Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Which Vikings free agents are coming back???

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

The Vikings have a not insignificant amount of key talent hitting the free agent market this offseason. Matthew Coller is joined by Will Ragatz of Bring Me The News to discuss which of their own stars the team should bring back and who might leave. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here and making a triumphant return to the show. SI on Vikings, Will Raggetts. We're going to have a really good conversation here about the Vikings free agents and what they're going to do with everybody in-house. But first, Will, how are you? I get questions all the time. Where's Will?

When is Will coming back? Is Will okay? Well, you're fine. Just your scheduling was a little different this year, but thank you for rejoining the show. Yeah, thanks for having me. I think this may be our first one since the porch back in the summer. I'm not positive on that, but a lot has certainly changed since then.

Quite the journey of a Viking season. It was fun to be kind of along for the ride and definitely came to an abrupt, shocking ending eight days ago, but big off season ahead as always. And I mean, even more than ever this year. So excited to be back on the show and talk about it. Well, we certainly thought about doing it on the porch again today, but just maybe, maybe above zero is where we can do porch podcasts. But I've been thinking so much about what they can do to add to the roster, the free agents that they might bring in, what they're going to do at quarterback, what they can learn from the playoffs that I've been a tad negligent on who's coming back on this roster. So I've got the list of free agents here and I want to go, I want to go over big and small,

but I think we have to start with the biggest free agent, which is Sam Darnold. And I thought you were going to say Jonathan Bullard. I know. Hey, Jonathan Bullard was key for them this year. Don't downplay his role in the run stuffing. But when it comes to Sam Darnold situation, there hasn't been a whole lot of back and forth or many opinions shared. It's really been one opinion that Sam Darnold is not going to come back. So I assume that you're on that side of things, but is it a situation where they should let him walk, where they should try to franchise tag and trade him?

How do you think that they will handle it? And maybe, maybe give me a percentage because it's not zero that Sam Darnold comes back. Give me a percentage on it. And then what you think the right approach is. Yeah, I I've been in the camp in the camp since the season ended. I mean, right after that Rams game ended, I was like, all right, Darnold's gone. That was a disaster two game stretch. How you play in the biggest moments has to kind of outweigh, unfortunately, what was a really good deserving Pro Bowl season. But then in the last kind of week since then i've i haven't swung back i haven't changed my opinion i still am of the belief that it should be jj mccarthy moving forward not only because of who the vikings seem to think jj mccarthy is and what

they invested in him to be but also because of just the whole roster building approach of of what not re-signing sam Darnall allows you to do elsewhere with some of these players that we're going to talk about. But I have pushed back a little bit from some people in my mentions who are like, oh, there's no debate. It's J.J. McCarthy. There's no discussion. It's 100%.

And I understand that sentiment, and I think the vast majority of the fan base, if the people that I'm seeing interacting with are representative are just over Darnold, they're ready for it to be McCarthy. It's like, he's the toy they don't really want to play with anymore. They're, they're onto the new thing. I do think that it is at least somewhat of a discussion in the Vikings front office with their coaching staff because of the body of work that Sam Darnold put together because of the uncertainty of JJ McCarthy I think coming off of the injury has to factor in ever so slightly I would still put it at like 20 percent

that that Sam Darnold is back um but I don't know I don't know. I don't know if that's high or if that's low. That's, that's just where my mind goes right now, because I do think there's a non-zero chance that they still franchise tag him and do the one year thing that is 41 million. But I also think there's, there's a chance that they go to him with an offer, maybe in the Baker Mayfield range, something that almost certainly Kweisi is going to want to be able to get out of after one year, even if it's a two or three year deal on paper. And they offer that to them and say, if you want to, if you want to be back at this is, this is what we're willing to offer you.

We're not going to go any, any over this. It's up to you. And I bet given the market and the lack of other QB options, he can get more elsewhere. So then it'll just become his decision. Do I prioritize the comfort in Minnesota, Kevin O'Connell, or do I try to really take the one opportunity in my career to cash in off by far the best season I've ever had? So I think it'll be McCarthy, but I just, I don't think it's an open and shut thing where there's no debate and the Vikings have already X'd out Sam Darnold's name on their big whiteboard and they're just completely moving on. Yeah, I think the emotion of the way the

season ended, the disappointment washed out a lot of things for the fans that maybe the team would be a little bit more rational about. I mean, it's just not easy to get top 10 quarterback play in the league. And by all measures, that's where he was this year. And all of us understand by now the salary cap, the implications. In fact, it's been kind of funny because for so long I was banging the drum of, this is why you don't have flexibility and you can't make up for your missed draft picks, is because you have Kirk Cousins on that contract. For one year, you can certainly work around it. Over many years, you probably can. Or if you're talking about a Baker Mayfield type of deal. But if I'm Sam Darnold, there's definitely logic to,

hey, don't you want to keep throwing to Justin Jefferson? I would not want to be looking over my shoulder on a three-year contract that I know is not a three-year contract. And when you got there, they told you you're not the guy. And when McCarthy gets injured, the head coach comes out and says, JJ's the franchise guy. If I'm Darnold, I'm thinking very much one year, then go get paid somewhere else. And I think that if they're moving on from him, it's the franchise tag and trade. And if they're keeping him, it's the franchise tag and you are still a bridge quarterback. And I also think from the Vikings perspective, they have to recognize that it could get ugly.

