Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - PFF's Brad Spielberger grades Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's first offseason

Episode Date: May 17, 2022

Pro Football Focus analyst Brad Spielberger breaks down Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's best and most questionable decisions this offseason. Why Brad felt like there were some missed opportunities to improve the offense and why he thought that Adofo-Mensah did a good job in the draft. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here, joining me, returning to the show from Pro Football Focus, cap guru, also occasional newsbreaker and analyst, Brad Spielberger. What's going on, Brad? How are you? Hey, hey, doing well. How about yourself? I am doing okay. And I know that everybody wants OTA practice updates. Well, they're going to practice tomorrow, or at least whenever you're listening to this is probably when they're practicing. So of course we will have analysis of how every guy looks in shorts out there. And you know, actually rookie mini camp usually provided at least one guy like, Oh, this one guy had a good catch or two, but they only did seven on seven drills. So that made it pretty impossible to even do breakdowns, Brad. But I know you'll be listening closely for that. But what I wanted to do with you is I wanted to,

now that we have a chance to take a pause here, do a little Kweisi Adafo Mensah report card, because you have been focused on this pretty closely since Kweisi Adafo Mensah got hired. And I also force you to be because you're on the show all the time. But let me just start with the broadest view you can do on Kweisi Adafo-Mentz's first couple of months as general manager. How have you viewed it? Yeah, I think in some ways that is a continuation of the prior regime and that it can be viewed from a bird's eye view of trying to get a lot out of a roster that is probably, I mean, in my opinion, a playoff roster, but probably not an actual contending roster and so you know as we talked about probably before you would think Kwesi might be a guy that would say you know even if he's not going to tank

quote-unquote but he's just going to intentionally not be very good maybe trade Kirk Cousins in a hot quarterback market and then we try to be competitive as fast as possible. He obviously has not done that. They signed a lot of players on defense, a lot of older players. But once you break it down, I think the big one for me was Z'Darrius Smith, the original reporting I thought was one of the more short-sighted extensions or contracts of the entire offseason. Once the real details came out, it's basically a one-year flyer. And they're just – yeah, they are.

They're just chasing kind of of this kurt cousins window um you know to me i think ownership has a lot of influence over what every club does i do think it's a playoff team i know you might not agree with that i think they are a playoff team in the nfc and if your goal is to win 10 games and maybe win a playoff game they have in my opinion that the group to do that it's just I don't know if that's what I would be going for well I picked nine and eight and Vegas has eight and a half so I think everybody is sort of in your ballpark of like I think Vegas has them as the seventh NFC team uh which sounds about right to me and that's the same area that you're putting them and it really depends on the schedule how good the quarterbacks play that you go up against Kevin O'Connell's coaching, like all those things for the variance. But I think that sitting here today, that's what you pick. And I think that that's maybe the biggest disappointment

for a lot of fans of the off season and why a lot of people I think would lower Kweisi Adafel-Mentz's grade is because our expectations were just so different i mean you and i got to hang out at the combine and do a podcast there and we went over all these options and it was like they could do this they could do this they could trade kirk and they could do all this crazy stuff and look at the analytics that look at them and then when he didn't seemingly analytics the heck out of the roster i think that normally we would have said if it was Rick Spielman running things like, okay, well, he's given them another shot with Kirk here and it's Spielman and it's this new coach and let's see how this plays out. We would have said that's a pretty solid Spielman

off season to trade down, get a starting safety, get another cornerback who's a good prospect. But I think that expectations sort of rule everything in sports in general. And when your expectation was, okay, this guy is going to have all the answers because he's got the numbers and then it looks very similar. You know, I think there's some sort of, I don't know, some dissonance there between those two ideas. Yeah. You know, I think you start to then wonder is a is there potentially context coming into play so you know i think you could make an argument the nfc north probably all three other teams i want to take a step back but the lions and bears are probably not a you know competitive rosters and then the packers should have a good defense should you know we know we're nfc north

fans they'll win the division as they always do but in theory losing davante adams should make them a worse team than they were last year and then the the rest of the NFC, you know, the NFC South is terrible, especially after you lose Matt Ryan. You know, the NFC West obviously gets weaker losing Russell Wilson. So, like, you go through all these permutations and maybe you say, look, you know, there is a pretty clear path to a playoff spot, as we just talked about. So, was that weighing on him. And then it's, hey, if you come in and if you're trying to win the trust of this locker room and win the trust of, you know, a guy like a Justin Jefferson, a Christian Derrissaw, the guys that are going to be the cornerstones of your franchise,

and if you come in and just say, hey, look, I think this team is not good. I'm going to trade everyone away and not extend anyone and not do anything, then, you know, maybe you lose credibility right out of the gate. So that's all these incentives that always are hard to – armchair GMs we call ourselves. We think do all these things, but there are other influences and factors weighing on these guys.

