Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings cutdown day reaction

Episode Date: August 27, 2024

The Vikings cut their roster down to 53. Matthew Coller talks about Kene Nwangwu, Lewis Cine getting the axe and a number of UDFAs making the club Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here and the Minnesota Vikings have released their initial 53-man roster. Now, let me put extra emphasis on initial because we are going to go through this and there are some areas where I think they're going to need to add. So I have come up with eight topics or so that have stood out to me about the Vikings roster. But of course, I'll be interested in all of your takes as well and answering your questions about the roster, what could come next, what the positions look like now that they have done their cutdown. So let's not waste any time.

Let's jump right into this. I think the headline of the day for Vikings cutdown will be that Kenny Wong Wu got chopped along with Louis seen. Uh, the latter, of course, is not a huge shock to anyone, but we could talk about how notable it is to cut a first round pick after just his third season and only a handful of NFL games. But Kenny Wong Wu ends up being the headliner here today. This does come as a surprise to me because I thought, well, they won't cut the guy who's one of the better kick returners over the last few years, right? As a running back, he certainly had his moments in the preseason. There was the long touchdown run against the Raiders. I thought that against the Browns, he ran with a little more physicality. They gave him a

lot of reps in practice. And I think that they wanted to determine whether he was somebody that they could trust as a running back in the backfield. So he got a lot of work and they decided at the end that he was not somebody that they wanted to keep around. And the best guess for why is, I mean, number one, you don't have to look much farther than one of JJ McCarthy's most memorable plays where he scrambled outside of the pocket to see Kenny Wong Wu getting steamrolled, trying to pass protect. And I do think that in Kevin O'Connell's offense, it is extremely, extremely important to be able to pass protect the The running backs stay in a lot on those third downs, and you even see

C.J. Hamm comes out and is the pass protector on a lot of key passing downs because that's an important part of this offense, and Kenne Wongwu was really not capable of doing that. I think as far as running with a toughness and physicality, we saw it just a little bit in that Cleveland game, but on a daily basis, not really so much. He wasn't the type to finish runs at the end. And when you watch Aaron Jones or you watch Delvin Cook, they were running all the way through the play in practice. And I didn't really see that from Kenny Wong Wu. There wasn't a motivation in their running that you or that you see from some of the good backs in kenny wong was running and when you look at his total

production over a couple seasons it's something like 88 yards on the ground it wasn't that part i was a little more sold on how he was performing just because they were giving him a lot of reps and his numbers were good in the preseason. But it was really that kick return element that I thought would keep him on the team because this year there should be a lot more kick returns than there's ever been. I'm sure that some teams are going to say, you know what, forget this wild kickoff. We're going to send it out of the back of the end zone. But at least what we saw in the preseason was a massive increase in the number of times that that guy was touching the football. And when I looked through, cause I thought, well, maybe I forgot about the kick returns. Maybe there was somebody who really stood out in the preseason and they mixed in, I believe,

seven different returners in the preseason, and the longest return was 28 yards. Maybe this is now a Ty Chandler job. I don't know who's going to be the kick returner now. Could be potentially Jalen Naylor might be a guy that they use back there. They mixed it up a lot in the few times that we saw them in practice working on the kick returns, but Wong Wu felt like the guy that was an actual advantage for them because of how good he had been and most teams were just trying to not get him the football over the last couple years after he burst on the scene with a couple of returns for touchdown so he ends up going which leaves the Vikings with just two running backs and Mr. C.J. Hamm, a fullback, and a lot of options with running backs cut around the league. This is going to be an area where they have to add someone at running back,

probably two someones, because they also cut Miles Gaskin as well, another veteran. And I think you should probably have four and then the fullback and have five in that room, which means that there are areas of this 53-man roster that are going to change. But that one did take me by surprise just because Wong Wu had been healthy over training camp, which was a good sign for him. And in the past, he is so fast and so elusive that he had been one of the best returners in the league. I did a story with him after his first year where he took me through the anatomy of a kick return for touchdown and broke down the film of one of his returns. And the thing I took away was that

he had incredible vision for where things were going to break open. And of course, track speed that I guess wasn't enough for them. They must've felt like there's another guy on the roster. We'll find out who that is when we get to week one, which guys they're going to have doing their kick returning because it will not be Kenne Wongwu. But I mean, if you're Kevin O'Connell and you know that Aaron Jones has a history of being banged up, that you're one play away from starting Ty Chandler.

They don't have a ton of trust over the last two years in Ty Chandler. They're probably going to look for a veteran player in the backfield and somebody, especially who can pass protect. I'll be curious to find out who that is. Maybe in the next couple of days here, they will pick up another player.

So again, that's why we're calling it the initial 53 and not the final and totally settled forever 53 man roster now on lewis scene being cut we talked about it quite a bit the preseason game against the browns meant absolutely nothing uh there were some people who got annoyed with me for saying that after that game, it was just the fact of the matter. The bigger sample size suggested that Louis seen is not somebody that you need to keep on the roster, that the safety room is so good for the Vikings with the emergence of Theo Jackson, that they are in great shape there. They did cut Bobby McCain. He might be a guy that you bring back as a veteran on the practice squad. I would be shocked if they saw, if we saw Louis seen end up on the practice squad, I think he'll try to

sign elsewhere. I saw Ben Gessling of the star Tribune report that they did try to trade him. And maybe there was a little conversation about a conditional seventh or something. And other teams just decided, Oh, we'll try, we'll try to sign him instead. He'll go somewhere else. Maybe he'll get a fresh start and we'll see what happens for there. But he will go down as one of the five worst draft picks in team history after being released. I don't think Underwood is ever going to be topped because he left the team before even playing any games. But Louis seen, you know, maybe the injury set him back. Maybe it was just never there to begin with, but watching him in practice, it was the slowest sub four, four person

that I have ever seen play. It just looked like there was a extreme lack of physicality, decision-making toughness for someone who was a missile in college. And I know that this will go back on Kweisi Adafo-Mensah. Of course it will. The trade down, the players they missed. It was a bad decision. It was a bad decision on draft night to spend a first round pick on a safety when they had so many needs. And this is a position that Theo Jackson and Cam Bynum and Josh Metellus emerge at. It's an IQ position. It's a development position. It's usually not one that you need to spend a high first round draft pick. So it will go down as bad of a draft pick for Kweisi Adafomensa as has ever been made in the NFL. The only thing that

I keep going back to is when you watched him at Georgia, you never would have guessed that this would have been the player he turned out to be. So sometimes things change. It's very different in the NFL than it is in college. And beware of the guy who benefits from playing with all sorts of superstars on, uh, on his defense, because that was Lewis scene. And now the experiment is officially over, but it never really got off the ground I mean it's one of the oddest things I mean even Laquan Treadwell played quite a bit for one season and made some catches and was out there it is extremely rare to see a first round pick totally failure to launch and never even really get on the field I think he had eight snaps or 10 snaps or something all of last year. So that one is going to go down. I mean, the whole 2022 draft class, at least Brian Asamoah makes the team and is here for now. Is he here for any longer than this week

though? Because they will, I'm sure look at the waiver wire and they're going to need to make a cut in order to include a running back. So we'll see how that impacts the changes, but Louis seen officially the era is over for him. Now, Tristan Jackson and Trent Shurfield, two of the guys that got the most conversation on this show throughout training camp. And sometimes I'm going to tell you the truth. I don't feel like I have to guess everything, right? I predict games wrong. Sometimes the truth. I don't feel like I have to guess everything right. I predict games wrong. Sometimes the draft is a crap shoot. Sometimes you like picks that don't work out.

But when it comes to training camp, I like to be on the ball, go out to practice every day, get a sunburn on this skin and try to ascertain as much information as I can to bring back. And so when you get some of these things right, it feels good. And for these two guys that really earned it, it feels good. Tristan Jackson had a tremendous, tremendous preseason and training camp worked out extremely well. And he's developed over the years and he, to me, he needed to make it. It needs to be a message that if you come from the bottom of the roster and you perform like that, that you should make the 53 and Trent Shurfield can be someone that I think

makes a difference here or there. Not that he's going to change the fate of the entire franchise this season, but somebody who can mix in with Jalen Naylor and be a role player on this team when they need to run the ball, when they're looking for some yards after catch, maybe play a little bit of a KJ Osborne type of role. I would think that Trent Shurfield, because of his history in the league, he's had some good seasons before as a depth wide receiver, might be a little more of an impact player than Tristan Jackson. But I think what the Vikings came out of this training camp with is better receiver depth than we thought, even though a lot of it is unproven.

Shurfield has a 30-catch season to his name, that's all. Naylor, of course, does not have anything outside of a handful of catches in 2022. And yet, from what we saw, it looked like a bunch of receivers with potential to make plays for this team and Sam Darnold. So an excellent training camp and preseason for two wide receivers that now act as what I think is pretty important depth for the Vikings. Jaron Hall does make the 53. I had said the other night that I thought it could go either way. He really, really played well against the Philadelphia Eagles. I don't know if that was a determining factor or not.

The Vikings still could look at some other veteran quarterbacks who are getting released. I saw Tyler Huntley is probably going to get released from the Cleveland Browns. He played a little bit against the Vikings. I don't know how they might feel about Mike White, who also got released. There's probably a handful of other ones that they might take a look at other than to keep Jaron Hall, but they've developed him over a few years. And I thought that he deserved a lot of credit for the way that he came out because he just had so few reps in practice as they were trying to give all the reps to Sam Darnold and JJ McCarthy that Hall was

standing there watching for the entire training camp. And when he got out there for the first preseason game, you really felt it like, Oh, this guy's really knocking the rust off. And by the third preseason game, he looked much more comfortable. He made some very nice throws. And I think that when you handle it professionally, there have been quarterbacks in the past who thought that they were big superstars because they did some stuff in the preseason and then went to Twitter and started talking or whatever about how they deserve more opportunity. Jaron Hall has been a pro from the beginning of this whole thing, the draft in McCarthy, they're bringing in somebody else. He barely got opportunity last year and the way he's handled it looks to me like someone who can

be in the league for a long time or end up going into coaching or something like that. So a good guy to have on your 53 because he knows the offense and could at least go into a game and manage the offense if they needed him to. I think there's more confidence in that now after another off season and the way that he dealt with the preseason, getting so few reps and still performing well against Cleveland. And then very, very well, I thought against Philadelphia. So they stick with three quarterbacks. There may be a little twitchy after last year and what happened with all the quarterback injuries and wanting to keep three guys that are familiar with the offense. Next on my list, Taki Taimani.

