Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The official breakdown of the Vikings' unofficial depth chart

Episode Date: August 7, 2024

Matthew Coller talks about another week of camp practice kicking off and the Vikings' approach to the first preseason game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Ins matthew collar here just returning from tco performance center where we were out there for another practice today and i have to say there were a few highlights but it was a less intense practice than we had seen over the last couple of padded practices so fewer takeaways i think But what we're starting to see is the roster and the depth chart come together. And how about it, folks? They released the unofficial depth chart, as all teams do. And then they remind us that it is not official. And so don't take it too seriously to be the real depth chart.

But you know what? Here's how I look at it. It's always a step toward the season for the team to release its first unofficial depth chart. And you know what that is for you guys and for us reporters? It's fun. It's fun to take a look at the unofficial depth chart because it lays out all the players and then we could talk about what it looks like where it could go how it could change who's going to play in the preseason game that's what we do here they only play 17 times a year playoffs and then preseason added on top of it and the rest of the time we talk about the team so we will talk about the unofficial depth chart just a couple little

things to note from practice though first of all uh sam darnold continued to look good to me had a pretty solid day throwing the football especially a highlight i retweeted if you want to see it on social media the vikings put it out of sam darnarnold throwing one deep to Jordan Addison very very impressive uh throw from Darnold one of those deep balls that he has been doing almost on a daily basis now at this point but the reason Jordan Addison got a few more targets today was that Justin Jefferson was not there as we're watching practice of course wondering where's Justin Jefferson is there an injury is there an issue uh personal day excuse absence that's why he was not here

I expect that he'll be back tomorrow so not a big deal that Justin Jefferson was gone Christian Derrissaw though I do uh maybe have a little bit of concern for but just slight we'll see if it becomes a thing where he's out for multiple days but we were told that derisaw spent practice quote in the training room and david questenberry was the left tackle now going back to the last practice that we saw and the days are really running together here so i think it was saturday uh at the end of practice in some of the more intense drills. It was David Questenberry who was in at left tackle and Derisaw was standing in his helmet off to the side.

And my thought was, okay, well, I guess Derisaw is just taking some reps off and Questenberry could get called on at any time. So get him some first team reps. Makes sense. But then the fact that there are saw wasn't there today is going to be worth monitoring. If he doesn't miss multiple days though, uh, players get banged up and they take a day off when they're veterans and they're $30 million tackles and it's no big deal, but it will be something that we are going

to be looking for. Uh, when it comes to the next couple of practices is Christian Derrissaw right back out there or is he not it doesn't sound like it's anything serious there was a couple updates on Jerry Tillery who talked about that last night doesn't seem like it's too serious but had to have some stitches which might take a little while for him to start getting back and Louis seen did do some things in practice today in the individual portion. So that happened. And Will Reichard, my friends, came out and nailed a couple of long field goals today. Has just been on fire really since minicamp.

He had a couple of 50 plus misses and then bounced right back and has made his last eight field goals there was never a kicking competition because will reichard has shown so much that they don't have to concern themselves with anybody else it has been an incredibly impressive stretch for him since he arrived here but then even during training camp to have his only misses be 250 plus yarders and i think he's made maybe four out of six overall from plus 50 today he really crushed it and it was probably good but for 63 64 yards away and that's really about it it was still jj mccarthy running with the second team there were no first team reps on 11 on 11 that we witnessed today from J.J. McCarthy,

but he had a couple of nice throws. The end of practice was maybe not ideal for McCarthy. He was trying to run one of those final drive drills. The guys started pushing and shoving. He couldn't get everybody lined up quickly. And then when we went to spike the ball, somebody wasn't lined up. So it would have been a penalty. And that was the end of the drill. Not exactly how they wanted it to go for McCarthy. One of those learning moments in a final

drill, but he had a really nice touch pass to Trey Knox, who has actually stepped up. This team has 11 tight ends that can all play. Trey Knox had a good practice. Nick Muse continues to make plays and Jordan Addison was, was very good in this practice, but that's all we saw. I mean, you, you could really judge it by just the amount of time you go deep into the day. If it's a really intense practice, you're going to probably about five o'clock at night tonight or this afternoon, we were wrapped up by four 15. So it was not one of those hardcore dog days practices. I would expect tomorrow will be, and then Thursday, a little lighter as they prepare for Friday and then the preseason game. But as we stand right now, things look the same with Sam Darnold and the reps that he's taking

which leads me to this the unofficial depth chart uh and we'll just go position by position here but I am going to call it up on the screen so all of you can see the unofficial depth chart and I'm sorry Vikings I'm not signing up for your emails i already get all the information from them but thank you uh so i'm just gonna scroll through this hopefully you guys can see it okay that it's big enough there on the screen and we'll go position by position but as i do this and give some takes drop in your thoughts uh on the comment section and then when i go through the roster and i'm just going to give kind of a question or comment for each position,

we'll do it quickly. And then you guys can get all of your thoughts in. Oh, Jason asked, where were the ooze and Oz? Well, there were no fans there today because initially this was supposed to be a day off and it was supposed to be the night practice.

So there were no fans. It was just us. And we don't do oohs and ahs on the sideline, but I will say both of them, the throws were impressive. That one from Darnold to Addison was really good. And then a nice pass that McCarthy had as well. So I'll run through, would love to get your feedback on what I say, and then I'll run through your comments and we will have a grand time. And if you guys have any thoughts on what Mark Wilf said today, I did a podcast with Dane Mizutani on that, that that will be coming up later tonight on the channel. But also if you have thoughts on anything that Mark Wilf said, I'll go through that as well before we call it a night.

But this, this is always a fun time. I get, I always get excited about this first unofficial depth chart because I can kind of compare it to what I think it's going to be and what we might see in the preseason game. So we will start out at quarterback starter QB one Samuel Darnoldold i don't know if his i don't know if he's a sam or a samuel but i'm gonna call him samuel anyway uh no surprise here and this is correct i think because darnold has taken all the reps with the first team and he has had to my eye a very good start to training camp through the last the first padded practice was pretty tough. And since then he's really picked it up. And the last three practices in general have been,

I would say I give him an A for the last three practices. That is the sideline view. I'm just watching for execution. I don't know all the reads and everything he was supposed to do, but as far as hitting downfield passes, throwing on time, looking like he's in control, maybe B plus or a minus for the last three or four practices now for Sam Darnold. So he doesn't deserve to be knocked from that pedestal of QB one. As of right now, going into the first preseason game. And if he continues to take all the first team reps through the next few practices, then that's a pretty good indication that he's going to get his chance to start

against the New York giants in week one. Now, this is always a classic love this JJ McCarthy or Nick Mullins are your backup quarterbacks. McCarthy or Nick Mullins could be your backup quarterbacks. And that does bring about a question. If it is Sam Darnold starting week one, then who is the backup? Nick Mullins has so much experience, time on task, as they call it. He's been around the NFL for a long time. And when you compare Nick Mullins numbers and quarterback rating yards per pass attempt

to other backup quarterbacks, you would say Nick Mullins is a pretty decent backup quarterback. There's not a lot of them that have had a whole heck of a lot of success in the league so would kevin o'connell prefer that if sam darnold were to get hurt nick mullins come in and run the entire show or would he prefer that jj mccarthy just gives them a better chance to win it actually might be or as of right now, because that may be fully determined based on how far along Kevin O'Connell thinks JJ McCarthy is before week one. So I'm going to not call shenanigans. I'm going to say that it's legit. It is an or that doesn't say anything about McCarthy.

