Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Will Ragatz Show: Let's debate the Vikings' 53-man roster because why not

Episode Date: June 25, 2022

Sports Illustrated's Will Ragatz and Paul Hodowanic go through their Minnesota Vikings 53-man roster projections position by position to talk about where they differ and agree, and look at the key questions at each position, what kind of factors will be important in the decisions and sleepers, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, welcome back to another episode of the Will Raggetts show on Purple Insider. I'm Will Raggetts, I cover the Vikings for SI.com and joining me today is Paul Hodowanek of Purple Insider and WCCO. Paul, how's it going, man? I am ready to do this. Will, we are going through the 53-man rosters. I made mine last night. I hadn't done this exercise yet, so it was a nice kind of leveling point where I was kind of trying to figure out where I was at, where the team was at. So I'm excited to see your 53 and my 53, how they compare. And it feels like training camp's inching a little closer. It feels like we're within grasp at this point. So starting to get amped up about the season. Yeah, we're in late June. We're in kind of the NFL's dead period.

Sometimes there's a dead period in like right after the Super Bowl ends too, but we didn't have that at all with the coaching search and GM search and all that. So the players are away doing their own thing. But yeah, training camp, like about a month away, I would say. We don't know the exact date when it starts yet, but it's end of July usually. So thought it'd be a good time to go through and kind of fill this football void and talk about the 53-man roster, dive into each position and some of the big questions that the Vikings are going to have to kind of answer as they put this roster together.

Obviously, there are a lot of evaluations still to happen in training camp and in the three preseason games, but we'll go off where we are right now, what we've seen and heard in the spring and just some other factors, general common sense, things like that. So let's start with the quarterbacks and right away, I'll just ask you, do you have the Vikings keeping two quarterbacks or do you have them keeping three? I have them keeping two quarterbacks. I have Sean Mannion on the outside looking in. I know he's the Kirk Cousins whisperer.

He loves to have Kirk loves to have Sean Mannion in the building. He's gone. Then he's come back. Obviously been a big, big part of this team. But a theme I think you'll sense throughout my 53 is a whole new regime in place. A lot of the old ways things were done, I don't necessarily think are just automatic carryovers. So same regime in place. I think there's a chance you see all three quarterbacks just because of their rapport with Mannion. Obviously Mannion has been kind of in a McVay system before, so that maybe would

make sense to keep him, but I wanted to utilize that spot elsewhere on the roster. At this point, entering season three of Kellen Mond, this is kind of put up or shut up time as a backup. Can you prove yourself as someone that can at least hold that position because you haven't done it so far? So I would say big, big offseason and kind of training camp for Mond in what he can do probably comes down to what he does in the preseason games because, again, this regime isn't tied to him. But I don't have them keeping three. I think Sean Mannion probably like last year could get cut

and then he could come back if they really need him in certain scenarios. If Mond isn't progressing, if someone gets hurt, I wouldn't be surprised if he's back on the team at some point, but I think when they finalize their 53, Mannion's on the outside looking in. Yeah. So I wanted to do that as well. I wanted to just keep two and kind of give Mond the backup job. I just couldn't quite pull the trigger yet.

And I'm going to like update my 53 early early in training camp and then again before uh roster cut down day but for now I've got him keeping three and uh again I didn't want to do it because I wanted to have that flexibility that's what's kind of fun about this whole exercise is like if you keep somebody at a certain position you got one less spot um for like a competitive position elsewhere um but I just haven't seen enough from Mond to hand him that yet. Didn't see anything last year's rookie season. I mean, obviously the whole Mike Zimmer thing at the end of the year was kind of bizarre, but we saw a couple of passes in that Green Bay game that weren't great.

You can't really go off anything positive or negative in a sample size like that but uh just being a practices in the spring uh manion still seems like the better quarterback right now um and so i think that i think they're going to keep both and and the whole manion a assistant coach thing factors in it's possible that um they'll that they'll try to like you said maybe maybe keep stash manion on the practice squad or cut him and like have him uh on speed dial a phone call away because i'm not sure how much demand there will be for his services after the league has the tape of uh what he did in that green bay game last year. So for now, I've got them keeping the three because I just didn't see enough from Mon to give him that backup job

where if Kirk Cousins goes down and you're in an important season and Kirk Cousins doesn't get hurt ever, but it's still a possibility always in football. Like you want to have Mannion just to have that floor and have that knowledge of the offense. So that's why I've got Mannion for now. I also, I don't want to cut Kellen Mond before his second season has started.

So I've got him with the three going on, going on to the running backs. And this is another interesting one. Obviously there's three locks, maybe four locks um probably four locks you got dalvin cook cj ham who like the rams haven't really used um a fullback in the past but i think based on what we've heard from kevin o'connell that's more just because they like didn't have one um and he's talked about adjusting to the personnel that you have and the vikings have a very good fullback in cj ham who you can do a lot of different things with. So I don't think like he's at any risk of being a surprise cut.

