Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - PFF's newest hire Ari Meirov talks offseason storylines for Vikings early-season opponents

Episode Date: July 22, 2021

Pro Football Focus just brought Ari Meirov on board to head up their newsdesk so to congratulate him on the new gig, Matthew Coller asks him about every storyline for all the Minnesota Vikings opponents during the first half of the season. Should we be watching Joe Burrow's progress during training camp and the preseason or are the Bengals not a threat? Do we believe the Arizona Cardinals have the star power to take another step forward? What happened to all that Russell Wilson noise during the offseason? Are the Panthers the biggest gimme game on the schedule? How will the Cleveland Browns handle the hype? Plus what Ari thinks the biggest Vikings storyline is for the upcoming season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar here, and joining me is Ari Mayrov. You may know him from his Twitter account, My Sports Update, and just recently, Chris Collinsworth and Adam Schefter on an episode of Chris Collinsworth podcast announced that Ari would be joining Pro Football Focus. And Ari, congratulations, and you're going to be heading up the news desk doing a podcast. It's a very cool career step for you, man. Congratulations. Well, thank you, Matthew. Thank you so much for that. Thank you for having me on. You know,

I've been running the account since 2013. This was an opportunity that really fit exactly what I'm looking for. You know, I'm very into the news and everything. PFF was all about data and analytics. Now they want to add a news division and that's just right up my alley. So it's a great fit, really excited for it. And as we record this today, we are 50 days away from the regular season kicking off. So the season is inching closer and closer. Yeah, and that will be a big time for you. And of course, everyone knows from your MySportsUpdate account that you are an absolute must follow when it comes to not only the free agency, the draft,

but then the beginning of training camp coming up here in just a couple of days for everybody. Some teams have their rookies there. The Vikings start, I believe their first practice will be the 28th. So it's coming. Here's what I want to do for this episode is I want to go through some of the other teams that the Vikings play kind of, especially early in the season, because as things go along who knows what will happen when it comes to like week 14 or something but especially early in the season that we're going to be keeping an eye on as we go through Vikings training camp and they're so

let's break down some of their biggest storylines and talk about them the Cincinnati Bengals are I think not an opponent for week one Ari that is going to excite absolutely anyone. But at the same time, kind of intriguing from the perspective of Joe Burrow coming back. And tell me what you're looking for here from Cincinnati, because to me, that's everything that I'm going to be watching is the reporters on a daily basis and what they have to say about Joe Burrow's progress. So, yeah, when I look at Cincinnati, you know, there are a handful of teams this year that I'm really looking forward to watch. And Cincinnati is actually one of them for a number of reasons. You already mentioned Joe Burrow coming back, just a really great rookie season to open up his career. And then, of course, he has a devastating injury in Washington. But now he comes back and they

kind of fixed up the offensive line a little bit. You know, they added Riley Reid from Minnesota. Of course, you guys know him very well. He's going to take care of the right side. You have Jonah Williams over the left side. A lot of people were talking about what are they going to do there with the fifth overall pick, whether it's going to be Jamar Chase or Penny Sewell. They go for Jamar Chase, his former teammate from LSU. And now that offense is really looking like a potentially dynamic offense, right? Where you have Jamar Chase and Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins there as well. And Joe Mixon is coming back as well after he missed a large chunk of last season with a foot injury that he just couldn't recover from. So you look at that offense and it's a very intriguing offense.

It's very young. And there are pieces there that you look at Joe Burrow he he was already practicing out he was out there during minicamp so he is recovering um rather fast from that injury because if you remember when that happened there was talk that he might miss the start of this 2021 season he's way ahead of schedule so he's back and you look at the that offense it's really explosive obviously the offensive line is the biggest question there and when you look back at the 21 2021 draft you, you know, two or three years from now, we're going to be talking about that pick and whether it was the right pick or wrong pick. We'll know right away, whether they made the right decision, the wrong decision based off how Joe Burrow plays, how those two careers

go with, with Chase and Penny Sewell. But you know, if he's going to be held up right there with, with his offensive line that that offense has the potential to be very very dynamic and when you look at Zach Taylor the head coach over there he could be on a short leash there so this is a very crucial year there for their offense and then defensively you know they had a bunch of players who kind of missed most of last season or they signed from the previous offseason You guys all know from Trey Wayne from Minnesota, didn't play at all last year. DJ Reader, they signed from Houston. He as well missed a large portion of last year.

