Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - REACTION: Breaking down O'Connell, Adofo-Mensah at the NFL Combine

Episode Date: February 25, 2025

Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O'Connell spoke to media Tuesday at the NFL Combine. Matthew Coller and the Pioneer Press' Dane Mizutani react to everything they heard from the Vikings brass in Indy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome back inside the NFL Combine. Matthew Coller here along with Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press and we just got done listening to Quasi da Fomensa and Kevin O'Connell talk at the podiums and well, we've got some takeaways to talk about what we're thinking now after hearing the Vikings brass speak and also having a chance to talk about what we're thinking now after hearing the Vikings brass speak and also having a chance to talk to a lot of folks around Indianapolis here as well. So we have heard some things. We're going to talk about what we've been hearing and we're also going to talk about what

was said on the record by Kwesi Nafomensa and Kevin O'Connell as well. So I think we should start with the guards. We'll start with the quarterback position. Here's what it sounds like to me, Dane. It sounds like to me, the Vikings have come to Indianapolis to find out what they can trade Sam Darnold for on the franchise tag because it doesn't make a whole heck of a lot of sense for them to play Sam Darnold on the franchise tag that costs a lot of money and that would play Sam Darnold on the franchise tag that costs a lot of money and that would be very difficult on the salary cap if they were to do that. It's not impossible, but it's pretty tricky. But they also don't know for sure that someone

would give them a second round pick a third round pick. So they're going to find out and they also have to find out what Sam Darnold's interests are, and that sort of thing, meeting with his agent. But I think that goal number one here is finding that out. And Kevin O'Connell wanted to make it clear that when he said Sam Darnold has earned the right to be a free agent, he wasn't trying to say, we'll definitely let him hit free agency. He was trying to say he just has showed the league that Sam Darnold can play as a really good starting quarterback. So if you are the Raiders, the Giants, all those teams, hint, hint, wink, wink, maybe you should just come on down and trade for Sam Darnold. I think today and I

know that there's not a lot to go through, but adding up today and other things we've heard Dane, that's where I'm leaning pretty heavily heavily right now. I think here in And I know that there's not a lot to go through, but adding up today and other things we've heard, Dane, that's where I'm leaning pretty heavily right now. I think here in Indianapolis, they will find a team that wants to trade for Sam Darnold on the franchise tag. And in the coming days, Darnold will get that tag, and then he will be traded.

That would be my prediction as of right now, two days into the NFL Combine. How about you react to that Mr. Mizutani? Yeah, I think if March 4th is the deadline to place the franchise tag on a player, if the franchise tag is used by the Vikings, it will be because they have come to Indianapolis and they have found out, okay, this team wants to jump the line. This team doesn't want to wait until the start of free agency until the start of the tampering period to say

We want him to be our quarterback this team wants to make sure they don't have to compete against anybody else and that Sam Darnold can be theirs That's if they use the franchise tag I think the only scenario in which the Vikings will place it on Sam Darnold I don't think to your point earlier, there is a scenario where they say, yeah, we'll just use it on Sam Darnold and we'll run it back with them. I think if they were willing to run it back with them

or if they have decided internally, they wanna run it back with them, it will be on more of a, on their own terms, maybe a lengthier extension, not crazy lengthy, but something you can stretch out the money about if the Vikings want Sam Darnold back on their team. But this felt a lot like, or this week feels a lot like maybe you share a couple of drinks at the high velocity in JW Marriott. Maybe you make your way over to prime at one in the morning and have some conversations. Maybe

when you're watching these guys run 40 yard dash times in your suite at Lucas Oil Stadium, you're talking to a team from like the Raiders or a team like the Steelers or a team like insert team that needs quarterback here. There are a lot of them. There aren't a lot of quarterbacks in the NFL that played at the level that Sam Darnold did last season. And you look at the free agent market, I know everyone wanted to say

after the week 18 disaster in Detroit, and after the playoff loss, I get to the Los Angeles Rams, that Sam Darnold lost himself all this money. Oh my God, he's worthless now. Go ahead and look at the rest of the free agent market. Sam Darnold is the cream of the crop. So I think the Vikings this week, you're right,

have come to Indianapolis on a fact-finding mission. Can we get anything for Sam Darnold if we use the franchise tag on him? Is there a big enough market for Sam Darnold that we can use the franchise tag on him and recoup some of the draft assets that we have traded away in the past? I think the answer to that is going to be yes, there is a market for him. What does that market look like? We'll see. And then I think in the next two weeks, obviously we'll know what they found out here because either they will or they will not use the franchise.

