Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Safety should be a priority for Vikings in free agency and ranking Zimmer-era signings

Episode Date: March 25, 2021

Matthew Coller and Sam Ekstrom dive into PFF's Improvement Index saying that Anthony Harris was a more important loss than we would think. Will it be hard to replace Harris on the free agent market? Can the Vikings put anyone next to Harrison Smith? And how are we feeling about the NFC North's decline versus what the Vikings have done. Plus Matthew and Sam rank the top 10 free agent signings by the Vikings during the Zimmer era. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate. Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, presented by Scout Logistics and Symbol, your stock market for sports. Matthew Collar along with Sam Ekstrom here again. And Sam, I wrote for our website, purpleinsider.com, about how much the Vikings have improved by the Pro Football Focus Improvement Index. And we had Kevin Cole on the show the other day to talk about how the Improvement Index works, so you can go back and find that if you missed it.

But I wanted to get your opinion on what I wrote breaking down further the chart that shows the Vikings 23rd right now in wins above replacement improvement but at the same time there's some things that are not factored in there and other NFC teams that have dropped big time in terms of the Detroit Lions so give me your broad reaction to whether the Vikings are in a better spot as we speak right now before their next big signing, which we still think is coming, even though T.Y. Hilton is now off the board and Judevion Clowney is visiting other teams. But give me your broad reaction to that. Yeah, it, you know, first of all, I don't think a lot of people think of war in football terms.

That's usually like a baseball word, but I think it's really well laid out. And Kevin Cole, you know, helps provide some really important context here, I think, to what teams are accomplishing. And, you know, in some cases, like the teams that spend a lot of money, like the Patriots, they're obviously at the top. They are clear number one, most improved team.

And then, you know, teams that were in cap hell, like the Saints, they are like by far at the bottom, you know, just below the Detroit Lions. What strikes me is that the NFC North is not doing very well. Other than the Chicago Bears, who have technically improved but still don't really have a solidified quarterback situation, it's Vikings down, Packers down. And the Packers, I don't think, have brought in any free agents at all other than their own guys.

And the Lions, obviously, way down, kind of starting over in Detroit. But I found it interesting as well that by the formula, Patrick Peterson, basically a net even, like.01 war added,.01, one hundredth of a point, Dalvin Tomlinson.11. And I know we're not dealing with huge numbers here, but what's striking is the Anthony Harris subtraction, almost half of a war,.46. That's a player that we've talked about. We talked about on yesterday's show how I was maybe a little bearish on whether they should even bring him back just because I didn't love the way

he played, he was aging a little bit, it seemed. But granted, he had been with the team for a long time. He'd had some really good years, and he had that chemistry with Harrison Smith on the back end. So that seems to be a more significant loss than maybe people are letting on, at least from an analytical standpoint. And I think it contextualizes the Patrick Peterson acquisition as probably not that impactful on paper. I think there's probably like a, if there's a range, there is a good high ceiling there, but yeah, it doesn't paint a great picture for the Vikings, man.

So let me just contextualize some of those numbers. A quarterback who has a good year can be worth two to three wins over replacement. If not even more, if you have an unbelievable year. And most other positions are not really close to a full win. I mean, think about how many players equal a full win in the NFL. If you took them away, you would drop a whole win. There aren't that many. Let's say Justin Jefferson's performance was probably worth another whole win for the Vikings last year. And I was looking through the corners, and what's really interesting there about the Patrick Peterson number, which is that he was basically

replacement level last season for Arizona, is that he was worth six-tenths of a win in 2018, which is one of his better years recently. And Xavier Rhodes, he was a guy that was below replacement level in 2019 and then worth seven-tenths of a win in 2020, which I think shows you the volatility of that position. But the two topics that you touched on, I want to get more in-depth here. Anthony Harris and his loss, a key stat that I sort of stumbled across as I was looking into this, because I was very interested to see why his wins above replacement would have been as high as it is, why PFF would be projecting him as a big loss. Considering he was only a mid-pack safety by their grades, is that he only allowed 27 attempts and 15 catches

into his coverage. The worst in the NFL at safety allowed 70 attempts and 57 catches into their coverage. So even though there were some big plays and four touchdowns allowed by Anthony Harris last year and he did not have an interception, I think there's also that element of people not throwing at you matters and is worth something too. And also a guy who was very, very healthy. I don't ever recall a time where Anthony Harris had to miss games. And that's a big deal because if you're missing games, then whoever they even bring in here,

you're talking about playing Josh Metellus or whoever else they bring in from the draft, as opposed to having a good starter. And there's a lot of value in that. So that matters and is baked into the equation as well. But what do you think they do with this safety position I think the odds are that over the next few weeks they end up signing someone but at a lot of different positions players are coming off the board here and the Vikings are sitting on the sidelines and we're sitting here wondering hey what's going on with this a little extra cap space what's going on with the Nick Vigil press conference which still hasn't happened I mean, like something's got to happen here. And I think that safety is the next domino to fall for the Vikings.

