Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Should the Vikings take a first-round wide receiver?

Episode Date: March 25, 2026

Matthew Coller talks with NFL Draft analyst Chris Trapasso about whether the Minnesota Vikings should draft a wide receiver in the first round. They analyze every receiver that could be available including Mekhi Lemon, David Boston, KC Concepcion and other top names. They also discuss Jordan Addison's future and the latest talk about Ty Simpson and Fernando Mendoza Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You heard me, Chris Trappaso, draftgradebook.com. We're going to draft a receiver. That was the promise that we made in the last time we did our draft simulation. And I feel like even a week later, our discussion got even stronger because the Seattle Seahawks opened up the bag for Jackson Smith Najigba. And I started to see on some of my favorite podcasts that's like, man, maybe you should be drafting a wide receiver now that the top guys are making quarterback. money, who would have seen it coming other than the Chris Trapasso draft show? What is up,

my friend? All this is music to my ears. And for the faithful, the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of faithful listeners to Purple Insider, this should be coming as no surprise that we've been talking about wide receiver as the second most important position in the NFL. I know edge rushers are right in that upper 30, you know, Miles Garrett's getting 40 million a year. But Jackson Smith and Jigba blew the door. off 40 million per year. And we talked about it, I think two weeks ago, that difference between the round one rookie contract,

even a first rounder fully guaranteed deal, and the top of the position is seismic. So there's that and there is just the way to look at this position at how valuable it is and how the literal general managers, not just me and you think of it, look at the price that they are paying the top receivers because to have that offensive player of the year type wide receiver is just about as important as it gets outside of having that franchise quarterback.

So this draft show is going to be dedicated at least a large percentage to the concept of the Vikings drafting a wide receiver, the wide receiver class, who their competitors might be, what the different skill sets are. And we're also going to talk about whether it's a good idea considering Jordan Addison situation and what you would do. So why don't we dive right in? before the show, I was like, oh, I'm working on this draft sim and here's my, wait a minute. Let's wait till we're on the show.

So I'm going to show the audience here, Chris, what I've got on the draft board for wide receivers at number 18 using the PFF mock draft simulator. I have Mackay Lemon, Omar Cooper Jr. from Indiana. Lemon is from USC, Denzel Boston from Washington and Casey Concepcion from Texas A&M as all available wide receivers at number 18 overall. First of all, how realistic is it in your mind that those guys who are all graded by PFF in the ballpark of first round wide receivers, that four of them will be there at number 18? I think it is pretty unlikely. I would be surprised if Mackay Lemon is still there, but he would, him being there at 18, I think would fall into the category of Stranger Things have happened in the first round that we've talked about at length over the last four or five years.

So it feels like he would be gone a little bit earlier, but because he didn't test particularly well at that USC Pro Day, ran in the four fives. It could happen. I think Omar Cooper Jr. and Casey Concepcion, this is probably where the earliest would be for them to go. So if you're the Vikings, do you like that? Do you like to be the first team on the second or third wide receiver off the board? or are you fine with it and just feel like, hey, we're still getting who is perceived to be the second or third best wide receiver inside the top 20? So does that mean that if this situation were to play out like this,

that you would take lemon here? If we were saying, hey, we're going to stick a pick because I think in this situation, if the Vikings were saying we like multiple wide receivers, why wouldn't you trade down a couple of spots and get one of those wide receivers after getting a little extra draft capital if someone who's willing to move up?

and take Lemon, but is he sort of head and shoulders better than the other wide receivers in this class or that are available in this scenario? Sure, sure. Yeah, no, I don't think he's head and shoulders better. And what you just outlined there, if we're really going to dive into the draft day navigation, I think what you just referenced, if three or four of those wideouts are still available, and if you're not going to move down to 29, but move back even three or four selections to maybe get an extra third or an extra fourth and you just like them all similarly,

then I think that would be the best way for the Vikings to do it. Because for me to kind of answer your question, Mackay Lemon is my wide receiver one, but the gap between him and Casey Concepcion, who's my wide receiver two, is not so big that you would just say, all right, just pick Casey or just pick McCoy Lemon, don't let him fall. I think he is someone that would fit in the offense. I mean, Jalen Naylor ran like 61.

percent of his routes in the in the slot last year for the Vikings they probably would want an upgrade at that slot wide receiver position and that's where mckeye lemon plays but i think no there is not that big of a difference between those top three in my estimation so should we have a discussion about carnell tate here i mean he didn't blow away the nfl combine but also it wasn't like he was horrendous and watching him this year this is where sometimes the draft is funky to me because I watched a lot of Carnal Tate. I was like, man, that looks like a top 10 draft pick to me. And then we start picking apart every part of his game.

Does he really have the next gear? Can he really do this? Can he really do that? But if he's not your wide receiver one, is there a chance that this works out quite differently than the way that the mock drafters have it laid out? And let me add a quick, just a quick story. I remember when the Vikings traded away Stefan Diggs, I got a phone call to my radio show.

saying, you know what, I think we could get Justin Jefferson in this draft. And I was like, yeah, man, in your dreams. And then it happened. So I mean, I guess I never count anything out. And I deeply apologize to that person for being dismissive. So is there a world where the NFL doesn't like something about Carnell Tate to take him in the top 10? So I'll say that I think my view on Carnell Tate being slightly lower than him is probably not what's going to ultimately happen in the draft. I would be surprised if it's not either he's the first receiver off the board or the second receiver off the board.

