Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings offseason predictions!!!!! (Part 1)

Episode Date: January 6, 2026

Matthew Coller gives his 3 levels of Vikings offseason predictions and then Brian Murphy and Manny Hill join to add theirs as well. 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, presented by Fanduil. Matthew Collar here, as always. Coming up at 7.30, Mani Hill and Brian Murphy for our roundtable. And tonight is off-season predictions night. So I've made a bunch of different predictions. I'm going to run through them with you. Want to get your reactions, your predictions, as well. and we will look to the Minnesota Vikings 2026 offseason.

I have to tell you, as I sat in this seat a year ago and the season came to an end, I thought, man, this is going to be one heck of a crazy offseason. And you know what? It was. The Vikings moved on from a 14-win quarterback. They spent $300 million in free agency and all hell broke loose with this roster. and by the end of last year in the off season, I thought, wow, man, that was a lot of emergency podcast. That was a lot of stuff that ended up going down. And then I thought, oh, but man,

they've done so much. There's so many multi-year contracts. They've got their quarterback at J.J. McCarthy. What the heck are we going to be talking about next off season? Well, I think we're in a similar position that maybe there won't be as many free agent signings as there were last year, but there's going to be a lot that is determined. So here's the way that I have broken up the predictions. I want your reactions. I want your predictions in the chat and give me your feeling. Am I right?

You think it's going to be exactly what happens or am I absolutely crazy for including these predictions? But I've broken them up into three different sections. I've got Captain Obvious, spicy, and bold predictions. And there's one quarterback prediction. in each because to tell you the truth, no matter how hard we try to project what the Vikings are going to do, I don't think any of us really knows how bold they are going to be with the quarterback position. So let's fire it up. Let's start out with the Captain obvious

predictions. Okay. So these are the ones that I think are the most likely and they're maybe fairly easy to call. I could get them wrong, but I think they're the easiest calls on the Vikings roster and regarding the Vikings. I've also included one NFL prediction as well. So I'm going to run those down. We'll start off with the captain obvious prediction at quarterback for the Vikings. For me is Mack Jones. I think that's the easiest one to look at and say, all right, the Vikings could get a quarterback who has been a really, really good backup and has won some games and taken a team to the playoffs before in his past. He's a guy that threw for what, 400 yards against the 2,022 Vikings.

I know that everybody did that year, but, you know, right in front of Kevin O'Connell, Mack Jones made a lot of really good plays, really good throws. And the Vikings also, if you think, well, wait a minute, San Francisco couldn't make a trade with the Vikings. I'd like to direct you to the Vikings backfield where a very good running back in Jordan Mason, they made a trade for him just last off season. would it be fairly costly yes but i also don't see especially after brock purdy came back and just lit up everybody except for the seattle seahawks i don't see around the league anybody saying

mac jones he's our guy here's two first round draft picks no i think more likely than not they would be saying okay we'd rather go get our own quarterback we'd rather draft our quarterback and maybe, you know, Mac would be somebody you're trading for in case of emergency. But the Vikings are in a little bit of an emergency that they need someone who can compete, but also that if JJ, you know, excels and improves and grows, then he should be able to beat out Mac Jones for a competition. So he's the perfect bar of someone who has been to the playoffs before. If he had started this whole year for San Francisco, they would be in the playoffs because he played

really well, save their season throughout this year. Also, the pipeline from the Vikings to or from the 49ers to the Vikings includes Sam Darnold, learning that offense, developing more under Kyle Shanahan, and then coming into Kevin O'Connell's offense was a pretty smooth transition overall. So I think that Mack is the captain obvious pick. Maybe you're giving up something like a third round pick, which is not ideal for somebody like Mack Jones. But that's, the position that they're in, it also allows for the opportunity for J.J. McCarthy to still be the guy to still win that job. But if McCarthy gets hurt again in training camp or preseason or struggles and just has not taken a step forward with the mechanics like he

is supposed to do after this offseason, then you could start Mack Jones, give him everything in the world. He's the exact type of guy who's a first round draft pick that's developed over the years and might be able to get you to the playoffs now it feels like midland for sure to get mac jones and if he wins the starting job that's going to seem very bleak it's not exciting but these are not the exciting projections these are the captain obvious projections so mac jones to me is the most obvious pick let me get through some other ones uh t j hawkinson aaron jones and jvon hargrave will not be here i think those are captain obvious type picks. Aaron Jones is a really hard one because he is a great guy in the locker room and still,

I think a very good player. In the second half of the season, when he was a little bit healthier, they ran the football pretty well. But I think if you're trying to make a bet toward next year and looking at some of the cap savings that you get by moving on from Aaron Jones, it feels like a similar situation to where they were with a lot of players, including Delvin Cook, in 2003, where you love Delvin Cook and you think that he's a really good running back, but you also see the writing on the wall. Offseason moves are about predictions into the future and projections, right? And if there was a bit of a slide this year for Aaron Jones and also he was hurt three, four or five different ways this year, the hamstring, the ankles. It's been a long and successful and amazing career for

Aaron Jones, but he has had, I think, too many injuries now to put the type of cap hit that would go into bringing him back, maybe at a reduced price, but for me, it feels like a captain obvious time to move on from a really, really great player over the last couple years. T.J. Hawkinson, they look at the production and is it his fault? I personally don't think so. I think that there was a lot of struggles when he came back from his ACL. And when Carson Wentz got in there, he got the ball regularly to T.J. Hawkinson. And then when you look at, you know, J.J. McCarthy, they just never had a real connection. And, you know, that, that is a tough for Hawkinson because I think he still is a really good player. But again, you go back to that cap hit.

