Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Vikings' offseason would be a success if...

Episode Date: March 28, 2023

Matthew Coller chats with Vikings fans on YouTube about some weird things regarding Lamar Jackson demanding a trade and John Lynch giving the starting job to Brock Purdy at the owners meetings and then asks... what would make a successful offseason for the Vikings. Lots of interesting answers came rolling in... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here and sorry we're a little later tonight. I, to tell you the truth, was watching Virginia Tech and Ohio State women's basketball tournament game and it was great, great game. So Virginia Tech coming out on top on that one or at least just starting up a couple minutes late while they were following each other. But great tournament and so I wanted to see the end of that while they were following each other. But great tournament. And so I wanted to see the end of that game before we jumped on live. But now we have a lot to discuss. So this is going to be, I hope, a very interactive show from the comment section here watching live on YouTube. And usually do this Monday night, Tuesday night, and then periodically when things happen.

So if you're listening on the podcast feed, feel free to duck in, get your comments in, and it's sort of a live fans only discussion. But I think we have to start out with the NFL owners meetings. And you have to give credit to the National Football League because after the first week of free agency, it hits, and then everything goes wild. People sign everywhere. Trades happen. The entire league shifts.

Our universe is different a week later. And then they send all the owners and all of the coaches to one place to talk with the media. So then coaches and owners and GMs say stuff, and things end up coming out, and then we have a lot more to talk about. And oh, by the way, just as John Harbaugh was getting ready to talk at the owners meetings, Lamar Jackson announced that he had asked for a trade from the Baltimore Ravens earlier this month. So he waited almost an entire month to say it, but indeed Lamar Jackson asked for a trade. And I feel like, you know, Godfather 3 is not a very good movie, but you know, when Al Pacino says, once I think I'm out, you know, they dragged me back in. That seems to be the Lamar Jackson thing when it comes to the Minnesota

Vikings and just, you know, in general, this entire off season, probably for a lot of fan bases where it's like, okay, well, maybe this won't work out or whatever. Oh, well, maybe now, you know, he's, he really wants out. And it seems that it's over with him in Baltimore. Now they could still trade him. They don't have to do the thing where he takes an offer and they match it or don't match it. If the offers are more than, you know, two first round picks, well, then the Ravens would want to do that rather than matching the offer that he gets as far as a contract. And the Vikings remain in the conversation for this thing. It seems like there are other teams with more favorable cap situations

in the immediate uh but going forward if the vikings are going to move on from kurt cousins after 2024 their cap situation would open up quite a bit i cannot imagine you're signing lamar jackson's anything shorter than a three-year contract so you would kind of have a window there maybe you can match it up with uh you know um i agree with you by the way god, Godfather 3, very, very hard watch. The first two, epic. But if you're trying to match it up with Derrissaw and Justin Jefferson and their contracts, and it's all going to be a little bit tricky, but you can't say never until it's over, until he has a team.

And, you know, clearly some teams came out right away and said, Hey, we're out on this, but would you be surprised at all? If one of the teams that said they were out was like the Godfather and they were suddenly back in to the Lamar Jackson conversation. Now that it seems that it is over with the Baltimore Ravens. And that kind of takes care of a little bit of the collusion, doesn't it? I mean, if he's demanded a trade and he's not going back to Baltimore because things just got so ugly between those two teams, then someone could just trade with them and then sign him to a deal at that point. And, you know, after they make the trade, if he's happy with who he's traded to, imagine that they can work out a contract with him, whether that's the Vikings or somebody else.

And we'll see where this goes from there. So that bombshell comes down. And then what John Lynch said today, which Miles brings up about Brock Purdy, calling him the leader in the clubhouse to start next offseason. And for pod listeners and watchers of this channel, I'm going to have a little short, brief conversation with a podcaster from San Francisco about potential Trey Lance things. Now that again is, I have said so many times, I just can't see it with the Vikings and Cousins and Trey Lance. And I don't know how to make that work exactly. And both teams have reasons not to

do it. I also think that there would be a handful of. And both teams have reasons not to do it. I also think that there would be a handful of teams that would be lining up for Trey Lance. We've seen so little of him. If they're moving on, it does make you wonder. But also if they think Brock Purdy is their future quarterback, you could see why it would make a lot of sense for them to say, we've got an asset here that might never be higher in Trey Lance because if he sits all of next year, then teams are going to say, well, you have to trade him now after he's sitting on the bench. And what are you realistically going to get for him?

The price for Josh Rosen to be traded was a second round pick. They might want to do it for a second round pick because that's the best you could get right now. And once again, here we are right back in the mix of having that conversation. Would it be a good idea for the Vikings to try to acquire Trey Lance and you would move on from Kirk Cousins after June 1st? But could you actually get a suitor for Kirk Cousins if you wanted to do a trade after June 1st? But we won't really know that until the draft and round and round we go with all of this craziness going on that seems to have something new come about each day. And then Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots mentioned

that Meek Mill, the rapper Meek Mill told him Lamar Jackson wants to be a Patriot. So Lamar Jackson's got business partners who sell equipment for workouts or something and famous rappers trying to find him locations. And I don't know, I guess maybe he's negotiating with teams too. There was a report that he's had conversations, but I don't know if it's him or who's going to be next stepping up. Maybe I will. Maybe I will go to the Vikings and say, actually, Lamar asked me to negotiate for him. And I said, give him all the money. So we'll see how this comes about. But yeah, I mean, I think that we're kind of in a holding pattern with knowing what's next for the Vikings future, as long as this is still kind of out there

with Lamar Jackson if the Vikings do indeed have any interest in him and the thing I wanted to talk with you guys tonight about and we can certainly continue the quarterback discussion because all of these options still are on the table for the Vikings for their quarterback situation. And they can also just do nothing and wait until 2024 and draft someone and so forth. But I would love to hear from you guys. The last fans only that I recorded the other day, and you can go back and watch that. I think we've posted it or we're going too soon. I sensed a lot of anxiety from Vikings fans about this offseason. A lot of questions about, hey, is Kweisi Adafl-Mensah really the general manager

that we thought we were getting a year ago? That's a pretty common question. Trying to make sense of this offseason and so forth. A lot of people have been asking about that. So I wanted to ask you guys in the comments section, all of you watching, is what would make it a successful offseason from here? That's the question I would love you guys to answer. And we could talk about a lot of different options for the Vikings. But in your guys' opinion, what would make it a successful offseason? Or what's the one move that you would

