Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings free agency special Hour 3: Darnold goes to Seattle, officially McCarthy era in Minnesota

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

Matthew Coller reacts live to news coming down surrounding the Minnesota Vikings on the opening day of free agency.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Let's not lose the thread too much here getting stuck on cornerback prices with the fact that we have no news on quarterbacks at all. We have the fact that we have no news on quarterbacks is probably the most shocking thing of the day that I expected to wake up. shocking thing of the day that I expected to wake up. And I thought that the first thing that I was going to find when I woke up, I set an alarm kind of early today because I just thought I was going to get this like the Seattle Seahawks are expected today to make the big play for Sam Darnold and Rogers is going to go here and fields is going to go there and all this stuff. I've only seen whispers and I have not seen big reports or definitive reports

and as close as it sounded the other night. I mean, Dane, I did a reaction podcast to Gino Smith getting traded and my main takeaway was Sam Darnold, you are a Seattle Seahawk and the fact that we are this far in two hours with no update whatsoever. Is that surprising to you? Because I think that it's pretty strange. It's surprising to me because I did think I think I even texted you this. Like you don't make that deal.

If you're the Seahawks, you don't trade your franchise quarterback, Geno Smith. I know some people might not think't trade your franchise quarterback, Geno Smith. I know some people might not think he's a franchise quarterback, whatever. He's the guy who's been your guy. You don't trade him without, at least in my estimation, a deal in place.

Like a Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons deal in place where it's like, okay, 1101 Central Time, the Seahawks have signed Sam Darnold. I thought that's what it was gonna be like So yeah, it's it's a little surprising to me It's surprising to me also that Sam Darnold is not viewed as the first domino I mean, I've seen Adam Schefter on ESPN say Justin Fields is the first domino It sounds like some people think Aaron Rodgers is the first domino. Like I think if you're the Seahawks

Aaron Rodgers is the first domino. I think if you're the Seahawks, wouldn't you just do everything in your power to make sure Sam Darnold doesn't go to the Steelers? Now, maybe Sam Darnold's representation is saying, we're going to wait to see what the Steelers do. And if the Steelers are out on Aaron Rodgers, then maybe we want to go to Pittsburgh instead. I'm just like, this is totally conjecture here. like There is one team that probably appeals to me more. I know there's probably a pull to the West Coast with Sam Darnold closer to home Probably a level of comfort being That close to where you grew up and in your family. He's close with his family all of those things I get it But one team the Seattle Seahawks, just traded DK Metcalf and one team just acquired DK Metcalf and by the way has George Pickens. And I think I might

want to play for that team. I think if I was Sam Darnold and I could just pick at this point, maybe 96 hours ago before DK Metcalf was traded, I would say like, yeah, sign me up for Seattle. Now you get rid of him and I love Jackson Smith and Jake, but I think he's a good player. But who else is there right now? Jake Bobo? Like I think if I could go play with DK Metcalfe and George Pickens with my cannon arm, like I might do that.

If I could play with Mike Tomlin, with TJ Watt, like with Minka Fitzpatrick, I would probably prefer that. So I would assume that's why this thing hasn't just taken off and gone running yet is because I think everyone's kind of waiting for kind of the first person to flinch. I think once it does, I think all hell is going to break loose and we're going to see a lot of quarterbacks go.

We'll see. Jimmy Garoppolo got $11 million today. So I think a quarterback is going to be expensive too. Yeah. No, I saw in the comment section saying, Hey, what are you talking about? Jimmy Garoppolo resigned as the Rams backup with that's the first domino to fall. Okay. Uh, but I guess just the way that things had set up and had aligned, I was

already of the mind that he was a Seattle Seahawk. In fact, the way that I wrote this morning was about JJ McCarthy and how he went about proving that he was the Vikings future franchise quarterback. And then we saw the reports come immediately after Geno Smith was traded. It was instant that the reports came out. Oh, they're interested in Sam Darnold. It looks like it's going to happen. So my assumption was that when it came to Sam Darnold and the Seahawks that in Indianapolis, the Seahawks probably had a conversation with Sam Darnold, a little whispering behind the scenes and said, why don't you come sign with us? We're going to trade Geno Smith. And then they had already worked something out. And again, we're only two hours into this, but I just feel like that was something that looked inevitable.

And I do wonder if from Sam Darnold's perspective, if he would have said, okay, yeah, that sounds great. I'm going to go out there and DK Metcalf and I'll throw it deep to him and Tyler Lockett and you guys look pretty good. And then you move on from those players. And all of a sudden, maybe somebody else looks like they're going to be a more attractive option for Sam Darnold. And then there's still moving parts.

So what could the moving parts be? Which is Aaron Rodgers. Does Seattle get enthralled with Aaron Rodgers and that idea? I also think, Dane, that it feels like Aaron Rogers is trying so hard behind the scenes to make Aaron Rogers to somebody happen. Doesn't it feel that way? Doesn't it seem like Aaron Rogers himself is the one starting all of these rumors? Completely. That's the only thing I thought this weekend when all of a sudden the Vikings are in on Aaron Rodgers if they miss out on Daniel Jones.

