Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Reaction to Vikings' win over the Browns in preseason action

Episode Date: August 18, 2024

Matthew Coller and Dane Mizutani break down the Vikings win over the Browns in preseason Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider here, post-game as the Minnesota Vikings defeat the Cleveland Browns in preseason action. Matthew Collar here along with Dane Mizutani in studio. Both of us were in Cleveland for the week, but we decided since Jonathan James McCarthy was not going to play in this preseason game to come back home to Minnesota for a couple of rainy afternoons here in which we spent watching pre-season football breathtaking if you will pre-season football but that doesn't mean there were no takeaways just because it wasn't as exciting as it would have been had uh j.j mccarthy actually played so there's a an obvious place to start here with one player who stood out in this game. But we'll also get into who played, who else made plays in this game,

and how we feel about the roster right now. Feel free to ask your questions, post your comments. But the big takeaway player from this game, Dane, is going to be Louis seen who had an interception, a sack, and also a very big hit on Tyler Huntley is the quarterback who was definitely playing for the Browns. Is there any reason to care about this? See, it's better that, that this happened than it didn't happen because the mark toward the,

toward the mic, toward the the mic there we go it's better that this happened than didn't happen because like at the end of the day you're seeing something out of lewis scene which is a positive but why i want to pump the brakes is because he played the whole preseason game and he's playing out there with guys like Jacoby Francis who aren't going to make the team so I think it would be a little bit disingenuous to say like this is where it all turns around for Louis seen because I need to see a lot more before I'm willing to even go even remotely close to that realm but I don't want to just be a Debbie Downer and rain on the prairie. Like, it's a good thing for the kid. Like, he's been through a lot.

So 10 tackles, a sack, an interception. Like, yes, all of those are good things. But I do want to just caution Vikings fans. Like, this is still a guy who I think has an uphill battle to make the team. He's still squarely behind Harrison Smith Gambino Josh Metellus and Theo Jackson in the safety room and maybe even Bobby McCain because Bobby McCain got snaps ahead of Lewis seen pretty much everywhere we saw like throughout training camp so good I guess but let's take it easy a little bit okay yeah I don't even think it's the most interesting thing from the game.

It's just the thing that people are talking about the most. This to me was a classic showcase type of game. They played this man for the entire game. He's out there in the fourth quarter with all dudes who are getting cut on both sides, getting a sack where no one blocks him at all. They're not running anywhere close to what their defense is he's just out there being a better athlete than all other players who are getting

released it doesn't change a thing for me uh good for him that he had a moment in preseason in the third year of his career and if we're still talking about the leg injury wow right I mean that was the first year and he came back by otas of the next year played i believe seven snaps all last season and hasn't even come anywhere close to first team reps so far in this offseason he did have a couple of times in the joint practices versus the twos where he was out there and maybe got close to a football but aside from that i think that it's over for lewis scene and what they really want is some other team to see what he did today and say hey let's let's go out there and get this guy for a sixth round draft pick i mean he'd be the best athlete in our unit

and there's no question he's the best athlete in this group and yet he's not even close to being anywhere near where anybody else has been throughout this offseason it is still I suppose remotely possible that they jam him into the 53 but you usually wouldn't play anybody that you actually want on the team at this point in the game I mean to be out there with several minutes left in the fourth quarter says somebody likes something about this guy and they already got rid of Andrew Booth Jr. We saw Brian Asamoah miss a tackle today. This is that 2022 draft. I don't think it's going anywhere. People can talk about it. They could say that he looked good. That's fine and dandy, but I think that there's a lot more relevant players on this

team than him and he's very likely still to be cut even after that. So that's my whole take. I don't think we need to spend much more time on what Lewis Seen did today. Aside from because J.J. McCarthy wasn't playing, there will be other stuff that we talk about. The more interesting one to me is actually Dane along the offensive line in this game where we saw a lot of Ed Ingram playing. So interpret this for me. Is this just because Dalton Reisner seems to be banged up and they haven't been playing him in practice? Even he hasn't gotten a lot of work lately. I don't know that Dalton Reisner is making this team and they just didn't have a lot of bodies. Or is this a message to Ed Ingram?

Hey, everybody else is over there. And it's not like they didn't have any players. Guys came in in the fourth quarter. This has to be relevant that for the last two years, there have been times where every other offensive lineman is standing on the other sideline. Even Blake Brandel, who has then not even started for this team. And Ed Ingram, Ed Ingram is out there taking all these reps in the first half. It can't be nothing, right? No, it's definitely something. And I think what you just said is it says everything that needs to be said. Christian Darisaw, obviously he didn't play.

Brian O'Neill didn't play. Garrett Bradbury didn't play. But the fact that Blake Brando is so much far ahead than Eddie Ingram, that Blake Brando is getting the day off, he deserves credit. He's built himself into a player that the coaching staff wants to give an opportunity to. So this is not a slight to Blake Brando. But if you are being treated in a way where you have to play football in a preseason game when most of the starters are resting and Blake Brandel is not, that just shows how much further behind you are in the pecking order. And so, like, do I think the starting right guard spot is up for grabs? Probably not because Dalton Reisner's hurt so maybe like a guy like Tyrese Robinson who had a pretty nice block last week on Kenny Nguang who's 48 yard touchdown run

