Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - USA Today's Steven Ruiz talks about where the Vikings stand among the best and worst quarterback situations in the NFL

Episode Date: May 20, 2021

Matthew Coller and Steven Ruiz start by wondering what exactly the Carolina Panthers are doing and why Vegas thinks the Vikings' matchup against the Panthers should be a pick 'em. They go on to talk about some of the worst QB situations in the league, including the New Orleans Saints, who seem to have no answers. Where do the Vikings stand in the QB conversation? What would a good season mean to Kirk Cousins's future and the future of the QB position for the Vikings? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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when you want to hit the reset button, reach for the beer that is made to chill. Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate! Hello and welcome to another episode of Football Insider presented by Scout Logistics. Matthew Collar here along with Stephen Ruiz returning to the show from USA Today. What is going on, Stephen? Not much. Is this my third time on the show? I think it's third.

I think this is your third time on the Purple Insider show. The previous show, I don't know, probably a half a dozen times at least that I would call upon you when you wrote something great. And that is the norm for you. So everyone should follow you at, what is it? The Steven Ruiz on Twitter is your Twitter handle. And if they also want the Carolina Panthers mocked mercilessly, then that would be another thing. Now we have a lot to get to here on quarterback situations.

I wanted to go through the best and worst long-term quarterback situations and sort of figure out where the Vikings fall and all that. But I have just enjoyed you making fun of the Carolina Panthers recently because on this show I have done a lot of that. And it's like, oh, someone else also sees this. Like the other day we were going through the Vegas lines and the Vikings are a pick them at Carolina. Why,

why? You know, I'm sorry. I know it's on the road, but that should not be the case because I don't think they have much idea of what they're doing. If you get made fun of by Teddy Bridgewater for being clueless, then I think you've really wronged.

Teddy Bridgewater would be my guess. Yeah. And it's, it's been like this ever since. I would say David Tepper took over the team. I think it's been two and a half years now. I know it happened in the middle of the season where Jerry Richardson kind of got ousted. And he ended up hiring a GM eventually.

But the previous GM before that, Marty Herney, it's a weird story. He was the GM back in the last decade, got fired because he ruined the team's salary cap situation. It was horrible. They hired Dave Gettleman, and this is the saddest thing about the Panthers fandom. Dave Gettleman has been our best GM of the last 20 years. We look back at the

Dave Gettleman years and we're like, oh, can we just go back to that? But anyway, so they fired Dave Gettleman, and they hire Herney as oh, can we just go back to that? But anyway, so they fire Dave Gettleman, and they hire Herney as the interim GM, and he just kind of sticks around. He just lingers around, and he never gets the full title back, but they never hire a full-time GM, so they just have him around. And then they hire Matt Rule, and they continue to let Marty Herney stick around. And that was last offseason.

Last offseason was even weirder than this one because last offseason, when they signed Teddy Bridgewater, after moving off from Cam, you're like, oh, they should probably blow things up. That's why you bought Matt Ruhling, right, to rebuild the program. But, no, they made, like, moves that were, like, win-now moves, like trading for Russell Okun. And then at the same time, they're kind of, you know, laying the foundation for a rebuild with Matt Rule.

And then it's like two separate timelines. And then you thought Herney was gone because he got fired, I guess it was early this year, late last year. But it's the same thing again. Like there's a quarterback on the board. They need a quarterback. Justin Fields is there. They draft a cornerback instead.

And it's, for me, it's just, I don't know. I grew up a Panthers fan and it's, I don't know if they're ever going to get me back. I think Justin Fields was the pick that would bring me back. Now I'm just like, I don't, I don't care about this team anymore. And I don't know how you can care about a team that's going in no direction whatsoever. It's hard. So there's so much that I don't know how you can care about a team that's going in no direction whatsoever. It's hard. So there's so much that I don't understand. I mean, signing Teddy Bridgewater to begin with, I don't understand because Teddy Bridgewater would be the exact type of quarterback to win you too many games, which he did and came very close to winning more of them. Almost one here in Minnesota, almost one in Kansas City. They were a couple of wins away from being the worst record you can have,

which is 7-9 in drafting even later. So, okay, fine, you don't want to stick with Teddy Bridgewater. That makes sense. He's a much better fit in Denver if they're going to stick with him. For a good supporting cast, team that can win and be competitive, that's where Teddy sits. He's sort of the bridge quarterback. I don't know why a tanking team would want that.

You should have played Chris Winkie or something. Go lose all your games and then draft whoever you want at the top chris winky beat the vikings in week one i'll remind vikings fans about that that's the one team team the panthers beat that year and then lost 15 straight games yes i do remember that uh chris winky is from minnesota by the way. So even more irony, I guess. So they, you know, they signed a quarterback that they shouldn't sign, who Chicago should have signed, actually, and had him. If Teddy is the starting quarterback in Chicago, they probably win like 10 games last year.

