Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Viking camp update: Darnold has bounce-back day and fan questions (part 1)

Episode Date: August 1, 2024

Matthew Coller talks about what he saw at Vikings camp on Wednesday when Sam Darnold had a much better padded practice than his first attempt. JJ McCarthy's ups and downs, Robert Tonyan banged up and Matt Daniels talked kickoff Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here, and I have just gotten back to TCO Performance Center alive, thankfully, because it was a very treacherous ride home. All of a sudden, storm came out of nowhere. Right at the end of practice, things were starting to wrap up, and we start to see lightning off in the distance. Everybody's clear in the facility, and then the skies open up. So it was a very slow and a little bit scary at times ride home,

but I am happy and safe now inside the Purple Insider Studios and good to go for talking about a practice on one of the hottest days maybe of my entire existence out there. But they completed the whole practice despite the heat and despite the oncoming storm. And it was actually quite eventful today, the second day in pads for the Vikings offense and defense. And we also heard a lot about the kickoff, though we have not actually seen the kickoff practice during training camp in the portions

that are open to the media. So we'll just have to stick to talking about the quarterbacks. What a shame. But Matt Daniels did discuss it a bit, and we'll talk about that as well. So I've got a bunch of notes. I'm going to dive right into them. But before we get into it, I want to let you know about our sponsor, US Cellular. And they noticed the way that we use our phones has gotten ironic. We try to put our phones down for dinner, but the menu is on a QR code. That's ironic. We hit like on social media posts that we don't actually like. Also ironic, which is why U.S. Cellular created UsMode to help us reconnect with each other and use our phones less ironically. A phone company wanting

people to use their phones less is ironic. Let's find us again with UsMode from U.S. Cellular. Visit uscellular.com slash built for us to get started. It is good to have sponsors. So I'm going to go through my notes from practice today and you guys react, but also leave questions. And I think that if you watch on a nightly basis, you've got the rhythm of this by now, ask the questions. And when I'm done going through my takeaways, then I will answer them and we will have a good time. Biking's off tomorrow, by the way, so I won't be doing a live show because I will not have a practice to react to unless there is some news, which I guess you never know.

So let's start with this. Sam Darnold bounces back. You wouldn't believe it, folks, but we couldn't judge the entire quarterback competition based off the first padded practice. Shocking analysis there. But today I thought the Darnold looked actually quite good. So they did fail at the end in the two minute drill. And if he had been able to convert in that drill, then it would have been maybe the best day that we have seen from Sam Darnold. Even since he arrived, I thought he threw the ball pretty confidently,

completed several passes downfield, ran a bootleg throw that he found Jordan Addison down the field. And the highlight of his day was hitting Johnny Munt down the seam. And Johnny Munt was out there looking like Rob Gronkowski in this one. So what happened, just to set the scene for you a little bit, Johnny Munt and Brian Asamoah got into it after an underneath route. Asamoah was a little too aggressive at pushing Johnny Munt out of bounds. Munt threw the ball at him.

They had to be broken up. And then two plays later, Sam Darnold threw an absolute BB on a line to Johnny Munt on a seam route where he got it away in the secondary, caught it, and it would have been a touchdown either way, but ran it into the end zone, the whole celebration. Just one of a number of very strong throws from Sam Darnold. And the biggest thing that was happening today, other than that throw, the other one to Addison, there wasn't a ton of deep balls going down the field left and right. In fact, there were a lot of throws that went to Johnny Munt today as the number one tight end, and we'll get to an injury

in that room in just a minute. And there was the throws out of the backfield, a couple of swing passes to Aaron Jones, a couple of completions there, but the ball just didn't hit the ground very much for Sam Darnold today. And also it came out pretty fast for him. Drop back, hit the back foot, go through the read, find someone to throw to move on much more comfort from him today than the first day of practice. Now he was practicing against the second team defense and JJ McCarthy against the first team defense, because that seems to be how they do it a lot with this team. And I did ask Wes Phillips today about that theory and why they're doing that. And he said that it was to try to get JJ McCarthy on the right timing for what it's going to be

actually like to go up against NFL defenses, get those guys in there and maybe a little more complicated defenses. So you do have to factor that in that the better players and a little more complication was going against McCarthy than was going against Sam Darnold. Still, that's how they often do it. That's how they did it. Even when Kirk cousins was here most of the time. and then when it comes to the situational stuff the two-minute drills that's where it's ones ones and twos twos maybe that's a little more indicative of what those quarterbacks are going to do but I did think it was an important day for Sam Darnold to get back on the horse after that first tough padded practice,

complete a bunch of throws, look more comfortable with where he was supposed to go with the football and had a pretty good day overall from start to almost finish. There was a throw that he made on a fourth down to Jordan Addison over the middle of the field. And it was just a nice pass breakup. Looked like it was going to get in there for a first down that's how the drill ended for Sam Darnold and his pretty solid day going into that off day which is why the other day when we were talking about this after the first padded practice my big kind of message is guys this isn't getting decided today where this quarterback situation is going, that it's going to develop over a couple of weeks. The next two weeks of padded practices will tell us a lot. And then in the third week, they're going to, or whatever, I guess at the second week,

I don't know what the day is that we are going to Cleveland and then it's the 14th and 15th. So I guess that puts us just over two weeks from right now going to Cleveland and they're going to learn a lot between now and when they face Cleveland in those joint practices. And then that will tell us a lot about where these quarterbacks stand. So each day is going to kind of build on the amount of knowledge that we had. So that's how Sam Darnold looked. A lot of good throws today. A lot of knowledge that we had. So that's how Sam Darnold looked. A lot of good throws today. A lot of confidence from him today.

On McCarthy's side, I felt like he was having a much more difficult time in this practice, even than he did in his first padded practice. But this one was a little harder for him. There were numerous times where he had to scramble or a couple times where he would have gotten sacked. One where they sent Josh Metellus on a blitz and it wouldn't have been sacked. It would have been hospitalized because Metellus came through completely free. McCarthy didn't get rid of the ball. It would have been blindside. You are going to the sideline and out of the game for McCarthy. And there were definitely a lot of those

moments where you're like, okay, man, that's where you got to get rid of that football. It's got to go somewhere. And at the same time, every single day with JJ McCarthy, there is something mixed in there that makes you say, wow, because of his arm. And there were two throws today that were very impressive. And I believe both of them were to lucky Jackson for whatever reason, he has great chemistry with lucky Jackson. And if that's what keeps lucky Jackson on the team, well, good for him because it feels like every time we're talking about, yeah, you know, McCarthy had this good throw. Who did it go to? It's almost always lucky Jackson. So both times were today. The first one was in the red

zone, an outbreaking route where he just let it rip and was able to find him in the end zone. That's good and had a lot of velocity, but his throw at the end of practice in the two minute drill was one. I was standing right there near it on the sideline. So I had a great look at it coming toward me. That was one that is a first round draft pick type of throw. It was a deep out maybe, or I guess, I guess it was an hour corner. Maybe it was a corner route. It was an outbreaking route toward me. I was looking at the quarterback, so I didn't see the entire route develop, but I want to say it was probably more of a corner route. So he's breaking out toward the sideline at somewhere around 15 yards is he's making his break and McCarthy stepped into it and let it fly 20, 25 yards in the air, something like that.

I didn't get the exact yard markers. And I mean, just right there, perfect accuracy, tremendous velocity. And you sort of do the, that's it. That's the one after, even after a practice where there were a lot of moments that you thought he looked like a rookie, there's the talent that shows up and it has shown up on a daily basis. And it was a great way for him to end it. And that was it right there. He made that throw.

