Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings who are under pressure in final preseason game (Part 2)

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.

Clark says Brosmer took the important reps today, how all the least important thoughts. Well, you want to see more Max Brosmer, and I imagine they're prepping him to play a lot more than the other guys. So that would be my reasoning for why Brosmer would get that one drill and not the other guys. I don't think that we can really figure this out just yet. But if they, here's, if they need more information on Sam Howell, I just don't know what you need more. We've seen the whole picture of Sam Howell. We saw, oh yeah, in that first preseason game, like he can,

he can actually play quarterback a little. That's why he's here. That's why he's in the league. And we can't discount that. That was good. And then the second one was, oh, yeah, that's who you were in Washington, which where it was one game or one half or one quarter where he was pretty good and he took some risks and he threw it down field and made some plays with his legs

and then you had the other half which was throwing interceptions and getting sacked constantly that's who you have in Sam Howl you should know by now who you have in Brett Rippin there's really one guy who you don't fully know what you have and that's Max Brosmer let's see Jim is very deep in the weeds and wants Mitchell Tinsley. I did see that Joe, didn't Joe Burrough say that he thinks Tinsley's done enough to be on the roster? I think he did. You're right, Rob, that Patrick Peterson was a really, really good golfer. He could do anything, absolutely anything. Really, really just amazing, amazing athlete. Aaron is, uh,

LDR on the bubble, or did he have a good enough camp to make the team? I would have had Levi Drake, or I have on all of my 53s. I've had him on the roster. He had a good training camp, but he got banged up before the joint practices, which I thought were going to be the most important for him. But overall, he definitely had a good enough camp to be on the team. I don't think he's, he's, yeah, I mean, somewhat of a bubble guy, but, you know, I think he did enough to at least make a case.

for being as part of a rotation. It's Redmond. I think there's a gap. Redmond and then Levi Drake, but Levi Drake took big steps forward, continuing to develop, somebody you could definitely put in the game. Overall, pretty good.

Andres is maybe wide receiver isn't a need. We have depth on the team in case of emergency. It's just that none of the depth players have resumes to suggest that you're in good shape with them on the field. and none of them have really done anything in the preseason games to change my mind on that. With someone like Lucky Jackson, I thought he had a good first preseason game and then a miserable second preseason game. We're talking about guys who are 27 and have never played in games before.

That's where we get to the point where you're talking about being concerned about the in case of emergency type of thing, is when you have no sample size and in training camp in preseason, nobody has jumped out and said, look at me. I need to be wide receiver four. I thought it was probably going to be Rondale more eventually, but he ended up getting hurt. Uh, Crown Brozmer, Mr. Mancato. Yeah, I mean, Brosmer, it is kind of a classic Mr. Mancato. The fact that he was a gopher, it really is ready, ready made. Uh, Jake, has there been any milkshake bets? No, Alec Lewis, uh, and I might have had one. Well, actually, we might have had one. Yeah, I think that, I think we had on some wide receiver. total of receptions, but I haven't followed up on what that was.

It's gotten a little loss, the milkshake bets. Alec is down a couple to me over the last year, so I think he's maybe stopped playing. Sky Moore might get cut. Yeah, these just aren't inspiring ideas. Jag, just a guy, maybe? Let's see, says, do you think that they're playing the waiting game for someone to get cut from a team with a similar scheme like the Bucks or the Rams. That's, I think that it's twofold with the wide receivers,

that they're both waiting for someone to get cut and or waiting to see who gets cut, just in general, and also giving these guys another practice tomorrow and another preseason game just to have the full picture. And they can look at all of their grades for how they've evaluated these guys throughout the training camp period, and they can make that decision. And figure out, like, do they want, they can compare and contrast. Do they want this guy or that guy, or should they just stick with what they've got? Mr. Mayor, how does the August 2025 room compare to August 2024 cornerback room?

Is it more or less dire? Well, the reason it's less dire is because Justin Jefferson is there. I mean, Byron Murphy was there last year. Justin Jefferson is, you know, I like Murphy a ton and so does this team, but, you know, Justin Jefferson's the top five player in the whole league. So it's not quite that. And Jordan Addison will come back. With the corners, there wasn't somebody who was just coming back.

Jordan Addison, if he plays 14 games, you're going to feel pretty darn good about that and where you stand as having a top three duo in the entire league. That's, the corner was much more dire last year. also Josh Oliver and Aaron Jones if you're talking about how the targets are going to be distributed let's say Naylor's back and lucky Jackson's got to be wide receiver three well you're going to throw the ball 10 times a game to Justin Jefferson you're going to get eight to 12 more to TJ Hawkinson you're going to get five throws to Aaron Jones out of the backfield you're going to hit jaylon Naylor with one or two and Josh Oliver with one or two I mean at that point that's a whole game's worth of throws and you haven't even looked at this wide receiver where the concern would be for me is well number one i mean if someone gets banged up if just the jefferson had to go off for a quarter like who are you playing and the other thing is that if nailer goes into this banged up and i don't think he's had the greatest camp from an actual catching of the ball

perspective he's had quite a few drops in this camp if he's got an issue with the hand and then he's going into the season you might need somebody else just if that hand isn't in good shape. Sean says, wonder if the Vikings run a lot of two or three tight ends with a wide receiver banged up. Two, yes, three I'd be quite surprised.

Josh Oliver's going to play a lot. Emergency podcast. Don't threaten us with a good time. Yeah, well, we'll see. It's always determined by them and not me. Every day is an emergency here when we get to talk about the fifth or sixth wide receivers, third tight ends.

Dr. Smug says, Zamaia has to make the team right. Oh, yeah, Zemaya Vaughn, I think will very much be on the team. Clark says, is Gilmore still in play, if not happy with the cornerback depth? I have not heard a thing about Stefan Gilmore. I think that he would probably, if I had to totally guess, then I would say that he is probably waiting for a team to get a corner hurt, who's a contender, or he might be somebody that joins a team week six, gets their cornerback room.

Let's say it's Kansas City, gets their cornerback room banged up and he joins. But Gilmore, I mean, he's won an MVP. He's played a lot of football. He was on a great team last year and a great defense. I mean, that guy doesn't need

to really add anything more to his resume. A fan duel question of the day answers now that I've arrived in the chat. Jamar Chase is probably the best one. This is a good answer from a slide to play. Justin Jefferson's hamstring is the biggest threat.

Jemir Gibbs. I don't know about Jemir Gibbs. Jemir Gibbs kind of strikes me as a regression candidate. Like when you average five and a half to six yards of carry, usually you don't do it again the next year. So maybe. Who is right below Jefferson and the odds? I'm going to have to get out my fan dual app

and take a look here. I actually don't know the answer to that. That's a good question. If I had to guess I would go Derek Henry. Let's see if I can figure that out. The best odds. for offense. Let's see.

Who's next? One moment, everyone. Well, I figured this out. Rookie of the year. Vikings aren't in that one. Office player of the year. Oh, it's Gibbs. It is Gibbs.

