Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Receiver Jauan Jennings visits the Vikings (Hour 1)

Episode Date: April 29, 2026

Matthew Coller breaks down former 49ers veteran wide receiver Jauan Jennings visiting the Vikings. Plus a look at the other free agent wide receivers who might fit if he doesn't sign. And... why the Vikings got such bad draft grades. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, presented by Fandul Matthew Collar here. And, well, we've got a news item to break down regarding the Minnesota Vikings. And then something that has caught my eye in the draft analysis world that, you know, maybe the rest of the nation isn't really getting it with the Minnesota Vikings draft. So why don't we dive right in? This is a great time for questions, comments, thoughts, and maybe reflections from you guys. in the chat about the Minnesota Vikings draft because as it's going on on draft night, we're all just reacting in real time.

But now that you've had some time to think about it, where would you put the Minnesota Vikings in terms of your grade, your thoughts, your feelings now that you've stepped back, you've looked at the entire class, you've looked at the depth chart, you've looked at what everyone else did, you've read all the analysis. So what do you think after you have a cooler head than on draft night? So we'll get to that momentarily, but we begin the show with Joanne Jennings visiting the Minnesota Vikings per ESPN's Adam Schaefter. And last year for the 49ers, Jennings had 55 receptions, 643 yards and nine touchdowns. And he had 77 receptions for the 49ers in 2024.

So this is an interesting case because this is now the time where, teams can sign a player and they will not take a compensatory draft pick hit. So the floodgates reopen on free agency. But the fact that Joanne Jennings was not highly coveted. I mean, this is something that we have discussed a lot here on the show. The value of wide receiver, how hard it is to replace wide receiver, the fact that a Jalen Naylor, for example, with less than 30 catches in either of his last two seasons could still rake in $12 million, and yet here is Mr. Jennings, who has been healthy, a very big

rarity for the San Francisco 49ers. He has been productive, effective. Heck, the guy has even thrown touchdown passes. And yet here he sits on April 28th, still a free agent and available and visiting a team that already has their number one and number two wide receivers. So I think we can maybe figure out a couple of things from the fact that Joanne Jennings is still available. Thing number one would be that he was likely for asking for too much money.

And that's fascinating in itself, right? Because what's too much money for a wide receiver? I know I've gone back to it repeatedly, but like Romeo Dobbs making 17 million, Jerry Judy is another example, a guy for the Cleveland Browns who's just never been good in the NFL. and yet he is making over $15 million a year. And yet, Joanne Jennings cannot get his dollar dollar bill.

That's a little surprising. But if you set the bar too high, then the NFL is going to go, okay, hang on a minute. You were in San Francisco, which I'm sure actually hurts Joanne Jennings because they are kingmakers. And teams have invested in former 49ers wide receivers.

They've invested in former 49ers running backs. it has not always paid off to make those investments because the 49ers and Kyle Shanahan, they just have their way offensively of getting the most out of the skill talent that they have. That's why even a big reach like Dizan stripling, you're like, I don't know if it's a reach if it's them because they'll probably figure it out, right? And with Jennings, there might be some thought around the NFL that, hey, man, if you're looking for $20 million per year. that you're just not going to get it from us because you were a product of the San Francisco

49ers offense. But if he is now down to a much more reasonable figure that everybody passed on him, he is a perfect fit for the Minnesota Vikings in this offense. He is experienced in both the slot and the outside. He is what I guess I would call a big slot type player. He's 6 foot 2, about 215 pounds. he's got strength, he catches the ball well, he gets open, he is not somebody that you would want to replace Justin Jefferson, not this blazing fast, incredible route runner or anything like

that, but he gets open and makes plays and he's got a ton of experience in the NFL as somebody who has worked his way up and up and up in San Francisco, and then when they had injuries, he proved that he could be more or less the guy. And the reason to me, this is perfect fit for the Vikings, is he can, can be a possession wide receiver. He's not necessarily a deep threat, but I think the Vikings with Kyler Murray have to think more possession wide receiver than with, say, Sam Darnold, for example, where it's great to have three guys that go deep all the time because Darnold had a crazy arm.

And even with J.J. McCarthy, his best throws were, you know, 15 to 25 yards down the field where he could let it rip and it kind of made sense to have deep receivers for. a quarterback like that, but for Kyler Murray, he has been very effective at underneath stuff. And Joanne Jennings, you know, when I think Joanne Jennings, I think of running like crossing routes, catching and running, stuff like that and breaking a tackle or something because he is a bigger guy, but just a reliable and effective target for the 49ers over the last couple of years. And if you could slot him in where now you have a lot of different looks to your offense, where you can have Josh Oliver out there.

You can have Max Bredesen out there as the new fullback in the mix. You can have three wide receivers on third down. You can have, you know, whatever mix that you want you can get when you have Joanne Jennings. And then the other thing, we never think about this when we're doing our offseason calculations. But I've started to think more in these terms in recent years. And I talked about this with them drafting Caleb Tiernan of, hey, well, you know, if Brian O'Neill gets hurt, well, they do have Ryan Van Damark, but getting Caleb Tiernan, that's a guy who could potentially slot into a guard position if he had to,

play a tackle position if he had to, the backups, the next man up, or if you have to slide the depth chart, one slot. We've seen this before, kind of destroy the Vikings at times, and that it's not just depth, but it's also who moves up into a position if your top guy gets hurt. So just for example, if Justin Jefferson went down with a hamstring injury for four weeks, then you could have Jordan Addison and Juan Jennings as your number one and two, and then T.J. Hawkinson and so forth, that feels pretty good. Right now, your answer would be Justin Jefferson goes down.

It's Jordan Addison and Ty Felton and Miles Price right now. So they have to do something here. They have to make a move at the wide receiver position. But my big question with Jennings is, would he take a contract that would be kind of a prove it deal for him, which feels a little unfair because he has, as you can see, what, 122 catches over the last two seasons? It just doesn't seem right that somebody who has been that productive has to then take another kind of prove it deal. But if that's what the NFL has said to Joanne Jennings, sorry, man, your price tag is too high. and you're a product of the 49ers offense, then maybe the Vikings can take advantage of that.

