Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - POSTGAME REACTION: Vikings-Titans (and Thielen update)

Episode Date: August 23, 2025

Matthew Coller runs down everything he noticed from the Vikings-Titans preseason game and gives an update on where things stand with the Vikings and Adam Thielen. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.

Hey, everybody, welcome in to another post-game episode of Purple Insider. And let's just all take a second. A little round of applause. The preseason is over, my friends. And the next time we are doing a post-game show, the Minnesota Vikings will have a result in Chicago. We will have real national football. Football League football.

We are so close, my friends, that I could smell it now. But I can't say that a lot about this game really looked or smelled like actual NFL football. But it did for one guy in particular. And that was Max Brosmer. Everything that you wanted to see from Max Brosmer tonight, you got to see. And what you were looking for in a third preseason game was go out and look like you're in command of the offense again, be consistent, show what you've shown over the first couple of games, hit some passes with these wide receivers, with this offensive line, especially

with the Titans coming out and playing some of their starters right away. Hey, Joe Huber, welcome to the NFL. This is what Jeffrey Simmons looks like. I don't fully understand Tennessee Titans pretty much anything. That's somebody else's problem to cover, but I wouldn't be playing Jeffrey Simmons. I would be playing cam ward who looked okay i guess uh couldn't really take much from that but geoffrey simmons i wouldn't be playing uh in a game like this but i guess they disagreed so they had him out there kind of wrecking people up front a little bit um but brosmer started the game right out looking comfortable he goes out and converts a third down to lucky jackson and then his second drive they get some points and he's got a nice throw to joshan jones kind of escaping and

And later in the game, things start to open up for him in the third quarter. And he drops a dime for a 36-yard gain down the sideline to Dante Fleming. He had a nice touchdown pass to Bryson Nesbit. And then he had the throw of the day on fourth down where he just aired it up, dropped it in right over the shoulder of Fleming. Should have been a pretty easy catch. If it's just Jefferson or Jordan Addison, they just cruise into the end zone. but for an undrafted free agent that was not so much the case.

Still, the numbers should look about 40 yards better for Max Brosmer than they will end up looking. But as far as his actual performance, you'd have to give it an A. I mean, he got rid of the football. He threw it accurately. He was in total control of the offense again. And even though, you know, this doesn't win you a quarterback two job, it was definitely telling that they had him in the game first.

and in the game most, and Brett Rippin was on occasion and throws a terrible interception at the end. The first interception should have been called back because James Lynch hit Brett Rippin in the head. But even Brett Rippin's best completion was a throw that was very high for J. Sean Jones that he had to go up and get and then almost got clobbered coming back down. So I didn't think it was anything different than we've ever seen from Brett Rippin, but it confirmed everything that we've been seeing from the former gopher quarterback. And that is the headline of this game for me is that Max Brosmer did the thing again. Three straight solid preseason games, weeks and weeks of solid performances in training camp. And so I did spend the day.

I had some time when golfing this morning and then just talking to some people that I know in the league. and one of the questions I was just throwing out there to some people was you think it's actually possible that Max Brosmer would get claimed if the Vikings tried to get him to the practice squad. The answer I got back was that yes, there's a decent chance that he would get claimed. There's other teams around the league. I saw something out of Philadelphia. Maybe the Tanner McKee might have been banged up. And also there were some other teams that are completely empty as their third quarterback position. If you've been watching preseason, you've seen, you know, some third quarterbacks are better

than others, but very few are as good as Max Brosmer has looked. So I think what tonight did was solidify Max Brosmer on the 53 man roster, plus, you know, not to mention with the Addison suspension, they do have an extra spot there, but, you know, they kept three quarterbacks even last year and then ended up cutting Jaron Hall. But in the initial 53, they kept. three quarterbacks, so I would not be surprised at all. Now, the question is, did Sam Howell not play because they are just going with Sam Howell? Or did Sam Howell not play because they wouldn't want to get him hurt and have to pay him for the year and then go out and get somebody else?

That we are going to find out very soon. I would be in favor of the Vikings looking at other options for backup quarterback after a very underwhelming preseason from Sam Howell. The reason it makes you think that they are going to maybe, you know, cut him and then look for somebody else is that he needs the reps. I mean, he just hasn't performed very well in practice. And then he has the one decent preseason game, but the other one's a mess. And you would have thought, well, if anybody else needs to go out there and get another quarter or two, it's howl. So the fact that they decided not to do that and instead go with Brosmer, even when the Titans were over there playing some of their top quality players on defense, it feels like that experiment may be coming to an end and they

should look elsewhere. And I think Brosmer has proved as a guy that you want around over multiple years. And when it comes to 2026 could be the backup quarterback for this team, somebody that you find locally undrafted and just puts on a show during this preseason. So well done by Max Brosmer to be a guy that they have been familiar. familiar with for a while. And Kevin O'Connell has connections with his offensive coordinator at Minnesota, has connections with his quarterback trainer, Quincy Avery, who is based here in Minneapolis. And those are guys who, and I wrote a story about this after mini camp, those are guys who have really truly believed in Max Brosmer and his

NFL potential. And I saw Quincy Avery the other day tweeting like it's laughable that he wasn't at least taken in the fifth or sixth round. But that was the Vikings gain with another undrafted free agent who looks like there is something there. So Max Brozmer with a really good night. And thank you so much, Sean, for the super chat. Appreciate that. And, uh, this isn't going to be an epic night tonight, I don't think. And let me get into the Adam Thielen thing before we talk about the rest of the preseason game tonight because those to me are the biggest headlines of the day is number one. Max Brosmer had a great day. He can feel, I think, as good as you could ever feel. from that position, starting a QB4 to be playing the way that he did tonight.

As far as Adam Thielen goes, and, you know, I mentioned asking people about Max Brosmer. I've asked around a little bit on Adam Thelan, and my understanding is that, I mean, if you brought your number 19 jersey out of the closet, you don't have to put it away yet, that that is still an ongoing situation, but I would not be the least bit surprised if the Minnesota Vikings soon acquire Adam Thielan. And I saw that Adam Schaefter said that, you know, the Vikings have made an offer to the Carolina Panthers and Ben Gessling of the Star Tribune also reported that they have made an offer to the Panthers.

And I think that there is a very, very good chance that Adam Thielen ends up returning to the Minnesota Vikings, but they've got to decide Carolina, do they want to move on from him for what is expected to not be a huge price? What I'm expecting to hear if the Vikings do acquire Adam Thielen is that they are taking the salary and that may have played into Harrison Phillips being moved. I think it did play into him being moved is that they're going to have to spend some money on somebody, whether it's Thelan or Amari Cooper or whoever it might be. But the salary is something that Carolina, I'm sure, would want to move on from with Adam Thielen, give them some extra space to carry over to next year or spend on somebody else. and if you're the Vikings, I don't think you want to give up a lot of draft capital

because you already are lacking some later round picks. We know the Vikings do wheel and deal in the middle of the season. So my expectation would be that we're talking about something like taking on the salary and then pick swaps. And we've been trying to figure this out with the lack of late round picks. Like what might it be? And the idea that I came up with, I wrote it in the newsletter in the Friday mailbag,

was swapping the Vikings third for Carolina's fourth. throwing in a sixth, calling it a day for Adam Thielen, and then bringing him in, getting him acclimated as soon as they can. And then he is probably wide receiver two to start the season unless Jalen Naylor has a pretty miraculous recovery. And if we were expecting tonight to get an answer on one of these wide receivers to go, oh, that guy, he emerged, he had, I don't know if you remember the famous, like, I don't know if it's how famous it is, but the Victor Cruz game where

Rex Ryan after the game was like, who the heck is that guy, Victor Cruz? And he turned out to be a really good wide receiver in the NFL. Well, we did not see that type of day from anyone. I mean, Lucky Jackson had a catch. Jishon Jones had a catch there. Thomas had a couple underneath catches. Dante Fleming caught one and dropped one. Like nobody said, I am here to be that guy.

And at least Lucky Jackson did catch the ball. And he made a couple catches in practice. So it was probably more anomaly what happened in the, last preseason game, but still, I mean, you're, you're talking about guys who haven't played in the league having to step up and we haven't seen anything in preseason that would make you go, okay, guys, I know he hasn't played, but they're all set. Each guy leaves something to be desired. They or Thomas has limited physical upside. Lucky Jackson, you know, the drop issues, but also a guy who, for a reason, has not played in real games. So Adam Thielen coming off

of two very good seasons with Carolina, and we'll break this down if when it happens. I think right now I'm leaning maybe 70, 30 toward it does happen that Adam Thielen is going to be here. And it's got to happen pretty soon if it's going to. So one of the reasons that I wasn't going to go deep into the night tonight is I think that there's a solid chance that I'm waking up tomorrow in emergency podcasting tomorrow about Adam Thielen.