And here's a weird one. Gibbs, Henry, and Bejohn Robinson. What is Bejohn Robinson done? I mean, I think he's good, but what is he done to belong in this conversation? Who else? Let me look, who else? Nico Collins, it's kind of interesting, Puka, Nakuwa, C.D. Lamb, Christian McCaffrey, Amon Ross, St. Brown. Brian Thomas would be, if you're talking about making a bet,

Brian Thomas is plus 3,500. What if he ends up with like 120 catches because he's the only guy in the team? Devin A. Chan, Tyreek Hill, no chance there. Drake London, A.J. Brown, not going to happen. I mean, you get, you get quite a bit down there. There's probably, there's probably five to seven guys who are legitimate contenders along with Jefferson for our fan duel question of the day. Troy thinks that Jefferson won't get as many catches. See, I think that Jefferson is just quarterback proof. The offense is so much centered around him.

Healthy Christian McCaffrey, Jemir Gibbs. Yeah, those are good answers for, well, Jagg said that thinks that Bijon Robinson could be in that mix. I suppose if he takes a big jump, then he could be if Gibbs didn't share carries with Montgomery. That's true. That's definitely true. Let's see. Jaggs says how much do you think Ingram Dawkins rotates this year? I'm going to go with almost none. I think he's made a great first impression and he's had a really good camp. Best case scenario. But this is not a team to try people out. Like this is a team that you're not playing him unless guys get hurt.

if everybody's healthy then you're you're playing the dudes you're playing i mean he could get a little bit but when you think about allan and hargrave and phillips and redmond like those guys are going to play the most but a really good development camp for him i think that's a good thing for their draft pick steelers might cut darn out washington yes you're right that's that is a huge huge human being um jim says joe huber has been versatile and reliable what else do you want uh well i i mean i don't i don't need anything else from joe huber he just strikes me as a guy you could easily get to the practice squad uh lore compare j j j's camp to last year has he improved or he's the same oh he's much better he's much better this year in training camp the degree

of difficulty is much harder i mean last year he did he did match up with the ones sometimes as part of the two's but leading and commanding a franchise as qb one and training camp and joint practices is much more challenging than being the development quarterback because you're taking on everything. And he hasn't had Jefferson. I mean, that's also made this camp impressive for J.J. McCarthy and also harder to evaluate. But, you know, we mentioned Jed Zulgad. He and a bunch of us have been writing down every throw throughout the year of training camp. And, you know, he's been somewhere in the ballpark of completing seven out of every 10 passes. Remember at Bears camp when they said Caleb Williams was only hitting 50-something percent.

So he's he's had a good, he's had a good camp. He's grown a ton. The biggest thing is that he's in command of a bunch of dudes who are here to try to win. I mean, Addison is one of them for sure, but like Ryan Kelly, Brian O'Neill, T.J. Hawkinson, these guys are star players in their primes and they're all looking at him. And I think he's done a really good job commanding the offense. And that's going to get you far. You can make inaccurate throws.

You can be up and down. But if you're not in command, you are in trouble. And just to tell you how all this stuff, this stuff is not a bit when it comes to like me spending my whole life just like watching football and stuff. Last night, I was watching the 2003 opener with Al Michaels and John Madden calling Washington versus the New York Jets. And Patrick Ramsey was the quarterback for Washington. Washington, a bust for Washington. And even though Ramsey made some good throws and had a strong arm, he was just not, he didn't look in command of the offense.

And I thought, you know, you don't, but he's facing Vinnie Testiverty. And so like, there you go. Like there's a, the OG is playing better because he's in command of the offense. They're talking about, you know, Vinny and he's 41 years old and he's got nothing left in the tank and, you know, that sort of thing. It's like, that's, that's the biggest thing as McCarthy has looked in control. He looks like he knows where the ball is supposed to go. He's been decisive with the football.

Like, those things are the most important. Last year, he started to come along with all that and was getting to a point where he was interesting. But now it's not about being interesting. It's not about developing. It's like being the dude. That's a lot more pressure to take on. And I think he overall has done a very good job with it.

I did get a lot of response about last night. Beware of the vicious hound behind me. Yes, the threatening Greyhound here, who was right below me, he's become my good partner for live streaming down here. But I got a lot of comments last night on the discussion with Mike Sando. And, you know, I saw there was some people that put it out there, you know, and made web posts about it, things like that, about what Sando said with J.J. McCarthy. And what I'm to keep going back to is there's been a little bit of this kind of hinting of was was the team not sold on something that was going on behind the scenes that they knew that everybody else didn't

know and the way I interpret what was happening was I mean J.J. McCarthy had two different procedures on his knee one the major surgery and then another procedure he lost a bunch of weight he went through something that's very traumatic at his age to go through. through. And of course, they would want to see him in an OTAs or however long they could wait to just see where he was at. And then they decided to go with him. I don't think that that's salacious. I don't think it's controversial. I think it was just the right thing to do. Because who among us would have been sure that he would be back up to wait. I know I question that, which, you know, he clearly.

is now and is in good shape now, but when you see somebody on the sideline who looked like that, you would wonder, is he going to be, is he going to be good to go? Is he going to be QB1? So I think that there's maybe a little bit of a disconnect for the way I view it, which is all of this was pretty normal process. You have to consider all your options. You would certainly have questions about how the guy's recovery is gone and whether he is going to get him, self-prepared and that would impact your decision of whether to go with them or not. And then they went with them and they rejected other really good ideas because they believed in it.

And there's, I don't think that there's any other, there's not some super secret other thing to this story. And it feels like some other people think that. I think that they landed on the place that they always thought they were going to land. And the road bump was just McCarthy and his recovery. and how that win, and being as sure as they could be after OTAs and workouts that he was going to be good to go.

And once he was, they said no to Aaron Rogers and moved on. No, that sounds crazy to me. So, I don't know. To some people, that's been made a little bit more than I think it was, but that's just my viewpoint. I mean, Sando is very well connected. And I thought some of the comments I, you know, were a little on the disrespectful side. to him. He's a great, great journalist who I look up to. And that's why I wanted him on the show.

He's great. And he's given me his perspective. I'm giving me, given him mine. And we're going back and forth on it, which is totally fine with me. I don't need every single interview to have every single person who I'm talking to be like, I agree with you. You're the best. That would be boring. So it wasn't boring. It was an interesting conversation. But as far as how far J.J.'s come along. I think he has made leaps and bounds better from where he was last year. And I thought he was coming along last year. Uh, let's see. I should probably let this, uh, Greyhound out. So, this seems like a good time to bring you the Robinson roundtable. And before I bring you Maggie segment, and I'll pop back in after that, remember the Fanduel question of the day is Justin

Jefferson has the third best odds to win offensive player the year on Fanduel. And only two players have higher, Sequin Barclay and Jamar Chase, who else is the biggest threat or one of those two? Who is the biggest threat to Justin Jefferson for offensive player of the year? And I think I got maybe distracted midway through talking about Jefferson and whether he'll get the same number of targets. I just think the way the offense is constructed, it can't be him having way less. If it is, then something has gone very wrong for J.J. McCarthy. So even if it, maybe if it goes from 100 and whatever to 97 or 90 catches, that's still a very good season.

