Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - What we learned from sit downs with Kevin O'Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah

Episode Date: February 28, 2024

Andrew Krammer of the Star Tribune and Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press react to the beat writers' sit down with the Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach and Kevin O'Connell and what they had to say about the quarterback situation and much more... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here along with Andrew Kramer of the Star Tribune and Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press to break down what we heard today from Kevin O'Connell and Kweisi Aflamensa in our sit-down session. Only a handful of beat reporters and all of us were so blessed to be invited. So really appreciate the Minnesota Vikings doing that. Not every team is even here, much less sitting down with their beat reporters, so we appreciate it. And I think the place that we have to begin, fellas, is that the players of the Minnesota Vikings, according to an NFLPA survey, voted Kevin O'Connell the

number one head coach to deal with in the entire National Football League. He was the only coach to be given an A-plus and uh i was able to break that news to him he had not seen it uh at the time that we met with him and i think his reaction was that it was important because they had a good year in 2022 and it would be easy to have a good culture in 2022 because you had a lot of veterans and a lot of wins. But to have it in 2023, Andrew, I think it was a lot harder and reflective that this man has a special ability to listen to his players, to connect with his players, to understand them, and to be able to galvanize a locker room even under adverse situations.

Yeah, and I think you're seeing around the league, whether it's Dan Quinn getting hired in Washington, we're seeing teams, D'Amico Ryans in Houston, prioritize leaders, prioritize people who can stand in front of a room and not just be an X's and O's guru and scheme things open. And I think that that's where Kevin Connell falls in line when you ask, what does he bring to the table? That's one of the biggest things. And players say it, they voted it, that this guy can stand in front of the room and listen to us and we actually feel like he's being genuine about taking our input changing things i mean this goes back to his first year when he's talking about adam thielen helping

adjust routes on certain pass plays listening to a veteran right out of the gate and it speaks to to the strength of the locker room i think of the next guys that were up whether it's a brian o'neill or a josh metellus or the guys who are taking those leadership positions from those veterans. They have a leadership council with Kevin O'Connell. They meet with them regularly and they feel heard. And then that message is carried on with a genuineness that I don't think was there, certainly at the end of Mike Zimmer's tenure, where his message had gotten worn out. So even though they went 7-10, it wasn't a winning season, I do think that Kevin is right in that that reflects even greater

than last year's marks because it's really easy to say, things are great when we're 13-4. I think culture, right? That was always the buzzword coming in to this season or to last season even. And I think it's easy to have a good culture coming off 13 and 4. yeah but it's also easy to have a good culture coming off the previous regime and how sour things ended there so the fact that they were able to kind of parlay that into an a plus this year they are really building something i think the word culture can be a buzzword kind of in this

landscape that we live in um but when you when it's happening and when it's real, you can see it. And I think it's a good sign for the Vikings moving forward. Good culture doesn't necessarily mean now you're going to automatically win the Super Bowl, but it certainly is a nice foundational piece and certainly a big piece of the puzzle that the Vikings can feel like they did hit a home run with Kevin O'Connell. And now the job is to build the roster and move forward in a way that they can contend for Super Bowls not only once, twice, but consistently. And that's kind of the next step. Of course, the first tweet that I received when I sent that out was,

does this mean we win the Super Bowl? Like, well, maybe someday. But let me try to connect it to the bigger picture of the Vikings decisions that they have to make this offseason on a direction and on a quarterback I think that the best way to go about this is patience is not to look at this as if it's the Mike Zimmer era where you better win or you're fired I look at going back a ways to someone like Marvin Lewis and how he was twice given the patience to rebuild the Cincinnati Bengals and both times built them into legitimate contenders.

Now, I'm sure there are other examples. It's just the first one that comes to my mind. And with Kevin O'Connell, if you know that he can create a solid foundation of what you have, and we know that he can draw up offensive plays and there are criticisms and they're reasoned, but you can improve a running game with a better run game coordinator. You can improve with a better line. You can shape an offense better, which we'll get to a quarterback than maybe he did in the middle of the season last year. But what you can't

replicate is the ability to handle human beings. And it has never been more clear than in this NFL PA study that he can do that. And guess who finished dead last? Josh McDaniels. Now, if you went X's and O's for X's and O's, how do you think those two match up? Probably pretty good, right? If you went to a whiteboard and you said, you draw me up this and this coverage and what's this read? They probably go toe-to-toe. But what's a coach's job?

