Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - O'Connell talks QB competition at Vikings OTAs and a receiver shines (Part 2)

Episode Date: June 6, 2026

Matthew Coller and Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press analyze Kevin O'Connell's approach to quelling drama surrounding the Minnesota Vikings quarterback competition. Then Matthew and Dane empty their notebooks Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

All right here inside the Purple Insider Studios, Matthew Collar here with you, the show, of course, presented by Fandul. And I've got an hour to answer your questions and comments and thoughts. So you heard us talk about Kevin O'Connell's response to J.J. McCarthy's comments and his thoughts on Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy and how things are going inside of the quarterback room. And also we discussed a lot of different elements that are not the quarterback situation. So questions, comments, thoughts, throw them in the comments section. We'll have a good conversation here for about an hour. And then we'll go from there. And we'll see what else pops up.

But this quarterback competition, I don't think, is standing out to me as, wow, they're going every other rep. And wow, it looks like they're going back and forth, throw by throw. It feels much more like, despite, you know, J.J. McCarthy getting. reps that Kyler Murray's the starting quarterback of this team and we'll go from there and see what happens. It doesn't do anything for Kevin O'Connell to come out and make a declaration of who the starting quarterback is. It doesn't do any good for Kevin O'Connell to shine more light on J.J. McCarthy's press conference or reveal his innermost thoughts about what's been going on within the quarterback room or anything else. Much better for him to just say, it's been professional. I'm not

worried about that. I'm too focused on coaching these guys on how to run an offense than I am who said what and in what tone. I don't know that that's how he really feels inside of his soul, but it was the right answer to pour a little bit of cold water on all the discussion that was going on about the quarterback situation. And we will see it will be revealed what they really think as we go along. Even at the start of mini camp, I mean, minicamp is where intensity goes up a little bit. OTAs are truly, I love that Dan Campbell called it a pajama party because it's truly not a real practice. I mean, there's a ton of seven on sevens, there's a ton of individual drills, and then there's a handful of 60 to 75 percent reps where defensive backs

cannot touch wide receivers, which is why, yes, sometimes we overhype wide receivers and we'll see if that turns out to be Dylan Bell. And also, quarterbacks aren't getting hit. They're not getting pressured and if they don't fully understand something in OTAs where they drop back, they might go, oh, okay, that's how that concept works. Well, I'll just throw it over here instead to make sure somebody gets a football thrown to them on this play. But then we're going to go back and take a look at it in the drawing board. Like they don't know the entire offense yet.

O'Connell even mentioned for McCarthy where he knows the offense from last year, but they've made tweaks and adjustments and things like that that they're working through. So you cannot truly evaluate a quarterback competition for these pajama party type practices that are the learning phase. And it doesn't even really get deep into it in minicamp. But it is a little bit more. Like the practices are generally more intense, more 11 on 11s, more throws for the quarterbacks. And we'll see a little bit more of that rep distribution between J.J. McCarthy and Kyler Murray then and where it will all be completely revealed is during training camp. Once the pads go on, there's no hiding who quarterback one actually

is, you know, but I thought with Kevin O'Connell, he played it very much down the middle, wasn't overly complimentary of each guy. Sometimes in the past, we have seen Kevin O'Connell in situations like this go out of his way to, hey, I love what this guy's doing. I love everything that he's got going on. And we didn't see that for today. And I also think that, you know, he wants to, put positive pressure on them to compete with each other and to not just come out and say, hey, we're all set here. But based on the circumstances, based on how they looked in the first OTA practice, there's really not a discussion in my mind about who should be the starting quarterback.

That doesn't mean it's over for J.J. McCarthy. But the way that he talked last week absolutely was worth a big discussion about where he's at with this entire thing. But from the practices that we've seen actually out on the field, I think why last week was so surprising for J.J. McCarthy was that out on the field, he looked fine. And he looked fine today. There were a couple throws that were errant and there were some accurate throws,

especially the ones where he could throw line drive over the middle. He's been good at that in games. He was good in it last year in training camp and so forth. So he still got a strong arm. The ball is traveling through the air. He doesn't look lost or he's not pouting. He's not standing off to the side and not speaking to anyone or anything. So then when he came out with that press conference in those comments, it was like, oh, okay, well, you looked okay out there.

But I guess you're not. It doesn't really matter, though. What really matters is who Kevin O'Connell thinks should be the starting quarterback. Kyler Murray was not coming to Minnesota to be a backup. So the bar to reach would be incredibly high. And Kyler has looked very good in the two practices. So the performance level for Kyler would be really low for him not to be the starting quarterback here based on his history as a starting quarterback in the NFL and the high end things that he has done throughout his career. But I think KOC's goal today was to come out and make sure that get up on ESPN was not talking about this quarterback controversy anymore.

And I think he accomplished that goal. But I mean, look, O'Connell has been through a lot of different stuff in the NFL, right? He's won a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams. He had the 32nd ranked offense with Washington when he was there. So he's had a team that won 14 games. He had a team where every quarterback got hurt. So I think that he's in a point in his career where he just needs to see performance. He doesn't care about anything else.

And the whole, well, how does Kyler handle this, that, or the other thing? or is JJ mad or whatever else? It's just, I need a quarterback to win games. And that was the way that he framed it to today to us. And I thought that was probably the right way to talk about it, not in any sort of like I'm going to get deep. I'm going to open up my deepest thoughts about this quarterback competition or anything. Just look, guys, I need somebody to drop back, hit the right footwork and throw the ball.

And that's what I need. And Kyler Murray has done that very effectively in the two practices. we've seen and we'll see where it goes from there. So let's dive in to your questions and thoughts and comments. And there we go. And we'll have a good conversation. We'll start with Sean says expecting Bell to excel talking about Dylan Bell and push for a roster spot after the big three.

Felton should progress price to great depth. Well, we're going to see if it's great depth or if it just is great depth in theory. I really like what I've seen from Dylan Bell and you can absolutely say, hey man, come on. It's like a couple of OTA practices. And I would agree with you. But I also don't have any other information to work with. So we've seen a couple OTA practices.

He has shown some serious quickness and speed. He has connected with Kyler Murray on four or five different occasions on good looking routes and made the catch and what more can I tell you. And sometimes these OTA practices mean absolutely nothing. And sometimes they do. And there's been enough times where they have for me to say, all right, like you've got my attention. Because what do we think the coaches pay attention to?

They run the practice and then they go back inside and then they watch back the practice. And the guys who perform are the ones who stick out to them. The guys who make catches. The guys are getting open. So I can go back even beyond just K.J. Osborne and J. nailer for players who set themselves apart in the OTAs that weren't top draft picks, but even, I mean, they were draft picks, but not in day one or day two, but even someone like B.C. Johnson was a seventh round pick that stood out. And I think if not for some ACL injuries

could have had a career. So it's not the first time that it's ever happened that we've noticed somebody in the OTA or mini camp phase. And then they turn out to be competitive. There have been other times where we've noticed somebody and I can't think of their name. right now because they never mattered and they never got on the field after the pads came out but I'm at least intrigued by Dylan Bell I mean if you don't have a guy who shines an OTA and minicamp to talk about them what are we doing right Matt says price will make the team for sure still think he can maybe work in as a screen and yak guy this year both price and tie felt in I think have the chance to be that kind of player that can be the the screen the short yard

the yards after catch. And they had that in Arizona. And I'm trying to think of the guy's name as a Greg Dorch was the guy's name. They've had that in Arizona. And the Vikings really haven't had that type of player since Kevin O'Connell has been here. Brandon Powell was a little bit of that. But then Powell ended up having to play more of a true wide receiver role when Justin Jefferson got hurt in 2003.

