Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings offseason primer: Who's going, who's staying?

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

Matthew Coller and Manny Hill talk about players who might end up being gone and a couple free agents who they could decide to keep around. Plus, John Harbaugh gets a job, Sam Darnold gets hurt in practice and... how much trust should Vikings fans have in the brass to make the right decisions? 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 Fandul. Matthew Collar here along with Manny Hill for the next hour-ish. And thoughts, questions, of course, are always open. We got a few things on the slate today. There was no breaking news regarding anything with the Minnesota Vikings. But that doesn't mean we're always not on high alert. So there was no Flores update. There was no Jordan Addison update.

today. And so we can kind of open it up a little bit here, Manny. And what I want to talk about is who's going to be here? Because we have spent so much time discussing J.J. McCarthy, discussing Brian Flores that it feels like we've left a lot of meat on the bone with the rest of the Minnesota Vikings roster. Also, we've got a Sam Darnold injury. We have the first domino to fall in the head coaching cycle. Not that I thought that. Brian Flores had a chance at the Giants because I think they were one of the main teams in his lawsuit, but John Harbaugh lands with the New York Giants, so we will get into that as well. But why don't we just start it out with who's going to be here in 2006?

So I want to go through the main questionable players with you, Manny, and we'll just go one by one and talk about if they're going to be here, 2006. and then the potential ramifications if they are not. Oh, and hi, Manny. Good evening. How are you? I'm good, my friend. How are you?

Yeah, this is going to be a fun conversation tonight, but it's still just when you look at all the playoff matchups for this weekend, it's still just kind of unfortunate because you just feel like the Vikings should be here. We should be talking about how the Vikings are going to do against, I don't know, the Seahawks this weekend or, you know, the Bears or the Rams or the Rams or the Rams. or something like that. But still going to have a fun conversation tonight, I think. We're doing our best, man.

We're doing our best. But you're right. Like, I'll shake it off at some point. Probably conference championship weekend. I'll shake it off and get over the fomo because I've only been working in that weekend one time since I got here. And I did want to share some stories from that because it was the eighth year anniversary this week of the Minneapolis miracle.

and it's always worth going back and revisiting at least a little bit, just, you know, because what else are we doing? So let's start on our list here, which I've put in the middle of the screen of players who we wonder about their future as a Minnesota Viking. And the first one to talk about is T.J. Hawkinson, Manny, the Vikings can restructure T.J. Hawkinson's contract and save about the same amount of money if they released him. So do you think that T.J. Hawkinson will be here in 2006? I think so. It's interesting because when they first made the trade for him and even going into like 2023, you know, it really looked like, oh, wow, this was a great pickup. He's a great weapon on offense.

We were seeing Mick Mullins throw the ball to him a lot. I mean, obviously, Kirk was hitting him a lot before he got hurt. Even Josh Dobbs was finding him in those couple of games. And it really looked like T.J. Hawkinson was going to be kind of a force and a part of this team for a long time. But then, you know, the injury happened. Thanks, Mr. Joseph in Detroit for that. That was awesome. Appreciate it.

But it's really been kind of dicey for T.J. ever since then. And even when he came back, he wasn't quite. the same player. And then this year, you know, they were, it was a tough situation because obviously the quarterback play wasn't, wasn't where it needed to be. And even early on in the season, because of, you know, Christian Darrasaw not, not being ready to play right away. They were kind of having Hawkinson in some situations where he was being relied on to block

a lot more, wasn't being relied on to be the past catching weapon that he has normally been viewed as. And it just felt like a down year. But the tough thing is it was kind of a down year for everybody on offense because of the quarterback play. So I think if there's an anticipation that the quarterback play will be better in 2026, I think T.J. Hawkinson needs to be a big part of that. So I think they're going to keep them around.

Now, who's going to be throwing him the ball? That's going to be, you know, we're going to find that out. But I think, I think TJ deserves another shot. at, you know, a real ideal situation for him to be a more of a past catching weapon in this offense in 2026. This is a really hard one because when you look at that move that they made in 2022, it was a totally understandable move because they were kind of all in on that group, knowing that they were going to have to rebuild a lot of things with the roster after that. So, sure, go all in. And then they decide to sign him to a contract.

extension, which makes him one of the most expensive tight ends in the NFL. And you knew at that moment that the likelihood it was going to be really worth it was fairly low. And then, as you said, through late in 2023, I would have said, nailed it, worth the second round pick, crushed that move. And then the injury happens. And it wasn't the same. He had to come back from the injury. And then Sam Darnold and him never really figured out their chemistry, even though they did connect a few games. He was very good in the game against Chicago that they won. There was a shootout back and forth.

And so it wasn't like he didn't exist. It was just that when you don't get any time to practice with someone in training camp, that it's not going to be the same as if you really build that chemistry. And also, Darnold is not a checkdown guy. Donald is a looking deep over everybody. And then, oh, I guess if I have to, I'll get back to the tight end. So that was part of it. But I think the one thing that went away a little.

bit with Hawkinson was, and it started to come back toward the end of the year, but in 2024 was that downfield element of his game. Yeah. Because he was a guy that could do a lot of the stuff that Colston Loveland is being praised for now, which is, you know, running deep hitch routes, running posts, you know, seam routes and stuff like that. And he caught one against Dallas and there was one against Seattle and, you know, nobody remembers because, but like he, it was a great, it was a great throw by Max Brosburn.

was a great catch by Hawkinson, and then he did it again against Dallas. So it felt like a little bit of that jolt was back into his game at that point. And then at the end of the year, he sits out for injury, which always kind of raises the eyebrow of, all right, are they sitting them out because they think they might have to cut them and they don't want the guaranteed dollars for injury to, you know, be settled there or whatever it might be, right? Teams do that all the time when they bench those guys. So that raised a question for me about whether he would come back.

I thought his actual performance when you go back and look at how he played when Carson Wentz was in, which for all the weapons was kind of the canary in the coal mine for J.J. McCarthy when you're saying like, well, you know, he can't get the ball to Jefferson. Well, Carson Wentz did. Can't get the ball to Addison. Carson once did. Can't get the ball to Hawkinson. He had five catches against Cincinnati, four catches against Pittsburgh. six against Cleveland, including a big one in that game, and then six more against Philadelphia. With J.J. McCarthy in a quarterback, he didn't have a single game where he got to six receptions.

