Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings reportedly down to 5 finalists for GM job (Part 2)

Episode Date: May 21, 2026

Matthew Coller talks about reports of the five finalists for the Minnesota Vikings general manager job, including interim GM Rob Brzezinski. Who else on the list stands out? Plus Matthew ranks the best coaches that Kevin O'Connell will have to face on this year's schedule. 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.

This episode of Purple Insider is presented by Fandul. Rach, I'd prefer someone with some sort of background in scouting and personnel, which Rob isn't. Yeah, I mean, I get that, but I would also say the guy who is the number one GM in the NFL hands down wasn't a scout. It's whether you have the people around you to present the right information and go in the right direction with the scouting. because just the GM, now the GM is going to, if you're talking about these players to draft, 100 players to draft, like the GM's going to watch those guys and he's going to be involved in all that. But a lot of it is people bringing you the information as a GM, even when you're a scout.

There are GMs who are on the record, having said, I don't really watch a ton of tape. I think Eric DeCosta said he comes into the office on Saturdays because his Monday through Friday is there's just not enough time to watch tape. So he goes into the office on Saturday to watch some tape on the side. Like that's how he's doing it. So I think it just tells you how much is going on. I wish there was like any of the 30 for 30 stuff or NFL films that really kind of show that day to day. There just have to be a lot of conversations that the public can't hear about different players and things like that.

But the day to day is managing an entire building, just like, if you worked at Target or something where you're the GM of that target, but you have all sorts of different managers that you're communicating with and fires you're putting out and problems you're solving. It's not sitting at a computer and just typing in, I draft this guy because I like his tape. So there's a lot to it. Pro does a pro does Ray beats?

I'm sorry if I messed that up. just, Matthew, just give it to us straight. Do you think we will win a playoff game this year? Well, I have no idea if you're going to win a playoff game. You have to get there first.

But I think that they can. When we look at the spectrum of possibilities for this team, there's a really clear path to getting there and winning a playoff game. And that path looks like Kyler Murray fits in great with Justin Jefferson in the offense. They improve their run game. game to be more explosive. The defense hangs on for dear life with some of the issues it's probably bound to have, but it gets a big step from Dallas Turner.

The young players come in right away. Maybe you add a little bit of talent along the way. Flores does his scheme thing. You get some turnover luck, which they didn't really have last year, but they did the year before. Your kicker's great. Your punter's great. All of a sudden, you're in the playoffs. And then it's all up to who you play.

I mean, when we think about the 14 and 3, thing, it was crushing to have it go that way. But we think about, like, how often does that ever happen? The answer is never a clock, which is zero. No team has won 14 games then had to go on the road. And then playing, you know, a team that had rested the previous week that had the one thing that you couldn't deal with, which was the interior guys. I mean, you know, that just shows you how random this stuff can be a little bit, right?

where if you're San Francisco and you've got your full roster, how do you do against Seattle? Maybe a lot better. But instead you had to go to Philly. You lose George Kittle. And then you got to go play the Seahawks at home. Like, good luck with that. So a lot of stuff does come down to just circumstance and matchup.

The 2022 is the one where it should have a lot of regrets. Coaching perspective, of course, the Ed Donatelle, but also, you know, Kevin O'Connell as well in that game. the checkdown and everything. That one, like, that should have been a matchup that you could take care of. So you just don't know. Like, if you match up with a team that got its quarterback, wasn't it, when Derek Carr got hurt? Who was it?

Was it, I'm trying to think when Derek Carr got hurt at the end of the season, who started the playoff game? I honestly can't remember, but it was a backup quarterback that started the playoff game. And you get to face that, right? Or you're the Eagles in 2022 and you're pretty good, but you're not. not that great and Brock Purdy tears his elbow in like the first quarter. Thank you for a free trip to the Super Bowl. Like you just don't really know.

So will they win a playoff game? I'm not sure. But I don't think that you have to do sort of backflips in order to get to a point where you can see them being there and being a favorite or being at home. I think it's possible. Stephen Waugh, I don't think we certainly had a good or bad offseason. I think Rob kept the car on the road. and didn't crash the car, but he didn't pull ahead and get to the destination in record time.

So I guess my question would be what would have done that? Like the, based on the opportunities that were there, based on the players that signed in different places. I'm asking the question. I'm not being rhetorical. Like, what would have gotten them to a different spot? Because they did sign a top 15 quarterback, which would really move the needle quite a bit. Like, I understand saying it's not some aggressive, crazy offseason, but the difference in

expected points added with Kyler Murray as your quarterback based on his history versus they were minus 40 points as a passing attack. Negatives don't happen that much for passing attacks, but it did for the Vikings last year. And just to put that in context, when Kyler's been good, it's been around plus 60. So it could, like, that's a hundred point swing. if you go from where your quarterback play was to just the average version of Kyler Murray could be a hundred point swing, not to mention his running, which has been very effective as well.

So, I mean, that's not a Rob thing, but it is a maybe a belief from the entire organization that if you get the quarterback who is a plus 50 or 60 expected points added versus what you had last year, that you're going to go from 9 and 8 to 11 wins, right? even if we bake in some regression on the defense and some of the things that did go right. So maybe it wasn't called for to do a lot of crazy things when you're getting the biggest thing that could be a difference maker at the quarterback position. But I am curious, like what you think because, yeah, there were free agents, but the prices weren't great.

And the sacrifice would have been pretty serious for the future. And you are going to continue to have a team. So, yeah, I kind of go back and forth there. Beaver's best friend. As much as I like Rob, I think I'd rather have a fresh outside perspective just to have some new blood recycling the same employees from 10 years ago feels a little too safe. I think that that's fair. I think it's totally fair. It is totally fair to say Rob is really good at his job and he deserves a lot of respect.

But at the same time, this model, this franchise run by these people has not gotten. an edge. It has not gotten ahead. So is there a John McKay or a Nolan Teasley who could get you ahead? I think that's completely fair. And I also appreciate your, in terms of making your case, your rationality and your approach to making your case to not wanting Rob. I appreciate that. Bryson, J.J. McCarthy will be eligible for his fifth year option after this season. Will they pick it up? Not if he doesn't play much. I mean, it really depends. It's kind of on. not just him, but also on the randomness footballness gods. I mean, Kyler Murray is most likely to start.

As you saw when I was reading out those odds, I mean, you know, the Fandul folks are not buying the true competition there when it's minus a thousand for Kyler Murray to be the starter. I am not so much either myself. So if Kyler Murray starts and plays 17 games and wins 11 of them and wins a playoff game, then no, you're not picking up the fifth year option. If Kyler Murray plays eight, gets hurt for the season, McCarthy comes in, plays the final eight games, wins six of them, gets you into the playoffs, shows everything you were looking

for, then yeah. So it's totally fluid. It really depends on Murray's health, Murray's performance. Where it could be a difficult spot is if they really like what they saw behind the scenes, but he only played like two games. The fifth-year option is not insanely expensive at quarterback, but it's expensive. So you got to really make your call there. I mean, it's a very difficult spot to be in to try to make that call.

