Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Star Tribune's Ben Goessling is buying the Jordan Addison hype

Episode Date: August 8, 2023

Matthew Coller is joined by Star Tribune Vikings reporter Ben Goessling to talk about how Jordan Addison has been making plays on a daily basis, whether the Vikings' defense can take big steps forward and why he thinks the Vikings and Lions have even odds to win the NFC North Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🎵 Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider inside TCO Performance Center. And I'm going to make a noise to start the show. And if you know this noise, then you've been listening for a long time. Okay, if you have been listening to a long time. Okay. If you have been listening to the show for a while, you know that means Ben Gessling of the Star Tribune is here. That's Ben Gessling's music. To look into the crystal ball of the Minnesota Vikings.

You know, I look forward to this episode, and we do probably, what, a couple times a year where we start to look forward. I really look forward to this every single time ben so how are you great to see you good to see you too should be should be fun always the the crystal ball bit has that dates back a long time but uh probably six seven years i would think okay so i think the origin if i'm not mistaken it had to be 17 because that's when sam talked about a crystal ball yes when sam bradford got hurt yep and then he went out and it was very mysterious. I think it was after week one. And we kept asking, as reporters want to do, asking what's going on with Sam Bradford.

And he eventually just got flustered and said, I don't have a crystal ball. And then I believe a local fortune teller sent him one. Yes. At some point that happened because then that was the season that got really hot. And it morphed into all of this talk about is the team cursed? Zimmer said, I don't believe in curses. And then it got into all of this. I think there was like something about a wood spirit in there, too. There was all sorts of occult references throughout the course of that mystical run to the NFC title game.

You know, what's funny is that at the time it really did seem that way because after Bradford got hurt Delvin also got hurt yep and I mean I don't know about you but I thought that the season was pretty much over at that point I think both of their losses they had not reached 10 points so it was like they can't score I think I remember writing something about if they have to ride with Case Keenum the rest of the way this is going to be trouble because they can't move the ball. And it shows what I know. It got really hot after that, and the rest is history. I know.

Judd and I were on the radio one day talking about whether Zim would break the picket line and sign Kaepernick because it was after the Pittsburgh game, and they had looked so bad. And he was in such a bad mood after that game. Yes, right. They tried to throw a pass with the punter, and that didn't work out very good. It was after the Pittsburgh game and they had looked so bad. And he was in such a bad mood after that game. Yes. Right. They tried to throw a pass with the punter and that didn't work out very good. And so we just thought like, well, this Keenum guy, you just can't play.

And then it really wasn't until past halfway through the season when Keenum actually started playing well. Yeah. They just kind of had a bunch of grind them out or hurt Aaron Rodgers type of wins. Right. And I remember saying to you in the locker room after Rodgers got hurt I think we're covering an NFC North champion yeah right now even with Case Keenum well I think because the week before that was the game in Chicago where they tried to start Bradford and he couldn't go I mean basically couldn't make it

through couldn't protect himself on the field so they pull him Keenum brings them back in the second half didn't play great but that was kind of him getting his second chance to have the job again because they made it very clear that night that bradford couldn't do it i mean by putting bradford out there and the fact that bradford just couldn't function they didn't really have another choice although there was all of the like are they going to give teddy the job back and if keenan had ever made a mistake i think that probably would have happened. But it never really did until the pick six in the NFC title game. I think that there was a conversation in the Carolina locker room between the wide receivers.

Do you remember this? Sort of. The Carolina loss. When they lost, yep. Keenum had an interception. The feeling called like a touchdown. It bobbled and it was going to the ground. Weird catch rule stuff that's now sort of gone. Yes, yes. And Keenum threwenum had an interception. The feeling caught like a touchdown. It bobbled, and it was going to the ground, weird catch rule stuff that's now sort of gone.

Yes, yes. And Keenum threw kind of a bad interception. He was a little bit all over the place. And I think that they were talking about whether they should advocate for Teddy Bridgewater coming back. Yeah. So even as funny as it was, the outside world was like, why don't you reporters believe in Case Keenum? It was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. There's a lot of folks inside the building, including very loud head coach yes that also was not buying but uh you know

the rest is history i guess so uh here's a place to start though because the vikings under zimmer did have their argument for being cursed kevin o'connell most certainly does not right and the early returns on their most recent first round draft pick jordan addison have been very good yes you'll have to give your take along the way but i i just think he's shown athletically everything that you thought was there and i forget that he's 170 pounds because he's just making plays all the time so that hasn't been a factor, but I want you to look into the crystal ball and tell me about Jordan Addison season. What do you see? Do you see more receptions than KJ Osborne?