If Sam Darnold doesn't get off to a good start next season, if they want to develop McCarthy, but then they end up with kind of a Kirk and Pennix type of situation. That's a little dicey, but 20% is fair. I went 40% the other day on the show, which I feel maybe it was a tad high, but I think the truth might be somewhere in the middle there because you can make the argument that O'Connell is going to want to compete again next year after having this bite at the apple with 14 wins with this quarterback.

You could also make the case that he has emphasized how much he wants to be patient with JJ McCarthy. And of course, fans don't want to be patient with JJ McCarthy. They want him now. But if I tell you that Kevin O'Connell doesn't think that it's time yet, how can we say, Oh, Kevin, just play him. You don't know what you're talking about. Like this, this gets gotta be ready for 17 games. If I'm not mistaken, they're playing the AFC North. Is that right? I mean, we're talking about, I think, I think so. Is that right? Baltimore and Pittsburgh. I got to check their future opponents, but I mean, I mean, we could be talking about

a really tough set of defenses, a lot of attrition over 17 games. It's just not, I I've just been of the camp that it's not as simple as a lot of people want to make it. Even though I agree with you that the ultimate result will probably be what we think it is. Guys, if you watch the show all the time, you know that I'm a hat guy, but if you're wearing hats to cover up for your hair loss, then I've got something that can help you. It's called HIMS. If you've lost your hair, that doesn't mean you can't find it again. Try HIMS hair loss solutions, and you'll be joining hundreds of thousands of subscribers who have found their hair again. HIMS makes treating hair

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Yeah, I think you bring up a couple good points there. One is that it could get a little bit awkward if they bring Sam Darnold back. Not necessarily, because especially if it's just a one-year thing if it's a tag but you're if you're bringing sam donald back in really any capacity it is going to be as your clear starter and jj mccarthy is just the backup and he basically is getting a second year waiting in the wings that would be the plan then that becomes maybe difficult to stick to. I know the team doesn't

pay attention to outside noise, but internal noise. If Sam Darnold just starts out really slow next regular season or JJ McCarthy is just absolutely tearing it up on the practice fields at TCO Performance Center during training camp and looking like a future star. And then, I mean, the players might see that and have opinions and that just, that can become potentially a, I don't know, I don't want to say dangerous, but just a potentially awkward situation. I think that is part of the calculus, but also, yeah, I mean, Sam Darnold was top five in passing yards and passing touchdowns. And I think he was sixth in passer rating. And a lot of that has felt like it's just gotten totally washed out of, out of the door and out of the picture because of the last two games and all

the sacks and the inaccuracy, but man, it was week after week, especially at Packers game and then the Falcons game and kind of those, those games, a lot of the games in that nine game win streak where he was just making throw after throw and moving around and making plays out of structure and looking like some of the best quarterbacks in the league do with the combination of size and athleticism and arm talent and all these things. And obviously the bad stuff came back to bite him in the end. But I just I'm not it's not a slam dunk to me. And clearly you agree if you're going as high as 40%.

There's a chance that he's back and that the team covets that stability. Another thing I will say is the cap space and the ability to make additions elsewhere is a big reason why I think the Vikings should let Darnold walk and roll with McCarthy and Daniel Jones or whoever. But with that said, you've got, I think an estimated is around 70 million in cap space. Let's say you tag Darnold for 40 and you keep him or you put him on a two-year deal that's a little front loaded or whatever. You can still create more cap space. They have a ton of restructurable contracts of players who are under

contract for next year or for several more years where you can create more space. So it's not as binary as, oh, if we bring Darnold back, say goodbye to any potential upgrades on the offensive line or having a good secondary or adding a pass rushing defensive tackle like they can still do those things it becomes trickier for sure than with if you're just going with jj mccarthy and a cheap backup but it's still doable with all the avenues that rob brzezinski and and quacey adolfo meant to have to free up additional space right i i easily just with the restructure button on over the cap.com came up with 20 million dollars more And that doesn't even include extensions. So for somebody like Andrew Van Ginkle or Josh Metellus, they could give these guys extensions and lower their cap hits if they want to.