But I think that you would lean today that the odds are maybe 75% that they don't pick up the fifth-year option just because of where things stand. And, of course, if he doesn't beat out Carson Wentz for QB2 and Carson is standing over there with his helmet ready to go, if Kyler gets hurt, then, you know, it's completely out of the question. So there, you can see anything on the table there for the fifth year option. Brian, if you assume that Kyler does well this year, the key for the next GM is navigating the contract while keeping the rest of the team viable. I think Rob is probably the best person for that. No matter what happens, Rob deserves a ton of credit for setting them up to be, have the ability

to do that. And one thing that I have noticed is that this would have been a 10. terrifying scenario, I think, five years ago where, uh-oh, like if he plays well, he's going to demand $50 million and we are mega-screwed. I just don't look at it that way now. I was looking yesterday and I can't remember the exact numbers, but I'll get them close. It was something like there's 10 quarterbacks that are getting between 50 and 60, and there's seven quarterbacks between 40 and 50, and there's four quarterbacks between 30 and 40, right

per year, million per year. And that shows you that we've created something that wasn't there before when Kirk signed his deal, where it is tiers of how much these guys get paid. And there is precedent for Kyler Murray. Now, he may just, I want the moon and someone will give it to me and I don't care about the Vikings or whatever. I don't know. I know nothing about Kyler and his personality because I haven't met him yet.

And I don't know how he thinks or how his agent thinks about this situation. situation if he's thinking, I'm going to go to the Vikings and play great for a year and then go sign the deal of my life or if he's like, no, I want to be a Viking long term. But let's just, let's just assume that Viking long term makes sense to him. This is already laid out. If you have kind of one year and there's flaws in your past, a Baker Mayfield, a Sam Darnold, you are more in the $30 to $40 million range. Daniel Jones got 44.

his cap hit this year is much less than that. But technically, average annual value was 44. So that may be the precedent for this. You're in that ballpark. It may depend on how he plays. But you're not in that this contract is so big, you can't do anything with it. And I think I counted up.

Someone can double check six out of the eight, no, five out of the seven teams in the NFC playoffs have contracts, quarterbacks on a second contract at least. So, you know, you can build around it. You should with the levers you could pull, but also that there has been more of a tier system of quarterbacks created than there once was. Scott says the obvious two for me would be the Rams AGM in Seattle. I really like Rob, but would rather he stays the cap strategist and promote him to president. I like that idea.

I like having a Nolan Teasley or John McKay come in with, you know, it's not just that Rob's the one to say, know to those guys like hey man no you're not making that big trade like that's not just his job it's also someone who has been there for a very long time who can also guide that person so if john mackay becomes the gm or nolan tisley these or or reed burkhart they are still on the younger side still on the inexperienced side these guys have only been agms for a short period of time it has not been like oh 15 years is an a gm he finally got his chance it's like two so if they're coming in and they have someone like Rob overseeing them working with them closely, I think that that's a really good pair to have rather than, you know,

it did feel like, you know, Quasi was kind of coming in, figure it out. You had Ryan Grigsin, but, you know, come figure it out, went over the front office yourself. Maybe that wouldn't be the case if Rob is up over the top and can oversee the process of that person implementing what they want to get done as people coming from different organizations. So I like that. Taslio says disagree that Grenard trade was bad value. It was bold, opened up cap space so we could get Joanne. Jennings also let Turner move up in the rotation.

I tend to agree with you on Grenard. I did not. There's things I like about it and there's things I don't like about it. Number one, I don't like not having Jonathan Granard because he's good. But he's had. injuries in his past and his pressure did not turn into sacks last year. And if that trend continues and you give him $50 million more guaranteed, which is at least two more years on this.

And then you have Dallas Turner not being able to find a true position for himself. That's not a great scenario. I mean, when you just add it up on one hand and then in the other, you know, like a scale, and you have two top hundred draft picks and $34 million in cap space. or a player that you really like, but was not in the same tier as your Miles Garrett or your irreplaceable players. And he was a guy that another team let go at some point. And, uh, you know,

the Vikings signed him and they pick up to Neil Hunter in Houston. And he, you know, he's been incredible. But, you know, the point just being that, you know, he's always been someone who's really, really good, but is not necessarily on the same level as some of the true ultra game changers. So two thirds, 34 million in cap space, as you said, Juan Jennings right away. But it's also going to depend. Do you sign someone who's a premier free agent next year or make a trade?

That's the thing. The Vikings have not really been in positions where they could make a trade to acquire a top-notch talent because they have been pressed against the cap quite a bit from the free agent spending. Thank you so much, Leonard, for the super chat. And thank you, Stephen, for thanking Leonard for the super chat. because sometimes I don't see them for like 20 minutes, and that is my bad. But thank you very much, Leonard. I appreciate it.

And all of the support from all of you guys all the time. I mean, this is, it is May 20th, and we're having a great football conversation. I love that. Don't forget to throw in there into the comment section your answer to Fandul question the day, which is what is your most intrigue in terms of quarterback battles that is not the Minnesota of Vikings. That is your fan duel question of the day and they have odds for a bunch of different quarterback battles, including the Arizona Cardinals where Jacoby Brissette did not come to OTAs because he wants more money after going one and 11 last year. I mean, shoot your shot. You should, but what?

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See website for details. restrictions and important safety information. Skull Shadow, stars win games and more importantly, playoff games other than Jefferson. This team has no stars. Some are really good, but not game changers. That's why national media says mid or bad. You know, I've had this thought, you know, myself, Skull Shadow, for sure, just about in drafting Caleb Banks, this is where what my approach has become after many years now of doing

this and being right sometimes and being wrong sometimes is to just look at everything as, well, let me try to understand it first and let me think about the different ways it could play out and then we'll look at those and the odds and then I'll decide kind of do we like it. Do we not like it? And with Caleb Banks, he's an example of what you're saying is it's not just stars, which you're absolutely right, stars win games and they don't have many. I would say Van Ginkle is a star player for sure. I mean, he was a second team all pro.

And I think Dallas Turner has the potential and is en route to being that. But there are a lot of players who are just pretty good. I would also toss Brian O'Neill, Christian Dar esau. Both those guys are at their best, their stars. Derisaw is a top five tackle in the league at his best. So it's not the only one is Jefferson. But the Vikings have been lacking in freakiness. And maybe this needs to be, maybe this needs to be.

maybe this needs to be a data point, an analytic that is created by the Purple Insider podcast, which is how freaky is your football team? Because when I look at Seattle or the Rams, it's pretty freaky. You have a lot of guys who you go, how do you deal with that dude? That's just like when they had Aaron Donald. What exactly in the world are you supposed to do with that? And Justin Jefferson has been that in his career. How in the world are you supposed to stop Justin Jefferson?

