Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Panthers reporter talks Thielen's fit with JJ McCarthy (Part 2)

Episode Date: August 30, 2025

Matthew Coller talks with Carolina Observer's Mike Kaye about why Carolina traded Adam Thielen and how he will work with a young QB. Plus the Micah Parsons contract details are craaaazy. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.

Jay Deasy says sounded like the Panthers GM said Thielen was begging him to trade him back to Minnesota. He might have been. I mean, look, if you live here, I know I have a lot of people outside of Minnesota who love the Vikings and love that you're here listening. But for the locals, you get it. You get it.

All of you folks, I learned this when I moved to Minnesota. its own unique culture and there's no place like it. I love it here. That's why I started Purple Insider and didn't just go get another sports talk radio job or go get another NFL beat reporter job. That's why I stayed here because I love it. This is the perfect state for me and my dog and my wife and everything, even though when winter arrives, maybe I won't talk like that. Today was beautiful outside. But you get it if you're here. If you're from, here you never you'll always say you're from minnesota so feeling i mean man cato vikings his hearts here his family's here he's 35 i'm sure he wanted to come back and he even talked about how

difficult it was to move his family there and not have the friends and family that they had been close with for so long so it was a challenge for him and yeah i mean if you're going to just go finish your career somewhere make it your home state make it your home state make it your home team he's going to be in the ring of honor at some point like this is a it's a it's a coach he knows it's a just the jefferson and him are very close i mean it's a great situation plus i think you know adam knows ball the panthers aren't winning the super bowl this year they're i think on the rise but they're not winning the super bowl this year and he knows that so he wanted to take one more shot with this team i i don't have any doubts about that if he hadn't been traded he would

have done his job and he would have kept playing but he wanted to be here there's no question uh roland says you guys forget o'connell trusted darnold enough to be pass happy he will not hold back with mccarthy you know that he trusts mccarthy more than darnold at the end of the season they were pass happy at the early part of the season it wasn't quite as much but that was my point i'm not saying they won't be passed first they will they threw 35 passes one night with josh jobs they're going to be passed first but when i look at those attempt numbers and sam darnold got to 545, it would be pretty darn surprising if J.J. McCarthy had more passes than Sam Darnold did last year. That was, and VA Viking, good point. The run game was kind of

trash. The run game was, I think, good when Christian Derisal was in, and then a struggle after Cam Robinson. And I saw, I think Cam Robinson didn't even win the job in Houston. I think Ariante Urse, Ersere, the guy from Minnesota, I think he won it. In, in, in, in Houston. I saw something on that the other day. So I think Cam Robinson's kind of cooked. And we saw that as it went along last year. If Derisaw is healthy, this run game can be a lot better. The interior, a lot better, way, way better than it was in last year. So you don't have to lean on your quarterback quite as much. But I have no doubt that they're going to throw. I have no doubt they're going to throw. Let's see. Blowfish is both Thielen and Hawkinson will be secure.

blanket for McCarthy over the first three weeks. McCarthy had a great connection with Addison and preseason. I mean, phenomenal connection with Addison in the preseason. Very unfortunate, really, for the Vikings that there's a suspension there for three games because the way that Addison had performed in training camp, you would have been expecting a huge season for Jordan Addison right off the outset. Now they have to wait three weeks in order to work him back in. But at very least, what you could say is that is the number one wide.

receiver position that Addison was playing, and that's going to be Justin Jefferson. So, Kurt says it is underrated how many smart players we have versus teams of the past, not to mention the buy-in from KOC, buy-in on KOC from them. This is, you know, when I go back to, I first started covering the team in 2016, 2017 locker room was really, really good. And there were a ton of smart players, you know, Terrence Newman, Eric, Kendricks, Anthony Barr, Kyle Rudolph, like that just all over the place. And I kind of compare it to that, what they have right now, where when you chat with,

you know, Jonathan Granard or Blake Cashman or Aaron Jones, I mean, there's just, you're right. They have a lot of players that really fit COC. I mean, I think that that's what happens with a lot of teams. And this is why the head coach is so important, right? And let me tie this into Micah Parsons because I want to get to something on that as well. His contract is out and it is interesting. But just to your point, like Kevin O'Connell has made this team in his vision.

And Quasi Adolfo-Menson, they've worked together to do it. But it's Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores. These guys are reflective of them. A lot of great communicators, a lot of high-intelligence players. On the defensive side, the guys are half crazy like Brian Flores. and I mean that in such a complimentary way, like he's an intense, intense guy who's always wanting to push the limits. And that's how a lot of these players are.

Blake Cashman's nuts. Like, he just throws his body to the wind. You know, you've seen the intensity I've talked about with Jonathan Grenard. I think that when you have coaches who know how to spot the right things in players that is a cheat code in the NFL and, you know, the Dallas Cowboys are run by a guy who's 85 and hasn't, you know, really had it in a long time. So you think about the advantage that the Vikings have just by having coaches that know how to evaluate their players.

Blowfish says I see Bo Nix seriously dropping off this year. I don't know. You know, I think that I think that Bo Nix is what he is. I will say that the second half of last year, if you look up who they played in the second half of last year when he had a lot of those numbers, He should really have about 25 touchdowns, but he pumped up his touchdown numbers against Kansas City when they didn't play starters.

But also the first half of the season was really rough for him. And I don't expect it to be as rough. I think he is who he is. I think Bo Nix is a quarterback you can win with. Things got to be right. They got to have a top defense. They have to have a great offensive line. I mean, he's a scrambler.

And I think he's a little bit of a playmaker. But I don't think there's another big level. for Bo Nix, which is good enough to get to the playoffs, but I think that's all Denver can really be. And if Knicks was a quarterback in the NFC, like imagine if the Vikings had drafted Knicks and he was similar to what he was last year, they would have won 12 games. And if he was going into this year with this team, we'd be talking about, well, you've got a great chance to win the Super Bowl. I have, I've always liked Knicks. I think the ceiling is a little bit lower than some of the other quarterbacks from that class. But I've always liked him, I think, more than

a lot of folks he's good at protecting the football he's good at making plays and scrambling he's got he had i think 30 something first down runs but i don't expect a huge drop off but i also don't expect some massive gain where he's going to become a superstar or something like that uh i don't see that happening let's see uh let's see for the win 2021 drafting Fonder was one of the worst, one of the most out of thin air first round draft picks we've made. Usually I have three consensus picks, but he wasn't on anyone's radar number 12 that year. Yeah, you know, it's been a while since we've looked back at Christian Ponder. At one point, he was being mentioned so often on a nightly basis during the draft that we had to put a, in 2024, we had to put a moratorium on that.

