Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings sign Patrick Peterson -- an emergency podcast

Episode Date: March 31, 2022

Patrick Peterson announced that he is signing a 1-year deal with the Minnesota Vikings. Matthew Coller and Chris Trapasso break it down in emergency podcast style. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to an emergency podcast. Matthew Collar here along with CBS Sports Draft Analyst Chris Trapasso. We were planning on recording tonight anyway, but now, Chris, you get to be a part of your first ever emergency podcast as the Vikings have re-signed Patrick Peterson to a one-year deal, which he announced on his podcast tonight. So welcome to the emergency pod. How are you? I'm good, and this, I think, means that I've officially arrived as a regular on the Purple Insider podcast, not just the Chris Trapasso draft show.

Let's talk specific Vikings. And I feel in a weird way honored to be talking about Vikings news as it just happened about, what, 30 minutes before we started to record this podcast. Yeah, that's right. You should be honored to deliver the fans the message of what this means for the draft which is a big question but first we're still playing your intro good evening and welcome to the nfl draft draft season is here come on come on there you go to break down every need they're not gonna pick a quarterback they need offense lineman they need defense every pro day he had a phenomenal pro day. Explosive, really good in the three cone, the broad jump. And every mock.

You could probably tell me if you think the Vikings would actually do it. I can tell you as a draft analyst that they absolutely should. Welcome to the Chris Trapasso Draft Show on Purple Insider. This is a good podcast to listen to leading into the draft. Okay, let's get to it. Patrick Peterson returns to the Vikings, one-year contract. Last year, he had decent numbers by Pro Football Focus in terms of when he was targeted and how quarterbacks performed throwing at him an 89 quarterback rating against but only a 61 coverage grade which is pretty average uh the rebuild part continues to stay on the sideline while the

competitive part continues to be uh how the vikings are building here. But give me your reaction, Chris, on the Vikings going back to the well with a 30-plus-year-old corner who was, I would say, okay for them last year. On the surface, it seems a little head-scratching, but given what we talked about last week, what the new GM talked about, the competitive rebuild, this is the competitive part of the offseason still. I mean, in the draft, that matters more than anything else, and that's where you could certainly rebuild your team.

And it feels like most GMs, and I think head coaches obviously have a little bit of a say, maybe in a situation like this, a defensive coordinator too, they like to have some veterans at the cornerback spot to go out there and say hey we're rolling out three rookies or whatever it may be and I know the Vikings have invested in their secondary in the last couple drafts but not a lot of those players have seen the field the ton or become stars so I think for as much as this might be a little bit surprising we may be you know given some other moves that the Vikings have made, shouldn't be that surprised. And just looking around the league, I think even if they don't view Patrick Peterson as even, I don't know, 2017 Patrick Peterson anymore, just to have that

foundation say, okay, like you mentioned, we can get okay play from a veteran that can resonate in our locker room that has a lot of young pieces at corner. That's why I think this makes complete sense. It wasn't a four-year extension. It's a one-year deal to kind of have a passing of the torch at the cornerback spot after the season. Yeah, I think that's the biggest part for me is that with Patrick Peterson here, you don't have to rush anyone that you draft,

which we'll talk about the options and the potential at cornerback in just a second, but you don't have to rush anyone that you draft, which we'll talk about the options and the potential at cornerback in just a second. But you don't have to rush anybody into it. And you can create competition within that position, knowing that he's locking down one of those spots. Now, Cam Dantzler has to earn his spot. Shandon Sullivan, whoever they draft, I think it's a lock that they're going to draft a corner. But where they'll draft that corner, I don't know. And that's what we'll talk about with the first round picks, because Patrick Peterson name dropped one of them in his podcast to announce that he was coming back to the Vikings. You make a good point about the one year contract nature of this thing. One-year contract is totally okay for a transition of the secondary from having a veteran player

here with some younger guys and then moving the torch over to younger corners in the future. And look, if you're going to make moves for most of the off season to restock your defense with Harrison Phillips, Jordan Hicks, Zedarius Smith, you might as well just keep going down that road. Like there's only so many times we could say, yeah, I don't know. I don't know if that's the right direction. I don't know if that's the right direction. Well, look, that's the direction that they've gone in. So I think when you look at the list also of other veteran corners that they could possibly

sign, it is not overwhelming. It's not exciting. And they don't have a lot of cap space. You need corners. They need bodies. They need people who could play this position because heading into this week, they had almost nobody. They had like four guys there, even on the entire roster. And I think that a very key part of this is what you said that Peterson started to take a lot of pride last year in developing and helping younger players. And he was working with them a lot. And I don't think it was lip service. Sometimes you hear that.