You guys loved him, and I thought, I don't know. And this could be, by the way, an area that they still cut from. But Taimani is a big old nose guard that reminds you of the Pat Williamses of the world that just stuffed the middle of the line. I wouldn't even say Linval Joseph because he probably got after the quarterback more than Ty Amani will, but he did a tremendous job in the preseason. I felt like this was probably a guy that could get through to the practice squad, but as well as he played in the preseason, maybe they thought we better keep him on the initial 53 because he might not make it through as other teams look for run stuffers. And this is something that they tried to have with Kyrus Tonga and they did in

2022 and Tonga was pretty good, but he just didn't ever seem to really fit with Brian Flores last year. Didn't get in the game a whole lot. So Ty Amani now has a chance maybe to carve out a role for himself if he stays on this team and Jalen Redmond, again, another guy, don't know how long he's going to be here as they make some moves, pick up other players, but a good story nonetheless, coming from the UFL, fighting his way here, having a really good preseason. And again, it felt like what Kevin O'Connell was doing with some of these players is saying, you know what the preseason, it doesn't matter

overall, but if you go from the bottom of the roster and you outperform some veteran players, you're going to make it. And they did have to cut some veteran players here to keep Taimani and Redmond. They moved on from Jonah Williams, who they signed from the Rams. I thought he might make it James Lynch, who was trying to come back from the ACL, just never seemed to really stick. And then one of the biggest disappointments of all of training camp in the preseason, Jaqueline Roy fifth round draft pick last year showed a little bit of strength, you know, maybe the ability to get a push on the quarterback last season, and then got hurt a couple of times came back and there just wasn't anything there. Hard to say, like you never really know if a guy will take another step or not. And when you're

drafted in the fifth round and he was talked about as somebody having a little bit more of a ceiling, if you're drafted in the fifth round, you're expected to make progress and he just didn't. So there are a bunch of guys just past Jaqueline Roy and he ends up getting let go here in favor of Taimani and Redmond. But those guys clearly outplayed the three players who had either been veterans or had already been on the roster. So cool story for both defensive tackles. We'll see if they stick around for a long period of time, but more notable, maybe that, you know, Jaqueline Roy, that that's the end of the road for him as a fifth round draft pick that showed a little bit of potential last season. Sometimes it just doesn't happen. They don't take the next step that we talk about and a time money and Redmond simply

outplayed him. Uh, Gabriel Murphy, who got off to, I thought, a great start to training camp, gets put on IR, didn't get a chance to play in the preseason games, got banged up, has, I believe, a knee injury maybe was reported for Gabriel Murphy. And Andre Carter, another guy that just failed to make progress. And Carter may end up on the practice squad. I don't know if they'll do that for Jaqueline Roy or not. Carter seems like a guy that if nobody else picks him up,

that they can put on the practice squad. But, you know, he had nine pressures in 103 snaps in the preseason. He did make a handful of plays. But what I expected from Andre Carter, and I think some of you probably asked me this at mini camp, like does Andre Carter look bigger? And I didn't want to say definitively no, because I just, I don't know. I didn't get close enough to him, but as he was actually out there playing and through

training camp, he didn't look bigger enough. I mean, normally the edge rushers in the league, they look like Dallas Turner where they're incredibly flexible and super fast, or they look like Daniil Hunter where they're freaking jacked like crazy. And Andre Carter just never fit that billing. I think he had one season in college that was really excellent. And I mean, maybe that's just a combination of things, things fall in his way, uh, match-ups that they were facing, but we never saw that version of Andre Carter. I didn't think he was atrocious. It just was a guy out there as opposed to someone

looking like a difference maker. Again, he could end up on the practice squad and they could end up trying to continue to develop him. But I think what they're saying here is if, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. The very rarely wowed me, uh, during a training camp. Now, some guy that did and made the team, another one where you're watching something and I'm bringing it up on the show. And I'm saying, you know, this Dwight McLaughother guy just like every day keeps showing up, keeps making plays. And I wasn't a hundred percent sure he was going to make the team because it is a crowded cornerback room.

And this is another one that could get chopped from, uh, but Dwight McClother had a great preseason and training camp as an undrafted free agent really stood out. He was a player similar to Ivan Pace where maybe his athletic scores were not exactly what people want from that position. I think he was only something like 45th percentile by relative athletic score, which normally the top corners are way higher than that, but there's a skill for making plays and Dwight McClothern has that skill. He did it against Philadelphia. He did it in the joint practices where he had an interception and it just seemed like he was always involved throughout the entire training camp. And he ends up making

the team and they kind of needed that because there's not a whole lot of youth movement in that cornerback room, but Dwight McClothern ends up being that guy. And that's the funny thing about the draft, right? They draft Andrew Booth Jr. and Louis Scene with a first and second round draft pick. And then they stumble into Theo Jackson, who looks like a guy who could have a role. Josh Metellus had been a special teamer. He is a similar version to what kyle hamilton does for baltimore and dwight mcglothern is easily better than andrew booth jr and looks like someone who

could develop into a potential role player or maybe even a starter i mean who can predict uh what's going to happen out of the draft so some guys failing open the door for other guys to succeed like Dwight McClothern. And we will see if they stick with him on the roster as they add other players. But I think he very much earned it with as good as he was during training camp and the preseason. Two more quick things. One is both rookie lineman, Walter Rouse and Michael Juergens stick. Tyrese Robinson was cut. And if you remember it was, oh, Dan Feeney also ends up making the team Dalton Reisner was put on IR. So that might change at some point, but your offensive line includes a couple of draft picks and this draft honestly looks quite good. and that's the funny thing about the draft

the 2022 draft couldn't look much worse and the 2024 draft looks like you got a quarterback an edge rusher a couple of linemen to develop a kicker like and they didn't even have that many picks who can ever predict what's going to happen in the draft. But I think now that it's set, the Vikings have okay depth at offensive line. But until Reisner comes back, if there's some issues with the guards, it's Dan Feeney is your next man up. And his history is not particularly great as a starter, maybe a little less depth there than we thought. Tyrese Robinson seems like a guy that they could end up putting on the practice squad. And the last thing, where will they add the running back room makes the most sense to me. I think it's possible that if they really liked a linebacker who was out there, that they could

cut Brian awesome law and bring in a linebacker that defensive tackle position as nice as it is uh they could chop someone like jaylen redmond we could also see jihad ward made the team but i mean maybe they could go to another edge rusher if somebody else got let go that they really like although i think jihad ward did a really good job throughout this training camp in his role so there aren't too many spots that you could see them adding, maybe punter if they don't love what they saw from Ryan Wright, but Ryan Wright, his holding, and I know this is like as deep in the weeds as it gets his holding for Will Reichard, that matters. That relationship between the holder and the kicker is a big one. And if

Will Reichard is making every kick and preseason and training camp, maybe they want to keep Ryan Wright because he does have the big leg and because he's a holder. So tell me if you disagree. I think running back is really the only spot potentially backup quarterback, maybe linebacker that they could add, but this roster probably is what it is going to be. So, all right, throw me out your questions your comments uh you have left a lot of them so i'm going to scroll up uh maybe only a little a little ways here uh to start answering your uh your questions all right why not i'll go all the way back up and try to work my way down so we got all the time in the world uh this is kind of the last big thing to happen before the season.

We're going to have a press conference on Thursday with Kwesi Adafo Mensah. Kevin O'Connell will break that down, but this is it. This is mostly your roster. That will be the Minnesota Vikings 2024. So thoughts, feelings, emotions, and what is next for this Vikings roster? Kerr Pluppe says, that's a great place to start. Wild, we couldn't get any draft capital for these two. Seen less surprise, but can I imagine could do some damage in the new kickoff system? Yeah, a draft capital. I think when teams have

a sense that someone's going to be released, they're not going to give up anything for that player. I mean, it's kind of like, if I know that you're going to put something in a yard sale, I'm not going to buy it off eBay from you. And that's maybe how it feels here with like, we know you're going to cut Lewis scene. So we could just sign them. If you're the Carolina Panthers or something, some team that might be interested in anybody who's under the age of 25, a rebuilding team, that's just throwing darts, trying to pick up anybody. When it comes to Kenny Wong Wu, I have to imagine he'll be picked up, but most teams

have their kick returner at this point in the season. And so they're unlikely to spend any sort of draft capital, but that one was a surprise to me because Wong Wu does have that one special skill. Jake says, love the underdog story, McClothern and Taimani making the team. They've done a good job with their undrafted free agents. And this again is kind of where it comes back to. I said this last year about the 2022 draft and I'll stick with it. I don't care where they come from as long as you find them. Is it a sustainable model to get UDFAs to fill your spots instead of first and second

round picks? No, of course it's not. But you don't have to apologize if someone like Dwight McClothern turns out to be a good player. You don't have to give him back just because he was a UDFA. So you, it's sort of like the, uh, God shuts the door and opens a window. That's kind of what it's felt like with some of these like Asamoah, not good. Ivan Pace, good. Okay. And you deserve credit for getting the UDFAs and identifying them because I think that this team views that market as somewhere where they can really succeed in

and they've done that. So if that's something they're going to do going forward, spend a lot of money in undrafted free agency, put a lot of effort into it, then they will end up landing guys like, you know, Taimani and McClother. Guard guy, nice to see you always paying attention to guards around the league. Wyatt Davis was cut by Cleveland, the sixth NFL

