Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings Camp Day 5: The first padded practice! Turner stands out (Part 2)

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about the Vikings first padded practice and the takeaways from how JJ McCarthy looked and Dallas Turner standing out.

Sam, were there any Logan Brown sightings getting into the deep UDF a's here? Uh, Logan Brown, uh, and also a little Greyhound appearance as well. Buddy is down here with me and, uh, is interested in my, in my book. Apparently, Hey, buy a copy for yourself dog. Um, Logan Brown and Walter Rouse, it's very clear it's a battle between them. They've been switching back and forth over the last couple of days. And I don't think either one of them has had a whole lot of fun because they've played against some really good players. And that might be where they

get much better evaluations in the preseason because they're not facing great players. Like even if you're going against the second team, Dallas Turner is playing a lot of second team refs. That's not great. That's not ideal for a back-up right tackle to go up against the first round draft pick, right? Let's just evaluate them maybe against some more reasonable competition as they go forward. But if iron sharpens iron, then these fellas are going to be sharpened. But that's, that's a real thing we're going to be watching in the preseason. Logan Brown and Walter Rouse going back and forth for sure. Joseph says any holes that you think we need to address in free agency so far?

There haven't been no, and I think it's a fair question because in past years, the Vikings have gone into free agency at this time of year. They have gone into get Stefan Gilmore or Dalton Reisner or was maybe Reisner at the very beginning of the season. They just, they haven't been afraid to make a change in training camp. And so that's something that we're always going to kind of have our eyes open for. Where could they add somebody at the very last minute?

And you see the occasional signing that still happens. I think Eli Apple signed somewhere today. And at the moment, I think they should feel pretty decent about how the secondary looks, about how the corners look. Okuda is a much longer evaluation for for me and so is Blackman. I liked what I saw from Blackman but I think it's an evaluation that's going to take most of the summer to figure out is this Okuda thing for real and it might not even be till the joint practices where you get a lot of one-on-ones with different receivers from a different team and

11 on 11 full speed with another team's receivers Maybe you get to see Okuda versus Stefan Diggs and you get to see like where does he really stand? Against the route runner that kind of thing at that point We might have a better sense and maybe there's still somebody hanging around like Gilmore It could be him I guess if they were really concerned about it. But as of right now, if you were telling me that the majority of the snaps and think about also Jeff Okuda and that role, Shaq Griffin didn't play that many snaps last year.

I mean, Gilmore missed a couple games of the hamstring, so he had to play then, but when Gilmore was in, I mean, you were talking about 25 snaps a game sometimes for Shaq Griffin, because this team really doesn't play nickel all the time. Like some defenses, this is Isaiah Rogers and Byron Murphy. And the way Rogers has looked early in camp, I feel really good about it. I feel really good about it so far with those two. I feel really good about it so far with those two. It's after that Okuda and Blackman have to show where they're at. First name last name says Lucky Jackson making a case to make the roster still clearly behind Felton or more.

So the hard thing to figure out there with Lucky Jackson is when Jefferson goes down the other two guys that are in that discussion, and I guess, uh, Jason Jones would also be somebody I would toss out there, but felt it in more like they weren't here last year. They don't know this offense like lucky Jackson knows it. So of course you're going to have lucky Jackson take all the reps. I mean, he's been here. He knows where, where to go, what to do, what all the play calls are. I mean, he's fluent in this thing.

And the other guys are just, just starting to learn it. And I don't know if it's the depth chart exactly, or it's just that lucky Jackson knows it. I can't tell. And they're probably not going to tell me cause they're going to say that there's competition everywhere. But I think if they had to play a game today, it would very clearly be lucky Jackson who would be in the game and not more or Felton. And I still think that my initial read on the tie Felton draft pick and what I saw in OTAs and mini camp is probably right.

That this is a guy that is so explosive and so much fun to watch run around out there that they want to get him into some games. But I don't think he's going to be ready to take on a wide wide receiver three role where see the thing about it in real football, not like Madden depth chart or fantasy or something wide receiver three sometimes has to be something else. All of a sudden, you know, somebody gets hurt and everybody's got to shift positions and then your wide receiver one, you know, Oh, you spent all day, you know, are all week trying to game plan for the X receiver.

Then someone gets banged up and you're the Y now or whatever, right? Z to Y, whatever. There's a lot to that. There's a lot to have to prepare for. And for a third round rookie who didn't have four years of dominance or something in college, it's just a lot to ask. And Rondell Moore just showed up here. So, uh, Brendan says, my thought on Chandler is that he can't handle pass blocking and tie.

Felton could return kicks. Well, that's another thing is that we don't really know if Felton can return kicks. He didn't return a lot of them in college. They're going to really have to find that out in the preseason game. As far as Chandler being able to pass block, absolutely true. It's a problem. And KOC has brought it up pretty much every time since Chandler got here in opposing teams. No, if he's in the game, send a blitz, make that running back, get to the right spot.

But, you know, there's a forest in a trees thing there that you can hand it off to tie Chandler, and he can get big plays, 20 plus yard runs. He was the only guy in 2023 that actually showed some explosiveness out of the backfield when they started playing him more. So he has to, uh, I think show them that he deserves to be part of a little bit more of part of the rotation in the backfield. He would really have to show them that he can pass protect, but as someone who would come in as like RB to if Aaron Jones or Jordan Mason got hurt and maybe he's in there for 15 plays.

Well, he's been with KOC for years. I mean, you should know that at this point and be able to handle that more than just bringing somebody in at the last minute for RB three. That's what I mean is are you trying to really upgrade or are you just making a change to make a change because you're kind of tired of that guy and you know all of his problems. NBA summer league. How are the inside linebackers looking? Feel like they haven't been talked about much.

Yeah. When it comes to Cashman and Ivan pace, we know what those guys are, but the backups, I think they like what they see from Kobe King because he's getting second team reps with Eric Wilson And that's a really a low-key quiet upgrade on this roster if Kobe King Is capable of doing anything on the field like, you know stepping into a role if he absolutely had to But just even adding depth special teams last year the last really two years, the fall off from the starting linebackers to the next man up was enormous going from, uh, Blake Cashman or

Ivan pace to Kamu Grigio Hill. They really couldn't even play him and they had to have Josh Mattel is in there at linebacker. I mean, it's kind of remarkable when you look at last year's defense and you go, wait a minute, uh, Jonathan and I know the AFC South helped this a lot, but you go Jonathan Bullard and Jerry Tillery to kind of journeyman defensive tackles who were making $7 million combined were playing a ton of snaps and ex ex former XFL rookie, Jalen Redmond was playing a good amount of snaps and you had two old outside corners next to Byron Murphy and you still were end up and you lost

Blake Cashman for a handful of games. I've been paced a little bit and you're playing Grigio Hill or you're playing a safety linebacker and you still ended up with a top five defense and they identified this is what I really respect about the front office of this team and coaching staff and how they work together. They really identified every single thing that they needed. They really identified. Hey, if Blake Cashman who plays like a crazy person, if Blake Cashman gets hurt for a game, like we got to do better.

