Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Pads come on, so let's answer a ton of Vikings fan questions rapid fire style

Episode Date: August 1, 2022

Matthew Coller brings you press conference highlights regarding whether the Vikings will play players in preseason, what Kevin O'Connell sees in Irv Smith Jr., how the Vikings receivers will adapt to blocking (and a cool Cooper Kupp story) and Jared Allen on getting traded to the Vikings. Then we rapid fire answer over a dozen questions from Vikings fans about training camp, from the overall vibe under O'Connell, to the backup QB situation to Jaylen Twyman's outlook and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here. I've got some press conference clips to bring you to start the show, and then we will get into a metric ton of training camp questions as we put the pads on. I'm recording this just before the Vikings are going out to the practice field to have their first padded practice on Monday. And that's when things really, really get ramped up and we get a good sense for the battles that are actually going on. And let's start there in terms of press conferences. I asked Wes Phillips, the Vikings offensive coordinator about the wide receiver position and what it means to have the pads coming on for those depth wide receivers who will be battling for position.

Pads on and real game experience is always going to be kind of a better indicator, but we feel really good with where we're at. And we actually feel like we're going to have some tough decisions at the end here when it comes down to it because of the talent and depth we have with that group the depth receiver spot honestly is very interesting and because you have albert wilson here who i don't really know what to expect from without the pads on we've seen him run some routes he's really quick that's how he's made his bones in the league is being an undersized quick guy who finds ways to get open. I wonder if he has somewhat of an advantage because he has experience playing outside and inside. When I looked up his numbers by PFF, what I had expected was that he was just going to be an all slot receiver for his

career, but that actually wasn't the case. Some years he played almost exclusively in the slot and other years he split more 50-50 or played even more outside wide receiver. So in a system that asks receivers to play in bunch formations and uses guys out of the slot a lot, I think versatility could be big for Albert Wilson as he tries to battle against B.C. Johnson and Amir Smith-Marset. And where I'm really interested in Amir Smith-Marset as the pads come on is how does he battle with a lot of these cornerbacks?

Like, will he get a lot of first team reps with Kirk Cousins and go up against Patrick Peterson, Cam Dantzler, Andrew Booth? Like, will he see a lot of those opportunities to get out there and maybe even make an argument for himself to get more wide receiver three opportunities on the outside. I think KJ Osborne still has that pretty much on lockdown of being wide receiver three, but now that there's three receivers on the field all the time, being the fourth guy could mean certain situations, certain concepts, and he's a downfield type of guy that I think could start to really develop here as the pads come on. And then there's BC Johnson, you know, somebody who was fairly

solid in 2019 has won a camp battle already in 2019 as a rookie, and then won the camp battle in 2020. But of course, quickly, Justin Jefferson came in. The other position that I'm looking most at in terms of the battles when pads come on is the defensive line depth. Like DJ Wanham is doing different things here. Armand Watts, this is kind of his big chance. He's been developing over a few years. And then the guys behind that, will we have to learn UDFA names and bios and background information? Will someone, you know, make us care about what they're doing because it is a different system and the players here were handpicked versus the draft picks like Janarius Robinson or Patrick Jones, who will be fighting for position along the defensive line. So a different subject, but tangentially related as they go into the physical portion.

You remember that Kevin O'Connell said, when we're going to go, we're going to go hard. I think that was one of the clips that I used about how much they were going to push players at certain points in camp, how much they were going to dial it back to try to make everybody remain healthy. And in this case, they're going into the, we're going to go hard portion of it with pads coming on. But how does that relate to the preseason games? Will we see starters in the preseason from Kevin O'Connell or will they follow the Rams?

He answered that question. Everybody will be kind of on an individual program, but with the intent of, you know, week in and week out of the preseason, we get the opportunity to practice real two real good games against our days against the Niners. Obviously, we'll finish with Denver and start out with Las Vegas. So we'll get with the staff. We really wanted to get through the ramp up period and get the pads on and see where we're at. What type of matchups and combinations do we want to put together? You know, really in all three phases, there's a lot of jobs and a lot of spots on our roster that are very, very competitive for good reasons. We got some good football players that want to be a part of what we're doing.

So I want to make sure we allow guys to do that, allow guys to feel comfortable in new systems while also making sure, you know, we got a mindset of having our best 53 guys available for the Green Bay Packers. Also related in some way to the pads coming on is the blocking part of this for wide receivers. Now, the Vikings have always asked wide receivers to block. They have to block at every team all the time, and sometimes it makes a difference. But in this particular system, assuming that they are bringing a lot of things over in terms of the run scheme from Los Angeles

and the three wide receiver sets, which appears to be the case, that puts a lot more strain on the wide receivers in terms of blocking. And Robert Woods and Cooper Cup were the best wide receiver blocking duo in the NFL. And Wes Phillips, the Vikings offensive coordinator, told a cool story about Cooper Cupp and his dedication to run blocking. And it's hard to compare to Cooper Cupp in that aspect. Cooper would come to us early in the week with run ideas, not only pass ideas, but run ideas where he was involved blocking.

