Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings free agency special (Part 2) Hour 2: Andrew Krammer, Kevin Seifert react to Day 1 news

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.

Let us get some new and fresh opinions from Andrew Kramer, the star of Tribune, joining the show here. Andrew, the chat has been, I think, very understanding and very patient. And I'm not even being sarcastic. Like the folks here, it's been a little different from the craziness of some of the social media websites that either work or don't work depending on the hour. Uh, I've seen a lot less of fire quasi. Why isn't he doing anything and stuff like that, but they have not done a whole lot here, a center and a cornerback.

What do you make of their inactivity for today? Yeah, this, this to me strikes, uh, as a typical quasi approach, right? Think back to their biggest free agent additions of years past, which they've not always had this cap room. I totally understand that. Um, but it was Jonathan Grenard, 19 million a year ago. Uh, it was Byron Murphy Jr. 11 million, uh, two years before that.

It was Harrison Phillips his first year for what eight, nine million year. I can't remember what it was. So it's always been value, right? Which is why we had the Sam Darnold discussion ad nauseam all off season here for the month and a half it was, was because if his value plummeted, which it kind of seemed like it did for Sam Darnold,

that they had to be open to a reunion at this point. So what I make of this is that this front office is not looking to spend 20 plus million on Aaron Banks. They're not looking to spend 26 million on Milton Williams after sitting out Christian Wilkins last year, which got up to 27 million. They're not ready to make that splash. And at this point, I wouldn't be shocked if they're holding out to push a lot of this money into Byron Murphy, whom they've wanted to prioritize.

And they entered this free agency period wanting to make him a key priority. So they're going to be frugal. They're still going to make a ton of additions. There's still going to be moves to be made. And it's funny because Vikings fans, I was responding to some of them around four or five o'clock saying like like this stuff can change quickly. And they went and added a $9 million a year center and Ryan Kelly. That's not to say that's their big addition, but it's going to be

representative of what their additions are, which is understanding that there's a lot of holes on this roster and they're not going to try and overextend themselves and paid 20 million a year for Carlton Davis or char various ward or some of these contracts that are going around. That's why I was giving the chat more credit than social media today, because I did see a lot of that around the same time. I was just like, why are they doing anything with it? And then, but I went through all the signings that have happened today. And the big question is, which one would you like them to have done?

DJ Reed is certainly that. But if they want Byron Murphy instead and feel like he's a better fit, I'm sure they like DJ Reed and are not thrilled that he's with the Detroit lions now. But if you can get Byron Murphy for less money than that and then sign Isaiah Rogers, but Kai Blackman all of a sudden it starts to come together and look a little bit like more of a cornerback room for them and more of a reasonably priced quarterback room that gives them

continued flexibility if they want to spend big somewhere. But let's just talk about the Ryan Kelly thing. Throughout this free agency period leading up to it, I did not. I saw him as a free agent. I did not include him on lists of mine, which is so funny because I made 60 players on a list and they sign a guy that wasn't on there. And you're like, come on. But the reason I didn't was because I just didn't know what if they wanted to improve the center position or not.

And my thing was 32. He's had some injuries, hasn't played a full season in two years. I figured that to be red flag E, but it turns out that it wasn't. And they sign him to this two year contract. I'm assuming he's a center because he's played every snap at center. And the main thing is here that they are just saying this guy is one of the best pass blocking centers in the league. And we're just tired of the center being back in the lap of the quarterback.

And they don't want JJ McCarthy scrambling around when that's happening as every quarterback before. I'm sure. I'm sure. Kurt Cousins today is like, Really? Yeah. Now you go get Ryan Kelly, right? After my whole career was spent with this guy back in my face, but that that's my feeling on it. What's your take? Uh, it's interesting move. I, it reads to me and this, this is one where we asked people around the team

about Garrett Bradbury, about the guard situation, knowing that one of the only constant between all this change at guard over the years was the fact that they had the same center, the same center who, lest we forget, got benched by a former coach and Mike Zimmer in 2021 for Mason Cole. Just outright healthy benching for Garrett. And so he's worked his way back, he's improved, but he's been given quite a long leash here in Minnesota to show that he's worth that contract. And so clearly there's things, we can see it too, which is how he's played. There's improvements that need to be made there so with Kelly coming in it makes me think that this was a pivot for them I would be shocked

if we learn after the fact that Ryan Kelly was their number one priority because if that's the case why is Garrett Bradbury still on the roster and this is an interesting tradable contract if If you're the Vikings for Garrett, it's 4.9 million in base salary. It's relatively cheap as far as offensive lineman goes. He's got a wealth of experience and knowledge that could be sold to some other team as a serviceable starter for you. I wouldn't be shocked if they're trying to, I don't know this. I'm not reporting it.

I just wouldn't be shocked if they're trying to trade Garrett Bradbury at this point, because I don't know what his fit is. He's never played guard in the NFL. Um, neither has Ryan Kelly. Ryan Kelly has got, I believe 8,000 snaps all at center. Uh, Garrett Bradbury has got 6,000 snaps all at center in the NFL. So this is an interesting log jam, both financially, uh, and personnel wise. That makes me think they've got another move up their sleeves with Garrett. And maybe that's trying to trade him before just outright releasing him at this point.

Um, and then when we talk about Ryan Kelly and the injuries, this is a spot and this is a front office that has been shown. They're willing to bet on their training staff. They're willing to bet on the rehabilitation of players physically. It's like, no, we are a spot you can come and be your best version of yourself at. It made me think that they were going to go after Tevin Jenkins for that very reason, a guy in Chicago who's just had health as an issue. But Tevin's probably going to cost quite a bit more, maybe double what Ryan Kelly costs. So Tevin's still a free agent, as is Will Fries, his former teammate with the Colts.

Makes you wonder if they try to pair those two guys together at some point too. So I don't think they're done. But this this move at center just makes me think that there's other moves to be made specifically with Garrett Bradbury. Is it pronounced freeze because I really want it to be pronounced fries. You know, I thought I thought it was for I've heard Colts people say freeze. I just assumed it was freeze. I didn't I haven't looked it up because it's hard to find. Like when a players for another team, no one ever says their name. Like, I don't I don't know. Right.

Like there's no highlight reel where you could go and you're like, oh, he scores a touchdown. But I've wanted it to be fries. And so I've gone with that. But I'll have to ask somebody if he signs here. If he doesn't, then I will not apologize for calling him a food item for like three months. Um, but you know, the guard position here is clearly a priority and exactly what Kevin O'Connell

said, what Kevin O'Connell said about the interior offensive line and credit to your teammate, Mark Craig for just straight up asking at the, uh, after the playoff game, like what are you, what are you going to do there? What do you think of the offensive line? And we rarely get Kevin O'Connell in sort of a moment of weakness or frustration to just be like, I don't know, man, we got to be better.

