Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings training camp recap: The Night Practice (Part 2)

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.

Let's see. Tyler says Levi Drake or Tyrian Ingram Dawkins, who is more likely to make the 53. I think both of them. I would be shocked if either one of them got cut. I think both of them will be on the roster. If it had to come down to one, I guess it would have to be Levi Drake would be in there because I think he's going to have a legitimate role. But I think both of them will definitely be in there. let's see uh the beast let's talk rookie wide receiver underwhelming yeah i so i think with a ty felton he's looked exactly how i expected him to look based on what i saw in college which was you're looking at a guy that runs a sub four four that is six foot one who gained a lot of yards last year on shorter passes, and you see the upside to that.

And that's what I see with Ty Felton. I see the upside to Ty Felton, but I don't see a wide receiver who's ready to go right now. I see the long speed, and that's why he's back, you know, returning kicks. It's just what you're asking somebody to be in an offense that is complicated and takes a lot of work and then be refined. It's just not going to happen right away for a third round draft pick who was already not that experience that Maryland coming out and we're talking about Maryland

you know we're not talking about Alabama or Georgia or something and it's hard enough for those guys to come from there he was a pick that could contribute this is from night one of the draft that could contribute right away as a kick returner maybe pot returner and then

a handful of bit plays that are designed just for him in a weekly game plan but that's it for right now and then the idea is develop develop develop develop and then by next year, maybe you're taking wide receiver three when Jalen Naylor becomes a free agent. Ethan says, what's the chance the Vikings pick up Carson Wentz or even a Teddy reunion for QB2? I don't think that the chances are all that high that ends up happening. I think Carson Wentz probably would only come back if there was a situation where he

could compete for a starting spot or if a quarterback got hurt. seems like he's kind of done with the NFL. I haven't read anything or seen anything that he's made any comments, but he could certainly be a backup quarterback in the league after backing up for Kansas City last year, but he may have decided that he's only going to do that if a team absolutely needs him. Same might be the case for Ryan Tannhill. I think there was a report about Tannahill that he would come back if he had a chance

to start, but otherwise probably wasn't going to just sit on the bench. You look around backup quarterbacks. probably got to hope that it works for Sam Howell and otherwise then make some phone calls. But the commentary from KOC on Sam Howell sounded a lot like trying to urge him to make it work. Like he said, I, you know, I've seen the talent and I, you know, he's coming along and all that sort of stuff. And he has been practicing quite a bit against the ones. But it almost sounded like speak it into existence for Kevin O'Connell and Sam Howell. Marcelline can

Xavier Scott block. I know he can catch. Yeah, except for the catch tonight that bounced off his hands. But, you know, that's a hard thing to figure out as far as his blocking goes. But I think he is a smart player.

This is the impression that I've gotten. And a lot of run blocking is really just get your body in the right place. It's identify the right person. I don't think Xavier Scott's pretty big. He's not humongous, but he's pretty big. but as far as trying to figure out, like, can he actually block real NFL linebackers blitzing at him?

That might be a tough task. Can you get in the way of them? And with Chandler, I think what Kevin O'Connell is so frustrated by is you're talking about a running back who's been here for years. And if you're still missing assignments after you've been here for years, that is problematic. But it really seems to have stuck in his craw that Chandler can't get these reps right when it comes to the pass protection because otherwise, I mean, we just don't hear them call people out like that. I agree. It was a little zimmery. D.P. Rat says concerned the offense won't be ready

for week one because of the injuries. None of the injuries as of this moment would make me concerned about that because at least from what Kevin O'Connell said tonight, T.J. Hawkinson, it's not serious. and Justin Jefferson, it's very not serious. It's a mild hamstring strain that he's going to be back. I would guess by the joint practices, we'll have to find out on that, but I don't think that's going to keep him long term. And then Christian Derisaw, week one, we'll have to find out, but it has been pacing really well, like this recovery for Dar esau

to get back to 11 on 11s by early August seems like it's on the right pace for his recovery. So, kind of like where he's at, as of this moment as well, wouldn't have had him practice tonight on the turf. And that might be one of the reasons why it looked like he just did maybe some individual drills. I didn't see him out there for any 11 on 11 anything tonight. But all those injuries aren't super serious. And the same thing with Ryan Kelly, it sounds like he got banged up a little bit in his elbow and that will be okay. if they were serious injuries, then I would be a lot more concerned yet. Doc says this team is ready to win now, and JJ is not ready to be a starting quarterback.

He is not Jaden. He is Caleb or May. He cannot start in the NFL. Darnold played most of the season without Dairasaw. Well, so I don't agree with what you're saying that he is not ready to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. I think he is a starting quarterback in the NFL that had a rough, night practice without a lot of the key players that are on this team. And let's also keep in mind, too, that with so many fans in the stands,

I think that they try to run, you know, a lot of vanilla stuff with cameras everywhere and everybody, you know, take your videos and stuff. It's not like they game planned for this. And it's, you're talking about the three most expensive players on the Minnesota Vikings offense, who were not. practicing tonight like that that stuff matters to me if we take the accumulation of the first 10 days and the night practice to me he absolutely looks like a starting quarterback on a team that is ready to win how much winning how good he can play that's what i'm not quite sure about yet

because there are inconsistencies and it would have been safer it would have been safer if they had kept Sam Darnold, but they also would not have had this team. They would not have the team that they have together. So they are going to have to accelerate that process. And, you know, your later comment is talking about Darnold developing. And, and I agree that it does take quarterback's time to develop. But also, if you look around the league in recent years, there's been a lot of situations where these quarterbacks come in at a young age with a great team and they make the playoffs and they make the NFC championship. And I know you're right. He's not as ready as Jaden Daniels was last year. And he is on the younger side. But, you know, Brock Purdy was another guy

that came into the league and in his second year starting. They're going to the Super Bowl. Jalen Hertz third year, C.J. Stroud. Good right away for Houston. And so much of this in the NFC where you don't have the aliens and the freaks is based on how good your roster and how good your coaching are. And right now, the Vikings have a great roster and great coaching, but they don't have the great roster entirely around JJ yet. And I also expect some inconsistency. I do because even with Bo Nix last year, who was drafted behind J.J. McCarthy, I mean, I think Bo Nix had played more football, but still had some ups and downs. that's how it's gone with practice. He is for sure to me,

looked like a starting NFL quarterback. He's got a great arm. He's in command when he runs two-minute drills. He knows what he's doing out there. But he's not going to be perfect with throwing the football. And he's not always going to be perfect, I think, with decision-making of when can I throw this, when can I not?