maybe he could at some point like finagle his way into the starting line but like I still think it's Ed Ingram's job because there's nobody else. If they had someone else kind of waiting in the wings, or maybe if they had Michael Juergens working at guard, but he's been playing center most of training camp. You've almost put yourself in a situation if you're the Vikings where you have to play Ed Ingram, and your fail safe was Dalton Reisner who's been hurt all training camp, and it wouldn't surprise me if he got cut because he just he's not out there so is it a big deal that Ed Ingram is out there still

playing preseason games when everyone else is resting yes but do I think Ed Ingram is going to be the starter week one for this team yes for better or for worse I think so too but last year they went after a couple of weeks and got Dalton Reisner and brought him in and replaced, uh, Ezra Cleveland and then traded Ezra Cleveland away. So it's not like it would be terribly different if when cut down day comes along and remember last year, they also picked up David Questenberry as a backup offensive tackle on cut down day it would not be unprecedented at all for them to look for other options because they're not happy and the first game so this one I'm gonna have to go back and look at but the first game was pretty rough for

Ingram and it might be a little of this week was also pretty rough against the Cleveland Browns along the offensive line and then Ingram is out there and their second unit, which is supposed to be pretty good. And they're still giving up lots of hits on Nick Mullins. They're giving up sacks on Nick Mullins. I believe he was sacked three times in that game. And look, it's a preseason game, but that means they're not even doing anything interesting up front. This is a unit that has, you know, a couple of draft picks on it. And Walter Rouse, I thought was fine today, but they've got draft picks. They've got veterans and they were still getting beat. And a starter is still getting beat the way that they did a Reisner. It sounded like from Kevin O'Connell was supposed to be the fail safe. If something goes wrong for Ed Ingram,

if he doesn't take another step or they're not happy with him then they could just put in riser but if he's been banged up and he's not even playing and not even around in practice all that much they may have to look outside and i have been somewhat impressed with tyrese robinson but he's a guy that was an undrafted free agent they picked up i think from ph Philadelphia last year, not someone that you're necessarily relying on. There is legitimate concern still about the interior of the line. We have talked about it every single year that I've covered this football team. And I don't believe that is ending now. It's going to carry on when you see a starter and only one starter on the entire roster play this much yes that raises an eyebrow

i mean there's guys like jonathan bullard who are standing on the sideline watching in their street close so that tells you uh nothing against jonathan bullard a long time pro but that tells you how few starters were actually playing in this game and the fact that he was out there is uh very much relevant this is the type of situation after a post game. Normally after post games, we talk and talk and there's a million takeaways. We break everything down. But today I want your takes, your questions, your comments, and we can run through them after we get through our stuff because we're all here having watched the preseason games.

So whatever you got is on the table. So let me go back and start here at the top with Reconnected, who says receiver depth chart, wide receiver three, Naylor, four, Tristan Jackson, and five, Powell. Your thoughts? I would probably switch four and five here. I know that Jackson has been really good, but Powell proved himself in real games last year. Jackson's been around a couple of seasons and hasn't gotten a whole lot of work in the NFL, but I think that that is the group. And Trent Shurfield is still in the mix, but we saw Tristan Jackson out there early. And it might be a case, Dane, where Tristan Jackson has a role because we've seen him go deep a lot and be able to create some separation.

He may be someone that just mixes in every so often, but I still think Brandon Powell is the old pro who they're going to trust a little bit more. And once again, you have to be impressed with the way that Jalen Naylor has showed up at every single turn, including joint practices, practice the first preseason game.

And then here again today. Yeah. the depth chart right now like we can kind of it's splitting hairs with brandon powell and tristan jackson i think trent shurfield probably makes the team too but jaylen nailer is wide receiver three and i think he's established himself as that with a great training camp obviously a really good first couple of series first few series last week against the Raiders. And then today, he only had one catch, but it was a really, really nice, you know, coming back to the football contested catch 31 yards downfield kind of

being that explosive play guy that I think Kevin O'Connell has always kind of seen him fitting into that mold. So Jalen Naylor is wide receiver three um and I don't think that's even a conversation but the fact that we're even kind of deciding or jockeying back and forth like is Brandon Powell wide receiver four is Tristan Jackson wide receiver four it speaks to how good of a camp Tristan Jackson has had and I think you're right that he could find a role on this team like honestly who cares who's wide receiver four wide receiver five like after the first three guys I think that there will be more just at certain times throughout a game Kevin O'Connell might see something or want something

out there where maybe it calls for Brandon Powell's skill set or maybe it calls for Tristan Jackson's skill set or maybe it calls for Trent Turfield's blocking abilities. But the fact that Tristan Jackson just continues to show up, make plays. He had the long touchdown catch from J.J. McCarthy last week. And I thought his touchdown catch from Nick Mullins this week just showed kind of his skill set in a nutshell. He just has an incredible feel for how you play receiver in the national football league and i i for the longest time kind of thought he was a guy i think we call him quad a players too good for triple a and baseball not good enough for the show maybe i was wrong maybe

tristan jackson is good enough for the show and he continues to kind of show that he is with the plays he's making. And it's becoming kind of undeniable. I don't think that there is a world in which he doesn't make the team at this point. Yeah, I mean, when you show up at every point, he's earned it. He's also been around for several years. He's been a true development story in the league where his first training camp, we didn't notice him at all and then by last year like oh this tristan jackson guy i was calling it trist season on the sideline because he was making so many plays he did get into a game last year and now if they can trust him because of his route running and the finesse to his game his ability to track the football and make catches is very

impressive then he might end up with some sort of role where it's brandon powell into the slot on a particular play all right tristan jackson's coming onto the outside because here comes justin jefferson it's a run play you want trent surefield or you know an end around or something short underneath because i think that trent surefield is still making this team now he came in after the other guys he got a 23 or 21 yard catch and he's been showing up and making plays. He was good in the joint practices several times. And O'Connell has shouted out that he has a little bit of a different element to his game and his toughness. And when you look at the tight ends with Hawkinson, probably going to start the year on IR, then you can have six receivers

instead of four tight ends, which they've had in the past. Nick Muse has had a very good off season. So it looks like he's going to be the fourth tight end and Robert Tanyan. We'll always remember the discussions we had about Robert Tanyan, but that's football. He got banged up and somebody else stepped up. So I think it's going to be those three tight ends month,

