Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Patriots owner seems ready to trade down and a wild Kyler Murray Vikings mock

Episode Date: March 27, 2024

Matthew Coller, freshly back from Orlando at the owner's meetings, talks with Vikings fans about Robert Kraft saying that the Patriots aren't afraid to move down in the draft, opening the door for the Vikings to make the move. Plus a former GM did a mock with the Vikings getting Kyler Murray. HUH? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Yes, I am back in Minneapolis. Great to be with you, and I just got off my flight. So it was a little bit of a long day. Kevin O'Connell spoke today starting at 7.45 a.m. Eastern, which is a terrible time zone. And if you are in Eastern time, I don't think you would be offended by this. If you had spent time in God's time zone, which is central,

central is the proper time zone that was meant by the universe. I believe Ben Franklin wrote that. But in Eastern time, it's a little bit of a struggle for me every single time to adapt. And so six o'clock or so this morning when I woke up Eastern time was pretty intense after going to the event last night that they had at the owners meetings. So then I go over to the Ritz Carlton. I wasn't staying at the Ritz Carlton because more of you need to subscribe. So next year I'm staying at the Ritz Carlton. Am I right? More watch time equals more travel opportunities.

But so anyway, got up, went over to the Ritz Carlton where they were having this breakfast that they always have every year. And that's basically what I went for that. And our sit down one-on-ones with the owner and Kevin O'Connell. And then O'Connell talks and we're kind of in a circle around him, and then other people kind of pop in. So a couple of Dolphins reporters came in and said, how do you like Andrew Van Ginkle?

And then somebody else came up from the Broncos and then said, hey, do you want to trade up and beat the Broncos to the punch? And so that's kind of how it works. We get our questions, other people from national media or other markets who want to talk to Kevin O'Connell come up and it lasts for about 45 minutes. And then I got done with that at, I don't know, it must've been eight 45, nine o'clock in the morning and looked around and went, you know what? I don't have a lot more to do here. So I recorded a short podcast, which you can find with a couple of guys from Denver. And then I moved up my flight and I jumped on a little sun country action, flew back, but weather caused some issues for me. So they had to do the thing. And I don't know how many of you have ever had this happen, but the runway needed to be cleared off. So they had to do this thing where they just flew around. It's sort of like driving around the block, waiting for the girl that you're picking up for a date to get ready. Just like, all right,

we'll just go around the block till she's ready. This is exactly what we were doing. We were just driving around the block until they were ready to have us. And that was probably an extra hour onto the flight. I also learned that it is spring break for a lot of children who were going to Disney. So this flight had a lot of children on it. And I'm sure you all love your children. I'm sure they're wonderful, but you also are probably well aware that for flying purposes, it's not always ideal. So it was an extra hour tacked on up early in the morning flight. My point is, this is how important it is that what's going on with the Minnesota Vikings right now, because there was no way I wasn't still going to go live and

chat with all you people about everything that is going on with the Vikings, especially after what Robert Kraft said, which is where we're going to start the show tonight. And we'll get to your comments in a bit. I'm going to run down the different things from the owners meetings, and then we'll get into, uh, you know, some back and forth here, but I want to start with Robert Kraft. So Robert Kraft via our friend, Chad graph, formerly of the Vikings beat. And now with the New England Patriots covering them for the athletic. This is what the owner of the New England Patriots had to say about the possibility of a trade-up.

Quote, when I put my fan hat on, I definitely would, referring to pick a quarterback. On the other hand, a lot of people can be really desperate to move up, so we'll be open oh you'll be open so now that this goes to two different bits one bit was just suggested by and now and i've i'm playing around with this system a little bit suggested by nick longtime listener slash watcher, rumor of the day. I have a ticker now on the bottom, if you're watching live, that says rumor of the day. So this could be rumor of the day, although is it a rumor

if the owner just says it straight out? We're open. Sure, make us an offer, Minnesota Vikings. But of course, I'm sure that also means make us a very good offer, make us a very expensive offer, but make one. He's saying it. So maybe it's not a rumor. I don't know if it qualifies as a rumor. Instead, it might qualify as our other bit for the next month as we lead up to the draft, which is smokescreen or not? Is this a smokescreen that Robert Kraft is saying will be open? Again, it's the owner.

It doesn't feel like a smokescreen when it's Robert Kraft saying it. But I think what he's probably strongly insinuating to the Minnesota Vikings and any other team is that it's not a smokescreen and it's not a smoke screen and it's not really a rumor. So neither applies, but I just wanted to show off that I figured out how to do a ticker. And I've got another one that's good for, uh, after nine o'clock when people give crazy quarterback takes, I've got this one silly quarterback take alert. That is also going to run across the bottom of the screen. Uh, but we we'll see how long we have to go each night before using the silly quarterback ticker. I think that with this,

we were wondering, would they do it for some insane package? I am inclined to believe the owner when he comes out and says, maybe see how good you can do and how good you can do might not be good enough. Their personnel people who make the decisions, Elliot Wolf now and Gerard Mayo, they might be like, Bobby, Bobby, this isn't your worst decision ever. If you know, you know, but it's a bad

decision to say that now we're going to get all these phone calls. Now everyone's going to be thinking we're trading out and we actually want Drake May or we actually want JJ McCarthy. But I think that he's telling the truth. I don't think it's a smoke screen. It's just, he's got to be putting it out there to say, let's up those prices. Or is he not showing his cards or trying not to, but accidentally showing his cards that there's already something that they're on the way to. And he's trying to prepare his fans a little bit because he says, and I thought that the phrasing and look, when it's rumor of the day, it's running across the bottom. When it's rumor of the day, we're going to break it down in extremes because that's where

we're at right now with this thing is it's going to be a lot of rumors leading up to the draft. But the way that this is phrased, when I put my fan hat on, I definitely would pick a quarterback like, so wait, football people are always saying, Hey, if you start listening to the fans, you'll be sitting with them. Of course, Robert Kraft owns the entire team. So he actually does sit with the fans, but normally there's this feeling of, Hey, you can't listen to the fans. They're over reactionary. They're crazy. Those fans, they don't know what they're talking about. We are the less reactionary, more planned out, strategizing, tactical football men. So there's a little bit of vibe here of this as we're going way too far in analyzing it that like, hey, is he talking like preparing fans?