In terms of reading the tea leaves, I am also taking away from this short time in Indy so far that they want us to know that JJ McCarthy is coming along nicely. And so this is the information that I really needed to know because all along the way, one of my biggest questions was where is JJ McCarthy really at? And all of you saw Mr. McCarthy on the sideline and they wanted him to be down there feeling the intensity of a real football game and having the headset in,

that also means getting shown on TV and revealing how much weight that he lost during that process of the second procedure and the surgery and all that sort of stuff. But Kevin O'Connell really forced in there that he is right on the way and he is coming along nicely. And I believe he used some language like he is aiming toward that point of the off season program

and being ready to go full bore when that comes along. And the fact that it was kind of like, no one really exactly asked that, and yet that was the answer, and he went out of his way, because you know, O'Connell thinks about these things. He thinks about, what am I going to say? How's that going to sound?

And what do I want everybody to be talking about after I say it? Well, that to me was one of those signals of, wink, wink again, JJ's going to be fine, he's coming along. And all this would mean, as this has now definitely pushed my meter these last couple days toward JJ McCarthy being ready to go, being the starting quarterback, and I know that's what everyone wanted to hear from me at Indianapolis, and I haven't been sure which way to go with it

so far. And now it feels like they wanted to see that from McCarthy as well. They wanted to see his recovery come along. They wanted to see where he was at. But if they have that information, then now it's time to do everything you can to get everything you can out of trading Sam Darnold.

And then they go forward. And if they are going forward, there are some risks with that with McCarthy, which we'll continue to talk about until it happens, of course, but it feels less risky now if he is on track to be well over 200 pounds and he's going to be ready to go and good to start OTAs as QB1 and all that sort of stuff. So if we're looking for hints and looking for winks and nods around Indy, that's my first indication of KOC going to the podium and stating that he was looking like he is on track to start with the offseason program. And if that's the case, Dane, then what that means is that this team is going to follow the same path that they thought they were going to follow

when they drafted J.J. McCarthy, when they came here looking at the quarterbacks in hopes of taking one if Kirk Cousins left. And even when O'Connell was asked about, well, is this the same as last year? Is it different than last year in terms of the decision? He really only said the similarities that they both played well for the Vikings.

But there isn't really that much similarity because you have the option of trading the guy. The similarity would be that neither one was really the player that they want to lock themselves into long term. And I even thought it was interesting too, that when Kwesi Adolfo Menta was asked about the last two games and how much you weigh them. He said something like, you don't want to overweigh them, but you don't want to underweigh them.

I was like, okay, that sounds like nonsense, but he wasn't defensive about them. He wasn't like, guys, look, Sam Darnold was unbelievable. Don't you dare bring up those last two games. If he was, then I would have thought, well, they're just defending Darnold no matter what they really kind of weren't on that and so there I just think that if we're trying to pick up all hints in which direction we're pointing that's what I'm feeling right now. Folks I'm trying a new thing in order to stop going to fast food restaurants all the time with my busy schedule it is called Tempo Meals. Tempo is a weekly delivery service that delivers chef-crafted meals from a dietitian-approved menu fresh to your door.

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Yeah, and if you're just like reading between the lines, which at these podiums you have to do because Just to give like some insight on how it's set up. There's like eight podiums in a big conference room area right behind us It's like actually more of a hall if we want to call it that doesn't matter what it's what we would consider There's a bunch of guys talking at one time and there's a bunch of reporters from all over markets all over the place Shouting questions at these guys. So the answers are going to be either intentionally vague or just kind of stream of consciousness because they just got done answering a question about Grant Edensky and Jacksonville.

So what you kind of have to do is read between the lines at the combine. Um, and when you do that with quasi-dolphin Mensa saying, don't underway those two games. Or when you do that with Kevin O'Connell saying we were happy that we were a part of Sam Darnold's journey, some of these things like that could be construed in the past tense that could be construed and maybe in their mind they are starting the process of moving on. Like you said, when Kevin O'Connell has asked about Sam Darnold, and then he willingly brings up J.J. McCarthy, like all of these things to me feel like indications of, well,

they might be ready to turn the page. And does that mean they're going to be able to trade Sam Darnold? not necessarily, but I do think that means they are looking for a way to do it. And if they don't find the way to do it, then they probably just let him walk away in free agency. The more we talk to people at the combine, the less it feels like Sam Darnold is here to stay. And I know that was a place that a lot of people got to as soon as the season ended the way it did. But the fact of the matter is, like, the guy still did win 14 games. The Vikings still were a competitive team with him at the quarterback position.

