Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - PFF's Mike Renner talks about whether Vikings rookie O-linemen can step in right away

Episode Date: June 4, 2021

Matthew Coller is joined by Pro Football Focus draft analyst Mike Renner. They talk about Renner's recent podcast that called the Vikings' 2020 draft one of the best in the NFL and the 2019 Vikings draft one of the worst. They dive into Christian Darrisaw and Wyatt Davis's outlooks and whether they can make a difference on the Vikings' offensive line right away. Plus what does Renner think of Kellen Mond and Matthew asks Mike whether a player is a Vikings late draft pick or 2015 long snapper. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate! Hello and welcome to another episode of Pro Football Insider. Matthew Collar here along with Mike Renner from Pro Football Focus, the draft analyst, the two-for-one draft podcast, which I listen to all the time and is both insightful and hilarious at times. What's going on, Mike?

Not much. I'm just enjoying the offseason, to be honest here. I have been – draft season is always, obviously, a lot, but the the summer is summer makes it all worth it. So I don't do much. Well, I wanted to give you a little space between the draft and now, cause I figured you were gassed. So I thought recharge the batteries, get a few dates in there, you know, hurt yourself playing basketball and so forth. And then we'll, we'll talk about the Vikings. Yeah. So. Yeah, so you got all that in.

And so I want to get to this Vikings draft class. We'll talk about Kellen Mond and so forth. But you guys have been doing a series on your podcast, you and Austin Gale, looking back at the 2018, 2019, 2020 drafts. And what really stuck out to me, Mike, was the Vikings 2019 draft is like, oh, not so great. And then the 2020 draft is like, wow, OK, you belong at the very top of the list. I think you guys said A or A plus. And what does that say about just the randomness of drafting and how difficult it is to rely on draft picks,

especially for a team that's been fighting with their cap space for years and really needed to hit on some of these drafts? Yeah, I think it really speaks to, I'd say, two different things. One is that there is a lot of randomness to this. There's not a lot of people who are doing it, evaluating talent consistently better than everyone else out there. It's just difficult to project how a 21-year-old, 22-year-old is going to look when they're a 24- or 25-year-old. It's a difficult task.

And how they're going to look when they're playing against 18-year-olds versus what they're going to look like playing against grown men. So that's difficult to be consistently better evaluating talent than everyone else in the NFL. And how much it impacts to have a lot of draft picks. This Minnesota Vikings draft would look a lot different in 2020 if they didn't have the 22nd overall pick. If they just had that one first rounder and it was Jeff Gladney.

All of a sudden it would go from one of the best drafts, which we voted right up there, them and the Tampa Bay Bucs, as the best drafts this past year, to maybe one of the worst drafts if you didn't have Justin Jefferson in there. And so the Vikings are a very good sort of case study for why as many swings at the bat matter and getting, and just how random kind of drafting of and evaluating this talent can be. And I think you guys, you know,

made a really good point on the podcast about how it's really the first two, maybe three players you draft that make the difference. And then everything else is just darts at the dartboard, rolls of the die. And it's always something that comes up. This year, the Vikings didn't have seventh round picks, but they accumulated them for years. And it just never really paid off to accumulate all of these guys that if they worked out, yes, they're cheap talent, but they just so rarely work out. I want to ask you about when you think it's appropriate. And this is always a thing with, like, criticism,

and we're talking about when to criticize and so forth. But when is it appropriate to say, what were you guys thinking with the draft? I mean, because we just talked about how it can be random. At the same time, you drafted a center in the first round who wasn't even the best center, actually not really even close to the best interior offensive lineman in that draft class I think the process there can be questioned if you're drafting a center at 18 the guy better turn into an all pro and if he doesn't you've really missed the boat there I think yeah I think those are the decisions you can criticize right away it's what what positions did you attack, trade decisions,

how much did you give up slash get back in a trade, and obviously fleece, we thought in our eyes, fleece that or finesse that really well this past year. But, like, attacking a position like center, when everyone knows you can find them in the third, find them in the fourth, and to say that's the one guy who's going to fix my team, I think you can criticize that immediately. Now, criticizing the player that you picked,

I think two years down the line you can be like that because you need to maximize your rookie deal. If half of their rookie deal is in the tank in terms of getting value back from it, even if that guy comes good. Like I've always said, Bud Dupree is the case study for me on this, so the guy I always say go back to for this. He was bad for three years. Bud Dupree was not worth a first-round pick for three years.