I mean, that's just what kind of psycho Cooper Cup is. So, you know, it'll take a little bit, but he understood. He listened when the line coach was given his run presentation as far as techniques blocking. He asked questions. For a guy who, you you know leading the league and and receiving and is coming in saying you know i think this run would be good i can help seal the edge right here it is rare speaking of blocking another guy that will be vital in that

whole process is irv smith jr and this is an interesting thing for Kevin O'Connell because the tight end that he had in Los Angeles was quite a bit different in size than Irv Smith Jr. Tyler Higbee goes at about 250, 260, whereas Irv Smith Jr. is more like 225 or 230 pounds. So it's an undersized move tight end, as opposed to more of a traditional inline tight end which is what Tyler Higbee is and Kevin O'Connell talked about how he plans to use Irv Smith and his observations about Irv Smith so far early in training camp you know going back a few years to a guy like Jordan Reed in Washington who obviously Kirk played with you You know, Irv's probably a little bit different in a sense with the vertical speed.

Jordan could obviously run, but I think when Irv really opens it up, you know, there's a lot in the tank there. And then I think he has some of that in his body, the true, we call it doubling up, you know, that choice route kind of skill set to be able to make decisions to maximize separation. And this week will be good for Irv Smith Jr. to get the pads back on. This will be the first time since the end of last year's training camp that Irv Smith has done something that reflected real football

with pads on and blocking people and making plays out there. So this will be a big next step for him as he recovers from his injury, but not one that I expect to come along with any issues because he is ahead of where their initial schedule was for Irv Smith Jr. All right, one more before we get to a bunch of questions. Jared Allen talked, and of course, he's going into the ring of honor. But he told an interesting story about why he wanted to be in Minnesota. He said that he specifically targeted Minnesota as a place that he wanted to come and he wanted

to be traded to. And he explained that. So I knew that the potential was here. And so that's where I wanted to come. It was here in Tampa, right? It was kind of the up and downs so when I got here and in the trade room you know I think for me it was it wasn't about the size it wasn't I mean obviously the contracts were important but

not from the financial standpoint it was the commitment that they were showing to me because that's what I was lacking in Kansas City it was that trust and that commitment that I was the guy moving forward um and so I wanted I just wanted to play for an organization that believed in me as much as I believe in them. And so I describe that to people. When people talk about what does Minnesota mean, it's the relationships that formed when I first started here. I had someone suggest that Antoine Winfield should be the next Viking to go in the Ring of Honor. I would love to hear your nominations for the next player that should go in after Jared Allen this year. All right. So the rest of the pod is

answering lots and lots and lots of training camp questions, and there are so many more to come. So we're going to have a lot of podcasts like this. And I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's given me feedback on using the press conference clips. I'm sorry. Today's are a little fuzzy. The audio just had a bit of an issue. So apologies for that. But, um, I, I appreciate that, that you guys have enjoyed me kind of pulling the best of the press conferences and talking about them in context and, uh, you know, bringing it to you that way. So we'll continue to do that, continue to do the fans only questions and yeah. Okay. So off to a padded practice and here's the portion of all the Q and A. Okay. Let's get into your questions. And since I am in the purple Insider Batcave here. I have a Diet Dr. P with me, so crack that open.

And I wanted to say that I put it out on Twitter. Hey, throw me five questions for training camp, because if you remember the other day, we had five questions that I grabbed from the written version of the Friday mailbag, and I pulled those out, answered them in rapid-fire fashion, and then got to some other fans only questions. Well, I put that out there on Twitter and the tweet as of right now has 56 replies.

So what I'm going to try to do is I am going to try to rapid fire the answers here to these questions as we get into the padded portion of practice, because this is when it all really begins, folks. So let's get all these questions in for this episode and then things will change by tomorrow. Some, sometimes they do. I mean, usually it's over a body of work, so I'm just kidding, but I've got a ton of questions to get to here. And hopefully this sets the stage for the next couple of weeks when things get very intense at Vikings practice. So this comes from at Skulltoast18. If Justin Jefferson could grow his game even more, what's one thing you'd be looking for as an indicator of that through training camp?

Oh, wow. Justin Jefferson growing his game when you're already at the top of the league. I don't think that there's things that he necessarily needs to change, at least from my eye. Now, he could tell you better the specifics and the details of different techniques that he's trying to master. But of course, he's not going to actually tell us those things because he doesn't want people to know exactly what he thinks are his weaknesses and what he wants to change. I agree with Kirk Cousins when Kirk says that the thing for Justin Jefferson is just do it again and do it in a new offensive system.

Do it with more pressure. Do it with hype around you. Do it when you're the guy that's getting talked about by every single team in every single room. And as far as looking for training camp, I'm not really looking for anything from Justin Jefferson aside from that he just looks like him. And so far through a few days when he's making great plays out there on pretty much every throw that's anywhere near him. Yeah, I mean, it looks like the same guy to me being the same guy. And also, you know, I guess there is one thing that I could throw out there, which is in his first couple of years, you're a rookie.

You're trying to get your feet underneath you. You're trying to learn an offense in the NFL and just how to even be an NFL player. And plus that was 2020. That was COVID. He got behind from the very beginning because he had a positive test or a close contact. I don't remember, but he had to miss a little time because of COVID and then come in and try to play from behind a little bit. And that's how BC Johnson ended up starting week one. And then last year, he goes away and he does all the work. And he comes back very, very prepared for training camp and has a spectacular season, right? This year, it's about putting the franchise on your back.