Almost throwing the pick in the back of the end zone to Zemaya Vaughn, that's one of those you can't throw that one. And there's one or two every day. than our coaching points for KOC. I mean, I think that your skepticism is fair, though. I mean, I don't think you're out of line here saying, hey, this is a young quarterback on a win now team and quarterbacks need to develop.

It's just that they are getting to the point where they can run successful teams faster than ever. And I think we're seeing a lot of QB1 stuff from J.J. McCarthy. Michael, I've seen many Dallas Turner highlights. How's he doing? Guys, if you watch the show all the time, you know that I'm a hat guy, but if you're wearing hats to cover up for your hair loss, then I've got something that can help you. It's called Hymns. If you've lost your hair, that doesn't mean you can't find it again. Try Hymns hair loss solutions and you'll be joining hundreds of thousands of subscribers who have found their hair again. Hems makes treating hair loss simple with clinically proven ingredients that can regrow hair in as little as three to six months. Choose from personalized, chewable, oral spray, or serum treatments to find what works best for you. The process is simple and 100% online, so there are no uncomfortable doctor visits.

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He's beating guys with more moves than we've seen from him. Turner's just been great. This has been a big, big jump that you were looking for from Dallas Turner. And when I heard that he was, I heard, I mean, when Grinard told us that Dallas Turner was working out with him early in the off season and just, you know, going and going, then I thought, well, this is. great for him because there's nobody better, sorry, nobody better than Jonathan Grenard for him to emulate. Fire Sabers says, don't overrate the, or overread the situations in practice. Searle gets hot over that. And his reasoning is that there's a lot of situational sequences of focus in practice, KOC and B-Flow are turning it up. Yeah, look, I mean, you can overreact to

everything when it comes to this like they you shouldn't have a sequence that you're talking about are situational where you get set up at the one yard line and you almost throw an interception and then almost get sacked and have to throw the ball away like that's not how it's supposed to look regardless overreacting though would be saying oh my gosh like they're in trouble McCarthy can't do it no i mean i'm not i'm not saying any of that it was just a tough practice that's all. And yesterday or two days ago was a great practice. And then we'll see what happens on Wednesday. What we're taking here is the big picture, the accumulation. What does it all look like and trying to put together this picture of who is J.J. McCarthy as a quarterback. How good

can this team be? Like, that's what we're really trying to do here. And so sometimes, and I see this happen almost every day in the comment section where I tell you what happened and kind of what I thought of what we're wrong, maybe, if it's a bad practice. And then, you know, there's a lot of either he's a total bust or, hey, how dare you? He's 22. And it's like, I'm just telling you what happened, guys. The, as far as the big picture goes, my mind is still unchanged that this team should be a double-digit win team and can win 11 games with J.J. McCarthy.

That didn't change tonight because they had a bad practice with some situational stuff without half of the offense, didn't change. And if he comes back on Wednesday and has a really good practice, then that will be the norm for him because he has usually done that as far as his practice habits go from ups and downs. Usually if there's a bad one, then a good one tends to follow after that. Son of Beavers, how did the corners and safeties look tonight? Well, they had a much better night than the offense. That's for sure they did. I really think the corners have looked good.

I really think the corners have looked good. And Theo Jackson is just in on everything. You know who else keeps showing up? And tonight, like, I get it. It was, it was just off a guy's hands. But Jay Ward is finding the football in this training camp. And he's another guy that's one of those development safeties that seems to have clicked for the Vikings time and time again, that they're just sort of a safety factory.

And Ward, overall, at least from my eye, has had a pretty good training camp. and made another play tonight. Michelle Powell also had an interception tonight. His name hasn't really come up. He's a guy who could make the practice squad as a safety. Tyler, how is Tim Jones looked as a Trent Sherfield replacement? I haven't heard much fanfare for him, but his role is not flashy. Yeah, as far as like the punt gunner, going to have to see that in preseason.

He did have a catch tonight, Jones. He looks like a guy that if the ball is thrown his way, that he can catch it. I wouldn't say he looks exceptional with his speed. He's not playing with the second team. He's playing with the third team only, which makes me think that as a wide receiver, he's not really in that mix. That's the difference with Trent Sherfield is that Sherfield was,

like he was good last year in training camp and good in preseason. I didn't even touch down in preseason from JJ. Like he was more of a wide receiver than Jones is where you could play Trent surefield for an entire game at a wide receiver spot and he'd be fine he would be all right i don't know that that's true for jones and as i made the 53 i was trying to decide whether tavia or thomas or tim jones would be on it i went with thomas and that made 54 players but if there's a addison suspension maybe that'd go 53 that could allow jones to be on the team if addison is suspended and can be on the suspended list then jones could be there for that role uh as of right now

