Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings sign Sam Darnold AND Aaron Jones!!!??!?

Episode Date: March 12, 2024

Matthew Coller jumps out of bed to analyze the Vikings signing quarterback Sam Darnold and running back Aaron Jones https://surfshark.deals/PURPLEINSIDER Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good morning, everybody. Matthew Collar here, another episode of Purple Insider, and we're back with another emergency podcast, as the Minnesota Vikings have not only brought in Sam Darnold, a quarterback who is talked about a lot on this show, they not only are reportedly, according to Diana Rossini, about to sign Aaron Jones, running back who you guys know from such games as always crushing the Minnesota Vikings with the Green Bay Packers. But this show will be dedicated to the Vikings signing a kicker. No, I'm just kidding. But they did sign a kicker, a former XFL kicker. We're not going to get too deep into that.

But let's begin with Sam Darnold. This is something that we have talked about over the last couple of weeks, I would say, since Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reported that it was a possibility that the Vikings would look into Sam Darnold as an option if Kirk Cousins left. And so it wasn't shocking to see this come to fruition, that the Vikings would bring in Darnold. He was the backup last year with the San Francisco 49ers. We know that there is a connection with Kevin O'Connell and Kyle Shanahan. They had joint practices two years ago,

so I imagine that there was some discussion there. And also, Josh McCown, the Vikings quarterback coach, would have a lot of familiarity and a relationship with Sam Darnold. So I've seen conflicting things as far as reactions to this signing on the old internet this morning. I saw from Peter Schrager of NFL Network that people around the NFL are bullish on this deal and bullish on Sam Darnold and his chances. And then, of course, I've seen a lot of people saying, wait a minute now, this is Sam Darnold. He was a big bust for the New York

Jets. And I think that actually both of those things can be true, that Sam Darnold's performance for the New York Jets, when you go back through it, it is very difficult to be overly optimistic about that. He had a quarterback rating under 80 with the Jets. He didn't win many games. They struggled immensely with him as their starting quarterback, and then they moved him. Now, it is interesting to think

about when they moved sam darnold they got a second round pick from the carolina panthers when the new england patriots just moved mac jones they got a sixth round pick and as you see from justin fields there doesn't appear to be a whole lot of market. So I think that even when he was leaving the New York Jets, there was a belief that he had potential still. So he goes to the Carolina Panthers. That thing just implodes because Matt Rule was one of the worst coaches of the last decade. And he ends up going to the 49ers and being a backup last year so I was investigating a little bit more into Sam Darnold into his numbers and his performances and one of the things that I did notice was that his most recent starting run with Carolina he actually did perform pretty well I won four out of six games had a handful of games that graded well by pff he had twice as many big time throws as

turnover worthy plays this is at the end of the 2022 panthers season but of course no one was paying attention to the end of the 2022 carolina panthers season but remember they won some games i think it was was it steve wilkes who was their coach? They won a handful of games. They actually took themselves out of the tank-a-thon, and then they had to trade up to get Bryce Young. Remember all this? But there was no reason for any of us to watch any Carolina Panthers football. But I think that if you look at those numbers from Darnold, his most recent showing,

you would see somebody who looks like there's some potential there and also a competent backup quarterback at worst. And what the Minnesota Vikings are very clearly doing here with Sam Darnold is they are getting a quarterback who has been a backup with a young quarterback in Brock Purdy that went to the Super Bowl. He has been through a lot of different stuff throughout the league. He is familiar with a style and a type of offense that the Minnesota Vikings are interested in. It's not the same offense, but it's a similar thought process,

a similar philosophy. He's had to learn numerous offenses throughout his career. He's had to play the role of the veteran type last year with the 49ers, which really did impress me that they chose to keep him as opposed to Trey Lance. I mean, it must've been hard for the 49ers to move on from Trey Lance, but they actually thought, Oh, sorry about my camera there. They actually thought it was a better idea. I'll fix this. Hold on too much, too much knock around the table. Uh, They actually thought it was a better idea. I'll fix this. Hold on. Too much, too much knock around the table. They actually thought it was a better idea to go with Sam Darnold last year in San Francisco

than it was to stick with Trey Lance, who they traded so much to go up and get. So the fact that he has had all these different experiences to me makes him a good candidate to be paired with a rookie quarterback. And if you're looking at this as anything more, then you're just trying to ignore the situation. Right. If you're looking at it like, what are the Minnesota Vikings doing? Sam Darnold's not any good. He's not going to be their franchise quarterback. Then you're intentionally going out of your way to ignore the fact that the Vikings are very likely to draft a quarterback. But also, this is someone with a ton of starting experience. So should that quarterback not be ready? And can't we sort of see the plan coming together here?

Who is the quarterback that is most talked about is in the middle type of part of the first round who is also discussed as a guy that you might not want to start right away that would be jj mccarthy i don't know that they love jj mccarthy but let's start putting it all together here right you get samold, who started a lot of football games, who has a big arm, lots of physical talent. And I was going through his game logs. And one of the things I noticed over his career, Sam Darnold showed at least some potential as a New York jet and as a Carolina Panther. He is a bust for a draft pick for the New York Jets that did not work out for them, and he was not a success.

But if you're looking at someone who has a lot of life experience, a lot of experience in different offenses, who has been around the league, and that you could see coming in and working successfully with a young quarterback, then it makes a lot of sense. And if you look at somebody who could start right away, if they need them to, because they have a quarterback, who's a rookie, who's not ready, then Sam Darnold could very much be that guy. I don't think that anyone believes that the Minnesota Vikings signed Sam Darnold to be their future franchise quarterback. But also when we look at around

the league a little bit, there have been other examples of quarterbacks who have a similar background to Sam Darnold that did not work out with their first team, whether it was bad coaching, whether it was bad supporting cast and all that. And they ultimately ended up becoming good quarterbacks. So if you're the Vikings, why would it not be worth bringing in somebody who could handle both of those types of things, who could have a backup role, who could also handle being a starting quarterback if you need him to for a half a season, for an entire season, if you really needed him to. And also, the potential to even have more there than we have ever seen before. And one of the things I was looking at when I was going through Sam Darnold's history was,

if you think it was bad, I mean, if you think it was pretty rough with the supporting casts that some quarterbacks have had. I would put Sam Darnold's coaching and teammates up against anybody as far as the worst supporting cast you are ever going to find for a top quarterback draft pick. I mean, when you go through his leading wide receivers from year to year, it is insane the the players that he's had with him when you look at the coaches that he has had it is insane i mean we're talking about if you made a list of the worst head coaches of the last 10 years the adam gaze and matt rule are on that list that's been this guy's this guy's coaches has anyone actually worked with sam darnold that's been this guy's coaches. Has anyone actually worked with Sam Darnold that's been competent? And the answer so far in his career is only in San Francisco,

where he was a backup last year. So I don't look at this as anything more than at worst case scenario, Sam Darnold is a quality backup quarterback, as he just was for the San Francisco 49ers. Had Brock Purdy gotten hurt for four games, they would have trusted Sam Darnold to come in and start those games. And you probably get two good performances and two bad performances based on his history. That's really all you can ask from a backup quarterback. And the best case scenario is probably that Sam Darnold starts, say, the beginning of next season. So J.J. McCarthy or Drake May or whoever you draft doesn't have to