He and Mackay Lemon inside the top 15. If you're saying in this scenario that he's available, I wonder if the Vikings would see, not that he's Justin Jefferson 2.0, but I always go back to, and when I am try to be transparent about all my evaluations, but what I didn't love about Justin Jefferson, that I thought that his contested catch win rate of like 86% in his final season was mostly due to Joe Burroughs just ridiculous surgical accuracy. Turns out beyond being one of the top three route runners in the NFL, Justin Jefferson has the top three hands in the NFL. I bring that up because Cardinal Tate posted a contested

catch win rate like in the mid 80s like Justin Jefferson rarefied air. So I don't think he is as smooth as Justin Jefferson and I think the route running will take longer for him to become this big time separator. And that's why I'm a little bit lower on him. And I thought Carnal Tate was going to run in the four threes. It feels like every Ohio state wide receiver does that and he didn't. But I wonder if that's something that the Vikings seeing what Justin Jefferson probably doesn't practice like 10 times a week and then does like three times on Sundays. If they would gravitate toward the, hey, look, like we have Kyla Murray now. And when he had DeAndre Hopkins, he was throwing a lot of deep balls and

Kyler Murray's deep ball accuracy suddenly got really good because of how good DeAndre Hopkins was and coming down with the football. So that's one like Vikings nugget that I think maybe would be that like they would view him a little bit differently than I am just evaluating him from afar like for all 32 teams. And you're talking about Tate there, right? That's Kate. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So well here's what I want to know.

Let's just assume that Tate though. Let's say that he goes pretty high and he's the top wide receiver, and this scenario plays out for them. Let's pick apart the differences between these wide receivers, because I've been looking at a lot of different positions for the Vikings, corners, safeties, DTs, and I don't know whether it's realistic that they could draft someone in the first round. I've actually been looking more into the Antonio Williams'es of the world,

the second round potential guys, that I think it becomes more realistic in the second and the third. but I also wouldn't count this out because we spent a lot of time one year talking about cornerback prospects and they ended up picking Jordan Addison. So they do view this as a very valuable position. They have made no effort whatsoever to replace wide receiver three. We don't know what's going to happen with negotiations with Addison. So I think it's it's open. It's potentially there.

Let's begin with Lemon. Correct me. Was he the guy with the weird interview? Yes. Okay. So I thought so. Someone said he was like Jafar and Aladdin or something. Yeah.

Like the end of Aladdin, which it really felt like that. It was a great call. One of the things that I am absolutely certain of is that we don't really know what happens inside those rooms. Only the NFL teams do. I'm also certain that teams will sometimes come out and be like, yeah, I don't know. I had a bad interview. And it's like, we want to draft that guy. And there's also all kinds of different personalities.

Jordan Addison is a very, very quiet. person, but man, can he catch a football? So I don't really make a lot of this with Lemon and watching him play. I'd be perfectly fine with the Vikings drafting him, even if it sets up for many years of awkward interviews with us. Yeah. And I just talked about the similarities that very specific similarity between Carnal Tate and Justin Jefferson, which is important. Even though my comparison for Mackay Lemon is Aminra St. Brown, there's a lot of Jordan Addison to him too, where he's this smaller guy where when you turn on the film, you're shocked at like how he's bouncing off tacklers and how he's making those difficult grabs down the field. You think, okay,

slot guy is going to be kind of quick, which he certainly is. But the route running ability, I don't know if it's quite, again, as smooth as Jordan Addison is, but he gets open a lot. And his analytics are through the roof like yards per route run was just sky high, which is usually, which is one of the good indicators of, you know, NFL success at the wide receiver position. So kind of think with lemon, like somewhere between Jordan Addison and Aminra Saint Brown, who is a pretty darn good wide receiver. Just going through his numbers, this is the analytics darling wide receiver for sure. 91.4 pf receiving grade, as you mentioned, yards per route run was elite. Drop rate was fantastic. Winning versus man coverage is terrific.

Contested catch rate is really excellent. And here's something that the experts, maybe including yourself, got fooled a little bit with just Jefferson was there was this thought for a while that if you lined up in the slot, maybe he's just a slot wide receiver. But now there's all sorts of condensed splits. receivers line up all over the place. There is no such thing anymore as a slot wide receiver. In fact, the opposite has turned out to be true. If someone stayed on one side of the field that was only an outside wide receiver in college, you should really raise some red flags, well, Lemon was among the best in college football in terms of slot receptions. And if the Vikings are looking for an immediate wide receiver three and eventual wide

receiver two, somebody who's moved around to different spots would make a lot of sense. I'm always huge on production. This guy's got a ton of production across the board. 100%. And I think to ask a first round wide receiver to come in and like, I feel like we've talked about this over the years and say, you're a wide. wide receiver three, that is as luxurious as you can get if you're Kevin O'Connell and very minimal. I mean, he'll be a first round pick in this scenario and there's expectations that come with that.

But to say you're our wide receiver two and a half, let's say, because we don't know what's going to happen with Jordan Addison. That is the way to ultimately put these wide receivers onto the field and not have them, I mean, speaking about are they eccentric, are they different, not have so much pressure on them where they crumble in year one. And I think Lemon absolutely with his suddenness, the way he can catch the football at all three levels, he's not just that slot chain mover like you're referencing and will make those difficult grabs that we've seen Jordan Addison make a lot.

I think he absolutely could be like a 60 catch 700, 800 yard wide receiver in year one. Addison said one time, he doesn't think he's ever seen a double team. I mean, which is crazy because he's wide receiver two to Justin. I'm sure that he has at some point, maybe it was an accent. accident, but that just tells you how much attention there is on Justin Jefferson. And we're going to debate whether this is worth it or not, but I want to familiarize everyone with the potential option. So let's just say if this drafts him did not play out the same way. And Lemon was taken a little bit earlier. The next option on the list is Omar Cooper, Jr.

Now, he is not the biggest guy in the world. He's listed at 6 foot 200 something. but in terms of his data also very big production overall, but he was in the slot all the time. He basically never played outside wide receiver for Indiana. He's also been a combine riser, which I am always a little bit on the skeptical side of. When I look at his trend line on PFF, it wasn't too long ago,

let me go back to it here, it wasn't too long ago that he was being listed as a second round pick. They have it kind of by date. At the end of the season, he was being listed as somewhere in the 40s. And now he's being mocked somewhere in the 20s by a lot of people. What's the breakdown of Omar Cooper? And why is he taking this big leap forward in what people think of him? Sure.

