Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings training camp recap: The Night Practice (Part 1)

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about the Vikings night practice and Kevin O'Connell saying that JJ McCarthy will play in the preseason.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar here. I have just come back from the Minnesota Vikings night practice, and always one of my favorite evenings of the year. The weather was absolutely flawless out of TCO Stadium, and the place was packed. I mean, you had a lot of standing room only around the edges of the stadium Vikings fans showing up in mass out to, I mean, I think they probably could have filled up a much bigger place than this to see the Vikings this year practice. And well, got to tell you the truth. I don't think that anybody is going to go back home and say that they'll never

forget this practice. And I think J.J. McCarthy is going to wake up tomorrow hoping that he forgets this practice. It was not exactly how you would have drawn it up in your brain. And This has been really the story of training camp, and I'll take you through what happened tonight and what were some of the issues for J.J. McCarthy and the offense. But let me start with something even more important. Will Reichard made all of his kicks, folks. Will Reichard made every single kick, including a 50 plus. That's the real important thing here. Will Reichert is back, everybody. But no, I'll take you through exactly what happened. But it was, I think, one of the worst practices for the offense that we have seen since the beginning of training camp.

I mean, there were very, very few plays that you would have said were executed correctly from start to finish. And what we saw a lot of just broadly was J.J. McCarthy either taking sacks or having to scramble or having to check down. It started out okay with seven on seven where it looked like McCarthy was feeling pretty good as far as throwing the football hit Jalen nailer on an early pass. There was a nice throw down the sideline to Jordan Addison. But then once they got into some of the situational drills, uh, not so much. And, and one of the drills, I'll be honest, is a pretty difficult one where they put the offense back at the one yard line and they have them try to get out of their own end zone. And I'll pull up my notes here, but

it just did not go very well. It was a scramble. It was an overthrow that was almost intercepted. It was a false start, and then it was an inaccurate throw. He really did struggle tonight, I thought, with the accuracy, where there was one where he had kind of what they call a whole shot between the safety and the corner when they play cover two. There's always a space in between. It's a difficult throw to make. Addison was there. The ball goes up over his head, and just not the type of throw he was looking for. There was another one where in a red zone drill, where he's rolling.

out trying to find somebody in the back of the end zone. He throws it to Maya Vaughn is able to break it up, wasn't the best throw, almost intercepted. It was just one of those types of nights where a lot of the plays did not get off the way that they were supposed to. There was pressure, especially off of that left side. I mean, Christian Derisaw can't get back soon enough. Justin School has played at the NFL before, but it feels like pressure, pressure, pressure off of the left side time and time again. he was holding on to the ball today a little bit more oh i'm sorry i'm sorry hold on oh good call good call thank you thank you um jp thank you jp the microphone went to the the the video camera and wasn't coming through the microphone thank you thank you i appreciate that sorry about that everybody now

now we're back so let me just circle back to that um the drill coming out of the the end zone was one of the biggest struggles I think we've seen of the offense. It was a three and out and it was a scramble and it was an inaccurate throw. There was a miscommunication with some underneath passes to Jordan Addison where Addison looked like he was going to settle down, but then he thought he was going to throw out in front of him and they missed it. Just one of those type of practices where nothing ever really clicked for the offense. And that was the story of ones.

and twos and threes. There were some good performances that I want to take you through, but it was a lot. I felt the image that I'm going to have from this practice was just J.J. McCarthy running over and over again. And that's what it felt like it really was for this practice, was he just wasn't on with what he was supposed to be seeing. And the timing wasn't right with the wide receivers,

because there was a lot of one on one on ones versus ones. And then a decent amount of ones versus twos as well. And no matter what, it just didn't really click in. Do we have the right, are we good now with the audio back to the right mic? You're all set. Just just making sure with that, that now it's coming through the microphone. I apologize. Sometimes the settings reset themselves when I'm setting up the live stream.

So I apologize for that. But the big, the big story is from tonight that there's still room. to grow for J.J. McCarthy. And I think this is the first time that we've seen them do some of these drills. And then they did a red zone where he had to scramble, couldn't quite get it in, then almost kind of through interception. Yeah, just nothing really clicked for them tonight. Nothing really worked the way that they wanted to on offense. And I would say the same thing for the second team. The bigger things to take away from tonight were really what was said by Kevin O'Connell before the practice than things that happened during the actual practice because we didn't have a lot

of takeaways, although I will say this. And that's just from focused on J.J. McCarthy. And the big picture is every other practice, it can be way up or it can be way down or it can be somewhere in the middle from McCarthy. And what they're looking for is for this to even out as they go along. So the other day's practice, what is that, losing my days now, Saturday was absolutely fantastic. It was absolutely fantastic. I mean, McCarthy was just on point, terrific, hidden guys left and right. And then tonight, it wasn't that sort of thing. It just wasn't as sharp. And yes, Nick points out, you know, there's no Hawkinson and no Jefferson. So he's really playing with a second team no derisaw will fries i thought i did see out there though tonight i think will fries is is back

and good to go um but you know when it comes to the offense he's really not running a full version of his offense with t j hawkinson out and justin jefferson out and so now you've got lucky jackson and you've got jaylin naylor being bumped up a spot and you're only real wide receiver that you're looking to all the time in real games is jordan adder and you're looking at I mean, we think about Naylor, I like Jalen Naylor all right as a wide receiver three. And I think he's done a good job. But that, you know, still, we're talking about somebody who is much more of a wide receiver three and not a guy who is going to be a wide receiver one.

