Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings camp recap: Joint practices, Day 1 (Part 2)

Episode Date: August 14, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about the first joint practice between the Vikings and Patriots and how JJ McCarthy performed vs. the New England defense. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.

Captain Lassie says, do you think J.J. has gotten progressively better each practice from OTAs should be a good sign if he's trending upwards despite not having a perfect practice every day. Yeah. So, I mean, I wouldn't call it every day. It's not like every single day J.J. McCarthy is one percent better than he was the day before. It's more like he has a great. great practice and then one that's not as good and there was a dog days of summer type of couple of practices for him maybe last week beginning of last week where it was really ugly and then he bounced back and then the night practice was horrible and then he bounced back and then he played I thought fine in the preseason game looked pretty good and then I thought

he had a fine day today if not a good day today overall considering that he was getting a lot of pressure and that he came through in the two minute drill I thought it was a good practice so it's you know, it's a little bit of two steps forward, one step back, two steps forward, one step back. But as far as has he made progress? Oh, yeah. I mean, definitely has made a lot, a lot of progress since OTAs where he looked like he was just getting back into the mix. Speaking of practice, I want this messed up my video camera last time. So I'm going to give this a shot. If it does again, just give me a second. I'll get it back. But I wanted to bring you some views of practice today. So hopefully this works.

Uh, looks like it's working. Okay. So let me know if it, if it's not, but it looks like it's working. This was my view from practice today when the Vikings were doing the one on ones with the Patriots, uh, in their warmups. So you have just quarterbacks throwing to one receiver running a route. So you guys can watch that and I'll keep, uh, answering questions here. And again, let me know if there's, if there's a problem with the video.

Uh, Mr. Mayor says how many kicks to the kickers make in practice? Seems like we've only heard a couple dozen. do they kick like a hundred behind the scenes yes they do yeah they're they work on a separate field and i'm going to tell you the honest truth my friend i never look at them i don't know what they're doing over there they're working on whatever they're working on i think it must be nice to be a kicker during training camp but then when it's time to run on the field like they run on the field and they do their kicks but as far as like how many have they had to take uh overall i think

that it's it's you're probably right it probably is only like 15 or you know 20 kicks so far and they'll just continue to do that throughout but it's it's I'm sure it's a lot over on the other field I just never watch I just never watch uh DJ Willie G what's the word on the defense today so again I didn't I didn't see it myself very much of it because if you look right here on the video you could see my viewpoint so I'm watching practice from this and it was the other far field where the defense is at. But I went around and asked everybody who was on that field. And it sounded to me like Drake May had some absolutely wow moments,

as you'd expect from a super talented quarterback. I did see Jay Ward get an interception over on the other field. I think that was against the second team. But it sounded like the D-line was totally dominant. And that has been the case for practice all year long. And what one of the Boston reporters said was Drake May had some great plays after he was sacked. Ken 952 says will McCarthy get any playing time on Saturday?

Almost no chance. Almost no chance. Unless he has a horrible day tomorrow and they want to shake it off, I would say there's no chance that he's going to play on Saturday. This right here is what they consider his preseason game. So he's only going to play just that one preseason game, get a little dress rehearsal, and then go from there. Chris, how did Huber look today?

He flashed last weekend. He did. I can't tell you that I was watching Joe Huber like on every play. But I thought that the second team offense looked good in terms of its past protection for Sam Howell. The first team offense had some more issues with protecting against the starters of the Patriots because the starters of the Patriots are very, very good. But the second team, Howell had time to throw. I thought even through the right places and just missed accuracy-wise a handful of times. But Huber's a guy that I keep trying to figure out a way, how can I get him on the 53?

I don't know if that's possible that I can get him on the 53-man roster, but he's somebody that might be a development guard that they are really interested in going forward. Eric said is KOC calling the plays that involve throws that he feels like McCarthy needs to work on or maybe not comfortable with. That is a good question. And I don't know the answer to that question. I would assume that what they're trying to do is get J.J. McCarthy very comfortable, very, very comfortable with the throws that they know are the best in their offense. So just for example, with Kirk Cousins, he was really good at the intermediate area of the field. That was Kirk, very accurate on time where when JJ, you know, Justin Jefferson is breaking

toward the middle of the field, the ball's coming out, throws with anticipation, and then hits him. I think that McCarthy has done it a little bit different way with a lot of line drive and hard throws, but he fits it into those windows and he makes the decisions and he sees the field. So a lot of those throws are ones that just seem to work in this offense. I mean, even Sam Darnold, it was, it was pretty darn good when it came to, you know, throwing in the intermediate areas. So there's a lot of that. I think it's just you're going to have to master these throws to have this work, have this offense work. So here they are.

And we're going to run a lot of them. And that's, that's a lot to Addison today, ton to Addison today. He just had a great day. I thought he was really, really good today. so there's a look at some of the wide receivers and nobody is telling me that there was any full pause there with the camera so we're good there let's see does Dallas Turner look bigger noticeably noticeably it was one of the first things that I thought when it just I got to training camp this year was oh hello Dallas Turner you look like you've been working out this

off season. So I think it's been a good training camp for Dallas Turner. There's been a lot of discussion from him and from his teammates about his mentality and his work ethic coming into this year. And we don't know exactly how it's going to play out when we get to the real games. But I think he's done the things he's been asked to do and that he's made pretty big progress for this year. And so I still have him as being somebody that can make a pretty big. big impact on this defense. Is he going to be defensive MVP? I don't think so. But can he get some sacks? Can he maybe drop back and get a pick? Like, can he be a guy that causes a lot of confusion? Yes, I think he can. And I think he's worked on his past rush moves. I think he's worked on his

power. I think he's worked on his speed. So I like where Dallas Turner is at right now. I'm not guaranteeing anything, but I like where he's at right now. As far as the preseason game, he did nothing. But I wouldn't expect him to. I wouldn't ask him to. I'd be like, you know what? If you can avoid getting hurt, let's just not get hurt. Just don't do anything too serious. Don't show them your pass rush moves.

And why would you do that? If you're Dallas Turner and you know that there's going to be everybody trying to get as much film on you for week one as possible, why would you show moves? So I don't, I don't evaluate preseason that way. And Gabe Murphy was great. So that's a good development for them. Gabe Murphy was playing in the second and third quarter. where guys are playing for their lives.

Frank says if you play McCarthy in the preseason, you have to play a minimum in the starting offensive line. He said he does not, it's not worth the risk. 100%. 100%. He, these are the, and also you'd be asking McCarthy to throw the ball. I don't know how many times you threw it today, 30? You're asking him to throw it 30 times and then go out there and throw it more.

I don't know if you want to do that to his arm right now when you've already had a lot of throwing of the football so far. the summertime uh how alexander says how is the kick return and punt return battle going well i mean the punt return battle just started i guess because it looked like it was locked into rondale more and then rondale more was lost for the season so now it appears to be silas bolden versus miles price does anybody step up there and the kick returner looks like it's tie felton um now do they try other people you know when it comes to this preseason game that's coming up.

That's going to be one of the things that I'm really watching for is, do other people get a chance or do they feel really good about where Ty Felton is at? They have to make this decision on so few reps, so few reps. They have to make this decision on punt and kick returner. I mean, you can't simulate it in practice. Today, they were just having the punters punt it up kind of all alone out there and the guy catch it.

Like, there's no way to simulate it. you have to be out there in the game and do it. I thought Silas Bolden looked okay in those first couple of reps the other day, but man, I mean, that's a rookie who was just playing, you know, in the college football championship, who now you're saying, hey, handle the ball every time we make a stop. I don't know. Skull 357.