And then you're looking at maybe 50 million to work with, or even more than that. If they've got some other creative avenues, which, you know, I guess you can't just sign every single player to the largest amount of money in free agency. So you can't just get all top four free agents and then do everything else. But last year they got at least two guys that were second tier free agents going into it. And I also look at Washington. How many second tier free agents did

Washington sign to build out their team? A lot of times it's about having a complete team more than just getting Trey Smith and it totally changes your team. Also the Trey Smith dream. He might stay in Kansas city where they have Patrick Mahomes. I just want to throw that out there as well, that they might not, they might not let him walk out the door just because there's a contract there to be had. So you rebuild the interior line with free agents and you bring back some of these guys over 50 million and you structure it so the contracts are less for this year. And then suddenly when I lay it out on paper, as I did in my recent article, it's like,

oh, that's actually not as bad as it looks. It's not perfect. It's not perfectly ideal, but it's also not some sort of like, Oh, they're going to fall off the face of the earth. So we'll just wait. We're just waiting and seeing what they decide to do. But, uh, I have felt like I was taking crazy pills over the last few weeks to be like, Hey, wasn't he a top 10 quarterback? Like, would they be out of their minds? But to put it on record, I, for Sam Darnold's sake, I would like to see him go somewhere else because I don't want it to happen to him where his first game, he throws an incompletion. He's booed off the field because the fans want nothing to do with him. And that seems to be the sentiment. So let's move on to some of these other

guys. I really haven't talked a lot on the show about any of their other free agents, the backfield. What is your take on both cam acres and Aaron Jones are free agents. They got nothing out of Ty Chandler this year, which I think was a surprise to all of us that he didn't build on last year. Do they bring back Jones? We had a debate the other day on drafting a first round running back. Where do you stand on what they should do at running back? Yeah, it's really interesting because I think the league is,

or maybe just my watching of the league and people consuming the NFL are maybe starting to come back around a little bit on the value of the run game and the running back position. And Saquon Barkley having an MVP type of season in Philadelphia and then being in the conference title game, I think has a lot to do with that. But I think all of these teams, the final four standing are pretty good in the running game. And the Chiefs have cobbled it together with Kareem Hunt, who was like out of the league.

So that's a different side of the coin. They have Patrick Mahomes. Josh Allen is like his own running game. And so is Jaden Daniels and Jalen Hurts. So that's sort of a different thing as well. But the Vikings just, I was looking at it the other day, since Kevin O'Connell arrived in 2022, if you go on the EPA stats

and you combine the last three seasons, they are 30th in EPA per rush. I think it's like the Raiders and the Texans, if I'm not mistaken, are below them. They were, I think, 29th and 22 when it was Dalvin Cook mostly. They were 25th last year with Madison and then they were 22nd this year with Aaron Jones.

So it was a little bit better. It wasn't horrible. They climbed out of the bottom 10 barely. Aaron Jones had a really good year, over 1,500 yards from scrimmage, seven touchdowns, played in every game despite turning 30 during the season, which was a concern coming in. But even Aaron Jones being pretty dang good couldn't get them even close to kind of just being, um, in the top

half in the league in EPA per rush. So I wonder how much of that is due to Kevin O'Connell's offenses, his schemes. I wonder how much is due to the offensive line. It's, it's just been puzzling to me because when you look at the people, you're like, Oh, Garrett Bradbury, great run blocker. He's, he's always been that, uh, Brian O'Neill great run blocker I mean Darisaw when he was healthy great run blocker the guards Dalton Reisner no Ed Ingram yes like there's there's some debate there they've got Josh Oliver who's like maybe the best run blocking tight end in the league how can they not have an efficient run game what why is it so hard um and that's why I was really excited about the Aaron Jones thing last offseason

because I thought my hypothesis was the running back hasn't been good enough with washed Delvin Cook, respectfully, and not very good Alexander Madison as a starter. And so now I don't really know how to feel because Jones was good, but they still weren't that effective there. So that is where I do start to kind of lean into that hypothesis and say, what if Ashton Gentry was in this offense? Or what if Caleb Johnson from Iowa or Omarion Hampton from North Carolina? I'm very intrigued by the idea of

maybe not drafting a running back at 24, but doing what I think Kwesi will do and trading back from 24 and maybe drafting a running back in the second round, because I mean, Jameer Gibbs and Bijan Robinson, all these, those are high first round guys, but just having a guy like that, a really good running back, it seems to me like that can overcome some other things. So that's my rambling way of saying, I think they should look to invest in that position with some draft capital. And then I don't know about bringing Aaron Jones back just because it's another year older. He's already 30. He's turning 31. Yes, he stayed healthy, but it seemed like at every other game, he would limp off the field with a little minor thing.

