Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings sign 2 tryout players; media coverage of JJ McCarthy (Part 2)

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about two defensive players who the Vikings signed to bring their roster plus some great Vikings answers to a viral tweet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Let's see. Mama says McCarthy will be motivated to win and shut up all the talking heads early in the season. I don't think he's that kind of guy that has to have something like that. I mean, I, I don't think there's the two kinds of ways of dealing with that sort of thing. There's the way where somebody listens to all of it and writes it all down and keeps track of it and tries to show all the haters that they're wrong, which is fine. That's sort of like the Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan. You're always paying attention to what the haters are saying. So, and if they're not saying anything, then you make up something. That's one way to do it. I think Kevin Garnett has talked about that before where he would just kind of

make up something in his own mind to be mad at the other team. And Jordan did that. Uh, but I don't think McCarthy really comes across that way. He comes across as somebody who is just closing himself off to the world. That's what Kirk did kind of closing himself off or Kirk did later in his career. I think when he first got to Minnesota, he did not do that. And he probably read every tweet and listened to every interview and that kind of thing. But later on, he talked about having to get rid of that social media app. So he was isolating

himself from all that sort of stuff and only listening to his coaches and teammates and I think it helped him quite a bit as his season or as his career went along. Um, in terms of dealing for that stuff, I think McCarthy is much more able to do that and showed that when he was at Michigan. And again, it's very different and at Michigan, you're getting not a lot of criticism, but they were target on their back team in a way that you usually don't see from a college team because of Jim Harbaugh.

And yet he still was able to block all that out, continue to play football, go through, win the national championship. That's just to me how he handles his life, I think. Now he is on the Internet. You see him tweeting and Instagramming and stuff like that but I don't know that he's going and seeking out like who can motivate me because he's been motivated to be a starting quarterback in the NFL since he was a kid so I don't know if that's gonna make any difference or not but I also don't know him that well yet like we're gonna

get to know him all of us together over the years better and what makes him tick and how he handles certain things. He just comes across to me like he's built in different foundational things to help him knowing that he's going to be under the spotlight. So I'm not sure that something that Colin Cowhert says is going to make a difference to him. CJ says favorite role players, Jim Klein saucer, Anderson Dayhoe, Marcus Sheryl's. Those are all great picks.

Klein saucer is one of those all time legendary. I mean, just you say Jim Klein saucer. Every single Minnesotan is going to love Jim Klein saucer. And the interesting thing about him is, like, when we talk about some of these role players, sometimes they get elevated beyond what they really were. But I think Jim Kleinsaucer was pretty darn good, a pretty darn valuable piece of the Minnesota Vikings back then, because he could play tight end. He could play fullback.

He could really do a lot of different stuff. So, you know, that's a, that's a great pick. That's that. I mean, that's one that's just, you gotta have, if you're making this list, you have to have Marcus Sherrill's and Jim Klein Saucer. Let me get back to your lists and questions in a moment. But first, let me remind you or tell you about one of our

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Anyone you think could be signed in the future? That, yeah, I don't, I mean, from just seeing the rookie mini camp, I'm not sure if there's anybody else that they brought in that I could see being signed. Bolden is somebody, I I guess to keep an eye on because there just isn't, uh, like a lot of safeties in this room. So clearly he was somebody that they liked enough to keep in the competition.

And there's some positions where if a guy is a late round pick, I'm just going to, I don't know, probably not pay that much attention because the road is so hard Safety is not one of those positions safety is one of those positions where there's always a chance that a guy could end up Getting signed and being some sort of difference maker to a team and maybe boldens one of those guys Mama says I'll take McCarthy talk over Aaron Rodgers talk. Oh, yes. Oh, yes You were speaking my language with that one. 100%. Yes, I totally agree. Uh, Mo Williams. Mo, I've done a couple of stories through the years with Mo Williams. Great guy.

Um, love talking to him. He was a good, he scored all those touchdowns the one year. A great secondary running back. Surprisingly good kick returner, role player. Who is the guy that got busted with the Wizinator? Who was the Wizinator? Oh, I know this. I don't want to say the wrong name because I think I remember who it is. But if I say the wrong name, then that's I'm going to wrongly implicate. OK, it was who I thought it was. Ontario Smith. Yeah. All right. Ontario Smith was the guy who had the Wizinator. And Kevin It was who I thought it was Ontario Smith. Yeah. All right.

Ontario Smith was the guy who had the Wisinator and Kevin Seifert tells a good story about that, that someone from the airport called the star tribute and said, you might want to get down here, Matt Ossiata. There you go. King of the goal line touchdown or, or also sometimes King of getting stuffed at the goal line. I think it was 2015 that he had a lot of touchdowns and played pretty well 2016 when he got stuffed. Chris Cluey and Jeff Locke. I don't think punters count. I don't think punters count as the, as a role player. That's just a punter. Jermaine Wiggins. He, yeah.

Jermaine Wiggins was a good one. Leroy Horde, again, another guy I had on the show a couple of years ago. Great guy to have on. Great stories. Certainly qualifies for this. Leroy Hort is that role player. Latavious Murray, Kylie Wong, Little Leo Lewis. You guys are pulling out some good ones. Chris Walsh, another one who's brought a lot of toughness, special teams ability, that kind of thing.

Some good names, Aldrick Robinson, Aldrick only catches touchdowns. How is Ty Felton looking fast and actually binger bigger than I thought. Because when somebody runs that fast, I kind of expect them to be smaller or skinnier. And I thought he looked bigger, but he's going to have to learn to be a little bit more. Is it flexible or just like get down a little bit more kind of runs a little bit straight up at almost like a track guy.