So I have a range comparison for him. I think he's somewhere in the range of like Golden Tate to DJ Moore. He's that rugged, stocky yards after the catch type wide receiver. and I think he was one that was put in the slot because he for kind of the old reasons like, hey, you need a little bit more room because you're not ultra sudden and super duper fast to create that separation at the intermediate level. And whether you agree with it or not, and there's certainly justification on either side of it, I'll explain why he was a combine riser because he doesn't look particularly fast or sudden on

film. Then he ran like in the mid four fours and everything across the board was not spectacular. but I think everyone thought, okay, this is going to be mid four, fives type wide receiver, 40 or the vertical bra jump aren't going to be great. And he actually tested a lot better than people expected. Like Lemon, he's very sure handed near the sideline in contested catch situation. He's not going to be Mike Evans, but he's not someone that has a hands issue and will make those difficult grabs like that touchdown against Penn State where Gus Johnson like lost his voice completely and it was outrageous. It was like one of the best catches I've seen.

in college football. So that's the type of wide receiver he is. He's not someone that I think really will ever be that, oh my gosh, he's a wide receiver one, but similar to like DJ Moore, where DJ Moore is like a one A, one B type where he's kind of in the lower tier of the wide receiver ones. I think in the best case scenario, that's what you could get with Omar Cooper Jr. And I also like, he's not drastically old either. Mackay Lemon, relatively young. We'll talk about Carnell Tate, young. Omar Cooper Jr. is not a 24-year-old that was just dominating because he was playing against younger competition in the Big Ten. According to PFF, he was fourth in college football in missed tackles. Yeah, he's so good after the catch. I remember us having this conversation

a couple years ago about yards after catch. And I think it was really when Debo was an all pro. And we were kind of saying, you know, the league's average depth of target is going down, which might mean that it's better to have some of these guys. But there was never really this, wow, everyone turned into Debo, Samuel and all these guys. And we kind of fell in love with the Leviska-Chanalt types. We're like, man, just get that ball in his hands. And he's going to be unstoppable. So from that perspective, I am a little bit skeptical on him as a first-round draft pick.

I mean, I think that that's great to have ball in your hands, broken tackles. I think strength is a big thing. but for me separation is king. That is going to be the biggest thing. And when we talk about contested catches, there's two sides to that story. One might be, well,

the guy was never open, so he had to make all the contested catches. That's the Lequan Treadwell thing. The other one is, in the NFL, you're rarely that open. Normally you got to beat somebody for that football

and that Cooper catches unbelievable in the game against Penn State, but there's not a lot of those from him. And is that someone that you're spending this high of a draft pick on? If they did, of course, I'd like it because it's a wide receiver. But as we're comparing these guys, I'm not so sure someone who is only a slot and their biggest thing is yards after catch is worth a first round pick for me. Yeah.

So how I have it graded on draft gradebook.com, if you want to check out my wide receiver rankings. I have like a bucket that is just round one. And like those players across years, like they are a first rounder any year. And then I have late one early too, which like technically it's like pick. in my head, pick 21 to pick 40, where you're like, not a top 20 pick, but anywhere after that into like right around the beginning of Friday night of the draft, that's still totally fine. I have Cooper in that 21 to 40 range. So technically, if we're going by the numbers here and where the Vikings are picking, 18 would be like the maximum that I could even feel like, okay,

yeah, all right, 18th pick. That's a little early, but I'll deal with it. The other two, I have more, in that top 20 overall range in terms of McKay Lemon and Casey Concepcio. Okay, Denzel Boston here, totally opposite. Couldn't be more different than Cooper, but does interest me as an outside wide receiver at six foot four and receiving grade for him 87.2, exceptional. Great in terms of drop rate. What really stood out to me is he is one of the highest graded by PFF against man coverage, which what I remember Adam Thielen saying this.

one point. The NFL usually comes down to can you beat somebody else man to man. And that's why Adam Thielen was a great receiver, despite the fact that he was undrafted, as he had that skill and he had great hands to win those reps. Denzel Boston kind of reminds me of him in that way. Like, Thielen, I think was maybe what, six, two and a half, six three, probably six three. So this guy's like six four. But I think there's some similarities there between the two. I don't see some blazing, crazy, you know, AJ, uh, green type of,

of like wild athlete that, you know, could play in the NBA or something. But I do see route running hands, downfield stuff. He's not getting screen passes. Like he had to work for all of this stuff and had two drops in college. So I like a lot about Denzel Boston for somebody who could be, I mean, they're calling a possession receiver. But, I mean, if you're running routes 18 yards downfield, breaking somebody off and using the strength to separate and make a catch,

I mean, is that like a possession receiver? I guess so. But if you can run those routes, those are pretty good plays. Yeah. So with Boston, I totally agree with you on that, that I think he just gets that label because he's 6, 4, 220. Yeah. I actually think he's a sneaky good vertical threat just because of how good he is in those

rebounding situations. Now, there aren't a ton of these big, quote unquote, slower wide receivers that are still great down the field. But there's a few. Like you can be someone that can. create splash plays for your offense just because you are so physically overwhelming at the catch point. And with Boston, what I love about him, I have him graded like early to mid-second is that he's that size and plays to that size every single year. And I will use someone that's in

my backyard. Keon Coleman is 6.3, 225, and he does not play big at all. He is not a great contested catch receiver really never was even at Florida State. Denzel Boston. is like he's the towering first wide receiver off the bus type. And then he plays like that boxing out, back shoulder. The I don't think any of us love the fade in the end zone, but he's actually one of the wide receivers that is pretty good in that regard. And I like the fact that he deals with physicality really well. And that's why I think his man coverage grade is so high in that not even just at the line,

but certainly corners in the big time and they'll do it in the NFL even more. they like to get grabby within the route because he's six four two 25 and very strong he can still stay on his intended track keep the timing of the route very good and still get open for his quarterback do i think he's going to be a tremendous separator i think he's at best like an average separator in the NFL but if you are going to be someone that is not great at getting open you better be strong and you better have very reliable hands and i think denzil boston emphatically ticked both of those boxes. And I just really like those things for NFL success, which takes us to the next guy where there's, I see a debate in the draft universe, Casey Concepcion. The issue here with him is a drop rate that is very concerning. 10.3%. I mean, that's in the red for drops for him. His route running, watching him at the combine, he reminded me of like his size and movement skill of someone like Stefan Diggs, but if you're dropping 10% of your passes, you are not Stefan Diggs. And this may be viewed differently from some people.

