Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Which QB in the NFC North has the most to prove this upcoming season?

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

Matthew Coller answers your Vikings questions including which NFC QB is under the most pressure, Ivan Pace's role, and how to judge Donovan Jackson during the preseason.

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Coller here, and this is another fans only podcast where you can get your questions on the show. Go sign up for the newsletter purpleinsider.football. Send me an email, Matthew Coller at Gmail or shoot me a message on Twitter at Matthew Coller. All right, let's dive right in. Cause I got a lot of really good questions here and hey, let's look at the calendar.

There's only a couple of weeks left until training camp begins. So you want to get your last thoughts in fire me these questions and really can't wait for the start of Minnesota Vikings training camp. So we begin with Josh, who sends this question, which quarterback in the NFC North has the most to prove this upcoming season? Well, I think you could make a pretty darn good argument that in a lot of different ways, they all have something to prove. I mean, if we just go one by one, Jared Goff has to prove that he can succeed with another offensive coordinator and really just get a team over the hump because Goff has to prove that he can succeed with another offensive coordinator and really just get

a team over the hump because Goff has been so close so many times in his career, whether it was with Los Angeles getting them to the Superbowl or to the NFC championship with the Detroit Lions, or last year they have the most explosive offense in the entire NFL and then they get into the playoffs and they play Washington and it's not the same. And they couldn't go toe to toe with Jayden Daniels. So he's got to prove that he can carry it over with a little less to work with an offensive line that maybe isn't quite as good, but mostly it's just Jared golf has done everything in his career,

except for get a team over the hump. And when you think about the teams that he's played for the Los Angeles Rams who were totally stacked with Sean McVay and they were right there in the Super Bowl but an overthrow a meltdown offensively it doesn't happen and then the same thing goes for against San Francisco in the playoffs two years ago where you're one first down away and it just couldn't get done and then again in the playoffs last year, it didn't work out, couldn't

overcome some of the defensive injuries that they faced. So there's a lot of pressure on Jared Goff to solidify himself as one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL by getting into the Superbowl. I know that's a very lofty goal and it's very high, but everything else for Jared Goff, he has done at top offenses leading top teams, the complete revamping of the Detroit Lions that's really only the step that he has to take. I think to really get the respect that Jared golf actually deserves and when you

look at the Chicago Bears, I think that one's a little more obvious with Caleb Williams that he has to prove that he justifies the hype the generational talent the number one pick and justifies all the criticism of the coaches that got fired because of Caleb Williams performance and a lot of other things but in part because of Caleb Williams performance if you look at the Vikings JJ McCarthy has to justify the decision the Vikings let Sam Darnold go.

They didn't sign Aaron Rodgers, and that's because they're putting all of their footballs in the JJ McCarthy basket. That's a lot of pressure for a team that's been built over the last three years to get to this point, to be this stack, to have so many veteran players or stars in their prime, Coach of the Year. He's got every single thing that he needs,

probably the best offensive setup in the NFL. Now you got to go do it. And then Jordan love, he's about to get very expensive. He's already got a pretty big contract, but the cap hits go up year after year. And love through two seasons has pretty much been the same quarterback both years, which is really good at times, not as impressive at times. And there's been a lot of excuses. Oh, well, first half of the year of 2023, he was just learning. And then it's the second half who he really is. And then last year, well, he's playing through some injuries and well, they don't have the wide receivers and et cetera, et cetera. Well, they drafted some wide receivers.

He is in his third year as a starter. He's in his prime. He's got to win and prove that he is another one of those great Green Bay Packer quarterbacks. And the bar is very high. He's already shown that he can play in the league and that he's good. But with the fact that he's also got a contract,

comes a lot of pressure to win in the toughest division. I think if I was to rank them, because they are very similar in a lot of different ways, but I think if I was to rank them, I would probably go Jordan Love because quarterbacks keep getting more expensive and as his contract goes up and his cap hits go up, there won't be more shots. There's usually going to be less chances to win. And the Packers roster is pretty good. It could get a lot better maybe in the future, but if he doesn't perform at a high level, they're going to miss the playoffs or they're going to barely make it and get eliminated.

