Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Athletic's Chad Graff joins to discuss GM Rick Spielman's media session and the future of Vikings' stars

Episode Date: March 5, 2021

Matthew Coller and Sam Ekstrom hold another Friday Roundtable in which Chad Graff of The Athletic comes by to answer burning Minnesota Vikings questions like whether Rick Spielman was telling the truth about Kirk Cousins being their quarterback going forward, how the Danielle Hunter situation plays out, whether they should consider moving Harrison Smith and if drafting a QB makes any sense. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate. Hello and welcome into another Friday Roundtable here on Purple Insider, presented by Scout Logistics and Symbol, the stock market for sports. Matthew Collar, Sam Ekstrom, and from The Athletic, Chad Graff. Chad, how about this? How about this? How about this? How about this?

Well, there's this, but also we had news this week. How about that? Well, you're excited about the news. I'm excited that I'm joining for the first time since Sam hopped on board. That is what I was how about this-ing. Yes, right. How about this? Arif, your colleague at the athletic, has denied that he plays golf.

I think he's lying. I think he's hustling us i think we need a purple insider versus the athletic golf match we'll do match play wherever you want uh sometime maybe even in the month of march the way it's looking i'm looking forward to that we could throw it on the purple insider youtube page maybe uh mix our our shared interests of rick shields and whatever else uh well chad since you're better than both of us you'd have a slight advantage there but i am not buying a reef being any good at golf at all we'll be demanding strokes don't worry uh so let's start off with some of this news chad i mean let's begin with kyle rudolph

being released um it was the obvious thing that was going to happen. And I think all of us naturally just think, oh, okay, well, Irv Smith, you're in. Kyle Rudolph is out. See you later. And we all move forward. I will just throw this out there, and you can tell me if I'm even crazy for thinking about it. But we made some of the same assumptions last year about players who are leaving. And we said, well, Mike Hughes will just step in for Trey Wayans and so forth and so is there tell me if there's any other way in your mind to look at this aside from just you know

sorry to see you go Kyle Irv you're up I actually don't think there is another way to look at it Kyle Rudolph's play has diminished I know that he really strongly, truly believes that if he goes somewhere in a passing offense and is given sort of the role that he had in 2016-15, that he'll be back to a Pro Bowl level. I don't see that. I hope for his sake he's right, but I think the Vikings are going to be just fine with Irv Smith Jr., Tyler Conklin behind him, who Rick Spielman mentioned yesterday as part of our news gathering operation is suddenly we have somebody to ask questions to. And that was exciting. So is it a loss in the locker room? Yes. Is it a loss in the community? Yes. But with Irv Smith Jr., you know, yes, it's his third year, but also let's not forget, he was the youngest player drafted in the first two days of his draft class.

This was an incredibly young player who, as a rookie, was one of the youngest in the entire NFL. And so now as he enters year three, this is really like a rookie season for a lot of players. He's he's basically Garrett Bradbury's age. So I think he's going to be just fine. I wouldn't worry too much about the tight end position. And Chad, I think that's a good point that, that Smith should be the one, you know,

to step up here. And, and he is really young. And also some of the reasons that Kyle Rudolph laid out in his, his podcast, where he sort of went scorched earth as, as to why he'd probably be leaving those apply to Irv Smith too. Like a lot of extra blocking snaps,

not as many routes run. I think that's more reflective on why his production was down last year or below what we expected, just because the Vikings don't throw to their tight ends all that much. And maybe that doesn't bode well for Irv long-term. Maybe he won't want to like re-sign here in two years for that reason. But when you watch him catch the football he's got amazing hands he's got really good route running and he's a good blocker like

I still think he is a full package tight end they just haven't really committed to unleashing him sort of in that way well it's funny to look back to when they drafted Irv Smith Jr. and there was talk we're going to put him in the backfield we're going to line him up wide he's going to be in the slot we're going to line him up like a normal tight end we haven't seen that I still think there's a lot that you can do with Irv Smith Jr. that they've thought about doing that they plan to do they just haven't done maybe Quint Kubiak has been quietly pushing that behind the scenes and we just don't know and now he's going to unleash all of that but at some point you got to do what you drafted the guy. You got to let him do what you drafted him to do. Right? Yeah, I agree. I was going to ask you guys to project then Irv Smith Jr. onto next

year. I mean, what are we talking for a target share catches role? Because I think that they're going to ask him to be a pretty darn traditional tight end because that's exactly what they did last year with him. And I agree with you, Chad, that there are a number of players where I say, I think you left a little on the table there. I would say that for Justin Jefferson. I would say that for Delvin Cook in the passing game and definitely for Irv Smith. He was injured a little bit here and there, but they didn't use him in creative roles. I don't see them being any more creative with these players this year than they were last year because Mike Zimmer wants the offense to stay status quo. So how does Irv Smith adapt to being the number one tight end and not just the other guy who's out there on the field? That's fair, but I think what could benefit Irv

Smith Jr. in terms of getting more targets and more chances is I'm not sold on the fact that the Vikings are going to have an improved wide receiver number three spot and that was already a weakness compared to other teams in the league so you know while Irv Smith Jr. has never eclipsed 400 yards I do think that you could see something you know maybe not as many targets as Kyle Rudolph in 2018, but come close to that. I think Rudolph had more than 60 catches that season. He had, here it is, 634 yards, four touchdowns. I think that's a fair stat line to expect from Irv Smith Jr. knowing, A, he's going to get more snaps

because it's not just going to be two tight end formations where he's on the field. And also, B, we'll see what the Vikings do in free agency. If they bring in another wide receiver, if they draft somebody, I know that's near and dear to your heart, but I just don't buy into the fact that they're actually going to do it. It's one of those, should they? Probably. Will they? Probably not. And then I think you very well could end up with the circumstance where Irv Smith Jr. is your third best option in the passing game. Let me toss this out to both you guys.