Now, not really convinced, but if he's great with the punt gunning game and special teams game, maybe he's got a chance for preseason. There's a lot of guys that need a good preseason here. Scott says, we don't want our franchise quarterback playing against and with truck drivers and trying to make, who are trying to make a name for themselves. I don't think that O'Connell is going to put McCarthy in against truck drivers. I think he is, by the way, these guys go to. college we always use like truck drivers or something i think that's why people like to say uh accountants

you know they they should be able to get other jobs future high school coaches maybe um but to your point i think that they will take him out after he's not playing against real guys and he's not going to be playing in the fourth quarter of preseason games he's going to be playing in the first quarter and that would be likely it maybe a series into the second quarter depending on how it's going. Marcelline, our defense will keep us in a lot of games, excited to see them destroy other teams. They're going to need it. They're going to need it. It's a tough schedule of quarterbacks. It's a tough schedule of opposing teams. How the run defense plays out. I'm interested to see because well, the Vikings run defense looks awesome. That means maybe the run defense doesn't look quite as

good as it did last year with, you know, Jonathan Bullard stuffing people up front. I think it'll be a great defense. It's got a chance to be. I should say, I think it'll be really good and it's got a chance to be great. Because what I've seen from the corner so far has been surprising to me and how good I've thought the corners were. That's a little different from getting into the real games where there's the game planning. But if Theo Jackson is on the field a lot with Josh Mattelis and Byron Murphy and Isaiah

Rogers and only occasionally they're mixing in Okuda and Blackman, that should be as solid from top to bottom as a defense. And, you know, we talk about this all the time that when it comes to defense, it's about weak links. There isn't really a clear weak link on this defense right now. The D-line is deep. The linebackers are good. The edge rushers are now very deep if Dallas Turner keeps playing like this. There's just a lot to like about this defense. Stevens says Jay Ward continues to impress. I'll eat my fair share of crow if he plays well. This season. I was down on him all off season. I don't think he's going to play a lot because of Theo Jackson being in there. It might be a situation where Harrison Smith retires and then Jay Ward gets

his chance. He might not be able to get a whole lot of action at that position because they're so deep. But he has had a really good training camp and has made some plays. So I think it's just another guy that they've been able to develop and develop and develop. But Sean says, was listening to a podcast today based on who they've talked to from every team-based reporter and we reiterated that 32 defenses are out playing the offenses. Well, I think, you know, in part it's because they're working on stuff. And when the offense does not thrive, then we all react to that much more than we do. that was a really good defensive, you know, rep, that kind of thing.

But as far as this defense, it is one of the better ones and more talented in the league. And if you don't have your best player, the franchise player who you've paid more than almost anybody in the entire league, and I could be talking about two different positions, actually three different positions for tonight, it's going to affect things. And that would be my one concern with J.J. McCarthy for this offseason. And it's not really how McCarthy played tonight or the other day where he was really great. It's that he hasn't been on the field a lot with Jefferson. And I think it'll be fine with Derisaw, but Jefferson.

And then you get a little concerned about, you know, T.J. Hawkinson missing any sort of significant time, too, because I felt like they were really just starting to click those two, Hawkinson and J.J. McCarthy. And that's, you know, what D.P. Rat is talking about here. is they're concerned that the offense won't be clicking 100% because of the injuries? I think a little, but there's still time. There's still plenty of time. I mean, if Jefferson comes back, let's say, you know, the 13th or something, and he's in the joint practices, well, then there should be enough time for them to get on the same page.

But you are missing a lot of reps. And that's where I do wonder just a little bit about hitting the ground running from week one when Jefferson has been missing for so much time here. If he comes back next week, well, okay, I mean, then it should be totally fine. But this is time missed. And you're going to have to kind of make that up as you go forward. And there's only so many weeks left before the start of the season. So that's probably the one thing that I would be saying, you know, maybe concerns me a

little bit. Dino says should a tag Darnold. Yeah, we're kind of past that conversation for now. Will that come up at some point? I don't know. Maybe it will. Maybe at some point we will be wondering should they have franchise tagged Darnold. But as we go through this, one thing that I'm asking myself all the time is, did they make the right decision? Did they, make the right call as of right now by sticking with j j mccarthy and not bringing back sam darnold on the franchise tag and when i look at the whole roster so right now i guarantee you that sam darnold would have been having a better training camp overall than j j mccarthy for sure because he's been in the league for much long guaranteed but when i look at the whole roster

and I go, they are so deep and so good. I think that player for player number two through 53 can compete with any team in the National Football League. And if you franchise tag Sam Darnold, that would have been a lot harder to do, a lot harder to create this roster that would have been this deep, that would have had fries, Kelly, Allen, Hargrave, Rogers, Mason. Remember, a lot of these deals, and let's not forget resigning Jones, resigning Murphy.

They were the most active team in the offseason. Could they do that? What would this roster look like in terms of total strength had they franchise tag Sam Darnold? It wouldn't look like this. So you can't have the cake and eat it too. So which cake are you eating? I don't know how that metaphor is supposed to work.

Which cake are you eating? Because to me, the complete roster, is probably better. There's a ceiling on just having a really good quarterback who's probably the 12th best quarterback in the league, which I think is around where Sam Darnel was last year. He's probably seven to 12, somewhere in there. If you do that again and you don't play the AFC South, what do you win? You know, maybe 11 games.

And there's probably a limitation just about, you know, where you can actually get to. And so they wanted to have a rock. that didn't have a limitation. That's what they have. And McCarthy has been good enough for me to say that he's going to win games and that he could be QB1. I just, can he win nine or can he win 12? That's what I don't know yet.

Because if he's as inconsistent as he has been from day to day in practice, that's without Jefferson, then there would be some worry that he would not be able to reach the same ceiling as Sam Darnold. not be able to get, uh, you know, 12, 13 wins with this team, even though, you know, they're, they're this talented, but he also hasn't had Jefferson. And so I got to see it with, with him in there to really get a feeling, but I, he can run the offense, he can throw the football, he can fit it into tight windows, he's got leadership

capabilities, a lot of leadership capabilities. He seems to be understanding enough of the offense. He's just got to get into real games. sharpen up some stuff and sharpen up some decisions and sharpen up some accuracy and there's a month to still do that uh deem damad um who has been the biggest surprise so far as probably zamiya vaughan has probably been the biggest surprise so far because even though he had a good minicamp i didn't think he'd be ahead of dwight mcloather and he has been um as far as pleasant prizes go i would also probably talk uh throw in tyrian ingram dawkins who has looked pretty good to me

looked to me like he was going to be a very raw player somebody that they would have to develop over a couple years but that uh he has looked like he could get into games if they needed him to that might be a little bit of a stretch but just with his explosiveness i've been impressed with it um i mean other than that like surprises it's not been a million of them there's been some I think I was a little surprised at Lucky Jackson's taking all the first team reps with Jefferson out, but Vaughn is really the guy who has stepped up to the challenge where I've been like, whoa, okay, like this guy is really out there playing, like with the second team and getting all of those reps, maybe Kobe King, but I'm not, I'm not shocked

that Kobe King has done pretty well. He looked like a fairly refined type of product when he got to the NFL from Penn State. But the fact that Vaughn looks like someone who could play today as an undrafted free agent, that's pretty good. All right, let me scroll. I've gotten the most behind on the comment section. You guys are really excited here tonight. After dark, man, it's just a different podcast after dark.