You can't have a special team or in there who weighs 212 pounds, you know, trying to run down Jameer Gibbs or something. It is just not going to work. So Eric Wilson comes in. This guy can play 600 snaps if you need him to. That's a big acquisition for them. And then even Kobe King, who's shown some good early signs and is getting all those reps, which is a good way to judge it because linebacker standing on the sideline and trying

to judge a linebacker not knowing what his assignments are is pretty tough but the fact that he's getting those reps over everybody else says at least something. So Brandon Jacobs probably too big of a comp for, uh, Jordan Mason. Mason's not that tall. Uh, Brandon Jacobs was like six foot four, although feel free in the comments to throw in any of your big giant running backs that you liked from the, uh, from the past for sure. Uh, Pat says, what's it like to have new folks come into the beat

like Emily? Do you try to lend a hand and show them the ropes? What was your experience coming into the beat? Any unwritten rules that you broke? No, it's a very, very friendly group of people. Very welcoming group of people. It was when I got here and you know, people like Ben Gessling, Andrew Kramer

are long time friends that have been there the whole time. Uh, and so anybody who comes in, we try to do the same for them that everybody else has done for us. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Lend a hand, anything anybody needs when they come here, whether it's just getting around Minnesota or the team or just learning the history. That's one thing.

You know, I mentioned Jim McMahon the other day to Emily and she's a lot younger than I am and she was like, Jim McMahon, huh? And I was like, Oh, I you're 25. So we're helping a little bit with the history. You know, I, I Chris Carter was at practice. I mentioned like the toe tap, you know, maybe something you want to look into. Like there's a lot of history. It took years to learn for there's a lot of history. It took years

to learn for me, all this Vikings history. And I was an NFL history nut just growing up. And still, like you have to learn all these little nuances and everything else. And it takes quite a while, but absolutely it's a great group. It's not like a weirdly competitive or backstabbing or anything like that. I think everybody understands that it's hard to go to a new place where you don't know anybody, so it's always best. Plus, we're with each other all the time. And if you don't get along with somebody and you're around them for 18 weeks in the playoffs training camp, the combine, the owners meetings, like

you better figure out a way to get along. Uh, but luckily all of us do. So, uh, shadow Wolf says for those freaking out about Sam Kirk struggled with the offense too. And he had a new OC every year until Kevin got here. Well, I agree that with Sam Howell, probably the turning point for him should be after a preseason game. If Sam Howell gets into a preseason game, plays pretty well, and starts to turn the corner to where he's comfortable on a daily basis in practice,

it'll be fine. You can't judge on the first five days of practice. It just hasn't been good. Um, so there's the, I'm going to bring back this information from practice to tell you about how it went in my notes. And honestly, it doesn't go on that great. And today the overthrows down the field, just at least the ball came out, but it wasn't good. That doesn't mean I'm saying that he should be put in a rocket ship and send into the sun. It's just, this is what's happening and it's something to keep an eye on until we get to a certain point. Like we'll all know if he goes into a preseason

game and throws two picks and I mean, just here's a good example. Kellen Mond, Kellen Mond was one of those back and forth day, you know, day-to-day practice where we're going, well, he looked a little better today. Ooh, it looked a little worse today. And then it started to look real bad and wasn't getting better. I was like, okay, well, that, you know, he's going to start this next preseason game. And then he threw a couple of picks against San Francisco. And we just said, all right, that can't be their backup quarterback.

And so it's either going to go one way or the other, because if you remember with case Keenum, he was not doing very well in camp. And then they go to Buffalo for a preseason game. He plays really well. Stacey Coley game in that one. And then it was like, okay, I think he's getting it now. And after that he did. Tim says, what's your thoughts on Blackman?

Is he looking any better after the injury? I don't think he's looking better than before the injury. I think he still looks like he's coming back from that injury. And maybe just an example today of being a little on the tentative side. So they were playing, I mean, maybe I'm not going to try to identify Brian Flores' coverages, but it looked like some sort of cover to where he was dropping back. Somebody else was underneath and Jalen Naylor comes on a deep out. And I think that the corner on that play is really supposed

to stick his foot in the ground and drive and go make a play on the football. And he was a little bit behind Jalen Naylor made a great catch. And I wonder if that's the type of thing that two years ago he would have deflected that ball away because there would have been a little bit more confidence, just a little bit more sharpness of identifying the routes and he would have been there.

So there's just a reacclimation process and so much of playing corner now is just all in the eyes as it used to be. It's all in the hips and all in the feet. And can you stuff the guy and then stay sticky with them one on one. But now with so much zone coverage, which I wrote about today, purple insider dot football with so much zone coverage in the NFL, it's like, you gotta have great eyes. You got to recognize routes and combinations and identify formations and what

plays come from those and all those sorts of things. That's going to take time for him to get back. That's what I've seen from him so far is it looks like he's still coming back fully from that injury. And if we get three weeks into camp and it doesn't look like he's back, then it might be Jeff Okuda. But if it starts to click in and the confidence starts to happen, because remember you're talking about a serious, serious injury and ACL tear. And it's just. It takes time sometimes for guys to come fully back. I, as far as my overall thought on Mackay Blackman, I like him a lot.

Uh, I think that he is a feisty player. He's an instinctual player. He can make plays on the football. I know that he got lost by Cortland Sutton who just got a huge contract today that cost him in Denver in 2023, and that was unfortunate, but you look at the rest of the way he played in 23. It was good.

So I'm still more of a believer in Mackay Blackman, eventually being the guy who's on the field but it would be a cool story if it's Okuda. AJ how have we gone this long without somebody asking about CJ Ham? No one's asked about CJ Ham on any live stream until right now AJ thank you AJ. Does CJ Ham still have his role carved out? Yeah he does I don't see any chance that CJ ham is not on this roster. I think that CJ ham will be just fine and he will just keep doing the CJ ham stuff. I said to him last year, I said, uh, you know, man, there's not money, many players left

from 2017. Uh, it's just him. And I if I'm not mistaken, just him and Harrison Smith are the only guys left because after Daniil left, Hey, there's not too many guys left from that team that CJ Ham was on, but he, he is still in there when they're running, you know, full back stuff, bigger personnel, which I think they want to do a lot of this year. And he's still going to be a key leader, key special teamer. And I know it becomes a little bit almost of a meme sometimes of, Oh yeah, CJ Ham's still on the team, but it's important to have guys who could play special teams and it's important to have a guy who can mix up the personnel

grouping and who can jump in and pass protection. Like I wrote the story a couple of years ago about how KOC had kind of created this role for CJ Ham to be a pass blocking specialist and things like that So I think he could do a lot of things that they like and he's still gonna be on the team Snack Ygo says any updates on the second string D line Redmond and Ingram Dawkins? Yeah. So I think so far that Levi Drake Rodriguez and Jaylen Redmond have been the main two guys in the middle, but Ingram Dawkins has been mixing in as well.