Then they just did a handoff. It was like, okay, we're going inside. There's lightning out here. But I also wonder if they had any more plays they wanted to run, but thought, Hey, let's just walk away. It's kind of like, uh, if you're out in the golf course in the eighth hole and you chip it in or something, you know, I don't want to play the ninth hole. I just want to walk. I just want to go home. Maybe that was how they felt. They didn't say that, but it was a really, really tremendous throw. He has looked quite comfortable in the two minute drills each time. And this is part of his MO when he was in college is that anytime Michigan needed him,

he was there in the big moments. And I'm not saying that this is simulating big moments in NFL games. It's just that he seems to want to be there and let one fire away in a two minute drill. He did well in the two minute drill the other day and did it again today. And he deserves credit for that. So even though it was not as impressive for JJ McCarthy today. You don't walk away going, oh, well, man, what a horrible practice because you do have those highlights mixed in and you expect it to keep growing and growing and growing on itself. So I thought overall you would give pluses to both quarterbacks for different reasons. McCarthy's going to have a lot to look at on tape and

Darnold is going to have some regrets about that final drive. But this is why it has to require that big sample size because Darnold had a good day today working with the first team. He's out there. Justin Jefferson didn't practice, but not for injury related reasons, but he's out there throwing the nailer. He's thrown to Jordan Addison. They're building up their chemistry because it's still more likely that Sam Darnold starts than JJ McCarthy. And it's fun to do a meter every day. And maybe I should start moving it all over the place. They, where's the quarterback meter. I don't really believe in that though. I still believe that there's a chance that McCarthy

starts, but Darnold has been QB one since mini camp and something would have to happen. Preseason games could be a part of this joint practices that there would still have to be a lot of momentum to be gained for JJ McCarthy before he could actually beat out Sam Darnold. And there weren't any reps with the first team today. Maybe we'll see them when we come back on Friday. They'll go back and look at the tape and say, all right, well, it's time to get JJ some first team reps. And I saw that today in Denver, Bo Nix was getting first team reps there. And at least the report I saw kind of made it seem like this is the first time he's really gotten a lot of them. I mean, this is a process that doesn't need to be rushed super fast for JJ McCarthy to get in with that first team. This can still continue to build.

But what we saw from Darnold was he was the overall better quarterback today. And that's probably going to happen a lot where one day we think, well, actually McCarthy was better today, or one day actually Darnold was better today. And we'll have to see what the coaching staff thinks about that. And it will be reflected in the reps that they get as we go forward. If Kevin O'Connell thinks he's ready to take the first team reps, then we're going to see it. And if he doesn't, then we won't. And I can tell you about every practice and I will, and we'll have a great time breaking it down and speculating about it. It's really what it's going to come down to though, is how Kevin O'Connell interprets knowing so much more than us, how each guy is running the offense.

Are they doing it to the way that O'Connell has it drawn up? Because the person who gets it closer to the way he wants it is the one who's going to start. And right now the veteran would be the one that you would start if you had a game tomorrow, but there's still a ways to go. So I guess my point in breaking this down in depth with Sam Darnold's day is that if you decided just after the first padded practice that McCarthy was starting, maybe slow your roll just a little bit. It's good that JJ McCarthy on a daily basis is showing a lot of things that you'd like to see from a first-round draft pick,

but we also don't have to rush this. I made a crack in an article that I wrote for today that everybody wants to talk about how great it was that the Chiefs sat Mahomes for a year until they watch a Sam Darnold bad practice. And then it's not funny anymore, or then it's not a reference anymore. Forget about that. Play the rookie. We can take it slowly still. And Sam Darnold looked like a competent NFL quarterback today. It's just, this is his career where one day he can look pretty good

and another day he can struggle. And that's exactly how training camp has gone so far. Next thing on the list here, Robert Tunyon got hurt. And I'm sure that you all want to know how hurt and how long. And is he done or is he going to be fine? I don't know. I just know that he went down. I believe it was in the end zone. And I saw some people say that the cart came out for him. I just know that he went down. I believe it was in the end zone. And I saw some

people say that the cart came out for him. I didn't necessarily see that myself. It looked like it was serious, but this has happened before where someone's injury looks serious and then it doesn't turn out to be. So I don't want to declare Robert Tunyon's injury to be serious. But this is a guy that had a pretty big opportunity here to battle for position. We've seen a lot more Johnny Munt. We've seen Mick Muse mix in a little bit. I didn't see Josh Oliver in 11 on 11s, but I did see Josh Oliver in pads and with his helmet.

So I'm not sure exactly what that was or where his status is, like not enough to miss practice, but I didn't see him running too many 11-on-11s. Johnny Munt got a ton of work today. Tunyon had not flashed outside of one day, but at the same time still had an opportunity here. And if he's okay, then he will still have that opportunity. If it is a serious injury, it's going to be really too bad for somebody who has made a good impression on this team. As far as Nick Muse goes, he's flashed a couple of times throughout this training camp. He's a guy that's battling for position and just overall with the tight end room in general, you felt pretty good about how they could replace TJ

Hawkinson for a few weeks. It just seems that Johnny Munt is going to be the guy. He's going to be TJ Hawkinson and play that role. And honestly, he didn't do a bad job of it last year. It just felt like Tanyan was more of a wide receiver-ish tight end than Johnny Munt, who had spent most of his career as a blocker. But tight ends develop slowly, and Munt has done a good job overall in this training camp. And when he was in last year at the end of the season, Oliver is so much more of a blocker that that's going to be his role. He can play in the passing game, but he is an elite blocker. That's where he's going to be at his

absolute best. And it looks like month is going to take on the rest of the work. If Robert Tunyon is out for a portion of time out for camp out for the season, we just don't know. And if anybody sees it on Twitter, feel free to let me know if his agent, uh, you know, sent somebody a text and told them what's going on, but we haven't gotten any report yet on Robert Tunyon's health. Fabian Morrow, everybody get used to number 39, I think. Fabian Morrow, because he was playing a lot today in training camp, mixing in with the first team along with Caleb Evans.

This team has no patience for their defensive backs. They want them in and they want them in now. They are not going to slowly bring them along when it's a veteran like Bobby McCain or Fabian Morrow. You're on the team, go play with the first team. And that's what Fabian Morrow was doing a lot of. And of course, that meant not a whole heck of a lot of Andrew Booth Jr. And my suspicion was yesterday, and this doesn't make me Sherlock football homes,

but my suspicion was that that would be the guy who got pushed essentially onto the bench was Andrew Booth Jr. And that is more or less what we observed out there today. Not that Andrew Booth wasn't getting some reps, but for Fabian Morrow to come in and right away take them while Andrew Booth is a second round pick and is in his third year with this team, pretty telling, pretty telling about how they feel about Booth Jr. And at this moment, maybe he would make the team as the final cornerback, but I mean, Morrow's got to practice and show them what he's got and he's got to fit in and they have to be impressed enough with him to be able to trust him. It just seems like already

they were willing to go, all right, get in there first team and rotating in a bit with the caleb evans they also by doing this are showing their commitment to using more of byron murphy jr in the slot and i think that's good because it gives them more flexibility it also is his better position throughout his career and when he signed here that's what he thought he was going to do. And then last year, just by necessity, he ends up playing almost all outside corner and Josh Metellus ends up as the nickel, but Metellus is not a one-on-one guy in the nickel. I mean, he could play back in a zone, but it's not like you want a safety slash linebacker type like Josh Metellus taking on some of the fastest receivers in the league. And Nickel, that's where you'd much rather have situationally or just a week-to-week

scheme, an option to have Byron Murphy Jr. there. And there were times where Metellus was back at the deep safety today, and he's probably going to do that a bit more with Harrison Smith being up there in age and then wanting to take a little bit of the workload off of him. But interesting enough that the new guy, get your key fob, get in the building and get in front of Andrew Booth Jr. on that depth chart. Also, Jay Ward stayed at corner, which was notable to me as well. That seems like something they want to see quite a bit of, and maybe we'll be watching for when we get to preseason time, because I was curious to see if when they signed a corner, that was a veteran, if they would just move him back to safety, but Bobby McCain has stayed at