start right away, which I think when you look at the history of quarterbacks giving time to develop, that's always a good thing for a quarterback to have time to work it out a little bit to be ready to come in and start the other thing is too if you drafted a quarterback where you really felt like oh man this guy is not working out you have a quarterback that you know could come in and start for you and throw the football to justin jefferson and it would probably be a wild ride it would probably be a lot of great games a lot of bad games it would probably be a wild ride. It would probably be a lot of great games, a lot of bad games. It would probably be a lot of amazing passes to Justin Jefferson and some wild fumbles and interceptions because that's really who we've seen from Sam Darnold over a stretch if he had to start for the entire season. But you also don't

feel like with him and the supporting cast and the coach that it would have to be a totally lost abomination of a season if he had to start and that's looking at his last games with Carolina and how he played when he got in with San Francisco just a little bit in a small sample it's just been fairly competent recently for Sam Darnold. He went eight and nine as a Carolina Panther with Matt rule as his head coach. I mean, he had DJ more there, but not a whole lot else as far as in Carolina and went eight and nine as a

starter. And it wasn't wonderful. So is there more potential there? Sure there is, but the most likely scenario is that he starts a handful of games for them while they develop JJ McCarthy or Bo Nix or Drake May. And then you turn things over to the rookie quarterback when they're ready and you go

forward. This is the competitive rebuild type of move. I mean, if you went out and decided to get someone like Gardner Minshew or Jacoby Bursette, that would have been fine. Like those guys are definitely the types of quarterbacks that are bridges or that are competent quality backups who could start half a season. The only difference between Sam Darnold and Gardner Minshew is that there's actual upside. There's actual arm talent for Sam Darnold. Gardner Minshew is a really, really gritty guy and he's smart. And I think he works as hard as he possibly can

to be in the NFL, but Sam Darnold is more talented than Gardner Minshew and their careers aren't that different. And Darnold still isn't all that old and the fact that you have a quarterback in the quarterback room in Josh McCown that is familiar with him that knows how he operates that understands that he could take on this role to me that makes it the exact right move for this spot I would have been totally good with Jacoby Brissett or Gardner Minshew because those guys are proven quality backup quarterbacks that you can pair with a younger guy. But if Darnold can do the same thing, and then there's sort of this mysterious potential upside with Sam Darnold, that makes you kind of like it even more now look if they only start sam darnold and they don't draft a quarterback and they say look this is our guy we're all in on sam darnold

then i'm gonna have a lot of questions then i'm going to say okay i don't know about this i don't know about kicking this decision down the road even more with these quarterbacks, especially the way they talked about the quarterback class. But if the Minnesota Vikings came out of this offseason, not paying Kirk Cousins, by the way, if you're just waking up, have you seen Kirk Cousins' contract? Have you seen the details? We saw the big numbers yesterday. Have you seen the details? There's a no trade clause. His agent, Mike McCartney, got in his bag of tricks and did everything to the Atlanta Falcons. This man did a windmill dunk, then behind the back and dunked it again on the Atlanta Falcons. And it's not you. It's not the Vikings. It was an incredible job with

this contract. But the Vikings, if they had signed that, would have been the worst move they could have ever made. So rather than sticking with Kirk Cousins with this insane $100 million guarantee that he's getting in Atlanta. And again, a no trade clause. That's art, man. That is art. Put it in the history museums in Atlanta. Put it in Canton. It's just incredible contract that he got there. But the Vikings didn't sign that. That was a good move for the Vikings to say, no, no, no, Kirk. We are not doing that. Okay. And they move on to get a quarterback who's young, but has been around long enough to learn Kevin O'Connell system pretty quickly. He's a veteran with experience and he's a mature enough guy to be Kyle Shanahan's backup,

which I think takes a certain type of player. Okay? There is some upside and some potential to this, but the worst-case scenario is that he's just a backup, and if you come out of it with a rookie quarterback that is your starter by the middle of the season, if it's J.J. McCarthy, if it's Michael Penix, whoever it is, I mean, that is as good of an outcome. Pull it back. Pull it back to the start of the Kweisiilla flamenco and kevin o'connell

era all right think about what they said when they came in they said competitive rebuild right they said we are going to keep trying to win games but we are also going to reset this roster we're going to fix the salary cap and ultimately what they didn't say out loud, but now we know was the plan from day one to here was find an eventual successor to Kirk Cousins. They have done that. They have gone from that place to this place to now be in a position where they are spending a lot of money. And I will get to Aaron Jones in just a second. It's a very interesting signing with Aaron Jones. But where they are able to spend a lot of money to rebuild the defense, to sign Blake Cashman to a contract that's pretty big. But they can do that now. To be able to sign Jonathan Grenard, to sign Andrew Van Ginkle. These are day one signings that most of the time when Kirk Cousins was here on day one of free agency, you could have taken a

nap. But yesterday I left the house for one second to grab lunch at McDonald's and they, and they all hell breaks loose and they make a bunch of different moves because now they can be players for a guy like Aaron Jones. They can overpay for someone who's good to bring on to the roster. And so they have taken this roster from an older group of guys who had been very competitive at their best, and they had reset that by moving on from Adam Thielen, from Eric Hendricks, from Delvin Cook. So they let all of those guys go, the older guys, and then they bring in this new wave of players that are becoming the foundation

of their roster. And that includes the players that they signed yesterday, but also the players they started to develop last year, being Josh Metellus, Cam Bynum, Byron Murphy Jr. is still pretty young. All these guys that they were able to find, Ivan Pace Jr. being kind of the most shocking find from them last year. But that's what happens when you give opportunity. When you move on from an older and aging veteran, an expensive veteran,

you give opportunity to younger players. So now they have all these guys who are in their 20s that are foundational players for the next X number of years in this next window that they've created. And with the quarterback position, they have found now someone who has some upside potential or at least is a quality backup quarterback in the NFL to work with the next quarterback that they are going to draft. And this looks like a plan that was hatched from the beginning and has now been executed all the way through this date. And I don't know what more you could have asked. If you're looking at the Sam Darnold signing and you're saying, oh, what? He's a bust.

Then you're missing so much. You're not looking at anything else. You're not looking at the entire picture of this thing and why a one-year contract for $10 million with Darnold, which probably has a bunch of incentives if we're being honest, right? That makes so much more sense than locking in a 36-year-old with an Achilles injury and then desperately flailing at the third wave of free agency, hoping to get your next whoever, right? Your next Sheldon Richardson the second time. Your next Bashad Breeland. Whatever you want to, whatever free agent sign. Your next Chris Herndon that you're trading for those were the types of players

that the Vikings could afford during Kirk Cousins because he took up a huge amount of the salary cap we've been over that many many times but when you look at it from the bigger picture Sam Darnold fits in this as really the ideal type of and you say but it's just, it could be a mentor quarterback. It could be a bridge quarterback who plays for a year as John Kitno once did with Carson Palmer, or as you had Aaron Rogers with Jordan love developing. I don't think anybody should be against if Sam Darnold starts and then you end up having your quarterback sit for a year, especially if it's J.J. McCarthy who needs to develop and who hasn't thrown a whole lot of footballs in his career.

Or if it's Drake May. Look, Drake May played for North Carolina. I mean, he had some tape that's pretty wild and needs to be worked on. He needs to work on the footwork in the pocket. He needs to work on getting to his right reads and stuff like that. So if that gives you time, if having Sam Darnold gives you time to develop your next quarterback and ultimately give that person a better chance to succeed, then this has been played perfectly. If they miss out on a quarterback and don't draft anyone, then I take it back. But the point just being that, and of course, you know, the comment section informs me that

they're not getting Drake May. Okay, well, I guess you're a fortune teller. But they, I think, are going to be interested in trying to potentially trade up. But even if it's not Drake May, then it could also be J.J. McCarthy. It could be Bo Nix. All of these quarterbacks, they have reason to think that it would be good for them to come in and to develop for a year because it's always a good thing in the NFL. It's just a fact of the matter.