Where is the line that gets drawn? Is it a one-year deal for him? I think that's favorable now that the league has not decided to sign him to the mega contract. So can you get maybe the most money squeezed out of that if you're Joanne Jennings? And then if you're the Vikings, how do you make that fit? Yes, you have some additional cap space because of the Jonathan Grenard trade. you don't have endless cap space because of the Grinard trade. It opened up 12 million.

I mean, you got to sign a draft class, which I saw an estimate is going to be around $5 million. So can they work something out with Jennings where it's a one-year deal and, I mean, you know, you don't want to be using those old void years or anything, but can they put a lot of guaranteed dollars in his pocket on a short-term one-year type deal for Jennings to be wide receiver three here and very quality depth. And then you start to look at an offense. And this feels like the missing piece.

And that's why I did spend a lot of time in the draft lead up talking about wide receivers. And I, and maybe, maybe it's just me. Maybe it's me not wanting to admit that it didn't go my way with the wide receivers. But I think that there was a guy or two out there that they didn't get to on the board, that they would have done it. But whoever it was was taken a little bit too early. That's just a total guess. I'm not reporting that.

I'm just saying that it just, you bring in Joanne Jennings the next day after the draft feels to me like maybe there was a gentleman out there at wide receiver that they just weren't able to pick because of the way that the board fell that they might have wanted. And even if they had drafted a late third round wide receiver, that wouldn't have resolved the entire issue. It would have had to been day one or day two to lock someone in and then not go out into free agency. But I think what this says is, yeah, the Vikings are going to need a proven veteran

here at wide receiver three, or at least they're considering that. And where Ty Felton fits in, I guess he has to prove where he fits in. But if you went into the season with just Ty Felton, it would be like, really? Is that, that's how you're going to approach that, a guy who has no catches? I mean, I guess you can. But Jennings makes so much sense from a schematic perspective, from a roster building, and from just getting Kyler Murray as much possible talent around him as they could get. So we will see if Jennings signs and then, you know, maybe we'll have an emergency podcast or something and we'll talk a lot more in detail about that.

But it's just of note that they're looking at free agents. So I compiled a little list of other potential free agent fits for the Vikings. And I mean, there's just a lot of proven guys that are out there that would make sense as a wide receiver three. So the list that I came up with here, DeAndre Hopkins, I know we've discussed him quite a bit. Hopkins saying a couple weeks ago that he wouldn't mind coming and playing with Kyler if the Vikings want him. He had 22 catches last year for 330 yards. Okay. That's perfectly fine for a wide receiver 3 who has a lot of experience.

I guess the only question would be, you know, are you a little concerned about Kyler Murray maybe having too much trust in DeAndre Hopkins since they know, each other from before and you know maybe he's trying to force the ball to him or something probably not though right if he's playing a wide receiver three role i think hopkins can still catch the ball and he could still at least last year run enough to be that 30-something year old big slot kind of you know third wide receiver rotating in josh reynolds played for the los angeles rams and detroit lions now most recently he was with the jets so rip his stat line it was not good good last year, but Jets. And by the end of the year, it's Brady Cook playing quarterback.

So it wasn't a great situation for him, but he's had overall a decent NFL career as a wide receiver three. He did probably cost the Detroit Lions a trip to the Super Bowl by dropping a fourth down pass. Nonetheless, overall, he has experience in the system and has been a fine depth wide receiver. Sterling Shepherd, who kind of was known most for the injuries, that he had over the years. But I was, you know, and as I was going through the list,

I was like, no, not Sterling Shepard, two injured. He's 33, but he actually had 39 receptions last year for Tampa Bay, and that fits the bill. You're not looking for someone who's a complete game changer. In fact, Jennings would be more on that spectrum than you would expect to be available at this point. But can the guy get open, make plays every once in a while? And that's what Sterling Shepard might be able to do.

his health records certainly would be concerning, but the fact that he was able to stay mostly healthy last year for Tampa Bay and play well. He gets on the list. Curtis Samuel last year fell out of favor in Buffalo. Not exactly sure what happened there, but in his recent past, he's had some decent seasons. He was supposed to be a game changer, get the ball in his hands, he's going to make all the difference. And it never really turned out that way. But he did have seasons where he caught like 60 passes. and two years ago had 30-something receptions for Buffalo. Just, you know, one of those reminders that at this point in the year,

you're not really saying, wow, this is incredible. You're getting a total franchise shifting player. That's actually why Jennings is rare because he's not a franchise shifting player, but he's pretty nice for a guy that's in free agency still at this point. And I'm sure that's why the Vikings got him right in on a visit. The rest of these guys are, for whatever reason, maybe. a swing at looking at a role player, but not necessarily the most ideal thing in the world. So, anyway, back to the list.

Brandon Cooks went to Buffalo last year, played pretty well, had some big, deep receptions for them if they are looking for, can you play the Jalen Naylor role? Brandon Cooks, as old as he is, still can track the football deep down the field. Noah Brown was a guy that I was kind of interested in a couple years ago for the Texans. and then last year he goes to, I believe, was it Washington and then gets hurt. And he had a groin injury, missed a lot of the season, just didn't play a whole lot. And I can hear your eye rolling of another injured player. But, you know, Noah Brown didn't have a huge injury history beforehand, just maybe bad luck.

So he was kind of a role player and somebody that a lot of people liked when he signed and just didn't work out. But throw him on the list. Juju Smith-Schuster has kicked her. round a bit, was with the Kansas City Chiefs when they won the Super Bowl, has not been a super dynamic receiver since early in his career, but as a veteran with experience. And then I threw Debo Samuel on the list here as well. I don't know that you want to go with Demo Samuel. It seems like if you're going to bring him to your offense, you have to make him a big part

of your offense rather than, hey, you know, if it's Josh Reynolds, that guy can be thrown into wide receiver three and, you know, what difference does it make? So that one I kind of tossed on the list. the guy that I left off was Tyree Kill. I just don't know if you want to go there. Like how fast is Tyree Kill now that he's had the injury? What's his status there? The off-field stuff.

