Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Official Vikings Quarterback Options Ranking List (Part 2)

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

Matthew Coller gives his quarterback ranking list and looks at a list of potential trade targets and talks about whether any of them should be interesting for the Vikings. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This episode of Purple Insider is presented by Fandul. Shy son, Kyler Murray was going to be playing Red Dead Red Redemption instead of practicing in the playbook. I mean, that's what I mean about, didn't we learn anything from the saying ghosts, seeing ghost thing? Didn't we learn anything from that? All this stuff. Where did it come from?

Why are people putting it out there? Why was it put out there? Think about that. So Steve Kime could cover his butt for a lot. the contract if it didn't work out and say, oh, it was because he played too many video games. I mean, I'm not saying this stuff's not true. I just always wonder when things like that get out there, is it people trying to save themselves by pointing the finger at somebody else?

RJ, Kyler's got talent if he's locked in is the question. I mean, that for sure is the question. I mean, is it a situation where he can't lead a locker room? is it a situation where he can't commit to being as dialed in, as you said, or is prepared as possible? Or was it a budding of heads with Cliff Kingsbury specifically, who again has been fired by Washington since? He did a good job with Jaden Daniels in his first year, but, you know, just saying that it's not like Cliff Kingsbury had this incredible run of success in the NFL. So was it a conflict there? Or was it just that their rosters were never that great?

And it's not a great franchise. It's not run that well. They, you know, hire and fire coaches left and, I don't know. Could be all those things. Could be that Murray is not the most committed. Could be that, you know, he does have other interests. I don't really know because I don't know Kyler Murray very well. And if there's any steam on that or maybe, you know,

I'll get somebody on the show that can speak a little bit more to it. I just always kind of slam on the brakes when people present me with these sort of jingles. It's like, it's like a little tagline of, you know, the scene goes thing. It's going to stick with me probably forever. You put a little label on somebody video game guy can't ever win. I don't know, man. A lot of people play video games in the NBA and in the NFL and in major league baseball and golfers.

I don't know. A lot of people play video games. they're out there. So Corey says, kind of think that Derek Carr probably fits the bill with what KOC wants to do more than the other guys. He is more of your prototypical pocket pastor. Yep, the rhythm and timing is a Derek Carr thing. Yep. I think that's, that is true. DL.M. I think car, car feels less risky. I don't think that he is less risky than Kyler, because Kyler's younger and also like didn't retire due to injury. I mean, so like there's there's risk with both of them.

But if you're talking about someone who is much more of a plug and play, like, hey, he's going to just drop back, throw where you're supposed to throw. But also, Der Carr's not going to make you right if you're wrong, which Kyler Murray can. So there's a little bit back and forth there. Dan says, don't we need to be careful about stats, a quarterback who's throwing against prevent defense. because their team is getting blown out, shouldn't really count as much. Yeah, of course, always there's context to all stats.

I'm not sure who you're referring to there. Like, if we were looking at Kyler Murray's stats, they went eight and nine. Like they weren't getting blown out of games and just this wasn't a Jacoby Brissette situation. This the year that we're talking about, 2024, they were a very competitive team. In fact, they should have been nine and eight, but they totally blew it against the Vikings because of a bad, in part, bad coaching decision. to kick a field goal to go up six points. If you recall, instead of going for a fourth down, they were this close to beating the Vikings and having a plus 500 record for that season.

So I don't think that Kyler Murray would be. And also they were winning a ton in 2021 when he had his best statistical season. Who would be that guy on that list? I don't, I don't know that anybody would. I mean, Derek Carr's team was 500 when he had the big stats. Aaron Rogers played for a winning team. Daniel Jones played for a winning team. I mean, Malik Willis's couple of games were under big circumstances.

So I don't know that there's anybody on that list. But of course, we're always trying on the show to contextualize the stats. And when we talk about those last like four games for McCarthy, they deserve context, right? Carl says Kyler gets sacked a lot. well, you know what we're going to have to do. We're going to have to go see if that's true. Does, well, I mean, scrambling quarterbacks are always going to get sacked a little bit more.

Let's go find out if that's true. Let's see. What should we look at? Sack total is not great. But let's just see. How many times was he sacked in 2024? He had 30 sacks, which was the 18th most in the league. Caleb William 68.

Sam Darnel was the fourth most sacked quarterback that year. C.J. Stroud was second. Gino Smith was third. I, oh, you know what? That is, that would be the guy that I forgot. Just realized that. Forgot Gino Smith on the list. Where would I put Gino?

I would put him problem. That is the guy that I forgot that I left off the list. I was sitting here thinking as I was reading it, like, did I forget? somebody like who else would be there anyway the uh i'm trying to think of where i would place him so murray was 18th in total sacks how about pressure to sack ratio 14th best pressure to sack ratio to me none of those numbers are disturbing um if maybe he had another season maybe he had another season where he got sacked a lot but those numbers aren't disturbing to me those are like average

type of sack numbers where would we put gino smith Hmm A head Is he ahead of Daniel Jones? Is he behind Daniel Jones? Is he maybe Right on the line ahead of Mack Jones

Because he's got the big arm But maybe he's who should have been number five Slash stick with J.J. McCarthy Because it could go both ways. I mean, if you bring in Gino Smith, how about that for this is the list of starters? I don't know if I've got Gino Smith super high on a list of starters.

I might not even have them in the top eight of list of starters, but guys to compete with J.J. McCarthy, he would probably be number one or two. So Mac Jones at the top, Gino Smith right there to compete with McCarthy. But the way that Gino played last year was just absolutely horrible. So I can't say that I think he'd be a great option. Would he be, would he be higher than Rogers and Kirk? Yeah.

maybe right behind Mac Jones. God, I knew I was missing one on the official. It's the official list, though, so he's not on the list. But he should be. He should probably be in that, in that, if we're like putting them into categories, the top categories, I believe all three of these guys could get him to the playoffs. The middle category is just keep J.J. McCarthy because we hate everything else. And the bottom category would be veteran old guys that I think might have something left in the tank.

I mean, Gino Smith is old. It's like 36. So now I have regrets of forgetting to put Gino Smith on there. But he also gets sacked a ton. What are Sam and Kirk's average depth of target under KOC? Let's go find out. Let's go see. I believe now, let's see.

So Darnold, here we can look at Darnold. His was very high in 2024. his was the fifth highest in 2024. Let's see where Kirk was in 20. I think Kirk was actually very low in 2023. If I'm not mistaken, I think it was one of the lowest in the league. Let's see. Yeah, Kirk was the 13th lowest.

So where would that rank? That would be 32nd out of 45. Yeah. So that, I mean, that really shows you that there have been different versions of how people have played quarterback under KOC. So the idea, I don't think that he changes his offense, but I think you can play quarterback a little safer and a little get the ball out quicker if you want to, or I'm going to take all the shots downfield.

