Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings free agency special (Part 2) Hour 1: Pro Bowl center Ryan Kelly signs with Minnesota

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

Matthew Coller reacts live to free agent prices being out of control and the Vikings having a quiet day so far. Will they have a quiet evening though?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everybody. Welcome to part two of the Minnesota Vikings free agency special here on purple insider. My plan is for another several hours here with you later on in the evening. Andrew Kramer from the Star Tribune is going to stop by. I've tried to coax a couple other guests on. We'll see if that comes to fruition. Everybody is very busy today with free agency and we have breaking news. Actually the timing here for the Purple Insider podcast is going quite well

because earlier I didn't wrap up and then Sam Darnold and Cam Bynum happened. Bynum to the Colts, Sam Darnold to the Seahawks. And then just before I was getting ready to start, Arnold and cam buying them happened, buying them to the Colts, Sam Darnold to the Seahawks. And then just before I was getting ready to start, Ryan Kelly center from the Indianapolis Colts is joining the Minnesota Vikings on a two year, $18 million contract. So there's two big questions that have to be answered with that. Number one is, does this mean that Garrett Bradbury is done in Minnesota? And the other question is, how good is Ryan Kelly? Does this signing make sense? So let's start with part number two. How good is Ryan Kelly? Over the last

couple of years when Ryan Kelly has been healthy, he has been as good at pass blocking as any center in the NFL. So I've got the numbers here for you on that in 2024, Ryan Kelly played 601 snaps, which is an important part of this discussion that we will get to with health and age because he is 32 years old. But in his 601 snaps, Ryan Kelly this year allowed a grand total of 11 quarterback pressures and was the seventh highest graded pass blocker in the NFL and in 2023 grade of course by PFF in 2023 he was the number two highest graded in 882 snaps. He allowed seven quarterback pressures. So this is one of the premier centers in the NFL.

When it comes to pass blocking as far as a run blocker, historically he has been an above average run blocker. I wouldn't say that he's been one of the best of all time, but he has been well above average year after year after year. We are talking about an incredibly experienced player. best of all time, but he has been well above average year after year after year. We are talking about an incredibly experienced player, 7,696 snaps at the center position. You don't get more experience than that for Ryan Kelly.

The only concern is when healthy and over the last two seasons, he has not played a full year. Uh, last year, 600 snaps is about half of the total snaps for most centers. The last time he was over a thousand was 2022. Before that he had a very good record of health, but the last two seasons he has been a little bit on the banged up side. But I think it's quite clear what the Vikings are going for here with Ryan Kelly.

One of the one is just a better pass blocking center. It was obvious over the last couple of years where teams were attacking the Vikings on the interior. They more or less vowed to improve and the interior pass blocking and now they are doing that with Ryan Kelly. And if indeed this means the end of his time in Minnesota with Garrett Bradbury, the reason will be because they need someone who is a much better pass blocker than Garrett Bradbury has been. And last year, when we used the same metrics

for Garrett Bradbury, even if we include part-timers Garrett Bradbury was one of the worst pass blocking centers in the NFL now earlier in his career with KOC Bradbury had some better numbers He was more in the middle of the league more in that 18 to 20 type of range among centers league more in that 18 to 20 type of range among centers. But last year, even if you go and just look through maybe week 14 or so, Garrett Bradbury was doing fine in terms of past protection. But as the season went along and is so often has happened to Bradbury through the years, he ends up regressing as it goes deeper into the season.

And I think some part of that is that players lose weight through the season. And Brad Berry was not a guy who could ever really keep himself at 305. And by the end of the year would weigh less. And I think we had a tougher time when it came to dealing with those bigger defensive tackles. That is something that since Garrett Bradbury was drafted by the Vikings in 2019 as a first round draft pick, he has always struggled with from really day one, uh, he has had problems in terms of getting himself pushed back into the

quarterback and he has had a lot of issues with being left alone in past protection he's never been able to do that successfully and the vikings committing right here with ryan kelly. The other part of it too is not only are they looking for an improvement when it comes to the past protection and this is significant sometimes it's hard with PFF grades to give you it like a way to let this resonate. So I'll give you the pressure numbers. So just from last year, Garrett Bradbury allowed 37 pressures and 1100 snaps and Ryan Kelly allowed four. No, I'm sorry. 11 in 600 snaps, which would translate to like about 20. So, I mean, you're talking about essentially half

the pressures allowed for Ryan Kelly over a full season as Garrett Bradbury and year after year, especially because here's another thing to consider, especially because when you look at who the tackles are for the Vikings, Garrett, it's a Brian O'Neill and Christian Derrasa and those guys are so good at their jobs that every other team goes into a game against the Vikings saying how can we attack the middle and what the Vikings were trying to do with this acquisition is no longer allow that to happen no longer allow them to say all right we could just attack the middle all day long good to go now here's another point to this. So we'll see if Garrett Bradbury is let go.

I would assume that he is Ryan Kelly has never played another position in his career. I mean, he's been a top notch center. He's been one of the top five to seven centers at any time during his career with the Indianapolis Colts. He's got a long track record of performing at a high level, especially as a pass protector, but just overall, his overall grades year in and year out are really, really good.

There's one singular concern. He's 32 years old and he's been around the block physically and he's been banged up. But this is the bigger offensive lineman. This is the six foot four, 310 pound former first rounder, very talented center in Ryan Kelly that they're getting. I would be very surprised if they were going to move Garrett Bradbury to guard because I don't think that that I don't think he's ever played guard.

Maybe he did at some point in college, but that's a very long time ago. But also, uh, he's not going to be a different player. If you move him to guard, it's just not going to be any different, uh, when it comes to, uh, you know, whether he's playing a guard or not. So, uh, with Garrett Bradbury, I would assume that this means that he's going to be let go. And when you look at his contract, his contract was more or less set up for them to release him if they wanted to. So that means kind of the end of Garrett Bradbury, unless they are trying to trade him, which is why he hasn't yet been released.

And that might be a possibility that the Vikings make some phone calls and see if there's another offensive line that, and I've always felt like in a pure outside zone type of system, Garrett Bradbury would be better, uh, than what he's being asked to do, which was hang on for dear life on deep drop backs with Kevin O'Connell system. That's something that whoever is playing center going forward is going to have to do. So that's going to be Ryan Kelly. He's better fit for it. Then Garrett Bradbury.

I will maintain that Bradbury was never given a chance to play with good players next to him. And that was a failure by the Vikings to consistently be rolling in the Blake And that was a failure by the Vikings to consistently be rolling in the Blake brandles, the only Udos, the Tom Compton's. It's just been a detour. Wait, Tom Compton didn't play with him, but the Dakota Dozier's, the Drew Samia's, I mean, they have just rolling in these people. Maybe Drew Samia didn't play with them either.

You get the point that have been either inexperienced or ineffective journeyman. And they never put him next to a couple of towers that would have given him a little more chance to be a helper as opposed to be left on an Island as he was many times when teams would attack him. I think he would have done better. Had that been the case. I think he was a great leader for Sam Darnold last year. I think he is a good outside zone blocking center. And I think he's very, very good when it comes to getting out and being a screen guy. So on a team like San Francisco or something, Garrett Bradbury would be a better fit. Ryan Kelly is a fit here. I did not have Kelly necessarily on my radar because of the health potential and the age of him being 32 years old. But maybe now they're in a position

where they feel like it's win now, baby. Like, here you go. You're not worried as much about the age and things like that. You're worried much more about the production and centers. If any position can play a little bit longer, but when I see 800 snaps and then 600 snaps in a league where you're getting 11, 1200 normally, uh, I do tend to hesitate a little bit, but here's an important point about signing Ryan Kelly. The price tag for the former Colt two years, $18 million with 9 million guaranteed, 9 million guaranteed essentially makes this a one year contract for all intents and purposes.

That's the type of guaranteed money that you have to focus on where they can pay that off pretty quickly. That's what would be your dead cap hit. That kind of stuff, right? Is that 9 million guaranteed. So this is more of a one year contract than it is a two year deal for Ryan Kelly, or it's a one. And then if we want to keep going, we can, I should put it that way. It's one for sure. And two, if we want to. Now, when you start to look at the contracts for guards, if the Vikings were saying, well, how can we make ourselves better?

And I sit until Garrett Bradbury is released. I can't say for sure that Ryan Kelly won't be playing guard. I just don't think it's possible. The, with the fact that he's never done it before, but assuming that he's not, when you look at the prices for guards that have happened today, especially Aaron Banks, this right here is a cheap improvement at center and a cheap improvement in past protection to start there.

And Aaron Banks made $19 million a year on his contract, $19 million a year. And I will share a crazy stat for you. Last year, Blake, Brando and Aaron Banks had the same exact pass blocking grade. And Brando is one of the cheaper guards in the league. And Aaron Banks just became one of the most expensive. The free agent prices today, and I want to go through the remaining free agents. The athletic has a great tracker. So we're just going to look at that in a minute. And we'll talk about the remaining free agents, what they're going to do from here

on the offensive line. But okay, maybe they might've had interest in Aaron Banks, but you're not paying that much. The Packers end up paying him near $20 million for a guy who just doesn't have a track record of being a great offensive lineman. Last year, he was something like 27th overall. I mean, this is not someone you pay at the very top of the market. And as the day has gone along, I have seen a lot of people

saying, you know, what is Quacey doing and why aren't they signing these guys? But then with each, I'm checking, somebody asked about Garrett Bradbury and what it will do for them if they release him. So give me a second. Sorry. When I get a good question, I want to answer it. So I'm stopping myself to try to answer it. Hold on. All right. So when you're looking at, oh, yeah, it was a lot of all right. So what it's going to do, they can save three point six million dollars by cutting Garrett Bradbury this year. And they'll have a little bit of dead money for the next three seasons. So not a huge deal. Okay.

