Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The most interesting players in Vikings camp and the best players in the NFL

Episode Date: July 31, 2020

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Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizway or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate. Hi, Blue Wire listeners. I'm Greg Olson. I'm excited to partner with Blue Wire to bring you TE1, a podcast where I interview the tight ends who have revolutionized the position. Listen in as I have raw, in-depth conversations with the all-time greats

like Shannon Sharp, Tony Gonzalez, Travis Kelsey, and George Kittle. We'll explore how the tight end position has changed over the last 60 years and what it takes to be the very best. Subscribe to TE1 from Blue Wire Studios today so you're ready for the August premiere. Well, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here, and joining me from The Athletic is Chad Graff. What is going on, Chad? Not a whole lot.

The golf game isn't working out quite like I had hoped it might be at this point in the summer with training camp around the corner. So I'm actually looking forward to starting to spend my summer days at a football field again you know i really wish the other day when we played that you had had a bad day like i did so i would have felt better every tree limb that was hanging over a fairway i hit every sand trap i ended up in and you hit out of the sand and it rolls up a hill and right down next to the hole so i i know that we all have our good days and bad days, but the other day when we played, you had everything go right, I had everything go wrong.

It was like I was the Dallas Cowboys special teams last year, and you were the Vikings with injuries. Yeah, I guess the motivation that I needed to finally have a decent round was knowing that we would make small talk about it at the start of your podcast. And now that's the only way I can play halfway decent golf. Yeah, there you go. Motivation to get out there and practice some more. Here's what I want to ask you, and I've got some hot routes for us to run through.

But I want to start with the most interesting people in Vikings training camp since it's happening, and I'm just going to put my blinders on and not look at Major League Baseball at all and how that's working out and assume that NFL players will be more responsible than, say, the Marlins going out to a club in Atlanta and bringing back coronavirus to everyone, but you never know. So did Michael Pierce's opt-out make the most interesting people of training camp change for you, Chad? I think it did, and, you know, put myself

in my shoes a year ago, I can't imagine that I would be saying here as it's late July, almost August in 2020, that Armin Watts might be the most interesting player of Vikings training camp. And yet he went from a guy who could compete for the three technique job to is either the favorite for the three technique job or possibly the replacement for Linval Joseph slash Pierce I just have no idea what they're going to do it's kind of like the guard situation where you can guess you can plug and play but until you really know what position even the guys are going to play it's hard to know like you don't know who's going to play guard because you don't know if Ezra Cleveland is going to play guard or tackle. And so I think it's pretty similar with nose tackle and three technique,

who goes where. So suddenly James Lynch, the rookie, Armand Watson in his second year are super interesting to me. Jamar Steffen was a guy who I thought was going to have to do a heck of a lot just to retain a starting job, let alone, you know, maybe even make the team. And because of this, I don't know how you could, A, leave retain a starting job, let alone, you know, maybe even make the team. And because of this, I don't know how you could, A, leave him off the roster, but B, I have a hard time finding, you know, a scenario in which he's not the starter. So

suddenly, I think one of the biggest areas of concern for the Vikings, which was interior defensive line, has just gotten that much more important in the last 24 hours. I do feel like I've spent a lot of time on this show talking about Armand Watts for someone who played like 123 snaps or whatever it was last year but his week 17 tape was so interesting the way he played against Chicago and was really dominant and I thought there were some signs of like Sheldon Richardson like rushes the quarterback, but he was able to stuff a couple of runs playing at that nose tackle position, and he shot from being on my list in general to being maybe the most interesting in camp, because if he can win that starting job and he

can consistently play like he did in Week 17, which was against starters, it wasn't a glorified preseason game for Chicago. They were playing all their players. If he looks like that, they may have found themselves something here. And then when Michael Pierce comes back, maybe you're looking at Armond Watts and Michael Pierce as your guys for the years to come. But if Watts does not look like that guy, and it was just one good game against a Chicago team that doesn't care, then things become way more tricky with this position, because Jaleel Johnson filling in last year was a fill-in only, the way that I looked at it. I mean, if you look at his PFF grades, he was one of the bottom in the entire league against the run, which is what you really need that position for, and he has not been an impact player in the pass rush when he has gotten opportunities.