So Darnold gives you that option. You don't have to, you don't have to sit that quarterback. If you don't want to, you can just play him if he's ready. I mean, if you draft Bo Nix and he's ready to play, then you just play him and that'll be and then you go forward from there.

Or if it's JJ McCarthy and he's ready, then you just play him and you can have Sam Darnold be your backup. And that's a good option. Or if JJ McCarthy or whoever needs six weeks, then you let him have six weeks. And Darnold lets you do that. If he's not ready at all for a year, Darnold allows you a year because he's been around, he can run an offense. He's won enough games. And his recent sample size is he, he was a 500 quarterback in his recent sample size with the Carolina Panthers. So I just look at that and say this is a much, much, much better situation. And you could compete for the playoffs potentially with Sam Darnold if you had to. It's not what you're truly looking for, but it's an if you had to type of situation, which allows them to live in the world where they're competitive.

And also while they're building the rest of their roster. And I think Aaron Jones does the same thing. So let's talk about Aaron Jones. Folks, have you ever heard of test driving a phone network? I did not make this up. It is an actual thing. And U.S. Cellular is letting you test drive their network for free for 30 days. You can try out U.S. Cellular is letting you test drive their network for free for 30 days. You can try out U.S. Cellular wherever you have that spotty service, like on your commute to work, that one spot in your house where your service dips. Test drive U.S. Cellular at your kid's school on parent-teacher night. Okay, maybe still pay attention.

But by all means, make sure you test it. It's as easy as doing a little boop boop boop on your phone that was me getting the app to try it out i know great sound effects there test drive us cellular award winning network for 30 days us cellular built for us terms apply awards based on open signal independent data visit uscellular.com for details. Aaron Jones averages five yards a carry for his career. This guy has been one of the best, most dangerous, most versatile, smartest, shiftiest running backs in the entire NFL. I think that Aaron Jones single-handedly helped them go into the playoffs

last year. I shouldn't say single-handedly, but he single-handedly extended Aaron Rogers career as an elite quarterback. And he played a massive role in Jordan loves success, being able to run the football, to play everything off of the running back, to throw short passes that turn into big passes. I would be concerned with Aaron Jones's injury history, but on a one-year contract, where is the downside when you also have another young

running back, which is Ty Chandler? But did any of us watch Ty Chandler and think, OK, this guy is the guy and they shouldn't bring anyone else? No. I mean, I've always felt like a veteran running back paired with Ty Chandler was the best possible option for the Vikings. We talked about Saquon Barkley. He ended up being way too expensive. We talked about DeAndre Swift a little bit. Again, a little bit more expensive, a little more commitment from the Chicago Bears with DeAndre Swift. Instead, with Aaron Jones, it's a one-year contract, $7 million for a guy who has been super, super successful over his career. And I'm guessing that he will be somewhat motivated when the Minnesota Vikings play against the Green Bay Packers.

This is the competitive rebuild world, folks. When they laid it out from the start of the era of Kweisi Adafo-Mensa and Kevin O'Connell, none of us really truly knew what it meant. Like, what does this mean? What do you mean you're going to try to build the team while staying competitive? Well, we're seeing that right here. Aaron Jones at a $7 million clip for one year is fine. I mean, this doesn't hurt them in the long run at all. But also, if you're trying to have a team that is staying competitive in the NFC North, then this is the type of player who's going to help you get there. The Vikings under Kevin O'Connell have had an abominable running game.

Over the last two years, they have ranked 27th in expected points added in the run game. And it was clear when Ty Chandler came in that Alexander Madison was a big part of that problem in the running game, that he was just not a good fit for that running scheme and that he probably was just never a starting running back to begin with. It made sense to give it a shot to find out if he could be RB1. But then what we discovered is that the answer was no, he could not be RB1. Now you have a guy who has done this for years. And I agree with anyone who says, hey, the injuries are a concern with Aaron Jones. It's going to be a concern with anybody who has played this long in the NFL. But when you look at his most recent play, I mean, I thought Aaron Jones was one of the best running backs in the NFL last year. And I'll pull up his numbers here.

But in the playoffs, he was magnificent. I mean, how about this? For rushing grade by PFF last year, anybody got guesses where Aaron Jones ranked among running backs? I'm sorry, that was in 2022. Hold on. 2022, he was second best in rushing grade. Now I'm loading from last year. Last year, he was 14th. So over the last two years, he has been a top half of the league to great running back. And at the end of the season, his last three games, 21 carries for 127 yards in week 16, 20 carries for 121 yards in week 17. You guys remember that when he absolutely torched the Vikings?

And then in Chicago in week 18, 111 yards rushing. I mean, he was on an absolute heater at the end of the season. He did not look washed at all. So if you're going to have success with a young quarterback, what might help you have said success? Maybe a guy who can run the ball successfully. How about a guy who is a three down running back who can pass block. And also, by the way, last year, Aaron Jones averaged almost eight yards per reception. So does this mean that he's going to run for 1,500 yards or something? No, of course not.

I mean, this looks much more like it's going to be a duo with him and Ty Chandler. And if he gives you, so last year he had 143 attempts for 649 yards. If he gives you something like that, and then chandler gives you something similar then you have a an actual rushing game that is dangerous and has actual big play potential which again the vikings have never had as long as kevin o'connell has been here but i just look at aaron j Jones as somebody who can make life so much easier on a potential rookie quarterback. So if the entire plan comes together so far, let's reset where we are. We are now only how many hours? 18 hours into the legal tampering period. We haven't even started the new league year yet. And here's where we stand. The Vikings are in position to draft a quarterback and build around that

player by continuing to spend money, which we have seen them already do by signing now four players who can make an instant impact. And three of them on the defensive side to multi-year deals. Aaron Jones is going to be on a one-year deal that would help them have a very good running game right away, and also work with a younger running back that they might eventually want to be their guy, but they don't think is entirely ready in Ty Chandler. But we saw, has the speed, has the skill, just needs to become more of an all-around running back. You pair those two together,

now they still have things that they have to do. They have to find a left guard. They have to find a defensive tackle. These probably are second-wave type of things that they have to look at. They have to go get a third wide receiver. They have to decide whether they're bringing Brandon Powell back. And so there's a lot of things that still have to happen for the Vikings.

But where we are right now versus where we were two days ago feels so much different. They have improved their defense. And look, if you lose the Neil Hunter, that does not help your defense, but having multiple players who can rush the passer and combined last year for 18 and a half sacks between Andrew Van Ginkle and Jonathan Grenard, and then Blake Cashman added to the mix as well, who is a top five PFF linebacker. All of this comes together and you can never know whether anything is going to work or not for sure when you make a move, but it's all about analyzing the bets that the front office is making. So you're making a bet on Aaron Jones that he can come in and help you massively improve your running game right away, give a screen option, give a pass blocking option for a rookie quarterback or for Sam Darnold, whoever it is that's starting out to dry over the last two years. No screen game and no running game

for Kirk Cousins to work with. Well, you can't ask a Sam Darnold or a rookie quarterback to have the same thing. They have to be able to rely on the running game. So Aaron Jones is a big addition for them, a big upgrade. And what we last saw from him is somebody who could still very effectively run the football. And the Packers chose to sign a younger guy in Josh Jacobs. It seems like they wanted to keep Aaron Jones, but he wouldn't take a pay cut. So he decided instead of taking a pay cut, he was going to sign with the Vikings instead. And normally, if it was a running back at a big dollar figure, I would say, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't think so, man. I don't think so. But this is a one-year

$7 million contract for someone who most recently played extremely well. And I don't expect 17 games from Aaron Jones, but that's why you already have a quality running back in Ty Chandler. And, you know, it's funny because this still keeps getting brought up. They bet on Marcus Davenport. How did that work out? That's a great bet to make. It didn't work out. That was a great bet to make last year. If that had worked out as a guy who had had good numbers in the past, then it would have been really good for them. But there's an important point about Marcus Davenport. It doesn't hurt you at all.

