Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings acquire 23rd pick from Texans.... to move up for a QB?????

Episode Date: March 15, 2024

Matthew Coller talks with Vikings fans about the Vikings' trade with the Houston Texans to get an additional first-round pick. Momentum now building for the Vikings to go up and get a quarterback. https://surfshark.deals/PURPLEINSIDER Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar here with you. And we have some breaking news right off the bat. Of course, my camera is having some issues again, as it so often has during the last couple of weeks. And I apologize for that. I was still getting those things worked out. But we'll work through it because we've got some pretty crazy breaking news here with the Minnesota Vikings as they make a massive trade up. And I mean, wow, they are not giving us any breaks here whatsoever

on this free agency period, are they? I wake up this morning, I produce the Friday mailbag that I'm always putting together every week, and then all of a sudden, there we go, there we go, and then all of a sudden, we end up with a huge trade for the Minnesota Vikings to start the day. So here is the trade. The Vikings and Texans agree to terms as the Vikings will send number 42, 188, and a 20-25 second round pick for number 23 and number 232 to the Houston Texans. I mean, what a crazy, crazy start to the day as the Vikings now have two first round draft picks, number 11 and number 23 overall. And that means that they will have enough at this moment to at least buy the trade charts

to move up potentially into the top five. So the question is now, who are they going to trade with? Do they already have something set to move up to the top five, the top four potentially? Do they already have something in the works? Is it already set to do this first and then make the subsequent move? And, I mean, my first initial reaction was that the Vikings would be looking with this pick to at very least get into the top four. Because when we look at this draft in particular, there are four quarterbacks that are, I think,

clearly the guys that if the Vikings took, we would all agree they can be your future franchise quarterback. So you have, you know, obviously Caleb Williams is not going to go to the Vikings, but, you know, you have Drake May, you have Jaden Daniels, you have J.J. McCarthy. And if the Vikings got any of them, then we would look at that and say, okay, those are clearly franchise type of quarterbacks that Kevin O'Connell could bring in and that they could build with. So do you have to get higher than that to try to get your guy?

Or do the Vikings trade up to number four and could they be happy with the number four overall pick if it's to the Arizona Cardinals, which seemed to make still the most sense that the Vikings could trade up with the Arizona Cardinals to number four and get any of those top four quarterbacks. But there's also the possibility that they have their mind on somebody in particular. And that guy has always, to me, made the most sense to be Drake May. That if they have their eye on Drake may, could they move up to number two to make sure that they get him? Could they move up to number three or four with Intel about where Drake may is going to go? All these questions are going to be answered.

I think pretty soon. And Matthew says it here that, you know, over under until we hear about the trade up two and a half hours I think which is why initially I was hesitant to you know turn on the old live YouTube machine here and I scrambled to do so because you know there's so much excitement about this trade and so many possibilities but it is also very possible that this podcast will end up being old with all the speculation very fast because I don't think you make this move if you are Kweisi Adafo Mensah unless you already know what you're going to be capable of getting, right? That you already must have an idea that one of those teams in the top four is totally ready to make that trade with you.

And this is what they were asking for. And one thing that is important to mention is that when it comes to first round draft picks, we've brought up the idea of three firsts, three firsts. Like that's something that I've mentioned a million times over. But if you trade a first rounder this year, a first rounder next year, and a first rounder in 2026, that is not as valuable as what the Vikings can do right now. So if there were other teams that were calling the Vikings and saying, or I'm sorry, calling the Cardinals, calling the top four teams and saying, hey, we'll give you three firsts to move up. We'll give you the Trey Lance deal. The Vikings, I think just now gave themselves a pretty big advantage in potentially making a move like this because now they have the more valuable, uh, of, uh, of first round picks

because this year it would be more valuable to a team that's making a trade, uh, than next year. So, you know, uh, i'm seeing already the uh the draft value charts and so forth um sorry uh the uh twitter is just like absolutely on fire and i'm getting a lot of funny uh messages and things like that about this but uh at least my assumption is that um this is going to be a move up to the top five. And that was the price to pay poke play poker, which is to get multiple first round draft picks in order to move up and very likely, you know, having more value by getting them this year. That's the point is that if you just call up Arizona and say, Hey you know, we'll give you

the next three years. That's not as good for them. I think about if you're call up Arizona and say, hey, we'll give you the next three years, that's not as good for them. Think about if you're the Arizona Cardinals and you want to make this move. And I keep throwing out Arizona because I just think that they're the team that is most likely to do this. But it could certainly be any of the other teams as well, Washington and New England, not Chicago. They're not going to give

you Caleb Williams, but all these teams, they have an argument for it, right? Like Washington has put a lot of work into their roster and they could look at it like they're happy with moving back and getting somebody else and building that roster still and looking for a different quarterback or New England makes the most sense because New England is so down on talent that they would be the ones you could say would be the most likely of the four other than Arizona. So if you were ranking like one, two, three, who would be the most likely to make the trade with the Vikings?

First would be Arizona in my mind because they don't have to pick a quarterback plus they need a receiver but when you look at how deep this receiver draft is oh my gosh I mean they could get Roma Dunzey at number 11 if they move down or or you know Malik neighbors or whatever because there's going to be so many quarterbacks picked there will be definitely wide receivers there they could maybe not love those guys as much or just love the fact that they could get two first rounders. Arizona needs so much. They already have their quarterback and they know they'd be getting crazy position players in a draft where there's so many quarterbacks at the top. But New England also has a case for moving down as well because they got nothing for a roster. I mean, just absolutely nothing.

And if they draft a quarterback this year and throw them into a position with absolutely nothing to work with, then we've seen that many times before where a quarterback gets dropped into a bad spot, including Mac Jones, and ends up failing. So the Patriots might not want to do that and pick a quarterback and rather move back with the Vikings. And then, you know, if you're Washington, it does make the most sense to just stick at number two, but who does Washington want? I mean, they moved Sam Howell yesterday. Every day has been like five days this week, by the way. So they moved Sam Howell yesterday and that just all kind of aligns. Marcus Mariota is their only quarterback, I think on the roster. So that aligns for them to draft a quarterback. But I mean, if you're the Vikings and at least

if you get into the top four, then you are assured to have a franchise caliber quarterback at the top of the draft. And if Washington does take Drake May, then you know, you're getting still one of the elite prospects. But they might have intel on who wants who, who likes who. And they also might decide that no matter what, they're going to make the price impossible to beat, which might mean giving up these two firsts. And I don't know, they've already given up their 2025 second round pick. So maybe 2025 first to go all in and try to get a quarterback. But I really don't see the Vikings just sticking around and picking at 11 and then 23. I mean,

I guess that's possible that that could potentially happen that they could look at it and say, all right, let's get a defensive tackle and take Bo Nix or something. But that just seems very unlikely that that seems like it would have been maybe a lot easier to just move back into the back end of the first round and take one of those guys. That is another potential option, though, that we have to mention is that they are so much in need of top notch talent that I suppose that they could stay at 11 and 23.

But that just doesn't really add up at all to me. I mean, this all says we are trading up and we are trying to get our franchise quarterback. So I think that they would like Drake may more than anybody else. Drake may most makes the most sense to me for his skillset, his playmaking ability, his arm talent. It just all aligns with how Kevin O'Connell defines a quarterback and he's talked about accuracy as being the top thing and you know Drake May can be erratic at times as all young quarterbacks are but he has a huge arm and the ability to light it up and be an accurate passer and he is also a guy that you could see having a super, super high ceiling

and somebody that Kevin O'Connell could get his hands on. Josh McCown obviously is very familiar with Drake May from coaching him in high school to develop this player to be their star quarterback. I think that that's what they would like the most, but you can make an argument for any of them. I mean, Jaden Daniels is really special. He is special as a runner, his deep ball. I mean, it's not like he can't throw the football. I mean, he put up incredible passing numbers in college, especially pushing the ball downfield. So if they were to acquire, you know, Jaden

Daniels, I think everybody would be happy with that. You look at the other dynamic quarterbacks around the league, even someone like Jalen Hurts was putting his name in the MVP race. It would take quite an adjustment for Kevin O'Connell, but I don't think that you'd be afraid of that. You would have all season to work that out if you're the Vikings. So Jaden Daniels is a possibility as well. I just have Drake May as the guy that I think fits so perfectly with Kevin O'Connell, the way he's talked about quarterbacks. And just

when you're looking at what you have as a group of wide receivers and weapons, and then adding that type of arm and that type of playmaking and off schedule. And he could also run as well. I mean, there was a stat about, you know, running for first downs on third down that if you're the Vikings, you have really missed out on that part of the game over the last six years of having a quarterback that could just take off and get you a first down when things break down. And Kweisi Adafo-Mensa has mentioned that on a number of occasions about how he wants a quarterback that can potentially make a play when things break down. So what they're doing right now is very likely setting up for a move up to draft in the top four.

And then I think that even if that was the case that they got to number four and all three of the other quarterbacks went and your consolation prize is JJ McCarthy. I mean, that's a heck of a consolation prize if that ends up being what it is. Because, you know, even though I have more skepticism than some people about McCarthy because of the lack of,

you know, time on task is what they love to use, but just the, the lack of overall quarterback play that he's had. I mean, just, he hasn't thrown that many passes as a college quarterback, but there's a lot to work with there. There's a guy who's worked with Jim Harbaugh, who's got a strong arm, quick feet, and that would be more of a wait a year before putting JJ McCarthy in. But if you end up with any of the top four, and then you look at what you can give them, the salary cap space that the Vikings have into the future, how would you not be blown away, thrilled with this offseason for the Minnesota Vikings that they are just mashing every button that we have asked them to push for a really long time?

And we have gone over it so many times about Kirk Cousins, the restrictive nature of the contract, the limitations physically that have held this team back at some of the biggest moments in looking for a mobile and playmaking quarterback. And is there any guarantee that if the Vikings do this, that it works? No, there is not. But this was always the quarterback draft class to take that shot. And today by trading with the Houston Texans to give themselves another first round draft pick to try to be the team that the top four have to trade with or whoever top three that could be trading out to be the team that has so much more draft capital thrown up at the top that Arizona can't turn you down or that New England can't turn you down because you just are offering them such a massive

package of draft picks to be able to do that considering all the things that they have done to lead up to this moment would be not not the cherry on top it would be the ice cream like everything else you know you sign defensive players that's nice uh you know you you create the cap space over the last couple of years. That's good. All of that's helpful, but it doesn't mean a whole lot if they don't end up with their franchise quarterback this off season. So now to make a move like this, to trade up with the Houston Texans, to get into the first round, to add additional capital, to potentially be able to get into the top four is, I mean, I don't want to call it flawless execution just yet because we have to see it.

