Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Why aren't more mock drafters giving the Vikings a quarterback?

Episode Date: January 23, 2024

Matthew Coller and Manny Hill get into some top mock drafters who think the Vikings will go defense and analyze why the outside world would be convinced that Kirk Cousins is coming back. And then they get a rash of Christian Ponder arguments from YouTube commenters and madness ensues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purple Insider is presented by PrizePix. Go to prizepix.com and use the code PURPLE for a first deposit match up to $100. prizepix.com, code PURPLE. everybody welcome to another episode of purple insider matthew collar here along with Manny Hill. And boy, do we have a lot to talk about, Manny. All sorts of things going on. Nothing in the playoffs that I want to discuss, especially as far as field goals go at the end of playoff games. We could just move right on past that. No, I'm just kidding. But I'm sure that's how all my friends and family felt this morning.

I saw one of my friends that I used to work with. One of the best talk hosts I've ever worked with Jeremy white at WGR five 50 in Buffalo. He just tweeted pain. That was the, that was the tweet. I just pain this morning. I kind of woke up and did the,

like, look at my phone, scroll through. And I see, cause he's a morning host five in the morning pain. That's it for him based on what happened in Buffalo. And I want to get your thoughts on of course that and what's next and what we should be taking away and all those things. But as I was scrolling about the

internet today, I saw a couple of things, uh, mocks were popping up on Twitter, and I started to notice something, Manny. I started to notice the lack of quarterbacks being given to the Minnesota Vikings in mock drafts. And I have brought examples. So it's not just perception. I even Googled it. And I also think it's hilarious that the first thing on Google that shows up is that Walter football that we used to make fun of on the air sometimes. But I'm going to run through the examples and then we're going to talk about it. But first, hi, how are you? You doing all right? You have fun this weekend?

Yeah, I had a great weekend. It was a lot of fun just watching football and uh some really great games over the weekend i know that ravens and texans got a little out of hand um in the fourth quarter but really it was um it was four games that were really compelling and we saw some really really good football across the board so i'm happy it was a great weekend and i'm looking looking forward to this Sunday. I think our championship matchups are just fantastic. And gosh, talk about being online today. The number of insane stats regarding Patrick Mahomes that the man since taking over as a starter has never not been in the AFC championship. And just a little snark before we get into this. The Kansas City chiefs did not

need to draft a quarterback the year that they drafted, maybe the greatest human being to ever play this position. Maybe, I mean, uh, you know, that Tom Brady guy's pretty accomplished, but by the age of 28 to have already been on par with the likes of Tom Brady, Joe Montana, and a lot of these stats for how many times you've been to the AFC Championship, how many playoff touchdowns you have through whatever. And somebody had a really good one that they added up all of his playoff stats.

He's 13-3 in the playoffs, and his stat line would basically win you the MVP. And that's only playing the hardest teams, which is insane. And then this one of course playing on the road in buffalo and he saved his best performance for that game so you don't get that player unless you draft them which gets us into our first topic for today is we will get to all the playoff stuff a little later and maybe discuss the field goal at the end and so forth and

what people are arguing about with these playoffs, which is always a fascinating thing to dissect. But here are the five random sampling mock drafts that I pulled. And let me apologize in advance. I have not started draft prep yet. So if I pronounce someone's name wrong, I apologize. I will get that right eventually, but we've been in playoff mode, been in future of the Vikings mode. And so I'm just going to say, I'm sorry, and feel free comment section to correct me on a pronunciation if I don't have it right. Although one guy, his name is pronounced exactly the same as a current Viking player. So I won't struggle with that one, but let's begin with Bucky Brooks, NFL.com. He has Jared Verse, an edge rusher from Florida State, going to the Minnesota Vikings. Can't fault Mr. Brooks there.

Edge rusher is a pretty big need. I'm just going to run through these, and then you can give your reaction to this, Manny. Another one I pulled up, CBS Sports, Josh Edwards does a great job over there. And this is the one I'm not 100% sure of the pronunciation, but I think it's Liatulatu, the edge rusher from UCLA. I'm going to work on that because that's a guy who keeps getting mocked to the Vikings all the time. I have seen this guy play, though. Pac-12 after dark, a beast.

Another edge rusher. Totally needed. Alabama's top corner, Believe Network's Joe DeLeon, who was on the show. A former long snapper in college, actually. He does a great job with his coverage. He has Kool-Aid McKinstry from Alabama as a guy going to the Vikings. Shut down corner. The last guy with a name like this was Sauce Gardner. It obviously has a hundred percent hit rate.

So that's a good pick. Can't deny that one. Daniel Jeremiah, very, very credible, former scouts, NFL network, Byron Murphy.