Taking that risk didn't hurt you at all. And I think the same thing for Aaron Jones, that if this doesn't work out, well, then Ty Chandler's just going to be your running back. It's not like you have no one else to work with. And Aaron Jones is on a three-year $25 million contract. This is to help your next quarterback right away to add more versatility to your offense, to add a backfield that can actually scare some people.

And then on the defensive side, you still have lots of cap space to work with to be able to fill out these other spots. So we have made this huge transition from where they were and being kind of confused. Where are they going to go? Are they going to bring back cousins and then try to make a handful of little signings and hope and pray,

or are they going to really refresh this roster and do the thing that we've seen so many people succeed with in the past, which is to draft a quarterback and then spend on the rest of the roster around the rookie quarterback contract. And both of these guys, Sam Darnold and Aaron Jones, who the Vikings have signed, if you're just joining, welcome. Good morning. I usually don't like to wake up this early, but when there's free agent signings to talk about, I'm here. I promised. I promised day or night that I would be here for an emergency podcast. So here we are. But when you look at how now the roster is set up and you start to see the pieces come together, Sam Darnold and rookie quarterback, okay. Backfield veteran and a younger running back. So a now and later type of situation, they could sign a veteran wide receiver, but the guard market's tough. It is crazy what the guards are getting for money. So the Vikings are going to have to wait on that one. Maybe they'll bring back Dalton Reisner. I don't love if they bring back Dalton Reisner because he's not a great run blocker, but he is a very good pass protector. And look, if that's what you're leaning on is pass protection. Hard to argue against that if you have younger quarterbacks, especially younger quarterbacks tend to get sacked a lot. So you want good pass blocking if they bring him back. But the guard market was a tough one. Robert Hunt just got a huge contract. And I agree with you, Ken, that guards are worth it. I totally agree. But if we're talking about the distribution of how you're going to spend your money, if you go and give huge dollars to someone like Damian Lewis, who has been just okay, versus waiting until the first wave goes by

and getting kind of the next man up and maybe signing multiple guys to compete, that's probably a better option than saying, oh, yeah, hey, let's just go get an average guy. As far as Blake Brandl, they brought him back, and some of you asking if he's going to start possibly. But I think that's kind of a normal backup type of guard contract. So I would guess that he's still a backup and they signed someone else and they have a competition.

But there's work to do. There's still work to do. position because it is really important that they use some of this money that they now have and cap space to put it into the offensive line to ensure that whoever you draft is going to have time to throw the football. There's nothing worse you can do. And we saw this from the Carolina Panthers. There is nothing worse you can do than put a rookie quarterback into a position with a bad offensive line. Right now, the Vikings have some very important pieces at the tackle positions that are good, and that's a great starting point, but they do need to invest in that guard spot. They do need to create competition for Ed Ingram. You can't just roll the ball out and say, hey, Ed Ingram, that, that job is yours.

I mean, that wouldn't make, you know, a whole heck of a lot of sense. So, uh, you know, they, they do have to continue. I agree with you guys that you're talking about putting money into the trenches still has to happen and you still have to sign a defensive tackle. But again, we're not even 24 hours into this. Like there are waves of free agency, all the big names go off the board and then who's left. And then you try to find, you know, some, some quality deals. And I think that there's going to be opportunities to do that along the offensive line and probably the interior defensive line as well. So let's circle it back though. Let's swing back to kind of where we started, which is because a lot of new people joining and again, welcome, good morning.

But just on the matter of Sam Darnold. So I sort of exploded out of the gate, knocked my camera over. I mean, it's like, hey, whoa, we got breaking news at eight o'clock in the morning. Let's go. But just to pull it back a little bit, what I've seen it on the interwebs, as far as reaction to Sam Darnold is those who see the bigger picture and those who do not. If you see the bigger picture on Sam Darnold, what you understand is that this is a quarterback who is the backup quarterback for the team that went to the Super Bowl last year. And he won that job in a training camp competition that the 49ers had every reason to give to somebody else. They had every reason to give Trey Lance that job. And instead, they like the way that Sam Darnold operated their offense and also handled himself in working with Brock Purdy last year. They have a lot of intel

on Sam Darnold from Josh McCown, from whatever relationship exists between O'Connell and the 49ers, Kweisi Adafo-Mensa and the 49ers. A lot of connections here with Sam Darnold. So they would understand where he is as a backup quarterback, which is, I think, likely in a very good place. If you can be Kyle Shanahan's quarterback, that probably means that you can get it, that you can comprehend a very complicated offense and also that you're going to handle yourself in a certain way. Because if Sam Darnold is paired with a rookie quarterback, which is the far and away most likely scenario, that guy, that Sam Darnold has to be someone who's willing to work with him and be professional and help that player improve. And that guy also has to be someone who's willing to work with him and be professional and help that player improve.

And that guy also has to be ready to start week one. So if you went out and just got like a Brian Hoyer, well, you can't really play that guy. If you just stayed with Nick Mullins, I think we saw you can't really play that guy. You're just going to lose every game. If you, if you start Nick Mullins and it's going to be fun, but he's going to throw four interceptions and you're just not going to win. So if it was only about the, being the rookie quarterbacks buddy, then they would have just stuck with Nick Mullins and Jaron Hall class guys who know the game and, you know, could help them. But with Darnold, what you see here is someone that has started a lot of games and has won a decent amount of games.

Eight of his last 17 games, he's won, which is a 500 type of Kyle Orton-ish, Ryan Fitzpatrick-ish type of backup quarterback. And if that's what you end up with, remember, Ryan Fitzpatrick in Miami was the starting quarterback before Tua. So sometimes it's just best to have somebody there who can come in and compete on a weekly

basis, who can get the ball to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, who can make some plays and who probably will give you a chance to win half of your games. Under the current circumstances with the Vikings being much better than what he had in Carolina, he probably gives you a chance to win half the games if he has to start. That could make for an exciting season. It could make for a playoff season. That's if he were asked to start and the other quarterback

ends up sitting for the entire year. There's also this other element of Sam Darnold that is intriguing. It's intriguing to me, and I've seen it already out there, and I'm going to have a conversation later today with a guy who covers the Jets about Sam Darnold, that there are people who believe that Sam Darnold had it so bad, so miserable throughout his career that he didn't have much chance to succeed. And the funny part is that if they draft one of the quarterbacks who's 24 years old, Sam Darnold will only be two and a half years older than that guy.

That's what the crazy thing is because he came into the league so early, so young and was put into such a bad spot that there are those who still buy into the idea that there could be more there. And as I mentioned, if you go back and look at the end of the 2022 season, he started to show some signs of that. He played better football. That does not mean that anyone thinks that they're going to be a championship contender with Sam Darnold. And do I think that Sam Darnold could make them a playoff team? Yes, I do. because I just want you to compare. I just want you to go look. Just use pro football reference. Just go look. Go look at the Carolina Panthers and their roster and their coach. Just go take a peek.

