Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The best rivalries in the NFL and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's comments on Justin Jefferson's future

Episode Date: May 30, 2022

Matthew Coller and Paul Hodowanic run through NFL headlines, starting with a bizarre story in which a baseball player slapped another baseball player over fantasy football. They talked about the best current rivalry in the NFL, what Vikings fans would advise Kevin O'Connell to do differently than Mike Zimmer and what Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said about Justin Jefferson's future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

hello welcome to a memorial day version of. Of course, the day that's always associated with football podcasting. Yes. Memorial Day, right? Matthew Collar, along with WCCO's Paul Hodowanek, we have some awesome hot route questions for you. What's going on, Paul? Not too much. Excited to celebrate on this Memorial Day.

I mean, to be honest, hot routes is the best way we could do it. So I'm jazzed up. I'm not going to take the joke any farther, but the best way we can honor everything is by celebrating the freedom of Hot Routes. So let's go with the intro here. There's news in the NFL today, and it's time to break it down in the only way we know how hot rock style with our spin on football headlines with a mix of frozen tundra's neck roll

and grass game jersey okay paul so yes memorial day is usually generally thought about a little more on the baseball side there's sayings like things don't matter until memorial day which are like um i think they actually do because all the time yeah your team is in last place and it's horrible by memorial day you're probably out of the playoff race. Anyway, so we will start with a baseball-related topic. Baseball player Tommy Pham slapped baseball player Jock Peterson in the face before a game over a situation involving fantasy football. Apparently, Pham felt that Peterson abused the IR system of their fantasy league,

and then Pham had an absolutely insane quote about Peterson messing with his money. First, I mean, is there... And he's a big dog. You saw that? He's a big dog around all the casinos. Did you see that quote? That might be the even better one. That he's like, I'm a high roller, man. I don't know what to tell you. Well, the funniest part of that is that slapping another baseball player does not come without a price. And it was calculated it's going to cost him one hundred and twenty thousand dollars in the suspension fee. So he may be a high roller, but I think one hundred and twenty K, even to like really rich people, one hundred and twenty K is a lot.

So, I mean, even to purple insider. Yeah, it might be considered kind of a bit of money. So this guy clearly has got some issues. But is there anything that could make you angry enough to slap another grown man stemming from fantasy football? Paul, that is our first question. Yeah. No, great first question. Really hot topics that we're hitting on here. I'm the commissioner of my fantasy league, so I want people to put in effort to their roster so if someone tells me like oh yeah i want to play this year like yes i'm into it and

then week three they're like first week of buys second week of buys they have guys still on by like when i'm playing it it's like yeah okay i guess it's nice that i'm gonna win but i like i want the league to be good so i get so angry when people don't look at their lineups and don't check their lineups. Like I will text them and be like, your lineup is not filled out yet. Even if they're like playing me, because I just get so angry with it. Like I want it to be competitive and something people care about. And I hate when they're like, yes, I'm in for fantasy football this year. There's always like the same two or three people where I texted. I'm like, you sure you want to do this? I know you kind of like tune out and they're like, oh yeah, I'm in. And then immediately they're out.

So I have considered slapping someone for that as the draft owner. And as now that everyone has moved out, like we never actually do the draft together. So then I always have to remotely decide the draft order. And then if I'm anywhere in the top, three i immediately get oh this is rigged paul like you got yourself the second overall pick so i also want to slap people when they do that i'm like man i'm just using a random number generator like what do you want me to do like yeah i'll take a video of me pulling things that names out of a hat and they're gonna be like well you knew which one felt like your name so those are two real life scenarios that have gotten me willing to slap someone now uh

is your league does it have i i assume based on what you're saying that it doesn't have stakes that there is not a huge cash prize i mean involved there's a little bit you know we're i don't know like 50 bucks everyone's thrown in it's not nothing so then like it's not like it's not tommy farm money or whatever but you know it's you know you get a nice little 500 at the end of the year that's not bad paul just admitted to illegal gambling in minnesota what are they i thought fantasy sports was fine i don't know i don't know i have no idea but they need to legalize more of this stuff so we can have advertisements on the show.