So it wasn't just a, well, it's over. But the more the offseason has progressed, and I think part of the offseason progressing is J.J. McCarthy being deemed fully healthy, fully ready to go. Not sure that was fully known in January either, but now we have two more months of progression in the recovery process and seems like that knee is doing well. It seems like he's back in the weight room adding to what we saw towards the end of the season, maybe looking more like he did last year when he went down with that torn meniscus.

All of these things are kind of adding up to maybe it is the end of the road for Sam Darnold here in Minnesota. And maybe he will get to, like Kevin O'Connell said, prove he is a good quarterback and that the NFL thinks he is a good quarterback. But maybe he won't be doing that in Minnesota. Maybe he'll be doing that elsewhere. But yeah, you have to kind of read between the lines here at these podiums. And what these, what these guys are saying, because also they're not going to go flat out, tell you what their plan is too.

Cause there's a lot that's going to be in flux over the next two, three weeks in the NFL, a lot of decisions that have to be made. But that's why the combine is such an important event for the NFL, a tentpole event where teams converge here and it really is the unofficial start of the offseason. So I think we're seeing the ball kind of start to roll down the tracks. I think we can also look at the way that Kevin O'Connell has talked about JJ McCarthy in the past. And remember, he hasn't talked to us since the end of the season, and he spoke at the NFL honors, and there was like a little snafu with a quote and everything else.

But aside from that, I mean, he's done some interviews, Dan Patrick show, and you know, when you're the coach of the year, you get some interviews, but not really being like, hey, this is a time to kind of grill the coach on some key stuff. And I think when you look at the way he talked about J.J. McCarthy going into last year, it was like, guys, you're going to have to be patient here. Don't give me a hard time about not playing J.J. McCarthy right away. He is young. He is developing all those types of things. I didn't hear a single bit of that. I mean, there was no, when he was asked about using VR, virtual reality and that kind of thing, and how he went about the development process, Kevin O'Connell went into great detail about how every week they would meet together and they would

go over the game plan and they would treat it as if JJ McCarthy was going to start and that kind of thing and really get him immersed in the experience of being a starting quarterback without having to actually play. And he goes on this long explanation, which I thought was fantastic insight from O'Connell, but not a single time was he like, well guys, he's still got a long way to go. He's still a young kid, you got to remember. And all of a sudden, there was none of that, not a single hint of that, which again,

would point us more and more toward the direction of, as you said, exactly where a lot of people thought that it was going to go. That does not mean that this is over necessarily, because it's not over until that move is actually made. But I think what we're trying to always do is put our finger in the air and feel where the wind is blowing. I'm coming away from this saying the wind is blowing toward the direction where most people thought it was always going to go and maybe that

could potentially change depending on a structure of a deal or something like that. But there's just no information at all coming from the head coach or the GM that would even make you go, well, he did say this about McCarthy or he did say that. So I feel like right now they are here to find out what they could trade Sam Darnold for, and that is by far the best option for the Vikings if JJ McCarthy is ready to go. And it's always going to be my take. Dane, I'll say it a million times. What's best for JJ McCarthy is the best thing that they should do. And if they came here and they told us, yeah, you know, he's coming along, they would

never tell us, oh man, this rehab is going to horrible. You should see him. He's falling down. They would never say that. But if they were hedging and they were giving us these signals of, guys, you might want to be patient with this, and if they were campaigning for Darnold to sign a shorter term contract with them, like we love Sam, and you know, we, but there really isn't even a little bit of that.

It's more like, we're very proud of what Sam Darnold did. And that's your past tense thing. And it's like, that doesn't sound like we're very excited about what he's going to do with us. And this is of course, parsing apart words way too much at the NFL combine, but it's really our only option at this point. Yeah. But you just said something that kind of triggered something in my brain. Just when you talk about JJ McCarthy and their willingness to like give us updates. And obviously as a team that drafted a guy at number 10 overall, like you should want to keep your fans informed at where the guy is at after he misses his entire rookie season. But if he was a disaster, you would keep that under wraps.