He's erratic. Just to me, he's a no-go with the Minnesota Vikings. And they have the connection there with Frank Smith. He would know better than me. But I think that that's, that's drama waiting to happen. That's arrests maybe waiting to happen. Lawsuits waiting to happen. Tyreek has had his problems.

So I just, that's to mean a non-starter. But the rest of the group you could see fitting in as a veteran receiver and then you work with Ty Felt and see where he's at and that could be your receiver room. But at least what Joanne Jennings tells us is that they are interested in veteran wide receivers. Now, another thing that I wanted to talk about tonight and get your feedback on is the Minnesota Vikings as a, franchise have been graded quite poorly by the draft nicks and i grabbed a couple of them that bleacher report gave the viking's draft a d uh mel kiper was none too pleased he gave them a c and u s a today ranked the viking's draft 30th out of 32 teams and uh there's a gentleman

i'm going to grab his name here who grabs the aggregate of his name is uh rene buggner who uh on Twitter who grabs the aggregate of a bunch of different draft grades and puts them into a big chart. So I'm going to show you the chart. There's the big chart. So every like tons of draft grades and he forms a grade point average by doing that. And in his grade point average for a bunch of different outlets, what is that? Like 30 different outlets, 20 different outlets, whatever it is, 20 different outlets for to form the GPA.

the Vikings came up with the 29th ranked draft. The only ones below them were the 49ers, the Rams, and the Jaguars. And they received an average score on their GPA of 2.32. You know, it's like the ABCD. So it's like your 4.0 is your best. And that's kind of where the Cleveland Browns landed. Congrats to the Browns again for having a wonderful draft and never winning anything. The horrible teams are unsurprisingly at the top.

they had high draft picks. As always, the Browns, the Raiders, the Giants, the Jets, shocker, those teams ended up with great draft grades because they have high picks and tons of them because they're super bad. But it is interesting that the Vikings are not getting benefit of the doubt here. Now, is that because more people are paying attention to consensus boards, which if you've been on social media, you probably never want to hear about that. ever again. Even if you're listening to my draft coverage, I did mention it a number of times

about reaching and things like that. And while the Vikings had a big reach in the first round, the second and third round, not so much. And then after that, who cares about the consensus board? I think when it comes to fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh round draft picks, you just pick players you like and go from there. That's even the consensus board, the long-term data, has shown that around pick 100, it starts to lose its predictive power because teams draft for specific roles that they see players in. And that's really hard to do from the draft analysis community when you're doing a big board trying to rank 150 players. Like somebody might be 175th on your board and a team drafts them 115th. That it doesn't make any difference at all.

Like they saw something that they like, so they went with them. And I kind of think of that as being a Jacoby Thomas pick, which everybody could not stand. And that was that was one of those consensus board. He wasn't anywhere close to where they picked him. But it's right on the edge of where the consensus board doesn't seem to matter anymore. So I think if Brian Flores likes the guy and sees a future for him as a safety, then go ahead and take your guy and develop him and, you know, prove that you saw something in him. But when you get to analysts trying to evaluate the 140th player off the board and rank him versus the 98th player or whatever, it just is nowhere close to what the top 50 players.

And if you reach in the top 50, top 75, like, that's who everybody is looking at. There's much more wisdom of crowds there. And teams have the resources to watch 150, 250 players. It's really hard for a single draft analyst to be watching in depth hundreds and hundreds of players. So you can see why the data would say that long term, right? But the Vikings, I think having reaches versus the consensus board hurt them. And a lot of the draft analysts, it's sort of funny because grading a draft is based on what you thought in your evaluation. So you're believing in your evaluation a lot saying, well, I didn't see that.

guy is a third round pick so I'm giving them a bad grade it's like well I think you have to I don't know if you could do it quite that way right where I think that the grades are going a little bit off is not fully understanding what the Vikings were going for with a lot of these draft picks now that's not to say that giving them a C is any sort of like crime or whatever for Mel Kuiper and he's entitled to that take and Mel studies the heck out of these players and he's not one of those animals. I'm talking about, like, you know that Mel Kiper and some of the Daniel Jeremiah especially, like those guys are going to watch the players, right? But I, you know, so I think that maybe their personal opinions shape of certain players, shape where they give the grades or they make their

board and they grade a team versus their board, which doesn't mean they're right and the team is wrong. But I think where we can go wrong a little bit for draft analysts who try to cover all 32 teams is there's nuances here. And I'm not saying that I gave the Vikings an A plus for this draft because I think Caleb Banks is a scary draft pick. Could be scary good. Could be somebody that, you know, has too many red flags and doesn't work out. So there's hesitation there for me.

But when a team takes someone like Jake Golda, just for example, I think you have to really understand that the Vikings have a guy in Amherst, Andrew Van Ginkle, where they have created this role specifically for Andrew Van Ginkle to play a certain way. And it has to be someone who can fit the skill set of Andrew Van Ginkle, right? Like, it can't just be a random guy that they draft. So they identify someone who may be able to fill that role eventually. Van Ginkle's on the older side and has a lot of the same specs and a lot of the same specs and a lot of. lot of the same things they like and they think, okay, worst case scenario, he can be Eric Wilson and best case scenario he can be Andrew Van Ginkle.

Well, that's, that's like a lot of explanation that's required to draft that player. And I would say the same for Dominique Orange, where we discuss this a lot. But when you think about how the Vikings have been run on in recent years and how they've cobbled together the defensive tackle room and had a this undrafted free agent who's never played 500 snaps before. Hey, he's a starter. You know, Jonathan Bullard. This guy, first rounder, draft bus. We just threw him in there.

How about Jerry Tilly? Or Harrison Phillips, who was really good when he was playing like five or 600 snaps. Hey, how about you play like all the snaps, Harrison Phillips? So being a little more serious about that and understanding too that your linebackers are undersized and having someone to fill gaps and overpower a lot. an offensive line, especially the center and require some double teams and things like that to try to move them in the run game. It just opens up gaps for your undersized linebackers.

