Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings add another O-linemen -- what's next in free agency?

Episode Date: March 14, 2025

Matthew Coller talks with Vikings fans about the Vikings trading Ed Ingram, reportedly set to release Garrett Bradbury and signing a swing tackle Josh Skule.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Coller here, and we do have some Vikings news today. I can't say it's the most exciting Viking news of all time, but we can break it all down and then we can talk about what is next. I am making out the entire depth chart along with biggest questions for each position and what they've done so far. So I want to go through that with everybody. And also this is a great night for you guys to ask questions, give your thoughts and opinions and have a fun little dialogue here. I feel like we've gotten through the first couple

very intense days and we've answered many questions about the Vikings roster And now we can go whoo. Okay Take a deep breath. Let's assess what we have here with the Vikings roster Talk about what's next and we can even look at how it compares to the rest of the league where the Vikings should be in The conversation for Super Bowl odds win loss all that sort of stuff We can discuss it tonight. So questions comments throw them in the comment section right now I'll give you the quick rundown of what happened so far today in Viking land and then we can get into your thoughts Comments questions and then a little later

We'll go through the depth chart and also intern clay has returned and he's got a list of the players who found homes today. He also has his three winners and three losers of free agency. So I want to go through those as well. So first the Vikings traded, uh, at Ingram and they got a 20, 26 sixth round draft pick out of that. And everyone I saw reacting to it was surprised. They got anything for Ed Ingram.

I think what that tells you is the world is desperate for guards and they are so desperate that they're gonna hope and dream even for a guy that was at the bottom of the NFL in terms of pass blocking and was benched midway through the season. But if you're the Houston Texans, it's not going good over there. They just traded Laramie Tunsel. They just cut Shaq Mason. Their offensive line is a total wreck. It is a steaming pile of wreckage right now. And they are just, I guess, swinging for anything that maybe they could hope to reclimate

with is that the right word reclamation project it's not a good situation for them so they traded a six-round pick someone from the Texans reached out to me and said hey what should I expect from Ed Ingram I'm like I don't know if he's gonna make your team but I guess at this point he might that draft pick will go down as we focused a lot on Louis scene, but that is one of the worst ones considering how much they reached on Ed Ingram on draft night. The expectation for most people on the outside was that he there were a lot of questioning of the organization. Is that really what you want to do? Spend a second round pick on that guy that most people don't think until should be there until late. And he ends up going bust.

And one of the worst parts of the draft pick is that Lewis seen turned out to be a much better draft pick because he never hurt you. Lewis seen never played bad. In fact, the guys who took over for Lewis Seen have been fantastic. Josh Metellus, Cam Bynum, now Theo Jackson. That was great. That didn't hurt at all. The guard position was two years of getting quarterbacks hit very quickly and being ineffective in the run game.

Big misses in the run game. Sometimes big hits. It's not that we're no good games ever, but every couple of games that were good, there were twice as many that were bad. And with a guard, you have to play them. And they hoped and dreamed that he at some point would develop into something and he did not. And so they get a sixth round pick for him.

I guess good job. You get no pats on the back for getting a sixth round draft pick for a pick that not only you blew, but took forever to identify good job, you get no pats on the back for getting a sixth round draft pick for a pick that not only you blew, but took forever to identify that the guy wasn't very good. And I still think about the 2022 season where they just kept going back to it. No matter how much Kurt Cousins got hit because of the right guard and even strips act because of the right guard, no matter how badly it went. Well, that was 23 got strips act, but no matter how badly it went, they just kept

rolling it out there and hoping and dreaming that it would get better. And it never did. And it costs Kirk cousins ribs getting hit a bunch of times that year because of it. And they never really had any other answer for him. As long as he was there, he was essentially uncontested as the right guard because he was a draft pick and they need to make sure they don't make that mistake again, that if they do draft someone, you have to evaluate them like everybody else. Not just, Hey, we drafted him. I'm sure he'll get better.

I'm sure he'll get better. I'm sure. And he never did. So it's a, it's a tricky game developing and drafting quarterbacks. And it's easier to sit here and say that I'm sure and he never did. So it's a, it's a tricky game developing and drafting quarterbacks and it's easier to sit here and say that I'm sure they were watching the tape from week to week and hoping that, well, maybe showing signs. He put together two or three games that are good and you know, stuff like that, but it just never got there and they ended up wasting a lot of time at that

guard position with Ed Ingram. So not exactly a day for celebration when you have to trade away a former second for a sixth rounder, but I wish the Houston Texans the best of luck in rebuilding their offensive line. Also reports coming today that the Vikings will release Garrett Bradbury. If they don't find a trade partner, you know what what that means that means the Vikings are saying to the NFL insiders with the biggest followings can you please help us find a trade partner

for Garrett Bradbury and once that happens usually that means there is not a trade partner but maybe someone will come in at the last minute I think if you're Seattle or whatever team I saw, my old friend, Chad graph tweeting about Garrett Bradbury and the new England Patriots. He covers the Patriots. Now if you're one of those teams and you've got nothing, they released David Andrews, their longtime center.