And I don't mean from a reception, uh, you know, perspective, I don't mean from statistics and from fantasy and that sort of thing. I mean, be the guy that's in command out there, be the leader, be the superstar. Uh, there is a little bit of a different role when it comes to that and be a competitor, push everybody to maximize everything they can do. One thing I would say about Stefan Diggs when he was a Minnesota Viking was that he forced every cornerback to be the best version of themselves every day, because if they weren't, he was going to roast them. I mean, he was the most intense training camp player that I have seen. And that intensity led to some uncomfortable

situations. I don't need, uh, Justin Jefferson to throw a helmet or try to throw down with anybody, but I think what you want to see is just, Hey, this is your team now and go be that guy in training camp. So far, it's only been no pads and everything else, everybody just getting ramped up. But as things get intense, don't just be the, you know, I'm the 1B or 1A to Adam Thielen, I'm here trying to get better type of guy. Be the centerpiece of a franchise type of player, which is a little hard to observe just from the sideline, I will say, but you want to hear that from other people. And maybe that's a question that we ask is like, how much are you looking to grow in that space? Because a first year player, a second year player with a lot of

veterans on the team, that isn't necessarily something that you're trying to do is be the guy, be the leader when there's Delvin cook and feeling and cousins and you know, Brian O'Neill is another leader on the offense, but this is now your show. So let it be your show. I think that's the only area that I would look at and say could be a little bit different is just mature in that way to be the superstar beyond just your production, but also not, I don't mean to say in the way you carry yourself as if he's carried himself wrong. I just mean that that grows as you

go along in the NFL. So great question there. Skull toast 18. All right. Onto the next one. This is from Eagle scale of Grimm's on Twitter. Lots of reporting on O-line depth and battles. How is the defensive line playing out? So far, we've seen a little bit of Armin Watts as a rotational player. Harrison Phillips, Dalvin Tomlinson in the middle. The two guys you'd expect on the outside, Zedaria Smith, Daniil Hunter. And in a third down pass rush package, some DJ Wanham being mixed in as an interior rusher. And that's why when we talk about changes that happen from

this system to that system, from this coach to that coach, like this is a thing that everyone does, which is take your pass rushers and load them up on third down packages. But it's also an opportunity for some other guys to potentially mix in if they don't love what they see from DJ Wanham, who did get his fair number of sacks last year. It's just that his pressure rates and his win rates and his PFF grade all kind of suggested that those were either coverage sacks or someone escaping the pocket just kind of ran into him and that matches up with the eye test i think he got what three of them were against justin fields trying to escape the pocket with his horrendous

bears offense i mean you're you're looking for somebody who can be a really effective situational rusher or, and, or someone who can come in and play big time snaps. If Zedaria Smith or Daniil Hunter are out. And there are some guys on this roster that you can make a case for, uh, as like maybe being intriguing. Um, you know, one of those guys is Andre Mincy, who I'm sure that nobody's heard a whole lot about, but maybe he might be someone that you do. He made the team in Denver last year as an undrafted free agent, and that might be somebody that possibly emerges as this goes along, it's really comes down to, are you getting pressures on a day-to-day basis? Zach McLeod is another guy. He's a rookie out of Miami, 24 years old. Again, not somebody that is at the forefront, but was taking some, you know, second team reps on one of the days. Janarius Robinson is a guy they should really, really want to rise to the challenge because he's got the size, the wingspan, the athleticism, came out of Florida State as a development

project. And then Luigi Villain is another one who's a rookie out of Wake Forest. So they've got guys that are going to be fighting for these positions. Patrick Jones is another one who's a rookie out of Wake Forest. So they've got guys that are going to be fighting for these positions. Patrick Jones is another one. They really need someone to show up and emerge there. As far as the interior, though, I don't know that there's a lot of candidates to become interior rushers. Jonathan Bullard has been a guy in the league.

James Lynch, you already know. T.Y. McGill has been out there a little bit. I don't think that Asasia Tomowo, the draft pick out of Minnesota in his first year, is going to show right away that there's something there. Maybe Julian Taylor, who's been in the league before. They picked him up. He had played for San Francisco. Really, really great athlete, but hasn't played a whole lot. So there are guys to watch here. And then of course, uh, I think there'll be more questions on Jalen Twyman later, so I'll save it for then, but he is in this mix as well as being a draft pick from last year that they're

going to be evaluating. So the way I look at this is especially with an all new coaching staff on the defensive line battle, I just named you all the players and I don't know which ones are going to show up and emerge here as guys that are going to be the depth. I don't think I have a good sense for that yet until the reps are happening with pads on and you're seeing who's winning consistently, who's getting more opportunity in the rotational situations and things like that. Then we'll start to have an idea. But what I can say is the offensive line battle. I'm not really sure how much of battles we have. It kind of looks like Jesse Davis is going to be the starter for right now.

That's how it looks unless something changes throughout. But nobody else has taken first team reps when Jesse Davis has been in there and been healthy. That doesn't really look like a battle to me, but behind the first line of defensive linemen behind the starters and Armond Watts, I, it looks like everybody's position is sort of up for grabs. And then that's going to be, you talk about when the pads come on, what we're going to be watching. I think defensive line battles is probably at the very top of the list.

