Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings who are under pressure in final preseason game (Part 1)

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about a handful of players who badly need to wrap up training camp well in order to stay on the team or keep the Vikings from making a move elsewhere. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar here. And I have to start the show by saying that something that I said on last night's stream, a guess of mine turned out to be wrong, that I had figured that the Vikings would have an intense practice today because they have a preseason game coming up on Friday, and they didn't have a very intense practice on Monday. So I thought, okay, well, they're going to get the pads out and back to work. We go and football, right?

That was not the case today. In fact, it was even more walk-through E than it was yesterday. So I'll give you a couple of the takeaways. They did some stuff. They did some Red Zone. And Max Brosmer had a two-minute drill opportunity so we can get out of the way with some of that stuff pretty quickly, but that means what we've got tonight is a lot of opportunity to ask questions. And I also made a list of the

players that are under the most pressure going into Friday's game, because I am expecting that tomorrow will be that practice that we were dreaming of, of the full pads and back to work and all that sort of stuff. And, you know, I'm sure that the Chicago Bears right now are stabbing each other with ancient swords or something or whatever Ben Johnson's got going in practice. But just for the record, I know it sounds like, well, you know, they had a light practice the other day, another light practice today. But there's some guys that are banged up on this team. Van Ginkle wasn't practicing. Blake Cashman wasn't practicing. Maybe that was just a veteran day. Harrison Smith has been out with an illness. You want them as close to 100.

as you can when they get into the real work. And at this moment, this is a very healthy overall roster. So I, as a person who's always thought that playing starters in the preseason was a bad idea, which I just saw that Chicago is going to play at starters in the final preseason game. That to me is just risking too much. I really changed my opinion on this or solidified it back in 2011 when, you know, not 2011, 2021, when Irv Smith Jr. got hurt in the fourth preseason game. And I thought Smith

Jr.'s trajectory for his entire career was thrown off by that injury that kept him out for the entire season. And that's what caused the Chris Herndon trade, which we've made fun of so many times and et cetera, et cetera, because they got an injury in the last preseason game. You don't want that. O'Connell's not going to play a lot of guys in this last preseason game. And he's not going to have crazy rip-roaring practices as they go into the real NFL season, which starts after cut down day next Tuesday, and then they get on the practice field and off they go. And we are in regular season mode. So I am expecting maybe one more hardcore practice and that will be it for what we get to see.

But the good news is that the live streaming will not end. In fact, I was just workshopping with producer Jonathan Harrison today of, what our live stream is going to look like during the regular season. And I think that a lot of you who have reached out have convinced me to do this a lot more than we had been doing, doing a lot of live shows. We've got Manny Hill coming back. Brian Murphy's going to be part of a roundtable. Jeremiah Searles will definitely return to the show for Tuesday morning left guard,

which is going to air at night on Tuesday because we can record in the afternoon. And then we're going to go from there. tons of good guests as always Andrew Kramer previewing the next game Dean Mizatani post game so we're putting it all together and Maggie Robinson who is on tonight will be a part of that lineup as well so it's very exciting times and I've loved

the response to all the live streaming so I'm not going to stop doing it since you guys seem to have enjoyed it and the shows have done well but the practices will be over tomorrow so I'll tell you the small number of things that we saw today I believe I counted up in seven on sevens or eleven on eleven's i think i got to five j j mccarthy throws today that's all there were i mean it was really a walk through type of practice where they were working on uh doing a lot of just walk they're walking through that's what it is slow motion here's how this

route works here's when you're letting it go here's how this play works here's what the call is talking over things so we're standing on the sideline just kind of enjoying a sunny day. And then they did a couple of drills. To start the practice, actually, Max Brosmer ran a two-minute drill and drove the team down the field and scored a touchdown. And that was actually impressive. They were ramping it up a little bit there because it's a lot of the guys on the field that are going to play in the preseason game. And a couple of them stuck out to me. Xavier Scott was in the back field. Tyrian Ingram Dawkins was out there taking some reps with that group. So I think

he's a guy that should play more in the preseason as someone who's popped to me and could develop into something but is not ready yet necessarily. So I think we are going to see a lot of players worth watching in this preseason game. And I'm going to get to my list of guys under pressure. But just looking at who was on the field, there were quite a few players where I was like, interested in what he does, interested in what he does. And Brosmer, of course, is very high on that list for people that Vikings fans will be watching. So he ran a two minute drill, scored a touchdown, looked in pretty good command. Then later in the practice, they ran some 11 on 11 down at the goal line. And there was one highlight throw from J.J. McCarthy.

So I might as well tell you about it. He went through a progression and then found Thayer Thomas in the back of the end zone. And that kind of leads into the conversation because there's a lot of wide receiver drama here when it comes to everyone behind Jalen Naylor on the depth chart and I'll just begin my list right there and you can throw your questions in, your comments in about the list and how you feel about this upcoming preseason game and what you're looking for for you, who is under the most pressure, who should be under the most pressure and who are you watching the most in this upcoming preseason game? I will begin. with the wide receivers, obviously.

I mean, I think that they need to play everyone who is on the roster, not named Jordan Addison, and of course, Jalen Naylor. And that means, as of today, Tim Jones, Lucky Jackson, Thayer Thomas, and Ty Felton are all guys that have an opportunity to stand out and prove to this coaching staff that they deserve the opportunity when they first go out there for week one. because Lucky Jackson to me has had, I think, after jumping out ahead of everybody else, not been able to really grip on to that role and a couple of drops, which I know are, it's just a couple drops.

It was not the end of the world, but a guy like him can't really afford too many drops. And so what we've seen the last few days in practice is Tim Jones getting the opportunity. So somebody said in the chat last night, and I don't blame you, like we have a guy named Tim Jones. I mean, if you weren't watching every practice out there and you haven't watched the fourth quarters of preseason games, first of all, how dare you? But second of all, you could miss Tim Jones. He is a former Jacksonville Jaguar special teamer who has a grand total of 17 receptions for 154 yards in his career. And I don't think they ever thought that we would be getting to a point where they would be saying, all right, well, Tim Jones. go out there and take first team reps,

much more of a guy that if he was going to win a spot on the roster, that it would have had to have been just through special teams. But now, since he is experienced and he had five catches in the last preseason game, there you go. Tim Jones, get familiar with the name, even if it's just for this Friday. I don't know how long the Tim Jones experiment will happen. But he was out there with J.J. McCarthy running routes today.

And he is the top of the list under pressure. I think Lucky Jackson, though, is the guy who knows the offense the best. And with a good game can kind of solidify, hey, it was just random that I dropped those couple of balls, catch four or five passes, show the coaching staff something. Like the way that O'Connell presented it, and it sounds a little bit ridiculous, right? Like, oh, it all comes down to this preseason game in Tennessee, right? I mean, it shouldn't. with all this practice time, but it kind of has to.

Like they have to break the tie somehow. And Jackson has gotten all these reps throughout the summer. He's been impressive at times. He's been maybe disappointing at times. Well, if you treat this like it's a big game, guess what? Every Sunday, pretty big games. So Lucky Jackson needs to show something in this game as well to hold on to that spot

and also to try to convince the Vikings that they don't have to go out. and get another wide receiver, which I have been in favor for, I can tell you today, because it was not the most exciting practice, because we weren't sitting there with notebooks scratching down, I mean, Jud was, of course,

because he's always doing that. But we weren't scratching down every single warm-up throw from J.J. McCarthy in a slow practice. So what do you think we were doing? We were debating Adam Thielen on the sideline. Do you go after Thielen? And, you know, so I like to use this

as a mind experiment. I like to use this to try to get rid of our preconceived notions. So I saw, you know, in the comments yesterday for that show where I argued for Adam Thielen, there was a lot of, well, he's not worth this much. He's not worth that much, which it really wouldn't be that much money. You don't have to pay him. And they can fit him under the salary cap. But what I like to do is try to use an experiment to get rid of our biases.

