Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings make no trades at the deadline (Part 1)

Episode Date: November 5, 2025

Matthew Coller reviews the NFL trade deadline's biggest deals and talks about the outlook for every position now that the Vikings did not make any moves. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar, here. Normally on Tuesdays, we just have Tuesday morning left guard in the evening. We did do that show with Jeremiah Searle's earlier, but it's the trade deadline. And while the Minnesota Vikings did not make a trade, we need to talk about that, what it means for each position, some questions going forward. forward that will have to be answered internally if they come up and then around the league some serious franchise shifting movement in New York, a couple other smaller trades, and some that will impact the Vikings because they're playing those teams. Reminder is always the show presented to you by Fandul. We'll get to the Fandul question of the day in just a moment,

but the number one question here of the day is, are you okay with the fact that the Minnesota Vikings did not make a move at the trade deadline. So I have come up with five takeaways from this trade deadline, both the Vikings and around the league. One that I will just get off the top is, hey, as a fan of tanking, good job, New York Jets. You certainly did it. You certainly went all in on your tank. And that will have some trickle down to the rest of the league, but especially in Indianapolis

and in the AFC. so we'll get to that. But as far as the Vikings not making a move, my first takeaway was, well, they do trust Max Brosmer because they did not go out and try to acquire a different backup quarterback. They also from what Kevin O'Connell said, seemed very happy with John Wolford,

who was a part of the Los Angeles Rams in 2021, when Kevin O'Connell was there. And O'Connell had commented a couple of times that, you know, he just really liked. John Wulford and I think that Sean McVeigh was a huge fan of him too so they feel comfortable with him as as much of a backup quarterback

as anybody else that they could have gotten from a trade now it's not somebody who has a lot of starts in the league he's only started four games in the NFL before and I guess Wolford said to O'Connell like I get to be the old man now in the room but you know I think when it comes to any backup quarterback and we saw this from

whence that you would hope the person, whoever it is, could come in and win one of two or two of four games. We've talked about it through that lens. Is there anybody out there for the Vikings to have traded a veteran backup that we would have said is a lot different than Max Brosmer, who's been learning this offense for as long as he has since day one of rookie minicamp that he knows it inside and out. Is there another quarterback that you could bring in where you would say, oh yeah, this guy is clearly better than Max Brozmer without paying any sort of premium. The only other thought was from some that they could go out and try to look for

somebody else's project quarterback. Could they try to acquire an Anthony Richardson or somebody like that? And, you know, I think the answer was clearly no, but it's also they have their own project quarterbacks to work with here that all lasers need to be set on every single step in practice of J.J. McCarthy. I don't think this is a Daniel Jones type situation where Sam Darnold was already the starting quarterback and had been in the league for a bunch of years, knew what he was doing. So they could bring in a Daniel Jones and it wasn't any type of distraction to the veteran quarterbacks in the room.

Nick Mullins also, you know, it just wasn't going to throw them off in any way, shape, or form. Where with McCarthy, you don't really want to bring some other project in, have it be any kind of distraction. have it take away any resource, any single assistant coach or, you know, quality control or any, and nobody needs to be spending one single second with another quarterback other than J.J. McCarthy and working with Max Brosmer as well. So I understand that. I get where people think like, yeah, it's the quarterback factory. You know, they're bringing in people all the time. But in this case, everything needs to be set with J.J. McCarthy. But all of the. discussion about Brozmer and fans who love the gophers and love Max Brozmer justified, you know,

reporters such as myself and Dane Mizatani and, you know, the other guys, Andrew Kramer, Ben Gessling, everybody who's been reporting like, hey, this team really does like Max Brosmer. Maybe that was questioned a little bit when they didn't put him in instead of Carson Wentz, but I understood Kevin O'Connell's explanation for that, which was he didn't want the young quarterback to be in there against the Los Angeles Rams, certainly not starting, but it does show their belief in Max Brosmer. So that was takeaway number one, because if they had no belief in him and his ability to come in, then he would not be the number two.

They would have gone and acquired somebody else. But this next game and the rest of the way, he is QB2. Number two, takeaway number two from the deadline today is that to me, going after sauce gardener would not have been a good idea based on the price tag the indianapolis colts paid an enormous price for sauce gardener who is a really good player and i think has potential to play even better than he has with the new york jets over the last two years he really exploded on the scene hasn't been quite as elite elite as he was when he first came in of course they had a better defense and uh you know with robert sala and it kind of fell apart a little bit

bit around him. They lost some key players. He's really good. He's young. and if the Vikings were making a massive splash and they got Sauce Gardner, that we would have been sitting here going, whoa, you know, talk about the emergency podcast and the Vikings suddenly all in and everything else. But at that type of price, that's where I don't believe that the Vikings have thrown away their long-term outlook so far with the way that the roster is built. Yes, it is older players, but it's also a lot of players in their prime

who will be here over multiple seasons. You do need those draft picks. You need to hit on those draft picks, as we have talked about at nauseam, but you have actually a full bevy of draft picks for next year for the first time and a long time, it feels like, for this front office, you need to use them.

I mean, you can't go sending two first round draft picks for one cornerback. and putting all the eggs in that basket. And if you're looking around how many other corners were available, we'll talk about that in a second. But if that was the only potentially game changer, did you want the Vikings in on him? Well, look, if the Vikings were, say, they've played eight games,

if they were six and two and they were leading the division and they just beat the Detroit Lions and J.J. McCarthy looked amazing. Then maybe it is the type of move that you make. And I respect that the Indianapolis Colts decided, hey, let's go for it. This might be our one shot. Daniel Jones probably isn't going to be a five-year quarterback for us. And you're not going to have this type of offensive line performance from Jonathan Taylor. A total respect for a team when it says, it's our time.