I don't see any Josh Allen comparison with JJ. Ellen is a physical freak who learned in three years before learning how to throw. No. So I think that you're, you're maybe missing the comparison, which was in Josh Allen's second season, he made the playoffs with the bills without being perfect accuracy wise. And he made good decisions and he scrambled with the ball and they had a good defense and he made plays. And that's how they did it. That that's kind of the point is flawless accuracy is great, but you can still win without perfect accuracy. I'm not. not saying McCarthy is like Josh Allen from a physical perspective, though he is, I think, from a leadership perspective, that you get it pretty early on with why J.J. McCarthy is such a liked guy in the huddle by his, the other players. And that's what I mean about understanding the offense, making good decisions, protecting the football, like all that sort of stuff. Josh Allen had to learn that along the way, but he did get the bills to the playoffs without

having taken that big step accuracy-wise. And what they're going to be looking for is for McCarthy to do that probably through the middle of the season, I would think. Folks, you know that Purple Insider has been growing. And now I've got people who work for me and interns and everything. It's pretty wild. I know. But that also means that I need to learn a thing or two about leadership.

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Again, that is ZipRecruiter.com slash audio. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. Let's see. Neil says, do you think, By now, KOC knows what JJ is good at and is forcing him to work on the things that he is not more. You know, it's possible. Does he know by now what he's good at? I think that they're still learning that.

And even T.J. Hawkinson mentioned that they are trying some new things and doing some new things during these couple of joint practices, of course. And he's not going to announce what those things are, but that he's doing some new things in the joint practices. And I think that they are trying to still figure out. out exactly what he's most comfortable with. And if I had to guess, I would say they're going to much more lean into what he's comfortable with than try to force him to do things that he's not. I see the thing is that the throws that are inaccurate, it's usually not a bad decision. It's Jalen Naylor running across the back of the end zone wide open and whoops, you just

missed him. Or Josh Oliver opened and you overthrow him. Or today, you know, Naylor is open. He made a good decision. He just overthrew it. so like is he comfortable with it and i think the inaccuracy can be so in and out that you can't exactly say well it's this throw this throw and this throw that have been inaccurate and all these other throws are perfect so we're just not going to do what one two and three

it's been on one rep or like i said about the seven on seven he he had six in a row like bang bang bang bang bang and then the seventh one just goes flying and you know it's an interception there's also a part of me that thinks all right i mean if he's just crushing it on six out of six and overthrows one for seven out of seven you know of course i'm going to come back and tell you guys what happened but are we like overdoing it a little bit there very possible that we're overdoing it a little bit with analyzing every single throw like the numbers i had today he completed 70% of his passes today is what i had that's pretty good that's pretty good with only one that I thought was a really bad miss and some of the other throws that were incomplete were pretty

accurate. There was one where Addison jumped up and tried to moss a guy and didn't quite bring it in and it looked like Keena McCartle kind of thought he should have brought it in because he's Keena McCartle. So I thought he had it from an accuracy perspective. If I was and maybe that's maybe that's a thing to do tomorrow, like what was the accuracy percentage? I thought it was pretty high today overall. Skull Vikes, M.N. How has Bo Richter been doing? So it was his birthday on Vikings Instagram. Happy birthday, Bo Richter.

Well, he's gotten a lot of reps at outside linebacker. Now, I don't think that he is going to, if I'm doing the order, I don't think he's going to end up above Gabe Murphy. I think they feel great about Murphy. So it's going to be Grenard Van Ginkle, Turner, Murphy, Richter. And then Chas Chambliss is putting his name in the mix, too. He's played pretty well. So, you know, just when it comes to Richter, though, he's going to be a huge special

teamer for them and might be able to carve out a role, but I think he's mainly going to be a special team's guy. Alexander last year in a camp with Darnold, you had a wow, this could really work moments. Have you had that with McCarthy yet? I've kind of had the opposite, but not like, wow, it can't work as in I haven't seen anything that would make me think it can't work. That's where I've been with this, where with Darnold, it was.

so different because it was such a surprise, right? It was, oh, Sam Darnold, like as the entire world is picking them to win five games. And we're watching practice going, um, am I seeing what I think I'm seeing? Right. Like, I'm having to convince myself that Sam Darnold is really what I'm seeing because he had been so poor during his career. My expectation for J.J. McCarthy is that he's good. And he's a 10th overall draft pick. He's got a year under his belt. And so I haven't seen anything that would make me go the other way. And unfortunately, because Kellen Mond is one of the only young quarterbacks that I've seen here during my time, I keep going back to that where it was pretty easy to tell, like, this is not going to go in a good direction. I have not had a single

moment with J.J. McCarthy where I've gone, oh my gosh, like this is going to be a mess. This is going to be a disaster like what's going to happen with uh you know with with with j mccarthy like i haven't felt that way i felt like most of the things that have happened have been stuff that are is just going to require more and more time more and more and more passes running the offense more like that's that's it that's the only way you can really look at it is these things can sort themselves out, some of the accuracy and so forth. But what can't, what can't be fixed is if someone has an issue with pocket presence. If someone has an issue with decision making or seeing the, the field, or not getting the ball out. To me, this is the number one tell if you're watching a

practice. So if you happen to be going tomorrow or you're watching preseason around the league, if, and Darnold would do this sometimes, if a quarterback is sitting there, look in around looking around and you can count to three or four in your head that's not good but that's not how it goes with jj and that's why i i like that hawkinson quote where he said he's just played fast and i think playing fast is the most important thing uh conrad said uh how was uh how was your day my day was great my day's always great if i'm doing this my day's always great uh heard that Ty Felton had a pretty good day and Naylor not so much.

So Nailer did have a pass that he should have caught. There was a little bit low but came across the middle. He should have caught. He caught a couple other ones. I didn't think it was some sort of terrible day for Nailer.

I don't think it's been a great overall camp for him. He's had to step up into a role that's just, I think, a little above his pay grade being the Jordan Addison role in the offense. And I did notice Ty Feltin a couple times. yeah, he made one good catch across the middle from Sam Howell.

I think Felton's coming along. And that's why when somebody who's a young player doesn't immediately jump to the first team, like, let's find out before we decide, oh, they blew it with this draft pick or whatever. And Felton, where I thought he got some confidence was that preseason game. He caught a first down pass and he, you know, had that play as the punt gunner. he picked up the kick return and that worked out okay there was a penalty but he returned it just fine and then getting out there was was pretty good for tie felton and making some plays and feeling confident but he he's coming along he's developing and to get a couple of first team

reps today even though it wasn't a ton still sort of says hey you're doing the right things he's been with the second team the whole time it's not like they have put him on the bench or on the side he's just he's in development mode. But I think that with Rondale Moore out for the season, if they don't get somebody else, that Ty Felton becomes a guy that they're going to want to put in to be that playmaker because that was something they designed in the off season with Rondale Moore in mind, this is what Keenan McArdle was talking to me about just a week and a half ago was they're looking for that. And when they drafted Felton, they said that. We're looking for a guy who could get the ball in his hands and make plays. So I think they want him to be part of this.

Mark says, I get that joint practices are good, but shouldn't JJ be playing in all the preseason games? He's young and needs as many reps as possible. So in the past, I would have felt that way, yeah, but what I know is these joint practices, I mean, you listen to anything KOC says. Every single time he talks about this, he emphasizes it a ton of how important it is to him. And if you think about running your real offense in how many ever, you know, plays that they're going to do, well, he's probably going to throw 60 passes over two days. And you're running your real stuff against somebody else's real stuff, ones versus ones. All the starters are out there. It's Carlton Davis.