Or maybe if they throw less, that means that they've played in games that they're ahead. That would also be something that's possible, that they're playing a little more conservatively. So maybe, but in terms of, like, does he have a chance? I think he enters every season with a chance to win off. It's a player of the year. So make sure you answer that. And I just want to say that at the beginning of my, my conversation with Maggie. There's an announcement there and she makes a joke about her not getting

a raise from Purple Insider. It's been a paid internship. I'm just going to point that out. So anyway, the Robinson rundown with Maggie Robinson where we look around the league at some of the headlines of today. Here it is. All right. We welcome back into the show Maggie Robinson, who has now a title change at Purple Insider. Maggie has been intern Maggie Robinson, but now we are making Maggie special contributor because our plan is to have Maggie continue to contribute not only with her updates from around the league in our conversations,

but as well as some interviews as well of her own to Purple Insider. So you've done an amazing job, Maggie, a contributing to Purple Insider. Now that is your title. It doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot other than you're not intern anymore. So congratulations on that. Where would you like to start our conversation today? Thank you, Matthew.

I appreciate the promotion, even if it's just entitled. There is no monetary increase here. However, I am excited to lead off the rundown with Robinson once again this Tuesday. I want to start with our very own Anthony Richardson and his dislocated right pinky who will now be warming left bench for the Colts this season. He has been beat out by Daniel Jones as the starter for the Colts. And let me say, Shane Steichen has made it clear, this is not just a week one start. This is an indefinite start.

He said, I don't want to put a timeline on this. He's the starter for as long as he will be. That's a statement. It is. And I think it says a lot about the lack of development for Anthony Richardson. And I'm really of two minds when it comes to this because in one way, I think that Anthony Richardson was always a huge project when he came out. And everybody knew that.

And everybody said that. yet they got him in the building. They were like, ooh, man, he throws it hard. He's fast. Let's just have him start, even though he's not ready. And then he gets injured. And then it's very hard to get better off the field if you are injured all the time. And then he comes back last year, looked like he regressed, got hurt again, got benched. There goes the confidence. So I think a lot of people will reasonably point the finger at the Colts for not following the plan that should have been laid out for him when he was drafted at the same time. I remember asking Kirk Cousins about development one time. And his answer was in the NFL, you got to develop

yourself. If you're a quarterback, you have to be the one because you are mostly away from the facility that you show up to work for practice. And that's where the coaches teach you. They implement game plans. But they're not adjusting your throwing motion at the team facility. Usually you hire a quarterback guru, you work off the field. And that's how you get better at throwing the football. And it's clear that Richardson has not come far enough in doing that away from the facility. And maybe that could be in part just because of some of the injuries. Or there is another part, which is maybe it was just never going to happen. He's a great athlete. And there was always just, hey, Lamar Jackson figured it out. And Jalen Hurts improved. And there's a number of other guys. Josh Allen, of course,

the most obvious example, but not everybody is Lamar and not everybody is Josh and some people are just Tim Tebow. And that's kind of what Anthony Richardson has looked like so far in the NFL. I don't think that that throwing motion is going to happen anytime soon. But after seeing Sam Darnold and his turnaround after how much he struggled early, I think maybe someday we see Anthony get another shot again, likely somewhere else. But unless there is a major, major turnaround that happens midseason, and Daniel Jones struggles, and then he comes in, I think this might be the end of Anthony Richardson in Indianapolis. I agree with that. And I think, like you were saying, he was so overhyped in general, coming through the whole draft process, looking at him,

the guy didn't play much in high school or in college. I think we overlooked that and we're like, but he's six four, two, fifty four pounds. Like, he's awesome. He's a unit. That's great. But if you don't have the mental drive and the determination that you're talking about to actually want to get better and not just rely on your physicality, you're not going to succeed in the NFL. You can't go that far on just your build once it gets to this level. And especially at quarterback, you get exposed so fast. And that's exactly what's happened. So yeah, I think he's kind of destined for this backup quarterback role now. I wish him all the best. But that attitude paired with this injury issue is just a bad combo. I made the Tim Tebow

reference, but it also could be Trey Lance, where it just seems that the evaluation was based on the highest, highest upside. And sometimes it doesn't work out. And the guy doesn't figure out all those other things. But you make a great point that for Richardson, as much as he had had this explosion onto the scene in Florida and showed off the arm strength, the speed and all those things and had some truly incredible plays when he was with Florida, you have to wonder if he had played another college season or two instead of coming out at, I think he was still 20 years old, if he played another, whether it would have gone one way or the other, because Jaden Daniels, when he was Anthony Richardson's age, was in college throwing like 16 touchdowns,

and then figured it out in college. And I always think it's better, more development, more reps, more playing. But if you're going to get hurt at the NFL level, then you don't get any of that stuff. And I still, I still think because of his age, if you look, he's actually younger than a lot of young NFL quarterbacks, including some guys that are rookies this year, which is really crazy to think about. So I don't want to say that Anthony Richardson's career is over today because he was benched or loses the job in training camp to Daniel Jones. It's just that it's a long road from here. And we're really going to find out how much Anthony Richardson wants it. Because Sam Darnold, I always gave him credit for just fighting through and continuing to battle in the

NFL and taking on a backup role when he had to and figuring it out. Then in Minnesota, it might take eventually just the right place, the right couple of years as a number two quarterback. Is he willing to do it or not? I think we're going to find that out next from Anthony Richardson. Yeah, absolutely. And then on the flip side of this, still kind of interconnected, the Browns just named Joe Flacco for their starter week one when they host the Bengals on September 7th. This is unsurprising. Unfortunately, it was just the only logical option

for this quarterback room, but he's the second oldest starting quarterback behind Aaron Rogers, who was 41, obviously the most experienced in that room, won a Super Bowl, mind you, 12 years ago, and then was Super Bowl MVP, had his heyday, had kids, came back, yawned on the bench,

and now was a starter. So I don't know. I think it is logical for the Browns, yes, but is it the very best option of quarterbacks in this division, absolutely not. No, it might be 31 out of 32 in the NFL, which we're going to talk about the team we think is probably 32 shortly. If you're the Browns, the only thing you can hang on to for hope is that Joe Flacco

did make the playoffs with the Browns a couple years ago came out of, I don't know if I wouldn't call it retirement, but he wasn't with the team. So off his couch and then ends up winning comeback player of the year, even though he argued against himself winning that award. Nonetheless, he did enough, got the ball to the right places. They ran well. They played defense and was able to get them to the playoffs. And we've also seen the Pittsburgh Steelers do similar things where they had

Duck Hodges have a winning season. They've gotten Kenny Pickett to win them games. It's not impossible to grind your way to nine wins and find a way into the postseason. But as you mentioned, in that division seems virtually impossible. really the question for me about this is not how Joe Flacco is going to play. I think I got a pretty good sense for that. It's how long is Joe Flacco going to be the starting quarterback? How long, like how many games until they say, okay, we've just, we have to play Shadur Sanders now,

or we have to play Dylan Gabriel because somebody else just has got to get work and get into the game, rather than having a 40-year-old quarterback go out there and lose over and over again, which I kind of think is what's going to happen. Who in your mind is that first person off the bench then? See, this is hard because I don't know how they really feel about Shadur Sanders. He played a single preseason game. A lot of people decided that he was the next great NFL quarterback after he threw for 130 yards or something.