Because if they mess around with this position, I think what those numbers show us is that could be a big mistake. Yeah, I have to agree. And I think that when you see Anthony Harris go for one year, five million, and Keanu Neal go for one year, 4 million. Those are two of the options toward the top of the market. And obviously, you know, John Johnson gets paid big bucks, Rayshon Jenkins. There were big contracts out there.

But beyond the top two, 6 million annual value was the highest safety deal out there. I don't think anybody's going to sign for more than that. So, you know, Daron Harmon is a target that both of us have written about during this pre-free agency period that I think we both love. He's got Patriots pedigree, spent one year with Detroit, but he would compliment Harrison Smith really well. You've touched on, you know, Malik Hooker and the old friend Andrew Sandejo is still available. I mean, I don't know what you make of Sandejo. I think there probably is some inherent value in organizational knowledge. And that's what Sandejo would bring to the table.

The last time they brought him back, he kind of fit in pretty well again. Like in 2019, he played in that playoff game, moved to nickel, and was awesome. Like he performed so well. And he hasn't necessarily fit in great in those other stops like Philadelphia. And it seemed like Cleveland Browns Twitter couldn't stand him from what I saw. But there's something about the system knowledge that does have value. So I don't know if Sandejo is an option. I think you can probably do better.

You can probably go a little younger and spend a million or two more dollars. But they're not going to play Josh Metellus week one next year. That doesn't make any sense. That would just fly in the face of everything that they've sort of stood for at safety. They've always gone with veterans and they've appreciated the continuity there. So I think that probably is one of the dominoes that has to fall because, as we've heard, they've opened up a little more cap space with that Anthony Barr restructure. So they have some money to throw around. And I don't think it's going to cost them more than a couple million dollars. Do you? No, I don't. I think that if they pay about the

same amount as Anthony Harris got for Philadelphia for someone like Daron Harmon, that they're in good shape or Xavier Woods from Dallas who had a down year last year, but everyone with Dallas had a down year last year. And two years ago, he he was quite good so there's options there on the free agent market anderson dayho would be a guy that i would give one year one million two and have him be a backup and play special teams i think that would be good and then you have someone who is a backup for your safety position this is something that they really failed at last year was just finding reasonable backups they tried to bring in George Iloka. He had to briefly play and it did not work out very well for one game. And then he tore his ACL. And I know that

there's a thought out there that you can put anybody next to Harrison Smith and they will be fine. That he just makes that guy's job so easy that, hey, he'll shine. But I don't think that's really true. I think that what they've had with Sandejo and Anthony Harris is continuity and guys who knew exactly what their jobs were and knew the defense so well and also developed that came into special teams players and then grew and improved and got better over time. But early Sandejo was kind of a liability, and it hurt them at times. And almost any time anybody else has had to go in there, other than Andrew Sandejo or Anthony Harris, it has not been good. And Anthony Harris, I mean, he had to make those interceptions.

Like, he was a legit playmaker on the football. The interception he had in that same playoff game against the Saints is an A-plus type of pick, and he was still making plays on the ball last year. He had seven passes defended. He just didn't have any interception luck. I don't know that that is easy to come by either, so I think that if you have someone like those guys who are kind of hovering around average, and maybe in Harris's case above average for two seasons, you're in really good shape playing next to Harrison Smith but Harrison

Smith can't make you magic and I think that there was some process last year where they thought Harrison Smith would cover up for all the cornerbacks too and we saw that that wasn't true in fact we heard that Mike Zimmer and Adam Zimmer and Andre Patterson they talked to us on a weekly basis about how all these experienced safeties, they'll make all the corners better. And they didn't. Chris Jones wasn't better. So if you end up with a Chris Jones version next to Harrison Smith, you might be in a lot of trouble. I would say get two of them if you can. One of them for a very cheap price or draft somebody who might have the ability to step in right away if they are called upon. But I don't think, Sam, that this is a position that they draft in the first round and hope that player

is a starter. And when you're in the third round, you really shouldn't be doing that. So I would expect a signing here. Yeah, I think you're right. And at least have a signing around to mentor and supplement a draft pick if you go that route. Isn't it kind of weird that the Vikings have Marcus Epps regret? Marcus Epps was like a top 20 safety last year for the Philadelphia Eagles. That's quickly becoming like the day three pick that got away. I mean, maybe that's spinning it a little too extra. I don't know if we can go that far. But, I mean, PFF had Marcus Epps ranked 13th last season