And that's where you see Kirk and Darnold at the opposite ends. But if you did have a Derek Carr, who's much more of a get it out quick guy, or you had Murray, who's more of the intermediate passer, you can do that. You don't have to throw it 40 yards downfield all the time. good question really good question there uh dobs was athletic too how did that work can we just do a thing on the show never mentioned josh dobs ever again josh jobs is a career backup who's like three and twelve i mean he's just he he was available to be traded for in the middle of the season to toss into an offense that he had never worked with before and all the other players had been

working on that offense forever and honestly he played fine for most of those games except for Chicago. There are some regrets there with some things Kevin O'Connell did. I thought that lost them some games. Sure. But I mean, Josh Dobbs cannot be compared to any of the quarterbacks that I just named. I mean, Malik Willis played much better in his time than Josh Dobbs has ever played during his career. And certainly he's nowhere near Kyler Murray.

I mean, not even remotely in the strategy. of a former number one overall draft pick, just not, just not similar. If you don't want any quarterback with any athleticism at all, I don't know what to tell you. If you look around the NFL, there's a lot of them. So, yeah, I mean, Dobbs is just, it should just never be brought up. It's like, oh, they couldn't adjust to Dobbs or something. Like, I, these Josh Dobbs, they should they, should they have now in, like, look, should they in hindsight have really been a little more, like, safe with?

Josh Dobbs, not trying to pitch him a ball from T.J. Hawkinson, not putting the offense on his shoulders, but they couldn't run. You know, they had Alexander Madison and Ty Chandler. They couldn't really run with Dobbs was their quarterback. So they kind of had to do it that way. But there's just no comparing it to any of these guys. Dwight, what's the latest on Carson Wentz? Well, he had shoulder surgery, and that's the last we've heard of him. I assume he wants to continue playing. I think he said he did. but I would assume that it's not as a Vikings backup. I would assume. Bill says going back to Target today's fans are never happy with quarterback because Green Bay has nailed it for decades.

Well, it's a little more complicated than that. I don't disagree that Green Bay for Vikings fans is annoying because of the amount of success that they've had with their quarterback position. But I also think when when I went to training camp, I think it was 2017, yeah, 2017, went to training camp in Mancato. The last year was in Mancato. And you looked up in the stands

and the number of people that had Teddy Bridgewater jerseys, they were everywhere. And then you go last year to training camp, even when Sam Darnold is your quarterback, you look around and you see all these J.J. McCarthy jerseys. I guarantee you that when they drafted Christian Ponder, everybody went and bought Christian Ponder jerseys thinking, this is going to be our franchise quarterback because it's not just that Green Bay succeeded.

It's just that fans want somebody to love. They want someone to embrace. They want someone to have year after year after year. This guy's going to give us 10 shots to win a Super Bowl. And there's going to be some years that are great and there's going to be some years that are bad or not as good. And but if you've got him, you got a chance every, like that's what they've been looking for forever.

And instead, every single year, at on February 16th, Purple Insiders been talking about what they're going to do at quarterback. I mean, let's go through it real quick, since we've got time, since this is a live stream, and there's no rules. My first year's 2016, Teddy gets hurt right away. So that throws them into quarterback disarray. 2017, we know it's going to be Bradford, but we're talking about, well, where are they going

to go from there? Keenham comes on, plays like he does. Guess what the conversation is? What are they going to do a quarterback now? 2018, they signed Kirk. After 2019, his contract is up after the following year. So they have a decision to make. Guess what we're talking about?

Well, are they going to keep Kirk long term? They sign him to an extension. Shortly after that, his coach is fired. Guess what we're talking about. Are they going to keep Kirk? Then they don't sign Kirk to an extension. Guess what we're talking about. Are they going to keep Kirk?

2023, he's a free agent. What are they going to do at quarterback? They signed Darnold. Guess what we're talking about last year? Like, it's exhausting. It's exhausting for Vikings fans to constantly be looking at other teams quarterbacks and going, um, I can sort of see it. I think, you know, I mean, even with Kyler, like, look, I, you know, I've presented this

is the best case, but there's downside. The downside is he's been hurt. The downside is he's been inconsistent. there's downside to every one of these guys. And there always is. Like when they signed Darnold, the thing that was different was like, well, this guy's going to be a one year bridge. And then it's going to finally be the guy.

And I remember saying to, I don't know, Drew McGarry or somebody, maybe Jeremiah Searle's like, it's finally different. It's finally different. And then it was very, very quickly back to the same. So that, that's, that I think is the lifelong, uh, of frustration. 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 hairline? Well, unless you're one of those genetically gifted few people with amazing hair for life, you're probably dealing with that

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They've already paid two wide receivers. Replace that with Jonathan Grenard, and that was my fake offer for them. I, I mean, am I in to give up two firsts Jonathan Grenard and J.J. McCarthy for Joe Burrow? Yeah. Yeah. That's, yes, 100%. Because I think with Joe Burrow, you can seriously compete for a Super Bowl. We were talking about earlier on Fan Duel that the,

Green Bay Packers are plus 700 to win the conference. That's the third best odds. What would the Vikings be if they got Joe Burrow? And that's a fan dual question of the day for you. They would be probably the favorites in the NFC immediately if they got Joe Burrow. So yeah, I would do that. I would. And you know what?

If it blows up and he gets hurt, oh, well, I went down trying. Yes, I would do that. Brian, how about a pie chart of the possible one year costs for the quarterbacks? I'm not sure. Oh, I see. Okay. You're giving me,

I was going to say, how do I do a pie chart out of that? 5 million, 5 to 15, 15 to 25, 25 plus. Still not 100% sure how to do a pie chart out of that. But if we go through each guy, like Derek Carr, I think you can get in a trade where New Orleans has to take the dead cap. Kyler Murray, same thing.

They're not going to do it otherwise or they just release him. And then you can sign them for whatever you want. Daniel Jones, I think would be looking at 25 plus, but you can always structure that in a way where the first year is not that much. I would say the same thing for Malik Willis, who's probably looking for $30 million.

I think Willis is going to look for a Sam Darnold type contract, but I don't know if he's going to get it because it's such a small sample size. Dwight says, how did the Vikings not see McCarthy's weaknesses before the draft? They did, but the thing about every prospect. So if we go through, just for example,

let's go through a couple prospects for the Vikings that have worked out and some that it didn't. It's always a range of outcomes based on the guy's skills coming out of college. So let's take Justin Jefferson. The wrap on Justin Jefferson was this guy cannot separate off the line of scrimmage, so he has to be a slot receiver. Go look at the scouting reports. That's what it says.