He didn't even have a single, he had, no, he had zero games where he even got to five with McCarthy in, but he had five, four, six, six, and two with, you know, Carson Wentz. So he looked a lot more like himself. But even when Wentz was the quarterback, you look at these yard. totals, 49 yards, 39 yards, 38 yards, 43 yards. Like, these are not yardage totals of an impact tight end. These are things that Josh Oliver could have done. And so I feel like either it's a significant restructure to totally change that contract to the

point where it's much, much lower ranked among tight ends. Or that's it. And you've got a bunch of guys that you've been developing, Ben Urosic, and Gavin Bart, Thalamu was injured this year, but maybe he's a guy who comes back and Ben Sims caught a pass at the end of the year. I know they like him. They might look at it like Josh Oliver can do all the same things as T.J. Hawkinson. I just one of those things, though, that you just don't really know when you have quarterback

play like this, whose fault was it really? But the explosive element of T.J. Hawkinson that was there when they traded for him is not the same as it once was. Yeah, and you wonder, you know, and he's not old, but he's not exactly like young either. You know, he's in his late 20s. He's going to be getting to 30 years old here. I think in 2027, I think is when he turns 30. Although let me, yeah, he'll be 30 in 2027. So he's not, he's not getting younger.

He's at kind of that age where, you know, you would think you'd be seeing him at his best. because typically we see tight ends at that sort of that 26 to 29 year old range is when they're really at their best, unless you're somebody like Travis Kelsey where you're just always good until probably this year. But, you know, I think with the injuries and you mentioned the explosiveness not being there, that is something that kind of makes you wonder. And, you know, it is it is a position that there's not a lot of like great tight ends in the NFL, but it is a position that if you just get a guy in there that can catch the football and he's cheap, that can kind of work for you.

And if you're paying T.J. Hawkinson a lot of money to just catch the football, well, you can get somebody for cheaper to do that. If he's really explosive and able to get down the field like you were talking about, then it seems like more of a more of a time to keep him around and see what happens. But that's the problem, like you said, with the course. quarterback position being what it is, you don't really know what you're going to get out of T.J. Hawkinson. And so that, that makes it a troubling situation. Ben says if T.J. will take a pay cut, then keep him. I think he'll pull a Kyle Rudolph and

Sam worth every penny. I don't really know what's in his head about this, but I think when you produce like, like he did this year, 51 receptions, 8.6 yards per reception. I mean, that's what you would expect from a blocking tight end. He basically was a blocking tight end this year. And that's not something that you pay $21 million on the cap for, or whatever it is, I may have it a dollar or two high or low. But one of the highest cap hits in the NFL for a tight end. There's just no way they go into next year with that. He is the main player that they have to do something different with his contract. It just depends on how different. It's probably in his contract that they can restructure it without asking. That's just moving money around. They

do that all the time to create extra space. But it is a little bit sometimes kicking money down the road. Sometimes it can be in the form of an extension. Sometimes it could be, you know, just a straight up pay cut. Hard to know what they want to do there. I think Hawkinson fits in really well, or at least the version that was here before. And when he makes a catch like he did against Dallas, you kind of go, oh yeah, like that's what he was. I remember him. Yeah, right. Exactly. where did that go? And how much to put on the quarterback is a very difficult thing to really say when, you know, he wasn't, I mean, he was being urged by Kevin O'Connell to check the ball to T.J.

Hockinson and he just wasn't doing it. So that's the other, the other difficult thing. Ben has a pie chart of 60% on T.J. 30% on JJ, 10% on bad O line play. Well, really, you should not necessarily bad O line play, but, one guy specifically being injured, which was Dar esau, then you have to, I think it's probably a little bit more of on Darisaw being out a lot because he had to chip a ton. And you just, you cannot line up. He was a slot tight end.

You can't line up in the slot. You can't go vertical. That's how you end up averaging eight yards per attempt. So that's where I'm very hesitant to say, oh, well, he must have fallen off or he must not be the same guy. He must not be as explosive when your circumstances change so much. much. And Rob points out that, you know, Wents was throwing more passes, but actually part of the equation for him not getting those passes is that O'Connell didn't trust McCarthy to throw 40 passes

in a game unless they had to when they were way down against Baltimore. So that's part of it. That's factored in is that he was trusting Carson Wence to throw more often and he was finding these receivers. I believe, Manny, Carson Wentz had the three highest outputs for Yard. for the 2025 Minnesota Vikings. I mean, that is a crazy stat that Carson Wentz had the three highest outputs for the Vikings. It definitely checks out. But that's part of my point, though, is that, you know, if you have a quarterback who you can trust to throw the football a lot, then Hawkinson's going to get his numbers.

But if you don't, then he's going to turn into a glorified blocker. So what kind of offense are you going to have next year? Are you going to have an offense where it's better to have, you know, two blocking, tight ends in there because you're going to run a lot and run a bunch of play actions with McCarthy or is it better to have a slot tight end who can do a lot of different things? That's why I wouldn't want to move on so quickly because he does have that unique part of his game. All right. So next on our list is Aaron Jones for the are they going to be here as we look forward to the offseason, talk about a few different guys and their futures. What do you

say with Aaron Jones, Manny? I let me first say I have so much tremendous respect for Aaron Jones just like as a human being and certainly as a football player and as a locker room guy, a leader, teammate, all of that stuff. And I don't think he's a bad player. I just think for the current price tag and the age and just the age and just the the nature of the position itself, I just have a hard time seeing him being on the team next year

unless we're talking about a significant, significant pay cut. You have Mason still under contract for next year, who's certainly younger, different kind of back. And I think if you do decide to move on from Aaron Jones, I think you need to go maybe into free agency or into the draft and get another young running back into that room. But I just think with the age, the contract, and just the nature of the position, how that position just ages out. I just have a hard time seeing Aaron Jones on the team next year.

And it's, it kind of sucks because he's such a good dude. I mean, you've been around him. I've never met him or anything like that. But he just seems like a stand-up guy, a professional, does all the right things. But I just think with the circumstances, I just can't see it. You can't say enough good things about Aaron Jones. he became a captain this year and has really embraced the Vikings didn't just come here to be a rent-a-player and, you know, re-signed before even hitting free agency last year.

So clearly wanted to be here, wanted to play for the Vikings, wanted to play for O'Connell, and has been tremendous in the locker room. And I also think, I mean, tough as nails. He's played through injuries, things like that. But there are realities to the National Football League. and when you get to 30, it's all ready. You are way over the hill for a running back. The age of death is 27, 28, usually for those guys.

Six, seven year careers, that's how it goes. And to be 31 and still being effective is great. But in terms of explosiveness, it just wasn't there. And he pulls the hamstring in, what, week two. And then, you know, again, more injuries. there was ankle injuries at the end that he's playing through. So at some point, you know, he looks like a game of operation with all the different things that he's battling through. And that's just not going to get you to an explosive point where you are breaking off big runs.

We saw the explosive Aaron Jones early in 2024 and never saw it again after that. So about the first five, six, seven games, he had that injury against the Jets where he had to go out. And it wasn't ever quite the same after that. And even this year, as soon as you get to week two, or maybe it was even week one, but I think it was week two where he got the injury. No, it might have been week one. Either way, like right off the bat, he's injured and he's out and dealing with injuries the rest of the way.