like to see them make? And I'm sure a lot of you will say Lamar Jackson, and that's totally fine. But let's put some ideas out on the table and have a conversation about them. Sloth says, are the Jets maybe pivoting to Lamar and leave the Packers stuck in the cold? Yeah, it sounds like that's not going to happen. The way that they were talking is very confidently about Aaron Rodgers being

traded to the Jets. And how funny is the whole Rodgers thing with Brian Gutekunst, who I don't think has any reason to lie, saying that Aaron Rodgers basically won't return his calls all offseason. And, you know, here's Aaron Rodgers going on Pat McAfee every week talking about how disrespected he is and all these things and yet when you try to actually find any evidence of him being disrespected it's only just that they drafted a quarterback a couple years ago which is the same thing they did with him when it was brett farve so it's amazing to me uh the guy making up um a lot of things it seems or his version of reality is just very different than

the one that the rest of us are in. But I thought that that was an interesting comment that he won't even call them back. And he's like, oh, you guys are not respecting me or not keeping me in the loop. Like not if you don't answer their calls, man. But that just everyone is talking so much like it's going to go through that it seems that the jets and the packers will get on the same page at some point. Uh, let's see, uh, leverage swings to Lamar's side. The Ravens cannot ask for two first round picks anymore. Yeah. I, you know what? I I'm not really sure on, on that leverage point to tell you the truth. I don't really know because you could make the argument that, all right. So if Lamar gets an offer and signs it, that the Ravens could match and just keep him.

But now that he's demanded this trade, it's sort of like we've gone past go. So maybe you're right that they can't ask for two first round picks in a trade. But instead, though, they could just sit there and wait and then not accept an offer and get two first round picks in a trade, but instead though, they could just sit there and wait and then not accept an offer and get two first round picks. So it feels like they could ask for more in my mind, they could, because they're just not going to sign an offer and get two first rounders anyway. So they could say to the highest bidder, but I'm kind of, I don't know, like I'm kind of confused and maybe I'm confusing some of you as well, because I don't know whether it helps their leverage or not to have him wanting a trade. But it does seem like when you have Lamar Jackson and they can match any offer, that they have that option to match any offer. If you go higher than

that, then they might say, yes, and we won't match the offer and we're going to instead trade him to you. Is there a type of quarterback Kevin O'Connell likes? Yeah, that's hard to know. That's hard to know. Probably good ones. I mean, there's a lot of different kinds of quarterbacks who are really good in the league. There's quarterbacks who run a lot, like Josh Allen. There's quarterbacks who are mobile, but don't run a lot, like Joe Burrow. But you're really just looking for someone who you can win games with, right? I don't know if he has a prototypical quarterback. I've seen some people on Twitter claim that he wouldn't want Lamar Jackson because he's looking for accuracy in a quarterback.

Well, everybody's looking for accuracy in a quarterback, but Lamar Jackson wins a lot of football games. And if you put him with Justin Jefferson, I think he's going to have a pretty good chance to win a lot more football games. So I don't, I don't know. Kevin O'Connell does not strike me as a guy who would be so set in. This is exactly how I have to play in order to win that. I would ignore one of the league's best players that he doesn't strike me as that kind of guy. He strikes me as someone that wants to mold himself to what he has

and mold his system to what he has in order to succeed. So, you know, I think that the type of quarterback is, is it an upgrade? Is it somebody better? Is it somebody that they have a better chance to win with in the future? Because when we're talking about Cousins, they can win with Cousins in the regular season, as we've seen, at least at a decent or good level. But is it somebody who can bail you out if you don't make the right play call? And I think that that is what ultimately ends up sticking with a lot of people who work with Kirk Cousins is if the play call

isn't perfect, or if you don't say something in his ear about where the ball is supposed to go, or if you leave him a check down option on fourth and eight, he's not going to bail you out. He's not going to make a special play very often. And somebody like Lamar Jackson makes special plays a lot. I was just watching Randall Cunningham highlights earlier today. And one of the offensive linemen said, it doesn't matter if I get beat because Randall Cunningham will just take care of it and make plays. And you know, that skill has always been very valuable. It's always won a lot of games in the NFL, but now it seems like it wins even more than it even did in the past. So I don't think that he's got like a type, you know, like pocket quarterback, running quarterback.

And Kevin O'Connell himself was a really, really great athlete coming out of college. So I don't think that he would look at a running quarterback and be like, I don't know. I don't think the guy can make it. But you know, every quarter, every coach is going to say accuracy because that is super, super important. From Hunter, despite the void years on Cousins, it looks to me like if it's cut by a certain date, if I'm reading it correctly, it'll just be the one and it'll be 2024 and it'll be all of the dead cap. But if it goes past a certain date, then it won't be all of it in 2024, and then it gets spread out, whatever.

I know what you mean. That's just, I had a lot of trouble clarifying exactly how the dead cap space was going to work in his contract. So I think I finally got it. But anyway, despite the void year for Cousins, I would give this off season an A plus for Kwesi if he got Lamar. Oh,

no question about it. I mean, no question about it. If you can land yourself one of the best players in the NFL, one of the most valuable quarterbacks over the last number of years, yeah, you get an A plus for the off season. There's a lot of things that can go wrong for you and you can still succeed if you have a quarterback capable under the best case scenario of gaining a thousand yards on the ground. And then, you know, just in 2021, he threw for 240 yards a game, by the way, for the Ravens with who catching the football. Yeah. If you can land somebody who can put yourself in a position to be a top five offense, even if you pay a lot for it, even if it creates challenges with Jefferson's extension down the road and Derrisa. But I just want to keep bringing this up that teams can have expensive players. Sometimes we almost act like, and this is when people bring up the idea of trading Justin Jefferson or something. It's like, no, no.

If you're going to win the Super Bowl, you need Hall of Fame level players, multiples of them, and you can have them all together at once. But you just got to manage the cap really well. You got to hit on some draft picks, and you probably got to have a quarterback who makes a special play at the biggest time or is capable of bailing you out and and overcoming things and whatever because it's not going to be perfect around that quarterback which it's always that's always been the thing with cousins is it's not perfect and oh they don't

have a good guard and it kind of ruins a game or it ruins a big fourth down or it's just not enough or the defense is just not enough and they can't overcome it. That's why you get someone like Lamar Jackson. But if you look at teams, a lot of teams with expensive quarterbacks, it's not like they just have one player. The Vikings have had expensive players along with Kirk Cousins, but a lot of times it's been where they have put some of that money into like Anthony Barr and extending Anthony Barr, extending Kyle Rudolph, extending Delvin Cook. These are not the most valuable positions and

they put a lot of money into it. So it wasn't just Kirk. Like I know that goes on the gravestone of the Kirk era. It wasn't all Kirk, but it truly wasn't. He wasn't the only guy they were paying. They've been paying a lot of people during the Kirk Cousins era, but it hasn wasn't. He wasn't the only guy they were paying. They've been paying a lot of people during the Kirk Cousins era, but it hasn't always worked out for how much they've paid them, who they've paid. But if you're talking about, can you pay a quarterback and two other superstar players? Yeah, you can. You just have to have some other things work out for you. Like draft picks, you have to be very savvy around those players. You have to be willing to let some guys go and know who's replaceable. The ultimate Bill Belichick skill

during the Tom Brady era was understanding who he could let go. So those are difficult things that you have to deal with, but it can be done. Let's see. I think it's high, high route. I'm not sure if that's how you spell your YouTube name. Sorry if I got that wrong. There are no moves. The offense is the same. The defense hasn't improved outside of Flores. This team is going 10 and seven.