I even thought it this morning when all of a sudden the Steelers are in on Aaron Rodgers. It feels like a guy who still wants to play and maybe doesn't have that much of a market and is just trying to drum up interest in himself. It sounds also like something Aaron Rodgers would very much do, which is float to insiders and say, like, I'm interested in this team. Are any of those teams interested in Aaron Rodgers? It sounds like the Steelers might be, but there's been no indication that the Vikings are. And unless Aaron Rodgers is signing for $2 million on a minimum contract, stay

away from Minnesota. Like if he, if you're going to have to pay a lot for that guy, even if you're having to pay anything for that guy, I can pass on that. But it doesn't strike me as something Aaron Rogers would do, which signed for the minimum. So he does appear to be a domino though. And he's making sure he is one of the first ones. Uh, at least that's what, that's what I'm taking away. Yeah. I would never do that for you. Couldn't pay me if Aaron Rogers said, I will give you $1,000 out of my pocket for me to come play for the vikes. Really? No, I'm good. I'm good. Uh, last time I checked and I saw your coworker,

Jace Frederick tweeted this and said, didn't they draft JJ McCarthy with the 10th overall pick last year? I'm pretty sure they did. So, uh, I think that we have, of course, uh, the situation that we always thought it was going to be, which is JJ McCarthy is going to be the starting quarterback for the Vikings. It's not going to be anybody else. It's not going to be Aaron Rogers, but if somebody does decide that they're doing the Aaron Rogers thing today, then that could send off all the dominoes falling to where everyone goes.

I'm with you though. I would have expected that Sam Darnold would have signed quickly and he would have sort of set the market or set the standard and then everybody else would start to come into their spots. Now Jeff saying that Trayvon Morrig, one of my favorite guys signing with the Carolina Panthers, three years, 51 million. So Morrig is kind of in the same ballpark as a cambynum. He's a little bit like different stylistically. He's more of a come up to the line of scrimmage.

He blitzes a lot. I actually liked him for the Vikings potentially because he is more that playmaking Harrison Smith type of box safety. Three years, 51 million is a pretty high number though. If that sets the mark for cam buying them. And that's another thing we haven't gotten a Dane is we haven't gotten a Byron Murphy update, but we haven't mentioned as much can buy them. And how are you feeling about where they stand at safety?

Because now more it comes off at three years, 51 million. I'm not good enough at math to figure that out, but it's gotta be, what is that? Like 16, $17 million somewhere in that range. It's pretty expensive, but it's not insanely expensive. It's not 22 or $23 million a year. We also don't know Harrison Smith status. I would assume that the Vikings know Harrison Smith status, I would assume that the Vikings know Harrison Smith status, but in very Harrison Smith like fashion, he wasn't going to run to us and tell us,

Hey guys, like here's what I'm doing. He wasn't going to Instagram post it or whatever else. But I do think that the safety position is very much in flux here. And if more, I didn't get a crazy contract That maybe it becomes more realistic that can buy them could return even though they signed Theo Jackson to that deal Yeah, I think To me there felt like the writing was on the wall for can buy them when they signed Theo Jackson So I think I'd still would be pretty surprised if Kam Bynum was back here. I guess some of that does hinge on is Harrison Smith coming back to play? We don't know yet. If he is, then

certainly I think Kam Bynum's gone. But if we go down the rabbit hole of in a few days when that number on Harrison Smith's contract is set to trigger and you have to basically make a decision by then, or pay him $25 million next year. If he retires and Cam Bynum is still sitting out there waiting for a contract, maybe there is a reunion to be had out there. I think we see this sometimes, Maybe there is a reunion to be had out there. I think we see this sometimes, like guys representation sometimes miss the mark on their value. And if Trayvon Morag is signing for what'd you say, three years for 51, that's $17 million a year. Like if your can't buy them, it's representation and you're trying to clear that, you might

not. And if you don't, in the early stages, you might miss out in the window completely. We've seen that happen before where guys are waiting for their big contract, and then all the teams that need safeties, sign their guys, and then all of a sudden you're a second tier guy or a second wave guy. If he becomes a second wave guy, and Harrison Smith retires, I could see a situation where Kam Bynum's back here. If they're gonna have to pay in the upwards of 17, 18, 19 million dollars for Kam Bynum,

I don't see a world. If Harrison Smith decides in the next few days that he would like to play next season at a fair cost, to, you know, he's not gonna play for the minimum, I mean, even if you restructure him, um, you're going to have to give him a fair deal. If he decides that he is ready to go, um, then I think Cambynum is also out the door. So now, uh, according to, uh, Rhino Man on our comments, who is always reliable. It's Rapaport saying the Vikings in on Milton Williams. No, the Rapaport saying the- on our comments, who is always reliable. Or appreciate you, Rhino Man. Yep. Rappaport saying the Vikings in on Milton Williams.

No, the Rappaport saying the way the the they're here. It's a push notification. Twitter's still broken. But splash. Now he's going to New England, New England. Yep. What the hell is going on here? Yeah. Well, that wasn't even a team that was mentioned for where he was going.

OK. All right. Wow. OK. Now, so Milton Williams goes from we're talking ourselves into Milton Williams to now to New England for twenty six million dollars a year. Wow. I mean, that draft, a freaking defensive tackle. I could understand why the Vikings would have checked in on Milton Williams after it fell apart with the Carolina Panthers. But we're talking about a guy who over the last two years has not even totaled 1000 snaps that he is a part time type of player.

And I was thinking around 20 around 20. And I know 6 million isn't that crazy much more but it kind of is 6 million is an entire player. They almost paid that much for Isaiah Rogers just now to go 26 million dollars for the New England Patriots for Milton Williams. And I'll tell you I have my purple insider top 60 free agents list in front of me. What I wrote about Milton Williams was I didn't put him in the top 10 great player price tag will be nuts. Price tag officially nuts, $26 million for a guy who played 500 regular season snaps, and he did it next to the best player maybe in the league at that

position at this point, which is Jaylen Carter. I think that's just that's a no go for me. I don't think you spend all your money there, especially now that you know, they have offensive line needs. I think they need still another corner. There's other things that they're going to have to do here. You can't just go in and spend what would that be like a third

of all of your free agent money on one guy. And I know the cap is going to be a little different than that. But 6 million bucks is a couple of players and they need depth that positions to we can't forget about this either. They need the they need the trencher fields back. They need the Jerry tillerys and the other guys that are rotational players. I also think Anthony mentioned mentions Tershawn Wharton. I had heard that Tershawn Wharton was going to ask for a lot of money.