To me, he looks like a guy who has a long NFL career as someone who's a backup and fills in at either position. So if Watts does not rise to the challenge, then you wonder, will they wait and see if they want to bring somebody else in off the free agent market? Because it's not exactly at this point, even with a lot of good free agents at other positions it's not exactly a robust position Chad to start bringing people in at that nose tackle spot not at all but what I like about Arma Watson the way that I think you could sell yourself on him as somebody who is more than just you know an interesting name to throw out in late July because you have two or three of those every year Chad Beebe whether I think that was just a year ago that was Chad Beebe,

was the guy that was going to take over on third down for the Vikings. So it seems like at this point every season there are players who just get thrown out there, and it's because they have an opportunity. But at the end of the day, those players are not able to take advantage of those opportunities. But I think Watts could be different because whenever he has been on the field, whenever he has gotten chances, he's performed. That goes back to his college days.

He's a guy who didn't really play at all his freshman year. He was redshirted, didn't play his freshman year, didn't play his sophomore year, barely played his junior year, finally got a chance as a starter and had a great senior year in college, comes to the NFL, doesn't really play early, starts to get a few snaps here and there, and on the limited snaps that he did get, all of a sudden he was out there making plays. So, you know, perhaps he's one of those guys that, for whatever reason, maybe doesn't do enough in practice to earn it, but I don't know.

It's hard for me to argue with the production that he's had in games going all the way back to his college days too. And they do have this history of finding these guys with Andre Patterson and developing these guys over years. I wouldn't have been convinced several years ago that Steven Weatherly would eventually make 12 million dollars on a contract. I just would not have thought that. Or that Afadi Adetogbo was going to be the replacement to Everson Griffin. Right, somebody who's been cut twice and I was going to ask you who else on this defensive line would be on your list for most interesting players,

because in terms of which position group is most fascinating, I think the D line has suddenly risen to the top right there with cornerback and offensive line. It was basically just cornerback, offensive line, wide receiver for five months of the off season. And suddenly, you know,

suddenly you kind of look at the defensive line and you think what if a Foddy Adenikvot isn't as good as everybody thinks like people are penciling him in to keep the project production that he had last season seven sacks obviously was very good spelling Everson Griffin at times rushing from the inside on third down but it's a whole other thing when you are the guy when you're starter, when the left tackle is preparing to face you all week, knows you're coming at him. I think Afadi Adenikbo is going to be good. I think he showed that last season, but he hasn't done it as a starter. And if he is not, you know, even if he is not a guy who can get to six sacks

over the course of the season, that defensive line looks drastically different. Yes, we all know Danil Hunter is, you know, one of the best probably five edge rushers in the NFL, but you're going to need more than that. And you're probably going to need a lot more than, you know, a struggling Ifadi Adenipo, Joel Johnson, maybe Jalen Holmes gets in there. Hercules Mata'afo is one of those guys that we were talking about a ton at this time last year. And now I don't know if he'll make the team. So it's sort of, you know, I think it's a little bit emblematic

of the Vikings on the whole, where it could be a pretty volatile season. I think there's a scenario in which Armin Watts turns out to be a great player. If Adi Adenenbro keeps up what he did a year ago, James Lynch, the rookie, you know, steps in and can provide a pass rush from that three technique spot. But there's also a scenario where it goes really, really poorly, and nobody sort of lives up to expectations outside Hunter. This is the widest variance season that we have seen under Mike Zimmer, really, in terms of predictability, where you could say, you know what,

this one could become seven and nine. Eric Eager from PFF was on here talking about how he thinks the Vikings go six and ten which would be really shocking I think if they were that bad but you could also see a lot of things clicking into place like you're mentioning and another one of those things for my list of guys that are most interesting is Holton Hill because again on the variance level, you could see a ton of different outcomes for Holton Hill. The fact that he did not get a chance to play over Xavier Rhodes last year gives me some pause to saying, oh, yeah, lock him in. He's definitely the starter. I mean, I think if Zimmer was sold on that possibility last year,

he would have given him a shot as a rotational player instead of Rhodes because Rhodes was struggling so much. But then again, you go back to 2018, he steps in, he's really, really good, and he's one of the few players that has experience in Zimmer's system. So whether he goes out there with the first team on the first day or not will be, I think, a big story. I completely agree, and yet if he's not first team, if he does not turn out to be a good player, I don't know what in the world you do if you're the Vikings. Like suddenly Cameron Dantzler is a guy after everybody debated, is he running a 4-6, a 4-7, a 4-4? How fast is this guy?

