Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Tyler Dunne thinks Aaron Rodgers is out of Green Bay

Episode Date: June 1, 2021

Matthew Coller connects with former Bleacher Report writer Tyler Dunne -- who is now writing at GoLongTD.com -- to talk about his reports pertaining to Aaron Rodgers. Tyler puts more of the blame on Rodgers and his personality for the conflict between he and the Packers and doesn't believe that Rodgers will be back in Green Bay. Tyler also thinks it's possible the Packers let him sit out. Also during the lead up to the draft, Tyler wrote about Kene Nwangwu and Ihmir Smith-Marsette. He talks about both of their unique skill sets and stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate! Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, presented by Scout Logistics. Matthew Collar here, and along with me, Tyler Dunn from Go Long CD, who is now one of Substack's most popular reporters, after putting out some home run articles on Aaron Rodgers, which we want to discuss because, Tyler, Vikings fans cannot get enough of watching the Packers and Aaron Rodgers fight. I mean, this is a good time to be a Vikings fan, right? You've been tortured by these two quarterbacks for, you know, an entire generation. You get one of them for a little bit, you know, come within a pass of the Super Bowl.

But, yeah, I mean, it's got to be nice to have some hope, you know, for the future there with the Vikings. I remember the last time we talked on here it was like, what the hell are they doing kind of sticking with everybody again? But I don't know. I mean, I'm not going to rush to conclusions and change that line of thinking. I still think they probably should have hit reset. But, hey, with Kirk Cousins, maybe maybe you got a shot to win the division right now well I think that that's how everyone is

looking at it is that their division chances entirely rest on Aaron Rodgers so I wanted to talk with you also about some really cool features that you did in the lead up to the draft on Kenny Wong Wu and Amir Smith-Marset it was sort of funny on day three of the draft it was like oh Tyler wrote about this guy oh Tyler, Tyler wrote about that guy. Cause I, of course, subscribe to golongtv.com. So everyone should go check it out. And especially if you want Aaron Rodgers coverage, if you can't get enough of it, but let's talk about Rodgers first and then we'll, we'll get to that. He goes on SportsCenter and he more or less says like bleep you guys and uh that was kind of incredible because usually when these beefs happen you sort of don't hear from the guy

but now we have aaron rogers basically saying like i'm living my best life in hawaii and you know instagram pictures are going out and he's going on TV and stuff. It's become a very bizarre situation, Ty. You know, I smile because my mind just went back to 2011, my first year on the beat. One of my best friends in Green Bay was actually one of my direct competitors, Kareem Copeland. He covered the Packers at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. And I can remember that year, Kareem, not just Kareem, I think the entire Press Gazette, they were banned from one-on-one interviews by Aaron Rodgers to talk to Aaron Rodgers because he was upset. It wasn't even then. Somebody at the Press Gazette, I think, picked up an aggregation of something that Aaron Rodgers was doing off the field. I don't even

know who he was dating at the time, what was going on at the time. I forget that. But he was upset that his personal life like made its way onto the website for the press because that's what they were all banned from one-on-ones um and now you know it's just Instagram and pictures from the Hawaii vacation and it's like he's absolutely doing that on purpose he's putting his personal life out there on purpose right when he did when OTAs are going on. I mean, it's just not a coincidence. So it's times have changed, I guess, for Aaron Rodgers, right? Yeah, it's really interesting.

It reminds me of, you know who Ryan Riddle is? Do you know who he is? Former NFL player, and he did the right thing. College of Aaron, I think, right? Yes. So this is the impetus of the story is he wrote a sort of a guest feature for Bleacher Report, I think, about Aaron Rodgers and playing on the same team with him in college and what he was like. And he told some sort of funny anecdotes about how he came in as a freshman and everything else and how he grew.

And it was like a nice story. It was not at all trashing aaron rogers and he said that aaron was extremely upset that he had kind of like revealed some like semi-embarrassing moments from his early days in college so he was very sensitive about that and now he's just sort of throwing complete caution to the wind to fly a middle finger at the green bay packers and you know there's a huge there's a huge part of this that on this show I have mostly said, like, well, Packers, come on, guys. But Aaron, from this perspective, is super, super sensitive.

