Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - When will JJ McCarthy get first-team reps?

Episode Date: July 31, 2024

Matthew Coller and Will Ragatz of SI.com talk about Kevin O'Connell's comments about when JJ McCarthy will get first-team reps Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🎵 Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar, along with Will Reagans of Sports Illustrated inside TCO Performance Center. And guess what? We're going to talk about Vikings, training camp, practices, football. And here's where I want to begin, Will. Today, we had a convoluted conversation with Kevin O'Connell about when J.J. McCarthy would get first team reps. And boy, was there a lot of words used. And it went over here, and then it went back over there, and then it came all the way back around to, yes, there will be a day where J.J. McCarthy receives first team reps.

When that day is, we do not know. And it seemed that Kevin O'Connell was implying that they are still installing and that when the installation is over, then there could be first team reps. Here's what I want to start out with you tell me the date in which JJ McCarthy actually receives first team reps because that date was not today he was still entirely with the second team go I think right now the date that I would pick would be Monday this coming Monday because if I have the the training camp practice schedule correctly memorized they have an off day Thursday um and then another off day on Sunday uh so that would kind of give them a little bit more time to build up towards that come off um an off day and then

not an off day that's uh super close still like this one on Thursday and start to get McCarthy involved with the first team a little bit which I agree like that's inevitably going to happen at some point that is kind of where we're building to and that we're eventually going to get there it's just going to be a slow progression of continuing to get him lots and lots of reps with the twos which they have doing, start to kind of see him taking the things that he's learning inside the building and translating them onto the field, which I don't know what your opinion is of what we've seen from McCarthy, but I've been impressed relative to the expectations that I came in with. There's definitely been some rookie moments,

some things where he's maybe holding onto the ball too long, and you can tell he isn't quite sure what he's looking at, which makes sense when you're playing against a Brian Flores defense, but there's just been a lot of arm talent on display. The way he's able to zip the ball into certain windows, the way he's able to actually layer it times, that's happened in the red zone a few times in these seven-on-seven drills, and just overall, I've been pretty impressed with what we've seen from McCarthy Sam Darnold's been kind of what I expected so I wouldn't say that the gap is suddenly is closing a bunch but over time I think it's going to get really tempting to the Vikings to see what McCarthy can do throwing the ball to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison I think it's

a great pick I don't think it's quite going to be this week. You know, it went through my mind that maybe after the first preseason game, it could be depending on how long they want to wait and how those practices go when they are back in pads after not being in pads today. So they want to probably rack up a number of padded practices to get a sample size against full speed with the footwork and all those other things to tell us or tell them, here's exactly where he stands. Because the first padded practice had, I don't know, 12 reps for everybody? Just not enough to be able to really put together a sample of saying,

well, this is how good Sam is, this is how good J.J. McCarthy is. And we did talk about yesterday with Dane Mizutani, how Sam Darnold had a pretty tough first day in pads. So did Kirk Cousins against this defense. And I don't think you can judge it really yet, but I agree with you that McCarthy has been more comfortable than I expected. His throwing has been less inaccurate. Sorry, if that's a double negative. More accurate than I expected. But when I say less inaccurate, I think it's more right. Because I thought it was going to be spraying the ball all over the place when we got here to training camp.

And he really hasn't been. There's been some overthrows and some passes that maybe didn't require as much zip as he gave them. But it hasn't been, oh man, this guy is all over the place as he was a little bit in minicamp. I think we're getting there. We're taking steps every day a little bit more, a little bit more comfort from J.J. McCarthy in order to get those first team reps. So I do buy that Kevin O'Connell is telling the truth. I just don't know exactly when that's going to happen. But I need you to put, and I like to put people on the spot with this, by that Kevin O'Connell is telling the truth. I just don't know exactly when that's going to happen.

But I need you to put, and I like to put people on the spot with this, put some sort of letter grade on J.J. McCarthy so far. That's a good metric. In comparison to what you thought, so you can grade on a curve for what your brain expected going into training camp and then what you've actually seen yeah based on expectations I'm I'm debating between a b plus and an a minus right now I think I'll I think I'll go b plus uh because there's still been some things uh there's been a few misses uh which is totally understandable um like I said I mean today he had an impressive kind of portion in the red

zone seven on seven but there's no pass rush in those and there were there were some reps where he's holding onto the ball and he's getting through his reads and and that's a good thing but um eventually you're gonna have to get get there and be able to speed it up and get the ball out and make the right read quickly and so there's there some of that. There's some things he still needs to work on, of course. But yeah, it's at least a B plus for me just because of the ball placement and the accuracy. And I mean, he talked recently about feeling really a lot more comfortable now than he was in the spring. And I think that's showed. I mean, he is going out there and he's hit some deep balls even, which have been maybe a little bit underthrown, but they've gotten there.