Alexander Madison entering a contract year is still that that main backup that you need if Cook has to miss a game. And then you've got the two kind of like change of pace running backs. Kanae Wongwu, who I think his roster spot is safe because he's such a good kick returner. So the question is what to do with Ty Chandler, the rookie fifth round pick out of North Carolina. And they didn't draft Ty Chandler for no reason, but it was a bit of a curious pick just because of the depth that they already had at that position.

And they hadn't really addressed tight end or wide receiver at that time at all. So I have them keeping Ty Chandler because like they drafted them. And that to me, like a theme throughout my, my 53 was guys that were brought in by this regime, I think are going to be favored, not, not like handed jobs, but if it's, if it's close, somebody that they brought in is probably going to be favored not not like handed jobs but if it's if it's close somebody that they brought in is probably going to have a better chance than somebody who's a holdover from

the last regime so I haven't keeping Ty Chandler because I don't think they want to run the risk of him getting poached by another team I think that pick was more about the future maybe if Alexander Madison's gone next year but he could have a role this year too. I don't know what it would be, but I've got him on the initial roster. Yeah, I think this comes down to, and it comes to a lot of other spots on the roster that we'll get to, how good do you feel about him making it to the practice squad? With Sean Mannion, I have really no reason to believe he's going to get poached. So I feel good leaving him off the 53 because if they really want that guy in the room,

they can put him on the practice squad. I think he's there. I don't think he's getting many other opportunities. I think he's a pretty safe guy to go on the practice squad. Now, a fifth round running back that shows the speed that Ty Chandler had, is that necessarily going to be a guy that you feel like you can make it, make it through that waivers process and onto the practice squad. I think that's the crux of this argument. If you leave him off, I think everyone's assuming he would come back to the

practice squad, but do you want to risk it? And so at this point with a fifth round pick with that running, I'm, I just, I have a hard time believing they want to risk that with him at this point. So I also have him on the roster, making it through with those other four guys. And when the pick happened, I saw it as Alexander Madison insurance. I also saw it as Dalvin cook insurance, um, for injuries. Dalvin's pretty susceptible to those and just getting up there in age. How much longer can we do this? They don't want to just be tied to Kenny Wong,

who seems more like a change of pace back. Even at his peak, he seems more kind of a running back by committee guy. You're throwing in there as a fun kind of change up difference maker in the offense. That's going to be a really good returner as well. So I think they want to have that flexibility going into the future because the, there's some unknown with their top two running backs. So I think he makes it through and they, they carry five running backs. Yeah. And it's worth pointing out, like,

as we go through and I think you have to cut 37 players to get to, to get down to 53 from 90, like the 16 man expanded practice squads that were introduced for the whole COVID thing are still around. So the Vikings are going to have a lot of flexibility to like keep some young players, some unheralded, like undrafted guys around that they want. And you can have, you can have veterans on that practice squad. The rules are different than what they used to be. It's just a question of, can you get them to the practice squad? And

then even when they're on the practice squad, they run the risk at any time really of being poached because you can protect each week, but there's a certain window like between Sunday and Monday or Tuesday or whatever it is that even before you've protected them, the teams can, can poach players. So it's always kind of a, a balancing act there, but it's interesting that we both have Ty chandler making the initial 53 the thing about him is he's got a very different skill set from alexander madison who's more of that like classic power back bruiser um who has some some definitely some athleticism as well but ty chandler is a guy with like sub 4-4 speed uh had a huge season at north carolina

last year can catch the ball out of the backfield. So he's kind of in the Wong Wu role, but the thing is he's done it a lot more. Like he played a bunch first at Tennessee, then in North Carolina. Wong Wu was always behind guys like David Montgomery, Brees Hall. Like he just didn't have that many carries in college. So that to me, like Chandler could push him. If there's an opportunity for one of those two guys to see some change of pace, speed back, receiving back snaps,

like it's not automatically going to be Wong Wu because Chandler has more experience. Wong was the kick returner for sure. But I'll be curious to see if either of those guys are used in any packages by Kevin O'Connell. And if so, which one? Yeah, because you don't think Wong Wu has any worry about his spot. You feel like the kick returning kind of keeps him pretty safely on there because if Ty Chandler does bleed into that Wong Wu role, this regime didn't draft Wong Wu.

Maybe they feel more deference to Ty Chandler, but do you feel like with what they saw from him last year, Wong Wu seems pretty safe there. Yeah. You can lead the league in, in kick return touchdowns as a rookie. I think you buy yourself at least a year, even if the there's a new regime. Yeah.