safety and Jay Ward has stayed at corner. They seem committed to that bit. Last thing here on the list is Matt Daniels talking kickoffs. And I'll bring you one of his comments today, but a lot of interesting stuff. I am very fascinated, compelled, and excited to see the return of the kickoff. I was watching an old game the other day and the kickoff kicker had something like 50 kickoffs and eight touchbacks and this was only 2008 it was only 15 years ago but just a reminder of this used to be a big play in football and then it just became not a play in football at all if you were born in say i don't know 2014 you would think why did i would that make you, but maybe you would have this deep thought. What, like, what are these kickoffs for? I mean, if you were just getting old enough to watch

football and every time they kicked it out of the back of the end zone, like, why do they do this? This is a waste of time. Well, sunny boy, they used to have a lot of returns and they would even have fun players who were good at it. Imagine, that's, I think, going to come back. But here's Matt Daniels talking about the new kickoff rule. Hey, Matt, having several months to reflect on it and also prepare for it, how are you feeling about the new kickoff rule? I'm feeling great about the new kickoff. I think it's a great thing that the NFL is doing, trying to, you know,

really I'm all for innovation and creativity at the end of the day. That's kind of what the game needs. Not to say that the old kickoff kind of felt a little staunch, but it's good to have, you know, we're looking to try to introduce a new kickoff rule where, you know, we increase the amount of plays from a special teams standpoint, decrease the amount of concussions that does take place. How can we limit the high speed collisions uh that happen and you know at the end of the day it's going to give a lot more opportunities to a

lot more guys maybe you might be able to put you know some more starters out there just because you're eliminating the running phase of it it's going to require a lot more creativity uh scheming schematically coaching uh is going to be heavily involved in it. And so with that, you know, it's a challenge, but all of us should really embrace the challenge because that's all a part of it, just our growth. So there were a lot of different things that we grilled Matt Daniels on about the kickoff from whether they would have position players to how many returners they might have. And the answer is basically you're going to see it week one is when we're going to figure out what's really going on with these kickoffs

because he even said that during the preseason, they can only show so much. They want to keep it under wraps how they're going to do the kickoffs. And this does give every team their opportunity to give their interpretation of how these new kickoffs are going to work, because it's going to look wildly different when you have the two teams lining up a few

yards away from each other. Guy gets the ball and then all hell breaks loose. And he said today that he thinks that it's going to determine games early on in the season, just how well prepared teams are for this or what you can come up with that your opponent is not ready for. And I am just absolutely fascinated. I hope that it works. I hope that it sticks because a player like Kenny Wong Wu, who is not really going to ever work in, in that running back room can have a more impactful career. And it's a weapon for the Vikings to have a guy like that.

Whereas recently every once in a while, it has been, but not on a weekly basis. It wasn't somebody that opponents would have to be terrified of, but now if they actually can increase the number of returns, well, there is that edge and it will be something the Vikings can use to their advantage.

But do you have one? Do you have two? Are teams going to do squibby kicks or are they going to kick it out of the back of the end zone and give you the ball at the 30? Or I don't know. We're going to find out. Are they going to do trick plays? Are they going to throw it backwards?

Are they going to hand it off? Are they going to? There's so many different options for Matt Daniels and he was trying hard not to tip his hand, but there is one thing that I'm a little concerned about. And that is the number of times that the kicker got involved with the tackling in the XFL version. There was some numbers on that that said something like 25 to 30 percent of the kickoffs there were times where the kicker had to be even somewhat involved in the tackle that's not great that's not really what you want to see and the vikings don't have a kicker who looks very tough and i don't mean

he couldn't beat me up but just overall this is not a six foot four 240 pound kicker this is a guy you don't want tackling anyone so matt daniel said i think his exact quote was it's scary honestly that the kicker can be as involved in this and then he talked about uh is there a potential for a player to do the kickoff? And it's in consideration, but at the same time, if you have a linebacker like Kamu Grugier-Hill, who has done kickoffs before, I mean, is there a chance that he gets hurt kicking off? He does have experience doing it, but he's done it seven times in his entire career, which is way more than most people. He's the emergency kickoff guy for a couple of teams,

but do you want him doing it every time when he is a big special teams player and a backup linebacker? And then what if a linebacker's hurt? And now Kamu Grugier-Hills, your starting linebacker, but he's also got to kick off. What if he gets hurt? You know, what if he hurts his leg? You know, that if he hurts his leg? You try, you know, that sort of

thing. They're going to consider all of those aspects of it. But this is what I mean about, this is the complete wild west of kickoffs. You can do whatever you want and the league will, I'm sure, adjust the rules as it goes along and as teams try certain things, but everything is up for grabs at this moment. And they may do something like have Kamu Grugier Hill be the kickoff man because he's done it before. And that would really be something in itself. So when we see it, it'll be the first time for all of us because they haven't practiced it because they don't want anyone else to know.

They don't want any fan videos from the stands showing how they're going to do their kickoff. So it sounds like they've been doing it all during walkthrough. So there you go. There is your Vikings practice report. And now your questions, your comments, toss them in the comment section and I will run through them. Janet says, don't you think it's ironic that both quarterbacks look better against the second defense?

Can't wait for Cleveland's practice reps. Well, I don't think it's ironic so much as, of course, yeah, they're going to look different against the second team defense. That's just sort of stands to reason that they would. And I think as camp goes along, you'll get more ones versus ones. You'll do a lot more situations because the way that it's working now is they're still putting in things, installing things and getting everybody comfortable with what they're doing. But then at some point it goes to situational two minute after two minute after two minute, you know, where they're doing a lot of that work. This is more of a time where

the quarterback is still getting locked into the playbook, getting the calls out, getting the reads out, going back to Josh McCown and Kevin O'Connell and having conversations. All right, well, it's supposed to actually work like this. Sometimes they might have to do it again if it didn't work the way they wanted to. And then when we get to, yeah, the Cleveland practice reps, or when we get to a little later into training camp, then we'll see more of the situational stuff and get more of a look at it. But yeah, I mean, it's not shocking that they would do better against the second defense. Although I would say that the cornerbacks for the second defense aren't a whole lot different at this point than the cornerbacks of the first defense.

So the guys that you're throwing against might not be totally different. But yeah, I mean, with McCarthy, I don't see any problem with it. I think it's a good idea to simulate the actual speed. That's why I asked because I didn't know. And that's why I asked Wes Phillips. And the idea is to get closer to simulating the actual speed that he's going to face going twos versus ones. Now, I'm not sure why they did it so much with Kirk Cousins and Mike Zimmer never did this. It was always ones, ones. And I asked the national reporter who travels around to different training camps. I'm like, are we the only team that does this here?

And he said, yeah, that he hadn't seen other teams go ones versus twos, twos versus ones. So an interesting theory for them to do it. David says, are JJ's low points repeating themselves? The low points are always kind of the same with how it looks, which is normally just the ball doesn't quite come out on time when it's supposed to, which probably means that he just didn't see something quick enough or identify, or the defense looked a little bit different than he thought it was going to look, or maybe he didn't decide to scramble quite enough in training camp practices.