I have already informed the dog that we may be doing that tomorrow morning. So we'll see how that goes, but that's just my feeling on where things stand. And if there was a last grasp, and maybe this is something they're waiting for, of a last grasp of will somebody take the reins as a wide receiver and come in and just in this last preseason game and just say, this is, this is my team. I'm the dude that there's nobody who was likely to do that. And there's nobody who did that here tonight. It wasn't a bad game for the wide receivers.

I didn't think, other than Fleming's pretty bad drop. But aside from that, I mean, it was exactly what we've seen. It's a little bit of, you know, Lucky Jackson makes a 10-yard catch. And there was a very nice, you know, throw over the middle to Bryson Nesbid, who's a tight end, but he hasn't really done a whole lot. Tim Jones had a catch, but he went out of bounds. I mean, it's just been those types of things, just unspectacular from this depth, wide receiving group that nobody has convinced the Minnesota Vikings not to do this.

with Adam Thielen. So those are the first couple things that stand out. And after that, you know, after the quarterbacks and wide receivers, the next thing on my list is the punter. And if we were hoping for that punting competition, unfortunately, Oscar Chapman is going to have to spend some time learning how to hold the football for the field goals. I mean, sometimes we talk about stuff that I get done and I think about or I go back and listen to the show a little bit just to make sure it sounds good and everything

else. And I'm like, what am I talking about with the Australian punter and holding the football? What am I even doing with my life? That that's what. And so you spend all this time going over every single detail. And then here it is. It's a long field goal for Will Reichard late in the game. And Oscar Chapman drops the ball, picks it up, the kick goes wide to the left, and thus ends the punting competition. You just cannot have. have a guy that you can't trust. And this is something Ryan Wright has done very well. And Ryan Wright was the same guy that he's been. He punted twice and it was inside the 20, but it wasn't a coffin corner. And it's like, okay, he is the safest option for your kicker. And as a

punter, he drives some of you crazy. But overall, when you look at the numbers of their punt coverage, it's fine. It's not amazing. It's not game changing. It's fine. So the punting competition, I think we're pretty clear there that there's no way Will Riker could be okay with Oscar Chapman being his holder. And what Matt Daniels said the other day that made me raise an eyebrow where he said that Rikert was comfortable, well, if he was, then he isn't now after that because that one was right on the money from Andrew DePala. He picks it up, drops it. It's just, that's just not going to work. It's got to be a hundred out of a hundred. This is like when you're a pro golfer and you have two foot puts, you got to hit a hundred out of

100. You can't miss if you are the holder. And Ryan Wright, I don't think he's ever missed as long as he's been the holder. And I care a lot more about that than I do the difference between a punt that goes to the 10 or the 8 yard line or the 12 or the 15. So Ryan Wright is very likely to continue to have that job after tonight. And we still didn't really get a punt off. Maybe someday, guys, maybe someday. So the punt returner competition also had some action to. tonight. And Miles Price, the first punt return, Miles Price gets it, dodges a couple tacklers, runs over a guy, gets 28 yards, and you go, man, I think he just won that job. Now, it gets called back for a holding, not his fault, didn't, I don't think that says anything

about him. But here's another little detail with the punt returner competition, which makes me think if Jalen Rager becomes available, if somebody else who has done this, or get Brandon Powell on the phone. Whoever has punt returning experience, they need to find someone. I mean, we're talking about they need, there's another position we're going to get to that may need acquiring as well. I'm going one by one in my notes here. But later in the game, it is a routine punt to Miles Price.

He weighs for fair catch and it hits him in the chest and it bounces around and he has to scramble to grab it. That just cannot happen. It just cannot happen. You can't have this team with. superstar wide receivers, superstar running backs, an offensive line that's been built this way, a Pro Bowl tight end, coach of the year,

defensive mastermind, millions and millions of dollars put into the defense and all that stuff, and then fumble away a game on a punt because you didn't have any other answers. You just can't have that happen. And I think Miles Price has shown something. I'd like to have him on the practice squad as a guy who maybe can get a chance to learn how to do this,

to improve his ability to catch the punts, but there's just no way. He dropped one in practice the other day. He bobbled that one. It's way too risky. You can just envision. You guys have been watching the Vikings long enough, right? You can just see it in your mind.

First time punt returner, undrafted free agent who struggles catching the ball, waves, you know, or runs underneath one, a little bit of pressure. It's soldier field. It bounces off them. They return it. Well, I guess you can't return it for a touchdown, but they recover it. and they score a touchdown changes the game they get to the last week of the season they miss the playoffs by one game like you know this story i think they have to just make sure

that i know i really went i really went there with that one but i think they have to make sure somebody can catch it somebody's got a lot more experience than miles price and he can develop into somebody on the practice squad but that was my take after tonight even though i really like what he did, uh, in the last game. Xavier Scott came in, got a 28 or 23 yard run and he also returned to kick, which is interesting, Xavier Scott playing, Ty Chandler not playing. What does it mean? It's sort of like the Sam Howell question.

Are they not playing Ty Chandler because he's been here for four years and why play him when you want to get Xavier Scott more work and you want to evaluate him? But also, you know, everybody needs work. on these kick returns and to have Xavier Scott back there and not play Ty Chandler at all does make you wonder about the same thing with Sam Howell. Like is the plan just to cut Ty Chandler give Xavier Scott the RB3, which he is, he's earned. He has definitely earned that RB3 position. If he can kick return as well or if he could be the second kick returner, then you've got

something there with Xavier Scott. And I don't think that you're losing a whole lot if you're moving on from Ty Chandler. That's just kind of the reality that we've seen everything Ty Chandler has to offer over the years. He's got some explosiveness. We know that there's not a whole lot else there. They may decide to just go with Xavier Scott. I think the only risky part is still that returning, at least Ty Chandler has returning experience and has done it before. So we're going to have to find out what that means. But Scott came out against that good first team defense or some of it from the Titans. He rips off a big run and like, all right, well, you know, he just continues

that every time he gets on the field. He just does stuff. He catches the football well, you know, he sticks his nose in there and pass protection. I can't tell. He's had like four reps of past protection in the preseason. So I can't tell you if he's been good at it or not. But he certainly knows what to do with the football in his hands. He's got some power. He's got some burst. And he showed it again here tonight. Would not be surprised if he ends up his RB3. Also, in my notes on the downside here, Mackay Blackman, just again looking like not the guy that they drafted in the third round and performed pretty well two years ago when he got in over 400 snaps. And I thought that we had a pretty good sample size to say that Mackay Blackman

could play. But then we just not at all in this preseason. The fact that he was in in this game and he gets a penalty in the red zone. He looked timid again. That's how he's looked during the entire time during training camp. And it's got to be very difficult to come back from an injury like that. But we went from feeling like this could be a legitimate competition with him and Okuda and going back and forth, first team reps and all that to Okuda hasn't even stepped on the field in the last two preseason games. And here's Mackay Blackman playing the entire first half and on special teams and committing

a penalty in a, you know, key situation, just all things that you didn't. really want to see from Mackay Blackman. Let me stop real quick and throw you out a Fandual question of the night, which is, or a Fandual question of the day, whatever, it's after 10, is

did anything in preseason change where you were win total wise for the Vikings before preseason, before training camp, did anything change what number you had in your head? When the schedule came out, did you, did you,

Did you pick 10 wins and now you've got 11? Did you pick 14 wins and now you've got 10? Has it changed it all for you? That's the Fandul question of the day. The over under I don't think has changed from 8.5 on Fandul, but, you know, we were talking about it the other day that I would go a little higher than that for an over under. I'd probably go with 9.5 if I was the line setter based on what we've seen.

But I'm sticking with how many wins I expect from them, which is 11. I know those things are contradictory, but the line is different from how many wins I expect them to get. So that's the Fandul question of the day. But Mackay Blackman, I think, should be an inspiration for them to go out and get another cornerback. When I look at those lists of potential cutdowns, there's corner, I mean, there's a million corners in the league. And sometimes they fit better than others on certain defenses. And, you know, sometimes some young player, some undrafted free agents, surprises everybody and wins a job and another guy who's a veteran can still play,

but he just doesn't fit anymore or whatever, whatever might happen. I think they need to get somebody else. Zamaia Vaughn, another loser of the evening. I mean, look, Van Jefferson is an NFL wide receiver, but he's not Dante Hall, okay? Van Jefferson should be a pretty easy guy to take down on a little swing pass to the outside. And I know it's one play. It doesn't negate everything else, but this is the real game. this is not practice and that is a routine as routine comes little quick throw to the outside

cornerback comes wraps him up takes him down and I know yeah you could say slipped he fell or whatever but he didn't recover and then you know he goes for a 65 yard touchdowns not a great look for Zama Yvonne who I think has had a good bunch of practices but I don't think that he's done anything in the games to wow me and make me think oh they're good there they've got this undrafted free agent they're all set Dwight McGleather was out there again. I think we've picked up on the fact that they might not be totally wowed by him either. And so now we're in a situation where who do you really believe in past the starters. And when you see Jeff Okuda get a little banged up the other day in practice,

you go, so now you're in a spot as the Vikings saying if Jeff Okuda gets banged up, a guy with a significant injury history, if he gets banged up, you're in serious trouble. Like, that is not somewhere where you really want to be. So they should be looking. to the free agent market on cut down day or whatever pick swap trades they've got left in them after potentially getting Adam Thielen. I think the cornerback position should be very worrisome in terms of the depth. If one guy goes down, then you're playing a Mackay Blackman who just has not looked the same coming back this year.

