Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Reacting to a wild NFL Draft night and a risky trade down for the Minnesota Viking

Episode Date: April 29, 2022

From TCO Performance Center, Matthew Coller and Paul Hodowanic react to the Vikings' decision to trade down to take Lewis Cine rather than picking Kyle Hamilton or Jameson Williams. They also talk about only one quarterback being picked in the first round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

from inside tco performance center matthew collar along with along with Paul Hodewanek another episode of Purple Insider reacting to the Minnesota Vikings trading down and acquiring Louis Scene the safety from the Georgia Bulldogs and not acquiring two of the top prospects that we had all identified as players that they might take and might be available at 12 and were available at 12 and instead they decide to pass on Jameson Williams to pass on Kyle Hamilton to slide all the way back to the 32nd pick they will also have the 34th pick tomorrow of course we'll be back out here covering the events again and reacting to everything it was Paul a bizarre night I think in the draft where everything went chalk from the very beginning kind of how everyone had expected it and then everything took a turn the Vikings move all the

way to the back receivers are getting traded Marquise brown now plays for the cardinals aj brown is a philadelphia eagle so the nfc got a little stronger with players today only kenny pickett went in the first round to the pittsburgh steelers so i have to uh say that the weak quarterback draft now officially a weak quarterback draft all right you got me NFL. They were. And Malik Willis remains on the board going into day two, the Vikings decide not to draft him. And I think that my just initial feeling here tonight is that Vikings fans are probably pretty perplexed at this entire thing. Every asset so far this off season has been spent on the defensive side Harrison Phillips Jordan Hicks Zedarius Smith Patrick Peterson and now Louis seen with the

first pick when they had an opportunity to give Kevin O'Connell a welcome to Minnesota present in the form of Jamison Williams who you know with know, with the ACL injury, ends up being there at 12. A couple of other receivers go before him. Even New Orleans trades up for Chris Alave, which is a pretty shocking decision. And instead, the Vikings end up going with a defensive player here. And I think that leaves a lot of questions. I mean, one just being why not take the big swing for some player who could be great as opposed to the 32nd player where we saw guards and defensive tackles being taken ahead of, you know, Lewis Seen. And while you can say, all right, well, some analysts might believe he's closer to Hamilton or whatever. Oh, right. But Hamilton went way ahead of him. So that's how they were actually valued with Lewis scene. Um, but I also think that it's, it can't be complete until we know

what they draft tomorrow. And so I, I think that if there are people right now marching with, you know, torches and pitchforks to TCO performance center to burn the place to the ground because they drafted a safety. I don't think that that's the right reaction, but I also think there is a big part of us that for many years to come, we'll be watching three players. Well, depending on where Malik Willis goes in the second day, but Malik Willis is one and Kyle Hamilton is the other. And Jamison Williams is the third that the outcomes of those players will shape along with Lewis scene, how we eventually feel about this. And it's hard to be this way, but history is going to judge this. Like this was a,

a big risk. I think to move out of a pick that has produced Micah Parsons, Odell Beckham in the past, like some really, really big stars to Sean Watson at the number 12 overall pick. It's the edge of elite players. And it totally was like right after Hamilton is taken, people start taking Cole strange and like guards and defensive tackles for the Packers, which hilariously they drafted more defensive players. Like there was a clear cutoff, I think in this draft and the Vikings traded out of that clear cutoff into the back. And so they have to have a pretty darn good plan for number 34. And then they have a third round pick as well, or wait, two third round picks as well. So there's gotta be a pretty impressive

plan to justify this. I also say and i i'm sorry paul for rambling here to start but i would also say that pairing harrison smith with another safety that's really talented is something that we've talked about for a long time that they never did and i don't think you can see that and go, what a terrible, terrible decision when teams are using all sorts of different movement on their offenses and motions and formations and everything else to mess with linebackers and safeties. And I think getting more talent at those positions and plus a long-term guy after Harrison Smith is done, I don't think that it's an insane decision. It's just so much going to depend on do you end up as good as Kyle Hamilton do you end up as good as Jamison Williams and what does Malik Willis become for whatever team decides to draft him so there's a lot there Paul and I guess I got it all

out to start and then we can we can start begin to have a discussion about it so why don't you just why don't you get it all out yeah and then we can go back have a discussion about it. So why don't you get it all out, and then we can go back and forth on what each other thinks. Sure. I think if coming into this draft, if you told Vikings fans or anyone thinking about the draft, oh, they traded back, that would not have been a surprise. If you would have.

But what I think is a surprise is the people they traded or the people that were still on the board when they traded back I think trading back was a very realistic option for the Vikings if we listen to anything Kwesi had said so far uh in the pre-draft process and just what we know about Kwesi and analytic analytical GMs and just kind of what the analytical moves are in a draft it's always normally better to trade back and accumulate more assets, but they were at a spot where there were two guys on the board that made a lot of sense to stay right there and take them. So again, heading into the draft, if you would have said, oh, they traded back into the later part of the first round, that would have surprised no one. But if you would have told me

they trade back and Jamison Williams is still on the board, I would have said, okay, that's surprising. And if you would have told me, oh, Kyle Hamilton was also on the board, that would have been even more surprising for me. I think if they had traded back and Jamison Williams was still there, maybe say, okay, they really want to go for that defensive piece. They feel comfortable with what they have in the wide receiver room. They feel good about wide receivers that they can take in later parts of the draft, as we've seen in drafts past. You can take a lot of good wide receivers in the second third fourth round

even that can start right away for you so if it was just Jameson Williams I think you can understand okay they're trading back they have a plan they want to address defense but then at 32 to draft the exact position that you could have taken at 12 with a better prospect in Kyle Hamilton. Now, we don't know. Lewis Seen could end up being a better pro than Kyle Hamilton. We've got a long way to go to be able to decide that, but if we're taking the information we have available, Kyle Hamilton has been a top five pick for most draft analysts all draft season long, dating back to last year. He's fallen a little bit at the end of the draft because of some positional value questions, because of some speed questions.