Now, they could just restructure and bring him back or they could move on and save money with him. That seems like a captain obvious one. They also extended Josh Oliver last off season and they've drafted some tight ends and they've developed some tight ends. Just wouldn't be all that surprising if you have Josh Oliver, Ben Yorosik, Ben Sims, Gavin Bartholomew was a draft pick for them, which, again, kind of a small signal that they've been stacking up tight ends behind T.J. Hawkinson for this moment. So that's another one that I think falls into fairly Captain Obvious. Jonathan Grinard and Brian O'Neill will sign extensions and Eric Wilson will resign. I mean, I don't know. You should have Eric Wilson under contract before he leaves the building today.

Eric was such a great fit and that may go into Brian Flores' defense. If you're keeping Brian Flores, then you want Eric Wilson around. They was such a great fit. But even if it's Durante Jones or another defensive mind,

this guy was extremely important to the Vikings this year. Now, some have asked, hey, you know, could they, because Dallas Turner, you know, improved so much, could they trade away Jonathan Grenard? Because that's where Turner

did his best work in that Grenier. Role. For me, the answer is, no, that would be more of a bold prediction than a captain obvious one. I think Renard is just too important and too good. And if you rotate those guys, it's allowed. It's within the rules. And a lot of the teams that we've seen that put together great defensive lines, they often have rotations. But I think what they've learned about Dallas Turner is they thought they were drafting an Andrew Van Ginkle, but it takes like five plus years to become an Andrew Van Ginkle. They drafted a Jonathan Grenard,

and Turner ends up with a very good overall season. Played 700 snaps. That's huge. Pressure the quarterback, got sacks, I think improved significantly in the run game as his season went along. And I've also thought that over the last two years, Dallas Turner has grown up quite a bit

and learned a lot from that first year. Everybody walks in their first year and thinks, I'm the king, here I go. I'm going to take over the NFL. and then they learn is real hard in the NFL. But you can go one or two ways. You know, you can get frustrated or, you know, not want to be coached or not want to be helped.

Or you can listen to Van Ginkle. You can listen to Jonathan Grenard. You can listen to Brian Flores. You can listen to, you know, right to your coaches and to your teammates and develop and get better and better. And Turner, to me, did that in spades this year. But I would still not want to move on from one of the most important captains in a season where,

you are aiming to win. So Jonathan Granard and Brian O'Neill, they both need extensions. That's a way to create a little bit of cap space and also keep two guys around that you definitely want around. And O'Neill had an underrated season this year in terms of his blocking. He was top 20 again by PFF and run and pass blocking.

It's just that it's hard to, you know, take too much notice of things like that when the offense was struggling like it was. But those to me are pretty obvious. I'm going to say captain obvious for a draft pick that the Vikings will aim for a center in the second round. When you look at the free agent centers, woof, there is one guy, Tyler Linderbaum,

who I think is going to make many millions of dollars in free agency and outpriced the Vikings. And the rest are fringe starters or, you know, guys that have not really, I mean, Austin Schloteman is like the fourth best center in free agency. And you guys remember Schloteman, good player, nice backup. up, but he's one of the better options. So I think either internally, you'd be looking at Juergens and Brando battling it out for that spot, but I think you got to get somebody with some high-end capability.

Second round is a good place to do it. That's a Captain Obvious pick. And my last Captain Obvious pick is an NFL prediction, which is that Kevin Stefanski is going to get the job with the New York Giants. That's going to be my NFL prediction. and obvious. I think it's a great fit. If I recall, the Giants wanted to interview Stefanski once upon a time, and I believe Mike Zimmer rejected that, which I don't think you can do anymore, but he did then. He shut it down because DeFansky was under contract, but I think

if it's a potential jump forward, that teams can no longer reject that opportunity for that person. So I believe, if I'm remembering right, the Giants wanted to talk to him, maybe for an O.C. job, and that didn't happen, but I think he's a good fit for that. Jackson Dart, they're building, I think, a pretty good roster that's tanked for a few years, but you get back, Malik Neighbors, you've got some great defensive linemen there. There's been a connection with, you know, Andre Patterson there. I don't know if that would matter or not if he's going to stick around. He often does because he's good at his job, but there's connections there.

I think that Stefansky has a shot at that. It's also probably the best job on, I'm thinking on the market for him right now. Now, maybe I'm wrong, but I think that's the best job. So let's get into some spicy predictions. These ones are a little less likely, but a little more interesting than the captain obvious picks. The spicy quarterback is Gino Smith. So I was just looking this up today from 2022 to 2024 with the Seattle Seahawks and think about the receivers that Gino Smith had, the offense he was playing in, downfield passing.

Gino Smith ranked in the top seven of big time throws every one of those years. And what are big time throws? They're into tight windows. They're down the field. And he was a top seven downfield passer all three of those seasons. So throws over 20 yards by PFF grade in the top seven. Now, this year was an utter disaster for Gino Smith. There's no question about it.

But that's why he is available potentially. they're going to draft Fernando Mendoza. He also provides a bar for J.J. McCarthy to beat out. I think the bar is easier to beat out for a Mac Jones for McCarthy. In the Mac Jones scenario, McCarthy's probably still your guy, but maybe if something goes wrong, you've got Mac Jones there. In this scenario, it's a pretty legit camp battle between those two quarterbacks and whichever guy does better would get the job.

and well, Gino Smith is not exciting. He certainly has the arm talent to be entertaining. And he did win a fair number of games. He went 27 and 22 over those three seasons. Again, does that blow your socks off? Not exactly. But if you remember, when Gino was their quarterback, he was supposed to be a bridge for them to get to the next drafted and developed

quarterback and he actually won too much. They were in the middle of a competitive rebuild, honestly, which when you look at Seattle now, a lot of their draft picks, they did keep a lot of their draft picks, but draft picks, signings, that roster build was happening while Gino was there. Now, that's not to give him more credit than he deserves. He is more close to a 500-type quarterback who will frustrate you with bad sacks.

