Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Wait, Micah Parsons' injury was real? (Part 1)

Episode Date: September 2, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about the news from ESPN's Adam Schefter that Micah Parsons' back injury needed treatment and his status for Week 1 isn't clear. Plus Arif Hasan joins the show to talk Parsons and answers pressing Vikings 2025 questions. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar here, and want to start out by just saying that, uh, L.O.L. Green Bay Packers, that'll teach you, you Packers, that'll teach you to, uh, trade for a player who's got a big name, right? No, that's not really what I'm actually saying. The Green Bay Packers trade for Micah Parsons, though, earlier this week, and it's, of course, been the biggest news story in the NFL, and Parsons gets to Green Bay, and he starts practicing, and everybody in the entire universe assumed that Micah Parsons' back injury

that was keeping him out of practice for the Dallas Cowboys was just a actually, I would like to be traded, actually, I need a new contract, that that was the real reason he had a back injury. And yes, we have had recent examples of that with the Minnesota Vikings, including T.J. Hawkinson's back slash inner ear slash maybe it was vertigo, that all the sudden got resolved in the minute that T.J. Hawkinson got his contract extension. And we all laughed and moved on and played football. So Parsons arrives with the Packers.

And even Adam Schaefter himself from ESPN, he made a little crack about it on Twitter. He's got a little bit of a sense of humor. So he said, ho, ho, guess the back's okay. And I think we all said the same thing. I made the joke as well. And any time any of you asked in the live stream, hey, do you think that that Micah Parsons back injury? Like, you think that that's a problem? I said, no, come on.

It was fake. It was just him finding. way to sit out. And then it turns out that it was actually real. And I wondered about this if it was possible that maybe Schefter got a message from the agent of Micah Parsons like, hey, man, this actually was a real injury. Like, what are you doing here? Uh, tweeting, calling us out. And so, because here's the thing about this Schefter report. I'll show it to you, what Schefter put on Twitter. There's a lot of a medical details here that I don't know if he came up with himself.

So here's what Adam Schaefter tweeted earlier today. Packers linebacker, Michael Parsons, has been dealing with an L4, L5, facet, joint sprain in his back, and he may take an epidural injection prior to Sunday's game versus the Lions if needed to help him play per sources. Before trading for Parsons last week, the Cowboys prescribed him on a five-day plan of anti-inflammatory some medicines I've never heard of to help him recover from back tightness they also had him on a physical therapy program parsons has been practicing this week and he is trying to play in sundays opener versus the lions though one source said it is still

uncertain if he will so here here's the thing uh there are the first comment is you know obvious like wait did Jerry Jones is he genius for trading this wounded player that was you know had the secret injury and L4 L5 joints and all that and now that the Packers are stuck with him but you know they got him in there and they didn't realize that he's got this problem and so now that he's got this problem they can't exactly take it back they have to just live with it right I mean that's that's what's happening right probably not probably More likely than not, the Packers got Micah Parsons knowing that he had this injury and were okay with it, considering they're signing him to a four-year contract that is the most expensive in the NFL. So I would assume that they had been keeping up the latest on his health issues before they made the trade.

So let's go through where it's a big deal and where it's not a big deal, that Micah Parsons has this injury with his. back. It is not a big deal, I don't think, long term with Micah Parsons, even within this year. None of this a sprain in the back is not that unusual. It happens. Guys get back injuries pretty often and they do stuff to try to get on the field that none of us would ever be able to go through, but they're NFL players and it'll be okay going forward. This does not sound to me like it is injury that should keep him from being Michael Parsons in the long run. It sounds like more of a short-term type of issue for him. Not one of those, not degenerative or, you know, there's no words there that make you go,

wow, this could be a major problem for the Green Bay Packers for the rest of the season or a major problem for them in the trade and Jerry Jones hoodwinked them and the Packers got screwed and stuck with a injury. player and no it's probably not that right now i know that's what you guys want but it's probably not that so that i don't think is a huge deal for parsons football players get banged up he's 26 years old i mean look even we went through this with denille hunter with the neck thing where we all thought oh my gosh daniel hunter this injury you can't keep him uh you you can't sign him you can't extend him. His career is going to be shortened. And then, you know, modern medicine is pretty darn

impressive. And DeNeal Hunter is still one of the best players in the entire NFL. And that's not to say that injuries don't matter and the back injuries don't matter for an edge rusher where you have to do a ton of bending and twisting and all that sort of stuff. But this one in particular does not sound like it is going to be a nagging long-term thing that it will heal and he'll go forward and play football the way you'd expect. That's my read on that situation. Not a doctor, but that's just my understanding from this football injury. That's where it's not that big of a deal.

I don't think the Packers got hoodwinked. However, where it is a big deal is week one. And when we go back to that report from Adam Schefter and he says that Parsons has been practicing and is trying to play, trying to play in the, opener against the Lions, though one source said still uncertain if he will. So here's the thing. It's only week one. And yeah, you could say, well, it's only week one.

I mean, if he misses one game for the Packers, then they get 16 more of Micah Parsons. And that's still great for them. And that's still way better than anything they would have had. Now, if the Green Bay Packers were playing the Cleveland Browns in week one, then you would certainly go, okay, well, I bet they can survive against one of the worst teams in the league. They are not. They, to honor Lee Corso, not so fast, my friend, you are playing the Detroit Lions in week one. I mean, this is a team that it's going to come down more likely than not to the final week of the season in the NFC North.