And so he falls, and he finds himself there at 12. I didn't think he was going to be there at 12. I thought he would have gotten picked in the top 10. And so it forever links Louis Seen and Kyle Hamilton because this is— Kwesi could have— the safe pick is honestly Kyle Hamilton for Kwesi. You're at 12, you say, this great player fell to us. We're gonna take him.

No one would have questioned you for taking Kyle Hamilton at 12. You traded back 20 picks to get Louis Scene and you're basically saying, we think Louis Scene is as good as Kyle Hamilton or just very close that the draft value mattered enough that we wanted to come back and pick up these extra picks. But they're making a massive bet in who they think is a better safety here. And in my mind, they picked Louis Seane here in terms of who they thought was better because Kyle Hamilton was there for them.

They still had a second-round pick. They still had a third-round pick. Yes, they acquired another third round pick. They swapped second round picks. They don't have their own second round pick anymore. And so for me, yes, it was puzzling. In a vacuum, trading back made sense. In a vacuum, I think Louis Seen makes sense on this team.

He's a good prospect. I've liked what I've heard from Dane Brugler and others. He makes sense in this defense. That's probably going to go to a more cover two system, playing two deep safeties. He fits that role. He's a strong tackler. He can come up. Harrison Smith can come up. There can be some deception there. He can even play on the field with Cam Bynum. Kwesi and Kevin O'Connell have talked about that a little bit in their press conference right after that they can see themselves in dime with all three of those players out there. But yeah, I think it's a massive gamble for them to have Kyle Hamilton on the board and say,

no, no, no, we're not going to take the guy who has long been thought of as the best safety. We're going to trade back and get the third safety because Dax Hill from Michigan was the second safety. So they decided they were going to trade back and they feel really, really good about their talent evaluation. And I agree, we don't know what this—we can't really grade the outcome of this draft yet until we see 34 because the only difference really about 32 and 34 is you get to call one a first rounder, you get to call one a second rounder. They're two picks apart. And for all purposes, they're very much on the same tier of player who they're about to take at 34.

And so it's hard to evaluate this after one day. But yes, I think puzzling. I don't have my pitchfork out at this point. I think they got a good football player. But the people they left behind, I mean, it's fair to criticize them if those players go out and play really well because they easily could have taken them. And you can't even say the NFL was lower on those guys than others

because they went the pick that they had in the pick right after. So the NFL certainly valued them right there. The Vikings didn't value them enough to take them right there. And that was, I remember last year about talking about Mac Jones was if the Patriots take Mac Jones right after the Vikings, then we're going to look at that and go, okay, we judge this forever then. Because like you said, another NFL team said that was worth it when you said that wasn't worth it. And so we're always going to look at that comparison. So there's always going to be the comparison of Kyle Hamilton, Jamison Williams, and especially since Jamison Williams now plays for the Lions. I mean, that adds another layer to this is they have now aman

ross st brown and jameson williams and if that turns out to be like some deadly combination for quarterback x of the future spencer rattler or something and then we're talking about the best dynamic duo in the nfl is aman ross st brown and jamal or Jamison Williams Jamal Williams is the running back that you know then I think we'll be going that was the guy that you could have paired with Justin Jefferson and you decided not to in order to pick Louis Scene now Louis Scene ran a 4-3-7 he went to Georgia he played on the best defense in the nation maybe the best defense college football has seen in a long time his broad jump his vertical jump his wingspan his height like all these things are very impressive he's played up in the box he's played deep he's played in the slot I mean this is

somebody who seems like a dynamic talent that they would be looking for to pair with the latter half of Harrison Smith's career and create this hybrid situation where they can move everybody around and they can mess with defenses and they don't just have to have the other safety be the deep guy. It was very predictable what Xavier Woods was going to be, what Anthony Harris was going to be, what Anderson Dayhoe was going to be. And now that is no longer the case. It adds some depth because I think it pushes Cam Bynum to more of a hybrid role, more of a depth role that they haven't had so much of in the secondary. And for the immediate, like that sounds pretty good.

And if Louis seen hits, then he becomes your long-term Harrison Smith, who has been incredibly valuable. And I think when we talk about positional value, the elite safeties are really valuable. The problem is the next layer down is pretty easy to replace. That's like your Anthony Harris. That's your Trey Boston every year. That's your random free agent guy who only costs you $5 million, or in Xavier Woods' case, $2 million, and he was good.

I mean, half the year he was decent. I think that you got your bang for buck there, and he was an average player at his position. It's not hard to find average. It is hard to find great. So it has to be great. I mean, even if we take the other part out of it and just focus on positional value, it really has to find great so it has to be great I mean even if we take the the other part out of it and just focus on positional value it really has to be great with Louis seen to call that a hit and a

great decision it also so much depends and this is where it's hard for us reacting right now on what the plan is at 34 so I guess my question for you is do you think they knew what they wanted at 34 when they make the move to move down to 32 and get 34 because it must have been important to them to move from 46 up to 34 the third round pick is just not important like okay congratulations this is a little thicker of a draft in the middle. That might have been a factor, but you're not looking that far out. And we saw what all the third round picks have done. I mean, think about the difference.