Oh, yeah, I've been training these young guys. And then you hear later, like, no, that's not happening. But you would really see him on the field working with younger players like Cam Dantzler, like Chris Boyd. And I think in his later years of his career, he has become a role model type player and somebody also when things are tough that they can sort of trot out to the podium and he has been through it all. He's seen it all. So I have no problem with this. The only time I do have issues with things that they've done, it's always, what are you doing to your future situation? Are you even taking spots away from guys and i think in

this case because they haven't had a lot of development there and like you mentioned like jeff gladney mike hughes these guys aren't on the team anymore there isn't even a spot he's taking away from someone so from that perspective i i think that there's very very little downside to bringing back patrick Patrick Peterson save for the possibility that he just isn't very good next year but you know I mean that's always a risk you take with anyone in their 30s yeah the one thing I will say on this from kind of a draft perspective is that a cornerback in their 30s like you're mentioning is usually kind of a red flag like they've lost their speed their athleticism with Patrick, you're starting that athleticism bar insanely high.

So even if he's lost like a full step or two steps, him coming into the league was like, holy crap, this guy checks all the physical boxes. Athleticism, leaping ability, 40-yard dash, flipping his hips, flexibility. So he is one that I feel like can play at a, like you mentioned, an okay level, a good stopgap level well into his 30s because he is such a high-caliber athlete. Yeah, and I think that he was also, he became just popular with fans as well

last year because of his personality and because of his star power. And there's something to be said for that, that if you're going to go for the playoffs and you're going to try to win, uh, you might as well do it with people that, um, your fans like, and that your locker room likes. And that, I mean, we don't matter at all, but I mean, from a media perspective, he's a very affable person to deal with and is, is very, I think, open about where they're at and what's going on and is one of those guys that you're comfortable as the team having him sort of take the bullets when things are going wrong and be the guy who steps up.

I was a little surprised that he came back because his initial comments about coming to Minnesota last year were that he had come to play with Mike Zimmer. So this may be a case, and we don't have the numbers yet as we're speaking, it may be a case where they just offered him more money than anybody else. He mentioned other teams were interested, but when you get to this point in your career as a corner, it's pretty tough to bring in big numbers. Also last year, he's really struggled with missing tackles. He rated 55th by Pro Football Focus in terms of tackling grade out of 82

starting corners and was one of the highest in the league in missed tackle percentage. Let me see here. I'll scroll up on the PFF thing. Yeah, he was pretty high on that list. So there are weaknesses now to his game that did not exist before, but I think that a reasonably decent player is what you're bringing back for a very low price for a short term that doesn't hurt anything long term. Now, let's get into the draft element of this, because Patrick Peterson, as he was talking, was bringing up the name Derek Stingley Jr. Derek Stingley Jr. was a great player when he was healthy and was not healthy all that

often. So give me your take on him and the idea that the Vikings could still go corner at number 12, despite bringing back now a veteran in Patrick Peterson. Well, this would bring full circle everything that you talked about, about Patrick Peterson being a mentor, being a locker room guy. We know that a lot of those LSU cornerbacks, they have a pretty strong camaraderie once they get to the NFL. Trenavious White, Patrick Peterson, Jamal Adams, Tyron Matthew.

And Derek Stingley is kind of the next in line in terms of being the super hyped LSU defensive back. So maybe, I mean, of course, Patrick Peterson is not controlling what the Vikings do. But now it makes it a little bit more appealing and maybe could tip the hat a little bit in that, hey, maybe they are thinking about let's get Derek Stingley, who hasn't played a lot of football the last couple of years, with a former LSU star who became a superstar at the NFL level and let him have already a close-knit connection with Patrick Peterson to learn the ropes of not hitting the rookie wall staying healthy how to treat your body like a pro all those things for Derek Stingley's rookie season because I believe to me Derek Stingley is the number two overall player on my board I graded him pretty early he's had a precipitous fall because he hasn't been healthy I think on film from even watching the first couple of games this season before he got injured, certainly 2019, maybe not so much so in 2020, he has all the

traits to be a lockdown number one corner. And that means on an island man coverage or making crazy plays in zone. So if you can get that player to me at number 12 overall, maybe now on draft night, it won't seem like a huge steal, but in terms of pure talent, what Derek Stingley did, I don't care if the situation was perfect and there was a bunch of NFL players on that LSU roster in 2019. He was like the best corner in football at 18 years old. He was born in 2001 and was doing that in 2019. So I think Derek Stingley, Patrick Peterson connection would make a lot of sense. Again, maybe on draft night now, we wouldn't hear, oh, hey, this is a great steal. But in my opinion, Derek Stingley,

especially learning from Patrick Peterson, maybe not needing to play team's number one wide receivers right away or playing 800 snaps as a rookie because of the presence of Patrick Peterson would be huge to talk about long term would be great for the long view at a valuable position with a super talented player in Derek Stingley yeah I don't think that it changes the odds at all or how we make our board of positions that the Vikings are most likely to take I mean I think that corner was number one. And after they signed Patrick Peterson, it's number one, because this is not a long-term type of thing, but it does offer in an ideal world.