in 13 games. Like it wasn't a tiny sample size, although he was in more of a rotational role. But I think someone like Tayshaun Gibson, like who played for the Bears last year, he would go for $1 million. I mean, that's what he played for last year. He was extremely serviceable. He ranked 31st. He played over a thousand snaps. I mean, you can wait a little

bit. I don't think you need to be knee-jerk about signing this safety. I would wait it out. I mean, the Vikings have been kind of impatient in free agency so far. I think there needs to be like a serious break pumping and let this market come to you. You don't need to reach. I don't think there's anyone who's good enough to like just, you know, roll out the Brinks truck for and make sure you lock them up right away. I think you just need to have four or five names in mind and then let it trickle down and filter sort of into your lap. Do we think that Harrison Smith is going to sign a contract extension? Because the way that they did Anthony Barr's contract,

and we're going to have Ben Gessling on to kind of explain that for us for our Friday roundtable, but they made a lot of cap space there and did a lot of things they don't usually do, which, as always, kick in the can down the road. But I wonder if Harrison Smith was ready to sign a contract extension if they would have needed to do those things. Now, extensions usually come at training camp. So this isn't their time of year where they generally do those. But in times of desperation, like last year with Kirk Cousins, they will do that to create the cap space. And the fact that it hasn't been done yet is kind of interesting to me.

I don't know if it's interesting to you at all, but I wonder very much what Harrison Smith sees for his future. And if he wants to be a Viking for life, or if he wants the option, if this doesn't go well, I mean, think if they go seven and9-10 next year and Harrison Smith becomes 34 years old and they change coaches and they change general managers and everything is different and Anthony Barr leaves and all the players basically from the heyday of this defense are gone. Doesn't Harrison Smith want to go somewhere else? I mean, I wonder if he would leave himself that option. I think Harrison Smith is within his rights as a 10-year member of this organization to say, I'm at least going to wait and see what you're putting around me on this team. Who am I going to play next to? Who's going to be on this

defense? What does the team look like after the draft? Secondly, the Vikings are opening up almost $8 million, it sounds like, after June 1st when that Cal Rudolph money goes off the books. So they can do a lot of their dealing post-June 1st, and they can kind of, you know, manage their free agent signings with what they have existing. Now, if Harrison Smith wanted to renegotiate right now and open up another five, six million dollars, yeah, that would help the team. But maybe Harrison Smith doesn't want to, as you alluded. I think Harrison Smith is a little tough to read. He doesn't always wear his emotions on his sleeve. He's kind of a reserved guy. And that's sort of why he's so beloved in that locker room is because he's so

steady and he's really never rocked the boat at all. So I think if there was any rift in a contract, it would be a very kind rift. It would be like, I'm going to shake your hand and politely decline this contract extension for now, but we can reopen talks in July, which, as you said, is usually when they do these things. So I don't think it happens in the next week or month. I think this is waiting, because if the Vikings wanted to make it happen, and if Smith was agreeable to that, it should have happened before free agency started, so they knew what money they were dealing with. It wouldn't make sense to do it now with most of the capital dried up. So I think we're probably on Harrison Smith watch in about four months when they report for training camp.

I just wonder if he has Ed Reed and Eric Weddle in his mind about how those guys were on great defenses for a long time and then things changed and they finished their careers elsewhere. Ed Reed was a Houston Texan, I think, and Eric Weddle went to Baltimore after spending so long with the San Diego Chargers. So is Harrison Smith thinking along the same lines? Even Earl Thomas, and it ended up blowing up, but he ultimately left the Seattle Seahawks when they wouldn't do the deal that he wanted. And from a Vikings perspective, if you go to Harrison Smith, and this is why I wonder how these conversations have gone,

if you went to Harrison Smith and he said, no, I'm not signing a contract extension, it would be the right play to trade Harrison Smith. But the way that they've handled free agency, there's no way that they're trading Harrison Smith. And so I wonder if we ultimately end up putting this in the bucket of, like, if you took the long approach, you could have blank. And I know that they don't feel like they're in a position to take the long approach or that they should.

But it's just one of those economics things where you like, what's the reward of Harrison Smith next year? It might be high, but he's also of the age where players start to decline. So it's less than it would have been a couple of years ago versus what he's worth. Is there a desperate team with some cap space left that could extend him or even just play him on a one year thing? If they're a Superbowl contender, I mean,

if you are, and I don't know their safety position, but like, if you are the Kansas city chiefs, would you give up a draft pick for Harrison Smith? Because every single year for you is we have Patrick Mahomes. We're going to try to win the Super Bowl. Maybe you would consider that.