It's Milton Williams. It's the real players. Keon White. Oh, my gosh. That guy looks like close to DeNeil Hunter with his freakishness. So they're running the real dudes versus real dudes. If you run them in a preseason game, do you get that? I mean, Houston didn't play Danielle Hunter.

They didn't play Will Anderson. Like, they're not playing at full speed. And the guys who are out there are trying, but, you know, one of the things you don't want is some try hard guy who's trying to make the team with his last breath hitting your quarterback. So it's as close as you can get to real football without the injury risk. And O'Connell puts so much more emphasis on these games than he does. when it comes to the, the preseason.

Preseason is for the guys who are trying to make the practice squad, really. Alexander, can we have your updated guests on Vikings regular season wins based on what you've seen? I think last time you said 11. Yeah. So that's, that's my point about J.J. McCarthy that I have continued to go back to time and time again, which is I went into this camp saying, am I going to see anything that makes me, move off that number. So right, after mini-camp, I said 11 wins.

And then every single day I walk in saying, am I going to see something from J.J. McCarthy that makes me think this team can't win 11 with him as the quarterback. So far, I have not seen anything from McCarthy that would make me think that. And a lot of it is just how it looks from a, from a tempo perspective. Is that the right word where he gets the call? he gets to the line of scrimmage guys get lined up snap comes drops back ball comes out a lot of times now

it's not every time there's scrambling sometimes there's a sack from time to time but we see so many good reps like that where he's identifying where to throw the ball it's coming out it's complete it i mean completing 70% of passes in a joint practice is pretty darn good it's you know it's not 90% i think like if peyton manning was the quarterback you probably would and let the ball hit the ground. But I mean, you know, that, like it looked, it looks pretty solid. And it has all year except for two or three practices that were miserable for him, that were the night practice.

And then a little bit earlier, there were a couple that were pretty brutal, I will admit. And those are factored in as well to the inconsistency conversation. Like, there's probably going to be a game that he plays that's just surprisingly not good because he's still a young quarterback and that happens. like when Bo Nicks threw for negative yards of the first half of a game last year. Like it happens. Jaden Daniels had a couple bad games. C.J. Stroud had a couple bad games.

Like, it's going to happen. But I would not move off that number. And not only that, but okay, Rondale Moore is out for the season. That's bad. But when you look around the roster, it's pretty darn healthy at the moment. And so you can knock on whatever wood is near you when I say that. But a healthy roster with a. a ton of talent and a great front seven.

The offensive line, I think, is concerning me a little bit with how they play today. I think they need to have a better day tomorrow, but the running game looks really good. The screen game we mentioned is looking better. Like there's a lot of arrow up stuff. You're going to have to deal with Addison being out for those first three games. That's a little bit of a concern. But as far as how McCarthy's played, I think it's been a good camp for him. Overall, good camp.

I would give it a B to B plus so far. and we'll see where it goes tomorrow. I can't give it an A because it's not consistent enough yet. But there's, you know, there's a few more days to go with this. There's another joint practice. And, you know, they don't play until, what, September or is it September 8th or something? I mean, so they still got more time to work on consistency. But no, I would not, I would not change that pick right now for J.J. McCarthy.

And that's kind of the bottom line of I went into it starting with, hey, I think they can win 11. They could be right there for the division title. Now, like, tell me, tell me I'm wrong, J.J. McCarthy. And so far he hasn't told me he's wrong. Funny boy, Roddy says I'm very concerned about Jeff Okuda. Yeah, well, look, I mean, with Jeff Okuda, this is one of the hardest things to talk me into is the idea that somebody who's had such a tough career could all of the sudden just flip a switch and, you know, be a really good player. that's that's pretty that's pretty hard um but when you're talking about that specific role if it ends up being a 450 snap type of role because they play a lot of three safeties

then can you survive it with him can he bring you something specific uh probably but you know i'm going to have to see it myself i think he's at a very good camp but it's just going to have to see it myself um how did uh david deep in the weeds how did uh old pal parker robo look i was told i did ask i did ask about uh parkeromo i did ask uh the other patriot writers and they said uh that he's done pretty well so far so maybe parker i like that guy i mean he was he was good last year he was very good uh by the way if you haven't answered the fan dual question of the day yet and you just jumped in here this evening the fan dual question of the day was the Vikings are plus 1500 to kick a field goal in every single game okay i don't

think i would take a bet on that but uh give me a one to ten for your confidence in will riker most of you were somewhere between seven and ten and i would i would agree based on the way he's turned it around in the middle of camp here sloth what do you want to see out of of day two of joint practices, while the red zone is the big thing. To me, that is the big ticket item of how does J.J. McCarthy look in the red zone against the different team. They may have been working on stuff in the red zone drills, specific types of throws, specific types of plays in, you know, earlier in training camp. And you can write some of that off because of it. This, they're trying to score. They're doing everything they can

to try to score in the red zone drills. And Vrable mentioned doing more situational stuff. So I just want to see that. Thank you so much TLS for the super chat. Really appreciate that. This is another thing. Steve says, well, Thursday practice have punt returner auditions against live competition.

So last year, they did have against Cleveland a lot of special team stuff in the second day. And I hope so. I hope that we see, I mean, they should be practicing the kick. return stuff too um so i do think that we're going to uh see a lot of that tomorrow and we will get a judge on that uh let's see uh the brosemar hype has to be stopped did anyone watch the gophers last year i would wonder if you watch the gophers last year if that's your comment because um max brosomar was good uh they did not have great wide receivers they did not have the running game that they've had in the past and Brozmer was within this much of beating Penn State like I what I thought Max

Brosmer had a great season for the gophers last year I'm not sure what gophers you were watching and I'm sure you haven't seen as much practice as I have so Brosmer has been very good in training camp very good it's a it's often with the threes and it's often against the threes but he's looked like a real NFL quarterback and I think they're going to keep I think they're going to keep him maybe on the roster here and they're going to keep wanting to develop him because i think they've they've found something i don't know what but i think they've found something in max brosber also very mature kid very smart kid um tim says did they get through the day without injuries as from as far as i understand now sometimes stuff crops up but as far as i understand uh qb depth chart

does look to me like it will be mccarthy howell and brosmer and then rip in they'll probably try to bring him back, I would guess. As far as Van Ginkle's injury, I don't know about that. Look, it sounded like a veteran type of day, but they don't have to give us a lot of details. It did not sound serious. Wally, yes, the fantasy show is coming back. I would like to make it part of the live stream, actually, like on Wednesday nights. We did one episode and then actually we recorded today about the NFC North.

So I'm hoping to bring you that later on in the week. you know joint practices so got to got to be going hardcore on the on the joint practices uh mr mayor who do you think is most likely to be both waived and then poached by another team before making it through to the practice squad um yeah i mean joe huber is a good one for this i don't think that they are going to cut zamaia vaughan he's had a really good camp who was good in the preseason. I mean, when you go back through the years, there's just not that many players who have been poached.

So I don't worry too much about it. I mean, I remember when we were talking last year, right before cutdowns. And it was, oh, man, I hope they don't cut this guy. I hope they don't cut that guy. And then they cut most of the guys that everybody loved. And then they just got them back on the practice squad. Because most teams love what they have in-house.

And it's also much, much harder to, identify talent based on preseason games than it is in-house watching your own guys. So if you're going to make another spot on your 53 and cut somebody that's your guy, you've got to be really certain. So just for example, you know, you could see them doing this at tight end three. Like they're desperate. Or last year, the Panthers were so unhappy with their secondary. They just signed a couple of guys off waivers.