Let's go to the tight ends, which is kind of a thin position. Just in terms of raw numbers, there's only five of them on the 90 man roster. And then also in terms of raw numbers, there's only five of them on the 90-man roster. And then also in terms of actual proven depth, because you've got Irv Smith coming back, who I've said this before, I'll say it again, was unreal at training camp last year. And I was all over huge Irv Smith breakout year coming, and then misses the whole year with an injury. So this is an exciting year for him as his contract year,

another 2019 draft pick outside the first round. And that breakout year could be coming just delayed by a year. So he's the main guy. I think Kevin O'Connell and Wes Phillips are going to find interesting ways to use him, like lined up in line, lined up in the slot, maybe out wide at times just because he's kind of a matchup problem with his size and athleticism. But enough about Irv Smith because we're talking about the 53 and he's safe. So after that, you've got kind of a strange mix of backup tight ends. You've got Johnny Munt, who they brought over from the rams last year um he's

somebody who has like 10 career receptions he had one last year i think this entire um i was looking up this entire tight end depth chart there's five of them combined for two catches last year well and irv obviously being hurt was a big part of that but johnny munt had one and ben ellison had one uh ben ellison is another blocking tight end that the Vikings signed off waivers from the Jaguars early last season and then Zach Davidson who was a fifth round pick last year out of central Missouri didn't see any time as practice squad guy and then Nick Muse who they drafted in the seventh round this year do you see like any chance that Davidson or Muse can fight their way onto this initial roster? Or I've got my top three as Smith,

Munt and Ellefson and I'm, I'm just not sure that that seems very likely to change. Yeah. I think Davidson is in the conversation with a really good training camp. If he shows he can be a viable receiving threat. I mean, Kevin O'Connell, I think wants to use two tight end sets going in to this first year. And so if they only have three tight ends on the roster,

I could see them wanting to add a fourth, especially the fact that Smith was injured last year. The fact that I think, uh, month has had some injury concerns as well. So he could be kind of that fourth. Um, he, they could carry a fourth tight end that would take probably a receiver away. And so we'll talk about that later.

So I think Davidson's a lot of these seem slightly set, but the Davidson one, if he has a really good training camp, he could push one of those, uh, backend wide receivers off the roster and putting him on it. As of now, I don't have him on there though. I think he again could go down to the practice squad. I don't see again, a team poaching him. So I only have the three right now. I have Irv Smith, Ben Ellison, Johnny Munt, Nick Muse, didn't even really consider him there.

I think Ben Ellison is going to be your blocking tight end. Irv Smith is going to be kind of that combo guy. Mund is going to be a combo guy as well. I think they kind of think he has more receiving chops than he's shown. I guess we'll see. I mean, I can't rely on that because we've just never seen it. So I think this will be an interesting one in camp because I think Davidson has a really good chance to make the roster.

But right now I wanted to have an extra wide receiver so I left Davidson off yeah and and that's the thing like we are just doing these projections off of like draft pedigree and just our own educated assumptions and um maybe I'm using like stuff I saw and heard and in minicamp a little bit but it's so much of it is just going to come down to training camp when they're playing actual football and the pads are on and everybody on this 90 man roster is going to have an opportunity to turn heads and, and come maybe some guys could come out of nowhere, but we're going off what we have for now. And I don't,

I don't really see Davidson or Muse kind of elevating past the practice squad this year. But again, Davidson, like you said, he has a chance just with the combination of size and athleticism that that caused them to draft him in the fifth round last year. Yeah, I agree with what you said as well about Munt, who they have said that they kind of have some some expectations for him as a receiver that he can do a little bit more in that area. I just didn't really have the opportunity with the Rams. They also talked him up in terms of just how beneficial he's been in this transition to a new offense because he knows it really well. Wes Phillips, who's now the offensive coordinator, was Muntz's tight end coach last year with the Rams. So he's been a big factor, not just with the tight ends, but with a lot of offensive players kind of helping aid that transition. So let's go to the wide receivers, which is a more interesting one just based off the sheer number. I think there's 12 of them.

I have them keeping six because I had the five running backs, because I had the three quarterbacks. I only had room for six receivers. The big three, obviously, Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, K.J. Osborne. K.J. Osborne, I don't think, is locked in as the number three guy, but he's at least locked in on the roster after what he did last year. And then I've got Amir Smith-Marset making it I've got Albert Wilson who they the veteran who they signed uh pretty recently from the Dolphins I've got him making it and I've got Jalen Naylor the rookie out of Michigan State making it so that leads to some difficult cuts

including BC Johnson who's shown that he's a solid NFL wide receiver and Dan Chisina, who is like one of the fastest special teams gunners in the league. And I, in an ideal world, he's on the roster for that reason alone. But I just, I couldn't, I couldn't justify putting him on there without any actual like receiving value, even though I know the Vikings have actually done that the last couple of years, just it's a new regime. I'm not sure if they'll, they'll value that the same way.

