Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - No Dalvin Cook move and what we can learn from OTAs

Episode Date: June 5, 2023

Matthew Coller talks about the lack of Dalvin Cook news, offensive line continuity and answers Vikings fan questions about whether Cook still has it and OTAs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purple Insider is presented by Oakley. Express yourself. Build a look that's made for you. When you wear Oakley, there really is more than meets the eye. Try it for yourself. Oakley is not only the best looking, but the best quality. So head on over to oakley.com for more information today. Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here. And yes, if you're watching on YouTube, I am once again wearing the sunglasses because we are going to have a stats focus in just a minute. And it's presented by Oakley. So I'm wearing the Oakley's. But I first want to start out the show by saying Delvin Cook is still a Minnesota Viking. It is several days after June 1st, and yet here we are. But there were several tweets over the weekend, one by Jeremy Fowler, another by Kevin Seifert, and then Adam Schefter, more or less confirming that Delvin Cook eventually is not going to be a Viking. And Jeremy Fowler noted that he's excited about a fresh start. So it seems like even his side understands where this is all going.

And I guess it's just last minute seeing if there is a potential trade partner. By the time you've listened to this, maybe there's already an emergency podcast that has been done about Delvin Cook being released. I don't know. But we wait. It seems like it's going the same direction that it's always been going. And maybe there's a last second trade partner that they could conjure up. Maybe not. Even Miami Dolphins reporters are out there reporting that he is going to draw interest from the Miami Dolphins. So it seems like everybody is just waiting.

And I'm not sure exactly what we're waiting for. But we went through the weekend with no Delvin Cook movement. And trust me, every five minutes I was going back to Twitter, checking Schefter, making sure, even though it was a beautiful weekend, that we didn't have an emergency podcast on our hands. So if when that does happen, or if there is a last second shocking change of heart, Delvin Cook takes a pay cut, whatever happens, then of course we'll be here for you with an emergency podcast. But other than that, I have no update other than to say that it

just seems momentum continues to go in the same way that it's going. So I've got something that I wrote about and I want to talk about a little bit that has been an observation at OTAs and through this off season. And then I have a bunch of awesome questions from you guys. Going to be a couple of fans only episodes this week. There's another OTA practice. Will Raggett and I will do another podcast from TCO Performance Center as usual. And we will go on from there. A couple of cool guests. Ian Harditz expected to come on. He's a great fantasy analyst for those of you who are getting to that point in the offseason where you start to draft your teams.

So on and on we go. And we'll be there for you whenever moves are made or if something happens with Daniil Hunter or Justin Jefferson extension, which again, checking the phone all weekend, nothing to see here. Our friend Brad Spielberger from PFF said that it doesn't seem to be close with Jefferson, but hard to say if and when that's going to happen. But mandatory minicamp is the 13th and 14th, and that will be a very key date for a lot of these things if they have not happened yet.

If Jefferson isn't there for this OTA, then we continue to wait and see if he shows up for mandatory mini camp. If Delvin cook isn't gone, is he there? Is Daniel Hunter there? Or is he going to get fined? I guess we will wait and find out when that happens. So let's talk a little offensive line for our Oakley more than meets the eye

stats focused. And again, if you're watching on YouTube, you see how great these Oakleys are that they sent me. And I have to say they have been tremendous for the summer sun burning hot and bright to be out there playing golf. So get yourself a pair of Oakleys. I feel like I don't even have to tell you that because they're great and you know it and Justin Jefferson wears them. So, but I'm telling you again, so here's our stats focus, the offensive line for the Minnesota Vikings. If you want a little

trivia, if you're going to a barbecue or you're having a little get together on the back porch with a bunch of your Viking fans, friends, you say, I got some trivia for you guys. Here's the question. When was it that the last time the Vikings ran back the same five on the offensive line the same five from one year to the next when was that and the year my friends was a decade ago it was 2012 to 2013 when the Vikings had the same five starters of which they will have this year with the same five starters coming back. Now here's some of the interesting stats with that. Christian Derrissaw and Brian O'Neill both graded in the top 10 of tackles last year. Derrissaw was the number two graded tackle. So if

you thought he had a great year, it was really great. And I honestly think that even his worst game, which came against Dallas, he was dealing with the injury and he was taken out of that game early. Probably if he doesn't play in that game, he might've even been number one in the NFL. And then Brian O'Neill, another great season. Now, will he start week one? It looks like he's on that path so far in OTAs. You remember he had the Achilles injury. He has not been participating. I doubt he will in mandatory mini camp, but he's expected to be back by training camp. He's also been there. He's been engaged in stuff. He's going and listening in the huddle and getting the calls and thinking through the calls and OTA signs of a good leader from Brian O'Neill. So he's in the top 10 as well, top 10 tackles, but on the interior, it's not as great.

