Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Receiver Jauan Jennings visits the Vikings (Hour 3)

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.

This episode of Purple Insider is presented by Fandul. Deplorable Neanderthal, draft grades fail to influence my opinion at all. Only thing that is certain is change, death, taxes, and consensus boards are way off. Well, you're wrong about the last part. You're just dead wrong about the last part. The consensus boards have been very good at this. But they're really only very good at two things. They're very good at telling us who the top prospects are going to be.

And Areef put this out there that it was something like 26 out of 32 projected first round picks, which is right around the same ballpark that it is usually. And I forget what it was for the top two rounds. But it's a very, the consensus boards very well predict who the players will be, not necessarily teams, but who the first two rounds of picks will be. They very well predict that. And then they very well tell you over. historically, which reaches are going to be the most risky and a very high percentage of it.

I think he said, like, in his article, I read it, but I can't remember the exact percentage, but I think it was something like 77% of the mega reaches had gone wrong for the team that did the reach or they didn't get the expected value out of the draft pick. So that's very clear. but it doesn't guarantee that every single time that every single time that someone does it, that you are going to go completely wrong. And that's why I wonder if everyone knew the medical information about Caleb Banks, if the consensus would have said something different.

And I think finding out that pre-combine, Dane Bruegler had him at 24th, is maybe not total evidence of that because Daniel Jeremiah still had him lower. And so that's two different analysts. And they may have settled, instead of having him settled in the late 30s, maybe he would have settled more as a late first round pick and not mid. John says, is anyone unhappy we didn't take Emmett Johnson? We could have taken our fullback in the seventh round. I just feel like he would have been a great contributor. They had, it seems, their eyes on Demand Claiborne, and they wanted one big thing. And that was speed. They wanted speed very clearly wanted speed and they got it from claiborne i needed them to draft a running back i

like johnson and i liked jonah colman and there was a report from my friend chris thomason because he talked to scotty graham former minnesota viking running back who is now the running back coach in washington that the vikings did a lot of research on jonah coleman so he wasn't exactly the same type of burst player but that's what they were looking for they were looking for somebody who could have next level type of explosiveness. And that's DeMond Claiborne. I like Emmett Johnson a lot. I don't know what his path to the field is going to be if we're going to see him a lot.

But I think he could be a good player. Money MLV. Our prove it price seems to be $10 million over one year. You're right about that. It's a good observation that that's what they've done for like one year contracts before Sam Darnold, Stefan Gilmore. One year, 10 million. and most of it guaranteed for Joanne Jennings.

I like it. Sean says, how often do wide receiver one and wide receiver two tie up defensive coverage, allowing wide receiver three to beat one guy for a big play? A lot. That's kind of the theory of having a good wide receiver three is that you just have so much attention on your top two guys that if you have a Joanne Jennings, he should eat. He should be very successful. And I think we saw it in flashes with Jalen Naylor, and we saw it a lot with KJ Osborne.

Spencer prefers Claiborne to Johnson. Nothing sets Johnson apart. Well, first step, ability to read blocks, receiving ability, IQ. I liked a lot about him at Johnson, but Claiborne has what they were looking for, which is just straight up speed. Let's see, Matt. I think that it might be a lot simpler if Banks is a top five pass rush DT in two to three years. The grade is an A. If he's not, it's a D and there's not much in between.

I think that there is an in-between world with Caleb Banks. I don't think that this is home run or strikeout. There is a room for this being a ground rule double with Caleb Banks. It's, you know what it is? It's the strikeout percentage is high. That's what it is. It's not that the guy can only be a home run. It's that the pitfalls here make the strikeout percentage pretty high.

So maybe it's like 50, 60% of the time is a strikeout, but there's a distribution of like a double, triple home run. Home run, he becomes Dexter Lawrence, and he just eats people alive, and he's impossible to stop, and they put two guys on them, and he just plows through them, and he just becomes that player. That could take three years, yeah, that could take a while for him to get there. I think a lot of, a lot of explosiveness, explosiveness in the NFL is knowing where you're going, as opposed to how quick you can actually go there physically.

it's identifying formations, it's identifying, like, tendencies. This is Harrison Smith. How is Harrison Smith still able to play as well as he played last year, not being fast at all for his position? It's just, he's seen everything. He knows what's coming before it happens, and he can go there faster or quicker than other players. So if Caleb Banks can learn all that stuff, DT,

I think it was Spielman who said that DT is actually a high IQ position. You need to identify a lot very quickly. And they always looked for smart guys at defensive tackle. So can he learn that stuff at the NFL level where it's much harder than it is in college? But if he becomes a solid 500 snap guy who has some crazy high-end flashes that gets five sacks a year and 35 pressures, that's not a terrible outcome. Like that's a pretty solid outcome for, as you've said, a weaker draft, 18th overall. You're looking for him to become Callais Campbell or Dexter Lawrence or Akeem Hicks or whatever. But if it's only somewhat of the way there, that's still worth a starting player that can be intimidating and be a difference maker on a week to week basis.

Just not getting all of what you were hoping for. it, you know, it feels like it's just interesting because it feels like what we've run into in terms of the chat and the discussion is that we have gotten to the point, which always happens in the progression, the wheel turning of Vikings rosters and not winning a Super Bowl and everything, where there's just a bit of like, I don't want to say boredom, but kind of. Can this team really get it done? And until they do, I'm just going to kind of be mad about most things.