Suddenly this is the guy, the rookie that you're relying on for everything. The Vikings Entertainment Network put out, I think, what was kind of a cool behind-the-scenes video of the whole draft process for the Vikings. It showed some of the mock drafts and stuff that they did. But, you know, of course, you can't hide Mike Zimmer's reactions and feelings toward things. So it was just amazing to watch how badly he felt the Vikings needed cornerback help to the point where they're about to get Justin Jefferson

to steal at this point in the draft. Everybody in the room is so excited. And Mike Zimmer makes some crack about, great, we're going to have to win games 56 to 55 or something like that. Which tells you that, you know, even he has a little bit of concern for that whole side of the ball. And I would imagine specifically in the secondary, he's sort of downplayed it a little bit with us but I think if you got some true serum in Mike Zimmer he'll tell you there are a lot of questions to be answered at cornerback most certainly are and you're right about Holton Hill being a swing player that if he does not step into that role maybe Chris Boyd ends up getting a shot there whether Mike Hughes is going to play in the nickel or not, we don't really know yet. Go to the offensive side and give me your non-rookie most interesting players on the offensive side. I mean, I would start at wide receiver just because that's the other spot that

we've been so fascinated in. And I'd say Tajay Sharp. We don't know a ton about this guy. He had good production early in his career. He hasn't exactly had tons of great quarterbacks or tons of great offensive coordinators to work with, and so the Vikings feel like there is some untapped potential there. But if you don't have him playing well, then you're back to B.C. Johnson, you know, at that point I think would become your for sure number three, and B.C. Johnson did some nice things, had some good moments last season. But I think he would have to take a pretty big step for you to feel comfortable with what you've got in your three wide receivers with, you know, even noting that you don't have any depth beyond that.

You're just going to need somebody to step up from the wide receivers. I don't have a ton of faith that that's going to be Chad Beebe. I don't have a ton of faith that it's going to be one of the seventh rounders from a year ago. Maybe Alexander Hollins could be noteworthy, but I don't know. Dylan Mitchell, Davion Davis, Courtney Davis. A lot of these guys I don't have huge expectations for. K.J. Osborne, the fifth round pick, they basically come out and said, yeah, he's a special team, or we're excited to see how he returns it,

ignoring the fact that they need wide receivers. So Sharp, I think we're going to have to keep an eye on him because the Vikings really need him to be able to, you know, play well and push at the very least B.C. Johnson for that third spot. Before we get back to the conversation, I want to remind you to go to sodastick.com to get your original Minnesota sports-inspired goods. Baseball is back, and Soda Stick just launched its latest partnership

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Code PURPLEINSIDER for free shipping. Yeah, if there was one criticism for the offseason that you could make, it would be that maybe another playmaker would have been required here at the receiver position was there one more guy that you could have brought in if tajay sharp does not work out because in past years we have seen that guy who has 20 catches or something the year before come in oh he's going to be the number three receiver and then it doesn't work out. Kendall Wright might have had 50 catches the year before, and he got cut. Jordan Taylor was that guy last year.

I won't go into depth about your long-form Jordan Taylor feature or anything else like that, except for I will definitely hold that against you for life. I think I wrote 15,000 combined words the last two years on Jordan Taylor and Brandon Zylstra. Oh, yes, Brandon Zylstra. He did make the team, and he had one catch against the Jets, and it was a good catch.

Good catch, good catch. I remember doing Canada radio several times during that preseason, getting phone calls from Canadian radio stations being like, how does Brandon Zylstra look? Edmonton loved him. Yeah. Oh, yeah. 12-9, you Yeah. Oh, yeah. TSN 1290 or whatever it is.

Yeah, yep, yep. They were definitely intrigued with Brandon Zylstra. And there's another Brandon Zylstra story that I won't tell on the podcast. It's pretty good. So, anyway, in that receiver group, I thought that there should have probably been one more signing, one more intriguing player to bring in. I am going to say – oh, did you have something?

I was just going to give you one more name for the offense. As we're thinking and talking about what if this person doesn't live up to expectations, and the other person I would add to that on the offensive side, maybe probably more important than Tajay Sharp is Drew Samia. What if Drew Samia is not good? He played well in the very limited sample that we got to see from him at the end of the season, but he's sort of the only one who is more than penciled into a starting job, for guards anyway, and the Vikings don't have a lot of options if Drew Samia is not ready. There was a reason he didn't play his rookie season, so

you better hope he's ready. I think he's probably ready. He's probably the best guard you have, but if he's not very good, I don't know what you do. He was actually the next on my list that I was going to ask you about was Drew Samia, and getting a feel for whether he could play or not is really tough. Week 17, they seemed to be happy with his play. Pro Football Focus was less impressed with his play in week 17. And, you know, you go back to the beginning of last year in training camp, he was a rookie, but he was far behind. He was with the third team almost the entire preseason, if not through the whole way. And then I think it was Mike Zimmer basically called it a redshirt year for him and Ole Udo.

