Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings training camp recap, Day 13: Lucky Jackson joins the show (Part 2)

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

Matthew Coller talks with Vikings receiver Lucky Jackson and then answers Vikings fan questions and recaps a light practice that had a couple developments. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.

Yeti, is there any possibility that the Vikings look for another DB, the safeties and corners still kind of worry me with the talent in those rooms alone? Yeah, I don't disagree with you as far as like having that as a concern in our pie chart. It still belongs in the pie chart concern wise, but it's gone down for me. That would have been when we did our pie chart of concern earlier in the show that would have been to start camp maybe 50 percent and i moved it down to 20 percent because i've just liked how the corners have looked but i think the only way that they do that is if somebody gets hurt then they would look for the stephan gilmore the rsule douglas to bring in and that's what those guys are probably waiting for is like what team's

going to have somebody get banged up and then they're going to bring them in but I don't, I don't think so right now. I think they're happy with how Okuda has looked. I think that they are happy with Isaiah Rogers and, you know, Byron Murphy is solid. Theo Jackson's had another great camp. I mean, Theo Jackson, this is the camp king, but he's actually done it when he's gotten in games as well.

Josh Mattel is coming back. So as of right now, I'm going to say they probably won't unless something changes. And I also want to see more of Mackay Blackman getting ramped up. I still think that there's a little bit of an aggressiveness that is missing from his game that I saw in 2023, but we are still, you know, a month away from playing and he's still coming off of a major injury. So maybe has not ramped it up to 100% yet. I don't know.

But I think, you know, with his previous experience, they still should feel pretty good about where that's gone because Okuda's had a good camp and especially Isaiah Rogers. I know there's a highlight real play today for Bray. Rosemar, but Isaiah Rogers not allowed to put hands on the guy. So it's a little bit different there. But I've really liked how Rogers has looked so far. First name, last name, how big of a concern is Juergen specifically sounds like he's had center QB exchange issues in camp. And those showed up multiple times in the game as well. I think it's a concern. I do. I mean, not being able to

get the snap off is a major, major issue. I mean, that's just a turnover waiting to happen. I think that what Juergens is going to be is a guy who can run block for you and can know the offense for you and get in there and play if you need them to play. But over multiple weeks, it could end up being problematic. And this goes for a lot of centers. That exchange thing, it's got to get resolved. It has to get resolved. No matter who's in there what the problem is, that's unacceptable. It shouldn't happen in practice, but it definitely shouldn't happen in the games, no matter what quarterback is in there. I mean, that's just that just snapping the ball. That that's something that's inexcusable. But when it comes to how he's played when he's in there for Ryan Kelly, I thought he's

been okay, uh, that it hasn't looked like he's just getting run over every time. And he does look to me like a guy who could be a plus run blocker. But think about like the backup guys that they've had before. Mason Cole, Austin Schloteman, like those are veterans who had been around the league and they got and played and they handled their business just enough to stay alive. That's kind of where you're at here. If Jurgens had to play three to four games, I think you're going to be okay, depending on who you play. If Jurgens had to play 12 games, then I'm going to start to be concerned.

But I think as of right now, that's a, unless he really can't get the snap thing figured out, I want to give a little benefit of the doubt. I mean, you're a center. You should be able to work that out over the coming weeks. But, you know, until then, it's just hard to find another guy who you would say, oh, yeah, this guy is available as a backup center on August 20th. I'm sure he'll be fantastic, right? I mean, maybe if there was a veteran who gets cut down, then you might take a look at him. I think you probably would have to think about it.

So these, these joint practices, there's no other backup center, really. Zeke Correll was the other guy and he got hurt. so there's no real other backup center it's you know jurgens is going to get a ton of work this is why these joint practices are so great is you're going to walk out of there feeling like you know who everybody is by the end of them because right now i think oh well i mean if jurgens has to get in he'll probably look like any other backup center if he goes out there gets destroyed against the patriots okay all right get on the phone and the same is like with sam howell like okay he's kind of looked like turn the corner a little bit better practice today wasn't so

bad last week if if it's a wreck in these joint practices all right maybe you need to get on the phone and maybe you need to check around but if he plays well then you're going to feel a lot more confident about i know bringing it all down to like joint practices feels a little bit dramatic but it just gives you such a nice snapshot of what it actually is going to look like uh brand says um with derisaw's injury history i want them to be careful with him the season is toast without him no disagreement there my friend no disagreement there if they have to wait until week two or three then they have to wait until week two or three whenever he is good to go if you can get 14 games out of him by taking the time then then go ahead and do it uh son of beavers do you think

they could get a sixth or a seventh round pick for assamua or tie chandler sixth or seventh round pick. I do not. I think that at absolute best, you might get a pick swap for one of those guys. There's so many players that are about to be available that there is nothing on those guys' resumes that makes them worth anything in the trade market. If another team was like, yeah, we'll give you a pick swap of seventh and you give us awesome want just to get something out of it. Okay. But I just don't see those as the type of players that you can actually trade. for. We all think it's kind of like a yard sale where you think that your old Nike shoes are worth 20 bucks. And then someone comes up and says, I'll give you a four. And that's really the