It was, it was like a very polite Mike Zimmer and sort of, you know, quasi's in the back of the room, looking back there like better. Okay. Like we just got crushed on the interior for the whole second half of the season. I was laughing today cause I saw the ringer called Sam Darnold season mediocre. And I was like, did you see the line in the second half of the season. I was laughing today because I saw the ringer called Sam Darnold season mediocre. And I was like, did you see the line in the second half of the season? I had as a, that is a joke. He was making plays left and right with it.

And eventually it fell apart at the end, but he had to do a lot to survive that interior offensive line. And it needed to be priority number one. So I get getting Kelly, but the question now is not do you still need guards? It's how do you get them? Because you mentioned Tevin Jenkins and he's got to be calling his agent. The minute Aaron Banks signs, he's got to be like, Oh, my gosh, I'm going to be the richest man of all time.

I had no idea. And probably Aaron Banks was like, Do they have the wrong banks? Did they have the wrong? Did they get like, did they have the wrong banks? They have the wrong. Did they get like, did they get tricked by my name and think they just had to pay like everything? That guy's not that good. But what are they going to do? Because the options are pretty limited here. There's I think upgrades, but they also have to upgrade with the price in mind.

Yeah, it makes you wonder if it's not trading Bradbury. Do they really think they could move positions for him? A guy who was already kind of undersized at center, and that doesn't make a ton of sense. Is Ryan Kelly at this stage of his career going to move out a position? I don't know that whichever one. If one of these guys is your solution to playing both of them and moving one of them, that doesn't make sense to me at this point.

So yeah, the holes are there at guard. They've talked about Walter Rouse as a guy that they tried cross-training last year as maybe somebody who could compete with a Blake Brandell for a job. But that still leaves one glaring hole because Ed Ingram's not going to fill it. Dalton Reiser is a free agent and yeah, they need to improve those spots. So to me, Byron Murphy, I think is a big one that's holding this up in terms of their money. I wouldn't be shocked if they're also going after one of these two top remaining or three top remaining guards that are left, knowing that that is such a glaring need because the rhetoric

around, for instance, they bring back Aaron Jones on Sunday night, the rhetoric around bringing him in last year was this is going to be our savior for the run game. Alexander Madison was just not a good fit, had a very bad season in 2023. Aaron can change it. He can make the blocking right. Well, the rhetoric this off season has not been just the running back. Quacey set himself at the combine. If you have the front to block for these guys, they can change games.

They can control the clock. They know this. I do not believe this to just be blustering and trying to appease a fan base. They don't talk like that for any reasons, just try to soothe concerns. They talk about intentionality and what they plan to do. And so it would be a shock to me if they leave this week without signing at least one starting guard or one of these guys that we've been talking about, uh, or at least hear that they were certainly in the running or one of the final teams to get one of these guys.

Cause as you mentioned, Aaron Banks is contract with the Packers. It's kind of absurd. The guy was an okay guard for San Francisco. Even San Francisco swing tackle gets paid by Kansas city. It's like, what, what exactly is going on here? It's just, I think these offensive linemen are getting incredible numbers in free agency and it speaks to how few good offensive linemen truly make it to the open market. Well, and if you remember last year and Carolina did the right thing,

getting Damien Lewis and Robert Hunt, they did a good job with that. But Kevin Zeitler slipped through the cracks as an older guy and got six million bucks. And I think the Vikings have a little bit of a tricky thing here where you want to be that team that gets Kevin's Eilert for six million bucks. And then you just have this great deal, but you also don't want to wait so long that you miss out on everybody. And you end up kind of holding the bag there and moving another tackle to guard

or something that you drafted in the sixth round. Like that's where, you know, people are asking about Walter Rouse. It's like, they like Walter Rouse, but I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that for a starter. Jay asks with the super chat, the super chats go to the front of the line, by the way. Thank you, Jay. Yeah, we got the super chat going. Do I think uncertainty at quarterback is how it is like with my well, whether McCarthy can play or not is having an impact.

I don't I don't think that I think that guys are looking for the best deal and the best situation for them. I don't think if you're an offensive lineman that you're saying like, oh, well, I'm only going to go to the Vikings if they had a proven quarterback. Like that's that's a pretty rare situation. Maybe you would sign for my homes because he's my homes. But I think with McCarthy that you're going to be fine. The organization is good.

With I do have a proposal for a trade though, for Bradbury. Remember last year where they signed Seattle signed Connor Williams. And then he was playing totally fine for them and just retired in the middle of the season because I guess the injuries just piled up on him so much. So they don't have, as far as as I know an option at center. Their offensive coordinator Clint Kubiak, their quarterback Sam Darnold makes a lot of sense. They seem to not want to lock themselves into big deals this off season. They're kind of resetting their roster. I think that that would make a lot of sense, but I haven't talked almost at all to anyone else about Aaron Jones, who you brought up. So I wanted to

follow up on that and then maybe get your thoughts on the secondary. But with uh, Aaron Jones, bringing him back, there was some kind of back and forth last night in terms of fans where I think some fans felt like probably before they saw the prices today, like, ah, that's a lot. Like that's a lot of money for Aaron Jones. And I think that just like with Ryan Kelly, very rational to look at the injuries of the past and the workload and say, I don't know, but if you're pairing him with a drafted running back,

I think that that's a good approach. What did you think of the deal? How much he got and what the backfield is gonna look like? Yeah, that deal struck me as they had to pay him to not test free agency. This wasn't gonna be something where he was gonna give them a sweetheart deal and I think he could have got more potentially if he actually did go out in free agency. I'm really curious to see what Najee Harris gets.

He was reportedly close with the Chargers on talking about a deal. Um, because Aaron Jones is 10 million years slots in at sixth among running backs and he was seventh last year in yards from scrimmage at the position. And you generally don't see guys get paid above what they finished when they're 30, 31 years old, like Aaron is. And so it speaks to how much they like him, uh, his deal too. Cashflow wise, it's one year, 12 million, they can get out of it two years, 20.

And it, it reads both cash and cap. Like they expect him to play the entirety of the deal, which again, speaks to how much they like him. So I think it's just such a good fit. It went so well last year. He was really, really good despite all the bad blocking that we talk about upfront and that they clearly feel if they can improve the surroundings in front of him, specifically with the old line we're talking about, that you can get even more out of him. He's not going to be the goal line,

short yardage thumper, but with a little bit extra blocky, he can absolutely score more than five touchdowns in a season rushing like he did last year. So this team's got the second fewest rushing touchdowns over the last two years behind only the jets. They know it's not just Aaron Jones that needs to change that. It's the old line. It's another running back. It's making sure that Aaron gets to December and January and is a closer

version of himself, uh, or is closer to the best version of himself than he was this year, which was not the same by the time we got to season's end. So I think a third round, a fifth round running back, we're probably going to see somebody from this draft class come in. Um, they could even do that in addition to resigning cam acres to try and throw as many bodies at that spot as possible. And just make sure that you're not relying once again on an incomplete running back and tie Chandler who forced you to turn your, your full back into a

third down pass protector and just eliminate your third down outlet on oftentimes because CJ is not an elusive catch and run threat. So it just changed the way they had to play, it changed the way they had to protect. And if they can get somebody else in there that they trust, that'll help extend Aaron's career and that you, you could be looking back on this deal a year or two from now and he could be the 10th, 11th highest paid running back and still performing like a top 10 back if they take some of that mileage off him.