So both teams screwed it up. And then you get a chance still to totally redeem yourself. And this is perfect because dumb and dumber makes sense for Carolina. They get a chance to totally redeem themselves with justin fields right there for you and they pick a corner i mean i would even understand trading for sam darnold because you'd be like oh well if it blows up then we draft high or or we just have him compete for the starting spot and then trade him away if he doesn't win it like the jets did with teddy bridgewater and sam darnold once upon a, that would be actually not that terrible.

But now you're really doubling, tripling down on Sam Darnold, who I can't find any evidence that he's good, Stephen. You may have looked into this more than I have, but I just can't find any. I wrote about Sam Darnold, I think it was, oh yeah, it was after the Panthers traded for him. And like you said, there's no evidence. Going back to USC, there's no evidence. You account for Adam Gase being involved, and it doesn't make it any better. He's been statistically the worst quarterback in the league since he's been a starter and the problem with him and i know the

case excuse is there but he was making the same mistakes this year in this past year that he was making at usc he's been the same guy this whole time and nothing has changed and i know there's some hope that like going to another team maybe he'll get developed but like teddy bridgewater was teddy bridgewater last year like going working with joe brady didn't make teddy bridgewater some and teddy bridgewater has a decent skill set to work with like if you put him in a good scheme with good coaching like we saw in new orleans like he put up good numbers in new orleans like his efficiency metrics like his epa was like top 10 for the if he would have played the whole season. So I, I don't know. I just, there's,

the only optimism is based on the fact that Sam Darnold was good the first year he started in USC. And that was what, five, six years ago now. I, I, I understand why Panthers fans can like, I don't want to say delude themselves, but trick themselves into thinking that this team has a chance because Sam Darnold does have some talent and there are those flashes. And then you look at the skills, skill players like DJ Moore, Robbie Anderson, like there's some good players on this team, Christian Caffery.

But I mean, to me, it doesn't look any better than last year. And now, like you, like you said, they were two games away from being that dreaded seven and nine. And I really think that's what they're destined for. Until they just blow things up and start over with a young, first-year rookie quarterback, and they had the chance to do it with a guy that a lot of people that I trust and that I respect their opinion, like they thought that in any other year where there isn't Trevor Lawrence,

that this guy was like a QB1 type of talent. and to pass on him where they did is like like I said before it was just deflating for me because I thought if I didn't think Fields was going to get to them and when he did and they passed on him for cornerback I I mean for me it was just a realization in my head like I'm probably never going to care about this team again, which is sad to say. Well, I think they just put themselves in the running for, like, you are one of the worst franchises in the NFL if you're passing on that. Even if your scouts or someone has some problem with Justin Fields,

you're worried about his epilepsy or whatever, like it's worth the swing versus what a cornerback could give you and his high end is the guy dominated college football and played with broken ribs in the college football playoff like what more did you need from him so that's again an interesting jumping off point to talk about what we were going to talk about which is because i i think i could probably let you rant about the panthers for longer um which is the um the best and worst quarterback situations long term in the NFL, and I think worst is a better place to start than best

because some of the best are a little obvious. But Carolina might be all the way at the bottom because they are probably going to win enough games with their weapons that they have. And I'm not totally sold on Joe Brady, but at least at the beginning of the year maybe he'll fool some people. And so they're not going anywhere. They're not going to tank. They're not going to win anything. And they traded a lot for Darnold and they're reportedly going to pick up his fifth

year option. I don't know if that's happened yet, but like, what are you even doing with that? So I thought I would put them all the way at the bottom. Who else would be in your list of like dead ass last teams in terms of quarterback situations over the next few years i'll say the team that uh passed on uh justin fields right before that i'll say the lions i did not get and it was kind of weird like leading into the draft no one was really talking about the possibility of the Lions drafting a quarterback, and I didn't understand why. Jared Goff is – I wouldn't even put him in the Teddy Bridge. Maybe he is, where he's, like, decent enough where you're not going to, like, just be totally awful.

The Lions – the roster around him make it so they are totally awful. But I just could not imagine getting excited as a lions fan about jared goff after having seen how that ended in la and how desperate they were to like get rid of him like look at the trade package that they like gave away first round picks to get rid of him and he comes with the salary and i think i think that's actually worse than the Panthers. I'll put them below the Panthers. I would be concerned if I was a Lions fan. That was the first pick. But at least they got a player.

Unlike the Panthers, they drafted Sewell, who I think could be a generational left tackle, whereas I think J.C. Horn could max out as a top-ten corner. At least they took a guy that we know is going to be good. He's a left tackle. Those are usually sure things. But the quarterback situation, I don't know how you look at that offense and expect – and maybe they don't. Maybe they're trying to tank, which is the smart thing to do.

