Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Should the Vikings have traded for Jalen Ramsey? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: July 1, 2025

Matthew Coller breaks down the Steelers trading for Ramsey. Should the Vikings have made a similar offer to the Dolphins?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Coller here and folks, we got ourselves a trade to talk about on June 30th. Here hold on. I have to write an email to the Miami Dolphins. Thank you. Thank you. I woke up this morning after I did do a fans only episode yesterday, which you can go back and check out. And it had some really great questions.

And I answered them, but I then posted or had a producer, Jonathan Harrison posts the podcast and I was listening back to it. And I thought, this, this is great stuff from Vikings fans at the end of June. Like, I can't believe the great questions that Vikings fans are coming up with, but then it hit me. Like I just answered a bunch of really good questions. Like, what am I going to talk about on Monday? I mean, we've got about 22, 23 days now until we reach Minnesota Vikings training camp.

Can't wait. Got some really fun stuff for you coming up this week. Got to check in in Seattle. I'm going to have, uh, hopefully Jeremiah Searle's on the show. We've been trying to set that up for a little bit and I'm going to do a little throwback episode, looking back at Dante Culpepper and the similarities to what's happening right now with JJ McCarthy. So, you know, we got some stuff set up for you, but also man, like we could use some little NFL news and bang, there we go.

I wake up the Adam Schefter, the Tom Palisero tweets with details of the Pittsburgh Steelers trading for Jalen Ramsey and they traded Minka Fitzpatrick and they get back Jalen Ramsey and John who Smith, the tight end that Arthur Smith really loves and once had a 60 something yard touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings in the Josh Dobbs game. If you remember the other details of the Josh Dobbs game, John who Smith had a long touchdown catch from Taylor Heinecke, I think on a screen. So for whatever that's worth, the man loves his John who Smith. And I guess I understand it. So that's what they end up doing.

And the Pittsburgh Steelers take the majority of the contract for Jalen Ramsey. So as we were breaking this down a couple of weeks ago, so I want to kind of go section by section of my thoughts on this. Uh, we were breaking this down a couple of weeks ago and we're talking about, Hey, should the Vikings go after Jalen Ramsey? Is it worth talking about? I remember saying that, is it worth talking about whether the Vikings should go after Jalen Ramsey?

And I landed on the conclusion that the answer was yes, because there's enough question marks about the secondary and looking back at Jalen Ramsey's recent performance. Okay. He's been good. He was still a PFF top 10 cornerback last year. I think he will age well because he hasn't had a lot of significant injuries or significant decline through the years. He's fallen off a little, but it's not like he's fallen off the edge of a cliff. And okay. I mean, if the Vikings were able to get Jalen Ramsey to go along with the secondary they have now, we're cooking right now. You're talking about a top three, top five defense lock it in

against this really tough schedule. So I thought, okay, all right. That all sounds like it makes sense to me. And then we were talking over the price tag and there was a wide range of opinions on the price tag. Some folks thought she's going to be like a fourth round pick. And we were talking about maybe a fourth and a seventh somewhere in that ballpark, which you give up the fourth and the seventh, you got to probably

take the contract back at that point. All right. Fought fair enough. And then the price tag comes out today, which is it is a five time pro bowl player. Now I've seen a lot of, uh, Pittsburgh Steelers analysts and talkers discussing that Fitzpatrick had fallen off last year that he had not had as good of a 2024 as he had had in the past. I mean, he's a three time all pro five time pro bowl player who has

consistently up until recently ranked highly by PFF. And I thought was a trade that had worked for both sides when the Steelers acquired him for a first round draft pick, and then he doesn't have as great of a season last year with Pittsburgh and they ended up trading him away and the reporters there have said that they weren't necessarily planning on it, but it's just kind of worked out that way. But knowing that the deal was trading away someone so significant to that defense, or at least seemingly they do have other safeties that they like, but seemingly so significant somebody who's

28 and has a resume like that being traded away along with taking the full contract. What was the equivalent of that? And, you know, Matt brings that up. Don't know what the Vikings could have traded for him. Yeah. I mean, this is, this is the issue is what could the Vikings have actually traded to match up what Pittsburgh was able to give away the only I came up with a couple of things. You mentioned Josh Mattel is yeah, Josh Matt I came up with a couple of things. Uh, you mentioned Josh Mattelis.

Yeah. Josh Mattelis and probably a higher draft pick. I mean, Mattelis does not have the resume of Minka Fitzpatrick. So it would have had to been instead of a late round pick swap. Maybe they have to give up a fourth or give up a third or even higher than that. Could they have given them McKay Blackman and then a second round draft pick or a third round draft pick. But is Blackman even enough because he doesn't have enough experience to really say, all

right, this guy's going to be very, very good. Whereas Fitzpatrick has a long resume in the NFL of being a really good player that I got to say, I did not anticipate. I thought this was going to be a classic. All right. Here is a lower draft pick or middle draft pick. We'll take back the salary. Everybody sort of go home, goes home happy. Miami doesn't have their problem anymore. The Ramsey is not happy there and et cetera, et cetera. Like there's been a number of trades like that through the years.

The one that comes to mind right away is Dallas trading Amari Cooper. And I think they traded him to Cleveland for a fifth round pick. And everyone went, a fifth round pick like Amari Cooper is pretty good. But the contract wasn't great. Cooper wanted out probably. And you end up with, all right, that's just how this goes. Sometimes I didn't expect Miami to get this much back in return and be able to rid themselves entirely from that salary.

So I don't think that there is a place where the Vikings could have gone other than if they were in dire straits with the negotiations with Josh Mattel is, I guess they could have dipped into the Josh Mattel is, I guess they could have dipped into the Josh Mattel is, but even then, if you look at when it comes to Mattel is and his very unique skillset, where he fits in on this defense, he's a captain of the team. He's somebody that they want to resign and they want to have long-term. and I have no doubts that they eventually will get this worked out with Josh Mattel is So he's not somebody that you'd want to pluck off the roster. The other thing I came up with was If it was like Mackay Blackman and TJ Hawkinson, for example to Miami for Jalen Ramsey

They're just trying to come up with equal value to what Pittsburgh gave up. Maybe if you were talking about trying to move on from a contract like Hawkinson and throwing in a younger player with some potential, but I don't think you want to do that. If it had been a middle round type of draft pick for the Vikings, they could deal with the salary cap issues and you could do that. And he would have solidified the defense and made me think That they had one of the best secondaries in the entire NFL if suddenly Rogers and Blackman were

Supporting players to Jalen Ramsey and Byron Murphy it that sounded great. But where this team is at right now 14 win team that just added 300 million. If you want to use that number in a contracts that they handed out this year in free agency and keeping Murphy and keeping Aaron Jones, and then adding to that all over the field to fix a lot of their weaknesses. This isn't really a spot where you'd be talking about. Let's let's lop somebody off. Like let's send somebody over the edge of the ship. That feels much more desperate from Pittsburgh.