If they are able to draft Eric Stingley jr, which we'll talk about where he could potentially go here because I'm seeing it all over the map, pulling up mock drafts here. But that transition from college to the NFL as a corner is incredibly difficult. And I've talked to coaches before about it. Jerry Gray, when he was here, talked about pass interference is really tough because you can actually like put your hands on receivers as a corner in college. In the NFL, you really can't. So they teach techniques of how to avoid pass interference.

I wrote a whole article about it once about how they teach their guys not to, but that's very difficult for rookie corners. And when you look at the recent history of rookie corners, there's not many over the last few years. In fact, Paul Hodowanek wrote about this on our site. There's not a whole lot who have stepped in and done really well right away, but it's that second year where they seem to take that big jump. And we even saw that from AJ Terrell,

who took this huge jump for Atlanta to become a star corner for them. And I think that that's it. That's your ideal world is that you draft a corner here first or second round. I bring up Stingley. We'll talk about the other options too, though. And then they work with Patrick Peterson. You find out what Cam Dantzler is. You see what you've got in terms of Shandon Sullivan,

who I think is kind of just a guy, but maybe try to develop other guys that you have like Chris Boyd and like Harrison Hand and go forth. But having a veteran there, I think is really, really helpful for what they want this to be long-term. And maybe even weirdly drafting or signing Patrick Peterson could end up being the most rebuild the thing that they've done is just bringing in someone who could be a coach on the

field yeah and one last thing that I want to point out that might seem contradictory to what the normal analysis would be Derek Stingley measured in at the combine under 6'1 and his arms under 31 inches and that was like a surprise to a lot of people, me included. Like he looked super long. He looked taller than that on film. I think we've talked maybe even off air about this in my scouting grade book for the size category for corners. It's not just a linear line. Like the bigger you are, the higher your grade goes. I think in today's NFL,

if you are six one, six, two, six, three. I think in today's NFL, if you are 6'1", 6'2", 6'3", and I love Sauce Gardner, but it's my one concern with him. If you're that tall, I don't care how fluid you are relative to your size. You are going to struggle with these elite separators. Not only can you not put your hands on anybody, but almost every team has one or two quality receivers now, especially if they're in second, third, fourth, or fifth year, that are amazing getting off the line of scrimmage and run the best routes you've ever seen with insane suddenness. Jeffrey Okuda, who the Vikings know well in the division with the Lions,

was 6'1", 205, had super long arms, tested through the roof, went number three overall in the 2020 draft, and had a horrific rookie season. Not like, oh, maybe if he was a fourth-round pick it would have been good value. No, horrible. So the fact that Sauce Gardner is so big and Derek Stingley actually is a little smaller, I think lends credence to the thought that maybe Derek Stingley does have the right size and is not oversized to play cornerback in today's NFL. You know, five to 10, 15 years ago, you wanted six, two, six, three, 33 inches, like the longer, the better on the perimeter. that Derek Stingley was not this oversized kind of clunky towering cornerback because as we've talked about we all know it's about getting open it's about being a separator there aren't nearly as many of those six three six four and up number ones really outside of Mike Evans there's there's

not a ton of them really at all so it's one thing that I took from Derek Stingley's combine where there's like oh he's too small, he's too short. I'm fine with him being right at six foot and around 190 pounds. That's like ideal size for an outside cornerback for me. Folks, Minnesota sports teams are competing for the playoffs, and it's time to load up on your Minnesota sports-inspired gear from SodaStick. Use the promo code PURPLEINSIDER for 15% off your wildflower mark andre flurry design or if you're excited for baseball get your fast as buck byron buxton shirt or hoodie go to soda stick.com use the promo code purple insider for 15 off i also feel like didn't davante smith help

us with this whole thing if you're an elite football player, your your little arms could be worked around. Right. I mean, for sure. You don't necessarily need the exact perfect specs if you are an incredible football player. So it was Devante Smith to light. Will he be able to play if he doesn't eat more burgers? Like, yeah, he's going to be able to get open because he's an unbelievable route runner and i think that sort of gets lost sometimes in those numbers that if someone's in the fourth round and they don't have numbers that match up they're probably going to be terrible but at the very top of the draft i just don't i just don't really buy too much into that looking at last year year's rookies, by the way, the guys who played more than half their teams snaps. There were only four corners who graded over a 65 by PFF,