So they're going to get a lot of different pieces back. We'll see how long it takes them to really just get into that rhythm, right? They lost a player who was there for many years in Geno Atkins. So it is a bit of a shift there for that defense. But this is a team that will be interesting to watch this year. The AFC North is obviously stacked, but this team is a team that is moving up and up, you know, after so many years of being just, you know, near the bottom of the league. So it's a very exciting team and they have a very interesting start against Minnesota.

Where did you stand on the Jamar Chase Penesul because my Twitter was constantly lit up with draft people comparing and then the PFF people doing all their analytical studies on offensive lines versus wide receivers. I'll give you my take and you tell me what you think. I understand why they wanted to get Jamar Chase and I think it's a great idea to have Burroughs receiver. And he is terrific. The only thing I think about is offensive lines take a while to put together. You need to draft over multiple years. You need to sign free agents. There's a lot that has to be done there. Whereas wide receivers, you can usually just get one. Like you could get one in the draft in the first round. You can get one in free agency. So I don't think that the conversation is quite as simple

as this offensive lineman's individual value versus this wide receiver. I think part of it is how long it takes to build the construction. And that offensive line for Cincinnati to me is not ready right now to protect Joe Burrow. Yeah. And I was right there with you. I thought they should take Penny Sewell there at number five overall. I thought that would be the pick. I didn't put out a mock, but if I was going to back then, I would have had Pene going there to Cincinnati. Now, I understand the dynamic that they played together.

He had 20 touchdowns there. So they're really banking on Jamar Chase becoming not just a really good receiver, but a superstar receiver. Talk about Julio Jones, what A.J. Green was there for the start of his career, that type of receiver. We're not talking about thatio Jones, what A.J. Green was there for the start of his career, that type of receiver. We're not talking about that tier B type of receiver. So if that happens, you could justify the pick. But if not, we've learned over time that finding a receiver is much easier than finding offensive linemen. I mean, Minnesota found Justin Jefferson at pick number 24.

Terry McLaurin was a third round pick. A.J. Brown was a second round pick. T. Higgins was a second round pick. AJ Brown was a second round pick. T Higgins was a second round pick, right? So finding receivers, there are many more avenues to find one than using that fifth overall pick where you could get a franchise cornerstone left tackle there. So I'm there with you, but again, we're going to know fairly quick if this was the right pick, like in a year or two, we'll know right away if they made the right decision or not. Yeah. I mean, I don't doubt that a top-notch wide receiver is worth more like wins above replacement than a top-notch tackle. Um, I it's just, it seems to me that these conversations become kind of too focused on this

player versus this player and not quite enough to what it means to the overall construction and the timeline of the team. Because even though you are intrigued by the Cincinnati Bengals, I just can't take them super seriously as a contender yet because I don't think they're there. And you laid it out. You laid out all the storylines. And there's a lot of interesting ones there as they progress forward as a franchise. And maybe Pittsburgh starts to drift back in that division. But it would also seem to me that they've got several years to go before we could take them really seriously.

Yeah. And I'm probably there with you. I don't think it happens this year for them. You know, I think they're going to be that type of competitive team that drives team nuts a little bit, you know, the way Miami did with Brian Flores, when he was there for his first year, the way Carolina did last year of Matt rule, you know, they're going to be competitive. They're going to be in games. They're going to, you know, be in it till the end, but I don't see them making a playoff push. I don't think it happens this year. I think they need another year, but most importantly for this year,

just show the toughness, show the grit and show them Zach Taylor is the right head coach. If not, this could be a year where they're looking for another one, if that does not happen. So I think that's kind of what we're looking at with Cincinnati, but they're for sure a team on the rise and the team that we'll be talking about in a couple of years. There's something to be said for how Brian Flores' teams at least played for him, and we'll find out. Although I'm not convinced Zach Taylor is a real person.

I will be there in Cincinnati week one, I think. And, um, I'm going to have to look for him because I actually have no idea what he looks like. Uh, right. I mean, he's the most nondescript non-talked about coach in the entire NFL. Now the most over-talked about or over-hyped coach in the NFL is who the Vikings play in week two, which is the Arizona Cardinals and Cliff Kingsbury, who I I'm just not ready to call them any type of contender until Cliff Kingsbury shows me that he can change up his offense at some point. I mean, from everyone's analysis that I've read, who are the sort of smart X's and O's people, the thing that they keep coming back to is the guy just isn't really changing things up to the point that most NFL coaches are.

And I think that this is a very common issue with college to NFL coaches is that they bring in their offense. They think, oh yeah, it works because it's my system, which works in college. But as any NFL coach would tell you, you have to constantly be adapting and adjusting. I haven't seen that from Kingsbury.