The other guy who stood out, Levi Drake Rodriguez, he was playing a lot, I think just because well he's still young but also just because he missed a few weeks of well was it a few weeks was it maybe a week of practice he missed the last preseason game and then the the ensuing week of practice so he played a lot and just looked great i mean he ripped his way back there for a sack he blew up a couple of plays and just a reminder they've got a lot of depth at the defensive line position so i had his name written down and how about maybe a special teams Ace is on the rise. Chas Chambliss made a play. Didn't see as much of Elijah Williams tonight in terms of his performance, but Chas Chambliss did make a couple plays. Williams had that one

big tackle early, but Chambliss has become someone who might be the, the shocking guy who makes the roster because he is just a legitimate special teamer. And there's almost always every year that one guy. And Tim Jones is not impressed. Tavier Thomas is not impressed. so maybe it's him that ends up being the one special teamer kind of per year that they end up on the 53 and we all go really they're going to put you know naji thompson or dan chasena on the roster but it definitely happens so there are all of my takeaways bottom line max brosmer got to be on the roster got to look for returners got to look for corners and in my mind got to trade for Adam Thielen. Gotta get over the finish line with that because once again, no wide receiver

really stepped up. And every time we go through the hundred different options that they have at wide receiver, I always land at the same conclusion that I know it seems a little cheesy to bring back the Minnesota boy, but it also makes a heck of a lot of sense. And it seems like from the reports from Schefter and from Gessling that that is getting closer and closer. And that is also what I have heard again. So, all right. Let's get a few of your thoughts before, I mean, it's not going to be the longest post-game show. I'm going to maybe give it, you know, 20 more minutes because it's the fourth or the third

preseason game. Certainly played like the fourth preseason game. And, you know, I'm preparing myself for a big old epic live stream. if and when Adam Thielan returns. So we'll see if that happens. But what are your guys thoughts? Throw them into the comment section. Aaron says Levi Drake Rodriguez playing in the fourth quarter a concern.

No, I think that that was entirely because he missed that time in practice. He was supposed to play the other preseason game. Didn't because he got hurt. Then he missed practice. So this I think was just making up for the reps. The other thing is too with Levi Drake. I think that there is a very clear three starters for the Minnesota Vikings at defensive tackle, and that is Javon Hargrave, Jonathan Allen, and Jalen Redmond.

I think Redmond has elevated himself to somebody that's going to get a lot of snaps. And then there is a significant drop after that to your Levi-Drake Rodriguez who will mix in. I think Taki Taimani has a really good chance of making this team now as that nose tackle type of position. he only played a little bit tonight he didn't play a ton so you know then you got your development project type players elijah williams tyrian ingram dawkins ingram dawkins played a ton tonight i think that's great for him the more reps that they can get him uh but it's a it's a three starters redmond is a is a real pro player i mean he played in the xFL like he's been around a while he's not some brand new guy to pro football and then he had 200 really good snaps last

year. So I think that they've got him, uh, along with Allen and Hardgrave as their three key players. And then they're going to mix in Levi Drake after that. And he's looked very good. But, you know, I don't think he's as proven or as far along. Certainly not as Jonathan Allen and Javan Hargrave. Uh, and then after that, you know, more kind of development players. Now, there could be a scenario. And this is something that, you know, I thought of tonight when watching Levi Drake is there could be a scenario where somebody goes down and he's got to play a a ton. And maybe we are talking about at some point, oh, you know, that by committee with talkie and with Levi and, you know, it didn't do what Harrison Phillips was able to do if

somebody ends up getting banged up. And that's the risk that they are taking by trading him away for a sixth round pick and for, you know, some cap space. So, but I didn't think tonight was anything telling. Rache says more than a fifth rounder's too much for Thielen, even if he's still a good player. Yeah, I mean, I think that the price probably would have been a fifth rounder, but they don't have one. If it's, if it's more than likely, you see this even from the trade with Harrison Phillips. You see it all around the league. The pick swap option has become extremely popular in the NFL. And so if you hear they're giving up a third for Adam Thieland, but getting a fourth back, that is just a pick swap. That's not giving up a third for him. That's

switching a third to a fourth, which could drop you down. But the expectation, is probably that Carolina is one of the middle teams at best and the Vikings are one of the better teams. And so the gap is not going to be that far. And don't forget when it comes to something like that. And I know this, this is just for all of you out there, all of you, you know, front office people, but they are going to have a third round comp pick from losing Sam Darnold. They're probably going to have other ones. I think Daniel Joneses can become a fourth. So they're going to have some of those. ticks that are coming back to them.

It makes sense to me to swap and then throw him a sixth in there to get Adam Thielen. But, you know, I don't think the price is going to be super, super high if they do end up acquiring him at some point. Brian, how is the O-line depth looking? Well, you know, I mean, tonight, those were guys that are going to be undrafted or a practice squad at best. I thought Logan Brown, somebody who was really interesting early in camp, I had him on a 53 at one point where he was playing second team.

reps. And I thought he had a very tough night at right tackle. He was playing left tackle early in camp. I mean, sometimes you just see guys, you know, start to, to slide. And that seems to be what happened with Logan Brown. Joe Huber had it in for him a little bit early, you know, playing against the first teamers. It's a very different story playing in the second and third quarters of preseason games versus playing in the real beasts of the national football league. But I think those are practice squad guys. I think overall their offensive line depth is, is above average because Justin School's done it before. Blake Brandel's a good player.

They've developed these other guys. I mean, I know like Michael Juergens got off to a hard start of camp, but I thought he came along fine. He didn't play tonight. So that tells you that they didn't think he needed any more work tonight or they value him and did not want to get him hurt. It also tells you about the quality of football of the third preseason game where the backup center is not even playing and they're playing the backup

center. And then this is the point where we say something about these guys. selling insurance soon, but I think that they're fine with where Michael Juergens is at. I think it's, I think it's above average. I don't think it's the best depth I've ever seen, but I do think it's above average. Clark says, what am I missing with Kobe King? He hasn't impressed, like Chambliss and Keyes more. Well, yeah, I mean, I don't know if there's been a lot of splash plays.

He had a couple of strong tackles tonight. If you don't, but that's the thing about a linebacker. if you don't get a pick, if you don't get a sack, if you don't get pressures, then a lot of times you're just, you know, making tackles or stuff in some guard who's coming through, you know, something like that. I don't think Kobe King is the type of linebacker who's going to blow you away. I think he is much more of a come down hill, stuff a gap, play a ton of special teams, and you don't want them in coverage too often.

I think he's had a good camp. don't think in any of the games that he's had one of those singular plays that really jumps out to you. And I also don't think that he is the fastest or has the best burst or or anything like that. I think he's just sort of an old school type of Ben Gideon linebacker, Kentrell brothers, who's going to be a depth contributor and you probably don't want him to play a ton. I mean, I think that's, that's what you draft with sixth round type of linebackers is guys that are going to help on special teams. And if they get in the game, they're going to know what to do. you're not if they have exceptional physical gifts they are going to stand way out to you in a

preseason game they're probably drafted higher than that most of the time so they they kind of got a type with him i think he's been he's good uh in uh camp though and obviously they cut brian awesome walk because they thought so just hasn't had one of those big sacks big great pass rush had a couple of had a couple of stops today where just you know a negative play he makes the tackle it's a two yard run that isn't again isn't going to wow you it's just kind of of what he does. John, I'd rather see the Vikings get Alec Pierce, big body with upside. Yeah, the thing is about Alec Pierce is that they're probably not going to get rid of him.

Anytime a wide receiver is young and has upside, it's just not going to happen. I mean, if he becomes available, then, of course, yes, the Vikings should be into it. And I've seen that idea pitched by a few people, but nobody credible. Your options, your options are this. because what happens every time we talk about Thielen, it's like, well, why not get someone young who's awesome? It's like, I don't know, man. That sounds like a great idea.

Why don't I just find a million dollars in my backyard? I mean, wouldn't that be awesome for me? Like, imagine all the different cameras I could get from the live stream. If I just had like a million dollars in my backyard, no one gives you their young promising wide receivers. And even someone like Alec Pierce is not that likely to be moved. Maybe he will. And if they give you someone young, they are extremely flawed,

like Sky Moore going to San Francisco, who has never been good for the Kansas City Chiefs. That's what you get if you're talking about this time of year. Someone picks up Laquan Treadwell after you cut him. Like, that's what you get normally. Or you get an older wide receiver from a team where they want to go to younger wide receivers, but he's got good production. And he comes to your team and helps you.