The AFC is not as strong as people expected. Let's do it. But I don't think that's the position that the Vikings were in to go after Sauce Gardner. So I think they did the right thing by being out on that move considering what the price tag was. Had the price tag been just, you know, a regular old first rounder and still probably not. It's still, I mean, as good as he is and as much of a difference maker as he can be, I just think they're going to have to have those draft picks. And I can already hear the comment section.

I know what you're going to say. But if you're saying, well, the Vikings never hit on their draft picks anyway, Jordan Addison and Donovan Jackson look pretty darn good. And, you know, the story's not written on Dallas Turner. But those first round draft picks are the guys that form the foundation of your team in the future. And the Vikings will need guys who are going to be on cheaper contracts because while they do have the rookie quarterback contract advantage, you also need other dudes too. You can't have every single other position be crazy expensive. and if you were going to trade for Sauce Gardner and not extend him,

then you're going to look really crazy or not franchise tag him. Then it's going to look nuts to have gone all in for eight games of a player. So those types of trades like the Vikings did for Hawkinson in 2022, they almost always go along with a long-term contract extension as well. So that to me was just too rich for my blood, what Indianapolis did, but I do respect it very much. Takeaway number three is that now the trust in the defensive backroom goes to Fabian Morrow and possibly Dwight McLaughern. The way that Fabian Morrow played the other day, I was impressed.

I mean, he didn't get targeted a whole lot. And, you know, over his career, it's not like we're talking about a guy who's never played before in the NFL. He is on the older side at 32 years old. but this is a guy who has 4,500 NFL snaps. Now, you could certainly say, hey, you're talking about a guy who is on the practice squad. So not exactly somebody that you feel like is, and wasn't playing ahead of Jeff Okuda,

who had had his struggles throughout his career. So now you're going to, you know, spin that one toward this being a big deal. And I'm like, no, that's not, that's not true. This team normally plays three safeties. and that number three corner does not have to be on the field a ton maybe occasionally in dime packages you're talking 15 to 20 snaps

if you're ahead in the game and the other team is throwing all the time to try to come out, you know, maybe or come back, maybe you're talking about having him out there for 25 snaps or 24 like he was in this game but at least it's someone who does have a lot of experience in the NFL. He has never been an elite corner he has never been a disaster.

I mean, when you look at Morrow's PFF grades from 21 to 23, 57.7, 56.5, 62.4, all those numbers are okay, like their replacement level type play. Quarterback rating against for his career is a little over 100. It's not somebody who you're asking to be a shutdown corner. And if they do have any injuries, then that position, does become questionable. In his current role with Isaiah Rogers and Byron Murphy,

I think he can be an upgrade on what they were getting from Okuda in that role, in that, hey, come out and play, you know, 12 to 15 snaps on a weekly basis. That's just fine. And then maybe bump Byron Murphy inside or something. But if one of those guys is banged up, then not making a move for an extra corner here will be something that we go back to and talk about and say, oh, man, what happened there? And I remember when Fabian Morel was signed back by the Vikings, and I did kind of, it was like an emergency-ish type of podcast.

Like, hey, they signed a corner was maybe the headline. And every person was like, this is the corner you're talking about. Like, well, now it is relevant that he is here as a veteran player. And they're going to need him to perform because they didn't go out and get somebody else at this. deadline now the question for me of course becomes well who would it have been right because if you're going to say why didn't they go get a corner who else was out there that you should have been looking at instead and there are two players that you could make an argument for michael carter the second who had played really well for a year or two with the new york jets but not so much

recently uh when the jets were really really good defensively carter fit in is kind of a nickel guy. He ends up getting traded to the Philadelphia Eagles. There might be an argument there of a pure nickel guy to make a trade for someone like that. And the other player that maybe I could make a better argument for would be Roger McCreary, who was acquired by the Los Angeles Rams. He was somebody that played a lot for the Tennessee Titans, talented, may have fit into this defense pretty well. The Rams end up getting him. Not today. I think it was maybe a day or two ago or last week that they traded for McCreary, that's one where you could make a pretty good case. And if there are any other even nicks or bruises and you're talking about having to play

guys that you normally would have to call up or who had never played before, I think I'd like to see what Dwight McGleathern looks like out there. They've developed him for two years, but clearly they trust the veteran Morel more. It ends up being a trend. I think on this team, as you see from, whether it's Dallas Turner or other young players through the last couple years, that they do trust the veterans more rather than sort of throwing guys out there. And that might be why just because Maro's been with the defense now for two years. And he's played a lot, a lot of football in the NFL.

And you think, well, at least he's not going to have mental mistakes, even if, you know, the speed, which was one sub four, four might not be the same at age 32 as it was at age, you know, 24 or something for Moro, but when you are at a point with your secondary where you're saying, hey, you're going to have to trust Fabian Morrow, that doesn't maybe give you the most confidence in what they have as a secondary. And the other one that, I mean, if it's a little bit of a reach, but I suppose you could make a case for it, would be Kyle Dugger considering just, you know, his, he kind of fell out of favor with the New England Patriots.

the Vikings would have seen him in joint practices and maybe, you know, there was some conversations there. I don't know about where Dugger was at. The Patriots reporters knew that he wasn't going to be around long term, even back when we were, you know, doing those joint practices. So I guess I'm sure that other teams knew that as well. And if the Vikings had wanted him, they probably could have made a deal for him then. So it's not surprising that they didn't.