We've definitely got to that point. And I think that this draft brought out a lot of that in some fans. Like what happened last year was very miserable. And also what happened last year felt like they left on the table a roster that really could have done something. I mean, you look at the end of the season when they got actually healthy and how good they were. And I don't think it's fair to let that impact the,

draft. Like I think you can feel a certain way about where this organization has gotten to, where it's, all right, you're once again hoping for someone else's quarterback to come in here and save the day and then what? You're into a roster rebuild again and we don't know where the coach stands and we don't know who the GM is and it just feels like they're sort of existing as a competitive team, but maybe not a Super Bowl competitive team. Like I feel all that for sure. But I don't know that that's like fair to leak that into a draft as we're trying to specifically analyze where these guys fit in were they good draft picks will it work out that kind of stuff that seems like a different conversation for a show maybe about what we would tell the next general manager

sounds like a good topic for another day um but i don't know that we i don't know that the two things have to be conflated maybe they do maybe you can't avoid that maybe you can't avoid that uh sean the in Allen and Hargrave was penetration, collapsed the pocket in the interior. Otherwise, quarterback would have no pressure. Time to pick apart the secondary mixed results. Yeah, well, yeah, there were mixed results last year and eventually they figured it out. But you're right. Like last year it was, we didn't get enough penetration.

Now it's going back the other way to we didn't have enough size. We didn't have the zero tech. But for this style of all of defense, usually teams, I've actually been surprised they haven't. I've talked about this before like Pittsburgh and New England, where this has been rooted. he usually does have a zero tech. I'm going to speed run through some of the comments, especially when you guys start fighting with each other a little bit, because I want to get to Keegan Nickerson,

who came on, or I interviewed, I want to play you the interview with him talking about Jake Golda. So I want to bring that in just a second, but let me scroll through a little bit here. Eric, Matthew, who does Banks remind you of? see the hard part about that is that there's just not that many guys you kept hearing you say well there's not that many guys there's not that many guys but there truly actually aren't let me see here let me let's go over to pff and let's just take a look at the best the best ds and see if

we could come up with one because i haven't really thought too much about i've heard like marcus stroud and you know i mentioned clayess campbell but who actually plays in the NFL right now that could be kind of similar because there's so few guys that are just like absolutely enormous to Forrest Buckner. I mean, guys like Quinn and Williams are not, they're just not as big. They're just super technically gifted. That's the hard part. Like, who's this big?

Travis Jones is pretty big. He's more of a run stuffer. Travis Jones is actually more like a Dominique Orange. This would be my comp for Dominic Orange is Travis Jones. 6-4-3-40. There's a big guy who pushes people around. Dequan Jones. Hey, how about that?

What if he becomes Dequan Jones, who has been around a long time, like he's a veteran, but he's not quite 6-6, but 6-4-320, and he's consistently a good run defender, good tackler, creates a good amount of pressure, but he's not a superstar. Does that end up being like a decent draft pick? I mean, here's the guy they want him to be. Derek Brown, 6-5-3-20.

This is the peak right here. If he could be the absolute maximum, although he, yeah, yeah, this guy is a freaking animal. This guy is a beast. I mean, 35 pressures, six sacks. His sack numbers have not been great, but his pressure numbers are great.

So maybe they're expecting more sacks, but this guy is so good. 6-5-3-20. I mean, if he could become that, but that guy's a top top-10 draft pick. I don't know. I haven't come up with a good, with a great one yet.

I, it's, it's just like, what's the middle, what's the middle outcome? Jordan Davis, I think is a good comp for what he could be, but I think there's more pass rush there. I don't know. I don't know if I, I just have not come up with a great because there's so few people that meet his, his specs for height and weight, like a, you know, John Jenkins here. This guy's been around forever, but he's only six three. How, how much does this?

DeForest Buckner is six, seven, but he only weighs to. $2.95. There's just, it's just, yeah, there's not that many guys. You kind of have to keep saying it. I'll work on it. I'll work on it. I'll work on Caleb Banks. Mark, loving the draft more every day. I guess. No, Mark, Jennings is not signed. Just a visit, unless I miss something. I haven't checked Adam Schaefter yet. Okay. Sorry about the, uh, the trolling person. I will definitely, uh, get rid of that soon. Don't worry about that. If I looked at 2027 prospects, no, I have not. Not yet. Not yet. Okay, well, this seems like a good time to call it a night. Skoll says, do you think they would have taken Jennings Dunker ahead of Tiernan? That I don't know. That I don't know. Dunker was more of a

guard and Tiernan is more of a tackle. So I wonder if they really wanted the tackle. son of beavers do you still think that they bring in a veteran edge rusher? I do think that, yeah. I think wide receiver and veteran edge rusher make a lot of sense. I mean, because Golda can't really play defensive end, like Dallas Turner. Dallas Turner is going to be a defensive end and Andrew Van Ginkles an outside linebacker. At least that's the way I look at them. Jonathan Grenard was a defensive end.

He's listed as OLB and he lines up outside sometimes. but to me that's like a pass rushing. It's a one-dimensional position. And if the only guy you have at that is Dallas Turner and literally no one else, then you've got to find somebody else to bring in. So I think that that could happen. Biz Wolfer with Jennings would be less negative on the draft.

I mean, it would be kind of like part of the draft because you trade Jonathan Grenard. Diggs is a free agent still, but it's not going to happen. Can we unretire 88 for Caleb Banks? No. absolutely not under no possible way could they do that uh chris what are your thoughts on the uh depth edge players like bringing back ward or even someone like dante fowler yeah one of those guys i mean i don't know about like jihad ward played a lot of football last year for tennessee he's a

little bit of a different guy i don't know how they would feel about bringing him back i'm not saying he was a bad teammate or anything, but he had like a unique energy to him. If they, I don't know if they like that or not. I'm not saying they didn't, but I just don't know. Dante Fowler, I like that idea. I like Dante Fowler a lot because he was, even though the Cowboys were atrocious last year, he was okay for them in maybe a role that's a little too big. So if he had a rotational role for the Vikings, I would go with that.