So they never really used him as that either. And with Kyler Murray, the reality is you should not be asking Kyler to drop straight back and throw the ball 30 yards down the field time after time after time. That's not how the NFL is played these days. And it's certainly not favorable to Kyler Murray. I mean, I think with Kyler, you want a lot of stuff where the ball's going to come out of his hands fairly quickly. And you could say, well, KOC's offense doesn't do that. But it did in 2003 with Kirk Cousins when he had one of the lowest average. depth of targets in the NFL through those first eight games when he was playing really good

football. But you do need some guys to be yards after catch. And it was T.J. Hawkinson for Kirk Cousins. It may end up being Hawkinson for Kyler Murray. But I think that these two guys with their speed and their ability with the football in their hands have some potential. So you like that it's kind of wide open there behind the top three. And if someone gets hurt for the top three wide receivers, you are moving a recent draft pick who you've developed for a year into that spot as wide receiver three for today. It would be Ty Felton, but we'll see where that goes. I thought Felton, I didn't see a ton of receptions by him, but I was watching just the

route running, how he was moving. And I thought that it looked, it looked good. It looked a little more refined than it did. Because remember, we didn't really see Felton at all, not just, you know, in the season, like going back, we haven't seen him since training camp. So he has a lot of time in between when we watched him in camp where it did look like someone who was pretty unrefined and had a lot of work to do to now here in OTAs where the routes do look smoother. Because I remember thinking when he got here like, oh, he kind of needs to put on a blinker and come to a full stop and then turn and then go fast. Like he's playing fast from a vertical perspective but not like into his routes necessarily.

and I could see a little bit of that. I would be, you know, I would be lying to you if I said that I could tell that he was about to take the next big, huge step or whatever. It's just these little details that you look for with players during OTAs. Like, does it look like he worked on it? And for some players, it's like, does it look like he worked on the body? Does it look like he got stronger, whatever it might be? And, you know, Miles Price, I think does have a chance because there's something innate with him, the ability to dodge tacklers, break tackles.

He's kind of a running back in a wide receiver's body. So I think that those guys as depth should be pretty solid. And I don't think we're going to get to the end of the off season and be talking about, well, who are they going to trade for at the end of the off season, right? Joker says, meanwhile, the Packers just paid Christian Watson $110 million. I did see that. And I was very surprised at the price by Christian Watson. I mean, they have always thought the Packers.

that Christian Watson is a wide receiver one. And at times, he has been that for them. Last year, there was a run before he got hurt against the Denver Broncos, where Watson really did look like he was coming into his own even more so and dominating. And there's been these stretches where he makes a lot of plays. But it's almost always followed by an injury, a setback, some inconsistency. I do think that Watson is a very good wide receiver. but what do you think I'm going to say about this?

This is why you draft wide receivers because Christian Watson is getting wide receiver one type of money when I think he's more of a wide receiver two type of talent wide receiver. Like he's good, but he's got some flaws and he's not the Justin Jefferson or Jackson Smith, the Jigba or Puka Nakua. He's not in that range. And yet he's getting paid somewhere in that range. I mean, even Drake London, who I think is great.

But Drake London is now getting paid as much as Justin Jefferson. So that's funny because the Jefferson contract was such a big discussion. Should they pay him? Should they trade him? It's like, you know, a year or two from now, this is going to look much better. And here we are. It does. So, I mean, Watson, that's sort of the price you have to pay for a wide receiver one or a wide receiver two.

But there is a reason that the table gets banged for wide receivers here every time we get into draft season. Sean says, as for hesitation for Felton or other wide receivers, I do think we've been spoiled greatly. We've had Jefferson come in and shows a polished route runner and beyond Addison, too, a polished route runner. It normally takes time. Yeah, that's a great point. And that's why I like to use, like, Ty Felton is not a comp for Justin Jefferson

or Jordan Addison. Those guys are first round draft picks. It's just not the same. It's much more comparable to someone like, Jaylen Naylor. And I think with Felton in general, they liked him so much that versus where he was expected to go. It was a little bit of a reach for Ty Felton.

There were some people that liked him a little more than others. But I think that, you know, most people were thinking early day three for him. He goes at the end of day two. So it's in this similar ballpark to a Naylor or KJ Osborne where you are going to have to develop that player. But what I really like about Ty Felton is most of the time we just brush off special teams. Oh, they don't really matter. It's just not that big of a deal.

Oh, he's a punt gunner or whatever. It's like, it's not easy to be a punt gunner. It takes getting away from people. It takes fighting off cornerbacks who are trying to stuff you with the line of scrimmage. It takes playing fast, playing aggressively. These things work in the NFL. The other part of it, too, is that the Vikings didn't have injuries at the wide receiver position last year. So Felton just didn't get a chance to get on the field.

I think had there been some injuries, then maybe he would have gotten more of an opportunity, not as the season went along after Addison came back from his suspension. Sean does Watson crack the top three on this team? Yeah, I mean, he would. He would be wide receiver two, I think. I mean, I think we'd be giving Jordan Addison too much credit to be saying that he's better than Christian Watson right now.

He has had his times, Jordan Addison, but also last year was quite a down year for him. And even early in 2024, there were some times where it was like, like, okay, well, he was banged up a little bit and are you as engaged as you need to be? That happened a couple times. And then as the season went along, it picked up and he locked in and was very good. I think if you were asking observers outside of the NFC North everywhere, who would you rather have Watson or Addison?

I think most people would say Christian Watson maybe by a nose. But that's pretty close. And it also says something about, you know, they may need to draft a wide receiver next year. if they're not going to extend Addison, because look at these prices. I mean, Watson can argue he's a wide receiver one, but wide receiver two prices if Addison has a similar statistical season for Watson or even Drake London, then, and I know London is up in the elite when it comes to his production, but I mean, if he has a Christian Watson-like season,

and he's going to want, what, somewhere near $30 million, $25 to $30 million a year? So how is that going to play out for the Vikings long term As these wide receiver prices just keep going up and up and up and up? Joker says if Dylan Bell doesn't get any targets this year Who does Steve Smith Jr. fight after he flies to Minnesota? Yeah, that's funny. You're referencing a video where Steve Smith, senior, was aghast watching the Georgia offense.

And he really loved Dylan Bell. I think he had him as his fifth or sixth best wide receiver. Now, Steve has not been amazing at analyzing draft wide receivers. They're fun to watch his videos. But in terms of how he ranks them, it's like when people used to send me, hey, Chris Sims has this quarterback ranked wherever it's like, okay. I mean, all right, that's great. But, you know, that doesn't really carry any more weight than anybody else.

And I would say the same for someone like Dylan Bell. But where I did agree with Steve Smith, after the Vikings got Dylan. Bell, I was looking at a lot of his targets. And I mean, some of them where he runs an actual route are pretty impressive, but they didn't let him do it. And I think in the NFL, you know, yards after catch are a big deal, but explosiveness is kind of king in the NFL and Dylan Bell's got it. But I don't think that their quarterback at Georgia could throw deep out routes and stuff

like that. I think he was just very, very limited. And that showed up on the Dylan Bell. tape. Shantz's thought Redmond shined early, showed flashes and definitely getting consistent every game. You mean, you know, last year could see the same thing with Ingram Dawkins progression, showing more consistency game after game.

So that's the thing with Ingram Dawkins and even with Dylan Bell, right, is we can never just throw these things aside. Now, of course, I could say, look, we have to see it at training camp in the case of Dylan Bell, we've got to see it in real games in the case of tie and grub dockets who did have some nice flashes last year. But if he's going to play big outside linebacker at 200 and, I don't know, is he like 280? I thought he was a little bit slimmer when I saw him, but I didn't weigh him as he walked by me today at OTAs.

But I did think that they probably talked about this of being that in between guy, but Brian Flores is just never afraid of a tweener. I mean, Andrew Van Ginkle is a tweener between an inside linebacker and an outside linebacker. And they're like, but instead of tween, why not both? And it sounds like they're saying the same thing with Ty and Grim Dawkins. And we should never blow off when we see things like this because Ivan Pace Jr. Suddenly started playing over Brian Osamon.

We were like, I don't know. I don't think that's going to, he's a UDFA. And yet Pace ended up as a starter for multiple seasons. Josh Mattelis is the example I use. used earlier. There's a lot of them where we've thought, oh, I don't know. I mean, this is an undrafted free agent or this is a fifth round pick or this is whatever. They do not care. It's what can you do for us? And Ingram Dawkins has some serious explosiveness. If you look at his athletic scores from coming out of college and he didn't have a lot of opportunity to play one

position in college. He was used as this multiple player inside and out. So I'm not surprised that they would be looking at doing that with him here. We'll see what role he ends up having. I'm still in very strong favor of the Vikings getting an outside linebacker. We saw Chas Chambliss there quite a bit today. And he stood out in preseason last year and was somebody that made the team and was on special teams. And now you're always keeping your eye on these guys because you never know.

