Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - PFF's Brad Spielberger does a mock Justin Jefferson extension negotiation

Episode Date: September 2, 2023

PFF's cap expert Brad Spielberger talks about why he likes TJ Hockenson's contract for both sides and discusses the exact details and then what the contract means to fitting Christian Darrisaw and Justin Jefferson under the cap. And then, an EPIC mock Justin Jefferson contract extension. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here. And even though I have done my very, very best to talk about TJ Hawkinson's contract and Justin Jefferson's contract situations, I am no contract expert. So what we do here on the show is we find one and we know one. That is PFF's Brad Spielberger. What is going on, Brad? How are you?

I'm doing great, and hopefully sound better to the people. Thank you to yourself for fixing my mic situation. So I'm feeling fantastic. Well, you know, it's not as easy as you think. All this beautiful setup. I mean, we make hard look easy. You know, that's what we do here in podcasting. No, actually, you just had to turn down the game is it was really that simple, but it could be of complicated contracts. Am I

right? So the, the interesting thing about TJ Hawkinson's contract, other than his hold in, which got everyone laughing about different ailments that he was coming up with throughout just the flesh wound, though. He's okay, and he'll be good to go when the season starts. But the contract was sort of touted as he wants to reset the tight end market. He wants to be the highest paid tight end. And it appears that that is the case per average annual value. But average annual value doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot

to how the front office can operate with other players and other contracts so explain how we should actually view tj hawkinson's contracts yeah you know in some ways you could argue he did reset the market in others like you're talking about the way it is structured the way the cash is paid out you could say the team won in certain aspects and i think a tight end particular, a position that's often a one veteran contract position, just like a running back, you kind of hit the age of 30 and you're probably not getting paid anymore. I would say there's two things.

So he reset the market by getting $48 million over the first three years of the deal, $16 million per year, obviously not in line with Darren Waller's $17 million per year, but that contract was adding on to two existing years. He's obviously an older player, might not see the end of that deal. I think you could just argue on a three-year cash flow basis with Hawkinson topping George Kittle by over $2 million there. He does help push the position market forward, which is great. But then on the flip side, you look from the Minnesota Vikings standpoint, and they're paying him $32 million over the first two new years of the deal. Again, that's $16 million per year number.

But you look at a Mark Andrews in Baltimore, made $34.25 million over the first two new years of his extension, and George Kittle about $33.7 million. So, you know, there is a big signing bonus to 18 million, all those things. But I think you could say both teams won in certain aspects. I think it's good that Hawkinson pushed this market forward, but he didn't, you know, go crazy and break the bank for the Vikings. So am I right to understand that after 2025 or i'm sorry after 2024 that the other part of the guaranteed money is in there kicks is that the technical word in there uh because it is fully guaranteed

dollar number is 30 million but potential guarantee is 42 like what does that gap mean how do i fill that in yeah so i would say this is actually, again, a win for Hawkinson. Something we've seen mostly at other positions and I guess other teams as well. The Vikings do try to push back on this in some deals. So his 2025 money becomes fully guaranteed. It's currently injury guaranteed right now. So it's not completely unprotected. But in 2024, probably mid-Marcharch i actually don't have the exact details

i'm the one who uploaded it over the cap based on some numbers i got but i don't know the exact trigger date but nevertheless um his 2025 salary of about 10 and a half or 10.9 million uh this is bad radio that becomes fully guaranteed uh in 2024 and kicks in so what we usually say a lot is virtual guarantee is that 40 million or 40 and a half million, then there's 2 million more in 2026. That is injury guaranteed, but only becomes fully guaranteed in 2026, right? So the first big chunk is a year early. The last little chunk is in that year and it's going to be tough for him to, you know, earn those later years of the contract. Okay. It's not bad radio because that's why you're here

is to explain how this actually works because my capabilities only go so far with just reading over the cap.com. But so the point being that when you have money guaranteed, which is the number that gets tweeted out by the NFL insider, that's for injury. So should he get hit by a bus today which might be possible considering his training camp and all the things that I'm just kidding stop um

but uh you know were he to get hit by a bus today then he would get 42 million dollars right and but the fully guaranteed part of it is 30 so after after he makes the 30, it has to kick in. But it sounds like it's almost impossible that that would not end up kicking in. So there's a way to look at it is that he's getting 42 guaranteed, which is higher than some of the other tight ends in the league. Now, the thing that people care about the most and the team cares about the most is the cap hits. And the point that I made was you may look at him and say, well, I don't think he's better than George Kittle. And at Darren Waller's best, I don't think he's better than Darren Waller. And that may be true if you're only looking at that $17.1 million number. But when it goes from five this year to 14 to 15 in the first three years, to me, that is very flexible for the team to work around that.

