Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Vikings and 49ers definitely played a preseason game

Episode Date: August 21, 2022

Matthew Coller and WCCO Radio's Paul Hodowanic talk about the Vikings 17-7 preseason loss to the San Francisco 49ers. A struggle for Kellen Mond, who can't be trusted as the backup now. Who didn't play might be as interesting as who did. Other players who stood out for good and bad reasons and what to do with the irrelevant preseason games around the NFL. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

the Minnesota Vikings definitely played a preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers were the other team on the field when they played this game at US Bank Stadium which people actually came to see on a beautiful Minnesota night and if they were hoping to see anyone that will matter to the 2022 NFL season they were not allowed to see those players but they did dress up in their sports pajamas and run around before the game, but not during the game. Pre-game, they actually had all the starters get ready. They put on their uniforms and they warmed up and took snaps. And it looks like if you didn't know what was going on to the fans, like there was going to be something that was going to happen with Kirk

cousins. And he was taking snaps from Garrett Bradbury and throwing passes to Adam Thielen. But when they announced the list of players who would not be playing, it was literally everyone. And if you wanted the Trey Lance, he's back in Minnesota. Everyone's here to see him.

No, no, no. You didn't get to see any Trey Lance either, but you did get Brock Purdy if you went to Iowa State. Very possible if you're in the state of Minnesota that you are a cyclone. So that may have been exciting.

And Nate Sudfeld, best known for the guy who played instead of Jalen Hurts so the Philadelphia Eagles could get a higher draft pick. And Doug Peterson may or may not have gotten fired because of it. This is kind of the recap that's on my mind right now is that these preseason games for some teams and the Vikings are going to be one of them. They just don't mean anything to them. They truly do not. They do not want to play the starters. They want to keep everybody healthy, which I support and I think

is a good idea. But when 50,000 people show up and hope that they're going to see something, I think now they've learned under Kevin O'Connell, this is not Mike Zimmer. You are not seeing anything from the starters and there are takeaways. We're going to go through those takeaways, some developments that might be relevant to the depth and backups and so forth. But the big picture takeaway is just that they are handling this preseason in a different way than the past. And that way is not going to give you anywhere near as much to react to or have insight from. And we're basically down to talking about T.Y. McGill's big game here, which may result in him being the sixth defensive tackle or something i don't know

uh but that's kind of where we're at so paul hodowanek with me here uh after that opening rant sorry paul you're fine um but uh i guess give your your reaction here what is the biggest takeaway because for me it's well uh they are really going the Rams route with these first team players. But what is yours? Well, I briefly just burst when PA is on Sam Schluter watch on the broadcast, a random undrafted University of Minnesota offensive tackle that's on the 49ers. And then he gets super excited when another guy with the same number of Schluter comes in, but it's not actually Schluter, but he thinks it's Schluter. That I mean, that was the highlight of the broadcast.

Like that's what's happening on the broadcast. Like I'm not at the stadium right now. I'm at home. I watched it with everyone else that watched it. And that was like a big segment on the broadcast. We had a camera on him on the sideline. So when that is what's happening, that kind of sums up the day. And my biggest takeaway was honestly the Andrew Booth Jr.

injury because that was the one player one of the only players in this game that figures to actually have a role on this team at least in its base when everyone is healthy and he goes down with an injury that looked maybe scary at the beginning now it's an ankle who knows how severe that injury is but honestly he other than him and basically ed ingram were the only two guy lewis seen like i mean like i did even seen play i'm just i so jumbled um right now but like that was the biggest thing to me is andrew booth getting hurt because he was one of the only people in the game that mattered to the vikings week one to the vikings week seven to probably to probably the white the Vikings week 17 18 into the potential playoffs and he's hurt again uh that's

unfortunately become kind of part of his narrative so that to be to be honest was my biggest takeaway him going down and that's what you want to avoid in these preseason games in these training camp and they've done a decent job of it outside of Irv Smith, who appears like he's going to be back. So really no harm, no foul there. But if Booth is out for a significant period of time, that's my biggest takeaway more than T.Y. McGill or Kellen Mond or wherever you want to go. It's it's Andrew Booth Jr. Yeah, there are things to discuss, I promise, that may be relevant to the 2022 season. I maybe I'm exaggerating a bit to say that there's nothing. But I also, I make the pledge to be honest with you guys at all times and not try to

ever reach for things that aren't actually there. So it had to be said, but I agree with you, Paul, that Andrew Booth jr. Going down and Kevin O'Connell is given somewhat of an update saying that he doesn't think that it's serious. But any injury is serious with Andrew Booth Jr.