I know you guys are crazy and I know you guys want a quarterback, but hold your horses because someone got really desperate. And we said yes to them because they're crazy. They're the wacky Vikings. They want to give up everything for this quarterback. And we are too smart and wise and tactical. And I think that what it comes down to is what that price is. Then if Robert Kraft is saying it, that they are potentially willing, but you got to be crazy. What is crazy? Is crazy 11, 23, and next year's first?

Because to me, that's not that crazy. And Kevin O'Connell mentioned something today. I believe it was today, where he said something about it, like a historical precedent for what it costs to move up in the draft. And we know what that historical precedent is because we all saw the San Francisco 49ers trade up for Trey Lance and that cost them, was that three firsts? I don't have it right in front of me, but I think it was three firsts, right? So we know that to make this move, that's usually the price.

So is Bob O'Kraft saying, hey, you got to go crazier than San Francisco did for Trey Lance, or is that what he's referring to? Somebody get us those three first round draft picks, and everyone's like, I don't know, Robert, please, can you not? But the one thing I would say about the way that this owner's meetings went with Kevin O'Connell, Mark Wilf, they were all kind of grinning about the same thing. I mean, everyone knows what they want. It's just, can they pull it off? They couldn't even really lie about it to us.

When we're asking about the quarterbacks, we're talking about these trade-ups, they couldn't even bring themselves to it to us when we're asking about the quarterbacks we're talking about these trade-ups they couldn't even bring themselves to say hey guys like we we might not be interested in doing that i mean they they're trying they're that's why they got 23 there's no question about it we all knew it on the day that it happened but i feel like the the big holdup for me of whether they could actually pull this off is whether New England would be willing and open to do it. So now what we've heard is number three, four, and five have all made statements, whether it's from the general manager or now from the owner, which is obviously the most important person at the top of the organization, three, four, and five are saying, come get us. So if you're the Vikings, you have to work on three first to give you your potential quarterback. But this could also, I hate to say this because I want this emergency podcast to happen tomorrow. They could also wait until draft day and they could have an if then

type of scenario. Like let's say for example, Hey, new England, if they pick Jaden Daniels, bang, push that button three first Drake may comes to us. If they pick Drake may, sorry guys, we're actually going to number four. And that is realistic. That you've heard of before of teams hatching trades only if it works in a certain type of way. So how do we feel? You know what we're going to have to come back with? We're going to have to invent. All right.

I'm going to invent this right now with my new little system. Let's see. Here we go across the bottom of the screen trade up meter we add the kirk meter for what percentage that i thought kirk was leaving and that thing kind of wavered all over the place as we went along during that process but now we need a trade up meter so where am i percentage wise on a trade up and after after what Robert Kraft said, after the owners meetings, after there almost felt like a little bit of nod, nod, wink, wink, like keep your notifications on your phone. I'm going to go like 60%, maybe 65.

Give me yours in the comments. I'm 65, 70%. The Vikings are moving up to make this happen. I still come back to, they don't get number 23 unless they knew it. They keep saying flexibility and Kevin O'Connell keeps saying, Hey, you know, there's so many offensive players at the top of this draft that we could always get the best defensive player and then wait for a quarterback. I'm like, I don't know, man. I don't know, man. But if they did stay at 11 and 23, that would be

true that they could, but that's where, that's where I'm at right now. I came out of Orlando at the owner's meetings feeling more like they'll trade up than they won't. That's as of this moment. So whether that actually plays out, I guess we'll see, uh, when it plays out, I guess we'll see when it plays out, I guess we'll see, but that's going to be a daily thing now is the trade up meter. And I am feeling more on the confident side that they can do the most in comparison to Denver and other competitors to possibly trade up. So give me yours and your scenarios that you like and whether you'd be okay with those three firsts, or if you think, or would you be okay with more? That's really the question. Would you be okay with more than three firsts? And I don't know what that looks like. Is it three, is it three firsts in a player? Is it three firsts? And I don't know,

what do they have left? A third round pick from 2025? I mean, that's, that's going really crazy. So how far are you willing to go? Where's your percentages? Leave me in the comments there. I mean, I want to run through a few other things from the owners meetings. I want to celebrate the XFL kickoff has arrived and this is for OG listeners slash watchers. You know know how often i've brought this up that there's this disappearance of the kick returner i brought this up when i was chatting with mark wilf before our interview the other day i was like look i i miss i miss the mo williams the cadre ismals the david palmers the cordero pattersons like of any era the vikings have had these good kick returners and they're just gone and look the vikings have a great one in Kenny Wong. Well, he never gets to

touch the ball. So if you haven't seen the way the XFL kickoff works is you have the guys line up only a few yards away from each other, like a play, the kicker has to kick it into the quote landing zone, the returner, when he catches it, everybody blocks each other. And then you can create plays off it and so forth. Go check it out. Adam Schefter tweeted it and shout out to my friend, Sam Schwartzstein, who in 2021, I did an article with Sam Schwartzstein, who invented the XFL kickoff about why Vikings fans should be rooting for it. And I talked to Kadrius mail, talk to Mo Williams, and I really enjoyed doing that story. And I've sort of followed it all the way through of this,