There was another one today early in practice that was like 55 yards through the air to Tristan Jackson. And then just in those seven-on-seven periods, the accuracy. I mean, he had a ball that he just rifled into the back of the end zone to Ja'Sean Jones, the rookie out of Maryland. There was a one to Tristan Jackson in the back corner of the end zone against man coverage that was pretty perfectly placed. And another one on a back shoulder to Lucky Jackson that Jackson dropped. But it was a really good ball. And so you're just

you're standing there and you're watching and you see the vision. You're like, all right, I see what you were cooking, Vikings. I understand the upside of where McCarthy could be if you're going to see this accuracy, if he's going to combine that with really a kind of an eventual mastery of Kevin O'Connell's playbook, they're hoping. So, yeah, it's another thing is you need to keep in context. I think when we're comparing McCarthy and Darnold that, you know, McCarthy is going in second team defenses with the second team offense. And Darnold's had some trouble, I think, with some really good players, Cam Bynum, Josh Metellus, Byron Murphy, making plays with the first team defense. But yeah, overall, I don't know if anybody who's been watching all these practices would disagree that I think McCarthy's just been a little more eye-popping of the two.

Oh, yeah, I do agree. And B-plus is the right grade. I couldn't give him an A because he hasn't taken any first-team reps yet. If he had already stolen first-team reps, even a single one of them from Sam Darnold, then maybe I would have been able to say, okay, all right, let's give him an A because the way that he has gotten out of the huddle to the line of scrimmage, called the play, and the confidence in which he has run the offense, just starting there, I watch for that because we got to see that on display with Kirk Cousins for years as

someone who was in command of everyone, understood where everyone was supposed to be lined up, got the play call in. You don't see body language of Kevin O'Connell being like, come on, or any confusion or putting the hands on the helmet. What's being said in there? I mean, it looks like he's getting the call, hearing it, understanding it, going to the line of scrimmage, signaling to everyone where they're supposed to be. And then the actual throwing of the football keeps getting better on a daily basis.

And we want to rush and see all the practices at once. Like when you like a Netflix show and you watch 11 episodes in a row, that's what we want from this. We can only do it day by day. You can only watch it once a day. And I'm sure there will be practices that are a step back. It also probably can't be an A until there are more padded practices. Because once we get 10 under our belts, then we will really understand. Because the difference in the quarterback's body language, in their faces that you can see from the sideline, when the pass rush is coming, they've got some pretty good pass rushers.

I guess I should have been talking a little bit more. We're just so focused on the quarterback, about how good Flores' defense looked on day one. It looked very good. And you mentioned it. They have one of the best safeties to ever play the game. They have one of the most unique players in Josh Metellus. They have a total psycho in a good way in Brian Flores and all the different things that he does. And we should expect the quarterbacks to look pretty confused when it comes to the padded practices and speeding it up. And O'Connell talked about that. But as far as checking off the boxes of what you wanted to see,

you wanted to see the arm talent continue to improve with the accuracy. You wanted to see the comfort, the confidence. You wanted to see how he even reacted when he got to the podium and talked to us. Did he look like he was in over his head? Did he look like he was a little scared? Not talking to us. I just mean when he's answering questions about how it's going, because sometimes you can get that like, yeah, I'm trying not to.

And it's not like that at all with JJ McCarthy. If no one told you it was a first-round pick who was playing quarterback out there, you would know it was a first-round pick, I think, when you watch J.J. McCarthy. Yeah, he's always kind of had that just like swagger and confidence to him, I think, going back to his time at Michigan. And he's got a fascinating story of just a guy who worked really, really hard. And he said to us early on after he was drafted drafted he just edited his life when he was like 15 and um got his first offer i think when he was in seventh grade and he just made it to this point and so far has been mostly pretty

impressive again the context of um going against twos versus darnell going against ones going against flores defense, regardless of, you know, which unit is out there, just the complexity and the aggression that you're going to see has led to some confusion and some mistakes and some batted passes at the line of scrimmage and some times where he's holding the ball and then maybe he ducks out and runs, which is another thing that J.J. McCarthy has shown he can do a few times. There was a play today where he had a play-action fake and booted left and didn't see anybody, and he was able to run for like 10 yards because he has that level of athleticism that someone like Kirk Cousins did not, and he's a lot younger,

of course, but that was another thing that kind of, I think, is just part of the broader appeal of J.J. McCarthy is he's got that mobility both within the pocket and then to be able to escape the pocket and make some things happen as well so I have been impressed with J.J. McCarthy I think we're both in agreement it's probably a B plus this was day six one of those six days was like a total walkthrough so five real practices only one in pads it's still very early we have I mean less than two weeks until the first preseason game, but a bunch more training camp practices. A bunch of those are going to have pads on.

