Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - What positions should the Vikings target in free agency?

Episode Date: January 28, 2025

Matthew Coller answered your questions, ranging from trading Jordan Addison to what positions should be the priority targets in free agency this offseason. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TD Direct Investing offers live support, so whether you're a newbie or a seasoned pro, you can make your investing steps count. And if you're like me and think a TFSA stands for Total Fund Savings Adventure, maybe reach out to TD Direct Investing. Questions, thoughts, like i'm i'm here it's only uh it's only 10 o'clock after the games but i've got time to ask some answer some vikings questions if you want so throw them in the chat uh skull vikings do we think uh we get new guards and a new center next year at this moment i am projecting three new linemen yeah if they If they cut Garrett Bradbury,

then they'll earn, I think maybe three and a half million on the salary cap. They would have to eat a little bit of dead money. But the thing about Garrett Bradbury is I think that in a different spot, in a different system, Garrett Bradbury at this point in his career would be very good. And the last two years he had improved in pass protection, but this year

they threw down the field a lot more than they did with Kirk. And if that's how they want to play with McCarthy, they can, and I'll bang the drum for that screen game continually to use it more often and be more effective with it. And out of the backfield, throwing the ball to the running backs is just so effective. But if you're going to drop back in the shotgun 35 times a game, and you're going to have Justin Jefferson running 30 yards down the field, hunting explosives time and time again, you just can't have him as your center. I think he's an NFL player. I think in an outside zone system, he would be good. He's a tremendous leader and he's gotten a lot more blame than he deserves over the years. That's my opinion of Garrett Bradbury. I think he's a good player, but I don't think he's fit for what they did this year.

That's just a lot to ask. And so I think they do. Uh, I've, I have felt like it's a better plan to get three new interior linemen that are somewhere in the range of eight to 10 million rather than paying one guy 20 something million. And I'm not so sold entirely that Trey Smith is even going to leave Kansas City after they went to the Super Bowl again. I personally would not leave my homes if I was there. But even Tevin Jenkins, are guys going to get overpaid because there's so much desperation to have a good interior line. Makai Becton is another one. I think three solid to above average players in the middle who are road graders, run blockers.

I know they need to be good at pass protection, but big people who can move people is very important as we saw in today's game. Modern Moose, I've heard a rather large amount of complacent scuttle from folks hoping Quasey takes it easy this off season, which I majorly disagree with. I want to see Quasey go crazy and ramp up the moves. Well, Mr. Modern Moose, for this show's purposes, I personally love doing emergency podcasts, so I can't disagree with your angle there. As far as complacent and not doing anything,

this next year is actually the year that they were really planning for. That's the irony of going 14 and three and then getting your ass kicked in the playoffs is that the Vikings front office was actually planning this whole time for 2025. And if you go back to last off season, we were talking about like, Hey, they're in a transition year. Let's just see what happens. They got a bridge quarterback. They have 71 in dead cap. They've got some players, but they don't have enough. So, Hey, let's just see what happens. And we'll go from there, but you know, like be patient this

season. Then they win 14 games and we go, why didn't you win the super bowl? Which is fair. Cause you get to 14, you should be more competitive than they were. But the point being they've planned to go crazy at this point. Now you don't want to pay people who don't deserve it, but that was the idea. That is why they have gotten to the point where they have all this cap space to be able to use. That's even a major part of my point is if they really felt that they needed to bring back Donald, they can because they have so much space. And if they don't, they have an ungodly amount of space to be able to go and sign free agents. So this is the year that you go crazy and you try to emulate what you did last year

in free agency. So, uh, Skull Vikings, uh, would you trade Addison like Judd suggested? Well, um, oh, Ken, good to hear you won a, an underdog 300 bucks. Nice. Great thing about underdog real quick. This is a, along with the endorsement, but it's actually a true statement. I, there was only 200 bucks in my account the whole year and I didn't run out of money. Like you can, you can just jump in and play for a couple of bucks. So anyway, uh, as far as trading Addison goes, that's going to be a no for me, dog. Uh, I would not do that because, well, I've always got to know the return. Someone's giving you the first overall pick then. Yes, I would. And I'm not saying that's the bar. It's just, everyone's

got a price like breaking bad. Walter White says, no, I want this apartment. They're like, well, this is kind of one we just show to people. And he's like, here's a bunch of money. I want this apartment. Well, it would go the same way with Jordan Addison. And he is going to face the suspension next year, more likely than not. And that's not a lock, but that's possible. But I think Addison really proved to be a very good wide receiver this year for the second straight season. And when he's sort of revolving around the sun, that is Justin Jefferson. He's the right guy to do it. I mean, he's good beating man to man coverage. He never faces a double team. I mean, he is a deep threat. He should be more of an underneath threat than they use him in my opinion, because he is shifty and and he's and he's quick and crafty with the football in his hands i just think they need

to get the ball into his hands faster more often but i would just not take away weapons from jj mccarthy into the future and addison can be that so addison's gonna have as a first round draft pick he is under team control for at least three more years because there's the franchise tag. So you get, or I'm sorry, not the franchise tag, the fifth year option. So they got the fifth year option and he's on his rookie contract for two more seasons. Well, that lines up with if JJ McCarthy takes over, then you have a number two wide receiver that would demand 18 to $20 million in free agency for almost nothing. You need to have that advantage at wide receiver. And if they're

