handled so many other players. That's the way they handled Delvin Tomlinson. That's the way they handled Zedarius Smith. Remember that. And that's the way they handled Kirk Cousins.

Was they put a number, and I fully believe, look, I fully believed that if Kirk Cousins had come to the Vikings last year and said, you know what, I'll take two years, $60 million, I'll go to your number, $30 million a year, and I'll be your bridge quarterback, and you can draft McCarthy and we'll shake on it. If he had done that,

he would have been the Vikings quarterback last year and it would have been a disaster, but he would have been the Vikings quarterback last year if he had agreed to it because that's how they it seems that these decisions are a moving target. They're not we're doing this no matter what we're doing that no matter what it's economically and remember this is quasi a daffodil Mensa's what. It's economically, and remember, this is Quasi-Adofio-Mensas background.

It is economics. It is at this market price, it's good. At that market price, it's too much. The franchise tag was not something that they were going to play Sam Darnold on. $41 million, this huge, just anchor on the cap for this year. You have to push every contract down the road, they weren't gonna do it that way.

They were not gonna do it that way. But if it's three years, $90 million and the first two years cap hit are 10 million and 18 million, well, that sounds much more reasonable. And then if you could cut them down the road or you add those vaunted void years that by the time the cap goes up five more times will be worth almost nothing on the cap.

You see what I mean? It's like always this kind of malleable thing for them in the way that they look at roster decisions. So I guess we shouldn't have assumed that the quarterback position would be any different. But if that number is too high, then it's time to go to JJ McCarthy and they also if they are The one thing we might say is that there's some signal here that they are not all about JJ McCarthy starting week one

so for me I Would be if Darnold leaves if they choose to not woo Darnold back Then I don't think you can sit here and say oh well, okay You know, I guess we'll bring in Daniel Jones and he'll start week one and then we'll see where you can't do that You can't do that like McCarthy's got to be ready to be the guy or you bring back Darn Arnold if he's not if you don't think that he's going to be so There is a price that they would probably do it for and play him next year and then deal with that I don't think based on everything that has been laid out there that it's just completely over or this is totally fake

I don't think that this many insiders come to the same conclusion on the same day if they haven't been told pretty directly. And while the Vikings have not often just leaked things out, you know, something like this sounds pretty Vikings-y. But, you know, look, if you could look at it the other way, you could look at it like This is Sam Darnold side trying to pump up interest elsewhere Trying to say he'll go back to the Vikings if you don't go all in on Sam Darnold. So that's the thing, right? That's the thing and you know, I see a lot of you saying it makes no sense makes no sense Well, I laid out why it makes sense if You go back in history,

try to find me any time a quarterback has played as well as Sam Darnold did last year and a team let him go. There's not many examples. You might struggle to find any examples. The one that comes to mind is Alex Smith led the league in passer rating and then lost in the playoffs and they moved on to my homes. But my homes was healthy for the entire year and played in week 18 and they saw him and they knew how good he was. It's just. How many times does anyone ever put on a performance like he did last year on the

whole, not the last year on the whole, not the last game on the whole. And then the team just goes, nah, screw them. Now, and case Keenum is not an example. I don't think, I don't think it's an example because Keenum did not put up numbers like that. Not even close. And not only that, but case Keenum didn't have the skill to do that. That's The part of it when you look at Sam Darnold his skill set his draft status his arm strength his playmaking all those things a

quarterback like this Truly like this Matt Castle is a good try, but Tom Brady was their quarterback. So that's not comparable to this How many times in history has a team ever had a performance like this? Tom Brady was their quarterback, so that's not comparable to this. How many times in history has a team ever had a performance like this, even just say over 10 wins, over 30 touchdowns, over this level, and then just said,

you know, we're gonna go to something totally unproven. And that's again why Case Keenum doesn't really qualify because they went to a quarterback who had proven to be better and more talented in Kirk Cousins than Case Keenum doesn't really qualify because they went to a quarterback who had proven to be better and more talented in Kirk Cousins than Case Keenum. It would have been like letting Case Keenum go and then going to somebody that they drafted that year. Jeff George is another good try

and I've made that comparison. Jeff George was much older than Sam Darnold and I mean, he played well, I think he went eight and two, but he didn't play as well as Sam Darnold did this year. And he was also older and had some issues, which Sam Darnold does not have. So I don't think that you're actually capable of finding an example like this,

where a team just moved on from a quarterback that played that well. I think a lot of it is for Vikings fans. If you do a little mind experiment, imagine that you didn't know JJ McCarthy was here and the Vikings were going to let Sam Darnold go, you'd be losing your mind. So that kind of tells you that, you know,

I think it's really about JJ McCarthy for fans, not so much about Sam Darnold go, you'd be losing your mind. So that kind of tells you that, you know, I think it's really about JJ McCarthy for fans, not so much about Sam Darnold, because the way that Darnold played and the additions that they can make to the roster with the right type of contract, I think if McCarthy wasn't part of this discussion, we would all be talking about, all right, well, Darnold proved himself. That's what we would be saying. He proved he could play and now they need to get him some guards, get Darasov back, improve the defense, get a couple corners and here we go. It's Super Bowl or bus next year. Right? That's what you would be saying if JJ McCarthy wasn't part of this conversation, and I don't necessarily agree that his stats were inflated by the lack of rushing the touchdowns.

Okay, you could say the touchdowns were but they were a top-10 scoring team when he was the main centerpiece of the offense moving the ball up and down the field because they weren't doing it with their running game. So I mean you could go back and forth, but he was an efficient quarterback. He was a top 10 PFF quarterback. As far as his regular season goes for last year, not the playoff game,

but as the whole of his regular season, he was a top 10 quarterback last year. So if McCarthy was not a part of this discussion, everyone would be on board with, sign them to a reasonable contract, put as much around them as you possibly can, and off you go, competing with the Jordan loves, competing with the Bears, competing with the Lions,

just like they did last year, to get within one game of the top of the division. That's how you'd be talking about it. The fact that McCarthy is here, I think what happened is by, what would we say? Maybe the third quarter, probably even the second quarter. Maybe when he fumbled, when Sam Darnold fumbled and was it Jared verse who picked it up

and ran it for a touchdown, just like in classic Viking fashion, when that happened, the entire, how many people we think are Vikings fans? The, I don't know. Is there 10 million Vikings? Let's just say 10 million. 10 million Vikings fans who are watching that worldwide said it's JJ McCarthy time.