We've seen enough undrafted free agents. We've seen enough late round guys emerge that you don't want to totally dismiss when they're putting somebody on the first team or they're moving somebody around like they have a plan for them. And I think that would say the same. I mean, Jalen Redmond was a guy when he made the team we were like, wow, Jalen Redmond, huh? Like, I mean, he had stood out in camp and he had stood out in preseason, but it was a little surprising. All right, he's making the team. And then all of a sudden he's playing and he's good. And then we just, then we just accept and we forget about like, oh, yeah, well, Jalen Redmond, he's just on the team and onto the next guys. But once.

Spon of time, he was a guy that we weren't really thinking much about. So that could be the case for some of these guys as well. Folks, have you noticed that social media has now been around long enough to the point where you can see old posts of yourself only with a better hair line? Well, unless you're one of those genetically gifted few people with amazing hair for life, you're probably dealing with that pang of frustration that comes along with seeing your old self. I have been there, but it doesn't have to be that way. These aren't the old days where there were no good answers for hair loss. These days, we've got Hymns. They make it so simple for you with a 100% online access to personalized treatment plans that put your goals first.

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come back. I'll keep saying that none of us know what Harrison Smith is thinking. That is for absolutely sure. Anybody who claims to know what Harrison Smith is thinking, I promise you they don't. But I do think with Harry this time of year starts to come around and they get Kyler Murray and the defenses start to ramp up and there's probably that itch to come back and play football. And, you know, Kevin O'Connell alluded to that that Harrison Smith loves football so much. He's probably always going to want to play.

But I think what was hinted there since we don't have a definitive answer was something like what you're saying, which is, you know, maybe it is during the end of training camp. Maybe he just doesn't want to go through that whole thing, be away from his. family all through training camp and everything else. Maybe he would just prefer to skip training camp and show up like Stefan Gilmore did. Once you get to a certain level in the NFL, and it's usually the level of I've played 10 years plus, you do not need training camp. You can ramp up on the fly.

It's going to be fine. He knows how to work out. He knows how to put his body in position at this point to be able to play. And he knows the defense inside and out. He is literally the coach of the defense on the field. but the fact that the door is cracked a little bit open does make you lean more toward Harry's going to show up at some point. When is he going to show up?

Is there a song called Hitman that, you know, we could say that's Harry's music and he's going to come out? It just kind of feels that way. Now, he could make a decision at some point and say, well, you know, I just don't have it physically. And I remember asking him how he makes the decision a couple of years ago when we were still having conversations about Harry coming back or not. And he said, am I fast enough? Like, do I still feel like I can run out there on an NFL field? Because the minute I can't, then I can't really play anymore.

And if he's at home in Tennessee and he's working out and he's running and he goes, you know what? That was a, that was a four or seven. I'm still fast enough. Here we go. Then maybe we'll see Harrison Smith. But I did think that KOC at least crack the door open to what you're talking about, which is, hey, maybe it's, it's week eight.

you know, I don't know, Josh Mattelis is banged up or Jay Ward is hurt and the defense is top five in the league. The Vikings are six and two and Harry says, all right, I'm ready to go. Or it could be at any time. But at least that door is remaining open, which is, I think, exciting for their defense because we saw the difference between having Harrison Smith out there, playing mind games with opposing quarterbacks and when Harrison Smith was not out there, there were just some limitations. And I expect Mattelis is going to take over a lot of that role. but Harry's an all-time.

There are not that many safeties in the history of this game that are better than Harrison Smith. So if you could bring him back, even as the version we saw at the end of last year, it was when he was at the top of his game, they were one of the best defenses in the NFL. Sean says, personally, I think Harrison, it's all about feeling committed to being 100% or nothing, maybe a side of how things are looking.

Yeah, I mean, that is Harrison Smith for sure, that he's not going to come back unless he truly believes that he can still be a great player. And last year, you could tell how emotional it was for him, how important it was to him. Just this guy, football is so meaningful to him. It's like, yes, for all NFL players, football has a special place. But then there are some people where I don't know what it is, it's just different. And to see the emotional reaction from Harrison last year to how much he, love the fans being on the field being in the locker room all those things and to hear him talk

because he is an incredibly bright guy like eloquently about that was it was special and it was one of my favorite moments of ever covering the team was it being in those press conferences standing there in the little scrum around harrison smith and like i'm standing here next to a hall of famer who's really kind of pouring it all out there about how much football means to him like that's that is incredible stuff so that's going to be hard to to shake for Harrison Smith if he feels like he still got it. And I also think that this defense is probably a Harrison Smith. You'd like to see one of the guys, and I noticed Eric Johnson, the guy that they acquired

defensive tackle from the Colts, that he was, because they don't have Caleb Banks, that he was playing a lot today with the first team. So he's at least experienced. Maybe he'll be the next Jonathan Bullard or something that we end up going, well, that guy who we never really heard of before is pretty decent. But that defensive tackle unit is still a little bit of a question mark. Dominique Orange, you know, and Caleb Banks and how well they perform and so forth. And then, you know, when you're looking at an outside linebacker, it's very light there.

But Dallas Turner and Van Ginkle are a good pairing. The inside linebacker group is now very deep with Jake Golda, who I love how Jake Goulde moves. I mean, usually dudes that are that big, they don't move. like that. And he really is impressive when they put him out in space. They had him playing a little man coverage today on a wide receiver or maybe a tight end. And he's really got some serious movement skills. So they do have some depth there. But there's a lot of these positions where there's, I would say, question marks. Like how much can Jay Ward give you if you have to rely on him for 17 games? Where are you putting Josh Mattelis? Can Theo Jackson step up the way that we've seen a lot from him in

training camp over the years and at times during games, but can he do that more consistently? So bringing back someone like Harry would, I think, mean a lot if they could get him back. It's just if and when. Maybe, I mean, I wouldn't blame him if he wanted to wait and see, like, how good is this team really? Do they need me? And then if they do, then I'll come back. And if not, then I won't.

Guard guy. Nice to see you. What PFF grade do you expect from Donovan Jackson this year? Is he going to take a big step? How much different PFF grades from him would affect our office? offense from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 90s, 90s, 90s, the way that the defensive tackle position has changed and the way that defenses have changed to attack the middle way more with stunts and with blitzes,

we don't see too many guys get 90 PFF grades anymore. We used to with guards when it was more of just a one-on-one. It's Steve Hutchinson versus Gilbert Brown or something. Did they cross over or was Gilbert already retired? I don't know. But anyway, it's me versus you. Steve Hutchinson would completely dominate that matchup. Well, things are a little different now.

They got undersized defensive tackles who are knifing into the backfield. They have crazy stunts going all the time as opposed to just occasionally or on third downs. And the guard position has gotten to be very, very challenging from that perspective. So we see more quarterback pressures come from inside than we used to maybe 10 or 15 years ago. So it's hard to get in the 80s and 90s. What you're really looking for is if you can be a set, 70 graded guard, which is like an average starting player by the PFF grading system, then you are really valuable. So I think that I would put him right around there, take a step forward, be around a 70 graded guard.

That means you are a very quality starter in the NFL. And it's how much of a difference does it make an enormous difference? I mean, if you can allow less than 25 pressures at that position, which we've seen a lot of pressures come from that position, If you can really lock into this outside zone system that they've had, but I think they're really leaning into now this year. Donovan Jackson is a tremendous, tremendous athlete, a really big dude who was capable of playing tackle at the college level for an entire year almost when they won the national championship. And we saw a lot of it last year. It was just that, you know, sometimes he got beat like rookies do. You're facing somebody who's really quick, who you've never seen before.

but now with another year of experience and getting to full health, because he was banged up at times last year, I think that Jackson has a really good chance of taking a big step forward. And if Derisaw is healthy, the left side of that line, you should be able to run behind it all the time with those two guys. J, J.I was watching some old Vikings games back of the day, and Harrison was playing his rookie year. It was cool to watch.

I mean, from back of the day could mean any. Anytime. The best version of Harrison Smith is 2017, where he just had everything in front of them. And I've always thought this with safeties that if everything in front of them is working, which last year at the second half of the season it was, but the first half of the season it wasn't. So then we saw that safety position exposed. But in the second half of the season, if it could look like that up front in the front seven, I think you could get away with Theo Jackson and Jay Ward.

I don't think that you need superstars there all the time. But in 2017, the Vikings had everything. Best defense in the league against the run and pass. And Harry could just roam and make plays and play games with quarterbacks, pickoff passes, cause fumbles, get sacks. I mean, I thought that he had a case for defensive MVP that year. And one of my favorite postgame articles that I've ever written was when the Vikings clinched in 2017.