And there is a part of you that goes, man, they put 13 and three teams on the field for you the last two years. Like, yes, they should have drafted receivers for you, but, man, how victimized are you if they have been in the NFC championship two years in a row he gave an interview and I won't say where it was but toward the end of last season I think it was right before the NFC championship game and I put it in one of my stories at go long but basically Aaron Rodgers said he's learned over time not to paint himself as a victim like like that that is, you know, things happen.

They just happen was the whole point of it. You know what I mean? He's just going to roll with it. Well, here we are, and he is really painting himself as a victim, you know, anonymously, somebody who does publicly, you know, crap on the anonymous sources all the time, right? Like people who want to speak freely to speak the truth uh he is no fan of but now he is kind of doing it apparently but that's kind of like the the central theme here is that he's a victim like how dare they don't get weapons how dare they draft jordan love how dare they don't give him personnel control all of this stuff and i'm with you i mean mean, I've kind of been beating that dead horse for a reason,

but it's like this might be the best roster in the NFL. He has weapons all over the place. He has one of the best offensive lines. He was sacked half the time that Russell Wilson was, Carson Wentz was, Deshaun Watson was. He's got the freedom at the line of scrimmage. That's what he wanted all along, to be able to do whatever the hell he wants to do, play to play.

And it's great. He won MVP. They didn't lose that NFC Championship game, by the way, because of a lack of weapons. They lost it because he wasn't willing to sell out at the goal line on third down before that decision to kick a field goal. It's like, I don't know. So that tells me that it's not – I mean, he's a smart guy. So it's not about football. It's not about money. It's not about money.

It's something bigger. It's something principled in his mind that he can't get past. It's Brian Gutekinds. It's the GM. It's that decision to draft Jordan Love and them not letting him have a seat at the table. Similar to Brett Favre back toward the end of his Green Bay tenure when he wanted more control. So I don't see a resolution here. I think when Aaron Rodgers is dug in, he's dug in.

When you're out of his life, you're out of his life. Anything short of the GM being fired, from what I was told, is not going to be good enough for him to come back to Green Bay. So I don't know how long the Packers fawn over him, grovel, and try to beg and plead and, you know, on their knees, oh, come back, Aaron Rodgers, we need you. Like, I don't think that's going to do anything. Like, get something for him. Take your picks. Take your players.

Move on. Be decisive. It's June 1st, Tuesday. That's when the cap hit isn't as bad. We'll see. I mean, I haven't heard any discussions about a trade being imminent. Maybe that changes now. Right.

The cap situation for a lot of potential trades, and this is why we see them leading up to training camp and right before, instead of the draft, is usually very different. And this could go for the Vikings, too, if they get in a certain situation with Daniil Hunter where they feel like it can't be resolved because the cap hit changes for when you trade him after June 1st. I believe that's the case with Hunter. I'd have to double check, but that is the case with like Julio Jones for sure. And a lot of other guys,

especially Aaron Rodgers. So I look at it as you're kind of both wrong. Like Matt, even Matt LaFleur, you should have let Aaron Rodgers take his shot at the goal line as opposed to kicking a field goal and then never touching the ball again. You should have got him another wide receiver. Like wide receiver two is what, like Alan Lazard or something? Hey, Mark West, the Scantling player. He's okay. He's okay. But, you know, if you're trading up to draft a quarterback at the end of the first round

and then getting a running back in the second round. And then this year, when you got your chance to even draft some exciting wide receivers at the end of the first, you're still taking a cornerback. Like there's, there's very much from their side, this vibe of like,

we are the organization and you, and you're the player and we're the management and you're the employee. And I do feel like there's something that's a little broader here of players wanting more control over their situations that the NFL better adapt to, or we're going to end up with a lot of Aaron Rogers and Stefan Diggs types of situations. Or you're just going to end up with a lot of unhappy players holding out to be traded. If teams don't recognize that you're superstars.