Now, with Udo, I totally understand because he's a tackle. He came from Elon University, like somewhere that, you know, would not have played at a super high level against great competition. Whereas Drew Samia came from Oklahoma. And so the expectation would have been that he stepped in quicker. That didn't really happen. And now we're talking like, oh, yeah, lock him in. He's a starter but if he's not then there's a domino effect here of who is then like do they keep Pat Elfline on

the offensive line I think that Vikings fans might bring their pitchforks and you know whatever arrows to US Bank Stadium if Pat Elfline is the, but I'm almost struggling to see a way that he isn't a starter at this point if Samia doesn't win that job. And then, you know, there's the Riley Reif-Ezra Cleveland dynamic. Does Ezra Cleveland win a job there? But I think it kind of all depends. If Samia is good, then they can have a decent offensive line this year that's better than last year. And Cleveland, as you mentioned, goes so far in that. Like if Ezra Cleveland comes in and blows them away, like they drafted him similar to Brian O'Neal where you said, we think the sky is the limit for this kid. He's going to be a really good offensive tackle someday, but it might take a little bit of time. Said that about Brian O'Neal.

Brian O'Neal basically said, F you, I'm good right now. If Ezra Cleveland can do that as well, then maybe you can move Riley Reif inside. And as you mentioned, I think if you got a good Cleveland at one of the two tackle spots, maybe you move Brian O'Neill, maybe you don't. But if you got a good Cleveland, Riley Reif at guard, Bradbury, Dozier probably, and then O'Neill, that's maybe an above average line if everybody plays to how they they can however that's a giant ask of a second round or you know late uh day two pick to come in and just be a starting left tackle or starting right tackle right off the hop the other scenario that I thought might create a better line where it matters most which is in pass protection last

year Kirk Cousins was still the 10th most pressured in terms of percentage quarterback in the league create a better line where it matters most, which is in pass protection. Last year, Kirk Cousins was still the 10th most pressured in terms of percentage quarterback in the league, which is amazing since they rolled him away from pressure half the time. That means when he was dropping straight back, he was getting pressured a ton. If you were looking at that as your main goal for the offensive line, Rashad Hill at left tackle, where when he's played on the left side, he has been a very good pass protector. Right side has been much more wobbly over there. But last year against Philadelphia allows zero pressures, stepping in off the bench for Riley Reif,

and then you move Reif inside to guard, that that might be another possibility that gets considered. This team really does love Rashad Hill. So maybe, maybe. And you mentioned Ole Udo. It's probably too big of an ask to go from, I think it was seventh round pick or whatever it was, Ewan, basically the redshirt year to then be a starting tackle. But, you know, they really, truly did like the progress that he made last

year. So maybe there's a chance there. One other note, just about those Kirk Cousins stats that you were mentioning, someone pointed out to me that a stat that, you know, is probably a bit deceiving if you didn't watch a ton of Vikings games and understand the offense that they ran, but Kirk Cousins actually ranked number one in the NFL outside the pocket, which is not something you would ever think Kirk Cousins would rank number one at, but just because of how often they would roll him out, he'd hit Stephon Diggs deep. You rack up the yardage and the touchdowns, and next thing you know, you're the best quarterback outside the pocket in the NFL. Right. There's outside the pocket on schedule, and there's off schedule. On schedule, he is tremendous. Off schedule, not so much, but the one that sticks in my mind, though, him rolling to his left,

he had a perfect quarterback rating rolling to his left. The throw against Detroit that got Adam Thielen hurt was a preposterous throw. I mean, just perfect, rolling to his left, flings around, fires it right into the back of the end zone, a covered Adam Thielen. He definitely made some throws outside the pocket last year that were tremendous. But that did not solve all the issues, and when you have third and nine, that means everybody is, to use the football terms, pinning their ears back, and you've got to have better pass protection than they did last year. Are you ready, Chad, for some hot routes? I know you've missed this from

when we used to do it on the show and when you used to fill in for me on the show. So are you prepared? My favorite segment that you brought to the show, I couldn't be more excited. I skipped my iced coffee because I knew this would wake me up. This would jack you up. This is your shot of adrenaline. All right, let's go. Here's some hot routes. There's news in the NFL today.