Every single, 10 million out of 10 million at that moment decided it was time to move on for JJ McCarthy. So then when we get to this moment and you hear, wait, they're not going to move on to McCarthy after that performance. Then I think that there's some cognitive dissonance here and it's hard to get back to the bigger picture, the entire logic, the five year type of plan and outlook for the Vikings that could include Sam Darnold for another year, because everybody moved on to the kid

after that moment. But when we break down the performance that he actually put on, the year two potential, the opportunity to sign him to a reasonable deal, to add other people to the mix, it's always interesting to me, and I'm not against the idea of moving on to McCarthy. We'll get to that, we'll get to that.

But it's always interesting to me that you can see a season like Sam Darnold just had, and be sure that there's a better person behind him who's never played, and who didn't have great numbers in college. And look, I was, as I'll say it a million times, because apparently I have to for some people that I sat here in this seat and reported after I came home all sweaty from training

camps, sitting out there every day reporting on the Vikings. I know it's a hard life out in the sun watching football, but I reported over and over again that McCarthy was looking great in camp and that he was making progress and that he was impressing everybody around the organization. So bringing back Darnold on a short-term deal would not mean that that's thrown out the window. It would just mean that the Vikings have a great quarterback situation set up for the future, where if Sam Darnold takes some other step and wins several playoff games and goes to the Super Bowl, then he's just good enough.

Then he's like your guy, right? And if he doesn't, then you'll have a fully developed over two years, JJ McCarthy. So when you look at this from a wide lens, not the I want to see JJ McCarthy, I will throw myself off of US Bank Stadium if he doesn't play, which is what most comment sections turn into. Then you can kind of see why they would consider doing this. Elden, thank you for the super chats as if Darnold is back.

How short is his leash? This is a great transition question to something I've been thinking about all day, which is as much as I can sit here as the host of the objective football show and lay out all the stuff for you. The contract, the stats, the history of people who went and played their first playoff game and failed. How about this? Eli Manning, first playoff game, three

interceptions, 23 to 0 loss. Joe Flacco's first five playoff games, the guy threw one touchdown and then won the Super Bowl. Like judging somebody by a playoff game is just not logical, especially when his coaching staff screwed up and his offensive line was horrendous. We know that, but you know that. And if McCarthy wasn't here, you'd be saying that. You'd be saying, well, okay, well, next year, if you get the better this and better that, right? As much as I can say that, there has already formed a deep connection between the fans of JJ McCarthy. This is very clear to me.

Every single time I talk about it, if I even say, you know, guys, he didn't throw a lot of passes in college, you might not be ready. I mean, it's like kicking a hornet's nest. It's like I just punted JJ McCarthy's dog by saying he might not be ready. I mean, it's like kicking a hornet's nest. It's like I just punted J.J. McCarthy's dog by saying he might not be ready. Like that is the rage that has come my way every time that I have suggested that it might be better for him to take another year. That's even a possibility.

And so I think that this connection that's already been formed between McCarthy and Vikings fans Because of how good he looked in The preseason game your first impression matters a lot It matters all the time in all life all the time If you take a car off a lot in a test drive think about this like this is a mental thing Take a car off the lot in the test drive, think about this, like this is a mental thing. Take a car off the lot in the test drive. If you like it in that test drive going 30 miles an hour around the block,

you're gonna apologize for that car and you're gonna love that car no matter what goes wrong with it. It's gonna take a lot more to convince you that that's not a great car because your first impression was that it's great. That's not saying that McCarthy won't be great. I think he's got a

great opportunity to. I will share with you a conversation I had with my wife after a training camp practice one day. I came home after he had about the best practice he had had all summer, and I said to my wife, you know, how was practice, how did it go? And I said, they told me we were getting Matt Hasselbeck and I think they might've got John Elway. And I know that's setting it like that's being hyperbolic, but that's how good it looked, right? Like it's not that anybody's down on him or the Vikings are down on him. It's just that if you play Sam Darnold for another year, you have a very legitimate chance to compete for the division and to make the playoffs. And if you don't play JJ McCarthy next year, he is not ruined. His career is not over. He, in fact,

might be better for it if that ends up happening. So that's why I've never been afraid of that outcome. But really that wasn't the main question. The main question was, do we really think this is happening? Are you at 50-50? Are you at 60-40? I mean, I came out of the combine 90-10 that they were going to McCarthy,

but before the combine I was 60-40. Am I 50-50 now? Maybe, maybe 50-50. Because I can see how it could happen. And I could also see this just being a lot of noise because the Minnesota Vikings are never going to ever tell anyone they don't love a quarterback. So they might just be saying,

yeah, we'll bring them back at a very, very low number. And we're still interested and so forth. Now, the other side of it being that most of the reports say both parties, both parties, are both parties interested? Well, does that mean that they've, the insiders have heard from both parties that they're interested,

or is that one side saying, you know, right? Who can pick these things apart? But the entire point is just that I think that still I would lean toward J.J. McCarthy as the starting quarterback of the Vikings. But I also think that it is cognitive dissonance rather than logic and rather than facts and rather than the cold hard truth of it that has made people so strongly in the camp.

I will not watch football ever again if Sam Darnold. I feel like that's what I see every single time. Like there is no way there is no way it'd be the stupidest thing ever. It's like, wait a minute, wait a minute. Has it been too long since that Packers game? Has it been too long since he played as well as he did? And one thing that frustrates me sometimes is that it always goes down a road where it's like Sam Darnold was really good and also handled this so well. The situation last year, his teammates loved him his coaches loved him

He played his butt off. He played through injuries, you know, he goes out of the game in Chicago comes back in leads a game-scoring drive He had all of these great moments that seemed to go up in smoke When he got beat by the Los Angeles Rams and nobody does it like that in the NFL. Nobody. I mean, did the Chargers just get rid of Justin Herbert? Is there, are there fans done with Justin Herbert after his playoff game? I don't think so. Is CJ Stroud toast? Are they done with my homes?

It's like, no, I go, okay, my homes is different, but how about Herbert? Like he hasn't won in the playoffs yet. And I would still be pretty strong on Justin Herbert being a good quarterback. Right. So I think that the paths here are all good. That if Sam Darnold comes back, nobody wants it in the fan base. I get it. And I do think that it will get uncomfortable very fast.

If he doesn't play great right off the bat, if they don't start out for an hour, if it's two and two and they're at us bank stadium and they go three and out or they're down 10, nothing. The way that Vikings fans react to stuff now has changed so much over my years covering the team. And I think it happened during the Kirk era where there was just this frustration of being mediocre where when I first got here, the, the case kingdom season, there were so many defenders of case, Keenum through that year.