But a bit of a dynamic player who is kind of intriguing because of his size can play up in the box. Do they need another box safety? Probably not because you have Josh Mattelis there. He isn't really a deep safety. So would it fit? I'm not so sure. But at the safety position, you have Harrison Smith now playing better and back up to as close to full strength as he's been in all season long. And Josh Mattelis, if Theo Jackson is out, you have to play Mattelis at a regular safety spot. You'd much prefer him to be up in the box. but, you know, at least he's capable of doing that of being a deep safety. It's probably not the most ideal type of thing.

But just in terms of looking at the players who got traded for, it's not like 15 corners got traded and the Vikings were sitting there with their arms folded. It was like three defensive backs that would have been any type of difference makers. So I don't think the market was particularly great on it. I don't know what players or other conversations were considered. But if there was one position, that I would have said, yeah, it's not just about getting the superstar, but it's also about getting someone who could just help you in any way possible to be

depth. That would be the position that I would have made the strongest argument for them to try to go fine. But sometimes when you're saying, well, eight or nine games of whoever, whatever corner coming in versus two guys in Morrow and McLeathern who have been in the system for as long as they have. It's just better to stick with the guys that you have who understand how this works rather than giving away any draft capital, then trying to train somebody. And again, not exactly game changers that got moved at this deadline. So McCreary would have been the

one that I would have been the most in on. I think that he is a starting caliber. Carter hasn't been good in a couple years. Dugger has fallen out of favor with his team. So, you know, not exactly, not exactly a ton of guys on the move there. I mean, overall, really, there wasn't, there was like a little bit of action, and the sauce gardener thing was big, but there wasn't a lot of, like, 50 other trades or something, and the Vikings sat on the sidelines. It was really only a few. Number four takeaway is, I don't think anyone in the division got better on deadline day. The Bears traded for Joe Tryon Shoyinka, who is a former top draft pick was with Tampa Bay, then with the Browns. and he's one of those guys that, you know, we'll play, like, I think we've talked about this with

Laquan Treadwell, where Laquan Treadwell has played for, you know, a hundred different teams because he's a former top draft pick. And Sharyanka, Tryon Shianka, looked pretty good back in 2002. He had 48 quarterback pressures in 2022 and a 67.2 grade. Don't really know what happened there in Tampa Bay that they, that he faded. and just lost, you know, his snap count and lost his production. He went from 48 pressures in year two to 24 by his fourth season. They let him go.

Cleveland picks him up. He's played 31 snaps for Cleveland this year, which again, sort of says a lot about where he's at as a player that looks like he's just going to bounce around the league. I don't know if he's changing the fate of the Chicago Bears, whose defensive line looks really messed up at this point. And the Vikings play them in two weeks, though. So Joe Tryon Shrienko will very likely be in that game. It's maybe an improvement for the Bears.

But as I was typing him into YouTube or whatever, trying to just, you know, look up, all right, what do I need to know about Joe Try on Shriyanka? And it was like, here's the highlights from him this year with Cleveland. And he's just sort of, you know, like, making a tackle or something for the Browns. I mean, he only had four tackles. And I think they got all of those in the highlight reel.

So I'm not sure that's a game changer. I did see some Detroit folks who were not happy with them, not making an acquisition on the interior offensive line. But the list of all the trades, I didn't see Jackson Powers, Johnson, wait, Jackson Powers, Powers, John, is that right? Powers Johnson. Why is my brain freezing?

Yeah, Johnson, okay. Jackson Powers Johnson, he didn't go. So he stays with the Raiders. And if that trade had happened, then maybe it would have been one we'd be talking about a little. I do think with Blake Brandl, you have a player who can handle the position. And some weeks it's going to be shaky.

And other weeks, it's going to be pretty good. And this week against Detroit, it was pretty good. He might have a lot to sort out against the Ravens, but they don't have some of their top players are out for the year. Justin Matabike out for the year. So maybe not as nasty on the interior as they would have been. But I didn't see, as usual, a lot of interior offensive linemen getting traded. So the lions would have been maybe in on that.

The Vikings maybe would have considered a potential long-term option at center if somebody was on the market. I think what happens with teams is if you have somebody you like at all, you're saying, probably not, unless you're really truly tanking. like the New York Jets. And so no interior offensive linemen were moved that I thought could have moved the needle for the Vikings and they did not make any big moves in Detroit either. So they're going to have to paste that together.

And we know the Vikings play them in week 17. It'll be very interesting to see the status of their offensive line because they got really shredded by the Vikings defensive line. And just how that impacts Jared Goff going forward because the Vikings really laid out a blueprint against Detroit and, you know, they didn't really make any changes today that would have helped them at all. Just around the league, the team that got the most better, I think was other than the move for Sauce Gardner for the Colts, I think it was the Philadelphia Eagles, who I would probably

put as the favorites to go to the Super Bowl right now in the NFC, along with the Rams. And then I would have Detroit and Green Bay after them because of some of the favorites. the weaknesses that we've seen. I think the Rams might deserve to be ever so slightly above Philadelphia, but Philly going out and getting Jalen Phillips, getting Michael Carter, helping their secondary a little bit. Phillips is a legitimate pass rusher who has had some very impressive highs so far in his career. And I think that helps them a ton at a position that they were just not very good at at the

edge rusher spot. So Philadelphia makes the big move there, probably the winner. Also, I would give a W to Rashid Shahid going to the Seattle Seahawks. The Vikings are going to play the Seahawks in a couple weeks. And Seattle is well aware that Sam Darnold can throw the ball down the field. I think we all know that. But he's really only had Jackson Smith, the Jigba to lean on and then just sort of a rotating cast of characters. Well, now he's got a legitimate speedster.