So tell me what you think that the biggest storylines are for the Arizona Cardinals for this season. You know, entering last year, the team that I was most excited for was Arizona. I don't know if we talked about this when we had our podcast, but I think we did. Yeah. Yeah. I was really looking forward to them. I predicted they would win week one versus San Francisco.

They did. I said Kyler Murray would take that year to leave the way Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes did. And we kind of saw that to start the year. And then as the year went on, it just kind of collapsed. You know, this is again, similar to Zach Taylor, Cliff Kingsbury could be in that same boat where this is a make or break year for him. You know, they went into this office with a very interesting strategy of just signing a bunch of veterans that are in the back end of their careers with J.J. Watt and A.J. Green. And they trade for Rodney Hudson and all these different moves. And it really just signals that they're really trying to go for it now while Kyler Murray is still on his rookie contract.

So they're kind of going all in on this. And my biggest problem with Arizona is that if they were in any other division i would be all in on them the fact that they're in the nfc west where you have the rams and you have the 49ers you have the seahawks makes it very difficult for me to believe this is a team that is going to actually make a run now they did add a lot of pieces there and i really don't know how much gas and tank these players have i really don't i don't know what to expect out of advanced joseph defense where you know isaiah simmons last year, and we spoke about this. I remember this, that he was kind of playing out of position. Now you draft Zayvon Collins as well. I really don't know what

to expect out of that team. You know, Chandler Jones and JJ Watt on the same defensive line sounds scary, but how scary actually is it, right? So I do believe when you look at that offense, it's still going to be explosive. I still, you know, Kyler, Kyler Murray, he was banged up by them the last year. He was not himself. They couldn't get into the playoffs. You know, they had a chance in week 17. Now you come back healthy. You're in year three with Cliff Kingsbury. I look at this offense and I know that that that Murray and Hopkins already had that connection. We don't know if Larry will be back. But regardless, I mean, that offense has so many different receivers anyways, you know, I believe this is a team that will be competitive,

just like Cincinnati, even better than them. But again, going back to this division, it's going to be so difficult for them to actually make the playoffs. And that's the biggest problem there. And looking at it at Arizona, at Arizona's history, they've had, it's been a while since they've had a head coach who lasted more than four years. So Cliff Kingsbury, you know, if this is a year where they're going six and 11, they might just pull the plug on this and try something else. So it's a very big year

here for Arizona as well, just like it is for Cincinnati. You know, what I like about this team to talk about Arizona is just how they've sort of said, here's everything you should need. Now go do it. And you make the point about the NFC West. And of course the Vikings are going to have to play the NFC West. Not a good draw, I think for the Vikings in terms of schedule wise. And of course the AFC North too, overall two very tough divisions. But I also think it makes things very interesting when an ownership or a general manager says, okay, we're going to go get you everything you need. You were an average team last year, and now it's time to take that big next step. And so this makes for a great battle in week two, because I think we all expect kind of the Vikings to take care of

Cincinnati with Burrow coming back for his first game there. But now you have right away in this season, a Vikings team that has a similar pressure that spent a lot of money in free agency to an Arizona team. And I kind of love that battle from two coaches and two front offices that are, I mean, hot seat sort of cliche. I'm sure you try to avoid that to some extent when you talk about it, but like just a lot of pressure on each of these two teams. And it feels like, Oh, early season, who cares? But I think it's a big game. No, it for sure is. And you go back to the front office, you know, Steve has always been a GM who, whoever he gets out there, it's not really what he wants, really what the coach needs. And he's always been that type of guy. So he's gotten Cliff Kingsbury, the pieces

that he would want to run his team. And so far, it kind of worked a little bit, but then it just didn't work at all. So there's still a lot of work that needs to be done there. And you mentioned it's a week two matchup. I think that matchup is fascinating. I mean, you talk about two teams that really, they really have to get the hot start. I mean, that's just the reality for both these teams. They cannot afford to start one and three or one and four.

So as crazy as it is in a 17-game season, getting this win in week two is actually crucial for both these teams here just to get the season off on the right footing. How weird is it that A.J. Green plays for Arizona, by the way? Yeah, it's going to take time to get used to that one. I mean, even J.J. Watt in Arizona is going to be weird to look at. I mean, there are just pieces there that seeing them wear that red jersey is going to take time to get used to that one. I mean, even JJ Watt in Arizona is going to be weird to look at. I mean, there are just pieces there that I'm seeing them where that red jersey is going to be interesting. I mean, they've done it in the past though. I mean,