So if you're going to get off the line, it's just like a small detail, but if you're going to get off the line of scrimmage in the NFL, you have to be low. If you can't, if you ever watched the fond digs, like how low he gets to the ground because you're trying to eliminate the amount of area that the corners can get their hands on you. Now he may not have a lot of situations where he's getting pressed in the NFL because all the attention is going with Jefferson and with Addison, but it's

just one of those like, Oh, you can see the straight line speed, but there's going to be some details that he has to work on because he's going from Maryland to the NFL and you can kind of spot those a little bit in rookie mini camp, but did look bigger than I thought. Let's see. Mick Tinglehoff was underrated or undrafted. Another one of the all time greats. That's sure. That's for sure. Sean missing Andrews and day. How is today? It was a good player.

He was a good player and he was the perfect kind of compliment as a missile and sometimes too much of a missile, but a missile nonetheless, a little too much at times over aggressive, but he made plays, got interceptions, came really close in a couple of games to getting pick sixes. I think what was it? Was it Carolina where he almost had a pick six and they would have won that game in 2017. Mama says, how many wins do you think

Darnold will get with the Seahawks? Will he make the playoffs? I think there's a good chance that they do. When you look at that division, I'm really not all that impressed with that division, with the NFC West. I see that the 49ers have 10 and a half is there over under for wins.

That is a reputation over under and Kyle Shanahan's good. They'll win games with Kyle Shanahan, but that is a reputation over under. They have lost a lot of talent and have not really done a lot to replace it. Arizona's on the rise. They will be better. But with Kyler Murray,

are they always a perpetual eight nine type of wind team and The Rams will be good I think the Rams as long as Matthew Stafford is still playing at a high level the Rams will be good and it comes down To them Seattle is a good enough team last year. They I think they had ten wins and missed the playoffs, right? So they're a good team DK is gone. DK was kind of struggling last year. Jackson Smith, the Jigba passed him by. Tyler Lockett was fading. So I think sort of they've lost some, but they've gained some there. And I think Darnold, the biggest issue is going to be that offensive line that they drafted what,

Grey's Abel, but that's a big adjustment for Grey's grace able to have to go right into the NFL and then hey this is what we talked about with Donovan Jackson where Donovan Jackson is. Going to fit in with a great center and a great left tackle he is isolated nicely there at left guard grace able not so much for Seattle they're basically saying hey can you save the offensive line. And I'm not sure he's going to be able to do that. Jason says question of the night. Does the NFL need a draft lottery like the NBA? No, I don't think so at all. If you are bad enough in the NFL to draft number one, you take your life in your hands because sometimes it's Joe burrow and sometimes it's not.

And even if you are tanking for a Trevor Lawrence, if you're a bad organization and you're that bad to be the number one pick, there's no guarantee that you just take that guy and he changes your franchise. I also think this is just theoretical for me. I think that the draft lottery increases tanking. I don't think it decreases tanking because teams feel like, Oh, I'm on the edge of the playoffs. We would rather move on from some players or whatever at the trade deadline to make

sure that we just get in that discussion because Hey, we might win it as opposed to, well, what difference does it make if we draft five or seven? Let's try to win games. I think there's way more tanking when you have the draft lottery than when you don't. But I don't like it. I'm not a big fan of it. Um, it does get ugly sometimes with a number one quarterback that everybody

knows is a number one quarterback like the Chicago bears. Who was it? Was it, uh, Nathan Peterman was playing too well against the Vikings. So they put in Tim Boyd Was there is that how they did it or Tim Boyle Tim Boyle is the guy's name in week 18 to just make sure 100% hey We are not gonna lose out on that number one draft pick and then funny enough though the Texans They end up was that how it went with the Texans. I forget how this went exactly the Texans

They the the Bears were tanking No, it wasn't for Caleb Williams. How did that go? Oh, so they could trade it right so they could trade it to Carolina That's what happened, right? They were trying to get that one pick so they could trade it but the Texans won on the last day With Davis Mills and they ended up getting the better quarterback so far in CJ Stroud So I think also the randomness of the NFL with top draft picks, it doesn't make a big difference to me. I don't need a lottery. I think that everything is just fine. Uh,

P hand says Harrison Smith and CJ Ham either need to live up to their contract, uh, PFF rated or whatever source you choose, they are overpaid mascots, which is odd, right? I would strongly disagree with Harrison Smith being called an overpaid mascot. In fact, I could tell you what PFF thinks of Harrison Smith. I think it's harder for a PFF to guarantee you what the value CJ Hamm brings on special teams

or to present to you as easily. And even the safety position with PFF, that can be tricky from year to year, but you know, the overall picture. But I can tell you how he did last year when I load this up. Now you might argue a little bit that Harrison Smith got too much money,

but I don't know, when you're talking about the guy who is so center to the communication of a defense where communication is everything, and then still enough of a playmaker to make a difference I think that that's pretty valuable. So last year Harrison Smith was 27th out of let me find out here out of 64 by PFF if that's what we want to use That's where he was last year And of course that's not going to factor how much he has to do with making the checks

So think about this, like Harrison Smith is like having Brian Flores on the field because he's making so many changes and Flores has explained this a number of times, but he sees the offensive formation. He sees the personnel group, he sees the tendencies and we'll make changes and then they'll show something, but the offense will make a change, then they'll make another change, they call it holding the pen last.

All that stuff can't be captured in a grade. And still he was 27th. Trayvon Morig who got a ton of money in free agency, he's 25th. And let's see, even Javon Holland, who I liked a lot as a Vikings idea of Harrison Smith retired He was 36th and cam bynum was 36. So I would not say that Harrison Smith is overpaid CJ ham. I just think well when you talk about overpaid, what are we talking about here?