And I don't think the Vikings are in a desperate position, which is another thing I wanted to talk about the way that the Vikings have set themselves up. They're not in a spot where they have to do crazy stuff just to try to get to the playoffs one more time to keep their jobs and what they're doing in Pittsburgh right now. It actually made me think about the Vikings circa 2021 because that to me was their most desperate time.

They're throwing money at bashad Breeland at the last moment. They're bringing back Everson Griffin after he had tweeted things about her cousins. They are trading for a kicker slash punter. They are trading a fourth round pick for Chris Herndon who couldn't play and you just went like, what is all this? What is all this for? It's just to make the playoffs one more time to try to keep your jobs. And that is really what seems to be going on with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And I think their defense will be very, very good. Not as good as if it had Fitzpatrick and Jalen Ramsey, but I think it will be very good. And I think their offense will be improved because how can you not improve from being so mid as they were last year or even below that? But are they going to be that much better? I mean, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields were not good, but they also weren't so horrific that they couldn't make the playoffs or couldn't be in that playoff race.

They were right there and not good enough to really compete for a championship. That kind of sounds exactly like Pittsburgh still right now. And what I think of them, this all screams, Mike Tomlin, trying to save the job. Why not go all in and taking Jalen Ramsey's contract is really the smoking gun there because it says how we don't care. Uh, we don't care what happens in the future because there is no future might as well take on that contract and we'll figure all that out later if we keep our jobs. That's not a place you want to be.

So more than me sitting here thinking, wow, the Vikings really should have done this. I was thinking folks for weeks now I've been using tempo meals to cut down on the amount of times that I go out for fast food. And as you guys know guys know for me that is quite an accomplishment, but it's worked. I feel like I'm in better shape and big time saving a lot of money from going out to eat constantly tempo is a weekly delivery service that delivers chef crafted meals from a dietitian approved menu fresh to your door. I do nothing and they show up. They're perfectly portioned lunches and dinners take the guesswork out of eating. They're well prepared. They're easily heated up in the microwave in just three minutes. I'll tell you some of my favorites, barbecue chicken, Tuscan butter shrimp, fantastic Korean beef quesadilla. All this stuff is great and those are my preferences, but there are dozens and dozens of options to fit whatever you like for your diet.

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And that's what this trade is again, there, there's a, they're going to be good. And that's another part to talk about, which is the Vikings play now against Jalen Ramsey, Aaron Rogers, DK Metcalf, and as much as this is not a really good team building strategy for the Steelers long term and even short term, I just don't see how they're going to compete even in their division with the Bengals, with the Baltimore Ravens, in the AFC with Kansas City, the Chargers are getting better. The Buffalo Bills to me are the Superbowl favorite. Even the Texans are still pretty good.

I mean, if somebody sort of emerges or surprises us like the Jaguars or the jets or somebody like that, you know, the, where does Pittsburgh get left in all of this, if you're ranking the AFC teams right now and their chances to represent their conference in the Superbowl, how many do you draft before you're getting to Pittsburgh? I think I just named what six, seven, uh, before you even start that conversation that hasn't really changed despite all of the older talent that they've brought in.

And I saw Andrew Brandt who's very good on Twitter. He used to be the Packers, a cap guy. He said they're building a 2022 all-Star team and that's really what it is. They're building their team and their foundation on stuff that other people didn't want. So you just, you're buying a house, but you're using rubble to build the foundation. If you're picking up players that other teams didn't want that are on the older side. It should be the way the Vikings did it, which is you've got your foundation and it's in its prime. Jefferson, Grinard, your young quarterback, Addison, et cetera.

Cashman we'll see about Dallas Turner, Byron Murphy. All right. Like all those guys are going to be here for a while. They're the foundation, but now you add the furniture. That's Ryan Kelly. That's Jonathan Allen. That's Javon Hargrave. Like you're not asking those guys to be the Vikings team.

You're asking them to enhance the Vikings team that just won 14 games last season, where it seems like Pittsburgh, they're not doing that. They're asking Metcalf to come in off the worst year of his career play with Aaron Rodgers off the worst year of his career and save the franchise and now they're asking jail and ramsie in his thirties without making fits patrick there to take them to the next level is defense but the vikings will have to play them and all of those guys are still capable of doing great things in the NFL. So this is not a great day for Dublin. I mean, it's not a great day. They're on the Viking schedule and it would have been even harder if the Vikings had to go to Pittsburgh. So you get a bit of a break there, but it doesn't make it easier that the

Vikings are now going to have to play a defense that has Jalen Ramsey on it against Justin Jefferson when they go overseas and that battle, I mean, from a football watching enjoyment perspective, all right, that's some kind of matchup right there between Jalen Ramsey and Justin Jefferson, but it doesn't make it easier because they didn't have a guy before that, that I would have said in their cornerback unit Just wasn't that good and I would not have said that there was anybody Justin Jefferson needed to be concerned about or they could have a chance of slowing him down and now when we're talking about Jalen Ramsey there is

That opportunity for Jalen Ramsey to give Justin Jefferson a harder time Now the one last part of this and I'll get to your questions and comments after this, so, you know, start throwing some questions in the comment section. The one other part of this is that now we pretty much know that the Viking secondary is the Viking secondary. And there are some free agents that are still out there, but this is your group folks. Like this is it.

Uh, it is Mackay Blackman. It's Isaiah Rogers. It's Byron Murphy Jr. Maybe Jeff Okuda, probably Dwight McClothern, maybe Ambry Thomas. Somebody else emerges in the back end of that unit. Zamiya Vaughn, who knows? That's it. It does not look like there is going to be another major addition.

That doesn't mean there can't be an addition and it can't mean it could mean that somewhere along the line, you know, something happens, but, uh, as far as major additions, this would have been your major addition. It would have been Jalen Ramsey. If they were to bring in an Asante Samuel Jr. Who still doesn't have a job or a Rasul Douglas. Like those are backup type players. They're Fabian Morrow type signings where you're just going, okay, you know, whatever, right?