And when Parsons joins the NFC North, what was the thing that we talked so much? much about like oh well this is huge for you know these matchups with the lions and and who did we say should be the most concerned about playing against micha parsons other than of course caleb williams who takes almost 70 sacks last year but the teams that are truly competitive in this division we said the team that should be more concerned lions versus vikings was the lions because they have these issues with the offensive line and they're trying to completely revamp it without Frank Ragnow, without Kevin Zitler, that there's inexperience there, if Michael Parsons either is not 100% or doesn't play or is limited to whatever 20, 30 snaps

in a game against the Detroit Lions where they could most take advantage. I know they have good tackles, but Parsons is a guy who doesn't just attack the tackles. It could be a big deal. If you lose a game because you can't pressure Jared Gough, And let's also remember that the gap between Jared Gough, when pressured and when clean, is insanely large because he's Jared Gough, that he's not a mobile playmaker, that he is a in-structure, in-time type of player, and few quarterbacks are better. Even the elite quarterbacks are not better than Jared Gough from a clean pocket when playing in rhythm. And who could disrupt that rhythm better than Micah Parson? So if he does not end up playing in this game, that is a big factor going into this one.

Long term, yeah, I mean, Micah Parsons will very likely be fine. He will very likely have an enormous impact on that defense. But in a division where every single game is a huge deal, every single matchup could determine who ends up in first place, second place, third place. it is big news that Micah Parsons, that there's any chance that he might not play on Sunday against the Detroit Lions. And a little later in the show, I want to go through every game in week one because we finally arrived my friends and, you know, can't wait to get football started. So I haven't looked. It's almost like you don't want to look if you know where your parents hid the Christmas presents. I haven't looked at the week one schedule yet. And so I want to do it like with you guys live here because I know who the Vikings are playing.

I have a flight. I have a hotel. But I haven't really looked at the rest of the schedule. I mean, even when Green Bay was playing Detroit, it was like, oh, oh, wow, wait a minute. Hold on. They're playing Detroit week one. That is a one heck of a matchup. And definitely must see who wins that one for the Vikings and already week one.

starting to impact how this division ends up playing out. But if they can't do it with Micah Parsons and they don't have Kenny Clark, that is a pretty big issue for them. And look, I mean, I agree with, you know, J.D.Z, as much as you want them to have a nagging back injury, they wouldn't give up two first round picks for a gimp. Come on. But yeah, you're right, though.

You are right that they would not have done this. If they did not know about this injury, I'm sure that they were informed in it. I'm sure when it sounds like Dallas is talking about a five-day plan to get the inflammation to go down, that doesn't scream to me major back surgery. That doesn't scream to me. Oh, my gosh. Like that he's going to be screwed for the rest of his career. But it definitely, definitely could make a difference when it.

it comes to this week and this football game with the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers, especially with the way that they play. The way that they play, Detroit is a lot of running the football and a lot of play action, a lot of Jared Goff sitting in the pocket. And we've seen over the last few years how good that offensive line is and how much of a major factor it is for Jared Gough's success in Detroit. It's no coincidence that when Jared Gough had his worst year in Los Angeles and they traded him to Detroit, that it went along with Los Angeles having one of the worst PFF pass blocking grades in the entire NFL.

And then when Matthew Stafford gets there, they revamp that offensive line and it ends up being one of the better pass blocking lines in the NFL. but I think it inspired Sean McVeigh to make that trade in part because he knew if anything goes wrong with the offensive line and the blocking golf's just not going to be able to get you there and he still want a playoff game that year but he's just not that guy and Stafford is somebody who can make up for for that so this to me is the potential major weakness of the Detroit Lions is their ability to pass block and if Parsons isn't there or he's limited it's just a different game because they don't have Kenny Clark. So not only would you be down a Parsons,

but you're down Kenny Clark. And the other part of that matchup, too, if Parsons isn't 100%, I could tell you what I wouldn't want to do if my back felt terrible because I had an epidural and I wasn't really 100%. I would not want to tackle Jamir Gibbs time and time and time again. I wouldn't want to match up against guards flying to the second level, time and time and time again. and well, that's what he is going to face with the Detroit Lions. Now, the downside to this, of course, is that if, you know, you're watching it from a Vikings perspective, the downside would be, well, if Detroit gets, you know, a win there, it doesn't, someone's going to win and it doesn't help you.

But I look at Detroit still as one of the best teams in the NFL, one of the best rosters in the NFL, and I've got Micah Parsons just a shade. not Micah, well, they're going to be called Micah Parsons going forward. The Packers just below after getting Micah Parsons, just below Detroit. I think that's close. And after they got Parsons, I would have put it neck and neck with the Vikings and the Packers. And still Detroit deserves some benefit of the doubt for the last couple years that they would be the favorite there. And if they lose a game because they don't have Parsons 100% healthy or he's not playing,

then it could matter down the road. So that is, I wouldn't call it, you know, the biggest news that this is suddenly a bus trade, but I would call it significant that the Green Bay Packers traded for a guy that might not be able to help them in week one. We will see how that eventually plays out. But imagine my surprise actually seeing that it was a real injury for Parsons. I guess we shouldn't always make.

the assumptions. And hey, look, you know, that also happened with Josh Mattelis. When Mattelis had an ankle injury, he got his extension. And we all assumed that the ankle injury was the extension flew. And it turned out that he missed some time. So Jay says he'd sit Parsons week one if he was the Packers. Folks, I know a lot of you out there either own your own business or you are in a management position where you have to hire people. And it can be such a headache. You have to sort through all sorts of resumes of people who aren't qualified. and you end up overlooking some of the best candidates. It's tough.

