Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings camp Day 3: Justin Jefferson has a hamstring injury (Part 2)

Episode Date: July 26, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about the news that Justin Jefferson is out with a hamstring injury and discusses what that means for the other wide receivers in the unit

I shot you 99 says, speaking of injuries, is there any positions on this team that would concern you if one starter or even two are out for any amount of time? Jefferson being out now is already triggering panic. No, Jefferson out now is not triggering panic for me. I think what it's triggering is intrigue for me. I'm interested to see what happens now because if over the next, let's just say two weeks, I'm just going to say two weeks and then we'll see how it plays out. If over the next two weeks, Rondale more looks great. Then you're going to leave that section of time without just a Jefferson feeling pretty confident that when Addison is out or if anybody else gets injured along the

way that you've got to dude that you've got a playmaker, you've got someone who you can trust in there. And the same goes for Ty Felton. I don't expect that just Sean Jones or Lucky Jackson would be getting in games right away. If there was an injury in the regular season, I'm curious about, you know, a fifth or a sixth wide receiver spot for one of those guys.

But as far as to me, it's more in Felton have the best chances here. So I'm just more intrigued. Would not say panicked yet. If more struggles and Felton isn't ready, well then yeah, then maybe you do get on the phone with Keenan Allen and start having that discussion. Hey, you know, would you mind stopping by just in case? Um, but as far as your question, other positions where they really, really

need the starter to be good, uh, Ryan Kelly to me is where that conversation starts. He is the head of the snake. He talked today and he was making comparisons with JJ McCarthy and veteran quarterbacks. He name dropped Philip Rivers. He name dropped Andrew Luck. It's very clear by the way that Ryan Kelly and JJ McCarthy are getting on the same page there personally, that McCarthy called them one of his favorite teammates ever already, which is, it's just

a good sign for them to be getting on the same page. I think it's the perfect guy to get for JJ McCarthy. If that becomes Michael Juergens, that's not good. Juergens, I think, could be a center in this league and he could play, but Ryan Kelly is one of the best centers over the last decade. So you can't have problems there. I would be concerned at kind of any position on the offensive line. You might be able to survive guard, but a right tackle would not want that to happen because behind Brian O'Neill right now, it's just in school who you can't have play multiple games really, or too many in a row.

And then Walter Rouse and Logan Brown, that's, you know, a late round draft pick and an undrafted free agent. Aside from that, I mean, somewhat on the defensive line, because the guys that we're intrigued by are still unproven. Jalen Redmond, Levi Drake, Rodriguez. I think that that kind of goes for a lot of this team, where one layer down from the starter is someone who's unproven, but maybe has shown something. I mean, you talk about corner. If a corner goes down, while you're probably bringing

in someone at least that we're intrigued by, like a Dwight McClother and a Zamyah Vaughn at this moment, it would be McKay Blackman coming off the bench. That's not too bad, but I do think that the offensive line is the place where you're not going to feel super great if any of those guys go down, but certainly Ryan Kelly is one of the most valuable players on this team. Anthony says, how is the tiny a UDFA running back? You mean Trey Stewart? So far haven't seen a You mean Trey Stewart? Uh, so far haven't seen a lot from Trey Stewart.

The run plays when there's no pads on are basically walkthroughs. You can't really get pads a pop in and guys rumbling into each other on run plays. So we'll get a sense for that as we go along. Xavier Scott is the one who's actually stuck out to me a little bit more than Trey Stewart so far because Scott is taller and he can catch the football. He has natural hands and played wide receiver and running back at Maine. Not that I think he's going to take Ty Chandler's job because from a physical tools perspective, Chandler is way out ahead of him. But you know, if you're talking about one running back to kind of keep an eye on these preseason games, I would say it's him. Peter says, did Rondale look as fast on the field as

he did in the video the Vikings released? Yes, he actually did. Yeah, I talked about that little last night that I think that he looks really good off the bat here, and I wasn't even sure based on OTAs and mini camp is Rondale more even going to be out there and then he's out there for the first day. He looks very quick on the first day and then yesterday

he gets pushed into Jefferson spot. The offense didn't run that well with Jefferson out, but he had to run more routes yesterday and some with the first team and did not look out of place. Didn't look like he was struggling at all or he looked like Rondale more question from Ryan kind of like what we were just talking about. I know it's impossible to tell at this point, but any thoughts on the O line depth? I think that at guard, they are very, very happy with Blake Brando and they should be. He's played here for three years under KOC.

He's played a 17 game season for about half of that season. He was strong and outside of him. It's a lot of yet to be seen. Justin school is a guy who's played in the league, but only a little and you're not talking about wanting him to play multiple weeks. If he has to play week one, you could survive, but there's not much more to that. He is a backup swing tackle in the NFL. And then it is a wait and see.

Rouse versus Brown is suddenly a battle. The minute that we walked out there and Logan Brown, the undrafted free agent was at left tackle and not Rouse. Immediately, my antennas went up because, I mean, let's be honest, the undrafted free agent was at left tackle and not Rouse immediately. My antennas went up because I mean, let's be honest, they're going to put the guy that they're more interested in or more intrigued by probably at left tackle as opposed to right tackle and left tackle had been where Rouse was. And if you go through and you try to make yourself a 53 man roster, like I did,

um, you know, a couple of weeks ago, you can only, at least I could only get nine offensive linemen on there, which means four backups. That's one Walter Rouse or one Logan Brown. So suddenly that's a battle and whichever guy they think probably has more upside would be the one that they would keep on the roster. Um, center is that position where the, you know, the, the second layer down is a guy that just hasn't been on the field at all in the NFL. Juergens. He did enough to make them like that him last year. So I don't know what he can be in the