So I wonder if that's on their mind or if they think, no, we really want this player to finish his career here. In recent years, we've seen guys that we thought might finish their careers here not, including Everson Griffin, who you thought, I mean, might be a ring of honor guy, and, you know, he ends up going. So I also wanted to talk about the NFC North a little bit, because on that improvement index chart, it was interesting to me that Chicago was up, and I had the thought I wonder if Andy Dalton is part of the reason why that's up because even though Mitch Trubisky had a little bit of a run there at the end including a very good game against the Vikings Andy Dalton probably played better than him last year and this is it's funny to say but if their roster is okay even or remotely close to what it was last year, I don't think we can put the Bears in the category of a team that is just automatically awful,

automatically 5-11, automatically 6-10 because they have Andy Dalton. They're probably looking at being about the same as they were with slightly improved play there. And then Kyle Fuller being gone. Maybe you drop off a little bit on defense. You've still got some of the dangerous pass rushers. I think that it's very typical kind of a Vikings fans to look at Chicago and say, LOL, they'll be terrible. And then lose one or two games to the Chicago Bears as so often happens.

Yeah. Can we get Kevin Cole on the line to like itemize how the Bears formula worked out? Because I don't really see how there's improvement here unless you are, you know, addition by subtraction with Trubisky because they lose a good player in Roy Robertson Harris. They lose a good player in Kyle Fuller and they bring in something called Angelo Blackson and Deion Bush, I guess, at safety. Andy Dalton was the signing. There's not a lot else happening here. So I don't really see how that all works out. But when have the Bears ever been dependent on quality of quarterback play to be successful? I mean, we've seen them pull these double-digit win seasons

out of their hats for the past couple decades, whether it's Rex Grossman or Mitch Trubisky or kind of an average Jay Cutler. It hasn't always been dependent on the quarterback. It's usually their defense that carries them, and I think that's how they could do it again. Andy Dalton still doesn't necessarily strike me as someone who's going to lead them to great heights because in Dallas, he had everything.

He had a pretty good line. He had a bunch of weapons. He had an indoor home stadium. In Chicago, he's not going to have the weapons. He's going to have a tougher environment to play, and he's in a division with some pretty. He's going to have a tougher environment to play. And he's in a division with some pretty good edge rushers too, with Hunter and Aquara and, you know, the Smiths.

And I still don't think, in my heart, that Chicago has improved their team. But as you point out, I could be wrong. I mean, how can I go against the uh the improvement index well it is not a thing that I would say is deep in my soul like you but I also don't think their roster is any better today I do think Andy Dalton is better than Mitch Trubisky though and he graded quite a bit better Andy Dalton graded about as well as Jared Goff last year, which you would say, oh, well, Jared Goff wasn't that great last year. Of course not. But he was close to a slightly below average quarterback. Mitch Trubisky graded about the same as Nick Mullins and Sam Darnold and Drew Locke. Like that's horrible quarterback play. And that's with his like finger quote hot run he still ended up grading

a 62 by pff andy dalton 69.6 nicely grades there but that was about the same for dalton as ben roethlisberger so if you're doing the wins above replacement replacement projection for pff you're probably saying if he plays over 16 games, then he's going to be worth more than Mitch Trubisky was, and Mitch Trubisky really held them back. I think you make a good point, though, that they're not a scary team at all. They're a team that if it goes right, they probably end up with nine wins. That's kind of how we've seen them for a while, and they keep making the playoffs instead of the Vikings.

That's my only point there. The Packers not doing anything. I'm definitely going to get a Packers guest on soon to talk about all of their inaction. Maybe we'll get Jason Wildey or Aaron Nagler on. Ted Thompson is thrilled with it, by the way. The late Ted Thompson is smiling down on them at how they've retained their guys. Right. That was every free agency for them.

They very rarely made big moves. And the index will say that they went down and aaron jones does not move the needle because they already had aaron jones i don't see them getting better but if you are going from 13 and three two years in a row and you regress what is that 11 wins i mean, they are still the Vegas favorites to win the NFC North, and I think that they still deserve that because all the bones of that team are there. It's not like they had a New Orleans Saints or a 2019 to 2020 Vikings. They haven't improved, but they also haven't fallen off and lost a bunch of players either. No, you're right.