Because I think that there is some element of really you're going to try to bring back a guy who's older and he's not the same version of himself and we've seen that movie before Sheldon Richardson came back. It wasn't that great. You know, that kind of thing. And I'm sure there's a lot of other examples throughout Viking's history. But if his name was Tim Jones instead of Adam Thielen, think about this. If his name was Tim Jones and he had 151 catches over the last two years and he was suddenly becoming available because another team decided that they wanted to play their younger wide receivers, which is the case in Carolina.

They drafted someone in the first round. What was Xavier Leggett last year? Was he a second round pick? And then they have this guy, Jalen Coker, who has just sort of come alive for them and become a dude. So they've got these young players that they want to raise around their young quarterback, no real space at the inn for the guy who's 30-something years old. If that was the case for some other city and the guy whose name was Tim,

Jones and not Adam Thielen, I think there'd be a pretty much a consensus. Like, yeah, if you can get that guy, then get him with the current wide receiver situation. But these receivers have their chance. Tim Jones, Lucky Jackson, I think, has the best chance to convince the Vikings. Hey, I know you guys are making phone calls, but stop it. Put down that phone. Lucky Jackson's here. He's got a chance in this game.

And I would also say the same for Thayer Thomas, who is on his third really good. good training camp. He's not somebody we talk about a ton. I compared him to B.C. Johnson from a few years ago where there was nothing physically impressive about B.C. Johnson, but he was smart, and he had good hands, and he ran decent routes, and he caught a handful of passes. And, you know, Jarius Wright is always the one that we go back to because Jarius Wright was just really good at his job. And Jarius was fast, so, I mean, he had that going for him. But there wasn't anything mind-blowing about Jarius Wright, but just do your job and catch the football. And in this offense, where everybody's looking at Justin Jefferson, I mean, you might

be able to make a difference. And Thayer has done a good job in the joint practices. And then today, and I know it's just, it was a slow practice. It wasn't the most physical situation ever. But he's the guy that J.J. McCarthy found in the end zone. So maybe there's even somewhat of an argument for Thayer Thomas as well. sometimes I think about like every once in a while a random fan will show up from a different team in the comment section of them like listening to this while this guy has 17 career catches and this guy played in the XFL and this guy is an undrafted free agent who's been on the practice squad and they must be like who plays for this football team but that's the situation that they're in and then I also have on the list and I put him fourth on the list here it's not like a ranking or whatever but just when I was thinking off the top of my head all right who's under pressure for this. this preseason game, and I'll even throw tomorrow's practice into that, if it is an intense

practice. Ty Felton, when they were running guys with the first team, I saw one rep for Ty Felton. So he has not put himself in this camp ahead of guys like Thayer and Lucky and Tim Jones. And I've said repeatedly that I think that he's just got to develop, he's got to learn, like all these guys, I think Thayer Thomas is 26, Lucky Jackson is 27, Tim Jones. Jones is, let's see, let's look, how old is Tim Jones? He is, you know, Tim Jones has done so little in the NFL. They don't even put a date of birth on his PFF page, but he was drafted in 2021. So that's what, five years in the league. Like, there's, there's experience there with these guys. And Felton doesn't have that. So that's probably why they've been pushed forward. But Ty Felton's got his opportunity. I thought he did a good job catching passes in both preseason games. Keep showing them. But really, the pressure is on. on Ty Felton as a kick returner. He fumbled in the last game. They've been very committed to him as a part or as a kick returner along with

Ty Chandler was back there today again with him. I still can't decide what I think they're going to do with Ty Chandler. The last 53 I had him on it. I was talking to other reporters today who made their 53s. They didn't have him on it and they had Xavier Scott. And also Scott has been another guy back there returning, hard to figure out. but maybe they'll start to figure that out for us. I don't know if Ty Chandler's going to play in this game,

because if they do want to cut him, they don't want to get him hurt, or if they think that there's a possibility of a seventh round pick swap or something for somebody else who might want Ty Chandler. We'll see about that. But Ty Felton has a lot of pressure here. I think he has to really show that he can be that kick returner because they want that to happen.

But if there are issues again, they might have to make a little switcheroo there. you just get so few opportunities to evaluate the kick returners that somebody like Felton's got to show his stuff. So the wide receiver is very clearly, very, very clearly under the most pressure. And then up next, unsurprisingly, is the quarterbacks. I do have other people on this list. Oh, I should also mention Miles Price. Miles Price was a breakout player in the last preseason game,

81-yard return and a 22-yard punt return had another one for another 10 yards where he looked pretty comfortable and was under pressure. It's not the same as being in Chicago and trying to track the ball down with the swirling wins and all that. But Miles Price was a true breakout player. And we were just talking about Mr. Mancato yesterday. And well, could it be this guy? Could it be that guy?

I mean, Miles Price might be the guy if he wins a roster spot from a kick-and-punt returning who just arrived on the same. seen and showed us something out of virtually nowhere, but he's under pressure as well because I noticed today that he was taking a lot of reps with the wide receivers. And I believe he was the one that caught the touchdown when Miles, when Max Brosmer had his two minute drill. So they're looking for him as a receiver and he showed that he's got something there as a returner. Can he do it again? And maybe win a job. I mean, I have not often thought that the third preseason game should determine jobs, but we've kind of run all the way to the end of the road

on what we've seen in practice, and someone's got to go in the big moment for them. This is their Super Bowl for some of these undrafted free agents that go shine under the, the bright lights, the dull lights of the Tennessee Titans broken stadium. So there you go, the wide receivers. Quarterbacks, of course, I am really interested to see, does Sam Howell play and how much much to Sam Howell play. If it's a wide open competition still for backup quarterback, then he better be playing, right?

Unless that's just sort of something you always say when, you know, you're a head coach and you don't want to, you know, just anoint the backup quarterback who hasn't played well because then everyone's going to be like, what the heck? He just went one for five with a pick and you're saying he's locked into number, like, you know, maybe as a coach, you're always saying, hey, that's open. But with O'Connell, I don't remember him doing

that too often in the past with other quarterbacks. It's not like he said it was a wide, I don't remember him saying, oh, it's a wide open competition with Jaron Hall and Nick Mullins. It was clearly Nick Mullins was the backup. So this is a little bit different. And your eyes have not deceived you on Sam Howell.

Like, it just didn't look good the other day. And it's it's been more down than up overall in practice. But does Brett Rippin really have a chance to be QB2? I mean, if he executes the offense better, maybe he does and I don't think Brosmer can be QB2 but he could certainly solidify his spot

as QB3 and another thing we were debating maybe this this should be a bit on the show of like what was being talked about by the reporters out of TCO Performance Center because there is a lot of standing around for this job you know you wait for a press conference to start you wait for a locker room to open or you wait for players to come off the field or whatever so we chat about different stuff and the fear of of players getting poached was a topic today. I have always been on the side of there's too much fear of that. It's just something we have to say, but almost never to these guys.

