Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - That Franchise Guy Marcus Whitman talks about the best fits for QBs from Kirk Cousins to the 2024 QB class

Episode Date: February 16, 2024

Matthew Coller gets together with one of YouTube's top football content creators Marcus Whitman to talk about where QBs are going to land this offseason. Does he see a return to Minnesota as best for Kirk Cousins? Will Russell Wilson get left out of the party? Why he likes Michael Penix Jr. as a fit for the Vikings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here and joining me, That Franchise Guy. Marcus Whitman, his YouTube page, That Franchise Guy, is where during the regular season he and I co-host the show. And if you have never checked it out, awesome, awesome YouTube page. One of the best football YouTubes out there in the world. And of course, a Minnesota native as well. What is going on? Welcome back to my show, Marcus. On your page, we've been doing shows all the time. So we got this thing down by now. So we really

have to bring it here on Purple Insider. Yeah, it's great to be over on your side of things. Thanks for having me. Excited to talk some quarterbacks today. It should be fun. All right. So you put out your list, your at least initial list of how you viewed the draft pick quarterbacks. We're going to talk about that. But I want to find best fits because in the coming weeks here, everybody's going to go to the combine and there's a bunch of quarterbacks who are trying to find a home. So I want to go through with you the starting quarterbacks and every single backup in the league. No, I'm just kidding. That would be absurd,

but it would be a funny bit, but it would be absurd. So let's talk about all the major quarterbacks, the guys who we expect to be drafted high and the top free agents and try to find fits for them. And I actually want to start

with a shocking place on a Vikings podcast, Kirk Cousins. And I want to hear your opinion on this because I have mine. I have expressed it on the show. What I think would actually be best for Kirk Cousins. I do not believe that that's necessarily a return to the Vikings and that's looking at it only from his perspective, but I want to hear from you where you think her cousin should land so I do still believe Minnesota is the most likely landing spot for him probably his best spot in terms of where he will have the most success obviously the familiar familiarity with the scheme the receivers all that but I definitely don't think it's a guarantee.

And I think the Vikings are taking a very hard look at these quarterbacks. And I think it's just going to come down to ultimately, like, do they think their guy is in this draft? And is it time for them to turn the corner? I felt like last year would have been a good year to kind of get the clock turning. And then this year happens and Kirk has an honestly like a good year to kind of get the clock turning. And then this year happens, and Kirk has, honestly, like a career year. He looks fantastic. The Vikings were turning their season around.

Obviously, Flores had the defense going. And now it's kind of like, man, I feel like the Vikings could actually be pretty damn good with Kirk Cousins again next year. So it makes that a very tough decision. Obviously, you want the future considered now in terms of other destinations, the Atlanta Falcons have got to be number one for him. They just hired Zach Robinson, the offensive court, now offensive coordinator, but was over in LA with the Rams. Obviously very similar system there with O'Connell's connection to McVay going to Atlanta. Now they have playmakers. They have Drake London. Maybe Kyle Pitts on my dynasty

team can actually do something. They've got an excellent running game that I think would look a lot better with the threat of an actual passing game there. And Atlanta is definitely, I know they have a new coach, but but they I feel like they have the urgency to win they've been kind of on the cusp and I don't think hiring Raheem Morris as a defensive coach was like a rebuild type of hire like I think they do want to come in and compete right away in a very winnable NFC South so I definitely look at atlanta and then the other one that i could kind of see is actually new england which is not um it's it's not a team you hear a lot of because they have that number three pick a lot of people assume it's going to be a quarterback maybe this is a little bit more

out there and they are locked in on a quarterback but if they aren't crazy about whoever the third quarterback in the draft is going to be um i could see that being a spot with alex van pelt um who is connections to um stefanski has been under him in in um uh cleveland for the last i don't know three years or whatever probably since stefanski left minnesota i think there's a connection there schematically as well and kirk could come in and kind of raise the floor of that organization as they sort of figure everything out. So those would probably be my top three. I know Pittsburgh is another team that's been kind of linked. I don't know if I'm moving on from Pickett to go get Kirk Cousins.

I'd rather risk it with Fields or something like that or draft a guy. So yeah, those would be my top three. All right. So that's a little bit of a twist for me is talking about New England as a place, because I was thinking maybe Denver would be like a low key one and that would have to get into the salary cap is not real type of territory. They'd have to move money around, but they have to be desperate to save jobs there. And once upon a time,

Sean Payton did effectively play with a pocket quarterback whose main deal was identifying where to throw the ball and throwing it accurately. And I mean, of course, Kirk Cousins is not Drew Brees, but you can sort of squint and think of it that way. And if they lose again, where is that franchise? Like their general manager, George Payton, who is very familiar with Kirk Cousins is absolutely fired if they're not in the playoffs again. In fact, I'm almost a little surprised that he's still there anyway, because we know that,

you know, Sean Payton is wielding all the power. So they would probably be on my list as a potential suitor for him. Atlanta is just the most obvious and clear to me of a team that just needs a quarterback. Everything else there is built. I think their defense showed great improvement last year. Their offensive line is good. Their running game is good. They have a similar system. It wouldn't be Kirk Cousins

learning a bunch of new stuff and they have a multitude of weapons as well. And I think if there's one, if you're comparing that with the Vikings, I mean, one, the Vikings defense has like no players under contract. So that's a big problem. But if you're comparing it, if I'm Kirk, the biggest thing I would want in this world is to win football games. And like people could talk about his money and everything else throughout the years. But what I really want is people not to say anymore that I can't win. And if I'm going to stay in the NFC North with two teams that are clearly better than the Minnesota Vikings, in my mind, in Green Bay, which drives people crazy when I say it on the show, I'm sorry, everyone. I try to live in reality here.