So those are the guys I have. Other guys who were cut are just kind of undrafted guys. Tristan Jackson, Thomas Henning and Myron Mitchell, Blake Prohl. I think they'll keep a few of those guys for sure on the practice squad. And they would love to keep BC Johnson on the practice squad in this scenario. But those are the six I've got is your, is your list any different? No, I, I would thought we were going to be different here,

but we're the same. And so I want to ask, why did you leave BC Johnson? Why'd you go Albert Wilson over BC Johnson? Just the kind of the speed element and bringing something different. Albert Wilson, like, and again, to me, a lot of times when I'm between two players, I go to, was this guy brought in by this new regime or is he a holdover? And BC Johnson's a holdover. And that may not mean all that much. Like it's going to come down to in training camp,

who is the better football player? And that may well be B.C. Johnson. But I'm giving Albert Wilson the nod. He's got more experience. He's really fast. You can do a lot of different things with him, like gadget wise. He has like a handful of rushing attempts in the NFL. He's like thrown a few passes um you can put him in motion um he's like he's just an interesting like physical profile is like a 5'9 really speedy slot receiver so that to me just differentiated him a little bit BC Johnson to me is kind of like like a slightly worse version of KJ Osborne there's not that much that's different about him and he's a good solid player and and

you'd love to keep on the practice squad or like i there's there's probably teams with there's definitely teams with less deep wide receiver depth charts that he could make and even like play a decent amount for um but the vikings happen to have some good depth there they drafted jaylen naylor so i i want him on the roster and i think he might be might be the punt returner this year. So Wilson over BC was a tough call, but I gave the nod to Wilson. In some of these at-the-edge-of-the-roster decisions, what I like to look at, along with new regime, old regime,

that was a big part of this too, why I decided to have them keep Albert Wilson instead. But I also want, like, do you have one discernible skill that we can use at some point where you're like an above average? Like, are you above average at something that we can take advantage of and use at some point in the season? And Albert Wilson has a lot of speed. And in certain scenarios, I can see him thriving

if they run some bubble screens for him if they throw him deep like i think if you have that discernible skill and especially if that discernible skill is speed as a wide receiver i think that's really that's just that helps you off kind of a separator yeah yeah it's so much it helps you so much more than a bc johnson who is just kind of you know kind of that maybe third down guy that you're looking to just kind of average out a lot of things and does those things, you know, decently well enough to stay on a roster enough to flirt with being a wide receiver three a couple years ago, like, obviously not a bad wide receiver, but in these late round guys, I want a specialty guy that you can go to that you can see and kind of carve out a role for even if the guys above you aren't injured like I don't see a role for BC Johnson unless a couple of these guys get injured I see a role for Albert Wilson if they want to bring him up for a game like for a couple plays to bring him in and do some specialty things and so that's why I want to keep listening I think he

just has more value without a guy getting injured than BC Johnson does. Cause BC Johnson feels like he's only going to step in if one or two of those guys go down and maybe that's all Albert Wilson would be either. But I think he has the potential to just do a little bit more. His role might not be huge, but I think he offers that speed. And with Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen, I think you need someone who can be kind of that speed guy. I think that could be Naylor, but I also think that could be Albert Wilson in certain scenarios. So that's why I kept Albert Wilson over BC Johnson.

Yeah. Smith-Marset's pretty fast too. They've got, they've got some good speed in that room. And I agree with you. Like if Justin Jefferson or Adam Thielen had to miss time, you probably would prefer to put BC Johnson into that, like every down roll than you would Albert Wilson I mean it would probably be KJ Osborne and then Amir Smith-Marset seeing their roles elevated

first but in the event of an injury BC Johnson could fill in capably but if you're assuming these guys are going to stay healthy Wilson has a little different skill set that stands out so let's wrap up the offense here with the offensive line and four starters are are basically locked in um the tackles for sure derisaw and o'neill ezra cleveland i don't think there's any situation which he's not your week one starter left guard the only of the four like semi locked in starters that is a question, is Garrett Bradbury, just because he hasn't been able to pass block at all through three seasons. And so that, in and of itself, just shouldn't guarantee you a job when you're as low as you are on the PFF pass blocking rankings. And I know the Vikings have other things that they look at as well.

It hasn't been good. There's no really way to spin that. But from the standpoint of communication as a center, identifying the defensive players and shifting coverages and just the mental side of it, he's really good from the run blocking side. He's really good. He's really quick first step, the reach blocks and all that. So it would be just and just the lack of a true like center to compete with him on the roster is probably a big reason why he's kind of locked into that. At right guard, there's the competition. Chris Reed, Jesse Davis are the two veterans they brought in. And then Ed Ingram, the second round pick. I still lean towards Chris Reed winning that job just off of what he put on

tape with the Colts last year. But he's been alternating first team reps with Davis throughout the spring. That'll be one of the most interesting competitions to watch during training camp. You know, us Vikings reporters and fans and everyone love a good guard battle to watch during camp. So we're going to have a good one. And Ingram was a second round pick for a reason by this regime. So they're going to he's going to have a chance to to compete for that job as well. And then so I've got the five starters, which for me includes Chris Reed at right guard.

