Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Peter Schrager's mock has the Vikings doing WHAT????

Episode Date: April 17, 2024

Matthew Coller is joined by CBS Sports draft analyst Chris Trapasso to discuss one wild mock as well as breakdown Jayden Daniels' tape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here, along with CBS Sports Draft Analyst Chris Trapasso. One last show until our final draft mock, where we decide what the Vikings will do. And then, after that, we will have draft picks to break down. We're almost there. We have marched all this way through the combine the owners meetings and we have though chris a special mock to break down peter schrager of nfl network he usually releases i believe just one mock and the difference is that it's not what he thinks is going to happen exactly and it's not what he would do it's about about what he's hearing, which then I think if you go to

the interwebs and you search mock draft, there's a lot of stories of Peter Schrager's sources tell him that this or that is going to happen in the draft. So that makes it interesting, but also there is a unique outcome that I think we need to talk about. So are you excited for this? Definitely. I think schrager might like edit this day of the draft if i'm not mistaken uh but yeah he's not gonna pump out five more of these and change a bunch of picks uh i'm definitely looking forward to just talking about this one because it's and we'll get into all the components but it is creative schrager is one of the most plugged in uh insiders in the. And I think it's funny,

which we're not going to talk about that much beyond the Vikings. The profile of Peter Schrager comes out, I think earlier this week or late last week about how he reached out to Sean McVay, who was this lowly assistant on the Washington staff, like what 2015 combine 2014 combine to just, Hey, you want to go get a beer with me?

Like we're both young and then in this mock Schrager says I can guarantee you the Rams if they don't trade down we'll go offense so we'll see I mean he's been awesome with the Super Bowl predictions the last what four or five years we'll see if his buddy Sean McVay was just letting him be that vessel for lying season or was actually right on that saying that the Rams will either trade down or go offense at 19 well uh as we always say nobody can get these things 100 but it is interesting from someone who's plugged in what they heard and I just like the fact that this is a different outcome for the Minnesota Vikings so we're not only going to go

through this though but we're also because it's creating so much buzz, we're going to grade it. We're going to decide, was this mock really worth the breakdown or is this an overrated mock? So I've created four categories after we look at it of realism, which how real we think it might be. Creativity is a good for the Vikings and will fans like it those are going to be our four categories that we're going to break down from this mock uh I want to start out with the top of course Caleb Williams to the Chicago Bears everybody knows that including the Bears and Caleb Williams Washington going Jaden Daniels not real unique here most people think that's going to happen under the New England Patriots, though notable that he has them drafting Drake May. And what Peter Schrager writes here is despite lots

of smoke that New England could trade down, I believe this new Patriots regime will be comfortable with either Jaden Daniels or Drake May. Any issues with number three, the Patriots stick and pick rather than trading down? No, I could see that. I mean, they had a fair amount of retention in free agency. Michael Onwani re-signed, Josh Uche re-signed. Seems to be that Gerard Mayo has a lot of fans there just on the roster that people want to play for him. So do I think the Patriots believe that they're like legit contenders in the AFC this season?

Probably not. But to look at this draft class, believe that they're like legit contenders in the AFC this season? Probably not. But to look at this draft class, see where they're picking at three, and maybe they think, yeah, we could maybe have a top 10 pick next year. But with Drake May or like Peter Schrager saying, or Jaden Daniels staring them in the face, I wouldn't be like floored if they don't trade down and just ultimately pick one of these quarterbacks and say, you're either going to get a red shirt year, or we're just going to throw you into the fire. And hopefully the roster will be better in 2025. I still think that this is the spot for the Vikings. If they're going to get Drake may and make some sort of insane offer to go so high with draft capital that the Patriots

can't say, no, it is possible, but it more likely i would lean beyond 50 that the patriots do just take their quarterback even if i think that they should maybe build their roster for a couple years around a quarterback if it's may though a very good prospect they could build them around them over a couple of seasons now here's where it gets spicy number four jj mccarthy to the not Vikings, rather the New York Giants. Now I have been talking everybody out of this Giants McCarthy thing. Am I wrong though? Because I've been saying, look, I think they need to stick with Daniel Jones to try to save their jobs, or at least that's what I'm projecting they'll do.

But this is a, this is some heat here that the Giants would move up to number four and take J.J. McCarthy. You buying? I'm not buying, but I don't think it's completely out of the realm of possibility. It could be one of those just underrated storylines where a team was relatively quiet. I'm pretty sure GM Joe Shane kind of said, like, hey, we might not even

need a quarterback. Like, and we could look back and say, this was all just a calculated whole entire pre-draft process from the Giants front office to kind of keep quiet, let everyone mock the Vikings trading up, or maybe the Broncos are a mystery team, but then they ultimately become the mystery team. And we've talked about it. I mean, it's, you don't need two draft analysts to tell you they only need to go from six to four. I mean, they don't have the amlet the Vikings have, but I, you know, I think in last episode talk that I think they desperately need a quarterback. You can certainly, you know, your idea, your theory that, Hey,

keep Daniel Jones, keep your jobs, just be like around 500, show some signs of improvement on the rest of the roster, sell that to ownership and then get your quarterback in 2025. That makes sense, but I think there's also – it's important to think of this as a possibility, and we'll obviously get to what the Vikings are going to do, but I think that probably under 50% chance of this being the case, I'm not banking on it, but I don't think we can rule it out entirely.