And that's a big move for them. And that's a move for them that says that they're really buying what they're seeing. in that team. And Seattle deserves to be right on that second tier, I think, of the Super Bowl NFC conversation where you'd put Philly up there, you'd put the Rams up there. And then it's, I think, a drop off to Detroit and Green Bay after what we've seen recently. And right there in that same section is probably Seattle. And in a few weeks, the Vikings will go play that Seattle team with Rashidh, really, really good speedster. The Dallas Cowboys, you got to give them credit for being crazy. I mean, we are in a world now, and this is, this is what people have to have to

understand. A world now where a lot of the teams are very logical. And this happened in baseball too. The more you got the analytics involved, the more you got a lot more decision makers thinking from logical process and not just banging tables and being emotional and being crazy. And even ownerships have gotten smarter at sort of following the numbers and being a little more pragmatic and a little more thoughtful and a lot less nuts. You know, you go back and maybe even 20 years and owners would do crazy stuff all the time. I mean, you go back 30, 35 years. Some owner, I think it was, what was it? Washington went like X number of years, maybe 10 years where they traded away their first round draft pick every

year for a player or something. I forget the story with that, but owners and teams used to do absolutely wild things that made no sense. whatsoever. And then once social media came around and analytics and had the amount of coverage of analysts from the outside, they all got shamed into doing fairly smart things all the time. Every once in a while, it's like somebody has the wrong punt and you go nuts. The internet loses its mind or, you know, KOC mishandles the clock down at the goal line. Oh my gosh, how in the world could you make that decision? Like go back.

I love watching old games. Go back and watch some games for like 97. These coaches were messing these things up nonstop. And the owners were making crazy trades. And hey, I mean, just to use Washington as an example, when they went and got like Bruce Smith and Big Daddy Wilkinson and Dion Sanders at 40 years old, that's how it used to work. Jerry's a throwback.

Jerry's doing crazy stuff. They just lost and looked terrible against Jacobi. Brissette. Their offense really isn't that good. Their defense is a atrocity. And he's like, let's make a win now trade for getting Quinn and Williams. Beautiful stuff. I think it's great. The analysis world, the talking heads, they're all ripping Jerry apart. No, I'm yelling Jerry. I want to see, I want to see him do stuff that's bananas. So trading Michael Parsons, maybe not a Vikings fan's favorite move, but even doing it and then trading for

Quinn and Williams. It's so wild and makes no sense that you're like, this is great. This is great theater. Enjoy the entertainment. Sometimes take your GM hat off and just enjoy something that's completely ludicrous. So that's what the Cowboys did.

So that was fun. Great moves by the Jets. Great moves. Finally, the Jets said to themselves, live in reality. They failed that group of great players, completely failed them with the quarterback, situations with the Aaron Rogers experiment and they admitted it today and got a lot of draft

capital good for them. And then the small one to watch a deal that could matter to the Vikings this week, Draymont Jones was traded to the Ravens. And Draymont's a good player. He is a good player. He has consistently over 40 pressures. So he is somebody to actually really watch for this week. He's been kind of one of those under the Radar, played for Denver, played for Seattle, guy that never has, like, MVP numbers or Pro Bowl numbers, but he's one of those analytics darlings where you go, oh, you know what? So I'm not surprised the Ravens got him. Like, you know, this guy's actually low-key pretty good.

And, you know, he signed in the offseason with Tennessee. He's got 19 pressures. PFF is credited him with five sacks. Their sack numbers could be a little different sometimes. But, I mean, if you got a guy in the 40 pressure range consistently, that's really good for the interior. He was a guy that I had on every list, free agency for the last couple years for the Vikings. So that's one of the like low key moves that could actually kind of matter. So there you go. There is the five takeaways for the non, nothing happened of the Minnesota

Vikings trade deadline. So let me get you the Fandual question of the day and then we will answer questions. A Fandual question of the day is this, my friends. The Vikings are four and a half point underdogs against the Ravens, and the over under on fan duel is 47.5 points. After last week's defensive performance, how many points do you think the Vikings can hold the Ravens to in a realistic scenario and still win the game? Like how, what is the point number that the Vikings defense has to hold Lamar Jackson under? That is your fan duel question of the day. We'll get to your answers in a bit.

So, all right, let's start back at the top here with the comments. says glad we kept our picks we need to get younger yeah i mean look if they had traded away a seventh round draft pick or something that you would not see me shedding any tears for that i believe they have three and that's before comp picks which we'll get that figured out when we need to with the compick situation but uh they you're right though they do need younger players they do need development projects for the future and really they need high end players first round, second round, third round picks that really hit for them and become starters. And if you were making a big move today, there's really only one or two big moves that

happen. But if you were making a big move today and giving away high draft capital, then it would have been like, wow, okay, they're really, really high on J.J. McCarthy because it's one win. It's an amazing win against Detroit, but you're still 500 team in the best division in football. like you might not make the playoffs, you can't really go all in and then trade for a player that you have to give out another big contract. And if we're getting very deep into front officey stuff, there is some contracts that are going to take jumps in their cap hits.