And then the Green Bay Packers are really facing the risk. If Jordan Love is who he is, if there's not another step to be taken, if it wasn't the wide receivers, he really risks that whole place of getting caught in the middle. As we saw the Vikings for several years with Kirk Cousins, where the roster was not good enough, they didn't have the cap space to really spend and the quarterback had enough weaknesses where he could not get them over the top. And I think that's the worst place to be with JJ McCarthy. If it doesn't work out this year, let's say they go nine and eight, they missed the playoffs on the last day or something. We're not going to feel like it's over for JJ McCarthy. That was his only shot. It's done.

And I would say the same thing for Caleb Williams that, okay, if he's terrible, then yes, we're going to be pretty close to the ledge of maybe Caleb Williams is bad. But if they get to nine and eight and they miss the playoffs and he plays pretty well, there's going to be eternal hope that the next year is their year still. And you're not bailing on Caleb Williams at that point. And with Jared Goff, he's already had a great career. He's already led a bunch of top offenses. If it doesn't work out for the Lions and they drop off, then he's going to come back next year and be their quarterback. And maybe they consider

a draft pick or something, but probably not. And they have a couple more shots at it with the strength of their roster before everybody becomes crushingly, oppressively expensive for the Detroit Lions franchise. So I would go that Jordan Love really has the most pressure here in the NFC North of all the quarterbacks just for this year. And for the next couple of years of course the the younger players I think for JJ McCarthy for a two-year span, for Caleb Williams a two two year span and Jared Goff, it's not that the pressure is off, but probably has two years with this main group of Lions players where he can win.

If love doesn't do it and he's the same guy, then it's going to be pretty clear that they're stuck and they don't have a great answer and he's not going to get cheaper as we go forward. But I mean, really when you look around the NFL, there's most quarterbacks are under pressure. Like what quarterback is going into 2025 saying like, no, I'm good. Yeah. Whatever happens from here is gravy. So everybody in the NFC North has a lot. And that's one of the things that I think makes it such a difficult division is that nobody's rebuilding in this division because if you were to argue that there are some teams where there's not

a lot of pressure, maybe it's like the Jets. Whatever happens with the Jets happens. They're a rebuilding team after the wreckage of Aaron Rodgers came through and blasted the organization into a million pieces. But aside from a handful of teams that you could argue are in rebuild mode, everybody has pressure, but there's no one in the NFC North that has that, oh, if this year doesn't work out, it's totally fine. Like every one of these teams has pushed the chips to the middle of the table and it's time for them to win now, whether it's in Jordan loves contract or the free agency dollars spent by the Bears of the Vikings or all the

extensions that were handed out by the Lions and the expectations they've set over the last two years. So yeah, pressure abound in the NFC North. Next question comes from Matt D says, what's a realistic expectation for Ty Felton this year? Looks like Brandon Powell and Sherfield combined for about 400 snaps and 150 yards receiving last year, which is not very exciting. I might go the under on the snap count and the over on the yardage if I had to bet on it. So the first part is that a lot of that just depends on Ty Felton himself. I mean, if Ty Felton comes out in training camp and he's lighting it up and he's showing

on a weekly basis that you've got to get him in the game and he's got big preseason performances and they're very happy, then well, there's a good chance that he's rotating in as a part of the offense. If it looks like he's going to need a lot of development, that doesn't mean it's over. We saw this from KJ Osborne where he was only a punt returner in his first year and then he took that big step with Keenan McArdle the following season. There might have to be some patience with Ty Felton because he really only had one year at Maryland where he was a main wide receiver for them and he was a great main wide receiver, but that's only one year of playing for Ty Felton at a high level at a Big Ten school. And then when you think about just the jump of the different things you're asked to do in a Kevin O'Connell offense, it's usually pretty complex for wide receivers. And we've seen some wide receivers struggle with this a little bit in the

past. And the fact that Jalen Naylor has been here the entire time with KOC, he's probably not coming off the field a whole heck of a lot. Now, Felton could get some chances if Jordan Addison is suspended. We're still waiting on news of that, but it also might depend on Rondale Moore. And if Rondale Moore comes in and looks like he's shooting jets out of his feet, then they're going to use Rondale Moore and they're going to allow the younger player to develop. I'm not thinking that the bar is super high for right now. I look at Felton very much as a player for the future

who might be a kick returner, might be a punt returner, might come in a handful of times and catch 10 to 15 balls where it's, alright, Feltin's in the game, either going to give him a reverse or he's going to get a little swing pass or a screen or maybe take a shot with him downfield because he does track the ball well and he's extremely, extremely fast. I don't think he's just a bubble screen receiver. I think he can go down field. But when we look at how refined all the other wide receivers are

and how much experience they have in this offense, it's just hard to see it working unless Rondale Moore doesn't work out as, you know, we've seen guys like Kendall Wright, Tajay Sharp, Jordan Taylor in the past, Albert Wilson come in in the off season and just not really be that guy and not make the team or not make a major impact. Michael Floyd also comes to mind.