How in the world are you supposed to stop Andrew Van Ginkle? Really? I mean, on a week to week basis, the guy's an impact player everywhere when he's at his best and he's healthy. Adrian Peterson, Randy Moss, like, even guys who don't have to fall into the Hall of Fame category over the years, Everson Griffin's not going to make the Hall of Fame. But what in the world are you supposed to do in 2017 to block Everson Griffin? Nothing. How many of those guys do the Vikings have?

And that's a reason to draft Caleb Banks. is so the other team, when they show up and they get off the bus, they go, that's going to be a long day. Even if he's not perfect, it's going to be a long day dealing with a guy who's 6 foot 6, 3.30, and has the grips strength to crush a tree. Like, it's a reason to draft him, right? And I think that you are onto something with the freaky factor has not been there. It's a lot of IQ, a lot of, a lot of smart players, a lot of guys who have squeezed every ounce out of their talent.

you know, Josh Mattelis, Aaron Jones, later round draft picks. We love those guys, but they're not freaky. And I think you do need some Nick Eman Worei and Boye Maffei and Leonard Williams in order to get to the Super Bowl. So I think it's an interesting point. They need to keep that in mind. And that's, that is something about like Seattle that, I mean, the draft picks that they got, they're all freaky. They're all like crazy athletes.

And the Vikings probably have been. been a little short on that. It's a good point. Uh, Joker. My biggest problem with Rob seems too nice. Uh, yeah, I don't know about that. Being nice is in a GM trait. I don't, I don't know about that. Uh, yeah, I don't know. I see what you're saying. Like, there needs, uh, like, Howie Roseman or lesdie, there's some cockiness there, but they've also won. Um, Rob is a nice guy. I, I, can confirm through sources such as me knowing Rob that he is a very nice guy, but, um, you know, I don't agree with the last part. Seems too interested in keeping the Vikings way of not losing instead of winning.

I just don't agree with that. I don't. I think, in fact, in conversations with Rob that we had at the NFL Combine, I think he carries it as much as you. I think that he is super aware of, and I just, the first part, you know, look, I mean, we shouldn't be judging a GM based on whether he comes across nice in the media, or whether I've had good interactions with him. I mean, I think this offseason showed that you can have a leadership trait to be able to kind of put your foot down when it's the right time to put the foot down or to sell, you know, everybody on where you're going with, right?

Like, this is the right way to move on from Jonathan Grenard and pull that trade. And I thought that that took, because you could have just left it. You could have just said, you know what, hold out next GM's problem. but instead like no we're resolving this problem the way I want to do it so I don't I wouldn't mistake his kindness for weakness for sure I don't think he would be around if he was just sort of the you know whatever the pushover type but I totally disagree with that other part from knowing Rob I think that it weighs super heavy on him because he knows the fans he is not originally from Minnesota but I also know this feeling that you become a Minnesotan and you understand

how close they've gotten so many times. You understand all the winning seasons that didn't come to fruition. So I think that he gets that as much as anybody or more than anybody because he's been through the entire journey. And he's talked about that a little bit too. So yeah, I don't see it that way. I see it differently. Stephen, I'm glad Grigsin wasn't a serious candidate.

It wasn't one of the finalists. Don't hate him, but don't want him having too much say on the on-field personnel. Yeah, well, let's see how that goes. I mean, when he's the AGM, you know, does he kind of move on somewhere else, take on a different position? Because if you get named the GM, you're going to want to bring in your own assistant GM. That's pretty much, even Quacey was able to do that with Gregson and Demetrius Washington. So whoever they hire, if it's Rob, then, you know, maybe Grigson stays if it's Rob,

if they like that relationship. But if it's somebody from the outside, they're very likely to bring in their own person. I'm just going to call you prod beats because I'm not, you can tell me how to pronounce it. Rob actually gives a damn personally about the team and organization. Others may not be emotionally tied to being successful. I think that he, I think that he gets it in terms of the way he's going to communicate with the Wilf's and the fan base and so forth, probably communicating with the fans, most importantly, because he gets it.

But I mean, if you're talking about guys who have Super Bowl rings in John McKay and Nolan Teasley and Terrence Gray has been darn close with Buffalo a number of times. I mean, anybody who comes in here, like, that's goal one. That's the only goal. That's the motivation. So, but I think that there's a special understanding that goes along with it and the ownership and everything that this fan base has been through. Rick says, Brzezinski did a great job with the few guys drafting and knows how to pay a team.

He's the guy that should be GM. Yeah, where I stand on it, it's. Because it's so hard to, after we've had, you know, all this conversation, like, where do, where do I, where have I settled? I think where I've settled is if they name Rob Brzezinski, the general manager, that I'm very comfortable with the idea that he can put together a multi-year plan that is much more focused on proper spending, much more focused on acquiring draft capital and building through that side than in the previous regime and much more. longer term, and I don't mean 10 years. I mean like three years, four years type of approach that they can get an advantage of him being the best there is when it comes to the salary cap management. And I think what goes along with that is draft capital management and when to make trades and when not to. And I think you get an advantage there also from the connection with Flores and Kevin O'Connell.

Now, you don't want to do it just because they want him as the GM. But I think to have credibility with those guys is not the easiest thing. Because you have a coach who's one coach of the year. You have a defensive coordinator who is as, I think, strong of a personality as you will find in the entire NFL, but is also as good at evaluation as you'll find. But he's not perfect, right? So you also need to have the belief and trust in those guys that if you say is the general manager, Brian, I get where you're coming from, but I don't think that's the right move right

now that you're not causing headbutting and so forth, that it's a, that there's a respect there when it comes to those decisions. So I feel very comfortable with the idea that Rob would be the top guy in charge, but there is something pulling me from the other side that says, boy, Seattle does this right, man. Like they, even when they're not that great, there's still a heck of a team. Like, they missed the playoffs two years ago. They were 10 and 7.

And it was like, oh, man, we've, we totally failed in Seattle, right? Like you're 10 and 7 and you just miss the playoffs because of, I don't know, how things, the cookie crumbled there in the NFC. That's a standard that they have in Seattle that you'd like to see here, which is, they're aiming for Super Bowls. They're not aiming for 9 and 8, right? So the same thing kind of goes for Los Angeles. I kind of think of.

And when I say like forward type of team, I don't mean like, and I know I'm sure that they're using AI and analytics and stuff. It doesn't have to be like that. It's just a team that's always kind of one step ahead of everybody else. Like, how do you get there? So I bounce back and forth a lot. And that's probably why I end up on just liking the idea of keeping Rob in a position of power with someone with new ideas. Taslios, Fandul question of the day.