price. And it's probably that way if you're calling around on those two guys. Awesome was a tough one to figure out because Kobe King has been pretty good in practice. I didn't think he had the best game. It's okay. I saw him get a pressure, miss a tackle. Like he was, he was involved. He played a lot. awesome wise a big special teamer for them trying trying to figure out the 53 i was talking to ben guestling about this today at practice he had uh caliph hellasi on the roster uh because of his versatility as a corner and a safety which was interesting and maybe like i thought the two interceptions wouldn't really swing the tide there but maybe just another safety i i had to bear Thomas originally, but maybe hell Aussie, if I'm saying his name correctly, I think I am.

I haven't asked him what his pronunciation is, him getting two interceptions, like the first time, like, oh, this guy was out there, but it's hard to say how many safeties they want to keep. There's some interesting questions there. I mean, maybe, I mean, maybe Chandler could get you a seventh. I don't know. Seems unlikely. But somebody looking for a kick returner might be able to talk my way into that.

one a little bit better than awesome law probably because awesome one's just a special teamer um matt says what types of things do they work on during joint practices that they don't during regular practice i figure it would be simpler because they don't want to show much like a preseason game yeah i mean there's some element to not showing everything but they want to show enough this is much more intense and much more schemed and not that i think that the patriots or the Vikings are spending all week like doing an entire game plan like they would for week one.

But it's much more of their real stuff than it is much more of their real like core concepts than it is for a preseason game where I mean, you're putting in your base package, you're running a play action bootleg that any team has run since, you know, whatever year, whatever year Gary Kubiak started dialing up bootlegs, you know, whenever that was or Bill Walsh or something.

run just like the most basic stuff to show nothing. I think there's a little bit more to this out of the KOC, if not a lot more out of the KOC playbook, which is again, why and you, and you'll see them, but that's why the reporters don't take the, the video of the full practice to put it out because I think they do more of that stuff in these joint practices to try to get a really accurate, uh, version of where they are, they're at. I mean, they want J.J. McCarthy running the real plays here. Now, when it comes to game planning them against the defense, the defense won't know

when they're going to call play. They're probably going to run it out of different personnel or different looks, even if it's the same play. And they don't know who they're targeting. They might change things to it. But, you know, it's going to be, it's going to be their real stuff. It's going to be at least a good amount of it. Somebody did, based on like a lot of the fan videos, a couple of,

years ago somebody did some breakdowns comparing plays of k plays from the rams i think it was 22 plays from the rams to ones they were running in the joint practices against san francisco i mean you can't hide everything so um i think they're going to do a lot and that's why it becomes a really accurate tool to try to figure out like what do they really have here uh bitter bruce how many weeks will it take for the o line to gel in pass pro that depends on on who's playing. If Christian Derisaw is playing, then I think that it should happen pretty quickly.

But if Derisaw is out, then, you know, I think that they are going to need a little more time. And, you know, I mean, I don't know. Like, the job is to gel right away. But it probably will take a little bit, you know, Kelly and fries have worked together before. Brian O'Neill's a vet.

Donovan Jackson's still learning. If you get Darisaw back, it should be okay. I remember, was it 17? I think it was 17 where the whole training camp, it was Alex Boone at left guard. And they were moving different guys around and were like, um, what's up with this line? Like Joe Berger was playing center, I think at times.

And then Pat Elf line started taking centers. And then all of a sudden we saw Nick Easton come in and we're going, like, what exactly is happening here? And when they started the season, it was with an O line. that they had never used in practice at any point and they came out and played great so yeah maybe it's a little bit on the overrated side for some of that you just need more development for donovan jackson and you really need christendar saw to get healthy whenever that happens uh i guess we will see folks i know a lot of you out there either own your own business or you are in a management position

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and you look at the article about the quarterback tiers from the athletic, and there's still, you know, people, even after as bad as, as last year was putting Caleb Williams fairly high as maybe even a second tier or third tier quarterback, even though he played like a fifth tier quarterback last year overall because the raw talent is pretty incredible. The game against the Vikings where he made a couple of throws on the run. There was one down the sideline that was absurd. And I said to Courtney Cronin after the game and she'll trust me,

she'll definitely be on the show before week one. I said to draft the game, we're going to be watching that for. many years of Caleb Williams, run away from the Vikings defense and making crazy plays, but you have to play the position at some point, and what I'm not sold on is him ever reaching that ceiling. I think that

you know, there's been some quarterbacks to come out where you know it's kind of boom or bust. Anthony Richardson is one. I really liked Anthony Richardson, but then he's been hurt every two seconds in his career has not been able to practice or develop behind

the scenes because he's always recovering from some injury and it just hasn't worked out and he's not accurate enough and sometimes the fatal flaw gets you sometimes you overcome the fatal flaw and sometimes it gets you I mean you look at Patrick Bahomes his fatal flaw was well this guy has bad footwork just doesn't you just kind of runs around all the time plays crazy and he was able to overcome that by mastering their offense and really executing it and landing with an incredible coach and a great organization that was already winning and had Tyree Kill and Travis Kelsey. I think there was a lot there.