It's really like 5% of the league that drives the league. The NBA guys figured this out. The NFL players have figured this out. And I feel like Rodgers kind of goes in that bucket. I agree with your premise here, totally. I think that the unhappy star player is here to stay and teams do have to bring that player in the room and have more conversations you mentioned Stephon Diggs the Vikings weren't willing to have those conversations he's out I just feel like this is different though with

Aaron Rodgers I think we do have to look at all of these cases on their own merit and with Aaron Rodgers like if anybody should understand why you would draft a quarterback, you know, a year or two before you need one, it's him. Like, Ted Thompson was on his side. And Ted Thompson stuck to his guns and believed in Aaron Rodgers, even when Brett Favre tried like hell to come back after leading the Packers to the NFC Championship in 07. I mean, I think it was overwhelmingly pro-Farve in Green Bay then when Farve wanted to come back. Remember, unlike Rodgers kind of being vague and cryptic with Kenny Mayne, Brett Farve

went on Fox News. He went on there and said exactly how he felt, and fans saw exactly how he felt, and they were on his side. He wanted back in. Aaron Rodgers wants out. He's being kind of cryptic, but if anybody should understand why they take a quarterback, it's him, because Green Bay isn't going to be picking in the top ten,

let alone the top five with an Aaron Rodgers. You're not going to have a shot at those top-tier quarterbacks to kind of move into the next era. Like, if you think Jordan Love, I mean, it all comes down to Jordan Love, but if you think that he is, you know, if he's got a shot, if he's got potential, he's got this big arm, this athleticism, he's got a chance to be your quarterback for a dozen years, you take him. Like because you might not have that shot very often.

With where you pick year in and year out. And then, yeah, you want to develop him for a couple of years. So that concept, if anybody should understand, it's Aaron Rodgers. And I don't know, I guess it's in the eye of the beholder. I feel like he has weapons. He's got the freedom at the line of scrimmage. He has everything he wants. The roots of his unhappiness, unless there's something that happened that we don't know

about, I don't get it. Like, it's not too different in Green Bay. I mean, yeah, the GM picks the players, the coaches coach, the players play. And thank God Aaron Rodgers isn't the co-GM, otherwise Jordy Nelson would have stuck around two more years. I mean, they let him go at the perfect time. He went to the Raiders and was terrible.

He wasn't good. I think his yards after catch was like 1.5, something insane. He was done. Jake Kummerow had one catch after Green Bay caught him. Like, he was legitimately upset about the Packers cutting Jake Kummerow. He's a fringe NFL player that isn't very good. Yeah, so in an interview, he said how great he was, and then they let him go the next day.

Tough. It's the NFL. It's tough. I don't know. I think that there's a reason that GMs are in the position they're in. Players are in the position they're in. And yeah, if that player's unhappy, you should listen to that player, but only if it makes sense and it's based on logic and truth and merit. And I feel like Aaron Rodgers' situation isn't based on any of that. It's insane what he's upset about, I think. I mean, I don't know. I think it's a great team. They're in a good spot.

And, hey, Michael Jordan, I'm a Charlotte Hornets fan. He's awful running a team. The best player ever can't run a sports team. So they're two different jobs. Yeah, no, that's for sure. I guess I look at it, and this is where, again, Vikings fans could take great joy in it, as you're both kind of wrong. You're definitely wrong in not communicating that you were going to draft quarterback to Aaron Rodgers.

There, I think, I mentioned this before on the show, but like even Andy Dalton got that respect from the Chicago Bears. And he's not even a Chicago Bear yet. Like he hasn't even officially made the Chicago Bears and they're already saying, hey man, we might draft a quarterback. To which Andy Dalton must have gone like, yeah, right? Like, but, and here's Aaron Rodgers thinking that they're going to sort of push the chips to the middle of the table after going 13-3 on him. He still was very, very good in 2019. And so you could see his perspective of thinking, OK, no one told me we're going to draft a quarterback, so we must be trying to get Justin Jefferson, who he really loved. And the Jordy Nelson thing, yeah.

But you know what this really sounds like to me is just that somebody who has been de-franchised, and he's right. I mean, you take Aaron Rodgers off the team and put an average quarterback, you aren't winning half what you've won, especially with Mike McCarthy in some of those years from Rodgers. So he knows he's the most valuable player. He knows how intelligent he is. This is not lost on him. He's not, I'm just a football player.