But what is not tough is using ZipRecruiter for your hiring need. ZipRecruiter finds amazing candidates for you and fast. And right now you could try it for free at ziprecruiter.com slash audio. It's just so easy that you have to try it. You can use their smart technology that finds great candidates for you. Or you can use the invite to apply button that allows you to reach out to your favorite candidates. there's a lot of ways that you can make ZipRecruiter your best recruiting tool. Ditch the other hiring sites, let ZipRecruiter find what you're looking for, that needle in a haystack.

Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter, get a quality candidate within the first day. So try it for free at this exclusive web address, ZipRecruiter.com slash audio. Again, that is zipRecruiter.com slash audio. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. Well, that's something that they have to consider as well. Green Bay also has to consider now the long term of this. And they would know better if it's something that could have long term. You know, again, like my medical advice is more or less only based on the football

injuries that I've seen over the years and who comes back when and what they've dealt with and everything else. But, you know, if this ends up being something that he. tries to play through and then further injures his back, well, then you could be talking about missing actual time. And he did, he did miss some time with Dallas last year. So it does matter to some extent. And we'll see where it goes from there with his injury. I will get to your questions in a moment. But that was, that's the number one news in the NFL today. It's like, wow, okay, Micah Parsons up in the air for week one with.

Hackers and Detroit Lions. Also in Viking land, Anthony Barr announced his retirement. And that is a little bit on the weird side for me because Anthony Barr was a third-year player when I arrived in Minnesota in 2016 to start covering the Vikings. And he had just come off that huge 2015 season. And when the Vikings in that lead up to 2016 were being talked about as a team. how good can they be? Are they a Super Bowl contender yet? Anthony Barr was one of the main guys that everybody was talking about as a rising star.

Now, 16 was a very gnarly season for Anthony Barr because he got banged up. And then Mike Zimmer kind of called him out and the players were not happy at all with that because they knew that Barr was playing through injury and that's why he wasn't performing the same. And then in 17, he was one of the centerpieces of one of the best defenses of that decade, number one against the run, number one against the pass. And, you know, part of the Minneapolis miracle, part of the best Vikings team since 2009 at that point. I mean, a major part of it. And he was one of those guys that I think for me was always, and then there's after that it becomes, you know, he's still a big part of it in 19.

where they win in New Orleans, and then that sort of ends that era. And he had signed the contract. So he stayed around, but a lot of the other guys left, Griffin, Xavier Rhodes. He almost went to be a New York jet. Then he ends up coming back and staying with the Vikings. And a lot of the discussion after that was about his contract. He had the injury in 2020. And of course, every time his name comes up, people talk about the contract,

because that's what we do here. But I always found it very interesting with Anthony Barr that Mike Zimmer was extremely defensive when it came to Anthony Barr. In fact, one time we showed up randomly. Zimmer was not scheduled to talk. And then we were told like Zimmer wants to talk. What? Zimmer wants to talk.

Like since when does Mike Zimmer want to talk to us, the media? and he goes up to the podium and he tells us all that our bogus rumors about trading Anthony Barr are totally false and there is no way they are trading him. He's one of the favorite players of Zimmer and you guys and you're mongering and we're like, us, who did that? What? What? We had heard nothing.

We had heard nothing. There was no Schaefter. There was no Rappaport. There was no. then it was an investigation to figure out, well, who was talking about, you know, social media is trying to trade everybody all the time. So Zim didn't see a tweet, did he? And it was, were they talking about it on the radio when he was listening in his way in?

Or did he, because that was a time where they were negotiating the contract with Anthony Barr. And I think he may have missed a single OTA practice or something. So there may have been a little bit of. speculation between, you know, Anthony Barr and a tray. We may have talked about it a little bit and whatever Zimmer heard set him off. And Zimmer, I think I asked him in that press conference because, you know, Mike, Mike could oscillate between being very difficult when asked questions to also giving you a ton of insight.

And this was one of those days where he was in a mood to give you the insight of why he loved Anthony Barr so much. So I think I asked him like, well, Mike, why do you look? like Anthony so much. Like, why is this so important to you? Why would you care if anybody in the world was out there talking about trading one of your players if you're not trading him? And some of his explanation was really good. And it had to do with Anthony Barr as the quarterback of the defense. And I think when you look back at those defenses, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, there's a run there where they're in the top five in either points or yards every single year. And I think,

including the year where they're number one in, you know, both of those categories. And Barr to him was his voice on the field. And actually, Anthony talked about today how with Mike Zimmer that it wasn't even just like their relationship of the X's and O's, but when Mike needed the team to understand some sort of message, but maybe wasn't the best at conveying himself, then he could go to Anthony Barr and say, I need you to get this through to the players, kind of where I stand with something or the message that I want them to get, because Mike wasn't, as you guys know, the best communicator. He was totally the opposite of Kevin O'Connell. And there's a ton of value

in that leadership, but also he was the one that was calling the plays on defense, playing the cat and mouse game. We talk about this all the time with Blake Cashman. Well, that was Anthony Barr before and the entire defense was built around this concept of the double a gap blitz in passing situations Anthony Barr reading how the offense was going to block and then making a change in order to set up the offense remember how many times DeNeal Hunter was blocked by a tight end and we would laugh at the other team what are they doing blocking with a tight end Well, a lot of that was them shifting their protection to try to help stop something that Anthony Barr was going to do there with the double a gap blitz. He was very effective in blitzing.

He made a ton of great plays throughout his career. Maybe not quite as many splash plays as people wanted from him after 2015. But I remember looking at the numbers of him as a pass rusher and he was, you know, extremely effective. one of the smarter players that I've been around. I think that Barr never really wanted to be as open as he was with us today. Maybe that was, you know, carrying Mike's message that didn't want the media getting too much information. But it was interesting to hear him reflect on what Minnesota meant to him. And that was really my big takeaway from today is just how much this place meant to him.