Next question comes from at Skull Vikings 3 on Twitter. Ed Ingram can't battle. How has he looked? When and if could he rotate with the ones? I would say right now, it doesn't look like he's going to be rotating with the ones anytime soon, as long as Jesse Davis and Chris Reed are healthy, because even when Chris Reed was, uh, or I'm sorry, even when Jesse Davis was out, Chris Reed was still the guy who stepped in at right guard. Um, and even, uh, who was it? Uh, Wes Phillips. I think the

offensive coordinator, basically said he's going to have a lot to learn in terms of technique. And someone like Jesse Davis and Chris Reid, these guys are veterans who have done it before. So we'll see if he even gets a chance at all to rotate with the ones at any point. And some of that might be how he practices against the 49ers when they show up here, how he plays in the preseason games, because I'm certain that he's going to get looks there. But as of right now, I'm not sure that right guard is a competition at this moment.

That could very much change in a day. I could come back and tell you, well, they changed everything up and that thing's wide open. Kevin O'Connell called it fluid. It just hasn't seemed that way so far. Um, also, uh, skull Viking three here asking about, uh, Mon versus Mannion has Mons accuracy and play reading been better this year? Not so far. Uh, I don't think so far it has, but we're only a few practices in. I just haven't seen him look sharp. I haven't seen Sean Mannion look sharp and somebody's going to have to play better. Now, I will tell you that in 2017, we thought through the first couple of practices, even

with the pads coming on at first, that Case Keenum was going to get cut for Taylor Heineke. That's how far things can go and how much can change within the next couple of weeks of training camp. But the early impression is it looks pretty much like it looked last year. We'll see if that changes. Uh, is Brian Asimov playing at a high level odds of rotating with the ones? I thought I saw him take a couple of reps in, in, in a package or like a third down type of package, which might be something that he does because of his skillset. As far as playing at a high level, this is where everything is going to come back to. We'll see what happens when the pads come on,

because right now, and this is, I would, I would also point out that the, one of the hardest positions to see from the sideline is linebacker. Trying to figure out at practice whether linebackers did the right or wrong thing is almost impossible. You can see receivers extremely well, quarterbacks, offensive defensive line pretty good, and sometimes safeties depending on if they're getting burned or making mistakes, you'll see angry coaches or players throwing their hands up linebackers. I mean, we're talking lightning fast reps of run fits and reading certain plays and keys and things like that. It's kind of hard to know, but I think we'll get a better sense for the linebackers in

those preseason games. And I'm guessing Brian Asamoah will get plenty of work. All right. Going rapid fire, rapid fire. Uh, this from at Mote 86, how's Garrett Bradbury looking hearing he put on weight and muscle, but is that translating into improvements? I promise not to answer everything with we'll see when the pads come on i don't see much difference in terms of the physique kind of looks like the same guy to me it's possible that he did put on weight and muscle but i'm not sure what that really does when you're this point in your career and in your development you are going to be who you are like Like Garrett Bradbury, I believe is 27 years old.

Like this guy is who he is. The only difference is just how he fits with the scheme. And could that mitigate some of the pass blocking issues? Because if you look back to Los Angeles, they have not had centers who were big, giant pass blocking beasts. They've had guys like Brian Allen, who were not an enormous, not unbelievable pass blockers, but good enough to get the job done. I'm just skeptical of even anything to trust my eye to say, Oh, looks like he's, you know,

having a good camp. I mean, we have a big sample size of him playing in real games and he got benched last year. So anything I see in camp, I'm probably not going to come out and say, folks, look out. This is a completely different man. It really comes down to how well is he fitting with what they want to do? And could that mitigate some of the problems that he's always had? I don't think a guy in an offseason can put on 10 pounds, even 10 pounds of muscle, and all of a sudden better anchor and better battle someone like Kenny Clark. But week one, we will certainly find that out. I mean, I'll look.

I'll be watching because I'll mostly be watching for those interior guys if we see someone taking first team reps that we didn't expect like a Julian Taylor or TY McGill or whoever, uh, but we'll see how they're going up against Bradbury. The one-on-ones are always something to watch closely in practice, uh, to get a sense for where people stand. If they're getting beat constantly in those one-on-ones, that's one of the most insightful drills, I think. All right, next question comes from atjupman on Twitter. How does the wide receiver core look after JJ and Thielen?

Are we going to see Jalen Naylor? I would not expect to see Jalen Naylor. No, I mean, yeah, you'll see him in preseason games. I would not expect to see him make this team. At the moment, you have Elber Wilson, who's a veteran, has been looking, I think, pretty decent. But, you know, again, we'll see. But I think that Elber Wilson might fit into this or they sought him out and signed him as someone that might fit in. But even if he doesn't, you still have Amir Smith-Marset,

BC Johnson had a good mini camp and how that plays out here is something to watch for sure that he's coming off that ACL injury, but he's much more experienced. Jalen Naylor is a sixth round draft pick. And normally what happens with those guys is they get cut and they end up on the practice squad. Or they make the team, but it's for special teams purposes only. And that's where Jalen Naylor, and I don't even mean as a returner, that's where Jalen Naylor has to make this team. But they already have another guy in Dan Chisna, who is a receiver, who is a special teams ace as well. It's a very crowded room. If someone gets hurt,

then Jalen Naylor can prove that he belongs as the next man up. We're going to have to see him making plays day after day and see him perform in the preseason games to know if he can actually make the team if there's an injury. But as of this moment, I would be surprised. Now that's not the worst thing in the world. Usually other teams do not pick up teams that, you know, have cut sixth round draft picks. Most of the time, a sixth round draft pick gets cut. They get put on the practice squad. They develop, they get better or they don't. And then we see what happens. But we oftentimes look at guys' highlight reels or something from college and think, well, okay, maybe he's going to be the next sixth round pick that develops into something for the Vikings. More often, they kind of end up as the Stacey