Like that, that guy's not going to move the needle very much. Ramsey and Jair Alexander, those guys were the last frontier of, hey, this team can make one more big game changing move and they did not do it. So now we do go into training camp with a lot of questions about this group. That doesn't mean I think that when we say questions, it doesn't mean that I think it will fail or that I think they were wrong for doing it. It means that we're just not sure yet. I can see it. I could see Isaiah Rogers being good. I could see McKay Blackman being good. And you know, we know that Byron Murphy is a very valuable player. One of them goes down. It becomes a lot harder to see

it being all that great. I mean, Jeff Okuda is somebody that got brought up by the coaching staff and they liked what they saw in mini camp. That doesn't really mean a whole heck of a lot. And you know we're a long way from figuring out whether he is going to continue to have an NFL career so his numbers previously were so poor that that one's hard to bet on and McClothern was an undrafted free agent who I was very impressed with but again does not lock it in that he's going to be really good depth. So we'll see as it plays out during training camp, are they going to need to add someone else and how good of a player could they even add it? Even if someone just gets hurt like last year with Mackay Blackman, but how good of a player could they even add even if they wanted to? So this is your group. This is the unit in the secondary for the Minnesota Vikings.

And there are question marks everywhere. They'll probably be mitigated by the fact that the front seven is absolutely ridiculous and has an argument as one of the top three or five in the entire NFL. But if there's one area, this entire roster that will get a lot of attention through training camp on a day to day basis, as they try to match up with Addison and Jefferson and Naylor and Hawkinson in these practices is this secondary unit. And if it doesn't work out, maybe there will be some second guessing about Jalen Ramsey.

I did see a little bit of that today on social media of like, Hey, I mean, if you're going to go all in, go all in. But I don't think that the Vikings have to be all in in that way, all in as in let's do something dumb because we have to. Like they're not all in in that way. They're all in in the, Hey, Javon Hargrave, you know, two years, 30 million, go for it. More of that kind of way of being all in where high expectations doesn't have to equal Superbowl or bust. It almost feels like when we talk about these teams, we only talk

about them in two different ways. It's either you guys win the Superbowl or everybody stinks and you should be fired or you are rebuilding. And that's not really the case for the Vikings where they are all in on this roster. They have spent tons of money around JJ McCarthy, but that doesn't mean that it's or bust. It doesn't just implode if this year doesn't result in them winning a Superbowl, which to me says, don't do stupid stuff like trading major pieces out of your team that you really like for Jalen Ramsey or taking on that huge contract or giving up major draft

capital. Uh, I think they would not have been able to really pull that off. So there are still questions. The game in Pittsburgh just got harder slash more interesting and the Vikings probably at the end of the day did the right thing here. So your thoughts and reactions, let's see what you guys think. And also it is a Monday with Maggie. So coming up in a little bit, Maggie Robinson has some headlines around the

league and other things to look at as well. She is settled in at a Syracuse university there and ready to go. So here we go. Christopher says, if the coaches didn't pursue him, I'm going to say that they know what they're doing and trust their decision. A hundred percent faith in KOC and Brian Flores. Well, we don't know what the coaches wanted. I mean, the coaches may have wanted Jalen Ramsey and may have thought, I don't know this, but they may have thought Jalen Ramsey and may have thought, I don't know this, but they may have thought it was a great idea and would love to add him.

But that doesn't mean that it makes sense to do sort of like if you're a little hungry and you go to the mall and you don't pursue a $20 hamburger because it's too expensive. That doesn't mean you didn't want the hamburger. It doesn't mean that you wouldn't have enjoyed the hamburger. It's just that I'm not going to do this for 20 bucks. And it might be the same kind of way here where it might have enhanced the defense. It might have made them better. They might have loved the idea, but you can't go selling off a major piece of what you have.

You can't just say, all right, here's a big draft pick. Here's a significant player that was going to play a major role and you're gonna move him for a guy that is in his 30s and is very, very expensive. Like there's always a price. It's all economics of the NFL. There's always a price tag that comes along with every single asset that you acquire and

Just wanting them is not enough I mean, I'm sure that there's been a ton of players that they wanted but you know Does that mean that you're able to do it or able to top the other 31 teams that wanted to do it? Because if nobody else wanted Jalen Ramsey and the Vikings could have given them a fourth and a seventh I mean, okay. I'm I don't know if Brian Flores is saying no to that, right? So I get what you're saying that this coaching staff has proven that it deserves kind of beyond a reasonable doubt of, uh, you know, thinking that they know what they're doing

and they know how to evaluate players. And absolutely Brian Flores has proven that when it comes to defensive players, but this to me is much more of a front office. I just don't think you can give up as much as it would have taken to get Jalen Ramsey. Abso definitely says don't understand the trade Minka is better than Ramsey and Smith and they may have looked at it like Minka Fitzpatrick is a safety and the positional value for a corner is just higher.

And John who Smith is somebody that Arthur Smith really likes. They had Pat Friar move, but if they want to play two tight ends and they're kind of building a Russell Wilson E type of offense in Seattle when he was good playing some bigger personnel. They'll probably build everything off the run, try to have play actions, take deep shots to DK Metcalf because they don't really have depth at wide receiver. So this is a way to get a depth player, somebody they could put on the field a lot with a second tight end. I mean, Arthur Smith loved the second tight end in Atlanta. They were had John who Smith and Kyle Pitts,

although Pitts couldn't buy the football coming his way a lot of times, but it is Minka Fitzpatrick a better player. I don't know about that. I mean, recently Fitzpatrick's performance was not on the same level as it was early in his career. And Ramsey still was a very, very good corner last year. I mean, he still was one of the 10 or 15 best corners in the league last season. So I would take a top-notch corner over a top-notch safety most of the time, and you add in a weapon that's pretty good, but none of this happens in a vacuum. It's not just this player for those players. It's also a contract for Jalen Ramsey that is not that friendly. I mean, I talked about

it a little bit when we were discussing the options and if you cut Ramsey after June 1st in the future, you're okay, but that still makes things tricky because that still takes up cap space until June 1st and it gets spread out over into the next year. I mean, it's not, it's not easy to do to get rid of Jalen Ramsey if this doesn't work out. And that's one of the things with the risk of the Vikings potentially doing it was if it doesn't work out, you're kind of in a lot of trouble. And the same thing goes for Pittsburgh. If this doesn't work out, you gave up Minka Fitzpatrick. Like, yeah, that's, that is a lot of trouble.

But I think the, the overall value, if we were trying to do it in a wins above replacement type of terms, a good tight end and a great corner is probably worth more than a safety. Matt says, I don't know what the Vikings would have traded for him. Couldn't see them trading Smith or Metelus if they wanted a safety. Yeah.

I mean, obviously Harrison Smith. I don't think that Miami would have been interested in somebody who's his age. No offense to Harry and Mattelus would have been probably the guy. If I was Miami and the Vikings called and we said, Hey, look, we need a player back. What can you give us? The fact that they are currently negotiating with Josh Mattelis, I probably would have said he would be the guy or Mackay Blackman because they would want in return a younger player.