That happens pretty often in the NFL, where a team who's rebuilding or, I mean, I think that Carolina is a rebuilding team for sure that they've got three young receivers. They want them to play. And they want to build chemistry with Bryce Young. And they want a little more cap space to use into the future. And they're still dealing with the previous regime's cap issues and

et cetera. You could see that's a much more reasonable thing than, hey, this guy, you know, who was young, which is everyone loves young. I don't know, I never understand that why we love the, age of the players so much more. If I give you someone who has 150 catches and catches 80, almost 80% of the pass is thrown their way, it's, you're like, yeah, but, you know, age.

Like, well, look, they don't, they don't ID you when they hand you the Lombardi trophy. So I think it's fine if you're bringing in players that have a lot of experience and have done this before and have been in playoff games and have caught key passes and scored a lot of touchdowns over someone who stinks and is young. young and their team can't wait to get rid of them. I don't know why people like those options, but maybe I should save that rant for when they actually do this.

I guess we'll see. This is supposed to be the postgame show, but I just, I don't know, man. It's like all week long, it's just been, why don't they get someone young and great? I don't know, man. Yeah, they should have thought of that. They should have thought of that. Steven says, I have to see Brosmer do this next year to really believe he could be

QB2. We've seen this before in Kyle Slaughter and he fell off a cliff. This is not Kyle Slaughter. It is completely different. It is a wildly different situation. And here is why. Number one, Max Rosmer showed up at minicamp and OTAs and was commanding the offense. He was making good decisions, accurate throws in practice right from the minute that they got him.

That was not Kyle Sloader. And as I know he said it about someone else, but when Zimmer said, Zimmer said Slaughter couldn't even get, well, when he said, I see him in practice every day. He was referring to Kell and Mon, but it was the same sort of sentiment with Slaughter, where he said he couldn't even get people lined up correctly. Brosmer has learned the offense. He knows where to go with the football. Slaughter was a better athlete than a lot of guys out there on the field and scrambled

around and was a lot of fun. He was a good time. He was somebody that you go on a weekend in Vegas with in the preseason where you'll never think about it again after it happens and it was a fun time. whereas Brosmer is you want to date him for a long period of time and develop a relationship and build around him, not as a franchise, but, you know, build him up as a backup quarterback because real quarterbacking, not screwing around, running around, and diving to the pylon or whatever, real quarterbacking in actual games is about decision-making most of the time.

It's about accuracy. It's about timing. It's getting everybody lined up in the right spots, getting the plays in and running them. and Brozmer's done that since day one. So this is just the cherry on top. You can't just say every quarterback who performs in preseason must be Kyle Sloder. Like that doesn't make any sense.

There's been plenty of quarterbacks who performed in preseason and then turned out to be starters or backups and have long careers. We need to judge each individual one. This is a thing we do often with the Vikings is like, isn't this thing this other thing? It's like, no, those are two incredibly different people, very different circumstances. What, like, what's the average time from snap to the time the ball comes out with Brozmer?

2.2 seconds. I mean, he's just very good at that. And behind the scenes, total opposites for those two as well, for how the franchise felt about them. So it's not remotely close. I think Brozmer has just confirmed all the things that they thought well of him in the past. All right. Let's see. Sean says Chambliss seems to be around the ball. I, yeah, he does. No, I like what I've seen from Chas Chambliss. No, I do.

I think he's a guy that I would not be terribly shocked if he ends up making it as a special teamer and is sort of intriguing as a depth player. I've really liked the way that he has performed in this training camp. He started out a little bit slow because he was injured and then jumped right back, you know, jumped right back into the action and has had a very good preseason. I agree with that. Carl says, you seem a lot more certain than national insiders seem to be on feeling. Seems like the feeling was that the deal was pretty much dead in the water due to the price. What have you heard? No, I mean, I don't think, I don't think it's dead in the water. I think it's very much alive. I would lean toward it happening, but I can't

tell you, you know, what, remember with Kyle Shanahan? Somebody said, like, do you think something's going to happen? And Shanahan said something really dark and twisted. Like, we don't even know if we're going to be here tomorrow or whatever. So I put it that way. Like, I'm not guaranteeing you. I'm preparing myself for the potential of a emergency podcast tomorrow or the next day. But I don't know for sure what they're thinking in the Carolina building. I know the Vikings want Adam Thielen. And if they're comfortable moving on from them, in Carolina and they can get the deal worked out, then it's going to happen. And I also think that after tonight, nothing changed to have the Vikings suddenly think,

actually, you know what, hold the feeling, we've got Lucky Jackson, we've got Miles Price. We've got nothing happened tonight to make that assessment change of where they were at when they made the first phone call for Adam Thielen. So that's why I think that it is very plausible, very plausible. I think you guys are being way too hard on Kobe King. I think Kobe King has had a very solid, very solid practice training camp. And I haven't seen anything in the preseason games that have made me think, oh, man, this guy stinks.

Like, I don't, I don't really, like, what's the state? Are you looking for Eric Hendricks here? Like, he's a sixth round draft pick that has, I think, some upside, but is probably going to be a run stuffer who mixes in eventually in his career. some point and plays on special teams and acts as depth. And like, that's who you got with Kobe King. I didn't think he was missing tackles left and right or struggling too badly in coverage. I mean, they're not, they're not like playing the whole defense, by the way, right? So, you know, uh, is his brosber who the Sloters fans thought he was. They're just two very

different quarterbacks. They're very, very different quarterbacks. If you're going to, like, think about this. Think about this. Anthony Richardson. is a guy who tries to just run around and make it happen in the NFL and isn't accurate and doesn't seem to know the offense and all that sort of stuff. And it doesn't work. And they'd rather play Daniel Jones. That tells you everything you need to know. If you see a quarterback in preseason, it doesn't just apply to Kyle.

It applies to anybody. If you see a preseason quarterback running around like a crazy person and make it some fun plays, enjoy the moment, enjoy football happening. But that's not somebody who's going to play on Sundays. when you see somebody executing the offense, throwing the ball where it's supposed to go on time. I mean, the throw to Fleming down the sideline, that is a touch pass. That's anticipation. He's thrown numerous passes right on the money, hitting his back foot.

Guys are coming out of their breaks right where they should be. He's leading them. Even when there's mistakes, you never see him get shaken or thrown off. He, you know, had the one drop pass at the goal line in the first preseason game, came right back and through a touchdown. like all these leadership qualities of Brosmer, those are real quarterback things, not just sort of backyard because you can't backyard in the NFL. Even Lamar Jackson has to play in time, most of the time.

Let's see. Conrad said Tim Jones looked pretty good, I guess. I mean, he caught the one ball out of bounds, had one other catch. I mean, I think you're really reaching when it comes to trying to find anybody who was difference maker at wide receiver at really any point during this training camp. I mean, Lucky did a good job of simulating a wide receiver three for them. And if they have to play

Lucky Jackson in games, I think he can do it. But I don't think he could be wide receiver two. I think he could play 20 snaps as wide receiver three, but I don't think that he could play wide receiver two. Yeah, I'm aware Thielen missed games last year. I mean, that the most important is that he plays the first three games for the Vikings, but there's always going to come along with risk. Any player that we name for a wide receiver for the Vikings, where they are desperate, every player, you're going to be like, what, that guy, he has this, he has an injury, he has drops in the past. He's, he was a bust. I mean, that's where we're at. That's what happens when you're looking on August 22nd for wide receivers. It's the same with backup quarterbacks.

If I say, well, they should go get Kenny Pickett after tonight. They should, by the way. While he's only got this for a career quarterback rating, yeah, because he's back a quarterback, like, because that's what you're looking for. If you're talking about a corner, you know, oh, well, this corner gave up this many and had this much PFF grade or whatever, it's not great. No kidding. That's why he's available.

But you have to do the best you can to improve as much as you can because this team is so good from top to bottom with their roster that you can't just sort of let these things kind of linger, right? I think that you have to go look for every possible upgrade that you can find. Skywalking McCarthy, did the Vikings bring back Kenne Wongwu? That is a good one, Skywalking McCarthy. Because I've seen my friend Will Parkinson, who covers the Jets, talking about how he thinks Kenne Wongu's making the team for the Jets as their returner.