That's half of it. The other half is you have hundreds of people to manage. You have relationships with front office. You have relationships with players. You have leadership, you have egos, you have all these things going on. And he has been able to command those things as his kind of superpower as a head coach. And I think what that should mean is you can give this person time and work the roster around them because you know they can guide you through the choppy waters as they did last year. And that's kind of how I look at the Lions with Dan Campbell, where they hired him to guide them through choppy waters.

They got through it through two seasons of adversity and came out on the other side. I think the Vikings' ownership should view it that way with Kevin O'Connell. Yeah, Dan Campbell's a great one. I should have mentioned earlier, too, along the lines of leadership. Somebody who's not necessarily known, like Ben Johnson's the guy who gets all the shine for running that offense. Well, Dan Campbell's an offensive guy, but he knows how to delegate,

knows how to lead people, knows how to galvanize, and O'Connell can do that. And speaking of the quarterback decision, I think they're banking, and we've heard they are banking on that relationship with Kirk Cousins making a difference, not only being the incumbent team, being the team that he's comfortable with where his family lives, but also with the head coach that is a complete 180 from his relationship with the previous head coach.

They're banking on that making a difference as Kirk Cousins is fielding offers here in Indianapolis in the next couple of weeks. Oh, no, that's tampering. Oh, sorry. Sorry. I thought last night I may have seen someone tampering, but they weren't. They were just talking about the storm that almost killed all of us who were out last night. Dane, how do you feel like this connects to the quarterback position? Because in another way, you could look at it and say this is the guy who forms relationships and he's done that with Kirk Cousins and he has talked about yesterday and even today their relationship how close they have become and I don't want to call him like the Cousins whisperer or something but I think it's always been a problem a little bit with coaches

of certain types and cousins. Like certain types get along with him really well. Like Sean McVay, a very positive, reinforcing, great communicator. And others like Mike Zimmer have not, who are old school, rough and tumble, that kind of thing. And so I think that his relationship with Kevin O'Connell, if now we're making this a Kirk decision, is he choosing you as opposed to are you choosing him? That has to factor in for Kirk Cousins. Yeah, I think it certainly does. And I think when you look at Kirk and the way he's been treated or the way he's been perceived being treated over the course of his career, I think Kirk's always been someone who

is operated with a chip on his shoulder, wants to be the chosen one or wants to be picked, wants to be wanted. And I don't think he's always felt that in his career. I know he didn't feel it in Washington. I know he didn't feel it early in his career with the Vikings with the way things seem to fray with Mike Zimmer. I think he feels it now with Kevin O'Connell. And I think that's important because Kirk Cousins is someone who's always liked to test the market. He's always liked to see what's out there. He's one of the best business people that we've ever seen as far as maximizing his value and turning it into dollars. Maybe this makes him kind of take a step back and say, what is important to me at this point in my career? He said it at the end of his season locker room availability. It's not the

dollars. It's what the dollars represent, but it might also be the situation you're in. He's coming off an Achilles tear. Obviously he's going to be 36. This is the twilight of his career. He was playing really well last year with Kevin O'Connell, but I think if Kirk can take a step back and realize this is a guy that I genuinely get along with the guy that I feel on the same page with maybe in a way I haven't over the course of my career and not to mention all my teammates seem to feel the same way too the grass isn't always greener and then maybe this isn't kind of an example of that that Kirk can kind of see before he gets into you know kind of the speed dating world of free agency where everyone's trying to woo him over

the course of 48 hours and certainly not tampering before before the deadline happened well and and remember kirk took six million to come to minnesota over the jets so it's not always all about the money he knew then that the jets were a bad fit and who doesn't um so to your point dane like yet i think he's made those decisions before where he sees past the money, and I think he's going to make them sweat for sure. So something I came away with from our sit down with Kweisi and Kevin O'Connell was I really don't think they know what he's going to do. I don't even know if they have a good sense for it. It feels like this is in Kirk's hands, that Kirk knows basically what they're willing to offer and what their offer is going to be and what they're willing to put down on the table. And then it could come down to those two things, whether he comes back and says, hey, guys, the Vegas Raiders just offered me representative dollar differences, dollar differences that show me they appreciate me more. And I also think that I can't remember who or when this question was asked to them, but about like last year and how that impacts this year.

