Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings Free Agency: Best options remaining (Part 3)

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. Johnny says these Murray haters are the same people who hated Darnold. They think that JJ is better. They're crazy. Well, yeah, I mean, there's no, there's no stacking the two up against each other in terms of resumes and even talent. I mean, Kyler Murray is a number one overall pick. Like, he's more talented.

But the similarity, yeah, is from last year. I don't blame anyone who wants. And this is what you should say. Like before you make your anti-Murray argument, just say, hey, I really want JJ to succeed. So this is kind of why I'm saying this. Because there are very reasonable critiques of Kyla Murray. There are definitely reasonable critiques watching him back. And I'm happy to discuss them because I have now watched a lot of it back and looked at all the data and everything.

But I never would blame anybody for wanting to. hang on to, I really want J.J. McCarthy to succeed. Because when you go back through the last, let's just even call it 10 years, let's even call it since I arrived as a major moment in Viking history. No, I'm just joking. But let's, my perspective is fine with the entire history, but I've been here for 10 years, which gives you a nice sampling of what it's been like for Vikings fans. I arrive here, Teddy gets hurt.

He's supposed to be your guy. And even though there were people who would say, Teddy doesn't throw enough touchdowns or whatever, here's what you all knew. He could win. You could win with him. He was kind of like a Bow Knicks type discussion where is it going to light your pants on fire to watch him?

No, but you can get there if you got a good enough team. And Teddy did that. Put him in position to win a playoff game. You know what happened. but they should have won the playoff game. And then going into 16, Teddy's looking improved in training camp. Teddy is looking improved with the arm strength. And there's a couple throws against the Chargers in the preseason game where you go,

okay, he's taking a step forward and he's ready to go. And then you're thrown into total utter madness with Sam Bradford showing up here with a two-year contract, but then getting hurt, then Case Keenham, then Kirk Cousins. and every year you're asking, do you really want to keep going forward with Kirk Cousins? You get through that and finally to the guy. And this is for, there are people who have followed this team since Fran Tarkaton or Joe Cap who have been watching them play this game with the quarterback position for decades and decades. But even if you're watching it for the last 10 years, even if, even if you're 17 years old

and your entire life of watching the Vikings is hoping for a franchise quarterback that you feel like your franchise is really locked into because it never felt that way with Kirk Cousins even from day one. It felt like, you know, mercenary type of quarterback who is here as long as he'll keep getting paid. And the team always hemmed and hawed about whether they wanted to extend him and then gave him short extensions and didn't really publicly say he's our true franchise quarterback and things like that. So you've dealt with this, this whiplash at quarterback this whole time. why would you not want JJ to be the guy? And I remember saying that to Drew McGarry on the show,

you know, a huge Vikings fan, great writer last year before the season. And it was like they finally got to the spot that they never get to. And then to have it feel like it never happened. It never, like it just was a failure to launch. It never happened. It was like two games and then it's gone. And then he comes back and has this exciting game against the lines. and then it's gone and then it's over and then you're looking around, I can totally understand

this. Then you're looking around going, wait, it's over? How could it be over? It just started. It never even got a chance. I feel you when it comes to that. The way I look at it is if someone is not had that much time to develop and is that far behind where McCarthy was where you need to be as an NFL quarterback and we're not going to play

the game of, well, if you do this stat and that's that and you carry the one, and you squint and you only look at it with one eye, it's fine. Now, we know what happened last year. Then you do have to as the Vikings go get a different option for this season. But I understand why a lot of people would not want to grab onto that and say, all right, let's go. On to the next retread quarterback. Totally understand it.

Because it feels like there's always a cap on that. And with JJ, it didn't feel like that. It didn't feel like, oh, well, there's a limitation here. You can only go so far. This can only work out so well, which has kind of been the case in the past. Maurice, how you feel about Keaton Mitchell? Love that idea. Absolutely love that idea.

He is blazing fast. You guys are funny. He is blazing fast. And everybody in Baltimore, who I follow and who I've talked to, is just sort of perplexed at why they didn't give the ball to Keaton Mitchell more often. at his speed, sub 4-4, explosive, it's game speed, really like it. As a duo with Jordan Mason, you need to find somebody to pass protect, but that's the kind of lightning explosiveness that I think they should be looking for.

Dumer K.O. If no one watches the Cardinals, did any Cardinals history happen? And Bradley says, do it. Watch the film while you're texting and driving at the same time. Do not do that. Jay, KOC will draft in 26 to start now. His job is on the hot seat. Well, is KOC totally in command of the draft?

Or is, because Rob Brzezinski has final say. So if they wanted to trade up, hey, we're going to send next year's second round pickup to get Jeremiah loved. Does Rob Brzezinski say, hold on now. We're not doing that because that's going to be a major saccharacter. to the future. He does have those keys in his hand. He did confirm that for us at the Combine. And I thought that was the biggest revelation of the Combine was that he said, yeah, I have, I have the, I can slam the gavel and say, okay, we're not doing that. Jared said, I've called myself a professional Kyler Murray Hater over the years over the past couple weeks. I've

learned that compared to most people, I'm a big fan of Kyler. Well, it's just, just about put some respect on Dan Deirdorf's name. Thank you. Third, third and nerdy. You deserve a borough trade for this. Yeah, I think so. Isaiah says, what do you think about Jerome Ford? He's only 26. Okay, I didn't know he's only 26. It feels like there's a world where they can get someone like Keaton Mitchell, who I think would be more of an impact player. and someone like Ford or Emmanuel Wilson who is under the just a guy, but you could definitely play them in games. And he feels like that.

And that looks like what's going to end up having to happen. You'd prefer someone in the Latavius Murray kind of range that you could play for 150 snaps or 150 rushes and feel good about them and have them pass protect. In fact, what's Latavius up to? You could still ball, right? but in terms of drafting for need now, this is what I'll keep saying is that they could draft anything and it will qualify as a need. I mean, truly, other than trading up for Jeremiah Love, they could draft just about anything

because they haven't filled needs in free agency. And even if they go out and get Keaton Mitchell, even if they go out and get some of the guys, you know, you mentioned Nick Cross, Nick Cross doesn't negate Dylan Thineman or, you know, a James Pierre does not negate, you know, avionnese. Torell, I don't know of any position that does that they could sign from here on out, because there's just not enough big names that they could sign where I'd go, okay, well, they're definitely not drafting X, Y, or Z. I'm not sure there's anybody outside of, I don't know, like Trey Hendrickson or something.