Coley's and Rodney Adams, but every once in a while, especially here, they seem to show up and play pretty well. It's just that he's going to have to overcome a lot of players and be better than a lot of players in order to get that chance to be on the actual roster. I think look for him more to be a developmental player on the practice squad and see if something comes of that in the future. Let's see. Another Kellen Mond question. How does Kellen Mond look anywhere close to being the backup? I know it's early in camp. So this is

probably more of a question for the end of camp. Well, so far it looks like we might be getting someone else who is not Mond or Mannion. I mean, to tell you the truth, that's what it looks like now, that both of them have not made any sort of early case. And both of them have to be a heck of a lot better if they're even going to be this team's backup. And this happened last year. Jake Browning and Kellen Mond struggled and the they went and got somebody to be their backup because they didn't like either of the guys who went through the entire training camp in the battle for QB two. And if they both play like they have so far in practice, uh, that is likely. However, Mon's going to get chances to play preseason action. It seems like there's a legitimate battle here for the number two quarterback spot. So they will both get a lot of snaps in the preseason games, in these padded practices, splitting reps with the number twos, and it's going to be kind of an even fight and

someone is going to have to beat out the other person. And again, if neither of them do, we might not be talking about either one as the backup quarterback right now, it's a slow start. Will it change? I'm not confident that it will. I would leave the door open to that possibility as Kellen Mond, who is the most likely to improve here. If he can grasp the offense a little better, it's just that throwing the ball in the full speed reps has just never been sharp. And it has to be, if you're going to be even the backup quarterback. Uh, this comes from at red and purple 77. We always discuss who's about to have a breakup, a breakout season, but who is about to fall off a cliff. Oh man. If I knew who was going to fall off a cliff, they would give me a lot of money. I'd have more podcast downloads. It's hard to predict who's going to fall off a cliff. Oh man. If I knew who was going to fall off a cliff, they would give me a lot of money.

I'd have more podcast downloads. It's hard to predict who's going to fall off a cliff, especially when I've only seen them for a few days running around in shorts. The notable guys are who you think they are. I mean, Patrick Peterson, Harrison Smith. I don't think so. He looks fine out there. Adam Thielen has looked very sharp in his route running, and we've talked about his age throughout the offseason. Deservedly so. Anytime a person gets over 30, there's reason to look for the next wave of player and so forth. kind of struck him the other day as he was seeing Jared Allen go into the ring of honor. And he played with Jared Allen. Like, yeah, man, you've been around for a long time now. So those are the guys that you naturally start to talk about. Eric Kendricks, Jordan Hicks is 30 years old. Jesse Davis is 30 years old. Zedaria Smith is 29. Like all of these guys are the ones that you discuss, but there's a pretty clear line

in this roster that those are the only real veterans that are up against that age barrier. Everybody else is 27 or younger. That's a significant player on this team, which means that you wouldn't project, Oh, this guy or that guy will fall off. Uh, KJ Osborne has looked pretty good. So would there be like a junior year slump? I mean, after having a good breakout season, maybe, but it doesn't really look like it looks like he's fitting in the same spot that he did before. So I'm not sure that anyone looks like they're going to have a drop off. Delvin cook looks pretty fast. That's the other guy that you would target. As it plays out though, I mean, it's possible that we start to see somebody struggling a little bit more than we expected, but sometimes those nuances are very hard to

figure out. Like when Brian Robison got cut, all of us were surprised by that, that we did not expect him to be cut. And it had looked like he had a pretty solid camp. And then all of a sudden they said, no, we don't think that, you know, we want to keep him around. We'd rather go with somebody with potential, which never played out by the way to Sean Bauer, but that was why they did it. They felt like B-Rob was not going to contribute as much. They went for the guy with potential and that didn't really work. But if we're talking about candidates, it's all the veteran players, all the guys 30 plus. I don't think you can really tell unless it's super obvious that someone fell off. And especially early in camp, a lot of the veteran players, they get good at starting a

little bit slow and ramping up, ramping up, ramping up because they're not trying to win a job. They know that they're going to have a job. So they're not coming right out of the gate, practicing like they've got their hair on fire. They sort of, you know, work their bodies into that shape. So it's at its best at week one. But those, those are your candidates though. And if any of them fall off a cliff, think about what's behind most of them. Like maybe they could sustain Patrick Peterson. Either one of the linebackers would be troublesome running back. They could make their way through if Delvin cook started to drop off. But one of the issues is

when you have that name recognition, we've seen this in the past. We see it in Dallas with Ezekiel Elliott, that he hasn't been the same and they continue to run Ezekiel Elliott. Would they do that here if Delvin Cook doesn't look as sharp? I mean, so far to me, he does. It looks like he has a similar burst to always with him. But if he did look slower, I don't think anybody would do anything about it because it's Delvin Cook. All right. From Kimball Hale on Twitter, biggest differences between camps with the old and new regime. I think it's just that you can feel that a refresh button has been hit.