And Detroit was just in the NFC championship. Also, Chicago has the potential to be a top five defense if they bring everybody back and add talent. I mean, so it's hard for me to argue that you're in a great position there. But let's talk about the NFC South. I mean, Carolina is still going to be bad, even if Bryce Young gets a lot better, you cannot tell me Tampa Bay is going to be great. Even if they bring back Baker Mayfield. And I mean, we're talking about new Orleans is a perpetual eight to nine win football team. I mean, to me, this is just, the door is just wide open there for him to show up with that team and be their hero. And also if I'm Arthur blank and I'm 85 years old, I'm probably like, I don't know if I want to develop a guy over three years.

I think I'd like to try to start to win football games right now. And I think Arthur Blank ultimately is the guy calling that shot over anybody else in that organization. Yeah, no, I mean, Atlanta is going to be the team that I think that paycheck can just keep going up and up to. I agree Kirk wants to win, but he is, I mean,

he's played the market. So, so freaking well, like he understands how to maximize his career earnings. And if he kind of just sits there on the market a little bit, I think he could, he could get Arthur blank to, you know,

add a couple more millions to that contract. So yeah, to me it's, it's Minnesota or Atlanta or Atlanta have got to be like the 90 plus territory in terms of it's got to be one of those two teams i think yeah pittsburgh seems like a little bit of a odd fit there i could see them wanting kirk cousins considering their quarterback play has been such a struggle in recent years um and they've got the weapons to do it they've got the coach to do it so i'm sort of coach to do it. So I'm sort of

interested in that, but would they prefer to go get Justin Fields, which, Hey, why don't we talk about Justin Fields as the next quarterback here, mostly in Chicago it's, well, they're going to draft Caleb Williams and whatever, whatever happens to the fields, whatever, how, but you know, I still think Justin Fields could be better than the version we've seen in Chicago. I'm not like a truther, like one of those people in Chicago who go completely crazy with nothing could ever be Justin Fields fault. Oh, it was.

And I watched it right in front of me a number of times against the Minnesota Vikings. But I also think that he's gifted and that their offensive coordinators were bad and that we saw enough flashes to think maybe somebody else could do something with this what's the best fit for you for justin fields yeah i i think my perspective on fields is like kind of changed over the last 500 days or so too like we always talk about physical tools and upside and like how well yeah he's super fast he's got a strong arm he can throw a good deep ball like theoretically he's got like top five upside or whatever what we never really talk about with upside is the mental side of things and heading into year four for justin fields his inability to consistently play on time make the

right reads um and distribute the ball through the air It's like at some point you just aren't really counting on that to come along at a super high level. And I do think the game moves a little bit too fast for him at times, but that's where my perspective on him has changed, where it's like, I actually think he's just going to be a really solid option for someone in the same way we talk about Kirk cousins in a lot of ways. I don't think he's as good as Kirk Cousins but like you're bringing in a starting caliber option that you

need to be a little bit more creative in terms of making the reads easier on him tapping into his run game a lot too but anyway I think a coach that can really get the most of him is Brian Dable for the New York Giants who had Josh Allen and at a young age really understood how to use him as a runner from the shotgun I think the way that they scheme up crossing routes and and deep deep field reads that are within like it's it's not like a snap the ball get the ball out type of situation. I think Fields is really good at those deeper reads where he can let the route develop, where naturally he's going to have more time to look at it and see it get open, which I think is his biggest problem.

So I love the offensive fit in New York and just kind of throwing a second round pick out there and creating a quarterback competition really between him and Daniel Jones. And the timeline would be good too, because Jones was a shorter contract fields. You would pick up the fifth year option and it kind of creates a two year situation of, of a decent kind of quarterback room there. I'd prefer that for them as opposed to drafting a guy with the sixth overall pick in a spot where they need old line help and they need wide receivers. I'd much rather use that pick to help those two quarterbacks there. So the giants to me are like kind of my dream fit for him.

Um, I do look, well, actually, no, it wouldn't be the Raiders because they just hired Luke Getzey and I don't think that combination is going to be brought back. So I guess I will quickly cross them off but yeah Pittsburgh is the other one for them that that I'll circle back to that I do think with Arthur Smith's offense I don't know how much Arthur wants another quarterback that could potentially be a guy that's not going to maximize the well-schemed plays that he does have I know Arthur Smith Smith gets a lot of crap from the fantasy football community especially, but I do think the underlying metrics of Arthur Smith's offense are pretty good, and he schemes up a lot of easy throws for his quarterback.

