Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Athletic's Chad Graff fires off his hottest Vikings draft takes

Episode Date: April 25, 2022

Matthew Coller is joined by Chad Graff of The Athletic to talk about expectations for the Minnesota Vikings on draft night and decisions that could potentially chance everything about what we think will happen on Thursday night. Can we put together a hot take about the first overall pick? Would Detroit really take Malik Willis? Why Chad isn't as hot on the receiver idea and the trade down possibilities that sound very realistic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here along with Chad Graff of The Athletic. And Chad, it's draft week, man. We made it. We finally made it. All of the mocks, all of the sims, all of the analysis, the debates, they all come to fruition this Thursday. How jacked are you? At long last. I remember seeing mock drafts in week 15 for, you know, the poor Jags and Lions fans who just wanted something to look forward to back when the Vikings were clinging to an outside chance of the playoffs. But here we are. I don't know. I actually do look forward to this quite a bit. I kind of, you know, embrace it for what it is, enjoy the mocks and whatnot in April. But by the time we get to this point in late April, I've read enough mocks. I've read your scouting reports.

I've seen what I need to see. Like, let's do this thing for real now. Right. The hay is in the barn at this point. But let me ask you a question before we get into our flaming hot predictions, which is the point of this um so mike florio called the draft un-american which i think is like super super aggressive man like okay but but like they caught like the top picks are gonna get like 11 million dollars so they're they're doing okay for themselves uh they

are not being incredibly victimized however i did have it go through my mind not too long ago. Somebody asked the Friday mailbag question about like, what if there was no draft and what if every team had to negotiate with these players and it created an NFL signing day to where the league had a whole day of announcing all of the signings and teams had to manage their cap with the plans to make offers to players coming out in in this whatever is rookie signees and it was it was a big event that way it might be every bit as fun or more fun as the draft and it would force teams to actually be good at it so uh you know right now when you're the worst team you just get the best player and then your team gets better automatically.

But if this would really force them to manage cap better and also take calculated risks, because are you the team that's going to offer $50 million a year to Trevor Lawrence? And then what if he's not good? I mean, I do think that there's something to it that maybe in the year 3000, we're not doing drafts the same way we're doing them now. First of all, great way to start off a show about spicy takes is to begin with this. Second of all, my notes from just listening to you go on just now. Super aggressive is probably the perfect way to describe any Florio story. Like just, oh boy, super aggressive there.

Let me take a sip of water and recalibrate. Third of all, I don't, I didn't hate the idea as you're saying. I do think that there, my first thought was maybe you could do it if there was some way that every team was allocated $40 million or whatever it ends up being. And you could blow it all in one player if you wanted. You could spread it out however you wanted. every team was allocated $40 million or whatever it ends up being. And you could blow it all in one player if you wanted. You could spread it out however you wanted. But then that doesn't really give an advantage to the worst teams.

And perhaps that's the point. But I do think that for competitive balance, you probably want some way where the teams who were bad have a better chance. Maybe that is where if you had the number one pick, instead you get $70 million to spend, and the Super Bowl champ gets $10 million, and you can trade that money. I don't know. I could kind of see a world where that makes sense.

For now, I appreciate the Galaxy brain tape, and I'm just going to keep grinding away on these 1 through 32 mocks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, so I think what it would do, though, is it would eliminate tanking. You can't be a complete joke of a franchise and get rewarded because then no players will sign with you. But if you were a team that struggled and you were savvy with the way you spent your money,

maybe you're better at scouting or something like that, or just you take a more approach of signing five players for whatever money, as opposed to one player going all in, I think it would create just as many amazing storylines. But as you said, I mean, this draft industry is so out of control already. I don't see this changing anytime soon, so I won't spend much more time on it. So before we get into our flaming hot takes, you have something very cool going on. On June 17th, I will be there. You are hosting a golf tournament and you're looking for a few more people to still sign up and play in your golf tournament. So tell me about it, Chad. Sure. Yes. And I promise for everybody,

we will soon get back to the Flaming Hot Takes and all of your draft questions. But just to derail things for a quick 90 seconds, two years ago, to go tell you the whole story, my wife and I had our first child, a baby girl named Anna Rose. Quickly, you know, despite everything going well during the pregnancy, she was transferred to the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital, eventually diagnosed with Zellweger syndrome and passed away at 13 days. She, I don't know, there she is. And so, you know, life moves on. And a couple of years later, we said, we want to do something for the children's hospital, the people who did such an incredible job caring for her, the NICU nurses are true saints,

the doctors were incredible. So as you mentioned, June 17th, the Friday before Father's Day, we are going to host a charity golf tournament in which 100% of the proceeds will go to the NICU at the Children's Hospital. They've been incredible. They're going to let us decide very specifically where the money goes depending on how much we raise. It can go to parents who have suffered child loss. It can go to the NICU. It's going to go to a good cause. I can tell you that. We've had some really good response from sponsors who have decided that they want to jump aboard

and give some money, though we're still looking for others. A whole sponsorship starts at $1,000. But with that, it's meant that we're going to be able to do some very cool things. There are going to be breweries on site passing out their product. The beverage cart will be sponsored. The golf course is in great shape. Red Savoy is going to donate their food truck. Caribou is going to be there giving away coffee and breakfast.