So I don't know how confident you are in him playing a full season again. I would maybe draft a running back with one of those top 100 picks and then maybe bring back Cam Akers as well because I think he's a good number two and a good locker room guy as well. And there was some reporting that the vikings are expected to get that third round comp pick from kirk which uh you know the comp picks people get very excited about them but that means four instead of three draft picks i mean what could change this entirely is if they do trade samarnold and they get a second round draft pick or something,

then you trade back and you end up with three seconds and maybe you're spending it on a defensive tackle, a corner and a running back. And if you're Kevin O'Connell, you've got to be so frustrated with the fact that you can't lean on your run game, or at least he thinks he can't lean on his run game. Something that PFF did a couple of years ago really made me think about the run game a lot and just how it works. They looked at when runs were blocked well by everyone, when no one made a mistake on the offensive line versus when they did. And the best running backs in the league still were good when someone made a mistake.

But for the most part, the running was way better when they did not think about Saquon, like the giants were making mistakes. He's getting four and a half yards. We're like, oh, he's just okay. And now when they don't make mistakes, he gets six yards of carry and 70 yard runs. So the two things are tied together. It's do you make your line better and do they block it up? And clearly it's a priority. They haven't even tried to pretend it's not to improve the line. I just looked at it when you, I'm sure you watch all the tape back to, you would always see one mistake. Like, Oh, this guy got pushed back. This guy lost his leverage. You talk about Ingram. Some people pretended the guy was

out there. It's crazy because his PFF grade was the same as Reisner's and run blocking because he would have big mistakes. Yeah, he could push people more, but he would also have catastrophic mistakes that cost them. So I think that's where it has to start. But we also saw more burst out of cam acres than we did Aaron Jones at the end of the year. They need explosives. They need to make people pay for playing too deep and they need to be able to create those big runs. So I don't know what the answer is when you look at free agency, because I just don't see a lot of free agents starting running backs. Rico Dowdle from the Cowboys is the top guy. And after that, it's just a lot of players that are kind of Aaron Jonesy or worse.

So if they were to bring him back, they have to have that paired with someone who's going to have the explosiveness and shout out to cam acres for having a good season. But I think it needs to be someone with upside of being that extra weapon that teams have to factor for because the one dimensional nature of the Vikings, I think is what got them in the end. Yeah, I agree. And I was just looking this up. And I was like, did they have a run longer than 40 yards? Because I know Aaron Jones had a couple of those.

He had the one early on against the Lions that was like 40. And then I'd forgotten. Cam Akers had a 58-yarder in Detroit. So that was their longest run of the season. But you just see Saquon ripping these 60 and 70 yarders seemingly every week. And they just they haven't had that element. And not a lot of teams or running backs do, to be clear. It is very hard to break those 60, 70, 80 yard runs. But yeah, that is where I think Akers as a number two guy with some explosiveness

would be solid. And then I don't know, I wouldn't I wouldn Akers as a number two guy with some explosiveness would be solid. And then I don't know, I wouldn't I wouldn't be mad if they brought back Aaron Jones and ran back the same thing, because I think Jones was good. And like we've been discussing, it's the offensive line and the blocking as well. And they need to upgrade that. But I don't know. I just I think the possibility of drafting a guy who can be kind of a long-term answer at that position and that could be as high as 24 like if genti were to somehow fall to 24 i wouldn't i don't know that if i would hesitate just with how special he is um could be trading back it could i think in this running back draft class from what i know about it there's

a lot of guys like i think you can get a really intriguing guy with that Kirk comp pick at 97 or whatever it is, the first comp pick. It's projected to be at the end of the third round. So that really intrigues me because they need to fix this running game. And you can tell whenever Kevin O'Connell gets asked about it, like he's clearly frustrated by it. He wants to be able to run the ball. That's such an important thing in these Shanahan McVay, these outside zone runs that are ideally keeping, not only keeping you on schedule and getting five, six yards when you do it on first or second down, but also picking up some explosives and really having to keep the

defense honest by marrying the run in the pass. And they just have not been able to do it effectively. So I do think that that is going to drive a lot of their decision-making this off season. And obviously the quarterback thing is the most important and they have a really, really good passing game and explosive wide receivers. And that's great. But a big picture with the offensive line, a big part of this, this off season with the offensive line, with running back and all of these different spots is we got to be able to run the ball effectively. Um, and, and got to at least climb into like that, that middle of the pack range in EPA per rush. And I