So you've got to really dive into the film and make sure that Fields is going to hit those for you. But if he is a guy that can do that i think arthur smith can really unlock fields as a runner i feel like chicago a lot of the times did get a little bit stubborn to a degree in that they didn't always use him as much as a runner as i think they could have i understand why chicago felt that way though because they wanted to see if he could be a drop back passer and a top quarterback but now that that perspective has kind of changed a little bit where it's like well let's just you know lean into his biggest strengths even if it doesn't make him the most high upside quarterback or anything like that maximize the run game in Pittsburgh and

then I think they've got really good playmakers they've got a lot of like 12 personnel package stuff that they can do in Pittsburgh that can help the QB run game and help the play action game. They have unique body types. Guys like Darnell Washington was a six foot seven, 270 pound freak that they drafted a tight end. They've got an underrated H back type and in a cam Hayward's brother there who does a lot of fun stuff. So I just, I think the way Arthur Smith offense could work there in Pittsburgh could who does a lot of fun stuff. So I think the way Arthur Smith's offense could work there in Pittsburgh could actually get a lot of people back on Arthur Smith's side. Now, Pittsburgh was my number one, but then you kind of hit me with a curveball there

with the Giants because I hadn't considered that at all. And then I was thinking about Brian Dable and Josh Allen and even Brian Dable and Daniel Jones, where this guy has worked with pretty much exclusively quarterbacks who are very mobile, but quarterbacks who have limitations. And the thing about Josh Allen is that he's turned into Superman, where even if he doesn't read it correctly, it doesn't matter because he just rockets the football to somebody. And I remember early in his career,

even thinking a little bit, like, I don't know how good he is at just straight drop back, go through progressions and so forth. I think he's just so physically gifted that he can make stuff happen. And then when Dable got there, it's like, oh, okay.

But I think a lot of it was quick game, short passes, get the ball out of his hand and then do special stuff with his legs and then hit the occasional big giant deep shot. That's one way to do it out of the shotgun. Another way to do it might be with play action stuff that Arthur Smith could do. So I kind of like either one of those fits.

I actually like the Giants a little bit better, but that team is bad. But he's young, so you don't have to just make it a one-year thing. Let's save the franchise for us. You could develop it. There was another low-key team I thought of that no one cares about at all, just in general. And that's the Tennessee Titans where I don't really see any reason for them to be totally sold on Will Levis. I also don't see any reason for Justin Fields to have done so much in this league where he doesn't have to win a quarterback competition. Kind of like the name that always gets brought up for failed in one place and succeeded in another was Ryan Tannehill.

And there's a little bit of that with Justin Fields where Tannehill's had some like ish in Miami, like started quarterback ish, got them to a playoff, you know, it was okay, but didn't have like this great resume. They brought him in and then obviously we're able to build some pretty successful teams there, but I really do like the fit in New York. What they do with Daniel Jones after that would be a really interesting discussion. And there's some other teams that might make sense for him, like Tampa Bay, but I feel like Tampa Bay is kind of going to be a Baker Mayfield returning there. But I could see it, though. If Mike Evans even doesn't come back, you still have some weapons there. You still have a team that needs to transition out of what they had with Brady into something new

and might want a younger quarterback to compete there. Let's move to Russell Wilson because I've had a few Vikings fans ask me like, what do you think about Wilson and the Vikings? And my thing is kind of like, I don't think it's a fit. I don't think this franchise is in a good spot for an older quarterback, which is why I haven't thought it was a good idea for cousins to return. I don't think that a timing offense built on like exact drop back back read fire into windows like Kevin O'Connell has built fits at all for Russell Wilson. So I've rejected that one, even if you can get them cheap because of whatever offsetting

stuff. The problem I'm having, though, is when I wrote down my list of quarterbacks and potential locations, I was like, where does Russell Wilson fit in all of this it's like i don't know i don't have a good one here for russell wilson do you am i missing something i do have one i have one but it's only in a scenario where he actually is a bit of an odd man out which i think is possible i think there's a world where some of these teams just want to go the rookie route with guys like Knicks and Pennix and McCarthy. And there's a world where we're sitting here in July. The drafts happened. Free agencies happened. Russ doesn't have a team because he's probably going to get released. No one's going to trade for him on that contract.

He's obviously not going to be back in Denver what about the cleveland browns on a cheap contract to come in and be insurance to deshaun watson i think within that system he can work kind of do a little bit of what flacco did just kind of take deep shots you know boot him out which they actually like to do um well not done with flacco but i think stylistically he could certainly work in cleveland in a world where where the cards just kind of fall that way. I also think the Raiders revenge signing in division there, try to get back at Sean Payton. I mean, I don't think you can roll with with Aiden O'Connell, but I also don't know if I'm sitting there drafting a quarterback in the mid teens if I'm the Raiders either. So if he's sitting there free agency and he's starting quarterback, you want to be competitive. Maybe maybe Las Vegas Interdivision there. those are the only two teams i really see for him

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terms apply awards based on open signal independent data visit uscellular.com for details feels like it's going to be hard when they release him for him to find an initial home now what we know about the national football league is that quarterback health is not for long most of the time and i can see it kind of playing out that way almost in flacko like fashion where somebody gets hurt they bring in russell wilson because he doesn have a home. I don't know if I love it for the Raiders. They might view like, oh, we were good with Aiden O'Connell in the second half of the season. We just need a quarterback. We're not that, that young of a team. We need someone for Devante Adams. That's who I had. Another team I had on my list for Russell Wilson was one that I think was seeking him out at one point in a trade.