It's going to be a good time. That much I can promise you. So we have about six foursomes still available. You can sign up at AnnaRoseGolfTournament.com. Anna is A-N-A, RoseGolfTournament.com. Also, if you want to become a sponsor, there's info on the website there too, or just reach out to me on any social platform.

So we're super excited about it. I think it's going to be a great time. And if you're interested in golf, if you're not interested in golf, doesn't matter, hit me up. We'd love to have you. Okay, slowly again on the website to where people can go. If you're interested in golf, if you're not interested in golf, doesn't matter. Hit me up. We'd love to have you. Okay.

Slowly again on the website to where people can go. Yes. Anna Rose golf tournament.com. Anna is a and a, and there's info on becoming a sponsor. If you hate golf, but want to donate to a good cause, you can also donate there. So we're looking forward to it. It should be a good time. We've never done anything like this before. So we're flying a little bit blind, but we've gotten some help from the Children's Hospital. And now we're just praying for good weather and that we can pull this thing

off. Yeah. And it'll be the first time I play all year based on the way the weather is projecting to go. But yeah, like I said, I'll be there. Sam Ekstrom is going to be there playing in our foursome as well. I'm sure other people in the Twin Cities I'll be there. Sam Ekstrom is going to be there playing in our foursome as well. I'm sure other people in the Twin Cities media will be there as well, supporting you and your family, Chad. And, you know, people don't necessarily know how much time we all spend with each other. And it feels like everything when you're on the beat and you travel and you do all these things, that everything that happens to other people kind of happens to you in a lot of ways, like a family.

And so I love this as a way to support you and support your family, Chad. And I hope that other people get on board as well. So, all right, we'll transition from that to flaming hot football takes. And there's no easy way to do that. But I hope to see some of the Purple Insider listeners out there. Okay, so I think I just want to start with the number one overall pick chad and these are flaming hot predictions so you add some extra spice to this and remember it's very much like our rule what is our rule at otas anything you write doesn't matter like there's there's no responsibility if you write

for example that jordan taylor is going to be wide receiver three and he doesn't matter. Like there's, there's no responsibility. If you write, for example, that Jordan Taylor is going to be wide receiver three and he doesn't make the team. That's fine because you're just trying to figure out what's going on at OTAs. I think the same way for this week, which is make your flaming hot predictions. If they don't come true, then you'll be in the same boat as the rest of the world. And we'll see what happens. And if some do come true, that's great. So why don't you start with number one, overall pick, what is your flaming hot prediction? Well, so I wish that this were a hotter prediction. Um, but, and I guess I could evolve this now that you're mentioning this into a top two prediction. Um, my flaming hot prediction is that Michigan defense event, Aiden hutchinson the guy that

everybody's been talking about number one pick basically since he wrecked ohio state's game plan my flaming hot prediction is that he's not taken in the top two that he falls out of one of those top two spots perhaps with trayvon walker going uh number one and then maybe the Lions throw a curveball. I don't know how that happens because Detroit has needs everywhere. You should probably take the best player available. And the guy is freaking from Michigan. And so I don't know that Lions fans would respond too terribly well with that, but we're looking for some spicy takes. So let's find some and maybe, you know, instead of of Hutchinson they go Kayvon Thibodeau or an offensive lineman isn't it wild to you that Aiden Hutchinson was the projected

number one pick and then went to the combine and was amazing he had a great combine he killed all the events and then we get done with the combine and then he's still the number one pick and like four weeks later Trayon walker is i mean just so bizarre the weird things that happen the kyle hamilton thing a scout tells daniel jeremiah that he ran a 4740 at his pro day we don't even have like video of this or a digital something it's just somebody told somebody that he ran a 47 it reminds me of kobe bryan where they intentionally planted rumors that he was going to play in reminds me of kobe bryan where they intentionally planted rumors that he was going to play in europe if he was drafted by charlotte so charlotte believed it

and traded him to the lakers for vladi divak like the the smoke screening is wild it's all is it a hot take almost to say that the smoke screening has meant nothing and i still think aiden hutchinson goes number one no i mean i the other reason to bring this more Viking-centric, why I think the buzz has gone a bit more toward Walker. Like I woke up today and saw a bunch of tweets that Walker is now the consensus number one pick. If you look at the betting boards in Vegas, where you can bet on anything that you want

as the draft takes place in Vegas, part of the reason that that has switched in the last week is that Rick Spielman was asked, who do you think is going to go number one? Rick Spielman, after perhaps making some chide remarks about the jobs that we do before, is now in the media world. He's going to be on Fox Sports Radio breaking everything down. He says, I think Trayvon Walker is going to go number one. And after that, in part because he's had some conversations with the Jags about a role there, but all of a sudden the odds take off and Hutchinson is no longer the favorite to go number one. Which is ridiculous because last year,

