Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Vikings sign Daniel Jones. Why?

Episode Date: November 28, 2024

Matthew Coller talks about the Vikings signing Daniel Jones to their practice squad Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here and here to talk about how Daniel Jones is a Minnesota Viking. That is one that I did not have on my bingo board when the season began. That two-thirds of the way through the year, Daniel Jones would be wearing a Minnesota Vikings uniform. But here we are, the Vikings today signing Daniel Jones to their practice squad, which surprised me because I would have thought that there would be other teams around the league that would be interested in giving Daniel Jones a contract to either start or be their direct backup and actually be on their roster rather than joining the Vikings practice squad. Maybe there wasn't that much interest, or maybe he decided that this is the best place for him to rehab the image.

I'm not really sure why he decided to pick this over maybe an opportunity where he could potentially play, or he may have decided that it's harder to go to a team and still play quarterback after not knowing the system and then have them say, all right, you're our guy, go in there and try to win us some games. And that could actually make him look worse. And he would prefer to be here over the coming weeks and then go forward into free agency and so forth from Daniel Jones's perspective it means being with Kevin O'Connell it means being one step away from starting games for a team that is in playoff position and if nothing else it just gets him into the rehabilitation factory that is Kevin

O'Connell's Minnesota Vikings and maybe that helps for him and when he's going into free agency it also could mean that he could be the backup for next year for the Vikings so what I want to do is I want to break down kind of every facet of this thing because there are moving parts here. And then I want to get to your opinions on whether the Vikings should have assigned Daniel Jones and my thoughts on it as well. And whatever else is on your mind, feel free to throw it in the comments. I mean, questions,

thoughts, the Vikings are nine and two. They're coming back home. They're playing the Arizona Cardinals. This is kind of a big deal that the it's been dominated today. All the discussion, the entire press conference and everything else, all dedicated to Daniel Jones, who very likely won't ever take a snap as a Minnesota Viking. And I guess there won't be too much bulletin board material for the Cardinals to use by anything anyone said today about them because it was all focused on the backup quarterback being signed here, Daniel Jones, to the practice squad.

So let us begin with why Kevin O'Connell would want Daniel Jones. I think we all know that Kevin O'Connell, his thing with quarterbacks that is always going to be attributed to him is that organizations fail quarterbacks more often than quarterbacks fail organizations. So if we apply that to this situation, I think Saquon Barkley might agree with Kevin O'Connell that players get ruined in New York

with such a bad situation there that has gone into the dumps and doesn't seem like it has any chance of digging itself out. So the structure of what the Vikings have here, the receivers, the offense, the coach being a former quarterback, Josh McCown, all those things the quarterback room they all kind of add up to it is the best circumstance in the nfl for a quarterback to be in jj mccarthy knew this when he was coming out in the draft he had said that the vikings were the best spot for him sam darnold had several opportunities to play for some other team. He signs with the Minnesota Vikings. Everybody knows that you have a coach who played quarterback and you have

receivers that were drafted in the first round. And the result is that guys play above what their talent level is here. We saw that from Josh Dobbs for a little bit. Even the games that Dobbs lost were still close. They won't even play him in San Francisco and he was on team's practice squads otherwise and yet he was starting here and playing competitive games. Nick Mullins is another example. He was throwing for 400 yards last year and is not the type of guy that you usually expect to be able to keep you in games. And yet they should have won against Cincinnati last year. They should have won against Detroit last year. And that was with Nick Mullins playing. And now here's the real crazy thing. When you look at Sam

Darnold's previous statistics, when he was with New York, Carolina, San Francisco, and then you look at Daniel Jones career stats, Daniel Jones actually has better numbers than Sam Darnold did when he arrived here with the Vikings. Now we're talking about Sam Darnold as a top 10 quarterback believe they could get the most out of every quarterback so for Kevin O'Connell he was a fan of Daniel Jones when he was coming out in 2019 out of the draft they had him in on a visit they were at the whiteboard together all day they were meeting the family all those sorts of things he described today of getting to know Daniel Jones. And then no one can tell me that what happened in 2022 did not influence this. You saw a version of Daniel Jones, much like we go back to Carolina in 2022 with Sam Darnold all the time. You saw a version of Daniel Jones in 2022 that was a competent to good NFL starter for that season and really that

season only but he was able to put up 300 yards twice against the Vikings he ran for 78 in the playoff game he put them within a 60 yard field goal of beating the Vikings at US Bank Stadium the first time in 2022 and then beat them in the playoff game and had a clutch drive at the end. So if you're the coach on the other side, you're going to respect that. You know how I've talked about my respect for Jared Goff after seeing him light up Mike Zimmer's defense? It's that way with coaches too. You're going to respect the heck out of a guy who showed you

that he is capable of taking a team to the playoffs winning a playoff game even if the rest of his sample size isn't all that impressive and he is a quarterback with a ton of starting experience which means that if you need to get him ready and this is another thing for why the Vikings would do it. If you need to get him ready in fairly short order to go play in a playoff game, because something happened to Sam Darnold or down the stretch here, the final six games of the season, Daniel Jones is going to give you a better chance to win than Nick Mullins. I'm sure that's what they're thinking. Now, for me, I look at what Nick Mullins has done in his career

and what Daniel Jones has done in his career, and I go, okay, so one guy knows the offense inside and out and has something like an 88 quarterback rating, and I know that's not the perfect stat, but just roll with that. And then you have another guy who doesn't know anything about this offense who has an 84 career quarterback rating and you go uh okay daniel jones checking down and throwing for six and a half yards a pass or nick mullins throwing bombs down the field left and right who has a better chance to win i don't know it's probably

close to equal right in my mind but there is a scenario if you're're the Vikings, you have to have it running through your head. The Nick Foles scenario, which is you guys know all about it. 2017, Carson Wentz gets hurt. They're having a magical season going into the playoffs. They've got this guy who nobody loves, but he's a legit starting quarterback in the league. Nick Foles started a ton of games. He comes in, gets the job done. And you've seen in other instances where playoff teams, San Francisco with Brock Purdy,

that 2022 year where he hurts his elbow in the game, they've got nobody to back up. Then the backup gets hurt. But even then it was Josh Johnson, who's not a legitimate starter, and gave them almost no chance to stay in that football game. So you can see that scenario and that reasoning of Daniel Jones, if he had to play a couple games or if he had to come in a playoff game, gives them a better chance because he's more talented. Again, do I fully agree with that? I don't really know. There isn't a ton of evidence that