I think that they need to bring in that type of player. Scoliosis. Do we think the lack of wide receiver drafted had to do it knowing they were making the Philly trade, opening cap up and bringing in a vet? I think it had to do with the board most, but it might have played a role because they could say we don't have to reach or stretch for a guy that we don't love because we could bring in a veteran. That might be the case.

Hunter says, I think it's a strength of consensus board to not consider fit. I'm sure it'll miss out on perfect fit sometimes, but takes away the bias. Totally. Totally. And look, this was a draft that looks like it was led by coaches looking for players that fit what they do. And what a consensus board's going to do is it's going to go talent. It's just going to say stack the most talent.

I think philosophically, I would agree that stacking the most possible talent is probably a better long term overall way to draft over 10 years. That doesn't mean that this draft isn't going to work out. but I think that your observation is correct. Jerbaer, in your experience, which Draftick has the best percentage, three, four years down the road, I really don't know.

I know who I think is good at this that puts in the most work and doesn't just plagiarize and lazily say stuff and maybe make up reports. I know who doesn't. I'm not going to say who I think does, but I know who doesn't.

Like Daniel Jeremiah, Dame Brugler, those guys are top of the class. Those are the ones that I use the most. um so those are the ones that i look at and nobody's ever really really right when it comes to mock drafts and nobody's ever perfect when it comes to three four years down the road but i know the background of those guys i know how much work they put into it um i know you know how plugged in those guys are to the draft you know every single year and how much effort goes into it and their talent so i those are the ones that i look at the most the ones that i cite the most on the show

because I believe in those guys and their work. But do that, I don't know what their percentage is. You know, I know that a bunch of people grading doesn't always mean they're going to get it right. Like there isn't a wisdom and crowds of guessing. It's, that's like, that's like gambling, right? Like, there isn't a wisdom of crowds of everyone thinks that the, I don't know, wolves are going to win the next game. There's not a wisdom of crowds there. We don't know who's going to win the next game.

We don't know which draft pick is going to work out. but we do know beforehand about how the talent shakes out. And if you take a player that doesn't have as much talent, then maybe your odds are less. It's a complicated thing. Hunter says, I'll give the Vikings this. If banks dropped in the consensus partially due to injury, if they evaluate and are not concerned,

then the consensus board could just be wrong. Yeah, it cannot factor. Germad McCoy versus the consensus was like the 15th overall player. It cannot factor for injuries. I think we all know that. But what we saw in those two examples of Bruegler and Daniel Jeremiah, Daniel Jeremiah had him as like 38th back in January. So clearly did not think based on his tape that he was a top 25 player.

And Dane Bruegler did. So maybe if we took the middle of that, he's more of like, instead of the 40th player, he would be more of like the 30th player and it would be closer to where the Vikings were picking. But the extra injury, I think knocked him down quite a bit. Cause and effect was speaking with some friends. Wanted to know your thoughts on the Eagles assisted GM leaving, possibly being the next Vikings GM. So at least from what I saw,

somebody said that he's going to go to the finance world. That was the one tweet I saw. I don't know if that was true, but if he's just completely leaving football, then he's not going to be the next Vikings GM. I don't know why he would like quit the Eagles now to be a GM for the Vikings. couldn't he just be with the Eagles still until he got hired? I don't know.

Maybe I just, I don't know. If that tweet is true, though, then obviously not. We're going to do GM search stuff for sure. I have struggled to try to figure out who could be possible names to look at because there's so many other people in front offices. But maybe if I look at a list of GMs who are interviewed for other jobs, that'll give us at least some sense who they're looking at. I think I want to talk about a general outline of what they should be looking at.

Jay Swan watched Big Citrus his entire career, an absolute dog. Doesn't pop on the stat sheet, but was getting doubled and sometimes tripled, constantly freed up so much for the defense. I think he should be good at his role. Yeah. I think he should be good at his role. But I don't know when it comes to the rumors or whatever, because the way that at least one of the reports read was that he was leaving football.

Hunter, Warren Moon was the reason your dad became a Vikings fan. There you go. A life of, I think what you're getting that is torture because of it. You could do a lot worse. You could have won the draft as the Browns. Congratulations to them. Hopefully they put a ring on. Scolios and my fool for drinking the purple Kool-Aid to drowning in it if they signed Jennings.

Well, I think there's a lot to work with there offensively if they sign Jennings. That's kind of the missing piece. else you could see where it could work and where Kyla Murray would have the most talent he's probably ever had around him if they signed Jennings. If they don't, we're still going to have that kind of hole there. Paul, analysts and fans decide have had a time what the team needs then based the grade on whether the team agrees with the expert opinion. Let's be honest, we've, you know, on players we've barely heard of. Well, I mean, if you're a draft analyst who's looking at all these players, then, you know, you should have heard of them. But

Fans, yes. I mean, none of you remembered Jacobi Thomas probably. And then you saw it was a reach and didn't like it. But I see what you're saying there. I do think that there is a general in this specific draft, there was a general, here's what it's going to look like. And this came from me too because I had a certain expectation. I thought, well, you know, they brought in 50 third round wide receivers.

So that's going to happen. And also when you have to trade one of your best players, it doesn't really help the vibe, right? I mean, that does hurt the vibe when you have to trade a really popular and very good player. That doesn't usually get you good grades either. I don't know how baked into the grades that trade is, but I don't know that many people thought they won a trade where you lose Jonathan Granard off your team. That might, you know, be an element to this as well. So, anyway, I, yeah, I mean, I know what you mean. We had an outline and it didn't turn out to be what it was.