Ed Ingram gave up 58 pressures last year, Ezra Cleveland, 53, the most combined of any guard combination, but still interestingly, the overall offensive line was still in the top 20, which is the highest rank since 2017. That really jumped out at me that that is the highest rank. They were 19th. That is the highest rank that they've been by PFF since 2017. That really speaks to how much they have struggled to pass block. And that's the pass blocking. I'm sorry, I should have clarified. But when we were talking about the pressures, that's where they rank. They did rank quite high in run blocking last year, even though their run success was not as high as maybe it should have been.

But interestingly enough, so Garrett Bradbury coming back, he was the big question mark for this offseason. He went from 22nd overall and the worst pass blocking center in the NFL to being a reasonably decent pass blocking center about mid pack in terms of the PFF grade and a top 10 center. So if you ask, well, why did they bring back the whole interior offensive line? Well, Garrett Bradbury is really the center of all of that. For one, it's not that easy to get a center in free agency. That's going to have the chemistry already with Kirk Cousins, the experience, and how well he played for last year without paying a lot of

money, which they did not for Garrett Bradbury. And the other two guards, they're going to look at Garrett Bradbury and see his progress from the last couple seasons and say, this could be us because it does take offensive linemen a while to get those jobs down now maybe there's something to be said for the team building for them relying on rookies and inexperienced players to jump in and fill these holes but that's what happens when you run yourself up against the salary cap as the Minnesota Vikings have many times so uh the other thing about the guards and progress is that's what everybody's going to be looking for this year.

If Cleveland and Ingram, if they even improve 15% in cut down on the number of pressures, and Bradbury remains the same, the elite tackles remain the same, then the Vikings could have a top half of the league, if not top 10-ish, depending on those guys' offensive line. But I went back and did a little research. Now, this was a question not too long ago, and I think that this really shows it, about does Kirk Cousins cause some of the issues

for his guards? Because it seems like every guard that gets thrown in there really struggles. And I think the answer is yes. So I went back and looked at 2016, a year where Kirk Cousins put up some of his best career stats. The Washington football team commanders had a good offensive line at that time. And yet still, 48% of his pressures came from over the guard. So even when you went back to a year where he had really good offensive line play, the majority of the pressures were coming up the middle. And I think this is his mobility, his escapability, that these things play into it,

that he kind of stays in one spot. He has subtle movements that I think help him avoid some sacks and hits sometimes, but he is not going to run away at the first sight of pressure. And I think that that's why a lot of his pressure comes up the middle. He also has had good tackles by talent wise, but in the guard position, Washington had a good interior line yet still most of the pressure was

coming there. I think that's at least enough evidence to suggest that the way the quarterback plays influences what the offensive line numbers are. Something that's really interested me quite a bit. And this year, I don't think it's going to be an easy task when it comes to the progress of Ingram and Ezra Cleveland, because you look at some of the players that they are playing against. Chris Jones of Kansas City, Kenny Clark, who you guys all know, Grady Jarrett, Derek Brown of Carolina, who you may not have seen much of, but is a beast. And then the Philadelphia Eagles interior defensive line. So there will be a lot of challenges that these guys have to face if they're going to make improvements. So that is our more than

meets the eye stats focus. And I will take off the sunglasses and we can answer your fans-only questions. So let us begin right here with at the twos. The NFL top 100 plays of 22 featured Delvin Cook three times. He still has explosiveness and will certainly be missed if he's gone. Your thoughts? Yeah, I mean, I don't think that Delvin Cook is incapable of playing football. That's not what we saw last year. We saw four and a half yards per carry, and we saw some really excellent runs for sure. I mean, and the screen pass,

which I'm sure was on that list that he took for a touchdown against Indianapolis, a tremendous play, the 80 yard touchdown against Buffalo, the high end big time run from Delvin Cook was still there, those absolute wow plays. But I think if you go back and look at any running back who is really talented and maybe past their prime, you're still going to find enough instincts and enough raw talent in that guy where it's going to be impressive. I looked back at Adrian Peterson when he played for the Lions. Do you guys remember that Adrian Peterson played for the Lions? Well, he did.