It's time to break it down in the only way we know how. Hot Rod style. Earl! Johnny! With our spin on football headlines with a mix of frozen tundras. Let's be a cold-weather team. Neck rolls. I want a hot new ball!

And grass-danged jerseys. The good old-ping Gut was probably the biggest difference in the game. Okay. All right, Chad. Here is your first hot route in a very long time, far too long, in fact. First question. Between the NFL's top 100 list and Madden ratings, every player in the NFL has been disrespected this offseason and has tweeted about how they will have a chip on their shoulder now

because of the disrespect. Patrick Mahomes, fourth on the NFL 100 list, which is indeed hilarious because he's the best player in the league, but I want you to tell me who your top five players in the NFL are. And I would also like to add, the NFL 100 is a fun thing. Take it for what it is. When they say the players did it, some players didn't play who did it. Let me just put it that way, having been in the locker room when it's been done. So give me your top five, Chad, players in the NFL. Well, I'm glad you added the caveat about the NFL top 100 because I've probably started to type out tweets, making fun of it,

knocking it because we've seen, you know, players just fill out former college teammates or friends in the league or people in the same agency. So glad you started with that caveat. Second of all, I struggled with this more than I anticipated. You said top five players. I thought this is going to be super easy. And my first two, I think, were. It's going to be hard to argue, I think, with these top two, which are, you want to go one through five or five to one?

Whatever way you want to go. One through five is fine. One, two, super easy, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Donald. I have a hard time finding a better player on offense hard time finding a better player on defense Aaron Donald is just a beast Patrick Mahomes uh MVP Super Bowl MVP you saw what he could do um and you know probably still hasn't reached his full potential yet so that's my one After that, things get a little more dicey. And I was trying to stick with positions that matter a good deal. And we know how important a shutdown corner is. So while this person, you know, maybe receives some of our too much credit for playing in a big market and

on a very good team, I'm actually going at number three, Stephon Gilmore, cornerback from the New England Patriots. So impressed when we saw him play just the one time. We don't get to watch too many other AFC teams play, just by nature of often being at US Bank Stadium at noon. But I do love to go back and watch Patriots games, just because he is one of the few remaining like true shutdown corners even through all the changes that the NFL has made made me easier for wide receivers

he is just unbelievable so he's my third best player in the NFL number four I had to go back to quarterback you can't just have one quarterback it's too important of a position so I went with a guy the Vikings have actually done a decent job against, even though they always lose to him in this team. Russell Wilson from the Seahawks. Just so much fun watching him play. I think he and Mahomes are, in my mind, the queer first and second best quarterbacks in the NFL. Lamar Jackson and others have a case to be made just behind them. But to me, it's Russell Wilson, Patrick Mahomes, and everybody else. So he was number four for me.

And then rounding out the list is where I had the hardest time. There's a lot of good edge rushers. You know, you could have put Lamar Jackson in the defending MVP. There's a lot of different ways you could have gone. I didn't have a wide receiver, and I kept it that way. I went with George Kittle after a monster couple of seasons in San Francisco, a guy who's just a beast blocking, he's the closest thing to Rob Gronkowski that we've seen,

one of the few tight ends who can legitimately change a game. So that was my top five. We'll get back to the conversation in just a second, but have you ever heard of deal dash.com it's the best most honest bidding site where you can win things you'd never expect at a price that you'd never believe they have over 1 000 auctions every day on electronics appliances beauty products home decor even cars here's how it works it's like an auction but every item starts at zero dollars and then goes up one cent every time you bid.

The kicker is that the auction clock restarts every 10 seconds. That means every time you bid, everyone else has 10 seconds to answer or the item is yours. If you go ahead and buy now, DealDash is offering up our listeners 100 free bids upon sign-up on top of their other discounts. Go to deal-dot-com and use the offer code INSIDER, deal-dot-com-dot-fm-slash-insider. That is D-E-A-L-D-A-S-H-dot-fm-slash-insider. All right, so I had several of the same names, including Stephon Gilmore as being one of the best. Yeah, I mean, consider the

positional value and what he's meant to the Patriots defense, which has actually had more pressure on them over the last couple of years, especially in the Super Bowl when their offense was not exactly lighting it up. So I had Gilmore. Everyone would have Aaron Donald and Patrick Mahomes. The other couple of positions are a little trickier. Russell Wilson makes a lot of sense. He was on my list. Also, I mean, you're just going to find very few players who can do as much with so little from their play caller, I think, a lot of times. As Russell Wilson, in an offense that runs the ball probably too much and he just can make something out of nothing and big-time throws, and he wins games even when his team has been not that great. That's what I look for for a quarterback, just elevating everybody around them. Where I got into a tricky spot was the same place as you.