Really not a problem at all. In fact, it's about what he was scheduled to make with his fifth year option this year. And if he had been franchise tagged, that's about what he would have made for next year if he was franchise tagged anyway. So in my opinion, looking at this, you get one of the best players at his position at a very reasonable number. He gets a lot of cash. $42 million guaranteed is what he's presumably going to make. That's tons for him.

I just think that this ended up working out really well for everyone. Agreed. And I think really the genesis of that opinion should just stem from, look, if you trade a second, third-round pick for a player. And yes, Minnesota got back, what, two fourths or whatever that whole deal was there. But if you trade premium draft capital for a player, you're going to pay him a lot of money. Right. Especially a former top 10 pick that comes into your building and his second interceptions and receiving yards from the trade deadline through the end of the season, trailing only maybe the greatest tight end of all time and Travis Kelsey, he's going to get a big deal.

And so to keep it at 16 and a half million per year, I know she up there put out the 17.1 that's with incentives. So we would actually ignore that. It's, it's a 16 and a half million per year deal. Yeah. And then of course the last perspective we always have to take, we're talking about a guy and I think he in particular sometimes gets knocked

for not being a great blocker. I think he's a fine blocker, but you signed Josh Oliver for a reason. That's what you want him to do and Hawkinson to be a big-bodied mismatch. You look at the wide receiver market, $16.5 million is a fringe top-20 contract. So, again, they are different. I get all that but a 25 year old top 10 pick with trade leverage coming off a phenomenal season and you make him a top 30 paid pass catcher in the entire nfl yeah and i think that when we've been spending a lot

of the summer analyzing the front office under quayse Daffelmensa because the more time that goes by and the more moves that happen, the more we can say, is he good at this? I mean, someone's a new general manager. I mean, this is the question to answer. Like, does this man know what he's doing running your football team? I mean, imagine if you were a Giants fan and you saw Dave Gettleman at the podium, like pretending to make fun of analytics with his fingers. You had to be like, oh, no, this is not good.

And then he drafts a running back and then he's like, oh, my gosh, this is going terribly. Drafted Daniel Jones because he saw three passes at the Senior Bowl. I mean, like, OK, so you usually don't know that fast that it's going to be a problem. With Kweisi Adafomensa last year, there was clearly, I think, a directive to compete as much as they could last year. And they did. And won 13 games. Brought in a player like Zedarius Smith. Brought back Patrick Peterson, who was really excellent.

And they did what they were supposed to do. They kept Kirk Cousins. Competed. Won the division. should have gone better in the playoffs, but that was kind of the goal, right? To get to that point. And then this year have torn a major part of the roster down. But in the middle of that is trading for and extending a 26 year old elite player at his position not the easiest thing to do i can't remember too many trade deadline deals where you get a guy and he becomes a foundational piece of your long term i mean i think that as we analyze this like this goes to the top of the lists of moves that have been made by quesia da fomenta and if there's more where this comes from i mean that's it's

going to work out well i mean this is i, one of the best moves in the NFL recently. 110 percent. And I think at the time we talked about maybe back during last season, I mentioned the pick swaps, right? Like you still retain draft capital, which was so important this past year when you knew you already did not have a lot of draft picks to work with coming into it. It's not just giving up a second and third to get those swaps back from Detroit, is a mid-round pick in its own right earlier obviously than your own picks so you still have some access to cheap deals but yeah in division I like the trade value at the outset and then it simply could not have gone better right like we see a lot where the team has a vision for a player when he comes in but it takes Waddle in the playbook or he doesn't gel with the quarterback or you know name excuses or name whatever here and there, there was simply none of that. It was so seamless. The guy had 10 catches

for 129 yards in the playoff game. Probably shouldn't have had the last target in the last catch, but, but nevertheless, you know, it's, it is beautiful to see. I think, yeah, I mean, I could think of other moves. I think it is probably the best move he's made so far as a GM. And again, I think it ties into, you mentioned the analytics piece. Like, is it a big contract? Sure. All those things are tight ends different than wide receivers. Yes.