This is where it's way different than the games. You're not jumping to scramble because your life isn't in danger with edge rushers coming at you because you know, they can't hit you. It's in the back of your mind. So you can wait and you can wait and you can wait, uh, in a real game. There are a few times where I'm sure he would have scrambled earlier with the way the pressure was coming on rather than waiting and looking for something. But I mean, the low points are really, oh, that looked like he couldn't find anybody open or just maybe didn't identify something quick enough. But I think it's important that the low points haven't been wild inaccuracy. That is important that I have not watched McCarthy and thought this guy's spraying the

ball all over the place. This guy looks like me off the tee. Normally I'm pretty decent off the tee, but you get my point. You know, he's not hooking them into the woods. He's not overthrowing people. One time when I was in Buffalo covering the Bills, EJ Manuel hit a hospitality tent. It was so far off and he threw a deep ball that it traveled over this track that was going around the field and hit a tent. Like there's been nothing like that as far as crazy inaccuracy. And during mini camp, it wasn't timed out very well and it didn't

feel very accurate. And it hasn't been't been oh man he missed that guy by a mile there's been a there have been some but it hasn't felt on a play-to-play basis like gosh this guy is gonna have to learn how to throw a football he knows how to throw a football and it's all about getting down the timing and uh the plays and stuff like that but it's it's definitely not been insane in accuracy, which I think was the biggest worry was, will this quarterback be able to develop his accuracy? But what we're learning is that accuracy is half just the technical parts and knowing where to throw the ball and on what time, and then half how you do this and throw the ball.

And with someone like Drew Brees, for example, those technical parts were so good, understanding the offense, where to throw it, what on time to throw it, that it looks even better than it actually is accuracy-wise because he was so technically smart. That's where J.J. McCarthy is coming along. But no, I mean, that would be the one that would be obvious to me now maybe Kevin O'Connell knows yeah man he can't get down this one thing or that thing but I don't know what the play calls are I can only see what the results are and it doesn't

look like there's been some sort of crazy thing that he's doing over and over and over again Sean says do you think the amount of attention Munt is getting is a sign that he will be the primary tight end receiving option while Hawk is recovering? Yes. Yes, I do. As of this moment, Johnny Munt would be tight end one starting. No question about it. In fact, I don't know that Robert Tunyon took any first team reps even before he got hurt. It's been all Johnny Munt.

This is somebody that the coaching staff brought over with them from Los Angeles. They clearly trust him. They brought him back as a free agent. He really wasn't much of a reception in Los Angeles, but they must have seen something that they thought he could be, and he catches the ball generally. So they believe in Johnny Munt as someone who can take on as much as they ask him to do as the tight end number one. And the fact that he already had a little bit of experience last year means almost without question that he's going to be. And then

Oliver is going to continue to do his role, which is that tight end two blocking role. And we'll see about Robert Tunyon's health. I was thinking Tunyon is probably tight end to blocking role. And we'll see about Robert Tunyon's health. I was thinking Tunyon is probably tight end three going into training camp. He had more experience as a receiver. I wondered, okay. Okay. Because he's a better receiving tight end. Historically,

is he going to, to win this job? But I think Munt knows the offense so well that he's got a pretty big edge there. Evan says, this might be a dumb question, but I haven't been to training camp yet. So what do will Seth and Ryan do all day? Okay. This is one of the funniest things of training camp. What they do all day is a great

question. Uh, because one time ever we paid attention to the kicker during training camp practice. And that was when they traded for Corey Vedvik. Fifth round draft pick for the kicker slash punter. And if you guys remember Paul Hodowanek, former Purple Insider intern slash employee, now working for pgatour.com. Paul's job as an intern, not for me, but he was interning for, I think one of the TV stations was to go around and video everything that Corey Vedvik did that day. And so it was taking a few punts to a Vikings intern. And then it was kicking a couple of field goals over by himself. It was not exciting. They kind of not to their job, training camp is not their time of

year. They kind of stand around and I don't look at them a whole lot. So I can't tell you every single thing they do, but they take their kicks over on the side field. They do some punting over on the side field and I don't know what else. Then they wait for their turn to get out into the actual reps. I mean, they do have drills where they're punting to the punt returners and they're doing certain types of punts, but those drills don't last that long. And then they go back over to the other field. And I think Kevin O'Connell mentioned something about Will Reichard going to US Bank Stadium and practicing. They've got their own thing. They're their own little crew they always

are over on that other field but that's a that's a good question of what they're doing they're doing the same thing i'm doing it seems most of the time which is watching i guess you got to be a good talker if you're one of those people so you can make conversation for several hours a day for a long period of time uh dustin says does the team have another practice in the morning or are they just talking about the new kickoff and haven't practiced it yet? They have a walkthrough in the morning and then they do a practice in the afternoon. It's they don't put on pads or anything and they don't do any real reps. They stand out there and they go through slowly what they would be doing. And then that's what you practice in the

afternoon that would mean that they're getting over on the other field and having all the so you've got the offensive defense running through their things slowly here's the play calls here's how we want you to read this okay quarterback and then the quarterback will toss it like your dad would throw to you in the backyard a little toss to you it's the least intense thing ever and they used to have it open to fans and it was absolutely silly it's like there's nothing to see here we used to go walk in we don't do that anymore under this administration which is fine because there was nothing to see it's's just people walking around slowly. And that must be when they are going out there and doing what they want to do to set up for this, but they're going

to have to show it eventually. It's just more likely than not. It'll be when fans aren't there because there are fans in the stands. I'm sure you guys have seen it, who are videoing stuff and tweeting it out or putting it on Tik on TikTok or whatever. And that is mostly fine for offense and defense because this is install stuff. So it's one-on-one versions and other teams already know this. This would be like saying, I'm going to teach you English and teach you the alphabet of how this all works. So when you're videoing this stuff and tweeting it out, it's cool because we get to see how the players are, uh, or fans get to see on social media, how the players are playing

and the highlights and stuff like that. But if you're another team and you're trying to watch it and go, what are those Vikings doing? Well, you're not going to get a whole heck of a lot off of these. That's when they close practices. but if they were doing kickoff practices then you actually would because you can't do the basic or whatever they'd be actually having to practice it when they close it to fans then there's going to be no video anywhere of how they're going to do it and that's when i'm guessing they will do their practice but yeah it's just it's just the walk through uh nick says when do the joint practices start There's only two of them and they are the 14th and 15th of August in Cleveland. I will be there and it'll be fun. Cade says, Naylor needs

to stay healthy and making some plays. It sounds like you are correct. Every day with Jalen Naylor, he did something, you know, something the other day that, you know, where he jumped up and caught a pass. And then I was like, man, he's done something for every practice. And then today he had another catch where he burned somebody and got open. He's a good player. I don't think Kevin O'Connell was making it up. He wasn't gaslighting on Jalen Naylor. It wasn't a bet.

You know, we do the milkshake, but I don't think he was trying to win a milkshake by always praising Jalen Naylor. It's real. The talent is real. It's the health is really the thing as you brought up, but so far in good shape and has played really well. And they have their wide receiver three as of right now, uh, respect to Brandon Powell and the role that he has on this team, but it's yeah, it's wide receiver three Jalen

Naylor at this moment. And there isn't really any question about that. Alex, I'm sick of the media pressing KO on when McCarthy is going to take first-team reps. Fans of this team don't want him starting this year, and it's unnecessary to pressure on the coach. That is the job, is to ask the coach what's happening with the football team and to get answers for you kind people.

It is Kevin O'Connell is, I believe him and I, are we the same age? I think is he a 38 year old man? He's a 38 year old man who runs a $6 billion organization. He can absolutely answer what's going on with the first and second team reps of the football team. And trust me,

my or Kevin Seifer or Judd's oldad or whoever's questions to Kevin O'Connell are not bothering him. They are not pressuring him. He is prepared for them. Every interview that he ever gets, guess what the question is? When's JJ McCarthy going to play? And Kevin O'Connell knew when they drafted JJ McCarthy that people were going to ask him, when's JJ McCarthy going people were going to ask him,

when's JJ McCarthy going to play? I absolutely promise you he doesn't go back into his office and put his heads in his hands and say, I've got to play him. The media is pushing me so much. I've got to play him. I absolutely guarantee you that's not the case. So he can give you answers. He can give you answers and it's fine.