Brian says if you could have two Vikings other than Jefferson on a fantasy team, who would be your pick? well, I would certainly pick the fantasy league on Fanduel would be where I would go for that. And I would probably suggest in fantasy over on Fanduel, our sponsor, it would be Hawkinson and Addison would probably be the other ones. But it's not an easy call because if you believe that Aaron Jones is still going to be RB1, but here's the thing. With fantasy, though, what I learned last year when I had a fantasy sponsor for the first time ever

and we did some fantasy shows is you, got to kind of keep an eye on those running backs because Jordan Mason to me looks like someone that is not going to get drafted really high in fantasy, but could end up playing a ton and could end up being in there when, you know, they're trying to score touchdowns and in the red zone. His red zone run tonight was nasty. And I know they can't tackle him, but no one we even came near him. He cut back up inside a hole and then like hit the burst. So I would go, I'd probably Hawkinson and Jordan Mason if you're trying to get one that's now whether you draft J.J. McCarthy might be an interesting conversation as well because I still think McCarthy's

going to throw the ball a lot. I don't think that they're just going to be some sort of checkdown run team. We've reached the Thayer Thomas check part of the podcast. Thayer's had some catches, kind of a similar training camp as before. He can run route. He can run. He can run. He can run. he's got short area, but I don't think he's got the physical traits to be a starter in the NFL. Okay, I noticed that one person has really taken it upon themselves to argue with everybody tonight. We don't see that too often. Anyway, sorry about that. I didn't realize I just scrolled down that you guys have been getting spammed a little bit in the comments.

I'm sorry about that. Sparky Finch does Kobe King look as good as Ivan pasted his rookie year seems to be his his backup. No, Ivan Pace is a really unique situation in his rookie year. It was kind of wild. I mean, that guy came out right away and was just hitting people like crazy, but also Ivan Pace has this very natural, uh, understanding of football and seemed to just click with Brian Flores, just like that right off the bat, even when he was in mini camp and we were like, okay, wow, that's weird, but you don't see that. It was really, Ivan Pace is probably a third. third round or second round draft pick and talent and he is a undrafted free agent in size and the

league didn't pick him with size he's also a very quiet guy and that hurts some guys sometimes they bring him into the room at the combine and they put him through all this sort of stuff and he may have not been the best when it came to like expressing himself and they may have thought well he's too quiet he can't be a linebacker or something I don't know but I like the way Kobe King looks I do I think that he has looked very much at home in this defense and he's not the fastest but he certainly hits guys hard and he's already been doing a lot of that and I think that he's got some natural instincts for this it looks like he's picking up the defense I think they found a nice solid backup player there that may very well allow them to move on from

Brian Ossema. Alex says other than experience in QB2 position being a plus, if Brosmer way out shines howl and looks great in preseason, is there any way he could take the QB2 spot? I still don't think so because if he does shine in preseason, then you're going to be talking about him playing fourth quarters of preseason games where they're going to want to get Sam Howell a lot of work. It's either Sam Howell or it's somebody else. not it's not going to be rosemary right now but it's either sam how or it's going to be the

guide that they go out and get uh has rondale more lined up in the backfield at all i have not seen that no i haven't seen that now if they're preparing some trickery they're not going to show it well there's fans there and well we can you know write down all of our notes so that's something that could happen rondale is a really interesting case and that's why i'm writing the article about it's why i sat down with Keenan McCardell for an interview today about it because Ron Dale is a guy who's trying on the fly here to kind of save his career, last chance a little bit with the Vikings. And he's also trying to learn an offense that has a lot of stuff to it.

It's very involved, the offense that they have for wide receivers. And what Keenan said to me, because I said to Keenan, I said, isn't this offense hard for receivers? And he said, well, it's not that the concepts are hard, far as which routes you're running. He said everybody runs a lot of the same concepts. He said it's the formations and the motions that the wide receivers have to have down cold and be locked in with the quarterback that just takes some time. But he said that his message to Rondale Moore was kind of like, you got to play like this is your shot. You know, you got to play like this is your

big shot. I'll probably after I run that, I'll give you guys the exact quotes. But I think what you want to see is Rondale start to mix in a little bit more in the coming weeks and feel like he could be someone that they can play or, you know, maybe he just will be a punt return. That's also possible. Let's see, Tyler, what percentage of snaps has Oscar Chapman received on the holder of field goal attempts? The answer tonight was 0%.

I think it was Ryan Wright every time. Look, I know that when Ryan Wright makes the roster as the starting punter, that there will be riots. There will be folks driving out to TCO Performance Center. There will be pitchforks. I think Ryan Wright's just your punter. You cannot take Will Reichard out of the guy who's held for him, who's not a terrible punter. He has got a huge leg and the touch isn't perfect all the time. He shanks one every once in a while.

But when you go through his numbers, I don't think he's the worst punter in the league. I think he's more like the 15th punter. And he's very good. He used to be a quarterback. I think he's very good at holding. And if Will Reichert's comfortable with him, I'll take an average punter is a great holder. And the other guy, I mean, Chapman, I think is a project that might be something there eventually. But it was all Ryan Wright.