Let's say you're sitting there at number 14. You can take the number four wide receiver on the board, the number three cornerback, maybe the number three offensive lineman, or you can have the number one tight end by far Kyle Pitts at number 14 would you entertain that I would entertain I've sort of gone back and forth because I've seen some spots where you know while he'll probably be gone it is conceivable that he could be there and then this is a clear cut you know top 10 prospect according to a lot of those guys who study all of that. And I still think I'd have a hard time pulling the trigger on it. You know, he would be awesome. The Vikings would be the kind of team who could benefit from that because of how often they use two tight ends. But I still think I would, you know, it's almost the inverse. I would almost

consider Moore where Christian Barrymore is not considered a top 10 prospect, maybe not even a top 20 prospect, but he just fills a need so badly that you've had since Sheldon Richardson left. Now, I would probably draft for need there. I don't know. What do you think, Haller? Well, you know, I'm always for more weapons. I mean, that is a thing that I think never slumps is having way more weapons than you actually need.

And even when we've seen comparable quarterbacks, two Kirk Cousins be given four or five players who could get the ball in their hands and make plays, we've seen them succeed. Jimmy Garoppolo, Jared Goff. And then you see a receiver to leave Jared Goff, and then all of a sudden he doesn't quite play as well. And then it's all his fault

and not any of Sean McVay's fault, you need to get him out of town I think the same can be true for Kirk Cousins and what I like about Kyle Pitts is that he's not like a traditional tight end where you can use him in so many different ways he's kind of like what Jimmy Graham was for a very very brief time where they were lining him up in the slot all the time he could go downfield. And I think the same thing for Irv Smith. But it sort of always sort of comes back to, are you going to use him to the maximum of the creativity that you could?

But I don't ever say, don't do it because that won't happen. Because that would be a long-term play. You'd be setting up to have Thielen, Jefferson, Pitts, Irv Smith Jr., and Delvin Cook for the next few years to be this dominant offensive force with weapons. So I would say absolutely yes. And when I look at the draft as a whole, now I think that a defensive tackle who is by far the best in the draft, like Barmore, that's a guy I'm interested in because I think there's a lot of positional value in a three-tech who can rush the passer. So I'm interested in because I think there's a lot of positional value in a three tech who can rush the passer. So I'm interested from that perspective, but I'm not for, Oh, you got to fill a need. So take a guy that would be like Gregory Rousseau, who is,

you know, that pass rusher, who's kind of a project and he's an athletic freak, but who knows what he'll be. I think when you do that, you end up taking someone like Garrett Bradbury where like, even if he's a good player, it's probably not a great value pick. It should just be who's going to bring you the most value in the long run. And don't worry about, Hey, what can he actually bring me right away next year? It feels like, um, collar they, the Vikings tend to make that pick that you described the pick where they go a little more BPA. They make those picks in the second round. Like the Mackenzie Alexander pick, the Dalvin Cook pick, the Irv Smith junior pick.

Those weren't enormous needs, but they went out and got like playmakers and starters. The first round, they tend to go pretty strong need-based, even though Rick Spielman denies that. It seems to be true based on their track record. So that feels more like a bar more than a pits just based on their history. Granted, they've also never been big at like taking defensive linemen in the first round either in the Zimmer-Spielman era. So I guess we'll have to see which way it goes.

And I just think, you know, we're probably all in agreement here that they're going to do everything they can if the board falls the right way to trade back and you know we spent an hour yesterday talking to rick spielman i think one of my favorite moments of the whole thing was rick accidentally perhaps catching himself as he you know even opened up the possibility of trading now if we make that pick and don't trade down or something he brought it up not us bringing it up so that was one of my favorite moments talking to Rick Spielman. And then the other was your friend of the program, our friend, Courtney Cronin, just telling the GM straight up to his face,

you're going to end up with a second round pick. We all know it. I don't know if you're going to, how you're going to maneuver it, but we all know you're going to end up with a second round pick. Yeah. I think that ending up with a second round pick might be a little harder this year than in past years because of the uncertainty with the draft that a lot of the players who are projected high, I mean, some of them opted out, a good number of them opted out. So how do you know where you're at? I feel like the second round might be other than those top

five or six, seven prospects. It might be equal odds in the second round as it is in the first round. And I think some teams might see it that way, but you mentioned talking with Spielman and I want to get both of your guys' reaction to some of the things he said, and we should begin with Kirk Cousins. It's the, I don't know, do football people know how cliche it is to say so-and-so is our quarterback? Like like do they think that over first or does that just kind of come out because it's like I'm a football GM so I say he's our quarterback but that's what Rick Spielman said Kirk Cousins is our quarterback Chad I don't have expectations of Kirk Cousins being moved but what did you make of all of the comments surrounding Kirk Cousins

from Rick Spielman I didn't think it was a surprise to me. The only surprise, I guess, was when he said that he thought Kirk Cousins played maybe the best football of his entire career in that second half of last season. I don't know that I would completely agree with that. But Mike Zimmer has now come out and said, look, Kirk Cousins is going to be back. Rick Spielman has said it. I think it was probably always going to end up that way. It was more just, is some team going to make an offer, be it the 49ers or whomever, that they couldn't refuse it?