I just couldn't spend a first round pick on someone who drops the football that much. It's a huge, you can't have any, like in the NFL. I mean, you just, yeah, okay, for a year for Justin Jefferson, who gets 140 targets, you just can't have footballs bouncing off your hands in the NFL. who have had this problem, they usually don't fix it. I think it's kind of like teaching someone to be an accurate passer where, yeah, there's guys who have, but it's not often teaching someone to become a good three-point shooter.

There's, it's not always just concentration. I mean, there's like a real freakish skill. And I'll just tell you one thing at training camp. When Justin Jefferson catches the ball, and I've seen many, many receivers who could not catch the football in training camps that don't stick around, when he catches the football, you don't hear it. Like he catches the ball so softly and so smoothly into his hands, you hear nothing. When you watch a wide receiver who is not good in terms of their hands, it clanks around.

You hear it smack their hands. And there's just too much of that for me. Now, a second round draft pick, okay, that's a little different. Separation is king. I agree. I like a lot that I see. But it's scary when a guy can't catch the football in college, much less now you're saying, oh, actually go do this under much more challenging circumstances with quarterbacks who throw the ball

much harder. So you just provided, I think, the perfect counter to all the Casey Concepcion lovers like myself, which, by the way, I did want to come on to this show and give my comparison for all the receivers for Denzel Boston. And weirdly, a lot of them are former NFC Northwide receivers. For Denzel Boston, I have Kenny Galladay. He's very, very similar to them. Had two 1,000 yards seasons with the Lions, very similar body type play style. Concepcion, I agree. That is the one mark why he's not my number one wide receiver because there are some like he's open on a slant in the end zone and just drops the football. Like easy concentration drops that could be why he slips further than he should because to me we're talking about separation. We're talking about even yards after the catch.

And then the weirdest part, the contested catch ability for Casey Concepcion, his contested catch win rate was over 60% last season. which for a like 5-11 190-pound receiver, you're like, how are you so good in traffic, but you're dropping the football? Everything else he does, I think screams top 20 pick in any draft. He's very like rugged and weirdly powerful after the catch, even though he's not very big. He can make really violent cuts to just find space after the catch. And his route running savvy, I think is already like NFL caliber.

So that would be the one concern for whichever team ultimately picks him, and I'm assuming will be somewhere in the top 40, if not in round one. There will be critics saying, hey, that drop rate is pretty scary. And I think it's reasonable, but I'm willing to look past that because of what he did in those contested catch situations. There's a catch. I forgot which team it was against. Down the field, he wins with an awesome release off the line of scrimmage, stacks the

outside corner, the throw is made and the deep middle safety is coming. And like everyone in the stadium, including Concepcion, assumingly, knows that he's about to get blasted, gets hit, you would think, oh, the ball's going to pop out. He's little. He has got bad hands. Holds onto the football. There's a bunch of those types of catches that if you are going to be smaller and base your game on creating those explosive plays, like you said, you're not going to be open by five yards every single play, especially down the field. And I thought he did a great job absorbing contact and still holding onto the football, despite some of those weird concentration drops where he was actually wide open underneath.

I love the way he moves. And you could see it when he did the drill where you run straight down the line and you turn and you catch, you drop the ball, turn and catch, drop the ball, turn and catch. His, like, he was so square. Like, sometimes you see guys sort of leaning, reaching out for the ball. And it just, he was very, very smooth in catching it very, very smooth in his movement in terms of like running and body control and all that stuff. I would just be a little scared by some of those drops because I think,

that in the NFL, the margins are very, very thin, where you can be really, really good at a lot of stuff. But if you can't consistently catch the football, like, how can they trust you in a lot of the biggest spots? It is small sample. It is like, hey, maybe got a case of the drops. And we saw that even from Jordan Addison at the NFL level. It did happen. But man, like last year, Addison's a good, a good example, though, where last year he drops three, four more passes than he did the year before and it feels catastrophic in comparison because NFL receivers at the top level just don't drop these balls and as an offense you can't have it like you can't have a third down conversion where it just hits the guy in the hands and he goes oh well you know in college you're playing

probably four games a year that matter so it's a little bit different that's my concern but everything else he checks a lot of boxes let's uh okay yeah go ahead yeah one last thing because i didn't say the comparison right after I forgot, Deb Della Boston. So the range for him I have is Doug Baldwin to Jackson Smith and Jigba. And like Doug Baldwin had two seasons over 1,000 yards, over 900 yards counting those seasons, one, two, three, four, five, six times in the, or five times in the NFL.

And ironically, I didn't know this and I can't say that I remember scouting him at Stanford in 2010. His first two seasons, and this is Doug Baldwin again, in Seattle, drop rate of 12. 12% and then 13 and a half percent. So he like moved like Doug Baldwin to me on film. And then I went and saw that. I'm like, oh, man, like there you go.

Because then he somehow got very sure handed and was always making those difficult grabs on those moon balls from Russell Wilson. So Doug Baldwin, best case scenario, JSN, because JSN is not a super physically imposing wide receiver, but is super smooth like you're referencing with Casey Concepcion. any one of these wide receivers, we're going to pick apart strengths, weaknesses, what works, what might be a question. All of them, I think, are worth the 18th overall draft pick because of now what it would pay to get a Doug Baldwin. If you got Doug Baldwin and his prime in free agency, now you're probably paying $30 million plus for that. And here's the comparison the Vikings

have to make. Do you want to pay? Jordan Addison, probably in the ballpark of $27 to $34 million per year in a contract extension. Do you want to fifth year option him and see how that plays out? Do you want to franchise tag him and see how that plays out? Or would you rather draft someone out of this group? And it feels a little bit like I'm leading the witness there toward, hey, like don't pay him and draft someone. But I'm not because there is a fairly high bust rate of first draft.

draft pick wide receivers. Like you're giving your range of the guy's successful. The range of it not successful is like 10 other guys who have come into the NFL. Like Jalen Rager. John Jackson. Just not been any good at all. So that's always on the table for any one of these guys that you could potentially pick.