And then I'm guessing maybe draft capital to go along with it. Or, uh, I don't know what else, but Mattelis is the one that would make the most sense if they were looking for some sort of super multi dimensional leader, great foundation builder. I mean, they've got issues with their locker room down there with Tyree kill, Jalen Ramsey wanting out. I mean, it's only a matter of time till Tyree kill wants out. It doesn't seem like they have the most solid foundation.

I don't cover that team, so I can't say that's for sure. But it seems like when you have one of the best players in the league asking out not too long after signing a huge contract to be there doesn't really speak well to where you're at. And some teams will make acquisitions or draft picks just to try to get their culture turned around. And I mean, heck, that might've been a part of cam binum and going to Indianapolis. I had heard from someone in the league at the NFL combine when I was asking around like, Hey, do you guys, you know, do you think that cam binums going to get paid? And someone in the league said to me, Oh yeah, because he can turn around a team's locker room or he's there are teams that are toxic in their locker room and they want guys like

cam binum to help them get that straightened out. And that's worth money. And then, you know, lo and behold, he gets a $15 million a year contract from a team that's probably struggling with its locker room in Indianapolis. Uh, so Mattel is would have extra value. They would also have to pay Mattel is, but you know, they're also going to have to pay Minka Fitzpatrick. But if you're asking me, would you rather have the Vikings to pay Mattel is but they're also gonna have to pay make a Fitzpatrick but if you're asking me would you rather have the Vikings extend Josh Mattel is keep him in his current role with this defense and his current leadership role or have a 30 something year old Jalen Ramsey at a really really bad contract. I think I would rather them just keep Josh Mattel is and you'd

probably have to give up draft capital as well Based on what happened here more draft capital since Mattelis doesn't have five Pro Bowls and three all pros like Minka Fitzpatrick does I would rather have them just keep Josh Mattelis. He is so vital to the locker room, but he also does a lot of different stuff Jalen Ramsey is very valuable. I mean, I'm not saying that that would be an easy choice. Jalen Ramsey three years ago, you're not even taking a second to decide. The answer is okay, yes. The locker room is not worth that much. Give me the number one corner. But in this case, there's multi-year risk that goes along with it. And I do think Mattelis is a very valuable player to this team and what they can do on defense because somebody asked about this even in the fans

only episode yesterday about is Mattel is as valuable anywhere else outside of Minnesota with Brian Flores and the answer is probably not, but that is part of it, right? Like if you're trading him, then it's not going to carry the same type of value as he has for you currently. So you don't really want to do something like that. He is the one player though. Him and McKay Blackman are the only guys that you could make some sort of argument for that. Because if they had wanted, if Miami had wanted a corner, then Blackman is probably more valuable

in a trade than Isaiah Rogers because he is young and is less experienced, less miles on the body. I know he's got the injury, but a fairly recent draft pick, although he's actually, I think he's 26 and Rogers is 27. So maybe Rogers would have had more value. I don't know. It's just hard to make this work. When we do the should they have traded for him, it's hard to find a package that would have worked to actually entice Miami. That would make any sense for the Vikings. James says, I do think we should have traded for him. His skill set would have worked in flow system, but I would only have done a two year deal because of his age and he lost the step from my point of view.

From the numbers point of view, the step that he lost was not a massive one. As far as his coverage statistics were still very, very good. And you look at his history of playing a thousand snaps, 900 plus snaps. He's always been healthy. And I think that that would have been a fine fit. We saw heck. Stefan Gilmore came in and fit well with this defense, the quick twitch that you need to play man to man with the best. I mean, he makes that up in strength, in savvy and knowledge.

I think he's a very, very intelligent player, but the contract part of it does make it hard. I don't think that anyone debates James that, uh, he was a good player and would make any team better. I think he makes 31 teams better. That's why it's all about the price tag. So, um, you know, I do think that, um, he would have been a great fit. And I said, at some point, like, yeah, I'm in, I'm in for it. I'm good for it. I'm not going to change that opinion. Like, yeah,

I'm still thinking that it would have been a really good idea. It's just, you got to figure out a way to make it work practically to also be into it. Like if you're going to say it, and you're not saying this, James, I don't mean you're saying this, but the few people I did say, like I thought that they were really all in, I guess they're not saying this, James. I don't mean you're saying this, but the few people I did say, like, I thought that they were really all in, I guess they're not like, well, you gotta make it work for me though. You gotta show me what you would have done, what players, how you would have dealt

with it, because the thing is if they keep some of the contract in Miami, that means you got to give them more. So are you giving them a second round pick? Are you giving them a first round pick? Like now we're getting crazy for a guy who, yeah, is not the same player as he was a couple of years ago. That that's where the calculus just doesn't quite add up. Uh, Hamza says, how do you expect defenses to play us early on with JJ McCarthy? Do you think they're going to blitz JJ a lot early similar to how B

flow plays young quarterbacks until he proves that he can beat the blitz. I'm as interested to see that as you Hamza because we've never seen how defenses are going to play McCarthy. The one thing I do know about KOC and his offense is it's, it's hard to blitz. Uh, and, uh, the Rams pulled it off on some of those, uh, they really figured out some tendencies and things like that from the Vikings. And I think one of the Vikings tendencies was that they ran a lot of play action with bunch formations. So play action. If you send a corner blitz against play action, the quarterback has his

back turned to the defense and turns around. And then the guys right there, if he ends up as a free runner off the edge. And that happened a couple of times against the Rams. That was just the Rams being really great at what they do and their coach being really great at what he does. Um, but overall in general, it's not a great idea to blitz a KOC offense because that means, and I think Kirk was really good against the Blitz under O'Connell and I know that Darnold was last year Because if you send an extra guy then that's somebody who can't cover somebody that's somebody can't cover Justin Jefferson Somebody can't cover Jordan Addison and he tends to build in answers And I think Kirk used TJ Hockett said a lot for this Darnold used Aaron Jones sometimes for this, or just whipped it deep. Uh,

Donald also made some incredible plays against the Blitz last year, and like against Atlanta when he threw that long touchdown. So that has to be factored into it as well. But I mean, it's interesting because when you have a young quarterback, oftentimes that's what you want to do. Like you want to test them. You're right. Brian Flores, if it's a young quarterback, Hey, let's see what they can sort through. Let's see what they can figure out. But the answers are so built into this thing.

And there's so many weapons that if you send that blitz and there's somebody not covered, then there's a good chance that there's an answer built into that for JJ McCarthy, I think early on, well, you know, I actually don't know because Eber Fluss in Chicago, when he was in charge, I don't think he was a big blitz guy, but I don't know what their new defensive coordinator is going to be like. Then they're playing Atlanta after that where he Morris, I don't know. I mean, they had to blitz a lot last year, I think just because they couldn't rush the passer, maybe they'll improve.