You know, he wants that and so to not communicate hey we're going to do some of these things i think you can understand where he's coming from with that frustration now here's the interesting part though is so you have this and uh you know maybe when your second kid comes along and maybe 10 years from now when they're both little people you know you'll have these conflicts and you'll say hey two wrongs don't make a right little little children so and this is what like it doesn't get you anywhere for either one of these sides I mean if you're Aaron Rogers you're foregoing another chance at the Super Bowl and Brady's a year older breezes out

of the league like the NFC is up for grabs, and you're just saying, oh, okay, I'm going to go beyond Jeopardy. And if you're them, like, I mean, yes, they publicly are trying to, like, reach out to him, but you've sort of manipulated your way out of Aaron Rodgers over Jake Kummerow. See, I kind of look at it the other way of, like, okay, if Aaron Rodgers wants Jake Kummerow, he can freaking have him. Like, why is it important to me to cut Jake Kummerow if my guy likes him? You know what I mean? So there's different ways that you can look at it.

You're right, but I think that even – they say they let him have Jake Kummerow. I think we're still in the same spot, you know, because of the Jordan Rodgers. Yeah, I'm not saying this came down to Jake Kummerow. I think even if they would have communicated this to Aaron Rodgers before that 2020 draft, we're still in the same spot. If they do take a quarterback, they could have taken Aaron Rodgers out to Chives in Suamico, Wisconsin and bought him the biggest ribeye steak he'd ever want there. And it wouldn't have mattered.

They still drafted a quarterback. You mentioned Justin Jefferson. And I know Ian Rappaport reported this. I've heard the same exact thing, that the Packers wanted Justin Jefferson. Like, that's who they were targeting. And the Vikings take him. I mean, like, some good luck for the Vikings there, a stroke of good fortune after many years of not having good fortune when it comes to the Green Bay Packers.

So they take Jordan Love. Maybe they – yeah, I mean, they absolutely were considering a quarterback up to that draft. I mean, I know Matt LaFleur had long conversations with David Yost on the Utah State OC. Obviously, Brian Gutekunst, it was a Gutekunst pick. He had the final say. And, yeah, I think that maybe LaFleur's fingerprints were on the selection, but it was Gutekunst that had that say so that so to your point they did know maybe they should have let Aaron Rodgers know I just feel like given his personality that a he it wouldn't have mattered

we'd still be sitting here talking about him wanting to get the hell out of Green Bay B this is just me kind of shooting from the hip, I guess. Maybe Aaron Rodgers tries to sabotage that draft selection, right? I mean, we're seeing him work that messaging and that PR game pretty hard right now. He's, you know, we've got the former players coming out on his behalf. We've got the Kenny Mayne sit down. There's a lot going on. He's trying.

I think that's what's been going on this whole month. It's this battle in the court of public opinion. Those fans were pissed off when they saw that Guttekens report on Yahoo. Maybe he wasn't expecting that. Since then it's been trying to get back in their good graces. I think he's been pretty successful at that. For somebody who cares deeply about

what people think of him, somebody that cares deeply about what people think of him, somebody that cares deeply about, you know, the narrative of his life, of his career, if he hears that they're thinking about drafting a quarterback, by God, I mean, I think that's getting leaked out. I think that hurts Green Bay's chances at drafting a quarterback. And then if you're Green Bay and you know that personality, you know how Aaron Rodgers is wired, you're probably not going to say something to him then, right? I mean, we've got to read into it because nobody's just going to talk about this openly, but I think it's

a real possibility. Yeah, and your point that Rodgers is just so much like this, that he's going to be slighted no matter what, I think is a totally fair point, and that has been his personality for his entire career. One thing I'd like to ask when this comes up to my guests that I'm discussing it with is, are you a grudge holder, Tyler? Are you like Aaron Rodgers? Because maybe I apologize a little for Rodgers in this because I know that I'm like this. I absolutely am an elite grudge holder. Cut out our entire family, Matt.

Is that what you're telling me? Not, okay, maybe not cut out. Absolutely not. I've got to go down that road. Sorry. Yeah, that might be on the aggressive side. So maybe elite for myself is too much. But are you?

Are you a grudge holder? No, I don't think so. You know, I don't know. I mean, I'm competitive. You know, we both played sports back in the day. Hey, you know, if you played back in high school, you want to stick it to somebody. Those competitive juices get going. But I'm just thinking of that Packers story.

I did a Bleacher Report. And, man, after Aaron Rodgers, you know, chatted with his friend there and broke the story down, and I had a lot of fans coming after me. I don't know, I just turned off Twitter for a week. I just pretended like it wasn't there and turned it back on briefly, saw somebody tell me I should kill myself, turned it back off. You know, I didn't care, honestly. Nothing really fazed me in that moment.