Like, his name should not be spoken on this show. but I don't see any comparisons there. And the biggest thing, though, is you can learn. You can learn. You should watch bad quarterbacks because then it helps you understand what better quarterbacks are. And even when watching Max Brosmer, so the first time that we talked about how good Max Brosmer looked was literally mini camp.

And that was, I mean, they're not even, there's no pads, there's no physical contact. And yet, and it wasn't just me, it was, you know, Dane Mizatani, other reporters like Max Brosmer looks pretty good. The thing that he has and J.J. McCarthy has is confidence and also timing and rhythm. Like they understand the offense. They understand what they're looking at and they have confidence to throw it where it's supposed to go. And when you watch either one of them, they make a lot of throws before receivers break out of their routes. I mean, when McCarthy had a nice completion in the preseason game to Jordan Addison, Addison's not even out of his route. And he kind of gets tripped up a little bit, but he's not even breaking yet.

And the ball is being released and put to a spot. And then he breaks out, kind of has to lean down and catch it. Brozmer had a few of those. When you watch the bad quarterbacks and you go back and watch Ponder, he's not throwing with anticipation. He's not throwing with confidence. He doesn't look in command. He's looking like he hopes every play as a run play. And that is just not what we saw from J.J. McCarthy, as all of you are, you know, still haunted a little bit by Christian Ponder, but that was not what we saw from J.J. McCarthy so far. Let's see. For the win, 2021, does Mason remind you of Ontario Smith's running style? I'm going to have to tell you the truth on that one. I have watched old Vikings games with Ontario Smith, but I don't know that he

reminds me of his running style, because Jordan Mason is just so physical, but I can't pinpoint, I'll have to watch an Ontario Smith game. I can't pinpoint his running style versus Jordan Mason at this moment. I think Mason is extremely violent as a runner and is extremely hard to tackle. And the numbers back that up, that he was at the top of the league in terms of breaking tackles and creating more yards than we're there. So I don't know if it's, I wouldn't make that comparison. I don't want to go as far as to say that he's like Marshawn Lynch, because that's crazy because Marshaun Lynch is a borderline, if not Hall of Fame player. But it reminds me of that style that he's not tall, but he's very thick.

And he just runs really, really hard. Like he has no regard for human life. So there's a lot to like there. Mama says, did Mason look better than Aaron Jones in camp? Yeah, I would not judge Aaron Jones by camp, though, because Jones looked great catching the football in camp. That's not a guy you want to be doing too much in training camp. That was part of their plan when they got him last year was you don't want him

doing too much in training camp. You want him to be 100% healthy going into the season. So they used Mason a lot to get him ramped up in the offense. But Jones was only in intermittently. He has been around for so long. He doesn't really need that kind of training camp. I thought Jones looked good, though. I thought he still looked pretty spry when he was out there.

It's a good duo. If Kevin O'Connell can't run with these guys and this offensive line, then he just can't run. This is where it'll truly be tested because there's been lots of reasons in the past three years why they haven't successfully run the football. There is no excuse now. Scott says Matthew, by continuing to believe 11 wins, likely you must be optimistic about our 10 games versus playoff, tenders, those games are highly likely to be one-score games. Well, here is what I know, Scott, is that from year to year, the playoffs, they change.

A lot changes. People get injured. The schedule, I looked at this closely with how good we are at predicting schedule strength. The answer is terrible. We are terrible predicting anything with the National Football League outside of the only thing that is ever consistently predictable in the NFL is that teams with unbelievable quarterbacks will be there in the playoffs. That's it.

And by unbelievable, I mean only to the level of Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Malmns. Those guys start the season with 11, 12, 13 wins. They will be there in the playoffs. Their legacies are defined by that. And everybody else is rising and fallen. And sometimes, you know, There are quarterbacks who get hurt, things like that.

I mean, by the time they face the Dallas Cowboys, what does that even look like? By the time they face the Packers, what does that look like? I mean, last year, like, oh, man, you know, the beginning of the season, CJ Stroud, like they're going to really be tested. And then it turned out that Stroud's offensive line didn't know how to block.

And it ruined their offense for the entire season. I mean, you just don't really know how it's going to turn out. They were playoff contenders last year, but go through the NFC, year by year and tell me how many teams get back time and time again. So I'm not saying it won't be a hard schedule. I think it will be, but it's hard. It's just so hard to guarantee.

I'm not making a wins prediction based on the strength of schedule as much as what I think of the actual football team. But you're right. I mean, there's a lot of teams that have good quarterbacks. And when you're facing Lamar, when you're facing Burrow, like that is tough. But I am going to continue to say that they have built a strong enough team to beat contenders. I was thinking about this the other day, like, as we talk about projections and stuff like this, when Kevin O'Connell has had either Kirk Cousins or Sam Darnold in at quarterback,

you know what his record is? It's 31 and 11. I mean, Kirk won 17 out of 25, and then Darnold won 14 out of 17. Is that right? So is that 31.11. I mean, there's a pretty good reason to think that this team can win games against just about any. buddy i'm sure that some of those teams made the playoffs over that time uh j dezy says uh no way jj throws 600 times when k oc wants to run the ball more this year look guys i am just about at the

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Results vary based on studies of topical and oral monoxidivism. and finesteride prescription products require an online consultation with health care provider and will determine if a prescription is appropriate restrictions apply see website for details and important safety information i mean anybody throwing 600 times would be a lot uh travelers is mad are you concerned about mccarthy's interceptions seems guaranteed at least one per game no i don't think he's going to throw one per game i a little bit when it comes to the accuracy of just the sometimes, and I talked about this with Zulgad the other night, just about how every once in a while there's a throw where you go,

what happened, man, on that throw? Why did that one fly 50 feet over somebody's head? But, I mean, that's only the occasional throw, and those don't always end up in interceptions. Just the way offenses are designed now, I would be very surprised if he got to one interception a game. That means that your season's probably not going the way that you needed to go.

And he wasn't an interception machine in training camp. There were a handful, just like there were with Kirk. There was a practice, and this is how it's so hard to tell, there was a practice at the end of 2022 where Kirk threw five picks. And then, you know, he had a good season. And they won 13 games. So, Mama, where did I grow up? I grew up in Buffalo, New York.

And I was there until the year 2016. So that would have been 30 years old for myself. And that's when I moved to Minnesota to take a job covering these Minnesota Vikings. And the Bills fan thing comes up, oh, you need to catch up on your purple insider lore. So yeah, I was working in Buffalo media covering the bills and sabers.