Because when we talk about Kirk sort of feeling disrespected throughout his career, feeling underappreciated, we know that he's been this way. And how much does it factor into him that last year they wouldn't come to his side and now they're coming back and saying, no, Kirk, we love you. And here's our offer. And we want to keep you around. But even last year, you weren't willing to go the years that I wanted to go if I'm Kirk and all these things with him seem to settle in there for him psychologically, because he will bring up that in high school he didn't have offers i mean i'm over high school but i just you know you got to think about all these things that

his disposition has been a kind of a defensive one about hey am i really appreciated and so if their offer is not higher than someone else i think that he might go for a higher offer if it also has a situation that is as good or better. And the other thing, too, is he's got to want to win, because if we're thinking about what is he insecure about, it's probably that he hasn't won many playoff games. And this is where I keep coming back to Atlanta. And as I talk to people around here, we were at establishments and things last night talking football with pretty much anyone who came near us. And I just get the sense that someone's going to go farther than the Vikings with Kirk Cousins. And Atlanta is the one that everybody keeps coming back to. Yeah. And if they do, then that's where it goes back to the push pull of, well, if the dollars are really if what he cares about is what the dollars

represent and someone like let's just say the atlanta falcons comes in with an offer that is far greater than the vikings then where does that middle ground end up because i think there is something to be said about being comfortable being familiar not having to come in and if it is the atlanta falcons have to sell yourself to this whole team kirk cousins as we kind of know and has i think he knows isn't for everyone so all of a sudden you have to win over a new locker room he's won over this locker room the vikings locker room as a whole seems to really gravitate towards this guy in a way they didn't early in the in his career in his tenure in minnesota so when when you look at

those things where does he kind of land and and i think you're right i don't know if quacey and kevin know right now how things are going to happen if he were to get to market if it gets to a point where he's talking to other teams and i think that's where the unknown is is if it gets to that point it might be too late because we don't know where this guy is going to go once he's being wooed by everyone else. I truly do not think they know right now, but I do know the look on their faces when they talked about talking to the rookie quarterbacks. They seemed pretty pleased with some of the answers that they got. And I think after the last two quarterback classes clearly the top three of the previous class last year was all very good as prospects but the year before was tremendously bad

and so the will levis was their only option and i think that they've been sort of going now man like these aren't these guys aren't for us there just appears to be a more of a vibe of that they could find themselves liking some of these quarterbacks and that's what this quarterback class was supposed to be so i asked him directly about whether he needs a quarterback who fits him as a person who fits his offense or if he is more adaptable and this was the question i got most people would direct message or email me and say why don't you ask KOC if he can adjust his offense and the thing is I don't think he can't I think Dobbs I think Mullins and I'm gonna stick with that and his answer was pretty interesting though because he said it's really hard in the middle of a season to just adapt and change an offense and I think

that had Mullins played as opposed to dobbs and and there was never the dobbs thing we wouldn't be saying this as much because he would have just run kirk's offense and it would have looked the same except for he would do wild stuff that was insane and throw the ball down the field but it would still be the same dobbs created this like well his skill set's different so why aren't they doing different things and the one different thing they did was have the tight end pitch him the ball which is is the worst play ever. So I understand where people are coming from, but his answer to me was, if you have that player and you have that entire off season and you have that entire OTAs and the entire mini camp, and you can implement it,

that you can adjust and adapt. But he also said that there are non-negotiables for him. And one of those is accuracy, and one of those is toughness, and one of those is how a quarterback processes. And clearly he has his definitions of those things. So did you guys believe him that he can actually draft a quarterback and adapt his system to their strengths, or do you think there has to be a KOC quarterback? No, I believed him because the first part of that answer was him saying, well, pushing back and saying, well, no, it was hard to do it mid season, but it won't be

with a fall off season with a guy when you know his skillset and you get to get to know him through OTAs and installs and get to build things around him and the other 10 guys on the field that you just can't. What's going to be fascinating is if they somehow keep Kirk and draft the next guy, are you going to have two offenses? Is there going to be, are you going to have to make a JJ McCarthy or Bo Nix or whoever run the Kirk offense? Or are you going to be kind of tweaking something behind the scenes, getting ready for the young guy when he does get into the game?