I mean a couple million bucks there. I don't I don't yeah, I don't agree with that I don't agree with either one of those things. I mean mascots like that's just not that's just totally disrespectful Let's see Sorry clicking around Zack says what do you think about the Vikings going to Dublin and then London right after well, I think number one I can't wait until Wednesday night when we get a chance to Have the schedule and Manny Hill and myself are going to pick the schedule on Wednesday night. That's going to be really fun.

And if that indeed is the case, which is enough people reporting it. So it sounds like that's going to be it. It's not easy for any team to go overseas for one week. I cannot imagine what the team employees are gonna go through Hopefully some people get to bring their families because that's a long time to be away at the same time You're taking two road games and making them neutral That's an edge i think for the vikings to have two road games and you get to play them on a neutral field Usually those games are a little ugly and we may just have to factor that in.

They've done well when they've gone overseas. Have they lost over there? Maybe not since I've been here, not since I've covered the team. They won in 17 and they beat the Saints in 2022 and then last year beat the Jets. Maybe I'm missing one, but they've done well when they've gone over there. It's a little bit of an edge for them. But if you're if you're a road trip person, you're probably disappointed about Pittsburgh.

I know that's the case for me. And if you are a family member, you're like, so are we going overseas or are we just not going to see you for two weeks or whatever? Like, that's that is a huge endeavor. And when they come back, then they have to hopefully they'll get the bye week after that, because there's going to be you for two weeks or whatever like that's that is a huge endeavor and when they come back then they have to hopefully they'll get the bye week after that because there's gonna be a huge readjustment after that I mean you go over there for one week with the timing then you're gonna get right back on track but you go over there for two weeks that's that's gonna

be tough and that'll be interesting to see how it plays out mr. mayor says curious if you've replaced ham in the backfield with a second starting guard or tackle what would happen his role in the backfield with a second starting guard or tackle What would happen is roll in the offense seems to be more like one of them since he rarely gets the ball himself There aren't many guards or tackles who could move fast enough. That's why they use the fullback Every so often a randall mcdaniel gets thrown in the backfield or what was his name? JJ Pugweese was another one that did that in college Or what was his name? JJ Pugweese was another one that did that in college.

Somebody mentioned Dan Skipper. Yeah, that's right. That does happen from time to time. Not very much though, because they're just not quick enough with their feet to do that. And every so often, this is where Kevin O'Connell has missed the boat

a little bit with Ham is that every so often, what Kevin Stefanski or Gary Kubiak would do was they would throw him a little quick pass. There was a game against KC in 2019 where I think maybe that was a handoff, but they would surprise the other team with a CJ ham handoff or quick pass and he could make something out of it. Um, role players, Vasante, Shanko is a good pick. Chris Walsh is a good pick.

Do I think Ty Felton will be wide receiver three? No, I think it'll be Jalen Naylor and Ty Felton will develop. This is the thing we have to keep in mind about young players, especially guys who are not first round draft picks. But we even have to have this talk about Dallas Turner. OK, they drafted someone. We don't know if he could play at all yet. We got to see if he could play at all first.

I think he will be in the mix as a role player. But and Freddie said, you know, are we getting rid of Jalen nailer? No. I mean, my gosh, why would you get rid of more talent? I mean, if you want more of these guys in your wide receiver room, you don't, this isn't like Madden where you can turn injuries off. You want rotation, you want difference, uh, in skill sets. You don't want to get rid of anybody who's good Jalen Naylor proved last year that he can play So you want him as a deep threat still and more of an all-around receiver with a lot of experience in the system? And then you want Ty Felton to be able to just mix in if he plays 15 snaps a game and gets

One or two catches but turns one into a 15 yard game like that's a good start and eventually Ty Felton can be that guy but you don't want to get rid of him right now um Antoine Winfield yes was too good to be a role player but still a great player nonetheless I think he would have been I think he would have been a borderline Hall of Fame player if they had used, if they had PFF for that whole time to kind of really show how good he actually was. Okay, one more question that we'll get to Clay's corner. Zach says, did you see Chase Daniels say that he thought McCarthy seemed nervous in his opening press conference couldn't disagree more your thoughts. I mean, this is what I'm saying though, right? McCarthy is now a talking point and whether

there's anything there or not, they're going to make it. There is going to be a, you must talk about JJ McCarthy in the national media because he's going to move the needle because he is now a debatable player. So everybody is going to be reaching out for, uh, you know, these different takes. And, uh, no, I didn't think that he seemed nervous really at all. He's been in front of us many times, but also. I mean, I don't know. Like I was maybe 14 feet from him that day. And he didn't really seem that nervous to me. He seemed

like the same as we had talked to JJ McCarthy before, but JJ is always going to be like professional up there. And so maybe that's not going to be exactly the same way you'd see him. And I don't mean unprofessional. I just mean like a little more loose in an interview with K Adams at a golf tournament. It'll be a little bit more formal is what I should say a little bit more formal in that press conference. And I also think too, it's the first time that he talked to the media in that capacity since he had gotten hurt and he's 22. And I mean, I'm, I'm always sitting there thinking that he's 28 and that he's

done this for many years when he's at those press conferences. So I thought that he seemed fine and answer. I don't even know like what I'm supposed to say to that. That's an odd. It's just an odd take. Um, didn't seem really nervous to me. Is that so? He's nervous to start.

He's nervous to be QB one. Like, what are we supposed to make of that? I mean, how much it's sometimes I feel like, where do people come up with these things? I don't even know. Like that's if you go back and watch a JJ McCarthy press conference from last year in the middle of training camp, it looks exactly like that. He was ready for some of the questions about being QB one. And is he ready to start what he learned from going through all that sort of stuff?