Right. I was thinking like a, uh, like a Frank Gore situation where he was kind of a part-time running back, but still contributed a lot late in his career. Uh, Kevin Seifert of ESPN is waiting backstage to pop on as our next guest. So how about we, uh, give one more hot take from you, Andrew? And I really do appreciate you taking the time on a very busy day. Make sure everybody checks out the Access Vikings podcast that you recorded just before dropping in here and all of your coverage at the Star Tribune.

I want to know what you think happens with this secondary. Like, do you think Murphy's coming back? Does it feel like it's trending more that way since he hasn't signed yet? And the other top corners went off and at safety, we are just kind of floating in the air. Now it's safety after Cambynum left. Yeah, I think with Byron Murphy, first and foremost, the Vikings have an MO of generally going, you know, throwing the bag, let's say, at people that they know and trust. This is not a team we just talked about.

It's not a team that often goes into free agency and just throws money around willy nilly at guys who are popping up at top of market deals elsewhere. So I expect at this point, and this is not going off of any fresh info on Monday evening, but based on what we know going into today, how much they wanted Byron Murphy, how all these other corners are flying off the table, I would expect Byron Murphy to sign a pretty big deal to stay here just because that's how much they like him. That's how much they value his versatility. And they would most likely, if I had to guess, they'd rather pay the guy that they know,

the known commodity, than try to go after somebody else and fix it that route. And when you look at the corner spot, it's dire. It's McKay Blackman. It's, it's Dwight McLeathorn. It's a Najee Thompson. Uh, and then obviously the guy they bring in and Isaiah Rogers, who from Philly was just a part-time player. He was suspended for gambling in 2023. He has not played more than 48% of the snaps in any given season defensively for a team.

And that was three, four years ago for the Colts in 2021. He only played three full-time games for Philly this year. And it was pretty up and down results, according to PFF. So this, this is a guy in Isaiah Rogers. That's probably more your Shaq Griffin replacement. Who's your Stefan Gilmore replacement. And if you don't have Byron, what are you doing there? So to me, I think Byron's got to be the guy that's this big holdup with his cash and

that they're probably going to have to unload quite a bit to keep him. And at safety, we knew Theo Jackson was going to be a very coveted guy, a riser that they paid much like Josh Metellus two years ago, where they wanted to catch him on the upswing and have him outperform his contract much like Josh Metellus did. So we hear great things about Theo as a practice player, as a, as a do it all kind of guy, you've written about just all the different things he does for this team. I wouldn't be shocked if he's obviously a starter for them next to Josh Mattelis.

And then they're probably going to have to go out and look for somebody else. If Harrison Smith does not return because Byron Flora or Brian Flores, excuse me, loves to use so many different defensive backs and packages. There's going to be 16, 17, 18 guys he wants to play on any given week defensively. And obviously a lot of those guys, from Camus Grougier-Hill to Jerry Tillery to Byron Murphy are out of contract right now.

So there's going to be a flurry of moves for sure. Yeah, I would not be against spending a lot of money on Byron Murphy to come back. Doesn't have to be insane, but even if it's in the range of DJ Reed, okay. And then to add a safety, who's a dynamic player, Justin Reed is out there. And so is Javan Holland, who has that familiarity with Brian Flores, who drafted him and was one of the tops in the league in quarterback pressures as a rookie with Brian Flores. You could kind of put two and two together, but he probably will be looking for more than can buy them by a decent amount.

I think because he's been a better player so far in his career. Well, we'll see how a lot of this plays out as we go forward. Maybe we'll get more in the next hour or so, which is kind of my plan. And maybe we will have to wait till tomorrow, but you know what? There's no limit on how much you can live stream speculation about free agency. Thank goodness. Andrew Kramer, Star Tribune, Access Vikings podcast.

Make sure you go check that out after you watch this show. And hey man, we'll see you soon. Thanks for popping on here. Really appreciate it. Absolutely, Matt. Thanks for having me. Andrew is the best. Great breakdown there.

And we go from one of my wonderful colleagues on the beat to another one, Kevin Seifert of ESPN joining the live show now. And I'm glad to have you and Andrew here, Kevin, because nothing has really happened. So outside of- A lot of ball game left. A lot of game left.

Yeah, there's only, let's's see six weeks till the draft. Yeah. And I think they hit OTAs in early May. So they've got time to sign some other people, although you wouldn't have thought that on the Internet at about three o'clock this afternoon. It was like, what are they doing? Let's I want to get your take on the on the signings, though, so far. Isaiah Rogers and Ryan Kelly,

let's talk about what they've done and who has left thus far. What is your big takeaway? You know, from a excitement level, drama level, volume level, it's been underwhelming. So far, you know, we know they need multiple cornerbacks. And they started with a guy who, like, I'm certainly open-minded to whatever Brian Flores might have in mind for him because of his track record of finding ways to get more out of players than most teams do, or many teams do.

But it's not obvious to me how he is going to be an impact player at that position. You know, Ryan Kelly, if it's the good if it's the healthy Ryan Kelly, that's a great move, you know, but when you're 32, and you've had three concussions, and you had a knee injury and a quad injury, you know, that's those are that's a health history that should be regarded, I wouldn't say with skepticism, but with knowledge of what that means and what that means in terms of the likelihood of him playing a full season and how you build around the possibility that you might need another guy to play center to play center at some point during the season. And so if they, to me the biggest picture out of it is they have not grabbed anyone that's like a slam dunk Jonathan Grenard type signing. And

you know many many people said this free agent market didn't have that, you know, and that anybody you thought you were maybe getting in that regard, you know, might be fool's gold. So maybe that's a good thing that they haven't jumped out and spent a bunch of money on players at positions that they need. But the bottom line is it's hard to look at them like right this second and say,

oh, they've improved themselves so far. Well, we did something with the chat earlier, kind of a little mental exercise, which is which one of these contracts that's been signed by other teams would you have said for the Vikings? Oh, wow, that's great. I could come up with DJ Reid would have been really good for them. 16 million year with the Lions.

That's just a good contract for a really good player. I struggled after that, though, Kevin, because Grady Jarrett got so much money and the Tershon Wharton, who I think isn't even a great player, gets what? 16 million dollars a year for 30 pressures and a part time role with Kansas City, Milton Williams. OK, the Vikings are in on Milton Williams. Twenty six million a year. OK, now they're not in on Milton. Yeah, that is so much for a guy who played 500 snaps with every one of these guys.

