Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Ravens and 49ers experts explain whether Vikings speculation with Lamar Jackson and Trey Lance are justified

Episode Date: March 28, 2023

Shawn Stepner from WMAR in Baltimore and Kyle Madson from the Candlestick Chronicles podcast join the show to talk about Vikings related rumors to Lamar Jackson and Trey Lance. Are either realistic? Why aren't the Ravens working things out with Lamar? Will Lance stay another year before getting moved? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, we welcome you to the show from WMAR in Baltimore to explain to us how the Baltimore Ravens will trade Lamar Jackson to the Minnesota Vikings. My former Buffalo colleague and friend, Sean Stepner. What is going on, Sean? How are you? What's up, Matt? Good to see you. Good to hear from you. Well, go ahead. Tell us. Tell us. No. Okay. All right. So we have been discussing the universe where the Vikings land Lamar Jackson. And when you're looking at different odds makers, some of them are pushing the Vikings toward the top. But first I think we need to set the stage a little bit on how in the world we got to a point where Lamar Jackson is being talked about joining other teams than the Baltimore Ravens. So explain this to me, how this went down between the Ravens and Lamar to get to a point where they don't have him under contract for a long period of time.

So in my opinion, it all factors into the Deshaun Watson bombshell contract, right? I mean, I think that's where the roads split. I think that, I think things were well and good. You know, Lamar doesn't have an agent. It's two factors. Lamar doesn't have an agent and Deshaun Watson's contract. That's kind of, in my opinion, what it boils down to. I think everything was well and good between the Ravens and Lamar in negotiating his next contract to make him a

Raven for life. I think when the Browns went out and gave Deshaun that contract fully guaranteed. It not only raised the eyebrows of every single other franchise and owner who has to open up his or her checkbook in the future, but it also raised the eyebrows of quarterbacks that were going to have their contracts come up. And Lamar Jackson was front and center. And, you know, for, for the longest time, I mean, and, and still now, I think I can see both sides of this situation, you know, on the Raven side, you know, they believe and, and a lot of other teams believe, and we've seen this play out with how things have been going these last few weeks. The owners think that Deshaun Watson's contract is the outlier, right?

Do you want to call it collusion? Hard to prove. Do you want to call it good business practice and not being like the Browns, I think that's more likely. But the owners are super reluctant to give that kind of deal fully guaranteed to anyone really, but specifically a quarterback like Lamar. And from Lamar's side, precedent has been set. If you're looking at a guy like Deshaun Watson, who had all of his legal troubles off the field, frankly, is not as good as Lamar Jackson and sat out think maybe that's what I'd be asking for too initially. From that point, it's been breakdown after breakdown. I think Lamar is dug in to his side, what he wants, the term and the value that he wants, and he's not backing down. He doesn't have an agent to guide him to say, maybe you should go this route. This is the way that it could go where you could eventually make the money that you want. Maybe it's not guaranteed. Maybe you don't have the prestige, but maybe this is the way you should go. He doesn't have that guidance. find out last week he has a guy named ken francis right not steve francis not francis ford coppola

ken francis um you know calling teams which is just so bizarre it's been a bizarre turn after bizarre turn in this and you know on monday the the calculated move of Lamar revealing publicly that he did ask for a trade out of Baltimore at the precise moment John Harbaugh sits down to talk to reporters at the NFL owners meetings. That's not coincidence. That's taking this broken down relationship another level to another level, you know, catches John Harbaugh completely off guard. So the Ravens can't be happy with that. And that's not the first time Lamar has done this to the organization. I mean, before the wildcard game toward the end of the season last year,

he revealed his injury in a tweet. I know for a fact that the organization did not know that he was going to put that out there. So it's not the first time. This relationship is broken down. And there's several other instances you can go into. But at the end of the day, he says he wants out of Baltimore. If you believe him, he said he requested it March 2nd. And that coincidentally was when Eric DaCosta was talking at the Combine, but it didn't come out.

Eric DaCosta did not leak that out. But, you know, he wants out of Baltimore, the Ravens non-exclusive franchise tag. They're saying, Hey, find a dance partner. He hasn't been able to, I mean, it's just a, um, it is, I, in my opinion, I think the relationship is, is broken down beyond repair, but if it comes down to no takers and Lamar can make $32 million next season, I think he has to come back. But with Lamar, I mean, he moves the beat of his own drum.