which would be like an above average grade. And only one of them, Nate Hobbs from the Vegas Raiders, was above his overall grade, above a 75, which means you were very good. And even if you look at the coverage numbers, only, only two or three guys performed even well in terms of quarterback rating when they were targeted. So this is one area where I thought that Mike Zimmer was actually very right in bringing corners along slowly and having a development type of year for Trey Wayans, for Xavier Rhodes, for Mike Hughes. I mean, I thought he did the right thing. Now I'm looking

at Derek Stingley Jr. We're focused on focused on him so you talk about other corners here as well um in mock drafts some people have in the top five and daniel jeremiah has him 20th uh so does that mean that uh daniel jeremiah who is still friends with all the scouts that he used to work with and stuff thinks that the injuries will be a factor or the size will be a factor because that is that's quite a gap in terms of mock drafts of where people think stingley is going and if he's going to get to 12 um if you're not drafting a quarterback is always the stipulation for all this makes a lot of sense yeah i think daniel jeremiah is probably the most plugged in with the scouts

and what the general managers are saying and doing like did he ever interview for that jets gm job or is that just like a rumor yeah i don't know i don't i don't remember i mean i don't remember but he's super plugged in with a lot of the personnel guys like he's friends with joe douglas uh so if he if his final mock has Derek Stingley going like in the 20s you can almost lock it in to a certain degree I mean it it is the mock draft you know phenomenon that you know we're wrong way more than we are right but if he's has him in that April 26th mock draft 27th mock draft going 20th I think that we can be fairly certain that that's kind of how the league views him for other people including myself to have like derrick stingley

number five i'm not nearly obviously as plugged in as daniel jeremiah but i feel like derrick stingley is the uh classic example of that it only takes one team like one team to just whether it's a scout that went to lsu or whatever it may be uh that just falls in love with him was set on him in 2019 and is fine with uh him being injured and just absolutely adored him after that freshman season to like just be the blip on the radar and say hey the Vikings picked him at 12 but had they not he would have gone you know 24th to the Cowboys kind of feels like that and that what I always think is funny is a random aside whenever something like that happens you always hear the people on ESPN and NFL Network being like oh they they were

gonna pick him you know 18 months ago and it like, why did no one report that then? Was that something that they weren't allowed to say? I remember when Joey Bosa went super early, and it was a little bit of a surprise because it wasn't the biggest need for the Chargers or whatever at the time. And I forgot who it was, so I'm not calling anyone out. It may have been John Gruden, actually, literally on the broadcast saying, oh, this is the guy that they knew they were going to pick for the last 15 months. Everyone in the building knew they were picking Joey Bosa.

So it wouldn't shock me. I mean, that's kind of funny analysis in my opinion. It's hindsight. It's like Bill Polian saying that he had a first-round grade on Tom Brady in that draft. But it wouldn't surprise me if that's what we ultimately get with Derek Stingley. Like 30 or 31 teams view him as a, you know, top 25 prospect, but then one team just is completely tantalized by what he did in 2019. So we've put a lot of focus into the corners, but this could mean something the exact opposite.

But before we get to, if it means something the opposite of the way we're taking it, which is Peterson draft a corner, develop them with Patrick Peters. That's how we're taking it which is peterson draft a corner develop them with patrick peterson that's how i'm taking it um but if talk about the other corners though because i know we we discussed mcduffie the other day and you're not as high on him as a topic daniel jeremiah has him 13th from uh washington um no not there yeah no 13th k McCuffey uh going to the Houston Texans and he's got Jordan Davis going to the Vikings which would be I mean Harrison Phillips it would be bad I'm sorry it would be bad yeah right what like Delvin Tomlinson already under contract Harrison Phillips under contract and then another nose tackle I mean like I hey look all nose tackle

defense is bolt and if they're going all if're going analytics, maybe that's the way they do it. But, uh, yeah, I don't really see that. I don't really see going with a defensive tackle there over a corner positional value would matter to me a lot, but if they don't get sauce Gardner, which seems unlikely and they don't get, uh, you know, Stingley jr. And maybe if they're not as sold on McDcduffie what's the rest of the cornerback class in the first two rounds look like i really like it the more that i've watched it i was just tweeting uh on wednesday morning about the wide receiver class might not be as deep as

we originally thought that i like like the top five or six and that it's not as deep as I thought relative to other positions because I finalized a lot of cornerback grades as I've gotten all 22 film later in the process I don't really like to watch too many corners without all 22 because you can't see what they're doing on broadcast I think it's a really good cornerback class the one player that I will highlight first is Kair Elam from Florida. He's a little stiff on film, but he's only 20 years old. He actually kind of reminds me of Patrick Peterson in that he ran like sub 4'4". He's plenty long. He's not too big. He's not that oversized cornerback. And I think almost like Derek Stingley earlier in his career, 2019 and 2020, better man coverage film than what he showed in 2021.