And then he had an injury, which is not really a great situation for him either. Dylan Gabriel didn't do much special when he got into a preseason game. So what have they seen behind the scenes? And will they keep Kenny Pickett? I mean, that's of interest, I think, to the Minnesota Vikings, because what is the use of Kenny Pickett on your roster when you have two guys that you drafted this year who would be much better options to play? For me, I liked Dylan Gabriel.

I was, I kind of became like a Dylan Gabriel truther a little bit because I think he's got a legit arm, even though he's very short. But, I mean, let's be honest, I think Shadur is probably the guy that has the higher ceiling. So they should go with him probably or just like they're going to be around him every day, whichever guy is performing better in practice. And Mike Zimmer once said about Kell and Mon, I see him in practice every day as a reason to not play him. The coaches know, the coaches know which guy is farther along.

So whichever one has impressed more behind the scenes, they will be going to them. Do you want to make a prediction? I will go, well, you make a prediction first. When do they go to someone else that isn't Joe Flacco? What week? Ooh, what week? I think, you know, I think week five, week six, those are great determiners. You can play a solid run through there. And to be candid, I'm not entirely sure what their starting season looks like. But I think week five or six, he's gotten a little banged up. He said in a

quote that he gets kind of tricked and feels like he's still in his 20s, he being Joe Flacko. That's not exactly what I want to hear this guy who's 40 saying. It's like sometimes I forget how old I am. I think I'm so spry. Pump the brakes guy. You're not. Okay. I'm the same age and I never have that happen. I just took a nap. So, uh, yeah, I think I like your, I was going to go week six. I think yeah, because week six is enough time to be two and four, right, or one and five. And you're just going, there's no way that we can come back from this. You're starting to sell off at the trade deadline. And then you're going to your other quarterbacks to just see if you've got anything there. They also need a big enough sample to if they want to try both quarterbacks. I don't even

think for the franchise, it's a bad thing. If they played Flacco for the first six weeks and then, gave Gabriel another six weeks and then five weeks to Sanders or whatever it's a circus there anyway. What difference does it make? But see what you've got in those quarterbacks. I think that's what's going to happen soon. But shout out to Joe Flacco for all those hovering around 40, you know, a hero. As long as there's an NFL player older than me in the league that's not a long snapper. I am not yet old. Well, we'll hold you to that. I'm going to keep a tally. Okay, but I will, let me throw this out there just to be old. Kind of reminds me of Vinny Testa Verdi playing quarterback in 03 at age 41 for the Jets.

Okay, move on, move on. I was, guess how old I was in O'3? One? Three years old. Okay. Okay, anyways, let's go to my home state of Tennessee with the Tennessee Titans and Cam Ward. There's a little bit of a scuffle in practice.

No one caught this surprisingly on video. However, Cam Ward threw a touchdown. to Calvin Ridley on his way there, kind of shoved D.T. Jeffrey Simmons in the back and then did his typical zombie land celebration, if you will. Jeffrey Simmons did not like that. Two-hand shoved Cam Ward in the face on the face mask and a fight ensued on the practice field. So this is a little chippy, but everyone who's come out and talked about this has said, you know what, it's good. It shows that the guys are passionate. If you're not bringing that energy to practice, how are you going to bring it to a game? No one seemed that worried about it. They did run after practice.

so that happened got some more eyeballs on the Tennessee Titans but it does beg the question what does a successful season for Cam Ward look like this year because the Titans are trash and I will say that as a Tennessean with my chest as much as it pains me they are not good this is a rebuild year but it's also been a rebuild year for the past like eight years so you know I think it's it's a tough road ahead for him it probably is going to be a very tough road ahead for cam war i mean just looking at his wide receiving group and i don't know who he's supposed to throw to he looks to me just watching him a little bit in preseason he looks pretty fearless back there he looks pretty confident a little bit on the cocky side which i think is good and he is going to

need every ounce of that confidence as he goes through the whoopin that the NFL is probably going to put on him but i like the fact that he wasn't afraid to go after jeffrey simmons because let me tell you I've seen Jeffrey Simmons up close, and I am very afraid of Jeffrey Simmons. And you know who else is? The Vikings had joint practices and they played them last year. The Vikings are also afraid of Jeffrey Simmons. He is, look, if they're mad at him for this fight, they should trade him to the Vikings for next year's first or something.

He's a great player and a very violent, aggressive dude who probably felt like I'm not going to let no little guy pick on me, but stuff like this does happen. the Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy shoved a defensive lineman himself at one point for tackling Aaron Jones a little too hard. It was one of the highlights of training camp, actually. We were like, oh, JJ McCarthy's got that dog in him, you know, so stuff like this does happen. Cam Newton, I think, got in a fight with Josh Norman one time. It's not totally unprecedented. But I think it does sort of highlight what a difficult year it is going to be for Cam Ward because he doesn't have much to work with the franchise.

is pretty down bad and the best that they can hope for as far as a successful season like what's a success for cam ward i think about joe burrow's 2020 as like what could be a success joe burrow had nothing in cincinnati in his rookie year and he just fought and battled and he threw some touchdowns and he took some hits and he kept them in games just by being joe burrow and even though his record wasn't good and his stats weren't great you could see the signs of if they get this guy anything, then he'll be pretty good. You want to see the same thing from Cam Ward. If he fights his way to six wins with this team, I'll be pretty impressed because I think that they're as as empty with talent as there exists in the league. I agree. They were

three and 14 last season. So the bar is under the ground. It's non-existent essentially. So yeah, I agree with you. I think it's going to be a lot about his mentality and how he approaches every game and not letting all of the sacks that he's going to get hit with, you know, like not letting all the things kind of compile and get him down. I think if he can keep up with the speed of NFL play, if he can limit his interceptions and just do his own personal best, I hate to single a guy out and make him more important than the team. But I think for Cam Ward and his trajectory,

if he just focuses on himself this year, that's all he can do because the team is going to be the team. It's kind of out of his control, but he's just going to have to focus on what he can deliver, what he can control and then let the chips fall where they may and they just need to hope and he and he's played way more football than anthony richardson so there's no correlation there uh he i think is like two years older than anthony richardson right now but i think they just need to hope that he can stay healthy behind their offensive line and not have injury setbacks that take him off the field

and then feel like they got to ramp him up again for next year question before you move on to your next topic. Who was, if you were three in 2003, then who was the first Titans quarterback you remember? Because you would not remember Steve McNair then. I was going to say the name McNair because I would hear it a lot. But I, um, Harry Collins, maybe, Billy Boleck. I don't know any of those names. So exposing of me. I would watch. Let me sell. I would watch the Titans on a Sunday with my dad on the couch, but I would just like zone out. Like it was something to watch and it was like nap background noise you know i'm saying i'm going to say i'm going to i'm going to guess that it was carrie collins was probably the first one you would have seen okay

growing up in tennessee because the 2008 tennessee titans went 13 and three with carrie collins oh i know there's a better answer to this i i'm silly for forgetting this it should be vince young right oh yeah it's young i couldn't pull that name off top of my head but it's yeah well there's a reason for that because he was anthony richardson basically he was is Anthony Richardson with an elite defense and he won some games. They put him on a Madden cover and it never worked out. Actually really similar kind of arc where there were moments where you went, whoa, I think he's got and then he was. He made a pro bowl with, I think more interceptions than touchdowns. But the reason, of course, my brain went to the journeyman,

Kerry Collins, because he went 13 and three that one year for the Titans. But yes, Vince Young makes sense as your first Titans quarterback. That was a good poll. It is definitely Vince Young. Speaking of quarterbacks, let's look at the New Orleans Saints who still don't have to. Unfortunately, this is like Washington terrain wreck happen.

