Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings Free Agency: Best options remaining (Part 2)

Episode Date: March 10, 2026

Matthew Coller talks with Andrew Krammer and Manny Hill about the Vikings' lack of movement in free agency on Day 1 and the best players remaining with Andrew Krammer and Manny Hill. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This episode of Purple Insider is presented by Fandul. All right. Now, we bring in Manny Hill. It's been a little while. Mani's been the show. I think the last time was probably breaking down a Super Bowl. So on a day, Manny where, at least as of this moment, the Minnesota Vikings have not blown our socks off with retaining T.J. Hawkinson,

retaining Eric Wilson, and bringing in a depth cornerback. what position are you focused on now of, hey guys, knock, knock, better wake up inside Rob Brzynski's office there and get back to free agency before everything is off the table. Like, what are you looking at the most? Probably, I'm kind of looking at defensive tackle a little bit. I think just because not that you really need like a big time. splash type of player, kind of like what they did with Hargrave and Allen last year.

But I think just to add some depth, if you can just get like a quality veteran type of player on a fairly cheap deal, because obviously with the situation they're in, money-wise, you know, they can't be big spenders in free agency. But if you can get like a bargain bin type of guy, like what did what did the Texans get Sheldon Rankins for last year? What was it like $3, $4 million or something like that? I think it was maybe seven or eight. And then they just brought him back today, I think on a two year, $12 million deal.

And those guys are definitely out there. Like I was looking at Deshaun Hand, who's bounced around, you know, he's. And it's kind of a run stuffer. And that it felt like if only they had had that on the roster and not traded away for basically nothing in Harrison Phillips. But that was what was missing in the early part of the season when they played some running teams was just having that guy who could slow down. the opposing team and stuff some gaps. And it feels like that is very much necessary for where they're at. Yeah, no question.

Just because I think, I mean, obviously you have Jaylon Redmond, who's turned himself into a really, really good player and a key piece for this defense. You know, but if you could get another guy that, you know, is kind of a veteran guy that can still play a little bit, not super expensive, you plug that guy in and you kind of have a rotational type of thing with, you know, Levi Drake Rodriguez and Ingram Dawkins and some of those younger guys that you're trying to develop in that spot, just to have some depth there. Because that's ultimately what they're going to have to do now.

I think with a lot of these sort of holes that they have, you know, aside from the draft, but if you're going to spend in free agency, you're not going to be able to spend a lot. and you're going to have to make really smart economical decisions to players that are just solid that can give you some depth and and give you some moments of playing well just because almost everything they did last year in free agency while it seemed great at the time and you and I both talked about this a year ago around this time where we were excited about you know all the moves that they were making and all the money they were spending but a lot of that stuff rather was injury or just age

a lot of stuff just blew up in their face. It just was not, did not live up to what they, what they spent the money on. So now they're kind of paying that bill a little bit, having to cut some guys, having to cut, you know, Hargrave and Allen and, you know, getting stuck with having to pay some dead cap for that.

So I think just being economically sound, getting a guy in there, you know, kind of like what they did by bringing in James Pierre, of, you know, just a depth guy who's a quality guy, not a big splash, not a big name, but he can give you some quality snaps on that side of the ball and you know, and you find a way to kind of go from there.

Adam says, do you think that Grinard gets traded once Trey Hendrickson signs? That I would say is possible. Because you got Max Crosby found a home, Jalen Phillips found a home, and there might be some teams who are still

sitting and waiting to see if they could get Trey Hendrickson, but then after he's off the board, then pretty much all of the free agent edge rushers would be gone. And then Jonathan Grenard would become potentially more valuable and more sought after. And a bunch of teams that maybe missed out on this, that, or the other thing. And Philadelphia must have known that Phillips was going to go because there was a report that they contacted the Vikings. And it was a good idea for them to hang up the phone and not give the Philadelphia Eagles one of the better edge rush in the National Football League.

That one has had my intrigue quite a bit of that idea. Now, look, it is supposed to be a good edge rusher draft, and if you can get a good edge rusher, then the surplus value is absolutely enormous. But there is something that does need to be mentioned as we're trying to project onto next year, which is if you do trade Jonathan Grenard and you are asking Dallas Turner to take on the big role,

and you've lost Hargrave and Allen, which I think we all would say, okay, well, that's all right, because you can replace it with this, that, and the other thing. Those guys played like 1,500 snaps. That was one thing about them in terms of their value that even if it wasn't a flawless fit and even if they weren't the dominant players they once were, they still played a lot and they still did create a fair number of overall quarterback pressures. So now it feels like there's moving parts.

And I think that this might have to be a really good coaching job. eventually for Brian Flores because it's just hard to look at what's available and say, oh, all they need to do is just this guy and this guy and then they're good to go and they're going to be this untouchable defense. This defense has a lot to like, but if Grenard is not here, I think that it has a lot of holes that we maybe didn't expect going into this offseason. Brian Flores, that means you would have to work a lot of your magic. you would have to really live up to being, you know, the defensive coordinator that we have said that this team can't afford to lose.

You're going to have to really live up to that praise. It would be similar, I think, to what he kind of had to do in 2003 and, you know, to a lesser degree, 2004, where, you know, he had to take some guys where you've got some good players, but you've got to take some of these other guys and hopefully kind of get creative and elevate them a little bit. And again, I've mentioned, you know, LDR and Ingram Dawkins and some of these younger guys that you're trying to develop, you know, can they take on a bigger role and get better as, as players? You still have very good players on this defense. If you lose Jonathan Grenard, you still have Van Ginkle, you still have Blake Cashman. You still have two corners that are that are really solid. Jalen Redmond is emerged as a star defensive tackle. But you're going to need some of those other guys to really kind of step up. And that's going to take Brian Flores really working his magic, really living up to his reputation as one of the best defensive minds in this league. That's what it's going to take. And I think, you know, once those guys got released or once we got word that those guys were getting released, I think that was kind of the idea to begin with is that this is going to, it's going to take a little bit

more from Brian Flores, you know, not that he's not capable of it, but it's going to take some some magic a little bit just with those veteran defensive tackles, you know, being out the door. And now it's going to be even more important for him to be able to do that if they're going to move on from Jonathan Grenard. Now, they could draft, you know, whatever with whatever draft capital they get for Jonathan Grinard, if they decide to move on from him, you know, you could draft somebody and that guy steps in and maybe he kind of blows us away and he emerges as a, you know, huge presence on this defense, but you can't really bank on that.

I think you have to really, in this case, bank on Brian Flores, really working his magic and turning, you know, turning water into wine, making lemonade out of lemons and making this defense strong again. Because even regardless of who the quarterback is going to be, if it's Kyler Murray, it's looking like it's going to be Kyler Murray. If this team is going to compete in 2026, they need the defense to be strong again. would in theory, pretty obviously, be upgrading at the quarterback position, but you're still going to need that defense to be strong in order to compete. I think what Flores is going to need to do,

and we won't really know this until the draft is over and we have all the list of players, because, you know, COC might just draft a center and a wide receiver or running back and be like, well, you know, find some UDFAs, my dude. But I think that Brian Flores will probably get his piece of the draft pie. What's going to have to happen in order for them to have a defense that's in the top seven or eight again, even if there's improvements on offense, they have the ball more than they did last year, they're going to have to get some more out of these younger players, whether it's guys that they've drafted early or recently or if it's guys that they're drafting this year, like Ty Engram Dawkins, Elijah Williams.

these are players that are not high draft picks, but you're going to have to find something there. Levi Drake Rodriguez has to take another step if you're not going out and getting, and we'll see on Caleb Banks. I'm very interested in what the league ends up thinking of these defensive tackles. I'm not that impressed with the defensive tackle group

going into the draft. And I noticed that Daniel Jeremiah doesn't even have those guys in the first round. Like he's got Peter Woods and he's got Caleb Williams outside, or I should say on his big board outside of the top 32 players in the entire draft, which kind of makes me a little hesitant. I like the idea of a corner. I like the idea of a receiver, always and forever. I like the idea of even Kenyon Sadiq and bringing him in and pairing him with Hawkinson

for a year and then going forward with him. But either way you do it, even if you draft Avion Terrell. And then in the second round, you take a defensive tackle. You're still going to have to draft and develop those guys on that side of the football and you're still going to have to find some Isaiah Rogers, some Eric Wilson's that I think will come in this free agency. And Pierre is one of them that, hey, here's a veteran player who in a small sample size has been good.