Cleveland is your favorite team to watch their quarterback competition because no matter who wins, they lose. it's hard to believe that their quarterback competition is Deshaun Watson versus Shudor Sanders. In real life, it's just hard to believe. I mean, when they had Joe Flacco, it was sort of like, okay, well, at least it's Joe Flacco and, you know, you could have some good games. Maybe your team will be respectable. But then, you know, Dylan Gabriel, really? I kind of like Dylan Gabriel as a backup quarterback, but they just go to his.

him pretty quickly instead of Shadur, then Shadur is mostly bad at the end of the year, except against the Tennessee Titans. And now they're back to this road with a guy who's been as horrific as a quarterback and as a person possibly over the last number of years. I mean, really? Cleveland, man. Wouldn't wish it on anybody. And then the Cleveland Cavs blowing the game last night.

Unbelievable. Unreal. No matter what happens to you in Minnesota, you're not Cleveland. Wayne says Brazinski's number one with McKay from the Rams close second. Rob is shown affinity for working, his leadership during the 26th draft, and Beyond has been exemplary. McKay is well deserving. Yeah. And I would say the same for all the guys in terms of being deserving.

They all come from good franchises. They all come from different forms of scouting backgrounds. They all belong here. It's just which direction do you want to go? I mean, do you want to go with a Reed Burkhart who really knows. Rob Brzezinski very, very well. You know, Reed is a great evaluator from everything I've ever heard. But is he really, like, in a position right now after a very short amount of time as being

an AGM, like to lead an entire franchise. But if he's doing it with Rob, who he knows for many years of working together, could that be a really good tandem? So I wouldn't write off anybody that's on this list. I think you can make a good argument for all of them. Stephen, I do think the Raiders QB battle is the most interesting. That's the Fanduil question of the day. Don't think it's entirely possible for Mendoza not to be the starter week one,

but if not, how long will he sit under Kubiak? Probably depends on the win-loss record for Kirk. I mean, Kirk should play. What always ends up happening in these quarterback competitions with the top pick and the veteran is the top pick is more talented. And so the coaches are like, oh, man, we just, we just can't go with the game.

game manager. Like, this kid's going to be fine. Throw him in there. Anthony Richardson. Never should have been considered to start early in his Indianapolis career. But they're like, no, no, he looks so great. He's so physically gifted out on the field. This is fantastic. And then the guy's not ready. And look where you are. So I think they should ride Kirk until until it's just intolerable. That's what happened with Jacoby Brissette and the Patriots. They rolled with Jacoby Brissette until it was basically intolerable. Like, we just cannot do this anymore. We got to go to the kid and they put in Drake May. I would do that here. Beaver's, uh, Atlanta is a wide open competition. That really is because I'm not a buyer that

Tua is going to bounce back, but they do have a heck of a lot of weapons. And penics, it's, it's now or never for penics. He overall in his early career did not play very well, an injury right off the bat, uh, giving him a quarterback that he has to beat out was a good idea for Atlanta, but neither one of them is very compelling. Lake Erie Vike. Well, thank you for the, for the compliment. Appreciate that very much. I'm glad that, you know,

so many of you are here having a good football conversation. Beaver, so what would my choice out of the five candidates be? I think if I, if I had to make the choice and I don't get to sit down with him, I have begged to be a part of the committee. No one has invited me. Hey, man, you cover the team for 10 years. I know it as well as any of these GM candidates.

Just saying, Wilf's. But I think it would be, and I don't know them. Okay. So that's the tough part. I haven't sat down with them. I haven't listened to their ideas. It would probably be Rob as president and Nolan Teasley because I think that's the right combination of leadership within the building

and credibility for Rob, asset management for Rob, and also mentorship to somebody who's on a younger side in this business, but new ideas. And if your idea, your concept is we are now the Minnesota Vikings who build through the draft, that doesn't mean we never spend, but it means we build through the draft. And look, this has been a Green Bay thing for a really long time. Green Bay builds through the draft. And you can hate Green Bay.

You should. Your Vikings fans, you should despise them. But also, they're always in the conversation. They always are building teams that are not having these crazy wild ups and downs because they put so much focus into the draft. And, you know, Jordan Love's been really good for them. Each year they're in that discussion going into the playoffs. Right. I'm not saying, hey, you want to be Green Bay.

You want to be Seattle. You want to win the Super Bowl. But there are teams in the NFL that are just their philosophy is we build through the draft. And it seems that the Vikings want to shift to that way. So if you want to shift to that way, someone like Nolan Teasley, to me, makes a lot of sense. But, you know, you can make a case for Reed as well as someone who came up in the college scouting world and has been on that side really strongly for Denver. And they've drafted great too. Denver shouldn't be knocked too far down behind Seattle.

Denver is one Bo Nick's ankle away from playing in that big game. So, yeah, I mean, each one of these guys has a good case for that. but I like the idea of pairing Rob's talents and his understanding of how the league works, his relationships, all that stuff with somebody who's coming from a different organization has different ideas. Taslios,

I like all the GM picks better. When Ryan Poles was the frontrunner in 2022, I was sick. Had Carolina not been so bad, Poles would have tanked the Bears for nothing. Well, you know, not for nothing. I mean, they, they would have built a strong roster just from tanking and created a good cap situation and so forth. Poles overall has done a pretty good job, but it's been, it's been hit or miss for me.

This offseason is a big miss of not finding more defensive line talent and his first coaching hire, my God. If, if they had hired, oh, if they had brought in Ryan Poles and he had somehow ended up with Matt Eberfluse here instead of Kevin O'Connell, that's, that's, and look, O'Connell's, and look, O'Connell's, responsible for the darn old thing and O'Connell is responsible for the playoff record and I get it. And we've talked about that a lot. But if you're giving me a choice between Kevin and a lot of coaches in the NFL, I'm taking Kevin. There's some gaffs there for sure. And there's some things that could be improved upon for sure. But my gosh, Matt Iberfluse was horrific.

And that's a major blemish on Ryan Poles. Now, Ben Johnson's a different story, but are they going to build a good enough defense for him? Not seeing it so far. Nathan, if Rob became president and a GM had to work under him, what power would the new GM really have? So, yeah, that's, it's a good question because I don't know how the structure would be. But if you're the president, you're overseeing the entire operation, whereas the general manager would be overseeing the scouting department and the you know the pro player people the college scouting people and it is really truly a management position i know we think of it as if it's a

player acquisition position but it really is a management position so you are working every single day with your director of college scouting on here's who we're looking at here's what's happening with these different prospects here's what we're tracking here here's who we're kind of starting to identify. That's in the draft process, which goes on really all year. And on the free agent side, not just in the offseason, but during the season, tracking what every team is doing, what players are upcoming free agents, what players on your team are upcoming free agents. And that person is organizing everybody to, including the coaching staff, to come to conclusions on directions, on players, on decisions. And Rob would be overseeing

that entire process and being the direction. connection to the Wilfs. And so if Rob doesn't want something to happen because he doesn't feel like it's in the better of the franchise long term, then in this scenario, he'd be able to say, all right, that's not what we're doing because that's not for the betterment of the franchise long term. Let's say they make that rule change and the Vikings want to give up five first round draft picks for Joe Burrow. And Rob says, that's just not the right thing to do.