They still don't have a starting quarterback. Kellen Moore said, quote, we'll see when asked who he wants to put for week one. That doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in me personally. And I guess the question is, will another team be worse than the Saints this season?

Yeah. I mean, if nobody well, they drafted a quarterback in the second round. And if he hasn't won the job over Spencer Rattler, Tyler Shook, then I mean, that's not a great scene right there. Are they waking? This happened in Arizona. Didn't Arizona, I think last year, Arizona picked up Josh Dobbs late in the off season and started him.

Are they waiting for Tommy DeVito or something? I saw the Giants are not going to move on from James. Winston. I don't know what they're supposed to do at this point. Spencer Rattler to me is just a backup type of quarterback, and we saw that last year. I don't think the physical tools are there to elevate from where he's at. He's also not that young. And I don't know a lot about Tyler Shook.

I didn't watch any of him in college. I wasn't looking at quarterbacks much this year. But if he can't beat out Rattler, that's not the highest bar ever. So the question, can anybody be worse than the New Orleans Saints? And my answer is, no, I don't think they can because it's not just a quarterback situation. If they, because we went through how like, hey, the Browns that one time and the Pittsburgh, you go through this roster. They don't have an offensive line. Alvin Camara's 100 years old. I don't think the receivers are in great place. I don't think the defense is in

great place. They have a first time head head coach. This to me screams two and 15 and they're kind of happy they won two. That's how the New Orleans Saints look to me right now. So I'm going to go would know. I think they will be drafting number one overall and they will be trying to get Archie Manning to convince his grandson to come out and become a Norland saint. That's what I think's going to happen. That honestly sounds very reasonable. However, going back to what we just said about the Tennessee Titans, I think it's going to be almost a tie between who is more trash this season. The Saints or the Titans just look down south and it'll be one of those two teams because they're both going to be equally pretty terrible. But you do make a compelling point of they have so much

turnover and a brand new head coach sure the titans have a second year head coach it's not that different but one season in the NFL head coach gives you a little more experience you know a little bit more what you're doing but um man i don't know tyler shuck is not is not standing out to me in the way that uh they thought he would when they drafted him so high but he's also like 25 years old when he came out i mean i don't know what they thought the upside really was the only other team that i might nominate as of right now and you never know whose quarterback's going to get hurt and just have the wheels come off, but I might nominate the New York Jets. Aaron Glenn, I think has a chance to be a good head coach someday, but they are starting

Justin Fields. What does that mean? It means Justin Fields will get hurt because he always does. And it also means that he's not a guy who's going to elevate your franchise. They, they could have it go down bad as well, throw them out there. Aside from that, it's hard to put a finger on who else could be that bad. Like even the Jaguar should win some games. They've got a little bit of talent.

there. And I can't think of anybody else in the NFC who could just have so little on their team that they could win two or three games. Last year, I feel like at this time, we would have said, yeah, Titans. They should be one of the worst teams in the league with Will Levis starting. That is the Saints for this year. Yeah. And then I would like to finish it off with these Steelers and their owner, Art Rooney the second, who said in a quote, Aaron Rogers is everything you could ask for. I want to finish that quote, because I do think context is important here, said, Aaron's come in and he's been everything he could ask for in terms of working with his teammates,

working with the younger guys, and working with the offense. That's pretty high praise, though, from the owner of your team to Aaron Rogers. And I do have to question if he is this complimentary because Aaron Rogers has the stature that he does, like almost outside of football. Aaron Rogers has almost eclips, like football player in my mind.

He's now like celebrity. He has this status. Like it almost makes you look good. to align with him in some level. So I feel like that is playing into the compliments that he's getting from Art Rooney. But I just, is the team going to be that great if Aaron Rogers is your like godsend?

I think that you're barking up the right tree with, that's just kind of what you're going to say because they really went out on a limb for Aaron Rogers. And the biggest question is, how much is he really want this? How much does he want to play? Because with the Jets, didn't look like he was having a great time

or that he really wanted to be there. So you kind of have to address that of like, no, we made the right move. He looks great. It's totally fine. Rogers is going to be the best and he's going to get us to the playoffs and all that. I will credit Rogers for doing things that absolutely every single starting quarterback ever should do, like showing up to practice and talking to your teammates. Wow.

Well done. You showed up for OTAs this time. Oh my gosh. That's incredible work. Maybe he realized it does matter as opposed to going on vacation like he did last year with the Jets. But I guess what comes to mind for me is if everything, if Aaron Rogers is everything they could ask for, which would mean being realistic about where he is right now with his talent, but the best possible version, how far can the Pittsburgh Steelers go? Do you think if he is the

best possible not, not Aaron Rogers 2010 or Aaron Rogers even 2020, but the best possible version of Aaron Rogers in 2025? So listen, Tomlin has never had a losing season. We've all seen that stat. But he also critically has not won a playoff game since 2016. And they got whooped by the Ravens last year. So I think when I'm looking at their schedule, they're playing the Vikings, obviously, in Ireland, that's going to put some wear and tear on the body.

That's a long trip, big flight, whatever. You look at weeks 13 and 14, those are really make it or break at games. They have the bills and the Ravens back to back towards the end of the season. those are going to be tough and can Aaron Rogers stay healthy? I hate to use the cliche of like oh he's old. He literally got injured in his first game with the Jets. Like

we don't know if he's healthy and if he's not at that point like you're kind of cooked. Yeah you have some talent. You got D.K. Maccalf, T.J. Watt, McA. Fitzpatrick but I just don't see them making another playoff berth truthfully. I don't think they have the firepower

and he's just he's too old in my opinion. I hate to say it. I'm not trying to be ages. He's too old. He's 41. Pack it up my guy. As long as Joe Flacco and Aaron Rogers are still around, then it's still my NFL that I have covered for my entire career with both of those guys.