And I will say this. I still would have expected things differently. I don't think he mortgaged the future really too much at all, and that still is kind of the most important thing is like, don't really go all in on the, on this group. Maybe just, you know,

make a little run if possible. Right. They did not trade their first round pick for some present star player, give away the whole roster for Tyree kill only to winning seven or eight or nine games or whatever. So there is a point there of like that competitive rebuild. I think that's what Kweisi Adafo-Mensa meant by it. Like we're not going to do what the Rams did and just start

trading everything that we have and bleep them picks or anything like that. That's not what they were going to do. But let's talk about some of the things that in your mind that you would say are questionable about how they handled the off season and some of the things that look pretty good for them. Maybe we could start with the Cousins extension in the light of day, knowing what the draft had to offer for quarterbacks. I do think it looks different, but I don't think that it exonerates them entirely. And if they don't get more out of Kirk Cousins and if they're not playing playoff football, then this will have looked stupendously bad. Like they, they have to, they have to hit on this bet or right away. We're all going to go, dude, like you couldn't have seen this coming, right? Like, like in that

way, I think they took a tremendous risk of doing the same thing over and over again and having it play out the exact same way. same way and basically just foregoing a year where they could have done something differently at the quarterback position and started to reset that spot. Yeah. You know, I think when you see not only Russell Wilson go for his massive package, let's even push that out the window. You know, when it's getting two thirds, Kirk is a significantly better quarterback than Carson Wentz, at least at the moment. You know, maybe Matt Ryan at almost 40 years old, still getting a third-round pick.

Like, you're getting a first-round pick for Kirk Cousins. Maybe not sixth overall from Carolina, as I think we've talked about before, but you're probably getting a first for Kirk Cousins. And so, especially in hindsight now, where there's literally one first-round quarterback, and then, you know, Ritter, whoa, like 59. Like, you know, there was no interest in this quarterback class whatsoever. So you would think that the trade values would be even higher given that context.

But I will say the contract, in my opinion, when you look at the extension, all this is is Kirk Cousins is not franchise taggable. So we are franchise tagging Kirk Cousins by an extension. They just franchise tag him. That's all they did. And it still buys him the opportunity to, let's say he plays well again. Let's say Bryce Young has small hands and CJ Stroud is in an Ohio State system that no one trusts for quarterbacks.

And then maybe it's a good class again to maybe trade a veteran as opposed to take a guy for a team that's looking for a new quarterback. So you just bought yourself time. I get that you obviously would have liked to explore other avenues, especially when you have a clean slate like him. Why tie yourself to Kirk Cousins when you don't have to? But I look at a deal like Derek Carr, similar player, similar age, similar kind of perception and profile.

His deal is also kind of just a one-year extension that's touted as a four-year deal. But there are guarantees that kick in for the second new year that probably make it a two-year deal. Kirk could have pushed for that. I mean, Kirk and his camp could have gone for two years or three years. We know they would have gone for almost the entire thing being fully guaranteed. I think getting them to agree to a one-year extension

that in my eyes is literally a franchise tag, I actually don't think was that bad my eyes is literally a franchise tag. I actually don't think it was that bad if the trade is off the table. The thing that kept being the holdup all offseason for me every time I talked about it was the no trade clause for Cousins. That's where I kept going. But what about that? Because I left the combine and I remember on the first show after the combine, I said, I don't think they're giving him a massive long extension i wouldn't even be surprised if they just let him play it out at 45 million well they wanted to sign other players this was kind of the only way to do it which is exactly what happened in 2020

i remember rick spielman saying well we had to do it so we could sign michael pierce was like yeah right michael pierce that's the thing that you needed. But, uh, right. Yeah. Right. I think 270 snaps in two years for the most money, by the way, that they've handed out in terms of total contract to anybody during the cousins era, there was an outside free agent. So that's just something to think about when you wonder if the salary cap is real but uh you know with this this does still allow though the structure for the vikings to trade kirk cousins next year he just has to agree to it that does make it more tricky but if they tell cousins there's no more extension here and they draft cj stroud i mean it's going to be pretty clear like this is not the place for you kirk and i think that he probably would agree to a trade if it was somewhere else that was going to give him that final contract or something like that because I noticed that the dead cap for moving him is not devastating if the Vikings have

to do that after this year correct and that is 110 by design you know you want to make sure that there is a clean exit I'll say this I've had a ton of conversations with both league side and agency side about no trade clauses because without going down a big rabbit hole. But I mean, Deshaun Watson was a free agent this offseason. I don't think folks understand that. Whenever I get asked, hey, is every quarterback going to push for five years fully guaranteed now? No, because they're not going to be free agents. Deshaun Watson was a free agent.