So we're not going to do it. I have the final say. I'm working with the ownership and on the liaison ownership and keeping them involved. I think that would be kind of how it works. That's just a guess because I don't know. But if that was the case, that's how I'd want it to work. So Rob's not like scouting players like the GM would be. And working with the scouting department watching, you know, thousands of hours of tape.

It's much more of a bigger picture type of position. And, you know, like, it's hard for a GM to manage a whole building. And I think, I think Quasi struggle with that. a lot. I think he struggled with that more than he did some other stuff that have to do with the roster. I think he struggled with managing all those people and having Rob and a GM there doing it might help. I mean, that's why a lot of teams do it this way. One two, one six Vivex as Wilf's need to also think about what if they make Rob GM and things don't work out in say three or four years. Are they going to fire him or put him back in his old role? Yeah, I mean, if it doesn't work out,

that is something to think about. But it's also the NFL. I mean, as much as they liked Rick Spielman, they had Rick Spielman forever. It was time and they made that decision. But you're right. And that's, I think for Rob,

it's a good place in his career. Like, he's been around for a really long time to go for this, knowing that it could result in you being fired at some point. But you're right. That does make it a little more challenging, I think. It's a fair point.

Joker, we should have sold the future, sold the future for this year, no future plan anyway, and delay the rebuild the year. Now, so you brought this up once or twice. And I think from a philosophical perspective, I totally get what you're saying is if you just went nuts this year with the understanding that if it doesn't work out, like, think of it this way. If you, if it wasn't Kyler, if he was, or if Kyler was like 33 and you were not going to

extend Kyler. This was a one-year thing for an older quarterback that you were just, hey, whatever, man. Like, we're not going to extend this quarterback pretty much no matter what. Then I would maybe agree with you and say, well, just go all in and see what happens. Kind of like Jets with Aaron Rogers and then he tears his Achilles. But yeah, sure, like go for it. The guy's old and he's still good and see what you could do. Be like a, well, I mean, I said Kyler, if he's old, like a FARV.

Far of 2009. There's really no future. do everything you possibly can right here right now. But with Kyler being just coming into his quarterback prime and the fact that you might be able to have a couple of bites at the apple with him if he turns out to be good enough or if you bring in a new quarterback into this environment, if you draft one, then you're trying to develop over multiple years around that guy on a certain timeline. So yes, it would have been better to go boom or bust under certain scenarios.

but I see why they didn't want to do that this year, why playing it down the middle gives you a chance to win with the team that won nine last year despite some of the worst quarterback play in the league. It gives you a chance to take another swing at that, well also not hurting yourself into the future. So you are open to if you draft a quarterback. If it turns out to be JJ and you're picking up his fifth year option, that you're in a good situation to continue to build around him.

I mean, I think this is, this is, this is a good a good play for them in that way. If it was a little bit different, I would agree with you and say, yeah, man, if you're not first or last, so just go for it.

Also, like, we don't know what's going to happen through the rest of the summer. And there may be more of that. There may be more go for it type moves that we don't see coming right now. I mean, when was Michael Parsons traded for,

right? JP, I think the Wilfs are making a mistake, not naming Rob president of football ops and taking either Teasley, McKay, Gray as GM, considering one of them would accept being below Rob. So you're saying if you just made them like GM, you figure that one of them would accept being below Rob. Yeah, I see where you're coming from. I mean, if they just look at what Rob did and say, thanks for handling that, but we would prefer to go a very different direction with the front office under Nolan Teasley.

and we want him to have complete power to do it, then, yeah, it's better not to have that situation. I just think the way the Wills operate, it's better to have Rob in being a president of football ops. I think the way they want to run the franchise, it's better. And where they live and how connected they are, like, I think that's better. But if they were saying, look, we want our next czar,

we want our guy to be number one, less need Howie Roseman style, like everybody knows the name of this GM because he's the dude. So we're hiring Nolan Teasley. Then yeah, then you don't do that with Rob. But I get the sense that they would like to have the collaborative environment. Beavers,

Quasi, it wasn't just the bad drafting. Also the head scratching trade ups and trade downs that most analysts across the board felt were bad deals. No disagreement there. And just look, if you give away a little bit of draft capital here and there and here and there. It's sort of like me going to the cookie jar where it's like, hey, it's just one cookie

after breakfast and it's just one cookie after lunch and it's just two after dinner. And then I don't have any more cookies at the end of the day. Well, it's just one sixth round pick for Jalen Rager. And it's just one sixth round pick for Cam Robinson. It's just, and look, the Cam Robinson thing was necessary. I get it. But if you do it over and over and over again, you end up with no draft capital in the day three and there those are those are often not stephan digs but they often are your cam buy them or something somebody who turns out to be decent and just giving away giving away uh it makes it makes it a lot tougher to build depth and to kind of get lucky like you don't get lucky if you don't play with the lottery right um so yeah i i mean yeah some of the i mean the trade

the initial trade down it made a first impression that would just never go away the entire time he was there for kind of good reason. Hunter says I have a conspiracy theory. Okay. What if the Vikings told Kyler Murray that they'd frame the quarterback situation as a competition to make Kyler look better as someone who beat out a first rounder? I don't see it that way. I mean, you did qualify this as a conspiracy theory.

Here's my thing. I mean, Kyler's probably not signing if they come in and say, look, man, you have to prove that you're better than J.J. McCarthy or, but we love McCarthy and we're all in on him, but you'll get your shot or something. Like, if it went that way, I can't imagine he's signing. If they said, we're all in on McCarthy, but maybe you can beat him out. Like, of course not. Of course, when he comes in, it's you're the guy. But that for someone like Kyler or any quarterback competitive environment is not uncommon to any of these guys, right? Like, now, Murray has not had another quarterback competing with him ever in his NFL career,

but I don't think that going into practices believing that you have to perform every single day is anything new to any of these quarterbacks. I'm sure that I'm sure that Kevin O'Connell in the way that he's managing it is like, guys, we're going to go out there and perform every day and then see where we're at. like at the end of the day. And that's how he's framing it to them because you want J.J. McCarthy pushing as hard as possible. It's kind of like this.