He took 55 this year. He took 50 the year before. But if you're talking about trying to thrive in a world that is cutting down, downfield passes, and Kevin O'Connell still wants to excel in that area, this is the type of quarterback who can get the football to Justin Jefferson down the field, arm strength, arm talent, anticipation throwing. This guy, if you go back to when he was drafted, I mean, arm of gold coming out of West Virginia, and it took him a long time to get the mental part of the NFL down and then to get

more opportunity. And when he finally did, he performed pretty well. But J.J. McCarthy should also be able to beat him out. I mean, he's 35 years old. He's coming off a pretty bad season with the Raiders, if not a really, really bad season with the Raiders. So you're setting it up to if you can't beat this guy out, then we've got an answer on J.J. McCarthy.

But if McCarthy can't beat him out, then, well, you know, I mean, he's giving you a chance for an exciting season. I don't know if he's giving you a chance for a Super Bowl, but he's giving you a chance for a lot of yards and a lot of offense and exciting games, which we have been without. Other predictions, speaking of the Raiders, I will say Brian Flores ends up as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. There's the Tom Brady connection.

I think he would love to get some Patriot way in that building. And when they announced the firing of Pete Carroll, what did they include that Tom Brady would be heavily involved in the search? And Brady is familiar with the ways of Brian Flores. and I think wants to get the influence of that style of coaching and thinking. And you know that Brady, if you've listened to him, talk, he likes a little more old school approach. And if you're looking for that, that is Brian Flores. It's exactly how Stefan Gilmore, who loves Flores, described it last year.

He says a little more of an old school approach than what you run into in a lot of cities. I mean, he is an aggressive type of coach. And he's really revamped how defense is being. played in the NFL or inspired how defense is played in the NFL, still one of the most creative minds there is. And yes, there is a pending lawsuit, but you're talking about a franchise that has often throughout its history just thrown, you know, whatever, the rules to the wind. And, you know, that's, that's in the Al Davis way. Maybe his son is a little less bold than that way, but I don't know. I mean, he hired, you know, John Gruden, he brought in Pete

Carroll. Now, those are, well, Gordon was a good coach, but, you know, Pete Carroll, that's a silly move. But still, it's bold. They like to do bold things. And hiring Brian Flores would be that. And I will also predict in terms of spiciness that Rahim Morris becomes the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings was with Kevin O'Connell in Los Angeles, won the Super Bowl with him there. Personally, I'd like to see Durante Jones get a chance at it. But Rahim Morris had a good defense this year. They blitzed a lot, I think plays in the style that O'Connell wants to. So there's a slightly spicy prediction there. I'm going to predict slightly spicy that there is one major change on the offensive staff. Now, I don't know what that is, but I'm going to predict

that there's one, that I don't know that you can go through a year like this and rank 25th in offense and then bring back everybody. And I'm going to say that O'Connell is calling in all of his guys from L.A. and Zach Robinson ends up on this staff, the offensive coordinator from Atlanta. In terms of free agency, the Vikings won't have a lot of money to spend, but they'll have some. And if you start going through the salary cap, and I plan later in the off season to do a whole salary cap episodes, since, hey, what else do we got to do? And I think they'll create enough to make a couple of decent signings. The guy that I have my eye on is Safety Aloha Gilman from Baltimore.

He was praised a lot when the Vikings played against him, kind of a deeper safety type of player, but might be reasonably priced. And that's what they're going to need to focus on. And side note, wouldn't be surprised if they have a better offseason going with reasonably priced than going with hugely priced

like they did this last year. The other prediction I've got is Travis ETN to the Minnesota Vikings. That is, I think, a little spicy because the Jaguar should want to keep Travis E.TN. But he is one of the top rated pass blocking running backs. And I think that should be a main focus for Kevin O'Connell is going into free agency and finding a pass blocking running back because that's what he needs. And C.J. Ham is probably retiring. And that idea has its limitations anyway, right?

So he's one of the best graded, and I think that he would make for a good fit with the Vikings offense as part of a potential duo with Jordan Mason. My NFL prediction that's a little spicy is that the Detroit Lions will either get Max Crosby or Trey Hendrickson. How would they find the money? I have no idea. But this is a moment where if you need to find the money, you find the money for Detroit. You know they're going to be really, really desperate to create pass rush as well as fix their offensive line. So I think they're in a spot where they are getting very antsy after losing in the first round, well, in the divisional round of the playoffs, their first playoff game, falling short with their big chance a couple years ago.

And then this year ending up out of the playoffs and the way that Dan Campbell was talking, giving himself an F when he was asked to grade himself for the year. But they're going to be looking around going, we've got one more, maybe two more shots at it, but probably one. if the window hasn't already closed. So that's a slightly spicy prediction there. And now the bold prediction, the bold prediction quarterback would be very obvious. It would be Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow. Obviously, right?

If you have a chance to do it, then just do it. If we are doing an emergency podcast at some point where the Vikings have traded for Lamar Jackson, I don't want to hear, oh, there was an article that said he played video games. If you saw him the other night dropping 50 yard touchdowns against free runners, if you look at his resume, I mean, any chance to get one of those guys would be the second best quarterback in Vikings history instantly, if not the best, if they were able to win the Super Bowl. So, of course, those would be the bold predictions. I would say Jackson is more likely than Burrow, but neither are that likely. And, hey, the Bengals just decided they were going to keep their GM and head coach.

I don't know how Joe Burrow feels about that. So maybe they asked him, maybe they didn't. That's a bad franchise. And with the Ravens, they did not yet fire John Harbaugh. I don't know if they will or not. I mean, your field goal kicker misses and you're out of the playoffs. I mean, it's a tough year. Lamar is banged up for most of the season.