Emmett Smith played in Arizona. People forget that. So. Yeah. That, that sort of part of our, our discussion here is like, Hey, remember this guy plays for this team. If you forgot, maybe I'll, maybe I'll label the podcast that did you remember this guy plays for this team if you forgot maybe i'll maybe i'll label the podcast that did you remember this dude plays for that team uh okay who's our do you remember this dude plays for that team in seattle is it alden smith is he do you know what his situation is because alden smith did sign with seattle i think that they're good to go there right or what i don't or not yeah i don't know exactly what's

going on there there was an incident literally a couple days after he signed there where um you know there was an arrest warrant out for him we haven't really heard much about it but in reality you know that contract if something does go wrong there that contract is easily movable um i'm pretty sure he didn't show up to minicamp i might be wrong on this but i'm pretty sure he didn't show up to minicamp. I might be wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't there. So his situation is one to watch. I mean, it was incredible to see him last year in Dallas, those first five games there where he really showed up, but you know, yeah, his situation is going to be an interesting one because it's not fully solved

yet. And Seattle has taken those risks in the past, but if it doesn't work out, I mean, getting, moving on from that contract is fairly easy. Okay. I double checked. You're right. He was not at mini camp. He had an excused absence, but Pete Carroll said he was quote working hard. So whatever, whatever that means, but that will be, I think a main storyline of just can Seattle put together a defense that can pressure the quarterback because they have some pieces there, but Alden Smith was the guy they were bringing in to resolve that. And if he's suspended to start the year,

or if these legal issues keep him off the field for whatever reason, all of a sudden they don't really look all that scary still as a defense. Yeah. I mean, all in was definitely part of it. I think they brought back Carlos Dunlap as well. Yep. Benson, my yo was brought in as well, a player who has produced sacks in the past. So they brought in a number of pieces, not really, you know, star studded players, but guys who can make a difference. I think when we talk about Seattle, I mean, as we get closer to training camp, I think something to really watch will be the Jamal Adams situation. You know know they traded two first round picks for the guy and

there's a lot of rumblings that maybe he won't show up now for training camp until he gets that contract you know when you give up two first round picks the player kind of has all the leverage here in this situation so really as we get closer to training camp you know when we when it comes to the Seahawks we had all the talk about Russell Wilson during the offseason. But now this Jamal Adams situation really hasn't picked up steam yet in the national media. But I feel as we get closer now for players reporting, there's a chance that it could start really taking over a little bit, especially if he does not show up again. Trading two first round picks, we saw what Jalen Ramsey got in L.A. I mean, Jamal's going to be able to reset the market based off what they traded for him and not giving him that extension as soon as they made the trade.

And as a person who loves trades and would love to see NFL teams make even more trades, just because, I mean, it's good for business, right? And it's fun. But a lot of times, one thing that the teams don't seem to think about when they make the trade is, oh, I have to pay that guy because if I trade as much as I traded and then they don't sign, I look completely ridiculous. And so the player has all of the cards on his side because he could say, come on, you guys traded for me. I know how much you love me. So you have to make me the highest paid player. So if you're Jamal Adams, there's no reason to cave. Yeah. You know, there are three players who got traded for two first round picks. And for some reason there was no extension as part of the trade. There was Laramie Tunsell in Houston. There was Jalen Ramsey in LA. And then there was Jamal Adams in Seattle.

All three, two of them already reset the market for their positions. Jamal Adams is going to do the same thing. You know, we always make fun of the bears front office but when they traded for clill mac they got a deal done as well which was very smart i really don't know why those three teams did not do it as part of the deal maybe the agents didn't want it and maybe that's the smart thing to do because now they really have all the cards but i would think as part of the trade you should be getting extension done as well so that so that it does not become an issue down the line. And here we are now with Seattle, where it is kind of it could end up becoming an issue. In Houston, it didn't become an issue. But at the time, it was Bill O'Brien who was the acting GM.

And of course, Laramie Tunsil got only a three year deal, which is very rare. And he completely blew up the market. And Jalen Ramsey also blew up the market, getting to $20 million a year for the cornerback. So it didn't make sense to me at all. And we'll see what Jamal ends up getting, but he is going to reset the safety market when the time comes. Hey guys, I know we have all had this conversation at home. Are you really going to spend the whole day out on the golf course instead of being with the family?

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as we go through these sort of off-season storylines that were plus camp storylines that are for the vikings early schedule russell wilson it was briefly lived it seemed that he was mad and once it was determined that chicago could not put together a good enough package to trade for russell wilson that was But another, remember when that happened, his agent coming out and just telling Adam Schefter, yeah, we would accept a trade to the bears. And of course, terrified Minnesota Vikings fans everywhere were like, please, please do not figure out a way to do this because Russell Wilson, even if he hasn't played well, he's always found a way to beat the Vikings.