I've got Davis and Ingram making it as well. Cause they can be backup guards. Davis can play tackle too. And then I've got the rookie with Darian low making it as kind of that swing tackle. So I only have eight, which is another thing that I didn't really like. Cause I would, I want to have nine or sometimes you can have 10, but just with, with the running backs and the quarterbacks I kept I could only only have eight offensive linemen if I wanted to go 25 offense, 25 defense, and then the three specialists, of course. So I've got Ole Udo getting cut.

I've got Wyatt Davis getting cut, Austin Schlottman, the kind of backup center that they signed this year, Blake Randall, a bunch of guys. The tough one was cutting Schlottman because you need to have a backup center but um my argument was that chris reed who has played some center before could shift to center and then you go davis or ingram at right guard and they have some flexibility there i don't love only keeping eight but that's that's the way it worked out in my math. All right, so I have nine guys. This is where your two-quarterback spot comes in.

My two-quarterback spot. So I have, obviously, Derrissaw, O'Neal, Bradbury, Cleveland, Davis, Reed, Ingram, and then was mulling those last two. I ended up keeping Ole Udo as my swing tackle as opposed to Viderian low. I think he didn't play guard that well last year and we haven't really seen him play tackle,

but at least he's had some NFL reps that are on tape that you can see that maybe you can see some potential with. I like them keeping, you know, someone there that they feel like has some experience to play. We saw only Udo play tackle in the last game of 2019 against Khalil Mack, which a lot of people cited in the past few years of like, oh, maybe Ole Udo is good.

Yeah, that's not enough for me to believe that he's great, but I have him kind of there as the swing tackle, and then I have them keeping Schlottman as well. So I have them cutting Wyatt Davis uh which I thought a lot about but I think them just bringing in the sheer amount of guards that they brought in and then them drafting at Ingram pretty much spelled um you know Wyatt Davis's fate uh and I think if he has the good thing about all these guards being in here is it could shift a lot in training camp. So I don't think by any means he's a write off, but I think he's got some uphill battles to do.

You no longer have the old regime who drafted you there and feels a sense of responsibility to get a third round pick on the field. Like Quasey can just wipe his hands clean and say that didn't work. We didn't draft him. That's not our guy. We're moving on. So I think it's makes it much, much easier to cut him than it would with the previous regime here. So I think he's gone.

And then, yeah, I just valued Udo over low a little bit there. And I wanted, and I wanted Schlottman as a backup center. I think this is a spot. I almost thought about leaving Schlottman off and saying like to be announced other free agent center or guard that they decide to sign.

I think this one in another position that I'm going to highlight later is ones where you feel like they could use some of that cap space that they still have left. Uh, I kept it right now with guys just on the roster, but Schlottman right now would be that guy. I think he's the guy that you'd remove. If you can find someone that some other team cut or one of these free agents that their price comes down a little bit more as we get closer to training camp.

Yeah. It's tough. We both cut Wyatt Davis, who was like a two-time all American at Ohio state. It was a third round pick last year. And, um, I thought when they drafted him, like he was going to be your starting guard, but it just, for whatever reason, didn't come together, but it's only been a year. Like I hate to write them off. Um, so we'll see if he can, um, put up a good, a good battle and earn

his way onto the roster in training camp. Let's let go to the defense and so question for you how did you do it with the defensive line um did you do all defensive linemen slash outside linebackers slash whatever in in one category yes yes okay so i split it up i did the defensive lineman, like hand on the ground, like defensive tackles, three, four defensive ends basically. And I have five of those. And then I had six outside linebackers. So I had, I had 11 total kind of like defensive front players who are not off ball linebackers. I'm still getting used to how to, like, break this down and describe it in this 3-4. I also have 11 of those guys. I just define them all as defensive linemen. You start with this one and tell me your 11. All right.

I have Daniil Hunter, Zedarius Smith, Harrison Phillips, Dalvin Tomlinson, Armin W Watts, DJ Wanham, James Lynch, Asezi Otomowo, Patrick Jones, Janarius Robinson, and Indomitian Sioux is my last one. Oh, see, I had to throw a little bit of something in here. Come on. I had to make it a little interesting. No, and that is a good one. I've got a kind of spot reserved in my mind for indomitian

sue if they do decide to pursue that i don't know how serious that report is um it sounds like conversations yeah it would it would be fun i mean he's 35 um matthew collin i talked about this a little bit on on the show the other day, but, um, he may not have that much left. Like he's not going to be peaking Dominic and Sue, but I think he could still make a big impact in a, in a rotational, um, kind of third down pass rush role. So let me call out the differences. So you actually included him as one of your 53. Yes, I did. I like that. That's that's fun um so I did not do not have James Lynch on this roster which I wrote this yesterday and since then I've already kind of