So here is Anthony Barr talking about that. It's obviously really good to be back here. It's important to me to be. retires of biking because the community means so much the franchise means so much a franchise that changed my life coming here in May 2014 as a young young boy really trying to find his way playing the game he loves his whole life and got a chance to showcase his talents here so I want to think obviously thank you to the organization I will start by thanking the Will family specifically Ziggy

and Mark in my mind the best owners in sports and I I say that because while they feel the competitive team on the field year after year, they do that with awareness and class. I don't think any organization does it quite like the Will family does. They are progressive. They're active in the community. Their efforts are local, national, and global. And they've created a culture of winning here, a culture that people want to come from all over.

Free agents love to come in here. I know you guys see the end of year reviews. The Vikings are always number one just because of how well this organization is ran. So a big shout out to the. the Will family. I also want to thank Mike Zimmer and Rick Spilman, the two people that were played a big influence in my coming to Minnesota, drafting here, being drafted here as a ninth pick in 2014. They entrusted me with a lot. I had a lot of responsibility at the time. I remember actually in April of that year. Before I got drafted, I was coming here for a top 30 visit,

and this is when we were in Eden Prairie. And I was coming from California. I was in my, you know, my t-shirt, my shorts, and I could have to plan it's snowing. I'm like, oh, damn, like, this place is, this place is different. I was like, okay, hopefully we don't come here, because I'm not trying to be dealing with the snow in April, and then six weeks later, I heard they call, and I was like, damn. But it ended up working out, and now I actually love the snow more than I do the heat. So that's kind of weird. That changed being a Cali boy, but now I'm like full Minnesota.

There's Anthony Barr there talking about the organization and just how much meant to him and becoming a member of the Minnesota community said even that all the efforts that he makes with his foundation and things like that won't change now that he is retired and he's living in California. So I think that, you know, any of those players from that era and, you know, Harrison Smith is still here, but any of those players from the defense specifically, you look back now and how long it took and we would all, as we do and it's football, And, you know, we nitpick contracts, we nitpick players and we say, well, why, you know, why was an Anthony Barr getting more sacks or more interceptions or fumbles or things like that? And then when it's gone in 2000, you know, 21, is he still there in 21? But it wasn't the same. And then 22, you know, when it's gone, it's not, it's, you can see how much all those guys were kind of glued together with each other and how they made each other better.

they impacted each other, and he and Kendricks talked a lot about their friendship, too. And those two linebackers were as good of a combination as existed in the NFL, four-time pro bowler, really excellent player, but also I think a study for me personally in trying to find where that was, where that value was that maybe didn't show up in a general box score. And it starts kind of the discussion for me about how I use. who's PFF and why I'm interested in analytics and why I wrote the book and all those things because somebody like Barr, his PFF scores would kind of go up and down and his box score stuff with sacks and splash plays. Some years it was better than others. So why is it that

this organization cares so much about him? Why does this coach love him? And why with him in the lineup are they consistently so good? And I think it came back to the leadership out there. at that position when you're the green dot guy, when you're calling the plays, when you are, you know, looking at the entire offense and having to play a cat and mouse game with an opposing quarterback. Like there's a lot of value there. So I also, I had a chance to ask Anthony about how he feels about the current group. Because remember, he came back in 2023.

So he got a look at Brian Flores, got a look at Kevin O'Connell. And here's what he had to say. When you were here in 23, what did you learn? about Flores, Kevin O'Connell, kind of the state of the franchise and the leadership now? Yeah, I really like where things are from obviously more outside perspective now. But when I was here in 23, the leadership, I think, was exactly where it should be. You know, I think kind of with the times that we're in now, I think they fit perfectly. I think Kevin O'Connell is a great leader, very good communicator, obviously a very smart guy and very relatable,

someone that you could go have lunch with and, you know, to have an easy conversation with, but also demanding and knows his exes and knows what he wants from his guys. And with Flores is just, it's, it was kind of crazy. I didn't really, there was no playbook, you know, when I got here, it was just like, yeah, we just kind of made up this defense. I was like, all right, well, how do I learn it? He's like, I don't know, just go out there and figure it out, you know? I was like, all right, sweet.

So that was different, but it was really cool. And I think the guys have, obviously he has the guys. now in place to go out and play his type of ball, and I expect the defense to be solid. Do you still watch Vikings games as part of your son of your team? For sure, yeah. That first year I wasn't playing, it was kind of like bittersweet because I was kind of like, man, I wish I was out there. But now I'm to the point where I'm just so at peace with it, and it's all love,

and I really enjoy watching games. Now it's not stressful anymore. Well, sometimes it is, but most of the times, actually, the Vikings, every game is stressful, seemingly. but it's uh now i can really be a fan and put my purple hat on and be a homer and um really support the guys anthony bar there i also asked him if he had plans for a podcast or something as it seems like all former players do and uh he said maybe in the future so at possible possible uh future we have tuesday morning left guard that is returning tomorrow with jeremiah serles maybe

it's uh you know wednesday evening pro bowl defensive guy talks about football. Someday, the offer's out there, Anthony, if you ever want to join the Purple Insider Network of Football Men. But, you know, just congratulations to him on a great NFL career. You play in the league for that long. You play on top defenses. It's not an easy thing to do. It takes a lot of dedication. And he said, I asked him what he was most proud of. And he said, basically that he showed up every single day on time and handled himself like a pro. And the rest is sort of, you know, whatever happens, happens. And what a journey it was for the franchise during the time that Anthony Barr was here. And that's why it's kind of a reminder a little bit

of how much is different now. And it feels like over the last couple of years that the Vikings have gone through this build similar to when they first drafted Anthony Barr. Now, they did that through the draft. The 2015 draft was obviously absurd. So they end up getting, you know, Eric Kendrick's and Stefan Diggs and Trey Wains and DeNeal Hunter, not in that order. And that's where they really build the defense. But Barr was a big centerpiece of that. And just a really, really good, solid dude in the community as well and with the media. So much respect to Anthony finishing up his career.

