Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Which teams should want Sam Darnold?

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

Matthew Coller made a list of teams that could be the most interested in Sam Darnold. Plus, refusing to fall for the bogus Aaron Rodgers trolling and Vikings fan questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TD Direct Investing offers live support. So whether you're a newbie or a seasoned pro, you can make your investing steps count. And if you're like me and think a TFSA stands for Total Fund Savings Adventure, maybe reach out to TD Direct Investing. Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here for, oh, a solo Thursday night chat.

Yes, I will miss Manny Hill throughout the off season. We'll check in with him from time to time, but we'll still be going live Mondays and Thursdays for the most part, as we always do. And the NFL Combine coming up. I'll be there. The owners meetings, the draft. We got all sorts of things that are on the way. So, of course, can't step away from the mic for that. But I will need audience participation along the way.

So questions, comments, thoughts, offseason hot takes. The Vikings have so much going on on their roster and so many questions to be answered that there will be no shortage of things for us to talk about I was just watching today an interview with Kevin O'Connell with Dan Patrick and of course Dan Patrick said so what are you doing at quarterback and Kevin O'Connell gave his answer that he could read off of a script at this point about how they're just starting to go through this with everybody involved and there's agents and there's the front office and there's lots of things that they're going to have to

consider before they make the Sam Darnold decision. And we will go along for that ride. And I have tried to say on the show, and it's just my suggestion that when you see Kevin O'Connell interviews come up and I'm sure there will be a lot more at the combine and the decision won't be made till then, because it's not until after the combine that we have the franchise tag deadline. So they're probably going to run that up all the way to the deadline. We will go to the combine. We will ask Kevin O'Connell, Kevin, what are you doing a quarterback? And he will say the exact same thing he said in every interview.

And you shouldn't look into it too much. When you see an O'Connell quote, maybe there's a little, you think, oh, is that a hint? Is he said when he says that Darnold has earned the right to be a free agent? What does he mean by that? Does he mean he's going to be a free agent?

Does he mean he's earned the right for us to pay him? It doesn't mean anything. It's the same with Kirk Cousins. It's saying words with your face. So the interviewer goes, okay, all right, I guess I got an answer to that, but also not really giving an answer. And O'Connell is as good as it gets

at dancing on that fence of, you feel like you got an answer from him, but you really didn't get an answer from him. The one thing he did reveal though, and I was happy that he said this out loud because I had reported it last year that, uh, that JJ McCarthy was making gains going into the joint practices and was making things very interesting with Sam Darnold. Now we all know now that Sam Darnold won 14 games. We did not know then that that was going to be the case that had JJ McCarthy not gotten hurt. What I understood about the situation was that there was going to be a real conversation within the coaching staff about like, wait, is this happening? Is it, is it going to be McCarthy real conversation within the coaching staff about like, wait, is this happening? Is it going to be McCarthy? And I fully believe that Darnold was still going to win that job, but had McCarthy been healthy, if Darnold hadn't gotten off to the start that he did, then it would have been a fairly quick transition, which says everything you need to know

about how they feel about JJ McCarthy and how far he was able to come along in a very short period of time. So I don't think that as we go into this decision that Kevin O'Connell will be afraid that JJ McCarthy can't play or won't be able to figure out the offense again, or won't be able to throw the football again. I think it would be more focused on his actual physical health and whether he's going to be ready physically to take on 17 games after missing so much. But it's also the reason why I still lean towards JJ McCarthy being the quarterback for next year. Although we're getting conflicting insiderers again, and this is another thing o'connell doesn't tell people his dad was in the fbi he doesn't tell people and so we got jason lock on for reporting the other day that

he talked to another gm who thinks they're sticking with darnold and that they're going to franchise tag him and stay with him and then jeremy fowler reported that he doesn't think that they've made the decision yet and what i'm getting from the insiderers is once again, with a Vikings topic, we don't really know. Last summer was the, or actually last spring and off season was the, we don't really know what's going on with Justin Jefferson, but we've heard they want to sign him or something and teams are called. It was a bunch of vague stuff that they just had nothing.

And the same thing is going on here with this. One of the things that I've come to sort of accept with this Vikings leadership is that we all find out together, which I think is pretty fun. You find out when I find out and we go from there. So anyway, I got a list of the teams that should be most interested in trading for Sam Darnold, if indeed they are trading Sam Darnold. And we can run down that list, but also throw questions, comments, thoughts, feelings, takes, opinions into the chat. And we'll get to them. And then we've got Clay's Corner coming up later with intern clay, who has made incremental improvements on his video

quality, uh, for today. So let's, uh, start off with the list though. And I'm going to count them down from number five to number one for the teams that I think should be picking up that phone the most times and calling quasi Adolfo Mensah about trading for Sam Darnold, if indeed they decide to franchise tag him. But that is the thing about O'Connell saying he's earned the right to be a free agent. And it's not really though. I mean, he's earned the right to potentially earn $40 million as a franchise tag.

But when that franchise tag still exists, it doesn't mean he is going to actually be able to hit free agency. And I don't think that there's anything to look into that other than just, it's a way to say, Hey, he came in here on a one-year deal and he played well enough to be at the top of everybody's quarterback list who needs a quarterback out there. I think it's just a way to compliment him. I don't think there's much more to that, but I have five teams that I think should be going after Sam Darnold. I'm going to run them down. You guys can tell me what you think.

So my number five team is the Titans. And the reason I think that the, don't you love the sexy graphics here on the show? It just says Titans. I should have written the whole team's name. Should have written Tennessee Titans. How about that? Does that look better? No, it doesn't anyway. Okay. So the number five team is the Tennessee Titans and they have the number one

overall pick. They could take cam water should do our Sanders, but even if they do take cam water should do our Sanders, the Titans have to be tired of being down bad since they got rid of their general manager since they got rid of their head coach it has gone really badly for the titans last year they tried to go and throw money at tony pollard legerius sneed they actually drafted some guys that were pretty good uh tavavondre Sweat was an absolute monster as we saw when the Vikings played them, but their big issue has been and still is the quarterback position. Will Levis, they took a shot at him in the second round. It was the right thing to do at the time because he dropped in the draft and maybe they get a steal, but he's been much less than a steal.

It was a miserable performance from him last year. Mason Rudolph is not going to bring much. They want to get turned around in a division. That's not all that impressive. And Sam Darnold could give them, if it was on the franchise tag, maybe a one-year option, or they could try to have Darnold on a multi-year type of deal and build the rest of the roster around him to the point where either he can win or they, because they're going to have the number one pick. So like they're on their way, they've drafted high. So maybe they can win or at least get back to respectability,

draft a quarterback, a different year, develop that quarterback. I think it makes a lot of sense for the Tennessee Titans to just to get back into the race. And, you know, they were a part of something like this before with Ryan Tannehill, where they picked him up and had the reclamation project. Maybe it could be somewhat similar with Darnold, only he's already taken that first step. But that's a team that has just been a laughingstock for several seasons and needs someone like Sam Darnold to get them turned around. Whether they would actually trade, you know, they have that top draft pick. Would they give a second round pick?

Because the question is here, will a team give a second? And I believe when we get to the Rams, spoiler, that they don't have a second round pick, but they have two thirds. So there's some teams that could do that as well. But a lot of the focus is desperation. And the next team on the list, number four is the New York giants for Sam Darnold. And that's as desperate as it gets when the owner comes out and says, Hey, all you guys are on the hot seat because you blew the Daniel Jones thing and it fell apart and collapsed.

So you better get turned around fast or everybody's hitting the door. Now, the thing is about the Giants, I actually think they did a good job last offseason. It sounds crazy because Saquon Barkley went and won the Super Bowl and average six yard to carry and murdered everybody. But if he was playing for the Giants last year, what's he doing? They're winning six games, five games? They're not better with Saquon Barkley. It just would have been worse for him.

Moving on from their expensive players when they could not win, and drafting at the very top was right for them. They got neighbors, now they're going to get another guy. I mean, it's very much like what the Lions did. Only their ownership seems mad about it. Instead, the Lions were kind of happy about it after they had had an expensive quarterback and they didn't win with them.