Do you see rookie of the year? Do you see hurt in week four? No, I'm just I don't think we never predict injuries. But what what what do you see for his first season? Looking at the crystal ball here, I don't see rookie of the year because it's a year with a lot of quarterbacks that are going to be in the running for that, including the number one overall pick who sounds like he's going to play in a preseason game but will be the starter ostensibly the whole way through. So I don't see that, but I do see the type of year that makes it so that K.J. Osborne,

who is going to be a free agent in March, is, you don't say expendable necessarily, but they are still going to be in a tough cap situation next year. So I see the sort of year that makes it so that kj osborne is uh going to have a hard argument for a new contract just because that would mean you'd have to pay a first round pick on a rookie deal justin jefferson getting a massive contract at some point and page kj osborne so i think at least from what i see in the crystal ball at this point addison i'm seeing like 60 catches for 800 yards oh wow okay and uh you know a number of big plays in there i think four or five touchdowns a little foggy but something like that is what i think with the crystal ball showing him driving the speed let come on it had to be it had to be

said uh well if he's gonna do that then yes yeah i think we'll have to be driving the speed limit because if he's not i don't think he will be on the field and i do wonder if anything comes of that like probably not suspension wise or whatever um he's lucky that he didn't like run over anything and then if he did uh more serious implications would have happened but uh that is a high bar to set 60 catches for 800 yards that kind of sounds like you expect him to go down the field a little bit and i do and i do think that osborne so it's funny to talk about with him and osborne because both of them project a little better as inside wide receivers as opposed to outside but you also want to use jefferson that way and i kind of feel like on a weekly basis it might be addison or it might be osborne

or it might be hawkinson it's not going to be a consistent yeah every week he gets five catches it's going to be like seven or two because it's all going to depend on how jefferson is covered yeah i think that's right i think they will have opportunities to go down field with him that's been one of the impressive things and we knew he was a guy that could stretch the field, but he has handled contact. He has handled the ability to make catches in traffic, I think, in a way that makes you feel better about his size than perhaps what we thought coming into this. So, I mean, some of the more impressive plays he's made have been on some of those skinny posts where they've trusted him to make a play downfield and he's made it more often than not now we'll see what that looks like in an actual game here at some point but he has answered I think a lot of the questions that we had about

him coming in and so far has done it in a way that makes you think they may have something here how do you describe what you see with him? Because I've struggled with this. It's like, well, it's not enough to say he tracks the ball well because that feels like a little esoteric, but it also feels like not descriptive enough for me. Sure. Because ball tracking is like, what?

They're NFL wide receivers. They should watch the ball go into their hands. Not all of them do. Oh, for certain they don't. And we've seen that from Jalen Rager on a number of occasions in this camp but there is williamson for the older listeners of course uh there is something something about that somebody tweeted that uh you know williamson drop not too long ago it has to be the most egregious drop in nfl history there's no one around uh there is something that you only know when you see.

It's like a basketball player. You go to the park, and there's one guy who's crossing everybody over, shooting fadeaways, and he's just like, got it? And when Addison makes a toe tap back of the end zone catching the night practice, you're like, I don't know that. That's the thing. I know it when I see it. The old famous, I think it's Supreme Court definition of pornography. I know it when I see it. The old famous Supreme Court definition of pornography. I know it when I see it. With him, I think it comes down to efficiency of movement. His ability to contort himself, his ability to just You talk about a pitcher that's a max effort guy, where every time he's throwing a fastball,

it looks like he's putting everything he has into it. And then you look at the radar gun, and it's like 89, which, you know, not a compliment there, as opposed to the guy that it just looks smooth, easy, fluid, and it's 95, 96 on the gun. There's a little bit of that with him where the efficiency of movement the way in which he goes about his job just looks effortless he he does a really good job of contorting himself he does a good job of fighting off contact getting downfield being able to change gears I think all of that stuff is there and now if that's how much of that's innate and how much of that has been