Now, what they got wrong is that, well, one, being a slot receiver in the NFL in 2020 through 26 is not a bad thing. You can move guys or they move everybody around. Look at JSN. I think he was dubbed as one of those slots. Oh, he's just going to be a slot or something. Like, you just move these guys around. You use condensed sets. You use whatever it takes.

And then I think they also didn't realize that Justin Jefferson would be one of the great contested catch guys. in the NFL. So even if he didn't have, when you look at those separation metrics, his are not unbelievable. They're just good, but he catches everything most of the time. This year there were a few instances,

but his drop rate still finished basically the same. The point just being that there was always a range of outcomes, though, if Justin Jefferson came into the league and was not able to separate and didn't have the right offense that was going to move him around and get him those opportunities, early on. I mean, I think a guy like Jefferson probably succeeds regardless because of his skills that no one is holding this guy back.

But, you know, we did see this year. It wasn't the same. If he had not been able to improve and wasn't a super cycle competitor and wasn't high intelligence and all those things, you know, he might not have made it. He might have just been another guy who couldn't get off the line of scrimmage like Lequan Treadwell. Lequan Treadwell and Justin Jefferson had a similar criticism. coming out of college.

One of them is the best receiver in the league. Another of them, you know, didn't work out. So with JJ McCarthy, you know, you look at any of those Vikings picks where, hey, if this guy has it click, you know, how about Trey Wayans or something, right? Like, Trey Wayne's turned out to be an okay corner. I thought he was a good starter. But there was always like, can he get his head around and make plays on the football? There's always some question with a court, with any sort of.

cornerback, quarterback, tackle, whatever. Darrysoe, there was a question about, you know, does Derisaw play with enough nastiness to be an NFL star? I mean, clearly he's proven that he does. But if he didn't, then we would have never seen the full, you know what I'm saying? So with McCarthy, it's like they knew what the weaknesses were. And what they thought was that they could work with these

and work on the throwing technique, that they identified the reasons why. And in the interim, as they were working through those techniques, he would be behind Sam Darnold. They never got an opportunity to do that, but that's what they thought. He would spend an entire year behind Sam Darnold working on throwing technique. He would spend an entire year learning more about football and practicing every single day, like Malik Willis when he's getting better or Jordan Love when he's getting better.

But just like Trey Lance, Anthony Richardson, he's been hurt so much. When was he supposed to do this? So it's hard to fix your weaknesses when you can't practice and you can't play. But especially I think can't even practice. You can't even develop behind the scenes. So they knew what they were. They thought they could work with them. And then, hey, he's, he's going to make a couple of plays a game to make up for some

inaccuracy. They knew that there was going to be some inaccuracy. But I think what they didn't fully realize is when he got out there that you can practice it all day long, but, you know, you're not, you're, you're not going to get enough practice time to fix that when you actually get out there with just a summer or just a spring. Like, it's going to take a long time. And that would be an argument for bringing in one of these quarterbacks for a one year type of deal to maybe see if he can catch up from, from that standpoint. I mean, it's an interesting question for sure.

Abe, any chance to get to the Super Bowl? It has to be Murray, maybe caught. That's why they're high on the list. Yep. And we don't know what Willis is, but I'd be interested in finding out. But that's, yeah, that's right. That's why Murray's the top of the list. Is there any guy that you could close your eyes and envision he's playing in the divisional round against whoever?

Could you do that for Rogers? Maybe. Maybe. But you really have to like really think deep. Could you see it for Kirk? No. Could you see it for Murray? Where it clicks and he loves Minnesota and him.

and KOC get on the same page and then he's scrambled around and make a big time throws this stuff yeah you can see that you could see that uh j says matthew who are the two players we released or trade to free up cap space um the two well there's really three when i was going through my thing uh on that website uh the three guys that i released were jvon hardgrave erin jones and ryan kelly at least two of those guys are going to be released i don't know about Javon Hargrave. I mean, I would be very surprised if they didn't release Aaron Jones based on his cap hit how much money they make from him and they just need more explosiveness in the backfield. They could work something out with him, which I know is like I don't hate that,

but they need somebody back there. If you're doing that, you need a high draft pick and it would have to be very minimal money for Jones to come back. I think overall it was a success to sign Aaron Jones the first time, it was a pretty big success. The second time, it did not work out the same way. Dwight says, how does some teams win consistently with drafting and the Vikings never get it right? Well, they don't never get it right because they had the 2015 draft where they entirely built their 2017 core foundation through.

They, well, really, when you look at 2013 is where they get, so 2012, well, think about this, 2012 is Harrison Smith, 2013 is. Xavier Rhodes. 2014 is Anthony Barr, 2015 is Danielle Hunter, Stefan Diggs, Trey Wayans, and Eric Kendricks.

So it's not that they've never done it. I think you mean like the current regime has not done it. The reason the current regime has not done it is because the 2022 draft that was meant to fill a lot of problems, blew up in their face. And then they were left with a lot of talent on their football team and a lot of cap space that was opening up in the future.

So they decided to make a lot of moves to win now type of moves to fill through free agency to trade away draft picks to move up in the draft to get Dallas Turner to not move back in the draft at any point to pick Jordan Addison to pick Donovan Jackson, right? And all those are kind of win now type moves. and if you do that, um, and succeed with your free agency and succeed with your trades, then,

uh, that's, that's a way to build for sure. But if it requires giving away a lot of draft capital, it's unlikely you're going to be able to build your team through the draft. So when I look at the Vikings overall drafting and quay, with quesia dao Mensa, they actually performed at about the level you'd expect for where they drafted.

The other thing is, too, that a team, like Seattle that builds through the draft, they also had multiple top 10 draft picks. The Vikings have had zero top 10 draft picks since 2014, other than JJ McCarthy at 10th, which they had to trade up to get, so still zero. I mean, that's, that's why. And when you have these great free agent classes, then you're probably not letting guys go or not getting comp picks, which is another thing too.

like if you and I know I get annoyed sometimes with the comp thing but if you like always are signing guys and never letting guys go, you're not going to get a lot of comp comp picks. You know what's interesting to me is that the people who the people who don't like Kyla Murray bring no evidence to the to the case. I mean, there is evidence against him. Like I mean like his numbers and his performance, but it's always just like sucks. I just, I don't understand that. That to me makes me think it's more right to.

say, Kyle Herbert should be at the top. Dwight, offensive line has to get better to protect the quarterback. That's very true. But, um, this offensive line is in good shape. I would assume they're going to extend Brian O'Neill.

Will Fries, I think you'd get better with a full off season. Donovan Jackson is promising. And Christian Darius has got to be healthy. The offensive line has a range of outcomes, though, because they're going to need a center. I've been looking. looking at Luke Fortner from the New Orleans Saints as a potential guy to bring in.