think they're going to really try to put some resources into doing that. I would have thrown out the idea of paying or drafting a running back high a couple years ago. But when the information changes, I think we have to change our opinions. And that's the data that existed five years ago in terms of running backs and running games and their value is just different. If you go back, this is a really fascinating thing. In 2017, there were maybe two teams that were on the positive side of EPA when it came to the running game. And now there's like 12 or 13 and quarterbacks running as part of it. Three of the final four teams in terms of total EPA per, not per rush, but total rushing EPA are in championship

weekend. And the other one is Baltimore who was a two point conversion away from maybe being there. So the running games are really important and that may result in it being a good idea to invest in that position because defensive lines are just beating offensive lines and you have to have a counter punch. Let's go to the secondary where there's two very difficult decisions here. Byron Murphy jr. And cam Bynum Byron Murphy jr. Intercepted everything that came his way this year. And that has never really happened before in his career. And some of it was balloons that fell out of the sky into his hands. And some of it was disgusting plays. I mean, the one-handed pick against Kirk Cousins.

There was one against Indianapolis where he ran the route for the guy and he undercut it. And I think he's been a really good corner for them over the last two years. But when we look at the price tags for corners, there's very, it's kind of crazy how this and the guard market work this way. There's a bunch of very affordable guys. And then there's, okay Nope. No chance that that's 20, 20 plus million. That's the elite guys. And I think Byron Murphy fits in that affordable range, but I don't know what the interceptions did for his value. I think a lot of teams will be interested in his services.

Yeah. I think like you said, he's been good since they signed him a couple of years ago, where he's been, he's paid not like a star, but like a solid mid-20-year-old starting cornerback who's been an above-average player at that position, and he's given them that kind of production. But now, after six interceptions after making the pro bowl i wonder what that does like you said to his market and if the vikings believe that whatever that market is is worth paying for him just from really studying what he does on a snap to snap basis the the tricky thing is if you let him walk and sign somewhere else then then what are we doing? What's the fallback plan? I think Brian Flores really likes Byron Murphy Jr. I have enjoyed watching

him play and studying him. I think if you can bring him back on a deal that you are reasonably comfortable with, then by all means do it. But if he starts to push, if the market for him starts to push towards upwards of 20 million per year or whatever it is, I just don't know how that maybe changes the picture. You really don't have anybody under contract right now. It's Makai Blackman and then like Dwight McClothern. And they've signed a few of these moderately intriguing camp depth types to future his deals. Ambry Thomas was a former third round pick with the 49ers. They had a guy, Reddy Stewart from the Bears.

But like these aren't by any means options that you can rely on. You need at least to add at least two or three starting caliber options. I don't think they're bringing back Stephon Gilmore. I don't really think they're bringing back Shaq Griffin. I mean, maybe. But Byron Murphy is going to be beyond the quarterback thing and the running back thing. Like that's going to be one of the first places you have to, to look this off season and decide. And then, yeah, whether you bring him back or not, that kind of changes how I think that you, you operate in the rest of free agency. So yeah, that's an intriguing one to me for sure,

whether or not Byron Murphy is back. So looking at just the paychecks, Jalen Ramsey makes 24 mil a year, woof. But you got your 24 for Patrick Sertan. You have your Jair Alexander, AJ Terrell, Denzel Ward, Marlon Humphrey. These are the elite players. They get somewhere between 19 and 24.

And then there's a really funny drop-off. Jalen Johnson makes 19. And then you go two players down and you're at 13. And that's the Jamel Dean, Darius Slay, Chidobe, uh, uh,

uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,

uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,

uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, DJ Reed this year,

Taryn Johnson, guys like that. And I just don't know where the league is going to put him because I would not put him in the same ballpark as Jalen Johnson and Patrick Sertan. I mean, that's like the elite of the elite, but LeJarius Sneed had a good playoffs and got paid almost $20 million a year. So if people are desperate for this position, I would rather give the money to DJ Reed, who I think is much more of that $20 million a year type of player and should be one of their top targets, especially so they don't have to play him anywhere else. Cause if I'm the bears,

I'm trying to get him to play against Justin Jefferson at safety. This is another story. That's a kind of similar here where there are a few safeties who just get a ton of money buda baker minka fitzpatrick derwin james antoine winfield jr and then everybody else gets around 12 million dollars a year uh the justin reeds the chauncey gardner johnson's those types of guys jabril peppers justin simmons those are your 7 to 12 million. I think that Cam Bynum belongs there, but there's a little bit of a dynamic that I know people would say, why would this matter? But Cam Bynum brings a really great energy to an organization. We've seen it. He's a very, very intelligent guy. He also has a lot of fun and ability to galvanize people. And we saw, and I know it's

like, Oh, the dances are going to improve his dollars. Yes. Because some of these teams, you don't understand their locker rooms are on fire. Like they are struggling so badly to just get people in there who can be leaders and who can be smart players and set the tone. And I think that Cam Bynum's value versus what he actually brings to the table is going to be higher in the open market because some of these teams that haven't been very good and need locker room guys are going to say, so what if we pay five extra million for Cam Bynum?