And you know what? The answers sometimes are interesting and telling and we can discuss them. He's not crying because we're asking about the reps. We're all curious about the process. The fans want to know exactly what is going on with JJ McCarthy and Sam Darnold. and we're going to let it play out. There is no reason I agree, though, and you're part of saying there's no reason to push for it.

I think it's two different things. Asking questions is the job. Getting information is the job of reporters. Now, if you're talking about people being opinionated about this and demanding J.J. McCarthy start, that's not happening within the media that I've seen. I haven't seen anyone demanding that J.J. McCarthy start. All of us understand where this thing is going.

Eventually, it's going to J.J. McCarthy will play when he's ready. I'm fine with that. I haven't seen anyone else who's not fine with that. But we're all curious about the thinking and the process of actually getting there. And so we will continue to do our best and Kevin O'Connell will continue to understand

and not have his feelings hurt by being asked about the reps. Loaded Guitars said, did JJ look like a competent quarterback today? At times, at times he had some very much wow throws, but also had some rookie looking moments where he would have been either sacked or just didn't have the greatest throw or make the greatest decision, which is what it looks like to be a rookie in an NFL camp. And sometimes it's what it looks to be anybody

in an NFL camp. It's not like every single Kirk practice was just a laser show out there. There's always going to be good and bad days, but I thought today it was a little harder on him than it was the previous day. And so far with padded practices, neither one has been some phenomenal practice. It's just that you see the flashes of what he ultimately can be at his best. And that's where you don't have any question why he was drafted in the first round, why they believed in him, why they did this whole thing with moving on from Kirk Cousins, a throw like he had to Lucky Jackson on that corner route today. There it is. If I had to present you one training camp throw that said,

why did they draft that guy? There it was because he has a lot of talent. It's just going to take time. And, uh, that's a hard thing for everybody to wrap their head around is that it is going to take time. And if we evaluate every single practices,

well, did he move the neater closer or farther away from starting? I don't think that that's really how they're looking at it. They don't go back into the office and go, you know what? I was close on him starting, but no, he didn't throw that one concept. It's more of a progression,

which is boring, but is also true that it's got to be more days that are strung together, more comfort, knowing where to get rid of the ball when the pressure comes identifying when Josh Metellus is coming on a blitz, as opposed to having him run free and potentially murder you. I mean, like this is just, you know, these things will, these things will come along and we've seen him do it in stretches enough to feel like it's there. But consistency is always something that a rookie quarterback has got to work his way through. Maxwell says, what did you make of coach Daniel's comments about

games being won and lost based on special teams, more specifically the kickoffs feels like he's spot on. Yeah. He said in the first couple of weeks, and that's where I totally agree with him is it's kind of like, remember the pass interference rules or even the rules where they were going way over the top for protecting quarterbacks for a little while there, or anybody that even bumped into a quarterback, just got a flag that still happens to some extent, but that one year they were going nuts with it. And the Vikings game against the Packers in week two was significantly impacted by both things, right? Wasn't there the one year with the interference call, they took away a touchdown for the Vikings because they looked back at the replay and saw some interference that happened.

That was insane to take away a touchdown. And then there was somebody bumped into Kirk Cousins and gave the Vikings another shot and they went and tied the game. That was in 2018. I don't know. I don't know what this is going to look like because the NFL needs a couple of weeks usually to refine these things. And that doesn't just mean the rules wise. It also means the coaches. And this is what Matt Daniels was saying is the first couple of weeks, everybody's going to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. And then after several weeks, they'll make their adjustments and they'll get it figured out and it'll be okay. But it's going to be pretty wild

for those first couple of weeks and adds another layer. We're all always incredibly excited for football adds just that extra little layer of intrigue to this season. I shot you 99. Are you excited for some football tomorrow? No. I mean, I know you guys know that I'm crazy about football and I, yes, I will watch, but not since I was maybe eight, have I been excited? I do have standards folks. Okay. Watching Vikings Panthers from 2008. I would rather probably do that than watch the hall of fame game.

I do have some standards for watching, you know, Tyson Bajan versus, I don't even know who the heck they're playing. If Caleb Williams was going to play even one series, I would definitely tune in and I'll, I'll check it out for a little bit early on the pomp and circumstance of the whole thing happening. I assume you mean the hall of fame game is happening tomorrow. It always feels way too early. Like, okay, this is not okay. And the game is never been good. So no, I do have a little more standards than just anything where a pigskin is being hawked. Then I'll watch it. It's got to be at least decent, at least regular preseason action for me to get too much into it.

Cal says I was at practice today. If JJ got to play behind the starting offensive line, he would outplay Darnold. Second offensive line couldn't stop anything. Darnold would not survive what JJ has to deal with. I don't know. I don't think that any of that's really true. I just, what they're doing with McCarthy makes a lot of sense is to give him faster reps, but you're blaming the offensive line when the quarterback is not used to the speed yet, which is fine for a rookie. That's what he's doing. He's getting used to the speed, but the ball should have just been coming out. We can't let, we can't do this anymore where we just blame the offensive line all the time. We got to do that for quite some time with Riley Reif and Mike Remmers and Dakota Dozier and

Drew Samia. It's a pretty solid offensive line. I know you're saying the second, the second unit, this is the best second unit in the NFL. I mean that Dalton Reisner, David Questenberry, this is a Dan Feeney. This is a good group. It was really the fact that McCarthy wasn't getting the ball out on time on every rep. And again, that does not mean that he shouldn't play or that he is a bust or whatever. It just means that that will have to happen and come along as he goes through training camp. Getting the ball out with timing and rhythm is the hardest thing to do in football. If you can do it, you can make it.

If you can't, you won't. This is why Brock Purdy and Tom Brady are sixth and seventh round draft picks, and Trey Lance isn't good. And a hundred other high draft picks because they couldn't get the ball out on time. That's the difference. And already, I've liked what I've seen as far as McCarthy. He's not lost out there. He doesn't have, he's not lost out there. He doesn't have the Kellen Mond look on his face, but when you're facing the number one

defense and it's all moving very quickly and you've got to speed up everything that you do, there's going to be days where you go, um, okay, that wasn't a great day. And then you're going to have to do it, you know, tomorrow and get going. So, um, that's, that's all there was really to it. I mean, I thought Sam Darnold just had a good practice, uh, and he'll continue to probably be QB one for a little while here, uh, with the first team and we'll see how it plays out. And when they decide McCarthy is ready for those first team reps. Shane says the QB competition is must talk, but I am more curious about the backup edge competition.

How is the battle with guys like Anthony? I assume you mean Andre Carter, the UCLA kid, which would be Gabriel Murphy and the AF guy, which means something else. But you mean Air Force on Internet? AF means something different. You mean but you mean air force, uh, on internet AF means something different. You mean Bo Richter, uh, any sticking. I keep being impressed with Owen Porter that he's out there a lot with the second team. And I keep saying, well, who is 57? And I looked down on my roster. Oh, it's Owen Porter again. And, uh, Bo Richter is one of the most jacked people I've ever seen in my entire life. Uh, but he's gotten a good amount of reps coming off that edge.

Gabriel Murphy got a shout out from Kevin O'Connell, but he kind of got decked by Walter Rouse today. That's what, you know, it's really coming there. Kind of got pancaked a little bit, but Murphy has stood out enough. I have a better look at the right defensive end. So I get to see who's in there more than the left one, just based on where I'm standing. So there might be some good reps happening on the other side that I can't really see. I think that what they've gotten so far is a very clear top four, and it is still open for the rest of them. Andre Carter's getting a lot

of reps. Hasn't really stood out to me. But again, I'm watching the quarterback so much that if you ask him the second pad of practice, well, what's going on with Andre Carter? I thought, okay, well, you know, if I really notice him, it means he's smoking somebody and he hasn't really done that. And then anybody who goes up against Christian Derrissaw just gets completely shut down because it's Christian Derrissaw. We'll see how it plays out. What will be really telling is when they play the preseason games, because those guys will have a big time opportunity. So who gets the top reps? Who gets the snaps in the preseason games?