And he did not want to go there because their owner is, was a sociopath, but no longer in Washington, uh, where if you're going to draft, let's just say Jaden Daniels, let's say that's who they have their eyes on. I don't know that, but let's say that's who they want. I think Jaden Danieliels would be a guy who might be benefiting from some development we could talk about that when we get to the draft pick quarterbacks you bring in a mobile quarterback to build your offense around then you draft jayden daniels and so now you've got sort of two birds of a feather there a veteran that as weird as he may be, can show them the ropes, show them how to play,

make you competitive right away, which I'm sure the new owner would prefer their team to start going up this way as opposed to what we saw. You know from our weekly musings together on your YouTube channel that I like Sam Howell more than most, but that's just not their starting quarterback long term. That's Sam Fitzpatrick in the-term. That's, that's Sam Fitzpatrick, uh, in the league for, for years to come, I think. So I kind of liked that as one of the teams that's going to draft somebody, even new England in this conversation as well. If you're going to draft Jaden Daniels, he's going to need to develop. So bring in Russ paired with him. And that's, that's kind of the best I could do here.

Yeah. It's, he's going to be fascinating. I mean, I wouldn't even be stunned if he's just like not playing next year. Kind of like when Carson Wentz just didn't get a job and was just hanging out and kind of waiting on a phone call. It never came. Cam Newton,

another guy that like kind of had the, I guess ego to just be like, I don't really want to be a backup like I'd rather just chill and watch football and you know collect my guarantees from this massive release that he's about to get I wouldn't be stunned if Russell's just like not playing in the NFL next year and then we're talking about him next year is like an interesting signing for a different team and a different type of window another team that did creep into my mind, if he was going the more backup route would be the jets just because they need to win.

And if, if Aaron's Achilles pops again in week one, they, they are, I think going to be spending it backup quarterback. So if Russ is more of a high level backup, that's making $14 million or something like that, wouldn't be surprised if the jets want to fork up some money there i would be so weird so weird can

you imagine um well you know at one point you know i like to do 90s throwbacks uh the dallas cowboys had bernie kozar as their backup quarterback which bernie kozar at one time was an elite quarterback and then he was old and Troy Aikman's backup so it does happen uh throughout history sometimes and even Carson Wentz being the backup quarterback for Matthew Stafford who would have thought that in 2018 for example um so yeah it does happen I think if you're Wilson your best route here is to hang out and wait till somebody gets hurt because they will. And imagine if he was doing that last year and multiple quarterbacks pop Achilles and he's right there, he would have stepped right in for the jets and they might've made the playoffs with him

as opposed to what they were doing. So let me throw this one at you now, Baker Mayfield and or wild card. Like, is there anybody else other than Mayfield? Cause I think he's just going back to Tampa Bay, but I do think he'd be a fit with the Vikings if they want that sort of bridge ish quarterback, or if they just don't believe in any of these quarterbacks in the draft, that he's a better option. Younger probably brings you a lot of the same stuff Kirk Cousins does, except for he isn't 36 with an Achilles injury and probably will cost less. So him or anybody else, like, you know, Kyler's name was getting brought up, but it seems like Arizona is going to stick with him. That's probably the right move. And I'm trying to think, like, could there be anybody else that would shock us?

Like, oh, wow, they traded or released their quarterback. Geno Smith today, they're picking up his guarantee, so he's going to stay in Seattle. Baker plus wild cards before we get to the draft pick quarterbacks. I think, in my mind, Baker's back in Tampa. They love him. They loved everything he did. I wouldn't be surprised if we hear about that within the next couple days here,

about an extension for him. I think that's kind of their first priority. But a couple names that would be interesting for me are Jacoby Brissett, who I felt like was a top 20 quarterback in Cleveland last year. And then Washington signed him, but then we're just like, like yeah we just want to play Sam Howell and see how this goes I do think Jacoby Brissett is one of the 32 best quarterbacks in the National Football League and I believe he's set to hit free agency again I think it was just a one-year deal but he could also be like a cheap trade Washington doesn't really have a use for Jacoby Brissett right now because they're going to draft a guy at number two so he's a guy I mean I think if we are talking Vikings if if they did go like the J.J. McCarthy route for example in the draft I would

love a Jacoby Brissett signing to be a starter I don't really want J.J. McCarthy starting right away I want him at least for like the first six weeks like make sure he's ready before you put him out there um so I do think Jacoby wouldn't be surprised if he's starting somewhere. And then the other one that's just kind of fascinating to me is Carson Wentz. Just, you know, he kind of, like you think of what happened with Baker, he just kind of ended up in Sean McVay's locker room

at the end of the year before. And just kind of like, I feel like Sean McVay has this sort of like, his coaching style and his leadership may have carried over to Carson to be like just relax dude you're fine you're a good quarterback because I think that's really all Carson Wentz needs I think everything just got so chaotic with the bad offensive lines he was playing behind that he would just he would catch the ball and drop his head and stare at the rush and just forgot how to play quarterback

he's he is interesting to me obviously you're not signing him to be your starter but he he's a guy that i'm still not quite ready to quit um and then another guy sam donald who kind of similar idea going to kyle shanahan's offense when he played looked pretty good that tends to happen when you're the quarterback for the san francisco 49ers but he's another guy that, you know, we've seen Gino Smith now have this reemergence. We've seen what's happened with Baker Mayfield. I don't think it's the craziest thing in the world to say Carson Wentz and Sam Darnold could be starting quarterbacks in the NFL again.