Sorry for the distraction. The point was throughout the day in my in between in my break from the earlier show which go check that out If you haven't seen it, I just saw a ton of what are they doing? Why aren't they signing these guys? Where's the offensive lineman? What is crazy doing like a lot of that stuff typical kind of social media overreaction and My thought was Would you rather just get excited about a move because it happened or have it make sense? I mean, for me, I would rather have it make sense. I would have thought a player like Aaron Banks would have gotten, oh, 10, $12 million based on how good he is,

not 19. 19 is wild. Patrick McCarry got a decent deal three years and 37 million. McCarry is much more of a Dalton Reisner. This is a tendency with offensive linemen that we always think that everybody else's offensive linemen are better than our own. Always. And that's why having the metrics there can really tell us like how someone plays and what they've done for their team. They're not perfect as many of you will point out but There is close to we're gonna get to objective measures on every single player And when you look at the profile of Patrick McCarrey, he has not been an exceptional run blocker He's been a great pass protector. He looks like Dalton Reisner

So maybe that was something that they weren't really looking for is Somebody who was going to be kind of the same and then paying over $10 million for him. So it's likely better for the Vikings to wait, bring in Ryan Kelly, one offensive lineman, and then look at the draft for a guard. Because when you see prices like this coming out, that makes me start to think a lot about an offensive guard in the first round. Normally in the past, I would have been against drafting guards drafting centers, but now where you have the 27th or whatever best offensive guard and another measure was Brandon Thorne from Trench Warfare, who graded Banks as the 12th best offensive lineman on the market. And he's getting near $20 million a year,

$77 million over four seasons. That's just way too much. And if that's what those guys are getting when they're average, then it would have made a lot of sense, or it would make a lot of sense to draft a guard now in the first round. So the Vikings have to look very closely at that.

They've improved its center. There's other guards that are out there that have equal or potentially even better performances in the past. And I still like the idea of looking at someone a little older as well that maybe they want around their guy, JJ McCarthy, they want a veteran offensive line. They don't, I think this, this might be the case. Uh, gray's able time for sure. I think that they don't want to go into a year where they're saying, yeah, we're teaching this tackle how to play guard, like not,

not doing that either having a top notch talent come in as a first round guard or veterans. Kevin Zeitler is someone that I'm still very interested in, but the big takeaway here is that if Ryan Kelly is healthy, he is going to be a big upgrade. Last year. I'm a little surprised by this in part because last year, uh, I, I was thought that Harrison Phillips outplayed Ryan Kelly in that game.

And sometimes when somebody plays really well against or really poorly or really well against the team, it alters what they think. And it's funny because I was pulling up his game by game grades and actually Ryan Kelly had his worst game of the entire year against the Vikings. And yet still his worst game of the entire year against the Vikings. And yet still his worst game of the entire year. He allowed two pressures in his worst game of the year by PFF grade. That just tells you that one of the problems with Garrett Bradbury is that he would go along for week after week and be fine.

And then there'd be like a five pressure game and it would just feel like he had a mismatch where he could not hang on five pressure game and it would just feel like he had a mismatch where he could not hang on for dear life and it would fall apart. And we just saw that happen too often. So if they move on from Garrett Bradbury, it will not be a shock. And I'll probably always think that maybe he would have been a little bit better as he came into his own in a different type of system. But this makes sense as an improvement in pure pass blocking. I thought they might be concerned about health, but instead, uh, they are looking at just this guy is an improvement.

He's going to be better. And I think they also will have to have someone like Michael Juergens, who they drafted in the seventh round, they will have to have him ready to go though, because he might have to play a couple of games. And if that's the case, I mean, that has to be factored in, but the price factors that in one year or two years for 18 million, really with one year guaranteed, it is not that high of a risk except for if he gets hurt, then you don't have them and then you didn't upgrade.

So that is the risk that, uh, that goes on there. So a lot more to talk about. I've got the top 100 list from the athletic and it's a nice, a very nice looking list. And I just wanna scroll through it and look at what's happened today, some of our reactions for today, and then who's left. Because another potential Vikings target,

Tershawn Wharton signed a huge contract. So did Sharvarius Ward. There's been a lot of deals where I went, okay, like that guy. Don't love that guy. Uh, Eric comes in with the super chat. Always appreciate anybody with the super chat, uh, says in the minority disappointed, not inking Sam for that amount. Feel like a desperate New York giants could have given a load for JJ McCarthy.

Yeah, I getcha could have gotten three rookie contracts. Yeah, I mean I get you Eric and I think that there was a minority of people as you said a very small number of people that wanted to see Sam Darnold back. I don't think that there were many that wanted to see JJ McCarthy traded. There's when it comes to something like that, it would be much better to just have, even if they had brought back Sam Darnold to have two quarterbacks on your roster rather than one. And if Darnold didn't play well, then they could quickly go to JJ McCarthy or to make that something they wanted

to do. But I also think that when we come to now this point where Sam Darnold has signed with the Seattle Seahawks and JJ McCarthy is here as the starting quarterback, something that I said in the process leading up to this decision and Darnold signing elsewhere and so forth was that if Kevin O'Connell felt like JJ McCarthy was ready to go, then that was good with me. Then that was enough for me.

Like if, if he, if he was good with it, then I'm good with it because Kevin O'Connell has proven over his time here that he can get the most out of quarterbacks he did with her cousins. He certainly did with Sam Darnold. You can even argue he did with Nick Mullins who left for the Jaguars today that Kevin O'Connell with his hands on these quarterbacks, with the wide receivers, they can give them, they're trying to clearly improve, uh, along the offensive line by signing Ryan Kelly.

And there's definitely, definitely some concern here for the health. But when it comes to actual performance, no question about it. Ryan Kelly is a better pass blocker than Garrett Bradbury. It's not particularly close. I mean, when it comes to pressures allowed over per season, it's literally twice as good or half the pressures allowed for Ryan Kelly. So trying to improve around their young quarterback and pass protection, but thinking of what they can give JJ McCarthy.

And remember Kevin O'Connell worked with McCarthy this entire year, so he knows more than we do. I saw him in training camp every day. I was really impressed. You could go back and listen to my post game podcast after the preseason game where I thought, well, this is, this is really coming together exactly the way they would have hoped. This is a big moment for the organization and all that because JJ McCarthy has put so much on tape and training camp and preseason that he looks like he's ready

to be a starter. And I think what they saw going behind the scenes, which was his work ethic, how he dealt with the injury, all those things. And then what they saw even after the season with his recovery. So how far along was he? I reported that he was up over 200 pounds around the time of the combine. So the weight was not an issue, which I guess, Hey, uh, 22 year old people who can just lose weight and then put it back on and muscle. I am very jealous of a 22 year old elite athlete when it comes to that.

But it seems like it, they would, they would know better. The medicals, they would know better mentally. They would know better physically, all that stuff of where JJ McCarthy is. And if Kevin O'Connell is all in and feels like he's good to go, that's what you drafted him 10th overall for. And now go make it happen. But going and making it happen with the salary cap does not mean be stupid. It doesn't mean sign Aaron banks to almost $20 million or some of the

other contracts that we're going to go through here in a second that are just crazy town. And when you look at the list of free agents, they're still available. A lot of times what we end up with is day one is way up here. Everybody goes crazy. And by day three, there's a lot more even handed contracts being handed out. And even Ryan Kelly, I mean, if they improve their pass blocking by spending $9 million a year versus 20 for Aaron banks, that's a very, very big gap, uh, with, with how much they're spending to do it.

Now they still need to find other answers at guard. One of them might be in the draft. I guess we'll probably have a good sense for that over the next couple of days. But as I'll show you in a second, there are other guards that are still out there. They're not all off the table. So why don't we do that?

Why don't we start to have a look at the free agency tracker and I will screen share with you guys. I'll put myself, and I put myself over in the corner. There's little me in the corner. Okay. So here's, this is the athletic and I just like the interface here, what they got, uh, the way this looks, it's got all the signings to the sides, got all the names. So I'm just going to scroll through and we're going to talk about it. And what you guys can let me know in the comments is who you want, who you're interested in. Oh, let me just say real quick, let me just pop in or stop sharing that for a second and just say,

all of you that are bringing up will fries. Yes. Yes. It's a good idea. If they're able to impart use Ryan Kelly to get will fries and they can bring those two over. Yes. And if they the problem might be that because Aaron Banks made so much, that might be the price now for Will Fries. And in that case, that is a lot to pay for him. And I would believe that it was an overpay.

Also, I would have to say, if they're going all in on interior line, who are any of us to disagree? I write, it's just my issue with Aaron Banks was he's not a great pass protector. I think Will Fries is a better past protector. And, uh, as of this mo some of you are bringing us up, uh, as of this moment, nothing new on Jonathan Allen. We know that he's visiting this afternoon. The concern is with Jonathan Allen,

that Grady Jarrett got a huge deal. Three years, $43 million. And if I'm Jonathan Allen, I'm like, I just got cut. Not sure what I'm going to get. Oh, what did Grady Jarrett get? That's the price now. Because I think Jonathan Allen is a better guy to sign than Grady Jarrett. Grady Jarrett has just fallen off. And Jonathan Allen has slipped due to injury, but he's still a good pass.