You wouldn't give updates. It would be us having to forcibly extract those updates out of you, not you willingly giving them up, which triggered something in my brain at the end of the year press conference, both quasi Adolfo Mensa and Kevin O'Connell. This was three days after they lost the Rams, it very clear JJ McCarthy's back on the field JJ McCarthy's back doing football activities So now when you take that information that was again willingly given by the head coach and the GM Well, he's back on the field in January. He's doing football activities

He's ahead of schedule add in the rich eyes and show Appearance that JJ McCarthy himself did and said I feel great. I feel like I'm ahead of schedule add in the rich eyes and show appearance that JJ McCarthy himself did and said I feel great I feel like I'm ahead of schedule in this entire thing So that's that's one part of the tea leaf The next part is the rich eyes and show then you come here and you have Kevin O'Connell saying Basically standing on the table at the podium and saying he's gonna be ready to go You're not saying that if you don't believe he's one going to be ready to go or two up to the task if you want him to be the guy next year moving forward. I think an important

distinction though, like if they find a trade for Sam Darnall, and they are able to tag him and trade him next week, if they don't find a trade and they just let him walk away in free agency. And maybe this next point I'm about to make is more of a discussion and free agency, which I'm sure we'll talk about. But like, that does not mean JJ McCarthy has guaranteed the week one starter next year, I do expect the Vikings to sign a veteran if that's the case, if they let Sam Dornan walk away, sign a veteran and have him compete with JJ McCarthy under the guise of McCarthy's gonna win this competition.

I think they want to insulate him to a degree, but it feels like they are giving him every opportunity to say like, the keys are yours, take them and run with it. I'm gonna disagree. I'm gonna say that the- This is good, we don't do that very often. We really don't, we see a lot of the same things. We do the same job, but we play off each other beautifully. Anyway, I think the minute Sam Darnall walks out this door and puts on another jersey,

JJ McCarthy is QB1 and zero other human beings will be taken any first team reps. And there is no reason to ever give anyone else first team reps other than JJ McCarthy. It is go time from minicamp, workouts, OTAs, every single rep belongs to him and nobody else and you are the guy and he should be treated as the prince that was promised. The franchise quarterback, anoint that kid today. I don't have any reason to have him compete with Daniel Jones. I mean, because to me, it's always been about

the physical nature of it. It's always been about McCarthy does not have a lot of experience and he's coming off of something that was really tough. But when the head coach goes so far out of his way to emphasize how far he is mentally different because of the experiences that he had last year, then I am more of in the feeling of, well, then he should be ready to go. I mean, quasi did the same thing at the podium where he talked about, like, the mental part of it, and they don't have to reteach it.

I think he compared it to himself learning Latin or something. to himself learning Latin or something. It was an odd metaphor, but the point just being that he speaks the entire language of the offense, which to me is, all right, day one, go run that offense. One thing that I was so impressed with JJ McCarthy last year was when he got into those two minute drills, that's when KOC calls in plays that he doesn't know beforehand, it's like, all right, two minute drill,

the play comes in, McCarthy would handle those really well. And his command of the offense was absolutely fantastic in those two minute drills, which are so tough. And he looked like her cousins out there a lot of times. And I mean that in the most positive way, like in command. And if that's where they expect them to pick right up, I don't care about Daniel Jones. I don't care who the bet. I truly, I honestly don't care at all. I don't and I think he was a safety or something. Anyway, I got to look up if that's a real player or if I just made that up, but some of that was in there. Tootall Jones could play quarterback. The whole point is I don't care.

The minute Sam Darnall walks out, that means they are saying, JJ's our guy, it's time to go play. And let's get to the second phase of this conversation, which is that also means I expect us on March, what do you say it is 12th or something the first day of free agency? Well, I expect us to be busy. I expect us to be busy little typey boys because there is going to be a lot to write about in terms of free agent signings, day one, day two of free agency.

I think that if that is their plan, then it is time to go full on All in stack this thing up as much as possible and a major part of the discussion Has been about the offensive line and there was no shying away from that now O'Connell understands that he Throttled those interior linemen after that playoff game. He knows it He I'm sure he would take it back. But he was also telling the absolute truth that they want better guards. I wouldn't be shocked if they drafted one and signed one. And I think that Trey Smith is 100% on the table if he ends up hitting free agency. Now, I was standing there for Brett Veitch today, who is the GM

of Kansas City, who said that Trey Smith is a priority. I don't believe him though. I didn't buy it. I think they can't afford Trey Smith and he could have a decent chance to be a Minnesota Viking. That's how I'm feeling right now is that I wouldn't and I also think too, just to add on to that, that there is some belief that someone who is top tier on the offensive line has a trickle down effect. And maybe they think that one guy is worth that. I've been hesitant on it, on whether you would actually pay that much. But at the same time, Trey Smith is as big and as physical and as nasty as they come. And the Vikings just hired an assistant offensive line coach. I don't want to go too far on this, but there is some stories about him being a very aggressive assistant offensive line coach. I don't know. There's an article. I think Kevin O'Connell wants to get to second down an eight or second down in 10 and have