We have to see them do that to be able to move up and get their guy, but just about as perfect as you could have drawn it up, or at least they're on the way to being just about as perfect as you could have drawn it up at the start of this off season. I mean, go back and think just several days ago, what was your wishlist for the Minnesota Vikings just a few days ago? What did you want? You wanted Kirk as a Falcon. You didn't want to pay a massive contract of 180 million uh you wanted defensive players with the money you wanted an improvement in the running game you wanted a bridge quarterback that actually might be able to play for an entire year if you need them to and then you needed the ice cream that's all the

cherry on top that's all great you can find defensive players. It's nice that they got the ones they did, but the, the, the main dessert here is being able to get the quarterback that they wanted. So let's kind of go through the options. I'll read again for those who are just joining. Good morning again, here I am jumping out of bed. You know, my stuff's kind of thrown all over the place. I threw on the same shirt I had on last night, grabbed a diet, Dr. Pepper, and we're off. I mean, this is, this is an incredible week. So, uh, let, let me go through the trade again. And, uh, we've got different trade charts saying different things. So here it is.

The Vikings get the 23rd and 232nd pick. Let's not worry too much about that. The 23rd pick is important. They give away 42, 188, and a 20, 25 second round pick. So you're giving up a two seconds, essentially. How many Diet Dr. Peppers have I been drinking this week? It's been a lot. It has been.

Yeah, it's been a lot. I had to go. You notice it's not the can. You notice it's the big bottle here. I had to go next level for this week. But so, so what they really are giving up here is two second round picks to move up into the middle of the first round. And when you use all the draft charts and you put together the value of the 23rd and 11th pick, and they could add more to that, you get a four or a three, depending on what draft chart that you like to use. So there's multiple ones out there. There's the Jimmy Johnson chart that was used for a very long time in the NFL is kind of the standard. And then there's the Spielberger and Jason Fitzgerald chart that was created for

over the cap.com to try to be a little bit more analytically accurate. There are other ones that are out there, but the Jimmy Johnson chart tends to still have some power as far as what a lot of teams are willing to trade. And like, if you look at, you know, maybe the Patriots are a little bit of an old school organization that they would still use the Jimmy Johnson chart, but either way, if you use any of these charts, they all tell you the same story, that the Vikings have enough draft ammo to add up to moving up into the top five by trading number 11 and trading number 23. So let's go through the case for each team at the top and each quarterback that the Vikings might be looking at. And then, look, by the end of this conversation, and we'll get to your comments as well, your reactions. So you guys can tell me ideally what you would like here.

But by the end of the conversation, Kwesi may have traded again and I do have the notifications on the phone. So I'm going to be peeking down at that throughout. But if you guys see an additional trade come in, please let me know. And we might be doing another live broadcast again. So here's the options for the Vikings. And we'll include sticking with 11 and 23 as well. We'll just go through them one by one. I am totally throwing out the idea that the Chicago Bears could trade with the Vikings. I just

do not think that that's possible at all. They're going to draft Caleb Williams and ship off Justin Fields to whoever they can get rid of him for. So number two with Washington. Now this would probably require an additional draft pick thrown in there more than just number 11 and number 23. I would guess that they would have to throw in an additional first round pick in order to do that or second round. Well, they already gave up their second round pick from 2025, but more draft capital in order to move up to number two, they would have to go crazy in order to do that. However, that would guarantee you, you get your quarterback, the person that the Vikings have identified as their guy from this entire process, whether that's Drake May or not,

but you can get them no matter what you're getting them. You're not getting Caleb Williams, but you get the next guy if you trade up with Washington, but the price is likely to be immense because Washington, everything they've done sets up to draft a quarterback there, including moving on from Sam Howell. So would they be willing to say, oh yeah, no, it's fine. But you know, look, they're a new organization. They don't have Dan Snyder there anymore. They could look at it from an analytical perspective and say, you know what, it's better if we get all this draft capital to rebuild our team rather than taking the quarterback. And, you we do know that quarterback four, quarterback five,

sometimes turn out to be the best one, and maybe they think that way. I don't know. But the thing that I would really like about trading up to number two, regardless of the price, is just that we will know for 100% certain that Kevin O'Connell got his guy, that he got exactly who he wanted and evaluated and is going to work with for the future. That would be really good. A three-way deal between Washington and Arizona.

That's something that I got a Friday mailbag question about today as well, and we could see something like that. There was multiple trades that were done in that trade Lance trade where Miami moved back and then moved back up. So we are a long way out from the draft and we could see other types of moves, but just talking about what we know at this moment is that probably number 11 and 23 do not get the Vikings to Washington's pick alone. And so are you willing to give up more to have exactly who Kevin O'Connell wants and have no question about it that that is the person they evaluated and they determined is their future franchise quarterback?

Is that the right mode to go for? Or if they have intel on what Washington might want to do. So does Washington love Jaden Daniels? Let's say that that's the case, that they feel that Washington is going to pick Jaden Daniels. So that would allow them to trade up to three and potentially give up a little bit less. So you know that you're going to give up 11 and 23 now that the Vikings have acquired 23 from the Houston Texans. So you're going to give that up. And as part of the price,

we have to throw in sort of like the whole price includes what they traded to get to 23. So, you know, the 2025 second is part of this. But, you know, just in terms of making the trade with, say, the Patriots, 11, 23, and maybe you're talking change for the future or later round picks. I think they have a couple of fourth round picks, so you could possibly do that to move up with the Patriots at number three. And that also ensures you a top three. And if you know that Washington might take Jaden Daniels, then you know you're going to get your guy in Drake May. And if your consolation prize, if they surprise you is Jaden

Daniels or JJ McCarthy, and you could pick whichever one that you like the most, that also sounds pretty good to me as well. But the reason that I don't mind number four is that I think that they could just trade 11 and 23, and maybe not that much more to get up to number four is that I think that they could just trade 11 and 23 and maybe not that much more to get up to number four because there isn't another team that wants to trade up that has this kind of ammo. Now the Vikings just jumped the line over Denver, over the Raiders, over the giants. Honestly, now that they have these two first round draft picks, they are in prime position to be able to make this trade up to number four or number three and offer the most of anybody. So if it's number four, then that guarantees you a top four quarterback

prospect. And I mean, I do think that that's a very favorable outcome, even if we're not a hundred percent sure who it's going to be, because we don't know for sure that JJ McCarthy is the fourth quarterback. We just think we know, but if you go back to that 2021 draft, a lot of people thought it was going to be Mack Jones who San Francisco was taking and it ended up being Trey Lance. So we are often surprised. There were draft analysts who were reporting last year that it was going to be Will Levis taken by the Indianapolis Colts. And instead, of course, it was Anthony Richardson. So we are surprised all the time in the draft. We assume it's going to go Williams, May, Daniels, McCarthy. But what if it's not?

Like, what if New England would prefer McCarthy over Drake May? Because he's their type of guy. Their last Michigan quarterback worked out pretty well. But if it's four, I would say maybe if it's five as well, because we think Arizona's drafting a wide receiver. I mean, five is okay for me because you're still talking about an Arizona team that's not likely to take a quarterback. The only thing with five that I don't like is that someone could get to four.

So I think you have to get to four at the very worst or number three to make sure you really get your guy. But four means you get a quarterback because if you trade with the Chargers and you end up at number five, then you still have the possibility that the door open of the New York Giants saying, hey, we're going to go up and we're going to get that guy at number four. So I think that they need to make this a trade for number four, three, or two. And those are the only things that should really be on the table. And I also am looking at Drake may as just that, like move everything you can to get Drake may, because he was such a good fit with Kevin O'Connell and Josh McCown.

But I don't really care, honestly, whichever guy it is. Whichever it is that they like the most, that's the guy that they should go for. And I think that what we know now after this trade, or what we think we know now, and things can change. I want to talk about that other option here in just a second. But what we think we know now is that Kevin O'Connell has his targets, that he knows that this is worth it and that he believes in somebody or somebodies in this draft. And when you look at the rest of the roster and the way it's set up right now, it is set up for a top quarterback to come in here and be good right away. I kind of think about like a Carson Wentz situation in Philadelphia where they draft Wentz and it's only two years before his team is really, really good. And Philadelphia, if you remember in 2016, when they drafted him, you know, they beat the Vikings in Philadelphia, sort of sent the

Vikings spiraling a bit in that season. But remember they had a lot of talent on that Philadelphia team. They weren't quite ready with Wentz to be a true contender, but there are examples that we can go through of teams that had a lot of things in place and then decided it was time to make that move. And Philadelphia in that year, they traded up, I believe to get Wentz. I think so. I think that's right. They traded up to get Wentz and, and then they were able to drop him into that great situation, win 13 games, get home field advantage. And you guys know all the rest, but if that is a comparable to what they're doing now, then they have a chance to bring in this quarterback at the top,

put them in pretty quickly and have success because of the roster they put together. And you add in the fact that they were able to get defensive talent. I look at this defense right now is needing depth for sure. They need probably four or five more players to be added, to feel competent, confident that they have depth. But already, just with the starting lineup, you could see Brian Flores getting them to being a top 15 type of defense.