It'll be, it'll be something to watch for sure. I do think that deception is usually the main thing that you're trying to throw at a rookie quarterback like make him think, but that might also be an argument for playing coverage is make him sit in the pocket and sort through the different coverages. So it could go one way or the other. It's a great question. I, and I'm interested to find out. I don't have the answer until we really see it, but I just know that if you're

blitzing and you have a great pass catching running back coming out of the backfield and you have wide receivers who are really good at this and a tight end, who's a great underneath option. And it doesn't always work to just send the blitzes. Uh, Matt says, I do think the Vikings could make a splash trade before the season. If McCarthy is exceeding expectations in camp. So does that have a lot to do with it though? I mean, they've already made so many big moves around the idea that JJ McCarthy is

going to be good. And they've already gone out and spent all this money. If McCarthy is just okay in camp, would that change? Would they say, no, no, no, let's not do it. Let's just save all the assets for the future. I don't think so because they've already spent so much of the future's money. And they've not been afraid to deal future assets for things anyway, when they've had their opportunities.

I mean, maybe you're right. So last year they did kind of do this with Sam Darnold to some extent, but really the defense when they went to Cleveland and saw that the defense was as dominant as it was, they at least it feels like went the extra mile for Stephon Gilmore and said, all right, okay, we'll meet your demands. Get over here. Old veteran. We really actually need you because our defense could be

great with one more corner. So maybe you're right. Maybe you're right. I just feel like when you win 14 games and you move on from Donald and McCarthy comes in, even if he's just okay at camp, you're still in the mode to try to make a big trade. But what kind of trade are we talking? Are we talking about a trade for a defensive back?

That makes the most sense still. But there's also some guys that are still out there. I mean, Russell Douglas, I meant to mention to Santhi Samuel Jr. If you want to take the risk, Jack Jones is out there. Julian Blackman's, to my my surprise has not signed anywhere. The Indianapolis Colts safety, uh, that it was the guy that replaced, uh, or cam buying him was the guy blackman was the guy that was replaced by cam buying them and his numbers were okay, but he hasn't landed

anywhere yet, so there are still some names on free agency that they could go get, I just am curious about which thing when you're talking about big trades, I'm not really sure that there is a splash trade to be had. That's out there. I mean, quasi is shown. He is not afraid to make trades. He loves to make trades, but who is it? Because there isn't a lot of extra buzz when it comes to guys on the trade block right now

James says let's restart the sauce Gardner trade rumors would love to have sauce Yeah, I mean, of course that's another situation where the Jets it would be shocking if they just didn't sign sauce Gardner to a pretty big contract These trades with guys like Jalen Ramsey. Usually it has to get to the point where someone is publicly unhappy. How many of these type of deals ever really surprise us? Normally we've got a pretty good sense for somebody being unhappy or someone being on the trade block and then it happens. I'm just not sure I've seen other players at this point. We knew Alexander was either going to get traded or cut. We knew that Ramsey was going to go.

Is there somebody else that the Vikings could look at and do they have to? I mean, they've got one of the best rosters in the NFL. I would say that it's better right now to let this play out through training camp and then see where you're at. Let it play out through the first part of the season and then see where you're at. And if you're in a position where you feel like you have to make a trade, uh, six shooter nation gaming says, uh, I'm sure Viking nation knows just wait till the season start. You're going to be shocked and surprised about the defense. Shouldn't anything surprise you

about this defense, but wait, I don't know what would be shocking about the defense. They were in the top five last year. So unless you mean shockingly bad,, I don't know what would be shocking about the defense. Uh, they were in the top five last year. So unless you mean shockingly bad, which I don't think you mean, I think you mean shockingly good or unless you're referring specifically to the secondary. Now, if you're referring specifically to the secondary, then I can buy into what you're saying, because if what you're doing is siding with Brian Flores and his eyeballs for identifying talent, well, he's got better eyeballs than we do, right?

At looking at an Isaiah Rogers, looking at a Mackay Blackman and making his bets on those guys and even a Dwight McClother. The Jeff Okuda thing happens all the time and I'm not sure how that's going to play out. But just, just when it comes to Flores identifying talent. And if you're saying that you're believing in this secondary, I mean, I tend to side with you on that. I tend to side with you to say that Flores is good at identifying guys without a huge sample size of having seen them play.

He doesn't need someone to be in the league for five years to know if they're going to be in the league for five years to know if they're going to be a fit. So it's more likely than not, especially paired with the front seven that Flores is going to be right about Isaiah Rogers, about McKay Blackman and Byron Murphy making up a good secondary. And even last year, it's not like they needed somebody that was incredible in that secondary outside of Murphy having a great season, but

Shaq Griffin and Stephon Gilmore got the job done. So part of it is just the system in the front seven as well. Aaron says, are there any other disgruntled players that you could see them trading for? I can't think of any, you know, TJ watt sure, but TJ watt, they're not going to let him go. That's like a miles Garrett situation where they're going to have a staring contest for a while. You know, they're going to be unhappy.

They're going to be unhappy. They're going to fight about the contract and then eventually it will get done. It would be absolutely shocking if TJ watt got traded by the Steelers. They want him to be a Steeler for life. If I had to guess, I'm going to say he wants to be a Stealer for life. If I had to guess, I'm gonna say he wants to be a Stealer for life, but he just wants to get what Miles Garrett is getting and they'll very likely make that work. But are there any other disgruntled players? I mean, that's sort of a funny way, like anybody else mad who wants to be a Viking? Anybody? You? You over there?

Guy in Jacksonville, you want to be a Viking? Come on over here. I don't think so as of right now, give it time. People will get disgruntled. Give it time. As of right now, though, I think the way I'm looking at it is that this right here is your roster that this for all intensive purposes. This is the end of any offseason changes or ideas or even speculation on our part.

I could be wrong, uh, but trying to read the landscape, I just don't see any massive change that that doesn't mean if they sign a Santa Samuel, a Santa Samuel junior, that it's a massive, that's not a massive change. That would be like, uh, your typical mid camp or right before camp addition. But aside from that, like this is your, your Minnesota Vikings, 2025 until things changes. Uh, Kurt says, if this offense can score points, run the ball, this defense is more than good enough to go all the way. Well, I mean, all the way is aggressive Kurt, but are they

good enough on defense to be one of the best defenses in the league, which could guide them through this very difficult schedule and to that, my answer would be yes. That right now as it's current cons currently constructed, the Vikings defense was not a Jaylen Ramsey away from being top five. Like they can be top five anyway. They were a Jalen Ramsey away from me saying there's no way there anything other than top five right now.