And now if you're him, oh my gosh, you're like pay up 15 to 20 million dollars to me. This is just too much Milton Williams. A really great Super Bowl turned into something here. But usually, Dane, I always think stay away from guys that have helped Super Bowl teams because they get crazy overpaid because everybody watched them. This to me is too much, but it's not too much for New England. It's actually a great move for New England because New England has even like

double the cap space of anybody else. And New England has no players. Their team is atrocious. They, they just got variable. They've got a young quarterback. Like they should be doing something completely stupid, but I don't think the Vikings should have done something completely stupid. Do you agree? Yeah, this is, this is my whole worry. How long with Milton Williams is I thought he was, I just said this.

I thought he was going to cost you a lot of money. I didn't think he was going to cost you that much money. And even more so now that we know the price tag, like you can't do it. Like one thing that's, I think is hard in free agency is to determine like how much cap space your team has left because like there is a lot of salary cap gymnastics at play here, void years added, guaranteed money up front, like things that can bring down the initial cap hit. But still, like you eventually have to pay off that credit card. And if you're signing Milton Williams to that much money, even if you do some salary cap gymnastics and you get

his cap hit down for this year so you can make some more moves, you're gonna be paying for it long term down the road. And at that point, like you're pot stuck, he better be one of the best defensive tackles in the league. He better turn into Jalen Carter, like if you're paying him $26 million a year. Like he has to sniff sniff in Chris Jones territory, Christian Wilkins territory, if you're paying him that much a year. So that was always my nervousness with him. Is in a vacuum? Yeah, if this was maddened, sure.

I would jack up the bar of money until it said his interest level was all the way up. And then I would push sign, and he would sign with me. But there are ramifications with giving a guy that much money when you, to your point, do not have as much cap space as the New England Patriots. For them, sure, why not? You have $127 million of cap space and you have Drake May and you need to prove that you can put talent around him, you're allowed to overpay in those situations if you're New England. You're not in a position to overpay if you're the Vikings here. 60 million still goes away quickly if you start signing guys that are going to take

up a large chunk of your cap percentage. That was always my worry with Milton Williams. I liked him. I really did. But I thought you were going to have to overpay for him. And sure as shit, you are. Sue says, glad the Vikings aren't panicking and overpaying guys. I agree with that. Peter says, would love any card news.

I know we all promised the guard news. Let me just run through real quick because I made this list and I'm going to go through kind of where we stand with the guys that I had on my list. And after I run through it, oh, Will Fries going to Seattle. Oh, they're trying to recruit Sam Darnold by getting Will Fries. Is that right? Do you have a do you have a notification on that? That's Tyler dropping that in the comments.

We'll see if that pops up in a second here. If you're seeing it, maybe your Twitter's working and mine's not working. No, mine's not. Oh no, you got no Tyler. Tyler got, got tricked. Okay. That's okay, Tyler. It happens. Tyler, a consistent listener. Yeah, it happens. I told you to be careful. Be careful. Okay, that's fine. We'll see. But we'll see if we get that guard news at some point. So let me run through my 10 plus list and then you can kind of compare to where you're at, Dane, and just where what has happened so far. So, Javon Holland was the number one guy on my list because Javon, I think, would be a complete game changer for the defense. That's only if they do not end up bringing back Kam Bynum or if Harrison Smith retires. Like, there's some moving parts there with Javon Holland. Trayvon Morrig is off the board.

Will Fries and Will Hernandez are stillvon Morrig is off the board. Will fries and Will Hernandez are still there. BJ Hill is off the board. Now here's a guy really, really love for the Vikings. Don't worry about it, Tyler. Stuff happens. No big deal. That happens to all of us. I, you know, somebody thought earlier that it was 25 mil for DJ Reed. Like it happens and it was only 16. That's how it goes. So Levi on was Levi on was Zirke Dane, uh, from the Detroit lions,

he committed a homicide in the game against the Vikings and he, I think he had nine pressures which pumped up his numbers, but still a rising player who's on the younger side that does not cost what Milton Williams costs because he didn't have huge sack numbers, but he did have big pressure numbers. He is the guy in my top 10. Now, DJ Reed is off the board, Paul Sanadibo, Aaron Jones is all set, but Anwar Zerki is one from the top 10 of my list that I'm still very interested in and is available.

Yeah, I like him. I think there's there's second wave guys now at this point. And maybe it's not even fair to consider them second wave guys because we're still only like two hours into to free agency. But he makes sense as a guy like. To kind of go out there and try and fill holes in the interior of the defensive line. I'd be curious who else you have.

I know a name I put out there in my article from yesterday, older and coming off an injury but was Javon Hargrave. I thought he makes sense. He's 32 years old. He's coming off a injury, but it was Javon Hargrave. I thought he makes sense. He's 32 years old. He's coming off a torn triceps. So he is not someone I think you're going to necessarily build your defense around moving forward or the interior of your line moving forward.

But he kind of falls into that same category with you of production. Maybe you can have him at cost. Obviously, he's older. But I think a guy like him makes sense. All of this, your guy, my guy with the backdrop of, they are talking to Jonathan Allen as well. So there are guys still out there.