And look, I mean, last year he returned one for touchdown, but I think he had, like three returns because he was injured. And I'm guessing that the surprise cut was because the Vikings knew he had something that could be problematic. Remember, he missed a lot of camp last year as well. Like, they probably knew something that could be an issue for him. And it turned out to be, which is why they moved on. But if the Jets, you know, do go ahead and keep him, then, you know, I wouldn't be shocked. Keys over Kobe King. I actually did write down Keys as well. I think he's made some plays. But that's what I mean about preseason splash plays. The team is evaluating much, much, much, much more that they see every single day in practice. And with somebody like King,

they've been, they've been impressed. They've, and I've been impressed. But that's him playing the real defense. See, when you see him tonight, do you think that Florida, they had Josh Mattelis called quarter of the defense guys. Do we think we can really evaluate that for a draft pick? Probably not. But that doesn't mean I disagree with you on Keyes, though. I liked what I saw from Austin Keyes tonight. Another undrafted free agent where I went like, oh, Nick says, did you see McCarthy with the stopwatch? Looks like he was timing the dropbacks and then talking into his mic. Yeah, I don't know what he was doing there exactly. But if that was the case, then, you know, he's probably got really good numbers for Max Brosmer. A dystopian utopia. A utopia.

was Ty Felton hurt. Yes. Ty Felton got hurt in the scrimmage, and I don't know where that's at. It didn't look super serious. He kind of went down and then he came when he came off, he didn't leave the field right after the injury, but when he came off after practice, he had something on his thumb. So, I mean, I don't know. Like these receivers have been going down left and right, man. I mean, it's been, it's been kind of crazy. Like they came in with, you know, somewhat promising third round, late third round pick. Ron Dale Moore, like a promising project player who I thought was starting to get it and at least a Jalen Naylor who had put on more muscle and was ready for his big breakout season before he becomes a free agent

and none of it's worked. And I think that they do deserve to be criticized for not addressing this problem earlier, not addressing this as much in the offseason as they possibly could have. Rondale Moore was always a bet. He was always a swing, a hope. that Ron Dale Moore could come back and he's had a huge injury history and I know this team loves their injured players more than they more than anything else. They just believe that they can hover their hand over Ron Dale Moore and make him not injured for 90% of his football life. But that's Ron Dale Moore when he's 5'7 and 180 pounds. And so coming into this with hopes for a late third rounder who needs development, hope for an injured player coming off of serious injury

to be your depth, it just wasn't enough. And there's a reason why old Purple Insider for how many of our years we've been around is always saying receivers, receivers, receivers, you got to get more because you end up in situations like this where you are desperate. But that's very likely why Ty Felton wasn't playing because he got banged up the other day.

That's my guess. So let's see. The throw from Brosmer, fourth and four was next level, reading the defense and knowing that the shot was there to take, showed a lot of where he could develop as a quarterback. That's from Don and Bethany, one of you. I totally agree with you. That was obviously the most flashy play. Fleming's got to catch that, but who is that anyway? I mean, that's, it is what it is with the receivers.

And that's another point, too, about Brosmer. Like, he had a lot of completions. Bryce and Nesbitt can't catch anything. and in this, you know, he's just a camp body and Fleming's just a camp, and that's who he's throwing to and making plays in late in the game there. So that throw, though, was beautiful and it's not the first for him. He has had multiple deep passes. And, you know, there was a moment tonight that I thought he kind of looks like a young

Kirk Cousins to me. When Kirk Cousins was a fourth round draft pick and you look at both of them physically, they're about the same size. not the biggest or the widest or strongest, but the way that Kirk played when he first got to Washington and why the coaches loved him so much is he just got out there and executed the offense. When he scrambled, it's probably better to just throw yourself to the ground

than it is to try to actually run. Like, that's Max Brosmer. But, I mean, he continually throws accurate balls. And that downfield, we've seen that in practice a bunch of times where he goes deep and just seems to know how to put the right arc, the right anticipation. I mean, that, that throw, when he actually cocks his arm back, how far is the receiver down the field? And he drops it. He didn't just throw it way up in the air. I mean, he dropped it in

very nicely. It was a really good game for Max Brosber. And I just, for that, you kind of wish, like, could they just throw that on the box score? Because if it's 40 more yards on the box score, it looks quite a bit better. But I agree with your assessment that that is a, like a high IQ, like a recognized type of play where he sees that they're sending pressure. He knows what he's got. And, you know, then he finds it. Nick says Blackman needs to find his faith back. He used to be a wrecking ball.

Now he's timid bubble wrap. Boy, that's, that's aggressive, Nick, but I get where you're coming from. I do. Because if you go back to your point about being a wrecking ball, look at him in college. It's one of the things they loved about him is that he kind of play with a reckless abandon. And then you look at when he played in 2023, he was one of the highest graded run stuffers or run tacklers in the NFL by PFF, one of the highest grade against the run of all corners. And he was extremely aggressive. But I don't know if there's like a mental thing there or what has happened.

It's it's really unfortunate because he was a player that when they drafted him, I was very high on. He made a lot of plays in college. He was he had a nastiness to him. And it just hasn't, it hasn't come back. and maybe that's just confidence. Maybe he's concerned about getting injured again. He has played so far off with every reception in preseason. And this is a guy that you think would have to be really like turn it up a notch

and should be able to crush the competition out there, considering that we are talking about a lot of practice squad guys and guys who won't make it. And it just, he looks like he wants everybody to sort of catch it 10 feet in front of them and then kind of come over and touch him down. That's how he's looked. And it is, that's, that's sad for him because I think he still has potential to be a very good corner in the league, but he's got to get that, he's got to get that edge back. The dude, any change in which tight end is making the team.

I right now have Ben Yurasek. He played a little bit today, but didn't play a lot. They played Nick Vinette. He had a holding penalty, like right off the bat. He's the veteran that they brought in. I don't think he was anything more than a key. camp body and nobody else. I mean, Nesbit went into the end zone, but there was another play early in the game where Nesbitt probably got to fight for the ball and make a catch.

He hasn't had a great camp anyway. I think Eurasek is the guy. I think he is your winner to the tight end three competition. And even though with somebody like him, it's very Johnny Munt-like where it's not going to be, it's not going to be sexy. It's not going to be amazing. It's not going to be Tony Gonzalez. It's going to be a gritty number three tight end who blocks people. people and catches the underneath stuff and knows where to be, but if you think that you're going to have a difference making tight end three, that's probably just not going to be the case. Jude says, I feel like Miles Price has to make the roster for special teams because who else is there. That's where I think Jude, they have to go get somebody else. Here's what

I think they should do with Miles Price. I really love his attitude, really, really love his attitude. We got to talk to him last week. I like his explosiveness, his ability with the football in his hands. And maybe you can get that to translate to wide receiver at some point where you're talking about a guy, not Debo Samuel, but, you know, get the ball in his hands, playmaker type of player underneath guy who maybe, you know, does something for you and eventually becomes a really good returner like Brandon Powell with a little more upside or something, right? He could be that kind of guy. But as of right now, when that ball is in the air, every single time if he's the punt returner, you're. you are going to be absolutely terrified because he has not been smooth in catching the ball. And I can tell you, it's the hardest, it's the hardest thing. They say hitting a baseball is the hardest thing in sports.

How about catching a freaking punt? Because they haven't been able to do it since Marcus Sherrill's was here. Being a good punt returner is one of the hardest things in sports. It's unbelievably difficult. And, I mean, that thing is going when you see it in person, for those of you have gone to the game. I mean, it is way up there. Even figuring out where it's going to land is hard. and then spin and twist it in the wind like it's a special ability and they might end up going

with bolden just so he could catch it because i think bolden is much better at catching it but for me it's go somewhere else outside of the building somebody cuts their backup punt returner who's done it before that's the direction i would go with uh tolin sorry i've got the my window is small i need to make the i need to do a a zoom here or get glasses maybe, says, uh, I like Thayer, but in a very limited role. Well, that, that's the thing about Thayer Thomas and, you know, I've made that B.C. Johnson comparison because he could catch the football and he's going to be where you ask him to be. But I don't think he could beat anybody one on one. And you're just talking about, like you said, someone who would be very limited. You can't

really go down the field with him. It has to be underneath stuff. That's a, that is an, in case of emergency type of guy. Uh, Bob says you can't tell me that a 24-year-old Sam Howell is going to work with the veteran presence on the sideline in that QB room. Yeah, I just think that the Sam Howell thing, it made sense at the time. And on draft day, we talked about it. And I didn't, I'll have to go back and watch myself to see if I'm telling the truth here. I had my, my reservations about it, like, uh, yeah, I really didn't like that the guy looked

unprepared last year when he got thrown into the middle of a game. And I really don't like that he led the league at interceptions and I really don't like that he led the league in sacks. But I get it. All backups are bad. I saw a list. Somebody made a list of the best backups in the NFL and Sam Howell was ninth. I mean, that's how bad.

Now, I don't agree with the list based on what I've seen. But like, that's, that's where we're at with backup quarterbacks. But I'm, I'm on your side there. Like, I don't think that that's a guy where you're talking about him guiding J.J. McCarthy through his first year as a starter. I don't think that he's somebody who could win half of his games. I mean, that's why I'm very in favor of going to get Kenny Pickett if that's possible. Clark, I don't know if Andrew Van Ginkle was at the game.