You just can't put money into that what he costs. But for me, even if he wants to restructure a deal, even if he wants to extend a deal to lower the cap hit, you just, to me, you just can't do it because you don't know how much he's going to be on the field. And also, it's very interesting to look at the Vikings run game this year that for the first time under Kevin O'Connell, they were above average in expected points added. They were above average in yards per carry. And they were above average in success rate.

In fact, they were in the top 10 in success rate. Yay, right? Only in the year they couldn't pass. Could have used that last year. But they were one of the lowest in runs over 15 yards. And that's where. if you have somebody, if better blocking, you know, next year, bringing back a lot of the offensive line. I think they figured some things out with the run scheme, using some bigger

personnel. If you have a young player who's got fresh legs and is explosive, you're probably ripping off, you know, I don't know, 10, 15 more of those runs that you couldn't get out of an older back. So I think that the chances that Aaron Jones is back are low. And it would be a very, very risky move. I thought it was a very risky move to bring him back in the first place. And that was another one of those, hey, if you do the same stuff like over and over that's not efficient, which is sign older players, players with injuries, give guys big contracts with a lot guaranteed. Like there's a chance to get burned and they got burned on this. The next one is complicated, Manny. The next one on my list is Jordan Addison.

do you think that Jordan Addison is going to be here, 2006? Yes, with an asterisk. I think the, I can see a scenario in that he's not back if they decide to trade him and he's involved in a really like large sort of trade, a major significant trade. You know, a Justin Herbert type of trade comes to mind right away.

Like if that's, and not even saying that that's going to happen, but I think it would be something like that where Jordan Addison is included in a deal that goes out. The tough part about it is just, the guy is so immensely talented. You've said it many times.

I agree. He'd be the number one receipts. we're on so many teams in the NFL right now. But the problem, what makes it so complicated, is just can you trust this kid? Can you trust him to just have his head on straight? Can you trust him to focus? Can you trust him to just keep his name out of the news in the off season? I mean, we're two weeks out of the Viking season being over and he's already in the news again.

And it's just, and again, again, again, handling this particular situation. We don't even know if it's really that big of a deal, but it's just, dude, you're in the news again for something not even related to football. And you're so talented and you've got all this ability. That's what makes it really hard to envision him being gone. Is the physical ability.

But just the off-the-field stuff, you have to ask and you have to wonder how much more does Kevin O'Connell inquisied, to want to put up with this stuff. And, you know, going into the 2026, the seed's hot for just about everybody. And if you have a guy on your team that you can't even trust to be available, I mean, we've talked about J.J. McCarthy, just can he stay healthy for a full season? Jordan Addison, can you just, can you stay out of trouble? Can you keep your name out of the news? Can you be available in that way? You've been pretty healthy for your career so far.

But can you stay out of trouble? Can you keep from being suspended? Can you can you keep from being suspended? Can you keep from, you know, just sort of getting yourself in these bad situations because if you're not out there and someone like Jalen Naylor goes, and I know we're going to get to Jailen Nailer in a second, if Jailen Nailer goes off in free agency and sign somewhere else, and then you, Jordan Addison are getting in trouble again, getting yourself suspended again, not being available. Now you're really screwed because now it's like everybody's keying in on Justin Jefferson. of the passing game. And now it's just going to make things so much more complicated. So like they need this kid to have his head on straight. I think they're going to, I think he'll be back.

I really question if they're going to pick up that fifth year option. That's what I'm really wondering. Maybe I think they'll bring him back, but just a caveat of like we're not going to pick up this option. We're going to wait and see how you handle things in 2026. And then we'll figure out what to do after that. I think that's the right answer. When I try to figure out, okay, what would someone else trade for him right now, right after an arrest and right after his third arrest or, well, one was a citation, but after his third off-field incident, plus whatever happened when he was suspended for the first quarter of the game, I mean, no one is coming to you and saying, oh, yeah, here's a first round draft pick for Jordan Addison or here's a second round draft pick.

I would be showing up if I'm Cleveland or something and saying, how about a fourth or how about a fifth for Jordan Addison? And I don't think that that's really worth it in comparison to what he can bring to the table. But at the same time, when I look at his performance this year, we were trying to pick apart, is a quarterback, is it wide receiver? Jordan Addison is the one that is the most it was wide receiver because, I mean, there's several plays by J.J. McCarthy that are legitimately good that he, He just straight up drops. The one against the Giants is an awesome touchdown pass that he drops. There is one against Chicago early in the game, which I know it was a rocket ball, but I mean, you should be able to catch that.

It hit him right in the hands going over the middle. And his drop rate was twice as high as his career, which I think is concerning there, because when you're talking about someone who's had these off field incidents and then also they're not performing at the same level, also they're missing actual games, then how can you count on them? But I agree with your point that you can't, if you're Quasi Adolfo Menz and Kevin O'Connell, lop off a player who's going to get $4 million for next year. That's what his salary cap hit is.

And for next season, just lop off that number two wide receiver who's been really important to the last two years and scored 19 touchdowns in the last two years over trespassing. I mean, I'm not saying that it was just that because like, let's use our brains here. it is a pattern of behavior and you cannot possibly trust this player. But it's sort of two different conversations of like, do you keep him for this year, which is our main discussion versus do you in the future look to probably part ways? And then, you know, ultimately get a comp pick back for him or maybe even if you don't pick up his fifth year option, maybe it gets straightened out after this.

But we've continued to say that after each one. like maybe if it gets worked out after this, maybe it gets worked out after that and whatever the issue is, has not. But still, for this year, I think that they need Jordan Addison as part of this. I would not be offended, though, if they moved on. Because to me, you need as an organization to trust that your players are going to be on the field and not be getting suspended by Roger Goodell. But I also don't want to, and we'll get to this player. Actually, we might as well just get to this player next because they're connected. not the order of my list on the screen,

but the next player, Jalen Naylor. With Jalen Naylor, I think he's a really excellent player who's ascended. I think he is a very, very reliable person with his work ethic and his coachability and all those things, somebody that Keenan McArdle identified and worked with over the years to the point where he's a guy, you watch him on film, and you're like, yeah, he's better than what he's getting. in terms of the target share.

At the same time, he's just not on the same level of talent. This is a later round draft pick versus a first round draft pick, not on the same level of talent as Addison. And you do wonder if he had to be a number two wide receiver, if that looks different than when he's in a role where he's running a lot of clear-out routes and then they throw it to him if he kind of breaks wide open. Yeah, it kind of, it kind of makes me think of back when the Vikings had Randy Moss. And then we saw Nate Burleson kind of emerge as a as a target.