And, you know, maybe they should have been looking at guys like that a little bit more in recent years, but one, they didn't have a lot of draft capital. And two, I think that they liked the idea of guys who are a little quicker and can move a little more. And so they've shifted what they think based on what they've seen recently and how teams were attacking them. That's the key. Like, in order to get the draft pick,

you kind of have to know that teams were attacking the Vikings in the run game in a very specific way last year and it was working. And so now they're bringing in a player to try to change that. Now, is that the best use that? Here's the debate. So let me go through a couple more with that. And then we'll get to kind of the debate about the draft grade. So just like Jacoby Thomas, for example, this guy is from my understanding,

super high IQ. He makes plays on the football, but it's really his read and react, his ability to identify stuff, and his intelligence, football intelligence. Who does that sound like? It sounds like Josh Mattelis.

It sounds like Cam Bynum. Those guys didn't run fast 40s. But if you're an outside draft analyst, are you going to be like, oh, it's fine that they didn't, you know, no, you're going to use that as a major part of your evaluation of like this guy's physical tools,

were not the best. So he is more of a fourth or fifth round pick. Oh, the Vikings majorly reached on him, stamp, bad pick. And having Brian Flores here, it just requires a different set of goggles to look through everything because we've watched it so much. We understand how different and how unique it is and what's required of the different players and positions to have success that you can look at a guy like Jacoby Thomas and say, you know what, that looks like a pretty good draft pick.

But I don't know that everyone can do that. Now, that's, I don't think that that is like a, a rationalization exactly, more than an explanation for why they would have done it. Now, the debate, though, would be if you're on the other side of that, and just for example, you gave some pretty poor grades to the Vikings. If you're Mel Kuyper or Bleach report, you might go to board management when you took those players versus expectation or versus the, their, you know, raw talent level, or you might just say this, that fit is overrated.

I think if you're giving the Vikings a good grade, you think fit is very important, and you understand that drafting a fullback when they did might end up playing a pretty big role because they're going to adopt this pistol stuff out of the run game and outside zone concepts that Miami used with their running back and full back. Right, you would understand that. Well, that's why they got this guy. very specific idea from the coaches. They got Dominique Orange for a very specific idea,

Jake Golda, for a very specific thought. And they really just drafted Caleb Banks because this guy is going to overpower people and they think that they can teach him the stuff that he is not maybe necessarily proficient in, which I do have a thought on that. And then we'll get to your comments and thoughts. But it probably is those conflicting ideas

that if you think it's really good to draft for specific fit, for your franchise. This guy works for Flores. And even with Demand Claiborne, it's another example of this guy fits for this Miami running game that they're bringing in. It's Devon A. Chan Light. It's in his scouting reports. They use his name.

They use A. Jan's name. He is special at, you know, seeing a little bit of a crease and then getting a home run from it. His acceleration is pretty ridiculous. But, you know, he didn't have the craziest production of all times. at Wake Forest. It's also Wake Forest. And this year, the university made a lot more difference than I've ever seen it make. So he ends up dropping a bit. But in terms of what they want to do, like this is their guy. This is the guy that's going to fit with that. If you think you should

just stockpile talent and then make it fit rather than looking for guys that work for you, that's a different philosophy than what the Vikings deployed this year with Rob Bersenski running it. And what it really looks like is that, when Rob Bersinski talked about forming consensus in the room, he meant, like, I'm going to get the coaches on board. And the scouts, they do their job. They gather the information and they present it to every one of, like, here's what these guys are made of and so forth. But this is going to be, you know, coaches feel comfortable with these players based on their fits. And I tend to think that it's probably as a mix.

Day three should be all fits. The rest should probably be more talent-based. but, you know, Gold Day is such a specific player that fits in this defense. That's the thing. You can't do it without, you can't evaluate this without saying fit. So I think there were probably some people who graded it quite high who thought, all right, like every single one of these players, you could see why they did it and their thought process. But there's others who I think look at their boards or look at consensus boards and go,

it doesn't match up. And here's one thing I'll say before we get to your thoughts and comments is that if you're wondering, whether it matters if it has the predictive power. The answer is it does not. Over the years, many people have tried to grab a bunch of draft grades and look at them in the future and see if they were liked or not liked. I'll just give you an example. The 2015, I remember looking this up, the 2015 draft was loved by a lot of analysts

and they nailed it. They said the Vikings crushed this draft. But the 2016 draft was also really liked by a lot of analysts, who I think gave the Vikings the benefit of the doubt because they had nailed the last one. And then the 2022 draft, you can look this up. There's a few skeptics. A lot of people in the draft analysis universe liked the Vikings 2020 draft. So it's never been one of those, hey, if analysts don't like your draft, you are screwed.

They're much better in the draft universe of creating their big boards of the top 75 to 100 players and having predictive power, then they are grading who got the best booty of players. And, you know, it's just, that's just, that's just how it goes, right? Like, there's so many factors that go into success or failure that it's impossible to look right after a draft and say, oh, yeah, they nailed it or they are stupid. So there's, there is that. Real quick, let me give you a, uh, a Fandual question of the day.

The, um, the Fandual question of the day is this. The odds are out over on Fanduil for next year's top of the draft. And the number one projected overall pick for next year is Arch Manning at plus 165. Dante Moore at plus 500. Jeremiah Smith at plus 600. But here's the question, will we here on Purple Insider, be talking about quarterbacks in the draft at any point during the 2026 NFL season? will we be having a discussion about draftable quarterbacks?