But I think with Rogers, the best version is probably the second half of last year with the Jets where they were already out of it and he had some really good games. But it wasn't good enough because the thing that made Aaron Rogers truly great was his playmaking ability. And if that's not there anymore, he's just sort of a pocket quarterback who is a very, he plays very conservatively. He throws the ball out of bounds a lot. He likes to throw it underneath. He doesn't like to take as many risks as he used to. That to me says exactly where you're going with this, which is it seems like a team that could make the first round of the playoffs because they've got enough talent. Otherwise, they could have the top three defense in the NFL.

They've got so much talent there. Are they a Super Bowl contender? I think he would have to be more. than what you could ask for because I'm not totally sold on D.K. Maccalf there. I don't think that they've got great weapons. Don't think they have a great backfield. Don't think they have a great offensive line. Don't think they have a great offensive coordinator. And you know who does have those things? The Baltimore Ravens.

And it's really what comes down to is who's going to win out Cincinnati's offense or Pittsburgh's defense because he's going to have to play, I think more to that defense because he can't dominate the way he used to. I look at them as best version of Aaron Rogers is a 10-win team probably, which is not horrible, but it's also not what they're really looking for. I think that's fair. I think they were over-projecting and being a little optimistic here, if you will. The Robinson rundown, a staple now of the show for our special contributor, Maggie Robinson.

Thank you for your time, and we'll see you again next week. Sounds good. Football. All right, there you go. Maggie Robinson, another great appearance on the show. And what she's going to be doing is just that throughout the season, which is coming up with five topics from around the NFL for us to break down because on this show, we get so deep in the weeds with the third tight ends and the punting competitions and everything else. I like to also, hey, there's a huge national football league that's pretty fun to look at as well. And she does a great job picking out the topics for us to chat about. So that is going to become a staple of the show throughout the season.

I'm planning a really great lineup for the season with a roundtable with Manny Hill and Brian Murphy. Jeremiah Searles will be back for Tuesday morning left guard, which is going to be every Tuesday night when that airs. Also lots of guests from around the league as always, and it would be fun. And the hardcore preview each week with Andrew Kramer, which is one of my favorite things. So it's going to be a great season for us. Let me get a few more questions in there before we wrap up for this evening. My expectation is it will be a practice tomorrow with a lot more takeaways. And we can dive into how J.J. McCarthy looked a little bit more than today,

which was just a walkthrough. And Alec Lewis and I are supposed to record a podcast right after practice tomorrow. So hoping that we can work that out as well. So I did see a couple questions that I thought were reasonable to jump into. Mike asked earlier and sorry, you know, maybe, maybe Mike's not still here, but I'll answer it anyway. Any chance that Carson Wentz is a consideration he did back up Mahomes and played for Andy Reed. I just don't know what Carson Wentz wants if he wants to be a backup again or if Carson Wentz is kind of waiting around to see. I felt that way about Ryan Tannehill that

maybe guys like Ryan Tanahill and Carson Wentz are at a point in their lives in their career where they're going, I'll stay in shape, I'll stay ready. And if someone wants to make me their starting quarterback, I'll do it. I'll come out of retirement or come out of free agency the way that Joe Flacco did. And I'll come play. But if I'm just going to sit there with a clipboard, I've made enough money. I've been around the league enough that I'm just going to let somebody else do that. That was kind of Joe Flacco's mentality until the Browns came to get him.

And then he was a backup last year in Indianapolis, but I'm sure that he knew that he was going to get a chance to play there and he sticks around and he wins the brown's job at 40 years old just that's just a guess i haven't seen any interviews or conversations with cars and wents where he's made it clear that he's retiring so i assume that he's still out there and hey maybe there's another part of him that wanted nothing to do with camp and he wanted to hunt in the dakotas or whatever and then show up at the last minute so maybe we'll see him i've always thought he was a good option for their backup but is he a way better option, Sam Howell? Yeah, yeah, he actually might be.

He actually might be a way better option. The last time he started, he at least gave a team a chance to make the playoffs and didn't work out for him, but you're looking for someone who can go 500, and Carson Wentz can probably do that. So if he's an option, I would say go for it, but just with where he's at right now

and the amount of teams that could use backups, like I saw the Dallas Cowboys, they traded for Joe Milton and he just has not been it for them. So they're looking for a backup quarterback as well. I imagine there are a couple other teams that are in the market for a backup that would call Carson Wentz and wonder if he was going to play this year, just have not seen anything come out of that. I like Nathan's idea here. How high of a pick would you trade for Andy Dalton and Adam Thielen to secure the backup

quarterback and wide receiver for the first month? I love where your head's at with the creativity. If I, now, I think Dalton is actually a little banged up. I'm not sure. But if I'm Carolina, I'm not giving up Andy Dalton because, look, last year, they had to bring him in when, you know, Bryce Young was struggling. And if Bryce Young gets banged up, he's not the biggest guy, then Dalton proved last year that he could still come in and win games.

Unless Jack, is it Jack Plummer? If I know Carolina's third quarterback, I've gotten way too deep in the preseason, we and it's time for the season. But I think it's Jack Plummer. I don't think he's all that good. So I think they'll stay with him. But if in your scenario, let's just say, I would do like a fourth and a 2027 fifth.

I mean, you can't give up too much more than that. Because you're not talking about Andy Dalton taking you to the Super Bowl or something. You're just hoping to survive. Skull 357 says, what about a play for Anthony Richardson? Is there a chance that Quasi and KOCC, low ball the Colts and trade for him. We know they still like him. We do have some precedent for that, which would be Trey Lance. I mean, this is the Tray Lance situation to a T where they draft a super athletic guy. They try to play him. He gets banged up. He doesn't play well. They bench him.

They trade him. And I believe if I'm not mistaken, it was a fourth round pick. Now, okay, it does sound a little crazy, but if you could get Anthony, Richardson for a fourth round draft pick, why wouldn't you? I know it feels like a waste, but I mean, he even won some games with Indianapolis and you could use him for something. I mean, if you're at the goal line, you bring in Anthony Richardson, right? You could probably use him as a short yardage quarterback. I don't know. Maybe that's, we were talking about Madden earlier. Maybe it's a little too maddeny. But Kevin O'Connell, I mean, he does this and he think about it this way. And this might be the Quasi, you know, wheels turning, which would be, you guys love your compics.

Well, if you made a trade for him, maybe, well, if you have to give up a fourth, it's kind of hard to get a third as a compick. So I don't know. But, you know, maybe there's a, there's a sixth or something and it could turn into a fifth if he signed elsewhere. Who knows? I know that O'Connell likes Anthony Richardson. I know that they liked him coming out. And you saw the video probably of O'Connell, you know, given some kind words to Richardson after that game last year. So there is an appreciation there. And Kevin O'Connell, I mean, when he seems a wounded animal quarterback, he wants to go out and pick him up.