I'm sure the Panthers should do it. But for this year, at least, it's just bleak. So the fact that it's not just one year for Jared Goff, I think it's two before they can really get out from under that makes it difficult. They let all of his weapons walk out the door in Marvin Jones and Kenny Galladay, which Vikings fans were absolutely thrilled to see because those guys smoked the Vikings. But, you know, I think that this one isn't tremendously awful or like not in the same. There's no reason to live,

which is like Carolina. Like why are you just shut down the franchise because you traded for Sam Darnold and then didn't draft someone else? Because I think the lines are a few years away. But also if you go from being horrible under Matt Patricia and being a joke fest to like two more years of being a joke fest, I feel like Jared Goff guarantees you that you'll be in some football games. Like he is not someone who's raising the level of a franchise, but maybe in Bridgewater or Ryan Fitzpatrick,

like fashion, like you need to compete in these football games. Now, if you were to play David Blau for those games and go, Oh, and 17 coming off of the mat, Patricia, I mean, you're talking about just no reason for any fan to go to your game or care about you. Like, you want to engage the fan base to some extent and play competitive football games. So I don't think

that's terrible. Sometimes we act like the only place you could ever be is winning the Super Bowl or tank, and Vikings fans understand that because they've spent so much time in the middle. But I feel like when you've been this terrible, you need to kind of get to the middle to be like, yes, we are still a football franchise. I would agree with you, but I'll say this. This is a clear downgrade at what they had, and they were a joke when they had a better quarterback. So that's where I think, I don't even think Jared Goff makes them any more competitive than they were

under Matt Patricia. I think it's going to be the coaches and the players around them. I don't know how to feel about Dan Campbell. I know he's become like a meme, but his coaching staff is actually like quietly pretty decent. And maybe beyond this mascot of a head coach that maybe it will turn out that this is a good coaching staff and it might turn things around quicker than we expect.

And it's probably going to be better than Matt Patricia, even if Dan Campbell doesn't live up to this, this meme character he's created. But I mean, the thing about Garrett Goff is I think he's a decent quarterback, but I think he's a quarterback. When you watch him and things are going awful, it's just so hard to watch. And with that roster around him, like you said, they got rid of Galladay. Marvin Jones is gone. I don't see how it's even watchable, at least for this year.

And maybe, like I said, maybe that's the goal. This is a team that seems to understand that they need to rebuild. Like that Matthew Stafford trade was cleared. They were just trying to get as many draft assets as possible, and I think they did a good job of that. So, like Detroit fans, I would just take this year off. Like go find another hobby. You know, don't do this to yourself.

Yeah. So a guy who comes on the show sometimes, Malcolm Hart, he does the Detroit Lions Pride podcast. And I was making fun of him when he was tweeting about QB1 and RB1, DeAndre Swift and Jared Goff. And I was like, oh, yeah, Andre Ware and Ron Rivers. That's what you have there. Oh, yeah, like Charlie Batch.

And I have no idea who some of their other running back. James Stewart. James Stewart. There you go. That's a good poll. Well, so the way I look at it is and we'll launch another one in a second. But it's just that over the last three years, I looked at the stat the other day. The Detroit Lions allowed one hundred and four quarterback rating to opposing quarterbacks for a three year period. Like if you do that, you're in the pro bowl norm in normal years last year was a little bit pumped up but if you have 104 quarterback rating you've like had a great season as a quarterback they were doing that on average for three straight seasons so my thought is aaron glenn should be able to turn their defense around

a little bit to where at least plays football as opposed to just getting demolished every single week. And so I think that Jared Goff wins like seven games and they look okay. You think they win seven games? Yeah, I think they win seven games, six or seven games, and they'll play okay. And they won't be a joke. And they can at least look at their season and be like, oh, we started to take some steps forward with Jared Goff. That's how I think this plays out.

See, I think this plays out. See, I think this is the Vikings fan in you. This is the Vikings reporter in you because your exposure to Jared Goff is that Thursday night game where Jared Goff looked like damn Patrick Mahomes out there. Yeah. And Jared Goff's never coming back. No, you're probably right about that. And what did he go? Like 9-6 last year or something with the number one defense.

And he got shadow benched for someone named John Wolford. John Wolford. Yeah. So, no, I get you. You're right. Maybe my opinion of Jared Goff is a little bit higher because that was an incredible game. 465 yards, I think.

Five touchdowns maybe um so new orleans is another team that i think is in a tremendously awful quarterback position i don't understand jamis people jamis people are weird um and bizarre i'm a jamis person i don't get then i don't get you like a quarterback who is capable of throwing 31 interceptions to me is just not an nfl quarterback uh but i people seem to hold out hope since he was drafted number one in darnold like fashion that he will somehow magically become this great quarterback i'm not even sure he wins the job over tasem hill okay i'll let me explain james. Jameis, and this is going to be a weird comparison. Jameis has a little bit of Andrew Luck to him.