I think it was Michael Lombardi who used to work in the NFL said there is a hundred percent chance Mac Jones is going number three. And he, and he was even like dunking on the haters. Like, oh, you nerds think it's going to be an athletic quarterback you're wrong and then of course it was Trey Lance so nobody tends to know nothing also can we just say we have to we have to say this the entire time you and I have covered the team Rick Spielman has not had as many quotes or as many times in front of a microphone as he has in the last like three weeks. It is unreal how he hid away in his office, never answering for anything that he did. And then when we had

questions about it, when we finally got our once or twice a year with him, it was just roundabout, you know, double talk. And then the minute he's done, oh, I guess you were capable of explaining to fans what's going on. Congratulations to Rick Spielman for his media tour. And my favorite part of his media tour is where he explains to people how to scout quarterbacks. Now that is rich. My God. He's making up for lost time. He's, you know, he's realizing I really enjoy being in front of all these microphones actually. When I'm getting paid, not when I'm, you know, perhaps addressing some of the decisions that I've made as the

primary person atop this organization. Still waiting for an answer from him on Jeff Gladney and what happened there, but I guess we'll never get that. So anyway, and many other things, why is our Cleveland's a guard? Who knows? All right. So flaming hot predictions, though. I think that one of the things with Vikings fans that may be lacking interest here is just what goes on in front of them because the teams in front of them are all the jokesters of the league.

Do you have any opinions at all? And if you don't, it's fine on anything that's going to happen before the Vikings because it's like a lot of tackles and it's the texans and the jets and the giants are twice it's like uh tune in at 8 30 central when you can actually see the vikings pick because i know it's not going to be super compelling with these teams but i also think chad that in terms of spiciness it adds an extra layer because all of those teams are insane.

The Commanders, the Texans, the Giants, these teams, the Jags, they're awful. They could do anything. And I kind of like that part about it. And the team that you didn't mention is the one that I'm most fascinated by, which is the Carolina Panthers at number six. They have virtually no draft capital. They've given everything away. They've pushed all the chips in. They've said to Matt Ruhle, yeah, we want you back, which seems inexplicable in its own right. I think you and I both left that Carolina game thinking,

how in the world is this guy still an NFL coach? Perhaps thought that the day he was hired on a ludicrous contract just because he had success in his you know mock vest whatever it was at baylor smock really smock yes he now has to win this year he doesn't have a quarterback sam darnold again is going to be your starting quarterback like they have to draft somebody to if nothing else go back to their billion dollar billionaire owner and say look we've made progress with this rookie um they have to have to have to come away with a quarterback and yet they have the number six pick in a draft when basically nobody thinks a quarterback is worth the top six pick so what in the world do they do with kind of this dysfunction that they have on the coaching staff um they're who's their offensive coordinator ridiculous another

ridiculous guy who came out and said on accident yeah sam darnold is still our quarterback so i don't know what they do like you the smart thing would be to trade back to draft a quarterback later on get some draft capital but what if you're wrong what if you trade back and all of a sudden there's a run on quarterbacks and you're sitting there like, all right, Sam, let's go get them, Darnold. Here we go. Let's run this thing back. You're not going to have a job at the end of the season. So that's a dysfunctional situation that I'm fascinated to see. And then the other one to me that's super interesting is the Atlanta Falcons at number eight have tons of needs.

They could draft a quarterback. They could not. They could trade back. They could not. I think a lot will impact the Vikings based off what the Falcons do. There are a bunch of different scenarios. I think that's a spot that you could even see teams moving up to get like a Derek Stingley Jr. before some of those teams, 9, 10, 11. And of course, the Vikings at 12 look at him. So those two spots, 6 and 8, are the ones I'm most curious about. And really the Lions too, in whether they would just pick their future quarterback, Malik Willis, right there.