It can happen. But who would be the most likely? It's probably it's probably if you're just watching the table. from the preseason game, if you're on the outside of this building, Joe Huber would make the most sense. If I was another team that had nothing at guard, I probably would pick him up just based on that game alone to take a shot at him. Dayton in the nickel defense,

who is typically the inside corner. My understanding is Murphy, Rogers, and Okuda have been the three in the nickel. Is it Murphy or Okuda playing inside? It's Murphy. Yeah, it's Murphy. And this was something that KOC talked about at the, I want to say, owners meetings. when we asked him about, you know, Isaiah Rogers and kind of how that whole thing worked out.

And he said that they would like more Byron Murphy in the slot because they felt like when they signed him that they wanted him to be a nickel corner. But then he was good on the outside and their personnel, they just, you know, couldn't make it work. But, you know, that's how they end up playing the three safeties all the time. It's kind of because they didn't have enough corners. So they're like, let's just get Josh Mattelis out on the field. but he is a very good nickel corner he tackles extremely well he sees the quarterback really well and he's good in those short area type of situations i think he's not the fastest long runner but short area very quick so they like him there and that would put okuda on the outside

that's my question is how much are they really going to do the the nickel package i mean how much are they really going to use that with Okuda in there? Is it only going to be like third downs? Is it only going to be in certain situations? Could they still rotate in Mackay Blackman? Like there's stuff to be found out there that I'm not really sure of yet. Because it seems to me like Theo Jackson's had a great camp. And they're going to want Theo Jackson and Josh Matteles on the field at the same time.

Mr. Mayor, what's the difference in skill sets with kick returners and punt returners need to have from a layman's perspective, they seem the same. Not, not exactly. Uh, the biggest difference is the catching of the football. That is the biggest difference is the catching of the football. And I agree with, uh, cat and lassie that says days like this, you appreciate Marcus Sherrill. Sheryl's made it look so easy to catch that football. But it is crazy. I, I mean, I've said to people, whether it's players or coaches or whatever, like, you got to be nuts, right? And the answer is yes, you have to be nuts. So you got to be a little crazy to be back there and be able to look up and also look down, look away from the ball as

it's coming at you to see. Is it a fair catch? It's very easy to do on TV when we're sitting in our couches. It's very hard to do out there. I mean, catching the football on a kickoff, it just comes right to you. And then you catch it and run with it. Not that hard. Although this year, it might bounce around a little bit. So I think they want a guy with some ball skills but when it comes to that punt returning it's very difficult to catch so you got to start there and then it's it's much more quick twitch than it is long speed so long speed is like kick returners you want to be have somebody who can hit an edge and you know go 100 yards whereas part returners you probably need to get like 10 or 12 so it's quickness first and then the longer

speed. Hopefully that makes some sense. And then, you know, you guys brought up Percy Harvin. That guy could just do anything. Anything on a football field. Percy Harvin can do it. Alexander on a scale of Kirk to Jaden Daniels, how fast is J.J. McCarthy? Well, he's not J.J. Daniels. And he's not Kirk. That's for sure. So the extremes can be tossed out because he's way faster than Kirk and he ain't as fast as Jaden Daniels. I think that there is a saying in scouting that you'll hear every once in a while that is quicker than fast and i think that j j mccarthy is quicker than fast his first couple of steps are very quick so when he makes that decision i'm scrambling step step he's not just immediately getting caught from behind i don't

think that if he got into the open field this is where jaden daniels is just way next level i don't think if he got into the open field that he's dodging tacklers like Barry Sanders. But you see that from Jaden Daniels or Percy Harvin. I don't think he's, you know, doing Percy Harvin stuff. That's how I see Daniels or Lamar Jackson at quarterback as if Percy had played quarterback. That's what it would look like. That's not McCarthy. But is it McCarthy where it's fourth and four and they get after him and he outruns everybody the sideline gets a first down. Oh yeah, yeah, it definitely is. I think he's faster than Sam Darnold. I think he's quite a bit quicker than Sam Darnold with his feet, I would say.

So he, I look at him as like similar to Baker Mayfield in this way, where he can, he can impact the game with his legs, but he's not going to like be running read option and gaining 50 yard touchdowns. Funny boy, Roddy. How is Dwight McLeathern doing? You know, it looks like Dwight McLeathern has been passed on the depth chart by Zemiah Vaughn. That's how it's looked by the way that they're using them. I still think he's on the roster, but it just has looked that way, like they've been using

Zemaya Vaughn more with the twos than Dwight McClother. So, and usually when it's the twos in a base package, it's Vaughn and Okuda. And then in the nickel, they've got Blackman. So it looks like he has been pushed a little bit down the depth chart this year. I would not expect to see a whole lot of Dwight McClathern playing this year, even though, you know, he's a playmaker. he's in there. He makes plays on the ball. But it just seems like they've really been into Zemaya Vaughn in the way that he's playing. He is really, really good at tracking wide receivers who are

smaller than him. And he's pretty physical and he's made plays on the football. Like just really since day one, he's been good. That feels like a little bit of an Ivan Pace situation where they just got him in and went, oh, okay, this guy can really play. Skull 357. Easy Matt. even KOC admits accuracy was what kept him from succeeding in the NFL. Accuracy is not teachable. Mechanics, yes, but God-given talent, not so much. So, look, I mean, Kevin O'Connell was just not an NFL quarterback. He was a third-round draft pick who was a great running quarterback in college, but was not an NFL QB.

The accuracy difference between Kevin O'Connell and J.J. McCarthy is gargantuan, and I'm sure that O'Connell would tell you that as well, that J.J. McCarthy has NFL starter caliber accuracy. And on some plays, he is really impressively accurate, where you're like, wow, I mean, right on the money. I think where we're talking about where it's reps that are needed and development that is needed, it's mostly a conversation about getting more throws

and smoothing out some. of those bad ones but on a play to play basis i mean i mentioned to you that i thought about 70 or more percent were accurate throws today like that's been him throughout camp that it's been accurate he has been a good thrower of the football this training camp overall but it's those one or two per practice where you go oh yeah that's yep that's the one he's going to need back and that's the one if it happens in a game it could cost them but there's no comparison to guys who like didn't even have the accuracy to be in the league. He's going to start on one of the best teams top to bottom in the NFL for a reason.

If they didn't believe in his accuracy could win games, they would have gotten somebody else because they could have for sure. We know who would have been here. And, you know, he's a pretty accurate quarterback, Aaron Rogers. So they decided that they wanted to go with J.J. McCarthy for a reason. But as I'm detailing the practice, I'm going to tell you that certain throws were not perfect. But can it be developed for somebody who's 20? too? Of course it can. Of course it can. Now, can he ever be Kurt Warner? No, probably not.

I mean, this is like shooting a basketball, right? Like, Steph Curry is the all-time freak at shooting a basketball. If I tell you that someone could be a good shooter, it doesn't mean they could be Steph Curry, but do you need to be Steph Curry to be a good basketball player? No, probably not, right? Invasion, who do you think won today on offense and defense? Defense? I didn't get a chance to see a lot of today. It sounds like the defensive line won on that side. But as far as the Vikings offense versus Patriots defense, I thought that was a really good battle. I thought it was a really good battle. I don't think that it was, I don't think that it was perfect. But I think that it was, I think that was pretty good. So I thought it was 50-50 for the

Vikings offense and the Patriots defense. If you were talking about, you know, a reason for the defense to not win for the Patriots, it's probably because they got a lot of penalties called against them today. So they were extremely, extremely physical. Northern Pride, what's the difference between today's joint practice and tomorrow's? That's probably that they're going to run some more situations that are different. And the red the red zone stuff is probably the biggest difference. I'd like to also see more of the kick returning and punt returning, probably that.