That is the Fanduil question of the day, and you can go check out those odds. So also later in the show, I'm going to be joined by Kegan Nickison, who covers Cincinnati to talk about Jake Golda, Gavin Gerhardt, and a crazy controversy that is going on with Cincinnati right now. So that's coming up later on in the show. Call it 8.30-ish, depending on how active you guys are in the, the chat. So let's, uh, let's get to your thoughts and, uh, and feelings here. Let's jump in. Okay. Uh, Mama says, uh, we could have had Jefferson, Addison and, uh, Lemon and feline masterpiece, Cisco says collar is pleased as punch. That's funny. Uh, well, you know, when a

wide receiver comes to town that I've mentioned numerous times, yeah, I mean, I, the thing about me and wide receivers is that they are valuable. They're hard to come across. They elevate your quarterback. And when you get one to hurt and you have to put in a bad backup, you are so screwed a lot of times. You have to readjust your entire offense. So they, yeah, I mean, I think that there's a lot of evidence to suggest that if you

have great wide receivers, it elevates your offense. It elevates your quarterback. And this was an older PFF study. So, you know, I wish it could be updated if anyone were. there anymore, but they looked at in big games how wide receivers performed wide receiver one, two, and three. And they found that oftentimes number three was just as valuable as number one because teams put in so much effort into stopping wide receiver one.

Think about Belichick and, you know, double teaming and, you know, putting top corners on those players. So I've always kept that in the back of my mind of like that the wide receiver three is important position. And, you know, we have to go back a little while, but we, we don't necessarily need to, but it always sticks in my mind of Jerry is right. And the big catch that he made to set up a Kai Forbath 50-yard field goal in the Minneapolis Miracle game. Like, yep, that was the guy that they couldn't cover. And the same goes for how many big catches KJ. Osborne had through the years. J. Linelahler had a number of them. Like, it matters. That's, if you have a good player there,

it's a cheat code. So please, this punch is a phrase I've never heard before, but I tend to agree with you. Yeah, I mean, if they're able to sign Joanne Jennings, I will say it's a good move. Mama says still don't get the huge swing by Rob Brzynski on Caleb Banks, thought he'd play it safe and take Thineman. I think what it comes down to is something that we talked about early.

Now, it's funny to be like right and wrong at the same time, because I was, I think, right about Dylan Thineman and the positional value, where when you're talking about someone who is much more of a free safety, much more playing, you know, deep and away from the football, that those guys don't get drafted as high and they are replaceable. And so I think the Vikings looked at that and said, you know what, there's other safeties in this class who can do the same thing, maybe not quite as well as Thineman, but there was just way too much connection

of, hey, Dylan Thineman, he looks like Harrison Smith, they lost Harrison Smith. It just was way too, like, lazy and obvious to make sense to me with that, for that connection. But I think that that's what it really comes down to. Why you wouldn't, like, play it safe there is that they felt like there were other safeties in the class who could do a lot of the same types of things. Now, taking the risk on Caleb Banks is, I think, just a wide range of possibilities. as I've said many times once they become a Viking my first time and it's going to happen in it'll be a little while before we have a rookie mini camp access and we won't see Caleb Banks.

So it'll be a really long time before we actually see them. But my rule has always been that as soon as we see them in a purple uniform, I do not care at all what anyone said about them at college. Does not matter. What they did in college, what the draft analyst thought matters to me zero percent. They're a Viking. So we've got, you know, some time to talk about banks and his projections and what he did in college and injuries and everything else. But once he steps on the field as a Viking, that's all over. And he's just an NFL player and we evaluate him from there.

And I don't really care about whatever anyone, you know, graded the Vikings in their draft grades and so forth. But it is a big swing and it is surprising. And I think it really speaks to just that position in particular in the trenches has. been so big for teams recently in the playoffs. You get into the playoffs. Do you want to face the Houston Texans? Heck no. Do you want to face the Eagles? Nope. Do you want to face the Seahawks, the Rams? Nope. All those teams. And when San Francisco was in the Super Bowl, what did they have? A sick defensive line. I mean, it matters a ton, that defensive tackle position. So if you do hit on it and it does work, it's going to be worth a lot to your defense.

And I think what it probably came down to was two things. The Vikings know more medically than anybody else does. That's number one. And we all acknowledge that, that the insiders, as always, didn't really hit the nail on the head for a lot of their draft predictions. Some analysts were saying there would be no defensive tackles in the first round. And they were wrong. And, you know, you could go through the entire list of things that insiders didn't know. How about all the analysts who, you know, who had Dramad McCoy in the first round of their mock drafts?

And then he ends up dropping to the fourth because of an injury. I'm sure the NFL, since no one drafted him, knew that he had that injury. They always have more information than the outside world. So you have to believe that to some extent. There's common sense that concerns you still about banks and the foot, but you have to believe to some extent they know more. So automatically, if we were just doing this based on talent, he would have been higher. on people's boards, I think, if not for the injury. But I also, you know, think that there's a belief in this building that you could say

borders on believing too much in themselves. Maybe like going to J.J. McCarthy after having Sam Darnold play incredibly good football. I think there's a little bit of that here. I think there's a little bit of that same self-belief that they can coach him up and they and over whatever amount of time, if he learns X, Y, and Z from this coaching staff, and they work hard and close with him, that he can become a monster because that's his potential.

So that's what they went for. Yeah, it's, it is a surprise. Um, but I get it. Like, I get the theory behind it. Taking Thineman would have felt like to me of just like, uh, oh, like, okay. I mean, I guess that's completely fine. Um, that's how I would have looked at it.

So it's another, how do you view stuff? Inkblot test. Do you like the big giant swing? There are some big giant swings that have worked out in Vikings history. Randy Moss is one of them, not making the comparison, just saying that's one of them. And there are other big swings that teams have taken on guys who had injuries or guys who didn't produce that did not work out very well. So we're going to have to find out where that goes. But if you would prefer to play it safe, then you probably think, well, there's a great chance Dylan Thineman becomes like the 11th best to 15th best free safety in the league. There's a great chance of that and maybe a little more that he's better than that.

But this guy here, you know, there's a chance that he could become at absolute best, one of the most unstoppable players in the league. And even at the 75% of his maximum, he could still be a mismatch. That's a big challenge. And I am really interested to see just how they utilize him because I, I don't think it'll be in a nose tackle. I think it'll be much more in like a three technique and out, which means he is pushing back offensive tackles.

He's taking on guards with some space and he can use his strength and wiggle. Like there's a lot of ways that this could work for the Vikings. So you can see why they did it. But it feels like a, it feels like a coach's pick. It feels like the coaching staff, not just Flores, but the coaching staff thinks, we see it in the kid. They also get to sit down with them. They also get to spend time with him.