If you have a quarterback competition and it's like a NASCAR race, uh, well, you know, some of the NASCAR are faster than others. They're on the same track, but, you know,

it's unlikely that the car that's starting 38th is going to beat the car that's starting third or first, I guess, in this case. right so it's a competition they're competing it doesn't mean it's 50 50 though they are competing every day with each other and with themselves to get better but it doesn't mean that it starts at 50 50 and everybody's even this is not a poll position and i'm sure there's a name for it other poll position it's not like that it is much more like kailer murray is starting as the 12th best quarterback in the nfell and j jay mccarthy starting as the 42nd and look you can win from

42nd place, but it takes a heck of a drive, right? So that might be a way to look at it. Friends of Taz between Murray and McCarthy, Vikings hopefully should have next year's starter in the bullpen this season. Three number one picks to choose from. Yeah, I mean, Wence doesn't really count anymore. It's kind of, you know, as a long time backup, but I get what you're saying. It gives them the potential to hit on Murray.

It gives them the potential for if someone. something goes wrong for Murray that McCarthy figures it out. But I think what they desperately need is to know when you finish up week 18 and look around and go, all right, Kyler's our guy. Or, all right, Kyler's not our guy. Or JJ's our guy or JJ's not our guy. You need to know week 18. And with the Vikings decision, the mistake they made with Sam Darnold was, let's put it all

on these two games and see how he does. And if he's great, then he's our guy. And if he's not, he isn't. Don't do that again. It's not just don't get rid of a decent quarterback. It's like, don't make that mistake again. And as I mentioned, with so many quarterbacks separated by not that much in the NFC, just having a quarterback who's good enough, maybe actually the thing now.

I mean, before the kind of way of thinking was, man, you just need to keep swinging till you get the elite quarterback and the great athlete. But now there's so many great athletes. they're everywhere. Because we talked about that with Kirk, where it's like, it's just not, the athleticism is not there.

You know, the arm strength to make crazy, tight window throws is not there. And I'm not saying that in this current world that Kirk from five years ago would have gotten it done. But it is so even now in the NFC. It's so close between the first quarterback

and the ninth quarterback, 10th quarterback. They've all had, their moments. Like, where is Baker Mayfield on a given year, on a given week, right? And what does it have to do with? What does it look like? I mean, he had his great year in Tampa Bay when they were stacked on offense and Liam Cohen was calling the shots. Kind of feels like, you know, that's going to be that way in the NFC for a while. Dak Prescott was winning 12 games when they had a defense. And then when they didn't, he wins eight games. You could say this for so many

quarterbacks in the NFC. Jared Goff is flawed, but is also really awesome at times and has top five offenses. So Kyler probably falls into that same category, which gives you an opportunity to build around him and, you know, prove yourself that way and be in the mix that way, because you're, unless Caleb Williams really clicks or Jaden Daniels and they're just freakish, most of the quarterbacks in the NFC are right around that same range is where Kyler is. And his peak and his career is eighth. So he's another one of those guys that has peaked at at some point in the top 10. But his worst has been much worse than that. His worst, he's been a below average quarterback. So where does he fall as a Minnesota Viking? Let's see. Yeah. Steve says, you may want to share

your thoughts on Aaron Rogers stating today the 2026 is his last season. Well, one is, you know, Aaron has trouble with the truth sometimes. So we'll see. but I mean it should be right there can't be much left in the Aaron Rogers tank I will always enjoy this about Rogers that look I get it from all of you the Packers you hate them they're disgusting and their fans who I don't know put cutouts of Brett Farve in their lawns or weirdos and you know all that sort of I get it some of the coolest stuff that I have been a part of covering the NFL has been going to Lambo and seeing Mike Zimmer's defense versus Aaron Rogers. It was amazing. Every single time it was awesome. 2018, 2019, I mean, just so incredible to see him play.

And, you know, U.S. Bank Stadium, him versus the crowd and everything. The throws the guy could make, the pre-snap stuff with Harrison Smith. my first game at U.S. Bank Stadium in 2016 was Aaron Rogers versus Sam Bradford. Bradford beats him in the opening of U.S. Bank Stadium. So I'll always think no matter how much of a doofus he can be at times and how kind of sad the bumbling end has been for him and might be even worse this year, that it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen to have watched Rogers, especially against Zimmer's defenses when they were great.

So I respect that part. It's as good as it gets. It's as good as quarterback play gets, him and Drew Breeze. Let's see, Friends of Taz Murray was benched. You mean last year, McCarthy was the Viking starter and was improving as the season went along. Murray was hurt again and benched. JJ will compete against an injured, benched free agent quarterback. I think your framing of that is kind of BS.

Sorry, but like, we know what happened. I mean, I for sure know what happened because I've been totally. hold this, but I mean, it's obvious to see what happened in Arizona, a benched quarterback. You mean a two-time Pro Bowl quarterback, right? Like, really depends on where you want to go with that because we all know, and I've watched the games back, that Murray was playing well for Arizona and they were in every game and they played well against Seattle and didn't win it, but they were in that game. They beat Carolina playoff team, a drop pass away from Marvin Harrison from beating San Francisco.

a playoff team to start the season. I mean, he was benched because he had a foot injury and by the time it was healed, there was absolutely no reason to bring him back because they wanted to tank and get Jeremiah Love. I mean, come on now. Like, we got to be, we got to all be intellectually honest about stuff like that. I mean, Murray's track record, 2024, 2021, 2020. He's one of the top 15 quarterbacks in the NFL. And he had an ACL injury at the worst time in the middle of a 2022 season.

season that was a nightmare and then comes back at the end of 23 plays pretty well down the stretch but clearly was not back to being his full self and then had I think a really excellent year in 2024 with a team that wasn't ready to win so the supporting cast the wide receivers the coaching the ownership the weight room the everything for Kyler Murray was not really in his favor very often and yet still has had three out of what six seasons turn out to be very very good. So he is miles better than what J.J. McCarthy has been miles, miles, better. I mean, McCarthy would throw for 160 yards and we'd put a crown on him last year. I mean, you're talking about Kyler Murray, who's had 350-yard games all over the place in his career,

games where he scrambles for, you know, 75 yards and touchdowns. And I mean, this guy is taking a team to the playoffs. I mean, we are talking about two wildly different resumes. We got to be honest about that stuff. Come on. 1-216, Vivek, like Rob, and if he has a great plan for the franchise, great, but we won two playoff games in like 15 years, and one of them is because of a miracle play. It's okay to look outside the box. Yeah, I agree.

But I also think that you can't just look at that stat, say, well, we've only won this many playoff games. So everyone here is stupid. Like, we can't do that, right? We also can't, because we know that there's a lot. of factors that have gone into that, especially at the quarterback position. And, uh, but cha 80s says, uh, when playing it down the middle, you remain in the middle. I mean, referring to what I said about, you know, hitting it with the hybrid onto the

fairway. Um, but I think that in this case, like hitting it down the middle opens you up for success down the road also while not screwing you right now. down the middle means in my mind, uh, the right way to play it rather than pulling out the driver. And if you hit it in the woods, your franchise is screwed for several years.

And we've seen that happen. That's 2021. I mean, they, they were restructuring contracts, sending draft capital out the building and bringing back guys that they shouldn't have brought back. Anything was on the table in that sort of year.