But so your point about people who quit is absolutely, I think, at the top of the list where even like I'm sure that if there's a sort of crazy thing that you have to do, if you lose the league, which seems to be a pretty common thing now that I saw somebody tweeting out about how they had to take the SATs or something, if they had the worst. So if there's something like that, that you, that everybody agrees to, I would say the person,

so I don't play fantasy. I literally don't have time like podcasting every day, writing every day. It would be, I would be the person you i don't play fantasy i literally don't have time like podcasting every day writing every day it would be i would be the person you're talking about and so out of the generosity and courtesy in my heart i don't play because i know that i will be letting everybody else down and i would be also the person losing so if i agree to some crazy thing but that would be the person i would say you'd want to slap is if everybody agreed to like look you have to dress up as one of those weird dinosaur costumes and go shopping if you lose the fantasy league and then the person who loses like no man i just gave up i didn't even try i i don't have to do that thing somebody who does that i would

also say this person because i was in this will not surprise anybody a stratomatic league for a long time with baseball and trust me if anybody out there plays stratomatic they know it's awesome for for stratomatic baseball and how fun it is it's different than fantasy uh but there were a couple people in the league who would try to absolutely rip you off with traits i mean just oh you have Clayton Kershaw. Can I trade you like another guy in a second round pick? Like, no, I have Clayton Kershaw. I'm not trading him to you. That person who texts you at all hours and the guy, the guy who did it was a friend, but also deserved a slapping at all hours with horrible trade offers like no i am not giving you my best player for nothing okay please stop bothering me

during church i don't really i'm not a big church guy but like right you know what i mean during christmas day stop bothering me i it's the off season. I'm not trading you in, you know, anyway, so I'm not above doing it once. Like if you have like a big name guy, who's kind of fallen off and you hope someone's not really paying attention, I'll do it once. But if someone is legitimately arguing it back to you, like, Oh no, no, no, this will be great. Like at least admit, Oh yeah, I was trying to rip you off. Now that you realize that now we can actually engage in trades, then I feel fine. See, I think it's, I just think it's straight up offensive. It's offensive. Like, what am I a dope? Like for maybe, right. Maybe I have no idea what I'm doing,

but I think, I feel like there's disrespect. Uh, if you're sending some sort of absurd tweet or trade, I mean, that wouldn't make any sort of sense for anybody. That's probably a slappable offense. And then the person who shows up at the draft and then picks players on their favorite team, that person needs to go. The person who's like, I'll take a Irv Smith jr. First, you know, like, come on, what do you do? Just cause you got his Jersey like that. I think that person also deserves just a little bit of a nudging. Yeah, no, I, I get that. And then this goes back to like my high school days when I was less

organized, but like, I would also be doing the draft and I would just trying to get people to pay me for the league. And it'd be like, Oh no, I'll bring it tomorrow. And then it just didn't have it. And I'm like, so then it got to the point where it's like, no, like before the season, like you're not in, if you don't pay. So like so like i've gotten better but you know when you're just in high school starting it out but i'm hounding kids for money for this fantasy league so that that is also one and then they're like oh no i thought i paid you it's like no no no no i i got it i got it right

down here man like no you didn't that's Yeah, that's tough. It can break up families, fantasy football. It can destroy friendships. It's a very, it could suspend baseball. Very, very dicey thing. So best of luck to Jock and Tommy in whatever fantasy league they're still in. But the thing with me is anything that's super random, I just don't put money into. So when I go to Las Vegas for vacation or something, I go in the casinos and I look around. But I don't know, too much chance for me. Like same thing with fantasy. I hope you're not traveling to Las Vegas then if you're not doing it.

No, it's awesome. Vegas is awesome even if you don't drink or gamble. A little bit, yeah. But there's so much to see. There's a lot of great museums. Anyway, I'm not even kidding about that. It's a really cool place. I've not checked out the museum scene.

That is a blind spot for me. I feel the same way, though, about fantasy football, where even if I had time to play, I would not want to do it for money because there's too much chance involved. And so I would be doing all this research, the data, the analytics. And then when I lost and I've in my entire life of playing time to time fantasy leagues, I've never won one. And I always put in effort and try to set my lineups and drop players and everything else. And I just, I'm just terrible at it. So if you're the person out there who takes it seriously and you're good at it. Bless you. So, all right, next question for you.

Receiver Miles Boykin, who's, you know, in the league, said that he hated the Pittsburgh Steelers when he played for the Baltimore Ravens, but now he plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers. So I want to know this. I want to know the top three most relevant NFL rivalries right now. Not the best ever, but it's always a changing thing, right? For a while, you would have said Pittsburgh, Baltimore. Oh my gosh, like that is a bloodbath.

Every time those two teams play, I don't feel like in recent years that's really carried over. Pittsburgh's been more of a finesse uh passing team and you know baltimore you know lamar jackson is very exciting but it's not the same as when they had ray lewis and ed reed when those two teams would go up against each other so the most relevant uh rivalries in the nfl today yeah i think i mean by first my first two aren't like historic rivalries really, but they are rivalries now. I think the Bills-Chiefs rivalry has to be right up there, just the game we saw this year.