And then I got the job out here for 1,500 ESPN to cover the Vikings. that, for all intensive purposes, changed in 2020. And that's when they removed a lot of our jobs during the pandemic. And that's why I started Purple Insider. And as far as, was I ever a Bill's fan? That's a funny thing when it comes to the fandom. Because when I was growing up in Buffalo, when I was very, very young, Jim Kelly, Andre Reed, Thurman Thomas, Bruce Smith,

Darrell Talley, Cornelius Bennett, on and on and on. I could go on forever. Yes, there, yes, of course. Like, those are all-time great teams. And then Doug Flutie, love Doug Flutie. And somewhere around here is a box of Flutie Flakes. So that's when I was about 13. But the story of me not caring about the Buffalo Bills

actually starts after the Flutie era. They had a guy that you guys know. And this is me as a teenager, but this is how I was with takes as a teenager. they had a guy that you guys know quite well by the name of Antoine Winfield, who was amazing and was a phenomenal player for the Buffalo Bills. And when he went to the Minnesota Vikings and he left, and I felt that they had been cheap in letting him go.

Now, later on, someone told me that he just didn't want to be in Buffalo anymore, but that's not the point. The bills were known as being kind of cheap at that time. And when they let him go, I was like, this team's not serious about winning. I don't care about this team anymore. And I bought a Tim Couch jersey, or I think my parents got me a Tim Couch jersey. And I was like, I'm going to be a Browns.

I'm going to be a Browns guy. And then quickly realized, no, that's not going to work either. So what I did was I just followed the NFL, all the teams super close and played a ton of Madden, all those things you hear the Madden stuff all the time. And I would play with every team in the league in Madden. And so, you know, it's always been like that. And then, you know, you go to journalism school, learn about objectivity. all that sort of stuff.

But really, from the time I was, you know, 13 or 14, I was just all about the NFL. So when you talk about players from the late 90s, early 2000s, that's why from every team, when I got here, a lot of the people were like trying to teach me Vikings history. And I was like, oh, I know those guys. I know Chris Hovan.

Like, I know El Noga. What are we talking about here? I know Henry Thomas. He was a beast. Remember how Henry Thomas used to line up, you know, sideways? Like, you guys remember. that they were a little surprised because I was just so obsessed with the NFL. So that's why this is so great for me to continue to talk with you guys about football every single night is just my favorite.

Okay, the Parsons contract coming up in the comments. Let's get to that because that's something I haven't brought up. And a reminder about that fan duel question of the day. If you have not answered that yet, Micah Parsons has been bumped up to the favorite for a defensive player of the year. not surprisingly, who do you think it will be? Who do you think will win defensive player of the year? Who would your favorite be if it's not Micah Parsons?

So Jay Deasy says, how can the Packers commit $100 million a year to just two players? They're going to be up against the cap. Well, I'm glad you asked because overthecap.com has now the contract details for Micah Parsons, and here it is. This is from overthecap.com. Jason Fitzgerald does an amazing job. and I have asked sources in the past, hey, is it, is it a good idea to use over the cap?

And the answer was definitely yes. So this information is as close to accurate as it can be. And as you see here, very interestingly, like a Parsons this year, we'll have a cap hit of just under $10 million. And then in 2026, it goes up to 19.2. In 2027, it goes up to 26.8. Why is it that none of these numbers are 47,

which was initially reported, oh, that's because after 2027, his cap hits go up to 64 and 68 million, and then there are two void years. Now, how in the world can they do that? Well, that's complicated. But you'll notice that all of his guarantees are jammed into the first three seasons of this deal. And then it sets up for renegotiating the deal. So if you are a person that in the past has said, the salary cap is fake, well, this is probably a good day for you with this contract.

Now, those numbers are still pretty big, and those numbers are going to be challenging to work around, and eventually, as you can see, they will mean something, whether it's void years or if it's dead cap hits or it's another contract extension that's huge. But this is full cap manipulation, and this is actually one thing that has come up, with Roger Goodell and the owner's conversations about, you know, the amount of cap manipulation that is able to be done. This is cap manipulation at its best and credit to them that they understand the Green Bay Packers that this is their go time. Like this, they've got their quarterback in his prime. He's not yet crazy. I mean, he is expensive, but his cap hits are going to go up

in the future. When you look at their 2026 cap hits, I mean, they've got, I think I counted maybe six, seven, eight players over 10 million, four or five of them over 20 million. I mean, they've got a lot of, a lot of very expensive players coming up in the future, and they will not have a lot of room to do much. But they have jammed this Micah Parsons contract into the next three seasons. They have created a window for themselves of the next three years. And that is when they're going to have a chance to win. Because if you look at that thing, it's pretty reasonable cap hits for a player of his

caliber for the next three years and then after that it's i mean that will have to be and they know this i they they know this it's going to have to be a probably a full tear down of that roster and all their key players but if you were hoping that after this year the packers are completely screwed cap wise because of parsons and love they're not they're not flexible and they're not in a amazing position but they're not screwed uh they are able to do this by using ever possible lever to pull, which is kind of what I wondered about, like, how far will they go with this? But that's the NFL salary cap. And look, the Vikings are going to be in a similar spot in the future, too. They're going to use things like this with their, or they already have with

some of their contracts. And they're going to renegotiate. That's how they're going to make salary cap space for next year. And if there's a big signing they need to make next year to feel like they can compete, they will. But if you're, Yeah, it's a good day for you if you're the cap is fake guy, because even though it's not, it is certainly manipulatable. And Micah Parsons proved that today. So that cap hit a situation creates a three-year window for the Green Bay Packers to win with Micah Parsons.

And then after that, who knows? It looks like it's going to be pretty difficult for them. But in that spot, yep, they can still do it. What of, I mean, look, what? a coup for the Green Bay Packers. What a win for the Packers. This whole thing, absolutely ridiculous for the Cowboys. And now when you see that contract, I mean, the Cowboys couldn't do this.

The Cowboys couldn't do this. Now, a lot of that, you have to understand. A lot of that is because of cash. Like, they are jamming a lot of cash in the pockets of Micah Parsons to make that contract happen the way that it's happening. But you couldn't, you couldn't do that? Dallas Cowboys? Wow. Not a good look for the Cowboys all around. Oh, gosh, says Jerry Jones wants it to be about himself. And that's what he wants the Cowboys to be talked about. He said it himself on his show. We know that. Yep, we know that. I mean, he has always been an egomaniac who does crazy stuff. But I think as he's gotten older and the Jimmy John, stuff is insane.