Oliver, Nick Muse, and then because Hockinson's on IR, maybe a sixth wide receiver that they want to keep and see how it plays out from there. Lucky Jackson didn't get a whole lot of action today outside of punt returning. I think he's definitively behind the other guys.

So they'll just have to decide five or six, but the wide receivers were very much good today. JP asks, is Levi Drake Rodriguez still likely to make the team? We saw him play a ton today. JP asks, is Levi Drake Rodriguez still likely to make the team? We saw him play a ton today. I still think that he will, because one of the things that they've talked about is how they want to emulate starting players with backup players. He is the Jerry Tillery backup player. He's a huge guy who's got better quickness than most guys for his speed have. But I think, you know, when he got those first team reps, we really went crazy about Levi Drake

Rodriguez. And the more we've seen him play, there's been a highlight here or there. He doesn't look like a finished product at all to me. He's someone that's like Andre Carter from last year, where you're really betting on what he's going to become and hoping that you don't have to play him too much to start. Maybe there's a situational role there. Yeah, I think most likely like Levi Drake Rodriguez just makes the team because they were really high on him coming out of the draft. You know, they really wanted him. I know he went to the seventh round, but he was a guy that in the seventh round, I think a lot of people in that war room the you know levi drake rodriguez had a lot of fans in that war room but

all he does is really give you a different look and i think that's probably his most you know beneficial part of of his game for the vik Vikings is that they have a lot of guys, a lot of stout guys up front and Levi Drake Rodriguez has often been used in pass rushing situations because he has that motor, um, because he is a bigger guy with, with the level of quickness, um, that most of his peers in that room do not have. Um, so I, I think he makes the team just because of, you know, the collection of all of those things. A lot of fans on draft night, there is a role for him situationally. I don't know if he could sneak him through to practice squad. I mean, he hasn't made a ton of plays in the preseason.

So, but I don't know if the Vikings are even going to want to take that risk. So he's always kind of felt like a guy who is going to make this team. But I think for maybe a few days, a couple weeks ago, I thought he was going to have a full role. And I think it might just be more of a project. Sometimes situationally he'll get in the game. But he's not going to be someone who is making splash plays on a weekly basis. If he is, I would be pretty surprised, but I do think he makes the team because of just

everything he's kind of shown from the moment he got drafted to this point in time playing in preseason game two. I also think that teams overestimate the likelihood that they're going to lose someone. There aren't that many waiver pickups, especially for young players from year to year. I can only remember one guy ever getting picked up who was a draft pick and got cut in that waiver period and not getting through the practice squad. And that was Elijah Lee.

So feel free to tell your friends at the water cooler on Monday, hey, who was the only guy who got that? That'll make you a big star at work if you've got that information. But that's the only guy who got that? That'll make you a big star at work if you've got that information. But that's the only guy that I remember, which says to me, they are probably internally thinking that same thing. Like, oh, you know, there was a lot of interest in him in the draft.

But if they do end up cutting him, he can get through. It might come down to him versus someone like Jaqueline Roy that I just have not seen a ton from throughout this entire training camp. And they were a little bit high on last year. He got banged up a bit, some out there for a minute today. That's one where if you got to make the decision, you're probably going with the guy with the higher ceiling. But he has become kind of a popular name, Levi Drake Rodriguez.

I just think that he's going to be someone that if you end up seeing in the season, that means something else went pretty wrong on the interior of that defensive line. And maybe by year three, he's more of a significant role player. Anthony says, seen, trade or keep? Keep is not my preferred option regardless, whether it's trade or not.

Ideally, they would trade him for literally anything. If it is a swap of 2026 seventh round draft picks, I'm fine with it. There's really no value to a player like this. Maybe you can convince another team to give you some player that you liked coming out in the draft that they're going to cut. That's what happened with Andrew Booth. But Andrew Booth Jr. is instructive here. What you're trading him for is essentially

nothing. It's someone that may end up on your practice squad. I haven't made many observations about the guy they traded him for, and that's about all you can really get. Even though Lewis is a good athlete, even though he's a first round draft pick, everybody else knows what you know about Lewis scene and his history. i don't see any reason to go forward with him at all on this roster uh but he did make a lot of plays in a lot of snaps today and that's that's all you can really say the rest of the league is probably just waiting for him to get cut and then maybe they take a shot on him like we've seen many teams do with first round picks laquan treadwell is still somewhere. I know he is,

but let's talk about Jaron Hall. Grateful Dead 78. This is the best Jaron Hall has looked in two years. Do you agree that this was Jaron Hall's best looking performance in a preseason game? Probably. Yeah. Like I thought he was, he was pretty good today. I don't think he was spectacular today. I think he had his, his stats were buoyed by the fact that he had a long touchdown throw to Deshaun Jones were good throw on the run, dropped it over the guy and then Deshaun Jones just ran the rest of the way. So this is not me taking shots at Jaron Hall. I just I wasn't overly impressed by what I saw. But if we just compare it to last week where he couldn't even throw the ball over the line of scrimmage, cause he kept getting batted down. Like, yeah,