Vegas thinks they're going eight or nine wins this year from what DraftKings says. And look, your point about the defense. I'm looking at this for an article because I was talking about it the other day and it wins this year from what DraftKings says. And look, your point about the defense, I'm looking at this for an article because I was talking about it the other day, and it kind of hit me how much they've had leave after Duke Shelly. Between Duke Shelly and Cam Dantzler alone is over 800 snaps. That's a whole season's worth of a player there. And if you split the difference between those two, it actually wasn't that bad. Dantzler wasn't that good, but Shelly was quite good. And then Peterson on the other side was excellent last year. Duke Shelly allowed a 57 quarterback rating into his coverage, and Patrick Peterson was

like 65. That's two guys who played a ton of snaps that are, who are you replacing them with? Caleb Evans and Andrew Booth Jr. And then throwing them into a very difficult system for a corner or rookie corners who often struggle. I agree with you on the defense. I don't know that there's a move on the defense that saves it. And also last year, the interesting thing about last year is they intercepted a ton of passes because now we mostly focused on how many yards they gave up. And of course it was a lot. I believe it was the what second or third most in the NFL, but they were only mid pack in terms of how many are what the quarterback rating against

as a team, because they got a ton of picks that might be hard to repeat when you're playing a lot better quarterbacks than they are this year. So I do agree with you. I don't think that there is no move that would make it a success because there's a future. The franchise doesn't shut down after this year. So there has to be some moves that would move the needle for them, even if it doesn't make them an immediate winner. This one from Miles, knowing we have a young quarterback with a high ceiling beyond next year on the roster would make it a success. I agree with this 90% of the way that you've gone, because I think if they come out of this off season and they didn't draft someone, then that can be okay if they didn't extend Cousins,

and if we still understand where this train is basically headed, right? Let's say that there aren't any more major moves, and either Delvin Cook or Zedaria Smith is gone, and they just make enough cap space to sign a draft class, they trade down, they do all the things we kind of think they're going to do, there's no Lamar. There's no Trey Lance. I still think that mostly that would be good for the health of the overall franchise because you would have an end date and you would understand your flexibility. A quarterback is going to happen after this year and you can draft one after this year and Cousins cap hit the way that they've set it up after 2024 is dead cap will be gone and you can go crazy after that and at least we will see the path

at quarterback if they don't draft one if they do it will be a success because now you're at least going in that direction and then we can fight over whether you like Will Levis or not, or Hendon Hooker, if that's the guy that they end up drafting, which by the way, intern Haley is working on a statistical study comparing Hendon Hooker and Will Levis. So that should be interesting to talk with her about later in the week. But if they come out of this draft with a future quarterback, the dude who's starting 2024, then just like it was

said earlier, you have to give them an A or an A plus for the off season. Even if we didn't like other stuff, probably A plus is out of the question because some of the other stuff, but even if we didn't like some of the void years on contracts, which I was just looking at Davenport's and kind of scratching my head and, you know, Byron Murphy's now these have changed a little bit and they have some void years. Even if we don't like how it's hurt them a little bit on the salary cap in the future, or the restructure is all kind of jammed into 2024, you'd still have to say, okay, we know the plan. And that's always kind of been the problem here, right? Is you go into last year, well, are they going to trade Kirk? Are they going to kind of extend him?

And then they go half measure. And I'm sure that Cousins wasn't fully happy with the half measure. So there's still a lot of ways this could go. But you're right in the fact that it would be a success if they came away with a young quarterback for sure. Kyle says wide receiver too. Yeah. I mean, you don't have to push hard to convince me that wide receiver too would be something to come out with. But now what I do find interesting though, and looking at some of the past and in wide receiver history and i might write about this at some point with

the wide receivers is for sure that you know if they take one at 20 or at the yeah 23 we would give it a high grade all right you've replaced adam thielen who played over a thousand snaps last year by the way when we talk about all the things that they're replacing as they lose one player after the next it's like thousand snap player, thousand snap player, thousand snap player. Like there's a lot of production that they have to replace a hundred targets for Adam Thielen. I don't think are going to Josh Oliver, maybe Jalen Naylor. I don't know, certainly not Jalen Rager. So, but if they were to come away with a draft pick either in the first or third round, I would even say, because there's a lot of good receivers who have come in that

second, third round, or if they trade back, I don't know if that makes the whole off season a success as in, we're going to say a plus no question, you know, a mission accomplished for Kweisi Adafo Mensah. But I would say that that moves the needle in a very positive direction for the future, because if you land your wide receiver too, then you're kind of right back on track with the Diggs and Thielen or going back in the day with Carter and Moss. Like that's what you're looking to recreate. It's hard to make it that good by drafting somebody. But if it's even pretty good, if it's A.J. Brown and Devontae Smith,

if it's Jalen Waddell and Tyree Kill, look at what these duos do for quarterbacks. The next guy who steps in under center, if you do hit on that draft pick, and it's always a big if, but if you do, then it can kind of have a trickle down effect of making the off season a success.