another team run a stunt and smash their faces into oblivion and run for 50 yards because they've never done that while he's been here. and Trey Smith might, might be that guy for them. You disagree with that? Is that too strong? No, I don't. And whether we agree or not that they will come out and say, JJ McCarthy is our guy. If they let Sam Darnold walk, I think we both agree that what, if you let Sam Darnold walk or if you keep him or if JJ McCarthy is your starter or you want him to keep Pete with other another guy we agree that like it is of the utmost importance that they they enhance the interior of that offensive line because a lot of if you just go back and watch that playoff game against the Rams a lot of what they

Weren't able to do it was just directly related to just those three players up front. And then it starts to snowball. You feel like you can't do this. So then it shackles you from doing that. And it just, it's, you're playing with your hands tied behind your back almost by the end of the game, not only Sam Darnold, but Kevin O'Connell as a play caller. And I think that's why we saw so much emotion in his voice right after the game is that like he had just got done calling a game that they got blown out in in the playoffs in which he felt he couldn't maximize his own playbook because of the deficiencies in the interior of the offensive line so absolutely Trey Smith makes sense to me if he is available if the Kansas City

Chiefs let him go to market I Bet the Vikings pay whatever they have to do to get him And if they don't if the Trey Smith isn't on the table Then I bet the Vikings do whatever they have to do to get will freeze like it's it's just going to be Whoever is the best guard available? I think they're gonna make it happen and I think they're going to do that because they understand like the importance of this guy and this part of the offensive line in everything they want to do on offense.

It really does start up front in the trenches for everything the Vikings want to activate on offense. The guard play, the interior of the offensive line, obviously it in the trenches for everything the Vikings want to activate on offense. The guard play the interior of the offensive line. Obviously it matters in pass protection, but it matters in them, in their play style of wanting to run the ball. It matters in being able to quote Kevin O'Connell's phrase that he uses all time to marry the run and pass. If you don't have solid play in the interior of the offensive line,

you can do none of that. And I think we saw that partially in week 18, but certainly in the playoff loss to the Rams, where they did not have any answers up front. And then they paid the price because of it. And it turned a 14-win magical season into something that was kind of just reduced to two games at the end of it. I think Kevin O'Connell feels that immensely this week and we'll be feeling that more heading into free agency next week. How do we feel about everything else? I mean, I think the guard thing, if Darnold walks, it becomes priority number one for them hands down. But they still need to make decisions on But they still need to make decisions on Byron Murphy Jr. and Cambynum, which we did not get in questions about that. And like you said, there's no way of describing what a cluster mess it is with a million people

here asking questions. And a lot of them have their own thing that they're writing about that they just scream out a question and you pick one. It's very well put together. So anyhow, we didn't get specific questions about those guys in, but I think that if you are Brian Flores and you're coming off a top five defense, I'm not sure how much you want to change about that. Like the original idea was Byron Murphy Jr. and Mackay Blackman, and then maybe you add somebody else. And that idea got blown up on day one of training camp when an ACL cost Mackay Blackman and then maybe you add somebody else and that idea got blown up on day one of training

camp when an ACL cost Mackay Blackman his season but Byron Murphy Jr. here's something I was thinking about and I've been asking people about here at the combine in the league and this is what you have to do if you talk to someone in the league and you mention on the show you have to lean in and say, in the league. So I've been talking to people in the league about this. The salary cap doesn't just go up anymore. It explodes every year. Every year, Amazon, Netflix, whatever else, they fly in and they go, we want more football games and here's some green money.