Yes, he came good by the end, but I still think that that's not a good pick in retrospect. It's three years that got a star for your football team and didn't produce on the football field. I would look at that as like a swing and a miss. You could have got a guy who contributed, maybe didn't turn into what Bud Dupree turned into, but you missed three years of a guy who could have improved your football team

and won you championships over that time. So that to me is like if you're wasting that much time in a rookie deal, two years of a rookie deal, it's going to be tough to really make that be a good thing. Right. And I think in the case of Bradbury, even the PFF data has played out that centers, interior linemen, usually need maybe even two years of development to get to where they need to be,

but that's more of an argument to not draft one in the first round than it is to draft one in the first round. So even if Bradbury takes that step this year, they really needed it in 2019 when they were a playoff team and they're getting bowled over by Kenny Clark on play after play in a key game against the Packers. I think that that makes your point. I want to circle back to when we're talking about criticizing in these picks. Mike Hughes really blew up for them. Barely ever played. I don't know if he got to a thousand

snaps as a Minnesota Viking. Injuries hit him hard. And now he is a Kansas city chief. We'll see how it plays out. That's one where I think you can criticize it only to the extent that there were some other players that they didn't go for in that draft, namely Lamar Jackson, when they signed a quarterback to a short-term deal and then passed on a good quarterback prospect. I guess I get it though. I look at the Hughes pick and say it's much more understandable. It just didn't work out.

Yeah. I can get on board with that. If you're arguing against the Hughes pick, I think you're arguing against the talent. Like you're arguing that some other guys are more talented on the board. You weren't necessarily arguing that it wasn't a position that could have impacted their football team. And yet he had issues coming out in terms of size was an issue. Was he ever going to be an outside corner?

Was he more of a slot corner coming out of UCF? Great around the line scrimmage there, but maybe not necessarily your lockdown outside guy, but trust Mike Zimmer. It's kind of been his MOs throw resource at the cornerback position. That's what we always advocate, throw resources at the cornerback position because it is a weak link position. You're only as good as your third corner.

So if your third corner stinks, he's the guy that gets targeted the most. So you need three of them. And so that one's just more of that is a mis-evaluation of talent. And then injury and development from there. Now, another guy from – I'm going to sort of bounce around here, but it's just interesting about your point with drafting someone and needing them to produce on their rookie contract. Herb Smith is getting his first chance to be tight end number one, and the Vikings have

been excited about him and talked about him like they're very confident that he's going to take that next step. Would his emergence change kind of the way you view that draft? Or would the fact that they passed up some really, really good wide receivers and took Irv Smith Jr. instead, would that kind of shape it the way that you look at it? I was wondering how much these things matter of like if the guy eventually emerges and the fact that, you know, yes, you got a good player, but maybe it wasn't DK Metcalf who you probably should have just taken. Yeah, that one, the tight end conversation early on is always,

I just don't think there's, I think there's so few guys that move the needle at tight end that it's not worth passing up on, especially, like I said, you need a wide receiver. And there are guys on the board there. Was A.J. Brown the pick before or was he the pick after? I think he was the pick directly after, right, in that draft. To pull this up, yeah. Because he was right.J. Brown the pick before or was he the pick after? I think he was the pick directly after, right? In that draft. You pulled this up, yeah.

Because he was right at it. Irv was 50, and I know A.J. I think A.J. Brown was 51. I think A.J. Brown was the pick right after. Yes, you're correct. A.J. Brown was 51. And so it's like the amount of tight ends that have moved the needle like a wide receiver could. And, yeah, they had two, and this was going to be –

this draft, the 18 draft. I think it was 18, right? Or was it 19? It was 19. That 19 draft felt like the we changed schemes. I have to get the guys now for this scheme, right? That was that draft where it's like I get a center, a tight end, and then a running back that fit my scheme.

It's like that's what free agency should be for, in my opinion. If you're looking for guys to plug into your scheme that have to – you have to have guys fill X, Y, Z role, that's what free agency is for. And you can't be passing up on talent. And draftsman tight end that early. And Smith could be fine. I just don't – never seem like the super dynamic yak guy like a Kittle could be. He just never seemed like that kind of guy that could really move the needle

in a tight end position, whereas a lot of wide receivers can move the needle for you in your offense. So I still think he – I was still high on him as far as tight ends go. Probably would not have drafted him 50, but I do think he'll be a good tight end. I just don't think that makes you an elite offense. I don't think that turns you all of a sudden overnight into something different than they were last year. Yeah, I think that's a great assessment that they brought in the Kubiak-style

offense and they said, no, we got to play a lot of two tight ends. We're going to run the football all the time. We need the grim reacher, Garrett Bradbury. And that was my thought at the time. It's like, look, if you're drafting a guy for reach blocks, I just, you know, that's how valuable is that really to trying to win. And the same thing maybe goes for Irv Smith, where it was like, for a couple of years,

he's going to be our move tight end and we're going to have them line up here and there and the other thing, but lining up a tight end in the slot is not like lining up a wide receiver in the slot. Who's very good. Now I should say that, you know, we mentioned AJ Brown and DK Metcalf, Paris Campbell and Andy Isab good. Now, I should say that, you know, we mentioned A.J. Brown and D.K. Metcalf. Paris Campbell and Andy Isabella are mixed in there, too. So, you know, this is drafting, right? It could have just as easily gone super sideways for them.