You've got nothing at center. Certainly Garrett Bradbury is a good answer for you. He's played a lot of football. He's a good leader. And I will always say that they never gave him much of a chance with the guys around him. He is certainly flawed and you know, but he's got a lot of starting experience. So I think another team should want him and should trade a fifth round or sixth round pick or something for him. But once you know that the team has to release him, it's kind of like the Sam Darnold thing, where once the league knew

that the Vikings were going to turn it over to J.J. McCarthy, that's why they didn't make the trade on the franchise tag for Sam Darnold. And that's why they just said, we'll just take our chances with him hitting free agency. And he ends up officially with the Seattle Seahawks today, which is also funny because it's like all these deals get signed and they're all out there. And then they become official and you go, wait,

didn't that happen two or three days ago? But they actually have to sign the contract rather than just agree to it. Uh, but Garrett Bradbury getting cut is kind of an end of an era type of thing of them finally taking interior pressure. Seriously. That's the way I look at it is as long as he was their center that they never took it seriously how much damage it was doing that defensive tackles were steamrolling through and it's very similar. If he's not a first round draft pick, he's not going to continue to play as much as he did.

And again, this is me feeling like they left him out to dry a lot. And in a different system, in a system where they ran outside zone all the time and a system where it was play action a lot, screen a lot. If he was in a system where they ran a lot of screens, I think he's a very effective player. He could get out. He can block. He has a great athletic profile, but in a system where he is asked to just stand in there and go toe to toe in the ring with these defensive tackles, it does not

work and we've seen it so many times and the Vikings stuck with him. Again, it's not just the previous regime that has made bad decisions on the offensive line. That's my point. And today highlights some of the previous bad decisions that they have made on this offensive line. One was bringing back Bradbury when you don't play the type of system that is going to work for him and then asking him to be something he's not. How often do they run running back screens that were successful? Well, how often did they do it in 2019 with Bradbury as a rookie with Delvin

Cook all the time? They did it all the time and that's what he could do. I am they ran outside zone all the time and he was effective in doing so. And then they would get beat by kenny clark or something or a keem hicks but still there was a side to his game that was on the plus because it met his strengths and so as they get ready to release him or trade him to somebody, it's just kind of a reminder that they liked Bradbury. I think as a person and as a leader, and he was great this year as a leader, he deserves a ton of credit. He had to take on so much more of the mental load from, from a blocking perspective than he did before with Kirk cousins, and they won 14 games with him

as the center, calling the shots upfront and working with Sam Darnold. And that deserves to be, uh, you know, given some credit where it's due at the same time, there were a lot of pass rushers who made their way up the middle and for Sam Darnold to scramble around or, or make plays under pressure because they didn't have that pass blocking center. So, uh, Ryan Kelly is much more of the type of fit that they're looking for. And the same goes for Will Fries at right guard.

And we'll see what happens at the left guard. We'll talk about that in a minute. Uh, the Vikings did sign a swing tackle. It is pronounced school Justin school. That is S K U L E, which when you look at it quickly, your brain probably goes skull just because I've seen that word so many times, covering the Vikings, but Justin school, S K U L E. And he's a guy that has played a little bit throughout his career.

Last year had to play a little more. It was 362 snaps and got solid pass blocking grades as a Tampa Bay buck. And that's really all there is to it. He's an experienced player. He's almost 20 was 28. So he'll almost be 29 by the time they actually play. This is a swing tackle and an experience one probably is a little bit of an

indicator of that. You know, Walter Rouse may end up being a guard. They also want to have experience and I don't think it says anything about Christian Darasaw's recovery. I get questions about that a lot. Kevin O'Connell said at the combine that Darasaw is on track with his recovery, but there could be a delay into training camp with an injury like that that happened midway through last year. So they want to have another option and he just needs somebody better than David Quessaberry. David Quessaberry was certainly a guy who brought a lot of experience, but maybe too

much experience in terms of age and just couldn't really bend anymore the way you needed to bend. Now, Questerberry, he deserved credit because he came into that Chicago game and played really, really well, uh, and was able to survive. I shouldn't say really, really well, but was able to hang on and survive and allow them to have a tremendous offensive output that day. So there were a few times they called upon that guy and he had to do his best coming off the bench, but they needed somebody better. So Josh school is the guy that they get for that I'm sorry. Justin school is the guy they get for that and There isn't really much more to say about it other than they needed this position

Filled and they found a veteran who played pretty well for Tampa Bay last year So you got to give that signing a thumbs up. That's something you needed. And now there's still some more places depth wise on the depth chart to go through, which we will in a few minutes. So, all right, questions, comments. Let's get into what you guys got to say tonight.

Anything on the table that you want to talk about with free agency, what comes next for the Minnesota Vikings or around the league? DL UBAS? I'm sorry, I totally botched your name. What can you get for Bradbury? The answer is probably nothing. Maybe at the absolute best, you're talking about a sixth round draft pick for 2026, probably the same type of return that they got for Ed Ingram. It just, he has a good contract.

He's got a ton of experience. You know, you mentioned, Brett mentions that the Colts in Atlanta might need a center and all of that is true. And if they were trading him before they got Ryan Kelly, then it would be maybe worth a little bit more. But once that guy is clearly out the door and they're just putting it out there desperate for anybody to come trade for them, then you're hoping for pick swaps.

You're hoping for late round draft picks. There probably isn't a whole lot. Maybe if there's two teams that call them, that you take the best offer, but it's just, you know, I don't know. There's not a whole lot that you can really look for there aside from a late round draft pick. But that's how it goes because I mean, Brad Berry,

with all of his starting experience, you would think you would be worth more, but it's a leverage game. You're not going to hang on to it. You're not going to keep him at his price. And if they trade them, they get some more cap space. That's what they really want to do. I don't really think that, um, I don't really think that they're going to be able to get anything.

