Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings score a left tackle and extra draft capital but pass on Mac Jones -- this and other draft night reactions

Episode Date: April 30, 2021

Matthew Coller and Sam Ekstrom debate the Vikings' decision to trade down in the draft when the New England Patriots elected to select Mac Jones. Should the Vikings have picked Jones even if we didn't think we was as good of a prospect as Fields or the other three quarterbacks picked? Plus why the Vikings deserve high grades for getting Christian Darrisaw and extra draft picks. Added on to our reactions from the night overall are some of the clips from the WCCO Radio live stream, which was on WCCO's Twitter and Facebook pages during the entire first round of the draft. Listen to Matthew and Cory Hepola react to Trey Lance being picked and Matthew and Courtney Cronin debate the Mac Jones pick from New England and catch the live reaction to the Darrisaw selection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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and Victory Home Team, who has sponsored all of our draft coverage, Matthew Collar and Sam Ekstrom. Sam, it was exactly the exciting night, I think, that we had hoped for. I feel like you and I really played into the hype machine the entire time. And now as you drive home from TCO Performance Center where you spent the night, like what is on your mind about night one of this wild NFL draft? Well, first and foremost, I'm concerned that 35W North is closed and I don't know how I'm going to get home. Second of all, I think it's funny that it was very exciting

and yet it was a tradeback and an offensive lineman. It was kind of thrilling for the possibility of could the Vikings take a quarterback here? It was realistic there for a while. And then the division rival jumps up and takes the intriguing Justin Fields. It looks like the Vikings then they trade back. Are they going to go defense? Are they going to do the one thing that everyone kind of hoped Zimmer wouldn't do?

And then it kind of all circled back to exactly where we were at 14 with, oh, Christian Derrissaw, the obvious pick, the clear, like, probably plug-and-play left tackle. I think the Vikings probably didn't even expect it to work out that way, but it did, and clearly they didn't care about Mac Jones. You care about Mac Jones. You think this is going to blow up in their face. The Vikings don't. They're loving this tradeback, these extra thirds, moving into the second round on Friday

and getting a pretty stellar pass-blocking left tackle. And I thought Mike Zimmer was pretty poignant and kind of taking a new stance on offensive linemen. He's like, we need big guys. Defensive linemen are really strong and we can't always just be athletic we need size I thought that was telling from Mike Zimmer and pretty interesting if you ask me yeah that is a little bit of a turn from let's draft the smallest center in the first round just a couple of years ago but maybe Mike Zimmer has grown weary of watching his offensive linemen get pushed back now Now, because you facetiously took a little jab at me there,

saying that I think not picking Mac Jones will blow up in their face, let me just clarify the opinion here that when New England decided to select Mac Jones, what that told us was another NFL franchise, a very successful NFL franchise, with one of the greatest coaches, if not the greatest coach of all time, said, we want to go all in on Mac Jones as our future quarterback right after the Vikings decided that they didn't want to. And the Vikings' past evaluations of quarterbacks have been questionable at times, I would say. And so the Vikings were sitting there with a chance to pick a player

who another team valued as a franchise quarterback to sit for a year behind Kirk Cousins and then turn him over the franchise and go from there. Now, I also subscribe to, and I always have, and you know this, that we don't know which guys are going to work out and which aren't. I mean, Bill Belichick also drafted Jimmy Garoppolo. Now you could say, oh, Jimmy Garoppolo, he's not that great. Okay, well, he was in the Super Bowl.

How many Super Bowls have the Vikings been in since Fran Tarkington? The answer is zero. So, I mean, if you drafted a Jimmy Garoppolo type or a Jared Goff type and built your roster strong enough around him to make a Super Bowl and have a lead in the fourth quarter, like, would you take it? Would that be a good pick if you decided to do that? So I guess I was thinking that they had the opportunity there to really push all their chips into the middle of the table

on the future of the franchise at quarterback. They decided not to. And now that evaluation and that difference in evaluation between Bill Belichick and the Minnesota Vikings will be one that we focus on for a very long time. And whether, Sam, this was a successful night for the Vikings to get a franchise left tackle and a couple other picks, or whether this night ends up sort of living in infamy will entirely depend on Mac Jones I'm not projecting that Mac Jones is going to be a superstar I was much more in the camp of Justin Fields much more in the camp of Trey Lance but also believing that you you really don know. Sometimes the fifth best quarterback is the best in the draft like it was in 2015.

So I'm sorry, 2018. So I guess that's where I'm at is this draft gave us something to talk about with this franchise for a very long time. If next year they're talking about moving on from Kirk Cousins after going eight and nine or something, Sam, and then saying, well, you know, last year you could have picked this other guy and been a year down the road. That's what I'm saying is it offers a lot of discussion points here and a lot of potential what ifs. Yeah, there's two ways to look at how they viewed the decision. Did they not like Mac Jones, therefore they didn't take Mac Jones?

Or did they feel like Kirk Cousins was so established, so reliable, a long-term answer, that they didn't want to threaten him? If it's the latter, that's not great decision-making. I disagree with that stance. If it was the former, then I can respect their evaluation um I did tell you on the live stream tonight that it feels like the Vikings need to do the opposite for their next quarterback and I'm not trying to say that Mac Jones is Kirk Cousins that's probably a lazy comparison as we've talked about before but I do think that the league is going to get more and more athletic, and the pocket passer is going to be the minority pretty soon. And, like, this is the reason why it was Trey Lance at number three

and not Matt Jones at number three. That was a complete smokescreen. And speaking of Jimmy Garoppolo, tough year for, like, a recent Super Bowl participant to get basically replaced in San Francisco, unless he's like a one year bridge before Lance takes over. But, yeah, I can't argue with you that New England taking him totally changes the ballgame because, you know, he's going to be supported by that offensive line um they just invested like nine figures worth of dollars on free agents this past march so there's talent around him it's a good situation uh he comes from a system you know i'm sure saban gave belichick everything there is to know those Those guys are besties.