We need this type of player. That's my read of the room on Cam Bynum. Yeah, I don't think that's unreasonable at all. I think what somebody brings to a locker room matters. That's my read of the room on Kambine. Yeah, I don't think that's unreasonable at all. I think what somebody brings to a locker room matters. And, I mean, also on the field, he's proven to be a good deep safety. He definitely wasn't great in 2022, and nobody really was in the Ed Donatel defense. And then the last two years under Flores, he's just been a reliable guy.

He's more often than not going to be in the right spot. I don't think he had a great season this year. I think he was a little bit worse than he was in 2023. Just from watching it, there were some issues in the run game. I mean, you go watch that week 18 Lions game and the angles he's taken against Jameer Gibbs and things like that. And granted, that is a very tough player to tackle in the open field. But my gut feeling has been when you look at kind of Murphy and Bynum back for both having that reliable experience, starter, deep safety, and also the vibes. But if I'm choosing one of the two, and it's not as simple as that, of course, because of what the markets will be, but I've been leaning towards bring back Murphy. And then you can probably let Bynum walk and find something else

at the safety position where you've still got Metellus. They really are high, I think, on Theo Jackson. This could potentially be the year he finally gets an opportunity to start. And then obviously the Harrison Smith retirement decision will matter because I think they would, they would happily have him back for a 14th season as, as a starter back there as well. But I'm sure there's other safeties. I haven't really looked, but I'm sure there's other safeties out there in that like seven to 10 million range who you could kind of plug and play as a third guy.

If, if you lose Bynum. So it'll be fascinating with all of these guys to see what's the market and then are the Vikings willing to pay that? And like you said, there might be a real market for Bynum, not only for what he does on the field. So I've got a plan for this. And if this is what they do, then I know Brian Flores stole it from me. Okay. My plan would be, I think Harrison's going to retire. I don't know this. He didn't tell anybody this. He won't tell anybody this. And I don't even know if he's going to do a press conference to announce it. Knowing Harrison Smith,

they'll probably try to force him to, but I don't, I don't even know. Like he's that kind of introverted guy and has never self-promoted, which has probably hurt his case for some Pro Bowls and things like that. But we're just going to find out that day when he decides to do it. And that could be two years from now or tomorrow. But I think if I were betting, I'd lean toward he retires. So Theo Jackson has really developed over the last two years, had a great training camp. He steps in, he gets a pick right away.

Okay, he's in Metellus move back to a traditional safety position and taking the job of Josh Metellus Dallas Turner, because Turner got his training on coverage this year. And I don't think there's going to be a spot for him to straight pass rush the way that maybe we projected originally off the edges because their edges are coming back and it's going to be Van Gink and Van Ginkle actually proved to be better at straight pass rushing than even we thought. So they've got this dynamic position here that requires learning cross learning, different positions, rushing from different spots, using athleticism coverage ability, which we saw Turner pick off a pass.

And I thought he did fine when he was asked to cover, gets him on the field, but doesn't force him to just line up and beat people, which is where I thought his biggest weakness was. And the stats kind of back that up that just you versus a tackle was not a good matchup, but as a dynamic blitzer and everything else i'm uh i'm intrigued by that concept what do you think what do you think for as i am intrigued

as well i think i don't know that you can have dallas turner be in like a true josh metellus role because that did include a lot of um not a lot of, but at least some safety play and dropping into deeper zones. And he's like 210 pounds and Dallas Turner is I think 240 or more. They're a little bit different, but I do like the general idea of continuing to train Dallas Turner to be able to do a lot of different things and drop into those shallower zones like he did on the, on that pick in Seattle and rush the passer from a lot of different spots and be kind of a versatile guy. Because like you said,

he's not going to get that opportunity to be an every down edge rusher for as long as we're in art and Ben Ginkle are here, which there's they're both under contract. There's no reason to expect either one to be gone next year. So I think, I think the more versatility you can have and again we're assuming here i think uh that brian flores is not going to be gone next season um it seems like that's a safe-ish bet i mean the bears interviewed him and they just hired ben johnson um the jets i think interviewed him and and they're maybe hiring Aaron Glenn. So maybe it's