The draft graders don't. I don't. I didn't get a chance to spend an entire day watching film with Caleb Banks, but the Vikings defensive line coach did. So, you know, there's differences there for the amount of information we get. Doesn't mean they'll be right. And every draft pick ever that's been a reach, they've had a multi-layered explanation for why they did it.

So history is a little bit against this one, but you can see why they would take the big home run swing that they wanted to. Chris says Joanne Jennings, the dog can take a hit and give a hit. I mean, that's the thing is that he is big. Like, he's a big dude. And there, it is noticeable that there's investment in the run game. Just this, you got the fullback, you got the running back, you got the hire of Frank Smith. They want to run the football.

And, you know, having Josh Oliver and now Max Bredesen and drafting a running back, it's pretty clear that having a wide receiver who could block would be a good idea. And this guy understands it. I think he's a perfect fit. I mean, honestly, I don't know what the price is. It's just the, he catches the football. He can get yards after catch. He has been productive and successful in a system that at least has some crossover.

He's a good run blocker. He can run over people. Like, I just like Juan Jennings a lot. Troy says can't complain about San Francisco running back Jordan Mason. Oh, that's true. But my point is not that all San Francisco players, former San Francisco players are bad. That's not my point. I think that around the league, there might be a little bit of a sense of, yeah, I mean, San Francisco just pumps up everybody.

That's what I'm getting at is it might be a feeling in terms of how much you're deciding to pay a free agent that do we, can we really make that out of him? Can we make him do the same thing that he did in San Francisco? or was he just elevated by that offensive system? I like Jordan Mason a lot, and he was just as good here as he was for San Francisco. So it's, I mean, and Rahim Moster, I think, led the league in touchdowns one year with Miami. So it's not that that's been unequivocally true or anything. Hunter says wanted him last year when the 49ers were shopping him. Same here.

Thought he'd allow us to trade Addison this year so we could have drafted a receiver, Cough Cough, Cough, Lemon. that's the one that is going to linger over the Vikings head is Mackay Lemon. He's right there on the board. There are some people, including Dane Brugler, who had him as high as wide receiver two behind Cornell Tate. I believe I don't want to misquote Bruegler, but I believe he had him as wide receiver two. The route running, the contested catchability, the hands, the competitiveness. I mean, there's a lot there for Mackay Lemon that I think could have been a longer term.

solution and even if you love Jordan Addison and you pay him, then you still have Mackay-Lemant on your team and you've got three wide receivers. So, yeah, I mean, I feel you on that where you're going from. And I think you guys all know that I would have probably drafted the wide receiver. But at the same time, if they could get Joanne Jennings instead, that is a really, really good receiver and tight end room if they can. We will see, though, just a visit, not a signing. Jacks, please sign him.

Joker, Kevin O'Connell, is this formerly Dumer K.O. now with a new name? Joker, Joanne Jennings, the final piece to be just good enough not to be a true contender. I think that is you, Dumer K.O. with a new name. You've been very Dumer lately. But, yeah, like, at this time of year, it's hard to have the conversation. about what you're saying, like of how good are they really? Are they just good enough to be a mediocre team or, you know, I mean, the over under hasn't changed, by the way.

The Vikings on Fanduil are still over under 8.5 wins. They did ever so slightly drop during the draft in terms of their chances to win the division to plus 600 from plus 550. So basically, you know, not much. But the gambling world has not been super high on them as what kind of chances they have to win the division. And I think if you are talking about, you know, what the most likely outcome for this team this year is,

would be that you probably get to the playoffs and maybe don't have enough. Like Caleb Banks isn't fully ready to make that impact. Dominic Orange isn't fully ready to make that impact that say Byron Murphy or Leonard Williams could at their age. You could say you don't have enough corner depth. You could say that, I mean, maybe the offensive line is better, terms of depth this year, but maybe there's a weakness at center that, you know, crops up or whatever it might be.

But I also think on the other side of that coin is when you start to compare the NFC teams. And this is why last year is kind of crushing for the Vikings. And I don't think they would have beat Seattle or the Rams. I don't think they were there. But when you look at the rest of the NFC and, oh, that's something I want to do this week, is an updated NFC power ranking. if you haven't been tracking this closely, I've made fun of power rankings for about 10 years now covering the Vikings,

and I decided it's my turn to prove that I can do better at power ranking, the NFC, is what I've been doing. So I got to redo that. But the hard thing when I first tried to power rank the NFC was how many teams I had really close to each other. And that's how I look at this situation with Kyler Murray here. if you add Joanne Jennings, you're going to feel really good about your receiving depth. The addition of a new running scheme.

I really think they got serious this time because over the last couple of years, it's been, yeah, we need to run the ball better. So we're going to sign Aaron Jones. And that's great. And they were running well at the beginning of 2024. But this is a serious shift. Like you drafted a fullback. You drafted a 437 guy.

You hired somebody from the best run scheme in the NFL, not named San Francisco. I mean, there's a real investment there. So I get what your point is like, hey, add that one more player to come just short in the playoffs or whatever, which is, you know, as cynical as it gets. Like we've got a long way to go before they play games. But when you compare the rest of the NFC, the Rams improved and are still the best team. Seattle maybe drops off a little bit, but still should be a very, very good team. Philly belongs in that conversation, but who else? I mean, who else when you look at their roster, do you go, well, this is blatantly better

than the Minnesota Vikings? I mean, maybe that's something you can answer later in the comments, but outside of Seattle, Los Angeles, I think they're very, very close with Detroit. And this is obviously if Kyler Murray works out. But if Kyler Murray plays like he has at his best before, then you should be, at least in that conversation with the rest of the NFC. and if you're there, then we see where it goes. So I get what you're saying,

but this is kind of the last iteration of the team that they have. So the only thing you could do is strap in for the ride and see where this takes you because it's, it is very interesting with Kyler Murray here that we never would have expected and a group that was put together over years that most of these guys won 14 games two years ago. So there is a lot there. that makes this an interesting situation.