And he would be someone that would need to kind of learn the nuances of not being so grabby down the football field. Seems like someone that could go as high as maybe number 12. That's probably the ceiling for him in terms of where he could be selected. But that would be a long view pick pick too, because he's so young, played at a really early age in the SEC, was very competitive. I like Andrew Booth from Clemson. I feel like it'll be too early at number 12 for him because he's been injured the entire pre-draft process.

And to me, as unfair as that is for a prospect, you do need to generate some momentum going into the draft as a prospect. I think Andrew Booth, for his size, is right behind Derek Stingley in terms of how twitchy he is. His feet are so light, plant and drive on the football. I think he's a little bit better in zone than he is in man. And what Ed Donatel is going to do, probably a little bit more man coverage. You can probably tell me more about that. So I think if they want to go more zone corner, Andrew Booth,

more man coverage on an island, learn from Patrick Peterson for a season, understand that there's going to be some pass interference, some holding calls early. Kyer Elam is really impressive. So those corners in round one, you have Kyler or you have Trent McDuffie's teammate, Kyler Gordon from Washington. He's a little bit more flexible and I think he has higher upside than Trent McDuffie. And then into round two, there's a bunch. Cam Taylor Britt from Nebraska, super explosive. Zion McCollum is a name that's really fascinating from Sam Houston State.

Had the best workout, full workout of any cornerback in this draft class, but coming from a smaller school, there's a bunch from round two on Martin Emerson, if they do want size for Mississippi State. So there's guys that are not just, I'm not just throwing names out. These are guys that I think are second or third round picks that I really liked their film. And they're within my top, you know, 75 to a hundred prospects. So let's say that the NFL is higher than Daniel Jeremiah on Stingley Jr. And he's taken in the top 10. And so is sauce Gardner. Would you wait or pick a corner at 12? I would wait. I would wait because, and maybe it's just a little bit of bias in that because I've watched these guys lately and I'm seeing the grades that I'm

putting on them and seeing where they're stacking up. Let me get, let's see. I have into round two, I have Kair Elam at 32 overall. And don't take that as, you know, thinking that the Vikings would be making a huge mistake picking Kyer Elam at 12 when I have him at 32 just kind of have to kind of navigate the drafts and understand where he would be selected Kyler Gordon at 38 Zion McCollum at 41 Cam Taylor Britt at 45 Damari Mathis another good one from Pittsburgh very very explosive tested well at 49. Tariq Castro-Fields from Penn State at 50. Trent McDuffie, 56.

Josh Jobe from Alabama at 68. So there's a bunch of them that I really like on day two. I think you would get better value there and maybe go in a different direction, potentially edge rusher in the first round, where I think it's a little bit more of a top heavy position. Arrested development fans want the guy named Jo for sure. Uh, well, that sounds to me like there's just a lot of dudes who are of similar caliber who could be there when they pick in the second round. So let's say that that scenario plays out or even that the Vikings, because we don't really know, uh, think that they've just filled this position with Patrick Peterson and they don't need to draft it. Now I'd be surprised if that's how they view it,

but let's just say that's not it. Or that they think that two guys are much better than the rest. 12 is not the right place where they want to draft a corner. What's next then? I mean, if they feel like this is kind of set for right now and they can wait in the draft, then what's our leader in the clubhouse? Because I would be on the side of wide receiver, as I think everyone knows, lean into Kirk cousins, do what you can and set yourself up for the future, but options galore potentially at 12. And by the way, on the show the other day, we went through guys who were drafted the 12th overall pick. It's still a really good pick historically. There's a lot of talent there. I think when you start dropping to the twenties, if you're going, if you're trading back, then your chances go down a little bit for a star,

but there's been a lot of star power at this pick. So I still think that they have an opportunity here. They don't have to go corner that they can still go best player available. I still lean toward the corn or I'm sorry, toward the receiver. me too me too what about jameson williams from alabama for a team that maybe wants to be competitive but i think maybe deep down they understand we're probably not going to win a super bowl next year they might be the first team that would be fine if jameson williams does not play until November, like, okay, we still have Adam Thielen. We have Justin Jefferson, Kirk.

We know what we're going to get from him with those two wide outs. And then maybe as we're around 500 in November, we plug Jamison Williams into the offense and see how much that can elevate Kirk Cousins and the entire offense. I would certainly lean wide receiver kind of a segue off what what I said earlier, that I love the top six receivers. I think into round two and round three, for as much as you mentioned from what I was saying, on the second day of the draft, there's a lot of corners that are close, that are pretty similar, good players, explosive, maybe not the most athletic, but are eventual starters. At receiver, I think they're more like one-trick ponies. Like there's guys that are just good after the catch but are really not physical at all or were used strictly down the field, don't run good routes, have no yards after the catch ability. I would lean wide receiver at 12.