But I think his example is, I still think this position is extremely devalued. I'm comfortable doing this because look, he's the number two receiver on the team. I like Jordan Addison. He's going to be a good player. In week one, TJ Hawkinson is your wide receiver too. And you're paying him $16.5 million a year. That's what I mean. I didn't have a ranking for all the moves. Probably Philly trading for AJ Brown was pretty good as part of the best moves you could think of, but it's got to be in there. I mean, it would make a top 10 list of the last moves in the last 365 days.

And that's what you want to see is taking advantage of opportunities that are there to go in a way that move was an all in toward that season. But the fact that you could extend him the way that they did after he was that kind of fit. And it also seemed in very much lockstep with Kevin O'Connell, which I think is really important for coaches and general managers to be on the same page. And it's also unbelievably difficult for that to happen. And so O'Connell at the press conference, I asked him, like, what is it about TJ?

Like, why is this guy fit so well? Obviously, we've seen like Chase Claypool in Chicago. Not so much. But why did he fit so well? And O'Connell talked about when he was watching film of Matthew Stafford, that he kept noticing TJ Hawkinson and thinking about like, Oh, I like this guy. And there's like things I could do with this guy. And then to be able to acquire a player that's perfect for your coach and have them gel the way they did and then keep him, I think it's

just good for the synergy of where this thing is going to have to go with those two being on the same page. For sure. And I think it does show, look, I think we talk a lot about, you know, rewarding in-house players and having draft picks that you keep around and all of those things. And I think that is probably the number one most important example of kind of a trickle down effect of roster construction. But I also think, look, the team's going to continue to bring players in, whether it's free agents or trades or whatever, and showing, hey, you come in, you buy into the system right away. We're going to put you in a position to succeed. We have a plan for you. I think it's going to have guys motivated and energized saying there's an

opportunity both on the field and at the bank account to, to really excel here in Minnesota. I mean, you see here, TJ talk about it. I don't think it's just because he got paid. Like he sounds like he's so, so happy with the entire situation.

It really could not have gone more flawlessly for both parties, but yeah, the, the O'Connell though, it's interesting too. I think you could tell, like you could tell it was like exactly the kind of guy you wanted to work with because it showed up right away yeah not to uh pat myself on the back for yesterday's great

questions but uh he did talk about Hawkinson did talk about gelling so well with the culture and he threw in the little line well it's not like that everywhere in the NFL and you're like where else were you uh before this so I think that the the Vikings are building something with O'Connell and Kweisi Adafo-Mensah that is unique in the NFL that players have really been uh gravitated to and that I'm sure played a huge role in T.J. Hawkinson staying here but there are questions though that's a I mean we i think we're both on the same page about the move and the contract but one of the questions that is natural here is all right jefferson is going to get paid the most money of any receiver christian derisaw is going to be at the very highest part of the market for left tackles next year and you have to do these there's no debates about them when the players are that good.

Should we let them go? Like, Hawkinson, you could get a little galaxy brain and be like, maybe Josh Oliver will be good. But with these other guys, no, no, there's no discussion there. How do they fit all of these contracts? Because you're going to have two, now three, elite sort of high-level top-of of market contracts just on the offensive side? I think they already have planned for how they're going to do that. It's very simple. There are two

players on the team that are among the highest paid guys in the team that could have been extended this offseason to multi-year deals. And instead they are on one year contracts entering the season. I'm of course talking about Kirk Cousins and Daniil Hunter. And there is, there's an opportunity cost to every single thing you do in building a team and spending your resources, and those are good players. They've been impactful in Minnesota for, I mean, for Daniil for a very long time, obviously, but those aren't by accident.

They want those guys around, and Daniil in particular, I heard it was never from them more than a one-year offer. They do like him a lot, but I think it really is. We're about to be spending like $75 million on three guys in the offense that does not include a quarterback. What are we going to do? And the second part of the answer is, if you do hit on a rookie contract quarterback,

you can kind of do whatever the heck you want. That's obviously hyperbolic, but you can get away with a lot. And you're not getting away with anything by paying Justin Jefferson. You know, he's probably the most valuable non-quarterback in the entire NFL. You give him whatever he wants. Folks, I've been spending my summer as part of the Grill Masters Club. And let me tell you, this is a team you want to join. No matter what your level of a barbecuer, I'm a simple grill guy,

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did signing Hawkinson say essentially that those guys are guaranteed not to be Vikings in the future? I wouldn't say guarantee even Kirk cousins. I really think, you know, cause I would probably lean more so to Hunter sticking around just because they really need a good defensive player. He is older, but I think he probably, if healthy has a couple more years in him where again, you know, Kirk was fine last year, but you want to have a succession plan. You know, you see the green bays of the world that always have the next guy ready, all those things.