But it's going to require a very, very good coaching job, which I think now we can get to because it's the end of day one here or we're closing in on it. The end of day one is now that we know some stuff, we know some information about where this team is at. We, I think, know that someone else is more likely to start a quarterback than J.J. McCarthy at this moment. We know that the backfield is likely to be limited in some way. They might draft one, but it's probably not going to be Jeremiah Love. So if it's not him, then it's going to have some limitations. I think we've got the sense that the center position might belong to Blake Brandel because all these centers have gone to other teams or they've gone

off the board. Jalen Naylor is a raider. Their punting is going to regress, manny. Yeah. What can we say about as of this moment? Because I'm always doing kind of this in my mind, like a expectation check-in.

And I've mentioned that on Fandul, the Vikings are plus 700 to win the division, which is fourth out of the four teams. Like, what's the expectation check-in? As of this moment, before they have got the quarterback and with the holes, for the rest of the off season and then kind of just where this franchise is at

in comparison to the rest of the NFC North? Well, the NFC North, I think even if you bring in Kyler Murray, you're still kind of up against it with the rest of this division because the other three teams all still have very good quarterbacks. And, you know, now, you know,

theory you bring in Kyler Murray and that's going to help, I think, close that gap a little bit. because if you roll with JJ McCarthy, it's by far in a way, it's not even a conversation. You're rolling in to 2026 with the worst quarterback in the division. Now with Kyler Murray,

it gives you kind of a fighting chance. And I think, again, it's going to go back to what they're able to do to sort of solidify some depth. We talked about on the defensive side. You even mentioned the running back room. What is that going to look like? Can you find, you know,

if you're not going to be able to get Jeremiah Love in the first round. Are you able to get like a Judarian Price who, you know, shared a backfield with Jeremiah Love at Notre Dame as a day two guy that can kind of come in and there's not a lot of pressure on him to be a 1400 yard back out of the gate. But, you know, he's he's a talented guy. He's had some explosive plays for Notre Dame as well. Can you bring in a guy like that in the draft and kind of pair him with Jordan Mason

to kind of have a nice, you know, fresh one-time? two punch in that in that room because I think regardless of who the quarterback is going to be we know that improving the running game overall as a whole is going to be really important for the Vikings to have success in 2026. So that's going to be I think an expectation for them to somehow some way, whether it's free agency or the draft, you know, address the running back room and add some some talent and some depth there. And yeah, I think with center yet, I think the best play at this point, because the free agent pool just isn't great, and you can't rely on a rookie center to come in and, you know, be great right away,

you might just have to roll with Blake Brandel and, you know, just hope that he can be solid there and not blow up, you know, your entire offense. If you get Will Fries back and he's, you know, can kind of take a step up from what he did last year, Donovan Jackson continues to develop as a left guard, and then you need your two tackles to be healthy. I think if you can get all of that, I think you can be fine with Blake Randolph at center as long as he's just solid and not a complete disaster.

So I think the overall expectation is you're bringing Kyler Murray, you compete, and Brian Flores makes, you know, again, like I said, before, lemons and turns it into lemonade, turns water into wine and and gives you a chance to really compete. And, you know, maybe one of those other teams in the division kind of falls off a little bit. You know, maybe the Bears are a team that kind of falls back to Earth a little bit. We'll kind of see, we'll see how things go with Garrett Bradbury at center for them now. That's going to be very interesting seeing him.

But, yeah, I think the expectation is just to compete. Can they win this division? I think it's possible. They would need some things to go their way. But I think it's really going to depend on, you know, can they solidify some positions, add some depth, and, you know, maybe play above what the expectations are. Folks, you may have noticed by all of my old football references

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see website for details, restrictions, and important safety information. Maybe they need to draft Caleb Banks just because Garrett Bradbury is in the division. But, you know, I mean, even if you went into free agency and did a really great job the rest of the way, let's say you get Elkton Jenkins, Rashad White, and Darnell Mooney, and Deshawn Hand, and you spend almost nothing on any of these guys, but all of them have a chance to be pretty good players, not elite or not Pro Bowl level, but all pretty solid pros.

What still is hard to get around to is finding the Vikings to be a Super Bowl contender. Now, I don't think it's that hard to look at them as an NFC North contender, because as you mentioned, Chicago just sort of had to desperately go find themselves a center and they didn't get Max Crosby and they're not, I think, doing a crazy amount so far on defense, which I kind of thought that they might. But their money situation isn't flawless.

Like they've spent a lot in recent years. They're taking on some dead cap because they were the big spending team the last couple of seasons. And they had to get rid of Tremaine Edmins. They had to trade away DJ Moore. And they have not had this huge free agency that I thought maybe they would have.

So they've got some flaws on the defensive side. the Packers have had to move on from a lot of players over the last couple of years. They have a little bit of a one-man defense at this moment. I don't think anything else is impressive about the Green Bay Packers defense, except for Edgrey Cooper, who I really like. But aside from that, Rishon Gary is gone. Even if he have faded, he was kind of a Viking killer. And Kingsley-Annegbarre is not there anymore.

He signed a $10 million deal somewhere else. Maybe everyone signed with the Raiders or Jets, probably. and they've got a lot of holes to fill. And then I look at the lions and they got a center, but they need a left tackle. So they've got a lot of holes to fill. The division could be one. But making them into a Super Bowl contender,

even as much as I have sat here and defended, you know, Kyler Murray, and I think it's a really good idea. And I think that he would be very good with this team. The timeline is really interesting. And this, I want to read this comment from V-Flow BX, who says, you're making one hell of an argument for trading Jonathan Grenard with your comments about quarterback, running back, Brandel, it might be time to get some draft compensation. I don't have a big problem with them living in a little bit of both

worlds this offseason, Manny. But when I tried to, I tried to write this today at purple insider dot football newsletter, sign up. I tried to write this today looking into the crystal ball into the future and try to figure out the team's timeline. And it's like, well, if this happens, then it's probably this timeline. But if that happens, then it's probably that timeline. Like, there's so many different directions where you could bring in Kyler. We keep saying Kyler because we think that, but we won't know until Wednesday afternoon. So we keep saying, you know, hey, it's probably going to be Kyler, but we truly don't know what's going to happen there.

So let's say it's him, though. He might play so well they sign him to a contract or he might play so poorly that McCarthy, is starting six games into the year. We just don't even really know because he's had these ups and downs and injuries in his career. And if McCarthy shows you enough or just even in, let's say, training camp, I don't think there's any competition if you get Kyler, but let's say there becomes one because McCarthy's playing so well.

Or you might have to get rid of everybody and draft someone in 2007. Like, we just don't have any idea how to project this roster out, which means to me that they should keep one eye on to the future and potentially maybe you should trade Jonathan Granard as much as I don't want him out of the locker room. He's one of the best guys there to talk with. He's one of the best players on the team. He's one of the best leaders on the team. He's absolutely beloved by Flores, O'Connell, everybody, even Dallas Turner has cited him

many times as a major part of his development. But they have to be thinking to at least some. extent long term beyond just 2026, which kind of brings me back to. We talked about Flores, but Kevin O'Connell's situation is interesting here as well, because you're going to ask for him to, I mean, if it's Murray or it's Gino Smith, or if it's J.J. McCarthy, who eventually ends up starting or if it's Kirk Cousins, none of these are just rolled the football out and that guy will do it. So he's going to have to, I think, earn his dollars as well from that big.

contract extension that he got after 2024, no matter what ends up happening here in the rest of free agency in the draft? Yeah. I mean, I think the overall expectations, again, like I was saying before, is going to have to be to compete, you know, just because we know that the Wolfs, Wilf's don't want to miss the playoffs two years in a row. I mean, every time that seems to happen, they end up firing the coach anyway. So, yeah, I think. think this is going to take some this is going to take a little bit of magic from kevin o'connell too to to try and because you're in this sort of a weird spot where you're trying to like again i'd hate to keep using the competitive rebuild type of terminology but you are kind of back

in that spot again that you were in a couple of years ago where you're like okay we've got some really good players on this team we've had to let some other guys go some older players go that were expensive. Now can we sort of piece this together and, you know, get some good, get better quarterback play than we had in 2025 and try to compete enough to get ourselves in the conversation of really seriously competing for this division. And then maybe you, you know, you get a favorable match. Let's say you do win the division in 2026.