NFL, but I know being Ryan Kelly right away would be a very high bar to set. Even if I think he looked good in a lot of training camp last year. First name, last name, how likely do you think it is that RB3 is on the roster and that it's not Chandler? When will we know if any of the depth guys have a real shot? So I think that it's probably 70-30 that Ty Chandler is RB3 because even though there is some frustration from

Kevin O'Connell over the years with Ty Chandler and last year he came into a game against the Jets and fumbled right away and had some issues when it came to protection every time that he's ever been in. He still knows the offense better than anybody that you're going to bring in a random or a Trey Stewart or Xavier Scott. And he's got real legitimate explosiveness and tools. I mean, you can throw this guy a swing pass and he could turn it into a 30 yard play. And the game that he played against the Bengals in 2023, I know we're kind of hanging on to something from two years ago, but it was legit. I mean, it was a really, really good game and they should have won it because of Ty Chandler.

They did not win it because they decided on a tush push with Brandon Powell. But he showed what he could be under the right circumstances. And I also think he's got a great chance to be the kick returner. So I'm leaving leaning kind of heavily toward Chandler being here. And they're just saying, look, how many RB threes can we go get? But if one of these other guys makes it interesting, or if he really struggles, they could be on the market. We know this, that if they get frustrated with a guy, they will go out and look elsewhere.

They did it with Dalton Reisner actually twice to bring him in at guard where they were not too happy and they end up going out and bringing in somebody else. So they will do it. They are willing to do it if they don't like what they see. And as far as when we'll know, I think that guys start to show themselves a little bit probably in as far as udf a's things like that after the first preseason game or even sometimes during the first preseason game So you get to the first preseason game

Somebody shines they get opportunity because they've been looking good in practice. And then you show up at the next practice and Oh, that guy's taking reps with the ones or that guy's reps with the twos, even though he hadn't done that before. It's usually after that first preseason game that we really start to get the sense, Hey, there's this depth guy that is showing up. And you know, sometimes they show themselves even a little bit earlier than that and that's somebody like Zamyavon who right away in

Minicamp was kind of a dude and we all okay like making plays on the football right away. But aside from that, it'll probably be after the first preseason game. Bra says Jordan Mason having hands is like how every single NBA player is a better ball handler than 99% of the people on earth. Only a few people are able to do it against elite defense. Well, you know, here's, here's the thing though, is I've seen

a lot of people catch footballs over the years. So here's a, that's a, that's a great example because when you talk about shooting a basketball, if you are an NBA reporter or an NBA scout or something, you can probably watch five guys shoot a basketball alone in the gym in practice and tell who the best one is. I had a great experience just to put a little background in this. When I was just out of college, one of my first jobs was calling minor league baseball and it was, it was great. Uh, I got, I think,

I want to say 40 bucks a game and the radio station ran on a computer program. Now think of this as being like 15 years ago, running on a computer program, not even having a producer. There were mosquitoes and it was great though. It was single A and the guys, you know, some of them turned into real players who I saw. I saw Mookie Betts actually and Lucas Gio Lido.

So a few of them came through and were really good. Not so many from our team, but a lot from other teams that were prospects. Brandon Nimmo was another one that I called some games for. So anyhow, what I would do every day was I would show up at the ballpark right before batting practice and I would talk to the scouts because I was kind of responsible for getting them rosters, getting them some water, you know, kind of just saying hello, welcoming them to the stadium. And what I ended up doing is spending a lot of days sitting right next to a couple of

scouts. Uh, one guy from the Oakland A's, another from, I think maybe the Mariners. Um, so, and we would just chat ball. And through that time, I learned a lot of different methods from those guys for identifying how strong an arm is, how, uh, a guy is swinging the baseball bat and how you see like his swing path and things like that, things that they would look for those details. So then when I got to, uh, my first job in media, which was in Buffalo covering hockey.

I was covering minor league hockey and I started looking for those same little details to identify who was a better skater, who had better hands, who, you know, things like that. And so I've always done that here in football of looking for the certain details that tell you, can a guy catch the football? How strong is someone's arm? How well, how good is somebody run routes? And over the last nine training camps and hundreds of practices

got a pretty good sense for it. So, you know, I wasn't surprised that West Phillips with all that experience, you know, there's a, there's an iceberg below this, everything that I talk about here, um, but you know, with Jordan Mason, I wasn't surprised to hear West Phillips mention it because I'll tell you why and what I see exactly in detail. Yesterday, uh, Jordan Mason caught a pass from, uh, JJ McCarthy, where McCarthy went through a read and he didn't see anything on his right. Didn't see anything over the middle and then just flipped his hips to the left and threw it really hard to Jordan Mason. Check down.

The throw was not that accurate and it was very fast and Jordan Mason caught it smoothly, easily right into the hands, right into the bread basket. Whoop, right there. A lot of times what you'll see on something like that when it's not accurate is it's not always a drop, but it might just be a bobble. It's not smooth, kind of maybe has to reach out for it with his whole body rather than just reaching out for his hands. So that's one of the details I'm looking for. And I think that Wes must have noticed that as well, because I think Jordan

Mason could catch the ball more than just his stats would suggest. Uh, the 49ers threw it to him. Sometimes didn't throw it to him a lot. I don't think he's going to be running deep routes. I don't think he's going to be getting shot plays, but I do think that if they need to use them in passing situations that he doesn't have to come off the field and only have Aaron Jones in there. That's kind of the point.