Sharperious Ward. He had his one of his worst years last year and that that felt to me like Legerrius Sneed last year was like, oh man, this guy's been a great shutdown player, but you know, they drift off like running backs cornerbacks do. I couldn't come up with one of these deals where I would have said if they did it, that the other team did it the same dollars outside of DJ Reed that would have been an A plus for me. Oh, A plus?

No, probably not. Even a B plus. Yeah, Carlton Davis. I mean, there's just so much money. Carlton Davis, I don't know potentially, but that's what I mean. Like I'm not just like trying to defend them out of kindness

of my heart that maybe it's a good thing that they haven't jumped out and spent a bunch of money. Because as you say, like there's, you know there was a very thin free agent class and there's teams that are, you know and people will naturally look at the Bears, you know who have traded for a couple of offensive linemen and signed a center and then spent a much money on a great Jared and say, well, that's what the Vikings should

have done. They had the same needs. They needed to have a guard in the center or two guards in the center or a guard, you know, two guards and stay with Bradbury. And they needed interior playmakers and, um, they, you know know haven't done that but we've like I've seen so many cases over the years of teams winning the first day of free agency and then that being the last win for a very long time and so you know I think you know another thing that jumps out to me as we're talking though like we said that Ryan Kelly's 32 you Jonathan Allen, who's in for a visit and is clearly a target of theirs at a position of need.

I think he's 30. And we haven't seen them jump out in the Adolfo Mensa, O'Connell era too often and make older players sort of a primary crux of their free agent class. They've been pretty successful at going for the 26 year old type coming off their first contracts and that's the perfect free agent. But this was a year when teams were protecting those players through long term deals or already had earlier and they're just not out there. And so this is a sort of a indicative of the type of pickings there are on this

market that even the Vikings who've been very disciplined, um, about. Sort of the profile of the type of player they want, um, have targeted at least two guys that ideally you're not spending a ton of money on at their ages. Uh, it kind of reminds me, I guess, of when they got Saderius Smith and Patrick Peterson were kind of older players, but their ilk was higher. I mean, those were two superstars. And that's the issue here. And I agree with you.

I felt the same way all day where. And I think that most the majority of Vikings fans are kind of seeing this as well, that the players that they're signing, once you kind of it feels like the draft, where once you get to know the names, you're like, Oh, well, there's this guard and there's this guy and that would be great. But then when you actually go and you look at the hard numbers and you say, is this guard really going to, is Aaron Banks really going to be better than Blake Brando? And on paper last year, they were not signed they just signed Blake Brandle for $20 million a year. It's the same size guy, it's the same, he's a better run blocker.

But I mean, that type of thing, that would have been ludicrous if the Vikings had spent that much money on a guy. And I think I would have been critical of that if it's somebody who's a true difference maker, okay, but there has to be someone on day five of free agency that is what, 3% less than Aaron Banks. So I think that it's just been a sensible approach,

which is not something that's going to be super hyped up by us, but I think it's what you want them to do. Yeah. And, uh, and you know, they could still end up with a Will Frees or, or, or what have you. And like, there's, you know, if they end up with him and, and Byron Murphy, and, you know, so then they've added two cornerbacks and two offensive linemen. I think that would be, you know, people would look at that and say, well, that's not a bad, you know, hall in free agency, at least in this particular free agency.

Um, and so, you know, and so I, yeah, I think that's very reasonable, but, you know, I, you know, I know, I know that everybody jumped to the conclusion that when O'Connell said after the Rams game that we got to improve the interior that like your mind immediately goes to personnel and that's fair and obvious. But he has they've clearly expanded that to be like, we have to be a better team there that could be players, it could be coaching, it could be scheme, it could be play calling it, you know, and it probably is a little bit of all of that. And so if at the end of the year, their interior play is better and they haven't necessarily overhauled

every position, those two things aren't mutually exclusive. I also think that just in terms of excitement, it wouldn't be really a whole lot of it if they were to get Ryan Kelly and a brand insurer for Kevin Zeitler, somebody who's on the older side. Then you're talking about two like 30 year old guys, two guys that we could talk about like, hey, remember the 98 cubs and Sammy Sosa? Kevin's nice with like 35, I think now. Yeah, he is right. We'd be able to like feel young again with guys like that in the room.

But if they were to do that and then also draft a Gray's Abel or a Tyler Booker or someone in the first round at the guard position, and then you wake up the day after the draft and you go, OK, you have one of the best pass blocking centers with health issues. I get it. But one of the proven best, uh, you know, guys. Okay. So we got to, we do have a signing here, by the way, uh, James Daniels to the dolphins. So there's another guy off the list for a guard. He had the Achilles issue, um, Adam Schefter reports, but so there, there, there's another guy that goes, I'll be curious about that price cause that's an injured guy coming back.

But if you were to wake up and say, all right, it's Ryan Kelly, it's Kevin Zeitler proven 30 year olds, and it's Gray Zable, this young freak boy from North Dakota State. And and then it's Darasaw and it's Brian O'Neill. Like that looks pretty good to me. And I don't dislike the idea of having veterans up there as well with a very young quarterback who's taking over this year. Yeah, I mean, I would feel a little bit better about it

if they had more draft picks. And I don't want to turn this into a big like they're terrible at drafting and they just need to give up on it. But like, like I do believe in volume drafting. to turn this into a big like they're terrible at drafting and they just need to give up on it. But I do believe in volume drafting. I think that it's great to think, oh, they got four picks and so we'll get a guard, we'll get a running back, we'll get another cornerback and we'll be good. And everything we know about the draft tells us if you draft three guards, one of them might end up being a guy that's usable over time. And if you draft two cornerbacks, guards, one of them might end up being a guy that's usable over time. And if you draft two cornerbacks, you hope one of them ends up being a contributor at

some point. And so that's, if there's any additional pressure to act a little bit less wisely during free agency, it's just the lack of volume. And if they trade down and get more picks, then that still brings the probability of getting good players lower because even though there's more volume, they're just lower in the draft. And historically, we know that like it's that it's just that much harder. And so that that would be the only thing that would give me pause in sort of painting out that scenario is that if they leave free agency

still with some needs to address in a four either a four pick draft or a more picks but uh you know only one in the top 100 or whatever would end up being or top 50 and so that's what that's what would give me pause or worry me a little bit more. Right. Because if you look at this draft and the back end of the first round, you go, man, those defensive tackles, you know, Walter Nolan and Derek Harmon and Omar Norman lot. Like, there's all these good players that would fit. And then you got a couple of guards that could be good. A couple of corners and you go, you need like three of those. Yeah. a couple of guards that could be good, a couple of corners and you go, you need like three of those and you only have one pick there trading down. Maybe there's some opportunity to do that and still get a starter at guard.