going to trade them away, you better tell me what they're getting. Because if you're just saying, well, draft another player, I, well, I don't know about that. I think it's really important to have a number two wide receiver. That's that good. Uh, Laura says, are you a Vikings fan? Then I am a fan of no team. Uh, I covered the Minnesota Vikings objectively as a reporter, uh, which if you don't know the purple insider story, I moved here in 2016 when I was hired by 1500 ESPN, the ESPN radio affiliate to cover the Vikings did so until the pandemic, they shut down the radio station. I started this, you guys have supported it. It's been incredible, but it doesn't change the way I do the job. And I've even had this conversation with players who

have asked me like, are you guys fans of the team or no? I, I can't imagine trying to do my job while also spending the emotional energy that you guys spend every week. Like there's no way I'd run out of gas in like two weeks with the amount. I mean, you guys live and die with every quarter, every week. I would not be able to do that. So, and also I think that you come to me in part because it is an objective opinion. It's not an emotional reaction and so forth. And I told the player who asked me about this, I told him like, if I was a fan, I would come into the locker room yelling at you for missing a block or something like, come on, man, can't be doing that. So, uh, no, I, I hope, I hope for your guy's sake that someday it happens, but I won't jump up and

down in the press box. If they win the super bowl, I'll be like, all right, headed to the locker room. Got to set up the post game podcast. Here we go. And it'll be fun. I had fun with 14 wins this year. It's not that I don't have fun with you guys when they win. It's just, I'm not rooting for it.

I'm going to be here one way or another. I was here when they won seven. I was here when they won 14. So that's how it is. Uh, Drew says, uh, where do I bet for my Philly pick for the Superbowl? Yeah. I don't bet on games. I'm willing to put $3 down on the fantasy team on underdog, but not, uh, do not bet on games. So I don't know where to bet that, but I tend to agree with you. I tend to agree with you. Yeah. That Philadelphia should win the super bowl, but who's betting against my homes. Jonathan thoughts on Rouse being used at guard next year. I don't love it. I think that Rouse can be moved to guard because we see this all the time now. And I think it's going to be a

trend where tackles get moved to guard a lot more often because the pass protection is just traditional sized guards are getting steamrolled. And so I think a lot of teams are trying to get bigger guys in there to counteract the quickness of the defensive tackles and the power of guys like Vita Vea. That's why Makai Becton, you, I would have never thought he could be a guard. He's a guard and he's in the Superbowl. So I like the idea. Rouse is a mountain of a guy. He's unbelievably intelligent. I did a story on him last year and his uncle, no, his grandfather who had won an NCAA championship with a game-winning basket. And just sitting down with him, I was like, okay, this is one of the smartest people I've ever had a conversation with in my life.

So he's really bright. And I think he's got a toughness aspect to him. I think he's a good pass blocker. I just would not rely on that. Like what I'd like to see from Rouse is a development path. But he could be a guard for them. If you sign another guard, who's a good player to a one-year contract and develop Rouse as a young guy,

that might be an option for the future. So he's not going to play left tackle and he's probably not going to play right tackle because those positions are locked in. So if he's a good player, which I think he is, he needs to be somewhere. Folks. I found something that I didn't even know how badly I needed.

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premium features. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to rocketmoney.com slash purpleinsider today. That's rocketmoney.com slash purple insider today. That's rocket money.com slash purple insider. Once more rocket money.com slash purple inside. Uh, Brian, do you think the Vikings tagged Arnold or let him walk right now? Brian, I'm rolling with percentages because I truly don't know. Uh, I am leaning toward JJ McCarthy will be the starter next year for what I think will happen. And I also

don't think people should be as upset or terrified of the other option happening because they could still spend in free agency the same way they did this year. They just have to, you know, set up the contracts differently, but I am leaning about 60, 40, or maybe even a little bit more depending on what happens. But we're going to find out early in March when the Vikings make a decision on franchise tagging Darnold, because if they tag him and someone wants to trade for him, that will happen quickly. If they do not tag him, then he's just going to become a free agent and then it's over right there. Uh, so I think that we'll know in pretty early March and they'll have to have by

March 15th or whenever free agency opens, they'll have to know how much cap space they have to work with. So we'll have our answer in March. And I would lean toward that. They're going to just say, Hey, JJ, it's your time. Like why wait around for the future? Here we go. Uh, but I can't get inside Kevin O'Connell's head. And if he told me, and we'll see, I'm going to the combine, I'm going to the owner's meeting. So I'll be there and we'll watch them play coy with the quarterback position. But if he said to me, Hey, I'm going with JJ. Cause I think he's ready. Then I'd be like, Hey, right call. You know, better than any of us. The only reason I've opened the door still for

potentially Darnold coming back is if he thinks that McCarthy's not ready to handle this. Maybe after seeing Daniels do it, he thinks he is maybe after seeing the attrition that is the playoffs. He thinks he isn't, I really don't know. Or looking at the schedule for next year. I really don't know. So, uh, let's see Q iller, uh, this at least assures that the bills remain on four with us at the bottom. I wouldn't want that, man. I w I, if I were, I've saw, I saw that from a few Vikings fans who were saying, Oh, I could, Hey, I mean, you know, come on. Like, we don't want them to win.