We're going to have joint practices and preseason action and a bunch of reps to really evaluate J.J. McCarthy at full speed. But so far, I think the Vikings have to be pleased with what they've seen. I also think that some of Kevin O'Connell's approach to talking about this was almost a message to us in saying, now, don't you guys try to push this because he wants to do this entire thing on his own timeline, the way that he laid it out from the beginning with his plan, with the McCarthy plan, that's what he's going to do. And he's going to stay with his boxes to check. And he's not going to let us asking him questions every time about McCarthy and when he's going to get those first team reps,

intimidate him or influence him into giving him first team reps just because we keep asking. And he was a little defensive even about a depth chart when Nick Mullins came up like oh there's no official depth okay all right I get it all right but you understand that we're very interested in when J.J. McCarthy is taking the first team reps which leads me to another question on that which would be what would the date be of training camp that if he did not have any first team reps you would say what's going on here because right now totally fine as he said I mean they're installing stuff they're getting the basics down and they've had one padded practice I don't think anybody's really asking other than just out of curiosity but not leading hey when are you going to play McCarthy? If it's date, what are the questions

a little more pressing? I think maybe that comes after preseason one, which would be around two weeks from now, maybe a little less than two weeks from now. That would be the time where I would start to, I mean, at that point, you're in kind of mid-August you're getting closer to the real thing and you start to wonder because it has been two weeks at that point since Kevin O'Connell mentioned the uh the the likelihood of J.J. McCarthy getting some eventual first team reps so for me I mean I think my going back to the first thing I said of my guess being this upcoming Monday, that still might even be a little early. But then it's somewhere in that week, week and a half window leading into the first preseason game and coming out of the first preseason game

where if by that point he still hasn't taken any with the first team, then I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. It'll depend, I guess, how he continues to look just on a daily basis, but that would, I think, raise some questions. Folks, U.S. Cellular noticed that the way we use our phones has gotten ironic. We try to put our phones down for dinner, but the menu is on a QR code.

That's ironic. We hit like on social media posts that we don't actually like ironic which is why us cellular created us mode to help us reconnect with each other and use our phones less ironically a phone company wanting people to use their phones less ironic let's find us again with us mode from us cellular visit us cellular.com slash built for us to get started what makes it hard is just that we don't know what they're looking for exactly we know the results of the plays which in preseason and training camp can even be a little confusing because i saw a video of Matt LaFleur breaking down an interception by Jordan Love. And he was talking about how the receiver just ran the wrong route on a choice route, but also that Jordan Love didn't have his footwork completely right. And if he did, then he would have seen he was running the wrong route.

And you're like, OK, well, no one thinks thatordan love is bad now because of this camp interception but it's all you have to go on is just the results of what it looks like as opposed to they know exactly what the routes are supposed to be it should be working but after five real practices that becomes a little harder for us to evaluate so they will have an idea of what he needs to accomplish or show but also you can't mix him in there a little. I mean, right? Isn't there a part of you that says that? We want to see it. Right?

We want to see it. Justin Jefferson, have him throw you the ball a little. Justin Jefferson's doing an NFL Network interview, and they're asking about McCarthy, and all he could say is, well, my locker's next to him because he hasn't taken any reps with him really yet so far uh i think you could probably mix a few in there do you think that kevin o'connell not this is not a leading question just curious about your opinion is being too cautious with young mr mccarthy

uh no i don't at this point uh again if if we're still talking having the same conversation in a week or two weeks and he's not getting mixed in then i will probably say yes um but no at this point i think it's fine it's been one week of camp one padded practice really and sam darnold is the qb1 and that's been clear since camp started. That's what they signed him for, $10 million, to come here and be for at least the start of this season, they think. And that's the assumption I've been operating under, really, since they signed Darnold and drafted McCarthy

and made it very clear to us that they're not going to rush his development. I've been assuming that Darnold's going to start for at least maybe a month, maybe up to the bye week, something like that. Has that opinion changed? I don't know. Ever so slightly, as I watch these two quarterbacks play, it's so easy to be like, I want to see more of number nine. He's kind of fun to watch. Again, it's just as an observer, as somebody who knows that J.J. McCarthy is going to be the long-term quarterback for the Vikings,

you're like, let's just see what he's got. Let's throw him out there. The Vikings know exactly what they're looking for. They know the certain benchmarks that they want McCarthy to hit, the way he's understanding the playbook and reading things and tying the footwork and the mechanics and all of that with accuracy and all of these things that are quite complex, I'm sure. But my opinion is shifting just ever so slightly