And it's funny, a couple weeks ago, a lot of those same fans have been DMing me and sending me tweets and apologizing for things they said to me back then. And I'm literally telling them, look, I understand the passion of the Packer fan. It's why the job out there was so fun at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Hell, I was a Packer fan as a kid. I mean, even my dad, we went to Lambeau every other year. I get it. I get that that passion is real, it's raw, it's different. So I wasn't going to hold a grudge and say, you know what, F you. You're the one that told me to find a rope in my basement and hang myself. Then thought never crossed my mind.

Yeah, you and I have different reactions to that sort of thing. Just so anybody knows, if you tweet me stuff like that, you're getting blocked. So when that happens and the truth is out oh i don't stuffing it in people's faces oh i don't it's like oh who if only someone had been telling you this if only someone was inside the locker room and knows the man and would have been trying to explain what the problem was. Yeah, I do that. I am that guy for sure. Hey, I get it. I felt that temptation a little bit, but I don't know. I don't know.

I guess I'm not on a high horse. I think that's awesome. I just couldn't have that reaction. I couldn't do it. Well, you are a lot more chill than me, so I guess maybe that's why I apologize for aaron rogers for being mad at his gm plus i well here in minnesota to some extent got along with some management but uh certainly did not always in other employment that i had in my life so i get that too i guess when you're mad at management because you feel mistreated i get it here we are doing our own thing now, right? That's right. That's right.

Hey, Aaron, podcast, man. Substack. Hey, he should start a substack. You know what? He can have all the personnel control he wants running a substack. That's right. That's right. We don't need his competitiveness taken away from our substack. That's true.

So let's put a bow on that part of it by just asking the question that needs to be asked is where does Aaron Rodgers play football this year? Because it doesn't seem to me like the guy's not going to play football, right? Like he's not going to do this Hawaii thing forever. This is cute now, but he's going to play for someone, right? Man, because I think Green Bay is willing to take it to that point um of all right aaron we believe you want to play football like and you're under contract for three more years we've offered you more money than any quarterback makes in the nfl like we built this team around you like this is where you're going to play is he willing to take it to that point of leverage of,

I am okay sitting out the entire 2021 NFL season? I think he is. It's a gut feeling more than anything. I think that Aaron Rodgers would be okay chilling for a year, doing game show stuff, you know, being this lovable, rogue, free spirit, you know, that's where, I mean, we're going to see him. He'll be on TV. He'll do different things.

I feel like he would. He's just different enough. He's a different cat. Like, I think he would be willing to miss football games and lose millions of dollars because he has millions of dollars. Like, I've had players on the Packers roster reach out to me and say, look, he doesn't care about money. He bought a house in cash.

Like he is okay. Like if he's this dug in, whatever, fine. So that is inconsequential. Clearly the football doesn't matter. I mean if he cared about, I should say winning doesn't matter. If he cared about winning, he would just show up because he's got a great team there. So I don't know.

I think he would. Got to feel him more than anything. And if that's the case, and Brian Gutekinds is the GM, Matt LaFleur is the head coach, Mark Murphy the team president, they know that. They should know how he's wired, how different he is. And you want to get something for him, right? Like why would you force somebody to play that absolutely doesn't want to be there? You're welcoming a whole host of issues and controversies and drama throughout the course

of the season. I mean, it would make 2018 look like child's play. It'd make those Jerry Krause texts look like nothing. Like, it could get really ugly really fast. Just trade him. That's why I wrote it at Go Long. Like, take your picks. Take your players.

Rebuild for the future. It doesn't have to be apocalyptic and gloomy and doomy. Jordan Love might be good. He might. And you've got a really good team. So, don't be scared of it. They weren't scared of it back in 2008. Things worked out okay.

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then you made a huge mistake, I think. Because, look, I mean, Jordan Love, who knows? And he's not that great of a prospect. But Justin Fields or Trey Lance or, I mean, even Mac Jones, but especially the other two, I mean, you're talking about guys who transform organizations in terms of their talent. Jordan Love, a late first-round pick, not many of those tend to work out. But if you could have made that deal, now the deal's not as good.