Rusher still was well above average pass rushing where Grady Jarrett was not, and is really signing that contract in name only. So Allen would make for a nice, uh, interior pass rusher to rotate in, but I wouldn't want to pay the same price as Grady Jarrett. So, uh, we'll see about that, but Will fries makes a lot of sense. And then maybe another veteran, they could also plan on a draft pick. If they ended up with Ryan Kelly and on the right side, Will fries, just for example, and then on the left side, Blake, Brando played, I don't think it

would be the worst outcome because of how well Blake Brando was playing when he had Christian Derrisa where he really slipped was after Christian Derrisa was gone. And then he was playing next to Cam Robinson. You could see it in the numbers. It's pretty clear that he was overall, he was a below average guard and he got taken advantage of a lot, but you see a lot of that was blitzes that they weren't picking up communication that was struggling. And I think there were issues with communication.

That's not me saying that that's the best outcome, but it's not a crazy outcome for them to maybe draft someone in the third and develop them. But the best outcome, Gray's able is brought up by aviation MKF there I I think the best outcome would be to sign two more veteran players. Maybe it's fries maybe you brand sure if is who's being brought up as well by you guys in the comments Kevin Zeitler's a name I brought up and Then draft one so get another veteran who's solid to go along with Kelly and then draft someone in the first round and veteran who's solid to go along with Kelly and then draft someone in the first round. Uh, and you know, maybe you're, you're still talking about defensive tackle, depending on how this goes in the first round, but you could really talk me into that with the number of players that are out there at the guard position.

It's so few, so hard to find. You can make that same argument for defensive tackle though. And even corner as we'll see. Okay, let's take a look now at the list of free agents who signed where and we'll do kind of rapid fire through this. Milton Williams, supposedly the Vikings were interested. He ends up signing four years, 104 million.

That is too rich for my blood. Also as far as available players, Justin Reed, the safety still available. We have no news yet on whether Harrison Smith is going to come back or not. That could be relevant with Cam Bynum leaving. Sharvarious Ward ends up going to the Indianapolis Colts. He was a potential target for me three years, $20 million per year. Kind of a lot for Sharvarious word coming off a down season.

And I believe he's twenty nine. So twenty nine is teetering on that. Like, hey, he might might start to fall off a little bit. Should I make this a little smaller? Maybe I can make this smaller. Hey, that's there we go. Make this a little smaller. Yeah, maybe that doesn't look the best. How about this? No, I don't love that, maybe that doesn't look the best. How about this?

Nah, I don't love that. This? Nah, it doesn't show the prices. Okay, sorry guys. I'm just messing with how this looks. Anyway, so, Shiverious Ward got a huge amount of money, $20 million per year. Wouldn't love that for the Vikings.

DJ Reed is probably the one that hits the hardest for Vikings fans because it's $16 million a year and he goes to the Lions and we know the Lions signed him because he was good against Justin Jefferson and that's why it would have been a good signing for the Vikings. Jonathan Allen will see. Javon Hargrave is still out there, very interested. Will Fries was the Athletics 14th best free agent, still available. The Bears put a ton of money into Drew Dahlman,

who I think is good, but I don't think is a great pass protector. Let's see, Hufanga goes to the Broncos, another potential safety target. $20 million a year for Carlton Davis. Again, it's a lot, would have been a good fit for the Vikings, I think, but it's a lot. Nothing on Javon Holland yet, which is interesting,

because I would have thought that he would have been one of the day one type of first guys off the board, someone's putting a bunch of money into Javan Holland type of moves. So that is still a possibility for the Vikings. Zedarius Smith got let go which was interesting because he was so good. Um, so Darius Smith got let go, which was interesting because he was so good. We really don't have any news on Aaron Rogers yet and where that's going to go. Uh, as I may have mentioned earlier, I think Aaron Rogers is the only one selling Aaron Rogers to anybody at this moment. It doesn't feel like people are interested.

Mackay Bekton would be a good pickup for the Vikings. I'm just not sure about whether he would come to the Vikings with their situation with the assistant offensive line coach, but maybe that doesn't make a difference. I don't know. Uh, buyer Murphy Jr. Alec Lewis said that he thinks that it's still possible that buyer Murphy Jr.

Could come back. And I think he's right because when you look at what DJ Reed got $16 million a year, I mean, if, if that's what Byron Murphy wants, I think we're all into that, right? I think we could all agree that $16 million a year would be totally fine for Byron Murphy, Jr. Uh, Jeremy Chin went to the Raiders, Patrick McCarrie, as I mentioned, three years, 37 mil to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

DJ Jones signed early and may regret that. The defensive tackle from the Broncos, Puna for not a guy who was super interested in, but Tevin Jenkins still out there is a guard possibility. Rasul Douglas, a corner, Paulson Adibo was disappointed going to the Giants so quickly at three years, 54 million. That's pretty good price tag for him. I am kind of intrigued by Kenan Allen, by the way, randomly.

I am kind of intrigued by him. He could still run routes and get open. And I feel like JJ McCarthy could utilize that, but maybe he wants to play with a veteran quarterback after last year. We're not looking at running backs after Aaron Jones returned. The guy who's been on my mind, Levi Anwazirki, the defensive tackle from Detroit since he crushed the Vikings, but he also had kind of an emerging year like him as an idea. There is no update so far on Daniel Jones, except there was

kind of an update, but the update was that Daniel Jones is still thinking about it. That was the update from Josina Anderson. So I'll think about it while he thinks about it. If he comes back to the Vikings, it makes sense for him to have a Sam darn old ish backup year. I don't know if it's a great idea for him to go to the Colts and compete with Anthony Richardson. The Colts just aren't a great team. So maybe he does want to stay with the Vikings.

I also think if you're the Pittsburgh Steelers, you'd be better off with Daniel Jones. Then you are with Aaron Rodgers. But again, we'll see how that goes. Asante Samuel Jr. Another example. I mean, think about this. This is why second tier free agency can be so good because if we look at Asante Samuel Jr.

25 years old and two years ago had a very good season, but he's not old and he had some injuries, but he had a very good season two years ago. And if he ends up going for 10, $12 million, that's so much better than spending 20 on a near, well, I think it's 29 year old, Sharverius Ward. It's just a better deal. Even if ward has more of a sample size of playing well, the age matters so much there. This is why second tier free agency could be good. Um,

Brandon Sheriff is out there more of a good pass blocker than run blocker now somewhat intrigued by Tyler Lockett for the same reason as Keenan Allen, James Daniels, another name on the list that might not get that much because he's coming off an injury. Here's a crazy one is Tershawn Wharton. It's I was kind of intrigued by Tershawn Wharton three years, 54 million for a guy, six and a half snap, a sax, kind of a part-time player. That's what this year has been. Kevin Zeitler, just going through the free agency list here on the athletic.

A good option in my opinion for a one year deal. Kalei's Campbell still out there. If he wants to play, he could play here. They list Darius Slayton, but there was a report earlier that he still technically isn't a free agent. That was surprising because I think we all assumed he was Justin Simmons, potentially cheap safety who's been good in the past. Christian Fulton, another corner who could be pretty good. So just roll through these pretty quickly.

But hey, Tyler Conklin for tight end three still out there. Andre Siscoe is a safety. I think you guys get the point. Will Hernandez is still out there at guard. And Draymond Jones is an interior rusher who could be interesting. Mike Hilton is a corner. Malik Collins, a defensive tackle. I think that you get the point that there's still a lot of very viable free

agents who are out there. So we don't have to go, why is quasi not doing anything? It's actually much better. I think from the perspective of spending smart, I know they've got a lot of cap space. That doesn't mean you act like an idiot. Like just for example, I mean, if you've let's say you've done a good job saving in your life and you've got one hundred thousand dollars in your bank account and you're like, man, I should really go out

and get myself a new car. It doesn't mean go buy as a Honda Civic lover. I will use a Honda Civic. Doesn't mean go buy a Honda Civic for $40,000. Right. It doesn't mean go buy Aaron Banks for $20 million. Uh, Richard says, uh, why are we ignoring that wide receiver three can do some dirty work and don't have to sub in Trent sure field underrated need Elijah more.

Uh, would make sense. Jalen Naylor is not it. Well, Jalen Naylor, I think plays a role that fits. As a deep wide receiver, Elijah Moore may be an option for them. I think that the wide receiver, see, we always have it one, two, three, like it's fantasy, but just a depth wide receiver who can be a short area guy underneath, that's why I mentioned Keenan Allen, where he could still get you eight, 10 yards on quick routes.

We saw him do it against the Vikings. He was open all day against the Vikings. It's just that, uh, Caleb Williams didn't find him. Uh, let's see. Justin says, uh, just saw the Browns plan to release Delvin Tomlinson is a reunion in the works. I think Tomlinson is a really good player, but he's not exactly the type I'm looking for. If they brought him back, no, no problem with me. He's a good player and he's a really nice guy. But I need backfield.

I need penetration defensive tackle rush for getting the backfield. Evan says, do we lose out on DJ Reed because of our B plus dietician? I don't think so. I think you probably lost out on DJ Reed because the. Detroit Lions are going to be a favorite for the Super Bowl. That's probably why. But, you know, DJ Reed would have been a good fit. They might play the type of system he wants to play in. I don't know if it's going to be exactly the same after Aaron Glenn.