So they decide we're just going to try to rebuild this whole thing. And they were able to do it through drafting high. Well, the Giants can try to do the same thing. But since they have this kind of ultimatum on them, Hey, go win, or all of you are out. That's the type of situation where you trade a draft pick to go get Sam Darnold. Now the guy that's in the news for them, I'm going to talk about this a little bit later is Matthew Stafford. I like Darnold better for them than Stafford

because Darnold could be a multi-year decision. And when it comes to Brian Dable, remember when he arrived in Buffalo as their offensive coordinator, Josh Allen had not done all that well. And he worked with him and he took a huge step there with a top wide receiver at the time in Stefan Diggs. I think Dable is still a good coach. Daniel Jones played his best football with him. Josh Allen played his best football with him. I don't think that's a bad situation for Sam Darnold. And I think they are desperate. Look guys, I am just about at the age where I'm starting to notice that hairline fading a little bit. So if you're struggling with the

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I did accidentally spill the beans on the Rams being the next team on my list for Sam Darnold at number three, the Rams. I mean, it makes a lot of sense to run it back with Matthew Stafford and just have him try to go win one more time. But if they feel like last year was pretty much the most that they were going to get out of Stafford. Maybe a salary cap situation isn't the best. And maybe he wants to call it a day. Like he gave it everything he had. And now they're moving on from some of his favorite players like Cooper cup.

He may have just, it may have just been an emotional situation. I mean, I guess his wife kind of spilled the beans there a little bit about him, uh, potentially wanting out. But if they're looking at Stafford last year was good and he was very good against the Vikings both time he faced them, but the injuries pile up, the age piles up. Maybe it's just time to move on. And they can't do that unless they could bring in another good quarterback because they have a good roster. Now they have revamped that thing to the point where they have this great defensive line to work with. They've got this number one wide receiver, a good running back.

They have to improve their O-line and they have to figure out what their future is going to be a quarterback. And you're talking about somebody who can go right from O'Connell's system to the Rams. The lack of a second round pick would hurt here, but two thirds, maybe something into next year, maybe a player. Because remember Alex Smith, when he was remember alex smith when he was traded by the chiefs he was traded for a third and i think it was kendall fuller maybe it was definitely a corner that went along with him well you know a corner and a third round pick might be good for

the vikings in terms of a return from the los angeles rams if they are interested now there's moving parts there though. That makes it harder. The Giants can just do this whenever. The Vikings franchise tag him, trade him the next day to the Giants and we're done. Good to go. When it comes to the Rams, they got to be out of the Matthew Stafford business in order to acquire Sam Darnold on the franchise tag. They also have to have the number of cap space. Maybe you can agree to a trade and not have it done. This happened with Stafford. I think when the trade went down with them and the lions, they had to make the cap space first. So they had agreed to

the trade, but they didn't make it official. But still you have to know if you're the Rams that you're trading Matthew Stafford somewhere before you can decide on Sam Darnold. So there is some decisions to be made there. My number two team is the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers. I mean, what are we doing at quarterback for the Steelers? The last time they had a top 10 offense was 2018. And yet they've continued to win games. They've continued to make the playoffs.

But at some point, they have to have good enough quarterback play to really make noise in the playoffs to scare anybody in the playoffs. And I can hear you say, well, Seb Dirtle just choke. I know, I know. So did a bunch of other quarterbacks,

but if you're the Steelers and this is what you've been running out there, this pretty poor group of quarterbacks taking a shot on Wilson, taking a shot on Justin Fields, mostly hoping and praying that that's not really a strategy. And it doesn't sound like they're bringing Russell Wilson back,

and they shouldn't. He's cooked. It's over. And Justin Fields, I guess try and try again with Justin Fields, but he played exactly the same in Pittsburgh as he did in Chicago, where you were occasionally wowed and mostly frustrated. And he ends up getting benched in the middle of the season. So that doesn't really seem like a viable solution for them. Do they want Kirk cousins? Do they want Matthew Stafford? There was a report today. This is great. Are you guys ready for the offseas?

I'm never ready. When these reports start coming in, I'm never ready. There's a report today that the Steelers called the Jaguars about trading for Trevor Lawrence. Does this sound familiar to you guys? Does this sound like the 49ers called about Justin Jefferson? I mean, I called NASA to see if they would let me drive a rocket ship. They said, no, I can't believe it. I mean, the Jaguars coach, Liam Cohen just took the job, presumably because they have a quarterback there that he thinks he can maximize and they can win with. Somebody found out that somebody made a phone call that, that, I mean, teams make phone calls all the time. I mean, if, if you are another team in the league and Justin Jefferson hasn't signed his contract yet, it takes no effort at all to pick up the old phone and go,

you guys aren't gonna, but if you are, and then they go, no, we're not gonna, you're okay. All right. Then you move on. That's the Steelers calling for Trevor Lawrence. It just, we got to check just in case you guys want, you know, to draft a quarterback or something and you're going to move on and they're not. And even from the cap situation, there's some massive, enormous dead cap hit. If they trade Trevor Lawrence, total silliness, but it is silly season, my friends. Anyway, the Steelers are not getting Trevor Lawrence and who are they getting that? It really Kirk cousins is the second or third

best option. Aaron Rogers. Does that sound like a good idea? Didn't we just see a team with a great defense and a good defensive head coach and Robert Sala, everybody gets fired because they tried to go in on Aaron Rodgers. That didn't work. That doesn't seem like a good idea for anyone. There isn't a single team in the league that I could say, well, you know, they should go get Rodgers. No, I would rather have Kirk than Rodgers. And I don't even think it's close because at least Kirk will just go in and try to run your team like a normal person. Instead of just trying to become the, the czar King Puba of your team, who makes every decision and gets all of his old friends and everything else.

And then goes on the McAfee show and just says, what the hell ever, you don't want that. I would much rather have cousins. And I actually think cousins and Rogers, their performance last year is not that different. Uh, it was both Washington and poor, but you have to give it to kirk though here's how i give it to kirk he went to radio row and told everyone that his team lied on their injury reports so he already got them nailed for tampering and now he's going to get them nailed for lying on their injury reports wow as a way to argue that he's actually fine. He just had an elbow injury and tried to play through it because he's tough. And so you should,

you should get Kirk. Well done. Well done. I mean, that is a crafty strategy. I've told you this. I've told you guys this before. If there's one former player that becomes like a GM or something,

it's probably Kirk. Like he just, he's very strategic with this stuff. And so is his agent. He could be the AGM. Anyway, the Steelers are screwed. So they should be going after Sam Darnold. That's the bottom line. And if they got them, I think they could be pretty good because their best receiver, though, a strange fellow is a downfield type of option. And that's what Arthur Smith, I mean, that was the Ryan Tannehill. Arthur Smith is their offensive coordinator.

Ryan Tannehill, it was a lot of running, play action, downfield stuff, kind of fits the mold. The number one team, I bet you have guessed it by now because you all are locked in, the Las Vegas Raiders of Las Vegas. They just have been so bad for so long.

They're bringing in a coach who needs to get them back into relevancy, needs to get them back into the playoffs, or even the playoff hunt would be fine compared to where they have been in recent years. They have all the reason in the world with Tom Brady there to try to get Sam Darnold in. And they really don't have the worst team. Like when you look at it, I know it seems really bad because they lost so many games. When you look at their actual roster,

you're like, yeah, there's like three offensive linemen who were pretty good. Colton Miller's become a good tackle for them. They have some defensive players. They have Brock Bowers who they drafted and became an instant star there. Jacoby Myers, not too bad of a receiver. Like they've got some stuff to at least work with for Pete Carroll, which I'm sure was part of the reason. And the fact that he had no other offers to go to Las Vegas, but if they run out Gardner Minshew again, or Russell Wilson, or any number of other bad options, then they're going to end up with the same exact results. Maybe Derek Carr will come back to Las Vegas for a new regime,

but I don't know. I think they're probably going to keep playing him in New Orleans for at least one more year under Kellen Moore. So the options are very limited. The Raiders have a good number of draft picks. I think they have 10 total draft picks. They could make this move. And don't forget that Tom Brady was in the house when Sam Darnold had his best game of the year. So there you go. There is my list of the five teams ranked that should go after Sam Darnold.