You mentioned the Jeff Gladney thing. There's another one that I tend to scrutinize because Antoine Winfield Jr. was there. He was in our backyard. We saw him be great. It's like this should be the easiest pick. And they decided to franchise tag Anthony Harris and get Jeff Gladney. That's one that's going to frustrate fans. I wonder about your opinion though, on Ezra Cleveland and where he stands because he's going to play left guard, played right guard last year, little bit of a

mess. Like I thought that he gave it the college try but it wasn't like good so now he's got to make another position change his second in two years and it's still not his position um did you see him as a guard when he came out and I guess how do you think this will play out I thought he could stick a tackle obviously now he's not going to but I do think that's about as hard a transition as you can do on an off the line. Not only are you kicking them to guard, you're changing your footwork, going from left to right. It's not going to start well. And I always thought he was a project.

It was more just an athletic project type of guy. Like his tape at Boise State, if you're going up against competition you went up against, you would not have expected him to lose just, I guess, as much as he did. So it was never going to be great out the gate, but I do think that they've had success. Obviously, Brian O'Neill was a guy in a similar role or similar mold, I'll say, coming out of Pittsburgh

where it's like, this guy's an athletic project. He went to the senior bowl and just got trounced, I recall, back in the day and was not quite ready to pass protect year one. Not a lot of guys are. Tristan Wurst and the world are rarities. So I do think that Ezra Cleveland has at least showed enough that I'd be excited I'd be hopeful heading into

year two I don't think this is just a oh oh oh damn we screwed this one up I don't think that at all yeah yeah I don't think so either it's I guess the one area where I would maybe question is just, like, did you know he was a guard when you were taking him at that spot? Or were you thinking tackle and then you saw him in person and decided, no, he's got to be a guard? Or, like, I want to know about the process of that, because then it seems like, well, you did spend a second round pick on a guy who's just a guard, and maybe that's a position that you would rather fill in free agency. It's a, it's kind of an odd thing that we've never gotten an answer to of why was he a guard right out of the gate? Because otherwise like this is how you end up drafting Christian Derrissaw. If you give Ezra Cleveland a chance at left tackle and like what you see, then you don't have to draft Christian Derrissaw.

And then the domino effect is why your podcast is good because there's always stuff to talk about with this um so let me get let me get to this year's draft class and then I've got a little bit of a fun game for you I think um so the decision to not draft Mac Jones to not trade up enough to get Justin Fields that the Carolina Panthers are flat rejecting your offer to try and trade up to get Fields. I guess what did you make of that, like sort of half-heartedly attempting to move up and then not taking Mac Jones at 16 and electing to wait until the third round to get a quarterback? Yeah, I mean, there is always should be – you should still make sound

sort of decisions. It shouldn't just – even as a quarterback position, it shouldn't just be, I'll give up anything it takes to get a guy. There should always be a price, and you should always try to find the edge wherever you can do it. Stick to that, and in the long run, you find enough edges, you'll get there, theoretically. Obviously, the quarterback is a different value

proposition than anywhere else and they're kind of in that odd no man's land that no one really wants to be in a paying guy pretty much at his market value i do think like they're paying a quarterback who's yes he's a good quarterback but that is about how much he is worth you know and like they're not getting any edge on kirkins deal so they have to find that edge everywhere else on the roster to you know win a Super Bowl do what everyone wants to do and so that's that's fine that's fine place to be it gives you a high floor like as we've seen I think they've been a good team over the past four or five years but they've also not sniffed Super Bowls so um I I don't disagree with not giving up the farm to go get a guy if you don't necessarily believe in him.

But it is an interesting sort of conversation that they tried to do it, but then by the time, like they tried to do it at 8, like you said, the Panthers, right? That was where they were trying to trade, but then didn't try after that. Like there wasn't, because the price starts going down after 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and now the Bears still did give up a lot. But what they gave up, I would have given up if I'm someone like the Vikings. Right.

My thing was if you're going to move on from Cousins and you've made that decision based on a three-year sample size of him being your quarterback, then just do it. It wasn't an impossible number to reach where the Chicago Bears got to, and they may have tried to trade with other teams. The Panthers just put out a video showing the Vikings trying to trade with them, and then there were multiple reporters who had said that it was Justin Fields they were trying to get.