developed over the years i i don't think we know that at this point but it has certainly looked like he's you don't want to say finished product as a rookie but he looks like he has all of the tools that you would need to play this position well in the nfl i feel like there's a comparison of i want to say he's like a Jamal Crawford remember Jamal Crawford like just this incredibly smooth crossover where you just think oh well that looks super easy and then you pick up a basketball and you can't do any of it yeah like wow okay and most players can't where uh Justin Jefferson is like a Vince Carter where it's like size and power yeah and when he mossed Byron Murphy,

who's actually had a good camp, that poor guy. And O'Connell was talking about it, Caleb Evans. He's been mossed a few times, but he's actually- Yeah, he's mossing six two corners. Right, right. It was just like this leaping in power and Addison is not that. And yet they both achieve a lot of the same things.

Speaking of the corner, whoa, the crystal ball is going off now it's it's upset it looks angry it's turning red i see fire because i was going to ask about the cornerbacks and i i want to know what you think about this group uh because every time someone is asked to talk about the corners yeah they're like look i mean they're they are studying they're looking around at football and trying, trying really hard. We love how hard they're trying. I think the difference between the Vikings being like the 16th best defense

in the league and the 32nd is a Caleb Evans and Makai Blackman. I really like how Byron Murphy fits into this, but look into your crystal ball and tell me where they rank in past defense and what we think of these corners by the end of the season yeah looking in there I yeah I see a lot of the the anger I see it's still there I it doesn't look like this is 16th in the league it looks a little bit better I think than it did it did last year. I'm seeing like, I think that's like a 24 in terms of past defense ranking, but it doesn't look happy enough to think that this problem is fixed. And I think if that goes that way, it's going to be because you just need guys

that know how to play the position at the NFL level and there's really no substitute for experience in that spot. However this slices out, you're counting on whether it's Andrew Booth, Caleb Evans, Makai Blackman, somebody who has not played a hundred coverage snaps in the NFL. You're counting on at least one of those guys to go out and do it for a full season when you're going to have quarterbacks that could film on you understand how to attack you figure out schemes to put you in bad spots it just is a lot to ask for a group of young corners even if they're talented even if they're guys that were you know second round picks in the cases of booth and blackman to go out and know everything that you need to do to play this position in the NFL,

especially in a defense that's going to ask more of them in man coverage. And maybe that simplifies it. Maybe it's just go track your guy around the field and don't let him catch the ball. But we saw it enough last year with young corners, and some of that's matchups and zones and pass-offs and that sort of thing. But we saw busted coverages happen as a result of that, and I think there's still going to be some of that this year. So when I look at just the start of the season, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, A.J. Brown, Devante Smith, Chargers.

So, you know, that they're going to pass the heck out of the football. And Kellen Moore is now their offensive coordinator. And then Carolina. Well, you know, Adam Thielen, I guess. Yeah. But Kansas City doesn't matter who the receivers are. No, it doesn't. And they're going to have to go against Travis Kelsey with these linebackers.

That's Jordan Hicks. And do I want to say like somewhat question marks at this point? I mean, like if Ivan Pace is in the mix, Chicago, who knows? And then San Francisco. So you start off with a very, very difficult slate of teams with tons of weapons. And I tend to agree with you that better is right, but how much better is pretty questionable. And in part, because even though Daniil Hunter is back, I still watch who else is playing with Daniil Hunter and go, I don't know where the sacks are. They have to be in the blitzes so how much does brian floris factor into what

you're seeing in the crystal ball about where they rank i think it's a lot of it i think some of the improvement comes from plays where you're able to put quarterbacks under duress and that helps corners do their job because maybe there's interceptions or tipped passes that come out of that when quarterbacks are throwing off platform, they're throwing with a rusher in their face, that sort of thing. But it's really, really hard to expect this group is just going to stand on his own two feet if you're not getting pressure on the quarterback. And the blitzes, I think, are going to have to be a big part of getting home because Daniil Hunter is the most proven pass rusher they have, but he has not been 15, 16 sacks a year type guy since, what, 2019 was the last time?