So what do we make of that situation that Russell Wilson is just cool now with Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks? They didn't really do anything this offseason to completely revamp his, well, maybe they'll change their offense and that will be it, but not to revamp the roster around him. So I wonder how did that thing go from his agent saying who he wanted to be traded to to all of a sudden we're back to oh no Russell Wilson's perfectly fine yeah I mean that story was really fascinating because really Russell started this all by himself with going on Dan Patrick's show saying what he did about the offensive line not not getting hit anymore then his agent gives all those list of names

then he had he had a say with hiring Shane Waldron as the offensive coordinator which he was fine with you know they trade for Gabe Jackson that type of a move but you know I like how you know Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson are going out there now and saying yeah everything is fine everything is great I don't think this story is over officially like I think it's over for this year I don't think Russell Wilson is 100% satisfied with Seattle come next year especially if they are knocked out of the playoffs early especially if he's still getting hit as much as he has gotten hit in the past so no I really

don't think it's over I think you know the Russell Wilson camp has been frustrated for years already I think it just became public for the first time this year, like actually, you know, got into a whole big thing where it went over to the media and he actually spoke about it and all of that. But, you know, for now it's good. I think come this time next year or the off season next year, if things don't go perfectly for Seattle, they haven't been to the NFC championship game since 2014, I believe. So it's been a pretty long time. If they don't get there this year, I could see this resurfacing once again. I mean, I don't think he's unsatisfied there. I don't think it's over yet.

I think for now they're just talking like Coach Talk and QB Talk to the media, but in reality behind closed doors, this thing isn't over yet. I don't think it's over at all. I think next year we'll be talking about it once again. This sort of goes to my theory that if you're a team that does not have a quarterback, just be patient because they'll just show up. Somebody who's a veteran will decide they're

unhappy or somebody who's an older veteran like Tom Brady will become a free agent or there will be five quarterbacks in the draft. So you don't have to get super desperate. And I think that that landscape is going to change at some point. And I think it's sort of like halfway there to the point where teams are saying, no, we're not really going to sign this guy because we just have to believe that other quarterbacks will not be signed or will end up disgruntled and want to go somewhere else. And maybe Brady shifted this for a lot of veteran quarterbacks for them saying, well, Brady just picked a great team and went to them and won a Super Bowl. Maybe I should do that.

Although I don't know how you feel about this. I don't know how much Russell Wilson really has to complain about with that team. I get the offensive line has been a problem, but he is also the problem when it comes to that. It's like if you hang on to the ball for a long time and you're trying to scramble and make plays that's good but you're also drawing a lot of your own pressure by holding on to the ball for a long time and then blaming everyone else yeah that is definitely that was definitely one of the main arguments when all this blew up back in February and March or whatever it was that you know Russell Wilson is part of the problem when

it comes to that and they're kind of hoping now that Shane Waldron is the offensive coordinator, that it's going to be fixed up with a better offense that would fit what he wants to do. But, you know, back to your point about quarterbacks, I think you are totally right. I think we're seeing a bunch of quarterbacks who are trying to get more power, trying to request trades. Like if the Sean Watson thing didn't blow up the way it did,

I think he would have been traded by now. Aaron Rodgers, we'll see what happens with him. The Russell Wilson situation is fixed for now, but it's not 100% fixed. I mean, you could look into next year already. You know, the Giants of Daniel Jones, we'll see how that pans out this year, but they have two first round picks next year. That's a team to watch if, you know,

the Russell Wilson situation actually does blow up or if a different quarterback becomes available. So I think you do have a point there that there are marquee quarterbacks that are going to become available as the years go on they are in 100% going to be there for 15-20 years the way we've seen it up until now I think we are going to see some quarterbacks changing teams and in my opinion that's pretty good for football it is good for football and it's good for uh twitter accounts that break football news and such. But, you know, I think I'm just thinking of this through the Vikings lens is that, you know, after next year,

the Vikings could choose to move on from Kirk Cousins. And I know that there are a lot of people who are concerned about that, as in, we don't know what we'll have is if you draft a quarterback, could he be a bust or whatever? And it's like, you can't see out into the future of how these things are going to change. You almost just have to trust that if you do move on from your quarterback there's going to be someone else because there are just more disgruntled quarterbacks and also more quarterbacks coming in the draft who are good at this uh let me move on did you have another comment on that no i mean i was just going to say you know there are more younger and aggressive gms out there who want to make these moves and want to make trades and want to move up the board or whatever it is.