I mean, I could totally see him holding out as well. So look, it's unprecedented. Never seen anything like it. I want to say, I'm a little disappointed that you didn't go with Ron Francis. That's where I thought you were going to go with that as a huge hockey guy. I did tweet that. As a big hockey fan, like you said, Matt, I did tweet something out when the news broke with the hashtag, like Lamar hockey liaison or something like that, you know, Ron Francis, like classic whaler, but yeah, it's, it's it's been bizarre. Yeah. And what's odd to me is the breakdown of the relationship because money, okay. A lot of

teams and players will just figure it out, right. Where it's like, okay, they've got these, this guy wants this, this guy wants this, this guy wants this. We all meet in the middle. He goes forward. He's the franchise quarterback. Normally, if you have a quarterback who wins 45 games and loses 16 and wins the MVP, you do not let this person walk out of your building. In fact, it's really hard to find any other examples where someone in their prime like this, somebody brought up, you know, Carson Palmer, you have to go back quite a ways for anybody to just be like, no, I don't want to play here anymore after that amount of time. But even with Carson Palmer, it was because the

organization was a total disaster in Cincinnati at that time. That is not the case with the Baltimore Ravens. I mean, they're considered one of the premier franchises in the entire NFL. And this is what's sort of odd to me. And of course, you know, here in Minnesota, everyone's going like, wait, could this really happen? Could Lamar and it sounds like it really could because the relationship has gotten that bad, but it always needs to be something else, right? Like with Stefan Diggs and the Vikings, when that relationship broke down, it wasn't just about money. It actually wasn't about money at all. It was about the coaching staff, not hearing him out about how he thought the offense should be played. And then it turned out that he was completely right and went to Buffalo and caught all the passes. But I wonder, is it more with Lamar than just, Hey, I want these dollars. You won't give it to me. And of course, if you're,

if you're a Gen Z, then everything is disrespect. You got to remember that everything is disrespect if you're a youth, but what is it? Is there something else beyond that between him and the organization or is it just, he feels like they're not pony enough? It's an interesting question. I think at the end of the day, it is all about, when you speak about Gen Z, the bag. I think it's all about the money. And I think that he feels disrespected in the fact that, like I mentioned, he's representing himself. And the conversations are between Eric DaCosta and Lamar Jackson. And I think that, you know, look, I mean, I don't know this for a fact, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say he, somewhere along the line,

maybe multiple times, he has felt disrespected in this negotiation. And I'll go back to it. That's why you have an agent in any industry, in the radio industry, in the television industry, in the professional sports industry, you have an agent as a go-between. So you're not in the room when they say, you know, Lamar, when we need you, you're not there at the end of the season. You know, Lamar, you know, look at your passing stats comparatively to yada, yada, yada. Lamar, the playoff games. And then he returns back with, you know, with at your passing stats comparatively to yada, yada, yada Lamar, the playoff games. And then he returns back with, you know, with the, with the stats that you mentioned and,

and how, you know, his win loss record and the unanimous MVP. And what, what, what, when he's out there, he's, he, he, he is the best athlete on the field in any game when he's on the field. You can't convince me otherwise. He can single-handedly change the flow of a game in one snap with his improvisational skills. Okay. So yeah, I think it's about the money. I think that he is fixated on getting that guarantee. And I think until he gets that or somewhere near that, I don't think he budges. Now, requesting the trade, that could be disrespect. That could be maybe he's playing chess at this point. It's been his move. Maybe he's playing chess when other people are thinking he's playing chess at this point. It's been his move.

Maybe he's playing chess when other people are thinking he's playing checkers. Maybe he does want to stay here and here being Baltimore. Maybe he does want to stay in Baltimore and he's just putting that out there. Who knows? But I think he's felt disrespected. And and when when you look at the football side, you know, the Greg Roman offense, you know, we were both in Baltimore during during the Greg Roman experiment with the Bills. Were we not? I mean, I was there. You were there during that time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You said Buffalo. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry. Yeah, I mean, he's with Baltimore now, or he was. And, you know, the last couple of years with Roman's offense,

you know, it's been very frustrating. You know, receivers have asked out, you know, Marquise Brown requested a trade. He was not happy with his role. And, you know, Marquise Brown's best friend on the team traveled with him to and from games, Lamar Jackson. You know, I don't think Lamar Jackson and Greg Roman saw eye to eye a lot of the times. So it could be a little bit on the field, but I think more of it is the disrespect off the field.