They are the only team in my opinion who could put together a better package than the vikings because they would not be asking the arizona cardinals to move down very far whereas the vikings are saying actually you have to kind of come all the way back here out of the top 10 and it's still going to be good for you but it's not going to be wide receiver in this draft. Good, which I watched some more Jaden Daniels for a later conversation. And let me tell you, Malik neighbors would be a fine draft pick for any franchise. That was one of my big takeaways.

But as far as the giants doing this, I mean, I go back and forth. I think philosophically, it's totally right for them to draft JJ McCarthy and to move up a couple of spots in order to do so I just wonder about selling that to the powers that be with the New York Giants meaning their ownership and saying we were completely wrong about that huge decision we made that cost you Mr. Owner a bleep ton of money so now we're actually going to use extra draft capital to get another quarterback it makes you sound like you didn't know what you were doing the first time, but if they did it, it would be right. And I think that Brian Dable and JJ McCarthy would be an excellent combination, and that

would give him a good chance to succeed long-term if Dable can keep his job for another couple years. All right, so the Vikings don't do that. So now what do they do is your question going down schrager's mock clearly marvin harrison jr next he's got roma dunze above neighbors going number six to the arizona cardinals everyone has joe alt to tennessee dallas turner to the atlanta falcons makes a ton of sense neighbors ends up with ends up with the Indianapolis Colts, which would be tremendous. Now they're trading up with the Chicago bears would be tremendous

for Anthony Richardson there to get a star wide receiver. Then number 10, Brock Bowers, again, offense makes sense with the New York jets. And now we arrive to number 11, where the Vikings will pick a quarterback, right? Not so fast. Not happening according to Peter Schrager's mock. This is the whole reason I wanted to break it down. At number 11, the Vikings taking Terian Arnold, the cornerback from Alabama, who I have had my eyes on throughout this draft process,

wondering could the Vikings potentially, if they keep both of their picks, get someone as talented as Terry and Arnold. Not taking a quarterback here though. Reaction? I think it would make sense. So I'm wearing a shirt right now, if you're watching and if you're not, that says draft linebackers who can cover. The other draft shirt that I had my wife make for me is draft the best available player. Like that's one of my philosophies. I think there would be a strong case for that with this pick. That Terry and Arnold, I have Quinion Mitchell from Toledo.

It could be either one of those two as the premier, like top 15 overall prospects at the cornerback spot. With Brian Flores, it would make sense. Just the prospect himself, man coverage, zone, feistiness at the line, ball skills from Alabama, a great tackler, returnability after he intercepts the pass, is through the roof. Now, I thought it was interesting that it was on like a, I want to say, path to the draft that I was watching on NFL Network where Daniel Jeremiah wrote or said on the air that like Terry Nard NFL Network where Daniel Jeremiah wrote or said on

the air that like Terry Nardole was like 5'11 and 6'8 and he ran like 4'5 flat he was this close to being six foot and running in the 4'4s I think the conversation would be a lot different about him or the reputation would be hey look this is an Alabama corner lock him into the first corner back off the board there's's some, again, debate about Kunyan Mitchell. I think this would make sense if you're just going best player available, realizing that you still have that second pick at 23. You weren't able to trade up. Terry and Arnold would be, but I kind of think this defense needs, they need that true number one cornerback that can really do everything. And Brian Flores, his eyes would light up with

this pick because he's probably been seeing all the mock drafts, hoping maybe a corner at some point would be nice. This is a premier cornerback. We'll get into the whole grading system of how this would make Vikings fans feel. I kind of feel like it would be that Jordan meme where he looks down at the iPad from the last dance like, holy, that's what this would be for Vikings fans, but it would be a

really rock solid player, high floor and high ceiling. I do not believe that the Minnesota Vikings at any point, despite Brian Flores is brilliance could have an elite defense without a shutdown corner or without a top notch defensive tackle. So either way here would be fine. If it's Byron Murphy or it's Terry and Arnold, or it's Quinion Mitchell, I can see where the NFL would also lean toward the guy who played against the harder competition as being the one in Terry and Arnold. That doesn't always match up in the NFL. As we know, some guys are really good from smaller colleges, but it might be a slight edge for Arnold in this case. Yes. Brian Flores would be thrilled. He would have a shutdown corner. Then the pieces can fall into place after that coverage, as we know, super, super important.

However, in this case, now everybody is very nervous for the following draft picks. Very, very nervous. The Denver Broncos in peter schrager's mock not taking a quarterback they take uh layout to lot to the great pass rusher who we broke down and visited the vikings not too long ago and the raiders also do not pick a quarterback. They go with Fashanu, the offensive lineman from Penn State. I haven't looked at tackle, so I'm sorry if I'm pronouncing his name wrong. I think that's right. Is that right? Okay.

So they're going offensive tackle. They are not going quarterback either, which means that at the moment, in this scenario, we have Michael Penix and we have Bo Nix on the clock or on the board. Still new Orleans goes tackle the Chicago bears who in this situation traded back. They go offensive line as well. Offensive line goes to Seattle's.