Uh, Tim bro slice says Ed started scene, couldn't crack special teams. So this is my point though, that if you draft somebody and they start for you and they're horrible, that's much worse than someone not playing at all and allowing other players to win a competition and become really good. It was so much better to have Louis C never touched the field and have cam by them and Josh Mattel is get opportunities and become really good players. Then it was for somebody to take up that right guard spot week in and week out

and not look for other answers because they were waiting for him to develop. And it just never happened. I think it's much worse to be forced into playing a bad player for two and a half years than it is for you just to not play someone at all. If they had just gotten veteran guards who were below average and played them at right him competing again with broken knees, like that guy had better results than at Ingram did when he actually played. So, uh, James says, uh, what is the musts in your eyes to get the absolute most out of JJ McCarthy's first year? Well, they've started to make some progress there, which is they must have

a garden, a center who can pass block. That's a start. They must design the offense to work for him. That's something I'm sure KOC has been thinking for two years about or a year and whatever. Okay. I guess it's not even a full year, but the minute he drafted him or even before he drafted him, it was just thinking about drafting him. I'm sure that they've been talking about and discussing and planning for what's going to work best for his skillset. Uh, they, I think they need a little more in terms of receiving options from a depth perspective, they need to run the football a hell of a lot better.

That's one thing about Sam Darnold. And I know everybody's over it and nobody wants to talk about what happened with Darnold. That's okay. But just to make the statement, uh, Darnold and I know everybody's over it. Nobody wants to talk about what happened with Darnold. That's okay. But just to make the statement, uh, Darnold down the stretch did not have good offensive line play. He didn't really get much from his depth wide receivers. He didn't get a whole heck of a lot from his tight end and he definitely didn't

rest on the running game. They really asked the quarterback down the stretch last year against Arizona to go win it against the Falcons to throw five touchdowns against Chicago to win that game. They really asked a lot of Sam Darnold last year. And I think that with a younger quarterback in JJ McCarthy, you need to ask less. And it's not a distance to McCarthy. It's just how can you make his life as easy as possible? And that's your question. They had the good defense last year that certainly helped Sam Darnold. He was not playing from behind. They didn't play in that many

shootouts where it was back and forth, back and forth like that. So you don't want McCarthy having to do that too much. Um, JJ McCarthy's feet are being saved from being stepped on from Ed Ingram. At least he did stop doing that this year, stepping on the quarterback's feet. But the running game, solidifying the rest of the offensive line, pass protection, the leader at center for him. They got, and they have most of the parts. They have the superstar wide receiver for JJ McCarthy to rest on.

They have the number two wide receiver who can make plays downfield. Uh, I think they need a screen game. I've been calling for the screen game for I don't know how long, but they really could use that wide receiver screens, running back screens, and really the run game. Think about how easy life is when you're Brock Purdy in 2023, which is really what they're trying to do here. They're trying to create a Brock Purdy 2023 where you have a quarterback that is

supposed to keep the train on the tracks and make a couple of plays a game. That's what Purdy did for them. That's what you want McCarthy. You want him to be, as I've said, maybe many times like the quarterback that everyone's saying, well, is McCarthy even that good? His whole team around him is so awesome. Like that's what you're looking for. Oh, his running game is so great. His screen game is so great. Is he really a top notch quarterback? That's what you want. And they have to get that running game improved, which means to me getting another offensive lineman and going out and getting another running back Which means to me getting another offensive lineman and going out and getting another running back in free agency, it's just not going to happen.

So going into the draft and getting a running back who can maybe score on third and two at the goal line. That's maybe the biggest part is last year, Kevin O'Connell and this offense demanded that Sam Darnold threw the football into the end zone. Anytime they were inside the 20 That's just a lot to ask for the quarterback to always have to throw a touchdown and never be able to just Hand off and go into the end zone It's the easiest thing in the world for a quarterback to hand off and the more times you can have that Hey, they got him down into the inside the 10 handoff touchdown. All right back to the sideline

They just everything was hard in the red zone last year for the Vikings. I think they really need to improve that. Will fries helps a lot. I don't know how much of will fries tape you guys have been grinding, but he does get a push. He is a violent player. That same thing goes for Ryan Kelly can still do that.

So, you know, I think that that's maybe a great place to start. Adam has the rest of the NFC gotten any better this week? The Vikings seem like they're the only one. Uh, Chicago I think has because they went out and fixed their offensive line. That was their main thing. They also got some pieces on defense to help them rush the passer. So Chicago would be a pick for me. Uh, and you know, Detroit, did Detroit get better with DJ Reed over Carlton Davis, maybe not really bringing back on Wazirky was big for them. And still a shock to me that he got the price that he got one year, five and a half million, I don't know.

I saw a quote from him where he said something like free agency stinks or whatever, and I was just like, what? I think you should have held out longer in free agency because that guy had a good year last year and maybe could have gotten more, but maybe he just wanted to stay with Detroit. I don't know. Detroit has definitely not gotten worse though. I would say, and maybe a shade better. The Packers have definitely not gotten better. They dropped their center. They picked up a guard for a gazillion dollars. So just in the NFC North, no, the Vikings and Bears

have done a lot more than everyone else. The Eagles feel like they're going to do something at some point, trade for somebody or whatever, but no, they lost Milton Williams, so that hurt them. We'll see later on about Clay's list, who he has from the NFC. The Rams have gotten better by getting Devonte Adams and they're moving on from Cooper Cup.