I was skeptical of case Keenum throughout that season. And I remember getting demolished by Vikings fans. He's got it. He's like far. He's like every day. What it was just, and I felt at that time, like Vikings fans were very much. Behind the team. They believed in Zimmer.

They believed in the defense. They, they were much less. I think in this mode of being, if we don't win a championship, I'm going to die kind of thing. It was it was a much more of a belief in the team and in case Keenum. But last year, every week we came in here and talked about it. And it was like, the fans are just not buying this until they actually really win something.

And the impatience of Vikings fans is palpable in the stadium you feel it. And even this is how this is how much this is because once they put a decibel meter up in the stadium now i have data for this so i'm not just and it works and it's like a real decibel meter. So i actually like watch it. And I try to look at how into this game are the fans based on that decibel meter. And even when the Vikings this year had the bad Jacksonville game, which they won, and had a couple other was the Indianapolis game

was sort of underwhelming. They came back, maybe it was Arizona and they were losing in the game. And fans just stopped cheering Just entirely just gave up on that game until Darnold came back. That's where we're at right now and I think that It's really telling about the frustration that built up over being so mid Year after year and paying Kirk and just not being good enough and being stuck in the middle that there is so much fear of that happening again that and you know, Stevens, I have,

you know, 50 years, but I mean, every single day of my life is someone telling me how long they've been a Vikings fan and they haven't won. I know all about it. I'm not saying, I'm not saying that you're wrong to be frustrated. I'm saying it's a factor in the way that even I'm looking saying that you're wrong to be frustrated. I'm saying it's a factor in the way that even I'm looking at this. It is a factor that the fans have gotten very, very frustrated.

And what JJ McCarthy represents may or may not be true. He has not played any football. Nobody can show me. He played one game against backups for the Raiders, but what he represents, it's not about the McCarthy. It's what the McCarthy represents is a different path. It's one, it's not how every fan base works, by the way, headless Norseman is not, it's not because I've, I've been in a place where

there's another fan base. So I've covered another fan base. It's not how I've I've been in a place where there's another fan base So I've covered another fan base. It's not however fan base works But when I think this one is very specific Because this is the only team that wins this much and never gets over the hump over 50 years as Steve said Truly they have the best I know you guys know this they have the best record of all time with the team that hasn't won and all of you know that and all of you wear it all the time and You wear it in every single decision this team makes every single quarter. They play I feel it from the fans every single quarter They play if they don't if they don't get up 14 21 points and just run away by the end of the game It'll be we're not good enough. We can't do it We're not gonna make it which you were right last year. They didn't so you nailed it But my point is not to criticize the fans for this attitude

it's to observe that and factor that in when we're talking about You know, JJ McCarthy, so what JJ McCarthy represents is the hope of this is somebody that has very, very high potential and when he's there, that means your salary cap can be a playground that you can do anything you want in that salary cap when you have him and what you've seen and you're not wrong. This is a lane that I have advocated for since 2018. Trust me, I've been carrying this torch, fighting this battle for the rookie quarterback contract.

So it represents this light at the end of the tunnel that is JJ McCarthy and the rookie quarterback contract where we've seen Purdy, we've seen Hertz. I know this time he won on a second contract, but he was on the rookie contract last time. We've seen Jared Goff go to the Superbowl. A team led through the regular season by Carson Wentz makes the Super Bowl with Carson Wentz on his rookie deal. And they had Elshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith and all these players that they went out in free agency and got, right? And how about Washington last year? They got Bobby Wagner and

they signed all these free agents, Sam Cosby. They paid a guard $18 million because they could. are at $18 million because they could. So all of you are right that JJ McCarthy represents this thing that has worked, this plan that has worked that the Vikings have not been on since Teddy Bridgewater. Teddy Bridgewater 2015 is the last time the Vikings were in this spot because even when they went to the

NFC Championship in 2017, Sam Bradford was making 20 million dollars a year on the cap that year. So they even were cap strapped in 17. They just so happened to have that 2015 draft on their rookie deals. And then you go forward and it's Kirk the whole time and they're working around 10 to 20, you know, percent of the cap and the best signing they can make is Delvin Tomlinson. They can never really go out and add that one extra person, that kind of thing. So knowing that all of you, all of you know football, all of you know what happened, you know why it happened and McCarthy is something different. And I fully, completely agree with you.

But there are two different sort of discussions here of what is the future versus what is next year. And next year could just mean Sam Darnold because of what happened with JJ McCarthy and his knee and If not for his knee then it would have been Him as the backup all year and probably the easy choice here because they would have been able to evaluate it the whole time So you can see how many layers there are to this. But I do think that Sam Darnold's side has to consider all that stuff I just said about how badly the fan base wants JJ McCarthy and not him. Maybe from his perspective, he's like, hey, these other teams, man,

but you go to Tennessee, you go to New York, you represent, well, I don't know if he wants to go to the Giants, but you go to the Raiders, you represent something else to them. You represent this, he's the guy who just won 14 games, who's coming in here to totally change our franchise, to finally get us back on track. That's what you represent to the Raiders. What you represent to the Vikings fan base is how fast can we bench him to get to the other guy? And I think that it's not fair based on the expectations you're setting for JJ McCarthy, which is he's got to be better than what Sam

Darnold was. That's a, that's a high bar folks. That's one of the best seasons that a quarterback has ever had in franchise history. So there's a lot of complicating factors as it pertains to the fans, but if I'm Sam Darnold, if I'm his representation, I'm thinking, well, here's what you got away. You got away. If you go to the Tennessee Titans, they might not get you the receivers you need. Their coach might be a fool. He's had a couple fools before, and there were a few times last year that I thought Brian Callahan looked like a total amateur when he was coaching Tennessee. So that's a concern. That can they can they block for him?

Can they do they have anybody who get who's going to get open like he has to consider that but he also has to weigh that against if you come back here And you don't do the same thing as last year. You're gonna get boot off the field and maybe you're gonna get benched so You're right Halley's Holy smoker Just call you Halley from now on

It's not fair and it is reality. That's right. It's not fair for McCarthy and it's not fair for Darnold The way that the fans have approached this entire thing, but it is reality. That is true So let me continue the conversation a moment. You know what else is not fair? people like myself who Start to you know have the hairline drift backwards so one of the great sponsors of our show is Hims. And if you are losing a little bit on the hair side, well, you don't have to worry about it anymore

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is appropriate restrictions apply, see website for details and safety information. So there you go. You guys have caused me to lose hair over this quarterback thing. How about that for a transition? No, here's the bottom line for me. I don't know which way this is going to go.