And Redmond looks really good to me and Levi Drake Rodriguez looks bigger. He's been so aggressive that sometimes he might look a little better than he is because you're not supposed to be that aggressive this early in practice. But now that the pads are on, I think that they want Redmond to get into the backfield and he does a really good job at that. And they want Levi to stuff gaps and to hold guys at the point of attack, that kind of thing, and use his strength. And Ingram Dawkins to me is still a project, very much a project where he's got really crazy size and speed. But can you make that into like a full complete player that might take some time? I think you're much more likely to see Redmond and Levi Drake playing in actual

games and Ingram Dawkins probably not as much, at least as of right now. Willie says Rondale Moore, Willie with the super chat. Thank you so much for that, sir. Says Rondale Moore will be the surprising player. I don't know what OTS means of this season. Must be maybe. Is that what you mean?

Could be, could be. I think that he has the quickness still there and there is a role here for Rondale Moore that early in camp, what we're going to see much more of is everybody learning the basics of the offense. So they know it if they have to step up into a certain position. It isn't until you get to the very end of training camp when the fans are gone and you get to the practices leading up to the first week where you actually start to carve out true roles for guys and say, all right, well, you're going to play, you know,

Rondale Moore, Ty Felton, you guys are gonna have five to 10 plays that you could get the football here that are kind of a screen or a quick pass or something like that. What Rondale has a chance to show is that if Addison is suspended, if and when that he should be the next guy up as of right now, it's lucky Jackson. And that's an interesting development, but that's only as of right now. So Rondale over the next couple of weeks without Jefferson, however long it's gonna be He has to be the guy that shows I can be a complete receiver in this offense

We know lucky Jackson can be a complete receiver in the offense He can't really be a difference maker more likely than not more could be a difference maker with his speed and quickness But if he doesn't know where he's supposed to go How's that gonna work? Right? So it's on him to get every detail, right of the actual route running where you're supposed to be route distances timing all the stuff from the playbook and You're probably not gonna have that all locked in by day five Any part returning today? Not yet. Not yet. We'll get there.

We'll get there to the part returning, but it's probably going to be, uh, preseason is really when we'll see the part returning. Sean says, uh, over under for sacks versus the bears is eight. Oh man. What an opponent to play in the first week now They have revamped their offensive line, but I don't think drew Dahlman or Jonah Jackson are that good. I Think they could sack a little Williams eight times. I agree DL says write it down Chandler is gone at cut time could be could be Who's gonna be better is your issue? Could be could be who's going to be better is your issue. Who's going to be the guy that you go out and get because

you're cutting Ty Chandler and then how quickly can you get that person acclimated to the offense to where you could actually play them if you needed to Christian a for Jordan Mason is a good one. Uh, dystopian that's funny. Uh, awesome walk could be another cut. Now that could happen. That could happen.

I, I'm trying to think on my 53. If I got, I think I had awesome on my 53 and the reason is just special teams this year specifically with the NFL saying we want endless kick returns, more kick returns and making the rules. So if you kick it out of bounds, the other teams getting the ball at the 35 your one pass completion away from a field goal, you're going to want to kick it and play and you're going to want people who can make tackles. And the thing about Brian awesome was that he's been good as a tackler on special teams, and he's been a pretty good part of that over the last couple of years. So even though clearly Brian Flores does not want him on the field on defense, he is, they're

going to keep players there specifically for special teams, maybe even more than ever. Let's see. Rob says, I agree. Folks criticized the Vikings draft, but they hit on all their roster gaps. Guard wide receiver, tight end three. We'll see if when we see Gavin Bartholomew, hybrid defensive tackle, LB four QB two. Yeah, I think what along the lines I was thinking of now, yeah, the left guard pick for sure. And a playmaking receiver. I was thinking just as a bigger picture thing that they kind of left no stone unturned even

at backup linebacker. Yeah. I mean, that's right. Um, and I mean, I don't know how many Vikings fans were too upset about them drafting a guard, but you're right. They saw certain parts of the roster, like an RB two, where, all right, like cam acres was fine for them last year at times, but you really want a difference making RB two and they went out and found one.

You want a linebacker who's playable if you have an injury and they went and found one. It wasn't just, Hey, let's get this one or two big name signings. And then whatever happens happens at some of these other positions. It was, no, you got to go get Eric Wilson You got a draft Kobe King. So yeah, I agree with you fundamentally We'll see how QB two ends up working out Let me get back to your questions in a couple of minutes But I want to bring you also a conversation with Harrison Phillips

That was really interesting and Harrison also talked about Donovan Jackson and how they're coming along with the interior of the defensive line. I also asked him about he he played in a chess tournament over the summer on chess.com and had some fun doing that as well. But mostly mostly a lot of trench talk which I thought was perfect for the first day of pad. So here's Harrison Phillips after practice. Well definitely a memorable moment being able to walk off the field and can see your son for the first day of pad. So here's Harrison Phillips after practice. Well definitely a memorable moment being able to walk off the field and see your son for the first time. Core memories unlocked right there. What's that sleep schedule like for you right now? I never in my career have been pumped about

sleeping at the hotel until this season. Alright tell me about your guys. When you look left you look right. You see all this talent around you. What's it like now playing on this defensive front? Well, it's been a blessing to be here for my entire career. And it's cool to see each year new additions come in and see flows, thumbprint on the defense, keep standing out year after year. And he kind of has these pieces that he brings in and you see career year out of guys. And so to bring in the guys specifically into my room,

not only the ones we acquired for agency, but the ones that we drafted, we're really optimistic about our group. I think what we need to learn on, I mean, we're first day in pads here. So everyone's still trying to figure out people's techniques and styles and the best defenses that I've been a part of you learn to play off of one another. Hey, this is how this player plays a two eye. So if I'm a three, I got to know this, that and the third. Hey, now I'm in with Jonathan Allen. He plays the three technique like this. So as a two eye, I should work to do this so we can compliment each other

better. I think that my skill set is versatile enough that I can come be a good comp for whoever I'm in there with. I think that's what I can bring it to that is allow them to do what they want to do. And then I'll be that player that can be malleable enough to fit the defense if that makes sense. But it's really exciting to have this much talent around us. What's that leadership role like? How are the young guys pulling you to the side and asking you to get better? Well asking you to get better themselves. I think that that's an initiative that you you need to see out of a young player. That's not something you want to see or that's something you

hope to see. If you don't see that out of your young players they aren't gonna be around for a long time. They have to want to get better and so if that's grabbing me in between meetings, if that's tapping me on the shoulder during a meeting, hitting me up at the hotel at snack, we have the young guys in my room. And actually some of the young guys on the defense who don't even play in my room, some of these young linebackers that we have are asking me questions about how do you see this block? How do you see the way they're attacking us? And you have to have that if we're going to count on some of those young players to contribute for us this season. This past offseason you talked about when you guys brought

in, typically in the past you had to start at ground zero, but the players you brought in this year, you're picking up from where you left off. Do you feel that mentality already? Yes and no. I think from a mental side, 100%. Today, I want to go back and watch the film about how today was. Obviously it was rusty. It was our first day. Also with the way we're playing our defense in new spots with more versatility, it's kind of new for everybody. I'm sure you're seeing me move throughout the line.