been like maybe I should have James Lynch because like he played in a 3-4 and was really good in that role at Baylor um for now I do not have have him. I have Jonathan Bullard, who they signed a few weeks ago. He's played with Ed Donatel in Chicago. He was coached by Chris Rumpf, the Vikings defensive line coach at Florida. He's kind of just like an average veteran, but I think there's some stuff to his athletic profile uh and his just experience um that caused me to want it to get him on this roster just kind of a kind of a sleeper pick from me jonathan bullard who if you're not following the vikings like obsessively every

minute transaction they make you may not have even of, but they signed him a few weeks ago previously with the bears and a couple other teams that are slipping my mind right now. So that's the only, well, and then the other difference is since I did not reserve a spot for endemic and Sue, I also have Andre mints on the roster. It was another guy that they just signed. And, and I just, I feel like they they bring these guys in for a reason and then they're gonna have a chance to compete and mince was a um 2021 undrafted free agent out of vanderbilt he was with the broncos last year he was with donatelle last

year uh and he's got like everybody they bring in he's got that elite um 10 second split in the 40 yard dash that first step so i had him on there as well um i know jaylen twyman no jaylen twyman i don't think we either of us have jaylen twyman so my cut set on the defensive line were twyman james lynch and then tj smith ty mcgill julian taylor um tyree steson. And then the only two outside linebackers I cut were UDFAs this year, Luigi Villan and Zach McLeod. I think, yeah, we're both on the same page with 11. Like with all the different kind of responsibilities that nose tackles and the five techs and outside linebacker,

like you can't have too much depth there, I don't think. Yeah, that Jalen Twyman one was the only one I was considering. I was considering him or Mintz for that final spot and then decided to give it to Ndamukong Su. But I think if that doesn't happen, which it's more likely than not it doesn't happen, I think that's the battle you're looking at for maybe one of those last spots in the roster. Twyman, obviously another holdover for drafted, probably in the idea of a different system. Mince comes from the system that Donatello is going to run. So that is a little bit questionable and that maybe would favor Mince to stay in that role. But I was just looking it up.

The athletic put out a 53 man roster recently, both Chad and a reef had Twyman over mince. So I think that one is still very much up in the air of where people see that final spot going. But I think that probably is the competition. What can Twyman show after obviously what happened to him last year as he's recovering from that and finally getting on the field? Uh,

I, I don't know. I, I kind of used as a cop-out to and finally getting on the field. I don't know. Ndamukong Suh I kind of used as a cop-out to not have to answer that question. So that'll be a really interesting battle if you're interested in the final of an 11-man defensive line group. If that's your fancy, then that's going to be your battle that you're paying attention to. Yeah, and before we move on, I'll throw a couple deep, deep sleepers out. I already even – Bullard and Mintz are kind of sleepers,

but Julian Taylor was another guy that they, they've just signed a bunch of guys this off season to like veteran minimum veteran at minimum deals just as, as depth and competition. And Taylor was a guy who was kind of intriguing a few years ago for the Niners and then got hurt. But those tools are still probably there. So he's someone I want to keep an eye on a little bit. And then Luigi Villain, who I hope I'm pronouncing that right. Villain. I'm not sure.

He, A, has an awesome name, but B, like played really well for Wake Forest last year like eight nine ten sacks something in that range uh and they gave him a bunch of money a bunch of guaranteed money as an undrafted free agent this year so it wouldn't shock me like we can't just pencil generis robinson in for the same reason that he wasn't drafted by this regime i mean we didn't see anything out of him or twyman last year because they didn't play at all. But Villan's a guy who could push. Janaris Robinson could even push like Patrick Jones or DJ Wanham maybe. There's nothing set in stone here.

So those are a couple deep sleepers to keep in mind. Let's go to the inside linebackers, the off-ball linebackers, where I have them keeping four. There's three locks here. Eric Hendricks, Jordan Hicks are your veteran starters. And then Brian Asamoah, their third round pick is obviously making the team like a very early third round pick 66 overall. So that leaves one or two spots. And for me, I only have one spot because I just think when in this defense, when you're, you're playing the outside linebackers, the way you are,

like a lot of time you're only going to have two inside linebackers on the field. So it's going to be Kendrickson Hicks and SMO. We'll see some like rotational snaps for sure. He'll probably play a lot on special teams, but there's one more spot here and I gave it to the guy who, one more spot on my list. And I gave it to the guy who led the Vikings in special teams snaps last year. And that's Blake Lynch,

who the 2020 undrafted fridge and a bit out of Baylor. The Vikings drafted a third round or a fourth round linebacker that year and Troy die. They drafted a third round linebacker last year in Chaz Surratt. And I think Blake Lynch has been better than both of those guys over the past couple of seasons when he's gotten a chance to play on defense and then just also on special teams. So I've got Lynch getting that spot and I've got, I got,

I'm cutting Diane Surratt, which is the tough wall again, because whenever you're cutting like recent draft picks who aren't like late round guys, you have third, fourth round guys. It's kind of tough, but I just think Lynch has been better and he's super valuable on special teams. Yeah. This is the spot where I was, like I wanted to find a way to get Trez Surratt into the 53-man roster.