And I remember last year being kind of against them getting Daniel Jones, which this, this means they get some sort of extra compic. Congratulations, everyone. But I don't see really the downside. I guess the only downside is that you're talking about you already have J.J. McCarthy. But if you gave me the option of rather going to Anthony Richardson, if McCarthy went down or Sam Howl, like I would want Richardson. It's not even close. At least he would be fun as hell and crazy to watch. He might throw the ball 75 yards or something. Like,

I don't know. I would much rather do that. But is it worth a fourth? Yeah, I don't know with where he's at. You've got your franchise quarterback. You don't want any controversy. Would I be shocked though if they called and said hey what do you guys want for richardson i would of course not be shocked at all because it's kevin o'connell conrad says uh asked you last night i must have missed it uh do you think we could go two and one without jordan addison not putting any pressure on you uh well you oh you can put all the pressure on me that you want to answer questions of predictions like that do i think that they can go two and one of course so of course i do i mean they won games without Addison last year, where this really swings to me and becomes more challenging

as if Naylor is banged up, then it becomes more tricky. But they showed, if you look at the Texans game, Sherfield got a catch, Powell got a catch. Like, it's not impossible when it comes to winning without, you know, other wide receivers in there. It's just a little bit more difficult. And you look at their first three games, I think they have to go three and oh or two and one based on where the schedule goes after that. They're all winnable games. Cincinnati is going to be a hard one, but you should beat Chicago, in my opinion. I've been looking at the line there to see if it changes at all. That's a little bit closer than I would have expected, but no one really knows what to expect from the quarterbacks. I think it's the Vikings favored by one and a half, which I'm on

on Fandul, by the way. I would have thought that it would have been a little bit more toward the Vikings right now based on some of the stuff we've heard out of camp for the bears, but no one really knows. They can definitely go two and one. They've got a healthy team. They've got lots of talent. They've got their superstar wide receiver who's going to really drive the offense the most. It's not that they will not miss Jordan Addison, but you know, you can get through it. It's my thing is for the rest of the season, if you don't love what you're getting from Jalen Naylor, like we've acted like Naylor is this really proven wide receiver. I mean, he's got what, 20-something catches last year, do you need someone else to feel better about the depth as a

whole? Because if somebody got hurt, then where are you really at? That's more of my question. Not just the three games. By the way, fan duel question of the day, let me add on something to that, which was I asked who the biggest threat to Jefferson is for offensive player of the year. I would also love any players that aren't getting any discussion in the offensive player of the year or that aren't getting any discussion for the top fantasy picks or whatever that you think could sort of break out and be offensive player of the year. So if you've got like deep cut guys or even just second level that never get talked about, hey, throw them out there. There you go. Nathan, great one. Drake London for offensive player of the year. Very

possible if they throw it. I mean, Pennix is going to throw it like crazy. They're going to, they're going to throw 700 passes, I think, with Pennix. I think that's what they want to do there. coup dot video with the super chat really appreciate that and yes i know i get behind on the comments but i try to answer many of them so that's why that happens uh there there is not a collective that gets together of podcasters that decides the mr man kato but i think that we all sort of understand who it is by the end usually it just presents itself like it's so obvious it was this guy that came out of nowhere this year there's a lot of good discussions there uh some on a beavers. Do you think that we sign anyone of note after the third preseason game like

Stefan Gilmore or Sante Samuel Jr.? I was told the Sante Samuel Jr. was signing months ago. What happened? But I mean, seriously, though, like what happened? I guess he must have an injury problem. I wouldn't, I think what they'll do is they'll probably sign somebody after cut down day, but I don't know what it's going to be. Is it going to be an additional wide receiver? If I had to guess I would say yes, but I think that it's going to be along the lines of the Aldrich Robinson type of signing where you go, oh, yeah, I've heard of that guy. And, and that's more or less what they end up doing. I wouldn't expect that there's some sort of big play. Like, I think the roster is what it is. It's just this one position is kind of glaring because of a very unique and odd situation.

Last year, we knew that they were chasing Gilmore all summer long trying to get him to the Vikings because they did not like where they were at with that position. But every other position, though, I think they should feel good about where they're at a corner right now. Okuda is still going to be a major question until it actually happens. And when I watch him in practice, I go, there are going to be some flags if he's out on the field. He plays so physically, but that sometimes leads to penalties. That's something that we're watching at the beginning. beginning of the season. I think he's had a really good camp. Does that carry over? But as far as Rogers and Murphy goes, as far as the way Theo Jackson has played, has been a really good

to me. The safety position is still going to have some question there with Harrison Smith and he's been out with an illness. And then, you know, Josh Mattelis, how much three safety is on the field. But there isn't any other position that I'm going, man, they better pick some people up because they are screw, no, I think they, they've built a, a pretty darn deep team. Son of Beavers is, we should come up with a list of Mr. Mancato's for this year. There, I mean, there is, I think there's at least four or five guys, Max Brosmer, Elijah Williams, Xavier Scott, Lucky Jackson can still do it because he hasn't played in the game. And heck, if somehow Thayer Thomas came out of this thing, that that would be a Mr. Mancato,

I'll still throw Zamaia Vaughn. Zemaya Vaughn's just been quietly solid through the entire training camp. He hasn't had picks, hasn't had a bunch of flashy PbUs. He's just right place where he's supposed to be, moves well, covers his wide receiver. It's just not flashy. But if Zamaia Vaughn got two picks in the third preseason game, then all of a sudden he goes from the UDFA to being, you know, pretty exciting. I did not, I don't believe Robert May. one of the comments asking about Robert Mayes.

I don't believe he made it out to camp this year. I didn't see him if he did. Usually he would let me know. So he didn't make it out to Vikings camp this year. I think he went on a little bit of a different tour than usual. So it kind of depends. But I'll get Robert on the show at some point for sure. And always great conversations with him.

Love his podcast. Ooh, I like this one for the Fandulal question of the day here. Maybe Brock Bowers is a dark horse for Player of the Year. Yeah, my question about Bowers is, is he really the most dominant tight end or was it just that Aiden O'Connell had to throw to the tight end of replay? That's always a question as well. Mike says as much as we worry about QB2, if JJ isn't healthy or it is going to be really tough, a tough sled to pull. Yeah, I mean, that's totally right. And look, a lot of the QB2 thing is just because it's sort of, it's here.

Like that question is, when the head coach says it's an open competition, well, let's have that conversation then. And then when Max Brosmer shows up and does his thing as QB4 from the start, like, let's have that conversation. But ultimately, the original rule of Purple Insider was that we don't talk about the backup situation because we don't talk about screwed on the show. And at the moment, it does feel like screwed. But can you get it to a point where it's not?

That would be really the question. can you get it to a spot where it's Carson Wentz and you feel like it's not screwed. It's more of just not ideal if J.J. McCarthy got hurt. But you're absolutely right. I mean, if he goes out, it's going to be a very tough season. And that's why when we're projecting, I just always assume health. And then we'll see what happens. Jude said, what do you think of Zemaya Vaughn's second preseason game?

Thought he had a good game with some nice PBUs and good and sticky in coverage. Um, yeah, you know, the thing about Zamaa in these first two games, I just haven't really noticed them a lot, which I think is a good thing for a corner. It just, it has not been flashy. It hasn't been, oh my gosh, Zama Yvon is just making interceptions left to right, pass breakups left and right. It's been, oh, you know, he's kind of right place, right time. And that's what you're supposed to have happened for a lot of these corners. So, you know, I, I think Zamaia is, just very, it's very straightforward where like he's just been good and he's on the roster and he's not going to light you on fire, but, you know, he's a good, solid backup.