You're seeing Hardrave do different places. Jonathan Allen go to different places. And it's almost like you're a rookie again when you're out here. So we're gonna dial in, we're gonna watch the tape be very critical. Because I think the standard we're gonna have this year is probably the highest standard that we've had in my room, in my time here. How do you feel like you can help Donovan Jackson develop just as a young player going against you every day?

Fortunately, he's about three or four lockers down from me. And so we'll be sitting there pre-practice and he'll ask me a couple questions. Or again, just the organic conversation if Ryan Kelly also sits real close to us. So he and I are talking about a different scheme, the way they pass it off and having techniques versus combos. And he's right there listening and we'll sometimes ask him questions. So for him, it's just gonna be, it's tough when you're a rookie with

a lot of expectation, you wanna go out there and win every single rep. But in his role, he needs to get a coaching point. I mean, I don't want to... He needs to do what his coaches tell him. What I would imagine is they're going to tell him a thing to work on that day, and he has to work on that thing. And so if it's an offhand punch, even if he's going to get beat 10 times today doing that, he needs to work that. And it's a practice for him so that he can become a better version of himself. And so I think he's doing a fantastic job. But if there's a day that he's getting beat all version of himself. And so I think he's doing a fantastic job. But if there's a day that he's getting beat all the time,

that's not a worrisome thing for us. That's him taking coaching, working on something so that his game becomes more complete. Mm-hm. It's the first day of padsum, defensive players circle every year with the training camp schedule, is there? Yeah, I mean, I think, especially for defensive tackles, it's so hard to strike a guy with a t-shirt on and then

your hands get out. You can't really show what you can do. You get the pads on, you can clearly see knockback, you can clearly see shedding. The only question now is, did you actually tackle him or would he have ran through your arm tackle? Because the most important thing, and this is getting better every day, the second most important thing is that every player that walks on the field can walk off the field. So we always are Vikings playing with Vikings, but we've definitely brought that physicality today.

So many veterans up front and playing in some different ways. How important is it to have these days with the head coach? You know, we just, I think every practice is different for different players. Later players in their career, they've got to hype themselves up for the practice. Younger players got to calm themselves down for the practice and you've got everybody in between. You got some players who know that they're gonna be on this team and they're just gonna work

on a specific thing. You got some players that say, I have to flash today or I'm not gonna make this roster. And so it's so different for so many players. But at the end of the day, every single one of those people that they've brought into this organization, all 91 guys out here is trying to get this team better. And that's what's important. One more random thing. You did the chess.com thing. I had a chance to watch that. What

was that experience like? It was completely random. It was funny. In one of our breakout rooms, they're sitting with the top five or six finalists and they're talking about their chess.com profiles and how many games they've logged. And they're like, Kyler Murray, 12,000 games. AJ Dillon, 13,000 games or whatever. And the two lowest totals was, Richard Sherman had like 160 games. They're like Harrison Phillips, 12.

I'd played 12 games of chess. I mean, I had played some growing up, but those guys who were in that tournament are like real chess players. They play thousands and thousands of games. They have teachers and stuff. No, yeah. I heard about it a couple weeks before. Wanted to represent my charity. Thought like the Stanford education. Maybe I could just whoop on some dues. I was very mistaken. It's a hard game. Happy to win a couple games, but didn't get to the finals. You won your first game though. I won one. It was exciting. Yeah, it was exciting. your first game. Yeah, I want to. It was exciting. Yeah. It's exciting. There you go. Harrison Phillips, always a great

veteran player to listen to talk anytime you get a chance with him. You always learn something new. So, let me get back to your questions and we'll go back to the video of football things happening today. Shadow Wolf says, don't get me wrong. I still think we are sol if JJ McCarthy gets hurt, but I think too many people don't understand the NFL isn't how it used to be with decent backups for most of the league. That's true because I think back in the day it was always looking for a veteran player who could get you by where a lot of teams now are having

backups that are younger players. I mean, even when you think about Sam Howell, what is he? 25 years old? Like Sam Howell is not an old grizzled veteran backup quarterback. There's still a handful around the league, but it used to be that probably two-thirds of the league had some older guy who could come into a game and not completely fall apart at the same time. You know, I mean, backup quarterbacks have never been great. It's always been. I think the best argument for not being concerned about how has been mine over the years.

And maybe it's the way you feel about it as well. Every time I start talking about Sam Howell, which is look, if the starter gets hurt, you're in trouble in almost every single NFL city. So let's not overdo it on watching the backup quarterback at practice. The Vikings lost their starter a couple of years ago and they threw in Josh Dobbs and Nick Mullins and it went about how you would expect it to go. I think the best case scenario is always if you can have a guy that can go 500. Carolina has Andy Dalton.

Andy Dalton, if he played for the Vikings right now, Andy Dalton would be probably 500 if he could be the starter. Carson Wentz's name still comes up from time to time, and he's probably one of those guys. I don't know if he actually wants to play or not, because he hasn't found a team yet after being a backup for a couple of years or Ryan Tannehill same type of thing. I think with this team, you could go 500 with one of those guys and maybe they're waiting until the end of training camp. Maybe they don't want to be away from their families or something for all of camp and want to just step in. Maybe that's the case.

I don't know, but I think we should just give Sam Howell some time to acclimate and then we'll be able to evaluate a little bit better as we go along just exactly where he's at. Priest homes for Jordan Mason. I don't know quite about that. Priest homes was such an amazing amazing all-around running back.

I'm not going to go that far on Jordan Mason yet. I think he's caught the ball nicely. I don't know if it's catching the ball the same way the priest homes did. Priest homes also had one of the best offensive lines probably of all time. I mean, they had Willie Rove will shields. They were just beasts.

Andrew. Any news on Kobe King or Dev Gavin Bartholomew? Yeah, Kobe King has looked good to me. He looks like he fits. He looks like he belongs and they thought that that would be the case with a high IQ player out of Penn State and he's been playing second team right next to Eric Wilson and Gavin Bartholomew hasn't practiced yet. And I can't say that I've seen anything out of either of the other tight end threes

your sec or Nesbitt in part because they haven't been able to get the ball But I haven't seen anything that's made me think oh wow they're all set. They're in good shape. They've got this guy That one is probably also a preseason thing because it's not like they're running a ton of plays with tight end three I mean they have one of the best duos in the NFL and today preseason thing because it's not like they're running a ton of plays with tight end three. I mean, they have one of the best duos in the NFL and today there was a play just in warmups during one on ones where Josh Oliver was going against Tavair Thomas who just got here and I think he didn't realize that Josh Oliver can actually really run and catch the ball because he kind of blew right by him and made a catch. They have a great tight end duo. Tight end three does get in the game at

sometimes, but they'll probably have to wait for Bartholomew to come back or they that might be an area where they do look to free agency if they're not pleased with any of those options. not pleased with any of those options. Tommy with the question of the off season, how did McCarthy look? Well, I would say today he looked at the beginning of practice like a well above average starting quarterback. And at the end of practice, he looked like a quarterback that didn't have any options to throw the ball because of the offensive line. And that is the hit or miss nature sometimes of an individual practice. It wasn't like the one we saw on Saturday had a million reps. I mean, there was just a lot of 11 on 11s because they had the day off the next day.