And while it was so much fun, the Russell Wilson talking to Sean Watson, you know, let's not forget these quarterbacks want to go somewhere where A, they're going to have a good offensive line in front of them, but B, they're going to have a scheme that lets them do what they're best at. And that is why, even though I think Deshaun Watson is a top five quarterback and all of that talk was a ton of fun, I just struggled to see him willingly waving his no trade clause to go to a place that wants to have a 50-50 balance. So not a huge surprise to me that he has downplayed it and has continued

to say that Kirk Cousins is going to be back. To me, the real question is, what happens after this season? A, are they going to extend him to try to lower the monstrous, I think it's $45 million cap hit that he has next year? Are they just going to shrug their shoulders and say, we're going to have to bite the bullet on this one and have that high cap hit that is what i don't know what you do i don't think it's detrimental as cap it in 2021 but boy i you got to ask yourself some tough questions about what you do with that 2022 number kurt cousins has a paper chain i think like in his his man cave that he's taking one down every day until that 45 million kicks in and then he's gonna throw a party it's like the rocks that he has out front when he takes one out on his birthday

every year yeah exactly yeah and then he'll go celebrate and uh and get some what's the uh what's the chicago place that everyone loves i can't remember portillo's uh portillo's his his cheat spot then he'll go and celebrate at portillo's. I agree with you that Spielman did speak pretty strongly with his endorsement of Cousins. He said that, yeah, Mike Zimmer kiboshed that. And he really went out of his way to make a point of this. And I felt like it was almost too far out of his way, considering he wouldn't even touch any other player.

Riley Reif nope Mike Hughes nope not talking about it but Kurt Cousins let me tell you how loyal we are to Kurt Cousins it almost almost felt like a posturing like we're gonna plant our flag here we're holding on to this guy you know asterisk unless we get blown away by an offer. And I'll agree that it's not like a high probability that he moves on probably less than like 15%, but I think it's more than zero because until Russell Wilson either like comes out and says, I'm a Seahawk for life or it gets traded or Deshaun Watson winds up somewhere or Jimmy Garoppolo lines up somewhere or Denver has a quarterback. I still think that there's movement that's available.

So I'm not going to completely write it off from happening. I really am not. And maybe if something happens, it has to happen before that number kicks in in a couple of weeks. But man, I mean, I don't necessarily believe Rick Spielman at face value. I don't know if history has taught us anything. He's not 100% truthful at these press conferences. Well, last year at the Combine, I asked, and we'll get to your moment similar to this, Chad. I asked Rick Spielman, has Stefan Diggs asked you to be traded? And he said, no. And that was it. There was no more answer to that. And then Stefan Dgs was traded so

this happens all the time and it makes sense of course why would you come out and say if you're rick spielman uh you know we'll think about it i mean only if you're really far down that road but i agree with you sam where it's like yeah okay i mean he's our guy but i mean anybody can be traded for the right price and other quarterback needy teams. There will be someone who gets left out of this party. And my question is, what is the team who's left out of the party decide to do? So let's say Carolina is throwing all these darts and they don't get Watson and they don't get whoever and whoever and whoever.

They don't get Trey Lance. They don't get Justin Fields. Are they going to be sitting there going, yeah, geez, you know, we've been trying to upgrade a quarterback because we really want to win right now and uh okay here's Teddy Bridgewater and next year's first or something like I whoever gets left out of the party that's who the Vikings need to call and and just see where they're at and see if they would be able or be willing to trade for Kirk Cousins or otherwise like you you said, Chad, well, then just extend him and lower his cap hit. And then we can all move on from this.

Well, I think part of the problem too is, and I'd have to go to over the cap for the hundredth time this off season to refresh my memory. But when his contract becomes guaranteed on March 19th, let me know if you disagree. But I think it becomes a lot more difficult to trade him at that point. And then, you know, whatever team he goes to has to know all at that point and then you know whatever team he goes to has to know all of that so it's just a tough spot and I don't even know if extending him like if you're Rick Spielman and your goal is to keep your job extending him is probably the best move but I I would almost just rather wait out this whole year knowing that he's only

got one year left on his contract. And then after this year, wait and see, like at some point you can keep kicking the can down the road, but at some point you're going to have to have a crazy high cap hit with him because, you know, for all the things that you can say about Kirk Cousins, one of them is that he knows how to maximize his market and his earnings. And he is not a guy who is going to take a pay cut to stay in a place that he likes and and so it's just you know a little unreasonable to think he's going to do that with the Vikings and at some point because of how you've set this up you're gonna have Kirk Cousins on a crazy high cap number let's just contextualize that number for a second if the cap's the same next year as it is this year and

it'll probably be a little more but if it's the same Kirk Cousins would eat up 25 percent at 45 million that's insanity that has to be a record so whoever would be trading for him would have to be extending him and that's part of it that the problem with trading him is you're not really trading a rent a quarterback who's on a one-year deal if you're doing it next offseason you'd have to trade to somebody who says okay we want Kirk Cousins and to give him an extension now I do think Sam that by next year and this is where the Vikings actually could let this play out I've kind of made it absolute to where you need to extend him or trade him. But the one thing I did think about was if there are fans back in the stands, if there are 17 games and there's a new TV contract, instead of being 25%, it might be the 15% that he's been taking up and they might