Because he's a guy that when he came out, he said he's not been healthy since high school. And he had multiple surgeries. And now this is an ankle issue. And Kevin O'Connell called it aggravating the ankle issue. So does that keep him out? Does that hurt any chances he would have to, you know, make a strong push toward the end of this camp? But basically after this week, everything's decided. There isn't any more of that. They start to turn toward Green Bay by

the third preseason game. That's why the third or what used to be the fourth was so meaningless because it was basically just 53rd man, see what you can do, practice squad, let's solidify that. But everybody else has started to turn toward the actual like, all right, there's a game on September 11th against the Green Bay Packers. And we got to know who's going to be the starting lineup and everything else, which is why we declared Ed Ingram as the starter after practicing with the ones against the San Francisco 49ers. But then he played a lot today. And I don't know if that's just to get more reps for somebody who's a rookie and they wanted to see him against Javon Kinlaw, of which on one play, he got his lunch

eaten by Javon Kinlaw, which will happen against the best defensive tackles in the league. And it is a reminder that there is going to be some, you know, development curve or bumps along the way when we're talking about a rookie right guard, if he is indeed the one who's starting. But I wonder if that was a little more open than we thought, but I still think Ed Ingram has that job pretty much locked up. I don't think that Andrew Booth Jr. was going to make a push here. And we do have to talk about Louis Seen because he played a lot in this game. He played all second team reps this week against the 49ers in the joint practices. And Cam Bynum watched this game from the sidelines.

He did not play at all. He wasn't asked to play in this game. So Dantzler and Bynum, they got the starter treatment. While Booth Jr. and Seen, they got the starter treatment while Booth Jr and Seen they got the backup or the rookie treatment and I think what we can take out of that is that Cam Bynum at this moment appears far away the starter that there has been even no indication that Lewis Seen will be the starter when it comes to week one which I think the well I would not declare that a panic button moment I think would be a

disappointment for them because on draft night, I remember them talking about like, yeah, we want to find ways to still work Bynum in because we like them. There was no discussion of actually, we think Bynum is going to start this year and scene's going to develop. There was no talk of that. It was entirely, Hey, Louis scene, he's he's gonna be the guy and i remember even asking harrison smith on day one like hey what's it gonna be like for you and this rookie to play with each other and he kind of gave this like well you know i mean we've still got buying him back there it's like oh come on you know you drafted this guy in the first round and yet here we are in this preseason game while all the starters are sitting on the sideline

and he's out there playing the entire first half it makes you think that this is just it's one of the reasons that on draft night I'm ranting like a nut job in the side room at TCO Performance Center talking about how like first year players don't usually change teams there might be like three guys or four guys in the first round who make a massive impact right away. And the rest of them need to develop or they never become anything at all. And that's kind of like not the latter part yet at all on Lewis scene, but like, that's where we're at is that he's going to have to learn how to play and he's going to slowly work into this thing. But it really looks like after this, that, uh, bynum is going to be your starting center

against the packers in week one yeah and i'm i i think part of it is both seen and ingram the two guys where maybe you would think would join that list of inactive players they're both rookies uh all the other rookies got a significant amount of playing time now whether that's we just want to get rookies more time on the field and time, just getting live reps. I think that makes a lot of sense. And if we're going to say that for Ed Ingram, I think we, it at least needs to be then said for Louis scene too. I don't know if this means, man, they really need him to get reps because they think he's raw. It might just be, Hey, we just want to get them more run. We want to get them time playing in us bank stadium. We want to get them time doing all these things.

I mean, Kevin O'Connell and the whole team went over to us bank stadium to kind of get a feel for it. Like O'Connell has been kind of big about going through the rituals and things like this to like, get the team ready. I could see that happening with the rookies. You're just trying to get them more and more comfortable.

So I still think that. Can bind them's the starter based on what we're seeing. So that doesn't erase what we, what you just said. I think it being the rookies that were the ones that were kind of on the bubble and were guys that are playing that kind of checks out for me a little bit, but yeah, I think the fact that your number one, your number one pick from this draft isn't starting right away. I mean, usually your first and second round guys are kind of starting immediately. Most teams are doing that. And you kind of had an opening there.

And we talked all offseason about kind of Bynum's versatility and where he could go. And I think that had to be plan A for them. Now, I don't know if this is a horrendous plan B for them. Like this is a horrible way where this, you just get your secondary player to develop. You're really talented guy from Georgia. All these guys from Georgia do really well. He seems like he has the mold of a guy who's going to do really well. None of the plays in training camp and really the preseason feels like he's getting like just cooked out there where he like doesn't belong on the field. It's more been like, well, they're not really targeting him.