Today was in the middle, somewhere in the middle. It wasn't a light walkthrough, but it definitely was not the most intense practice. So we got maybe 15 throws from JJ McCarthy and you know, you get your screens mixed in and stuff like that. A handful were really good. A handful did not work out for him when the blocking broke down and then he had a really nice play that he made in the pocket that he didn't throw accurately. Um, so if we're grading him through five days though, uh, I think that he's right on point for where you would want him to be at this moment. Like he's getting the ball out of his hands. The accuracy is coming along sometimes inconsistent. The deep balls look good.

The touch on the balls look good. The command is looked the best. And that's where I would say he's done really well is just the general overall command of the offense. But when you get completely slammed with the defensive line right in the backfield, there isn't much that anybody can really do for that. So that kind of blew up the end of the entire practice today. But the beginning of the practice was really good for McCarthy. Jared says agree on the additions the bears made to their O line were way overblown. I think people saw volume and change and immediately said it was a huge upgrade. I mean, Dolman has not been anything more than kind of a Garrett Bradbury where he's

been a good run blocker, hasn't been a good run blocker, hasn't been a great pass protector. And as far as Jackson goes, he was on the Rams. They just let him go. And that's not exactly a great sign that they just let him go. And he's had some injury issues as well. So it's hard to say if he's going to be healthy. Um, Chicago is just perpetually the most overrated team coming out of the off season and I still kind of feel that way about them until proven otherwise. Tommy, why don't

the Vikings bring back Reisner is a depth piece, a great teammate and would be nice to have someone goes down. Uh, as of this moment, the backup guard being Blake Brando, I think they feel very good about Brando. Now, if someone gets hurt and Brando has to start or fries, isn't ready to go, or they're not happy with Jackson, then yeah, I mean, just a, it's late summer. Somebody called Dalton Reisner and get him back in here. He's kind of that break in case of emergency type of offensive lineman. But, um, I, I think that as of right now, they're perfectly happy with Blake. Randall is that guy and then they could try to develop some

other guys, but not needed at this moment. We'll see how it plays out. Rob says Phillips comments about Jackson were elite a completely different perspective. Yeah, you're right. And this is where I always try to be a little bit Cautious if I'm saying oh an offensive lineman had a really tough day because it it happens and sometimes it happens for a reason That you don't know now

You can't have day after day after day go badly and then have somebody tell you that Oh, it's fine. He was just working on something, but that does, that does happen. And I think Jackson is a really bright guy who will learn and learn and learn and get better and better and better as he goes along. And, uh, right now he's facing some of the best players in the world and he's just going to have to get beat up a little bit and learn how this goes in the NFL. I have heard that Max Brosmer is a really good chess player. I would be curious to find out like how good because I saw Phillips was in that now. I don't know if you guys know chess, but Phillips has like a 600 rating on chess.com, which is basically a very beginner.

And so when he was in that tournament with Kyler Murray and some of these other players that I know do a ton of work on chess, I was like, really Harrison is in this tournament. Huh? Okay. I, I guess this is going to be hard for him. And he, he did well. Like he held his own. He tried. There was some crazy games he was a part of, but there are a lot of NFL players. There was a story on this about Jalen hurts where they have a legitimate chess coach and I've asked guys before I did a story with Stephen Weatherly and There's a lot of different takes on it but it's kind of swept across the NFL as a hobby because one thing is just seeing the entire board but understanding patterns is a massive deal

in the NFL as you do your preparation. And that's really what chess is a lot of times is seeing space and also understanding patterns and memorizing patterns. So I'm good for Harrison Phillips though. I respect because a lot of people watch that turn on chess.com. I respect the guts to go do it Uh, zach funniest camp story over the years funniest is probably That a player the vikings had

I'm not gonna say who it was uh The team was unhappy with him because he was taking socks. He was stealing socks. Not like all the equipment belongs to them, right? Like you don't bring your own socks. Like they give you everything and you take it on, you take it off. And then the equipment people, they go washing you.

He was taking the socks home during training camp and they were like, what do you stop taking our socks? And I think that's the funniest is a guy taking something. Like, what do you need? You don't have socks. I mean, I don't know. There's lots of funny things that happen, you know, over the years when we couldn't figure out whether it was pronounced Aviant, Aviante or Aviant Collins.

And poor Paul Allen is saying it one way and he thinks that's the right way to say it, and then somebody else says, you got to say Paul Allen is saying it one way and he thinks that's the right way to say it. And then somebody else says, you got to say that like silly stuff happens on a daily basis all the time. I actually think the funniest though ever, I don't know why the socks thing came to my mind. The funniest thing ever was the Corey Vedvick practice. By far the funniest thing that I can remember is the Corey Vedvick practice.

Corey Vedvick was followed around by the news cameras as if he was freaking Elvis. This new kicker slash punter they got. Oh my gosh, they're over there with him warming up. The kickers are on their own on another field. They're just alone. They just kick it every once in a while. I don't know what the hell they do.

And Vedvik's over there just warming up, taking some kicks. And there's every camera. And then he makes a long one and the crowd gave him a standing ovation. Corey Vedvik, who never kicked for the Vikings and was switched to punter by the time he got to the end of training camp. But he wasn't good at that either. I mean, that was, that was funny. I think that was funny. Uh, RB three is going to be miles Gaskin. Yeah, I guess so. Could be miles Gaskin always shows up here.

Dayton YT. Is there any actual timeline on Darisaws return? Are they targeting week one? Are they going to wait until the bye week? Well, they're definitely not gonna wait till the bye week. No, all I've seen is these on track, but I don't know what the target is. The target should be week one. Yeah. Yep. The target should definitely be week one, but that doesn't mean they're going to get there. And if you go back and look at when TJ Hawkinson tour is ACL and then you superimpose the same timeline, like how long it's been, uh, you get to about week one for Christian Darasa. They may take it a little slower than that week, two, week three, but if

everything stays on track, then what should happen is soon he should start getting into a little bit of more of, uh, individuals and a little bit more, uh, action there. And then maybe some 11 on 11s as we get into deeper into the summer. Maybe just a little bit, maybe a rep, maybe two reps and then start to build on it the same way it has with Will Fries. But I think they would love if he could be back by week one. I don't think that it's the most realistic. We'll see based on where he is right now, not fully practicing, Stick we'll see based on where he is right now not fully practicing