So Jefferson not being out. And then Addison is your only real true wide receiver who's done something in this league with Hawkinson out as well. And then also Lucky Jackson and Ryan Kelly was not out there. either. So, I mean, this was probably half of the offense that J.J. McCarthy would expect to have in week one. And Ryan Kelly not being there looked like it was a major issue as well. So you had school and you had Juergens and Juergens, I think has had a really rough go of it now at this point in training camp. And yeah, you know what? If Jefferson, Hawkinson, and Ryan Kelly are missing in real

games i don't expect j j mcc McCarthy to have a ton of success so that's what we saw tonight now that doesn't apologize for everything i mean there were throws that were left out there where somebody was open and he just missed them like the throw i described with jordan addison or down in the red zone where he tried to scramble there was a guy breaking open on the side he was looking that he just didn't pull the trigger and then he's got to scramble out and then he's got to run um but i i do think that when you're missing that many people out there, then you start to have an issue. As far as interceptions, I don't think he threw an interception. If he did, there was on a, there was one on a tip, but I think that Sam Howell threw that. I'll have to check on the

notes. I don't remember him throwing interception. There was one from Brosmer, might have been from Rippin that threw the other one that went through somebody's hands. One thing I will also say is that there's just been a lot of drop balls by the wide receivers in this training camp. And maybe that's me noticing that Justin Jefferson is not out there. But it's, it feels like there's been a lot of like today. It was Dante Fleming who gets a great throw for Max Brosmer. Brosmer goes in there. He's cutting across the middle. He fires it right to Fleming goes right through his hands for an interception. And then there was another one where Jay Ward gets a pick that Sam Howell, that was the other one. Sam Howell throws a checkdown.

to, I think it was Xavier Scott, the running back, bounces off his hands almost like he volleyed it right to Jay Ward for an interception. It was, it just, there wasn't anybody who had a good night offensively in this practice. But was J.J. McCarthy rattled? No, I didn't think that he was rattled. I think that this is just who you have a quarterback right now with half of his players in there. You have a young quarterback who is not done some of the stuff at all who's facing a great defense and a lot of pressure on a given drop back because his center wasn't in there. And then because his starting left tackle was not in there. And Lucky Jackson looked any good. You know, I think Lucky Jackson knows where he's supposed to be

in the offense. And he's made some catches and he's had some good practices overall. But we can't expect Lucky Jackson to be Justin Jefferson, who he's kind of trying to fill in therefore, or even Jalen Naylor, um, I do think as of right now, you would have to give Lucky Jackson a roster spot because we saw tonight pretty much exclusively Rondale Moore and Ty Felton as the number two wide receivers. Look, guys, I am just about at the age where I'm starting to notice that hairline fading a little bit. So if you're struggling with the same problem, allow me to make a suggestion. Give hymns a try. Try him's hair loss solutions and you'll be joining the hundreds of thousands of subscribers who found their hair

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different alignments and all that different sort of stuff to the point where he's perfectly comfortable with the offense to go in and play some more reps as wide receiver three with Jefferson out. But clearly they are not at the point where they're ready. to do that. And, you know, the same thing with Ty Felton, where I'm sure that they would like that, but Felton is a rookie and doesn't seem to be quite there yet. But as far as McCarthy, it's probably half of the practice being that he's facing pressure on almost every single drive, but then the other part is not having his receivers. And then it's him also just missing on some of the throws that

are supposed to be there. But that was tonight's practice. Saturdays looked like a superstar QB1. I mean, this is also training camp for you sometimes where it's one practice up and then one practice down. And by the end, you expect it to look like they're ready to play in week one. I would say after tonight, the defense is ready to play in week one. And the offense is going to need a lot more work. Bob, thank you so much for the super chat. At least we could take solace, the fact our defenders have been in the right place to make interceptions on deflections. Well, that's true. Now, I mean, everything regarding the defense has just been really, really good in this

training camp, except for when they're, you know, maybe throwing Aaron Jones to the ground when they're not supposed to be. But other than that, it has been overall pretty good. As far as pot returning goes, Rondale Moore seems to be the top punt returner, but I think they are also intrigued by Miles Price. another guy silas bolden had a chance to make a nice catch tonight dropped it good throw by max brosmer i thought brosmer played pretty well um but i mean if you're doing the biggest winners of tonight on the offensive side uh yes brian will the thrill was the biggest winner of the overall

night by making every single one of his field goals including one from over 50 yards which he crushed uh the run game is the biggest winner of the night again it's really been the biggest winner of the entire training camp. The run game was excellent when they did a red zone drill. They handed off to Jordan Mason. He blasted through. Nobody even got a hand on him. I think the offensive line has been very comfortable in the run game.

And specifically, I've noticed Donovan Jackson a lot and Will Fries, but Will Fries is supposed to be doing that. In the run game, I think Donovan Jackson looks like he could be a legitimate difference maker because of his size, his athleticism. And when he gets hands on guys tonight, he got to the second level and drove back Ivan Pace, like 10 yards of getting to the second level as a guard. That's going to take athleticism, which he has and strength, which he has. I think it's past protection for Donovan Jackson that is still an issue right now when he's

facing off with really good defensive players, was watching him in one-on-ones. and he's getting pushed back a little bit by some of the more powerful people. I'm not a one-on-one offensive line analyst, but just something I've noticed. And I'm going to bring you what Kevin O'Connell had to say about Donovan Jackson. But in the run game, man, it has looked really, really good for the Vikings. Ty Chandler had a nice run tonight. Aaron Jones had a nice run tonight. It just couldn't have been farther apart from the, you know, the run game versus the past game.

And Jim, I agree that working out of the end zone is one of the hardest things to do. But McCarthy didn't see something correctly and almost through an interception, whereas a ball that was too high for Jalen Naylor and it popped up in the air and Byron Murphy almost picked it off. Like those are the things that he has to learn can't happen in the NFL. You can't be backed up toward your own goal line and then kind of just throw it out there and see what happens because that's where you make a big mistake. And what Kevin O'Connell has really tried to emphasize is that every mistake, every bad rap, every bad series or period of practice is just an opportunity to learn and to grow. And I think J.J. McCarthy has done a good job at learning and growing from the mistakes that he's made.