We want them to be owned for it's like, Oh God, you don't want that. You want teams off that list. You don't want more championships for Philly or for Kansas city. You want, you want new teams to win and then maybe it gives you more hope, I guess. So, uh, let's see, uh, must insert, uh, hoping for an overhaul on the line, just adding at least one more high impact player on both sides. I doubt that that's a Kwesi's money ball strategy. I don't, you think Kwesi's played money ball?

Cause I don't, I, I truly don't. I don't know like what he's done that would suggest that. I mean, the money ball theory in the NFL has often been trade down in the draft. He did it once. It didn't work and he didn't go back to it. The money ball theory would be to not sign top free agents in the first day and to wait and try to sign more guys that were less money. He didn't do that.

He went out and signed the top guys. I mean, the only money ball that they've done would be moving on from Kirk, but that was also obvious because the guy ripped his Achilles and got a hundred million guaranteed from another team. I, I, what I've seen from Casey is this, he is exceptional and include the whole front office at placing a dollar amount on a guy and not, and not going over it. Zedaria Smith wanted more money from them. And they said, you know, I don't think so. Daniil Hunter wanted a lot more money and they said, we don't have it. So let's go to Jonathan Grenard. Adam Thielen didn't want to take a big pay cut. Okay. We'll just draft another guy

and go with it. They've made really, really shrewd moves playing that money ball, which is not being afraid to walk away from the table on guys that don't meet their value and not bending to pay them. So they'll have to do that potentially with Bynum or with, uh, with, uh, Byron Murphy, but that's why their cap situation is so good is because he didn't bend to these proven players and said, you know, we're going to have to go find somewhere else when it comes to the, I mean, they've already O'Connell is campaigning for the interior line. He is with you. So what O'Connell wants, he's probably going to get. And when it comes to the defensive tackle, now is the time. The problem with defensive tackle is last year they went

after Christian Wilkins. Now he got hurt like three weeks in and that was it for him. But Christian Wilkins got like 27 mil a year. Jonathan Grenard was just a better investment. I have to imagine that they will be looking at a lot of the, and, and last year, the opportunity for interior D line was not great. This year it is, uh, it's there when it comes to the, uh, the free agency. And when it comes to the draft, there's a lot of defensive tackle opportunities out there. Uh, Laura says, uh, if JJ did not throw much in Michigan, how does KOC know JJ will be good at throwing since the Vikings are a throwing team? It's a, it's a great question. Uh, now he's going to be judging a lot of it on what happened in training camp last year. And it is only training camp and he was only playing with the second team. But what I saw from

JJ McCarthy, and this was really actually very cool to see how it played out because the media gets to go to OTAs and mini camp. So when we went to rookie camp, OTAs and mini camp, the big takeaway was he throws it hard and he throws it just about everywhere. I mean, left, right, and center all over the place. And by the time he got hurt, he was technically sound, making throws on the run, getting the footwork, right? I mean, he was making a serious push. And that says a lot about him as a player and his ability to develop quickly and what his ceiling can be, that it might be higher than what they thought of Michigan, but the lack of experience and then asking him to start 17 games, they might view that as a lot. They might, uh, let's see mechanized KOC called plenty of short passes back with Kirk.

Do you think it's possible? Darnold just vetoed the short passes and not bad play calling. Um, I, you know, it's hard to pick that apart. I'm going to say no though. I'm going to say that there were checkdowns that Kirk would have done that actually would have been smarter for Darnold. But the thing about Darnold in the short passing game is he was good at it when he did it. And I also watched the tape back and here's why I don't think that that's the case. And is that they have a lot of receivers running deep down the field. Now let's be a little careful at what we're saying about this, because I think that the Kansas city screen game, the Buffalo short pass game, Washington and Philly, all of them,

Philly, just riding that tight end over and over again to Dallas Turner, uh, Dallas Goddard over and over. I mean Turner, uh, Dallas Goddard over and over. I mean, that's all great. And the Vikings need some more flavors of that, but they were a top 10 scoring offense this year by throwing the football down the field. And Justin Jefferson finished with the second most yards in the league. And Sam Darnold was what top five and QB rating. And he was top 10 by PFF. Like Kevin O'Connell didn't do it wrong. It's just that when they needed to lean on a short passing game or a run game in the playoffs, it wasn't effective. It wasn't something that they could lean on. But I do think that this was an adaptation to Darnold.