But we'll just have to find out there's no way to really tell but it's not late in the season or middle of the season it's supposed to be toward the beginning of the season based on where he's at and Kevin O'Connell continuing to You know praise him and praise his work ethic I think says a lot about him being on point for his potential return, but with injury updates Sometimes if I don't have a specific number I've been given I don't want to mislead you and say oh, yeah week one He'll be good. I'm not sure but I'm sure they're targeting that Sloth is obligated to bring up Zack Davidson. Well, so this goes into different territory. I Can't say I'm not gonna say, one reporter was turned down for an interview by Zach Davidson in like a very condescending way and held a bit of a grudge against him

for the rest of camp. And it was very funny cause like, who the hell are you? I, what was he like a seventh round draft pick? It was like, what? Um, so you get funny little things like that that happen throughout training camp guys who maybe just don't understand even like they may in their college they may not even have media for some guys and some guys go to Bama so there's very different experiences but that was funny don't have any kicking or updates or punting updates yet other than will rykart went

five for six so that was pretty good. Uh, Brandon, uh, Brendan, sorry, uh, have a feeling that Hockinson could have a career year. I think that's very plausible because it looks already like he's a guy that JJ McCarthy is getting chemistry with. And it doesn't seem like it's hard to gain chemistry with TJ Hockinson because he's just such a cerebral player that he always seems to know where he's supposed to be. So Dayton says school the plan to play at left tackle right now or would it be Brando? Brando is done being a tackle he's gonna be a guard for the rest of his career so yeah it's just in school right now and it's not going super well because of who he's playing against best in the world over there and Jonathan Grenard

But I suppose there's always a chance they could really love logan brown or walter rouse if they had to go week one But I think it's school because he's played in the nfl before so Uh, okay. Well, this has been a great time So, uh, I think I finally got to the bottom of all of your questions Which means i'm gonna try a little something new that I haven't tried on the stream before which is playing a full I think I finally got to the bottom of all of your questions, which means, uh, going to try a little something new that I haven't tried on the stream before, which is playing a full interview from inside TCO performance center. So let's all hope that it works. Emily Liker from the star Tribune.

She is new to the beat. This is her first training camp ever. Um, so we talk a little bit about that and then dive into the trenches, get her takes on the offensive and defensive line after one day of pads. So here is that conversation with Emily Liker. Welcome inside TCO Performance Center Matthew Coller here along with Emily Liker of the Minnesota Star Tribune. And we just got done watching the first padded practice. Emily, oh, they were a pop in. Particularly, most of the pops though,

came from the defensive side of the ball, which is quite common for the first padded practice. So I think for this conversation, we should focus on the trenches. You good with that? Absolutely. It was the first day we really got to see the trenches. Exactly. And this is your first training camp

because you arrived to the Star Tribune last year. So I see you're not exactly doing the best when it comes to the sunscreen distribution, but you got to learn in your first training camp. It's tough out there. Even though they got us a little hut. They got us a little hut this year, which has been nice. So let's talk about who stood out today and really we can go back the last couple of days as well, but once they get in pads, it's real.

I want to begin with Jonathan Grenard. I think from the first time we spoke to him this year was at off season workouts has seemed like a man possessed. Like when we met Jonathan Grenard last year, I thought, what a nice guy. And now I'm watching him just take names and bodies out there in practice. And it's not that he didn't have a great year last year. There's something a little bit different in terms of the edge for Jonathan Grenard so far this year. Yeah, I can see that. Well, the first time we talked to him, as you're mentioning,

back in April, was when the Morris Required slogan came out. And he was the one that said that he had tweeted this out. I think he tweeted it out twice right at the end of the season. And then by this time that OTAs rolled around, they had turned them into shirts and had Morris Required shirts. We didn't see them very often during OTAs, but I feel like I've seen several people wearing them now in training camp. and I totally agree.

I mean, I said today's the first day of action with the trenches, really, but there were certainly points last week where Grenard was breaking through the line and, of course, just tapping JJ McCarthy, giving him a nice hand, like trying to stay off of him. But you could see, you're like, oh, that's a moment where Jonathan Grenard was gonna blow someone up if he would have been able to.

So I agree, it's a little bit spicier. He feels like he's coming in with a little bit more of that good aggression that you want out of an outside linebacker. Not that he didn't have it obviously, as we said, but he's one of those that I, I am even more excited to watch. I think this year than, than last year, knowing that it seems like he's taking a step up. I think there's a kind of a story arc for Jonathan Grinard of a guy who had a breakout season with the Texans, gets a fairly significant contract with the Vikings, then really proves

that he could be an every single down player. And Brian Flores took that very literally every single down for Jonathan Grinard last year. But then the next step when you get a little bit of taste of winning 14 games and being with an organization that's expecting to win is that part of it where it goes beyond just what your stats were what your pressures were and he seems extremely motivated to start this training camp and not that he didn't stand out last year but it's been every single day maybe the difference could be that

Christian Derrissa was healthy in last year's camp so we didn't see him getting sacks on almost every play. But there's another guy that we're watching, I think much closer. Grinard just stands out without even looking directly at him because he's at the quarterback all the time. But that is Dallas Turner, who I thought may have had the best day of anybody today. Had a lightning quick pressure on the quarterback, almost pulled off an Andrew van Ginkgel type interception. And we've talked to him a couple of times.

And most recently, I think that his, I don't want to say he had a bad attitude or anything, but I think the attitude that he has taken on toward this whole thing of not getting the snaps last year has been good. I think he's taken the right approach to this off season. And we're starting on the first day of pads to really see that the offseason work come to fruition. Yeah, I mean I have absolutely thought he's looked just

faster like he gets in that backfield in a snap every time that he's out there it feels like. The attitude thing is interesting I haven't actually talked to him at all I haven't been in a scrum yet with him this training camp but I mean it feels like it aligns just what like a second, a first to second year differences, right? With guys, especially as we were kind of talking about, as we watch practice to like a young guy who came in high expectations out of Alabama, first round pick, and then maybe not getting as much playing time as he thought he was going

to kind of having Pat Jones in there. And then obviously Granard and Van Ginkle ahead of him as well. But yeah, I mean, he as well is one of those guys that you can see there is a jump even this early on and with this little like actual physical action so far that like I'm imagining like four weeks from now, it's going to be kind of mind blowing to see what he's doing when he's actually allowed to go after the quarterback he's trying to hit. What is your thought on his usage? Because Kevin O'Connell was kind of hinting at using him in a lot of different ways. And when there are fans out here practice, like breaking news, Brian Flores doesn't show

us every single trick that he's got in the bag. But I think we have been able to pick up on some little things. And I also think you can really tell how dedicated they are to having Dallas Turner work out because he's taken reps with the ones he's taken reps with the twos. I mean, this isn't like a Harrison Smith that takes a couple over here and then goes to the sideline because he knows everything there is to know that they are pouring a lot into Dallas Turner.

But how do you think that they will ultimately end up using him? I think it'll be, he'll be used more than he was last year. I think he's very clearly right still the the two to Granada and Van Gogh's 1A and 1B, whichever order you want to put them in. Like he's not quite on that same level as them, but I do think they see him more solidly as the two this year than the 2B to Pat Jones or the three behind all of those guys. So yeah, it's hard just based on training camp, especially too, since I wasn't here last year to see how much they were giving him, but based on watching a little bit of practices last year, I do feel like we're seeing more

of him in the mix now than like I can recall watching time during the fall. What I'm really intrigued by is the idea of all three of them on the field field the same time That would be how can they do that right and Van Ginkle is somebody who is totally capable of playing linebacker And this is where this defense is so fascinating is that it's not just good and Previously if we go back in time Mike Zimmer had very very good defenses But guys had extremely defined roles. They didn't move around, they didn't change. I was talking to Ryan Kelly after practice,

I think you were staying there as well, with Ryan Kelly and he was just talking about how even when they played Flores last year as an Indianapolis Colt, that they said there's more movement before the snap than any other team and it's like preparing against something totally unique. I think Turner, if he can emerge the way that they expect him to emerge, it just adds such a different dynamic to everything Brian Flores can do.