The second round picks of the Vikings, Delvin Cook, star. We all think a lot of Irv Smith. Like they've had Brian O'Neill, star. Like they've had some good second round picks. And like you said, you're getting someone potentially at 34 who you might've had a first round grade on.

But who is it is the big thing here because if they traded all the way back, decided to take a safety here, and then tomorrow it's Matt Corral or it's Malik Willis or it's Sky Moore, who I think is really interesting, the wide receiver from Western Michigan, like a very dynamic player, uh, could be that slot guy. They move around

that. They've identified him as someone who was going to fall out of the first round, but they knew wouldn't get to the back half or the middle of the second. Then I think that we go, okay, yeah. All right. You need players. And this is another part of this too. When you looked around the roster, this was why trade back always made sense is because they just need players, competitive rebuild. Like the rebuild part had not been addressed and it needed to be addressed.

And like safety, yeah, that was one. That's why we all said Kyle Hamilton. Well, they end up with that same position and now it really depends deeply on what they do next. I do think, though, if they draft a corner, if it's Andrew Booth is still there, right? You've got the list. We'll go over it. If they draft a corner, I think we're all going to go.

They must have thought that Mike Zimmer and the little Kubiak were just the dumbest people in the world about the offense. They must have just thought that they had no idea what they were doing, that they were just dialing up plays and falling down. I don't think that was the case, but they've done nothing on offense. So if it's not a future quarterback and all of them are there except for Kenny Pickett, and if it's not a wide receiver who can make a difference right away and long term, by the way, receivers getting traded right and left, wink, wink, nod, nod of anybody who's looking for a big paycheck. I think that needs to be also considered in the idea of potentially getting a wide receiver here. If it's not receiver and even if it's a pass rusher, I think we all kind of go, okay. I think it'll be very much like, oh, all right. Well, kind of as a Buffalo Bills coach once said, a sails out of the wind type of wind out of the sails.

And that was the feeling that I got just from looking at my mentions. And I apologize to all the people who I didn't get a chance to respond to as I was writing and working on this but like it will be a very much wind out of the sales draft where everyone goes this was your last frontier for excitement for this offseason aside from the Zedaria Smith signing this team has given nobody a reason to go oh boy new sheriffs in town everything is different let's go and if it's not Matt Corral or Desmond Ritter or Malik Willis or Sky Moore you could tell me there's probably other receivers I'm just not thinking of if it's not something that's exciting and it's a defensive end who's the whatever seventh best defensive end if it's not something that's exciting and it's a defensive end, who's the whatever, seventh best defensive end.

If it's the fourth, fifth, sixth best corner. Just a lot of meh. Just a lot of like, okay, like are those good moves at necessary positions? Yeah, probably. But nothing to change what you would have thought otherwise. And that was the whole thing is, will they change the narrative of the offseason, which is same old. Today, they didn't. Tomorrow, they have a chance to. Yeah, I think the one thing we've known for this draft is or what's what we've known about this draft.

It's not great up high is what we've been hearing. Not great about the quarterbacks, but generally there's been a lot of talk about a lot of starters, a lot of depth in this draft in the second and third rounds. And so I think them going up to get that 34th pick is important in how they view this draft. I think it tells you two things. Kevin O'Connell in the post game or in the post draft press conference admitted they just at least thought about what it would take to go up to get one of those corners i think it's he brought them up unprompted we didn't have to bring up the corners he brought up the cornerbacks unprompted derrick stingley imad sauce gardner i think it's pretty obvious that they had some heavy interest in those guys

and they're just they went way too early for them to even consider trading up that far trading up to four was just going to be way too much draft capital than they had and so what it tells me is they had a top tier secondary player that they missed out on and they said okay now we have this second tier and we think Kyle Hamilton's there we think Louis Scene's there we probably think Trent McDuffie's there we think Daxton Hill's there and we're comfortable falling back and we're comfortable getting whoever we can get there and I think similarly about the wide receivers they at least didn't say we have this game breaker potential because you'd think they would take that guy if he's there knowing what we know about Quasey what he said in his pre-draft press conference when he said there's value in that first round pick and you know it's not worth a thousand seventh round draft picks or whatever he said

he talked about the importance of getting a game changer up high and there were two game changers up high that at least the NFL seemed to think were game changers media draft analysts seem to think were game changers fans seem to think were changers. They decided to not go that direction. But like you said, they have tons of options at this 34th pick. It's a really nice spot to be. They get to sit here for an evening and take trade calls and figure out what they might want to do. There's wide receivers out there.

There's edge players out there. There's more cornerbacks out there but yeah I took them not drafting Jamison Williams for one it's a lot of belief in Kevin O'Connell's offense that was my second big takeaway is they are believing Kevin O'Connell can change a lot of what happened with this offense with his scheme with his play calling with the people he's going to bring around in the margins and get them to play up to what they want because they need to be a top 10, top 8 offense for this team to be in the playoffs. Adding Louisine's nice. Adding Z'Darrius Smith is nice.