And he had his first two weeks, he was averaging like six yards a carry. He had big runs. He had great stats. And then the rest of the year, he averaged like three yards a carry. And that's kind of what happened with Delvin Cook last year, where midway through the season, after the Buffalo game, he was averaging about five yards per carry. And then it just faded toward the second half of the season. And really releasing Delvin Cook or trading him is not about, well, Delvin's horrible now or can't possibly play football. No, we've seen running backs who are on the older side, like LaDainian

Tomlinson, for example, who was still pretty good with the New York Jets. He wasn't the same version from earlier, which is kind of the point that if you're going to pay Delvin Cook as much as the Vikings are paying him, he kind of has to be the version from 2019 and 2020. And what you're doing by releasing him potentially is you're betting that he probably won't be that this trend that's gone down in yards per touch the last couple of seasons you're betting that that's what's going to continue that he isn't going to have some big giant surprise upslope in his late 20s because most running backs don't that doesn't mean every running back doesn't I

mean Tiki Barber was an example of a guy who went into his thirties and played really, really well. And there have been running backs throughout history who have, but the majority of them, 28, certain amount of touches. I don't know what it is. There's a certain amount. It's maybe like 1500 touches that is kind of the magic number. And that's right around where Delvin Cook is. When you're signing someone or keeping someone, you're not really going on what they did in 2022 so much as you are projecting toward the future. And part of that projection is the guys

that you've spent all these draft picks on. And so, yeah, he might still have some of the explosiveness. It's not going to be what it used to be, but there's still the injury risk, the price tag. You can create cap space, which means you can either hold it over for the future, or you can spend it on a Leonard Floyd or someone like that that you want to bring in.

And maybe after seeing OTAs, Brian Flores wants to add somebody else on defense and they might do that. So it's really about the kind of mathematics of the thing of the formula. What's he going to do in the future? That's pretty hard to say with an older running back who did lose, I think to my eye, some burst from where he was before. He's had numerous injuries over his career, both legs and shoulder that he's been dealing with for some time. I mean, I know that he got surgery on it, but we're talking about a lot.

He could be one of those graphics they show on TV where they have little arrows point to each part of him that's hurt. He would have a lot of arrows if that was the case. So you're looking toward 2023, 2024. Can he still be an impact player? And if not, take the money. If you think you can get the same amount of production or very close from, which I think they could even maybe do better depending on how guys perform, but is Madison just as good of a fit at this point in their careers? He's younger. He's carried the ball a heck of a lot less. How about Ty Chandler? How about Dwayne McBride? How about Kenny Wong Wu? Can there be a rotation? Can there be a battle

where somebody emerges? These guys are all draft picks. They've all got enough talent to be here. I think we want to find that out and see those guys play. And plus maybe Madison and Chandler, maybe there's more of an impact on the passing game than there was last year with Delvin Cook. So I think there's plenty of reason to move on that. It is the right move. If they do it, if they decide not to, I'm going to be pretty puzzled because they have all these other promising running backs. And once again, they would put them on the shelf. That wouldn't make much sense to me. So it's never really about, Hey, last year he had some explosive plays and is still an exciting

player. If he goes to the dolphins, he'll probably help them. They have a really good running scheme. And I don't know if they have the running backs to execute it and they're a good team. So he'll probably help them if that's where he goes. Does that mean it's the right move for the Vikings to keep them? I don't think so. Uh, this one comes from at Pat the Pingu on Twitter. Does Jalen Naylor look prepared to take over KJ Osborne's role, assuming that Osborne walks in free agency next year? Ask me after training camp, and I think I'll have a better idea. So right now in OTAs, Jalen Naylor has gotten a lot of run because Jordan Addison has not been working out,

and Justin Jefferson is not here. So next man up is Jalen Naylor and Brandon Powell. That's who comes up after KJ Osborne. So yeah, he's catching a lot of footballs out there, but I've never found OTAs to be all that predictive. So, you know, guys go out there and play in OTAs. And maybe, look, if it's somebody that they signed that they're excited about and the guy's on the field with the second and third team, okay, that's pretty concerning. Or if Kellen Mond looks like he's never played under center before, okay, that's pretty concerning.

And those things have happened in the past. But when we're talking about a guy who was drafted last year, got into a couple games, showed a couple little flashes here and there. There's so much to still go before we can say that Jalen Naylor will be the next man up. I think that that's preferable for them. I think that would be a huge hit for them if Jalen Naylor became that next guy and you could have your one, two, and three as two of them being very young. And the other one, Justin Jefferson, still young. If you could have Jalen Naylor on a rookie contract for a few more years, if he was the guy who could step up.

And I do think he has the talent. I mean, he was a big play receiver at Michigan State. And he's fast. He's very, very fast. Does that mean that you can be a complete wide receiver that they trust all the time and they can put out there? Because remember, they got Josh Oliver. They're going to run some two tight end stuff. They're not turning into Gary Kubiak. They're not going to have Shannon Sharp and Byron Chamberlain out there. They're not going to have Irv Smith and Ty Conklin or

Kyle Rudolph and Irv Smith. They're not going to do that. It's not going to be 50, 60% with two tight ends. It's going to be three wide receivers a lot. So that third wide receiver is very, very important to them. And if Jalen Naylor has a great training camp and he takes that step forward and he actually works his way into the rotation on this team, I'll be very impressed. And I'll think, all right, they might have something here for the future, but we have to start to see that first. And we have to actually see him getting reps in real games, because if he doesn't get any reps in real games, that's not going to be very convincing. So in a lot of ways, you have to just study what is it that they think, because they're looking at the tape every day.