There is still a chance that they could be. You know, top five, a very good chance that they could be top five, but I would have said there was a great chance if they got Jalen Ramsey that my confidence in saying that would have been through the roof if Ramsey had come here. But right now as they are, they are still a very, very, very good defense. I would say they're better than they were last year.

I mean, if you look at the interior of the D line and you're losing can bind him, he is important. I don't want to act like he isn't, but it's very plausible that just with a little extra speed in the secondary at cornerback with black men and with Isaiah Rogers, you could do a little better than they did with Shaq Griffin and Stefan Gilmore, who both did a good job. Uh, bra says, uh, my company shuts down for the week of the fourth. So I've already lost track of time. I remain unconvinced that Dan Campbell is a great head coach and

think he's going to flounder this year thoughts that welcome to my world when I don't have Vikings practices to attend or press conferences. I am very much. What day is it guy like today? Monday. You could attract me. I am just looking at the calendar, waiting until we get to training

camp and until then it's trying to even set up golf dates is difficult. Like, are you guys good for Wednesday? And it's like, yeah, that's like two days from now, right? Like I get a little bit lost in the summer. So I feel you as far as Dan Campbell and being a great head coach. I don't think that that's up for debate anymore. I think Dan Campbell has shown that you can take a team that is flounder. You talk about floundering. I mean, not just floundered, but been a complete

embarrassment for how many years. I mean, there was a couple of seasons during Stafford where they were competitive, but other than that, I mean, just a joke year in and year out and they hire Matt Patricia total clown and just fall apart. And he takes them from the front office, tearing their franchise down to the dirt and then builds it back up all the way to the point where the expectations are the Super bowl for multiple years in a row and they're close for multiple years in a row, I don't think you could say that person's a bad head coach. What you could say that's a little more reasonable is can Dan Campbell elevate a team in the same way when he doesn't have his great play caller and he doesn't have his defensive mind who really did a great job last year with that defense, despite how banged up it was.

Is he going to be a KOC, a Kyle Shanahan, a Sean McVay, where those guys, because of their offensive prowess as the play callers, as the head coaches, they can single-handedly drag a team forward. Is Dan Campbell really that guy? That maybe we will find out, or maybe his next play caller will just be good. There's also not a whole lot Dan Campbell can do about his amazing center, who is a borderline hall of fame talent, Frank Ragnow, just retiring out of nowhere.

Not a lot you could do about that. Like that's a hurt for them. That's a, that's a big shocking surprise L for them to take. And then they have to try to replace that guy, which is very difficult to replace. So there's not anything that Campbell could do about that. You're going to see though. I mean, I think you're, you're going to see a transition period. But then the reason I stopped myself was I was thinking about Philadelphia and how Nick Sirianni people were declaring Nick Sirianni total clown. This guy just lucked into a Superbowl because he had a great offensive coordinator and he was on the hot seat.

Like most likely coaches to get fired if Philadelphia didn't start out great last year and the guy wins the Super Bowl because he got the right OC. So a lot of it depends for anybody on does your team stay healthy? Does your do your coordinators do their jobs? Are they good? What do you have as a roster? But I think we've already decided the great Dan Campbell debate is that he is a very, very good head coach. What we're going to find out is how he is able to guide them through this

transition with their coordinators. And if they can elevate some of the talent on the offensive line that they've lost, and if they can be a little more of a defense first team, because their defense is much stronger now, I think then it was in previous years. Uh, let's see. Uh, Jude said, was our draft capital looking like for next year? I think it's actually normal. I haven't checked.

Actually. I have not checked what the Vikings have for 2026 draft picks because the rule on the show is as soon as the drafts ends, I don't think about the draft until next February. Uh, so I have not checked. I've got plenty of time to do so because the season starts in 10 weeks and then we'll have the whole season and then we'll get to February and I'll take a look at what they've got for draft capital. But I assume you're asking for trade

implications and as far as I know they have their normal bevy of draft picks. I'm sure one of you knows exactly how many at this point. But if they wanted to trade a first, second, third, I think they can do that. Um, but yeah, I mean, if they wanted to make a trade for somebody and give them a mid round pick or, or a top pick, if they needed to, as far as I know, they can do that. Uh, Bras says, uh, do we really think Flores wants to move on after this season or is the contract situation just him maximizing his leverage or maybe an extension around the corner?

Uh, so there's part of me, you guys ever see the meme, the grand theft auto beam where the guy says like, here we go again, or not this bleep again or whatever. And I kind of feel that way with the frying flora's extension because we went through this with KOC where it was, are they going to trade KOC? And there's a report out there and then it's been one week since the season ended and KOC doesn't have his extension. And then the quasi stuff the whole time. I'm saying, you know, it's a little weird, I guess.

And raising an eyebrow, I think we got to the eyebrow raise of like, all right, well, what's going on there? And all along, you know, they said like, they're working on it and Mark Wilford said that, you know, they're working on it with quasi and they get the deal done with quasi at a FOMENSA. So with Brian Flores, it's kind of hard not to think that the same path will be followed, that eventually they'll just work something out. It is possible that Flores is, yes, maximizing his leverage.

It's also possible that Flores knows how good this defense is and thinks, boy, one more year of this and I'll be in really good shape. I don't know if, you know, it's a hard thing to figure out what you pay a defensive coordinator. That's this valuable to a franchise. Uh, he's not the co-head coach. That's not how that works. Like this is KOC's culture.

This is his show. He's the front door to the franchise. It's not the same. So if he wants to be somewhere in the ballpark of KOC, that's going to be a no, uh, because defensive coordinator is not the same job as head coach. It's not even close at the same time He does run an entire side of the football really really effectively so you can't be completely in the parking lot of what KOC makes if you're going to keep Brian Flores around because if Flores hits

the free agent market as a coach next off season, that price is probably going to be pretty high. I mean, imagine, and this might just be his thinking. I don't know. Imagine if they have a top five defense and they're playing in the divisional round and they lose in the divisional round 14 to 10 or something. And his defense is great. And everyone's talking about, Oh, Flores, his defense was great all year long.

And he got them here and whatever. And then he's on the market. Now there's another part of it too, though, that Brian Flores, as much as everybody in the world, you, me, and whoever else, we should all try to maximize our value, right? And that's why we have some sponsors on the show that I'll eventually get to. Uh, we should all try to maximize our value, but there's also something to be said for the position that Brian Flores is in. It's a pretty good one.