Uh, Susan says, Joshan Jones seems like a good guy. I like his Maryland history with Ty Felton. Hope he makes it. Well, that's a nice thing to say, Susan, you know, with a guy like Joshan Jones, the fact that he's even still here says something because there's a lot of Jashon Jones is who over the years they come in to a training camp, they're a name on a roster, and then you never see that name ever again. So the fact that they decided to keep him around means they saw something.

They don't keep anybody for just no reason if they keep them for a second year. So there might be something there. I'm just trying to figure out exactly what it was, what it is and how to describe it. And maybe some of this is just the fact that he's going to get opportunities that he was here last year, knows the offense. You can't throw miles price or Silas Bolden with the first team and go, Hey, go be Justin Jefferson for this play. Have fun.

You can't do that, but I think there's something there. I don't know how much it is there, but something I think with Jashon Jones, Eric says not in love with the idea of signing Christian Wilkins. I'd rather they keep one of the young guys on the roster and develop and replace the older guys as they price and age out similar to what the Patriots did. Do you mean like the old the Belichick Patriots? Yeah.

So I don't love the Christian Wilkins thing either. Speaking of the Patriots, I think that somebody said with the Patriots, I saw a headline today that they said they're going to have the conversation about Christian Wilkins. It's a very nuanced type of thing. It depends on his injury. Whoever signs him is going to bring him in and look at his injury and get a good understanding of what it's going to be like. Where maybe it could be interesting is if he could recover enough halfway through the season to be a part-time player, but is also still really good at football.

If he could get to the point where he was healthy enough to play 25 snaps a game. I agree with you that it's not a bad idea to develop Jalen Redmond to develop Levi Drake Rodriguez. And, you know, so far I've seen good things out of both of those guys, maybe a little too much aggression from Levi Drake Rodriguez, but you know, that could be forgiven for a defensive tackle. Uh, Levi looks bigger. He looks stronger. Jalen Redmond has been in the backfield. He's really good at that. So I like both of those guys. Christian Wilkins signed a hundred million dollar contract last year.

I mean, you're talking about one of the best players in the NFL when he's at his absolute best. So if you could play him in a very much part time role for half a season for seven million dollars or something, maybe that's worth a try. I am skeptical, very skeptical because teams want $100 million contract to work. They want a superstar. They do not want to have to do what they did and cut Christian

Wilkins. Maybe just maybe the only thing I might throw out there is that they are still run by Mark Davis, not the Wilfs. It's one of those owners who still does crazy stuff. Sometimes it is possible that Mark Davis got frustrated and said, just cut them and we're going to take his guarantees and we'll just deal with the NFLPA, which is in flames. Are they going to win a grievance? Who's even leading them right now? Right?

That it could be, could be a little bit of an opportunist type of thing. We regret the signing because he's injured and he's just not going to be what we wanted him to be. And we'd love the cap space and the guarantees. So off you go. It could be, but more likely than not teams don't want to cut their best one of their best players on the entire roster who they wanted to give a hundred million dollars. So if somebody else did that, I don't know if it's worth the risk of going out and getting him, but the backups are

totally unproven. And that is what this camp to me, other than JJ McCarthy is about to tie this back into Jefferson. A lot of it is just about go prove yourself. And as we get into, I think is going to be an extremely hard practice tomorrow with a day off coming. Usually they turn the dial all the way up and then out of that day off again, all the way up and the pads are on.

You're going to have some guys that, Hey, if you prove yourself, then we're not going to go look elsewhere or we're going to feel really good about the depth. And that's corners. That's defensive tackles. That's now wide receivers. That's backup offensive linemen. Like this is where it starts to ramp up and get excited. These first two days have been, Hey, we're back, is where it starts to ramp up and get excited. These first two days have been, hey, we're back, back to school. You know, maybe you had teachers like this in school where on the first day they just throw everything at you. Here's a huge homework assignment.

Welcome back, dope. Here's the hardest work ever. And nicer teachers that give you a ramp up that give you a, Hey, welcome back. Here's the syllabus. Introduce yourself to the class first. What's, what'd you do this summer? That kind of thing.

That's how KOC is, I think. And, but now up we go with the dial and we're going to start finding out, do you have really have something in Levi Drake Rodriguez? Do you really have something behind him? Takitayamani for example, made the team last year, but where's he at right now? So this is where it gets pretty exciting. Rory says the way JJ has been practicing ahead of schedule, it may just be soreness of the hamstring other than a pulled hamstring

Let's pray for that Yeah Strain any doctors out there can explain a strain versus a pull did not say pull said strain I've never had a hamstring issue. So maybe I don't know Which one of those two things works which way, but a strain I think is a lot less serious than a pull. Um, and I do, I do think that it's a little bit of just the Jefferson practices really hard and you just don't want to, you got to protect him from himself. You just don't want to let him go out there and practice really

super, super hard when he's got any sort of strain. So if it takes an extra week of keeping him out, then keep him out. This is the time to do it. I promise you that if Jefferson showed up on August 20th, if he was holding out for some sort of contract thing and just arrived on August 20th, he'd be fine and he could go play. So this maybe protects him from himself a little bit, especially if he doesn't participate in the joint practices, but we'll see, uh, outline man, six, one

eight eight says, maybe this is over active, but with JJ's hammy and Addison looming suspension, I really think the Vikings should try to bring in Keenan Allen and ASAP. So Keenan Allen, uh, someone talked to him. I wish I could cite the right reporter. Maybe Josina Anderson or Jordan Schultz. Somebody, I'm not sure, reported that Keenan Allen was basically just weighing his options.