Darnold was throwing the ball down the field so well all year long. That was the adjustment from Kirk is okay. Now we can open up some of that downfield stuff. And I think some of it was Kirk's decision-making where he did play it safe a lot and went underneath. But let, again, let us be clear. They had a better offense or just as good with Darnold in terms of their scoring as they did with Kirk, if not better. So it's kind of, it's kind of hard for me to say that they screwed it up. I don't think they screwed it up. I think that think of it this way is if you had a bowl, uh, and you were putting ice cream flavors in it, they did not use enough

vanilla instead. Or if you have the Neapolitan, it was like all like 90% strawberry or 75% strawberry and your chocolate, your running game, it's only a little bit and your vanilla is your screen game. And it was almost just not even there. So when they did throw short, it worked when he threw underneath to Aaron Jones coming across the field, it worked. When he threw to Hawkinson, it worked. But it wasn't something that they could counter a great pass rush with consistently

for a whole game very often. So it's a nuanced thing. It's a nuanced thing. Let's see. Yeah. Yeah. This is a great point from Ken. Jordan Phillips picking up a guard and walking him back into my homes is kind of where it's

at right now when it comes. I mean, that's, that's the league right now with the status of defensive tackles versus guards, guards get killed. Like look at the PFF guards. Guards get killed. Like look at the PFF grades. This is really fascinating. Look at the PFF grades from seven years ago and look at them now. There were 30 guards that graded well

as past protectors in 2017, 2016. Right now, there might be eight. I mean, guys are just getting crushed. That's how it is with so many teams putting the major focus on the interior rush. Even Jalen Hurts, the run game got blown up by Frankie Louvu a couple times when it wasn't that comical, him jumping over the line. But all that sort of stuff. I mean, the guards are getting crushed and you have to have answers for that.

Skull Vikings says Cooper Cup wide receiver three. Is he going to get cut traded? I don't hate it. I mean, anytime you say to me, hey, should we get another weapon that's good? I'm going to say sure. If Cooper Cup wants to come to the Vikings and play for KOC, sure. Let's see. Zakira, what do you think about sending a fifth to the Patriots for Joe Milton to be the backup?

Uh, I think Joe Milton played one game at the end of the season. That was sort of hilarious more than it was an indication that he's like a real prospect. Uh, what I want with JJ McCarthy is a Daniel Jones is the guy who makes the most sense, but if he's going to go somewhere else, I would want a veteran with him. I would not want a guy who has no idea what he's doing. Uh, I want somebody who's been out there on the field playing. I mean, Nick Mullins is great for this, but I would want someone who could actually start the season if they had to, because look, McCarthy had a season ending injury. You got to have somebody who's going to be able to play if he gets hurt again. And maybe that's Jones or maybe

that's Mac Jones or somebody. I mean, it's gotta be somebody who's played before as the backup. Andy Dalton might be an answer to this. I wouldn't want it to be a Joe Milton. Then I kind of don't really, I like he's fun. And if it was Madden, I would get him and I would like develop him and make him great. I don't really think that there's starting potential there, but, and I also don't think that the Patriots will give them away. If you draft a quarterback and he does anything, then, you know, they're going to like him. Uh, David says, I think Casey is a further along in the current day and age free agency and salary cap management than where we are currently philosophically offensively, as was clearly evident in these playoff games. I guess I don't entirely follow.

I think that what they plan to do was to have a good season this year and make the playoffs and show progress with the roster and set themselves up for big additions in the future to build around McCarthy. That was the plan. But there was a list of things and Casey laid this out in his press conference last year. And I asked him about it, uh, in his press conference at the end of the year, where there was a list of things that if you checked all the boxes, if Aaron Jones is healthy for 17 games, if Sam Darnold blows up and is a top 10 quarterback, if Jefferson is a top receiver with Darnold,

if the offensive line, which for most of the year actually performed pretty well, if they kind of hold up, if Grenard is elite, if Cashman's great, if Van Ginkle has his best year ever, if the patchwork corners kind of do enough, then you can be a really good team. And all that happened. Even the kicking was

pretty good for most of the year, all that happened. So I think they got ahead of themselves that way. And then the weaknesses were revealed when they got to the playoffs. So now when you go back to the drawing board, you look at a team with a lot of pillars. It's got a lot of things that are set stone, a young quarterback, great receivers, good tackles, great edge rushers, key positions that cost a lot of money or draft capital to get that are in really good shape. But then the rest is the rest is like where the difference is going to be made. What do you do with the safeties? How do you get better corners? How do you get a better line? Who's playing running back? Can you have a coach that learns a little bit from Andy Reed and the way that he drew up so many easy first downs

and goal line plays and things like that. Like those are things that will make the difference here. Uh, they are. And when you look at Philly, there are ways away from that as a complete roster, but they do have a lot of the same things. So Philly has great tackles, great receivers, great edge rushers, but they have the defensive tackles and they've got the center and they've got the guards and they've got the corners. And those are the spots where this money has to go into not patchwork. But that's why they did this. Like, that's why they did this three year competitive rebuild thing was so they wouldn't have to patch work at all. They would, they would just be able to spend and under Kirk, they patch worked and it wasn't enough.