And so the no trade clause, I think is fascinating. But what I was told is for the most part, what it really is, is Kirk Cousins can say, here's a list of five teams that I just really do not want to play for. Don't send me back to Washington. I don't want to go back to Washington again. Just like Russell Wilson, apparently vetoed a trade to Washington. He has no trade clause as well. It actually does not get weaponized as much as, you know, it was in Deshaun Watson's case. So yeah,

it's definitely a big concession. It's a, it's a big thing to give to him to let him kind of dictate how a potential trade happens. It's funny though, in a way them giving him this, this control kind of suggests like, yeah,

we might trade you. We'll let you have some say on it, but a trade is a realistic possibility. Right now. Yeah. And I think that even Kirk's comments is the first time he talked publicly aside from one radio interview was like, what, two months after his extension, not exactly a sign that Kirk couldn't wait to come out and talk about it. Right. Like, and he even said, I guess I've got to earn being a Viking for life, which was a little bit of a jab almost like, Oh, you guys still aren't buying into me. It's like, well, yeah, usually teams buy into the winning quarterbacks in the playoffs. But anyway so for

that particular deal to me, that's like a dead sea. It's like, you didn't ruin your future. You didn't really change anything right away. You may have kicked the can down the road and ended up with the same results. So that's kind of how I would do it. Now, I really am fascinated because we haven't talked since then about your opinion on the Daniil Hunter situation, because it seemed like the lock of the century that something would happen. It would be an extension. It would be a trade. And instead they just said, you know what, that $18 million signing bonus that was actually set up here to make this a deadline, we'll just pay it. I mean, which again, this sort of speaks to the ownership where this off season, people have realized that the owners are more in control than maybe they

thought, but also they're like $18 million signing bonus. All right, we got that, right? Yeah, we got some housing developments. We're good. So I wonder your opinion on that one. Yeah, you know, not to give him a pass at all, but I think it's one of the more like difficult decisions I've ever seen a first year GM face for every reason. Like you said, they put this in as an ultimatum.

Obviously, you know, Spielman and co did that and they figured, hey, either he'll play very well. We'll extend him to a decent deal, or he won't. Maybe we'll trade him. Maybe we'll just outright cut him. And then, again, to play very well but then get injured again, the talent is still there. He's not old. It's actually kind of a decent edge rusher market for teams right now.

There were some big deals that were handed out. Obviously, some of the older guys like Chandler Jones and Von Miller and whatnot got these massive deals, but we haven't seen the market expand from the Bosa range and the TJ Watt range all that much. And so I think in their mind, they still think, look, we'll come to a next year based on how 2022 goes. And we might be able to get him on a deal that is, this probably sounds crazy. The amount of times I've come on this show and said he's a 20 million plus per year guy, he might not be. Let's say he has, you know,

he finally stays healthy for a year, but has a decent season. They might just say, look, we'll sign you for like 18 million a year. You'll make a ton of money over your career. And like, well, let's just get that done. And that might actually work. But yeah, I mean, that's one of the harder decisions

the first time GM has to make. It's impossible to know what to do there. Right. And I think if your other teams, and this is my understanding just from talking to a lot of people this off season, that other teams and other GMs were not going to help. They were like, you're in a tough spot.

No, thanks. Like when it comes to the Kirk situation and what the offers were for him or Daniil Hunter or Harrison Smith or Adam Thielen I think a lot of people sort of said yeah you know we'll give you the lowest possible price and the same thing happened in the draft and I think that sort of confirms what I thought was happening and so the best path was well if no one's going to give us what we want for these players we can can't look ridiculous in public. And the first time I'm being a general manager and trade away Daniil Hunter for a fifth round pick or something, which is what happened with Amari Cooper. But Jerry Jones doesn't worry

about whether that looks silly or not. You know, but Kweisi Adafo-Mensah really would. But I think overall, you know, they still have Daniil Hunter. And if you're going to keep Kirk Cousins, it's like these other moves have to happen if you keep Kirk Cousins. If you start moving out your great players after keeping Kirk Cousins, then once again, you look kind of ridiculous. So you had to find a way to either get insane return or just keep Daniil Hunter. That's the perfect way to put it. Yes, is that every move does have a trickle effect on the rest of the roster.