If they love Derrick Stingley Jr., Sauce Gardner's gone, they don't love Andrew Booth that early coming off the injury, Kyer Elam's grabbiness kind of scares them a little bit, maybe not the most fluid being a little bigger, pick wide receiver, Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, or sneaky Jamison Williams

and just store him and talk about long view. And that could be kind of the rebuilding part of your competitive rebuild. People who are grabby scare me too. Okay. That's just a bad joke, but okay. So I, you know, I think the Williams discussion is an interesting one because I keep asking, where's the rebuild part? And that's just been a major theme of this entire discussion here. And the ones that we've had over the last few weeks, since they started making moves or not making moves with Williams, he's an incredible player. And I think has the highest upside. I think anyway, has the highest upside of any receiver in this draft. I would support that

even if he's not going to be able to play to later in the year and you're not a hundred percent sure where he's going to be. I'm good with that because I think you're looking for a long-term option here anyway. However, if they're trying to win this year where they have done everything to try to win this year, then there would probably be a lot of questions about that of like, wait a minute, you drafted a receiver who's injured. Now we know once upon a time, the Buffalo bills did this with Willis McGehee,

that there's a classic story that Ralph Wilson, the owner of the bills, basically at the last minute, walked into the draft room and said, draft the running back. And they were like, Whoa, we can't do that.

He's got a torn ACL or whatever it was. And his whole knee was torn up. Yep. The right. It was more than that. And the owner forced him to draft McGehee. He turned out to be a good player, but, you know, running backs.

So, you know, it has been done. The guy from Tennessee, the defensive tackle, also had this happen where he tore something. ACL or Achilles still drafted pretty high has turned out to be a star player. I mean, I don't think it's a bad idea because counting on players to give you a ton in year one, even as a receiver is just not always a great idea. Like you're always looking for year two, three, four for most players. And it's the extreme rarity to have someone like Justinin jefferson or jamar chase

come in and take over so i i would give it a thumbs up even though i think on draft night a lot of people would go wait they drafted a hurt guy yeah i have one question about this if they don't go receiver they don't go corner they don't go edge rusher what position would they pick or it do you firmly believe that it will be one of those three? I do believe it will be one of those three. I assume we're counting out quarterback here because that's always in the discussion of, will you draft your future quarterback? Somebody even brought up today, drafting a 12 and then trading into the back of the first to take whichever quarterback drops to the back of the first. It has worked before with Teddy. So let's throw out a quarterback from that

discussion there's really only guard and center that you need so that's one player and then what i mean if they're draft like we said with jordan davis if you're drafting an interior defensive lineman i just don't really get it uh but i guess you could be looking for interior pass rush for someone to rotate in aside from that though I mean linebacker would be absurd for them to you know tight end of course is not even really in this discussion like I don't even know what else would make any sense outside of taking Tyler Linderbaum yeah I guess thinking about it it's got to be one of those three positions and the one thing I will caution about edge, and maybe I'll look smart in two or three years,

and maybe you guys can laugh at me about this. I think where they're picking at 12, I don't love the potential edge rushers there. Like Jermaine Johnson from Florida State, he scares me a little bit. He reminds me, I tweeted this on Wednesday, he reminds me so much of Montez Sweat, who's been like little bit. He reminds me, I tweeted this on Wednesday, he reminds me so much of Montez Sweat, who's been like good for the Washington Commanders. It was like the 26th pick because he had like a heart condition in that 2019 draft. He hasn't been amazing. And then you look back at their combines and Montez Sweat was longer and more explosive. I think Jermaine Johnson has done an amazing job during the

pre-draft process. One senior bowl practice that was amazing and then he's like, I'm done. I'm sitting out the rest of the week. I think he's a little bit risky in that he's not super flexible. His pass rushing moves aren't really there just yet. He's kind of that probably for you or for any of your listeners that have been doing those mock draft simulators. He's probably a guy that's like a trendy available pick. He would scare me a little bit. I think it's too early for Boye Mafia from Minnesota. If Trevon Walker was there, that is,

he's a very much an all upside selection. So I think if people are like, Hey, they're not going to pick corner, just pick an edge rusher. I don't like the value in like from pick eight, like after cave on Thibodeau to maybe into the twenties where I feel like some of those other addressers should go.