And I think we should probably remind people that when there are a lot of names now flying off the board is that it's not over. There's are a lot of names now flying off the board is that it's not over. Like there's still a lot of time. Um, and then, and it's still, when you look at the big picture here, probably better that they're not going out and spending all their money right, right away, even if that would be the fun thing to do right now, uh, Puna Ford

signing with the Los Angeles Rams. He was on my list a little bit farther down, not in the top 10, but somebody who was interesting that revamped his career last year with the Los Angeles Chargers and now he stays in LA except for with the other team, same stadium, same stadium packed with other teams fans. So, but he was a guy that I was looking at. He's more of a run guy, more of like a get in the backfield quick and stop the run. He's not exactly someone that creates like a ton of pressure. So he wasn't so much on my radar. Uh, I do think that, um, a rhino man mentions, uh, Tershawn Wharton.

The thing about him is he doesn't great out very well and he got six snaps and I'm sorry, six sacks. And sometimes that just pumps somebody up. You may have played well in the playoffs. You always worry about those guys who are on the Super Bowl teams from the chief stuff like that. Oh, is Nick Mullins. Do we have a Nick Mullins signing Nick Mullins to the Jags?

Wow. Nick Mullins. Do we have a Nick Mullins signing Nick Mullins to the Jags? Wow. Nick Mullins after all these years with the Minnesota Vikings finds a new home with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Well, that would make sense because the Vikings are going to get someone different as a backup quarterback and Mullins probably wants to be a QB two somewhere and has been for the Vikings the last couple of years, but is definitely not that going forward. If they're going to bring in someone who could start if they need them to. So just real quick, congratulations to Nick Mullins. I think we all respect the hell out of Nick Mullins because and I don't

we don't have to spend a ton of time on it, but like this guy outworks everybody. He is not big. When you see him in the locker room, you're like that guy's playing in the NFL. And when he got in this dude, he just went for it. And he almost won them games. He came this close to getting him to the playoffs. It would have been epic in 23 if he had done that. So I appreciate his effort and how much it takes to get to the NFL for him.

Oh, that's right. Grant, you didn't ski is the offensive coordinator there. Just how much it takes how much he brings to a room the effort on a daily basis. He told me a story one time that when he was with San Francisco, they had a bunch of injuries at safety and he had to practice at safety and he was the only guy that knew the defense well enough to practice at safety. Like that's what he brings. But it does, it does bring about a question though, Dane is who is the Vikings backup

quarterback going to be? Well, it's not Nick Mullins anymore. And then that era of him being the backup quarterback was fun. I loved his I don't give a crap mentality of I'm going to. I have the best arm in the world and I'm going to throw it into places that I may or may not be able to fit it in there. Who is the backup quarterback going to be next season? I still

think it's going to be Daniel Jones. I really do. Like I know he has a market. Um, it sounds like for hold on. Oh, we got it. We got it. Sam Darnold three years, a hundred million to the Seattle Seahawks, Sam Darnold joining the Seattle Seahawks on a three-year, $100 million deal. I think we can snark and say a little bit that Sam Darnold did not lose a ton

of money with those last two games. Maybe, maybe he did, but three years, $100 million is a really good deal for Sam Darnold. It's the right place for him to go. As soon as Geno Smith left, it's the right place for him to go. As soon as Geno Smith left, it made so much sense that Sam Darnold would go to the Seattle Seahawks. And this makes it officially official official

that Sam Darnold is moving on and JJ McCarthy is the future of the Minnesota Vikings. Again, Dane, if you have to run and start writing, that's okay. But- I probably will run now. Okay, all right. Thank you so much for your contribution. I'll pop back on the monitor tonight.

Pioneer Press, appreciate you, man. All right. So, over $100 million for Sam Darnold, who came to the Minnesota Vikings on a one-year, $10 million contract and gave the Vikings everything he had last year. He handled the situation with JJ McCarthy being drafted the training camp, the behind the scenes stuff incredibly well.

He won over the locker room. he won over the head coach. He gave us some exciting exciting games exciting moments some tremendous tremendous performances. The game against the atlanta falcons beating kirk cousins and his return celebrating on the sideline on the big board against Atlanta. And then when it comes to the game against Green Bay, that's the one the Vikings have lost so many times, 377 yards, three touchdowns. I mean as exciting as a game as you're going to have them beating the Green Bay Packers that night. And after the game, he's talking to Tom Brady and then he goes into the locker room and they pick him up on their shoulders. I know what happened the next two weeks and the way that it ended was unfortunate.

And it's so often is for every single team and every single player. If you're not my homes or you're not the Eagles winning the Super bowl and it was disappointing and it was shocking and it was frustrating to see the way that they fell apart in the last two games. But I don't think that that should at all take away from what Sam Darnold did for the Minnesota Vikings last year. This was a team that was expected to win six and a half games, six or seven. They were expected to have bad quarterback play.

Once JJ McCarthy went down, a lot of the discussion was, well, that's the season for the Vikings. They're going to have to start Sam Darnold and instead Sam Darnold came out, played top 10 quarterback, led the team and earned this contract with the Seattle Seahawks. He deserves all the credit, all the credit in the world for the way that he performed last year for the Vikings and showing to the world that he was not a bust, that he was not one of

the biggest busts, that he was put in a bad situation right out of the draft with the jets with Carolina. So before we get to the other part of this, which is the most significant part for the Vikings, I just want you to take a minute and appreciate Sam Darnold because I know that right after it ended, fans were unhappy. Everybody was angry. Of course you deserve to be. It was another meltdown, another disappointment, but five years from now, 10 years from now, when you're talking about the Vikings and you're talking about the quarterbacks that they went through through the years,

that Sam Darnold season is going to be one that you remember very fondly through the years and the way that he approached the situation, his personality, the way he connected with Kevin O'Connell, with Justin Jefferson, with his teammates, it was more than just kind of a rent a player season. It had something more special to it. So all Vikings fans should appreciate Sam Darnold going from a season that you thought was kind of going to be lost. Once JJ McCarthy went down to one of the more exciting regular seasons in Vikings history.