And everybody was like, you know, when the Vikings traded away Randy Moss, I remember, well, you know, Randy's great and we love him. But, you know, hey, Nate Burleson really emerged last year. And, you know, they've got some other guys. And, you know, they can use the first round pick the date that they got for Randy. on another wide receiver end up being Troy Williamson. The rest of history there. But, you know, and then we saw things kind of changed for Nate Burleson once Randy Moss was gone.

And so, you know, Nate was kind of being asked to be the legitimate number one target for Dante Culpepper in 2005. And it just didn't work that way. It just didn't work, work out for him. Now, Jalen Naylor would not be being asked to be the number one target. But to your point, he would be being asked to go into sort of a bigger role. The role he has now, he's really excelled in, certainly in 2025 he did. But you do kind of wonder like, okay, if we give him a bigger role, make him the number two wide receiver because we can't trust Addison or maybe we move on from Jordan Addison and

resign Naylor, how will he really handle that bigger role? I tend to think he'll have the professionalism and put in the work to get himself to be that way, but you still have to actually go out there and perform and deliver. So that might still be up in the air. But if it were up to me, I would keep him. If you can get him on a reasonable deal, you know, I would try to keep him around just because of the professionalism that he has, the work ethic you talked about. Those are the kind of guys you really like to have in your locker room on your team.

So I would try to keep around, but it might be just a situation where he might, somebody else from the outside might just say, hey, let's bring in Jalenaylor and let him be our number two wide receiver and give him a bunch of money that the Vikings just won't be able to give him. I am certain that Jalen Naylor will get attention. And here's how I know. When you look at last offseason, Diami Brown and Tutu Atwell and Josh Palmer all got $10 million per year. Right. So those are three very forgettable number three type wide receivers who I don't think any of them is as good as Jalen Naylor. So that means to me that 12 to 15 is where somebody could come in for a guy. I know he's only got 30 catches and he's more of a downfield type of role player. But I think that there's a lot of respect for him and a lot of belief that he can be more than he has been with the Vikings.

The question there is, so, okay, he's not as good as Jordan Addison. But as you mentioned, the magnetism of Justin Jefferson draws so much attention. Could you have him and another wide receiver and, you know, you're looking to develop Ty Felton, but I don't think that that's something you're really counting on is him becoming, you know, the next number three wide receiver. So you have to go out and get somebody else. That's the trouble with moving on from Addison is then you have to, you're taking a cheap player with some issues and then a semi expensive player and then adding another semi

expensive player in free agency. And now like last year when they went looking for cheap receivers, they landed on Rondale Moore. And I think that Moore would have eventually played and had a role and they wouldn't have had to trade for Adam Thielen or whatever. But that tells you what's available. Adam Thelan and Rondale Moore and just like bottom of the barrel or guys who are older or guys who have bounced around to 14 different teams.

this is why they end up being drafted. So then it would probably put the pressure on you to use a first or second round draft pick on a wide receiver if you moved on from Jordan Addison and lose Jalen Naylor. And it becomes very it becomes very dicey of trying to fill that position in behind Justin Jefferson. I think that they will let Naylor go and that they will stick with Jordan Addison. But I don't think it's off the table that they'll do it the other way and move on from Madison. Because at some point, too, there's people who own the team. And every time someone's dragging your franchise's name through the mud after they've been told repeatedly this is unacceptable behavior,

I mean, if I'm the owners of the Vikings, I might say, I don't care what the dollars and donuts are here. I don't want someone having an arrest record every single offseason. I would rather just keep our player who can manage himself off the field. So, you know, it doesn't, because that's the thing is like financially, salary cap wise, it just doesn't make any sense to move on from Jordan Addison for a fourth round draft pick. But practically speaking, and trust wise, can you actually be on the field? It does.

A couple other guys I got on my list. J. Von Hargrave, I think, is an interesting story with the Vikings, Manny, because early on, that one looked pretty rough. probably looked like one of the worst signings of the entire offseason from anyone. And then it, uh, you know, it turned out okay. I'm going to pull up the, the numbers here. But they ended up as an elite defense. He ends up with 31 quarterback pressures, which is a heck of a lot more than Jerry

Tilleri or Harrison Phillips had. His run defense as the season went along got exposed a lot less once Brian Flores started using those five-man fronts and getting him one-on-ones. And overall, his pass rush grade ends up as a 70, which is a good, a very good pass rush grade. So overall, like for 15 million bucks, was it totally worth it? Not really. But he was very useful on a really good defense. Do they keep him, though, because he is one of those players that moving on from would get them a significant chunk of cap space to use?

What's his cap number for 2026? I knew you were going to ask that. Let me get it on my phone. I've said this before that if I, uh, if I, if I, up over the cap.com on my computer while live streaming, it melts. So give me a second. Well, I, I mean, I, I'm pretty sure nothing, nothing that you say or nothing, whatever it is, I'm probably going to end up kind of leaning one way anyway, but I'm just curious as to what the cap number for 26. Okay. His cap number for 2026 is $21 million and they cannot restructure it.

so there doesn't really seem unless they sign him to another like one year extension to lower that cap it they can i mean you can always do something if they signed him to a like say a one year extension they could lower that cap hit but that they make 10 million dollars if they cut him it just doesn't feel like there's any chance that he's going to stay yeah i i i i just again i you know and he was he was he was good i mean he was certainly second half of the season he was a lot better and i know he was kind of banged up at times, you know, kind of the middle part of the year. But the thing with with him for me is the reason why I have a hard time seeing him back is just the age. You know, and he's, I think for a guy that's, what is he, 32. For 32 at that position, that was pretty good, pretty solid.

But like, you just kind of wonder at what point does that really start to take a dip? and early on in the season, it kind of looked like, oh, maybe that dip is happening right now with him. But, you know, obviously he got better as the season went along. I don't know if you can really,

at that cap number, if you can bank on him being as good as he was in 2025. And I think because you have other guys, because you have, you know, Jonathan Allen and, I mean, Jalen Redmond has really emerged

as a legitimate, you know, threat as a pass rush or just as a good all-the-round football player, defensive linemen. I think because you have those two guys still and you have some other young guys that you can maybe play around with and see, see if you can get, you know, see how they can handle a bigger role, Levi-Drake, Rodriguez, something like that, if they can maybe get an opportunity to have a bigger role. I think with that cap number and the age, I have a hard time season seeing Javon Hargrave back. And it's not because of performance. I think it's just

economics and age at this point. And if you change defensive coordinators, are they going to have him in a role that worked, which took a little while to figure out? And we saw for a bit there that his playing time dropped and that's where it looked like semi-disaster. And then they kind of figured things out. Coming out of the buy, especially that Lions game, that's where they started getting those five-man fronts, getting one-on-ones, and he was winning those and then performed at a pretty high level.