I think it's all Ryan Wright. I think we got another fake punting competition. Sadly, what is this? Three years in a row, we've wanted a real one. sorry folks i don't think it's a real one Sean what was your confidence level pre-camp on the cornerback room versus what your confidence level is now if i was going one to ten uh i probably would have given you about a three and a half for the level now i mean

byron murphy is there buyer murphy's a really good player so just based on byron murphy points i had never seen isaiah rogers up close so i wanted to see him as somebody who's really been a 300 to 500 snap guy, I was much more impressed with Isaiah Rogers than I thought I was going to be. Maybe this is a guy that just natural skill always, you know, has your eyes popping out of your head because he runs a four or three. There are claims that it is pro day before he was in the draft that he ran under four three. I don't doubt it. I mean, this, you talk about most explosive players on the team. It's Rondale Moore and it's Isaiah Rogers. This guy, I mean, you see Matt Daniels up at that podium just saying, please let me have him kick return.

Please, please let me have him kick return. That's very clear. But also I think he's had good ball skills when the balls come his way. I think he can jump, look stronger than his weight would list. That's a big part of it. And Okuda, I'm not fully in on the Okuda thing yet. But when you hear KOC say we've got a clear role for him, you think he must be. showing him he must be showing them enough and if blackman is your backup is your fourth corner

i mean you're you're in pretty good shape and i also had no idea that vaughan was going to look this good uh demad i'm probably pronouncing you wrong feel free to tell me in the comments uh is mccarthy's passing needing help underthrow overthrow inaccurate or timing um overthrows are happening a lot more timing was a bit of an issue tonight uh underthrow doesn't happen too often every once in a while, I would say, you know, there's a dirt ball or something. One of the issues is that every single practice, we watch and write down every single throw of J.G. McCarthy. So if he has three that are off that are high, we're going to say, you know, out of 15 throws or something, we're going to go, well, you know, he was throwing the

ball a little high. I'm not saying that's not real. I'm just saying that never in my career before in my ninth training camp and 10th season covering the NFL because I didn't get here for the first training camp. I've never written down every single throw. That's never happened before. And there's you know, some misses. And you're like, okay, on to the next play. But I think that some of it is definitely timing. I think there's been a few timing things with Addison where it could have been a little better getting on the same page and so forth. I think that inaction, It's accurate happened a couple times tonight. I just think in general that his accuracy overall will not be absolutely flawless.

So he has to make the right decisions a lot. That's what I think J.J. McCarthy has to do well. And even if that means that he scrambles more than he should and we go, oh, on the all 22, this guy was wide open. Why did you scramble? that's going to be okay and that's going to be something that KOC is probably emphasizing to him is like, hey, if there is any uncertainty about what you can do for a certain throw on a given drive, unless it's a got to have it type of moment, then go ahead and check it down, go ahead and scramble with it.

Don't be afraid to do those things. Don't make a mistake because the rest of the team is going to be pretty good. So you're going to have room to play it safe at times. and then let it rip when you see your opportunities. Freedom thinker says better to win 10 to 12 games and then playoff games than 14 and no show in the playoffs. And let's be clear when it comes to Sam Darnold, I think Sam Darnold in the game against Detroit,

I think that he freaked out and no show. But in the actual playoff game, that was a roster that wasn't good enough. And that's why they went to J.J. McCarthy. so that's the trade-off and would I take a McCarthy that's still learning and growing and a top three roster in the league or the 11th best roster in the league and a quarterback who is good and has a ceiling and will make mistakes and also last year Sam Darnold and I really loved what I saw from San Darno but last year he took a lot of sacks and he threw some bad

interceptions and things like that. And if you're going to have the 11th best roster in the league and try to compete for a Super Bowl, you can't have any of that. But if you have the third best roster in the league and you have a quarterback that occasionally makes mistakes or doesn't, you know, hit a couple of deep balls because he overthrows somebody or whatever, I think you've got a much better chance of competing in the playoffs with that third best roster than you would with the 11th best roster. and that's probably the difference.

It's maybe not getting fries in Hargrave or something like that or maybe not keeping Byron Murphy because someone else pushes the price up a little bit or maybe not keeping Aaron Jones or whatever. It said that little bit of depth right there. R. Emmer says Mason ends the season as a top 15 running back. So that was the Fandul question of the day. If you haven't answered in the comment section yet, you guys have been very active in the comment section,

which I enjoy and appreciate, love the conversation tonight. But the Fandul question of the day was that Aaron Jones has the 20th best odds in the league to go over 750 yards. That sounds to me like a little timid on Fanduel, and do we think he's going to get there? Or do we think Jordan Mason is going to end up with more yards than him? So how many yards do we think that Aaron Jones will end up with? And you've got Mason as a top 50. I mean, Mason has looked really good.

He has looked really good. I don't know if that means how many snaps he's taking from Jones or if it's just 50-50. I'm going to have to look back at the splits with him and AJ Dylan when Dylan was still pretty good. He definitely faded as it went along, but, oh, let's see. Patrick says, are we in JJ panic mode or winning the Super Bowl? So the Super Bowl was Saturday. Today is panic mode because it was not really a great practice. for J.J. McCarthy. Skull Viking says who would get more wins with this team,

JJ or a healthy Kirk. Well, that's the problem is that you could never have this team with Kirk. Like, yeah, I mean, if Kirk Cousins is in his best year and he's playing the best football of his career, let's say it's 19, maybe the beginning of 2023, and he's got this team, it's got this line, this running game, this defense. Oh, yeah. I mean, you should compete for a Super Bowl with Kirk Cousins. Now, Kirk, with his bad Kirk moments and his lack of athleticism and his total inability to scramble, I thought often hurt them. But with this team, this would have been by far the best team that Kirk ever played with. That's not an excuse for Kirk. It's just a reality that this team is more complete than any of the teams that he played

with. And he won a playoff game with the second most complete team, which was 19. So yeah, I mean, I think you're talking about probably winning more with Kirk Cousins. in his prime best version of Kirk Cousins. But that's not how this game works. This team can't be built with Kirk Cousins because he was just too expensive. What do I have against truck drivers? I have absolutely nothing against truck drivers. Didn't mean it that way.