That he was going to wait and see about different receiver rooms and where he might fit in, because he wants to catch the football still if he's going to come back and play. Kind of reminds me of Stephon Gilmore a little, where weighing your options means, I know someone will sign me, and I don't want to go through the entire training camp. That's what it sounds like to me. I don't disagree with you, but I kind of want to see Felton and more first. I think Kenan Allen could still play. I think

he could still play last year, but if Rondale more has it and fits in really well in this offense, which is possible. I mean, the guy caught passes in the NFL has made plays, then just go that route. Like he's younger. He could be here over multiple seasons. He could bring something unique to the team, like a little more explosive element. Maybe he's a part returner. Like, yeah, just keep him and have him be that guy.

But if he really struggles and then Felton's not ready, then yeah, then you're making that phone call. That's where I really want to draw a line in the entire off season before we get into the regular season at those joint practices because that's kind of the last moment where you can do something like that. And it's also the best moment for you to evaluate everything you have. So that's where if they get to that point and they're not feeling good about the receiver depth, that's when you make the call. And I just don't see Keenan Allen.

I just do not see him deciding to sign anywhere before midway through August, I would think. Rory says, I think he's overdone it too early trying to get McCarthy acclimated to the NFL and has a sore hamstring, but that doesn't mean it's torn. No, no, no, no, it's not. No, it's not torn. If it was torn, he would be out for a really long time. It's not torn. No, I, you know, I just, I think these things just happened to wide receivers. Devante Adams has had hamstring issues. I mean, I don't, I don't know too many wide receivers that if they're playing this much that

have not had that kind of injury, uh, mal-kill, how's he doing with throws? A sideline throws. Is his touch looking better there? Well, the one to Jefferson was actually, the one where Jefferson got a little dinged up here was actually I think one of his best throws to the sideline this year. It was to his right and he put it on the money for Jefferson to go up and get it in bounds against Jeff Okuda and Okuda kind of tackled him and I did wonder like did that cause some of this? I can't say for sure,

but it was a more physical play than you wanted to see under these circumstances. And I don't think they were too pleased with that would be my guess, but, um, it's, you know, it's looked okay. These first couple of days, I haven't seen issues with it. Uh, he hasn't been throwing a bunch of interceptions. He did have an interception yesterday, but it wasn't on that kind of throw. It wasn't like an out breaking route. Like he had had some interceptions, uh, the other times at mini camp, I think it was just maybe a throw that was a little off and Harrison

Smith jumped in front of it as Harrison Smith wants to do. Um, I mean the, the outside breaking throws are something that he's going to have to prove he can do consistently on time. Those to me are not so much about touch as they are about timing and trust. The thing about someone like Kirk Cousins was really, really good, or Drew Brees, really, really good at throwing with anticipation. So those guys were timing based. You drop back, you hit the foot, the ball goes out. It's going to a spot and you gotta be there where I think McCarthy is a little more see it, throw it

because he's got such a strong arm and you know, who's like that is Josh Allen. Josh Allen is a see it, throw it guy. Like he's not throwing the ball way out in front of somebody and they're running to it. He just, Oh, that guy's open. I'm gonna rip it. I think that oh, that guy's open, I'm gonna rip it. I think that's how McCarthy is. And those out breaking routes can be a little tricky with that because they do take anticipation.

So I think it's a learning and trusting what the footwork is and what the play call is to be able to hit those. But he did hit it yesterday. Let's see, Mike says, the only real trepidation of the Vikings not having a successful season is health. While this is concerning, it is, I'm losing a little bit of the rest of that. I think that got cut off maybe.

But yeah, no, I agree with the first part of your sentence though, is that health is the trepidation of this season. And that's where throughout this off season, it would always come up as we're trying to project the year. Well, what do you think they're gonna do? And if they're healthy, then I don't wanna say that every single time. But I think we all know that if these veteran players

who are coming off injuries and things like that, if they're not healthy, it's gonna be a problem. Kind of goes for every team though. But they're a little bit more's going to be a problem. Kind of goes for every team though. But they're a little bit more dicey because so many players have injury histories. Kind of funny that the guy who got hurt has barely any injury history. Hunter says, what are the predictions on the record this season? So I have been going with 11 wins for this season. I think they have a lot of talent and they could play with anybody, but the schedule is hard enough and

the adjustment period is hard enough for JJ McCarthy that there's going to be a little more of a roller coaster than there was last year and some bumps in the road. That's where I've got them right now and through two days of camp folks. I haven't seen anything to cancel my prediction through two days of camp with JJ McCarthy, but you know, him, uh, developing as much as he has over the last year plus, I guess we're into about a year from him being a Minnesota Viking has just been very impressive. And

everybody that talks about JJ McCarthy talks about how he's able to handle himself as far as a leader. Now I'm going to play you a little sound. This is a maybe a good transition. I'll keep answering your questions. A little bit of sound today from TCO and unfortunately, unfortunately I had to, I'm going to have to cut off an Aaron Jones comment where he had a really good and thoughtful answer about JJ McCarthy. But unfortunately, a plane went over right at the time he was talking.

It was just sort of knocked it out completely. But so I'll bring you a little bit where he talks about Jordan Mason at first. And then I asked him about JJ McCarthy being a leader on a team with a lot of veterans. And after that, that's where I have to cut it off. But he talked about how McCarthy, even as a kid, even as being new, even in a walkthrough was really directing things and you got to be over there. Let's get back to the huddle. He has a very natural way of playing the position in terms of being a

leader that has stood out. And that's why, you know, someone like Ryan Kelly is making those comparisons to Philip Rivers, to Andrew Luck. And if there's something that gives you confidence to tie into the 11 wins that he can go out and leave the team right away and be good enough to win. I think it's that more than, well, can he throw this route? Well, I mean, yeah, sometimes that's probably going to be inconsistent because he is a young quarterback.