be able to let it play out and just have him for 2022 draft someone in next year's draft to start in 2023. And then just go on with their lives from there and let cousins hit free agency again and have someone else give him bajillions of dollars but um mark was looking at over the cap and you know sitting across from the amazon executives like no guys abc's offered a lot more cbs like you you better up that offer just doing anything you can to get that cap higher next year that's right we really would like that 17th game i'm just saying we love playing football that's why um let's talk about daniel hunter because you got the one word no chad from uh rick spielman when you asked if the report was

true from nfl network that daniel hunter either wants to be traded or the highest paid defensive end now i thought just doing the whole read between the lines thing is super fun with Rick Spielman comments because he tries really hard to not let us do that, which makes me say, bring it on. And so now, as he was answering a question about the defensive line later on, he did not say it's going to be like signing two free agents to get Pierce and Hunter back. He said it would be like that, leaving the door open to Daniel Hunter, maybe not being here. But what did you take away from his flat denial of the NFL Network report? A couple of things. One, you know, this is why I wish we had a little more access to him.

That report came out in October and this was our first real chance to ask about the validity of it six months later or whatever it is. But, you know, I think when you look at that, it always seemed a little bit far-fetched to me. And I'm sure it came from somebody within his camp, his agent or whomever. But to think that he would undergo neck surgery significant enough to keep him out the entire season, significant enough that Zach Parise had the same one with the Wild and talked about how difficult of a road to recovery it was, how he couldn't stand at times. And that you would then at that point, with your leverage being zero games played in the last year, demand a new contract. I think there's no question that Daniel Hunter, when healthy and registering 14 and a half sacks a year as he did two straight years, is deserving of a bigger contract than he has right now.

It would not surprise me if he wants one. I just don't think now is the time that he can really play his cards well and say, oh, trade me or make me the highest paid player. Because I also think that other teams would look at it and be like, we don't know that we want to give up two first round picks or a first and second round pick for your guy who, yes, we would have a year ago, but we don't have intel on his injury.

You say he's fine, but he hasn't been on the field. So it always seemed a little bit of an odd report to me to parse through. But if he comes back and plays well this year, then I would not be shocked at all if that report did come true. And he said, make me the highest paid player or I'm out. Hey, folks, I want to welcome a new sponsor to the show, Symbol. Symbol is a sports marketplace where you can trade shares of professional teams just like stocks except

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if Hunter anchors really high and says I want to raise well maybe the the middle ground is I just get to keep my salary you're not going to ask me to take a pay reduction maybe you guarantee some of my existing base salary in future years as I speculated on the podcast earlier this week. But I agree with you, Chad. The timing doesn't make sense with three years left on his deal. He's got to he's got to do a little bit of proving himself, even though he's very, very good. You still need to I mean, this is a neck we're talking about. This is a little different than a bum ankle or broken fingers. So I think you're 100 percent correct. neck we're talking about this is a little different than a bum ankle or a broken finger so i i think

you're 100 correct yeah i don't think the vikings are in a position to say you're going to have to prove it i think that if what we have now in the league is a situation where players can basically say i want what i want or i'm just going to sit out and daniel hunter has what they call by now fu money where he could just sit out if he wanted to Hunter has what they call by now, FU money, where he could just sit out if he wanted to. And I also don't think it behooves anyone with the team to sit on an asset that's worth a lot. Like if Stefan Diggs had said to them, hey, either you design this offense around me or I'm sitting out, would it have been better to trade for the first round pick and get Justin Jefferson or better to just be like, no, sorry, we're an NFL team. You can't strong arm us. Usually it's always better just

like it was with Vegas and with Khalil Mack. It's better to just take what somebody will give you for that player and move forward with your life rather than just having this battle. Even when Cincinnati tried to strong arm Carson Palmer, when he decided to sit out, it did not play well in their favor. And eventually they had to trade him for way less than he would have been worth if they had just put him out there and traded him. So it usually doesn't work well for you. And if the guy sits out, then everybody knows you have to trade him. And it just becomes this big disaster where you'd be better off just saying, okay, well, if you're not going to be happy with what you have here, then move on. But I also think too, that this is an organization

that finds ways to make sure these guys get paid. If they, it's like, if they could pay Anthony Barr what they found the money to pay Anthony Barr, anything and everything to me is on the table with Daniil Hunter. I think player empowerment is one of the interesting, I don't know if I'd call it storyline, it's something interesting to follow over the coming years as we're seeing guys like Deshaun Watson, Russell Wilson, potentially Daniil Hunter. I think the NFL is a long, long ways from the empowerment that players have, but I think you're slowly starting to see at least the superstars in the NFL decide if I don't like my current situation, I don't have to just sit here and wait until I'm a free agent. I can press my hand a little bit.