And all of you who tell me, Hey, crazy, he's got to get better at drafting. You know what? You're right. He does. They do. I think when you've only drafted 23 players, you've come out with a handful of key guys. You've developed some that were in house like Bynum and Metellus that you've done a good job overall. Like they're not good, not a great job with the overall drafting, but a good

job with your roster, with young pieces and players that you've drafted, whether you did it or someone else, the Jeffersons, the Derrissaws, all that sort of stuff. But if they draft someone 24th who two years later is off the team, it's going to sting and it's going to make it really hard to make up. You can't just always do it through free agency. So this is a big draft, even though they don't have a lot of picks. But they set this whole thing up. So then they could start spending really in this off season, uh, modern moose. I would love to see

JJ sit another year and observe maybe some filler play. He's so young, but I understand, uh, the pacing of the league and importance of hitting quick. Well, Mr. Moose, uh, you've been on point tonight, I think with your comments, because I feel the same way. I'm not afraid of waiting another year for JJ McCarthy, because even then, if I lay it out for you, it sounds a little less scary. If he were to take over as the full-time starting quarterback at age 23, still younger than Jaden Daniels is today by a lot. And he were doing that with a more full roster. And he was doing it with a year of experience where he could actually practice and have a full training camp and all that, that he would still have two full seasons of rookie contract, but it doesn't end there. That's a very important part. If he

signs an extension, that, that fifth year is still going to be very cheap. And then, then we're talking three years from now. I mean, then we're talking like way down the road. We're talking four years from now. It's a problem. Okay. Well, let's, let's get to the three years first and see what happens. Right? So it doesn't scare me. It, I think a lot of people are impatient with this because of the way that it ended. And had it been something like, uh, the Vikings lost to the Rams 27 to 30 and Darnold was great. Then it would have been a lot more comfort with this. It really is that that performance was so sickening. And I don't blame you.

It was sickening that it's like, I don't want to look at this guy again onto the next guy, which I think is fair. I think it's fair. But if they do take, if they do take the more patient route, I'm not going to say, wow, fire KOC and Casey like, no. And I think it was reported by the way that it's a five-year extension for koc i don't know if that came up in my reaction i think we didn't know yet so it this is the this is good for koc to have a five-year extension because you know what that means that means he

can handle this with patience he does not have to rush and i'm not suggesting and saying you have to stick with Darnold. I'm not saying that I'm saying that he can make the decision. We were just talking about objectivity. He can make the decision objectively and not, well, boy, I got to get to that rookie contract or I'm fired or the rookie quarterback. We've seen how that works in, in, uh, in, uh, Chicago that usually gets people fired. Uh, David says, uh, uh, in, uh, Chicago that usually gets people fired. Uh, David says, uh, uh, I've been consistent in saying that O'Connell needs to get off the Childress chain and alter his approach and blend to meet his personnel. Uh, the calling and

execution of the running game is critical. So I think the first part he's, I don't think that's, I don't think that that's Childress. I think that the adjustment was going to deep shots, which totally worked. They won 14 games. It totally worked. It was Sam Darnold had the best year of his career by 57 miles. It worked. It worked the way they did it. But your point about the, the play calling criticisms of KOC to me were insane. Not if we're talking about the Rams game. The Rams game, I thought that they didn't have an answer once it was clear that they were getting destroyed up front. They did not really get destroyed in the first matchup with the Rams.

They did in this one. And I think that he had planned around the last matchup with the Rams. So guys are running open as your quarterback's getting killed. That's not going to work. So from that perspective, yes, one game Rams game outcoached, no argument for me the whole season though, after what we saw from Sam Darnold, pretty hard to say Kevin O'Connell's play calling is any sort of issue. I think he just got a five year contract because it was so good. Now, when you talk about the run game, that to me is a feel thing for the run game for the coach, but it's also majorly the offensive line, the run game coordinator, who the running back is, you know, the first half of the season, they're averaging

five yards of carry. And it's like, wow, this run game's great. And then Aaron Jones gets banged up and suddenly it's not great. So, uh, yes, Bob Lewis scene is going to the super bowl. Oh man. Life is funny, isn't it? He is a Philadelphia Eagle. He wasn't for most of the year. I think he was a bill. Uh, Derek says, uh, doesn't Rouse have a biomedical engineering degree?

Yes. He explained to me when I sat down to do the article on him that he wants to eventually help after his career is over. I believe it was to create organs that are artificial as opposed to transplants that you can build organs in a lab to just give people transplants. That's what he wants to work on. I went to college to write about football and here we are. So yeah, he's a lot smarter than I am. Yep. Uh, let's see. Purple pessimist. You're being very optimistic with your trade proposal. Trade Addison for McMillan and Irving on the bucks. I don't think they're doing that young receiver who doesn't have any arrests and they're freak running back who averaged five

yards of carry. I don't think they're doing that. Uh, that's the thing about Addison is you are trading. You would be trading something that, uh, you know, people know around the league that there's been off field stuff. So it's not, that value is hurt there. It's definitely hurt there. Uh, let's see. Well, this is true. I must insert, uh, he's liquidated most of the draft capital. Casey shouldn't be apprehensive to give big bucks. No, they plan to do it. Like that's the plan. The plan is to go into free agency and give out a bunch of big bucks. Like that's what they're trying to do here. It's what they did last year. And it's what they're going to do this year. I mean, that's, that's why you move on from Kirk that because, and, and all those older players, because that creates a bunch of cap space to go into free agency. And that's also why they, uh, you know, have created

this culture. I mean, they want to win and it helps them, but they want everybody to know that they're the place to be that, Hey, look, Jonathan Grenard loved it here. Van Ginkle loved it here. Aaron Jones loved it here. Word gets around agents know where you want to play. And I've heard directly from agents. Minnesota is one of their first calls. They know they'll pay the signing bonus and they know they will provide their player with all the stuff for their family. They're set up for their housing and they'll help them with anything and everything that

they need. And then going to work on a daily basis for KOC is top notch and Flores is top notch. So they can get these free agents, but they're just going to have competition. Uh, Alex, uh, where would you re-rank the quarterbacks for the last draft? If you had to count in their supporting casts in the rank. So the sporting cast part, uh, little, little complicated element to that. If you were just ranking them now, of course, Jaden Daniels is number one. Number two is probably Drake May and number three. Well, I mean, where can you rank McCarthy? He hasn't played and it was hurt the whole year.