that's really the case uh daniel jones best season is better than nick mullen's best season okay fine i i guess you that's that's all right uh not not looking at it like you have a way better chance with someone who doesn't know the offense than you do with Nick Mullins, but okay, fair, fair enough. That makes sense. It also does make sense for the longer term of this, which is the Vikings will want a backup quarterback in the future to work with JJ McCarthy. Now, could you interpret this as a clear signal that they still see JJ McCarthy as the future quarterback? I think maybe, yeah, you can. I don't know that 100% with the way that Sam Darnold has played and none of us really know what's going to happen next. listening to KOC today and they're talking about him as well. You know, he's a guy that we'll see gets in here and maybe there's something in the future and we'll see how it goes and that kind of thing. Uh, I mean, if they're looking for a veteran backup, who's on the KOC rehab tour,

just like Sam Darnold ended up in the San Francisco rehab tour last year and gets a job with the Vikings starting the following season, that is a good option as a backup veteran who's been around. And if O'Connell is comfortable with his personality, then he would want him in the room with JJ McCarthy next season. And as far as Sam Darnold resigning, that would,, or being franchise tag that as we've discussed would likely take a very high bar for that to happen. And as of right now, the plan still appears to be that JJ McCarthy is going to be the future quarterback and it doesn't completely show their hand, but it kind of does. It kind of does show their hand. Yeah, we'd like to get Danny Dimes in here and have, and I'm paraphrasing, this hasn't been said,

but just reading the room is like to get Danny Dimes in here, convince him to stick around for another year, be JJ McCarthy's backup, and then hope to go get a job somewhere else in the league. And he would be a very strong backup quarterback for McCarthy and someone who's been through the wars a little bit, former top draft pick has that experience. He can be next year. What they thought Sam Darnold was going to be this year. Okay. All of that is fair enough for a reasoning. There is the comp pick. And I know that you guys,

when you look around the Thanksgiving table at Thanksgiving, you see all your family members. What I know about you that they don't know is that you guys love comp picks more than you love your family. That is what I know from doing this show. And so the comp pick element, I usually try not to go into it because it's confusing and frustrating,

but I will go into it here. My understanding is that if Daniel Jones is active for a game with the Vikings and then he leaves and he signs a $10 million contract that the Vikings would get, oh yes, put it on your Thanksgiving table, right next to the stuffing and the Turkey, a comp pick. And is that worth it? Sure it is.

Of course it is. I mean, you're paying him almost no money. You elevate him, activate him for a single game. If he goes and signs a $10 million contract with someone else, you get a comp pick. You did nothing. You just convinced him to show up here, hang out for a little while, and then you get something for it. That's not a bad thing. There is one drawback for me, and I don't really think that I mentioned this the other night when I was talking about it, where I kind of shrugged off,

like, I don't know. I don't, you know, what's the, what's the purpose. You've got a backup quarterback who has been here and probably gives the equal chances to win and has better career statistics than Daniel Jones, which I know is not everything. I know his talent is higher than Nick Mullins, but the fact that he doesn't know the team and all that sort of stuff. The one thing that maybe as I, as I started to think about this throughout the day, I wouldn't necessarily love is how much attention this got and will continue to get because it's a New York quarterback in Daniel Jones. And anytime, if this was Arizona's backup quarterback or starter who got cut and showed up here, it wouldn't get two seconds of TV time, but it's getting a lot of attention. And not only that,

it also is a reminder to Sam Darnold. I don't know how Sam Darnold could not have it go through his head. Okay. They're bringing in Daniel Jones here. I guess this is pretty clear that this is not going to be the team I'm going to play for. Now, O'Connell said that he had a conversation with Sam Darnold and also Nick Mullins and also Brett Rippon, who apparently has impressed them behind the scenes. So he's having this conversation with those guys about what it means to bring in Daniel Jones.

And I can't help think, don't you guys have a big game this week? I know, I know. I'm not saying they 100% of the time should just be all in the X's and O's and everything else. They have to think about roster stuff too. But you are bringing in your starting quarterback and sitting him down and having to explain to him why you're bringing in some other guy why why even get in the head of Sam Darnold in any way why even have the world talking about

how they're probably going to move on from you after this season that is the only downside of this is that Sam Darnold is in a great mental space right now. He has to know that he's making a lot of money into the future if he continues to play like this, that he has done extremely well this year, that he's leading a winning team for the first time ever. And then there's a distraction that ends up showing up in the building for what upside, just in case at some point you get hurt in the playoffs and you need Daniel Jones, or more likely than not, the guy will never play for the Minnesota Vikings, but yet all the attention, all the discussion leading up to this game with Arizona, which is a big game as they continue to battle neck and neck with the Detroit Lions. That's my only downside to it. Do I think that that should break Sam

Darnold? No, of course it shouldn't break Sam Darnold, but it just feels a little unnecessary in terms of the upside versus the downside. If the upside is that he's next year's backup quarterback, well, there's usually every year where there are free agent veteran backup quarterbacks that you could bring in to pair with your starter. Or it could have been Daniel Jones for the Vikings next year in free agency. I also think that when it comes to the, just the fact of the comp pick, I mean, if you, I get it, those comp picks matter, but if he signs a $5 million deal

with somebody else, you're not getting a third round pick. You're probably getting a sixth or a seventh. It's not something that I weigh or factor all that much. I think that what Kevin O'Connell sees is another opportunity to add to the Kevin O'Connell rehabilitation center for quarterbacks who got screwed by their teams, which is great. There's a lot of worse things you could be known for than being the organization and being the head coach who has this ability to help quarterbacks who have been screwed by their organizations who are drafted high, who he likes. That's, it's a good, it's a good thing. Like you can't create, Oh no, our coach is too good at helping guys recover from their bad organizations. But you're in a spot here where you're trying to chase a

championship. And I don't know if you needed this. I don't know if you needed this to be inside of Sam Darnold's head. Although maybe you could say if Sam Darnold is thrown off by them signing Daniel Jones, then he's not a great quarterback anyway, but that's the thing. Is he? He's so far in his career it has been fragile when it comes to Sam Darnold and there has been ups and downs of the confidence even through this season and he has fought through and he's been unshakable and you just don't really want to upset the environment that you've created here for very little upside unless Sam Darnold gets hurt and Daniel Jones goes in. So I'm really of two minds of it. If Sam Darnold were to get

hurt and they need to win a playoff game, let's say they're up 14 to seven on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the playoffs and Darnold twists his ankle and can't play the rest of the game. I would much rather have Daniel Jones than Nick Mullins under those circumstances. But if that doesn't happen, that nightmare scenario where he gets hurt, uh, I doesn't really register a lot for me as being a needle mover. And I suppose thinking down the road about Daniel Jones as the backup for JJ McCarthy, that makes sense if it's someone Kevin O'Connell trusts. And when it comes to O'Connell and his opinions on quarterbacks, it's a hard guy to go against, right? So that I fully understand if he's thinking I can have Daniel Jones as my backup for McCarthy next

year. I also don't really like thinking deep into the future here with a guy who might not, he might not be here two weeks. If someone poaches him off of the Vikings practice squad, and then you've just caused this distraction for what, for him to come here and then be a dolphin or something uh in two weeks i don't know uh but if if he does end up as the backup in the playoffs and he's one snap away from playing he gives you a little bit more confidence than it would if it were nick mullins that that's that's probably as far as I can go. So let me get to your thoughts and your opinions. That's just how I understand it and process it.

