Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Saints reporter thinks Derek Carr is a good Vikings fit

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football joins the show to discuss the recent links between the Vikings and retired, former Saints QB, Derek Carr and why he thinks it would be a good fit. 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.

everybody welcome to another episode of Purple Insider presented by Fanduel, Matthew Collar here. And returning to the show, Nick Underhill, New Orleans dot football, a personal hero of mine of somebody who went so low had a ton of success building New Orleans dot football. I mean, you got the beautiful studio going on there. I've been so impressed by everything you've done. And I'll use any excuse for us to get together and talk some football, Nick, including rumors about Derek Carr. So that that is what we're here for, but we'll also get sort of the state of the Saints

as the Vikings will play them this season. But were you surprised to see all of the NFL insiders at once have the same information about Derek Carr potentially wanting to return to the NFL? I mean, just a total shock that a guy that had a career ending shoulder injury didn't have to get surgery and ended up coming back after the Saints changed coach. and things started going sour here. Just totally blown away that his career might not be over. In all seriousness, like, yeah, I mean, this was always happening.

Like this, this was always definitely something that felt like it was coming. When he left, it felt like kind of a little bit weird. Just rolling it back here because I'm guessing everybody wasn't watching a terrible Saints team two years ago. So they were playing the Giants. He went out on a scramble, dove for a first. down, hits his hand, like he has a hand injury, goes through the whole entire, you know, the rest of the season, the scans, everything, does a year on press conference, only talks

about the hand. The hand was the issue. There were no other problems with it. Was specifically asked, hey, is there anything else going on? No, it's just the hand that's going to be fine. We're going to be all good. Lo and behold, like three months later in the free agency, turns out that he apparently has a shoulder injury, never tried. to throw with it, never tried to do anything. So you have this hand injury. You never test your arm in the three months following the season somehow. Turns out he has a mystery shoulder injury. And like it was the timing of it was absolutely atrocious because like I said, like we're waves in the free agency at that point. The Saints had signed Brandon Cooks and some other guys like trying

to build out a veteran team to, hey, try to win the NFC South, see where it goes. And all of a sudden their quarterback can't play. And, you know, I just don't think any of it was in the cards. Like even you go watch their, their podcast, him and his brother have a podcast. His brother, David, does a draft preview or a draft review thing. It was like, oh, yeah, the same draft Tyler Shuck. Like, who knows, like, that's a good guy in case Derek has to miss a couple games at the beginning of the season.

And then, like, poof, he just like ups and retires. Like, it was the craziest thing. And, you know, it just kind of just felt weird the whole time. And maybe everything was above board. And maybe there weren't any issues, but like a guy walking away from $30 million guaranteed due to an on field football injury, just something about this just, it just is, I'm always, and I might have a new era fitted tinfoil hat on here, but like at some point, like it just feels like there's going to be something else that comes out about this at some point down the line.

None of it makes sense. But yes, now he's trying to come back, possibly Saints own his rights. They'll probably try to trade them. And here we are. very very weird situation overall what were the running theories was it and i don't want to be here shoulder injury was it was it was it was it was it a right i don't want to be here or because that's a lot of money to just walk away from rather than playing or had the accumulation of injuries that he had gone through through his career added up to the point where he just felt like he

couldn't play because i mean when andrew luck retired we i think all went oh okay i get it this is terrible for the NFL that we don't have Andrew luck anymore, but go through the injury history and the guy has had this, that, and the other thing, and it's, it's very difficult to play through these things, even though sometimes we look at and go, oh, you know, shoulder, he's fine. Oh, Drake May, just to shoot him up, get him out there for the Super Bowl. I'm sure to have no impact on or whatever. We kind of do that with NFL players, but I imagine that it's got to be exhausting for a guy like Derek Carr. I mean, I remember when they were playing the Vikings, one of those Josh Dobbs games and he got, I think multiple injuries on the same play against the Minnesota

Vikings. So this guy has kind of been through it. And then if you're looking at a roster that you think, man, we don't even have much of a chance to win or you don't like the coaching situation. It's got to be really hard to say, hey, buck up soldier. When you've already made X number of dollars during your career, like, do I really want to go out there and sacrifice my body again for a team that, you know, maybe didn't have much of a chance of going anywhere. Do you remember that touchdown pass James through in that, that game? I do. Yeah.

It was ridiculous. It was absurd. His, his highlight reel could compete with any quarterback of all time. And his low light reel. No question about it. Yeah, that was wild. Yeah. Look.

So my running theory on it, I, I don't believe Derek's a dishonest person. Like, I believe whatever Derek saying he believes is the truth. My personal theory, no reporting. Nobody's ever talked about this, nothing. It was, hey, Derek's retiring. He's walking away from this money and everybody shut up, right that in there. And it just kind of felt like all parties agreed like, hey, let's walk away from this, not make it ugly.

Don't put a stain on Derek's name. Don't put a stain on the franchise's name. Let's just on this and go our separate ways. I've never seen anyone walk away from that much money, though. But I do believe that Derek believes his truth. And I think that there's probably my guess is. And again, I'm just guessing someone that's covered the league for 15 years. I'm guessing there was a difference in opinion on how whatever happened happened.

That, hey, we did your end scans and tests and everything and nothing came up and the exit thing was just the hand. You said it was just the hand. You had your own independent opinions. This is what we believe. Now you're saying you have an injury. And over here he's saying, hey, look, it just didn't pop up. I'm guessing that's probably the truth. And whatever, whatever it is, I have no idea.