They still made a run at it despite a terrible start to the year. So I don't know where they're going to go if they're going to go full blow it up mode or not. But the thing the Vikings can offer, Cincinnati or Baltimore that other teams can is a quarterback in a trade. But I won't make it even that bold. I will say the bold prediction quarterback is Kyler Murray. And I keep doing more and more research on Kyler Murray

and coming back to, I think he'd win a lot of games as a starter. But the reason it's bold is that means you are done with J.J. McCarthy. You're finished. You're all set. You don't want any more of that experience. That would surprise me. Even though Murray makes the most sense if you're looking for, hey, we need a real quarterback and we need a right now, it still seems like a stretch to draft McCarthy, start him 10 games, 10 games, play him 32 quarters, battle through the injuries, and then just say, all right, we're done with him. Now, it's not unprecedented for that to happen.

That's for sure. When you look at first round quarterbacks, the one that I covered in Buffalo early in my career was E.J. Manuel. And if you look at his career, he didn't get a million starts. I actually, I mean, I actually don't remember how many it was, but it definitely was not like 20. It might have been like 15 starts that E.J. Manuel got. And it was two years and it was filled with some injuries. And that was it. And they just decided, you know, we're going to move on.

They went and got Tyrod Taylor and he started the 2015 season. So these things happened fast. But it would be surprising if they just went and got Kyler Murray and said, all right, JJ, that's our quarterback. That's a bold prediction, but I will make it for the bold prediction section that Kyler Murray is the most likely if they're going to get someone to be the starter.

Like what Indianapolis did last year, they went out looking for, we need a starting quarterback because Anthony Richardson is toast here, and they got Daniel Jones. I think if the Vikings got Daniel Jones, it would also mean that McCarthy was toast. but I think he's going to return to Indianapolis

since they kept their leadership there. All right, a couple more. A bold prediction would be, and I heard Ben Lieber talking about this, or I guess I saw it on the internet. He was asked on K-FAN about the likelihood that Jordan Addison is back. And I expected Lieber to say, I don't know,

85, 95%, and he said 50%. I was like, oh, and my ears perked up a little bit. And my eyebrow raised a little bit, you know. A goal. Leber thinks 50%, and then he floated the idea of trading Addison and signing Jalen Naylor. Now, I don't think that's going to happen. But that's why we're in the bold section here. So if we're making a bold prediction for a big roster move and a trade, it would be that. I mean, they can only trust Jordan Addison so much after his early off field issues, after what happened in London. I think he's a great wide receiver, but he definitely did not have the type of

year. In fact, I think that if you go back and look, you want to talk about, hey, if this happens, if that happens during the playoffs, there's a couple of catches. You feel like if Jordan Addison just makes this year, very straightforward catches, that they end up in the playoffs. He had three times higher of a drop rate this year than he had as a rookie. And that, again, when you talk about raising eyebrows, like what happened? I mean, some of the throws, certainly velocity, was playing a role, but there were touchdowns that were dropped. The one against Chicago, I don't know if it's a touchdown, but it's like a 40-yard game.

It's right there. Surprising miscues, I think, from Jordan Addison this year. Maybe lack of focus, I don't know, when you're dropping some easy balls. But it could make them consider because down the road, he will become very expensive. Again, I don't expect it. But Jalen Naylor was really good this year. He was really, really good.

I still like very much it's going to be Jordan Addison should be a Viking but if somebody comes calling, I remember once upon a time saying there's no way they trade Stefan Diggs. That would be crazy. And then somebody came calling with a first round draft pick and bang, there you go. So I know that I threw out Travis Eton as a veteran running back that if they cut Aaron Jones, but I think the boldest draft pick that the Minnesota Vikings could make outside of quarterback would be running back Jeremiah Love from Notre Dame. I don't love the idea of drafting a running back. Even if the guy becomes Jemir Kibbz, you're still, there's only so much that that guy, that running back can do over another running back if it's a good system. You look at Bejohn Robinson, an amazing year. They missed the playoffs.

Their offense wasn't that good. Jemir Gibbs, last year, he's unbelievable. And this year, he's just pretty good because their offensive line. wasn't the same. But this year, the running game showed signs of life, and you could talk me into, they've got a lot of their stuff on this roster. If you get the cream of the crop running back, and he turns out to be the next Josh Jacobs or Jamir Gibbs or Bijon Robinson, that it will be the inspiration for Kevin O'Connell to lean on the run game, explosive plays from the run game, which they have not had very many over the last, gosh, since Kevin O'Connell.

O'Connell got here and an offensive line that is building to be able to run block with, you know, Will Fries and maybe you're drafting a center or something. I could see it. I could see it because the quarterback position is going to need as much support as it could possibly get. And for maybe half the year, they really didn't have a ton of support in the run game. So I'll throw that out there as a bold prediction. And in the NFL for an NFL bold prediction, I will say the Kansas City chiefs are going

to be incredibly active this offseason. and they will trade for A.J. Brown somehow. Anything that goes under the spicy or bold, if there's cap implications that can't make these things happen, well, the cap is only as real as you need it to be for a short period of time. So I will say that they trade for A.J. Brown in the off season, because that relationship, especially if the Philadelphia Eagles get eliminated in the first round seems destined for a breakup at some point.

So there you go. those are my off-season predictions coming up in a little bit. We're going to have Brian Murphy and Manny Hill. They're going to give theirs as well and react to some of mine. And we'll get to your questions, comments, and thoughts in just a second here. But first, got to tell you two different things. One, there is a Fandual question of the day. I did not forget.