So he earned this spot. He deserves to be thought of as a starting NFL quarterback and he's going to have some challenges there with Seattle. But I also think that the Seattle Seahawks have been declared left for dead a few times, but they also are a good organization. They have organizational structure, a general manager who's built multiple winning teams. They have a good fan base. They've got a great stadium.

They've got everything that Sam Darnold came to the Vikings for and including a very good number one wide receiver in Jackson Smith and the Jigba. So this is the right decision for Sam Darnold. He's going to be loved and appreciated in Seattle. They're going to build around him to rebuild the roster. It appears that he got $55 million guaranteed. So more than he would have gotten with the franchise tag. And it ends up being a good deal for Sam Darnold, but they can also work around it. That doesn't seem like it's going to be restrictive. That is the part of it for him.

And before we get into the other one, I just wanted to bring that up that. You should appreciate what he was able to do. And I love the redemption story of somebody who was so screwed from the start with the way that he was brought into the league by the jets and the Panthers and to have a chance now to have a long career in the NFL is a good starter, uh, is a great, a great arc for Sam Darnold, but this means for the Minnesota Vikings, it is JJ McCarthy time. JJ McCarthy is the future of the Minnesota Vikings franchise officially now.

And we'll just throw out any of the Aaron Rodgers stuff. That disappeared pretty quickly. JJ McCarthy is the future of the Minnesota Vikings. And here's what this means. This means that McCarthy at this moment taking over completes the arc, the entire story, the entire plan of the Vikings when they got here. This is much more significant than just, all right, onto the next guy. Sam let him down.

They drafted him. Whatever. No, it's more significant than that. Because when quasi Adolfo Mensa and Kevin O'Connell arrived, they had a plan and that plan was to eventually move on from Kirk cousins and to draft a quarterback to build around. But they couldn't do it in 2022 because there were no quarterbacks and they couldn't do it in 2023 Because the quarterbacks were taken in the top four and they didn't have a pick there. So they end up with Jordan Addison But in 2024 the football gods offered them a draft with six quarterbacks in the first round

Historically good quarterback draft. They moved on from Kirk Cousins They set the salary cap in place to be ready to build around a rookie quarterback. And then on draft night, they draft JJ McCarthy with having no idea really what he's going to be because he's a raw prospect. They knew about the character. They knew about the arm strength. They knew about the physical tools, but as far as his college football,

he didn't play a lot of it. And when you compare that to a Drake, May to a Jayden Daniels, to a Michael Pennex, to a Bo Nicks, those guys had much bigger sample sizes of playing football and they had offenses that were built entirely around them and not around running the football as it was with Jim Harbaugh and JJ McCarthy. And so it took McCarthy more time to get some of the footwork down, the accuracy and those things, but where he really won over this franchise as being the franchise quarterback, I think was he arrived at OTAs. He was not QB one, not even close.

He was not throwing accurately. He was struggling with the footwork. He's not thrown to the right places. He's thrown some interceptions. He's overthrowing guys in OTAs and mini camp and it was a real struggle and then between mini camp and training camp. JJ McCarthy stayed in Minnesota. He didn't go to Cabo or wherever, you know, vacation South beach.

He stayed in Minnesota and he put in the work. And when he returned for training camp, he was a different quarterback. And as he took step after step after step through training camp, he sold the Minnesota Vikings organization on his work ethic, his raw talent, which was more impressive to me in person than I thought it was based on what I saw in college. And this is why I always look at it as I got to see it up close to really know what is there for the raw talent. And McCarthy showed arm strength, playmaking ability, command of the offense.

He was executing two minute drills in training camp as if he had been a quarterback for a long time. And as he was getting closer and closer, the preseason game happens. And this is what all of you ended up seeing the preseason game. He performed at such a high level, but also had to bounce back in that game a little bit. And we checked off all the boxes in the preseason game of what we had seen throughout training camp on a daily basis.

And that was a major part of what sold the Vikings organization on him was how well he would bounce back from bad practices, how the work ethic translated from, well, sure you could say somebody's got work ethic in college and maybe they did, but to see it at the NFL level, to see him put in the work, make the progress and become the quarterback very quickly that they saw when they were meeting with him, saw at the combine, saw in college for the high end of it. Already to see that in his first training camp, I think was beyond what they had initially expected.

They had initially expected a much longer development curve for McCarthy with the way they talked about it, because on draft night, Kevin O'Connell said to us guys, I don't want quarterback controversy. And I'm paraphrasing, but he more or less said, we're going to be patient with McCarthy. I'm not going to push him. And I don't remember when it was that he said teams fail quarterbacks more than quarterbacks failing teams, but.

It was along the lines of talking about JJ McCarthy and not failing JJ McCarthy, but I don't think they expected him to quickly get to where he was last year. And that's what started to sell them on him being a franchise quarterback. And then the way he played in the preseason game, they were ready to have him compete in the joint practices in Cleveland. Had he not got hurt. So he has the surgery and then Darnold plays the way that he played. And it left us to wonder through 17 weeks. How can you move on from Sam Darnold when he's played this well?