We've got a real run here. Quinion Mitchell ends up with the Jaguars at 17, 18 is our darling Byron Murphy to the Cincinnati Bengals. And then Tyler Gaten, Gaten, Tyler Gaten to the Los Angeles Rams, as you mentioned. Brian Thomas, the wide receiver, goes to the Pittsburgh Steelers. We're getting closer here. No quarterbacks being taken. Jared Verst to Miami.

By the way, if you need defense, you are in great shape in the second half of this first round because Jared versus a great prospect going at 21, the Eagles. Is it Cooper? Is it Dijon or Dijon? Cooper Dijon. I'm pretty sure it's Dijon. Yeah. All right. Uh, and it was not a fair catch Iowa fans. Um, so that leaves us at number 23. That leaves us at number 23 that leaves us at number 23 i i shouldn't pander to the iowa people um you saw that game right with minnesota and iowa okay yes yes yes they have t-shirts because i i went there to iowa city and uh to see caitlin clark not too long ago this season and they have t-shirts in a local shop that says it wasn't a fair catch so they have not let it go anyway that's enough teasing with the number 23 pick both bo nicks and michael pennix are on the board for the vikings and in

this case they select bo nicks and if you'll allow i will read what peter schrager has to say let's hear it says nicks could go as high as 11 12 12, or 13, or completely fall out of the first round. Yep, those are the options. I think the 23 to the Vikings or another team around here in a trade-up makes sense. One thing on Knicks, he's as accurate as they come, having just set the FBS record this past season for completion percentage. Not that completion percentage and accuracy actually always go together but put that aside put that aside uh smart processor two these are things that would be highly valued by the office of coaches and qb gurus that's kevin o'connell

that's sean payton i could see nicks playing for either of those master tacticians that is quite the write-up for bo nix. All right. Tell me what you think of that. Okay. So let's break down the write-up there. Now you kind of hinted at it, the completion percentage. I'm not disrespecting Peter Schrager, but if you watch the film, Bo Nix is not that accurate. He passes the test to be like a top one or two or three round quarterback, but just looking at the completion percentage and maybe he's gotten that from someone in the league that, that is a decision maker that says always super accurate. But like, I don't even think I need to be like someone that's been at CBS since 2017 to tell you that he's just like middle of

the road, accurate. Like there's misses all over his tape. Like you mentioned, the 77%, almost 78%. And we've talked about it. Very scheme related more so than just how hyper accurate he is. The second part of it though, and you could probably speak to this better than I could, but that part makes sense. Like being the point guard, that's what we've talked about. Spreading the football around, smart processor. I think in like the first episode where we talked about these quarterbacks in

January, I said that Bo Nix is going to be an extension of the offensive coordinator on the field. Now, I don't think he has crazy upside. And that was really what Kirk Cousins was in Minnesota. And they won a lot of football games and he was really productive and had like the same stat line every year. Is that what Minnesota wants? Is that what they know? Or do they want more than that?

So I think that's in terms of the write-up, the first part doesn't really, I don't really agree with, but the second part with all the quarterbacks there with Kevin O'Connor, the former quarterbacks with O'Connell and Josh McCown, who we've obviously talked about a lot. I could see them. This maybe would be that situation like we talked about previously with Michael Penix, where the coaching staff likes Bo Nix more than the scouting staff. Because again, the traits, the accuracy, despite the high completion percentage, not great.

Olney was really, really good statistically late in his career. Maybe not quite as productive of an athlete as you might think. So I think the scouts could maybe say, I'm a little bit lower on him. Maybe 23 is even too early, but Kevin O'Connell and Josh McCown could be kind of banging the table for him at 23. And this is something that has really stuck out to me as all of the universe gives its opinions on these quarterbacks is that some people who

played the position have really valued Bo Nix. And if you are a Bo Nix fan, you'll point to Kurt Warner's opinion on him or Chris Sims's opinion on him. Now that doesn't make them right anymore. Right. Then you or I would be because that's the history of the position, but what they're seeing is the ball comes out on time. And if it comes out on time to the right place over and over and over and over again, does the accuracy have to be flawless in the NFL? I don't think so. I look at someone like Brock Purdy and I know this is an example of a seventh round guy, but let's only focus. If we didn't know his draft stock and we just saw him play quarterback and we just weren't told nothing else, you'd go, you know what? I could see Bo

Nix kind of being like that guy. Cause he's not the biggest, the arm isn't the strongest, but there's some scoot in his game where he could run for a first down. If things go wrong, he throws it to the right place and he gets the ball out super quickly. When you watch him, it's drop back, set, throw. And I'm not even talking about the screen stuff. I'm talking about 15 yard in route, stuff like that. He's reading the defense. He's getting the ball out fast. And that may impress Kevin O'Connell.

Now, do you do it at 23 and risk someone else loving him though? That would be my question because peter schrager brings up sean payton so if you lose him at 12 if you go all right he's going to be there at 23 and then uh oh my gosh he's taking a 12 and then the raiders are sitting there and everyone's connecting them to pennix you can't have that happen i think if you're going to take bonics you have to take him at number 11 and you have to look for that cornerback at 23 because the defensive players are going to be there. If Jared versus there at 21, I mean, trade some other draft capital to go make sure you get him instead.