And yeah, why would you extend Kirk Cousins and then move off of Adam Thielen coming off, what, back-to-back double-digit touchdown season? Like, I know he's kind of lost a step. And I think basically even he admits that, you know, by his extension, which is kind of just a restructure with a little bit of extra cash. Like, I think he even recognizes, look, they're going to pay me fair market value and I'm going to be well compensated, but I'm not, you know, he could have, in theory, a guy with that much, you know, touchdown production could try to re-up or get some final big payday. And I think, you know, they did well there to not really give that to him. But yeah, like you said, once you do that, if you're trading Daniel Hunter and Adam Thielen and you have an expensive Kirk Cousins, that's when you look kind of, like you said, unless someone blows you at the water with an offer, which was obviously not happening.

All right, so do you put this one under the category of being highly questionable or that's a good handling or it's sort of what you were just forced to do with Daniel Hunter? Just forced to do. Like you just, it was impossible. Yeah, yeah. Do you play chess?

Are you a chess guy? I try. I'm not good at it, but I try. I was talking about forced moves with chess. Like where if you put the king in check he has to move out of check it's like the minute you extend cousins these other moves are forced so i could go through the theolin and harrison smith but it's the same conversation we just had so here's the broader one about that is you said that like they didn't make moves that destroyed them down the road. There is the void year thing and there is dead cap space down the road on all of these contracts that we're talking about. That's the part for me that kept being the hitch in talking about it all

is I think you did hurt yourself down the road with all of these things. Like if they don't go right and then you're sitting there talking about $20 million in dead cap, because this is the way you had to handle everything down the road in a year where you're going to need that and have to want to spend that. I think that that did not help them for the future. No, a hundred percent. And whenever you're pushing cap allocations on 30 plus year old players into the future, when you know, they're not going to be on your roster, it certainly does not help you at all, but they didn't go crazy. They didn't do it to such a degree where they're going to have some $40, $50, $60 million dead cap hit on their books. In a way, it's also as long as you keep it to a reasonable degree

and you're increasing your carryover cap space from this current year that you can then roll over and it kind of absorbs some of that dead cap from those void years. So again, I'm not a fan of it. I'm not saying I would do it. I'm not saying it's, you know, it helps them in the future at all,

but as long as it's not a, a crazy number in reality, you want a little bit of dead money because it shows that your ownership is trying to win and trying to spend more cash than the cap in a given year. It's just not letting it get out of hand to where, you know, a third or a fourth of your salary cap is going to guys that are not on the team. Folks with baseball season in full swing, just a reminder, if you're headed downtown for baseball, make sure that you are dressed right.

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You won't find anything better. Go there today and use the code purple insider for 15 off your purchase now were you surprised that they did not move someone like eric hendricks or even delvin cook was a possibility kendrick i think was the one that i had circled as a possibility i just don't think i think teams are too smart to trade for veteran contract running back no one's offering the good draft picks for delvin and. And he's a good player. It's just not – I think the league is finally getting smart there. Kendricks I thought was really possible.

I mean, they have all these linebackers now. I know Surratt barely played last year, but you have Surratt and Asamoah now. You obviously bring in Jordan Hicks. You have not only players there, but a little bit of depth I guess. But I think at the end of the day, Kendricks is probably just too good. You know, and maybe he's important in this locker room to let go, but I, he was the one that I thought was definitely possible. Yeah. I think that the locker room element and the fact that they're trying to reset the culture and all those sorts of things, like there is value in that when it became so nasty with Mike Zimmer toward the end

that you don't want to move on from your Walter Payton man of the year nominee and somebody who's meant a lot to the locker room at the same time that when we're talking about efficiency, when we're saying cut by the sharpest of razor edges, that's not what they did with this stuff. Like that to me would have been being very sharp is to say look Eric Hendricks was an all-pro several years ago will he be an all-pro next year probably not and what's the value of these linebackers in a defense that does not value linebackers generally the Fangio defense does not demand that you have two amazing linebackers like I think the Mike Zimmer defense

did and as much and i have the greatest respect for eric kendricks but like that would have been one move that this is the problem with evaluating adafo mensa so far and we'll get to the draft because you literally wrote a book on the draft but when you're evaluating all these moves it's like looking for the the edges where did they get the the gains on the other teams that are not as analytical or not run by this guy that you hired to do these things, it's hard to find one to grab onto to be like, but they did that one. And if they had traded Kendricks, that would have been the one where I would have said, you know what? It's harsh. It's ruthless, but I like it because it really said that's just not