And let's not forget, let's not wash it all out because we know how it ended. Sam Darnold showed a lot of high end talent throughout. And had he played much better in the playoffs. I mean, I'm thinking about right now how that one throw in Seattle, that one throw set off the Vikings playing the Rams and probably set off the Seattle Seahawks being interested in Sam Tarnold and signing him to a contract here today, that one throw may have put the Vikings back on track to go with J.J.

McCarthy into the future. And so the fact that the plan all along was to draft a quarterback, to spend in free agency, which I know has not happened yet today, but to spend in free agency and to build this team around JJ McCarthy is now here today at this moment, taking shape. McCarthy is now here today at this moment taking shape. And this was a plan for someone like myself, it was covered the Minnesota Vikings since 2016.

We have not seen this because when I arrived in 2016 to cover the Vikings for 1500 ESPN, they had Teddy Bridgewater and they had this same concept. And then Bridgewater got hurt and they ended up having to make a trade for Sam Bradford that ultimately did not turn out to be a good trade, a first round pick for a quarterback that gave them one season and then Case Keenum. Then they spend all of it on Kirk Cousins. They limit themselves when it came to Kirk C Kirk cousins for what they could spend around him. He was also a limited physical quarterback that as you see now in the Superbowl, it's Jalen hurts versus my homes.

And in the championships, you got Josh Allen and you got Jayden Daniels that the league was changing and the Vikings were stuck in the past with an expensive quarterback that they were, were just not able to build around. And he was not able to get them over the top. And during that entire period of time, we talked about the rookie quarterback contract, draft the guy, find the guy build around that guy for years. We talked about it. I don't know how many times I said it over those years. The better plan was for the Vikings to draft a quarterback in 2020 when they extended cousins.

I was ripping my hair out. There's option, right? There's, there's options here. You should draft someone. There's a big quarterback draft. They didn't do it and they extended Kirk. And so all this whole time, this was the light at the end of the tunnel was JJ McCarthy.

And now we've arrived folks. We've arrived. And even the fact that the Vikings were having a conversation about Milton Williams, it tells you how much you can spend around this player. So. J.J. McCarthy, I should also mention that throughout this year, J.J.

McCarthy didn't disappear. He didn't go away. He acted as if he was going to be QB one behind the scenes. And Kevin O'Connell explained this. Of how JJ McCarthy would each week go through the process of being a QB one, where he was in the meetings where he's having the sit down with Kevin O'Connell each week. Kevin O'Connell was planning this to go to JJ McCarthy the whole time and he acted like it behind the scenes. He didn't say you're hurt. You go sit in the corner. No, he said, you're our franchise future,

and you need to be here on a daily basis every single day behind the scenes working with Sam Darnold, seeing what Sam Darnold goes through game planning He couldn't practice but going through it mentally on the virtual reality like they did everything they could To set up for this and the final step for JJ McCarthy and this was the thing that held me back throughout the offseason the thing that held me back of whether they would go to McCarthy or not was where does he stand physically? That was always the thing that held me back. And we've got some other things percolating here as well.

So Darnold was the first thing to fall. It appears that Justin Fields is going to be a New York jet. Two years and 40 million dollars. So Justin Fields going to the jets. There you go. So we got some quarterback movement here. Will Aaron Rodgers be a part of it? Not to the Vikings, I don't think, but will Aaron Rodgers be a part of it?

So the fact that McCarthy had all this time banked, all this knowledge banked, the last step was pretty simple. The last step was JJ McCarthy needs to get out on a football field and he's put the weight back on and he needs to show them that they can move on from Sam Darnold. back on and he needs to show them that they can move on from Sam Darnold. And since the end of the season, remember that, uh, since the end of the season, McCarthy just got on the field working and they came out and they announced that to us at the end of the year press conferences where they said, you know, Hey, uh, he's back out on the field. So he's working out and how that went was going to dictate it.

And then when we got to the combine and they said he's gained 20 pounds and he's good to go and he's back and ready for the off season program. To me, that was the last step to where they could say, okay, Sam Darnold, it's time to let you move on. And from Sam Darnold's perspective, from Sam Darnold's perspective, knowing that someone else was going to love and want to marry, not date, I think was important for him that Seattle was going to really invest in him and not just say, Hey, you're sort of our guy, but sort of not.

Okay. We've got some other things rolling in. Can bind them. I haven't seen this yet. I have not seen this yet, but I'm looking can bind enough of you are saying, and I'm going to believe you can bind them to the Colts. Okay. So that matches up with what, what we expected.

It certainly matches up with what we expected that, uh, can bind them would not be coming back. Yep. Okay. Dan Graziano saying that now. Okay. So let me just, uh, I'll get to that in a moment, but let me finish the thought on Sam Darnold leaving and JJ McCarthy taking over. There is some expectations now that will be placed on JJ McCarthy and there is development that will be needed for JJ McCarthy. And we're going to have to now, I think treat this a little bit more like, Hey, he's going to have his moments

and it's going to be his first year starting and he hasn't started before and he hasn't thrown a lot of passes, but the environments that the Minnesota Vikings have already given JJ McCarthy and the proof is in the Darnold of what Kevin O'Connell is capable of when working with a quarterback that if JJ McCarthy can even meet a certain threshold, then he can be an above average to excellent quarterback that you can win with. And what we've seen work in terms of we're always looking for what's the model. How do you do it? How do you build the winning team? And what keeps coming up all the time is finding a cheap quarterback and building a freak roster around that quarterback. Now, Tom Palacero says four years and

$60 million. So that is $15 million a year for cam by, Hey, somebody on this podcast been saying 15 million is the price for cam buying them for a while It's almost like I had an idea that that would be what it was interesting So he signs with the Indianapolis Colts. This was very clearly signified And if you guys have thoughts on Sam Darnold to Seattle I think that what took the pop away from that was that we already knew that as soon as Geno Smith was that we already knew that as soon as Gino Smith was traded, we already knew.