But I also think the league's going to take notice a dude who's bad or mediocre. I shouldn't say bad. He's mediocre. Just got 20 million a year. We should just draft a guard in the first round instead of trying to solve that problem in free agency. And I think everybody's having that same discussion. So let me just just hit pause on the conversation about the O line. OK, and I know that this is a fascination of Vikings fans. It's the biggest need. It's what they have to do.

But can we just pause for a minute and say that Sam Darnold's a Seattle Seahawk? I mean, it was unfortunately one of the most anti-climactic big breaking things because we all knew it. And is the minute, it's just funny how these people phrase stuff. And I know this is some of your colleagues there, but like, well, Geno Smith has been traded to the Raiders and the Seahawks have set their sights

and not tampered before the tampering. But they have just sort of identified Sam Darnold from a distance without speaking to him or indicating anything to him that he could be of interest. Come on. Like we knew the minute it happened. Sam Darnold, you are a Seattle Seahawk. So then when it broke it was like, oh, okay, well, it's over. I even wrote today. I wrote like, this is how JJ McCarthy proved to the Vikings. He could be their guy with the decision not even being final yet. You're in good position. Yeah, you're in good shape there. It was so clear. But can we just stop for a second to talk about the quarterback situation? The Minnesota Vikings are moving on from a guy that won 14

games and had a top 10 season to JJ McCarthy. How do you think JJ McCarthy proved to them that this was the right move? Yeah. One way to put that in context is there's only been one other player in the history of the NFL who has changed teams after throwing 30 plus touchdowns. Uh, you know who that is? Jamis Winston. I saw your tweet. I think. Oh dang. I forgot. People read my tweets. Yeah. Yeah. And he, and he moved on because he threw 30 interceptions, but he has, and I don't think they've, I guess made the wrong decision, but it just shows you how rare it is that, that they have,

that he has now moved on. And so the, and the wild thing is like the part that everyone like, like has been seeking to inflate drama into is has JJ McCarthy proved that he's ready for that? Are they still looking to bring in Aaron Rodgers and like the idea of they would pursue Daniel Jones and if they couldn't get Daniel Jones they would turn to Aaron Rodgers has been one of the more preposterous like logical things that I've ever heard because if you want, if you're thinking you might want Aaron Rodgers,

I'm pretty sure you go after him first and because he's obviously pretty good, I think still maybe and would obviously be a starter. Daniel Jones would be competing, but regardless, like, you know, I can't say for sure that he has. I think it's, you know he showed them as much as he could through that first preseason game, talking about JJ McCarthy. And there's nothing, I mean, there's nothing that they could, like, there's not enough

that's happened since then for them to have like solidified anymore or to have really to have any doubts unless he like left the building for a month at a time or something. And we know that didn't, there was no like attitude or issues or any kind of like anything that I was aware of other than him just rehabbing and running into it, some swelling and then having to start back over

and having to rebuild his body. So like nothing, nothing, I just don't think much happened after enough happened after training camp when he hurt himself for them to have really decided much of anything other than like, do they think he's physically ready to go through OTAs and, and those are the things that it sounds like he has shown them that he's very much on track to do. And so I think that, like, to the extent that they've decided, like, okay, this is going to be J.J. McCarthy's season, it's just that they drafted him last year. He looked good. He was looking good at the time of his injury.

No red flags have come up since then. He's going to be healthy enough to go through the entire offseason program and it's his time. And so like I that's how I look at it. I think that they're looking to, you know, the fact that Daniel Jones was here on the on the practice squad and is still very much under consideration and who knows hopefully maybe we'll get some news on that at some point sooner than later. Shows that they're not just looking for, I mean they could have brought Nick Mullins back to be JJ McCarthy's backup. So they know they need something a little more substantial potentially than what they would get out of Nick Mullins. But I think, you know, they made a commitment to want to have a, you know, multiple seasons on a, on a rookie contract.

They put a lot of work into, into scouting all these guys. Um, they liked him enough that if Michael Pennings had been on the board, um, at the time that JJ McCarthy was also available, they would have taken McCarthy from what I understand. And so, um, and nothing has shaken them from the belief they had when they drafted them. And so it's just the natural timeline of, of what their plan was as long as he's going to be healthy enough to do all the things that he needs to do to prepare for training camp and then go through training camp

and then start the season. And I think that's what they want to happen. I do wonder something that came to mind and I haven't really thought too much about it, but is we talk about Sam Darnold leaving. It's really well, the Vikings let him go, but he was a free agent. So he had to make the decision and as soon as another team had a hundred and ten million dollars burning a hole in their pocket because they had moved on from Gino Smith. It made so much more sense for him to go. And I know that they're rebuilding some things, but it's a very good and a stable organization. In fact, it's very Viking Z in that way. They have a GM who's established there.

They have a good crowd. They have a good stadium. They have winning teams all the time. So if you're going there, you're picking an organization that is sort of similar to what you've had. And he's, you know, Clint Kubiak, he's been with Clint Kubiak before there's the connection. But I do wonder because we've always framed it as well, the Vikings are letting Sam Darnold go. But franchise tagging him would have been really difficult to work around. They could have done it, but it would have been very hard.

So that wasn't really on the table for them. They would have had to convince Sam Darnold to stay. And I don't know how you convince Sam Darnold to stay if they wanted it. And what I always couldn't figure out is exactly what Kevin O'Connell wanted, because he was the one that walked out to us in Cleveland and said, Hey, he's our franchise quarterback for the future. And then I asked people behind the scenes, like, was he serious or was he just being nice? Like, no, he's serious.

That what he had seen already, he felt like this was what we drafted. The trajectory is great. And I guess they're assuming, as they should, don't have any reason to, that he'll just return to where he was and go forth with that. So I think it's a little bit of a combination of both, but I do wonder if there was any part of O'Connell

that did try to convince Sam Darnold to stick around on a short-term contract. But then when Seattle arrived, there was no, because if it's the Giants or the Browns asking, you gotta be like, come on, Sam, just stay for another year. I do wonder if in a way, maybe Sam Darnold will have done them a favor by just saying thanks. Yeah. But no, thanks. And now the way I look at it is this is finally the quasi Adolfo

Mensa plan come to life. This is what he wanted all along when he got here was to move on from Kirk, reset the cap. Yeah. Maybe he thought there'd be a better free agent class that there is this year, but and then turn it over to JJ McCarthy. So all those kinds of things were swirling a little bit in my head about how did Seattle just sort of become Johnny on the spot? Because otherwise, there wasn't a lot of great options there. You know, I guess that's a question I thought about too. And we'll never know like if, if somehow this whole was precipitated by Gino Smith deciding he didn't want whatever the final offer was in their negotiations with Seahawks. They said, okay, we're done.