There is going to be a bevy of great defensive talents. I think that the other way around on this makes more sense than Terry and Arnold first. And then Bo Nix, if that is the guy that they actually love. Yeah. I 1000% agree on this. And this is why like, uh, on draft night or first, second round, say like, let's use Daniel Jones for an example, 2019. Like I thought he was like a set, like late second round pick. And that's even with position addition. I was like, he's just not, he just didn't do it for me. The Giants pick him at six. And so I was like, okay, I think it's, it's too early, but I get it because they're like, we're probably not going to be able to get him later. I mean, maybe they could have, maybe that's

not like the best example, but your example with them at 11, I mean, it's nice to have the mock here and see, Hey, hey look the Broncos didn't pick him the Raiders didn't pick him you can't you kind of have to do it and so for me someone that has Bo Nix graded toward the end of my top 32 I think I have him and like Michael Penix right next to each other like 31 32 or 30 31 on paper I would almost have to say hey this is way too early this is a reach but based on everything that you just said, quarterbacks have different rules and you have to get them and not say, man, we really liked him. We weren't able to trade up. We love Drake May,

but he's gone or whatever. We love JJ McCarthy. He's gone. Let's just hope the quarterback that might alter our franchise for the next seven years falls to 23. And I think that it sends a bad message. If you go with it this way, where you're like, so you didn't like me enough at 11 to be your guy, but you're willing it.

I always type back to the bills when the bills in the 2013 draft had the eighth overall pick traded back and then pick DJ manual. It was like, Hey, they got a couple extra picks. Cool. But it was like, but why didn't you just pick him at eight?

Like what if he wasn't going to be there like Andy Dalton being the second round pick uh in 2011 to the Bengals you could say hey look they had AJ Green they weren't going to pick Andy Dalton there but I think when you're a later first rounder I mean obviously like Lamar Jackson maybe stands out as kind of an outlier here but when you're a later first rounder or an early second rounder it always kind of seems like it follows you and it's like was the team really that convinced they didn't trade up to get you and there was a long stretch where which I don't know if it's it's still intact but like

all of the best quarterbacks and I think we talked about this last draft season uh that have become good in the NFL lately like were acquired via trade-up. Like teams were like either had the first pick and pick Joe Burrow or Trevor Lawrence or Baker Mayfield, or they're like, we're getting our guy. And I think that sends a better message to the player, to the fan base. Again, maybe that sounds silly, but I think you're right that doing it in reverse and doing some of that draft navigation that we've talked about, which I think Quasey would be pretty good at, makes a lot more sense than just hoping that he's available at 23. Folks, we all have smartphones and we know that they are pretty amazing, but they can also be amazingly distracting, especially when we're around

other people. So U.S. Cellular wants us to reset our relationship with our phones by putting down our phones for five. That's right. A company that sells phones wants us to put down our phones and see what we can find. Learn more at uscellular.com slash built for us. That's uscellular.com slash built for us. The second part of that is more important to me than the first but i see your point is okay so they wanted somebody else first and they thought you just weren't really that much worth it i i get that part of it to me it's much more about how scary it is to put it in the hands of all these other teams because what if the rams say you know mat, Matthew Stafford's not going to be around much longer.

And we actually really love how Bo Nix might look for us or Michael Pennix, you know, let's shock the world. Let's draft a quarterback here. Now I don't expect that because when a quarterback is in his final couple of years, unless you're the Packers, you usually try to get them some better linemen, some better receivers and see if you could take another shot at that old Superbowl. But, uh, if somebody Seattle might be not sold on the idea of Gino Smith, they're changing teams or there are coaches. And so their coordinator was with Michael Pennix and that, you know, there's always the possibility that two other teams say, all right, we actually really

love these quarterbacks. You're not the only one who loves them. That would be the scariest part to me if they were to let this happen. So let's grade this, this mock though, go through the rest of the picks to grade the mock. So my five or four categories, one through five, we'll do it on a one through five basis here, realism, creativity, how good it is for the Vikings and what Vikings fans will think. So let's start with realism. How real do you think that Peter Schrager mock could be? I'm going to give it like a two or a three. I know that we talked earlier that, you know, or I said earlier that the JJ McCarthy to the Giants, maybe that's that mystery team that we haven't heard anything about and ultimately springs up the board from six to four

somewhere in that range that could happen. I would be stunned truly if Jim Harbaugh picks an Ohio statewide receiver at five instead of an offensive lineman, or just saying, Hey, we will literally take any deal. We just need to trade down their GM came from Baltimore. They were like the ultimate team of trading down multiple times and getting a bunch of mid-round picks to replenish the roster. So that kind of drops the grade a little bit. And like you mentioned, I think the Vikings would understand that we can't just hope that a quarterback falls to us at 23. So for those reasons, there were some chalky picks in there. I would say two or three, um, because I just can't see some of those developments ultimately playing out in the

first round. I'm going to give you a 2.5. I'll put down for you for this. Uh, for me, I'm going to go, I'll go with a solid three because I think there are a lot of things that are very realistic. It is the top three, three of course the most important part a Chicago trade back to get more draft picks and then get an offensive lineman later Colts trade up to try to get one of those wide receivers those things make sense to me and the Vikings outcome that's what knocks it down because them waiting till 23 seems like if we were ranking all the things I think might happen on draft night missing on a quarterback is dead last I think they'll draft a quarterback second is drafting