team to cut him before his 26th birthday. That's one of the weirder failures that I can remember. Wyatt Davis was talked about as a potential first round draft pick going into that draft. He ends up as the third rounder that I gave. And this is how silly we all are on draft night. I remember giving Wyatt Davis a, a plus as a pick, great pick, getting a guard here. You need this position. This guy played for Ohio state and then he wasn't in shape in his first camp. And we knew it was pretty much over from there. Uh, Jake says, uh, directing this toward guard guy. They're the expert in the room. Of course, not me on guards. Uh, but I'll answer it anyway. Do you think that Ingram will keep the job the whole season? I do think that he will keep the job for the entire season because I don't think that they want Dalton Reisner to be starting

with his deficiency in run blocking. And of course he can't come back until he comes off of IR. But if Ingram plays the way that he looked in preseason, Dalton Reisner will come in. They will get frustrated eventually. We did not see a next step from Ed Ingram. And I think there should be some concern there. That's why they brought back Dalton Reisner. That's why they brought back Dalton Reister that's why they put him on the right side is that they're seemingly nervous that Ingram is going to be pretty much what he's been or worse going forward so that's I think if we're talking about the biggest concerns on this entire team outside of of course Sam Darnold it's the right guard

position and guess what we live in a flat circle over and over again the right guard position. And guess what? We live in a flat circle over and over again, the right guard position, right? Matt says, I'm glad Kweisi is moving on from players who have had more than their fair share of opportunity to prove their worth refreshing. Well, that's right. And that's the way that they should do it they should look at who performs the best in training camp and not their draft status and this is something that uh brian flores has been adamant about and the results are there they do not care where someone was drafted it's do you talky taimani play better than you jaqueline roy and if that's the case then that's what they're going to do and not having an ego about that is is important and they did give you know they did they did give

lewis seen a lot of opportunity as i thought that they should have considering he was coming back from that leg injury but if it wasn't going to happen this year it was never going to happen this year. It was never going to happen. Uh, Zoomer Kev five safety defense could be, could be at least four, at least four. I, what do you call Jay Ward? Jay Ward made the team special team specialist, flexible player. Uh, I mean, do you call him a safety or a corner, but he gives them a little bit of an opportunity to play him at nickel if they need to, or outside outside or safety but they could make it a a five safety package yeah that could happen uh hanas i think is how you pronounce it says i'm surprised kenny survived last season and is cut now after looking reportedly improved in the running

game me too that's why it was the surprise cut And maybe they have someone in mind that also might be the case is that if there's somebody else who got cut that they want to bring in, then they may have just said, all right, we've got somebody else. We like better at kick returner in this new system, or just as well as kick returner. Remember when Ty Chandler did returns, he was pretty good too. And he's just not an effective running back. But I think if there was anything that really got him because he did play well, look at the stats. I mean, he ran well against

Cleveland. He had the big run against the Raiders as far as training camp runs. And this is where sometimes you just have to admit that from the sideline, we don't really know. And with Kenny Wong Wu, they're looking back at the film every day, knowing which hole he was supposed to hit, where he was supposed to run, looking at how physically he would be running in practice. And they're grading the players every practice. And I can't tell that because they don't tackle. And so I don't know what hole he's supposed to hit. I would have to know the play and know the blocking scheme. And, but I do, I did notice there, there was just a kind of a lack of physicality there

from Kenny Wong Wu and especially in past protection that I think would be a pretty big problem. Uh, Romaine, uh, says, uh, Andrew Booth jr. Made the 53 in Dallas. Good for him. You know, I don't think Andrew Booth jr. Was a bad player. I think he was a bad fit. I think he was talented. I just don't think he fit with what Brian Flores wanted to do. And maybe Mike Zimmer will get something out of him. That was the guy that I kept kind of holding out a little bit for. Okay. Maybe he'll kind of click. Maybe he'll get it. And I don't even think he played bad last year when he got in. It just seemed like there was not a connection there with the way that Flores wanted to play. Shane says Frank Gore Jr. cut from the bills. Maybe now could be an option.

Yeah, I saw the game and he was really good. But there's somebody, right? There's somebody that they must have in mind that could come in. And there's another one. Yeah, Latavius Murray. Why not Latavius Murray? He's still out there in shape. You know he is.

He could probably learn the playbook in two days and come in and play, as he's done for a couple of teams. That's the type of guy that I think they should be looking for, is a veteran who can back up. And maybe Frank Gore Jr. is somebody that they want to look at, but a veteran that might be able to come in and handle all the duties of the running back position rather than just being someone who's blazing fast and can't do anything else. Shout out to all the people on Madden 2003 that played with Trunk Candidate, who had 97 speed.

And you all know players like this from Madden. 97 speed, their rating is terrible, but whatever, you're going to run with them. It's fine. And you start them in the backfield. That happens all the time. Mr. Nice Try says, first time on a live podcast. Welcome, Mr. Nice Try. Great to have you along with a very large audience right now. So welcome. Thank you everybody for popping in. If it's your first time, make sure you subscribe. Also check out the newsletter over at purple 24 class. Yeah. And I think that UDFAs deserve to be talked about as draft picks in a draft class. Obviously they weren't picked, but they are the draft class because

that you as a front office have to go out and make the effort to get those players. So when you find a tie Amani, when you find someone like Gabriel Murphy, we can't forget about, or Dwight McClothern, those are like draft picks because you got them from the draft class and you deserve credit for Ivan Pace jr. So when we look back at last year's draft, don't just go to draft history.com and go, yeah, okay. It was this guy. And this guy, you have to include that. They got a key starting linebacker or a cornerback here, and they've done a really good job with that. Ben says pass protecting running back. Robinson got cut by the Saints. Somebody who can pass protect is going to be important. I think when they make that decision, if they were to bring in two more, one on the younger side and one on

the veteran side, that would make the most sense to me. Somebody like Frank Gore Jr. that might have some upside and then someone with a little more experience. Tool restoration says Richter. People were talking him up. Yeah, Bo Richter got cut. That's not a surprise to me. He was a guy that was playing late in preseason games, but he will very likely be on the practice squad. I like the potential there to maybe end up as a special team or a situational player in the future. He's got good athleticism.

He's a physical player. But when you look at this edge group and who they have, where are you going to put him? I mean, you usually have to have a spot for somebody or even a potential role. It would be hard to find a spot with an edge group as deep as this. Patrick Jones is a proven player in a situational role. Jihad Ward is a proven player in a situational role, but Richter's not a guy you're likely to lose. I don't think another team is going to pop in and steal from the Vikings when it comes to Bo Richter. Scott says kick return is basically an inside zone run now. Kenne is useless there.

Yeah, we'll see. We'll see what that actually ends up looking like. Right. I don't know what it's really going to look like once they start because every team was protecting their actual information on the kickoffs. No teams were showing what they were really going to do. That's what Matt Daniels told us. He said, you're not going to see the real kickoffs in the preseason, but fair enough though on Kenny Wong. Well, maybe you want somebody with a little more running back ability. Uh, Kirk Ploppy, uh, says this feels like, uh, the Cordero Patterson cuts. I foresee a bunch of special teams highlights for Ken A. Yeah, Cordero Patterson was just not resigned.

But yeah, you're right that Cordero Patterson was tweeting, bring me back to Minnesota. Give me a role. I want to play for the Vikings. And they never brought him back. And then he went on to have a pretty darn good career after that. Uh, cam acres. Did cam acres make the team? I thought cam acres may have made the team in Houston. Someone will have to correct me if he didn't cam acres looked great in preseason.

And I just, I, I don't know why they didn't bring him back. It must have been a medical issue or something because I felt like Cam Akers brought a lot of juice to them last year. He had some burst and I know what he was coming back from. Looked really good doing so in Houston, but he added an element of toughness in the backfield that I liked and thought could have mixed in here. But best of luck to him in Houston. When a guy goes through injuries that bad,

I always hope that they come back and are able to play well and looked like he was going to, or is going to in Houston. Sean says, Duke Shelley gone. Good night, sweet Prince. Maybe on the practice squad, a guy that certainly was loved by fans and deserved everything

that he got for the appreciation of how he played in 2022. This is the thing about corners that's so hard to figure out. Are they good or was it a small sample size where they were in the right place at the right time? That's how it felt with Duke Shelley. He just made a couple of plays on the football at the right time, rather than him being someone that you could rely on long-term, but he will never be forgotten breaking up a pass against Buffalo that could have ended that game. And instead they end up, you know, winning that game because of Duke Shelley. How crazy is that?

Uh, P Ryan for RB three, that could be, I was a little surprised to see him cut. Yeah. There's a, there's just a number of guys out there that, uh, could end up being the Vikings third running back, but that is something to consider when we're going through this roster is that they're going to have to fill at least one of those spots, maybe two. And how are they going to do that? And maybe they'll put somebody else on the practice squad so they can always call that player up and keep three. I don't see them going into a game with only two running backs and CJ ham. Uh, Walter says, look for offensive linemen out on waivers. Yeah. I think that they're actually in an okay place from a depth perspective on offensive line. Like you're always looking for offensive linemen, but you're

unlikely to see an offensive lineman that you're going to use as a starter that you pick up from waivers. You're usually just looking for backups. The starting lineup is what it is. You're not finding a replacement for Ed Ingram unless it's Dalton rise there. Who would you move on from as far as in, you know, the backup lineman Feeney has been around. He's played a lot of football. There's experience there. Jurgens is a draft pick. You want to see him get a chance. Walter Rouse, I thought had a really good training camp and preseason. Rouse is a big giant dude. I don't think that he's really a great run blocker yet, but definitely when it comes to the pass protection, he was, he was very strong.

So he's somebody that they can probably develop as a swing tackle over the next couple of years. And maybe eventually a right tackle depending on how brian o'neill ages we'll see on that so rouse had a good time there i don't i just don't know who else they would move on from in order to bring in um anybody else that was cut from another team i think that they're in a pretty good spot there now uh basketball guy says thinking that Evans is traded and replaced by the 53 by a third running back. Now that could be because last year I was looking at the cornerbacks and how many they kept. And I think it was only five cornerbacks last year and they're keeping right now six.