Yeah, that's right, because 2020 was the tweak. 2020 was the tweak, and then 21 was the peck. So you need somebody opposite him to turn into a bigger threat, whether that's Marcus Davenport or Ivan Pace Andre Carter Ivan Pace will be more in the middle but you need people to emerge I think because it's hard to just say we're going to be able to blitz 35 40 percent of the time and that's going to account for all of the pressure that we need are you seeing anything from Lewis seen as part of this defense when you look into the future because right now see one of the issues with lewis seen is that he just isn't like a metellus in that

you can bring him up to the box have him read a bunch of stuff super fast i mean if you're going to be the box safety this is why troy palomalo is in the box yeah because he's a genius like he and why harrison smith is up there unless ed donatel has decided he hates him and is going to play him 700 miles from the ball but like the closer you are to the ball i think the more tricky it can be to read stuff because it happens so fast so he's got to be like a deep safety i just don't know where that fits in unless someone gets hurt yeah i agree and we have not seen them do anything to suggest that they are trying to kind of ratchet him up the depth chart.

Josh Metellus has gotten those opportunities in part because Josh Metellus, and you see it when he's yelling at other players from the sideline sometimes too, whether he's on the field or whether he's on the sideline, he's engaged, he is on top of what needs to happen. As Harrison Smith put it it he knows enough to teach this defense if he needed to do it and this is a scheme change for him too so he is getting opportunities in part because of those things we are not seeing the same thing from lewis scene

and i think it's going to be a while before he's got all that figured out because i we even saw some of that last year before he got hurt it was how much of this is he picking up how much of it does he have under his fingers so to speak I think there's still that question with him and I think that is going to be what delays a larger role in the defense for him at least for the time being and I think it's too early if he doesn't come out of this camp as a starter which just doesn't seem like it's trending that way at all. I think that by now we would have at least seen a mix of reps because it's always a progression. You know this, but it's like, okay, second team reps,

and then, oh, he's in in that situation. And then they're like, oh, he's in more, and now he's in all the time. That's what the Makai Blackman over Juwan Williams thing, literally the day after I wrote about Juwan Williams that happened it always goes that way it always happens but that's the progression and we haven't I wrote my Kellen Mond story and made sure it was published before he took a snap in the preseason yes yes yes that's you get those in early when you know a guy's got a good story but he might lose that spot yep uh but in this case it's not like Cam Bynum is the Jesse Davis of the program from last year.

Cam Bynum's a starter, and they seem to view him that way. And these are the two of the most high football IQ, him and Metellus players, I think that we've covered. I mean, when I think of the high smarts guys, the Terrence Newmans, Patrick Petersons, those veterans. But as far as young players being on top of it, they are way up there. So I just don't see that situation changing anytime soon. No, and I don't think they're going to force it to change simply because of where he was picked. I mean, you have not seen them operate that way with this group. I mean, even with the idea that Caleb Evans is ahead of Andrew Booth, which I think is probably the case even before Andrew Booth is getting

hurt. Yeah. That tells you they are not just sitting here saying, well, draft status gives you a million chances to be the number one guy. They are going to make you earn that. And I would expect nothing less from Brian Flores, a coach that came out of the Bill Belichick system, because they never have given a lot of deference to high draft picks anyway. So I think he's going to have to earn it.

It's going to have to show that he understands the defense well enough to carve out a role, and maybe they'll find it for him. It seems like they are going to use a lot more personnel with this defense than what we've seen, which means certain guys could have certain packages where we see them a little bit more often, but he's going to have to find one of those

or make them find one for him. By the way, he plays. We're starting to get the Kevin O'Connell read between the lines. Like we've got a sample size now. And so I asked him about a Caleb Evans today and he just went on and, and not in a rambling way, but in a specifics way about what he liked.

And even a followup question, he had a lot more to say is like, they're very clearly enthusiastic about a Caleb Evans.ans there wasn't that like hey guys don't forget about andrew booth jr it's like no i don't know he just seems out of sight out of mind and no matter how much nicer kevin o'connell is all football people believe that the best ability is availability yes and i just think that booth is probably driving them insane by never being around. Oh, now it's burning. Now it's smoking the crystal ball.

Do we need to call somebody about this? In the smoke, I'm seeing something emerge. Can you see it? It's up near the wall. Yeah. And it's a lion head. What does it mean? Oh, the Lions. Do you see what I'm seeing in the crystal ball?