It might've been the place that he wanted to go. I don't know. I haven't seen him say why he wanted to sign with them. I think he did take less than he probably could have gotten somewhere else compared to the with them. I think he did take less than he probably could have gotten somewhere else compared to the other corners. I think he's better than Traveris Ward at this point in their careers. I think he's just as good or better than Carlton Davis and he did take less. So that surprised me, but it doesn't always it just sometimes guys want to go to a certain place. Sometimes guys have made

their money and want to try to win and we'll take a little less to do it and maybe that's the case or he knows somebody there it's hard to say. Matt says all allow murphy at sixteen out of the kindness of my heart murphy at sixteen would be a great deal for them. And i know we're always gonna say well you know byron murphy isn't the best whatever but i mean if you got him at the same price as dj read. best, whatever. But I mean, if you got them at the same price as DJ Reed and, and well below the other prices for the top corners out there by a few million, I mean that it would make sense to bring him back and we know how well he fits. That's the big thing is that we know how well Byron Murphy fits. I'll keep going back to that, that he knows the defense. He's been a leader on the defense. He's been a leader on the defense.

He's been a playmaker on the defense. I can't be upset at bringing back a guy who's fit so well with Brian Flores over the last two years. If they end up doing it, which it sounds like they might be getting a little closer to it. It's always possible that Byron Murphy Jr. Said, you know, I want to go out and I want to see what I'm worth. And then went out there and found that it wasn't 20 million a year,

that there wasn't anybody who was willing to pay him like Carlton Davis or Sharvarius ward. And then he may come back. Uh, Melkill, do we like the Isaiah Rogers? I do because he was somebody that I had circled as a potential deal. And I think that's what we're seeing here in these first few moves where they haven't gone nuts with anybody. We're seeing them look at let's get good deals for players who can contribute at these key positions. Looking at a Ryan Kelly, who's going to be an upgrade looking at Isaiah Rogers, who has a smaller sample of playing about 1300 snaps, but he's never had bad numbers when he's targeted. It's got an 86.6 quarterback rating against, which is very good. Like the average quarterback rating in the league is like 94, 93.

And so he's better when targeted than the average quarterback. So if that makes sense, average cornerback, I should say that, if that makes sense. So he has been a part- time player who's a little undersized and has been on Indianapolis, has been on Philadelphia, paying him seven million bucks versus paying some of the other guys. Twenty is probably a better deal. And I think he's of the exact same mold as Mackay Blackman, where he's undersized, but he is a good tackler

and he's got good coverage numbers and might end up being a third corner for them. Like think about what Shaq Griffin did for them last year. It might be a similar move for Isaiah Rogers. I still think they're gonna go look at somebody else too. Jeff with the Super Chat, thank you so much, Jeff. We need to get younger and deeper. I'd like to see them sign Journeyman Guards,

Journeyman Corner and fill in the depth everywhere else in free agency, then draft a couple DTs and running backs. Yeah. I think, uh, that the journeyman guard point, I would want the journeyman guard to be good though, like to be a top player, to be a Kevin's Eitler, to be a Brandon sheriff, somebody who's been really good in their career to go along with Ryan Kelly, because if you just, for example, uh, okay, let's see, it looks like the chargers are maybe getting nausea Harris. That's interesting. Uh, so if you just, just for example, communication and experience is really

big on the offensive line and one of the biggest issues the Vikings have had. Is when teams realize they're not just going to beat Darasaw and Brian O'Neal one on one all the time. A lot of times what they'll do is they'll attack with blitzes, they'll attack with stunts, and the Vikings are running out there. A guy who's a tackles move to guard, a guy who hasn't played at this position before. And it's no surprise that Dalton Reiser did well in past protection last year because he's experienced and he did better at reading those plays and worked well with Brian O'Neill and I think experience is a big deal.

So if you got someone like Kevin Zeitler on a one year deal and you can draft someone and bring them along, that would be ideal for me, uh, as far as defensive tackles and running backs, the draft looks more like running back will be a mid rounder defensive tackle or guard or corner have moved to the top of the list. It's hard to not be attracted by the offensive line though. There's some interesting interior guys. JP North mentions Donovan Jackson, who is very intriguing

to me with his movement skills. Max brings that Cooper Cup can text with Kevin O'Connell, but Cooper Cup is going to be cut and consigned with other teams when the league year actually starts. So not today, but what is that? Two days from now. Is this funny? The silly silly. This is the legal tampering period folks. It's got to be the official league year when it, right? Silly. I'm sure that Cooper Cup can text with Kevin O'Connell,

but Cooper Cup is going to be the official league year when it, you're right. Silly. I'm sure that Cooper Cup can text with Kevin O'Connell, but Cooper Cup is a good example of bringing up like Keenan Allen where that short area quickness guy that underneath Target I think is an important thing for the Vikings to look at because they really lacked that last year with three guys that were kind of the same type of player. We got some Honda Civic drivers here. Yeah. I mean, it's a great car thing is held up phenomenally. Did not cost 40,000. I can tell you that. So there's a lot of different ways to go about dealing with the rest of this offensive line.

But I think the best way is either to get, I mean, Will fries is okay. If they do it, he's the top guard for most people. And so if they bring him in and they pay him the bag, okay, who's going to complain about that? I think he's a better player than Aaron Banks. So if they paid him more or around that same range, okay, that's fair enough. That would be a good move to solidify that side. And maybe they just had to have Blake Brando there or have, or draft someone

or develop Walter Rouse who I think has potential to play guard. That's a fine option. But I also like the way of going about it, of getting a one-year type of filler for a veteran. That's good. And it's going to be an upgrade and then draft someone. Tevin Jenkins is another one. Tevin Jenkins falls under that category of a guy who's got some issues with his health. He has never played a thousand snaps in a season. That would worry me. Already having Ryan Kelly being banged up the last two years and then also bringing in someone who's had injury issues, I'd be a little bit worried about that. Um, so yeah, Ryan Kelly with the injuries, Tevin Jenkins with the injury, you start to go, all right, are they going to have an offensive line for the

full season with guys like that? And I think Jenkins has maybe a back issue, which I would be especially concerned about. Uh, let's see. Richard says, uh, if Smith ends up retiring, does Jay Ward take his spot or could Holland be assigning in the works? I don't think it would be Jay Ward. It would probably, well, maybe, um, they have been bringing along Jay Ward.

And my understanding is that they like what they've seen from him on special teams, just another of the pipeline of safeties. The question would be if he retired, would they prefer to just move Josh Mattelis into his job because Mattelis has the leadership, the intelligence. I like where Mattelis is. I like that he's in this Rover type of position, but maybe you might be talking about having Andrew van Ginkel do some of that Dallas Turner as an edge rusher because Patrick Jones signed a $10 million per year deal with the Panthers who love this type of

player from the Vikings. They love DJ want them and they loved, uh, look who's calling me while I'm live on the air. Can you see it? Jeremiah Searles. I can't talk Jeremiah. I should put him on, but he swears a lot off the air. So that's not a good idea.

Anyway, so maybe I, maybe I, I don't know if you guys could hear it through the microphone, if I could get his, get his take on that, but maybe I'll have to text him and ask his thought on Ryan Kelly. I'll get him, I'll get him his official statement from Jeremiah Searles via text.

I'm telling him I'm live right now. What is your take? Okay. We'll get an official former Viking office of lineman take on the Viking signing Ryan Kelly, or if he wants to come on live, I don't know if he's busy. So the, anyway, the point is, uh, with someone like Tevin Jenkins, it's not a bad bet, but it's someone who has had some injury issues there. Uh, I think, oh, sorry, we were talking about safeties, the safety position.

You could have Theo Jackson and, uh, Josh Mattel is do it. I would rather see them bring in someone like Jevon Holland. I would definitely rather see them bring in someone like Javon Holland. I would definitely rather see them bring in someone like Javon Holland. I think he's a difference maker playmaker and this defense. I want those safeties wheeling and dealing. I want them up at the line of scrimmage, dropping back blitz in. They need somebody like that. If Harrison Smith's not coming back, in fact, wouldn't hate it if Harrison Smith came back

and they still did it. If Harrison Smith came back at like 8 million bucks or something, and they still brought in Javon Holland and Theo Jackson developed for another year. I mean, he says, why sign an old injury riddled offensive lineman? Yeah, that's the concern. Yep. That's the concern is the injuries for Ryan Kelly. Um, but the price tag may be a part of it and we'll see what else comes about. The injuries are a huge concern for sure.

Uh, let's see Alex's, uh, thoughts on Levi on was Zirke. I am a fan. I think Levi on was Zirke has someone who really developed for a couple of years in Detroit and had a breakout year last year. And here's, here's a crazy who came here tonight for a crazy Levi on was Erky stat. It was you, wasn't it? Uh, it, when it came to pass rushing, pure pass rushing situations, he had

similar pressure numbers to Jaylen Carter on was Erky. Certainly some of that was against the Vikings in week 18. He was dominant, but that I think shows his potential and he is on the younger side. Those are the type of free agents that I want. Josh wants Byron Murphy, Asante Samuel and Javon Holland. Now that would be one heck of a secondary rebuild that I would not be against. Best fit for Aaron Rodgers is a Hiawaska tent. I didn't know there was a such thing as Hiawaska tents, but I guess so.

Uh, Cooper cup fits the system. They need a block. They do need a blocker. They do need a blocker at wide receiver having to put Trent sure field on the field just so somebody could block somebody. It was kind of a tell. And when I had, if you guys, uh, maybe saw the interview I had with Bobby Peters, who wrote a book about the Vikings offense, I asked him about

like, how predictable were they? And he said in the run game, it was very predictable in part because of formation and personnel, Josh Oliver, Trent sure feel like, I guess they're running and it would be nice for them to have somebody who could block as a wide receiver. And Cooper Cup is certainly that an elite blocker. David says the Vikings have cap space, but they have a lot of players to sign. So don't expect big money deals.