And now we're going to find out if that was right or wrong. Badass. Jennings is thrown for two touchdown. Oh, yeah, you're right. Yeah, this could, uh, uh, couldn't meet. No, KOC trick plays. No, more KOC trick plays with, uh, with Joanne Jennings. Those, he did.

One was in the Super Bowl. Yeah. So I don't know. Yeah, maybe that's, maybe that's been the missing piece is just someone who could throw it. Uh, what other free agents could move the needle? So I want to do that for a different. show. This just kind of like happened today. So, but, uh, there's a, there's a number of players that,

you know, Dante follower was brought up and Mike Clay on his Twitter put out an entire list of top free agents that I kind of wanted to go through because, yeah, we are approaching the time where the Vikings could start spending some of this money. And I think that there's more free agents than usual who are available still that could potentially, uh, be useful. And edge rusher is where I would start with that, but I do wonder about, like, is there a free agent corner, free agent safety, you know, wide receivers I mentioned, but I don't know. I mean, it seems like the backfield is kind of settled now. Is there another DT? Is there a veteran DT they might look at?

There's a little sprucing that could be made, I think. Vikes draft brain could Turing in take Will Fry's spot. Yeah, I think he could. I don't know if that's exactly their plan for him, but he has. some elements of him, the shorter arms and the good feet that could be more of a guard. I think he's a tackle, but with guard potential. Caleb really liked the draft. Would have loved Lemon, but maybe their plan was Jennings all along, so they went defense.

Give it a B. Jay, would you sign Jennings to a multi-year deal, one-year deal? Well, I think he's going to want a one-year deal, but if they want some multi-year deal, I think he's a really good player and he's proven that. So multi-year deal would be fine with me. Just lock that up. Do I think they sign Jennings tomorrow? I don't know.

A visit does not guarantee that a guy's going to sign or sign right away. He might have five visits planned. He might have one visit. I'm really not sure. They might wait and have him visit now and then sign him later in the summer if he still bounces around. This is, it goes a bunch of different ways. But yeah, we could be having a show tomorrow about it.

Caleb, wonder if part of Flores coming back was knowing he was going to get a lot of picks this year on defense. I'm not sure about that entirely. I think it's more of like if you look at what they're going to need a year down the road. And then it probably was the board falling that way to players that they really liked on defense. They had more needs there into the future. I don't know that it was like in his contract. I will only come back if I get to make a bunch of draft picks. Dana

have all the confidence a lifelong Hurricanes fan have all the confidence in the world that Thomas is going to be a player in that Flores system yeah I mean he looks like a good fit and IQ wise

read and react wise that's what you see him thriving Andrew said do you consider my cherry picked example of where the consensus was wrong checkmate nerds yes that's funny and I see a lot of that yep that

hey, it got this wrong. So obviously it has no value. No, it does. It has value. It's not perfectly predictive, though. It just means I use it as this as a metric to say, how much risk did you take? And the answer for the Vikings is quite a bit. Doesn't mean you're screwed.

It just means how much risk it did you take. And for some reason, people can't really deal with that. And I don't understand why. Okay. Um, Christopher, uh, will your opinion change on passing on wide receiver if we get Jennings? Um, a little bit, a little bit. I still love drafting like five receivers every draft. But, um, if they get Jennings and, and look, I wasn't like majorly downgrading them for it.

It just was not my expectation that they would come out of it with no receiver. It would be a, an element of the whole draft analysis, I guess, that right after they were able to sign Jennings. But if it's a one year deal, it's a little. little different that he is a proven player though that's so much different than just drafting a wide receiver to fill a spot so yeah i guess a little bit i wasn't like giving them a major f minus for not drafting the wide receiver though i just felt like man how is that not you know possible that they how is it possible they didn't come out with one uh yeah a mouse catcher

no matter how much a reef writes about the consensus board and yes how it has changed and it's different things that it says and what it doesn't says. No one reads it. No one reads anything. They just go onto social media and see one thing and have a huge opinion about it and think that they know everything and that's how it's done. So it's unfortunate. Jay, how many starters do we get in this draft?

I think Orange will play a lot right away. I think they hope banks will play right away. Golda will probably not be a starter in the immediate. it's probably, yeah, probably those two. And it depends on health. And I think in terms of rotational roles, though, Gold Day will definitely be a part of that. Thomas will be maybe a part of that.

And Claiborne, I think could. And Bredesen. So a lot of role players right away. Kibia, if there has been a mid-combine ranking, Banks would have been top 20 easily. So I think earlier I showed that he wasn't. That before the combine, he wasn't. He wasn't a top 20 player at any point during this process.

If Bruegler and Jeremiah had him at 24 and 38, then he wasn't. But I think that it definitely mattered. And that's where you could say the consensus board does not factor for Caleb Banks entirely. Caleb, the Grenard trade makes sense. Well, he's good and has only played a full season once. He would have been helpful, but got out at the right time. I agree with that. Yeah, like if you're going to best,

bail on a player. If the only two options are this guy is going to fight you for a huge contract extension, he's not going to show up for camp and everything else. And then at the end of the day, you have to kind of bend in somewhere or another. If it's that or if it's get third round picks and a bleep ton of cap space for him, I guess you go in that direction. It's just never good to not have them. But I get where you're coming with that.

It starts to even out. Oh, Beaver's best friend, DeQuan Jones is a good comp. you. I like that. I actually like that. I like that for a 75th percentile outcome. If it turns out to be just okay, DeQuan Jones is a good, that's a good one. Thank you. I knew that guy was huge because I've looked at him for the Vikings a couple times. Like, could they get that guy? I appreciate that. You want him to be Chris Jones, but I mean, go look what Chris Jones did in terms of college production. It was crazy. Let's see. Now, oh, son of beavers, now cam acres is a free agent to get all the trick plays run through him uh Zach now that the

dust is dust is settled and schedule release around the corner what's your most anticipated matchup of the year oh uh schedule release that'll be fun is that maybe next week I guess we'll see well let's see they play the AFC East so I would probably say the bills I mean the last time they played the bills holy cow I mean I mean, it was one of the most insane games I've ever covered, probably the best game I've ever covered. Congratulations, Hunter, on finishing your last test of undergrad. You've spent a lot of time on these live streams and still doing your homework. Okay, that's good.