I mean, losing Lindsley hurts a little bit. You know, bringing back King, I don't think Kevin King was a dramatic game changer. That's why it's only a one-year deal, but they do keep them. Mercedes Lewis became like a sneaky target for Rodgers along with Tunyon. I mean, that tight end room is so anonymous and yet so effective. Yeah, it's kind of a net neutral, and it's kind of what they did last year where you thought okay well there's just no way they're going to go 13 and 3 again you know that wasn't a sustainable method and then hey they had the best offense in football and they nearly went to the Super Bowl

and I think we're here um saying the same thing now if they hadn't done it two years in a row like if this was just a a one-off season they went 13-3, we would probably stick pretty hard to our belief that they're going to regress, just like the law of averages is going to bring them back to the pack. Back to the pack? Did you do that on purpose? No, no, I would never sink that low to make an intentional pun of that, you know, bottom-feeding nature, Collar. I would never sink that low to make an intentional pun of that, you know, bottom-feeding nature, caller. I would. Have more belief in me than that.

But, you know, it's going to come down to the draft with Green Bay because if they're treading water in free agency, are they going to find a way to at least move the needle in the draft, unlike last year, where we've had this talk about whether or not that cost them the NFC championship by not adding one more playmaker that could have gotten them over the hump. I think that argument ended up being a little bit moot because they were really, really, really good and nobody was talking about the draft anymore when they went 13-3. But still, nonetheless, adding another weapon to Rodgers' group of playmakers is critical. I mean, and that applies to life after Rodgers, too. If Rodgers is done in one or two seasons, they still want to have that player there for the next guy, whether it's Jordan Love or somebody else. So Green Bay needs to improve in the draft.

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for your original Minnesota sports-inspired goods. Code PURPLEINSIDER for free shipping. The guy that you don't want them to take if you're the Vikings is someone like Rondale Moore, who could be a playmaker after the catch and just add that extra element because they really don't have that. Their big guy that they would throw to and then he would make plays seemed to be Tanyan last year. That guy always seemed like he was coming up with the biggest plays at the biggest times

and the other guys are unreliable outside of obviously Devontae Adams. So I have another improvement index question and then I promise we'll do something fun because I feel like we've talked a lot about the improvement index here and then I promise we'll do something fun because I feel like we've talked a lot about the improvement index here on the show but in the let's see I want you to tell me where the improvement index for the Vikings will be in opening week for the Viking you know for the NFL this year and opening week of the 2022 season. So will the Vikings have improved as a team from right now till the end of the off season this year?

I'm sorry, I'm explaining this poorly. And will they be a better team than right now at the beginning of the 2022 season? Okay. Are you following? I'm sorry. No, I am. And if you could just provide a little more info so the the improvement index after the draft um do they have it's is do they use college production to project what the war is going to be like how does that work yeah we talked to kevin about that the other day that that's a tough one they i would say they

probably use i don't know if kevin actually does it after the draft or if it's just a free agency improvement index because it is so hard to project, but maybe even if we just take like 50th percentile performance from the draft players from where they're picked. Yeah, okay. I think they will be on the improvement side because I think the reason right now that they are not improved is because of that sort of surprising drop from the Anthony Harris loss. I think they're going to find a way to close the gap on that and then add additional in the draft. So I'm going to put them up slightly improved because, I mean, frankly, they're not losing all that much. Like in the end, they're going to have more good pieces. I think then they've lost good pieces.

It's not going to be like 2019 to 2020 where it was pretty much a net negative. 2022, that's still interesting because, you know, the safety that they might sign in all likelihood, that's a one-year deal. Patrick Peterson is a one-year deal. Anthony Barr could get voided. Harrison Smith could be gone. So, gosh, we've said this like three years in a row. It kind of feels like, you know, kind of a make-or- break year where if they don't do well, it all could

blow up. And I guess, you know, if they end up winning something this season, that probably incentivizes them to try to keep the group intact for the following year. But I would lean toward a lack of improvement leading up to 2022. They're kind of putting a lot of eggs in this season. And then the only way that you kind of keep the ship afloat is if you really nail this draft and then you know retroactively end up nailing last year's draft with with the Cleveland and the Gladney and the Dantzler improvements oh man that is a tough one caller but I think I think 2022 scares me I was going to point out and I forgot it was on my list of things to say out loud, was that there are zero guards remaining in the free agent market who had positive wins above replacement by PFF's metrics.

So good luck with that. But even a zero would be much better than where they were last year, which was way, I don't have Dakota Dozier's exact number, but it was probably about the worst that you could get. So that's another thing to consider too, is that like Delvin Tomlinson, even if it's just above average play and it's not superstar, it's a big jump in your overall value. And the same thing goes for whoever they get at guard. If they could get an average player there, that would be a big jump.