Derisaw, Jefferson, Grenard has to get paid more. I mean, I know that he needs to finish a sack, but I'm going to, I'm going to make a prediction that Jonathan Grenard gets like seven or eight sacks in the second half of the season, that all these pressures are going to add up and he's going to start finishing the sacks. So he's going to get there with the sacks and he's going to need more money. So, you know, as we look forward, I think that part would have been tough. Where I would have been okay with it is if they had found a cornerback guy that it would have worked for them.

If they had traded a seventh, two-sevenths, I mean, it's really hard to argue with that. If they were to go out and get someone else, they just must have felt like Mora was going to be a better fit, but you're right that they do need to draft more. And I am the person who has said one of the main, main, main reasons that they have not that many draft hits recently is that they traded away so many picks. And you heard me give that stat a bunch last week that the Lions drafted twice as many top 100 players. They need to keep their top 100 picks. No big move today makes sense. I would have been on board with something smaller. Sean says, like no moves, feels like no panic in paradise.

Yeah, I guess, I guess that is, I guess that is true. I don't know if it would have felt panicky to acquire one corner, just to give them a little bit more defensive back help or if they felt that somebody at center could be a difference maker. That's a really hard position to trade for, though. Just when you trade for a center, I mean, you're asking a guy to come in and be the mastermind of the offense. I mean, that's just, that's just crazy. Thank you so much, by the way, to Dillie for the very big super chat.

Thank you. I really appreciate that. The answer to his fan dual question, they, his or her, is no more than 17 points. Well, thank you for the answer and for the super chat. And anybody wants to jump in on that you can, certainly not required, but I really do appreciate it. And I think 21 is probably my mark for that. I don't think, I mean, they just won by giving up 24. So I think they can go over 20, but probably not by much.

But really appreciate the sport. Also, uh, tasty treats also adding to that as well. Aaron says, uh, feel for Brees Hall though. Yeah. Yeah, I don't really understand. Why would you trade everybody else? And then I love the, the last second report that Brees Hall wants to get traded. Like, okay, I didn't have any sources on that, but I could have guessed that.

well that Brees Hall after seeing, you know, Quinn and Williams and Sauce Gardner get traded would probably also want out. Maybe they look at him as someone that they want to keep long term. But if you're selling the house, then sell the house. So I'm a little bit surprised by that. Let's see, Zumer Zuma, Zuma K. K.O. says K. K.O. likes every quarterback. That I know not to be true. I don't think he likes every quarterback. Otherwise, there a few in the draft that they chose not to pick before they eventually landed on J.J. McCarthy, if you recall, the Kenny Pickets, the Will Leavisies of the world, they didn't pick those guys when they were projected as first rounders. It doesn't love everybody, but I'm

sure that in another world, if it was a veteran quarterback starting, they might have traded for somebody who he thought was going to be a project. You know, teams used to do that a lot. Like what they did with Daniel Jones, teams used to trade for us. other teams backups and try to develop them or make them into starters. And it worked sometimes like a Mark Brunel or a Matt Hasselbeck. You just don't see that much anymore. And maybe that's because quarterback development just isn't a thing. Every front office is on win now mode 24-7 all the time.

But in the past, it was a thing where you would let somebody else's backup quarterback develop and then you would acquire them and put them in as your starter. It just doesn't happen much anymore. The other thing is, too, that the preseason used to be real football games. So you could get a good evaluation on those backup quarterbacks. Now, preseason is very hard to get a feeling on what those guys can actually do. But you're right. Like, he loves the quarterback development.

But he's got his project to work with, and that's J.J. McCarthy. Jason says, could see them calling Gilmore or Asante Samuel, not putting Gilmore through a full season might make it possible to not wear him down so fast. I agree with you on both counts. If they were to do either one of those moves, very much thumbs up for either one. Or if there is, you know, you can also sign guys off of practice squads. If there was somebody on another team's practice squad that they've had eyes on or a veteran that they could sign and bring in, then you could see them doing something like that.

But yeah, I mean, I think after losing Jeff Okuda, you do get on the phone with Stefan Gilmore and say, look, come in and play seven games for us and give him a couple of weeks ramp up and that kind of thing if he's been staying in shape and play 20 snaps a game and here's some millions of dollars and we'll just see what happens. I could see that. I could also see the Asante Samuel Jr. thing if they are confident with where he's at. And, you know, I know the snark is there about, hey, they've already signed enough. injured players and so forth. But, you know, he's, I think, going to have a lot of teams calling

just because it's hard to find good cornerbacks. And he was playing pretty well for the Chargers then had the injury. And now if he's cleared to play, is somebody that would be intriguing to pick up. Maybe you're not throwing him in there for 60 snaps right away. But even if it's just this smaller role, or even if you're picking him up with the idea of keeping him through next year and having him in camp next year. And then if he's got to play, then he's got to play kind of thing this year. So, yeah, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised at that either. Michael says still feel like Max Brosber will somehow win is the Super Bowl.

Yeah, I mean, it would be the most Vikings thing ever to have the guy that they didn't draft win the Super Bowl for them. But I think for right now, having him as QB2 is a good spot for Brosmer and all the stuff that you guys saw in the preseason, those who went out to training camp practices, those who, like myself, covered them, reported on them, all those things. I think every, you know, everything that's been said about Brosmer is kind of confirmed here with the fact that they're going to stick with him and they didn't feel like they had to panic and go out and get somebody else.