But that's why it's kind of bizarre to me to want Justin Fields, but be like, I don't know how much we want Justin Fields. Just do it or don't. And that's sort of with the Mac Jones conversation, too, that I have irritated fans on the show by saying, look, we don't know if Mac Jones will work out or not, but I do know that if he did work out and you drafted him, it would be great for you to draft a first-round quarterback with your pick

and not have to trade anything else. And I just have trouble playing Nostradamus when it comes to quarterbacks. Like I've, I've tried it. I've been Chris Sims writing down my little list of one through five, and I'm just as right and wrong as everybody else. And I guess that's, that's sort of fundamental to the point where it's like, if you wanted that future quarterback,

you just kind of have to take swings there because nobody really knows even the best draft analysts in the world like yourself. Yeah, that is the problem, I guess. And that's why you're kind of stuck when you do have a Kirk Cousins. It's like then you don't have the desperation that makes you to make a move like the Rams did, like the Eagles did for their guys. And that ends up resulting in both those teams. One wants to roll, goes to Superbowl.

It's like those are a lot of times the fortune does end up favoring the bold, but a lot of times you are, you know, theoretically overpaying for what a lot of people have overpaid in NFL history for the quarterbacks in the draft and the draft capital, you're going to be giving up. It's going to be a lot, but sometimes that's what ends up, you know, making the difference. Right. And if you get that guy, you know, on the middle first round contract too, and you can start him right away or within one year, you've got a good shot within the next couple of years.

With Kellen Mond, just how did you see him as a prospect? Your friend, Seth Galena, who obviously gets roasted all the time for not liking Justin Herbert, but I was kind of there with him, to be honest. But did you see Mond as a higher prospect than where he got taken? Because this is another fundamental thing for me, is I kind of trust the league that generally gets these things right if there's a huge gap between one player and another. I did not see him any better than that.

That's about where I would have started to think about Kellen Mond. That might have even been, like, with who was on the board right there, I probably would have gone elsewhere. I would have gone other positions. If I'm looking for a developmental quarterback, I just thought he was so limited from an accuracy perspective. And just, like, his throws down the football field were so inconsistent that, yeah,

he didn't play with the talent that some of those other top guys did. And he does have physical tools. He is athletic, does have a pretty big arm, but man, he's so robotic. So, and for him to be so robotic, and then also so inconsistent where like, why, why are those two? Those, those almost like go or opposite. Like if a guy is so robotic looking and so,

you know, structured snap after snap, why is he not actually the ball getting where it needs to go? Snap after snap. It's usually the guys who are loose and all over the place with their mechanics that are like that. But yeah, I just wasn't a massive fan of his, and I didn't see, like, the developmentalness to him. But that's why he goes 66.

That's why he doesn't go first round. Right, yeah, and I thought it was interesting. We talked to Mike Zimmer today and asked, of course, there's going to be a Kellen Mond every time question. And he was like, well, he's really nailing the mental aspect of it. And it was like, well, what about the throwing? Like, what about the thing that, you know, the thing that they do with their arms? So, you know, it's always interesting to read between the lines and kind of try to figure out what's being said and not being said.

With the offensive linemen, there's been a lot of talk with Derison Davis transforming the offensive line. I'm a little skeptical that they do it this year, though. How quickly do you think that these guys can get in there based on what they did in college? Because I just think it's a tough thing, like for any tackle, for any guard. Davis would be an upgrade just by existing over what they had before. But like with Derrissaw, he's replacing Riley Reif, who was legitimately good last year. So I guess how quickly do you think that they can, you know, finger quote, transform the offensive line?

I think Davis is, honestly, I'd be less surprised if he plays well at the gate than I would with Darryl. So I think Davis could, day one, be a competent guard. Now, elite guard, is he healthy? I'm not sure about any of those things, like the knee injuries he had at Ohio State and the consistent knee injury. Like, he played worse this past year because of that. And so, if he's fully healthy, though, he was the top interior office lineman on our board after his 2019 tape.

He would have been, if he would have came out that year as his redshirt sophomore year, he would have been top interior office lineman on our board that year. Now, it wasn't a great interior office line class, but he would have been the top one. Derisaw, I just think he wasn't tested at Virginia Tech. He has the ability. You just didn't see him actually have to pass for Tech much, and against high-level sort of athletes. That's the biggest thing I'd probably worry about with him,

and with literally any offensive tackle coming out, just that the transition is massive. You go from maybe facing a guy with NFL athleticism along the defensive line to now you're facing 16 I guess no 17 you're facing that every single week there's a guy that's a freak athlete across from you and that's just a different animal and why tackles are difficult to project out the gate but I do think he was extremely sound in the run game I think you can rely on that at least. And I do think in time for where they got him at pick 23 and after that trade,

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Call 651-998-2200 today, and I'll see you there. The interesting part of this team, and I just want your full assessment, and then we can play a fun little game to wrap up, but they're one of the younger teams in the league now, which is so weird because they have Kirk Cousins as their quarterback, and this is another reason why it kind of would have made a lot of sense to go in on Justin Fields or Mac Jones,

whatever your preference is, because suddenly you've got a lot of, like you've got an offensive of, like, you've got an offensive line that's all rookie contracts at this moment. And you have Justin Jefferson is a child still and could be great at this for another 10 years or more. So, like, you have all these foundational pieces to build. You seem like a team that is ready to kind of get that young quarterback and kind of

go forward. But I'm not sure that they're ready at this moment to win with a veteran quarterback who's very expensive. Yeah, they are. So I have to say hats off to Rick Spielman, how he's sort of transitioned from, well, it was the team that lost the, is that 17 when they lost the Eagles? And that was probably their best team in the past, whatever, half decade.