Like we don't quite know. So I don't, I don't know if there's like some of the traditional red flags where you'd say, I think he's overmatched. This is like a Wyatt Davis situation or something like that's not happening for Louisine. I think he's maybe just coming along a little slower. And I think that can be a good thing, but yeah, I would say it's probably not the plan they had in their head. Although I don't know if this outcome is the worst thing in the

world for this team in the long run. Right. You always have to wait and see when it comes to young players because everybody works on a different development curve and timing and so forth. And Justin Jefferson, it could be brought up though. It's different circumstances. Justin Jefferson did not start week one. There was no preseason though. At that point, I imagine if there had been a preseason, Jefferson would have ripped people's faces off and then he would have started week one and maybe they get a win out of one of those games and they wouldn't have had to wait until the Tennessee game in 2020. But the fact that he's not getting first team reps. And I mean,

with Booth Jr., I think there's a lot more reason to say, well, Dantzler had a lot more experience and played pretty well last year at times. And Patrick Peterson is not, you know, you're not taking his spot. He's here for a reason. But with the safety position, you know, Bynum is a fourth round draft pick who had a pretty good game or two when Harrison Smith was out, but not someone that was so good that they refused to draft a safety in the first round. So that's why I would more go, huh, what's going on there exactly? And the thing about the new coaching staff is if this was Mike Zimmer, he would have told us by now exactly why he's not getting first team reps. But we're just not going to hear that when we discuss it with the coaching staff. It's everybody's doing great and everyone's coming along and everyone's developing.

And so it's kind of harder to get answers on why a player might not get first team reps. So scene was out there tonight and you make a fair point that he has not been tested a whole lot. There was one really great catch in front of him on actually a pretty legit throw by Nate Sudfeld. Maybe the throw of the night that was caught Zach Davidson. And yeah, I think that you're going to maybe not be pimping so many home runs about Zach Davidson, but let's get to that in a moment and talk about the backup quarterback situation, because I preface this by saying we didn't change our minds about things that will truly matter in 2022. And I will be steadfast in my position about the backup quarterback spot. But Kellen Mond did

nothing to help his case. Sean Mannion was Sean freaking Mannion. He was exactly the same as he always looked. And he's going to be so mad about that box score because he should have had an 80 yard touchdown pass or whatever, 75 yard that he did not get because of Zach Davidson. But when it comes to Kellen Mann, you saw all the problems, all the reasons why reporters who are out at practice every day are saying, guys, I'm not sure he's winning this competition. He looks like he's slow on the reads. The decisions aren't very good. He gets under pressure and then decides that he's Brett Favre

and can make some insane throw that gets picked off he throws into double coverage down the field he takes a sack that he didn't necessarily need to take if he knew where to go with the football he throws it into the ground and checks down on third down and nine in a preseason game like these things were not good from Kellen Mond but they were also exactly what we've seen from Kellen Mond for two years. And I think that tonight might be considered like the last time we took that seriously, like the idea that Mond was going to be this backup or someone that they could develop or anything like that. As of right now, I would say that the options for backup quarterback are either

Sean Mannion and keep Kellen Mond as your QB three, which is fine, I guess, uh, or you just go outside the building. And my question would be outside the building for whom now last year, they went out and got Sean Mannion and he's doing exactly the same things he always does. He's making some good plays, but nothing that's going to change your life. A lot of short passes, a lot of checkdowns. And then, you know, but he's going to the right places with the ball and looks like the offense is somewhat operating when he's out there as opposed to, oh my gosh, a crazy interception. Oh my gosh, another crazy interception. Like that's, that's not going to be okay with the coaches that these decisions are so poor and not in the first year of a player

in the second year of a player where he's already been through this for an entire year in an entire camp like that should not be happening fourth quarter should look every time like with the Raiders every time um not just once with the Raiders where he makes a couple good throws and then the next week it's an interception and he can't move the offense at all so I think we're pretty much done with that conversation now it's what do you do now at that backup position and again I'll stay it every single time if Kirk Cousins goes down for any significant amount of games your season is over but at this moment you wouldn't feel confident even with a single game being started by either one of these players so if there is an option out there and I got one tweet asking if Brock Purdy was that option I

don't think so but they should go after whatever option could potentially be out there because this was another reminder that they don't have a backup quarterback yeah I you hit the nail on the head there i think already from vikings twitter and from the instant reactions that i've seen already published one of the general consensus like points is that the vikings don't have their backup quarterback on the roster right now um and i just reiterate what you said okay where is he coming from exactly? Because that's a fun statement to say. And it's like, yeah, these guys are both bad. Like the quarterback is not on the roster right now. It's like, okay, well, who is it going to be?