So if you were the Vikings, how would you handle this situation with Jordan Addison? Is it worth taking someone with the 18th overall pick? I think so. I think, you know, and this is in line with what we have referenced the last five years on this podcast, that keeping your fastball, you would get this wide receiver as your wide receiver three this season. And then you make a determination. If it's like, man, this is Laquan Treadwell 2.0, maybe we then we pivot and we do pay Jordan Addison. And if Jordan Addison, you know, whatever the suspension ultimately is, he comes back from it and is really, really good, then you're like, hey, we have arguably the best one two punch in the NFC. let's just pay him and just run with it. If it helps if he has a great rapport with Kyla Murray, I think it's worth testing out in year one because, again,

the financial benefit that you can get and just on the field, having three elite separators that catch everything, like that is ultimate luxury for a quarterback. I don't think he's going to be suspended for the off-field incident that happened. I'm not 100% sure because it was like in the news. It could be one of those, you know, made the shield look bad. Roger sort of spins the wheel. Maybe not as much as he used to.

I think that one, because the charges got dropped, is going to be let go. But either way, Vikings fans know better than anyone, the three wide receivers is a cheat code. I mean, that was the Randy Moss, Chris Carter, and Jake Reed. And I don't think that Jordan Addison is Chris Carter, but if somebody else turned into Jake Reed, that would be a hell of a draft pick as well.

But they know the effect of that. And we saw this with Tampa Bay last year, Amika Agbuka, being taken in the first round. And I think a lot of people were like, wait a minute, what? They have Mike Evans. And even though Godwin's had some injuries, like kind of, what are they doing? They've drafted some other wide receivers.

It's always a good idea. It's always a good idea. So now let's go to another scenario and say that, you know, maybe the Vikings don't want to spend the 18th overall pick. And I'll just drafts them, Jermad McCoy, and get them a cornerback and go on to the second round. Let's take a look at who's available in the second round at wide receiver. I think there's a pretty big drop off here, but there's still names that I like.

So Chris Brazel, the second, is intriguing to me as a big fast guy. Skyler Bell from Connecticut, Brazzell went to Tennessee. Bryce Lance, who had an incredible NFL combine, was just a total freak. And the guy that I like the most for this is Antonio Williams out of Clemson. Deep wide receiver kind of reminds me of Jordan Addison in some ways. and I mean, even kind of reminds me of Jalen Ehler in some ways is a downfield type of guy, Elijah Surratt, outside wide receiver and also Zachariah Branch, who is a screen pass merchant, but is really special with the football in his hands.

Is it worth it? Let's say they pass up on it. Second round out of that group, does anybody stand out to you there? Yeah, I think you're definitely, like there is a pretty big drop. like there's not any wide receiver that I really, really like of that group that I'm like, hey, I have a first round great on him. Like absolutely do it. We talked about Antonio Williams last week. I said that I kind of saw shades of Tyler Boyd. And that's probably best case scenario for him. I don't actually think like what you referenced that Jalen Naylor is totally crazy to assume for Antonio Williams, who definitely has that snap at the top of his route stem to get open and he was

very good in the slot. And what I like to, again, I think maybe it's just going to, guys our age. Like we think slot receiver and we think like West Welker just underneath two yard passes. There are now so many in college and the pros slot receivers that are good down the field and are used on dig routes and on posts. Antonio Williams can certainly do that. For me, of the names that you referenced who I have, I have Zachariah Branch graded the highest. My comparison for him is Curtis Samuel. He probably has even more upside than Samuel did because I do think if you watch his USC film, he did get down the field a lot more frequently. And George is just like, let's just throw him a screen or a jet sweep like every time he

touches the ball. But he tested extremely well. So it would be Zachariah Branch would be the highest graded. But if you're looking for a specific type, I think Antonio Williams or even Skyler Bell, who reminds me so much of Sterling Shepherd and had a very similar workout to Sterling Shepherd is that consummate like ultra sudden, any slot corner is not going to want. to deal with him and the way that he can move and generate separation on intricate routes from in the slot.

Just looking at the numbers on Antonio Williams, they're a little bit different than I thought they were. And probably this is from like seeing a game or seeing a couple plays that he made. But his average depth of target was lower than I would have thought did get a lot of quick stuff in that offense. I think that's also because their quarterback is very bad. But a lot, a lot of slot yards, not a ton of contested. that he had to make, did grade very well in terms of man coverage and was great in terms of

his drop rate. But that does, you know, get helped a little bit by the, uh, the low average depth of target. But just, I think smooth was the thing for me that Antonio Williams looked like a pro wide receiver. All of those guys, though, I don't know. I mean, Bryce Lance, you'd have to have a huge jump. He's the freakath. I'm always afraid of a freak athlete that, you know, maybe is going to take a couple years or dominated competition that wasn't quite at the same kind of level. Always a little concerned of the screen pass guy. If that's all they did with him in college, why did they do that? Probably for a reason.

And Zachariah Branch got a million screen passes, even if he was an exciting player. I would have a tough time with all of these guys as a second round draft pick, I think. Me too. So why don't we draft someone else? And then let's go with just randomly. how about Eli Stowers in the second round? And we'll get a freak tight end. And now let's see what's available in the third round for wide receivers.

You love Ted Hurst, the Georgia State receiver. Yep. And we got Melchai Fields, Deson Stribling, which I do not know a lot about from Ole Miss. Brennan Thompson, who lit up the NFL Combine, C.J. Daniels, and from Miami and Reggie Virgil from Texas Tech. Anybody there you think is worth a third round pick. Okay, so I have not watched the last two that you mentioned.