If Mullins is the backup and McCarthy is QB three to start the season because the training camp has been good for JJ McCarthy. And we know where this is going in the future, but it wouldn't be unprecedented. Jordan love was not the backup for Aaron Rogers for a while. It was Tim Boyle because they just felt that he was more comfortable running the offense than McCarthy. That said, uh, JJ McCarthy has taken a gazillion reps in comparison to nick mullins who's only taken a handful for the entire training camp i think i would prefer to have the rookie step in unless they were really afraid that he couldn't run the thing at all uh which he he has been during training camp so i don't know why it wouldn't be JJ McCarthy at this point.

But if Kevin O'Connell wants to make sure that McCarthy only plays when he decides it is time for McCarthy to start a game, if he doesn't want to throw him in the middle of a game, if he would prefer that his first playing action is, we are going to make sure you have the whole week to start to get completely locked into the playbook. Okay, I understand that or is totally fine and then Jaron Hall no question is QB3 on to the running backs I would generally agree with this setup on the unofficial depth chart for the running backs Aaron Jones without question the starter one of the best running backs of the last decade backup direct backup is Ty Chandler. Can a Wong Wu has been getting a lot of reps out there. And I've wondered if they want to give Ken a Wong Wu every chance to show them that he

belongs as part of this running back room or go get somebody else. Uh, and then Miles Gaskin. And in my perception, far behind Dwayne McBride just has not shown a whole heck of a lot. Doesn't get very many reps. I see Miles Gaskin out there more. And you would think that if McBride was showing anything that he would be the guy that they would want out there more often. So it is okay.

Thank you for the correction. It is Samuel Richard Darnold. I appreciate that. So there's not much to say for the running back room because I think this is right. Ty Chandler and Aaron Jones. I guess I, if we're using, or maybe it's and Aaron Jones and Ty Chandler, and then the rest are the backups. But I have no qualms with that. As always, the starter at fullback, C.J. Ham, year after year. It doesn't seem like he's going anywhere. That was a question that was brought up going into camp.

Hey, could they cut C.J. Ham? They've been running a lot of 11 personnel. They talk about C.J. and his value all the time. Yeah, C.J. Ham. All right, now we get to the wide receivers. Interesting here. run a lot of 11 personnel they talk about cj and his value all the time yeah cj ham all right now we get to the wide receivers interesting here they went with two wide receivers this is generally an 11 personnel system that includes wide receiver three a lot and justin jefferson and jordan addison listed as the two starters now look at this one this this this is interesting here backups jalen nailer and brandon powell and then the rest of the people and i might like this as what's actually

going to happen because if you look at the rep split in 11 on 11s between nailer and powell they have both got a lot of first team reps as wide receiver three Naylor has no doubt made more downfield catches and more spectacular plays in this camp. We've been looking at him more. He's more of the intrigue guy, but Brandon Powell proved last year that he's a pro. He can make plays when he's called upon. He caught the game winning pass in the Atlanta game. Brandon Powell can play in the NFL and can be a guy that you throw underneath too. He can run some routes. He got on the same page with Kirk Cousins before he got hurt. There's a few plays there in the San Francisco game

where he looked pretty good. 3-3A or 3-4 for both of them. Maybe it depends on the situation, but I do think that those two players have separated themselves from the rest by kind of a ton and that they could both be part of the general rotation around Jefferson and around Addison. But one thing that I do think why Naylor would be considered wide receiver three is that if someone gets hurt, Jefferson or Addison, it will be Naylor who takes their spot because he can play multiple positions. He's more of a downfield wide receiver than Brandon Powell, who I think would have to be a little more limited. And even when Jefferson was not there today, we saw Jalen Naylor working in

with that first team across from Addison a lot more. So I think that by technical standards, Naylor is right now your wide receiver three, but both of them are going to get used. Now, this is an interesting order that I'm not sure really follows along based on how these guys have performed during training camp, but I'm also not, not sure if follows along based on how these guys have performed during training camp. But I'm also not, not sure if that makes sense. Tristan Jackson, just Sean Jones, Trent Shurfield, lucky Jackson, Ty James, Thayer Thomas, Malik Knowles. Uh, but I notice, and this is fun to look into. I noticed there is a little semicolon here. Now, does that semicolon mean that the second group is Tristan Jackson,

Ja'Sean Jones, Trent Shurfield, and then the third group is Lucky Jackson, Ty James, Thayer Thomas, and Malik Knowles? I guess that would stand to reason. I mean, because I was thinking that Lucky Jackson would be in this second group, and maybe Tristan Jackson would be in the third group. But Ja'Se jones being here i've mentioned him a number of times standing out in practice i think trent surefield has started to come along he is some of the that we have not talked about a whole heck of a lot but i think

that he has started to emerge as somebody that's making plays a little more often and tristan jackson is a guy that they like uh that year after year is a standout in the summertime. And he was actually brought in by Zimmer's coaching staff and then stayed and then is still here. So there has to be something why Tristan Jackson remains. And I think that he makes enough plays in the off season. He's well-liked. I think he he makes enough plays in the offseason he's well liked I think he works

hard but just Sean Jones being here matches up with the eye test and then I think actually Lucky Jackson is outplayed where he sits on this but Trent Shurfield was there signing in free agency overall though it just for the offensive, from the quarterback to the running backs, fullback, wide receivers, I would say accuracy is maybe 95% or better as they go into their first preseason game and when we're going to see these guys play. But I will definitely have my eye on Jones and Shurfield as two players that could potentially sneak onto this team or be like those surprises. Lucky Jackson got off to a better start before they put the pads on, and we'll see how many opportunities he gets.

But Jones is kind of the new guy. Now here we have the tight ends. TJ Hawkinson is the starter. Naturally will not be playing in the preseason. Very likely won't be playing in the first couple of games, depending on his comeback. I know O'Connell seemed positive about it, but it's going to take him some time to ramp up. And now we got a bunch of names here. As far as the backups go, Josh Oliver, Johnny Munt, Nick Muse, Robert Tunyon, Nikhil Harry, Trey Knox, and Samis Reyes.

I am sorry if that's not how his name is pronounced. I've never heard it said, to tell you the truth. Josh Oliver, Johnny Munt. These guys are a 1-1A when Hockinson is out, or 2-2A. But Nick Muse and Robert Tunyon, this has to be the best tight end group in the entire league. All these guys can play. Robert Tunyon has started before. He may not play in the preseason game.

Nick Muse has stepped in once again for the second straight camp and just made plays on a daily basis. But I would think that if TJ Hawkinson, when TJ Hawkinson can't play in week one, that Johnny Munt will be the guy who gets the most snaps. He's had a lot of receptions during this camp. He, I think has improved quite a bit as far as his ability to run routes and make plays. And Josh Oliver will retain his job, which is to be a hard nose blocker blocker and occasionally sneak out in a route. But this is the battle right here. Nick Muse versus Robert Tunyon.