And so I'm landing now in the middle. And I spent half the day texting with all of everybody else. I know going and doing radio hits. I did like four radio interviews to everybody wants to know what's going on with Sam. Darnold. Is he coming back? Is he not coming back? And I can feel the exhaustion because we've gone through this.

How many times? Case Keenum 2018, Kirk Cousins signed an extension 2020 after the 2019 season. Then after 2021, the new regime arrives and we think Kirk's getting traded. And then there's no quarterbacks to draft, despite what the draft industry tried to tell you, but they were not good. So the Vikings knew that and they didn't draft a quarterback in 2022. So Kirk came back then after 2023, is he going to sign an extension? Is he not? There were talks. Then Daniel Jones signs for 40 mil and then it doesn't happen.

And all right and then last year At this very time last year And I remember I just remember it well What we were talking about how we were talking about it. I remember it very well I actually remember on the first day of The open period for legal tampering I was sitting right here at my desk of the open period for legal tampering.

I was sitting right here at my desk and I was doing the same thing as everybody else and scrolling, scrolling, went, Shepter, tell me what's gonna happen. And I said, you know what? I'm just gonna go to McDonald's. I'm just gonna go get some food. And while I was in the line at McDonald's, Shepter puts out the tweet that

Kirk Cousins is signing with the Atlanta Falcons. And it just sort of tells you we've been through this a lot. You guys have been through this a lot and where you thought it was over. And I mean, you know, Steve, who's been watching for 50 years, how many times has Steve been through the who's the quarterback? I mean, you go to Dante Culpepper, you think he's the guy you probably thought call, you know, Cunningham was going to run it back three, four more times would be great.

And then you go through you lose Culpepper to the injury. You got the Gus Ferrat the one year of farve. You think Teddy's going to be the guy and then you know, you go to the playoffs, you kicker can't make a kick and then you think well, they to be the guy. And then, you know, you go to the playoffs, you kicker can't make a kick. And then you think, well, they're on the rise and they're going to be good with Teddy. And then he has, Teddy has that great preseason game where it's like, Oh man, his arm strength's improving. And then that goes out the window.

And then it's just been, is Teddy coming back? Is Sam Bradford the guy that he's getting hurt? Look, you've been through it and I get it. And so within the next week, we'll have a resolution to whether it's going to be Sam Darnold or JJ McCarthy. But again, it's sort of about what McCarthy represents, which is the answer at quarterback.

The thing that everybody dreams of having is a quarterback that you never have to answer that question. I mean, think about if you're the New England Patriots this year, this offseason, I mean, it is a party. You know that Drake made your guy. If you're Washington, you're getting Debo Samuel, whatever you just go. Oh, he's got a big cap. It doesn't matter. We got our guy. We're going right.

That's a great place to be. And it makes everything clearer. It makes everything easier when you know that you are running out that person And that's what the Vikings have been lacking forever So I get it I get it But at the same time I look at it as let's just play it out for the Sam Darnold scenario Let's say what's what's the best possible scenario of Sam Darnold returning if it happens That would be this year. He plays on a very low cap hit

They go out and they sign two guards. They draft a defensive tackle They bring Murphy and Bynum back they go and they sign another corner back They get Aaron Jones and Quinchon Judkins or whoever, whatever running back you like, Caleb Johnson from Iowa, he's awesome. They get a running back and they go back out there and what's the over under for wins this time? Is it 11 and a half, 10 and a half, right?

And you know, Randy says, dear God, no, it's so crazy to me, it is crazy. You have to admit, no matter how against Arnold you know, Randy says, dear God, no, that's it's so crazy to me. It is crazy. You have to admit no matter how against Arnold you are, it's crazy to win 14 games and have a top 10 quarterback season and have people yell, dear God, no, for you coming back and play. It's crazy. It's, it's something you would just never dream that people would be saying about anyone, no matter the circumstances, no matter what you think.

It's nuts. To me, I'm not afraid of that scenario because they just won a bunch of games and could be better next year. I just, a better team, maybe not 14 games. But just think about that way. So you put more around him, you have a healthy Darusaw, you have a healthy Hawkinson and off you go and compete. Okay. You've got a chance like everybody else. Are you the favorite? No, that'll be Philly. Are you the second favorite?

Probably Washington or Detroit or both. And then you're the next two down. I am now alerted that the last two games of Sam Darnold were not good. Well, thanks for letting me know. See, this is the tough thing, man. This is the tough thing, because every time someone says how bad the last two games are, it's like, yeah, I get it. I was there. I flew there. I was in the building. I covered the game. I know how bad it was. You don't have to tell me. But also, if you judge your quarterbacks

by their first playoff game, then you can't have Stafford, you can't have Manning, you can't have Flacco, you freaking can't have the other Manning. I mean, there's a lot of quarterbacks who don't have a good playoff game. It happens all the time.

So my point is that they are going to walk into next season as one of the four or maybe five teams, if Sam Darnold comes back in the NFC, that will be thought of as competing for the Super Bowl. Okay. That's not a terrible outcome. Is it better if JJ McCarthy is fully ready to go and it's his franchise and they are so confident in him that he's starting this year and they could spend how much ever they want and go crazy and have the cap not have to worry about the future? Of course it is. If they're so confident in JJ McCarthy that they're ready to send Darnold packing, then of course that's better. No one disagrees with you that that that's better,

but if they play Sam Darnold and have one of the five best odds in the NFC to compete for the Superbowl going into the season, and then after one year of Darnold, if it doesn't work out and he doesn't take them to the Superbowl or the NFC championship, and then they move on from him in a trade and because he's got a good contract that's tradable, presumably, then they're able to move him. I don't see this as a bad situation for the Vikings. That's my whole point.