And also, you know, just like declaring it over in April is pretty tough. That's, that's pretty tough. Pretty tough. Chris says, don't want of the DT's goal off the books on June 1st. Yes, they will get, yes, that's right. They will get more cap space after Jonathan Allen. So that could allow that, I mean, the fact that Jennings is visiting now, they could agree to a contract and then get that cap.

space then. So, you know, that's, yeah, that's a, that's a good point about Jonathan Allen in the cap space that's going to be ultimately created. So they can get a little bit like higher in terms of expense for Jennings. I mean, what's too high? What's too high for Joanne Jennings is like one year $13 million fine? Would you go 15 for him? If he wants a one year contract, it's kind of a prove it deal to then hit free agency. I mean, Naylor got 12. so would you just go 14 or 15? Could you go like one with, you know, maybe some cap stuff in there to keep the cap hit pretty low? I don't know. Like with some extra cap space, if you're not trying to lock yourself in long term, maybe something like that does make sense for Jennings. And they might have to, as you said, yeah, they might have to wait until June 1st.

But the number will be very interesting because if I'm Jennings, I'm looking for two things. I'm looking for an opportunity to show people that I'm not just a product of the 49ers and I'm looking for cash in my pocket. So like a highly guaranteed one year type of deal feels like a pretty good fit for both sides because then, you know, if you don't feel super comfortable with where you're at with Jordan Addison after this year, then you could always trade him and his fifth year option has been picked up or something like that and maybe resign Jennings. I don't know.

Like it gives you some flexibility. or you could just swing for it this year with him, give him his cash and see what happens. But I think it would make a lot of sense to even up the price a little bit more than you'd like to pay for a short-term deal with him. Chris says, I think they wanted Sadiq. Very possible. Very possible that they did. Let's see. Ethan, why would we get Jennings for All-in?

And thank you for the Super Chat, by the way. If the draft wasn't an all-in draft, I like the draft, but really confused with the play. is this year. Well, Jawan Jennings is not really an, I mean, there's not an all in move. I don't look at it that way. That's one that every team makes every year where, hey, there's one last for, that's Stefan Gilmore, right? They weren't all in in 2024, but they signed Stefan Gilmore anyway. Like, you're trying to win and there's a good football player out there who's available. So you add them to your team at a position of need. Like, I don't think that a Jawan Jennings contract has to be viewed as like part of the bigger roster build, unless you were talking about some sort of multi-year

contract. It's much more of a, our team's pretty good. We need help for our quarterback. We want him to succeed and we want to really find out whether he could be our franchise quarterback going forward. So bang, one-year contract, if they ultimately decide to do that. And in terms of the draft, I've always been a big proponent of not drafting for this year. that should go into a draft grade as well,

that I would bet that the drafting teams, yeah, let me put this the right way, the teams that draft the most players that can help right away probably get the highest grades. Even if they pass up other talented players or guys that might need more development or miss on development projects, it's the ones who are projected to be the best right here, right now.

I guarantee you from the analysts, get the best grades. So the fact that you have to look out a little bit into the future with Caleb Banks of, that might not be perfect in year one. He might need development in year one or someone like Jake Golday, who's a second round draft pick that he could. If everyone stays healthy, he could be a special teamer and then rotate in. But that's it. Like he might play 300 snaps like Dallas Turner did. And that ends up being for more of a long term.

But I've always been big on drafting for the future because of another study from a few years ago done by Timor Risky, who is a statistical analyst for PFF. I don't know if he still is, but he was. And he was really, really good. And he did a study about when players start to hit their peak, right? And for offensive line, it was like year three. They were pretty slow at reaching their peak because it's such a complicated position. And nobody, except for safety and running back, I think was actually good right away. And to some extent, that wide receiver. But if you draft for, hey, you got to save us right now, you got to be the guy right now.

You better be drafting a safety or a running back because otherwise, everybody else is unlikely to completely shift your franchise right away or completely solve a problem even. It doesn't even have to be that big. It could be just solve a problem. So if the Vikings went just purely to let's just solve our problems, I mean, yeah, I guess Dylan Thineman might have done it. but otherwise, if they had drafted Kenyon Sadiq, for example, like that's a, that's a pick for the future.

It's almost hard. Even McKay Lemon. Now, wide receiver was in the middle a little bit in that study because there are a lot of wide receivers that contribute right away. Mackay Lemon is the one that we will be looking back and saying, are you sure you didn't just want to go with that wide receiver? Because he could have helped now and later. But normally drafting has to be looking down the road because guys just take

development. That's like the Dallas Turner thing. Um, Joker, we can, uh, create cap space with an O'Neill extension. Uh, that one is, is that going to happen or not? Because I, you know, I've been watching a little bit of Caleb Tiernan and I got to say, man, he's good. Like, he could play. And if he didn't have my size arms and hands, um, he might have been drafted a heck of a lot higher. His explosiveness is very clearly there. His football IQ is very clearly there. I really have come around. Uh, I'm not. Um, he might have been drafted. Um, he might have been drafted. Um, um, he's explosiveness is very clearly there. I really. I really have come around. I. I that pick that was one of the most surprising on draft on it was like okay a tackle in the third are you sure but come around on that one and and maybe it's in part for guard but i think that he's a tackle i think he's got the athleticism of tackle he just doesn't have the arm length so you got to play a certain way and we've seen from will campbell that it can be a problem at some points if you don't have ideal arm length but it's not like it's not like if you don't have 34 inch arms that you just like fall down

on the turf and cry. Like, you can play with not the longest arms in the entire universe. So I'm interested if that is a little bit of a thought looking, you know, out into the future that they might be not able to extend Brian O'Neill. And this might be the end of his era here with the Vikings. I think you'd rather extend him. But drafting that guy, it does raise an eyebrow toward that. and that possibility that, you know, maybe

O'Neill is not, you know, going to be the longer term answer. But you're right. An extension would do that. And they could even do that for like Blake Cashman as well. Chris Jennings is 28, not wanting any roached wide receivers. I don't know what roached means. That means like old, cooked. Is that what you mean?