Steve says any update on how many UDFAs you think could make the 53? Well, right now, I think that probably I've got Brosmer making it. So Brosmer, Zemaya Vaughn, it's possible with Silas Bolden as the part returner. And after that, Xavier Scott was not this year, but Xavier Scott is still in the mix. I did see a lot of Ty Chandler today. I don't think that that is resolved just yet with Xavier Scott and Ty Chandler. They do like Xavier Scott quite a bit. So it might end up resolving itself if he continues to play as well as he did in the preseason.

He was a UDFA technically last year with the Colts, but kind of in that same ballpark of someone who's never played before. I don't know if there's any other ones that will make it. But Vaughn and Brosmer, I've got on the team at the moment. Let's see. Justin says, have you or others discovered our next Theo Jackson on the field, the consistent playmaker? Like the next, like the under the radar type of guy that could be somebody.

Yeah, I mean, I know I keep going back to Vaughn, but I think that Vaughn is probably that guy who, nobody's talking about and then all of a sudden like whoa uh the other one is probably gave murphy uh gave murphy was talked about last year a little bit and then got hurt and he's come back looking really good as you guys saw in the preseason game uh the dude asks if zavier scott is making the team i mean right now if i'm doing 53 i probably put him on the team over tie chandler yeah um son of beavers who's looking good for tight end three so far unfortunately nobody really i I think Ben Euresec has at this moment been the better of the tight ends.

But if I had to guess, you know, I might say that they still go outside the building and look for cut down guys, a veteran that could come in. They did sign a veteran who's made some catches before. I don't know if he's going to have a real chance or not. I think Euracek has been the best, but tight end three might not be here. And I don't know. is anybody tracking Johnny Muntz training camp? Fanny, I don't know if that's how you pronounce it,

but I hope it is because you said that you love the article from Kurt Warner. Really appreciate that. Make sure you all go check it out. Purpleinsider. Football, this one is open for everybody to read. So just go to Purpleinsider. Dot football, give that a read and decide whether you would like to be a subscriber or not. But I would be honored if you did. did. And I had a long conversation with Kurt Warner.

And I mean like, we were on the phone for like an hour. And he facetimed me and he showed me how to throw an accurate football of layering the football on his face time. It was very cool. And Kurt was just so great about it. He shared the article on Twitter as well. So I just, I can't thank him enough for that piece. So if you get a chance, again, Purpleinsider.com football, go check it out. I know I ask a lot of you guys.

I ask you to do the Fandul questions. I ask you to read the newsletter. Like and subscribe, all that sort of stuff. Dayton says we do big nickel with Mattelis inside a lot. So that's what I expect the most. I agree. I think what they want to do more than anything is probably that they want to have Mattelis as still kind of the nickel and Theo Jackson back there.

But, you know, the way that they've also talked is if, they like what Jeff Okuda's brought to the table. And I know that there's such a classic. I saw like Sam Monson was making fun of it on Twitter. And you guys know he's a big guest on this show. And I love their podcast. Check the mic. But he was making fun of the,

oh, look, you know, we've reached the point of the off season where people are saying Jeff Okuda is going to work out. And I'm like, maybe it will, though, Sam. Maybe it will. because Shaq Griffin worked out

and Stefan Gilmore worked out last year and I don't know I mean nobody wanted those guys and Okuda he's got to stay healthy that's the biggest thing and they have to be able to use him in spots where he's just he's using his physicality and he's not too often on a one-on-one island with wide receivers where I think that

he's not quite quick enough and he can also get grabby where more it's like cover two stuff where he's got to be physical at the line of scrimmage but then just kind of owns his area and then tackles. When you see this guy tackle, I mean, because I've gone back and just looked at a little, like, hey, did he ever look good? That kind of thing.

One thing stuck out to me is the dude can tackle. So maybe that's what they're looking for from that role. But I think that the person earlier who said that they're concerned about that, like there's, I'm not going to tell you that you shouldn't be. It just seems like they are kind of excited about him and the way that he's played so far. And I thought at some point, we would get a, a, a Mikeye Black, Beckman's taken over that job. Like, that's a Joanne Williams situation,

but we haven't even come close to that so far. Son of Beavers, do you still think we go and try to find a QB2? And the way I feel about Sam Howell right now is going into that first preseason game, he needed that bad, like real bad. I thought that Kevin O'Connell's comments were pretty reflective of that, of like, yeah, it looked like he's more of a gamer than anything. so it felt like he really needed to have a good game to kind of like calm it down a little bit and a good joint practice today I would not say he was great I would say he was competent

and then at the end had some inaccurate throws that cost them in the two minute drill which they would not be very happy about it's not decided yet that's my opinion it's not decided yet with Sam Howell. But when you look around the league, do you see a lot of backup quarterbacks that they could trade for? Do you see a lot of people available where you'd go, oh, yeah, he's going to be way better than Howell? No.

So as of right now, I'm saying no, that they don't need to go out and get somebody else, that Sam Howell, they're just going to have to kind of live with that. That's, that's where I'm at. You'd like to see it be better. But if the way he's played in the preseason and maybe the last few practices, that's looked like. backup caliber performance to me. Tom says, do you think McCarthy processes faster than Darnold?

I don't think there's any debate about it. I think that those two would probably even say that he does, that McCarthy, it's one of his best traits. His mind works fast. He makes fast decisions. He gets the football out of his hands. And this is why when I keep coming back to, well, how did he look? How did he look?

if it's a day like today and the pressure's coming and he makes a decision to scramble right if he if he makes a decision to scramble and he's got a first down in a two minute drill that's great make that decision fast and he's getting the ball out of his hands

he's completing passes over the middle he seems to be seeing the receivers like even just even an example was you know when they play in the preseason game and he misses that one throw and he's talking about you know, after the game, well, if I did this, it would have been a little better, but he threw it

to the right guy. Like, again, right decisions over and over again are what wins at the quarterback position. And I think with Darnold, what I think with Darnold was that he would, uh, just hold on to the ball too long. And I didn't think he was great at seeing things quickly. But I also think one of his issues was he would just hang on to a. read all the way across the field. And sometimes that was phenomenal because he would hit an incredible pass. And sometimes that resulted in a sack. And I don't see J.J. McCarthy doing that as much.

I see him identifying stuff a little faster. And I see him getting rid of the football pretty well. The meticular says Colin Cowherd has a secret source telling him that JJ has confidence issues. You know, it's really funny about like, Why in the world would I care what Colin Cowherd saying about J.J. McCarthy? Why in the world would any of my audience care about what J.J. McCr or what Colin Cowhert saying about J.J. McCarthy or any Vikings fans. You have a dozen reporters who are right here at every single practice and we know every single dang person in the organization. Talk to the coaches, the players, the teammates, JJ himself, watch every single practice.

But some guy who's got a TV show is definitely more reliable. I mean, I've heard. way too dang much of that guy's name from Vikings fans. It doesn't make any sense to me. It doesn't make any sense. Why is it even being brought up? Why are you letting him bother you? I think confidence is not the issue.

I've told you what I think the issues could be. I think it's consistency of accuracy. I think that that's because if he throws a pass like he did today, you're driving against the bears. You go six for six, and then you just miss completely because your accuracy fails you and you throw an interception, it's going to cost your drive. That's been the biggest concern of mine.

It's not so bad that I think it can't be resolved or that I think they can't overcome it. But if there's one thing, it's that. It's not confidence. I mean, there's, there's, nobody has ever said confidence in J.J. McCarthy is a problem. I've never heard that from anybody. But look, you know, it's a, it's a secret source. So it must be true. He's also been doing that bit for like 20 years, guys.