Muse made the roster last year, was inactive all season, made one catch at the end of the year. Robert Tunyon, before he had the back spasms, had made an impression and looked like somebody that could push Johnny Munt for a spot as the receiving tight end. But as of right now, Muse is the one on the field and Muse has played really well. It doesn't seem like there's a great chance of this working out for Nikhil Harry.

And I've got Trey Knox circled as the practice squad guy, as an undrafted free agent who was just a receiver a couple years ago, still developing. But overall, I would probably swap Munt and Oliver, but I would keep this way right now. If we had to do the team right now, I would have Hawkinson starting on IR and then Oliver, Munt, and Muse. And maybe it's even that way if Hawkinson could come back and they would keep four tight ends like they did last year. Folks, U.S. Cellular noticed that the way we use our phones has gotten ironic. We try to put our phones down for dinner, but the menu is on a QR code. That's ironic. We hit like on social media posts that we don't actually like.

Ironic. Which is why U.S. Cellular created Us Mode to help us reconnect with each other and use our phones less ironically. A phone company wanting people to use their phones less? Ironic. Let's find us again with Us Mode from U.S. Cellular. Visit uscellular.com slash built for us to get started on to the tackle position there is really no debates to be had here they're just i mean this is derisaw and o'neill the stars at tackle walter rouse in my estimation has had a really good start

to training camp david questenberry although the way that this is listed is questenberry is right tackle and we know this that derisaw was out the last two days at times on saturday and then today and it was david questenberry who took the first team rep so he is the swing tackle and then rouse is the developing young player. Jeremy Flax, Doug Nestor, two guys that are going to be depth players in the preseason games. Interior offensive lineman, Blake Brandel has taken all of the first team reps at left guard. There hasn't been any debate about that.

Garrett Bradbury, Ed Ingram, same thing when we heard, well, there's going to be a competition at right guard. Ed Ingram has taken all the reps at right guard. And then as your backups, Juergens, I've been impressed by at times. Feeney, Reisner is a backup right guard, at least the way he's listed. And then Tyrese Robinson, Henry Bird, Spencer Rowland, maybe pick one of those guys and put them on the practice squad. But I could see Juergens and Feeney and Reisner all making the interior roster and keeping two tackles so and then of course just the one

center where is the center do they have it listed oh there he is garrett bradbury i'm sorry i probably said that out loud so there you go with uh probably for the final 53 you might end up with derisaw o'neill rouse questenberry brandle bradbury ingram jurgens feeney reisner that would be my guess as of right now so there is your offense in your unofficial depth chart let me swing back over to uh you guys here and full screen mode and let me get some of your uh let me get some of your responses here to um to the offense let's talk about the offense first and then we'll get into the defense after i i take a look at some of your comments so thoughts questions throw my way for what you think of the offense i'll run through. Then we'll get to the defense.

Uh, sklint pox says don't crown the depth chart. Love that, that, that right there. That means you've been listening. That means you've been paying attention to appreciate that. Uh, that's funny.

Don't crown the depth chart. I like that. Jake, uh, what do you think the Wilf's expectations are for the team this year I respect that they push the team to be competitive but when your quarterback is hurt and you're rebuilding expecting greatness is a tough ask yeah I mean from last year right talking about not making the playoffs they might also remember the number of times that they needed just one

more play to be in the playoffs whether it was the Denver Broncos game, the lions game where Nick Mullins through the interception. And I think I've always felt like if I was in their shoes, I mean, I can't say that I would be the same as I am now. Like the way that I am now is, Hey guys, timelines and tanking and rebuilding. And it's all, it's, it's, you take your time and you'll get there. If I was putting all my money into it, I might be more like, when, what the heck? We can't fumble, right? You know, I think all of us would act differently if we were the ones that had not just a little skin in the game, but owned the entire franchise. So I've always tried to put myself in their shoes. When we talk about expectations,

it may be unfair to look at last year and call it a failure because your quarterback got hurt. And let's look at the teams whose quarterbacks got hurt. Cleveland made it to the playoffs and got pummeled. And what didn't everybody else just be bad and when you i remember looking at the top 20 passing games and i think they were or top 15 or whatever and they were all just teams who had healthy quarterbacks that were starters so yeah i mean but that looks seven and ten goes on your record one way or the other uh whether you have an excuse or not and if you're

the wilfs then you're setting the bar at, it better be better than last year. And I think what they want is to be there down the stretch. They understand that we heard from Mark today, Mark Wilf, and he said, we understand it's a very difficult division. So I don't think that they're setting the expectation as if you don't win the Superbowl, everybody's fired, but Hey, look, we paid some money for this

quarterback we paid a 10th overall draft pick for the other quarterback we've given money for jefferson derisaw grenard van ginkle cashman like you know guys came back who are free agents they're set to be free agents here so they've put a lot of money on the table and they have put a lot of trust in in kevin o'connell and quacey dafl mensa to guide a competitive rebuild not a full rebuild and if you win four games or you win five games then that's not what they asked for they asked for a competitive rebuild and so far they've been giving it to them but if you have a tank style season and you look like the patriots last year or something then that's not what they're looking for it doesn't mean everyone's

fired it just means that that would change the dynamic their expectation should be that this team goes into week 17 week 18 and it at least says in the hunt, Minnesota Vikings. And you know what? If that's the case, it will feel way different than in the hunt last year or in the hunt two years ago or three years ago, because those were, you have to win as long as you're paying your quarterback this much. And the guy is 34, 35, 36 years old. Now, when you're working with a young quarterback, who's 21 and a lot of young players on the roster, it is a bit of a different dynamic at the same time. I think it is fair for them to say, we've gotten, you know, a gathered tier together,

a lot of talent. We shouldn't be a laughing stock. We should be a good team. I think if you're in Mark Wilf seat, that's what you would say. Look at the talent on the roster. Look at how much we've spent for Brian Flores as a coach. We have a coach who's a former quarterback that won a Super Bowl in Los Angeles. There's no reason that the team should win five games. That is completely fair. So my guess at Mark Wilf's expectation and the Wilf family's expectation is that by the end of the season, they are still fighting for a playoff spot, whether it's with Darnold or McCarthy. And overall, they feel very good about where it's going into the future. That is one of the best case scenarios uh joel says uh who's your mr mancato at this point before a preseason game who else may be in the running uh who else might be in the running the first one that comes to mind is will reichardt for me now i heard some people ask about or maybe i just saw some people ask

about um whether jaylen naylor could be that guy i think the answer is no. I think that once you have played in games, you are disqualified, uh, that you have to have no games played. So you could have been on the practice squad the previous season, played no games and then showed up and won Mr. Mankato. But if you've been in games, you're, you're out, uh, for Jalen Naylor. So who would that put after that? Oh, that's, that's an interesting one. Levi Drake Rodriguez is probably in the lead right now. Dwight McClothern. If Dwight McClothern gets a pick, if Levi Drake Rodriguez gets a sack, then you've got something there. Levi Drake Rodriguez would be at the top at this moment because he's gotten these first team reps. you don't see seventh round picks often getting first team reps when everybody is healthy but he has and he's got

the long hair he's got a big personality he's got three names i mean all that stuff just sort of screams mr mancato uh midwest with a three as the e uh really, really hope Jones and Chandler get a lot more touches this year. Yeah. The touches have to come with the effectiveness, right? With, uh, Alexander Madison, there were a few games that I felt Alexander Madison was playing pretty well, and they should have stuck with it. That was Chicago specifically where they kept going back to the passing game, but Madison was averaging four and a half, five yards to carry. I forget exactly what it was. They were succeeding on the ground and yet pass, pass, pass.