And just in general, Mahomes and Allen, you expect them to have just so many battles going forward. So I think that's the top one for me. And then like Rams 49ers is really interesting too. Another one that's right up there was obviously in the NFC championship game division rivals they have two head coaches that know each other super well there's a lot they both clearly want to beat each other and they're both very much measured up against one another um and I'm pretty sure Shanahan like had McVay's number for a really

really long time until the postseason there so those are kind of two of my favorite ones and now they're kind of moving into different iterations of teams. But if I were to kind of pinpoint one, that's like a historic rivalry that I still really enjoy. It comes from the AFC North. I, and I think it'll be good this year. Like it's, it's bangles Browns, I think would be really good. Obviously both, you know, right in the same state.

So like you have that, and now you have both teams that are really good. And for all the reasons Deshaun Watson's on that team, like there's going to be a lot of reasons to hate the Browns for a lot, a large segment of people, uh, and get behind Joe Burrow and that team. So I think that one's a really, really fun, interesting rivalry right now. So those are my three favorite team rivalries. Yeah. I think that you're projecting out a good rivalry there. If Cincinnati is good for a long time with Joe Burrow and Cleveland doesn't go anywhere with Deshaun Watson, which they probably won't, honestly, he's a pretty good quarterback.

So they will go at it and battle for that division in the future. I don't know if at any time they've ever been real rivals, if it crossed over because the Bengals were really good in the late 80s and very early 90s, but the Browns not so much. And then they had a good year or two under Belichick in the 90s, but the Browns were, well, maybe there would have been some crossover. The Browns were good in the late 80s. That's probably the only time since the Browns have come back in the league. It's been pretty tough for both Cleveland and Cincinnati.

One that I thought of that's been oddly one-sided is New Orleans and Tampa Bay. New Orleans seems to have Tampa Bay's number and their defense against Tom Brady and Tampa Bay's offense. That is not a historic rivalry. That's Tampa Bay has usually been a God awful franchise and new Orleans in recent years in the last decade has been really good. So that's not a historic rivalry, but it's become one in recent years where you really want to watch it. I also thought of, um, Jacksonville and Houston as the Thursday night rivalry.

Oh, so right. So every Thursday night football game is some version of jacksonville and no i'm i'm just kidding but i i think that you hit on the right ones but there's some potential for growth in and i don't really believe in this one necessarily but there's some potential here for miami and buffalo to come back to be a rivalry if miami is fairly legit um kansas city and buffalo was going to be my number one pick because those two teams have gone at each other late into the postseason once upon a time well before you were around paul listen to old man matt here tell you about bruce smith knocking out uh joe montana in the playoffs with kansas city buffalo and kansas city were Montana in the playoffs with Kansas City. Buffalo and Kansas City were great in the early

90s in the AFC. And so that was a bit of a rivalry, I would say. And maybe there's some potential here for Dallas and Philadelphia to start getting a little violent with each other again. Maybe last year we saw a tiny bit of it, but I think it was what Gardner Minshew was playing in the last game when those two played. But now Dallas is a little worse. Philly's a little better. And if those two teams are playing, I think there's something good there in terms of rivalries. But I think that those are the ones presently. There's a fun like within a team rivalry, which is just Baker Mayfield versus the entire

Browns organization. That's a good one. His own team. Yes, that's a good whoever whoever he plays for in the revenge tour he goes on yes um hilarious by the way i saw kyle shanahan say yeah we're trading jimmy garoppolo we just don't know when where how like oh problem solved then sweet if you're jimmy you gotta be like thanks man eat at subway though uh he's kind of known this whole time though i think like even at the end of

last season he was pretty much like yeah this is this is cool he seemed cool with it so jimmy you know he seems like a good dude what's super weird is that like even with the shoulder issue and maybe people are really concerned about it um is that no one would just pull the trigger on that one because like jimmy garoppolo battled deep into the playoffs when he didn't even have to be out there. Like he could have said, sorry guys, you guys are trading me. I am out. Remember when Colt McCoy's dad pulled him from a game at Texas because he got hurt. That's the first reference that comes to mind with this, but you can bench yourself and just be like, sorry, coach, the old chicken wing ain't working today and instead

jimmy fought them all the way to the very end where they had the lead late in the fourth quarter uh for a chance to go to the super bowl i think that if you're maybe what 10 teams could do better by having jimmy garoppolo than the guy they have now so yeah and what's interesting to me is like kirk and jimmy always kind of get kind of clumped as these guys that um if you have really good situations around them they can be really good and like for all for all we know it sounded like Kirk at least had a suitor or two if the Vikings wanted to pursue a trade for him um and and the whole idea is well every offensive coach talks themselves into Kirk Cousins like oh I can be the one to figure out Kirk Cousins. Someone has figured out Jimmy Garoppolo and figured out