Right, I mean, it feels like every snap we're seeing a different formation out there from him. And I do think a lot more of the movement has been in the secondary, right, between looking at the three cornerback looks and when they bring in Theo Jackson with Metellus and Harrison Smith, but we have seen a little bit of a mix with the linebackers and with Andrew Van Ginkgel standing up a little bit more and pulling back, dropping into coverage.

So it will be interesting to see kind of where Dallas fits in between Grenard being more of a down at the line guy and Van Ginkgel being the one to pull back more. And I think they could probably play him both ways if they wanted to. He seems like he has that versatility. Yeah. I mean, with double digit sacks last year, you don't want to change too much with Van Ginkle, but also I think Dallas Turner brings a different skill set than Patrick Jones, who he's essentially replacing where you didn't want Patrick

Jones dropping back in coverage, but we saw from Turner and his interception against Seattle. When I was talking to Andrew Van Ginkle, he brought that up. He was like, well, you know, he's still learning a lot of the X's and O's stuff, but you saw the skill that he has to be able to do that. Now the interior today, just paint the picture 11 on 11s at the end of practice. JJ McCarthy got no attempts to throw the football because the interior was so dominating and Will Fries was in and out today, wasn't in on the last section so it was Blake Brandle,

it's Justin Skool who is a backup and then Donovan Jackson is the rookie. What should we do about watching Donovan Jackson in this camp because he's going to get beat. Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen beat guys who have been in the league forever. So I think we could watch some of that and go, okay, well, it was a little bit of a rough day for Mr. Young Donovan Jackson,

but I think we also have to be fair to him considering the competition and it's his first padded practice. Yeah. You know, I think the interesting thing we heard from Kevin O'Connell yesterday about Donovan Jackson, I asked this just kind of like what he needs to do to solidify that spot that he has because he has been taking pretty much all the first team left guard reps and it seems like they really want him to start the season there. There is a learning curve though, right? And like Ryan Kelly today said it, he's like, this is a difficult offense to learn.

There are little things that are, you're not just going to be able to pick up quickly. Um, Wes Phillips said like, obviously look like communication is still a big thing. But what Kevin said yesterday is that he has really seen, Oh my God, why don't I have it Jackson? I was like, who are we talking about? Jackson. He's really 91 people are here. 91 people.

We just stood in the heat for two and a half hours. My brain's frazzled. Kevin said he's really seen Donovan Jackson be able to take a lesson from one day and apply it very quickly. Even down to things with hand placement on blocks, which is usually something that you hear about taking a little bit more time because it's just so specific and obviously it depends on how you're being attacked by the defender. So that to me feels promising and again with this being the first day of them actually hitting each other, I'm willing to give a little bit more leeway there.

If we're still seeing this like the final week of the preseason and it's feeling like it's not getting any better, then it's okay maybe should they be playing Blake Brandel more? Are they going to need to do something else there? But for right now, I think it seems like Donovan Jackson's on the right trajectory. And I would expect him to play in the preseason. They had previously when Ed Ingram was a second round pick, I'm not making that

comparison. That didn't work out very well, but they did have him in the preseason and Jackson has to actually, I think, see as much action as he possibly can because what Ryan Kelly was saying to us too is that he said, it's not college. There's so many more details to every single play. And as you mentioned, it could be right down to, is your hand on a shoulder or is it on a chest pad? And that could make the difference between right and wrong on a particular play. The techniques are so specific.

And I think us on the sideline just need to understand that he's going to get beat on stuff. And I asked Harrison Phillips about this too. And he said that some days, and he was basically saying like you guys up on your perch up there, like some days it might look bad, but he's working on one thing specifically. So like, think of spring training for pitchers where, hey, I'm only throwing sliders today, and I gave up six runs, but that's not the point. Like we're not playing real games. I think it's easy when we're just trying to look in aggregate at practice of like, oh, OK, here's our five minutes watching them actually do full 11 on 11 work

where they're hitting. And we're seeing very specific reps, but what's the behind the scenes there? And sometimes we're privy to it because someone asks the right question, and we get a little in on what the goal for the day is. But we don't always know what's, so we're having to just kind of infer based off literally

just observation. In terms of the pads a pop in I feel like the right guy to discuss on a day such as today is Jordan Mason who had a really really impressive run today and I think you felt the full rumble like just even being where we are the stands shook as Jordan Mason was moving it's hard to evaluate running backs because they can't tackle them. And Harrison Phillips joked about that, where they go back and forth, that would have been a tackle. I would have broke the tackle.

I'm just going to give benefit of the doubt to Jordan Mason. I think if we were doing an early winners, which I want to get to a little bit. But I mean, early winners, Jordan Mason has just looked like an RB1 from the outset. I mean, having grown up watching Marshawn Lynch in Seattle during peak Marshawn Lynch era and Beastquake era, there's certainly an aspect of that there,

which I'm sure former fans of him when he was in San Francisco don't love to hear me say, because that's a big rivalry. But yeah, I mean, every time you see him run in training camp, I feel like I turn to someone and I'm like, I'm excited to see that in a game. That's going to be really fun to watch. I think there's still questions around where and how are they going to use him compared to Aaron Jones

and where can they make that mesh and be the most successful. That'll be something I'm assuming we'll see a glimpse of in the preseason games, probably not too much. I don't think they're going to play Aaron Jones a ton early on in this, this part of the season. But yeah, man, he's, he's exciting to watch.

Like he is someone that I think fans are going to take to really quickly once they see him in games. You can just see why he would be so freaking hard to take down. I mean, his broken tackle numbers were exceptional. Some of the next gen stuff was really good on him as far as expected yards. And all of those things are kind of just a concept until you see the human being in the office. And I know Vikings fans saw it last year against the Vikings where he had a number of broken

tackles and big runs. But I think he's looked more like an all around back. And it's been noticeable. And I know they don't want to use Aaron Jones too much in these practices. But they've been having him do everything. They've thrown him the football. I think he's looked good at that.

They've had him in pass protection. What would your expected split be of Jordan Mason, Aaron Jones? Or do we think it could be a fluid situation? Yeah, I mean, I think I would probably lean towards it being fluid a bit. My answer to this, because I feel like this question has been like one of the popular ones when you get fans or like radio calls from out of town recently. It's like fantasy people. They really want to know this question. Who's going to take more snaps? And I've been saying, I still think it's going to tip towards Aaron Jones. He's just so reliable and can do so much for them still, even at his age.