I think with Sam Darnold, I've really liked that idea. My initial was my initial reaction was like, Ooh, I don't know. Even I included it and an article about, you know, quarterback options for the Vikings. And I thought, should I even include that? But then I started looking back a little bit at who coached him and who was around him.

And now that's, you know, an excuse of course, but you're talking about number 32 of 32, the coaches that he had. Adam Gase was one of the worst coaches in the NFL. And then he goes to Carolina with Matt Rule, who had no business coaching in the National Football League. And that's different than Kevin O'Connell, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, TJ Hawkinson, Christian Derrissaw, Kevin, you know, like the Rams offensive system. Like, I kind of like that paired with a draft pick for the Vikings as a guy who might have the upside. And if you don't like the guy you drafted, maybe he could work out or he could just surprise

you and be good. Or if he's just mediocre, he already showed that he was willing to be a backup quarterback behind a young quarterback in brock purdy and they must have liked what he did there for kyle shanahan to keep him more than trey lance so that kind of i think speaks well of him it was reminding me a little bit though where you're talking about of like going to mcveigh and being his backup or going to shanahan sort of like how coordinators would go to Nick Saban. Like, I got fired out of the NFL. Let me go work for Nick Saban. I'll get myself back into the NFL.

Like the Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan image rehab center. And now, like, everyone thinks that you're good. But I do think that Sam Darnold, as far as fits go, would be maybe one of the best fits for the Vikings out of all the quarterbacks. Let's get to the draft. Now, Caleb Williams, I think this one is so locked in that it's not worth talking about where he's the best fit. I think the bears are going to draft them and have no conversation about it. Not the next guys though. You're getting a little bit of that. Well, could Daniels go number two? Could may go number two? Could no one go number two? Like what in the world of being realistic at teams that could trade up teams that could

draft them? Where do Drake May and Jaden Daniels fit best for you? In terms of fit, I still like Drake May to Washington at at number two i do not like him to new england i don't like either of these quarterbacks to new england at three honestly i just it's a mess there right now um it is not the type of situation you want to put a young quarterback in so it's just like rule out scheme for a second like just in terms of o-line receivers new coaches i do not want them going to new england um then you go down the board a little bit i mean i already talked about the giants at six um i think they're that brian dable i still just think very highly of

and i do think for a lot of the reasons we said with uh you know how he taps into the quarterback run game and all that stuff if Daniels were there for the Giants at six I think it's very fascinating even then though the offensive line is not where you want it receivers aren't quite you know what you want there so when you really think about like realistically where these quarterbacks are going to go I think one of these guys is going to get screwed a little bit um like I think one of these guys will go to a team that's going to have a bad O-line, isn't quite ready for them. And Daniels would be the guy that worries me a little bit in terms of like,

can he survive that? It was such a fruitful situation at LSU where they have a system there where he's just thrown outside the numbers. He's not even really reading the safeties. He's just kind of reading the leverage and you know if neighbor stacks his corner on the outside or he also brian thomas who's probably going to be a top 20 pick in this draft both great athletes vertical threats it was just do you have the leverage if it's there throw it and he's a great deep ball thrower but if he's going to a spot that wants him to be more of a pro reads

quarterback doesn't have a lot of time to throw doesn't have guys like neighbors in Washington getting open I would worry that he would he would regress back to being a little bit scramble happy and that the other thing with him is he doesn't really read or see the middle of the field like at all so if those outside like you need pass protection you need great receivers if you're going to throw outside the numbers in the nfl and if he doesn't have those i just don't know what else he brings to the table other than just scrambling where he is a smaller guy by the way so if he's running more he doesn't really slide like i i don't know if i have an answer for the best fit for jayden daniels to be honest and i'm coming off as like a jayden daniels hater

um i guess i do like daniels um but when it comes to drake may i i do like his projection in washington um with terry mclaurin specifically like it's it's not that daniels i don't know where i'm going with this they They both have great deep balls, but I do think Drake may has more of that pro level ability to get the ball out a little quicker and, and kind of build things a little bit more schematically. Man, I wish I had a better answer for you.

I feel like I'm coming off as this huge pessimist. When you go down the board a little bit though, I do think there's some interesting fits i think pennix with minnesota is fascinating not with the 11th pick or is it 11 yeah 11 for minnesota yep um i think if minnesota creeps back into the first round or if he happens to be there in the second round which i don don't think is impossible with Michael Penix. I love him in Minnesota because I think the O-line is pretty good. You've got the just incredible receivers to push the ball downfield. Penix has some deficiencies in terms of playmaking and pocket sense and all that.