And Harrison, I think he had like two picks or something. like that against the Packers. It was this gnarly cold game. They won 16 to nothing or something to clinch the division. And Harry had this unbelievable game. And the lead to my story, my first sentence was because if you remember in 2017, he didn't initially get voted into the Pro Bowl, but he made All Pro Pro. So my first sentence was more like Pro Bowl with LOL.

Right. So all right. Right. That's how you become a NFL reporter, folks. But I remember just being amazed by him that year, the instincts, the quickness. He intercepts, what is it, Mitch Trubisky to close out that week five game in Chicago that really accelerated and started to send that season where it went. So Harrison Smith is special, man. And even the version that you have now, we saw it last year, still special, still picking off passes, still knocking down passes,

still dialing up stuff for other people. I mean, it's just, it's just terrific. So it would be great to see him come back, and I think he would still bring a lot, but I don't know when it's going to be. At least with KOC, I think he sort of accidentally left the door open there. Although, you know, until he announces he's retired,

the door is always going to be open. A Joker said, is this a team that will meet every standard required to be a Super Bowl winner? Why or why not? And what would we be missing wins point differential? Can whatever is missing? be added. So, you know, when we look at Super Bowl winners, there's a few metrics that they almost

always have. One is they outscore their opponents by at least 100 points. Oftentimes, it's more than that, but that's kind of the minimum. I think the Rams were underneath that. The, maybe one of the chiefs teams that wasn't quite as strong was underneath that, but that's Patrick Mahomes. And I could think of maybe, I think the Giants, one of those Giants teams had a negative point differential, won the Super Bowl, total outliers, everybody else is plus 100 point differential. So you start with that. If you look at last year, the Vikings had a positive point differential, despite the fact that they were a negative 40 expected points added in their passing game, which again is crazy

because when they've been good, it's been much more like toward the positive side of that, somewhere between 40 and 80 on the positive side, usually just year over year. I forget exactly what Sam Darnold's season was for EPA, but let's just say it was like plus 60 or plus 70 or something. Like, that's where it normally is. And then MVP's are like plus 100 or whatever else. But the point being that the estimation there is that you lost 40 points just from your passing game. It was that bad. And if I remember correctly, Kyler in 2024 was somewhere around 60.

So if you, I mean, you could gain 100 points just with being better as a passing game, but you have to repeat everything on the defensive side. And what we have to remember is that they did in the second half of the season have good health on the defensive side. They were totally dominant on that side of the ball. And a lot of guys played extremely well. Isaiah Rogers played extremely well. So can you match everything?

And I mean, Hargrave and Allen, we talk about them as if they were total bums. That was not the case in the second half of the season. I mean, those guys played really well down the stretch and got pressures and got sacks and they became one of the better run defenses in the league at the end of the day. So now you have, I think, more questions than last year.

You have questions at defensive tackle, questions with the depth of the outside linebackers. You're still a corner feeling pretty good, but question at safety with Harrison Smith, not here as of this moment. So you can't just expect to be a top five defense. Just like, oh, yeah, every single year, you'd just be a top five defense. but maybe if it's top 10 and you increase your scoring by 100 points because you're just way better at passing the football. And also, Kyler Murray during his career is either third or fourth. I think it might be third and expected points added running the football.

And the guys ahead of him are Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. I think that's it. Maybe Jalen hurts. I think those are the only three that are ahead of Kyler Murray. So that's a big jump right there because the Vikings under KOC, In fact, I mean, ever, like, when it was the last time Dante was probably the last time that this team has had on the plus side of a running quarterback? Tavar's Jackson could run as well. But, I mean, truly, they have not had scrambling quarterbacks recently.

It's been Sam Bradford. And then, you know, Case Keenham ran around and then threw the ball, but he wasn't a running quarterback. Kirk obviously was nowhere close to a running quarterback. And then Sam Darnold could scramble a little. but I think he ended up with like 100 yards at the end of the year. Kyler, you can expect like 500. So it is, you do have that. I think that they meet or come close to the defensive standard,

but the defensive tackles have to be good. I don't see teams winning the Super Bowl anytime soon without defensive tackles that aren't good. I think that those, and that's why you draft them, right? I mean, we're asking questions about Caleb Banks. We really don't know. You never know until the guy gets on the field. but what we do know is that he has the physical capability to dominate at times in college, in the senior bowl practices, and he has the physical capability to do that and translate it to the NFL.

That's why you draft him. That's why you draft Dominique Orange, because these are big giant guys, and that position has been enormous. You know, edge rusher as well, but I mean, the defensive line, the front seven has been huge to winning in the playoffs. look at the Los Angeles Rams, Aaron Donald might come back and Miles Garrett and everything. So they've got that. In terms of wins, it's usually been 11 to reach the Super Bowl. But now that we're in a world with 17 games,

it might be a little bit more close to 12. If you win 12 games and you outscore your opponents by 100, you go into the playoffs as a legitimate contender in my eyes. And then it depends on who you face, how things work out. I mean, Seattle is one of the ultimate example. of a team that just had a lot of stuff go their way. Health went their way. Home field went their way.

Matchups went their way until they faced the Rams. But even then, the Rams had just been in Chicago and overtime and had to go out to Seattle, totally different paths. So there's a lot that play into it. And in terms of, you know, can they, like, is this a team that can meet that standard? I think that certain things have to go right in order for it to get there. and the number one to me is that defensive line. And if that does click and Dallas Turner does take the step and Andrew Van Ginkle does stay healthy and we see banks and Orange and Jalen Redman, Ty and Grum Dawkins start to become this core, then yeah, I mean, I think it is possible.

But I don't think you could get there with the roster you have exactly right now. I do think you'd probably have to add at least a piece somewhere at some point. but I mean from the quarterback position it's at least in the it's at least in the range based on Kyler Murray's talent and his peak performance and the weapons that he has are worthy of producing a top 10 offense but we're not I don't and I don't think we're going to see this very often ever into the future you got to have an elite defense I think to win a Super Bowl I don't know I think this has changed and it's always shifting you know when Atlanta in 2000 16 made it.

Then we were all saying, oh, yeah, I mean, you can have an average defense that gets hot or plays pretty well in a playoff game. And even through 2020, the passing environment was so crazy that it was like, hey, if you just like get some interceptions or some sacks, you can sort of survive and still be really good. But, I mean, I don't know now. Like with defense is kind of the tide shifting toward them, the tide shifting toward teams that can be all around and run the football.

I don't know in today's environment if you can have any chance. And I did take a look at this. I don't think that there were any Super Bowl champions that allowed 4,000 yards passing in a season. It was something like that. And I think if I remember, because this was a couple years ago, the average quarterback rating against was something like 85 for defenses that went to the Super Bowl. So most of the time, yeah, having a top-notch defense. And if you're going to have Kyler Murray's your quarterback and not Josh Allen, then you

definitely need to have the elite defense. So if this team is in a really good position at some point, they might just go all in on something defensively. They haven't done it this year or this offseason because they wanted to keep the powder dry and keep their options open and so forth. But if you were seven and one or something and your defense is great, go out and get another player, definitely. Grade the Christian Watson contract.

I mean, it sort of is what it is. Like, it's the going price. I mean, it's probably, it's probably not a good contract for Green Bay, but every team is just in a position where they have to overpay wide receivers because those wide receivers can say, why don't you go out and get some other wide receivers in free agency if you love them so much? And then pay Romeo Dobbs, an average two or three wide receiver, $17 million a year, right? So I think this is the world we live in and why you draft them. Sean says expect the defensive floor may be a little regression, whereas the defense's ceiling is scary good. So being healthy on the O line and potential of offense over a terrible quarterback play is 10 wins for the floor.

I think the floor is much lower than 10 wins. It always is for any team. It's lower than that for Kansas City, as we saw last year. It's lower than that for Buffalo. If Josh Allen were to get hurt and be out for the year, any team could lose their quarterback, and then their floor goes a lot. lower. I think that the floor for me is based on the fact that they've been able to survive some of that stuff. And the ceiling is really yet to be determined. I mean, I say 12, but we saw 14 from

Sam Darnold. Then there's no way I would have said that that was the ceiling. That was the Fandul question of the day, by the way, if you want to answer that, that on Fandul, now they have range of outcomes that you can bet, including the Vikings over 6.5 wins, which to me seems pretty safe all the way up to what their line is, which is eight and a half wins. What's their actual range of outcomes for this team? And I think that you're right about the defense that under Flores, the ceiling is always going to be scary good. But a lot of things kind of need to happen if that's going to be the case.