I didn't see that. I didn't see him on the sideline, but I think we'll get an injury report and they've got a couple weeks here to get ready. They just, you know, they haven't given us an update on Van Ginkle. but the fact that he's been out there for practice standing there, been around, like I don't know. They play it really safe with a lot of these veteran players. So I haven't heard anything that would be really concerning about him,

but I guess we'll have to find out. Do you think we, that's ST. Perp. Do you think that we keep six corners? I don't think you keep these six corners. I think you have to probably move on from Dwight McLeathern. And you want to keep Blackman. He does have experience. maybe the light will go on if he gets into real games and maybe he's been timid,

but when it really matters, he'll get that back. But McLeathern just has not stood out really at all after last year having a very good training camp. And some guys can fool you with interceptions or past breakups. You get it, you're on the second or third team. You get a handful of picks and past breakups and we all love you. But is that, is that really tell the story? Probably not.

So I think they, they need to put McLeather on the practice. squad or just move on and get somebody else who has been there for a while in the league i mean i mean i've seen names like a dory jackson or tray brown like there's there's guys who are out there is marcus shareholds available if only if only uh sean says personally i would go with mccarthy brosber and maybe pick up the right veteran well that's the thing is like there's going to be when it when it comes to waivers this is why they might have to even make an additional trade if they want somebody because when it comes to waivers they're not very high on the waiver list because of last year they think they still think they're low on that waiver list so you're not

even getting your first shot at you know getting whatever guy gets waived it's not going to be easy it still might end up being sam how it's not going to be easy to get another um quarterback to be the backup. There's just not that many guys that are in a good spot right now. Asante Samuel Jr. has to be medically cleared. Yeah, I have no idea. I thought he became a Viking in the summer, didn't he? That's what I was told by the internet was that he was already a Viking. But I have not seen him, though, so I'm not sure. Conrad, how come we didn't throw any screen passes tonight? I think they threw one. I don't know. They threw one on third down and long. Wouldn't you much rather see real plays run by? That's why they want

Brosmer to run real plays. They don't want them to throw screen passes. Thank you very much, Anthony, for the super chat. Really appreciate that. Viking 33, you are, or VA Viking, you are on my page here with, I hope you don't have to worry about QB2. Yeah, that's right. That's right. But I mean, when it comes to just the way that Howell has looked, I just don't think that he's looked like someone you could even remotely trust to go in there and run the offense. That's the concern for me. Jason, Kenny Pickett is absolutely not worse than Sam Howell. That is no way I'll agree with that. Kenny Pickett on a really good football team, got his team to an above 500 record. He's won

15 to 25 games. He doesn't turn the ball over. He is safe, but he's going to keep the train on the tracks where Sam Howell is just lighting the train on fire and running it over into a bridge. Like that's what Sam Howells looked like. Kenny Pickett is a first round pick who started on teams that competed for the playoffs. Sam Howell's only starting experience was going down in flames by leading the league in interceptions and sacks and his team drafted number two overall and took Jayden Daniels. So I'm just not going to agree with you there.

I think that he's looked more like a guy who is a QB3 or barely in the league, you know, pickets a Super Bowl winner. Well, that is, I mean, it's true. He's seen it up close. I just thoughts on, you know, Felton, I believe, did not play because he was, he was injured in practice the other day. I'm pretty sure that's why. So, um, Jayshon Jones is the guy I didn't mention.

He had a really nice catch or maybe I did mention that one catch. But another guy that is sort of like just. the guy uh has to be sarcasm there were four or five screen yeah there was a there was a couple screen i don't but i don't want him to see him run screens in this sort of game i want him go down the field uh clark over under two and a half trades before opening night that's great that's great um two and a half trades maybe that should have been the fan duel can i can i put that on fan duel fan dual question of the day did you guys answer the fan dual question of the day did you did anything change for you guys

win total wise after watching this camp and preseason that was the Fandul question of the day but I like this one over under two and a half trades I'm going to say under because I think that they'll pick up on waivers now if you did over under two and a half acquisitions

do they sign people from waivers or who get through waivers or do they wait no I guess if they get through waivers they'll go to their team do they sign guys who get cut, or do they end up making a trade? Well, if Adam Thielen happens, that'll be one. I would go with the over. I think that they'll get a couple of people out there.

Mattelis called the three and out. Well, let me tell you, Josh Mattelis someday, if he wants to, Josh Mattelis is going to be a defensive coordinator, a head coach, a defensive backs coach, whatever he wants to be, Josh Mattelis, one of the smartest football minds. And I think that that says a lot about him. JP, Adam Thielen is expensive. Well, you know, they moved Harrison Phillips to create some cap space.

They have cap space and they'll use it to get a player who can help them. I mean, I don't know what else to say about that. Like, he's not expensive as far as what you have to give up for a trade. And I don't know how many wide receivers who have a recent 100 reception season. And then last year was solid in his 10 games. I don't know how many are costing you less than what Adam Thielen is costing. So, yeah, I mean, we'll argue about this after they make the trade. But I just, yeah, I've heard a hundred reasons to not like Adam Thielan coming back to the Vikings

and not a single one of them has been compelling to me because you have to tell me what's better. If you're like, Amari Cooper, go look at Amari Cooper last year. It was not good. Sent Brandel on a seventh. I would, yeah, I'm not sure that I would want to, uh, send Brandl because he's a good backup player. Wade pie chart of who is more likely be our QB2, Howell, Harrison Phillips, or Brian Osama. So I guess you think that definitely not Sam Howell will be the backup.

And I don't know. I'm not at 100% on that. It just feels like there has to be a better option than what we saw from Sam Howell in this preseason and in training camp. and if he had played bad in the preseason game but he was good in camp i would have said you know whatever just you know move on like nick mullins never had mind blowing preseason games but in training camp he was getting the offense moving like that's just something we haven't seen really in any of the practices uh first name last name under for the trades yeah i two and a half

going three trades would be a lot to have to give up feeling has baggage what bag what what what you're just do we know who we're talking about this is the challenge we're going to do this when they trade for him this is the challenge i'm going to throw it out to you now if you leave a comment like that you have to tell me how many carolina panthers games you watch over the last two years because the answer zero and i know the answer zero i know it because i have the same tv networks you have there's i don't know if there's been a single panthers game on tv in two years there's no way you've seen Adam Thielen recently. Look, we all, we all know the deal here. It's, it's desperation and it's the best you can do, but it's a guy who has a very, very good resume. And I don't know how you can do

better. And you're not giving up a lot. And he knows the offense. You got to get somebody ready in two weeks. Uh, is Anthony Richardson a buy low option? I don't know. I mean, doesn't it feel like, doesn't it feel like the Colts have never known? what to do with Anthony Richardson, they draft him and it's, you know, hey, we're going to take our time. We're going to develop him. We're going to do right by Anthony Richardson. And then they just, oh, man, you see how big he is? You're starting. So then he starts, he gets hurt, can't develop, starts again, gets hurt, can't develop. And now finally, we're going to start somebody else. And now in year three, you get to develop. That's pretty hard to do because now you've

had the public shaming. I mean, look, Jordan Love, what would Jordan Love's completion percentage B, if he had started his first year, 50%. I mean, there were reports from Jordan Love in his early practices that he looked horrible. And he was a project. And guess what? The project, because he got to stay healthy, it worked. So maybe, I mean, maybe if the Vikings got their hands on Anthony Richardson and he got

to be a backup for a while and just learn and sit on the bench and then every once in a while, maybe I don't know. you know, maybe it would have been fine for him. I don't know if that's going to happen with the Vikings making a phone call there. I think the Colts are probably better to just say, forget the sunk cost of all the screw-ups of putting Richardson in over and over again. Let's finally take our time and try to develop them and see what happens. They might be doing the right thing there.

King in the North, what's the deal with KOC and KC. and Quasi not having a competent backup ever beside last year. Other years have been full-blown catastrophe. No, you're right about that. Well, Mullins got hurt the year that they went and got Dobbs. Otherwise, Mullen's would have been the backup. When you look at Nick Mullen's career stats, I mean, it's pretty, it's, that's backup quarterbacks in the league, man.

It's just backup quarterbacks in the league. There's five of them who could win games, Gardner Minshue somewhere. One of them is out in one of the Dakotas hunting right now. and Wentz. Baker Mayfield was a backup for you, but there's only a handful. Tyrod Taylor can win games for you. There's just not that many. And I think as far as, you know, Nick Mullins, like he was a reasonable backup that like, what, Sam Darnold got banged up and Mullins came in and converted a first down. Like, there you go. There, there you go. You got it. So, uh, Wade's is calling 2023 Matthew Collar to let him know our future cornerback room depends on

Jeff Okuda. Yeah, I know. I know. That's why Wade, that's why, you know, they they have these things about this team. Like when I look at the biggest picture, the bigger picture, and maybe this will just, because I want to save all the yelling about Thielen. I've done enough of it. I want to save that for later. This was a, hey, Max Brosmer had a great game. Here's the latest on Thielen. The receivers didn't do anything to change it. Miles Price bobbled something. Oscar Chapman babbled something. Like, that's what I wanted to focus on with the preseason game here. But in the bigger picture, though, because that was my fan dual question of the day, which was, has it changed anything for you?