Meanwhile, wide receiver, Garrett Wilson, uh, Jamison Williams. I even like Drake London from USC. I think that is a prime spot where they kind of feel like they ultimately should go. And I'm obviously looking at my big board in my

scouting grade book to kind of see where I have these guys graded, but it also aligns with where they seem to be going when you're looking at the really plugged in big NFL draft insiders in their mock drafts. Also seems like Chris Aave has gotten a lot of attention recently as someone who could go in that area yes george carol aftis is someone who gets talked about as a as a potential pass rusher but i also wonder how they view the outside linebacker type of thing for shaping what ed donatel wants to do in this finger three four four, three, four. Yeah. Right. I mean, like using that player who can drop back, I, you know, I, I totally dismissed linebacker, but then after I said it, I thought, you know, Eric Hendricks does only have one more year on his contract and Jordan

Hicks only signed a two-year contract. I also think that people would lose their minds. And rightfully, if the Vikings were to draft a linebacker at number 12, even if it's the best guy on the board, unless he's a Micah Parsons type of person who is a linebacker edge rusher, do it all type of player. But I don't, I don't see that guy. I think everybody knew Micah Parsons was a total freak show. Yeah. I remember writing for my Micah Parsons scouting report that I was like, uh, this guy has

legitimate first round edge rusher ability. And I was like concerned about his ability in coverage as an off the ball linebacker, you know, one game into his rookie season, he becomes an edge rusher and he has like 90 pressures or whatever. What I will say on the linebacker front is to cover all the bases at 12 between the two linebackers that are kind of the perceived top guys. N'Kobe Dean would be a better pick than Devin Lloyd. Devin Lloyd, we've talked about it a bunch on this podcast.

I think some people would think, oh, he could be Micah Parsons because he kind of blitzed a little bit and they used him as an edge rusher. He's not Micah Parsons. He reminds me a lot, and this is what we've talked about, of the Kenneth Murray and the Jordan Brooks. They look the part. They're long. They're athletic.

They're rangy, And they cannot cover. I don't get where I'm seeing all of these articles, seeing on TV, oh, he's a great coverage linebacker. They never used him in coverage. He was a quarterback spy. He blitzed. And he got to attack downhill. Is Devin Lloyd a great athlete? Sure.

But that would be the one where you said Vikings fans would freak if it's a linebacker. If it's a Colby Dean, he kind of reminds me of Eric Hendricks, and certainly the Vikings have gotten tremendous return on their investment there in round two in what, 2015 draft? 15. I would like to Colby Dean if they're going to go linebacker, maybe not the biggest priority need-wise. If it's Devin Lloyd, because it's a linebacker and it's because not the right one that would be the one where i think vikings fans purple insider followers would have all the right to be justifiably really ticked off yeah i think anybody who has just lb and not olb on their name yeah you should be pretty concerned about what is going on and where the analytics are

because that's just you know there's only's only, I mean, there's only a few of these guys who are able to make a huge impact as being that middle linebacker. Kendricks is one, but there aren't that many more who can Fred Warner, Roquan Smith. Uh, but even then how much it really matters compared to a corner compared to an edge rusher. Uh, it's just more of a replaceable position. Um, um oh did you have something else on that yeah i wanted to ask you one more thing just because i'm kind of like we're kind of bouncing things back and forth off each other what do you feel or how do you feel about recently we've kind of seen this fall for kyle hamilton that he apparently ran in the force low four sevens

daniel jeremiah made it a point to even tweet it out. Dane Brugler tweeted, oh, yeah, I got four, seven, four from a scout that was at the pro day. What would you feel like if Kyle Hamilton was there at 12? Certainly the safety spot has not been a priority for the Vikings in a very long time. Do you think that there's any chance? And obviously we don't know this new regime's uh draft philosophies where they could just say hey uh we still have a really good safety in harrison smith but we're just going to literally go best player available and stop kyle hamilton's slide at 12 you want to play a really stupid game yes uh i'm going to use a stopwatch and i want you to tell me to stop when

you think it's been 4.7 seconds okay i'll say go when i hit it and you to stop when you think it's been 4.7 seconds. Okay. I'll say go when I hit it. And you say stop when you think it's been 4.7 seconds. I will not look at the clock up here. I promise. Okay. Go. Stop. 4.1.

Oh, Kyle Hamilton's the fastest guy I've ever seen. Okay. One more time. One more time. Everyone play at home. Okay. Ready? Go.