towards the possibility entering my mind that McCarthy could be the week one starter. I don't want to go there yet. Percentage. Give a percentage. What's your chance? Well, how about I'll say this. I came into camp thinking like 90-10 almost with Darnold. Just the way they had talked about it. There's been other reports as well that they really just don't want there to be any chance

that they're putting McCarthy out there too soon. And this guy's young. He's 21 years old. So I was thinking like 90-10, maybe 80-20. But I don't know. I'm closer to maybe 70-30 now, maybe even creeping down lower than that. It's still definitely Darnold as the favorite, but six practices in, McCarthy has just stood out more to me, and I wonder if when he eventually gets work with the first team offense, if he could even start to just look better and better once he starts throwing to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison and not like just Sean Jones and Tristan

Jackson with no, no disrespect to those young players at all. Don't disrespect to Sean Jones. He's been one of my guys so far. I feel like he is starting to show more and more each day as the undrafted free agent receiver. I have been steadfast at 25%. I've always thought there was about a one in four chance that JJ McCarthy started. And I've been trying, as you were talking, to think up an analogous situation.

And maybe the analogous situation is when you learn how to drive and your parents never think you're ready. They just, no matter what, even if you pass your driver's test, right? They never think you're ready. They just, no matter what, like even if you pass your driver's test, right, they never think you're ready. And when you get behind the wheel the first time alone, you're like, okay, I'm driving the car. And, you know, you're not that comfortable with it. You can't keep it the right speed, all those things.

But you're driving and you got to make some mistakes out there on the road and you'll figure it out uh and that's how you can put it i think because every it's like kevin o'connell is looking at this situation like he knows that this quarterback is going to determine his fate more likely than not unless it's a crazy san francisco thing where brock purdy shows up or jared hall becomes the franchise quarterback somehow from here. More likely than not, you draft the quarterback and that is your guy and you are tied together with your job security. So you are going to treat it like a parent with their child driving the car for the first time. And you're always going to be impatient with that. But I think there might come a time, whether it's halfway through camp, the practices against Cleveland or even in the preseason or regular season where it might become obvious that he's ready. He's ready to get behind the wheel and then just do it.

That's what I think. With a guy like J.J. McCarthy, I don't think that if J.J. McCarthy happens. But how he carries himself, the confidence in which he carries himself, sometimes you have to let him just fight through it. And I'm not necessarily advocating for week one. I'm just kind of saying. I'm just saying that you're never going to be fully confident that this person is ready to go unless it's – I mean, even Jordan Love struggled for his first few weeks. No one is ever just like, yep. You do you think green Bay last year when Jordan Love started the season, they were like, Oh, we're totally confident. It's totally fine.

They would have, those coaches would have developed them for two more years if they could have. It's like, that's just, it's how it's always going to be. And there will come a time where maybe we all know it and Kevin O'Connell knows it too and if he doesn't put him out there at that point maybe we'll start to question it until then leaving it completely up to him and Josh McCown yeah and I I completely agree with their approach to it I get that there is I'm sure a lot that they can learn and evaluate at a high level of having the film of every practice snap he takes, talking with him about his process on certain things. You know, where were you looking? What were your reads? How was your footwork here?

Asking him and also just observing what he does. And that can tell you a lot about whether or not you think he's ready to go. At a certain point, though, like, you're not going to know until he's in the game with the bullets flying and you've prepared him as best as you can. And if you think that he's meeting some of these criteria and he's ready to go, just see what he can do in the real game situation. I mean, the guy won the national championship last year at Michigan, was pretty incredible in third down and big moments for them.

And, yeah, I agree with your point, too. There's probably been quarterbacks in the past where they're like, oh, he doesn't seem like a guy who's going to get messed up by, you know, some losses or some bad games or whatever. But McCarthy really doesn't seem like that with the way he carries himself, just the kind of confidence that he's that he has um the way that he's even looked on the field in this first week both from throwing the ball and then just kind of the way he acts out there on the field and carries himself um so

i don't know it's going to be fascinating to see a when does he start to mix in some first team reps how does he continue progressing from here um with pads what does that first pre-season opportunity look like um but on my end the the reports are are pretty solid so far and i'm i'm very intrigued and excited to uh to keep watching and learning more i think o'connell said something like players don't fail or quarterbacks don't fail or quarterbacks don't fail organizations, organizations fail quarterbacks. And I just don't agree with that. Maybe Sam Darnold would be the counter example,