Like, to have a coach that won as much as Jimmy Johnson and then throw him out the door, I imagine that happening today. Like, imagine that Andy Reid or something after the second chief Super Bowl was just, just run out of the building. Like, what? That would be the craziest thing ever. And I guess, like, Jerry likes to be doing the craziest thing ever as he just did with trading Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers.

So the next three years, guys, when we look at the next three years of the NFC North, oh my goodness. The Vikings have this core together, I think for at least two years, possibly three. Jefferson in his prime, Darrisaw in his prime, Grenard in his prime, right? And we'll see what, you know, Dallas Turner becomes. But there's a lot of talent there for the next couple years for the Vikings. I think the Lions probably have about one or two more years left of their group that they've paid a lot of them. Chicago has a lot of young players as well. And their quarterback, if he's good, this is one heck of a battle over the next three years. years after all these teams did rebuilds a couple of years ago what what a crazy crazy

situation in the nfc north i just man this this changed everything uh mama says kaleb williams is a bus changed my mind we'll see uh we'll see i have been not super high on the caleb williams experience and we were just talking about getting rid of the football and processing and all that say hi to buddy everybody Buddy's down here. Buddy needs to go out at some point. And I wasn't planning on an epic show tonight, but I did want to get to that Parsons thing.

Buddy the Greyhound, everyone. Good to see you. He usually sits right over there, but you can tell that he's a little bit on the board side and wants someone to take him out and play with him because that's when he comes and sets his snoot on me. It's been a great experience, by the way. The last month adopting Buddy here,

he's been walking around behind me. Anyway, Jay Deasy says, I think Jerry Jones watched his own documentary, got sentimental about the Herschel Walker trade. I, here's what I think. I think in order to make a cap hit work with Micah Parsons, it would cost a ton of cash. And what Jerry Jones's calculation in his squirly brain at this moment was, I am extremely cheap. And Jones has always been shockingly cheap for a guy who has Jerry World. but I don't want to pay that much money in my cash out of my wallet after having already

given Dak Prescott that money, after already giving CD Lamb that money, I don't want to pay Micah Parsons. I think Parsons can be difficult, by the way. Like, as great as he is, I don't think that he is the easiest guy to get along with sometimes. And he does have a podcast where he's going to call people out and things like that. And it's going to be dramatic at times and, you know, etc, etc. That was brought up by a few people when analyzing the trade. And I don't think that's wrong. I think that's been his history so far. Also, his history has been an incredible amount of pressures and sacks. Crazy, crazy stat that I, I don't know if I brought this up yesterday or not with Parsons, but there's only one guy who has more sacks in his first four years since 2000 than

Micah Parsons. That's pretty crazy. But I think what Jerry thought was, I'll get a lot of attention for this deal. I'll recreate Herschel Walker, as you said, and I won't have to pay the money out of my wallet. Win for Jerry, win for Jerry, win for Jerry. And what he forgot was that Michael Parsons now plays for another team and not just another team, but another team in the conference, which is probably the craziest part of that. So, yeah, even going over that deal, you thought, here's another thing, too, that I did not expect is this was just, and I saw. Andrew Brandt talking about this former Packers Cap guy who does media stuff, he said, this is just not them. And it really isn't. I mean, that's why Reggie White gets brought up,

because they just don't do this stuff. They got Julius Peppers once upon a time, and like, that's true. But they usually do not do things like this. And especially with the way that they spent that money and poured it into him over the first three years to push the cap hits down the road. Just unusual for the Green Bay Packers. So I think you can tell that there's a little bit of new leadership in town in Green Bay and there's a mentality of winning windows, which I think all the teams in the NFC North have been good with. That's what makes this battle so freaking interesting is that all the front offices, all the organizations right now have done a good job. And look, Chicago, we make fun of them. They deserve it. They've earned it. But Ryan Poles

did land the number one pick overall in the draft and then add a ton of talent around Caleb Williams. They are five times more talented than they were when Justin Fields first got there. Whether they're better coached, we're going to find out, whether they're actually good enough to compete in this division, we're going to find out. But all these teams have sort of understood the assignment, which four teams doing it right at the same time is unusual. Back to your comments here, William, KOC has to commit to the run. Agreed. Agreed. And it's not just commit to it in the first quarter in the first 15 plays. It's commit to it when you're up seven in the third quarter. And I know you want to go for the throat. But control the football. That's the best thing that you could do for J.J. McCarthy. Control the football.

Traveler excited for the screen game. I think the screen game is going to be a lot better. It looked very good in camp, probably for the first time in the KOC era. Cause and effect have you gotten any more steam on corners that we will get before the season starts. I have not. I, this is, this is my read. And by tomorrow there could be an emergency podcast where I'm proven wrong. My thought on this is that over the last few years, the Vikings have often addressed needs in the season.

If something comes up. And otherwise, I mean, they've sort of stuck with stuff and given stuff a chance. So I'll just give you an example. I mean, that would be like getting Dalton Reisner because they were panicking about Ed Ingram. Was that or was he or was that when he played left, left guard? No, they were panicking about, I think it might have been Ezra Cleveland. When was the first time? Dalton Reisner's been here multiple times.

So there would have been 23, right? And they went and got Reisner early in the season. That's right. In 23. Last year was in camp because they were panicking about Ed Ingram. But the year before, that was in the middle of the season. So they have made moves like that where they've come out of training camp and they've said, no, we feel okay about that.

We're going to see how it works out. And then if it hasn't worked out, they've just gone and got somebody. That's how I think they are going to handle the cornerback situation. I think that they are going to say, look, we've got Zamea Vaughn who we developed all year and we liked him. They clearly did. And maybe they just felt they could get him to the practice squad. They brought back Fabian Morrow, which nobody was excited by, but is a starter in the NFL at corner. If his name was something else and you hadn't seen him last year, would be like,

ooh, a veteran corner with a bunch of starting experience. But as soon as somebody gets here and actually plays and you realize they're not always the best, then it takes the shine off it. But I don't think that there's another big move that's coming. I think this team is exactly what this team is going to be right now. And then after they get into games and they see how this goes and they see like what the scheme is for Jeff Okuda and how Theo Jackson is performing and like there's questions to be answered and if those things are all going great then okay they're just going to roll with it if Isaiah Rogers gets hurt and I don't know Theo Jackson's having problems they might have to go out and get somebody else but the

NFL is turned into a league where at the trade deadline people get traded so you can wait and see how this plays out now if they wait and see how it plays out and they get smoked by the falcons and bangles they're going to regret it but you can't it's very hard to be perfect all across a roster and i i do want to point this out their starting lineup is is really good at corner with murphy and rogers they should feel really good about their starters okuda is where you get to you know Mike Clay had him with 500-something snaps. That's good for me. If it's 500 snaps, okay. If he's got to play 800, you might be in trouble. So they're going to, this is just my thought. Again, I could be wrong by tomorrow. Sometimes this team surprises us by trading Harrison Phillips.