You get a home playoff game. Maybe you win that home playoff game. go to the divisional round and you compete really hard and you come up a little bit short. I think if you're the Vikings, if you're KOC, I think you have to feel really good about that. And I think if that, if it plays out that way, I think the Wills would feel pretty good about the head coach that they have because I think it kind of shows that, okay, we can pivot a little bit, make some changes, trade away a, you know, a beloved player, you know, talking about Grenard here. and we still found our way into the playoffs and still kind of competing for this division. I think you have to feel pretty good about that.

The other part of this is, okay, well, what if you do spend, you know, a little bit in free agency, you go and get, you know, a couple of more James Pierre type of players at other positions, and then Kyler Murray gets hurt. And then you're rolling with J.J. McCarthy, and then you end up seven and ten. Then what? do you how do how are you really feeling about kevin okano at that point how are the wills feeling

about this um and and that really puts i think this organization at a crossroads and what's tricky about it is like i could totally see something like that playing out you know um but i could also again i could also see this team going 10 and 7 or 11 and 6 and kailer where he comes in, plays some of the best football of his career, and they make the playoffs, and then everybody's feeling a lot better about where where things are headed. So it's, it's going to be dicey, and there's a couple of different directions that this can go. And I think you just, if you're that organization, you just have to hope that everything kind of plays out in the, in the best case scenario. You know, I was thinking about the difference between eight

and 11 wins in the NFL is a couple of field goals, a couple of fumbles, a couple of fumbles, a couple of whatever it is, you know, contested catches to come down one way or the other. The difference between an eight and 11 win season about how people feel about Kevin O'Connell would be, I think, very, very different. Because if you bring in Kyler or Gino and you win 11 games with them, we're going to look at him and go, man, if you're a veteran quarterback and you can handle this offense, you can be here and be good. And maybe the next draft or maybe with J.J. McCarthy developing behind these guys,

there's a step there that can be taken because these were all, you know, even Kirk to some extent, but Darnold and, you know, Murray or whoever, these are all damaged goods, at least from a leadership perspective, Kirk was. And from a clutch perspective, Kirk was damaged goods. And yet those two things turned around very quickly under KOC. And then Darnold turns around very quickly under KOC. And if he did it three times, you'd be like, man, this guy, if you can't succeed under him, right? And with McCarthy, you'd even be saying, well, why don't we maybe see if he has been able to figure it out behind the scenes? Because I have not wanted to write off his career or even his Vikings career yet.

Just because he didn't have a good start to it, we've seen way too many guys succeed after a slow start to their career. So I think we'd feel really good about it. If they win eight, then you're looking around going, what is this franchise? Because you can't draft high. And I mean, even if McCarthy was coming back, like you're losing a lot of the talent that was supposed to be your supporting cast. Whereas Justin Jefferson after eight wins, is he going to feel like he wants to stick around along? It's crazy how thin the margin is between the directions of this team into the future. and I mean, I don't know if any signing over the next couple days is going to change that outside of the quarterback position.

But I was trying to kind of project and think out. It's like, man, they should. I think the will should decide, and I've always felt this way, that you should decide before the season. Okay, if nothing goes catastrophically wrong, like, are we going to move on from our coach if he misses the playoffs or not? I mean, I think you should decide before the season because everyone's just so angry when it goes sideways. ways you can make bad decisions. I think they should really set their expectations and stick with that. Like, this is what bar you have to reach as our coach.

And if you don't, well, then maybe there's consequences. But I always think, man, you got to really think long and hard before you get rid of a coach like that. Because if he goes somewhere with a quarterback that's locked in and is very good, like let's say Harbaugh loses his marbles next year and they fire him and he goes and works with Justin Herbert or something. Like, do you want that? If you don't want that, then maybe.

you don't want him fired. In the comments here, DLM says it's hard to pick a direction when we never commit to a real rebuild and are not a Super Bowl contender. And that's where I think, man, you can have your foot in both buckets. It's just harder. It's so obvious if you're, like the Raiders and what they did today, yes, some of those contracts are going to blow up. But it's so obvious what you should do is the Raiders.

What you should do is the Raiders is draft for Dano Mendoza, get every free agent you possibly can trade every you know get every asset you can for the future sign multi-year deals and try to have a good environment by the time that guy's ready to start that's what new england did they made the super bowl that's what the bears did like the viking's direction wasn't wrong last year but when it didn't work that's where you end up backed into a very difficult corner i didn't want to ask you about some other things that happened today uh third and neddie or nerdy nedri I thought it was third and nerdy, which would have been good for the show. Says, who's the biggest threat to steal Kyler at this point?

So this actually brings me to what I wanted to talk with you about, Manny. The Miami Dolphins signed Malik Willis. That was a fun discussion to have of whether you would do the Malik Willis thing. I think his price overall was extremely reasonable for the dolphins. It's kind of more of a two-year contract when you look at the guaranteed money. I mean, that's, it was three, four, 60, I think overall and maybe 40 something guaranteed very reasonable for the dolphins a great swing by them to see if they've got something there and then can build on it in the future.

I don't know if the Vikings would have wanted to afford that or to take the risk with someone who's thrown not that many passes when they already kind of have that issue with J.J. McCarthy. Also maybe a good argument for, hey, look, a guy developed behind the scenes and got a lot better, as we're saying. But two of the Falcons, Malik Willis to Miami. How do you think the rest of it plays out for the quarterback carousel?

And oh yeah, Jacoby Brissette will be once again quarterbacking the Arizona football cardinals of Glendale, Arizona. So good luck to them. Yeah, I have a blast with that. Yeah. Michael Flore.

That's going to be tough. Yeah. It's going to be rough. I just hope, like for his sake, you know, a little side note with them. I just hope that they're patient because if that's, that's looking like three and 14 again, probably. And I think that they need to give that young head coach an opportunity to really try and build something. But anyway, quarterbacks. Well, as far as like competition for the Vikings for Kyler, the only other.

team it sounded like gino's going to go to the jets which talk about a full circle moment there um you know malique to miami at feels like maybe pittsburg is the only other team i can think of and that's if aaron rogers decides to retire or go have some more iowasca or whatever i don't know what the hell he wants to do but um the Pittsburgh seems like the only other team that would, you know, if, if Rogers is not going to go back there, then, you know, maybe they pivot to to Kyler Murray. So it, it kind of feels like that's maybe the last thing to kind of drop here. I'm kind of fascinated to see where, work Kirk ends up at. You know, maybe the Raiders kind of make some sense for Kirk with, you know, you go there, he's going to start. You don't have to

rush Mendoza out there. He's familiar with Clint Kubiak, reunited with Jailen, that could be interesting. They didn't really connect a whole lot the first time around here. But yeah, it feels like all of the quarterback stuff has really kind of figured itself out. Pittsburgh seems to be the only one, the only other one besides the Vikings where it's like, okay, well, let's see what really happens there. You know, maybe they swoop in. If Aaron Rogers decides to do whatever, maybe they swoop in and go to go to Kyler. And then at that point, if you're the Vikings, then what? What do you do?