I think Devonte Adams is a better receiver than Cooper Cup is right now. That was a big sign. And, but they're a little more, you're right about the, oh, you meant the NFC North. Okay. But just trying to go through the entire NFC. Washington has made a lot of

moves. They're definitely improving. I mean, Washington getting Laramie Tunsel has potential, huge implications with the fact that, uh, that guy is an elite offensive lineman with pass blocking and they struggled at that position last year, but there hasn't been too many moves where I've said, wow, it's just completely, uh, change the entire shape of the NFC. I wouldn't say there's been very many moves like that, uh, that have happened. Uh, let's see.

Alexander Madison signed with the dolphins. So, okay. Well, you know, um, Madison is still a guy in the league. I mean, a great, a great person, but man, last year, even with all the opportunity with the Raiders just couldn't really do much. And that was, that ended up being a bad bet, uh, for the Vikings when they went with Madison. Uh, John says, I'm thinking now that most of our O line has been addressed

stick or pick at 24 Yeah, that's one thing that the free agency has been able to do for the Vikings is When I look at the entire roster and depth chart, and I'll go through it in a little bit I've kind of laid it all out You really don't see too many positions where you go boy They've just got to fill that spot at in the draft. Now the left guard position has not been filled and there are still some free agent guards that are out there and maybe by waiting, they can end up getting someone like Tevin Jenkins

on the cheap or another veteran, Brandon Scherf, unofficial Minnesota Viking for life, Brandon Scherf, but someone like that. Like there's still a handful of veteran players who are out there that they could still address it. That's the only position where I clearly see like, wow, that is a glaring need is left guard. Running back is another one that is important. They could go corner. You could draft a safety if you wanted to, depending on how much Brian Flores wanted it. I would trust Flores more than Ed Donatelle to draft the next safety because Harrison Smith is not playing five more years in the league and you're relying on Theo Jackson right now on a three year deal, which we all like Theo Jackson, but if they were to get

Melkai Starks, uh, or is it Nick and Amore would be the other one. I mean, one of those guys could be a complete game changer at a position that's huge for the Viking. So there's a lot of things on the table position wise in the draft, which to me says that you could probably trade down if someone is willing to trade with you. That's always the thing is sometimes the offers just aren't good and you end up sticking and picking at 24 and it is true that every position you move down, it gets worse in terms of your odds of success. The only thing is that with this particular draft this year, when we did the draft sim

the other night, everyone that I've done, when I moved down and then I look who's on the board, I'm like, that's pretty good. I mean, that's pretty good for the Vikings. Still that there's still plenty of opportunity, but there might be, there might be cliffs. There might be, Hey, you know, if, if this guy falls off and he's there, then we take them. But if the talent falls off a cliff from the elite guys to the next level, down to the next level down, they might have a chunk of players that they see in the second round as somebody to go after. But I think what's happened over these last couple

days, the bottom line is we went from, all right, it's kind of got to be this or this or this in the first round. I'm thinking offensive guard corner, or what would the other position be defensive tackle. I still think defensive tackles on the table because these guys are older and they're two year contracts. Essentially, I know Allen's was technically three, but it's basically two. So if you draft somebody develop and rotate them, end up having 400 snaps from the guy as a rookie and a little more the next year. Well, I'm not going to complain about that. If it's Derek Harmon, then it's a longer term plan as they took with

Dallas Turner clearly, but now we could also say, if you don't draft a defensive tackle, you do have a lot of talent there. You could look at corner. You could look at guard. If you get really excited about a running back, you could do that. Even the idea of drafting a wide receiver with Jordan Addison potentially being a free agent in two years and also possibly being suspended and three deep and say, you know, you're never going to talk me out of another weapon. And the prices for wide receivers are so high and so few of them ever get to free agency that I kind of got talked into even being a little intrigued by that. I think people would not like it at first, but then you start to break it down. You go the main question that was asked earlier about JJ McCarthy.

That's really the fundamental question. They have to ask themselves every single day. How can we make it better for JJ McCarthy? And if that was a burden drops or a goldenxas and that's the guy they love go for it you never you never gonna get downgrade for me getting more weapons for your quarterback is that hot that's how you do it. I'll see. Vikings complete the trifecta by signing Kalais Campbell. That would be cool. Kalais Campbell, he, he wins like I've seen him win media. Good guy awards before I'm kind of intrigued by someone who's older than me,

uh, coming into the locker room. I don't, I don't know if he's going to play this year. I haven't seen whether he is deciding to retire or not. Uh, but why not? Right? Well, the more the merrier, defensive line rotation wide receivers and defensive lineman are two positions where if you signed two guys and draft another guy or sign three guys and draft another guy i'm gonna say great. Because they rotate i mean milton williams got twenty six million dollars and i know he's gonna play more more in New England than he did in Philly, but the guy played 500 snaps, but that's the world that Philly lives in because Philly has done this

every year where they just draft more D lineman and they just signed more D lineman and like, okay, more, more, more. And let me, let me, let me know when the last time that hurt them was having more weapons or more pass rushers. Let me know the last time that hurt a football team. So Kalei's Campbell. Sure. Why not? A S says such a weird free agency from the elation of all the big signings to praying

they don't make the foolish mistake of signing Rogers. I saw a report today from Jonathan Jones. I think it was of CBS who said that a team told him more or less. I mean, this could take forever with Aaron Rodgers. And then I don't know if you guys saw this, but these things do get pretty funny where there was a picture of Rogers that someone got of him standing and looking reflective on the beach. I, this sounds like I'm making this up, but this was real.