That the Lions will emerge over the Vikings in the NFC North and be a Super Bowl contender, it says? Oh, boy. This thing might be broken. Yeah. Are you believing this? This is what the crystal ball is doing? The way it's acting i'm not sure i'm

not entirely sure that i do i don't know we may need to go get take this thing in to the crystal our local crystal ball technician at the mall at the mall yeah that you know they'll have it in and out in an hour for 39.99 it's great you can go get your your soft pretzel and your smoothie and be back and have your crystal ball fixed in an hour or less um no at least as it looks at the moment though i don't see it quite that way oh really i think at least this is what i'm seeing i the lions look like a playoff team to me but i don't see super bowl contender i just i think there's enough weird juju about Jared Goff from the crystal ball. And again, this thing may be malfunctioning. But there's enough questions about is this guy going to be able to do it

over the course of the season that I think there's a little bit of reason for trepidation with the Lions. I do think they're talented enough to win the division. I think the division's wide open. But Jared Goff was awfully good last year, and the question of whether he'll be able to do that again is the one that I'm still sort of wanting to see answered before kind of running away on the Lions hype train.

And I remember at the end of last season, I was sitting there just as everybody else was saying, right now this looks like the team to beat in the Lions hype train. And I remember at the end of last season, I was sitting there just with it as everybody else was saying, right now this looks like the team to beat in the NFC North. But I think I want to see a little more from Jared Goff before we go say that for sure. Okay, I got out one of those like dust towels that's sort of magnetized to suck in the dust. And I squeegeed it off a little bit.

And I'm seeing a pie chart of the percentage chance that each team wins the division but i can't make out the numbers so maybe you can see the pie chart what is the percentage chance that the lions vikings packers bears win the division it looks to me like we we definitely need to get this thing taken in. I think I'm seeing like 35% Lions, 35% Vikings, 20% Packers, and 10% Bears. I think that's about what it is. That adds up, yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, which I think is about how i would see it i the packers are interesting to me

because it's a talented enough defense that you have a lot of guys that need to figure some things out but there's enough talent around jordan love that if he puts it together year one they may be right in the mix i just again it's how do you know with a guy like that before you go see him do it? Yeah, I think that all of that, like there's so many questions with this division. If they weren't named the Lions, I think we'd be talking about them differently. I think that's probably true. That really sits in the back of everyone's mind and fairly. I mean, their history says that for sure.

Which is such a weird thing because it's like we talk about this as this consistent thing that's going to happen all the time because it has always happened. But you're talking about that's across GMs, that's across head coaches, that's across different quarterbacks, probably even across different members of the Ford family owning the team. Yeah. But there's just this thing that's like, well, it's the Lions. And that has been proven out by history most of the time, but there's no logical reason why that always needs to be the case. Just like there's no logical reason why the Vikings always have to be the team that stubs their toe when they're a step from the Super Bowl. I think that with this Lions team, if I can see one thing that could get them,

is if Amon Ross St. Brown gets hurt or gets taken out of some games that like, who's your other answer? And last year, they didn't really have that, but they did seem to get the ball into the hands of some playmakers. They can't bet on Jamison Williams right now either. Right. Oh yeah. Wow. He went there. It wasn't football though, at least otherwise he'd be out for the whole year. But that's I mean, it's absolutely true. Even pun included that like, OK, he's going to come back after six games. But you just have no idea where he's going to fit into that entire mix. college football tape but now we're a long way separated from that and even when he came back from the acl aside from a touchdown against the vikings there was nothing to speak of from him so you can't guarantee that i wonder if that factored into them not going out to get anybody but um getting jameer gibbs claiming that he's going to be a wide receiver too i hate when i hear that because i just it never comes true the the next marshall falk

just never walks through the door which real quick by the way can i tell you of a funny stat that i landed on the other day sure leroy horde averaged more yards per catch than marshall falk for his career no he did not yes he did now how many catches is that average it doesn't matter like four well i mean leroy horde actually caught a fair number of passes he had a lot of swing passes yeah i mean he was also around for a long time but marshall falk was catching like a hundred right it was just that uh i you know whatever leroy horde came up as sort of a comp for alexander madison okay i was like i think leroy had better hands than people gave him credit for so yeah yeah i yeah i can remember a few kind of the swing pass

type things exactly that they weren't like going down the field and neither will jameer gibbs by the way like no one ever does i see these clips of bijan robinson run around to juke and people like okay yeah right we'll see we'll see it doesn't happen very often um so the point just being that i think that they have the most complete team in the NFC North, maybe the third or fourth most complete team in the NFC, probably behind Philly, Dallas and San Francisco. And yet the golf factor, I always give golf a lot of respect because he has throttled this team sometimes. Yes, he has. It still holds you back from thinking, like, can it be or 13 or 12 wins? Or is it more like 10? And that leaves the door open for the Vikings.