They're on my list. I was going to reference Brendan Thompson is even a second round potential. I think he is someone when you watch, well, first you see, okay, he ran it in the four twos. He was the fastest player at the combine this year and he looks that fast on film. Then you see, okay, he's like 5-9-170. The route running, they used him on the outside. I mean, you can look if you have his PFF, PFF, PFF, profile up right now. I believe he was on the outside more than he was in the slot. And he is like

a route running technician so similar to Brandon Cooks. When Brandon Cooks was coming out of Oregon State in 2014, it was like, wait, this guy's just like stocky five, eight, five, nine wide receiver. And he's winning on the outside. He had over a thousand yards in that final season at Oregon State. And then he actually carved out a pretty nice NFL career. That's who I see in Brennan Thompson because he's not just a burner. He has pretty good hands, even though he doesn't have a big catch radius and actually could get open from the outside against SEC corners. It's kind of the opposite of Bryce Lance, who's big and was playing in the FCS level at North Dakota State. Stribling, I think is very similar to Darius Slayton. You mentioned Sarat reminds me of Muhammad Sanoo,

which is kind of a throwback type where he's just very good. Even though his numbers were not great in contested catches. I think he does a good job boxing out, but it's not going to be a big separator. So of those third round wide receivers that you referenced, Brennan Thompson, just for the fit and what he could do to this offense to add, oh, crap, we can't just funnel coverage to Justin Jefferson. We have four to two, six, or whatever he ran on the other side. That's actually pretty sudden and has some quickness to his game too. He's not just a linear athlete down the field. And when I talk about Jalen Naylor, the role that they had Jalen Naylor in was pretty much clear out routes. Clearing routes. Yeah. I mean, and if you're talking about this guy, his average

depth of target couldn't be much different than Antonio Williams. 18.4 yards on average. They were just throwing it up to him deep, which I guess would be the one question there is the NFL doesn't have too many guys. Alec Pierce, who just got paid was like this, doesn't have too many guys in the year 2026 that are going to average 18 yards depth of target. So can you be more of a complete wide receiver? I mean, you're saying that you think that the answer is probably yes. But in the third round, which he's still available in this draft, that to me is put him and Ty Felton in a camp competition.

See what happens. Two absolute burners. They've got a little bit different skill sets. And maybe one of them comes out as a potential impact player who can throw flames in terms of his raw speed. Can I list one more wide receiver who I'm assuming is available? And I think, so there's guys, when you've watched this many players every year, there's always like two to five, maybe that just completely fall through the cracks where you're like, oh, he's a second or third runner and then he doesn't get drafted. Look up the profile and you can read it off to all the listeners

and the viewers. Eric McAllister from TCU. He has some off-field issues, which is why I think there's very minimal buzz, but he was at the combine. So anything that was going on didn't like preclude him from being invited to the combine. And the NFL has said like if there's, you know, sexual assault stuff, they don't invite the players of the combine. Eric McAllister's profile is really, really fascinating to me where I think watching him on film, he reminds me so much of Chris Godwin when he was at Penn State. And Chris Godwin was not, I think he was a, was he late second or third round pick?

Yeah. Second, right? The second round pick that they that they are very similar and that the contested catch is there, bigger body, but like very sudden athlete. You're almost surprised when you watch Eric McAllister from TCU that he's like six, four, right around 200 pounds, kind of lanky, but like gets open routinely, good after the catch, good with the ball, you know, like at the catch point. And it's someone that is flying way under the radar. and it's someone that I can't really speak to where he'll ultimately be picked because of the off-field stuff. But on the field, I think he absolutely is a day two wide receiver. I was wrong. Godwin was a third round pick. Really good grades from him, very solid. And what's impressive here is he has as many mistackles forced as the potential first rounder, Cooper, that we were talking about having top five

in college football mistackles force. So clearly an impact player with the ball in his hand had a number of deep catches, an interesting little potential prospect. I think, let's talk about this overall as a class. There is not one guy like a Malik neighbors where you would go, okay, there was that one year where, you know, it was like a lave and there was a couple other guys. We're just like, these guys, man, they could all become superstars. And certainly the year Justin Jefferson, C.D. Lamb, you know, unfortunately, Henry Ruggs is the way it played out, but that guy was an elite prospect.

There's lots of lots of talent. I don't see that, but I do see a lot of B pluses. And I see a lot of Bs or B minuses. And once again, we have to go back to what that's actually worth. The number one thing that correlates to success in the NFL, shockingly, is how your quarterback plays. Expected points added passing the football remains the number one thing that is going to correlate to winning and success in the NFL.

NFL and any way you can boost that guy up. I mean, okay, if you were a team that needed a left tackle and it's left tackle versus wide receiver two, okay, we'll take the left tackle. But if you're a team that needs a safety or a wide receiver two longer term or in you're in the second round and you need a corner or it's a wide receiver two, three who could catch 50 passes, I think 50 catches for 600 yards or something is probably worth more than a lot of starting positions in the NFL. Well, 100% agree. And I think how you frame the position that I even think like Mackay Lemon and Casey Concepcion, they're like B pluses. Like if if they were in the Jefferson class or any of the other better classes, just let's just say like the what we have come to know in the last 15 years is like the average wide receiver class. It usually has like the Jamar Chase or even last year like the Tet McMillan that's like a big time prospect.

I think they would all be picked in the 20s or early 30s. But now we're going to, we may see Cardinal Tate and Mackay Lemon go inside the top 15. So I think how you framed it, like all these wide receivers are from B plus to B minus or, you know, 15 of them. And so much will determine their success based on where they're, you know, where they land, the quarterbacks, all that obviously. But in terms of just their physical traits, their profiles, their production, their ages, they, like that is how I would encapsulate really the entire draft, but definitely this wide receiver class where there will be some wide receivers picked that will probably be successful and give their team that

financial advantage of having a first round pick wide receiver on that rookie deal, but are not a plus 1,400 yard all pro caliber receivers on that rookie deal. So there's two other things I wanted to get to with you. One of them, uh, my eyes might roll out of my head. And then the other one, I'm not sure what to really make of. So there had to be somebody on one of the big networks to push a quarterback because you just need it. You need somebody to say that maybe Fernando Mendoza isn't the best quarterback in the draft class. You need somebody to go on the TV and argue that Ty Simpson is worth a first round draft pick. I respect Dan Orlovsky as a guy who is a really good analyst and who has,

made a great career in broadcasting. But I also feel like, is this real life? I mean, are we really doing this? I think you probably could have projected at the beginning of the Chris Trappaso draft show season as we were headed to Indianapolis that at some point, someday someone was going to say, isn't Ty Simpson really the best quarterback in this draft class? And that day just happened to correlate with the slowest part of draft season.