Toasted? I'm not sure. But I know what you're saying. The list that I had was all guys who are super old, mostly. Noah Brown, not so much, but everybody else on that list was guys who are old. I think you're in a position where that's fine. A Sterling Shepherd, you know, that's okay. Like 35, 40 catches from a guy who's 33 years old comes in to help you out.

That's not bad. That's okay. It's just that it doesn't have any sort of upside longer term. And I would prefer Jennings as well to any of those wide receivers. Jennings would be free agent one on my free agent board. and the rest of them are, okay, I think this could work out fine. This will be all right. This guy gives you time to figure out what you've got in Ty Feltin,

kind of more along those lines. Antoine, haven't give up on J.J. McCarthy yet. He just needs to take stuff more seriously. You feel like getting married and having children is not taking his career seriously enough. Antoine, wow, that's a bizarre take, my friend. A lot of guys get married and have kids, yeah, in the NFL. I don't think that that's, I don't think that that's the issue with J.J. McCarthy.

And at least from what it seems, he has taken this offseason very seriously. He went out, worked with John Beck. And I saw John Beck. I haven't looked at this yet. It's on my list of things to look at. John Beck was on Rich Eisen's show and I think he talked about J.J. McCarthy there. I think what J.J. McCarthy needs is just time. That you could come up with a lot of different explanations or whatever.

and that's a, that's, that's a reach there, man, because most players in an NFL locker room have wives and children and stuff. Like, that's, uh, that's pretty common for the National Football League. Um, you should be able to work through that. But I think what it really is is just actual time, like actual football throws, practices. When we compare, and this is a little bit of a concern about Caleb Banks that I have for right away, when we compare how much J.J. McCorm. Carthy got to practice. Forget about throwing footballs in games, but just he missed an entire

year of practice in 2024. And then in 2025, he has a full training camp, which is great. But then by week two, he's missing five more weeks of practice. And you remember it was that whole mess of they're bringing him overseas to try to get him to practice. But then there wasn't room for him to practice. And then he didn't get to practice until he came back. And then he got hurt again and then he got hurt again and missed more practice and missed more practice. I mean, this, what the best thing for J.J. McCarthy is this year getting to go out there every day and work on the technical stuff that he needs to master. I think the baller nature is very clearly there for J.J. McCarthy and the arm strength

is there and the mobility, the athleticism, that's there. And I think that at times we saw confidence would flare up for him. and sometimes a little overconfidence, but we see the confidence that he has. It just is such a hard sport to say you didn't practice for an entire year, now come run an entire franchise. And that was their overbelief in themselves that they could just coach it up and it would be fine and it blew up in their face and the other guy won the Super Bowl and it's bad. And now they have Kyler Murray here.

So none of those things are good, but you can't chase those losses. Like you have to now, if you're J.J. McCarthy, take it one practice at a time. That's the only way and just get better and better and better and better. Because I think that McCarthy at some point will have to play this year. That, you know, Kyler Murray does not have a pristine health record. He was healthy in 2024, but he's had other seasons 2021 where he was injured. He's got a torn ACL.

He's got a foot injury in the past. So there should be some opportunity at some point for J.J. McCarthy to play. And whether he's ready or not or progressed or not, one, it will have nothing to do with his family. Come on, man. That's, that's messed up. But it will have, I think, all to do with the reps and whether he can make the most out of those reps. And at least so far, and this is not, I just, I don't know at all because we haven't spoken to JJ and quite some time. But just the signal that you get from him seems like the attitude is good. And that's what's going to be the most important is if he has the right approach to this,

This is not the make or break of his career. He can have a long career if he takes the right path. So, yeah, I mean, there's plenty of reason to think that J.J. McCarthy will someday be on a field again playing. And it might be for the Minnesota Vikings. It might be by week three. We have no idea where this is going to go. So it's up to him to take the bowl by the horns and make it happen. Norse force.

Jennings would be an outstanding addition. Unstoppable in the red zone. That would be big. Yeah, it's a good point in the red zone. Casey, the Vikings will finally do the pushing more than being pushed around the line of scrimmage. Yes, yeah, that is something that I think was a very serious consideration here for the Vikings in this draft was that last year, there were too many games that the Vikings played where they got pushed around. And by the end of the year, they had made their adjustments and they played much better against the run. And they weren't getting manhandled.

They were doing the manhandling up front. but still, you saw the weaknesses if teams attack them a certain way in the run game and there weren't many chances for them to rush the passer because they were getting run over. I mean, why if you're Pittsburgh, for example, would you drop back to pass 40 times when your run game is working as well as it did in that game overseas? So I think that they wanted to make a change there and you just can't say it enough, having the draft capital to be able to invest multiple players at DT. that's the thing. That's why I don't want to seem like when I talk about it, I feel like it's complicated

more than being like way up or way down. It's just, it's just nuanced and complex because the defensive tackle position is enormous. And I don't mean in size. I mean in success, in winning. It all starts right over the football. And to draft two defensive tackles, I mean, positionally, positional value wise, this is something that we've been waiting. for for a long time. I mean, I remember, I mean, going back, so Courtney Cronin, a VSPN, she hasn't covered the Vikings since 2021. And it was something that we were talking about then of like, why haven't they drafted more DTs? Like, you know, they had Linball and then, you know, he gets old eventually. And like, why haven't they drafted, you know, they went out and got Sheldon Richardson.

But maybe they should invest in that position. And they haven't done it at all since. It's just been patchwork, patchwork, patchwork. Delvin Tomlinson was a big investment. for sure, free agent-wise, but not in the draft, not in the draft almost at all. So now that they do that, that's a major plus for me. Just the players are on the risky side a little bit. And that's what, that's what holds me back. Because if Caleb Banks, if it wasn't a consensus reach and if he had more pass rush production and run defense production, I mean, I would be, this would have been like the guy I would

have been, you know, pounding the table forth. through the entire draft season from a pure size and skill set, you know, angle. That's a guy that I think the Vikings have not had in a long time. And now they do, maybe, if he works out.