He's got a towel and he's like thinking like, do I wanna play for the Giants? I was just, you know, it hasn't even become a circus yet, but maybe at some point soon it will be. What right now, just to give you the update on that, the athletic is reporting some interest or intrigue. I shouldn't even use the word interest cause I don't think they have, uh, but discussion about Aaron Rogers in the Vikings building.

But Adam Schefter was saying JJ McCarthy is their guy. And I've heard nothing from any of the other NFL insiders about any connection. It's been the giants and it's been the Steelers that have been the two teams connected most with Aaron Rodgers. So as of right now, I haven't had a lot of reason to think that it's anything more than Rodgers wants to be a Viking and I would too. If I was Aaron Rodgers, I would too. Justin Jefferson did a lot of stuff to the green Bay Packers while Aaron Rodgers was standing on the other sideline.

And so if I were him, I'd be saying, I want to throw to that guy. I want to work with that coach of the year. I want to play in that building. I want to follow Brett Farve's footsteps and get them to the Superbowl. But is that the right move for the Minnesota Vikings? Absolutely not. And the reason, and some of you get excited about oh, it's Rogers, but.

You're going to have to show me with your hands where he's been good anytime recently, and if he was bad with a bad team, OK, fine, but look at that Jets roster. I mean, you got Garrett Wilson. They brought in Devante Adams. It was a fine, if not good roster, really good defense, and they still failed and with green bay in twenty twenty two they failed because rogers didn't play well and their coaches metal floor who's excellent.

What the best coaches in the league so you could sell all the vikings got this the vikings got that you go well didn't the jets have good stuff. good stuff. Didn't green Bay have good stuff? Why would it be different here? I can't make sense of like totally ignore the circus, totally ignore all the political stuff that he brings and the Pat McAfee stuff. Even just forget about that because mostly I don't care about any of that. And if he's going to win a Superbowl for the Vikings, then I would say it was the best move. But the guy is 13 and 21 in his thirty four games with a good coach in green bay and a good team there and then a good roster in new york. I don't understand why it would be different so as of right now the plan makes sense to be the plan and i just don't think you have to be terrified of jj mccarthy what you know my friend kevin seaford was telling me today. But you know, my friend, Kevin Seifert was telling me today about how when Dante Culpepper became the quarterback in 2000, the Vikings looked at Rick Meyer,

Dan Marino, that the Vikings tried to get Dan Marino in 2000 after he was super washed in Miami and he had fallen apart the previous season in 99 and they were still trying to get Dan Marino. They had talks with Jeff George about coming back and ultimately they just had to say, you know, let's just go to Dante. We don't have better options. I think they got Bubby bristers, the backup. I, you might be doing that right now that due diligence on all the options is something that maybe you should do, but that's the best they should do with

Rogers. Take his phone call because he's a hall of famer. Thanks, but no, thanks. JJ McCarthy, you're the guy, but some of you have mentioned there are backup quarterbacks coming off the board. I'm not too concerned about that. There's lots of backup quarterbacks. I promise there's lots left. I know Gardner Minshew signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. There's lots of backups that can still be QB2 for the Vikings. Shahram? Guys are offering me some tough names to pronounce

on my guesses, but sorry to anybody who I mispronounce. Sorry about that. In light of all the holes minus running back, a cornerback is filled. What are your thoughts on using a third round pick to draft Tyler Schro or show or yours with a third, third string quarterback? I mean, that's no, I'm not interested

in drafting a quarterback at all for two reasons. Number one, JJ McCarthy is gonna be the guy. You draft any other quarterback and people are gonna be like, why are you drafting a quarterback? And then it just becomes a thing. Oh, I guess they're having now in a theoretical world, your idea is not terrible, but it's not a theoretical world. Like we want JJ McCarthy.

If you're the Vikings to think like, I'm the guy, I'm the only guy. I'm the only person you ever wanted here. There's no competition. If you draft a quarterback that high, it just raises questions of why you did that. And you don't, you don't need that for JJ McCarthy right now. Theoretically more quarterbacks is good and you can make the Brock Purdy argument and everything. Although they didn't do it till the end of the seventh and they were very unclear on

a Trey Lance. The other thing is too, with so few draft picks, you can fill a need there. You could fill a running back need there. You don't need, I mean, you can look at the running back or defensive tackle draft and find guys in the third round that could start for you and they could really play for you. So I would not consider anybody else. And the other thing is to the history of third round pick quarterbacks, way more Kellan Mons than a DAC was a fourth rounder. You'd be, you're hard pressed to find quarterbacks who are in that middle rounds that do anything.

That'd be another reason too. And there's just, there's plenty of veterans that are out there. And look, you're, the thing is you're ride or die with JJ McCarthy. Like you're, you're either going to the moon or you're going into the dirt with JJ McCarthy as your guy. You spent the 10th overall pick on him.