You know, you go to the Raiders, get your money there. And now they have an opening had Gino Smith agreed to that deal and stayed in Seattle would the Raiders have pursued Sam Darnold. That was what Schefter thought initially in the off season. I'm not sure they would have had to do something, whether it was Aaron Rodgers or Justin Fields or whoever else. If there was anybody really seriously competing with the Seahawks for that deal, it didn't drive up the price and we didn't hear the name of it. So it might have been one. You know,

I think my theory on it is that because this followed such a very, such a similar pattern with the Cousins departure where they talked to them, they made them an offer, they made Cousins an offer, they knew even when they were making it that that the Falcons were gonna blow them out of the water with it, but it wasn't just a rejection. They weren't just saying, so long, thanks for the memories. And to me, at least a part of what was going on with Sam was just to not have a rejection of him after the season that he had. And I think that the pattern is just too similar to say it's coincidental.

And I think part of that is, I think one thing O'Connell thinks about in terms of building culture, and maybe Quacey's part of this too, is like how you treat people on the way out. We've all seen in Minnesota, at different sports, at every level, the really nasty departures that can happen sometimes and name calling and finger pointing and reputations affected. And I think, you

know, I remember Aaron Rodgers talking about that in Green Bay of how he upset he was with the way some of his good friends and teammates were treated on the way out as piece of meat and garbage. And we all know how, you know, that's sort of the theme of pro sports. And I do think that O'Connell, who himself was rejected many times in his career and we all, you know, and it's kind of hard to, to not draw all the parallels that he lays out there for us, uh, in terms of how he operates and how it relates to his career, that, um, I don't think he just wanted to reject Sam Darnold outright for the work that they did.

And so there was, you know, whether he was saying it probably behind the scenes, but you know, there also was some discussion about what it would look like to come back. And the only real difference was it wasn't public knowledge that there was a team out there ready to blow them out of the water. And I wouldn't say Seattle ended up blowing them out of the water, but

clearly the Vikings were not going to do, um, 55 million guaranteed for him. And, um, you know, it was going to be some, it would have had to be something where there was just nobody offering him anything and yes, we need a veteran quarterback and as long as you're okay with the understanding that this is eventually going to be JJ's team. If you're okay with the understanding that this is eventually going to be JJ's team, if you want to come back for that, great. But it never really came to that. But I do think that the prevalence of the idea that the Vikings were serious

about bringing Sam Darnold back was in part because of just trying to have a pleasant separation. I think that that's a really good theory about. So the other night I was watching Ian Rapaport and I don't mean to like, I'm not trying to call him out or anything. OK, I don't want to fight him in a Starbucks. OK, but the other night I'm watching the insider show and he says, well, you know, they want Sam Darnold back and, you know, yeah,

there would have to be a quarterback competition, but, you know, the Vikings could work that out or something. I was like, well, you know, they want Sam Darnold back and, you know, yeah, there would have to be a quarterback competition, but, you know, the Vikings could work that out or something. I was like, no, what? I mean, not unless the rest of the league just had wanted nothing to do with Sam Darnold, which would have been crazy to me because all games except for Jacksonville and the two last games, he was really good. And if we're only judging quarterbacks that way, Justin Herbert wouldn't have made any money.

And Tua would, look how bad Tua was in his playoff game against the Chief. Like they don't do it that way, right? You're looking for them to just replace Geno Smith and have good quarterback play. There was always gonna be somebody else who arrived with some money for Sam Darnold and also said, you don't have to compete with someone after you just had a 14 win season.

So that never made sense to me. My theory was that every time Kevin O'Connell is asked from people whose job is information and they need to have something, it's very competitive. He's always going to spin positive no matter who it is. So even when Delvin cook was clearly going to be released, there was still reports leading up to that. They were like, well, you know, they might work something out with Delvin cook. And I was like, if they work something out with Delvin cook,

I'll change my name to Delvin cook. Like it was so obvious that that was not going to happen. And yet still the reports think about everybody has been like that. So sometimes it's like they want to resign Hockinson. Well, they did. And sometimes it's like, well, they'd love to keep Eric Kendrick's like, no, they wouldn't. They want to move on.

So I think they're always going to tell everyone on the outside that to like answer the question, but they're never going to say, no, actually, we're totally fine if they move on. But here's a here's a totally different J.J. McCarthy angle though, because I don't want to get into the whole like who's reporting what information stuff that's been frustrating I think for fans to have it kind of lead them the wrong way in a lot of ways. And crazy today, they're not trading JJ McCarthy. Wow, how about that? I can't believe it. But what is now a realistic expectation for this team knowing that this free agent class does not offer

some person who's going to come here and like, wow, you're a way different team because you acquired player X, even Javon Holland's not totally changing your franchise. What is a realistic expectation for the first year JJ McCarthy Minnesota Vikings? It's funny because I spent all last year saying well you know there's always a dip in competitiveness when there's a quarterback transition so here it comes and that's partly why they were you know

they were six and a half they're over under with six and a half wins and all that but I think you know what we know about the team that's around him and the coaches that are around him, I think it's a playoff team. I think their expectations should be that they make the playoffs with JJ McCarthy in his, not his rookie year. He should be better than he would have been

then if this was his rookie year. Maybe not as good as if it were his second year after a full year playing. But I don't have any. I'm not going into the offseason thinking was his rookie year, maybe not as good as if it were his second year after a full year playing. But like, I don't have any, I'm not going into the off season thinking it was a high likelihood that he's going to be overwhelmed or just be a bad competitor or just not turn out to not what we saw last summer to have been a mirage. So I think he's going to be at least capable of supporting a winning team that's built around him.

And that was the whole point of what they were trying to do last year with free agency is build, you know, maybe if you draft Jane Daniels, you don't have and you trade up to get Jane Daniels, you don't have to have quite the strength of a team around him as you do around a JJ McCarthy or a Bo Nix. If you're kind of on the lower end of that range. And I think they have a good enough team around them, you know, from skill positions to, I mean, we'll wait and see what they end up doing defensively

from a personnel perspective, but I think Brian Flores has deserved the benefit of the doubt of fielding a playoff level, you know, maybe not a top five defense, no matter who the personnel is, but a playoff level, you know, maybe not a top five defense, no matter who the personnel is, but a playoff caliber defense. And the offense has been, you know, when they've had somebody other than their third string quarterback on the field over the past three years, they've had a playoff caliber offense. And so I think that's what the expectation should be. Like I want to say, I learned my lesson about predicting a or assuming a big step back last year.

But based on what we saw last year and the way they played and what we know now about those players and the coaches, I think it's more than fair to expect them to compete for a playoff spot and to be disappointed if they don't make it. I think what last year did with Sam Darnold was we didn't really know what Kevin O'Connell brought to the table with a quarterback, because I felt like Kirk Cousins was a more confident player. But if you look at on paper, yes, Kirk Cousins different from no, he wasn't. He was the same. Better. He was better in the in the in the pressure moments. Right. Yes. Oh, yes.