I bet Bill had Saban on speed dial this entire time getting everything he wanted to know. Let's not overlook that. Those two are really close friends. They did a documentary together. So clearly Belichick believed enough in Jones and Saban's recommendation to make this move. And do you think we see Jones this year caller or do you think Cam Newton kind of starts the season I think Cam Newton starts the

season and if it doesn't go really well for Cam Newton then we will quickly see Mac Jones but even then I mean they're and this is the thing is that you could say well these teams are in different spots because the Vikings have their sort of franchise guy. But really, for all intents and purposes, Kirk Cousins is on a one-year deal, and so is Cam Newton. Kirk Cousins is just way more expensive. And neither quarterback are guys where I think people around the league would say, oh, yeah, you have to be locked into them long-term. Neither is Aaron Rodgers, or neither is Patrick Mahomes. And because of Kirk

Cousins contract situation that's where you would say you should take the quarterback there and plan for the future because nothing you could do at any other position would have the type of impact than if this was a hit and I think that that's where that's where I look at this and even the fact that they decided not to trade up for Justin Fields which was clearly on the where I look at this and even the fact that they decided not to trade up for Justin Fields which was clearly on the table I look at both of those decisions and say those might be ones you regret I don't know if they will and I agree with your point and I think it's a fair one to say look Mac Jones is just not the type of quarterback that's succeeding in the NFL now but I would say it's also not like pocket quarterbacks are incapable of being successful

as we've seen from, like you said, recent teams that built up their rosters and went to the Super Bowl. So I think that is a fair point. And maybe they would argue that, that that's why the reason they did not want Mac Jones. But I would also say you had an opportunity to trade up not very far to take Justin Fields, which he was different than Mac Jones and a special athlete with a special arm, so he's got all those physical tools, or you could have taken another guy at your own pick,

which we have discussed this before. Taking a quarterback with your own pick is great. Washington still has a good team they botch the Dwayne Haskins pick the New York Jets I mean they probably feel great like they didn't have to trade up anything to take Zach Wilson and yet here's everybody else trading all over the place around them if you could take a quarterback with your own pick even if it busts it doesn't destroy your franchise and so I think there were a lot of arguments to do it even if you don't necessarily believe that Jones is going to be a great player so I counterpoint counterpoint real

quick so we we I think we we criticize this team a little bit for being kind of myopic in free agency it was very much about 2021 trying to win this. And a lot of these moves are one-year deals. So now that you've started going down that road, I mean, last year we hated on their approach of sort of hedging their bets like they were one foot in, one foot out. Like they didn't really commit to a rebuild or winning now. Don't they need to commit to the path that they've started on, which would be getting a player that can contribute this year? Because if they take Matt Jones, they also don't get the extra third round picks and they don't get a player probably who helps them win in 2021. And I mean, if they've already gone down this path, they've used up a lot of their cap space. They've got one year defensive players.

Don't you need to add something on your offense that's going to help your cousins? Yeah, I think that that argument could be used for cornerback. Like, oh, you picked someone that wasn't going to make an impact this year. Why did you do that? But not for quarterback because there's just nothing close to what a quarterback can do for a franchise. I mean, when we go through, and I know I mentioned this to you the other day, but when we go through the first-round picks, yes, there are busts, and that goes for every single position and every single draft pick.

But the first round is the only place where you can draft a player who completely alters the history of your franchise, that there is the potential to do that. And they don't always. Dwayne Haskins certainly did not and Mac Jones might not with the New England Patriots but these days it's pretty hard to get that anywhere else and maybe tomorrow we'll see them take Mac Jones but yes that would be a long-term move but we're talking about from a much much broader perspective than just hey this guy can't help you until 2022. It's this guy, a first round talent,

clearly because the new England Patriots thought so a first round talent could possibly be your Phillip rivers. That's your quarterback for years and years and years to come. And to me, the possibility of that happening is always worth it. Even if you botch it, Like, look at the Jets. The Jets botched the Dwayne, or not Dwayne Haskins, the Sam Darnold pick. They've totally botched the Sam Darnold pick.

And where are they right now? In a pretty good spot. I mean, because they just drafted another franchise quarterback and have a good coach. And why did that coach want to go there? Oh, because they had the number two pick and could draft the next quarterback. Robert Sala's not going there if they're not drafting the next quarterback. So I guess my point is just that there are very few pitfalls to that, except for when it comes to the job statuses of the general manager and the coach,

because if it didn't work out, it's probably those guys out the door, and there was a lot of pressure on them this year. Now, that's the what if. That's the one we'll be tracking for a long time. Trust me, we'll be discussing it. It's ironic that we're putting so much stock into Patriots draft pick. And trust me, I am too. I think it's super intriguing.

But the Patriots are like a horrible drafting team the last five or so years. Awful. Like, worst track record in the NFL, but there's a lot of stock being put into this pick. And rightfully so. It's a first-round quarterback, but it's just ironic that, you know, Belichick and this reputable organization can't seem to nail draft picks at all of late. Right. Well, I mean, part of that is when you're drafting 31st or 32nd every year, it's pretty. It's a lot tougher than it is if you're drafting at the top. But I would say the last quarterback that they drafted was Jared Stidham, a fourth-round pick.

The last quarterback they drafted with a top-two round pick went to the Super Bowl with somebody else and turned out to be, I think, a hit in Jimmy Garoppolo. Not a megastar, of course, but capable of going to a Super Bowl, which is your goal. So I'm not saying that I love Mac Jones. I don't. When the 49ers drafted Trey Lance, I said, yes, you got it right. Good for you. Nailed it.

And when Chicago traded up, I said, if they traded this much for Jones, what a mistake. But at your own pick, there was a lot of value there. So I know that this opinion and this conversation is going to frustrate some Vikings fans who want to celebrate the night. So let's get to that because if you put that aside, what you have is the Vikings getting an A-plus for trading down and getting their future left tackle. Though let me just quickly add, Sam, I don't think that as far as this year, they, as of today, have a better offense than they did last year still with Christian Derrissaw unless he plays better than Riley Reif in his first year. And that was a pretty high bar to set. But I think in terms of who you got as a prospect and the third round picks, you deserve an

A-plus for the things that you came home with yeah and part of the draft is replacing your departures right like that's that's what justin jefferson was last year he was replacing stephon diggs and you could maybe say that he exceeded stephon diggs or what stephon diggs was with the vikings i don't know if he was necessarily as good as stephon diggs with the bills it was don't know if he was necessarily as good as Stefan Diggs with the Bills. He was close. But, yeah, that's part of the equation. And they at least, I think, get back on level terms.