They've spent a lot of money. He's been very comfortable here. He's got a great locker room. He's got a great team. He's got a great head coach. He's got a really good environment to work with. Is this something that you want to leave? Because I wouldn't think that you would. Oh, go rebuild somebody else's defense, I guess. Or you could just keep trying to chase the super bowl with this one and. How many pieces are gonna be gone after this year maybe harrison smith how else this this defense is in place. And you drafted delos turn like it's a really good situation for brian floris so the vikings can come back and say hey we are the team that gave you a chance here is a dc. Hey, we are the team that gave you a chance here as a DC. No one else gave you that chance, and we also are the team that have given you how many hundreds of millions of dollars of contracts.

Maybe you should also be happy to be here. So it could. That one could last for a while. I haven't thought too much about that situation resulting in Brian floor is leaving, but I guess if the price gets too high, then you know, maybe something would happen. But again, if you're talking about getting that far in the playoffs with the top five defense, then I think the will step

in and make the play and make it happen. That's what they've done with everybody. There was the Jefferson negotiation. There was, you know, Darasaw they got done early, but the Jefferson one, like all these negotiations have just resulted in. Yep, the wills paid them because that's what they do. So speaking of the ads and we'll continue on getting to your questions and comments here in a moment. I do have to start going faster through them. I am in typical fashion of, uh, talking slowly about these questions.

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Go to ideou.com slash purple insider for 15% off. So, there you go. Alright, back to your questions, and then we'll get Maggie in here shortly Son of a beefers says what about Jalen Naylor and a third and fourth for Tyree kill? Although I don't know what his contract looks like. I'm just that's just a no for me dog That's just a no for me. That's just too many problems with Tyree kill and I think he's still great I think he's still a really good wide receiver, but there is a overload. If you're having Tyree kill with Jefferson, with Addison

of who's getting the football, why Jalen Naylor fits so well with this is that Naylor knows his role, understands it, does his job. I mean, I'm not sure that, you know, Tyree kill and you could argue, Hey, you'll have three deep again. And maybe for one year, this is the thing. There are moves that you make if you are absolutely desperate and freaking out and thinking you're going to lose your job. If you don't win the Superbowl, that would be like trading for Tyree kill. They're not in that position. They can let it play out. Naylor catching 40 passes and having Jefferson and Addison and

Hockinson thrive. You'd I think rather have it that way because remember when you're trying to recreate three deep the problem with trying to do that is trying to recreate Jake Reed as a human being because Jake Reed had 4,000 yard seasons and then took the number three wide receiver role and still played his heart out when he had that role. 4,000 yard seasons and then took the number three wide receiver role and still played his heart out when he had that role. That's something that you're just not going to see too often. You're definitely not going to see in a situation where you have Tyree kill

involved. Uh, Sean says, uh, Pittsburgh overpaid, not a lot for their position. And, uh, we don't even know if Rogers can get to a level where they can go deep, uh, if we topped Pittsburgh offer, I'm thinking that they would, uh, they'll raise it again. Uh, yeah, I don't, I don't know, um, about like over overpaid in that position with Minka Fitzpatrick. It seemed like they might've kind of been done with him a little bit.

And I'm not really sure I fully understood the second half of the comment, but I think they, they dealt a safety who's a really good player for a corner who's a great player and a tight end who's good. So the negative side of it is that they're taking back his contract and he's on the older side. That is pretty tough. That's pretty tough to take that contract. That is such a short-sighted short-term type of move to take that contract. And if it's Patrick, if they don't believe that he's as good as he used to be,

or he's got some conflict with Mike Tomlin or whatever else, and they didn't grade very well in the NFL PA study. Uh, whereas you would have expected with my Tomlin that they would have, but maybe there were some issues with the head coach in the locker room last year. And if that's the case, then you can understand why they'd be willing to move Fitzpatrick. But just for a player for players standpoint, uh, I don't think that they overpaid, they gave up a really good safety for a great corner and a great tight

end, but there's also maybe an argument that they shuffled around the deck chairs a little bit like how much better did you really? Get if you're losing that player and bringing in somebody else that's close or equal talent Nick says we as Vikings fans like to call Harry Harrison Smith a future hall of famer as an unbiased reporter. Thank you. Is he a lock near lock or outside case? A couple quick factors to that. The hall of fame monitor on pro football reference does not like Harrison Smith's chances to go to the hall of fame.

Defensive backs. It is very tough to get into the hall of fame. He has six Pro bowls that does not lock you into the hall of fame. He has six Pro bowls. That does not lock you into the hall of fame. Tim McDonald is a great example of a safety who was great in his era. I made six Pro bowls, did not get in. And I doubt we'll ever get in. I don't even think anyone talks about Tim McDonald, but during his time with San Francisco played with the Raiders, like he was considered to be a great

player for his era and made six Pro bowls. But I don't think he ever got much hall of fame consideration. Few things working against him is some of those all decade teams that he didn't make only one all pro and just as far as the hype goes, he's never been his own biggest promoter. He's not a podcaster. He is one of the most quiet players that you're ever going to run across. It's only in recent years that we've sort of prided out of them to, you know, do interviews

and talk a little bit more about himself and stuff like that. But he's not somebody that's out in the media all the time, which does help the case. And his team hasn't won the super bowl or even appeared in the super bowl while he's been playing, which is not his fault, but it matters. I mean, you look at the hall of famers, most of the time they made a super bowl and that means you get a whole playoff run worth of hype. If the Vikings were to make the super bowl this year, who do you think they're talking about in the defensive side all the way leading up Harrison Smith, the future hall of famer. And if they say it enough times on TV, it becomes the truth. Uh, but from my objective analysis of his career, his statistics, I did an article on this actually two years ago, where I talked to Anderson Dayhoe and talked to

Anthony Harris about playing with him. And I think that he does belong in the hall of fame. And this is where PFF data is huge for us, because if you look at the PFF data, it pretty clearly shows you this massive impact that Harrison Smith has had on the Minnesota Vikings over his time here, that he has been an elite player year in and year out. And he's been at that level of someone who elevates a franchise, especially in his prime, but that doesn't mean you're going to make it in the hall of fame decided last year that they were going to make the hall of famer, the hall of fame smaller, which to me is a

bad idea. They should be making it bigger. There's so many people who are not in that are deserving. It needs to be bigger. And if they're going to stay with that, if they're going to stay committed to this bit of only putting in a couple of guys every year, two, three guys to make it the elite of the elite Harrison Smith is probably going to get let out of that left out of that conversation unless he has six interceptions this year and they go to the NFC championship and he makes a key play.

Cause you also kind of need signature plays like a diving interception from Troy, Paula Moller or something like that. If you're going to get into the, to the hall of fame as of right now, if you are asking me to put money on it, I would say that he doesn't. If you are asking my opinion of whether I'd vote for him, I say I would absolutely vote for him, but he's one of those players that you had to see up close to really truly understand

it and really truly get his value because it goes so much beyond interceptions and tackles. Son of a beaver said if we want another safety we could just sign Julian Blackman. I agree with that. That kind of shows their commitment to Theo Jackson that they haven't. Katie says now that you said this is our CB room, Darius sleigh will get traded to the Vikings. Hey, you might be right. You might be right.