that valuable of a position. I totally feel that right? Where it's like we put emotion and all that to the side and just made a strictly financial and analytical, whatever you want to call it, decision. And that kind of would tell you like, look, he's going to do some things that ownership wants, or he's going to make some kind of soft moves. But at the end of the day, we can point back to this and say, this shows who he really is. I totally get that. I think the analogy maybe I would draw, and maybe this was on their mind, is you know I totally get that I think the analogy maybe I would draw and maybe this was on their mind is you just mentioned the Amari Cooper thing to where let's say hypothetically this is last offseason before you know Fred Warner and Darius Leonard double the amount of money that Eric Kendricks is making in a you know per season then maybe they do it but now his deal is something of a bargain even if he's not going to be as good as he was which he probably won't but maybe that

played into it too where he said look if this was still a top of market contract, maybe I would have shopped him and tried taking whatever I could have gotten. But now, yes, even in a defense that does not really prioritize off-ball linebackers, I mean, the Rams where O'Connell came from, literally, I mean, I guess they signed Wagner, but they just don't spend at the position at all. I hear you. So maybe it was one of those kind of thinkings like well now his deal is actually not that bad if you were to redo those elements if if they had said brad you're in charge and we're not going to meddle at all ownership how would you have handled those set of tough decisions that quesia daflamenta had to take on yeah you know like you said, it is,

it's tough because there's some trickle down effect to it. But I think the big one for me, which affects the rest of them is I would have tried to shop Kirk Cousins, especially if I had a better understanding, which I'm sure the league did of how little teams like this quarterback class. I mean, maybe some clubs were blowing smoke and there were some teams maybe did like Malik Willis, but you know, maybe they just, at the end of the day, they just didn't – they didn't make that decision, whatever.

But to know that there was going to be one guy taken at 20 and then no one else until after the, what, 50s, like I would have said, look, I'm going to find a sucker that is dying for a quarterback and I'm going to get rid of Cousins for whatever I can get. So that would be the big one for me. And, yeah, you'd be pretty bad. I mean, I don't know who your quarterback would be. Like, I understand that, but I just, I'm not sure I would really care. And then Phelan, I think you just keep him around. He's like a sells jerseys, sells tickets, local kit, all that. But same thing as they did really restructured. If he asked for a new money, I would say no, like it's, you know, we're not really doing that um and then hunter and kendrick's you probably shot and i think but i will say the end of the day like you can't take bad value just because you want to get a guy off your books unless he caught you know unless it's amari cooper right

like that deal for the fifth looks great for the browns yeah i mean he also unlike most contracts where it's there's a lot of big money in the signing bonus then it gets smaller payments cooper is owed three years 60 million dollars like it's still 20 million per year just like it was the day he signed the deal so that impacted the Browns compensation there so yeah long rambling answer but really just the one that I just would have done differently is just try to get someone to take Kirk and get at least a first round pick and I think they would have gotten one yeah I think the answer is the guy who plays for Atlanta Marcus Marcus Mariota, would be somebody that you'd chase after or you'd try to give Jameis Winston more money

than New Orleans did. And I mean, with Mariota, this is a guy who has won nine games before in a season. Like it's not impossible that someone's really good backup with Justin Jefferson and a good offensive system could also win games, especially with some mobility. That was always my thinking is like, I know we think that this gap between cousins and someone like Mariota is humongous because of quarterback rating and PFF grade, but in terms of can they win or can you be the 14th best offense in the league? It's probably smaller than you think.

Now the allocation of funds otherwise in free agency, who they sign, Zedaria Smith, Jordan Hicks, Patrick Peterson, Harrison Phillips, these players, what is your, give me a grade on their decisions of how they spent the money that they created by kicking it down the road with those other veteran players. Not only that, but I mean, I just, why are you prioritizing defense? And I was going to bring that up. I mean, yeah, they did cut Michael Pierce. But at one point, you know, they had three nose tackles on the roster. And I was like, all right. So I thought Zimmer left.

I didn't realize Zimmer was still in the building. But, yeah, I mean, I had the same issue with the Bears. And obviously it didn't go through. But your one big-ticket acquisition being Larry Ogunjobi on the interior, it's like even if he's a good player, it changes your win-loss column. It doesn't change it at all. So are Harrison Phillips,ips pat pete and jordan hicks like you know they're solid players none of the deals are crazy but if you really do want to say look we're trying to milk every last thing out of this roster you hire kevin o'connell go spend on a wide receiver three