Transitioned from that when he had a lot of contracts coming up, a lot of bloat going to be on that roster, a lot of guys who's going to have to pay. And to reload with some young talent as they have, like to actually hit on guys, Jefferson, whatnot, Cameron Dancer as well, I throw into that mix of like this transition from those two teams. They're vastly now two different teams. And to still be competing throughout

that whole mix is impressive but it's also not really where you want to be in the NFL it's like you either want to be very bad or very good and being in that middle for so long you lose out on the chance to then like we've talked about get that quarterback like takes the swings at that quarterback position without having to mortgage all these picks. And so I do think they have a good foundation, but it is still going to come down to Kirk Cousins versus what, or whatever the sort of transitional plan from Kirk Cousins is. Right. And, you know, I just wrote about this the other day, kind of like, you know,

if they wanted to fire everyone because they didn't perform well this year, I get it because that's football and they do that. But in a way, it's like you're sort of stuck, but you're also sort of moving in the right direction with a lot of pieces on the roster to where you can kind of see in the future, like this is going to peak at some point if a few of these guys hit. And so where are you going to be? Like, do you want to hire, oh, I don't know, Matt Rule, who ruins everything for your team and trades for Sam Darnold or something? Sort of buyer beware a little bit or careful what you wish for

when it comes to firing people. Do you want Dan Campbell? Maybe. For a year, yeah, but do you want to be a laughingstock in the NFL, which is kind of like the punchline this year. Do you want to cover Mark Campbell as a reporter? The answer would be Dan Campbell, whatever. Who's Mark Campbell?

He was another tight end, I think. Matt Campbell? I think he's Iowa State. Matt Campbell's Iowa State. Yeah, it doesn't matter. And every single one of them. And Dave Campbell is a reporter on our beat. And every single one of them is called soup.

So, all right okay so I uh I googled list of long snappers and I came up with a list of all the long snappers in the league in 2015 so I want you to tell me is the player I'm going to give you a recent Vikings seventh round draft pick or a long snapper from 2015. Okay. Okay. So we are going to begin with Aaron Brewer. Was Aaron Brewer a 2015 long snapper or a Viking seventh round draft pick? Did he have a Viking seventh rounder? No, he was a long snapper for the Broncos. Yes. Okay.

I love this game already. Carson Tinker, T-I-N-K-E-R. Was he a long snapper or was he a Viking draft pick? I'm going to go long snapper again. You are correct. Carson Tinker. That one may be too obvious with his name. So now you have to play the mental game with me of, like,

would he really go three long snappers in a row or would he not? Okay. So these are recent, so I'm not going, like like way back on you jack tocho oh uh that is the bike south rounder he was a what position did he play i know that one you jack tocho was a cornerback he was well sort of and they moved him to safety and the reason he's famous with our beat is because they cut him and re-signed him like 47 different times. Like he owned the NFL waiver wire, just like Jack Chocho being cut and signed. Okay, Colby Gossett, is that a long snapper or a Viking late-round draft pick?

He's actually not a seventh-rounder, but a late-round draft pick. Viking late-rounder, yeah, I think. You remember Colby Gossett well? I remember Colby Gossett. I don't remember too well, though. He was famous for, I think, like lifting a lot of weights, and I think there was – and you guys, this is one of the things that you guys do with your PFF data.

It's like someone will have some skill, like zone blocking. You'll say, oh, the guy got a good zone blocking grade. So then everyone expects a sixth rounder to come in and just be like, you know. He was from Army, maybe? Appalachian State? He was from Appalachian State. Yep, that's right. Okay, 2015 long snapper or Viking late round draft pick?

Austin Cutting. I'm going to go long snapper there. I don't recognize that one. one okay so you're sort of right and wrong he was a viking seventh round draft pick long snapper oh here we go as as as you want to do draft long snappers in the late rounds okay uh last one here um david morgan was he a long snapper or was he? That was the Vikings late rounder. That was the UTSA tight end? Yes, yes, yes. But you're also sort of wrong because in one game he long snapped.