Because let me just read off the free agents right now. Cam Newton, Blake Bortles, Mike Glennon, AJ McCarron, Jake Fromm. Those are, according to Walter Football, the top free agent quarterbacks that are still out there. Now, let's go to the, well, okay, well, maybe they trade for one. That just, to me, that goes against the whole ethos of this competitive rebuild

that we're now going to throw away assets. And we've seen this in previous years, Kari Vedvik, Chris Herndon. Like, haven't we done this already with this mid-round late pick that you're throwing away for a guy that probably won't play or isn't very good? Like, who are you going to go out and get? Because Gardner Minshew is the one that everyone likes to reference. And yeah, the Eagles went and got him for a sixth round pick from a bad team that was ready to just

move on because they had their franchise guy. Going through the teams, there's just not that quarterback out there. Like there isn't an obvious case case and no the eagles aren't going to want to give you gardner minshu because they're in the exact same spot no contending team is going to give you their quarterback because they're in the exact same situation you're in where they want a backup option that can come in and potentially do something for them and then you're just going to random backup quarterbacks. I don't even know who the Texans backup quarterback is, but it can't be good.

Like they're going through the list of all the backup quarterbacks. Like there are not good players that you're going after. So isn't it Jeff Driscoll? I thought it was Jeff Driscoll. Okay. Do you want Jeff Driscoll or Sean Mannion? Like, I don't,

I don't think that's where you want to be. Like, are you going to go get Trevor Simeon from the Bears? No, you're not. Are you going to get Brandon Allen from the Bengals? No. Are you going to get, oh, this article says Kyle Allen for the Texans. Are you going to go get Kyle Allen? Probably not.

CJ Bethard. Like, are you going to go get Jared Stidham? Looked kind of good in that last Raiders game, but no, you're not going to get any of those guys. So I get it. It's sounds fun. And you just saw two quarterbacks play not well at all. So I get wanting to look outside, but there's just no one that you're going to get for cheap in free agency or

in trade. That's going to make that massive of a difference. So have at it, go for it. But if you're going to start trading away real assets, that goes against the entire thought process of like one foot in one foot out. If you're trading picks for Kyle Allen or something like that, like you just can't be doing that. And so I get the frustration. Both of them were terrible. Mond, I was, I was heaping praise on him last week. He was not good today, and everything that you feared showed up in a very, very bad way, and in a way that made this outing look much more like his norm

than last week's outing. Like, the things that he did, being just very, like, just waiting in the pocket way too long, not having a sense of the rush. We've seen it with Kirk, like on certain plays in certain times. It was Mond on every drop back. He was feeling it. He like just didn't understand where the rush was coming from and struggled.

Just throwing up balls that didn't need to be thrown. Like just all the bad marks. So I get it, but I just don't know where they're going. If they're not going to find the quarterback on the roster here. So I just, I just don't see that as a viable outcome at this point you kind of made your bed here you didn't go in the draft and get one you didn't go in free agency and sign someone better and now you're kind of living with it and I don't know if there's a way out and there are a few human beings in the world who are more adept at the Rams offense than Sean Manning I mean he was

with it was Sean McVay, and now he's here, and I think that he's just your guy. And what you have to hope is if Kirk Cousins goes down for any reason, that what he did tonight is basically what he could do. Like he could get you a couple of drives, because he'll have Jefferson and Thielen, not Tristan Jackson, who made a nice catch today, by the way, and is sort of, I think though Ty Chandler has taken the lead in the Mr. Mankato, a touchdown for Ty Chandler.

But it's not Tristan Jackson and Amir Smith-Marset. It's going to be Thielen, and it's going to be Jefferson and presumably Smith Jr. I mean, the good players. And he'll have Delvin Cook in the backfield. And so if you don't play Green Bay in January, um, maybe Sean Manion can get you through a game and kind of look like a chase Daniel or something. Um, possibly like that's the best you could hope for is that you can win a 16 to eight game or something, some complete mess game, uh, that, that he's in, but that's about the best point that you can make

pause that there is just not a lot of players that are outside of this building that a team would be willing to give away or cut that you can pick up and be happy with at all as your backup quarterback. And then they have to learn the entire new offense when your guy doing it. It's like, even if the talent gap is 5% between Mannion and somebody else, the knowledge gap is much more than that for Sean Mannion. So I think that that's just going to be the case. And then we won't think about it at all until it matters, if it ever does,

which with Kirk Cousins it usually doesn't because he's been completely healthy for his entire career. And basically what you have to do is walk out of U.S. Bank Stadium, look up at the sky, and say, Dear football gods, do not let Kirk Cousins miss more than a single game this year or the Vikings won't be making the playoffs. So on to some other stuff, because, I mean, that conversation, how long have we been having it? Pretty much Trevor Simeon wants a football games.

That guy can actually play. But since Trevor Simeon left, we've been in the same spot year after year with the preseason where we go. And what if it's this other guy? And then it's not because being a good athlete doesn't make you a good NFL quarterback. If you can't get the ball out quickly and you're just making mistakes all over the place. So I wasn't surprised at what we saw or that there wasn't like a, like a step forward because of the fourth quarter against the Raiders, just because this is kind of who Kellen Mond is.