go spend on another tight end to replace Conklin or be more competitive in keeping Conklin go add look I think they have enough kind of depth and pieces on the offensive line now but go add a legit starting guard and just end that question go replace Garrett Bradbury just get a set go you know sign JC Treader which I know Vikings fans are hoping they still do and that his dad's liking tweets and whatnot but like I just don't don't get, if you're going to have the mentality of, we're going to chase whatever we can get out of this group, then why are you spending on defense? When we know, like, sure,

you might raise the floor of your defense a little bit and maybe it helps a little bit. But if you really want to say, look, maybe we can win two playoff games with Kirk Cousins, then just go nuts on offense. Like that's what you should do. Yeah, I felt the same way. And that was the thing

that i kept coming back to and uh somebody sent me a message uh an email that said like you got me all excited for more off season uh you know weapons to be added and for them to go all in on offense and then they didn't do it i was like i don't know they didn't tell me what they were going to do before they did it but uh i felt the same way, even as it pertains to the draft, which we'll get to in just a second. But one of the struggles that I have with short-term contracts for veteran players, when your team is in competitive rebuild mode, is that you have to replace them again. It's like you sign Michael Pierce, then he's gone. And now you have to bring in another Michael Pierce and it's Harrison Phillips, whose deal is probably the best of all of them because it spans over multiple years and he's

a little younger, but Jordan Hicks, that's a one or two year thing. You have to replace him. And, uh, Zedaria Smith, you have to replace him. They didn't draft anybody on the defensive line outside of the fifth or sixth round. It's like, okay. Um, so what's the future of the defensive end position? If you if if none of these guys that you've drafted over recent years can develop into stars then what next year you're getting two new edge rushers if daniel hunter has to go like and the same thing so the cornerback position they drafted andrew booth jr that's a good thing to do so maybe it doesn't apply as much um to patrick peterson but's, that's always the case

that like you're bringing in these guys for short term. And then look, Xavier Woods, you had to replace it because you didn't sign somebody long-term and you didn't draft anyone in the past and develop them for that spot. So then you had to draft Louis scene. And it even goes to the left tackle position where it's like they drafted Ezra Cleveland, moved him to guard immediately, got rid of Riley Reif. Now you have to draft another left tackle. And so they're constantly having these players filter in, filter out, and then chasing that. And then if you bust on a single pick, like, Oh, now you're in a lot of trouble and now you got to go do it again.

And I think that's, and then it's, Oh, well, you know, they didn't play good defense through week eight because of chemistry. Like, well, you made your own bed with that. And I think that's the most trouble I have that I thought they would try to sign guys who were 26 and just sign them to multi-year deals. And when they signed older players outside of Harrison Phillips, I just thought, well, these are guys that might not be on your team even next year. So, yeah, I totally hear you there. And it's like, look, we're never filling holes.

We're just plugging it. And then the hole's coming back open in, you know, nine months, I totally hear you there. And it's like, look, we're never filling holes. We're just plugging it. And then the holes coming back open in, you know, nine months. And I hear you there, I guess maybe one thought, even though you still have to sign guys is maybe they're looking to get in the compensatory free agent game where, you know, let's say you signs a Darius Smith to a one-year deal. He gets healthy, has a great season. And then you say, look, we're not going to keep it. We're not going to give him the big deal now, but he'll go out there and get a big deal from somebody else. Although I guess his deal is multi-year in reality. So he's not, he's probably not a good example there, but like, you know, and Pat Pete's

too old, but they're always thinking of all these kinds of like ways it could play out. But I hear you there and it's, you don't want to get caught in, you know, spending the big money on, you know, Brandon Sheriff and saying, Hey, we fixed right guard, but we also give a guy who plays eight games a year, you know, the biggest contract in the history of the NFL for a guard. So it's tough, but I do hear you there. Like you would think you would target younger guys. Instead of going after a Patrick Peterson,

take a flyer on a Steven Nelson or instead of, you know, and those are not really similar players, but like just take what you can get for guys that might become multi-year players um i mean look at green bay i probably wouldn't have extended both of them but you know you signed rasul douglas who's kind of bounced around a little bit and then now you extend him because he's young to you can still keep him look for more of those type of moves than 30 plus year old guys that you know are not long-term answers now that's a great point i think if you're rebuilding in any way you look for hey this guy only played 400 snaps for team X and he's 26, but there might be something there.