But I've liked what I've seen from Owen Porter. He's been lining up on my side quite a bit. And Murphy comes across like he's first of all, he's a very big guy. I guess he didn't have the right arm length I don't know looks big to me uh but there's there's some talent there there's some talent there I'm intrigued Evan says I don't think anyone's interested in seeing Texas and Bears play tomorrow but I'll be watching to see the new kickoff great point yeah that is a great point Evan I will want to see just even the first look at it, but it does appear that teams are going to

hide what they do. Okay. Good point here. Punter kickoff. We have big punters. Seth Vernon was a player. He was a wide receiver or maybe a tight end. He was a wide receiver. I think in college, he's quite big. Yes. That is a very distinct possibility. Will Reichard is not really a guy that you want tackling people. It's just a fact. I would much rather it be Seth Vernon. Maybe you keep two punters just in case. I don't know. There's so many different ways that they could go about this that I have no idea how it's going to play out. And when was the last time where you went into an NFL season going up this thing they're doing? Who knows? I don't remember. I honestly don't instant replay. You have to be quite old for that. When they brought back instant replay and you said,

I don't know how instant replay is going to impact things. Was that 99? There was a Jerry Rice fumble that cost the Packers from winning a playoff game, which I know makes you guys very sad. But I think it was after that that the league went back to replay. Someone have to tell me. That was maybe the last time. The reviewing interference was another one that you just knew it was going to be a significant impact.

And those things, replay stuck and they grew with it but the interference that was a mess from day one in uh pre-season and it remained a mess till about the end of the season i thought they started to get it right and then they canceled it wish they would bring it back in a better capacity but But anyway, we can argue over pass interference all fall again for the hundredth straight year. Dave is the plan to just keep throwing darts at the DB room and hoping to fix something. There's really not a whole lot else you can do. They went into this thinking that you had Makai Blackman, who was maybe a rising star, showed flashes of that last year. Shaq Griffin, a veteran, man coverage expert, and Byron Murphy, who's a very solid NFL corner. That doesn't sound too bad.

It doesn't sound amazing, but it doesn't sound too bad. Once you're down Makai Blackman, then it's more of a mad scramble. That was the guy who was supposed to be the guy and then he's out instantly so what can you do uh you go get fabian morrow and you give a caleb evans all the chances that he can get the starting three we're going to be probably all right that's how cornerback rooms work is you know you get down one that it's hard to create a lot of depth there. And sometimes who your fourth corner is makes all the difference because they do get hurt all the time. But having someone go out for the season right away, that was absolutely brutal.

So yes, Fabian Morrow is kind of a dart, but he is a consistent dart who over the last three years has been the same guy, same average, which we determined. And I got emails on and I got texts on and I got everything. C is average. Okay. I was wondering last night is like the C or C plus, like what ends up being in the middle? And I, I guess I should have known that.

That makes me think that my high school performance wasn't that bad. I was just average, just right in the middle with all those C's C's make degrees. And I got just enough to be here now. Uh, Scott says, has anyone asked McCarthy about, uh, whether he was fed play calls at UM and is comfortable reading defenses. I don't remember how he said that it worked at Michigan. I think he said this somewhere in some interview, what they did. Uh, I don't know if he was a guy that was just getting the giant play cards over on the side, or maybe they didn't do that as much because they had to be, because they were stealing other guys, other teams. I'm not entirely sure. Is he comfortable reading defenses? No one coming

out of college is comfortable reading NFL defenses, period. It doesn't matter if you did it or not. I remember Cam Newton and they talked to him on the John Gruden QB camp. And he was asking him to break down a play of his. And he said, what is the play call? And he's like, number six, they didn't have complicated play calls and they didn't have complicated reads because it's not the NFL. You just got to learn it. The defenses in college, they try their best, but when you're playing UNLV or something, no disrespect, it's not playing the Green Bay Packers and doing something for Matt Eberflus' defense in Chicago is just going to be so much more complex. I'm sure that there are reads because it was a pro style as much as you can be in college. So of course there are reads of the defense and, uh, and having an understanding after the snap

and before the snap, what your options are. And you could see him doing that in college, but it's only a flash of that in comparison to what the NFL is. And that's why it does take a little while. Anthony says, says, how's Jerry Tillery looking? Does he look the part of someone who could be an X factor for us this season? Well, as far as his actual reps go, that would be something I'd have to pay closer attention to when he is in there. He is rotating in and he's getting first team reps along with Harrison Phillips and he is enormous and started to show progress last year. So I guess that's a yes. Like thus far, I have not specifically watched Jerry Tillery and said, Oh wow. But the first team defense I have at times said, Oh wow. With their

pressure that they have been getting back there. And he's been a part of that in a lot of the reps. But overall, what you wanted to see with Jerry Tillery is getting first team reps day after day after day, because that means they see what they wanted to see. If they didn't, he wouldn't be getting those first team reps. And that's happened. Who was the guy, Dayton Jones, who they brought in in 2018 or 17? And we talked about, oh man, they signed this Dayton Jones. He'll get after the passer.

And he just never took first team reps. And we never heard of him again. Sometimes those signings can be like that. Tillery will be a part of this defense. That's almost a guarantee at this point. Scott says most of our questions will be answered this defense. That's almost a guarantee at this point. Scott says most of our questions will be answered in Cleveland. That's true, but it's going to be fun to work our way up to there because it will all set the stage for how things work out in Cleveland,

which means you should keep watching every night for the recaps and the conversations, Scott. I'm not going to take the next two weeks off and just show up in Cleveland. A lot to still go, my friend. Lots of still go. But it will all, put it this way, it will be finalized. Yes, things will very likely be finalized

after the joint practices in Cleveland. So we're going to find out if the things that we think are going on are actually going on. If we get there and McCarthy has taken a good number of first team reps, and then he gets a lot of the first team reps or the majority, okay.

And also preseason games, I have in the last couple of years just thrown them out aside from, all right, let's just get a look at Jaron Hall or let's get a look at this Ivan Pace kid or Jordan Addison for a few reps. But now how they divvy up the snaps, if Sam Darnold doesn't play and JJ McCarthy plays a lot, well, then that means this isn't really that close. If Sam Darnold plays quite a bit and so does JJ McCarthy, then it might tell us that it is, uh, the, the hunt for what's going to happen at quarterback is a good time it is a good

time it's this is good entertainment we're talking about the last six years of training camps probably five of them outside of the first one have mostly been ho-hum we didn't have this type of thing so i i'm enjoying every one of these conversations with you guys and going through kind of the, the evidence and where things stand and how each guy played and trying to figure out, well, uh, is this going to be the McCarthy show? Is it going to win this job or is it going to be Darnold? And we see what happens. Uh, Evan says, was McCarthy struggling against the ones today or was it the second offense? It was second offense versus first team defense. Yes. And struggling might be too strong. We like to say that I may have put a headline of that at one point, struggling would be a little too strong.