That is, that part's going to be fascinating, but I do believe him in that sense. Because I think O'Connell's always come across across and at least been we hadn't seen him challenged until last year because he's been with kirk but he's always come across and said that i'm more flexible than a he doesn't say this but then a kyle shanahan a guy who with the 49ers has obviously got his style of things and you need to step in and fit it which is is why Brock Purdy does and Trey Lance didn't. And with the Vikings, I think they've always talked about being more flexible. We had reported last year,

they were interested in Anthony Richardson. That's pretty flexible. I think if you're interested in jumping in on the guy like that, who wouldn't be, you got to mold some things around him that are different than with Kirk. So I think he's going to be open to that. And I also thought it was interesting that both him and Kweisi were glowing about the interviews they've already had with these quarterbacks and saying that it's great to

come here and get a lot of things confirmed from what we saw on tape or just what we thought of these guys' personalities. It seems they were enamored coming into the combine with this class. It seems that they might be even more enamored with it after. Folks, have you ever heard of test driving a phone network? I did not make this up. It is an actual thing. And U.S. Cellular is letting you test drive their network for free for 30 days. You can try out U.S. Cellular wherever you have that spotty service, like on your commute to work, that one spot in your house where your service dips. Test drive U.S. Cellular

at your kid's school on parent teacher night okay maybe still pay attention but by all means make sure you test it it's as easy as doing a little boop boop boop on your phone that was me getting the app to try it out i know great sound effects there test drive us cellular award-winning network for 30 days us cellular built for us terms apply awards based on open signal independent data visit us cellular.com for details i think when you're in like that echo chamber of the season and you're watching things play out with the quarterback position after kirk goes down and you're watching kevin o''Connell struggled at times but really the team as a whole struggle at times there is a thought of can this guy adaptable does it have to just be his way or the highway and I definitely had that thought last year especially

coming out of the bye when Kevin O'Connell told us we're going to change the offense in a way that will best suit Josh Topps and then they didn't they came out in gun run one time and then they basically made him drop back 25 times he scored zero points and then they ended up winning because Nick Mullins scored three points and the Raiders scored zero but there were times last year when I thought if the Vikings are going to move on from Kirk they're going to need to find Kirk in the draft or someone that plays a style that Kevin O'Connell stands by. I'm willing to give him the benefit of doubt now because he's right. Like it is hard to, after installing one thing,

10 guys that aren't the quarterback, no one offense, just to come out after the buy and say, you know, we're an option team now. It's not fair to the rest of your players. And then I get that. So it's probably an oversimplification in your head when you're thinking about it during the season. Well, why doesn't he just change his style?

I think he can. He, he, he didn't rise to this level so quickly because he was so rigid. And I think he's always shown the ability to kind of scheme guys open. It's obviously why he rose so quickly up the ranks. And I just don't think that that's one thing that he can't move and shapeshift in a way that we've kind of seen him do at times. I don't know if Kirk Cousins was his optimal quarterback

when he decided to take this job. And he's got Kirk Cousins playing as well as he has at points of his career so I I'm inclined to believe him that if they move on from Kirk Cousins and they draft a guy that plays a different style than Kirk Cousins that he can make the offense work in a way that's still going to get guys open and trust that guy whoever it is to throw the ball to them so last year I walked out of Indy and I went back to my home and I wrote and said on the podcast, I don't think they're extending him. It just didn't feel like they were close the way that everyone talked. How do you guys feel right now? And if

you're wrong, that's fine because I don't think they know what's going to happen, but how do you feel this plays out right now? If you had to guess. Yeah, I remember I was agreeing with you last year because I remember writing my last story out of Indianapolis was about how, man, they're meeting with who would have been the rookie quarterback. Yeah, with the Will Levis is the whatever. And like, they really seem like they're trying to prepare for life after Kirk. And we had known that they loved this 2024 this year's class better than last year's. But they were hammering on that last year's class, too, in case they could get one of those top guys.