So a little later on the show, I have a conversation with Arif Hassan. So that's going to come up later where we talk about. a little about Micah Parsons and then a lot about the biggest questions for the Vikings in 2025, I want to get you the Fanduil question of the day, which is later in the show, I'm going to go over all the week one matchups. And what I want to know is, what's your favorite one outside of Vikings and Bears? As I mentioned, I didn't look at any of the matchups because I want to go over them on the show and react to them like a kid on Christmas morning, like, oh, this is coming up this week,

and that's coming up this week. You know, I've seen some of the commercials for the national games, but I don't know all the matchups because I wanted to have fun tonight and look at those. So right now, though, just a little peak of the national games.

I mean, the Bills on Fandual 1.5 point favorites against the Baltimore Ravens. That's got the juice right there. But what's your favorite matchup coming up this week? Because, hey, you get a stress-free Sunday. My advice is to really breathe those in. You heard Anthony Barr. So when you are sitting on your couch watching the Vikings allow the Packers to come back and you need a Sam Darnold completion for them to close out a win, think Anthony Barr is feeling the same way as you on his couch in Los Angeles watching the Vikings game.

So what's your favorite matchup for a stress-free Sunday that you get until then a very stressful, I'm sure, for you guys Monday night. That is the Fanduil question of the day. So let me get to some of your questions. and then we'll bring in a reef in a little bit, had a chance to have a conversation with him earlier on today. So I'll bring that to you. Chiefs Chargers from VA Vikings, Niners Seahawks from Cup of Joe Mama.

That's a good one. Let's see, Mr. Marauder, lions and Packers, of course. And then whoever the Raiders and Darnold are playing. Okay. Ravens and Bills by far. Ravens and Bills for Exposet is the answer there. Ravens and Bills, a lot of you agreeing with me. I mean, when you get a road team that's only a 1.5 point underdog, like that,

you know that it's close. And I think the home field advantage in the betting markets has changed over the years. It used to be three points. I don't think it's three points anymore. But certainly Packers, Lions and Ravens Bills is a really good one. I mean, Chiefs Chargers, they always play great games. Chiefs and Chargers, every single. time. You know what, this, we should, we should just look at this. If I didn't answer your question

from earlier, just ask it again, we should just go through this right now. We should just go through it. Panthers, Jaguars, hey, do not downplay the Hall of Fame game, 1995, between the Panthers and the Jaguars when they both became franchises. There's some intrigue there. There's a little bit of intrigue there. In the UK, you'll be getting some sleep. Yeah, 49ers, Seattle is, is definitely intriguing. Buck's Falcons. How about the NFL starting out with some of these division games right away?

Commanders, Giants. All right, let's look at this schedule. And then you guys can continue with your favorites. Let me see here. Let's take a look at this. I got the fan duel up here. So we got the odds for every game. And let's take a look at this.

I'll give a 30 second take on every one of these games from this week. And then we could start getting excited about football. So Eagles and Cowboys is, is not one of the more intriguing matchups, I would not say. But I mean, what I'm really curious about is not so much if Dallas is good, because I think that they're okay, but I don't think that they're good. And their roster is just so much weaker than it was a couple of years ago. But what I'm interested in is just the vibe.

Like, is Dallas, are they fighting? Are they melting? Are they looking like a team that wants it? Are they looking like a team that knows that you just traded their franchise player? and they're just getting crushed by a Philadelphia Eagles team that's trying to repeat. Just the overall feeling of Dallas and Philly I'm interested in. Chiefs and Chargers, I want to have a hot take that the Chargers will win the division. I want to do it.

Like there's a, there's just that part of me that's like, let me, let me just say it and see how it feels that the Chargers could win that division. And I don't think it feels terrible to say that. they have a really excellent defense they're going to have a great running game they've added to the weapons for justin herbert i mean kansas city is still kansas city but those two teams they play great games against each other it's wrong to pick against kansas city when they win that division every year but i think there's a possibility the chargers could get them and that game could make a difference that opener and uh just to give you just give you the odds here uh the eagles are

a seven-and-a-half-point favorite. As of right now, these things do change sometimes. Chiefs and Chargers, the Chiefs are three-point favorite. Giants and commanders, six and a half point favorite for the commanders. This one is, I think, quietly a very interesting game that I want to watch because I think the Giants have improved a lot from where they were last year. It's just that we don't care about them because Russell Wilson is their quarterback. But if Russell Wilson does anything, that defense could

be really good. I mean, they signed Javan Holland this year. They've drafted pretty well the last couple years. They might have one of the best D-lines in the NFL going against Jaden Daniels in year two, but I don't know how much the commanders really got better. I mean, they were in the NFC championship, but did they massively improve? That game could be a good one. Carolina and Jacksonville is definitely a game and the Jaguar's three and a half point favorites there. Carolina would be a popular pick for a team that overachieves this year and competes for a playoff spot. Jaguars, Liam Cohen debut.

That's one that you check in on the highlights. Let's see. Steelers and the Jets. And these times for the game is because I put in Arizona by accident. So that's why those times are funky. Steelers and the Jets, I don't have any interest in watching really at all

for pretty obvious reasons. Though, I mean, look, we all kind of wonder what Aaron Rogers is going to look like as the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's just that the jets are in full rebuild mode. So that's not one that's too intriguing. Raiders and Patriots, I think the Raiders have a chance to be one of the more fun and entertaining teams in the NFL. They are two and a half point underdogs to the Patriots in New England there.