If you have the trust in Aaron Jones and Ty Chandler caught a pass today, I think it was a little screen and took off kind of right in front of us on the sideline. And it's just a horse galloping by he is blazing fast. And in an ideal world, those two bouncing off each other with 60, 40, 55, 45 and Chandler making plays and them starting to feel more comfortable with

him. Pass blocking. That is when we talk about ideal scenarios, the best possible scenario. If you finished with 750 yards for Aaron Jones and 600 yards for Ty Chandler, and between the two, I can do that math. You are at 1,350 yards on the ground and maybe they catch 50 passes together. That's what you want from those two. I don't think you want to just hope Aaron Jones is the entire show, even though he is really, really good.

Jazz Heard says, when will McCarthy be ready? That is a question for the head coach, sir. I don't know when Kevin O'Connell will consider him ready for me watching him. I look at him and say, looks closer all the time. Looks like by the end of this preseason, if you played him a lot in the preseason, he would be maybe potentially ready to start, but I don't know what McCarthy knows about the playbook. I don't know what Kevin O'Connell't know what McCarthy knows about the playbook. I don't know what Kevin O'Connell knows about how McCarthy is handling the playbook.

All I can tell you is standing on the sideline and watching him operate on a daily basis. I have been wowed almost by how much more accurate he's been throwing the football than he was at our first impression of him, even just warming up and hitting guys on routes that are even, you know, not against anyone, but just running the full speed route and throwing it on time, putting a little touch on the football at times, scrambling and making plays. Kevin O'Connell talked about that when I asked him about it today about McCarthy scramble to make it plays and how much of a big part of his value comes from

that. And the same with Darnold as well. The fact that he is mobile and he does seem to have a lot of it, at least in his head to where he can call it and line people up and run it. That makes me think that he's not a million miles away from starting. And oftentimes, I mean, when you're talking about, do you have to know every single thing from the playbook to play or to be ready perfectly or just what you're having to do for that week's game plan? Those are two different things as well. So I feel like from watching him, he's not a million miles away from starting, but I also don't know when kevin o'connell

thinks he'll be ready and the answer could be anywhere from at the early part of the season to next season that i don't think we're going to go the entire year without seeing jj mccarthy but it's not like it's never happened before with the first round guy. Midwest says McCarthy will be the number two. Yeah, I think so too, based on the fact that he's just gotten so much more reps. It's just that there is precedent for having a number three behind the first round pick be the backup on game day. If they believe that person just knows the offense a lot better and they'd be more comfortable with him coming in and o'connell might just generally be against the

idea of throwing a guy in in the middle all right here's sam darnold he gets hurt in the second quarter uh go in there jj just figure it out i don't mind that i'm not as afraid of that i don't get fired if it goes wrong. Because the first round quarterbacks that we've seen over the years, even if they had a bad team, even if they had weird circumstances, I mean, think about when Josh Allen showed up here to face the Vikings in week three of 2018, his team had just gotten clobbered and was considered the worst team in the league through the first couple of weeks of the season. They were facing a defense that was number one in the league the year before and doing it on the road at one of the loudest stadiums.

And he won. Justin Herbert had to come in. I brought up this example before. Tyrod Taylor goes down. Herbert has to come in. Tyrod Taylor started in Cleveland and then Baker Mayfield had to come in. He didn't collapse into the ocean. I don't think they should be that afraid of it, but I also respect if O'Connell wants it to go a certain way.

Sean says, I'm expecting Darnold to start with a very small chance. JJ catches and passes him. McCarthy will be the backup. I'm thinking they could put Mullins as backup if JJ falters. I don't see it though. I think that Mullins belongs on this team. He belongs in the NFL. He is a backup that you can trust and that is a veteran and will carry himself in the best possible way behind the scenes and in practice every day. So I wouldn't cut him. As far as who

would be the backup though, who can emulate Sam Darnold if Sam Darnold goes down? More J.J. McCarthy with the windows that they want to throw into and the scrambling and playmaking ability. J.J. McCarthy can look like Sam Darnold better than Nick Mullins can. It's about the coach's comfort with McCarthy being just thrown in at total random as opposed to preparing him. And also it, does he trust that Mullins is going to be able to run every single facet and every single play he wants to call versus, well, we're still working our way through those things with McCarthy because this playbook is enormous and he's got this part down, but isn't that part down and he's going through his first game planning or whatever when Mullins

has done it for many years. Like there's a bunch of things that are going to weigh into that decision of who should be the backup. Uh, but I, when it says or, that might really be a thing. It might be O'Connell will go into a room with Josh McCown, Wes Phillips, and the staff and say, how far along is he? Should he be the backup? Let's come to a consensus. I'm sure that's what will happen before they go into week one, is they will decide how much he knows.

And some of it may be determined over the next couple of weeks before we really get into the game planning mode. Uh, skull full shack. How has the old line been looking? Haven't seen much reports on them. Well, okay.

I, I think, I think it's been all right. Um, it's, I don't want to say, Oh, well, they've looked phenomenal and then have Blake Brandel

struggle. And then like, oh, well, you said they were great. They've looked okay to me. They've looked competent to me. The tackles are two of the best in the league. We know what Bradbury is. I don't see the quarterbacks getting sacked over and over and over again because people are getting beat straight up. And part of that is that the defensive linemen on the interior are more of gap stuffers than they

are pass rushers upfield. And so I think that they've looked okay in pass protection, run blocking. It's a mess. From the sideline, they hand off and you go, where's the running back in there? I've seen running backs breaking out. I don't know. It's that's harder, easier to tell with pass protection. The quarterbacks have had time to throw thus far. And the tackles have looked great so far because they're two of the best players in the league. That one is one we're going to really figure out week one when they start against the New York giants. And that's a very good team sean says my big question do they protect three quarterbacks on the 53 i think that they will i think that they will uh the respect that kevin o'connell has shown to nick mullins over the last

year plus uh for for his professionalism and his trust if he has to go out there and having him in the room and maybe could be running the scout team against their defense all that stuff makes me think that they will stick with Nick Mullins and the fact that they had to play four quarterbacks last year Mark says we need to run by committee yeah and the if the third runner can be Kenny Wongwu and they can feel better about him and trust him more i know that last year they wanted to find out more about kenny wongwu but he got hurt in training camp was out for a long time and they just never got to find that out so this year he's got a lot of reps as the backup running back jake says, which players have big personalities is training camp, a lot of business and work, or is it fun times in good vibes? Uh, there's some, uh, fun times in good

vibes. It's it's really, I mean, at this level, it's it's business. Uh, these guys are going out and the practices are very tight. So there's not a lot of time to just stand around and hang out. They have very strict scripts. There's only so many hours you can go with these guys on the field. And when they're out there, they're looking to work most of the time. I'm sure during warmups, they have some fun conversations, but the biggest personalities, Harrison Phillips is a really outgoing person. Jonathan Grenard, we learned pretty quickly, is that way. Of course, you guys know Justin Jefferson.