I think he's still in his prime, and he likes to say that, and I think it's true. The big place for me with Jordan Mason is the goal line scenarios. I think he is absolutely going to be the one you see there. They need him at the goal line. I mean, you know know more instances last year than I do that they could have used him, but I saw plenty of it in the back half of the season. So I think, I think it's still going to tip towards Aaron, but I like the word fluid to kind of assess because I do think it will be very situational. And like today I said to you and my colleague Andrew Kramer, like I could see them opening drives with Jordan Mason to kind of get things going quickly,

pop off a couple first downs, and then settle in and get Aaron in there for a little bit, move it, and then bring Jordan back in at the goal line. So we'll see. We'll see it. Situationally or just a feeling, a matter of, hey, this guy's better fit for this particular game for whatever reasons.

I think running backs are kind of like that. Like they can get into a groove and get hot and then just, you know, have a great game. We saw this a little bit. This is going back, but like the last duo they can have that was successful was probably Latavious Murray and Jerrick McKinnon that's 2017, but it was that way with them where one week it was Murray, one week it was McKinnon. You could kind of go back and forth. I think it'll be more Jones, I agree, but I could also see this man just plowing over people some days and that's what you're going to roll with.

So we're 15 minutes in, we haven't mentioned JJ McCarthy except for that he tripped over someone because he was getting so much pressure today. What has been your early impression? Maybe I can make this more like less. Newspapery and more hot take TV. What would you grade JJ McCarthy so far? A plus or F those are the only things that are a lot. No, I'm just kidding.

Either or, um, well, can I start with a, I promise I'll give you a grade, but can I talk about something else kind of first? Go ahead. Yeah. or, um, well, can I start with a, I promise I'll give you a grade, but can I talk about something else kind of first? Go ahead. Yeah. I made the comment the other day that it's, it's sometimes hard to remember that he's 22. And that's coming from a 25 year old. Like I'm only a few years older than him, but he is so ground in himself and like

understands who he is as a human being and an athlete that it's you like see him out there and you're then you're like Oh, yeah, this kid's 22. Like there's a reason people have doubts in him whatever and all this National narratives have been around him and things like that So that's been something that's really stood out to me is just like how sure of himself he is And I think that's shown up in his play for the most part as well I mean, even thinking back to when we saw some of the OTAs, like there's definitely more interceptions and stuff in OTAs than there has been so far in training camps. So like I give JJ like a B

plus. It hasn't been perfect. I don't know that it's an A range yet. Like there has still been some little things and you know, there are still things that Kevin O'Connell wants them to work on. Like they still talk about that. Like they don't talk about JJ. Like he's like this perfect product ready to go out right now. There's still things they want him to work on, but he has looked good. And that beautiful arc to Jordan Addison the other day that fans are treated to at practice. I mean, that's like one of the best throws we've seen at, that is the best throw we've seen at training camp. Yeah. And he had one today where he did the layering of the football and kind of hit in between

the zone, which is another thing that Kevin O'Connell has been talking about. I think Kevin O'Connell's teaching points that he's told to us have matched up with where McCarthy has improved. And the overall just general vibe of him quarterbacking the team looks like someone who's been around for longer than he is. I think that's what your point is. It's if you just watch a practice and guess how old is that guy, you probably wouldn't say he's in his first year starting out and for that alone, you get

a pretty good grade and then I think he's thrown the ball pretty well. I mean, he missed one today where he was scrambling. He. Under threw a couple yesterday. Like he's not going to hit every single throw. I don't know that Kirk cousins hit every single throw or Sam Darnold did in practice either. I don't think that happened either, but we're, you know, micro analyzing every single JJ McCarthy throw, uh, before I let you go.

It's been great. And, uh, I'm happy for you to be out in your first training camp. There's nothing like the first one you get to cover. Uh, so I have been on, uh, as far as wins go. And I'm happy for you to be out in your first training camp. There's nothing like the first one you get to cover. So I have been on, as far as wins go, 11 has been my mark for how many wins this team will end up getting. Before going into mini camp, I was a 10. Then after mini camp, seeing how JJ McCarthy looked,

I moved it up a notch to 11. But their over-under is only eight and a half. Yeah. Do you think I am too high for 11? Do you think, uh, that you'd be closer to Vegas or am I even, I don't know, too low, they won 14 last year. Like, where are you on that? Right after one day of practice with pads.

I think 11 is the perfect number for where we are. That's how you get back to the podcast. Yes, that's right. Every guest should tell me that my opinion is perfect. Yeah. The 10, 11 range, I think, is right where it needs to be. 8.5 feels low to me because yes, JJ is 22 years old, but as we just said, he doesn't act like it.

He carries himself so well that it translates to the field. And then everyone else on this team is a veteran pretty much. Like everyone else has been around what 90% of them, if not more than 95% of them were here last year when this team won 14 games. Like the defense has only gotten better with the additions they've made up front. They keep most of their secondary around or they keep the key place pieces of the secondary around like 8.5 feels like a line that's been drawn just based on JJ McCarthy and not this team as a whole. I think you're absolutely right. We've seen this type of team with a young quarterback and a great

group around them win in multiple different places. San Francisco with Brock Purdy is the most obvious example recently. Then you add coaching into it. It is a JJ McCarthy line because Arizona has an 8 and 1 1 half over under too. And I just don't see those things as being the same picture. I see this team when we go out and watch them practice, and the only questions we have are, hey,

like this one corner, Jeff Okuda, and he was drafted third overall once upon a time. That's our biggest question. And then they have another draft pick behind him in McKay Blackman. And we're still saying, well, corner. All of our position battles are for third string. There's not a first string position battle going on,

except maybe punter, question mark. We'll see. We've only seen a handful of punts so far. But even then, they have Byron Murphy, who is one of the higher paid corners in the entire NFL and led all corners and interceptions. So we're really more like corner two, corner three. And Isaiah Rogers has been very good as well. We'll see when he gets back out there.

He's missed the last couple of practices. Okay. Great stuff. I'm glad that you had time to pop on here after the first padded practice, and we will absolutely do it again. Listen to Access Vikings. You have taken over that podcast, done great things with it, with Ben and Andrew.

So I look forward to the next time we can get together. Thanks for having me. Oh, do you know at the end we say football? Football. Give it like, more confidently. Football! Football! Great job by Emily Liker, first, no second time on the podcast, but her first training camp in Minnesota. So I think we set a record here now for the longest stream Purple Insiders ever had not on draft

night. So I'm going to run and there's also a huge storm coming that could knock out the internet anyway. So until then, tomorrow night, guess what we'll be doing? Ahmaud Hicks from Fox 9 scheduled to join the show tomorrow. Also Monday was with Maggie got moved back and because of her schedule we're gonna start recording some of her stuff so I could play it similarly to what we just did right here. So I'm hoping to do that with more guests going forward. If I can get some pre-recorded interviews, run them on the stream. So thanks everybody for a great conversation again tonight. And yep, it's training camp, which means every night there's a practice.

I am live on here. So we'll be here again tomorrow. Thanks so much to all of you. Really appreciate it. And we'll see you. Football.