one at 23 I just feel like number one is them still trading up to get their quarterback so I will go with three now creativity how creative in your mind was this mock? It's got to be a five. And what I love about this, and I've been kind of doing mocks with trade, or I have been doing mocks with trades for like the last month or so. And I forgot 2020, like the exact numbers, but 2022, I believe set a record in the first round. There was like eight or nine trades last year. I believe there were five. So like, if you're looking at a mock and you're really like,

let's see if this is a good mock, it's got to have a bunch of trades. And they're not always just quarterback, quarterback, quarterback. There's like always a trade up for a corner, an offensive lineman. It's a great offensive lineman class, great receiver class. So I think to have a dunes a going ahead of neighbors, even after the LSU pro day where neighbors just blew it out of the water. And it was like, he might go out of Marvin Harrison jr. Like I mentioned, Marvin Harrison jr. At five to the chargers the Colts as a trade up team. We haven't really, I mean,

not that we're thinking that they're necessarily going to trade back, but to trade up, to get neighbors, there's a lot of outside of those a few chalky picks there like Joe alt to the Tennessee Titans, Dallas Turner to the Falcons at eight. I think there's a lot of creativity and things that for the most part, I mean, really outside of what we think the Vikings are going to do, make a lot of sense when you're looking at who would want to trade back, who would want to trade up and then who teams would target after trading back in this first round. I will go with a four. It was not avant-garde,

which was, I think, who was it? Was it Maurice Jones Drew, who did one a few years ago, where he had Carson Strong as a first-round draft pick, and then he went undrafted. Undrafted, I remember that. That was great. And that was an avant-garde mock. That was so wild that everyone went, wait wait is this like a mock mock like is this

a joke and so it wasn't that that would be a five out of five for me as if it went so far or if he had someone else going number one he didn't quite go totally nuts and the top three are the three quarterbacks we assume are going at the top and even McCarthy is a pretty common thing to be going for it just depends on who he's going to but with the vikings very creative creative enough to do a whole show around so i gotta give him his credit they're very creative mock how good is this for the vikings let's say this outcome happens and on that next tuesday you and i are sitting down and we are having this discussion i'd be like chris they've got terry and arnold and bo are sitting down and we are having this discussion. I'd be like, Chris, they've got Terry and Arnold and Bo Nix.

How do we grade that outcome? I'm going to say four. And I'm going to kind of stick to what I mentioned earlier that, you know, I do give some leeway when it comes to teams with quarterbacks and where they pick them relative to where I have them ranked. Now, you would think, well, hey, they get their quarterback at 23. They get a blue chip corner at 11. That should be a five. Well, just because I have Bo Nix graded a little bit lower, I would actually have rather

than pick Michael Penix here than Bo Nix, that would have given it a five. But if this plays out, I think it would be a really good outcome for the vikings and like we were kind of doing as you were running through all those picks i think it would be an absolute blast you would be literally on pins and needles for the vikings like waiting to see if broncos go quarterback at 12 or raiders go quarterback at 13 is there a surprise trade up like anytime they would announce a trade you'd be like ah is this the quarterback it would be really fun and if ultimately, you'd be like, ah, is this the quarterback? It would be really fun. And if ultimately, if you're just like, look, I don't watch these players. I just want them to pick a quarterback.

This would be basically a five, but I'll go for just because I'm, I'm not as high on a bow next as really the big four or five ahead of him. This is hard for me because historically, and I know that Teddy worked out for the Vikings until his knee and Lamar Jackson 32 works out really well. When I think of quarterbacks that are taken around this area, the first one that comes to mind is like Brady Quinn, Johnny Manziel, Kenny Pickett, even to some extent,

Mac Jones was taken at 16 where everybody else kind of let that player slide down a little bit. And that doesn't have to mean that the guy isn't good. There's examples of second round quarterbacks like Jalen Hurts, Jimmy Garoppolo, Derek Carr, who become good players late firsts and early seconds. But it kind of is a signal that no one thinks your guy is really great and that there are limitations to that player that are scaring off other quarterback, needy teams.

And if you get to 23 and take the guy, that means other teams were scared of something with that player, because there are other teams in between two really in particular that said, we'll let you take them. We're good. That would make me nervous. I would still, I have declared that any outcome with a quarterback in the first round gets an a grade for me. So I have to give it an a, but that's the only thing that holds me back. And I do think that that corner is super, super valuable. So I will give this just for the purposes of, well, being fair and not sticking

to my hard and fast rule, maybe a 3.5. I'm less excited about Knicks than I am Michael Penix potentially at that position, but that's just like my opinion, man. So I'll go with 3.5 for now, but on draft night, if it happens, they get an A for me. So I just, everybody be ready. One last point here on this. It felt like early in the pre-draft process and then it's kind of sizzled out, but the Sean Payton, Bo Nix connection was one that was like, oh, that's the guy for Denver that Sean Payton. I mean, he's not Drew Brees, but he is that style of quarterback. And to what you just said, if you're the Vikings, you're like, look, we don't love him enough here at 11.