TJ Hawkinson is a player who I voted for as one of the media good guys for last year because always available, really good talker. There's a lot of players on this team. Brian O'Neill has a huge personality. There's a lot of players on this team. Brian O'Neill has a huge personality. There's a lot of players on this team that are very personable. Aaron Jones has, he he's very outgoing, but he also brings kind of this respect factor to him. Like a little bit of, I know how cool I am. I know how awesome I am type of thing, uh, which you, you got to respect somebody who's a baller. There's a, there's a lot, there's a lot of big personalities on this team. Uh, Mark says unpopular opinion. One thing I

learned is that flow is very innovative. KOC, not so much really stuck to his system. Depends on what you mean by innovative, uh, because sticking to a system that works, if it's operated properly. I mean, that's not a bad thing, right? And then adapting the route combinations from there based on each week's game plan. There are a lot of very successful coaches who do that. I mean, you could say even going back, like, or even just looking at Kyle Shanahan,

like Kyle Shanahan has his system and it goes back to mike shanahan gary kubiak all those guys uh leflore and they all have their different versions of it including mcveigh now mcveigh completely changed it around for matthew stafford and what he wanted to do versus what they did with goff but every system is going to have its its base its roots in something. And then you're going to build off of that. So O'Connell did not switch. And this is where you could criticize. He didn't switch to more of a screen play action, short type of thing with Josh Dobbs. And maybe he should have. And we did see that in Cincinnati where Zach Taylor did change the easy buttons for his quarterback when Jake Browning had

to take over so I think you could say that but also they won the Super Bowl with this system with Matthew Stafford gunning the ball around they brought it here they scored a lot of points and won a lot of games over the first how many would that be with Kirk Cousins? Would have played 17, 18, and then eight more. So is that 26 games with Kirk Cousins? They won a lot and they put up good passing numbers. And the innovation from Kevin O'Connell is really finding ways to get his number one wide receiver and his tight ends open. And when you look at those numbers from those guys, they're doing a lot to get Jefferson open. They're doing a lot. You could see where defenses get confused and where Jefferson is open. You go, wait, what the heck? How is it? And a lot of that is showing certain looks that they've shown in the past and then changing them,

using certain tweaks to the way that things are traditionally run and then changing them up. This is why you need your quarterback to be on point, right? Because he has to understand all these potential options. So there's innovation within a particular area. Is there innovation on the ground? Probably not. Is there a million motions and guys running around like crazy, like Mike McDaniel? Because they don't have Tyree Kill.

So no, they have justin jefferson and they use him to his strengths is it an is it revolutionary i think it's hard to be revolutionary in 2024 because if you're eric oriel or the first time that shanahan ran the outside zone or something it's not like everybody found out about everything immediately like they do now and figured it all out and got all the details and everything else with mountains of data and film. Now everybody knows everything about what everyone else is doing, and it's the wrinkles that you put into it. And then it's the players that you maximize that make you an innovative coach.

So I wouldn't say that he's lacking in innovation. It's just, it's not, it's not wildly unique in some way that is visible for us on the sideline, in the stands, watching on TV, we just see Jefferson open. But then when you look back on tape, you go, Oh, okay. So for whatever reason, the defense went that way, and somehow they were fooled on a certain concept, but I think it just goes deeper than our understanding just taking a look on TV. Hopefully that makes sense. Midwest says, have you seen any screenplays in practice? Oh, they run screenplays,

but how could I tell if they were working or not? Because they can't tackle them, but they are running screenplay. They need that screen game. If that's what you're insinuating, they need that screen game a hundred percent to help out Sam Darnold. It's been bad in the last few years, but you know, who might help that a lot is just the players. Once Ty Chandler came in, they started hitting on screens. Maybe those tight end screens, not a hundred percent ideal. David says two rookies make it on the old line. I think so. My depth chart was more of an attempt to get the order maybe for the preseason. And then we'll see what happens.

But if I was doing a 53 right now, I think I would go with Juergens making the team along with Rouse. Rouse has just been good i've had a good look at him at left tackle and and he's been battling sometimes against dallas turner sometimes against you know patrick jones and other guys who have mixed i think patrick jones and other guys have mixed in and he looks like he just anchors really well and has a well-coordinated feet he's a former basketball player and Juergens. It's a little harder to tell with guards because it's all up in the muck.

But I think that they like him enough that he might make it. That might be a difficult final cut and put him on the practice squad or something like that. Brian says that they mostly run 11 personnel in camp so far on offense there has been a fair amount of two tight end and a little bit of 21 personnel with cj ham mixing in there but 11 is there that's what they do 11 is always going to be the base of this offense it does seem like they want to use the two tight end effectively and mix and match but it's always going to start with the 11 personnel sean says difference from last year at wide receiver was wide receiver 3-4 wasn't known yet whereas this year there's separation so last year it was kj

osborne so it was all set after that it was pretty unknown but it was it was k unknown, but it was K.J. Osborne. He was set in that position as wide receiver three. That's kind of what makes this year a little more intriguing. But even the way that they wrote it on the unofficial depth chart, which we're not crowning the unofficial depth chart, but you know what? As far as the offense goes, I think I actually want to crown the unofficial depth chart. I think that the unofficial depth chart should put on these glasses we we should have put on these glasses while i was reading the unofficial depth chart because i thought it was right on in the way that uh and we'll see we'll put them back

on if the defense is good um i thought it was right on in calling those guys nailer and powell wide receiver three both of them like and having it be Naylor and Brandon Powell but interesting to me if jashon Jones is there because he's a guy that stood out and has a real opportunity in preseason uh let's see how is the offensive line looking mainly the depth I I really think that this is one of the deepest offensive lines in the league. When you consider that they have Feeney, Reisner, Questenberry, and Rouse has been looking good. They could put in any of these guys. I mean, Rouse we'll see about real games, but they could put in any of those guys and it would probably be okay as compared to previous seasons where it was like Drew Samia.

Sklint pot pock. I'm sorry. I'm not sure how to pronounce that. Do you think that they will put 10 offensive linemen on the 53? It's either nine or 10, and that might depend on Juergens or what they see in Dalton Reisner. If Dalton Reisner is not looking maybe the same as he did to them last year at right guard then they could move on if they wanted to keep Jurgens but I'll have to do a 53 that's another podcast this is an unofficial death chart podcast let's let's not get it twisted here let's not go crazy just yet uh but I'll have to work my way through whether they can fit 10 on.

But I think they would want to. Mark says, I think West should take care of the offense with play calling and personnel this year. I don't care how good of a coach KOC is not going to happen. My friend, not going to happen. Kevin O'Connell, as long as he has that headset, is going to be calling the plays what he wants to do is he wants to put his brain inside that quarterback and he wants to be able to see what that quarterback sees and talk to that quarterback so they are on one heartbeat that's what he wants i don't disagree with it i mean there's lots of good coaches who call their plays uh doesn't sean't Sean McVay. I'm sure Sean McVay calls all of his plays. He's had some success in the league. Uh, Kyle Shanahan will certainly calls all of his plays. He's had a lot of success in the league. I don't, is this an old school thing?

I I'm surprised this comes up that people think he should give up the play calling because I would think it would be advantageous. As long as you have enough help on the game management stuff, I would think it would be advantageous to have a coach quarterback relationship be extremely close. Or maybe that's just my biased of having seen Mike Zimmer and a coach quarterback relationship that was not close when it came to him and Kirk Cous oh gosh says i hope the wilfs understand um that this team is either on par with last year's or slightly worse uh is seven and nine and uh you correct to say seven and ten a laughing stock no i think seven and nine slash seven and ten is right on the edge that they want to be better than that.