And that's probably going to be another one where that's the first time they've done that drill. and it was ones versus one, so it's a nasty, nasty defense, and it's right in your face, and it's not the same as playing at Michigan, that's for sure. And it's probably the first time he's run a drill like that backed up at his own goal line in a long time. But, you know, they also ran normal 11 on 11s. They also ran some red zones. It just wasn't really there today, the way that it has been at times before outside of the seven on sevens to start the practice, which is kind of funny because I thought when the practice started with the seven on sevens, I thought, oh, man, like, I think this is going to be like really, you know, really good for JJ.

I thought he was going to have a great practice tonight and it just was not to be on this evening for him. As far as Max Brosmer goes, I mean, we're going to have that conversation pretty often when it comes to to Brosmer about him because he has looked so good. And even tonight, uh, he looked like he was throwing the ball. Well, Brett Rippin still did work in to, uh, the starting or to the, to the two's a little bit. And it wasn't a whole heck of a lot better. Um, user lurk, do you recall Josh Allen's first season? I think it's a little bit, a little bit different of a situation.

I think the bill's also won six games that year. That's not what they're looking for here. Um, they look, it's a night practice. is. So it's not tomorrow they're playing the Chicago Bears. But what you're doing as you're going along here is you're looking for hints for improvement, for consistency and how much better does it get? And then also for some of the realities of J.J. McCarthy because what Kevin O'Connell has to know is what it is going to look like for McCarthy when he's actually out there and they're doing a full game plan. What is he comfortable with? What is he most accurate with?

Are they going to be able to make certain throws or call certain plays or if you get backed up at the one yard line, are you throwing a 97 yard bomb for Sam Darnold or are you trying to run and just punt because that's not something that he is going to be very comfortable with as far as, you know, tonight goes, he was not comfortable with it, but they'll try it again another day and, you know, try to get back on track. It's just that at this, at this point, it is one practice is great. The next practice might not be. might go out there on Wednesday and look awesome again. That's why, honestly, for me, it's been really entertaining to do the, you know, the every single day recaps with you guys and interesting to do these recaps every day because we have to avoid going too crazy with some of the overreaction to one practice that we just saw, but then trying to figure out, like, what does it mean? Like, what does it mean that he struggled in some of these situational drills?

Does that mean that, you know, Kevin O'Connell has to focus on the run game when they get to the red zone that maybe you're not doing the same things that you did for Sam Darnold last year, which was when they got in the red zone, they were just throwing, throwing, throwing, because it hasn't been sharp in any of the red zone drills this year for J.J. McCarthy. And then, you know, the rest of the 11 on 11s, I mean, it's a small, every day is kind of a small sample size, but this was not as long of a practice as it was. the other day where they were doing, you know, just about everything. But, you know, what I try to do is write down, you know, all these sequences and you have like scramble, short pass, sack, hand off to Jordan Mason that looks great, near interception, sack. I mean, that's kind of how it was. And eventually, I will say he did make one nice play tonight in the red zone.

And I think this is something that McCarthy is going to have to, like sometimes be careful about was he was rolling out to his right. And it looked like he was going to, you know, throw it out of the back of the end zone or something. And then at the very last minute, he was able to sneak the ball in and have Jordan Addison catch it for a touchdown. Throwing on the move is still a strength. But I think it's also something that he really believes as a strength. And that's how he almost threw an interception to Zumaia Vaughn early in the practice. So the J.J. McCarthy part of this is bottom line. It was a pretty ugly practice. overall and getting the ball out has not been a major issue for McCarthy, like getting the

throws out. But it really was today with not throwing it, taking sacks, scrambling a lot. And I also think that speaks to who is in there with him and who's going against him. Dallas Turner continues to look like an absolute monster. Every single day I'm saying, I almost feel like I'm getting redundant by bringing this up time and time again on the podcast. But Dallas Turner was creating all sorts of problems for the offense again today. I noticed Bo Richter out there getting a little bit of pressure, getting a lot of second team snaps. I'll tell you another guy that I thought looked good tonight as well

was Tyrian Ingram Dawkins, who continues to show out from time to time and really flash that athleticism. So there was a lot of defensive players. And how about this one? Because Jonathan Allen was out, Levi Drake Rodriguez, took a ton of reps tonight. That's another guy that you're bringing in as a seventh round pick last year with a lot of hype

and they're looking to develop. And I think has really done that. I feel like the early part of training camp, Levi Drake Rodriguez, has looked really good. So there were a lot of guys on the defensive side that were shining tonight. As far as Kobe King, I didn't notice anything specifically from tonight, but he is getting all the second team reps with Eric Wilson. I don't know if I saw any that Awesome Wall was in, maybe a couple, but I think it's clear who their top four linebackers are. So let's get to another headline here from regarding