J.J. also wears his hat backwards. That's another cowherd bit. I don't know. I don't care. I don't care at all what somebody who's never been to a practice says about J.J. McCarthy. Tell him to stop by. We can have a conversation about it. Otherwise, I just don't even bring it up. Like, I just don't understand why you let someone troll you like that. The guy's been, he's been brilliant at trolling people for 20 years. It's what he does. Maybe, maybe his next segment after his secret source will be about LeBron. probably so maybe you can wait around for that one uh for vikings though i'll take i'll take that i'll take the j j mccarthy questions uh stephen says uh leader in the clubhouse for mr man kato so this is complicated this is complicated stephen because by definition i need to know whether lucky jackson or zavier scott can get it i think they can because lucky jackson has been on the practice squad for two years. I don't believe he's ever played in a game. And then when you're talking about Xavier Scott, he played for another team and then came to this practice squad. But I think he qualifies. So I think it would be one of those two guys. I think it would be

one of those two guys right now. And then if Scott has this amazing preseason, he makes the team, he was more likely to, you know, be cut than Lucky Jackson. I think. from the outset. We always knew that Lucky had a chance to make the team. So I would go with one of those two guys right now. And then if those are disqualified because it's not their first year, I think they qualify personally. But if they don't, then I would probably go with Zemaya Vaughn as of this moment.

But I think that Mr. Mancato was made for guys like Xavier Scott and Lucky Jackson, who you never thought in a million years going into camp that you'd be having a lot of conversation about. and then you did Xavier Scott for sure I did not think we would be talking about F coming out of minicamp like hey can this guy actually went like uh you know I would have said no I don't think so and now I'm actually he could actually he could uh A H says thoughts on signing O'Dell Beckham I get I get where it comes from there's probably a relationship there the Vikings have had chances to get O'Dell Beckham before, I'm sure, and they didn't do it.

So I don't know if they would want to do that right now. Does O'Dell Beckham know the defense, or I'm sorry, the offense? Does he know the system? Is it similar to the Rams? Could he pick it up right away? And what does he got left? I mean, that's the other thing that you got to be asking is like, what is what is what does O'Dell Beckham got left?

When we talk about any of these guys, Tyler Boyd, Adam Thiele, and Odell Beckham, my question is always, are they, like, good enough right now? Because I don't know if they actually are. It sounds like Odell Beckham wants to come back and play, but it just feels like a, like Jerry Rice or Chris Carter or Andre Reed, like the legends who kept playing and joined other teams and then just couldn't really make much of an impact. I'm not sure that the juice is worth the squeeze there with Odell Beckham, but you know who can make sure that O'Dell Beckham doesn't show up here is the other wide receivers on the Vikings roster who they feel pretty good about.

And remember, they won games with Trent Sherfield and Brandon Powell filling in last year. That's not a big jump to Lucky Jackson and to Ty Felton, I think. Wayne is given a 10 out of 10 for a big leg bill, Will Reichert, our fan dual question of the day, one out of 10. your confidence in the kicker i'm i'm shocked by you guys i would have thought you would have said two out of ten i'll never trust the kicker that's what i would have expected uh jared there's always a chance but i don't think okuda would still be getting these chances if he wasn't such a high draft pick i mean that's always the conversation right that's always the conversation is like would he actually be getting this shot based on his performance if he wasn't a top

draft pick but then I'm sure what they would say is well no but his talent is kind of important in this conversation like he's he is talented and you could see the talent i mean there's just not corners who are that big that move like that Xavier Rhodes was there's not that many so if they have a specific idea of what he can do then maybe it can work but i'm here's what i'm thinking though like think about this if he ends up with something like a 65 PFF grade, and he's above average in tackling, and he gives up a couple of plays over a year and plays 450 snaps. Was it worth the $1 million or whatever one year, $2 million contract?

Like, yeah, sure it was. I mean, you can't be perfect at every single position. And if it doesn't work, they do have the fallback of Mackay Blackman. Aaron says is Joe Huber, another UDFA that could make the 53. see that's that's a hard one to make work because with the offensive line you're going to have more likely than not just in school Blake Brandel Walter Rouse and Michael Juergens that makes nine offensive linemen can you fit 10 or are you cutting one of those guys I mean I know that Jurgens hasn't been very exciting so far in training camp and he was okay in the in the

preseason game but he knows the entire officer offense at center, you kind of have to keep them. Rouse, I think, has really come along. After a slow start to training camp, I think Rouse has come along and has looked quite good over the last played really well in the game. And then today, I thought he had a good day out there blocking a right tackle. I have a good view of the right tackle. So I see a lot of Brian O'Neill saw a lot of Walter Rouse today. I just, you know, you're not cutting Brandel. Are you cutting school potentially? Because Brandel can play tackle and then putting Huber. That's possible. That is possible. But I also think they like

having that veteran who could play a week or two if, if Darisal isn't ready. Stephen says there's a bit of concern in Vikings fanland on Dallas Turner. He didn't get many reps against Houston, but we didn't see much and Gabe Murphy played well. Yeah, you know, I talked about that a little earlier, Stephen, and I just, is this just like camp boredom? Is this camp boredom? Because Dallas Turner's had a really good camp so far. And now it's just time to see him play. but I don't know how many years I've been doing this where I come in and tell everybody

the preseason for starters means absolutely nothing. And I remember talking to O'Connell somewhere, just chatting about the preseason and saying like, thank you for just taking the starters completely off the field because I got so tired of that, hey, this guy didn't look good in his one preseason game as a starter or whatever under Mike Zimmer. bus now. And is like, guys, they're not doing anything. They're not game planning. And, and look, Gabe Murphy did great, but he did great against the third team of the Houston Texans. Like, their, their fourth team quarterback had no idea where he was. He was just throwing

the ball over the place. Not taking away from Gabe Murphy's had a really good camp. I like Gabe a lot. But those nine snaps, wow. There seems to be some folks who just want this to happen almost it feels like uh they didn't go out and get anybody else and dallas turner's playing a ton of snaps and he's done really well in training camp practice that's all i can tell you um son of beavers wants gilmore back uh you know Gilmore last year i thought at the beginning of the season was quite good but then it faded after a while into the season and i don't know where he's at as far Whereas, I mean, you're talking about somebody who's been in the league a really long time. Does he have any bursts left?

At least where you're at with Okuda is Okuda is in really good physical shape. He looks extremely strong. He looks like he is playing very physical, motivated, like all, all that stuff. And if he turns out to be a fit, then he turns out to be a fit. I think that as of right now, they feel like he is. But if he's not, then they're probably going. going to look at just playing Mackay Blackman. I just want to see more out of Mackay Blackman because I didn't love what I saw in the preseason game. I haven't loved what I've seen in

camp. I want to see the aggressive Mackay Blackman that I saw two years ago. Asa, a friend of the show, hope you're doing well, Asa says Darnold's pressure to sack ratio was bad for his entire career really showed itself in the playoffs. Pressure to sack is a sticky stat and JJ was great at that in college. Yeah. I mean, you know, I think with JJ, that was a main reason that he was drafted is that his pocket presence, his natural pocket processing, getting the football out, making decisions was really good. It was a main reason is just how his mind worked. And Darnold was always a guy that just hung in and hung in and hung in and it took a lot of sacks, always, always taking a lot of sacks. So I think that there's a pretty,

significant difference. So, yeah, D. Pratt with the defense, the defensive line for my understanding was really great. But the reality is, look, I mean, when you're talking about what I'm going to watch in a joint practice, I have a very good, very, very good feeling about the defense. Like, I've seen them a ton. I saw them last year. I know who they are.