And it's hard to see that really changing. I totally understand why people always want to give young players the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes it's just who they are. And Wyatt Davis is a good example of that. There's no reason to discuss Wyatt Davis. He came in in the fourth quarter of this game. Like clearly it's just not there, but there are some other players that are kind of interesting from this game. T Y McGill, who we joked around about on the round table the other day, because Dane Mizutani gave a really legitimate like stamp of approval for T Y McGill is a really big McGill guy. And we kind of laughed at him,

but a huge game for T Y McGill, but also the Jalen Twyman thing. He's probably a practice squad player. Like I, I could see why there would be some hope of, hey, this guy was drafted and maybe he would have been a higher draft pick if things didn't work out the way it did with COVID and yada, yada, yada. But another guy that's coming in basically in the fourth quarter, that right now goes under a nice story that he's even able to play football, but has a long way to go before he's going to make any impact.

And then the depth on the defensive line with your James Lynch's and so forth, it's really not very compelling outside of that. So T.Y. McGill has the best game. I don't know if you want to give a T.Y. McGill take. How about this? Because there's nothing else to say there.

He was good. Good for him. He might actually make it because of that. Uh, give me another player though, that you cared about their performance tonight, Paul. I, I mean, kind of in the T Y McGill vein, just in the first couple of drives, I thought Jonathan Bullard played decently well for another interior guy, which I think again, just spells. I, I talked about this in the column I wrote last week, looking at all the 2021 picks. And I said Twyman looks like a practice squad player.

And I got a little bit of pushback from that. And I think all you have to do is just look at where he's playing in relation to all the other interior defensive alignment. And he's behind just several guys. And one of them was Bullard, who played well in the first couple drives and had some nice interior pressure. And I think that's a spot, whether it's McGill or it's Bullard where there's clearly a spot to be one

there between someone. And there's not a ton of great proven depth at that defensive line. So I thought he played pretty good, but again, these are the types of players that we're talking about in this game, because one, there just wasn't much of quarterback play on offense to really evaluate wide receiver play or tight end play, unless we're going to take a crap on Zach Davidson, which we can, and I will let you. But yeah, I think the defense played relatively well. I thought Brian Asamoah was flying around doing some more Asamoah things. But yeah, I, of, of the other guys,

I thought Bullard played pretty well and Harrison hand actually played decently well in a couple of snaps that he got right after Andrew Booth got out, they targeted him twice towards the end zone and he played decent coverage both times. But again, I'm kind of grasping at this point. Okay. Well, let's go back and forth with a couple dudes let's get to Zach Davidson um Zach Davidson had his one moment in the sun when Irv Smith Jr. got hurt and he had a practice where he made a really good catch like on a third down like oh what a great play by Zach Davidson he has dropped everything since in practice and he has dropped everything in these games two drops including a ball that with his speed would be an ADR touchdown and was not,

he just can't catch the football. And I compared him to Moritz Boehringer. Like remember Moritz Boehringer, the guy from Germany who had an athletic profile that I kid you not was reflective and comparable statistically to Andre Johnson, one of the great receivers ever. But being an athlete is not being a football player, my friends. And man, like you just can't catch the football. There's there's no other way to go about it.

You can't have someone out there who can't catch the football. And that means to me that the players, as far as a tight end will be Irv Smith, junior Johnny Munt and Ben Ellefson more likely than not because of the number of drops, they just can't trust Zach Davidson and he's not a blocker at all. And Kevin O'Connell praises everyone. And I'm, what I'm trying to sharpen my skill is figure out like which praise matters and which praise doesn't. So if it's all going to be shades of praise, like, is it like a very, like in the orange or red praise, or is it like in the, in the ice blue praise and his praise

of Ben Ellison seemed actually pretty legit because block and catch the ball. When it comes to you, everyone wants somebody to be Jimmy Graham or George Kittle or whatever, but most tight ends are block and catch the ball when it comes to you. That's closer to Ben Elfson than it is Zach Davidson. So they really have to hope that Irv Smith Jr. who Kevin O'Connell says is on track to be back week one. They really have to hope that he is actually back week one. And if you were wondering if there's a competition between Davidson and Johnny

Munt, there's not because Johnny Munt did not play tonight. So clearly he's their guy. He knows their offense really well. He's a good run blocker. So if Irv Smith Jr. cannot go full strength week one, Johnny Munt will be your tight end and all of his 10 receptions for his career. But that's the position they put themselves in because they didn't bring anyone else proven when Irv Smith Jr. got hurt. So at this point, you couldn't even get someone ready. We saw that with Chris Herndon last year. I mean, we all made fun of that trade, but year after year, they've gone out and gotten someone at the last minute and it doesn't work because

it's so hard to catch up when you haven't had any training camp. It's almost impossible. So yeah, I think that the tight end position is pretty solidified now, and that experiment is over. All right. Your next guy, Paul. I don't need you to – because, look, we all make bad Mr. Mankato picks, so I don't need you to, like, fall on the sword or anything. We all do that. I don't even remember who I picked.