But can you lead an offense? Can you get into the huddle and have total command and bring everybody with you and have them all on the same page? That is something that gets McCarthy drafted 10th overall, really. So here's some of Aaron Jones. The first answer is about Jordan Mason. And then I'll bring you the question

that I asked him as well. The dude's strong. We were watching a film yesterday, and Coach was like, yeah, I see why he got what he got. But no, he's strong, very smart. He's able to come in quickly and pick it up, which is kudos to him because this offense is a little complex. And so for him to just be able to come out here, day one, jump out there and

be able to communicate clearly, know what he's doing, know where he's going, no mistakes, that's a luxury to have. Have you been told what the split on carries now might be between you and Jordan? No, sir, I haven't. No, we're just out here working and whatever, whoever's numbers call, we'll be ready. And whoever's not out there, we'll be cheering each other on. And it just brings both of our races, both of our games and keeps both of us fresh. But no snap counts or anything.

But like I said, both of us are versatile. We can mount up anywhere. No snap counts or anything, but like I said, both of us are versatile. We come out up anywhere. What is the leadership dynamic like with a quarterback of JJ's age and a lot of players like yourself and Justin and Brian who've been leaders on this team for a long time? Just kind of continue to lead how we've been leading but also help JJ lead. Let him lead and then back him when he has something to say if somebody's not,

which you don't have that here But if somebody's not listening then you you check them as well for him But just really being supportive of him and pushing him and helping him be the best leader He can he can be and then leading the young guys as well Helping them get in here learn the office as quick as possible Let them know what to expect and let these guys know they're here for a reason. At some point we're going to need you. Do you guys want to hear the plane? You want to hear how loud the plane was? I'll just play it anyway. How would you characterize JJ's leadership so far?

Oh how would I characterize it? He's different I would say. He's just straight to the point but he knows how to relate to everybody but he's he means business. He's about he the point, but he knows how to relate to everybody. But he means business. He's about, he wants to win. He's about getting better every day, about stacking it. And it's prevalent. Even when during this period we had to kind of jog through, walk through it. If it wasn't up to his standard, guys, run back to the huddle.

We're not doing this. So he's constantly on him and it's keeping us on our toes and it's good for us How insane was that plane that I mean that was like right but what I noticed was That erin jones did not flinch at all That a plane is landing on our heads and someone blew a horn like that practice was over I don't even know who's blowing a horn. Aaron Jones, laser focus. That's how you stay in the league for 10 years, I guess. So, but that, that last comment, unfortunately, that was blasted by Delta Airways or whatever. Um, and it is, it's a challenge out

there with the audio cause it's windy and there's planes and all sorts of stuff. But I thought that was really interesting when he was saying about J McCarthy's leadership style and how he's in command. He knows that that's his job. He has to get guys back into the huddle. He's got to get them lined up in the right spots and he's going to tell them, regardless of how long that they've been in the league, these little things that we're picking up. And one of this, I'll steal something from my father-in-law. So if he's watching, then I appreciate this because my father-in-law likes to say, whether it's good or bad, he'll say, well, they didn't have to say that. You know, somebody who makes a compliment to you kind of out of nowhere or something,

you know, hey, they didn't have to say it. I think the same thing with NFL compliments is the way that Aaron Jones just described that and how they're supporting him as a leader, but also how he's leading these practices. Like he didn't have to say that. Like he could have said something else that was less specific and more generic. And what you'll hear sometimes is, you know, Hey, we're all trying to do our best out there or something if they don't really want to answer a question about someone. Steven says after years of frustration, we could finally

have not only a solid five upfront, but solid O line depth. We've waited for this for a long time. No, it's true. It's true. And there is definitely more of a question about the tackle position than there is the guard position and way more about the center than there is about the guard. But still, I think you're right.

I mean, they've, they've been able to develop some guys here, develop Rouse, develop Juergens and then find an undrafted free agent. And you know, Blinky asks here how the younger offensive linemen have looked. And my answer is it's an unfair fight over the first two days when they don't get pads and it will be tomorrow. Once they get pads, then I'll be able to tell you, is it working? Is it not working? The other thing that's an unfair fight, and I asked Wes Phillips why they did this last year, and I'm going to try to think of the explanation. They often have the twos go against the one defense and the one against the twos.

And I can't remember what the theory is about doing that. They do a lot of reps that way. And if you are Logan Brown, who is the undrafted free agent, that's Jonathan Grenard over there. I mean, that's going to be tough. That is going to be a problem. Uh, did JJ really throw multiple be a problem. Uh, did JJ really throw multiple interceptions today? Uh, no one really did anything today, Justin. Um, so I, one thing I have seen,

one thing I have seen is people who are posting old videos from training camp as this year and everybody's, you know, falling for it and stuff. Come on guys. We're better than that. Did he throw multiple interceptions today? They had a walkthrough, like nobody threw anything. He threw war. I could show you that this is the video. This is what happened today. Right here. This was the practice. Even after the, our video ended our time with the video ended, this was still the practice. They just threw routes on air and then did walk throughs 11 on 11 where they very slowly practice play. So that's all today was there was

no interceptions. There was no quarterback pressures drops touchdowns nothing nothing like that. So Anthony says last year at this time, Fabian Moreau seemed to be in a cornerback and by the end of camp, not so much. Who is this season's Moreau? I think pretty, pretty clearly that would be Jeff Okuda. If there's someone similar that, hey, they're starting and we're talking about,

whoa, this guy's CB three and he's in there and the nickel package. And then all of a sudden, you know, it's a, so, you know, it is just, that was to try something out and then it's somebody else and it's McKay Blackman or whatever. What we'll see it, but if it's going to be anybody who's a veteran player that's getting reps now and then eventually doesn't get them, it's going to be Jeff Okuda. But he also has a different upside than someone like Fabian Moreau or I mentioned, Joanne Williams did the same thing where he got some reps and we talked about it. We're going to wait, wait, is, is Joanne Williams like, see a guy, you know, that kind of thing. Uh, but you know, eventually