like, let's get that play back in. So another thing to leave in the comments I'd love to see, I had a lot of people respond on Twitter to this today, was favorite kick returners ever. Doesn't have to be a Viking, but just guy you really loved watching. For me, it was Eric Metcalf, Mel Gray, guys like that. I won't steal all the names, but there's been a lot of them through history. And now what this does, it's going to look weird at first. I will say that it will look

weird, but you'll get used to it. And now that playmaker position is back. And think about like when the Vikings put Adrian Peterson in for a kick return one time they put in Randy Moss was it against the Packers and he returned one for a touchdown how about hey there's like five seconds left in a game or something and you're getting a kickoff they got I mean I don't know whatever it is not five seconds but the end of a game you're down by seven points and you're gonna maybe get a chance to actually return this one. This is going to bring the returns up. So maybe you throw back there, you know, Aaron Jones or something to see if he can do something crazy. I don't know. But it's not going to completely eliminate the touchback. It's still possible. It does

eliminate the surprise on side kick. Sorry, you know, there are consequences, but it gets it back in the game. I've just been so exhausted of watching footballs fly through the goalposts on kickoffs after touchdowns. Think about how long it is in real time. If you're in the stadium where there's a touchdown and they're playing, it's called, when's the next time you see a play? They're like 12 minutes. I mean, it feels like it's forever until you see a play again. Now you got to stay in your seat. So congratulations to Sam Schwartzstein, the inventor of the XFL kickoff and the NFL for being bold here and the NFL owners for being bold. I'm glad they're doing it. I know some of you are going

to think it's crazy. You're going to hate it. You're going to say, oh, I don't like this. I want the old kickoff back. But the old kickoff was a death bowl. So they had to figure out a way to have a kickoff without it being a death bowl. And I think they found the best possible way. And teams are going to get inventive and it's going to be fun. And they'll probably kill it after a year because it's too fun. Anyway, so we'll see, we'll see how it goes. We'll see

how everybody likes it. I'll be curious to look at the feedback when that actually happens from this morning, sit down with Kevin O'Connell, a thing that stuck out to me aside from more quarterback talk, he didn't really break any new ground with the quarterback talk. He didn't really break any new ground with the quarterback talk. I asked him about how his experience as a former quarterback played into or plays into how he approaches this process of meeting with quarterbacks and things like that. And he said that one of his main goals is for all these guys to walk away and say, I'd love to play for that, for that coach, because I know how attentive that coach is going to be to what I need as a young quarterback. And, you know, I mean the, the leadership element is going to be difficult as a rookie quarterback, but when the head coach is working directly with

you and has your back the way he did with Kirk cousins, I think it helps if you are a quarterback who comes into a team with a defensive head coach that kind of ignores you and say, go over there, then it's probably harder to grab the reins. And really we saw this from Kirk Cousins. He wasn't a rookie, but it took until O'Connell got here for him to take the reins of leadership within that locker room. And I think if you're Drake May or you're J.J. McCarthy,

that you're going to be empowered to do that right away. Uh, and also work with someone who knows really well how this all works. And I just get the impression that Kevin O'Connell looks back at his experience in the NFL and thinks people could have done better for me. That's the idea that I get and his mistreatment or his difficult circumstances coming into the league many years ago might play into sort of how he approaches this and learning from the mistakes that were made before. Because he's talked about going to a team that had Tom Brady. There's no development there. He's talked about playing for the Jets.

And that wasn't a really great situation for quarterback development necessarily. So now he is able to do it his way. And I think that that helps any of these quarterbacks, but that's what he's going to be doing over this next month. It's not going to be too many vacations for O'Connell. It's going to be meeting with these quarterbacks. Um, another thing he said that stuck out to me or two things actually was on the defensive side. And I know what has happened when I've talked about any other position in the roster is people are, all right, let's get back to the quarterback talk. We will, I promise. But on the defensive side, they sign a skill Griffin and he what Kevin O'Connell said about that was that he's hoping that it allows Byron Murphy

to move back inside. And this is why last year he played all outside corner. This is why last year I was not very critical of Byron Murphy's play because they brought Byron Murphy here to be a nickel corner. That was entirely the plan. And that's where he had thrived before. He had better numbers be a nickel corner. That was entirely the plan. And that's where he had thrived before he had better numbers as a nickel. And then Josh Metellus happened. And suddenly it was, well, we've got this hybrid guy and we don't have anybody else on the outside. So now you got to go play out there. But he said like, this gives them more flexibility to move Murphy inside

more often. And maybe we're going to see paired with, he also talked about Harrison Smith playing way too many snaps and absolutely did. He was playing banged up. He was at 1,100 snaps or something crazy like that. So now maybe you have Metellus playing with Bynum for some series and Harrison Smith not having to play every single down. It is crazy how many snaps some of those guys took last year

because of their lack of depth. I got that impression that you could move Metellus back. You can slide Murphy into the nickel position a little more often where he's more strong. I still am not really sure about that other cornerback position. If Brian Flores told me truthfully, hey, Caleb Evans and Andrew Booth Jr., I want to see them battle it out. I believe in both of them.

Let's see it. All right, well, it's that kind of year where I want more younger players to get their opportunities because I would have never thought that Josh Metellus, though I liked what he had done in the past as a special teamer and as a fill-in player, I never would have thought that Josh Metellus, though I liked what he had done in the past as a special teamer and as a fill-in player, I never would have thought that Josh Metellus would be a star, would be getting Pro Bowl votes and making a huge difference in the game. But Brian Flores saw that as soon as he got here, which is why you have Brian Flores. I didn't think that myself, but he's better at identifying defensive talent. So he finds this position for Josh Metellus.