A lot of the big money deals, though, are just bad. That's the thing, right? The ones that we went through, all those signing deals. A lot of the big money deals though are just bad. That's the thing, right? The ones that we went through, all those signings, a lot of them I would go, or at least I shouldn't say bad. I should say red flag like Sharvarius war to $20 million a year at 29 years old coming off of his worst season, like red flag, that thing. There's a lot of big money contracts that have been handed out Javon Kinloff four and a half sacks for just a pure pass rusher at 15 mill a year Red flag that one or circle it with the red red pen. What percentage of these contracts?

Can we say that we're handed out today that you would circle it with that red pen? Probably half of them. So if they are spending a little more judiciously rather than going crazy, I find that hard to criticize. Now, there's also I mean, free agency also plays out for a really long time. It's not over today. If it was over today, I'd be like, crazy, we got to pick up the phone and make some phone calls here. But it's not over today. The second wave is often where you get some of the best signings.

And so I'm not shocked that they didn't go crazy today. I did expect though, one of the bigger names to end up with the Vikings. And that could still happen with some of the guys on the list. Trackpad says heard the Vikings have interest in Jeff Acuta. I believe it was Alec Lewis, our friend from the athletic who put that out there. Um, any thoughts? The Vikings do have a tendency under quasi Adolfo Mensa to take swings. Let me look at how Acuta played last year to take swings at guys who have, uh,

been in the first round. No, he was not. No. Yeah. It's going to be a no for me. That's going to be a no for me. He did not have, he has never had any good numbers. Jeff Okuda.

The only reason maybe it would be that one time he played well against Jefferson. Dane texts me and said, uh, are they going to try to make Kelly switch to guard? That that could be, I mean, I guess I'm just going to read all my texts on it. This is how I'm going to do it now from live stream. Just going to read all the texts, but it's an interesting conversation. If they think that Ryan Kelly could do that, if he wants to, that it would be a better deal to sign a center who could move to guard because he is big, but I don't want to see that. Uh,

Joe Berger did it and had a good year. So maybe if you're an interior office of lineman at this age that you are capable of doing something like that. But I don't think that that's what you want to do when you're talking about somebody who's played almost 8,000 snaps at one position's what you want to do when you're talking about somebody who's played almost 8,000 snaps at one position that you would want to ask them to make a change to the guard spot. That to me is a little galaxy brain, especially with some of the injuries that he's had. Now you're asking him to change positions at an older age, but guys have done

it. I just don't, I don't think that's realistic and sit and cutting Bradbury saves them money. It also passes the smell test of cutting Bradbury. Like what is job number one for this off off season? It's the setup JJ McCarthy to be very comfortable in the pocket. So keeping Garrett Bradbury and having a former center play guard, just, that't sound like wow, he's going to be really comfortable in the pocket. That sounds like wow, it's going to be exactly the same. Uh, Jackie, I agree with Mackay Bekden. If he was willing to come here,

I don't know about the issue with the former offensive or his former offensive line coach, Keith Carter coming here. Uh, there was some reporting that that could be an issue, but I mean, I, I became a fan last year watching him play guard the first couple of weeks. He was really struggling. And then he ends up playing really, really well for the Philadelphia Eagles and becoming an excellent guard. Mike talking about the pitch forkss out for Quasar. Well, there's I think on a day like today, there's just not going to be very many patients

or very much in terms of patients. There's not going to be much in terms of patients when everybody's having fun. Everybody's getting their big signings and you're going, Hey, it's like the SpongeBob meme where he's looking out the window and everybody's having fun down there. Kind of the same deal. And I that gets people riled up. Uh, it's not that rational because the Vikings should be making rational type of moves.

They should be looking at signing players to contracts that are not going to be crazy over the next couple of seasons. It it's much more, uh, I think for this front office, been setting a price and sticking to it, which they should do. And they've made good moves because of that. They've let smart, they've made smart moves to let people go because of it.

So I just think that overspending like crazy just to do it, to get people excited would not be a very good front office approach. It does seem some teams have done that in this free agency, especially the Chicago Bears. I really think the Chicago Bears have done that, that the Bears have just thrown money and draft picks at everything. And how much of that is going to work? Tooney is going to be good for them. They got him from Kansas city. Jonah Jackson, very to me, a middling type of guard that they're paying a lot.

And drew Dullman is a good run blocker, which they'll be good and they'll improve in run blocking, but they paid him a ton and he's more of an average pass protector and then the Grady Jarrett deal, like they are the winners of today. If you're over there in Chicago, you're having a party while we got all these players and everything. But I don't know if any of those moves is that shrewd outside of the trade for Joe Tooney, who I think can be a, a big upgrade. Yeah, I, I would guys, I would have put Jeremiah Searles on, but I also know sometimes when I, with my friends, my friends I don't

know if you guys do this with yours you answer the phone usually you say something to them you know like a joke or something and I didn't want to didn't want to put him on the air have him not know it put it that way but for sure Jeremiah will come on after they have revamped the offensive line We'll do that. Can Jeremiah play swing guard? No, he was horrible the last time he played not for the Vikings for Buffalo before he retired but he's He he was Jeremiah was a good swing guard when he was playing and nobody is better at breaking it down Is Ryan Tannehill still a good quarterback? I don't think so.

He didn't even play anywhere last year, but the Vikings is. And thank you, Kansas City Chiefs fan for the Super Chat. Really appreciate that. I mean, the Vikings do need a backup quarterback, though. Sam Darnold is in Seattle. What are they going to do at backup quarterback? That's something that we haven't yet got into. And at some point, we'll have a guest, uh, uh,

Andrew Kramer is supposed to pop on after they do their, uh, the star Tribune does their podcasts. So he's going to come on later on in the evening. But I mean, Daniel Jones, it's a tough decision for him for Daniel Jones. He's got to decide, do I want to go somewhere? if Pittsburgh isn't interested in him? I want to go somewhere that I'm gonna compete with a younger quarterback like Anthony Richardson who he might beat out I think there's a good chance that Daniel Jones beats him out as much as Anthony Richardson struggled last year or Does he want to stay here be a backup for a full season?

And then next year look for a job and be the backup for McCarthy and play if McCarthy gets banged up or whatever. And if, I mean, think about this, let's just say the Vikings go 10 and seven and they're 10 and six going into week 18 and it's not going to change their playoff spot. And Daniel Jones plays and he throws for three touchdowns, 280 yards. Looks great. Someone's paying him a bunch of money and giving him a job next year. If he looks good preseason, someone might give him a job. I mean, the quarterback situation is so dire out there that it might make sense

for him to try to do that and look for better options than just going to the Colts. And that's a team with a coach that might get fired. It's a quarterback that's struggling and Anthony Richardson. I just don't know if that's a good decision for him. Might be on the better side that he stays here and was a backup for a year. Chris says we lost Patrick Jones, Bosa released from the Chargers. Any interest?

Not really. I mean, the injuries are so serious with Joey Bosa. There's a lot of and this goes for Jonathan Allen. There's a lot of players of free agency where if you ask me, are you interested in this guy? And the answer is, okay, but if they sign him to a one year, like $8 million contract or something, I'm not going to be upset about it. I think that Patrick Jones role is Dallas Turner next year.

That's what I think. Dallas Turner will take those 500 snaps and you're looking for him to elevate next season and be able to maybe take a little weight off of a Andrew van Ginkle. So how are we feeling? Give me your, uh, give me your emotions. You guys anxious. Are you okay with them taking this approach? I haven't seen too many of you guys in the comment section here, uh, being

crazy about the fact that they're not doing too many moves today. The Ryan Kelly thing is interesting Because I mean, I guess I'm gonna click Alec Lewis just posted his reaction on it. Does Alec think that he's gonna play guard? Because that's that's the thing Let's see Let's see. Yeah, I mean, he doesn't have anything about him, you know, potentially playing guards, so I don't know. I just feels like he's always been a center.

OK, so he writes, Al Lewis writes, Kelly has been and will continue to be a center, which means the Vikings might part ways with Bradbury. I mean, they'd have to part ways with Bradbury. I don't see how they could not. If after signing Ryan Kelly, I'm just curious that I'm looking around to see if anyone says he's going to be a guard because that would be something. How about a punt returner? Let's get the other positions filled first, but yeah, they need a punt returner.

Brandon Powell was disappointing. Um, you know, last year it was a little bit different when it came to who was available on the first day and they were able to go out and get Granard Cashman. And they really didn't have to overpay for those guys. Last year was just a different market. There were so many good players and free agency like Christian Wilkins comes to mind that the Vikings did not have to give Jonathan Grenard $30 million a year. I mean, Daniel Hunter, they were able to wait until the Neil Hunter went to the Texans for almost $30 million a year. I think it

was 28 in order to get Jonathan Grenard. So it's the same kind of situation, but Grenard Cashman and Van Ginkle are better free agents than most of the guys who are on the list. That I think is what's causing a little bit of this tension of, you know, you guys want to get the resolutions here and the free agent sign, but the Vikings are probably thinking, you know, the prices. Let's see if they go down. Let's see if some of these free agents get a little more desperate. I agree with a Rach to or Roch to that the, uh, the guard market still is, is fairly robust. Yeah. I mean, the only guys that are off the market are Patrick McCarrie from the Ravens going to Jacksonville and the, uh, Aaron banks, right? I think those are the only two that are off the market. So I mean, there's still opportunity there at guard.

Viking 33, I'm confused. Bynum Murphy, who's gone? Well, Bynum is definitely gone. Cam Bynum signed with the Indianapolis Colts for $15 million a year, which was the price that I heard he was gonna get and why I thought that he wouldn't come back. And Byron Murphy Jr. is not gone, but we heard he was gonna get why i thought that he wouldn't come back and byron murphy jr.