but that's pretty rare that it's so horrific and it's not going to be that horrific here. And I'm not, it can't be with the pieces they have on offense and the coaches they have. Exactly. And I'm also somebody when you got Adam Gase and like nobody to throw to but that's not the case here also not entirely convinced that with Sam Darnold that that's really the case either that I mean yes I think I could buy into that argument

that it was Adam Gase and it was Matt Rule at the same time are there some mediocre coaches running around out there with good quarterbacks that are benefiting from them? I bet there probably are. If historically a lot of the quarterbacks who have gone and been thrown to the wolves right away have still, if they're good, they fought through it. And I'm not saying I don't believe in ruining someone, but it's only part of the picture. And I think it's a smaller part of the picture than Kevin O'Connell thinks it is. But I also don't blame him. So I'm kind of dancing on both sides of that fence where I am saying it might be okay to play him if he's ready whenever.

And you don't have to be overcautious. But also do your thing. I'm kind of talking out of both sides of my mouth. I understand. Let me ask you about what else you've seen here at training camp before camp. You and I had a fun conversation on the porch podcast about the players that you were looking for the most during training camp. So I want to look at, let's just say five players who have stood out to you so far and they can't be Harrison Smith or someone that

we all know hey that Christian Derrissaw man he's dominating Dallas Turner he looks great well yeah but not those guys who has stood out to you in training game what do you want and not quarterbacks well yeah because we just talked about them. The first one is one that was on my initial list and one that if you are following the Vikings super closely, which you probably are if you're watching or listening to this podcast, is Jalen Naylor, who has just been really incredible this first week of training camp. And that's kind of a continuation of what Jalen Naylor always does in OTAs and in training camps since he was drafted a couple years ago.

This has been, I think, another level of year three, Jalen Naylor getting first-team reps and looking really confident. And he's been getting first-team reps and second-team reps and playing with McCarthy, playing with Darnold, playing with Nick Mullins, and just making all three of those guys look good with his route running uh the burst that he has his hands it's just been impressive it's been every single day 83 has made I think at least two or three catches and and some of them in impressive fashion a lot of them in impressive fashion um I think he's running away with the the third receiver job right

now i don't think that's really a question based on the way that we've seen the reps get allocated uh and just the way that he's performed so that's not a deep cut one yet maybe i'll get around to a deep cut or two but jaylen naylor is just he just pops every time. And I think the big if, can he stay healthy? Because it hasn't happened very much for him in the NFL or even when he was at Michigan State. But as long as he's healthy, I think the Vikings have their number three wide receiver. I agree with you entirely that going into this,

now, not that we would ever have a depth chart. Don't worry, there's no depth chart, folks. And don't even think we're suggesting there's one. but if I had to, I would have said Brandon Powell because he established himself as an NFL wide receiver last year when he previously had not been, but Jalen Naylor was always a major wildcard to this. And what has impressed me, Kevin O'Connell brought it up, but he's played a lot of different roles in a lot of different spots. And if you're going to be on the same personnel group as Jefferson and Addison, these are two star receivers who can do everything and line up everywhere,

except for Addison can't really block. That's the only thing that they cannot do. But aside from that, they can run any route deep underneath short from the slot outside condensed whatever which means whoever's wide receiver three and they did benefit from this from kj osborne at times osborne was very smart understood the whole playbook could line up anywhere but i think nailer's skill set osborne was kind of like a Mack truck where if you get him the ball in his hands or if he's going straight it was pretty good but I don't think he was a really twitchy route runner and he definitely didn't have the elevation of Jalen Naylor I don't know what he

jumped for straight up but it's very high it's like an NBA player vertical at least when he's been out here making some catches it's not close close. He's wide receiver three right now, and I think everybody sort of sees the finish line of that, but there's potholes, alligators, and that's just the staying healthy. Can he get around those? The alligators specifically, it's a major problem out there. But you know what I mean. Can he get over those hurdles to get to the point

where he's starting and they can actually throw him the football reliably the talent is uh definitely there so I don't have any disagreement with that who would be the next one next one for me would be there's a few defensive backs that I could choose from and again I think it's going to be a little bit kind of just uh weighted towards the the pass catchers and the dbs just because we've only had one padded practice so i don't i don't have a ton of takes on offensive or defensive linemen um i think dallas turner's been been pretty solid we could talk about that but the guy that i was uh thinking of right now is theo jackson um which it's just kind of an embarrassment of riches

for the Vikings in their safety room. And that doesn't include at all the guy they picked in the first round a couple years ago. But they have the best safety trio in the NFL with just the versatile skill sets that really complement each other and really work very well for Brian Flores' defense. And then the fourth guy is Theo Jackson, who I think would start in a lot of safety rooms, or at least be the number three guy and be in the mix for rotational snaps. And he's played a little bit. He had a pick against the Eagles last year, two years ago. Last year, yep.