And that hurt them and set them back. And really, you know, if you want to be a quacy apologist, you'd, you know, maybe be right to say that the reason the 22 draft was so bad was that they were trying to chase the bad drafts before and the bad decisions and the bad cap situation and everything else that they were trying to dig themselves out of. So, yeah, I meant it as a complimentary way of, uh, this is, you know, year over year type of franchise approach while keeping it together, the team that was still very competitive last year, even with horrific quarterback play.

Purple Kool-Aid. Whoever gets the job, hopefully we'll understand that we're not a playoff team every year. Don't sell out for win now moves and hold on to veterans too long rather than make the moves with more strategy. Yep, I agree with that. Yeah, fair enough, Skull Shadow. Yeah, the defense won six or seven.

But, you know, it's kind of the point, though, right? Like the defense was good enough because you have one of the best defensive coordinators in the league. so if you keep this largely together and maybe improve your offense by, I don't know, 75 points because you have a much better quarterback, then you're talking about something serious. Purple Kool-Aid, the talk of wanting someone to bring the building together leans towards Rob, but I feel like you need to have new blood to provide a fresh perspective. I know they said no president of football operations, but it feels like they should.

I mean, that was the way, not Rob, uh, Mark Wilf answered my question, I mean, many weeks ago now. Like, they've had a lot of time to have conversations in between then. They may have changed their mind. That was just, that happened weeks ago. So I don't know. But it seemed like they wanted the same structure as usual. Abnormal. Uh, the running back position worries me wasn't, uh, where you'd want to see it with Mason

and Jones last year. And Claiborne reminds me too much of the hype of McBride a couple years ago. I think that he's very different than DeWain McBride, but it's fair. Like a sixth round draft pick, how much can they do? I think the better comp is probably Ty Chandler, if you're skeptical of, look how explosive this guy is, but is he really a complete running back? So I think that, yeah, you're fair there. Jordan Mason averaged 4.8 yards per carry.

And if he's your number one and Jones is bringing the number two with some sprinkled in DeMond Claiborne, that's great. But I think that what they're relying on more is the schematic element of it and changing the schematic element of it. And maybe the offensive line being healthier. But the schematic element, I think, is big for them in being more effective in the run game. I tend to agree with you that I thought there would be a change at running back rather than bringing back Aaron Jones. And it is a little suspect because you worry about the health for Jones. You worry about the explosiveness falling off.

and Claiborne isn't someone that you could just necessarily rely on. I think you're being totally fair with that. I would throw out there that in terms of like rushing expected points added, they were okay. They were above average at the end of the day. They just didn't pass the ball, man. I mean, I don't know. Like the, we don't really think too much about the running,

you know, when being, having a decent success rate, when you're constantly missing passes and turning the ball over and throwing interceptions and getting sacked. Like when we look at the, oh, well, you know, O'Connell through this percentage or whatever, it's like, yeah, I mean, because if you're playing from behind a lot, you're just going to have to keep throwing, even if Carson Wentz has no arm left. Dustin says anything other than an open competition seems dumb. I guess so.

I don't look at it that way. I look at it as you went out and got a veteran quarterback who's been. very good at times in his career to turn around the offense from where it was last year. And I think that some of this stuff is really dependent on how much you've paid attention to Kyler Murray recently because if you could transpose 2024 Kyler onto this team, it's like a 12-win team, it's an 11-win team. So I think he's better than some people see him as by maybe quite a bit with his recent performance, but that's always hard to contextualize because, one, I mean, yeah, I don't expect you to

watch 22 games of all 22 film. That would be a me thing. But I also think that it's hard to even in your brain. It's almost like, well, Sam Darnel was bad with Carolina, so he's bad. It's like, yeah, this is so much different than Carolina, you know, it's this is so much different than Arizona. But you kind of got to buy into that. I don't think, you know, you need to crown Kyler Murray today. So there's that. I mean, you can see how he works with your team and Jefferson and everything first, which is probably why it's going that way. But once you get into training camp, there's no hiding. It's like how you distribute the first team reps will be the truth. And if I'm guessing, I would say that it's going to be Kyler right from the beginning, all the first team reps, he's the

guy. And it would be on McCarthy to somehow knock him off that, or it's really on Kyla Murray himself. Like if he works out great in the offense from day one, then it's going to be fine. We're not going to talk about the competition. But if he were to really, really struggle and he wasn't getting the offense and he's button heads with KOC, then things could be quite different. So, yeah, I mean, I think what, the way I'd put it is, there's no benefit to just declaring it today. It doesn't help anything to declare it today.

A real open competition, no, because your team needs to win. you need a real serious veteran quarterback who can run the full offense and make plays and have, you know, high, high type of moments, not someone that you're just sort of hoping takes a big step from being 42nd out of 45 quarterbacks and quarterback rating to what? I mean, Kyla Murray's been eighth to 12th in the NFL. I mean, what kind of jump would be talking? I think McCarthy can eventually get there, but doing it in one off season to that. that degree, um, it just doesn't seem, even if he had a great camp, it just like, can you really

trust that that's going to happen? Uh, purple Kule. Did the defense benefit from a week's second half, a bit like the offense? Our first half was tougher and the deed didn't look as good. Um, they improved for sure, but did they get lucky? Uh, well, the last week of the season, yeah. I mean, they didn't have to play any of Green Bay's real players. They got to play Clayton tune.

So that, I mean, that's going to, that's a trivia. Somebody asked if we could someday, like in the summer, if we could start doing one day where like hour number two, we just do some trivia. And I want to work on that because I think that's a great idea. That's a trivia question. Who started week 18 against the Vikings? Clayton freaking tune. And they beat his face in. So that pumped up the numbers a little bit, but the game against Christmas Day against Detroit or even against Dak Prescott.

That offense was top five in the league going into that game. so they really, they really showed that they were there. It's with Harrison Smith, though. So that's the big question for this year is if you don't have Harrison, can you reach that type of level? Skull says if he was a special teams package, how many blocks would Wembe have field goals? Now we've definitely gotten into our number three of the show a lot.

If you could have, if you could have somebody who is seven foot four and can jump like, I don't know what he could jump, 30 inches in the air, maybe higher than that. I don't know how you kick over that person. I don't know what you'd have to do. Can you just take out his legs? You'd have to have some sort of specific blocking way of going about it because I have no idea. I don't know how high exactly the ball goes in the air when it's kicked. But, I mean, usually it's kind of, there's a lot of kicks where it's just barely clear in the hands of guys who are six foot five.

So seven foot four? there is a story that Auburn's football team tried to get Charles Barkley to block kicks. And then the football coach was like, no, that is insane. J. Mulls ever since Rogers left Green Bay, I've loved him. Yeah, fair enough. Nasage, every time I hear someone say Murray was beat out by Brissette, it flags that person as non-serious opinion. Well, yeah, I mean, you're or just not, maybe not that, but maybe more like little agenda pushing on the JJ side, or just not informed.