Well, now that gives you an opportunity to be a little more flexible in the back end, but also he might have the same feeling about one of the cornerbacks and he might want to give them time and he might want to work with them a little bit more before they totally bail. I still think they need a star corner that they need someone who is like a luxurious need, not that expensive. Someone who can really be locked up with a star receiver all day and not get dominated. They still don't have that. And you shouldn't be overly excited about Griffin considering he's just been a rotational okay player in recent years.

And I know that some people have said, oh, it was a depth issue that they cut him. But if somebody can play, they're going to keep them on the team. And, oh, well, you know, it was a special team. Look, a guy gets cut in the middle of the season. You go, all right, I don't know about this. But I'll believe in Brian Flores again. So we'll see how that works out. At one point in his career, Griffin was quite good. And that hasn't been the case most recently.

So they still have corner as a need. If they were to stay at 11, 23 and take a corner at 23, it would not be insane. But I thought that was an interesting note. And on the interior of the defensive line, it doesn't look like there's going to be an opportunity unless they pick at 11 or 23 and take that position to get a difference maker. So it's just going to be a lot more rotation. And if you're playing Jonathan Bullard, 400 snaps, Harrison Phillips, 550, 600, mixing in Jerry Tillery and Jonah Williams, you still don't feel great about it, but at least it's not last year where you had those guys playing every snap. Still defensive tackles do get banged up. And that is a position where you're just, you're just going to need more assets. You're going to

need more money. You're going to need more cap space in 2025, which they'll get. And you're going to need more draft picks and all that stuff so the impact defensive tackle the dream of the purple insider podcast uh seems to be on hold still but at very least they're going to have a rotation and we'll see if they get a chance to take that defensive player at some point uh greg joseph is a packer this is a Packer. This is a headline. It's an important headline because what's going to happen is in December, Vikings in the playoff race, they have a two-point lead with one minute to go. Jordan Love completes a pass to get the Packers to the 43-yard line. In the snow, Greg Joseph lines up and bangs through a 60-yarder

to eliminate the Minnesota Vikings from the playoffs. Put it down in pen right now. That's what's going to happen. It's the only way this can play out if Greg Joseph is playing for the Packers. I was trying to think about whether he's kicked well in Green Bay. I don't have much recollection. I don't think so. I don't think it's been exceptional, but I can't remember every kick from green Bay. Uh, I guess the Vikings have a new kicker and I don't

know if he's the guy who's on the roster. Now I forget his name. He's got three names. It's a Romo is his last name. Somebody's going to have to correct me on who this punt kicker is. I haven't been focused on that, uh, as much. Oh, John Parker, Roma. Okay. I thought I was getting, yeah, he's from the XFL. I don't think he'll be the only one there'll be undrafted free agents, maybe a seventh round pick or something that competes, but we know that it won't be Greg Joseph. So he defects to the Packers. The Vikings got Aaron Jones. They got Greg Joseph fair trade off. Hey, us cellular customers, I've got good news, so don't hit that skip forward button just yet.

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One last thing before I get to your questions and comments. Mike Tannenbaum of ESPN, I guess he decided to drop a Tannenbaum. Sorry. Does this count as rumor of the day or does this count as silly quarterback take alert? You decide. Mike Tannenbaum in his latest mock has the Vikings acquiring Kyler Murray. Personally, I think this would have had to have happened already if they were going to do it but i guess you never know usually a trade like that happens early in the process before free agency so the quarterback can get in start learning the offense and you know taking that position over we've seen the quarterback

movement happen already this year matthew stafford i think was traded in February or January when that happened. But here's what I will give Mike Tannenbaum and why I will not call it silly quarterback take alert. One, if you were telling me that the Vikings couldn't get one, two, or three, and it was McCarthy or Kyler Murray, I'm taking Kyler Murray. He had a bad situation. Arizona is 2021 season. Make sure you go back and look at it before you freak out. It was really, really good.

And who did he have there? Oh yeah. An elite wide receiver, Deandre Hopkins, who surprisingly was at the party. I was at last night. It's very weird. Walking around. I was like, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Vince Carter was there for some reason. It was like a fever dream. Uh, but anyway, when Kyler Murray in 2021 was at his best,

he was dominating with Deandre Hopkins. If he were to come here and I know the contract, Hey, do we want to get into that contract thing? Yes. Major holdup. Don't love that. You can restructure his because he signed a longer term deal. The whole Kirk thing was always two tiered. It was, well, you can't pay him that much. And it was, oh, you're paying him X per year. The real problem was when you take a short term, fully guaranteed contract every time you have to pay all of it. It doesn't give you much flexibility.

That means if you want to lower the cap, it, you got to do restructures, not just, or you have to work with him to rework the contract, not just one of those translate bonus money to base salary or however that whichever way that goes. It's been a few years since they were doing that all the time, but that's pretty normal. If you're moving money from bonus, is it bonus to base salary? But you can move money around to lower the guy's cap hit in a restructure, but you don't have to renegotiate. That's the word I was looking for with Kirk.

You have to renegotiate if you're going to move money around oftentimes with his deals because they were short term. So he always had these huge cap hits. For Murray, there are restructure opportunities, just like Kansas city did with Patrick Mahomes. I don't love, love, love it because I like more the idea of the rookie quarterback contract. I think there's more room for error with the rookie quarterback contract, especially if they pick at 11 and use their own pick. But I liked that Mike Tannenbaum went for something that the mock drafts, they all just become the same mock draft. You don't have to and use their own pick. But I like that Mike Tannenbaum went for something.

The mock drafts, they all just become the same mock draft. You don't have to read two. You just read one. There's a comparison there that might be like not kid-friendly, but like there was an old joke. I won't say the whole thing, but it was like, do we really need to make more of that? It's like the same thing.