I don't remember who you picked either. And, again, I was taking a long shot in Zach Davidson, and for a moment I felt great a long shot in Zach Davidson. And for a moment, I felt great. And then everything regressed. But yeah, I think Ben Elfson even got like in the like nine snaps that they like deemed as starter snaps, which just basically meant when Alexander Madison was in, Elfson was in on more snaps than Davidson was. And Davidson's drops just over and over are going to are going to come back to bite him and they already have a downfield receiving threat at tight end in Irv Smith so

it's not even like you'd bring him in in some packages when guys are healthy so that just like his his role is is not there I thought other than getting eaten up by Javon Kimlaw the one time I thought Ed Ingram played decently well in his quest for right guard. And I just want to like double down. Like you think him not getting like one of the inactive spots, isn't questioning the number one role. Like, do you think that has any merit? Because I mean,

it's kind of telling when he's kind of the only guy that you're presuming as a starter and he's out there. And so I thought he held up relatively well. I don't think the offensive line played particularly well, especially at the beginning of the game. And he obviously had the toughest assignment, but I thought he generally blocked well and continued to kind of show the flashes of a guard that you feel comfortable playing right away.

So I actually kind of liked that he struggled against, we got to see him against a good player and he struggled. And I thought he played decently well throughout, but I'd love to get your take on just what you think of Ingram. And if this has any bearing on who starts week one, I'm going to have to go back and look at the tape, Paul, I hate to say it to you that way, but it is truly difficult at the game to tell how a right guard played

unless he's getting killed, which in previous years, it was pretty obvious about the right guard. So I guess I would say you only really notice them when there's a problem. So we will have to go back and look at that or just, you know, see what PFF thinks of it, honestly, because they're looking at every play and grading it. So we'll take a look at that and go through some of those grades. But I don't, it just ran through my mind.

Like, gosh, he's playing a lot for somebody who we think is locked in. So I'm always kind of on any of these things, second guessing myself. Like, is that right? I already kind of jumped to the conclusion because he played so many reps against San Francisco. But Jesse Davis was hurt the second day. So is it possible that he was banged up and they didn't want to do that? But they were already working Ingram into those first team reps. Maybe this was kind of a test of like, we're 90% there, get us the rest last 10% Ed, and then we'll see. But I would be surprised if that does not come to

fruition and he's the starting right guard. I don't think one time getting thrown by Javon Kinlaw, who's a first round draft pick. I don't think that one play is going to influence them so much from where they already stood. Amir Smith-Marset is an adventure. I have to say of the fun players entertaining, it's either really good or really bad and fumbling on the punt. They don't have a punt returner. Marcus Sherrill's. I have Marcus Sherrill's phone number. Maybe I should text him. I had him on the show once a few years ago. And he is, I mean, he's the best. He's like a super fun guy to talk to

because he built this really cool niche as being a gopher, as this great punt returner. And we always kind of used to make fun of it a little bit. Like, oh, there's Marcus Sherrill's again, punt returner. He was amazing. Like he averaged 15 yards of return for a whole year. I mean, his, I looked this up, his average for his career was better than anyone has done since even in small sample sizes last

year, I think DD Westbrook got to eight yards of return. Marcus Sheryls was like 12 for his career. And so they have never found anybody since Smith. Marced is the only guy they've used. I think that needs to change that. they need to throw some other guys back there and give somebody else a shot because I don't think you can simulate it in practice. You have to figure it out during the games. And at this point, he's muffed one. He dropped the kickoff.

He got fumbled on a punt return. Like you can't have these things and made a bad decision on one where he should have called for a fair catch. Cannot have that stuff. Kenny Wongwu is clearly gonna be the kick returner. So no concern there as a wide receiver, he's made some nice plays, but I still feel like BC Johnson is going to be the more trusted of the two wide receivers that despite Smith

Marset's entertainment value and clear skill. I mean, on the other part return, he like juked out a bunch of people and you could see like, or was it a kick return? You could see like, oh yeah, no, it's definitely there with some of his explosive skills, but can you really trust that and trust him to be in the right spots? I thought even the best pass of the day by Kellen Mond was in that first drive when he was rolling out and he stopped and instinctually BC Johnson stopped with him in the right spot to make a big catch. And Kirk Cousins has talked about this stopped with him in the right spot to make a big catch. And Kirk Cousins has talked about this before.