Maybe if they had started the season off with that, I mean, that's a process of learning what a player can do that even Brian Flores, he is humans. So it took a little bit of time in order to figure that out. It would really have to be the only way that they could do it is it would just have to be a one year extension. They've done this before. They've done this with, you know, Everson Griffin, Linvald Joseph, guys like that in the past where they got to a point where the cap number was high.

You couldn't restructure it anymore. So you add another year onto that contract if they really wanted to. But I don't see with the emergence of Jalen Redmond why they would really want to do that. So I think that Jvon Hargrave probably is gone and they'll make $10 million in doing so. Joseph says Seth Walder was right. So going way back to training camp or the offseason. no, I guess it was before camp. Seth Walder of ESPN did an article grading the Vikings offseason moves.

And he gave a lot of them terrible grades like Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave. And there's two ways to look at it. So when I broke those down, what I said is like there's a high and low end of these moves. I mean, the low end is clearly these guys are coming off injuries that it could go bust. But you also, when you're in a position with a rookie quarterback contract, you spend more than you, should to get those players because we're not doing the same evaluation as if you have no money and you're paying Kirk Cousins, whatever percentage of your cap, 20% of your cap. It's a different math for me. And when you look at the bigger picture of the Vikings defense, it worked. Like these,

these, you know, Alan and Hargrave, these were not megastar performances. They were not Pro Bowl performances. And they did not earn per dollar what they were worth. But at the end of the day, if I told you in the off season, you know what, you know, Murphy's not going to play as well as usual, and you're probably not going to get as much out of Hargrave and Allen, but they're going to combine for like 65 pressures, and you're going to finish with a top five defense across the board by pretty much every metric, you'd be like, okay, spend the money.

Go do it. I don't care. And that's where everything just looks different if you have a quarterback that's the 14th best quarterback in the league. Because if they did and they were in the playoffs, and Javon Hargrave made one pressure that mattered in the playoffs against the bears or something, we'd be saying, nobody would care.

Great signing. Right. Everyone's a genius. So you have to try to isolate these things for, we knew that it was unlikely to result in, like, he's going to be worth this much. But it was supposed to go different on the other side of the football. The last one is Eric Wilson. This one is hard too because Eric Wilson truly a product of Brian,

Flores. Like if you, and I get, you know, phone calls from other cities where they're talking about Flores as an option, things like that. Wilson is one of those that I can go back to time and time again. He was never really an outside linebacker. He was mostly a special teamer who played, you know, a good amount of snaps with the Packers out of injury. And then he's an animal here. I mean, this guy is in his early 30s and then emerging as this force on the Vikings deep. in the second half of the season. This is a tough one because if Flores goes, I don't know that there's another defensive coordinator

who's going to use Eric Wilson the same way. If Flores stays, you got to keep him, man. This dude is an impact player. But how much do you pay him based on one year when most of his career is as a special teamer? It's especially impactful when you think about the struggles that Ivan Pace Jr. started to have. Yep.

You know, and when you sort of implement Eric Wilson into that spot and, you know, when Blake Cashman missed some time and how Eric Wilson was able to fill that role adequately, and then when Cashman came back, you kind of moved Eric Wilson over. And then he just became a pass rusher, just do it all type of linebacker, pass rush, or everything for this defense. Yeah, it just felt like a perfect fit for what Bronch. Flores wanted to do. And if you lose Brian Flores, then I think it probably makes the decision a little bit easier to maybe just move on and let him go because the next guy might not even

use him the same way that Brian Flores did. And if you've given him a lot of money and then you have another defensive coordinator with a little bit of a different scheme and Eric Wilson's not being used the same way, thus he's not performing the same way. Now you're looking at, well, why did you bring this guy back and pay him this kind of money. I think it's a hard one. It's, I think it just depends on if Brian Flores is back or not. If Flores is back, I'm with you. I'm like, bring him back.

It makes all the sense in the world. Bring it back on a decent price. And you can kind of continue and pick up where you left off in 2025. And, you know, he's a little on the older side of 31. But, you know, I think he's a guy that can kind of age gracefully with the position. with what he does and can still be effective as he's, you know, turns 32, 33 years old. But yeah, it's just going to depend on Brian Flores. And, you know, with everything we're finding out with Flores getting all these interviews

with other teams, it's, I'm starting to feel less and less likely that Flores is going to be back. But we'll see. If Flores is back, keep Eric Wilson. If he's not, you probably have to let him walk. All right. If anybody else says nominations for are they going to be here? that we didn't think of.

Those to me were the main names, and we weren't doing defensive coordinators because we've been through, is he going to be here quite a bit? But your point, just to add on to that about Eric Wilson, he doesn't have a bad injury history, and he is, I would say,

in tip-top shape from meeting Eric Wilson. He is one of the most jacked people that you're ever going to come across. So I don't think that there's signs of regression or what I, It's really just, can he continue to have the type of dynamic role that he had? And that's one of the challenges if Flores leaves in general is, does somebody else come in here and know how to use Andrew Van Ginkle? Does somebody else come in here and know how to use Josh Mattelis?

Does somebody else come in here and know how to use an Eric Wilson? Well, those other guys are going to be here. But with Eric Wilson, him being a free agent, puts them at a bit of a crossroads to where they have to figure out what is, you know, going to happen. with him and how he's going to fit with whatever the future of the defense is going to look like. Let me answer just a few other comments here. Ashley says, what a joke to keep Addison on the team, three arrests and oversees AWOL. Another F up is bound to happen whatever team he's on. So I don't think that anyone would disagree with you on that.

It's just that there are economics to this game. and it is for sure a risk every day you have him on the team, that he can embarrass your franchise, that he can end up with a suspension, whatever else it might be. But also there's a salary cap and there's talent and there's options for that wide receiver position that are limited, and all of these things matter.

And there's a coaching staff in a front office. This is not their first day on the job where they're taking over a new job and somebody else's first round draft pick gets in trouble and they say, you know what, I'm putting down the hammer and I'm going to make a point. This is a situation where they drafted him. They have apologized for him and given him

all the second chances in the world and maybe not put their foot down in the way that other teams may have with him and tried to get through to him. And also they have salary cap issues and he's very cheap for next year. So, like, those things have to go into a discussion about Jordan Addison. Again, when we're not talking about something he was arrested for, that is, he wasn't behind the wheel again.