If you're, I think that a lot of people struggle to be, there was a friend of mine who used to say that everyone is wrong about Cam Newton. because the people who liked Cam Newton thought that he was flawless, just untouchable, best quarterback in the league. If you don't like Cam Newton, you're just a terrible person. And then there were other people

who thought Cam Newton was terrible and just, oh, I'd never want that guy. He's a bad leader, which of course was wrong. Jeremiah Searle's played with him, by the way, is wrong. Or he, you know, he's too much flash or he can't throw well enough or whatever. took a team to a Super Bowl. He's an MVP's incredible football player, but he was not perfect. And I kind of look at that with Kyler Murray. Like, everybody is kind of a little wrong about

Kyler Murray. I mean, if you think that Murray is this home run number one overall draft pick who is basically the most exciting player to ever take a snap, well, you're wrong about that. And there are some folks, I suppose, who are really on the Arizona side willing to just apologize for anything Kyler Murray did because now showing up in my feed all the time on social media. Unfortunately, in a time like this, I have to be on social media nonstop. So I kind of see everything. And there's a lot of over-defending Kyler Murray in Arizona. But if you think that he's not a top 15 quarterback, then you're probably just either

ill-informed or haven't paid much attention or just want J.J. McCarthy to start because that's what the facts would indicate. So it's everybody's kind of wrong about Kyler. third and nerdy says Kirk drove me crazy for years. I can handle Kyler driving you crazy. Yeah, I mean, it's going to drive you crazy in a different way. It's going to drive you crazy in the, hey man, why didn't you throw that? Although that happened with Kirk a lot.

It's going to drive you crazy in, just for example, the last game I watched was the opener 20, 25. There's a play where his offense, for some reason, actually, there's multiple plays in this game, completely leave somebody unblocked. I don't know what happened. Just didn't have the right protection or, I don't know. Someone comes completely unblocked. Kyler thinks that he can duck them and run away. And he can't.

And he gets like a 15-yard loss. It's similar to what Sam Darnold would do sometimes. It runs backwards. And that can just blow up in your face. So that's the kind of drive you crazy that's going to happen there. You said sometimes, yeah, that's what I mean about, well, sometimes. I mean, J.J. McCarthy, that drove people crazy as well. Bradley, I watched Arizona play.

Kyler can be exciting. Bradley is the first one here to have watched Kyler actually play. Thank you, Bradley. I joke, but I do have some suggestions for people if you are interested in the highest end of Kyler Murray. His game against San Francisco last year was really good. You want to see something insane. His game against the Los Angeles Rams at the beginning of 2024 is insane. It's mind-blowing to watch that game.

So that's in there. And that's what at least makes you intrigued. Jude said, if no one good is there, it would trade down a couple spots. Hope you can still get the safety out of Oregon. Dylan Thineman is who you're talking about there. I like the idea. I think it would be a great fit in Flores' defense. I'm really interested to see.

And he goes for even if they brought in a veteran safety, they could still draft Thinem. And because he has versatility positionally, and they're going to need that. He could play up in the slot. I mean, when you run a sub 4-4, and he's got a lot of range too, you can play up in the slot. And they need that. Sonoma Beavers, do you think that the Vikings might have a trade in place for an RB2, seeing how most of the better running backs are off the market? They might have to, or they might have to go with kind of one of those rolls of the dice. Let's take a look here. let's go over here and take a look at the remaining running backs. Folks, have you noticed that social media has now been around long enough to the point

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Yeah, the number of running backs who are available is just, I think I'm going to have to scroll, is just really underwhelming at the moment. So they may have, oh, there's position. Huh. You guys were probably telling me in the chat. Just click position.

There we go. I'm on the athletics, free agency tracker, by the way. So here we got Walker, ETN, RICO Dowdell have already signed. White is still out there. El Jir Dobbins, Gainwell have signed. to Aaron Jones, probably not coming back. Then you get into this group,

Emmanuel Wilson, who their projection is two years to $7.5 million. I mean, he's a guy. And Michael Carter and then Kareem Hunt and Isaiah Pacheco, that is very uninspiring. So if it's not Rashad White, that is very uninspiring for who they could potentially get.

So you're right. They might have to go the trade route or they might have to go the draft route. They did keep Xavier Scott today, should mention that. Those who are newsletter subscribers probably saw my sit down with Xavier, not Xavier, Xavier, Xavier, Scott last year. Really interesting, really interesting guy. New Hampshire wide receiver to NFL running back is quite a journey. And I will say he did surprise when it came to pass protection.

He might be that guy. He's actually pretty big for a former wide receiver. He might be the guy they have to use. They might have to get Emmanuel Wilson or Pacheco or somebody. And then that's not, it's just not very inspiring. What you'd like to see them do is get somebody who can really move. And maybe that's, maybe that's Washington, Mike Washington Jr. from Arkansas in the third round or something.

Get somebody who's really darn fast. Or if you get them, then use them unlike Ty Chandler, for example. example. Third and nerdy, JJ is going to figure it out. Patience is hard. Vikings pumped those tires too big, too fast. And they just didn't give them selves any sort of option. It was, they had no other choice. They get into training camp and it looks okay and they were excited about it. I mean, anybody who says, oh, what did you report or see? Well, I mean, they were pretty excited about go watch KOC's press conference after the joint practice, tell me he's not really pumped about what he just saw from J.J. McCarthy. And the other teammates, I mean, the same teammates who eventually would have

been saying things about how great Sam Darnold was, they were, I think, fine with the way that J.J. McCarthy was playing. And I don't know that anyone thought it was going to go as bad as it did when they were watching him. So, yes, too big, too fast, asking too much of him is 100% true. And, but also, it's hard to evaluate these things. When you only have practice, you don't have real games with real game plans and real rush plans and real, you know, different types of coverages and stuff like that. And the timing is different because everyone's running faster than they are in practice. There's no emulating that.

Bradley McCarthy needs a mentor type. Yeah. I don't think Kyler is that. I think that Kyler is trying to be a superstar. And one thing I've heard about Kyler is that you may say whatever you're going to say about what four or five years ago when he came into the league that he is very, very, very competitive. And I think that he wants to prove people wrong, which seems like at $1.3 million a pretty good situation. Third and nerdy, Teddy was underappreciated. I mean, for years, I saw Teddy Jersey still at games.

a lot of them and at camp practices the fans would be at, I'd see Teddy jerseys all over the place. I really do think that he was beloved by the mass majority of people and not the handful of who, whatever, trolls that didn't like his touchdown total. They were seventh in the league in 2015 and scoring percentage in finishing drives with points. And that's Teddy, right? Like not turning the ball over, making some plays, keeping the ball on the, on the track. They had a terrible offensive line.

They ran Adrian a lot. It would have been really interesting to see what they would have become when they spent the money on the O line that was made for Case Keenham eventually. But that would have been for Teddy when they actually went out and rebuilt that offensive line. And also, Teddy never got the chance to have Thielen and Diggs become Thielen and Diggs. That would have been something else too. David, this team needs to get younger across the board.