And you can look at how much someone like Jalen Naylor is getting first team reps in training camp how much is he getting into the real games when there's some opportunities to mix him in as a deep threat and if they start using him then he very well could be a big part of the future I think he has enough talent to intrigue me but I don't want to jump the gun there. I remember that Amir Smith-Marset had a couple of catches, and a lot of people wanted Amir Smith-Marset to be something that he wasn't because he just couldn't capture what the Vikings wanted from him in training camp last year. And there were some folks who were upset when he was cut, but there was a reason for that.

And we could tell kind of on a daily basis that it wasn't really working out. So what are we going to see from Naylor? I think we'll have a really good sense by the end of this training camp, if he could potentially be part of it, and then that will play out. I just can't give you a really strong prediction based on some OTA catches, but I do know the guy can run. He's very fast, and that's a great place to start. Folks, I've been wearing Oakleys now for a few weeks, and let me tell you, there is a reason that Justin Jefferson and a bunch of other football players wear these things, because they are awesome. I've got the matte black prism sapphire polar sunglasses on, and I've been doing all sorts of summer things

with them. I've been hitting golf balls in the water, jogging, playing basketball, getting sunburned, but my eyes are in good shape. I have been missing out on this experience for a long time. They are so comfortable. I can wear them all day and never get tired of having them on. Oakley is changing the game and it's time for you to discover a whole new world of possibilities with your eyewear they are suited for everyday eyewear with frames and lenses allowing you for to be an extension of yourself an expression of your personality more than meets the eye so make a sunglass upgrade now at oakley.com oakley offers prism lens technology and what the heck is that you ask i'm looking through it right now it is a proprietary Let's upgrade now at Oakley.com. Oakley offers prism lens technology.

And what the heck is that? You ask, well, I'm looking through it right now. It is a proprietary technology to Oakley and available for everyday settings as well. If you want to know more, and I know you do, go to Oakley.com and do your own research. And while you're at it, get yourself a pair of everyday glasses that will be sure to change your look for the better. When you wear Oakley, there really is more than meets the eye. Try it for yourself. I've worn sunglasses in the past, and I can assure you that Oakley is the best looking and best

quality out there. So go on over to oakley.com for more information today. Oakley, express your style and build a look that's made for you. This one comes from Len, says, with the upcoming joint practices, will the Vikings divide their own practices into two groups, the ones preparing for the preseason games and the one participating in the joint practices? Usually the way it works out is, I mean, that's kind of going to happen naturally anyway, because you're usually talking about the first string, second string. So the starters are not going to play against the backups in these split practices or these joint practices. You're not going to see, it was like Christian Derusaw was going to practice against Nick Bosa. And so, you know, Jeffrey Simmons in the middle, he's going to practice against Garrett

Bradbury and Derrick Henry is going to go up against the Vikings number one defense. And mostly the starters are not going to play for the Vikings. So that's where they're getting their preseason game. And I actually really like this strategy. I know that players do not love these joint practices in general. I remember some of the San Francisco players sort of rolling their eyes last year at the joint practices. You'll hear every player say, can't wait to get those reps against somebody else. And then, you know, I don't know if that's how they really feel or not, but if you're not going to play in the preseason games, it's a good trade-off to go up against another team when you have these joint practices. And I think that's how Kevin O'Connell

feels that, all right, I'm not going to put my guys out there for these preseason games where they have a chance to get hurt like Irv Smith Jr. did two years ago, but they are going to get in work against other teams in a more controlled environment. The other team can't hit you. You also are going to work together to try to figure out what you want to do schematically with both teams to try to kind of, you know, combine on these things. And it's a more, just a more controlled and easy environment for the starters. So yeah, I mean, the backups are going to practice against the backups and the backups will probably have lighter practices. I remember last year that the practices against the 49ers were intense. There wasn't any fights or anything, but they were intense. And there, I mean,

there was a lot of reps that they were going full speed against each other. And it looked like a game aside from the fact that they weren't tackling at the end of the play, but the guys were giving a lot to these. And so they were getting their basic sort of preseason game without the thing that gives you the possibility of getting hurt the most. I think it's a smart idea. I do wonder if the players don't really want to go through that, but I also think Kevin O'Connell has to deal with a bit of a trade-off, right? Because he is very big on rest and health. And I completely agree with him on that. I thought that Mike Zimmer practiced probably too hard and played his starters way too much in the preseason and put them at risk of getting hurt every year. So I think O'Connell is very smart in the way that he's