And it wasn't, I mean, of all crimes, trespassing at a casino is not one of the higher ones on the list that, you know, puts you in jail for 10 years or something. It's the totality. We have to pay attention to that too. It's the totality of the last three years of this stuff, where it's just every offseason, it seems like it's something. And I'll even say this, if you could guarantee me that Jalen Naylor was on this team next year at a really cheap price at like, let's say he had another year on his rookie deal and was really cheap. And you knew he was going to be back and you wanted to move on from Jordan Addison,

I would say go right ahead. but it's it's tough because you might not have nailer back, you might lose into a free agency, and after that, if you decide to move on from Addison, now you're really going to have to probably use a first round pick on a wide receiver, or you're going to have to dip into free agency

to get another wide receiver. And if you're going to have to dip into free agency, you might as well have tried to bring Jalen Naylor back and paid him. So it's just, it's a tough situation and it's not ideal, but this is kind of where they're at. Right. If it was as simple as do we trust the guy,

should we replace him, then yeah, but there's a lot of other factors that go into that. But I do think the biggest thing is, for me, this has reached the point of two different things. Number one,

the fifth year option and the extension, I just don't know how you can do it. The other one is, although I would have to look into the fifth year options, if someone knows this, can you give someone the 50 year option, option, then cut them if you want to, I think you might be able to or maybe not. That's, that's a question that I would have this. Does it be, I thought it became fully guaranteed,

didn't it? I know that you can't move it around cap wise. Yeah, that it's, it is fully guaranteed once you do it. But can you, like, does it settle in the day that you agree to it? I think it probably does. Just something that popped into my head. But like, I, I think you're right. I, I think there's no getting out of it once you decide to do it, which to me is then you can't do it. And when it comes to giving him $100 million, absolutely not. So that I think also it reaches the point where I say you're not number 18 and they can go forward without you. It's not like you can't win without this guy.

A couple of other comments here, Norse forces flow ain't leaving. This is family and he built something special in Minnesota. Look, if it was so special to him, he'd have. an extension done already. It's not this. I hope you're right, man. You might, you might be right, but if it was that special, you would have signed an extension in training camp. They've been working on this. They've been trying for this. O'Connell says they're being very aggressive. He didn't just say aggressive. He said very aggressive. He wanted to look around. So whether it's family or not, I mean, he's investigating all of his options. And there is a decent chance that he's not here.

cause and effect says what about the coaching staff other than B-Flow who going to be here? Oh, that's a good nomination. I always struggle with the assistant coaches because none of us know a lot about the assistant coaches. The only ones that I could say I feel really, really solid on is Durante Jones because I know how Harrison Smith feels about him because I've talked to Harrison about it. And he was one of the reasons Harrison came back. So, okay, we speak pretty highly of Durante Jones here, plus they've done so well on that side of the football. And then Keena McCardo, where the track record, when Kevin O'Connell gets hired, Justin Jefferson calls him up and says, please keep Keena McArdle.

And then we see Osborne, the best version of himself, Naler developed, Addison developed, Jefferson continue to play at the high level. Like, there's, okay, I'm very solid on those. Offensive line coach, I feel okay about. I think it was an incredible challenge this year. Hey, any offensive line coach, you're going to look good after they take away your left tackle for most of the games? Probably not. So that's one.

And where Blake Brando is playing three different positions. Oh, your amazing center only plays 300 snaps, but you're supposed to have a pristine offensive line. Ah, that one's a hard one. Quarterback coach, offensive coordinator. I mean, West Phillips has really been at the hip with, connected at the hip with Kevin O'Connell. they have been very reluctant to make big changes. Even when they changed quarterback coaches to get Josh McCown here, Chris O'Hara stayed on the staff.

He just changed roles so they could have a former quarterback working with J.J. McCarthy. So it doesn't feel like a thing that he wants to do is to make massive changes unless it's like an Ed Donatel situation. But even then when Flores came in, he didn't, I don't, let's see, they got Marcus Dixon, but I don't think they changed everything out. when he came in. So it's not something that they have really wanted to do. Yeah. I mean, it's it's one of those things where, you know, and I think a lot of times, fans, observers, they kind of look at if something is a little off at a specific position group, then the first thing to do is to just fire the coach and get the coach out of here.

I don't really subscribe to that theory a lot. I think a lot of times, yeah, we've seen cases where changing a coordinator, changing a position coach ends up being the right thing to do, the most obvious one being moving on from Ed Donatel and bringing in Brian Flores. Absolutely A plus had to happen, worked out perfectly, that sort of decision. but a lot of times you just have to look at circumstances and guys get injured. You mentioned offensive line coach Cooper. I mean, how is anybody supposed to manage if you've got one of the best left tackles in football?

And he's coming off a really significant injury. And he's just not really himself the entire year. He's in and out of the lineup. Doesn't really look like himself. And that, you know, I would rather bring that coach back with Christian Deroson. back at what we presume is going to be the Christian Derasov old in 2026 because he's got he's got to be more removed from that injury presumably healthier. I would rather, you know, take my chances and see how that plays out before just immediately saying, oh, let's get rid of the offensive line coach because this A, B, and C and D happened and I'm just not happy with it. You know, I think making a rastisism like that can really, I think, add a lot of instability in your coaching staff.

And that's never good. That's never a recipe for success either. And one thing that I try to do is stay within the realm of things that I am confident that I know. And I don't know what the offensive linemen know. The person who can tell you if Chris Cooper is a good offensive line coach is Brian O'Neill. and he can communicate that to Kevin O'Connell as a captain of the offensive line or Ryan Kelly or Christian Derrissau or Will Fries or like these guys, Donovan Jackson has no idea because he just got here. But these guys who have been around in the NFL, they're the ones that would be able to tell better. And if they feel like a change is needed there, then you should make a change. You have to listen to your offensive linemen.

They truly are the only people on earth who understand what goes on in those. trenches, what goes on in those meetings. I have always heard very positive things from the offensive linemen. And if you compare their PFF rankings before he got here and after he got here, and I know that there's, you know, hey, Ed Ingram has been a good run blocker in Houston, wasn't as great here. And Ezra Cleveland has performed pretty well as a left guard. So, you know, I get that. I think a lot of that is also your system of a lot of deep dropbacks, a lot of deep downfield passing makes offensive linemen's numbers look worse. Like they give up more pressures and get beat more often when they are trying to hang

on for longer. But I've always heard that he's got, you know, those guys support in that room. But at the same time, just with everything, when you have a season where you rank, what do they finish 26th in points, keeping everybody around is very unusual if you rank 26. In fact, this, it's all, we already have enough evidence to know that they're looking elsewhere, quarterbacks and stuff. But if they move no one, if not a single person moves from their job, then you know exactly whose fault they think it was.