And I guess the question is, how are you feeling about this Vikings team this far in camp to make the assessment that they should have an equal chance with the Lions? Because I would probably go 40 to 45% Lions and then fill in the same order as you had i would go a little farther into their camp but uh i guess that means that you have been impressed so far i have i think i bank on the fact they are going to move the ball oh yeah more effectively than probably just about anybody else in the division there is at least at least more in the sort of we know what they're going to get column between Justin Jefferson and TJ Hawkinson. They have a veteran quarterback that has been productive.

Now, Goff has also had his productive moments too. I would think over the body of work, surely in terms of production, you'd take Kirk Cousins over Jared Goff. I think Alexander Madison, I don't think the running game drops off that much from what they had last year. And I think Jordan Addison adds a fair amount to this. So I bank more on the offensive side of things

than the defensive side of things. I think a lot of these games are going to be 45-38 and you're going to have a lot of these games are going to be 45 38 and you're going to have a lot of shootouts every week but yeah yeah it's just more on the offense i think there's a little bit more to go with the vikings to say they will have what they need to win some of these shootouts because the thing with the lions too is that secondary last year was not very good and there was a that was a group that i think the first time the vikings played them it was all the pass interference and illegal contact type things

and that group needs to get better as well for the lions to make a run i i i think both of these teams are probably nine or ten win ceilings with the vikings it could go less than that i could see that with the lions as well but that is i kind of where I have them both in that group of could win the division could get in and then beyond that you have a lot of the same questions about their ability to overtake the Phillies and the San Francisco's of the NFC okay it's acting up again something's happening oh boy uh uh uh uh uh oh well now this is very interesting on at least my side of the table looking at the crystal ball i'm seeing quay siedoffelmentz on the phone what is he on the phone for what could he be calling for it it

looks like it's draft night could that mean trading up for a quarterback what could what could that mean it seems like he's gathering together his draft picks everyone's cheering in the draft room there's high fives and bro hugs quarter yeah quarterback highlights mike mayock is yelling uh he's still mad at the christian ponder pick i don't know what's going on uh it could be like a fever dream with this thing sometimes the future of the quarterback is weirdly hovering over this training camp because Kirk Cousins said I don't care like I'll play it out you do whatever you want to do if you're not going to extend me for three years then forget it and that's fine I guess

with everybody because they said that's fine yeah and now we're all like oh but there's a season to be played and it's this very it's like it should be more uncomfortable, but Zimmer's not here. So it's kind of fine. Yeah. But do we think that this changes? Do we think that they win the division and Kirk stays? Do we think that if they are anything short of an NFC championship appearance that Kirk goes or that Kirk is like, ha, you had your chance twice. No, I'm signing with the, I don't know who.

Rams or something. Could be San Francisco after this year's quarterback debacle. Doesn't work out for them. But what are you feeling about the quarterback situation on the whole? Yeah, it is the thing that hovers over everything, and I think your read on it is right I I think if they went on a run that answered a lot of these questions about Kirk Cousins once and for all and we feel like we say this every year I think there's a chance they re-sign him I I don't from people I've talked to