Where we can be measured. But anyway, yeah, go ahead. No, for sure. And he was more confident and his leadership was better in his belief in himself. But his actual statistically wasn't a whole lot different. He was just better at some of the end of the games, which can also be random anyhow. But with Sam Dart and with Nick Mullins and Josh Dobbs starting, I always thought it was pretty impressive that they almost made the playoffs if they get a better

tush push in Cincinnati. If Nick Mullins doesn't try to quote, put it on him instead just leads Justin Jefferson and they beat Detroit and all that. But I don't think that that's going to tell you a whole heck of a lot about how you can coach quarterbacks that Nick Mullins was playing the role of Jamis Winston. I do think was Sam Darnold. It tells you a lot. That's a former top draft pick with a ton of talent. And you were out there in training camp with McCarthy and Darnold thrown

around. They both got rocket arms. And I think McCarthy actually sees the field a little bit better, uh, and maybe understands in his head what's the field a little bit better, uh, and maybe understands in his head, what's going on a little bit better than Sam Darnold at real time speed. And yet they did adjust this offense. It was different. They actually played almost the Kubiaki and kind of Shanahan. They ran a lot on first down. They ran more play action. They took deep shots down the field.

Like there was a very serious adjustment in how they played to fit with Sam Darnold. And so now having that information, I think it increases your confidence tenfold of what you could do with McCarthy, knowing that he can get out there and at least look in preseason and practice like a real quarterback. And you, and you and I have done enough of these where like sometimes we get fooled on a like totally random player in camp. We're like, that guy's catching everything. Look at him. Most of the time though, it tells us the answers about which players they like,

how they feel about people McCarthy running a two minute drill out there was very impressive. And so I think all the experience too that he learned how hard it is from Sam Darnold. He learned what game plan he's like, like all those things that hit guys in the face coming in from college will not hit him in the face. He gets to start from day one is the guy. And so all this is to say, I totally agree with you. Like if, if it's anything short than making the playoffs, it is disappointing because you moved on from a quarterback that won 14 games, you better be sure you can make the playoffs and you just signed a 32 year old guard like you.

You are aiming for making the playoffs next year. Absolutely. And they already had and we'll see how it shakes out, you know, neck by the start of the season, but they already had a very old team to begin with. And some of the players that may or may not move on are not necessarily the old ones. And so they brought back Aaron Jones. to begin with and some of the players that may or may not move on are not necessarily the old ones. And so they brought back Aaron Jones, they're gonna have a 30 year old running back and potentially a 32 year old center. And you know, if Harrison Smith comes back, it'll be a 47 year old safety or, you know, or, you know, somewhere around there. And so, you know, I don't expect them to be like a young team by any stretch.

And that's another thing I think I underestimated about the team last year and just sort of doing the self scout is that is I mean, they were kind of a lot of players in their primes not, you know, not, you know, it wasn't like it was a bunch of 21, 22 year old kids and, and a veteran quarterback, it was a lot of veterans around as well. And even some of the young players they did have had played a lot, you know, Ivan Pace for one had played a lot. And so Jordan did have had played a lot. You know, Ivan Pace for one had played a lot. And so Jordan Addison had played a lot. So it's so I think they're a team that's that's prime to win and that's that's what you would want to have.

If you're if if your longer-term plan is going according to Pace is that you in the way that this ownership group wants people to operate is that when you slip that young quarterback in, it's, you know, go time, you know, it's not okay, let's develop time, you know, it's it's developing in real time, but you make a good point. I don't think that they'll like they may, it may not be the successful play to plug him into an offense where you're throwing the ball downfield as much as Sam Darnold did or in the fourth quarter when you're up by one score and you have to convert

a third down. I'm not totally sure where they're throwing in that situation either even though that's Kevin O'Connell's you know preference. You know there may have to be some allowances for the fact that you have a less experienced player in that position. But you know, the sort of the bones of a winning team are in place. One more thing, whatever you want it to be. One more subject, whatever is on your mind the most. And the thing I would have, I told you only like 10, 15 minutes. I. I'm long winded. I know you're not busy though. Like there was just, you don't know what

I'm doing. I might have some stuff I'm doing. There was somebody in the chat that said you coach their kid with soccer. So I don't know. Yeah. It's some UFL stuff. So Birmingham, I was, I don't want to say I was an undefeated soccer coach, but we were pretty dang close to undefeated in my soccer career. That's what Wade said in the comments earlier. He said you were a good coach. So, um, I guess you can coach better than you can do. I don't know if you're, you were a good soccer player. I did play soccer, but, uh, uh, uh, let's just say it's playing in general is not my, my strong suit. But what has,

what I've been thinking about to be be totally honest with you, is like, because I'm a jud of all people told me today, I'm a worrier and he's right. And what I was worrying about is what happens if Daniel Jones goes to the Colts. Oh yeah. And I'm sure you've touched on that at some point during the course of the day,

but like, because know, you know, the capital national, you know, the world thinks it's going to be Aaron or Aaron Rogers. And that's on a purely selfish standpoint, that's a very life changing, work, at least work wise, a very life changing move if the Vikings were to do that because that puts the Vikings in the center of the NFL drama verse, as I would call it, and that would change a lot of things. It just, it seems very like against everything about what we're talking about, spent the past 15 minutes talking about, but if it's not him, and I would think it's more likely than not that it's more, it's more likely that not that it's more it's it's more likely that it's

not him than it is if Daniel Jones goes elsewhere as the quarterback that the Vikings are going to pair with JJ but then who is it you know and is it somebody you would trust if the whole reason to have it be Daniel Jones is you know we think right now JJ is going to be fine but is he you know we haven't seen it yet and what if he gets hurt again? You know this again this is a team that's primed to win and you would hate for all this this blueprinting that was done to be scuttled by the fact that you didn't get some backup quarterback who could you know competently get you through the season the way kind of Sam Darnold did last year. And so, like I know Orlowski put Jameis Winston next to the Vikings and like that doesn't strike me as a as a fit in any way shape or form but it's

not like there's like all these other guys out there. I know you're here as a guy out there that you prefer and Mac Jones but like there's there's like you like, you know, I, you know, that it could be him, I don't know, but like, it feels like there's a relatively big drop off there. And like, as a crazy, as it sounds like, like the Vikings should be competing for as hard as they're competing for anybody on the entire free agent market, uh, to get Daniel Jones, um, who, if you were a Giants fan, you'd be like, what are you, what are you talking about? But like, it feels like there's a, you know,

that's a player who could follow in the Sam Darnold mold if he needs to, but then also would just take advantage of the full year. And like, this is, you know, it's becoming a quarterback factory. I mean, Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold and back to back years, probably both getting them compensatory third round picks. That's not too shabby,

but that's what I've been thinking about. That's what feels to me as a quarterback centric beat writer, a not insignificant issue. Well, I was thinking if Aaron Rogers signed here, I could just do one podcast and then just retire. Just to get, that'll pay for the year, everybody. I'll see you next year after Aaron Rogers is here anymore. Thank you for the numbers.