And everything they're doing is through that. Prism, a Grenard trade probably gives us two more picks and should get done. Getting younger helps the cap. I have no problem with the Grenard trade if that's what they want to do. If he's pushing them for a much bigger contract and they don't want to do that and they don't want to lock in at that dollar figure, they don't have that dollar figure, then moving him is a reasonable thing to do and draft another edge rusher. It does put you in a position where, oh boy,

Dallas Turner's got to take a step up. Van Ginkle's got to take a step up. You probably have to go find another. And this may be what the holdup is for signing players. I mean, if you trade Grenard, it's, I think it's like 20 million on the cap that you get, that you could spend. So you have to maybe work around some of these moving parts that are not solidified in place yet, whether you're trading Jonathan Grenard would be a major, major moving part.

but it it kind of goes back to if you guys remember Moneyball when they lost Jason Giambi and Billy Bean's talking about, well, how can we find that same production with a bunch of different players? That's what it would have to be if you lose Jonathan Grenard to a trade. And down the road, those draft picks and that cap space play into that. So can you draft a guy and get production right away? can you find someone who's a little later down still in the free agent market who can take some of that? And then Dallas Turner and Andrew Van Ginkle and maybe I don't know whatever player is on the roster right now at edge. I mean, they brought back Bo Richter. I'm not sure I expect that to be him.

He's very good special teamer, but I don't know if he's going to be a depth edge player at some point. You never know. He could continue to develop. but you probably need a veteran player who's cheap and a rookie and Turner and can you cobble together that type of production. It's going to be hard because Grenard is a star pro bowl level type player. But I don't know that it's impossible. It's impossible if he's Micah Parsons.

I don't know if it's impossible if you have draft capital and money to spend that you can add up to what Jonathan Grenard gives you. So that is a better long-term type of move. Justin, they should have won that playoff game. They sure should have. Magic Man, he was overappreciated by Zimmer. Disagree. Disagree.

He was not overappreciated. It's not, it's all, it's proof that Zimmer could love a quarterback. Every person I've ever, that was, that was personal with Zimmer and Teddy Bridgewater. And I mean, in a good way that every person I've ever run across. has talked about Teddy Bridgewater and how special the person he is. So it's kind of like Aaron Jones when we talk about him where there are people who are just special and they impact other people in so many positive ways and are selfless and our leaders and I don't know.

It's probably something you're just born with. And Zimmer love that. He he loved that. So I don't think he overappreciate. I think that he understood that leadership, toughness, selflessness, all those things are, those are tools for a quarterback that even if you don't have the best arm or you don't have the fastest legs or whatever, you could still win a lot of football games. And I mean, Case Keenan was kind of the same way and they won a lot of football games with him as well.

Only Teddy was more talented than that. So, yeah, I mean, if you're going to be the anti- Teddy person, it's just we can't even talk. I just don't, I'm just going to think you don't really know what you're talking about. Then you, I mean, if you watch the games in 2015, you saw how little talent they had on the offensive line, how much they were committed to the run, how much they played to win the game. This is something that you complain about all the time with KOC and sometimes it's reasonable of playing to win that game that Sunday, not playing to have X number of passing stats or whatever sexy play or to put the dagger deep pass on third and one into the other team's

heart or something. Teddy played to win the game. And also, I mean, when you talk about his talent, he's a first round talent. because that's where he was taken. So that's what we know. If you're saying, well, he's not talented. Well, he was taken the first round. Not the top of the first round, but he, that's where, that's what your talent is.

That's what the scouts looked at and the franchise looked at and decided on your talent. Kyla Murray is a talent of a number one overall draft pick. J.J. McCarthy is a 10th overall draft pick. Like, I know it's not all the same every single year, but your slot tells us a lot about the raw talent and expectation. So if you're taken in the first round as a, then you're a starting. quarterback caliber prospect, and he played like a starting quarterback for two seasons. He didn't play like a superstar starting quarterback, but he was on the ascension and you never

got to see it, which is why I think it's so hard for people with J.J. McCarthy. I think there's a tie in there because just as Dante Culpepper has his best year, then he gets hurt. And just as Teddy Bridgewater is ascending gets hurt. And here's J.J. McCarthy, just as they move on from a 14-win quarterback for him, believing in him, gets hurt. That's tough. Not a twerkes is I think saying number one overall pick is a bit disingenuous. No, it's not. It's not disingenuous. He was a number one overall pick. I mean, yes, there were not that many other quarterbacks in that draft. Daniel Jones was taken pretty high and it's not a good quarterback draft. And yes, Garrett, Garrett Brebb was a first-round talent. He has not turned out to be a star,

also turned out to be he's going to start in the NFL is a starting center for a lot of successful teams for a decade and you guys act like he's garbage it's kind of not really fair to him 18 overall is kind of right for a guy who's not perfect but uh is a starter when it comes to kailer murray number one overall is is number one overall man i mean he was one of the great overall talents in college football coming out. He was one of the greatest high school players to ever play football. He is a four, three type of speed player when he was coming out, an MLB caliber arm could throw the ball, what, 95 miles an hour or something? I mean, this, you're way underrating Kyler Murray's natural talents if you're not talking about how he was the first overall

draft pick, because they wouldn't have done it if he wasn't worth it. Teams, as you've seen from Shadur Sanders and others and Malik Willis, if they don't believe in it, they won't do it most of the time. Based Kirby missed the whole first season hurt four times in the second year. Laughing stock meme of the league gives Jeddah his worst season. He belongs selling solar panels. See, that's too far. That's too far, Kirby. I didn't know where you were headed with all that.

The meme thing means nothing to me. It doesn't matter at all to me that they memed him. They meme Sam Darnold. It doesn't matter. They meme everyone. Every person in sports is just the biggest joke ever to the internet. So if you pay attention to the internet, as long as you're not a seven-time champion or something. But, you know, the internet makes fun of Tom Brady.

If Tom Brady gives an interview and he says something that people don't like, they'll meme Tom Brady. So people are just incredibly mean and basic on the internet, the lowest common denominator type of humor. I think it's more complex than that with J.J. McCarthy, but those other things you said are fair. I mean, you can't, Justin Jefferson's the whole thing, right? It's the canary and the coal mine. It's like, yeah, you could talk about the offensive line and there was a lot of combinations. Hey, go look. They weren't the only team with that. Yeah, you could talk about Jordan Edison, dropped the ball. Jets had a couple of drops for sure. But, I mean, not being able to consistently connect. even in a way that was close to Carson Wentz,

is like, you're just not ready. You're just not ready to do this because the offenses in the NFL are built around the superstars. That's why Sam Darnal had so much success throwing to Jackson Smith, DeJigba and Justin Jefferson. Look, Kirk made a career out of this. Kirk Cousin's career is throwing to Deshawn Jackson and then Diggs and Theelin and then, and Pierre Garcana should throw in, and Vernon Davis, and then Justin Jefferson.