So if Rondell Moore isn't that guy, then next man up could be Ty Felton. I think there's a wide range of possibilities with him because if he gets in and makes a handful of plays with his explosiveness, well, they're going to keep going back to that well. If you're trying to predict it right now, I would agree with you. I think you'll get more than 150 yards, but even if he averages 12 yards a catch, 10 catches, that's still not that much, but you're always one injury away from a lot more time on the field

or an Addison suspension away. So I would agree that I'm taking the over for yardage. I think he will get at least opportunities in the kick and punt return, but I'm not setting the bar super high right away. I think this is one of the benefits that the Minnesota Vikings have with all of these veteran players at every position is that they can actually develop people. I mean, there's so many times in the past, like my mind immediately goes to third round pick Cam Dansler, hey buddy, you got to play. Or even fourth round pick a Caleb Evans.

You got to play right away. And that's when you're short as a roster, that's what ends up happening. And so there's like an accumulative effect of having a good roster and a lot of veteran players, which is the more guys that you have, just for example, even the cornerback room that we talk about so much, but having guys who have experience allows a Dwight McClothern to not have to get thrown right into the fire. Dwight McClothern might end up playing in year three instead of in year one or year two, like we would have seen in the past where a Cam Dansler or a Holton Hill

had to get tossed into the action because they just had nothing else at those positions. Even a Theo Jackson got to develop over multiple years and now he gets his chance to jump in. So if Felton has to develop for this year, that could be really good for him in the future. He's an exciting prospect, but I'm not setting the bar really, really high for him right away, unless he just kind of blows everybody away in training camp.

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settlement lab button and let her know that you heard of her through purple insider also check out her podcast beyond the bar I have been a guest by the way and listen to the interviews with lawyers judges and celebrities with Denise It's lawyers only no fluff. No gimmicks. Just real help. All right back to the show Next one comes from Angelo Vike says, enjoying the pre-training camp lead in. So a camp question for you. Glad you're enjoying that. Apart from the joint practice against the Patriots, how can we judge how well Donovan Jackson is doing with the first team? Is he likely to play in all the preseason games to get him

ready? That's a good question. I think he will play in maybe two of them. I'm trying to think back to Ed Ingram and how much he played after they drafted him in the second round and wanted him to be a starter right away. That is kind of also evidence that it's hard to tell in training camp with an offensive lineman because when you think about what we're trying to judge from the sideline on alignment versus other positions, think about a wide receiver. Well, is he making plays? Is he making catches?

A quarterback? Is he accurate? Does he look like he's running the offense well or an edge rusher? Is he winning? Is he getting into the backfield? Like those are pretty easy. An interior offensive lineman. So much of it is based on run blocking, which is hard to figure out because the runs

are kind of at three quarter speed and the pass protection, while he's going to be trying to block Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen, he might look pretty bad in some of these practices, but we can't really declare that, oh, this guy's going to be a problem if Javon Hargrave, one of the best pass rushing interior defensive lineman over the last 10 years ends up beating him a few times during training camp practices. I think that you kind of have to put together a bunch of little pieces of evidence. Does the guy look confident out there because there is certainly a look to an offensive lineman that's really struggling. I mean, is the slumped shoulders, the shaking of the head,

the offensive line coach yelling at him, or guys trying to pat him on the back after getting beat for the fifth or sixth straight time. There's the one-on-ones that we get to see. Are they not just winning them, but surviving them against really good players? And you kind of watch the reaction of the offensive line coach when you watch one on ones.