It just is always going to feel weird. you know, like there's, he retires. And then there's like a video of him carrying golf clubs through his car. And it's like, you got a shoulder injury. And then it's like, well, okay, maybe, maybe that motion doesn't, I don't know. I don't know. I'm just saying it was just a very weird ending to it. And I feel like they all just folded to avoid the arbitration.

And maybe there, there's more to it. Hey, look, you give this money back. And if you want to come back, like, we aren't going to make it hard on you to come back. Maybe there's an agreement like that. I don't know. Hey, maybe you don't want to do this or there isn't a stain on your name. just one of those things where it's just, you know, as a reporter, like your, your antenna goes up and sometimes there's no signal pickup, but my antenna's all the way up on this one. And I have

no idea where it leads, but I just, I'm all, I'm going to die thinking there was something else through this. Well, normally having, you know, done this almost as long as you, when something doesn't seem quite right, it's not. But it's also, you can't just repeatedly guess and guess and guess and guess because you don't want to be saying something that isn't true. And then you know how this goes. If you're saying something and you think this might be it, but you don't really know, then it gets aggregated and then it becomes the truth, even if you were just sort of speculating. So these are things you have to be careful about. Okay, how good was Derek Carr as a New Orleans saint? Because, and this is, this is a, an admission here, Nick, I have not paid the most attention

of all 32 franchises to the New Orleans Saints since Drew Bree's left because gestures at everything. But, I mean, when they signed Derek Carr, it seemed to make a heck of a lot of sense to rebuild around a quality quarterback and then aim to get your quarterback in the future. They kind of did that. And there was a minute there with now Raiders coach Clint Kubiak where, I mean, Derek Carr was looking pretty darn good. So what is he, like, what is your memory of him as, Saints quarterback. Like, how good was that? Yeah. So the thing is, like, I think Derek has the worst PR in the NFL, like, by far,

because he's easily one of the best 32. And I think the problem with Derek is like he just, there's just somewhere where, you know, I think he becomes a little bit unlikable and you see teammates reacting to him and some of the stuff he says at the podium's a little bit weird. And, you know, there was always like a lack of accountability. I felt like when things went bad. he just wasn't the, hey, this was, this was on me or sometimes he would be, but it just wouldn't come off the right way. It's a very weird experience. And if you guys are Vikings fans, you guys are partly, you'll go through it and you'll, you'll be like, I kind of like him, but he's kind of weird. Like, and I think everybody feels that. And I think one of the biggest mistakes he made here is that he

just like never, I think in New Orleans is like, you got to embrace New Orleans that if you don't, everyone's going to hate you. So I think is if rumors pick up and all that, you'll, You'll have Saints fans be it. Like, there'll be just an endless list of people being like, this is the worst quarterback ever. He's not. Like, he's one of the 32 best easily. I would probably say he's probably,

he's probably right around that Darnold Bar is where I would put him. And if you want to know how good he actually is, like you guys know Darno, you know how he played. You saw how Kubiak elevated him. When the first two, three weeks of that season, not last season, but the season before where he was still the starter, the comparisons we were making in those games were the 2007 Patriots. Like you had to go to those games to find offensive efficiency at that level.

Like he was unbelievable during that stretch. Then everybody got hurt. Their offensive line fell apart. By the end of the season, he had no receivers, no running backs, hollow lines gone. And like it just, it just completely fell apart. But he looked really good.

I don't know that he's a guy that you're going to, you know, win because of. But I definitely think on the right. team. You can win with them. You know, I'll always believe that like last, not last year, year before I'm like so screwed up with the football timeline because the season just ended, but two seasons ago, like, I'll always be convinced that like they could have went to the playoffs and easily won a game with the team that I don't think was very good.

Like they didn't have a ton of talent everywhere. Defense was a little bit weak. But he, I think he's actually like an okay quarterback. He's just so hated for some reason. And I don't even think he's like a bad guy. I think he's a, like I kind of like him, but like it's just some stuff was weird and there's just always just that like a little bit of a like an icky feeling around him that that I just think he gets dragged down for. And I do think the football evaluation part of it gets muddied up.

And I think the football evaluation part of it is a little bit unfair to him. I think I know all about this from covering Kirk Cousins for a very long time of the great. Yeah, conflicted fan base of somebody who at times at the podium would be very endearing. and at other times would be very frustrating and the accountability part of it. I think that there are some guys, Sam Darnold is one of them, who are like, oh, you guys want to say that interception was my fault. I don't care.

I'm not talking about it. I, like, you guys can kick that around if you want to. And then I think there are other quarterbacks who are like, I really want the world to know what I thought there, what I saw there. And that is a hard battle to win because you cannot explain what happened sometimes without throwing somebody else under the bus, but there are some people who need everyone to know exactly what happened. And I've always kind of, like, related to that because I feel like that's what I would be.

If I was the quarterback, I'd be like, you guys don't understand. He ran the wrong route. Wait a minute. You're not supposed to say that. Now you're throwing somebody under the bus. It's a very, that's why Sam Darnold, he has to win the Super Bowl to open up a little bit because he's always, you know, kind of, you know, just not wanted to create any more noise than there needed to be. But, you know, some people can't help themselves.