And he was a pro bowl level quarterback and a very good one. for many years because he just got the ball to his guys. David, getting younger and being deep at the quarterback position with Wents is probably number three is something that the Wulfs are also non-negotiable on. Well, sure, I'd like to see Carson Wentz back as the backup. And they've gotten, KOC's been here for four years. They've gotten to QB3 twice. 50% of the time they've gotten to QB3.

I mean, man, Friends of Taz says if the vote, Vikings made the Super Bowl with McCarthy's a starter. He'd be the second youngest ever to start a Super Bowl. That's next season. His age and his situation are, for me, great arguments to have him develop next year. He has thrown less than a thousand passes since high school. He has been injured many times now. He has not learned to play this game.

He's not been on the field enough to learn to play this game. Give him a chance to learn to play this game. Yeah, the youth argument is totally valid for why he should get time to develop. Just like, I mean, I'm just going to keep using the Malik Willis because I think there's a lot of similarities with them. I know Willis was a third round pick and that's a third round talent, but the similarities are raw talent that needed development. And he got there. And if you want a better one is for a first rounder, it's probably Jordan Love. Oh, Devin Lloyd signing with Carolina.

That's a big move. Carolina is going in, man. Not a twerk. What about punters? I think when it comes to punter, they're going to just have a competition and try to find the next Ryan Wright. Might not be easy.

A couple of college undrafted free agents. Jay. I assume you mean Taitrain, meaning Latavius Murray, was fun as, yeah, his celebration. He was a really good player. Yep. He was a really, really good player.

Scott, why can't we live in the universe that we drafted Lamar in 2018? Some of us suggested it. Some of us did suggest it. Some of us just saying. I know. And that's a reason. That's a reason to take every possible shot at the quarterback position. That if you just lock into this is the guy and we're good, then he better work.

otherwise you should be taking multiple shots. You should be signing Kirk and drafting Lamar Jackson because the Kirk contract was so short. I think it was two years and then the option for the third or something like that. It was so short that why wouldn't you pick a development quarterback? That would have been the Green Bay picks Lamar, right? In that situation, Green Bay picks Lamar. What would, this is a good question because they keep succeeding with this. Not only did Green Bay, we only ever give credit Green.

to Green Bay for Farr and for Rogers and for love. But we don't even talk about how Green Bay had Matt Hasselbeck, Mark Brunel, Aaron Brooks, and now Malik Willis. I'm sure there's some in the middle that I'm forgetting about, but, you know, the team stopped keeping three quarterbacks and that became more complicated. But even now, here they are again,

because they have patience. They have a lot of options and they have a lot of patience with their quarterbacks and they develop them. And if you asked, what would Green Bay, the most successful quarterback franchise of our lifetimes, what would they do with J.J. McCarthy? I mean, you know the answer. It's developing. Todd said the Cardinal Radio guy last week was reasoned in his analysis of Kyler Murray. And that's what I'm just asking for people is listen to that interview, for one, because

he just did such a great job of laying it all out, where he said, you know what, there were times where Jacoby Brissette ran the offense on time and I went, man, could we just do that? And that's frustrating. But then also that if you're in the right situation with the right offense with Kyler Murray and if you have the supporting cast, I mean, he's, he called Cliff Kingsbury a gym teacher. He said, look, he, he, Kyler has just never been coached by a real coach. And petting, I think is good, but it was his first time.

And Gannon, it was his first time. this is KOC's fifth years ahead coach. And let's also remember, there's something that's kind of bugged me about the KOC stuff. Like, just like with Kyler or with McCarthy, but especially with Kyler or it would go this way with Kirk sometimes. Let's go to a certain level of truth, but let's not forget that this person is very good. Kevin O'Connell won the Super Bowl as an offensive coordinator and has had two seasons where they've had 13 or more wins. And people act like if he gets a quarterback that does different stuff, he will just go jump in Lake Minnetonka. Like he's just, I can't, I can't do it.

I couldn't possibly, I couldn't possibly figure out a way. Drew Petting had no experience as a play caller at all, no experience whatsoever. And he takes over and has some success with Kyler Murray. Jonathan Gannon had never been a head coach before. And he has some success, didn't on the defensive side, but some success with Kyler Murray. Cliff Kingsbury had never been a coach in the NFL before and had some success with Kyler Murray. Do we not think this is the best with Josh McCown, the best coaching staff that he would

have? Do we not think this is the best supporting cast? The offensive line, if it's healthy, the receivers, the tight end, I mean, the tight end was good there. Trey McBride, very good. But I mean, is this not the best situation sporting cast? I mean, I think it would be by kind of a lot. And he laid that out.

but he also said he's going to frustrate you at times. And he did lay it out that he's, he's not going to take hits or stand in there. He's going to try to escape. He's going to throw the ball away. He's going to check it down. And those things are going to frustrate you. Son of Beavers.

The reason I didn't mention Tyreek Woolen is because I just felt like he's going to get paid too much. But the other guys that you mentioned, Nick Cross, Rashad White, Logan Hill, all on my list. Jay, what would you do if Kyler goes to Pittsburgh? I would shut down the channel and I would never appear again. I just talk about the next option. That's what would I do?

The same thing I'm doing right now. They didn't even make a dang move and I'm going to end up doing six hours of podcasting today. I just keep going. Well, just on to the next thing. What would they do is really the question. What I would do was nothing different. I mean, I've covered it all. I've covered the NFC championship game.

and I've covered the worst, I don't know, six months of anyone's life in the COVID football season where it was me and Courtney and Judd in masks having to sit 10 feet away from each other in an empty football stadium. And it was horrible. So trust me, I'll carry on. But when it comes to them, what would they do? I think if Kyler Murray on Wednesday tells the Vikings hey, I'm going to go to Pittsburgh, then you call Gino Smith. Are you coming here? And if Gino Smith says I'm going to the Jets, then you're probably on to Kirk or Aaron Rogers.

And it might be Aaron Rogers. And Rogers might be, he is not at all committed to anything. That might happen. I mean, if it's not Kyler and it's not Gino, then you might go Aaron Rogers instead of Kirk just because the armed talent is still there. and both of them have been wounded. I don't know which one I would go with. It seems kind of the same,

but Rogers at least could have some crazy throws that might be really fun to watch. It gets, once you get past Gino, it gets bleak. It gets bleak. In fact, I might just go Joe Flacco and start J.J. McCarthy if it's not Gino or Kyler Murray. Because I don't know that either one of those other options. Yeah, Justin makes a great point.