I think you learn more from that than me trying to say, Oh yeah, he got him on that or he didn't get him on that. But if you watch the line coaches, they'll usually be clapping, patting them on the head, like looking like they are liking what they're seeing. And then just trying to read what everybody's saying about the guy. If they're saying like, well, you know, he's coming along, then maybe there might be some hesitation. Or if they are raving, a lot of times training camp raving from teammates, it does correlate. I mean, just take Josh Mattelis a couple of years ago where, you know, teammates were saying like, Hey, Josh

Mattelis, he's really showing up for us. Or Delvin Cook a couple years ago. I wrote a story about that, I think, in camp in 2017 about how Delvin Cook had just wowed his teammates. So you try to put together a lot of pieces, what you're hearing from people that's away from the microphones, things like that. And that's the best you can really do. But when you think about how hard it is to evaluate an offensive lineman, they have so many different assignments, they have so many different challenges, who they play against matters.

And if Donovan Jackson allows two pressures per game, he's going to be a really good player or less, maybe a little less. If he allows three pressures per game, he's not a good player. And like, that's a really hard thing to figure out when you're watching over from a sideline. So, you know, that's one where I'm gonna probably admit multiple times through training camp, I'm just, I don't really know yet,

and we're gonna have to watch. But I do think that preseason games can tell us at least a little about the comfort level. Does he look comfortable out there in an NFL environment? But even then Drew Samia's first preseason game looked pretty good and it didn't exactly work out for him. So I'm going to put offensive guard first round pick is one of the hardest ones to judge of all the positions that they could have drafted someone in the first round. But

I think that Donovan Jackson is as well set up to succeed as any first round pick we've seen in Minnesota in a long time based on who they have next to him. Think about that Ryan Kelly and Christian Derrisaw, but even Justin Skool if it's during training camp and Derrisaw is not back yet, that's still a veteran player. They have a good offensive line coach, in my opinion. They have a bunch of veterans in that room who have been around for a long time and a good overall offense. He set up to be able to succeed and he went to Ohio State. He played a ton of high level football and now you just see what happens.

But I think just to add one more thing to that, his athleticism does really help though him being an elite top-notch Athlete for coming in right away allows him to make up for some mistakes Maybe here or there that should help so we'll look for every sign that we can possibly gather But I'm just gonna admit to you It's not the easiest thing in the world to figure out if a guard is having a good training camp unless it's going real bad Which we've definitely seen in the past. But your point though, you bring up those joint practices. That's really a good time to gather a lot of information. I agree.

Next question comes from Robert says Cody Alexander, friend of the show on match quarters. Glad you're listening to his podcast, Super X's and O's stuff from Cody Alexander, said that Ivan Pace Jr. can be a bit vulnerable against the run because of his size, which got me thinking if there are less needs for Pace's blitzing ability giving what we know about the interior of the defensive line, we might see less of Ivan Pace and more of Josh Metellus in his spot this year. Metellus is only slightly worse by PFF against the run and his coverage ability is clear. If Theo Jackson and Harrison Smith are seeing a lot of action, would Metellus be best used

in the box instead of Pace or am I confused? Now, I don't think that you're confused. I do think that Ivan Pace Jr. is pretty good against the run. It is true that his size could be perceived as a factor, but we've seen him really work around that. And he's graded well against the run. I'm reminded, I don't know why this popped into my head, but a play against the Raiders, just one that stood out to me,

like this Pace dude is different. In 2023, when he was a rookie, where they were trying to run the ball and pace just threw himself into the chest of a guard and stopped him dead in his tracks and then made the tackle. He really has good instincts for that. And this Vikings defense, what it really likes to do a lot on the D line is they like to attack guys in a way on the offensive line that will open up gaps for the linebackers. So just imagine that Jonathan Allen is lined up on the right side of a guard and he attacks

the right shoulder and that guard has to turn and the play is asking Ivan Pace against the run to shoot through that gap. They try to do this on purpose to move linemen to set it up so the linebackers aren't taking a lot of direct hits from the offensive linemen because they don't have linebackers that are you know six foot three and 357 pounds they're five foot nine or whatever and 230 pounds, but that's the other thing too, is that even though he is short, he is not that much lighter than most linebackers. He is built like a fire hydrant and he gets after offensive

lineman pretty well. So I don't have a ton of concern about Ivan Pace against the run in this defense, even though things have changed around a little bit on the D line, but there are more pieces to have involved and Brian Flores with Dallas Turner now expected to get a lot of snaps. You can move Andrew Van Ginkle back into a middle linebacker position. You can have Josh Metellus play deep sometimes or Theo Jackson play deep and Metellus move up and the guy that might lose some snaps is Ivan pace So I don't know if it's specifically just because of the run in particular you think about