When I look at the data on Derek Carr's 888 dropbacks as a New Orleans saint, I mean, that right there looks to me like if he was playing quarterback for the 2026 Minnesota Vikings with Justin Jefferson, presumably Jordan Addison, T.J. Hawkinson, a healthy offensive line, Kevin O'Connell, that that wins a lot of games. I mean, he had 40 touchdowns to 13 interceptions, more big time throws and turnover worthy plays. His quarterback ratings, those year were 97.7 and 101.0. I mean, this looks like pretty darn good quarterback play. There would have to be a concern were the Vikings interested in him and him interested in the Vikings about the physical health issue because he did take a lot of punishment throughout his career.

And also in Kirkian fashion, there seems to be a ceiling with Derek Carr. and maybe Darnold inspires some people that, you know, ceilings don't exist from middling quarterbacks, but I think you should look a little closer at Darnold's last, I don't know, 40 games or so, because I think he's 32 and 9 with a 99.5 quarterback rating since 2022 and was the number three overall draft pick. But that would be a little bit of my hesitation other than,

okay, this guy's been out of football for a year. But hey, hey, if Philip Rivers could come back with a worse body than mine and go out there and toss it around. I think, you know, Randall Cunningham showed up for the Vikings coming out of retirement and had one of the best seasons ever. When I look at this, I think, as you said, Derek Carr's reputation would probably have fans being like, really, isn't this just sort of the same thing that we always do? But based on his performance, it's hard to argue that the Vikings wouldn't get at least

sort of a Jared Gough type of situation here at absolute best with the supporting cast that you can give Derek Carr. Yeah, I think if they, if they protect him, he gives you a chance. Like he really does. Like he's definitely a guy in that offense. Like I would be curious to see what it looks like. I really think he could do decent things there. And I think he could make him competitive. Like the Saints just never, I think the biggest mistake the Saints made around him to is they went out and they got him and then they just kind of stopped. They didn't go all in on this idea. It was like, we're going to get him and then make these discount signs and not do everything to build it around them.

So it was like they had one foot in the rebuild world and one foot in the like let's still try to win this really bad division thing. And I just don't think those two things ever fully aligned. I think if they had went all in around them, they easily could have been a playoff team with them. And the whole thing kind of looks a little bit different. The other part of that too, like what we were talking about with with him at the podium and all that, I don't think it did him any favors that Dennis Allen knew the person and knew the,

the sensitivities to certain things and would go out of his way to protect him while being kind of very hard on the rest of the 52. And I think that created the vision in the locker room, which undermined his ability to be a leader. And I think it created a bit of a toxic environment. And then you would see people on the, like literally on the field trying to fight their car wearing the same jersey as him. So it was just a little bit, I think in a different situation where he's not, you know, the guy drafted by him and not the handpick person of the coach and all that stuff. Like I think I think some of that would lessen a bit. And I think that was maybe the biggest issue with him beyond anything else is that everybody hate him because of the way I think the coach treated him as opposed to the way he treated everyone else.

So it's so funny because I think of you and I as a Spider-Man meme of journalists. And I think of Derrick Carr and Kirk Cousins is a Spider-Man meme of quarterbacks because, I mean, you know, you're sending me back to his memories of Kirk Cousins and Adam Thieland yelling at each other, or Kirk being grabbed by his head coach after they made a game winning field call. And yet, and yet the 2022 and 22 and 23, Kirk Cousins led Kevin O'Connell, Minnesota Vikings, somehow turned Kirk Cousins into the leader of the locker room to the point where when he got hurt, one of their captains was in tears in the locker room after he got injured. I do think if there's anybody who understands how to navigate. And I've made the same argument for with like

Kyla Murray, for example, that certain people get pinned with your personality can't work. And it may be your personality can't work there or under those circumstances. And I'll give you a great example. I was laughing all week that everyone who asked a Patriots player about Stefan Diggs, they were like, he's been the best, great teammate, perfect guy inside the locker room for us. And you're like, I think I know that person that you're talking about. But oh yes, your team is winning a ton and everyone is happy. It loves each other.

Yeah. Which is usually what it often comes down to. The Vikings with Kirk, they start out, you know, 13 and 4 with KOC's first year. And all of a sudden, everybody in that locker room is big Kirk fan, right? That's what it ultimately comes down to.

What do you think that he does? Because I did catch a clip of David Carr talking about, well, you know, Clint Kubiak is headed to the Raiders and those guys are really tight and, you know, maybe if the situation was exactly right, wink, wink, you know, it sounded to me like they were already the cars trying to sell Clint Kubiak on the idea of him being a bridge quarterback to presumably get to Fernando Mendoza, which I don't think is actually a great idea for Derek Carr, because if you're going to come back to the league now, why go to a rebuilding type of team that is not

going to compete in an insane division, but I also kind of get it because it does make sense. If you went there, rehab your look, go to the free agent market or however, you'll have to explain his contract situation. But if you end up as a free agent or whatever, then, hey, Derek Carr gets a $40 million payout for being halfway decent with the Las Vegas Raiders. That seems like his plan. But all the insider reporting said the right situation, which I can only think of like, three situations that would make any sense, and Minnesota is one of them.