Mitchell Schwartz, like they had really, really good team. Caleb, I still am not convinced as a really good team. I'm still not convinced that he has a good coach. And, you know, Anthony, I think that what you're saying here is fair. Like, Caleb doesn't have the character. And, you know, I think that that was the biggest thing for me. It's not like bad person character. It's really much more of does he have,

the will to push through these hard moments. Does he have the leadership capability? Does he have the resilience? Does he have the confidence? I saw a guy with a lack of confidence sometimes at USC and in Chicago. There's a lot that has to go into being a great quarterback. Wayne says what kind of paycheck does a veteran like Lucky Jackson pull down? Well, on the practice squad, I don't know exactly what that is. It's maybe like a six figures. It's, you know, those practice squad salaries are like normal people salaries, I think. And as far as if he were to make the team and then I would assume that's the veteran minimum contract,

I haven't looked on over the cap.com. It'll melt my computer if I look. But I assume that's like $850,000 or something like that. So if he makes the team and makes some plays, then, hey, that would be a pretty good deal for them. Conrad says, didn't see Xavier Scott on your roster list. Running backs are dropping like flies around the league. Did you see what happened to Alexander Madison? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did.

I really, Madison, look, I know that it didn't work out in 2023 for him here. Madison's one of the class people of the NFL, truly, truly. having been around him from the start of his career until 2024 or till 2023, just a great, great guy, great person, really, you know, cared about his teammates, cared about football. It's a really smart guy. I felt terrible to see him get hurt like that and need surgery and everything, just awful, just awful. And that's why when KOC doesn't play guys in the preseason, I'm like that, that's right. Because you get injuries like that that are, that are just nasty sometimes.

And sometimes it feels like, I don't know if there's any truth to this, it feels like the severity of some of these preseason injuries is worse than in the regular season. That could be wrong. It just feels that way. Maybe because there's not a lot going on and we focus so much on the injuries. But to your point about Xavier Scott, so my 53 that I did the other day, that was kind of a 54, but factoring for the Addison suspension, I had Ty Chandler still, but I think in my little write-up, over at the newsletter, I said, like, I think Xavier Scott is coming for him. As of right now, I think I probably would put Xavier Scott there. They like what they've seen. He runs hard. He's a pretty big guy.

He could catch the ball. He clearly cares about the position because he bulked up after last year. I saw him last year walking around. Didn't even think twice. Like, okay, some practice squad guy, whatever. But then he came out this year in OTAs or mini-cam. we're like, who is, who's three six? Like, that guy looks pretty big.

And so he's, he's balked up and he's making plays in practice, making plays in the preseason. If we see him get reps this week, then we know, like, that they agree. I think they agree, but if we see him get reps this week and not just wait till the preseason game, then like, okay, it might be on with Xavier Scott. But I, yeah, I'm, I'm with you that if they let him get to the waiver wire with the injuries around the league, the way that he played in the preseason game, he might get picked up. Sean is Jackson looking as bad in practice as Ingram did, meaning does he look like he is

going through grooming? Not sure what the second part of that means, but as far as does he look like Ingram did, I'm going to tell you the truth. In Ed Ingram's first training camp, I couldn't have told you that Ed Ingram was going to be as bad as he was. He beat out, um, who was it? Jesse Davis in that camp. And so I assumed like, okay, um, you know, they must be, they must feel like they are, you know, pretty solid on him. Sean follows up with, uh, oh, growing, growing pains. That's what you mean? Okay. Now, I was like, going through gruel. What does that mean? Going through growing pains. Uh, that's what you meant to say. Okay. Sorry. I didn't scroll down enough. I made you sound.

weird there, and that is not on purpose. Going through growing pains. Does he look like Ingram 2.0? No, I mean, this is when you, we shouldn't just like conflate the last guy who was a bust to the current guy. We just shouldn't do that. It's like if Justin Jefferson wasn't wide receiver won in his first training camp, which he wasn't, is he the next like Lequan Treadwell?

Like, we don't need to do that. The same thing goes for Ingram. They're different players. They're varied. for players, in fact. Ingram was much more of a, this dude is built like a house, he's going to be a power scheme type of play, you know, slam forward, you know, type of guy, an anchor type of guy, that sort of thing.

And then he's not going to be the most athletic getting out. Whereas Donovan Jackson, and I really see this in the run game, Donovan Jackson is, I think, terrific when it comes to his movement skill, getting out on screens, getting outside zone stuff. I didn't really good. I didn't see that from Ingram. But when it comes to the anchoring part of it, that looks like it's been a bit of an issue. And what KOC brings up is you just have to fight through it. Like the other guy is going to be stronger than you right now at this point in your career.