Oh, man. Some of my best listeners are, no, that's actually true. That's actually true. So I have had, I got a note from someone, other day about driving a truck and the audio that's hard to hear sometimes when I play the clips and trying to get that audio up for him driving the truck. So certainly much, much respect for those who make America go on the truck drivers. What I mean is that a lot of the guys who are going to go from the practice squad to the rest of society with us, usually the way that

that phrase goes is that they're going to be like accountants and you know what is it usually selling insurance and accountants that's usually the way the phrase goes because most of them maybe don't become that but if you do good for you if you're working and contributing to society that's a good thing uh let's see stephen says uh cleveland signed hundely solely because they have injuries to picket shudur and gabriel they need more camp arms. So maybe you guys were talking about Joe Flacco. Yeah. Oh, I see. Yeah. That's what Jim said. Some quarterback on the Browns could wind up here as QB2, only if they cut Flacco. And I don't think the way it's going that they're cutting flacco. Do not think that's going to happen. The options are

not good. They, you could hear it in his voice. You could hear it in KOC's voice. Like, please Sam, please Sam Howell. Please, Sam Howell. Please get better. Don't want to have to try to train a QB2 on the fly in two weeks you know howell had another tough practice there's just things that happen with sam howl where you go come on man what's uh what's there was like a really old meme that where someone's like pointing and screaming and saying we were all we all wanted this for you that's i feel like that's kOC with every bad throw from how like we all wanted this for you uh or maybe quacy who acquired him but there was a throw where one of the the backup tight ends is just wide open in the flat and he turns and he throws to him and just

throws it out of bounds. It's like, what, what can you do there? It just, that's been the Sam Howell experience, the accuracy, the timing, pretty much everything of playing quarterback has not worked out very well. Tyler says, what is the more likely outcome? The Vikings only keeping two quarterbacks versus two running backs, not including CJ Ham. I think the roster will definitely include C.J. Ham, as I think Rob, it was pointed out the other day, the guy played over in total, over 500 snaps, including special teams last year. Like, they're going to, they're going to use them. I wouldn't be shocked if it's only two quarterbacks if they think that they can cut Brozmer. But if Brosmer plays really well in preseason, added on with all the reports that every

team is reading and listening to podcasts and stuff like that. So they all pay attention. If, you know, other teams liked Brozmer coming out and they like what they see in preseason, they might want to scoop them up and put them on the active roster. Son of a beavers, do we think when Addison gets suspended, we bring in someone like Amari Cooper. I'd be surprised by that. I think a guy like Amari Cooper has to be a guy. I don't think that he can be like, oh, hey, come play for us for a couple games and

see what happens. I don't think that can be Amari Cooper. What you have there is what you have there. but more likely than not, they would just run a lot of two tight ends. And then as of this moment, it would be Lucky Jackson mixing in, which, you know, I mean, you could say would make you nervous a little bit, but how many receptions did Wide Receiver 3 have for the Vikings last year? And then maybe you're mixing in Rondale Moore, Felton,

and it ends up being like 12 snaps for Lucky Jackson and 10 for more and a couple for Felton. That's probably how they would handle it. If they're going to bring in somebody, they have to do it soon. uh two dog dad says is hawkinson going to be on the same page with oliver and everyone in the run game assignments despite missing camp time oh hawkinson yeah look i mean first of all he was here for all ota's all mini camp and the first two weeks of camp it's not like he's missing something crazy here now now it's refining they've already installed now it's refining but hockinson was the guy who showed up here in the middle of the season and was able to play so he's he's

He's a really bright football mind. And I also think tonight was a was great for all the people who show up here and they say Hawkinson stinks, they should just play Oliver and it'll be fine. I really like Josh Oliver, but tonight was a great example of, oh, yeah, J.J. McCarthy, when things aren't looking good, kind of goes to T.J. Hawkinson, just like every other quarterback, except for Sam Darnold. And even Darnold kind of did that. Uh, let's see.

For the win, 2021 going over. the 750 for Aaron Jones. I think I would to for the Fandul question of the day. I think I would to. I would do that. I would go over 750. I don't think it's going to be a lot over. I think it's going to be in the 850 to 900 range.

That's what I would go with. Antoine, what round would, in fantasy, would you draft Rondale more? I probably wouldn't at this point. I would, I mean, maybe it would be like the last round just as a swing at somebody when if you're in a big league then you're probably just sort of taking a swing but otherwise as of this moment i haven't seen enough to prove he's really going to have a role on this team we're going to have to see that and that's the coming weeks and that's i think preseason and keena macarles said to me today but preseason is big for this guy uh son of a beavers

does jj throw for more than 3,500 yards i say yes his over under on fandul by the way is 3650 which I still have the over. I think that he will be still throwing the ball a lot. And it's, again, it's so funny how, like, just two days ago, he's pushing a guy in practice and he's, you know, throwing touchdowns and make a great plays. And we're going, wow, he's ready to go. And then he has a tough practice.

And we're going, does he even throw for 3,000 yards? Should he even suit up? You know, that's, you know, so anyway we did we do have some truck drivers here still horse travel steel horse travels thank you for listening i appreciate that no offense was meant i just meant that uh a lot of NFL players go into coaching if they don't make it they go into like medical sales like i'm just talking about things that i've heard that they go into and business using their degrees. That was all. Not offending the truck drivers, again, who make America happen. So,

oh, man. Anyway, so, uh, let's see. A very active chat, though, tonight. We got, we got, we got just about everything going on. We got, we got somebody trying to fight everybody. Uh, when it comes to J.J. McCarthy, we got lots of backup stuff. We got truck driving things. I do wonder, though, you know, when you're driving a truck, I mean, is it, is it like cancelling headphones, noise cancelling headphones to listen to podcasts? Has to be loud, right? So anyway, Hunter says you're a beast for staying up this late to talk ball. I'm going to tell you the truth. I did not realize how long we've been doing this.