So they have handled this to this moment brilliantly, absolutely brilliantly. And they've got to get over the finish line and they've got to draft the right quarterback. And of course, that's always going to be what makes all of the difference at the end of the day is drafting the right quarterback, having it work out. But if you were to have laid this out, what is the perfect outcome for the Minnesota Vikings at the beginning of the off season, you would have said they are drafting in the top four to get one of the top quarterbacks. You would have said they added defensive talent for Brian Flores to work with guys who fit with

his system. You would have said, well, they need a left guard still. I know a lot of you are saying that, but you would have said like, they're going to improve the running game. Uh, and they've done that with Aaron Jones. I mean, all of these, all of these things, all of these boxes that need to be checked, they have been able to check them. So now the answer is just, all right, uh, which quarterback is it? That is the, really the final questions is which quarterback is it that they are making this move to go get and and who is it that you ultimately end up with or and let's talk about the other option a little more in depth they could stay at number 11 i see that is very unlikely i think if they wanted to stay at number 11 and draft a defensive tackle, then they would not have made this effort now. Maybe

you would have made it closer to draft time. Maybe even on draft night, you see how the board plays out. You trade from 42 to 32. You draft Michael Penix. If they wanted to do that, they didn't have to do it on March 15th. I think that this is the type of move you do early in the same way that Carolina traded up early or in the same way that San Francisco traded up early. So this is the type of move that all points that way. But if they were looking to stay at number 11, I think you want to draft the defensive player that you're looking for at number 11 and then wait until 23 for the quarterback. Is anybody all that happy with that though? I mean, they would have to be very, very confident that one of those quarterbacks was going to be there, either Bo Nix or Michael Penix.

And I don't think you want to do that. I don't think you want to let that. I don't think you want to put the, let Jesus take the wheel or whatever people say. Like, I don't think you want to leave it to fate in whether Denver or the Raiders is going to draft a quarterback and they could stay at 11 and then also get another player. But why would they do that? If they were looking for another position player, it doesn't seem like that would make any sense. If they were looking for number 23 to be a different position player. It doesn't seem like that would make any sense if they were looking for number 23 to be a different position player. The only other option would just have to be number 11. They take Knicks or Pennix and, or I'm sorry, number 11, they take a defensive player

and then 23 Knicks or Pennix. But in comparison to going up and getting one of the top four quarterbacks. I see it as so much more favorable. Go, go, just go get your guy, go get the guy that you want. Don't wait for consolation prizes. And, and, you know, I felt like this last year when the Vikings were reportedly trying to make trades up and it didn't work out. And then they had a chance to take Will Levis. And there were a lot of people that came on the show and in reaction said, hey, they should have just taken Will Levis because he's a good prospect. He's got a big arm and they should have taken a shot. And as much as I believe in taking a shot at quarterbacks, I've never wanted Kevin O'Connell to just roll the dice. I have never wanted him to just say, Hey, you know, like, let's just take a guy and

see what happens. That seems much more like a defensive head coach would say, uh, than Kevin O'Connell, but you want your former quarterback head coach and his journeyman quarterback quarterback coach in Josh McCown to all be on the same page and the thing that was mentioned yesterday uh by Kevin O'Connell was the word alignment and it's been tossed out there not by this show necessarily but uh by other folks about whether the Vikings are aligned and that, that's been brought up. Like,

are they on the same page? Kweisi Adafo Mensah, Kevin O'Connell and the Wilfs because Kevin O'Connell was really staunch about wanting to bring back her cousins. And he was even, you know, very adamant about it yesterday at the press conference where he talked about how, you know, it seemed like he thought Kirk was the press conference where he talked about how,

you know, it seemed like he thought Kirk was coming back. He didn't say that, but it sort of felt that way and how close he felt with the offense and how close he got with Kirk Cousins. And so, but the alignment would have to be that option B also works right to be aligned and option B in this case from Kirk Cousins, which may have been O'Connell's first choice, is to draft someone at the very top. To not ask him to develop a middle-round 24-year-old guy or to hope and dream on somebody's ACLs staying in good shape or working with decent but not great tools. I mean, no,

you don't want that. What you want is working with the quarterbacks that have the best tools that belong at the top of the draft. And what you're going to hear, no matter what, uh, happens is some people will say, well, you know, quarterbacks go bust sometimes, so they shouldn't do this. And of course, that is true that quarterbacks sometimes don't work out. And one of them is on the roster, Sam Darnold, who did not work out with the New York Jets. And that's true. But at the same time, there's always the person who wants to bring the whole room down. There used to be an SNL, like Debbie Downer type of skit. I don't remember exactly how it went, but it was basically where every single time

someone would bring up something good, they would bring up something like travesty or whatever. And that's kind of like what everyone does in comment sections when we talk about quarterbacks is every time it's brought up, well, this guy, here's his skillset. Here's why he could succeed. Then there's always a person that comes in and says, but do you know that some quarterbacks didn't work out? Yeah, I did know that. But when we look at

the position that a lot of the quarterbacks that didn't work out were put in. We often can pretty easily tie that together with the result, right? With Sam Darnold is a great example of a quarterback who was put in a really bad position at the start of his career. And he failed in part because of the New York Jets and because of the Carolina Panthers. And then he plays for San Francisco in one game and looks kind of like a different guy. And you're like, yeah, that's the thing is that the Vikings have weighed the odds in their favor so much with Justin Jefferson, Christian Derrissaw, Kevin O'Connell. Drafting Jordan Addison last year was definitely about replacing Adam Thielen as wide receiver too.

But in the back of their minds, they also had to have been thinking if we hit on this draft pick, which they did with Jordan Addison, then our life for our next quarterback could become very, very comfortable. And, you know, I think that that's the big thing here with this trade and potentially setting up to trade into the top four is whatever quarterback you get. If there was a 50% chance of a top five quarterback working out, it's 60% because he's here or 65% because he's here. And I'm just going to take those odds a hundred times out of a hundred. Folks, if you don't know what a vpn is you might actually need one and not even realize it if you already know the positives you also might not be using the right product in either case

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You heard me right. Three extra months for free. You heard me right. Three extra months for free. That is surf shark dot deals slash purple insider. Because what we see right here is the antithesis of what the Vikings have been that over the last six years, the Vikings have been a team that was a road cone for competing teams to go around, to win the super bowl, that the Vikings were a team that was a tough matchup at us bank stadium in routes to trying to, you know, trying to actually compete. So for Philadelphia or, you know, the Vikings go to Philadelphia for San Francisco,

the Vikings are a road cone for those teams, Even Dallas that they haven't gotten deep in the playoffs, but Dallas is a Super Bowl type of contender. The Vikings are nowhere near them and haven't really been this entire time over the last six seasons, especially in the last four seasons with the roster kind of floundering. And even when they won 13 games, they never really got close. So the Vikings have always just been this team that somebody else is sort of passing by in route to somewhere special. And now what they're doing here, assuming that they are going to trade up and try to get a top five pick here, top four pick. What they're doing now is taking a shot at being one of those teams that's flying by the road cones. So instead of being just a fairly competitive team and just, okay, well, you exist and you're

a tough matchup and you have a good stadium and hey Kirk's pretty good I mean that that's that's not what they are if they are able to trade up and draft Drake May then all the sudden the way that they will be talked about is a team that in 2025 can legitimately compete for the Super Bowl so if we go from the start of 2022 in the Kweisi Adafo Mensah and Kevin O'Connell era, we begin right there and we go through the 13 win season, then the teardown, then drafting at the top to take a quarterback with so much salary cap space to work out in the future. I mean, this would have been near flawless execution, but also execution at the same level as your competitors. So when you look at the way that the Detroit Lions rebuilt their roster, they traded for a competent quarterback, actually a very good quarterback in Jared Goff, who had been to a Super Bowl, and then they stock draft capital. So they did it a different way.

They stocked a bunch of draft capital, and they drafted safeties and linebackers and running backs and receivers, and now they have one of the best rosters in the league. So you have to keep up with that. They were in the NFC Championship. The Green Bay Packers, their route was to draft a ton of young wide receivers in the second round. They take a bunch of different guys, Jaden Reed, Christian Watson,

and to develop their quarterback over multiple years while they had the veteran Aaron Rodgers in place. It's worked out for them. And now Jordan Love is in place to take that team somewhere. And the Chicago Bears, they did a tank of all tanks, tearing it all down, and now they're set to draft number one with all the cap space and money that they've put together. So if the Vikings were ever truly going to compete, they needed to do something like

this. And again, we have not gone over the finish line yet because this trade today to acquire the number 23 overall pick in this draft is only as good as what happens next. If they hang around at 11 and pick Bo Nix at 23 or something in a defensive tackle, there is a chance that that works out. But that's not on the same level as if they were to get Drake May as far as their chance to compete with those teams into the future and build a Super Bowl caliber contender. And this for me has been a

very interesting week because a good number of you are new to the show and welcome. I really appreciate everybody stopping by, but also a lot of you have listened to the show for a very long time, going back to when I first arrived in Minnesota with 1500 ESPN in 2016. And if you followed the show for that long, then I think, you know, through this entire Cousins era, my frustration in feeling like they were never really trying to chase a championship. And this has been an accusation for them. I would say in 2018, they were by bringing in Kirk cousins and paying him all that money. But since 2020, especially it's, it has felt much more like people were trying to keep their jobs. like people were trying to chase a bad decision, make another bet after a bad bet.

And they made a lot of moves that were sort of floundering, desperate moves, signing Delvin Tomlinson, signing Michael Pierce, drafting corners, hoping that they could start right away and fill spots and things like that. They made so many, even the kicker slash punter. If you guys recall, they made so many floundering type of, we don't have a plan type of moves that we're never going to get them over the top, but we're just going to get them to the point of being okay. And there was a malaise that set in over the Vikings fans over the last few years, I think because of this. And now what has happened, I mean, in the moment that Kirk Cousins leaves, you could see all the potential kind of like,

you know, the matrix or something where once it happens in front of your eyeballs are all the ones and zeros that could happen. And here's all the things that they could potentially do now that Kirk Cousins is gone. And it has taken all of what are we four days into this for all of it to happen, except the left guard. They do need a left guard. Somebody is going to bring that up. I know you will. And you're right. They do need a left guard. Somebody's going to bring that up. I know you will. And you're right. They do. But all of the things have happened that we could see in the moment

that Kirk Cousins left, if they are able to turn number 11 and 23 into drafting a quarterback at the top of the draft. And for those who are just popping on, welcome. Good morning. We've got a Vikings trade. If you're just finding out about this, the Vikings get the 23rd pick in this year's draft. They use 42, 188, and a next year's second round pick in order to do so. And now, at least by all of the draft charts, they have an opportunity to move up into the top four. And you could see number three or number two also being interested. And I'll say this again for those just joining that for my money, Drake may is the target. I don't know that as that isn't sources, you know, Kevin O'Connell didn't call me this morning and tell me, Hey, we're doing this for Drake may. But when I look at him play and I've gone back and I've

watched a good amount of Drake may and all these quarterbacks over the last few weeks, since the end of the season, he is the one that to me has the highest upside outside of Caleb Williams, the highest potential, the biggest arm, the best playmaking ability. And he is the one that says not just quality quarterback, not just good enough quarterback, but the potential to be a special quarterback, which is kind of laughing, lacking in the NFC, uh, in the AFC, if you drafted Drake May, you know, maybe he ends up being like, uh, the fifth best quarterback because there's all these guys who are going to be competing for a long time, like my homes and Allen. But if the Vikings were to get Drake May also imagine the drama, Drake May, Caleb Williams in the same division

in the same draft? I didn't even think of that until just now. That would really be something. But the playmaking ability for him and the fact that he is on the younger side and has an opportunity to grow under these circumstances, under this culture, which has been given an A-plus by the players, with somebody who's been through it in Kevin O'Connell. O'Connell was drafted. He's played in the NFL.