But he is one of the best deep ball throwers in this draft and in recent drafts. Like he is fantastic. I think with the weaponry in minnesota that is a spot where you're talking about a guy that can go late first early second and actually be like a franchise quarterback and then i like bo nicks a lot actually in denver um in terms of a good fit there bo nicks is one of the most efficient like first read quarterbacks that I've seen in a while in terms of just when it's open he is so consistently hitting it on time accurately within the structure of the play and then he adds a little bit like with his feet after that but with I think that's why

Sean Payton got rid of Russ I think they were sitting there in the film room every week and there's these open receivers on slants crossing routes digs and payton's like why are you not throwing that are you not seeing it do you just want to hold on to the ball and go head hunting that's the opposite of bo nicks so i think you know a lot of coaches want to zig uh you know they'll zig when something's zagging they want to go the opposite of direction of whatever hurt them last year and i think bo nicks's play style is like the total opposite of Russell Wilson. So I think Bo Nix there could be like a day one starter. And I like Bo Nix. I think even as early as 12 with that team, I think I'm okay with.

J.J. McCarthy is the wild card here. I've kind of settled on the idea that I want him sitting and developing. He reminds me a little bit of like Trey Lance coming out, where he's just kind of this unknown, didn't really throw a lot in college, was in this perfect situation where he was never really coming from behind and was just on this world-beater team. You know, North Dakota State was a world-beater relative to their competition for Trey Lance.

So that one's just going to come down to like, how does he how does he interview? How does he work at the next level? So that, I suppose, just comes down to like where he lands. Is there a veteran there starting in front of him? So I know I kind of talked in circles there with with May and Daniels. But when you go down the board a little bit, I do think there's some cleaner fits. With Jaden Daniels specifically, I think that after watching your video on him, which was excellent, and I've just watched a little more of him myself, and I'm very concerned about his personal health as a rookie quarterback, because this is one thing that I think can derail someone who's very talented is getting hurt, getting set behind.

And I'm worried about this with Anthony Richardson. Like this, this show could have been renamed the Anthony Richardson show last year. We talked about him so much. And then all reports that came out were that the Vikings felt kind of the same way. But then he gets hurt early on. And my thought was like that he needed that year to really develop. And he was looking good. But now he's set back by that. I fear that with Jaden Daniels because he holds onto the ball for so long.

And he takes so many hits that it's almost cartoonish at times where you're like, dude, you can't do that. Because in college, you're fine. In the NFL, you will die if you let NFL players hit you that hard. And he doesn't get rid of the ball very quickly. And so he makes me really nervous. I'm very excited about his potential upside. But I was talking to somebody who is a former NFL evaluator that was like,

kind of reminds me of the same thing with Justin Fields, where his timing is a little bit behind on a lot of these things. Like you brought up in your, one of your videos that with hitch routes and stuff, the guy would have to be out of the hitch coming back toward him before he started to throw it, which is a small thing, but you need anticipation on those throws in the NFL, or it's just not going to work. And that's, that's Tyrod Taylor's downfall. That's Justin Fields is downfall and kind of reminds me of Tyrod with the way he hangs onto the ball, takes a lot of sacks. So someone needs to not play him for a while, let him figure out how to play in the NFL practice every day in the league, have a preseason, and then be able to step in. New England is like the worst spot for

anybody. You got no receivers, no offensive line, and they're going to want anything and everything to be excited about. Hey, go out there kid and get murdered right away. So I don't like him for a fit for just about anyone. I'm a little nervous about Washington because until proven otherwise, they are still Washington and we're going to have to find out if their new ownership knows what they're doing. But if you're at the top of the draft, your team probably stinks. As far as the best fit for the Vikings, this is a daily debate where fans try to sell me on each of the three quarterbacks expected to be around. And so you like Penix as the fit. That was my initial feeling as I was watching the season play out.

Like this guy looks like out of the shotgun all the time, just throwing darts all over the place, pushing it downfield to Justin Jefferson. I don't know that anybody could push it downfield better to Jefferson than Michael Penix. At the same time, there's that playmaking element that is missing. There is an injury history element that is missing. There is an injury history there that is concerning. I like his leadership for a fit for the Vikings. Yeah, he's older, but also mature.

He's been through a lot of things in college. I don't think he's going to just get rattled right away by the NFL. So that's an interesting fit from his just pure arm talent. And we also have to remember that arm talent still wins in the NFL. Like that's always going to be at the top of the list. The guy I can't fit. I mean, the guy I really can't figure is McCarthy because I'm old enough to remember. This is actually a time where I'm not going to throw way back, but not too long ago, Desmond Ritter was the guy that all a draft Twitter tried to tell me was like this great first round draft pick. And I watched him and I watched and I put on my goggles and I watched and I tried to look close.

And I was like, where's the first round part? And I've had different people who do this professionally tell me different things about McCarthy. Seems like he's going to be whatever building you go to, half the building likes him, half the building hates him is my guess. But when I watch, I just don't see this first round prospect that people keep telling me is going to be there eventually. And I don't know how I'm supposed to imagine it based on the tools. And when you tell me like, well, he's's gonna have to develop and he's gonna have to be behind somebody else for a while but doesn't have the same high end

as jayden daniels that's a harder sell for me if they did it i'd be like okay great that means kevin o'connell's bought in so let's go off we go but i just keep having trouble the more i watch finding this thing that everyone loves so much about him in his tape. He's just so inconsistent. Like, you see all the flashes, right? Like, you see him rip these tight window throws over the middle of the field and, like, play on time. And you're like, okay, there it is. But then the next play, he's not making that throw.