So we'll see if Hunter does that. But the other thing to me is, as you mentioned, the only real leverage that to know Hunter has is going to Rick Spielman or Mike Zimmer and saying, look at your pass rush without me look at what you did last season oh you signed stephen weatherly oh you drafted somebody like i can make your defensive line a top 10 defensive line without me good luck getting to you know aaron rogers or whatever quarterback yeah i think that that is a fair position for him to try to present and it's fair for them to say butt your neck and let's find a middle ground i just want to know and we haven't heard from daniel hunter we haven't heard more from his agent via an nfl network reporter so like is he sticking to this

or was that just like no one else has reported a single thing and daniel hunter has not said a single thing i would think if it wasn't true Daniil Hunter would be like hey guys that's not really true so I'm assuming it is but it's very odd that it's been dead silence for a superstar level defensive end who I mean he's not a self-promoter so he's not on TV all the time or whatever but it's amazing a player of his caliber could have this situation and have it be radio silence. You mentioned Steven Weatherly, though. I want your reaction, Chad, because I was very much for them bringing back Steven Weatherly because the price, the player knows what he's doing and the role he's probably going to fill. It just gives you another body who you know can

play in the NFL. Sam will explain, I'm sure, how he's skeptical of this. Where do you land on Steven Weatherly returning to the Vikings? I think the best way to put it was your tweet, fell. Sam will explain, I'm sure, how he's skeptical of this. Where do you land on Steven Weatherly returning to the Vikings? I think the best way to put it was your tweet, which was the Vikings need this kind of move at five different positions. It's great for them in terms of it adds defensive end depth. I wouldn't expect him to compete for a starting job. I think he's better in more of a rotational role. I don't even know if he's better than, you know, say a Wanham or something. And if a Fadi Adenigbo comes out,

I would probably rather have Adenigbo starting. But he adds depth. And as Sam mentioned earlier, the Vikings, you know, sure they're mocked to take an edge rusher in a lot of mock drafts or simulations and things like that, but they don't often do that. It's far from a given. They have lots of other needs.

So I think that this dampens that need a little bit and provides some depth. I don't think he's, in order for him to reach the $500,000 incentive in his contract, he has to have seven sacks, which I would be shocked if he got half of that. But it's a nice depth piece and it's hard to complain at the price. Now I'm really curious. Why is Sam perhaps a bit skeptical?

I laid this out on the Purple Insider Extra exclusive on the YouTube channel. Not exclusive after you say it. Right. Duplicating.ating duplicating it here i number number number one you uh you have a tendency on this team to bring back old friends you did it with shamar stefan you did it with tom johnson and it's never as um illustrious as you think it's going to be. I think Steven Weatherly is probably your number four defensive end if you assume Hunter, Odenabo, and Wanham. I also think that you're limiting yourself. If you're going to bring back Steven Weatherly for 2.5,

okay, you're paying him a decent little chunk for, for rotational player. When I think you could look at more established, maybe even more talented veterans. I mentioned Vinnie Curry as a possibility who was really productive, really efficient for a million dollars last year in Philadelphia, just because he's 32 doesn't mean he can't play. Um, I know Andre Patterson has a very particular system and, you know, players know what they're doing here. They have a level of institutional knowledge, but you can be a little more creative, can't you? You can look outside of your your former players. And to be honest with you, Stephen Weatherly, he wasn't good in Carolina.

I mean, none of his numbers show me a player that thrived with more responsibility there. I think he probably got worse. He was pretty good opposite of Daniil Hunter for a few games when he filled in for Everson Griffin. But he also got jumped by Efadio Denebo in the rotation the year after that and saw his role reduced. So I'm not in love with the move at $2.5 million. I mean, if it was veterans minimum, that's one thing, but 2.5, I would have rather seen you take two $1 million flyers on 30-somethings. I just think you can be a little more creative than going back to the well of somebody that you demoted in the rotation and

let leave and you like them, I think, by virtue of them being your former player. I just think you can do better than that. It is amazing that because of the Vikings cap situation, even when they sign somebody in free agency on a one-year, $2.5 million deal, you have to sit back and go, boy, was that the best use of these funds? They don't have a lot of these players. Just how few teams are in that boat where a $2.5 million one-year deal,

man, boy, could they have gotten a left guard for that price? I saw somebody suggest that Jake Browning would be a better option than Sean Mannion because he's cheaper and it's like $300,000 cheaper. It's like, we're going between the couch cushions now trying to find pennies and nickels. I mean, you probably do. And you guys know, I appreciate journeyman backup quarterbacks, but you probably do win the same number of games with Jake Browning and Sean Mannion for if Kirk cousins went out for four, you probably lose three or four with either one of those guys. And maybe in a year with more cap space, they will upgrade that backup situation someday, but I think it's going to be Nate Stanley and Jake Browning, but that is not on my list of things to discuss. I would, you know, I get Sam's argument with Weatherly.

The one thing that came to mind for me was Yannick Ngakwe and just how he didn't fit the system. And they just said, nah, sorry, pal, but it's that we're trading you away and not signing you to an extension and not keeping you for the rest of the year because you just don't really fit with what we want to do. So if you have this eye for very specific, even they even complained about Sheldon Richardson, trying to shoot gaps as opposed to filling two gaps and things like that.