Last year, yeah. And just in training camp has looked really impressive. He's had a few interceptions when they were doing the wide receiver DB one-on-ones in the first padded day on Monday. He looked good. He made some plays there. Just looks like a guy who's always kind of in the right spot and knows where to be, knows how to read what's going on on the offense,

and just kind of has a well-rounded skill set at the safety position. Again, I don't think we're going to see him very much if all three of those top guys stay healthy, but he's being slowly over the last few years, since I think they got him as a waiver claim or something like that, kind of maybe off Tennessee's practice squad. They poached him. Kind of being built up to maybe be in position to be a factor if this happens to be the last year for uh number 22 right or if cam bynum becomes a free agent that's true also happens so there is uncertainty which

they may have planned for with uh lewis scene but instead and this is something i said last year and maybe people got annoyed with i said that i don't really care where the players come from okay you drafted someone who is not good at all but then found josh metellus who's getting pro bowl votes last year and playing 1100 snaps for you whatever just find good players who win i don't really care where they came from. Lewis Seen and Theo Jackson is like the much less consequential, like Trey Lance and Brock Purdy. Like one of them was drafted really high, but one of them is actually good.

So, hey, you found somebody at that spot. It's a wild sport that way. And it is so clear that Theo Jackson fits the ethos of what the safety room is. Super high intelligence players who can't get enough football and are just tossing footballs around and they have chalkboards that they're drawn up. I mean, these guys, Harrison Smith,

you know, is a football complete psycho. And Josh Metellus is one of the smartest football players. You're going to be around. Can't bindum, he went to Cale. He probably wasn't planning on even necessarily being an NFL player if he went to Cale. And then you have Theo Jackson who played every position at Tennessee. And here they go. They find another one of these guys that's high intelligence, very versatile, and then kind of balls out when he gets a chance. He makes plays in the game. He makes plays when he gets a chance to make them in training camp and it didn't work out with the other guy

that they picked but it certainly has with Theo Jackson so he could be part of the future here and kind of a lot of other players coaches they've been talking about how he's taking another step from where he was last year and still a young player doesn't matter where you get them but I I completely agree with that one as well. He is so much on my list that I'm working on a story on him right now of how well he has showed out and how well he is fit in that safety room, which now they have one of the probably most struggling cornerback rooms, but easily the best safety room in the entire NFL.

I think it has to be because it's so deep. And it also shows you that safety is an intelligence position first it's a read and react position first and it's a physical position second we know that from Sandejo we know that from Anthony Harris and now we've seen it play out again with Theo Jackson so definitely a shining star of training camp well and they when they just added Bobby McCain. Oh, yeah. Bobby loves football. Tenth year NFL veteran to that safety room.

And then move Jay Ward to corner, which is interesting to me. Just because I wouldn't say Jay Ward would be on my list of guys who have caught my eye for their performance so far, but it certainly caught my eye that he was lining up at corner with just the shorthandedness of that room right now with Shaq Griffin not practicing, Makai Blackman out for the year. Jay Ward as a big 6'3", lanky, rangy DB who played some outside corner at LSU. He played some nickel at LSU, played safety at LSU. Um, last year, I mean, he's still listed as a safety on the roster right now, but he's, he's playing corner the last couple of days. Um, and that is just, it's, it totally makes sense to me. Like why not throw him out there and see if he can, um, see if he can hang and see if he can do it. And, and you need to find guys like that because maybe they'll add another, I mean, they just signed,

uh, Fabian Moreau. Um, I don't know if you saw that. I they'll add another, I mean, they just signed a Fabian Morrow. Um, I don't know if you saw that. I did not see that. I was sitting in here waiting for you. Uh, okay. Well,

he's been around. They signed Fabian Morrow. Who's like a seventh or eighth year veteran or something. He's, he's been kind of a journeyman the last few years after being with Washington for a while, but Denver started 11 games for Denver last year. So he's,

he's, um, a starting caliber experienced veteran type of guy um which you needed in there and that's more depth and maybe they won't even be done adding um but yeah you it makes sense to then on the second team kind of unit experiment with guys like Jay Ward out there um give undrafted rookie Dwight McLaughlin some second-team snaps, which they have been so far. I can't say that I've seen a ton from Dwight one way or another, but the fact that he's getting those reps with the twos as an undrafted rookie,

like the Vikings are just trying to find answers at cornerback right now because they're so depleted, and they're running Caleb Evans and Duke Shelley full-time with the ones right now because they're so depleted um and they're running Caleb Evans and Duke Shelley with with pretty like full time with the ones right now so uh it'll be interesting to see how that whole kind of package at cornerback comes together I think Evans is a fascinating one and always has been to me because the the tools are there like he's always had the length and the speed and just the kind of physical profile of being a corner and he was drafted before Flores but as somebody who could play now in the Flores system and then it's just been inconsistent he got benched a couple times last year and the Vikings really might need

him so he's another guy that I've just had my eye on and it's been kind of up and down I think in camp but if he could somehow put it together in year three that would be that'd be pretty big for this team well i think that uh fabian morrow uh splits the difference where it's not stefan gilmore and you have to start him but it's also not somebody who was on a practice squad that they signed from another team or got cut or was just sort of had no experience. This is someone with a lot of experience. I think he started like 50 or 60 games in the league.