I think the Raiders are not a great team, but they could be very fun. They're the team that's gotten a lot of attention this offseason that will probably disappoint and probably win seven games, but they'll win seven games by ranking 26th in defense and third in offense or something crazy like that. Drake May against the manageable Raiders defense and any 2024 quarterback we're going to be watching. Oh, Cardinals Saints, just going to move on from that one. Bengals Browns, just going to move on from that one. Dolphins Colts. This is going to move on for that one as well. I mean, yeah, I don't know. Is there something to talk about with any of those games?

It just, just a lot of teams who exist. Bucks Falcons really want to see how Michael Penix comes out as the franchise quarterback now for the Falcons, the Bucks without Liam Cohen, Tennessee and Denver, year two for Bo Nix. I mean, I'm interested in Cam Ward and his first ever career start. He's got to do it against a really good defense and a great secondary in Denver. 49ers Seahawks has a lot of intrigue there for sure because Sam Darnold is new because the 49ers have been kind of ripped apart over the last couple of years and are they still good under Kyle Shanahan? Is Brock Purdy worth it? But Sam Darnold debut. Definitely want to watch that. And I think

I think all of you should appreciate what Sam Darnold was to the Vikings last year and what an entertaining season it was because last year there was a lot of talk about you know, well, just kind of get through this season to McCarthy and, you know, it's not going to, maybe you get a squeeze a little fun out of it and Darnel did a great job overall. Packers and Lions, huge game. That's the one we've been talking about, two and a half point favorite Packers at Green Bay. The Lions win that one.

That's another thing about Micah Parsons, potentially being out or limited in this game is it's at Green Bay. So if you don't win that one, if you're the Packers, then you're talking to, about going to Ford Field the next time you see the Lions. Low key, really good game, I think. Texans and Rams. Texans will be a little bit better. Ariante Ursary, Ariante Ursary, I think has won that job,

the former gopher and the offensive line. So that could be big for them. Matthew Stafford's going to play. Then Baltimore, Buffalo could be aFC championship preview. And of course, the Vikings and the Bears. I mean, I get. give it like a seven eight out of ten for the quality of the first week i would i think that that's a really good schedule for the first week maybe only three or four games that i'm not all that

interested in uh okay so questions thoughts feelings coming up at eight o'clock arif hasan uh is on the show and we're going to talk a lot of parsons and much more when he arrives about 8 o'clock and make sure you're answering that Fanduil question of the day, your favorite matchup for week one as we finally get ready for some freaking football. Aaron says, saw the Raiders called the Cowboys about Parsons, but they were too late to the party. Parsons and Max Crosby would have been crazy.

Yeah, from just what it sounded like from the reports, there was a couple of teams that at the final hour were putting together their offers and then they just pulled the trigger and sent him to Green Bay. I think that that my take on the Raiders, fun, but probably not that good, would have changed if they got Micah Parsons. I would have said, oh, I guess we got to take the Raiders seriously now that you have Micah Parsons there.

But instead, they're just kind of another team in the league at this point. And I think they'll be entertaining. They'll be a team that you flip over to watch that when they're on Red Zone, you're probably seeing something fun, but they don't win a whole lot. And I just don't know if Pete Carroll can really do it. I mean, not to be agist here, but at some point it becomes difficult

for somebody to still get an edge in coaching. And I don't think that Pete Carroll was getting an edge anymore at the end of his time in Seattle. So has he revamped things now in Las Vegas? I'm intrigued. Blowfish says, concerned that the team seems fine with having a third round rookie returning kicks and UDFA returning punts.

Well, I don't know that there's ever been a team. And I don't disagree, but I don't know that there's ever been a team that the Vikings have had where every single player was proven and awesome. I mean, the 2017 team is close because you had still Marcus Sherrill's returning. I don't remember. it must have been who was kick returning because they let go Cordero Patterson. I don't remember who was kick returning in 2017. Somebody, one of you guys have to tell me who was returning kicks at that point.

But I think we were getting toward the point where kicks were just not really that big of a deal for returning anyway. And this year they will be. And I think that that's where your concern is reasonable is that Ty Felton, if he's going to be the kick returner, he's going to touch the ball a lot and he's going to have to make a lot of plays. but you're always going to have somebody somewhere in the lineup that you're a little bit concerned about and you just have to roll the dice with it. Miles Price could be a difference maker as a punt returner and that was missing with Brandon Powell.

And they had all the chances in the world to have Brandon Powell come back and they decided not to sign him. So I think if they had really needed him to come back and felt like they weren't confident in Felton and in Price that they, could have done that. That was a guy who was out there. Was Cheryl's, oh, was Cheryl's kick returning as well in 17? Hmm. Name the starting corners from 17 is easy.

That being Rhodes, Waynes, and Terrence Newman with McKenzie Alexander coming off the bench. But maybe it was Sherrill's that was doing the kick returning back then. I don't remember an impact kick return in 2017. The Cordero Patterson, of course, that run was historic. and incredible, just probably should have kept them around in 17. Maybe that could have been a little bit helpful. But anyway, not the point. It's just that when it comes to these guys, sometimes it's like that,

where you have to lean on, there's only so much money, there's only so many free agents, there's only so, you have to lean on somebody at some position. And if the least proven person out there on your team is your punt returner, well, that could cost you, but, you know, maybe rolling the dice there, you know, that's something that they feel comfortable with. They're going to have to give it a try. I don't disagree on the nervousness when the kicks go off and the punts go off.