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Because I threw a lot at you. I know I threw a lot at you. Derek says with Flores leaving, got to get Rahim Morris unless Harrison Smith wants to be the DC. I think Harrison Smith will probably, if he retires, take a break from football. But I guess I wouldn't be shocked if he couldn't take. a very long break from it. He is an interesting dude, though, with other interests outside of football

and also has young kids. I don't know if that's kid or kids. I think it's multiple. So, you know, may want to try being a dad for a little bit only, like, you know, stay at home dad for a year or something. But I'm sure that there will be some involvement with Harrison Smith in football. But I wouldn't want that. I wouldn't want him to be the D.C. right after this is actually, you put in more hours as the D.C. than you do as, uh, a player. But as far as Rahim Morris, yeah, I think that that is a little bit on the spicy side because you have Durante Jones. But Kevin O'Connell, if Flores leaves, has the connection and might want somebody proven, somebody who is called defensive plays in a Super Bowl. And actually

that, you know, Super Bowl, they played really well defensively. So he's got to leg up on a lot of other teams that will hire Morris. And somebody absolutely will. Once upon a time, I thought he was going to be the head coach of this football team. BM says my prediction is Brian Flores does not get a head coaching job, but he does leave for another DC. Personally, I think it's Dallas. Man, yeah, Dallas makes a lot of sense. The question for Dallas, though, is how long do you want to wait?

Because these things play out a little bit slowly with the head coaching interviews. I mean, and if Brian Flores has four or five head coaching interviews and then is waiting on answers and we're going all the way through the Super Bowl. Remember how long it took with Kevin O'Connell until we found out that he was the guy. Is Dallas going to get antsy and want to hire someone else or will someone else come on the market that they're surprised by or, you know, maybe it's Rahim Morris that they want to bring in as someone with head coaching experience that they can, you know, have him as their DC. But I do think that that game that he called against Dallas's offense was so special that Jerry Jones,

is going to be calling his agent as soon. Now, not that Jerry would ever tamper, but as soon as he possibly can, we'll be calling his agent to see if Flores is interested. So I don't think that that's a crazy prediction at all. Let's see. Matt says still think it's going to be Wence. I would be very surprised if it's Carson Wence as their backup

because I just think it has to be better than that. And Carson plays in such a way that I don't, If McCarthy got hurt for a long period of time, which after five injuries already is certainly on the table, then you're throwing away a season. It's very clear from Wentz's play that he's a fine two to four game backup, but any more than that, he'll probably get hurt himself. And, I mean, you saw him. He just can't help himself running into linebackers, holds on to the ball too long,

and is very inconsistent with his accuracy. See, I just, he is more of a backup for a team that is, I think, got their starter really locked in. Let's see. Alan says sign Gino and Trey Lance. If J.J. beats out Gino, then trade him. Oh, yeah, and keep Lance as a backup. That's a good idea. I like that overall because that's another point about getting a real quarterback as a backup or as competition for McCarthy is that you can always trade that guy if you want to.

If it's Gino, you can always trade him if J.J. McCarthy is better because there will be a team who gets desperate. There will be a team whose quarterback gets hurt or whose draft pick isn't ready or whatever it may be. We saw Joe Flacco pretty quickly into the season go from the Cleveland Browns to the Cincinnati Bengals. Stuff happens. Every year somebody's losing their quarterback or doesn't have a backup option that would make a trade. So I agree with you there. Mr. T. Green, they have to go with McCarthy for another year. If they don't, the Vikings and fan base don't deserve a franchise QB.

If KOC doesn't continue to meet JJ where he's at, he should be fired. Well, here's the thing, man, is when you perform like this, I know, I know that the thought about Kevin O'Connell is that he wouldn't change the offense for J.J. McCarthy. Here's my question. When did McCarthy play? I mean, he played two games and then he won one of them. and played poorly the second game because I think it's been implied enough times, wasn't fully prepared for that game, then missed five, came back and won the first game. And they limited what he was asked to do in that game against Detroit.

They ran the football a ton. They ran a lot of play actions and stuff, made it simple for him. And then they're playing from behind against Baltimore. You all think that they threw way too much. They play against Chicago where he does some wild stuff throwing down the field and turns the ball over. I mean, that game, I guess you could have run more, but I just don't know when he was, like, what passes, what reps? When was he supposed to get a sample size of what J.J. McCarthy could do and handle for an offense? I mean, maybe it became apparent when they had eight fall starts or something that he was asking too much at the line of scrimmage.

But at the end of the year, you know, hacking the entire offense down to the brass tacks so you can just get through the end of the season and win. a couple games against bad teams is not viable. That was an emergency. That's triage. That's cut off the bleeding to the wound. So the rest of the body survives. I mean, that was not an offense that they were running a complete passing game that can win week in and week out.

So, I mean, look at the game against Green Bay. Like, where was it that they did? You can't cite Baltimore because they were down, you know, two scores. They had to throw. I just, I don't get it. when you miss that much time, when are you supposed to figure out how much he can really handle? But to your point, though, I understand what you're saying is, well, that's their guy.

But when you start to apply this in real life to other examples and other teams, it just doesn't hold up. Oh, well, hey, San Francisco, you drafted Trey Lance. You got to stick with him. Indianapolis, you drafted Anthony Richardson. You got to stick with them. It just, I mean, New England with Mac Jones. You drafted Mack Jones, you got to stick with them.

This doesn't apply that way. Normally what happens in the NFL is you get a couple years, and if it doesn't work out, you look elsewhere for another quarterback who can get you where you're trying to go. And so far through two years, you have 200 and, what did he get to? 243. 243 passes, and they're not great passes. So I just, I don't know, man.

I don't know how you could possibly. And what do you mean? deserve it. Like this stuff happens, dude. Stuff happens to a lot of franchises. There's a reason why only at any point in history, there's three teams, five teams that have truly great quarterbacks that are locked in for the next decade. How many existed 10 years ago? How many existed 20 years ago? It's five or six. It's a handful of teams. And then everybody argues about the guys in the middle, you know, the Eli Manning's or Joe Flacco. That was the Joe Flacko debate. There's 10 guys in the league right now that are the Joe Flacko is elite debate.