handling this, but he also can't be soft either. He can't just say like, oh guys, you know, do whatever you want. He has kind of a saying. It's like when it's time to go, it's time to go. And that's what they're doing. They're going to have some times where they get to go hard at each other. And, um, you know, I think that's a good idea, but yeah, it'll be, it'll be second team versus

second team, third team versus third team, first team versus first team. So that's kind of how they will split them up in terms of players who will participate in the preseason games and not. This question comes from Wrigley E. I was wondering if we could get a little more depth into the actual rotations we might see at cornerback. I think we're undervaluing JoJuan Williams.

How about the defensive tackle rotation? So yeah, I mean, JoJuan Williams is a hard one to pin down because he was a second round draft pick. He didn't play at all last year because of injury. He had his moments with New England, but if you notice, he's not with New England anymore. And that's a team that's usually pretty good at analyzing cornerbacks. But of course, Brian Flores wants him here for a reason. Is he a part of this thing? I don't really know. There's going to be a competition where I believe that Andrew Booth Jr.

and Caleb Evans are going to, from the start of this thing, be the starters from training camp, that they will be on the outsides the first day of training camp Byron Murphy Jr. will be on the inside as the nickel corner that's the way I think it's going to play out right now for them to start when training camp comes along but there is opportunity for anybody to fight their way into that and JoJuan Williams is in that conversation if he plays really well, and again, this is someone who's talented, someone who is good enough to be drafted in the second round. If you look back at his numbers, it's not like they were horrendous or anything with New

England. So if they find him to be a fit and he outplays other guys, he does have some more experience, then he could have a chance to get himself in the mix of this conversation. The other guy I would say is Makai Blackman, who they really like, is known as a great competitor. He's a little older, more mature. He's 24 years old. This isn't someone who's 20 and has just learned how to play football. He's played a lot of ball.

He had really good numbers at USC last year. Could he work his way into that discussion? And he did take some reps with the first team guys at OTAs. And don't take that too seriously because it's OTAs and we don't really know yet. But if you're talking about who stands where on the depth chart and potential rotations, I don't know how everyone's going to mix in. But those positions are going to have to be earned by a Caleb Evans and Andrew Ruth Jr. And there are guys who could fight them out for it. I don't know if Jay Ward, the other draft pick in the defensive backfield can get his name into

this discussion because he's more of a versatile player. Maybe he's a third safety or maybe Louis Seen or Cam Bynum or Josh Metellus gets into that discussion in three safety packages, which we actually do see on paper, Brian Flores using from years past when he was in charge of Miami's defense. So there's a lot to battle out. I mean, that is going to be a daily rep count probably from us on the sideline to try to figure out how much are certain guys getting in and getting opportunities because that is a real battle and I think the recent draft picks are going to get priority to start in Evans and Booth Jr. but it's up in the air so Joe Juan Williams he could earn a job there and then the Vikings would have the largest cornerback I can't for some of

you when you go to camp when that time comes I want you to go back and say to me I can't believe how big that guy is you were right because he's so big and I'm going to talk about every time we talk about Joe Juwan Williams he's gigantic I don't know what he's listed at the guy looks like Julio Jones out there uh let's see from Jeff in Tokyo. What real information can be gathered at OTAs given the limitations of no pads and no contact in practice? Yeah, not much, not much. It's really only just little, little bits and pieces. I mean, number one is what they say. And you would think, oh, well, they're just hyping everybody up at this time of year. But that's only partly true.

I mean, I think that it's worth having discussions with these guys to see where they're at. I mean, a lot of them we haven't talked to in a long time. I mean, K.J. Osborne is a good example where we did talk to him, I think, before workouts. But, you know, you get a discussion with K.J. Osborne after Jordan Addison is picked. You get a conversation with Christian Derriss after Jordan Addison is picked you get a conversation with Christian Derrissaw about what he sees in Brian Flores's defense playing very aggressively early on and you can start to put together these tidbits of things that we know going into training camp that's how I've always looked at it mandatory mini camp by the time we get done with that we've

had I think four weeks of either an OTA practice or mandatory minicamp. And we've seen them get out on the field. We've seen them run some reps. And we've at least got a sense where the starting points are for a lot of players. And other things that are interesting are like injuries. So Dwayne McBride not practicing. Jordan Addison not practicing.

Neither one of those things is thought to be serious. But you just kind of keep an eye on it. All right. Is that something that could linger? Is he going to be there at the start of training camp? Stuff like that. Who's banged up? Who's not practicing? Who's not showing up because they have contract issues? And then how is everybody talking about certain things? That doesn't mean that's going to project, but it is a snapshot in time. It's the middle of the summer. Everybody's feeling good about their team. But what are they saying about some of the specifics? Can I watch players and go, whoa, this guy's crushing it out there?