That's what's been a little odd to me. That's why I think that the Kyler stuff is more about people still wanting McCarthy. Is every time Kyler's played against this team, he's been good. He's been dangerous. Crack Yaters, I don't think Kyler's worth it if it means giving up on JJ. What if it means JJ gets a better situation for his chances to succeed? That's how I would view it. I would not view it as giving up, and not unless they trade him.

But even then, even then, and I get why no one wants to give up on him from a historic and statistical perspective, it's justifiable. But I still think it's better to take your time and see what happens. And not over-concern yourself with, well, what happens in two years with the rookie contract? You can't project that far out. We always try to do that, but we really can't. We really can't look that far out in the future. BM, I've convinced my sons to become Seahawks fans before the season, and it was a joy to watch them win the Super Bowl.

Uh, you didn't convince yourself of that. Uh, Heinz, Bucks, Darnold was the QB. Couldn't have drawn up anybody more perfect for Kevin O'Connell. That is true. Complicated situation. But ultimately, yes. Uh, Trent says, remember the Texas OU gamer, Kyler replaced Spencer Rattler. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, Kyler has. explosives is a runner that is crazy rare still. And he has accuracy as a thrower that is excellent. I mean, he can put it on a dime pretty much anywhere on the field that he wants to. What's a little concerning is that he doesn't rip the downfield passes the way he did early in his career. And there is a throw early on in 2025 film where he's got a guy, over the middle and he tries to kind of let it go and air mails him a little bit. And it's not wild. It just doesn't fly a hundred yards over his head, but you're like, that's a throw he used to

kind of make. And I've wondered about some of the foot and the leg injuries if they've taken their toll on him driving off of his feet because you need to be able to do that and off your legs. So there are, there are concerns in that way. Scott says all I want for McCarthy is to run a scout team for a calendar year. I agree. Uh, Jared says I've become fully obsessed with the Vikes drafting Thinaman, not sure if it's spelled right. Uh, it doesn't matter. I know who you meant.

He's very, very talented. And I've started to watch one of the things that I really like, I don't consider myself a very good college film watcher. And because with the Vikings film, I've been watching Vikings all 22 stuff for 10 years. And I've been bringing on Cody Alexander and Bobby Pee. and these X's and O's experts. And so I feel comfortable. I don't feel like I know all the plays, that's for sure.

But I feel comfortable with watching NFL film and watching the Vikings and listening to KOC and listening to the players and looking at the data and putting it all together and trying to form conclusions about players and what's happened and that sort of stuff. When I watch college film, I'm like, what is this? Because it's so different. and a lot of times it's hard to find actual film on guys. So you're watching back a game and you're kind of like, where is he? So what I'll do is I'll find the people who I really like that are good at watching film.

Chris Trapaso watches a ton of film is so good at it. He's got Thinaman, I think is his safety one. I think he, I think he believes that he's the best safety in this class because Downs is more of a in the box guy. And he likes the versatility in the range of Thineman. and I don't blame him for that. If they draft Dylan Thieneman, you have no complaints for me. The safety position, positional value I wonder about, but in this defense, I think it works. He feels like he was made in a lab for Brian Flores.

Don, that's funny. If Murray plays average, it'll feel like greatest show on turf. I have to admit, we're almost three hours into this. I texted a friend of mine in the league as I was watching Kyler Murray play, and I did say, am I watching Prime Vic in comparison to what we saw? It was painful. And it's not just on JJ. It was painful to watch Carson Wentz.

It was painful to watch Max Brosmer. This was one of the worst passing offenses in the league. If they're even good, you can win a lot of games. Jared, you like Emmanuel Wilson. I'm good with Emmanuel Wilson. You're not a fan of Rashad White, huh? I would like him. No, you said, unless you'd like him to be a pass catcher, that's what I would like him to be.

tech are we cooked for 2026 not looking good is kOC on the hot seat KOC certainly has a ton of pressure on him this year I don't think anyone would deny that and are you cooked I mean here's why I would never ever count out this team because in 2024 six and a half wins was there over under and they won 14 and their quarterback was coming here from being a backup with a guy who had a reputation of being one of the biggest busts ever. And I'm, I'm not going to count that. I'm not going to be like, oh, no, no chance. Totally cooked. People like to say cooked. It's fun to say. I admit, it's fun to say. This guy's cooked. It's fun to say, but you never know. Seattle, what was Seattle? Seattle was not a

favorite to win the Super Bowl going into this season. Not at all. People didn't believe in Darnold. Go back from a year. They signed Darnold. What did everyone say? I'm sure to be fine with Seattle, but he's not that great. That's what most people said. Every big game, he'll meltdown. That's what people said. So I'm not going to say cooked because it's football. You never know.

The Fandual question of the day, by the way, was, I think, what was it? I started bringing out the Fandual question of the day, like noon today. It was, oh, what team do you think should have moved their odds the most? Let me get an answer. Let me take a look. Today.

What team move their odds to win their division the most today? I congratulate the Jets on all of their moves. They are not the answer. Baltimore trading for Max Crosby, but not today. The Angles definitely helped themselves. Did I see they got Boy A Mafet? For a big contract, Pittsburgh still doesn't have a quarterback. Cleveland still Cleveland.

Jacksonville losing E.N. But I don't know if that moves the needle. Colts, I'm not really sure if they did anything to move the needle. Kansas City signing Kenneth Walker may have helped their case. I don't know if it totally did, though. And I don't think what the Raiders did changed everything for them to win their division. Dallas trading for Rishon Gary, maybe a little bit. I don't know if that helps them as much.

Washington, possibly. Possibly. But Adafioa, I just think is kind of overrated. What team? This is a good question because I'm trying to answer it. I'm not really sure. It might be Carolina. Carolina, with their huge defensive additions,

probably moved the needle the most. Plus 470 right now to win the division. They're fourth for their odds. I think they should be much higher than that. Atlanta should drop down after signing Tua. I just don't see how that's going to work. The Rams. The Rams.

Signing Watson, getting McDuffie. It's not exactly today. help their case. Maybe San Francisco at plus 340. It's a good question. Which team helped their odds the most to win their division with their moves today? K.O. has never cared about the running room. Yeah, I mean, it's, I think that not, not investing in at least some more draft capital into the running backs in the middle rounds is probably a mistake. I mean, what did they draft? They drafted Chandler and then kind of looked like that was going to be a thing and then did not become a thing.

And they drafted the running back from UAB, who I'm struggling, Dwayne McBride. Did they draft anybody else in the backfield? I mean, you're right. The investment just hasn't been there. Aaron Jones was a big investment for them, but it was someone that they could trust. And Jones was good, but he was not explosive. Not a twerks his hindsight 2020, but go back and look at McCarthy throwing at the

combine. You got a question why they were all so excited about or what they were so excited about. I think what they were excited about was arm strength, it's clearly there, athleticism and playmaking clearly there, but what they bought into, and this was brought up after drafting him, I think what they bought into was trajectory. And they believed that his trajectory would just continue to ascend because he was so young. You just don't really know whether that's going to happen.