Because right now, I think that they are not as good on paper. But if you had Jake Golda, step into a role and be really good. If you had Ingram Dawkins take a big step. If you have Jay Ward take a big step. And none of that stuff seems ridiculous when it's a Flores defense. Skull Shadow. What are your thoughts on the slip up by O'Connell saying McCarthy was a former captain before quickly correcting himself?

Well, every year they vote for captains. So technically there are no captains in OTAs. He's correct in saying former captain. I think what he probably realized in the moment was, if I say this, it's going to sound like he's not the captain anymore. And it's very unlikely that he would get voted a captain when he's a backup quarterback. So there was a very quick processing, quick twitch moment there for Kevin O'Connell. But technically anyone who was a captain is a former captain at this moment.

Josh Mattelis, who will absolutely be a captain again, is a former captain because no one is a captain of the 2026 Vikings. They start anew and then they go through training camp and then they have their vote. and then you're a captain. So yeah, I mean, I think rather than having to explain all that, it was better to just say former, well, you know, a captain last year, that kind of thing. And look, with J.J. McCarthy in his first press conference, there were, I think it wasn't like he went out there and committed some sort of crime against football. There were just moments where he was not, in my opinion, putting the team,

above himself, which is not what a captain does, right? I mean, when you name someone a captain, you look for them to do what's best for the team at all times, as opposed to sort of saying, I'm over here and you're over there, which sounds very self-centered. It doesn't sound so much like all I care about is winning football games and I'll do whatever the team needs for me. So that was why it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. I saw a lot of former quarterbacks commenting on it who have been through this.

He's not the first quarterback to ever be in a quarterback competition. And there were a few little comments from Kevin O'Connell where he said, you have to at least act like a good teammate. And if we take it within the full breadth of his comment, it didn't seem as harsh as I just said it. Like, if you say in a certain tone, if you say, you have to at least act like a good teammate, that's different from how O'Connell said it. I just want to be clear about that. but that little line did kind of stick out to me.

Like, I don't think that McCarthy acted like that in his last press conference. Now, as far as what I've seen out on the field, it looks fine. You know, high five and people talking with everybody and that sort of thing. It looks fine with J.J. McCarthy. I think that he at his age and maturity level, because sometimes those two don't always match up, I don't know that he was able to contain how he's really feeling about it. And when that came out, it was like, well, some of that's the reason why you're having a quarterback competition is not being able to contain the emotions at times during the season last year, the highs and lows. So, but yeah, I mean, everyone is a former captain, though, just to be clear.

And if J.J. McCarthy, if he outperforms Kyler Murray and he is fantastic in training camp, wins the job. It's QB1. This is the guy you always dreamed of as your franchise quarterback. He'll probably be a captain again. And if not, it'll probably be Kyler Murray. Joker says, Keith Carter and Frank Smith got shoutouts today. How different is the offense going to look because of them? K.O. is like an only child being forced to share his offense for the first time.

Not easy. You're funny. You're funny. Joker lives up to his name every day. You make me laugh. As far as those guys, those to me are the proof if people say, well, there's no way KOC can change. what he's doing. He's just stuck in his ways and whatever, which is weird for a guy who's like not old, but yes, he can learn and grow. Andy Reid learned and grew a lot during his time

going from Philadelphia to Kansas City. We've seen it for many coaches over the years where maybe they get close and it doesn't quite happen and then eventually they get there and they learn and grow. Sean McVeigh didn't win the Super Bowl in his first year. He had the number one offense and then failed in the playoffs. Guess he'll never get it done, folks. because he failed in his first time in the playoffs, right? I mean, this is how it goes a lot of times, the tough league. But I think one of the things you learn along the way is that you have to have other people that are contributing in very significant ways in order to get there, right?

And bringing in Frank Smith and Keith Carter, naming him the offensive line coach, was a very clear signal. We want to run the football a certain way that, has been successful around the NFL and we need the details to be better because I don't think that the details were always there with this run game. I also think that if half of your offensive line is hurt and no disrespect to Joe Huber, but you're playing Joe Huber, then in his first game ever against the Cleveland Browns, it's unlikely that you're going to run over the other team. So that did play a role in it when the offensive line was healthy. They did run the

ball effectively. I also think that, you know, your two running backs don't create a lot of explosive plays. And that is another part of it, too, that if those guys get into the open, they usually don't run past everybody. That's maybe why you draft them on Claiborne. So there's a lot that's going to go into it. The offensive line has to stay healthy in order to be able to execute this stuff. But, I mean, we've talked with Jeremiah Searle about this before. Never felt like there was a true identity to the run game. And I think that's what you bring in these two. guys to create this outside zone identity, which has had a lot of success in the NFL. You see it from San Francisco.

You see it. Miami was the great example. And that was San Francisco inspired. You've seen it in Green Bay. It's not just running outside zone every play, but you saw it in Minnesota, how effective it was with Delvin Cook. And I do think with Nolan Teasley here, there is going to be a desire to run the ball. But I also think there's going to be a desire into the future after this year to find the

running back who, yeah, is it a great idea always to be drafted and running backs? But if you know, but if you get one for four years on his rookie contract, then yeah, that's awesome for those four years that you get somebody who's a fantastic running back. So I think that will be a goal of theirs eventually. Sean says, what are your early impressions of increased depth by position? In some positions, I do think that there is increased depth. A wide receiver certainly feels that way when you're bringing in Joanne Jennings, running back possibly if DeMond Claiborne is good there. But there's certainly some questions.

I mean, corner is a little better. I think I have more confidence in James Pierre and even a draft pick, you know, Charles Demings than I did last year. Whereas like if somebody gets hurt, you know, Fabian Moreau will probably be back at some point. But if someone gets hurt, it's like Fabian Moreau and then who then Dwight McLeathern's still out there doing his thing. but that's still an undrafted free agent. So now you feel a little bit better with James Pierre there as someone who's played well recently for the Pittsburgh Steelers. But I still think they could be a lot better at some areas.

Better at tackle, way better at offensive tackle than they were last year. But guard depth, interior line depth, pretty concerning. Outside linebacker, defensive tackle. You know, safety. Now they have Jacoby Thomas, a third round draft pick. So that's one to keep an eye on. but we don't know what you're going to get from him. So it's that some have improved and maybe some not.

Axton says, noticed that we signed two wide receivers today, hear anything on that. I think both of those guys were undrafted free agents for maybe last year. I didn't really look into it. They're always kind of bringing in guys at the back end of the roster and then, you know, we'll see what those guys look like and if they stand out at some point. But I didn't really take much time with the camp body type players. and you never know. But is that somebody said that they were both connected to the Seahawks,

that they both had been picked up by the Seahawks. So like, is Nolan Teasley putting his stamp on the Vikings already? I guess so. Joker says if McCarthy doesn't look like he made strides is Wentz QB2. Yeah, I absolutely think so. What it's going to matter the most to is we will see the results on the sideline when we watch training camp and even mini-camp. next week. We're going to see the results. But here's what we know. Carson Wentz sets a certain

standard for what they want out of the backup quarterback position, right? They want out of the backup quarterback position, someone who is going to go in at any time, anywhere, with any amount of reps and know the offense. And that's Carson Wentz. He knows it inside and out. I have no doubt that Carson Wentz could play a football game with KOC's offensive play calling today if he needed to. So what J.J. McCarthy needs to do is he needs to nail all the details. I mean, we can't forget when people will send messages and leave comments like McCarthy was actually pretty good that last year, you don't realize that it's like, okay, well, first of all, I was at every single game and every single practice and everything, whatever else. There's nothing I don't realize

about J.J. McCarthy's performance last year. But what I will not forget is Aaron Jones talking about dumbing down the offense. That's where the key really is. is, yes, I think that McCarthy's accuracy is always going to be a work in progress. I think containing his emotions on the field is a work in progress. And some things will have to happen for him to, I don't want to say, like, it sounds so harsh to say grow up, but just grow, just grow in the NFL. Like McCarthy's going to have to grow in the NFL. And those things are going to take more than just a couple of throws with John Beck in

California to get figured out. But when it comes to running the actual offense, getting the play call. Kyler Murray is going to run the whole thing. Kyler Murray is not going to have any problem running the whole thing. I saw him do it with Drew Petzing over the last two seasons. I watched it on tape. He was running a complete NFL offense.