And then that goes back to the Kirk negotiations and all that right now, if I had to bet though, I would bet that they signed Kirk to an extension. I bet they call his bluff. They let him go out and look for the open market and his best offer. And I don't think that offer is going to be enough to pull him out of what the Vikings offer is going to be enough to pull him out of what the Vikings offer is going to be. If that's one and a half years guaranteed or whatever it might be. I would be shocked if another team's willing to give him three years fully guaranteed, like he got from the Vikings when he left Washington. He was a lot younger then, obviously he was healthier then. I know he's a better player now, but I think the Vikings are

eventually going to lure him back for all the reasons that we just stated. And I also think they're going to go draft a quarterback. I feel the opposite. I think that it's going to end at some point over the next two to three weeks. And I think it's going to end because of Kirk's side of the coin. I think the Vikings have remained pretty steadfast that they want him back. And I believe them. I believe that Kevin O'Connell wants him back. I believe that Kweisi Dafa Mensah wants him back.

And I believe that they think that they've made a really good impression on Kirk over the last two years. But I don't believe that those two years are enough to supersede everything else that's happened in Kirk's life. And I think there's going to be a team that offers him more money and that's going to be what he equates with value and what he recates with feeling valuable to a franchise. And I really think that at the end of the day, that's going to be the thing that tips the scale. I think the Vikings have done a good job making him feel valued and wanted over the last two years. But I think Kirk, you don't change in two years.

I think he is who he is. And I think if a team is willing to offer more money than the Vikings, that's going to be enough. I would be. So the thing to me is remember when Kirk spoke to us last and he mentioned that structure is more important to him than the overall money. So to me, and I think we're generally on the same page of this,

that he's looking for guaranteed dollars next year and potentially even the year after that. That's going to be the thing, that if a team comes like the Falcons and says, here's three years, $40 million fully guaranteed, I would agree with you. I would be shocked if another team will give him that second or even third year that he's looking for, because he wants to be known as the guy.

And he's probably looking to cash out with one more big deal. So something that I've thought about a lot is just Kwesi Daffo-Menta, his background, and how he views the football universe and why you brought him here. Why you brought him here was to put value on assets and to put value on things that you want to acquire and decide what's the right amount of

dollars to acquire that for what is the right amount of dollars that you are going to spend of your ownership's money and right amount of years and time that you're going to spend with your franchise around a guy who's 36 with an achilles injury my answer would be not not much for either side it would be not much can be guaranteed past one year. Not much can be. I mean, even just when it was Casey last year who said, we can't project two years out. You can't project two years out now.

You can't project one year out with this injury. And I think that makes it very tricky for them to put down an offer that nobody will be. And what runs football is desperation around the league. Atlanta has to be desperate. The Raiders went eight and nine with Aiden O'Connell starting most of the season. Now we've heard this before,

but it is true. Like if they get Kirk cousins and he's how much better than Aiden O'Connell, right? How much better is he than Desmond Ritter? And even how much better of a fit is he with Sean Payton than Russell Wilson was? Russell Wilson's a terrible fit for Sean Payton's offense, but the guy had a mobility-limited, accurate, smart quarterback in New Orleans that worked for him, and they are run by Walmart.

Walmart! Are they not going to be willing? And look, they have a former Viking guy in their front office who I would assume can call Rob Brzezinski and ask for some reminders how to mess with the salary cap. Right. And so I look at Denver as maybe the most underrated potential place for Kirk Cousins to go. I just feel like there's too many teams and it only takes one to go crazy. And if they go crazy, I think Casey and Kevin O'Connell are prepared to say, all right,

we can't go crazy with this decision. That's why you brought Casey here, not to be the panic, the reactionary, but to be the black and white. This is our line in the sand. And I think someone will cross it, but I also am certain that Kevin O'Connell is going to want a veteran answer to go along with a draft pick. That he's not going to be like, oh, well, we'll just draft a guy and play him year one and see what happens. I think he wants to have a defined, this is the guy that you are getting me instead of Kirk.