Now, sometimes in their season they do, like, oh man, we got eight players hurt. We need to steal somebody else's guard off of, you know, waivers or something or off of somebody's practice squad. But on cut down day, usually these teams are pretty solid and they want their guys on the 53. and maybe that's because they're all afraid of poaching and it would happen more if they weren't all afraid of it. I don't know. But it doesn't happen that often. So could you actually get Max Brosmer to a practice squad or are we overrating that? I think that might be a situation where he could get picked up. And it could be that rare incidence if he in instance, could be the

rare instance if he played very well in this preseason game and everybody's watching the tapes out there and then, you know, somebody needs a QB3. The rules kind of lend themselves a little more to QB3s. But at the end of the day, all these quarterbacks are under an immense amount of pressure for this game. How much is Sam Howell play? Does he go out there for one series and then he's done? And that would kind of indicate, hey, they're just going to roll with this.

Or is it a little more? Do they play him for a lot of the first quarter? And then they play Rippin for a good amount of time. And then Brosmer for the second half like they did for the last preseason. season game. I think if that's the case, if there are multiple series for Sam Howell, then that probably means that they're going out of their way to evaluate him. If he doesn't play at all, well, then I think we know that he's either going to get cut or he's on the team as QB2. And those are the only two options. So the quarterbacks, I mean, I think everybody wants to

see Max Brosmer and what he's able to do with another opportunity. He has been very good in the right ways. He has been on time with getting rid of the football. He has been accurate. He has seemed in command of the offense and just looks like a pro quarterback. And I know it's against lesser competition, but still, it looks like a pro quarterback. And I would like to see him if they're mostly settled on Sam Howell's QB2. And that the whole open competition thing is just something you have to say that I would like to see him get in the first half and play against some second team type caliber players and maybe get some second team caliber players in front of them as well as blockers and receivers. Although there's those guys are going to run a lot of routes, I guess,

on Friday night. But the quarterback competition is at least worth tuning in to the Vikings match up with the Titans because of that. I'll run through the other guys that I have on my list. Xavier Scott trying to earn a 53 man roster position. If he starts and plays, then he's got one more chance to say, hey, don't you want Xavier Scott? I mean, because I've really liked the way that he's played in this preseason and training camp, just go out there and have one more good game for him and show something one more time and leave a lasting impression. He's a guy that I do think they could get to the practice squad, though.

I would be very surprised if he was picked up by anyone. That has to factor in, but this is, I think, a big opportunity. It's good, the best opportunity he's ever going to get is this game. Michael Juergens bounced back from some issues with snapping the football in camp and then in the last game. But still, I mean, that guy is under the microscope every time he goes out because Ryan Kelly's history with injuries, he might have to play. And I think he's been okay in the preseason. I think he's been okay in practice. It hasn't been inspiring because it's a backup center.

But it's also after an early, I think pretty tough run, it's settled down for Jurgens in this role. I've got Ben Eurasek, who has a chance to solidify tight end three. I was looking up today, Eurasek, and this is where we're at, folks. This is where we're at. This is why you listen to the show right here. The next sentence I'm going to say is why you are here this evening to listen to the show. I was looking up Ben Urisack's preseason run blocking numbers on PFF, and I saw that he's been pretty good.

And it made me think, well, that role, that tight end three, It is more of a run blocking type of role where you have to occasionally sneak out into the flat and catch a ball. So you're a sec. If he's been successful as a run blocker, if he gets the offense, he should be the guy for tight end three. But again, one more opportunity to prove that. And three other players, sorry, four, I didn't forget the punting competition.

Four, Elijah Williams really just want to see him, honestly. I just, he's been so good in these couple of games, wondering, since Levi, Drake Rodriguez has been out. I don't know the severity of Levi Drake Rodriguez's injury, but if that could end up altering how they handle the 53, if Levi ends up on IR to start the season, and again, he might be back next week. We just don't get injury reports during the preseason and training camp. But I wondered about if he goes on IR, if that opens a spot for Elijah Williams to make the 53. But again, he's got to convince him like everybody else. Mackay Blackman, he was out there today with the unit going against Max Brosmer, which makes you think he's going to play a lot in

the game again. He did not look very good to me, didn't score well by PFF in the last game or the first preseason game, hasn't really looked like himself during this training camp. This is one more opportunity to turn a corner a little bit in his recovery from that ACL injury. But he needs as much action as he can get, I think, because he is the next man up if they're not happy with Okuda or if there is an injury at any point in that cornerback group, it's got to be him. Or, you know, I guess Zamea Vaughn, I could throw that in there as well. And then the last guy under pressure is Oscar freaking Chapman. That's right. Oscar Chapman, the last guy under pressure, because you know what? He's made it interesting, guys. He has made it legitimately interesting

in this punting competition. And I think that there is a very small chance. The fact that they can keep him as the international exception. I mean, that does matter to the discussion, absolutely. But if he just straight up punts his butt off like he did the other night, Oscar Chapman could be your punter for this year. And that would be actually pretty interesting. So, all right, that is your rundown of today and of my thoughts about who is under pressure. And I'll even include, you know, tomorrow's practice as well as the game.

And we'll go from there. So who's under pressure for you guys going into the rest of this week and the final waning moments of the preseason and training camp? And then other questions, comments you got in about 20 minutes or so, depending on the fervor of the chat. We'll have Maggie Robinson drop into the show and we'll go around the league with some things going on with her as well. So Kit says not to pick on somebody who he's down, but any idea what's been up with the drops from Lucky Jackson. It seems like his momentum has evaporated. It does, it does feel like that. And if I had to guess, and I don't want to play, you know, practice squad guy, psychologist here with this. But if I had to guess, I would probably just say pressure, pressure, pressure. I mean,

you could, if you're lucky Jackson, you could kind of smell it. I mean, it's been a long journey. He was on this show. Remember, if you watch that interview, he was on this show. And we talked about this guy was working at a pharmacy and he was going at night to play an indoor football league games. And he went to Canada and he went to the XFL. I mean, then two years on the practice squad to arrive right here, right now at this point where you're going to get your chance. And if you even make, think about this, like Tim Jones has a chance to make this team. If you're lucky Jackson and you get in the game, let's say nailers out. We don't know where that's at right now.

Let's say Naylor's out. Or let's say that he's wide receiver three. You get in the game, make a handful of catches, making a pressure for yourself. I mean, you might have a career from here on out for five or six more years or something. There's a lot of pressure. And I think that that gets in guys' heads. And you know who we really saw it with was KJ Osborne in 2023.

KJ. and 21 and 22 was just, he was good. He was just a solid, really good wide. receiver. And then in 23, what did we talk about the whole time, right? The contract. He's going to be a free agent. They drafted Addison. Like, you know, he knows it. This is his big moment. And he had a lot of drops. And I think it gets into guys' heads sometimes. Like, this is my moment. And this is what really we take Justin Jefferson for granted because he's just Justin Jefferson. And Moss was here and Carter and Diggs and Thielen and good wide receivers are just everywhere. The fact that Justin Jefferson every single week has so much pressure on him with this team

and just goes up and catches the ball like it's nothing and you're like, oh, Justin Jefferson went up and got a 50-50 ball and Moss some guy and then gritty into the end zone. Of course he did. He's Justin Jefferson. And then you see how hard it is to actually make it with someone like Lucky Jackson. So I think that's what it is. But it's also two drops in a preseason game. I mean, that shouldn't negate his entire offseason.