This defense still isn't top-tier defense, and with a quarterback like Kirk Cousins, they're going to have to have a top, top-tier offense if they want to do something. And at least for one day they said we didn't we don't need this game changer we need to add more pieces on the defensive side of the ball and I guess we'll see what happens there but I don't know I think the 34th pick can be a really really interesting spot for them in what they want to do there's quarterbacks out there I think think I'm not really

considering quarterback at 34 because if they wanted a quarterback, why not take him at 32? You get the fifth-year option. You get the extra year of control. You get the extra cheap year of control. That can't be overstated how important that is. And the fact that they're only two picks away from where they picked right now, I think you take the gamble that Louis Seen is there at 34. If there's a quarterback you want to pick at 32. So I don't envision them necessarily doing it. Could it happen? Could they be just enamored with Malik Willis's speed? Maybe, potentially. I don't know. To me, it feels like they're going to go, maybe they're going to double up on cornerback here, or they're going to go heavy defense. That's what we've seen all offseason. It doesn't anticipate

that they would change. And there's tons of guys that have either fallen from the first round or right on the edge of that second round, and they're pretty much all defensive players. And so that's where my head is going into round two. You know how hard it is as a safety? This is coming to my mind as I'm just pulling up some different things on Lewis' scene.

How hard it is as a safety to matter is I just looked up the PFF analysis mostly written by Mike Renner if not all written by Mike Renner and the comparison for Lewis scene is Adrian Amos good player right do you care about Adrian Amos like no you don't and that's what you have the potential to get at the 12th overall pick. I think I've gone through them a couple of times on the show. It's just that's what you had a chance to get in Kyle Hamilton is somebody with the upside that maybe would have been reflective of a Derwin James of this all around. Or, I mean, honestly, a Harrison Smith. Like, you don't even have to go that far. You don't have to look at other guys, a Harrison Smith. And he ends up at what Baltimore,

like no surprise, Baltimore usually makes a lot of good decisions. Not always, but sometimes, you know, a lot of good decisions from that organization. That's another one where you go, the team that drafts and matters. It mattered that Mack Jones went to the Patriots. Like it wasn't some dimwitted team. It was a smart team that ends up picking Kyle Hamilton. And, you know, I think that if he ends up being Adrian Amos, this wasn't worth it. And if Jamison Williams ends up being anything, it wasn't worth it because an average to above average wide receiver is worth way more than even a good safety.

It has to be great safety. And I guess I keep circling back to that point is in order to make that move, 34 has to be something because then, okay, a good safety and a blank ends up being something that you can add up to more, which is the whole goal. Their whole goal and the analytical element of it, which I'll get to in just a second there's something really funny about this but the um you know the analytical idea would be that two players who are good would add up to more than one player who has a chance maybe to be more than good and maybe their their people in internally might have looked at those guys and said we don't think think that Jamison Williams is going to be the next Tyreek Hill

or the next Percy Harvin. As some have said, we think he is just okay. And he's not as good as maybe Detroit thought he was. But, man, Detroit must have really thought the guy was something to move from 32 to number 12 to take him. You go, you know, it's a little like if you um thought about dating somebody and then like your best buddy says no i think i'm gonna go out with her you're like wait did i miss something yeah i mean okay we know what james uh james and williams scouting reports

were but it's like your division rival said no it's not only worth it but it's worth it to give up value to do something that you're going to completely pass on and it certainly makes you wince with that like i think jameson williams would have been not only an incredibly exciting pick for this team but it would have been the divergence from what they always do it would have been the luxury pick it would have been the luxury pick it would have been the sexy pick it would have been the hey maybe we can someday have a top five offense and not 14th pick that's where i just if it was just kyle hamilton i might say the difference between those guys might not be that much and i get it the jameson williams part is where I keep getting to and going, oh, 34 better be something. Now the analytical part is funny. I asked Kweisi Adafo-Mensa about this. He didn't really want to

give up what their, their value chart was. And he talked about how, you know, the traditional value chart is kind of the one that everybody still uses. Uh, the Jimmy Johnson chart overvalues top picks, right? Like that it's been studied a million times. The top 50 picks are just overvalued. Jimmy Johnson made it up. Okay. So he didn't even do a bad job, but it's just a little too much credit to those top picks by the Jimmy Johnson chart. The Vikings lost by kind of a lot by the PFF chart that is based much more on just purely the data historical data of what these things are worth the vikings won by a little uh and you know doesn't it all come down to jameson williams then i mean doesn't it all come down to the jimmy jimmy johnson's idea was that those are

the top players who change franchises and he he's right. Now the PFF thing factors in how often those players bust. So Jimmy Johnson was looking at the high end and PFF is factoring in the percentage. So if Jamison Williams busts, then of course, you know, the Vikings won the trade by taking multiple shots at it. But if Jamison Williams changes your franchise because he's an elite talent and went to Alabama and ripped the faces off of everybody around him, then you're going to look pretty silly to be honest. You're just going to look ridiculous for trading all the way away from somebody who has the chance to be really great. And so you're taking your life in your hands, trading away from that pick with somebody who could potentially be great and now he's playing

you twice a year so i i think what this leaves us with is so much to think about in the future and also if they were to take and here's the other part of it if they were to take that wide receiver if they were to finally go with something that could help Kevin O'Connell do his job and set them up for help in the future in the second round at 34, if maybe that was the plan all along to get Sky Moore, I just keep saying his name because he's the most obvious. You could tell me if there's other guys. Well, there's a pretty decent history of second round picks at receiver being good. Debo Samuel, AJ Brown, like those guys are second rounders. DK Metcalf, second rounder.