I did not include the jets. They just can't do that, right? They can't do that to him. They can't make him go back to New York. I don't think, I don't think that the Vikings't do that right they can't do that to him they can't make him go back to new york i don't think i don't think that the vikings would do that to him so thoughts questions comments what do you think uh throw it in there and i'm interested about your guys uh feelings on that but it doesn't have to anything vikings is fine just jump into it uh b miller says are they extending quacey i assume so. But until I find out I'm with, like I said, we all find out news together. I don't know. I would assume that that's going to happen. There have been years in the past where they have announced extensions at the combine. So that's also possible. It may be a different scenario from the head coach where

they don't send out the email. They just do it. I don't think that's the case, though. I feel like we would have found out at some point by now. But you'll know when I know when it comes to what is happening with the Kweisi Adafo Mensah extension. Because we'll ask at the combine if it's not done and it's not announced by then. It would kind of be a surprise. And I go back to that Schefter tweet where clearly somebody told Schefter as Kevin O'Connell was getting extended, Hey, we're doing quasi too. Don't worry about it. Okay. So that's

where I've stood. And I don't think we have to get conspiratorial until we need to. It kind of, that's how I always operate, right. Like when there's always a, this is, this is when we start to think this, that, or the other thing, right. It's like the moment's not now,

but if there's nothing done by the combine, it's worth a question. There's nothing done by the season. Then. Okay. It's serious. Cause usually these things are decided in the spring and summer months when it comes to teams doing that. And if they're going into a lame duck year or after the draft, then it's pretty bizarre,

but we're just not there yet. I mean, we are, uh, six days, how many days, four days after the Superbowl. So not there yet. We'll find out. Uh, school Vikings includes three of the teams that I had Raiders Steelers giants, and then the jets. I just, I just can't see it. I do wonder who the heck's playing quarterback for these teams. I'm looking around going, I who's a good idea is Mac Jones, a good idea for somebody. I had this thought for teams like the Raiders teams, like the Giants in a rational world where there was no pressure, they would rather get Zach Wilson than most of the other quarterback options because everybody's kind of proven to just not be good enough to get you anywhere. Maybe there's something there with Zach Wilson since the Jets operation was so bad. If I was the Raiders, I'd much rather go for Zach

Wilson than Russell Wilson. It would make more sense. Cause at least there's some upside, but, uh, I don't, I don't know what the jets are supposed to do with their quarterback position. Maybe they do want to get interested in Darnold and just, uh, say, Hey, sorry about that last time when we set you up with the worst coach and the worst offense and all those things. So I disagree with this, Bob. Bob says nobody will trade for Sam when they could just sign him when his contract expires. Totally disagree.

I think that they if you want to be the team that gets him. So think about it this way. Like the Vikings can franchise tag Darnold and say, well, we're not trade. We just won't trade him if nobody wants to come get them, right. We just won't do it. And we'll just keep them and we'll just play them. They, they do have that in their pocket that at very least some people in the league. And I've heard this throughout the year too, that some people in the league think that Darnold's coming back. Lock on for a report of that. I mentioned that on the show weeks ago. And so there is at least some thought that the Vikings would keep Darnold around league, which gives them a little

bit of leverage of, Hey, we'll do it. We'll just keep them. And they would all have to agree with each other, Bob. They would all have to go. The Raiders would have to call the giants and the giants would have to call the Steelers and the Steelers would have to call the Rams and they would all have to go. All right, nobody make an offer. And yeah, there's some collusion that's probably happened in the NFL before, but all those teams need that quarterback. This isn't a guard. This is a quarterback. That is the guy who holds your success or failure in his hands. I don't think they're going to mess around and go, ah, we'll just get him when he comes out. Five teams can't do that. Maybe what, maybe there's one team that thinks, ah, we'll only do it if he becomes a free agent. But as far as a situation like this, you need to get the best

quarterback because the second best quarterback ripped his Achilles apart and then got benched halfway through the season. And he's the second best option the third best option is gonna commit terrorism on your franchise and that's rogers there's the other guy is five foot ten and can't run fast anymore in russell wilson the other guy justin fields gets sacked every other play like there's nothing there's nothing so i fully believe that teams will make that trade a second round pick to have a quarterback. Yeah, they'll do that. Uh, Leonard said if they were so high on McCarthy, why are they interested in trading up for may or Daniels? Why were they? Well, uh, because may and Daniels were better prospects than JJ McCarthy. And there's just no arguing about that. When you

look at the size, the speed, the arm strength, all those things for Jaden Daniels and the production and Drake May, they're better prospects. That's why they were drafted much higher. They, yes, they were going to try to trade up for the best possible prospect they could get. Even the way that they talked about it was in levels. They talked about it in terms of guys who could completely change your franchise and then guys who they would need to do a lot around in order to win. They even talked that way. And certainly JJ McCarthy at that time was being talked about as a guy who was in the category of you're going to need to do a lot around him to win, kind of like a Brock Purdy.

You might say this for Jalen Hurts. Those guys can win, but you got to have a freakish roster. Whereas the more Mahomesian type of players can get you to the NFC championship, like Jaden Daniels, based on their pure awesomeness. That still applies. Based on what they were as a prospect and what their ceilings are. It's still clear that Caleb Williams, Drake May and Jaden Daniels are head and shoulders above in terms of their ceilings. The rest of the quarterback from that draft class ahead of

McCarthy ahead of Daniels. We saw the flashes from Caleb Williams of absolute freakish talent. We saw it from May who had the worst team in the league. And then the other guy goes to the NFC championship because when we talk about ceiling and prospect and that sort of thing, what you can be, it's a combination of what you produced in college and your skillset. How strong is your arm? How fast are you? Our processing is in there, but raw skill. These guys were head and shoulders above. The thing is about the NFL, though, the minute you arrive at the stadium for your first practice, it's all out the window.

And who becomes the best out of a draft class? Who has the most success? It's all out the window at that point. How good of a prospect you were so they would have been basing attempts to move up to get drake may based on how good of a prospect they were and their order of being drafted mccarthy was the fifth best prospect quarterback that's how they were drafted there's your proof you don't have to argue about he's the fifth best prospect we already drafted him but once they step on the field and once they

start practicing and playing, then we find out like who was, who's going to be the best NFL player, not just prospect. And with JJ McCarthy, I don't think that the Vikings expected him to come as far as he did in the first year, in the first training camp, in the first year in the first training camp in the first mini camp. I don't think that from, from the first mini camp to the first training camp, I don't think they expected him to come that far and to be at the point where they would be having this discussion in the coaching staff. Like, are we starting to think about McCarthy being the starter? Like they, they didn't expect that because that was his work ethic.

Uh, I think he, well, so he lost all this weight because of the injury, but I think he was bigger to me than he looked in college when he was in training camp. Like he had bulked up and he can get there eventually. Again, that's my one concern. It's like how long that takes, but that that's something that I observed last year in training camps. Like, man, he looks pretty, looks pretty jacked. He's throwing the ball pretty really hard with good velocity. They made a bet on where he could potentially go in the coming years. But as far as production and raw skills, he was not on the same level of the, of those

other guys who were taken higher. And if you're the organization, you're trying to take the swing at the best possible prospect you can get. And that was clearly those other guys. So yeah, I mean, of course they're going to do that with anybody. I mean, you could be interested. I don't know. Were they interested in other receivers when they picked Jefferson? Like you're always going to be interested in getting the best possible prospect. I'm sure that if it was any draft, they would have preferred the number one overall pick in every single draft and got them if they could. But that doesn't mean that the guy can't become a star. So yeah, I don't know. I mean, they would, once we get more information, then you

change your opinions. But still, if we're talking about ceiling, the ceiling on those other guys still remains higher because of what their raw skills are. Anyway, uh, more questions, comments in just a minute. But if you guys watch the show all the time or right now, you know that I'm a hack guy. And I really related to Kevin O'Connell today because he was on Dan Patrick show and he was talking about Sean McVay's hair and he was saying, yeah, I don't, I don't have as much of it left. And I really felt that. And if you feel that too, that means you might want to give HIMS a try.

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So you guys, uh, this off season and the quarterback discussions making me lose my hair for sure. I would have thought, yeah, well, I would have thought a year ago that this would even been a conversation

sort of funny how we got here uh trent says uh one comment that i trust from koc is that darnold has earned the right to be a free agent which sounds like tag and trade is off the table it seems like an awful business decision see that's what i'm saying trent that's the point is it means nothing it's always hard see there's a few things that are always hard for people to grasp that mean nothing. Like the draft randomness. The draft randomness is something. No matter how much evidence I present

of how random the draft is, people always want the scouts fired if they missed on a pick every time. Even if they made like a sound decision and going to get the guy and he was a good prospect and all those things it's like if it didn't work out like we need to witch hunt we need to find somebody who was responsible burn them at the stake it's like no it's just kind of random but it's hard to accept i think the same thing when you see interviews with kevin o'connell what you're looking for you're scanning for you're listening

for every word is what does it mean what's's he saying about Darnold? What does it mean? It doesn't mean anything. It just means that he's, that's the contract situation. But if you say it that way, if you go, well, that's his contract, it almost sounds dismissive. Like, oh, well, well, that's the contract situation so i don't know instead it's a way of spinning it to give him a compliment like hey he's earned this situation where a lot of teams are going to want him that does not throw off the table to tag and trade not even close uh kerpluppi says uh scenario to consider dj dimes comes back as the vikings number two to JJ. Would he have some draft capital come trade deadline when teams are quarterback star for injuries? Um, I don't know if you have

a really good backup quarterback. I don't think you want to get rid of him. I think you want to keep him. I mean, maybe if someone's willing to give you something really good for him, but now we're just too far down the road. Now we're into multi hypothetical scenarios. Like first Daniel Jones has to come back. Then he has to be traded at the deadline because somebody else has to need these. I mean,

I get what you're saying, but that one's kind of hard to figure. I'm not like, look, I didn't mention Daniel Jones as far as options for the Steelers or the Raiders or whatever, but let's compare. Would you rather have, if you're the Steelers, would you rather have Justin Fields who can't really play Russell Wilson who can't really play or Daniel Jones, who's at least in

his prime and won a playoff game fairly recently. I might rather have Daniel Jones than those guys. And the same thing goes with the Raiders. I mean, I might rather have Daniel Jones. I'm not sure that he's going to be coming back. I mean, I guess in your scenario, yeah, it's possible. But the reason to sign Daniel Jones as the backup, if Darnold is gone, is because Jones is a proven NFL player who seems like a affable dude who could work well with JJ McCarthy. And if McCarthy was not physically ready to start for the first half of the season, he would have to play.