Overall, like, am I enraged by it? No, of course not. And when the Vikings make decisions like this, you kind of go, well, they make a lot of good decisions. So maybe this will be a good decision for them. And if nothing happens, then they get a comp pick for it. And that's completely fine. It's just that it's,

it's eaten up a lot of the conversation about this team in a week where we should have all been talking about how excellent Sam Darnold is. And there's no discussion about that. And it's all about this backup quarterback that they brought in. Shout out to GDP who gave me the super chat. Really appreciate that. And he says three top ten quarterbacks in the same room. It is amazing.

It is incredible that these two quarterbacks in New York, the connection between them of being with two of the most incompetent franchises in sports, and then ending up with Kevin O'Connell. They also picked up Josh Rosen at one point, by the way, like you can't save everybody. You probably can't save everybody.

Jason says Jones is a huge upgrade over Mullins. Plus we get a comp pick when he leaves. Huge upgrade is questionable to me. When is the last time Daniel Jones played well? How many injuries has he had? How easy is it to learn Kevin O'Connell's system and go out and operate it? Because you know that he's not just going to do some big adjustment to the system for his quarterback. Is it a guarantee that someone who has to learn it in a few weeks is really going to be a big upgrade? Or is it just going to end up being kind of similar if either one of them had to play? They were close in games with Nick Mullins. They almost won games with Nick

Mullins and one player has better numbers. And I know that circumstances are not the same. One player has better numbers than the other. It just doesn't look like the guy's not as tall and he's certainly not as strong, but the production, when you compare the two, I mean, neither one of them has a good record both of them have a ton of mistakes neither one of them has a good a good starting level quarterback rating and my biggest concern about jones is those injuries that the 78 yards he ran for against the vikings are not going to be the same that he could do if he had to come in uh py 3 14 is that pi 314 3.14 uh says uh does jones start next year if jj mccarthy isn't ready uh well i mean they would have to sign him for one they would have to give

him a contract for next year to be their backup he would have to agree that he wanted to be their backup and that this was the best opportunity as the backup and then he would have to agree that he wanted to be their backup and that this was the best opportunity as the backup. And then he would have to have JJ McCarthy not be ready when McCarthy was this far away from being ready this year, that there was a real competition that was about to begin late in the summer. And Darnold was going to start week one. I'm very sure of that, but McCarthy was going to make it interesting in those practices in Cleveland. I have had that strong impression since I was there in Cleveland

when they announced that McCarthy was out for the year. That was what I was able to glean from the moment was that if he was going to be there for those practices, that he was going to make it interesting with the starting position for week one. That's how much they thought of J.J. McCarthy. So Daniel Jones is not beating out J.J. McCarthy for next year's starting position. It would have to be injury related that he couldn't play, although I'm sure that Kevin

O'Connell is thinking about that. In a year where they lost McCarthy for the season, Kevin O'Connell is thinking about that in a year where they lost McCarthy for the season. Kevin O'Connell is thinking, get Jones in, have them enjoy the environment and the coaches keep them for next year. And then if McCarthy gets banged up again, then you have a quarterback who has won games in the NFL before. I am certain that that is part of the equation. Sean says, is it a big upgrade over Mullins? Maybe, maybe not, but it gives the team depth for the end of the season and playoffs and needed at little cost. Little cost is true. Did not cost them a roster spot. And that is, that is big. They were able to sign Jamin Davis, the linebacker who's might end up playing for them uh with ivan

pace out davis has been a good blitzer in his career that's kind of the one thing that he can really do uh so they were able to bring in another player and not have to use a roster spot you're right that the cost is very small to bring in daniel jones so there isn't too much reason it's not like they gave him a $10 million contract and then cut some player who's been valuable for them. They're just throwing them on the PS and that's it. As far as depth goes, look, most of the time, Nick Mullins and Jeff Hostetler, is there any others? I'm trying to think. Kurt Warner, I guess. Is there any situation other than those

where the backup quarterback comes in and can win in the playoffs for you I mean I know that this is has to be part of the thought process but as far as gives them depth I mean no one really has depth at the quarterback position if Sam sam darnold goes down going into the playoffs your odds go from maybe it's 20 to reach the super bowl and those odds go to uh two percent to reach the super bowl what happened with nick mullins is one of the weirdest things ever in nfl history but it usually doesn't happen if the starting quarterback gets hurt, it's more usually like Derek Carr when he was having that 12 and four season, then he gets hurt and then, you know,

they're immediately eliminated from the playoffs. So I don't know how valuable that depth is here. And that's why we are kind of kicking the conversation into next year of, does this mean that they really want him to get a feel for what it's like to be here and what that quarterback room is like with McCarthy and then want to stay as the backup for next season. But it does. I don't debate that. It does give you ever so slightly better odds

to win a playoff game. If you had to bring in Jones versus having to have Nick Mullins. And the one thing I can't know is how Daniel Jones would have done if he was here the whole time and not with the New York giants where he hasn't had good receivers. He hasn't had good coaching. He hasn't had a good environment, but also those numbers are really bad. They're really, really unbelievably bad. Uh, I think that Sam Darnold for his career did not have better numbers, but they were picking up Sam Darnold when he was elevating, when he was playing better, not two straight years of injuries and horrendous performances. That's why I'm not fully sure that if you had to play a hundred games, Mullins as the quarterback of the Vikings or Jones as the

quarterback of the Vikings in his current state without knowing the full offense I'm not sure that Jones wins more than Nick Mullins so how much of an upgrade is it really how much depth is it really that's kind of I'm shrugging my shoulders and they're not getting rid of Brett Rippin so they must have seen something they like there. Matthew says this makes sense if their plan is to sign him to a one-year deal to back up McCarthy. And I believe that's what the plan is. That has not been said, but I believe that's what the plan is. However, there are going to be other teams

that are looking for a backup quarterback as well. And I suspect that there were other teams that are looking for a backup quarterback as well. And I suspect that there were other teams that called Daniel Jones this year and asked if he wanted to come play for their team. So he decided here, which does point you toward, okay, he could stay with this team. But if he gets a $10 million a year offer and the Vikings only want to try to keep him for five, and he's got a chance to compete for a starting spot somewhere else, but he does not have it here because other teams are going to look for, they want to be the next Sam Darnold team. They want to be the next Gino Smith team. And they might also have quarterbacks that are more suspect than JJ McCarthy. So if it's

money, if it's opportunity, then Daniel Jones might end up choosing somebody else. And you've brought him here for kind of nothing over a couple of weeks. I mean, there's no downside to that because then you get the comp pick. So this isn't something that I can get worked up about. I mean, I saw some of that with people saying, it makes no sense. What are they doing? Well, no, it does. It does make sense.