And he's going to be one snap away from playing. And I think that there is a chance that at some point in his career that he is playing in games for somebody that he is somebody's backup. And if he ended up as somebody's starter, I just wouldn't be super shocked because he's got high IQ, accurate, works as hard as anybody, handles himself as well as anybody. I mean, the fact that it's just really cool about Max Brosmer, like talk about a guy who's very aware and wants to do things the right way, that he went and worked with Drake Lindsay for the gophers after that bad game against Iowa. I mean, I mean, that's a really cool thing to do for Brozmer.

So I think he's really good teammate, all those things. And, well, I would never count anything out after I saw Nick Foles beat the Minnesota Vikings in 2017 when it comes to backup quarterbacks. Every once in a while, it's happened. Jeff Hostetler, so you never know. Eric says, I don't think we could complain about the lack of draft picks, then complain about not making trades. I think this was definitely the year to stand pat and two first round pick corners are for a quarter. corner. Two first round picks for a corner is insane. Yes, I agree when it comes to trading the house for a sauce gardener. If he had gone for a second, then you might say, well, I don't know.

Maybe you could convince me, but they really have put all of their eggs down in the baskets that they've put them in on this roster. And it's going to be that way for better or worse. I mean, going into next year's free agency, I don't expect them to have. one like they did this year where every 30 minutes we're talking about a new big signing. It's not going to be that way because they've really set themselves up for this year and next year with this group largely. And they're going to try to develop players and they have with Jalen Redmond and they're trying to do that with a Theo Jackson who's still a young player and some guys who are getting

out there and getting in the game as guys who aren't veterans. But it's mostly veterans who are in their problems. times, you know, even as, you know, Jonathan Allen is on the older side, but he's not a hundred. He's like 30. So he's going to be here next year. Javon Hargrave will see, but the way he played the other day was really good. So you're not in a position to really start making a trade for someone that you need to pay huge money because that money is a lot of it's spoken for.

The one argument you could make is to say, yes, I don't want to give away a million draft picks. But if you're talking about a sixth rounder for player X that even if they leave and sign in free agency with someone else, you get that back in the form of a comp pick, I mean, you know, maybe you could make that argument. Thank you so much surly Viking for the super chat. Really appreciate that. And thank you for the compliments. Jud will be back. Don't worry. Jud will be back at some point. But we got to always make it special with Judd. It's got to be in big moments. Can't just randomly have Judds O'Gat on. No way. I mean, that's, you don't, you don't roll out your biggest superstars. You know, we know, just at random. You got to bring

them out when it's, when it's good. So, but thank you very much. I really appreciate the support. Oh, let's see. Zoom or K.O. Way too much for sauce. For the Colts, it makes sense as long as he plays well. Yeah, I mean, again, with them, how, How many shots at it do you get? It feels like the argument that I made when they traded for TJ Hawkins. And I remember I was doing a podcast, I think, with Will Raggitz and Andrew Kramer. And we were talking about that trade deadline in 2022. And I think both of them were like a little timid on should they make a big move.

And I remember yelling at both of them. You have no future. So you need to make this move. When you get a chance, that was that group's last chance, 2022. when you get a chance and you don't have Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, clear-cut franchise quarterback. Daniel Jones has done a great job this year. You saw some of the weaknesses last week. He is a good quarterback who can win a playoff game, but the only way they're going to win is if every single thing goes right for them. So you might as well push the

chips in. Plus, they've been a bad team for a while now. Their fans, you know, have a reason to get excited so make that move and you know then sign the guy long term uh i see that is is it is it by definition a good move no it's not it's a crazy price for a player that i've got some questions about whether sauce gardner is you know the the absolute like best of the best because he hasn't really played that way in a while i think he's really really good but is he like the mega star that Patrick Sartan is. I'm not really sure about that. So giving up two firsts is pretty wild for him.

But I do think that if you're the Colts and you've waited a long time for this and Richardson failed and you were playing Jacoby Brissette and the fan base has just been crestfallen since losing Andrew Luck and now you, and you miss the playoffs by one throw from Gardner Minshue that was behind a running back. If you guys remember that, it's been a rough ride for them. Like, hey, go crazy. And also, if you're having one of those running back seasons that Saquan Barclay had last year, we talk about, you know, if you're, if you're random journeyman quarterback is great,

you got to go all in. And we've seen that here before. But also, if you're running back is healthy and he's running for 2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns or something, that might also be a time to go all in, too, if you're having one of those years. So I respect it. I respect they're going for it. Let's see. Michael says if JJ was throwing for 3.50 and four touchdowns go after sauce,

not with a raw quarterback who has a lot of potential. Yeah, yeah, right. I agree. Because even as impressive as McCarthy has been in two out of the three games, the team is at right now a 500 record. And the question yesterday, I actually didn't have an answer to this, but now I do. The question yesterday was about how much your confidence had gone up that they could make the playoff. and the actual numbers that I saw today

were they went from 12% to make the playoffs to 31%. If you are 31% to make the playoffs, even if you're very excited about your young quarterback, that is not a time that you do an all-in, sell the farm, get rid of the first round draft pick. Like, that's just not the time. TKS says this year is J.J. McCarthy developmental year, win or lose, I don't expect us to make the playoffs.

Well, right now, you know, you're not in the playoffs at the moment and still in last place. I do think, though, this team has a good opportunity to get on a run, considering that they have finally gotten healthy. And that's what KOC said too. And when he said this, I felt like, all right, there's not a great chance that they're going to make a move when he said, it feels like we made trades just by getting all these players back healthy. And it does feel that way. It does feel like the roster was enhanced wildly by getting back a Van Ginkle, getting back Christian Darrasaw at 100%.