how to make him a quarterback that you take to the Super Bowl. So the fact that Kirk has suitors, because people think, oh, we can turn him into something. It's like, you've seen what you can turn Jimmy Garoppolo into, and it's been good enough to get to a Super Bowl, get to an NFC championship game. So that, I mean, I guess you're worried about the injury, but it's very confusing that a team would be willing to take a shot on Kirk and wouldn't be able to, or wouldn't want to take a shot on Jimmy. It's not saying Kirk's a better or worse quarterback than Jimmy right now. That's not really the discussion I want to have. It's just Jimmy has proven that he can win in the playoffs. Kirk hasn't. That's like a fact. So the fact that teams aren't

lining up to trade for Jimmy Garoppolo is kind of confusing because you don't need to like talk yourself into it. Like you can see what it looks like. You just have to do the same thing. And the, I don't know if teams would be able to be Kyle Shannon, but a lot of teams are convincing themselves they can do something with mediocre quarterbacks. I don't know why Jimmy Garoppolo isn't on the top of that list. Well, two teams come to mind for me. One is Miami. Like, yeah, I think I want to give to a little more time, but if I could have Jimmy Garoppolo with Tyreek Hill and the rest of those weapons there, then I would rather take that. And I think that you're a legit contender in the AFC, even as tough as it is just with the supporting cast that you're a legit contender in the AFC, even as tough as it is, just with the supporting cast that you could give them with Tua.

That's really the big question. I mean, I don't know what you do with Tua at that point, but he's not expensive. He could just be your backup quarterback and that, or you could trade him to somebody else, the team that makes no sense here. And maybe they tried to do this and it didn't work out.

I don't know. In what world is Carson Wentz a better option than Jimmy Garoppolo? Because Washington has lots of players. They should be pretty good. And they just drafted another receiver in the first round. They've got Terry McClure in there. I don't know why you think that Carson Wentz is going to do better for you than, I mean, maybe they didn't know about Baker Mayfield situation at that point, but them, them jumping ahead and just trading for Carson Wentz is so goofy when those other guys were still out there. I think Washington probably made a mistake. First mistake that the franchise has made actually. Yeah. Or like even like, yeah, I mean, I guess the Steelers take Kenny Pickett. That's okay. But like,

if you wanted someone proven, like that roster that's another one so yeah i i'm just baffled that jimmy hasn't gotten traded the shoulder has to be worse than what we are thinking if like no one wants to even take a bite at that or everyone has kind of thought i mean maybe it's this 49er thing they want to wait till his value could be higher maybe get a kind of a sam bradford situation where you get a team desperate and we'll trade you more than a third or fourth round pick whatever jimmy's is. So maybe they're just holding out hope that some, someone else has an unfortunate situation and that they can capitalize on it, which isn't a bad idea necessarily, but they, I'm pretty sure they're like maxed up against the cap and that they can't even like sign their

draft picks until they make some cuts. So at this point, like you might've just have to, you know, bite the bullet and take a fourth round pick like you need to sign your guys right what is holding out do for you um trade him to carolina like today and then just just be better for it uh or just play him instead of trey lance but like you said their cap situation is so messed up that they have to do that that wasn't even a question that just came no that just happened the next question is ke Kellen Mond told our mutual friend, Chris Thomason of the Pioneer Press, that Kevin O'Connell's offense has a, quote, a little more flavor and that the fans missed that last year.

I guess he's on Twitter. If Vikings fans could beg Kevin O'Connell to do one thing differently as head coach and he would do it, he would say, the fans have spoken, i will do what you say vikings fans on only this one thing which you know what should be a requirement to coach yeah like wouldn't that be great if fans could vote on one thing that they wanted the coach to do the following year and they had to do it uh but if that were the case in imagination land, what do you think that Vikings fans would vote for? Maybe like never run on second and 10.

I think that that has to be a top favorite. Maybe maybe that's just a favorite of our friend Sam Ekstrom like that. I know that's what he would ask for if he could on his Christmas list every year. It's Vikings. Please don't run on second and 10. So I think that for me, that was the first thing that jumped to mind. And I think, I mean, that's a very relevant thing that the Vikings, if they did this year,