I think what became clear last year is that he wants, whoever the next guy is, he wants to give them a runway and kind of groom them and have them sit for a little bit. Because I think he sees how often these guys get thrown out there and just get turned into a mess. Yeah. Let me just, so we've got, all right, that's on record. Whoever is wrong might turn into a milkshake. I'll be on an island. That's all right. All right. Yeah.

You know, we split our milkshake bets last year. You lost on Ivan Pace, but you won on K.J. Osborne. It is what it is. So there's a few other things that we touched on, though, with Kweisi and Kevin O'Connell that I wanted to talk about. Number one is Brian Flores not getting a head coaching position and not getting any even interviews at all. I can't say that I am shocked, but I'm a little surprised

that he would not even get interviews, considering what he did for this team. And where I see the value of him returning, and this was touched on by Kevin O'Connell and Kweisi, is he is a tremendous evaluator of defensive talent. And they used Josh Metellus as an example. I am fully buying this. I mean, if you can see in Metellus in a couple hundred snaps and special teams what he could become and turn it into that, then I believe you on free agency. I believe you in the draft. And when we talk about drafting, it's like the GM, he drafted this guy. And it's like, no, the organization drafted a guy.

Everyone is involved. If Kevin O'Connell wants Jordan Addison and Kweacey drafts kevin or if kevin o'connell wants jordan addison and quacey drafts him we don't go oh well that doesn't count because quacey didn't draft isn't this how it works you draft players who work for your coaching staff so if brian flores is saying get me this get me that these are the types of players i want from watching the film these are the free agents i want i think your timeline for rebuilding this defense is accelerated because you have someone who's really good at knowing what they want and evaluating players. But what was your take, Andrew, on just him not getting any of those opportunities and what that means?

Yeah, I think obviously his whole lawsuit against the NFL is a huge, huge one that probably rules out a big chunk of owners who are even willing to go near that. I'm sorry to interrupt, but Kevin was surprised. Kevin O'Connell was surprised. I should have included what he said in our sit-down. He was very surprised that he didn't get any conversation. Yeah, I think he had claimed that they didn't get any slips for him, which was something that they were thinking that would happen even if he didn't get hired somewhere and you know it's good for the vikings because you don't get any kind of comp pick for him unless a guy's been here for two years for a minority uh head coaching hire so and of course

they want him in the building because he's amazing at what he does and you mentioned the free agency stuff the personnel that he's probably going to have more help with um i wasn't too shocked though that he wasn't one of the top top names because look at guys who didn't get hired. Ben Johnson, Bobby Sloic. I mean, there were guys, offensive guys, which is the invoke thing now, um, that really didn't get much of a sniff. I was shocked that Ben Johnson's only offer was really Washington seemingly before that went South.

Um, so defensive coaches need to be seen as, unfortunately they need to be seen as more than an X's and O's coach where offensive guys can kind of get that leeway of, you know what, as long as we run the system and get the quarterback plan well, we'll figure the rest out. If you're Dan Quinn, if you're D'Amico Ryans, if you're Brian Flores, you need to prove that you can lead these guys and be that guy. And frankly, Brian Flores' first turn as head coach in Miami did not go well. He ruined Tua's confidence. He picked fights with guys like Kenny Stills.

He has a lot to prove. And he's talked about learning from O'Connell about kind of accessing the softer side of him a little bit and doing those kinds of things. And also, this was a great defense through that 3-0 shutout, and then it just fell apart. And Kweisi took ownership of that. He said, but we need better depth, and that's on me, and building this roster, and he's absolutely right. So

I think Flores made a lot, made it made a lot of chicken salad out of what he was given. And I think he's going to be set up with more voice and personnel here moving forward to capitalize on that. And then O'Connell said, I will be shocked if he's not a head coaching candidate next year. Let me in sort of a rapid fire-ish fashion, throw a different subject at you, Dane. The Justin Jefferson rumor stuff, it is the first time ever I think we've seen Quasey grit his teeth at a podium. And I just have gotten the sense from the organization that there is a lot of frustration about what's out there in the media stratosphere about justin jefferson and from just talking to people over yesterday listening to what

he said i i think that there is not truth to all rumors that there once was with Stefan Diggs, but not now. And it almost feels like it's trying to be invented. Like certain people are trying to create something that is not there to be a thing. And with Jefferson, I buy that they were fairly close and that there are certain details that they just could not hash out. It's a very difficult thing to be the most expensive player but it's everybody likes drama and i don't think there's as much drama here as people are trying to make it out to on the outside the aggregation the the the guesswork that's gone i just don't feel that at all i don't either. And I don't think people who are close to the team or around the building daily like us feel that really. Because if you listen to these guys and actually really listen to how they feel about Justin Jefferson, it's very clear.