Bobby Wagner is speaking at your commencement. Oh, cool. Very cool. Joker Banks peaked at 25. Okay. Oh, on the stick to the model consensus chart, peaked at 25. Yeah. Well, that's what I was thinking is that,

Maybe it wouldn't be seen as such an incredible reach if we all knew as medical information. So, anyway, great conversation, guys. Really appreciate that. And I still have more content for you, though, believe it or not. Because I had a good conversation with Kagan Nickerson, who covers the Cincinnati Bearcats about both players that the Vikings drafted from Cincinnati and the controversy with Brendan Sorsby recently, and we chatted about that a little as well. So you've been in and out.

Okay, good, good, good. You got to focus on your tests and homework at times. But I have been told the number of people who put on it, because I talk for so long, there are a lot of people who just put me on as like background noise. Like, oh, yeah, I drive a, I've had people who say, I drive a truck and I just throw you on there or I work in a law office and you're chatting in the background all day. So I appreciate even if you all should hang on every single sentence, even if you're doing your homework with me in the background.

I appreciate that as well. One last thing. If you're rewatching this, you made it this far. Don't forget to leave down in the comments about the Fandual question of the day that Arch Manning is plus 150 to go number one next year. Do you think we at any point have quarterback conversations next? season. That was the Fanduil question of the day. All right, here is Kagan Nickerson, cover Cincinnati,

and we will catch you all, I don't know, we'll see what happens. Maybe we'll need an emergency podcast or maybe Thursday. I don't know. We'll see. But I'll be live again. Set those notifications and everything and we'll catch you all later. Football. All right, we welcome into the show, Keegan Nickerson, who covers the Cincinnati Bearcats at Bearcat Journal. And well, he does have bigger things on his plate that we'll get to regarding the Cincinnati Bearcats. The Minnesota Vikings drafted two players from Cincinnati and have kind of made this Cincinnati you with Ivan Pace and Eric Wilson here as well. But Jake Golday in the second round, I would love you to tell me a lot more about Jake

Golda Keegan because I look at him as an Andrew Van Ginkle prototype, a versatile player who could do a lot of different things. And to pat myself in the back ever so slightly, I did kind of circle. him as a player that Brian Flores might like. But I would love to hear more first about the on-field performance. He was a transfer over to Cincinnati. When covering him, did you get the sense like this guy could be not only an NFL draft pick, but like a fairly high NFL draft pick?

Yeah, the first time I ever heard of the kid, it's actually a funny story and something I'm not too proud of in terms of my journalistic integrity. But the staff was so afraid that. some team was just going to flip on the film after he committed to Cincinnati that they would be able to get him before he signed. So we had gotten close at the player personnel staff

and they said, hey, we just got this kid to commit from Central Arkansas. Do not cover it. Act like it didn't happen. Act like he doesn't exist. We need to get him on campus and signed because someone's going to come after him. Because I know Florida State and Illinois

and a few other teams are kind of like sniffing around. But But like the guy that was running the portal for UC saw this kid. And he's like this, he is a freak. Like he's actually a freak. I didn't really see it. Like he had a good fall. You could tell he was huge.

He was fast. He's got a, he's a good built guy. But it was when they played pit and I think week two or week three of that year, I don't know if you've ever heard of Desmond Reed. He was a Western Carolina running back, went to pit for two years, undersized. His whole thing is he's just he's fast and he's super fast. He breaks down the left sideline and he's like gone and all of a sudden you just see the six four beast gaining on him. And I'm like how does how does he even catch like that small of a player who's so much faster than him?

So he like ever since that play, he was just all over the field. And when I talked to coaches about him like Courtney Braswell, as linebacker's coach, he always talks about how big he was, how fast he was, how, like all the tools he had. But the number one thing that he said separated him was his effort. Like he gives 110, 120% effort to really set the turn for the rest of the linebacker room. So that Desmond Reed tackle was the first thing. And then he's just the rest of the two years.

He's just one of the more fun players to be able to watch. So it was really, really a blast. What did you make of his role? Because that's what stood out to me as I was researching linebackers. And I thought that this was a very solid linebacker class. into the second round. CJ Allen ends up going there, Anthony Hill Jr.

But the reason that I had Golda identified as a potential Viking is because they like to use versatile players. But oftentimes in college football, if you have somebody with this size and athleticism, they're just going to be an edge rusher and they're going to go after the passer and they're going to get, you know,

11 sacks or something in a season. But why did Cincinnati decide to make him into this kind of hybrid player who lined up on the edge sometimes? when I was looking at his alignment data, I was like in the slot, huh? Like he was like he lined up in the slot. That must have been covering, you know, tight ends man to man or something. Why did they go with that rather than, hey, if you got this kind of burst and speed at this level,

you should be rushing the person. Yeah, I think majority of the time he played the Sam linebacker spot of the three. The reason that he played there is because they had the three, three, five scheme. And it was just going to be completely focused on coverage to shut down explicitly. of plays in the back end. So like pressure in the quarterback, getting after the quarterback, it wasn't a massive piece of the game plan,

even though sometimes in the 3-3-5, the D-Cs will get creative and have those blitzes. Tyson-vite just didn't really do it for his two years at Cincinnati. He wasn't overly aggressive. So that was mainly just the scheme, but when he did set up on the line, and you've probably seen the clip of when he sat Dylan Royola

to set up like a third and 18 against Nebraska, you see the strength and you see the former defensive end in him. And like his, the switch he can flip and the effort that he plays with. So that's why I think he's going to have such an interesting NFL career. Because he's really, really good at block shedding. He can set up at that edge rusher spot. And you can kind of mold him to play whatever role you want to play.