this was better. But I, I don't know if it gives me any sort of like excitement moving forward. I would still feel like the Vikings were in a horrible position. If somehow Nick Mullins got hurt and Jaron Hall was your one snap away you know backup quarterback I don't think he's there I'm not sure he ever gets there nice guy the ability to know the offense and run it in practice is valuable I think he could be a practice squad player and it kind of goes back to your point about lewis seen earlier like nice moment for him too like like a long touchdown pass like when he's 50 he'll be like yeah i threw

a long touchdown pass in the preseason game but like it's it's darren hall and i i think at the end of the day like we want to get excited about something because jj mccarthy is hurt um but let's not be misguided in what we get excited about. Um, it was a pretty good performance in the second half of a week to preseason game. And I really think we should take that at face value. The only question with Jaron Hall is whether they want to keep doing this or look for something else. Uh, it didn't go well for Matt Corral as a Viking. We're going to see a lot more of him. Kweisi Dapomensis said that he was somebody that they were intrigued by in the 2022 draft. Not intrigued by enough to actually spend a draft pick on, and they had a lot of them,

but I'm just saying that they did evaluate it, or maybe he didn't even say intrigued. Maybe he just said we evaluated him, and that can mean whatever it wants. When you hear a guy was a UFL backup, that doesn't exactly really inspire you. So there there's no options whatsoever. When you get to this level of your third string quarterback, the way I've always put it on the show, and this is no disrespect because Jaron Hall shows up to work every day, but if he plays you're screwed and we don't talk about screwed on the show. So let's go on to Evan's question question two guys i do want to talk about uh an interception from uh dwight mcglothern 90 yard return almost got there to the end zone ran

out of gas got tired i could relate only after maybe six yards and uh will reicher just absolute nails we didn't lie to you this guy is crushing kicks left and right in practice he's gone out he's done it he's made everything except for the time all the blockers fell over in preseason he's been absolutely terrific so which one is mr mancato dwight mcgothern has made his case now if dwight mcgothern makes the team then i think that it's much closer right now i have will reichard in a landslide because Tristan Jackson has been on the team for too long. He's disqualified for me for a Mr. Mankato. But McClothern versus Reichard and that interception,

that actually was a good play. He came off his coverage. I know it was a horrible throw, but he went off his coverage, played the football, got up, ran when everyone else was kind of looking at him. These are the things we're talking about after a preseason game. But as of right now, Dane, I made my 53 today. I'm not going to reveal it all to you now because that's another podcast,

but I got him on the team. I have Dwight McClothern on the team. So McClothern v. Reichert for Mr. Mankato. What do you think? I think it's still Reichert because Will Reichert has done so much in training camp as far as just consistently nailing field goals, whether it's from 35 yards, 45 yards, 55 yards. It just jumps off his foot.

We've talked about this. It was impressive in the spring, and it's was impressive in the spring and it's been impressive in the summer he's made every kick in the preseason except for like you said the one time the entire left side of the offensive line got hit by a tidal wave so he it's it's him right now because there hasn't really been a challenger until Dwight McClothern today and I think for Dwight McClothern as impressive as that play was and I think it was really good for him you know in his standing to make a play like that would have been nice if he got in the end zone but you know it doesn't matter really like the

fact that he makes the interception gets up and has the wherewithal to kind of turn up field to find a seam and go 90 yards would they have liked a touchdown yes but everything you want to see out of the player was on display in the play rather whether he got in the end zone or not but i think he has existed more in like the abstract of like what he could be because he's this undrafted you know cornerback and we love undrafted players who you know could be the next Ivan Pace jr and he's had praise from his teammates and praise from Brian Flores and we've seen like little glimpses of it but we haven't seen it all like culminate into something like that pops off the screen until today so I need more of that from

Dwight McClothern I had a 53 man projection last week I did not have him on there I'm gonna write one tomorrow and I think I will have him on there. I'm going to write one tomorrow, and I think I will have him on there because I think those plays matter. And I think if he's jockeying for position with a guy like Jay Ward, who it seems like they really want to work at cornerback because they're giving him a lot of opportunities to do it. I haven't seen Jay Ward pop yet, and I've now seen Dwight McClother pop. So that's a good sign for him.

I don't think he could have another pick six next week, and it wouldn't be enough to unseat Will Reichert for Mr. Mankato to me because that guy's awesome. And I think, you know, I'll knock on wood for the Vikings fans, but he's a kicker, and I think he could be a really good one for the Vikings. He has just been absolutely phenomenal. And you saw a couple just right dead down the middle. He was great in joint practice, has made every kick. just been absolutely phenomenal and you saw a couple just right dead down the middle he was

great in joint practices made every kick uh it might be relevant that mcglothern also got a pick in joint practices and was playing a lot with the twos and usually where they play how much they play he's in there fairly early in the game still uh fabian morrow was out there a little early same with the caleb evans not what you want to see exactly that they're still putting a caleb evans out there but there was a great example of why they don't love a caleb evans there was a throw right into his coverage he's right on the guy and reaches out for the ball and it just goes right past his hand complete he just can't play the ball and mcglothern is a guy that can i'm not saying they're going to cut uh evans it also feels like the longer we go along the more likely it is for stefan g Gilmore to sign