Or he thinks it's there, but there's a linebacker there and he just hit the linebacker in the helmet which an NFL linebacker is going to pick that off um another thing too is like we talk about how Penix is such a fit because he throws this gorgeous deep ball he's super accurate down the field there's a disconnect between Mike McCarthy's arm talent in the short to intermediate game and the deep ball. I don't know what's going on there. I don't know if there's a lack of torque in his hips or what the hell is going on there. That's for the quarterback coach to figure out. But what I do know is you watch the film and he doesn't throw a good deep ball.

There's no explosiveness to Michigan's passing game. I don't think it's for a lack of weaponry. It's just when they push the ball downfield on anything other than like a deep cross that he throws pretty well to a guy like Roman Wilson um it's kind of like the Nick Foles thing where it has like a teardrop and it just kind of falls off for some reason except the thing with McCarthy is you know the raw arm talent's in there I've seen him rip like 60 mile an hour heaters over the middle of the field so there's something you got to clean up there and I think especially if you're talking about the Vikings like they're gonna want a guy 60 mile an hour heaters over the middle of the field. So there's something you got to clean up there. And I think,

especially if you're talking about the Vikings, like they're going to want a guy that's going to step in, push the ball to Justin Jefferson. Who's not, you know, trying to just be a dink and dunk receiver anytime soon. Yeah. He's,

he's definitely a wild card. I do think 11 is too early. Like I think I said, he reminds me a little bit of Trey Lance. I had a higher grade on Lance. I thought the tools were much better, but Lance threw a much better deep ball. Jordan loves another guy that like was very raw and sort of, we'll see where it goes. I had a much higher grade on Jordan love than I do on, on JJ McCarthy. So I don't kind of like you said, if he, if he goes off the board in the first round and be like, I hope it's a good quarterbacks

coach, a guy like O'Connell, that's got a vision. Clearly they liked what he did on the chalkboard and in the interviews, it's like, I can see the tools athletically and technically arm talent wise, but man, they got to have a plan. They got to have a plan. Cause there's a lot of bus potential there with him. Like that. You accidentally called him Mike McCarthy at one point there. And that is the funniest image of the Vikings drafting Mike McCarthy to play quarterback. But he's just a tough one to figure out because I don't claim to have some brilliant scouting eye. And I very well could be missing something that Kevin O'Connell is going to see.

And they're going to know him. They're going to get to know him. They're going to sit with the room with him. They're going to have him out for a visit if we get there. We'll see with the Kirk Cousins situation. And so they're going to decide, are they comfortable with the person and the growth potential and so forth? But one of the things that's just fundamental to me is if I have to imagine it, I don't like it. I want you to be able to I have to imagine it, I don't like it. Like I, I want you

to be able to direct me. There it is. There's the games where this dude lit everybody up. And this is why he's a first rounder, not Hey, occasionally he rips it really fast, but then other times. And look down the stretch in the biggest games, I didn't watch him versus Toledo tech or whatever. I watched him versus Iowa because that's a good defense. Didn't see a whole lot there. You know, watch him through the college football playoff. Didn't see a whole lot there that screamed to me. Oh yeah, that's franchise quarterback. I shouldn't have to have it explained to me. That's how I view it. And again, I could be very wrong. And if they draft them, I'll think it's the right direction overall and be comfortable

with it. But that's just kind of how I'm viewing it, which makes me wonder if he's the guy that the draft Illuminati tries to tell us about that they're just completely wrong. And I saw, I saw this the other day from somebody who knows everybody's name is, you know, draft scout.web or whatever, but like somebody's like oh nfl is way higher on mccarthy than anyone thinks it's like i don't know man the reports are always wrong and there's always one quarterback that they don't like anywhere near as much as the draft people like and i'm curious if it's him and it might not be he might go top 10 so i don't know he is the most

i'll call him intriguing for me for the for the Vikings and for that area of the draft because you've got the Broncos, you've got the Raiders, you've got all these teams might be making calls to trade up. Atlanta might want to go veteran and rookie. There's a lot happening with this quarterback class. Let's wrap on this. You've scouted more than just them, more than just the quarterbacks who are projected as first rounders.

Give me your super secret next Dak Prescott, next Tom Brady, next Brock Purdy. Who is it? Who's your guy? You always got to have a random guy. Yeah. All right. There's one guy I would bet against to be a hater for a second. And then I'll give you my my sleeper pick

joe milton the quarterback from tennessee a lot of people were upset that he was not in my top 10 quarterback rankings video he's one of the least accurate quarterbacks i've ever watched and i don't know if you've watched i mean i'm assuming you you watched a little bit of tennessee's offense with with uh hooker coming out last year. It's one of the most laughable. Go ahead. Yeah, well, I texted a friend of mine during the Senior Bowl who likes Tennessee, and I just said, how did Tennessee ever score with this man as your quarterback? Is this headed toward you telling me Joe Milton's the guy to pick?

Because it did not look at all like NFL. I mean, I thought when I watched him in the Senior Bowl i was like stooge should play tight end this is like tyree jackson type of level stuff well yeah and the thing is he's a much better athlete than tyree jackson jackson had a good 40 time but he was stiff as a board milton couldn't move like he actually could be a really good tight end in the NFL like much close to like what Logan Thomas pulled off um but no the Tennessee's offense with Josh Heupel there is it they run that like the stack spread where you have it's just two by two you have one guy on the line and the one guy behind them they run that like 60 plus percent of the time. They have like a bunch of checks and I'm convinced their playbook is like 22 plays max. And it's just like he's not he's literally just reading one half of the field.