Yeah. So the Raiders thing, I guarantee you he, he's just thinking about those first couple games in 24. And he's like, man, if I did this, the whole season, I'm passing for 5,000 yards in a league that no longer passes for 5,000 yards. And I'm going to win the MVP. And like he, he's believing that. So the Kubiak fit of it, back to the Raiders, go back, be the hero.

He's thinking if he gets in there, he probably. never loses that job. Like, just let me get some Kubiak and I'm good to go. I guarantee you, that's how he's thinking of it. I don't think it makes sense for him at all. Like, as soon as things falter, you're getting benched and it's done and they're going to Fernando and they're moving forward like that. It's just, just doesn't feel like, like, why would you want to be the guy holding the seat for Jackson Dart? But Jackson, Darts is the number one picking the draft. It seems like a terrible situation for him. I felt the same way, though, watching those videos. There was another one I've seen where he's talking about the Arizona offense and just gushing over all the weapons and then at the end of it.

And he's like, boy, if they just figured out their quarterback situation and I'm like, you're talking about you. Like, so that they're one that I think would make some sense for him. Minnesota is another. I don't know that the Jets make sense for him, but I think the Jets, I think he makes sense for the Jets. Like if you're Aaron Glenn, you're trying to save yourself, not get fired. Boy, Derek Carr knows how to win eight games. Like, he'll get you there. So maybe, maybe that would make sense.

I think it's two or three spots that that kind of add up Miami. Does Miami make sense? I don't know if it does. I don't think so either. I mean, if McDaniel was still there, then I would say probably yes. And if Tyree Kill was still Tyree killed, then I would say yes, because that division at least, well, no, that division's pretty tough. But I mean, you know, you're in Miami, whatever.

He could probably rack up some pretty good numbers there. But now with complete overhaul of coaching and that rock. is mediocre. I don't think it would be much different from when he arrived in New Orleans, where the roster was just not really fit for him to go out and win. I mean, even Arizona, are you sure? Because Jared Verse and, you know, Kobe Young and all those players for the Rams defensive line and then Seattle's defense is bringing back pretty much everybody. Are you sure that's the division you want to go to? I'm not saying that, you know, Michael Parsons is in the Vikings division, but it's not like Detroit and Chicago are the most terrifying teams.

Like, you can make the playoffs in the NFC North, even though it's a very good division. But the NFC West, to me would be if you get to seven wins, then you've done pretty well. This is part of my Kyler Murray thing is he got to eight wins with a pretty bad franchise in that division in 2024. I mean, you know, with the Vikings, he might do okay. That's when I, when I started to add up the Derek Carr thing, I think, he should be on the phone with KOC, seeing what they want to do with J.J. McCarthy. And he is the one quarterback. There are very few quarterbacks that are like this that you could

actually say, hey, maybe McCarthy could develop for a year behind him, which is what really should have been happening this year. Whoopsy. And then Derrick Carr could potentially move on. There's not that many quarterbacks. I mean, Kirk's like that or, you know, Aaron Rogers, but there's not that many quarterbacks. If you sign Malik Willis, you're kind of in on Malik Willis, or if you sign Kyler Murray, he's your guy. I don't know if it's the same story if you're just bringing a guy out of retirement. Yeah, that's a great point about the level of opponent too. And he's not someone that thrives under pressure.

So going into a situation where you're going to constantly be under pressure, might be something you have to consider. But my thing with him is just knowing him, guessing, trying to piece it together, playing the FBI profiler. I think that in the end, if he's choosing between, he's going to pick the spot where he feels most secure because I there was just a lot of I heard there was a lot of reassuring like happening when Kellanmore got hired where they had to make where they were trying to make him feel like no no no you're the guy you're the guy you're the guy

and he was seeking that I don't know that he he's built for the someone's breathing down my neck type situation but it's weird that we both feel like he's campaigning for for Mendoza so maybe I got that wrong. Well, I think if you're coming out of retirement, like you understand, I suppose. Yeah, but, but that's what it would come down to for him. If you go to the New York Jets, I mean, I may God be with you if you're going to the New York Jets, but if that's your decision, all that means is I want to play as much as possible and I don't want anybody else around to ever talk about anyone else playing. If you come to Minnesota and they do not trade J.J. McCarthy, which I would be surprise, not shocked, but I'd be surprised that they traded McCarthy, then if you struggle and let's

say, let's say you're even winning, but your team is kind of bounce, you know, is, uh, your, your performance is bouncing up and down and your six and three and you have a bad game to go to six and four. You know that fans are going to be like put McCarthy, put McCarthy in. Like this guy is just not good enough or he, you know, whatever else. He's not going to get us there, put McCarthy in. I don't know if he wants that. I don't know if he wants those questions. or, you know, cheers for McCarthy to come in because, as we know, as soon as a starting quarterback

is struggling, if there's anyone behind them, people will call for the backup. But that would certainly be the case with the Raiders as well, would not be so much in Arizona. And I just, Arizona is one of the worst franchises. Yeah, they've got a couple. They are. They've got a couple of weapons. But I mean, they're just, they're tanking and firing coaches left and right. I just can't see it.