Like, do we really need to do more mocks? Can we just have like three guys? What if we nominated mock drafters? That's what we really need. Like we nominate them and we announce the dates that their mocks come out. So we got Brugler, we got Kuyper and we got, you know, whatever. And we got Joe, like you get to win mocker of the year. So Joe and then Mel Kuyper and Dane Brugler, and they do their mocks. And that's the only ones in the world because everybody's just copying two out of those anyway. So the point just being that I liked it. Mike Tannenbaum took a shot at something else. I don't think it has a whole lot of realism to it. We do know that these trades come out of absolutely

nowhere if they're going to happen. And I would rather have Kyler Murray than JJ McCarthy that I think that he still has way more there than he's hit on. He's not old. He had an ACL, but that happens and came back looking pretty good. So that, and look, if they did it, it would be crazy. It would be one of those debate topics for many, many years. It would be the highest watch podcast we've ever done. We'd have a great time doing it. It would be a barrel of fun if they got Kyler Murray. And I would respect taking a big swing at a quarterback who was number one overall and has a super arm and can make plays and going for it. That would be going for it. Just like trading up the three is going for it.

Same thing with Kyler Murray. I know a lot of you will not be able to stand that idea. And, you know, and, and a lot of you have certainly thoughts, which is always funny to me about Kyler Murray's leadership. It's very odd that people who don't really watch the Arizona Cardinals seem to have opinions on whether he's a good leader or not. I don't know, but I do know Kevin O'Connell knows Cliff Kingsbury really well. So they would have that intel. And also you need to keep in mind when you judge Kyler Murray and I, look, this isn't going to happen, but I'm just saying when you keep, just keep in mind when judging Kyler Murray, that their general manager their ownership

just look into their record just look into the record of the people who are putting stuff out there about kyler murray just just go ahead check that out uh and and let's think about like who's credible here um is there truth to all rumors sure there's truth to all rumors? Sure. There's truth to all rumors, but we know how talented Kyler Murray is. You saw what he did to the Vikings in 2021. You saw the stats that he put up that year. I don't know if you can win a Superbowl with Kyler Murray. I really, I don't because there are limitations, but I also think that he would be the most fun quarterback the Vikings have had since Dante

Culpepper. And there would be a rollercoaster wild ride, lots of opinions, lots of arguments, weekly basis, you know, people fighting with each other. But I mean, he's, he's good though. Like he is good. I don't think he's great. I don't think he's Patrick Mahomes, but he is good. I mean, but all the, all the comments that come out, you know, when you guys talk about Kyler Murray, it really seems to me that I'm not so sure that like you have any knowledge at all of Kyler Murray. Like truly, I just, and it's not, it's not a criticism of the people who are commenting because why would you watch Kyler Murray?

He doesn't play against the Vikings very often. And I don't know why you'd be analyzing him, but I put some thought into this idea earlier last summer. And, you know, I just, I'm telling you that, so I'll just give you, this is, this is the Purple Insider investigation, okay? Purple Insider investigates. Are we going to have to make a thing?

Do I have to make a thing? Let me make a thing. I'm loving this ticker. I'm making a ticker. Purple, hold on. Purple Insider investigates. All right? This is investigatory journalism at its finest.

Here's what I found. Do I even spell it right? Investigates. Okay. In 2021, Kyler Murray for about 12, 13 games was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL that he was on track to compete for an MVP and was playing dominant football that year, like a number one overall draft pick, like one of the best quarterbacks in the league. And one of the issues that Kyler Murray ran into was the lack of adjustment from his coach, Cliff Kingsbury, that happened every every time is this jumping the shark no this is purple insider investigates okay i'm just laying this out for this investigation is and then you decide okay that's how investigatory journalism works anyhow through about 12 13 games they were dominating they were one of the best teams in the NFL, 2021.

And then Cliff Kingsbury did not adapt or adjust his offense, and they slipped toward the end of that year. And they lost to the Rams, who went and won the Super Bowl. So a very, very good Rams team they lost to. And he always got destroyed by Aaron Donald, which everybody did, but he had to play Aaron Donald all the time. And that failure after that, their roster completely corroded the culture of their organization. Go look at their NFL PA.

Look at their ratings for the last two years. Total disaster. Total disaster. They made bad trades. They made bad moves, bad acquisitions, and their general manager got fired with some very suspicious activity. There has been huge stories about their ownership. They're one of the worst rated ownership in the entire league. They didn't have a great offensive line. Can you name like what they had? DJ Humphries, was that their best offensive lineman? They, they had Deandre Hopkins, like what was left of him

in 2022. And then Kyler Murray gets hurt. So maybe you would be buying cheaper with Kyler Murray and he's not that old. So we know what's in there. So there you go. That's Purple Insider Investigates, is that in 2021, he was one of the best five to seven quarterbacks overall in the NFL. And with him and his ability to throw the ball downfield, his arm strength, his playmaking ability, this is not a real rumor of the day. This is just a mock draft. And then I'm just telling you,

when I did look into this idea, I thought, here's where we land. Purple Insider investigates conclusion is under certain circumstances, I think it's a better idea than other things. So if you compared acquiring Kyler Murray versus going into like trading for JJ McCarthy for three firsts, I'm taking Kyler Murray because we have no idea if JJ McCarthy can even play in the NFL, especially not right away versus someone that we know is

capable of playing at an MVP level. So there you go. There, there is your entire purple insider investigates. And just, uh, so you guys also are aware, um, I did figure out how to block people and put them in timeout on the comments. So we'll take care of that, uh, as well now. So there, you know, you got to behave or not be a bot. So there's another thing. So anyway, all right, well, let's get, uh, let's get to, to your takes here. I've asked for a ton of stuff. I'm going to scroll back. Um, but let me, let me get some takes on this. Uh, blast on says Kyler Murray or drafting bone X, Kyler Murray or drafting Bo Nix? Kyler Murray.