He never turns his head and like reads a defense. This is a big hold up I had on hooker last year, too. But Milton, it's like he's not accurate. He's a six year player. He had to transfer out of Michigan like he. He's not a quarterback, man. I think he's being stubborn to play quarterback when he could actually have a great career elsewhere. So that's not the guy because I think a lot of people will say,

kind of like we talked about with Fields earlier, where it's like, well, theoretically, yeah, he's got a great arm. He's a great athlete. Technically, his upside is high. But in six years in college football, he's never learned the position. So where's the upside? his upside is high but in six years in college football he's never learned the position so where's the upside um one guy that i'll give you two two sleeper names spencer rattler is a very fascinating name definitely a guy if i'm the vikings or the you know i don't know steelers

or whatever you're looking for a a gem that can maybe sit a little bit and surprise. It's not too often. You find legit five-star tools in the third round or wherever Spencer Rattler is going to go. He's accurate. He can run. He's got an, he's got a nasty arm and he's matured a lot. His,

his tape is still, it's still immature, quote unquote, like there's still not a ton of pro reads and like a high level nfl profile there is a reason he's not being talked about as a first round player but compared to what he was at oklahoma where it was just backyard football all the time passing up first reads electing for scramble drill a lot more structure play and a lot more again mature quarterback play from Spencer Rattler,

who I always accidentally try to call Desmond Ritter. So if I already did that, I apologize. But, yeah, he's very fascinating to me. Seems like off the field he's really grown up and learned. And I always like a quarterback that has gone through some adversity and had to kind of evolve a little bit. And then another guy that in a lot of ways, he's just this year is like fourth round white backup that is,

you know, Bailey Zappy or, or whatever. And that's Michael Pratt out of Tulane, but he's got a little bit more to him than a guy like Bailey Zappy, or I think it was Jake Hainer out of Fresno state was a fourth round pick to new Orleans last year. Pratt. there's a little bit more moxie he took a two-lane program that I mean I don't know where they were before he got there but they weren't winning 10 games a year

like Pratt was um he's he's got some swagger as a runner like he's kind of got that Baker Mayfield moxie where he wants to like meet a DB and run him over um and i mean sometimes that gets you hurt but it you know it can it can fire up your team and get you some good scramble yards on on a third down so he's got that and he also you know i think a lot of times you can tell a backup from a starter in the way that they just kind of manage the rush a A lot of guys that are backups, they number one, they don't really feel the rush. So you're getting hit from the blind side. You're not really stepping up into like the clean space in the pocket. But additionally, when the rush gets in and they do see it, usually a backup is going to kind of drop their head,

look to scramble, get out of it, avoid a negative play. Pratt actually kind of has that comfort level in the pocket where if an edge rusher wins right away or a blitz doesn't get picked up, he'll sidestep it, but he'll reset in the pocket, keep his eyes downfield. And it's like, all right, there's a little bit of something there. So a lot of people look at him as just another, you know, kind of white fourth round quarterback pick that's going to be a backup in the NFL. And that's probably what he's going to be, but there is a little bit extra with him.

And I would be, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he's another one of these Dak Prescott, Kirk cousins, mid round success stories. Beware the Jake from, I remember people talking about, well,

Jake from reads. Yeah. Well, Jake from was a small guy with no arm i mean but people fell in love with like oh he manages the pocket well and i usually what you find and this is where like i'm not down on jaden daniels i'm just afraid he's gonna get hurt but a lot of times it's like nobody knows what they're doing in college football so you really have to kind of go with translatable tools. Jake Fromm didn't have any.

It actually does seem like Pratt does as far as his arm strength and his physical ability, which makes him kind of intriguing. But here on the show, we are not usually four fourth and fifth round quarterbacks because a lot of times they end up as Kellen Mond, third rounder, or Jaron Hall. Well, Kellen Mond, talk about a guy that had no feel in the pocket backs because a lot of times they end up as kellen mond third rounder or uh jaron hall so kellen mond talk about a guy that had no feel in the pocket at all like he was one of the most rigid guys that just the second the pressure got in it was just a complete disaster um yeah he also looked like he threw the football in 1932 like with the way that it came back behind his

ear and then threw it it was just like kellen mon the quarterback of the future the 1934 best quarterback with the way he threw it was like that's not how anybody i remember being at otas or rookie minicamp just being like i have never seen a pro quarterback throw a football like this is weird and um didn't work out. So anyway, we can all sell ourselves sometimes on that guy though. And, uh,

I remember getting a lot of notes from people like Chris Sims loves Kellen Mon. I'm like, okay, that's, that's great. Everybody loves somebody. So anyway,

uh, well, great stuff. And I implore people to go check out that franchise guy on YouTube. Again, one of the absolute best YouTube pages. And I won't tell everybody who your favorite team is, uh, before they go check that out because you are a Minnesotan. That's all they need to know.

So Marcus, uh, great stuff. Look forward to doing more shows with you as we go along and, uh, looking forward to all of your draft coverage for sure. Thanks for coming on, dude. Yep. Pleasure as always, Matthew. Thanks for having me.