Like they really seem to have a specific vision for what they want. Even when they tried to bring George Iloca in, it was like, nah, you're not doing it right. Let's have Anthony Harris. He's been here for a couple of years. It seems to be a prerequisite for Zimmer's defense to have these players who know exactly how he wants it done. And even though I agree with you, Sam, that there might be other guys that they could wait for in free agency, if he knows how it's done

and succeeded before here, I think it makes sense for the price, which is almost nothing. I want to ask about something else here, too, when it sense for the price, which is almost nothing. I want to ask about something else here too, when it comes to what Rick Spielman said, is the free agency approach on the whole, where he said, we'll have to get creative with some things. And Chad, you alluded to my tweet, but I was thinking about a bunch of Stephen Weatherly signings is what we're going to get. But that creative part leading up to free agency, this next two weeks is going to be where the entire groundwork is laid for the rest of the

offseason, the lead up to free agency. So Chad, what do you think get creative exactly means from Rick Spielman? Well, I look at three players because they do have some options to clear space, even for as little space as they have. And I, you know, it'll be interesting to see, I guess, which avenues they choose. Riley Reif, you know, of course, is one of the first that comes to mind because you can save a lot of money by cutting him,

but then on the flip side, you make your offensive line worse. And I don't know if you can really afford an even worse offensive line. So what he does there, I think will be incredibly interesting. I think the most likely avenue is probably to extend him, lower his cap hit for this year. He did play pretty well for last year. And, you know, well, he's not perfect. I think it's reasonable to consider he would be back. So that's one avenue. Another

is Anthony Barr. And this is the one that I'm just most unsure of. There are some days I wake up and I think, boy, I think you got to cut Anthony Barr, take the loss. It does come with a decent amount of dead cap money. But as Rick Spielman said, they're doing okay on dead money this year. And then there are other times when I think, you know, can they really go into next year with Eric Kendricks, Troy Dye, and Ryan Connolly? Is there three linebackers? I know that linebackers aren't as important in the NFL as cornerbacks and edge rushers, but boy, Mike Zimmer sure seems to love Anthony Barr and what he brings as a pass rusher, what he brings in pass coverage. So that to me is, is the most interesting one.

And then the other option is Harrison Smith. You can extend him, lower his cap money. Everybody loves Harrison Smith. That one feels like a slam dunk to me, but Anthony Barr is the most interesting one to me just because I think there's a perfectly fair argument for like three different paths with Anthony Barr, go to him and say, take a pay cut or leave, leave him completely alone on his current contract. Try to figure out some sort of restructure.

There are a lot of options and I could very well see any of them happening. Has anybody explored, and I'm asking, cause I don't know, has anyone explored the Adam Thielen contract? Because that's a big money player with four years left on his deal. I don't think he's been converted yet either. his latest deal. So I wonder if that's a domino that could fall to to clear up five, six, seven million. No, I definitely think that that's one that happens. And with Anthony Barr, I think that option might be on the table, too, to be able to do some of that. I'd have to check exactly. But I think that it is. And that's one of the things I'm sure they'll try to do is go to ownership and say, hey, maybe you should cut these checks right now because we are going to have fans back in the stands or something. Everybody's getting vaccinated. Let's go. I mean, maybe they have to do some measures like that.

And that's what Spielman means by being creative. Maybe he doesn't know that we know that you can do that. That's possible. I don't ever know what he knows that we know. But that part of it, just a quick tangent with him, that part of it is so true where he'll say things that are so obvious to not only NFL reporters, but just observant fans and act like they're these great unknowns. Like even I was talking about Justin Jefferson and he mentioned, you know, there's another really good wide receiver out of LSU coming out this year. And it's like, yeah, people know about Jamar Chase.

We're talking about a top-ten pick here. We don't have to use these masks. So I just love when he, you know, very obvious things like extensions or restructures or converting money acts like it's this crazy thing that only Rob Brzezinski knows about. That's right. Maybe he does follow us on Twitter, so I don't know. but maybe he needs to listen to the podcast a little more often. And then he would know about Vinnie Curry, Sam. But so when it when it comes to this, I think the Adam Thielen idea is right and will probably be addressed. And usually it's written in. So these players have to do that.

Like they don't have a choice, even if the team twitter sends out like what a team player for converting their contracts like no no it's not really how that works it's actually in their contract that they have to do it but let me circle back to harrison smith and ask you about that chad if you were let's say you took all the names off and you just wrote the situation wouldn't you be saying it might be time to trade the guy? If it wasn't Harrison, if we didn't just watch him play really, really well again and kind of hold together whatever pieces were left of that defense, you'd be looking at the age, the contract, the price, and the situation of where this team is at. You were 29th in defense last year. I think you'd be

saying, well, this defense needs to be overhauled with a lot of pieces and you could make 10 million or so on the cap just by trading this player uh you should be heavily considering that but there's been no talk about that whatsoever for sure and I think it's largely just because it's Harrison Smith if it were player a instead of locker room leader beloved teammate well-respected player by coaches, great with the front office, Harrison Smith, then you would have to say that's an option, especially as we learn just that safeties are not quite as valuable as perhaps we once thought. A lesson maybe underscored this year is the Vikings spent all of that money on two safeties, and it did not help the secondary the way that Mike Zimmer envisioned. So yes normally would but I just can't see it happening if you could get even a third round

pick I think if you remove the name that's a deal you probably do but because it's Harrison Smith and a guy that you're planning on you know helping mature these young cornerbacks and because of all the things that you know he can do and that he has done I I just you know I think they'll extend him lower his cap hit and he'll be here for three more years at least I would think which is crazy to say about a safety at his age hey everyone I want to tell you about our friends it's Scout Logistics and I really do mean it when I say friends they are fans of Purple Insider over at Scout Logistics. And since they reached out wanting to support this show, I want to tell you about what they do. Scout Logistics is just-in-time transportation for full tractor-trailer loads. And if you're wondering what that means exactly, well,