And I think, you know, again, I think the, the relationship is, is broken down Breon repair. Yeah. I mean, I do think that the Greg Roman element of them being like loyal to Greg Roman and continue to bring him back when they're passing offense was just, and having seen a Kevin O'Connell passing offense upfront and, and personal, it's just different like than Greg Roman. There's a lot of passing offenses. My gosh, if he's playing in San Francisco, what does that look like? You know, with, and not only that, but you know, the weapons and they did draft Rashad Bateman, they did draft, uh, you know, Marquise Brown as a high pick. So it's not like they did nothing, but at the same time, they were never able to put together this group around him to really

maximize his passing ability. And that's one of the things that we've talked about quite a bit is the difference between having Greg Roman and I don't even know who the top receiver is versus Justin Jefferson and Kevin O'Connell is so different. And we've seen what the peak of his passing can look like. But also he's not Mahomes where you could just say like, Hey, I saw some kids playing down the street. You guys want to play in the Superbowl with Mahomes? Sure. We'll win. He's not that good of a passer, but I also think that some of the stats that people like to cite with his passing going down is in part because Marquise Brown was traded away and because they didn't have

as complicated as a passing offense. I remember Kurt Warner did a breakdown after they lost in the playoffs to Tennessee that really shined the light on how limited and who would know better than Kurt Warner, but how limited their passing game was making Lamar Jackson and not giving him a lot of great options. So I think that maybe there's some frustration there that he knows he could be better than that.

And then you see Rashad Bateman tweeting like, yeah, they didn't give him the best opportunity. So I imagine a lot of people are in his ear telling him that as well. And you add all these things together. But I want to ask you, though, from a Vikings perspective, and you have been much closer to Lamar. I mean, I think we all feel like we know his game pretty well, but let's just say money-wise, the Vikings could make it happen and move on from Kirk Cousins and all the craziness that would have to go into making this happen. But let's say if you want something to happen in the NFL, you can make it happen. Is that a good idea? Is that a good idea for the Vikings

to get Lamar Jackson? Yeah, I think it's a good idea for any team that to get Lamar Jackson. I mean, I mean, is he an upgrade over Kirk Cousins? Yes. I mean, I mean, I assume that's your belief as well. And, you know, when you have a, when you have a threat like Lamar on the field. Yeah. I mean, you know, if I was the Jets, I don't know why they're going after Aaron Rodgers. I mean, what are you going to get? I mean, you're going to get maybe a year or two. You know, who knows how it's going to work? I don't know why the Jets aren't going after Lamar. I don't know why the Falcons aren't going after Lamar. I don't know why the commanders aren't going after Lamar. The commanders are different because they have an owner on the way out and, you know, the cash situation. But, you know, so I can, I can kind of see that, but you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't know when it's,

that's another thing that, that, that is just a monkey wrench in this whole thing. It's like, it is free to, you know, the last I checked when, when, you know, your phone, I don't think it's like the early nineties or, or the early nins, I'm sorry, the late 90s, when you had to pay for minutes on your cellular car phone. I mean, I'm pretty sure you pick this up, you get in touch with somebody and it's free. And with the way that the non-exclusive franchise tag works, you don't have to pay anything either to talk to somebody. I don't know why, you know, the Titans aren't calling. I don't know why, you know, name your team, the Dolphins. I mean, I know they gave Tua the money or the

fifth year option and they have, you know, said that he's the franchise quarterback, but, you know, this is the NFL. This is the business, right? I mean, you know, and, and the Vikings, sure. I mean, why, why not? I mean, is it, are you, some teams are afraid it's going to get leaked out there and then that's a whole, you know, atomic bomb into your locker room and organization. So would it fit with the Vikings? I mean, you know, I'm around Lamar and I, you know, more than you, you're around the Vikings more than me. I mean, with that dynamic and that offense

and how they were clicking last year and that head coach, I mean, sure. I think Lamar might have another level to his passing game to go. Who can bring that out of him? That would be interesting. And, yeah, I mean, sure. I think they could fit him. They could fit him in that lineup. I think a lot of teams could.

Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. It's like who can take one of the best quarterbacks in the league uh lots of people um the the one that really baffles me is atlanta i don't get it what what are you not what are you holding out for here i mean even in as in comparison to drafting someone like anthony richardson if you want that guy we don't know if anthony richardson could play we certainly know that lamar jackson could play and he can win and they have better weapons already in Atlanta than they've ever had in Baltimore. And I guess it feels like one of the things I think about a lot because I

cover the Vikings is sports regrets. There aren't Super Bowls like there are in Baltimore or a Stanley Cup championship. We don't, we don't have that either in Minnesota. We don't really have anything outside of the Lynx as far as championships, though Diamond Miller, she's going to take them back to the top, I think, if they draft her. But I guess I think about the regrets of the Baltimore Ravens

in the Lamar Jackson era because it seems like it's over. That's how it feels now. After the trade request, it feels like it's over. So will fans there look back and say, we kind of blew it with Lamar. Like we just let him go and we didn't take advantage and didn't win when there were chances there, you know, get back to a Super Bowl. Or, I mean, I don't know, is it like happy it happened or something? Or is it going to be one of those things that fans look at and just go like, what, how did we do this? You know, this answer, I'm going to, it kind of ties into your last question, why more teams and like maybe why the Falcons

aren't calling Lamar. And I think the regret if he leaves, I don't think the regret would be so much that they didn't get it done at all. And I guess, you know, this would, if he did leave and he wasn't part of the Ravens after this season, this would, I mean, there's no other option. The regret is that they couldn't get it done under his initial rookie contract. Right. And, you know, that if he stays for a year, a year or two, if he plays another franchise tag, like who knows what happens. But, you know, I think there would be a regret from this organization, from this fan base, that they couldn't do more than get to the divisional round with one of the most talented quarterbacks running and certainly a capable passer. I mean,

I think we can all agree that he's capable at least, that they couldn't get farther than the divisional round of the postseason. And it kind of ties into maybe another reason why GMs are hesitant to give that amount of money to a quarterback is that when you do, where's the other money coming from to get under the salary cap really build an organization, I think, is get that quarterback, I guess franchise-changing quarterback under a rookie deal and get some great pieces around them and see what happens. That's ideally what you would like to happen. But I don't know how many quarterback or how many GMs now are willing to shell out all the money for Lamar and, and then kind of piecemeal at another, the rest of the weapons around them. Right. Right. And that's the thing with the Vikings where you kind of have a ready-made

superstar wide receiver and left tackle, but then you'll have to pay them all. And even that's tricky for the Vikings where you kind of have a ready-made superstar wide receiver and left tackle but then you'll have to pay them all and even that's tricky for the Vikings uh if they're going to do it and then making it happen it feels like this thing is nowhere near from over we're going to just keep talking about it all throughout the summer um but there is a July middle of July date where something kind of needs to happen is my understanding. So we've only got several more months of talking about this. So prepare yourself for more angles. You can follow him on Twitter at Stepner WMAR. And you're a good friend, Sean.

I miss you. I miss us hanging out, you know, going to hockey practices or whatever and things like that around the local media. But I'm glad that you are thriving in Baltimore. And I'm glad we could find a reason to get together and talk, man. Absolutely. You too. And you're a great follow on Twitter and keep killing it in many great hockey state. And, and we'll, we'll, I'll, I'll, Hey,

maybe, Hey, maybe, maybe this does happen. Maybe Lamar does make his way to the Vikings. Who knows? Let's stay in touch and talk more about it. Okay, we will. And you would be jealous of the number of rinks that are around everywhere in Minnesota. And still frozen, by the way, at this moment around because our weather has not gotten any better and spring is not, it's a fantasy around here. So you would be very jealous as a great hockey player yourself. No real measurable snow in the Washington DC metropolitan, you know, Washington DC,

Baltimore metropolitan area this winter. It was unbelievable. Couldn't even take the kids sledding, but no real measurable snow. So, you know what? Is there any place on those frozen? Yeah. Is there any place in between?