That's not my preference at all, but it's possible. Daniel would trade a Darnold for Bowers. Yeah. Yeah. I guess that'd be fine. Stafford is out with cup out. Yeah.

It sounds like it. It sounds like he wants to play with, or he doesn't want to have the retooling for the team. I don't blame him for that. Marmalade medium says everyone in the league trying to use their best poker face. The Vikings can and should tag and trade if they think McCarthy is going to be good to go.

Yep. Daniel says, I trust the Vikings to figure it out with Darnold. Isn't that the funny thing is, uh, in years past, it always kind of felt like we really need to make sure that we're second guessing,

third guessing, fourth guessing everything that Zimmer and Spielman do because they were so desperate. They were just throwing stuff at the wall. The time, maybe if we just get a nose tackle then it'll fix everything and trade a fourth for chris herndon or get a kicker slash punch and just goofy stuff that they were doing extending kyle rudolph when they drafted a tight end doesn't make a whole lot of

sense like a lot of stuff and this recent and i and I know the draft picks, and I'm sure all of you knew exactly which one we're going to work out and which weren't on draft night. But aside from that, the organizational functionality, the decisions that they've made in free agency, that's much more predictive. The timeline that they've taken on bringing in Sam Darnold last year, they've just made a lot of good decisions. And I think they get benefit of the doubt coming off of a 14 win season where they made a lot of good decisions to make the right one here. And that's why I have continued to say that if they bring back Darnold, then I'm going to trust that Kevin O'Connell has a very good reason for that. Cause it's not beneficial cap wise. No one would argue that, but KOC does not act randomly when it comes to this position. If they bring back Darnold,

that means they think that McCarthy's not ready to handle 17 games physically after what he went through with the surgery last year. And if they don't, then it means he does and off we go. And so that's why I haven't been as afraid of it as a lot of people who want darnold gone because i think well the people making the decision on this including who handles the cap rob brzezinski and the timeline and the big picture decisions kev uh quesida fulmenza the defense and finding free agents and brian floris they've just done a lot good to earn the right if you will to use KOC's phrase, they've earned the right to have us say, yeah, I think they'll probably get this. Uh, Bradley says first Vegas, second, the Rams. If Stafford gets traded, the Rams, if you're

the Vikings and Bradley has the giants, then Pittsburgh after that. Oh, and Cleveland, Cleveland is a good one. Cleveland is a good one. Bradley. The only problem with Cleveland is like, how do they make that work? And so I had Cleveland on my list when I wrote the article, but I didn't put them in my top five because what I couldn't figure out about Cleveland is how do they do it? Salary cap wise. If you are Sam Darnold, there is no way that you are going to Cleveland and signing an extension there. You're going to go and you're going to play on the franchise tag. You are not signing an extension. You got to show me that this works at all because you are the joke,

the armpit of the league in Cleveland. So I'm not signing an extension with you. I'm playing on the franchise tag and then scooting to free agency. If I can't, that would be my approach. If I was Donald getting traded to Cleveland. So how do they make that work? Their salary cap situation is the worst in the league and they would have to give up draft capital to get rid of Deshaun Watson. If I'm another team taking Deshaun Watson, I want next year's first and this year's second and whatever else, right? I want big draft return. If I am a team that's taking Deshaun Watson's contract on.

So they're already going to be sending draft capital out of the door. And then they got to somehow fit a $41 million cap hit with Sam Darnold. It's hard to make it work. It's not impossible. Nothing's impossible. They got to, you got to make it work. Um, Bob, a few people have mentioned this to me. What about Kirk is a one-year backup? I mean, what are we doing here, Bob? What are we doing here? That's that falls under the same category as like when people talk about the Rogers,

like, Oh, what if, what if Rogers came here? Wouldn't it be kind of awesome? And you're like, no, it doesn't make any sense. Like, okay. And then that's all that needs to be said about it it's like people are posting on websites making videos rogers to the vikings because they're just hoping for algorithms to give them clicks they're so desperate please algorithm point fans to my trolley garbage please we won't do it we will not do it on this show. I'm not going to talk about that.

It's just, it is just desperate trolly garbage, but you know, good luck to everybody. Get, get, get your money, get whatever, whatever a couple thousand clicks gets you go do it. But it's ridiculous to even talk about. It's not worth any breath at all uh same thing with kirk is the backup i've seen a few people have asked me like okay right um no are you just looking at stuff and saying the vikings should do it do you should they get lamp to be the anchor man like no that's not what's going on uh bradley says uh rams Stafford. Sounds like it's heating up. So Darnold to LA, you know, O'Connell is talking to them. Well, yeah, I mean him and, uh, McVay are as close as it gets and that's, that's where he came from. So it makes a lot of sense because also I, I truly

believe, and this is why Cleveland would be out of my list. I truly believe that Kevin O'Connell would want Sam Darnold to go someplace where he could thrive. The only problem with trading him to the Rams is you might face him in the playoffs because you know McVay is going to have him play good. You know he is. McVay is not failing with Sam Darnold. He's going to be in the playoffs. He's succeeded big time with Jared Goff, big time with Matthew Stafford, more than Stafford had ever done before. You know that he's going to throw the ball to Puka Nakua a million times and they're going to win 10 and 11 games. They're going to be in the playoffs. Do you want to face McVay again and help him get a great quarterback or at least the best one who's available? I don't know. Maybe that's a consideration, but as far as getting him to the

place that he can be the most successful, I think that's the one Pittsburgh. I don't trust Arthur Smith, the Raiders, gestures at Raiders, like the giants possibly, but LA is easily the place he could have the most success. Skull Vikings. How close can our Vikings get to the lions and Eagles this off season?

Well, it depends on what you mean. I mean, they won the same number of games as the Eagles in the regular season, and they needed one more against the lions to win the entire conference. So they were pretty close, but then you watch the playoffs and the Superbowl and you go, well, maybe not, maybe not that close to the Eagles. I think what you're probably really hinting at because they can match up with really hinting at, because they can match up with those teams at wide receiver and they can match up with those teams on a lot of the defensive

positions, edge rusher linebacker, but it's in the trenches of course, and really a cornerback too. The Vikings need a lot of work there, but in the trenches, especially in the middle, they're not very close to the Eagles. I mean, the Lions, they've got some work to do there, but not that close to the Eagles. And I've been thinking about it a lot. I can't find a great route to the Vikings putting together anything like what the Eagles have as far as the interior players. Now, Milton Williams is going to be a free agent. Maybe he signs with the Vikings. I don't know. That's one. They had like four of guys of his caliber that could get to the quarterback that can cause havoc in there that are big, talented. Jalen Carter is their best player. So the Vikings would have, you know, maybe two with Harrison Phillips, but only one impact player as far as getting after

the quarterback and on the interior of the offensive line at this moment, they have nothing to work with. Dalton Reisner was a good pass blocker, but not a difference maker in the run game. Garrett Bradbury, I think we've pretty well proven what he is. And I don't think this is the right system for him. That's going to be a deep drop back system. And then left guard, I think Blake Brandel is just, just a swing guy can have a long career as a swing guy. My co-host, uh, sometimes on the show, Jeremiah Searles had a long career as a swing guy. That's what Blake Brandel is. They need improvement there. They can get better, but they can't, they can't get even that's years of work and drafting and everything else. I think

if you signed a defensive tackle and drafted one, you can start making progress there. But the thing about the Eagles and lions is that they're just good at every position. They don't really have any weaknesses. And I think that's where the Vikings have the challenge for this off season is they've got to do a lot of work in free agency. And if you're going to play with those teams, you just can't really have any weaknesses. When you look at the Superbowl, you had Kansas city with an all-time great quarterback with one good receiver, a completely toast tight end, a completely toast second and third wide receiver and two offensive linemen. And he's supposed to

play a defense that has 14 good players. That's, that's kind of where it felt like a little bit with the Vikings where it was like, okay, you know, they've got all these things, but they've got four top-notch defensive linemen. You've got one good offensive lineman. You're not going to win that battle. And then when they didn't, it all kind of went to hell. Marmalade Mediums says, are there cap implications for the tag and trade?