Is not gone but we thought he was gonna be gone but. Now it looks like you might not be so what they did with byron murphy jr. Is they move back his negotiating date for his contract voiding. And they did that so they could have more of an opportunity to negotiate with him because his contract was supposed to void a couple of weeks ago, but they wanted to keep negotiating. They've done that with a few different guys, including Aaron Jones. So they kept doing that and they kept moving him back or they did it. I guess they did it once, but they've done it a few times just overall. So they've continued to do something like this.

Sometimes the guy signed, sometimes he doesn't. And buyer Murphy did not sign before his contract voided, which does mean that you have to deal with some dead cap and work around that. But if you extend them, you can deal with it. And then you go to the market today and you see Traveris Ward and you see Carlton Davis, they're getting 20 million a year. So my assumption was well, Bayer Murphy is right in that group that will probably get 20 million a year. So my assumption was, well, Byron Murphy is right in that group that will probably get 20 million a year. But the difference between those guys and DJ Reed even, and Byron Murphy is that those guys are sort of lock up the number one wide

receiver type of corners. Whereas Byron Murphy is not. Byron Murphy is his own corner who is a little more flexible, can move inside, plays a lot of slot, plays on the outside, play on both sides and does make plays on the football. But I think that we're probably mature enough to know now as a society that interceptions are hard to be consistent, right? Year in and year out.

So you're not always going to have like six interceptions every year. So the league might be saying, yeah, okay. Byron Murphy, are you worth X probably, but are you worth what they're worth? No. And if that's the case, then the Vikings should take Byron Murphy back. And that would be a good idea. I think if we're not talking about $20 million a year, if we're talking about 15, then that's much more in the range that Byron Murphy could come back.

Josh says, do you think that the fries injury has anything to do with the delay? I don't think so. I mean, medicals could be always could be an issue with any player. I thought it was a broken leg, so it should be okay, right? I love how with these athletes, with these injuries, we're just like, that was just a torn ACL. He's fine. It's just just a flesh wound. Yes, his arm came off and someone beat him with it. He's fine. Just sew it back on. It'll be all right.

I mean, James Daniels had the Achilles thing that would scare me a little, but I think it was just a broken leg. I'd have to check. Does the Kelly signing Tyler s mean that they're getting that they're out on fries? I don't think it means they're out on them. I mean, when we look at salary cap space after signing Aaron Jones, four point eight million dollars cap hit for next year. I doubt Ryan Kelly's is going to be all that high for this season.

I mean, they've got plenty to spend. They've done nothing really so far outside of Ryan Kelly. So they've got nothing. They've got money to spend out in free agency, but they do have to bring in a lot of bodies. So if we just do a little bit of a imaginary depth chart, we can all play along the imaginary depth chart. They still need two guards at very least one if they think that Brando is still going to be okay But at very least one a right guard got a center. They've released Garrett Bradbury They have Aaron Jones in the backfield that set they'll probably draft one could use a wide receiver Not today likely you're more looking

second third wave for a wide receiver for three million bucks or something someone to come in and Just be a 20 reception underneath guy, unless they get Keenan Allen or Cooper Cup. But I imagine there's going to be a ton of interest in those guys, or at least in Cooper Cup if he gets released. But that won't happen for a couple of days because he's got to be signed after the beginning of the league year. Don't ask me why. That's just how it is on the defensive side.

The defensive tackles got insane money today. Grady Jarrett, you've got to be kidding me. After the worst year of his career, three years, $43 million. What? Okay. No, don't do that. Jonathan Allen is visiting. We'll see. He might want way more money than they should give him. Tershaun Wharton got way more money than anyone should have gotten given him for the Carolina Panthers. Three years, 54 million crazy money. So they need at least one defensive tackle at corner. They get Isaiah Rogers, who I think can start playing the outside.

Mackay Beckton, a black man, Mackay Blackman, Dwight McClothern. So they've got a couple guys, but they need another corner for sure. With cam buying them leaving, they need another safety. I think they need one either way, whether Harrison Smith comes back or not. Theo Jackson signed a three year contract. He's going to be here. He's going to get opportunities to play, but with cam buying them leaving, they could look to spend that money elsewhere.

There are still good safeties on list. Justin Reed is a good safety and Javon Holland is not signed anywhere yet. So that's kind of your depth chart. Oh, and punter is fine. They, they resigned Ryan, right? I, I, I always respect when some of you have like serious punter takes, but I think they could do a little better. He did get a lot of punts inside that 20 have some competition.

We don't worry too much about that. Renee says, do you think that they could make a bigger trade by using some of next year's draft picks that is on the table? Because once you've gone this far up close to draft season, and now the Vikings have hardly any draft picks anyway, but once you've gone this far up close to draft season, and now the Vikings have hardly any draft picks anyway, but once you've gone this far into the off season, usually you are looking at next year's draft picks to give up for potential trades. The question would be, who are you trading for? What are you trading for? Like who's, who is going to be an upgrade over the guys that you could sign that you're potentially

trading for? They could and they have, and they seem to love dipping into next year's draft picks to get real players. And I mostly respect that way of going about it because two different times, this is something to be aware of when it comes to the draft picks and the lack of draft picks that they have is why they spent them to go get somebody like T.J. Hawkinson. That's kind of a smart deal because they were winning games and they were at the top of their division and he was going to be a multi-year player. So moves like that, often times in the kind of come in the middle of the season, who would be that person? Maybe someone who's negotiating a contract and can't find one. The Browns did release Delvin Tomlinson.

Maybe they wanted to restructure his deal. Always possible that they could bring back somebody like that. So there's still some moving parts out in the league with teams negotiating extensions and contracts with players. So, yeah, I don't know. I don't know.

I don't have, if you have a trade idea, let me know. I don't have a trade idea at the moment. V.A. Viking 33. Would a cup contract be in play at all? Seems like a pipe dream does seem like a pipe dream. I agree with you there because every time somebody is available, that why aren't they going to the Patriots? Like the Patriots have so much money

that of course they overspent on Milton Williams, but they had to. They had to overspend on Milton Williams to get him there, but that team had such insane amounts of cap space and no good players, and they've got a young quarterback who's exciting. They got to do something. And so if you're talking about,

hey, would Cooper Cup come to the Vikings for one year, nine, $10 million, or would the New England Patriots give them a three year deal for 15 each that they probably would because they need people to catch the football from Drake may or the Vikings have people who catch the football CJ says, will fries, Jonathan Allen, Cooper cup all in play and the Vikings have people who catch the football. CJ says, will fries, Jonathan Allen, Cooper Cup, all in play in the Vikings have the money. I guess that's a question is what would be a success for the Vikings in this free agency these next couple of days. We've still got.

I mean, my plan is to continue to talk for a couple hours here and see if things play out earlier today. When I was on from 11 to 2 in the first hour. is to continue to talk for a couple hours here and see if things play out. Earlier today, when I was on from 11 to two in the first hour, we didn't get a whole lot of action and then all of a sudden, whoa, here comes all the moves. So, you know, maybe we'll still get something from the Vikings into the night here so far, Isaiah Rogers and Ryan Kelly, and then a lot of players have left can bind them him Patrick Jones Nick Mullins Johnny month all guys that I think we expected to leave So what's a success? What do you want to see and I've fallen behind a little in the comments. I may have to fast forward

Sorry about that I was doing such a good job of keeping up Why would you cut Garrett Bradbury? because while that it just signed a center and only one guy can play center and what they're clearly looking for is an improvement in pass protection. Ryan Kelly has been an elite pass protecting center for a long time. Garrett Bradbury has never been close to that. At best, he has had stretches that have been good, but when you're talking about Bradbury one-on-one versus some of the

tougher defensive tackles in the league, you just lose that battle more often than you win it and releasing him creates some cap space. It doesn't cost a whole lot in dead cap money. Just maybe time to move on. And I will die on that Hill that Garrett Bradbury and another system would be okay, but in this system where you're going to drop back and you're going to hold the ball for three seconds, you're going to try to push it 25 yards down the field to Justin Jefferson. It's just hard to make that work with an offensive lineman. That's not over 300 pounds,

that is not great at sticking his feet in the ground and holding somebody up who's a good interior pass rusher. So that is why I think they made this move. The injuries are a massive concern about Ryan Kelly. Absolutely enormous concern with the fact that he hasn't played a full season in two years. Huge concern. I think it just shows you how badly they want to improve on the interior. Uh, Jurgen says, uh, how would you feel about James Daniels?

If James Daniels Achilles is good to go. Now it's not like a Kirk Achilles that happened in his mid thirties. It was younger than that, but it's always a worry when somebody tears an Achilles that happened in his mid thirties. It was younger than that, but it's always a worry when somebody tears an Achilles. So if his Achilles is good to go and they get a chance to evaluate that, he was a good player. He was, uh, let me, let me check what his numbers are. Last year, he was having a good season when he got hurt, but overall he was a decent player.

Yeah, for most of his years, he's an above average pass protector. He's got some years in Chicago as an above average run blocker. So I assume he's capable of that But good in pass protection. I mean really has only one season where he allowed a lot of pressures as a pass protector 200 or 327 pounds. So there's your big guy huge guy, but that Achilles, it might bring down the price. Some of you love the, uh, the Ryan Kelly signing. When we're talking about improving past protection, it's very hard to be unhappy with that. Very hard to be unhappy with trying to get a better cleaner pocket for JJ McCarthy. You don't want JJ McCarthy to have to go back there and just the immediate wins

that defensive tackles get against the Vikings interior has just been maddening for what, how many years have we gone through this with quarterbacks for the Vikings taking the snap and instantly someone's hitting them because their interior can't block. We've been through it so many times. Dale says I've got a pretty strong belief in this regime's decision making when it comes to free agency. That's a good point.