I've just never really been into it. I just wanted the apple cart not upset after Sam Darnold's best game. I didn't want the head coach of the team having to have a meeting with the starting quarterback about why he's doing this in a week where you want your quarterback dead focused as the guy of this team which he certainly proved to be over the last two weeks and against Chicago and the Chicago game is the biggest game that and also Green Bay I mean these are the biggest games of his career and he has risen to the challenge I want him coming off of that, not thinking about Daniel Jones, not being asked about Daniel Jones,

not having people in his life talking to him about, well, this means they're out on you for next year. I just don't need that. But apparently they think that that's okay. Richard said, if the Vikings finish 5-1, but one of the wins is week 18 was the lions to win the division but they end up losing in the divisional round would you keep sam darnold so under this scenario they are going five and one they are beating the lions to win the division but losing in the divisional round would would you keep Sam Darnold? I have to know how Darnold played in that game because they do have a really good defense.

So was it him as the reason probably would have, would have to be the case. So there's, I think there has to be a bar. There has to be a bar that if Sam Darnold reaches it and there are complicated areas of that bar and what you just described is complicated. If you go five and one, is that 14? That's 14 wins. You win 14 games. And let's say you win the division. It's crazy.

I don't think that this is going to happen, but let's say you win the division. It's crazy. I don't think that this is going to happen. But let's say you win the division, 14 games. And then you go and play in the divisional round. And Sam Darnold plays great. The defense melts down. And you lose 38-35 on a last-second field goal. And Sam Darnold finishes with a borderline type of MVP season. He finishes with his team scoring 35 points in a playoff game. How could you just walk away from that and say, McCarthy will do that next year. That is where it gets tricky. That's where that gray area is,

because I think we all know that if the Vikings go three and three, the rest of the way, losing the divisional round, Darnold plays well, he's going to move on and make 40 mil next year. And we also know that if he wins the super bowl, then yes, you are going to keep Sam Darnold. I think, right. I mean, NFC championship even probably gives you a good chance to franchise tag him but the places in between they might have to just remain steadfast on what their plan has always been which is to no matter what transfer over to jj mccarthy as the uh the quarterback for the future uh kerpluppi says, personally, I think this signing is the end of Sam Darnold re-signing conversation.

It can't be the end because we don't know how the season ends. If Sam Darnold is in the NFC championship and throws for 300 yards and they lose to the whoever, Lions or Eagles or something by three points,

are you going to tell the locker room, sorry, we're going to a guy who's never played. I know that you are one game away from winning the Super Bowl. That's a really tough place to be for them when they want to go to him. But I think what it does tell us is if they're already thinking about next year's backup quarterback, then the plan is still the plan. This is my problem with the signing is that right there, anybody with any knowledge of what's going on or logic can figure out that this does say something about their plan still being JJ

McCarthy for next year. And it's not that Darnold doesn't know that. It's that he doesn't need to be reminded of it in the middle of the season. That's my only issue with it. That's my only concern with it. The rest of it all makes sense. It's more of this kind of thing that I can't quantify, which is always hard for me on this show

when I can't quantify something. It's more of just a, do I want my quarterback distracted by something like this in a big week for this team? Ty says trying to rehab quarterbacks as a means of building draft capital, or even a way to find your own quarterback seems like an obvious idea. Now, can it work?

Well, it's working with Sam Darnold and it is an obvious idea. It's not the first team that's ever thought of this. I mean, every one of these quarterbacks who gets cut, there's other teams that wanted Darnold. There were teams that wanted Baker Mayfield. There's always going to be teams that are doing exactly this, which is saying, I wonder if we got our hands on the guy, if he could be different.

And the Vikings have certainly proven that getting their hands on Sam Darnold has made him different. But is that really what the focus is for Daniel Jones? I mean, I guess I keep thinking, when are we working with Daniel Jones here? Like, oh, well, if he gets in here and he works with our coach, but why, why is he working with your coaches? Your quarterback is Sam Darnold. Like how much time are you dedicating into the, the rehabilitation of Daniel Jones and the development and coaching him up

and why? Like, so if you are, you know, get an injury in a playoff game, you could go to him, I guess, but it's just, it's tough for me to see why any resource whatsoever, why the slightest resource would be developed or would be dedicated to anything else except for Sam Darnold chasing the super bowl this year. That, that, that is my hesitation here. Not really anything else. Uh, Mike says, uh, O-line is very average. Sam could get hurt easily. This is good. Uh, the O-line is actually above average, uh, on the season, but without, if Cam Robinson is hurt, uh, then yeah, I, I would agree with you. It's an average O-line if Cam Robinson does not come back very soon.

And Sam does hold on to the ball for a long period of time. And that is a problem as well, is that, you know, Darnold, they've got deep developing routes. He does take some hits. He has had some injuries in the past. But my question is to that, like when you say it it's good is does it really move the odds it's hard to show your work there over the last two years this is one of the worst quarterbacks in football I mean this isn't what Sam Darnold was when the Vikings signed him there's not really a

correlation there Sam Darnold was playing good football when the Vikings signed him, not atrocious football. And Nick Mullins knows the offense, has played well against even some good teams like Cincinnati and Detroit last year. I'm just not convinced that Daniel Jones would give them much better chances to win. And when is he going to be able to do that? There's six games left. So that's why I keep saying kind of playoffs.

But there's only six games left. I mean, they're going to teach him the whole offense and all the stuff. I don't know that the odds are much better. And I also don't look at the line and say, well, they're going to cause Sam Darnold to get hurt. He was hurt on a weird play last week, but maybe, maybe that's what they think is that Jones would give them a much better chance because he's been in a playoff game before. And Mullins does not have any history of success or winning. Doesn't have a season like Daniel Jones had. Let's see. Caleb says, do you think this is a sign McCarthy's injury

is worse than they are saying? No, I do not. No, I do not. I have seen the conspiracies. And I would just say that if you see people saying things like that, then just log off. Because the only people that know JJ McCarthy's recovery are the Minnesota Vikings for one. But just because he had an extra little procedure procedure it feels like that sent up a bunch of flares to like oh well he must be more hurt than we think even though it just seems like from all the medical people who have informed me about this that it was just something to help with the swelling was what he had for this procedure uh it's a it's just a meniscus tear. It happens all the time.