Like, Riley Reif had a pretty good year. Christian Derrissaw probably has the ceiling to be better than Riley Reif, even as early as this year and definitely in a couple years. The Vikings are hesitant to commit to him as an instant starter we might see another rashad hill um keep the seat warm situation like in 2018 with brian o'neill where he was five games at right tackle uh rashad can't catch a break uh he thinks he's going to be the starter and then nope uh they take the first round tackle I'm so curious to know what direction they would have gone if Derrissaw had gotten sniped by anyone else because it's

hard for me to believe that that the Vikings assumed he'd be there at 23 we were prepared you know to analyze the defensive end I and and pay know, goes two picks before at 21. There were defensive end prospects there, but I think they made the right move in Derrissaw, who I just think, like, other than the injuries this past year, which don't seem to be all that serious, the Vikings are okay with his medicals, there's not a ton of red flags for me. I mean, he's kind of a late bloomer, yes, but he's shown durability. He's gotten better every year. He had his best year in 2020 after a pretty, like, trying quarantine offseason where he clearly worked really hard.

He's big. He's athletic. And he's got a lot of traits the Vikings like, and I think he'll add kind of a tenacity to the group. So I support the pick, like, from an offensive line standpoint. I'm glad they didn't have to reach on someone like Walker Little or, you know, whatever the Raiders were doing with Alex Leatherwood. I think that this was an appropriate pick

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and SodaStick has you covered with Minnesota sports-themed gear. Some of my favorite football designs that you have to check out include the Chuck Foreman Spin Doctor gear. You can commemorate Randy Moss' disgusting act on a shirt or a hoodie. And if you're old school, check out the Purple People Eaters design as well. Go to SodaStick.com and check them all out. If you use the promo code PURPLEINSIDER, you can get free shipping on all your Minnesota sports-inspired gear. All of their apparel is screen printed here in Minnesota on super soft, super comfy shirts and hoodies.

You will love it. Plus, keep your eyes and ears out for our giveaways going on on this show as well on social media. Follow them at SodaStickCo on Twitter and at SodaStick.com for your original Minnesota sports-inspired goods. Code PURPLEINSIDER for free shipping. Yeah, and that's what I wanted to make clear is the Mac Jones discussion is a fascinating one because they evaluated him and decided that's not our guy. And then Bill Belichick evaluated him and said that is our guy. And that is so interesting because both teams were in position with quarterbacks.

But if we totally put that aside and just look at the prospect that you got and the upside to someone with the size and the mobility and the athleticism of Christian Derusaw, which I thought it was great that Mike Zimmer mentioned the zone scheme as like his first comment. Like, of course, Mike. Yes, this guy is going to be a run-blocking beast. There's no question. I mean, I really think that talent-wise that Christian Derrissaw was just a shade below

someone like Rashawn Slater, and everybody's below Penny Sewell in terms of talent, but you got a guy who has the ceiling of being a franchise left tackle and, you know, is able to probably play right away because of his size and athletic profile. And then picking up the thirds, I mean, I just was reading a tweet from our buddy Brad Spielberger with Pro Football Focus about, you know, the fact that Rick Spielman now has seven draft picks between 66 and 135. And we could expect, you know, all sorts of other movement in day two and day three, which, by the way, we're going to do our live stream again on day two. So make sure you check that out on WCCO's social media platforms.

But, you know, I just thought it was a great pick. You liked the pick as 14th overall, and I think we would have given it solid grades. Courtney Cronin, who was on the live stream tonight as well, that was her pick with NFL Nation. She talked about that the other day, and I think that's a couple years in a row where she's now picked their selection right. And so we added up all the dots and said, you have to beef up this offensive line. You have to do something that is an improvement for Kirk Cousins.

And they did that. And now you're really one spot away that you could still very much fill on Friday or Saturday, but really Friday at the guard position and feel very good about where this offensive line is going for the first time in, I don't know when, Sam. I mean, how old were you the last time you felt really good about the offensive line? And now it feels like they're maybe one guard away. Yeah, one guard away and with a very affordable group. Like, other than the Brian O'Neill extension, which is going to be costly,

probably eight figures per year, and I don't know if that kicks in this year, probably a pretty low number this year. Then you've got, I think we can probably call him official right guard, Ezra Cleveland, with another three years of team control. You've got center Garrett Bradbury, who needs to take a step forward three more years of team control if you extend him with the fifth year. And now you've got up to five years of Christian Derrissaw. That is a heck of a group in terms of potential and bang for your buck.

That's really great for this team that at a high positional value to be spending that little and to potentially have that much talent. And it's potential. Like, we've seen a lot of these guys flame out before. It might not come to fruition. Derrissaw seems like a little more of a sure thing to me uh you know he he's not someone that that is already 24 years old you know like like bradbury which is always a little bit of a concern because it means they have less ceiling uh he doesn't really have a significant injury history he's not like a tweener he's not undersized he's got a clear position he didn't mess around at other positions at virginia tech like 2,300 snaps at left tackle. Seems fairly cut and dry to me.

And now, you know, day two, you probably package two of your thirds, move up into the second, and you can get whatever edge you need. You can get a cornerback. You can get defensive tackle maybe, maybe even mess around with receiver. But you mentioned guard too. They're still one, I think think slot away because dakota dozier or mason cole would be your starting left guard uh as of today so i i don't i don't love the guard uh depth on day two as much as i love the tackle depth if they had taken vera tucker then i could see oh oh, Vera Tucker at guard and then a day two tackle.

That's probably not the case anymore. So I don't have as many eyeballs on prospects in day two for that guard spot. But there are a couple, Kendrick Green, perhaps. Maybe you could turn one of those tackles into a guard like they did with Cleveland. So there are possibilities there. And it's coming into focus now a little more with what's probably going to be a super busy day two if we know Rick Spielman. And you also have Kyle Trask, Kellen Mond, and Davis Mills still on the board, which opens up the door to waiting to see if one makes it to the third

or to trading up and still getting that backup quarterback slash developmental guy. And then, you know, maybe they would tell us that they didn't have a huge gap in their evaluations between Mac Jones and one of those guys. And then we'll sort of have that discussion at that point. But looking at the board, I mean, there's just so much talent, I think, in the second round of this draft that it's almost a must that they get back into the second. I'm especially thinking about, I mean, for one, Jeremiah Owusu-Koromoa. It's shocking that he's still on the board. But wide receivers, I mean, Elijah Moore, Rondale Moore are still there. These guys are serious playmakers that they could get.