Duke Degod, if you're a big Duke Shelley fan, I'm sorry, Duke Degod. Quarterback of the future, wide receiver two and defensive tackle, Calais Campbell. Yeah, signing Dean Lowry probably made Calais Campbell not possible. I imagine he's going to have a lot of attention. Defensive tackle is something that I wonder about. Is it out the window after signing Dean Lowry? It shouldn't be, but all of a sudden the defensive tackle room looks a little more full. They also brought back Jonathan Bullard, who they seem to like and want to play. They just seem with these defensive tackles in recent years to be kind of all about stuff in the run Dean Lowry it was interesting I looked into him and why his production fell off and one of the

Reasons was he had about half the number of snaps that were pass rushing snaps now it's a little Chicken and egg of course because you can wonder well did the team not want him to rush the passer Because he wasn't the same version of himself? But that was one of the reasons his production dropped. So they might be able to get back a little bit to where they were in 2021 with Dean Lowry, if they just play him more in some of those situations. But is it as good as Delvin Tomlinson? Probably not. Is it as good as Calais Campbell would be? Probably not. So I think there is still an argument at 23, if it's best player available to take a defensive tackle,

wide receiver two and future of the quarterback situation. I mean, if they were to accomplish all those things to get an interior pass rusher, a future quarterback and a wide receiver two, then we're talking about a totally transformational off season that would probably change the narrative a little bit when it comes to Casey, as far as people questioning him, if you were to accomplish all those things, that would really be something. But I'm not sure that they will be maybe, I mean, with a first round and a third round pick that second round pick is TJ Hawkinson. So it's hard to complain about, but when you get to draft night, it's going to be a long wait until they take a third rounder. Let's see if Justin Jefferson and Kevin O'Connell differed on a favorite quarterback in the draft and Quasey had to decide who would

Quasey side with. I, yeah, I mean, that's a really interesting question. I mean, I think he has to side with Kevin O'Connell because Kevin O'Connell played quarterback in the National Football League and was the offensive coordinator for Matt Stafford when he won a Super Bowl. I mean, you know, got Kirk's winningest year out of him. I think that Kevin O'Connell is certainly the guy to trust the most. I think with Justin Jefferson, I'm not sure he's really a scout anyway i mean if you're jefferson maybe he's got opinions maybe he's seen bryce young play cj stroud but would he know hendon hooker and will levis and the differences i'm not really sure i think what justin jefferson more than anything would want to know is just who who it's going to be uh if you

kind of leave him out drifting in the wind, you could see him saying, I'm going to wait and see what you guys do first. So if I had to guess, I would say that Justin Jefferson already knows what the plan is, and they've already talked it over with him and kept him in the loop about where it stands with Kirk, who they're thinking about drafting. But yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, I think even Justin Jefferson would have to respect that Kevin O'Connell would have more knowledge about which quarterback was going to fit with him best out of the draft and so forth. And I don't think, I mean, if Justin Jefferson was so upset at a quarterback they drafted that he decided not to

sign an extension, then he was probably never going to sign an extension to begin with, I would guess, unless he was just apoplectic. But I don't know who they could sign or draft that Jefferson would be so upset that he would say, I'm not signing here. I'm done. If it's not Hendon Hooker, I'm out. I don't know. That would be probably not. It's a really good question. It's a fun question from CJ Ham is the man, which, you know, you get no disagreement on this show. CJ Ham is the man it's true. Uh, but that, I mean, it's a fun question. I just think that O'Connell and Casey, those guys, you know, you saw him at the basketball game the other day, like they really have to be in lockstep together with each other and probably can't let Justin Jefferson really dictate that. But I think what they can do is make sure he's involved in the discussion and he has a

heads up. But it is when you bring a player into that and give him that type of power, it does get a little bit dicey. And Aaron Rodgers showed that last last year keeps bringing Randall Cobb everywhere it's like dude Randall Cobb can't play anymore so when you give him the power it does get a little bit tricky and I think that Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman that was one of the things with Stefan Diggs where I still think that they should have heard him out because he was right and they should have leaned into Kirk and thrown the ball to Diggs more. I think we saw that last year. They had a top 10 offense throw into their elite wide receiver all the time and running less and not running on second down and 13 or whatever. But at the same

time, they probably felt like we can't let the players dictate what we do. And, you know, very delicate balance, very delicate balance. Let's see. Cousins will cost another $10 million if this year, if traded, what type of offensive set is best for a rookie quarterback or Lamar? Can you say two tight end, one fullback, one running back, one wide receiver sets think something big is coming? Well, yeah. I mean, when they signed Josh Oliver, there's a put on your tinfoil hat, get out your yarn and start making connections with all the things on the whiteboard or whatever, or the whatever it is, cork board.

Start doing that when they sign Lamar Jackson's blocking tight end. I mean, part of that is probably that the wide receiver market is just so thin that Brandon Powell's the best guy they can get their hands on. And some of the other guys you'd be overpaying and probably won't help you to begin with. So you might as well have a lot planned to have Osborne, Hawkinson, Jefferson, and Oliver all on the field at once. Then you can split out TJ Hawkinson a lot more often, just gives you a lot more flexibility. But if they were to have a running quarterback, such as Lamar Jackson, they are set up as well as any team in the NFL to do it. And if they're trying to make an argument to him, if they're trying to get on the horn and saying, Lamar, we want you here. And remember, they did contact Deshaun Watson. So

it's not out of the question that what Jeremy Fowler is reporting could actually be a thing. And remember with Fowler, it wasn't a definitive report. It was executives think they're a wild card. So it's a little, you know, maybe they could be out there, but they could say to Lamar Jackson, we have the type of personnel. We also have the number one wide receiver for you. Why don't you give us a try? Yeah, I mean, that's altogether possible. I think they're going to do it more often anyway. Because last year, it was underutilized, I think.

C.J. Hamm was. And a big part of this is the pass game. That was something that when I asked Kevin O'Connell about it at the combine that he really emphasized is he wants the bigger personnel on the field. He wants to succeed running so they can pass off of it better and, you know, give a lot of different looks that can succeed because last year, second half of the season, and he talked about this statistically, nobody was biting on the play action. Nobody cared about Delvin Cook. They were just playing way back in the parking lot and trying to do everything they could to stop Justin Jefferson.