You don't always, I think Terry McLaurin was third. You don't always need that guy to be a first round pick because there's just an abundance of fellas who can play receiver. So if that is the way that they go, then I wouldn't put quite as much focus on the Jameson Williams thing, but if they do decide to go with a corner, then I think we'll kind of circle back to this all the time, and we'll say the same thing about corner. Okay, if the guy is good, that's fine, but you can usually find good corners. You can't find great corners, which is why, you know, they would consider getting Derek Stingley Jr. But if you're thinking about great, you're not going to probably get great at the early second round of the corner.

It's usually you got to take those guys high. And probably the same thing exists with pass rusher. And so we kind of keep circling back to this idea of like it really depends on what you do with it. But I just thought it was funny. Give me your thoughts on that. I thought it was hilarious to see people tweeting out the different charts. And all of them had different opinions on whether the Vikings won or lost this thing. Yeah, I think I looked at like eight charts.

And I think four of them said the Vikings won. Four of them said the Vikings lost. And I don't know how many of those account what actually happened with the picks but the Lions taking a wide receiver one of the top wide receivers and the Vikings taking the third safety on the board has to tilt that further in the Lions direction just because of the positional value that they prioritized so it's not only the picks that they gave up and just the general value of those picks it has to be what they also took with those picks and the Vikings took a safety and the Lions took a wide receiver and wide receivers just have more positional value than safeties I was just going back through the Justin Jefferson draft just to try to see if there were other above average safeties around him and just to kind of

play this out Antoine Winfield was drafted later that draft probably about the best safety you could have expected to get from right there would you have would you rather have Justin Jefferson would you rather have Antoine Winfield Jr. I think the answer is pretty obvious would you even rather have T Higgins or Michael Pittman than Antoine Winfield Jr. I think you would those are more average to above average wide receivers as compared to even like a superstar safety. And so that's what you're talking about when you're talking about the margins and the things that they have to overcome now with the Louis Scene pick. And I want to go back to this.

I think Louis Scene is a really good player. If you're a Vikings fan, you should be excited about what Louis Scene can bring to a defense. He's versatile. He's very, very fast. He's very, very athletic. Let me pull up our draft guide for a second. He was, now let me find it here. I'm losing it.

Okay. He was a 9.92 on the relative athletic scale. That is eighth of 846 free safeties since 1987. He is the eighth most athletic free safety since 1987. That is pretty good. That is pretty good. That is really good. Every stat, every measurable was above the 90th percentile. Louis Seen seems like he has the characteristics to be a really, really good player.

But we just keep going back to him being a really, really good player is great. But if Jamison Williams is a really, really great player, it's not equal. It's not equal at all. The wide receiver just has a more impact on winning. He plays a more valuable position. He plays on the more valuable side of the ball. And so it's difficult. The Vikings have kind of put themselves out there and say, this is the guy we really believe in. I don't think, again, like I said, if they went Jamison Williams, if they went Kyle Hamilton, no one would have faulted them. They have brought in criticism by trading back and taking one of these guys. They're betting on who they take at 32. They're betting on who they take at 34 because

they know that they're going to be compared to these good people. And it's not just 32 and 34 versus 12. It's 32 and 34 versus 12 and 46 or whatever. They're going to be good players at 46, and we're going to be able to do the conversation of, would you rather have Jamison Williams and Roger McCreary, or would you rather have Louis Seane and Sky Moore, George Pickens, one of those wide receivers? Like, we get to play that game now. It's not just 32-34 versus 12.

The Vikings gave up their second round pick in this draft they didn't just add a second round pick that would have been really that that probably would have won every draft chart that you look at if that's the way it happened but they basically moved up 14 picks in the second round to trade back 20 picks in the first round and add a third round pick i'm just not quite sure the value is there and i understand the trade back and i understand in general that is what you want to do but when you have the 12th pick the probability of hitting that 12th pick is just so much higher than hitting that 32nd pick and you had those guys that were top tier talents even at jordan davis who was a guy that's just a freak i talked about the relative athletic score he's first of like a thousand defensive tackles that have ever been measured.

So they gave up some really, really premium players because they think with quantity and kind of mid-tier quality, they can outlast in this draft. And I think there's a way they can do it, but they've kind of, in my eyes at least, kind of tilted the board against themselves a little bit with what they did. You make a great point about, you know, they moved up 12 spots in the second and added number 66, but will number 66 matter is a really good question. It usually doesn't. It's just the reality.

After the top 50 players, just look at history you might find two three guys per round third fourth fifth sixth seventh a couple guys per round who become anything much less real impact players you know I guess the Rams hit one on Cooper Cup so maybe they'll look for the next Cooper Cup the same way the Vikings look for the next Daniil Hunter, whose name came up constantly on television. Man, Daniil must feel great watching these things. Everybody wants to be me. But you know, Jermaine Johnson is not similar to Daniil Hunter in any world. So anyway, but yeah, I mean, so that's, that's the, there's another part of this that I go back to what I wrote right before the draft. My last column was Kweisi, do what you want. Like throw collaboration

to the wind. Do not care what your coaches say. Do not care what your owner says. Don't care what your front office says. Take everybody's information. I don't mean like don't listen to them. I just mean that when you're in that moment, do what you think is best because that's why you were brought here is to be the smartest guy. Cause I believe he's a really smart guy. And if this was his call, which is the final one that pushes the button. This is his first draft. It is his signature, by the way. He doesn't want that, but it is. If the guy busts, it's on him. If Jamison Williams ends up in the Hall of Fame, it's on him. That's how this all works, right? It goes on the general manager who pushed the button. And he didn't come out and say, I believed in this.