But it was clear that coming back this week, Tim Jones was with that first team and Thayer Thomas was out there more. So I think that they want to put some pressure on some even more pressure like, hey, buddy, that's not going to work. Dropping balls in the regular season, that is not going to work. Conrad says, who do you think will replace Jalen Naylor in the starting lineup until Addison returns? Who do I think it's going to be? I mean, as of right now, I think. lucky makes still makes the most sense if they're not going to get someone else but i think i want to make a bet that it's someone else i this is where i go back and forth because it's getting late

here in the season you kind of have to do this soon at the same time they added stephan gilmore late and if they make a move to get i'm going to throw adam theelin's name out there but amari cooper uh brandon powell whoever whoever still out there if they go get someone else, they can still acclimate that person for week one and get them going. As much as training camp is important if it's someone who's been around the league to jump right into a game plan, especially if it's someone who's been here before, maybe even KJ. Osborne, I might say that the person replacing Jalen Naylor is not yet in the building. That was a long conversation with myself and Andrew Kramer today.

We were going back and forth because he thinks that the person is in the building. He thinks it's Tim Jones or Lucky Jackson is going to be the one that takes over Naylor's job and then Naylor moves up. What might determine this is Naylor's injury. If Naylor's injury turns out to be more serious and he's got to have surgery, for example, not that Kevin O'Connell would tell us if that's an option they're considering, but if he has to have surgery and he's going to be out a couple of weeks or something, I think then you're pressured to do it. I don't think you can have Lucky Jackson and Tim Jones.

as your other wide receivers next to Justin Jefferson. You probably have to go get someone else. But as of right now, I think I would just go with Tim Jones because he's played before and then we'll see after that. But this is why they're at the top of the list, man, is because we don't know. It still seems to be undecided. Hunter says, how does McCarthy's arm compare to cousins when he was a Viking?

It's quite different. It's quite different. two guys that get the job done in a different manner. So Kirk Cousins, he learned over the years how to use his entire body to get as much velocity as he possibly could. And when Cousins could get all of his body behind the football, he could make it zoom. But as far as raw, pure arm strength, it wasn't great. So just the only way that I know how to explain this.

so everyone understands it would be by Madden terms because I think we all think that way anyway with throw power, throw accuracy, right? And then O'Connell will come in with this arm talent thing and that's a different definition and whatever. Let's just stick with throw power, throw accuracy for these two quarterbacks. Kurt Cousins probably when he first got to Minnesota, his arm, they was stronger than when he left. And I thought it was really 22 to 23, somewhere in there where it just didn't seem like it had the same jump. But he still played well at times during those seasons. It just didn't have the same velocity.

So let's just go back to maybe Kirk when he first got here. I would have given Kirk like an 87 throw power and like a 90, 91 accuracy. Like he was an accurate quarterback or maybe like 84. Let's go 84 throw power and 91 accuracy. He was somebody that had to put a lot of his body into it. He wasn't going to make that thing totally rocket off platform or, you know, just based on his arm alone. And it didn't have this kind of whoa to it when you saw him throw in practice. But he was very good at throwing with anticipation.

So you would see on the tape where someone hadn't even come out of their break yet and he would throw it out in front of them. And he was a very accurate quarterback. McCarthy, I would probably go the opposite. where it would be something like 92 throw power and 79 accuracy at this moment. He was really super accurate in the joint practices in the second day, not as much in the first day. I expect that from him during the season, but he can use just his arm and absolutely rip the ball.

I mean, a straight line rocket type of velocity, but then there's another that's like throwing deep is a different thing. Kirk was very good at throwing down the field, but he did it with anticipation and accuracy and throwing to spots, whereas McCarthy is going to do it by letting the ball rip. So it's just, it's very different, it's very different. And then Sam Darnold had just everything.

He had great touch, great velocity. He could throw the ball with, and this is something McCarthy could do that Kirk could never do, and Darnel was great at it. If guys are falling at his feet and he can't get his feet set, Darnold could just kind of turn his shoulders and rip it. And I think McCarthy can do that not quite to the same level as Darno, but I think he can do that, whereas Kirk could not.

And that was the reason why if the pocket was collapsing, it was just over for whatever game the Vikings were playing in with Kirk Cousins because he really needed to step into the ball. He was not going to be able to get it 25 yards to a receiver as he was just sort of stuck in place. Like he needed to bring it down, get his whole, everything activated, drive off the ground. And I think that that made life harder for them. But, you know, it's an interesting question because evaluating quarterback's arms,

it's so much more than the Madden, you know, throw power and throw accuracy. You can be a little less accurate, but if you make plays and you scramble, and Brian Flores was talking about this today, just how much his scrambling has strained their defense during this time in preseason. And you've seen that in the preseason game and, or I'm in training camp. he's done it a lot on the late drills and stuff. So every quarterback is his own set of, you know, strengths and weaknesses. And I think for McCarthy, raw arm strength is one of his strengths.

And for Kirk, it was probably more of one of his weaknesses. Brett, am I planning to have Judd on the show before the season begins? We talked about that the other day of practice. The fans of Judds have asked a number of times, you know, Judd and I are great friends. So, yes, what we were talking about the other day is it can only be special occasions. I mean, this is a special start to a season. So I am planning on, yes, getting Judd on.

Courtney will be on before the Bears week. Yep, that is definitely going to happen as well. Sloss says wide receiver idea. I haven't heard yet. Braxton Barrios buried on the Texan step chart could be a return gadget guy. I like it. Yep. I like it.

Kind of falls into that same category as, as, I mean, not quite an Adam Thielen who's more proven and more of an underneath guy, but as a Brandon Powell, like a rich man's Brandon Powell, maybe, if they decide to release Braxton Berrios, uh, thank you, TL for the super chat, really appreciate that. TL says injuries are the reason I don't have expectations. Uh, do you mean for this season or for, does that have to do with the preseason? Like, you don't have expectations for any of these preseason games because, you know, you want to avoid injuries.

As far as, like, making your expectations for this team around the possibility of injuries, I would just say this. I have seen every part of the spectrum when it comes to this. I've seen Vikings teams that were young that got injured, left and right. I've seen Vikings teams that were old that got injured. I've seen Vikings teams that were old that stayed completely healthy. 2022 is a good example of that. 2020 is an ancient team, but they also.

stayed healthy all the way through the season and they won a lot of games because of it, you can just never know. You just never know. All you can do is if you're in your seat is just hope that people don't go down left and right. But I always create expectations for the team and for players on the assumption that they're going to be an average health team. And then we'll see which way the needle pushes. A lot of injuries in the NFL are just random. Somebody runs into somebody, like it happens. So I know that they are on the older side as a team and some of these guys are coming off injuries, but I don't even know if that's predictive either because you think about

like Anthony Barr had a nasty injury and then he came back and played after that. And DeNeil Hunter was out for an entire year with a neck thing that I thought might end his career. I was really concerned for Daniel Hunter after he missed 2020 and head surgery and all that. I mean, you hear neck and a defense. end. You're like, oh, my gosh, this is, this could be terrible for him, came back. Then he had another injury after that. Uh-oh, now he's injury prone. And then he's played like every game since. I mean, who, who can really predict it when it comes to injuries?