I think everyone would be happy about. So I'm sure there's some outlandish things they could ask for, but I think that's a realistic thing that fans really want to see. They want to see their coaches in play calling, just be more smart than maybe it was in the past and not held down by what whatever mike zimmer wanted to kind of do in the background

so i think that one's realistic it could happen and it's really desired yeah i think that's a good answer is especially not leaning your entire offense on delvin cook. Though there is some evidence, by the way, to suggest that Delvin Cook, even when running successfully, helps the passing offense. It was kind of previously thought that the running game, that defenses play the same no matter what with the running game and play action always works. Well, it's true that play action usually works regardless, but the PFF people looked at the tracking data and linebackers move differently with different running backs and it's not surprising that they move a lot with delvin cook so this goes to the mike zimmer is not a complete moron folks kind of thing like running

delvin cook all the time actually did help them create a lot of big plays, but there is no reason whatsoever to be second and 13 and handoff and, and get three yards and put Kirk cousins in third and long. I think Kirk was top three in, in a third down and long attempts last year. That really should not be a thing that happens. So I'll go though on the game management side. And, um, later this week, I'm going to run a conversation with our buddy Murph that we talked about this game management thing with the biggest areas that o'connell can improve i think just go for it like go for it fourth down not decide today we're doing it tomorrow we're not go for fourth down be like john harbaugh and be super aggressive go for these fourth downs don't be punting away don't be playing it safe or playing

it scared but be aggressive i think that would be another thing and on the other side maybe just like give kirk a high five once in a while maybe that would be a thing that people would vote for because mike zimmer most certainly was not like have regular meetings with your quarterback and like collaborate with him and maybe ask how he's doing you know that could be part of it i think even even better actually because i think zimmer zimmer was one of them like more mid-pack fourth down people overall stop kicking 24 yard field goals i think that that to me if you kick a field goal under 30 yards you should just be putting a rocket ship and sent to the sun like it should be over anything less than what's a extra point right now. Why are we even kicking

it? Right. In the NFL today, if you are at the 10 yard line or under, you should be going for it on fourth down to try and score because that's what you have to do to win games with the way that, you know, scores ping pong back and forth. And we saw some of this last year, but I was even like watching the minneapolis miracle game not too long ago and was reminded that the vikings had a chance to go up 21 and went up 17 instead because they decided to kick a very short field goal early in the game so if they had scored a touchdown there anyway uh okay so speaking of kellen mon by the way like kellen mon has to be pretty happy i I remember when I covered EJ Manuel and Buffalo and they fired.

Well, Doug Marone just quit. This doesn't happen very often that a head coach just quits. But that happened. And EJ Manuel, the night it happened was on New Year's Eve that Doug Marone left. And EJ Manuel tweeted like, Happy New Year, everybody. The minute that story came out, Kellen Mond is going to be the same sort of stuff. This guy gets to just be beaming for a while until training camp.

And then we'll see if it matters. But yeah, I, I forget the exact quote he told the Thomas in, but wasn't it like, yeah, like cause Zimmer obviously kind of called him out or just very subtly. And he basically was like, yeah, you never talked to me about it. I didn't really think about it. It was just like, was Zimmer just like a, kind of a, an outspoken Twitter troll of Kellen Mons.

They didn't even talk about it. They didn't, they didn't chat about it later. It was just, he bashed him, he bashed him online and then, and then never said anything to him. Yeah. Well, you know what I think it was? I mean, Mike Zimmer, I don't believe really apologized for anything that he did to anybody. But also Zimmer was so worn down at that point.

I don't think he had any filter left. And this will be the challenge for their new first time coach is all right. You know, when you're out there getting the nice sunny rays of July and training camp, things are much different than when it is dark and grim and you're fighting for playoff position in, uh, you know, late December. And so I think that Zimmer having known that his season was still on the line there and had to play Sean Mannion, he just had, he just had no patience for any questions after that game and just shot out of his mouth. What was ever was there and said, said a pretty bad thing, uh, that was totally unnecessary, but like, that's what, that's what

the NFL will do to you as a coach. Uh, next question for you, Casey Adolfo Mensah was on PFT doing an interview there. And, uh, he said that he's talked to Justin Jefferson and his agent about a future contract. What would you say to Justin Jefferson and his agent about a future contract. What would you say to Justin Jefferson and his agent to try to make them stay? Say that Kwesi called you up and he said, there's only one person that can get through to him, and it's you. Paul Hodowanek from WCCO Radio. You're the only guy that Justin Jefferson will speak to. I don't even know why. I think it's because the podcast appearances are so good.