And Andrew Luck had turnover problems too. Where you watch Jameis' intercept, even his interceptions, you just watch his interceptions, and you can be like, oh, I see what he was going for. He just, like, it was just a little too ambitious for you but there's always a play he clearly knows how to play quarterback it's like

me playing Madden where like I try to do cool stuff and it doesn't work out and I throw a lot of interceptions like Jameis has a lot of oh that would have been cool if he pulled it off though interceptions and I but sometimes he does pull it off. And the people that are watching film are like, oh, God, look, this guy looks like prime Andrew Luck on this play.

And he did it again, and he did it again. And then another thing is when you're watching film, you don't really get the gravity of interceptions on film. There's no commentary. There's no crowd noise. The score is not on the screen. You're just watching a player and evaluating and i think that's another thing where you kind of overlook the interceptions because it's one play and like you watch a quarterback a one game of a quarterback you

see 45 to 50 dropbacks sometimes he throws two interceptions that's what uh two percent of the dropbacks you're like oh that's not a big. There's two bad plays and there's like 10 good plays. So I think that's what it is. Like for me, like I can, I'm a James person, but I realize it's ridiculous that I'm a James person. So I take no offense to you going, I don't get you, because I wouldn't get me either. Well, this is a great observation about watching film,

because I often disagree with film analysts when they're looking at Viking stuff and not necessarily because they're breaking it down wrong I'm not saying like oh you don't know your route combinations bro but it's more of like this uh why aren't they using this guy this way there was I'm not going to call anybody out but there was a film thing that I watched a couple years ago of like the the Vikings should be using La laquan treadwell differently and i'm like look uh you could use them like jerry rice you could give them handoffs you could have a punt return you could have a punt i don't care this guy is not good at football okay i'm sorry but you whatever film you're trying to because you get kind of this like horse blinder thing And it even happens with cousins where last year watch week one film against

the Packers. Like his film on that, his PFF grade is awesome for that game, but they were, he throws a key interception and they're down in the game, like 21 points. He, you know,

misses a read on a fourth down throw and it goes wrong. It's like the situational football stuff gets completely lost when you're watching film. So I totally get exactly what you're saying with Jameis Winston. I just can't get over the interceptions. Like the guy has always done it. He'll always do it. And then when Taysom Hill took the job from him last year, it's like, okay,

if you can't beat a glorified tight end slash punt blocker for the quarterback position, I tend to believe that Sean Payton knows what he's doing with analyzing quarterbacks. You have to give some credit to somebody like that. But there's the ego thing with Sean Payton. I don't think we can discount that. Like they just gave the guy a Mickey Mouse $140 million contract.

Yes. Like there was a reason they did that. And it was not – it's like Sean Payton just lives to troll us, and I think there was an reason they did that. And it was not – it was – it's like Sean Payne just lives to troll us, and I think there was an ego thing with that. Like, he should not have been playing. Like, I honestly think Sean Payne – I know they won the first two games. Well, one game was against a Wake Forest wide receiver, and the other game was against the Falcons, which doesn't count.

Defense – performances against that which doesn't count. Performances against that defense doesn't count. But that Eagles game, they should have won that game. They would have had home field advantage throughout the playoffs if they just played a real quarterback. They lost that game because Taysom Hill is not a real quarterback. So, like, that to me makes me feel better about questioning Sean Payton, who's the person that knows more about football than I'll ever even hope to know. But I don't think we could use that as proof that Jameis isn't better than Taysom Hill.

I think Jameis is going to win the job because Taysom Hill, when you watch him on film, he just doesn't look like an NFL quarterback. You see him hitch up in the pocket, and he hitches up like 15 yards. He just hitches up into the offensive line and takes a sack, and it's the weirdest thing in the world to watch. But I agree with you with their quarterback situation. It's bleak. It's awful.

And if Jameis Winston is, like, your upside for this year, then, like, I would be sad as a Saints fan. And the thing with them is their salary cap situation is not good, and I don't know what this team looks like post-Sean Payton. I mean, are we sure that this team is – this franchise is competent enough to recover from post-Jubreeze? Like, how much of Jubreeze's brilliance covered up some incompetent front office management? Because this salary cap situation was not good.

And there was that stretch for like, what, four or five years when they were going seven to nine every year. They got one good draft and that kind of turned things around. So I'm not sure that this team is actually in good hands going forward. And I think we kind of take that for granted just because Sean Payton has his reputation as an offensive genius. But we've never seen him without a Hall of Fame quarterback. Folks, if you are pumped up about how the Vikings did in the draft and now the schedule is out, it is a great time to get yourself a Skull Flag or Bud Grant shirt. And, of course, there's much, much more.