It's got like we came from Buffalo where it's like the worst storms ever. And then I went to the coldest place. You went to a warm place just in between where you get winter frozen pond skating, but not like in April. It's still 15 degrees. So anyway, two guys from Buffalo talking about the weather is a perfect way to end this. So Sean, great stuff, man. Really appreciate the insight. And we'll do it again when the Vikings sign Lamar.

Absolutely. Take care. All right. We welcome into the show, Kyle Madsen making his second appearance, Candlestick Chronicles, a Blue Wire podcast, and also recently into the Fired Former Radio People Club. So welcome, welcome. The water's warm. There are a lot of us here. So come on in. I'm sorry that that happened to you out there in San Francisco, but there is life past sports radio, as we have discovered here in purple insider.

And you are still a foremost expert on trade rumors that we're trying to make happen in Minnesota involving the 49ers. So what is up, Kyle? How are you enjoying your off season? Enjoying it quite a bit. The, with the 49ers,

luckily it's never dull like there's always there's always something weird going on so uh yeah it's uh it's a good i i enjoy the time of year between free agency and the draft because you're getting those like the the fringes of free agency into the draft content. And that's a, it's just kind of a fun spot of the year. It is. It's fun and strange because now we have Meek Mill trying to help Lamar

Jackson become a Patriot. And I didn't make that up. That's a real thing that is apparently happening. So there's a lot of, it is a time where a lot of uh things get a little strange so with that also a time for massive speculation uh and with john lynch at the owners meeting saying that brock purdy is qb1 for the san francisco 49ers i have tried to put the brakes on all trey lance rumors and say folks folks i just don't see it.

I don't see why they would do it if you're San Francisco giving a division rival, someone you traded so much for. However, if that does end up being the case that Brock Purdy is QB1, they also brought in Sam Darnold. It does open the door to a potential trade. So give me your view on the landscape of this thing. Like, could Trey Lance be traded? Do you think that that's not going to happen until down the road? Like, what is the deal?

Yeah, so I, this, there's a lot of layers here. So just short answer, I don't think he's going to be traded this offseason. And that, that, this goes back to, and you can take it back to 2017. The 49ers have had one year since Kyle Shanahan has been their head coach have had one year where they played with one quarterback the whole season. And that's not due to poor play. That's an injury issue. And we saw the injury issues catch up with them in the NFC title game last

year. And frankly, they should have caught up with them before that, because you had Trey Lance getting hurt in week two, you had Jimmy Garoppolo get hurt in week 13 and then Brock Purdy, Mr. Irrelevant turns out to be the best of that, of that trio, or at least the offense operated the most efficiently with them. So I think the Sam Darnold signing was not so much a sign of they don't trust Trey Lance. They don't believe in Trey Lance or whatever. I think that was more of a, hey, insulating them from quarterback injuries,

which have been such a significant issue. So bringing that back to where I started, removing Trey Lance from that quarterback room, now Sam Darnold is your QB2 and maybe QB1, depending on when Brock Purdy comes back. And then your QB two and maybe QB one depending on when Brock Purdy comes back and then your QB three is a rookie another rookie are you banking on that again so I think Lance is there um and I think this offseason they're the biggest thing the 49ers can do is develop him and let him develop he's going to get all the reps as QB one at least I

imagine he will so they're going to see what kind of step he takes and if he plays well through the offseason and through training camp and into the preseason well now i think what john lynch said today where brock pretty's qb1 if they had to play a game today i i i think that could potentially change now if he goes into this season he being Trey Lance goes into the season as the backup and he's just the backup and Purdy starts all 17 games then I think they look at next season and go okay well Lance is going into year four um his trade value is never gonna it's not gonna get higher with him just sitting on the bench. So get something for him and move them now and then figure out the backup situation with, with Purdy being the guy.