He doesn't want that to happen again. Does Lamar end up pulling a Carson Palmer? Yeah. Or for those old school fans, a Bobby Hebert who sat out a whole season with a contract dispute with the New Orleans Saints when he thought he was getting traded and then came back and won a bunch of games with the Saints. If I remember, that's going back quite a ways, but would not be completely unique for him to do that. recent times it would be now there is there is a timeline on this an end date where a decision has to be made and i don't know what happens if you go past the date it's like october or something there's another date and i'm sorry i'm not remembering or understanding fully the details on this so if someone, feel free to drop it in the comments. There is a date where you have to decide

whether you're signing the franchise tag or not. And I don't know what happens after that. Do you start getting fined? Maybe that's what it is. Like you have to sign and join the team or do something or get traded by that point or something happens. So there is kind of an end date,

but if he just said, I'll retire, he's not gonna do that though, right? He's not gonna say, I'll retire rather than play for you. At the end of the day, the Baltimore Ravens understand that there isn't much else he can do at least for a year. I guess he could just say, I'm not playing and take whatever fines or penalties come along with not playing on the

franchise tag, wait a whole year, but things get very dicey after that. And then Baltimore too, on their side, I mean, they also know that if he gets this resolved, they get some draft capital. So I think everybody probably wants that to get done. I don't think that he's going to just sit out a whole year, but Lamar seems really dug in. So I don't know how this is going to play out. From Hunter, let's see, I would be happy with this off season if they traded to get a first round quarterback. I'd be semi-happy if they picked a wide receiver in the first round. Yeah, I think a lot of people

are in that camp. I would agree with you on that. If they trade up to get a first round. Yeah. I think a lot of people are in that camp. I would agree with you on that. If they trade up to get a first round quarterback, I mean, that's going to be very exciting for everybody to talk about for a few months and see kind of what that guy looks like in training camp and you know, preseason games all of a sudden matter as opposed to us watching Sean Mannion and Kyle Slaughter play and things like that. All of a sudden matter as opposed to us watching Sean Mannion and Kyle Slaughter play and things like that. All of a sudden it would be really entertaining and interesting to see every snap that this rookie quarterback was playing. And then you could kind of spend the year talking about like, who's going to be here? What's this team going to look

like in the future? Who's going to be around this rookie quarterback? And then also, you know, you're still playing for something as well, but you know where this thing is headed eventually. And we can try to get a feel for what that player is going to be like and what's being said about them and all those things. And then it sets up for really fascinating stuff in the future after that, that the Vikings haven't had in a long time. Really, 2014 with Teddy Bridgewater is the last time there was this kind of intrigue about a quarterback in Minnesota. So that would send a jolt, I think, through the whole fan base that's kind of stuck in the mud at the moment. And they haven't done enough really in this offseason to make people not feel that way,

right? There hasn't been one of those moves where everyone went like okay all right back in after such a disappointment in the first round it's been more like oh all right well you know I guess it was time for Thielen or okay I guess it was time for Kendricks and Davenport okay like that's been kind of it's been a very lukewarm uh semi-happy with picking a wide receiver. Yeah. I mean, I agree. That would be, I think, completely happy with that decision because you know that person is going to help your future quarterback. So anybody who's helping your future quarterback also is kind of a big deal as well. All right. So let me continue to move on and I'll try to speed up a little bit here to answer more of your, or read more of

your answers to what would make it a successful off season for you. Uh, from Jamie, I'd be happy this off season. If we went into mini camps with a clear direction for the future, I thought it was clear until the cousins deal, you mean restructure and some of the other re-signings and moves since. I totally understand that perspective. And I feel you because through, I mean, a day or two of free agency and the, you know, whatever, tampering, leading up, whatever you want to call it through like that week period, it just felt like we've got it now. They understand this next year is going to be very difficult. And so you're going to probably drop back in the pack.

Lions are likely to win the division. You're going to fight for a wild card spot. Maybe it can be a fun season. And then you go forth toward the future. You get your cap correct. You make some big free agent signings next year. You figure out the quarterback situation and back you go you didn't have to drop off very much at all just one kind of transition season

but bringing back Harrison Smith though he took a pay cut you still kind of scratch your head a little of like okay I've got no problem with Harrison Smith being here but is this really a transition the roster move? Because now you don't find out if Cam Bynum can take another step as a safety, which I wouldn't completely write him off after Ed Donatell's defense. We don't know where Louis Scene is at, but if Louis Scene, because they're trying to win, doesn't end up playing because he loses the job in training camp, it'll feel like, what is going on here? Like, what is the point in all this?

I think maybe it would have been better. And again, no problem with Harrison Smith staying and playing for Brian Flores' defense. He's one of the best players in recent history for the Vikings. But you'd probably, for the future, rather see Josh Metellus and Lewis Seen or Cam Bynum and Lewis Seen figure out what you have there. And if it's nothing, it's nothing. And then you have to replace it, but you don't really know. Um, the there's really only a couple of positions where that's going to happen. And one of them is corner. And I think that's a good thing, like to find out with Byron Murphy and the young players

and so forth. That's a good thing. But when, if they're going to keep Zedarius Smith, which I still don't know if they're going to keep Zedarius Smith or they sign a Dean Lowry, like, well, that's one less player we can find out about. So yeah, it hasn't been like, that wasn't crushing to this whole idea of transitioning the roster. Some of the stuff that they've done, but not super helpful for the future either. And the salary cap, for sure, they haven't really helped themselves in the future outside of the fact that some of these guys still technically were under contract like Adam Thielen, but that was never happening. He was never going to get to that point anyway. For Miles, trade Hunter. Now now does that make it a success or not a success if they were to trade hunter that's a maybe a good question because if they did trade hunter for a first round draft

pick which i don't i don't know if that could happen but maybe uh if they were to trade him for a first round pick marquis uh brown got traded for a first round pick. Marquise Brown got traded for a first round pick. Like it can't happen for players who are good. Marquise Brown's not even really good. So that was just a senseless move by one of the worst general managers in football in Arizona. But hey, there's still bad general managers out there. They haven't all been fired. If someone was going to trade you a first round pick for Daniil Hunter and the Vikings had two firsts and they picked a future quarterback and a future shutdown corner wide receiver, whatever, that's pretty successful. It's not perfect because Daniil Hunter is a good player, but older, very expensive.

I would call that a pretty big success if that was the case. Again, as much as you do want to keep Daniil Hunter, but that's where it gets tricky. That's where it does get restrictive because we were talking earlier about if they got Lamar, what else kind of has to happen? Well, yeah, you can keep Derisaw. You can keep Jefferson.