Number three would probably have to be a Knicks and then Pennix, but I thought Pennix was very promising. And then you just can't rank JJ McCarthy. You just can't like, I didn't see anything of him. And then Caleb Williams had the worst year of anybody. Now the supporting cast, Caleb Williams was supposed to have a good supporting cast and it just didn't work because the supporting cast also has to do with, uh, the coaching and the coaching was terrible. So if we're ranking them right now of how it went after their first year, then yeah, I mean, I I'm, if it's how it went, Drake may was not number two, but I thought he was very promising in his performance with a horrible sporting cast.

So I would still have him number two behind Daniels. And I think there were a lot of major red flags with Caleb Williams, but you know, last year, Bryce Young couldn't even play. And this year he played pretty well and they won more games. So I don't know. Uh, Alex, why hasn't Kwesi's extension gotten done yet? It's a good question. Uh, the fact that Schefter reported it's on the way makes me believe that the organization texted Schefter and said it's on the way. I would, I would guess. So I'm assuming that that comes out next week. I mean, usually teams don't drop bombshells on championship Sunday. The league likes to have the space. So, and not that it's a bombshell, but it would be like a news release. So maybe next week, I think if we get weeks, weeks separated,

then we will start asking, is there something happening there? And what's the power dynamic and, uh, you know, whatever that's, but that's, it's going to take weeks for me to think that if we get to the combine and he doesn't have an extension, okay, like what's going on here. And we'll ask him, but I don't think we're going to get there. Uh, Marty Gra interior offensive line, running back position and develop a short passing game. I agree with all that. The running back position, there's a, there's a good number of interior offensive linemen, uh, in free agency. So I think like that should be fine. They should be able to go out and spend some money there for the first time. That's really been the issue. Why is it so bad? They don't spend money there. They tried a draft pick. Didn't work. You're just up a Creek, but now they should be able to spend money. The running back position

is just a little bit more tricky because bring back Jones, not inspiring as, as much as I respect Aaron Jones, Rico Dowdle is the only real guy. Do you cobble it together? Do you draft a running back? I think drafted running backs can come in quicker, but if the guy's not good, then you're in trouble. You know, uh, Ken says, how about the high number of fourth downs that were played in the game tonight?

I loved it. Ken, I got to tell you something, man. Little tear, little tear came to my eye, rolled down my cheek, and it had Dan Campbell's face in the tear, and it dripped off of me. And I thought about all the times over the years that people like myself grew up playing Madden, going for fourth downs.

I did a story. Well, look, I did a whole book on analytics and football and the analytics movement. And it's not all about fourth downs, of course, but that's part of it is part of the movement. And to see that the math had showed time and time and time again, that going for fourth downs, as opposed to punting the ball away was a better idea. And now seeing it in the flesh come to fruition. It's a, it's a good feeling. It's a good feeling because you think, all right, okay. I wasn't a crazy person with the research that I did and the interviews and all the, the smart math people that had it right. And now it's working, but it did change the game when the bills didn't get one so uh laura another a good comment here i wonder how justin is feeling having so many different quarterbacks i know he said it's not going to affect the way he plays but it's hard not to have consistency i know and i was thinking that

same thing as they were going through the season with him and Darnold getting on the same page as, and, and look after they won their 14th game and destroyed green Bay. I thought you can't take Darnold away from Jefferson now, not the way they're playing now. I think a lot of us thought that right after the way he played against green Bay. So the fact that it fell apart so badly in the playoffs, I mean, there's a big sample there of Justin Jefferson catching a lot of beauties from Sam Darnold. I, you can't weigh that a lot as far as their decision-making they have to go with what they planned on going with. But if you're Jefferson, yeah, I mean, you're really, really hoping and really banking on JJ McCarthy better be that guy that's going to be with him long-term. So, uh, let's see.

Mike says, uh, if you went from Andy Dalton and let, uh, I assume you mean Darnold and Jones walk and get a comp pick. Um, Oh, what would I say? What would I say to that? Yeah. As opposed to what would I sad to that? That's probably like a Freudian, uh, typo, but, um, Andy Dalton being the backup with JJ McCarthy, if McCarthy's ready to go, then, then do it. Uh, and yeah, I mean, the Jones comp pick is probably going to be like a sixth rounder. It's not going to be something special. And as far as, uh, Darnold goes, you're probably looking to trade him. If you can find somebody that's going to be a, a, a partner, but I don't see how there wouldn't be one. I don't see how the Raiders or the Steelers or somebody would not want to try to upgrade the Titans at quarterbacks. I just,