Like, there's so many nominees for who could be this other person. I mean, Khalil Mack. That's who you picked. Is that who you picked? That was who I picked. But there was an MVP of the league last year that no one's putting as a top five player that might not be unfair. Lamar Jackson is already one of the most exciting players to watch. I mean, maybe an NFL history with the season that he had. He had a season throwing the football that was unbelievable. I might also throw

Deshaun Watson there because I don't think that his teams have necessarily been great. We left out receivers. Michael Thomas set the receiving record last year. It's hard to downplay that. Julio Jones is still unstoppable. DeAndre Hopkins now playing with Kyler Murray is going to be really something to see. There's a lot of people there.

I went with Khalil Mack because I think he is hands down the best edge rusher in the league. And then there's a bunch of guys who also have a case. We've seen Khalil Mack just wreck offensive lines before in person and take over a game. What are the few defensive players who can legitimately take over a game? Let me just throw this out there for this hot route as well. I would put Z'Darrius Smith as a top 10 player after what we saw from him last year. And I think he did that against every team, not just the Vikings. He would be the guy that I don't think anyone would put on their top 10 list

that I would probably throw out there as well. Save that question. That's a good hot route question for next time. A player nobody else views as a top 10 player. Who do you think, who will you stand to argue with, this is a top 10 player? Well, this who will you stand to argue with this is a top 10 player well this will not be the last hot routes of course i'm glad to hear it all right next next hot route pro football talk wrote that 2020 could be the strangest season since 1943 when the steelers and eagles combined for a team during world war ii which two teams would make the best combination

if they were combined together and the best combination if they were combined together and the worst combination if they were combined together? So I had to have the Chiefs. You've got to have the Chiefs. They're defending champs. Roster is stacked. Patrick Mahomes. So many reasons that you want to start with the Chiefs.

I think the line could be a little bit better. Defense you certainly would like to improve. So if you're going to pair a team with the Chiefs, you want a team that's probably got some playmakers on defense. You know, naturally, your mind goes to San Francisco. The 49ers have just an incredible defensive line. We're a very good defensive team last year. Maybe you could have thrown out some of the other good defenses like the Patriots or the Bears. But because this is Hot Rout routes, I'm actually going to take some liberties with the phrasing of the question.

I will take the Kansas City Chiefs right now, and I'm not sure if this is allowed in the rules or not, but I will take the Minnesota Vikings as of February 1st. Oh, okay. I get last season's Vikings. This is why it's hot routes. There are no rules. Right.

The secondary is a little more established. You get to pair that with Kansas City to help them improve their defense. You add Danil Hunter to that defensive line. The offensive line gets better. It's probably still not the strength of this mesh team. But you've got Stephon Diggs, Adam Thielen, Tyreek Hill, Patrick Mahomes. While I think that the rookie drafted is going to be good, Travis Kelsey, suddenly you throw Dalvin Cook into the mix there.

The defense probably isn't perfect. The offensive line isn't perfect. That team will put up, will average 45 points a game. So I took some liberties with it, but I'm taking the Chiefs and the Vikings before the Stephon Diggs trade. Tyron Matthew and Harrison Smith in the same defensive backfield would really be something. Okay, so I didn't cheat, cheat and chat on this.

But, I mean, I won't start with Kansas City just because you decided to start with Kansas City. But I will go with the Dallas Cowboys as one team, considering their weapons and who they have, and the Green Bay Packers for the other team. Because you get the Green Bay Packers defensive talent with Kenny Clark, Z'Darrius Smith, Jair Alexander. You get Aaron Rodgers with the weapons that Dallas has, as opposed to the not weapons that he currently has. And you can mix and match Aaron Jones along with Ezekiel Elliott.