I don't know. I'm just saying that these things are not coincidental. as last year we had the is Charder Sanders worth the ninth overall draft pick or whatever. And he got taken to the fifth round. I have watched a lot of Ty Simpson because just, you know, Alabama's on TV a lot. There was never any point of me watching Ty Simpson, whether he was succeeding or not, that I thought, oh, yeah, make that guy your franchise first round draft pick type of quarterback. What I always thought was, I remember Colt McCoy.

that's what I thought every time I saw him play. Am I, am I off here? Are we going to get two first round quarterbacks or what do you think? I think we're going to get two first round quarterbacks. I do applaud Dan Ravlovsky for going out on a limb because I mean, I think he's more apt to do that and is not just following the echo chamber. But I do, I mean, like you're saying, this timing of it, how, how this would have been

the second year in a row of like zero quarterback buzz and then the embarrassment of is should her Sanders, the first rounder. Oh, no, he's a fifth rounder. But I think the reason why, whether this was genuine or not, and we'll never know, is because Fernando Mendoza is not the slam dunk quarterback prospect. Like, we tried to do it all the way back in 2012 with Andrew Luck. Like, is RG3 better? Are the Colts going to actually pick RG3? No, they're going to pick Andrew Luck. We did it with the borough class, like so many years where there is a big time traits and production quarterback that we're like, oh, don't even like any of those conversations end immediately. I think because Mendoza is not that, that is like leaving the door open for someone to be like,

hey, what about Ty Simpson? But I think Ty Simpson is equally like not as impressive as you would normally have as a first round quarterback prospect. So it wouldn't be shocking if like the Arizona Cardinals trade back in because they're desperate and they're they don't want to roll with Jacoby Brissette and Garner Minchew. But if I was just referencing that this receiver class would typically be like even the top of it like from pick 22 to 32, these quarterbacks, even Mendoza like would not be like slam dunk top 10 overall picks beyond the other little side conversation that we're having. If you hit on that guy. It is a gigantic advantage that you have for the next five years having that quarterback on that

very, very cheap rookie deal. I'll tell you who these guys remind me of and you can tell me what you think. I think Mendoza, the people who say Kirk, I don't think that's right. Because Kirk is like six three with shoes on and Mendoza is a real, almost a real six five, like six four and a half. He is very big. I think that Mendoza is really. strong, which is a difference from Kirk. Like he could take hits. Not that Kirk wasn't tough, but I mean strength. Like people can bounce off him.

He can run through people. If he's doing that, the mobility is a little bit better than people think. And the actual arm strength, the actual velocity, how fast is that ball go? I think it's, I think it's much stronger than Kirk. Kirk was more of a precision, anticipation, perfect footwork type of stuff, great timing. And I don't think Mendoza is quite that yet. He reminds me more of Daniel Jones with the height. And Jones is a better athlete probably in terms of running.

But it's not like Jones ran a 4-4. So I think you ran like a 4-7. And then the Giants just had him run a lot. But it's not the most accurate, very high-intelligence player with a strong enough arm to make every single throw. That's kind of where I have Mendoza. And you go, well, would you draft Daniel Jones number one overall? The answer is usually no. But Daniel Jones has proved.

under the right circumstances he can win games. So they're going there. Simpson, I have a very tough time coming up with who I would. The first thing that came to mind for me was like a Derek Carr, but I had a more live arm coming out of techno state. He could really rip it down the field.

It's not perfect. And I agree, like both of these comparisons were tough. For Ty Simpson, I have Jacoby Brissette, who actually probably has a stronger arm. than him. But like nothing about Jacoby Brissette's game, you're like, oh, that's a really like clear standout trait. That's how I feel with Simpson. I think his accuracy is pretty good. I think he can run a little bit, but he's not going to be a big off platform, off structure, throw the ball like Matt Stafford on the run. But he can do it a little bit. He's decently tough. He'll scramble if you

need him to. But I think really like his ceiling is like a good bridge starter, which that's what Jacoby Brissette and in the best case scenarios has been, but someone that you are not building your franchise around. So if we're looking at it from that perspective, no, Ty Simpson should not be a first round pick, but we know how teams get desperate. And again,

that financial boom, I think teams are willing to roll the dice and say, hey, maybe we'll just build around him really well. And we trust our scouts to get a good offensive line and our receivers. Like, I don't know if I love him going to the Cardinals necessarily, but that's a team that is very, I mean, outside of the obvious comparison that they have Jacoby Brissette there already,

they clearly have a quarterback need. So yeah, I think if you're looking at it from the 30,000 foot view, Ty Simpson should not be a first round pick, but I think he will be. I mean, I said McCoy. So I guess that's who he really reminds. He really does remind me of Colt McCoy because like in college, Colt McCoy, because now you think of him as like 36 year old or whatever he was as a backup quarterback or 30 year old. where I don't know that his arm was really like that,

that strong. But when he came out, he was supposed to have a good enough arm to make most of the throws, probably not to really drive the football down the field. He was tough. He was a leader. He was a winner. All that sort of stuff. But the problem is when we go through every starting quarterback in the league, and because I know you're not busy, at least for the next five minutes, I'm going to do this. Tell me what is in common with Matthew Stafford, Joe Burrow, Drake May. So Brock Purdy's a weird one, but Jordan Love, Josh Allen, Dak Prescott, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Herbert, Sam Darnold, Jalen Hertz, Jared Gough.