And you wouldn't feel, Terrace Marshall is another one, you wouldn't feel like, oh no, another one. You wouldn't feel like, oh no, we couldn't do that with one of our picks because we have so few. That's what the Derrissaw trade down does for you. Also a guy that I know you like, Carlos Basham, a defensive lineman,

Azizo Jalare is still there. You still have Christian Barmore where, boy, a lot of conflict on how the league felt about Christian Barmore versus the mock drafters who seemed to really love him. That was kind of interesting. But you also have some corners, too, with the fact that Asante Samuel Jr. is still there. So the Vikings have all these different options that they could try to investigate,

even the safeties that did not get taken, including Trayvon Morig and Richie Grant. So there's a lot of different ways they could go. They could wait to see who falls to them and just own the entire third round. And I think they've set themselves up to get a lot of very good prospects here. Before we wrap this up, because it's been a long day, and I figured out that I talked for almost like 200 straight minutes without a break earlier on the live stream and i'm gonna do it again on friday night so i'm ready for that but um justin fields to the bears this is got the potential to either blow up in the bear's face

as it has so many times before sam or completely shift the the Chicago Bears franchise in terms of how we feel about them and quarterbacks. They have been so miserable for so long and they trade up and get a prospect who has, I mean, all the tools to be one of the great quarterbacks in the NFL. There are reasons that he dropped, I'm sure. But what a night for the Chicago Bears and for the Detroit Lions to come away with Penny Sewell and Justin Fields. And that, to me, will be another one of those storylines to watch

because now you're talking about facing Justin Fields twice a year for the foreseeable future with the 4-4-40 and that deep arm strength. And, you know, it's like early in the day, Sam, everyone in Vikings land is celebrating because of Aaron Rodgers and the drama that's out there. And we'll see how that plays out, whether Rodgers plays or if Denver trades for him or yada, yada, yada. We don't know how that's going to work out. But the fact that you go from so happy as Vikings fans, I'm sure,

to see the Green Bay drama, to then Justin Fields being picked, someone who has elite quarterback potential, I thought that was quite the NFC North roller coaster for today, Sam. Yeah, good day for everybody but the Packers, I would say. I said this to you on the live stream i'll repeat it for this audience if you're mike zimmer would you rather prepare for chase daniel andy dalton mitch traviski nick foals or or justin fields one of those things is not like the other um this is going to provide a new challenge for Mike Zimmer and the Vikings, and I would assume that Justin Fields is a very strong likelihood to start for this team in week one over Andy Dalton. This is big for Chicago.

Now, will the Windy City kind of get a hold of him and rattle him like it's done with so many other quarterbacks. It's not like an amazing environment to play in from just a weather standpoint. That's tough on quarterbacks. They don't have a lot of weapons there on offense right now. So it might be tough at first for Justin Fields, but we both like Justin Fields, too. And we think that this is a pretty good value pick to get him like in the double digits I didn't think he would last past number five uh and then number nine let alone number 11 uh so the Bears and correct me if I'm wrong the Bears gave up a future first to and then like a fourth or something yeah correct so I mean one future first for a potential franchise quarterback is not uh

not terrible and it just gives them a chance to compete this year too like i don't know who thought the bears were going to do anything with their current arrangement and now i think they've got some optimism and uh and in justin fields i think best case scenario for Bears fans, he becomes the quarterback that can sort of lift your team when they're not playing great offensively. Like he can make plays with his legs. He can make, you know, amazing throws with his arm and sort of like propel that offense forward, an offense that seemed to always be held back by their quarterbacks

despite, you know, maybe talent elsewhere. So, yeah, this is interesting for the NFC North. We've had a lot of the same in a time we've been on the beat, and I think this will mix things up. So I like it. I'm looking at my chops. I can't wait to cover those games with a little bit of fresh blood. Yeah, and also Justin Fields, I mean, he's got his work cut out.

He's got to go back and watch Jim Miller, and he's got to watch Kyle Orton, and he's got to watch Chad Hutchinson because those guys know how to beat the Vikings. So he's got to figure that out pretty fast. I mean, can you believe it, though? Like the Chicago Bears have one of the most exciting quarterbacks in the NFL instantly in terms of just his talent. Who would have thought the year 2021 things are unpredictable. So Sam, great coverage from TCO Performance Center.

I'm sure it felt great to be there. I'm going to be out there tomorrow for Christian Derrissaw to be introduced to the Twin Cities media. So that'll be fun. I'm looking forward to that. And man, what, what that'll be fun. I'm looking forward to that. Man, what a night. Thank you for all of your help through the live stream and all of your check-ins and all of your work as well. We'll talk again soon, man.

Sounds good, Collin. Good job on the live stream. That was pretty impressive, the way you filibustered through a tradeback and got all the way to number 23, gave the reaction. Good props to you. And, yeah, we both have reaction pieces up on the website as well, so make sure to check those out.

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to about a half an hour of reacting to the Trey Lance pick reacting to Mac Jones being taken and the Vikings trade down with Courtney Cronin and then also Sam and I talking about the Christian Derusaw pick so you get our live and unfiltered reactions so here are those thanks again for listening ready to announce the San Francisco 49ers selection that we've all been waiting for for months here and it's going to be Trey Lance the Minnesota guy whoa number three. Never believed it would be Mack Jones. I just want that right there on the record. Never for one single second did I ever believe it was going to be Mack Jones. And how about that?

The North Dakota State quarterback, Trey Lance. Corey, I probably still liked Fields a little better, but they would have been insane to not go with the great athlete to pair with Kyle Shanahan. Look, Justin Fields, right now I'm like, come on, baby. Just keep sliding. Keep sliding. We're here for you. But Trey Lance, I mean, what a story.

Marshall, Minnesota, and wanted to be a gopher, and the gophers, I don't know, looked at him as an athlete. And he ends up at, you know, though, it is, I think this is probably maybe symbolic of life, right? Lots of times you sometimes go, well, I really wanted to be here, but you end up in a better situation. Like for Trey Lance to end up at North Dakota State when he did, at the time he did, in the system that he was was in it was just perfect for him right it's just a perfect system he got to sit behind uh an NFL quarterback and he's stick for a year and then um get his turn which was a phenomenal North Dakota State's so interesting because like it was like they had that Jenner kid or whatever and then it was Carson Wentz and it was Easton Stick and then it's Trey Lance.

It's like, what is going on over there? But, wow. Yeah, and, you know, you brought this up on your show, too, about Kyle Shanahan, how we always expect, well, he likes guys that will just run the play, right? Here, I draw it up, you run it. But what if you put a super talented athletic guy in that? Maybe you get even a better result.