Definitely Kyler Murray. I got to pull this up and just read this to you. Because it's easy to forget how good he was not that long ago when his team was not a total train wreck. And these other guys, we all fall in love with them based on draft reports. We don't know if they can play. Kyler Murray was the seventh highest graded quarterback by PFF in 2021. Overall, he had, listen to this number, 41 big time throws to 12 turnover worthy plays in 2021. The only quarterback in 2021 who had more big time throws was Tom Brady and his turnover worthy play percentage. Let me figure this out was the fourth best. He was flat out terrific in 2021. If that's the version that the Vikings are getting. And then look, Hey, I'm just saying as purple insider investigates, there was another quarterback who I always heard couldn't be a leader and may have

said myself on a number of occasions was not capable of leading that ended up getting with Kevin O'Connell and leading. Folks, if you don't know what a VPN is, you might actually need one and not even realize it. If you already know the positives, you also might not be using the right product. In either case, you want to check out Surfshark. VPNs keep your information safe and anyone who tries to track what you're doing online will not be able to do so if you are using Surfshark. IP addresses, what you're searching, what games you're playing, or what shows you're streaming will belong to you and you only. Plus, if you use a VPN, you can virtually travel the world from the comfort of your own home, and Surfshark gives you over 100 countries to choose

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Matt says investigating how much culture and support system gets mentioned by fans when thinking of a rookie coming in, but not if they brought in someone like Kyler. Well, that's the point. That's yeah, that's exactly it is, hey, well, they're going to be able to make the best environment for this guy. Look at Kyler Murray's environment. It was just a shade above Urban Meyer, guys. And I'm not even saying that I'm all in on this idea, but if we were ranking all the

ideas, so do you draft Bo Nix at 23? Do you trade three firsts for JJ McCarthy? Like I, I got to put Murray above a lot of these ideas. Now 11th pick for McCarthy. I'd rather do that. Maybe both firsts for McCarthy, maybe, but the guarantee is on the box that this player can really play in the NFL where it is not on the box when it comes to anybody else. And I'm reminded constantly in the comment section that people can bust as quarterbacks. Murray also ran for 423 yards that year, five touchdowns.

So he was in 2021, did not run quite as much, actually was more of a, of a, just a passer that season. It was good. So look, I'm not, this is just a mock draft that Mike Tannenbaum threw out there, but it's an interesting discussion because we have not thought of it. And so I think that you're, you're ranking this among ideas. So we've heard all these ideas, where are we actually putting it? And I wouldn't put it first, but I wouldn't put it last. So put on blast and timeout. So, uh, you know, I, I think with Kyler Murray, that he has some special elements to him. I think his

arm strength is special. And I think that his running ability is special and no, this is the thing. So, um, reconnected says you want to go back to big quarterback contracts. This is another part of purple insider investigates. So yes, he does have a big contract right now, but I'm saying that there's flexibility to it. I'm also saying it's not my favorite idea. This is not the thing I'm arguing to the death, but let me look this up anyway, since we're talking about it. So Kyler Murray in 2024 is set to have a $49 million cap hit. Obviously that's impossible for the Vikings to pay for. However, if they restructure, they can chop $29 million off of that. That's what I mean about they made this contract for Kyler Murray, where it was very flexible because they weren't completely all in

on him and then tried to leak stuff about him that would make him look bad. Again, I'm not saying that I'm a hundred percent in on this. I'm just saying that there are a lot of, there are a lot of things about someone like that, that I think have been painted by his former organization that, well, they may have had shades of truth. There might not have shades of truth here. So, uh, Murray or Herbert, that the is, that's completely crazy because that just can't even happen. Right. But to your question, I mean, I would take Justin Herbert over Kyler Murray, maybe not as much as some other people, but I probably would. Uh, Drew, I agree with you. Uh, Drew says I'm for Drake may. Yes, of course. Uh, that's yes. Um, uh Kibbeast says, isn't it better to get a rookie quarterback contract and try again if we miss? Yeah, that's a good point.

That is a good point. And you're saying you want a Super Bowl team. So here is the question is, could a Kyler Murray led offense be good enough to compete for a Super Bowl? Which means we would have to establish what is good enough to compete for a Super Bowl, which means we would have to establish what is good enough to compete for a Super Bowl. So let me check out their 2021 offense. They finished 11th in scoring in 2021. And that I think is their highest scoring total.

Yeah, they were 13th, 16th. Was he on the team in 2019? Yeah, 16th in 2019. So they have been in a similar spot to where Kirk Cousins was. And what you're saying is probably the right answer to this is if you have Kyler Murray, I think that his running ability gives you an extra phase. I think that the weapons the Vikings have are way better than anything he ever had in Arizona. I think the coaching is way better than anything he had in Arizona. It would have to be a bet though, right? It would have to be a gamble that you can go from the 11th best offense up

into the top five. Now I think Murray has the talent to do that. I think Kirk was maximizing every bit of his talent. Plus he's not that old in 2021, he was 24 years old. So he wasn't even quite at his peak. So there's an argument to be made, but the thing is that if you were to get Kyler Murray, and even if you restructure, he still has a pretty decent size cap hit still three times bigger than the rookie quarterback contract. And it will take away from other parts of your team. There's no doubt about that. This is not something I am arguing to the death about only kind of intrigued by our perceptions of Kyler Murray. When I think that most of that like

perceptions work, right? Like perception is not reality all the time. It's often based on small samples of things that we saw on social media, as opposed to the bigger picture, which would include some really sorted stuff with their general manager and some really messed up stuff with their owner and their facilities and their coaches and all this stuff. Like they just, it's not been good. It has not been good in Arizona for Kyler Murray.