I think either guy could come back, but I do think what they've established is we like you. We hope you like it here. We're not going to make you one of the highest paid players in your position. We're not going to give you the most favorable terms in the world. We're just banking on, look, we'll be fair to a degree, but then you also will just i

mean look at harrison smith you'll stay in the city you've been in for a long time your kids can stay here like it sounds like i'm kind of weaponizing those things and you know to a degree i am but but that is the business um and i think that's how they'll approach it i think if daniel hunter hated being a minnesota viking he wouldn't have gone through all this you know with his contract i think we're going on is it like the fourth straight year of what's going on with daniel's contract every single year in the off season and then it got serious for about four days this year where he was holding in and didn't make up any uh injuries or sicknesses and uh just said i'm holding in but uh you know the

fact that they've done this with his contract year after year makes me wonder if eventually he puts the foot down and just says, you know what, I mean, if you guys aren't committing, that's essentially what Kirk Cousins told us. Like, if they're not committing, that's fine. I'll just play, and then we'll go forward with our lives and see what happens. And with the Kirk thing, I think that there's probably a number of wins,

a playoff round that they could get to where they would have to say an offensive ranking where they would have to say, man, he is just the perfect fit with these guys. And we can win. If we improve the defense a little bit next year, sign an extension that has a lower hit for next year. So we get some cap space, you know, deal deal with that dead money spread it out and all that but the standard for that i think is just very very high because when you start signing just good players

like hawkinson to really big contracts it's a pretty clear signal that you're going to need that 30 plus million that would be allocated to Kirk Cousins and everybody seems okay to just move on from Cousins at this point so I think unless it's kind of an outlier from where we think this season is going that they are going to move on and then you're giving the next quarterback one hell of a setup to drop into 100 and I think a couple things there so so first and of course we'll see once the wins and or losses start rolling in but I think the beauty of last year even though you know you and I would both agree I'm not going back on this that you could argue there were some downsides to like

winning so many games and and maybe feeling a need to to kind of run it back but first of all they didn't run it back they moved on from a lot of players but secondly I just mentioned you get Harrison Smith to take a pretty significant haircut on his contract you get a bunch you have two hold-ins but you get deals done with both of them you have kirk who yeah he's probably not stoked about his contract situation but it doesn't seem like he's kind of you know ruffling any feathers as a result like i think quasi and kevin have probably earned trust and credibility and respectability where they could navigate all these things even though they've been on the job for, what, 14 months or whatever it's been. So I think that sticks out a lot and is meaningful.

Yeah, I do think Kirk would need to, like, I'm talking like maybe NFC Championship game type level for them to commit again. At the same time, though, you know, I've been trying to get Trey Lance on the Vikings for a very long time. That obviously did not happen. You know, I don't really know where they turn to uh because they shouldn't be picking that high um but i guess you never know and i also think that there are teams that have not picked super high and found quarterbacks that maintain their competitiveness i mean think about this like if the new england England Patriots picked Mac Jones and did not hire Matt Patricia and say, got like the best receiver on earth somehow, like, like they got traded Randy Moss or something, you know, or whatever. I mean, how good would that look right now? But instead it was Jacoby Myers and they let him go and it was matt patricia and it was a bad setup but i i feel like

even with pittsburgh and kenny pickett all i see all the time is how good kenny pickett's looking at camp and they get george pickens who looks like a good receiver and they've got a great coach and a great defense i i just think it's a little bit of a myth that you have to draft that guy right like number one and i even think about dak prescott. And I have a ton of respect for Dak. I think sometimes people are a little harsh on him. But they drafted him in the fourth round. And he came in as a rookie and won 13 games. I mean, not because he was unbelievable, but because of the offensive setup they had.

Elite offensive line. Great running game. Great wide receivers to start with. And I think we've seen that a number of times throughout history where even with Carson Wentz, we know now Carson Wentz was not that good. How about Jared Goff? Like he gets Robert Woods and Cooper Cup and Andrew Whitworth and you're good to go. I think that that's what they're going to try to emulate.