You just got to fight your way through it and stay alive. And it's kind of funny. Like that's what Dalton Reisner, Dalton Reisner never threw anybody on. on on their butt delton riser just hunkered down stayed alive got to the next rep and you know it was pretty good so they're kind of emphasizing that i think with jackson but jackson is a really smart guy uh and i think he's going to get it it's just right now it's very hard for a guard to come in and then say hey why don't you go practice against jvon hardgrave every day that's pretty tough could they trade chandler for a receiver maybe i mean maybe if it's somebody else's receiver

that they're really trying to get you know off the team like i don't know if it's if it's new england maybe there's a conversation there over dinner of hey do you guys like need another running back or kick returner and maybe we'll take your fifth wide receiver that's possible It's just hard to trade players that you don't want that are RB3 and try to get something back. So this is an interesting discussion here from DL is who's Mr. Mancato so far. Good, good question. Because here's what I don't know as far as the Mr. Mancato rules. I think Xavier Scott or Lucky Jackson are the guys who are the most deserving.

Now, the question would be do they qualify? because now neither one of them was a drafted player, but both of them have been in the league, but it's not like they've played in actual games. If either one of them makes the team, especially if Lucky Jackson, that might be where it comes down to. If they both make the team and then Lucky Jackson's like starting week one

as wide receiver three, then I guess I would lean toward Lucky. But if, you know, maybe they trade for someone or sign Amari Cooper or whatever and Lucky still. up as kind of a bench guy and Xavier Scott wins the job and he's out there in special teams. Maybe it's him. I don't know. Xavier Scott though is, I mean, at least we knew who Lucky Jackson was. Xavier Scott was a guy. I mean, they pick him up, random dude, who is this guy,

whatever, I'm never going to think about him again. And then here he is, make a place. That to me is the heart of Mr. Mancato, so I would give it to him right now. The other guy is Zamaia Vaughn, who should be in that discussion as well. Michael, who definitely only has seen the preseason game, said J.J. McCarthy has accuracy issue. Sam Howell looks better right now. That is not even close to true. The second part of that, not even close to true. J.J. McCarthy has looked worlds better than Sam Howell. Howell had a good preseason game, and he needed it. pretty bad. But as far as McCarthy's accuracy issues, see, my goal is to be accurate about his

accuracy. His accuracy right now, I would say from a camp practice to camp practice day to day basis has not been the same every day, where some days, and I'll throw today into that mix, he looks just sharp, on point, really good practices. And then there are other times where there's some air mails. There's some underthrows and you go, what happened there? And I think that he really turned a corner over the last couple days of practice before the preseason game where he racked up two, three good practices together after there were two in a row that were really tough. I don't think that he's going to be the most dead eye accurate, super sharp Joe Burrow, Drew Breeze type of quarterback right off the bat.

I don't think that that's like his DNA necessarily. To say how has looked better is obviously just factually incorrect. We've been talking for weeks about how they might have to replace how he's looks so bad in practice. It's only in the preseason game. And then today, maybe the other day too, where he started to look better. But I don't think that J.J. McCarthy, see, this is what I'm saying about. Like, I want this to be understood correctly about J.J.

McCarthy in his accuracy. It hasn't looked to me like the ball is being sprayed all over the place during practice, as if this guy has no control of where it's going whatsoever. He's dropping back and he's slinging it and then Jesus take the wheel. Like that, that's not how it's been. It's been one day he'll be on a little more on point. Timing will be good with the receivers and he's hitting throws, especially specific types the throws in breaking routes, which the Viking use a lot where he's been really sharp.

And there will be some other days where it looks like it's supposed to hit Josh Oliver at, you know, a foot over his head and it flies over the goalpost like that happens. It has not been the sharpest, but when we talk about quarterbacks who aren't accurate, like I covered E.J. Manuel, who is a great guy, by the way, and has become a really good broadcaster, had a great college career, but was not an NFL quarterback, really, not a starter. E.J. Manuel was so inaccurate at one point that they used to have in Bill's camp, they had the field, and then everyone's standing on the sideline. And then they had these hospitality tents that were lined up all along. So you could figure,

you could sort of see it in your mind, sideline, then behind the sideline is the hospitality tents, okay? He was throwing to somebody deep down the sideline and hit a hospital. hospitality tent that type of inaccuracy is not what we've seen from j j mccarthy it's been maybe the placement on that ball supposed to be better or oh you know he didn't he didn't layer he didn't layer he didn't drop that one in or oh he just he just missed him in the red zone or something it has if we're talking about it as if he's kyle bowler or something i like to use kyle bowler because the guy was just all over the place think he completed like 40% of his passes or something.