I mean, maybe cam word is the top draft pick in Tennessee. I just don't know. I was not a big cam word guy. I thought he made a lot of exciting plays, but I didn't see a lot of NFL quarterbacking there in college. You know, and I also didn't see the arm that my homes has or something. He was a lot of fun as a college watch, but I didn't see him as a number one draft pick. So if you're Tennessee and you've spent all that money last off season for Pollard and, and for what Deandre Hopkins and all that, you know, I know Hopkins isn't there, but they were trying to win and it didn't happen that they might be a team that would do that. Uh, Zakira bring in Ryan Kelly to replace Bradbury, uh, and a new run game

coordinator and watch the offense flourish. Well, yeah, I don't think it's quite, uh, as simple as the center being replaced, but Kelly is a long time, better pass protector. And that's really what they need. They really need a center that is, uh, going to, uh, they really need a center. Who's going to be a pure pass protector. Uh, I assume this is responding to a Walter Rouse. Taylor says that's all he wants to do after football is just try to create organs that can, uh, work for organ replacements and save lives and whatever. Well, that that's what he wants to do, man. That's Walter Rouse. Let me tell you something about NFL locker rooms. There's probably in every NFL locker room, a handful of guys who have no idea what they're doing and aren't that sharp.

But from a player to player basis, these guys, Josh Metellus was going to be a lawyer or something. Cam Bynum went to kale. Like the old jock football player who gives you a swirly in high school or whatever is not making the NFL. These guys have to be very, whatever is not making the NFL. These guys have to be very, very intelligent to make the league. And you have to process so much

information. You have to know how to handle yourself in the NFL. And a lot of times, if these guys had other careers, they would be huge success stories. So it doesn't shock me with Walter Rouse, but having Dobbs on the team one year and then Rouse on the team the next year, you're like, okay, these guys are in a different world to me than, uh, you know, than I am from an education and IQ perspective. So, um, let me see here. Uh, Bob wants a first round running back, you know, Bob in years past, I would have said, get out of here, Bob. But now I'm no longer saying it after the way that the running backs have played such a big role in the passing game, short passing game, pass protection,

my goodness. And the fact that you can lean on a running game when the other team's beating you in the pass rush, it just is. It's just not crazy. And a youper guy makes the same case as trying to draft a running back in the first round would help the offense. AP was a game changer. So was Delvin cook. I know we have a lot of holes, but look at what Gibbs did for the lions.

I think the thing about running back when you draft one is if you can, or even free agency, if you can give that guy everything else, then it is crazy hard to stop. This is historically Thurman Thomas, Emmett Smith. Like there's not too many running backs throughout the history that, okay, that guy's the whole offense. Good luck. No, I usually don't work that way. Usually it works like Marshall Falk or Saquon Barkley, who to me is like Marshall Falk or Christian McCaffrey. If you've got everything else, the scheme, the line, the receivers, the passing game, and then that guy, it's very hard to stop. And the Vikings have most

of that. Uh, let's see. I think pronounced trochan. Should we target a running back at free agency or the draft? Which are your leading candidates? So in the draft, I think Jenty is going to be gone fairly high. But O'Marion Hampton is intriguing to me. And Caleb Johnson of Iowa. I kind of think about maybe a trade back into the second round. I really want a defensive tackle in the first round because the defensive tackles are so hard to replace with free agents.

There's a few that are good and certainly they could help, but maybe there's like five that are good in free agency. And if you draft one, you get to keep that guy and he's worth so much. They pay those guys 27 million now. So your surplus value is enormous. But in the third round, if you're talking about Caleb Johnson, there's a couple other guys, Cam Scataboo. Those are all fine with me. I don't know which one's going to work out and which one's not, but they're all fine with me.

And as far as free agency, there's just not that much. I could pull up the list for you here. Hopefully over the cap sometimes melts my computer. So be patient. If I glitch trying to look at the free agent list, but the, um, the running backs, you have Najee Harris. Who's kind of interesting to me. Uh, first rounder Najee Harris, who has been pretty good for them. Pretty reliable. Uh, do you want a banged up Nick Chubb? Not really Rico Dowdle. Javante Williams is not good. JK Dobbins has been injured, but is pretty good. Jalen Warren. Oh, he's an RFA. Yeah. That's kind of it. That's kind of it. As far as guys in free agency, and this is why they might need to draft one,

or they might have to bring back Aaron Jones because Rico Dowdle and Najee Harris and JK Dobbins. That's, that's all there is folks. There are not a lot of, or, you know, a guy who might be interesting to them is Khalil Herbert. Khalil Herbert was really good with the bears and then suddenly wasn't and got traded away. But if you're looking for maybe like a one year signing, you could have some upside. I think Khalil Herbert's a guy to look at. KFT going back to the the Bills game here. Why did the one ref with a bad view of the fourth down line the ball up a half yard from where the other ref and the guy with the better view lets him mark the ball short KFT?