Aaron Jones can catch the ball in the backfield. Elliott's your workhorse. And the offensive line for Dallas with Aaron Rodgers as their quarterback, I think we're looking at a pretty unstoppable offense and defense. I'm glad you mentioned Rodgers as the quarterback because I was actually going to ask you if you had a quarterback controversy on your hands as two noted people who I think have both said Rodgers is definitely on the downswing in his career. Yeah, Rodgers is washed, it's true, but one of the reasons that he doesn't look like the same Rodgers is because guys aren't open as much as they were before I think with Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb that you're going to have people open quite a bit with

that combination uh real quick who's the worst did you have a worst combination I did I didn't think that this one was too hard I think that you could just take a state of Florida and say you know you got to exclude Tampa now you maybe didn't have to but I think that you could have taken, you know, you got to exclude Tampa now. You maybe didn't have to, but I think that you could have taken, you know, I guess I won't include Tampa of last year just because they did have some weapons at wide receiver, but the Dolphins and Jags, I mean, I think you could legitimately combine their roster right now and they would for sure not be one of the best five teams. I was going to say maybe not be a playoff team,

but the NFL, there's so much parity that they probably would be a playoff team. It would not be a very good team. You'd still have a rookie quarterback. You'd have very few weapons, not good offensive lines, defenses that need a lot of work. You know what? I think they actually wouldn't. Now I'm talking to myself.

That would not be a playoff team. Merge the Jags and the Dolphins and you still don't have a playoff team. Just do it now. Just do it now. I'll go with Cincinnati and Carolina. I think that both of those teams will be... It's so harsh to Teddy. I know. Sorry, Teddy. He's probably the starting quarterback over Joe Burrow with no offseason, But there just isn't a lot of talent on those two teams. You do get a couple of good running backs. If you think that that is a big deal, then good for you. But who's playing defense? Maybe in the future they will be good teams,

but they're not going to be this year. Sorry, Teddy. Third hot route here, Ryan Pace says he has the full support of Bears ownership, which is laughable, of course, and not true. Give me the Viking that you would throw your full support behind. And what I mean full support is they're definitely under pressure and you don't fully support them. I will give this vote of confidence to two players. I've kind of given away what I think or where they're at.

But both wide receivers, which does not bode well for the Vikings, I'm throwing my support slash vote of confidence beyond Tajay Sharp and Chad Beebe. Both guys I think have shown some potential, have some ability. The kind of guys who I think can have a good training camp day that makes you think, wow, this could actually really work with them. And then three or four straight not so great training camp days, some drops and some missed assignments or alignments and missed routes and stuff like that. So I'm not overly confident in either.

I know there are a lot of people who are optimistic and hopeful that, A, BB can stay healthy and put it all together or that sharp can you know return to some of the levels of earlier in his career but i have a hard time seeing it right now it's not a place that i'm super confident in which is why i'm giving my full confidence in those two we'll get back to football in just a second but first sports are coming back so are your chances to bet on your favorite teams and events. Major League Baseball finally kicking off, and there's no better place to start wagering than our exclusive partners,

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you're an online wagering expert. Well, I will give mine to Hercules Mata'afa, who was thrown out there by Andre Patterson, but also looks like he is on the hot seat for, if you don't get it done now, this is probably it for you in the NFL. That would be one. And Garrett Bradbury's pass blocking. I just don't know if it's going to get any better than it was unless he really beefed up unless he put on another 15 20 pounds of muscle in one offseason and guys do take a big step there's no doubt about it the raw talent is there but will he be able to block Kenny Clark this year they don't have Eddie Goldman in Chicago but they still do have a Akeem Hicks who's going to rush up the middle sometimes.

So I don't know. He's got to make big progress for that to be different. It's not a small leap to take to be average. It's a big one. So I will put my, finger quote, full confidence behind Garrett Bradbury's pass blocking. Here's one for you. Today was the final day to bid for the XFL. For who is going to own the XFL going forward,

no longer Vince McMahon will own it. It's going to be sold to someone. If it was sold to us, Chad, what would you want to do with the XFL? To make it work, to make us some money if you were the CEO of the XFL? I took another liberty here, which I know will shock you. But because we're XFL owners now, we're quite wealthy. We've done well in the business world. We've got deep pockets.