But if they can't get a free agent there, I don't know what you do. So that that's a huge concern is the center position. And then who do you have is your swing tackle? You need to have someone who is you're in case of emergency that's better than Justin's school. Justin's school was fine at the end of the season. But when they really needed him the most, he did not have a good time over there left tackle. you need somebody who's a little bit better than he is in order for them to be in good shape for the offensive line.

But if, you know, if you have injuries like they did last year at the beginning of the season, no one's offensive line's going to be good when you're on your third guard or whatever, fourth guard. DLM answering the fan dual question of the day, do not want to see the Lions get a star pass rusher. That's a good one. Another good answer from Corey.

Do not want to see the Bears draft a stud running back. That's a very good one because they had, you know, Dandre Swift last year. Jay, do not want to see any NFC North team get Max Crosby, especially the lions or bears. Deont deante says Aaron Nagler is very afraid of Malik Willis becoming a Viking Sea. And if you listen to my podcast tomorrow with Jason Wildy, I mean, I think that there's some minds that are going to get change there about Malik Willis. The Packers people are very high on him. Carr is horrid. See, this is the thing.

It's like, you know, most of the arguments are just the car is not horrible. Carr most recently was quite good. It's that how good can he really be after we did the Kurt? I mean, wasn't Kirk Cousins doppelganger over all the years of the AFC? Wasn't that Derek Carr? So doesn't it feel like you're just sort of jumping back on the same carousel that you were on for six years? That's, that's your argument against Carr. It's just coming in and be like, these guys stink.

Like, it's not an argument. If, if you said Murray is too inconsistent because of his size that if teams do a good job of taking away his throwing lanes, that he can be limited, then you're right. If you say Derek Carr and his inconsistency and his ups and downs are similar to the Kirk coaster and the fact that he's not a great athlete, not a scrambler limits his upside. That's a fine argument. Those are good arguments. I can help you if you need them. Why don't, why don't we try using those?

Uh, Denny says, uh, think Gino might be the most realistic. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's a mistake there by me.

But I think that Gino still falls into the category. He falls in the category for me. This is the list of need a starter. I don't know that Gino Smith is necessarily somebody you're acquiring to be your starter. If you think you need a starter. Uh, although I did throw in,

stick with JJ. It was an oversight. It was an oversight. But, but I still wouldn't put him that high on the list. I only like the Gino Smith idea because he can compete with McCarthy. And if he doesn't win the job, you're fine with having him as the backup. But I mean, you talk about recent performance that was, that was tough. And my issue with Gino Smith, here's a reason that I might not even have him on the list anyway, even though I wouldn't mind him as competition for McCarthy is because he doesn't play at all like KOC wants to play. KOC wants to have a lot of under center. They have two tight ends that they pay a lot of money,

assuming Hawkinson is back. They're clearly going to want to run the ball under center. And when sometimes it's talked about like Seattle and the Gino Smith thing, when they hired Clint Kubiak who runs a similar offense to KOC, it was clear they couldn't bring back Gino. He's never under center. So they would have to do a lot of different things. for Gino that I don't think really fit this team all that well.

So he's somewhere on the list, but I don't know if he's that, if he would be that high. QB room of McCarthy, Richardson, and Levis. Not a single guy knows how to act like a pro there. That's actually part of, you know, the concern with McCarthy being the franchise guy is that, you know, Richardson and Levis both kind of had some of those issues. Asa, good to see you, buddy. He says, uh, KOC would kill for a guy like Jordan Love, whereas the floor secretly loves Willis potential trade for Jordan Love.

Uh, the big arm, certainly. I, I do wonder about, you know, precision passing with Willis. He clearly showed that he could throw the ball, uh, but, you know, we talk all the time about how KOC wants the right amount of touch and the perfect timing and everything else. Willis showed some timing, but is he going to be as precise as someone who's not like that experienced? Franchise tag Carson Wentz is very funny. Denny, it would be fun to watch Willis beat the Packers.

I'd be excited to see what Willis was like. Now, that's a different one. Should do more of that GM website. Yeah, remind me what that is. We can, we get that, like there's, maybe we can do another one on Thursday after I just did an episode of that and try a different plan. We'll just try different plans. But, you know, I think we talked about the other day with Dane Mizatani.

I asked Dane, like, what do you think would be the highest fan approval of any of these moves? And he said, like, that the Kirk one would get high approval. And then as soon as people saw Kirk back, it would have lower approval, which is funny, that Kyler would have low approval. But then once people saw him play, they'd be like, oh, yeah, Kyler, a former number one overall pick. He's got some talent. So it would go up.

I think Malik Willis would have the highest fan approval of any, because it represents something that maybe this can be your guy, not just like this one year, roll the dice, maybe he's got something left in the tank type of decision. I think that's the one that people would be the most excited about. Dwight says Vikings are so predictable on the run game. Yeah. I mean, yeah, they were. Right.

They were. And I think this is where that commitment has to be real this time for KOC, because you've just got to have a more dynamic run game. even if it's not way better in terms of its actual like yards per carry production, but just just a little bit less, like you said, predictable or a little more on the detail, a little, just, just, but I really think that it kind of comes down to with the run game. When they had their offensive line healthy, it was better. I think it also comes down to that guy in the backfield that we have talked so much about

it's KOC, it's KOC, it's KOC, but, you know, they go get Aaron Jones. that's a guy who was on the back half of his career, the explosiveness wasn't the same. They had Alexander Madison is RB one. They never wanted to use Ty Chandler, pretty much ever. Who have they had in the backfield that you would say, like, hey, yeah, Seattle, they run the ball. They drafted Kenneth Walker in what, like the second round,

and he was a high draft pick. And I mean, they invested in that position. And everyone says you should never invest in that position. but then you look at the top runners and you're like, well, maybe you do need to invest in that position and not just like a free agent Aaron Jones type signing, but a draft pick. I've wanted to, I mean, Delvin Cook when he gets here, averages five yards of carry for the first half of the season, then falls apart. I mean, the same thing for Aaron Jones.

Those guys are just on the back halves of their career. They need someone who's young and explosive. And if he isn't perfect with the playbook to get over it, like they never could with. with Ty Chandler. Blind Shadows says no Gino pick Levis over Gino. Mr. Mares is hilarious. He forgot Gino and no one cared. Yeah, I mean,

because it's not a very favorable option. The only thing about Gino is that it would probably look a lot like James Winston, where he would throw 30 touchdowns and 30 picks and get sacked 50 times. I mean, he's just been such a sack magnet over the last, a number of years. And his downfield passing is phenomenal. And that's why the PFF grade,

I think it's pumped up a little bit because of those big time throws. It would happen with Winston too. There's a lot of credit to those tight window throws. But then you realize like, oh, man, this guy's pumping it into tight windows a lot and taking a lot of writ. You know who it would look like? I think with Gino Smith,

I think it would look like Nick Mullins. It'd be like stronger arm Nick Mullins. Tons of sacks, tons of mistakes, tons of yards for Justin Jefferson crazy games. I like it might be fun, but I think they're like an eight win team with Gino Smith. And he's also on the older side. He's taken 105 sacks over the last two years.