There are some guys that you would be more concerned than others, like Ryan Kelly, but you should be able to survive at least some games without someone like that. The other guys, Jonathan Allen came back and played it in the playoffs last year. Hardgrave, I think he had a similar injury to what DeNeil had. So I don't know. I don't know. And there's a lot these players who are in their primes, you know, Gernard's in his prime, Jefferson's in his prime, Addison's coming into it. And even if Jones gets banged up in the backfield, you got Jordan Mason in his prime, I don't know, who can ever predict injuries? I wouldn't limit expectations for this team because of that. I would set them exactly where they belong. Jake says I heard Addison

will play in the preseason. Is that true? No, I would not expect to see Jordan Addison. If he did, I would be surprised. I guess you'll have to tell me where you heard that because he didn't play in the last preseason game and it would be really, I mean, he's going to miss three games, not 13. You want him to be 100%. You don't want him to hurt his ankle or something. I mean, he got hurt last year in the joint practices and then got banged up in week one and was out until what week five, you don't want something like that to happen in a preseason

game. Plus one of O'Connell's arguments, which I think is really compelling about not playing starters is that there are guys out there who are desperately trying to make teams and some of the times they'll just push it too far and they'll go for a late hit or they'll try to make a hero play diving for something that they can't get to and injure somebody that's you wouldn't want to put Jordan Addison out there. Frank, thank you so much for the super chat. Really appreciate that. Conrad says, what about KJ. Osborne or Brandon Powell? Both options are fine, but it makes me a little bit concerned about both. Now, anybody you're bringing in,

there's going to be a, there's a reason he's available. Like, they weren't thrilled with Brandon Powell last year. His returning was not great last year. I think they were one of the worst return teams in the entire league in punt and kick, but he's the punt returner. It didn't yield them almost anything. And then he never really became the gadget player that we thought he would. But I thought when they signed Brandon Powell that he was going to be this quick twitch, like run, you know, a reverse for him, run a bubble screen, get the ball in his hand. It just never happened for Brandon Powell. And he actually turned into a halfway decent route runner. There was the game against San Francisco where he stepped in.

There was the Josh Dobbs game where he caught the game winning touchdown. So I like Brandon a lot. I think he can actually play real wide receiver. But there's probably a reason they decided to bring in. someone like Tim Jones and not bring Powell back. There has to be a reason for that, right? And Osborne has fallen off the face of the earth since he left Minnesota. You know, we think about all that pressure that was on him that I was talking about earlier.

Oh, you're going to get the big contract. And, you know, KJ, Osborne could be worth $10 million a year if he has a big season. But then he goes to New England on a small contract, not a lot there. He's been in Washington. He might be available. Like, is that the same guy? that we saw here back in 2022. Michael says,

can't wait to hear your list and thoughts on the outside linebacker room. Okay, the outside linebacker room. Okay, I'll give you something on that. So I didn't include an outside linebacker under pressure, but I will give you one. This is a bonus under pressure player just for you. That is Chas Chambliss.

Mm-hmm. Chaz Chambliss. What a name. The reason is because Chas Chambliss has played more special teams snaps than any other player on the Vikings over these first two preseason games. And I noticed them at inside linebacker and outside linebacker, which makes me wonder, are they cross-training him as a backup for both of those positions and maybe having him as someone who is on special teams? now some of this could depend on if anybody goes on i are then all of a sudden these 53 man rosters that we've got well they don't you know look exactly the same chambliss it does i mean they paid him a good amount to come here and i think he's had a kind of a low key good preseason

good training camp but is he somebody that you can get to the practice squad probably but i think he has a chance to make a real impression so that's why i didn't think he was under pressure necessarily, but he has a chance to make an impression. And I saw Gabe Murphy. I don't know what happened today exactly, but Gabe Murphy left practice a little early. So that might be something to keep an eye on. I also think that Murphy's probably not someone I would play in this game.

Because he has shown a lot so far. And so I think you're going to be getting guys who won't make the team. And maybe Bo Richter will play still. He's a special teamer, but maybe there's like a low key Bo Richter Chas Chambliss name off for an outside linebacker spot. I don't think so, though. I think Richter approved himself on special teams, but Chambliss is, he's stepped up when he's gotten a chance.

So there's your outside linebacker room update. Let's see. Connor says in the KOC era, which non-wide receiver would have been the best wide receiver if they were just thrown in there? Hmm. So you're talking about like a running back, I would assume? or are you talking about everybody?

If it's, if you're talking about everybody, I'll go Patrick Peterson. I think that Patrick Peterson could have played anything, any time, anywhere, any era. If Peterson had started out as a little kid playing quarterback, he would have been Lamar Jackson. I mean, this is a guy who's one of the all-time great athletes in the NFL. They put him back as a punt returner in his first year in Arizona, and he housed like three punt returns. I mean, this, this dude was ridiculous at everything. they would talk about how great he was at basketball like he could do just about anything so if you're talking

about all positions i would say patrick peterson if i don't know that they've had too many running backs who can step into that role or other positions but patrick peterson could definitely have been that guy uh for zimmer i think it would have been anthony harris yeah maybe maybe he had really good hands but you know being a wide receiver there's a lot to it like with route running and quickness I don't know if he was the quickest. See, that's where Peterson, you know, the quickness, I think it would have helped him a lot. I don't know if Anthony Harris had that. He had kind of longer speed.

Rob says Lucky took a step backward last week, but it was just one quarter. Price flashed enough to get another look. And that's the thing about with Lucky Jackson, after a pretty good camp, I don't want to make this all about one quarter. And like you said, two drops, but they're pretty egregious drops. and if you're feeling the pressure and you're feeling the heat and you're going out there going, I better make the catch and then you're dropping the ball. I mean, what's it going to be like at Soldier Field?

Look, this is, this is, of course, a show that has been interested in Lucky Jackson's journey since, what was it, 2020. I mean, he was great in the XFL. I watched the hell out of that league. I enjoyed that league. It's a cool story. It would be great if he could be that guy. and make some NFL catches.

And you're just like, this is why we play this game, right? Like there's stories like this. But when you got the biggest moments in your career, like he had last week, go out there and make a couple plays and you don't make them, that's going to go into the evaluation. It has to.

So that's why going into this game, I think if Lucky comes out of it and plays really well, it will influence their feeling on the wide receiver room. But it is unfair to him to just dwell on, two plays when you know he's been catching i mean the other thing about that is he's been catching balls from j j mccarthy this entire time and then it was howell throwing him the ball but you got to catch it got to catch it uh anthony says why uh does not one bring up that the bears beat the bills 38 to six was it 386 did the bell score uh the bears played the game serious

because of bad reports and played twos and threes yeah i mean I mean, that we talked about a little bit last night about how you just, it's the moth to the flame. We can't help ourselves that any football in front of us we're going to want to react to. I mean, think about if a college team, if Arch Manning plays against Finger Lakes Community College, which is where I spent two years of my life, and they win 77 to nothing, they'll still go on TV the next day and be like, Arch Manning looks the part, guys. I know it was Matt's community college and they don't even have a football program

and they just put a couple guys out there but he looks the part guys because it's football and it was in front of me and I saw it. And the same thing is with the Bears running the bill's backups off the field. Like that just means it means zero to my thought process

on Caleb Williams. I think it's actually more telling that they want to go run their starters again. That makes me think well you guys can't really be rock solid on where you're at as an office. If you're running in the third preseason game, I mean, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I think they also had joint practices too.