Happens to NBA players a lot. Adrian Peterson had one, had the full thing, and played in the NFL for several more years after that. No, I'm not getting the tinfoil hat out and thinking it's worse. Right now, J.J. McCarthy, everything that I know and have heard, is totally on track, has been a great contributor to the quarterback room. We'll go into this off season trying to take a big leap forward physically and mentally by the time he shows up in camp next year. I don't see any connection

to this and McCarthy's injury. It's only McCarthy being the starting quarterback for next year and needing a veteran backup. And I'm sure that O'Connell is saying, if we can convince him to stay, he would be one of the best backups in the NFL. And if McCarthy were to get banged up or even just on a week to week basis, the things you go through as a top draft pick, Daniel Jones would know all of those things, right? And then some, and then some as similar logic to bringing in Sam Darnold. Sally, the Viking says, I'm a Vikings fan from New York. Kevin will turn him into a great quarterback. He's a great backup. I mean, I think that with an entire training camp, uh, he can be a fine backup quarterback. It's just right now. I'm not sure that it does a lot. And then I, there's also

no guarantee that he is that, that quarterback for the future. Is that worth having this much discussion going on about Daniel Jones? Because it's kind of a slow news day in the NFL. A lot of conversation about this move. And I would just prefer Sam Darnold to be in the right mental space and not mess with him at all. Don't touch him. Nobody come close to him. Nobody move. Sam Darnold is in the best mental space of his career coming off the best game, and then you create a bunch of conversation about the team. I just didn't like that part of it. Matthew says, great move. Vikings can start JJ franchise tag Darnold and trade him for a draft pick next year.

Keep Daniel Jones as a high-quality backup. Yeah, I'm not that far down the road about trading Darnold with the franchise tag versus just letting him go. Uh, but that does make some sense. Uh, I think they might just let him go and sign somewhere for a lot of money, but I don't really know. Maybe it's a trade and someone wants to extend him situation. I don't know, but this is all part of it. This is all part of my point is that the only discussion about sam darnold and the future was hey is he making a case for himself the way that he just played i mean that's that's what the the entire discussion with darnold was around go listen to my last two episodes where i talked about it with alec lewis and i talked about it with Jeremiah Searles. That's the only discussion is, wow, this guy was just this good. And then you shift that. And it's impossible if you're

Sam Darnold himself to ignore all of that. You could say, well, block out the noise, but you created the noise. Why did you do that for a guy that you hope can be the backup for next year. Jason says, can't franchise tag Darnold. It would tie up our money. We could not sign other players. Not exactly true, Jason, because if you look at this year, how much money are they spending on the quarterback position on the salary cap this year? How much money?

They are spending about $40 million, 28 of dead cap to kirk cousins and 10 to sam darnold that makes 38 and what three or four to jj mccarthy and that's over 40 what they would have to do is they would have to change their approach to the long term to the multi-year window where they would have to say, now, if we sign free agents, we're going to have to push those contracts down the road. And they may have to use the void year button or something like that. But when you're in win now mode, you do stuff like that. We've talked about this over the years. When your team could actually compete for a championship, then you push all those buttons and they could go into free agency and sign people.

They did it this year with a bunch of signings, despite the fact that Kirk Cousins cap it was 28 million still on the books. Because what they did was if you look at the structure to Van Ginkle, to Cashman, to Grenard, they have their smallest cap hits this year, and then they're going to go up. But next year, they'll get Kirk off the books. And so that will create enough cap space to franchise tag Darnold if they needed to,

or sign him to a dummy three-year contract. It leaves you in a weird space with J.J. McCarthy. Now, franchise tagging him, I don't think is a big problem if you get to the NFC championship, because I think you can structure free agent contracts similarly, and you've proven to already have a roster that can be on the doorstep and you just need to add a few more things to it. It's not the same problem with Kirk Cousins extensions. Kirk Cousins extensions, they weren't in a position to it. It's not the same problem with Kirk Cousins extensions, Kirk Cousins extensions. They weren't in a position to win. The 2020 team is not in a position to win. The 2021 one team is not a Delvin Tomlinson and a Chris Herndon trade away from

winning that they just weren't like they weren't that good. And yet they were paying all this money to a quarterback who couldn't elevate what was around him it's a different discussion with a one-year franchise tag for sam darnold if they need to push that button that's i think the only real uh option that they would have rather than trying to sign him to a long-term extension. But what it says right now with Daniel Jones showing up is, well, we're already looking for next year's backup for JJ McCarthy. And not you, my friend. But hey, don't think about the future.

Just let us think about the future. That, I know, supposed to be mentally tough. I'm sure he is. Who could be more mentally tough than Sam Darnold, surviving New York, surviving Carolina and Matt Rule, and coming out the other side and getting through some of the issues that he has this year with turnovers and everything else?

I'm not questioning his mental toughness. I'm only sort of looking at this going. It might be a bit of an unforced error. If Darnold is thrown off by the fact that you're thinking about next year and making a move in the quarterback room, he very well may not be. I mean, I think the guy is pretty steely eyed. He's, he's pretty on the right track, but he's also a human person, and he's such a big fan of Purple Insider that now he's listening to this. No, I'm just kidding.

I don't know that. But there's got to be everybody in his life saying, what are they doing? Why are they bringing in another quarterback? So I think that's part of it. Sean says, I'm remembering 2022 San Francisco started Lance, then Garoppolo, then Purdy due to injuries. Then in the NFC Championship, Purdy gets hurt.

They go to Johnson. Yeah, and I think that that's in their mind too. I definitely think that that's in their mind is that there have been situations historically where in the playoffs, somebody gets hurt, you go to a backup, and then that guy is able to pull something out. And Niles says, no matter how you look at it,

it's a good idea to have a better backup quarterback than Mullins if you're expecting to make the playoffs. They can't poach him out to practice squad. He chose to be here. That I don't know. I don't know about that practice squad bit. I think they might be able to. Every practice squad player chooses to sign with

the practice squad nobody right or they go through waivers i guess the young players do uh i'll have to get detail on that i i think that they can pick up any player the vikings just picked up jaymond davis off of green bay right so i mean i see what you're saying but like if a team came if this week the miami dolphins get to a hurt but they win the game and they say daniel we need you to get us to the playoffs come throw to tyree kill like does he no i'm good i'm gonna stay here and i'm going to just chill uh with the vikings on the practice squad like or maybe play in the playoffs for someone else like i don't know but when you guys are definitively saying he's better than nick mullins

it's hard to show your work it truly is hard to show your work it's hard to go back and and look at i mean 2022 is his one good season but the accumulation of performance for either quarterback is pretty rough and you have to consider one of them knows that he is like that knows the offense. I mean, and that he's been the backup for a couple of years. And the other one is coming in completely with no knowledge of the offense at all.