And as soon as Kevin O'Connell went to the podium at the combine and he said, Hey, by the way, JJ McCarthy is going to be good to go for the start of the off season program. That's when I knew that it was over for Sam Darnold in Minnesota. And then the more you played it out, he was going to have interest. There was this idea out there that I'll never understand. Oh, well, you know, Sam Darnold cost himself so much money in those last two games. No one's going to sign him. What? I heard that a couple of times.

I listened to a lot of I check in a lot of different podcasts. I heard that a few times from NFL analysts made no sense to me. And yes, this does mean that the comp pick is on the way. So all of you can be thrilled about that for next year. The comp pick is on the way. So all of you can be thrilled about that for next year. The comp pick is on the way. Is Javon Holland worth $18 million? That I think he is personally because he's been top three in the NFL. But this is really the thing that is for the Vikings.

They have to know already, I'm guessing they do about whether Harrison Smith is coming back. But even if Harrison Smith comes back, I don't think that should preclude them from doing something else. Fifth round comp pick for Bynum. I don't know. It depends on how much they spend. And nobody ever likes to get into that formula, but it's how much the Vikings spend. So far, yes, they would get a comp pick for that. But let's let's just not worry too much about the comp picks at this moment, because they'll announce them in twenty twenty six and I'll be here for it. Maybe we'll do a special, a comp pick special. They announced the comp picks today.

But Javon Holland, if he is going to press $20 million a year, I think that it is worth it, because even if Harrison Smith returns, we're talking about one more year at at most. Right. It can't be much more than that. If Harrison Smith returns. So make it work for a year with Theo Jackson. But as soon as Theo Jackson signed and we know that they have been very high on Theo Jackson for a long time since they got him in 2022,

that he would be potentially a starter here. And then if Harrison Smith comes back, that's okay. But there's other options out there like Javon Holland. And I do think that Javon Holland is the guy that's worth that type of huge payday in this defense. Safety is huge. Safety is kind of thought of as a position you can replace. But if you have that difference maker,

two different times in Javon Holland's career, including once with Brian Flores, he has been a top three safety. There is an enormous impact if you're going to have a top three safety. And that is worth a lot of money. Not only that, but the Vikings still have a lot of money to spend. They have only spent what 7.5 million on Isaiah Rogers. That's all we've seen them spend so far.

And Holland is a playmaker. He's a difference maker. So it's someone that I think they have to look at not just having a Theo Jackson back there, but it does depend. I mean, Rashawn says there's no way they're putting that into the safety position. What about Theo Jackson?

Well, I mean, they didn't pay Theo Jackson a huge amount of money. They paid Theo Jackson, fringe starter money for that position. And he's also a player that can do a lot of different stuff. But if you're talking about Harrison Smith leaving, can't buy them just left. There's still a safety spot open because I think that you want Josh Mattel is to continue to play the Josh Mattel is role and that's what's most important is that Josh Mattel is going to continue to play there.

So you're going to go look and get someone like Holland and I agree that Holland is dynamic that he could do a lot of different things. He could play in the box. He could drop back. So that's my top target for the vikings with cam bynum leaving and Let me say this as well cam bynum Has been one of the cooler stories

Behind the scenes for me to watch come to fruition When they drafted him he was a cornerback out of kale And I remember he told the story on his initial draft. We have conference calls with these guys when they get drafted. And so he told us that I forget what they did. He rented a house with his family next to a lake. And when he got drafted, they all ran and jumped in the lake. And so from the first day, you kind of got the sense that can buy them was this enthusiastic, really smart, interesting guy.

And then as he got more and more opportunity, what it started to become obvious was that he could actually play. And I remember the game in twenty in 2021 against the Baltimore Ravens, where it was, I think, Harrison Smith got COVID and he couldn't play. And so Cam Bynum just had to play. It's like, I'm sorry, buddy, you're in. And he ended up playing great. And he might have to pick in that game, but he just played really, really well. And right there was, OK, this guy on game day can be thrown into the mix and is ready to play Harrison

Smith's position and that, and that's the type of intelligence we're talking about. And, and he, they draft a safety in Lewis scene, having no idea what they have in camp by him. He wins the job out of camp and becomes one of the more consistent players, downhill tackler, deep playmaker. And then this year really came into his own as a vibes guy, but I don't want him to be treated that way because he was a very good player

for the Vikings. So $60 million for him is well, well earned for Cambynum and a great Viking career to set himself up for this type of contract. The the Bears making another move here for is it Odenigbo? Dale Odenigbo is that how it's pronounced three years 48 million. So the Bears spending a lot here as they continue to improve. So the point is that can buy them earn his contract, super high intelligence player. One of the guys that you want inside your building. And it was always my expectation that there was going to be a bad team that wanted to overspend

for can buy them because their vibes are bad and he's going to bring great stuff to their locker room and he can make some plays and I think it's a great deal for him But also it is too much for that position for the Vikings. That's just the reality of the economics of cam binem is When you look at the numbers he produces the production You're probably talking about more of a mid pack You're probably talking about more of a mid pack type of deep safety. If we're just doing the black and white of it, mid pack, deep safety, a good player who you love to have on your team, right place, right time, but he is not coming

into the box, flying in, getting sacks, getting a lot of interceptions. And if you're going to go 15 plus million when you got to spend on guard and you got to spend on a lot of other stuff, then that's a hard amount of money to just invest in. Can't buy them now if they can get someone else. Now more regard. He went to the Carolina Panthers trade on more. But there are a number of other players at the safety position who you would be interested in. I've got Javon Holland at the top of my list. He was drafted by Brian Flores.