No one else did. Bleep everybody. Lewis seen forever. So that's not what Kweisi Adafo-Mensa said. But if his whole thing was, I have the analytical chart of my own, and I added up all the value of what I think these players project out by our studies, by our scouting reports, by how they would fit in our systems. And we decided that this was the best way to go. Then I would say, all right then. And then we'll see how it goes. Like, that's what I want you to do because you're here to be different. And even though this wasn't that different, it's still pretty bold to move down as much as they did

and just forego all these other players who are talked about as potential stars to pick up, to move up a little, and then to get number 66. And this will give us something to really look closely at for a very, very long time. And so if you wanted some drama, you got it. And if you wanted drama going into tomorrow, you really got it. Because now 34 becomes wildly interesting. And this is where we transition to talk about the quarterbacks. Because throughout the draft season, it was such a wild ride. At the beginning, it was every quarterback stinks. Don't talk about them.

Like, well, is that going to be really true? And then all the analysts got talked into it. They came up with, I saw tons of mock drafts that had malik willis number two to detroit i saw him at number six to carolina i saw teams trading up for him where the vikings were say 20 or say new orleans and every team evaluated malik willis and said, nope, that guy's not good. And I am inclined to agree with them. Like now that I know that and say, all right, it's fine that you didn't spend a first round pick on Malik Willis. If nobody in the league thought he was worth it.

If nobody in the league believed that all those skills were going to translate into a starting NFL quality quarterback. If they thought maybe this guy's ceiling is Jalen Hurts because he really isn't accurate, doesn't read defenses, gets sacked all the time, like that the high end will never be reached. That's what all these teams are saying. And so I'm inclined to say, all right, Vikings, fine.

Like fine, if everyone thought that this was not the right guy to pick because they're usually pretty good at it. You have a really tough time telling me about second, third, fourth and on quarterbacks who everyone looks at and then become great. And, you know, the thing is, too, a listener asked me, like, you know, what's the difference between Malik Willis and Kellen Mond? And apparently the league didn't think that much that, you know, you know, I mean, of course they're different style quarterbacks, but, uh, my answer was, well, his raw tools would potentially cause someone to pick him in the first round. But now that they haven't, we have to say he was never that great of a

prospect. That's just what the answer is to the test. And so all the people who were evaluating it from the outside and telling you that they have all the answers and that their film study tells you X, Y, and Z, well, they were wrong. And Malik Willis could still become great, but the odds just went from like 50% to about 10 that that's the case. And I don't even know how I feel about Malik Willis at 34 or any quarterback at 34. If they were to do it, if everyone looked at these guys and said, it's not worth it, then I'm not sure. I think it's worth it because a lot of times you're getting drew lock in the second round, or if you're waiting to the third, you're getting

will Greer. Like they're just not worth it so everybody had some upside where you could say all right second round everybody had some tool the sam howell conversation and if they do pick one at 34 it will be very interesting to see what they say about that guy but i think that your instinct is right and and maybe somebody will be throwing this in our faces by tomorrow by tomorrow night i think your instinct is right that they just looked at this class and said, it's not worth it. It's just nobody here has the tools to be a star quarterback in the NFL. And Willis is such a long shot that Kenny Pickett is the only one who can step in and

be a good NFL quarterback. That's the only person we're going to take here. And they decided that it's very much like 2013. So what happened in 2013 was what, um, it was Gino Smith in the second, Mike Glennon, maybe in the third after, after EJ manual, who somebody traded down for, apparently it's like that. And that's the answer to the test. So I guess I look at it and say, now it would be exciting for everybody, for them to draft a quarterback and maybe it will surprise us. I don't even know if it's worth it. If everybody looked at them and said,

these just are not good quarterback prospects. I don't know how you feel about it. Yeah. I mean, there were more quarterback needy teams more quarterback desperate teams that decided to pass on these guys carolina has is starting sam darnold currently they decided to go a tackle they were a team that kind of wanted to trade down i don't know if they just didn't find an offer or they decided we're gonna take i forget who they took icky i think they took uh and move on but they decided they didn't want a quarterback here. Seattle decided they didn't want to trade back up or take one with their pick. The Saints had two picks at it.

They decided they didn't want to. Pittsburgh's the only team they make sense for a picket type because picket, at least by what the analysts say, is one that's more ready to go. That roster is ready-made for a quarterback to step right in. The Kenny Pickett-M Mitch Trubisky quarterback competition is going to be just a very interesting one to watch. But yes, so many teams passed on him.

And I think a lot of people forecasted that they may pass on him, but that there were going to be a couple teams that wanted to come up at the very end of the first round and trade back in and get that fifth-year option. We didn't see that we didn't even see that and quacey said we had some calls a couple a curveball came in at the end that's the word he used he said it it it made our decision making kind of hard because we were considering another trade back the vikings may have not even taken someone today because they apparently had

an offer right at the end that had them thinking, I'd have to imagine that was a team that was interested in coming up for a quarterback. But if they were that interested in using that first-round pick, which you get that fifth-year option, which is just so, so valuable. We're seeing quarterback contracts, $40, $50 million. I know it doesn't sound that much to be like, oh, you have him on a four-year deal, you have him on a five-year deal. It's a difference of having him, paying him $8 million for a year and paying him $50 million for a year. That is massive in your team building. That's massive for how you can forecast your team going forward, how you can plan with your cap. That is huge.