He's shown you really, really good things and you got to go with that and, and not take a bunch of swings until you have to elsewhere. Steven says, uh, Darnold would have thrived with the O line additions. The problem they couldn't have afforded the O line upgrades and still gave Darnold. Well, you can't, you could have. You could have, if you look at the way that they set up the salary cap hits for these guys for this year, you could have, but Darnold didn't want to stay here for one, which was something that maybe we should have talked about even more.

Like why would Sam Darnold even want to stay here? Clearly he wanted someplace to be his team. He should. He found that place in Seattle and we can't go into the past and have them have more cap space to get these guards. And you're right that Darnold would have probably done better with these guards and he would have done better with the upgrades even on the defense or the running back. Of course. Yeah. I mean, I totally agree. But if Darnold signed for $30 million a year here, they would have set it up to

where they could have done all these things. It's either or both that Donald wanted to go somewhere else. And he did, or the Vikings were ready to go to JJ McCarthy or again, or both. Like both of those things could probably be true that they were ready and he was ready and everybody just shook hands and said, all right, but I do agree that had they done better at the guard position last year, that it would have gone probably better in LA or Arizona against LA with Sam Darnold and it's, it is unfortunate that the way it worked out, you can't just sort of copy and paste everything from last year, but add Will fries and

Ryan Kelly, if football worked that way, it would be a lot easier. It certainly would. But yes, I mean, I think that the narrative that I've seen in Seattle is well, you know, Darnold had so much to work with and it's certainly true with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, But there were also some big weaknesses on the team that might be getting ignored because the Vikings just did so well, but he was forced to do a lot last year that I think they don't want to force JJ McCarthy to do. Uh, Joe says wide receiver three is a fun discussion.

Lots of options, cup, Keenan Allen, Tyler Lockett. Do you go with one of the older guys that would make for a nice fit as an underneath option, or do you go with a third round draft pick? Like we were just talking about a wide receiver, or do you go with a much lower level type of signing that doesn't have as big of a name, but might be on the upswing potentially. Uh, you know, they went with a Brandon Powell, a Trent sure field. When you're digging off the bottom of the barrel, you're going to get players who can do something.

That's why they're in the league and Brandon Powell disappeared this year, but previously showed he could be an underneath guy. And we saw from Trent sure field that he could be a blocker. You can run on play actions and thrown the ball a little bit but. It would be preferable to have someone like locket cup or Alan because of their experience. And these guys they understand defenses they understand how to get open in space i saw a stat with cooper cup that he wasn't very good in terms of separation But you're not running Cooper Cup if he comes here in one-on-one on the outside Trying to get him open against the corner who's pressing him

It's not what he would be doing and the same thing goes for Keenan Allen can still get open out of the slot underneath stuff and They have three receivers who are fast, three receivers who go down the field. That's great to have this play. Whoever comes in could also rotate with Jalen Naylor, depending on the situation or they could use four if they needed to. I like the idea. They've already gone in on this roster on experience, which is they want Jonathan Allen. They want Ryan Kelly.

They want Javon Hargrave, they want a very experienced football team. So why not? And a lot of the times teams that go deep in the playoffs do have a lot of experience. They do have a lot of players who have been there before and gone through it. So I'm not against that at all.

All those guys are slower than dirt these days, but they know how to read defenses, they know how to be in the right place, the right time that's most of koc's offense right if the wide receivers can be in the right place the right time. There's gonna be opportunities because everyone's going to pay attention to number eighteen all the time we really saw the extreme of that last year. TKS wants i assume you mean trayvonvion Henderson over Omari and Hampton. Well, that's okay. Uh, I like Trevion Henderson a lot too. I don't know where they can get Trevion Henderson because he had a great

combine and average seven yards carry. Can you get him in the third round or do you have to draft him in the first round? Because first round, that doesn't feel like a great idea. I couldn't tell you the difference between O'Marian Hampton and Travion Henderson and how they're going to fit in the NFL. I do know that as part of a duo, I really liked that Henderson has hands and he can really fly. I haven't seen as much of O'Marian Hampton either way is fine with me.

Whoever they like if they like somebody who is a total freak at the running back position to go along with Aaron Jones, hey, go for it. Do it. Draft them. But I don't know if you want to draft them at 24 because the difference between, at least my perception is, the difference between who you would draft and maybe your point is with Travion Henderson and Omerian Hampton, if you spend big, big on that first round running back, is there a third round running back who's going to be what as a prospect? 5% less as a prospect. There's so many good ones that it's not worth the gap in number of picks or the investment in that first round pick. So We've got another backup finding a home. So we'll see if the Vikings can do this just now Adam Schefter

Taylor Heinecke former Viking stays with the Los Angeles Chargers on a one-year six million dollar contract Tim Brode is not like Cooper Cup at 12 million. So the thing about the prices is, and I'll stop saying this when I have to, and that might be next year, is just get players because it doesn't really matter. Look how much money they've spent already, and they still have a bunch of cap space

because that's how much they built up. I mean, think about just Kirk Cousins alone, just him alone was 28 million on the cap last year that they had to work around. So now they have all of that and other players have left and signed contracts elsewhere and they've got to spend to fill out some of the depth. But for the most part, they just still have cap space and they've also

scheduled out these cap hits to have a lot of them be a lot less this year. And I'm sure that a big part of the thinking is that they can restructure down the road and that the salary caps going to go up. So a Jonathan Allen, just for an example, Jonathan Allen has something like a $6 million cap hit for this year. $20 million a year contract, right? $6 million for this year and his cap hit. And then it goes up to like 20, but they can restructure it down to like 11,

which $11 million by next year, when the cap goes up to 300 million, what percentage is that? Like 3% of the cap. So they're playing this cap game. So if Cooper Cup is $12 million, that's fine. That's all right. And you're likely to get him off your books

after one year anyway, if that's what he wants on a one year deal. Maybe it's a two year deal or something like that. Tristan says, who all have we lost? Daniel Jones, have we lost Cam Bynum? Yes, yeah. Cam Bynum signed with the Indianapolis Colts, also Patrick Jones signed with the Carolina Panthers.