But they've also got to be aware that Vegas has them at six and a half. That's a great way to set expectations going into a season is by looking at those Vegas over-unders. I'm sure that they know what it says. If you get to eight, if you get to nine, if you're in that competition, here's the way I think of it. The 2022 Detroit Lions. they were not there yet it was not a complete roster but they went nine and eight and at the end of the season everyone said that team is coming that team is going to be here and uh

that's where you want to be is by the end of the season, having everyone say, all right, this team is going to be here. Uh, Steve says, Sam Darnold will shock the world. Could be, uh, he's looked very good in the last four training camp practices. And with these wide receivers, there's always going to be a chance then we've seen it happen before there's always going to be a chance that sam darnold turns himself around and becomes a different version of sam darnold that we have ever seen before because he has justin jefferson and he has jordan addison and they are two of the best players flat out in the entire league uh Drew says we have quarterbacks and team talent to compete in the north we don't really know if they have the

quarterbacks to compete in the North that's the thing if you just went team talent everyone except for quarterback Detroit is number one and then you'd go it's pretty even after that right uh green bay i'm not convinced that they have a more talented roster overall chicago i'm not convinced that they have a more talented roster but quarterback matters here they're starting a guy right now who is well under 500 for his career and has really struggled the other teams are starting the number one overall draft pick and that's the worst team in the division maybe and then jordan love who emerged last year jared goff who is constantly leading top five offenses it's not easy to sit here and say well they have good enough quarterback play uh the division would have to be a heck of a lot worse in order for that to happen but right

now it's very good uh scoop says did jurgens not stand out as being second team at both spots on the depth chart was he was he uh listed where was he listed he was listed as uh left guard yeah on the depth chart there um but you know it does stand out um with jurgens just the way he's played so far and that he's gotten a lot of second team reps they appear to like him and uh that would make me think that he's going to make the team okay this seems like a good time to jump over to the defensive side let's do that let's go back to this mode so you guys can see it all right right. Let's take a look at the defensive side of this unofficial depth chart. And please, please remember that it is not official. If that has not

been made clear to you guys yet. Um, all right. So we got the outside linebackers, Jonathan Grenard and Andrew Van Ginkle that I would agree with and the backups patrick jones and dallas turner this would match up with their rotation so far during training camp we have seen a lot of patrick jones and a lot of dallas turner mixing in with the first team and after that gabriel murphy and jihad ward owen porter andre carter ii and beau richter i i think we got to give them the glasses guys. I think, can you see me over here? Hold on. Let me make my face bigger. This means that I think they nailed it. I think that this is right, uh, with the way that they're going into this, because from what we've seen and what we have heard, uh, Gabriel Murphy has stood out. I've seen a lot of jihad jihad ward jihad ward is one of the biggest

people i've ever seen in my life so he's not hard to miss owen porter i've mentioned you guys a couple of times as standing out a little but andre carter ii and beau richter not so much i mean beau richter is maybe a development player but andre carter ii has not stood out the way that maybe they expected him to whereas gabriel murphy has and jihad ward is an experienced pass rusher at this moment i like the way this unofficial depth chart looks from the outside linebacker position so let's move on and also i think they can mix and match with these four when the time comes. Will they play Dallas Turner in the preseason game? I really want to know that. They can mix and match those top four and even have three of them on the field at the

same time, or maybe even four, depending on if they threw out some crazy NASCAR package is what it was called by Zimmer. But Gabriel Murphy has been one of the standouts of training camp. So let's go to the D line. Jerry Tillery. He's safe. He's happy. He's okay. He's just got stitches folks. Nothing to worry about there. So he'll be back. Harrison Phillips and Jonathan Bullard. This aligns with the starters with the first team when everyone has been healthy, the backups, Jamesch jaqueline roy jonah williams levi drake rodriguez taki tamani or tayamani jalen redmond and tyler manoa this one i don't know if it gets the glasses treatment or not because levi drake rodriguez has taken more from my eye first round or first team reps than Jaqueline Roy. Now Jonah

Williams has taken a lot of them. He's a veteran. They picked up big, strong guy from the Rams and James Lynch has been out there a lot on the defensive line. So I think that those two would go with Levi Drake Rodriguez. If I was making this unofficial depth chart where Jaqueline Roy would be more down with Redmond Tamani or Taimani and Manoa. I would definitely slide Drake Rodriguez up because his, he actually looks like he has a position as a rotational pass rusher in those third down situations, or at least that's what he's getting as far as opportunities right now. So you don't get, you don't get the sunglasses on for that onto the inside linebackers, Blake Cashman and Ivan Pace jr. That is completely obvious.

Kamu Grugier Hill, Brian Asamoah also as the second team obvious Dallas Gant and Jabril Cox are the backup backups there. Yep yep that's right on that gets there's really not a lot to talk about there but it gets the sunglasses treatment because it's it's correct we've seen there it is we've seen a lot of kamu gruge hill and um brian awesome was getting a lot of of reps he hasn't gotten a lot of opportunities with the first team from what I've seen and neither has Grugier Hill and Gant and Cox are mix-in guys Dallas Gant I think is wearing number 96 so it looks weird when he's in there so they're good there on to the corners Shaq Griffin and Byron Murphy Jr.

This is still to be expected when Griffin returns, along with Byron Murphy Jr. So if they're in base, then that would mean those two would be on the outside. But if they were not in base, this is where it gets interesting. The backup's listed as Caleb Evans and Fabian Morrow, meaning that they've been rotating in. That is something we've seen. Both of them have been in with Byron Murphy when Shaq Griffin has been out. So that's been what it looks like in the nickel package is Evans, Morrow, and Byron Murphy. Now, Andrew Booth Jr. is after this. Then AJ Green, Jacoby Francis, Jalen Williams, Duke Shelley, Dwight McClothern, and Najee Thompson, who is injured. This does not get the sunglasses treatment because that is not how the reps

from at least my notes have played out. It has been more for Dwight McClothern than Andrew Booth Jr. And I don't have an exact count on this, but I have seen more Dwight McClother than Andrew Booth Jr. Booth Jr. is more experienced, but they seem to like what they've seen from McClother and quite a bit. Shelly mixes in, Williams mixes in, Jacoby Francis a little bit,

but I can't put him or AJ Green ahead of McClother. If I was doing it right now for who makes the team, it would be Griffin, Murphy, Evans, Morrow, McClothern, and maybe one more depending on how many spots they're keeping. Najee Thompson, if he's back and cam bynum very clearly the starters on this team metellus and theo jackson deserve it deserves sort of an and here uh they do kind of play the same position i think that this should just move metellus up into the starters because he plays like a starter he'll play a thousand snaps if he's healthy and uh Jay Ward is still listed as a safety Jay Ward actually I take it back uh when I was talking about the corners Jay Ward as of this moment I think would make it as a corner and a special teamer he's played almost exclusively if not totally corner

so he belongs at the cornerback position uh matelis belongs as a starter. And then I'm not sure with Bobby McCain and Louis seen Louis seen, I would guess gets cut right now. Bobby McCain. I don't know that he makes it. He might just be a body. He has gotten a lot of reps out there, but this one, this one's a little wonkier in our unofficial depth chart. Watch that one needed a little wonkier in our unofficial depth chart watch that one needed a little more uh adjusting i think in order to get it right so there you go there is my you know what i'll call it my official analysis of the unofficial depth chart maybe i should make that the headline of this the official analysis of the unofficial depth chart so there you you go. Oh, did we get specialists? Wait, who did they list?