Oh, he long snapped, yeah. In one game. So this has been an episode of 2015 Long Snapper, a Vikings late round draft pick, and you did a tremendous job, Mike. I'm kind of sad I didn't recognize more of the long snapper names because I used to do, when I first started at PFF, I would do, they would stick me on doing the special teams PP of like analyzing who was on the field every single play

because I had made the mistake of doing it faster than everyone else, which meant I got stuck doing all those games, which was the worst. Just having to analyze where everyone's on the field for the special teams games because I could do like four games in like eight hours, whereas everyone else that took like one game was like four hours for everyone else. So I made that mistake, so I was stuck doing that all year. That will teach you to be a draft scouting savant.

It doesn't pay. No, actually it does for you because you do great content. And the draft guide, I just can't tell you enough how much the draft guide helps from a reporter perspective to have opinions on these guys leading up to it, to have information on them, to report on them, to ask questions about them when they get drafted, to be able to instantly just, you know, control F and go find everything that you guys have is so helpful. And I love the show. Sometimes I am made very uncomfortable by certain innuendos or anything about either of your guys' lives. But it's a great show, two-for-one drafts. I listen to it all the time.

So thanks, man. It was great to catch up with you. No, for sure, Matt. Thanks for having me, man. Folks, if you are pumped up about how the Vikings did in the draft and now the schedule's out, it is a great time to get yourself a Skull Flag or Bud Grant shirt. And, of course, there's much, much more. If you go to Sotastick.com, S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com, check them all out.

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and overperform and go the extra mile for your company. Okay, before we wrap up, just want to bring you a couple of the most interesting interviews that we had on Zoom calls with the Vikings from Brian O'Neill, Ezra Cleveland, and Irv Smith. Brian O'Neill covered a lot of different ground, including his contract situation. We talked with Ezra Cleveland about knowing he's a left guard now. And Irv Smith talked about a lot of stuff, including eating New Orleans food and how difficult it is to be on a diet with that. So here's the best things that we heard from Vikings players in our OTAs week two Zoom calls. Matthew, followed by Sam.

Brian, just how much different is this in terms of a room now that in a lot of ways you're the veteran guy? I don't know if you thought this would happen that fast, but with Riley now there, how does that change your mentality if it does? And I guess what are some of the things that you're trying to help along some of the younger players with? Yeah, I mean, it's definitely probably the biggest change since I've been here, not having Riley around. But in terms of my mentality, I don't think it really changes that much. You might have a few more pointers for the young guys, but at the end of the day, it's all about trying to progress myself

to have the best season I possibly can and try to help lead this group the best way I can. It's been fun. It's been a good group so far. There's been a great vibe around the building, great vibe in the room. Everybody's excited to be here. We're happy to be here. Okay, Sam, then Don.

Brian, when it comes to Christian specifically, you've been in his shoes. You've been a highly drafted tackle before. What wisdom can you impart to him as he kind of eases into this role? You know, I kind of have been talking to him a bit and just trying to let him know that, you know, there's people here for him. When you come in as a high draft pick like that, you know, there might be expectations here or there or from the outside, but just letting him know that, you know, we're here for him,

we're here to help him any way we can. And he's been really responsive. He's been attentive in meetings. He knows what he's doing already. He's asking the right kind of questions. I'm excited. He's going to be good. Brian, with this being such a pivotal off season for you personally, where do things stand as far as a contract extension for you? Are you expecting that that that's going to be something that happens in the next couple of weeks, couple of months, something before training camp? Where are you at on that? You know, I'm trying to be respectful of the process that goes on, you know,

between my agent and the people here. But I want to be here. I want to be here long term. I love it here. And nothing would make me happier to be here long term. So we'll see. We'll see how it goes. But I'm letting them handle that.

Hopefully we can work together for a long time. Brian, you mentioned Clint Kubiak. You go from Gary to Clint. How similar or different is it in terms of, I mean, last year, obviously you're in a different place because you're only on Zooms, so I'm sure that helps. But in terms of schematically, and how much has it helped to have a lot of the same guys who have been here

that you've worked with? There's not a lot of turnover on the offensive side. Absolutely. There's not a lot of turnover, and we're all speaking the same language, so to speak. Things are called the same. But Clint's done an awesome job. You can feel his confidence when he walks into the room.

It doesn't seem like it's the first time he's ever done this. He's coaching guys hard. He's coaching me hard. He's coaching Justin hard. He's coaching Dalvin. He's coaching Justin hard. He's coaching Dalvin. He's coaching, you know, guys at the top, guys at the bottom, everybody the same way. And you can tell he's really real, and he's excited to be here and excited to work. And you're like, okay, this guy really loves football. And you saw that with his dad, too. So, you know, I'm excited to have him. I think it's going to be great.