So could they move on from a Caleb Evans in a trade? I could see that. I could also see that there would be interest maybe around the league in a Caleb Evans. He started a lot of football games. He has been at times through stretches, a decent NFL corner. I would never say that he's been a star and playing the football is clearly a problem for a Caleb Evans, but he has athleticism. He has length. I think I'd rather see him around for another year on the team, but somebody's going to have to go to bring in another running back and maybe potentially more. So you're right that it's possible that they decided to hang on to him to try to make a trade at some point here. That's a good observation.

I don't know if they would be able to trade. Wade brings up Asamoah. I don't know if they'd be able to trade either one of them. It's always hard to get draft capital out of teams at this time of year, but Asamoah, if he gets cut, then he'll probably be replaced by another linebacker. I don't think that they would want to go into the season with only three linebackers. Dave says, quit calling Ward a corner.

He'll get torched in the NFL. Well, he played corner throughout all of training camp. So what would you like me to call him? That's what he did. And he did get beaten on one pass play down the field by the Raiders, but overall he graded out just fine by PFF for preseason. I didn't think he was getting smoked throughout every training camp practice. It's really hard when you're playing against the Vikings wide receivers, but he practiced there a lot. He's been he's been a safety he's been a corner he's somebody that in

case of emergency that you would be able to play but you know if he's playing corner then that's what i'm gonna call him as well i mean to me he's just a versatile player though and i i don't i can't tell you how he would play a corner in the NFL. Aside from what I saw in training camp, which I thought he was okay. He was actually a little bit better than what I thought he was going to be in training camp, considering that he had not done that in the NFL. Uh, just put a guard in the backfield guard guy is really on his game here today in the comments. Uh, Kumar says not to excuse the bad draft pick, but if Kweisi drafts Kyle Hamilton in 2022, how much better is the defense? I would wager not much better. Am I wrong? Well, Kyle Hamilton is a tremendous player. So if you got him instead, you would feel really, really good

about that. But I think what you wouldn't see is Josh Metellus and Josh Metellus has become the Vikings version of Kyle Hamilton. I think Kyle Hamilton is better than Josh Metellus by his skillset. His draft status speaks to his physical ability. Maybe is a little bit better, maybe a little bit more in terms of coverage. But what we saw from Metellus was a borderline pro bowl talent from last year. Somebody that could rush the passer, cover, tackle, make plays. Got at least one interception and almost had another one against the Chiefs. I mean, Kyle Hamilton is one of those foundational players to a defense that is a star in the league. So I wouldn't say that it's okay that they didn't

draft him the same if Jameson Williams, who was the guy that I wanted, but that's another thing about how the draft works. If they draft Jameson Williams, maybe they don't draft Jordan Addison and Addison's been the better player. Uh, if they draft Kyle Hamilton, maybe we don't find out what they have in Josh Metellus or even combine Bynum took a big step from last year. They might not end up needing, I keep bringing up Theo Jackson. He had just such a tremendous camp. I don't know if he's a big difference maker, but really Metellus is this way. So I think that it's one of those things where just, you know,

sometimes it works out in funny ways. Skull City Blues says, is it taboo for a reporter to challenge the GM on that draft now that he's finally been cut? I don't mean to call the guy an idiot, just if he considers the whole first round a bust. We did talk with Kweisi Adafomenta in the offseason about that 2022 draft. And I think it was maybe Chip Scoggins who asked a couple of questions about that 2022 draft. And I think it was maybe Chip Scoggins who asked a couple of questions about that. And I think what Kweisi Adafomenta at that time was holding out hope, but certainly when we talked to him on Thursday,

that is going to be a subject of what happened in that draft class. Absolutely. No, it's not taboo to challenge the people in charge for anything. Like reporters, we always just ask our questions. I think sometimes fans want us to ask them in more aggressive ways. They want us to demand answers because I guess they do that on TV sometimes. I don't know. Usually we just ask in a polite way and we get the answers we're looking for. But in this case, I don't know what more light can be shed on it.

The logic was, and I didn't agree with it at the time, and you could go back and listen to those podcasts. I remember ranting about not liking the approach to trade out of the area where you get stars. And that's where we're talking about Kyle Hamilton. That top 15 is where you get stars. Don't trade out of that because the back end of the first is just like bust after bust after bust. So I was never for it, but I think I understood the logic trade down, get more draft capital, try to rebuild the secondary that had been so bad under Zimmer at the end. That was the logic. It didn't work out,

especially with a change of defensive coordinators who played a completely different system on the back end. So I understand what happened. The guy just couldn't play when they thought he was going to be a star and he looked like it in college. But, you know, this see,, uh, Kieran says, I'll never get over them. Not taking Hamilton. I mean, if you're never going to get over them, not taking a player in the draft, I've got some bad news for you about Steph Curry. Steph Curry might be the one you should never get over. Hamilton, Hamilton would have been great in this defense. Absolutely would have been phenomenal. They should have drafted him. They should have drafted Jordan Davis. These guys would have been contributors and you live and learn, I guess, because in the next drafts, they took a wide receiver that was right there. Didn't trade down.

And then in this one, they pick a quarterback, they pick a guy that they traded up for. So trading out of key spots, maybe something that we don't see again after this from quesia daful mensa i just think when you look at the draft reports on lewis scene who could have ever figured it would go this badly i mean with laquan treadwell that one felt risky but this one i mean it felt like as safe of a pick as you could have had. That's just sometimes the draft for you. Uh, Ty says, are, are we doing great with undrafted free agents or our drafts not good or a combination of the two hard to argue with pace? No, I think they're actually doing good with UDF phase because as you mentioned with pace, that guy can play. And I also think that McLaughn and Murphy can play based on what I've seen. And that just comes from, if you take

enough shots on guys and you pay the most for the UDFAs, you're getting the best pick that some of them are going to click. And usually what happens is like with Gabriel Murphy, he and I have the same problem, short arms, but you know what? If the guy can rush and knows a lot of moves and has some quickness and physicality he can overcome these little arms that he has and be something in the league is he going to be miles garrett no but i think what brian flores looks at is what can the guy do well what can ivan pace do well what can dwight mcglothern do well he's probably not going to be durell revis because he doesn't meet the physical ability but can he fit in a certain type of scheme and i asked

floris about that about the udfas he said it's all about fit they only look at udfas that they believe could fit into a spot so uh with their team with their defense with their team, with their defense, with their culture. And I think that's a big reason why, uh, someone like Dwight McClother or someone like Ivan pace is able to fit here. Uh, Marco says, I too don't care where the talent comes from, but some of these UDF phase are making the team because high, uh, draft picks went bust. Yeah. I actually do think it's unrelated. I actually do.

Cause Marco says it it's unrelated. I actually do. Cause Marco says it's not unrelated. I do think it's unrelated because the way that these guys have played has been worthy of making the team that someone like Dwight McClother and he outplayed other people too. He outplayed Duke Shelley. He outplayed other corners that were trying to make the team as well. He didn't just outplay Andrew Booth Jr. And, you know, somebody like Taki Taimani, I mean, yeah, you're talking about a fifth round pick, but he also outplayed two veterans and he ends up making the team that way. And Gabriel Murphy, who I think would have made the 53, had he not been injured and gone on IR, he was playing at an extremely high level. You're going to keep those guys anyway.

You would have just ended up having, instead of a UDFA, you would have had both of them. You know what I mean? You would have just kept both on the roster and cut somebody else that didn't perform well. So I do think it's unrelated because these guys have earned it. They're not just keeping random dudes. They brought in free agents to replace guys in these, uh, this roster.

And they ended up just using these UDFAs instead of the free agents. Uh, Marley says, didn't, uh, Jay Ward commit like four special teams penalties last year. He negated a blocked field goal and a massive punt return. I believe. Yeah, There was the off side. I think that he had. Yes, that is true. Um, if he does it again, that'll be pretty bad, but I don't know. I don't know what to say to that. Uh, Jay Ward for them played, I think 300 special team snaps. I believe he was at the top of the team and special team snaps last year, and he can play multiple positions. So they're going to keep him on the team. I mean, you're right that I think he did commit a couple of penalties. Well, what are you going to do? Don't do it this year. Uh, life is about the odds says you said Kweisi Adafo-Mensah and is not on

the hot seat. When I brought this up, having UDF phase make the team doesn't mean that the team is better. It means the draft picks. Yeah. You guys keep making the same point that I don't agree with. I just, Ivan pace is a good NFL player. Let every team who is good has UDF phase. Do you guys know Adam Thielen was an undrafted free agent? Was he a good player or was he making the team because the rest of the guys were bad? It's the NFL, man. Like you have to be good to make the team. They're not just like, I don't know, throw anybody on there. Duke Shelley had played in the league before. So Dwight McClothern had to beat him out. I watched Dwight McClothern be good at practice. I'm not crowning him, but he gets the crown for

today for making the team. You watch Taki Taimani play. He was good. He was very good. He was better than Jonah Williams, who has been in the league. I don't think that it's the only reason undrafted free agents are making the team is just because other players went bust. I think it's because these guys can play. And especially somebody like Ivan pace, who was a well above average linebacker last year, you could have said the same thing last year. Well, the only reason he's playing is because awesome was not good. Um, but then he played really well. Uh, so we'll see, we'll see if these guys become anything, but there are lots of undrafted free agents through the years that have made it and have been good. Uh, Anthony Harris was one of them. They brought in Tom

Johnson one year. He was pretty good. This happens all the time in the NFL with undrafted free agents. There's only seven rounds. So some guys fall through the cracks. Stephanie, nice to see you, Stephanie. I know this will vary greatly, but how much of a shock do you think it comes to the players who get cut? Or do you think there are some who kind of expect it? Yeah, I think there's probably one or two guys who are very surprised that they got cut, especially if you signed as a free agent. But I think that most of them do see it coming. It depends on, I think that what players

don't like is when they're misled at all in the process. If coaches say, yeah, we're going to keep you around and then they don't, then players are pretty upset. But on cut down day, I think you go into it with a high level of certainty, which outcome is going to end up happening. There's not too many guys that I think are totally shocked. Uh, Dave says, I'm glad that they kept hall. Can't believe all the talking heads surprised by that. I'm not surprised by that. I don't, which, which talking heads are we talking about, Dave? You seem to have some, uh, some animosity Dave to your comments. Um, I, I am not surprised that they kept tall. I was 50, 50 on it. I could see the argument either way.