And you still don't know because he is still so young that his trajectory could be on the upswing if he actually gets a chance to be healthy for an entire year. When was the last time he was healthy for an entire year? Rob watched Patriots podcast after the joint practice. So did I. They were depressed at how much McCarthy outplayed Drake May. Yes, I mean, you know, I have several friends on that beat. Chad Graff is, you know, one of my good friends.

And we talked a lot about it after that. Oh, man, like the Vikings looked like so much better of a team than the Patriots. This is why you don't know, and this is why next year I will definitely put some warnings on the joint practice breakdowns of, hey, last year, this didn't matter that much. Rob, the think Kyler might be a surprising mentor to McCarthy. That is true. You know, you mentioned the gaming generation. Just the other night, by the way, just the other night. You know who was live streaming and somebody screen captured something he said?

Jemar Chase. So Kyler was, Kyler was just a little ahead of his time with the gaming. All these players are gaming. A lot of these players are live streaming. A lot of these players are podcasting. Michael Parsons does a freaking podcast. And it's annoying probably for his team to find out about stuff on his podcast. But he, he's not just only pumping iron 24-7.

He's trying to do other stuff too. Draymond Green as a podcast. He shouldn't, but he does. A lot of players have a lot of other. their interests and that was thrown in his face specifically, I think because he had a bad organization more than anything who didn't want to take responsibility for their own failures to build around him and put the proper coaching and the proper roster around him. And they wanted to blame him. And that's what happens. And you already saw that, right? When a quarterback doesn't win,

fingers get pointed. Does that sound familiar? I will find out the name of the new punter when you do when the punter battle happens in camp, we will get our punter, punter battle. I will have my justice for a punter battle, although Ryan Wright turned out to be great and Matt Daniels was right all along. Scott is explosive. Xavier Scott. Yeah, I like, I like Xavier Scott. I think that he's versatile. And I think he can be a third downback for them. A third and nerdy, Dobbins resigned in Denver. Oh, I didn't mention Dobbins, yeah, he resign. Yep. He was another one that's kind of interesting. I mean, most of the running backs came off the board. They're in a tough spot there. They are in a tough spot there.

Scott Dawson, Grenard reminds me of the Kevin Fiala. Yeah, the, the wild. There are sometimes where a player is really, really good, but if it was just on good player or not, it would be a lot easier, but it's not. There's layers to this. It's more complicated. And sometimes you have to think about the future a little bit more. Teddy did nothing after his injury. I wonder if the injury had anything to do with it. Well, actually, that's not even true. He went 5 and O in a fill-in stint for the Saints.

And then was a 500 quarterback for the Broncos. That's with the Broncos who were not a good franchise. And after his injury, where his mobility was way limited. So, I mean, anybody, anybody with anything negative to say about Teddy Bridgewater, I just, I got no time for that, man. No time for that. 10K beers, Latavius Murray seemed like a selfless leader type. Like, yeah, oh yeah, he was, well, he's very, very intelligent, very, very smart guy.

And really, really understood past protection, football. I mean, X's and O's and was really tough and ran tough for a guy who was tall. I think that's hard to do. Mr. J.S. W.A.N. I'm not sure how to say that. Not often talked about was, but wasn't it negligent that the Vikings don't draft a running back last year with how deep the running back class is.

Look at guys like Kyle Munungai. Yes. Yes. And there is a case there. I mean, I like the wide receiver position in taking Ty Felton more than Cam's Gadaboo, even though everyone likes Cam's Gadaboo. I don't know that he's exceptional.

He might be. He might not. not be. I think he's a good, whatever kind of running back. No criticism. If the Vikings had him, I think that people would really love him. But there were five dudes that were those mid-round picks that would have been worth it. Bachel Tootin was another one. There's quite a few that had legit speed, legit prospects, and they just didn't, they just didn't do it. Um, friends of Taz were not, I mean, doing the Teddy touchdown. thing is just so silly.

Did you, you watched right? You watched that season. You knew how they played. They had a great defense. They played. They had a bad offensive line. They didn't have great weapons. They played a run first.

Don't turn over the ball. And Adrian got all the touchdowns. I brought the stat up a million times over the time talking about Teddy, that they were the seventh best team in terms of scoring percentage. So how often they got the ball when they score. But statistics can be tricky because if you handle it, the ball to Adrian Peterson or Matt Asiata for touchdowns or whatever, then the quarterback doesn't get credit for them, but you still get credit for them as a team, right? And even if your offense

didn't put up X number of points and rank wherever, if you control the entire game on offense, because you were a methodical run, control the clock, play defense offense, then you're scoring and you're winning, but you're not putting up huge totals. And that's what O'Connell was literally talking about last year. he was literally talking about that last year learning how to do it that way. Oh, you're talking about, oh, you're talking about the talent. Yeah. So bringing up Tom Brady in any argument is pretty silly.

And Randy Moss, you're going out of your way to intentionally be ridiculous when it comes to, the draft is a very, very good indicator of pure talent. because you have 32 teams that are assessing your skill set and then deciding where you belong. And Randy Moss did not drop in the draft, as you know and I know, because of a lack of talent. We all know that. And Tom Brady is one of the all-time outliers. And so is Kurt Warner. And that happens.

But when you look at the quarterbacks who are in the playoffs this year, there's one outlier quarterback and it happens is Brock Purdy and then everyone else is a first round draft pick. Drake May is picked at the top of the draft because he is stupid talented and Kyler Murray was picked at the top of the draft because he's he's insanely talented. His college performance was incredible and breathtaking and he's accurate and at the time he had legit arm strength and his playmaking was, I mean, almost to a Michael Vic type of level. his run impact was incredible early in his career and still matters to this point. The Arizona Cardinals were not spending the number one overall pick on him unless they thought

he was a phenomenal, phenomenal talent. And if you just take a few minutes to watch, but I shouldn't even tell you that because in 2021, everything was on display, the playmaking, the arm talent, and some of the mistakes. Scott, do you think Gainwell signing was a sign of things to come with White. I do. I do. I think that they were signing Gainwell and moving on for Rashad White, which is kind of odd. Dumer K.O. Is Derek Carr not happening? Oh, you know what? As I was doing the rundown of, hey, what happens if they go to this, this, this, this? That is the one I forgot. It just seems like it's been out of sight out of mind. I mean, it sounded to me at the combine like

Derek Carr really wanted to get to Minnesota and was very excited about the idea of potentially coming back and there's been crickets, total crickets on Derek Carr. So, yeah, that could be if it's not Murray and it's not Gino, then maybe they start to look at the Derek Carr thing before they go with Kirk or before they go with Rogers. Son of Beavers, the real question is how fast Johnny Munn comes back. Yes. Would like to keep Ben Sims. Curious about that, I think, is that, how expensive is that, though?