You can pay them big dollars and try to fiddle with their cap hits to make it all kind of work year to year. But if you add a pass rusher, who's also making like 25 million to those, I'm not sure how you fit all of those unless you have a quarterback on a rookie contract. For Bob, I would have traded Hunter last week. You're going to have to wait a little bit for the Hunter thing. And so that, see, this is where, again, thanks for reminding me of this. This actually

does get tricky because if you trade him at the draft, then the Vikings take on dead cap space. It's not a ton, but it's still like somewhat significant. And that makes it harder to trade him at the draft. So you might have to get a draft pick for 2024, a first rounder, if you were trading Daniel Hunter, i i think you take i think you would take if that was the offer kind of like the khalil mac thing where it went into the summer they trade him they get a first round pick maybe multiple first round picks you won't get that it's not khalil mac but you might get a first or second in the future worthwhile i think uh if they were going to do it uh From Jamie here, sorry, I'm a little

behind catching up on your comments, but trying to read as many as I can. And I appreciate everybody here. It's 11 o'clock at night on, what is it? It's a Monday. So you guys are the best for as many people are watching right now. I really appreciate it. Let's see from Jamie, like many Vikings fans, I was all in on the first few moves of the offseason with salivating for more like Zedaria Smith, Cook, Hicks, and let all the young guys play. Yeah, the Hicks one didn't really hit me too hard because I thought it's probably good to have a veteran linebacker

work with Brian Asimov. It's not a bad idea. You don't want to get rid of everybody. And that's why bringing back Harrison Smith doesn't destroy Louis Scene's future or somebody else's future. rid of everybody. And that's why bringing back Harrison Smith doesn't like destroy Louis scenes future or somebody else's future. You just thought you could let those people play and get them a lot of reps and experience rather than having them sit behind somebody, um, you know, for the entire year and then not really know, um, you know, when it comes to that, let's see, uh, from Nick, when are we going to go old school

and draft sim after dark? You know, I'm trying to, I'm trying to hold off going too crazy just yet with the draft simming because we've got a ways to go, but believe me, we're going to be draft simming. I promise we will be draft simming after dark, but good, good reminder though, that when we do these live shows for sure, we got to start pulling out draft simming after dark, but good, good reminder though, that when we do these live shows for sure, we got to start pulling out draft sims and I got to work on like the presentation for YouTube and going live so people can see what I'm doing and stuff like that. So, uh, all right, let me continue to take more of your comments here from a sloth coming away with Elijah can't see or Andre. I don't know how to say his name

exactly. Ia Sova or A.T. Perry would make me happy or just Addison slash Flowers in the first. Yeah. I mean, A.T. Perry is a good example of how there are good wide receiver prospects into the second and third round more likely than not. I saw a little AT Perry this year, looked at some of his metrics, how he did at the combine. Like that's a guy, would you be surprised if he turned out to be pretty good? You know, I wouldn't.

Somebody who's taller and runs under four or five. I just, you know, I think that you can wait or you can trade back and still get a receiver. Trading back would be not fun at all for anybody they would not like that uh fans would not like that they're gonna have a party at like us bank stadium or something so everybody's out there they're doing the live broadcasts and all right what are the vikings gonna do and they've traded down and see you tomorrow night like Jack Buck.

But it might be for the best if they did. Now, if Kalijah can't see is there. I just feel like what he did at the combine running that 40 is probably that combined with this tape is going to mean he's taken a little higher because people understand a little better that interior pressure and aren't as afraid these days of lighter players on defense. So I'd be a little bit surprised if he dropped as far to the Vikings, but if they, but the thing is that every time you run a draft sim that you find they've got options at positions of need for good prospects are going to be there in this draft.

It just, one of the things is when there's this many quarterbacks, if it are going to be there in this draft. It just, one of the things is when there's this many quarterbacks, if it's going to be four quarterbacks kind of pushes everybody else at the other positions down. So if they don't take a quarterback, you've got a handful of receivers who could be there. Corners is a very big possibility. Elijah can't see a possibility. So, you know, I, yeah, I mean mean I think if they can come away this is the thing about like you don't have to have it be a successful offseason just to get the quarterback and I think that's what a lot of you are focusing on is hey look if you get a few of these pieces for the future and that you know could be interesting for next year

then it can still be a success and uh i would i would agree with that uh organic tank from e felt the natural tank is uh what i call it but i don't mind organic tank that's good uh yeah i think that it could be it could be It could be because, and Hunter touches on this here as well, the Vegas line of eight and a half is a little tempting to take the under. At this moment, it would be hard to take the over. It just would be. It just would be because the difficulty of the schedule is very serious. And don't forget that Chicago is quite a bit better and they still have to spend. I saw our buddy Brad Spielberg are tweeting about how they still have to spend like 40 more million dollars this off season, uh, in order to get to some sort of cash floor, which, you know,

who understands the cap other than him, but they have to spend still and they will. And so they're going to keep stacking up, stacking up, uh, you know, it, it, they're going to still and they will. And so they're going to keep stacking up, stacking up. You know, they're going to be a better team. The Lions are a better team. Green Bay is probably about the same, if maybe a little worse, but your division is quite a bit better. Your schedule is quite a bit better. And your defense at this moment, talent wise is quite a bit worse. I mean, Delvin Tomlinson, Patrick Peterson played great last year and Eric Hendricks was not great in coverage certainly, but he still played a thousand snaps. So we don't even know what Brian Asamoah is going to bring. There is a universe for sure

where all these young guys come together and play well, but we kind of went through that in 2020. Let's see from Boyd. Kirk was sacked the third most times this year, so they bring back the same O-line disaster in the making. Yeah, I mean, the guard situation at right guard, they kind of have to let that play out, right? They have to, because they spent such a high draft pick and they really went all in on Ed Ingram. Not only did they pick somebody that everybody thought was going to be a fourth round pick, but somebody with serious background issues, they kind of needed to go with that or they would have looked pretty bad, but they looked pretty bad anyway with how he played. So he has to make massive improvements. I will say that just historically guards,

you know, they take more time to develop. So I could see where they would draft someone and let them develop. Ezra Cleveland was really good at run blocking last year, very up and down when it came to pass blocking. Some games really good, some games really bad. But you know, when it comes to Kirk being sacked all those times, one is a product of them throwing a lot more. That's certainly a part of it. They threw a lot more passes than they did in the past, but also Kirk takes a lot of sacks. He just does. I mean, that's always been his thing. And last year in 2021, I thought he did a good job of taking fewer, but in Kevin O'Connell's system, he had guys

going downfield quite a bit. And I think that that, that played into it. And so a lot of times people will talk about how, um, sacks against our quarterback stat and their schematics that when you send a lot of deep routes down the field, then you ask your quarterback to hold onto the ball longer. I thought there were times where cousins and he, you know, admitted to this, the didn't necessarily feel as comfortable with the offense throughout the season. I think he just was apt to kind of, you know, go down and take a sack instead of making a big mistake. But we did see last year,

the difficulty of Kirk cousins, which is, uh, if you throw a lot more, he makes more mistakes. If you throw a lot less, that means you're running and it's inefficient, but he's going to hit more big plays off play action. So there's always this meter that no one's ever quite hit on the nose for them to have a truly elite offense. And that's just one of the challenges. But yeah, I mean, this also goes into the cap situation. If the Vikings had a good cap situation, they could spend millions of dollars on a guard and have them, you know, be good at right guard, but they can't. So, you know, even if they were to sign, you know, some other guy, some Austin Sloteman type who they brought back, it's not going to move the needle from where they were really last year. And we've seen that. sign, you know, some other guy, some Austin Sloteman type who they brought back.