He has worked with quarterbacks. We've seen him work with Kirk Cousins and how he was able to work with Kirk Cousins' personality to maximize his skill. And also, this is something that I think is important too, is O'Connell has talked about shaping his offense to a quarterback. And I think that that is the way that it's done in 2024 by coaches is that that's what they try to Philadelphia with Nick Foles, where they put in all these RPOs for Nick Foles because that was the best thing that he did. So there's a lot of examples to that. The Ravens didn't always properly, I think, build to Lamar Jackson's

strengths. And then last year he wins an MVP where you see them work a little bit better with him in the passing game. So this is something that these coaches are thinking about a lot. But I also think that with Kevin O'Connell and his offense, that he cannot fundamentally change what he wants to do to a quarterback. You would much rather him get the guy that fits him the most than just take whoever and then try to fit that to their skill set. So with Drake May in particular, if this is a move in acquiring the Texans pick to then trade up for Drake May, I look at him as being able to throw the football in the way that Kevin O'Connell has his wide receivers running, which I know sounds a little bit simplistic, but I think it's true that when you watch Drake May, one thing you notice is that he could see the field because he is a big giant guy and he throws over the middle of the field really effectively and not just into

tight windows, but with anticipation and hitting open receivers on the move with, with very good velocity and accuracy on his football. Now that his accuracy is not always perfect. He can be erratic at times. He can miss some layups at times, but the best moments of Drake may the ones that a coach would believe that he can continue to work with are tailor-made for Jordan Addison, Justin Jefferson, TJ Hawkinson, and then the playmaking element, I think for Drake May is not quite on the same level as Caleb Williams, but he does some things with the football that are really spectacular. And so many times over my time covering the Vikings, I have felt watching Kirk cousins. Like there was a play to be made and it didn't get made.

It was, Hey, it's third down and 12 and the opposing team plays in man coverage and clears out. And if you had a quarterback who could run at all, he'd scramble for a first down or here comes a pass rush free. And Kirk stands where he stands and gets strip sacked rather than dodging a tackler and scrambling and making a play on the run.

So, uh, and you know, I, I agree with you guys about the McCown and Drake may connection that no one would have a better idea of what he can do. So that is the one that I would feel absolutely the most secure with and the most confident that they had a chance to do something great. Because I really believe that May has the skillset. And that doesn't mean that I'm guaranteeing he's going to be successful. That he has the skillset to potentially be great and not just okay, not just good, but actually great. And Derek Klassen was on the show from Bleacher Report a couple of days ago. And I asked him, like, how much would you give up to get Drake May?

And he said, anything, everything, whatever it takes to go and get Drake May. And I think what we've seen today is the Vikings taking the first step to maybe do whatever it takes. Possibly, possibly. I would, Mike, I would take May over Daniels because I think it's a better fit. But look, if they come away with Jaden Daniels, anybody going to be upset?

The one that's going to split fans the most is clearly if it's JJ McCarthy. Because right now, and there's always, again, there's always the one person in the comments who's saying Drake may be a bust or whatever. But I think that we're all pretty clear what kind of talent Drake may is that he is, you know, a true top of the draft and franchise quarterback type of talent. So we're all clear on that. And if it doesn't work out, well, geez, I mean, you did everything you could with McCarthy. There's a lot more questions, I think, because of the stats that he did not put up at Michigan. The concern about,

is it helmet scouting? Are they only looking at him and loving him because he went to Michigan? If JJ McCarthy was Miami's quarterback, would he have been the number one overall pick? Would they have won a championship and all those types of things? And I don't have a Teddy. I don't have any gripe at all with Jaden Daniels. Zero, zero, none at all. I mean, Jaden Daniels is a, a magical player, his speed, his playmaking, his deep ball. I mean, his ability to throw the ball down the field is absolutely special. The guy won the Heisman. You think I'm going to be upset if they pick Jaden Daniels? What I'm saying is just that I'm trying to guess the fit. I'm trying to look at it and say, all right, who would this be for? Because they're seemingly going absolutely all in here by acquiring the 23rd pick and potentially moving up.

In fact, they could be moving up at any moment now as we speak. So I am 100% not against, you know, Jade and Daniels. I just think the Drake may as a better fit. Um, Robert says, uh, if, uh, it makes you wonder if Casey has already discussed this trade with Washington, new England, and I throw Arizona in there as well, because Arizona is the guarantee for a top four pick a top four quarterback. Uh, yes. I mean, I promise you he has, I absolutely promise you with a hundred percent certainty Kweisi Adafomenta does not make this trade unless he knows what the price is at the top of the draft. And so now who's going to accept it and how high can you get? Can you talk Washington into it? Do you have to settle for New England? Do you have to settle for Arizona? But if they do end up taking J.J. McCarthy, there will be a lot more debates over it, a lot more arguments, and there would have to be a lot more patience, I think, with J.J. McCarthy

because there has to be some development that will be done for McCarthy if he ends up being their draft pick. But I mean, you still would be extremely, extremely happy with that result if they were able to get him. I'm a twerk says Matt Waldman says May is the most flawed of the top four. Look, I'm going to be honest with you. I don't really care what any draft analyst says about the quarterbacks. And I know that sounds harsh and Matt Waldman does a great job, but I truly don't care. I truly don't care. 0% care. You know why go to Twitter and search, just do it for me. The Desmond Ritter QB one, Just go look. See what it says. A lot of the draft analysts who everybody says are the smartest scouts

had Desmond Ritter as their QB1. They thought he was a top first round draft pick. There's a lot of analysts who have said a lot of things over the years, and it's entertainment purposes only when you watch that. Are you going to buy into a random guy on the internet who, you know, watches a lot of tape and I think does great content or Kevin O'Connell? I mean, look, that doesn't mean he's going to be right. And Kevin could be wrong, just like Matt Waldman or anybody else. And again, this is not about Matt Waldman or Chris Sims. I watch those guys. I like those guys. I am interested in what they have to say

as well. But if the Vikings decide that it's worth trading this amount to go up and take the quarterback because Kevin O'Connell has evaluated him, that means they've sat down with them. That means they've met with them. They put them on the whiteboard, whatever. Yeah, I'm not going to listen to anybody. To be honest with you, I'm not going to listen to anybody who says, oh, that quarterback's not going to be good. Because historically, nobody has been accurate when it comes to picking the quarterbacks. And this is the right move 100%.

And that's the thing is that, you know, you can have opinions and analysis on whatever quarterbacks, and we're all allowed to do that because that's what makes this so much fun and so great. And so I'm not against Chris Sims or anybody else analyzing the quarterbacks at the top of the draft. But do you think I'm going to downgrade the Vikings move to get Drake May because Chris Sims said so?

Of course not. Hell no. Are you serious? And that goes for anybody. That goes for anybody because I've known that the smartest football minds have gotten it wrong. And honestly, some of the dumbest have gotten it right. So, you know, I am, I am a hundred percent in support of them going up and getting whoever they believe in most. And I'm not going to be worried at all about one guy or another's film analysis. And we'll get many opinions and so forth on the show.

And we'll talk about all the details and whatever else, but I'm not going to say, Oh, the Vikings made a mistake because Chris Sims said, so I don't give a bleep what anybody says about it. If they're willing to do it because it's right. It is right to make this move. Do I factor in what conferences they played in? Not at all. No, I don't. I don't think that has anything to do with anything for what kind of prospect somebody

is. Ben Roethlisberger played in the Mac. I mean, what was it? Big 12 or Patrick Mahomes played? Well, I don't even know what conference Wyoming is in. So no, no, not at all. And, you know, look, I mean, right. Chris Sims liked Kellen Mond. I, and I like Chris Sims. I think he's a good broadcaster and I think he's an entertainer. And I like that he puts out his list and he's not afraid of everybody's criticism.

I read it every year. I watch what he's had, what he has to say. I'm just not going to degrade the Vikings' decision if they draft Drake May because this analyst or that analyst doesn't like him. Because you can always find on the internet somebody saying something at all times. So there are so many people who comment on a quarterback

and who watch tape and who analyze and those things that someone is going to be saying it's the best pick. Someone's going to be saying it's the worst pick. But what I look at is their process for making the decision. If they could ultimately get up there and take Drake may, or if they end up with McCarthy or whatever else. I mean, I'm going to look at the process of the decision. The Mountain West. Sorry, Wyoming fans. The Mountain West.

Great conference. Super fun. Love them during bowl season. Always a lot of entertainment for the Mountain West. But that's the point. I don't care who played where at what college. It's really about the player's skill set. The SEC is a great conference.

It probably gives you a good idea of if a quarterback can play, but there's been lots of busts from there and lots of success stories from there, just like anybody else. So again, the helmet scouting is just not something that I'm into. The point just being that what this would be is completing the circle. That's how I look at it is they have, they started out in a spot where they were a competitive team and then they went down last year because it was the right thing to do. And imagine if they had paid Adam Phelan, Delvin Cook, if they had added void years to all those guys' contracts and what a bad

position that would be right now. But instead, they were always moving in a direction, right? And where they have to bring it back around is to get the quarterback they want. And then at the moment they're able to do that, that will be the, I think, real start of Kevin O'Connell and Kweisi Adafo-Mensah's era in Minnesota. And over this time, there has been a lot of criticism of Kweisi Adafo-Mensah for a very bad 2022 draft. There's been a lot of questioning about whether it's able to work out or not. I'm sorry. I just got a text message. Can I brag just a second that I got a text message from ESPN Radio wanting to go on their show at 2.10.