So, you know, I think that that's how they looked at it. Like, the roster that we built originally was good enough to compete. And I think that they are. But you can't go and get way ahead of yourself and start making bets on a 30% type of thing. A lot of stuff will probably have to go right. And even the way the NFC is, I mean, you might win 10 games and not make it. And that becomes a possibility. So if there was, if you were four and four, but everyone else was a disaster and you

looked at the NFC and said, well, there's nobody we can't be. And McCarthy is a finished product already and that sort of thing. I mean, you know, then maybe you would have done something wild, but that just was not the case here. Let's see. Kapil, maybe. Why no center, the Raiders don't like Jackson Powers Johnson. But I don't think they traded him today.

So they must have gotten offers and a conversation about it. It doesn't seem like they were selling at this point, which I know is goofy, but your coach is 700 years old. So I guess they're going to stay in that race until they're not anymore and just try to keep swinging. But if I were them, I probably would have moved Jackson Powers Johnson. It is very difficult to just plug and play a center. Maybe it would have taken, I don't know, maybe it would have only taken a couple weeks. if they had had someone available.

It's just not a position. I don't know. I can't tell you how many over the years interior linemen, sometimes a guard get traded at this time. The Vikings did trade as or Cleveland at one point, but how many centers have ever been traded at the deadline? I cannot imagine that it's a whole lot. Usually you have to know the insides and out.

And that's where Blake Brandel is good, is that he has been in this offense the entire time. and so he can, you know, go out there and at least identify correctly with the quarterback, where they're shifting the protections, how they're supposed to read the defense. He can help, you know, J.J. McCarthy prepare and communicate and all those things. You go out and get McCarthy a new center. While they might be more talented, do they have the knowledge? Like, if this was, you know, Kirk Cousins, maybe you might be talking about something else.

I think that intellectual part of that position is pretty darn important. So Zuma, K.O. Morrow had a 43540 time. The athleticism for a 31-year-old corner should be good enough. Yeah, I don't think he's a bad athlete. I just, you know, think over the years, he's played a lot on some teams, and he's been okay. He hasn't been phenomenal. Otherwise, he would be on a roster. When you're talking about someone who's on a practice squad, that's a guy who has bounced around and, you know, doesn't have a starting job.

So that's the type of play that you expect is backup level play for Morrow. But I actually feel like you trust him more than Jeff Okuda because Okuda was someone that was always on potential, but not production. And we saw that when he was out there. And now you have a guy who knows the league inside and out and has played for many years. And I think can communicate at a high level if he's got to go out there, was with the defense last year. So there's at least some trust there, not question.

his athleticism. I'm sure he doesn't run a 435 anymore, but he has within the last few years played 800, 900 snaps in a season. So you're talking about a veteran type of player, just not one that you're extremely pumped about having to play a lot. That would have been the case for going out and getting someone else. Let's see. Just your average Vikes fans has no center, no actual backup corner seems like a mistake, especially considering the starter snap counts. And that's where they had to decide, I'm sure, the players that were on the market, because you can only trade for what's there in front of you. And that's why when I look at the players who got traded, I go, but who was it supposed to be, right? Was it supposed to be Michael Carter? They

weren't going to trade Jeyer Alexander here right before the Vikings play against the Ravens. The Ravens were going to trade Jeyer Alexander to the Vikings so he could tell them the defense. Like, not going to do that. So Jaya Alexander got moved. I've got the list. Shefter tweeted out the entire list of players. Let me open it up and just take a look. Is there somebody that I missed?

He tweeted out everybody that got traded. Somebody that I missed at corner. Jir, Duggers a safety. Greg Newsom to Jacksonville. Maybe that was a thing. That might have been, you know, Tyson Campbell to Cleveland. but they were able to trade corner for corner there in that move. Aside from that, though, I mean, there's just really nobody here.

Michael Carter the second is, I think, a reasonable player that you maybe could have made an argument for, but the guy hasn't been good in a couple years. So it's a lot harder to make that case when the guy just hasn't really been that good. Adam says, I don't think you want to trade high draft picks when there's a decent chance. You'll have a top 10 pick 100%. because the scenario that you don't really want to say out loud, but is possible is if McCarthy got hurt and you had to play Brosmer and, you know, I think Brosmer could be good out there. But are you asking him to win at Lambo and, you know, go down the stretch and, you know, get them into the playoffs or something that seems like a tough ask for a rookie quarterback? I mean, that's if that scenario happens or even just if McCarthy doesn't play well or whatever, like that's still on the table.

I think he is going to grind out enough with rushing yards and high-end type of plays for them to be in every one of these games going forward. And I wouldn't be shocked if we're talking in two weeks about more than a coin flip chance of making the playoffs or two or three weeks going to Lambo saying, hey, man, they win this one. And wow, you're like at the top of the division. I wouldn't be shocked. I mean, I think that they can win these next two games. But you don't want to make a bet on that when you know so little about your quarterback.

If this was Aaron Rogers in his prime and the RELAX packers start off slow, all right, make your bets because you know he's going to get him back in the race. We're not there yet with J.J. McCarthy. So yes, I do agree. And then if you were giving up, oh, man, if you were giving up somebody that was a top draft pick, top 15 pick for a first rounder, that would have been a massive, massive error. B.M says why trade to save a season that's maxed out at a wild card loss. Yeah, that's where it's just, you know, only, only rotational players, only backups maybe

would have been on the table, but you have been developing a Dwight McLeatherin for a couple years, and he makes plays in training camp and has been a guy that you're always kind of wondering, why isn't he getting out there? And, you know, it might be just the trust for young players. I think also Flores opened up a little bit of a window into his thought process one day when he was talking about Dallas Turner and he brought up Cam Hayward, not the old corner. Wasn't there a corner named Cam Hayward, but the defensive tackle, who's one of the great players in the league over the last 10 years. And he brought up Cam Hayward and said, hey, you know, those first couple years for him were pretty slow and needed a lot of development. And I think that that's just fundamentally a thing that Brian Flores believes in.