But I'm also not ruling out Lance developing and being a really good player. I I'm still a believer in trail. Yeah. See, that's the interesting thing. I mean, if you're San Francisco and you trade away, Trey Lance to the Minnesota Vikings. And then he throws footballs to Justin Jefferson and becomes a superstar. And Brock Purdy doesn't repeat what he did last year, which I mean, would be pretty hard to do for someone. He showed some clear talent for sure. It got the ball out quickly. It was more of a playmaker than I think people expected, unless you watched a lot of him

at Iowa State. Then you would kind of think of him as maybe being a little more limited than he was. And so he's a great fit for what Kyle Shanahan wants to do. At the same time, if he turned out to be an average quarterback that you can't really win with in a long haul, because we've seen lots of quarterbacks have short-term success, including like Case Keenum with the Vikings, which is kind of what Brock Purdy reminded me of last year. It was like a seventh rounder. And then just everything comes together for the guy that doesn't mean over 17 games over multiple seasons that that's going to work out. And already he had several injuries for the 49ers while he was starting, not just the elbow one. I think there was a hip injury or something else involved. So for them, it doesn't

make a lot of sense to do it right now and then potentially have it blow up in your face, especially if you're giving him to an NFC team. This has always been my holdup, but looking at it down the road by a year, that is more interesting because the Vikings have one more year left of Kirk Cousins. And if they get left out of the draft party this year, next year's landscape could be totally different where let's say Brock Purdy comes back and he's great. They win 13 games. Then like, he's the guy that they're not moving on to Trey Lance. It is probably smarter if they just wait and see, then move him away right now and risk the whole thing blowing up. Yeah. That's I'm so glad you brought that up because the notion of Brock Purdy just regressing doesn't come up enough. I think what I think for the most part, he's going to be fine.

He's going to be a good player, but the Niners drafted Trey Lance to compete with Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen and now Jalen hurts. And this kind of this group of quarterbacks that this that's dual threat and they're, they're turning third and 12 into first downs with their legs and, and all this stuff. That's why they went and got Trey Lance. That's why they bet on that. And so to just pull the plug without giving them an opportunity this off

season, it doesn't make a ton of sense but I I just I I think the the likelihood that Brock Purdy ascends and gets better than he was this year I think it was 13 touchdowns and four picks and it's just he was he was unbelievable so i think it's very much on the table more that he regresses than he gets better and what does he look like when and this is the whole crux this is the crux of the whole trey lance thing is the niners have this margin of error that's very that's very thin and they've had a top five or three or one defense statistically and they they have Debo Samuel and it's Brandon Iyuk and it's Christian McCaffrey and it's George Kittle and it's Trent Williams.

And it's this offense and defense. It's this team that's been built to be basically quarterback proof in an era where that's not supposed to happen. So let's project now. Okay, next season, Brock Purdy is, you know, doing Brock Purdy. 2023 season, I mean. Brock Purdy's doing Brock Purdy. 2023 season, I mean. Brock Purdy's doing Brock Purdy stuff, and they go 13-4, and they go, okay, cool.

Pull the plug. Trey Lance is gone. But then what happens when George Kittle's gone? What happens when Devo Samuel's not in the mix anymore? What happens if Christian McCaffrey's unavailable for a stretch of six games? And your defense is now a top 14 defense i don't know like you need brock purdy to be the rising tide that's going to lift all boats in that scenario and it's like that's

where i'm not necessarily sure i believe it yet that's where i'm not buying it and i think trey lance could ultimately wind up being that player and i think the 49ers in the back of their minds too have to know that um because they're looking out you know three four five years ahead they want to win the super bowl next year like that's the goal in 2023 and if brock pretty gives them a chance to do that they'll they'll give it to them but man i i i would be really hesitant if i'm the 49ers to just be like, yeah, Brock's the guy. Move forward, get rid of Trey Lance. And so I don't know.