If they could get a Josh Klein, who was about a zero player, it's still going to be a lot better than what they had. For 2022, I will guarantee their improvement index is down because they have either traded Kirk Cousins, which would take their ward down and replace it with whoever. If it's a draft pick from this year or next year, then it's not going to be projected as high as Kirk Cousins. So there's that that pick from this year or next year then it's not going to be projected as high as Kirk Cousins so there's that that could do it or exactly what you laid out that I mean not only could they lose Harrison Smith and Anthony Barr next offseason but also like how much longer is Adam Thielen going to be at the level that he is at right now and this is why

we've talked about the need to look at everything through a three-year type of lens even if you think you're on the hot seat is because there are just these other spots that have to be replaced long term that instead they're kind of putting a lot of eggs in you know delvin tomlinson and patrick peterson's baskets to fix it or duron harman or whoever else that they signed james carp, I don't know. They're saying to those guys, fix this right now, patch that hole, and then we'll deal with the other stuff later. But dealing with the other stuff later kind of got them to where they are right now. So before we wrap up, we've made a list for the website and we have not drafted it yet, but we're going to do that now. We have ranked all 50, turns out there were 50, coincidentally, signings by the Minnesota Vikings during the Mike Zimmer era.

And we have ranked all of them right down to number 10. So we've got 10 left, and we are going to count them down now. So I am going to let you pick number 10 if you like. Yep. I'm, I'm next in line. So real, real quickly, the parameters for our top 50 list, which I'm really excited to publish. We didn't do every, like we didn't do futures deals. We didn't do XFL signings. We didn't do internal signings, but like guys who came from somewhere and like ended up playing for the Vikings and then prominent camp cuts and it ended up being right at 50. But here are the 10 left. Dalvin Tomlinson, Patrick Peterson, this year's signings, Kirk Cousins, Case Keenum, Latavius Murray, Riley Reif, Tom Johnson, Linval Joseph, Captain Munnerlyn, and Terrence Newman. Those are

the 10 eligible to be selected here. So starting with number 10, who's at the bottom of that list? I think I'm going to go with Patrick Peterson. I mean, we just talked about how he's basically a net neutral player at this stage. And the more I think about it, the more I'm just, I'm a little bit concerned that like immediately after the positive drug test, his play starts declining. And this was one of the more serious, you know, offenses because there was a masking agent involved. So it was more of an intentional coverup.

He didn't really even try to defend it. So I think it's Peterson for $10 million and one year and questionable, you know, talent left in the tank. That's my number 10. But you had to put him above people like Britton Colquitt. I think that that was fair. Also, we didn't really know what to do with Michael Pierce. So he's 13th on our list. But, you know, we're putting him ahead of number three wide receivers like Aldrick Robinson, Kai Forbath, Kicker. You know, he goes above those guys because he can have a bigger impact if it works out.

But I agree that there's risk that goes along with it. I will pick with the number nine selection in our countdown here. Captain Munnerlyn, who I think was a good signing and played well for maybe a year for them. I'm not sure that he was really all that good in 2015. 2016, he was pretty good. A good player and someone who you always could go to his locker and ask him a football question. A very likable guy, for sure. But, you you know a nickel corner who was probably in the middle of the league and mike zimmer got a little bit more out of him so a good signing very helpful player but wasn't like a major impact player for the vikings all right number eight goes to me

i'm gonna go with a a locker room favorite a lot of these guys are like awesome locker room dudes. Latavius Murray, who won the Media Good Guy Award, the Corey Stringer Award. He was with them for two years. And honestly, more so for the 2017 season, and he didn't even run that well. It was like 3.9 yards per attempt, which is the lowest of his career. But he did keep the train on the tracks or the Tate train on the tracks, maybe I should say, while Dalvin Cook was hurt in a season where they were very good. And he was part of that two-headed monster with McKinnon. And just like a glue guy, you know, every successful team needs people like that. And Murray, I think, kept, you know, a level head when Cook went out and he battled through injury and he was always available to talk and then took a pay cut and played another pretty good year. So I'll go Latavius. Hey, everyone. I want to tell you about our friends at Scout Logistics. And I really do mean it when I say friends. They are fans of Purple Insider over at Scout Logistics. And since they reached out wanting to support this

show, I want to tell you about what they do. Scout Logistics is just-in-time transportation for full tractor-trailer loads. And if you're wondering what that means exactly, well, if you own or work for a company that needs shipping solutions, they are the preferred carrier of Fortune 500 companies across North America, and we have quite a few of those in Minnesota, right? They can ship perishable, non-perishable, FTL or LTL, and they have on-time delivery rate of over 99%. So if you're like them and you enjoy the show and you have shipping needs, check out ScoutLogistics.com or call 855-217-2688 extension 232 to connect with them drafting Delvin Cook and then Delvin Cook being better than him right away they bonded in the locker room and became very close as opposed

to that being a contentious type of situation and I think that speaks to Latavius Murray's personality and his sort of unique brand of leadership just by being himself he also won them a couple of games that year you You could argue that. The game against Baltimore in 2017, where he had his breakout game, and then there was a game against Atlanta, where I think they ran like eight straight times, and seven of them were to Latavius Murray on a key touchdown drive. So he was big for them.