Yeah. If they don't move, they don't sign anybody else around. If they're like, no, we think everyone else was fine. You're like, okay. I got it then. I got it then. Let's see. I did have another game, but I think we should play it for a next Thursday.

day instead. I do wonder, though, about as we talk to fans every day, about their trust in this team to get it right. And that's something that I want to really dive into, though. I don't want to do that fast because I think we need, we need some time to flesh that out of the trust of a regime. And the arcs of regimes are really interesting, Manny, where, you know, they get there and it's like, they're doing everything better than the last guy.

and the first impression is 13 wins and oh, it was all Zimmer's fault and everything else. And then what happens is they become human and then pressure mounts. And then, you know, I was just reading an interaction between a Giants podcaster and some other writers today. Or maybe it was Marcus Whitman who does a great, that franchise guy, YouTube channel. And they were kind of going back and forth about the Giants, about why Giants fans are just so salty and cynical. Like, well, they should be. They haven't been good in quite some time or competent in some time. And, you know, even with that, like Brian Dable gets there and it goes well.

But then things, right, things don't work out. And then, you know, you're just looking. This is, this is to me the conversation about the offensive line coach or the quarterback coach is, who else can I be angry at? Tell me I could be angry at somebody else because I'm really just angry at everybody. And then it's, well, they can't draft and their system is wrong. And everything. And you would think the Vikings went one and fern.

which look, it was that, it felt like that this season. When you get to four and eight, they did finish nine and eight. And in no way is that okay compared to the expectations. But sometimes it, to me, drifts into everyone's gotten bored now with this and just want something else. But are these really the right decisions about how to approach even just your viewpoints on the general manager, your viewpoints on that? head coach and so forth.

Like, is this the right way to look at it or are you just pissed off and you want somebody to be held accountable? So, but that's always something where we're really, you know, dancing and weaving between. But I want to get to the playoff games here, Manny. Cannot wait for these games. But a surprise today, Sam Darnold added to the injury report with an oblique and now is questionable against the 49ers. Didn't see that coming.

But also Darnold said that it was really precautionary and there's no chance that he's not playing in this football game. Drew Locke is not going against the San Francisco 49ers. But remember when Tom Brady right before the Super Bowl hit his hand on somebody's helmet and ripped his hand apart? And it was like, wait, is Tom Brady going to miss the Super Bowl? Because he hit his hand on someone's helmet in the, you know, right before the Super Bowl. Like, wouldn't that be absolutely insane? So now I guess it adds intrigue. it has not changed anything with the Fanduil line.

It is still seven point favorite Seattle Seahawks. They don't seem concerned the gambling universe that Sam Darnold has an oblique injury. So I want to go through. Let's start with that one. Let's go through our singular favorite things about each matchup. So just pick one, Manny, because we could be, we could be picking, you know, probably five, six, seven things about each matchup when we dive deep into them. But what is your favorite thing about 49ers and Seahawks? My favorite thing is honestly, and this is going to sound like a bit of a cop out,

but it's just the fact that it's the Niners and the Seahawks in the postseason. That to me in itself is just enough for this matchup. And, you know, the Niners are banged up and everything. And I get that. And they've been able to sort of overcome some things, overcame the injuries and losing George Kittle in Philadelphia last week. But I tend to think that that George Kittle loss is going to be a little more devastating for them going into this matchup than it hurt them in Philadelphia. But it's just the fact that it's the Niners and the Seahawks.

I tend to think the Niners are going to have their fan base kind of travels fairly well. When they go down and play the Rams, they bring a good contingency of fans down there. They kind of do the same in Seattle too. So I think it's just going to be a lot of fun and that it's division rivals. their rivals. I'm just looking forward to the game as a whole. It's going to be so much fun. The atmosphere is going to be great.

For me, it is the coaching because these are two of the best coaches in the NFL. Mike McDonald's. I think that is probably getting the least PR for coach of the year of anybody that has ever won his conference. And not that Kyle Shanahan doesn't deserve it as well. Both of these guys put together great coach of the year resumes. Shanahan, we know his history. We saw what they did against Philadelphia.

how they made up for the loss of George Kittle on the fly using a fullback, Kyle Eusecheck. And in this game, Brock Purdy's over under is 227.5 yards. I don't think they're going to be able to run. So the coaching matchup of how do they cover, how do they get people open, do they pressure, do they rush for? What kind of coverages do they use just so, so interesting between two of the best? And then now with Darnold being banged up, like, do you become a little? little, they were very conservative in that game that they won 13 to 3 at the end of the season, but I doubt they're giving up three points again against the 49ers of the playoffs.

So how do you balance a, your quarterback is banged up and you want to run first, but he's also going to have to hit some explosive plays in order to win. So how much do they lean on Darnold? How much do they ease back on Darnold is another story there? Bills and Broncos, what is your favorite part of this matchup? The Broncos are now favored, man. which is really interesting. This line has moved from the bills being favored to now the Broncos being favored by one and a half points at Always in Forever Mile High Stadium.

This is my favorite game of the weekend. Cannot wait for it. The thing I'm looking forward to the most in this game is just to see if Josh Allen can do this again, where you can just put the team on his back and just drag them, will them, carry them, whatever, however you want to word it to victory. like he did in Jacksonville last week. It's going to be a taller order just because of the environment. It's going to be tougher. That fan base in Denver is a little more rabbit.

No disrespect to the folks in Jacksonville. But there was a pretty good contingency of Bill's fans. Bill's Mafia, they like to travel, especially down to Jacksonville, as we've seen in the past. So it was a little bit of an easier environment. This is going to be, I think, a little bit of a better defense, It's a tougher matchup, a tougher environment to play in. If there's anybody in the league that can pull it off again, it's Josh Allen. And I'm just fascinated to see if it actually happens.

So the most impressive run that we've ever seen, I think, for a quarterback that had to go on the road and win in the playoffs was Eli Manning. And he actually did it twice. But when he had to go, was it, was it Dallas Green Bay, San Francisco? San Francisco, I think, was one of the years, something like... One year, one year they, I think it was the second time they won the division. The first time, I think they did, it was all road games. Because it was like the first game was like in Tampa. And then they went to Dallas and then won that cold game in Green Bay.

Okay. That's the time, the second time, I think was like a home game against Atlanta at first. Okay. So the first one where they had to go on the road three times. That was Tampa, Dallas, then, Green Bay to get to the Super Bowl. That's what Josh is going to have to do here. And unlike Eli, who had a lot of support, I don't know that he's got a lot of support. They can't really stop the run.

Their coverage unit is pretty good. But Trevor Lawrence, I thought, made them look better than they were. And Jacksonville doesn't have great wide receivers. They have okay wide receivers. You know, Denver doesn't have great quarterback or great wide receivers either. But they have a great offensive line that could just absolutely plow. the Buffalo Bills for an entire game. And then they lost two wide receivers to ACL tears in the same game against Jacksonville.