I think in terms of your wins versus your losses, they have elevated quite a bit on one side, which is the wins versus the losses. Losing can't bind them, but the fact that you've got Theo Jackson right there and Harrison Smith coming back kind of mitigates that. Losing Patrick Jones, but Dallas Turner steps into his role, mitigates that. And then on the defensive line, massive improvement. They'll lose Bradbury, they'll lose Ingram, but massive improvement there if both guys are healthy. So they've made a lot of gains

and not a lot of losses so far. Tree Electronic, can we get greedy and get J.K. Dobbins? Good pass protector, strong runner. Don't hate it, don't hate it. Is Cam Akers gone? Well, Cam Akers is a free agent, but he has not signed anywhere yet. Maybe the Vikings will bring him back.

But to your point about J.K. Dobbins, I like J.K. Dobbins a lot as well, as someone who's got a little more explosiveness than Aaron Jones. And I can pull this up, J.K. Dobbins, but I think he had a pretty good rate of creating explosive runs last year. And even though he has some injury history

and only played about 50% of the snaps, he still, yeah, he was 11th in the NFL in runs that went 10 or more yards. J.K. Dobbins was last year, and that was only in 195 attempts. Aaron Jones was 17th. Now that's only a couple more, but still he was 17th in runs that went 10 or more yards

and Aaron Jones carried 255. So JK Dobbins in 50, so 60 fewer snaps had more runs of 10 or more last year playing for the Chargers and also had a pretty good, let me check this out of curiosity, Dobbins was in the top 15 in terms of yards after contact too. Still out there and with Rico Dowdle getting basically nothing, I mean that probably speaks well to what you could get J.K. Dobbins for. Ben says, did the Vikings have to replace any core special teamers? Not kicker punter, but coverage guys.

So Surefield, yes, but coverage guys. So, uh, sure field. Yes. But they did replace him with a signing. I don't know how to pronounce this guy's name. Uh, Tavir Thomas, who's been a long time special teamers who they got to replace sure field. I enjoyed watching Trent sure field play as a gunner. He was good.

Uh, TKS wants Norman lot and Alexander in the mid route. Well, I think I think Darius Alexander is going to go higher. Norman lot might be a second round pick. Jonathan Bullard is still a free agent. I can't say for sure that he's gone, but he's still a free agent. Let's see. See, Rhino man tight end depth is low. I'm not concerned about tight end depth. I see some of you want to draft a tight end. No, no, no. I mean, TJ Hockenson is still in his prime. Josh Oliver is a really good player.

I'm not worried about tight end three. This is why we need to go to the depth chart. We're gonna go to the depth chart here in a minute to really look at it, but tight end three, I'm not concerned about at all. Joe, Joe Flacco, uh, was visiting the giants today, so he might sign there. I don't know if, uh, that's the case. Uh, I was asked last night about the sauce Gardner and Jordan Addison thing. That is a made up trade, like not a real trade, but one that someone just made up.

So it's not like that's, that's, that's what happens on the internet with this kind of game of telephone where someone says, Hey, what if you traded this guy for that guy? And then it's like, did you hear the rumor that they're going to trade this guy? It's like, no, that was just like a theoretical trade, not a real trade. And I don't know, it seems like some people wanna trade Jordan Addison, I do not. Because the main thing is JJ McCarthy. Who can he throw to?

Corners are great. Who is JJ McCarthy throwing to? I want more receivers, I don't want fewer receivers. More receivers. Anthony wouldn't mind Will Howard in the late rounds. I mean you you guys just want quarterbacks That I mean, yeah, I guess if you're drafting a seventh rounder, but I don't know I Just not concerned about that like quarterbacks that are picked late in the mid rounds. Yes. There's Tom Brady. Yes There's Brock Purdy, but most of them just become nothing.

And I don't know. Not a position I'm too concerned about a Lucas QB two Flacco, Cooper rush, Jamis or Kirk. Yeah, no, not Kirk Kirk's good. Someone's going to have to start Kirk. Honestly, someone's going to have to start Kirk because there is a game of musical chairs and the chairs have run out. So someone's going to have to start Kirk because there is a game of musical chairs and the chairs have run out. So someone's going to have to start Kirk.