The tension is down. There's a fresh type of feeling. I don't want to say it's relaxed because it's football. It's not relaxed. It's just less tense. And it seems like the players are maybe a little more loose when we talk to them loose when they're practicing. That's just how it seems a little bit to me. Uh, if I went back in time and looked at last year's practice, I mean, it's not like during camp, Mike Zimmer was some

just uncontrollable madman. I mean, I think he loved camp. In fact, outside of last year, most of the really relaxed and good conversations we ever had with Mike Zimmer were after camp practices that he would often go into football philosophy with the beat guys, you know, details and strengths and weaknesses. And he was really insightful. And oftentimes, depending on the practice, was in a decent mood. And so I don't think everyone for every camp that I ever covered was on the brink of just, you know, packing it up and leaving and never playing football again because Mike Zimmer was just raging at everyone. But that usually happened at the end of the season if they fell off. But I think you can tell, you could tell that there's been a change here and that everyone had a weight lifted off them. And the other part of this too, is that Kevin O'Connell and Kweisi Adafomensa are sort of forging their own path and they don't have the hot seat label. And no matter how much you try to deny it, if you're Mike Zimmer, it was

there that it was always hanging over him and Rick Spielman and the players that there were high expectations and tension going in and every bad practice seems to be exacerbated by that pressure. And I don't know that we're going to have that same feeling here with Kevin O'Connell, where he's coming into his first year. It's not like if it doesn't work out this year, it's just over for him where it was for Zimmer. So it's, I think there's a little bit of a difference from there in terms of just the vibe of it. But as far as how they actually run the practices, the timing is a little bit different.

But aside from that, the practices are very similar. Like Mike Zimmer, he really loved situational stuff and did a ton of situational drills. It seems like Kevin O'Connell is the same way. Once they get into 11 on 11s, everybody kind of stops and watches every play. And it gets very serious. You know, the coaches are shouting out all sorts of instructions and everything else. I mean, there isn't like, it's a football practice. It's football training camp. Like there's just not going to be this team does it in some ingenious way. And this team does it crazy stupid. Like they're all going to be this team does it in some ingenious way and this team does it crazy stupid. Like they're all going to be kind of similar.

All right. Next one comes from at the purple bison on Twitter. What will Ty Chandler have to do to take the backup spot from Alexander Madison this season and beyond? I don't want to say it's impossible because it's running backs and Ty Chandler could just look unbelievably good and somehow take Alexander Madison's job. I don't think that's really possible, though, as long as Alexander Madison is healthy. Just don't see it happening that Ty Chandler could not only jump Madison, but also jump Kenny Wong Wu as well. Ty Chandler is a next year player. So for this year, special teams depth, just in case, and maybe he gets a chance to get a few reps here or there.

If everyone's healthy, probably not. And then it's next year when they're going to lose Alexander Madison, very possibly lose Delvin Cook as well based on his contract. They could move on from Cook if he doesn't have a really phenomenal year this year. Based on his price, it's more prudent to move on from Delvin Cook after this year. And that's when you're looking for Ty Chandler and Kenne Wongwu to be the next running backs. That's how I see it playing out. If Ty Chandler all of a sudden took the backup spot from Alexander Madison, that means he would have played extremely well because Madison has

been a quality back in the league. This comes from at Swerve and Mervin. If Chris Reed doesn't pop and Ed Ingram looks okay, is there a chance that one of the two off-season guard free agents get cut to make space for the youth and add a little cap space for a potential addition of a surprise cut after cut down well i don't think the cap space thing is very relevant because neither one of them got paid much and the vikings do have enough cap space according to over the cap uh they do have enough cap space to add someone right now if they needed to. They don't have to make that extra space. If Chris Reed struggles and Ed Ingram looks fine, yeah, I think that he could get cut. Or if Jesse Davis cannot stay healthy and Chris Reed looks great, then maybe that happens.

Yeah, I mean, loser might end up getting cut or they might just cut Wyatt Davis, who doesn't seem like he's a part of this at all. And then your offensive line room is pretty set. Chris Reed's ability to, in a pinch, I think, go in at center. He did in one minicamp practice. That gives him some argument to be on the team that he could play

all three interior positions. It might not be wise to cut him unless you're keeping Austin Schlottman, who also plays those positions, but Chris Reed is a more experienced starter. So unless somebody looked bad, I would be surprised if the veterans get cut. It really is like, what's the role going to be? If Ingram wins the starting job, now that's a different conversation. If he wins the starting job, then one of them is likely to get cut. But if not, then it would go Davis, Reed is your flexible interior guy. You would have Oli Udo, Blake Brandl as your backups, and then Ingram is your guy who's developing. And that would be kind of the way that the offensive line room would look.