What would you say to them about their future uh the agent and justin jefferson to try to get justin jefferson to stay i think if i'm coming at this um seriously i think to be honest like we see this in most sports when you after your rookie deal you just kind of throw all the cash on the table and say, this is yours. Um, if you sign right here and 95% of the time or more, they say, yes, please. And they sign right there. So I think, uh, just that alone, like telling him, trying to lock him up early and saying, this is how much money you can make. Like, look at like, look at this. I think that's a big point um because the Ross like if if I'm trying to make a roster argument it's a little bit in limbo I mean he has a good quarterback at least that's gonna get him stats and he's gonna get him close to records probably

a record if Mike Zimmer doesn't take him out like you have a quarterback right now that can do that but Vikings haven't committed long term to Kirk Cous. And I'm not sure it's wise if they want to win, uh, to commit to him super long-term. So it's hard to make a roster argument. Like you should stay because of this, like the other kind of pieces around him. By the time he's coming up for a new contract,

like feeling is going to be a couple of years older. That's going to not be as consistent. Dobbin cook's going to be a couple years older that's going to not be as consistent Dobbin Cook's going to be a couple years older at the end of his deal probably the point where you say it's not really worth bringing him back he's probably kind of on the edge of his career so like from an offensive perspective the roster personnel isn't great so I think you have to sell him one on just a bucket load of cash you know you probably have to gritty for him um and you I would say you got to pitch him on Kevin O'Connell like Kevin O to gritty for him um and you i would say you got to pitch him on kevin o'connell like kevin o'connell has to be good and you have to say

he's coming from this ram system look what they've done with cooper cup even with robert woods odell beckham like doesn't have to be we always say cooper cup but robert woods has been a really good ride receiver for a long time odell beckham's career just gets rejuvenated when he goes over to the Rams. So I think you have to sell him on the coaching staff being better and hopefully kind of a long-term view. You have to have that mapped out, but I mean, the most persuasive argument is just going to be showing him all the money, I think. And so I would do that. I'd gritty for him. I would, I don't, I don't know what I would do, but maybe, yeah, I, I could, could you offer him, you know, a little, little ownership stake. I mean,

the Timberwolves just did it. I don't know. I can't actually do that, but, um, well, a little under the table action, get him some ownership stake that would keep him there. Um, do you have any other like compelling, serious arguments for why you would convince him to stay. You mean in the same way that Robert Kraft funneled money to Tom Brady through his whole TB12 thing or whatever it was, and people wrote about it and reported on it and no one did anything. You mean that way? Yeah, I guess you could have him set up a phony business and embezzle money for him. You could do that. That's certainly on the table, but honestly,

if you've never heard of this, like Google it, Google it, like Robert craft, like funneling money to Tom Brady. It's a real thing. Just no one has ever cared. But I'm not,

I'm not like tinfoil hatting here. It's real. But anyway, I think I would say to Justin Jefferson, here's, here's two ways you can look at this. We know that you're going to get the money. You're going to get the money from anyone. But will you get decision-making power from anyone?

You know how LeBron James gets to fire coaches and trade for his friends and everything else? That's you, my friend. You can have in writing decision-making power, not as in you make all the decisions, but as in you are in the meetings when we make the decisions. They want to be collaborative, collaborate with the best player. And Justin Jefferson, if he was a really good receiver, but was kind of a dope, I wouldn't even bring it up. He's not kind of a dope. I think he has a really good vision but was kind of a dope i wouldn't even bring it up he's not kind of a dope i think he has a really good vision of what works in the nfl and he's a smart guy so i think that that's even though it would be sort of unprecedented is not a crazy thing to say in the world of athlete empowerment you sir are the most empowered every coat like every coach firing

we're gonna have the quarterback decision. Guess who's in that meeting. That is you, Justin Jefferson, or at least you can zoom call in. Like you're going to have a voice in this room on decisions. There's no other team that's going to offer you that. And then on the flip side, look, my friend, I know that in this world, if somebody wants out of a place, they can get out. We're not letting you out. Like we have lots of contract things we can do. We can franchise tag you. And if you hold out, we will just let you get fined. Like we will play the hardest of hardest ball because you're not going anywhere. Now that's not a great model because

that doesn't really implore him to want to play his best for your franchise but you could say look i mean it's not an easy thing to just get yourself out of here now one of the interesting things that was layered into this comment from quesia daflamensa was that you wouldn't trade a player when you're competitive that is is of Justin Jefferson's caliber. They're going to have to prove that. Like that's the biggest thing with Jefferson is what he's saying is, well, we don't plan to be bad. So we're not rebuilding. So we wouldn't trade a player like this. Prove that though.

You have to prove that because if you go seven and whatever, eight or whatever, again, and you miss the playoffs for four straight years, what's your case to Justin Jefferson? So that's a real reason that if you're going to push all the chips in and say, we're going to be good this year, you actually have to make good on that. Because if your draft picks don't work out and your signings don't work out, Justin will not miss and his agent will not miss the fact that you guys don't know what you're doing if that ends up being the case. So they have to hit on these decisions that they're making to convince him that he wants to stay yeah and you tell him don't worry we'll play you in week 18 when you want to get the record

we're not going to pull you out that's well we'll do that too but we're going to target you at least he was on the field that's what makes it worse he was right there just throw it to him yeah that's i'm not gonna relive that that's kirk that's kirk's problem though all kirk had to do was go i don't hear the call i guess i'll just make a call he knew it was gone like who cares right right do it do it for your guy we all blamed zim because he said the stupid thing after the game but tom brady ignored a call to throw the ball to Gronk to get him an extra bonus check. Don't think it can happen. Anyway, final question for you. I saw a headline with Marquise Goodwin being quoted.