I think that the spicy hot take even for myself has been, you really should just pick Malik was because Jared golf is absolutely not your franchise quarterback. We know that for sure. And if you miss on Malik was, you still have another first round pick in a draft that is weirdly lacking elite elite talent, but has a lot of good talent all the way through the first round. So you could get a good player to help your team rebuild,

get a future quarterback who could sit for the next year. And then if he's bad, you draft another one next year, and it's still probably going to be a fairly high draft pick that you have as the lion. So that's what I've thought, but where do you think that Malik Willis goes? And here's your spicy hot prediction is, is he there at number 12? And then we're forced to talk about should the Vikings have dot, dot, dot. What do you think? Well, so a couple of things, you know, and this is where the Panthers are extra interesting to me because while I just said they need a quarterback, they need to win this year. Like they need somebody who can come in and play right now. And while I think we're in agreement that Malik Willis has a ceiling that far surpasses any other quarterback in this draft, the experts say he's probably not going to be ready to go out and win you nine, 10 games,

whatever it's going to take for Matt Rule to keep his job. Now, is Kenny Pickett going to do that? I would argue probably not, but I think you could talk yourself into a scenario where he's better suited to get you to that point. And so if he goes past number six, then you start looking down the draft board and the Falcons at eight, the Seahawks at nine are probably the next two spots. If I'm the Falcons, like i just talked about how they have needs everywhere at some point you got to start building you know with the pieces that matter of course quarterback being number one and while yes all of these teams know that next year's quarterback class is supposedly five times as good as this one like you need something you you got to build somewhere they've got tons of cap space coming up

to me if you can get Malik Willis let him you know learn have a year whatever you've got a ton of cap space to put resources around him next year even if you don't play him behind whatever kind of garbage quarterback you end up playing I think that's totally fine so you know for as bad as this quarterback class is I do think you're probably going to see two quarterbacks in the top 10 just because the Panthers a have to have to have to have somebody and the Falcons be like well you need you need something are you just going to draft edge rushers into oblivion and hope to eventually find your starting quarterback? So I don't think that Malik Willis will be on the clock at number 12.

Yeah, I don't think so either. But what do you think they do if he is? I think they trade down. I don't think that they would pick him. And I also think that I should be pre-writing my why didn't you pick Malik Willis rants for the show? I don't think they will. I just think where they are with this team, it seems like everything is aligning with their timeline or time horizon, if you will, from Klaesia Daphomensa. Sounds more to me like it's a next year draft a quarterback type of situation and then plan to really reset

the roster after 2023. That's the way everything has been laid out with the way that they've handled these contracts. So that doesn't quite match up with drafting a quarterback this year. But I also go back and you were sitting there right next to me for this at the combine. When I asked Casey, hey, do all the quarterbacks stink? And he gave an answer that sounded like something I might say. So he said like, well, you know, they thought that about the Mahomes and Watson draft and everything else.

Maybe he was smoke screening me. I don't know. But I mean, I guess I would lean heavily toward they would not pick him and they would trade down with New Orleans or Pittsburgh. But what do you think? I think, and I don't know if this is a spicy take or not, but if Derek Stingley Jr. is not on the board, like if he's there, I think they'd run, pick him, move on. Great, you got your long cornerback

who was a number one recruit out of high school, can learn from Patrick Peterson, et cetera, et cetera. If he is not on the board, I think the Vikings are pretty much in trade back no matter what territory. Like, yeah, you could draft Trent McDuffie, the cornerback from Washington. Be fine. You could sell yourself on it.

You can even draft a defensive lineman, Jermaine Johnson, the Minnesota kid, the edge rusher at Florida State, even Jordan Davis, the defensive tackle. You could talk yourself into a handful of players at number 12. But if it's not Stingley, who I think is kind of the guy who has the potential to become a Xavier Rhodes-level cornerback, then I think you probably just move down. You don't have a fourth-round pick. There's going to be plenty of players that you could draft

in the late teens, early 20s. And while I think that there are fundamental differences in the way that Adolfo Menza will select players over Spielman, and we can get to some of those, everything about this offseason has virtually been by the same book that Rick Spielman was running. And so wouldn't it only be fitting if the Vikings trade back in the first round, accumulate more picks, get some more day three selections, because why the hell not? And go from there. Okay. So you bring that up and I tweeted a chart that somebody made comparing the athletic scores versus the age. And Andrew Barry was at the top for youngest players

and most athletic, which makes a lot of sense. And Rick Spielman was all the way at the bottom for drafting old and unathletic players. And one of the best And Rick Spielman was all the way at the bottom for drafting old and unathletic players. And one of the best things about Spielman's drafting in recent years, and I'm sure he'll give his fantastic expertise on whatever sports radio he's doing for draft night, but that I would love an explanation from, and of course, no press conferences, we never get it, but is why they drafted old players and why they thought that players who were not even close to athletic as athletic as Daniel Hunter were Daniel Hunter. Like, OK, DJ Wanham is a good athlete, but he's like an 80th percentile.

Daniel Hunter is the percentile. He is the guy that everyone is graded against in terms of what he did at the NFL Combine. It's one of the greatest combines that anyone has ever had. And he has one of the freakiest bodies that anyone has ever had to play the position. And they'd be like, yeah, that guy who's older than him and also slower, not as long, not as strong, Daniil Hunter. Like that always drove me crazy. And to see it in a chart form and also like wasn't Garrett

Bradbury 24 when they took him in the first round like 24 years old the guy is a grown man at that point and he's not getting 30 pounds heavier I really do think that there are there is the random element but there's also you can increase your odds. Um, like, like playing cards where you could beat me at blackjack, but if I count cards, I'm going to do better long-term as opposed to just one hand. And I think that's what they have with Kweisi Adafo-Mensah versus Rick Spielman. Agreed. And just as you're talking about the Spielman thing, it made me think there are examples of the Vikings under Spielman drafting very athletic players, but they often, as you mentioned, were very old.