But didn't seem to be, um, didn't seem to be too nervous to me. I mean, everybody with public speaking is probably a little nervous. Uh, Andy says David Palmer, David Palmer is a huge one for me because when I played, so there's a couple of different versions of tech mobile and there's a version that came out in, I think 95, it was the last tech mobile version. It had Warren moon and I think Robert Smith in the backfield, Carter, Jake Reed, and I would always put in David Palmer running back so I could throw him quick passes

because his speed was so good. Okay, now one more and we'll get to Clay's corner. Clay has been anxiously sitting on the sidelines. He's gonna be ready to go here. Alexander says, in your NFC North Awards episode, you claimed Jonathan Allen was the most overrated move. Actually, that was not me that said that. That was my cohost. That was, um, that was not, that was not me. So that was, that was Lauren Cox from

lockdown. That wasn't my pick. My pick actually was the, was Alan was risky, I think, but he was the one that was over that went with overrated. Can you compare Grady,rett and Alan? I feel like Jared is a worse player, more overrated. So I agree that Grady Jarrett, this version of him is probably more overrated. I would agree with that. The reason I went with risky is because there's just more money involved with Jonathan Allen that if it doesn't work out this year for Jonathan Allen, they can't really get

out of the contract right away. Um, with, I haven't looked at, uh, Grady Jarrett's contract. Maybe it's the same way for him, but that's why I felt like it was risky. And I think what Lauren was going for is just the fact that, uh, the last couple of years of production for Jonathan Allen, like Grady Jarrett, we're not at the same level of him in 2021 and 2022, which makes it overrated when he's being talked about completely overhauling the Vikings defensive lines. I think that was his opinion. And with Grady Jarrett,

I think it was three for 42, but there's not as much guaranteed for his contract, which may have made it a little bit less risky, but I didn't like that signing for Chicago Just because it's been quite a while since Grady Jarrett was that guy so that could definitely be in the conversation What I think Alan has been talked about more than Grady Jarrett signing with Chicago because they've done so many other things I guess if we're getting into overrated, that's pretty ambiguous So anyway, let's let's go to Clay's corner here. Clay Petrie, intern Clay, and his final week here is our intern. And Thursday is going to be

your show. Goodbye, Clay show. That'll be really fun. But for now, you have done your usual gathering of five different topics for us to discuss. So Clay, how are you and where would you like to begin? Yeah, I'm good. It's sad to be starting my last week on purple insider, but I'm never going to forget this and we'll never really be done. You know, we're, we're always going to have this connection. So, so we're good. Go. And I'm ready to talk. Yeah. Didn't, didn't block your email and phone number. Yeah. Yeah. He told me as soon as we're done to lose his, lose his contact,

lose his numbers. So I guess I'm done after this. That's, that's how it's always done with the interns. I just don't ever speak to me again, please moving on. Yup. But anyway, for, for our first Clay's corner topic, PFF posted their breakout candidates for all 32 teams. And of course, they picked JJ McCarthy for the Vikings. And although this is completely fair, I think it's a little basic. Do you have some other players who you think deserve to be mentioned?

I do. Yeah, I do. I think the first guy that I would throw out there would be Dallas Turner is the most obvious answer for me because last year just didn't get a lot of opportunity and flashed sometimes when he did and other times was nowhere to be found. And so if he comes out this year and gets 650 snaps and eight sacks and then all of a sudden we're going to be talking about Dallas Turner and how he took this big step and how the draft pick was worth it and all that sort of stuff.

I mean, that's a very real possibility because they don't have anybody else that's competing with him. They, they are. And I always talk about this on the show is it's not just what they say, but it's what they do. And when those two things match up, then I think they're telling the truth. The fact that they did not go out and sign Emmanuel Agba or somebody else, a former guy who played for Brian Flores in Miami, the fact that they didn't sign anybody else tells me that they are really buying the Dallas Turner thing.

And those snap counts for Van Ginkle and Granard were so high last year. I don't think they want to do that again. So when, uh, when he gets this opportunity, he could be a breakout candidate and there's a couple other guys on the roster to Theo Jackson. We've talked about and also McKay Blackman is someone we've discussed quite a bit. That's a third round draft pick who was, uh, I think playing really well when he got his opportunity at the end of 2023. And then, you know, he gets injured first day of training camp is just terrible for him. You wait the whole off season, you get out there for the first day of camp

and then tear your ACL, just brutal. So now he's gonna get his chance to jump back on and go from there. Those would be the ones that could actually make noise, I think beyond just, oh, hey, this guy earned a late spot on the roster. And I'll throw out one more that we were just talking about. Jalen Naylor could also break out a little bit more than he did last year with a new quarterback.

And I think, you know, even though they drafted Ty Felton, that doesn't mean that Jalen Naylor is gone or not a part of this thing. Probably not talking about him catching a hundred passes or something. But if Jordan Addison has a three game suspension, we're going to see a lot of Jalen Naylor and he could end up with better numbers than people think. Was there anybody else on that list from around the league that stuck out at shoe or anybody else you wanted to bring up breakout players? Yeah, I kind of wanted to add onto that. McKay Blackman note, because I brought, I thought Isaiah Rogers,

because if he earns their trust throughout OTAs and training camp I think he could see a lot more volume this year and he has a big opportunity to step up and I think a big part about being a breakout is expectations and this roster is pretty loaded but if you had to point out a weakness I think it's fair to look at the cornerback room and they're going to need someone to step up next to Byron Murphy. And I think he could be that guy. You know, he comes from a winning team and they're going to they're going to need somebody there to step up. So so he looks primed for a potential breakout year. I just I wonder about because they don't really have traditional nickel.