I mean, by week 17, the bears are going to be dead. It is a long season with 17 games, man. It is a long season. Let's see. Franks has agree with some people saying no to AR-19. Is that, or you mean Adam Thielen on the same page saying they should pick up, oh, I see what you're saying. Some people saying no to Thielen are the same people saying that they should pick up OBJ and Amari Cooper.

Oh, AT, yeah, okay, there's a typo. Right. I mean, none of those options are guys who have been in their prime recently. All of them are kind of, uh, maybe. I think that Thielen looked to me like he had the most life of any of those receivers last year. Like OBJ doesn't look like anywhere near the old guy. And here's the other part of this too.

Amari Cooper and OBJ are two, and I know, someone's going to be like, did you know Thielan right at a 4, 4, 4, 5? Yes, I know, I know. I've been told 100 times. Adam Thielen did not win as a NFL player with raw speed, okay? He was big, and he used strength, technique, hands, ball tracking, knowledge of the playbook, chemistry with the quarterback, and had enough speed to be an NFL wide receiver.

But guys like OBJ and Amari Cooper, high draft picks, superstars out of college, these guys used explosiveness. Like Thielen did not just jet past people. And when the explosiveness dies for guys who use that to win their entire career, it goes off the edge of the earth. That's why Anquan Bold and Larry Fitzgerald, those were two guys that just didn't, they were fast. Yeah, but they didn't use their bursts to win all the time. They use strength, technical elements, and great, great hands. So I think Phelan's a guy who's aged better than some of these other wide receivers because he didn't have to use that.

That's why it's more interesting to me than those two guys. But if the Viking sign Amari Cooper, I mean, it's not like he was horrendous last year. So, okay, it'll be very telling how they feel coming out of the preseason game. The fact, though, and this could change tomorrow. So we may need an emergency podcast. who knows, but the fact that they haven't gone out and gotten someone else yet that they did not do it this week does make you think, A, that they feel like Naylor will come back, but also it makes you think that they at least want to give it a look.

They at least want to try it because they didn't bring in somebody, and this would have been the week to do it, to get somebody acclimated, so they're at least going to give them the chance of this third preseason game. And boy, does that give me something to write about because, remember, when we had a third preseason game and they canceled the punter competition. That was like at the top of my list then. Now I feel like we got a lot more to work with here. Rob says Joshon Jones has been pretty solid too, must be in the mix.

I think that he has fallen behind in that mix. You look at the way that they played. I didn't include him. You look at the way that they played the usage for who was out there at the beginning of the last preseason game. He's been also banged up this week. So I don't even know for sure that he's going to play. I didn't see him out.

there participating today. So another wide receiver that's banged up. But it just, it feels like there's been lucky, Thayer, and Tim Jones as the main guys. Then Ty Felton with the second team pretty exclusively. And Joshon Jones has just, you know, got hurt yesterday, not sure what happened, but wasn't participating, but it wasn't getting anywhere near the reps. He was getting much more with the twos and threes than he was for some of those other guys. So it feels like that's separated.

Dino or Dino. Any update on Ginkle, Van Ginkle? No, I mean, he hasn't been practicing, but it just, when you see a guy out there kind of in his jersey, standing around watching practice, he's not doing any rehabbing or anything, I just assume that it's probably not serious. And it hasn't been brought up with O'Connell.

I'm sure we can try to get more information on that. But for certain guys, it just doesn't, it looks like maybe he's dealing with bumps and bruises and he's going to be okay. There hasn't been any update on him. I don't know that anyone's, he's been out long enough for anyone to really ask, but that's something that we got to bring up at some point with O'Connell. We'll see, though, I mean, really the next time is when we get an injury report. Then we start to get all the information that we're looking for is when there's an injury

report. It doesn't strike me as serious. He stood and watched practice today with Blake Cashman. I don't need Andrew Van Ginkle to practice. That's where I think the Vikings are very smart with this stuff. Oh, you've got anything? Stand over there. If it's not the regular season, stand over there.

Don't push through injuries right now. Conrad, so this Friday's Titans game is the Super Bowl for all these teams. It's, you know what it is? It's the Super Bowl for some guys. The amount of players that are going into that game for this team who are fighting for something, it's the biggest game on their slate, that's for sure. all the guys we've been talking about, these wide receivers. I really want to see more from Elijah Williams on the defensive side.

I mean, it should be important to Mackay Blackman to prove that he deserves to be out there. Zemaya Vaughn's fighting for a spot. Dwight McLeathern's fighting for a spot. I don't know. Did I mention him? He should have been on that list as well. Oscar Chapman. So it's a,

it's the Super Bowl for some. And it's the only game on for me to watch and cover. So I'm covered at the best I can. And we'll be live streaming after that because I'm not going to. Tennessee for the third preseason game. Horror movies for life says, when are they going to add wide receivers? Well, that's a good question. I would think that if they're going to do it now, it's going to be after cut down day.

Like we've just sort of, if it's not, well, if it's not tomorrow or Thursday, then they'll wait until after cut down day. Maybe they want to see who gets cut. That could be another part of it too, is they, if you don't want to trade for Thielen and you don't want to sign Powell and you don't want to sign Amari Cooper, but you might have 10 different guys who, hey, if any of these guys are cut, we'll pick them up. Then, you know, that's the Josh Doxon. That's the Aldrich Robinson type situations where, you know, at least Aldrich Robinson

contributed. He had, what do you have, five touchdowns or something? Like, he was pretty decent in that role in 2018. But that's an example of they waited, Robinson got cut, pick him up at the last minute, bring him in, hey, buddy, you're a Viking now, go play. Not the easiest thing in the world, but it can be done. So I would guess if it's not, if, if we're not getting, you know, an announcement tomorrow, the Minnesota Vikings have traded for, you know, whoever, then it's probably going to be

after a cut down day. So, Tim Jones turned 27. Thank you. Yeah, he's, he's experienced. All the guys are experienced more than Ty Felton. and I think that's why we've seen a lot more of those guys with the first team. Eric says I like Lucky, but I'd still bring in Thielen at this point. If you have to spend a pick or two, worry about 26 picks when the draft comes.

Oh, by the way, this reminds me is last night I made an adjustment on the fly to the fan dual question of the day. So I want to make sure that I get to yesterday's fan dual question of the day. Justin Jefferson came back to practice yesterday. He right now has the third best odds to win offensive player of the year. Who do you think the biggest threat to Justin Jefferson's candidacy for offensive player of the year is? On Fandul right now, there are two players that have higher odds. Sequin Barclay and Jamar, yeah, Jamar Chase.

Those are the only two guys that have higher odds to win offensive player of the year than Justin Jefferson. who do you think is the biggest threat to him to win offensive player of the year? And one thing I like related is that offensive player of the year has become the best non-quarterback, that's good. When they used to give offensive player of the year to quarterback and MVP, it's like, well, what the heck is the point of that? Just giving the same guy a different award.

So I like that now it's a receiver, now it's a running back. Who's the biggest threat? That's the fan dual question of the day. we'll get to your answers when I get there in the chat, but you guys are kind of on a roll. Let's see, Ryan says this is really in the weeds, but any prediction for the practice squad at offensive tackle, Rouse is probably a roster lock,

but no guy behind him appears to be locked in. Now, that's a good point. I, yeah, yeah, you're right, because they have to keep somebody and Logan Brown has just dropped off the face of the earth. Now, Brown could be a project player. Now, if he goes out in this fourth preseason game, maybe I should have included him. I was thinking about offensive line, but I was like, I think these are all practice squad guys are cut.