Terry says, I feel Sam already has an understanding that he is going to get paid next season, but from another team tag and trade. Yeah, that I look, this is where I do agree. I do agree that Sam Darnold all along has known that he has known that this isn't a long-term type of option, but he's also being reminded that it isn't in the middle of the season and in a spot where you are right now where the Vikings are nine and two and they are tremendous then I don't know that you need to remind Sam Darnold that he isn't going to be the guy after this season. So, you know, I just,

I'm just not sure it was necessary. I'm not sure that the upside is high enough. Maybe I'll be wrong and they'll have Sam Darnold get hurt and Daniel Jones will come in and win a playoff game for them and then they'll go to the Super Bowl. I don't know. It's football.

Who the hell could have seen Daniel Jones playing for the Vikings? It's just my thought that the juice probably isn't worth the squeeze, but maybe I'll be wrong about that. Mike says, I think that it's more likely a reclamation project and projection for the future. Both Sam and Mullins are free agents. I think the culture is strong enough to withstand the distraction.

But why even ask the culture to be strong enough? That's my thing like why even why even need to uh i'm sorry one of you has been very funny in the comments i'll get to that in a second but why even need your culture or need sam dar or need to wonder like well i think he's mentally strong enough to deal with this whole thing where now everyone's talking about how he's not going to be here next year. I don't know. It just felt like it took the entire focus away from his excellence and onto something different. But all those other things I support in general. I think that you're probably right that maybe after six weeks of working with this team, that Daniel Jones gives you a better

chance to win a game than than nick mullins would i think that's true the current version of daniel jones has no evidence of that but i think that's probably right based on their talent and kevin o'connell and his culture should be able to plow through just about anything and his relationship with sam darnold is strong and it's the right thing to do to have a meeting with Darnold and explain you're the guy and you're taking this team in the right direction. But also if the upside is, hey, maybe they get themselves a halfway decent backup quarterback for next year. And Sam D darnold is spending his week in meetings about how it's fine and also dealing with everybody talking about this other quarterback that they went and got i just don't

love that uh i i don't think it's the end of the world i i don't think that you know daniel jones is going to be any sort of problem when he comes here i'm sure because kevin o'connell knows him that he'll be a great contributor and maybe we'll be able to help them down the, down the road. I mean, he's played Philadelphia a bunch of times. They might end up playing them in the playoffs. You know, he's a veteran quarterback who went to Duke. He's probably smart. He can probably help them with other ideas that they used in New York in 2022. I don't know, but the upside of it just doesn't seem to be all that much unless he is their veteran backup for next year. What I was laughing about was Stephen saying,

KOC is going to invent a new trick play where he puts in three quarterbacks and college strokes out. That is a, that is a good point, Stephen. You're right. That's right. That is a good point, Stephen. You're right. That's right. He's going to bring, it'll be Mullins at quarterback

and Darnold and Jones as his two wide receivers. They'll go in motion. He will have Mullins throw an underneath pass to Sam Darnold and he will flip it back to Daniel Jones, who will turn around, spin throw a deep bomb to Johnny Munt for the greatest touchdown in NFL history. I think that's probably how it's going to go. Let's see.

Solly the Viking, are we going to put Rippon on the practice squad? I think that Daniel Jones is going to stay on the practice squad. They seem to like Brett Rippon. They also seem to like every person who plays quarterback. Steve, thank you so much for the super chat. Appreciate anybody and everybody who does that. Thanks so much. Just all the support from you guys all the time is fantastic.

And I'm very thankful for that on this Thanksgiving Eve. Let's see. Dwight says, how is JJ healing from both surgeries and will he ever be 100%? Well, the other one was not a surgery. It was just something that's very common after a surgery as a small procedure that shouldn't be anything. And as far as will he ever be 100%,

people have meniscus injuries all the time, all the time. Uh, yeah. I mean, this, this shouldn't be a big thing. I know there was the one time with Sheree Floyd, I know. And that was tragic, but that's not, um, what happened here. It was a successful surgery. He's on his rehab plan. He is working behind the scenes with maybe spooked by the word surgery for his knee. But as far as everything that I've heard is that he's going in the right direction. He's totally fine. Junkbuster says, do you think we can re-sign Bynum and Byron Murphy? Both have expiring contracts.

Both are definitely looking to be paid. Byron Murphy has been a big player for them this year he has had a good season now the final six games are going to matter he will need to catch the football when it comes his way and make plays but he's got a lot of game-changing plays and I wrote that article about the the game balls and the ceremony with kevin o'connell i feel like he's given a lot of them to byron murphy this year because he's made game-changing plays bynum is a little bit tricky because bynum is i think a really good player for his job which is that deep safety position he catches the football a lot missed one against caleb williams

but he catches the football a lot gets missed one against Caleb Williams, but he catches the football a lot, gets interceptions. He's a good downhill tackler. You throw a screen to the outside. Bynum's usually pretty good at taking guys down on those plays. But the question is going to be what it's worth, what the deep safety position is worth. They have Theo Jackson. They like Theo Jackson. Brian Flores brought it up today or not today, Tuesday and said, yeah, I'd love to get him on the field, but our guys are playing really well that are the starting safeties, but I'd love to have them out there because he's a good player. And they might look at it and say, buying him for 10 million, Theo Jackson for his current rookie contract. That's a lot of millions to maybe put somewhere else. It's all going to

depend on how they want to allocate the rest of their money because the chemistry of this defense is important. And so if you pay a little bit more, if you're trying to be super shrewd all the time, like this, I think about this with, and I don't have a diet Dr. Pepper, but I've got a Diet Coke here with me. Think about it with the Diet Coke where, you know what? I could pay a little bit less, and I could get that RC Cola, like they have in the Chicago press box. And it's sort of the same, but it's not really. And my love for Diet Coke is what makes me the happiest. RC Cola, I'd still survive, but I think I'm just going to pay a little bit more for that. I think about that with Cam Bynum. Like you might want to just pay a little bit more

to not take that risk of getting someone who doesn't understand the defense as well, who is a little bit of a downgrade, but then, you know, the chemistry is not the same way it was. The communication is not the same way it was. The communication is not the same way it was. You're teaching somebody else like those things. Both players have proven worthy of contracts. It's really just what they want. Uh, like how much money are you talking about, uh, that they want? Uh, can I grade the signing? Uh, well, I guess, uh, I would say it is a incomplete. I mean, I don't

know. What am I supposed to give it an, an a plus an F minus? I mean, how are you supposed to grade a signing that the guy may never even take a snap or dress in a uniform of the team? I don't know. Like, I think it's, I think it's okay. I mean, I don't think it's great or terrible. I think the upside to it is that he's the backup quarterback for JJ McCarthy. Maybe I would grade it. I for irrelevant is what it will probably end up being at the end of the day. I mean, if he dresses for week 18 and that's it and never plays and then signs with the Broncos next year we're

gonna go like remember that time we talked all night before thanksgiving about daniel jones i mean this reminds me of stephen ridley uh remember that uh stephen ridley signed we all thought well this guy's gonna be the replacement for adrian peterson and then they cut him two days later it could be that i'll give it incomplete because I need to see if it ends up mattering. Is he even active as the backup on game day ever? If it is, then that's fine. But, I mean, you know, Daniel says Jones is definitely better than Mullins' experience and mobility.