it played itself out. And I think what that does speak to is just how long of a camp it is. When you actually look at the calendar, like, well, they play football pretty soon, but there's also a lot of practices left to go before we start to really find out, uh, who is going to be in the starting lineup. Is there anybody else though, that would be similar? I don't think so. I don't think there's anybody else right now that is getting a lot of run that I'm feeling like, oh, that won't continue. Maybe, maybe Zmaevon if he struggles as it goes along. Let's see. Steven says, I thought Ambry Thomas could be a sneaky depth corner and had a shot at the 53, but you haven't heard much in the spring camps or OTA, not much through three days. No, no, I haven't.

And it does connect to what I was just saying is we're going to have to see that play out. But the way the lineup has looked, uh, has it just has not had Ambry Thomas getting too many reps so far. It looks like they want to get a little bit more into the season. Yeah, an hour, an hour in. Yeah, no, I that's those, those sound bites do help me get a little diet Dr. Pepper. I don't have ad reads tonight, but soon there is going to be a big sponsorship announcement that's coming up. And just to throw it out there, if, uh, any local businesses or if you own your own business from somewhere else or whatever, want to reach out, uh, you always can check with me about, you know,

sponsorships. I'll throw up the, uh, Matthew collar at Gmail would be a good place to do that. You could also DM me on Twitter if you want. And the ad read for tonight is just sign up for the freaking newsletter folks, putting a lot of work into that thing every night. So I get out there at about noon every day, then come back, prepare this show. Then after I'm done with this, write the newsletter that includes what I heard, what I saw and what I thought every day. So Purple Insider football, great way to support the show if you are having a good

time watching it. But you know, Ambry Thomas is somebody who's been in the league, but you know, there's guys that they sign that may have been drafted high and they're just kind of taking a shot at it or they think could be a special team or something like that. And then it works out or it doesn't, but Ambry hasn't played since 2023. Yeah. I haven't taken note of them at all because it just seems like some of the

younger players are ahead of him. Dwight McClothern, Zamiya Vaughn, Mackay Blackman. So it looks like he's kind of buried as of this moment. Uh, Aaron says, uh, were there, were the Vikings in on, uh, Joe Milton or no Milton Williams. Okay. Sorry. I read that as Joe Milton. Uh, I saw someone tweet about Joe Milton today.

I'm like the guy who throws it like over the mountains, uh, were they in on Milton Williams before he signed with the Patriots? Uh, then they signed Alan and Hargrave. I'm sure, uh, we'll look into Wilkins, but the medicals could determine the next move. So I think when it comes to free agency, when you're talking about in on it, it's like how seriously in on it. I think that price was out of this world for somebody who played 500 snaps last year.

So, you know, I, I don't, um, think that they were too seriously in on Milton Williams. It sounded to me like Allen and Hargrave were the guys that they wanted to get. Like this was a major part of the plan. I'm sure that they thought about it though. I think who they really wanted just signed an extension with the chiefs. I think they really wanted Trey Smith. Who wouldn't? It's one of the best guards in the NFL. And then they, you know, settled like their settle was Will Fries, who played really well over the last two years and brings a different element. And there's also a freaking enormous. I, you got, hopefully TV displays how huge Will Fries is. He is a very, very big man, but I think that's who, if they were going to get one big prize as opposed to numerous players, I think that Trey Smith would have been that guy. Mike says, I remember Teddy's early career. He wasn't spectacular, but I

believe that if he wasn't injured in camp that they might've won it all. JJ in a similar spot with way more heat. Yeah. The Teddy thing always brings out the people who never liked Teddy. And that gets annoying because I think we all know with the trajectory of that team, where it was going in 2017, eventually when it got there, he got injured in 16, but in 17 where that roster ended up that if Teddy had been even just a little bit better than case Kenanum, you're talking about a great chance to go to the Super Bowl. Who knows how it would have played out. There was a miracle mixed in and all sorts of mini miracles throughout the season for Case Keenum, but it's the same theory is Teddy Bridgewater. Now I think that there is a little more physical skill.

They throw differently. Teddy was one of those anticipation throwers that I'm talking about. Teddy had to throw the anticipation throwers that I'm talking about. Teddy had to throw the ball. He didn't have a great throwing motion. I thought it was kind of like Philip rivers where he was never going to have blazing heat behind the football, but he was a good decision maker. He was a good game manager could come through in the clutch. And I think that McCarthy has a lot of the same leadership tendencies.

A lot of the same magnetism is a good way to describe it. Every person that I ever talked to, I wrote a story about this one time, would say specifically how Teddy Bridgewater individually helped them succeed. And one of the people was Adam Thiel, and I remember talking to him in the locker room about Teddy and how Teddy, even when he was hurt and was just still coming back in 17, would talk with him and break down some of the quarterback perspective for how he could be better for Case Kena. So even just doing little things behind the scenes, it sounds a lot like JJ McCarthy. There's just people and maybe you know people like this in your life, but in sports there are just people who Have something about them that everybody kind of wants to be in the same room as that guy

everybody wants to be Around that type of player. They want to have that guy as their leader McCarthy has that and again, it's one of the reasons he's the 10th overall pick because character matters so much. Why we love the quarterback position. We love talking about it. Why it's this enigma that we all try to solve for all of our lives, watching football, right? Isn't that what's so freaking fascinating about football is quarterbacks and how their talents and their skills and their personality and their ability to handle stuff and lead people. And there's so many things happening, how it all comes together.