I could see them thinking that they need the roster spot and that he would be able to get through to the practice squad because probably no other team was going to use the roster spot on Jaron Hall. I could also see the other side of that. Clearly through this year, they rewarded guys who played well in preseason and played well in training camp. And of course, Hall is somebody who knows a complicated offense for what Kevin O'Connell wants. And then he earned it with his playing time. And I was ambivalent about it. Like, well, if they decide, I'm not going to argue with it. If they make it, I probably would have tried to get him through to the practice squad, but okay. Uh, I thought it could go either way. That was on one of my lists of things that could or

could not happen. And I think I wrote, I think that they, uh, you know, might move on, not move on, but try to get them to the practice squad and they end up keeping him. Okay. There's not really a whole lot of controversy there. I don't think, uh, Marley says, uh, Kwesi Dafflomenta needs this draft class to work out. Even if Turner is the only good one, he has shown inability to evaluate talent. So this is not right. I don't think Marley, I don't think that see when you're the general manager, you're not the scouts and the coaches and you're trying to please a lot of people with this and i think in the 2022 draft what they were looking for was to give ed donatel everything that he needed and in those fangio systems they typically have an amazing deep safety like an eddie jackson or And, uh, who did the, the Rams

had someone who played really well for them when Brandon Staley was running the same system, John Johnson, I forget who it was that they had, but most of those teams have a good, really good deep safety. So that's what they were looking for. And they were looking for corners who could play off coverage and read and react to route combinations, which is Andrew Booth Jr. has really good footwork and plays the football well. And then it changed and they went and got a new defensive coordinator. And I think that left some of those guys as odd men out.

That's not excusing the draft picks, but the point is you're working with the defensive coordinator to try to find out what fits. So now they're working with Brian Flores to try to find what fits and he's getting guys that do. And there's a whole scouting department that is analyzing each player and giving you directives on which, which type of players they're looking for and, and, and who you should pick. Right. And obviously they must have had very high grades on Dallas Turner. So we just want to put this all on one person when it's really organizational. And by the way, anybody wants to do the homework and look at drafts, go through all drafts, all teams, all the time. Guess what you're going to find. You're

going to find 2022 drafts that other teams have look at Kansas city when they drafted Clyde Edwards, a layer, but then you're also going to find other drafts that are much better. Here's the, here's what we really know about Casey Duffel Mensah that we've gotten this roster from where it was when he arrived to a point where we should think that they are some additions in free agency away from putting a really good group around a rookie quarterback. So they could spend a lot of money because they got their cap, right. And they moved on from a quarterback that wasn't able to take you over the top. And if JJ McCarthy is good. And if the roster decisions that are made end up working out, then Kweisi Adafomensa is going to be here a long time.

And if those things don't work out, then he won't. That'sensa is going to be here a long time. And if those things don't work out, then he won't. That's the reality of the NFL. It's not going to be, can you draft? Can you not draft? I don't know. Like, of course, could the owner be upset about the 2022 draft? Well, I'm sure they're not happy. Yeah. Failure draft. No, of course. It's just that like, are we ignoring the other drafts here that have happened and the players that they've found and the free agents that they've brought in? It's a pretty good roster that's not there yet, but with JJ McCarthy next year and the free agent dollars they have to spend, this should be a very, very good roster for next season to start building

around JJ McCarthy. And there are draft picks and UDFAs that are huge parts of that, especially Jordan Addison. As long as he can drive his vehicle from point A to point B, it looks like a young star player that they got. And this year's draft, Dallas Turner looks like another young star player. Those are two key young stars, potentially with Turner, not crowning, uh, at the most expensive positions that aren't quarterback. Those are good decisions. Uh, so I just, I know that there's a bad draft. It's we've known since day one, it was a bad draft. It's just, it seems like a lot of you are quick to, uh, want to focus on a couple of bad draft picks more than the bigger

picture with the entire roster, bad draft picks happen. And again, no one was more against that draft on draft night than I was. It's just, this is life. This is life in the NFL. You have to work around draft picks that don't work out the lewis scene pick a safety who is immediately replaced with two better players at safety will not be a determining factor for whether this team goes anywhere or not it'll be number nine that's what how they build around him and what he becomes will be the determining factor of whether quesia da fomenta has a long career as a GM here or not. That's just what it is. So Cam Akers did make the 53 in Houston. That's great. Thank you for that. Really, really great story. Hunter, does keeping an extra defensive player indicate KOC could be aware the

defense might be the strength of his team or reading too much into it? I'm going to go with reading too much into it. It might just mean that that's where they're going to cut from when they add a running back. But I don't think that it's any sort of indication of how they feel. They should already know that, by the way, because Sam Darnold is their quarterback. They should already know that they're going to have to do their best on defense in order to have any chance of making the playoffs this year. Marley says McClother and over Evans. I would agree with that.

I think that Evans is probably not a guy who has much more ceiling. He's 25 years old. He's now been in the league a couple of years. McClother can play the football, that's, what's really important. I think is somebody who can make plays, break up passes, be a difference maker. And if you can't, it's very hard to succeed in the NFL. A lot of you pointing to a P Ryan, where was he playing? Was that a, was that a Denver, uh, that he got cut power back. Good pass catcher. Yeah. We'll see.

I'm, I'm curious about why he was cut. I know he's bounced around a little bit. I saw some Cincinnati people. He was in Cincinnati last year talking about him. Uh, William says any idea to the extent of Murphy's injury? I don't know, but if someone is placed on the IR with the designation to return, that does give us a sense that he's not going to be out for the year and probably four weeks, five weeks. I think it was a knee injury, but I don't know.

We just haven't, um, we, we just haven't gotten a huge update on him. There's been a few questions. So, uh, because Zinkad says, could you just talk about the media passively asking questions to the team? It's not passively. It's just not rudely. It's, I mean, if you watch any of the press conferences, uh, we just ask the questions in a straightforward type of manner. There's not yelling or pounding of tables or it's not, it's not a cartoon.

It's not a movie where the media runs up and says, general manager answer for your draft pick. It's probably going to be something along the lines of with the 2022 draft. When you reflect on that, is there something that you can take away from that? That was a reason for why it didn't work out. And then he could say whatever he wants to say. I've just always during my entire career, no matter whether it was this fan base or whether it was when I was in Buffalo, I always want the reporters to yell at the team. And I don't never understand that you don't get answers by yelling

at somebody. Usually you get answers by asking them straightforwardly. So that's what I'm trying to do. And everybody else, we're just trying to get answers. Uh, because in cat again, them hitting on UDF phase and rostering them makes them even more desirable location for top UDF phase. Totally agree. A hundred percent, a hundred percent. I heard from someone, the agent of one of the undrafted free agents that signed here didn't make the team. Uh, but I was chatting with him at some point. And he said that the Vikings were number one on his list by far, because he just felt like they were a team that did not just bring in a UDFA class, stash them in the closet, that they would give his guy

a real look. And that's what they did. They added a lot of these guys who got a real look. And I think that when you aim for undrafted free agents that might have one skill that you like, McLaughlin plays the football. Ivan Pace is a Wolverine. He's just really tough and he has great instincts, has this one skill. Gabe Murphy has a myriad of pass rush moves. So he's got one skill that's good. I think Brian Flores just has this mentality of, well, let's see if we can do something with that. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be a star. It just has to be someone who is a possible contributor. Oh, great reminder. Thank you for mentioning that I do have to do the ad read.

That is appreciated. Hold on. I haven't memorized it yet, so I'm going to need to pull it up here. But a great point. And thank you to Mr. Nice try for reminding me, by the way, if somebody can ask me a fantasy football question at some point, anything fantasy football, I will answer it. And then I can do my other ad read for underdog fantasy. Please help me.

Okay. Well, you're thinking of a fantasy football question, a reminder that us cellular notice the way that we use our phones has gotten ironic. We try to put our phones down for dinner, but the menu is on a QR code. That's ironic. We hit like on social media posts that we don't actually like. Also ironic. Which is why U.S. Cellular created Us Mode to help us reconnect with each other and use our phones less ironically.

A phone company wanting people to use our phones less. Ironically, a phone company wanting people to use their phones less is ironic. So let's find ourselves again with us mode from us cellular visit us cellular.com slash built for us to get started. All right. Uh, running back and punter. I assume you mean those are the positions that they would potentially add to. And I could still see that with Ryan, right? It wasn't that impressive, but maybe, maybe they could look for someone who could be an upgrade. I just think that they were cautious in how much they praised Ryan, right? And even that moment where KOC was on the broadcast in the third preseason game,

and he was saying like, come on, come on, Ryan Wright, pin him down there, because that was really the issue. We know he could kick the bleep out of the ball, but does he have a touch for pinning a team inside the 20 last year? He didn't. Kumar says, do we give Kweisi a mulligan on 2022? He started weeks before the draft. All the staff and processes were from Spielman. We all need to learn, and I hope that he's getting better in the draft. So yes and no. Great point here. John Randall was a UDFA.

That's right. You don't have to give them back if they're great, if you didn't draft them. You get to keep them, and they get to sack people or do whatever else. No on the, uh, Mulligan. I mean the draft, it, it happened and they were bad decisions and the trade down. Here's what you can say though. We know that they're bad decisions because they went wrong. But if we just use the logic of rebuilding the secondary that was so bad, okay, that makes some sense, right? And trading down by the analytics, by the trade charts was a little bit controversial for what they got.