It might be more compelling to have Kirk Cousins and play a run first offense. I actually now don't have that many regrets. I kind of like the other options unless you were saying they walk into training camp with J.J. McCarthy's QB1 and Gino QB2. that that would be fine. But I don't like the fit really at all. And I don't like where he's at with his career. So yeah, you're right about that.

Then not a single person said, Hey, why don't you have Gino Smith on here? Russell says if Derek Carr is healthy, he's easy choice for guy like KOC, who will be coaching for his job. Yeah. I mean, I like the fit with Derek Carr. I definitely, hey, you know,

people bring up Kyler Murray's leadership issues. but I had Nick Underhill on the other day who covers the Saints. He said that some Saints players were trying to fight Derek Carr on the sideline at times. I don't know that his leadership has always gotten A pluses from everybody either. X large trade JJ to lose either way. I mean, if they trade McCarthy, then they're definitely going to need some sort of option like that. Jay said, why would Kyler Carr or Willis want to come to Minnesota, especially if JJ was a first round pick. I mean, that it's part of the discussion.

It part of the discussion. They would be saying, you're starting. McCarthy is not starting. And there you go. It would be very much like Daniel Jones going to Indianapolis. Like, dude, yeah, you're in a competition. Sure you are. You're the starter. We need you to start over Anthony Richardson. That's what it would be like. If they come here, then you know that it's over. Jim, that's cool story that should have met KOC, that Monday night game with Dobbs. that was the game where I, that was the game where I did think KOC missed the boat with the way he handled Dobbs.

They were actually running fairly successfully against Chicago, just kept having him drop back. And he was off. Denny says, remember how much we used to talk about Treadwell? That's because busts are always so fascinating to people. They're not as much to me because I feel like I've seen a lot of them and like you insert your joke there,

but guys come into the NFL with so much hype out of the draft. And it's like, well, sometimes they don't work out. DLM, Kyler would roll out and chuck it deep to Hopkins. It's got KOC written all over it. The numbers of him throwing to D'Andre Hopkins are compelling. E. Miller, I would have bet six-month mortgage on Treadwell not lasting 10 years in the league after he left the bike. Oh, I know, I know. But the thing about Treadwell is that I think when he came into the league, his attitude was not great.

And eventually, though, it was. Like, he was willing to play special teams and kind of do whatever it took. Yeah, he's carved out a career as a number five wide receiver in the NFL. Benom says it's scary that these are our quarterback options. I mean, this is, this is the position you're in. They've been worse throughout the years. I mean, that's part of the argument is like there's, there's been worse quarterbacks who have had good years for the Vikings than

Kyler Murray, including Sam Darnold, who I think was 21 and 35 when he got here. Case Keenham, who hadn't won anything when he got here. I don't know. I, having seen these things in front of me, I'm never willing to dismiss the possibility when it's someone else's quarterback. Denny says people will hate Murray until game one, where Jets goes for 196 yards. They will have, if Kyler Murray came here and went 10 and 7,

it would be 10 games that were breathtaking and 7 that were terrible and there's no other outcome. Yeah. blind shadow talking about you know them taking kellen mond well you know i'm not too worried about taking him over davis mills milton williams was a guy who the numbers loved in that draft that was you know that's the thing quacy also got that's another thing about like why they couldn't build through the draft quacy got pinned with bad drafting and sure like that's fairly accurate but the drafting before that so they get Darrasaw and Jefferson two absolute superstars, but the rest, nothing to speak of in that 2021 draft outside of Darrasaw is an unbelievable disaster.

Denny says that Gino shouldn't be high, overlooked your list preferences. Yeah, I mean, right. So no one seemed too upset that I forgot to put Gino on the list. And I'm not too sad about it either. Adrian says, why do we keep saying this quarterback doesn't fit KOC's offense? How many of these guys realistically fit his style that the Vikings can get? Why can't he just adapt? Well, see, I think more due than it looks like.

I mean, look at, like, Lafleur's offense has similar roots as KOC's. And, you know, you go to Drew Petzing, who was with Kevin Stefansky here, similar roots to KOC. These guys actually aren't that far off. Clint Kubiak had a. a very similar passing game with Sam Darnold to KOC. It was a little bit different because it built off the run more, but in terms of how they actually threw the ball under center, play action,

used bigger personnel, leaned on one wide receiver. Like there's a lot of similarities. So I think that they're, that's the frustration about Kyler's like 2024 Kyler is much closer to a regular quarterback than he had ever been before in his career where he was just a scramble monster. Jared says every day I like the Vikings situation.

less and less. Well, when you look at the other teams in the NFC North and you look at the NFC layout for next year, there really isn't an option that makes you think, okay, this is it for them. They are going to get this guy and take it to the moon. But in Vikings land, you just never know. And let's not forget that number five on my list was just sticking with J.J. McCarthy. So, you know, and you could even move that maybe above Daniel Jones because I'm not sure I believe he has a crazy high ceiling.

But that doesn't feel great either because it's just such a big risk going with someone who struggled as much as he did. Mr. Mayor says every day I feel happier. We're one day closer to an option not named JJ McCarthy. I mean, it was a tough watch. There's no way around it. It was a very tough watch for the entire season.

And it just never, it never really the game against Dallas was pretty good. I would give him credit for that, but it never had any sort of consistency to it. And then the injuries, four times injured in 10 games is just so tough. And that's where it really makes you think that they would go to someone else because you just can't expect him to be healthy after all the times that he got injured and sort of played in a way like that. Brian wants Rico Dowdle is RB1. Yeah, I think Rico Dowdowell is a good complimentary running back.

what he did last year with Carolina. I think he's kind of limited, maybe streaky, but he can play. Let's go the stadium steps. Yeah. Let's see. Hamza says, Albert Breer said today, Cardinals will most likely be releasing Kyler Murray. Yes.