Let's talk about the. So we'll see. I mean, I think there's. a reasonable argument for it. And the Vikings, they got to be digging under every single stone for something here with so much pressure on the coaching staff, the front office, which has already had, you know, somebody lopped off. But let's talk about the 2026 New Orleans Saints because on expected date here, we will see each other with the Saints playing the Minnesota Vikings. And that will be in New Orleans, one of my favorite places to go. Let's talk about Tyler

Shuck. I did not watch tape to tape any Tyler Shuck games. I will but I didn't. Tell me about Tyler Shuck. I think he has a chance to be the real deal, man. They won two or three games this year because of him. Like, literally just him making plays down the stretch,

extending plays coming up clutch. He looks like he has a real chance to be a good player in the league. And you know, it's kind of, I can't remember who said this. And I've cited this quote like four times. And I got to remember who said it, but I read a book somewhere sometime from a coach. And he basically said, like, hey, look, once they show they can do it in the league, it's our job not to screw it up.

I think that's where the Saints are at right now is just don't screw it up. He's got a real chance to actually be good. Man, he can extend plays. He's got a great arm, fearless, can really run. You know, I think the last exposure to him in college at Louisville, I think there was an element of, okay, I've suffered multiple injuries. I've been in college for seven years. The next one might,

my NFL dream. I just need to show my arm, show what I can do and throw the ball away when it comes. He's that guy. Like he's, there's like a little bit of a fearlessness to him in almost one of the, like I think my biggest criticism of him now, which I think is opposite to what we were probably all saying when we were

watching clips and scouting him and that is that I think sometimes he needs to speed up in the pocket. Like I think he's, he's taking too many sacks and, you know, stuff like that. But I think they're very hopeful. And I think they're going to go in pretty aggressively around him this year. And I think they believe they can win this division. And I think they think he's, he's really a guy.

And I don't know, like watching him, I don't know how you could come to any other conclusion. Like there is some legitimately very good stuff that he did this year. We'll see to what level. You know, I'm going to be interested to see how far he can develop. He is 26. I've started to come to the conclusion that maybe that doesn't matter as much, like in terms of the ceiling.

And I think in some ways maybe that allowed him to come into the league and be good right away because there's a maturity. And, you know, I just think some of the pitfalls that you can fall into as a younger player don't necessarily exist for him. But, man, I think he, I think he's actually good. Yeah.

And I'm like scared to say that. Yeah. But like I believe it. Well, I think that we all saw like the Brandon Whedon experiment. goes so wrong and we went, all right, don't ever get an older quarterback. But the world kind of changed because of those COVID extra years and everything else. And I remember asking Quasi Adolfo Menza about this before the 2024 draft.

And it was really in regards to like panics and nicks about those quarterback ages because every other position, I think it is different. I mean, if you get a 20 year old pass rusher versus a 24 year old pass rusher, his dominance may be a little fake in college because he's like a grown up and can almost rent a car as opposed to a kid dominating. That's, you know, you can see where the growth potential would be. But I think for quarterback, so much of it comes down to just the mental ability to handle all of the pressure, the mental ability to handle all the things that pro coaches put on your plate.

You know, the Vikings having to, as Aaron Jones said, dumb down their offense at some point. It's like, JJ McCarthy at this point, his career can't handle all the NFL things you're asking him to do. And it looked to me like, so I did see a little Tyler Shuck that he could handle that stuff. The ball was coming out largely on time and that he also had enough of a playmaker mentality to where, yeah, I don't know if the physical skill screams to me, Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson. It certainly does not. But if you have those mental parts down and the maturity part down, and the game's not too fast for you, then the rest is kind of up to your team to make it work.

And there's, maybe at some point you get to where you go, I don't know if you can really get past the divisional round without a quarterback who's got some freaky traits. Like, let's not forget Sam Darnold's the top, you know, arm talent in the entire NFL. But I think we've seen a lot of quarterbacks, even, you know, Bo Nicks going deep in the playoffs where you can have some

limitations. And if you do it right, you can still make. the most of that quarterback. The wildest thing to me about him is that he was like actually making guys better, which as a rookie is a crazy thing to see. I think Devon Bailey is like a great test case of that. They traded for him, I think was it week one, like week one right before the season, maybe two weeks before the season after the last preseason game.

And he did nothing the first nine weeks of the season to the point where, you know, three shows a week and three shows a week we were talking about how what were they thinking. and this is one of the worst trades we've ever seen. They traded a fourth round pick for a seventh round pick. He's 27 years old, all this stuff. Like this is another piece of evidence that things falling apart. And then all of a sudden, Shuck takes over and he's able to make the tight window throws,

and he's able to throw people open. And now suddenly Devon Valle, who isn't a separation monster or anything, but can make contested catches. I think he finished with 11 contested catches on 13 contested targets. Like, and it's just Shuck, just putting it in there. And a lot of them are third and 17, third and 12, third and 11. And these hard downs, like, he's elevating everybody else and making them better.