I agree with that, that it's not the biggest and best signing they've ever made, but even for a running back who was talked about as the replacement for Adrian Peterson but then you know eventually doesn't really have that that job and then gets it back yeah I agree I think that was a really great signing for them considering other running backs in that year busted as I've made fun of Eddie Lacy several times on the show uh Riley Reif is my number seven pick. Riley Reif gave them average tackle play for several years. And compared to some of the other tackles who signed that offseason, like Matt Khalil, that one really blew up. Russell Okung, who you've mentioned as a potential target now, though I don't think so. But he didn't play that well after he got a big contract so riley reef gave him every bit of

the amount of money they paid for and i think that people looked at him as somebody who was a captain and a pro and a tough guy and all that sort of stuff he did what he was supposed to do good good signing um this is going to get controversial now because there's one player on this top 50 list that is just so different from the rest and it's Kirk Cousins because of the cost that he's represented and I don't think I want him to be in the top five because let's face, he's been a 500 quarterback, has won them a playoff game. But because of that salary and the expectation, which is part of this ranking, like we're weighing all the factors. It's how much you cost, the expectations, what kind of value did you offer. I think Kirk Cousins fits right about here.

Obviously, he's been a critical part of this organization for three years. They're also kind of tied up with him right now for a fourth year, and then he's got the big cap hit in year five, and that's all part of the equation. This is a player that they chose to marry themselves to. So I'm not going to put him top five. I'm sinking him down to six. The reason that I would agree with you for where you put him

that I mean we're not gonna troll here and put him like 50th and say look you ruined their salary cap Kirk you're the worst signing ever of course you're not gonna do that but you know well part of it too that's in you know my formula is kind like, did it make sense to sign this player? And it did make sense at one time to sign Kirk Cousins. The extension really shouldn't be included here. And I think if they had let him, you know, play out his first contract and then move on from him right now and start kind of a rebuild type of thing, that maybe we wouldn't look at it so much as, wow, you really tied yourself to this quarterback and it made it very difficult for you guys to do anything.

Those first couple of years didn't really destroy them in the salary cap. I mean, when we talk about the players that they had to let go in 2018 and 2019, it's not a super long list. It's when it went from 2019 to 2020, that's when it went from 2018 or 2019 to 2020 that's when it was problematic but they always knew that that was kind of going to be the timeline i would have said that the signing maybe was yeah still about the same about the same place i mean that's the thing is like kirk cousins has done the job exactly the way kirk cousins does the. And it was not good enough in Washington. It got these kind of results on a good team. And the team thought that it would be different here. And

they didn't expect that they would regress in certain ways that were obvious that they were going to regress. So there's like the Kirk Cousins, the player versus Kirk Cousins, the team decision that you all kind of have to weigh with this. but I agree that he's not one of the five best of the Zimmer era yeah and you know I agree with you to some extent that we can't include like the second contract but also we are judging a lot of these other players on what they became like one name that we haven't mentioned yet because he's going to be in the top five is Terrence Newman and the first time you know the first deal they signed him was one year but it's about what he ended up being with the team like a multi-year starter mentored their entire cornerback room ended up being a coach in the organization so

I think you do have to look at it holistically like what what what came of this relationship like did it open doors for like a long and flourishing relationship or did it open doors that like led you down a bad path and and for cousins it might be the latter yeah but we can't I think we can't also put it super low and I think this is why it's the right spot because he played well overall. The overall numbers point to a quarterback who played about in the top 12 to 15 at any given time. And that was what you should have expected from Kirk Cousins when you signed him. In 2019, he has a legitimately very, very good year. Last year was troublesome to get your team to 1 and five and lead the league in interceptions and

then come storming back. But, you know, he gets you to the playoffs. He gets you a playoff win. He gets you a game winning drive. So his play has not been like Elvis Gerbach in Baltimore, where they signed him and it imploded on them. It's been more of kind of, well, OK, you were competitive for all those years, but not really a true contender at any point with Kirk Cousins. For number five, I'm going to go Delvin Tomlinson here, because I think the Delvin Tomlinson deal will work out really well for them. I would not be surprised if Delvin Tomlinson ends up with a second deal, if he ends up playing here for a very long time you know based on his history based on his

personality he is a really good fit and he's one of those guys that you would talk about in the draft as his ceiling is not going to be Aaron Donald but man is he consistent man is he like solidly good from year in to year out he plays every game like I think I have high expectations for how this goes, and I think there's a good chance that it works out really well. I agree with you on that, and I also project forward. This could end up being a multi-year coup for the Vikings. After one year, if it's really good, it could end up, a four-year relationship if they extend them. So I like the potential with that. I'm starting to get conflicted now. We're at number four. Here are the four we have remaining. Case Keenum, Tom Johnson, Linval Joseph,