I just the regression thing is very much on the table to me. OK, so let's say Kweisi calls and says, you know, Kyle Shanahan, I've heard this rumor that you really love Kirk Cousins, that you're a big Kirk Cousins guy. And we can't trade him today, but we can trade him after June 1st. So you talk about dead periods of the season, that would certainly inject some fun into the dead period of the season after June 1st. But it is possible when you look at the salary cap situation of the Vikings that they could trade him away. Then Kirk C Kirk cousins for Trey Lance would be insane and would, I mean, I can't imagine how many podcasts listens that you and I would both get if

it happened, but is it just considering, just considering the situation for both teams, it's become a lot less crazy. I've, I've said all along. No, no, it's too crazy. You guys are out of your minds proposing this trade. However, if they're not looking at Trey Lance as their starter and the Vikings have not extended Kirk cousins. And if he says I'm okay with being traded to San Francisco, which I imagine he would be as everyone would be the only holdup would be if you're the Vikings, do you want to give them a quarterback who could potentially go to the super bowl? And if you're the Vikings, do you want to give them a quarterback who could potentially go to the super bowl? And then you're the team that traded, like, it's not like Detroit who was tanking when they gave up Stafford and everyone understood it. The Vikings don't have

a tank roster. So if you're Justin Jefferson, you're like, what? You just gave away that guy. But you, if you get Trey Lanson returns your future quarterback, I don't know. So what is his cap hit for the 49ers for the acquiring team? It'd be 10 million. I believe that's right. I believe that's right. Yeah. It becomes totally manageable after June one.

Yep. Okay. So that's, that makes it a little more interesting. I just don't know if the Niners would want to bring in Kirk cousins because Kirk's not going to come there and just be cool being a backup. And I would have to be the starter. Yeah.

Right. And I think one of the big selling points of Brock Purdy. And one of the reasons that, that the 49ers has just been like, Oh yeah, he's going to be, he's going to be QB one. If he's,

if he's healthy and ready to go is because the locker room believes in, in Purdy so much. That was true before he became the starter. And the way they talked about, like, the way they talked about Trey Lance going into last year, it was a lot of like, it was a lot of like, we're going to do everything we can to help him out.

You know, he's a talented guy, but, you know, we have a really good roster and we're going to do everything. With Brock Purdy, they're like, oh, Brock's the man. Like Brock is the dude. Like we ride with him. So that's one of the issues when you bring up With Brock Purdy, they're like, oh, Brock's the man. Like, Brock is the dude. Like, we ride with him. So that's one of the issues when you bring up, oh, hey, if Trey Lance starts, it's like, how would the locker room take it?

If they're trading Trey Lance to bring in Kirk Cousins to start him, this guy that the 49ers have beat in the playoffs, that I think you run up against the same issue, even though like the financials work and, and caution and likes Kirk guns. And we know all that. I just, I don't, I don't think Kirk cousins would be the guy that they would target if they

were going like a player for player swap. I could see it. I, maybe if, if, let me, let me, let me,

let me go here because I don't, I don't want to like discount your idea entirely. I'm not, if Purdy had had the Tommy John reconstruction where he's out for the year or nine to 12 months or whatever, then I'd be wide open to that being on the table. I just don't know that the Niners are going to bring in a starting caliber guy when Purdy might be ready by week one. It just, in making that comparison to Case Keenum, it does make me think though, that the Vikings had a quarterback Case Keenum, who was loved by the locker room and had had this magical run. And then they went, nah, you know what? We need

somebody who's a little more talented. And the thing that I'm sure if you're crazy, you're saying to Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch is, Hey, go look how many games Kirk Cousins has missed in his career. Yeah. The answer is almost none. Since he came to the Vikings, he only missed one due to COVID and no other games. I think he sat one that was a meaningless game and that's it. The guy is unbelievably durable. And I don't know. I mean, so I guess it's hard to find not a reason aside from that, unless they think Brock Purdy is just as good as Kirk Cousins, which when you consider their age, I mean,

maybe they could look at it and say, Cousins is not an ascending player. Purdy could be an ascending player. He could do what he did last year or get better and so forth where you can't see Kirk Cousins improving from this but at the same time and that short pass type of offense where you just have to read and react and get the ball to your playmakers like I don't know in an all-in situation you could actually kind of justify it I just think from the Vikings perspective they would be really kind of punting on next season and potentially giving the 49ers a quarterback that goes deep into the playoffs, which Minnesotans would never, ever forgive them for if that

happened, especially if they got Trey Lance and he didn't work out for them. Right. The fascinating thing to me with the whole Shanahan cousins thing, and I guess this is a little bit separate from the conversation we're having, but the way it gets talked about, you would think that Kirk cousins started 50 games for kyle shanahan and went 40 and 10 he started four games went one and four he threw more interceptions and touchdowns he wasn't very good so this this i i think that kirk cousins that was like shanahan's quote-unquote like obsession with him i think that was a 2017