Like Garrett Bradbury is and was a good athlete. He was just 24 years old and he was what he was at that point. Or they drafted somebody who was very young and perhaps that benefited them on that scale, but then they weren't very good athletes and they just never had that intersection of the two. And I did see that chart that you tweeted out. And Barry is such an outlier with the age, especially like there's a bunch of GMs who draft very good athletes and have discovered that as a way to hit on more picks. Nobody is even in the same realm as Andrew Barry

when it comes to picking young players. So as you're studying your mock drafts and kind of trying to identify players that the Vikings will pick, I think that you kind of have to look at anybody basically 22 and a half and older and say the Vikings are probably not based on everything we know about Adolfo Mensah learning from Andrew Barry and that being his mentor. I would be shocked if the Vikings go out and draft somebody who's very old, which is another reason I think to like Derek Stingley, the question being, does he fall to you? Okay. Another question that I've had is,

would they actually do the receiver thing? And could they get Jamison Williams? Jamison Williams is young and really, so I looked at uh through the numbers and did some research on it and found that 20 versus 21 even into 22 there's probably not a massive gap it's really 23 and 24 where you should just be going i don't know man not high not high because the ceiling is just not going to be there even if the guy is a very good athlete, as you mentioned, there's only so much higher you can go after you're middle-aged in the NFL. Like Daniil Hunter is in his fourth season at age 24, and you're drafting players who are 24. Like that doesn't make any sense.

Daniil Hunter is on like his 47th career sack. Yeah, right. That's what I mean. It's like, this is why you draft younger. Jamison Williams has really stuck out to me for this though because he would be sort of the intersection of competitive rebuilding where you know he's more for the future could play this year but he is young and he's incredibly explosive and there has to be something they do to lean into Kevin O'Connell and then if you look at the Rams this is one thing that they did all the time

was they always said one more receiver, one more receiver. I, what do you, that has been, I, the fully endorsed official stance of purple insider is go for Jameson Williams. Um, but how do you feel about the receiver option? I have a ton of thoughts on this. So let's start with, um, the fact that I do think it makes a ton of sense. Like Kevin O'Connell, since he got the job, has downplayed how much the Vikings are going to use three wide receivers at the same time. Eleven personnel said over and over, Sean McVay was my mentor. Yes, but we differ on this. I think the Vikings roster is better suited to using two tight ends or using a fullback.

And that even that I would push back a bit. Like he has been so insistent on that, that I do believe him and do believe that's what he thinks. However, I would counter by saying, who is your number two tight end? The guy, Johnny Munt, that you brought over from Los Angeles would be the answer. The guy's played like 14 games,

has something like 40 career catches, has an injury past he's coming off an acl tear like i do not think that is a guy that you can trust at your number two tight end spot which is a a reason that if the vikings don't take a wide receiver in the first round i can actually see them taking tight end as early as the second round just because if you are actually going to play with two tight ends, you better have somebody in addition to Irv Smith Jr. who, oh, by the way, himself is coming off of a season-ending injury. You cannot roll into this season with your current tight end crop and say, yeah, we're going to play with two

tight ends all the time. Two, second thought off of this. So that's a reason I think you should consider a wide receiver. I don't think you draft one at 12. I think that there are so many good wide receivers that you can probably trade back. But here's the reason I would push back on Williams in particular. The Vikings, Kevin O'Connell, Kwezi Adovamensa from the top down have made it very clear

that this is not a rebuild. We are not trying to have a top five pick next year, despite the wishes of plenty. They are trying to win this year. And I think for a first year, first time GM, a first year, first time head coach, you need to do everything that you can to make your team better for week one. And while I think it's a move that makes a ton of sense, you did just sign Adam Thielen to a deal that virtually guarantees he's going to be here the next two years. Justin Jefferson, despite the concern of what's going to

happen, is going to be there the next two years, or at least you control his contract for the next two years. So you should be set there. KJ Osborne is a capable number three. So I don't think that there's quite the urgency to draft wide receiver as there was before the thewin restructure like to me that new contract took a lot of the wins out of this sale which was kind of disappointing to me because it's a lot of fun to cover a first round wide receiver as we saw with justin jefferson and um he shall not be named before him so it would be a very exciting i just don't know that a, you can draft wide receiver after everything you've said about not caring about 11 personnel and about needing to be good

this year. Like if you do draft a wide receiver, you got to get somebody, I think who's going to help you right away, whether that's Drake one and Garrett Wilson, whomever it may be. And to me, that's another interesting question is if you do consider wide receiver at number 12 and say screw everything i said we're 11 personnel let's roll sean mcday's offense um do you prefer like a big outside guy uh like a mike evans type in london and and maybe say hey we're gonna take advantage of some mismatches by putting jefferson in the slot and just you know schooling some poor nickel corner uh or do you say, hey, we're just going to get Garrett Wilson. He's a bit more of a big play guy and we're going to roll with three wide receivers, you know, and mix them in interchangeably. That is a fascinating question.