It's not that. It's not that. Reconnected. Issues with Donovan Jackson have more to do with strength or technique. I would have to be really good at this. I would have to be really good at this to tell you exactly. And I mean, when it comes to offensive line, I know a guy, Jeremiah Searles, who's really good at this, and I need him to see it for him to tell me, um,

because I don't know if it's a technical issue. I just, I honestly don't. I think it's a strength issue because you're going from college to the NFL and it's just so different. So you learn to anchor differently where you really got to get your feet with a, with a wide base and you've got to hit below the pads and you got to hang on. And there's just been some plays where the guy is overpowered him. That's what I've seen. And then I've seen a couple of times where it just looks like, oh,

maybe he didn't realize who Ryan Kelly had on that play and someone ran free. Like remember when JJ, uh, JJ McCarthy pushed Tyler Batty. It's because they didn't pick up Tyler Batty at all. He ran right through and hit somebody. Now, if you're guessing who that was on, it's probably,

you know, the rookie. I don't know for sure, but there's been some of the over that side of the field. There's been some free runners and things like that as he's still learning. So, yeah, I don't know. I think what it is really.

really is it's just a matter of being a rookie like he's just it's his first time and there's a lot to learn and it might take a few games into the season before he gets it he's got to be resilient and he's going to have to be tough and he's going to have to fight his way through it but where I do think he's been good is the run game so if you get a plus in the run game and survive the past game it could be okay till it clicks in but offensive line I will I will say this is the hardest. It is the absolute hardest to try to evaluate from up top. Receivers pretty easy. Is he open? Is he catching it? There you go. I'm a scout. Quarterback. Does it look like he's in command? Does it look like he's accurate? Does his coach look mad at him? It's not that hard.

Offensive line. Oh, a lot of stuff goes into that. And I haven't been sure in the past. I thought Pat Elfline was going to be amazing. And for a half a year, he kind of was. It was pretty good. But it didn't turn out to be the next Mick Tinglehof, which I kind of thought he was going to be. I thought he was going to be the next Jeff Christie or somebody. Didn't happen.

So I don't know. But then again, Darisaw. See, I had questions about Darisaw. I was like, ah, man, this guy's like banged up, didn't see him much in camp. Watch, watch his college stuff. I don't know. Guys are amazing. Christopher says Max Brosmer hype train is running hot for what I hear. Oh yeah, Christopher, you're right.

It is running hot. Is there a chance that he takes over his QB2 late in the year? I don't think so at any point this year. It'd be surprising if Max Brosmer ended up as QB2 this year. But if you had to, you know, right now tell me who's the backup quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings? next year. I would say that it's Max Brozmer. I think that he is going to be the backup quarterback for next year. He's going to continue to grow on this. And he is going to be a pretty solid backup in the NFL for years. That's how I'm projecting Max Brozner based on what we've seen.

Let's see. Brand says, can we get a man crush update on Josh Oliver? Well, actually, I'm writing a story on Josh Oliver. And I asked Josh Mattelis and Jonathan Grinard what it was like to practice against them. And they both said they hated it because he's so strong. He's unusual in terms of his movement for a guy that big. And Josh Mattelis said it's terrible. It's practicing as him is terrible.

He mentioned Oliver kind of hitting him with an arm and throwing him five feet. I think Josh Oliver's going to have a great year. I think he's already become a really good player in the NFL who is one of the of the most underappreciated players in the league because he's a blocker and that's never sexy but he catches the ball he can i think he could go down field if you need him to i've seen him do it and practice i just think he's a really good player i think that's one of the reasons that they're confident without addison that they can survive is because they could play 12 personnel uh aaron says didn't the 49ers pick up t y bagel yes they did and i think he played

in the Super Bowl, didn't he? I thought he played in the Super Bowl. Reconnected says with all this talk about picking up a wide receiver. Makes me wonder why they drafted Ty Felton. If he's such a project, why take him in the third? It's, I mean, the last pick in the third is a project. I can't, can you think of any late third round pick for the Vikings where it was like, oh, immediate starter, throw him right in there.

He's going to be great right away. I mean, a lot, like, that's what you're, that's what you're getting at that point. Um, sorry, I only showed half of the comment there from first name, last name. But when you're drafting past the second half of the second round, you are really looking for guys who could start a year from now. And I've, and I have always said this, by the way, on draft night, I've always said this, don't draft for what you need right now, draft for what you need next year, address what you need right now in free agency and then draft for the following year because very rarely

do players outside of the first round come in and even the first round come in and just set the world on fire. I like what I've seen from Felton overall. I think he's a ball player. I just think that he needs a lot of development in the route run. It's a tough offense for receivers. You heard lucky talk about it. It's a tough offense for receivers. First name, last name says McCarthy feels like a safer bet if Hawkinson, Addison, Jefferson are healthy, especially with Jones and Mason being good out of the backfield. You are answering the Fanduil question of the day, which, by the way, was that Fanduel has the over under for J.J. McCarthy 300 yards higher than Drake May. Are you buying that? And how many yards do you think Drake May will go for? Anthony's got Drake May at

3,850 and McCarthy over 4,000. I could see that. I could definitely. see that lefty says remember last year when everyone told us we were going to trade jefferson to new england well you know there's uh been a lot of things that we've heard over the last two years or so that just didn't happen it's kind of interesting isn't it but here on the show we've flown nice and even, and we have not bought into trade rumors like that. Kit says May just doesn't have the weapons to pass for that many yards, probably fewer yards, but more touchdowns. Oh, that's a good point.