Yeah, no, he's definitely been around and he was on my list. I'm sure everybody made the same list of potential cornerbacks. But I think it says at least something that Evans is going to get a chance to compete, that they didn't just sign someone that will take Evans place that he's going to be here it could be depth and we'll see if he makes the team because it depends on how he looks but I didn't think that they would be done after uh Bobby McCain uh okay you always make those lists and I did this too and you're like oh let's let's go to the big names here right Stefan Gilmore, Dory jackson xavion howard and and it all it usually

ends up being either somebody you've never heard of like the first corner they signed to be kind of a camp body or uh like a just a solid fabian morrow level guy who isn't gonna cost very much or i think what you said might be part of it isn't going to come in right now and immediately be an obvious starter, but he's going to be like a veteran bar that somebody like a Caleb Evans has to clear if he wants to be in the mix. OK, and check Griffin will will be back. Yeah, right. Exactly. So there's there's now more of an open competition with Fabian Morrow as a part of it. And I like this better than signing Stefan Gilmore. I think just from the perspective of like having to put him in as the starter and maybe taking opportunity away from a Caleb Evans,

a Caleb is the one that I want to see more of because it, it was pretty good at times. And then it was not good at times, but I think that he wants it. And I think he wants to develop and get better. And he has some interesting physical tools that could make that possible. We've kind of moved on from the Andrew Booth Jr. train, and it really is more focused on him,

but because they don't seem to have a ton of confidence in Andrew Booth Jr. and Dwight McLaughlin is a UDFA and Jay Ward was playing safety and now has moved to corner. Like you need a Fabian Morrow to make sure that you at least have a veteran there. So give me one more. Give me one more player that is really, oh, does everybody want to know that Will Reichard missed a couple 50-yard kicks today? Man, you win the kicking competition, then the pressure gets to him right away.

Typical Vikings. I did say that before he took the kick to Alec Lewis. I said, he's going to miss this one because they cut the other kicker yesterday, and it would now just be perfect if he missed this, and we could say, oh, he's too complacent now, which of course isn't the case. He did miss two from deep and then ended it by just drilling one from like 55. I'm not concerned about that. He's been good.

He's got a big leg. We don't have to get a full breakdown you're right i'm just i was entirely kidding you were making a joke yeah but he did hammer the heck out of the last kick uh but who is the next actual player on your list unless it was will reicher no it wasn't i will go back to to dallas turner okay um who i mentioned very briefly earlier because the way that he's been used so far by Brian Flores has been interesting to me, where he's been getting a lot of first team reps. And that started when Andrew Van Ginkle wasn't participating in 11-on-11. But even now that Andrew Van Ginkle's back, there's been a lot of what I hope to see, which is all three of those

dudes on the field at the same time. Jonathan Grenard, Andrew Van Ginkle, Dallas Turner. You can even throw Pat Jones in there sometimes and have the real third down package with all your edge guys out there. But there were times today where I saw Turner start playing almost that off-ball linebacker and then creep up to the line and disguise things. And he just right away looked like kind of a disruptive guy on the edge. And this has been true since we saw him in OTA. He just looks like what you want your starting edge rusher guys to look like and making plays against the run, getting into the backfield at times for would-be sacks. And then on the first day with pads, he stood out a little bit there as well,

which was important. He also stood out in me watching him just get absolutely shut down by Christian Derrissaw a few times, which happens to everybody and I think is a great learning experience for Dallas Turner and a reminder of just how ridiculously good Christian Derrissaw is. But I think Dallas talked about this at some point during this camp is like, it's tough going against Derrissaw, but that's just going to help kind of make things a lot easier when you get into the games and you're not going against that kind of guy every single week.