There are not. You tag the guy and then he's 41 million on your cap. But as soon as you trade him to somebody else, he is their problem. That's why it works. Uh, I shot you 99. Is it better for the Vikings? If no one wants to sign Sam Darnold and they get him back cheaper, or should they want someone to trade for him? Well, it really depends on if they want him back. If they want him back, there will be teams that are going to want to sign him. I mean, there's just no question about it because of the rest of the quarterbacks that are out there.

And the draft is just so bad that there will be teams that want to sign him. What makes it so the Vikings have leverage in signing Darnold is the franchise tag. So if they go to Darnold and they're like, look, you're not hitting the market. Okay, pal, you're playing quarterback for us next season. Here are your options. You could take $41 million guaranteed, or you could take 70 on a three-year contract with the first year as a lower cap hit. And then we're going to trade you after next year. And they've got the leverage there. They've got the leverage. They can do what they want because they can franchise tag him. Now he could say, well, you know, you'd have to work around my cap hit or whatever, but they can. And we've been over that on the show. It's, it makes it harder, but they can

work around if they want to his franchise tag. So they have the leverage in a negotiation. If they want him over a multi-year deal, if they want to, uh, shadow Wolf, Dan Marino is the sixth quarterback taken 83 where you're drafted. Doesn't matter. It doesn't, it doesn't. I mean, it doesn't in the way that Brock Purdy and Tom Brady became superstars. It does in the fact that over the history of the game, there's a way, way better chance. If you're the number one overall quarterback, then you are the sixth quarterback taken or seventh, eighth, ninth, whatever with each pick, there's a lower chance of success. But what I think we've seen in recent years in Jalen hurts certainly qualifies for this is the order of the quarterbacks for who becomes the best is not often in order. And some years,

everyone is good. That 2020 draft Jordan loves good. Tua was good. Herbert's good. Lawrence, you know, but I think he's still pretty good. And then other years, the, the Mac Jones, the Justin Fields, nobody's good. I think the point that you make about Dan Marino, nobody really knows nothing when it comes to quarterbacks. I mean, last year, three, four weeks into the season, you would have said, don't even ever say the name Bryce Young ever again in the NFL. It is over for him.

And then suddenly it wasn't. And now he looks like, you know, they could build around Bryce Young and they could be competitive with it. Like it just, we don't know nothing. Trey Lance gets drafted by the 49ers. They have a seventh rounder from Iowa state who becomes a Superbowl quarterback. I mean, sheesh, it's crazy. The quarterback position is crazy. So yeah, I mean, being drafted the fifth quarterback doesn't mean he'll have less success. It means he was a lesser prospect based on skill sets and production in college. Uh, Trent says being around the team, did you get the impression that any player would be heartbroken if Darnold leaves to me? He's a, yeah, he's a cool guy, vibe, good friend, but indifferent. No, no, no. I wouldn't put it that

way. No, I wouldn't put it that way. Uh, I think the team absolutely loves Sam Darnold. I absolutely love Sam Darnold this year. What the team understand, like I'll give it, I'll tell you a story last year when Kirk cousins got hurt. Uh, I went up me and a couple other reporters. We went up to Brian O'Neill in green Bay after Kirk cousins injury. And Brian O'Neill felt so strongly about Kirk Cousins playing for him and what he meant as the leader that he couldn't talk. He was just choked up. He was so emotional that he was like, guys, I just, I can't even do this. That's how emotional he was. That's how. And then when we talked to O'Neill at his locker before the off season started last year, at the end of the year, he referenced that. And he said, yeah, well guys, I, I showed you how much I care about Kirk and I,

and I want him back. And I'll tell anybody in the organization that I want Kirk back. And I was like, wow, that's pretty powerful. Then Kirk signs with Atlanta. We do a press conference with Brian O'Neill and he's like, eh, you know, onto the next guy. That's kind of how it works. Uh, so they know it's a business. They know it's a business. And if Sam Darnold leaves, they'll all go, okay, we get it. Like they're not going to quit the team. It's a business. Every player knows it at this point. So heartbroken. Well, I mean, everyone's going to get their paycheck next year. They're all playing for their own personal business. But as far as how they cared about him and liked him as a leader and as the center of this team, they showed you that on many occasions, this was not a, eh, man, whatever. He's just a guy. No,

I don't think so at all. I mean, he's a guy who won a bunch of games for them and played great. And, and the thing is sometimes there's almost been this like, well, you know, he's got Jefferson or whatever, but you watch the end of the last season, other than the very end, he was winning those games. He has to win the Arizona game. They didn't play that well. They didn't, they didn't block very well for him. They didn't run the ball that well. He had to win the game at the end, the Atlanta game, he takes over the The Seattle game, he takes over. The Green Bay game is Sam Darnold going to win in that game. I mean, they cared about him a lot as a leader. If he's back, I think people will be happy he's back

because they just won 14 games with him. And if he's not back, they'll understand. That's how it always works everywhere you go. So that's just the NFL for you. It's, it's, it's, it's a business. Uh, JP North says on running backs in the draft, many of them appear to have poor pass protection ratings. Uh, okay. You actually included more here. Um, let's see, which seems to be critical to KOC. I would guess that they have a very short list that they would consider picking. Yeah. I don't know how often our college running backs pass protecting was, was Ashton Jenty

standing in there sticking linebackers was O'Marion Hampton. I don't think so. I mean, I watched that Ohio state offense. Uh, they call it five out When you have five receiving options, running back, tight end, three receivers, Ohio State, like they're two running backs. It's five out. Like they're going out for passes. They might, you have to tell me how many snaps. There could not have been many snaps.

That's why it's so difficult for a lot of these guys to make that adjustment. I agree with your overall point that they want somebody to do that.. I agree with your overall point that they want somebody to do that. But if you're drafting a running back, that's because the dude's going to get the ball and run with it. Uh, I think that the Ty Chandler, there was more than just the pass protection. We made it about the pass protection, but there were also, I brought this up. There were also times he just ran the wrong way. I think it was more detail.

And when you think about the details, I've watched this in training camps, really interesting with the running backs. We don't even think about details of running backs. Just like get the ball and run dork, go do something, be a freak. But they have certain approaches to every single play. Like I was watching one night where Ty Chandler and a couple of the other backs, I think it was Dwayne McBride who couldn't get any of this right, where it was like, you have to take a step to the right and then a step back and then go forward, like based on the timing of the blocking and he couldn't get it right. And they were kind of yelling at him and it's really detailed. It's not just sort of like, ha, here's the ball, take it from me.

And I think there was a lot of that with Chandler that went beyond just the run blocking. And really when Ty Chandler ran this year, wasn't that good? You average like three yards to carry. So I don't think if you're drafting a guy that you're thinking, okay, there's only one guy who works for us and it's Bob who can pass block. No, I don't think so. I think you take the guy who could get you explosive plays and then you hope he could pass block. And if he can't, you put in CJ ham that you're hoping someone is so good at running that, that you're looking to, uh, feel good about them. Even if you have to put in CJ ham, uh, blow fishes as Gino Smith to the Raiders and Darnold to the Seahawks.

You think they're getting rid of Gino Smith? I mean, their coach kind of came out strongly in favor of Gino. I don't know. They won 10 games still. It's hard to say, hard to say how they feel about Gino. He's just that, he's just that 12th best guy. You know, it's the worst place to be. It's a very, to be locked into that and have no other options. The worst place to be not to have JJ McCarthy.