I know the coach. I know everything I need to know about the defense. I know we want to talk about like, oh, was it Drake? or J.J. McCarthy, who was better, but I feel like I already know confidently what that defense is. I would have liked to see some of the second team guys, but I'm going to watch McCarthy. And I think by tomorrow, I'll have a better feel on the defense. We'll see a lot of the drills where it's just, you know, one group on the field and we get to see the Vikings defense a little bit more than we did today, more situational stuff tomorrow.

I think there was only really one situational period today. there's going to be a lot tomorrow, according to Vrable. So I'll get a better feeling. But last year, so the thing is last year in Cleveland, there was a place where I could stand, where I could see both at the same time. So I'd look over here and I'd watch a defensive rep. I'd look over here and I'd watch an offensive rep.

The way it works now, they're on these two fields where I'm much closer to the offense. But, I mean, the defense has just been so good. Not too concerned about the way it worked there. so well two hours in to the show guys there had to be a rant but i feel like it's just remarkable how many times that uh i get questions about the same guy who just you know he he picks whether he wants to support somebody or not and then he rides that all the way to the end uh i could certainly do that i i could anybody anybody could do that uh it's i think it's a lot

harder to go to practice every single day and talk to 50 people about a quarterback than it is to just sort of go to your studio and decide you don't like a guy and then say you don't like him a bunch of times. But that's just me. He makes more money than me. So there you go. Carter says Brandon Powell has always been solid. Yeah, I think that they really didn't like how he played last year. I think that he didn't have the same explosiveness as he did two years ago. And, you know, I think they want to give these guys a chance first. Like, you can sign Brandon Powell at any time. I'm sure Brandon is working out. I'm sure he's ready to go. You can sign him anytime you want. But with, you know, someone like Silas Bolden, like, let's see first. And I think that's what,

you know, Connell's point today was, was I know he hasn't done much, but we think he's talented. And he is. I mean, you watch him return for a touchdown at Texas. I mean, he is talented. He is quick. I've liked what I've seen for Miles Price, too. They got to catch the ball in preseason. They got to show they can do it. But I think there's a real chance they just stick with those guys. And the same with the way Lucky Jackson has played. I think they've been very happy with that. And now they're mixing in Jay Sean Jones. So they want to see it first and then decide whether they want to go get somebody else. Kurt is at an eight out of 10 for our fan dual question of the day about confidence in Will Reichert. That's kind of where I'm at,

Kurt. The one concern would be the injury from last year. You know, it's not something you want to see as a guy try to kick through an injury and then miss some kicks and maybe try to come back a little too early. Don't really want to see that from him, but his actual talent, he kicked a 50 yarder today that was good by 65. I mean, his actual talent is pretty freakish. So I would go in eight as well. You can never go 10 on a kicker. No kicker. You could ever. go 10 on. Not Morton Anderson in his prime. Steve says Tim Jones made a couple 40 plus yard plays last few practices. He might be in the mix for wide receiver five with Addison not counting toward the 53 man. Yeah, I'm not sure on Jones. Like it certainly helps. He's also done it against, you know,

some, well, you know, he did actually beat Isaiah Rogers in practice the one day. So he's needed some of those catches. Didn't love that he had penalties the other day on special teams, but he has been a proven special teamer in his career and that with rondale out that is very possible that you end up with uh with tim jones on the roster because i haven't really figured out like who's the special teams guys tabby or thomas is it him is it uh caliph halasi like that's i'm not i'm not sure yet there there's some roster spots in the back end i was going to make a 53 after the joint practices and then the next preseason game.

But there's some spots that I'm not really so sure about right now. Let's see. Preston says any worries teams will screen the Vikings to death due to our front seven speed. I don't know that there's a whole lot that teams can do against the Vikings defense that's going to be great for them. Yeah, they're fat. I mean, I don't know how speed.

I guess I see what you're saying. Like if they're getting up field. fast than they're screening behind them. Yeah, I mean, I guess it's possible. But they also have great tacklers at the linebacker position. You know, we should mention, and I did a little bit last night, but with Brian Osama being cut, I think it says a lot about Kobe King and where they're at with Kobe King as somebody who can step in if they need them to, but be a special team, kind of

stalwart and that kind of thing. Like, he's had a really good training camp for a late round draft pick for them to say right now, we're good with Kobe King, at linebacker behind Eric Wilson. We're going to just move on for Brian Oslob. I do think it matters. Aces says, did the Patriots throw exotic looks at JJ, similar to how B-Flow would do. What's the typical approach when it comes to the practices?

They threw a lot of blitzes at them. Yeah, I mean, nobody does stuff like Brian Flores. Like, Flores is a crazy person. And I mean that in the biggest, most complimentary way. but he's a lunatic when it comes to you're going to line up here you're going to drop back you're going to be in this gap and then move all the way back there once the quarterback turns around like when JJ's running play action he might turn around and be like well how did that guy get all the way across the other side of the field because they just throw so many things in

there it wasn't like that but some of the blitzes got home and i don't think that the de-coordinators throw everything at them but i think they throw a lot in these joint practices i really do And I know that, you know, it's probably not everything because there's still fans in the stands and so forth. And, you know, the Bears might have somebody in the stands wearing a Thielen jersey or whatever. But they're not totally game planning against each other. They're not showing every wrinkle. But they are running real stuff at this point. This is beyond the point of, hey, we're just putting in our base.

We're just running some practice. Like they're, they're like getting there in camp where you're getting into game mode. Hamza says based on what you have seen up to this point in OTAs from the Vikings, do you think they could be a top 10 scoring offense with JJ in his first season? I'm not, I'm not ready. I'm not ready to say that for sure. I, you know, they were a top 10 offense with Kirk. They were a top 10 offense with Darnold.

They've improved the running game a lot. Sometimes when it comes to scoring totals, you are talking. about how the game plays out. So just, you know, for example, if you beat the Chicago Bears, let's say you get up 14 to 3 on the Bears and then they just kind of lock it down, right? Caleb's struggling and they're playing great defense and they end up winning the game 17 to 10 or something. Well, that's not going to look great for your offense point total, but that's probably the way you want to play this year with the way things are with McCarthy. But can they? I mean, of course they can. Yeah. I mean,

This offense, we can't forget that Sam Darnold was a huge bust, like, before he got to the Vikings. And now he's at the point where, you know, he gets a 30-something million dollar contract to go play for Seattle. That's just because of KOC, the offense, and then his, the confidence that they built with him. I mean, it's, yes, I think that they can be a top 10 offense. If they get in shootouts, they're going to have to be. but you know I go back to a stat all the time because I'm very curious about this I'm very curious about this too just like you guys are because none of us really knows how it's going to play out one thing that always sort of amazed me about the 2015 Vikings was that I think they finished

like 20th in scoring overall but they were seventh in the percentage of drives that they scored on because Teddy Bridgewater didn't turn the ball over they ran it well and then when they got into field goal position, they made sure they got three, and then they played great defense. And so their total in scoring wasn't that great, but they scored a lot of on a lot of drives. They held the ball a lot. Like, are they going to play that way? I don't know if that's KOC style, but they might play a little bit more that way to start the season.

I could definitely see that in the first couple of games. But I don't know. I mean, wouldn't it be just like, you know, Kevin O'Connell will come out in first game against the Bears and just throw it 40 times? just to be like no one will stop me no one will stop me from throwing 40 times uh i shot you 99 are the vikings really going to hold jefferson back until the week they are practicing for game one it's possible yep it's possible my guess is based on what i've seen him doing is that he will probably be out there next week that would be my guess is that he's probably back practicing

next week. Asa says Tage, referring to Tage, Seth, asked what the percentage chance. JJ finishes top 12 and EPA per dropback. I'd give it 30%. Love to hear your thoughts. So with this, with this offense, with this setup, with the players that they have around J.J. McCarthy. the play action game that Kevin O'Connell has built.