Not really. No, I wouldn't say that. I think anybody who claims that is just pulling your leg because you can't, you can't. I mean, they're in shorts and they're really not. I mean, they're playing more physical with Brian Flores than they were before. But I mean, it's just like the first couple of practices where they're in shorts who stood out. Well, it doesn't really matter until the pads come on, but that doesn't mean that there's nothing we can get from OTAs. It's just that if you watch Jalen Naylor make a catch in the end zone in an OTA drill, it doesn't mean that he's going to become the next Jerry Rice.

Okay. It just means that he's out there and that's part of it too. Who's working with the ones, who's working with the twos. You can see that Makai Blackman is working in a little bit there, right? With the ones. And those are things you take note of as just when we make out our 53 rosters to start training camp and we try to project that depth chart, this is what we're using as our beginning point and really nothing more. I mean, if you're trying to watch and go, well, that guy's running great routes out there. You just, that football is not played in shorts. So it's, it's nice if

somebody's making plays, that's good for them. That doesn't hurt. I remember KJ Osborne specifically during mandatory mini camp was making plays. And what did we say? Well, he's got to do it in training camp. And then he did. So sometimes you can kind of pick out a guy. But I also remember a legendary Davion Davis practice. Dude was unreal in a minicamp practice. It meant nothing. I don't even know if he ever got in the field in the NFL. So that's how it goes.

But yeah, I think it's more of just putting together a little puzzle pieces around the outsides and the full puzzle comes together throughout training camp. Okay. Question from Dave. During the joint practices, do teams ask the other team to give them certain looks because maybe they are evaluating a certain group of players or feel that seeing that look would benefit their players? Yes. The answer is yes. I don't know how much more I can say about that other than the answer is yes. The coaches usually know each other and have a relationship with each other. They have a conversation,

they get together, they talk about what they want to see. It's not like Mike Vrabel out there with his headset on going like, let's blitz that kind of, or no, they're working together. So they'll talk and say, all right, well, we actually want to see some blitzes here. Can you guys work in some blitzes? And they'll say, all right, we want to see some, some deep shots. Can you work in some deep shots against our defense and see how it plays out?

I mean, I'm sure it's more complicated than that, but that's just kind of the simplistic element of it because I don't know exactly what schemes they're saying, you know, do this scheme, do that scheme or do not. But that's the whole thing is a collaborative effort between the two teams. They're both trying to get the same things out of it. They both don't play each other this year.

And I don't think the Vikings and Titans are playing in the Super Bowl. If they do, then we'll go back to these joint practices and be like, wow, those really meant something to each other. Now they know each other so well, but otherwise it's really to get the most work. So if they want to improve in a certain area or they want to test something, some scheme that Kevin O'Connell has been trying to fiddle with or work out, let's say they want to work on with Kirk Cousins, the two tight end stuff or putting in, you know, CJ Hamm a little more or whatever. Some, some of the play action boots. And so they're going to say, yeah, we're going

to work on this or we want you to try to do this defensively, and I'm sure that they work out how that goes. But yeah, that's one of the major benefits is if you play a preseason game, I think it even happens during preseason, but if you play a preseason game, it might be a little more freewheeling, a little less controlled, and a little more of guys just out there kind of doing whatever, and sometimes it's starters against backups backups and you're not getting the true looks that you want. In these joint practices, you can get a lot of the joint practices that you want or learn a lot from the joint practices that

you want. From at head coach 21, what are some of the signs in OTAs that would make you say this could be a long-term problem? Well, injuries are really the number one thing you would ever say this could be a long-term problem. I'm not saying this about Jordan Addison because Kevin O'Connell, who has been pretty straightforward on injuries with us in the media, says it's not a big deal. They just are kind of playing it safe, making sure that Jordan Addison is ready to go for training camp. But let's just say with Jordan Addison, just for example, if there was a serious type of injury there, if he was being talked about as maybe being out for a while, then we would say this could be a long-term problem. But it's very hard to watch a practice and see something and go, oh my gosh. I mean, for one, the offensive line is not blocking.

Number two, I mean, if you're talking about receivers or corners, receivers are always going to smoke corners in shorts because they can't be physical really at all. I mean, they were as much as they could be with Brian Flores the other day, but not in the same way that can be at pads where they're really truly competing. So you can't say, oh, well, these corners look terrible. Nothing that you couldn't see on paper about the roster to be concerned about. Would you change your mind for OTAs? At least from my perspective, I wouldn't watch an OTA practice and go,

whoa, Brian Asamoah, what's going on there? It looked like you bit hard on play action or something. You're screwed. Like, no, I'm not, I'm not going to do that. It is a mildly intriguing if there's a player getting reps that you don't expect, or that maybe somebody who should be getting reps and they're not getting reps. But even then, you just can't tell what they're trying to do in OTAs.