That's Jordan Love. That's Justin Herbert. That's Trevor Lawrence. That's, you know, Tua for a little bit there, right? So there's only one Mahomes, one Jackson, one Allen, one borough. So that's four that I think are the generation's best quarterbacks. And then previously it's Rothesberger, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Breeze, you could throw in there as well. And what?

How many more? Four or five? so of course the franchise is deserving of a franchise quarterback but if this one doesn't work out what do you want them to do just ride it all the way to hell and get fired it doesn't make any sense you have to have other potential options that doesn't mean that McCarthy is a bust or that it has to be over but he's got to earn his keep from now on put it that way he has to earn his keep we can't keep just blaming everybody else well it's not it's the offense it's the line it's the whatever, it's the whatever.

At the end of the day, he did not earn his job for next year with his performance this year. That's just the facts as they are. That's just dropbacks, attempts, completions, touchdowns, interceptions, EPA, PFF grade, big time throws, turnover worthy play, pass-er rating, ESPN's QBR, whatever stats you want to use in the accumulation, were about the 30th best quarterback play in the NFL when he was in there. That's not good enough.

So you can't ask O'Connell and the entire franchise to just ride it out with no other options. He has to go into next year and prove it. And especially with some of the other stuff that's happened, not reporting his injuries. And then the taunting penalty is one of those. Just come on, bro. Come on, bro. I mean, who had, maybe a Seifurth that had it, that there's only been 17 quarterback taunting penalties. You know, like, you took yourself out of a potential touchdown to yell in somebody's face.

when you haven't done anything, come on, man, what are we doing here? So I think that that's where we should stand with the quarterback situation. I don't think you should just say, well, you know, if he's not your guy, then everyone has to go with them anyway. I was in that camp a couple weeks ago. If he played all the way through and played well, I thought, well, okay, great, he's your guy, stick with him. And if it doesn't work out, well, then you're talking about a new regime.

but now we just can't ask them to do that. It's just not realistic after two more games where you don't finish it. Matt says the only way JJ isn't on the roster is if we go get Herbert Burrow or Lamar Jackson. Oh, he'll be on the roster. Yeah, I mean, definitely, definitely on the roster for sure. Matt says he thinks Grenard is gone. That would be really surprising to me because I think Grenard took a very big leadership role on this team. And also, when you look at what actually happened,

with him rushing the passer this year. A lot of missed sacks, but also a lot of running quarterbacks that cause missed sacks or scramblers or guys like Justin Herbert who are 6 foot 6. You know, I think that that played a big role in it, but his pressure rate, which carries over year to year has been great.

He has looked like a franchise edge rusher. And at his age, man, those guys, they tend to continue on to 32, 33, 30, 34. You want him here for a long time, even if Dallas Turner is better as a pure pass rusher. But the thing is, Van Ginkle is now into his 30s and had some injuries this year and is under contract for next year, but I believe that's it. So if you end up with Grinard and Turner and Turner is more in a pass rush role, and those are the guys you go forward with, I mean, that's great. That's what you're looking for. So I would not move on from somebody who's that good.

Matt says the only move on from Gernard if he's part of a package to trade for Burrow or Lamar. Yes, I agree with that. Now, that is the exception for sure. In the bold scenario where you trade for Lamar Jackson, if you traded a first round draft pick this year along with J.J. McCarthy and Jonathan Grenard and I don't know, a second for next year for Lamar Jackson, that's something that would be a good fit for them and also is more reasonable than other trade packages because you'd get. them, you know, a young quarterback, a top-notch edge rusher. I still don't think you could give away Lamar Jackson for anything. But if you're doing it, that's possible. Harry wants to sign Linderbaum.

Sure. Yeah, I mean, I wish you could invent all the money in the world because then, you know, you could sign somebody like that. But I think that now the center position is so valuable that a guy like that's going to get $20 million per year, if not more. And I just don't know where that money comes from if you're the Vikings. He would be great to sign. But where does that cash come from?

They've spent so much. They're going to move stuff around. They're going to be able to make some signings, but I don't think they can make them to that level. Case goal says three centers in this draft look good. Yep, I agree. And I think that I just think that if you could get a time, I mean, drafting one in the first one, it was Garrett Bradbury,

because he turned out to be a bottom. third of the league type player that draft pick wasn't that great had he turned out to be the guy he was touted as like the next jason kelsey type would have been worth it i always think that with linebackers and centers if you can be in the top five to seven guys in the league it's worth its weight in gold if you're more like the 15th to 20th center you can survive with it but you can find that guy a little later on uh let's see adrian how do you think the wulfs hearing, uh, stick with JJ over signing franchise, uh, Sam to spend the money elsewhere, only for Quasi to use it on underperforming guys. Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't say, yeah, well, I,

that's, yeah. How do they feel about that? Well, they were in on it. So, you know how Andrew Barry still has his job? Because Jimmy Haslam, I'm talking about Cleveland, because Jimmy Haslam was the one that went out and got Deshawn Watson. The Wilf's are also responsible because they were the ones that signed off on this as well. Now, they trust KOC and they trust Quasi Adafel Mensa to guide them in these decisions. And then they make what decision they think the football men have got the most correct. But also, you know, they missed the common sense element as well that you don't just throw for 4,300 yards and 35 touchdowns and win 14 games. out of thin air, and that getting defensive tackles, well, helpful.

And it's unfortunate that guys like, you know, Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave, who did provide good play for them down the stretch once they got settled into their roles. But they become sort of the guys that we focus on over and over, also spending on Aaron Jones, spending on Will Fries. These are players who are good, but are they worth the price tag? Are they worth getting rid of a quarterback? that made you a Super Bowl contender the previous year,

the answer was blatantly no from the results as Sam Darnold leads the Seattle Seahawks to winning the entire conference. But I think that it's on everybody. You are right, though. Those are the decision makers that are supposed to guide them. And I'm sure as they're watching Sam Darnold and Bo Nicks and Aaron Rogers in the playoffs, it's not just Darnold.