And if they decide that it's better to have two quarterbacks than one sort of the reverse version of the John Madden thing Then I'm gonna have a tough time arguing with it and I've said it over and over I'll say it again That if Kevin O'Connell wants Sam Darnold back and wants to give McCarthy more time you guys are gonna have to fight with him because that's gonna be hard for me to do. And I actually do as part of my job, talk to Kevin O'Connell and I'd be fascinated to get the answer about how it happened, if he comes back and why and all that sort of stuff

and the explanation, and I'm sure he'll give it to us. But just based on his track record with quarterbacks, I think that he's earned the right for us to say that he's probably doing it for a reason if they bring back Darnold. And not now says if JJ only wins eight games. It is going to be a tough road for JJ McCarthy. I think if JJ McCarthy only won eight games next season, that I would probably look at it as, well, that was his age 22 season, so I think we can have a longer view of this. But, you know, where they stand in their timeline is that they have a lot of players in their prime, so they are expected to win right away. But I do think that if he wins only eight games,

we're not freaking out and calling him a bust. And Thomas says, what if you signed Arnold and he doesn't play well? This is a great question, Thomas, because it's the right question to ask. And if you're in TCO Performance Center and you're having this meeting, they got all these meeting rooms. It's a huge building and they're sitting at a long table and Picture it. It's like, you know, this old-school movie where there's smoke in the air and There's a single light on and they're having this serious meeting and someone says

what if Darnold comes back and he's the old Sam and and someone says, what if Darnold comes back and he's the old Sam? And then there's just a pause and a hush over the gentleman in there, right? I mean, I just, it's a serious question. If he doesn't play well and they bring him back, then can you still trade him? Do you have to cut him?

Do you end up taking just a huge L? What are the odds of that? I think that the odds of him playing horribly and being cut like Kirk or Russell Wilson are low. But because of the supporting cast, because of the coaching, all those things, we saw Nick Mullins play well. And briefly, we saw Josh Jobs play well. Heat Grimm says that I don't care about success at all. See, you gotta listen more. Because I have always said that the goal of this show in all of my analysis is always aimed at the Minnesota Vikings winning a Super Bowl.

That's always the standard that I'm going to talk about how they can compete for a Super Bowl. But if you're telling me that next year they go into the season as a top five Superbowl odds team in the NFC, then they are trying to compete for a Superbowl. Last year they were competing for a Superbowl. When you win 14 games, you are doesn't mean you want it. It means that you were there competing for a Superbowl. And also I've spent all this time telling you that JJ McCarthy is the route, but you have to wait until he's ready to play to play him. And if KOC doesn't think he's ready to play, then you're going to have to give it another

year. It's always the goal how to get them to a Super Bowl. Every single thing that we ever talk about, which guard to draft, which defensive tackle, what do I always use as the standard? I always use, what's your point differential gotta be to compete for the Super Bowl? Why do I do that? Like who's winning the Super Bowl and how?

Why do I do that? How can you get there? Because that's how we talk about it, that's the goal. So if you think that bringing back Sam Darnold means there's no chance that this team has success. Well, I mean, that is like your opinion, man, but also last year they were there. They were there competing for that before the roster was even ready at that point to be there.

That's why they had six and a half wins as their total and they blew it out of the water was because the thought was from the gambling community from the prognosticators that the roster wasn't even there yet and it proved at the end of the day that they weren't especially with losing Darasaw and that's the key part of this is if you're going to bring back Sam, and that's the question for the Vikings, if they do bring him back is how are you going to build up enough around him this year? Because if you bring back Darnold, this is a key point. And it is a very important point that you bring up about aiming for success, aiming for a Super Bowl. Is there enough in the free agent market?

Is there enough in the draft with four picks? Which in my mock draft most recently, I turned that into like eight picks. So hey, Quacey, what are you doing? But is there enough in free agency to stack up this roster? Are there enough players to bring back, to re-sign? Are there enough draft picks that can be impact players right away to compete for a Super Bowl with Sam Darnold next season? And I think the answer is yes and no.

It's yes as in you'll be one of the teams in the mix. And it's no that you won't be the favorite. The Eagles will be the favorite, deserved. Everybody's got to chase them down. Can you match the Eagles roster next year? Probably not. But when we talk about the playoffs, this is the thing, right?

The Philadelphia Eagles made their first Super Bowl. Remember this? 2022, they got to play the Giants this is the thing, right? The Philadelphia Eagles made their first Super Bowl. Remember this? 2022, they got to play the Giants that beat the Vikings. That was a bad team. And then in the NFC Championship, the other team's quarterback ripped his arm off in the first quarter and they made the Super Bowl. So you need to have some things go right for you.

I was thinking about this the other day, just how crazy the NFL can be and the tangled webs and how if the Vikings lost in Seattle they would have gone to Tampa Bay and maybe Seattle would have won the West and the Rams would have been out of the playoffs and how different everything would have been if Sam Darnold didn't make an awesome play against the Seahawks. That's how delicate the whole thing is. So you're going to go into next season if you have Sam Darnold with a chance to be one of those teams that makes the playoffs

with potentially double digit wins and has a shot at it. Does that mean that you're going to be able to buy next year with Sam Darnold build up a roster good enough to say that you can go and face off with the Eagles today on their turf in the playoffs and beat them? No, I don't think so. Which might be a good argument against it. It honestly might be a good argument against bringing Sam Darnold back, which is if there's not enough opportunity, because look, we talk about the spending in free agency,

but there has to be people. You have to have players that you could bring in. And Oso Digizua signed a contract today with Dallas, so he's off the list. Trey Smith, franchise-tagged, he's off the list. Those are the two best guys in free agency, so they're gone. I'm making a list for tomorrow. Purpleinsider.football everybody sign up

for the newsletter of my top 50 free agent targets for the Vikings. And once you get past like 12, there's a, you know, it's not great. I mean, it's a lot of guys who can fill out a roster who had injuries and things last year. There's not a lot of game changing free agents and they draft 24th. So that means it's hard to find someone to come in right away and be a game changer through the draft. Can you really

compete for a Super Bowl next year? And if you think the answer is no and J. J. McCarthy's ready, then you go to J. to JJ McCarthy. Now people brought up Daniel Jones. I think Daniel Jones is going to be looked at by a Pittsburgh or a Raiders or a Titans as somebody who comes in and makes $10 million and competes for a starting job. I don't think that he's a great option for the Vikings. I also, when they signed him,

when you look up Daniel Jones performance, and I know it's the Giants, but it has been truly awful. And you could say that of Darnold, but I remember doing a statistical study on Darnold last year where I really dug into every number I could find. And the thing that I came up with with Darnold was that if you get the magnifying glass out, you can see it. When his teams had some competent coaching, when he had some receivers, when he wasn't playing from behind and taking big risks, like you could see it with Daniel Jones, it's hard to find. So I think it's got to be JJ ready to play 17 games and compete for real in the NFL, or you bring back Sam Darnold.