I don't think it's been a fair shake, but that's why, I mean, I would prefer if we're making the list to have the rookie quarterback contract, giving up the three first though, you start to dip into having that same sort of problem, right? Where you're giving up a lot. If you're doing it for McCarthy and can McCarthy take you over the hump with his talent so uh Reg asks who's making the decision at quarterback KOC or the GM uh both is the right answer but really Kevin O'Connell it should be if it's not then we've got ourselves a problem it really should be Kevin O'Connell a hundred percent. I mean, they're going to work together on this and Kwesi's role in this, they have their roles is how it should be where Kwesi Adafo-Mentz's role is to give them a chance to get Kevin

O'Connell's favorite quarterback. And by trading for number 23, he's doing that. And Kevin O'Connell's role is to go get in a room with every one of these quarterbacks that they could potentially draft, bring that information back and say, look, this is how I rank them. This is what we should give up for them. This is how I feel about working with this guy.

This guy is completely off my board. Like, here's what we know. Will Levis was not on their board. Otherwise they would have picked him. That was a guy that for whatever reason that Kevin O'Connell did not like, and it did not think could be their franchise quarterback. And if you're Kwesi Adafo Mensah, I promise you, you are saying to Kevin O'Connell, are you sure? Because getting that guy with our pick at number 23, if he's, if he's a franchise quarterback, that'd be great. But if you're Kevin

O'Connell, you have to, you have to put your foot down. If there's a quarterback you don't love, you can't get them. You can't saddle O'Connell with someone that he's not all in on. So he's got to have levels to this. He's got to have, here's the guy I'd give up the three firsts for. Here's the guy I'd give up the two firsts for. And is there someone I'm comfortable with at 11 or 23 if we don't trade down? But really for me, it is all Kevin O'Connell's decision and Kweisi-Mensah's job is to make it happen. Is Kyler Murray too expensive? That's what I was talking about with, he has two years that are very expensive that you can restructure and bring them down by about 20 million. That still ends up being

expensive and how they would afford it this year, I'm not really sure, but it's not the same formula as Kirk Cousins. That's what I'm saying is because of the way Kirk signed his contracts, short term, fully guaranteed, that gave no flexibility. There wasn't the same type of restructuring power where you could just move money around and create 20 more million on the cap. And yeah, some of it gets kicked down the road, but you'd be in win now mode. You'd want to do that. That's probably the biggest argument against it is that, are you ready with Kyler Murray to compete for a championship? And I don't know that that's the answer right now.

This is another thing from Jay Giza, which is you can't pay JJ and Murray. You can pay two players on a national football league team. Like you, you, you can't like the salary cap is very big and you can have multiple star players, but they don't all get their average annual value. And this is where the salary cap is tricky. You don't get your average annual value every year as your cap hit. So what you would have to do is you would have to structure these things out so they can work in congruence with each other fairly well. And so what happened with the Vikings, this is where they got themselves in trouble. In 2017, they were great. And all the guys from 2015 were up for contracts all at the same time. So they had to pay a bunch of people all at once.

So with Jefferson, it's like, he's going this year. Derisaw's going next year. You've got Hawkinson set up. You can restructure some of that. You know, Brian O'Neill, they can restructure some of that. So that they are sort of coming not all at the same time with the cap hits. So they would have to work it out that Justin Jefferson's maybe comes at a different time, like a little farther down the road where

he's being paid the most by the way that you set it up and you're able to put in these restructures. Is it absolutely ideal though? Is it the hack? No, it's not the hack. And that's why I still like the hack the most. I still like trade up for the quarterback, have them on the rookie quarterback contract for those first four years. But when Mike Tannenbaum put it out there though,

he's a former NFL GM. The only thing that came to mind for me was that sometimes with the Vikings stuff comes out of nowhere. That's just been who they've been for these last few years with Kweisi Dafflomenta and Kevin O'Connell that the insiders have really struggled with this team because I don't think they like to leak stuff out there. And so they're sort of nibbling at the edges and like, what if this just totally hit us by surprise, then how would we like, would we like it? Would we hate it? Would we think it was crazy? Would we think they just ruined their franchise or, and as I talk myself through it, I think, yeah, it's probably not the most ideal option, but it would create a window

for them to still win with the restructure type of money. But it's not my favorite idea, no. Because I do think what's going to happen is that you would very likely end up in the same spot as you were with Cousins, where you're good and not great. So, uh, stop even talking about this digits, my guy, like when someone says something interesting, that's totally unique in a mock draft that people are talking about and have opinions about. I mean, we gotta, we gotta talk about it, right? Like that's what March is all about.

Uh, the, you know, our March madness is wait, should I, do I, do I need the ticker? I think I need the ticker here, either silly quarterback take alert or rumor of the day. But you know, when people are interested in the subject, that's what we got to do. We got to talk about it. So, you know, it's interesting. I mean, like a lot of people just have a lot of different opinions on Kyler Murray, which I find to be sort of fascinating is that we're all looking at somebody who has been in the league for a few years. And yet at the same time, uh, we are seeing different things and that's what I, you know, I like that about the draft as well. David says they have the best cap guy in the business. They're all aligned and can really do whatever they want to do moving forward here. If it's one of the first four quarterbacks do

whatever it takes. Yeah. I mean, that's my point about the whole Kyler Murray thing is there's sort of this like door number seven there's because there's six potential quarterbacks five that they are believable right and then there's like I guess it's door number six but any of the other five quarterbacks you could see happening and then somebody from the tv throws in this other potential option. I just, you know, all right, well, it was, it was only meant to be like a, a quick mention, but then since you guys had so many opinions on it,

I thought I would, you know, go through that, but you know, loaded guitars could bet my life savings. We're not looking for a veteran. No, I totally agree.