with someone else, which would put McLaughlin potentially onto the roster. I'm going to read some of these real quick and maybe not spend them as a topic, but just kinetic says seem like Jackson stock rose, Tristan Jackson with his chemistry with McCarthy. Does his injury hurt his chances? I don't think so. I think it's been with everybody out there and really it's been a couple off seasons now for him. I did want to talk about this. Cameron says it feels like Kenny Wong Wu continues to look better as a runner. I agree with that. He's taken a ton of reps so far this off season as the first or second team running back. And even though he didn't break a big one today, he was moving

forward. I don't see him as someone that they really want to use a ton, but also the fact they haven't gone out and gotten anybody else. And they've stuck with Dwayne McBride, who's definitely not making this team says to me that they at least sort of like what they've seen from Kenny Wong Wu. And if they don't, then we'll know it when they pick up someone else but he has looked much more like a running back than he's ever looked in preseason before yeah I thought so and I thought today was actually maybe even a better sign than last week I know everyone loves a 48 yard touchdown scamper down the sideline where he looks faster than lightning but today he actually looked like a running back where he was finding the holes he was picking the right seams and he was hitting it with speed.

And speed's always going to be a calling card to his game. Like I'm not sold yet on him being a functional part of the run game, but I would be sold on if, and I always felt like they should have done this with Cordero Patterson, just like found ways to get him the ball out of the backfield more. Just give Kenny Nguyen like three or four touches a game and see if he can go. And then obviously rely on Aaron Jones and Ty Chandler. But good signs from Kenny Nwongwu.

I don't think he is a big part of the running game still. But again, you'd rather see it than not see it. Mike says, poor Louis C and he finally plays a good game. And Matthew's only comments about him are that he still sucks damned if you do damned if you don't oh no no not damned if you do damned if you don't he's only ever don't so let me know when the do has ever happened outside of a completely meaningless preseason game in which they had joint practices that meant something and he didn't really do much there and also we're in year three now and bobby mccain has seemed ahead of him on the depth chart like

this is completely don't the entire time this is what you call a display of the team hoping someone takes him off their hands and i'm not gonna pat somebody on the head who's a first round draft pick that's sacking who cares at quarterback from the cleveland browns in the fourth quarter when no one blocked him what are we talking about here it wouldn't be a preseason game if people didn't go crazy for something that doesn't mean a thing about uh his actual performance we're talking about a guy that played like seven plays last year as yeah no it's all been don't let me know if there's any do pretty much ever with him because i've watched theo jackson run past him josh metellus run past

him kim bynum run past him and for a first round pick i'm just not about to crown we don't crown anybody as we were told not to by uh brian flores so i'm definitely not crowning anybody for a game that the head coach wasn't even calling this is how much they didn't care about this. The head coach isn't even calling the game. The defensive coordinator isn't even calling the game. He's letting his linebackers coach call the game. I mean, come on. Like we got to keep in mind exactly what this is supposed to be here in a preseason game. So I just don't have a whole lot of more thoughts about that. I do agree though, with David that said Harrison Smith was Harrison Smith was the highlight of the entire game.

Zoomer Kev says, where is the punt off? I was promised. There just really hasn't been one. There's a couple of punts from Seth Vernon, but I think Ryan writes your punter. Yeah, no doubt. Ryan writes the punter. Seth Vernon, I think he had his chance last week. He had a kick out of the end zone,

an opportunity to boom. It showcases legs, frankly, shanked at 32 yards. Um, and I think that was the end of the punting competition. You've also talked about holding matters and Ryan Wright has held almost exclusively for will record,

which matters for a rookie kicker. The operation looks good with Ryan Wright there. Ryan Wright was good one year and then awful for one year. So I think they're hoping for the pendulum to swing the other way. But Seth Vernon, it was fun to talk about. I was team Seth Vernon for a little bit, but yeah, that thing's done. It's just too bad. It's just too bad that Seth Vernon never really got his chance.

Someday, someday we will get an actual punt off it didn't feel like it just a couple of punts one of them was really bad from vernon and that seemed like it uh jesse says naylor is mr mankato not qualified in my eyes because he's played in games before he's year three uh what was the final score no one cares um any any defensive standouts today uh or defensive end standouts today i didn't really think so outside of beau richter a couple of times beau richter is uh the type of guy to me that makes your practice squad and then you see what happens he does have some physical ability ability and he has stuck out in the opportunities that he's gotten over these last couple of games. I'll give you another guy who keeps standing out to me as Dallas Gant. That seems like he's in the right spot, but you can have a huge practice

squad these days. It used to be 10 players and it used to be a lot more tricky to talk about, you know, Hey, where should they keep this guy and that guy and everything else now it's if you have a jersey and you didn't fall right flat on your face you're on the practice squad but if we're talking about the guys who are maybe most deserving for that i would say bo richter and dalscan yeah and with bo richter i think the thing that you mentioned earlier about people are so afraid to lose guys you know are you going to be able to get them to the practice squad without them being claimed off waivers i feel like bo richter has turned into a guy like within the last week and a half who like viking stands like there's no way we can get him

on the practice squad we have to put him on the 53 i would still be pretty surprised if bo richter made the 53 because there are a lot of good edge rushers in that room and if you are putting Bo Richter on the 53 then you're probably taking Jihad Ward off the 53 and they love Jihad Ward so it's the preseason it's obviously a good thing that Bo Richter got another sack today but he wasn't blocked it was just kind of he ran at the guy he's shown flashes but he's a guy who you can get to the 53 he has stood out though and he deserves credit for that yeah no he definitely does uh should koc give up play calling is that based on today and how the offense was uh no koc will let you pry play calling out of his cold dead hands so that's that's just never gonna happen and i don't think he should that's what he's here for