And maybe I even said that somewhere along the show, because it's just the usual go-to term. I think the way I would put it is that it wasn't very consistent and there were times that it was pretty clear that it happened things happened a little too fast for him because he's a rookie and because he's facing the first team when he went up against the second team in the uh the situational drill uh he had one really good throw and then it rained and practice was, or it was about to rain practice was getting to the end. But yeah, I mean, I think that it is pretty clear that he's going to need to keep working on that timing and keep working on when the ball's got to come out and how quickly he needs to get, you know, just get

the football out, get through the reads and get there. That's all. I mean, we don't have to like built in any sort of excuse. Well, you know, he's going against the one offense. Well, if he's going to actually play in games, he will have to go against the one offense. So I'm sorry, the one defense. So it's a fine idea to have him do that in practice to try to get him up to speed of how this works. Sam Darnold doesn't need that because Sam Darnold has played in the

NFL for a long time. He knows what NFL speed is and he can just work it that way. Could that result in Darnold looking better? Yes. But also if you're running the first team offense, that's Kirk was often going against the two defense as well. That's something that this team seems to believe in is having ones versus twos, twos versus ones quite a bit. So this isn't like a new strategy that they're using just for this quarterback competition, but McCarthy getting reps with Justin Jefferson is really what we're looking for as an indication that he could be winning this job. That's what we're really looking for because that's the most important man in the entire franchise. Justin Jefferson, the quarterback who's playing with them is the

quarterback who's playing. And right now it's Sam Darnold. And we'll see if that changes. Skull Vikings is how is Jay Ward looking? he actually looks pretty natural to me as a corner i think i i really do think that he moves pretty darn well uh it doesn't look you know stiff or like he's struggling he looks and he's like he's in the right spots this team is really into and i think it's because of brian floris multiple players who have done a lot of different jobs because in part it might just be a good indicator of which guys are smart about football. Theo Jackson is someone who keeps

just getting talked about more and more. And some of us may be pushing that agenda because Theo Jackson has been really good in this training camp. And I'm writing about him very soon and talk to him and talk to Durante Jones for an article that I'm working on because Theo Jackson does a lot of things. He did a lot of things at Tennessee, did a lot of things here. Jay Ward's the same way. So he definitely looks like he is comfortable at

playing the cornerback position and could be good depth there. Anthony says, could we keep six outside linebackers could be helpful on kickoffs? Yeah, that's possible. They've, I mean, we've got a bunch of safeties here we're talking about every day and linebackers, but would they do with the extra edge rushers for that position? Because, you know, that's not bad because as far as ideas go, those edge rushers are quick and they are usually, I think of linebackers and safeties as special teamers, but those edge rushers are trained in the defeat blocks quickly type of thing. Matt Daniels has mentioned starters a couple of times. I just don't see that. I don't know. It feels like that is something that he kind of keeps bringing up as like, yeah, we could use starters. And I don't know if they're actually going to do that. I don't know. It feels like that is something that he kind of keeps bringing up as like, yeah, we could use starters. And I don't know if they're actually going to do that. I don't think that

we're going to see Harrison Smith out there making a tackle on a kickoff, but if you have guys who are trained in the art of defeating blocks quickly and are also fast as well, quick, that's what the edge rushers are. I mean, that certainly makes sense to me that they might keep some extra ones for that particular position. It does change a lot of stuff. Uh, Anthony says no disrespect to Johnny month. He is a fine tight end and dependable. I'd rather see what we have in Nick muse. That kid has more juice. Yeah, I mean, Nick Muse has been on the team a couple years. He probably does understand the offense. Johnny Munt is just a proven veteran that they really like in that position because tight end is complicated. The amount of blocking,

the amount of understanding of the offense, the routes, all those things, the details of each route of each block. It takes a capacity that is unusual to be able to handle all of that. And that's probably why Johnny Munt is here. But the thing about Johnny Munt versus Nick Muse is Johnny Munt. Every time he goes in is done well at this position did at the end of last year, he's been a good tight end. Number two, it's been good in this training camp. I don't see any reason to go to somebody else. And it's not, I know we're always looking toward the younger players, but tight end is a position that you can have a guy play for a long time. This isn't a 10 year rebuild.

It's a two year. So if Johnny month is tight end two for next year well that's good that's fine they'll just continue to have depth in that room Jordy says I haven't seen any highlights or news on Trent Shurfield are the Jacksons and Jay Jones getting reps over him just have not seen a lot of receptions for Trent Shurfield it has a very Jordan Taylor type of Taji Sharp type of feel to it of, yeah, they signed a guy who's played in the league before, and I don't know if it's going to work out. Maybe preseason games, he'll have more opportunity, but I can't remember too many targets so far in training camp. I have been impressed with Deshaun Jones. I don't know if

anyone else is mentioning Deshaua jones maybe i've just been focusing more on him it seems like his rep count is going up by the day seems like he makes some catches tristian and lucky jackson are just training camp stars they are all over the place tristian jackson had the big reception yesterday but he had a few more catches today and lucky jackson seems to be JJ McCarthy's guy and may very much make the team because of that. He really could. So yeah, I don't know. I don't know. Uh, if you're the receiver who works the best with your young quarterback, I'm keeping them. Aren't you? Uh, but just Sean Jones has been somebody that could be practice squad might

fight for a spot and, and get to that point. I don't see him making the team that he would have to make huge progress to do that, but there's something there with him. There's some route running, there's some hands. It's not going to blow your mind, physical speed or size or anything, but there's some natural football things that go on with Deshaun Jones. John, good to see you, John, says, how does the running game look? Looks like they can't tackle the runners. There was a play today with Ty Chandler where he took off and just hit the gas, and it like roadrunner, just blew by everybody.

That was the first time I really noticed him. It was on the outside, kind of a pitch play. Aaron Jones is special. It's just something that does not take any effort to figure out. He finds the holes. He moves incredibly well. He is a leader on the team. He's one of the best players of the last decade. If you're talking about the best running backs in the last 10 years and you just see it with Aaron Jones that's why just like with Jalen Naylor health is really the thing it's not a talent thing with Aaron Jones it's really just can at this age he continue to perform at that level but it's all looked better to me as far as the running game goes we haven't seen a ton of reps from Jones because I'm sure they're trying

to limit how much he actually has to be out there at full speed. So there's been quite a few like Kenny Wong Wu reps, and I don't expect that we're going to see that in the actual season. But just Aaron Jones on himself and Blake Brandel, there seems to be a little more push on the running game. I don't expect it to be special. I expect the running backs to just be better. Anthony asks, how much do you think the new kickoff rules will make the special teams impact outcomes games, uh, impact the outcomes of games more? I have no idea. It could either be like Matt Daniels said craziness and, Oh, this team returned three for a touchdown in the first game of the year. And they won by one point or something. It could, or it could be, you know, we did all that hype and then teams just kicked it

out of the back of the end zone anyway, or they kick squib kicks that just barely get into the landing zone and bounce around. And then the guy's got to play shortstop and he's running around trying to get the ball and can barely get to the 20. I don't know. It is either going to be very exciting and it is going to result in a lot of points on special teams or a lot of really big plays, or it's going to be nothing. And the kickoffs will just kind of Peter out quickly and they'll figure out how to

stop them schematically. And then we'll go back to not really thinking that too much about them could go either way. Could be somewhere in the middle. Matt Daniels expectation was that the different ideas and the difficulty preparing for it was going to result in probably some touchdowns, uh, allows some touchdowns scored by some teams that figure out some good ways to do it, or some teams that are allowed that, allowed that maybe weren't fully prepared or didn't have the right personnel or whatever. The first couple of weeks, it could be like that, but everything evens out in the NFL. There's always the first couple of weeks of the season. Wow. There's a lot of scoring in the league this year, a lot of passing in the league this year, and five six seven weeks in defenses get figured out okay the

offense is doing x y and z today uh the or this year so now we're gonna fix it remember when the vikings gave up the perfect quarterback rating to jared goff and then every other team tried those same motions that the rams did but zimmer installed something that was prepared for that and it didn't work anymore the whole rest of the season. This will happen with the kickoffs as well. Real quick before I carry on with your questions, I want to let you know that you should take a quick trip to Las Vegas if you have the opportunity to stop in to my favorite place in Vegas, Circa, because the Circa Million and Circa Survivor Contests are back.