They want this guy to retire with the Vikings. They don't want him going anywhere. And how could you? He's the best at what he does in the league. I've said this before. I think the things that crop up over the course of January, February, before March free agency happens is boredom across the league. And it's the content cycle. People just want something to talk about. So if you hear something, whether it's very small, a couple of sentences, and you can amplify that into something that will be talked about, will generate clicks, that's what happens in this media landscape

that we live in and we're a part of and when we certainly contribute to at times. But to take something and treat it as fact in a way that it is once it starts to spread on social media like there's just no factual basis for them wanting to make a justin jefferson available via trade i don't think there's any factual basis in them having these sticking points on where they're going to go with this negotiation i think it's just this is a negotiation they opened the door to this last year by trying to get this done in year after year three that doesn't happen very often because it didn't get done like these conversations are hard to have

and i've said this before too like if they just waited like most teams do until after year four when the player is entering their fifth year option and they didn't try to get this thing done with justin jefferson last year and they just waited and waited and waited and then said let's talk extension this year the door wouldn't be open for these oh well he's probably gonna leave the relationship is sour like no it hasn't it's just this is how it happens in this league it's a deadline league things don't happen until they absolutely have to i think you brought up nick bosa yesterday he didn't get signed until like right before week one and he was still Chris Jones didn't even start the season right they're both still very good Chris Jones made big plays in the

Super Bowl the Kansas City Chiefs won Nick Bosa made big plays throughout the playoff run the San Francisco 49ers were in the Super Bowl so I think like just because this Justin Jefferson thing didn't get done last year just because it's not done right now has really no bearing on if it's going to get done at some point but each day that goes by i think people are going to be worried about like oh is he like no this is going to take a while it's not imminent and to correct one erroneous headline uh the vikings we wanted to point out that the nfl.com headline of like they want to make jefferson the highest paid non-quarterback quasey said one of the highest paid non-quarterbacks which Kweisi said one of the highest paid non-quarterbacks, which is a very important distinction, especially when talking about Nick Bosa, who is the highest paid non-quarterback now at $34 million annually.

And that deal came down on September 6th, and the Vikings talked with Jefferson until September 9th. And I guarantee that deal threw a wrench into the situation. I don't know that. I'm just guessing. But I would have to assume that did because Jefferson wants, he's going to get top wide receiver money. The next ceiling he's trying to jump is that $34 million. And that would be seeming where the Vikings are trying to say, hey, you know, let's give you, you know, a few extra million above, not three or four extra million above annually or whatever it might be.

I do think that the Bosa thing played a factor in that. And I would agree with you, Dane. Like, there's just so much hand wringing about this, that if they didn't approach him until this year, we wouldn't be talking about it. Yep. A hundred percent. So as much as you guys love the comments to give all your Justin Jefferson

trade proposals and so forth, you don't have to, you can just save those, although you can leave other comments, you know, if you want. So one of the things that stuck out and you guys can tell me if you had something else that came to mind other than this, is they shot down that the salary cap increase is going to be significant.