Like maybe you get Teddy Bridgewater back, which is a Viking fan nightmare, and you get a couple of first-round picks for the future or a player thrown in there. It's not as good as getting your guaranteed next franchise quarterback to work with if it was Justin Fields or Trey Lance, whoever they would have preferred. And so I wonder if they're now sort of kicking themselves like, oh, we thought that Aaron was just kind of messing with us. But now he's actually for real. He's not coming back. And we've foregoed the opportunity to get, you know, like the number three overall pick. Totally.

Or if you do believe in Jordan Love, guess what? You can pick any player you want that isn't a quarterback. Like Jalen Waddell, Devontae Smith, I don't know. Like Sewell, you know, if you wanted another lineman, you could. Kyle Pitts could have gone in a million different directions. So I hear you. Like, I thought – and, hey, I'm sure it wasn't an accident that that bombshell kind of drops. I don't know.

Not to get all conspiracy theory-y, but, like, a lot of people were watching the draft kind of waiting for that thing to happen. You know what I mean? Like, there's that. There's Aaron Rodgers wanting to be in the headlines. I think that could have been a thing. I don't know. However you slice it, we were all watching the NFL draft, wondering what Aaron Rodgers' future was going to look like.

And, yeah, I mean, to get that pick then, because obviously if you do trade him now to a Denver, to a Vegas, they're probably going to be good. They'll make the playoffs. The pick isn't going to look as great at that point. The Raiders are such a dysfunctional cluster, you know what, that maybe they would just be bad even with Aaron Rodgers. It's possible.

John Gruden and Mike Mayock are objectively just awful. Yes, they are. And that would be my pick, though, if I were the Packers. Like, give us Derek Carr, Mac. Because I think that that's like a 12-win team with Derek Carr because they are so good. And he's a good quarterback. So if I'm them, that's what I'm going for,

not trying to get future draft picks because their cap situation is not really set up for 2025 or something like that. And you mentioned the source game and when things come out and so forth that's when we retire our sub stacks we'll do a podcast as geezers and sort of explain to everybody how that stuff works but uh that's that would be that would be a long podcast but um let's talk about real quick uh kenny wong woo amir smith marset you wrote features about both of them, and then the Vikings take both of them. So with Wong Wu, he comes across to me like just a very, very bright guy. Like one of the reasons that the Vikings will draft somebody is, of course, he's really fast, but character and the

player's makeup and intelligence, it really, really matters to Mike Zimmer. And I think with him, that was something that really stuck out. So tell me what you learned about Ken A. Wongwu when you did your feature on him. Well, clearly, though, Mike Zimmer subscribed to Go Long after we had that Vikings story earlier in the year. I was blown away by him. And, you know, we both talk to a lot of players all the time and in that kind of setting. And granted, it was a Zoom. It wasn't in person.

But we talked for a good hour. So impressive of a human being, number one. I mean, he's got it together. I mean, you're talking about somebody whose family emigrated over, I believe from Nigeria, and just really valued education. And, like, his mom didn't even really want him playing football because it's, like, schoolwork number one, your grades got to be good. Even into college, it's like, all right, this football stuff's all fine and dandy,

but, like, how are your grades doing? I just think that structure really kind of put a good head on his shoulders. And as a player, I mean, he's the fastest running back in the draft. I mean, he gets from point A to point B in a hurry, and you see it on those highlights. I really do think it was just a lot of bad luck. I mean, that's why he wasn't ever the number one guy at Iowa State. He comes in as that top recruit in Matt Campbell's recruiting class

and, you know, has the torn Achilles. I mean, I can't imagine. That just sounds like the worst possible injury anybody could have. And so basically your superpower is taken away for a good year. You're going around Ames, Iowa on a freaking scooter wondering, what the hell did I get myself into? And he just really rededicated himself to the game, to appreciating just the opportunity to go lift weights, to go run.