All right, hold on. I've been going rapid fire here for now like a half hour and haven't taken a single sip of Diet Dr. Peppers. Give me a sec. Okay, rapid fire, rapid fire. Here we go. This from at Nicholas M m miller on twitter every year you discuss how you how the feel of of camp is and you can usually make an early prediction about how the team will perform what is the vibe this year you also talk about how

rookies who show they have it early on uh any vibes there these are probably too early to judge with pads though yeah that. That, I mean, most of the questions kind of are, and that, and both of these definitely fall in that category. The has it right away though, is been more and you know, just the disclaimer of all disclaimers is it's only been a couple of days, but it's been more Andrew Booth Jr. And I don't mean just because of his interception. I mean, because of how he moves, that it's been more him than Louis Seen. But we have to see a lot more of these practices

to get that feeling. And if all of a sudden Louis Seen is starting with the ones and Cam Bynum is working with the twos, we will know that they are happy with what they're seeing from Lewis scene. And it's going to be impossible to not say seen and see and seeing all together with those words like that and be confusing. But, uh, so I think Lewis scene starting with the twos, that's one of those, okay, we've got a very clear way to evaluate this and and if he shows

that he's got it and is making some plays and is the right space and then he's you know on different plays if he's in the right space uh then you're talking about looking for is he going to go to the ones if he starts working with the ones even rotating that's a sign that he's making it safeties can be a little hard to judge like i talked about with linebackers earlier same deal like do you know if a guy run fit correctly do you know if a guy rotated uh not really not really because the guy who knows that is ed donatel or you know dorante jones the you know, Durante Jones, the, you know, defensive back coach, they're going to know more than standing on the sideline about whether guys are doing the right things assignment wise. As far as, I mean, other rookies though, you can tell with defensive linemen, wide receivers,

no one has popped so far, but they'll have an opportunity to do that. And that's always one thing we're looking for. And vibe so far, I think is good. And that does matter. Yeah. I mean, yes, it's early. It's very early, but it's also like never too early for this team to have some big dramatic blow up or something that they run into. That's a problem. I mean, wasn't it Joe Judge who was doing crazy things right off the bat or saying crazy things at the podium? Or you're like, you're always watching for players taking shots at the coaching or just any sign that there could be issues, body language, how they're taking coaching out on the field. You're watching all these

things so far. Looks like regular football practice. No, no problems to speak of that. I've picked up on at the moment and they want to keep it that way. They want to keep train on the tracks. And if they get to the end of this thing and there's no catastrophic injuries and the vibe is still the same, then I mean, that's a a huge win for them if they can continue this going on. Let's see. This from at Langbang12, who has been the most played artist when the music is being played at camp. A lot of DMX out there, which I respect.

A lot of the songs, I'm going to tell you the truth. I'm going to sound like an old guy. I just don't know. At the moment, we're talking about a decent sized gap now between the youths who might be picking the music and me. So when they play DMX and you know, I'm, I'm in, I know the words and I remember the songs quite well as a big fan of DMX. But when you're playing people new, I mean, Drake's not new, right?

So I know Drake when I hear him. But there are a lot of artists that I just don't know. And I apologize for that. But that's probably the one I've recognized the most is when the DMX songs come on. All right, this from at at purple blood M N how well is the defense absorbing Donatello's new scheme so far in your opinion? I don't know. I truly don't know. They've had some nice plays. They've had some plays where they got beat by wide receivers. It seems like they're trying really hard to balance how much they're asking a lot of these guys to change with how much different they want to be.

Ed Donatell said the other day that he's coached this system before and knows what he's doing in different places, but also wants to be cognizant of the fact that Mike Zimmer did some things right. And that a lot of these guys are having to learn nuances that are different, uh, who have been here their entire careers, like Harrison Smith or Eric Hendricks. I mean, those guys have been playing in Zimmer's system the whole time. I would not expect that thus far that, that they all have it mastered. And it's probably going to take the defense longer than the offense to get all those things down because the offense isn't replacing players. On the defense, Jordan Hicks is new. Either Louis Seen or Cam Bynum is new. Next to Harrison Smith, Andrew Booth Jr. new.

And the interior of the defensive line adds Harrison Phillips. Zedarius Smith is here. So I think there's more of an adjustment period, but how they're absorbing it so far, I did not get the sense from Ed Donatel that, you know, he was going up to the podium and saying, oh yeah, every player has mastered the defense. We're all set forever.

That's something that is likely going to have to, you know, develop as they go along and we'll see kind of at the end of training camp. And maybe we're going to have to only really judge on what they say because they're not going to really show or, or, or it's not going to be visible unless they're getting roasted every play. It's not going to be super visible. The nuances to, well, did this guy not really understand his assignment here or there or whatever, um, body language, what they say, like, well, we'll do our best. We'll do our best on that. It's going to be a tough one because a lot of times too, uh, and you'll see this with statistics at the beginning of a season,

the team will have it down. Oh yeah, we've got the scheme down. And then the first week offensively, the other team game plans well, and it's like, oh, there was a miscommunication here or they never prepared for this or didn't know how they were supposed to handle it. And that's why defenses get better as the season goes along. All right, this comes from at Raskums on Twitter. Goes by Shane.