That's where I've been, Hamza, that's where I've been all off season is, they're going to try to get it out there like, hey, we'll take some of his contract. If you give us an asset and everyone's going to be like, just release him. Yep. DK says what quarterback hasn't been in the league 10 years fits into KOC's scheme. I mean, Sam Darnold had not been in the league for 10 years. It actually was different with that. It's just, look, it breaks people's brains when someone doesn't play well as quarterback or

his quarterback. It just breaks people's brains. You start looking for every other reason that it could be wrong. It's got to be the scheme. He just didn't do the scheme thing. What the heck? He didn't adjust it. It must be wrong.

the guys were open. I've used that completion percentage over expectance that. They just weren't. They just were not hit with the ball. So I don't, I don't think it's the scheme. I don't think you have to play in the league for 10 years. But I do think that if you've never played in the league before and you hadn't played

in 500 days because of an injury, that it was a lot to ask to come in and learn the whole thing. That I think is true. Shantz has still noticed our system getting play call into the huddle. lineup in motions down to three, four seconds. Yes, that was an issue that eventually Sam Darnold and Kirk Cousins were able to resolve. But last year with McCarthy, couldn't, you know, I always say this. I always say, like talking about Willis, when I was watching a play, he got everybody lined up is kind of where I start with that.

Because if someone's having trouble with it, it's really apparent. That's why they had to dumb down the offense. What about Winston? That's a hard. pass for me. They did get Cam Bynum and Josh Mattelis in the draft and developed them eventually. That's true. Jared, do you think KOC would survive an awful year? And they were lined up to draft another quarterback. It's just in the way that the NFL is operating right now, it's very hard to see.

Because in February, and I'll always stay with this, I don't think it's a good idea for teams to just fire coaches all the time. I just, I just do not. I just do not. Do you trust KOC drafting the next quarterback? I'm going to, I'm going to tell you something that is, that I think that I will reveal two hours into this podcast. This is what I,

this is what I truthfully believe about quarterbacks in the draft. I think that if you, J, me, Kevin O'Connell, Sean McVeigh, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, And my wife all got to pick quarterbacks for 10 years and circle the successes and failures when they were drafted.

Who do we think is going to work out? Who's not? I think we'd all perform similarly. That's what I really think. I think that based on the history and how badly some guys have missed, there's a video going around Twitter of Jamarcus Russell throwing the ball and everyone's like, oh my God. I forgot, like, yeah, to Marcus Russell was an unbelievable prospect and didn't work out. And so was Ryan Leif.

And then there's guys who like Bo Nix who was not an unbelievable prospect that got his team to the AFC championship game. You just don't know. Lamar Jackson was 32nd overall. You just don't know. If teams knew that Jordan Love would be this good after developing for him for a couple years, they would have drafted him a heck of a lot higher than where they were. and with Jalen Hertz, they let them drop to the second round.

I mean, think about, think about right now. Jalen Hertz didn't have a great year, but imagine drafting Tua over Jalen Hertz, a guy who capable of reaching the Super Bowl twice with the right team. I truly think that the quarterback position is so complex. It's not, if you told me, hey, the Vikings linebacker coach versus you drafting linebackers, I'd be like, oh, he'll, he'll do much better than me. because and not that it's not every position is random and complex and everything, but he, he would know a lot more detail, a lot more background, a lot more things that it

takes as a linebacker to succeed to the granular level. But with quarterbacks, there's, I mean, look at Murray, look at Derek Carr, look at the circumstances that have pushed these guys around in the wind. One year, Kyla Murray's an elite quarterback and everyone's talking about, oh my gosh, he's top 10 now. and then the team falls apart. Cliff Kingsbury loses control. Steve Kime gets fired.

They have to, he tears his ACL and all of a sudden we got people in a comment section saying he's terrible. I mean, no one can figure out the quarterback position even when these guys are pros, much less coming out of the draft. So would I trust KOC to draft the next quarterback? Probably because I think that he's got an equal chance of anybody else. And I really don't think that. O'Connell has, like, mishandled J.J. McCarthy.

I think he's done everything he could in the short period of time. I think he overestimated and they as a franchise, because it was everyone's decision, not one person. I will never put it on anyone. It was on any one person. It was on this regime. They overestimated his ability to coach up J.J. McCarthy's weaknesses. And they assumed that because they,

were them and they had all the supporting cast and everything else that that was going to be the major dictating factor. But sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. And if Kyle Shanahan can't pick the right quarterback and then find one in the seventh round that could go to the Super Bowl, then this thing is way too random for any of us to think that we've got a real handle on. So I think, yeah, if Kevin O'Connell, let's say they have a tough year and they go nine and eight again. but they make the playoffs this time. And the Wills are happy with the job that he did. And they're drafting another quarterback.

I'm perfectly fine with him picking that other quarterback. I don't think that anyone is actually over a long period of time good at picking the right quarterbacks. And my 2024 list looks okay, though, that I made. So actually, purple insider is the only one good. No, I'm just joking. It's literally no one. because I've had over the years, I mean, I have kind of in my head, like a running list of guys that I liked or didn't like. And Josh Allen was one that I did not like.

I was like, oh, I've seen this before. I've seen the big giant guy with the big giant arm. Oh, it's here comes Kyle Bowler, right? Like, no, no, he's not Kyler, he's an MVP of the league. In that same draft, I did not like Baker Mayfield. I like Josh Rosen, did not like Josh Allen, didn't love Sam Darnold, and, love Lamar Jackson. What a genius I am for loving Lamar Jackson,

and what an idiot I am for not loving Josh Allen. I don't know. And you could say, well, they got so much background and so many things you don't. And yet they get it wrong all the time. I don't know, man. It is very complicated. Jack says everyone's jumping on the Kyler to the Vikings bandwagon now. You were the first to call it.

I'm going to raise the banner. I mean, if they get them, that'll be a fun time for, for old purple insider because you're right this was something i i did think made a lot of sense a little while back um but we've been having this conversation for quite a while now because they started four and eight so what they were going to do i had a lot of time to think about it um let i i apologize i forgot just getting to uh oh yeah i liked hey i liked anthony Richardson. I didn't like Josh Allen. So then after I was wrong about Josh Allen, I was like, you know what? I'm in on Anthony Richardson. I mean, over the years, it's probably win one,

lose one. I was big on Drake May. I was low on Caleb Williams. I'm still not exactly sure what Caleb Williams is going to be because he was really good this year, but inaccurate still. Uh, Jane Daniels, I was high on. Bo Nicks, I was higher than other people, but I really liked penics and I don't know that that's working out so far another injury you know and I you know what I don't know how do you factor that in when you don't have his medicals or whatever but just nobody really knows um let me get to that list by the way sorry I I got distracted good conversation here guys really appreciate that not the not the not the QB lists but the trade list. So I want to show this to you guys because I enjoy Greg Rosenthal's work.

Um, podcaster former NFL.com right? I don't actually know if he writes for NFL.com anymore, but that's, I think he originally wrote for PFT as a contributor. Anyway, so he tweeted this out today that, uh, he made this list of trade targets for NFL daily podcast with Bill Barnwell. And I want to take a look at it and see if we're interested in any, of these. Of course, Kyler Murray, Mack Jones,

are on this list. And are they the only two quarterbacks? Oh, Tanner McKee. I did not include Tanner McKee. People seem to be into some sort of Tanner McKee idea. I don't know.