And so I will use those pockets to copy a bit of what basketball has done. You see the G League and European leagues and teams in Australia throwing big money at top prospects out of high school to come play for them for a year until they're draft eligible, make some cash, you'll still get exposure because if you're one of these top guys, you're going to get exposure no matter what. Make some money now. And it's starting to trend that way, I think, with basketball, or at least you could say that more people are willing to give it a chance. I think it would be really interesting if you did that with football. Now, I think it's probably tougher because, you know, a 24-year-old man going up against an 18-year-old straight out of high school may not work the same way that it might with basketball but i would be curious if you went after you know a five-star

dual threat quarterback justin fields before uh he got to college and put him in the xfl he'd for sure get ratings he would for sure get plenty of scouting attention i don't know that it would work but i'd love to see somebody try it i think that's a great idea if i was that well i mean i'm already a wealthy business owner anyway. So if I decide to put in a bid here in the final hours, I've got two ideas that I think would make the XFL really exciting. One is if you made the whole season a double elimination tournament. So you turn it into completely tournament style. You form these teams, you go through these practices and everything else all for this one bracket and whoever wins gets, you go through these practices and everything else, all for this one bracket.

And whoever wins gets, you know, a huge championship or something. But every game, the whole season is basically on the line, and somebody gets to be the winner. And behind the scenes, I would try to put together an HBO hard knock style only without the NFL overlords, making sure that only so much ends up on it. And this would be the rawest of the raw behind the scenes. And I would turn it into more of a reality show. I think that that would grab some people who didn't want to sit there and watch still, I mean, games move faster, but still two and a half hour games.

Like not everybody wants to sit through that when it's not the NFL and they are not gambling on it or fantasy teams or anything else like that. But that tournament style, that would put a lot of pressure on it. I love those ideas, specifically the behind the scenes reality show. We all watch hard knocks far more than we probably should, considering especially last season with the Raiders, how controlled it seems to be. And I just love the idea of you sort of being, who's the woman with the Kardashians, the mom who controls it all?

You being that person essentially stirring up some drama, like leaving notes in somebody's locker to really stir it up. I love the idea of it. You comparing me to a Kardashian means you've spent far too much time at home during quarantine times uh chad last last i didn't think i was gonna google kardashian mom but here i am chris uh i am uh i am birthday bros with chloe kardashian you're born on the same birthday so um last hot route question for you uh tua tagovaiola is not on the pup list, which is actually kind of surprising considering his horrible hip injury that he suffered in college.

If he starts day one, is he the most intriguing rookie in the NFL this year? I think it's not even close. I think he might be one of the most intriguing rookies of the last 10 years. This is a guy who, remember, as a freshman, he's going out and dueling against George in the national championship game, replacing Hurts, comes in, just delivers in a huge way. And from basically that second half on, everybody said, this is the future. This is the next star.

He could be a number one pick if he turned pro right now. And then because of everything that happened with the injury and stuff, he was not obviously the number one pick. And yet we all know the potential that's there. There was a reason that everybody basically anointed him the number one pick far before he ended up coming out. So if he can do that, you know, maybe this merger of a Dolphins-Jaguars team turns out to be not half bad.

But there's just so much on the line with this, a risky injury. You know, there was a reason that teams were at least a little hesitant in the top five to draft him when everybody knows that when he's at his best, he was one of the most intriguing quarterback prospects of the last five years. So I – for – I get what I'm saying in this. I'm excited to see a Dolphins game. He was one of the most intriguing quarterback prospects of the last five years. So I, for, I can't believe I'm saying this. I'm excited to see a Dolphins game, just to see what happens. I want to see him play, but realistically, it's probably not the right decision.

I mean, they need their offensive line. I know that they drafted Austin Jackson, but they need their offensive line to be better before putting him back there. It's one thing that these college guys do that you can't do in the NFL is hold the ball for four seconds. You just can't do that. And Ryan Fitzpatrick had, I think, the quickest snap to release last year because they have an awful, awful offensive line. And it's not going to get hugely better this year, I don't think. So for him, I'd like to see him sit. I think that works out better for a lot of quarterbacks. Selfishly, though, I want to see him play because I just want to see what he looks like getting out there.

He was one of the most exciting college players of the last decade and somebody who has the leadership, the accuracy. He was good on NFL concepts like RPOs and things like that. I really am excited to see him. But Dolphins 2021 might actually be a really good team. Chad Graff, your off-season work has been very good. Chad, you and Arif, you did a preview. I know, I read them.

I don't know if anybody else. You've got too much time on your hands. I know. But you guys did great. Preview articles for training camp leading up to it, so I encourage people to go find those. And there will be more hot routes in the future. That is a certainty.

Nothing else is certain in this world, Chad, only the hot routes. Well, that and that the Chiefs 2019 Vikings combo is the best possible combo you could make. And that you and I as a golf combo is not good. We've established that, yes. Golf. Thanks, Chad. Thank you.