And we're right. Yeah. So, uh, Matt says, uh, the decision between a proven and good Darnold and a few less free agent signings versus more raw JJ McCarthy and more money. I want to gamble with JJ and a more stock roster. So I don't look at it exactly that way. The way I look at it is you can do all the same stuff in free agency with Darnold. It just is going to have implications down the road. And what it comes down to is not that McCarthy is more raw for me. It's is McCarthy actually ready because we can sit here right now and say, just play 17 games, bro. Go do it. Come on. What's your problem? But then you watch how many times Sam Darnold got hit. And I think we've got a big enough sample to say, if you are the

Vikings quarterback, you better be ready to get hit. I don't care if they get two of the best guards in the league. This is a downfield passing game. You're going to stand in there and you're going to take some shots. Kirk had to do it. Darnold had to do it. The payoff is that you hit 30 yard passes, but Kevin O'Connell is not going to suddenly go, okay, let's, let's run a bunch of screens. No, he's going to throw the ball down the field to J to Justin Jefferson. So I think that it comes down to, can a guy physically handle 17 games? He's's going to be that is going to be far enough along and with O'Connell he always has said that teams fail quarterbacks more than quarterbacks fail teams he can't let J.J. McCarthy have another season where he gets hurt and doesn't progress because I think in all sports the number one thing that kills progress and development for

players is injuries why did this guy not work out? Why was he a bust? Well, he missed his whole first half, his first season, and then his half of the second season. And then he never really got going. I think that that sets people behind. And if he's thrown out there to the wolves with a bunch of great pass

rushers, and he's not fully a hundred percent ready to do it and to take those hits, that's where you worry about an injury. That, that I think is what it is. It's not really about like, can he do it and to take those hits. That's where you worry about an injury. That, that I think is what it is. It's not really about like, can he do it? I think we've seen him enough in training camp to know he can run an offense. He can throw a football. He understands a lot about what Kevin O'Connell is doing and he's got character leadership. He's got all those things. It really is. This is one thing. Do you want to take it slow or not? And you can go get your

guards and go get your defensive tackles. You you want to take it slow or not? And you can go get your guards and go get your defensive tackles. You just have to structure it different, but that has longer term implications that we eventually would need to look at just not right off the bat. And the fact that the Vikings ownership is willing to pay cash also is a big element of this. So great stuff, guys. Really good chat tonight. Really good chat and a good audience for a Thursday night in the middle of February. This is what I love about you guys. You always, you always show up to talk football. You're just like me. So, um, one, one more from a blowfish is here, and then we're going to get to clay's corner. Uh, despite his

age, I hope the Viking signed Brandon sheriff to fill one of the guard positions, man. We've been, we've been talking about him. I don't know how long he was still good last year. He was kind of like a little bit like Reisner though. I don't think he's got the run blocking he had before, but I'm in, I'm in for that. All right. So if you weren't here the other night, you may have missed the announcement. The purple insider has a new intern who's been watching and observing behind the scenes and has his own bit. Clay Petri goes to Penn. And Clay, your second show here, you have five NFL headlines for me to comment and us

to talk about. That's going to be Clay's Corner. We're going to do this pretty much every Monday and Thursday. The Combine will throw some things off. You're going to do like a spring break because you're a college kid. That'll throw some things off. But aside from that, we're going to be consistent here as we can on these live shows. So Clay, welcome back. And how about we just jump right into it, man? You got five headlines. Where would you like to begin? Yeah. Well, first off, thanks for having me back. I'm glad

that we got some much needed improvements and still have more on the way for the setup. But yeah, I'm ready to talk some ball on some headlines. And I wanted to start with Kellen Moore. So of course, he just was hired as the head coach for the New Orleans Saints. What do you think of this move? And how impactful do you think it'll be for both teams? I think that the Saints, if we were making a top five most screwed franchises, the Saints would be in my top three. Their salary cap situation is horrendous. All the people in New Orleans who said the cap's not real.

What are you talking about? Well, it's not real when they were stretching out every dollar for Drew Brees, but then it became very real and they were stretching out every dollar for drew breeze, but then it became very real and they signed a lot of bad contracts that has put them up in a bad situation. Derek Carr started to play well at the beginning of last year, gets hurt again. He's been hurt every year and is just the definition of a mid quarterback that can't really get you over the top. They have some of their best players are 35 years old. They just really don't have a lot to work with enough to get them to six or seven wins,

but he's going to have to be a miracle worker beyond that. I think for Kellen Moore, what I would like to see them do is give him a lot of space and a lot of time because they have so much old to clear out so much new to bring in. I think the best option for them would actually to be to go full lions and just completely rip that roster limb for limb tank with a halfway decent quarterback in there. So you're fairly competitive like the lions did with Jared Goff and then try to draft at the, at the very top again next year, because they are in a lot of trouble. I think Kellen Moore falls under the category of the same as someone like KOC, but the one thing you don't really know

for a younger quarterback is like, what's that leadership going to be like? Can he run an organization? I think that if you had him for any franchise that was in a good place or good shape, I would really like the hire because he's been around a lot of places. He's played in the league. He was a backup quarterback. He understands the leadership element, I think, better than maybe just a random X's and O's guy. Who's going to succeed there? Who is going to have a good time with the Saints? What do you think? Yeah, I'm kind of in the same boat. There's just so many holes in that roster and it's like even when you have a guy like chris halave he's always out due to injuries which is unfortunate and it's just they like you said i hope they don't gerard mayo him and just like get him in for one year and then get him out

because it's going to take a while to turn this team around but as far as the eagles go like i i think they're so talented they'll be fine um like yeah they had one of the worst passing uh teams in the league but they they were also like the third lowest like uh team to pass the ball um so it's like i think they're gonna be fine regardless uh that o-line and Saquon will make any offense offensive coordinator like have a ball. So yeah, you mean, I mean, in terms of like the total passing yards, but their efficiency was still very good. And we saw, you know, that Jalen Hurts can do it. They are similar to the lions though, where I totally agree overall, but then you kind of go through some of the teams that had this happen to them in the past. They went to the Superbowl, then they lost the coordinator and stuff. It's not, it's not always the easiest. I'm thinking of the Falcons when they had Kyle Shanahan and then they went

to Steve Sarkisian and it was still good, but it just wasn't the same. So I am curious for both the Lions and the Eagles, how that works when Sirianni, let's see, he lost his offensive coordinator, Shane Steichen the first time they did have a bit of a setback. So I don't think it's a guarantee, but you're right. I mean, they're a very talented team and it's also the positive of having an offensive coach is you could stay with the general same systems. You don't have to completely overhaul where if you have a defensive coach, you do uh all right let's go to your next question what did i do the other night i think i made a noise

i went like yeah we were thinking of a noise to make but i think i think we're still work in progress but uh i get with my with the system here i can get i can do like noises and stuff but let's do something but i think it might be better for me to just go all right on to the blue 42 on to the next question yeah well speaking of the eagles um dac prescott seems to be in his feelings about his rival winning the big game uh he said that the cowboys are very close to the eagles and that he believes that it's their turn now what do you think about his comments and do you agree with him? Well, the thing about Dallas is I think over the last four or five years, say there was the one year that he got hurt 2020. So really this is like 2021 that they've walked into every season with a good

enough roster to compete for a Superbowl. I don't know that that's still going to be the case going forward. And they really didn't do enough last year to help it, but it's almost seemed like finally the weight of the distractions crushed everybody last year. And then Dak got hurt, but they weren't good before Dak got hurt and they lost Dan Quinn. That's another thing like, well,

there'll be good. They get Zimmer in there and everything. Then they get people hurt. So we rewrite the narrative after they probably had the worst injury luck in the whole league. They lost Trayvon Diggs. They lost Micah Parsons. I don't know who would have a good defense there. I'm sure Zimmer was like, come on, man. Like I showed up here to coach Micah Parsons and they played better after he came back. But the point just being that I don't think that that roster is there anymore. I think it was a couple of years ago where they were good enough, where Tony Pollard was there. Zeke still had some juice.

The offensive line was good and Dak was playing really well. They had multiple receivers, Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb. It's just not there now. And even when CeeDee Lamb was banged up, it's like, who are they throwing to? Just kind of whoever, just guys. I don't think that they have the juice anymore. And the league does this.

You think like, Oh, you're that you're 12. I think they had 12 wins two years ago. They had the number one offense two years ago. And you go like, okay, yeah,

this team should be great. And I was wrong last year. I thought they were going to be great again. I thought they were going to come back and they were going to compete for a super bowl, but things change fast. And so all of a sudden now Philly gets all these draft picks. Now Washington is the hot team. If you're a free agent, do you want to go to Dallas? It's a circus. Why would you want to do that? You want to go to Washington. And I think that this is the underrated thing. Last year, Jerry Jones said that they were all in and then they didn't spend

a lot of money in free agency and everyone went, well, why didn't you just sign all the guys? I think agents are like, don't do that because agents really put a lot of work into, and I know this from talking to him through the years, a lot of work into which organization you want to be a part of. That's why the Vikings got Blake Cashman, Jonathan Grenard, and Andrew Van Ginkle. Everybody knows you go to play for KOC, you're going to have a good time. And it's going to be a good locker room. It's good facilities and it's good ownership. And your family's going to be taken care of and all that. And there's not going to be a circus, which it is in Dallas. And I feel like there's other teams like the Ravens who have created this reputation where if you're Derek Henry and you got an option, you're not going to Dallas.