What, do you have like a good preseason? I mean, they used to do that. Anthony Richardson is on the list too. But in terms of guys that caught my eye that the Minnesota Vikings could be potentially interested in that are on this list from Greg Rosenthal and Bill Barnwell.

The wide receivers, probably not, but Keon Coleman might be worth a roll of the dice or Brian Thomas Jr. Roll of the dice if those guys are actually on the block. But the names that stuck out to me the most were Dexter Lawrence, which is quite a surprise, but did have a downseason last year. And I think his contract is problematic. that would be most likely a disqualifier for the Vikings is Dexter Lawrence with his contract. But he is Dexter Lawrence and, you know, at least intriguing that possibility.

We've seen him be an elite, elite player. Jackson Powers Johnson, the interior offensive lineman from the Raiders. Now, it isn't exactly like the Raiders have had a ton of success with their offensive line recently. but Jackson Powers Johnson was pretty decent last year, like the 2024, and they're looking for a center. I mean, the center options aren't great. There's not too many star centers other than Tyler Linderbaum, and they don't have the money anyway.

Kenny Clark caught my eye a little bit here, where he to become available, the contract is a problem, but maybe that's just because he destroyed the Vikings for so long. This list does have T.J. Hawkinson on. it. I would be surprised if the Vikings were looking to trade TJ Hawkinson, maybe draft Kenyon Sadiq or maybe get somebody else's tight end and free agency. I don't really know. I think after making that move, like Hawkinson has been a favorite of KOCs. They'll just restructure. But, you know, it's on the list.

Riley Moss from the Broncos is somewhat interesting cornerback. And Jesse Bates from the Falcons safety might need a safety. And then I noticed Jalen Carter is on the list. I'm not really sure why they would be insane to trade Jalen Carter, who is an unbelievable talent, but maybe questionable at times. So an interesting list nonetheless and a handful of players there that the Vikings could potentially be interested.

Thank you. A truckin for the super chat. Really appreciate that. uh, Aaron, have you watched any of the quarterbacks this year, Mendoza Kirk like, no other guys worth watching. Uh, truck and wants Breece Hall doubt it was. Breece Hall, uh, is probably a little expensive. Might be a little expensive.

Uh, trucking wants Jalen Watson or Jamel Dean. Yeah. Um, so just in terms of the quarterbacks for this year, I mean, I think a veteran corner is a must for this team. So I agree with you on that. As far as the quarterbacks this year, I think the difference that I see between Mendoza and Kirk is the size. Mendoza's a pretty big guy.

I understand where people are coming from for that. I do think he throws it harder than Kirk did when he came out. When people compare every quarterback that's not like a freaky athlete to Kirk, like when, like early Kirk is mostly just a play action quarterback and is very limited. And then he becomes more of a complete quarterback. later in his career. Is it just like guy who has to play from the pocket is always Kirk? Like Kirk isn't the only quarterback who always plays in the pocket.

He actually kind of looks like Daniel Jones to me. Because of the height, Daniel Jones is really tall and stands kind of high in the pocket and can be inaccurate, but has high IQ. So I look, I like Mendoza is a guy that you can start to build around and look to take advantage of the rookie quarterback contract. I like him from a character perspective, a ton. I think that he's got really, really great competitiveness, toughness. The major concern is he takes a lot of hits.

That's, that's what I think, that he takes a lot of hits. Eddie, how many playoff wins does Murray have in his career and what were stats during that game? Eddie. Must I'm going to take a sip of Diet doctor. Pepper before we talk about this, Eddie. Eddie, what were Sam Darnold's playoff stats before this year? Not a very good way to grade a quarterback. Anyway, so I think with Mendoza, I got to watch a lot of him, obviously, because he was in a lot

of national TV games and won the national championship. So his toughness is, I think, exceptional. And Clint Kubiak having him run, like a bootleg type of all. offense. I think there's a big learning curve. And honestly, a reason to maybe not include Gino is they should probably like try to work with Gino there and have Mendoza not play. I really think they should have Mendoza not play right away and truly commit to Clint Kubiak, truly commit to a veteran quarterback there and have him figured out because I didn't really see a pro offense there. Now, as we learned from McCarthy, that's a myth. Pro offense is a myth.

but I think he's going to have to learn how to really be under center a lot with Clint Kubiak. And I don't know how much he did that at Indiana. It looks like a lot of shotgun to me. So there's work to be done. You might say there's limited upside, but not if you build the team the right way. Okay, couple more, couple more. Then we'll call it a night. Having a good chat, though.

Appreciate you guys. Scamping around. Thank you for the super chat. Kyler or car would suffice. JJ can incubate. Truckin, would you say this last postseason was the most frustrating for the Vikings? Or this past season was the most frustrating Viking season in your lifetime. Well, I mean, for me, I mean, like, was it the most frustrating of my life?

I mean, I don't know about that. Like, it's a, there's, there's some seasons. in there that are pretty rough. How about if you go back to, for me as a reporter this last season, the reason that it was frustrating is that it was not fun, the actual games. So you guys know, I, I am not rooting for either team at the game, but I do enjoy a good football game. And when I fly all the way to Los Angeles and it is a pain of the butt to fly to L.A.,

deal with the traffic, get to the stadium, and then see 37 to 10, I'm not having a great time. Like, I'm having a great time that I'm doing this job and talking to you guys, a podcast, everything else. But watching the game, I'm like, this is dreadful. And the number of times this year where I could have thrown my head back and said, this is dreadful, were way too many. Even some of their wins, just awful. The Christmas Day game, my goodness, that was not a present.

that was a lump of coal. So there, from a joy perspective of I like to watch football like you guys do and have fun, tense football games that go back and forth, well, there weren't very many of those. So there's that. But I think even of the last 10 seasons that I've covered now, it, 2018 was probably for the team, the biggest disappointment other than this, because that year was supposed to be, hey, if Kirk is even good, then this team could play for the Super Bowl. And they just never got there. And it was very clear early that they were not going to get

there. When they lost the game to Buffalo, we all went, uh-oh, this team's not that good, are they? And the vibes in camp were weird and everything like that. That had a lot of frustratingly bad games, too. It had some fun ones mixed in, but it definitely had a lot of games where you just went, what is going on their game against Seattle that year what is happening and they almost won it there was like a tipped interception was that anthony harris or was that 2019 no i think that was 18 either way uh yeah i think this is one for me covering the team the biggest disappointment season other than 2018 for viking fans i'm sure there's i mean there's the less steckle year that had to be incredibly frustrating coming off of bud gris

and you had a year where, you know, Dante Culpepper is coming off this great season early in his career. And then the defense completely collapses. Call Pepper puts up all these stats, but they lose a bunch of games. How about you talk about frustrating? They started out, could it have been six in oh or six in one? And then they end up missing the playoffs in was at 2003. So there's, you know, I mean, these seasons happen.

it's not it's definitely not the most frustrating but it's one that was nowhere close to what it was supposed to look like i did not believe that they could have the an offense that was this bad um phil would love to hear your take on defensive tackles worthy of our first round pick um okay so right now i think that going into the combine there's probably It doesn't, it doesn't seem like there's, it's a year that has a bunch of big time defensive tackle prospects, but more rather like just pretty good. So Peter Woods is one of them. We talked about Christian Miller the other day. I could pull up the, the draft simulator here, get my list.