I'd love to know the answer to. Yeah. I mean, so a few things off that. I mean, I think that with Adam Thielen's age, it has to be considered who's the next wide receiver to Williams to me is the only special receiver in this class. And he just happens to be hurt, but has the one special trait of his explosiveness that is just different. And if he comes back for the second half of the season, I mean, that's pretty good for you down the stretch to be adding someone who could at least give you something. And then long term, we also don't know the Justin Jefferson situation long-term, and this could come to a head as soon as even next year. And we don't know his feelings right now. He's never said anything publicly. We asked him about the receiver contracts and he kind of just was like, well, you know, somebody's going to be really rich soon. And it's me. You know, it's like, but what else

can he say? But we don't know what his real feelings are because he keeps that kind of close to the vest a little bit with a lot of things. When we ask him about the quarterback, the offense, the coach, I mean, he's very good at kind of giving something like maybe a wink, wink, nod, nod. But we don't know if he's thinking purple for life or if he's thinking I'm going to be the next guy who goes where I want to go. And I think you need to prepare for that though, in today's environment, when even as someone as famous as Devante Adams or Tyreek Hill can just be like, yeah, I think I need to get on out of here. I mean, then that means it can really happen with any wide receiver. So I would factor that part into it and i also think that kevin o'connell is playing

pretty coy on the 11 personnel thing because he doesn't want to insult cj ham who they might still use but i mean i think they're going to use 11 personnel all the time and one thing that has just become a belief like core belief of the purple insider here is uh more receivers are better i just we've just seen this so many times last year like we go through last year guys get another receiver are you on drugs why aren't you doing this and guess what happens the island gets hurt late in the season kj osborne isn't a good number two and all of a sudden kirk's statistics go way down toward the end of the year it's like we've seen that movie so many times. I mean,

I can see what you're saying about not doing it at number 12, but I think there's one receiver you do it for at number 12 and it's Williams. Well, and so I do think that that would be super interesting. I feel like I am you last year, but with tight ends this year, I just don't understand how tight end hasn't been discussed more, why we haven't gone over more prospects, why it doesn't feel like a slam dunk that the Vikings should be taking a tight end on day two.

Like I think that is arguably as big of a need as defensive line and maybe more. Irv Smith Jr. Yes, has shown flashes, but he has also been injured a bunch. Maybe it'll happen. Maybe it won't and then your

depth tight end situation is so rough that um i'm trying to even remember the guys past johnny is it ben ellison and the fifth round pick last year from like the d2 school who zach davidson yeah zach exactly so come on let's't know what you do, but I think you really, really need some tight ends. Yeah. It's time for you to get an OTA shape, my friend. I mean, let's go. Number 40, if you'll recall. Yeah, that's right.

Like he could punt in an emergency. Because last year, and this is what you're talking about with, maybe we were talking about before we went on, about draft week. Just like how, like this is the last big event. Last year after the draft i was having my guests design plays for a punter slash tight end so like that's where we get to eventually um so anyway well i think that there's a fascinating storyline of just will they give kevin o'connell a present for being the coach because so far jesse davis chris reed these are the only guys who have been added on the offensive side and

you lost a good tight end and tyler conklin so they're at like negative overall value on the offensive side um for the offseason i think uh and that's that's a little weird when you hire an offensive head coach and you think well this is the time to go all in uh give me give me any other spicy take i mean because another take, just thinking about the offense, is that I don't think the Vikings are going to draft an offensive lineman. Maybe in the first five rounds would be my take. I think they are surprisingly content

with what they have in their new free agent signings at right guard. I think guard is such kind of a forgotten thing right now that day three comes in. Hey, we'll grab one at some point. No rush. If it's a sixth round, seventh round, doesn't matter. We'll get an offensive lineman. Eventually we'll sign a couple, you know, undrafted free agents, but I think that they're kind of content to roll with what they've got. Move Oluyudo to a swing tackle and then, you know,

let the battle play out between Reed and Davis and maybe even Wyatt Davis, the other Davis, for that right guard spot. I think they're surprisingly fine with however that shakes out. They don't have the experience perhaps of watching 16 or 17 games of interior pressure right in Kirk Cousins' face and seeing some of the games at Soldier Field where it feels like it's fallen apart for that very reason. But whether it's because of that or because right guard just isn't as valuable and Quasito Fomensa is playing the values on position, for whatever reason, I don't think that the Vikings are going to be drafting any offensive linemen very early in the draft at all. Is it the biggest shock of the whole offseason of which there has been a lot of surprises that they went the same way and did certain things with contracts? The fact that Garrett Bradbury