The guys play in the nickel, but that's depending on how things play out with the offense. It's often Josh Mattelis is more of the nickel slash hybrid position that's out there. So if there's the three guys, Byron Murphy, Mackay Blackman and Isaiah Rogers, how does that get divvied up? Last year we saw Shaq Griffin fill in when Stefan Gilmore was out for a little bit, but mostly they just rotated those guys kept them a little more fresh. I think when they wanted to play a little more man coverage Shaq Griffin would get out there. Is that going to be how it is with Rogers or Blackman or is that a real battle? I think we start to find that out when we get out there for OTAs if that's going to be a real battle or if they kind of see one guy as being far ahead at the start, but both of them are good candidates. The fact that Rogers has been around a little while,

but has not gotten an opportunity like this. Now he does. That seems like a classic Brian Flores type of breakout player. Yeah, I agree. And then just if we look around the league at someone that caught my eye was Marvin Harrison Jr. for the Cardinals. Would you consider him a breakout? I feel like he had a good enough year last year. I know people expect more from him, but to call him a breakout, I'm not sure. Let me look, let me see what he did last year because I, you know, Cardinals,

we saw the one game and at that point he was not doing all that well. He ended up with 62 catches on 114 targets. That's not a great rate. Uh, eight touchdowns. So it looks like they threw downfield to him a lot. Well, I mean, well this is kind of crazy. He had 38 contested catch opportunities and caught 16 of them. That's a lot of just tossing it up in the general area of Marvin Harrison, Jr.

I think that this is a guy who does have to break out because he came out with so much hype where people were talking about him as Generational wide receiver prospect which I just cannot stand that type of language This guy's gonna have a statue build of him someday. What are we talking about? Let's see if he can even maybe that maybe this is something that just makes me anti modern media is it feels like even with what we were talking about earlier with the Colin Coward saying JJ McCarthy is going to be more like this than that. You're like, what the heck? You haven't even seen a practice of his. But I guess none of that really matters when it comes to the hype.

Everything is just about how much we can hype somebody up. So are you are you not a fan of the Jeremiah Smith hype from Ohio State? Well, so here's the difference, though, because Jeremiah Smith is unbelievable. And I mean, I thought Marvin Harrison was very good. But what everyone kept saying is, well, it doesn't matter that he's not that fast. I'm like, doesn't it, though? It doesn't matter that because if somebody relies on contested catches, good luck doing that in the NFL. That is a nice bonus. If you could be Justin Jefferson and you can be the best in the league at it. But a lot of times it's separation is really what makes the difference.

They draw up the plays and they work, but you got to get away from one-on-one coverage. And in college, if you run a four or six or something, I don't even think Harrison ran, but he looks to me like a four, six type of guy. If he runs a four, six, you better be really strong if you're gonna separate, because you're not gonna get rid of those people with just route running. That's why it looks like to me that their whole idea was,

well, let's just use his ability to go up and get it and toss it up to him. That says to me though, you're not getting open that much. You shouldn't have 38 of your hundred something targets being, it shouldn't be 40% of your targets almost being contested catches. I think that's just, that's just too many. So I'm, I'm believing Malik neighbors a little bit more than Harrison. So I think he does need to kind of prove that and break out. And another part, it might just be that, uh, you know, Kyler Murray just doesn't play that way. He doesn't play from the pocket. He's scrambling, he's throwing the ball up a lot and he's not playing in

structure, but he was the quarterback for Deandre Hopkins and he was fantastic there. So he can do it. If you're getting open, I just, I'm a little bit skeptical that he's going to be what everybody thought he was going to be. Yeah. When you put it like that, I I I understand it more because he did have insane height coming into the league. It was like a stamp that he was going to be a 12 and 10 kind of guy. So I agree. Yeah. If he if he wants to be remembered as that in the top receiver of his class, which that class looks ridiculous right now So he has some work cut out for him. But yeah, you changed my mind. I like that He definitely I like the breakout for Marvin's Harrison. Okay, anybody else that stood out to you there?

not not really any any notable name just a lot of like obvious rookies or Just just people you would expect I kind of like By rookies or, um, just, just people you would expect. Uh, I kind of like Byron Murphy, the second for Seattle Seahawks. Oh yeah, sure. Yeah. Had kind of a tough year last year. Yeah, he did, but I don't know.

He just seems like he has that dog in him and I trust everyone in the, in the Seahawks D line room. I just feel like they don't really have a lot of like big names just out of Leonard Williams, but they just all seem to get to work. And their head coach is a defensive guru, it seems like. So I think he could have a big season here. I think producing on the D line as a rookie is as hard as it gets. We see it every once in a while, but not that often.

And it's usually a guy like Miles Garrett or something. So that's a that's a good breakout candidate. And they're going to need to have a good defense there in Seattle for them to get what we were talking about, how many wins like, well, you know, Sam Darnold did win 14 games with a top five defense that was also helping him out quite a bit. So he's going to need that in Seattle as well. Yep, I agree.

So for my second question Derrick are he officially retired? What are your thoughts on him and how his career went? Here's what I think about their car is Imagine this world where you are as good as it gets for your craft, except for these 10 other people. And because of these 10 other people, you don't get talked about really at all

or appreciated really at all. And this is the Kirk Cousins falls into this exactly as well. Like think about all the kids who go to a quarterback camp and are told by their dads and their coaches, you know, your kid, he's, he's got a lot of talent. Imagine all the five stars who come out. One of the funniest things to do if you ever want to do it is go like 2016, five stars and look at all the names or what the, what was it?