And so the fact that no team wanted to jump up or was like made it a priority enough to kind of blow the Vikings away with an offer to come up says kind of what you need to know about this quarterback class because maybe they pass on them but like the Vikings did with Teddy Bridgewater like the Ravens did with Lamar Jackson like other teams have done in the past they came up to get that fifth year option of control and to kind of commit to that no team did that and that's why again it would be very very shocking if the Vikings went and took one at 34 would the process of taking a quarterback in general be that flawed to me I still think no if the pick is Malik Willis I still I've watched enough of the YouTube clips and things to at least believe in my own uneducated eyes that I feel like

I see something with Malik Willis potentially and the fact that he didn't go in the first round doesn't necessarily change that does it waver my confidence a little bit yeah it does because so many NFL teams that look at this over and over decided not to but if they had picked a quarterback at 32 I would have probably got on here and said, that's a really good pick. But if they take one at 34, I'll still say, you know, okay, they are committed to something. It's at least nice that they are picking a plan for this new regime, but it's just going to confuse me why they didn't do it at 32, unless they just had some great intel that Tampa at 33 really wants Louis Cian to pair with Antoine Winfield,

and they just couldn't even fathom passing on a safety and passing on Louis Scene, but they passed on Kyle Hamilton earlier, so they obviously don't feel too married to some of those top prospects. So, yeah, it's going to be really, really interesting. But like I said, there's tons of really good value still on the board. So, Vikings fans, this isn't doom and gloom, I don't think. They traded back. They got some value.

They're going to have more darts to throw in the mid-rounds, which is important in this draft, in any draft. And especially for one that draft analysts have said, you know, there's not a ton of difference between 30 and 70. There's tons of starters we can get. And the Vikings right now have three picks and they have three legitimate shots to get that to happen.

But to get that to happen, they passed up on maybe having a generational talent. And we don't know what was on their draft boards and where they had guys ranked, but they were willing to forego that opportunity to take a safety that had been passed on by teams that pick guards, by teams that pick,

the Patriots picked a center that's ranked like 80th by most boards. A from Tulsa a guy from Tulsa so like Lewis Seen can be a really good player but people were going to less positions of value to take other guys and so what does that say about Lewis Seen again I still think he could be really good but he wasn't a guy that other teams were jumping up to get like Jameson Williams. It wasn't a guy that like Kyle Hamilton, where they stopped the slide right after the Vikings, like they let this guy get to 32. So there's at least enough people in the NFL that didn't say this is a for sure star safety, which is what the Vikings kind of need Lewis seen to be. Right. And the other thing is too, he went to Georgia. It's not like everybody missed him. You I mean every team looked at Lewis scene and evaluated him and

this is where they put him is a long ways from Kyle Hamilton so that's worth mentioning when we talk about what our expectations for Lewis scene can be but back to the quarterback thing I mean it's worth it's worth and then we'll finish up on just who you think they could pick at number 34 and who's available it's worth saying though just a couple days ago on a fans only podcast i mentioned draft intel is bs it's bs anyone who anyone who claims that they know or they've heard x or that they think this is going to happen just look at their mock drafts and look at all five quarterbacks they have going in the first round or four quarterbacks or whatever. The grinding the mocks thing, I think had at least two, maybe three guys taken in the

first round. How many people thought that these guys were going to be taken here, here or there? How many of these film analysts looked at Desmond Ritter and said, oh, you know, his footwork's incredible. He's going to be the first quarter. No, you're all wrong because we don't know what the NFL teams are actually thinking. And this is a reason why draft breaks me every year is because of all the people who think that they know exactly how it's going to fall. And then we judge our conversations off of it. Look, if you told me

the whole league did not think Malik Willis was a first round draft talent and was not willing to spend a pick on him then I wouldn't have talked about it like honestly like there there has to be sometimes we run into this in training camp when everyone loves Alexander Hollins or something and you have to be like guys the coaches know this is the same thing with like Kyle Slaughter became a debate guys the coaches know the scouts know that doesn't mean they're never wrong, but it means that they have a really good sense for the guys who have a chance to be great players in the NFL. Historically, the top players are way better than the next, than the next, than the next

and on down forever. And I wouldn't have even had it as part of the conversation if I knew he wasn't going to be even taken in the first round. I thought it was a lock based on his high-end skill, and maybe the team that takes him in the second round gets this home run and shocks everybody. But, I mean, at this point, what it tells you is all that buildup, all those mock drafts, all those people who go to the senior bowl and pretend they know how to freaking watch people practice, which they absolutely do not.

Then. I just it's just frustrating to get to the end to go like none of you knew anything. Dane Brugler had Kenny Pickett as his first quarterback, though. That's the guy, I guess. Dane Brugler seems to know. So anyway anyway i just needed to get that off my chest is like every year we sort of believe what the alleged draft experts tell us based on their reporting based on their film and everything else and every year we walk out going oh my gosh they were telling us that jermaine johnson was a top five pick. Okay. And he's got, and he goes 27th or something. So anyway, just, I just needed to get that off my chest with this year, with how everybody

looks that was saying, oh, far and away Malik Willis should be the top draft pick. So I take it back. Bad draft class. I got it. But I think if the Vikings take a quarterback at 34, it would be completely shocking for the reasons you laid out and kind of silly, to be honest. It would look silly to have not taken him with a fifth-year option. So I don't see any way in hell they do that.