It's multiple quarterbacks. I mean, think about that. The guy they could have drafted and the guy they let go are winning their conference. Yeah, it's not a good look, man. It's not a good look. And that's why in 2026, they are under the white hot light. And look, if you look at what happened in Atlanta with them missing the playoffs

and then they blow out everybody, it's like when we talk about this stuff, there are other teams who are getting results like this and saying, all right, you're out. You know, the Titans for trading AJ Brown a couple years ago, they can their general manager. not saying that's a good team or that Atlanta's a good team, but just to say that that stuff happens and is emblematic of how much pressure everyone deserves to be under. But, I mean, I've tried not to talk about it as much as I want to because I'm focused on the Minnesota Vikings and not the Seattle Seahawks.

But my gosh, you just couldn't have written it down to go any worse for the Vikings. And I'll say it throughout the playoffs. if Sam Darnold goes to the Super Bowl, that's worse than Herschel Walker. It's worse because with the Herschel Walker trade, they had to nail a bunch of draft picks that they got for it. And Herschel wasn't that great, but he was a running back. And we know that those guys aren't that responsible. If you give up a quarterback that goes to the Super Bowl

and your franchise hasn't been there in how many years, and look, this is another thing. I mean, O'Connell went and met with Bo Nix and J.J. McCarthy And picked one over the other, and Bo Nix is winning his conference. That's not a great look either. So, I mean, I agree that you're putting everybody in the spotlight. Now, with the front office, if you're going to do it, then you're going to spend that money and you got to get it right.

And they, I mean, even in the off season, what were the odds of getting all of them right? One of the things that I come back to, though, a little bit is the rest of the roster did its job, though. The defense did its job. So we can say, well, you know, they overspent on this guy. They overspent on that guy. True. They also got some really great production of Isaiah Rogers, top 20 by PFF, Eric Wilson,

so their underrated signings did pretty well. And Hargrave and Allen played a ton of snaps, got over 60 pressures. They performed about to the projections that we had preseason, and so did the defense. And even Will Fries struggled, I think, down the stretch and pass protection, but was a solid guard overpaid, but solid. guard who played all 17 games. It was really the one position that failed them this year. It was, and injuries hurt them early in the season,

but I don't think that those roster moves they made were what failed them. It was that they miscalculated how far along JJ would be. And I think they miscalculated how good Sam Darnold really was. And they overreacted to those last two games, which, you know, maybe a few of you also did as well. Rache says the Raiders seem like the most obvious home for Flores, but I can see them being spooked by the prospect of having another young quarterback. Oh, that's a good point.

That's a good point. So does history favor Flores, though, with the way things have gone with Tua, and I saw today, he said it would be, he said something corny, like it would be rad or fresh or something. I forget what he said. It was some, like, kind of odd sentence about getting a new start somewhere else, which I've not considered him as an option for the Minnesota Vikings at all and would continue not to consider him an option.

But Tua has made himself look pretty rough over the last couple years with a lot of the things that he's said and the way that he's performed. And I think that it's maybe helped Brian Flores' case a little bit. Also the fact that Flores' players here have loved him and people grow, people change. He was in that Belichick cult for quite a while. and then comes to work with KOC, sees the culture here.

You can learn as a human being. And I think Brian Flores is about as smart of a human being as there is when it comes to the NFL. So, I mean, I don't know. Like, I think that that would be in the interview of, hey, what happened with Tua and how's it going to be different with Fernando Mendoza? But I also think Fernando, Fernando Mendoza, if that's their guy, is built differently than Tua was that we have found out. Ron wants Mario da or Malik Willis. I like Malik Willis a lot better than Marioita. Max, if we lose Flores, then the Willis prove further that they are idiots and the Vikings won't win a Super Bowl.

I don't think that they're idiots. If they lose Flores to a head coaching job, then there's nothing anybody can do. He has to take a head coaching job no matter what. If they lose him to Dallas, I think that's an indictment on the quarterback situation more than anything. And maybe it is on the ownership and how much they'd be willing to spend to keep Flores. But it would be he doesn't think that the direction is taking them in a way that's going to put him in the spotlight. If he goes to Dallas, I think it's about the spotlight more than it is about the dollar figure. I imagine he's going to make a good dollar no matter what.

Son of Beaver's spicy Mitch Trubisky. And Flores will not be back in free agent is Khalif Raymond. Blakely for Raymond, they do have their kick returner already, though, in Miles Price. Tribisky, to me, is another kind of project guy, but I think he's really settled into a backup spot. I mean, maybe you could argue that he's a Gino Smith type, and he did lead a team to a division title in 2018. I don't think he's terrible, but when the Steelers gave him another chance at life, it was a, it was pretty rough. I don't, I don't hate it as a reclamation project, but that to me doesn't quite reach the level of if you're super not sure about McCarthy, which I think

we all feel that way. We all feel super not sure, no matter how much, if you're the person that goes into every comment section, it says, JJ's the goat. Even that person knows, you're not sure. You're not sure if he's the goat or even an NFL starter. We just don't know. 240 passes is not going to tell you that. So we don't know where he's going to go with it.

And if you have Tribisky and that's the guy, and he beats out Jay, in a training camp battle. Oh, my gosh. Then you're putting your entire future on Mitch Trubisky. I just, I don't know if you could do that. Let's see. If you were to sign a veteran quarterback, it was darn old or nothing. You're talking about last year.