J.J. McCarthy from tonight, which is that Kevin O'Connell gave an update on his thinking as far as the preseason goes with J.J. McCarthy. Here it is. We've got that plan in place. I have talk to him about it. We're so day to day right now. So I'll update him on that plan first and then let you guys know. But yeah, I do plan on playing JJ Saturday, which I think we've kind of talked about before. Is that a possibility that he would play in the second or third game or would it probably be just one game and then he won't play again? Yeah, I think you'd love to play him, you know, as much as possible. But I think with those two days of joint practice, the guys that, you know, the type of repetition that the other guys on the offense will get

from a physicality and workload standpoint, we'll more than likely use those two days as our real days, obviously subject to change based upon how those practices go, how we feel coming out of those. If we need to get a little more work, we will. And then we'll assess that final preseason game when it comes. That sounds to me like you're going to see J.J. McCarthy in two preseason games that's just my read on that and i think it's the right thing to do i mean he needs as many reps as he can possibly get uh and that starts with the preseason now how much to play him especially if you're talking about playing with half of a team how much are you going to be able to play with the offensive line that they currently have uh which receivers are going

to be in there? Is it going to be Jalen Naylor, Rondale Moore and Lucky Jackson, or Ty Felton and Lucky Jackson, or are they going to play Jordan Addison with J.J. McCarthy to make sure that he's got his top wide receiver, at least who is available right now. I mean, you know, that those are decisions they're going to have to make. Do you have Ryan Kelly go out there for some preseason? Do you have Will Fries coming off the leg injury or are you playing him with a backup offensive line? Now, you're not trying to baby J.J. McCarthy, but you also do want to give him as much of an opportunity to run a real offense as possible. So that might mean that KOC is playing players that he wouldn't normally play. How much he plays J.J. McCarthy will be really

interesting as well. If I had to guess, I would be thinking three series, but it depends on how it looks. If he struggles through three series, then maybe you want to get him four or five series. Could you play them an entire half in the game against the Texas? Boy, if you got tickets, this is the first time. Well, I guess last year was this way too. But if you got tickets and want to see some starters, you're actually going to see them under KOC or at very least the starting quarterback and probably a handful of other players as well. But where he is right now in training camp and some of the ups and downs that he's had some absolutely great days, some days that were pretty tough like tonight. I think he's got to play in the preseason.

It will also be good for J.J. McCarthy to get a chance to just put the jersey on as QB1, walk out in front of U.S. Bank Stadium, and get a little bit of those nerves out because the first game of the year is going to be against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, a Monday night football. I mean, it doesn't get much more pressure than that. And it has now been a long time since J.J. McCarthy has had a pressured situation in real game. Last year, I wouldn't say that was the case coming off the bench as QB2. You know, I mean, nice for him to get into U.S. Bank Stadium, but not in the same way that it

will be on Saturday to just get a sense for that and then get a sense for playing against other people, the speed of the game or a simulation of the speed of the game. And you'll go from there. I think KOC still wants to make sure that he's taking it as easy as possible. But at some point you can't really baby j j mccarthy i mean he's got to get the reps in he's got to get out there and make real throws and just doing it in practice especially with the way the defense is blowing up so many plays uh with some of the guys that are missing on offense i mean i think that um that makes it a little bit difficult to fully simulate the experience so more preseason is probably going to be better for j j mccarthy even though you don't love the risk of

you know, getting hit, he's going to have to get hit in football games. So in this case, normally I would be totally against the starting quarterback ever really playing in the preseason. But in this case, it's got to happen. I think it's got to happen. One other comment that I wanted to bring you guys from Kevin O'Connell today. There's been a lot of questions about Donovan Jackson. I think Donovan Jackson, the run game has looked really, really strong. And in past protection has been facing some monsters and has not been perfect in past protection, but to be expected with the guys that he's going against. But here's what Kevin O'Connell had to say about how Donovan Jackson is coming along.

I think Donovan's having a really good camp. I really do. Maybe one of the more consistent guys, you know, just kind of showing up every single day up front right there from a standpoint of, you know, throwing a lot at them, trying to get it to slow down for him. But that's probably been, you know, I think I've talked about this a little bit before with you guys. Like, that's probably been the coolest thing is when you know he's not comfortable yet, you get a lot of like the natural reactions of a player. And he's, you know, that's been a good movie to watch from a standpoint of like, holy cow,

like Jonathan Allen's got him in a pretty vulnerable spot or Hargrave on some movement that he wasn't expecting. And just watching the way he not only plays out that down, but then applies it moving forward has been really exciting. So like body language or just like actually trying to block after you know yeah I mean I mean like two things you know being able to like wage the battle throughout the rest of that down where maybe you know most guys many guys would it would be it would be a pretty quick loss based upon the look he's able to salvage a really competitive rep and then the mentally the next time anticipate it and kind of be prepared for it and you see immediate sometimes in practice immediate growth. So there you go. growth was the last word of that. Yeah, I think with Donovan Jackson, I haven't seen anything that

would be really concerning. He is at times getting pushed back by guys who are really good. He's at times getting beat in practice by guys who are really good. But the physical skill is impressive. The recovery ability has been impressive. And when you see him adding a little bit of extra grit to it like he did tonight by kind of driving Ivan Pace all the way down the field and then into the ground. Some finish there. It looks to me like he could be an instant impact player in the run game. And some of the past protection stuff is going to have to come along as the season goes along. I think luckily for Donovan Jackson, there's no one. I mean, Grady Jarrett is not the same guy that he used to be for Chicago. Uh, does Atlanta have a

scary defensive tackle? Atlanta might send some confusing looks at the Vikings that could be problematic. Cincinnati doesn't have anybody who's super scary at. defensive tackle. I think he gets his feet wet before then going to play a team like Pittsburgh that has just phenomenal talent and some of the best defensive linemen in the league. Never played Madden said, seemed like the secondary was the better, better than the wide receiver group tonight. Not a ton of guys running free other than checkdowns. I'm in on Brozmer. There were a lot of checkdowns. In fact, hold on. Let me bring you some, now that I'm answering questions here. Let me bring you some scenes of the night, took some video while I was out there of the

night practice. But yeah, I mean, I'm in on Brosmer 2. I just don't know that I'm in on him for quarterback too. He has not taken any reps at this point to make me think that he is really truly in the competition for the backup quarterback. Kevin O'Connell was asked about Sam Howell today And there were a lot of those kind of long answer from O'Connell of, well, it's a new system for him. And I've seen some of the talent and sort of yada, yada, yada. But there was no like you guys have got it wrong on Sam Howell. I mean, because O'Connell, if you listen to his daily press conferences, you know, he kind of keeps his ear to the ground for what's being said by folks about his football team. And usually if we've got something.

wrong on an analysis he'll kind of find a subtle way to let us know i didn't feel that way with sam howl and certainly the rep counts that have included brett rippin with the second team have been an indicator that they're not super pleased with sam howl but i don't think that means brosmer is going to be qb too if i had to guess right now i think brosmer's got a really good chance of qb two next year he does throw the ball well he throws it to the right places a lot i think he makes good decisions with the football. I just have liked a lot that I've seen from him, but it's only with the threes.