So maybe we'll just go with Shane. The defense will be multiple. Who's the third interior defensive lineman in base 3-4? Is it Armond Watts? They're playing out there mostly nickel. Yeah, I think it's Armond Watts, but it's been more of Watts rotating with Harrison Phillips, which I expect to be the case. The base for this team is nickel. Like, I just don't think they're going to play very often where they do a traditional three, four type of look where you essentially have fiveil Hunter on the outsides, then three down defensive

linemen, unless it's a run situation. And then probably, I mean, Watts likely comes in still in that spot just because he's the best next man up. We're not going to see that a lot. I mean, with Watts, I believe it's just going to be pure rotation. Hey, it's third and seven. Who's out there on the defensive line? Like it's going to be Watts cause he's the best pass rusher out of the defensive tackles. But yeah, I mean, if it was the old school three, four, then they would need another guy to do that. I don't think we're going to see it all that often. Let's see this from Derek Allen, punter battle. Does Barry have it? Or maybe the rookie might get the job. I have not looked at the punters for a single second. I know that you

guys are going to be disappointed in me that I've been watching the players, you know, that do the football stuff, but I have not looked over at the punters at all. They could have been drawing themselves on the pavement and chalk. As far as I know, I have no idea what the punters at all. They could have been drawing themselves on the pavement in chalk. As far as I know, I have no idea what the punters are doing. Uh, Ryan Wright was holding the other day for some field goals, but that might've been just for experience that I'll let you know on cut down day because I couldn't possibly judge a punter battle. Maybe we'll see if there's a clear winner in preseason. But there are many times where we get to the end of preseason and training camp. And they cut the punter and sign somebody else anyway.

I'm not getting emotionally involved in this one, Derek. Jalen Twyman. How's he looking? Good. I think. What you wanted to see from Twyman is him to come back physically ready to play football. And he absolutely did that. And what happens from here? We will see, uh, looks like he's going to get chances to prove that he belongs in the rotation

and whether he takes advantage of those chances. I don't know. His NFL combine scores do not suggest he has the explosiveness to be a great pass rusher in the NFL. His size does not suggest he has a great chance to be a plus run defender in the NFL. And he was not drafted by this regime. So I don't want people to get their hopes up because it would be a good story of Jalen Twyman missing all last year and coming back. Uh, but he'll get his chance. I just, you know, even when I was making out of 53, having a little bit of trouble fit, you know, filling him in. And he's a guy that you want probably on the practice squad. If he emerges, that'll definitely be a big story. Uh, I'm going to keep blasting through just a few more of these, even though this has been an incredibly long podcast.

What differences are we seeing with the running back group? This comes from at M Lacoste 99. Anything interesting with Kenne and formations, et cetera. It depends on how interesting you think it is that they look like they are lining up running backs at receiver and motioning them around and things like that. It's not a first in the NFL. It's not a first here to do stuff like that, but maybe they want to take advantage of it a little bit more. As far as have we seen anything where Kenny Wong was doing something crazy, they're not going to show that to us. If they're going to

do something like that, that's going to be game planned. It will be after they close practices to reporters, which I think is maybe the final two weeks before the season starts. They'll put that stuff in the actual game plan. They'll do that stuff in a walkthrough where we don't see it, but they're going to execute it when it comes to a game to surprise the other team But they know fans are up there with cameras They know reporters are there so they're running a lot of stuff that you want to get all the base and the basics and then Once these training camp practices are over then you game plan for the Green Bay Packers That's where you're gonna see that stuff, but there has been a noticeable amount of running backs moving out as receivers. I think, yeah. Uh, this comes from

at K Fox on Twitter. What is the ceiling slash best case scenario for this team? If they stay healthy, what is the floor and worst case scenario for this team? Uh, if you've observed one thing that said this team can contend or might be rough this year, what would it be? Well, the thing that I would say so far, and this is very much so far for why they could contend is that they're healthy at this moment, right now, super early, not trying to jinx, just saying they are very healthy. And you said, if they can stay healthy and if they are, then they have a chance

to, I think hit their ceiling, which is probably 11 games. That's where I look at it. They have a favorable schedule. They have a little bit smarter approach to the sports science, to the offense, uh, to, you know, a number of other things, but like, even like the, the way that they approach, we assume the play calling to be more pass first and things like that. Like all of that could result if it clicks into place in probably 11 wins, the worst case scenario or the floor. Cause those might actually be two different things. Um, depends on who you are, but you might view a five win team as being a-case scenario because that guarantees that you are picking a quarterback. But as far as the floor, I think it's probably six.

If Kevin O'Connell is really inexperienced and struggles as a play caller and has a tough time, I think that's where you're at. I think you could win six games. If there are injuries and they have to get down to the second level of this team, it's not very proven at that point. And even if you manage the clock better, if you don't game plan as well as a rookie head coach, or you don't have command of the team when you run into adversity, these are things that are being assumed are going to happen, but there should be no assumptions here when it comes to a rookie head coach.

I think everything that Kevin O'Connell has done so far has indicated that the guy isn't a lunatic. He has not stepped in any major potholes so far, and that's a great thing for him if you could get this far and not have any problems or not show any issues right away. But, you know, that doesn't mean in the length of a season when a lot of stuff happens that he's going to have command of the team or that he's going to be able to outfox other teams. Or as I mean, this is a Cliff Kingsbury thing, right? Like as the season went along in Arizona, each of the last few years, you know, he got Cliff Kingsbury just got out schemed by defenses who figured out a lot of their stuff. It's a long, long year. And we don't know if, cause we did know that the floor on Mike Zimmer was probably seven games, that it wasn't going to get worse than that. But we don't know what it is with Kevin O'Connell.

We don't know if Kirk Cousins is going to fit perfectly in this system or struggle with it or many, many other things. So I think it's somewhere between six and 11, which is actually what makes this team pretty interesting. All right.

That's about as many as I can get through right now. More of you sent questions. If I didn't get to it yet, I've got it listed for more rapid fire answering of Vikings questions and I will try my best. Can you guys tell that I am ready for pads to come on?

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We'll see you later.