What have those things gotten him recently? I mean, it's truly terrible play. It's, it's not even below average play. It is truly pathetic quarterbacking that has happened from this player over the last two years in 2022, when he was more healthy, he was a runner and they started calling him, I don't know, white Michael Vick or something because he was running and he was a problem with the ground. Has he done that? The last two years, the guy had an ACL tear.

He had a neck injury. I mean, he's got a quarterback rating over the last two years under 80. He's got way more interceptions than touchdowns. I mean, yeah, he's experienced at throwing it to the other team. I just don't see where this evidence is that he would be a much better option in a playoff game than Nick Mullins. But I suppose if they could get him ready and you're talking about playing with Jefferson and Addison and all that stuff, that every quarterback is going to be a better version

of themselves. And because he is more physically talented, there's no question. I think that's the one you could say is, has he had some time where he's actually been good in his career? The answer is yes. Is he more physically talented than Nick Mullins? The answer is yes. So from those perspectives, then okay okay then you can make the argument that he's a better option in a single game than nick mullins and i would probably agree with you but when we put it down on paper and we go let's look at these two quarterbacks we did the blind quarterback test let's just look at these two guys by whatever metric you want last two two seasons last 10

starts whatever you want to do it's just hard to find that one is actually better than the other one and they play differently Nick Mullins plays like a wild man and is capable of throwing for 400 yards whereas Daniel Jones plays very safely maybe that factors into it too that O'Connell looks at the tape and goes, well, you know, if he's in my offense, he's going to play differently. But just as far as we definitively say, well, Jones would give them a better chance because he was drafted higher because he had the one season where he was decent. I mean, I'm sure that they agree with you.

I just finding evidence of it is difficult. Pie 314. What team do you envision Jones having a legit shot at starting at next year? I just finding evidence of it is difficult. Uh, pie three 14. Uh, what team do you envision Jones having a legit shot at starting at next year? Uh, none of them. Uh,

but as far as could there be a team that also drafts a quarterback that would give him that might not want to play their quarterback right away. Well, how about that? Uh, right. Um, he could also be in the mix for teams that are not fully sold on their quarterback.

How about if Bryce Young sputters down the stretch and Carolina's sitting there thinking, well, we're not really sure on Bryce Young. How about we bring in some veteran competition for him? He could end up winning that job or a team like even the Los Angeles Rams. If Stafford retires, well, who's their quarterback next year? Is it Sam Darnold? If it's not Sam Darnold, then maybe it's somebody else like Daniel Jones. There's not going to be that many options to have as a potential starting quarterback.

So there will be other teams that are looking for veteran competition and if you compare and let's say it's i don't know uh carson beck is picked by the raiders let's just say i don't know let's just say and they're thinking well all right we'll bring in him to be a potential starter but daniel jones is going to compete with him who's got a better chance to beat out Daniel Jones, JJ McCarthy or Carson Beck? Probably JJ McCarthy has a better chance to beat out Daniel Jones. So he could maybe win a starting job there unless he just really wants that, that on the bench year as the veteran backup, you know? Uh, I don't know. So it does seem like there could be other teams and you might end up just doing this and kind of shrug your shoulders. Uh, Jason says Sam could

win the super bowl and I would still let him walk. They might feel the same way as you. They might feel, I mean, I don't care what the hell they do. If they win the super bowl, they could put Tony the tiger in a quarterback. if they win the Super Bowl for the next five years, and I won't care about anything. Whatever they do is, if they win the Super Bowl with Sam Darnold, I'll probably just shut down Purple Insider because it will never be better than that, and you guys can talk amongst yourselves about what they'll do next at quarterback. Truly, I'll just go do something else because if that's the way the Vikings win the the super bowl it'll never be better than that and i'll go cover the the wild or something but uh if he does win the super bowl i'm mostly

am i kidding i'm a little kidding but if he does win the super bowl it would be that's what i mean by how there's like these these these gray areas of like, well, do you have to bring him back because he won the Superbowl or have you already mission accomplished? So just move on to JJ McCarthy. Or if he goes to the NFC championship, it plays great. And you're this far away. How do you move on from him? And you talk about that culture. Well, that culture is delicate because if you let him leave and then McCarthy

isn't good right away, then everyone's going to say, well, you let that guy go out the door. Anthony says, I believe Danny Dimes wants to follow in Darnold's footsteps, sit behind a starter for a spell and an excellently structured organization. Oh, I know why he's here. You're right about that. Everything you said is correct. That, you know, absolutely. Everything is that you said is correct that uh you know absolutely absolutely everything is that you said is right of course he wants to be here it's just is it gaining anything by having him here that's really the question or is it worth having him here but also creating this

discussion about sam darnold and what his future is going to be in the middle of a season where he's actually playing so, so well. Let's see. Let's see. This is Vegas pro starting JJ McCarthy next year. If Sam rocks, the rest of the season is dumb. Let the winners keep winning JJ is unknown and can wait well that's why the franchise tag is is an option because if he does win then you can play the middle of that you don't have to sign him to a long-term contract you could just franchise tag Darnold and then if he's a top 10 quarterback again then then well, great. Then he ends up, then you just stick with him. And then you do sign him to that extension because if someone is playing like a top 10

quarterback year after year, then that's what you are willing to pay for is somebody like that. And they already have everybody else on the offensive side under contract, you know, Jefferson, Derrissaw, Addison, these guys side under contract. You know, Jefferson, Derrissaw, Addison, these guys are under contract. So you would expect to be able to repeat a lot of the results offensively with Sam Darnold next year

if they end up sticking with it. But it's a high bar to reach in order to get there. I see what you're saying. Like if he keeps winning and they go into the NFC championship game and he's got great stats, like that's what you're aiming for with a quarterback. And the reason the franchise tag is there for me is you franchise tag and McCarthy sits one more year and McCarthy is still your guy is still your plan. And there's not much Sam Darnold can do about being franchise tagged. And because he's had at least the one great year,

someone would still pay him into the future. But that's only if a certain set of circumstances fall into place. Right now, the plan still appears to be play it out with Sam Darnold and then on to J.J. McCarthy in the future. TJ says maybe they're viewing it as backup quarterback upgrade down the stretch. Seems more of an indictment of their view of Mullins. Certainly.