Remember the last player that was drafted by Brian Flores who came here was Andrew Van Ginkle. That worked out extremely well for them. I guess who Fonga is working on a deal with Denver. So he's probably off the list. Jeremy chin is an interesting one. Uh, really physically gifted. Justin Reed is another one. Julian Blackman who's from, uh, the Indianapolis Colts.

He was a deep safety last year. Somebody to watch. Just look at it. My top 60 list, Andre Cisco, Justin Simmons. These are some other players that could be options at safety. But I think we, we need to know to talk about this, the information that we don't know, which is in part what Harrison Smith is doing. But even if I really think even if Harrison Smith comes back, Jeremy

Chin, somebody else you could, you could do. So I'm going to go back over my list again now that we've got some answers. And thank you so much to David for the super chat. Really appreciate that. Glad you're enjoying the show. And thank you so much to the audience in general. If you're new to the show, hi, check out the newsletter

purpleinsider.football. That's one thing, uh, just to introduce myself, you know, been covering the team for a long time here and have done many free agency shows throughout the year and, uh, got back, you know, covered them at the combine and all those things that we all do. So, um, okay. Sorry, Tom Pellisera tweeted that Josh Mattelis is going to need a new dance partner. That's funny.

Uh, that is true. Jeremy Chin would be an option, but anyway, just, you know, to introduce myself, if you guys don't know, I used to work for 1500 ESPN here in town. And then when that was no longer, uh, I started purple insider and I've been building up the YouTube channel, been on the podcast side for many years and the newsletter. So I'll be going to the owner's meetings, do all those types of things. And that's, it's kind of my deal.

So anyway, uh, apparently there is a Tyler says there's a bidding war for Javon Holland, Ooh, a bidding war. And the Vikings are in the mix. bidding war for Javon Holland, Oh, a bidding war. And the Vikings are in the mix. I don't know Zach Gatsby, but, um, as far as reporting goes, but. I just, when we were talking about Javon Holland, this is a real playmaker. And the Vikings at that position, I think need that.

And even though I think that Harrison Smith has been really good over the last few years I don't think he has been the same level of a difference maker playmaker game-changing plays That he wasn't his prime and that's just life, you know the age with players. He's still right place right time He's still a good tackler. He's still a great leader a great communicator He is still the coach on the field for the Vikings, but Javon Holland is 25 years old and is already twice ranked in the top three by PFF among safeties. He's played in his first four years, 3500 snaps. So he hasn't missed a lot of time by his PFF numbers.

He was down last season on a team that was not that great for Miami, but his high end in coverage, he had 16 quarterback pressures in 2021 with. Uh, Brian Flores. I think that he would be a really, really good addition. Uh, apparently that person is not a reporter. The Zach Gatsby guys, is that what you're saying? Okay. Well, I'm just not, I wouldn't be surprised.

I mean, we know the official announcements on the show are all going to come from your shafters and your, uh, in your reports, but as far as your speculation goes, yeah, uh, we can, we can still do that when we've got certain players. So let me run through my list. And now that we have some things settled, I'm just curious about Byron Murphy. I was really as far as this live stream goes, my plan for the day was to

to take a deep breath. Who could take a deep breath today? Who could take a deep breath today? Who could take a deep breath today? My man. You're right. I do need. I do need another diet. Dr.

Pepper though, but just to let you all know, kind of my plan is I will need some food and water. I have to be fed water. And I think we've gotten a couple of the big things off of the list that have been accomplished. So my thought was to. You know, kind of go through, get the Sam Darnold decision taken care of and see where a couple of other things

were going to fall and then pop back in later for another live show. And I think we're probably at three straight hours approaching a good time to maybe take a break and then do another live show later. So I've appreciated, I was kind of sitting here waiting for a Byron Murphy thing, and maybe if we were going to get some news on that, or if there was a, a, a big signing because there was the conversation about Milton Williams. So maybe there was going to be something that happened there, but.

We haven't had that yet. And maybe we'll let that play out a little bit. So I think that's what I'm going to do for now is just going to call this an early live stream with a lot that's happened so far and a lot still to happen. And then, yes, you're right. As soon as I sign off, Javon Holland and that's the thing about this day is like. When you know, when is the one of these things going to break? Because then, you know, you're saying saying hey, Javon Holland's in this

Potential bidding war is he gonna come to the Vikings and all those things? But you're right Matt fries will sign or will fries I'm at will fries will sign and Javon Holland and then there will be just like so many signings that fall but That's gonna be my plan for now is to check out for now. I'm going to grab some lunch. I'm going to write some stuff and rest of the voice a little bit, three straight hours here, maybe try to recruit a couple other guests. Dane Mizutani earlier did a great job. And then later on tonight, I'm thinking, I'm thinking six central, six central.

So that means we won't be too far separated from the rest of the stuff happening. Six central, I am going to create a new live stream and we'll do that again. So hopefully you guys enjoyed all of the breaking coverage of Sam Darnold, of Cam Bynum, and the Milton Williams drama that happened there. And I'll be back later on tonight.

So, and Twitter will crash again. You guys are the best great audience here. Great chat. Really appreciate you coming on. This will not be the end of live streaming for today. Again, later on six o'clock tonight, central, I will be back with a recap of the day and maybe some things that are still going on. So thank you so much.

I'll see you guys later. I'll see you then football. What a day we've got going on folks. I'll see you later.