He wasn't in 2021 when Cliff Kingsbury had him run all over the place, but he was over the last two years. So he's going to pick this offense up. He's going to run it. He's going to get all the motions and he's going to get all the reeds and all the footwork and everything down. That's going to happen. That's what veteran quarterbacks do.

J.J. McCart, he has to be to that standard. He was not to that standard last year. And if you're Kevin O'Connell or any other coach, you can't play somebody if you don't feel like they can run your whole offense. And you can say, well, his offense is too complicated. I wasn't too complicated for Sam Darnold. It wasn't too complicated for Kirk Cousins.

So if you want to be on that level, year three, there's no more babying. There's no more developing. It's figure it out. Be an NFL quarterback or don't. Be a starter or not. Because if there's no more guiding you along and saying, well, you know, we'll just teach you your footwork and we'll just dumb down the offense for you and we'll just bring you along slowly. It's like, no, that's not how this works after year two. After year two, it's time to win.

It's time to play winning football. It's time to master an entire NFL offense. And if you can't get an offense that Kirk and Sam Darnold played extremely well in, then you can't play here. So, yes, he has to meet that standard or it's going to be Carson Wentz. because remember, Carson Wentz played better last year than J.J. McCarthy did. So, yeah, they're going to play him if JJ doesn't have it down. There is no guarantee of QB2. Kit, if Ingram Dawkins is rostered as an edge, who does that make space for in the D-Line room?

Curious who you think makes the team in the early stage from a deep but murky room. Yeah, I mean, it's not really, it doesn't, for Flores, doesn't really work that way, I think, in terms of what's not like Madden where you have like 5DL and 4 OLB or something. It's just kind of this guy's on the teams. He's going to play wherever I put them. It might require Ingram Dawkins being in two different rooms. Sometimes the D-line and the outside linebacker and kind of cross-training. But that's always Brian Flores when it comes to that.

So I don't think it makes room necessarily. I think it's a role that he would fit into of on a certain type of play you might be here, on a certain type of play you might be there. So maybe it's an interior rush on a third down, but maybe on a rundown, if it's first and 10 and the other team is up 14, like maybe you're throwing him in there at outside linebacker because you know they're going to run.

Or if it's a end of a game situation or a goal line or something where, hey, we got to stop the run. Or if another team is having success with it, put him in it outside linebacker, set the edge, like things like that. Because as an edge setter, He's got size and strength that Dallas Turner is more built on quickness.

So you could rotate him a little bit there. But in terms of the depth, I mean, it looks to me like they're going to use Isaiah Loudermilk and Eric Johnson, the two guys that they picked up. They identified Loudermilk from, I would assume, Flores' time in Pittsburgh and Gerald Alexander's time in Pittsburgh as well. They would have familiarity with Loudermilk. So he's going to play. And then Eric Johnson has been playing for the Indianapolis Colts.

hasn't been great, but he's been playing. So I imagine that that's kind of how they look at it. But you're right, it is murky. It is murky. Because I'm assuming orange is going to start. I'm assuming Banks is going to start. And those guys are going to rotate in and out quite a bit. Big Dog says, is it not beneficial for Kyler to just be named the starter and get more reps?

I don't think that it matters a ton in OTAs. Because even with Kirk Cousins here, you would still see Nick Mullins getting out there and throwing quite a few passes in OTAs. I don't think that it is harming Kyler Murray to be switching in and out during OTAs. He's still getting a ton of reps out there and it's not really at full speed. There's no physicality whatsoever. That's why Dan Campbell calling it a pajama party is great. We may see at mini camp, though, that that changes a little bit because it is dialed up a notch. Mini camp starts to get to beyond just, hey, we're installing stuff to let's see it

click a little bit here. So we may see more Kyler Murray there. In my opinion, it doesn't really matter for someone who's been in the league as long as Kyler Murray until they put the pads on at training camp. That's when things really begin for a quarterback competition, for real evaluation, even the first part of training camp where they don't have the pads on. It's still a slow ramp up. And this is the hard part.

We all want so much football. I want football. You want football. I want answers about the football. I'd love if they played a game today. This is my proposal for 18 games is to split the season in half on the calendar. So we'd be playing football right now because did I mention I want to see it. But OTAs just ain't really it.

Minicamp is a little bit. And the start of training camp is a little bit more. And then when the pads come on, that's football. So that's when it will matter the most for him to get the actual. rep counts. But if they're still splitting at that point, then it's a real competition. If they're not, then it isn't. That is pretty much as straightforward as that. Ryan says, is Gavin Bartholomew alive? Have you seen anything from him? I was not watching for Gavin Bartholomew. Usually the way things kind of work is they split them into field. So you have more development players on one side

and then players who are first and second teamers on another side. So he was over on the other side that I wasn't looking at at all because I'm watching Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy. He is alive, though. I have seen him in the locker room last year when he was activated and I'm interested to see where that goes. For now, I mean, it's going to be T.J. Hawkinson and it's going to be Josh Oliver and those are your starting guys.

But that battle, Ben Urosic and Gavin Bartholomew, like, yeah. And he may have, he may have mixed in today. I just wasn't looking specifically for him to see what he was doing. So I'll do that more in minicamp, just kind of keep an eye on that. Because then we see more of everybody getting together at that point. So I'll keep an eye out for it. But it is like gaining a draft pick, really, because he got hurt so early on last year that he could end up being a guy that they look to into the future if he shows something.

Big Dog, I know Tisley controls the 53, but with Rob controlling the all, off season. Who gets credit if they win the Super Bowl? What would happen with Rob? Let me tell you. Well, first of all, Nolan Teasley is the GM. They're not going to like change anything if they won the Super Bowl and suddenly

say, well, Rob ran the offseason. He's the GM now. Like, that's not going to happen. I can tell you, though, knowing Rob over the years, nobody would be happier, regardless of what his job title is than Rob Brzezinski for this team to win the Super Bowl. That guy cares so much about this franchise. man. I mean, everyone says that, but I mean, he really, really, really, really does. I mean, the investment, all the things he's seen over all these years. And look, executive vice president

of football operations is a hell of a title in the NFL. It's not like, oh, you're not GM. Are you even a real person? What do you even do here? No, I mean, Rob is a very important part of this front office. And if they do win the Super Bowl, we will all know. We will remember, trust me. We will remember that Rob was integral in this, but I also would say, remember who put together the team? I mean, the real question is not Rob, because Rob would get a Super Bowl ring and he would be the happiest person alive. The question would be Quasi, who, by the way, just got an official title with the San Francisco 49ers who are a heck of an organization. So sometimes when we talk about Quasi Adolph-Menzza and people talk down about him or whatever, we're still talking about an extremely

competitive roster that was built by him and he immediately got rehired into the NFL for one of the best organizations in the league. So, you know, just because something doesn't work out in terms of relationship wise or position wise, you know, it doesn't mean that everything he did was wrong or everything that they did over the last couple years was idiotic. I mean, they have built a still a very competitive roster at the moment that I think is a few things away probably and a few things really clicking away. But it. It would be kind of, I mean, I don't want to say funny. Like, all as well that ends well, he's got the job in San Francisco.

They're going to be good, you know, and everything else. But it would kind of just be ironic if some of the draft picks that weren't working out or didn't look like they were suddenly took a different turn. Like if J.J. McCarthy suddenly became the starting quarterback and Ty and Grum Dawkins gets 10 sacks or something. You're like, oh, was he good at drafting then? Dallas Turner is a superstar all pro season. Oh, maybe it was worth trading up, right? That would be kind of funny. Hey, Jared Verse already got traded.

So obviously tongue and cheek there. Dan says, curious about the tight ends. What are you seeing anyone sticking out? I'm seeing, I mean, today Hawkinson wasn't there. So it was a lot of Josh Oliver. But in terms of anyone standing out right now, you're just not going to really see that. You know, Ben Yorosik did a good job last year at times.

And I'm interested in Bartholomew. but in OTA practices, mostly tight ends are just catching checkdowns. You're not really seeing a lot of tight ends going deep down the field. We could see receivers and we could see corners kind of duking it out, but tight ends are mostly just doing underneath stuff. We'll get a little better sense of that during training camp, especially the second team. We know who the first team tight ends are going to be.

But, you know, Eurosik and Bartholomew, Bryson Nesbitt is a very talented player. He has to catch the ball consistently. He's got to prove he can. block, but he's somebody I'm keeping an eye on is maybe an undrafted free agent from last year who's still around. So, uh, okay, I do have to apologize, uh, because I've gotten a little bit, you know, behind in the comments section.