So we are going to see more of that. You're 100 percent right. So I'm only going to I'm not going to make you go through 17 weeks. I'm only going to cover the before the bye week for the Vikings, because so much will change by then that who knows. But just the early season teams here. Cleveland is the next on the list. We won't we'll skip Detroit. We'll finish with Carolina and then we Cleveland is the next on the list. We won't, we'll skip Detroit. We'll finish with Carolina and then we'll get your thoughts on the Vikings. But I could see the terror in your face of like, we're only at week three. No, I won't make you do that.

I promise. And the bi-week though, you'll come back and we'll do second half storylines. So the Cleveland Browns though, this is a really interesting one because I don't know how old you are. The last time the Cleveland Browns and Super Bowl were discussed. But my guess is not very old. It was Super Nintendo days. It was Tecmo Bowl was being played.

I mean, you know, Bernie Kosar is the quarterback or maybe Vinny Testaverde the last time they were talked about as being good. That to me is fun to see because you love when teams sort of rise from the ashes of horribleness for a really long time, but also a lot of new pressure on Baker Mayfield and Kevin Stefanski that was not there last year. And in recent years, we've seen some teams rise to that challenge of the off season hype and some teams crumble 2018 Vikings yeah you know you know I'm happy you made that point because I haven't seen it talked about enough you know last two years ago when the Browns traded for Odell there was so much pressure on that team that they could not live up to it and everything collapsed last year the end of the year the end of the year where there was no pressure there was no off-season hype there

were no cameras all over the place and they just did their thing and they got to the playoffs and they won a playoff game and they almost made the FC championship game this year the pressure is back on it really is and they've made a lot of moves and when you look at these moves I'm a very big fan of Andrew Barry their GM I think he's one of the top GMs in the NFL the moves that he makes the way he's patient with what he does and And then eventually he strikes to make a deal. For example, the John Johnson at safety, or even Jadavion Clowney, who they believe is a player who could bounce back and could put pressure on the quarterback. It might not be sacks, but he'll, you know, you know, be the guy who puts pressure on the quarterback that makes him hurry the ball and

those types of things. So you look at that team and they made so many moves on the defensive side. Last year, it was all about offense, right? Jedrick Wills on the left side, Jack Conklin on the right side. You have Baker Mayhew for new offense. Now it's all about defense. Now they stocked up on defense. As I mentioned, John Johnson, Jadavion Clowney. They're hoping Tack McKinley could bounce back.

They add Troy Hill from the Rams as well, right? There are a couple of other moves. I forgot the guy's name, Walker from the Colts, the linebacker as well, who if you talk to Colts people, they were very high on him. But of course, they have players at that position, so they were ready to move on. Point being that now that defense is stacked as well. I'm really curious just to see how long it takes until it all comes together for the defense. And, you know, it is a 17-game season.

The division, you know, we're 17 game season the division you know we're expecting pittsburgh to potentially take a step back we talked about cincinnati already baltimore has been great we'll see how they do this year again so you feel like cleveland for once like last year you we talked about them but were they really going to be that team they proved to be that team this year we finally believe this is a team not only that can make the playoffs but could actually make a run and it's weird talking about the AFC because if you talked about this maybe seven or eight years ago, you would never say that Kansas City, Buffalo and Cleveland would be the three teams on top of the AFC. But that's really the case that it is right now. And it's all really going to depend on, of course, seeing if Baker Mayfield takes that next step when we talk about training camp storylines will he get a contract extension right that's a pretty big story here as well will he get that new deal that he's seeking and which quarterback will get it first whether it's him Lamar or Josh Allen if he doesn't get

a deal then he obviously has to continue to play really well and if he does of course next year he could get it he could get an even bigger deal so that offense is going to be interesting there's a lot of talk about you know Odell being there or not being there if the offense is better with him or without him well i don't believe her that odell being on the field is going to help baker if anything i think him seeing last year how the offense was really good without him will make him actually you know forget about being like the superstar guy and just you know try to be just a receiver on the field and try to help the team win so i I look at Cleveland. I'm very high on them this year. I'm a big fan of Kevin Stefanski, who came from Minnesota.

I'm a big fan of their GM, Andrew Barry. I'm a big fan of this roster overall. And I do believe this is a team that could make some serious noise here in 2021. And their early season game against the Vikings, I think, is huge for both teams. And then the Zimmer versus Stefanski thing. I wanted to tell you before we get to our last team, which is Carolina about a game between the bills and the Cleveland Browns from 2009, the worst football game I've ever seen. Cause you made the point that these are

two contenders. Now, no one would have ever believed this after that game, the Browns won six to three for both teams to go to one in four that season. And well, it was windy in Buffalo that day. Here's the quarterback performances. Derek Anderson, who got the W, went two for 17 for 23 yards and won the game. And no other quarterbacks played. It's not like he got hurt. He or even pulled two for 17, 23 yards, won the game.