They might surprise us with a big cornerback trade. I think that they're done making those moves for right now. Cause and effect. How long did it take you to feel part of Minnesota? Good question. I think it was probably, probably like 2017 would have been that. The way the season went was so interesting, you know, the Case Keenum and all that sort of stuff. But after when I bought my first house, probably, because I lived in apartment for the first year and I could have kind of gone one way or the other at that point, like through my first year here,

probably like if someone else had called from another city and said, come cover our football team. I would be like, okay, it's fine. I'll go do that. If they gave me more money or whatever. But after we got our house and we had our greyhound from before who lived a long and happy life and passed away in 2022, we had the backyard for her. We had, you know, the parks.

And I mean, you guys know this. There's parks everywhere in Minnesota and lots of places to shoot hoops and all that sort of stuff. And then I got to build these friendships with other people on the beat and other people in Minnesota. So it was, you know, my neighbors and things like that. I think it probably took about two years to really feel like it. But it does take a little bit longer, I think, in this state because it's unique. It is, it is unique. And you got to kind of learn the language a little bit and learn all the different things, all the different parts of Minnesota. Maybe it's like that everywhere, but it's its own place. Scott says not arguing that 11 wins is steep, just saying that

Nine is also very likely. I expect nearly all of our games to be one score games. Yeah, I mean, who knows how that's going to play out, but there's a lot of good matchups. There's a lot of great, great matchups on this schedule. And it won't be easy. This is when we were talking about Parsons last night, my takeaway was, this is why you built the team this way.

This is why the Wolf spent all their money, was to be able to take on other really good teams and to be able to beat them and win 11 games. And I kind of have a hybrid, way of doing this through the years, which is what I think and also what I expect. Sometimes those things could be different. You know, what I expected last year from Sam Darnold when they got him was, well, if he starts the whole season, they're probably going to win like seven games. And then that changed as it went along. And what I expected was more of like a 10 win season from Darnold.

And what I thought was about that. And it matches up here. I think the expect, but sometimes, you know, the expectations from the outside for a team, 2018, the expectations from the outside were Super Bowl or bust, but what I thought was nowhere close. And in your prediction, you kind of meet in the middle. Like, they look like an eight-win team to me with all the drama, but, you know, and the expectation is 12. Maybe I'll pick them to win 10 games or something. Those two things float in my brain a lot. And I think they're at exactly the same spot. Like, you spent all this money, you had this long plan over three years. This is your first round quarterback. This is not, some fourth rounder, like, you know, just try hard who made the team and you're hoping can

grind his way to a few wins. Like this is a first round quarterback who won the national championship who throws the heck out of the ball. Go win. And go win 11 games. And I think they've got the roster to do it. A fan dual question of the day, if it's not Michael Parsons, who is the favorite now for DPOY, who would it be? Kurt says Grenard, not crazy. Will Anderson, Aaron is a really great pick. Some of you thrown out Dallas Turner, I think Dallas Turner will have a good season based on what we saw in camp. If he doesn't, it's actually going to be a lot harder for this defense to be great, honestly, if he does not have a good season. So he needs to have a big step-up season. Mike Clay had him in three and a half sacks. I think it's got to be

more than that. I think it's got to be six or seven sacks from him. I mean, if Patrick Jones could give him that. If DJ Wanham could give him that, then Dallas Turner from this role should be able to do it. Granard is the pick for, if it's the Vikings, then it's very likely Grenard, unless you end up with, you know, three pick sixes from Andrew Van Ginkle and 10 sacks and things like that. So, uh, VA Viking, who's Green Bay's other bookend? Well, Rishon Gary is, I mean, he's not a joke.

It's a really good defense. It's a really good defense now. And, uh, Travelers says the lions are cooked. I think that they should be the ones that are the most upset is that because when you look at their offensive line, they've got one guy who's great and one guy in Taylor Decker who's old. And the interior has a lot of questions. I think they're the ones that could be the most impacted. Oh, gosh, says Julius Peppers was like 34 when they got him.

Yeah, well, was he past his prime though? Because Julius Peppers played forever. But I get your point. I was just trying to think, how many times does this ever happen in Packers' history that they've gone out and got somebody big? Peppers came to mind, but it's not very many times. Travelers says Poles is a joke. I don't think Poles' plan has been a joke. I think the leadership overall of that franchise in general has been a joke.

But I don't think the plan. I mean, you drafted the number one quarterback that everyone would have drafted. And then they built the offensive line. They got a better coach. They got a bunch of weapons, receivers, tight ends. for their quarterback, they've given him every opportunity. I would have done a lot of the same things that Chicago's done, except for keeping Matt Eberflus was a huge mistake.

And that's what set them back, I think. Seldom scenes as Cowboys made a shrewd move. Some deny that teams have Super Bowl windows. Cowboys probably need a new quarterback and are in a soft rebuild. Kenny Clark is an unquestioned stud. Well, Kenny Clark is coming off his worst season. And here's why I don't think this is a shrewd move. If Micah Parsons was 32, fair.

Micah Parsons is not 32. He's 26. Pass rushers hit their prime around 26. You want to have Micah Parsons on your franchise for 10 years. You want to have Michael Parsons through rebuilds. Like the Vikings with Justin Jefferson. If the Vikings had traded Justin Jefferson, I'm sure that some of the chat would have said,

that's a shrewd move, that's a good idea. cap space draft picks but then one year later here you are with a team that's ready to win and i think that rebuilds are happening fast in the NFL you're right that they're in a lot of trouble at this moment can they really win a Super Bowl i don't think so is DAC sort of shown us what he is maybe they had the number one offense in 2023 so i wouldn't completely count that out But if you're not, if you're taking the best player in the league off your team at his position, top two, there's no, there's no world where I call that a good idea. There's no world because ups and downs happen so fast. We were just talking to the Carolina reporter to start the show.

That team was a laughing stock. Now they look like they're on the way up. And maybe they'll be good. There's lots of teams that have gone down and then right back up. The Philadelphia Eagles, they did that. What was it? And Carson Wentz's last year, they were, they win like four games so they could draft Devante Smith at the top.

And then they went right back up and were in the Super Bowl by the third year of Jalen Hertz. They happened too fast, too fast to get rid of someone who's 26 years old and is at the absolute top of his prime because Micah Parsons will likely be good. I mean, what did you mention? Julius Peppers was third. and he was still good for the Packers. That's what you want from that guy.