Maybe they could let him go and then re-sign him. Michael Elginz Jenkins was released by the Packers. Is he any good? Oh, yes. No, he's good. Yeah, he's good. Yes. Yes, he's good.

Yep. But he had a serious injury last year, and I don't know that he's a center. I think he's probably more of a left guard. But if the Vikings were interested in him as their center, I could see that as a pretty big improvement. 10K beer has been listening to you say Aaron Rogers is cooked since he were on 1,500 ESPN is he still cooked. Did we even say cooked then?

I don't even think we said cooked. I think we said washed. I think we said washed. Yes, there was a, there was a discussion that I had with someone, because we used to do the hot route bit. And I love that you've been listening for that long. We used to do the hot routes bit.

And I think I asked, whoever it was that was co-hosting with me, is there a chance that Kirk Cousins is a better quarterback than Aaron Rogers right now? And we kind of looked at the numbers. And this, I think it was 2018 going into that. that season and we were looking at the numbers or maybe it was 20 2019 probably and rogers numbers they dipped and then he won two more mvps so not washed also matthew stafford uh you talk about takes that didn't work out for me because and this is a i'll tie this into kailer murray i'll tie both

of these into kailer murray matthew stafford's statistics before he goes to the rams are not that good why do you think that is is it because matt patricia was his coach? Is it because the organization was in shambles? Is it because some of the weapons were not that great? Kenny Goladay's one great season or something? Because they never had really a run game. Is it maybe that made a difference for Matthew Stafford? Did Matthew Stafford play differently in LA than he did in Detroit? Oh yeah. Oh yeah, he did because he wasn't trying to play hero all the time. That sounds familiar. And with Aaron Rogers, by the end, the offense that Mike McCarthy was running was washed out of the league.

So his numbers went down. Their receiving wasn't as good. And then they get, uh, healthy at the receiver position, Devante Adams. It was very good, of course. And because there was a real transition there from Jordy to Devante Adams. And they bring in LaFleur and he's running play actions and he's got Rogers playing efficiently and he wins two MVP's. Also, they were the most favorable seasons probably of all time for passing before the

league figured out that they can. can't try to run the Seattle single high defense, and then the league changed again. So circumstances has a lot to do with success at the quarterback position, I think, is the lesson there. Isn't it? I believe it is. Doom or K.O. Not convinced we're ever getting a punt off. I know. And we'll see. Tom says, Vikings officially on Jeremiah Love Watch, commanders, chiefs, and

Saints all signed running backs. I, maybe. Maybe. I don't know how he gets to 18, but I also can't say for sure that he doesn't. Or if he gets to a certain number, would you trade up? I think that, I think that Daniel Jeremiah is very good at predicting what the Vikings are going to do and has a good eye on that. So it might be something that they consider. I don't know. If they did, it would be really fun.

I will say that. It would be really fun if they got Jeremiah love. and even though I would come on and say, just like last year, what happened last year was a lot of the Vikings moves, I would be saying, you know, this might not be the most efficient thing to do, but look, if it works, it's going to be amazing. And some did and some didn't. That's how I would view Jeremiah Love is, yeah,

this might not be the most efficient thing to do trading up to get him. But if it works, it's going to be crazy. Scott says drafting Sadiq, would also fill the running back too. Yeah, he's built like an RB2. That's for sure. He is definitely built like a running back, but he can catch man. He's got hands. I like Sadiq a lot. I don't like him as hey, just throw him in and make him do everything right away. Yes, I'm aware that Jamarcus Russell was the number one overall pick. What I said was it's indicative of talent. Would you like to go together with me to YouTube and watch Jamarcus Russell in college? You will have,

your eyes fall out of your freaking skull in terms of his talent. There was a video going around the social media the other day of just Jamarcus, this one game Jamarcus played and the throws that he made indicative of talent, not indicative of success all the time. It is actually indicative of success, but it's not perfect one to one. Definitely not one to one. Scott,

what would you give the percentage of chance they sign white? I've continued to podcast this deep into the night because I thought they might. We got to, can we get a Twitter check? I'm going to get a Twitter check. What's going on over on Twitter? Have all the insiders given up? Let's find out. Let's find out what they're doing.

What are you insiders doing? Oh, Alohi Gilman. There's a guy who is now off. Man, that's a, the safeties. The safeties are getting paid. I thought, here I was thinking, I'm going to tell my audience about this guy, Alohi Gilman, that nobody knows about. and then they're going to be like,

thanks, Purple Insider, for telling me about this random safety that's better than everyone thinks. And then the chiefs sign him to a big contract, three years, $25 million. I thought there was a real chance the Vikings would get him. So there you go.

There's one of the guys I had on my list off of the board. So if you're listening to the replay and you made a tape to tape all the way to this point, you heard Alohi Gilman is a great target to Alohi Gilman go some. somewhere else. Who else?

Anybody else doing anything? A random linebacker for the Packers. Teams that did not sign an outside free agent Eagles, Broncos, Jaguars, Seahawks, and Packers. And the Vikings got one guy for $8 million over two years. Dowdell going to the Steelers. He was never really a guy for me. Raiders re-signed.

Wait, they signed a kicker? Don't they have Daniel Carlson? That's a good deal for J.K. Dobbins. and this is the hard part. It's a two-year 16 million. This is the hard part. It's like these running backs are getting some money this year.

So the Vikings, I don't know how much you want to play in there. Maybe Rashad White slips through the cracks. That's kind of where we're at right now. So we will have to wait and see. But now that Gilman's off the board. I am not very confident that more is going to happen.

Let me bring the chat back up here this evening. I'm ogre muffin. That's a new one. We should just move up and package 18 Grenard or Addison. Grenard could be involved in that. Now, if you traded, I still don't love it. I still like the idea of more players.

Because when I look at the way that they've drafted lately, it's always we really need this guy. We really need that guy. We really need Donovan Jackson. We really need Jordan Addison. We really need Dallas Turner. And all those guys can play. But you sacrificed more players that you need.

when you weren't really robust in your amount of draft capital. That's the issue from where they're at right now is do they have a future roster if they keep trading up and trading up and trading up? Scott, if the Viking signed a guy like White, but Love was still somehow there. What do you predict they would do? I mean, if White wouldn't preclude you from signing someone as good as Jeremiah Love or drafting someone is as talented.

he drops into the middle of the first round, this conversation changes. I'm just assuming that he's going to go very high. I mean, now you guys in the chat are arguing about Christian Ponder. How did that happen? That might mean it's time to call it a night. Yeah, KFT Pierre, Pierre had good numbers by PFF this year. He played as a rotational player or a fill-in player and was very solid. And he's very experienced. And my guess, if he's hung around the league this long is that he's good at special teams and he's probably very smart. That would be my guess. If the new coach, Gerald Alexander, who came over from Pittsburgh and Flores had their eye on him

in free agency, that means he's smart. I'm just going to take a guess. Cause and effect, why are people scared to take a chance on Kyler? It's a win-win, cheap contract for a chance of getting him at his absolute best. Let's stop being judgmental, your thoughts. My thought is that it's going to take a little while. if and when that happens for people to buy into Kyler Murray, for Vikings fans to buy into Kyler Murray.