And that's when you start to believe, like, wait a minute, this guy might actually be good. Like, and then it just keeps happening and it keeps happening. By the end of the season, he ended up being the NFL's best third down quarterback by any metric you look at. And if you even isolate that more to like third and long, third and seven and or more, you know, every single thing falls in his favor. I think that's a real stat. I think that's a real measurement of success. Now, small sample, you know, he played eight and a half games. Like let, let's see what it is like all together, all in as they go forward. But I'm, I'm encouraged by by what we saw at least. And there was never really a dip. Like it just kind of kept going going up back half of the schedule was a little

bit weak. Like all the qualifiers in place. Like I'm not betting, you know, my, my net worth on him having a great second year. But like, I would be willing to put like a deal. decent little chunk on it. Like I think he's a, I think he's a real guy. And if you're placing a bet, go to Fandall. Thank you. Uh, there is, uh, there is something about that throwing people open thing that boy did we learn about this year that it's, I don't know if that's like a brain function that some people can just see ahead or if that's entirely a reps function where you have to just play so much with so much timing and everything else, so much practice, so many routes on air to the point where you're not even thinking you're just letting that ball go to a

space. But when Carson Wentz came into the Vikings and threw a ball before Justin Jefferson was out of his break and then it drops right in his hands by the sideline, you're like, okay, I don't know. Some people have that and I don't know that everybody has that. So the fact that Shuck can do that is like your first major step, the fact that he could come into a team that was struggling and feel like he's galvanized people around him, get people performing a higher. levels. I mean, Kellynne Moore, you know, they had continued to go the way that they were doing. People would be saying, oh, they, you know, that guy doesn't know what he's doing or whatever. And now it feels like, hey, he's got this quarterback that he can work with for a long time,

potentially. The Vikings and Saints will play each other at some point. So that means you'll have to prepare for the Vikings. What questions about the Vikings do you have for me? Um, well, I mean, like, first of all, what if they don't get a quarterback? what happens to the season. Well, that I have no idea because, I mean, we just, with J.J. McCarthy, he made it very hard to find the things that you're talking about with Tyler Shuck to lay out the tape, lay out the data and get out your pen and circle. Like you just, you just had that stat right there with the, all right, he was one of the best

third down quarterbacks. That's a lot of tough throws. That's a lot of hanging in there. That's a lot of anticipation. That's a lot of windows. Okay, you got that. you can circle that and say that's some evidence. It's not the whole story that this could work.

The evidence that this could work with J.J. McCarthy is, I mean, you got to get out a microscope because when you rank 42nd out of 45 quarterbacks in quarterback rating, when you are 5% below completion percentage over expected, which was, I think Brady Cook was the only one that was worse in terms of completion percentage over expected, here's the crazy stat about J.J. McCarthy is that his expected completion percentage was the same as Sam Darnold's last year. So in terms of how open the receivers were when he threw the ball, it was the same. Only their completion percentages were about 10% apart because obviously Sam Darnold threw completions. But the sack numbers, another crazy stat for you. He took as

many sacks as Sam Darnold did this year. He took more sacks than Bo Nix and he only had 243 passes. the number of interceptions, mistakes. If you go and look at adjusted net yards per attempt and compare it to all other quarterbacks through their first 10 starts, the only guys that you come up with that made it were usually number one overall picks that played for terrible teams. That's what makes this so hard. And if the vibes were good, because you're mentioning like the teammates and stuff,

if the vibes were still good and they were like, guys, how dare you? This is our quarterback. But it's just there has been none of that. There has been no defensiveness. The players went to radio. row and we're kind of like, yeah, it was pretty bad, wasn't it? I mean, you just don't see that from a, from a quarterback. So the chances that he's the only QB are not very high.

They're going to get someone else. But if he is, then it's really entirely on him. He has February, well, January, they had a lot of January to work with. February, March, April, those couple of months are enormous for him. And one thing that we know is that sometimes, kids grow from freshman year to sophomore year in ways that you don't expect. What a Dennis Rodman, he made the NBA at 26 because he had a growth spurt in his 20s. I don't know.

That's what they need. They need an outlier level growth spurt from J.J. McCarthy for him to make a case to be the quarterback when they face the Saints, whenever that may be. How do you think like Justin Jefferson would handle if there's another season like last year where he's not able to showcase his talents and, you know, people are, man, this guy. 800 yards like what's going on here like how was his attitude and how do you feel like it would be going forward yeah um so i think that he was as good of a soldier as you'll ever see i think he looks up to larry fitzgerald and the way that he handled like john navarro john skeleton era did

john nevarro play for them i think he did anyway john skeleton i know did because that's the funniest name uh but you know that that level of quarterback and larry fitzgerald fought through it and was an arizona cardinal forever i don't know that that is Justin Jefferson. I think he did an amazing job of leading them, but he's not a punk. Like he's not going to let them hold him back from where he knows he belongs.

He believes rightfully that he should be wearing a gold jacket at some point and that he should be talked about as one of the greatest wide receivers of all time. And for a quarterback to whip balls over his head repeatedly all year long and have, here's another crazy stat for you. I'll pull up the exact. the exact number on this. So before J.J. McCarthy, Justin Jefferson, anyone who threw him the ball,

whether it was Kirk, whether it was Darnold, Nick Mullins, Josh Dobbs, any person that threw him the ball had 107 quarterback rating before last year. Anyway, that is MVP caliber performance when you just throw the pigskin in the direction of number 18. Last year, quarterbacks,

including Carson Wentz, but Wentz actually had the best games throwing to him, the quarterback rating was 58.3, which is not far away from just throwing it into the ground every play. But it was actually worse than that because there were 10 passes intercepted in the direction of Justin Jefferson last year. I mean, he knows how good he is. And I don't think that he's going to sit there and say, oh, it's okay if we just run it back with the guy who couldn't find me at all and is the only person in my entire career who couldn't find me. That's why we're here talking about Derek Carr because I think what you could say about Derek Carr is that he

would pump the football to number 18 with no doubt. But all those people who are doing the fake trades right now for Jefferson, you can stop wasting your time. There's there's no, there's no world where the Vikings trade him now. But next year, if he was extremely unhappy, that's where contract stuff gets a little bit muddy because that's where it's set up to do an extension. and if he's saying absolutely no way, then he's going to carry a massive cap hit.