So let me just say yes to this, and then I'll continue my thought. Otherwise, I'd just be distracted. So let me just say yes to this and then I'll continue my thought. Otherwise I'd just be distracted. So I, uh, let's see Freddie and Harry show on ESPN radio. Cool. All right. That's what I'm doing to 10. So everybody pay attention to that folks. Have you ever heard of test driving a phone network? I did not make this up. It is an actual thing. And U.S. Cellular is letting you test drive their network for free for 30 days. You can try out U.S. Cellular wherever you have that spotty service,

like on your commute to work, that one spot in your house where your service dips. Test drive U.S. Cellular at your kid's school on parent-teacher night. Okay, maybe still pay attention, but by all means, make sure you test it. It's as easy as doing a little boop, boop, boop on your phone. That was me getting the app to try it out.

I know, great sound effects there. Test Drive, U.S. Cellular's award-winning network for 30 days. U.S. Cellular, built for us. Terms apply. Awards based on OpenSignal independent independent data visit uscellular.com for details the point just being that that you know this was it it's kind of like getting on the highway and you're driving in a certain direction and there's stops along the way and sometimes it's it's better or worse right like you stop at a mcdonald's stops along the way. And sometimes it's, it's better or worse,

right? Like you stop at a McDonald's that's bad or whatever. I love McDonald's, so I'm not trashing them, but you know, you, you stop off at whatever, uh, you know, and you eat at a bad restaurant or, you know, whatever. And that was the 2022 draft. But as long as you get there, you know, there's, there might be stops along the way. There might be arguments in the car. There might be things that don't go the way you wanted them to go. And, you know, over Kirk cousins, it may have been an argument in the car between Kevin O'Connell and the Wilfs and, uh, Kweisi Adafo Mensah. But along the way, we get so many of those and we're watching this car ride of the Vikings

starting from where they were in 2022. And we see them hit the bumps along that car ride. And we go, I don't know, man, that's pretty bad bump. You just hit there. Lewis scenes, not good. Like that's true. And that was a bad bump, but you know, that, that can, that can be fixed. You can put a new tire on along the way. What they needed to do is travel from point A to point B. And today they took a big step toward getting from point A to point B, that that was the most important thing that they might have some bad stops. They might have some bumps along the way.

They might have some bumps along the way. They might have some arguments in the car. You might be, I mean, gosh, anybody, anybody who's ever taken a vacation on a road trip with your partner, you know, that along the way there's going to be some bickering and so forth. And there might've been over, you know, Kirk cousins, but if they get there and they're able to pick their guy, then they will be in one of the best positions in the NFL to actually compete for a Superbowl in the coming years. And that is something that the word Superbowl has just not been something that I've been interested in saying in a long time. In 2018, it was all right. The standard is set NFC championship, Superbowl 2018. That's where you should be. And when they won in new Orleans in 2019,

you could see it off in the distance. Hey, you win two more games and you're there. And since then they have never felt within anywhere close. They have felt like driving from here to California away from the Super Bowl, a very, very long drive. But now it seems like from here to Wisconsin in order to at least be able to say it. I'm not saying they're going to win it. I'm saying that we can talk about it, that we can talk about the direction being headed to ward the super bowl. And that has not been something that we've been able to say at all, if they can complete this journey and that, that is important. So they trade today, they get the 23rd pick, they get the 11th pick. And our assumption is if you're just joining again,

Hey, welcome. Uh, the Vikings getting the 23rd pick, they move up from 42 to 23. They give up a second rounder in 2025. And these paired together by any of the draft charts that you use is enough to get to the top five and it cannot be overstated. So I'll say it again, how important it is in this race to trade up because it is, it is a rat race to trade up with other teams that might want these quarterbacks like Denver, like Las Vegas, that who's Denver's quarterback, Jared Stidham. They got nobody who's a Vegas's quarterback, Gardner Minshew. They got nobody. So there's other teams that want this but now the Vikings have something that's very valuable in the NFL which is a this year's pick when you're talking about next year's pick it's still good I mean if you're Arizona or you're New England like it's

still good that you get next year's pick but you'd rather have it now. You'd rather have the start of that rebuild. If you're Gerard Mayo in new England, you would much rather have it now and get that rebuild started. If you're Arizona, that team has very little talent and they just lost Marquise Brown. I mean, they just don't have a lot to work with there. They gave away Rondell Moore, who just never really worked out the way that they expected. So they need multiple players on Arizona and Arizona's probably looking at it like what Detroit did and saying, all right, like air, you know, Detroit had a good quarterback. I think Kyler Murray's a good quarterback and they stacked up draft capital by making trades and they loaded up the roster

around that good quarterback. Well, Arizona, you know, they, I think that they want potentially to do the same thing and would forego maybe taking one player at the top, like a receiver, like Marvin Harrison, in order to have a chance to take somebody, you know, to multiple players and somebody similar at 11, because you know, that, uh, it's just going to be a cluster with all these quarterbacks that if you're drafting at 11, but you don't need a quarterback, it's like drafting at seven or six. And then, uh, you know, getting the 23rd pick. I think that they would be thrilled to do that. Like these two teams that are in positions to move down. So, uh, all of this is

coming together for the Vikings, but they have to take that next step. They have to get to number three, number four. I mean, I guess potentially number two, I think that's going to take even more work and then just don't apologize to anybody because there's going to be questions. Did they give up too much? And to me, the answer is, I don't think there is a too much when it comes to the quarterback. This is a very, it's just very funny. And like, there's always this, this person from here on after, after they make this trade is getting completely ignored, but I'll just mention it just because it's funny because every single person, every single time I do a stream, someone tells me that all the

quarterbacks in the first round are busts. And it's just so not true. Uh, we get, you know, in the comment section, 80% of first rounders fail. That's just completely false, man. You just can't, you just can't make, well, I guess you can in 2024 make up stats, but I won't be hearing it from here on after they make this trade. I don't care about what you claim are the odds of this working out. Like I don't care because the odds are different here when you have the weapons and the situation you can give the Vikings. So, all right. So what do you think? What do you guys think? We'll continue to talk about this for a little bit. Although I'm just sitting here wondering, like, when is this going to happen?

When is it, you know? So hold on here. Jazz man thinks that Washington is the dance partner. Washington is such a wild card because they have a new owner and new management. And, you know, I could really see them, Magic Johnson's involved, loving Jaden Daniels. Because who else would Magic Johnson like other than somebody who does magic things on the field, running the ball and making plays? I know Magic Johnson's not calling that shot.

I just, I'm joking, but they have a new ownership and we don't know how they feel. They have a new general manager, a new head coach. Everything is different there. They have Cliff Kingsbury as their offensive coordinator. I don't know who Washington is going to like at number two overall. And I also don't know if they would be willing to move back

because what's their other answer at quarterback now maybe if they love Bo Nix then they think that they could take him at number 11 and trade back and and maybe that's potentially an option I guess I I just when with a team with a new owner they gotta be dying to take a quarterback at number two overall. So Joe says, I'd be somewhat surprised if another trade isn't announced today. And I was thinking for that exact same made the right decision in deciding to go live. So good morning to everybody. And you've seen me sort of wake up as we speak, get a little Diet Dr. Pepper going and kind of talk through this myself. It's one of my favorite parts of this week has been like you're hearing me think it out in real time, because even though I have pondered this, like this is a very much surprising move that they pulled this off to get the number

23 overall pick. Also funny, the Vikings have a tendency to do things right after they do a press conference. So they do a press conference, Then they fire Ed Donatel. They do a press conference. Then they trade for this draft pick. So maybe, maybe they were, uh, maybe the body language of Kevin O'Connell yesterday was just him waiting till it was over so they could go upstairs and complete this trade. I don't know. Uh, Brett says, uh, would you prefer mayor Daniels? It's it's Drake May for me. He's younger. He's bigger. He doesn't take hits the same way Jaden Daniels does. And he plays with much better timing already than Daniels.

That does not mean I am down on Daniels. I just look at it as a better fit. So if you are evaluating every prospect in a bubble, I still think you probably take Drake May over Jaden Daniels. But when you consider the fit, I think it's better. If they were to draft Jaden Daniels, then it's going to take a lot of work for Kevin O'Connell to adapt his offense. But that's still a top-end prospect.

I mean, that's why it's important that you get into this top three or top four is that you get a top end prospect either way where the guy, and what I like to call it is that has a superpower that we know what Jane Daniels is. It's his legs. Drake may is his arm talent. I think with JJ McCarthy, you're looking for his superpower to be his understanding of the offense, his leadership, his execution, and then a little bit of playmaking on the side, but you can really see it with May and Daniels. And when both of those guys have that, I'm in that, that has often been the determining factor for special. What can we point to with every quarterback in the NFL and go, the reason this guy's special is X CJ Stroud. The reason CJ Stroud is special is his arm talent. And that might be a thing with Bryce young that kind of got him is that he does a lot of things well,

but he doesn't do anything super well, but Josh Allen, his superpowers, his arm, Patrick Mahomes, it's his creativity and playmaking. And the game moves very slow for him. It seems because he does stuff that looks like he's in fast motion. And so you see all these guys, they have a superpower. And I think may and Daniels both do may with his arm and Daniels with his, his running ability that you could win with. Matt says, do I, do I think they'll make the trade today? It is Friday.

Is it Friday? Yeah, it's Friday. So that's, you know, Friday, friday news is is a real thing i think i i do think that's very possible that we're loading this thing back up pretty soon and having another conversation but there's also a long way to go until the nfl draft so if you are those teams at the top, like you can sleep on it over the weekend. Like you don't have to do it. And in fact, for content purposes, I hope that they don't, I hope they wait. Let's spread this out. Let's keep having these fun conversations into next week. Andrew says this could be a really wild top of the draft. Chicago and Washington

are such a dumpster fire organizations only you're only a dumpster fire until you get your quarterback nobody knows that better than me having grown up in buffalo the buffalo bills were wildly dysfunctional while jp lostman and ej manual were there and then all of a sudden very functional and high class franchise when josh allen arrived so you know they this is this is another reason this has to happen for the Vikings to make this bold move to trade up wherever it's going to be, if they indeed are using these picks to trade up.