You want him to be a reason why your rebuild doesn't have to be very long. Maybe two first round picks will help that. I don't think they're going to be the highest picks. Let's see. Traveler says they will get a cornerback before the start of the season. We're getting close, man. It's got to be like tomorrow if they're going to do it. And if they do, then maybe we'll have an emergency podcast.

Oh, gosh, where is Asante Samuel? So Asante Samuel had his neck fused back together, which doesn't sound promising. And he might be available by the middle of the season. Maybe that happens. Joseph says in 2022 Parsons cooked us. How are we better equipped in 2025? Well, that was a game where Darisaw got hurt at the beginning.

So that was a problem for that one. He did. He did cook. I think he had eight pressures in that game. How are you better equipped while the interior can help more? Josh Oliver is here. I think, I mean, Josh Oliver is a legit weapon against Micah Parsons. This team is better equipped to handle Micah Parsons than everybody else in the NFC North.

And Josh Oliver is a big reason why. I mean, that's basically an offensive tackle as a tight end. And you can bet that he's going to play a lot of snaps in those games when they face off with Green Bay. Mama says, are you a Minnesota State Fair Enjoyer? Did you go this year? I haven't gotten out this year. I've been with you guys a lot, a lot of emergency podcasts. I will.

The wife's schedule has also been a little wonky. We, you know, we got buddy here, the dog. And so we haven't gotten out yet. I do love the fair, though. I love the fair. We used to broadcast when I first came here. The first time I was on the air, 1,500 ESPN, was with Patrick Royce at the fair. So, yeah, I mean, I used to broadcast out there.

every day for a couple weeks when I was with Hubbard Broadcasting, and then, you know, since then I've just continued to go out a couple times. I was out there with Henry Lake last year. I think it was last year with Henry Lake at CCO. I like, yeah, I like do that. I like going out there. I mean, lots of food, lots of things to see, lots of people watching for sure. What I want to do is get to a concert sometimes because a lot of the concerts will be like 80s

throwback bands. I enjoy that kind of stuff. So I'm a Freemason. I don't know what a Freemason is. That's what people will say when Aaron Jones is getting too many carries, Freemason. More like just as I've just always enjoyed the entire sport. I'm kind of that way with everything.

I've always enjoyed the entire sport. I like analyzing it. I mean, when I went to college, I wanted, it's sort of like silly, right? But I thought I wanted to take sports management because I wanted to be the general manager of a football team when I went to college. But then as I went along in college and I got, you know, just a little bit more of a look at the sports management path and things like that, I thought, I want to have takes, man. My favorite classes were when I got to argue with people about sports. So that's when I eventually switched to journalism. But maybe had I not, maybe I would

have been doing the Adam Thieland trade instead of Quasi. I mean, I went to Finger Lakes Community college and he went to, I think, Princeton and Stanford, which, you know, are just basically about the same. The Princeton of the Northeast is Finger Lakes Community College. I think I've heard that said. So very similar. William says, I'd like to see Gilmore back. Now, that's possible right there. If Stefan Gilmore wants to play still and wants to come to the Vikings, that they could wait till after week one, because when you sign veterans after week one, you don't have to guarantee the contract of guys of certain age and they could they could do that that would be that would be another one uh red also went to uh went for sports management to be a scout and gm

in the NBA so I wasn't I wasn't the only person that thought that huh uh accused that I don't even know what a Freemason is guys so I mean what am I going to have to Google that? Like, are you guys accusing me of something crazy? I don't even know what that is. Packers, 2027, love and Parsons, 52 million. Yep, yep, that's, oh, you missed out DeF Lepp. Oh, I would have liked to see DeF Leppard. That would be ridiculous. Having just watched Spinal Tap the other day, I would have really enjoyed watching Def Leopard. But that's, you know, that, you know, DL, like, 52 million on the cap is probably not going to be that crazy when it comes to 2027 for what the salary cap's going to be. They have

figured out a way here to jam this in to make it work that doesn't mean they're going to make it work in a way that they can do a lot more but they are they're doing all in chips to the middle of the table and when you have the vikings push it all in i'm not part of the illuminati that must be it that must be it uh when freemasons wear tinfoil hats oh okay oh gotcha okay so uh anyway Well, are we after 9 o'clock? Not quite. I should have guessed that we were approaching 9 o'clock, but this podcast does go to 11.

So that's what happens toward the end of this. But the last thing I'll say about the Parsons contract is that they have squished that and Jordan Love's contract into a box of these next couple years for them to win a Super Bowl. And the Vikings have taken a bunch of contracts and squish them into the cap box for the next couple of years. And the lions have squished them into the box for the next couple years. And that's why the battle of the builds continues.

And that's what makes it so interesting. I'll probably write about that. Man 0-311 says not knowing what a Freemason is cracking me up. Here's the thing, guys. So, you know, I have a wife. She is, oh, it's a secret society that rules the world. Okay, interesting. You know, my wife is very smart.

She reads a lot. She's on the road a lot, you know, taking flights and things like that. And she knows everything that's going on in the world. She knows the local politics. She used to cover local politics for WCCO, so she knows all that sort of stuff. She knows everything. She knows what's going on with Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift. Everything you need to know.

I know nothing except for this. This is what I know. When you guys talk to me about defensive schemes and every practice squad player and all those things, that's what I know. I interview Panthers reporters and that's what I do and talk about Doug Flutie and whatever. And that's how I am in real life too. I also know a heck of a lot about the WNBA and guitar players, but that's it. Very limited type of person.

So gross, Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift. I mean, come on, man. I don't know. It's fine. gross. I don't think, I don't think anything regarding Taylor Swift is gross, bro. I think that that's pretty fine. Um, but she's, uh, you know, she's smarter than 99% of everybody reading this. Uh, that is true. That is very true of the wife. Uh, Sid's ghost says, uh, saw an article suggesting the Vikings have the oldest starting defense in the league. Does this concern you? Not really,

uh, because that, that comes up all the time. And like, who are we talking? about when it comes to the old players on this team. I mean, Alan and Hargrave are older. That is a little concerning, yes, because they do have entry histories. Van Ginkle is in his 30s, but it's a lot. The key players are a lot in their primes, Cashman, Grenard. And look, we were just talking about windows with Parsons. It's a two-year window for the Vikings.