Terrence Newman. I am torn between Newman and Johnson. Johnson, they were both cheap they were Newman was I think three years Johnson was five years well I think I would go if I were you I would go Tom Johnson because Terrence Newman switching positions in 2017 is truly an incredible feat. I mean, the guy's like 40 years old and played top half of the league nickel corner when he had never played there before. I mean, that also like what he meant to the locker room was a huge deal. He played a role in Xavier Rhodes becoming a great player. He played a role in Stefan Diggs becoming a great player. Like I think that his value was probably quite a bit more. And there is Tom Johnson bias with me. When you sign a guy who had barely played for the Saints and then goes to the CFLs, basically out of the league, and he becomes

a 60% of the snaps guy and a good one on the number one defense, that is an amazing signing. And so it's not to say that Tom Johnson offered more war than Kirk Cousins over these years, but that is an incredibly good signing, though. Yeah, it's probably the most impressive evaluation of a player. And they make dozens of these every year that don't work out. So this is kind of like a 1 in 100 type signing where you get five years out of a player like that. But Newman's impact down to down, day to day, like during the week of preparation practice probably was more impactful. And then the fact that he became a coach too, on top of it all,

like that just adds a little bit of icing to the cake, I think. So I'll go Johnson, number four. And I'll go Terrence Newman with number three because I think he belongs just ahead. So now let's debate number two and one. So you've got the pick. I will say that for number one, I would pick Case Keenum. I think it's the best signing because you will never get that out of any backup quarterback almost ever. I mean, the Vikings have a history of every once in a while having Randall Cunningham pull this off.

But how often do you have a team that loses its starting quarterback with the expectations that that starting quarterback was going to take them deep into the playoffs, and then you throw in some guy who was undrafted who wasn't real good with Houston who wasn't real good with St. Louis slash Los Angeles off the trash heap for what like three million bucks and they did it only because Teddy Bridgewater had gotten hurt the year before and they couldn't trust Sean Hill for more than a game so that's why they ended up having to spend a first round pick on Sam Bradford.

And Case Keenum comes from a guy that we were talking about whether he was going to even win the job as the backup to a 13-3 season, a top-10 quarterback season by quarterback rating and by pro football focus grade. Even though it was one year, it was their best signing to me hands down, unless you could change my mind. So are you reading from the Making of a Miracle book right now, or was that just extemporaneous? I did write the book, so yes, I do remember all of it. And you can get that at Amazon.com. Just type in Making of a Miracle, and you can buy the book.

Oh, I'm glad I brought that up. That was you who wrote it. Oh, I forgot that. It was, yeah. That was you who wrote it. Oh, I forgot that. Well, I wish I could be more contrarian, but I think it was pretty clear in my mind from the second we hatched this idea that Case Keenan was going to be the number one free agent signing of the era. There's really no – I mean, how could I put a nose tackle, as good as Linval Joseph was,

how can I put him above the guy that led you to the NFC Championship game out of nowhere, out of absolute obscurity? We were all like chuckling to each other. Like, like Case Keenum was basically a meme in like the preseason of 2017. He wasn't that impressive. Nobody thought he was going to be relevant. and he turns out to do what he did and then provide that moment in the miracle game. He's number one. And so I guess my official pick is Linval Joseph at number two. And it sounds like we're ripping on Joseph here, but we're not.

He was amazing. You know, he spent six years with the organization, and I'd say for four of them, might have been the best nose tackle, you know, in football or at least top three, especially 2015, 16, 17,

the way that he could like get penetration and stop the run and just be like a force of nature was really fun to watch for those that appreciate the nuances of football. And Delvin Tomlinson talked about linval joseph in his opening press conferences being basically the gold standard for a nose tackle for the way that he had played like you said in those top years his 2017 season is as good as i have ever seen a nose tackle play so uh great signing for a guy that most people maybe didn't hear of and i think they're trying to repeat that with Delvin Tomlinson. So the whole list,

you could go to purpleinsider.substack.com and you can find the whole list of 50 there. Steven Ridley is ahead of Michael Floyd because of Kombucha Gate. That's the tease I'm going to give you. And we will end there. So we'll talk again tomorrow when we record the Friday round table, Sam. Can't wait.

We got Ben Gessling on. That'll be a lot of fun. He's a contractual salary cap wizard. He'll give us all his wisdom.