If Kyler suddenly comes off the board out of left field, do you pivot to Kirk? Do you go Joe Flacco? Do you just say we're going to roll with McCarthy with a backup in competition? I don't know. It kind of feels like if Kyler isn't the guy, then you're really kind of, I think, nervous going into 2026 if you're Kevin O'Connell.

Well, because when we, I mean, think about even from Gino Smith, perspective, if I'm Gino and you give me two different teams I could play for, one of them has a young quarterback that they drafted, who they're saying that they're not giving up on and they want me to compete with, or another team that has had such horrible quarterback play that if I'm even decent, they will worship me. And that's the New York Jets. And the Jets do have a really good number one wide receiver. No one's been able to throw him the football as of late. But they do have a really good number one wide receiver in Garrett Wilson. They brought back Breece Hall.

They've spent a lot of money on their defense so far this offseason. I think you could talk Gino into go back to New York and just play football. No one thinks you're going to win the Super Bowl, but you only get so many years in this league. If you spent one of them as J.J. McCarthy's backup because you lost the camp competition, you're going to be pretty darn mad at yourself for not signing with the New York Jets. I could see Gino having that mindset, which means on Wednesday, you better solidify Kyler Murray pretty fast

because otherwise, yeah, I mean, Kirk, it makes total sense for Kirk to go to Vegas. Start maybe, look, it might only be the first 10 games. And they might look at that division. And they might fall behind in the division and want to go to Mendoza. But if he plays really well and they're in the playoff hunt, then he could keep the job the entire year. They should not rush Fernando Mendoza at all.

And Kirk at this point in his career, he knows what's going on. He's almost 40 years old. What is he, 37? He knows what's happening. He knows that he's not a long term answer for anybody. Right. So are you going to go and who's going to play quarterback for Cleveland? I saw someone report that Dylan Gabriel is in the mix still.

I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. Who wants to? I mean, those poor guys in Cleveland, I know some of their radio people who every day have been tossing around these different ideas. What about Kyler? What about Malik? And I'm like, what? What about what?

What about Eric Tire? They might trot Deshawn Watson back out there. He might be their best option. He might be truly like you actually, they should just stick with Shadur Sanders. And if it goes like Jimmy Clausen or something with Carolina, got Cam Newton because of Jimmy Clausen. So Arch Manning to Cleveland. Oh my gosh.

What do you mean? Shador made the Pro Bowl. Yes, he was a Pro Bowl quarterback. that is very true. You know, the worst before that. The worst before that was who, like Tyler Huntley, he made it the one time. And then Shadur made it this time. I mean, my goodness.

So, but, you know, they almost have to have some sort of competition there. Joe Flacco would become an answer if all the other boxes got checked off. So for people who are, you know, they, I don't want Kyler or whatever else. Like, actually, this gets kind of, this gets kind of bleak. And I've always thought that most of the anti-Kyler people are just pro J.J. McCarthy people. And I think you can live in both of those worlds. I don't think that you have to pick aside.

I think you can look at it and say that this is actually going to be better for J.J. McCarthy if he gets some time. Because if he goes out there and struggles in the first five games, then I don't know what you do. Like, I don't know what you do with his career. then he goes somewhere else and maybe he's a backup or whatever. I think to salvage a chance that this actually turns around that he would need some time. But, uh,

man, the rest of the league was very happy today making their moves, spending their dollars prancing around. They're, they're doing emergency podcast. I'm seeing all my friends on Twitter. Oh, we're going live to react to this big signing from our team.

And I'm like, yeah, I'm on hour five of, talking about the Vikings not doing something. So what else caught your eye today in free agency? I think just everything that the Raiders did because I really like what they did. And I think, as we mentioned,

if they go and get Kirk Cousins to come in and just be the bridge guy and start so that you don't have to rush Fernando Mendoza out there, I think that just makes a ton of sense for them to do because there's no pressure, you know, unless Kirk gets hurt or something or it's just awful, which I don't think Kirk would be awful there. I think he'd be fine.

You know, there's no pressure to rush Mendoza out there and you can really play it right, play it the right way when you're trying to build around a franchise quarterback. You know, you let this sort of simmer over the course of the next couple of years, and then maybe that third year is when Mendoza makes the big jump. And, you know, you're really putting together a roster that's,

that's able to to compete. So I really like what the Raiders did, you know, getting the draft capital that they got by trading Max Crosby to the Baltimore Ravens. But I also, you know, on that same token, I do like what Baltimore did with trading for Max Crosby because it's, you know, they were one of the, they were one of the worst pass rushing defenses in the entire league. I mean, they, you know,

they were kind of at the bottom of the league in that department. And so he's really going to help solidify. that and and you know give that defense a boost that they kind of have been lacking on the last couple of years. So so that's those are the two ones that I'm really liking a lot. And, you know, everybody else just kind of felt like they were, you know, spending a lot of money and we'll kind of see how everything plays out. I, it didn't happen today. It happened a couple days ago. I love the Rams getting Trent McDuffie. Yeah. That is a. And Jalen Watson. today. Oh yeah, yeah, Jalen Watson. Yeah, another Kansas City corner there as well.

That that was just, it was like the perfect move for a team that is obviously a Super Bowl contender. They looked at, you know, what they had last year and they said, okay, well, what else do we need? Oh, we need a corner that can compete and give us a chance to shut down Jackson Smith and Jigma, because we're going to have to play them twice a year, at least give you a chance to kind of, you know, slow him down a little bit. I love that move for them. It's, they're going, the Rams are going full Rams. Again, they're saying, reach those picks again,

because they see this window now and, and they understand, like, we might only have one more year with Matthew Stafford. Let's try and go for one more run and, you know, we'll figure out what to do without those picks. You know, we survived. We gave up a lot of draft capital and assets to get Matthew Stafford to first time around. It worked out. We won a Super Bowl. And the franchise didn't fall apart after that.

They were able to sort of, you know, rejuvenate and rebuild again for another run. So I like what they, what they did a lot. They're kind of standing out. And I do, you know, we'll see what happens if Gino Smith goes there. But I don't, I don't hate what the Jets are doing. It's just, it's just like, you got to figure out, what they're going to do at quarterback. It's got to work out. And I don't know if Aaron Glenn knows what he's doing out there. That's kind of the other part of it. But, you know, on paper and some of the moves that they've made,

you know, Minka Fitzpatrick is, you know, maybe not the same player he was a couple of years ago, but he's going to add some credibility to that defense, a defense that needs a lot of help. Yes. So, you know, I kind of like what they did. But, you know, we'll see how that plays out. but mainly what the Raiders did with with the guys that they brought in free agency

and then the Rams making the big splash from McDuffie really stood out to me. The Rams are definitely in a, this is your last year. We're going to do absolutely everything we possibly can and there is no future. And maybe they'll draft a quarterback in the middle rounds and hope that they can develop that player. But I think that they've all got the sense there. I also, here's a hot take to throw out there. And if it happens, then we can go back to this moment.

And I think after Stafford retires, McVeigh is going to retire. And I think he's going to go be on TV and be Bill Cower and just or John Madden and just be very happy in his role. Or maybe John Gruden and go back to coaching 10 years later or something like that. Because that's one where you walk away. And I don't know why this example came into my mind and not other ones. But like Caitlin Clark's coach at Iowa just left after. and she was at the age where you generally retire, which is like, okay, well, that's enough for me.

Like, it's not going to get better than that. So I'm just going to, I'm going to call it a day. And it feels like they might have to do that in Los Angeles. So why not? Go all in, put all your chips to the middle of the table. And at this moment on Fandul, they have the second highest odds to win the conference, only behind the Seattle Seahawks. And, you know, with the Vikings, the Rams were in their heads last year in free agency.

Jackson Smith, Najigba is in their heads. 100% with these moves. But I also think that if you're really dealing with a one year timeline, you just got two great football players who can shut down receivers that are physical, instinctual cause turnovers. The Jets, I think at some point you just have to try to be fairly competitive. They've just been so pathetic that you have to do something.