These next two years, and then you've got to do a lot of other stuff. Now, if you maintain your cap health for long term, if you maintain, if you maintain your culture if your quarterback is good remember when the bills were a rebuilding team last year and they almost went to the super bowl like remember when the chiefs were a rebuilding team and they went to the super bowl i mean you know there's it's a little bit sometimes if you know if you're now even jonathan uh harrison producer of the show is texting me about freemasons okay i don't even know what i got myself into there i was like wait is this something crazy i've never heard of and it kind of

is but it you know whatever uh so the the vikings have got got a bunch of players who for the next two years i think you can project really well and then after that who knows what it's going to look like in three years but that's what are we living in here like i know that a lot of the theory that is goes around with analysis is well is this team what are they going to be in two three four how can you look three years in the NFL we have no idea what that's going to look like. For the next two years, yes, they are in good shape to compete for a Super Bowl if J.J. McCarthy is good. That's really all you can do as a front office. Three, four years down the road, who the heck knows? And a lot of times, here's another thing. A lot of times what young means

is they have a bunch of players that they would rather not have playing are in the lineup. Who's the youngest defense in the league? I promise you it's probably got a bunch of guys who you're like, oh yeah this guy was a fifth round draft pick oh yeah this guy was an undrafted free agent because they've got nothing else that happens a lot the age thing is to me the it's just the most over obsessed about and i don't mean that just because of the vikis i've always felt that way a lot of teams build a lot of successful seasons on veteran players and you got a win in your window or you're going to have to rebuild it but that's how it goes uh haley's holy smoker barbecue. What about WWE knowledge? A little. I did go to a WWE event once. Saw Roman

Raines. That was crazy. I like WWE. I don't know a ton about it. I like it. I mean, I know the old stuff, you know, the Hulk Hogan era. I watched a little bit of that as a kid. And I had some video games with WWE. And then during the pandemic, just coming out of it, I watched a lot more. because I was just free on Friday nights. We weren't streaming the show every Friday night. So I watched that a lot more. So a little bit, a little bit. I'm a Cody Rhodes guy.

I actually, I actually use that reference. The WWE fans were big on me on 2024 because I used the reference of Cody Rhodes completing the story with the Vikings completing their story with J.J. McCarthy. So there's enough enough to use. Brian says the NFC North is stupid, can't sleep on anyone. The season's going to be crazy. Totally agree with that. Totally agree with that.

I mean, honestly, when it comes to Taylor Swift, you guys got a problem with Taylor Swift. I just think you're, I think you're being a little weird. If you've got to, like, if you don't like your music, then don't listen to it. It's not that big of a deal. Oh my gosh, I saw her on TV. A good looking lady who's a pop star. Oh, no.

Are you okay? Come on. this is this is one thing you know what's great about like having horse blinders on and only knowing about greyhound dogs guitars and football in the w nba is that i don't get too upset about a lot of stuff that i think people get let the rest of the world upset them on my if you looked at my twitter it's like 99% football and then 1% wnba and like that's it and i don't get too upset about stuff i don't i don't walk around being mad about things all time. And I followed like the Star Tribune, the local news and all that. But I'm not going to let Taylor

Swift make me upset. She got some okay. So I went to her concert with my wife. It was good. Best wrestler ever. I can't tell you. I don't know. I can't tell you that. I mean, I could tell you who I've liked. Like, I love Randy Savage. I mean, who doesn't love Randy? I should, I could do the show in Randy Savage's voice, you know, like, oh, yeah. That's a defensive tackle, you know. I like those old guys when they would run in like crazy. But, I mean, I can't, best ever, I don't know. The Undertaker was pretty cool. Mama says, I feel like Matthew secretly knows about Olympic bobsledding that he isn't sharing.

Well, there are, yeah, there are some stuff where you'd be a little bit surprised that somehow randomly I learned. This actually surprises my wife sometimes, like where I came across something someday. So I have this kind of steel trap of memory and I may have heard something many years ago and it will just sort of stick there. So I'll give you the stupidest example because we're past 9 o'clock and this is what live streaming is supposed to be is we were in the middle of the night just sort of we got nothing to do the wife and I going through channels.

This is this dumbest thing. But this is like how my brain works. And we came across an old show, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. you guys remember this show from the 90s and I didn't have cable growing up so I had watched all those shows that were on network television and they were showing the first episode ever of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and I said to my wife, oh yeah, this is the one where she has her tooth pulled and she was like, no way in this world, do you know what happened on the first episode ever on Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman? I'm like, no, I do. And she did. We watched the whole

episode. She had her tooth pulled in the episode. Yep. So that's, uh, that's, that's, that's life in this, in this household. But for whatever reason, things just kind of stick in my brain. Uh, but, you know, mostly it's, we go to Culver's, we go through the drive-thru and we get number 93. And I go, well, the obvious there would be, you know, Julius Randall, but, or not Julius Randall, a John Randall, Julius Randall, the basketball player. The obvious would be John Randall. But, you know, I think, go Joel Steed with number 93 and it's like then I get a picture out and I show her we got 87 and she was excited about Kelsey and Taylor and we got 87 she's like wow on the day that they got you know engaged and so I pulled up a picture of Keena McCartle. I'm like this is 87 to me so

a guitar person says Taylor Swift is great screw the haters. A you know what I you know what I love about Taylor Swift? I'll tell you one thing that I really really love about Taylor Swift is her business acumen because doing Purple Insider, I had to start this as a business. You know, I got an accountant and all that stuff, financial advisor. For her to get her master tracks back and fight that fight was really something to see. That took a lot for her to do that. So that was cool. Like as a business person, she is amazing. So I give her all the credit for that. And I don't get angry when I see her on TV. Her songs are fun.

I went to the show with my wife, and it was at U.S. Bank Stadium. Place was crazy loud. And everybody there knew every word to every song. I play guitar. I've written songs before, all that sort of stuff. If you have the talent to write songs that are going to have 70,000 people singing all your words, you're good, man. Like, you're just good.

She's no Zeno warrior princess. Jane Seymour? Yeah, Jane Seymour, Bond girl at one point. That's another, like, there's another, why is that in there? I don't know. But she was, live and let die. Tyler, trying to get this thing back on the rails, says, do you think the Vikings have to sign a corner before the opener?

I don't. I think they're going to play the beginning of the season with their corners. I think that they will begin the season with what they have. And if I'm wrong, I'll be back. on tomorrow. Not completely insane. Says, time to get down to Breastax. Favorite bands from the 80s.