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even your fantasy football drafts. Check out Birdie Golf at 494 in Valley Creek in Woodbury, just a short drive from anywhere in the Twin Cities Metro, and at birdiegolf.com, or you could call 651-998-2200 today. I'll see you there. Right. Well, and there is the Drew Brees wasn't a Hall of Fame quarterback before Sean Payton. And then we get into a Belichick Brady type of thing of like, who is to blame for who? But I think it's, it's clear that Taysom Hill Jameis Winston is not taking you anywhere whether it's you know nine and eight or it's just absolutely horrible I think are

the only two options for this and then it's probably not going to be so bad even with Jameis in Tampa Bay it was never so bad that you get to draft Spencer Rattler next year so you end up stuck in the middle with neither one of those guys as your quarterback. The reason that I would give them credit for picking Taysom Hill over Jameis Winston is just because this would be like a beat reporter thing. Like when you cover training camp and you really focus on who's getting the reps, right? And that tells you everything you need to know because everybody's got to be on the same page with all of these things about all the players right the offensive coordinator the head coach the quality control guy the quarterback coach like they all got to be on the same page so for somebody and not and not that's impossible but for somebody to just hijack the whole thing

and be like i'm playing tasem and f all of you who wantameis. I don't know. I've got to think that it looked better in practice for Taysom Hill than it did for Jameis. And maybe just because, like, think how they were winning with Breeze and Bridgewater, which just don't turn the ball over. And that can actually win you a decent amount of games when you have a good roster. I will say that Taysom does turn the ball over a lot. Like, if you look at his turnover rate based on when he's played quarterback it's not very good so I will point that out I'm just gonna point that not that's because he's terrible would be the reason like both of these guys are bad that's why they're on our list uh let me give you a couple AFC ones and you can tell me if you agree

or disagree then we can talk about whether the Vikings belong on this list or the other list that we need to talk about. So I think that Houston is just an obvious one. Like if Deshaun Watson's getting suspended or something, what Davis Mills or Tyron Taylor, that's truly terrible. Pittsburgh is not good because they're going to do the same thing. They're going to win eight games this year. And that's, that one's not great either. i'll give you a one that i would pick but not confidently is miami the fact that they decided not to draft justin fields this year and stick with tua give him a wide receiver i have i have lived this before steven when i was in buffalo they traded their next year's first up to take sammy watkins so he could help ej manual i have seen this play out before.

It does not work. So do you agree with Miami, or are you willing to give Tua a little more time? Oh, no. I think just looking at the teams, they have to be on the list because they did – they got their draft capital, and maybe I don't know their draft capital well enough, but I'm pretty sure they – like, all the draft capital they built up, they've used most of it. So, like, this was the year.

Were you going to get a quarterback or his two other guy? And they chose two. So, if he busts, which, I mean, I think there were, the bar was a little bit too high for him because people are talking about him like he had this awful rookie year. And, I mean, there were times when it looked bad, but there were times when it looked good. Like, you look at that Chiefs game that they almost won,

he made some pretty good plays. Against the Cardinals, that game really impressed me. But after that, kind of went downhill. And I think, I mean, if I was a betting man, I would bet that he wasn't going to become a top-ten quarterback, which is what you need to win, right, consistently at least. You can have a Blake Bortles and go on a playoff run. But, yeah, I'd put them on the list.

The only reason I would be hesitant, which, like you said, you are, is because he is young. I mean, he's shown some things. I mean, maybe the ceiling isn't that high, but I think if you put enough talent around him, and Miami seems to be building a talented roster, it's one that's good enough where you can win with just a decent or even mediocre quarterback. The problem with that is you get kind of stuck in these situations where you're paying a Jared Goff because he has this great roster around him and maybe he's not that great. And if you don't win a Super Bowl when Tua's on a rookie contract, then that kind of like ends your chance of ever winning the Super Bowl because you're going to have to pay him eventually, especially if you're winning every year. Fans aren't going to be able to see through the fact that maybe Tua's kind of

holding them back if they're making the playoffs every year. You're going to grow attached to him and it's going to be hard to move on. And I'll throw out a team that i wouldn't put on this list but a team that could be headed down a dangerous road a la the rams with jericho and i would say the browns having to pay baker mayfield is going to cause some problems if he remains this baker mayfield because that i mean I don't know how you deny it. I get blowback on Twitter about this all the time when I bring up the play action thing and how dependent on play action that offense was and how,

if you look at every other quarterback in the league and how they do better with play action, like, why are you paying a quarterback premium for a quarterback who needs that, you know, schematic help right and something that these teams and i mean fans okay whatever but like the teams because you have a wide range of fans so i don't like to say like all fans think this but um but teams they tend to struggle to also see this even though they're doing it even though they're designing it because like with jared goff i mean took you to the super bowl so you feel like you had to do it but they also signed him real

early because they were afraid that there were going to be other quarterback contracts and it was going to jack up the price like i wonder if almost dallas played it right even though they're going to have to pay more just to wait and see and get the biggest sample size you can but what's hard is there's going to be a lot of quarterbacks in the world i think with how we're developing them and how many come out per year who can do what baker mayfield has done but it's scary for the team to say oh but what if and this is even with miami like but well we drafted this guy so we got to kind of stick with them and see what happens but the problem is the ceiling on Tua is probably Jared Goff.