Stop. okay one more time one more time everyone play at home okay ready go stop 5.6 so i i would not be the one to be on the line at the combine now you don't maybe seeing it would help but i was gonna say you don't have to do a blindfolded if you're there but like who trusts these people using hand stopwatches on their iphones are you serious one thing i have to say i was at and i'm not going to call anyone out i was at the university at buffalo pro day in 2014 when khalil mac was running and it was obviously like the biggest deal ever for that football program so i'm sitting there'm whatever, I'm 26 years old, super excited, looks the part, runs a really fast 40. And I think I maybe had my phone and I was like, okay, I had him at whatever. And a lot of the scouts, which I think they try to get it right, they were all comparing. And a prominent local media member just said, like yelled out because I think he was getting frustrated by

like everyone trying to kind of compare and like decide. He just said, this is what it's going to be. And then like tweeted it. And because of his clout, because of how well known he was like that, literally I watched that get reported by like ESPN and NFL Network, which maybe he had it right, maybe he didn't. But I was like, what the hell? And then I realized, okay, it's the pro day, and that's why I think maybe vertical and broad jump, you can't fake that. But certainly a 40-yard dash, it is not an exact science whatsoever. And to me, Kyle Hamilton, he shouldn't have ran. Maybe he thought he was going to run faster.

He ran 4.59 at the combine at 220 pounds and six foot four that's completely fine with me still my number one player in this class you want to try one more time before i tell you what i think of kyle hampton yes one more time all right ready go stop oh four seven right on you did that great job that's how fast kyle hamilton runs 40 yards that's why you're on the show well done uh i think that there are certain positions where if a guy runs a certain 40 i'm just like nope that's not gonna happen uh what was it amari rogers who his combine and his 40 like if you watch him play in the senior bowl like wow this guy's exciting oh no he's not i mean like just you have to be so fast to be a running back to play in the NFL,

unless you are, you know, Ironhead Hayward or something just smashing through human beings. But I think that safety is one where if you took the 40 times of current NFL safeties, all of them, I think you're getting a lot of four sixes and four sevens. I don't think it's a blazing speed type of position. I think it's much more of an instinct position, intelligent playmaking, uh, like this, this natural ability to do crazy stuff. Um, you know, to, to make plays that you don't expect, or the quarterbacks are surprised by like, I don't know how many times I've seen Harrison Smith totally shocked the other team with what he did he's disguising whether he's blitzing whether he's dropping or or you know sort of getting them to throw it into a space that they

think that he's vacated but he's actually waiting for that you know i think that those things are what really uh makes a player at that position so i'm not too concerned if a bunch of guys would stopwatches said that he's a little bit on the slower side, if that causes him to drop to 12, considering the value of someone who's great at that. And that's another thing it's like, okay, if you're just a guy at safety, not worth the pick. If you are great at safety, if your high end is superstar, then that position can mean a ton. And so I think if Kyle Hamilton were to drop there, I would say yes. By the way, Harrison Smith ran four or five, seven. So only two hundredths of a second faster than Kyle Hamilton at his combine. I totally agree

with you on that. And I think for as much as we, I think everyone's seen the two interceptions against Florida state that Kyle Hamilton had had where he showed the range. So that's making people question like, oh, well, would he be able to get to that ball running a 4-7 in the NFL? I think change of direction ability at safety is way more important than running in a straight line. There are so many guys, and I don't want to call them workout warriors, but like run in the mid 4-4 is at safety, have a 11 foot broad jump, but you watch them on film. And when they have to flip their hips and change direction, or they get sucked up by play action, then they have to get back. They're so labored and slow doing that. Kyle Hamilton's three cone was under seven seconds at 220 pounds and six foot four. So he's tall and should be kind

of awkward. He's not. So not so yeah i i think at the safety position we've talked about positional value a lot it's growing in importance especially like you mentioned if you truly are a multi-dimensional slot defender uh can cover the outside can be a deep middle of the field safety good against the run and that's what kyle hamilton is um so i had initially planned to talk about the timeline for players that the Vikings had drafted in the past. And I was really talking up tonight. Timeline that they know we had an emergency pot like this is what happens. So I think the timeline week will sort of bleed into next week as well with just this, you know, making a difference here because I don't want to keep you for another 45 minutes. But anyway, yeah, I think we're on the same page with if a guy is a special player,

he can make a difference at that position. And I've seen people saying this sort of funny thing, like, oh, what if he's just J. Ron curse? Well, I mean, a better version of J. Ron curse is a really good player for what he did for Dallas last year, blitzing, playing in the box, covering tight ends, covering people out of the backfield. There's a lot that you can do with somebody who is a tarantula with the arms and height and all that sort of thing. So, I mean, I think it's one of the best and most interesting storylines of the draft is what the league ends up thinking of Kyle Hamilton that a lot of draft analysts have been very high on. So Chris Trapasso at Chris Trapasso on Twitter and CBS sports.com is where you can read all of his draft work. We do it every week leading up to,

and right after the draft where we're breaking it all down with you, Chris, and appreciate you and congratulations on a wonderful first emergency podcast for you. Welcome. Thanks, Matt.