And it could sound corny, it could sound cliche, but it's real for him. And whenever he did have a shot, especially that last season, you know, returning kicks and just, you know, getting the ball a couple times a game if he was lucky. I mean, he took it to the house. I mean, he did something magical with it. He's got unbelievable speed. So, yeah, I mean, part of the bad luck, too, is when he tears that Achilles, David Montgomery breaks onto the scene, and then I believe, what,

Bryce Hall breaks onto the scene. So, I mean, those are two of the best backs in college football, which is hard for him to get a role. I think that the Vikings, we spent a lot of time on here kind of poking fun at mistakes. I give them a lot of credit for targeting really the true hidden gem in this draft class. I mean, somebody who could blow up in the NFL,

has a very NFL ready game, taking him in the fourth round. I loved it. I think they got a steal. Now, will he touch the football with Delvin Cook in the backfield, I guess is the question. And with running backs, the weird thing there is, I just wonder about opportunity here. It's like with every other position you could say, well, you know,

if he plays in like a year or two, that's okay. Running backs, it's sort of like that clock is ticking. And I wonder how this plays out. If they start using him as a weapon, if he can earn that spot, because, you know, everyone impresses us in college, and then it's training camp where we start to figure it out. And the unfortunate part, Tyler, and you and I grew up in the same era,

is, like, kick returning. It's just not a thing anymore. I know. And it's so sad. It's so unfortunate. The Vikings are still drafting a kick returner, but it's just not a thing. I know, and it's so depressing. I mean, that was such an exciting play.

And I know they've got all kinds of studies, and the concussion awareness is a big thing. I don't know. I feel like there's other ways to play up to safety in the NFL instead of taking away such an exciting play that doesn't really exist to an extent. So how do you use all that speed? You know, his hands, we don't really know. They didn't use them as a receiver at all. Like he had, what, less than 10 catches, I think, in his career. So you don't know what you have there.

They've got to find a way to use him. I mean, that's the challenge now is you've got this talent. You've got this speed. How do you incorporate that into your offense? And I think that is the case with so many teams around the NFL. I mean, we just had a big story on Lynn Bowden Jr. at Kentucky, maybe the most electrifying player in college football, just tore it up as his option quarterback. I mean, power runs, zone runs. Before that, he was a slot receiver that caught 70 balls the year before, and the Raiders didn't know how to use him. I mean, they bring him in as a running

back, they have him in pass protection, and they give up on the guy as a player, as a person, a whole lot going on there. But we see this every year, I think, in the draft. All right, this team took this kind of talent, this guy who's got this gift, this special ability to do something that's rare. How does that work in the NFL? I think if the Vikings truly look at this as trickle down – I'm sorry, trickle up from the college level in that. All right, whatever he did at Iowa State that State, let's put that into our playbook. They'll reap the rewards one way or another.

Hey, everyone. I want to tell you about our friends at Scout Logistics. And I really do mean it when I say friends. They are fans of Purple Insider over at Scout Logistics. And since they reached out wanting to support this show i want to tell you about what they do scout logistics is just in time transportation for full tractor trailer loads and if you're wondering what that means exactly well if you own or work for a company that needs shipping solutions they are the preferred carrier of fortune 500 companies across north america and we have quite a few of those in minnesota right? They can ship perishable, non-perishable, FTL or LTL, and they have on-time delivery rate of over 99%.

So, if you're like them and you enjoy the show and you have shipping needs, check out ScoutLogistics.com or call 855-217-2688, extension 2322 to connect with them directly to find out how Scout Logistics can minimize risk and overperform and go the extra mile for your company. Yeah, and I think this is one area where I would be reasonably skeptical based on recent usage of offensive weapons. I mean, this is a team that refused to give Cordero Patterson the ball or put him on the field even. And then he goes to New England and they're using him all over the field and he's part of a Super Bowl team. And so even Mike Zimmer admitted we didn't use him right. But then they had other players like that the last couple of years. So I'll be interested if they find a way to use him. And I guess for his sake, I hope they didn't draft him as a kick

returner because then he could touch the ball like 20 times, unfortunately. The XFL kickoff is the answer. I wrote this, one of my first feature articles, Purple Insider, was writing about the XFL kickoff. So Amir Smith-Marset, my first impression of him, because you also wrote a feature on him, was just that he's a very, very confident player. And the other part of it is I've been sort of fascinated by how many people who are very smart football people were kind of banging the table for him despite the fact that he was a fifth-round pick. And then when I see him, though, when I see him in person, I get it because he looks like high school me in terms of being skinny,

and that's always a little bit tough if you're not Devontae Smith. So what do we know about Amir Smith-Marset? Well, I didn't get a chance to catch the conference call or you guys' conversation with him. Did the water polo stuff come up at all? Yes. Did it? Yes, yes, yes. I'm sure that people saw your feature and asked him about the water polo thing.