Different trade charts thought different things, but some people who did the numbers on that thought that they got good value for what they did. It's just one of those situations where it went all wrong. If Louis seen as a great player, like he looked like in college, this guy was the MVP of the national championship game. If Andrew Booth Jr. Had been a good foundational corner for years to come, both of them were ranked highly by draft analysts. Sometimes these things just happen. I think that we always want to look for an explanation for

things that are not explainable. What did they do wrong? Something went wrong. How about this? I heard this great story or read this great story once about someone who got hit by a car. And what they were saying in the article was that every time they explained to their friends that they got hit in the car, hit by a car, they were a pedestrian that someone would inevitably ask, why didn't you move? Obviously I would have moved, right? I mean, obviously I would have moved if I could have, but people still ask the question. It's like, well, it went wrong. So why didn't you do something different?

I mean, there was logic behind it. Get a safety for Donatello who can come downhill and stop screen plays, who can go make plays over the top, take the ball away, blitz sometimes. That was how that system worked. They showed too deep and then they would switch sometimes. And that guy is usually a really big part of that system. That's why they picked them. Sometimes stuff just doesn't go your way.

Marley, Matt, maybe you touched on it before, but why do you think they kept Pat Jones over Bo Richter? Yeah, I think it's because Pat Jones is a lot more experienced from last year with Brian Flores. Also, when they used Pat Jones a few years ago in a situational role, he was okay. He was pretty solid. Whereas when he had to start and he had to play a lot, that's where it all went sideways because he's not really a starter. that's where it all went sideways because he's not really a starter. He's more of a situational player. Think about like Steven Weatherly and

a Fadi Adenabo. Those guys had their moments as situational players, but when they had to start, it was just too much too high of a snap count. And at least my understanding is they like some of the things that don't always show up with Patrick Jones on paper. So think about it this way. When you're doing some sort of stunt, there's probably a guy who's in a stunt is when they cross, when they're rushing, there's probably a guy whose job is to draw the attention of the guards and the center. And then there's a guy who's supposed to run through the hole. And I think they liked that Patrick Jones understands all that. Like he gets what Brian Flores is trying

to accomplish and is kind of a selfless player. And we saw a little bit of that on tape last year. And Bo Richter is just a guy who can get to the practice squad, can develop there and, and be moved up. Um, but not someone I think that's ready to play, um, came from one of the, was the air force. I mean, just right. I mean, not fully developed, not ready to contribute. And this is a veteran defense. That's trying to be, uh, trying to be really good. Uh, two boys in a PCA. I don't know what that means says uh do you still drink dr pepper haven't seen you crack one in a while what we got here my friend got a little diet dr but i'll crack it for you here we go it's cut down day we're having a good time a lot of you watching right now i really appreciate everybody joining asking questions comments breaking down the roster with

me this is always a fascinating day to try to dig into what happened with some players, what the logic is, what they're going to do next. So let's all take a brief toast. Diet Dr. Pepper here. Thank you. Great questions and great comments across the board for everybody here today. I really appreciate it from all of you. Great questions and great comments, uh, across the board for everybody here today. I really appreciate it from all of you. Uh, Mike, they're obviously picking Murray over Richter and Carter. Don't you think he will be given a shot once he gets off IR? Yes,

I do. Yes, I do. Uh, Murphy was a guy. They really talked up before he got hurt and it was a little hard for me to see with Murphy. He was rushing off the left side and I was standing mostly on the right side during training camp because there's only a little bit of shade that you can get out there. So I was trying to stand up against the stands, get a little bit of shade and it's harder to see on the other side. So it was difficult for me to try to get a sense for Murphy aside from just what they said.

And sometimes that's how it's got to be. I was really looking forward to seeing him in preseason games where I could go back and look at the all 22 and get a better sense of what he looked like. But every time they talked about him, they talked excitedly about Murphy as opposed to, yeah, you know, he's kind of doing his job and that kind of thing. It was much more of like, Hey, this guy is really standing out. And when you look at his production and how he had performed in college is odd to me that he wasn't drafted because of his arm length. It just seems like a weird reason to not draft someone somewhere in the fifth round,

the sixth round. We've seen much worse prospects who had hardly any production at all. The draft is odd this way. And my understanding of how this happens is what teams will do is they'll put together a draft board of guys that they would take. So they've got their board, but they've got guys that they have highlighted for. We board of guys that they would take. So they've got their board, but they've got guys that they have highlighted for. We think these guys are fits for us. And it's far fewer players than you think. It's not 400 draft prospects. They whittle it down to only

the number that they believe would fit in their systems with their specifications. And if there's somebody that doesn't fit that, they can just slide through for a bunch of teams that say, no, we only like guys with certain arm lengths. And then the Vikings of Brian Flores go, I don't care if Ivan Pace has little arms, the dude can play and they pick them up. This model seems to be working. Groundhog, we need an overhaul of our interior offensive line.

I've needed it for three years. I have no issue with Garrett Bradbury as the center. Yes, he will get beaten by Kenny Clark. Yes, he'll probably get beaten by Dexter Lawrence. That is going to be a thing that he'll never overcome, and most centers honestly can't. When you look at the PFF pass blocking grades, there's not a lot of guys who grade super well in pass blocking at center

because it's often a smaller guy that would be a guard if he was bigger, but a high intelligence, good leadership, like a lot of things go into it. But if you are a big giant dude, who's a center and you have all those things that are required mentally to play that position, you end up like in the hall of fame and you end up being Kevin Mawai or something, or Matt Burke or something, someone that really big and, and understands the game and can lead the offense and all those things. It's pretty rare that you get everything out of the center position, but the last two years, I think Bradbury has been fine. I think before the final two weeks of the season last year, he was something like 12th by PFF. He's improved over the years early on his career.

It was a major problem. I don't know what you have here in Blake Brandel. I would like to find out. They have really, really liked Blake Brandel over the years. So I guess we're going to see if that comes to fruition. And the right guard seems to be a little bit, uh, on shaky ground and maybe at Ingram takes a step. It just hasn't looked that way in training camp and Reisner is on the IR. So he's going to have at least four weeks to show what he can do. And then if you get to the point where they have to bench him, then yeah, there's that. So the right guard still is going to be concerning the center. I think is okay. And the left guard is just all question marks to me, but interior offensive line, the bane of my existence. I don't think there's been a single season since I've covered the team starting in 2016,

where we've gone into the year and I've said, you know what? The interior of this offensive line, pretty solid. That's a long time. That's a long time. Six-shooter nation gaming. They're going to address the interior O-line after waivers and cuts are done. But by week three, Ingram will be on the hot seat. Could be they're playing some pretty good defensive lines to start the season. The New York Giants, they might not have a lot else,

but they definitely have a good defensive line. And then San Francisco right away. That's a lot. Houston's got a good D-line. I think Hunter and Anderson, at least. I don't know what they have on the interior. I'd have to check when they play them. But then Kenny Clark, the Viking murderer, Kenny Clark, it's going to be a very tough

start to the season for the interior offensive line. But I don't know if the thing about trying to pick up offensive linemen is if someone else is cutting them, that probably means they don't think they're great because they're so hard to find good ones. It's just hard to pick up some guy off waivers and say, oh yeah, this is our guy. He's going to improve our interior. Normally you're looking for a David Questenberry, some veteran who could play a couple games if he had to. Jason says, why does everyone forget about Nick Muse when it comes

to the 2022 draft? I think he's going to turn out to be a great draft pick. I think he's got one career catch. And I've liked what I've seen from Nick Muse in two straight training camps. He makes the team today, but one career catch isn't enough to say, Hey, the 2022 draft all worked out for a minute there. It looked like Evans and Ingram was going to improve and Evans was going to be a starter and Ty Chandler was going to be a difference maker. There was maybe a three week stretch that it felt like this might not be as bad as it looks. It now is as bad as it looks. There's not a whole lot you could do about it, but I do think this is why you have to set up your salary cap to have space to go sign free agents,

because you can't always rely on just hitting all of these, uh, you know, all of these draft picks that you're going to miss on draft picks. We know who the top draft picks that are going to matter the most. And none of them were from 2022. You can replace a safety as they've done. You can replace a corner as they're trying to do Dallas Turner and JJ McCarthy and Jordan Addison will really be the guys that determine whether these drafts are going to be a difference maker in the future or not. I still would have picked somebody at the top and not traded down, but you know, you gotta,

you gotta throw that in there. Antonio, has anyone asked KOC how he plans to cut down on turnovers that killed them in 2023? So what you can do to cut down on fumbles is you can get down on your knees, put your hands together like this, reach up with your neck, look forward and pray. There's really no indicator ever in history that there's a way to stop fumbling or there's a way to prevent fumbling. Uh, those are the same thing, or there's a way to cause fumbles. I mean,

maybe a team has done it here or there. I know that Kansas city under Marty Schottenheimer back in the day was great at not turning the ball over. I think the Patriots were for a while because any running back who fumbled, they would get rid of. It's a random and bizarre thing. I mean, how about Brandon Powell had never fumbled before in the NFL and somebody just hits the ball and it goes squirting out. Then the Eagles guy fumbles the ball. It bounces away and the Vikings don't jump on it. Justin Jefferson reaches out to try to score and throws the ball to the back of the end zone. I mean, who can, who can predict these things? I mean, last year they joked about, but I'm not sure if they were serious or not

whacking people with different things to try to keep them from fumbling. There is something really funny. I don't know if I ever brought this up at training camp, but there's a big boxing glove on the end of a pole. I'm not joking. And when the guy catches it, the receiver and turns up field in a drill, they try to whack the ball out with the boxing glove. Yeah. That's, that's how stupid this is for trying to present prevent fumbles. So I guess usually it's just like a hitting coach who gets fired when his team goes on a down stretch and then the new hitting coach comes in they get hot and then all of a sudden the the team is hitting again and we all credit the hitting coach some things in sports are just unpredictable and that's one of them the fumbles it's unpredictable