I think I really liked that draft pick when they made it. I thought, you know, he had the athleticism to be a really good linebacker and just kind of show some skills. And again, I like when you have one really big, discernible skill that we can weaponize and use both on offense and on defense and I think Surratt has that and so it was kind of a matter of am I gonna go with that or I'm gonna go with my head which says this is probably more of a special team spot that you're bringing in to to play and you probably want someone with

some experience because Brian Esamoa has just not played. So if one of those guys goes down, you want to have someone who's maybe been in there before. With all that said, I still went with Chester. So I went against my head and had him on the roster. I just think what he can do athletically has some long-term potential there. We saw Eric Kendricks fall off in his performance last year. I wrote about it for the site. If you haven't checked it out,

becoming 30 when you're a linebacker is not a great age. They fall off pretty, pretty drastically. And Kendricks is right around that age and he fell off one, one year last year. And so is that just an anomaly because he had bad players around him? Or is that kind of more of what we are going to expect from Eric Hendricks? And if so, they need to have a long-term plan. And I think Surratt has the best upside of those guys.

And then you're hoping he can come in and have a better, more defined role on special teams. Jordan Hicks obviously is slightly long in the tooth and isn't a guy that it seems like they have long, long-term aspirations of being on this team. So I wanted some youth that I could see developing and pushing for a potential starting role, maybe not this year, but down the line. And so that's where I went with Surratt and you hope you can get some special teams production onto him, but it is an inexperienced group behind those two linebackers. So that is, that was a big concern for me, but ultimately I wanted Surratt's talent on the roster.

So I kept him over Blake Lynch and over Troy Dye. Yeah. You make a pretty compelling argument there. And Surratt, like it was interesting draft pick to me last year. Like we do so many of the mock drafts and draft predictions so I never even considered that they would draft a linebacker that early and Chaz Surratt wasn't even somebody I had really heard of in studying the draft but there were reasons for that I mean he's very very athletic so that alone gives him a higher like long-term upside than someone like a Blake Lynch who's more of a known commodity I would say um and I I can understand your point of like

hey maybe a few years down the line it could be Chaz Surratt and Brian Asamoah as your two um like starting off-ball linebackers because both Kendricks and Hicks are near 30. But for me, just for this year, I went with Lynch, and hopefully we can keep Surratt on the practice squad. So we'll see. That's another competition that's going to be interesting to watch. And just because I think I've named everyone on the 90-man roster so far as we've gone through this, the other two linebackers cut here are Ryan Connolly, Eden Prairie's finest, and William Quinque,

who is another minor free agent deal this offseason. I think he's a rookie UDFI. I would like to object. I don't think you mentioned the sixth and seventh running backs on the roster. Did you give a Jake Bargis breakdown or a no. A Brian Kovac. Yeah. No, I didn't. I needed your insight on those guys.

Actually, I didn't. I don't think I said Nate Stanley's name either as the fourth quarterback who doesn't really seem like he has any chance to make this team. Yes. All right. Let's go to the secondary to wrap up here. The safeties. We don't need to spend a ton of time on.

I don't think I think the corners are more interesting. Safeties. Harrison Smith, Lewis scene, Cam Bynum, Lock City. I think they're all probably going to play to some degree this year because Cam Bynum, you can't just have him on the bench after what he showed last year. I think there's just too much potential there. And I love the Lewis Seen pick.

I think he's got to be considered the favorite to start because he just has that skill set uh and certain bring certain things to the table that bynum doesn't but you still want to find a way to use bynum this year three safety looks or get bynum in the slot or the box or whatever it is uh and then for me it's similar to linebackers that leaves one spot afterwards um which comes down to josh metellus miles dorn or um undrafted rookie mike brown and i've got it going to metellus um he's the only one out of that group who was a draft pick um and he's another guy like blake lynch who has played a ton of special teams snaps. And so when I'm, when I'm cutting guys like Dan Chisna, yeah, special teams been really good on special teams.

I think they've, they've talked about that before. Like the previous coaching staff that is he can play on like every special teams unit coverage, the return field goal block, all that stuff. So those, those are my four at safety. Yeah. For me, this was the easiest group, the secondary group to lock in. I had those same four Harrison Smith, Louis scene, Cam Bynum, Josh Metellus.

I wasn't out there for OTAs, but I believe the reports were Metellus was even kind of playing on the first team when seen or Smith or Smith was absent. Like he was very much getting some run there. Uh, so I think, I think he profiles more as a special teamer. Uh, but I think he's been on the roster, has more experience than those other guys. And again, has a discernible skill that they can utilize,

which is his special teams prowess. So all four safeties, I had pretty, pretty easily put those in Miles Doran Mike Brown were easy cuts for me and then transitioning to cornerback I have them keeping how many did I have them keep six so Pat Pete Cam Dantzler Andrew Booth Caleb Evans Chandon Sullivan Chris Boyd those were again pretty pretty easy for me um with the amount of guys I went with, I had enough to keep six cornerbacks, and I didn't feel like needing to add another guy to any other part of the roster. So I think if you're trying to only keep five cornerbacks, then Chris Boyd's spot is kind of in jeopardy.