It's hideous. It's awful. It's horrendous. They had some of the worst. That is a team that the bones of it were still there last year when they won what two games I mean I don't think that it's absurd at all to say that they could win nine with Sam Darnold especially when he won eight out of 17 with Carolina that they could win nine but no one's saying that they're going to be a Super Bowl contender with him. But if we're talking about the bridge quarterback,

if you draft J.J. McCarthy and let that player develop, as is probably the best strategy, it's the smartest strategy. It's not, hey, let's totally panic. Let's freak out. Let's throw in a rookie who's in over his head. That's what happened to Sam Darnold. That's probably one of the reasons he's here as he was thrown right in he wasn't given a chance to really develop and now he's had a few years to do that and i'm very interested folks if you don't know what a vpn is you might actually need one and not even realize it if you

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hulu disney and other streaming services and even access new libraries to watch even more content can't see a youtube video because of your location use surf shark vpn can't access that one website to buy limited edition sneakers use surf shark vpn try surf shark today totally risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee get surf shark vpn at surf shark dot deals slash purple insider enter the promo code purple insider for three extra months for free you heard me right three extra months for free that is surf shark dot deals slash purple insider. There is a potential sort of Gino Smith world, but what I'm laying out is scenarios here. So I'm laying out like there's a scenario where Sam Darnold has to play the season

and plays pretty well. There's a scenario where he plays half the season and they turn it over to a rookie. There's a scenario where he doesn't play at all because Michael Penix is the starter and they think he's better. And I don't see how any of those scenarios are bad in comparison to paying a hundred million guaranteed to Kirk Cousins. That would have been insane in comparison. So this route, to me, makes a heck of a lot of sense. And then drafting a quarterback and developing him. And also, I think if you are the ownership of this team, you have to look at this season from the perspective of just pulling back a little bit and being patient that it might take some patience for this year. It might not be, it might not be a great season. It might be a

seven win season, but this year, and we talk about the word bridge all the time, this year could be be a bridge from where they were before to where they are looking to go, which is to build a behemoth team under a rookie quarterback contract. And if you draft the right guy, then you would have a chance to be a seriously competitive team. And I mean, this, this, I've seen this come up a few times, a couple of burners sent me the same thing, that Kwesi could have had Kirk Cousins for 35 a year for three years. I assume you mean last year. Would that have been good? That sounds bad.

That doesn't sound good at all. If they were in this same position right now, and they had extended Kirk Cousins, and he was coming off of an Achilles injury, would that be good? Then they wouldn't have been able to sign Aaron Jones for $7 million. They wouldn't have been able to sign Jonathan Gnard or Andrew Van Ginkle. Maybe you get one of them. How are you rebuilding your team? If they had done it last year, that would have been a huge mistake. And then as soon as his Achilles popped, that would have been a huge mistake.

And then as soon as his Achilles popped, they would have been going, oh no, we have a 36-year-old quarterback with a broken Achilles who is now very expensive and also doesn't really give us a chance to actually win anything. That seems bad. That seems actually quite bad. So they did a great job last year in not signing Kirk cousins to an extension. I mean, you just can't say that loud enough. Um, Kirk is like Dan Marino. No, he's not like Dan Marino. He's nowhere close to Dan Marino. Uh, he's man Marino. He's nowhere close to Dan Marino.

He's, man, if you're going to reference 90s quarterbacks, you better be from the 90s because that's worse than when somebody called him Fran Tarkenton yesterday. That's not a good one. What they've done here is they have, yeah, sorry, comment section. I had to stop with that one. That was probably the wildest comment that I've gotten in quite a long time. So here it is. Here's a great example of not understanding how this all works.

Is this from Independent. Quasey is in his third season and still has a team full of bridge players. Team is in trouble for many years to come. Where is the upside here see this is like welcome to the party because you haven't been paying attention i i mean when when you look at the roster right now the cap situation in 2025 the 11th overall pick the quarterback draft class let's just add it all up together let's take stock of everything that they have. Wow. You guys are just doing terribly this morning. Are we okay? Chandon Sullivan and Dean Lowry. Is that who

you're comparing Aaron Jones to? Those players were never good. What are we doing this morning? All right. Let me circle back. Let me circle back. You guys are distracting me now at this point with the comment section. Trolling, I think. So if you look at what they have right now on the roster, then look at the 2025 cap situation. Then look at the opportunity to draft a quarterback. Now let's take a look at some other situations that have been similar to this. You can go back to where Kevin O'Connell came from, the Los Angeles Rams with Jared Goff. Look at that situation. They had Case Keenum there as

kind of their bridgey quarterback, and they draft Jared Goff. And then what did they do? They went and got Andrew Whitworth. They got Sammy Watkins. They got Robert Woods. They rebuilt that roster. They got defensive players. Ultimately, they end up going really all in because they had an opportunity to do so. But they went out and they spent money and they rebuilt their roster with veterans in their prime. And they were able to build a Super Bowl team because they hit on Jared Goff because he was successful.

He was not a megastar quarterback. And I don't think the next quarterback for the Vikings has to be Mahomes to win because now you look at Philadelphia. Let's take a look at the Eagles. They draft Jalen Hurts. They develop Jalen Hurts for a year. They have a good season with Jalen Hurts.

This is funny, too. We're not the Rams. Do you know where the Rams were before they got Jared Goff? Did you just start watching football today? Go back. Look at the Jeff Fisher era. Look where the Rams were. They were horrible. They were the worst team. That's how they drafted number one. I think they may have traded up, but that like, they were really bad, man. They were really bad. When Andrew Whitworth signed with the Los Angeles Rams, people were baffled. Why would such a great player sign with such a bad team?

Why? Because he understood that they were going to build something there around a rookie quarterback contract. How about the Jacksonville Jaguars? Could anyone have ever been lower than the Jacksonville Jaguars? And they've been competitive over the last two years. They've spent a lot of money. They're going to be competitive again next year. The Eagles developed Jalen Hurts. Then they made a big trade and they end up going out and getting AJ Brown, who is a game changer. I mean, I don't sound defensive. I sound informed, my man.

This is informed. This is understanding the bigger picture of how these moves all come together for what they're trying to do and where they're trying to go. If they had brought back Kirk Cousins on a massive contract and fumbled around in the dark for four more years, we'd be talking about a coaching search in the next year or two. We know that. They have barely been to the playoffs over the last, what, 10 years? These are good moves and not great. Well, I mean, okay, Patrick Mahomes was not available,

but if Jonathan Grenard's not a good move, I mean, the guy had 12 and a half sacks last year. Andrew Van Ginkle was a top 10 edge rusher by PFF. Blake Cashman was a top five linebacker by PFF. I didn't make these metrics up. This is the company that works with every single NFL team. So, you know, I mean, that doesn't mean they'll all be superstars. It doesn't mean that they'll all work out flawlessly, but here's the thing. When Marcus Davenport doesn't work out, you're screwed because you have Kirk Cousins and he's taking up so much of your cap space. If one of these signings doesn't work out, then you're not screwed

because next year you have even more cap space to work with because Kirk Cousins comes off the books. So this day and a half that you guys just had this, oh my gosh, we're signing this guy. We're signing that guy. When have you had that recently? Tell me when, tell me what year under Kirk Cousins, you had a big free agency day. When was that? It was the eighth of never because he was taking up so much cap space that they could not be big time players in free agency. So now they can. And all that has to happen, and this is a big if. And i i am like seeing the picture here and laying it out uh for you but there are questions to still be answered here and and the biggest question is how they're going to handle this quarterback situation which is what we're going to talk about for the next month and a half