And Roger Goodell says, how about a game in Zimbabwe? They will sell gazillions of tickets and we'll make more money. And then whoops, you all made a lot more cash. And the NFL got way more popular because all those people who pretended to cancel it didn't a few years ago, you Jersey burning fraud. So anyway, the NFL is earning more money now, and if you sign Byron Murphy to a $17 million per year contract, here's what we know. The first year will be like $6 million on the cap, the second year will be like $12, and by three years from now, that thing will make

up about 2% of the salary cap because it will have gone up. There is a cheat code when it comes to signing players to now that thing will make up about 2% of the salary cap because it will have gone up. There is a cheat code when it comes to signing players to bigger contracts than you think they're worth so there's sticker shock but there's also and I've been saying I'm not sure if it's actually worth it to pay that much but then yeah I might be changing my mind a little bit about something like that with him and and Mer and Bynum knowing the continuity matters and also knowing that again, his information comes in that we change our opinions. I might be changing my opinion a little bit on those two guys because I was thinking you got to

be a little more shrewd than that. But when big contracts are now not big contracts three years into them, it just makes more sense to me. I don't know. Is this going too far? No, because like, and I bring up Christian Derisov because at the time, I thought it was a great contract. I thought, wow, that's a bargain. You got him done early and you got him done at a number that is not one reasonable, but also is going to age really, really well if the cap stayed flat and then the cap exploded and Christian Derriss might be the best contract in the league if he comes back from his tourney and performs at the level that we've seen him perform in the past. So your point is not wrong because I think when you look at contracts that they've signed

and Christian Derriss is not the best example of it because it felt like a good contract at the time, but I'm using it as an example because of how good of a contract it looks like right now. Who cares about the sticker shock in year one because three years from now the cap is going to go up by $30 million and the guy who you thought was an expensive contract is now going to be viewed as kind of just a modest one. You saw it in the NBA dollars and the guy who you thought was an expensive contract is now going to be viewed as kind of just a modest one. You saw it in the NBA especially and then the NBA hit a

bubble where one year I forget I think it was like in 2014 everyone started getting massive contracts and then the cap did not go up and it was like crap what do we do with this? The cap is going to continue to go up. They're going to add an 18th game at some point. Peacock exists now like like you said, Amazon's getting games. Netflix is getting games. Like there is more money than the NFL knows what to do it. And it's a greedy league that's going to just keep taking the money. So the, the cap is going to continue to go up. And your point about how that falls into line with what to do with the two of

the marquee free agents on defense, By Murphy jr. And can't bind them You probably want to bring both of those guys back and I think when the cap jumped in the way it did Last week and you saw that and you can I guess start to make Calculated bets about how it's going to continue to jump based on how it has jumped. Then the continuity is more important than the sticker shock of, wow, did they really just give that much money to Cambina? Wow, did they really just give that much money to Byron Murphy Jr.? I don't think we're going to be feeling that in a few years if that's the road they decide

to go down. I do think it's important though when you look at some of the turnover on defense that you make sure it's not having to rebuild an entire secondary except for Josh Mattelis. I think having more guys around that have been there in this system makes sense. And when you look at Cam Bynum, when you look at Byron Murphy Jr., their play in this system makes sense. And when you look at Cam Bynum, when you look at Byron Murphy Jr., their play in this system has continued to ascend. And there's not really a reason to think it won't continue to ascend in year three of the Brian Flores defense. So if you don't tag Sam Darnold or you tag him and you trade him, then that opens up way more avenues, which I think we've decided they're probably going to do.

It gives you more money to spend. You're going to go out and big game hunt for a guard, but you have $63 million in cap space and some different levers to pull it, to give yourself more cap space if you need it. I think both guys are probably going to be back. And if they aren't, I think it's going to be because someone else came in and blew them out of the water. I think the Vikings are gonna be extremely competitive

with both Cam Bynum and Byron Murphy Jr. if they let them go to market at all. And this is where the J.J. McCarthy plan really shows its head, which is the idea all along was if you have him on a rookie contract, there's a big benefit. But now think about this. When Kirk Cousins signed his deal, which was I believe $30 million a year in 2018, we were still having this conversation. We were saying, wow, $30 million. I mean, that's wow, right? Well, the highest paid quarterback of the league is now $60 million, but the rookie contract hasn't really changed.

So the rookie contract went from really advantageous to stupidly insanely advantageous. And if Sam Darnold goes out, gets traded on the franchise tag, and then ends up signing an extension with his trading team, it's going to be in the 40 something million dollar range more likely than not. And that is what? Thirty five million dollars more. Now I've never been afraid of a darn old deal. I've never been afraid of them having to work around it because we know all the levers that they can pull. And if they do that, then it's not like the franchise is over. But it speaks to the longer term big contracts because they will have cap hits going up for Jefferson, Darasaw, Grenard, Cashman, all these players that they signed to have low cap hits at first and then go up. Well, they eventually do go up and you can restructure and