But if you're going to have unproven guys, those types of positions are probably the spots where you're looking to have them rather than, say, like, going into 2020 with starting corners who were undrafted free agents. or third round draft picks and just hoping and praying or something like that. So Dusty says if Kansas City's receivers don't step up could be a hard year for them. Refs really have to step up for them again. Yes, that's funny. Well, you have to listen to that Walt Anderson interview from last night where he was asked about,

you know, the league being rigged and so forth. But, you know, the reason I think that everybody thinks that is because we all watch every Kansas City game. and it's always on TV. And so if your team gets a call on a Sunday, you see how the refs deal with your team, but you're not watching every call in every single game. But we are with Kansas City because they're on national TV every game. So everything that goes their way, we're all going to, you know, jump on it.

But last year was, I mean, it was a little weird. They got a few calls that were very, very, very close. But to your point about the receiver, Rashi Rice once he comes back. And that suspension for him was, I think, very, let's call it fair. I mean, this is a thing, right? If you want to talk about the league giving Kansas City advantages, I think the Rashi Rice penalty that he came away with for the crime committed,

if they're going to do it that way, which they decided they were going to do it that way when it came to, you know, the Jordan Addison situation and so forth. if you're going to do it that way and you're going to penalize guys based on what happens with the law and everything, only six games is pretty darn fair to Rashi Rice. They probably will be able to survive it and get through that. I just think this year could be an extremely tight race for the AFC West. Like, we're all talking about the NFC North and how nasty it is and how good it is

and how it's the best division in football. I think the AFC West is probably raising its hand going, I mean, hey, if the worst team has Gino Smith as its quarterback and a Super Bowl winning head coach and Tom Brady doing whatever it is he does for the Raiders, I mean, maybe, you know, that's a pretty darn good division. Denver's in the playoffs last year. The Chargers were in the playoffs last year. I think Denver and the Chargers both got stronger. So that's a really, really tough division for Kansas City this year.

where in the past, you could argue similar to the Patriots. You could argue there was a lot of years when Kansas City was running through that division where it wasn't special. It wasn't even good. Mr. Mayor, I've been thinking about facing Green Bay at the end of the season. Should we feel better about J.J. McCarthy being able to lock in with the offense or worse about the chance of Derisaw or Kelly getting banged up? Yeah, it's absolutely impossible to know who's going to be in, who's going to be

out at that point in the season. Green Bay will have guys that are injured to. So will everybody else you play along the way. But I think you would much rather play Green Bay at the end of the season because of exactly what you said, which is J.J. McCarthy will have an entire year. And if you look at Jane Daniels, you look at C.J. Stroud's first year, Brock Purdy, you look at any of these young quarterbacks, a lot of times what happens is, you know, they start off and sometimes it's it's rocky sometimes it's good and there's definitely a learning

curve a hey look opposing teams are starting to know who you are type of curve and they're game planning for you and they know your tendencies and so there's a dip usually in the middle of the season where bow nick struggled jane daniel struggled cj stroud uh in his first year and then a lot of times for good quarterbacks it comes out the other side like stronger the adjustments get made the growth happens and then you know nix has an extremely good end of the season so to daniels if that happens then you're talking about it being a lot better to face those nfc north teams at the end of the season i would i would much prefer that in fact i mean when is the viking's first division game it doesn't happen until kind of the middle of the season right if i'm remembering the

schedule correctly doesn't happen until the middle of the season i i think it's tough to have your first game be in the division. Blowfish says the way that Manning played on Saturday. He might have a Bridgewater fall in the first round of the draft. I think that there was a lot of overreaction to that game to Arch Manning. He has not played a lot of football and his first game is at Ohio State. And if you look at, now this show has not given Matt Patricia a whole lot of love in the past because I thought he was. a horrendous head coach for the Detroit Lions.

But he was a defensive coordinator and he was on Bill Belichick staff when they won the Super Bowl. And he was running stuff that NFL teams run against the guy who's making, it's not his first start, I think, but one of his first starts. I'm not judging what's going to happen at the end of the year. Think about all the times that the quarterbacks we were told were going to be the top guys. How about Joe Burrow? The year he went number one overall, nobody even heard.

heard of the guy going into that year. And then all of a sudden he has this, you know, big explosion that season. And then there were still some questions about that, some questions about, well, is, you know, is it one year wonder? Was it just Jefferson and Chase? And then, you know, he becomes an elite NFL quarterback who goes to the Super Bowl. There's a long way to go for Manning and for the LSU kid. And I'm not really a big fan of the Clemson quarterback. But You know, I don't, I don't start draft work until February, so we'll see. I'll be interested to see where it goes from here. But that was, there's other teams that we're facing much easier competition with draftable

quarterback. So we'll just give them time. Nobody, you know, we want to always call it. We always want to overreact. It's, it's just going to take time for him to get comfortable in that offense, I think. Rob says that he is interested in Jets Steelers to see how the Jets play for Aaron Glenn, to see how slow Rogers is, is Aaron. Glenn Moore or of a loss than Ben Johnson. Yeah, I mean, I think Glenn is in tough. It's a bad team.

It's a bad quarterback. He's going to have to try to squeeze every ounce of blood out of that stone with the jets and kind of hope that they can grind out some wins in a division that maybe isn't the strongest, but also isn't the weakest. I mean, I'm more interested in Rogers. How does Aaron Rogers look? All of the noise out of Pittsburgh sounds. like, you know, Rogers is a new man and he's a real leader now. But, you know, they kind of tried to sell that on hard knocks with the Jets as well when he was there. And they kind of tried to sell that last year leading out like, oh, well, you know, Rogers is

really committed after he had skipped a minicamp. And, you know, there was a little bit of water carrying of like, well, you know, he had preplanned his trip as if he can't cancel it, as if he's us, right? and you're like, well, I don't know. I mean, it's $900 is a lot to pay or something. I mean, he could have canceled the trip. It does seem that he has been more committed to Pittsburgh than he was in the past. But what does it really look like?