and and the quarterback situation is really hinging on the NFL draft. It's not hinging on Sam Darnold as some people on the interwebs are acting like it is, but Sam Darnold, I think still could be good for this team, but it really hinges on JJ McCarthy. So now, and now, now we've reached the trade Justin Jefferson portion of the chat. Good to see everybody's really awake now. No, that's not going to happen. But the thing is with what they have already,

it is very important to bring up Justin Jefferson because if this team had no receivers, if this team had no tight end, if they had no tackles, then I would not feel this way. I would not be talking about, Hey, you know, maybe there's potential of, uh, Sam Darnold competing next year. Uh, I wouldn't even bring it up if they had Robbie Anderson and was it Jermaine curse? Who else do they have? I just, I mean, it was bad Braxton burials. Am I making up names or were these actual receiver? That would be a fun game. Actually, that's a fun game. Did I make this person up or was it actually a Sam Darnold

receiver that he was forced to throw to with either the jets or the Carolina Panthers? I might actually play that game at some point during the off season, but all we ask, and I just want to go back because it's, it's really funny that there's new people who are coming into the show. And I love that. And I'm super happy to see you guys, but some of you that are new to the show are saying like, look,

look at, look at this guy, just defending everything the Vikings do, which is very funny to me, considering how critical we've been on the show of their direction for a very long time. And especially over the last couple of years of the Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer era, we had confusion, desperation, frustration that they couldn't sign players. They always had too many holes. They were always banking on some random free agent like Bashad Breeland to step up. They were always hoping that, oh, we can't mess up a draft because then we're just up a creek.

Well, the Vikings messed up the 2022 draft. And how are they making up for that? That by spending money because they have it now, like this is what a plan is a three-year plan to bring us to this moment to draft a quarterback. That's all we were asking for when they moved on from Zimmer and Spielman, who flailed around foolishly from 2020 to 2021 in the off-seasons trying to draft for desperate needs. You shouldn't be doing that. You should be drafting to get the best players possible, not just taking a second tight end because you need one.

That's just not smart. Even still the drafting of Garrett Bradbury, who's turned out to be okay. But that was a desperation draft pick because they really needed Garrett Bradbury. So they, because they had no center. I mean,

now they don't have to do that anymore because they have a plan and they have cap space that they can use. And so having watched it all come together from the start of 2022, where I'll be honest, when they brought in someone like Zedarius Smith in 2022 and re-signed Patrick Peterson, I kind of looked around and went, wait a minute, wait a minute. Where's the rebuild part? When does the rebuild part happen? And preferably at that time, I think that Kweisi Dafa-Mensa may have alluded to this

at one point, they would have torn it all apart the way that the Bears and Lions did in 2022, preferably. But that was not an option from their ownership. Their ownership wanted to find out, is this team really competitive with a better culture? Could they really compete for a Super Bowl if Kevin O'Connell comes in and Kweisi Adafomenta comes in and changes the way things operate in this front office and this coaching staff?

And they have done that. They have absolutely done that with the culture. And you can see that from the NFLPA survey. But what they found out in 2022 was you can't culture a roster. You can't culture a defense. You can't culture a quarterback who checks down on fourth and eight. Like you can't make up the gap between good and great by just having the players feel better about themselves. That's what they learned in 2022. And after that, we also need to go back and look at that point after winning 13 games is to try to do it again.

They would have moved heaven and earth to keep feeling to keep cook to keep Kendrick's because those were the guys that got them to 13 wins the previous season. I have not looked at this like super closely at every team that won 13 games. But does anyone remember a 13 win team that tore down major parts in the off season? I mean, I don't remember too many that did. So the fact that they did that was bold in itself. The fact that they did not extend cousins and they didn't bend to the magic of his agent, Mike McCartney, who just, we are not worthy. We are not worthy, man. If I could be half

the reporter that Mike McCartney is as an agent, I'd give you guys the best coverage of all time because this, this guy is is just incredible but they did not bend to mike mccartney and kirk cousins demands uh last year after he won 13 games and after he had a netflix special and all that and was being talked about as like an elite quarterback going into last year and everyone was fawning after the net, but they did not extend it because what they knew was a few very important things. One age matters, man. Like it does matter when you look at quarterbacks past the age of 35 historically. And I know medicine is better now, but even within the last 20 years, how many are good? Only a handful. And all of them are the level of Drew Brees,

Aaron Rodgers. So they understood that you couldn't sign Cousins to a three-year contract because you can't project that far. And if you have a bad season with Cousins and you're all in, then everybody gets fired. And we know that. We've seen seen that so they didn't do that last offseason that is a seminal moment in the franchise history potentially if this works out is going back to that 2022 offseason and saying they held firm on their number and they did not go over to Kirk Cousins side and just bend to him and give him whatever he wanted after a 13 win season then he pops his Achilles the next year then it looks very wise to not extend him. And now where they sit in a position in a quarterback draft that has many

opportunities for them, whether it's trading up, whether it's waiting and drafting someone else, if they like them, and then they have set up the cap situation by not extending Kirk. I mean, you know, it's, it's a, it is a good example that the Texans are, are a good example of what you can do if you hit on a good rookie quarterback. And that's another part of it too, is that when we look at the setup offensively,

you can actually kind of compare where they are as a roster to the Texans, because I think we underestimated Nico Collins. We didn't know about Tank Dell. They have good offensive linemen there, Laramie Tunsell. I think it's probably not amazing, but I think it's competent. And then good coaching. And if you put all of those things into the bucket, you give yourself a better chance to succeed with that quarterback that you draft. So I look at this from the 30,000 foot view of everything that has happened to get us to this point. And that's where it's as exciting of a moment for Vikings fans if they have had in a very, very long time. Because if you've been following it, then you can see it. You can see it.

And if it doesn't work, then it doesn't work. Look, if they draft the wrong quarterback, sometimes that happens. It's happened to the Jets. It's happened to the Bears. Sometimes it happens. But they have done everything here to push their odds in the favor of the guy working out. And when I look at San Francisco and Philadelphia, I look at them as the premier franchises of the NFC. These are the cream of the crop, the best rosters, the smartest front offices,

the best coaching staffs, Philly. Maybe it was a little bit Shane Steichen, but you know what I mean? And the Vikings right now are following their path. They have to find their Jalen Hurts. They have to find their Brock Purdy. However you do it, first round or seventh round or second round, it doesn't matter, but you have to find that guy. But do we think that Jalen Hurts and Brock Purdy, had they been thrown into Sam Darnold's situation in 2018,

would have had the same amount of success. I am going to say no, that they would not have had the same amount of success. They instead were able to give their quarterbacks, Philly and San Francisco, as good of supporting casts. We saw this from Dak Prescott early in his career. What is this? We're having a bad day. Brock Purdy ain't it. Brock Purdy was in overtime of the Super Bowl. The Vikings have not been to a Super Bowl since the 70s.

Brock Purdy is exactly it. You know why? Because Brock Purdy costs $800,000. And that's the point. That if you have a quarterback who is very good, and then you give him a great supporting cast, you have a chance to go to a Super Bowl. The Vikings never had a chance to go to a Super Bowl with Kirk Cousins. If you can't get ever past the divisional round and didn't even compete in the divisional round when you actually played there, well, then you were never close. Right now is the closest that they've been since the Minneapolis miracle. Without the supporting cast, he's not good. What's your supporting cast?