I looked at a year not too long ago and Brock Purdy was in it as like number 77. And the guy went to a Superbowl and the top 15 guys, there was one guy who even made the league, the Jeff Driscolls of the world, who are these five star top guy coming out of high school and they never go anywhere. And so you fight your way through all those people, all those guys who are going to the quarterback camps,

they're working just as hard as anybody else off the field. And you go to Fresno State, which I mean, whatever, right? It's not Bama, it's not Michigan, it's not Ohio State. And you find your way to a 12-win season in the NFL with the Raiders, then the organization kind of falls apart. They bring back John Groot, and he's actually starting to build something there, and then he gets fired for racist emails or whatever and then

he goes to New Orleans as that team is crumbling and then he gets hurt a bunch and his career at the end of the day is About as average as it gets for a starting quarterback. He's just a 500 type guy, but we never stop to appreciate how Hard it is to be that guy. And you think with players like him, had it just been a little different, like you look at someone like Matthew Stafford, had it just been a little different where Stafford goes his whole career with a bomb organization that never builds a team around him, never has great coordinators, never has great coaches or changing coaches all the time.

And he's always good, but he's never great. And he's getting him to the playoffs and then, you know, and so forth. He gets his one shot with the best coach in the league and the best receivers and the best defense and the best O line and the guy wins the Superbowl. And then it changes everything about the way we think of Matthew Stafford. If Derek Carr went to San Francisco and not New Orleans, are we talking about him the same way of Matthew Stafford. If Derek Carr went to San Francisco and not New Orleans, are we talking about him the same way as Matthew Stafford? So I like to give some credit there where it's due

of if there had just been some different circumstance, we might look at it differently. But at the end of his career, it's just, it's kind of just a guy in the league who never really got over that hump of being the 12th best quarterback in the league. Yeah, I think it's really funny to see all the reactions on Twitter, especially from Saints fans.

It seems like they're throwing parties and celebrating at the news, which I'm not really sure why. I know Carl wasn't super special. And when he was with the Saints, he was always hurt. But now they're left in the hands of a 25 year old rookie and it's, I'm not too confident on him. Obviously we could be proved wrong, but it's hard to look at that and be more excited than having Derek Carr. And I'm kind of in the same boat. I was ready to hop on here and call him mid and this and that. But looking back on his stats, he's top 25 all time in passing yards, completions, touchdowns,

and passer rating. So it's just, it reinforces to me how rare it is for quarterbacks to have these 10 plus year careers starting. And it's just, it's so hard to be a quarterback. So that San Francisco point is spot on. Like I, I also wonder if he pulled like an Eli, I feel like him and Eli are pretty similar. It's an Eli one, two Superbowls.

It's like with, if Eli didn't get those rains, would he be looked at like Derek Carr or vice versa? It's just, it's so interesting to look at. No, he definitely, he definitely would. I mean, the difference is probably physical talent between Eli and Derek Carr or vice versa, it's just it's so interesting to look at. No, he definitely he definitely would. I mean, the difference is probably physical talent between Eli and Derek Carr, where Eli was the number one overall pick, just had a monster arm. I don't think that was ever Carr. I think he also played in kind of a timid type of way.

Gosh, was it was it him at the end of one of the playoff games? I think he just spiked the ball or threw it out. Yeah, threw it out of bounds. Yeah, there was something like that. Uh, it's funny cause Daniel says Derek Carr is overrated in my book, but the thing is I think he's exactly perfectly rated for where he stands in NFL history, which is a guy who always floated around that top 10 quarterback, but never could really break through.

And so you're always going to ask yourself, was it that he was with mediocre organization? If he was really great, he would have just taken him there, but there's so many guys who aren't really great. They're just pretty, they're just pretty good. And even with the Vikings and Kirk cousins, we went through this many times where it was like, well, the guy made so much money that they couldn't ever build the great roster.

They could only ever build the good roster and they could only ever have good teams and not great teams because there were limitations. This it's not, it's not Josh Allen. It's not Patrick Mahomes. It's not one of the freak shows of history, but I mean, who can we compare Derek Carter? I'll get it. I'll get a name. I'll get a name.

Pro football reference is awesome with the hall of fame monitor. We'll see who they compare Derek Carr's history to. I'm really actually quite curious who they think is similar. So you can go on to the next question. I'll look at this in a minute, but I just think, I think when with a player like that, you should respect what he was able to do in the NFL. Well also being realistic that he was never a guy who was going to win a Superbowl for

you. He was just a good quarterback who needed that one time for it all to come together. And the sad, the really sad part is he had that one time and he broke his leg before the end of the season Like that was there it was lined up. They were a great team. They were going in the playoffs I think they lost to the Texans in the playoffs with Matt McGloin or something if they had gone in with their car Like they're they're winning that playoff game. They're going on. They're having a chance But he just never had that team come together for him like that again Yeah, it's crazy how like one little if or one small change can completely

change people's outlook on your career or just your career in general. So I don't know. I hope he is just cool with what he's done. I know I feel like he'll get more respect afterwards because while you're doing it, it's like all the fans like, yeah, he's the 12th best guy. But now we could look back and go, well, he he did put up numbers. He didn't win much, but he might have been more than what we thought. So there's some excellent I got the comparisons. There's some excellent Derek Carr comparisons here. Kirk Cousins is one of them. He was always my comparison for like the similar guy.

Like the AFC Kirk was him. But Alex Smith, another guy, great, great quarterback in the playoffs, competitive, good with good teams. He was good. Never could quite get over the hump. Dak Prescott is pretty similar. I think Prescott is better, but similar in the way that no one ever puts him as the top quarterback in the league. Mark Brunel for the old school people, Jeff Garcia, and probably the best one. Andy Dalton, a quarterback who was, he's probably a little better than Dalton,

but couldn't quite. And then Dalton with his best year, he also got hurt. And AJ McCarran was the one who was playing in the playoffs for them. And they lost to Pittsburgh on a fumble. Difference between Carr and golf. Now, I see, I don't agree. I don't agree with that. I think there is a significant difference between car and golf now i see i don't agree i don't agree with that i think there is a significant difference between uh car and golf golf was the number one overall pick he is a

i think has a much more arm talent to push the ball into tight windows and i also think that golf is an elite executor of an offense i don't think it's just well he's got good online. You don't end up at the top five in offense year after year after year after year just because of that. But no, I mean, it's a fair point. Like I don't think the gap is probably as big as some of their stats, but I think golf is more. That's why Andy Dalton Kirk, even Prescott has some limitations. Trent Green is another one. Matt Hasselback like a lot of those guys fall into that category that are just good, but can't quite get over the hump.