And when it all comes together in a freakish way, it's like Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes, but it can all come together in ways that are not the stupidest, most insane skill sets. But instead it's making the right decisions, having a good sense for when to make a play and being able to get everyone on the same page. Because if your receiver runs the right route and the tight end has the right detail to draw the safety away and the blocking picks up the stunt

and things like that, then it all comes together and the quarterback gets the praise for a great throw But it took 11 people but the reason it's on the quarterback is because he got everybody into their positions That's why you draft JJ McCarthy not just because he throws it hard, but he does Steven said when you watch the player interview clips the Vikings put out they're talking about protecting JJ likely Shorter throws screens relying on the ground game. We might finally have a screen game few clips the Vikings put out. They're talking about protecting JJ likely shorter throws screens relying on the ground game. We might finally have a screen game. I don't know which which clips you're talking about in terms of protecting him. I don't know if I've heard

a ton of that. Maybe there was one somebody who mentioned that I don't think it's going to be some sort of like paired down game manager backup quarterback type of offense. I do think they're going to put more emphasis on the screen game. And this is where we talk about Jordan Mason and catching the ball. Like I think that can matter. That might matter. And Aaron Jones catching the ball matters and DJ Hockett's it's going to matter. But I really just don't think unless they have to that they're going to run any other offense than what they're going to run. Oh, you're, you guys are just getting to the Judd bucket hat. Great, great hat. Great look for Judd's all get today. Yep.

And you could see him duck when the plane came over as if it was actually going to land on our heads. So, you know, I, I think they're going to run a full offense and they're practicing like they're going to run a full offense. So yeah, TCL more like MSP. Yeah. Hopefully you guys could at least hear some of what he was saying. Cause of course the best answer has to come. Uh, the best answer has to come when the plane is going over. Why not? Right? Jeffrey says, speaking of a Kuda, how does he move? Does he look

smooth? Jeff Okuda in shorts is scary. Good, scary. Good. I mean, just a guy with that size. I think the only guy I would compare him to is probably Xavier Rhodes, a guy with that size who moves like that with arms that long. You know how the corners when they stand, they have their arms at their side ready for the snap. His hands almost touch the ground like his arms are so freaking long. He's a specimen, and it really comes down to when they

get into the games and the real practices. Kenny hang with guys one on one, which has been an issue without being overly physical and getting penalized. They actually have referees out there to throw flags. Can he do it without getting penalized? He did get burned a couple times by Justin Jefferson, which happens, but can you hang with him now? He's not going to face Jefferson, which is a big boost for Okuda.

I didn't mention that as a silver lining. It's a silver lining for him not having to face Jefferson. Can you stop on a dime? Can you anticipate routes? And when you get into the zone coverages, can you see everything develop? The reason that Lewis scene did not work in the NFL and cam Bynum did, and Josh Mattel is did is that they could identify what they were seeing in front of them at full speed and go to the right places and play fast.

Can Jeff Okuda do that? A lot of first round picks bust out of the league because college and NFL are just a different game. College. If you're a physical freak, you're going to win in the NFL. Got to be a mental freak. Uh, Alex says who will be the kick return and part return. Oh, we're going to find out. I'm looking forward to finding out right now. I don't know. If I were to guess right now today, I would probably start with Ty Chandler as the kick returner. Kick returner two though, there is a kick returner too. Kind of like the old days. Remember when it was Mo Williams and Kadri Ismail? Like that's, you know, KR one, KR two on the video game. I don't know who's going to be KR two. Bolden price. Anybody else back there? Maybe nailer. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe Isaiah

Rogers if Matt Daniels. I think we're going to talk to Matt Daniels maybe tomorrow. Maybe it's wide open though on both sides. It could be Rondale Moore is the punt returner. It could be one of those other guys. It's going to be one of the most fun things to watch because they're going to be a lot of kick returns. Oh, the links destroyed the ACEs, huh? Oh guys, the links are so freaking good. The links are so good. 22 and four. I highly suggest going to a links game if you get a chance. They are a great, great team. Uh, okay. Oh, how does, uh, black men look, you know, black men looks to me like he's ramping up. I mean, this guy did come off of an ACL injury. Didn't get to practice all of

last year. And sometimes we just expect, all right, you're back at full speed. Let's go. They've been using them in the nickel a little bit more than they did. And I think he's movement has looked fine, but it's probably the mental part where he hasn't played in this defense. I just talked about seeing things at full speed, identifying stuff. And that was what Flora said, uh, in mini camp, I think we asked about Blackman. And he said something like that, something like, well, he's still going to have to get all that stuff back up to full speed, which may be why he's with the second team, or it may be that there's a real battle or it may be

that they love Okuda. That's how it'll play out into the future. Okay. So I have one more piece of sound for you. Mike Max and I talked with Andrew Van Ginkle and ice cream came up eventually. So a good little conversation with Van Ginkle today from practice. About day three, you feel it, don't you? Feels like training camp today

and you realize the grind is on. Yeah, you know, you start embracing it and getting ready for the grind of, you know, when pads get put on and, you know, we start going at it for three days in a row and striving to get better. So it's exciting. What is the difference when pads come on?