I don't believe they have ruled that out I also know though they were very interested in moving up for one of those top three quarterbacks this year to the point where if it had fallen and they didn't have the draft capital to move way up to what it would have needed but if Anthony Richardson had slipped to like seven or eight I 100% think they would have been trying very hard to get him it wasn't going to happen where he went but that also means that they are thinking very seriously about the future of this position and very intrigued by the idea that we could find a 22, 23-year-old that has a high ceiling and we get four or five years of him at

an affordable price, which means we also can build around him and we can kind of grow him with Justin Jefferson. They have certainly looked at that possibility. And I think if there's an opportunity to get up there next year for Caleb Williams or Drake May, they are not beyond going to do that. And people say, yeah, it's going to cost a lot. Yes, it is. And they know that. But it's also one of those things where if you get a quarterback that you think is the guy who can be the guy for 10 12 years can be elite at the position and then give you several years of elite play at an affordable price especially it's hard to make the case that a few draft a few first round draft picks is too much to spend for

that now you could miss the guy completely, and we've seen a lot of teams do that. Hello, Chicago Bears. But if you find the right guy, the return you get on that is almost so high that it's hard to make the case that stopping at anything to get that guy is the right way to go. So where they've put themselves in a position is, you ever heard the saying,

don't let perfect be the enemy of good or better? Yes. Yep. Because they passed on Will Levis, which I was fine with, because they passed on Kenny Pickett, which I was mostly fine with, I mean, I did think that, I mean, they ended up with Louis Seen, so would you have rather have seen Kenny Pickett starting for them this year with this group of receivers? I don't know. Anyway, Addison and Pickett.

It's a good history, but whatever. I'm not touting that guy is the next like big quarterback in the league. But OK, so May and Williams might go one and two. Right. And the teams that might get them might be horrible. And the quarterback. Right. So in the draft, they may have have to say who's the next best

option and is this good enough for us i mean you go back to like the baltimore ravens drafted a tight end before they took lamar jackson and then he's a franchise player and mahomes was like 10th and alan was eighth and baker mayfield was the number one pick that year and it's just sometimes the best guy doesn't go first but i think also that a lot of times what we've seen from quacey it seems is and he's in a position to do this is that if it's not been at his price he hasn't done it yep but with this quarterback it might have to be even if it's even if you have questions even if you have concerns you might have to just do it anyway because it's really random whether those guys turn out and and also you're in a position where if you lose kirk what are you doing like you're

gonna bring in andy dalton or something like you've got to take a swing at it and that's what happens when you don't take a swing at it before is now you're forced to potentially go for something that you don't entirely believe in. But randomness would tell you that's actually OK. Yeah, that is the the complicating factor here is they put themselves in that position of, you know, almost like your fantasy draft where, well, the first running back is gone and now I'm desperate. I'm going to overpay for the second one and pay more than I would have for the first one, you could see them getting into that spot. At least at this point, though, I don't think their philosophy is

we are going to let ourselves be backed in on a quarterback where it's take one just to take one. I think if they don't sign Kirk and they don't find a quarterback that they want right away, they would do the bridge starter thing for a year. I think at least philosophically their approach has been it's got to be somebody that we love. And maybe you find that guy at 12 or 14 and maybe he slips and you're fine. But I don't think they're just going to say,

well, we need a quarterback, we need going to say, well, you know, we need a quarterback. We need somebody to fill that spot. Let's take one in the first round because then you're kind of stuck with that guy for, well, we've seen that on, you know, that squirrel on the loop a few times with Christian Ponder or Teddy Bridgewater. Well, we need a quarterback.

Here's one. Let's take him. Let's talk him up, say he's the next guy, and then it turns out he's not, and then just go do it again. I don't think they're going to go that way. I think their approach has been if we're taking one in the first round, it has to be somebody that is high level enough to be worth it. Otherwise, it's a lot of pressure on that player.

It's a lot of pressure on the overall direction of the organization to say, we have to now be behind this guy and be in his camp for three years. I think they want to stay out of that sort of ponder loop, let's call it, as much as they can. But you also want to stay out of the journeyman quarterback thing, which you can really get tied into. You can. We've seen it.

Like Tampa Bay, they draft Kyle Trask, I don't know, and now they're kind of going to Baker. And what does Tampa Bay do next with their quarterback situation? How about Atlanta? Like they got Desmond Ritter, who I don't believe in at all. Washington has been bringing in randos. So you have to take swings even if you don't buy into it, which I don't think that they want to do. But sometimes you have to.

Now, speaking of journeyman quarterbacks oh boy this would not be a collar guestling production without some the crappy quarterbacks yes the vikings will play at seattle against the seattle seahawks the 10th leading passer in seattle seahawks history is tavaris jackson oh my gosh who are the other nine with the other top passers in seattle seahawks history okay um i'll take the easy ones first matt hasselbeck number two dave craig number three uh uh russell wilson number one ginoo Smith has to be in there. Geno Smith is eighth, which tells you about Seahawks history. Let's see. Who else then?