And the answer is, no, it hasn't for me because when I look at the roster, I just see so many good players, so much depth, so much talent, such a great defensive line, an offensive line that I think has very high potential, a backfield that has high potential. And I see a quarterback who developed a ton in this training camp and is ready to play. but there's things that are fragile. And I think if you asked, you know, the other teams, like the bills, they drafted Maxwell Hairston to come in and start.

He's hurt. And who knows if he'll be good or not? Like, they're probably talking about it there, how that's fragile for them. I'm sure in Kansas City, they're talking about some position that's fragile for them, but you don't have Mahomes and you don't have Allen. Everything needs to work in order to be the Eagles from last year. And the cornerback position, that is where, I have some concerns.

And I'll throw this out here. Here's a crazy stat for you that I came up with the other day for the mailbag. Because somebody asked about the secondary and whether it eventually has been exposed over the last two years. I think the answer is yes.

Where the front seven, the blitzing, it can only do so much, right? And what I looked up was all teams in the Super Bowl era. And I know going back to the 60s and 70s, they didn't throw as much as they do now. But still, I think this stat is valid. that only seven teams that allowed 4,000 or more passing yards made the Super Bowl.

Last year, the Vikings were over 4,000 yards. The secondary, it has to be good. You can't just get a butt of 50, 60, 70 sacks. Like, that's just not going to happen. They had 49 last year. Maybe they could get to 50 this year. They can have more consistent pressure, but the back end has to be good. And as you're saying, now it feels like.

like with Blackman, we went into training camp going, oh, yeah, well, they got Blackman as a backup or he's going to start. And if Okuda's depth, then you're a pretty good place there. And now it's, it feels like it's hinging a little bit on him. And it's then more pressure on Isaiah Rogers and on Byron Murphy, but that also means more pressure on Theo Jackson. Because initially we thought, well, they're going to play more nickel, which would be good for them.

So Theo Jackson doesn't have to be on the field all the time. And then Harrison Smith. misses a big chunk of camp and you're like is he going to be you know 100% to get it feels it feels a little bit I would not say like it's crumbling but like you're on a waterbed like you're I don't I don't feel rock solid about this I'm not falling in but I'm wobbling around a little bit with this cornerback group and that's why I think they do have to go find some depth players uh Christian Wilkins yeah I mean that's been that's been thrown out there i don't know it would uh they would have to i mean they would have to be like in a bad spot uh with the defensive tackles if the defensive tackles

are in good position then it's going to be fine um big dan terry mccloren i mean terry mcclorn would be amazing but there's they've spent all the money that they could spend they can't make some sort of big type of play uh brandon zillstra stacey cully of course we we have to go there. Seth says trading Harrison Phillips makes me feel worse about the run defense. Sorry, that one came out of nowhere. Yeah, yeah, you know, that's something that I thought of as well that when it comes to moving on from Harrison Phillips, they better feel pretty good about Taki, Taimani, if he's going to make the team or Levi Drake or, you know, Jalen Redmond. I mean, they better feel really good about these guys and their ability to get in and stuff the run.

Now, here's what I will say is that last year, when you're talking about how good of a run defense they were, Jonathan Bullard and Jerry Tilleri are not the Williams wall. Like that one is a first round bust and the other guy had never played like 500 snaps before. And yet they were able to still because of the way that they play have a pretty good run defense. But the recent histories of Hargrave and Allen against the run have not been impressive. And with the teams you're playing, it is, it is a concern for sure. You know, Ben Johnson's going to run right off the outset. Bejohn Robinson is week two.

And, you know, I don't know where Pittsburgh stands with their run game, Cleveland. So I guess you're probably not going to get tested early, but eventually you will. The Chargers, Omerian Hampton, the Eagles, like there's, I agree with you that Harrison Phillips made them feel much more sound. The only thing about that move is that they must have looked at that and felt like, These other guys have been just as good at it in training camp. But if they are getting run over, run defense-wise throughout this year and they're getting dominated run defense-wise, we are going to look back to that move and go, hey, like, you had a solid run defender.

John says a while back, I said the run defense would rank higher than the past defense. You seem to disagree. What do you think now? No, I mean, I do disagree. I don't think that the run defense is going to be great. and I think a lot of that is based on who they play. Jaden Daniels, Jalen Hertz, Lamar Jackson, like you're going to give up a lot of yards rushing

just to those quarterbacks, Sequan Barclay, Bijon Robinson, like you go through a fantasy team, Derek Henry, this is a fantasy team that's playing against the Vikings. So I don't think it's going to be a dominating run defense, but you can also get through that. You can't get through having a bad pass defense. a bad pass defense, you're just up a creek. That's my point about teams that allow 4,000 yards passing. They don't get to the Super Bowl because eventually they play some good quarterback

in the postseason and that quarterback shreds them. And honestly, like, we put it all on Sam Darnold that they lost last year and a lot of it was, but don't forget Matthew Stafford had a really good playoff game against the Vikings as well to get ahead in that game. And Jared Gough, you know, two, the first half of the game against the Detroit wasn't so great for him in week 18, but the game in Minnesota, he was really good. You're going to have to stop some of these really good quarterbacks eventually. So you can get through most of the time. If you're playing Philadelphia, that's different.

But most of the time, if you're a bad run defense or an average run defense, that's fine. Because teams average between 4.2 and 4.8 yards per carry no matter what. So all right. But if you can't stop the pass, then you're in trouble. Jake says you doubting the defense. No, I think that they should have a really good defense. But that's why I said about the waterbed. Like the secondary, I'm wobbling a little bit on the defense.

I think overall, I mean, with Flores, the amount of talent, they should be a top seven type of defense. But when if one person in the secondary gets hurt, then you're talking about Jeff Okuda having to play like every snap. or if Jeff Okuda gets hurt, you're talking about a guy who has shown no confidence whatsoever in training camp having to step up. Like these, these are concerning things. Like, these are concerning things. Shanahan running 19 run plays in a row in 2019.

Yeah, I know. There are teams that you really don't want to have a bad run defense against. And it can get you for sure. Those are usually exceptions like Philadelphia and like San Francisco. Those are exceptions. and you know you guys bring up tyrie kill we just can't we just can't even have those discussions about those types of guys uh about like terry mcclora and our tie those are non-starter that they're having to move money around to try to get adam theelin here like they don't have that

type of cap space uh taylor heinecke i like is an idea i do like taylor heinecke is an idea at least he can get in the game and he could give you a chance to when he's done it before so uh mr mayor we spent so much time focus on Lamar being a threat in the run game that we forget it's probably also the best passer in the league. Oh, not, not this, not this particular show that pounded the table from day one for Lamar Jackson, but I know what you're saying.

I'm just saying run defense specifically. Like they've got Derek Henry and Lamar Jackson. It's if you can't stop the run, you're in trouble. And they better, they have to be very, and I really like where Jalen Redmond is at, by the way. They have to be very confident. And you see Taki Taimani out there, that's a guy who's never played. You see Levi Drake, he looked great tonight.

That's a guy who's never really played. They have to be very confident in that unit kind of coming together with Redmond and the other guys to be able to slow down the run because I don't think you're going to ask Hargrave and Alan to do it. They also have great tacklers at every other position and they play an extra safety in the box, which most teams can't do. So having Josh Mattelis up in the box, I think gives them an advantage. because it wasn't Jerry Tilleri who was driving the success run defense-wise. I mean, I'll pull this up because now I'm curious because we use and we rightfully should

the PFF grades for last couple years for Hargrave and Allen. But we never talk about what their grades were last year for the guys who were playing a lot run defense-wise. So let me pull that up out of curiosity. Let's see. What I'm looking for Bullard and Tiller. and what they did run defense grade-wise. Let's see.

Jonathan Bullard. Okay, Bullard was pretty good. 67 PFF grade against the run. That's pretty solid. Where was Tilleri? Tilleri was a 53. So Tilleri struggled against the run and Harrison Phillips and Bullard were above average.

But let me see if I could put that in context, like where that ranked because neither one of those numbers are crazy good. They're just okay. And Phillips over the last couple of years, had ranked more in the middle than he was above average. And the one thing about, you know, PFF grade, you could debate them all you want,

but they oftentimes point us toward the right answers. And we know this front office, at least is using data to evaluate these players. And I think Harrison Phillips was good against the run, but I don't think that he was super dominant to the point where you can't make up for that. So super unknown. need a backup quarterback who could step in if not only due to injury, but also if McCarthy

proves he's not ready. No, they're riding that McCarthy train, man. They are riding that, there is no, there is no parachute for that. That McCarthy is, if McCarthy's healthy, unless it is Ryan Leif, he is playing 17 games this year. That, now, that would have been interesting if it was Daniel Jones. If it was Daniel Jones and J.J. McCarthy started off two and four with a 67 quarterback rating, then maybe you would have heard some of that discussion. I don't think there's anybody that they can get now at this point in the game where you'd be having that conversation. I don't think there's, I mean, yes, okay, unless it was Kirk Cousins.