He's been a main player for them as they had one of the best run defenses in the NFL really over the last two years But especially last year he was on the field all the time and they stopped the run really well So that's not a main concern for me. It's more of just they have more guys that they can do more with, and somebody is gonna have to come off the field. So maybe Theo Jackson is more of a 500 snap player than the 1,000 or 1,200 snaps that we saw from Cam Bynum, and maybe Metellus is playing deep sometimes,

or maybe Dallas Turner is playing inside sometimes, and Van Ginkle outside, and then maybe they swap. I mean, there's so many different options here, but I mean, I think that Pace is a valuable player, and Mattelis is good against the run, but Mattelis is a little on the small side to be taken on guards. I mean, we're talking probably giving up 30 pounds

to Ivan Pace versus Josh Metellus. I mean, Metellus might be listed at 210, 215, and I think Pace is probably somewhere around, I don't have his height and weight officially. They vary from what the real heights and weights are, but he's probably 235, somewhere around that range. And he's better suited to take on those guys guys so I think him being more of like a rock and a little bit difficult of a unique challenge for some guards as they're getting out into the second

level and then they're getting hit by you know this undersized guy so I like where he sits in the defense but to the overall point I think he could come off the field a little bit more than he has in the past where he's had to play like every single snap. And when you can do that, it's usually a sign of success. If you can have one of your linebackers rotating in and not have to ask guys to play every single snap that might have some limitations and are good at other things. Great question though. Jean says, as I think about the Vikings defense under B-Flow, blitzing is one of the first things that comes to mind. Now that

he's had three years of free agency and drafting players of his choice, I'm thinking he'll be able to change his style to better match against our opponents. I think of Jared Goff seeing big open areas in the middle of the field due to the blitzing linebackers. So maybe less blitzing and fewer gaps. Less but not none is how I would think of it. And when we talk about blitzing, usually the way that blitzing is defined by most metrics is sending more than four. I think Brian Flores is going to, even though they have more talent in the front seven, I think he's still going to send five. I think it's part of fundamentally who he is, but you can see the difference in having more talent just going from 2023 to 2024.

So in 2023, they blitzed like crazy. I mean, they were like 50% of the time, they were sending at least five guys. And then last year it was like 38% of the time. And I think in part because they were succeeding upfront in stopping the run, some of those blitzes are kind of meant for run plays. I mean, they'll call them run blitzes and then, oh, we got a sack out of it because they just didn't block a guy or something, but they're meant for run downs when you're sending a linebacker or something. There's certain plays that are set up that way. But

I think that having more guys to rush in the front four could reduce it a little bit, but I think it's so fundamental to who Brian Flores is that when you say, well, you know, you could probably get after him with four, you might say, yeah, but we could really get after him with five. They do have guys who can do a little bit better in man coverage. I think this year, which might change some things,

talking about against the Lions. We also have to remember that in the first game, they played against the Lions without Blake Cashman. In the second game, until the late parts of the game, the Vikings defense actually did a good job against Jared Goff and Ben Johnson in the week 18 game, but the offense just did not finish any of those drives and the defense ultimately wore out. But I thought that they had some good answers. I think it really against the Lions, it all comes down to stopping the run

and golf. He's going to get his completions. They have really good players and they're going to solve some stuff because they've got talent on that team. Amon Ross, St. Brown and Jameer Gibbs. They're really, really good. But I don't think fundamentally it's going to change. Could mean a little more man coverage, could mean a little more foreman rush, and it might mean a different strategy against certain teams because I have felt like a little bit. man rush and it might mean a different strategy against certain teams because I have felt like a little bit. I'm not saying this a lot, but a little bit that some teams figured out some things against the Vikings as they went along that there was a little shock at first, like, Whoa, they're really doing this. They

came out with all this new stuff and they're really sending all these blitzes and all these rushers from different spots. And then they kind of figure out some tendencies and it doesn't sustain throughout the entire season. The more talents you have, the more opportunity you do to shift and mix and match. So instead, maybe one week it's 60% blitzing and another week it's 10, just because you can. Last year they really couldn't and the cornerbacks play into that too.