And if you don't reach the Super Bowl because Mahomes exists, then what happens to you? You went to the playoffs a few times and then you trade him or something? I mean, you sign him to a ludicrous contract. It sinks your team. It's like you could see this like chess, like 11 moves ahead of what exactly is going to happen. And I think it's very possible with Baker. Their roster is amazing right now, but it won't be. And we've seen this play out with Cousins and we've seen it play out with Goff that these rosters quickly deteriorate the minute that guy comes off of that contract. Yeah, I think teams just don't have the sense of urgency, which is kind of weird to say about this business where you can get fired after one bad year. But, like, the 49ers, Kyle Shanahan in the media was defending Jimmy Garoppolo

against the criticism he heard. And then a year later, it's, oh, we need a new quarterback. We need it. Like, he's actually not good enough. But you could see, like, people were criticizing them when they were going to the Super Bowl. They're like, or Jimmy Garoppolo, I mean. Like, Jimmy Garoppolo is holding, will be the thing that held them back. And he probably lost them the Super Bowl.

Like, he missed a lot of plays that he could have made in that fourth quarter. And I just think teams probably think their Super Bowl window is going to stay open longer than it is. Like the Jaguars are another example, 2017 Jaguars. And in my opinion, I tweeted this out before, you don't have a Super Bowl window unless you have one of those top-notch quarterbacks. Otherwise, it's a year-to-year proposition. What you did last year does not mean anything for what you're going to do the next year

because your quarterback is so dependent on everything around him being good. And I think Kirk Cousins is like the best of those quarterbacks right now, probably. Maybe I should give that more thought. And even him, it's like with the Vikings, it's – and I know it's not all him, but it's like one year they're in the playoffs and maybe a fringe contender to make the Super Bowl. The next year they're 7-9, and it's just ups and downs, and it's never going to be consistent.

And I think teams need to do a better job of recognizing that and not growing attached to these players. And I think the Browns, I will say this, they have a front office that might be courageous enough to be like, maybe we shouldn't pay this guy but you you listen to those browns fans and i don't i just don't know how the front office does it like and this was before the deshaun watson stuff came out but there was talk about the browns trading for deshaun watson and browns fans were like no we're we're good with Baker. Baker's better. Like, are you out of your mind? Like Deshaun Watson is probably the second best quarterback in the league last year. And they're saying it about Aaron Rodgers too. I just, I don't,

who won MVP. So it's going to be hard for that team. And I think once they pay, I think this is the year for them. This is their 2018 Rams year. And after this. Yes, I totally agree. And unfortunately for every team who thinks they have a window because of this in the AFC, the homes continues to exist. It's like, you're going to have to somehow get by him. The ironic thing about it is I fully believe that if the Los Angeles Rams stuck with golf long enough, and actually I think this is about the Vikings, that they could draft enough good players that if you hit on a big draft, you can work around your big quarterback contract because you have great players on rookie contracts. So like the Vikings get Justin Jefferson. Let's say they hit on three players this year. All of a sudden, this roster is pretty stacked and not

that expensive, but usually teams don't hang on to the guy long enough to get to that other window on the other side when he's under his contract and they just trade away Jared Goff. And that does bring me kind of to the Vikings. I would agree. I think Derek Carr and Kirk Cousins are sort of the elite. Yeah. Yep. Yep. The elite of this. And I fully believe if they stick with Carr long enough, they'll have another year where they go 12 and 4 or 12 and 5 or whatever it is uh 13 and 4 well maybe that was screwed in his ball yeah maybe that's maybe that's true well to your point like car's contract is good now like three years ago was awful he's one of the most overpaid players now he's got like a

valuable deal he's making like 23 million. And like now with the quarterback market, it's always going up. Like he's like valuable. He's a valuable piece. But again, John Cruden is doing everything in his power to sabotage that team. Well, that, yeah, no, that's true. That may never happen, but let's say just in theory that, right. His contract now is not terrible.

And so, you know know with kirk they sort of did it the opposite way that they should have they should have probably had him have a high cap hit in the first year where they were rebuilding defense and then a low cap hit in the third year if they had sort of had a little more long-term vision for this so right now they would have been able to spend when they were ready to win again so I think it's it may be like rethink how you're structuring these to understand that you're what you just did, which might have been go to the Super Bowl or had a great season like that might not sustain. So you might have to rebuild it again for a few years. But that takes long term vision. And usually these people are under the gun.

But as we talk about this now, Kellen Mond is in the mix. And Kirk Cousins is in the mix and kirk cousins is in for all intents and purposes the last year of his contract because he will not play on a 45 million dollar cap hit next year so so what like what do we look at this as like is there a comparison to this i mean is it the jared goff type of situation like i mean the way i've thought of it is that the team basically said look we're kind of done with you unless you take us deep in the playoffs this year that's kind of how i'm looking at it in your opinion is that the right approach for them to have honestly i feel like i mean it depends on how it looks like how does a playoff run look? Is Kirk Cousins an MVP candidate in this scenario?