he's here to be the mVay, the Shanahan, the LaFleur, who's got the quarterback in the headset and is guiding the quarterback. And that's what they're really going to need from Sam Darnold. Let's see. John says the team will give Corral every chance to beat out Jaron Hall. Well, we'll see if he can pull out his lasso and corral in a job for next week anybody no some of you are taking this preseason game more seriously than me i guess uh i think that they brought him in for a reason but this is almost an impossible job it's really just a are you willing to fly to minneapolis and take a couple thousand dollars to be around our team? I mean, we've seen this many times.

Mitch Leidner, Joel Stave. I don't believe at all that Matt Corral is here for a legitimate competition. The real question is, would they keep Jaron Hall based on what they see from next week and what he did today? Kevin O'Connell seemed very excited. He's had Jaron Hall's back. And once you get to the third quarterback, if you're looking around for big improvements, again, this guy was not even the starter on his UFL team. Unlikely that he's going to be able to

outperform Jaron Hall in an offense that he's never even run before. Usually these third preseason games are absolutely brutal. used to be the fourth preseason game because teams run out guys like matt corral so he's got a jersey he could take home the team gear i just don't see him having any real opportunity here other than just who's around did we like that guy in the draft let's bring him in for a couple weeks that seems all that really is it's just going to be do they think Jaron Hall is someone worth keeping around because he maybe could potentially be a Nick Mullins replacement

next season when they're going to need a backup for JJ McCarthy? Yeah, with Corral first, like all he's here for is to play the second half of next week's preseason game, because I don't think they're going to even want

to play Nick Mullins next week especially watching Nick Mullins get hit 15 times today because the offensive line really struggled in pass protection so Matt Corral was brought in as a camp body and you've mentioned all of them you know Mitch Leidner, Joel Stave, Case Cookus you know we could go through just a laundry list of quarterbacks that they brought in that exist more in just kind of a punchline manner um remember when that guy was on the team that's what matt corral will be with jaron hall i think they they will probably end up just holding on to him because he knows the offense and and while that shouldn't necessarily just be a requisite of why you get to keep your job and and go run the practice squad like everyone's talked about how this is a complex

offense to learn and the fact that jaron hall now has two years in it and can run a practice for you like that matters so i think they'll hold on to him they'll hope that it turns into something where he can maybe transition into being a backup and if by next year when he is no longer the practice squad number three if you don't think he's ready to be the backup number two quarterback then you move on and find someone else but yeah i think they'll hold him yeah i agree with that and i think jaron hall is a high character guy and having him in the qb room there's no negative to that and it is very much a in case of emergency could he know the offense well enough to go out there and take snaps and potentially just even make it not look like a total wreck uh yeah maybe at this point he's just gotten almost no work this offseason

they've moved on to jj mccarthy and even the fact that they'll definitely keep Nick Mullins and started him today shows you there wasn't even a backups backup competition that it's always been a one, two, three, four type of situation, but no issue. If they decide to keep Jaron Hall on the team, uh, let me get in a quick ad read and then we'll move on to something that I was actually more intrigued by today than anything that happened in this game. But first, the show presented by U.S. Cellular. U.S. Cellular noticed that the way we use our phones has gotten ironic. We try to put our phones down for dinner, but the menu is on a QR code. That is ironic. We hit the like button on social media posts that we don't actually like. Ironic. Which is why U.S. Cellular created Us Mode to help us reconnect with each other and use our phones less

ironically. A phone company wanting people to use their phones less. Ironic. Let's find us again with Us Mode from U.S. Cellular. Visit uscellular.com slash built for us. OK, Bandito says only got to watch Bengals Bears. Williams and company will create some issues for Brian Flores. Now, look, we're just talking about how the preseason is not always that telling about how someone actually performs in the regular season. So in an attempt to ever avoid crowning anyone which we will not do on this show boy i wanted to crown caleb williams today holy cow caleb williams made some of the best throws and the most impressive throws off balance scrambling creativity arm strength physical gifts out the

wazoo it was a pretty darn impressive showing from caleb williams and somebody tweet how good ryan leaf was once upon a time in training camper and preseason but caleb williams i did text several bears fans that i know and said um this could be a problem for the vikings it was really something hey if you're gonna get excited about what you saw from mccarthy last week then you can't tell bears fans no yeah yeah right you right. You got to play by the rules here. And I think with the Bears, the big takeaway here is the Vikings next year around JJ McCarthy better build a pretty darn good secondary and a pretty darn good interior defensive line, because what they're going to have to face in this division kind of reminds

me of years ago maybe like a decade ago when it was Stafford Rogers Jay Cutler was here and they hired Mike Zimmer because they needed a defense to go up against those teams Caleb Williams is the star of this Saturday with the performance he put on so not not exactly what you wanted to see if you're a Vikings fans name Dane. He's so good. And you knew he was good coming out. And then you see the throw he makes rolling to his right last week. It's just a cannon. The ball looks like it was shot out of a cannon.