That's the biggest thing is, it's really important, I think to them, and I think it's important from my perspective to focus on the McCarthy element of it. I got the sense that KOC was indicating that McCarthy's good to go, which is why I was leaning heavily toward Darnold leaving. And I still, I think I am still leaning

towards Sam Darnold signing somewhere else. But if he comes back, that just means that they want to develop their young quarterback for the longterm and not just for next year. And I can't hate on that. I can't say that's a mistake. I can't say it's stupid. Think about this.

I've said this to Packers people before, and I think it's really true. Somebody, I don't know, maybe it was Aaron Nagler, somebody I was talking to about the Packers. I said the best thing that the Packers have going for them, historically, is, and we make fun of it constantly about their fans. I own the Packers.

I paid 300 bucks for a piece of paper, right? Like, you know, we do, we all make fun of that. Who doesn't? But the fact that they have the football people entirely running their team and they think long-term, they think five-year plans, it's probably one of the biggest reasons they are who they are.

So if the Vikings think of a longer plan, i'm not gonna be the one to say. You guys are fools for thinking of this as a three year type of thing where you have darnell compete and then you go to jj mccarthy. It would be very hard for me to say you guys are idiots for thinking a little bit longer term than just, Hey, we want to see the kid or we got to save our jobs or something like that. Uh, who would be a choice for a bridge if McCarthy, uh, Oh, if it's not Sam, that's a good question. I mean, Daniel Jones is fine for not a bridge, but a backup as far as a bridge goes. It's not great. I mean, Mack Jones, he was, you know, good for, I guess,

a year in New England. When you look at the list of potential other quarterbacks as a bridge, they're really, I mean, Marcus Mariota, couple of years ago, I was advocating for Marcus Mariota if they moved on from Kirk in 2022, I would still defend that opinion, by the way. I think Mariota would have been fine. Could have won him like eight games, nine games,

would have been all right. But Mariota is probably the best. And I'm sure he would be better than he was in Atlanta with Arthur Smith as their head coach and stuff. But you don't really want that. You don't really want a Mac Jones, a Marriott, and that sort of stuff. Brayden says, discuss whether Nick Mullins comes back.

You know, I don't know, they seem high on Brett Rippon. Brett Rippon has got to be the all time leader in shout outs versus games played. He has probably been mentioned by Kevin O'Connell 47 times and has clearly never played. So I guess they must, they must like Brett Rippon as a potential backup option, but I'll, I will always give credit to Nick Mullins. You can never get me to hate on Nick Mullins because Nick Mullins is the hardest working person. And I mean it.

This guy's a psycho. There's a story in Mike Silver's book about how Nick Mullins instead of listening to beats and whatever in his headphones listens to play calls. I mean this guy this guy has future coach written all over him. I mean, he has worked so hard to be here and he's a great guy for young quarterbacks to be around. And also you got to respect that when he went out there, he was like, I'm Brett

Favre, baby, let's go very much respect. Nick Mullins, a great dude for the locker room and somebody who is, uh, has, has earned his spot in the NFL in a league that's very hard to stay there. Yeah, I know he's not that good, Steven, thank you. It really tells me how much you understand pro sports if you just hate on Nick Mullins. It's like, okay, well, I guess you don't understand

how hard it is to be an NFL quarterback because it's crazy hard. And this guy was undrafted. This guy never thought thought don't get me on a rant about backup quarterbacks this guy never thought for a minute he was gonna be in the NFL he was renting an apartment not buying with san francisco. Any sad some great games the NFL he gave the fight against a chance to win some games when he came in cuz he was so prepared and you're not gonna get me to criticize him no way. because he was so prepared. You're not gonna get me to criticize him, no way. He's earned a nice career for himself by working harder than anybody else. So I always appreciate him.

But that's, no, that's not really much of a subject because he's not in the mix for being that guy. They would have to go with someone else. And look, that might be part of the discussion is all right, well, if Daniel Jones is getting another job, and what if, what if we get to a point where JJ McCarthy is not ready? And then, uh, yeah, I'm just, Steve, I'm just not going to listen to the, you know, oh, he's so bad, whatever, okay. Like no one thinks, no one thinks he's a superstar, right? But I, I spend my life around these people and I see a lot more behind the

scenes and have a lot of respect for what it takes to be that guy. That's the whole point. So there's no reason to come in and trash somebody like that. Um, because, because think about how many people try to play quarterback in the NFL, hundreds of thousands. You got to be special to make it and have a career like he's had. So that's not the point. That's just nonsense. When it comes to just the Darnold discussion,

a part of it might be a fear of what if J.J. McCarthy's not ready or what if he gets injured or what, who's gonna be our other option? That has to be part of the discussion of Darnold, because if your other option isn't Daniel Jones, then the drop off from Jones, Mariotta, the job drop off is enormous to the next best guy that they could bring in. So they might prefer, no, I want nothing to do with James Winston at all. Thank you.

But like, that's the point, right? You're talking about guys who are bad, very bad, who can't win in this league. If you're going from if if JJ McCarthy is not ready, or if he were to get hurt, then you're just like, what do we do? We got to play McCarthy when he's not ready. Or if he gets hurt again, then what is your option? If you have Sam Darnold on a three-year contract that's really won, but then McCarthy gets hurt, then you at least have that, and it's already happened once. So that has to be a consideration as they are talking about all the different angles of this,

which is what I have tried to do here tonight, which is to cover every single option. So let me do this. Let's, uh, see, you know, here's another, here's another thing. Sometimes it's like, I just want you to listen. That's all I asked for. Every day is coffee says, you want the Vikings to have a $26 million cap hit next year for Darnold, but criticize them for 29 million for Kirk Cousins.

Two massive problems with that. Number one, I never said 26 million. I don't know where that comes from. I said, if you look at the structure of Baker Mayfield and Geno Smith, both of those contracts had in the first year, $10 million or less on the salary cap. So that's the number we've been working with for 2025. The other thing is when Kirk Cousins made 29 million, that made up 15 to 20% of the salary cap.

If he made 26 million now, it would make up like 8% of the salary cap because it goes up every single year. And that's% of the salary cap because it goes up every single year. And that's part of the point, right? So, you know, I just, no, you're not signing Darnold to be a backup, but we're struggling. And sometimes that happens deeper into the show. You are doing it so he can start this year. You can develop McCarthy.