That's a good point. No, I mean, the weapons, like, if you listen to my conversation with Chad Graff earlier, his face was turning green talking about the supporting cast for Drake May. Just, just terrible. Wayne says Matthew allegedly has a bro crush for Josh Oliver. well here's here's the thing call it whatever you like if you want to call it a bro crush or whatever if you're seven that's that's all right you can here's what i like i like an old school kind of football player who makes a difference that is not necessarily something that shows up in

the box score all the time i like to look for the under the radar where are the little tiny victories that a team can get, you know, whether it's having a player, having a guard who's really good at pulling or something and it gives you this slight edge. Or how about Van Ginkle? Hey, I, did I not mention when they got Andrew Van Ginkle? Like, hey, keep an eye on this guy because he's really versatile. And even though he doesn't have the best box score stats, like he's, it's a really good player. You know, I like to look for those guys who might be more valuable in the coming season. as I'm watching in training camp and trying to pick up on things. What's this going to look like?

And Josh Oliver looks great out there. I'm like, hey, I'm going to come back and I'm going to tell you. So that's really what it is with Josh Oliver, but, you know, you're right. You have heard me talk about him quite a bit. So I think he's going to, I think he's going to have a big year. Bradley's got 3,700 yards for JJ, 3200 for Drake May. The one thing about Drake May is, though, if you're playing from behind, you get a lot of yards. And the Patriots do not have the hardest schedule, as was pointed out to me today,

they've got actually quite an easy schedule. But still, you get in some shootouts and you throw for 350 yards and you lose, you know, 35 to 21. You get to keep those yards. Let's be honest, I like Joe Burrow as much as the next person. But the reason he put up those stats last year is because his defense was atrocious. I mean, we saw some of that from Kirk Cousins putting up the big stats when you're behind. and that could be something that happens with Drake May this year. And if JJ, here's, if JJ McCarthy throws for 3,200 yards, that's probably good.

That probably means they're winning. It probably means their defense is good. It probably means their running game is good. Like, real football is not fantasy. So, uh, let's see. How many tight ends will they keep on the roster? guessing three as of right now. Eurasek, I think, will be the other one as of this moment,

but there is still plenty of time to go for that. So, David says Diggs E will minimally initiate a small scrum. Yeah, that could happen. This defense is going to have problems against the run as the two vets they added are better pass rushers than run stoppers. we'll see we'll see uh because you know one one thing about that is uh and hey good example of you know a bro crush from last year i probably brought up jonathan bullard quite a few times because i thought he was really good at stopping the run and played a bit of an underrated

role but we are talking about jonathan bullard what did he get like a tryout contract did jerry tillery end up somewhere i mean the guys that they're replacing were not Gilbert Brown and Ted Washington. They were two guys that were kind of barely hanging on in the league. And now you're bringing in two players that have been around for a while. And I think the reason that they were so good at run stopping was, I mean, yet Bullard was good at sticking guys. Harrison Phillips is good at his job.

But I just think they rally. I think they rally extremely well of the football as in Mattelis, Cashman, Pace, Harrison Smith, coming downhill, the corners. I think that they tackle well. Another reason, and it has to be mentioned that they were good against the run is they were ahead a lot. They were ahead the whole year. And this year, they won't be. Not when they play Baltimore, not when they play Philly.

Not when they play Washington. So it's going to be a little bit, a little bit tougher. This gets a neck roll from you, Beavers. Could they trade for Cade Mays from the Panthers just lost the starting center job? Now, look, if you're paying attention, to the Carolina Panthers backup center situation. That's the good stuff right there. That's a neck roll right there.