So now you're down to asking Keon Coleman to do stuff. And that's a pretty big ask. So it's basically throw to James Cook, throw to Dalton Kincaid, throw the Khalil Shakir and then run for your life, Josh Allen, against a defense that features the quickest or the guy who had the most quick pressures in the NFL this year, Nick Benito, which is under two and a half seconds. I mean, that's really, really tough. And yet I'm, I'm picking Buffalo.

To me, it's, to me, it's Josh Allen God mode is my thing that I'm watching for in this game. Because if he does it, it will be unbelievable in that environment. Texans and New England Patriots, your favorite part of this game. The Patriots are three point favorites. This is supposed to be, the line is only 40 and a half. So a low scoring potential game. The thing that I'm looking for, my favorite sort of a storyline is, are the Houston tech, is this like a repeat of the 2015 Denver Broncos that we're looking at with this team,

with this defense? Yep. And C.J. Stroud just is like not playing well right now. And they're still just like dominating these games. And so I just wonder if this is just one of those years. where the defense just carries them because there's just so many rock solid ass kickers on this defense at every level. And I know you've talked about this too, that it's a defense that is really taken on the

personality of their head coach. And you just wonder if this is just one of those type of runs that they're going to go on. And I also kind of wonder, and I love what New England has done this year. You know, I'm a man who's fan of Drake May. but I kind of wonder if this is just like maybe a year too soon for them to really be like that championship level team. They're good team. They're well coached.

Drake May is awesome. But it just feels like it's a year too early because I thought they'd be better. I didn't think they would be 14 and 3 when their division number, you know, top two seed in the conference good. So I kind of wonder if this is maybe a little bit too soon for them. They didn't look great against the Chargers. They won the game, took care of business. But I'm just curious to see if, like, the Texans are just going to go in there and just dominate on defense, do enough on offense and come away with a win.

I, in a way, want to already declare Drake May ready for this. I don't know if they have a complete enough team, especially at the tackle positions. Yeah. And on the interior, which is led by Garrett Bradbury. Garrett Bradbury played this year exactly like Garrett Bradbury. The difference was that he had a Josh McDaniels offense, which tries to get the ball out a little quicker, but also had Drake May. So when there's pressure up the middle, we know Kirk, but also Sam Darnold had that tendency to turn around and run the wrong way. And that's not what Drake May does.

And I think it made it look a lot more manageable, which probably goes back to the Vikings overreacting and getting rid of him. I don't know, maybe. Like we always wanted an upgrade there, but, you know, going after an injured veteran player who had been around for a long time. It just felt like, well, we got beaten that playoff game, so we got to do it. And now he's back. But Morgan Moses and Will Campbell, a rookie, a veteran journeyman against two of the absolute best. I mean, people are finally figuring out, Manny, that DeNeil Hunter's putting together a Hall of Fame resume. Now that he's on the state, it really shows you that when you get on the stage of the playoffs,

the whole world is like, wait a minute. This guy's really great. And unfortunately, you know, Harrison Smith didn't have enough of that. DeNeil Hunter didn't have enough of that when he was here, but getting some shine now. I just think that it's going to be really tough to block those guys. But May's got everything to make it work. He's got running backs coming out of the backfield who can catch the ball. He's got a couple of wide receivers that he trusts.

He's got a tight end that he trusts. And he's got wheels to make plays. And man, that throw, I think it was to Hunter Henry going to, was left, dodging the pressure, just disgusting. Low scoring, for sure, but Drake May also doesn't give the ball away. And that, that's something that I would not have believed that by year two, when I watched him in college, I thought, well, this guy's going to be like early Stafford that was just a highlight reel, but also would throw the ball away.

And he does not do that. So the kicker battle is actually what I'm looking at. No, I'm just kidding. It's, it's, it's DeNeil Hunter and Will Anderson versus their offensive tackles versus Drake May's ability to move away from that pressure from those two guys because it's not going to stop for four quarters. Last game, Los Angeles Rams at Chicago Bears on Fandul. The Rams are three and a half point favorites and this one expected to be high scoring. 48.5 is the over under.

I, you know, I like the Rams in this game because I just think they're the better team. But the thing that I'm kind of going to be watching for is, I think it's going to be cloudy in like 18 degrees. I think that's the four class for Chicago on Sunday. So it's going to be cold. It's not necessarily going to be like snowy. Like it's not going to be sloppy weather. But I do kind of wonder for the Rams being,

you know, kind of the West Coast team playing indoors a lot. Matthew Stafford really, I mean, for as great as he's been for his career, for the most part, he's always played his home games indoors. He's played a lot of indoor games for his career. But the flip side to that is he's always been one of the more tough,

this overall football players of his generation. So I think that's going to be the thing that I'm looking for. And the thing that intrigues me the most is just how the Rams as a team kind of handle it being, you know, the temperatures being in the teens and just being cold. And Chicago, it's 18 degrees in Chicago and Minnesota, those are like different from like 18 degrees and other places. like you're dealing with wind blowing off large bodies of water. So it's just going to feel painful.

Those kind of cold temperatures feel painful. How the Rams going to handle that. That's going to be really fascinating for me. So I actually am looking at the kickers in this game because the weather and the special teams for the Rams has been very costly for them recently. This one is to me, ancillary factors. Like you could see where the weapons of the bears could take advantage and that Kla Williams could dodge their pass rush. They have a very good offensive line. You can see where Puka Nakua and Devante Adams are not going to be stoppable.

And these two teams are going to throw blows at each other. But how about the other stuff? I mean, you look at that game against Seattle. They give up a punt return for touchdown. They miss a field goal. And then what they had something in the game against Carolina specialty. they miss a field goal or something else happened in that game. And, you know, as Arcadon brings up the finger of Matthew Stafford.

I mean, how does that play in the cold? It probably doesn't feel great in 75. How does it feel in 18 degrees? I mean, there's there's a lot of meat on that bone between these two teams. I think for me, if it's one matchup that's not the like the cold and the finger and the kicking and whatever, it's really. the defensive line of the Rams versus the offensive line of the Bears. That is one of the best O lines and they invested in it and they built it and it stayed healthy, which is a huge plus for them.

And it's one of the best D lines, as we know in the NFL. So these games should be absolutely fascinating. Mani and the plan for the show. So I'm going to be away. So we won't be doing a recap right after Saturday. But the plan is for Mani and I to get together and record on Sunday after the game. after the games are over, so we will have a podcast. It just won't look quite as maybe beautiful as it looks right now,

but it will still sound beautiful as we break down football. That's the plan. Also, if you missed on the show this week, Jeremiah Searle's great breakdowns of all the situations with the press conference in Addison and Flores, just had Lindsay Rhodes, former NFL network personality on to give her analysis as well. Ahmad Hicks is going to come up tomorrow.

So there's, you know, we roll along into the off season. So thanks, Manny, for your time. Thanks, everybody for watching and listening. And we will see you again very soon. Football. Football.