Like if you want him to put on a few pounds and play that outside linebacker spot, maybe rush the passer, go ahead. but he's also like he can keep up with some safeties at Cincinnati. And he has that level of speed. So great in past coverage as well. But, you know, I think the 335 might have done him a little bit of a disservice, but he also performed very, very well and put up a lot of great stats at you see. Right.

A disservice in some ways. But if he's a peer edge rusher, he might be a fourth round draft pick to some other team, whereas the Minnesota Vikings can see this player and say, hey, actually, we have one of those that is really, really, important. And I also think that just the way schemes work in the NFL now is they are much more nebulous rather than this is what we play every single down. It's week to week. It is a moving target. So you might need one week to play 20 snaps in coverage and not rush the passer or there might be where you feel like this guy has a mismatch. So he's going to have an instant chance to

win and get sacks or pressures. We've seen that all over the field, including Eric Wilson, for the Vikings. You did a really good piece interviewing a lot of people about him about his background. Now it was, uh, what central Arkansas, right? It was for Arkansas. Yeah, it was where he started. So how does a guy like that end up under the radar at central Arkansas? And what did you make of reporting on kind of his path of how he got from that position when he started college to being here now as a second round draft. Yeah, it really was COVID. Like he was that one school year, I think he graduated in 2020 or 2021 from high school to where the colleges, all their players got that extra year of eligibility. So like the thing about Jake is all he wanted to do was

go to Memphis. He's from Arlington, Tennessee. He's right around that area. And he just wanted to walk on spot at Memphis. And he was asking them and talking to him, they said, we just, we don't have the room because the roster is so loaded. So it was a really, really fun. story to be able to write. You kind of learned that he's the youngest of, I think, two other brothers. So a lot of it was just trying to keep up with them. He comes from a basketball family, but his mom actually told me that his shot was horrible. Like, he just couldn't shoot. So maybe if he was able to shoot, he would have been a point guard in college basketball or something. But he just went all in on football. And you started to see the raw talent that he had.

Like, there's a video on YouTube that has like six views of him blocking a field goal. and he just jumped straight up, showing off his vertical and blocking a field goal. But, yeah, I mean, he goes to Central Arkansas as a defensive end and a tight end. And then kind of just settles at the defensive end spot. But he was blocked by, I can't remember the guy's name, but he got drafted by the Buccaneers. And so he wasn't really getting on the field, but the coaches saw how good he was. And he gets moved to linebacker for a season and I think leads the team. and tackles and then enters,

he's thinking about entering the portal, he talks to the coaching staff, and then the coaching staff, actually, this is a funny story, reached out to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers player who I can't remember his name, but said,

hey, Jake just told us he's thinking about entering the portal. We need you to try to convince him to stay. He's going to be a big part of what we're doing next season. So that guy calls Jake and he says, enter the portal. Like, what are you doing? You do not go back to Central Arkansas.

So he goes to UC as a really like unheralded guy. No one really knew who he was. Like and that was a year where they had taken a lot of FCS transfers. So people were like, oh, another SCS transfer. This kid probably isn't that good. But as we talked about turned into an absolute stud and then also stage for that second year, not really commanding much money at all. Like he, he knew the talent that UC had and what they should have been ended up being seven

and five should have been nine and three, maybe even 10 and two. So really, really a team player and just an overall great kid. I'm excited to watch him in the NFL. Yeah, I was going to ask you about that because it's had just happened so often now. And I don't blame anybody for doing it. Chase the bag. Set yourself up because there is nothing guaranteed when you get to the next level. But normally what we see is, hey, if you played pretty well at a Cincinnati,

your job hunting. You're putting your resume on LinkedIn and going to see if you can, you know, bump up to one of those top schools. And I saw a stat, Kagan, that only 75 universities had players drafted this year, which is the lowest number ever in the Super Bowl era to have that few number. I mean, because

everybody does that and as they should, why do you think he decided to stay at Cincinnati? I think he loved court as well, his linebackers coach. When he was in the portal, court made, I think, three separate trips in the matter of a week down to Arlington, Tennessee, and got dinner with him, was talking to him and recruiting him really, really hard because he watched the film with the player personnel department instantly realized, like, we have to get this kid as quick as possible before anyone else sees this,

because this is just ridiculous. So I think their relationship was great. I also think his fiance, then-girlfriend now fiancé, she might have worked at a children's hospital in the area. So maybe there was that factor of it. Maybe not. I can't confirm that. But I think that he is genuinely a team player.

And people that invests in him and see greatness in him, he's not really just going to throw up by the wayside and chase the bag or chase the best opportunity. And he had success in the 335 scheme, his junior years, why not run it back and see what they can do the next season? So I think it was a wise decision for him saying. happy did because he made my job a lot of fun. Yeah, I mean, it certainly pays off to get drafted in the second round.

I'm sure he would have had a chance anywhere. But sometimes at a school like Cincinnati, if you stand out that much, you know, you're going to get more of the limelight than at Alabama where every guy is going to get, you know, scouted. So that's interesting. Now, just from a personality standpoint, having a chance to cover him, I'm curious, like, what the Vikings are adding to their locker room. I know that you've kind of said a lot about this already,

about just his personality of being the team player. But what else do we need to know about Jake Golda? Yeah, a high effort guy, a genuinely great human being, and he loves football. Like he loves getting better at football. I remember I went in the athletic department kind of building at UC to work on a story. And I saw him in the hallway like a day after he had gotten to camp. because he was just in the athletic building watching film.