The energy vamps up just a little bit. Obviously when we don't have pads on we get pretty competitive and we're always pushing each other to get better. And but when those pads come on, you're flying and you can bowl rush and especially get a little bit more physical. So you start to see some of these young guys what they're capable of doing and yes, it's just an exciting time. If you were able last year to fill in pretty quickly and

everybody was able to pick up the offense, what can you do this year then? What more things can you do with a year under your belt that you did a lot of things last year? Yeah, Flo put up our call sheet and it's, we have all of our calls in from last year plus some and when you got everybody returning for the most part, you got some guys that we plugged in and Jonathan Allen and these guys on the D line that are smart, intelligent football players. We can put a lot in and demand a lot of out of ourselves and

which just allows us to play fast and be ahead of the offense. Thank you sir. Thank you. What is it like for you to play with those two guys, Allen and Hargrave? I mean they're just very different types of players than like Tillery and Bullard last year. How different is that for your job? You know these guys have played at pro bowl levels. You know they're elite at what they do and when you see the interior push that they get,

the quickness that they have off the line is, it's going to be fun to play with them. It's going to open a lot of things up on the edge and they're going to demand a lot of double teams. They're very good players and it's going to be, I'm looking forward to playing with them. Were you familiar with those guys before? Like, had you, I mean, run into them in any place or just seen them on tape? I mean, because, you know, they've been in the league for a long time Yeah, obviously, you know who those guys are, you know, they're disruptive players. They cause havoc You know, we'd love to watch the sack reels every week and you know, they're always all over it when you get

Elite interior D lineman like that, you know, it makes your job a little easier and you know, I play with a few of them down in Miami and makes your job a little easier. I play with a few of them down in Miami. And Harrison Phillips and these guys that we still have, these young guys, they can play ball too, like Redmond and Levi Drake. So it's going to be fun to see them grow, be behind those players.

And I'm really looking forward to it. I was talking to Dallas yesterday about coverage, dropping back coverage when you're an outside linebacker. He said he's kind of just watched you and how you go about it. What is the key to that of being good, like your size, obviously, a bigger guy who can rush the passer, but still being really good when it comes to, you know, drop it back in zones?

Yeah, you know, there's a lot of knowledge that goes into it. You got to have an understanding of concepts, what we're trying to get accomplished, who, have an understanding of concepts, what we're trying to get accomplished, who, have an understanding of who the offense is, who they have in certain positions, and how they're trying to get them the ball. Offenses are always trying to feature their best players and kind of get them started and get them going.

So if you can understand like, kind of different ways they target those guys, if they're in their zone, you know, you got to have that heightened awareness You know, we do a lot of different things so I'm excited to see Dallas grow and You know, obviously he got a pick from dropping back into coverage last year. Yeah late in the year. So It's gonna be fun year and I'm looking forward to see what he can do. Yeah for sure Did you uh, do you have fun to celebrate the extension? can do. Yeah for sure. Did you do anything fun to celebrate the extension? You know my fun right now is kind of hanging out with the boys. I got two

little guys. Another one on the way right? Yeah we're busy but you know we you know we go to a park or go swimming or you know I'm always doing something with them so that's kind of my excitement. Maybe yeah I think we actually might have went and got ice cream or something. So that was the extent of it. There you go. Very good. Well, thanks for your time, man. Good to see you. Appreciate it. All right, there you go. Myself and Andrew Van Ginkle get ice cream. What else? You know, hey, look, you get 23 more million dollars. You go get ice cream. That's what I would do as well. more million dollars, you go get ice cream. That's what I would do as well. Um, all right. So, uh, is Van Ginkle purple insiders favorite player? Purple insider has no favorites, but there are guys that are really enjoyable to talk with.

Oh, uh, shout out to Jordan Hicks today, by the way, retired from the NFL. One of the all time great guys to talk to in the locker room. There have been dozens over the years that I've really, really enjoyed covering because players, I mean, that was great insight when I asked them about coverage and yeah, there are players who are willing to be a little bit open with you and I'm trying to still do that while having a camera in my hands, which I haven't before. That's why finally the shell is bringing a little bit of interviews and things like that. So I'm getting used to that. I'm not good at that. As you can see, my camera work is spotty at best, but, um, you know, there's just players who are really natural,

uh, in with reporters. And now after having a little rapport with him from last year, uh, he's great. So this team is loaded with players that are purple insiders favorite to talk with. But, um, uh, Dustin just got here. Dustin, what's going on, buddy? Come on. You don't get, you don't get neck rolls for, uh, you know, showing up an hour and 40 minutes. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. But, um, Dustin says, uh, feel like any sort of hamstring injury follows players all season, especially if it's in training camp That's why it was really important to bring up two things. I mean one a strain is Not pulling the hamstring. It's not as serious and it is something that they should be able to just work through and get him back To a hundred percent. It's very important that they keep him

On ice as long as it takes and to the point where he can come back fully to 100% before he practices at all. Again, this team, I think, has a really good sense for how to deal with these injuries and they haven't had people with lingering soft tissue things. And with Jefferson, if he misses the rest of training camp, it's fine. He'll come back and he'll play, but you want to keep it as patient as you possibly can with Jefferson because it is important. And you're absolutely right that hamstrings are something that can continue to come up. And sometimes we saw this with Adam Thielen in 2019. Sometimes you think it's good. You think it's good to go and it's fine. And then suddenly you find out that it's actually not. So they have

to be very patient here with Jefferson. But I think just to close the door where we opened it an hour and 45 minutes ago, I think the good thing about this is that Jefferson will not be pushing himself in practice and the rest of his body can get to a hundred percent when he's ready to play and Also that we're gonna see a lot of wide receivers get a lot of reps and that's what I'm excited about for tomorrow So tomorrow night Back here once again live after every single practice round 7 sometimes 730 depending on when I can get all this sexy video up and running for you.

And we'll have another conversation then. I can't wait to report back on how all these wide receivers looked and how's JJ looking continues tomorrow. So thank you all very much for all your time. Great conversation, great stuff in the chat. And we'll do it again tomorrow. So football.