He just thinks that B.C. Johnson is a really like instinctual and smart player. That's going to be ahead, I think, of somebody who just has the higher ceiling. But Smith-Marset, I mean, he made a great catch in practice the other day. He has the talent. But I think he's a guy that needs to continue kind of developing where BC Johnson is more of an established NFL wide receiver who just doesn't have a super high ceiling but I thought this game was kind of evident of what both receivers are yeah and I think it kind of generally follows how coaches normally approach these like depth positions I think fans love the high upside and the like big splash plays.

But I think generally when teams are talking about their fourth, fifth wide receiver, they just want a guy that if they have to put them out there, they like know is going to do the right things. And like, I think that can probably be extended to the backup quarterback potentially, but at wide receiver, I think it's just like, are they going to run the routes correctly?

Are they not going to mess up what the other parts of the offense, like, are they going to mess up the plays by where they're running? Are they going to fumble the ball? Like, can we trust them? And I think BC Johnson is firmly ahead of Amir Smith-Marset in the can we trust them realm. Now, is he in the, like, who is more fun? Clearly not.

But I don't think that's really what you're looking for in a wide receiver for you're looking for a guy who he's in on third down is going to stop in that zone and catch that ball there. It's like he's he's just going to be the smarter player. And I think right now that's clearly B.C. Johnson. And so I see the argument of a coach just wanting that type of player to be kind of how you're rounding out your roster. And I think that's why he, he will be ahead of Amir Smith-Marset.

Like, I think obviously Smith-Marset is going to make the team, especially if they're going to rely on him at punt with the punt return duties. Like he has a built-in job right there. But in terms of getting actual reps on the field, running routes, it feels like BC Johnson's going to be ahead of him. And he was ahead of him in the first preseason game. He was ahead of him in the second preseason game in terms of like the snaps with the starters and just looks like the more NFL wide receiver than Amir Smith-Marset does. Now, two years down the line, Amir Smith-Marset very well and probably will be better than BC Johnson. But in this moment for this team, when you already have three guys, you feel pretty solid about like BC Johnson is probably how you

want to round out that room and not a complete unknown or like kind of firecracker fourth option that you just don't know what's going to happen on a given play. Cause he, he may go to the house, but he might fumble it or just do something completely stupid so I think that was the perfect breakdown Paul I mean a very serious and extensive breakdown of BC Johnson via Amir Smith-Marset which is where we're at right now in this preseason which was going to be my last question too actually I got two more. Last one is, is there anything else to find out here? I mean, we have the third preseason game coming up against Denver sometime, and that will absolutely happen, and it will probably be just like this,

and it will probably be just like the Raiders game, where we're looking for maybe some guy like a T.Y. McGill who surprisingly has a good game, and five years from now, someone will joke like, remember T.Y. McGill who surprisingly has a good game. And five years from now, someone will joke like, remember T.Y. McGill in that one game? We're like, we were, we're up in the press box here trying to figure out like why he's called T.Y. And someone is supposed to ask him after the game. So I guess we'll find out because his name is like Tyrone Carlton. So why is it T.Y.? I don't know. But that's, that's like the things we're talking about with this preseason, that it

just has not had that one storyline and people tried to make it like trade Madison. And then Madison comes out with a 13 yard run. It was just like, yeah, folks, poor Alexander Madison's out here tweeting like, guys, stop ripping on me. I'm still better than Kenny Wong wounds. I Chandler, which he is at this moment. Chandler, though, certainly showing once again that he's got some potential for the future. And I think he and Wong Wu both do, but that's not going to impact right now. What else is there to find out? I think we're pretty much set.

I mean, the only other thing we're going to be looking for, which we just have not gotten a lot of information and we might get even less with Andrew Booth Jr.'s injuries. Just, hey, what are these rookies actually going to do for this team? If Ingram is still playing in the next game, is that mean he is not locked dead the starter? I don't know. But for the most part, we're kind of at, let's just talk about what the team's going to be and what we know so far, because training camp is now closing to fans. They've had the joint practices. They've had two preseason games.

Like we're there more or less. There isn't a whole lot else. It kind of gets to this period where everyone just sort of sits and holds their breath and nobody gets hurt in practice. And that's pretty much all you can really do because of where we're at with this. And there's not many more answers to be had. There's not first teamers going out there fighting with a second team or for a spot

or anything else like that. It's essentially is Tristan Jackson going to make that final spot in the wide receiver room? Are they going to keep, you know, one more guy as far as this defensive lineman or that defensive lineman? I mean, gosh, I was thinking tonight, like, Janarius Robinson, remember that? Like, remember that conversation? I mean, that whole draft outside of Bynum and maybe Wongwu

is going to look pretty rough. Of course, you know, Christian Derrissaw is going to be their starting left tackle, but the whole middle of that thing looks pretty, pretty rough at the moment. But aside from going, yeah, that guy's not going to make it. We're kind of, I mean, you tell me if there's anything, we don't have a kicking competition. I don't think we have a punting competition. Do we have a punting competition?