I was like, Marquise Goodwin? Sure. Still in the league. I mean, this guy's been around a long time. Wide receiver, apparently playing for Seattle now. I want several players for you as we wrap up, um, who you can't like what that guy is still in the league when you look through or when headlines pop up or rosters or fantasy drafts, and you're like, come on, you can't draft that guy. There's no way he's still on a team, but they are who comes to mind for you. Yeah. For the first thing I thought of is there's no way he's still on a team but they are who comes to mind for you for yeah for the

first thing i thought of is there's got to be some backup quarterbacks that i don't remember out there that are still doing their thing uh i was just googling names to be like is this guy still playing is this guy still playing you know who's still playing uh chad henney still playing just doing his doing his thing doing his thing Chad Henney. Pride of Michigan Wolverines. Yeah, you could have told me he retired four years ago. I wouldn't have been able to say. You could have told me no one signed Trevor Simeon after he was on the Vikings. Trevor Simeon is very much still in the league.

I was kind of trying to think of the Vikings one, and someone I'm always surprised. I'm always surprised when Michael Pruitt comes up on a screen, and I think of him still in the league. I'm always surprised when Michael Pruitt comes up on a screen and I think of him still in the league. Like I'm, I just was thinking of Vikings that still pop up. I was like, what? An old guy that's still in there. Mercedes Lewis. I'm like, I, I feel like I've grown up your entire career is still, you're still playing.

So those are the ones. And then the obvious one. I mean, I know he's still playing, but Tom Brady. So those are all the ones I'm like, you're still around. But who stuck out to one, I mean, I know he's still playing, but Tom Brady. So those are all the ones I'm like, you're still around. But who stuck out to you? I mean, a lot of the old guys that are still in the league are still pretty relevant. Like Jason Peters is still relevant. Like obviously Brady, Rogers, a lot of the, I think Whitworth is now done, but he was still very relevant for a long time.

So what, who sticks out to you? Chad Henney, by the way, had that incredible run in the AFC championship game to be, or no, no, the divisional round to beat Cleveland. I think that was what, three years ago. So put his name back on the map. Sure. Joe Flacco for me is pretty shocking

that Joe Flacco is a New York Jet presently. I would not have guessed that Joe Flacco was still hanging around somewhere. Did he get in a game last year? Where was he playing? Phil was at Philadelphia. That was, but they got Gardner Minshew. So was he traded somewhere?

Is it jets? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Apparently nobody has signed in Dominican Sioux, but I feel like I haven't heard anything about in dominican sioux in a really long time maybe since the super bowl thought that in dominican sioux was out of the league he's still a free agent golden tate is still trying to take that last shot at it these i mean yeah these guys always tend to show up i'm looking at like the age

30 whatever remember when des bryant tried to come back and then like tore everything in his leg yeah it was funny i mean not funny as in haha but like what des bryant he's still i don't remember was he he was on like the saints or something yeah well technically but then he ended up getting hurt um so these guys still exist the funny thing about this is like when you see a player who you're surprised is still in the league pernell mcphee is another guy he had this huge game in 2016 against the vikings and i didn't hear anything about him after that apparently still in the league um tyra charles clay still in the league that would baffle me i don't think so i don't think charles clay is still in the league no i think he retired he retired. But it is. That would have got me.

Was Richard Sherman on a team last year? Didn't he sign with someone? Did he sign with the. Tampa? I think he signed with Tampa last year. Yes, maybe. I'm just like the oldest players who have not officially retired. And there's a bunch of guys who are kind of basically retired.

Throw you random like second, third string running backs and see if you know what team they're on these guys are all on teams like okay where's duke johnson right now duke johnson uh let's see was with cleveland and to houston is he still with houston no he's on buffalo oh for you at one time people talked about fantasy people of course like hey like, hey, you know, it was really good. Duke Johnson's like, no, they have no receivers. They just throw to the running back all the time, folks. Do you know where Gio Bernard is? Come on.

No way. Gio Bernard? Yeah. Yeah. Tampa. Yes. Nice. I feel like that one popped into my brain just after.

Old friend. Where's Mike Boone? Where's Mike Boone? Denver. Yes. I saw Mike Boone get hurt seriously last year in joint practices. That's how I know that he was in Denver. Okay. Got it.