And look, look at Levi Drake Rodriguez. As far as foundational players are going forward, I am very much in on Levi Drake Rodriguez as a guy who was a huge hit from the seventh round. He's out there making plays. He understands the defense. He's got strength. He's creating lanes for those blitzes. He's getting run stops.

He's blocking field goals. Like, this guy's had a really good year. And that's a seventh round draft pick. there that they were able to take. But he played basically none last year. And Jalen Redman played like 200 snaps. Look how good he is. So I think that Flores believes in a slower development path than a lot of us do. Usually we want to see those younger guys getting out there. But that also could play into this as well that maybe they feel like they've developed McLaughlin to the point where he could play and be better than someone that they're spending a draft pick on. So you're right. I mean,

And if you're making a big move to try to save the season, as you said, that's not really something that you want to do. Let's see, Capil says, I think with the current squad, when healthy, the max is a 12-win team at the lowest 7 and 10. If so, if we have a top 10 draft pick, that gives us a chance to fill a critical position of need, 12 would be very aggressive for this team. But I will say, though, had they stayed healthy and had J.J. McCarthy be in there. And maybe this is just me trying to make myself right and trying to like, hey, I was right all along and maybe I'll look stupid in the next couple weeks.

I don't know. But after the Atlanta game, I remember saying, like, I still think this is an 11 win type of football team with J.J. McCarthy. And then we didn't see him again for five weeks and they went two and three. I think that if this team had been healthy from the start and it had been this version of the Vikings that we saw against Detroit, that's, that's, that's, that's proof of concept that they should have been like an 11 win team. I don't think that they can go on a run to the point this year where they end up with, you know, 12 or something or even 11. But I do think that you can go into those final two weeks saying,

hey, man, like this, this is the best you could have done considering playing a backup quarterback and having those injuries and so forth. This is about that I think that's really realistic, especially when you get a win like Detroit, and this could all be wrong in a week. week, but that's how football works. You get a win against Detroit. There is a confidence element to that, I think, where everyone looks around that locker room and goes, oh, yeah, this was who we were supposed to be. And the way that both KOC and Flores coached in that game, oh, yeah, this is the coaches we have, not the guys who just got blown out 37 to 10 and had, you know, Carson

Wentz out there playing at 60% or 50% health and, you know, all that sort of stuff. So, This is the football team that we expected them to be. But if McCarthy sputters and has inconsistencies down the stretch, which is still, you know, on the table, then, yeah, you're right. You are talking about looking for a foundational piece with a high draft pick. We're also talking about, you know, what's going to happen at quarterback. I think for now we'll wait and see. I saw, just to get maybe a little off track, but I saw enough from McCarthy of the right things

of the touch was there sometimes the accuracy was there sometimes the arm strength we knew about he's got a gun and sometimes maybe throws it a little too hard and I think we know

that the athleticism has always been really tremendous and that he's been a runner and so forth and that's a difference making type of thing so there was enough there to think okay you can win some games with this but if they had made some sort of overreactive move based on one win over Detroit.

That would have been kind of crazy. Let's see. Zumer K.O. says Nick Vinette, Fabian Morrow. Let's keep these guys hungry, these hungry vets desperate to stay in the league. That's fair enough. Definitely fair enough. You know, I think that those guys are just pros. And I was interested.

I hope I can get a chance this week to talk to one of those two guys are both, just about their journeys of staying. in the league because it is interesting when you have someone who's been around for 10 years or something and they're still, you know, fighting the good fight that, that, you know, why do you stick around? Why do you keep fighting it out to be on practice squads? I mean, that really takes, Bobby McCain was that way last year, kind of takes a unique type of cat to do that. So, let's see, don't quite agree with this team money. Smith needs someone to hire IQ. than Mattelis to play with him?

No, I think Mattelis's strength is IQ. I think that where Mattelis is not as strong is just pure speed, that, you know, he is a guy that's more of a mix of a linebacker safety. That's who he is by, if you look at his metrics coming out of the draft, things like that, the raw speed. And he did, I think, over the last two years bulk up to play in the box a lot. So if he has to move back to a D.E. safety. Usually what you're looking for with those ballhawks is that quickness, that

acceleration that can close on throws over the middle that can like, you know, track down receivers as they're running deep over the top. That's not as much of Mattelis's strength, I think, as it is to play in the box where he can read and react and be aggressive and violent. So I mean, he's one of the, I think the smarter players that I've been around. I think it's more of a physical thing of him playing as a deep safety, why he's found this better mix with Flores. So that, that's what they like about, you know, Theo Jackson, where he's got quickness and he can accelerate and close. And we just haven't seen him get a lot of opportunities. And, you know, it's been, I think a mixed bag might be even just a little too much credit so far. But he's only

in a first year starting situation as well. I think he's got the right skill set. to be able to play that deep safety. But Mattelis' skill set, I think, is a little bit different from that. Let's see. Surly Viking says you consistently blamed the D and excused the offense for injuries. Those injuries existed on both sides.