there's no way to stop it or there's no way to improve it these guys are all trying to hold on to the ball maybe a little more focus. I don't know. Phil says still would have kept Bo Gant and Porter. Those are guys for the practice squad. I just would be totally shocked if somebody sweeps in and takes Bo Richter, Dallas Gant, or Owen Porter. You like those guys because you've seen them, but is another team

going to say, oh man, we have to get rid of our start or whatever, not starting, but our depth linebacker for this guy who played the fourth quarter of the third preseason game for the Vikings that looked pretty good. I like those players. I agree with you of identifying them as guys who had good preseasons, but if you're the Vikings, you'd rather keep players that you think might get stolen from you or just veterans or guys who are going to make a difference right away. But I wouldn't be surprised to see any one of them eventually on the team. Now we got a fantasy football question and thank you because I totally forgot about this from Justin in deep leagues,

who has more fantasy value, Tristan Jackson or Brandon Powell, Justin, how deep is your league? I'm thinking pretty deep if we're asking this question, but I love it. It's a great question. I would go with Brandon Powell here. Brandon Powell is more experienced. He showed last year that he could create some chemistry with a quarterback with Kirk Cousins. And even though we didn't see a lot of him in preseason or in training camp, making tons of catches, he got more reps with the ones than Tristan Jackson. And he also fulfills a specific type of player, kind of the underneath guy who could create yards after catch. Whereas with Tristan Jackson, and he also fulfills a specific type of player, kind of the underneath guy who could create yards after catch. Whereas with Tristan Jackson, they already have three guys

who are like him, the route runner, ball tracker type of guy. So I would go with Brandon Powell. And by the way, speaking of fantasy, this show is presented by underdog fantasy, the easiest place to play fantasy sports. Also the fastest growing fantasy app in the industry. You got to check out their pickums. I've been playing around with these quite a bit. They're really fun, but you get a number, a stats number, you pick higher or lower. You do between two and eight of them with whatever players you like. I was talking the other day on the show about Detroit and Amon Ross, St. Brown and Jared Goff and their numbers like higher or lower for Jared Goff, 26 and a half touchdowns.

So a lot of fun that you can have there and you can earn up to 20 times your money by going five, four, five, sign up with the promo code purple to claim your special pick and first time deposit offer up to $1,000 in bonus cash. If you sign up and use the code purple, it helps the show. So please, if you get a chance to do that, go ahead and do it at underdog fantasy.com must be 18 or older terms apply concerned with your play call one 800 gamb-GAMBLER or visit ncpgambling.org. Thank you for the fantasy question. And if you've got some other ones like six shooter nation, how many fantasy points will Sam Darnold rack up in week one? I guess it depends on your league,

but I'm going to say that week one is going to be a battle. It was going to be a, it's going to be hideous, right? Vikings and giants, a lot of pressure on Sam Darnold, maybe some big plays here or there. I think that's one that they have to win 21, 17, uh, two boys and a PCA. Hope that doesn't mean anything weird. Uh, says, uh, what are your thoughts on Mike Allstott this year in fantasy? I think that Mike Allstott is always a great fantasy pick back when fantasy football was just starting. I mean, he scored a lot of touchdowns, right? Always a good guy to watch.

One of my favorites. This is the great part about, I was just talking with Steve Palazzolo about old games and how we love to go watch old games because a lot of times you just saw highlights from players and then played with them on video games. Then you get to watch them play whole games. And that's, uh, like somebody like Mike all stop. It's a good one. Uh, all right. Let me scroll down a little bit farther. Uh, Oh, good question here from Brian. Any speculation who handles kick return now? Great question. I don't know.

I'm going to go Ty Chandler. And because it was mentioned earlier correctly that it's kind of a run play now. Ty Chandler would be a good pick for this as an excellent runner with really good instincts for how to hit blocks. I've been a little bit more down on him as far as his share of the runs, because I think Aaron Jones is going to get the vast majority, but he sees holes and he's got some power to, to his games. I think Ty Chandler would be the main guy. The other one, Hmm, maybe Jalen Naylor. They call him speedy for a reason. He's quick. I would be concerned about Jalen Naylor getting injured. him speedy for a reason. He's quick. I would be concerned about Jalen

Naylor getting injured. They've tried kind of everybody back there. Um, that Ty Chandler and somebody, maybe they even go out and get somebody else with some returning. Uh, Brandon Powell makes a lot of sense as well, but you also might want to have a guy who could potentially block for you as the other returner. So let's see. Walter says the Packers acquired Malik Willis from the Titans and cut Michael Pratt. They sure did. Are you expressing your interest in Michael Pratt?

I was not all that interested in Michael Pratt. Sometimes around the draft senior bowl, people just want to get excited about a quarterback. I never really saw it with Michael Pratt. Obviously they didn't either. If they were cutting him to bring in Malik Willis, I think they're fine at quarterback, but maybe they could potentially go out and look for another, another veteran, but I'm not sure. Horse feathers. Hope your home was not affected by the storm. Thanks for your comprehensive conversation about the big cut day. Yeah. Luckily it was not. It sounded pretty bad. Actually,

it's crazy because I walked out of the house last night after, if you were watching live last night, I was hearing all the things hitting the house. I thought it might be hail, but it was actually just sticks from a tree. But after the storm had passed, went outside, drove around a little bit and my street had its power, but the streets over from me lost power. There was a tree down, still trees down today. Hopefully all of you were okay because it was a very, very nasty storm. It was funny because my wife never comes down and does anything during the show. But the fact that she came down, I was like, it must be pretty bad up there if she thinks she's got to come down into the, uh, into the basement.

But Hey, uh, congrats to my energy and my internet for holding up during that live stream. Uh, Chris says I'm behind, but Kareem hunt four years ago, Kareem hunt as of right now, I don't think so. Uh, I just think he's probably on the wash side, Alex, what kind of year are you expecting from Jerry Tillery? I am going to guess that he plays something like 500, 600 snaps, gets a handful of pressures, especially on third downs and is just more of a difference maker as a pass rusher than they had last year. He could be a swing man to that group being a little more effective than it had last year. He could be a swing man to that group

being a little more effective than it was last year when Harrison Phillips and Jonathan Bullard had to do everything. It was such a difficult task that they had last year where it was just every play. Those guys were out there

and they end up with 700 something, 800 something snaps. That's too much to ask of those guys. So Jerry Tillery, he had something that they didn't have and maybe Levi Drake Rodriguez mixes in as well. But I would guess if we're looking for a stat line, he ends up with something like 30 pressures, three sacks, and you notice him enough times for that signing to make a difference. Oh, William has another fantasy question. PPR draft tonight.

Who would you rather pick between Jameer Gibbs, Jonathan Taylor, and Saquon Barkley? Ooh, I would go. Good question. I would go Jonathan Taylor. I'm concerned that he gets banged up sometimes. But I also think that running games that have running quarterbacks tend to have a lot of success. Saquon Barkley does as well. Actually, the thing I would be a little concerned about there is with touchdowns where Taylor and Barkley, their quarterbacks run. So they might have some

touchdowns taken away, but Taylor he's already proven he's a bell cow. Whereas a Jameer Gibbs is still proving that and Saquon Bark barkley just not sure where he's going to fit in in philadelphia if there's anything actually there like in in new york his overall numbers were just okay for the most part alex says the problem with spending in free agency is that elite players rarely make it to unrestricted free agency. Most teams tend to lack lock up their franchise players. That is true. So, but when you look at what they've been able to do so far, cause we have a sample size on this, they were able to trade for Hawkinson and use a second round draft pick. And, uh, they were able to sign Grenard Van Ginkle and Cashman. And I would not

call those elite players. I mean, your elite players are going to have to be the guys that you draft. You're Christian Derrissaw, Justin Jefferson, Dallas Turner, and you hope that you could find somebody else. But as far as good players and well above average players that you have to overpay a little bit for, Grenard, Van Ginkle, Cashman are great examples of well above average difference making players. So I think there's, there's levels to that. No one's giving you elite players. That's true. Christian Wilkins was a free agent. So sometimes they end up out there, but rarely. And I agree with that, but very good players who can make a difference. Those guys do end up in free agency

quite a bit because they want to get paid at the higher end and their teams don't always do that. Um, but now that the Vikings are in this position with the salary cap, uh, they can't, uh, let's see. Sean says, I think Cleveland cut Foreman. Oh, really? They did. Uh, I didn't see that. That might be a guy they might be interested in. Um, if, if that's true, if they cut him, then yes, he could. I didn't really interested in. Um, if, if that's true, if they cut him, then yes, he could. I didn't really notice him. No, I, their offense was struggling so much passing, not surprised to see that they might want to get rid of James Winston. He was so bad in those joint practices. Uh, Oh gosh, some decent, uh, backup, uh, three wide receivers out there.