It's basically just like, and also the other thing too, is I don't think outside of what we already figured, which is that they weren't going to play starters. I don't think we've learned anything about like Kevin O'Connell game management. Is he going to hack the game management system and be genius? Like, I don't know. We, we didn't, we didn't see all the tricks up his sleeve with clock management and so forth in a game that nothing mattered.

There was a timeout by the 49ers before a two point conversion, which just, wow. Like you really questioned what you're doing with your life at that moment right you're like well season yeah yeah you know what they had tonight they had pretzels that had frosting on them and i was thinking like should have grabbed one of those for this moment can you give me like a paper airplane report because many tweets about paper airplanes yeah uh last year, there was a paper airplane festival where, I mean, everybody, people were mad in preseason last year. Do you remember this?

Like, this is so, it feels so long ago, but people were mad at the Vikings and just like on edge and wanted everybody fired as the season was starting. And part of that acting out of the fans was throwing paper airplanes in frustration for their boredom. Today,

they followed up on that as maybe a tradition, like how in Buffalo, when they play Tom Brady, people sneak certain things into, if you know what I'm talking about, you know what I'm talking about, but if you don't Google it, but not with the kids around,

they throw certain things on the field with Brady. With this, maybe this is like a tradition to come where people make paper airplanes out of the program and throw them more than anything. It was just boredom. I mean, like, come on, do something out there. Like Buffalo put up 40 something points today. Could you do that for us instead of seven? Uh, you know, none of this matters, but the people who showed up to the game did not get any sort of entertainment product, which was actually going to be the last question I had for you for the show is just, did they need to do

something here? Like the NFL preseason has always been bad, but it used to be, Hey, well, Kirk cousins. I mean, remember his first game was against Denver in the preseason first drive throws this fantastic touchdown to Stefan digs. There's your commercial for the 2020 or whatever it was, 2018 season. What a throw from Cousins to Diggs. That's exciting. Now that you're not playing any starters, except for whatever reason, Belichick and Andy Reid, like dinosaur is going to dinosaur. But if you're not playing any starters, 90% of the league,

I mean, should they just do scrimmages inside the stadium with other teams that aren't tackling should they just have like a team event where fans can show up i mean what can we put the nfl network wants games and espn wants games and everything else but this is this is pro bowl level oh my, this is unwatchable. And even as a reporter covering it, it is frustrating to me to try to like talk about it when they're not taking it seriously. It was like, are we going to come on? We need to do takeaways.

We need to talk about what happened. We need to talk about position battles and things like that. But it's really hard when you're not putting out anyone I mean both teams are like throwing two quarterbacks in there sometime hey now it's your turn now it's your turn like this just doesn't matter so I don't know do you have any ideas of what they could do with the NFL preseason I mean I think everyone seems to universally love the joint practices and I don't know why don't know why they can't just try to make that some sort of spectacle, like bring them into U.S. Bank and try to do some sort of scrimmage situation.

I mean, that's kind of what they're doing right now, but that's first-teamers going against other first-teamers, and I know both teams probably don't want a bunch of fans videoing what they're doing and whatever, but everyone is not playing their starters at this point. So just make it a glorified practice. I think has to be the only way. Yeah.

I don't think there's anything that they're going to change because they can make it as part of the season ticket package for everybody, which is just gross. And there's no other way to describe it. I don't think it'll ever change but i do think that the mentality of fans will change they're gonna show up because it's kind of fun to bring your kids and maybe dress up in purple or whatever but the mentality used to be like this is dressed rehearsal used to be what they would say and now now I think it's going to be like, it's more of a commercial for the team.

Here's what people look like in their jerseys who aren't going to matter. This wasn't a very good commercial, to be honest with you. Not a good commercial. No, but it really is like, here's a look at some of the rookies. Here's some of the storylines. It's just, I'm not mad at it. I don't think it's really going to change, but if they do go to 18 games,

which I think is not a good idea, but they could go to two preseason games and that'd be it. One home, one away, and then just get rid of it. But that's a gate for them and they're not going to turn that down. So I don't know that there's any real answer.

We'll keep every year, hyping them up, breaking them down. Our first preseason breakdown post game was the highest listened to podcast of the year. So not like ever Purple Insider. Thanks, Jim Harbaugh for that one. But of like since training camp started. So people are watching. People still care about them and are interested.

So we'll keep discussing everything that happened. But disclaimers here's what might matter and here's what absolutely doesn't matter and that's we'll do our best to that so thank you for all of your time paul hodowanek and uh we will talk again very soon and i think you know we got one more here and what is it maybe like like 20 days away was 20 21 days or yeah what is it september 10th or 11th 11 11th yeah so we're yeah we're close yeah 22 days away beautiful all right thanks for your time paul and thank you everyone for listening and we will talk to you again soon