What's the Vikings supporting cast? If we're using an example, this is how examples work. We're using an example. We're looking at a team in San Francisco that has what? A great left tackle, great wide receivers, great coaching offensively, right? Do the Vikings have some of these things? They have a great left tackle, the premier wide receiver in the NFL,

a rising star in Jordan Addison, a tight end who is one of the top teams. Do they have a defense? That's what they're building. That's what they did yesterday. It's not finished. It's obviously not finished. The offseason, the league year hasn't even started. And also, no one's arguing that they're going to be there next year. Yes, I understand, Marcus, they do not have a finished defense. I mean, that's where they're headed.

That's the point, is that have right now, the beginning of rebuilding the defense, the beginning, which is Andrew Van Ginkle, Jonathan Grenard, and Blake Cashman, three guys who are 26, 27, and 28. So those guys can be on your team over multiple years. I mean, that makes sense, right? To rebuild the defense, you're going to need more of that. It's not done yet. No one's crowning them. I'm the last person to put a crown on Kweisi Dafflomense and Kevin O'Connell and say, congratulations, you won championship.

No, they've not. All I'm saying is they're following the models that have worked. That's what I'm saying. And I appreciate you, Marcus, by the way, working through this with me, but we're seeing them follow the model. And does that mean that it always works or that anyone else has followed it and had it not work? Of course not. But when you think about some of the quarterbacks that have gone into the playoffs and had even winning seasons are under these type of circumstances, even in Vikings history. Let's go back. I mean, case Keenum, when you built the team

around it, Jeff George, I mean, Brett Favre, totally revamping his career after being miserable with the jets. We've seen this work here, but even look at a team like the Chicago bears, they draft Mitch Trubisky and they still have win a division because the advantage is so much to having this opportunity to spend. How did the bears get there? Well, they traded for Khalil Mack because why they had the cap space. So anyway, what your guys' comments is, is great. And I, and i do appreciate it and i uh so i'm sorry to pick out some of them that have been more antagonistic but uh i also think

that that's that's good for content so don't think i'm upset don't don't tell anyone i got mad that's that's a meme right well ken says are we uh on hunter watch is he still a thing i don't think so uh i don't think so all right we uh if you're writing capital letters you get put in time out in the uh in the chat hey, no, that's I. I want to go through. The OK, so this says, did you just say this is the closest we've been since the Minneapolis miracle? You lost me. OK, when? Tell me when.

What year? What day? What time? When? During the Kirk Cousins era were they close to a Super Bowl? When? The only time was when they got on the plane to go to San Francisco. When they got on the plane to go to San Francisco,

maybe you could say that. But as soon as they stepped on the field with San Francisco cousins threw for 172 yards and they lost. So they were never close with Kirk. That's the problem is that, and this is what really says how hard it is when you have a veteran quarterback, who's expensive is that Kirk played well, the 2019 season, Kirk played extremely well. There's no, no debate about that. Uh, he had what, 107 quarterback rating, uh, their offense was cooking. Delvin cook was good in the backfield. Uh, so they, he was good that year and it still wasn't enough that's why the bar is so high to compete for a super bowl

with the roster from top to bottom that it wasn't even enough in 2019 but at that time if i'm not mistaken jimmy garoppolo was inexpensive for the 49ers i mean it all matters and look you can get there by drafting a bunch of guys who are amazing that's's kind of how the Vikings got there in 2017. They drafted a bunch of guys who are amazing, and they developed them. But the Vikings in recent history have not hit on a lot of draft picks. They need to soon. You can't just do this through free agency, but it makes up the difference. Totally disagree with this.

For a stardom, says Darnold isn't a mentor. It's a guy like Joe Flacco. Joe Flacco said flat out he would not help Lamar Jackson and then purposefully didn't in Baltimore. So just because someone's old doesn't mean that's their personality. If do you think Josh McCown knows Sam Darnold, Their families know each other. Do you think that Kyle Shanahan would put him in a position with Brock Purdy, a second year quarterback, if he wasn't going to handle that role? Do you think that Josh McCown wouldn't bring him in here knowing that they're going to draft a quarterback if he wasn't able to handle that role? Just because someone's old does not mean

that they're fit for that type of situation age is not a determining factor uh why was joe flacco not in the league this year because he didn't want to be a backup he didn't want to be that guy and i respect joe flacco he's a super bowl winner he's great quarterback but like come on just because someone's old doesn't mean that they're a better mentor or a better guy to pair with a rookie. Uh, a Taylor says, sorry about the name. If I got it wrong,

are there any good free agent defensive tackles left? So, uh, Eric Armstead is one where I'm very interested in to see where he ends up going. If the, I don't know if the Vikings could put that much money into Eric Armstead because I would guess that he's going to be very expensive, but Sheldon Rankins is a guy that I like, and I think they

need some, some beef. I mean, I think they need a fat guy who's going to really stuff the run because they asked Harrison Phillips to do too much, but they need a, they need penetration there. They need somebody who can get into the backfield the pressure the quarterback uh sheldon rankins is a guy who probably won't cost a lot uh i now now we agree marcus now we're on the same page uh marcus says i'd like us to draft a defensive tackle yes yes a strong agree now they're going to have to uh you know when it comes to defensive tackle probably look to the second round but i you know when it comes to defensive tackle probably look to the second round but i you know looking at it i think even there's a chance that johnny newton

goes in the second round braden fisk out of florida state who's a name that i'm going to keep bringing up uh because now that they've signed their edge rushers in free agency that really points to the defensive tackle as a position they could look at. Oh, did Armstead sign somewhere else? Let me know if he did, if I missed that one. Tavondre Sweat. Now there's some beef. A guy named Sweat who's massive. Good question on Kyrus Tonga, why they didn't use him last year.

I don't know. I thought that was a mistake. I thought they should have used Tonga more, but maybe they felt he wasn't a good fit with the defense that he fit better in the last defense. The Darnold contract terms, one year, 10 mil. That's another key part of this, by the way, with Sam Darnold, one year, 10 mil, who could be upset about that? I mean, it's, it's no real commitment. It's not long-term. It gives you a chance to have that guy who who can play a little bit and you know if from sam darnold's perspective if he ends up playing and playing well and they develop their

quarterback behind him then he might get an opportunity to start somewhere else and here one thing is uh do i know anything about this kicker i I know he has three names. What is it? John Parker Romo is his name. Uh, from what I have heard, I have sources. Okay. From what I've heard, he can kick the ball very far. That's the internet. The internet had videos of him kicking the ball far. Uh, I don't know if it's a serious thing or not. I think bringing back Joseph is probably okay. Uh, but yeah, I mean, Tonga, I thought they should have used him a little bit more, but there's going to be options though. There will be options for the Vikings at defensive tackle

in the second round of the draft. And also there are still a handful of guys they could bring in. Aaron Jones was a steal cap wise. Well, the thing about Aaron Jones is that this is a little bit of a, like you're getting dessert for dinner. So I'm going to, I'm going to be trying to use as many metaphors as I can about having Kirk's money off the books now that when you had, when you had to spend so much on the main course, you couldn't get dessert. You couldn't get an Aaron Jones with, would they have preferred last year in a competitive rebuild season to have spent $7 million on a running back who was good? Yes. They would have preferred that to Alexander Madison. I don't know how much cap space they have right now

because I don't know the structure of the contracts and what cap hits they're going to have this year. Blake, I totally agree a shutdown corner would be sick. That's right. They still need that. This is what I'm saying. When we talk about this whole thing, it is important to mention that there's a lot of work to still be

done there's a lot of this is this is an under construction sign and what you're seeing is the hotel being built or the housing foundation whatever it's called develop you're seeing the development come together that's what you're seeing right now. You are not seeing the Ritz Carlton or whatever, or the Omni that the, the Wilfs, I think own across the street from Egan. You're not seeing the Omni yet. You're only seeing it start to go up. The cranes are in the sky to quote one of my favorite singers cranes in the sky. That's what you're saying.