Thoughts on Terrish Marshall, 24 years old, six foot two lanky guy who played with Jefferson. I I'm not a fan of Terrace Marshall. He is kind of Laquan Treadwell to me, just doesn't really create a whole lot of separation. And I'm guessing that they were playing him a lot in preseason with hopes that he could maybe get a trade something back. I would rather just keep who they have than get Terrace Marshall, but you're right that he's 24. It's just, if a team is getting rid of a 24 year old who has a high draft stock and everything else, that means probably that they're very unhappy with that guy and don't see him as, as a future player who could help them. So if Carolina is getting rid of a young player, I'd be skeptical that they could be a

difference maker somewhere else. Cause you would think Carolina would want to keep every young player, Kyle, who would be the first to go between Asamoah and Redmond? Ooh, good, good question. I mean, Asamoah is the fourth linebacker. They only kept four linebackers. I mean, that would make the argument pretty strong for Asamoah staying. I don't think they're thrilled with him, but he plays a lot of special teams. He knows the system at this point, Redmond being the UFL guy might be hard for him to stick. So I think the answer to your question is probably Redmond that they wanted him on the 53 because he earned making it on cut down day through the preseason,

but he just, it just seems so great there that he could end up being the guy that gets cut first or tie him on it. If they think that they could get him through. Sue says I only have two running backs in my fantasy football team. You guys coming in with the with the fantasy football questions. Kyron Williams and Jonathan Taylor picked up Keaton Mitchell and stashed him on IR. Do I grab another running back thinking of Rico Dowdle? Yeah, I mean

if they're bringing in Delvin cook, do you want Rico or not? I don't know. And Rico Dowdle sounds so fake by the way, but if they're going to run Ezekiel Elliott and, uh, Delvin cook, although maybe you could make a case that those guys won't be good. And then they'll just end up, you know, having to give way to him. Maybe not, maybe not a bad decision to pick him up. Uh, but it depends on what kind of league you're playing in with those being your only two running backs and Keaton Mitchell, you're going to need to pick up somebody else. I think, uh, Ben also lives in around my neck of the woods. It was crazy last

night, uh, with, with that storm. That was probably one of the nastiest ones we've had over here. I saw a shutdown on the fair this morning. Yeesh. Okay. This is funny. Zoomer Kev, Kweisi should build the entire team around fan favorites like Bo Richter and go, Oh, and 17. There are just, when it comes to guys like Bo Richter, there are always the Alexander Hollins, the Amir Smith, Marset that people fall in love with a little bit through training camp and preseason that yeah, you would go. Oh, and 17, if your whole team was those guys, but everybody likes an underdog story. Uh, you know, Bo Richter was a good, good player. He stood out. It's just he's somebody that eventually you can move on to the practice squad and then develop and see if there's anything there.

That's all. I'm not saying they should have, you know, got rid of him and never talked to him again. It's just that there are some players you're fairly certain that will end up on your practice squad and you can develop them there. Josh Metellus was on the practice squad at one point. Adam Thielen, did you know? An undrafted free agent from Minnesota was on the practice squad at some point. That's how it works. Jareek, I think. Huge vote of confidence for Gabe Murphy. Yes, I agree. To use the short-term IR, off-topic, with the Vikings have picked

McCarthy or Penix. If both were available, hard to say, hard to say. I mean, gosh, that is hard to say because I think that they really liked Michael Penix. And if you imagine him throwing the football downfield to Justin Jefferson,

that is a pretty good look with his arm strength and his arm talent. He really does have a special arm, but with JJ McCarthy, there was the ability to do much more molding for Kevin O'Connell. And he was so much younger than Michael Penix that I think it might've been McCarthy, but I don't know. I, it was going to be, they were going to take whichever one I believe was still on the board, but, um, yeah, that's, I'm not sure about that. I don't know. Only they know how they had them ranked. I think McCarthy being a guy you could develop more was probably something that they liked, but Pennix was a much better prospect than the draft animals were getting credit for. And, uh, the Vikings I think would have been in on him had mccarthy gone early

all right doug says is a team littered with udfas sustainable well it's not well look around the league every team has udfas that are playing roles there's only seven rounds to the draft every year and you're not going to hit on many of those guys. Even when you have a good draft, even the Vikings 2015 draft, that was so great. There was still a bunch of guys who didn't make it. So you can only ever pick two or three guys that are going to make it. And then it comes to UDF phase and free agents. I bet because think about like how many UDF phase are we talking, actually playing roles on the Vikings right now? The answer is not many. It's even Blake Brandel was drafted. It's Ivan Pace.

And who else is there anybody else? Is it just Ivan Pace and everybody else was either a free agent or was a draft pick? Am I missing somebody? I Jalen Nayer was a pick addison and this team has first round picks that are out there uh like justin jefferson christian derisaw second round pick brian o'neill free agent aaron jones free agent granard van ginkle all those guys i'm really trying to think if there's any other undrafted free agent that's even on the team that was picked up by this team that's actually going to start. So they're not a team that's really littered with undrafted free agents. It's just that when you have the juxtaposition of a first round pick getting cut and a bunch of UDFAs making it, I think I see why people are

drawing that connection. But Murphy's a free agent. Stefan Gilmore is a free agent. If anything, this team has been built much more through free agency, which that's worth asking, is that sustainable? And I think probably at a lot of key positions, but that's hard to do because you can miss on free agents as well, as we saw from Dean Lowry and Marcus Davenport. So I think it's built much more on veteran free agents than it is on drafted free agents. It's just that they've paid the most for it and they have landed some really good ones.

And if you're the one that's putting down the most money to get Ivan Pace and he comes here, he has the best chance of any UDFA to succeed. Tim says Vikings fans just want their pound of flesh for the 2022 draft. Oh yeah, I know. I know. That's what, that's my whole point about the whole getting hit by a car thing is that when something goes wrong, everybody wants two things. They want the people in charge to be yelled at and they want a full

explanation and they want somebody held accountable and so forth. And I mean, you'd much rather have the 2022 draft work out, but if the other drafts work out and the free agency, then it won't matter as much. There's no working around how bad it was. Of course, there's, there's no, there's no apologizing for it or anything else. There's just, it's the first draft that they had. And since then, I think they've done a much, much better job and they've made up for it by finding some other players that have worked out in the positions that they tried to draft. They're still short a corner for the future and that's going to hurt them. They might still be short at guard and that's tried to draft. They're still short a corner for the future and that's

going to hurt them. They might still be short at guard and that's going to hurt them. And the Ed Ingram pick was one that was baffling at the time because a lot of analysts thought he should have been a fourth or a fifth round pick and they took them in the second. So the logic wasn't good either. I think the last couple of drafts have been much more logical than that one and that's all you can really do is you can just try to learn from a bad draft but sometimes it's just a random thing that there isn't anything you could do about uh jerique says uh wondering more today what happened to cam acres considering how he looks in hou. I know the wire at one point, the NFL releases a wire with all the transactions.

And it said that the Vikings were bringing in acres, but then he never signed here. So did they bring him in for something and it just didn't happen. And then he went to Houston. I really don't know. Trad cat man. Do you think Robinson has a future i saw some people projecting him to be kept over ingram i don't i mean they weren't going to keep him over ingram ingram was starting for the entire training camp ingram was always going to get his chance to start but uh tyrese robinson could i

really like the way that he passed blocked. He might not move well enough to be a great run blocker, but he did a good job in past protection in the, in the preseason games. And I think there might be something there and they should keep them on the practice squad. Definitely. Uh, Chris says, what does a UDfa contract look like has to be major cap savings not in comparison to late round picks uh in comparison to veteran free agents some i think it might it's just like a minimum 800 000 i haven't looked recently what that minimum number is for the contract but yes if you hit on UDFA and he's good for four years. Oh yeah. I mean, think about that cap difference between Ivan pace and a veteran linebacker. That's some,

that's a major savings. Hey, you're right. Does Theo Jackson get to count as a 2022 draft pick? Probably not. Uh, he was a guy that they picked up off of somebody else's practice squad, but that makes it look a little better. Uh, Steven says, do you think acres just preferred opportunity in Houston could be, that might be it. Or maybe the Vikings were concerned about,

uh, the health and his Achilles, or maybe Houston offered him a little more money. Uh, I I'm not really sure what happened with cam acres, but they're going to need somebody. They're absolutely going to need somebody. And that's what we will be keeping an eye on. So I'm sure at some point, uh, there will be, uh, let's see, Rob just jumping in after an

hour and 42 minutes, Rob, where are we, where we been? You're going to have to go back and watch the whole thing. rob says maybe i missed this but what are your thoughts on another move coming for running back yeah it's it's got to be somebody i don't know p ryan has been brought up uh there's been a handful of other names latavius murray coming back has been thrown out there i i don't know because they're going to look for somebody who fits what they want to do. And I think that means a pass protector, somebody who can be a little bit on the versatile side as a veteran backup, probably not just picking up random young players. I like the idea of Pirine and Frank Gore Jr. who looked really

good for the Bills the other day, if that's what they do. But I mean, yeah, Joe says, thank God we're done with all the Lewis scene questions. Yeah, I agree. Let, let this be the last day that we have to re litigate the 2022 draft. We can all move on after that. Um, so, uh, let's see. Oh, I'm sorry. Did I even answer the question of Rob's question? Probably not. Yeah. I just think that they're going to look for a veteran and maybe a younger player as well to fill out that room. Uh, maybe a younger player to go on the practice squad. I don't think Dwayne McBride sticking around. Maybe I just didn't see much in two years to make me think that. So I would look at all guys with experience that got cut for the Vikings for the running back position.

It looks like quite a few running backs did get chopped. So that's the best I can do on that. Very clearly, they want more complete running backs than Kenny Wongmu just being a speedster. All right. Last question, because I'm out of voice. Charles, do you think that we still look better than 6.5 for this season? I do. I do. But Sam Darnold's a quarterback. There's just no real way to tell what Sam Darnold is going to be when he has the history that he has. But I was going through and I wrote about the 6.5 number yesterday, purple insider.com.

Check that out. But I wrote about that and you gotta be really bad to get less than seven wins in the NFL. And I just don't think that their coaching and their roster is bad enough to end up too far below that. That's how, that's how I look at it right now. But it's, it's a line of demarcation for this team where if they win more than seven games, we all move on. If they win six games or less, then there will be hot seat discussions and there will be a lot more pressure on this brass

going forward. Uh, so there you go. Okay. Need to start making some taco bets yeah yeah uh milkshake bets is usually what it is for for us so we'll keep an eye out on the moves uh going forward if there's something big maybe an emergency podcast i don't know could happen uh at least one more live show i think this week maybe we'll look for th Thursday night, but I'm trying, and maybe the Minnesota Vikings will let me do this, trying to play a bunch of golf on Friday. So Vikings, if you could let me play my golf and then hopefully we all have a good weekend. And then it's football time. I still have to book my travel to New York. So I got to go do that. Thank you so much to everybody who watched and listened. Great, great crowd here to discuss this exciting cut down day. Really

appreciate all of you hit the like subscribe, use the promo code purple at underdog fantasy, check out the newsletter. I don't know, whatever tattoo my name on the side of your cheek, whatever it takes. Thanks everybody for watching. And we'll talk to you all very soon again. Thanks football.