Well done. Well done. I don't know. I have never heard of that person. Well done. Well done. I mean, is he going to be better than Michael Juergens if he just lost the job to, was it Austin Corbett?

probably not but maybe or maybe just really concerned about Michael Juergens Skoll says any chance of getting Drew McGarry on the release of why your team sucks. Absolutely. Drew will be on the show. Yep. When that comes out, I think it's coming out maybe a week and a half. Yes, that will happen. That will happen. Jared says, I would think that Vrable and KOC have a conversation

about exactly what they intend to do and want to work on to design a practice. Yes, that's exactly right. They're not coming in and being like, all right, dial up whatever you want to dial up and let's see what happens. Like, it's orchestrated. They want to see certain things, but those certain things are going to be what they're running in the real games. It's not just going to be super vanilla. Let's just hand off. Let's just run little safe play actions. Like they're, they're really going to be running offense versus defense. Hey, we do want to see more of this. We do want to see more of that. But I don't think they orchestrate every play call. I don't think they orchestrate every offense versus defense. Norrin says Joe Huber sounds like a center. It does. Yes,

Joe Huber does sound like a guy who's a center. Unfortunately, I think he's a guard because they put him in at center for maybe two reps and they fumble the snap. But he had a really good game as a guard. Skoll 357. It seems like looking around from a national perspective that folks believe McCarthy is Kenny Pickett 2.0. You know what? Here's the truth about J.J. McCarthy is that people don't know what to think. That's it. They don't have any information.

You know, the national TV hosts and stuff, they haven't seen practice. They've watched what seven passes in a preseason game and then last year's preseason game. They just don't have any information. So you can make J.J. McCarthy whatever you want to make. him. And we see that on the other side of things with Vikings fans who act like he's having the best training camp of all time, even if they're not there either. So like, you know, it's the, the truth about J.J. McCarthy is that his camp has not clearly showed us what this is going to look

like. But we have a lot of information to say that it shouldn't be bad. It shouldn't be a train wreck. there's too good of coaching there's too good of supporting cast there's too good of running backs there's too good of receivers that have set up much worse quarterbacks in the past and I think he is a confident person who gets the football out of his hands he scrambles well he's got a very strong arm like we know a lot enough to say that this can work and I think that if you're the person who's saying oh it's it's bad there it's bad there it's bad there you're just kind of making it up, you know, it's all, it's like, I don't want, I don't want to make a comparison that like anyone could. When I, when I hear bad things about Minneapolis from

people who have never been there, I think, well, you might want to come see it for yourself before you say something bad about Minneapolis, right? And I feel the same way about, you know, JJ McCarthy, like, you might want to come see them, practice for a day and then figure out, what you think after that, but you just, it's so hard to know. Josh Allen didn't even win his first competition and then came in and never looked back, right? Like, training camp, you're kind of working with limited information. So right now, for these next few weeks, J.J. McCarthy gets to be whatever the heck you

want them to be, if you're a opinion person, or if you're the person who loves to be the guy who calls it you know you know there's always this kind of person in a friend group who's like i i told you guys i told you a year ago mccarthy was going to be a bust and after he threw that one pass on the roll like there's that guy in every comment section is a guy in every friend group but in reality we're just going to have to see it i think that so far it's looked like it's working more than it's not and it looks like they can have to have a good offense with him. It looks like they can execute a lot of things that KOC wants to, to do.

It's not as refined as Darnold. It's not as refined as Kirk. I didn't expect it to be. And there's also also a month left to go. This is the time right here. And this is why for the evaluation, my own evaluation, these next few days are pretty big because if he looks comfortable playing against another defense, I'm going to come out saying, I think,

I think it's going the right way. If it doesn't look great, then we're going to have to wait some more to see. Randy says, I wonder if the Vikings might be interested in any of the Pats players on the bubble. Anthony Jennings, another, any of the young wide receivers, anyone that they might like getting a look at. I mean, I don't know who that would be. You named a couple of guys or, you know, the wide receive, they have bad wide receivers. So I don't know. there's anybody there, but do I think that both teams are looking at each other's players as a

possibility? Of course they are. Yeah, absolutely. Lisa, yes, you did miss Lucky Jackson, but you can go back and you can watch at the beginning of the show. I think I started about four minutes into the show was Lucky Jackson. So, uh, Laquan Treadwell, uh, has been in the league for eight years. He won't quit. Yeah, he's a cult. I think he's a cult. So, but there is, uh, Don't forget about that ability to rewind, though, if you're just joining and you miss Lucky Jackson. So, yeah, Brand's good point that the Patriots fifth wide receiver might be the worst receiver in the entire league. Yep, that is absolutely true. So, okay, well, we've got the minimum practice squad salary, 17,500, and the weekly salary are the maximum is 22,000.

so a week so 22,000 a week over six months certainly not bad certainly not a bad uh not a bad gig if you can get it first name last name is there a footwork or timing issue with why McCarthy has been inconsistent with his accuracy or do his inaccurate throws not look the same no they kind of look the same um i am not a quarterback coach but if i had to guess i think that it's just Just, like, think about it this way. If you play golf and you're from Minnesota or the Midwest, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It gets to, say, October, your game is on point. You've been golfing all summer long.