I've just been enjoying this conversation. And then I just looked up when you said that. I was like, oh, it's 1130. The dog is asleep. Some of you asked how buddy the dog is. doing he's right here he's next to me he's really figured this out he's a very smart dog that the first night he sniffed around a lot throughout the show and he was kind of going back and forth behind me and then the second night he got himself caught in some wires and i think he learned

from that and now he's figured out he's got his bed over here just chilling with me in the studio and it's really pleasant it's really nice to have can't throw me off in the comment section when i a cute little sleeping dog here next to me. Dusty says Hawkinson isn't perfect, but he's a terrific receiving tight end. People forget Hawkinson was well on, let's see, was well on his way to 1K before Kirby took a cheap shot on his knee.

Yeah, that's true. That's true. Look, he does one thing really, really well. And that one thing, so, okay, steel horse travels. noise cancelling headphones. Yeah, so podcasts are difficult to listen to. Getting audio levels right on podcasts is a huge challenge for the podcaster as well. Like, it truly is when we're doing live stuff and everything else.

Even I screwed up the beginning of the podcast because it was connected to the wrong microphone. Like, there's always things that you guys have heard me sort of try as best I can over the years. So hopefully it's coming out good when you've got it connected that way. Clark, how do you think Drake May will do against this defense bad? I think everyone's going to do, I mean, other than some of the best teams and best quarterbacks in the league, I think everyone's going to have their troubles. But I really am interested to see because we see the same, you know, we see the same thing over and over again when it comes to the same offense, the same players, and they know

everybody and they know every wide receiver's tendencies and all that. So now you're going to have a different group and a different quarterback. And I know May can really throw the heck out of the football. And I'm fascinated to see that. Their offensive lines bad. And I think they're going to get eaten. These joint praxes are no joke, man. It's like real football.

It's the closest thing to real football without tackling. I think that they're going to get eaten alive. I think Garrett Bradbury might be banged up there. They're just, they don't have the offensive line to block against this team. But the receivers, if Diggs is a full. go. Now, that's one of the best route runners in the league. So how does he perform against this defense? Now, that, that I'm looking forward to. I am curious about you guys if you still, like, if you're always going to care about the 2024 draft, I get notes sometimes. Like,

would you take Pennix as of today? I'm like, I don't know. I still don't know what Pennix is going to be. Like, don't you wish they trade it up for Daniels? Like, I mean, I guess. Yeah. Like, if they could have done it, they might have. But, you know, J.J. McCarthy, I think you should feel very good about where he's at as the starting quarterback of this team. It has not been perfect yet. And I don't know if I've ever seen a training camp that was, but it wasn't until after the preseason game that Sam Darnold really clicked in. So let's give it until then, because up until this point, it's been inconsistent. It has been very much one day great. Next day, not as good. Or in today's case yeah uh how's donovan jackson looking i've been really impressed in the run game the past pro

that's a guy you talk about a guy i want to see in the preseason and i want to see in the joint practices i really just want to see him against somebody else i got i really just want to see him against somebody else because i mean he's just facing some of the best players in the league And I think that Jackson has a really good chance of being a quality starter who's got some issues at times with the same things that all guards struggle with, which is, you know, picking up like blitzes and stunts and things like that. That's going to be an issue for any young player. It's so complicated in the NFL, getting on the same page with his tackle, who hasn't been in a lot and his center. But the physical ability, and especially in the run game, I think you're going to. going to feel it in the run game with Donovan Jacks.

That I'm confident in, pass pro, we'll see. I think pass pro is much more of a knowledge issue and an experience issue than it is something physical. He's also got to learn to, you know, be a little more violent. Okay, I don't want to get too far down there. When I watch him in one-on-ones, I think like a little more violence, but that's just, that's just me from the sideline. Haven't talked much about Stephen, haven't talked about much about Tyler Batty,

Richter was getting pressure, but nothing from Batty. No, I didn't really catch much from Batty. The thing is that Tyler Baddy, that was kind of the play of camp for him. I haven't noticed him much at all, just period, playing with the third team. He hasn't gotten a lot of reps. And it was quite surprising that he was the one that ended up being the guy that hit Aaron Jones, because he was in there for that play as they were rotating some guys in. Richter has been the guy on the outside.

you can only cover one ear oh while driving uh the big rig huh you can only cover one ear that must make it harder to listen to the podcasts there's got to be uh what is the the show that has like mark cuban where people pitch their business there has to be something that can help you guys listen to podcast being on the road that long that has to be frustrating and i did feel bad that some of the audio when i record sometimes i record like an interview with my phone and the audio is not going to come out the same as you know a microphone so that is a challenge we're all working through audio stuff but i do feel bad for you guys if you can only listen on one ear sean says hawkinson was in rare air uh the consistency or a rare tier of titan consisting of kelsey

Kittle and a long drop off. I don't think he was there. I don't think that Hawkinson was ever quite there. I think he was one notch below the Kittle and the Kelsey. So Kelsey's like an all-time player. And Kittal to me is the best tight end in the league complete top to bottom with blocking. And those two are in their own space. And maybe Brock Bowers is going to be there. Right there was Hawkinson below that. And that's worth paying and that's a great asset for your quarterback. I think once he's got to get back out there and make some catches and have a nine for 73 game with J.J. McCarthy. And then you go, oh, yeah, that's right. Every time they're covered deep, he's there. That was what we saw in the Chicago game last year. A good point by Adam

or by son of bevers that Adam Thielen was about to be a salesman. That's right. Yeah. That's right. he was going to sell dental stuff that was probably in my head chat's always trying to stir up something i don't give you guys too much when it comes to that stuff i was just referring to the typical things that i hear of players becoming after they play football uh let's see would love to see bow make the roster the 53 i think bow's in i think bow rickter is in he's played a ton of second team reps and he is a very important special teams player. He was legitimately great on special teams last year.