So, you know, that's really the guy that I've got my eye on for the best possibility. I mean, outside of that, though, it's not like they have one of their tackle and I'm blanking on his name. And I'm sure some of you know it. But I'm actually going to have to check my roster here. with the offensive tackle position because I focused a lot on on Logan Brown. And I thought that Logan Brown was on his way early in the offseason, but it just hasn't, hasn't gone that way for him. And he has not moved off that third team.

And he was playing on the right side today. Oh, Leroy, yeah, Leroy Watson is the other tackle. He's 27 years old. But I guess I would go with Leroy Watson right now, the way that they've handled Brown. Maybe they just view him as a project. but look if you get to the practice squad offensive tackle like the season is in peril probably at that point because i mean that means you would have to lose derisaw school and walter rouse by the time you got to to there uh anthony says biggest pressures on the dline coach he has to pull

the trigger on uh udFA over established guys letting one go uh or letting one guy sorry it didn't look doesn't look like you completed that thought but you know i think i get what you you're saying, which is they've got too many good defensive tackles. And if you're the D-line coach and you've got to go into that meeting and figure out who you're getting rid of, that's hard to do. I don't think that they can fit seven. Maybe they can. There's kind of a bonus player that's allowed because Jordan Addison has his three-game

suspension. How do you tell Elijah Williams after this camp, hey, buddy, like, you're going to go to the practice squad. It's hard to do. Levi Drake Rodriguez had a pretty good start to camp. been banged up miss the joint practices you're absolutely keeping i think the i'll say the top four guys jalen redmond included redmond has become one of the rotation i think levi is a little bit more just depth and i don't think he's going to have a spot in the rotation as much as jalen redmond

they're going to rotate those four because i mean redmond proved himself last year in his head of just a really good camp um so i like where he's at but you got to keep ingram dawkins he's sure he's shown a lot and you would like to keep Williams. So you're right. Uh, if you're, if that's what you meant, that's, that's, that's pretty tough. Uh, Frank says gut tells me that Brown doesn't make the 53. No, yeah, I mean, at this point, definitely not. It's really, do they keep him as part of the practice squad? A son of a beaver. Xavier Scott was, uh, himself a pickup after cut down day. Oh, yeah, he was. Yep, he was. Because that was Indianapolis cut him. I think that's right? Conner says, could you build a team out of Vikings media members? No, you couldn't build

a team of us for anything. I mean, Ben Gessling is really fast, really, really fast. He is a long distance runner, so he would have to be our deep wide receiver. Maybe Dane could be our underneath guy. I don't think we really have a tight end. I can throw a football okay, but we're best where we're at. We're bet, you know, just the other day for a story that's coming out tomorrow, I had a conversation with Josh Oliver, and I thought to myself, yeah, probably better that I stopped playing football in junior high because this guy would murder me. So I would never want to be hit by this man. And the people who do get hit by that man have a lot of courage. Rob says I'd bet Ty Chandler and Xavier Scott don't play on Friday. I think they sign.

signed Valaday to back up Stewart. So at least the way that it looked in practice, and I always appreciate when you guys are all the way down to the dude that they just signed right before the last preseason game, but it is interesting to think about. The way that they were doing it in practice today with the third team, I thought was indicative of what they'll do in the game. So that was Brosmer and Xavier Scott was in the backfield. I want to see Xavier Scott.

I don't think that that has to necessarily be. locked in and he needs more experience, even if Xavier Scott makes the team and even if he's playing on special teams, how many runs is he going to get? I mean, if you're the Vikings, you're hoping the answer is zero, right? Like, you don't want too many runs for Xavier Scott. I don't think you're saving him for anything. You want that guy to get as much experience, as much times touching the football as possible. Let's see, the, uh, if it's 10 offensive linemen, then Joe Huber, Yeah, Huber has definitely been the guy there. Will they keep 10 offensive linemen?

That I would be surprised. But he's played the best in the games. And I prefer to look at the games more than trying to figure it out in practice. I could tell if someone's getting destroyed time in and time out. I could tell if someone's dominating, like just crushing people on the offensive line. The difference between someone having a C plus and a B plus training camp, that's really hard to figure out when you're mostly focusing on JJ. McCarthy and the quarterbacks and the receivers.

That's why we use the games, I think, way pretty heavily. And Huber's been really good. Rob for three spots in the secondary, Mackay, Zamaia, Ambri Thomas. Yeah, I don't know if Ambry Thomas is in that mix. Maybe it just hasn't looked that way. Tavier Thomas, the special teamer, if they want to keep one. But now it looks like they're going to keep Jones the way that they've used him. so is he the special teamer?

Zach says love Elijah Williams, but seems like he needs to beat out Taki Taimani and LDR. He could also easily make it to the practice squad. I agree with that. That's where I was talking about earlier that, you know, we're all, I think you, I think what you want for a guy like that is the story is great. If someone like Elijah Williams from Morgan State,

and I asked Brian Flores about that today, and he said that Durante Jones went to Morgan State, that's their secondary coach, and that he kind of recognized Elijah and then he played really well in that HBCU All-Star game and like, what a great story, right? If that guy makes the 53, it's awesome, just awesome for football. And he's earned it and he's played great. He's just been so good.

And so, you know, if that's the case, well, that would be really, really, you know, Mr. Mancato, the reason we have it, right? That's the reason that the Mr. Mancato exists is for guys like Elijah Williams. but realistically, if they cut him, it would be very surprising if somebody else grabbed him and put him on the 53 because he's a project and other teams have their own projects that they're working on. They have their own Elijah Williams. We just know who it is because he's here. So I tend to agree with you. Taki is the guy that he has just looked like the odd man out. He made a couple plays the other day, but he has not gotten a lot of work. I mean, maybe

he'll be on the practice squad as well. Levi Drake Rodriguez is the interesting one that if he's injured, that does open the door because he is banged up right now. Rob says Wright versus Chapman. Totally agree. Wright versus Chapman is the biggest head to head. So the question then is, does Ryan Wright play in this? Or is it like, is it a punt off?

Or is it going to be mostly Oscar Chapman just getting his chance and trying to prove himself? I'm curious about that. let's see first name last name late and getting caught up unacceptable you're either 10 minutes earlier 10 minutes late you got to be one of the people who's who when I when I turn this on and I hit the test responds back to me test I'm just kidding anyway uh does it sound like the team is considering brosmer for QB2 or are they just prepping him to play the full game I don't know that he's going to play the full game I think he's going to play a lot and it was interesting though to have Brozmer be the only guy out there that was taking some real reps today and doing an 11 on 11 full drive.

Nobody else did that today, just Brosmer in that unit. So they wanted to prepare him for something. I'm not really 100% sure what that was. I don't think that he's QB2 or a part of the QB2 discussion. I think it's Howell versus Howell. And with Rippin, I mean, we'll see. If Rippin starts the season as QB2, I guess I wouldn't be that shocked. based on he's been here for a year and he knows the offense extremely well.

He's limited in his physical ability, but at least he could run the offense and he gets the ball out of his hands. It's not accurate all the time, but at least he gets the ball out of his hands and he's not just back there throwing the ball up in the air or taking sacks or trying to be a playmaker. I'm just, you know, I respect the Nick Mullins is, the Ryan Fitzpatrick's who when they get in the game, the James Winstons, they are going to just, just try to ball out, try to be the best version of themselves. They're going to be John Elway out there.