Whereas in training camp, if someone's getting reps, that's a big deal. So if there's a cornerback or something that we don't expect, let's say Joe Juwan Williams takes all the first team reps, despite the fact that the other two guys are healthy. Okay. Now we've got a story. If that were to happen in OTAs, I still don't know that that's anything to really look at. So all the things that you're concerned about right now, the inexperience of the defense, the interior, the offensive line, et cetera, et cetera, you're going to be concerned about going into training camp and maybe we'll walk out of camp saying, Oh et cetera, you're going to be concerned about going into training camp. And maybe we'll walk out of camp saying, oh, actually, you know what?

Guys have stepped up and those aren't actually big worries. Or maybe we'll walk out of camp going, oh, they're in trouble. But it's really not till then. And I would love here in the middle of June to tell you that there should be big, significant, huge OTAs because I am a football reporter and I am so football that I can go out there and give you all the things you should be worried about. But I just wouldn't be telling you the truth, guys. I mean, the truth of the matter is what happens at OTAs is what the people are saying to us in their availabilities and maybe a little bit

of how they're used,'s out there it was interesting that brian floris was really kind of going at the offense sending a lot of unique looks and blitzes just what we talked about him doing so we knew he's going to do it but when you see it in action it's like a little wild to see all those guys moving when last year they were very stagnant before the snap it just couldn't be any different from what we've seen so far stuff like that you could pick up on for sure and who's there who's not there who's practicing uh but aside from that you can't tell oh man i thought that this guy was going to be great and now it's a problem i mean maybe there's a little but i don't

want to stretch here i don't want to stretch maybe there's a little, but I don't want to stretch here. I don't want to stretch. Maybe there's a little of you look out there and see Cam Bynum taking some reps still with Harrison Smith and you go, all right, is that going to be Louis Scene's job or not? But that's the question. It's not the answer from watching OTAs. It does give you the question. So that's kind of all I can do for you there. Whatever you're worried about now, you're not going to be any less worried after I watch another OTA practice. Comes from Marcus.

Interested in your opinion on how the league differentiates between teams that go into a full rebuild and actual tanking if tanking can actually be penalized. So maybe I missed the news story if there was something about tanking and penalties, but leagues have talked about this forever because they don't want to say out loud that they're fine with tanking. But let's be honest. I mean, one of the most exciting things in sports is who's going to get the number one pick.

And I wouldn't be surprised if they were ever going to go to a lottery. Now, one of the reasons they would go to a lottery would be to make an exciting night out of the lottery, right? I mean, if the NFL did that, imagine how many people would watch if Caleb Williams was a lottery player. It would just be like the guy from the NBA who's 7'5 or whatever. I mean, it's one of the most exciting nights in the NBA, in the WNBA, in the NHL. There's another guy who's supposed to be the next this thing or that. And if there was a lottery for Caleb Williams of the bottom five or seven teams, I mean. But the problem with those lotteries is you have teams that are on the fringe of the playoffs

who are like, nah, we don't want to be in it. I think it's worse. You create more tanking when you do this. I don't think when you have a lottery, you create less tanking. I think you create more because if you're on the cusp of making the playoffs or on the cusp, if you're like, well, we could win five in a row or lose five in a row. And that would take us either way. I think teams are going to want to lose those games to be in the lottery rather than making fringe in the playoffs and then getting beat in the wildcard round or something. So I don't know if they'll ever go to that.

There is no way to really tell when it comes to penalizing tanking, unless you are the Miami Dolphins saying to Brian Flores, hey, we're going to pay you more if you lose on purpose. Okay. Well, now that is something you could penalize for sure. And it sounds like that may have been what happened in Miami with Brian Flores. But aside from that, there's no way because every team, even when they are tanking, is still going to play professional players. It's not like a team is going to run out a bunch of guys who are from the USFL and just get crushed, right? Even the worst team in the league last year is still competitive.

They're still playing fairly close games most of the time. And the same thing will be this way. Like, I mean, Chicago gets the number one overall pick. Now they tanked at the end of the time. And the same thing will be this way. Like, I mean, Chicago gets the number one overall pick. Now they tanked at the end of the year, but they also made up an injury for Justin Fields. So you're always going to have that too. Or he had enough of an injury to want to sit him out. You're always going to have that thing where you can play Nathan Peterman at the end, but the rest of Chicago season, I mean, you'd have to find some evidence that they purposefully tried to lose.