Let's pick Terry and Arnold. Brian Flores does a backflip off the table. He's excited. And then Sean Payton passes on Bo Nix. It would be like Vikings fans would be like, oh, man, we can maybe get our quarterback. But it would be like, oh, why did Sean Payton pass on him like he's supposed to be the guy that wants the opposite of russell wilson to not run around for five seconds behind the line to just get the ball out make the right decision here's your first

read here's your second read um and for him to pass it wouldn't just be like hey the league is the league is kind of passing on him a pretty cut and dry fit with a coach that desperately needs a quarterback, and they literally are going to start Jared Stidham if they don't draft one in this class. And that is what the Broncos would have to deal with if they don't do that. For them to pass, it would be like, oh, did we maybe make the wrong decision if they went with Bo Nix at 23?

So that leads me to what will Vikings fans think? And I think you touched on a little bit of it right there. I, I think that there will be a huge portion of Vikings fans that says, did we just draft that guy? We don't talk about who was drafted in 2011 by the Vikings. Did we just settle? The word settle is going to be used over and over and over and over again.

I don't think that's fair, but I do think that's going to be the vast majority reaction because we over-convince ourselves that we know which quarterbacks are going to be good. And drafting him at 23, this is another reason to do it at 11. Not that they should care about the perception, but if you do it at 23, then you will get that. Well, they settled. They just had to take a guy, whoever was there rather than getting quote their guy, even if Nick's was the whole time, uh, that's how it will be viewed. And I I'm going to say that Vikings fans will give this about a two. I don't think that they would be that happy with it. Yeah.

That's what I'm going to say too, that I was in my head thinking 70 to 80% of Vikings fans would be not pleased. Very nervous. I won't mention the name again. Like, Hey, I made the huge mistake of,

of, of saying a few episodes ago. I do think there would be like 20 or 30% that'd be like, hey, look, we wanted a quarterback. We got one. Let's give him a chance. We got Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, the whole trio that we've talked about, TJ Hawkinson,

the good offensive line, the quarterback gurus on the sideline. But yes, I do think the vast majority or close to the vast majority of Vikings fans would not be happy i'll give it a two and it just brought up just popped into my head any other time and any other position if you wait on a player if you pick and i'm going to use a bills example again when the bills pick dante whitner 2006 draft we're going way back hello dinato was on the board the bills needed a d tackle they pick a safety dante whitner was actually like not that bad of a safety, but the hype of being a top 10 pick when you're watching Helody Notta go to Pro Bowls and be an All-Pro and win a lot of games in

Baltimore was like, dude, like the pressure was so ramped up. So if Dante Wittner was like a third round pick, I think he would have been probably, he would have signed a second deal in Buffalo everything would have been fine people like hey he's a pretty good player third rounder but with quarterbacks it's almost the inverse I think the longer you wait it's like or I'm not going to say you know if you pick Brock Purdy as the last pick in the draft but in round one I think the longer you wait then it's the inverse where it's like what we talked about where why didn't they pick you at 11 and there's almost even more pressure in a way like obviously if you're the first pick there's a lot of pressure but I think that there's uh a theory to be made

here that like with Bo Nix falling into this or whether it's Michael Penix whoever would be like you actually have more pressure because they didn't pick you at 11. Other teams passed on you. So it kind of would put that quarterback in a weird spot when any other position you'd be like, Hey, you're only the 23rd pick in the draft. Like we're not expecting you to be Randy Moss or whatever, which he was obviously, you know, picking the twenties. But I think with Bo Nix being there, it would just create kind of an awkward situation,

especially if things don't really work out right away in Minnesota. Well, I think this point is right on because when Justin Jefferson drops to whatever number he was taken, then you go, oh, my gosh, what a steal. They got a steal. Yeah, exactly, exactly. This guy was graded much higher, and you got him much lower. And with a quarterback, you go, OK, so nobody actually wanted him. And I mean, that's that's a great example with Will Levis, where I don't remember Tennessee reading their media going, what a steal.

They went, oh, well, they kind of got a quarterback, whatever. Even though it was what, one or two picks into the second second round it's the first pick in the second round wasn't it first right first pick in the second round and there was the same sort of perception of well the second round pick no one cares about him and it really changes everything about how we view that particular guy so it would be interesting to see the reaction i would argue strongly even in that case i get that part of it and I feel you on that part of it. And yet I also think if this is the guy they, they picked and decided it wasn't worth trading all that other capital, got a potential star at corner, and this guy can pop in and play with this offense, then here we go. Like, this is an a for me, even I'm going to be stubborn about it, even if it's not exactly the ideal way we

played it out during the lead up to the draft. So you and I also, another thing we wanted to get to was we watched back the best game of Jaden Daniels and Michael Penix in similar fashion to what we did with Drake May and JJ McCarthy. There's a small difference, which is that YouTube was very mad at us for putting in clips from what we saw. So we can't do that again. And these take less time because they're less complicated. These games are so good from both players that there isn't as much to go. Oh, well, Drake May, what were you doing pal uh this game is absolutely spectacular the one i watched of jayden daniels so let me just ask it this way fresh eyes on michael penix you've been not as high on michael penix as me throughout this whole thing and i will admit i

have some bias from watching the heck out of this game with te and thinking this looks good to me um what what new did you come away with from re-watching him at his absolute best all right I'm gonna call this Michael Penix CJ Stroud against Georgia game that when I watched it live and then went back in early like a week later and like watched it for draft eval, I was like, all right, I've seen this from him. I've seen these pinpoint throws down the field, his receivers making ridiculous catches, like the whole receiver group.