I'm just trying to think back to our conversation. That blew me away. You don't really hear that often. He loved playing water polo his whole life. He got into swimming at a young age, and he said, like, you know, underneath the water, it's just madness, the kicking and the punching. But his thing was being sneaky. You know, he'd dive under the water,

and he'd pop up somewhere else where nobody expected. So that was kind of cool. But I just think, you know, in Iowa, he wasn't – I mean, it's easy to say it now as a player. I get it. I wasn't used properly. But he didn't really come out and bash Iowa. He kind of came up organically in that here's a team and a coach,

Kirk Ferentz, the longest tenured coach in college football, that's going to operate a certain way. They're going to have those corn-fed linemen. They're going to run the ball. They're not going to operate a certain way. They're going to have those corn-fed linemen. They're going to run the ball. They're not going to do anything too creative. If you're an Amir Smith-Marset that has speed, athleticism, probably not going to be able to showcase it much. And he still did.

Like, he still had some games there where he blew up. I mean, that USC game, holy cow, I mean, you could see it. It's a rare, rare gear that he has. So it's a bit of a gamble, right? I mean, because he didn't put up good numbers, but it wasn't like the other receivers across the nation that did have those opportunities had. So can he bring that to the Minnesota Vikings?

I mean, that's a heck of a story. I mean, you just kind of laid it out, Matt. This team that historically hasn't been able to be at the cutting edge of offensive football and think forward that they, you know, they want to bring it back to 1965 like Kirk Ferentz does. Are they going to use these talented, athletic, fast dudes? I don't know. I mean, I think they took the right players, but now the fun kind of begins.

Yeah, and that will be the challenge of Clint Kubiak. I'm skeptical of whether the offense changes a whole lot under Clint Kubiak from Gary Kubiak, but he'll have that opportunity. Okay, let's just wrap on this one because your daughter has slept long enough for us to go this far. I'm checking in on her. She just turned over, and we'll see. Sometimes it just means she's going to sleep a little bit more. Okay, well, it won't take

you that long to answer this question uh i had a very long conversation on the last podcast episode about mike zimmer's job status because bet online uh you know odds makers have him as the fifth most likely coach to be fired and your first piece you ever wrote at Go Long TD was a huge breakdown of Mike Zimmer and kind of his relationships and the push and pull of how he can sometimes rub people the wrong way as maybe being polite about it. And but is also a very talented head coach who sets a bar for you of professionalism that the likes of Matt Patricia don't necessarily do that. So just before we wrap up, give me sort of your thought on him being named by the oddsmakers as one of the most likely coaches to be fired. Surprising. You know, I think, and we've talked about this, I think ownership values continuity.

You know, they want to have guys. I mean, we see it. It's been this way for a long time. I mean, GMs in place, head coaches in place. I think anything short of them just completely bottoming out, I'd be surprised if they were fired. You never know. But say Aaron Rodgers does leave the NFC North,

the pressure is going to be on Mike Zimmer. And if they don't win the division, given the Detroit Lions are clearly in a total rebuild and the Chicago Bears are, I mean, I guess it's still some veterans, but they're going to be trotting out a rookie quarterback. If you don't win the division, like, I mean, if you're a 7-9 team again, I think he's got to go. I would think that the ownership would wake up at that point and be like,

are we got to make some big-time changes around here because what we have just isn't working. Yep, I agree with the Rodgers point of playing into it. You really better win the North. The other team's got to repair the quarterback. Right. The Detroit Lions are completely rebuilding. You have to win it if it's Jordan Love as the quarterback.

So go long TD, Tyler Dunn. You do the best features out there. You do a Friday happy hour where sometimes richie incognito shows up another which i need you to ask about him calling mike zimmer a liar uh two years ago there was a little bit of friction there and forgot about that that's right and the funny thing is he went to oakland or i'm sorry las vegas and was great and the vikings really could have used the left guard so maybe maybe they should have worked it out with Richie incognito. I'm just saying,

but you do incredible work. And I mentioned I'm, I'm a subscriber to go long TD. So people should go check it out. And thanks for your time, man. We'll get together again soon. Absolutely.

Thanks so much for the plug. We're hoping to get can hang on there soon for a happy hour as well. So some Viking fans could hang out with them when they subscribe. All right. Excellent. Thanks, man. Thank you.