And I don't think it has to necessarily be number one overall. Even Jalen Hurts is a recent example of that. And I think that Hawkinson, it all kind of ties in together. It's like, if you have these pieces ready to go, that they're going to have to take that risk. And there is always the chance that it's Sam Darnold and it doesn't matter. So, you know, I guess we'll see what happens there. But on the matter of Justin Jefferson, I want to do a mock negotiation here, but I want to ask you this question because it's sort of been the question of the week for me that I've been asking people

and myself, which is, can it be a successful off season for the Vikings front office without a Jefferson extension? Absolutely. And I know Vikings fans probably want to see it. I get the argument of why not sign this guy as soon as humanly possible to a deal just because, you know, it's not quite quarterback, but receiver contracts probably at the top at least are not about to, you know, come down. But the counter to that is you go look at historically first round picks that are not quarterbacks. They actually usually

wait till after the fourth year. I mean, Justin Jefferson's awesome. Nick Bosa is probably as valuable or in that conversation with Justin Jefferson. He's now, you know, a week away from his fifth season and has not signed a deal. And that is kind of the standard is you pick up the fifth year option. You go into that fourth year. Are there exceptions? Sure. Even a guy like Colton Miller with the Raiders, there's a couple, you know, it's happened a couple times here and there, but the standard actually is you wait until after the fourth year. And then to the point of the market, I don't know that a player is going to come through because, look, the Bengals are not extending Jamar Chase after three seasons.

I would put money on that, right? So, like, who else is going to come through and materially change what Justin Jefferson is? I'm not sure there's anyone who's going to do that. So I would say yes. I'll tell you this. I actually don't think they're going to get it done before the season. I'd be surprised if they do. I certainly wouldn't call it a failure, but I don't know that I would go full like you can't get an A plus. I've been very much on board with a lot of the things that they've done. I mean, moving on from Delvin Cook, you would have thought they threw a puppy into traffic if you watch national TV when they cut

Delvin Cook, but having actually watched the season made a ton of sense the way they handled that. And, you know, they made themselves worse in the interim to get better in the longterm, which I think is something that, man, we have, you and I have been slamming them over for years. And so they finally taken that approach. So very much on board. Hawkinson, the official stance of Purple Insider was pay Hawkinson and they did. So they've done a lot of things that I've been on board with. Don't extend Kirk Cousins. They didn't. But if you leave that one out there, it's going to make people pretty nervous. And I understand fully

what you're saying is that it would be unusual outside of a quarterback but this is just not any old wide receiver i mean this is the premier player in the nfl and probably the second most valuable position and even our friend hayley english when she did a study on how much jefferson was actually worth he was worth an average quarterback's worth in terms of like wins above replacement, which is near impossible for any position player. So I look at him as being just a little bit different from almost anybody else that we talk about in that whole third, fourth year extension conversation. No, I completely agree. I think I texted you yesterday. If you were to list out the 20,

let's say 20 most valuable players in the NFL, let's say you put Jefferson at 20. The only reason you do that is because one through 19 are all playing quarterback. And then he's ahead of, you know, like he's like, he's arguably ahead of like a Jimmy Garoppolo. Like, like where the bar is, is like still like an average functional starter. Maybe, you know, slightly below that range, but nevertheless, that's a whole separate conversation. Yeah, he is different different i totally get that i just think their their perspective might be his value could not be any higher than it is right now we're not saying we're not they're

not hoping he gets hurt or something i'm not saying that at all uh but there's no rush you know from their from their standpoint all right mock negotiation time. You are the Vikings. I am Justin Jefferson. Propose me. Give me what you think my contract should be, and I'll say yes or no. Wait, hold on. I have these Oakleys, and Justin Jefferson wears Oakleys. I'm putting them on. Hold on.

I got to be the bad guy here. Yep. All right. Propose me. Hey, Justin. This is Quazy slash Rob. How you doing? So, look, you know, we love you. You know we love you.

If we think you're one of the best players at your position in the entire NFL, here's where we're going to start, okay? You may have seen media reports saying that Tyreek Hill is the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL at four years, $120 million. That is fugazi. That is not a real number. That is not the reality of the situation whatsoever tyree kill is making 75 million dollars over the next three years or three new years of his deal and in our opinion the highest paid wide receiver is cooper cup of the los angeles rams making 80

million dollars over three years so let's start with that foundation a little over 26 million dollars per year we're willing to offer you 2828 million a year on a four-year contract. That is where we're going to start, $112 million over four. What do you think, Justin? I didn't hear over 30. I didn't hear over 30. And I understand how things work, but I didn't hear over 30. I didn't hear highest paid wide receiver in the entire national football league.