Eric Van Lindsey. Hey, Brian. You obviously played next to Ezra last year, I think for nine games. How do you think he's done kind of transitioning over from right guard over to the left side? I think he's done great. I think, you know, he looks bigger. He looks stronger. He looks more confident.

He's answering questions a lot quicker. His footwork looks tight. He's in great shape. He's answering questions a lot quicker. His footwork looks tight. He's in great shape. He's strong. And I think he's really excited and happy to be here. I think he feels really good about being himself in our room. Not that he didn't last year. But, you know, when you get that confidence in yourself as a person,

it's able to translate to the field a lot as a player, in my mind. That's kind of when the jump, you know, hopefully happened for me is when I felt comfortable and he's definitely feels comfortable. I guess kind of jumping off a little bit off that, you mentioned how great it is to just be back and kind of in a football routine. How about for the guys like Ezra, Justin, DJ Wanham, guys who last year didn't really get any of this on-field time this spring or

during the spring, what is it like to just see them be able to get this extra practice time and continue to gain that confidence? I think it's big. I think my rookie year when I had OTAs, it was a great learning experience for me. Me and Ezra were talking yesterday about one of the dynamics is now we know where to go in terms of who to block or how to get there, but how do you do it more efficiently

and how do you do it the right way over and over and over again? And really getting to the second layers of, well, what if this happens? How do you react? And really thinking on, like, you know, deeper levels of the block and things that could happen as opposed to just, okay, on display, I got that guy. And that's really the difference in OTAs is being able to understand things as a whole conceptually.

Is there a way that you can sort of describe the gap between when you first got here to now in terms of understanding what you're seeing from defenses? It's a lot slower. But I hope when, you know, we talk in the fall or this time next year, the gap will be just as wide and that it continues to slow down and I continue to get better and see things at a higher level. But definitely you see things happen a lot quicker, and there's only so many ways that a defense can blitz

or different fronts that they can run. So you can kind of recognize things and say, oh, okay, this happened. I've seen this happen before. And it's not new for the first time with everything. Hey, Ezra, we just heard from Brian O'Neill, and he was saying that you seem to be a lot stronger this time around coming into it. What did you spend your offseason doing,

and was that an emphasis for you coming into this year? The first two weeks of offseason kind of took a break, kind of recuperated. And then I hit the weight room hard with my buddy. The first two weeks of the offseason kind of took a break, kind of recuperated, and then I hit the weight room hard with my buddy. He's, like, into nutrition and all that stuff, and we were just lifting. He was running me through programs and stuff, and I knew getting stronger was one of the things I had to work on, so I was really hitting the weight room hard and working with him and doing some conditioning and stuff. And I think it's paying off pretty well right now.

I feel great out there on the field. It's kind of one-two step right now, but my footwork's feeling great and I just feel like I'm in a really good place right now. Matt and then Eric. Ezra, kind of speaking of that with Brian, when he started as a rookie, he was kind of thrown into the fire. That's what happened to you last year. I guess how much did you grow during that time where you had to just kind of

learn right guard on the fly, and how does that help you now, the experience that you got last year? Yeah, I mean, as we all know, right guard was a new experience for me. But as I was playing, I felt like I was getting more comfortable there on the right side playing guard and was gaining the experience throughout the year. And by the end of the year, I felt like, you know, I've been playing right guard for a long time. And right now I'm playing left guard. I think it's going to help me tremendously just having that experience at guard

and kind of moving back to my natural side where I have most of my experience. So I'm excited for that, and I'm excited for this year. Yeah, I guess what have you liked about moving over to the left side? I know you played left tackle in college. Is just being on the left side of the center more of a comfort thing? I wouldn't say comfort thing. I mean, I felt pretty good over there on the right side. I just – that's where I have the majority of my experience.

And the offensive line, I feel like experience is a really big thing. And like you said, it's more of a comfort zone over there. So, like I said, I'm excited to get over there and, you know, get back to that left side. Andrew? Ezra, how far has your confidence come just kind of having this now offseason where you can actually walk through the OTAs and know the playbook and have the experience obviously from last year under your belt?

Just kind of how far mentally do you think you've come? Yeah, so the mental part of the game is really important. And I was also harping on that over the offseason, you know, trying to learn the plays and get it dialed in to where it's faster out there on the field. And that's helped my confidence tremendously. Just getting out there, I know what I'm doing. I can kind of, you know, just play football and not have to worry about situations and stuff like that. So it's helped me. It's helped me a lot.

How much different is it just in terms of, I guess, bonding with teammates and getting the chemistry down with the fact that you can have these OTAs in person as opposed to last year where training camp was the first time where you could actually really step on the field with guys? Yeah, I mean, we have a great turnout. I mean, the majority of the guys are here, I'm pretty sure, and it's great to see everyone's face and be able to just learn about them and their history and stuff like that

and getting closer with the offensive line, talking with guys that I haven't talked with before, even the new guys like Wyatt and Christian. They're great dudes, and I'm excited to move forward with them and get to know them even more. Craig? How helpful is it for you to know the plan with you trying to maximize your abilities and optimize yourself at guard going forward, maybe with the tackles probably being set?