the Jaguars or the Raiders or whatnot. But yeah, if Flores is back, you just want to continue to have all of these versatile pieces. And Metellus is a key one. Dallas Turner, Ivan Pace Jr. I mean, Ben Ginkle. I don't know that I would want to take Josh Metellus and be like, you're can't buy them now by any means. Um, I think you could maybe play him a little bit more as, as a true safety or more of a Harrison Smith type of deal, but you still want to be able to use everything that he does. Um, and then Theo Jackson, I think can be more of a standard safety and, and maybe somebody

else that they go out and get. But I don't know. I like, I like where your head's at though. Okay. So here's a funny little thing. I just looked up Josh Metellus 40 time at the NFL combine was a four, five,

five. Yeah. Dallas Turner is four, four, seven. Oh, wow. I was trying to was four,

four, seven at 200 and a 247 pounds, Dallas Turner is 4'4", 7". Oh, wow. Dallas Turner was 4'4", 7". At 247 pounds, which he definitely didn't weigh at the end of the season, but 4'4", 7". So Dallas Turner is actually faster than Josh Metellus. I actually think Metellus, with his leadership, his intelligence, his knowledge of the defense, would make for a great Harrison Smith role. So that's part of my thinking. As far as other free agents go, I agree with you on Gilmore and Griffin. I think those were nice fillers and they did the job. They got maximum out of them, but I don't know if you can run it back. I feel the same way with

Tillery. I'm fine with Jonathan Bullard coming back at the same price. I thought he did a good job. Aside from that though, Trent Shurfield, I'd like to see back tremendous punt gunner, nice blocker as a wide receiver. There's not too many other choices that I'm saying, oh yeah, you definitely have to bring that guy back. Maybe an interesting one is Patrick Jones, but just a non-impact player. He had five of his seven sacks at the beginning of the year. So I think that most of the role players here, unless I'm missing someone, I mean, Brandon Powell brought nothing to the punt return. Johnny Muntz, they've got Nick Muse, who they've been developing since I was in high school, it seems.

There's just not too many other guys that I can see where I would say, oh yeah, this ancillary free agent, you got to bring that guy back. Yeah. So two positions that I've really been looking at since the season ended that we haven't discussed a ton are, I mean, it's the interior of the offensive line, which we discussed kind of adjacent to the running back conversation. I think you need to go out and upgrade minimum one of those three spots, maybe two, maybe three. Garrett Bradbury is under contract, but only for one more year. And he wasn't very good this year. He was fine.

Blake Brandel is under contract for a bit longer, but I don't know that you want him as a starting guard. I think you want him maybe as more of a top backup on the interior. But there is the one guy who is a free agent in that starting group is Dalton Reisner. And I would not be too upset if you bring back Reisner for a third straight year on the same one year, three, four million type of deal and have him compete for a job. Because I suppose that does go a little bit against what I was talking about with wanting to really focus on the run game. But I think in pass protection, he was solid enough. Would that be the most exciting thing? No, it wouldn't. But I think that's reasonable if you are going to upgrade, say, at left guard and then maybe even center, or a big right guard like Trey Smith or whoever, and then a center, and then maybe move Dalton Reisner back to left guard instead of

Blake Brandel or something along those lines. The other one is the interior of the defensive line, where I really, really think that this should be the year the Vikings go get somebody who can rush the passer. And we've been talking about this every off season for a long time about, oh, go get this pass rushing three tech. And I guess whether it was Zimmer or Ed Donatel or Brian Flores, they don't seem to prioritize it. And maybe there's schematic reasons for that. And you like to have the Jonathan Bullard type of body inside. I just watch all of these really great teams. And I watched the Rams play against the Vikings. And I'm like, it is so impactful to have pressure creating interior players like

Kobe Turner and Neville Gallimore and Braden Fisk and all of these guys who just ate the Vikings alive and were right in Sam Darnold's face, and then he couldn't escape. Because guess what? You've also got Byron Young and Jared Verst on the edge. And the Vikings have great edges, but they just haven't had anything pass rush-wise from the interior. I was looking at it. Do you know the last Vikings defensive tackle

who had at least five sacks in a season? I mean, my guess would be Sheldon Richardson, 2018. Sheldon Richardson never did it. It was Armond Watts in 2021 had five sacks. And then before that it was Tom Johnson in 2015. Um, so it's just, they haven't had a game wrecking type of player at that spot pass rush wise since, uh, late two thousands, Kevin williams they just haven't and they've had some of the greats between kevin williams and john randall and go all the way back to alan page and they they've had these harrison phillips delvin tomlinson linval joseph great nose tackle play and that's that's awesome i just want them to see him one of these years get a a dude who can rush the passer and there are a lot of those guys.