Last year. They really prove themselves now two years ago when they were trying to spend on the cheap, maybe it didn't work out quite as well with Marcus Davenport who got another contract from Detroit. Unbelievable. That guy, he knows how to, how many steps has Marcus Davenport played and he's gotten multiple like pretty good contracts from the Vikings and then from Detroit. That's as wild how that works.

But as far as their decision-making and free agency, no, it was really, really good last year and waiting to get the second wave of players, when you put them on paper and you compare them and go, all right, here's what Aaron Banks looks like on paper versus here's what Tevin Jenkins looks like later down the line, or here's what it looks like to bring in Kevin Zeitler or Brandon Sheriff, and then draft somebody. I was pretty hard to make a good case for spending $19 million like the Packers

did on a middling guard. Will fries, I think is a little above that, a shade above middling guard. Like he's above average, but I don't think he's a major, major upgrade, which may be why you're not throwing $20 million at him. I guess we'll see. I've always been a little bit hesitant on that. If they do it, I probably won't really dislike it because that's a solution finally, if they can get him and solidify him in three or four years for a contract form would be good. But if it's $20 million a year, it's just a lot. And the difference between a lot of these players who are signing

and then the next wave or even next wave down is just not that much. So being shrewd has not ever been popular for quasi-daful Menta. I mean, even you go back to there were some folks who thought that they were trying to tank and throw it all away when they got rid of Delvin Cook. But that was right when they moved on from Adam Thielen. But that was right. So you want to take the same approach like last year,

signing Blake Cashman to the deal they did or Van Ginkle. These are great deals this year. There's not a lot of great deals out there, but they do need bodies. So stuff's got to happen because they do need bodies. Tay says this has been a disappointing first day, disappointing in terms of hype or disappointing in terms of decisions. I mean, I think if, if DJ Reid was on the table at that price, you would have liked DJ Reid,

but in terms of their decision, like which one of these deals would have been DJ Reid is the one for sure. If you're saying that when I totally agree, he may have just wanted to sign with Detroit. I don't know. But aside from that, like which one of these deals would we look at and go? Oh, man, that would have been a good one for the Vikings. Milton Williams got a ton. $26 million a year.

Like, yeah, Milton Williams would have been great for the Vikings, but 26 million great taking up a third of their cap space or even more than that. I don't know. That seems like a lot to me. Uh, can the Vikings trade Garrett Bradbury might be why Garrett Bradbury hasn't been released that they want to find that out. There could be some teams. You'd be amazed how this works. Sometimes sometimes most of the time the league is very smart in its decision-making. I think I think it when you're talking about good franchises, but then other times there will be one team was like, yeah, I love that guy coming out in the draft. We should get him like, yeah, that was seven years ago and he's playing the NFL for this entire time.

But yeah, I really liked him coming out. I think we could make more out of you get that all the time in the NFL. So that might be the case with Garrett Bradbury. Seattle needs a center. Nano Joe says, I mean, just considering how the league is paying average players, maybe they can spin Garrett Bradbury for something. I just don't see a world where. Well, I shouldn't say that.

I would be surprised if they asked Ryan Kelly to play guard after spending his entire career at center. It would not be unprecedented. And I mentioned Joe Berger did it. 2016 Joe Berger was the center and then 2017 he was the guard and he was their best guard in years. That might have been the best guard season that they've had. I don't know how long in very many years by moving him. So it's not impossible that they could do something like that and try to keep both of them.

Maybe Ryan Kelly is okay with it, but the guys played 7,000 snaps at center and that's also kind of a leadership position as well. So I think that's another part of it for Ryan Kelly. Wilfries broke his tibia. What is that? That's a leg, right? Quacey gets a C grade so far. How can we grade? How can we grade anything? They've made two moves and neither one of them have cleared 20 million dollars

I mean, it's not really a lot to grade Because if you're good if you're going to give a bad grade you got to tell me which one of these deals I Would agree on the DJ Reid one, but which one of these deals I'm gonna scroll back through them Which one would you say man they missed the boat on that one? Why didn't they sign that guy like Paulson a Debo going to the Giants? Maybe I like Paulson a Debo. I'm not sure I like him at 20 million dollars Patrick McCarrey wasn't that expensive. He's also not that good either and isn't a great run blocker. I Just I mean, I think we have to answer that question to say that it's been disappointing

They've got Jonathan Allen in the building and I imagine they're trying to sign him. So Is anyone going to miss cam binums dancing routines not you well, you know, I don't think they're for you my wife Well, my wife's favorite player is cam binum. She's upset. I Mean you trying to hate on cam binum just not. We ain't gonna do that. Can't buy them has been one of the most likable players and plus a really, really good dude that fourth round pick developed into a great player, earn $15 million. I mean, like that's like kicking a puppy man. Not going to hate on can't buy them.

A santa Samuel. Yep. Any word on Harrison Smith? No, not to us, not to the world. But I have to think that Harrison Smith has informed the Vikings of what he's going to do. And there was a report that the Vikings were one of the teams in on Javon Holland, which makes you wonder. But even if Harrison comes back, if you paired him with Javon Holland, and then you have Josh Metellus and Theo Jackson as a backup for another year on a three-year contract,

that's fine. Because I think it was initially reported as a two-year contract, but didn't maybe include the RFA year because Ben Gessling said it was a three-year deal. So I don't know how that's sorted out. But if you have him on a multi-year contract and Harrison Smith plays one more year with Javon Holland or Justin Reed, okay, that's you're in good shape. Asante Samuel now looks like he might end up being a good deal. First round pick for Denzel Ward are the Browns.

What are the Browns? What are the Browns? What are Browns? What are they doing? Are the Browns that I saw they traded for Kenny Pickett? Maybe that's their answer at quarterback. I don't know. But Kenny Pickett's going to compete at quarterback for the Browns possibly, or maybe they've got something else in mind.

What are they doing? So, let's see Ian Rappaport. This comes up right now that Kenny Pickett will have the opportunity to be the starter in Cleveland. Woo. Ooh. Hey, when you guys are like, what's our GM even doing? Are we even a good football team?

I just want to present the Browns to you. You imagine trying to follow that bleep show. Kenny Pickett's got I mean, how dark is that? How dark is that? Kenny Pickett's going to compete for their first quarterback spot. That's tough. So I don't know that they're in a trade everything mode. They did release Delvin Tomlinson, but they signed Miles Garrett,

which makes me think that maybe they want to keep Denzel Ward around, but I would trade something for him. First round pick is a lot considering this draft is a Santa Samuel Jr. Bad at football. No, he was good, but he was injured last year. That is really the theme. I'll get to the numbers.

That's really the theme with this free agency crop and why I think it's better to probably wait and see if you could get deals is. So in twenty twenty three, a Sanて Samuel had a seventy five point six coverage grade. That's really good. And he allowed ninety 98 quarterback rating, but had 11 pass breakups, which is a good number for him. So, he looks like he could play second round draft pick,

25 years old. I would go for that. Josh says, Javon Holland would be huge. I agree. I mean, if we're talking about somebody who could totally revamp this defense by being signed, it's Javon Holland would be huge. I agree. I mean, if we're talking about somebody who could totally revamp this defense by being signed, it's Javon Holland. That's the guy who's left in free agent. As like looking at all the names, Jonathan Allen would help. There's a lot of guys you go,

they would help. Asante Samuel would help. But when it comes to Javon Holland, he would actually be a game changer. Uh, VA Viking 33, how upset are you about losing Johnny month? Kind of bummed like that dude. Uh, Johnny Mon was, they call them the best tight end three in the league. And I agree. But, and, and he came through with some plays. Johnny months, the type of guy that kind of comes and goes, like there's a lot of Johnny months in the league third tight ends.

So how upset on a scale of one to 10 is like a point five. But that doesn't mean I don't agree with you. Like, I agree with you that he was one of those role players who could come in and handle his spot. But I mean, wasn't moving the needle a whole lot. So good for him. Gets a new contract. I agree. I think he was a good dude in the room. The coaching staff loved him.

Sparky says, how do you see the running back room shaping up? I think you're going to have Aaron Jones and somebody drafted in the third round because the need at defensive tackle and the need at guard maybe or corner one of those two positions is going to be so high and There's so many good players at defensive tackle, uh, that that spot who could be difference makers that they should probably go with, but also there's not a ton of great corners. There's a few that are concentrated in the backend of that first round, the way it looks right now, they might want to do that.

So I think that they're going to wait till the middle of maybe, well, the third round, the backend of the third round, potentially trade down and take a running back and probably sign one more guy. Would you be surprised if cam makers showed up here again? I would not. And cam makers did play well at the, at the end of last year. So a Jones acres, Trevion Henderson or something, I don't know where he's going to go, but something like that would be a pretty good hall for

the backfield and it could be a difference maker. Can they trade Bradbury for a seven? They should be able to, but a team has to need a center. When you only have one position there, a lot of teams have that spot already filled. So if a team is desperately in need of a center and he fits in terms of their scheme, Seattle does make sense because Clint Kubiak was here. The Kubiak system was made for Garrett Bradbury. He worked with Sam Darnold. Like you could see that for anything really, if you're going to cut them, just take anything. But the other team also knows that you need to take

anything and Seattle would be a good fit for him. Fry's and Alan, I have no idea about another corner. Don't they need a wide receiver for two? Yeah, I think so. I think that they need another wide receiver, but you don't have to get something like that today. Maybe it's Cooper Cup, but you don't have to get something like that today. You can wait till a lot of the other players find homes and then drop in and get somebody for a couple million bucks for

that position or draft someone in the later rounds trying to look for that short area quickness guy, but I wouldn't be against somebody like Kenan Allen or Cooper Cup or Tyler Lockett in that role. If they were willing to come here that they might not be the biggest target share though. They know everyone knows if you come here, that Justin Jefferson's getting most of the football.