He's throwing off platform. And he whips it like 30 yards downfield. And then you see the creativity this week. He's sacked. Oh, wait. No, he's not. Yes, he is. No, he's not. he is no no he's not he's scrambling he scores touchdown like that is what Vikings fans now have to deal with for the next decade um and I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago so I know Bears fans like you've

said and I got a lot of texts today that said I think we got one and I said I think you do too uh he's going to be very very good it would stun me if he's not so I think from if one. And I said, I think you do too. He's going to be very, very good. It would stun me if he's not. So I think from, if you're a Vikings fan, you're annoyed. Really? The first overall pick, they didn't even have the worst record in the league. What the heck? But also if you just like football, it's kind of cool. Like what this division is going to be.

It's just going to be a battle. It reminds me of the AFC North for a while there where Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Baltimore, not so much Cleveland, but at least three out of the four teams just were all really good. And every year they were going at it. And so the culture, the roster building, the quarterback development, all these things are going to be challenges for the vikings to keep up and again no crowning caleb williams could throw four picks in his first game but the

raw talent that he has there points more toward this could be pretty scary if it ends up working out for caleb williams and the chicago bears i still want to see when he's game planned for how it's going to work out with all the scrambling, because that's a little Justin Fields like now fields though, took tons of sacks. Couldn't really escape a lot of times and didn't make good decisions with the football. We've seen a little bit better from Caleb Williams, but he was, he's the big winner of this entire Saturday that had all sorts of preseason action. Uh, Brad is is nick muse the second best healthy tight end on the roster i don't think so i don't think you'll see a lot of him in the games it will be josh oliver and uh it will be uh johnny munt who's actually had a great camp those guys not playing today

tells you what you need to know uh nikhil harry was never really a part of this uh andy says patrick jones get out of here in. I know they like him. They like Patrick Jones a lot. Yeah. They like him. He he's been used by Brian Flores in every situation. It's gonna be something where I think he's used as an interior pass rusher. A lot of the times, even though you see him as kind of listed as an edge, I, I thought, yeah, Patrick Jones, get outta here, heading into training camp. Um. And then all he's done is get reps with the one. So that guy's safe. Yeah. It's okay to really like what you saw from Bo Richter and also recognize that he's probably a development player who may someday eventually become what Patrick Jones is right now.

I think that Patrick Jones is in a much better role for this year than he was last year where they were just asking him to be the guy and play all the time and get like 700 snaps. That's not really who he is. JP, do you still feel we have to go out and get a defensive back? The only defensive back we're really talking about is Stephon Gilmore. If Stephon Gilmore shows up here, then I'm good with that because it's not going to cost them long-term. As far as the cap goes, they gave Andrew Booth a chance to win a job. He did not. They've given a Caleb Evans,

a chance to hold people like Stefan Gilmore and Fabian Morrow off. He did not. Shaq Griffin is banged up. There's no guarantee that he's going to play for a long period of time when it's a hamstring injury and he's an older cornerback. So I I'm, I'm good with that. Uh, if they decide to go out and get someone else, if they don't, then it's going to be just as terrifying as we thought it was for the cornerback unit. The minute that Mackay Blackman went down,

um, that's still to say really good things about Dwight McClother and what he's done. But if you're asking him to just go in and play corner and save this unit, that's a lot for a rookie undrafted free agent. So I would be good with them still going out and making a move here. Yeah, I think it has to just be, if it's not Stefan Gilmore, then I don't really care. Like we don't need to go make a move just for the sake of signing a guy because frankly, most of the people looking for jobs now most of the cornerbacks looking for jobs i don't think are any better than a caleb evans so stefan gilmore i think he's markedly better than a caleb evans so if it's not stefan gilmore

i think you just run out what you got um but if it is i think they could be a pretty dang good defense this year. Sklint pack. Good to see a sklint pack, uh, said Dallas Turner didn't look great today. I agree with that, but he only played a handful of reps and he played a ton during the joint practices. I was actually really surprised to see him out there because I thought anybody who played a lot in those joint practices was not going to get a ton of work. He may have gotten one series, maybe two series.

I'll have to go back and look exactly at his snap count. But I think what you're going to see from Dallas Turner this year is it's going to be feast or famine as a rookie, where if he gets one that he was really going for, he's going to get a pressure and he's going to you're going to go whoa what a play and this is what we saw in the joint practices or he's going to be eliminated from the play because he doesn't have the toolbox that someone like Jonathan grunard or Andrew van Ginkle have developed over the years Matt says AJ Green the third at a low-key great game he's a guy that could end up being on the practice squad I would say pretty much anyone, if you can play cornerback might end up being on the practice squad. But yeah, I agree with Preston as well. 96 look pretty good. That's Dallas Gant. He's another guy that I'm a little bit intrigued with. I mean, I do wonder what they

think about Brian Asamoah versus Dallas Gant. Gt has played better, but can you really get rid of your entire 2022 draft class this year? And Asamoah has taken all the second team reps during camp. Could be though that they like what they've seen from Gantt, but with a guy like that, it's so easy to get them to the practice squad. There's no real reason not to just keep extra players there. So final thoughts, because I'm going to tell you

guys the truth. I'm going to a concert right now. It was a preseason game. That's what I'm doing. I'm going to wrap this up, post this and head out. So final thoughts, Dame, a preseason game, Kevin O'Connell proving to the nation that he can win in the preseason. We doubted him. You doubted him, I bet, but he's shown it. He's last two. I mean, this is in the preseason. We doubted him. You doubted him, I bet. But he's shown it. These last two, I mean, this is what the preseason used to be before J.J. McCarthy. And then for one weekend, it was awesome.