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If you're a hockey fan, you know exactly what I mean. Soda stick.com. That's S O T A S T I C K. And make sure to use the promo code purple insider for free shipping. Also pretty underwhelming the way they like created the succession plan at safety last year. I figured, okay,

if you bring back Harris on the the one-year deal and there's almost no chance he returns beyond that you need to at least have someone waiting in reserve and the best they could do was josh metellus who i think they cut at one point and then brought back on the team like it it it didn't make any sense the way they handled that they were lucky that both safeties stayed healthy and you you saw what happened, I think, when Smith got ejected in the Texas game and George Iloka had to play. There's a pretty significant drop-off there.

So I don't know what they would do if they traded Smith because you'd have zero starters then, except for the huge question mark that is Josh Metellus. And I guess Curtis Riley is technically on the team too. I don't even know if I don't know what his status is or restricted or your UFA or what. So I don't think you can afford to lose like one reliable safety and the only one you have at the moment. Probably the only counterpoint to that would just be look at the free agent safety list. It's very impressive.

It is good. Yeah, there are a number of guys there. And then there are a couple of guys who are in a pretty good place in the draft, too, that suddenly first round safety would be maybe on the table there. Before we wrap up, I want to play just a little game with you guys. Do you want this guy is what it's called. So let's start. Do you want this guy?

I'll yell a guy, and then you guys tell me, Do you want this guy? I'll yell a guy. And then you guys tell me, do you want this guy on the Vikings? All right, let's start with Golden Tate who got released a couple of years ago. I pounded the table for Golden Tate. I said, get a third wide receiver. This guy has destroyed the Vikings and you just have to get him the ball in his hands. He can make plays. He's like a running back at wide receiver give me golden tape but we're a couple years down the road here so do you want that guy golden tape I don't not not for the price that he probably commands I do think wide receiver three is very important he can probably bring a few different things but this is um a guy who is going to be 33 next year, less than 400 receiving yards last year. I just think he's well past his prime for sure.

And I don't really see him putting up more than 400 yards next year. And he's going to command, I think because of his being around in his name, he's going to command a little bit more money than you can afford as the Vikings. Yeah, I looked at the T.Y. Hilton projected contract projected contract on spot track and I don't know how accurate it is, but they're saying three years, 30 million is his projection. He's 31 turning 32 golden Tate's 32 turning 33, but they've got pretty similar profiles right now based on like how they've kind of fallen off the last two years a little bit. They're the same size, similar type receivers. And if Hilton is demanding 10 million a year, I mean, Tate's going to get a large percentage of that, I think.

I don't think the Vikings can afford it. So I'm saying no on Golden Tate. You also have two pretty good receivers that can play out of the slot with Jefferson and Thielen. So I'm okay with passing on Golden Tate. All right. A little creativity with do you want that guy? Anyone who is a Vikings free agent currently on their team, free agents, we're talking the Anthony Harris's, the Rashad Hills, the Mike Boone's, I guess he's an RFA, but do you want anyone back who is a current Viking free agent? Yes. I want that guy, Brett Jones. I can't believe we haven't had more of a chance with Brett Jones. We had Dakota Major start 16 games last year, and Brett Jones never got a chance. Gary Kubiak gushes about how great he is with the scout team

as the center. So yeah, I mean, are there a lot of Vikings UFAs I would want back? Probably not. You can make an argument for a shot Hill if he's willing on a cheap deal to come be your swing tackle again. But I also think you have Oli Udo who may be ready for that role. So, you know, in short, no, probably I don't want back many Vikings free agents. But sure. Why the hell not? Give me Brett Jones. Yeah, I want Brett Jones like be yeah. Beyond what's rational. I want Brett Jones back to this team. Great interview too, by the way, Brett Jones, brilliant guy. I'm not even being sarcastic. Go watch the documentary on him.

That was made by a Canadian Canadian TV to be able to see it. Um, Rashad Hill, speaking of the offensive line, I would like Rashad Hill back. I think that's the, the swing tackle that you need. And especially if you don't know what's going to happen with Riley reef, you need Rashad Hill back. And then, I mean,

Mike Boone, who doesn't love Mike Boone. I don't, I don't think it's a necessity, necessity, but for the same reasons that I like Brett Jones, I like Mike Boone. They're just,

they're good. They're good people. Glue guys. Mike Boone averages over five yards carry for his career and never plays. It's a very odd thing with never playing anyone but Delvin Cook. I will say this is this is the official me. Purple Insider stance is they should move on from Riley Reef and sign Rashad Hill to start because I think he can handle it. I think he already did handle it on a team that went to the NFC championship

pretty solidly and he's improved quite a bit and they were ready to do that last year. So if they were ready to do that last year, then they should do it now and save a bunch of money and spend it on our next question. Do you want that guy? An expensive guard? There are only two of them. You know who they are. Brandon Sheriff and Joe Thune do you want that guy in parentheses s I do not want those guys I just don't think the Vikings can afford it I would rather use that money on defense on the defensive line will Kirk Cousins