There hasn't been any reps that would indicate to me that he's going to be with the twos. Miles says, dare I say, the most dynamic defense we've had since 2017. So this is a funny thing, right? Like last year, one of the big takeaways from practice was, guys, this defense could be pretty sick, right?

We were thinking that last year. That's why they went and got Stefan Gilmore because they were so pumped about the defense. They're better now. They are better. And Jonathan Allen wasn't even out there tonight. And I thought Levi Drake Rodriguez, Tyrone Ingram Dawkins, Jalen Redmond, these guys mixing in looks really good. Especially Levi Drake has gotten, I think, bigger and stronger. And is if you want to get real footbally, like holding the point of attack.

And just looks like a football player to me now. He looked very raw last year, but he looks like someone who could be in the mix, and I've already liked what I've seen from Jalen Redmond. It's deep, and I agree that it's dynamic where they could do a lot of different things. I mean, there was a play today where, you know, they're lining up in a true three, four look with Tyreon, Ingram Dawkins as the three four defensive end. And then Dallas Turner is the outside linebacker there, and they put on a rush. And Dallas Turner wins his rep and Ingram Dawkins wins his rep.

have like they've got guys who are late round draft picks who are shining and then if dallas Turner is as good as he's been in this camp which i'm not joking every single day i am noticing dallas turner uh then they're going to have something truly nasty on their hands if turner is able to carry over what he's done so far uh stephen says mccarthy's preseason schedule should be most of the first half game one then game two uh and uh joint practices in new England likely to sit the actual game. Right. No, I agree. I think that O'Connell wants to leave that door open just in case there's something that he wants to see for one series or whatever it might be from the JJ McCarthy in the third preseason game. I don't see much chance at all that McCarthy

is playing in that game after two really hard days against New England. But I agree with you that it would not be too much for him to play both of the preseason games. Some of this could also just be like let's wait and see how it looks. I mean, if he looks great against Houston, has a great week of practice, then maybe they're only throwing him out there for a series or two in the next preseason game because they feel good about where they're at. But if there's some struggles and stuff like that, then it's possible that they want to see more from him.

If he's playing in the third preseason game, then you know that they're, it might be a little bit nervous but I don't expect him to I think most of the first half I agree with you is probably a pretty good plan for the first two preseason games if you're enjoying this video yeah that's uh I was right on the sideline today a great great view for the warmups today uh Topaz says with uh jets jogging around jumping all over KOC would you bet on him coming back for the first joint practice I would I bet on it yes would I bet on it yes i do i think that he will be back by the joint practice and that will be a major part of his ramp up i don't know if we will see him at full speed until then uh let's see from nick uh will

say the depth of wide receiver could be a concern a lot of drops yeah i i agree with that i mean when you're talking about the next man up being a guy who has never had an NFL catch in lucky Jackson. I think they would really like Rondale Moore to rise to that challenge. I just spent 10 minutes today talking with Keenan McArdle about Rondale Moore for a story that I'm going to have out in the next couple days thinking about probably Wednesday for that article. And it's just really interesting with Rondale Moore that he's having to become more of a complete wide receiver here than he ever really was in Arizona. And that's taking some work. He's a guy who's actually played in real games, unlike Lucky Jackson.

But if your next man up is coming off a serious knee injury and has never really been a complete wide receiver, that is a little concerning. But normally you would have Justin Jefferson in there along with Jordan Addison and Jalen Naylor and T.J. Hawkinson, tonight you had about half of that. So let's see, who was on the O line for JJ? Yeah, with Ryan Kelly out, it was Michael Juergens. And, you know, some of you have expressed concern about Juergens. and I've kind of, I don't know, like, let it, let's let it play out. Let's see how he looks

in the preseason. But it hasn't been great when he's been in there. And I think he's going to have to have a very good preseason or they might start to go out and look for some other options if he doesn't have a really good preseason. But it was a lot of Justin's school because Christian Derisaw was not participating. And so that's like, you know, two, three fifths of your offensive line. That's part of the reason that things have gone wrong is you're not going to have your entire group here tonight and they could use that. The other update, which is important to bring up is that when it came to T.J. Hawkinson, the reason it's been this long and we haven't mentioned T.J. Hawkinson is supposed to be just bumps and bruises, according to Kevin

O'Connell. Sounds like he's been battling a couple of different things. So they're going to give him a couple of days off here. That's in the best case scenario. Coaches don't have to tell you the truth and they don't have to give you all the information, but it did not sound like it was serious for T.J. Hawkinson or that there was any concern when it comes to the first week of the season.

But it's not great. I mean, to have Jefferson and then Hawkinson out, it's not ideal for J.J. McCarthy to be practicing without those guys. I want to mention before we go any farther, um just want to mention the fan duel question of the day every single day now with our fan duel uh relationship we've got a different question for you guys to answer in the comment section so today how about this one jordan mason i mentioned has looked awesome in training camp their

run blocking has been really good it looks like they could have an above average run game if not really good run game so the question that i have here is on fan duel erin jones has the 20th best odds to go over 750 yards, would you guys take that? Do you think that Aaron Jones goes over 750 or could Jordan Mason end up taking this job? Could it be that, you know, Jordan Mason ends up being more of RB1 or it's a 50-50 split and he somehow ends up with less than 750 yards? So 20th best odds to go over 750, how many yards do you think Aaron Jones gets would be a good way to phrase it. So, fan duel question of the day, and I'll get to your answers in just a moment.