So how well the corners play will also dictate in part what's going to happen up front. I'm interested, very interested to see how this new roster does change because that is the area of the field. I mean, I think we know what KOC is going to do offensively because we've seen it for a couple years. We have a general idea, but when it comes to something like the defense, it's changed so much on the D line and in the secondary that it's a whole new group that we're going to have to find out exactly what that looks like. But really good question. All right. Next one comes from Vivek one two one six,

knowing how their NFL careers turned out, how, let's see, would you have picked, oh, Jordan Addison or Brian Branch in the first round of the 2023 draft? I'd pick Addison still, but the off field issues make me think twice. Yeah. I mean, let's just put that part aside of it because so far, I mean, we'll wait again on whether there's a suspension or not. So far, Addison's off field issues have been concerning and they have not yet resulted in a suspension. They could, but let's, I mean, what can you really do with that? Right? Branch does seem like he's a great leader and maybe you could throw that into the pot. But if we put that part of it aside, if we for now give the benefit

of the doubt to Jordan Addison that he will not have any more problems, and that's a big if, but just for this exercise, based on the positional value, I would still go with Jordan Addison. I think that in comparing both players, Brian Branch is really, really good, but he's kind of similar to Jordan Addison in that he's great. He's a really, really good player, but he is not the best of the best. There are some weaknesses to his game. He's not flawless. He's not a megastar, not Derwin James when Derwin James plays or the next Ronnie lot or something like that. He's good, but teams do take advantage of Brian Branch when he's had to play man coverage. And that was something that Aaron Glenn did a good job of hiding him

away from until they had a bunch of injuries. And then when you look at Branch's numbers, the more he had to guard people one-on on one, the more his numbers started to slip. And I would say Addison has some limitations too. There is a little bit of inconsistency at times and he still has the slender frame. He can get contested catches, but opposing teams have found ways at times to hold them up at the line of scrimmage and maybe he hasn't always been able to fight through contact and he's been a really, really good player. So I think both fall into that secondary NFL star type of category where everyone would take these guys on their team, but they're not, they're not Justin Jefferson and Prime Harrison Smith or something. And that does make the discussion interesting, but wide receivers are just worth so much. You can go into free agency, Cambine improves this.

You can go into free agency. You can get a really good safety for a reasonable price. What was, Javon Holland went to the Giants for, what was that, like 18 million or something less than that. That's a really good player. And it's not breaking the bank. It's not crazy. There are dynamic safeties. Trayvon

Morrig was a guy I liked for the Vikings. He went to Carolina, but still another guy who like plays all over the field and is a physical player and that kind of thing. That's like branch. If you want to go into free agency and get a number two wide receiver or make a trade for a number two wide receiver, I look at DK Metcalf and go, that guy's just pretty good and is coming off a not that great season and they had to pay him $32 million. Number two wide receivers. I mean, just a couple of years ago, look what Christian Kirk got for his contract. I mean, has anybody thought too much about Christian Kirk before or after that contract?

I mean, it happens all the time. The wide receivers just get paid so much. Devante Adams coming off a down year last year, what did he get? $20 something million a year. If we did this exercise by how much would they make if they were a free agent today? Jordan Addison's getting more money because it's just a more valuable position and Jordan Addison has more of an impact on what the team does overall. Like, Branch is a cog in the machine. Addison is a driver of the machine

and making his quarterback more successful. So this is with all respect to Branch, who I think is a terrific player, and I think Detroit's defense is a lot better with him. But I'm gonna take, if you give me two guys that are B-plus players in the NFL, I'm probably going to take the wide receiver over the safety. That's an interesting one though, because they needed secondary help when they decided to go with Jordan Addison. That was kind of the discussion. Will they go with a corner? I remember going over a

bunch of different corners and safeties and Branch's name came up. And I think I was looking at him more as a nickel, right, than a safety. But, you know, they end up going with Addison, which I think has worked out overall really, really well and has the potential if he has no more issues and continues to elevate his game at what is he 23 now, maybe turning 24 at some point. Like there's still opportunity to grow there for Jordan Addison. Next question comes from MacJaws68. Bold prediction, the Vikings running backs will go for 3000 combined and all purpose yards

and 20 combined touchdowns. This line is going to be nasty. Jones and Mason, Jones can catch and Mason is a hammer. Let's see, 3000 combined yards. What would that take? If we were doing a prediction or a projection to get to 3000 all purpose yards. So we're not assuming that either of them kick return.