I think over the last couple of years it's been really good, the play action game. You're talking about EPA per play, not total EPA. If you asked them to be top 12 in total EPA, I'd say probably not. But in EPA per dropback, I think so because I don't think he's going to take a ton of sacks.

I think he's going to scramble for first downs. He's going to hit some explosive plays. The one area that I'm a little bit interested in is the red zone, just because, you know, is he going to execute in the red zone or are they going to really lean much more on somebody like Jordan Mason? I think that they will lean on Jordan Mason, but he's going to complete passes. He's, he's going to move the ball. They're going to throw downfield.

And I really think that play action game is something that he's become very good at executing. So right now I'd say fringe. I'd say fringe where that's at 10 to 12. But per play, this offense might early on remind you of the 2019 Vikings where they run a lot, they screen. I mean, the screen game, that could right there. That could be a game changer for J.J. McCarthy, too, because they have the offensive line to do it. And maybe I'm just overly excited about what I saw today with Donovan Jackson, the screen game. It's like, well, that was pretty serious what they were able to do today with Jackson, getting out in space.

Not having Addison for the first couple games, it could be a problem. but they've got everybody else. I don't know. Like I think that's a fair, that's a fair bar to set is whether it's EPA, it's PFF grade, it's QBR, like B, be between 10th and 14th and this team is really good. So somebody mentioned earlier,

if he's a B or a B plus quarterback, how many games do they win? My answer is that's why I think he'll be and I think they'll win 11. But would I be shocked if he came out and ran a top 10 offense and looked really good? No, no. And that's the whole point about like range of out. outcomes where I've got my range of outcomes right now. I mean, going into camp, it was, it could be anything.

He's never run the first team offense before. It could be anything. I think the range of outcomes, I have thrown out the outcomes where he's just awful and can't play, just thrown that out because he's too in command. The offensive players seem too confident in him. Guys are catching balls all day. Addison and Hawkinson had, I don't know, six, and eight catches today, you know, the way that that's going, KOC himself, the way he works

with quarterbacks, like, it just, it's always possible that it all goes to hell, but it seems very unlikely. He's looked like an NFL quality starting quarterback in this camp. Where I can't figure out is the range at the top, because this offense and these receivers have a tendency to push that range as far as it will go. You got the best version. Josh Dobbs was here today. you got the best version you'll ever see of Josh Dobbs for a couple weeks.

You got the best version of Nick Mullins you'll ever see for a couple weeks. You got the best version of Kirk Cousins in 2023. You got the best version of Sam Darnold last year, hands down the best version you'll ever see. So if we assume that it's the best version, is that best version good enough to creep toward the top 1012? Is it better than that? Is it a little worse than that?

Sometimes it depends on who you play and when you play them. None of the defenses that they start out with are very good. So you've got some time there. 17 McMullen says, does it seem like he is at least accurate on deep routes? But the routes that they use the most as an offense, I can look this up. The routes that they use the most as an offense,

I think, are intermediate routes. So you're not talking about deep as in 20 plus yards. you're probably talking about deep as in like 10 to 20 that's that's what i consider that's what well that's what pf considers intermediate so i always think in terms of the intermediate route so let me see last year and remember sam darnald did not love that all the time he loved to throw deep but let me see you about intermediate and what their percentage was last year of intermediate routes so sam darnold last year okay he was eighth in the nfl in yardage on intermediate routes and let's see it made up 23% of his attempts so that's a pretty good number

and remember he's a guy that loved to throw downfield now actually the highest percentage for darnold was between zero and nine but i guess that makes sense like quicker passes make sense but when you look at the actual performance intermediate routes are going to drive your success i think that's where j jay mccarthy has been mostly good mostly good has been in the intermediate area deep shots deep shots depend a lot on the wide receiver a lot on kind of getting lucky like remember last year with you know somebody like jalen naylor and uh running wide open against the green bay packers like sam darnall gets credit for that he could have thrown it anywhere and jaylin naylor would have caught it i think where the

precision passing comes in is the intermediate and that's where kirk was very good that's where Darnold had a good amount of success last year, and the underneath stuff is often just schemed. So can you scheme the underneath stuff? So, all right. Well, we've kind of reached, we've kind of reached the bottom of the comment section of, at least of questions that I want to answer. I mean, I've answered this, I'm sorry, Krusty. I've answered this one, I feel like a couple times with Max Brosmer, that I think he, I think next year he's QB2 and, uh, it would take a lot for him to be the next Tony Romo or Kurt Warner. You never know. I don't want to ever want to count anybody out. He's very,

he's been very impressive though, very impressive. So QB2 in the future, probably QB3 this year. I think that's all good. So, um, as, as far as, you know, it's funny because, um, you know, when we're talking about like Drake May. In terms of my priority of watching the practice, Drake May just doesn't really matter a whole heck of a lot. The Vikings don't play him. And I mean, it's more of an intrigue thing. It sounded to me today like it was the Drake May that they've seen a lot in practice, which is a lot of great plays and a lot of bad plays and a lot of times where he would have been sacked because their offensive line's not good. So no, it's okay. It's okay. I'm always okay with, you know, legitimate questions. It's just I feel

Like, you know, Max Brosmer has probably reached a little bit as far as like what percentage of the conversation, maybe a little bit, a little bit much for somebody who I don't expect to play. And I like Max a lot. I mean, I wrote the article about him coming into training camp because I loved how he looked in in minicamp, talked with him after practice today. He's got a really good head on his shoulders. I like, I like what I'm seeing for Max Brosmer, for sure. And I'm very interested to see him play in the next preseason game. So, uh, great, great great uh yeah i know with the max brosber so uh preston says that uh drake may had the better day no turnovers 13 for 21 took a bunch of sacks well the better day between drake may

and um you know j j mccarthy doesn't really matter uh i mean if he took a bunch of sacks Like, that's not good. McCarthy didn't take a bunch of sacks. McCarthy missed a couple passes, but had a great two-minute drill. So that will probably be what I'm looking at tomorrow. Now, I'm hoping to see situationally, usually they're on the same field. So I'm hoping to see that. But, and I know Phil, like, he's a really good reporter.

But I think it's really hard at the Vikings facility to watch both at the same time. So I'm going to focus. I'm going to, yeah, I know, I know Phil Perry said it. Yeah, I'm going to focus on mostly JJ McCarthy. again tomorrow because that's what you guys want to hear about and that's what really matters to the Minnesota Vikings. So to put a bow on a very long and very good stream, I would say that this was another box that he checked day one. It was actually better than what we saw last year from Sam Darnold in the first day. Darnold was really good in the second day. We'll see if that's

the case for J.J. McCarthy as well of joint practices. I will have the show tomorrow and a conversation with Dane Mizatani recapping everything. We'll continue to talk to everybody out there and gather what we can and have a lot of fun with one more day of joint practices. So thanks everybody for jumping in. Again, great stuff. Really appreciate all the great questions. Last one coming in. Will Zama, Zama Yvonne make the roster? I've got the chances very high that Zamaia Vaughn makes the roster. I think he will. So Patrick, I agree. Taking a bunch of sacks is not something you just be like, oh, well, he took a bunch of sacks. But other than that, like that's a big deal anyway no no hatein on drake may thanks so much everybody for all

of your time great stuff great questions great conversation as always we will be back here tomorrow night probably 730 central is what i'm thinking so take care everybody football