Nick says, KOC's presser today, the most Zim-like I've ever seen him. He was really calling poor Ty Chandler out. Yeah. So you're right about that. And KOC does not do that a lot when it comes to really clearly pointing to a player's weaknesses, but he definitely did that with Ty Chandler today. again, this is the second time that he's done that. And there were some reps today from Xavier Scott that looked to me like they were with the twos. I think that they've liked Xavier Scott. I feel like I've brought up Xavier Scott more than I have Aaron Jones on this podcast. But then Scott drops a ball in the red zone for an interception tonight, like just after we've been kind of talking them up for a while. It just, it just matters so much to Kevin

O'Connell that Ty Chandler get those reps correct when it comes to the pass blocking. Because if you can't get those right, then you're going to have to take that player off the field every time you're going to have a running back pass protect. And if you have to take a running back off the field when he has a run a pass protection assignment, then it really tells the other team what you're doing, right? So I think he's kind of called him out and really put a lot of pressure on him. I've said that I think Ty Chandler is still the RB3, but I don't think it's a guarantee by any means. I don't think it's a guarantee that he is totally locked in.

It's just I would rather have a guy with that kind of explosiveness and the kick returner who is flawed on the offensive side, but also could rip off a 25 yard run, then try to go into free agency and add someone last minute. it that would seem to me like a little bit you talk about zim era it would be a little bit zim era of just overthinking it on one player when it's kind of unnecessary but you're right about k o c that's the one guy that he is kind of gone after when it comes to that pass protection uh steve said tie felton look good as a kick returner per some reports on x it's kind of hard to say someone looked good as a kick returner on a night practice or any practice, really, because they can't hit the guy. He has been a kick returner for sure during practice. And he's got great explosiveness and speed. And I think that his skill set fits for kick returning. We're going to have

to see what that looks like when he actually gets out there. But I do think that there is a chance Felton is back there as a kick returner to start the season. Seldom seen was in the stand. tonight very cool night hey uh well he looked great in seven on seven shrunk a bit in the pocket tonight howell has a nice arm quick release needs more time uh we'll see on sam how we'll see on sam howell it just it hasn't been a very good operation with him in shrunk in the pocket is kind of a good way to to look at it i mean i thought you know i don't want to say rattled because then it becomes like oh you said he's rattled oh no he's rattled like that's one of those words that kind of sets people off.

It just looked like he didn't have the answers tonight in practice. That's the way I would describe it is that he did not see what he was supposed to see or guys were not getting open down the field. It's hard to say in like full speed exactly what it was that he was supposed to see or what was supposed to happen for why the ball didn't come out. but we could certainly tell that the ball was not coming out when it was supposed to be, and it was a lot of checkdowns. Jordan Mason might be leading this entire training camp in receptions.

He was getting a lot of checkdowns and a lot of scrambles. And that's definitely not how it's supposed to look. And then several passes were just not where they're supposed to be. You're right. He looked great in seven on sevens. He crushed it. But then, you know, an inaccurate throw to Addison, a near, really two near interceptions that definitely could have been picked off,

was not exactly locked in tonight or things just weren't working the way they were supposed to. Kyle says Ty Chandler, not making a team still think Rondale is going to be RB3, wide receiver five. Rondale Moore is not a running back. He will not be the running back. That's for sure. But he will be a part returner and he will be, I think, on the roster as a wide receiver, but they're not putting him in the backfield.

If they're going to get another running back three, it's going to. to be somebody that they go find and insert your daily camakers joke here, but it would be, hey, this team released somebody and there might be the off chance that they love Xavier Scott and he ends up getting that opportunity, but I don't, I don't think so with a guy who's never played in the NFL before versus Ty Chandler, who has, who else would be the kick returner? I think Chandler and Ty Felton are in pretty good standing as far as the kick returners. But, you know, I mean, just Chandler, it is hard to figure out because we, we have not seen KOC really kind of hammer a guy when it comes to stuff like that the way that he has about Ty Chandler.

So maybe it's just trying to get that message across because he knows that you might need him at some point. I just don't know how many other running backs are going to be available. That I think is the issue. Yo MTV Rapp says is Addison having a good camp. I've heard he's had some drops. Yeah, he had won the other day that went through his hands and turned into an interception. There was an issue today with he stopped on a route where I think he thought he was supposed to sit down.

McCarthy tried to lead him to keep going and that communication was a little bit off. But he also Mossed, I think it was Dwight Mcglother in the other day in the back of the end zone. I think Addison has looked just fine. I wouldn't change my opinion on Jordan Addison about anything so far. Did they work on punting a little bit, a little bit? Yes, today they did work on punting. And that's where I noticed Rondale Moore, but also Miles Price, is a guy that I have noticed before. That's just sort of like if you're picking one UDFA, who's kind of,

popped out a little bit it's probably miles price so um it's possible that jordan addison did a couple of kick return but he's not your kick return like there's no that would be insane there's no way they're going to put him back there to kick return uh tray stewart will not make the team but he could be a practice squad guy as of right now i haven't seen anything really from tray stewart that would make me think that scott has gotten a lot more reps um steve says a question for the d line is How many do you keep on the initial 53? You could keep six with Allen and Hargrave, Redmond, LDR, and Ingram Dawkins. I've got six, yeah, in my 54-man roster by accident last night, added one extra player.