Would all these guys have something that they do that's an A or an A plus? So whether it's Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen, A plus playmaking, physical freak arms, or even the Jared Gough, precision, execution, hit the back foot, let it go, bang. and he was even questionable as a quarterback, which one of the, I mean, there are guys who ranked 18th last year in the NFL who have a freak talent. I mean, Jalen Hertz, one of the best running quarterbacks we've seen, amazing deep ball. He was questioned coming out. Like, where is the singular talent where you go, man, that guy, this thing, watch out. And how in the world are you supposed to lead a franchise anywhere,

with no singular exceptional talent. I totally agree. And I think with Mendoza, a lot of those things are like the intangibles, like toughness and that he will of his Indiana team to a national title. He's good in the back shoulder game, which I don't know if that's like so,

if you want your number one overall pick to be like, oh, he's a great back shoulder thrower. Like that's not really that. And I don't think he's A plus in that game. Like I think C.J. Stroud and Joe Burrow and golf in terms of pure accuracy are a clear step above Mendoza. But for Simpson, like I said, he's Jacobi Brissette. Jacoby Brissette was like a fourth round pick because like he looked apart.

He had a pretty strong arm. He could win from the pocket. And that was pretty much it. And like they, the Patriots knew when they drafted. I'm like, all right, he's going to be like in time a decent backup or a good bridge starter. And they were right. That's where I think Ty Simpson in a vacuum ultimately is.

But I guess maybe I shouldn't fall forward saying that he probably will be a first rounder based on the PTSD that we all have from Shudor Sanders last year. But it's starting, absolutely, that it is the slowest time of the year. We're not quite to April. And those conversations about him as a first rounder have really started. But I think ironically, as a whole, if Mendoza is the only first round pick quarterback, it will kind of set the stage for like this overall being like a down draft class. Now, this is going to be cliche, but if most of the guys come out, not just the quarterbacks,

but with the Jeremiah Smith and the Ryan Wilson's, the Dylan Stewart edge rusher from South Carolina, there are like already household names that are just waiting to come to the NFL next year that are only going to be eligible next year. So it seems like right now next year's class could be more like 2024 that has a bunch of quarterbacks, has two really good receivers,

has the elite edge rusher, like has those type of players this year. I just think overall the class, the best value truly will be on the second day of the draft. Also the thing real quick not to lose sight of with Fernando Mendoza is that he was amazing. Like that's another thing to not like at the actual playing of the football, the thing that we're supposed to be watching, right?

He was awesome. I mean, he took down. How many first round draft picks are in Ohio State? I mean, that defense, at least three could go in the top 10. He beat them.

How many Miami first? first rounders are there probably at least three and then in the first two rounds there might be four or five he beat them also and he outplayed them played really well and took a beating at times like that's something we just didn't see from tie simpson past october and i have a pretty tough time thinking that that is uh exceptional or worth first round pick just let me toss in one more little thing um this running back class after you've had some time to like sit on it stew with it because now we've gotten to the point. Brian Robinson Jr. just signed with the Falcons. All the running backs that I liked for the Vikings at free agency, poof, they're all gone. Now there's like, would you like Nick

Chubb for some reason? Everything, everyone's gone. So the Vikings have to draft someone. Um, is it as bad as people say? It's as bad as people say. You made a face. Audio listeners, he made a face. It was a I don't love it. And we didn't. I mean, Mike Washington from Arkansas is the one that I have compared to Latavius Murray because he's big, upright, but tested through the roof. I mean, ran 4-4-3 with a 39-inch vertical at 6-1-223, but he's very like one cut and go. He's not super elusive.

Jadarian Price, we talked about him. I think he's decent. He'll probably be the second running back off the board. And that's Jeremiah Love's teammate from Notre Dame. Jonah Coleman is very like C.J. Anderson, and I think if you squint, you could really, if you love him, you could see like Maurice Jones drew because he really is that low to the ground and is that good with his contact balance. But he's not very fast. He's not going to actually, he catches a lot of passes out of the backfield. Price, not as much. Emmett Johnson didn't test particularly well that I liked on film from Nebraska. So it's really like you're grasping at straws to find those day two.

and even day three, because we've agreed, like, there's, you know, fourth and fifth round, like you can get great value in the draft at running back. And that's where I think most of these running backs will ultimately go and where they should ultimately go after love. I think it is one of the worst running back classes that we've had the last couple of years. Well, that's fantastic. All right. Last thing on a fan duel, Arvel Reese is the favorite to go number two overall.

Do you think that he will go number two overall? I do. I think he is young. There's so many teams that are looking for the next Micah Parsons, which I think is maybe not the best idea to try to find the next Michael Parsons. But there are similarities that Arvel Reese is very, very athletic. He looks the part, was an offball linebacker. And then when they let him rush the passer, he wasn't winning in one-on-one scenarios as frequently as Parsons did at Penn State.

But when they utilized him like as a blitzer or on stunts, because he's just so darn explosive and strong. He was actually very productive in terms of pressures. I think he will be the second off the board. Who should be the second off the board is David Bailey from Texas Tech. He is someone that I just think everything that you look at from the grades to the, I mean, I guess he didn't work out, but his analytics. And what he did against a lot of the better offensive tackles in this class,

to me was the ultimate checkmark where they all had problems with him and that he just has speed, power, hand usage. and even though he is not as good of an athlete as the two Ohio state linebacker, edge rushers, I think he's just a better football player that still has quality traits. Chris Trappaso, our draft show, draftgradebook.com for an incredible amount of insight and historic insight. If you're wondering what he thought of whatever draft pick that the Vikings made over the last couple of years, you got a bunch of your scouting reports that are in there as well, as long as, as well, as also tools to get comparisons.

to other draft prospects and things like that. You've built something really, really cool at draftgradebook.com. So we march on into April, Chris, and we'll see what else, you know, comes up here. But I like this idea of looking in depth at a couple positions, like really close. Is it worth it? Here are the players. Who are the comparisons? Because now we have gotten serious about draft season.

So thank you for your time. We'll talk again very soon. Football. Football.