specific thing where or i'm sorry 2018 specific thing where shanahan went into 2017 and said okay we'll get cj bethard in here in the third round at the end of the third round we'll get brian hoyer in here and we'll just like this is a lost year anyways next season go get kirk cousins because he was going to be available but then jimmy garoppolo became available and shanahan classified cousins is a player you can win with in the nfl and he says there's a lot of guys that you can win with and i think they look at brock purdy and say that's a guy that you can win with um which is i i think he probably sees those guys on the same level i don't think there's something specific to kirk cousins that he's like oh i need kirk like i just

think he needed a quarterback in 2018 that he thought he could win with. And it wound up being Jimmy. And yeah. And then, I mean, I think it would be just the durability and experience would be the biggest difference there. And like knowing with such a much bigger sample and remember, you know, Kirk won a lot of games last year. Uh, this is funny cause I'm sort of like the Michael Scott, like how the turntables, because I know everyone who's listening is like, wait a minute, you have just poured cold water on this idea forever. But when the GM comes out and says, hey, this other guy is our quarterback, and then that guy is also injured, and you're talking about them being all in, and the Vikings are clearly not all in on Kirk Cous cousins for his future with their restructure.

It's like, well, things change. But I didn't want to ask you before I let you go though, about just Trey Lance in general, there's such a tiny sample size of him. You mentioned that you think he could still be a good quarterback. And I would,

I would not disagree with you there because of the very little experience that he had even coming in, he still needs to develop. But I remember in training camp practices last year, watching him and thinking like, he's really not seeing it. Uh, in fact, Brock Purdy was practicing much better and played much better in the preseason game or really well in the preseason game, but Lance wasn't really seeing it. I guess I can't blame him for that. Like how, how can you take much away or what did you take away from his small sample size of being the quarterback of the 49ers?

So the, I, it's tough because I, I believe in his like physical tool set. And there are, there are things that he converted so many, like third and nine, third and tens, because of just his legs.

And those weren't even on designed runs. I think there were things between even week one and then the very small week two sample, because he got hurt so early in that game, where you could see him learning on the fly, like holding onto the ball too long versus not when there's pressure in his face or pressure in his face and like turning and running away rather than like sidestepping and then stepping up and through the pocket there were just like little things he was

doing better during even just the course of last year not not to mention his two starts in his rookie year where you could see a pretty sizable difference. That is why I continue to think like, hey, he just needs to play. And maybe his first year, his team goes 6-11. But I think that's what it's going to take for the light bulb to really come on for him. The Niners just aren't in a spot where like they can allow him

to do that they can't go 6 and 11 with George Kittle nearing age 30 and Debo Samuel with two years left on his contract and like I said it's all very tenuous the the margin of error for them is is not large so I I I think if you told the niners like hey no matter what you're going 6 and 11 next year they would just start trey lance and see what they could get but they're not gonna they're not gonna do that um even if his ceiling's higher so there were like i said there were there were little things he got better at and And to me, I'm betting on those physical tools. He's got a great head on his shoulders. You hear that all the time. He's very smart, super high football IQ. He just needs to kind of play to put it all together. Yeah. Yeah. And if there were only

a place where they were kind of in transition for a roster. So here I am trying to speak it into existence, I guess, because it's very interesting where the Vikings are at. They have flexibility in the future at the quarterback position at the moment, but that also means extreme uncertainty and not knowing where it's going to go. So I appreciate you taking the time to pop on the show and you playing the role of me for the last like several months of, like, I don't know. I don't see it. I can't make it happen.

But they are that 49ers team in a position to potentially compete for the Super Bowl with the roster. So I believe we have Vikings 49ers next year, but we'll check in with each other before then for sure. Candlestick Chronicles is your show at Kyle A. Madsen on Twitter. A great follow on there. So, Kyle, great to get together with you, man. And we will do it again soon, buddy. Thanks. A great follow on there. So Kyle, great to get together with you,

man. And we will do it again soon, buddy. Thanks. Yeah. Anytime. See ya.