But Tavier Thomas was the extra player as a special teamer. So everything else I would have kept exactly the same. I had six defensive tackles. I just don't know if this D-Line uses a Taki-Tai-A-Mani. and LDR has become that guy. He has become a Harrison Phillips-like role where I see him moving guys up front. I see him playing very aggressively against the run and doing a good job. So I think that they feel like they have that and they don't need someone who's just a massive body the same way that Takitai Mani is.

You remember that they had Kairas Tonga with Brian Flores and he just didn't use him. as that huge body nose tackle. Frank says, I don't want to make excuses for JJ, but as the O-line play that far behind the D-line, well, the offensive line not having this guy at left tackle very much, Christian Dersaw, who is one of the highest paid

and most, you know, effective left tackles in the league has been an issue. As far as trying to block Jonathan Grinard, trying to block Dallas Turner, has been a lot of pressure coming from that side. There's been a lot of pressure coming from over Donovan Jackson because he's playing against star players and then tonight with Ryan Kelly out there was some up the middle. So yeah, it's, I mean, some of it is just guys

aren't in there and trying to weigh for myself as I watch the practice, like the reality of you don't have Hawkinson, you don't have Jefferson, you don't have Derrickson, like that's three your highest paid players that are not there tonight. And also I think the D line and the defense is really, really good. That's another part of it as well. So when you have, you know, those two things working together and even the second team defense, I mean, the second team defense has dudes like Dallas Turner's taking a lot of reps with the second team, Gabe Murphy's out there, Levi Drake,

Jalen Redmond, Tyree on Ingram Dawkins, these are guys they feel really good about. And they're, you know, getting their fair share of pressure. I also think that the second team corners are responsible to some extent as well. because second team corners, you have Zmaia Vaughn, Jeff Okuda is in there, Mackay Blackman is in there. I think I saw Blackman on a first team rep tonight, but it may be just in the dime. Those are good backup corners. Those are very talented guys you're going against as well.

So I think that it's a combination of things. But at the same time, just the other day, just on Saturday, you had J.J. McCarthy have a great day. with a lot of these same things. Like he didn't have Justin Jefferson, he didn't have T.J. Hawkinson, and he performed really, really well in practice. This was a night where maybe he wasn't seeing it.

Maybe they were running some things that were different. Maybe it was a couple drills. Maybe not having Ryan Kelly. I think that's meant a lot to him to have Ryan Kelly there for him. Just the accumulation of things. I wouldn't panic over it or freak out, But I also think that when you have a 22-year-old quarterback who's starting for the first time, that it's going to be this way.

There are inconsistent practices with veteran quarterbacks where you have, you know, one day is great. The next day is not as good. So, of course, you're going to have it with a young quarterback who's trying to play with only, you know, half of his starting roster out there. How has lucky been looking? I've heard he's had some good showings. He has, I think he has.

Lucky Jackson to me has shown that he can do enough to be on this roster and be someone that they could put in for a limited number of snaps if when the Jordan Addison suspension happens. I would not feel that comfortable right now with Rondale Moore or Ty Felton being those guys. I would feel a lot more comfortable with Lucky Jackson because he knows the offense so well. He has made catches, especially, you know, underneath across the middle. of the field. And if you had to play mostly a lot of two tight end stuff and then 20 snaps goes

to another receiver. As of today, I'm picking Lucky Jackson to take those 20 snaps. Carl says, can our run game carry the offense? I don't think it could carry the offense as in you're going to be Philadelphia. You're going to run, you know, 38 times a game or something like that. I think that what the run game can do is it can actually be an intimidating factor for the first time in a while. They have the offensive linemen to do it. They have the running backs to do it. It looks like schematically that they're on the same page when they're running. Yeah, I think it could be good. I think it could be good. I was looking at this earlier, this off season. Like, what would it take for it to be great? Well, it would probably take a running quarterback or somebody who, you know,

was going to gain 700 to 1,000 yards from the quarterback position, which you see from a team like Baltimore or a team like Philly. But if you're talking about like the next tier of good running teams, they can be in that mix. The Packers, the Falcons, teams like that, the 49ers, they can be there. They have the running back who's good enough, two running backs who are good enough.

And then the blocking is very, very seriously improved in the run game from, where it was over the last couple years it's it is a night and day different looking run game from where it was so i can't say that they'll be top three but can they be top 10 can can the the run game set them up for success in the past game the way that they haven't been able to do before i think it can uh marceline what percentage of the offensive starters took meaningful snaps today it was a fair percentage i mean you have Addison, you have Naylor, you have fries out there, Brian O'Neill. So probably like 60% and you have your running backs mixing in. They should, look, they, they should have been able

to do better than they did today. There's also realities of not having Jefferson and not having Hawkinson. And also, you know, there are some folk who come on to the live stream every day and want Hawkinson, you know, traded to the Jaguars for a ninth round pick. And then when he's out of a practice, you go, oh, yeah, that's right. J.J. McCarthy likes himself of T.J. Hawkinson. He completes a lot of passes to T.J. Hawkinson and kind of relies on him and wasn't able to do that so much tonight. And as far as that goes, they signed a veteran tight end, Giovanni Ricci mixed in, Ben Yuricek mixed in. It's not a promising depth position at this moment.