all that stuff, but you want to avoid that the best you can. But over years with McCarthy, the at least two to three more years. And then if they sign them to an extension, you can but over years with McCarthy, at least two to three more years and then if they sign them to an extension, you can push that money out and you can have five, six years of JJ McCarthy being cheap. Man, you can spend a lot in long-term contracts. So if you want to go into the off season and this may be getting a little too high on the Indy supply here of just hype and off season discussion. But I mean, if you go into the off season and you brought back Byron Murphy Jr., Cam Bynum, you add an additional corner back to the mix, you draft a defensive tackle, which we're going

to get to, draft a running back, bring Aaron Jones back, add Trey Smith. I mean, you're talking about a pretty good looking football team. And then it comes down to whether JJ McCarthy can actually play or not. Right. and you could be a legitimate contender and still have more options to grow over the following season defensive tackle is a position I want to talk about because it didn't really come up it sort of only came up in ancillary ways but I think they want one I just I just get that sense that they want one of these guys now guard might be a good position to draft in the first round if they get a second round pick from Darnold or a third round pick.

That's going to help them a lot. But defensive tackle to me is a position you got to take high and you got to take a freak and you got to get a difference maker at the very top. I just got the sense from people in the league. That DT is a position that this team should should and will be very seriously considering in the first round. Look no further than what happened in the Super Bowl with what the Eagles have built in Philadelphia.

The ability to generate pressure without blitzing at all in that game because of the freaks they have up front Like that is the model and quasi-adulterate even touched on that like you said in an ancillary way But he talked about finding ways to generate the rush with only four guys Which is basically just parroting what the Eagles did in route to hoisting the Lombardi trophy. We did a podcast two weeks ago, three weeks ago, doesn't matter, the off season all runs together, in which we talked about the possibility of Milton Williams, of BJ Hill, of whoever else you have circled on your sheet at home as the defensive tackle and free agency you want to go sign and While Milton Williams might have been the best player on the field in the NFC championship game and the Super Bowl on the on the

Defensive side of the ball. I think a lot of times You get those high level talents by drafting freaks in the first round which is where I'm getting at If they sign Milton Williams to a mega contract, will he come in and be great? Probably. We saw he looked pretty damn good in the playoffs. But a lot of times, if you have a star defensive tackle, you don't let them get away. So how do you find them you draft them high, you prioritize it, you take your number 24 pick. And if you don't trade back, you use it on a freak. And I think that's where they want to go with it. I think when you look at the league, partially what happened to them, them in the in the playoffs,

where Jared verse was rushing off the edge, but it was also rushing up the middle and Kobe Turner was just dominating in the interior. Like you see that there's a model of how to play defense. And as much as Brian Flores likes to blitz, you don't have to do it. If you have a freak upfront, then you look at what the Eagles did in route to the super bowl, like the Vikings need a guy like that. Harrison Phillips is a great player, but he's not a freak like that. Jonathan Bullard was stout in the run game. He's up for a new contract. He's not a freak, like a guy that you might be able to take at 24

in what a lot of people are considering a very, very talented defensive line class. So that's, you're right. I think they want one and I think the best way to get one, because of everything else you need to fill and holes you need to plug through free agency is probably just to take whoever's there. Whether that's at 24, whether that's at 30 because you've traded down and garnered more picks, whatever it is, like I think I would lean towards, I think they're going to take a defensive tackle, an interior defensive lineman with their first pick in the draft, wherever that ends up being. Okay, let me throw this out there. Because I feel like the tenor of our podcast here is we've got it all figured out.

We do. That's why we show up to Indy. It really is. That's why you come out here. You talk to people, you go to the, listen to all the GMs, everybody else talk, and it is funny too how much, you know, it sounds like a TV cliche to be like, well, when you watch the Super Bowl, this happens. And then you hear all the NFL people, they're like, well, when you saw the Super Bowl, this happened. Yeah. They kind of have the same reactions as you. You'd be surprised how much similarity the football people have as everybody else, even though they know so much more about the intricacies of how all these things work. But everybody is reactionary when it comes to football.

Yes. Okay. So what don't we know? What would surprise you? What do we feel like we're unclear on? I think Aaron Jones is probably coming back paired with another running back. That's how it feels based on the fact they moved his void date back. And I think he really loved playing here. They kept him healthy, which I think was important. I think their training staff is important to him. I think that they want to draft a running back.