Is that what you really want onto your backup, though? I don't think so. I think what you want out of your backup is to keep the train on the track. So if I was me, if it's really truly open, as Kevin O'Connell said, I'm playing all these guys, and I'd probably give Brosmer the second half again. That's great experience. For a QB4, there have been years, guys, where the QB4 doesn't play. It shows you how they feel.

about Brozmer that they're trying to get him this much work, but I don't think he is QB2. Dr. Smuggs, as Mackay has not looked real good, but he's most likely the nickel number two. Yeah, he's not, as far as him being on my under pressure list, he is not under pressure to make the roster so much as he's under pressure for us to feel any confidence in him if they need to put him in the game. He is definitely the backup nickel for Byron Murphy, if he were to go out. It might be Zamaia Vaughn who's supposed to be the Jeff Okuda if he were to go out. I think McLaughlin also hasn't shown a whole lot outside of a couple days where he got some interceptions. If Oscar Chapman is the punter, do we get a 54-man roster? No, unfortunately,

you can't use the Australian to cheat the roster rules. You actually get 54 because of Jordan Addison's suspension, though. So there is a bonus player, but it can't be Oscar Chapman. If he makes the roster, then he just takes up a roster spot. You can get an extra practice squad player, though. That's where he would not count. Let's see. Sean says, how has Chapman's targeting been? Is he hitting within 20 yards? Is it, I mean, so here's the thing with the punting. You guys have seen the same punting as me. In practice, it's just practice. They're just, those guys are punting on their own a lot and those guys are doing a handful of drills that I've seen all summer long. But when it comes to the punting, it's the games. The games is what's going

to matter the most. And to me, Chapman's been the better punter so far. And what I really have kind of enjoyed is when he punts it up there and the returner's like, where's it going? What's going on here? And there's just that moment of terror that you can sense even from up in the press box that the guy like, I don't know where it's going. And that's, even indoors. But he got a good bounce on one of them. There's only been a couple punts. Maybe this game will provide a decent amount of puns for them to get a closer

look at Oscar Chapman. The fact that he's still here, well, no, because they can keep him on the practice squad. If I had to guess, he would have to be great in this game. And as far as his coffin corner ability, that's what's going to separate him, is if they feel like Chapman can cause more problems for the, opponent by putting it inside the 10 where Ryan Wright is that big leg guy who doesn't have the same level of touch. That's the difference maker for the punting competition. Yes. Can I tell that in a couple of practice segments and so far and their opportunities in the preseason? I can't tell that

yet. It's just looks like because now let's get into, let's just get into this. I mean, we've been talking about backup offensive line. This is like peak preseason. So let's just get into this. I asked Matt Daniels one time about just the idea of evaluating punters because I think all of us, I know I did this, I mentioned Madden, I just signed the punter with the highest power. I don't know what you guys did. And then I never punted anyway, but that was the guy who was just in case it was fourth and 37 at my own one and I had to punt it away. I still might have gone for that anyway, but just in case I had a punter and he would have

like 98 power and I didn't care about anything else. that is not shockingly how football really works and what a disappointment it was to find that out but how it really works is there are certain trajectories that they want to see of the ball and then landing spots that the coverage is based around so think about it as in like outside of the hash is you know 50 yards from the line of scrimmage is where you're aiming to put the ball but you're supposed to kick it at a certain trajectory that gives your guys enough time to get there That's where the outkick your coverage comes in, and that phrase, where if you hit it two-line drive, then, you know, it gets it to the guy faster.

But if you hit it too far up, then you get this, right? You guys have seen punts. Like, you understand how this works. But they really organize the plays and the coverage to spots on the field. So it's not just inside the 20, but it's who can hit those spots consistently to help the coverage. I don't know that that's really been Ryan Wright. uh kit says i see some pressure on dwight mcglather and seems like flores hasn't been thrilled right when his name has come up this year it's been very different than it was last year last year they

were like yeah i love that guy and he's making plays left and right but this year it's been oh yeah yeah he's on the team yeah well he's got to keep working i i just think that he's somebody that plays to try to get the ball and that is not i mean this is a defense where they try to to take it away. But there is a very fine line when it comes to that. That you can't just, you know, play the ball all the time and then give up big receptions. Clark says any interest in Romeo Dobbs. If he is cut, yeah, yeah. I think that there are going to be 10 wide receivers that get cut where you go, oh, yeah, well, well, okay, maybe. And that's probably what they're waiting for unless we get the Adam Thieland trade tomorrow.

Then that'll be a really fun podcast. Sloth says that I am under the most pressure to go 53 for 53 and at least 13 for 16 on the practice squad. I actually bet that I would be better at getting the practice squad right than the 53 because the 53 just has other considerations that I don't think of, like who they think they can get through or who's going to go on IR or, you know, whatever else. um the practice squad though is i mean there's so many spots now just pick everybody who's played at all like everybody who gets cut that you sort of like like uh probably on the practice squad i'm guessing

i've never gone 53 for 53 i have never picked a super bowl champion correctly and honestly i don't think i've ever i've definitely never won a fantasy championship so shout out fan duel maybe the fan duel will inspire me this year but i've i've never had that you know never had that happen for me uh let's see at some point uh maggie robinson will be popping in i was kind of hoping to get to your um fan dual question of the day answers ike says i need euro we have the meats i assume you mean you're you're a but he's kind of he is kind of a blocker he is kind of a blocker guy and if that's the case then that's enough uh son of beavers i've heard enough of bring back cordarro patterson

yeah i feel the same way yeah i feel the same way i mean if cordarro still had it he would be on a team right now uh let's see demand dice uh does anybody have score prediction vikings versus Bears week one. Don't get too far ahead of ourselves. Don't get too far ahead of ourselves. We'll get there one week at a time. Let's get to cut down week in this Super Bowl of a third preseason game with so much on the line. And then we'll get to who's going to win when it comes to the Bears. I mean, I think that we all think that the Vikings are the better team, but it is Soldier Field. Brian says, how about a pie chart of end of the season total receptions for Jefferson, Addison, Hawkinson, and whoever is fourth?

I think do I get to use Aaron Jones for whoever is fourth? Because I'm pretty sure it's going to be Aaron Jones. I will go with 102 for Justin Jefferson, 71 for Jordan Addison, 84 for T.J. Hawkinson, and whoever is fourth probably with, if you're talking about let's just throw out the running back. So I would have gone like 45 for Aaron Jones. But if you're just talking wide receivers, then I would say Jalen Naylor will be. be the next with maybe 36 and maybe I just, that's not really a pie chart, but that's a hard thing to pie chart. I don't even know how to pie chart that, but just taking a swing at it.

That's how I could see it breaking down is the typical way that you would expect is Jefferson is the main target, gets 150 targets, that's what he had last year, that's what he should always be getting. Addison gets a little more underneath stuff. Last year was all downfield. Naylor steps up a little bit in those first couple of weeks, and Hawkinson is just, you know, underneath, underneath, underneath. And someone will have to add those up and then tell me like, yeah, you just had J.J. McCarthy completing, you know, 700 passes or something. But I think those are all reasonable numbers for those guys and what I would expect.

I think the actual reception numbers might go up from last year for some guys because I don't think they're going to be pushing it down the field quite as much. Some of you did take a shot at making those into percentage. is that is too much math for me that is too much math math all right let's see here uh clark says uh brosmer took the important reps today howled the least important thoughts