You look at Chicago and Washington, they're going to take, if Washington doesn't trade with the Vikings, they're going to take top quarterbacks. I mean, the quarterbacks weren't going to stay in the AFC forever folks and I you know I would not also count out Bryce Young is eventually being good or that team being good they've added a lot of talent so you have multiple number one picks coming into the NFC and you already have you know Brock Purdy with several more years on his rookie

contract Jalen Hurts is still in Philly before he gets super expensive in the coming years. You're going to have to do something big in order to have a chance to really compete with those teams that are on their way. Again, the quarterbacks were not going to stay in the AFC forever. There was going to be bad NFC teams that drafted high and got quarterbacks and spent cap space and all that stuff that we've seen Chicago do. And not to mention the lions, Jared golf is not old. They're going to be there for a while. They probably have a three to five year window. So if you were going to compete with Chicago, with Washington in their rebuild and the good teams that are already there, you have to go get

this guy who could be a difference maker. You can't just hang around with decent or with okay. You got to aim for better, and I think that's what they're doing here. And that's why I mentioned about the draft trade charts that inevitably you will see when the Vikings, if the Vikings make a trade up to the top four or five. Well, you know, they gave up this much and it was worth this much for the other team, other, you know, whatever won the trade. But I remember that same stuff for when the Chiefs traded up with Mahomes.

They traded up, I think, with Buffalo and all the people that I knew in Buffalo were like, oh, Kansas City, what are they thinking? Silly gooses. They lost the trade. Not if you get your quarterback, you don't thinking? Silly gooses, they lost the trade. Not if you get your quarterback, you don't. If you get your quarterback, you win the trade. Nick says, I hope the move up happens soon. I can't sit on this until April 25th.

Now that is very much true. And I agree with you on that. But once, I mean, once it happens, then the intrigue just goes through the roof of which quarterback they really want at the top of the draft. Matthew says, I think they traded number three. New England has too much to pass up on what Minnesota can trade needs too much. Yes. So if I am new England, I'm feeling kind of the same way, but you know, they need everything. They are so lost in the woods that they really do need everything. But when they brought in Jacoby Brissett,

my first thought was, okay, they want to draft a quarterback and have this guy be his mentor that things do change fast in the NFL. You can draft number three and build a team pretty quickly. We saw the Cincinnati Bengals do this with the number one pick. We saw the Rams with Jared Goff, Philadelphia with Carson Wentz. Philadelphia was better. Actually, I shouldn't use that as an example, but the Rams, when they drafted Jared Goff, they were horrendous. Oh my goodness.

They were just so bad. And they turned around very quickly. Cincinnati was an absolute joke. When Joe Burrow went down, they couldn't even come close to winning games. And then they were in the Superbowl the next year. So the Patriots may view it that way. They may view it as like, all right, we got to just take our guy and then, you know, we'll build the rest around him. I don't know. That's why, that's why I continue to bring up a number four because it guarantees that the Vikings get one of those top four quarterbacks and Arizona has the least to sacrifice by moving out of that pick. Um, Andrew says, uh, some of the hits with Daniel, the Daniels takes are really scary. Even in college, more worried about injury with him.

Yeah. Generally speaking injuries and running quarterbacks have not been maybe as correlated as people will act like put it that way. Like Lamar Jackson has had some injuries, but Lamar Jackson has also then had full season, plenty of full seasons. Lots of quarterbacks get hurt. Kirk got hurt last year.

He never gets hurt. But Daniels does run himself into trouble like that. Can you work that out of his game? I think that's possible that you can. I mean, with Daniels, there's going to be something scary about all these guys. That's how it works when you don't know the answer to the question of whether someone is actually good you're going to be scared that drake may will never really work out that erratic nature of his play you're going to be scared that jayden daniels will get hurt and that he won't process

fast enough to get the ball out on time you're going to be worried that jj mccarthy will never reach that upside and all that leadership and everything else stuff was just based on him winning a championship in college and not really on his skills, no matter who it is. And look in Chicago, they're looking at Caleb Williams going, Oh, well, is he going to be able to handle the media? Is he going to be a cry baby? Does he want, you know, whatever part of the team and all every quarterback who's ever come out in the draft has had something you're really afraid of every single quarterback and all the great ones for sure there was the talk last year with cj stroud that he wasn't enough of a playmaker turns out he is i mean there's just there's always going to be those questions about whoever you take. And it's part of what makes the discussion so fascinating.

But also, you just have to remember that. That no quarterback has ever come out of the draft perfect. And it's going to take time. Brett says, do you like J.J. McCarthy? Personally, eh. I have not been sold on that idea that's my own opinion but as I was just saying about draft analysts who study this stuff closer and their lack of accuracy I would say the same thing for myself from my own watching of JJ McCarthy I did not feel like I saw a franchise

quarterback who can play at the level of the guys we talk about as the best in the NFL. But given this position in Minnesota and the coach and the receivers and his character, he played for Harbaugh, like he, he w his ability to run play actions and bootlegs effectively throw on the run, his quick feet, his physical ability, the fact that you can develop him over a couple of years and you have Sam Darnold to play if you don't want McCarthy to play right away. I like the idea. So I am very, very okay with them drafting J. mccarthy if that's what they do so i have more skepticism about him than the other prospects but i'm also completely fine with them drafting

mccarthy if they end up doing this court uh courtland says um part of my uh let's see are they packaging two picks uh or two players and getting nicks or pennix late yeah if this is not a package to trade up i'm not gonna say i'll be baffled but i'll be a little perplexed because why i mean why give up so much to get that far into the first the only reason would be when you look at the draft charts and the value charts, that's what can get you up to the top. So rather than trading up to 30 or to 32 to get Michael Penix or something, then you're trading up to 23. And also that's not trading ahead of Denver or ahead of the Raiders, other teams that might pick those quarterbacks.

So it'd be a weird trade if they just stayed with this. And I think that they have to know that they are very close to a deal to move up into the top four if they are making this move today, rather than just picking a quarterback at number 11 overall, because they could have just done that. If they wanted Knicks 11 overall, because they could have just done that. If they wanted Knicks or Pennix, they could have just gone number 11 overall. Miles says, if you were to compare the top three quarterbacks to current quarterbacks in the league, who would you compare them to? You guys will have to give me some of yours. I have not thought this

through super well as I try to answer this question, I brought up with Drake May that Matthew Stafford is my comparison for him because Matthew Stafford does crazy stuff too. Like Drake, Drake May does crazy stuff sometimes. So does Stafford, but the high end is freaky arm talent. Big giant dude can throw over the middle of the field. I'm going to mention that a hundred times because that's a very important skill to me. And, uh, you know, I, I think that like, if you're Kevin O'Connell, that's why you like Drake may potentially is because he reminds you of the guy that you won the Superbowl with, with Jaden Daniels, it's natural to go Lamar Jackson. And I think his running ability is comparable to Lamar Jackson, but I don't know that.

See Lamar has become a very effective passer. And that might be something that happens to Jaden Daniels as well. And he can throw, but he Daniels throws a better deep ball than Lamar Jackson does. I think like a more precision, more accurate down the field, but Lamar gets the ball out on time more than Jaden Daniels. But Jaden Daniels is also super young. Like it's just so hard not to make

that comparison when you see him run because it's special. So he has Lamar or Justin Fields running ability. You'd be afraid that he would become Justin Fields because he gets sacked a lot. That would be something that would be really concerning. Uh, but maybe there's more of a Jalen hurts type thrower with Lamar Jackson type runner, because one of the things with Justin Fields is that he had to be kind of like coaxed into just taking off. And I don't think you have to do that with Jane Daniels. I think he like, that's a major part of his game so that one's i almost what if like what if tyrod taylor was like better like that's that's what jayden daniels could be is is it's like a bigger like if tyrod was bigger than something like that maybe and go back and

look at how tyrod played for a couple of seasons when he was at his best. If you had a bigger, a little bit better version of that, like that's a really good quarterback. So it's not a slam because Tyrod's become a backup. And for JJ McCarthy, it sounds like a diss, but it's not to say Alex Smith, because Alex Smith won a lot of games and went to an NFC championship. He's thought of as the guy that Patrick Mahomes took over for, but like I could see that type of quarterback where it is a little bit more like game manager-y, which again is not a terrible thing. Like that's what Brock Purdy was doing last year. It's a, it's a little bit more game manager. I'm sorry.

Jeremiah Searles just sent me a picture of Drake May. So just so you know, I'm not alone in thinking about who they should draft as their quarterback. But anyway, so yeah, I guess I, I guess I think of McCarthy is like an Alex Smith. And if you look at Alex Smith's career, it was a success in San Francisco. He got with this close.

I mean, they're one drive away from the Super Bowl. Won a ton of games in Kansas City. So, I mean, if that's what they got on a rookie contract, you've got a chance to win a lot of games. So that's kind of how I'd look at it. But I got to think those comparisons over a little bit more. That was kind of just off the top of my head. Let's see here. Let's see here. What else is on your guys' mind? Yeah, it is true. Ben, New England and Washington, they did get rid of their quarterbacks. Yeah. And

it really does look like they're going to draft quarterbacks unless you talk them out of it. And that may be the goal here is can you talk them out of it? Brett says, if we were at three, would you think that JJ might be a better fit than Daniels, even though Daniels may have looked better? I would be really interested in their decision. I don't want to go on assuming that Kevin O'Connell would like McCarthy better just because he's more of a

pocket quarterback. I mean, I, I tend to think that, but Kevin O'Connell, when he played was a running quarterback. So just because he hasn't had one doesn't mean that he could never do it, right. That he could never design for a running quarterback. And let's not use Josh Dobbs as evidence because Josh Dobbs showed up in the middle of the season and his Josh Dobbs. The other point is to, though, for O'Connell, if he does draft Jaden Daniels, let's take the play where you snap it to the tight end and pitch it to the quarterback. Take it outside, light it on fire. Then when the ashes are burned, scoop them up, take them out to the middle of the ocean, throw them there so they can never hurt us again. Don't ever run that play. If you get Jaden Daniels,

because that was the, I think the turning point for Josh Dobbs going downhill. But look, if last year's, and this, haven't you all known this? If last year's bad season ends up leading to this team taking Drake May, wasn't it worth it? Isn't that the whole point about like taking steps back, rebuilding, things like that, is that in the long run, it'll be worth it. But of course they have to execute this first, which is to get up to the top four to get one of these quarterbacks. From Randy, I think McCarthy has just as much talent as May, arm talent as May. It's just never been showcased. I just don't agree with that.