For the Circa Million, you pick five teams against the spread every week, and the winner takes home a million dollars. The Survivor Contest is legendary. Pick one team straight up to win each week, and if you go 20-0 or you're the last person standing, then you are a millionaire. Last year, there were four winners who split $9.2 million. Costs $1,000 to enter, but if you win, you are a millionaire. So you have to register in Nevada at Circa in Las Vegas, Henderson, or Reno. And you have to do it before the season starts. I am actually going out there on August 22nd and 23rd with Brian Murphy.

We're going to do some shows from there to promote their millions and survivor contests. We did it last year. It was a really fun time. So we will be doing it again and that will be great. It's just, it's just hard out here being me having to go to Vegas for free and stay at Circa and do shows with Murph. It's going to be tough. I'll work my way through it. And if things get really hard, I'll just go to stadium swim where they have all the pools and sports.

That's how I will deal with it emotionally. But that'll be really fun. So if you're headed out there for anything, or even just if you're making a stop, like on a flight somewhere, it's a good idea. Stop off there at Circa. Anthony says, if we are able to get our secondary button up just enough our pass rush lives up to what it should

be the talent in the room our our defense should be fine maybe top 10 yeah i you know i was just talking about this with somebody today when you go through the rest of the defensive roster all right i don't know what the middle is going to be exactly, but I have a pretty good idea. It's a little bit deeper than it was last year. I've noticed Jaqueline Roy a few times. Jonah Williams worked with the ones today. I think it's got a little more depth than it did last year. Tillery, we mentioned.

So that's improved from being really, really thin to a little bit deeper. The edge rushers are really good. Dallas Turner so far has been fantastic. Exactly what you want from a first round pick. They have just raved about how he's looked, but Jonathan Grenard and Andrew Van Ginkle takes no time at all to figure out that they're two of the better players at their positions. The linebackers are really good. The safeties are really good. You can use a bunch of different combinations of all these guys. They actually have backup safeties who could start for teams like Theo Jackson.

There's talent on this defense enough to be good. The thing that I would be concerned about is really who you're playing. When you start out, all right, Daniel Jones first. Week one can be weird weird as we saw last year after that you're talking about Purdy San Francisco's offense CJ Stroud Jordan Love I don't know what's up with Aaron Rodgers we'll see by then if maybe he hasn't moved to the woods and is living off of strange berries or something. But if he's still playing football, they've got Garrett Wilson.

That could be pretty darn tough. And then after that Detroit lions, it's not an easy schedule from the start against the quarterbacks. And then it will kind of be determined. They play will Levis. Is he any good? Where does Jacksonville's offense stand as we go through the season? You got Kirk Cousins coming in here eventually.

Where's he with the Achilles when you play against him? A lot to be determined, but it is a pretty tough quarterback schedule overall. And there's a lot of really good wide receivers on it. That might make it hard to just kind of survive not having the best cornerback play. What they really need is Shaq Griffin to be healthy and for him to be good. And he has been good in his past, not that long ago, but that almost sounds a little Marcus Davenport-ish

or a little Dean Lowry-ish, but I'm just saying that this is an important swing man who hasn't been out there at camp because he got banged up on that second day. When he gets back out there, it'll look a little bit deeper. Then all of a sudden it's, all right, Griffin has played in the league before and had some success. Morrow is more of a backup.

Evans is more of a backup. People get hurt. You can use those guys. That'll look a little bit less daunting than it does right now. Matt says, when the coaches don't want to talk about a depth chart, does that mean at this time in training camp or is it more of a philosophy thing? Oh, I see what you mean. Yeah.

Well, at this point in training camp, it's look, it's very clear that Kevin O'Connell does not want to say anything or have anything out there that is suggesting what he's going to do or what he thinks of the quarterbacks that isn't coming from his mouth. Like he doesn't like the idea of people making depth charts and saying, well, McCarthy is this, or Nick Mullins is there. Like he didn't like this in minicamp. I think he said repeatedly like, yeah, okay. Well, Nick Mullins is working with the veterans because he's a veteran, but there's no depth chart. And I'm not looking at Sam Darnold as, I mean, yeah, he's working with the ones, but I don't want to say he's clearly one and McCarthy is two and Mullins is three and Hall is four,

maybe in part just because he doesn't want J.J. McCarthy to get any of the wrong messaging. He doesn't want McCarthy to feel like, well, I don't have a chance at this or anything like that. So I think there's just a sensitivity to how McCarthy is going to perceive the things that he's saying or what the media is saying about him. You know, I just, when you're, this is the first quarterback, this man has drafted as a head coach. And I think he just really, really wants it to work and doesn't want anything to get in the way and doesn't want anybody telling anybody else out there. This is what the depth chart is or whatever. He wants the only narrative about the quarterback position to be what he says at the podium, which is hard to do when we're all watching practice.

But I also understand where he's coming from. So I think that's where the depth chart thing goes. It's obvious what the depth chart is across the board because we've seen all the reps. So yeah, it's pretty obvious that Christian Derrissaw, Blake Brandel, Garrett Bradbury, Ed Ingram, and Brian O'Neill is the first team starting offensive line. That's obvious. Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, there's a depth chart. It's pretty clear, but I just think it's more about making sure and being aware. And I think this is the thing with Kevin O'Connell. Kevin O'Connell is just very aware of how things are perceived, how people take things that he says. And the reason that his press conferences have a million words, I believe is because he doesn't want things to be

misconstrued. He doesn't want to just say two sentences and have that open for interpretation. He likes to say the whole thing to get it all out there because he doesn't want people taking it one way or the other. And that might be what that's really about with the whole depth chart thing. There's clearly a depth chart at every single position. It's not just like, oh, no, we'll just run them out there. We'll just randomly select names. Like, of course not. And they know Kevin O'Connell knows.

I am absolutely certain how he wants to handle this thing. Based on where both guys are and how they've played. And if I were to take a guess at how they're going to handle it, and I will do that now for you, I will take a complete guess, not based on anything outside of just common sense. And my hearing Kevin O'Connell talk about this since OTAs or since they drafted JJ McCarthy,

my guess would be that over these next, over the next week to two weeks, we do see JJ McCarthy get in with some first team reps with Justin Jefferson, with Jordan Addison, and they will slowly start to work him in a little bit more in doing so. And then when we get to the first preseason game, Darnold will be the starting quarterback. JJ McCarthy will be QB too. And it will ramp up from there to the point where we reach the joint practices. And then if it's close, we might see equal reps with the first team back and forth. And if somebody's in

the lead, they're going to get the vast majority of the reps. If Sam Darnold takes all the first team reps against Cleveland at the joint practices, then he's the starting quarterback for week one. If JJ McCarthy takes the majority, then we know that he is very close to winning that job, if not already has won it at that point. Because after that, that's when they start game planning. That's when the practices are no more fans and they start putting in and really getting that first week ready and locked in. But these next two weeks, he is going to evaluate the progress of McCarthy. And then this time has to see him in some preseason action. So how does it really look when they're actually playing a football thing? And all of that will go into the pot to decide, but it will be a day on day on day sort of slow build. And they will evaluate how much of

the offense does he know? How good has he looked in comparison to Sam Darnold? Do we believe that he could go out and face a very good New York Giants defense in week one and not lose his confidence or not struggle or not feel in over his head? That's how they'll probably do it. None of that is a hot take for you. It's just makes the most reasonable sense for how they would approach this. And I just think that Kevin O'Connell doesn't want any other idea of how this is being decided out there, except for looking at it the way he's got it plotted out. So that's a long answer and gave you guys some opportunities to ask more questions in the chat.

Yeah.