Right, exactly. And I'm looking at the TV on NFL Network right now, and Daniel Jeremiah's comparison for Trey Lance is Steve McNair. For 90s NFL fans, early 2000s NFL fans, I mean, if that's what he turns out to be like, paired with someone who is a genius play caller and play designer, which I don't think Steve McNair ever had in Jeff Fisher. But I mean,

it could be like the one that you're super jealous of as a Vikings fan, to be honest, like this is what like Vikings fans have a quarterback in Kirk cousins who does the X's and O's the way that they're drawn up and makes the throws he's supposed to throw. But what we saw is even very Kubiak, even Kevin Stefanski, even with Jimmy Garoppolo, even Sean McVay with Jared Goff, there are limitations because things break down.

And when things break down, we see great playmakers make plays, and that's what Trey Lance has the capability to do. So, I mean, I'm excited to see just this offense that Kyle Shanahan has paired with Trey Lance. But from a Vikings perspective, Corey, though, not great because I think a lot of fans, A, wanted them to end up with Mac Jones and the NFC not to be as strong. But B, also wanted to see Trey Lance drop and be available for the Vikings at 14. That's not going to happen. Right. So things here what does uh san francisco do with jimmy garoppolo right i mean all those rumors you can't just keep him now can you i mean you

know you're our starter for a year but you do need a starter is that going to be aaron rogers i'd still i mean maybe maybe they i mean maybe that's still a dream for them but i don't think the packers want to trade him to san francisco i think they'd much prefer to have him in the afc so now it's really interesting what san francisco I think they'd much prefer to have him in the AFC. So now it's really interesting what San Francisco does because Trey Lance has played one game in the past two years, and he's also only played 13 games at the whatever it is level, FCS, FBS? FCS, yeah. FCS level.

But so, I mean, they're in kind of a weird spot too now because you've already alienated your own starting quarterback by trying to trade him three or four different times. Right. I think, though, still that just like Alex Smith started for a year, that San Francisco should do the same thing with Jimmy Garoppolo. Because, as you mentioned, Trey Lance just did not play that much football. He is 17-0 as a starter, which is fantastic. But that's only 17 starts and now going to an NFL team. So for him, it would make a lot of sense for him to sit for a year behind Garoppolo and then for

them to move on from Garoppolo after that. And now Atlanta's on the board. This is a real pivot point in the draft because they could take Justin Fields, they could take Kyle Pitts, and whoever they take here might have sort of a tumbling down effect on who's there at 14 for the Vikings so um sorry go ahead Corey I was gonna say if they take Justin Fields then um I'm all like all right deflated let's just we go all the way then that's fine your emotional roller coaster I don't know how you are you like because you really ride this thing on draft night, man. Okay, I do. And I'll tell you, 2003,

that's the year, and fans will remember this, that's the year that the Vikings were selecting seventh, and they didn't get the pick in on time. So we were sitting there in our college house, and we're all just screaming at the TV, and we're like, what is going on? And they got 15 minutes at that time, 15 minutes, no pick. And I hate being embarrassed on a national stage, and everyone's laughing at you and pointing fingers like, God, what a dysfunctional franchise. And you're like, that's my favorite team, and it stinks when it's you. And then it's like, okay, well, now they're eighth.

They don't even get it in in that amount of time. So then it goes Byron Lefkowitz to the Jags, Jordan Gross to Carolina, and then finally the Vikings get the pick in, and it's Kevin Williams. And we were like, why are you taking – take Jimmy Kennedy, which is – you know, we were wrong because Kevin Williams is like borderline Hall of Famer. And eventually we did get Jimmy Kennedy, and he was Kevin Williams' backup. But we were – That's draft night for you, right?

We form the hottest stakes next to the sun, and then you never know how it's going to play out. Well, Corey, I really appreciate you coming on here, popping in, taking some time. I want you, before you go, though, to make your prediction. There is still time to make your prediction of who the Vikings take with the 14th overall pick or other pick? Okay, I think they're either going to stay at 14 and draft.

I think if they're at 14 and they're not taking a quarterback there, I think they're trading down. I really do. I think they will trade down. And at that point, like everybody else, I think it will be an offensive lineman or a defensive lineman. But I do think I'm expecting a trade down and either one guy on the offensive line or on the defensive line. I want to say something real quick. Adam Schefter tweeted that the 49ers didn't even tell their coaching staff who they were drafting.

So who are all these people who are sources that were telling them, Mac Jones, we need that. You know, we really need is draft lead up accountability. Some of these reporters who say sources say this, this, this and this. And yet they didn't even tell their coaching staff. So they didn't even know. So anyway, so when you have Chris Trapasso on on Monday, that's your wrap up. But then the next Monday, you got to have him back. Then that'll be the whole recap of everything. Calling, calling out people, calling out shots. Well, that's Chris T trapasso did every monday on on the podcast on the purple insider podcast and he said all along that he

doesn't try to get scouts and everything else because they give you wrong information on purpose so he tries to avoid that so uh smart smart on him that's why i like him so cory me too thanks thanks for your time man really appreciate it and i appreciate the uh the platform here that wcco is giving me so i will talk to you again soon man sounds great keep up the great work matthew see ya hey everyone i want to tell you about our friends it's scout logistics and i really do mean it when i say friends they are fans of purple insider over at scout logistics and since they reached out wanting to support this show, I want to tell you about what they do. Scout Logistics is just-in-time transportation for full tractor-trailer loads. And if you're wondering what that means exactly, well, if you own or work for a company that needs shipping solutions,

they are the preferred carrier of Fortune 500 companies across North America. And we have quite a few of those in Minnesota, right? They can ship perishable, non-perishable, FTL or LTL, and they have on-time delivery rate of over 99%. So if you're like them and you enjoy the show and you have shipping needs, check out ScoutLogistics.com or call 855-217-2688 extension 232 to connect with them directly to find out how Scout Logistics can minimize risk and overperform and go the extra mile for your company. Well, let's talk about the Mac Jones thing because the pick is in for New England.

If they take Mac Jones, does that change the way that you feel about the Vikings passing on Mac Jones? Yes, and that's a little bit facetious. I don't think we need to be overly concerned about that. The Patriots have actually been horrible drafters. That's what the irony is there, is that they were so good for so long, drafting horribly. Like, look at their track record the last five, six years. So here's the announcement for New England.

Goodell is going to filibuster for a minute. But, no, I'm not going to be overly concerned. I think it's a smart play for New England because they got all the free agents. They spent, like like $200 million committed over the next few years. You got to support those investments with a rookie quarterback who you can kind of hang your hat on. I think it's a good move for them, but I'm not going to panic all that much about it. I've kind of been anti-Mac Jones, so I'm going to stick to my guns on this. And I don't blame you for that because Mac Jones, to me, does not scream special.