Yes. His name is Byron Murphy, a defensive tackle from Texas. And then a fellow I'm not familiar with as a draft analyst, but I kept searching and searching and searching until I found one from Sporting News. Vinny Iyer has Michael Penix Jr. going to the Vikings with the number 11 overall pick. Now, why, Manny, do you think that so few mock drafters, the people who study the draft inside and out, 24-7

for their entire lives, do not have the Vikings picking quarterbacks. 80% of a random sampling do not have the Vikings picking quarterbacks. What is your explanation? The only thing I can think of is because

there has been so much chatter, I think, you know, rumors and speculation about, well, the Vikings going to bring Kirk Cousins back and, oh, you know, hometown discount, like all of that. And of course, because of what we've heard Kevin O'Connell say about Kirk Cousins, about, you know, wanting to have him back

and Quasey's kind of alluded to, yeah, it would be nice. Yeah, we'd like to have Kirk back, and Quasey's kind of alluded to, yeah, it would be nice. Yeah, we'd like to have Kirk back, but at the right price and all of that stuff. I think there's just kind of an assumption from the national guys that, well, the Vikings are going to bring Kirk Cousins back, so why would they invest a first-round pick on a quarterback? But as you and I have talked several times over the last few weeks, when you look at where the Vikings are at right now, it is kind of surprising that there are not more mock drafts

having the Vikings taking a quarterback. I mean, one of them I'm looking at, I think this is Daniel Jeremiah's mock draft, three picks after the Vikings. So the Vikings are obviously picking 11th. The New Orleans Saints are picking 14th. And Daniel Jeremiah has the Saints taking Bo Nix. And this is, you know, the Saints just gave Derek Carr all this money. And they had Jameis Winston.

And although I think Jameis will probably end up being gone. But like the Saints are in a situation where they already have a quarterback in place on a long-term contract, and he's got them taking Bo Nix with the 14th pick, three picks after the Vikings. And so that's why all of this is just kind of, it's a little strange to me too, because I mean, Kirk Cousins is set to be a free agent unless they sign him to an extension before was in March 13th or something like that when the new league year starts he's going to be a free agent an unrestricted free agent so essentially the Vikings will not really

have a starting quarterback on the roster when the new league year starts if they don't sign Kirk to an extension so you would would think with that in mind, you would think a few more of these guys would have the Vikings. Oh, yeah, Vikings taking Bo Nix at 11 or taking Michael Penix at 11. But we're not seeing a lot of it. It's really weird. If we get to that moment where it hits free agency and there is the legal tampering period for legal tampering uh it's

uh always a fun time when the even during the legal tampering period people get contracts done in about five minutes it's really weird as soon as it starts they start coming out so there was no tampering before the legal tampering you just want to make that clear but uh once that goes by march whatever you said, 13th, then it becomes the new league year and the 28 million dead cap kicks in for Kirk Cousins, which means it's pretty much over unless they were to kick a bunch of money down the road and give him an extremely small cap hit for this year, which doesn't make any sense at all. So you're either getting it done by then or not. but i think that if you are the mock drafters

that you're probably right now just assuming kirk comes back make throwing out your mocks and then waiting to see what ends up happening because the draft is clearly way after that free agent day and you'll just change your mock but i'm just surprised that the outside world seems to think that Cousins is much more likely to come back, which may be based on the recent appreciation for Kirk Cousins from Minnesota and from the Vikings organization. It may come from the fact that Cousins was playing very well before he got hurt and had a couple of big wins, especially one on national TV

that would be remembered by a couple of big wins, especially one on national TV that would be remembered by a lot of the national analysts. Like, of course, they would bring him back. The fact that they have just always brought him back also might be a reason why these folks would think that they're going to bring him back. And now if I was a mock drafter and I was trying to encapsulate all 32 teams, and it is not an easy thing,

when I used to write ESPN stuff on the hockey side, I would have to write about all the teams sometimes in their trade deadline, everything else. And it would take a lot of work to analyze everybody's roster, read all the local beat reporters and everything else. But if you just pull up the Vikings over the cap.com page, you could pretty easily figured out that edge rusher is the thing, right?

You know, that Daniel Hunter is set to hit free agency. And also they have no one else on the other edge. You know, that they lost the Darius Smith last year and that they brought Davenport in that didn't work. So it's the most convenient thing. And it also seems to me that there's quite a few good edge rushers in the early part of this draft from looking at the mock draft database. So you add all those things together. They give all the quarterbacks and receivers to the top teams who's left. What do

they need? Plug in an edge rusher there. And it does make a ton of sense. And if they bring back her cousins, then that's it. I'm just surprised that these folks wouldn't look at the Vikings current roster and situation, compare it to the NFC North, compare it to the contenders in the NFC and go, why are they doing this? Shouldn't they be drafting a quarterback? And even if they were bringing back Kirk, shouldn't they be drafting a quarterback? You mentioned new Orleans. They're going to be in panic mode to save their jobs. They're not drafting a quarterback. And that's the other part of it too.