Yeah, last year, well, look, I mean, Aaron Rogers is in the playoffs, but I still would stay with that it was not the greatest idea to sign Aaron Rogers because you'd rather know what you know about McCarthy, even if it's only 240 passes, then you would be a nine or 10 win team with Aaron Rogers that can't win the Super Bowl. But, you know, that's easy to say in the off season. And then today as I'm sitting home thinking about how the Vikings are not in the playoffs

and how much I love leading up to playoffs with podcasts. I over the years have had different experiences in the playoffs, the Minneapolis Miracle. And then the next week, the game in New Orleans, then the next week, the Giants game, what happened last year. So it's been a cornucopia of experience in the playoffs since I got to Minnesota. But man, the week leading up to a playoff game, there's nothing like it. So I guess with Aaron Rogers, if they had signed him and they were going to the playoffs, maybe I would feel a little bit differently than I did in the off season. But I didn't think he could get them there.

I thought that Rogers was washed, which he kind of is when you watch him play, but there's enough there that he probably would have been into the playoffs. Rach says I would saw off a limb for Burrow or Jackson. Yeah, I mean, look, if there's any chance at that, then you just have to make it happen no matter what it takes. Because unless they're asking for the whole roster, I mean, even if you're talking multiple first round draft picks, watch what that guy did last night.

They should have won the game. The plays that he made while under duress, they do not have the greatest wide receivers. They do not have the greatest offensive line. And he's been banged up. He's playing it, you know, 60% health or something and still is an absolute superstar. So, I mean, isn't Baker's contract up? I don't know what Baker-Mayfield's contract situation is.

I haven't heard him talked about, I don't think so. I haven't heard him talked about at all. But, you know, Steve Belizolo had a good stat today. The Baker Mayfield has basically the same win-loss record in Tampa Bay as he did in Cleveland, which is really crazy. Oh, he's got one more year. Okay, thanks for looking that up. When I go to Overthecap.com while live streaming, my computer melts down. So I try not to look those up on the fly.

Let's see. Simon says McCarthy starts next year. No reason to think COC in the front office will abandon their plan, showed improvement. I mean, he showed a little improvement. but then wasn't that washed away by two injuries in two weeks or the call it the same injury but the inability to finish two games in three weeks and having to miss a game. I mean, I just don't, I don't know how you can just stick with the plan.

The plan never included him getting injured four times this year. The plan included him throwing 600 passes, not 240. That's what changes is. And the plan also was that they could elevate him put them into this offense, put them into this system, and they were not able to do that. So the plan, I mean, this is why plans change is also I would have thought, you would have thought that McCarthy would click with KOC better than I think we've seen. I'm not saying that they don't.

Just that there seems to be a little bit of not on the same page with them throughout the season. Just some of the smaller thing, like taking himself out of the game. or the taunting penalty or the, you know, the celebration going into the end zone or, you know, whatever it might be, getting the offense down, the pre-snap stuff, in and out of the, like his offense, his coaching, McCarthy, it hasn't felt really locked in. And that stood out in O'Connell's answer when he was asked if he was the quarterback for next year and he said something to the effect of like rosters change a lot in a year. That's where he started with.

And then, well, I can't wait to look forward to coaching him next year. I mean, Rex Grossman, Rex is our quarterback way back in 2005 or six or whatever it was, got more endorsement than McCarthy did there. So it seems like there's something that's not quite on the same page. Son of Beaver says, bold is Daniel Jones, bold trade Addison and then all in draft pick Caleb Downs. I mean, I love watching Caleb Downs play. Would not hate that. If you keep Flores, that seems like a perfect pick. Daniel Jones, I wouldn't be shocked either.

he spoke very highly of Kevin O'Connell. The only thing is that their front office is staying in place after they had the meltdown, which makes you wonder, are they just going to resign Daniel Jones? Because, you know, they looked good in signing him. And when they had him playing, they were in a playoff spot. So let's see. B says Vikings fans are delusional with the so-called Super Bowl window that is not present, must be crystal meth that they're smoking.

Yeah, I don't think that it takes crystal meth to see the rest of the roster compare it to the NFC and go, yeah, I could see the, I could see players number, you know, two through 53 competing with just about anybody. They have a better roster than the Packers do. I think they showed they have a better roster than Detroit by beating them two times, even though they didn't get good quarterback performance in either game, or at least not above average, in one game in the next. flat out terrible in another game.

Philadelphia's got their problems offensively. San Francisco's got their problems defensively. I think the Rams and Seahawks are the only two rosters stronger than the Minnesota Vikings. And, you know, Chicago, their defense is a struggle. Their offense is good, but they've had to win all those games at the very last second. I don't know, man. I think that's why they, that people think that is because if you had, if you had the 15th best quarterback, you're easily in the playoffs right now

and thinking you could be dangerous because of your defense. Cause and effect based off last night. When do we start hearing about Rogers again? It's possible. But I think that Rogers is going to go out after this. I mean, you make the playoffs, crazy season, Pittsburgh.

I think that's what's going to happen. KFT says Murray is a playground quarterback, struggles in structure because of his height. I don't disagree with that. But I also think he's a playground quarterback who does it about as well as anybody that's not Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes. I mean, he's put up a lot of passing statistics that are good for somebody who does scramble around a lot.

And interestingly, last year, his snap to release was only like 2.6 seconds. He was getting rid of the ball and scrambled less in 2024 than he did before. I, you know, this, let's see, per, sorry, I'm not sure what your name is, but don't, you know, he's more of a runner than a thrower. I mean, he threw for 3,800 yards last year. So I don't think that's completely true. I think he is a runner, but 3,800 yards passing is a lot. So I don't think that some of the, I think there's some misnomer's a little bit about

Kyler Murray. And then I think that there's also truth to all analysis with them too. All right. So make sure you answer that Fandul question of the day, which is the, the two smallest lines for this upcoming weekend are Bears Packers and Bill's Jaguars. Both are separated by 1.5 points with the Packers and Bill's favored. What's your favorite matchup of the weekend?