So just running the football and catching the football. What would they need to do to get to 3000 yards? I mean, 20 touchdowns is just, it's, that's pretty wild. I mean, we're talking like they've got to be a backfield that combines to be Emmett Smith and LaDainey and Tomlinson to get to 20 touchdowns. 10 each is just a lot to ask. Maybe like 15 touchdowns. It's not the craziest thing I've ever heard, but maybe like 15. If Aaron Jones runs for, this is how I, how I would look at it right now is that I think Aaron Jones can run for something like 895 yards and purposefully be off the field more and be more efficient as the season

goes along than less banged up as he was last season where it felt like he was running at about three quartersquarter speed for Half the season after having great burst early in the year So you want to maintain that the way the Packers often did when he switched in and out with AJ Dylan So let's just say 900 yards from him to round it up to a number I can work with It's it's hard to see and let's say he adds another 400 receiving, maybe even if we said 500, that's a lot for a running back. So another 400, that's 1300 yards. Yeah, I don't know if you could get to 3000. I mean, you'd have to be talking about a massive, massive year

for Aaron Jones and then Jordan Mason still having a great year. Because I just don't see them adding up to more than five or 600 yards receiving. So then you're talking about them having to get to 24 or 2,500 yards rushing. I think if we're being realistic about this, they could probably combine for 2,500 yards and 15 touchdowns. And if they do that, that is a big upgrade from the past. And it's also

not just about the fantasy numbers. It's also about when it happens. So if you end up with, you know, four and a half yards of carry, but you get to the three yard line, you can't punch it in. Well, that's not as great of a season. That's not just Aaron Jones. Of course that's the offensive line as much as it was. So the improvement on the offensive line should help them situationally be better. So if the yards per carry are similar, but they can rely on the run, they can hammer away at the run. Like you had mentioned, if they're up two touchdowns in the third quarter, they can run seven out of nine plays on a drive and close out a game. So there's a little bit more to it than just, hey, do they rack up X number of

yards? But I would set the bar a tad lower. Hey, if they do it, that'd be one heck of a call, but that's just a little bit on the high side for me. E. E. Havenwood on Twitter says, is it surprising that Wes Phillips got extended? If McCarthy has a big year, it seems like Josh McCown is due for a big promotion as either OC here or possibly a head coach elsewhere. I'm surprised that the Vikings seem willing to let him leave.

Wes Phillips is probably the most underrated, underappreciated person in the entire. I don't know if it's the entire organization because I'm sure there's more underrated people that we don't see their jobs but they're really important. But maybe underrated is right though because Wes Phillips never gets any shine. He never gets talked about. You're never going to hear on Get Up on ESPN Hey guys, Wes Phillips that offensive coordinator from the Vikings He needs to be a head coach candidate or something like that

But his job is very very important. He is the right-hand man for Kevin O'Connell now Josh McCown is in a different way in developing his quarterback and What Wes Phillips does is runs the room when they are deciding on the game plan. So it's not Kevin O'Connell sitting in his office coming up with the entire game plan and then just emailing it out and be like, here you go guys. Good luck this week. They get together in groups with the assistant coaches and they come up with the game plan and West Phillips is at the head of that operation. And then Kevin O'Connell comes in and looks at the game plan and they work together on it and they correct it and they make changes

and they look at different things and everybody brings their opinion. But West Phillips is really at the forefront of that operation. So just because he doesn't call plays doesn't mean that he's not a big part of what they do. And I think Kevin O'Connell has always seen Wes Phillips as being extremely valuable. And like Josh McCown is too. I think Josh McCown is somebody that he might just wait and see if he gets a head coaching job and just makes the jump from quarterback coach to HC. I see what you're saying about wanting to keep him around and I'm sure they want to keep everybody around, but you can't say to Wes Phillips, well we're not going to give you an extension because we might want to elevate Josh McCown.

I think they would just prefer to have both of them remain on the staff as long as possible, but I do agree that Josh McCown will eventually probably end up going elsewhere. And that's how the quarterback coach position ends up working. And there's always there's another assistant on the way there's another and they were really a grant. Yudinsky was a guy that it seemed like they were getting him ready to be the next quarterback coach. And then the Jacksonville Jaguars stole him away from the Vikings. But they've got another guy who's an assistant and so forth. I think that offensive coordinator role though is viewed by O'Connell is very important for Wes Phillips. So he's a little underappreciated. He's not out there as much. He doesn't have like big press conferences.