Shannon Sullivan is the only guy that was really like that. I thought there would be like six guys like that. Um, so that, that approach again, puts pressure on them. You really truly have to win this year to justify what you did there because it didn't help you in the long term now the draft your name is in one of the charts that everybody cites so there is chart drafting which we have been over quite a bit on the show and how everybody's got their own different evaluation but on the whole the handling of the draft by quesia daMensa. How did you feel about it? Yeah, so, you know, I will say that, and I saw, you know, I break all these numbers down,

and yes, if you look, whatever chart you look at, historically moving from 12 to, you know, I mean, we don't see a lot of 12 to 32 trades, but a team trading down from 12 does generally get more value than what he got based on, you know, the Fitzgerald Spielberger chart or other charts but a there's the context of every year is different right so in classes where there's a bunch of good quarterbacks like you know 2021 trades were more expensive in 2021 than they're

going to be this year and this year not only were not good quarterbacks there weren't really like premier edge rushers the teams were in love with there weren't tackles outside of the top group that teams were in love with so yes relative to otherles outside of the top group that teams were in love with. So yes, relative to other trades in that area, it was not a great value trade, but that's kind of what the whole book we wrote is about is that that, that is a fallacy in itself. He got, in our opinion, he still got positive value. I mean, I, I keep pointing to this, but the Cowboys when Jerry Jones held up their list of their favorite prospects, Louis Seaton was like 13th on the list. He was a first-round prospect for a lot of clubs, and they got him with the last pick in the first round.

They add another top 75 pick in the process of that trade, and I know Jameson Williams is an exciting player. The Vikings, I've been told K.J. Osborne's a stud, but I think they could use another receiver. But anyway, long story short, I think the thing that I always come back to and this sounds kind of silly as well but when you make all those trade downs or the first big trade down it enables you to get Andrew Booth trading down lets you then trade up if you need to make a move and look the Patriots are the same thing the Patriots moved moved down. Yes, they reached on Cole Strange. They got great value from the Chiefs, though. They still took a player that people didn't like they took.

With that extra capital, they traded back up for Tyquan Thornton, which I actually didn't like at all. But still, the Tyquan Thornton trade probably does not happen unless the Cole Strange trade happens. So, like, in my opinion, it's all fluid. It's all together. So, yeah, long story short, the day three dealing I thought was a little too Ricky. And, you know, my guy Ryan Poles did it too.

They traded down I think five times on day three or four times. You know, I understand it a little bit less then. You know, our chart doesn't even say, like, you should be trading down to get extra fifth and sixth round picks. But early draft, I mean, look, I think Sine, Booth,oth Ingram I don't know much about if I'm being honest and then Asamoah like I think it's a good first four picks and then I know he was watching a Caleb Evans in the dark so I know he's pumped about his first five draft picks I thought it was fine I just I think you have to understand that like he doesn't care what the Jimmy Johnson chart says I mean that chart thought they lost the Lions trade by a billion miles. He doesn't

care. And we don't think he should care either. So I know it's controversial, but I thought he did a decent job in how he maneuvered until the end when it's like, just make some picks. Well, one of the things that I try to avoid ever saying on the show is we'll see, because that's just boring. Like, well, we'll see who wins. Like, yeah, right. Of course we will. But in this one, it very much is a we'll see who wins like yeah right of course we will but in this one it very much is a we'll see because they traded within the division and i think that that it is fair to put on the brakes and say if you gave them a superstar though then you messed this up like a lot of this really how we evaluate and that's why it's fun to do the grading and give them a report

card now and then you and i can talk you know, whenever and halfway through the season and be like, well, we were wrong in grading it, however, or right. But the one thing that I just can't really move past is Aminra St. Brown, now Jamison Williams. They add DJ Shark. Like there's just opportunities there for Detroit to all of a sudden put together a really impressive offense and you said here you go want a great player that that's where like Louis seen I think is a great prospect and seeing him up close in person one of the first things you notice when they draft players is like is the guy big like does he and it

sounds silly but like there's always the height weight but you got to see him like Brian Asamoah looks really small Louis seen looks really big and this guy runs a 4-3 like whoa okay you got a good prospect there but you get in the process you gave your own direct contender who's rebuilding a potentially great player too I don't know if there's a chart that values that. So I was going to say that is the one thing where you generally, we notice a premium when you trade within your division, whether that's for player trades or for draft pick trades. So like even, you know, and the Patriots sending a third round pick for Devante Parker,

they did get a fifth round pick back. But like, I think if Miami makes that trade with another club, they're not getting a third round pick. They're probably getting a fourth roundround pick, in my opinion. So, yes, we do with the Lions. But the same token, though, if Jamison Williams sucks, you just gave your rival just traded a ton of picks with a bad roster to go get a guy coming off a torn ACL who literally transferred a year

before he got drafted because he couldn't crack a top three at Ohio State. Like, you can play both sides. And then for Green Bay, look, Christian Watson will probably, you know, go for 1,500 yards next year. But I didn't like him as a prospect at all. And that trade, I don't care what chart you look at, they robbed the Packers blind. So, like, it does go both ways.