I think if he had as much arm talent as May, they would have thrown the ball more. But it's a different kind of thing like he has arm strength but right now for mccarthy everything is a fastball it's just like winding up and letting it loose drake may has nuance to how he throws the ball naturally and they call it layering the football but what that will mean sometimes is like when you have a linebacker who's dropping back in coverage and you have receivers coming behind him, which the Vikings do all the time, by the way, being able to guide that football with the right velocity over the linebacker into the receiver tight ends hands, as opposed to just having to whip it by as you know,

at a low trajectory, that's different. so right now in their careers drake may has more touch on his football and more nuance to how he passes than jj mccarthy that doesn't mean they can never get there and mccarthy has natural skill i mean mccarthy mccarthy has natural arm strength and you saw that when he wound up. Oh, no, camera died. We knew that was going to happen. Man, what a run it was for the camera, though, right? Hold on. I'll get the, all right.

What a run it was for the camera. I'll have to remember that an hour and a half is about as far as that camera is willing to go. We did a good job, though. I mean, we made it a long way before that camera died, but I'm going to have to charge it up to a hundred percent. I didn't expect this. I didn't expect to wake up this morning and have this. Did you guys, man? All right. We'll keep going though. We're having a good conversation there. It's very exciting. Also. I feel like as soon as I turn this, this off that what's going to happen is they're going to make the trade for

whatever number three or number four overall pick. And then all this is going to be blown up. But a lot of the quarterback conversation of course will not be Joe says the age on the quarterbacks ends up being somewhat of a notable thing because you could be really good at 1920 playing against 21 and 22 year olds and it's very impressive breaking out at 23 24 raises questions i'm only like half in agreement of that i think that the idea about a younger quarterback is that they, um,

just turn this. There we go. That looks a little better, less washed out. Uh, so I think the idea with a younger quarterback is that there's more room to grow. Not necessarily that.

Well, like they beat up on kids and they were high schoolers playing, uh, in JV or something, but it's really more about how much farther can you go from where you were? And can you make yourself into some better version? So if you drafted Bo Nix, like he sort of is what he is.

If you draft Michael Penix, he is what he is. If you draft JJ McCarthy and you're a coach and you're a developer of quarterbacks, well, then you're thinking, all uh, developer of quarterbacks. Well, then you're thinking, all right, I can work with these raw skills and improve them over the years. Uh, that that's more of it than I would look at, say the production. Um, but Jaden Daniels, the guy who's gotten better every single year had a, had the big breakout season. I don't, I'm not worried about his age versus the other guys i don't think because he

absolutely annihilated college football it's like if you when you're a little bit older and if you just played pretty well in college football okay but he won the heisman he just like demolished everybody angel says i honestly don't get why we signed Darnold if we have Mullins. Well, no, it is. No, no. I'm just going to move on from that. Like Nick Mullins can't play a season. Like if you, if you draft JJ McCarthy and he has to sit for a year because he's not

ready to play yet and they want to develop them and they want to take their time. You can't play Nick Mullins for 17 games. You just can't, especially if you gave up a next year's first or something involved in this, which, which by the way is, is worth mentioning that at least as of this moment, they haven't given up the next year's first.

They only next year's second. If they only give up next year's second and end up getting a top five pick, that would be incredible. That would be incredible. We'll talk about Kwesi Dafa-Mentz in a second, by the way. But yeah, I think Sam Darnold is a great, great decision. He's a veteran quarterback who's been through it. He's had the life experience of being a top draft pick.

He's been a backup quarterback for a young emerging quarterback in San Francisco. He can start for an entire season if you need him to. And he's eight, nine in his last 17 starts. Yeah. So, you know, and played pretty well for San Francisco last year. That's fine. Yeah. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah. Yeah, that's fine. Sam Darnold, 10, 10 guys. Do we think $10 million is a lot of money? I've seen this on Twitter. Oh my God. They paid Sam Darnold $10 million. They pay starters $50 million. It's fine. It's a one-year contract. He's there to make sure you got somebody in case you need to develop your quarterback for a year. It's fine. Sometimes when we try way too hard to be like, what are they doing? Like that's a way that you're trying way too hard to Nick Mullins.

What's what's Nick Mullins record if they play 17 games? I mean, that is a total tank season. Do you think I mean, that's not competitive rebuild. That would be total, total tank jazz man says i i would think that they make this trade knowing what qb they can get at three they would be at the mercy of the other two teams i think your logic is fair i just don't know what washington's gonna do they are a total wild card i do not know what they're going to do because until proven otherwise they they're still Washington. They could do some crazy stuff, but what you're saying makes a lot of sense.

Or they're totally comfortable with all of the quarterbacks that if they've evaluated and they feel like all of them could be franchise quarterbacks. So just say, for example, last year, if they looked at CJ Stroud and Anthony Richardson and said, Hey, either one of those guys, I'd be comfortable with as my franchise quarterback. Let's try to trade up and see what we can do. And of course it didn't come to fruition, but both of those guys were evaluated very, very high.

And if the same thing is the case for right now, then they might just need to get to the top four. And Kyle asks, why do I keep mentioning top four rather than five with the chargers? That's because of the New York giants. If they were to get at number five and the giants or even the Broncos or the Raiders wanted to pull off some crazy stuff and jump from behind, then they would be able to do that and get to number four with Arizona. If they went really crazy and all in.

So you'd have to be a hundred percent sure that Arizona was going to pick Marvin Harrison. If you're going to be at number five, you have to be a hundred percent sure that the giants aren't going to call them up and say, Hey, we want to move up to number four. We'll give you next year's first.

And the Giants got to want a quarterback. They have to want a quarterback. And if there's going to be a holdup to this whole thing, you know what I think that it's going to be? Is that after the Vikings have shown their cards here by trading to get the 23rd overall pick, I'm going to guess that there's other teams that are making those phone calls being like whoa whoa whoa before you guys do it or hey if you're arizona or

washington or the patriots you're like all right so we know what the vikings will trade us because they just got this what will someone else trade us robert says look at the tape as if i won't say it anyway uh daniels is clearly more nfl ready than may i'm not concerned about that and i also don't know that you can identify footwork reading defenses and he also doesn't throw in rhythm that well all the time i like all these quarterbacks by the way no matter who they do it for that's great. But NFL ready is not part of the evaluation. It's just not NFL ready is kind of a myth because, you know, Anthony Richardson was thought of as a guy who was not supposed to play right away, looked great to start or really good. Josh Allen was not supposed to start. He came in week three and beat the Vikings and played well and became one of the best quarterbacks in the league. NFL ready is, it's just one of those things that people say,

but, uh, I look at if, if they're picking a guy at the very top, you have to be willing to do whatever it takes to make sure you maximize him, including even if that's developing him over a year rather than, you know, playing him right away. But I mean, yeah, look, whether, whether,

whether he's NFL ready or not. Okay. Yeah. Whether, whether he's NFL ready or not is just not that to me is just kind of a cliche. It's not even, I don't know.

It's just not something that I would evaluate really at all. As far as the pick you're looking, you're looking to have someone as your quarterback for 10 years so if that takes not playing them till week eight or something like i i don't care that's fine that doesn't concern me at all all right uh let me uh let me scroll through a few more here before I pop off and got to write something about this and got to go on ESPN radio later this afternoon. That's cool. What about a trade for Herbert? I don't,

I don't know how like this comes up, but is that something that it's like out there? Like if you're Jim Harbaugh, that's why he took the job. And also there's the dead cap that everyone's going to tell you about. So, but I don't think that's possible. If it is, it's crazy, but I don't think that's possible. Let's see here.

Why wouldn't they trade Herbert and pick JJ McCarthy? Because Herbert's already a really great quarterback that they should try to win with. That's, that's why you hire Jim Harbaugh. You don't hire Jim Harbaugh to sit around and develop a quarterback over years. This is not true. JJ McCarthy and Drake may have the same skills,

not just not, it's not accurate. They both have some things about their game that you like as a top five draft pick, but they are not the same. Drake may is bigger. That matters. Drake may as much more of a playmaker off of schedule than JJ McCarthy is

much more of a, I think a running threat than McCarthy. I know McCarthy ran sometimes in college, but an actual, like could make a difference with his legs. Uh, but more than anything, it's just the, the arm talent and how far along it is, is, is different, uh, between those two quarterbacks. It doesn't mean I wouldn't be happy with either one. It just means that they're not like the same player. Um, so, but if they draft McCarthy,

like you've got a chance to go win with them. Um, every yeah. From, from now on, uh, like you've got a chance to go win with him. Um, every, yeah, from, from now on, uh, if you tell me with some sort of confidence that you think someone's going to be a bust or whatever else, then, uh, there's just really no point in addressing that comment because you don't know. And I don't know. And no one else knows. We're only looking at the situation that the Vikings are in and what they could potentially do here um uh JA says does bringing in Darnold give a clue to which quarterback would be preferred choice because of similar skill sets yeah maybe I I would say that's not ridiculous to say but I think it's more about just uh Josh McCown has a lot of experience with Sam Darnold. And I think he's a really good guy to pair with a top draft pick that, that, that could be you know, that could

be something that works out really well for them is having a young ish guy. Like he's not just the older veteran, but he's sort of young ish, but he's been through it. He's been through the same type of thing of being the top draft pick. He's been to a Super Bowl last year as a backup quarterback. And it's really about how many quarterbacks could play 17 games if you needed them to. How many quarterbacks are like that? Like, not many. Even Gardner Minshew, like, it's a grind.