Who is the Stefan Gilmore of wide receivers? Probably Keenan Allen. Apparently Keenan Allen met with the Chargers and there's no deal there. That sounds maybe inevitable that that's going to happen. But Keenan Allen's likely that guy. And if the Vikings were to get somebody else hurt, I mean, if Jordan Addison or Jalen Naylor were to get hurt, then Keenan would be a guy that,

they would go after. And naturally, uh, you guys still want to, uh, trade for Adam Thielen as always. We want those players to return. So yeah, I think with someone like Keenan Allen, you're probably talking about only if there was an injury. I don't think at this point that there's much chance that they would go out and get somebody else to be, um, to be that guy, like to be another one. wide receiver in the system. We're just a little bit too far into the game in order to do that. So this is an interesting question here from Colleen about the competition between Walter Rouse and Logan Brown. It is still too early to tell on that. But I've gone back and forth. I really have. I've liked some stuff from from Logan Brown. And then, you know, tonight it was,

I think, Watson, a veteran player who's kind of been a around a little bit that was playing left tackle and brown was a down with the threes so that makes me think walter rouse is ahead even though on my 53 yesterday i had brown because i thought that he would be the guy most likely to poach i've really gone back and forth on that i do think that's a preseason thing with with guys like that they play a ton with in the preseason and then you get a big sample of how they're doing that's what we're going to have to see i guess as of right now even from yesterday, but just seeing this practice, I might go back and say, maybe Rouse is more likely. I just wonder if you could cut Rouse and get him to the practice squad versus Brown, who was

a highly sought after UDFA, like, is there something there? Maybe over, I'm overthinking that. I'm overthinking the fourth tackle. Let's see. Fire Sabers says, where did that go? Oh, what do you think the D-line rotation will look like? I think that Jalen Redmond will probably be the first guy in, and then it will be Levi Drake Rodriguez, and they'll mix in based on who they're taking out.

So if you're taking out Hargrave, then probably Redmond goes in. If you're taking out Phillips, then probably Rodriguez goes in. I don't see Ingram Dawkins getting a ton of work right away. It's probably going to be those two with the second team. And then as far as how often, it'll probably be situationally. so you'll have a series let's say the first two series you got the full group and then maybe you get back on the field quick after a three and out okay then you're going to send out redmond and now will they mix and match that i don't know or will they have the two that have been playing together now

that's possible with the two that have been playing together uh let me see okay couple more questions then we're going to reach two hours and almost midnight Alex has 815 yards for Jones. That was the fan dual question of the day. So going over 750 is a good idea. I think so, too. 850 is a good number. I think 850 is a good number. Dusty with Gabe Murphy could contribute. I think Gabe Murphy will get a chance for sure. Son of beavers. One day you're trying to cover Justin Jefferson and the next year are getting a real estate license. Yeah. That's another thing. Yep. A lot of guys go into business, real estate, stuff like that. Yep. Sales. Chris says any concerns about the cornerback depth, do you think that we'll maybe bring in another vet?

As of right now, I would say I don't have big concerns about the cornerback depth because I was assuming Blackman was a starter and that Okuda was going to be depth. But if Okuda's played well enough to be a starter, that means Blackman is depth. And that feels pretty good, actually. And Vaughn, I just never saw it coming with Vaughn that he would look this good. Uh, do I think, uh, Andrea Bell, do I think that JJ looks small behind the O line? No, he's not a small guy. He's not a small quarterback. I mean, he's, I think he's listed at six to something. He, my first impression of him has been the same. He's a big guy. He's a big kid. He's perfectly big enough to play quarterback. He does not look small to me. Um, he looked small to me at Michigan sometimes, but I guess when

you're 20 and you turn 21, 22, you get bigger. It's a growing age. Snake tank. How does Hargrave seem nasty? I mean, he's been, he's been terrific. Blackman is listed as a starter on ESPN. Not as of the rep count. The rep count is that it's clearly Jeff Okuda at this moment. The Black Al Bundy just arriving at this moment, hopefully you missed some of the other chat, which was being trolled, and I tried to take care of that. I'm worried about JJ looking shaky. No, not for one, not for one night. Not, not for one practice.

If, and then that's the thing with this camp, and it's very important to keep this in mind, McCarthy has never looked bad for multiple, like three, four, five practices in a row. There was back to back where the first day was bad, and then the second day was a little better, and then the day after that was fantastic. That's just how it is. I think for a younger quarterback. It's just that when it was the night practice, a lot of people saw it,

there weren't a lot of highlights to work with, and you're going to react a little more. But this isn't Zimmer era where we react as much to the night practice, although there's 800 of you watching at midnight. So thank you for reacting to the night practice. But no, the answer is no. When it comes to being concerned about McCarthy,

it's always going to be, if there's a time, to be concerned we'll know it right if there was five practices in a row where it was brutal like we would know okay something's off here if he goes into the preseason games and looks way off okay something's not quite right here but as of where it stands right now it's just a little bit of a tough practice with a lot of situational stuff that didn't work out and we'll see where it goes from here, but I think that it will be a situation where Wednesday, they'll come back, they'll have a hard practice, he'll do better, and we'll, you know, go on from there.

Speaking of which, I got to write my recap tonight still, so I should get to that. And Wednesday night will be back here live once again. And I'm going to have Dane Mizatani back on the show to do another practice recap. And we'll go from there. And then Saturday, very exciting post game with Dane and myself, Saturday. night. Make sure you look out for that as well. Doing it a little bit different this year, but I'm excited about it from U.S. Bank Stadium. That will be really good. So another fun week, guys. We got a big practice Wednesday and Thursday. And then finally some real action of

Minnesota Vikings football on Saturday. So thank you so much to the huge audience here, watching this tonight, this reaction to the night practice. We learn a lot every single day, and that's my favorite part. So thank you all. Great conversation, as always. And we'll catch you all very soon. Football.