And I did have it as my goal to try to get to everybody's comments, uh, before seven o'clock. Uh, usually go on WCCO radio at this time. Also going to go see Olivia Miles play some basketball. It's a little bit more of a hard out here. So I'm going to try to speed run some comments here. to make sure that I don't miss too many people. Really appreciate everybody tuning in, by the way.

I'm very appreciative of that. Just love losing says all four quarterbacks have something to prove. Can Kyler return to form? Can JJ prove he belongs in the NFL? Is Carson Wentz shoulder heel enough to be solid? And can Brosmer reach the minimum qualifications? I think that the first two are definitely true. And I think the second two, I mean, you're hoping that Wentz never has to play.

And Brosmer, look, it's most team. have an undrafted free agent quarterback for who they really love the guy and you don't really want him to start too many games and maybe he can develop. I mean, Brosmer did have a couple moments there against the Giants, but, you know, he's going to have to develop. But yeah, I think the first two, you know, Kyler, it's not, it's not, it is somewhat returned to form. But I think with Kyler, it's much more of can he show the potential that has always been in there and has always been in there in spurts. And JJ belongs. in the NFL. He played well enough to be an NFL quarterback last year. But what it really is, is

does he have a future with this franchise is certainly a part of it for J.J. McCarthy? And does he look like the arrow is pointing up to where maybe if, you know, Kyler gets hurt, you feel confident in JJ McCarthy? Like, there is a lot to prove there. I think he's going to be in the NFL and he's going to have to shift the way he talks about quarterback competitions if he wants to be in the NFL long term. but he's going to be in the NFL. Top draft picks get lots of chances and lots of time. We've seen lots of them turn things around. I've never been a bail on J.J. McCarthy person.

It's just I think that he's going to have to turn the frown upside down if he's going to be one of these guys that sticks for a long time and then gets another shot because Gino Smith and Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield all had to be backup quarterbacks at some point. Like you're going to have to kind of get over that. And there's still plenty of time. Plenty of your quarterback journey, as Kevin O'Connell likes to call it. Dan, I wish I could tell you how Blake Brandl was looking at center, but he's not doing anything. He's just snapping the ball to Kyler Murray and that's it.

I mean, they're not, in OTAs, they're not, they are not allowed to be physical with each other at all. Because you don't want anyone to get hurt in OTAs. That would be insane. Aaron, yes, it is true that Christian Watson, yeah, that was right. It was part of that trade. Yeah. So he'll, okay, so he got a, I don't know how much of it is guaranteed for that, but it may be a paper tiger contract. That is definitely possible.

Jay Mulls, what do you think the deepest position is? Wide receiver, offensive. It's probably offensive tackle, I think is the deepest position. Wide receiver, because we need to see it from Ty Felton. And maybe even, maybe corner. Like if Chuck Demings is kind of ready to play, corner could be considered a deeper position that it's been here in quite some time. Axton says KOC is somewhat on the hot C2, not just J.J. McCarthy.

This year I'd like to duct tape Kevin O'Connell's mouth shut and make him actually coach. Oh, well, I mean, we can't be that harsh on O'Connell. I think O'Connell cares a lot about the fan base understanding where he stands and stuff. I mean, he does this for you. So sometimes I hear this about O'Connell, like, oh, he just talks and talks, talks, and he's talking to you. Like, I think he's talking to you. that's what a press conference is for.

So not to us. It's to relay the fans questions is what it really is. So I think O'Connell cares that the fans understand what's going on there. He's referenced that a number of times. He wants the fans to understand where he stands on a quarterback competition and how he views it and how he viewed J.J. McCarthy. I don't think that he does that for his health. I think he does that because he truly cares about, I mean, Mike Zimmer did not,

but, you know, Kevin O'Connell, I think really does. So I don't ever want to say, hey, don't, you know, don't talk at more for Kevin O'Connell because I think he's very insightful and, you know, talking about these different areas of the football team and things like that to the fan base. That's who you're really speaking to when you're staring into the camera. So, but when it comes to, you know, actually, I mean, just in 2024, he was coach of the year. So he actually coaches just fine, even if he does a longer press conference than previous coaches. I don't think there's any correlation. Skull's shadow at this rate, it may cost 100 over three years for Addison. I would expect if Addison catches, I mean, if he catches, I don't know, 70 passes for 900 yards.

That's a $30 million wide receiver these days. 25 to 30. That's crazy, but it's actually true. Rage says Jordan Addison played one less season than Christian Watson still has more yards, despite playing more fewer games in that time frame. Yeah, I mean, Addison has played in very past heavy offenses and is done very, very well. I think that most people would say that Christian Watson's size speed would be favorable to Jordan Addison. But yeah, I mean, I think they're in the same range. I would say that they're very much in the same range as guys that I would have is top-notch wide receiver twos.

And that's going to be the going price for them. So how they handle that will be very interesting. Yeah, I know Watson. in terms of the counting stats and everything else because of the injuries, he's been slowed down by injuries. I think at his best, it's not a disrespect to Addison to say they're in the same range. I just think that most people around the NFL would probably say the size for Watson is an advantage there for him.

But he's not perfect and paying him that much is very aggressive. The structure of the contract will matter, though. The guaranteed dollars will matter to somebody who's had as many injury issues. That money is crazy for Watson. Yeah, yeah, I know. I mean, look, I just think based on their skill set and when Watson is healthy, that the highest end of him has been really, really good. It was not to say that, you know, most people would take, or a lot of people would take Christian Watson over him is not like a disrespect to Jordan Addison who had two great years. But we can't ignore last year.

It was horrible. Last year was a horrible season for Jordan Addison. His drop rate was through the roof and his performance, even despite the quarterbacks, was not at the level it was supposed to be. we can't just like, oh, that doesn't matter. It has to be factored into his whole career. Mama says next year, we need to either be drafting a quarterback if Kyler sucks or a wide receiver in the first round. Yeah, I definitely agree with that. Awesome.

It has been awesome. I have to call it a day very shortly, but it is great to be talking football with you guys. Jay, did you hear Judd's questions to KOC about JJ being ticked off? and what did you think? Of course, I was standing close to Judd. Yeah. I thought that, you know, Kevin O'Connell handled that the right way.

Like, Kevin O'Connell just said, like he wasn't falling for the trap there. The trap is like, yeah, you know, him going on about, oh, yeah, I love that JJ's all ticked off and whatever else. He was just like, I'm not going there. And that's how I think he's going to handle this quarterback conversation until a starting quarterback is very clearly happening at training camp.

where it's going to be like, look, I am not going to say a whole heck of a lot about how I feel about these guys that the evaluation is going to stay internal. And as you were talking about earlier, I thought last year was amazing for journalists who went to every press conference like myself. I learned so much about quarterback play last year from Kevin O'Connell. And some of it was him, I think, getting frustrated and being like, let me really explain this to you guys because I want you to understand it. I got so much out of it last year.

But I don't think he wants to do that again. I don't think he wants to do Kevin O'Connell's class for reporters who need to learn about quarterback play and learn good. Like, I don't think that's what he wants to do this year. I think he wants to have a pro quarterback where he doesn't have to answer these questions about teaching him how to play every single week or about, you know, is he taking a next step or anything else? And I think even if JJ were to have a lot of success, but he doesn't want to be answering those questions either. So I think he's like, I'm not going to take you guys inside the whiteboard in the film room with this competition. I'm just going to say, here's what I'm looking for.

Let's all go out and watch it and see what happens. But I also think that we all know that Kyler Murray is the quarterback right now. I think that is extremely clear. So, Dan wouldn't mind seeing Harry come back, but how about him on the coaching staff? I don't think that's for him. I mean, I don't know. Like, I mean, he's a coach on the field. for sure. But coaching takes so much, so much sacrifice, so much in terms of hours and everything

else. If you're a guy who's a Hall of Fame caliber player who's made a lot of money during your career, I don't know if you always want to do that. That's why you don't see a lot of Hall of Fame caliber guys coaching. You make a lot of money. You're like, I'm not spending 70, 80 hours a week during the season away from my family. So I don't know about that. Maybe he might. Thank you, Ocho. Can we trade for a safety? I don't think they need. to right now. They've been developing these guys for a while. And I think that Brian Flores believes in developing these players, especially their draft picks, but they might need to. They definitely might need to. Sean says, curious if you see, I think Bell could be a kick

returner. I did see Alec Lewis maybe going, I thought, you know, I was, I was joking with the guys out of practice today. I said, guys, like Dylan Bell, I think he's just good, you know. And like, obviously I'm kidding because it's OTAs, but I read Alex tweet and I was like, wow, he really liked what he saw from Dylan Bell. I think he could be a kick returner. Miles Price is going to be in that mix, DeMond Claiborne. Like there could be a real competition there. A kick returner off?