I think once you see it and try reading the entire chat, man, you guys are tough. I'm only talking and reading, okay, never mind. Try doing this and reading every single word. Anyway, I actually have to trust you guys a lot of times because I'll start reading a comment and be like, I hope it's going in a good direction.

If the guy who's in there says, go, Pac, go, I can spot that. But a lot of times I just know that most of you are rational people. And I'm going to read it, even if I haven't had a chance to read it first, because I'm in the middle of talking. But when are they going to sign players is a good question. But let me finish the first one.

Like, about the Kyler-Murie stuff. I think it's going to be hard for Vikings fans at first, if they do it, to kind of look at this thing and say, yeah, I could see it. Because Murray is coming from a low point in his career to some extent. I thought in his five games, he played mostly well. And his really terrible game was against the Super Bowl champion defense that destroyed everyone. But it, you know, this is not the high point of Kyler Murray's career.

and I don't think that he's a likable quarterback in terms of he's not going to come out and be super energetic and really loud and very in your face. The way that J.J. McCarthy is with his enthusiasm. So that might take some getting used to. It's a little bit like Sam Darnold in that way, where Darnold was very quiet and didn't have a lot to say when he first got here. and I also think that, you know, people haven't seen a lot of this guy play and go on reputation. But if he were to come out in week one and throw for 260 yards and 120 of them go to Justin Jefferson and then run for another 50 yards and they win 2720 over the Chicago Bears, I think it would change very quickly. So it'll really be dictated on the results. I think there's going to be skepticism.

If they do it on Wednesday, there will be skepticism from Vikings fans, from most Vikings fans. Is this a good idea? Is this really going to work? And we'll talk about that a lot if it happens. And then once you see him play in a Vikings uniform, if the first impression is strong, then people will just be on board. That would be my guess.

But there's always going to be those who are kind of sticking to the jail. There were so many people who didn't even want Sam Darnold to succeed because they were so stuck on the JJ thing. So it's a hard one to move on from. Can we discuss the borough trades? It's 10 o'clock. We need to discuss me getting some food because it's after 10 o'clock and we're on to three hours and 20 minutes of live streaming. And I haven't eaten. And I don't have diet, Dr. Pepper.

I only had Diet Diet Coke. But no, I don't think we can discuss Joe Burrow trades. I just don't think I don't think it's happening. Don't think it's happening. No, KFT, no, whoever he plays for, it's going to be $1.3 million. It's not going to be, there's no other contract because Arizona is playing him. Friends of Taz, I don't, I truly don't understand why Christian Ponder would be a part of the conversation. I mean, Christian Ponder was a failure as their quarterback.

He just did not really ever outside of a couple of games show that he could be a long-term quarterback option for them. And he played a great game to get them into the playoffs in 2012. And who knows if he had stayed healthy if they win the next game. But I didn't think that there was much up for debate about that history. And I think that I know a little about it. Tyrone will KOC change the offense with Murray, something he's reluctant to do. I think it's a little mythology that he's reluctant to do that.

I think he was reluctant to do that. I think that there have been a couple of situations where he needed to do more than he thought he needed to do, like with Dobbs or with Carson Wentz. But it's very clear when you look at how different the offense was with McCarthy in the second half of the season when McCarthy played better. And I also think that if you're talking about, if you're doing it, then you've thought about it. if you're willing to do it and you're willing to bring him here, you're not bringing him here and being like, oh man, now, now what do we do?

Just have him run the offense? I think you're, I think we need to give some credit to them as like NFL coaches who have succeeded. But I do think it's a, it's an issue. It's how are you going to is really more of the question. Not can you, but how are you going to?

And how much do you really need? and how much is just people's impression of Kyler Murray, because there are times where he doesn't see the middle of the field. And then there's a lot of times where rhythm and timing, rhythm and timing, there's a ton of throws on his tape that are perfectly accurate rhythm and timing. So I'm not sure that that is a, an issue that they will need to figure out of how much does need to be changed.

And a lot of that will be just talking to him, I think. Jerry, the way that the offseason is unfolded, Do you think, what do you think of the chances? Brazinski becomes the GM? I think the chances are pretty good. He becomes the GM. I think that Rob has such a great amount of cachet with the ownership and trust from the ownership.

And that's what you need first is you need trust from the ownership that you are going to guide this franchise with the long term in mind for many years to come and also with an eye on continuing to be competitive and, you know, being the guardrails, but also being, you know, somebody who can work with a lot of different types of people who knows a lot of different types of people who's earned it, who's earned it over many, many years. I would advocate for it and I would, uh, I say that, you know, if they do it, that this is a really good thing for the organization, nobody knows better. The Viking culture, the history, all those types of things, like what they're trying to achieve,

how they need to get there, the quarterback thing. He knows all that inside of now. Every person in the building, bring in someone who's fine if they want to, if they like someone else, but I think Brissonsky would be a good choice. So, okay, well, we've made it a really long way. And not a lot has happened. And that is unfortunate because I did expect more to happen. tomorrow we will live stream again and then it seems that on Wednesday the Vikings will have a

quarterback or at least clarity on the quarterback position but that might not be true there might be more time for Murray there might be more time for Gino Smith but I think that there's probably been enough winking at each other and whispering and sending notes across the classroom for all the quarterbacks to have a pretty good sense of where they're going when they get released and Wednesday should be that day. So, uh, we'll see what happens. But I promised every night live streaming and answering your questions and reacting to whatever goes on.

If there is big breaking news, then I will be here for an emergency podcast whenever it happens. If it happens a half an hour from now and I've got to run back into the studio and break down some move, it's happened before where I think the, the Jordan Mason trade happened at like 11 o'clock at night. So if it happens, right after I shut this down, I will be back. But for now, I'm going to go and start working on my written recap and reaction to everything that happened today.

And we will talk to you all, at least the plan is at some point tomorrow. If nothing major happens that requires an immediate reaction, then tomorrow will plan on tomorrow evening, as I normally would do. So, it was an interesting day of discussion, but not a whole lot. actually moving and shaking. We'll see what happens tomorrow. The free agency is young. It's just day one, everybody.

The offseason has a long way to go. So thank you all for your time. And we'll see you tomorrow. Football.