Like he was in the football offices watching film with the coaching staff. So like right when he got to campus, he immediately wanted to capitalize on it and just get as good and as ready as possible for the upcoming season. So I think he's a guy who's going to really, really compete for that spot to get as much snaps as possible. And he's going to be really, really hard to take off the field. So he's a great kid who I kind of said it from the first time I saw it. and fall because it's much not weird. So apologies.

He has a really thick neck. It's almost like a lot of blacker neck. And I was like that looks like a Hall of Fame bust. Like if there's a guy here at this fall camp and higher ground Indiana, that's going to be in the Hall of Fame, it's going to be Jake Golda. So I, I think he's, I think he's a really bright future ahead of them. There is nothing quite like the linebacker neck. Yeah, you know it as soon.

You could be at the airport and somebody walks by. and you're like, that guy must have been a linebacker because it's like that. The Vikings in the seventh round, maybe a little bit of a surprise with Gavin Gerhardt, not somebody that was necessarily on the radar. I think

he was like Center 22 or something and Dane Brugler's The Beast and NFL.com didn't even have a write-up on him, which is kind of you know, that's kind of how it goes for the draft, but it's not like this guy was a secret in Cincinnati. He played 33,

300 snaps, which to put that in context is three times as many as the Vikings first round draft picks. So it would seem to me, Gigan, that they are getting a very experienced player in Gavin Gerhard. But what did you see from him? Yeah, Zeno, Ohio native, funnily enough, mentioned higher ground again. It was the fall camp that they went to. So he committed to Cincinnati as a sophomore in high school. And his high school that he went to, Zinia High School, also had camp at Camp High Ground. So he spent like eight consecutive summers at Camp Higher Ground, maybe even like 10,

if I'm actually thinking about it. But longtime Cincinnati, long time with Cincinnati, four years starter. One of the better leaders I've ever covered. How he was able to bring together an offensive line group like that was really, really impressive. You take Luke Kanger from Louisville who didn't have a lot of experience and you're bringing in other guys for that 2023 season and year one under Satterfield and they had a top five running game. And then you're able to bring that whole group back and have another really good season. And then you replace a lot of them in 2025 and they're up for the Joe Moore Award.

And I think they only allowed eight sacks the entire season. And there's definitely talent on that line in 25. You look at Joe Cotton, South Dakota transfer, Evan Tenghisaw is an all American. him, but it all really starts with Gavin Gerhardt. And I think maybe the most impressive thing about him is how he's able to stay healthy for those 3,300 snaps. And I, like you, I was surprised he got picks. I just figured it was going to be an undrafted free agent situation that someone was going to see the maturity and the kind of veteran leadership that he showed and see what they can do

with it. But I'm really, really happy he did because out of all the people at UC from this past season, if there's anyone that deserve to actually have their name called, it's Gavin Gerhard. And that's saying something because I think very highly of Jake Golda, Joe Royer, and Cyrus Allen. So I think he could also have a really bright future just because of the approach that he will take in the NFL

because he's had great coaches and he's just a really, really hard worker. So much of it at the center position is just football IQ experience and the leadership capability. Now, I mean, best case scenario, everyone would have Tyler Linderbaum, who's also a physical freak or something, but that can't always be the case. I think it stuck out to me really quickly, even just on a Zoom call with him, the maturity. And he talked about the Vikings having a ton of interest, like bringing him in, taking him through, like out onto the field, going through a walkthrough, installing something with him. And, you know, he kind of said, I mean, I chuckled a little bit, but he was like, you know, there isn't too many fronts. seen at this point. I was like, well, you are going to practice against Brian

Flores defense. So I promise you there's some stuff you haven't seen so far. But I also think that when you've got 3,300 snaps under your bell, that you learn a lot about that position. But from a physical trait, there isn't a combine on him. I don't know if there's pro day numbers out there anywhere. What are we talking about here? Because a lot of times, seventh round draft picks, they come in. They're a little undersized. End up being more of backup players, which is obviously useful. But is there like an upside there, you think? Honestly, I think he's a really strong dude, but I'm not going to sit here and say that

like there's there's a freakish nature to his game at all. I think everything that he did was earned and he just put in as much work as possible. It's actually funny because you mentioned the pro day. When he, he like came out onto the field, maybe an hour after the pro day, had ended. I was like, hey, what's it looking like for you? Who were you talking to the most? He goes, they just, like, the Vikings just installed their entire playbook with me in that meeting. I was like, okay, so I'll be surprised if you go to anyone else with the Vikings. So apparently he impressed enough to actually be a draft pick. But yeah, I'm not going to sit here and say,

always like, he's like bigger than what he seems or anything like that. He's just going to be a consistent guy that's going to show up and be the same guy every day. And I think that there's lot of value at the center position to be like that. Like Jason Kelsey was a walk-on linebacker at UC and then transitioned to being a center on the NFL. And that's like there was nothing really physically impressive about him. A lot of it is just it's, it's work ethic and just trying to put your best foot forward. So I think that's what Gavin Gerhardt is.

I'm not saying he's going to be an all pro by any means, but you should have high expectations for him as a leader and someone who just shows up every day. You know, I'm very impressed that you didn't work into at any point this conversation, putting a bet on these guys because you could have said that. You could have, you could have worked it into, well, you know, Golda's a guy I'd bet on or Gavin's guy, man, I would just, I'd wager he makes it. What do you make of this Brendan Sorsby story that he was placing all sorts of wagers on different things?