I remember Mike Renner, formerly of PFF, like tweeted that the Washington receiver group has better ball skills than some NFL wide receiver rooms. And it kind of felt like that in this game, just throwing darts all over the field, but I'm calling it the CJ Stroud against Georgia game, because that is last draft season. What we talked about going into that game in the college football semifinals,

same, same portion of the season that we were like, is CJ Stroud mobile enough? I don't think he is. And then in that game, he was like running all over the field, like creating with his legs rollouts. It just all looks so smooth in this game with fresh eyes for Michael Penix. There were like five or six throws that were, that came off like drifting in the

pocket, rolling out, uh, being flushed from the pocket, still making a pinpoint throw toward the sideline. There's a play where Byron Murphy Murphy who might be a Vikings pick is probably going to go somewhere in the top half of the first round wins cleanly right up the middle Michael Penix like shows the functional side of his athleticism just steps to his left steps up in the pocket and throws a dart over the middle in the first half I believe to Jalen or no to Roma Dunzey the touchdown that got tipped and then Jalen Polk caught, same thing. There's pressure from the outside. You're like, oh, he's supposed to be this like statue who can't really move. Steps up into the pocket, throws a rocket that's perfectly placed, makes a diving play from the Texas defensive back, pops up in the air, Jalen Polk catches it.

So I was like more surprised that just rewatching it like two or three months later, the big time throws that Michael Penix made when he wasn't just perfectly clean inside the pocket where we know he can really excel there. And there was even a designed run in this game where he keeps the ball on his own read. Like he's Tim Tebow at Florida 15 years ago, runs up the middle. And I believe on that play, he actually like slides. So he doesn't take a hit. There's another play where he scrambles up the middle on like a third and long. He gets close to the first down.

It was just kind of almost jarring to me where I was like, actually, and not the Texas defense is Georgia's defense, but I was like, actually this quarterback can actually move and has just that glimmer of the Patrick Mahomes type athleticism where he's maybe just nimble enough to elude pressure, keep the eyes up and keep all his mechanics and still make good throws on the field. Right. Even if he's not going to be an impact runner, that's not going to be a big part of his game, nor would you want it to be with the ACL tears. Really what is important is the Joe Burrow pocket presence where here comes a rush. How can you dance your way into a good space to still throw an accurate pass? And there

were other times through the season, because I watched a lot of him this year that he was not really doing that. And if there was pressure, if it was a muddy pocket, then he had a lot of trouble. And so you're saying saying will the real playmaking pennix please stand up is this something that just happened one game out of nowhere or was he inspired to be like you know what i'm not checking down in this game i i'm feeling it i'm just gonna make plays uh did he want to prove to the world that hey i was strong against georgia right you guys all stay i'll say that i can So I'm going to go out and show that I can rather than just playing within the structure.

Maybe you throw off some of the coaching in a situation like that where you go, look, I know I've been coached to do X, Y, and Z, but this is me time. We're trying to win here. I don't know. That's something that Kevin O'Connell has to sit down with Michael Penix

and watch it back and go, where was this, my guy? But it was a special standout performance that made me at least believe that's in there. How consistently he could do it? I don't know. But when you say, oh, he's only a statue. Well, there are at least film clips that you can show where he is not. For me, the biggest Jaden Daniels change from watching back his game against Florida, which is literally one of the best college football games ever played by any human to ever step on college football

field it's insane you cannot believe i mean he's got an 85 yard touchdown run he's got a 45 yard touchdown pass he's got another 50 something yard run in this game. Just they had no chance. How demoralized Florida looks trying to tackle him and the way that he moves at high speed. There is only two guys, and I guess I could go back to Randall Cunningham, but three guys who I've ever seen move this way at this high of a velocity. And you all know who they are. It's Michael Vickick it's lamar jackson it's randall cunningham because they're the only guys who have ever been this fast but

there is a play where he's in the open field and there is a safety coming downhill to take his life and he just jukes the heck out of him but doesn't slow down nobody caught him it's just at full speed and he just flies there are guys running full speed behind him like i'm gonna get him now and they can't he is that freaking fast and he runs he has a routine 15 yard run where he just kind of rolls out and there's nothing there he's like all right and he just cruises and gets 15 yards like what that's how fast this guy is but the thing that stuck out everyone knows that he's really fast the guy is. But the thing that stuck out, everyone knows that he's really fast. The thing stuck out to me is that the ball actually came out quickly. Now he's

got a lot of help. He throws a little hitch route for maybe seven yards. Malik neighbors makes it 24 yards. He throws a little out route to Malik neighbors or Brian Thomas catches the ball. And it's just, Oh, that should be a tackle eight yard gain a little nice pass. Oh no. It's about 40 yards down the sideline because the guy breaks tackle and just goes, yeah, there were so many plays by the receivers that you did come away going, wow. I mean, who couldn't throw to these guys? And that's a major reason for his production, but I expected to feel like, all right, man, throw the ball, throw the ball. And I really didn't.