And that's a reason not to get Kirk Cousins is because you would be having that conversation if there were struggles, for sure. Taylor says, I'll be honest, I haven't kept up this summer, but how did we get Okuda, not even playing in preseason games? Taylor, you're here at 11 o'clock at night listening to the postgame show for the third preseason game, but you haven't kept up in the summer? Come on, man. I mean, like, you get an, anybody here now gets a neck roll for listening to me go on and on about Miles Price catching punts and stuff. Like, that's, that's, that's neck roll worthy for being here right now. So I guess,

I guess she came around. You came around. Uh, well, I think it's, I think Jeff Okuda not playing in the preseason games has been as much about Mackay Blackman as Jeff Okuda. Like Okuda won that job so early in training camp and Blackman did absolutely nothing to even challenge him. He didn't get first team reps almost at all during the entire training camp. He never looked like he deserved them. He didn't make plays. He wasn't aggressive and then he got in the preseason games and played poorly. And so you've got to protect Okuda. He's got an injury history. You can't put him out there and get him hurt in a preseason game. I can't believe that, you know, the Pittsburgh Steelers played Derek Harmon.

And then he got hurt for four to six weeks. Now he's set behind for his rookie. That's one of my favorite guys from the draft. And a guy, I think that has, you know, a pretty big heart too. If you saw his story and for him to get hurt in a stupid preseason game was just like, what are you doing? And I saw Kansas City playing starters. What are you guys doing?

I don't, I don't understand that. What year is it? Conrad, speaking of Stafford, I don't make it, I don't think he makes it through the season. You know, I had that thought. I definitely had that thought, which was last year when Matthew Stafford overthrew or got pressured or whatever happened in the last play against Philadelphia, I thought that might be the last chance for Matthew Stafford based on the amount of injuries. He always seems to come back, but when you start seeing stuff like he's got some bust that he goes into

and it like regenerates his body like that's just not good he's had so many injuries over the years i i don't trust that situation it might end up being you know jimmy garoppolo for them at some point uh susan uh it seems like the oscar chapman ship has sailed due to that terrible hold yeah and it wasn't just that one there was another day in practice where he was holding and they missed a bunch of field goals and if it's only this small amount of different between the punting, the actual punting, if there even is any difference, then you got to go with the guy who could hold it. You're right. I think the ship has sailed. So, uh, Drew, I try not to make a hobby of, um, looking at family members, uh, social medias, but I did see that from Adam Theelan's

wife. But I, I just think it makes, you know, it just makes so much sense. It just makes so much sense that they would get this done, that both sides have a lot of motivation to get to the finish line, but especially, especially the, um, the Vikings here to try to get this to the finish line. So, uh, but yeah, she might have been screwing around with everybody. Yeah, you know, Clark, you're right though about Tyler Lockett. I was like, Tyler Lockett is on the Titans. And also Van Jefferson. Maybe there's a couple of guys there. That's possible. What about Rasul Douglas? I call. Yes. Yes. Yes. call him today

Rasul Douglas I know he was not amazing last year but even if it's just a Fabian Morrow type of thing where okay Fabian wasn't amazing but he went in there and could play when they needed him to I don't have a lot of confidence at all that anybody behind the starters can go in there and play right now for the secondary I don't know if Rasul wants to come play

in a place where he's not going to have the job though that would be maybe an issue for signing him is that he might look to someplace else where he could actually play. Susan says, Vikings run defense was considered very good last year, but it was mostly due to flow schemes

and the Vikings group approach. I agree with that, not individual performance. I agree with that, which I think is a good argument for why they could still be okay. Here's something we also have to really consider when it comes to their run defense from last year. They were leading the whole year. They were just ahead,

season long. They won 14 games and it's hard to run when you're playing from behind because you're the Tennessee Titans. Like this year just it could play out differently. Nathan Miles Price needs to spend this year on the practice squad catching punts. Totally. So I mean, I think he's got real talent. But you just, as soon as he babbled that one, I was like, that just can't happen. It should look smooth. It should look like it just comes down as a little pillow on the wings of a dove and rests gently in your arms. That's how it should look if you're really good at this. It shouldn't look like you call for fair catch

and it hits each shoulder pad and your chin before you finally grab it. That looks like how we would try to catch it, only it would bounce off our face and injure us and we would go to the hospital. It's a very hard thing to do, but I do agree with you that he's somebody that I like his potential.

Dwayne says of 2024's top 10 running backs, the Vikings face five of them, including number three, five, and six twice. Yep. Yep. That's right, man. It's not an easy schedule for running backs. It's not an easy schedule for quarterbacks. I still think it's going to be a really good defense. But if we're talking about getting to the end of the preseason and what concerns do you still have, those are some of them. And we saw that tonight with Mackay Blackman. So he didn't drop a punt, but it bounced around. which I know is like seems unfair but it's been happening to him in practice and he dropped a bad one in practice the other day so already you're concerned about that and then you know bounces

around so maybe a question for the for the chat after for the people watching the replay of this for the comment section is uh i forget now who i'm sorry earlier in the chat asked over under two and a half acquisitions maybe total acquisitions we need to bump it up to over and under under three and a half. There's some work to do here on the edges. The core of the team is fantastic. The core of the team is one of the best in the league. Don't get to the third preseason game and go,

oh my gosh, the punt return. Like, when is the last time the punt returner meant a whole lot to the Minnesota Vikings? Marcus Sherrill's 2016, like housing them. So they've had D.D. Westbrook. They had Brandon Powell last year. They won 14 games. Like, don't miss the forest through the trees on this discussion. this is very much a

the preseason is over and I'm worried about the depth corners even last year we were worried about the corners through all of camp and they got through it and they had a top five defense and et cetera it's a very very good team but tonight is kind of about those details of what makes you feel a little queasy about this roster after this and did the preseason make you feel better it didn't for me it didn't for the receivers

it didn't for the corners it didn't for the returners it didn't for the punter like all those little things but don't don't miss the big picture it's still a really really good football team and we've got questions as all 32 do as we head into what i think is going to be a really fun ramp up to week one and just cannot wait for that so uh this discussion was a lot of fun with you guys though man this just i think this just tells you the size of the audience uh the the chat like everybody is ready for this football team to go out there and play and i agree dustin Kenny Pickett would be my answer.

We'll see what they do. And these next few days, emergency podcast potential, very high. Like if I was a weather man and I was trying to predict, like your weather app, you know how it tells you it's got a little storm thing and it tells you percentage chance that happens? I'd say that the percentage chance of an emergency podcast, I'd go like 70% within the next two days. that we get that, whether it's for Adam Thielen or something else. I don't know that somebody asked the other day about the threshold.

Like, what's the threshold for an emergency podcast? Might be almost anything because we kind of can turn that into a lot of other fun discussion. So we'll see. We'll see what happens. I'll be around. Just like today, I'll, I'll just be waiting to see what's going to happen next. But the Vikings have wrapped up their preseason and now we know what a lot of the roster is

going to look like. We know what a lot of the team's going to look like. We have a lot more information about J.J. McCarthy. Cutdown day is on Tuesday. And if you think that I'm going to be live, the minute that those cuts come in, you're right. And we're going to go over every single position group. See how close we got in the 53. It's just, I just want to say before we wrap up, because it's really the end of preseason. And now there's some tidying to do. And then we play football is I just cannot thank you guys enough. Listeners, watchers of the season. this show. I mean, what we have done here on this channel and this show on this podcast, numbers wise from previous years, the growth, the support, the super chats, the new subscribers, people have checked out purple insider dot football. It's been amazing. It is re-energized me. I, you know, I'm always energized for football, but I have felt more excitement about this season to get started than I have in a long time because of you guys.

I feed off that energy. And so, yeah, I'm sitting here like, Oscar Chapman can't hold the ball. What are we doing here? You know, and that's just because we're all ready for this thing to go. But you guys have just supported the heck out of this show and taken it to a totally different level. And the algorithms, thank you.

And I thank you very, very much for that as we get to the end of this. So might see you tomorrow. Might be on Monday. we'll find out definitely on on cut down day and uh for all you guys in the chat who are here all the time or who go back to the radio show many years i mean i just i'm so just so thankful and i've had so much fun and truly like these live streams that go on for an hour two hours three hours it's just because you guys are here and we're having this really fun conversation so i that would not happen if you didn't show up to the comment section you didn't ask questions getting debates and

all those sorts of things it's just been great It's just been great. It's been a lot of fun. And I cannot wait to see what this season is like. This year, there's going to be a lot. There's going to be a lot of good stuff for you guys. I mean, Murph and Manning are going to be back with a roundtable. Cyril, Jeremiah Searle will be here every single week.

Maggie's going to contribute every week. We've got, we got a lot, got a lot going on. Sefer, Gessling, Kramer, you know, Dane F for games, the entire beat. This is the show of the Vikings beat. So I just can't wait. I'll say it again. Thanks everybody for all your time tonight. And we will, we'll see you when there's some news. But if not, then definitely on Monday evening. So take care, everybody. Football.