I decided right before they traded the pick that I would have been pro-Mac Jones had they made the move, but I'm also not going to say, how dare you? If it was Justin Fields, I might have said, how dare you? Or if it was Trey Lance, like we didn't know going into tonight who it was going to be. It's Mack. It's Mack Jones. Okay. Sam, I think we got to have a discussion about it that's now different because this means that the league valued Mack Jones as a middle of the first round quarterback and the Vikings decided they didn't. Or they decided, Sam, that getting someone who can immediately help their pass rush

or maybe their offensive line or a receiver, they decided anything else was more important than the future quarterback of their franchise and the New England Patriots valued Mac Jones at the number 15 pick right behind them. It's very hard for me to say right now that I can't criticize this because getting the franchise quarterback in the future of your quarterback position is just so important that even if you're not a Mac Jones fan, I also don't believe in my own evaluations that strongly. I also don't think that I know which one of these guys will turn out

because I was anti-Josh Allen and pro-Josh Rosen. And all these analysts, they have the same misses and hits as everybody else. Everybody loves Demarcus Russell and so forth. So this kind of changes the way I look at it. I was ready to be very okay with the Vikings not taking Mac Jones if he went like 24 or 27 but now going to New England this is one forever Sam we will be watching Mac Jones's career and honestly Justin Fields too because they didn't trade up but they would have had to trade the next year's one not taking Mac Jones with your own pick I don't know man it's going to be one that we are watching forever yep if anything it's a really fun trail to follow. Now, here's the difference between Matt Jones and the Vikings

and Matt Jones and New England. You know Matt Jones is going to be protected. New England just – they know how to protect quarterbacks. They have the intel. They have the schemes that allows that to happen. They were incredible drafters of offensive linemen last year. They had more day three offensive line prospects hit last year than the Vikings have ever had.

Super impressive. And you get the feeling that Mac Jones might have a higher trajectory just being in New England, right? And that could sort of alter how we view this, maybe unfairly to the Vikings. I don't I don't think so, because I think that offensive linemen now, in theory, are you are able to bring them in. You're able to find them with a quarterback on a rookie contract. So I think that we maybe are acknowledging that one of the reasons they haven't gotten a great left guard is because they've had to pay him a million dollars, that that's a big reason

because of, you know, Kirk Cousins' contract. So if it was Mack Jones that they took, I think that they just spend a lot more money on the offensive line than they've been able to in previous years. But here's the other thing, too. Everybody who's played quarterback for Minnesota in the last, I don't know how many years has been good because of great wide receivers and a great running game for the most part. I mean, just Justin Jefferson alone on this team and Adam Thielen, and then you would invest in more wide receivers if you were going to draft him. Think about like team quarterback rating as a whole. How many teams have had better or more consistently

good quarterback play? Even going back to Teddy Bridgewater was good in 2015. Not great. Case Keenum was good. Not unbelievable in 2017. And Kirk Cousins, the whole time he's been here, has put up good numbers. I think a rookie quarterback, especially one whose ceiling is Kirk Cousins, would probably do the same thing.

I was ready for this contingency. I was going to only criticize it if the Patriots took Mac Jones because if they didn't believe he was any good, then I would say fine. If the Patriots don't buy it, then I won't buy it either. But the fact that they went with it, Sam, I think it's worth criticizing, especially if you take a defensive end and he's decent. He's not a megastar. I mean, what is that worth to you versus what Mac Jones might be worth to you if he becomes a star? Yeah, you're asking really good questions, and I like that you're pushing back on this and you're planting your flag, and I totally

appreciate that. At least it seems like the Vikings are angling for a high positional value with their 23rd pick like if it's defensive end I think that's really important I think that Mike Zimmer wants pass rushers and I think that's probably the second most important defensive position uh if it's wide okay now if it's wide receiver at 23, if it's Bateman, would you be excited about that relative to the offensive lineman they might have taken at 14? Yes, not in the same way as a quarterback, of course. But if that is the plan, it is to trade back and it is to take Rashad Bateman and it is to do what we've talked about so much,

and that's take a wide receiver and give another weapon to Cousins. I will feel a little different because I think that that's an answer for how are you going to get better on offense and then even then if you're talking about a quarterback next year if it's you know Kirk Cousins last year or extending him you know who your top wide receivers are going to be, and that would be a huge deal. I would view that a little differently, but not as much as a quarterback. I mean, there are other wide receivers that you could draft along the way. There are other wide receivers that you can trade for or sign in free agency. Quarterbacks are just really hard to get, and guys who change franchises are drafted in the first round uh not all of them

some are busts but i just feel like we don't know which ones are going to be busts ultimately so arizona is taking zaven collins which is a big stretch they don't know what they're doing either there are certain teams where you just go are they really ever a threat do they know what they're doing uh sam i'm gonna pop you off here i I'm going to bring in Courtney Cronin. And so I want you to come back in maybe like 15, 20 minutes. We'll talk again as we get real close to the pick. Okay. Sounds good, Tyler.

Appreciate it, Sam. Okay, Courtney. Here, I just said this to Sam, and I've got to get your reaction to it, that the Patriots taking Mac Jones changes the formula for how I analyze the Vikings not taking Mac Jones. Like that matters a lot to me that the Patriots said, no, well, he's not good enough for you. He's good enough for us. How do you feel about it?

See, the thing was when they didn't trade up earlier and there were a lot of fans who were super pressed, did you really think that they were going to go after Justin Fields and trade up for him? Like to me, it's like if Fields didn't fall to them at 14, which you and I have talked about all week, we didn't think was likely, that it wasn't going to be a quarterback at that spot regardless. Like, you know, they got good compensation.

They've got four third round picks now and they've got three fourth round picks that should be enough ammo you would think to be able to trade up into the second round but to me it's like it would either be fields or nobody else at the quarterback spot because Mac Jones is very much Kirk Cousins like you can still probably with those third round picks that they have you can probably go after one of those day two quarterbacks that you and i've talked about maybe it's davis mills maybe it's um jamie newman maybe it's you know a host of other names that are supposed to come on that could be there potentially tomorrow uh they're able to actually move into the second round but at this point you know i feel like that

that fell to the patriots in their lap the v Vikings gave them a gift, like, but I'm not surprised because they weren't going to take Mac Jones. I really don't think that they had any hope of doing that. The one thing that's interesting, though, is that the Jets did take Elijah Barrett Tucker and that's somebody the Vikings had their eye on. But I've long thought that he was a reach for that 14. They're not going to draft a guard at 14. That's just an overdraft for them.