Trent Edwards threw 31 passes for 17 23 yards won the game trent edwards through 31 passes for 152 yards and a pick the quarterback ratings were 15.1 and 52.1 that was an actual game that happened and those two franchises are now super bowl contenders that's what makes that's what really makes the nfl so great is knowing that those two teams are just so great now what was the weather that day could you check it out let me see if uh if we've got the weather here now i mean i remember it well being uh very windy uh let's see i'm not sure where i can get the weather five in buffalo or cleveland i mean yeah that bad right right right it was not a snow game there was another snow game that the bills uh okay here we go you know what it only says and this this

makes it worse i remember it being windy it only says 47 degrees and 13 mile an hour winds wow though yeah wow i'm curious to know if those two quarterbacks were starting again the week after but i'm not gonna make you go into the whole thing but um that's incredible that's a good little nugget to know yeah that's a good trivia question from you know 10 years from now which quarterback was whatever it was the stats were and still won the game without anybody replacing him and the weather was not bad two for 17 and the weather was not as bad as i remembered it okay last one carolina i'm just going to be straight with you ari i don't believe in them at all i don't believe in the sam darnold thing i don't think matt rule really knows what he don't believe in the Sam Darnold thing.

I don't think Matt rule really knows what he's doing. I'm not sure they know how to build a roster. Uh, I think that they're pretty clueless. I think they're the New York jets from the last, like five years with Adam Gase. And, um, I think that they're one of the easiest, if not the easiest game on the Viking schedule reaction. Yeah, that's interesting because they are building a roster in a very interesting way. I mean, I'm really just, I don't really know how much the owner has his hands in all of this. That's really a question for me because, you know, they've been doing a lot of things that just other front offices would never do. Like the Teddy Bridgewater contract, like the trading for Sam Donald giving up a four a two and a six which just felt like way too much but um you know I don't really know because you know

going back to the 2018 draft I believed in Sam Donald I thought he would be great and me being from New York knowing the pieces he had and he had here in New York it was such a disaster that I think it's kind of unfair to you you know, label him off of that. You enter a situation with Christian McCaffrey and DJ Moore and old friend Robbie Anderson, and they drafted Terrence Marshall out of LSU. I mean, just overall as a roster and the talent level, it's just a different world. And, you know, Joe Brady is an offensive coordinator that actually had serious interest from teams without head coaches. So this is a big year also for him just to show if he could reshape Sam Darnold's career, he could get a head coaching job next year. So just based off of that, I'm kind of curious to see what happens here in Carolina. Going back to your point of this front office and everything,

Scott Fitter as a new GM, I don't know, it's gotten a lot of pushback. I know that. I mean, just their draft, the amount of up and down that they did it's gotten a lot of pushback I know that I mean like just their draft the amount of up and down that they did you know it confused a lot of people and you know the Carolina Panthers actually did a very very unique behind the scenes offseason video I don't know if you guys see it but they really like showed a lot of access that I wish more teams would do which kind of just gives you a little bit of an inside look of what goes on. But it is very different there. But at the end of the day, if Sam Donald does somehow pan out, you know, quarterback is the most important position.

If he does pan out, then eventually the team is going to be back on track. But I think they're really just taking swings, trying to find the quarterback. Teddy was, was plan A. It didn't work. I truly believe they would have, you know, gone for Deshaun Watson. If all this didn't happen, I think they would have given up the house to make it happen. Of course that doesn't happen. It's not going to happen. Um, maybe next year, if nothing happens here with Deshaun, but point

being, they're just trying to find the quarterback for now. And they're just taking swings until swings and they find the right one. And we'll see if it's Sam. I know a lot of people don't think it's going to be him, but you never know. He has the talent there to show why he was the number three overall pick. Will it work? I have no idea, but, you know, I kind of respect the fact that they're trying this hard. I really don't know if it's going to work, though.

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And we have quite a few of those in Minnesota, right? They can ship perishable, non-perishable, FTL or LTL, and they have on-time delivery rate of over 99%. have shipping needs, check out scoutlogistics.com or call 855-217-2688 extension 232 to connect with them directly to find out how Scout Logistics can minimize risk and overperform and go the extra mile for your company. I think it would have been a good plan if they also drafted Justin Fields. The fact that they said, no, no, no, Darnold is really our guy. That's where it becomes very questionable to me. Because if you traded for Darnold and drafted Justin Fields,

you're hedging your bets and saying, if one of these guys is good, we've got our franchise quarterback. And if Sam Darnold is great and he wins the job and he becomes a pro bowler, then you trade away Justin Fields and you get a first round pick back for him or more than that, because the interest would be so high.