Well, did, I mean, does anybody trusts Mullins? I mean, like, no, of course not.

I mean, not based on his career and based on what he's done before. And the amount of interceptions that he threw last year, he got benched by KOC because he frustrated the heck out of him with the interceptions against the Lions. So no, there's no trust there. He loves who Nick Mullins is and how knowledgeable he is. And the fact that Nick Mullins is sitting over there on the sideline

and he's not looking up at the sky or doodling on his little clipboard or whatever. Nick Mullins is ready to play. Nick, Darnold's hurt. Come in, convert a third down. Okay, bang. Got it. Did the job. Great job by Mullins.

But if you have to play him over and over again for a playoff run, Daniel Jones would very likely give you a better chance to win than when we're talking about Nick Mullins, if they had to play over multiple weeks. But I'm not convinced that the gap is as big as we think it is because of the way that Jones has played recently, which is maybe what Jones needs is to not play and get healthy because he's had all these injuries. Kerplupp, he says, what degree of Matthew Stafford success with the Rams would you accredit to KOC? I don't hear Stafford included in the list of KOC successes. Well, that's because Matt Stafford was a great quarterback before. He had losing seasons, but he also had amazing seasons, too, he put up 5,000 yards. And Sean McVay

was always at the center of that. But I think that KOC learned from that experience by working with Stafford and by working with Sean McVay and seeing it up close of like, this is the way you get the most out of a quarterback. But was Matthew Stafford crazy different or was that just the best team he played on they had Aaron Donald they had the top defense they had the top offensive line they had the top receiver they got Odell Beckham in the middle of the season I mean it was probably just the best he wasn't wildly different that's that's the thing about the whole discussion is what's happening right now with Sam Darnold is someone being wildly different than he's ever been before. And if you're Daniel Jones, you're probably like, let me get in on that. Let me go,

let me go drink from the fountain of the Minnesota Vikings and see if it magically heals me. And it might, uh, or it might make no difference at all, and they just kind of created a mid-week distraction for no reason. I don't know. I think you guys are probably right that if you had to have him in the playoffs, he's a better option, and that if you have to ask for a backup quarterback next year to work with J.J JJ McCarthy, that Daniel Jones is a good option. So that's why I'm, and you do get the comp pick potentially if he is active for a week

and goes and signs somewhere else. And maybe that's like a sixth round pick or something like that. Congratulations, I guess. So, you know, I guess what I think though, as I'm going to wrap up here because it's Thanksgiving Eve and there's just, I can't imagine that a lot of you should be spending this much longer listening to me talk about Daniel Jones. But the bottom line for it to me is I have one particular concern about it. And I'm also not convinced it's that much better than what you have. But at the same time, I don't think the walls of TCO performance center will crumble because they brought in a quarterback. That's going to get a lot of attention. And I do see it as a viable option for next year. And when Kevin O'Connell says that he's

buying into a quarterback, then Kevin O'Connell is buying into a quarterback. And it's hard for me to disagree and say, no, Kevin, don't buy into this quarterback, that kind of thing. So GDP says with the super chat, thank you again for that. Why would Sam want to leave after all the success? It's not so much as wanting to leave. It would be as being shown the door after all the success. It's not so much as wanting to leave. It would be as being shown the door after all the success. I mean, I think in a different world where, uh, yeah, w w where Sam

Darnold shows up here without JJ McCarthy, we're talking about next year's contract already. And he would want to stay here for a really long time that i'm certainly thinking of that uh that that's what he would probably want why would you want anything else justin jefferson's your receiver and you get hockinson and addison and koc dialing up play actions where dudes are wide open i mean what else would you want from a situation he i'm sure wants to be here, but they made it clear from the start. That's not going to be the case more likely than not. Will that change is the question. Go get him says, do you interview people in the locker room based on playing time or success?

It seems now that Addison is doing well. He's getting a lot more interviews because the players are more willing to talk. Well, yeah, I mean, of course, if a player has a game like he had the other day

and he's got 160 yards, then he's going to get a lot of the attention after the game. We usually get how it works after the game, if you're talking about that, is usually the Vikings public relations has a couple of players that are brought to a certain area that they know everybody wants. So let's bring them to a certain area that they know everybody wants.

So let's bring them to a place where the media can kind of gather around and ask questions. And then everybody else is just at their lockers. And it would all depend for me on just, is it somebody that was relevant to the game? What type of insight might they bring on a weekly basis? That varies a lot. Who's around in the locker room? Who's talking? And somebody like Addison is going to get approached because he had a huge game and he's going to talk about it more, certainly. But I'm also working on big stories sometimes where I'm talking to Bo Richter like I did

last week. And so I'm sitting there talking with him. He's not necessarily a guy that had some huge game the week before, but I wanted to do a story about him and then he ends up recovering the fumble. So, uh, good, good, good timing for me. Um, the Vikings trade Darnold to the jets for Aaron Rogers. Good idea. No, anything involving Aaron Rogers is not a good idea. No, not ever. Okay, this is funny. Let's end with funny.

Reconnected. Big question is, who are the Vikings going to release for the practice squad in 2025 to make room for Tommy DeVito? Every single failed quarterback. Bring us your failed quarterbacks. Bring us your wounded, the organizations who have hurt you. I will say Daniel Jones did land in a pretty darn rough spot and he's fought through it and he's done everything you can

with that disaster that is a total mess. And when we think about how many good organizations are there in the league, this is maybe a reason to appreciate what you got because there might be a dozen organizations who have a clue what they're doing. New York's not one of them. The Vikings are so a good place for Daniel Jones. And maybe he will with his high intelligence contribute in good ways for game planning and new ideas and things like that that they hadn't had before. So we'll see how it goes as we go forward.

The plan right now is for me to go live after the Packers game tomorrow. If you're busy, you don't have to join. But if you have a chance, that's my plan. I'm going to watch football all day, but I'm going to be taking notes on the NFC North matchups and react to what happened as it pertains to the Vikings. Friday morning, going to record with Andrew Kramer of the Star Tribune with our hardcore preview of Vikings Cardinals. So that's what's coming up on the show. If you missed my discussion with Alec Lewis or with Jeremiah Searles, make sure you go check those out. And thanks so much, everybody.

Huge crowd here to talk about Daniel Jones for over an hour. So I'm going to go not do anything probably for a little bit, just for this small moment in time where I don't have to go out to the facility or do anything tomorrow except watch football. So anyway, thanks so much, everybody. And we will talk to you. I'm thinking tomorrow night about football. Why not? See you then.