But now, when you move back to 23rd, to me that shows you that you probably have two players you've got an eye on. Is it any of the offensive tackles that might be there a little bit later on? Leah Meikenberg, Dylan Redden, Cos me, maybe. But it's probably a defense event at 23. Doesn't it kind of feel like that's probably Jalen Phillips? It does. The only other guy that I would say is maybe Tevin Jenkins from Oklahoma State would be an offensive lineman who could be there. But on the Mac Jones point, if Mac Jones had dropped to the bottom of the first,

I probably would have said okay well it's clear the NFL just didn't think so here's what this comes down to now two teams looked at the same quarterback with the same draft pick one of them decided he was good enough the other decided he was not and the team that decided he was good enough is the New England Patriots and the team that decided he is not has not had a franchise quarterback since Fran Tarkenton. Correct. Right? Right?

Different needs. You're not wrong. Trust me. But there's a big difference between if you pass up on a Justin Fields and you pass up on Mac Jones. If you pass up on Justin Fields if he's there, that's a fireable offense, in my opinion. If you pass up on Mac Jones, I think honestly you can like, you know, it's a

give or take type thing. You know, they have bigger needs right now. They're looking at this, you know, at that position, they're like, hey, we know New England's probably going to take him at 15. For us, you know, is it best player available? I don't know. They're trying to get value, which Rick Spielman has done throughout his time as general manager in Minnesota. But is that value really the best? I guess we'll see kind of what they end up with. But I think that, you know, I don't hate them passing up on Mac Jones. I really don't. I don't, you know, the Mac Jones hype,

and we thought he was going to go at three for a couple of weeks, but that was all smooth screen. I don't, you know, to me for the Patriots, there's no harm in taking a quarterback there. You need one anyways. If somebody who was projected as a top-five quarterback falls to you, why not? But if you're the Minnesota Vikings, you have a handful of other needs, I don't think it's that bad to pass up on someone like Mac Jones.

Yeah, I just think that no matter what you're talking about, and this goes for Carolina and for Denver, too, teams that passed on quarterbacks. If your corner that you took works out great, congratulations. But if your quarterback doesn't play well, it won't matter. And the same thing goes for this. Like if the Vikings draft a great defensive end and he comes in and gets seven sacks right away, it's not going to change a whole lot from what you already have with Kirk Cousins. You already have had multiple seasons with great defenses with Kirk Cousins where you went not very far and you got one playoff win out of it.

And so for me, this very much says like they're obsessed with value. Like you said, I think that's totally right. And they haven't changed their philosophy. I mean, we've seen it so far tonight. They are still trying to get as many picks as they possibly can instead of getting somebody that's a higher-round draft pick. But it also says that Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer want their guys right now, and they want them to help right now, this season, to go as far as they possibly can because they know the pressure is on. So if you pass, and this is one we'll track forever, if you pass on a guy who becomes a great franchise quarterback for the Patriots,

and I'm not making a prediction on that because I don't know whether Mac Jones will or not, but if he does, it's one we're going to look at forever and say, you guys sacrificed not taking Mac Jones because you needed a defensive end right away, which you could have signed in free agency. Here's the thing. You've got to understand. These people are drafting for their jobs right now. It doesn't matter to Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer.

If it doesn't pan out this year, they're probably not going to be here in a year or two. Let's just keep it a buck. It is probably going to pan out that way. Why would you go ahead and hand the next group that's coming in here their franchise quarterback? Think about all the teams that, like, are kicking themselves and passing on Patrick Mahomes, right? Like, same situation. But, you know, the Vikings are in win-now mode.

They're trying to find players that can help them win now. If you can't find that player, and that's in the form of a defensive end or an offensive lineman, I just still think it's hilarious because the Jets ended up taking Elijah Barrett-Tucker. Like, is he going to help the Jets win win this year i don't know probably not but like you know that's just such a weird thing to me and i just i don't know if i really believe and i see we got another tackle off the board alex leatherwood from alabama um so that's interesting love him by the way love

him there's three off the board but since he went ahead to darrett christian darisaw which that he went ahead to dare christian darisaw which that's interesting i mean hell christian darisaw could still be available to the minnesota vikings at 23 what does that might yeah that might be their guy him and tevin jenkins and maybe that's one of the reasons they decided to do it it just to me is very interesting i think you laid it out perfectly there it's just very interesting that you have a chance to take a guy who could have potentially been your franchise quarterback down the road, but knowing that there might not be a down the road, they decided to do this, take the draft capital. Now let's isolate the Mack Jones part of it. I thought they made a great trade. Like if Mack Jones wasn't involved in this at all,

they did about as well as they could have done picking up extra third round picks. I mean, to have four third rounders is a big deal because you can probably flip two of those into a high second round pick maybe that's where you go after a quarterback if you have davis mills or somebody like that of your mind but the value that they got now i think they have like 11 picks um that's that's yeah they love their they love having their more bites at the apple, that's for sure. But at least they're not seventh rounders and sixth rounders. Like, they've got, you know, four third-round picks.

You could get, you know, impact – immediate impact players in the third round, especially where they're picking. They're picking up high, and I think it's like the second or third pick in the third round. All right. for the selection christian derisaw wow you guys nailed it the offensive tackle from virginia tech six foot four 322 pounds and is an incredible mover and a guy sam that could be their true franchise left tackle. I think when they picked Ezra Cleveland last year, we went, okay, we'll see. We'll see how it plays out.

Christian Derrissaw is a different caliber of prospect, and if you talk about value here and we just talk about who they came away with and what they came away with, this is a great night for them, I think. Yeah, zero sacks allowed last year. That's, and playing with an injury, you know, playing with that groin issue for some of it, I think. I think Rick Spielman is probably chortling right now because, I mean, clearly he didn't care about Mac Jones. So he's not worried about that. This worked out brilliantly for him. I'm sure he knows that this is going to be a fan

favorite pick. No fan base gets more riled up over a good offensive line pick in the first round after all the offensive blocking frustrations over the years. This will make everybody happy. I think this is helpful, too, for Kirk Cousins, this sets you up now, caller, for, let's assume Garrett Bradbury takes a step forward. You've got Garrett Bradbury under team control for three more years. Ezra Cleveland for three more years. You're about to extend Brian O'Neill, I would assume. So that'll get expensive.