Why would you do that? You're going to go play for the Ravens with John Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson. So, uh, I think that Dak is saying what he's got to say, but man, you know, they really, honestly, they should have just let Dak leave. It looks really bad now that they signed him to the most expensive contract. He's just, he's just Kirk cousins at this point. He's at now in his career with another injury packed on him. He's just kind of the same way of the guy is a good thrower of the ball, but look at the top quarterbacks. They're mobile. They're making an impact with their legs. He just

doesn't do that anymore. i mean we're on now multiple season ending injuries i just i am very skeptical i think they're at best probably an eight win type of team yeah i agree i'm i think jerry has officially gone off the edge and it's just it's too far to come back from and it's just even if they had the talent on the team still i think it's just too much going on to where it's like the focus wouldn't be there or like the the mindset wouldn't be where it needs to be um so that's that's how i feel and also i'm just tired of hearing cowboys players talk about it's their time i think michael parsons says that on every single episode of his podcast. I mean, I kind of see where Dak's coming from

because as like a starter, he is nine and four against the Eagles, but at the same time, he's two and five in the playoffs while the Eagles, they're 10 and five with two rings since he's been in the league. So it doesn't really sound like they're very close to me. No, no, it doesn't. I think they missed their chance when they lost to the Packers and Aaron Jones ran all over them. That was their year to be the best team in the NFC and they missed their window. Blue 18. Yeah. So, so the next one I got for you is about Josh Jacobs because he's been speaking his mind to the media lately. And he recently said, we need a guy that's proven to be a number one

receiver already what do you think of jacob's comments and how would you react to them if uh you were his teammate well you are the one who played uh football not i how would you react if your teammate well and you were a wide receiver right if your teammate said we ain't got no receivers how would you feel about that and it's not just any teammate it's a new teammate that's been on the team for one year while you've been grinding trying to build this thing so i'd be very annoyed i'd be upset um is he wrong no um i i think watson's been there enough to realize that he's had a lot of injuries and it might not work out and even with Dobbs and I know which is still young they're all young but it's I don't see them any of those guys

reaching that next elite status so I agree with him but some things need to stay in-house and I would be I would be upset so he saw Jordan Love kind of go on a like apology tour for him kind of saying like well that's not what we meant. But we would still like T. Higgins. So he kind of did that for him. I think things like this eventually, if your team is good and you have good chemistry, they'll just sort of wither away. But if not, they can sort of live there, like in the locker room of clearly a bunch of guys in the locker. I don't think it was just Josh Jacobs.

They looked around and said, man, we just don't have the horses that some of these other teams, the AFC or the NFC have. When you look at the Vikings with Justin Jefferson, you look at the lions with Amon Ross, St. Brown, like they have elite top number one, wide receivers that are the centerpieces of their offense that the Green Bay Packers don't have. He's not wrong, and I'm sure everybody could say he's not wrong. And the receivers are mad about everything all the time anyway. But I think it more speaks to just a little bit of the maybe culture

in the room of pointing fingers after what happened and having been in the locker room with the Vikings after they lost in Arizona. And then even the post game or, you know, the locker clean out, I couldn't make it back with my flight, but I read what everybody else said and wrote. You didn't see any of that. And the radio row stuff, you didn't see any of that from the Vikings of pointing fingers at Darnold or, or hinting, Oh, you know, if only our game plan had been better or something like that. And I think that the difference between Matt LaFleur, Kevin O'Connell is probably that probably galvanizing the players to be a little less sort of me first, or a little less to go

throw somebody under the bus conscientious of each other is something that they seem to kind of push a lot with the Vikings. And I don't know that Matt LaFleur has that same sort of vibe to him as a leader. I think he's really good X's and O's, but I'm not sure that he's got that other level as a leader. And a comment like that sort of is reflective of that. It's like that comment is reflective of the leader there, or Josh Jacobs could just have sort of been baited into the question.

I don't know. That could be another part. I didn't hear the question. That's always something you have to consider too. I didn't hear the question. I don't know. That could be another part. I didn't hear the question. That's always something you have to consider too. I didn't hear the question. There was one last year with Jefferson where the interviewer said something like, are you getting ready to break the bank? And Jefferson was like, yeah, get ready to break the bank. And then everyone's like Jefferson getting ready to break the banks. Like, wait a minute now. Can't do that. So there is part,

I think it's one of those things that if they don't have a strong locker room, it will be a problem. If they do, everyone will sort of just shrug it off. And usually if you're good, everyone will forget about this long, long ago. And I think the Packers will be pretty good. Yeah. Unfortunately, I think they will be pretty good as well. But, uh, if we move on to the next headline, uh, let's talk about my boy, Matthew Stafford. Um, he said, it's a Stafford to

New York has been heating up lately in the media. We've seen the Malik neighbors tweets. We've seen the stuff with his wife. What do you think about Stafford going to the giants? Do you think it's a real possibility? It is funny to me that it always has been the Matthew Stafford's wife, like has a podcast or whatever. And it reminds me if anybody watched the sitcom Schitt's Creek, I don't know if you were watching that, but it's it won Emmys and stuff. It was good. Anyway, there's there's a scene where there's a guy who's in charge of something in the town and they go to him and they're like, what is going on? What's going to happen? And he goes, well, if you listen to my podcast, you would have heard that. And I think of the same thing with like lions fans and then LA fans. Like, well,

I guess if we want to know what's going on with Stafford, we have to listen to his wife's podcast. What a stupid world we live in to have to do that. And, uh, also if I was Matthew Stafford, I'd be like, really, really? You're constantly making headlines about how I feel about stuff on your podcast for, for what? I think we've got the money. So that's, that's an odd dynamic there. And of course I'm very pro podcaster. I just think it's a strange situation that if I was covering the Rams, I would have to listen to the quarterback's wife's podcast to see if I could get any hints about what he's thinking. It just is kind of a, universe, but the Giants make so much sense for me. The price tag shouldn't be that high. I mean, if they're getting rid of him,

his age, the only thing is that if Stafford's like, oh, I want a different team. I want to take another shot because our team is tearing some guys down. The Giants is not the place that you really want to do it. I wouldn't want to be sent to the NFC East. I would probably want to be sent somewhere to an easier division than that. The NFC West is actually a great division for Matthew Stafford. It's just not that scary. The 49ers aren't what they used to be. Arizona is probably a mid-type of team.

Seattle's probably a mid type of team. Like you can win that division. If I'm Stafford, maybe he's sort of being a little on the over emotional side about his best receiver for a long time and feeling like, ah, you know, well, I guess we're just kind of moving on from all the guys I won the Superbowl with. It's still the best situation for him though. I can't think of a better scenario, I guess like Pittsburgh, but even then you're playing against the Ravens and that divisions

is not easy. I think he should probably just stay with the Rams. Yeah. That's kind of where my head's at. I just don't see a 37 year old quarterback going somewhere else for like one, two seasons to end his career. Like, I just don't really see the point in it. I don't think he'll want to do it. I get that he's having the Cooper Cup stuff and all that, but it's like you're 37, man. Like finish your career with the Rams and be fine. But I think if he does leave, honestly, I was thinking Steelers.

I think obviously that makes a lot of sense. Or maybe the Raiders take him as a bridge quarterback since their pick isn't as high. Maybe they might be out of the quarterback raffle this year. So maybe take him for a year or two and see what happens. But I think he should just stay. You know what team I'm really interested in for the quarterback situation that I haven't really thought about at all until this came up was the Indianapolis Colts because the Colts have a good team and they have pieces in players and Anthony Richardson. I liked him a lot as a

prospect and his raw talent is through the roof, but the guy hasn't played two years because he's been injured a lot, got benched. He's completing like 50% of his passes, which is about 20% off where he should be. And even though he's an amazing runner, his passing numbers look like Tim Tebow and that, and they've got to be terrified. And if you went out and traded for a 37 year old quarterback for one year, it would at least give you another year to see behind the scenes, like where Richardson is, maybe get them in a couple of games, see if there's some development because they have just not been able to develop him because

he gets hurt all the time. So can you, or that also might just be a bust. I mean, if I'm there, I'm probably thinking, ah, this is over. Like, I just don't even know how you can continue to roll somebody out there who is so poor at throwing the football. They're not in any discussions for anybody with quarterbacks, but after what happened last year, their coach has to feel like he's on the hot seat. And I don't know if I want to put all of my eggs in the basket of just a guy who can't throw the ball. Uh, so I, they are an interesting team for, for a guy like Stafford. That would be, and you look at the division, are you scared? I'm not. No.