They basically said, look, everybody gets the extra money, so it's not going to change a whole heck of a lot. Maybe Justin Jefferson's side is like uh you got a little more money now but i don't really see that and uh i think that quacey said something like if someone was going in on a quarterback for example like her cousins they were already planning on that it's not going to be like oh now we can right so um as that was a story but i don't think it changes anything for the Vikings. They didn't seem to act like it did either. They did make a significant change that is very much in the weeds, but I think there's a takeaway that was a trainer. So they decided to

move on from their trainer and now hiring a new one and, uh, you know, kind of changing the way that they're doing things there. The only place in the NFLPA survey that they did not do super well was the trainer. And the fact that they made that change, it just continues to show the players type of organization that this is, that there was clearly something there. Now, when we go through, it's hard to figure out because it's like, well, there was like a Kenny Wong will injury that was a little bizarre. There was the Marcus Davenport stuff. And what Kevin O'Connell said to us was basically just didn't meet his standard of how he wanted that job done. And one of the things I wondered about when Ed Donatello was

struggling so much is like, will Kevin O'connell fire a dude and even when it came to the run game coordinator which i still think they should use a different one it was kind of like well are they just going to run this coaching staff back after they couldn't run the ball are they going to fire somebody make a change or like hold somebody accountable and i think at least with this the answer is we're going to listen to the players continually, and we will make a change when we have to. That's my takeaway. Yeah, and the NFL PA survey didn't break down the fact that the Vikings only ranked like... Because they broke down the categories.

Training staff was one of them. And then underneath that, they had some blurbs about the kind of questions that these guys had to answer. And one of the areas that they fell from last year was whether or not players felt listened to by the trainer or whatever they ranked like ninth or something and last year they were first in training and to be clear tyler williams is still the head trainer he's still the head of their sports medicine he might actually take on more of a role a hands-on role technically uriah mary was the head athletic trainer but he was like number two in command under under williams and so the v And so the Vikings feel like Williams is the guy. They brought him here to be the guy,

and they might want him to be more of the guy with the players this year in the training room. And then we should also mention that there was just a lot more players in the training room this year. There were, yep. Kirk Cousins, Justin Jefferson, to name a couple. So I think those guys have a lot of loud voices, and if any one of them had an issue,

it'd be pretty easy to make a decision. I don't know if you need any more takes on that. uh dane why don't you finish off though you're walking out of uh indianapolis and you're flying home and you're vibing and you're thinking to yourself about the vikings because that's what you do you're thinking about i'm thinking about the next two weeks because i think that really shapes the next two years and beyond is how the next two weeks go if they bring back kirk i i mean if they bring back kirk i don't know if they're any closer to a super bowl but i do think they're probably safely competitive in a way that maybe there is more risk involved with bringing on someone else i think the fact that kirk's been around it makes them at least in their heads competitive and being

able to contend in a nfc north that's continuing to get better by the day so that's really i think that's this always feels like the unofficial start to the offseason because this is where the conversations begin and i think they have begun here but when we leave and when we all go back on our flights back home to minnesota and we're all leaving different days i think until we have resolution there at the quarterback position that's the only thing we really can talk about or think about is because how else is the offseason going to play out if we don't know who's going to be the quarterback if Kirk's the quarterback it does impede how they can spend in free agency if he's not the quarterback or who are they going to bring in are they going to draft the quarterback do they have

more money now to help Brian Flores on that side of the ball so all of this and there's conversations had with prospects and guys working out at Lucas oil stadium and all that, like that's all great. But the conversations that are going to be had with Casey, Adolfo Mensah, Kevin O'Connell and Mike McCartney, Kurt's agent, the lifeblood of this off season and nothing else matters until that's

figured out. Money. Mike McCartney is really the guy who is determining our fate here, I think. But I was sitting and we were at a round table talking with the brass, and I was sitting at the round-shaped table thinking about how if the quarterback situation was solved,

we'd be like, who's playing on defense for you? That didn't even come up. I think one time, maybe with Daniil Hunter, I think you asked about it. It was the first question. The first question was, how do you gauge that defense and the personnel? And then it was about the Daniil Hunter.

But that's when Kwesi had mentioned, we didn't have depth. And they don't have starters or depth. So we need this resolved, and then we can see the rest of the plan come together. But we really can't move forward until this happens. So until then, guess what we're going to do.

We're going to talk about it. So, uh, Andrew Kramer, thanks so much for your help. Same with you, Dane, Ms.

Tani, the pioneer press. And, uh, we will see you. Well, if you're listening to this, then I'll see you a lot more on the channel from Indy,

but these two, they won't, they won't see you again for a while. So say goodbye. Thanks everybody. We'll catch y'all later. Football.