Uh, is Ryan Kelly a big fella? Yeah, he's, he's big. He's a former first round pick. He's six four. He's a pretty enormous dude. He's a good pass blocker. He is a very, very good pass blocker. And that's going to make a difference.

Uh, Eric says, win games, not the press conference. Yeah, that's true. That's how I definitely view this year's free agency. Um, big Dilley, uh, says, uh, underwhelming is a better word. Yeah, no, well see lacking. It's lacking in hype. It's lacking in hype, underwhelming. Sure. That could be another way to put it. It's not always the best idea to get the most glamorous thing to make the biggest signing.

If it's going to instead result in them spending smarter money down the road and if they spend smarter money and they end up getting a couple of players in that are the same level as guys who were paid 20 million dollars, then they just spend smarter money. But smarter money doesn't happen as much today. It's also, you know, 730 Central. Like we could definitely still end up getting some moves here. Probably the minute that I sign off, I'll have to sign back on and do an emergency podcast.

Zeitler would be a good idea. Zeitler and Kelly would bring them a lot of experience. But definitely get a lot of experience. David says giving a grade is stupid. I may have asked for how you're feeling and people took that as give a grade. It's not stupid, it's very clearly incomplete like we just haven't seen what's happening yet uh yeah brendan says the aaron bank's contract is absurd and stupid yeah it is it really is it's madness and that's my point about the signings that have happened so far um aaron bank's getting 77 million is just

Aaron Banks getting 77 million is just wild. Nighthawk says my girlfriend is also heard about cam buying them leaving. I mean, everybody likes can't buy them. It's not only just okay. The dances were fun. That's not just the only reason to like can't buy them. He's a good player. He made a lot of plays for them and he was healthy. He was on the field all the time. Great attitude. Very smart player. And they tried to replace him by drafting Lewis scene and he wouldn't let them because he was good. And I like stories like that. I like a fourth round pick that develops, makes a difference, has a good attitude, high IQ player. Great to deal with for us. He certainly got, uh, a lot of votes for media.

Good guy of the year, along with Josh Mattel is both those guys kind of split the votes, but a really, really sharp guy who works extremely hard, like you just can't be down on that guy. So him getting 15 million is good, but at the same time, if we're doing the hard dollars and cents on can't buy them 15 mils too much. Samuel can't tackle. No, you're right about that. Not a great tackler.

Probably would not be someone that, um, would be exactly a Brian Flores type, but it does make plays on the football and is younger. Maybe there's something you could do there. Also, miss tackles is a weird metric sometimes, like depending on how you play. Byer Murphy gets a ton of miss tackles. They play zone. They rarely to the football guy makes a move. You're trying to bring him down.

You get a lot of miss tackles. I haven't found that metric to be particularly good as like what I see versus what the numbers say. Like, I don't think that Byron Murphy is a bad tackler. I think he's rallying to the ball a lot, which means running full speed at some guy flying at him and you get missed tackles a couple of times a game. I'm not saying if Santa Samuel's good at it, he's very small, so he might not be.

Just that it's a tough metric. Son of Beavers, would it be possible to sign Alan and Levi on Wazirki? Depends on the price. With Alan, it feels like he's going to ask for a lot, but he also might be in a spot with Jonathan Allen. It may be wise. Think about it this way. If you're him, let's say you got some offers out there that are three years and 30 million.

Just just say, I don't know why he would make less than Grady Jarrett, but let's just say that he's got three years, 30 million out there. Okay, that's a good amount of money. But if he came to the Vikings for one year and 12 million and then has a good season with Brian Flores, then you could be looking at a massive payday for next year. If he were to get eight sacks and 50 pressures or something like that, and coming off the injury, if you were to prove that he could stay healthy and be excellent, that would be an argument. Do you want to bet on yourself and then get one more huge contract? Or do you want to kind of take what's there now?

And sometimes though these contracts, and I saw Andrew Brandt who used to do salary cap stuff for the Packers, he pointed out that the agents will try to put out the biggest dollar they could possibly get. So sometimes we overreact to that and maybe Grady Jarrett is more like a one year deal as opposed to the three years 43. I'll have to see the structure to really know that. But for that price per year, would you do, would you do that deal with Jonathan Allen for maybe one year? Probably considering the cap space.

But as far as Anwar Zerky, that's that's a guy I really would like that to see them get because I think he's a ascending player. That's why when I bring up a Santi Samuel, I don't know about the fit. Brian Flores knows about the fit. All I know is 25 years old has a good season under his belt, developed in Los Angeles, and I want players that are going up. I want players that are 25, 26, 27. So. Let's see.

Blue Stork just got here, heard we got a center. Any other updates since I got off the air earlier? Unfortunately, not really. And I kind of thought that there would be. When I set out to do six hours or so of live broadcasting today, I did think that there would be maybe more opportunity to talk about signings other than Isaiah Rogers and Ryan Kelly. But you guys see what you guys are doing here though, is asking great questions, leaving

great comments, and that's still resulting in an awesome conversation. So I feel like time's still flying by. I just I'm like you guys though. Trust me, that's the thing. I'm just like you. I love moves. I love reacting to moves. I want them to do stuff also. But I also think, you know, wouldn't really be the best idea to spend $20 million on a mediocre guard. Sean says, what do you think about bringing back Delvin Tomlinson? He's being released by the Browns. He's another one where you have to wait till the first day of the league year, but I'm OK with it. I don't think so.

It's hard sometimes. And this is the thing about, you know, PFF with using the grades and using the stats and stuff is that you do have to be a little cautious sometimes because a team like the Browns was just melting last year. So how good was somebody as a defensive tackle? They're going to still give us the best metrics. But how good would it have looked if it was with the Vikings versus with the Browns where they were falling apart?

So he graded well last year, though, you know, surprisingly, he had a lot of pressures, quarterback pressures in Cleveland, 36 in both years. I mean, he actually actually in Minnesota Minnesota 2022 had a 79 pass rush grade. When that job was a little more pass rush centric than it is now, I like Delvin Tomlinson. He's a good player and he brings a lot to a locker room. He's a very intelligent dude.

I think he was I think he was recruited by Harvard or something. Very intelligent guy and a good fit. If I mean, looks to me, 36 pressures each of the last two years, like he's still getting after the passer and maybe there was a contract conflict. He's like a 600 snap guy. He's not exactly what I'm looking for, but exactly what I'm looking for is expensive as we saw from Tershawn Wharton. And how many pressures, how many pressures did Tershawn, this is what I mean about the prices and how crazy the prices are. Is that Tershawn Wharton, let me get his numbers here.

Sorry, multitasking here. Getting Andrew Kramer on shortly from the Star Tribune. Yeah. So Tershawn Wharton, here's a crazy thing. The guy from the Chiefs who signed for insane money, he had 33 pressures last year and Delvin Tomlinson had 36. But we don't think of Tomlinson as that type of guy. We think of Wharton is that type of guy because he had sacks. I mean, I would rather have Tomlinson had 36, but we don't think of Tomlinson as that type of guy. We think of Wharton is that type of guy because he had sacks.

I mean, I would rather have Tomlinson at what? Maybe like 10 million. So maybe I don't hate that idea. I like that idea. Uh, Rhino man says, uh, do you believe the Vikings rumors that Walter Rouse will get a shot at guard? I don't know if he'll get a shot to start at guard, but I, they want him to be a guard because.

He really impressed last year in camp and Christian Darasa gestures at Darasa and maybe someday if Brian O'Neill who is getting a little up there ends up moving on, they might kick him out to tackle or something, but that's years down the road. And he's I think he's a good prospect for them. I think they hit on that draft pick. And maybe the reason the guy dropped was because he's so freaking smart because he went to Stanford for biomechanical engineering. And I spent 15 minutes with him for a story. And I felt so much dumber. He's I mean, just really, really sharp kid. And he's a good athlete, too.

He's a basketball player. As far as get a shot at guard. I mean, this is one of the ways of potentially going about it would be to get Kelly and one other player. And then one of the positions is either brand or Walter Rouse and they fight it out in camp. Don't love that. I would like either first round draft pick talent or proven free agency guys

coming in. But if it ends up being Kelly and say Brandon Sheriff or something, and then they battle it out, there's a chance to improve that. And Rouse is a good pass protector. He's an enormous guy. He's really tackle sized. So that could be good. But he will compete.

He will compete at guard. Andrew Kramer, the Star Tribune is going to join soon. He just messaged me, said he's going to have a chance soon. Is Harrison Smith coming back? Don't know. But we'll see. I kind of go back and forth on whether I would want Harrison Smith to come back and that's not because I don't enjoy being around Harrison Smith.

He is a very insightful guy and I love doing stories where I ask him stuff last year, I asked him about the peanut punch, you know, as you see all these guys punching at the football. And he had great stuff to say about that. How when he was growing up, they never taught it that way. And it's only been the last couple of years. So having somebody with that wealth of knowledge to talk to about football and to watch him play and how he's turned into such an incredibly cerebral player without the physical skill that he used to have.

It's really something to watch. But as far as like he played last year really well, I thought, and you don't want to see a guy like that go down and fade and struggle at the end. You'd rather see him go out with a 14-win season. Ben says, would you be okay with an overpay on Javon Holland? I would. I like Javon Holland a lot, and I know already that he fits with Brian Flores.