And we had so much fun breaking down that game. And then it went right back to being this, where we're going like, I don't know, Dallas Gant? I mean, I'm looking at my notes here, Dane, just to give you a second to think. If we got anything else that we talked about, the receivers, the line, Will Reichard.

I could talk all day about that guy kicking. Malik Knowles, shout out, great catch. Yeah, there's nothing. My takeaway is that, like, can we just get September 8th here as quick as possible? I know we have to technically watch another preseason game next week. I wish we didn't. So let's get that thing over with.

Let's get the regular season rolling. It's been a good training camp. There have been standouts, both sides of the ball, obviously on the special teams with Will Reichert. It's been good. This has served its purpose. We got the tease of J.J. McCarthy last week. Now we have to wait for him for another year.

It's preseason. Let's get this thing over with and get the regular season rolling. We'll obviously be along for the ride, but I think all of us could agree that the next two weeks in time cannot go by fast enough uh green day guys going to green day target field i'm i'm pretty pumped i mean i was like 10 when dookie album came out and uh it's a pretty big deal for a millennial to go see green day uh okay one last thought one last thought that i just want to throw out there we have the complete

training camp experience but technically next week there are training camp practices they're open to us and we will go out to them and then i will report back to you but there is nothing left to learn about this team aside from the 53 but we know who they are we've seen them practice against another team in two very contested practices, which I became controversial in Cleveland. I should tell you guys about this. The other night at the end of the night, I was doing a live stream and I got a phone call as I was doing the live stream to go on Cleveland radio. So I went on and I talked about how bad Deshaun Watson and the offense was against Flores' defense, which is an absolute fact. It was brutal. And then they were not happy. And the Cleveland reporters disputed my reporting on the practice

and trying to convince themselves that maybe Deshaun Watson won't be garbage as he has been since they've gotten him. Didn't look like a franchise quarterback worth a gazillion billion dollars to me. And Flores' defense looked pretty darn good um so but i did want to tell the story of i they were arguing about me on the radio in cleveland saying that it didn't look that good if you're a browns reporter it must be so dark you it must just be like well i mean i don't know maybe their defense uh but there's nothing to look forward to so i get it why they would talk about a very bad practice as if it wasn't that bad, because what else can you really do? Anyhow, I want to know

your thought, just a final thought, just like a 60 seconds so I can get out of here and get into that stadium and watch Green Day take about the accumulation of what you've seen from this team in training camp i mean how good do you think they can be i still think they can make the playoff if sam darnold is good and that's a big if um but there have been days like day one in cleveland i thought this is a six one football team day two in Cleveland I thought okay this is what it could look like Cleveland's defense is really really good and the Vikings are at least showing some pushback maybe in two months I'm sitting here they're one in six and I look like a big idiot because I said I think they can make the playoffs but I think they could win nine games

flirt with 500 we'll have the whole Sam Darnold experience. I'm sure some games will be great. Some games will be not so great. Some games will be fun. Some games will be dreadful. But I think holistically, the team has talent. The defense, I think, is going to be improved. TJ Hock is going to come back, and that receiving core, I think,

could make me and you look good at quarterback at times. I think there is enough talent here that they could go nine and eight and be a playoff team. So I keep going back and forth with a couple of different things. What we've seen from Flores' defense and coaching matters and Justin Jefferson matters. And that makes me think that they could win some games that right now people don't think they're going to win. And as you said, compete for a playoff spot. The way I envision it in a good scenario is that they are flying to Detroit in the last week of the season. And I'm right behind him in another plane because

they're fighting for a playoff spot. Unlike the last few years where I haven't gone out to Detroit, it hasn't mattered when it's the end of the season. That's a good scenario. And I don't think it's implausible because of Flores's defense and the high end guys that they have on offense and the coaching they have on both sides of the ball. But there is a part of me and, and look, Darnold went eight, nine is a Carolina Panther. And that was a bleep show. That was a lot of damned. If you don't well in Carolina to reference what happened earlier on the show.

But there was a part of me watching, and I agree with you, in that first practice, the way like, oh, no, he's going to do those darn old things again. That's what it all really rests on. They have a good enough team to play with almost anybody on a weekly basis. Can their quarterback not throw it to the other team? And in those joint practices, he threw it to the other team. He did all the darn old things in both days where it was like, don't, don't throw it.

Don't do it up. He threw it and it got picked. Oh yeah. He says after practice. Oh yeah. There was a tight end open. I really should have thrown it to him underneath as opposed to trying to do some crazy throw,

fitting it in a tiny window and getting it picked. You're like, yeah, Sam. And that's your career. And that's what I'm concerned about. But I think there's talent all over this roster that maybe isn't being appreciated enough by some people outside who haven't watched every part of it. But a lot of people, the wind out of the sails for the season completely disappeared.

And the last thing I would say is just, this is minnesota vikings you can predict them no one can predict them so who the hell knows what's going to happen going forward over the next six months but that that's maybe the best accumulation of my entire thoughts through this camp is i don't know this is the look at this team who knows so that it. I want to go to rock out everybody. So thanks everybody. And honestly for, for this and the good conversation as always. And it was definitely a preseason game somewhere.

There will be a record of it that I hope no one ever looks at again. And we will talk to you guys very soon. Lots of great stuff this week. Mike Renner from CBS is going to come on the show this week sam brookhouse from sumer sports going to have the fantasy show again ben gessling's going to come on look at his crystal ball lots of lots of big guests line up this week so make sure you keep an eye on the channel live chats as well after practice and we will see you guys around football