I totally agree. This is not a realistic thing. The reason that I wanted to bring it up is just because I think that like this Kyler Murray thing may have had some steam at some point or like as an idea, not as a legitimate report, but like as an idea and we never talked about it. So like, wait, so it gets into like a philosophical, would you take a guy who's pretty young, who's shown he can be really good in an NFL season? So this is, this is a very interesting way to frame the quarterbacks you're looking at in the draft right now. A, would you rather, if you will, like, would you rather have Kyler Murray on his contract

or would you rather take what is unknown, but also cheap, but also might cost you a bunch of draft picks cheap on the cap might cost you a bunch of draft picks. Are you believing too much in the idea of JJ McCarthy? How many quarterbacks get drafted? And this is only like just way in this philosophical case, but how many quarterbacks get drafted? And this is only like just way in this philosophical case, but how many quarterbacks that get drafted will end up being able to take their offense to where he could take it even next year. So I still think that the better idea would be to trade up and take Drake May, even if it takes a lot, if it takes a little less trade up and get JJ McCarthy,

if neither one of them are there and you can, trade up and get JJ McCarthy. If neither one of them are there and you can't trade up, then take your favorite guy at number 11 are probably all better options than Kyler Murray. But yeah, I still think it's quite interesting to discuss. The book behind me is my book. That, that is called football as a numbers game, where I went through the analytics revolution, uh, through the lens of pro football focus and, uh, told their stories. That's, that's the book. And if you're going to open the door for promotion, then I'm going to do it. Uh, loaded guitar says we're due for a top three NFL quarterback. Yeah. I'm sure Chicago feels the same way

and all the other teams that haven't had them in a long time. But it does speak a little bit, just a little bit, to how in love we fall with ideas of players and what we think they're going to become on draft day during draft season. And then a lot of times by the middle of the first year, we are, you know, completely blown out of the water by what we thought people were going to be. So I know that if they did something like this, that was totally wild. And they went and got Kyler Murray, that some of you would say you were going to quit watching the Vikings and everything else, but it would, it would be a very bold move and it would

be a very exciting move. And I think they could have a top 10 offense if they did that. But I would prefer to have Drake May. I would prefer to have, if Kevin O'Connell is all in on JJ McCarthy, I would prefer to have that. It just an interesting little spin that was thrown in there. So, and you would have to trade something for Kyler Murray, of course, which would be part of it.

I don't know what exactly you're, you're trading for him. Matt says in the theme of throwing out quarterbacks who could upset the chat, Rattler over Pennix and Knicks. I'm convinced we are looking into one of those top four, but why not stir in the pot? Yeah. I mean, for me, the Spencer Rattler thing, I've seen a few draft analysts talk about how much they like Spencer Rattler and I watched him throw at the combine. And as they say, he can spin it and he doesn't really have like speed that you were looking for in a 40. His speed was drew blood. So like, uh, it was not

very impressive, but you know, maybe he's more quickness than speed. I don't know. Quicker than fast is one of those things. There really isn't any evidence of Spencer Rattler ever playing good football, like for any long stretch. There's games where he played well. And at some point, in order to convince me that he's going to be better than guys who played amazing football, it's got to be a crazy, toolsy guy. It than guys who played amazing football. It's got to

be a crazy toolsy guy. It's got to be Anthony Richardson. It's got to be Cam Newton. It's got to be Josh Allen. If you're going to convince me that someone with a decent sample size and all, well, he didn't have offensive linemen. He didn't have this. He didn't have that, but he, he struck, he strikes me as somebody who has been a darling. Remember like Jamie Newman? And I think he's better a prospect than that, but Jamie Newman was talked about as like, oh, this mid-round guy. Kellen Mond was this guy.

Why am I even reaching for Jamie Newman? Kellen Mond was the draft, not all the draft analysts, but enough draft analysts and enough people out there were like, oh, well, he's played in this pro system and all this sort of stuff. And they sort of talked themselves into it. I think from boredom. Um, I, I, I don't, I do not think that Spencer Rattler is like all that good of a prospect, but there's always those. There's always that mid round guy guy was it I don't know Ian Book or Jake Hainer like there's just always every time uh there's always that mid-round quarterback so um yeah I mean I know

some of you like are not into the discussion about Kyler Murray but I think you have to understand like what it's what it's telling us about the situation you're in. Like if you're comparing ideas of having a quarterback like Kyler Murray, which is the guarantee on the box, it really shows like what your expectations are, your expectations then, because look, if Kyler Murray is capable of taking a team to a top 10 offense and into the playoffs and being in the top 10 by PFF. And you're saying, no, I don't want that. And is scrambling. That's another 500 yards of scrambling. And you're saying, no, I don't want that. I can do better. That's pretty high. Like that's, that's a pretty high bar that you're setting for this next guy. And I'm not

saying you're wrong because I would also choose. And part of it is if you fail, then it doesn't mean that no one else can ever play quarterback for your team. Again, if you fail with picking Drake may or whoever, but I, it does, it does say something. And I think all of us believe in the roster strength that if you're going to win a super bowl, that you have to have a total and complete roster, which with Kyler Murray, even though they can restructure would be harder to do, but that's that it's an interesting mind experiment more than it is like, Hey, I think they're going to do this. I don't think they're going to do this. That's not what I'm saying. But if we try to, if we make an argument for each case, his might be better

than for, you know, some, some other options that we've been talking about and that, that some of you like, so that's all.