It's great. So when you get 100 yards out, you need to drop the ball in the green. Boom, it's there. Like, you, like, you've done that swing so many times, you're good to go. Even if you're not flawless by October, you are hitting that 100 yard shot onto the green. then you sit indoors for an entire winter you come out and it's april again and you get on the course for the first time oh we got our 70 degree day in april i'm going to go golf here i go and your hundred yard shot goes 87 yards then you're like okay well let me get it the next

time and then it hits the green okay i'm good then the next one goes over the green because you need reps you need more opportunities to just hit that hundred yard shot and i think with mccarthy there's some things that are kind of natural to J.J. McCarthy where he will overthrow his guys because he has always kind of gripped it and ripped it. He's always thrown as hard as he could. And I think sometimes he just goes back to that, like, hey, I'm going to rip it. And even on the lucky Jackson throw, he said he needed to wait another tick. he probably just needed to guide it there and lead him as opposed to just firing it and he kind of

fired it and it went high and that's what happened sometimes and he's really fighting I think every day to get that touch and get that feeling over and over and over again but you know if he air mails some passes and he completes 60% instead of 65% right away you can overcome that with what they have you can overcome that and you've certainly got some wide receivers to be able to do it. Hamza says, I don't think I've ever heard a bigger emphasis on the Vikings that they plan on running the ball this year since KOC has been hired. Do you see that as an indictment on JJ's ability to throw?

No, I think I see that as an ability, uh, to run. I mean, just, just a good, a good example is, you know, I was talking with, um, Mattelis after practice. And we were talking about the run game. And he said, like Jordan Mason is a beast he said that he felt Jordan Mason for five weeks like with the power after tackling him so many times I think it's Jordan Mason and and Will Fries and Donovan Jackson like they're a much better run but when you see Jordan Mason run and you can go back

and watch that game but when you see him run you can be like oh I get it like that guy is got a lot of junk in the trunk and actually moves really well. And it breaks a lot of tackles. If you look at his stats and all that, I mean, he's a really, he's just a good player. They just pulled off a good move. I mean, I kind of said to Mattelis,

I don't know how, I don't know how you guys got him. And he didn't either. So, you know, I, I think, um, just that that's why mostly. And look, I mean, ever, I think we all. know this, too, that if you were going to ask J.J. McCarthy to throw 700 passes a game,

it's just not the way to win. The way to win is to stay ahead of the sticks, give him opportunities early on, and let him get comfortable with those throws. VA Viking 33 says that one Vikings clickbait reporter, I actually don't know who you mean, keeps bringing up a Thielen trade anything to that. I mean, it could be. Like, when you look at Carolina, I mean, they've got some younger guys that they like. And if they feel like Adam Thielen's not going to have a role there, they could move on from him. And, uh, you know, I've been a little bit more on the side.

I mean, this was before the Rondale Moore injury. I was more on the side of like, ah, come on guys. Like stop doing the thing where we bring the guy home, you know, some of you have mentioned cordarral Patterson and like, oh, you know, we, we love doing that, bring back the Minnesota guy. kind of thing. But with the injury to Rondale Moore, it might change that dynamic a little bit. It might. They might have to look at every option for who to bring in if they're not thrilled with what they have. If they're not thrilled with, you know, the way Lucky Jackson

plays in these joint practices or Ty Felton's progress or whatever else it might be, then they may have to look at the options. I don't think that I don't think the idea is insane. I think the idea is unlikely, but I don't think it's like the craziest thing that I've ever heard before. So, you know, I mean, it might fall under the category of clickbait because the odds of it happening are not super high, but if you told me that they traded a conditional sixth for Adam Thielen, like next week because they didn't love how things looked against the Patriots to replace Rondale Moore, who was supposed to be the veteran guy who could slot in. Well, I mean, I wouldn't be the most shocked person ever.

So it's not impossible. It's not impossible. I still think it's unlikely, but I don't think it's impossible. Okay, well, make sure if you're watching that you answer in the comment section, the fan dual question of the day, will Drake May or JJ McCarthy pass for which one will pass for more yardage in 2025. Right now, fan duels got May as being lower than J.J. McCarthy.

Unfortunately, L. Raff, Keenan Allen signed back with the Chargers as the football gods intended for him. So make sure you check out the interview with Chad Graf. If you missed and you're watching the replay, if you somehow overlook the Lucky Jackson interview, go back to the beginning and you can watch it there. And I have my, some of you who are,

watching the other night. Remember when Kurt Warner gave me a call while I was live on the show here, planning on getting that article out either tomorrow or Wednesday, probably Wednesday, the article with Kurt Warner talking about accuracy and layering the football. So you're definitely going to want to check that out over at purple insider dot football along with my daily journals. That's where all my writing will be. And I'll tell you, Wednesday and Thursday, right here, 7.30 live shows. It's going to be great. I'm also going to do a breakdown with Dane Mizatani after. So I'm very, very excited for that. So you better be here. All right. I'm going to call tonight. And I will catch you guys very soon. But definitely Wednesday and Thursday night should be

two of the more interesting shows that we do all year. Going to come with a lot, a lot of notes from joint practices. So appreciate all of you. And all your great questions and comments and reactions. And we'll keep going through training camp. So appreciate you. And we'll catch you next time. Football.