I wish I had an answer for you, my friend and Buffalo fans will be looking for that answer for many, many years to come. How did one ref say first down one team and another ref says first down the other team. And in a rational world, you call nothing and go to the tape in a rational world, in a rational world, the ref should have an option where they go. I don't know what happened. Here's another thing too. Was it really a catch from Xavier worthy when both guys came down with the football? Not totally sure that it was look to me like the ball hit the ground. And it also looked like neither guy really had possession

but if anybody did it was the bills player so look i mean those are the margins but if you're asking me why did it work that way the mechanics i have no idea you have to get a you're gonna have to get a ref specialist there so uh let's see kft uh i saw someone on ESPN said Pete Carroll was told when he took the job of the Raiders, they were getting Darnold. Okay. Well, if I'm Pete Carroll, think about it this way. And I'm 74. I don't know about draft and develop. Okay. You can't draft and develop people when you're 74. I have always thought that Sam Darnold and the Raiders made a ton of sense. Al Davis's history, Mark Davis, his son echoes of deep passing games, big arm quarterbacks. And Pete Carroll is like an old ass KOC, right? He's got some limitations, but he's a really enthusiastic guy likes to run first play action off of it, which is not really KOC, but

they did a lot of that early in the season with Darnold and the play action worked. So yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I think it, I just, I've always circled that as making the most sense. Uh, Derek says, I hope that, uh, Dallman hits free agency. You're talking about the center from Atlanta. Yeah. He would be a big, I totally agree. He'd be a big target. Yep. Might be a higher target than Trey Smith. My concern with Trey Smith is that he's played for Kansas city and Kansas city is a King maker. And, and I'm not saying he's not great. He is, but it's a King maker. It makes everybody better to play in Casey. So is he going to be the same? And also the cost because you play in Casey, you're, I mean, you're paying 25% more for a guy. If you, if there was a guard of equal talent in Carolina

and Kansas city, I promise you the Carolina guards, not getting as much of free agency. You should look for the Carolina guard, not necessarily the guy Smith is not, has not been as high for me because of that. I just don't think it's going to be a good deal. Uh, Trokin, uh, is there less fear of KOC losing key members of the coaching staff? I, yeah, I mean, Grant, you didn't ski has gotten a couple of, uh, interviews for OC, which really surprises me, but it doesn't look like McCown's going anywhere. Uh, maybe he could go to the jets. He knows Aaron Glenn, I think.

But aside from that, Flores is very, very likely staying if not a hundred percent now. And McCardle West Phillips. Yeah. It looks like everybody in the staff is going to be here except for maybe, maybe one person. So,

uh, Zakira trade back in the first and grab defensive tackle Harmon. I haven't done all my research on defensive tackles yet. I did run across. Is he the guy from Oregon? Um, let's see. We need a interior pass rush. Totally agree. Uh, grab Jaden blue in the third fastest running back in the draft. I like it. I like that plan. Top-notch defensive tackle and a running back in the mid round, but don't wait till the end because the middle still is pretty good, but the end of the draft, that's going to be tough. Uh, let's see. Uh, anyway, well, let me see here. Um, I see it. More of you people are frustrated with the Super Bowl matchup.

I know you just what are you going to do? I would have liked it to be a little bit different. But what are you going to do? So you per guy says, if you're the Vikings GM, who would GM collar pick in the first? I mean, I'd go DT. You're going to hear me say that a lot. I saw Mel Kiper hasn't taken a corner, but I would go DT. I're going to hear me say that a lot. I saw Mel Kiper has him taking a corner, but I would go DT. I think corners are easier to get in free agency than defensive

tackles. There might be three to five who are even worth anything for defensive tackles in free agency, where if you get one and he's good, you are going to be good for a long time at that position. So there's the kid from what Kentucky, I got to memorize the names. I haven't gotten there yet in my draft prep, but the best pass rushing defensive tackle that the 24th pick can find. We've seen a lot of those guys in that range turn out to be really good and impactful players. So that's where I would go as of right now, but there's like 85 days till the draft. So I got to see what's going on in the combine and do some draft Sims and like, let me get there. Let me get there. We just, we just found out who's in the Superbowl. So anyway,

well, it's been a really fun chat guys. Great stuff tonight. Thanks for reacting with me. I really appreciate all the conversation and discussion in the chat. These live chats, if you're somewhat new to it, uh, we're going to, yeah, the old miss guy. Yeah. The old miss guy. He's good too. Morgan. I agree. I got to get the names memorized for the draft. I'm not there yet, but, uh, if you're new to this welcome, uh, there's going to be a lot of these chats throughout the off season. Usually it's Monday, Thursday, or kind of the nights that I'm going to do them. And it ends up being all you guys. If you can't watch live or jump into the chat,

send me an email at Matthew collar. Let me get, I got the, hold on. I got a thing at the bottom of the screen that I can show. Where is it? Hold on. There it is.

There it is. Email Matthew collar at Gmail, tweet me at Matthew collar or sign up for the newsletter purple insider.football again i've got the future of the vikings series every single day including tomorrow's defensive line but i've already done quarterback running back wide receiver and offensive line purple insider.football go give it a look consider signing up for the newsletter great way to support the show make sure that i can do stuff like going to the combine and so forth and uh i'm looking forward to that but until then we'll have so much fun so much discussion i've got a plan to do uh

nfc north awards that i think will be fun uh yeah deon walker is is the guy from Kentucky. Yep. So anyway, thanks so much for watching and reacting to today's games. Only one more football game this year. So thank you so much to everybody. And we will talk to y'all soon. Appreciate it. Football.