And then he's not a great, you know, then his future becomes unclear and it could potentially get ugly. So that's why this conversation in part is so intense. It's not just about Kevin O'Connell and his future. I think it's about the future of a lot of guys here. Yeah, I was just going to say that. Like, I think this, what you decided is like maybe the best case for them to go get car too, because you got to keep him happy.

you got to keep him fed. Mike Thomas hated playing with him. I think Justin Jefferson would probably be okay playing with him. One of the big flaws on Carr, I think, is that he throws guys into trouble every now and then. And that was a major problem for Chris Olive, who isn't necessarily the most physical receiver in the world.

I don't know that it would impact Jefferson. He's in his peak years. He's going to make those plays. Derek's going to force him the ball. He's going to try to get him the ball. It makes me wonder, too, if they were the team that emerges, if that's maybe the best situation for the saints,

because there is a little bit of desperation there on multiple fronts of where, like, you have to settle this. I was trying to figure out what he was worth. And it's just such a weird thing because these situations don't happen. Like Brett Parv 20 years ago, 2008, got traded for a conditional fourth that became a third.

Then there was Grunt coming out of retirement. He was, it was Gronk in a seventh for a fourth. It was Marshawn Lynch. who went from Seattle to then Oakland. I think it was a five, six swap. Darren Waller last year was a six, seven swap. I think you could start looking like maybe it like when Carson Palmer got traded. I think that was, I can't remember what he went for.

Wentz went from the Colts for a third. Like there was just like a bunch of like little weird trip. I can't see a fourth. Like I don't know. In my gut like maybe a late fourth. Like a four or five feels like maybe where it should say. settle. I don't know that the Saints can really got any one for him because like he doesn't have great PR. You aren't taking them from them. They've already replaced them. So I feel like they've lost

some leverage there. On the flip side, they have $36 million in dead money sitting on their books. Like you have to be, you have to be compensated for no pun intended like that car wreck. Like if you crash your car, someone's got to pay something. You might settle and not take it to court. Like, but there has to be like some sort of settlement where you're okay of walking away from it. I feel like a four or five feels right to me. Six, seven feels like I don't know that I do it, but here's the thing.

If they don't want to make the trade, he could force his way back and then his contract gets reinstated. I think it would go back to the numbers going into 2025. He gave up the money to facilitate the retirement so the base salary was a million bucks. I don't think the 30 million that he gave up would go back on there.

I'm not sure though, but he signed something. so I'm assuming it would hold steady. So it wouldn't kill their cap situation, but I just don't think you want to let it get to that ugly place. The other side of that, too, is if you're trying to come back, I've been told that there's things teams can do to try to recoup money from the players. So it was dangerous there too.

I don't think they'd let it get to that ugly place. I think the previous agreement shows that they're willing to work together. But it is fascinating. And for everything you just said, I think the Vikings make a ton of sense. Yeah, I mean, you're probably looking at some sort of conditional element to this. that would be fairly significant. Like think about, I mean, that Carson Wentz deal. If he played X number of snaps for the Colts, it was a first round pick that went to

Philadelphia, unbelievable trade by them. And then he ends up missing the playoffs against the fired urban Meyer Jaguars. But the same sort of thing would probably apply here. Let's say you're going to make it a third or whatever. And then if the Vikings win a playoff game, well, maybe you're sending a second round pick or something for Derrick Carr because then it's worth it. But I also think from, you know, New Orleans perspective, you have to be like, well, you're not coming back here.

So we've got to work with you on this to get us something for absolutely nothing. And I thought that people in New Orleans weren't allowed to use the words salary cap. I thought that that's like if you go into the state of Louisiana, you can't say they'll arrest you. If you say the word salary. It's over. It's over. This is the last year.

They're in the clear. Like it's done. I don't have to do. Yeah. I like I haven't had to do. any like extra work. The craziest thing about covering the Saints is that you literally have to study the CBA. Yes.

And you have to develop an array of cap sources. I say this just I don't brag about anything. I truly believe. And I say this for there's probably three other people that cover the team. Like I really believe there's people that cover the saints that could run a salary cap for an NFL team. Yep. The degree of difficulty is just absolutely insane. And I don't have to do any of it.

It's just like it's over. They're in the clear next year. The wildest thing about it, though, is every year there's a group of people that show up and they're like, no, they have all this dead money. They got to cut everybody. And it's like, all right, man. Like, they don't. They have so much clearance next year. Like, it's done.

It's over. Their cap hell is over. Also, the salary cap has become more fake since that was a thing. Because now YouTube is going to buy more games. Shout out to our friends there. Congratulations, YouTube. But they're going to buy. more games. Amazon's not going away. The league, uh, despite, um, maybe not having the greatest

Super Bowls recently still gets a hundred plus million people to watch them. Like this revenue. Yeah, now they're going to go to every country in the, you know, the globe. The revenue is not going to go down from here. You can borrow on void years and those will be worth so much less in terms of cap hit than they are right now and et cetera, et cetera. You know more about that than I've ever needed to, uh, though the Vikings are going to be restructuring like, crazy soon. Okay, last question for you and mentioning our sponsor, you know, Fan duel. On Fan duel right now, they have next year's Super Bowl odds. And the New Orleans Saints are only ahead of the Arizona Cardinals, Miami Dolphins, and New York Jets at plus 17,500. So I guess

it's a tad bit of a long shot for the Saints to win next year's Super Bowl. Tell me this. I'm not going to ask you, will they win the Super Bowl? But what would have to to happen this off season for that number to go way, I mean, down, actually, but like way up, get way better on FanDuel. Like what move could they make? What decision could they make where suddenly people would be going, hey, remember, remember that franchise down in New Orleans? Oh, yeah.