You can compete with the same group in year two. You can improve what's around him. Take another shot at it and then have a contract in a situation that would allow to be flexible enough to move on from Darnold and onto JJ McCarthy in 2026 because this team is not in panic mode. That's the whole thing. in 2026 because this team is not in panic mode. That's the whole thing. So here's what I'm thinking is if you got other questions

that are not quarterback related, I'm pretty sure I've covered just about everything that could be covered here for this angle. Truly, I've even covered Nick Mullins and Brett Rippon. So we've gotten to everything quarterback wise. I'll give you truly my final percentage has gone back to where it was before the combine. And so I'm glad I did all those fun interviews at the combine because my Intel that they

were trying to trade them as far as a franchise tag. Well, I guess they didn't get that. And then I thought, okay, it sounds like KOC is done with McCarthy and now it seems like or I'm sorry done with Darnold and then now it seems like maybe not so who knows right 6040 is where I started the offseason that it would be McCarthy I'm gonna stay there at 6040 and uh Halley you say you don't need a bridge I don't I don't know that you a bridge. I don't know that you know that. I just don't know that you know that. The person who knows that is Kevin O'Connell. He's the one who knows the medical situation, the development, the development path, where

McCarthy really stands. He's the one that knows. So if they go with Darnold, there's a reason. Oh, there you go. Now, thank you, son of a beavers. Thank you. Son of a beavers, thank you. This is the kind of question we should do after an hour and 15 minutes straight of quarterback talk. Cause I got an answer for you.

What are the odds of getting a new punter? I think those odds are high. And I got a name for you. So Ryan Wright last year, I thought was fine. I mean, it didn't change my life. Didn't make me get frustrated or need more hymns for tearing my hair out. But I think they could do better.

And the guy is Tress Way, who has been one of the best punters in the NFL for years. He is a free agent. I would say it's probably likely that he ends up going back to Washington. But if he doesn't, the Vikings should look at Tressway, one of the best of the best worker sources. Yeah.

Well, you know, the thing about the thing about the combine is that there's so many people there that have a lot of different perspectives on where things are going to go. And so I know for certain that the Vikings were talking about franchise tag and trade with other teams. And clearly those other teams said, we just don't want that $41 million contract for next year. So there you go.

Yeah, Steven, you're right that Ryan Wright did have a really good first year and he looked like he was gonna be a great punter for years to come. I think what happened is Wright can really boom the heck out of the ball. And when it comes to the touch, it's here or there. When it comes to the dropping inside the 20,

that kind of thing. I didn't think he was bad though, last year. I thought he was fine. I just think they could do better There you go, Cheryl. Thank you, Cheryl. Here we go a non quarterback question Chances of a Murphy and Bynum return So I'm gonna go last night. I was trying to figure out one or the other of both. So let me just go individual Byron Murphy, I would only put it about

35 percent Byron Murphy, I would only put it about 35% chance that he returns because I think that he's going to have a lot of interest. Cam Bynum, I will go 60-40 that he does return because even though I also know for a fact that he's going to have a lot of interest because that was another thing I heard at the Combine, I also think that Cam Bynum likes to be here. He likes Josh Metellus. I think they'll reward him. And we're gonna find out very soon,

very soon about Harrison Smith within the next, I don't know, seven to 10 days. So that might influence whether he comes back as well. But I'll say he comes back. Son of a beavers with another gem of a question. Do you think that CJ Ham gets cut? I do not. It's not very expensive.

He's a great leader of the special teams and they still are going to wanna use him as a pass protector if they draft a running back. If they draft a running back, then they're still gonna want CJ Ham back there helping. They have never figured out how to use a fullback in the run game. Last year they tried more than they did the years before,

but I still think he's a very helpful player and not not a guy that you want to move on from, not just for the culture, but also he's a leader of the special teams unit, and they have a lot of plays. Winston, what does Dallas Turner look like next year? He is really the more concerning player of last year's draft Yeah, though you mean like the one you're more worried about so when I asked some folks at the Combine about Dallas Turner. I was told that

The confidence is extremely high in Dallas Turner Coming off of last year that the first part of his season was kind of tough, especially since Kyrie Jackson was one of his good friends to come in with Kyrie knowing each other, being friends, and then have, uh, that accident happen with Kyrie was really hard on Dallas Turner. But by the end of the season, he was flashing pretty consistently. Uh, they like his development path. They like his attitude. I know this from talking with Dallas myself toward the end of the season, he was flashing pretty consistently. They like his development path. They like his attitude. I know this from talking with Dallas myself

toward the end of the season, that he had really embraced a lot of the things that Brian Flores, there's a story on it, purple insider dot football. I did a story on it with Dallas where he just told me that it's a big adjustment for a different role to go from a pure pass rusher to now you gotta learn a lot of stuff.

And I think that there is a development curve, but they are confident that he's going to be a good player. I think you let Patrick Jones go you slide him into that rotational role take Andrew van ginkle off the field occasionally next year. And so maybe he plays like 600 snaps as opposed to kind of getting his feet wet this year, but this is the hard thing about rookies.

They all have different timelines. He was one of the youngest players in the league last year. And so he's going to develop slower or it's going to take more time than a Jared verse who was 24. Not the Jared versus and great. Not now says who is your favorite to talk with at the combine. If you mean in terms of like to podcast with as far as to talk with at the combine, I talked to, I don't know, 150 people

over the three days. There's so many. I really enjoyed getting to know. I didn't know. I hadn't had Q Myers on the show before ESPN Radio Guy. We had met, but I hadn't had him on on the show before ESPN radio guy. We had met but I hadn't had him on that was a good conversation I really enjoyed kind of getting to know him a little bit better and I'm gonna go on his show tomorrow So I like when I you kind of make new friends see old friends. I

Went to Courtney Cronin every year has an event For all the women in the media that go to this one place mingle that kind of thing And I know I just said it's all the women, but I learned this year that I can actually show up. So I did. And that was fun getting to go and support her event, which has become incredible. And the Bears pay for some of it.

And Kevin Warren was there, it was really amazing. So it's a lot of the stuff that goes on happens outside of the radio row, outside of all that stuff. Um, but maybe that wasn't what you were talking about for who I was talking to, but, um, as far as like the prospects, I usually don't go to a lot of those because they're available. So I can go listen to them anyway. Um, the GMs, I listened to Brett beach. That was interesting.