we make cookie what do you think of the cornerbacks i mean i think the court well first the cornerbacks should be thrilled that they're not facing just the jefferson that's one thing they should be very happy i think that group has shown a lot it also could be the amount of pressure that's been on j j mccarthy but i think that group has shown a lot that uh vaughn specifically looks to me like a rising player and might push Dwight McGleather and out of a job. And Byron Murphy has had a tremendous camp. He's been everywhere. Mackay Blackman looks like he's coming along,

but I was just writing today a little bit about Jeff Okuda and how he's kind of the good story so far of training camp. He has looked physical and like he fits in this system. Isaiah Rogers has been fantastic. I really think that the cornerback group has probably been the biggest surprise of camp. for how good it's looked, because I had expected or wondered if we would be talking about this far in, should they sign Stefan Gilmore, should they go out and look at Russell Douglas or whoever else? And I'm not thinking that as of right now. There are still questions when you play

real games, of course, but it's looked like a fairly strong unit. And then, you know, Theo Jackson having a great camp is another part of this. We talk about the secondary to be able to have three safeties on the field a lot. So you might end up having three safeties on the field a lot again. And you're still talking about, you know, only putting just Isaiah Rogers and Byron Murphy on the field for the majority of snaps and then Okuda just mixes in or Blackman just mixes in. Then you feel like you're in pretty good shape because I think Isaiah Rogers is a starting corner in the league. I just think he hasn't gotten his shot yet and then had the suspension thing. Kit Fisto's dental plan thoughts on

Nick Venet signing. He falls under the category of just a guy has been kind of a journeyman bounce around back end of the roster type of player that you bring in to be able to practice for a little bit and maybe you're going to keep him or reachie for the rest of training camp and that's probably it. He's really just that kind of guy. Might just end up being a camp body. He's going to have to learn a lot in a very short period of time.

hasn't ever really stood out. I think he had 17 catches last year, but 32 years old veteran player, he's bounced around, still in the league, which says something, but it's not like, oh my gosh,

they've got their guy. They might, but that would only say that they're not pleased with the rest. I have Eurasek right now still as tight end three. We make cookie. Have you noticed improvement in J.J. McCarthy's mechanics from last year? I have. Yeah, I have. I think he's done a lot better this year when it came to making the

throws that he's talked about so much, those outside breaking throws. He had one tonight and seven on sevens. It was really nice. It had a great velocity on it. He's improved his touch. I mean, I'm not a quarterback mechanics expert. And watching from the sideline, I, you know, if I could have COC take me through every footstep and shoulder. angle and things like that, I could probably tell. But I think the results of just how the ball's coming out of his hand, it's clear that he's growing. It's clear that he's growing. And from that regard, but there's only so much you can fix in a year or master, I should say, I shouldn't say fix. I should say there's only so much you can master in OTA's mini camp and training camp.

So there's improvement, but there's still going to be time where you will see J.J. McCarthy the overthrow people and make mistakes with his accuracy and you're going to groan at times when it happens because it's not 100% there yet. But as far as improving, it does look like it's improved to me. Okay, to the fan dual question of the day, Bradley has Aaron Jones at only 625 yards where Demad has, oh, I'm sorry, no, Viking 33 has, he'll sore past 750 all purpose, but not talking about all purpose, just talking about rushing yards for this one. Northern Pride's got them at 800 yards apiece. I think that could be about it.

Yeah, I think I think that could be about it where they could end up with 850 and 750 or maybe one guy pushes over 900. But I'm really feeling like Mason and Jones will be a tandem, a true 1A and 1B, that it's not going to be a situation where you have Jordan, Mason sitting on the sideline and Aaron Jones just taking all the reps. I don't think it's going to be 250 carries to 100. I think it's going to be much closer to 50, 50 when it comes to that. Neil says, love the updates.

Well, thank you. Appreciate that. Appreciate the huge crowd here after a tough night practice for the Minnesota Vikings, but a lot did happen. Did Will Reichard look better tonight? Yes, yes. Will Reichard was fantastic tonight, actually. he was fantastic tonight he hit every kick they started at 30 something 33 made it made it

they moved it back into the 40s made it move it back into the 50s made it and the one that was 51 he absolutely crushed so he was really on point tonight you could stop the panic when he missed the other day you did have to kind of go okay what's going on you good um but yes he was very very good tonight with the stadium full and the pressure on. And I figured they would do quite a bit of kicking just to get him kicking in front of people and bounce back. And that's why we always kind of throw out there. Hey, it's August 2nd. Like he's got a month to figure it out. And he did. Michael says, I'd like Aaron Jones's reception numbers to go up, especially on third down. He had 51 catches last year. It's pretty good. Will that go up a little bit? It probably

it probably will because at least what I see from J.J. McCarthy right now is that he is trying to figure out when do I want to push the limits? When do I want to try to force this throw in there and take a shot? And when do I just want to make sure that I don't go broke taking a profit and get seven, eight yards checking to Aaron Jones. I think Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason out of the backfield and Mason had another couple good catches tonight. I think those guys could be his best friend out of the backfield because they can get yards after. catch and they have good hands and they're going to be there with KOC sending so many deep routes that underneath stuff is going to be there.

Roberts got 900 yards for Jones, maybe about the same for Mason. Viking 33 thinks 750 on the ground is probably a stretch with Mason. So he, you don't think he's going to get quite that many. Yeah. I think 50, 50 sounds pretty good. Zuma Kev says unders on NFL bets make money, but I would hate being under 750. Yeah, 750 seems to me like it's a number that Aaron Jones should be able to cross.

What it really comes down to is just is Jordan Mason getting so many carries because he is looking so good that it ends up being, you know, not as much for Aaron Jones and much more 50-50. And if they could go into the playoffs, I know that's a long way down the road, but if they could go into the playoffs and have two running backs who are dangerous and run for around 750 yards or more, that would be a big improvement from where they've been with the run game in the past few years, which is what, which is what I think. I think it's been an enormous improvement. I have not come out of another training camp. I know we're not out of it yet. I haven't been midway through another training camp and thought, whoa, they are running effectively on almost every play. uh let's see fires abers i'm sorry i don't know how to pronounce that but are uh any uh joint practice is open to the media they are yep we will be there for every minute of vikings versus patriots or actually vikings versus a lot of former vikings with the new england patriots there would definitely be that uh let's see tyler says uh Levi drake or

Ty Ryan Ingram Dawkins, who is more likely to make the 53.