Is he like playing out of his mind or does it look like two years ago when they beat the Saints in the playoffs? Was that two years ago? Two years ago, yep. Does it look like that where Kirk played well? Like I know there was a slow start, but then they turned it around. Does it look like that? And then if it looks like that, then I wouldn't fault them for moving on

and thinking, like, this is as far as we're going to go. Like, we've got to blow this up. We're trying to win a Super Bowl, right? But if it looks more like it did last year, I would compare it to the Matt Stafford situation where with Stafford, like the Lions got rid of a good quarterback. Like, I don't know how you feel about Matt Stafford situation where with Stafford, like the Lions got rid of a good quarterback. Like, I don't know how you feel about Matt Stafford, but I think he's a talented quarterback and a good quarterback.

But everyone agreed, like, it's over. Like, it's time to move on. He's good. Like, he might be good enough to win a Super Bowl with the Rams if everything goes right there. But for the Lions, it was time. And I think that's where the Vikings will be at this time next year, assuming they don't go on this magical run,

which is possible because they have enough talent to be – like if everything goes right and the right players develop, like they have enough talent to go on a run. My thing is the Vikings shouldn't make the same mistake that they've made in recent years of trying to chase the previous year by like you look at the previous year you're like oh if we only had this then we would have won the Super Bowl and then they do everything they can in that offseason to get that piece but things change year to year so getting that piece doesn't ensure you're going to be you're going to you're going to get to where you wanted to go that previous year and I think that's the track you might fall into if Kirk Cousins does

have a great year this year and the Vikings offense has a great year so it's always like I don't know maybe I'm a cynical NFL fan where I'm like like last year I was rooting for the Panthers to lose every game I know there's people people out there that just can't do that. They can't bring themselves to do that. But if I'm a Vikings fan, I would be scared if we did make it to the divisional round because that might fool the front office into thinking, oh, maybe we're not that far off. Maybe, you know, just make some win-now moves and we can close that gap. Hey, everyone. I want to tell you about our friends at Scout Logistics.

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I mean, you should either be locked in and say this is who we're going to play around because he's good enough to win and we'll do everything we can to build around him or not not if you win this playoff game with a great throw to kyle rudolph then all of a sudden your qb won again i mean and we're gonna and the thing is too they extended him on the first day of free agency they didn't even like negotiate this thing deep into the offseason they just said no we're locked into you we and they and this was a real thing that that general manager rick spielman said he said we needed to uh redo his contract so we could sign michael pierce and that's exactly your point about all we need is this nose tackle and then we're good and it's

like that's not really and they're kind of doing that again with, oh, well, we just needed a couple of corners. We needed, you know, Patrick Peterson and we needed to stop the run with Delvin Tomlinson and that will change everything. And probably at least Las Vegas does not think that it will, you know, having him as an eight and a half team.

So we'll see on where it goes with the NFC. I think it's totally possible that they could go on a playoff run and decide that okay we're good and if Kellen Mond doesn't look good in practice or whatever we're just going to go forward with Kirk Cousins and I do think that they could still possibly come out on the other side of that good but you know what is the odd what are the odds that the ceiling is any higher than that when that's been on repeat year after year? So it's a very odd place to be because Vikings fans don't want to lose.

I mean, they want to see this team be very good this year, but the tradeoff for that is, well, that means they might extend Kirk Cousins, so do you also want that? So yeah, and I'm not one to tell people like, hey, root against your team. That's a tough one. Not unless you're in, now week 17 last year against the Lions, they should have played Jake Browning and lost the game. But you know, it's a very unique position to be in because here's what I think. If they got into that playoff situation you're describing, and then they just said, we're moving on from Kirk anyway, and traded him, there are usually so many quarterbacks available now that you could get someone else,

even if it isn't Mond, and come to a playoff team and be in a great situation, almost like Philip Rivers with Indianapolis. I think it's like you shouldn't any longer be afraid to move on from your quarterback if you think you can improve, like you do with every other position. Like the Chiefs, that was the Chiefs. They had Alex Smith, who was a fine quarterback. He was getting MVP talk the year before they moved on from him. He was like the MVP leader in like week eight of that year and they still moved on from him and I think teams need to have obviously having Patrick Mahomes they probably saw him in practice and saw him doing

all this amazing stuff that made it easier right but they had to draft Patrick Mahomes in order to be able to move on the next year and I just don't think teams are willing to do that enough and it goes back to the sense of urgency and realizing that the goal is to win a Super Bowl and the best way to do that is to have a chance every year and the only way to have a chance every single year is by having one of the best five quarterbacks in the league. It's not having a top 10 quarterback who you can win with. Like people are still saying, oh, like Matt McClure, when the Packers signed Blake Fordles, he was still saying at the press conference, he was like, oh, he led them to an AFC championship game.