It's a struggle for Jacoby Brissett to play 17 games. Sam Darnold could do that if you needed him to. How high can they go up with these picks? I mean, number two is the max. They would probably have to add in another first round pick in order to do it. They also might not do it for anything, but number two is definitely the max. Fong says JJ's deep ball didn't look so good at the combine. Yeah, that's the difference right there is that McCarthy needs to develop significantly his touch on the football and his deep ball in general. His deep ball did not work out very well when he was throwing it. So that's something that he needs to work on.

Does the camera not have a cable to leave plugged in? It does. But when it's USB into the camera, it, it's not into the wall. It's into the USB. So the computer is powering it, which means that if I'm on long enough, the battery will go down, but I didn't charge it after last night. So if I had it at a hundred percent, it would have been fine, but I didn't charge it after last night. So it's okay. You guys are always here to hear me instead of see me anyway, right? I would hope so. If you're here for the beauty, then I don't know. But yeah, yeah. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to make sure I was going to charge it today. It's just that I didn't expect to jump up at

nine o'clock in the morning and do this, but that's all right. Very exciting. Uh, Ellison E Ellison says, do you think that Quacey may still make more trades to get to the second or third overall pick? Yeah. I mean, that's, that better be the goal. That better be the goal. Um, Sean says Dallas Turner or McCarthy at 11 or get Pennix or Knicks and an edge corner at 23. I'm just going to hard pass on that. I just, if they did all this just to pick 11 and 23, I'm not into that idea. Just not like you need to get one of the best. If you have an opportunity to do so, which you do right now, you need to get one of the best prospects, not just, okay, that'll work. It's Bo Nix. You need to get one of the the upper echelon prospects and we never know how it's going to work out but if we're taking the one big shot here you know if

it's me in the front office and we're saying hey this is our this is our one chance as Eminem once said our one opportunity for everything you ever wanted waiting around till 23 for the quarterback is just not it for me uh r emmer says am i am i feeling hope for the first time in a long time it seems that people are and rightfully so let me just stop and say this that uh quesadilla fomenta over the two years has taken a lot of arrows because of a 2022 draft and because he is a little different from your traditional general manager. He's not like Rick Spielman. He talks a little differently. He has a different background and there were a lot of people who were not accepting of that right away, that he is not a traditional football guy, that he doesn't have the scouting background. He doesn't have the, oh my gosh, Aaron Donald just retired.

Wow, man, I should do the show every morning during free agency. This was a mistake. The news just comes rolling in. Wow, one of the greatest players of all time. Easy Hall of Famer. Did not expect that. Aaron Donald just walks away. That is going to hurt the Los Angeles Rams, my friends.

But they're going to be mediocre anyway. It's kind of what they're going to be going forward. So anyway, wow. That I did not expect. Thanks, Adam Schefter. But Kweisi Daffelmense, I think anytime you're different, anytime you take a different approach, anytime you talk differently, anytime you're from a different background, you are going to have people who look at you and say, he's not from this world.

He's from the outside. And what is he doing with this? Or why is he doing that? Or he can't lead, uh, the same way that the same way that other people can. And it might be different. It really might be different in the way that the front office has operated, the way they've operated over the last couple of years from what you would have expected if you had a traditional football guy. And I wonder if that was at times over the last couple of years challenging for some people in the organization

that have been around traditional football people and so forth. And sometimes in front of the media, there were things that were said by Kweisi Adafo-Mensa where if you're the owners, if you're maybe players or agents or Kevin O'Connell, maybe you cringed and went, oh, he said competitive rebuild. We wasn't supposed to say that he was supposed to keep that in our conversations, not out loud. But at the end of the day, as we sit here right now, does anyone think this has gone badly? Because this right here is exactly where you would have hoped to get. Once you knew that the Wilfs wanted them to compete in 2022. Once you knew that, because the first couple of moves were like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, aren't you supposed to be tanking?

Are you supposed to be tearing it apart? So once we understood that they were not just tearing it apart, um, from 2022, the time they walk off the field against the New York giants to right now, they have made incredible progress toward being a championship competitive team. And that just has come to fruition over the last few days. And making this trade gives them a chance to go up, get their quarterback and complete that. And for us to really be able to make that assessment about the front office and say, they did it. They got themselves to this point, no guarantees on whether it succeeds,

but they got themselves to this point, which would be an incredible success for Kevin O'Connell and Kweisi Daffo-Mensa and their leadership over the last couple of years. It's really how you would have drawn it up from the start of last season. If at the start of last season you said the Vikings will have a number of players that work out for them like Josh Metellus, Ivan Pace, they'll develop some players, Jordan Addison, they will win seven games, and that they will draft after trading up in the top five to pair their future quarterback with Justin Jefferson. And then that last step is a Jefferson contract.

That is true. That is definitely true. Mateo says the idea of doing all these trades for McCarthy feels like paying filet mignon prices for rump roast feels like may Daniels or bus. Well, that could be true. That could be true, but it's really important to get the guy that you're going for.

Really, really important to come away with someone. And if there is a steep, steep drop off from McCarthy to the next best prospect, which it seems like there is, then pay the price. Make sure you get the guy. You'll get draft picks back later. You could spend the money in free agency. You could develop players with Brian Flores, but you can't replace getting the young quarterback.

And if it's somebody that, you know, O'Connell's willing to buy into, then yeah. I mean, you may see him as significantly different than Drake May, but we've thought that before. The key has always been that the people who evaluate quarterbacks see them as a first round pick. Once that happens, then the odds are kind of similar that anybody works out. Josh says odds that a player dare saw Addison being involved. I think that's pretty low,

pretty low. If they were to do that, that would make life harder on the potential quarterback. If that, if trading away Addison was the only way they could get Drake may, I think I would do it, but that I would not feel great about that. Um, because Addison is a very important part of this and Darisaw is definitely a part of this. Um, one of the things like sometimes you guys do a lot of Madden trades. Uh, Michael says could see Brian O'Neill being traded. Like you're, you're not wrong that it's possible, but like Brian O'Neill just isn't worth a lot.

Like if they were to put him out on the market to trade him, he's not incentive for a team to give you a top five draft pick or to get you over the top. He's probably worth a fourth or a fifth round pick on the trade market. He's much better with you than he is trying to trade him somewhere else. Aaron says a trade with the bears would give them nine, 11 and 23 and a future first round pick. I'm not so sure. I hang up the phone. I don't really know what you mean by that. Like how they, how are they getting number nine? I don't, I'm just don't follow but they're not they're not trading with the bears in this trade i the bears are not going to do that so um batteries not included yeah i know sorry uh andrew says uh you keep mentioning the owner's

meetings in orlando I'm not familiar with these meetings. Can you talk more about what they are and what you'll be able to learn there? Yeah. So every year the owners all get together. It's called the owner's meetings. So it's like, it is what it is. It's nothing more than you think that they get together at a hotel. Sometimes it's in Arizona. Sometimes it's at Orlando and they go through a bunch of stuff. They have these big meetings and they talk about rules stuff i think they vote on some things uh you know i don't know whatever i've never been inside no one's inside the room because it's only the owners so i don't know what everything that they talk about and all the teams send their

coaches their general managers down there they have have meetings as well. And, uh, we get availability with usually the owner and the coach. Now I've never gone before because normally it's kind of like go to the combine or go to the owner's meetings, budgetary type of thing. Um, but with the fact that they're in a position to draft quarterback and the owner's going to talk. Uh, yeah, I'm going, but really am I going to Orlando for maybe an hour of talking to two people? Yes. But also we're going to do reactions to that podcast from down there and it's Orlando. So, you know, like it'll be warm, I guess, but yeah, that's, that's really all it is.

I mean, it's exactly what it sounds like. All the owners fly in to this hotel. They have meetings all day. Coaches are down there. I don't know if GMs go to, but coaches are down there and they all have meetings and then that's, you know, that's pretty much all it is. So I'll be down there. All right. Harbaugh is crazy enough to trade Herbert. Yeah, that's true. Trade for fields. No, nope. Not after this, not after this, that, that never made a bit any sense. Really didn't. So all right. So we've kind of, we've kind of run through a lot of the different options here. I think it's probably a good time to take a break.

Also, I could use some breakfast because another instance of popping out of, uh, popping out of bed, waking up in the morning and going, Whoa. Uh, yeah,

Aaron Donald did, did actually retire. That was not fake. Uh, the Vikings could trade number 23 for fields. No, no one's trading anything for Fields he's not good let it go let it go I don't know what Justin Fields did to people what it wasn't from playing

football because the football was not ever good so uh anyway I just this right here here's what I was wondering what I was wondering. What I was wondering after yesterday, final thought on this whole thing was fields got ruined by the bears. It's a myth. It's a myth. It's just a myth. Like go back and look at quarterbacks who busted how many of them ever became anything ever again. I mean, Gino Smith and what a nine and eight, eight, nine type quarterback. That's like the shining example of someone being ruined. You know, I will charge my camera. I definitely will do that. So anyway, well, just, just the final thought is this is a big stop off on the route to where they need to go. This is an absolutely massive, massive decision and move

for the Vikings and Kweisi Adafo Mensah. And this could be the type of move that slingshots them into the top five. I think that they already must have an idea that that can happen. So we're going to keep an eye out for that. That could happen today. It could happen two weeks from now. Who knows, right? But this is a massive step toward completing the circle of where they set out to go this off season. And when they talked about having plans, if Kirk Cousins left, this sounds like this was their plan already in place just a day after talking about Cousins leaving.

And also, does anybody miss it? Does anybody miss it on this day? Does anybody miss it the last six years? Not me. So thanks everybody for watching and a good chance to be back. And yes, I will go charge the camera. Yeah, I could be back in 30 minutes.

Like the phone's going to be on, trust me. So thanks everybody for watching slash listening. This is an official emergency podcast. Yes, Michael, for sure. Absolutely. When I don't even really have time to set up and I just throw things on and fire away, that's the emergency. When it turns into a little bit of a disaster over here, that's the emergency part, but we'll definitely be back for another one. So thanks so much guys. And we'll see y'all again soon. Thanks for stopping by and for the great participation.

Really appreciate it.