What that means for Dwight McLeathern, that's the question. Like, is Dwight McLeodern now out? That would be the question. Williams says, I thought we were screwed in 2017 case, yeah, when Case Keenham got the job. I've probably told you guys that story before that I canceled the trip to cover the game in Chicago. because Case was starting, and I just didn't want to waste at the time. My company's travel money. I was like, let's save it for the combine because I, you know, we had a budget to go

on X number of trips. And I was like, let's just, it's not worth it. And then he comes into that game, comes back and wins that one. And then it was kind of off from there. But I also looked this up a couple, maybe it was a year or two ago, what the win percentages for backup quarterbacks in the league. and I came up with about 30%. Could this team still make the playoffs with Sam Howell?

Are they good enough? Like, yeah, they are good enough to win nine and maybe it's possible. But that Case Keenham thing, I mean, that comes along. How often does that come along where a backup wins 13 games? You heard Kerry Collins get mentioned earlier on the show to Maggie. I mean, that 08 season, like those seasons are remembered forever when a quarterback comes from being a backup to win. So that's how rare it is.

Uh, what would New England take for Efton Chisholm? Yeah, he was good. He was good. I think they're just going to keep him. That would be my guess is that they were just, they're just probably going to keep him in New England because he's been pretty good. I think he also got banged up. Uh, Stephen Ben Eurasek seems to have been quietly solid. I agree. Just, just quietly solid. Uh, he has not been flashy, but he's run blocked pretty well. And he's caught the passes that have come his way. That's what you can hope for for a, you know, tight end three. Uh, he has not been flashy. Uh, he has run blocked pretty well. And he's caught the passes that have come his way. That's what you can hope for a, you know, you know, you know, you know, he Traveler interested in how Pennix does year two. Me too, me too. Atlanta's one of the most interesting teams in the league because of how they went all in on Michael Pennix and that draft pick, which was the right thing to do. And hey, I'm just saying the old Purple Insider show was one of the few shows, one of the few podcasts

or TV networks that was like, no, that's a good idea. Because Kirk Cousins Achilles might not ever recover. But Pennix can throw the heck out of the ball and I'm trying to think about what kind of comp like Pennix is. How often do we see these days a guy who's just in the pocket stands there and just pumps footballs downfield into tight windows, not often, right? Is he going to be like, and I know Jay Cutler would move a little bit, but for some reason like Jay Cutler came to mind for me, this huge arm dude who's just going to push it into

windows and sometimes it's going to work and sometimes it doesn't, maybe a little bit better on the leadership side from Pennix. He's got the weapons to be good, though. LDR believer will Burrow even be healthy by week three. Yeah, I mean, and I saw just recently in the last hour that Dalton Reisner left Cincinnati without a contract. What is Cincinnati doing? I, this is, it's sort of high felt about the Vikings interior last year.

I think you have to sign Dalton Reisder. It's, he's actually way better fit for Cincinnati because they don't need to run the ball. They just throw it all. time. Risner should be good for them. That is, that's a why they can't build an offensive line is crazy. Mark, thank you so much for the super chat. Really appreciate that. Yeah, Mitchell Tinsley is a guy who seems to get a lot of conversation out of Cincinnati. I think he'll probably make the team. Also, thank you very much, Brett, for the super chat. You guys are the best. You guys still hanging around here after nine o'clock, given super chats. I mean, shout out to

you guys you guys are the ball knowers uh rage the beast within hope max brosmer will be getting the nod for the final tune up game i don't think he'll be starting if he's i mean you can't say if you're o'connell that it's an open competition and then start the fourth quarterback right that uh would be kind of odd to me so i think that they will be playing the other guys so So anyway, when our reporters block from practice, that would be after tomorrow. So tomorrow is going to be our first practice, or I'm sorry, our last practice, that we get to see the entire thing. So I'm hoping that we can come back and have a celebration of training camp. We can go all the things we learned and remember all the memories along the way.

Maybe we could play sappy music like Hallmark Channel or something. and reflect on the camp that was, you know, it's, it really has been, I'll, I'll start now as I just put a wrap on the show. It has been the most fun training camp to cover. You guys are a major reason. It's been the most interesting to cover. This team is got something to it with the leadership, the Jonathan Grenard type players, the, the Aaron Jones, the way, you know, Justin Jefferson hasn't been out there, but Jordan Addison and the way that he's played in camp and T.J. Hawkinson, and there's just Jonathan Allen, J. Von Hargra, like, there's so much

talent on this team. And there is a feeling that they know it. Like, they know how good they are. And you just don't always run into that. Like, a lot of training camps, you're going, ah, you know, if everything goes right, you know, maybe that's been, you got, I mean, you know that. Longtime listeners to the show know that of how you start to add up, well, this, this, this, this goes right. Then Kirk can win. You go,

that probably not, but this idea of anything is possible with J.J. McCarthy and it is a completely new frontier for the Minnesota Vikings. If this goes really well, it'll be something we go back to all the time. Like, remember those joint practices? Remember the time you got in the fight with that UDFA defensive end? Remember that, you know, things like that. There's been a lot of moments for J.J. McCarthy. It's been a long journey. It's been a long training camp. And, you know, I don't look this sunburnt, usually, when we get to winter, I'll look much more pasty because I'll be inside. We do get to see the warmups of practice, take attendance, but we don't watch the whole practice after this. So it's been a really fun time. And that's why you guys have

inspired me with all your viewership and all your comments and all of your support. You have inspired me to change the way I'm going to do this going forward to where I was kind of just doing regular podcasts and posting them whatever, but now I want to continue with this momentum and do this on a nightly basis. So that's been because of all the great comments. And I know that I do fall behind. I do fall behind. Oh, Celeste's retirement planner, or I'm sorry, I'm not able to see Celestines. Sorry about that. retirement planner, do you, I haven't brought up my neck roll question to Brian Flores. That is true.

I was actually about big pads. That's what, that's what it was about. It was about why linebackers don't wear big pads anymore. So you guys can check that out if you want to watch the press conference. Pepper Johnson came up and then like multiple people, when Brian Flores, this is how you know, this is who I really am, that multiple people at the press conference, when Brian Flores said Pepper Johnson, they all looked at me. Like, you would be the one to know who Pepper Johnson is.

And yes, of course I do. Number 52, New York Giants, Cleveland Browns, huge pads. So I had to throw it out there to ask Flores about the huge pads. That's another thing. I asked the owner about the dragon and the Brian Flores about neck rolls. What's next? What's next for the Purple Insider brand? Who knows?

Anyway, thank you so much, guys. Great chat. And if you're watching the replay, answer that Fandul question of the day in the comments as well and we'll see you all tomorrow i am hopeful that we will have a very eventful practice and we can take you all through it break it down hopeful to have alick lewis on the show tomorrow record after practice and then go from there into the future so thanks again everybody so much for watching and listening and uh we'll catch you all later football