Like, there are many of you who come in here and chat. And I can really tell this around draft and free agencies and where, I mean, you spend a lot of time on this. And that's why I love you. And that's why this is great. But not everybody who jumps in. And I welcome people who have opinions that don't spend all of your life. That's what we're here for is to kind of have a conversation and, you know, maybe learn a

little more or go back and forth. So, you know, I don't think it's necessarily that. But it's like I said, I mean, if you weren't paying attention to the Arizona of Cardinals, congratulations. You didn't waste your life, right? If you didn't watch the last 22 games of tape and study every analytic, like, I mean, I don't blame you for that. You shouldn't.

That's not a good way. Like, there is sunshine outside that you should go see. So it's not that, but I think that you make a fair point of, like, when people say that, it's just not accurate. It's just not what happened. Jacoby Burset went 11. and Kyler Murray won more games out of five than Jacoby Brissette did out of 12. And not only that, I had this stat, and I wish I had memorized it, when we were really getting

into the nitty gritty of arguing about Kyler Murray, that Murray won something like as, when he was the Arizona Cardinals quarterback the entire time, he won something like 45% of his games. And when he didn't play, they won something like 8% of their games. It was insane. It's an insane stat. It was crazy. like they never won a thing if Kyler Murray didn't play so that's everybody's not playing on the

same playing field there's no Jefferson there's no KOC offense which gets receivers open there's no Addison number two receiver there's there's no yeah like Rams system that you're playing and it's what I mean I'm I'm not going to disparage Drew Petsing because I think he did a good job but I mean Kingsbury what was that that what was that offense that was the hey, go run around Kyler and figure it out offense. So yeah. And yeah, you're right. Skull Shadow with, you know, him wanting out of Arizona, not wanting to sign a contract extension or redo his contract. Are you going to play him? And what if he gets hurt again? And then he gets guaranteed money because he's hurt, you know, like you, there's all those things.

There's all those moving parts. So, Skull Shadow at this point, McCarthy should be looked at as a project. He's not plug and play, but he has potential. I like that. I think that's very fair. I think that's a very fair way to look at it. Beavers with the heavy defense-oriented draft this year, turning out okay potentially. I'm hoping that next year they go heavy offensive line finally addressed.

Well, they've, you say finally, but I mean, they spent a first rounder on Derisaw, a first rounder on Jackson. They've developed Blake Brandel. They spent $18 million on fries and a second rounder on, Brian O'Neill. So they've addressed us out of the offensive line. The issue is, and they spent a bunch of money on Ryan Kelly last year, too. It's that they have not either, well, the sick irony, the twisted, the absolute twisted,

sick irony of the Vikings offensive line is that the best one they've had in many years is 2003 and Kirk got hurt. So that's really unfortunate because that offensive line was pretty good. but they have the guys that if they are healthy and when they were healthy last year, when even four of them were healthy last year, they were really good against Baltimore, against Chicago. It's just they weren't out there very often. So it comes down to health where they've improved and to your point is the depth.

That's where they've improved. Drafting Tiernan, that's a draft pick that I just was like, I don't really know this guy when they draft. And the tackle third round, are you sure? The more I've watched him, the more I like the Caleb Tiernan pick. I think even worst case scenario, if he's a swing tackle, you will play in the NFL if you're a swing tackle. I know this is the second Rashad Hill mentioned of the show, but Rashad Hill played a lot over his years for the Vikings. You will play and getting Ryan Van Damark too.

These are big moves for them, even if they're not ones that are flashy. Abnormal says best case scenario, JJ beats Kyler for the job. Kyler has raised the bar in the QB room. If JJ objectively clears it this year, you have a higher ceiling with JJ in the long run. I mean, look, I don't think that JJ McCarthy has a higher ceiling than Kyler Murray.

Kyler Murray is the number one overall draft pick. He has been excellent, excellent at times in his career. He's been in MVP conversations halfway through seasons. And it hasn't worked out. but I mean, that's, that is a high ceiling. If you want to talk about a high ceiling, Kyler Murray's best stretches are up there with any great quarterback in the NFL. It's about getting 17 of those.

With JJ McCarthy, I don't see the physical capabilities of Kyler, as in I don't think the accuracy can get there to meet Kyler. And I definitely don't think the speed and scrambling can get there either. So I look at Murray as being a higher ceiling quarterback, but he hasn't reached it yet. so far in his career. And if McCarthy did straight up beat him out, it was better than a quarterback who's been as good as Kyler at times in his career,

it would say a lot about him. But it also would, I mean, because it would take a heck of a performance in order for him to straight up, beat out Kyler, or it would take Kyler really collapsing and just not assimilating himself with this team at all. Purple Kool-Aid Harrison Smith coming back and getting back to form was a good point. Yeah, that's right.

Yep, that's what changed it. second half of the season. And that's the biggest question going into this season for me. Well, thank you for the update about the Western Conference Final. Man, I'll probably get to that shortly. But great conversation that we've had here tonight. I've really enjoyed it. Super Rod, Arizona, not a functional organization.

Not even close. Not even close. It's not just that they're not functional. It's that they didn't have good teams. They didn't have good rosters. They didn't have good coaches. So I think that it gives you plenty of reason to look at it. at it and say it's now it's now or never for kailer murray it's it if it doesn't work here it's not

going to work but this is the best scenario he's been given in his career uh anyway well yeah i appreciate the reminder that the western conference finals going to go on or is going on right now so i'd like to see that thank goodness i didn't turn off nick's calves last night that was fun hockey i will say is a little bit tough to watch no buffalo sabers my hometown team blew it blew it in overtime and the Minnesota Wilde had an epic collapse in ways they only could. And the Timberwolves are sitting there talking about they didn't put in enough effort or bond together enough or something is always, it's always something. So anyway, the playoffs, still going on without Minnesota sports teams.

But a lot coming up tomorrow going to have Ben Gessling on the show. And he's going to break down his opinion and insight into. to all the GM candidates. And we're going to have a conversation to get his opinions on the stuff we've talked about tonight. And also, you guys asked for it last week. Mani was not available last week, but Mani Hill will be back to pick the schedule, pick the schedule amidst the GM search tomorrow.

And we'll have a conversation about, you know, that and other things around the NFL as well. So some fun stuff coming up. So make sure you keep an eye on the channel. Also, you guys were mad at Eric at home for power ranking the Vikings 28th. so I brought him on the show, friends with Eric, and that video is up right now. We had a good conversation. He kind of backed off a little bit of his poor power ranking for the Vikings,

but we had a good discussion. So check that out also. Thanks, everybody for the really good conversation. As always, we'll be live again, 7.30 Central tomorrow night for Manny Picks the schedule and keep an eye out for that Ben Gessling podcast tomorrow. So thank you all. And we'll catch you later. football.