He's a relaxed kind of guy. He doesn't have a PR team that's always putting out, you know, big, you know, things about Wes Phillips to try to get as much shine. And look, everybody talks about KOC because he's the quarterback whisperer. He is the, the guy who's running the entire organization. He's calling all the plays, all those things. And O'Connell gets every bit of the praise for last season that he deserves. But sometimes when that happens, it was like this with Mike Zimmer too, where it's sometimes when that happens, that becomes the face of the entire offense

and the quarterback and everybody else kind of gets left in the background of the discussion. But I think in O'Connell's eyes, Wes Phillips is very valuable. One more from Luke and a bunch of numbers says, what are some other top teams Vikings cornerback room feel like we get too low on ourselves sometimes because we forget other teams have question marks? Now that's certainly true. I think with the cornerback room, a part of it is just, it's just intrigue.

And is there a lot of intrigue with Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave? Like not really because they have such big sample sizes of what they've been in their careers that we're not sitting here going like, can this guy really play? Can he really step up to the champ? Because yet they can. Like, okay, are they going to be healthy and all that? But that's boring.

When somebody hasn't played a lot and you're putting a lot more on their plate, that's intrigue from the cornerback group. And that's why it's getting a lot of the discussion. Also, because you look at every other part of the roster, it's like, well, where else could you point out a weakness? It's kind of hard right now. Is Donovan Jackson going to be legit or, you know, is there going to be another rotational D lineman who steps up to the challenge?

But that's not as shining as the cornerback group. But that's not your question. Around the league, different position groups. Yeah, there's a ton of different teams that you could say have major questions. That comes to mind right now for me is the Chicago Bears pass rush. Do they have enough of a pass rush to make a lot of noise? Or maybe you're not considering, well, maybe you're not considering the Chicago Bears as a top contender.

So you're asking about just the top of the top contenders. How about Philadelphia? They let Josh Swett go and they let Milton Williams go. And they're trying to replace them with guys that don't have seasons like those guys had last year. Aziz Ojolare signed there and he was a draft pick who just never really kind of worked out and they're going to try to work Eagles magic on them. But Jaylen Carter kind of makes everything better there and

Nolan Smith, who might be a comp for Dallas Turner, he took a big step last year, which maybe gave them the confidence to let somebody like Swe sweat go, but they have unproven guys in that D line. And there's a lot of just benefit of the doubt that goes for the Philadelphia Eagles because they're the champs. They're the Eagles. They have no weaknesses. They're the best, right? But, you know, in this case, you know, they might, they might have a weakness there. Uh, the Detroit lions offensive line, it went from a serious strength to big questions. Who's playing center for them? Who's replacing Kevin Zeitler?

That's a big issue. The Buffalo Bills, who's their number one wide receiver? Can it really be Khalil Shakir? Mr. Swing Pass, Mr. Bubble Screen, is that guy really a complete wide receiver? Can Keon Coleman take another step for them? Can somebody else emerge out of nowhere for that team? Like that's still very much up in the air. The Kansas City offensive line, I don't even think they have their offensive line settled yet for who their starters are going to be. The Cincinnati Bengals defense is another one. The Houston Texans offensive line. So there's, yeah, there's questions all over the NFL.

Every single team has them and it's what makes it interesting. But if you were ranking the Vikings as far as their biggest question and how bad that is, we're going to find out of course, but I would say that it's not that bad because at least these guys have evidence to show you they have Murphy, who's a very expensive in his prime successful corner. So it's not like everybody's unproven. And then they have a sample of Blackman playing. They have a sample of Isaiah Rogers playing.

It's just can some of these guys elevate their game or sustain their game as they get more opportunities and then what's the depth look like? Because usually you need depth at the cornerback position, but it's a great question and it really is what makes the discussion going into training camp. Always so interesting to me is everybody trying to kind of project what things

are going to look like. And then three weeks into training camp, we know a lot more information and we have a lot better view of what it's really going to look like. So we will see on the Vikings cornerback group group along with all those other units around the NFL. Thanks everybody for listening to another fans only podcast. Again, purple insider dot football is going to be a great place to be signed up for that newsletter. That's where your

daily reports are coming and feature stories from training camp coming up here very soon purple insider dot football or shoot me an email at Matthew Matthew collar at Gmail or at Matthew collar on Twitter if you want to get on one of these fans only episodes. So thanks again everybody for watching slash listening and we'll talk again very soon.