If you're Aaron Glenn, you got no turnovers or whatever it was, no interceptions the whole freaking year. I mean, you've got to do something. You have to do something. You have to do something. I think that I think Aaron Glenn is still playing defense as if it's 2002. And I thought he was doing that with Detroit, too.

Let's rapid fire some of these, if you don't mind, go through some of these signings. We could tie them into Vikings or just give a take on it. Jalen Phillips going for 120 to the Carolina Panthers. The connection to the Vikings is that if you're Jonathan Grenard and you already were thinking you wanted a new contract, Jalen Phillips is kind of like Jonathan Grenard. He's not Nick Bosa or Max Crosby. He's not Micah Parsons or Miles Garrett,

but he is that next level down of guys who are really good at this. And he actually doesn't even have as big of a sample size as Jonathan Grenard and ends up with that much money. This is where I could see the impasse happening is when Grenard and his representation, look at that and go, you guys are going to redo our contract when this is the type of place. player who's very, very good, by the way, Jalen Phillips. But like this is the player who's making way like 10 million more than our guy.

So I think that that one does have an impact potentially on Jonathan Grenard. But did you like that for Carolina? Yeah, I did. I mean, I think Carolina, you know, again, can Bryce Young kind of take another step? It, you know, it feels like he got a little bit better in 2025 and kind of recovered from that sort of brief benching that he had, you know, a couple of years ago. But, you know, Carolina feels like a team that's, especially in that division where, you know, you just won that division, granted you were eight and nine, but, you know, Tampa Bay, what is Tampa Bay going to look like? They're losing

Mike Evans. You know, what kind of impact is that going to have on Baker Mayfield? Atlanta is, you know, we'll see what happens at quarterback. I don't know if, I don't, I mean, two is options were limited, but I don't know how that's going to play out there. Good luck, Kevin Stefansky. And then New Orleans is another team that could maybe, you know, take a little bit of a jump if Tyler Shuck goes up another level down there as well. But if you're Carolina, you feel like this division, we got to, we can maybe get a chokehold on this division a little bit over the next couple of years and continue to get a little bit better and add to our pass rush by getting a guy like Jalen Phillips and and see where that goes or see if some

of those young receivers can kind of develop for Bryce Young as well. I like it for Carolina to say, hey, we made the playoffs. We won the division in 2025. Let's try to build on that and, and go up a notch and see what happens. Rapid fire, man. Yes, I like what the Panthers did. Carolina, oddly on Fandul is plus 500 to win their division, which is last. And Tampa Bay is the favorite at plus 165, which is kind of interesting. Now Sands Mike Evans, who goes and signs with the San Francisco 49ers for a three-year contract, $20 million per year. I thought Mike Evans was going to retire and just say, thanks for the memories, Tampa Bay

Bucks. I mean, this one feels kind of risky. Let me make the joke about the, whatever it is, the electric company or something that's next to the like, no, Mike, stay away. they've got that electric thing that ruins everyone's tendons, which is not really real, but still someone on the internet put it out there. So it's got to be real. Anyway, Mike Evans to San Francisco.

I like it for them. Kyle Shanahan always figures out to get the best he possibly can out of receivers. And I think with them moving on from Brandon Ayuk. You know, Mike Evans is a guy that's really good. He's a professional. He's going to show up. he's not going to drive by the stadium and do weird things like Brandon Iuk did. So I think you'll get a little bit more professionalism in that building.

So I like it for San Francisco. I do like it for San Francisco, but it's becoming noticeable in the NFC. How many teams think that they can win for next year? And even in the Vikings case, one thing that's a little bit difficult about the Vikings conversation is, that you and I have come up in a world where people focus on, can you win the Super Bowl? If not, you should just tank. And the Vikings have never subscribed to that.

And they've always ended up with kind of the same results. But I also want to make this argument that if you were to, like, would you like a ticket to the dance, even if you're not going to win Spring King or whatever, right? And I think if you have a chance, with Kyla Murray to win the division, you should take that chance and then be at home for the playoffs and see what happens under the current construction. If they were in a very different spot, then I would change my opinion. If this was 2022 going into 2023 and they had tried to keep

everybody, I would have said, what are you doing? It's clear that you can't get there. And they made the right move getting rid of everybody. They're not there. They're not in a spot to get rid of everyone. So I don't know what else they should do other than to try to win the division this year. Oh, well, you should just let JJ play it out. Okay, but if he can't win, then you might get your coach fired and you might get your wide receiver traded. And I know there's some people that want that, but I don't know that that's what you really want. I don't know that you want Justin Jefferson going to Jacksonville or something and winning a Super Bowl with Trevor Lawrence. Like, I just don't think that I just picked a random team. But I just don't think. I just don't think.

you actually want that. So do you want a ticket to get in, at least with this group to see if they can get it done? That's the position that you're in and that you should be. I think San Francisco is kind of in a same spot with this Mike Evan signing. I have a tough time believing, especially if they're going to lose Trent Williams, which was what it sounds like, that they are a true Super Bowl contender. I don't think you're on the same level as the Rams. I don't think you're on the same level as a Seattle team that's bringing a lot of people back.

I know they're going to have a different running back there, but, you know, they've got a run blocking offensive line that was responsible for a lot of that. I just feel like you're in a spot where you kind of did something desperate because you had to. And Kyle Shanahan will make this work and they will be competitive. But it strikes me that you only do this unless you really think that you can make it happen. And there's, I mean, how many NFC teams? I'm going to count them up. How many NFC teams do we think can really, that they think they can really compete? four in the NFC North because the Vikings would not be considering other quarterbacks

other than JJ McCarthy if they thought they had no chance to compete. NFC East, Philly. So we got four, Philly, Dallas, Washington. I don't think the Giants think they're there yet, but that's seven in the NFC. Tampa Bay for sure thinks that they can. The Falcons shouldn't. They, no. New Orleans should not.

They spent, they got Ryan right today. So. Damn it. I know. They did get E.T.N. I don't think they think they can really compete yet. So let's not count them. So we got four, seven, Tampa Bay, Carolina.

I think Carolina thinks they can. Carolina's trying. Spending that much money. So now we're at what, nine, four, seven, nine. And then in the West, all three. That's 12 teams in the NFC who are going into the season that think that they can really, really actually win something. Is that crazy?

75% of the conference things that they can compete. And there's only seven spots. There's only seven playoff spots. So five teams that think they can compete in 2026 are going to be extremely disappointed. At least five teams are going to be extremely disappointed. Don't you like that I blamed you for the lack of rapid firing some of these big signings? Kenneth Walker to the Kansas City Chiefs. Love it for them.

Um, they had to, they, they, they needed to upgrade the running back room. And Pacheco's okay. But I mean, Kenneth Walker is that dude, as he showed in the Super Bowl. And, um, really, really talented player. And, you know, Kent, Kansas. I know it's easy to forget about them. And, you know, we'll see if how healthy Mahomes is going to be to start the year. He might not be.

Um, but when he is ready to play and sounds like they're going to get Travis Kelsey back, I'll be curious to see if they maybe use a draft pick on a tight end, knowing that Travis Kelsey is kind of at the end to kind of groom him under underneath, underneath him. But for Kenneth Walker, I love it for him. Congratulations to him and getting paid. I love, even though you're not supposed to pay running backs, I do love seeing running backs get paid because it's like, dude,

who knows how long your career is going to be. Get that bag if you can. So good, good for Kenneth Walker. And he's going to a team that obviously is looking to contend again and, you know, bring back their great quarterback. So I love it for Kansas City. It'll solidify the run game and take some, take some pressure off of Mahomes as he comes back from the injury. I think it was a big contract.

It was not an absurd contract. It wasn't like they treated him as if he was Sequin Barclay. The question I have about Kansas City, for several years, we just acted like team building didn't apply to them. It was like, okay, well, they can just get anyone and get Mike Remmers and Andrew Wiley and whoever else on the offensive line and Orlando Brown and they'll just make it work. And at wide receiver, they can get Juju Smith Schuster and just make it work. And on defense, they were good, but they weren't spending huge amounts of money.