And I understand your cap mumbo jumbo. And that's what makes you so good. But at the same time, I didn't hear highest paid wide receiver in the NFL. So what I'm looking for is I am number one at catching and running and also on Madden. So I make Kirk C her cousins look really good. You know, everybody else on the whole team could get hurt. We'd still win because of me. That's a pretty big deal. No, he doesn't act like this at all, by the way, that's I'm just being completely ridiculous. This is not how he acts, but it's how I would act in his position.

If I were negotiating with you. But truly though, I didn't hear highest paid wide receiver in the NFL. And I think it's gotta be at least 32 per year AAV, or you're going to have a tough time convincing me. And when I look at my total guaranteed money, it's, it's gotta be at least 80 to 85 to, to beat out Cooper cup for the most fully guaranteed.

Or I'm just going to wait till next year and then we'll see if I get TJ Hawkinson disease and can't practice. All right. Well, hopefully your ears are clean and not infected. I hear you, Justin. I totally, totally hear you. Here's what I'll say. You want to be the highest paid on the paper compared to these funny money contracts. OK, we're open to that. As you're well aware, we love doing a five-year extension here in Minnesota. Brian O'Neill, most recently one of them, but of course, Daniel Hunter, Stefan Diggs, the reason you're on the team right now. We can go down the list of these long deals we like to give out. We like having the financial

security. We like knowing you're going to be here. We want you to retire a Viking. Why would you not want a five-year deal? So we'll give you the 32 you want on a five-year, $160 million deal. Keeps you in town for seven more seasons. What do you think about that? I really like that, and I like being a Viking. I look very cool in purple, and it goes with my shades. However, there is a little bit of an issue. There's this guy, DK Metcalf.

He's pretty good at football too. He took a three-year deal, which means that he's going to get one of these contracts again, which seems pretty smart of him. So what if I took 32 million per year over three years with a very large percentage of that guaranteed because I'm only 24 years old. And it seems like it's pretty safe to guarantee most of that money. So what about a three-year deal so I can hit the lottery twice? And oh, by the way, why don't we just take that franchise tag element out of it? Why don't we also take out any trade out of it that I have to approve every trade that you try to make if you were to ever do that?

So I'm glad you mentioned at the top there the uniform. Where else in the NFL can you have your LSU colors also for your NFL team? That only exists in one city. And also, we've got the gritty making money. Everything you're doing on the football field, absolutely. You're making money hand over fist off of this field, and we love helping you with that. You know we're a first-rate organization. You voted us number hand over fist off of this field. And we love helping you with that. You know, we're a first rate organization.

You voted us number one in the NFL PA report card for a reason. You know, the great food in the cafeteria and all these things, you're not going to get that everywhere else. So three years, we simply cannot do. You mentioned a franchise tag. We don't want to do it. We'd hate to do it. We really don't want to do it. But think about it this way in our opinion we might have four more years of cost control over you justin if we went fourth year fifth year option and two franchise tags that's that's a long time for a deal and we're

willing to go there if we have to would you like to play some games next year with not me uh because that seems like that could hurt if you were to do that. I mean, it's not just missing the practice. I could also miss some games as well. I'll take the fines like you mentioned. Oakley will pay those fines for me as long as I wear these glasses the whole time that I'm sitting out. Also, the other thing is, too, I've been watching a lot of basketball, and I noticed that a lot of these basketball players, if they want to be traded somewhere, they can make enough noise and be traded somewhere. So, you know, I see my guy, Joe Burrow over there in Cincinnati. He looks like he could use another friend. I bet they

would trade for me. We can reunite over there next to the, uh, the underpass where they practice or whatever. I mean, I'm look, I don't, I'm good no matter where I play, okay? So I don't need the cafeteria food, even though that's great. I don't need it. So I'm just saying, like, I could make a lot of noise and this could get a little bit ugly. I mean, I could pull a Carson Palmer on you if I wanted to. Look, you know Minnesota sports, all the stars eventually leave.