But I think for this exercise, I had room for all six, and so I was able to slide all six in Chris Boyd again, has been a guy that's played well on special teams. So I didn't have much issue or trouble figuring out where my secondary pieces were going to go. It was, it was pretty easy to, to cut Harrison hand, Perry Nicholson, Nickerson, Nate Harrison, those guys. Like I didn't, I didn't have much issue, but I'm interested to hear if you have a different group.

Yeah, so it's interesting you say that it was a very easy decision because we do have one difference. All right. And I made the perhaps controversial move of cutting Chris Boyd, who is like a beloved teammate, super funny locker room guy, and a good player too. But I have Nate Hairston taking that spot, who is the former Denver Bronco, who has the familiarity with Donatello, with this scheme,

who unlike Boyd can play outside and he can play on the inside. Because for me, one of the question marks here is like, who's the backup nickel? I don't know what that answer is so that's that's why I have Nate Harrison on the roster because he can fill that role he's played in the slot before if I'm not mistaken and so Chan and Sullivan's you're starting nickel but you want to have a somebody there who who can play there in a pinch and I don't know if a Caleb Evans, if you want like to throw a fourth round rookie onto the field in the slot, Harrison Hand can do it too,

but that wasn't enough for me to justify getting him on the roster. So I've got Harrison over Boyd just because of that flexibility and that experience playing with this coaching staff, or at least with Donatello and in this scheme. So take that, Paul. Yeah, I think both Hand or Nickerson could play that nickel depth piece if they needed it in a pinch. And you can elevate somebody off the practice squad.

Yeah, so both those guys felt to me like very easy potential practice squad guys that you could elevate. Obviously, that means if one of them got injured during a game, you don't have a nickel guy you feel great about, but you just figured out for that game. And I think again, the versatility that combine them presents for them to just moving throughout the defense,

I think gives them options in what, what they can do. And so I think again, Chris Boyd special team, I've already removed a couple really good special teams guys from the roster, like Blake Lynch. And so I wanted to get a couple more back in there that I feel like have a strong role.

Dan Chisholm's not going to be on the roster. Like I wanted some guys with some special teams prowess. So that's why I went with Chris Boyd. And I kind of didn't pay as much attention to the nickel nickel depth. I feel like they will have some guys in the practice squad that they can move up at the, if, if they need to. So yeah, it, it, it became easy for me, but I can see, I can see, I can understand why you'd want Hairston. And again,

I think you over me prioritize some of those Denver Broncos that at Donna, at Donatello had in his system. And I think that'll be, again, an interesting thing to watch for is along the edges of this roster, do they go with Ed Donatel experienced guys? Do they go with some of the younger unproven players that were already on the roster but are holdovers from a different scheme? Like, where are they going to go with some of those and which are they which which guys are they going to keep is it going to be a mix is it going to be all denver bronco guys is it going to be all not about like there's there's a lot of different ways that could go and i think that'll be a really interesting um case study and i think you cited more on the

all right if i have a position that i'm trying to figure out go with the denver bronco that donatel's bringing over. And I kept with some of the holdovers. So it'll be interesting which way they go on that. Yeah. I think Mintz and Harrison are the only like technical former Broncos, but just a general idea. I didn't keep them.

So yeah. And there's like, I kept Bullard too, who played with Donatello in Chicago. So just familiarity across previous coaching staffs. And then I'll just say this quickly, but we've talked about it before, but one of the best competitions that I'm looking forward to is can Andrew Booth push Dantzler like right away for a starting outside job? Because I think I love that Booth pick. I think he has a chance to be a steal um incredible ball skills

athleticism all that just he needs to get healthy and then he needs to he needs to prove himself because he's a rookie so paul thanks for for doing this with me oh wait we gotta hit the specialist there's there's no there's no like question marks here it's they cut gabe burkett who was greg joseph's competition so now, they could still bring somebody in for camp, but for now, Greg Joseph's your kicker. I got Jordan Berry being the punter over the undrafted Ryan Wright, and then Andrew DePaulo is your long snapper. So I don't even think we need to discuss that at all, but Paul,

thanks for thanks for doing this. It was fun to kind of talk through this and, um, see where we're maybe thinking a little bit differently. And, um, uh, yeah, it's, it's fun. Always fun having you on the show. Thanks, Will. I look forward to my Ndamukong Su pick becoming correct here in a couple, couple of days when they sign him and he makes the roster.

So that's what I'm, that's what I'm hanging my hat on. So I'm excited to see what happens. All right. You heard it here first. Thanks for listening, everybody.