I'm looking at it like this is the CB room. I don't see enough, uh, other options of anybody that would really change that. You know, maybe, yeah, I don't know, Darius sleigh or somebody, there's always a corner, a wide receiver who could be unhappy that might end up on the list, but I just don't feel like they're going to make a move unless they do not like what they see during training camp. But you're right. You know, sometimes the, the podcast, the podcast jinx has kind of gone away in recent years. I was live when

they made big moves in free agency. Maybe that just do more podcasts. So news tends to break when I'm like on the air, but you're right about that. That could be, it could be the purple insider podcast, Jinx, where I say, nope, guys, they're all set in the secondary and they make a move tomorrow.

We'll see. I don't think so though. I actually do think that they have very real confidence in what they have in the secondary. Aaron, I have not done a 53 man projection. That sounds like a full podcast to me, doesn't it? Maybe even a porch pod, supposed to record a porch pod on Thursday. We'll see. We'll see. Uh, Vicks says, uh,

we're so good with our pass rushers that we need to take a calculated risk in our cornerback room. Don't get me wrong. I believe in the staff in the cornerback room, but it wouldn't make sense to give up capital players. Yeah. That's what I, I totally agree with that. And when so much of your team building has been based on chemistry, you can't just say we're going to take a major player and trade them away

in the middle of the summer and feel like that's going to be fine. That seems too maddening. Like on Madden, you can do this. You could say, all right, Blackman and a third, and then you get Jalen Ramsey, which I don't think would have gotten the job done or Mattel has sent a second. You get Jalen Ramsey. Well, that sounds great. Uh, you don't have a second for next year and they need draft capital, but, uh,

taking Mattel is away to me would be such a big hit for the chemistry of this team and the leadership of this team. Plus the versatility of this defense just wouldn't be something I'd be interested in doing. Like these things happen in real life. And if you're inside the locker room and they do something like that, like, you know, it's a business, but you're also like, Whoa, hey, you like trading away. Somebody who's been so important to us. This happens in basketball a lot where remember the D'Angelo Russell

trade and they traded for Mike Connolly, the Timberwolves and a lot of the national and so I wait a minute. D'Angelo Russell is a better basketball player than Mike Connolly But Mike Connolly was an unselfish player and a better fit in the locker room than D'Angelo Russell and it worked out much better Jason says new some from Cleveland to splash trade. No, that would be that would be is Cleveland trading people Who knows what does anybody know what Cleveland's doing is? Cleveland trading people who knows what does anybody know what Cleveland's doing is Cleveland like trying to win. They didn't start to tear the whole thing down.

So are they trying to win or are they trying to kind of rebuild on the fly or what are they? What are they really doing? I don't know what exactly they're really doing. The Vikings have have seven picks, not including the comp picks. I'm glad we could work comp picks into the show. Major 33. Uh, I appreciate that. Yeah, they will get some company. You guys will be losing it when they announced that,

but we're going to have to do an emergency podcast Vikings get a third and a fourth. Steven says there's some halfway decent veteran corners that could push the CB 3 CB 4 snap still in the market that won't cost much, including zero future draft capital. Yep, I agree with that. The Rasul Butler, the Asante Samuel Jr. Yep, those could be players that they could go out and get to help their depth if they don't love it.

Steven says, who's the leader in the clubhouse for the coveted Mr. Mankato for 2025 wide open man. It's wide open. It's always wide open. Who would I think tight end threes because I'm thinking who would make enough plays in preseason to get attention because of course, you know, we're going to be doing reports and I'm going to be doing live shows breaking down every practice, but it's the preseason games that put guys on the map for Mr. Mankato.

They got to make some plays in the games. Somebody's a pass rusher interior defensive lineman Tyreon Ingram Dawkins might be one of those guys. A fifth round draft pick that could get a few sacks. I could see that. I could definitely see that. I think it's, it's wide open because there's just not that many draft picks to really pick a favorite. Gavin Bartholomew, Ben Urasek, Bryson Nesbit. I mean, we're going deep, deep on the roster, but you never know. Dan Tricenna one time showed up and made the team as a guy who had basically never played

football. So it happens. We'll see. It should be a great run though for mr. Mankato. I'll have to put a little more thought into it and make my full list of trying to put odds on mr. Mankato. If you guys got a favorite, let me know. Steven says on the flip side, uh, is there a player the Vikings could trade away such as a depth piece? I wouldn't want to, I wouldn't want to. there's nobody for me that I'm looking at saying, Oh yeah, they could move this guy to go get somebody or whatever. I mean, who would you want to give away? They should be pretty happy with the way that they've built this roster.

There isn't really anybody that, Oh, well, this veteran is kind of, uh, run his course with the team. They already moved on from those guys that have run their course with the team. Just, you know, for example, like Garrett Bradbury, I've always respected Garrett Bradbury. I thought he was somebody that could have used a couple of better guards next to them that could have helped out a little bit and so forth, but it just run its course. They just couldn't play that way anymore with Garrett Bradbury as their

center. So they move on from him. It just run its course. They just couldn't play that way anymore with Garrett Bradbury as their center So they move on from him. There aren't any players that I could think of that are really like that Okay, one more question then we'll bring in Maggie Robinson Kevin says I'm at the point where my expectations are zero when I think they will be terrible. They have a historical year Oh, that's definitely true Kevin when I have high expectations, they're a game over 500 or lose a two point first round game. Yeah. Uh, that is definitely true about this team that they have thrown us a lot of curve balls over the years. 2016 was supposed to be great. And then we all know what happened and it wasn't 2017. I thought they were supposed to be mid. I think I picked them for 10 wins before the season.

It was a little bit bold and they go to the NFC championship 2018. They're supposed to win the Superbowl. They missed the playoffs. And then last year they were supposed to win six games and they win 14. So they do tend to throw your curve balls, which is what makes football fun. Doesn't it Kevin that we never really know what is around the corner, but for this team, uh, I am at this point and there's so far to go on pretty confident ground that they're going to be right there

in the NFC North. There's just so much talent. And I was looking at the team just at one point during mini camp, just looking around like, okay, that position, that position you're doing attendance, that's what we do out there. You know? And I'm like, Oh, Silas Bolden is a good pick for Mr. Mankato, by the way. And I'm just like, Steve is really good, man. There's like a lot of really good players who

are in their primes on this team. But you're right. You never really know. Camp can't predict football.