They were kind of keeping their own guys. And everything they drafted turned to gold on that side for a little while. But now, you know, they lose their starting corners. And they, yes, they're getting their running back, you know, and so forth. But their quarterback is maybe not going to be ready for week one. Patrick Mahomes coming off the ACL. That's going to be pretty tough. It, it's hard for me to still put Kansas City.

As much as Mahomes deserves all the benefit of the doubt, still put them in a spot where I would say, guess that's a top Super Bowl contender. Of course, they are as long as they have Patrick Mahomes. And Kenneth Walker helps this a lot because you could tell what teams were doing to Mahomes over the last few years. They were just dropping everybody back and being like, all right, drop back and pick us apart. And he was able to do it a lot and control the ball a lot. But it was so much harder than when he was hitting deep shots to Tyree Kill. So now, if you can make them pay time and time again with your running back, That's going to be a big deal for them.

I think their offensive line is okay. They've never really recovered from letting go of Joe Tuny. And that's what they've really run into is just this kind of wall of your guys got old and expensive. And even with the greatest quarterback, if he's not quite the same as he was a few years ago or the circumstances are hurting him or the leagues figured out some things. And instead of God mode, he's just great. then in that division with two other really great franchises,

you can end up out of the playoffs. I don't know if I'd have them out of the playoffs right now, but I wouldn't be shocked if they missed it again. Yeah, well, again, that's going to depend on like how many games, if any at all, does Mahomes miss to start the season? And do they fall into a hole because I don't know, who's their backup going to be? I mean, is it going to be Gardner Minshu again?

I don't know. to the Cardinals today, so I don't, I actually don't know. Oh, the Cardinals are totally cardinaling. Yes. Oh, yeah. Oh, that cardinaling hard. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, the other thing, too, is, you know, we talked about Brian Flores, maybe having to work

a little magic with the Vikings defense. You know, Steve Spagnolo might have to do that, too, with, you know, with them losing the two corners. You might have to kind of work some magic a little bit with that defense. You know, Chris Jones is, he's older, you know what I mean? Maybe not quite as good as he once was. Um, you know, Travis Kelsey is older. You know, they've got some older guys and they're,

they're trying to hang on to, to something here. And of course, you've got the greatest quarterback in the world when healthy. Um, so obviously you have to do that. Um, but, you know,

the other thing is, you know, can they, they, you know, they kind of remind me a little bit of, you know, when the Patriots had that first sort of dynasty run, the three and four years. And Brady was just winning Super Bowls with D. branch and David Givens and, you know,

whoever else they had at tight end. But then they went through a couple of years where they couldn't really rely on those type of receivers and they had to make a big splash and get a Randy Moss type of player to kind of help that offense and rejuvenate them. Is Kansas City going to have to do something like that again to kind of boost that wide receiver room too? Because that's another part of this offense that where

we've seen it kind of catch up to them a little bit now in the last couple of years, even two years ago or two seasons ago when they went to the Super Bowl. You kind of saw it like they didn't, Mahomes didn't really have that true number one receiver to rely on. And it, you know, they got to the Super Bowl, but that really kind of hurt them against Philadelphia because Jalen Hertz had that. He had two guys that were fantastic to throw the ball to. Patrick Mahomes doesn't really have that right now.

I mean, Rushie Rice is a solid player, but he's not great. You know, they need to find that great guy. Maybe they get in a conversation with AJ Brown. I don't know. Maybe. Still a lot of moving parts, Manny. I mean, we're only in our number nine of or whatever day one of free agency. There's a long way to go.

So I appreciate your time and popping in and giving your perspective on Vikings free agency, which is yet to happen. Now, I will say, here's what you'll hear from teams is, hey, retaining our own players is a free agent move. So had the Vikings signed some other free agent linebacker to three years, 22 million and not Eric Wilson, it would have felt a little more exciting, but it doesn't. Not that I'm not happy for Eric Wilson or him coming back didn't deserve it, but it doesn't have the same.

Wow, they just signed some big player. But I also look at, I was just scrolling as. we're talking, seeing if there was anyone else that I really need to throw at you. I see a lot of moves that you can see blown up in people's faces. I mean, as I'm going through this, I'm like, um, are you sure that you want to pay Adafay away $25 million per year? Like, are you sure that that's what you really want to do when Baltimore got rid of him after drafting him?

And even with ETN, four years 52 is just a lot for a guy that's kind of 4.3 yards per carry the Titans again, spending all the money on all these guys as they've done so many times. At least it makes sense this time, but I don't know about, I don't know about some of the spending that's going on. So I think even like a Rashid Shaheed, three years, 51 million for a guy. It's kind of a part returner and a bit player. The prices were very high. There's very few players that were really popping.

And I just am going to kind of come to the conclusion that, it might be better for you not to overspend, which is exactly what you've done in the past many times and just play it a little bit on the safer side. It kind of reminds me there was an NBA off season. I want to say it was maybe 2017, 16 or 17. Where they had to spend all the money? They had to spend all the money because the cap went up just like way up.

And then you saw guys like Timothy Mosgov get like, 17 million dollars a year. I think an old Luwold Dang got a big contract from, I think, the Lakers or something like that. And it's just because everybody had a bunch of cap space. But there wasn't like the superstars weren't really on the move that much. And so it was just like all of these just sort of role players and seven foot centers who average like seven points a game that were getting paid big contracts. Yeah, you know, you kind of wonder if this officer. season is going to be the same kind of thing.

I like a lot of what, again, what a lot of what the Raiders did. Linderbaum, I think, is just getting, getting him outstanding A-plus move because he's still young and he's going to be great for them and great for Mendoza going forward. But yeah, some of these other moves, you're like,

eh, good luck. Stay healthy and maybe he's good, but we'll see. Mani Hill, we will definitely talk again very soon. Maybe when the Vikings have themselves a quarterback. What do you think? Does that work? that works for me. I'm excited if it's Kyler Murray. It'll be, uh, it'll be entertaining in 2026 to say the least. Yes. Thank you very much, Mani. We will talk soon, my friend. You got it.

Football. Football. Yeah, that's the thing about Kyler Murray and the idea of bringing in Kyle Murray, which is the franchise is in a spot right now where they are still very much good enough to win the division. And if you look at last year, I know there's going to be some changes from last year. But even if you look at last year, you go, they were, they were close. They weren't a million miles away from potentially winning the division. And they have a good coaching staff. They have one of the best, if not the best defensive coordinator in the entire NFL. And when Kevin O'Connell has had veteran quarterbacks, I mean, it's, it's worked out. Oh, sorry, I still have my Twitter on the, on the page. I was just, just scrolling to see if I,

missed anything. Hey, if I scroll up just a little, can you see Assaysia Tomoa? Can I laugh at something real quick today? Just real quick. The Steelers kept Assaysia Tomalow. The Panthers kept a Caleb Evans. The Texans resigned Ed Ingram. Vedarian Lowe ended up signing a contract, I think with San Francisco for multiple years. The 2020 draft was a success, folks. I don't know. know what you were looking at. The 2022 draft got all sorts of second contracts. And that kind of made me chuckle today that the players that the Vikings let go, a lot of them stayed with their teams or got a decent size contract somewhere else. And I'm not saying it was actually a success because the top two guys did not, you know, get any press today. Lewis Seen and Andrew Ruth

Jr. But it's funny to see like that there's a little bit of you have to also commit to succeeding at a draft if you're going to succeed at a draft you can't just bring in a vadarian low and then just get rid of him uh or draft in a sasea tomow and just get rid of him if if you have no plans to develop that player then you probably won't succeed in developing that player which is what's happened quite a few times and the same thing goes for a caleb evans so yes bring quaysie back and call the 20 and look one of his picks jaylon naylor one of those 2022 picks ended up with a huge contract today. It was a success, folks. 2022 was a win.