Yeah, I mean, knowing that I'm going to be playing guard through the season helps me a lot because I can focus on my steps and everything like that. And I can kind of key in mentally to the guards' situations and stuff that they have to worry about. So, I mean, it helps me a lot confidence-wise. And when I'm out there on the field, I also know what I'm doing. So I'll be able to pin my ears back and go play fast football. Dane, then Sam. Erv, if you could think back to your rookie year and just, you know,

how much there was to learn, just how much more comfortable do you feel and comfortable do you feel in the offense now compared to back then when you were kind of trying to crash course and everything? Yeah, I feel very comfortable out there. You know, this is my third year in this offense. And, you know, Coach Periani, he's putting me in every spot possible. I mean, in this offense, it's really cool because, you know, you can line guys up all over the place. So just now just finding in on the details and, you know, learning the whole concept, not just, okay,

what do I have on this play or this play now? It's, okay, if I was out here, what would I do? You know what I'm saying? So just trying to break it down in details so I can just go out there and play fast. Sam, then Don. Yeah, Irv, you and Tyler Conklin had a lot of production when you played together late last season.

Just how do you think you guys complement each other and what have your impressions of him been? I'm very, I'm very, very excited about about me and Conk together out there. You know, Conk is he's a great player, great guy on and off the field. And I feel like as a tight end, you want to be able to move and you want to be able to not only be a threat in the pass game, but in a run game as well. And, you know, I feel like me and Conk are one of the best at doing that. So just with that being said, I'm very excited about, you know, me and him playing together and having this opportunity.

This is just an observation from when we've seen you the two times at OTAs, but you look bigger. I mean, granted, you're far away on the field, so maybe that's wrong, but like, have you put more muscle on? Have you put more weight on? Do you feel like physically from year two to where you are year three, what's changed, if anything? For sure. You know, I feel like diet is definitely something that's not really talked about too much. I think it's very key. And for me, just being home in New Orleans this offseason, my cousin, she actually she's about to be she's about to graduate from Tulane and be a registered dietitian. And so she's calculated all of my meals exactly. OK, you need this much protein, you need this many calories, you need this much protein you need this many calories you need this this this so and it's just having that like it's just awesome you don't have to worry about okay what am I going to

eat today or or anything and then the work the work always comes first in that sense I mean getting bigger faster stronger um being the best version of yourself uh possible how does that make you feel on the field like how how, how has it felt kind of running around now that you're kind of watching what you eat and all that kind of stuff? Does that make a difference that you can feel? Most, most definitely makes a difference. I mean, you're not sluggish out there. You don't feel heavy or, or slow. You know, a lot of times after you eat, you kind of get tired, but you know, when you're eating healthy and eating the proper things, you know, it's like fuel for your car.

You know, you're putting the best gas in you. How do you go about watching what you eat in New Orleans, Irv? It's tough, for sure. I mean, you know, you got to have your cheat meals here and there, you know, get some crawfish, a shrimp po' boy or something, you know, one of the, one of those things. But for the most part, my family eats pretty healthy. So, you know, that helps. It's not like I'm eating the healthy,

healthy food and my family's over here eating, you know, fried shrimp and all this and making me feel bad. So it's cool having, you know, their support in terms of a healthy lifestyle as well. Speaking of New Orleans, New Orleans culture, I know it's been a couple months since we've seen the gritty. having you know their support in terms of a healthy lifestyle as well speaking of new orleans new orleans culture i know it's been a couple months since we've seen the gritty on the field and all that i know justin's at fortnight now that's a part of it as someone who's from the city and sees at you know blowing up in college football over all over the nfl what would you say is like kind of that new orleans influence that – it feels like to an outsider that that has its tentacles

all over the NFL, and we're seeing it everywhere. Like, specifically 504, all – everything that, like, you grew up in. No, most definitely. You know, New Orleans is like a place, if you've ever been there, it's like a place like no other. And, you know, we got a lot of flavor, and, you know, we just bring our own little little sauce to it and you know lagritty uh you know he went what school you're having east in there but he um he started the dance and then you know it just it just blew

up like and and i feel like that's a lot of things with new orleans in terms of like dances or you know i'm saying sayings andings and stuff. It's just catchy. And, you know, we try to be trendsetters in a sense of, you know, starting your own thing and not being a follower. So it's just cool like seeing that stuff and seeing people from our city and, you know, growing up watching these dudes and now, you know what I'm saying, getting their own platform in a sense. Yes.