But now up to five years of Christian Derrissaw so you've got a very young and except for O'Neill's contract pretty cheap offensive line I remember being in a press conference with Rick Spielman years ago maybe in 2016 where he talked about the need to draft offensive linemen high if they were going to turn out really well. And every once in a while, they would find somebody like a Joe Berger that would be kind of random and would work out well. But his point was, if you want great offensive linemen, you have to take them high in the first round. And that's what they did here.

And they were able to get additional value as well. This also tells us the answer about Ezra Cleveland. And I don't think that it's heartbreaking by any means sam that ezra cleveland ends up being their starting guard and could just lock himself into that position and grow at that position and we also know now as we go into an off season where they will absolutely try to extend brian o'neill that we know now he's going to be a right tackle so having this set for a long period of time, and you could still draft a guard in the third round with your four third

round draft picks, if it ends up being that way. Like I think that these are all very good things for the Vikings offensive line. And if you're Kirk Cousins tonight, yeah, you're pretty happy. Now the only thing I would say is that for the future, this is really good. And for right away, you got your offensive lineman. But still, there are going to be questions about how well a rookie is going to play right away, especially one who's coming off of some injuries. And I think that that will be now going into training camp. The number one storyline is can Christian Derrissaw take that left tackle position or will he need a run-up like Brian O'Neal wants to?

And that's why you've got Rashad Hill on this roster. Rashad Hill is going to play the exact same role that he played before Brian O'Neal took over. I believe Hill got five starts, and then O'Neal took that job. We might have Spielman coming soon here. We've got some movement, So I'm going to bounce. But yeah, this is why you signed Rashad Hill. And I think your biggest question now is,

who's the other guard? Because Ezra Cleveland, Mike Zimmer was truthful. He said a couple of press conferences ago, Cleveland's the right guard. Well, I think that's true. Is Dakota Dozier your left guard though? That's why I think you still have a little more, a few more questions to answer. I'm going to run. Press conference behind me.

Okay. Thanks so much, Sam. Great job out there, man. Okay. The Vikings have their pick. What a night that it was leading up to it. Let me give a final sort of a personal essay, really, on the night. And then we can call it a night for this stream, which has been super fun. And I don't think the Vikings have enough draft capital to totally shock us and trade back into the first round. So I think it'll be safe as I give some final thoughts here. And then I'm going to have a cheeseburger or something, and we're going to do a podcast. If you've watched the whole thing and you've enjoyed this broadcast, then Sam and I are going to do an additional podcast, Purple Insider, just wherever you get your podcasts. Purpleinsider.com is where you

can find the written work. So make sure you do that. So let me just go through it here. The night starts out with the San Francisco 49ers making the right call and drafting Trey Lance. That's not necessarily good for the Vikings, but it's good for my sanity because it never made any sense that Mac Jones would be considered a better prospect than Trey Lance and Justin Fields. And ultimately, Trey Lance and Justin Fields were drafted higher. The low point of the night for the Vikings is Justin Fields being drafted by the Chicago Bears. This gives the Chicago Bears an opportunity to build around a rookie quarterback who has a much higher ceiling,

is a much better prospect than Mitch Trubisky was. And remember, you may laugh at Mitch Trubisky, but he certainly beat the Minnesota Vikings enough times while he was a Chicago Bear. So they are pushing all their chips to the middle of the table. And I think that that is a loss for the Vikings. The fact that their division foe ended up with a quarterback who could truly change the trajectory of the Chicago Bears. He could also be a bust. And we know that the Bears have had that before. Penny Sewell going to the Detroit Lions is another one that you didn't want to see if you were a Minnesota Vikings fan. So as we got to 14, we felt very much like this hasn't gone super well for the Vikings

so far, but now they have some very interesting options. They could pick Mack Jones or they can decide to go a different direction and trade down. And when they traded down, when we saw what they got in return, two third round picks from the New York Jets, I think everyone went, okay, wow, this is really something. Unless the New England Patriots pick Mac Jones and then we're going to have questions. That's exactly what happened. So this draft, we will look back at for a very, very long time, and we will study

everything that Mac Jones does. Every pass he throws for the New England Patriots will be a referendum on whether the Vikings made the right decision. Every pass that Kirk Cousins throws from now on, if it is protected well by his offensive line, that they have invested so much in draft capital, and they still don't get where they want to go if Mac Jones succeeds and Kirk Cousins does not even with better pass protection we're certainly going to look back to this moment but it could go the other way and we could decide that wow the Minnesota Vikings evaluated the quarterback correctly and they didn't want to go with Mac Jones and I will this, that I understand it because I did not see a special prospect in Mac Jones

where you did with Trey Lance, with Justin Fields, with Trevor Lawrence, and with Zach Wilson. So I understand it, but it's one that we are going to look at for a very long time. Now, if we separate those two things, and we just look at Christian Derrissaw and a couple of thirds, that is about as well as you can do for a night for the Minnesota Vikings. They got their future left tackle, which people have just been desperate for the Vikings to continue to build their offensive line to protect Kirk Cousins. And what I wanted to see coming away from night one was something that helped their offense because they had done nothing to help their offense during free agency. So is it a win

for the night? I would say yes. Does it deserve to be graded highly? Yes. But all of those things will have a asterisk. And that asterisk is, in italics, depends on Mac Jones. It's pretty fun, right? That'll be pretty fun to talk about for a long, long time. So I'm going to hang it up because I'm going to assume that the Vikings are not trading back in. I got more to do. I have a written essay to write about this night for purpleinsider.substack.com. So make sure you check that out.

And then we got a podcast to record. We're going to review it all again. I mean, what a night. What a night for the NFL. And I would say everybody needed this. So good night to all of you. And thank you so much for all of you who have followed this whole thing. If you did, you're crazy and I love you.

And if you popped in and out, I really appreciate you taking the time to check out our broadcast. Thank you so much to Chad Hartman, to Corey Heppela, who just came in hot wanting a wide receiver, to Henry Lake, who we talked about was not a Mac Jones fan, to Sam Ekstrom, whose phone is going to die, to Courtney Cronin out there, who's popping in and out as well, and to WCCO Radio, who has been a huge supporter of Purple Insider since it started last year, just after this time.

We're going up on one year. So big thank you to WCCO Radio and Dan Edwardson for giving me this chance to do this. And we'll see about tomorrow night. I'll let you guys know if we're going to do another one tomorrow night. But I can guarantee this, tomorrow is going to be interesting.