Rick Meyer is not in there, is he? He is fifth. Oh, dear God. He started 55 games. This is a bad list. I guess it must have been 51 games. 20 and 31 and threw 41 touchdowns and 56 picks. Good times for Rick Meyer.

Wow. Let's see. And that's better than he did in other places. Kelly Holcomb's not on the list, is he? He is not. Okay. Was Steve DeBerg there? Steve DeBerg is a great journeyman guest just for the name,

but I don't see him anywhere on this list. So are we at hints land already uh no okay let me think here that who would have been between like dave craig and hasselbeck i mean i feel like it's in that range that i need to be looking there is a there is a guy who you would definitely know yep uh played fored for the Lions, the Bengals, bald guy. Carson Palmer was really unhappy when they got rid of this guy as his backup. Okay. Lions, Bengals, John Kitna.

Correct. Yes. John Kitna. He had a little bit of a run there. Sixth in history. Did you say the other former Viking on the list? I don't think I did. 97 and 98.

Put up some huge stats there. 97 and 98 for the Seahawks. NFL legend. Played for the Vikings. Threw for a million yards. NFL legend. Well, Randall Cunningham threw. Jeff George.

No. Jeff George wasn't in Seattle. Before that. Before Jeff George. Before Randall Cunningham. Oh, Warren Moon. I was going to say, it's actually too easy. You're probably trying too hard. no jeff george was in seattle before that before jeff george for randall cunningham oh warren moon i was gonna say it's actually too easy like you're probably trying too hard yes you said gino so i think you have everyone except for one guy and i will give you the best hint okay on madden you absolutely would have taken this guy and you would have made him

michael vick jr on like madden let's see would have been like Michael Vick Jr. on like Madden. Let's see. Would have been like 05. Okay. Madden 07. This guy was fun to play video games with. Played for. It is. Yes.

Wow. You nailed it. Seneca Wallace. And then. Seneca Wallace is in their top 10. I'm actually surprised that you didn't say was John Freeze. He was 11. Yeah.

I would have had him higher. Because he was with the Chargers too, I think. Yes, yes. I think I was living in San Diego at the point where John Freeze was playing for the Chargers, which is probably why that name's in my head. And you have Trent Dilfer after that was briefly with them. Some other great names include Charlie Whitehurst, Dan McGuire. Dan McGuire.

Brock Heward, Glenn Foley. Did we have like a Dan McGuire riff on this podcast once? Yes. If anyone wants to see the funniest NFL quarterback ever, high draft pick Dan McGuire at 6'8". Yep. Just throwing ridiculous little passes. Mark's brother, yes.

He is, yes. Actually, Mark McGuire, his brother. Yeah. Yeah. I'm looking for any other funny. Oh, Gino Tortetta. Or Toretta, I mean. Gino Toretta, yes. Remember him? his brother yeah yeah i'm looking for any other funny uh g oh gino tor uh tortetta or toretta i mean gino toretta yes the old uh university of miami quarterback and uh matt flynn who signed a big contract to go there after that one game of the packers and then uh

got wally pitt by russell wilson finished his career as a seahawk five for nine was 68 yards not a lot of money for 68 yards of passing it is it's a you know it's good to be a quarterback uh it is ben thank you for doing this always fun always good to get together for the crystal ball i mean a double dip crystal balls and crappy quarterbacks random quarterbacks that's the uh that's certainly the brand when we get together so uh and you guys do the access vikings podcast So people should absolutely listen to that. They know where to find you in the daily newspaper of record in the Twin Cities. So anyway, or Minneapolis. Sorry, Dane.

Anyway. OK, the the St. Paul subscribers are loyal to the competitor. They are a hearty subscriber base over there for a long time. But Dane is I mean, he's fighting the battle. It's hard to replace had a, a hearty, uh, subscriber base over there for a long time. But Dane is, I mean, he's fighting the battle. It's hard to replace a legend. It is before you.

So he's coming along well. Yep. It's a, it's a, it's a tall order to replace somebody who really can't be replaced, but you do what you can. All right. We'll catch y'all later.

Thanks for listening.