Like people are still saying that about Blake Bortles as like a reason to sign him. And just that mentality like speaks to everything we're talking about the Vikings, even though obviously Kirk Cousins is a way, way, way, way, way better quarterback than Blake Bortles. But it's a different side of the same coin though. So I think that the Vikings actually are not in a terrible position because you have an end point. You have sort of like when you're stuck but you can't even see the end

or how it's going to go anywhere, that's when it's the worst. At least having another quarterback on the roster who might be your future along with knowing that it's kind of this year. And then we'll see after that, I think that's not a terrible place to be. But before we spent a lot more time on the bad team. So why don't we just wrap on this? Who would be a good quarterback situation that isn't obvious? Like it's obvious Kansas city,

Buffalo is in a pretty good position as long as Josh Allen keeps doing what he's doing, which a little skeptical. But, yeah, in the same way with Baker, a little skeptical. But who would you say is good that maybe people wouldn't think is a good situation? That's a good question. I would say, I mean, yeah, I'm going to leave out all rookie quarterbacks. Yeah, I'm going to leave out all rookie quarterbacks. I think the Raiders are actually in a decent spot because they have a decent quarterback. Obviously, the John Gruden thing ruins everything, but Derek Carr is – and I've been critical of Derek Carr.

I've written many things. I've argued with Raiders fans. But at the same time, I was arguing with Raiders fans because I said that Derek Carr was like a tier two tier three quarterback and they're like no he's tier one which is a ridiculous thing to say but he's a good quarterback on a decent deal that's kind of like a middle class deal right now which doesn't exist right now I would put them in that in that category I think I think I want to see what Lamar's contract looks like, but I think that could be a potentially good one just because how the media talks about him and I think there's that perception around the league. Maybe they get a discount on him and don't have to pay that top market

quarterback value. I think that would really end up being a good situation for them. And then I'm trying to think of one more non-Rookie quarterback. It's like the Rookie quarterbacks are the answer, right? Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah. I had one. I'll give you two.

I will give you football team because I think, like, knowing that you're not going to stick with Ryan Fitzpatrick, there's value in that, but they could also win. You could win that division with Ryan Fitzpatrick because There's value in that, but they could also win. You could win that division with Ryan Fitzpatrick because their defense is good and they have weapons to work with and an offensive line that's decent. And Fitzpatrick has weirdly gotten better throughout his career. So does he have a pop-up like Kerry Collins, 13-3 season?

Like who knows, right? But you know he's not your guy long-term. So that's a good place to be in. I would also give you the New York Giants because same way with Kirk, only younger, we've sort of come to this like crossroads. If you can't do it with Kenny Galladay and they drafted Kadarius Toney and you've already got a couple other players there who are good. If you can't do it with these guys and Saquon Barkley comes back,

then you're just bad. And we know to move on from here. Kind of like Mitch Trubisky last year. Like if you can't do it with this, then it's, it's your fault and you're just bad. And so then the next quarterback, though, think about this. If someone, if Baker Mayfield becomes available and you're the Giants, you have all these things to work with and you're the Giants. You're like a legendary franchise where someone would want to come. I mean, I think that's a great situation to be in now, like Tampa Bay, where when you move on from your quarterback, you're like,

who wants to quarterback us? Matt Ryan might be available next year, for instance. And Matt Ryan, I think, is still a good quarterback who could, you know, make that offense really good. I'll throw the Colts in there, too. And I think it goes along the same lines as you're saying like they traded for carson wentz and all that guaranteed money stayed with philadelphia so now you have this quarterback who has at least been good at one point and was okay like even two years ago and decent with this roster that's like this

offensive line like you could look a lot of quarterbacks will look good behind this offensive line they get some weapons going like michael pitman steps up in year two he's pretty good at the end of last year if paris campbell stays healthy i think that's a good offense a good coaching staff you have a quarterback who had enough talent to be drafted second overall and in his second year was the MVP candidate, I don't, I've never thought he was that good. But like you said, you don't really have anything committed to him. If he stinks this year, you can move on. If he's good, you have him for this below market value deal for, I think it's like two or three more years. I don't remember what's left on his contract, but it's a significant amount of time.

Like that's an ideal situation. It's low risk, high reward. And if he stinks, you move on and you draft a quarterback next year. And I'll throw Denver out there just because they might get Aaron Rodgers. That's all. Then you get immediately to the top of the list. Steven Ruiz, you want to follow him on Twitter, at theStevenRuiz does tremendous work for USA Today's For the Win blog. And, I mean, I really mean it that I learn something every time I read you.

And I laugh at your tweets all day long, making fun of the Carolina Panthers. So it's good stuff. I'm really glad we get back together. We'll definitely do it again soon, man. Thanks for having me. And there will be plenty of Panthers tweets for everyone. Trust me. Yeah.