I was writing about this the other day. A lot of those guys are available in free agency this year. Guys like Milton Williams from the Eagles and Oso Digizua from the Cowboys. And there's some older options there. Javon Hargraves coming off an injury. Guys like that. But I say all that to say, I think one guy there who actually led that position in pressures was

Jihad Ward. He had 31. I think he does enough different things where he's an interior guy. He's light enough to move around to the edge a little bit. He has this kind of lore and mystique around him in the locker room, like Hadi. I think he's just a fascinating guy and everybody loves him. so i'd be cool with bringing hottie back as well yeah as a rotational player that's fine and they're gonna need not as the answer but yeah as a as a rotational guy with like jalen redmond and whoever else you bring in and that's the thing about someone like jonathan bullard is like okay at two million dollars you're gonna have to have these guys and trent surefield you're gonna have to have these

guys but who's the difference maker and okay you know You know, I Jalen Redman like them, uh, Levi Drake Rodriguez. I'm somewhat intrigued. We didn't see a lot of him, but he was always going to be a development player. But if those are your answers and not someone who really requires a big contract, then I just don't really know what to do there. And I think that the main thing about the defensive tackle position is purely that it's expensive to get a great one. And it's costly in the draft to get a great one. And all the guys we're talking about, oh, man, Jalen Carter or there's Kalijah Cansey getting in the backfield every other play against Washington. Well, those guys were high picks. And that's why right now, if you were to ask me, like, what position would I take at 24?

It's DT. Because also, if you hit on that guy, he'll be good for 10 years. These guys are good forever. They don't have big ups and downs. We know that. So I would be swinging at that position because I just could not agree more man I they have done a very poor job and I think they were hoping Tillery would be that guy who could get in the backfield he just he I think he did fine like they all did fine but difference makers is

what they need there yeah I to me it's you can bring Bullard back you can bring Jihad Ward back like that Tillery spot is where I would love to see that go to a real difference maker because you're gonna have a rotation in there but I just want to have one dude who you know is going to bring consistent pressure and get 40 50 pressures a season things like that the one thing with the draft is I was looking at it in 2021, the 72nd pick in the third round was a Lee McNeil. One pick after him was Milton Williams and two picks after him was Oso Digizua. So you can find these guys sometimes in like the second or third round day two, the Vikings took Kellen Mond in front of all of those guys,

which was an awesome decision. But yeah, I, in the first round, I'm, I'm, I'm right there with you. Like Kenneth Grant of Michigan. There's lots of other names that I think are really intriguing there. And in the end of the first round, or even if you trade back into the second at defensive tackle. That's actually funny because I was live streaming during that that draft. And I misunderstood thinking that the Vikings had taken Odigizua. And I was like, this is a great pick.

Finally, they got their guy who could chase the pass. I was like, wait, oh no, that was someone else took him. And so it would have been a better pick. Maybe that's why. It would have worked out really well. Yeah, maybe that's why Mike Zimmer stomped out of the draft room or whatever. Okay, well, last thing for you, I need to know who you think will win these conference championship football games. Who will we be seeing in the Superbowl?

I really, really have enjoyed watching the Washington commanders play this year. And Jane Daniels, I think is just awesome. He's's so much fun he's like that lamar archetype of the ultra mobile quarterback who can throw it downfield with with great accuracy i've got a cousin who's a big commanders fan so i've kind of jumped on their bandwagon i just think it's going to be really hard for him as a rookie to go into philadelphia and win that game that is such a tough atmosphere those fans that stadium there's it's probably going to be like 17 degrees and snowy. Saquon Barkley is unbelievable. Jalen Hurts, you can get, you can get the fourth and one whenever you want. AJ Brown is like, I just think it's going to be hard for them to win that game. I would

frankly love to see it, to see the commanders pull it off but i think the eagles will win that one afc is fascinating because i it's like i think i think the bills are probably the better team but the chiefs are just it's so hard to pick against them at home um they've done this to the bills before i don't know they just they are they just they've get they've gotten away with it all year we keep saying they can't they can't just, they've get, they've gotten away with it all year. We keep saying they can't, they can't keep getting away with it and they keep getting away with it. With that said, I'm going to pick the bills. If I, if I have to, I'm going to go with the bills winning that game, finally giving Josh Allen his moment.

And I think a Buffalo Philly Superbowl would be pretty awesome. That's the same way I'm going bills. That's what I'm going for. Yeah. Bill's Eagles, I think would be a tremendous, just a knockdown drag out super bowl. So we will see. Will rag it's SI on Vikings with our friends. It bring me the news as well.

So I appreciate your time. I will see you soon. And the porch cleaned off the snow, got the patio furniture. uh we'll definitely make sure to do this more often i felt like we were always trying to schedule something throughout the season didn't quite work but excellent breakdown uh this time and we won't wait as long next time so thank you very much will raggetts and uh we'll talk to y'all soon