is still the undisputed center. Isn't that just like stunning. I saw there was a report that they weren't going to pick up his fifth year off. She's like, Oh, how'd you rate the group? Yeah. Right. I mean, just, uh, I cannot believe that he is the uncontested center still unless they think they're going to move chris reed to center i still remember at the combine as kevin o'connell was gushing about uh bradbury's athleticism and the things we can do looking around the room and making eye contact with you like holy what are they doing this bradbury's there's not even competition it's we think we're gonna make him like virtually a pro bowl player um we'll see I've been wrong

before I'll be wrong again I don't see uh him drastically improving this season and so I like yes I think that their argument that they have three plus offensive linemen is true. I like what we saw in bits and pieces from Derrissaw. Brian O'Neill's obviously established by this point. Ezra Cleveland, I think, could become a very good guard. But the spots where you have issues, center and right guard, are not just issues. They're like potentially worst in the league issues. And so it's one thing to say, yeah, we've got below average players at positions that aren't that important. It's another one below average means like maybe number 31 in the league. So yeah, that's a spot that I'm surprised has not been a bigger priority.

And again, I don't think it's very high on their draft radar right now. Okay. Last thing for our spicy hot predictions predictions here i want you to give me a player or even maybe position but if you've got a player in your mind that if they drafted him you'd be totally shocked you would just be like uh not not even necessarily in a bad way but just like i never talked about that guy i never wrote about that that guy. I mean, this was almost, I can't think of a year this has ever happened in the first round. Like even Mike Hughes, we were kind of like, oh, Mike Hughes, huh?

But we all had him on our lists as a corner that they could potentially go for. But this is a new day, Chad. So who could they pick where you'd go, oh, wow, all right. Well, I'll give you a name that kind of fits that, but also would just be, it would just be a little surprising to me. And somebody who I don't think we've talked a lot about in part, because at the beginning of the draft process, there was 0% chance he'd get to

number 12 and now suddenly maybe he will. And that's safety Kyle Hamilton from Notre Dame. A guy who by all accounts coming out of, you know, as the draft process was just beginning, like this is a no doubt top five pick, even though everybody knows safety doesn't have, you know, the same weight that we once thought that it did. The value is not really there, but this guy was such a can't miss thing that he was still top five across the board. As the draft process goes, his stock begins to fall a little bit. I still don't think he's going to be there at number 12, even if there's a chance, as everybody says, he'll be there 9, 10, 11. But if he is there at number 12, I'm fascinated. I would love if both

he and Stingley were on the board to see what happens. I think they'd probably pick Stingley. But the bigger question is, if Hamilton falls and Stingley's gone, you know, all the normal players, all the people that we think are going to go in the top ability at this point in the draft or do they say we've looked at the numbers safety is not valuable in the first round it's not a valuable selection at number 12 we have cam bynum and even though there's next to no depth behind him and we're basically giving the starting job to a guy who started three games uh Oh, well, we're going to trade back and accumulate picks and do something else. So he's one who I don't think we're going to get to find out what would happen if he's on the clock at 12. The commanders are probably one of those teams that would pick him one spot before the Vikings. But I would love to see what happens if he's on the clock and the

Vikings are ready to pick. Somebody's getting left out of the party. And who's it going to be? Because when you run through all of the draft Sims and everything else, there's always one guy, whether it's Jameson Williams or Kyle Hamilton, or even cave on Thibodeau who you go, what if, what if they fall?

And then the Vikings would have to jump to make that decision. Sorry, can't buy them. I like what can'tynum did last year in limited sample size, but Kyle Hamilton could be the guy who takes over for Harrison Smith and is your star on defense

for a really long time. Well, let me pose it to you then. So Harrison Smith with his deal is probably on the roster for two more years. Bynum did some nice things. You're on the clock at number 12. Stingley Jr. is gone.

Hamilton is available. You can either draft Hamilton. You could take Jamison Williams, or you could trade back and hope that you get one of those wide receivers later, or maybe McDuffie the corner later on. If those are your three options, trade back Williams or Hamilton, what would you do? I would go Williams still. Yeah. Even though I think that Hamilton could be a great player, just the impact of what, what the impact can be of someone. Like if you watch this guy, he has jets,

like he has get him the football and he just goes. And I think that teams have gotten better and better since the Cordero Patterson failures at, even if a guy is not perfect. And I think that Williams has the route running chops, but even if he's not perfect of making that guy into a star, because he's great with the football, just the overall impact of a safety versus a corner.