will the interior offensive line continue to struggle yes will Kirk Cousins continue to struggle when he faces that kind of pressure yes I would rather draft somebody and then you've got four high draft picks the Vikings you know quietly for all the struggles on the offensive line have used a pick in the first two rounds three years in a row with Brian O'Neill Garrett Bradbury and Ezra Cleveland one more and I think you could be on your way to building a pretty decent offensive line, depending on how Garrett Bradbury and Ezra Cleveland turn out. So no, I would rather, you know,

try to trade back in the first round, come up with the 30th pick or something, get a second round pick and use a second round pick on a left guard who competes with Brett Jones, maybe now that he's back on the team. Yeah, I'm going to agree with Chad again again I just don't think there's any one player that is valuable enough to command using like all of your cap space unless the Vikings found a way to clear Kirk Cousins quarterback money and not take on a large contract in return and suddenly get very rich I I don't, I don't see the Vikings spending eight figures

per year on anybody. If they did, I would defend it because I would say there are things you've been trying year after year after year that have not worked. And now you're trying something different. And so from that perspective, I would, and look, when there are, I had this number, but I forget what it was, 14 sacks given up by the guards and five by the tackles last year or something like that. It's like, well, where's your pressure coming from? And maybe your valuable position, maybe other people's is left tackle. Maybe yours is actually the guards with the way your quarterback plays. It's probably not the right move with the very, very little cap base that they have.

And there are so many teams that can outbid them for these two players that it becomes unrealistic. But if they said that Joe Thune was visiting, I would say this is a good thing probably for them. Last one for you, Mac Jones or Trey Lance. Do you want that guy? I can't believe I'm saying this, but no, I don't want either of those guys. I think you got to use your, if you're going

to get them, they're probably a first round pick, certainly for Trey Lance, maybe not for Jones. I'm not sold on Jones. It's hard to, you know, I am admittedly not a college scout and definitely would not know how to evaluate quarterbacks as well as many others. But he has so many wide open receivers. He's playing with potentially two top 10 picks out there. I'm not super high on him. And Trey Lance, I just think there's so much unknown with a guy who I think has started 14 college games at the FCS level.

An awesome story. He's going to be a development guy. And so if you're going to draft him, you probably want somebody already in place. The Vikings have that. So perhaps you can make the argument there, but I would rather let this year play out with Kirk Cousins. And then, you know, while he's on his $45 million cap hit, maybe that's when you draft your development guy. I would like Trey Lance just because I would love to cover it.

Selfishly, I think it would be a ton of fun. I think even if he sits for a year, which could be the case, I think it's a move that gives you a lot of positive trajectory. It gives fans, I think, a reason to believe that, okay, we're headed this way like a lot of people don't want to spin the wheels with Kirk Cousins anymore and I think Trey Lance represents sort of the grass is greener potential might not work out um but if if he's high on the Vikings board why why not get the quarterback now I mean mean, if he falls in your lap,

maybe that changes the calculation. Maybe you say, okay, Cousins is our guy, but if this happens, then we get Trey Lance. Cousins can still be the guy this year. We just don't have to extend him and continue living in purgatory. So I would take Trey Lance. I just have one thing, which is as we've learned about Russell Wilson's growing disconnect with the Seahawks,

it is interesting that part of that stemmed from Seahawks GM John Schneider was willing to draft Patrick Mahomes if Mahomes fell to him because he was so high on the board. They already had quarterback set like the Vikings feel like they do with Kirk Cousins. That Schneider went to Josh Allen's pro day, I think, like, even though they had a top five quarterback, definitive, no doubt about a top five quarterback, they were still scouting, figuring out what was out there and prepared to draft somebody that needed to develop like Patrick Mahomes. So, you know, I think your point is a valid one. I think it says a lot about those quarterback contracts that even with Russell Wilson getting or as good as he is getting that much money, taking up that much space, they couldn't keep

the Legion of Boom together. They couldn't replace those players. They have put together some decent weapons, but still not an offensive line. Like even they're having that problem and their quarterback is one of the hands down best in the league. So if you're you in Minnesota and your quarterback is one of the hands-down best in the league. So if you're you in Minnesota and your quarterback is not as good as Russell Wilson, you should be having that conversation too. I'll say this.

For Trey Lance, I really like what I see with Trey Lance. And sometimes I'll say this, that there might be less information is better for you because then you watch it and you look for, like, okay, why is he a first-round prospect? And you go, ooh, wow. But I do think that if we're moving toward a league that requires athleticism that requires a running game with the quarterback that requires arm strength to make tight window throws Trey Lance has those things and the best part about drafting him this year is that you can know what you have by the time you have to make a decision on Kirk Cousins the following year. So just like

with Jordan Love, where we all went, was it too early for that? Well, it probably was, but they now know what they have in Jordan Love. And my suspicion is that it's not good because he was their number three quarterback. But like, think about that. If you're Green Bay, now, you know, oh, we made a bad draft pick because we had him in practice for a whole year and we need to have somebody else behind Aaron Rodgers. You could do the same thing instead of drafting a guy next year and saying, well, if he doesn't work out, then I guess we're pondered, you know? So it's a, that, that is a fascinating scenario if they're on the board with him because he does have a high ceiling. Mack Jones, I'm kind of out on that decision. But Chad, this was super fun. I'm

loving the Friday round table. I'm loving that we can do this, Sam. And I hope we can do it again very soon. Thank you for all your time, Chad. Happy to do it. You're up to go work, guys. Thanks, Chad.