Now, if mockers had thought that these guys weren't first round picks, Pennix McCarthy and Knicks, then I would totally understand. All right, well, we're out of quarterbacks folks and try again next year. But actually they have Bo Knicks. A lot of times is the next quarterback there I mentioned the one with Penix but it seems that there's more Bo Nix buzz as being that fourth quarterback who goes a little bit later from everybody else so they think he's in the range they just don't think he's going to the Vikings yeah it's it's just really it's just really strange I you know I I just don't know how you know you can look at some of these situations

well i'm looking at buck at uh at bucky's uh mock draft he's got bone necks going all the way at to the rams at 19 you know and this is coming off of a season in which matthew stafford was very good and the rams got hot late in the season and made the playoffs and almost knocked off the lions and and uh you know and obviously Matthew Stafford is about the same age as Kirk Cousins a little more tread on the tire because he's been in the league longer than Kirk Cousins has um so yeah I mean it's it's just really fascinating how you know how they kind of come up with this but you know to your point I, you look at the rest of the Vikings roster, there are other needs.

Obviously, edge rusher is going to be a topic of conversation all offseason, especially. And I mean, I think it's going to be a huge talker whether Daniil Hunter comes back or not. Because obviously you have DJ Wanham, who is pretty good for them this year, but he's going to be a free agent as well. You've got to figure out, okay, is he going to be back?

How much do you pay him, too? It's not like the idea of, like with Bucky's mock, he's got Jared Verst from Florida State, the edge rusher, going to the Vikings at 11. It's not like it's absurd to think that the Vikings would go that route, and it's not even that it would be necessarily a terrible decision to go that route with that first-round draft pick because he would fill a need,

and this is a defense that does need to be refined and rebuilt and add in more young talent. But it's also just like we've talked about. You just don't get this many opportunities. It just doesn't happen every year. And there's going to be some people that are going to say, well, maybe if you just hold off another year and you wait until – I was watching you on live last night after the games were done,

and there's talk like, well, maybe they wait another year before they're going in with a quarterback and wait until Shador Sanders comes out. Well, depending on the kind of year Shador Sanders has in 2024, he might be the first quarterback that goes off the board. If the Vikings go 7-10 again or 8-9 or something like that because they brought their cousins back, they're just going to be in the same situation that they're in now so you know and we don't even know what the the the the talent depth of quarterback is going to be like for the 2025

draft i mean it might be shador sanders and then the next guy might be a huge drop off we just i couldn't even tell you who the next guy would be. So yeah, I mean, this, this is a rare opportunity for the Vikings, like we've talked about, and it's not that some of these other moves, you know, some of these other choices would be bad choices, but I just think with the current situation, it just makes all the sense in the world to try and get the quarterback that you want. You know, I was thinking about also the number of times where we've said, Hey, just get the quarterback later,

get the quarterback another time. And I couldn't help, but think of it watching Lamar Jackson go to the AFC championship that in 2018, I remember on the air after the draft, having a discussion about, should they have just drafted Lamar Jackson instead of Mike Hughes? And most of the reaction was, why would you do that?

You just signed Kirk Cousins. And I mean, my thought at the time was he was going to need longer than he actually did to develop. But really, it was kind of a two-year type of contract initially. I think it was three. But into the third year they could have potentially traded him that sort of thing and it was like well my thought was it's never a bad time to draft a quarterback that you should always be thinking about drafting a quarterback no matter what so they didn't do it then and then the following season it was a little bit harder

because the only quarterback was really Kyler Murray. And then Daniel Jones went way too high. Dwayne Haskins. Then drew lock was a second rounder. It, that was not a great year to draft a quarterback. So that wouldn't have made a whole lot of sense for those guys. The 2020 draft though,

was absolutely absurd where you had Joe burrow to, uh, uh, Justin Herbert, Jordan love and Jalen hurts. And oncerow, Tua, Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, and Jalen Hurts. And once again, it was, well, we've got to fill positions. We've got to fill a cornerback. We can't draft a quarterback.