It is true, though. In the next phase of this thing, you got to commit. You have to commit. And sometimes that's going through some tough times with a younger player and some frustrations. And hey, the guy's not there yet. But if you bail on everybody, then you end up with a team that has to be taped together with undrafted free agents and taped together with, you know,

a big name free agents that you're spending on or just hope, I guess, that, that those top picks work out. But even though the top picks have worked out, they haven't had enough. So you really have to dedicate to, we're going to stack draft capital and we're going to develop those players. Because when you see multiple members of the worst draft class that you've maybe ever had, showing up on other teams and staying with them at least in some sort of role, it's at least evidence the guy could be in the league.

I'm not saying a Tomoa or Vodarian Lowe or these guys would have been stars, but if you just cut everybody, then you're going to end up bringing in other guys who probably don't have any better chance to actually succeed as depth at those positions rather than developing them. So here's what I want to know from you guys for the rest of the check. I figured we'd continue to hang around. And thank you so much, Truckin, for the super chat. the fact that Lowe and Ingram got paid with other organizations, and we got nothing out of them as an indictment on Quasi and the organization.

I mean, Quacey? Is it Quasi? Or is it the coaches or, well, look, I mean, Ed Ingram, I still don't see it. I still look at the data and see one of the worst pass blocking linemen who got a lot of money from a team that can't figure it out on the offensive line. Nonetheless, is it the general manager or the coaching staff who, was not at all interested in developing younger players. That's really my question is if your

coaching staff is always not happy with how far these players are along and is just moving on and not putting the time into developing them because you're always in win now mode. This is kind of what you get. And these aren't, these aren't stars. But Vadarian Lowe can play in the league as a swing tackle. And last year, you had to go out and hunt for a swing tackle because you didn't want to develop him over a couple of seasons. And there's been a lot of examples of that. You're bringing in James Pierre, who I'm sure is a good, you know, backup type player, but there's been how many other guys, whether it's Nashan Wright or Caleb Evans,

who have come through here and they don't have time for them, move on, bring in a veteran, start the veteran. Is that the best approach? Not for the future. It's not. Not going forward. It's not. maybe you could justify it in the past because they were so much in win now.

But if they want to have a hand in both buckets of win now and start thinking toward the future, then the players you draft this year, next year, et cetera, you're going to have to focus on trying to get the most out of them. And 10K beers, you're right. I mean, you're right. We didn't even see Vedarian Lowe. He was just, they got rid of him almost immediately. I think it might have even been his rookie camp that they got rid of him.

that's what I'm saying like you have to give them some chance assaysia toomo and i don't know these guys maybe maybe they didn't like any of their personalities or fits or whatever i'm sure there's some reason every time but you start to add up and go well you know they kept the Caleb evans and he's not a star but he's on the team and you know they kept the toomo oh and these aren't joke organizations it's not like you know carolina got back in the playoffs and the patriots developed low and the Steelers are keeping at tomelow like these These aren't, these aren't Arizona. So I've thrown a lot of shots at Arizona.

Maybe I should say Cleveland, the Jets. But it's not like these are horrible, horrible teams that kept these guys. It's, it's not that I think that they would have changed the fate of the franchise. I just think it's about a mindset that they've had over the last couple years that might need to shift a little bit as they go forward. And it's also, if you. pin all of draft failures on one person, and then you didn't try to really develop some of the players who had enough talent to be in the league, well, you're going to get draft misses if you're

not really attempting to keep those guys and succeed with those guys. That's kind of the point about all the different players from that draft that have ended up sticking in some way or another. Here's what I want to know from you guys as we continue to go forward. And Scott, now's the best time to draft O'Neill's replacement could be. The tricky part about that is, so it is a good tackle draft at the top, it seems. The tricky part about that is, do you extend O'Neill? Because, well, he has had some injuries still at top, what, at the right tackle position? Definitely top 10.

I mean, top seven right tackles in the league. So you're going to. And look, I am in favor of. longer term thinking. I'm in favor of longer term thinking, but if you draft a tackle there and then clearly you can't play him. So you draft to tackle O'Neill plays unless you're trading O'Neill, which doesn't make a lot of sense in a season where you want to win. And you've kept Hawkinson and you've kept Wilson older players. So you're keeping O'Neill. You're just having your other guy on the bench and not getting anything out of that player in 2026. It's okay if you're moving on for

O'Neill and you want to take a long term, maybe they should split the difference with a middle round pick, but those are hard to get starters out of. I think the tackle position probably for this team is you wait until the wheels come off and then you draft a tackle. So probably not this year, probably next year. That would be my guess. No patience. Maurice, yeah, I mean, that's right. Bob, we need to draft a gunner since Felton is wide receiver three. We'll kind to have to see who wide receiver three is. Don says historically the cards of the worst team ever ripped them every day. That's fair.

That's fair. They are absolutely horrific. Oh, a low was in his second year. Okay. But I don't think we ever saw him actually play a, did he play it down for the Vikings? I don't know if he ever did. If he was ever active. But I mean, your point about the Cardinals is fair.

Jake Plummer once upon a time went from a Cardinal who could barely win to a Denver Bronco who won 13 games. The Jets and the Cardinals are pretty, pretty similar. The Magic Man, Ty Felton gets some playing time next year. I would expect so. It's going to really depend on his own development. And I think we're going to find out what they think of Ty Felton, depending on how much they invest.

But they've already let all the wide receivers go off the board. I don't think Jalen Naylor was going to stay here because of opportunity. in Las Vegas, he could be wide receiver two for them, probably, and have a chance to catch 50 or 60 balls as opposed to 20 or 30, but they didn't like break the bank to try to keep Jalen Naylor. What do they do there? Are they going to get like a darnel Mooney or somebody who is a fill in type player for that spot and then draft someone? I am in favor of drafting someone in the, I think the second round of this draft is going to have a lot of good wide receiver talent. I'd like to see them think about it there in the second round?

So does Felton get his chance or not? I don't know. We have seen players like him emerge, though, in that role specifically with Jefferson and Addison as wide receiver 1 and 2. Dumer K.O., the best time to do the O'Neill extension after the draft. I don't know when the best time. The best time is probably whenever he wants to sign the extension. I think that he can continue to be a top 10 right tackle for the next.

three years. So you just stick with that. Romeo Dobbs, I'm intrigued by Romeo Dobbs because I think in a wide receiver three role, he'd be awesome. But I'm also wondering what the league is going to pay for him. And I'm curious what, I mean, what the athletic has for his, I wonder about what do they have for his projection? They projected him at four years, 61 minutes. So I don't think that they're going to go that direction. I think it would be much more along the lines of a Hollywood Brown, like a one-year type of deal, and then maybe draft someone and take an approach of a bunch of different people competing and see if Ty Felton becomes the guy. And just, it's funny.

Like a lot of you are kind of agreeing with the point of, yeah, they need to be patient and yeah, they need to take their time. But what the hell is up with that Ty Felton? It's like, wait a minute. And look, patience doesn't solve all the problems. It doesn't. It doesn't mean every one of these guys would have been the difference between nine wins and 14 wins or something last year. It's just with someone like Ty Felton, you might need to see if it works. You might need to see if it works with Felton and not go out and get some other veteran because you believe that they're going to learn the offense quicker or something.

Like, you might need to give it a try. Well, the Vikings get all sorts of former Packers. That's like a tradition. He was in four. Okay, he was in four games for the Vikings, but just as like special teams, I don't remember him ever starting. Yeah, his first start, okay, was in New England. Thank you.

Vedarian Lowe. But I didn't remember him ever starting for the Vikings. Put some respect on Neil Lomax's game on his name. Neil Lomax was, they were good then, I guess, yeah, for a time. They were competitive. It's been a really long time, a very, very long time. Matt says mid-round OT makes sense. Yes, it does.