They might be legit now. Yeah, I think, I think a couple good guards got to hit the market. Like David Edwards from Buffalo, like if they get him, like I think, I think that would be huge. maybe draft another one or sign another one. Susan Ruiz's at the other spot was a little shaky last year, some competition, some insurance behind him. I think then you have an offensive line where Kelvin Banks, last year's first round,

he's going into his second year. He spends the offseason working with Toronto Armstead, who is as good as it gets at that position, great teacher. I think they have plans to work together. So I expect him to come back being even better. But then you would have him, Tally Fugga at the other tackle spot,

another year. He's a little bit healthier. He was banged up last year. It's center. Eric McCoy, I think, is an all-pro caliber player. You add Edwards to that mix. And then Caesar takes the competition or you have somebody coming in there. All of a sudden, your front's great.

I'm not a huge proponent. Like, this specific draft, I feel like is lacking top tier talent. The Saints run game coordinator, T.J. Paginetti came from Philadelphia, worked under Stoutland forever. Like those two survive multiple staffs. They stayed there. Saints run game was absolute ass last year. I think if you

rebuild that interior line, so if you break it down outside zone, runs outside the tackles were good. Everything between the tackles inside zone was terrible. They couldn't block on it. Their interior line was terrible. McCoy was hurt. I think you rebuild that interior. You draft Jeremiah Love.

You get another receiver at 42. Serat, maybe, I don't know who the guys are there. Chris Bell, he's coming off the ACL, but was played with Shuck at Louisville. You get the running back, you get a weapon. And I think that changes their, their trajectory big time. Then you got Chris Olavay, second team all pro, Velae, who I think was way better than anybody expected. Another legit weapon that can be a possession receiver, maybe add to that mix a little bit. You have an explosive run game. Alvin Camara can be like the second fiddle in the run game. I think he still has a lot to give, but I don't think you want him carrying the ball 25 times

a game anymore. I think that makes them a contender in the South. Contender in Super Bowl? No, probably not. I don't think I see the Patriots level uprising for them there. Their defense needs to get better. You know, Messador in the second round for Miami, I think would be a good option for them. I think he probably ends up going like 20 second, though.

He's older. he's got some knee issues. I don't think he falls enough. But yeah, I mean, their past pressure needs to get better. You know, I like Caleb Downs a lot for them. We just kind of just with what Staley does. Now he likes to the disguise and him and Gannon from, you know, Arizona, like those two come from the same school of thought.

If you give them three good safeties, I think there's a lot of stuff that they could really do there. Just the idea of the run game, though, I think with what they want to do. Like they want to, they want to be an option run team. They want to be an RPO team. they want to they like a lot of the college elements in what they do and I think if you can run the ball there's a lot shuck can do I don't think people realize like how good of a runner he is like go look at his organ um run plays and you're like wait a minute like this is this guy has

this is his game too and we saw it here um I wouldn't normally push for a running back that I think that player in this draft is something that would make a lot of sense to me but you got to have the plan to do like you got to get your line right before you even consider that I'm I'm only laughing to myself because I I made the joke about us being the same person and talking about interior offensive line. Team needs to learn the run ball, to run the football better and even a safety you threw in there is like we're, we're speaking the same language at this moment.

Only, hey, what the free agent center from New Orleans, Fortner, the Vikings need center. What's, what's his deal? So they traded for him right before the season. And he ended up playing most of the year because McCoy, McCoy's their starting center. And he's missed. he just misses a tie they're at the point where they got out of the expensive insurance policy fortner ended up being really good um he's somebody i would really put a lot of like if i was the saints i'd be pushing to keep him like big time but i think he's good enough to be a starter um and

if he gets that opportunity i i think he leaves um really really like one of the better moves of their season because every year like they'd lose mccoy and then the season will fall apart and they actually like made the investment this time and it quietly and ended up being like one of those trays that like nobody else in the world notices, but you're like, wow, that was brilliant. And it and it probably tilted the season a little bit. Yeah, he's, he's good. And if they need a center, I would definitely have them on the board.

All right. I'm making a note. Thank you very much. Nick Underhill, New Orleans dot football. I wasn't kidding at the beginning of the show. I look up to your success for New Orleans. Dot football. And that's, you know, we changed Purple Insider to Purple insider dot football because of your

inspiration and because the links show up on Twitter. And they didn't otherwise with substack. But that's, that's another conversation. So yeah, yeah, yeah. But thank you very much for your time, my friend.

And hey, whenever that game happens, we will certainly talk again. Yeah, we'll have to do the double crossover. Like when Ray Romano showed up on King of Queens and then Kevin Jay. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Those of us who grew up without cable know exactly what you're talking about. And everybody else probably not. All right, Nick, take care, man. Yeah, thanks for having me.