Probably Jamis. I want absolutely nothing to do with. Here's the thing. Everybody loves Jamis's personality. The backup for, this is why I like Cooper rush for this. The backup for JJ McCarthy. Here's what I want to hear from him. Nothing ever. I don't want any interviews. I don't want him doing stuff for barstool on the street or whatever. I don't want his big personality out there

because everybody loves it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I want none of that. I want Nick freaking Mullins. Like I know Mullins went to Jacksonville, but I want, and I need somebody better than that to actually play if they have to. But I want that type. I want quiet, hardworking behind the scenes, elevating JJ McCarthy every day. I want nothing to do with a guy who's going to be out there and doing media stuff and saying things

and whatever. I mean, it's just no way. Not a chance. Not for me. Nope. Because I don't need any attention whatsoever on the backup quarterback. Cooper, I like Cooper Rush. You beat the Vikings once. If you guys remember. Brett says, never thought of picking up Keenan Allen, the Viking killer, so bring him over so he can't hurt us. That does happen in the NFL.

That does happen in the NFL for sure. Keenan Allen has destroyed the Vikings and if Caleb Williams could have found him, he would have destroyed him last year. The number of times that. Guy that he was open and Caleb Williams didn't find him was actually kind of mind blowing in that second game. So. Yeah, I some people have mentioned about the, uh, the, the camera focusing on the, uh, the microphone more than my face.

Probably I think that like that happens sometimes when I sit back, it probably does. So I think if I sit, I got to sit a little closer. Sorry about that. I know you audio video guys. There's a lot of people who are are into that. Also, I think if you watch it on your TV, it always looks a little grainier. Anyway, sorry about that. I'll sit up. I tend to when we're talking ball, I tend to like lean back like we're talking ball.

We're having fun here. Let me go to let me go to the the depth chart here and then Clay. Intern Clay has got his winner and loser teams. So I've laid out the depth chart in an article I'm working on kind of analyzing every position. Let's go through it just one by one kind of rapid fire here. We'll answer a few more questions. We'll get Clay in the mix and go from there.

So the quarterback position, hey, Brett Rippon is still on the team, everybody. Don't discount Brett Rippon. But the biggest question, obviously quarterback is who's the backup and that I'm guessing is going to play itself out over the coming days. There's still backups available. It's not something that I'm too concerned about and we'll see what happens there. Maybe it's Carson Wentz. Maybe it's somebody else.

I don't know. Maybe it's Cooper Rush Just somebody who's not gonna get in JJ McCarthy's way and that's fine with me and could win two games if they lost JJ McCarthy for four That's all I'd be looking for for a backup and running back Will they draft a running back is the main question here on the roster Aaron Jones Ty Chandler and CJ ham, or is there something in free agency still that they're interested in? Dobbins is really the only other guy for me that I would go after. And you know, the question about Dobbins and whether he's healthy. At least he was last year. I mean, he had a good season last year, so it looks like he's recovered, but there's a few guys out there. One of you mentioned Zach Moss. So it looks like he's recovered, but there's a few guys out there. One of you mentioned Zach Moss I I would rather get someone who is healthy and is 21 or 22 years old and not somebody who's got a lot of Tread on the tires though Wide receiver we've talked about it wide receiver three who's gonna fill out the depth chart is the biggest question right now

It's just Jefferson Addison and Naylor And I have not included in this depth chart example, I've not included guys like Thayer Thomas, Lucky Jackson. Like those are camp guys who are gonna fight for a position and maybe they'll surprise us. But this is kind of, if we were making out of 53, who are the ones that matter the most? At tight end, Josh Oliver, TJ Hockenson. Tight end three is not a big worry of

mine. Uh, it is unfortunate that they developed Nick Muse over a couple of years, a lot of years actually. And then the Eagles just came in and picked him up, but that's life. It kind of reminds me of Michael Pruitt or Kyle Carter, like tight end threes. I don't know. It's just not a position that you usually get too concerned about. They'll develop somebody there. Interior offensive line right now is Ryan Kelly, Will fries, Blake Brandle and Michael Juergens. I could probably move Walter Rouse there because I think he's going to be a guard,

but we'll see. And are they going to find a trade partner for Bradbury? Who's playing left guard? Those are the biggest questions there. As far as the tackle goes, I guess I could delete this. I wrote is Rouse going to be the swing tackle? We know that it's now going to be Josh school edge rusher. Not a lot of questions there.

No real additions or changes outside of Patrick Jones leaving defensive tackle. Here's how it looks right now. Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave, Harrison Phillips, Jalen Redmond, Levi Drake, Rodriguez, and Taki Taimani. That is a lot of talent. And my biggest question is just, how do the pieces fit? Like who's playing where, who's rotating, what are the snap counts gonna be?

And will the other guys, Redmond, Drake, Rodriguez, and Taimani, like will they still carve out roles? As far as linebacker goes, no depth whatsoever at this point. They need to find some. That's the take. They have three linebackers and Brian Flores is never playing Brian Awesomewa so they need some depth there. As far as corner goes, are they going to draft one? Are they going to add one more? Because right now it's Byron Murphy, Mackay Blackman, Isaiah Rogers, Dwight MacGlothern and Ambry Thomas, who they signed at the end of last year. He's got a lot of playing time. I think there's a draft pick to potentially be done there and safety.

You've got Harrison Smith, Josh Mattel as Theo Jackson. Don't forget about Jay Ward, who could still carve out a role for himself. And they picked up a guy named Bubba Bolden who's kind of never played but I threw him in there anyway and then with the specialists you know them and uh Tavary Thomas. Najee Thompson is still technically on the roster but I don't know if Najee Thompson will actually recover from his injury and ever play again. So there you go quick rundown of the depth chart where it stands right now and where they could potentially add.