Oh, Seth Vernon is listed as the backup. Okay, I should have, I closed it out on the street. Wait, do I still have it streaming? Can I go back to this? Oh, I can go back to this. Okay, here we go. Sorry, God. What am I doing over here?

It's been a long day. I almost skipped out on teams. Will Reichardt is the only kicker since they cut the other kicker. Starter is Ryan Wright. Backup is Seth Vernon. Until proven otherwise, I'll agree with that. Long snapper. I hope he never retires.

Andrew DiPaola. Great at his job. Oh, and someone asked about personalities. You're not going to find too many better than andrew dupala kickoff returners kenny wongwu chandler powell two of these guys it should be listed as two starters i think because two of them will be back there chandler being mentioned here i don't know how comfortable i am with that when you need somebody to be part of a running back duo if it is chandler back there i don't know uh comfortable I am with that. When you need somebody to be part of a running back duo, if it is Chandler back there, I don't know.

Powell also, I mean, you might need him a lot as a wide receiver. And he is the starting punt returner. Naylor has returned punts in his past. But I'd prefer it was Powell to Chandler because Chandler has to get the ball. Now there is your entire official analysis why don't we just throw these on because now it's right official analysis of an unofficial depth chart going into the preseason we got two more practices i suspect that one of them wait is that right yep wednesday thursday one of them will be intense that's likely tomorrow thursday will be dialed

back probably and then they'll go into the preseason game and we'll see who gets the play which will be really fun to find out how they look at this roster who belongs in the preseason game and then try to read between the lines it is all part of the preseason process that we should enjoy every step. Just breathe it in this year because you likely won't get a preseason quite as entertaining as this or interesting as this in some time. And then here's what you don't want. You don't want me to go back to the old rant about the preseason. The old rant was none of this matters, but this year you might see JJ McCarthy and then all of a sudden it matters. And there's some other position battles.

Normally though, I go through this whole thing of guys. It's really about maybe a one or two roster spots and how people plays is not a big part of what Kevin O'Connell factors. I got to give that whole thing. Not this year, not this year. Mark says,

I remember a game. Something was not going well and you could hear Flores call a timeout. They didn't get a flag or something. I just think KOC is doing too much and needs to delegate. No, I understand where you're coming from, Mark. And all those coaches, they have some blind spots, all the coaches that are calling the plays. You kind of just have to take that along with that guy being the best person for the job to call the plays. And they do need to delegate as much as they possibly can. And

O'Connell needs as much help as he can possibly get i just don't think he's ever going to look at it and go no i should be worrying about the timeouts and not every single play call because you have to remember something about o'connell he's a quarterback he can look out at the defense from the sideline and see the defense from the quarterback's eyes and so when he's giving the play and see the defense from the quarterback's eyes. And so when he's giving the play and a few words to the quarterback, there was one time he talked about this with Kirk, where he said, stay with the read right before, like it's going to come open, stay with the read. And he mentioned this in the post game or what he had to do with Josh Dobbs. Can you do that

in the same way? I mean, yeah, there's a lot of play callers who maybe didn't play quarterback who are still good at it but i think for what he's asking offensively this is the best fit for him to do that uh jp says we got to take the depth chart with a grain of salt specifically with the defense brian flores has been mixing uh levi drake rodriguez and he's listed at the bottom rotation oh i mean when it comes to the depth chart in general brian flores just doesn't have one he has a list of skills that everybody has and where he wants them and then he puts them there he made that very obvious last year that it there is no you play first you play second you're the backup to this guy. It is what players skill sets are going to work in what situations and what schemes. And then there you go. Uh, Evan asks, uh, do you think they should play Dallas Turner in this preseason?

Probably not. I mean, I think he is going to be worked in in the regular season uh he doesn't have to start right away he doesn't have to play 70 snaps when you have grunard you have van ginkle you have pat jones and he can ramp up 15 snaps 25 snaps that kind of thing doesn't have to get out there and play i would really really hate to see him get hurt in a preseason game that doesn't mean anything so i'm going to go with no i do not think that dallas turner should play in the preseason just keep keep doing practice and then work him in slowly as the season goes along uh zoomer kev on the ivan pace scale how much are levi drake rodriguez and dwight mcglothern

forcing their way onto the field pace looked like he didn't belong on the field last preseason in a good way oh yeah no he did yeah he came right out and was great in those preseason games that's a good observation um ivan pace is one of the biggest outliers i've ever seen in my entire career watching sports football i mean how many times have you ever seen a guy who not only is undrafted but is also way below the usual specs then come out and just be excellent right away and great is the highest graded rookie linebacker when there's all these guys i don't know what was there probably 25 linebackers taken ahead of them i i've never seen anything like it happened right away normally for a udfa you're talking about two to three seasons like adam thielen like anthony

harris not instantly so yeah that would be a 10 out of 10 for a crazy late round or UDFA player. These guys are maybe a four or a five. Getting a role with the first team in practice puts you in that four, five, six range where you could be something right away as a seventh round pick, a contributor potentially. And Dwight McCluther and I would put more as maybe a two or three if he makes the roster out of the pace scale that's a three or a four if he makes the roster he might

still end up being a practice squad guy depending on their numbers um i don't want to go too far just yet but levi drake rodriguez carving out role. That's something that is absolutely something to look at. Um, let's see miles. Good to see miles. Do you think that the depth chart is a sign of who's likely going to be playing in the first preseason game as in starters aren't going to be playing much. If any, Kevin O'Connell has not been a big fan of playing his starters. And if we were to go through and take a guess, it would just be all the veteran players with any experience or rookie like Dallas Turner, who I am not sure is going to play, but anybody with any experience who's going to matter to the team, except for

whoever the quarterback needs, you'll probably see Jalen Naylor because the quarterback needs Jalen Naylor. And you'll see a you know other wide receivers who are battling for position but someone like that is not proven enough to not be on the field anybody who's proven anybody who's locked into their spot shouldn't be playing and won't be playing in this preseason game it will be everybody else even the backup offensive line is pretty good maybe they have the starting offensive line go one series they did that i think they did that one year where they had the offensive line go one series and that was it and then they were done for the day but the backup offensive line is pretty good it's not going to be many guys who are any type of significant contributor it could be kenny

wong who's starting as the backup running back or starting as the backup starting as the running back because even the first two guys aaron jones and ty chandler should not be playing they need them too much for those guys to be in at tight end you might not see josh oliver or johnny munt they might begin with nick muse which is fine there's a lot of intrigue with all these different players I just if you say to yourself could this guy matter then he's probably not playing and that's the thing about Sam Darnold is does he change that math at all does it change to have Sam Darnold run one series with Garrett Bradbury because they just want to get them out there and see, or three series with Garrett Bradbury and the offensive line. They will not be putting out Jordan Addison or Justin Jefferson. That would be unless it was for again, one series, but I still