But, yes, you know, like you said, we got to have our takes now. We can't just – I hate, you know, the hindsight analysis of, well, if he turns into the Hall, yeah, no S. Like, yeah, if the guy turns into a Hall of Famer, it was a great trade. Thanks for that analysis. I appreciate that analysis. So, yeah. So I hear you on the Lions one.

There is some risk there. You gave the guy, a player that a lot of people thought may have been the number one wide receiver in the class, and you didn't get a ton of value in trading with an indivision team, you still, like I said, in my opinion, you didn't lose the trade, but you should probably push for more, which is kind of silly in some ways, but you know, it's not like, you should push for more. If you're going to see that guy twice a year for the, you know, maybe the rest of your career.

Right, right, right. And if he burns Andrew booth specifically, that is just going to be like, I will be on Twitter at that moment to see the reaction from Vikings fans. All right. So we've kind of gone item by item. Give me, give me the overall Kweisi Adafo Mensah.

It's your first off season grade. Yeah. So I would say free agency. I think we like just like a hard C just like I didn't hate anything they did. I didn't really love anything they did. I would have focused more on offense, but I think I would have made similar deals. Like we said, younger players for sure, but it would have been one-year flyers. Like, you know, Keelan Cole got signed this week.

I would have thrown money at him to be your wide receiver three, wide receiver four, can play inside, outside, like just raise kind of the floor of everything. But that was fine. The draft for me, my thing thing is even though i'm just mentioning defense for me i the reason why i care so much about free agency and how you allocate is because i am a staunch believer and it happened to bears too you have to just take best player available like do the bears need a corner and a safety with their second round picks like no like is justin fields gonna have a tough year yes like he has an offensive line that's terrible

he has no weapons but i'm not a belief that you should just force a pick when I think Kyler Gordon was a first round prospect at corner, just like Andrew Booth. I think a guy that fell out of the first. So yeah. So for the Vikings, I'll give them a B for the draft. I don't mind. I like the players they got. The trades is, I guess, a part of it, but I don't think they did too poorly in the trades because I do think they kind of killed the Packers in the Christian Watson deal. And yeah, I don't do much positional analysis besides taking a center in the top 10 or something like that. But I don't rag on a guy using a first round pick on a safety, even though they probably

should spend more on offense because Sine could be the starter for the next dozen years, which I know I guess is hindsight analysis. But take best player available always. All right. Tell me this. Last question. Who wins the division first, Vikings, Bears, or Lions? I love this because I tweeted this a couple weeks ago.

The Lions. If there was a futures market, I would be buying a ton of shares in the Detroit Lions. I am a huge Brad Holmes believer. I don't even like the Jamison Williams trade, but I love almost everything they've done. Brad bias. Brad bias. Very clear Brad bias. Brad bias is strong. That's fair. That's fair.

But I think for the most part, they're going about this the right way. I mean, it was the offensive line first. I think they have one of the best offensive lines in football. Now if Aiden Hutchinson and Josh Pascal can come in and make an impact on the defensive line, they took two guys I really liked last year and Aline McNeil and Levi Muzarike there's still some holes there for sure but they are building a football and obviously you got to replace Jared Goff but yeah I would say Lions and I'm like confident in that take yeah and I think what we've seen from the Buffalo Bills is that just because your history is a pure tragedy does not mean that

it can't change on a dime. And so I think that the Vikings should be concerned about the Lions, that they have handled everything post Stafford really, really well. You don't get to hang a banner for that, but I mean, I think they are, if you're doing competitive rebuild and you stay in neutral, the Lions are moving forward. They're in drive. And the Bears, that might be like 2025 type of situation before they can have a roster that's good enough to compete. Brad Spielberger, at PFF underscore Brad on Twitter.

What's your official title these days? I've always introduced you as Cap Guru, but you do so much more now for PFF. Yeah, I like to think so, at least. No, I'm still the Cap Analyst. that still works you know everyone's everyone's favorite talking talking money okay uh news desk aficionado i don't know yeah yeah occasional breaking news yeah but somebody that i consistently learn so much from and people do not understand how often i dm you and i'm, what is this in this contract? Or what's this with the cap?

And you're always, you run a great service of all beat reporters can just text you or DM you and ask you what's going on. So thanks so much for all of your time. Awesome breakdown of the Vikings off season. And we'll do it again, man. We'll constantly be checking in and regrading and reevaluating. So thanks for the time. Thank you.

Yeah. Like you said, what happens in OTAs happens in the playoffs, as they say.