That's what happens. So, you know, I've got a little leverage too. I think you're kind of acting like I don't. First, I would say you've obviously never experienced Skyline Chili, which is a blessing. And I would recommend you continue in that endeavor. But, alright, here's the deal. You want three, we want five. Let's meet

in the middle at four. I mentioned Tyree Kill's a four-year deal. I know DK Metcalf and a couple other guys got a three-year. But a lot of the big contracts this position, Stefan Diggs' extension was a four-year deal. We can go down the line. How about we meet in the middle at four and we get you the most money in the NFL at $31 million per year,

which again, in our eyes, is topping a 26.67 number. We're exploding on that number, but we do think you are the best receiver in football. So four years, $31 million apiece. in football so four years 31 million a piece let's say four years 115 let's make it clean what do you think about that how much we got of that guaranteed you said you wanted a top cooper cup at 75 let's see here hold on let me crunch some numbers here for you justin 115 over 31 time oh that's some bad. 125 is what I meant to say, not 115. So 125 over 4, which would get you to 31 and a quarter per year. And let's say this.

Let's get you 85 million of that is total guarantee. We can talk about the full guarantee, but that's going to be the total guarantee package. Is that something you'd be interested in? Now you're speaking my language. We got ourselves a deal. How is this hard, Rob Brzezinski? Yeah, it took us five minutes.

What's the deal? It worked out. They can get this done before the season. You know what? I actually think that's a damn good deal. I'm not even messing around. I was messing around a little bit with the sunglasses, but I actually

think that what we just laid out there makes a ton of sense for Justin Jefferson. He has to be number one. He has to get the most guaranteed money because it's an insult if he doesn't, when you're the top player. And I also think that if that it would make sense for him to want three, I've referenced the Joel Corey article where he threw that out. The reason why he would want three. But for the Vikings, they don't like to do that. If they have stars, they want five. And meet in the middle. And I think you got yourself a contract. I mean, I honestly do think that it will come out to something very similar to what we just laid out. But all the particulars are going to take some time. And I think if you're the Vikings, that right now you also know you've got a little time. And I think if you're the Vikings that right now, you also know you've got a little time,

but I think if you're the Vikings, what you have to know is he's going to probably catch 110 passes for 1700 yards this year. And you're just going to have to pay more for next year. I think, I think the price goes up with every year. So if they can get something like that done, they probably should pretty soon.

Yeah, I think it's fair. I mentioned earlier earlier like a while ago about the you know how the top of the market's not going to change but you could argue with how bad the mid-market has been this offseason i mean look the wide receiver markets was awful this offseason about as bad as it gets and guys like your your donna mooney's your gabe davis's whatever like i'm not i'm not optimistic about those guys getting deals done either because i think those teams are pointing to joby Myers and Juju Smith Schuster's whatever of the world um so maybe you try to capitalize on that to a degree yeah his price could go up he could have another season set another million records be the offensive player of the year all those things um yeah I think term probably is the biggest sticking point. Minnesota probably said five. I'm sure Jefferson's agency just hung up the phone when they said five.

But if they're pushing for three, I'm sure Minnesota also is really struggling with going down to three. I think that might be the biggest sticking point. I don't know, but that might be the biggest sticking point of the whole thing. Yeah, I think when Metcalf did that, everybody went like, oh, you know what? That's actually a really good idea. And then when you consider Jefferson's age, if he's 24 and you're taking him to 27, I mean,

that's two prime contracts, which is very rare in the NFL. And I guess my last question on the Jefferson thing, other than just, you know, do we think it's going to get done? You tend to not. I'm going to hold out a little hope here. Sometimes the way that it goes with these contracts is it looks the darkest before morning time. It's like, or whatever that saying is. Because, like, with the Hawkinson thing, the night before Hawkinson signed, I was like, I don't know, folks.

Just might not happen. It just felt like it wasn't going anywhere. And the same thing with Daniil. Like, this could last all summer and then then the next day there's even reports he could be traded. And then the next day. So I'm not going to call this one yet, just because we're getting closer. Delvin cook signed on the Saturday before the first game, we were doing a zoom call with him Saturday afternoon, talking about his new contract very much could happen. I guess it's just that if they are able to sign him to this contract this year, it sort of continues that conversation of, is this worth it?