Well, they did make a lot of money so they can always sit back on that. Right. He'll be okay. Respect. All right. Yep. Yeah. Well, for my third question, the NFL announced that the 2025 season

opener will be the Eagles versus the Cowboys. And how do you feel about this matchup? And also, what would be some other like dream matchups for this season? Well, I think that we've all gotten pretty tired of the Cowboys because they come along with a lot of discussion, but not a lot of wins. Uh, and look, they were really good for maybe what? Two years there, three years where they were had top offenses and they were

going into the playoffs as somewhat of a favorite, they did win a playoff game a couple of years ago, but at this point, I mean, Dallas still has some of the celebrity players, they just made the Pickens trade, they've got, uh, Micah Parsons and so forth. Rob, when did golf get over the hump? I mean, let's be serious, man. Like, come on, like 15 win season. Top offenses in the league.

NFC championship game with the lead. What are we talking about here? Derek Carr did not accomplish those things. So it's and the numbers are not really close between those two there's a pretty big gap between them so I think we can I think we can properly section off the like levels to this that a guy who's a number one overall pick who went to a Super Bowl an NFC championship and has had top five offenses nearly every year of his career is different than Derek Carr. I think we can do that properly.

Um, but as far as the, it just had to be the Cowboys, right? Like, does it have to be the Cowboys? I would have loved to have seen it be Philly and Washington to start us off. That's what I want to see. I want to see Jayden Daniels versus Jaylen Hertz. Give that to me on national TV. I also saw that Philadelphia is going to have games on all seven days of the week this year. I think maybe there's like a Christmas day,

Wednesday game or something, or it's six out of the seven days we've got, we have jumped the shark with the NFL needing to have football on every single day. I get, I like football on every day, but I mean, sometimes like a deep breath maybe is required, but that's that's. I'm not mad about having more football. I'm just like, okay, on a Wednesday, it's a little weird or the NFL deciding we are the captain now for when it comes to the NBA on Christmas Day. Like, and we will take that and also the college football playoff too, we will take that day away from you as well. So selfish. But that that would have that would have been my choice.

And as far as other matchups, it's you don't have to go off the grid here with the take. I mean, Buffalo Casey would have been great for an opener. I give me those rivalries that have developed over the last couple of years. And I, and I'm good, but I really would have liked to have seen hurts versus Jayden Daniels to start us off. Yeah. I also think Eagles versus commanders would have been a way, way better first game, but I'm not mad at this.

I think they have one of the biggest rivalries in the league. So it's always cool for them to face off, but I'm only gonna enjoy this game if the Cowboys return to being somewhat good. I think we all want competitive games, especially to start the year. So I think if they are healthy and they step up to the plate, it'll be a fun game, but that's a big if. Some other games, Bears versus Commanders.

As a Bears fan, I don't think a day goes by where I don't see Jaden Daniels versus Caleb Williams comparisons and just straight Caleb Williams hate. And then if you add on the embarrassing hill Mary from last year, it's like there's there's some rivalry brewing here. So I think it'll be a fun game if they played. So it's already been leaked out. I won't say it if you haven't seen it, who the Vikings are expected to play in the first week, but who would be your choice

for the Vikings to have the most dramatic game? Because I was thinking they're playing for your information. They are playing the NFC. Is it the way they played the West last year? They're playing the NFC East and the AFC the West last year's they're playing the NFC East and the AFC North, but they're also playing Seattle. Seattle would have been would have been fun. Yeah. For an opener at Seattle with that type of drama, Sam Darnold versus his old team to start off the season. That's not what it's reportedly going to be, but I would

have enjoyed that just for the kind of storylines looking back at what Sam Darnold did the team's decision to move on. That one would have been a great and whenever that happens, I'm looking forward to that game. Yeah, that will be a fun one. Um, honestly. I I really just want to see him against one of the in division teams and NLC North team. I feel like especially the way that the Vikings season ended last year with the Detroit game and then the playoffs it would be fun to see them like try and get their revenge back with a new quarterback the one that they put all their chips on the table for and it might not be the best

for him or Vikings fans but I think it would be really fun to see if he steps up to the plate immediately and it would be a real test to see how he looks. I'm also interested in like the Bengals versus any good team. Oh yeah. I feel like they have one of the most fun offenses to watch, but their defense is just so bad. And I feel like they didn't really improve it much. They got Shamar Stewart in the first round, but I don't, I don't know.

He's not going to take a lot. So, yeah. I was thinking Baltimore at US Bank Stadium. It'd be the first time Lamar Jackson ever plays at US Bank Stadium. That could be pretty fun. I'm looking forward to that one. We're going to have some Wolves basketball starting soon. So why don't we hustle up to the next question here? OK, so now that rosters are pretty much set, I wanted to make official playoff predictions for next year.

So, okay. How about you take the NFC and I'll take the AFC and then we kind of just go back and forth and we just started the one seat. So the seven teams that are going to be in the playoffs. Oh, you want by seed as well. Okay. I did not prepare by seat, but all right. Well, I'll go.