I think as the season went along, he got better at throwing it on time. He throws a little slant, throws a little hitch, throws a little out. There was a quicker passing game in this particular contest from him and his, his motion does not take long. But another part of it is when he did have to take his time, the offensive line was good too. He was sitting, sitting, okay, let me find my guy. Oh, I'll get him for a big gain. It is hard to factor how incredible the offense was around him. But I thought, you know what? Maybe he could play on time better than I had previously had in my brain.

Interesting. What I would say to that is there's probably, if there are any detractors on Jaden Daniels, you can say, hey, look, Florida's defense was probably like the worst defense they've had, which is in a long time, which is probably true, but it's still like Florida Gators level athleticism out there. And like what you said in like that game is not fresh in my mind, but that was one that really stood out where I agreed.

Like that intro that you said, like one of the best individual performances in college football history. I agree like that. It was sensational. You're right to point out that the speed at which he's and the distance that he's creating when he's running away from like a Florida, probably five-star DB or four-star DBs all over the field was incredibly striking in that game. And to go back to Michael Penix, I just wanted to bring up his stat line in that game,

29 of 38 for 430 with two touchdowns and no picks. So like if you want, like I think the J. the JJ McCarthy game was like 22 of 25 this was like you know nine incompletions but 430 yards I don't even know what the yards per attempt is it was crazy high it was as effortless of a big time throw just like bombing that I've ever seen or that at least pops into my head where it was just like 40 yard throw, 20 yard throw, 50 yard throw, 40 yard throw, 20 yard throw.

And Penix really made it look easy against, again, not an amazing defense, but to Von Dre sweats, getting drafted early. Byron Murphy is going to be a first rounder. They have a corner, Ryan Watts,

who's probably going on day three. Jalen Ford is going to be a fourth or a fifth round pick the linebacker. So they got four like NFL players in this draft and they were in the college football semi-final so like these two performances that we watched were truly like I don't want to necessarily say that they were the best ever but they are up there they were tremendous shows of the strengths of both of these quarterbacks yeah I believe that Daniels was the first ever to throw for three 50 and run for 200, which sounds like something that I have only ever done on NCAA. I don't know. You'd have to play maybe a 10, 12 minute per quarter game to get that much, even on a video game. So it was as

ridiculous as it sounds, but there was a lot of really nice NFL throws in there though. It wasn't some cartoon against random Mac team or something like you said, I mean, this was, this took really good plays from him, including one that stuck out to me. That was a slot fade. The Vikings love slot fade. That's where the outside receiver, you put the guy in the slot, say it's Jefferson. They love this with Jefferson. So you have Addison outside. he runs a little hitch maybe a seven yard hitch and the slot receiver goes on a deep route but fades it out toward the sideline so it's kind of like running down the sideline but you create the space out there for your guy to work and the vikings love this play. Jefferson has destroyed people with it. And Daniels took the ball one step back and dropped it in the bucket. So perfectly. I think it was to Brian Thomas that

I was like, Oh, okay. All right. Now I think he's going number two overall. So he's probably not going to be available to the Vikings. If he does end up being there at number four and that's who the Vikings get, I think he can make a lot more throws that they like to use than what was previously in my head. So that's the way I'm going to put it. Yeah. I think if he gets to three, the Vikings need to, I mean, if it goes, if it goes Caleb Williams, Drake may, and Jaden Daniels is there at three, I think you have to like maybe even up your offer to the Patriots. Now maybe the Patriots would feel the same and say, Hey, look, Oh my God, it's Jaden Daniels is here.

We've had him written in pen at number two for the longest time, but any of the concerns, the pressure to sacrate because of the Vikings offensive line and the weapons that they have, where I think like you mentioned with good weapons. And as the season progressed, Jaden Daniels showed that he can get the ball out relatively quickly. He's not like totally just one read and then run type of quarterback. That would be a situation where just talk about all the athleticism

that you would have on the field facing the Vikings. And then what I've been begging for forever, someone on the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree to have a quarterback who can run a little bit. Like, I don't know, like it was, I guess Trey Lance, but we never really saw him. It's like Matthew Stafford, like the, or is Stafford or maybe Matt Ryan, like the two best athletes that a Kyle Shanahan coaching tree, maybe Joe Burrow. There's never been a guy that's been able to add that other wrinkle that we've seen from, I don't want to say a ton of other teams, but it's a growing number of teams who can utilize their quarterback as a runner. It would be a lot of fun

if Jane Daniels somehow found his way onto the Vikings. Yeah. I think Jordan love and very briefly are true. Yeah. Okay. Three for one year. And that would be, that would be it. And you saw, he was awesome. He was right. Exactly. So, uh, Chris Trapasso, you were doing phenomenal work leading up to the NFL draft. People should go to CBS sports and find your work there. And we have one more show. Uh, think of all the memories. We'll share them all of, uh, the combine podcasts and now all the way up in which we will do our final mock and decide what we think the Minnesota Vikings will do. I did get it right last year. I don't know if I'm going to get it right this time, so we'll see.

But thanks for your time as always. Thanks, everybody, for listening slash watching. And sorry about the highlights, but maybe you just can imagine seeing those guys. We'll put a link in the description. All right. We'll see y'all later. Football. Football.