And Justin Fields played way too good for them. I mean, when he's running for 50-yard touchdowns, you can't be like, oh, that team's tanking. It's really just if you move all of your players, but all those moves are justifiable, there's really no way to do it. And there's always going to be this. It's the most interesting thing in the sport. There will be teams rising and falling. That's why we're all here. Although the Vikings have been stuck in the middle for a long time, but that's why everybody's here because if your

team is terrible, they're rising soon. If your team is great, they're competing for a championship. The only bad place to be is in the middle where you don't believe you can win a championship, but you're also not getting high enough draft picks to fully rebuild. But even then, as we saw last year from the Vikings, those middling teams still pop up because the sport has a lot of randomness. It's really perfect because even those bad seasons can be so interesting and dramatic and everything else, as we've seen from a lot of teams in the past. So no, there is no way that tanking could ever be penalized. And I don't think they should ever go to a lottery, but maybe they will for entertainment purposes. This one comes from Jeff.

My question is, could an NFL team get away with arriving a few minutes before kickoff, maybe for a vital regular season game, what are the current rules on arrival to the stadium? So this was based on our Bud Grant video on YouTube. So go to the Purple Insider YouTube, watch the Bud Grant video about how the Vikings once under Bud Grant showed up late to a game and what happened there. I don't know what the rules are currently. It's probably the same that if you show up late that you get a 15-yard penalty

and the other team doesn't necessarily have to let you warm up. It's just that it's such an exact science now that it is to the letter of these teams with their travel that it's almost impossible that a team could show up late to the stadium like they did with bud grant i mean they're not leaving like he did 45 minutes before the game to show up and warm up

for 15 minutes and get out there they're leaving four hours before the game they are in that stadium it just won't ever happen again i mean could an nfl team get away with it i don't know i don't think so. I think that the players and fans would think that they were just wildly incompetent. And look, when Bud Grant was doing this, like what year was it? So it was way back in the day. That's not how things are done now. They have very serious trainers and sports science and everything else and a regimented

way that they warm up and everything else. a regimented way that they warm up and everything else. I mean, everybody's got their whole routine. If you showed up late to the stadium, you would be thought of as being the most goofy franchise. I mean, that's kind of what makes it great is the era that Bud Grant coached in. He could be different. Now nobody is ever really different.

But it's a fun story if you want to go back and look for it, that they showed up late and still won the game against the Detroit Lions. All right, next question comes from Francis. Can you tell us a little bit about the process the teams use to go about deciding who gets credentialed to cover the beat? I've always been curious about this. Well, I would imagine it's different in every city. It's different in every sport. There's always different standards depending on how that particular team works. And I can't really speak for the Vikings PR about their process. From myself personally, if you go back to 1500 ESPN was a fairly new sports radio station. Tom Pellicero was their beat reporter,

NFL Network currently now. And so the Vikings credentialed him back when 1500 ESPN was in its youth. And then Andrew Kramer did the job for 1500 ESPN before that or after that. And so he took over for that credential. And then I came after Andrew and that credential was handed over to me. Normally when it comes to the traditional newspaper, television, all those outlets end up having access and then the other decisions are very much up to them. So I can't tell you how those decisions are made. But for myself, I was credentialed with the team through 1500 ESPN when I took the job and then just maintained that with Purple Insider. So having worked for an ESPN radio affiliate that had a lineage of successful reporters

to come before, I was able to step right in and do the job that way. If there was no access, I wouldn't have taken the job to tell you the truth. Because when I was in Buffalo, I worked for the flagship station of the Bills and Sabres. And so of course the flagship station was inside the locker room as well. And so that's how I've always done my job. So there you go. That's kind of how it worked out for me. I don't think it is a random process. I'm sure that they have their standards for everybody else. But for me, it was pretty straightforward there that I was already inside the building and just continued to be there after I changed outlets and was able to talk with all of you great people.

So speaking of that, we'll have lots going on this week in OTA practice on Tuesday, then mandatory mini camp in another week. And then it is summertime. So what I need from you guys is lots more great questions. Send them to me at purpleinsider.com or at Matthew Collar on Twitter. Shoot me a DM. I will get it there. My DMs are open. And that's how we make the great content and also brainstorming some other fun ideas as well. So make sure if you're listening on YouTube or watching on YouTube, you subscribe, check out the Purple Insider newsletter on Substack, all of those things, because the machine does not stop and there's

still news. How is it that there's a team in the NFL that still is going to make major news in June? Oh, they're the Vikings. That's how. That's how. So we'll be there for that, but also try to have some fun throughout the summer leading up to training camp as well. So thanks, everybody, for watching slash listening again. And we will talk to you all soon.