That is an inappropriate reference compared to the football team, but a great song. So you're just, you're seeing the building. So do I think the Vikings will draft a quarterback? Not until the late rounds. They should in the fifth, but not now. So Blake thinks that Harrison Smith will retire.

Yeah, I think that's possible. I don't know. I don't know. And look, when it comes to Harrison Smith, he's not going to tell anybody until it's the day he retires. Then he's just going to retire. That's just kind of how he is. So, you know, I just this is different for us. So I think everybody is starting to, I'm sorry.

That's, that's funny. You're seeing the development being built now that the squatter has been kicked out. I like when you guys play along with the metaphors. That's very funny. The squatter, he was taking up a lot of space wasn't he uh that's funny sorry i get distracted by how funny you guys are sometimes uh let's see the remaining free agents which would be your favorite signing um do you mean they're oh i like the entire free agent class i i think well they I think they still need somebody to guard. I brought up Sheldon Rankins.

Maybe a wide receiver, a number three wide receiver is another option. I have to look at the list because things have been happening so fast that I got to go back and look who signed where. I didn't expect to wake up at 7 o'clock in the morning and be like, well, Aaron Jones, like that, that was not my expectation.

Uh, so I haven't taken a look this morning at who's all signed, but, um, I think we know the positions they're in. And, and I think that they should, they should probably like pull back a little bit now and wait till the dust settles and see if they can get some deals now um connor says i was down

on the darn old signing until i started thinking about the situation he's coming into you'd have to be a horrible quarterback in order to fail in this system look it's worth bringing up that nick mullins threw for 800 yards and had them in position to beat potentially an NFC championship team twice just by throwing the ball to Justin Jefferson. If Nick Mullins puts the ball out in front of Justin Jefferson, they win that game against the NFC championship team or a team that went to the NFC championship, Nick Mullins. So you're right that even if Darnold is not great, a salon, there you go. You guys got a salons reference. Yeah, that's right. What a talent. I really enjoy her music, but that's yesterday. We were talking about different types of guitars that I own. And we went down that road. So we don't have to talk about the music but i'm a big fan uh jalen regger went to the page thank you thank you for the update that's the update we needed uh is kj gone that i don't know

actually i i don't know if kj osborne is gone because he really didn't help himself this year for getting the big money because we thought when they drafted Jordan Addison, in part, it was to replace KJ Osborne. My expectations for KJ Osborne were higher last year by a lot. I thought he had a very difficult year, but I also don't look at him as a terrible wide receiver three. I think there's an adjustment that needs to be made with how he's used and what he's asked to do. And when, look, when he slid into the number two role, that's difficult. That is probably a bit above his head to say, oh, hey, guy, that's not the greatest route runner, but it's just good with the football. Go be Justin Jefferson. Go pretend you're

Justin Jefferson. That's hard. But KJ Osborne is wide receiver three in 2022 was pretty good. And in 2021 was pretty good. I like Brandon Powell as well. If they brought it all back, drafted a receiver in the fourth, had Jalen Naylor run it out again, that's probably good. You guys love Spencer Rattler. The draft Knicks love Spencer Rattler. I'm not into that idea. You know what? Third, fourth round quarterbacks, let's leave that to other teams that paid too much for Kirk Cousins, okay? We're playing in the first round universe now.

Should we expect a Jefferson re-sign soon? I wouldn't. I would not. I think that, oh, is Thielen getting released? I guess that's kind of interesting that too many players always coming back, too many players always coming back to Minnesota. They always end up landing here. But as far as Justin Jefferson goes, I think that we're probably talking about that like in August or September. It's probably right before the beginning of the season that he'll likely sit out training camp.

We'll probably do live shows where we talk about Jefferson's contract and people want to trade him and people call him greedy. And then he signs and then you all go, this is great. Like, so be patient with Justin Jefferson, be patient. Uh, I'm going to keep mentioning this, this date, but Nick Bosa didn't sign until right before the season. It was like September 9th. So you're just going to have to take a deep breath in and out. He'll sign. He'll sign. I look, I like Adam Thielen as much as the next guy.

He was great to me as a reporter to cover. Great. I mean, one of the first guys that I ever wrote a feature on when I got to Minnesota and was always a plus we Corey Stringer award winner for media. Good guy. But I don't think right now is a good time to bring him back when he would be much more of the third or fourth wide receiver. I think they're good. I think they're good. And I think that anybody who's talking about trading Justin

Jefferson is trolling because no one actually thinks that's a good idea or that's going to happen. And this was asked to me last night about Justin Jefferson and the quarterback situation. I think that Justin Jefferson was trying his best to be the best teammate he could be to Kirk Cousins. And I think that people's feelings about Kirk Cousins were always legitimate with this team that he loved playing with them and that he put up huge historic numbers with Kirk Cousins were always legitimate with this team that he loved playing with him and that he put up huge historic numbers with Kirk Cousins. Why would you not be a fan of his? They won a bunch of games together in 2022. Uh, you know, like what, why would you not appreciate that guy?

But at the same time, Justin Jefferson is the reason your next quarterback succeeds. And if you look at Justin Jefferson's numbers, when Kirk cousins is throwing him the ball, or I should say Kirk cousins, when he targets Justin Jefferson, and then Kirk cousins, when he targets anywhere, anyone else you can see who's driving the bus there. It's the all-time great wide receiver in Jefferson. So he'll sign at some point and it's going to be a huge dollar amount, but we're going to, and we're going to get there. So everybody like we're going to get there. When you see the number for Justin Jefferson, you're going to lose your mind. And then you

got to see this, the layout, the structure of the contract, when the cap hits are going to be big, they will not be big in 2025, which is where this thing is going to come together. And that 2025 is the year where they should be competing for a championship. Um, uh, we're, we're trying to swing back to Marino and Tarkington here in the comment section. Not today. We're not doing that today. I don't need to give a history lesson about Fran Targerton and Dan Marino to anybody in comparison to Kirk Cousins. Patrick says, sign a veteran defensive tackle

and draft a prospect because you won't have draft equity to get one of the premier ones if you're going to draft a quarterback. Yeah, I think the second round is the right place to do it. Now, if they have to trade out of the second round is the right place to do it. Now, if they have to trade out of the second round, that's going to be harder, but the second round is probably the

place to do it because they're going, as you said, and yeah, I agree. Spend in free agency on defensive tackle and draft someone is the right way to go. So any who let's let's call it a wrap for now. This has been great. And it won't be the last time, probably even today that we have an emergency podcast. Cause now we've gone down the rabbit hole of, of Spencer Rattler. Just, you know,

that's fine. Some other team can sign to draft him in the fourth round. Some other team could draft him in the fourth round. You're looking for the top prospects. But anyway, really fun, really energetic this morning. You guys woke up hot. I'm not good at waking up early and getting going, but you guys really woke me up this morning. So this was great. And emergency podcasts will happen when moves happen. Also, I've got a conversation scheduled for a Jets analyst. We're going to talk about in-depth his perspective on Sam Darnold to learn more about what Sam Darnold is going to bring to

the table. So keep an eye on that on the YouTube page and we'll definitely see you later. Oh, Chris Trapasso. Look, the Vikings are now in position to draft a quarterback. Chris Trapasso, CBS Sports. We're recording later today. I mean, I mean this is fun times folks so thank you so much everybody who stopped by had fun uh conversation in the chat hope to see you guys again very soon and uh we will keep following this already crazy offseason so thanks everybody