I'll go first then. Uh, well, I'll not prepare by seat, but all right. Well, I'll go I'll go first then. Well, I'll just start off with Philly and Washington. Philly, you know, I think that as hard as it is to be that team again, is still the best team in the NFC, even though they lost a couple of players. So I will go. Philadelphia wins the one seed. And I think Washington will be right behind them. But the best they can do because they didn't change the rules is what the four is that right?

The four like where the Vikings were last year, I think Washington will be right there with them, Detroit for the two seed. And I I'm getting my playoff. Oh, let me just name the teams that I also think will be in playoffs. I think I think Atlanta should win the NFC South last year. Tampa Bay got an amazing year out of Baker Mayfield. I don't know if he could do that again. I would normally pick Tampa Bay, but Atlanta with Michael Pennings,

they spent a lot of money. They spent a lot of draft capital to improve their defense. And Pennings looked really good at the end of last season. So I'm gonna go that it's Philly, Washington, Detroit. I will throw the Vikings into the playoffs as well. Then Atlanta and the Rams. How many is that? Billy, I'm screwing up this whole bit.

Philly, Washington, Detroit, Minnesota, Atlanta, Rams. Now I got room for one more team. I'd probably have to pick Green Bay here, but if there's a surprise, it's probably either maybe Carolina sneaking in, taking that big step forward, or it could be actually Dallas is good enough if they're healthy with Dak Prescott for the entire year to get in.

So that was a little bit non-committal, but I will say Philly, Washington. Let's let's go with Dallas there, Detroit, Minnesota, Atlanta, and LA ramps. No, I like the Dallas pick. I feel like they're, they have bounce back season kind of written all over them. It's just, they got to block out the noise and just play football and stay healthy. For the AFC, I have the Bills at one simply just because I don't think their division is as strong as the Ravens or the Chiefs. And then I have

Ravens at two. I feel like they only got better with Malachi starts and Mike Green. It's going to be hard to to knock them off. They really just got to show up in the playoffs and it could be their year, any year. So, third I have the Chiefs, as long as they have the Mahomes, Chris Jones, and I feel like I talk about this all the time, but the Chris Jones, Angie Reed, Tri Fetta,

also a Rashi Rice coming back from injury. I feel like they're going to be one of the best teams in the league again. Four, I have the Texans just, they play in the worst division in football. And if they don't, I don't see them not winning the division. I also expect a slight bounce back season from Stroud, especially cause I'm really high on Jaden Higgins. Five, I have the Broncos.

I feel like their defense is incredible and they have a young QB who has shown he could produce even without a ton of weapons around him. And then sixth seed, I have the Chargers, I think three of the AFC West teams make it again. I feel like their offseason was super weird because they brought in Najee Harris and drafted Amari on Hampton first round. So it seems like they're building to be like a run first. Oh, yeah. But they have one of the best core backs in the world, Justin Herbert. So you would think they want to give him more weapons

and they got to trade Harrison the second round, but I don't know. That team is just so weird, but they're still going to be good enough to make the playoffs, I think. And then Seth, I think it has to be the Bengals. I know their defense is not good, but the only other teams I think I'm looking at

are the Steelers or the Dolphins. And I'm not picking any of those over angles and Joe Burrow. So I mean, can to play the whole season, find what they had a couple of years ago, Tyreek Hill was starting to meltdown by the end of last season. I mean, the AFC, this is one of those things where, you know, we always kind of think that we know before the season how it's going to go and then the NFL says,

no, you don't. But man, the AFC feels like we do other than major injuries. I think the wild card would be the Raiders. They have a real coach now. That's going to be a difference. Jacksonville is their coach going to make a big difference? Cause I just don't feel like Indianapolis or Tennessee are there. are there i think this is the year where pittsburgh just doesn't do it. I they're older a lot of their key players are older and it's whether it's erin rogers or mason rudolph there's not a juice there.

At the quarterback position and as bad as russell wilson and justin fields where i was looking this up today they they were something like 19th in passing expected points added, which is okay. But if Roger shows up at training camp and is just whatever he was last year, but worse with that team, or if it's Mason Rudolph, he could finish 24th, 25th and expected points added in passing and just missed the playoffs. Cincinnati is the one that you're always thinking about because their offense is so nasty if they even improve a little bit that they have a good chance to be right there. But yeah, the NFC to me has way more intrigue overall than the AFC. And I am curious to see Jim Harbaugh year two, year one was really, really good.

But year two, are they going to do the same thing where they run all the time? Are they going to try to get another step out of Justin Herbert? Because last year they was so safe and then they got to the playoffs. They couldn't block for him. And then, you know, he couldn't make up the difference. How are they going to solve that problem? Because Justin Herbert, he kind of lives right now a little bit in the Derek Carr universe of a lot of stats and he's a really good quarterback, but has not

been able to take his team really anywhere. But Gino Smith in the AFC now, what's that going to look like? What's it going to look like with Pete Carroll? They were improving, I think as a defense last year, but just, you know, had nothing at the quarterback position. Well, there's a lot of things to find out, which in fact is going to be our theme for Thursday show, which will be your final show as the Purple Insider intern. And we'll talk about your,

we'll reflect on our time as well. But that's gonna be the main theme is things that you can't wait to see for the NFL season. So I hope you guys all have a chance to join us then. But for now, it's time for the Wolves to get going and play basketball. So I'm going to go watch that. And I'm assuming that all of you are as well. So thanks, Clay, for your time and your work. Appreciate you. We'll see on Thursday. Thank you. Always a good time. Football. It is always a good time. Thursday, he better bring it with that football thing

So thanks again for everybody for watching and listening lots to come schedule release on Wednesday Very very excited about that show make sure you are here as soon as the NFL officially drops the schedule I will be live here picking every single game, and I want you to come pick along with me So I look forward to that on Wednesday. Thanks everybody and wolves in five