Pearl Jam to me is not an 80s band. Dyer Strait's, Ario Speedwagon, for sure. Of course, Journey. Man. Like, I think of guitar players first. When I think of 80s bands, Def Leopard is hilarious. I mean, Van Halen was one of my favorite.

the police well Metallica you know I learned all the Metallica songs when I was in high school so I still bring those out Motley crew I mean yeah a lot of these ario speed wagon is just crazy to listen to foreigner journey Genesis what what a time to be alive uh Ingvee Malmstein versus Steve Vi I'm I'm more of a Steve Vi person to listen to but I think even Steve Vi would say Ingvee Malmsteen is the better guitar player, but Steve Vai is, I think just more musical than Invei. Somebody described Inveh Malmstein as sounding like he was fighting pirates every time he plays guitar. I think that's so right. For the win, you got 84 at Calvers today. Well, that's an easy one. But you got to go deep. You got to go, when you see 84, you got to go, okay, I know

Moss, but who's next? Who else is number 84? Are you going Michael Jenkins? Are you going Eric Gulliford. If you go Eric Gulliford, then you know. My brain goes to Bucky Hodges, because when they drafted Bucky Hodges, they gave him 84. And then he said, I hope I carry on the legacy. He did not carry on the legacy. Taylor Swift just sneezed 10,000. That's what I'm saying, man. Like, somebody who is able to do all that, make that much music, get that many people to enjoy your work. I can't hate on that. William going deep into the Jane Seymour bag with somewhere in time. I've not seen that one.

Can't say I've seen that one. I don't know all the Jane Seymour stuff, but I do know a few things, including Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Please stream you playing Metallica. Someday, I know I've been promising. I've been promising that. I did have to pull it out with a screen share that one night. and actually show that

that I have made some music before with my burner YouTube account. But I got a promise to Andre Allison, there you go. Yeah, I did a story on the history of number 84 for the Vikings. Really funny is the first guy to wear 84 for the Vikings. I'm not kidding. Just quit football to go be a doctor. That's where football was when the Vikings first started in the NFL.

the guy who wore 84 was just like, I just don't want to play anymore. I want to go be a doctor. And he probably earned way more money being a doctor. And so I enjoyed that. And every time somebody says, like, oh, they need to retire 84, I saw that. I think, yeah, but it's got a legacy of so many random things.

Michael Jenkins caught a touchdown to win a game from Christian Ponder. And after the game, he said that Ponder reminded him of Michael George. or maybe it was maybe it was ponder saying that he like channeled michael jordan jean washington yep there's another good story uh man uh 311 surprised i did my own intro yeah yeah i can look i've been doing that for a long time uh playing so i could and once i got the equipment to record that's where it became really cool need to do an azi tribute i know i've been learning so relearning some of the songs from high school in a little bit better detail because now you can get online lessons for these things. So somebody has transcribed and played out in slow motion all the different

songs. So now it's much easier to figure out like how to how to do it. So I've been doing that after Ozzy passed away. It's been fun. So but that that's it. That's it. My knowledge of the world is very, very narrow to just these things. Kansas carry out my wayward son. That's a great guitar track for sure. Mama wants to start, learn how to play guitar to eventually be able to play Metallica tracks. It does take a while. It does take a while. But all you have to do, really, if you want to learn, just go to YouTube, type in beginner lessons.

Buy a guitar, go to YouTube, type in beginner lessons. You will find a ton of stuff that will help you figure out how to do it. Because I've been able to take, you know, all of my stuff in my bag as a guitar player and enhance it significantly with, you know, more advanced lessons. and things like that. Brian Randy Rhodes is my favorite guitar player growing up for sure. Risen King says, I think we want to watch football and end up seeing Taylor Swift. We want to hear about football and end up hearing about Taylor Swift. Don't hate her, but I'd rather hear about football.

How often, though, really? How often though, I mean, like, I get it. You see it on social media a lot stuff. How often do they really show Taylor Swift during a game? Like two or three times? can't be that much. But then again, I mean, you guys are, you guys are watching TV more than I am.

I'm usually at games. But I don't think it's that many times that they show her. I'm not offended. They show lots of stuff. They show the mascot. They show fans who are, you know, beefy who have written Kansas City on their bodies in cold games. I mean, you know, we do get a lot of chiefs.

That's true. We do get a lot of. Kansas City Chiefs. It doesn't offend me. If they showed Taylor Swift instead of actual plays were happening, then I would get upset. But I'm just, you know, count it next time, three or four times. So, okay, anyway, must be nice.

Well, no, I mean, look, this next Sunday coming up is going to be great for me because I get to sit and watch all the football. I don't get too many chances to do that. Then I'm flying out to Chicago. to go cover the game. So, be annoyed for it for 30 seconds and then move on. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Like, being annoyed by stuff like that to me is just a choice.

Like, you want to be mad at it. You don't have to. You can just not care about it. They show Taylor Swift. She goes, yay, team one. I mean, they do that all the time. Like, when Yankees games in the 90s, they would show Derek Jeter's parents every time he hit a ground rule double.

Like, whatever. They usually do stuff like that. So you're right. Yes, guitar person. Better to see Taylor Swift than a fat guy with Kansas written on his belly. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. The main point is to not let things anger you that are unnecessary when you've got a lot of football to rage out about for the next six months.

So next week, unless there's an emergency pot, I'm just going to be around here playing with Buddy the dog, watching college football. and working on some stuff for some articles for next week and maybe, you know, taking a deep breath here after a crazy week. That's what, that's the plan for the weekend. Next week, though, it is all in gas pedal all the way down, hardcore preview in Vikings and Chicago Bears.

ESPN's Courtney Cronin will definitely be on. That's going to be toward the back end of the week. We're going to be out there at TCO Performance Center, I think three times in the locker room next week. and we'll see the warm us for practices. You're going to hear from Andrew Kramer of the Star Tribune with our hardcore, you know, our hardcore previews are back for a long time watchers and listeners of the show. Also, Manny Hill and Brian Murphy are going to be back as well.

And Bill, as far as fantasy football goes, I do sometimes, but with the Fandual sponsorship, now we are going to have every Wednesday night there is going to be a fantasy show. every Wednesday night when we do the live show. And the way it's going to be this year. Oh, yeah, Spike Lee, right. Are they going to stop showing Spike Lee at basketball games? I know. Or Jack Nicholson at the Lakers.

They do this with a lot of people. So there's going to be, we're going to keep live streaming every night during the week the way that we have during this off season because the response has just been so good from you guys. I've enjoyed it so much that we're going to be doing roundtables with myself, Manny, Brian Murphy on Mondays. And then Tuesday morning,

left guard. Jeremiah Searles is back. The whole crew is back together for the season. And I'm super, super pumped about that. So thanks everybody for all of your time for listening and watching. And I'm going to go research Freemasonry. And we'll see what I come up with there. I think that should be a fine Google search, right? No problems. All right. We'll catch you all later. Football.