I just think it was misplayed for a cornerback, which again, we talked about positions that you can kind of find and cornerback. They're valuable. They're great. But can you find guys who can do it? Yeah, I think you can. Every year in free agency, there are guys who are out there still now in free agency that are halfway decent corners. Okay. Last one is I need your take. Cause we talk about Viking storylines down to the tiniest

minutia here on the show, but give, give me your broad view of the biggest storyline. Number one on your list of the Minnesota Vikings off season of the offseason overall I mean it's interesting once again because um no I just look at this team overall you know there's so many things that I'm curious about especially there on the offensive line I know I'm not answering your question exactly but the offensive line there you know it's just fascinating to me because there's there's so many young pieces there right and I really don't know what to expect out of all of them right Dara saw now you know they trade back and still get him at 23 I believe it was um you know Brian O'Neill is due for an extension I know his last year was was decent but it wasn't as good as it was the year before but um you know you look at that team I just don't

really know what to expect out of them just because the offensive line you know it's not like bottom five but it's not like top 15 either right so it just that's one of the main things that when I look at the Vikings team that it concerns me a little bit just to see how it pans out over there you know that's really key there especially for Kirk Cousins who of course is not a mobile quarterback but then you look at this roster overall you know especially a wide receiver Justin Jefferson and I'm feeling you know we talked about all this right now, but all these teams about how they're going to do and everything. The worst part about the offseason, especially as we get into training camp now is the injury angle, right? We just saw now of camp makers in Los Angeles, right? It just blows everything up.

And the worst part about it is just the reality is it's going to happen somewhere here in the NFL. It's going to continue to happen basically every week. There's going to be a brutal injury that just sucks and it's going to happen. So, you know, you look at Minnesota, you look at, you know, Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, after that, it's like, who's there, right? It's Chad Beebe, I think. Like who else is there, right? You know, I look at tight end, I think Irv Smith is a really, really talented player who's going to take the next step this year. I'm a true believer in the whole veteran leadership role. And I think losing Kyle Rudolph is kind of big. You know, me being from New York, I remember when the Giants lost Justin Tuck and that defensive line has not been the same ever since. Just losing his

veteran presence there is a big deal, right? So like I look at Kyle Rudolph no longer being there, will it make much of a difference? Maybe it didn't make much of a big deal on the field, but just in the locker room, it's a big deal there. Right. And then defensively, you know, last year was such a, such a mess last year. And Mike Zimmer just said, get me pieces here right away this off season. Right. And they kind of did that, you know, adding Dalvin Tomlinson was one of the best value signings in my opinion, this off season. And again, me being from New New York I didn't realize how much Giants fans loved the guy besides the fact that he's on the field but they love them a lot and

they were really disappointed not to have him anymore so you talk about Minnesota now getting Daniel Hunter back as well is pretty huge you know entering a year where he's going to be a free agent after this year I believe that's the way the contract was set up right so he's due for a big year as well if he wants to get the money that he's been looking for. So there is a lot there that is exciting about this. And I think Mike Zimmer, after last year's defense, really was just such a mess. I think it's going to bounce back this year,

which is obviously the key part here for this team. It's the defense. That's what Mike Zimmer focuses on. And if that does well, I think the offense will be just fine. And of course, when you look at the overall picture, whatever happens to Aaron Rodgers is going to control all of this, right? It's nowhere near over. This is stretching into training camp.

We're just starting. I know people during this dead period of the officer were looking for someone to talk about. There wasn't much there. We're going to have a lot of Aaron Rodgers content right now coming up here in the next couple of weeks. And it's going to get a bit wild. Yeah, no question about that i'll have brad spielberger from pff on soon to explain all the ins and outs of daniel hunter's contract it's kind of it reaches a pivot point after this year for sure will they give them an extension or will they could cut them or there's a lot of different options so we'll do that there will be a whole episode itself on that, but I think you very properly diagnosed the offensive line remains the top

storyline as we go into training camp and even whether the rookies can win the jobs. So Ari may Rob, my sports update on Twitter. Maybe you'll have to change it to my sports update underscore PFF at some point soon, but you're going to be heading up the news desk at PFF. And you've got a lot of fun stuff coming there. So congratulations once again, I've always enjoyed coming on your show. I'm glad that I could have you on my show and we could kind of turn the tables here. You really know your stuff as, as you could tell, um, as everybody could tell from listening. So great to have you and congratulations once again, man, we'll do it again soon. Thanks, Matthew. I really appreciate it. And I'll do this anytime, man.