That seems obvious. It was casually mentioned what a deep running back class it is. Every, actually everyone is casually mentioning it. I heard that from Brett Veach too. And Veach was talking about, cause he went right before the Vikings brass. So I was kind of listening closely to that. Veach was talking about how that in the middle rounds, sometimes late rounds, there's more running back talent than there are other positions that kind of

are highly sought after. And there's only so many people like we were just saying about defensive tackle, right? Like the running back is not like defensive tackle. You could get it a little bit later. And I think the Vikings might take a similar approach to that. But also there's just this ever evolving moving target that is positional value and running back is a changing one, it seems. So I'm curious about that. Like how much of an emphasis is it to draft a running back? But I'm a little short on other things that I feel like we're really lost in the woods about for this team.

And look, you know, the quarterback situation could totally shock us in two weeks and we'll go, whoops, I guess we got the wrong takeaway from Indy. We had no idea. Another guy I want to talk about is Dallas Turner. We had no idea Dallas Turner was going to be a Vikings. They didn't even have that draft pick last year when we were doing the same very podcast. So surprises can come.

But I feel like we have a really strong sense right now of what they need to do and the avenue to get there. And the question is, how do you bridge that gap? Like we know free agency and the draft are how to get there. We know what they need. We know the positions. And if we have a really strong sense that they're moving on from Darnold and JJ McCarthy, it's about what does it take to get there? What kind of trade can they actually pull off to get there? And then what kind of free agents can

they actually get? How much competition will there be? What kind of draft options will they have? All those things become the next questions. But is there anything left on your mind where you're saying, you know, I'm really curious about X blank. I'm the only thing that would come to mind is the quarterback position. And are like, I think we are on the right track.

And I think when you hear these guys talk and you listen and you watch kind of what's happened throughout the league, like I think we're on the right track. But maybe they're just playing really good poker. Like that's the only thing that like, because if they're playing really good poker, and they're just trying to find a way to sneak Sam Darnold back on the team. That does kind of change the entire build that we just talked about throughout the rest of the offseason. So that's my one like in the back of my mind. If we are so sure this is the way that they're going to go, if

we wake up shocked at the beginning of free agency and then they signed Sam Darnold to a two-year contract, does that change the build and how much does that change the roster build? Because I think that's the only place my mind can go because I really do think we've covered every other base. I think they're set at certain positions and we don't talk about it because there's no need to talk about receiver. There's no need to talk about tight end because they've locked themselves into these. There's no need to talk about the tackles because they have their book end guys. So everything else we've talked about and that we've laid out the perfect plan for the Vikings off season is just because like that's what's important. So what could change

the way that we've built the offseason the only thing that could is if we're wrong about the quarterback. I don't think we're wrong about the quarterback though. So that is kind of where my mind goes initially. I just I don't think there's a lot we don't know right now because I think what they need is so obvious It's very exciting. Honestly I mean, this is this is a team that is going to have a lot of different options and a lot of ways to get there and We don't know how it's gonna happen But I think we know what's gonna happen or at least we've got a much better sense

I don't want to declare myself now because I was 60 40 and I think I'd move it to 80 20 that's where I'm a big player myself now because I was 6040 and I think I'd move it to 8020. That's where I'm at. Yep. That McCarthy is starting quarterback week one. Makes sense to me. The health stuff going out of their way to say it is the biggest indicator and that's the biggest takeaway from Indy for me is he is on track headed toward being a part of their offseason workout in full. And that was the goal when they had the surgery was to be ready to go through the entire full offseason in 2024, five, two thousand twenty five, which is this year for those interested and be able to go through the whole thing as the starting

quarterback or I guess, you know, potentially if Daniel Jones is around, but now I don't care. Not if he's good to go. Not if he's good to go and if they feel like he's going to be prepared to play for the entire season. So, yeah, I think things have changed a little bit for me here in Indianapolis over the last, like, four hours of us talking to them and then having our conversation out the air about what we were going to say about it and then just talking it out here on the show. That is exciting because now we can really start looking into these next couple weeks and the big question becomes, well, who wants Darnold? And can it happen? Or are they going to have to let him walk? Now is it disappointing if he just walks? I mean, I think it kind of is right with all the other teams that are out there. What is realistic for that and for potential return for Darnold now is more of the conversation. So fascinating

times here in Indianapolis at the Combine so much more content to come from me. I'll be sitting here on my radio roast spot interviewing people left and right over the next couple of days. So make sure you keep an eye out for that. Dane Mizutani writing for the Pioneer Press, his big takeaways from today's conversations with Quasi da Fomenta and Kevin O'Connell. So that is it for us for now and we will talk to you all again very soon. Football. all.