You know, that's a good point of, like, can he make plays or not? Rob already thinking about the Browns and the trade deadline. Fair enough. Dusty says the Texans are trying to trade Cam Robinson. I think that based on the way Robinson played toward the end of the year, and the fact that he lost out on that job, I just think he's not in a good, good place in the NFL right now.

And I would just prefer to have what they have. Maybe, I mean, is he an upgrade over just in school probably? But I don't know. I mean, is it worth anything to do? Maybe if they were really concerned about Derisaw, you could make that trade. They do love bringing players back,

as we've seen. Maybe it's possible. Maybe it's possible. Look, school had a really tough training camp. He also faced Jonathan Grinard every single day, which is not the easiest thing in the world. Rob says Seattle and the 49ers intriguing. How much of 2024 was Darnold? How much was the Vikings infrastructure?

I will be watching a lot of Sam Darnold. I just, I understand how it ended and how much bitterness there is toward how it ended. And that's fair because it wasn't just like losing one playoff game, which is hard enough. it was losing two playoff games, and who knows what happens if Sam Darnold shows up for that game in Detroit, and if he makes two or three throws in the red zone, if he hits that first pass to T.J. Hawkinson early on, et cetera, et cetera, how different it could have played out for the Vikings, although I think Alswells that ends well with McCarthy as your quarterback, because if they ended up going 15 and 2, and they won a playoff game and went to the NFC championship,

then Sam Darnold's still your quarterback, my friends, and things are a lot different. So, you know, maybe nature healed itself there with what happened. And the Vikings stayed on the path that they were always going to be on with J.J. McCarthy. But the way that Sam Darnold handled himself throughout all of training camp, all of mini camp, the way he led the team, the fact that that guy just got crushed by everybody, he's the biggest bust. He's terrible. They're going to win six games. I just thought it was brutal.

It was absolutely brutal what he went through in his career. So to see him succeed was great. It was a great story. And if he continues to do it, it will be even better of a guy like Vinnie Testiverty or Steve Young, who just had this really miserable start to his career and then turned it around. It will kind of be an inspiration for every quarterback that struggles early on going forward for the Anthony Richardson's the type. Yeah, Kit says, would you trade for Cam. him Robinson is a backup for a seventh rounder.

How much did they pay him? I don't know. I feel like this team is in good shape now. There's probably not another move to make there. But if they were, let's say that the Texans can't make that happen. And then Derisaw gets banged up. That will be the best option. I didn't like how Robinson played down the stretch.

But that would be the best option rather than playing just in school. You can't play Justin School for more than a game. And Robinson would be someone that you could. So maybe they keep that in their back. pocket. I don't know. Let me get back to your questions in just a minute, but a couple of sponsors to remind you about our friends at ZipRecruiter. I know that a lot of you have businesses out there that listen to the show and you're maybe in a management position. Well, if that is you, then I know how hard hiring is for you. You have to sort through lots of resumes

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they can apply for your job. So ditch the other hiring sites, let ZipRecruiter help you find what you're looking for. Four out of five employers who use ZipRecruiter, get a quality candidate within the first day. Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash audio. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. Okay, let me get back to your comments there. Colton says not too concerned with the cornerback room. I felt like we dealt with it last year and had a top defense.

What are the most plausible moves to make for the Vikings if they want to address it? At this point in the game, it is for the cornerback room. To me, it's the trade deadline. Go through these first number of games, get a good sense of where your secondary is at. And then at that point, oh, Jerich McKinnon return kick. Oh, okay, okay. There you go. Jerich McKinnon totally blanked on that for him returning kicks.

Thank you. But the quarterback room, go through these first seven games, see where you're at. That gives you a pretty darn good look at just what Jeff Okuda is going to be. Because we really don't know if Jeff Okuda is going to be good or not. I mean, he was very good in training camp. And he brought a physical nature to them that we haven't really seen from a corner since Xavier Rhodes. If he fits in in that role and they feel good about their top three, they feel good about where their safety are at then I mean you don't have to make a change there but if somebody gets hurt and they're

struggling and it's just okay or whatever then or it's not great and they're getting taken advantage of or Rogers isn't what he's Isaiah Rogers what he's built to be then that's where you make a move and this team has shown a very strong willingness to make moves in season with this team even Anthony Barr was talking about showing up in the middle of the season for this team. So, oh gosh, says anybody else want to see how Travis Hunter handles corner and wide receiver. That's intriguing. Oh, I agree with that. That's a good point. That is a good point. I was too busy making the joke about the 95 Hall of Fame game. But no, that's right. And Bryce Young. Bryce Young is a number one overall draft pick that everybody wrote off after last year and it looked

like it was over. And then suddenly the light came on and he played very well. But even when you look at the numbers, him playing very well was still just, okay, is there another step for him with that team? Does he get it now with Dave Canales's offense? Or is he going to be kind of just a guy who was drafted number one overall? VA Vikings says, think Donald will pick up where he left off last year, rooting for him, sort of. Well, there is a Viking Seattle game that I think will be really interesting or, you know, maybe. Seattle's just out of it at that point. The concern that I would have is that the

offensive line is not very good in Seattle, but the Vikings' offensive line down the stretch last year was also pretty bad and they won a lot of games with it. VA Viking says with the addition of Thielen, I think Naylor could return kicks or punts, possibly.