Let's see. Let's pull up the mock draft simulator and get the list here of defensive tackles. Caleb Banks is one of them that I've got my eye. on for sure. It seems like though, there's just not that, hey, this is the next big superstar defensive tackle. Like there's a lot of good prospects. Peter Woods and Caleb Banks are the two that if one of them drops to where the Vikings

are at, they might make sense. Lee Hunter has jumped up some draft boards from Texas Tech. Hunter is one that you could see having a little bit higher of upside. He has a good pass rush win rate, a good run defender. decent pass rush numbers got some pressure some sacks kaden mcdonnell i think a lot of people are high on i am less so because i just feel like there are limitations there from a pass rush perspective that's a that's just hard to see so i think it's i think it's a draft where you can get someone in that range that has potential to be a starter i don't think that it's a draft where

you're looking at stars at the defensive tackle position except banks you might be able to sell me on because he missed a lot of time and might have a higher upside. Aaron, what day are you going to the combine? Will you be talking to people in the league? Yes, of course. Every combine I go hang out at certain places where I know a lot of folks are and we'll be chatting with a lot of people. We'll be doing the buzz of the night for sure.

So the combine plan, the combine starts next week. I booked my flight, my hotel and stuff today. Chris Trapaso's coming with. So we're going to have our draft expert there. Um, hoping for the radio row table hasn't been sorted out yet. But either way, we'll be doing a lot of interviews and stuff like that with other media members, getting people on the show and breaking down the press conferences with Dane Mizatani.

There's going to be a ton of stuff, uh, from the combine. It's, it's always a little bit play it by ear, but I'll be arriving there late Monday night. So next week, there won't be a live stream because I'll be flying. to Indianapolis, but it'll be late Monday night that I get there, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then I leave on Thursday. So I don't stay, I actually never stay through the workouts because it's much better for me to come home and watch Daniel Jeremiah break down the workouts much, much better than it is for me to go to the stadium and watch things that I don't know what's going on.

Just watch guys in underwear running 40s. It's so much better to get the insight from one of the best of each prospect than it is to go there. So that's how I usually work it out. Truckin, thank you again for the super chat. Which quarterback would you be most upset with having? Well, I don't, look, none of them are going to make me upset, but I think the one that would really make you go, we're doing this, huh?

We're really doing this. Would be Kirk Cousins. I mean, it's not that I don't think he could get them to the playoffs under the right circumstances. I mean, maybe in this division. It's kind of a long shot. But like, are we really doing this? For so long, we debated Kirk Cousins.

For so long they couldn't escape the middle with Kirk Cousins. And then we're doing this. So that's, that would probably be it. D.K. free, do you see Kirk wanting another contract? Would he even sign anywhere for the minimum? I do think that Kirk would be realistic about the price this time. But as we know, he ain't coming for free. Cam Ward or Fernando

Mendoza, I would take Mendoza. I'm not big on Cam Ward. I just think he plays out of control. His highlight reel is amazing, but the consistency is really not. And he's older. That's the other thing too. Oh, 2010.

Yeah, I mean, I was just sort of popping numbers into my head of like the years. 2010 for sure is the most disappointing season. That might be, when you talk about ever, 2010 might be the most disappointing season ever. Truck in.

Thanks again for the super chat. Really appreciate these. Unnecessary, you don't have to, but I appreciate it. Last year's offense was a 1940s high school. I don't think quite that much, but last year's offense was mostly a nightmare to watch. I mean, it just, it was sacks. It was turnovers. It was inconsistent accuracy as being pulled.

light for both quarterbacks. And then the Max Brosmer starts, yeah, it was tough. It was very, very tough. That's right. Is that contra something? Combine season is peak gossip, 100%. Yep. And that's, it's hard sometimes to get all my work done because you're trying to also, because I am not a goes out person, not unless I'm walking the dog in general. So, going out to a bunch of different places that are packed with people is very, like, stressful for me. Some people love it. That's just not me. Uh, so it's like we go and then we'll have the press conferences.

We'll do our podcast. I'll connect with different people. I'll spend the day trying to write something for the next morning, breaking down when we heard the press conferences and the buzz and everything that's being talked about, try to listen to other coaches and other GMs that are at the podium, try to book guests for the, you know, for the, uh, the podcast. And then it's like, all right, man, long day. Oh.

Now I got to now I got to go out somewhere and stay out there until late, trying to figure out, you know, and sometimes it's just seeing friends. Like there's a lot of that too. There's a lot of that seeing friends around the league that I don't see all the time. They cover other teams and things like that. So I'm, I'm not like always just. trying to walk up to every scout or executive and be like, what's going on? It just sort of happens, you know, like you talk to other people, sometimes you talk to other

people who cover other teams and are like, oh, I heard this. You're like, oh, okay. I mean, you know, those people are credible or whatever, you know, Chris Trapaso knows a lot of scouts because he's in that scouting world. So he ends up talking to those types of people. It's, it's an interesting couple of days. So anyway, well. Um, this was really fun, guys, as always.

The plan is to go live Thursday. If there's anything else that catches my fancy, maybe Wednesday, we'll see. Depends on kind of what we got. Mike Renner is going to be on the show, probably Wednesday. So that might, uh, that might be the podcast for that day. Jason will be talking Malik Willis tomorrow. Keep your eyes out for that. The train doesn't slow on Purple Insider.

Okay. And there may be others who start talking, uh, you know, baseball. or whatever, but we're going to keep, we're going to keep going on the speculation train. And I'm going to make more lists. It seems like you guys enjoyed that. So that's something I'm going to do mock drafts, simulating the off season and a lot of stuff coming for next week. So we'll make it fun. Thanks everybody for joining.

Hey, if you're here talking football on February 16th, then you are hardcore. And I appreciate you. So thanks, everybody. We'll talk to you all again soon. Don't forget to answer that Fandulul question of the day in the comments if you're re-watching this and we'll catch you all later football