Right. I mean, you got the Texans who will probably be a little better and the Jaguars who are still the Jaguars, Tennessee's a couple of years away at best. So I guess that that's a team I thought of. I don't know if he wants to go from living in LA to Indianapolis, the traffic will be better. So that's, but it's something to watch.

I think he probably gets over it and ends up staying there unless they do a Darnold thing. They could do a Darnold thing. Okay. What else you got? Yeah. So for my last headline, let's, uh, I got Jeff, Justin Jefferson. He was at radio hall talking about the Vikings quarterback situation.

And he stated that he believes that it will be good to have Darnold back and that it's rare for a quarterback to be able to go out and win 14 games. Do you think Jeddah's is just trying to be a good teammate, or do you think this shows where his loyalty lies? I think Justin Jefferson, just like Kevin O'Connell, but for different reasons, is someone that you can never really read too much into. Well, because he's always going to have the back of his quarterback. I mean, at times you could see last year when they had to play with Josh Dobbs and Nick Mullins, you could see that it was breaking him.

But he's second in the league in receiving yards. Setting records again. They won 14 games. They had a chance to go play for the top seed. If they bring him back, Jefferson's not a capologist. He's a wide receiver. Justin Jefferson should not be expected to be in the lab on over the cap.com and being like, Oh, Oh, we would have to restructure this contract two years from now. That's going to cause us a problem. Like that's not, that's not his job.

He caught a lot of darn passes from Sam Darnold this year and had a lot of success, caught a 97 yard touchdown, went over 1500 yards. There were two receivers in the league that were over 1300 and it was him and Jamar chase. He was pretty happy with his season by the end of the day. And he was pretty happy this year, winning a end of the day. And he was pretty happy this year, winning a lot of football games week in and week out. I also feel like, I feel like they think that they let him down as much as he let them down. I don't, I didn't get the sense that everyone in the locker room thought, Oh, well, Darnold just can't play now. I think that they look at

the blocking it. Remember in the lions game, Jefferson caught a touchdown and then dropped it. And there was also a third down that he dropped as well. So, you know, they, the players are always going to back the guy who's on their team. And then as soon as he's gone, they'll back the next guy.

That's just how it always works. No matter what. And Jefferson, I would compare Jefferson, his personality to a golden retriever. If you've ever had a golden retriever, you know, they're just endlessly loyal and enthusiastic and they're the best. I grew up with one, but like,

it's, it's not a critical thinking dog. Like that's, you know, like that's, that's not what you want from Justin Jefferson. In fact, I think that his attitude is so good. It's one of his superpowers. And I mean this in the most complimentary way, by the way, like the, the, the comparison to, to the golden retriever, because he, he is so, so loyal and gives everything he's got to whoever's around him. And also is not the guy to, to bite back and do things like that in the media that we've seen from so many wide receivers. And last year you negotiate a contract completely quietly.

There were games where he didn't catch a lot of passes. He came out and said, well, we won the game. And you know, the, my favorite play from Jefferson last year, aside from the 97 yard touchdown,

I was pretty cool to see, but my favorite play was against Chicago. They had completely sold out to take them out of the game. I mean, three guys. So Addison's killing them and Hawkinson's killing them. They're having great games. You could tell he's frustrated. You know, he's kind of like, Oh man, like run routes for the love of the game out there. And then at the end of the game, there's a handoff and his job is to crack in, hit the safety. And he comes flying in and drills the safety. Jones breaks outside, gets a big run. It's like all day. This guy's been getting beat up. He's

got three people on him. He's not getting the football and he's still blocking like that. Like that just kind of tells you about who he is. And I think that that would play into whoever they have a quarterback. He's just going to, he's just going to go die for out there. And that's just how it is. So anything Jefferson says in any email or in any interview, he's going to be backing his quarterback, even if it was Nick Mullins, that's just who he is. And I think it's one of the things that makes him a really good wide receiver. Yeah. The first thing I had in my notes was Kevin O'Connell quote. Um, I think he's just trying to back up his guy. Um, he's already had so many quarterbacks in his young career

that I'm sure at this point he's kind of just looking for the best quarterback who can get him the ball, and he doesn't care who it is. He just wants to win games. So I think he's a complete receiver mentally, physically. So I think he's just being a good teammate. Okay, let me give you a clay's corner question that I didn't prep you for. Oh God. So you, uh, you're in Philadelphia now, but you spent some of your upbringing in the city of Chicago, right? And you got your Cubs thing

back there behind you. Yep. And you got your bears thing back there behind you. And it's, uh, that's, it's acceptable. Tennessee North fandom is acceptable on the show from the interns, but I want to ask you your opinion on the bears hiring Ben Johnson and whether you think that those ridiculous sack numbers and all the problems in Chicago will now just drift up into the sky and it will be sunny days at soldier field going forward like what uh what is the take on ben johnson um it's hard to have any kind of high hopes when last season happened um leading into that season i thought oh this is it like we got the quarterback we got the receiver like we're fine and then obviously it was horrible one of the worst seasons i've had to witness as a fan but um ben johnson

ben johnson gives me hope i think his offense is just so elite and so creative that like it's gonna be hard to mess it up like we're definitely gonna have to get offensive linemen to like fill his system because that's what it's built through but i think poles is going to be hard to mess it up. We're definitely going to have to get offensive linemen to fill his system because that's what it's built through. But I think Poles is ready to be aggressive in the offseason. I think we have good draft capital to really build this team around him. But I'm not going to say all the problems are gone. I'm hoping for nine, maybe ten wins next year. We also have a very hard schedule.

So who knows? But that's what I'm hoping for a wild card up here. So I'm not trying to go anything crazier than that, but I think he could definitely do it. The whole NFC North is going to have it a lot harder schedule wise than they did last year. I wonder about, when you look at Chicago, you look at New York market size, shouldn't matter anymore just because of social media has kind of brought

us all closer together. And yet there seems to be something about those franchises that have failed so hard. And it seems like there's just so much pressure all the time on those franchises that it just breaks people. It breaks the players. It breaks the coaches. And I didn't think Matt Iverflus was going to be a bad coach. And I'm not even sure that he was a bad coach, but it seemed like every clutch situation, he just froze completely. Right. I just had no idea what to do. I mean, the Vikings had tough games against them and yet in the biggest situations he just so often fell apart and with caleb williams i think he started to feel it big time last year with the pressure that comes along with playing there

especially since the franchise is lost for so long that all you get is that brought up time and time again it's like being a vikings kicker where the minute you miss a key field field goal everyone's like you remember what gary anderson missed it's just like always gets kind of hammered on you so there's a lot of pressure that i think is beyond like even what the normal amount of pressure would be i that's my biggest question about ben johnson It's not going to draw a play. They're going to have good screens. They're going to have trick plays. They're going to do a lot of stuff. It's really, can he handle the fact that he's got to answer for everything now? And is he going to freeze up when all that attention is on him? And plus he's, it's great to go where they draft the number one quarterback. It's also bad sometimes because that guy can either make you a genius

or make you an idiot. Yeah, I agree. I think Ben Johnson, as long as we get the line with his system, I really don't. Defense, we might still be in trouble on defense. That's kind of why I don't want to get my expectations too high. I think we need some more interior guys, even another edge rusher. But I think as long as we fill those guards or a garden center spot, at least, I think he'll be able to show off what he can do.

And I think we'll finally make a good jump in this long history. Well, there is a long offseason to go and there's probably about 20 teams who are saying, you know, if we just get a couple of guards, we're going to be a lot better. And so you kind of think the same, right? I think that's what I'm saying. I think every, I think every team is saying, if we just get a couple of good guards, only there's probably four in the free agent market. So there's a lot of work for everybody to do to catch the Eagles. Clay's corner folks. When we go live, uh, intern clay,

we'll jump in with five headlines, break it all down. So thank you, Clay. Appreciate your time, sir. And, uh,

thanks everybody for listening again. Great chat tonight. Really enjoyed it. And we will do it again very soon. Next, uh, Monday night is probably the plan, but I've got some more things coming for you on the channel as well.

So thanks everybody for watching and listening and we'll see y'all later. Football.