Unless they take him with one of their third-round picks. They don't have a great then. But again, waste of time. Waste of time. Yep, yep, waste of time. So anyway, well, just needed at least one late night rant and i think that was the one that was it look if early in the process you think that none of the quarterbacks are good then stick with it don't go halfway through watch the guy practice at the

senior bowl and then all of a sudden tell me desmond ritter is going to seattle desmond ritter's not good okay like he's just not so anyway uh let's go over some players that you think they could take you mentioned George Pickett's I had been saying Sky Moore George Pickett's a good football player yeah like I think he would be at the top of my list for a day two big board he's a very big bodied wide receiver kind of that traditional x type wide receiver that you would kind of get to fill your offense and his body is kind of that traditional X-type wide receiver that you would kind of get to fill your offense. And his body is kind of made up like a tight end, kind of like an Irv Smith, but more athletic, maybe a little bit faster. So yeah, he's a really good, interesting option. He's had some weird

kind of reports that have come out about him recently in terms of immaturity as a person, and lots of, I mean, it's anonymous scout season out there and lots of the anonymous scouts didn't have very nice things to say about George Pickens, his personality and his kind of work ethic. But in terms of on the field, what we see, very, very talented player. Another wide receiver you mentioned several times, Sky Moore. That's a favorite of our friend Chris Trapasso. He thought he could go in the first round. Potentially, he did not. So those are wide receivers available. Those are kind of the clear top two wide receivers. It drops off after that. You get into the Christian Watsons, Jalen Tolberts, John Mechies. Those are more third round guys that they could look at. So if you're

thinking wide receiver, those are the two that you're looking at. There's tons of edge guys, tons of edge guys that are going to be available for them at 34 if they want it. Arnold Ebiketti was a guy that was getting some sleeper potentially first round. There's a lot of kind of deeper analytics that like Arnold Ebiketti from Penn State. He's an edge rusher. Nick Benito, edge rusher from Oklahoma. Drake Jackson, edge from USC. I like all three of them.

All those are really good options. Boye Mafe, Vikings fans have seen him up close and personal. Kingsley Enigbare was a favorite of people sending us mocks. Maybe at 34, he's a little rich at that point. But tons of really good edge players still available for them. And then, like we said, cornerback Andrew Booth, I think has to be one of the most obvious options when you're looking at it. The Vikings addressed one of the secondary items, but I think we can all agree they're more than

one secondary piece away from building even a competent secondary so Andrew Booth's there I don't think Jalen Petrie makes a ton of sense he's kind of more of a hybrid Tyron Matthew type guy they just took a safety that can also play dime they They still have Cam Bynum. I don't really know if that one fits, but Kyler Gordon, Roger McCreary, both Auburn guys that they can go for. So if it was me, I think you have to look hard at some of those wide receiver options. Two guys that had a lot of people thinking they could go in the first round. They didn't go in the first round, but still some playmakers there. And then if you're not going there, I think you have to take one of the edge rushers, and that's where you're looking.

But if they go defense, that's putting a lot of faith in Kevin O'Connell's offense, like we mentioned at the start. It's saying Kevin O'Connell can do a lot of things with this scheme that we weren't doing before that can elevate this offense on its own. Because if they add a wide receiver in the third, that's great, but it isn't some game-changing player at that point still in the second round you can get one of those guys third round you can't quite right and i guess this will tell us who they had their mind on the whole time or what position o'connell said they had someone yeah in at 32 that they kind of already have in mind at 34 they hope gets there. Yeah, which there's only one team, so they probably will,

unless we're very surprised. So, look, it leaves us with the final thought for me is kind of where we started, which is, like, this is one that leaves history a lot to judge, and it leaves tomorrow to judge. And by the end of tomorrow, when you and I talk again, we'll be able to say, oh, now we get it or we still don't get it or it wasn't worth it. Or why did you do that? Because 46 to 34 is not that huge of a jump. So who did you think

would be there at 34 that was so important to you that wasn't going to be there at 46? And maybe they will draft a quarterback it will just be like okay maybe that's the receivers because the receivers probably don't make it past 46 so maybe that's it but you mentioned three edge rushers that are pretty good i think what we want to walk away from this is saying they've got a lot to work with for the future because that's what you draft for and someone in lewis scene and whoever they pick at 34 some ones who can help right away but if it's not an offensive player then yeah i think we're gonna say like well the competitive part still probably vastly rests

on whether kevin o'connell can be better as an offensive coach because you didn't give him anything new. That's where we stand right now, where we stand tomorrow. We'll see. So Paul, we'll do it again. Yes. I have one more thing. Oh, sure. Yeah. Go ahead. I figured that you might want to do a reading from the book of the draft Bible. I don't know if we have time for this, but do you want to read Louis scenes draft profile, the draft Bible as we've been calling it? Yeah. Let me see here. Yeah. Let me see.

Yeah. It's really hard to do without having read it before. It's also small print. I'm making excuses if it's not good. So, uh, but I'll give it a try. You can wrap up on this.

All right. Okay. He is a rangy with the stride and speed to cover a lot of grass. Has the top gear to cover over the top. Smooth-hipped and transfers weight cleanly to change direction mid-pedal. Feels the routes coming and shows natural feel for coverage angles. Only one touchdown pass allowed. He triggers downhill in zone and closes and understands timing. He's committed only one penalty in 2021 and executes situational football.

Takes coaching well. Head coach Kirby Smart said when you design a safety, he's got all the qualities fantastic good night everyone draft