It's not going to move the needle from where they were really last year. And we've seen that. Let's see from Aussie Vike. Quacey will move back and do trades for more picks. I think that's probably right. I think that's probably going to happen. Also, Mr. Aussie Vikings fan, if you've seen the Virginia Tech women's basketball team, just watch them play earlier tonight. Their point guard is from Australia, Georgia Amor, and she is amazing. So she's going to be in the final four. Make sure you watch that in Australia. I don't know what time that must be on in Australia, but make sure you watch that. She's great. But I think you're right. I think trading back is probably the best thing. However, I would say that last year, it really seemed like hell or high water.

They were trading back no matter what happened. They're trading back. And that's how you end up making maybe not the best move and look by some sort of draft chart or whatever else. Maybe it looked good, but moving out of a place where you can get a top prospect into a place where it's a lot harder uh still questionable but i'm not i'm not willing to say for sure that that draft is a bust at this moment i think a lot of people have kind of declared it that way but we can wait and see um Draft classes in the first year, always hard to get a real feel on,

but I do think, Kweisi, more likely than not, everything is sort of up in the air, and we're trying to figure out what are the odds of all these things happening. And trading back, drafting a defensive end in a corner, that's probably the most likely, even if it's more entertaining, but we still don't know like how much value they will put on getting that second wide receiver because they did lose a lot of targets again with Adam Thielen from Daniel certainly not draft a bum like Levis take a chance on a real quarterback like Caleb Williams next year well you're gonna have to be pretty bad for that to happen.

That's the thing. Going to have to be pretty bad. It's Tuesday 2 p.m. in Australia. Okay, well, hopefully your country enjoyed that game from your Aussie point guard because she is fantastic. So, yeah, I mean, look, I don't know what Will Levis is going to be he might be Christian Hackenberg I don't know he might be something way better with the arm strength that he has he might be Matthew Stafford I I really don't know and nobody does but that's why what

they're leaning on is can Kevin O'Connell move the needle just a little when it comes to evaluating a quarterback because he's played that position? I mean, it's not a guarantee that he can, but if Kevin O'Connell told you, look, let's say he calls you up right now, call me up right now. Let's say he's at the owner's meeting and I say, Oh, Hey, Kevin O'Connell. Thanks for watching the stream. Really appreciate it, man. What are you thinking about Will Levis? And then he says to

me oh bro we're drafting will let oh sorry we're drafting will levis love him he's the best am i supposed to tell him not to uh because levis has high-end arm talent and what does this offense look for what did this offense need for matthew stafford when it was in Los Angeles? It needed a lot of rocket throws. He's got the arm strength. So if they did that, I would not give that anything except an A. I would say that's exactly what you need to do. Pick your quarterback and go. And if the guy doesn't work out, he doesn't work out. Then draft somebody else. The other problem is with Caleb Williams is getting Caleb Williams. Got to be real bad. If you want to, I mean, look, if they had gone the full tank and they had started ripping it all apart, would have been behind it. And maybe they would have gotten themselves into that conversation.

But, you know, they're really not in a position to be that bad. Now, even if you next year win six games and are pretty bad and you try to trade up, who's trading you Caleb Williams? That's the problem. That's why we talk about how it's easier to go from the very bottom to the top than it is from the middle to the top, because the very bottom is where you get Caleb Williams. From Aussie Vike, not a fan of Levis after his tape in pro day. That's the thing. That is the thing with, you know, when it comes to trying to evaluate these guys is if you look at Will Levis's statistics from last year, not so great. And you look at a lot of what tape people say, watching his tape, not so great. At the same time, some of these things that we put a lot

of emphasis in, in trying to evaluate them, they are so hard to contextualize that you would be just as good knowing nothing. And I'm not saying that that's the case for Kevin O'Connell, but maybe for us. And I'm not trying to know nothing about Will Levis. That's why we're on the website. Going to look into his statistics and everything else later this week. And I've watched him play a little, and I watched some of the pro day stuff, and he certainly has a monster arm. But how he translates, it usually comes down to the guy. Because if they're drafted in the first round, that means they have the physical skill to do it. And it means that the teams that have met with them, put them on the whiteboard,

work them out, all these things that they can do, they're comfortable with what they see. And that might've been what happened with Malik Willis last year is that they brought him in and they put them on the whiteboard and they ran through tape with him and they saw things that they thought it's not going to translate very well. He's not really a guy we should go with. And that could be Will Levis, by the way. People don't always know. He could end up in the second round. Jimmy Clawson, Christian Hackenberg, these guys were hyped up by the Mel Kipers of the world and they didn't end up going high. So I don't know whether to be high on Will Levis or not, because they're not always giving us the most accurate information. My point is just that if Kevin O'Connell thought that that was the guy he should go with, I would want to acquiesce to that and say, OK, well, that's your guy.

Then go with it. If you believe in the arm strength over everything, go with it. You know, so that's how I kind of have to view that. And I know that's not as a hot take. That's not like a he'll never make it, but if you follow old takes exposed on Twitter, there's, it's just riddled with people who were very sure about draft things for one reason or the other. And know i ended up getting it wrong so i i don't know um yeah and it's a good point uh from aaron you know throw that up real quick that if you draft a bust you'll get another early draft pick it's a little dicey for quacey and kevin if you draft the bus but for the franchise's health you know you're gonna get to draft high if you draft a bus that

is for sure. Let's see from Will, with everyone projecting Levis to us, are they underestimating the possibility that we make a bigger splash and go get one of the top three quarterbacks? They are a clear caliber cut above the rest. Well, making that splash is hard to figure out though, right? Like how would you do it uh who would you trade how could you get up that high when there's so many other teams so carolina's a lock houston's a lock that's number one and two is it i mean indy could get lamar jackson and then all of a sudden it gets interesting because at seven is oakland uh las vegas gets interesting, but I don't know. Who's letting, are they letting Anthony Richardson drop all the way down with his talent?

I don't know. I mean, I am not going to count anything out because I thought Justin Fields would be gone in the top five and the Vikings had a shot at trading for Justin Fields and didn't do that. So let's see from Adam. Why are the Vikings odds to land Lamar Jackson climbing? Is this a thing? It is a thing. Yeah, I think it is a thing.