Can you like combine them? They found him in the fourth round. If he becomes decent, Xavier Woods last year was a good player for them. Like there's so few guys who are game changers at safety, but usually you can sign them in free agency. There's always a bunch of safeties available. So I just look at that position as being less valuable, but that would be some kind of decision.

And I think that they would go to the safety. I'll give you two players that if they took them, I would be very surprised. But also then we would kind of be like, oh, okay, I get it. I get it. One is Iki Aquanu. If he is the guy who falls because he's only six four and their deal is we're moving him to guard then it would be like the uh the guy from dallas there martin like how he was a tackle and they moved him to guard he became a

great great player like that um and then the other one would be um nicobe dean is a is a linebacker from georgia but one thing about nicobe dean that's really interesting is he had an unbelievable pass rush grade by pff and if you're doing the three four thing and you're looking for this versatile pass rusher you could drop back in coverage but mostly you're saying well this guy is going to be an incredible pass rusher off the edge as a three, four outside linebacker and mix and match him with Zedaria Smith to start. Maybe like those are, those are the two that if we, I think everyone would be like, what's no one mocked the Kobe Dean, but Oh, look at his pass rush ability.

Like this is what they're going to make him into what everybody always wanted Anthony bar to be. I got one more for you as we're just thinking about this. And I'm kind of running through scenarios in my head. Everybody, you know, for a long time has had Sauce Gardner as the number one cornerback. Unbelievable season from Cincinnati. Only in the last couple of weeks, I've seen a few people started with Dane Brugler saying, hey, I've talked to some scouts. There are some teams that are starting to think Stingley Jr. could actually be the top cornerback selected, maybe in the top five, maybe in the top

seven. If for some reason, Sauce Gardner falls to say pick number eight with the Falcons on the clock, the Falcons like, hey, we've got a ton of needs. Let's move back. I want to know, would the Vikings be willing to give up their third round pick, which is probably what it would take to move up to number eight. You give up the third round pick to go get Sauce Gardner, knowing Stingwood Jr. is already off the board. If you want a plug and play cornerback, you probably have to make a move. Are you willing to give up that third round pick to go get him? I think, you know, if Stingwood Jr. has gone in a surprise in the top five, I think that's a trade I probably would make to go get what kind of feels like a no doubt. Number one cornerback. Yeah.

That's really interesting. Like that's why, I mean, you know, the trade up to me has always seemed like the farthest fetched, but we just don't know, you know, you just don't know like what they're thinking about this,

because one thing that we've seen is the collaborative element of it has meant that Kweisi AdafoMensa is doing what the owners, but also the coaches want him to do. Clearly, Mike Pettin wanted them to go out and sign Z'Darrius Smith because they talked about that and he had coached Z'Darrius Smith in Green Bay. And so if the coaches are saying, look, there's really one guy you can get us. And if he gets to number seven, you have to go get a sauce gardener he's going to change our lives i don't i don't know if i really don't know how the power dynamic works we're going to find this out over years how the power dynamic works but if quesia daful mensa if his job is to go get the groceries and their job is to make the grocery list that

that becomes possible but i also think that quesia da fomenta has to be here in part because he can hack the draft and if you're hacking the draft uh there was a really interesting study 538 did this that if you're trading down within the top 50 you're usually pretty smart because teams overvalue picks within the top 50 compared to the jimmy johnson chart which somehow they still use and so uh would basically the jim the Jimmy Johnson chart overvalues players in the top 50. So moving down within the top 50 is very smart. I got to think he knows that. Like this hasn't been missed by Kweisi in all of his research.

So that would be the most shocking. But also there's been a lot of things that have gone against what we expected Kweisi Adafo-Mensa to do. So, well, we could go on with hot predictions forever, but I know you've got work for the athletic to do. You do great work there. And, uh, why don't you just one more time for the road, remind everybody, uh, so they don't have to go rewind where they can come out and, uh, support your golf tournament. Thank you. It's AnnaRoseGolfTournament.com. If you reach out to me, I can get you any other details, but it should be an awesome time. Food, drinks, hopefully a nice day, good golf course, good people. We're going to have a lot

of fun doing it and all of the money, 100%, the tips that happen on site, everything goes to the Children's Hospital. We're going to have, I think, a silent auction. We've got a bunch of goods. The Vikings have given some signed memorabilia. The Timberwolves have. We've got almost a dozen signed wild jerseys, including Kirill Kaprizov. So some of us will be given away in prizes that you can win on the course, and others you can win via silent auction with all the money going to the NICU, um, at the Masonic children's hospital. So Anna Rose golf tournament.com. And I'm going to sing. I'm there to just be the onsite singer, right? He's our jester. Uh, so come with questions.

Yeah. Okay. Uh, all right, Chad, thanks so much for your time, man. I'm really glad we can get back together. Uh, go check out the golf tournament. I will be there and, uh, we'll, uh, we'll have a good time. So thanks again, Chad. Thanks for having me.