And you told me off the air that he was going to, since. Eddie Reds games and betting on balls or strikes at that point. Because when I first saw like he's he needs like to leave football, I was like, leave football for this. That seems a little excessive. Once you're going to games and betting on the next ball or strike, yeah, I think you need to take a little time, look in the mirror. But I mean, what do you make?

This is one of the, I think, most explosive stories regarding gambling in college football that we've seen in a while. Yeah, it's honestly a really, really sad situation because I don't know if there's a player that I've enjoyed covering more than Brennan Sorsby. He's legitimately a great guy and a lot's going to get said about his character because of this. I don't know if it's necessarily a character thing. I think it's just a little bit of immaturity maybe because like it first came out that it was he bet on Indiana when he was playing for Indiana. So and then it gets kind of dug up that, you know, he's going to Reds games and embedded on the next pitch.

But apparently it was only $2.50 and even like less than a dollar. And at that point, it's like, why are you even doing it? But that's not really how the addicts brain works. Right. So yeah, it's a, it's a really sad situation. I will say the NCAA rules and regulations on gambling is pretty cut and drive. Like if you place a wage or on a team you're playing for, you basically lose eligible. ability. So that's one of the highest paid quarterbacks in this past portal, reportedly getting

$5 to $7 million in some combination of NIL and revenue share that could just not play college football anymore. Now, I don't know how that would work for the NFL because there's obviously going to be teams that are going to say, okay, well, you know, I don't think he's a horrible human being and he's still pretty good at football. Does a supplemental draft happen? Do you just wait until the next entire draft cycle. But I think the kid really, he's a great player who has a bright future. And I credit him for,

I don't know exactly how it came out, whether he just realized he had a problem. Maybe there was something with this lawsuit with Cincinnati over the buyout numbers from this past season. Don't know if you know about that, but like he was trying not to pay his buyout since he left through the portal, which was I think in the range of a million dollars.

Maybe something came out of that. he's basically in a rehab facility trying to go through it. So I really wish the best for the kid because I think he deserves to be able to have a future in football, maybe if it's not in college somewhere else in the NFL. Yeah. And I don't mean to make light of it. It's just, yeah, yeah, why would you go to a Cincinnati Reds game is really the question. Worst place in the unisonial, man. Come on. What are you talking about? I have been, I have been to a Cincinnati Reds game in the middle of. summer and it was the hottest I've ever been in my entire life.

Like they people do not tell you that Cincinnati is next to the equator, but it is insanely hot there. In the middle of the summer, it's crazy. But what I do mean is, you know, obviously this person has a serious problem and he's doing the right thing. But he's also, it seems maybe being forced to do the right thing because he was already going to likely lose his eligibility. So that will be very curious to see how the NFL approaches that.

Now, the Vikings did sign a player Isaiah Rogers, who was suspended for a year after a gambling issue there, which the story was that he had given out his account to other people and everything else. And, you know, there were complications. But I will be very curious to see how the NFL just manages this because this is someone who's clearly an NFL talent. But how are they going to approach it? like if you're an NFL team, you would do anything to get a quarterback. Somebody drafted James Winston first overall. And that was a lot worse than putting balls and strikes, you know, a few bucks on that. So do you have any sense?

I know that this just happened. Like, do you have any sense for where this goes? I really don't. Apparently in the rules, there is the word potential like loss of eligibility. So I don't know if his lawyers just throw that word at the NCAA. but if you're the NCAA and you have proof that he was at Indiana and bet on Indiana, that's cut and dry. Because if you let the kid play,

you set a horrible and sloppy precedent for basically anyone else that's going to do this. So it sucks, but I will really be surprised if he plays for Texas Tech this upcoming season. And I think that there is going to be a lot more to come out about this and like how it came to light. but yeah it's it's a brutal situation and in terms of like the NFL um thing i mean we all know the NFL you have to have really high morals to to play like you can't take anybody who's ever done anything bad like so i i don't really know how it'll happen sensing a tad bit of sarcasm there but uh it well but you know the thing about the NFL is it's not did you do

something bad it's can you get suspended for what you did And is they're concerned about you not being on the field? And also, like, I don't want, I don't want to equate a gambling addiction with, like, you know, very bad stuff that people do. So there is a difference there. At the same time, if you're an NFL team and you have to be concerned, you saw Diego Pavia go undrafted. Not that I think he was a great draft prospect, but the guy was posting, like, drunk photos of him around town. And teams were like, you know what? we're just going to not hold the yeah the quarterback position you hold it to a higher standard at the end of the day so it's going to make a difference absolutely i mean a cornerback like isaiah rogers you're going to say well if something else happens we'll just find another cornerback if you're going to make someone your franchise quarterback uh you have to be 100% sure about that character most of the time so we'll see uh what ends up happening there supplemental draft is is that still like around is that still i i'm

I heard someone at a text thread say it. That's not the only thing. I can't even do that anymore. Bernie Kosar. Yeah, Bernie Kosar once upon a time was a supplemental draft pick. So there's precedent. There is precedent. Right.

He became a franchise QB. Anyway, uh, Kegan, great stuff, man. Great to have you on the show here for the first time. Um, the Vikings seem to draft bear cats all the time. So maybe it'll happen again. Uh, but where can people find your work and, uh, your article? on Jake Golda. Yeah, follow K Nickerson 42 on X.

And then if you search up Jake Golda, 247 sports on Google, it'll be somewhere in there on the list. So it was a really fun article is one of my favorite articles that I've written here. So go ahead and give the read. Yeah, it was a great piece. And I hope people can go find it. I'll put it in the description too. So you can just make it easy.

Don't ask for multiple steps for people. But Kiga, great, great stuff. I'm really glad that I can have you on. And maybe we will do it again soon. Absolutely. Thanks, man.