I haven't been told it's a thing, but Jeremy Fowler was told it was a thing. And once that happens, that's momentum going right there. And then the other part of it was, well, is he going to resolve it with Baltimore? That's another big part of it. As you're just going to kind of end up going back to them or is someone else going to sign him to whatever offer sheet? And then Baltimore just says, okay, you know, we're going to match that. Thanks for playing. But now that things seem very dicey between those two and now that

you already had this uh situation where lamar is announcing that he wanted out now it's gotten ugly now it's kind of gotten official lamar doesn't want to be there he feels disrespected whatever everybody in sports disrespected all the time. Somebody picks against you, disrespect. Someone likes somebody else more than you, disrespect. If they didn't offer you the biggest contract ever, disrespect. Anyway, I just, it gets, you know, sometimes it gets tiring. Like, wait, can we learn what the word disrespect means? Anyhow, with Lamar, it seems like it's ugly.

Seems like it's gotten very contentious and the more contentious it gets, the better chance it is for him to leave. And the Vikings are in this conversation. Yeah. I mean, odds makers, and I don't know if any of you guys get stuff like this, but like I get these promotional emails from like this odds maker says this, they're putting the Vikings right up there with the Colts for a team to go get them. Everybody knows that with the Kirk cousin situation, that's not locked in to the future. And when you're a team that has a quarterback situation, it's going to be open in the future. And there's been reported interest with lamar you know put two and two

and two together and you got uh odds that the vikings will get him so look i mean anything can happen with this team that's the way i always look at it i never want to completely dismiss anything can happen with this team and if they did it it would be the most exciting thing to happen since far uh from boyd trading two first round picks to get Levis, wouldn't it be better to draft Hooker 23rd and only risk one first round pick? If they see Hooker as a first round pick who's similar in talent to Will Levis, I don't know that that's the case. If they do, then yeah, it does become a little bit of that.

But I think that the quarterback position is different. And whether it should be or not, I don't know. But it just is. Like, if you're going to draft a quarterback in the first round, and this is part of the reason that Malik Willis didn't get picked, you got to really buy into that idea. You got to have your general manager, your owner, your coach, everybody on board, your scouting set. Everyone's got to be on board with drafting this quarterback.

And it's not exactly as easy as saying, well, it's a better deal to get hooker. Now, if hooker is a true first round prospect, then I would tend to agree with you because the odds of them working out are probably equal. So just take one and it doesn't matter, but to try telling them that it's the, oh, the odds are equal. Who cares? Don't even talk about it. Just take one. Like, you know, but I agree with you that if you're, they may look at that as if we'll have his drops, take them. If he doesn't, then don't trade up or they may love them more than anything in the entire world. That's the thing that's always hard to figure out is what's going on inside of their minds. For me, I also would not trade up too much for Will Levis because I think there are enough

flaws there. And if he's already free falling, you wonder why it doesn't always guarantee that someone's not going to work out. But if that, if that was the case that he was free falling, if you have to trade up a few spots and not give up your whole future. Okay. If you have to trade a ton, if you're trading two first round picks in the future or something to trade up to get him. There's too many concerns for my liking about his accuracy, about his pocket presence that I would be very nervous about that. Let me just answer this one more question and then we can call it a night, although it's afternoon in Australia, so we're all good. Will we sign Hunter to an extension? It's a great question. And I think that this is one of the hardest decisions they have to make because I, there's

a lot of teams that would like Daniel Hunter in a trade. And even though it still has to happen after June 1st with a trade for Daniel Hunter is my understanding with the cap is that if it happens after June 1st, you know, it's, it doesn't hurt them in the salary cap. If it happens before June 1st, then it makes it very difficult for them. Uh, so that, you know, adds to how tricky it is because then you're asking for first round picks like way down the road. But at the same time, you're losing somebody who has been so good and he has been banged up, but he wasn't last year. He was healthy the whole season and he played great last season. I mean,

a slow start to the year. And then after that was on fire and totaled, you know, one of the highest pressure rates, one of the highest PFF grades, one of the highest sack totals, or at least a very, very solid and respectable sack total. He's a great player. It's hard to let great players go, even when you're rebuilding, when someone will be, you know, long-term type of thing. So, yeah, I mean, I don't know. I think if I had to bet, they will sign him because Daniil Hunter just seems to love being here. Otherwise, he would have made much more of a stink in the past about his situation.

But if he tells them I'm finally putting my foot down, I've taken team friendly deals too many times, then they may have to make a trade there, but it won't happen like right away. It won't happen until after June 1st, or at least more likely than I don't know, anything can happen. From Aaron, my broken Vikings brain tells me whichever quarterback we trade up for would be another bust. And the quarterback taken 40 picks later would be the next Hall of Fame quarterback. That, sir, means that you are a Vikings fan.

That's all that means. It's not rational, but I understand it. You know, you're always one pick away. You go through some other franchises and don't say the Jets because they've failed so many times. But if you go through some other franchises, the Buffalo Bills are a good example. It's the one that I'm most familiar with. The Buffalo Bills, after Jim Kelly, they drafted Todd Collins. He was a bust. They traded a first round pick for Rob Johnson. He was a bust. They found Doug Flutie in Canada and he got them to the playoffs a couple of times.

Didn't really work out. He was fun, but didn't really work out. They drafted JP Lossman. They drafted EJ Manuel. They felt the same way as you. And then it happened. And it was a quarterback that everybody fought over and people thought wasn't accurate. And including myself, I looked at him and said,

I don't know, man, are you seriously drafting him that high? Like really based on a, you know, just arm strength, but it was a lot more than that. Turns out the personality, the character, things that they knew that we didn't when they drafted Josh Allen. So you're always one draft pick away or one guy falling in your lap, like drew breeze in new Orleans away from completely changing your franchise, but you can't win the lottery if you don't play. So, uh, we'll see if they play. Um, speaking of playing, I really appreciate all you guys playing along here tonight on this again, like way after dark, way after bedtime, uh, for most people in the central time zone and not the australian guy

just can't thank you enough because every time i turn this on and go live with you guys you make it really fun and we have a lot of really good discussions so i appreciate it very much keep your eyes on the channel we'll be doing more of it uh i got some great interviews coming up and things like that and it just looks like the madness is nowhere close to being over for the off season. We've hit a low, but then Lamar Jackson comes out and says, Hey,

I want to be traded. So you never know. You never know. Keep your eyes on the channel and we'll see what happens. So thanks so much to everybody for watching, for playing along, really appreciate it. And we will continue to do

it on a regular basis. So subscribe and whatever, put on whatever, you know, the little bell thing or something. So, you know, when we're going live and we'll see you then. So thanks again, everybody, and have a good night.