I'm always kind of staying around, trying to listen for coaches and different stuff to pick up on. So it's a good time. It's a good time. We'll just see if I ended up reading the room right that it's going to MacArthur or not. If not, then well, that's how it goes. I think we all kind of thought that. Does Harrison Smith get hired as a veteran mentor

if he retires? The thing about Harrison Smith is one thing I know, because I've had conversations with him about golf, is that I think when Harrison Smith retires, he's gonna go play golf for like four years. This guy has given everything to the NFL and every moment of his life with his body and all that and his mind has all been given to the NFL.

And I think that that guy's gonna, yeah, I don't think he's going right to coaching. I think he's gonna go hit golf balls. And I know from Terrence Newman that Terrence tried the coaching for a year. It was like, this is crazy. The hours of coaching are nuts. Jim says, feels like we'll have to trade down now without getting any extra picks for Sam gonna need more picks

They do need more picks Jim. You are right about that and I agree with you. They could in this draft This has been my observation in this draft You could trade down twice and be in the middle of the second round and still be getting started caliber players This is a funny draft at least from how I see it, where at the very top, no one's really that sold on most of the top draft picks. The top quarterback's questionable. I mean, I like Travis Hunter,

but I'm not clear that he's gonna be a superstar at two positions. Abdul Carter's pretty impressive, but he's not Miles Garrett level prospect. So it's pretty mad at the top, top 10. It's like, there's a couple of tackles. But once you get to the 15 to like 50, there are a lot of players where you go,

this guy's got great numbers, great athleticism, all that sort of stuff. And you can still be drafting in the 40s and 50s and have those players. So I think the Vikings trading down is a good idea. Braden says, if I want to read a book about analytics and people around them, do you have any suggestions? Are you helping me pump my book, Braden?

Because it's in the background over here. Football is a numbers game. Quacey is in it along with telling the story of PFF and the analytics revolution of football. So football is a numbers game everybody my book, but also it depends on what you mean. There's not a lot of books that are narrative based as in telling the story of analytics. It's a lot of ones that sort of teach you how my friend Eric Eager who now works for the Carolina Panthers. He is in my book. He wrote a book about how to code.

So if you're interested in coding, just search his name, Eric Eager, and his book, and you can buy his book and learn how to code through football, which is great, because he wrote it all through football. But there's not a lot of books that are like Moneyball. I kind of didn't intentionally set out to try to do that for football,

but it's kind of along the same lines of storytelling so let's see Guitano here wants to know about guitars Les Paul or SG I I'm gonna tell you a funny thing I have never played an SG that's I have a LTD Les Paul and it's not really my favorite. The body shape it's like big and it's heavy and it kind of sit when you sit down and play with it. It's kind of I feel like it's kind of over here as opposed to a strat that is more over here. I am much more of a super strat type of player, but I'm I have not played an SG. I know it's a classic. But I've just never owned one and if I go into a guitar store, I'm always I have not played an SG. I know it's a classic, but I've just never owned one. And if I go into a guitar store, I'm always drawn toward the super strats.

The ones, you know, humbuckers, that kind of thing in a strat more than I am. So I play like a Yamaha that's got a humbucker in it and a P90. It's pretty cool. I have a Yamaha rev star. I love P90s. So you can get an SG with P90s, so maybe I have to do that. Anybody else in on Guitar Talk? Let's see.

Halle says, when we trade back, where do we drop to? This is a good question. I think the farthest that you can go is, and I tried this for a draft simulation. I tried to drop all the way back to 54. I think all the way from 24 to 54, which is a crazy amount of players to pass up on. But I still ended up with Quinjohn Judkins with that pick

and Donovan Jackson, the guard from Ohio State. I was like, that's not bad. That's not bad for two guys in the 50s. But I think that the farthest you really reasonably wanna go is more like you gotta stay under 40. If you start getting over 40, you are just passing out a lot of really good players. Oh, and some of you asked about the plumber earlier. So this means that you're like really paying attention

to the show every night and much respect for you for doing that. The plumbing went fine. It was expensive but Shout out to those guys Friday night is when the line overflowed and it was like tree roots causing it and then there's corrosion Saturday we got somebody out here to clear the line so we could still live here for a couple days and Tuesday they got in and they did the whole pipe.

That's pretty good. That's pretty good. So even though it was not my favorite and it was, and you know, feel free to super chat. It was fine. It worked out okay. Didn't get in the way of Sam Darnold news and we're all good.

So shout out to the plumbers. They did a great job. CJ Vikings are guaranteed Hall of Famer with their top pick in the draft. What position would you choose? Oh, I see. OK. So if I thought you meant what everyone thinks every time there's a draft pick.

But if they were guaranteed. Well, OK. So if it's not quarterback, if it guaranteed a Hall of Famer, what position would I pick that hall of famer to be? I mean, there's a part of me that wants to say wide receiver because Justin Jefferson and a hall of fame wide receiver and Jordan Addison would be unstoppable. And here's how I know Vikings.

So there's a part of me that wants to say that if you got two hall of fame wide receivers, you know what that does for your quarterback. But if I'm not picking that, I might go corner back over defensive tackle because there are so few of them. How many corners in the league right now would you say are going to be future Hall of Famers that are starting right now? Is there two? I mean, Patrick Sertan is on that trajectory for now, but they kind of go up and down. So, yeah, I mean, I think that it's the hardest thing to find. I really do think it's the hardest thing to find.

Jonathan Harrison producer of the show wants to know what I think of John Cena. Since you guys are asking random questions what I think of John Cena since you guys are asking random questions What I think of John Cena's heel turn Well, I loved it. I loved it for the drama now. I'm not as locked in to WWE as Jonathan Harrison but I can say that I Thought that they needed a little juice for Cody Rhodes. The Cody Rhodes is so likable these days that they needed a little juice for Cody Rhodes. Like Cody Rhodes is so likable these days

that you need some villain in his life, not him, but somebody. You need him fighting against the all-American guy. You need him fighting somebody. You need something going wrong. You need somebody turning heel on him. So that was fun. And look, John Cena could be that guy.

I think he could be that guy. And the way that he went about it was great. I mean, I've never, I mean, I've seen it. And WWE's got its great moments, but the way they zoomed about it was great. I mean, I've never, I mean, I've seen it, you know, and WW he's got its great moments, but the way they zoomed in on Cena's face, just so memeable, so perfect in the rock gives him, I mean, it was just a great moment. It was a great moment.

So I'm excited to see where that goes. And Jonathan will keep me up to date on that. Corner defensive tackle would be your pick for the Hall of Fame guy. Yeah, I, that's, it's hard because also guard as a case too. Guard as a case too.