can't even see that. So then you're asking Darnold to go out there and play with guys that he hasn't usually played with. Are they going to have him do that or are they just not going to play sam darnold at all and make it pretty clear where things stand right now zoomer kev do you think addison was catching punts in practice because he could be the fair catch hands guy for short punts i think that maybe every team has this. Do you remember? Well, if you're zoomer, then I don't know if you remember. Uh, but when, uh, Randy Moss came in a game late against the chiefs, they were losing as a national TV game, I think. And he returned a punt for a touchdown. It was absolutely electric. Uh, Tyree killed did this where he came into a game, uh, against the Vikings and he went back

there and he scared the punter and the punter shanked it. And then came into a game against the Vikings and he went back there and he scared the punter and the punter shanked it. And then they kicked a game winning field goal. Addison might be the, okay, down six points. You got no timeouts. The other team's punting. You essentially need a punt return for a touchdown or a 50 yard return to have any chance to win the game. Let's send Jordan Addison back out there because he's special. Maybe that's the only thing I can come up with. Otherwise, the Jordan Addison shouldn't be back there catching punts at all. Maybe he was bored.

I don't know. Miles, everyone is begging to see the quarterback play. I'm dying to see Flores dialing up that defense, mixing and matching edge rushers all over the front seven. It's going to be front seven. It's going to be a dream. That's going to be very different from what we've seen these last two years. Well, two years ago is Donatello since O'Connell took over, but last year it really had to just be two guys that they could mix in on the edge. And now you're right. They have four. Maybe if

Gabriel Murphy makes the team, they have five. Maybe Jihad Ward has a role for himself. There's a lot that they can do. Mark says, if the cornerback room works out, I want our defense terrorizing offenses. If the cornerback room is average, they will be good on defense. They will be a very tough team to handle. If the corners are at least average, then they will be really tough to go against.

Sean says, starting J.G. McCarthy or Darnold on Saturday, do you not put your best offensive line out there? Yeah, that's a good question. If you start McCarthy, well, then he should work with the guys that he's been working with in practice because they're familiar with each other. So he should take, I think it's Dan Feeney has been playing center and Juergens and Reisner and Questenberry and Rouse has been mixing in.

Do that. Do that. Like have the team that he's been working with and he's comfortable with those players. But if Darnold starts, then you have to start the offensive line as well maybe that's a factor maybe it's not maybe they could go in for one or two series and you feel pretty good about it uh evan says which two guys return kickoffs during the preseason game if wong woo chandler and powell don't play i think wong will play uh but if

chandler and powell don't play maybe you get Dwayne McBride in there. Maybe you get Jalen Naylor. That would be my guess for the guys who could be back there. Jalen Naylor, I believe, was back there taking some of them. Miles says, I remember Percy Harvin was returning punts. Then again, it was Percy. He could do anything. That's true.

Percy is exceptional. Exceptional. One of the all-time talents. Maybe not the body of work, but one of the all-time talents. Maybe not the body of work, but one of the all-time talents. He could do anything. I don't doubt that Percy Harvin could have played quarterback if you needed him to. Running back, receiver, punt returner, corner, safety,

anything you asked him to do. But that's the type of thing with Percy, send him back there to return punts. Addison did it in college it's just it's a dangerous position back there you can really get smacked you don't want that for Addison uh what about Bob if this team starts off soft turning the ball over missing tackles getting run over the run game I'll question the toughness of the team and the preparation of the coaching staff. You tell him, Bob, I don't know. What year is it? I'm just not sure about that, man. I mean, they fumbled a lot last year. It

was weird. The first year they crushed the Packers in week one. I don't know. We want to make those connections. And I think people did last year when they fumbled a bunch of times where they wanted to say, well, yeah, they should have played more guys in the preseason. Nobody plays anybody in the preseason. There might be a one or two teams who still play their starters a little bit. I think Andy Reed still forces his starters out there. Doesn't he for a couple series because he's old school. I mean, you just don't see it very much. As far as the team being soft, that's kind of another thing. I mean, when we look at the individuals on the team is Justin Jefferson soft is, I mean, talking about making tackles,

Jonathan Grenard, Blake Cashman, Ivan Pace, Andrew Van Ginkle, who's Harrison Smith, Josh Metellus, like who who's soft what do we mean here if they make mistakes at the beginning of the season because they haven't played in uh three quarters of a year or whatever it is half a year how many ever months then uh that will be not uncommon um last year i'm not sure how much we can connect what not playing in the preseason or how they practice. And they've been aggressive in practice this year. It's been harder practicing this year without question than before because they have a younger team. So I don't know.

I can't get there with you. That feels sort of 1971-ish to me with like how the season starts as a reflection. It's not like they have six preseason games that everybody plays in. Um, sloth says his knolls back from his injury. He was an electric return, man. Yeah. I think I saw him back there as well. On some of those reps, we could definitely see him returning. He hasn't gotten much work as a wide receiver, but he might, uh, might end up returning. So, uh, oh gosh, that's funny. Why Addison smacked?

Maybe he'll learn something. Well, he doesn't need to learn anything more on the field. He's very good at that, uh, off the field. We will see. Uh, but I think this has been a good and enjoyable rundown of the, I'm sorry, a good and enjoyable official rundown of the unofficial depth chart. So guess what folks, we've got another practice tomorrow. And you know what that means? I'll be going. And you know what that means? It's another live show and we'll have more fun tomorrow. I imagine. I really do think that's going to be one of their tougher practices of the year tomorrow,

which could mean a lot of takeaways. We'll try to get more of a rep count and things like that as we go forward. And then we'll look into it. One more, one more question since it's you miles, who is the guy on the current roster? You can't help,

but want to succeed. That is not a lock besides nailer oh that's uh yeah is there anybody coming back from injury that's uh like who's like who's battling who's trying to fight their way onto this thing you know who i mean who would be a good one is uh what are you talking about i mean on on the roster like you want to see succeed so i guess i could pick anybody but if blake brandle were to be this guy at left guard i mean he was a guy that was drafted as a left tackle who never played guard before that we didn't think a whole heck of a lot about and then just kept working and kept working and learned all the positions he even took a few uh

backup kind of reps as a center i think last year just so he had all the positions down he's worked really hard to be here at left guard uh he would be one zoomer kev with james lynch absolutely james lynch absolutely james lynch a guy who's worked his butt off to get back uh with his knee i was trying i knew somebody was coming back for an injury uh he's the one that's that's a good one um and even you know someone like brian awesome who is still around but got bumped down because of a really excellent player maybe he can actually work out a role this year. It just didn't work out for him last year. I'll think about that one. So thanks a lot, everybody, for watching

the official breakdown of the unofficial depth chart. And we'll have a lot more to talk about tomorrow. My conversation with Dane Mizutani in depth about Mark Wilf's comments about the Vikings brass and a little more about today's practice and the preseason. That'll be coming up on YouTube and the podcast feed very soon as well. And tomorrow another podcast from TCO performance center expected with Will Raggetts of sports illustrated. I mean, just going to bring you absolutely everything this week.

So make sure you like subscribe, tell your friends send a carrier pigeon to a random person with the words purple insider written on it that would be much appreciated thanks everybody for watching slash listening and we'll see you all again soon football