We never get a punt off, but maybe a kick returner off. Kick returner battle. Sean, the logic behind Bell returning kicks is that if he can do that and is a better wide receiver option than Price, he could have a better shot at. making the roster. Yeah, fair enough. I think Price was really good as a returner, but you have to have a shot with them for sure. Angel something. McCarthy is younger than most of the quarterbacks that just got drafted in this class, but it doesn't matter in the NFL, the NFL is about right now. Yeah, it is. And the Vikings don't have patience. It's hilarious. Look, I mean, the Vikings want to

win football games. So I don't know what's hilarious about that. They like you don't have five years to figure out if somebody can learn how to play in the NFL. It's year three now. It's time to grow up. That's what it is. It's time to be evaluated like a real NFL quarterback in year three. There shouldn't be any more holding his hand or making excuses or anything else. And the age factor for the long term is certainly something that I respect the fact that many quarterbacks developed over years and I think if JJ takes the right approach and has the right attitude about it, he can certainly be like that. If he thinks that the only way that I want to be here is I'm going to be QB1 and that's it,

otherwise I'm going to pout, which I'm not saying that's what he said, but, you know, as was the vibe, then it's not going to be a situation where he can progress over years. Like, you have to understand and have the awareness that you have to earn this thing every single day and more interceptions than touchdowns. one of the highest sack rates in the league, one of the worst quarterback ratings in the league, and one of the worst performances through 10 starts of any first round draft pick over the last number of years, that's not going to get it done. If you think that that's enough to get it done, then I don't know what to tell you.

Alan says, I'm done with the Wilf's if they trade J.J. McCarthy. Well, the Wilfs don't trade people. That would be Nolan Teasley. And I think you're lying. I don't think that's true. I think that you will love Kyler Murray if he wins football games. There were a lot of people who said, man, if they get rid of Kirk, I'm done.

You're like, no, you're not. It's go burn a jersey in your backyard. You're not going to do that. Stop. The performative nonsense is unnecessary when it comes to J.J. McCarthy. The facts are the facts and the reality is the reality. And we're going to see how it plays out.

You don't have to be freaking weird about this. People have gotten very weird about him. Thank you, Ocho. As trading for safety might be the best Julian Blackman in New Orleans or Arizona selling full tank mode for a quarterback in 2027, call them and check in the price of Buddha Baker would love Buda Baker would love that these are trade deadline things I think they are trade deadline and look I want Nolan Tisley do it's been I mean he signed a couple of former UDFA wide receivers is that it Nolan is that all you're going to do it no I'm just kidding but like do something

Nolan I think the trade deadline is where we're really going to see this stuff because you want to see how good the team is that that's where I stand you want to see how good the team really is because you truly do not know until they get out there and start playing games, because there's always so many questions with every team in the NFL. I doubt that Nolan Tisley thought going into week one last year, we are going to win the freaking Super Bowl. The Rams can say it. The Bills can say it.

The Ravens can say it. The chiefs can say it. How many teams can really say day one, oh yeah, we could absolutely win the Super Bowl. Most teams are, we're going to go out there and see. And if things go our way, then we can win the Super Bowl. if the Vikings are six and two at the deadline and the Arizona's dumping Buddha Baker, then make the freaking call. I agree.

Rach's biggest concern about the defense is the Vikings lost their best pressure generators. Who is going to replace that? That's a great question, Rach. That's a great question. They lost 100 quarterback pressures from Hargrave, Allen, and Jonathan Granard. So they are going to have to replace that. A lot of it's on Dallas Turner, a lot of it. That's why I do think that there's more to come with the roster.

Rach says the Vikings can have all the patience in the world, but if McCarthy's not a starting caliber quarterback in year three, they cannot force it unless they want to tank. Well, look, there's been a lot of quarterbacks drafted in the NFL, and some of them have worked out and some of them have not in the first round. And you might just be on the wrong side of that coin flip. It's always a coin flip. It's about 50-50.

So you're not going to call O'Neill a former Kempel. Captain, fair enough, fair enough. But it is true. It is technically true, but you're, you're right about the slip up that you're not going to call Josh Mattelis or Brian O'Neill former captain. That's fair enough. That's funny. You got me there. But, you know, look, it's not like we don't know what's happened here, right? If he called them, look, if Kyler wasn't here and it was Sam Howell, he. he'd call him a captain. So I agree with that.

I agree with that. Rache part of being a quarterback in the NFL is never getting too high or too low. Emotionally, J.J. lets his emotions get away from him too frequently and that's got to even out. I think that only comes with growing in time. But you make a fair point about the slip up there. Hunter, it seems like Flores is good enough to make just about any NFL defense at least average, but the ceiling of the defense depends on how well people play.

I totally agree with that. Yep. Totally agree. if certain guys step right up to the plate, then, yeah, you can be an elite defense. But I think it raises the floor. We know the Vikings defense is not going to be trash with Brian Flores. Jared, Viking fan of the core, watch all the pressers. Is it me or has anyone noticed KOC look dead and lifeless?

Oh, no, I explained this yesterday. I explained this yesterday. At the Nolan Teasley Press conference, we were in the same area where there was all sorts of people. So there were a lot of people talking to Nolan Teasley, like people congratulating him. Randall McDaniel was there. There was like other staff and his wife. And like there was a lot of people chatting like right behind our press conference.

So O'Connell is a naturally pretty loud voice as a former quarterback. He was keeping it down. He was not trying to like talk to the person in the back of the room. I didn't think he was lifeless today. I thought he was fine today. But that, I mean, that's just that's just that's. just making too much of something that he was just talking quietly. That's all it was, as opposed to screaming. Thank you, Vikings news today. Appreciate you. Punting competition, CJ, yes, we did see both

punters booting them today. I can't tell you who's winning, but Brett Thorson could kick it real far. Can't tell you that. You're right. Olivia Miles is the greatest show on Earth. So I am going to actually run right now. Hopefully I got to most of your comments there. Jacobi Brissette was not better in the offense than Kyler Murray. Jacoby Brissette won one game out of 12. So that is not true. Do you think Aaron Donald is coming back?

Jason, I do, but I don't think it's going to be soon. I think it's going to be in the season or right before the season. Jason, if he comes back, do you think the fan duel odds will shift again? I do, a little bit. I don't think they'll shift like crazy, but maybe a little bit. The Rams on Fan duel were plus 550 to win the Super Bowl. which is pretty crazy odds. So, good point, Hunter, about the NBA season being too long.

So, all right. Well, thanks everybody for all. I did get to the bottom of the comments. Thank you. A Hunter, I'll answer one more and then I've got to go. If we have a bad record at the trade deadline, do you think Tisley would trade away pieces? If so, who? I do.

And I think it could be a lot of them because, I mean, you're talking Aaron Jones, T.J. Hawkinson, Andrew Van Ginkle, Brian O'Neill, Blake Cashman. All these guys don't have contracts. now and anybody who's not under contract would fall under the category of somebody you consider trading at the trade deadline and it would really depend on how things were going with addison but if it wasn't great maybe he would fall into that category too so thanks for a great conversation everybody uh over the weekend i'm going to have a conversation with matt matera who covers the tampa bay bucks really good conversation i want to get back into checking with other teams

that the vikings are going to play this year so keep an eye out for that of course if there's any breaking news. If Nolan Teasley takes the job and decides he's going to start trading people left and right, then of course we'll do emergency podcasts. But if not, then you got a new GM and you got OTAs. What more can you ask for? I'll probably still answer some fan questions off the air anyway, too. So thanks, everybody for a really, really fun week.

I can't thank you enough for a super eventful start of June. And I look forward to so much more of our good conversations as we go forward. and one more thing I would mention for the comments section. If you made it this far, you're a psycho. So thanks for getting here. But I'm thinking about theme weeks for the summer, like maybe into early July before we get into hardcore preview stuff. So if you got a theme week idea for Purple Insider, then let me know.

All right. Thanks, everybody so much. I will talk to you all later. Football.