What I like from what we're hearing from Dallas Turner. I mean, number one is when we've talked to him, he's a very impressive guy, just his maturity. And you pick up on when somebody gets it. I don't know if everyone can understand what I mean by that. But even if you, no matter where you work, someone new comes into your work environment, you probably can figure out, are they fitting in or not? But as far as press conference language we've listened to thousands of press conferences and our main skill which has very little value outside of what we do

here but it but we've got this talent is reading in between the lines and i'll give you a little hack for when you hear a coach talk about a player specifics if you ask a player well how's this coach doing or how's this sorry ask a coach how's this, sorry, ask a coach, how's this player doing? Well, you know, I mean, he's out there every day and, uh, you know, he's trying his best and we like what we see from him and whatever. Okay. That's, uh, you can't really take much from that. But if a coach says this guy came in and did this, this, this, this, and this, that we saw him do, and we really liked it then you go oh okay we might have something here that is exactly what keeps happening with Dallas Turner Kevin O'Connell went on a long thing about

how Dallas Turner came in and started asking advanced questions and understand understood advanced concepts to the point where he could ask those questions when normally they wouldn't expect that from a rookie and then we, and here's the other thing, you have to tie the press conference with the reps. So you see the reps of the first team. And I promise you, Brian Flores doesn't give out reps on draft status. Here's how I know. 2022 draft class.

So he is giving him first team reps, rotating in just as much as Jonathan Grenard is out there. It's all tying together. This team is clearly impressed with what they see from Dallas Turner. But I don't know if anybody really knew how smart he was as a person. You go to Alabama, you work with Nick Saban's defense, but that is a good fit. And we keep saying that with guys with Brian Flores. And what I'm seeing and Dallas

Turner's a part of this is the defense is now becoming now that they've had roster control a reflection of the man who's running it which is actually really cool to see come together and I thought Zim had this in 2017 it was everything it was Zimmer's Zimmer's Deion Sanders over there. And, you know, he was using his Darren Woodson over here and that kind of thing. And it was that it's becoming that way for Flores. And that's, I think, kind of cool to watch come to fruition because last year it was some of his players and some of not his players. And you're just trying to make it work. But now it's almost all of his players.

Yeah. and some of not his players, and you're just trying to make it work. But now it's almost all of his players. Yeah, it was really exciting for the Vikings when they got Brian Flores back. And I think they thought he was going to have some interviews and some opportunities, which never really materialized. But to have year two of his system and just a whole year of inventory of learning what worked and what didn't. And he talked about this earlier in training camp. It's just he's not afraid to try new things and throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks.

And now to be able to build the defense the way he wants to and get more pieces in there that can be versatile and can be just part of his kind of mad scientist chess player approach is really cool to see. They've got the safeties. They've got a loaded outside linebacker room. I think it would be cool if Brian Flores sticks around for a little while longer in Minnesota and they can start to really continue to build up defensive tackle

and cornerback and things like that and kind of just really make this thing into a well-oiled machine for Flores because I think there's a lot of potential with some of the pieces that they have and with the guy running it and if you can get that defense humming and McCarthy can pan out to who you hope he can be with Kevin O'Connell and with the pieces that are around him that's when you'd start to talk about things getting pretty interesting for the Vikings. And that's not going to be the case this year, we're pretty sure, because they still have some holes.

They have the QBs, a rookie. But that's the plan that they're putting in place that they think could be pretty exciting, I think, as soon as 2025. And that's not to say there's no chance that they could surprise this year but um they're they could be building something pretty cool here Dallas Turner is such a vital part of the defense's success because you've paid Grenard Van Ginkle's on a two-year deal and you know he's a little bit older if Dallas Turner clicks and you have the rookie contract advantage there for edge rushers who are only getting more expensive, then it becomes a lot easier.

It's a lot easier to find players who can fill spots than it is to find somebody who can change games and impact players. That's why they traded up. That's why they trade up for him. That's why I supported it, even though it was anti analytics. That's why I supported it. Even though it was anti-analytics, that's why I supported it. Game changers are hard to find. And Dallas Turner might have the potential to be one from what we've seen so far. Great stuff, Will.

Glad to be back doing this. Did I miss anybody who's caught your eye? Well, I mean, you have to get a little bit in the weeds for some of them. I see, like, Owen Porter getting a good number of snaps, which I sure you've noticed there we go outside linebacker undrafted yep i mentioned joshua jones he's probably the other one from that wide receiver group that his route running and his ball tracking is showing up a little bit but you know probably not too many outside of that and then you give the caveat about the pads then we're going to really see the offensive linemen when they're doing their battles.

You know, Jerry Tillery, what's he going to look like? I can't tell you until he actually starts hitting some people. Yeah. Blake Brandel, Jerry, like we got to,

those are guys that are interesting, but we got to see more days with pads. And mostly I've just watched the quarterbacks. So thanks everybody for watching slash listening. And we will definitely do this again as training camp goes on. See you later. Football. Football.