From a data perspective on the Purple Insider YouTube channel, it would certainly be good for me, but I can't make any sense of how that would fit. And my thing is Aaron Rodgers was obsessed. Oh, Gardner Minshew is a name that comes up. I like that name. But Aaron Rodgers was obsessed with Justin Jefferson. And then every time Aaron Rodgers played

Justin Jefferson, for the most part, he throttled them. And so you could see where Aaron Rogers would be like insider say Vikings, like trying to speak it into existence. But out there, right? Yeah. And if you like, if I were Aaron Rogers, though, like, and you look at the teams that the Giants, the Steelers, the Steelers are are a black hole of quarterbacks. You know, like I would want to play for the Vikings, too.

And I wouldn't wouldn't be that worried about whether it hurt JJ McCarthy's feelings or not. Like he's not going to be around long enough to have to worry about that. Um, like, like from a purely selfish standpoint, which like he's out there trying to see if there's somebody that somewhere that would work for him as much as, uh, whether those teams think he would work for them. Like that's the place to go. Who wouldn't want to?

And so like I, you know, I would be shocked if he in his mind are like, I don't want to go there. Like, I know people were talking about like, he made some comments about people jeering him when he broke his collarbone. But like there was like, you think Brett Favre didn't get booed when he was a Packers quarterback and came here. Like I think those things can get worked out.

But I guess I would be shocked if he didn't consider the Vikings the best case scenario for him. Oh, I mean, who doesn't? I mean, that was even J.J. McCarthy where when he got here, he was like, yeah, I was hoping that I ended up here because they have the best receiver in the world and a great quarterback coach, but that doesn't make it make any sense. As far as Daniel Jones, I have been less worried about this because first of all, Daniel Jones hasn't been remotely good since 2022. He's got a bunch of injuries.

He's actually never been good. Uh, 2022 was the closest. So I playoff game where he was pretty good. Yes, he certainly was. I think that also that year who was the guy for the Jets? Come on. Who is the quarterback for the Jets? That was good. The guy who almost beat them with the Joe Mike Wilson or the Adams John who was it?

It was some like very generic named quarterback that never played again. Who was that? Oh, yeah, I remember somebody help me in the chat. Tell me who that who was that quarterback in twenty two who almost beat them. Taylor Heinecky almost beat them. It was just ridiculous. Yeah. Anybody could have could have done that anyway.

I my thought on the backup quarterback situation always, unless there's a real quarterback competition is. If J.J. McCarthy gets her, oh, Mike White, Mike White. I thought it was Wilson. I said, Mike Wilson. Thank you. Thank you. The the beach boy, Mike White. I thought it was Wilson. I said Mike Wilson. Thank you. That one of the, uh, the beach boys, Mike Wilson, that's Brian Wilson, Brian. Joe name. Oh, here it comes. Uh, you know, Bobby Brister, Neil O'Donnell. Yeah. Okay. So, uh, anyway, but still like that guy almost beat them that year.

And that was the, and Daniel Jones did most of the damage of his entire career against that defense. My thing always is, this is my saying for the show, always and forever, I love how many people instantly remembered Mike White, is that if JJ McCarthy is not the starter, you're screwed and the Purple Insider show does not talk about screwed. I'm not that concerned about who the backup quarterback is. If it's Minshew, if it's Daniel Jones, you are not competing for a Super Bowl. So I don't really care.

That's my thought on that. But as far as the Rogers, the Tom Toopa is a great answer. Pat White. And they throw Richard Todd out there. You got you got. Yeah. Richard Todd. He had a moment there for them. How about Glenn Foley? Yeah. Boomer, a Siason.

Yeah. Chad Pennington. This is the way you want to end the show. I mean, we just naming Jets quarterback because I think Joe Namath is up there. Yeah. Yeah. Joe Namath was thrown out. You say Glenn Foley. Did you already say I said, Glenn Foley? OK. As as one obviously would anyway. So I get where you're coming from.

And that's always going to be a thing. But I I where you're coming from and that's always gonna be a thing, but I just can't get myself around to devastation if a guy who threw like one touchdown in nine picks or something for the last two years is gonna be not signing for the Vikings. You know, whatever. It's like, this is McCarthy or bust. Well, there's a reason I have all this gray hair

and it's not for not being a worrier. So I have to find something to worry about. That's true. Well, this has been great, man. I really appreciate you taking all the time. Sure. I wish we had a few more moves to break down, but I'm really glad we can have the discussion. Christian Hackenberg, another good answer. That's a great answer. Vinny Testa Verde, 12 and one that one season. How about Rick Meyer? Rick Meyer, did he go to the Jets? So what happened was this is one of my favorite NFL films. Did a thing on this Vinnie.

Oh, oh, we got news. Let's stop talking about this. We got news by Ron Murphy. Byron Murphy signs a three year. What? Sixty six million million dollars three years, 66 million dollars contract, 22 million dollars per year before you have to run and break this down. Can we get a an instant reaction real

quick? Yeah, like like the as we said in the beginning, you have to spend your money on something. This was not a good free agent class. Byron Murphy was as good as any cornerback that was available. And if that's what it took to get him, then I'm not worried about it. They cleared all this cap space for some reason. And this was it, to keep the players you have. As I think Kramer was saying right before I got on, like, spend the money on your own guys.

I mean, we can talk about, I guess guess we can maybe it's not nitpicking but we can claim they overpaid but like they know what they're overpaying for they've had them for two years. Wow that's a lot though that's a lot to beat out Carlton Davis, DJ Reed and like Ziggy like Ziggy will will have to sell a few more. Honestly, I'm looking at it that way. You have to spend your cap money and like I'm not saying you just like if you have a lot you just waste it and we don't know what actually you know the other numbers are going to be in terms of how it affects each of those three years. To me like the one issue would be the three years means we're right back at it and he's going for a fourth contract at age 30 but good for him on that but as far as you know it being

that much money and you know more than all the other guys but I'd rather be on him than than on somebody that is coming in new okay Okay, wow. Well, how about that? Great timing to get a take on Byron Murphy Jr. from you. All right. But I will let you go. Yeah, good timing. And I thank you so much for all the time. No problem.

Really appreciate the great discussion. Yeah. And I will see you very soon. Okay, man. At the Byron Murphy press conference, probably. Yeah, any day now. All right, thanks, Kevin Seifert. Really appreciate you, man.

Yep, we'll see you, yep. Kevin Seifert, ESPN, the best, the best.