Tevin Coleman. You know where Tevin Coleman is? Former Falcon and 49er is now with Miami. No. Tevin Coleman is with the Jets. So this is like, these are all the guys that would, you don't play fantasy football, but for anyone that does, these guys are the ones that are constantly on the like waiver list. Like, do I need to pick up Duke Johnson for a week? Cause my running backs on by.

Oh yes. And then he gets like four points, you know? So that this is the, that's like, that's what's going on in my head right now with these guys. Are you looking at is on the Colts? What's going on there? I don't know. I did not expect that.

I should have gone initially. I went to pro football reference and looked up like players who are the oldest in the league. That was a mistake. I should have just gone right to over the cap because it has their contracts. Oh, sure. So that would make things easier. Let's see. But yeah, no, that, that i mean that has become such a journeyman position it's actually kind of

ridiculous like sony michelle do you know where he is you have it in front of you i don't but wasn't he on the rams at the end of last year he was he ran over the vikings but then he ended up on the Dolphins. Okay. They signed him as off season. How about, okay, Deontay Foreman? I mean, because you're asking me this, he can't be on Tennessee because that was like the mini Derrick Henry. It was just like another version of Derrick Henry. Is he on like the Raiders?

I don't know. Like he seems like a Raider, like him in a Raiders? I don't know. Like he seems like a Raider, like him in a Raiders running back uniform looks right. I had no idea what a treasure trove this was. I've got like eight more. How long do you people have on Memorial Day? I know you're not working. You're driving somewhere.

You're driving home from a cabin. You have nothing better. I'm going to delete the rest of the podcast and we're going through the rest of these. This is it. So Deontay Foreman is now with the Panthers. How about, how about Rex Burkhead? That would have been one. If you told me he's not in the league, I would,

I would have agreed with it. No, no, he was on Texans. He's on the Texans. That's good. Yeah. Well done. That one came out late. Yeah. Seems like a Texan. Am I right? Okay, so there's a couple more here that I have. How about Mark Ingram? Where's Mark Ingram? Well, he was on the Ravens, but maybe... I think he went...

Did he go back to the Saints? I think he got cut and went back to the Saints. You are correct, sir. I was trying to throw you a little curveball. Mark Ingram went back to the Saints. Timeout gummery in the league former packer guy i thought he was at i thought he was on the jets a while ago is he still on i mean no they can't have they can't have bruce hall like i just gave you one i thought that are all on the they'd have like seven running backs he's on atlanta cordell patterson look alike i don't know 2. No, he's on the Patriots. So they will use him like they used Cordell Patterson.

There are, I promise you, there are more. Ronald Jones II, Super Bowl champ, Ronald Jones. He's not with the, he's with the Bucs still. You're trying to get me. No, these are all people with new jobs. This is, he plays for wait i just had it uh the chiefs is where he is now yep so that's a new one let me find let me find one more one more oh okay all right no no two more they're both too good to not say sorry i saw two of them

um okay where is amir abdullah where is where in the world is amir abdullah okay i was gonna say denver but that they have mike boone so that they got their situation figured out um for their fourth string running back uh amir abdullah is on he's the third string running back on the Cowboys. That's where Amir Abdullah is. A similar combination of colors. He is a Vegas Raider, Amir Abdullah. And the last one, Matt Breida.

Remember Matt Breida. He was floating on the scene as a 49er and then quickly disappearing. I think he was on the Dolphins and he got hurt. Okay, so he's not on the dolphins anymore um matt brita is on the steelers now matt brita is a new york giant until he gets hurt he is a new york giant what what a game thank you all for playing along hopefully you got them all right and if you did you're a sociopath that is as simple as that also marlon mack is a texan that's another one that stuck out to me yeah you could i would not have guessed he was in the league so okay that's all i got at least

trent richardson's not in the league i would hope i don't think he's on a team can you believe that trent richardson played in the aaf and wasn't good. That's really tough. That's something. He had to have a good year at some point, maybe. No, it was an atrocity from day one. 2012. Okay, he averaged 3.6 yards a carry.

11 touchdowns, though, so 950 yards. That's like what we were saying with Duke Johnson, where someone has to get the ball. But, okay, well, get the ball. Um, but, uh, okay, well that's random running backs and where are they now? The game you always dreamed of playing while you were cooking hot dogs,

uh, for Memorial day. So happy Memorial day to all of you who aren't working. Thanks so much, Paul on Memorial day weekend for taking the time for all of this ridiculousness. And the Vikings will be back, uh,

at OTAs this week. We'll discuss it as always. And, uh, we'll talk to y'all soon.