They need even a swing tackle, though, for right now. Third and Nedry, I might just call you third nerdy because it makes a lot of sense. How about Nick Cross as a safety if Smith retires? I like that idea. and now I'm just curious about what the athletic is projecting for all these guys that we're talking about because cross was on my list three years 21 was the projection can you see that I think you can kind of see that on the screen yeah there it is three years 21 million for cross I would do that yeah I would do that if Harrison Smith is going to retire

or if not I mean because the other options are Theo Jackson J. Ward. I like where Jay Ward is at. I think he could be a starter, potentially. The way that he's developed has been impressive. But Cross played all of last season and was physical and is a good blitzer and I think fits well with what they want to do. If it was three years 21 million, then go for it. Bradley, what did Naylor get? Was it three for 30? I think it was a little more than that, wasn't it? Was it? Sorry, here we go. Three for 35 was what Jalen Naylor got. Three for 35.

Good deal for him. Great deal for him. I was on Vegas radio just before I popped on here. They were asking me, and it was like, you can't say enough good things about a guy like Jalen Naylor who works really hard for it and was willing to do whatever it took. Never was asking for more footballs thrown in his direction.

Just a really solid player who I think could have been better here if he had been given more opportunity, because when Addison was out in 2024, he played very well. And they probably could have given him the ball a little bit more, even on some of those handoffs or quick stuff, just never really materialized because he was kind of a clear-out type of player. But I would have liked to have seen him do that a little bit more when he was here. And I think in Las Vegas, when you look at their other wide receivers,

he's going to get a lot of opportunity. And maybe Kirk will be the one who's throwing him the ball. Felton was a quacy move cost us. Cam Scadaboo, I'm not that concerned about Cam Scadaboo. I mean, I think he was okay, but I didn't think he, I thought he was kind of a player that everybody likes, but I'm not sure that he was wildly above average. I totally agreed with the pick of Ty Felton. Exactly what I'm just saying is you have to give these things time and let them play out.

Because on Jalen Naylor's first year, you wouldn't have said there was anything there. And his second year, you wouldn't have said anything is there. That's why, whoever it was earlier that said you draft for a. couple of years out. You're right. You draft for a couple years out. And if he's Keenan McArdle's idea, then I like it because Keenan McArdle is very good. He's got a plan for these guys. And when were they supposed to play felt and all the receivers were healthy last year? When was he supposed to play? Why isn't he in there? Why isn't he? Well, who was hurt? They were in there. Um, the magic man. Do we want Harrison back next year? I'm guessing overwhelming amount of fans do. And I agree.

Well, the one concern that you have is just that you don't want to see it go bad for a player who's been that great. And there were some moments last year where I did kind of wonder, is it fading? And then the resurgence from Harrison in the second half of the year, like, oh, yeah, okay. Now he's back to 100% and this is the dude again. That was really fun to watch. and going back on tape each week and watching to mess with quarterbacks and watching and make plays and the acceleration was still was still cooking, which was very good. And I thought this is, this is great to watch, man.

This is like when a 38-year-old baseball pitcher comes out and throws a gem, like how cool is that when the guy, you know, not the physical skill, but on the savvy, he's only throwing 92 out there, but he's still striking people out. It's great. if there's another step lost, that's pretty tough for Harrison Smith. But I also think that if he continues to play like he did in the second half of last year, the defense is just much better with him. It's just much, much more dynamic with him out there, making changes, making calls, blitzing.

And if he felt good about where he came out of last season, then maybe he will come back this year. Blind Shadow, maybe Felton will be this year's KJ Osborne. he had one reception as rookie year. That's exactly what I'm talking about. Felton didn't do anything as a young player and neither did Osborne. They always draft them a year before they really need them and then develop them. And it was what, week one against Cincinnati, 2021, where KJ Osborne blew away his previous years total because of opportunity also.

They got him the football. Felton is an exciting talent with the football on his hands. It's just you got to get him up to speed, ready to go to play next. year and to compete for that wide receiver three spot, but I'm not down on somebody just because they were buried on the depth chart and have potential. And it does matter that he was very good at the gunning. It does matter. First of all, that's important for a field position, which the Vikings were good at, but also it tells you something about the guy. It tells you he really wants it. It tells you he's willing to take kind of a beating there in order to really get there.

Justin says, I think McCarthy and Murray together can be a good quarterback room. People just have to set aside their labels. Look, Kyler Murray, for whatever people want to say about him, and a lot of it's uninformed, and if you listen to the interview that I had the other day with the Cardinals analyst, one of the things that he pointed out was that the whole video game clause or whatever people called it about he must watch four hours of film or something. One of the reasons that that was put out there was that the Cardinals, a tremendously successful organization with unbelievably wonderful leadership,

put that out there as like a screw you to his agent because they were making life very difficult on the Cardinals and negotiations. So something that became synonymous with Kyler Murray was more the franchise acting like children, I guess. I mean, the Vikings have gone to battle with plenty of players over the years, and Rob Brzynski's been at the center of that. They haven't leaked stuff out about their own player and tried to make him look bad in public.

But of course, the guy who did that doesn't have his job anymore and no one has hired him since. So he must be a wonderful general manager. I mean, I don't know. It's just that franchise and that whole thing. But Murray is a pro quarterback who has run multiple different types of of offenses with relative success in the NFL. And with J.J. McCarthy, well, I don't think that Kyler Murray, if he's the

quarterback, would put his arm around him as far as he could get it. Short joke, I don't think he would put his arm around J.J. McCarthy and say, brother, I'm going to help you learn the NFL. I think Kyler's coming here to become a franchise quarterback in Minnesota if he comes here. But I also think that going back to the sideline and seeing how Kyler operates the offense and a lot more, I'm telling you, I've watched a lot more of it's in rhythm than you think. You think of him because of his most highlight, spectacular play scrambling around, way more of it. I've shown you the numbers about two and a half seconds.

I've watched it back. Just go watch. Just go watch a full game. Just for the heck of it. If you got time, do it while you're driving. No, I'm just kidding. That's a joke. But just go back.

Like, watch, you want to see an imperfect but good Kyler Murray game. Watch week one against the Saints. watch how a lot of it's in rhythm and then sometimes he's amazing and sometimes he drives you crazy and that's Kyler Murray and that's most of his stuff. But much more of it is take the snap, couple step, drop back, let go with the football, a lot more than you think when you think of Kyler Murray. So I think that McCarthy, who wants to be a playmaker watching Kyler, even if it's learning some stuff not to do from Kyler, would be really beneficial.

And I also just think every single day, healthy. How many months has J.J. McCarthy, over the last couple of years, been able to put together months where he could say, here's what I worked on, dropping back, setting myself the right way, and throwing with proper technique to both sides of the field and the middle of the field. Timing with wide receivers. How many months has he been able to do that? He missed six months due to the meniscus injury and then was recovering. Then he's right into OTA. as QB1 and minicamp is QB1. So you're not really developing at that point

because you're learning the offense and trying to be the starting quarterback. He gets two weeks, then it's five weeks gone. He gets a couple more weeks, then it's another week out. Then he comes back, it's a couple more weeks, then it's a half a game and a half a game. How many weeks, how many months, he could finally stack up

from the end of last season all the way through an entire year of trying to get better at this, well, he's healthy and not trying to play catch up all the time. That's why I think it would be better for him. Aaron says, didn't Romeo Dobbs have a mental health thing in the middle of the year last year, like he was AWOL? I don't recall that.

I think that was last, okay, so last year, I think that was in 2024. I don't know if it was a mental health thing. I honestly don't know. But I know that there was an issue with him and maybe the team. And I recall the incident, but I don't remember exactly what that was, what that was about. Is there a deadline for Harrison Smith? I don't know that either if there's a deadline. Is he working on a new deal with the Vikings?

And that's why they're not making a move here. Or could we get something really soon? Has he not told them? We just don't know. We did not have really time with all the other things to ask about at the combine. Had there not been a GM firing and quarterback issues and all, that sort of stuff, that probably would have been on the list to find out where Harrison Smith stands, but I don't know.