How do you work around this? And I guess maybe, is there another example of another team who's been able to do this? Who's been able to rebuild their whole complete roster, well-pouring as much money as the Vikings are going to have to into these key positions yeah so actually it ties into what I my first thought there so just really quick like why I talk about the term so much it's very relevant right now Mike Evans became the highest paid wide receiver in the NFL making 16 and a half million dollars a year in. He's now trying to get that third contract and if he doesn't get extended,

he could go the path of a Julio Jones and be done. You don't know. He also could have his 10th straight 1,000 yard season and get paid. A, that's why this stuff does really matter. To the second point, I would say

that's what I was thinking. The Buccaneers, to a degree and obviously dropping tom brady into the mix is harder easier said than done but like they hit on so many good players they had some pricey guys like mike evans and a couple others i guess more so you had your your godwins your worst etc but but building the whole plane and then dropping a quarterback into the mix, yeah, it's happened, and it would be awesome to pull it off. It would be so great for that rookie. But at the same time, there is, and it's now because of Kwesi in my mind, I think Trey Lance is a great example of where that can also kind of go against you because if your team is so good, you have so many expectations,

and you know that a league average starter would probably win 10 games with your roster. It does kind of make it hard to have patience to develop a guy, bring him along slowly, let him make mistakes because everyone else on the team, not to be mean, they're just like, hey, we're wasting prime years and this roster is freaking awesome. So it's kind of an interesting paradigm there. I think it's a weird example of where it almost went against Trey Lance's development, but, but anyway, I think I missed part of the question there, but, but I, that's what I got. Examples of teams moving, uh, working around it, uh, was kind of the thing, but you brought up Tampa Bay and of course, Tom Brady will be playing quarterback for the Vikings next

year. When he sees all this, it's going to be like, my legs feel pretty fresh. Uh, and there's some Minnesota connection. I forget what it is with Tom Brady. Maybe his mom is from here or something. I don't know exactly how that works out. But there is something because there's a Minnesota connection to everything. Let me throw one name at you.

I'm just going to roll this out there and then you can tell me what you think of it. Kyler Murray. What do you think of that name? I think it makes all the sense in the world. I really, really do. I was joking earlier today. I think with someone like,

Hey, he's probably, if they get the first overall pick, he's looking at Tampa and Minnesota real estate. Yeah, I think it is. It is completely rational. I'm sure cliff and Kevin O'Connell have a relationship to some degree.

They kind of operate in similar circles. It's, it's not a farfetched idea, you know, at all. Drew Dinsick brought this up on the show, I don't know, in like May. I'm like, oh, I'm bringing that up for a long time. And then the way that everything's played out there just looks more and more. Okay, last thing before you leave. I know you follow the Chicago Bears closely.

And I have not tracked Bears camp with our friend courtney cronin who covers the bears she hasn't stopped by to talk about how it's gone uh what's your give me a one to ten on your confidence justin fields takes the step forward that everyone is talking about it's like a six and a half, seven. It's not low. I think he's going to be better. I think he is going to improve. I think you can't really make excuses around weapons at all because now I think he has legitimately good weapons in the backfield and as pass catchers.

The offensive line is still going to be probably below average, but not so horrible like last year. I just don't know. There is optimism from some reporters at a camp. There's also some, you know, beat reporters that are just love to pour the salt and be negative 24-7. You kind of have to sift through the weeds a little bit. I think Courtney is phenomenal, by the way.

She's a great follow for any Bears fans out there. Now that she's no longer in Minnesota, it's, I'll tell you this. Here's a good way to sum it up. The week one game against the Packers is giving me the most 2019 vibes in the history of time. And for folks that don't know what I'm talking about, the bears go 12 and forward, Mr. Biscay. They're coming off a playoff run. Playoff game was, you know, not great when they lose in the double doink, but they have week one against the Packers, Mitchell Trubisky and the bears are going to go in and take over the NFC North and they laid a complete egg I'm kind of getting those those vibes uh you know for for next weekend as well

yeah and I also feel like um there's just so many weaknesses still on the roster the offensive line is problematic the um you know the the whole defense really I mean but especially the defensive line is not scary really at all and I just don't think that they're there yet, but if they end up winning 10 games, that means Justin Fields was awesome. And if they end up winning eight games, you're going to go, wait, did we do the right thing and not drafting Bryce young? Probably I would guess. And so that becomes a very interesting discussion that they've left themselves in. So anyway, Brad Spielberger,

you are the absolute best man. I couldn't ask for anything more in terms of information and a little more entertainment than we usually even bring to the audience here today. It got, it got heated there. I almost, I almost just walked out with the first offer. But no, this was great.

Always great. PFF Brad on Twitter. And we will do it again very, very soon, man. When the Jefferson contract happens, maybe. So thanks for your time, buddy. You're the best. Thanks for having me.