And there's always a reason not to. There's always something that you think you need more when it comes to the quarterback position. Well, we need an edge rusher more. Well, we need a cornerback more. Well, if we don't get this, then we're not going to compete. And the Vikings for once are now in a spot where they don't have to think today, this player has to come in. I mean, they even did this with the, with Casey's first draft. And it was my biggest criticism on the night of the draft is

why did you draft for today? Why did you draft? Cause you felt you were going to need a safety partner for Harrison Smith. Why did you draft a guard way overdraft a guard because you needed a starting right guard and you didn't have one. And then the guy comes in and allows more sacks and pressures than anyone in the league because he was a rookie and he wasn't ready to play. It's never a good thing to be scrambling and trying to fill spots. But especially when you're talking about the potential need that they have now, the draft class that exists right here, it just makes so much sense for them to look at somebody like Bo Nix. I was also thinking about Manny, how many flaws are you willing to deal with with a prospect? Because as I was watching championship Weekend, I thought,

remember Josh Allen's stats and how horrible they were in college? Remember Lamar and how he supposedly should switch to wide receiver? Remember just the issues that are painted with some of these guys, the footwork of Patrick Mahomes? And you can always look back and say, well, you know, the current prospects, they don't have this. They don't have that, that those guys have. And that's true. Bo Nix is not a runner like Lamar Jackson, but I think that I'm willing to deal with, as we go through the draft process, we're going to hear a lot of criticisms of these guys. Panics doesn't have this,

the injury history McCarthy, even I'm a little lower on him, but he doesn't have this, the injury history, McCarthy even, I'm a little lower on him, but he doesn't have this or that. If they think he's a first round pick, I think for any of them, I think that the gap is so much different from college to the NFL and the game is played so much differently that I'm willing to ignore a lot as far as issues go with these prospects, because you just don't really know and i think that there's a lot of evidence of that on the field in these playoff games all over the place with the quarterbacks who are there at the last moment especially of course brock purdy who is too short too slow his hands are too small throw in the rain i think that's actually legit

but you just you really don't know and yet a lot of these guys were first round draft picks who were playing in divisional weekend. Yeah. I mean, none of these guys are perfect prospects. I mean, it's just even the ones that are, that have been heralded, like once in a generation type of quarterbacks, the Trevor Lawrence is the Andrew Lux of the world you go all the way back to you know the early 80s when John Elway was kind of viewed as like that next you know generational talent and those guys are that like Trevor Lawrence is a once in a generation type of quarterback Andrew Luck was that as well but those guys also were not perfect coming out of their respective colleges. I mean, they still needed to develop. They needed to be in right situations. You know, obviously,

you go back to John Elway being hesitant about, you know, he didn't want to go. He didn't want to play for the, at the time, Baltimore Colts. And he ended up, you know, being with the Broncos, and it worked out great for him. He became one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, Andrew Luck, you know, didn't have that issue. But, you know, he was heralded as a once in a generation guy. He came in, but he still needed to develop. He was really good to start. They went to the playoff. They won 11 games, made the playoffs in his rookie year.

But you saw, you know, there were still some flaws. You know, he still turned the ball know, there were still some flaws. You know, he still turned the ball over quite a bit as a rookie. He got better at all of that stuff. You know, so all of these guys are going to come through and they're going to have issues. To your question about what you're willing to deal with, for me, I'm willing to accept the flaws of almost any of these guys as long as the Vikings are willing to be patient with it and develop it.

To me, I look at Kevin O'Connell as an offensive mind, as a guy who played the position himself, has coached some of the better quarterbacks in the NFL, including Kirk Cousins, including Matthew Stafford. You know, I want to trust his ability to develop a quarterback. I want to see him have that opportunity to do that, to find a guy, identify a guy, mold him, develop him into his system and see what happens. And you know what?

One way or the other, like if it works out great, he turns out to be good, everybody's going to be happy. Vikings fans will be happy. The Vikings themselves will be happy. And it'll be a lot of fun. If you pick a guy and it doesn't work out, then there's a pretty good chance that Kevin O'Connell will be out of a job and Kweisi might be out of a job

and they'll be moving on to the next guy and you just try it again. I mean, that's just ultimately what it comes down to. So, you know, it's hard to predict these things. You just, I think you just have to do it, you know, regardless of whatever flaws that Bo Nix might have or Michael Penix or anything like that. Just take a guy, see if you can develop him.

It'll give you the flexibility to build a roster around him. You've already got some really good pieces that will, in theory, allow that young quarterback to have success early on. Just take a guy and see what happens. Just give yourself this is a rare opportunity take it i was thinking about just now manny about why they don't put us on the national tv talking head shows which is because that was way too reasonable what you just said what we're supposed to do is say i would never take Bo Nix because I don't like the way he blinks during his cadence.

And that correlates to the lack of success. And I believe in this to the ends of the earth. And even if he wins a Superbowl, I'm still going to yell that he wasn't that great. Like that's, I think how you're supposed to do draft season. But what you just said makes a lot of sense. It's how much does Kevin O'Connell think that he can work with, with a given prospect? And then you just have to roll the dice and give it a shot because there is, and there's no better proof than people like Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. There is no perfect. If player does X, then why, if he's got this, then he'll become that.

I mean, you have Jared Goff who has an absolute cannon and is a great processor, but cannot move at all going to the NFC championship. You've got an undersized quarterback who was a seventh round pick going to the NFC championship. But even if even if the NFL drafted him in the first round, there still would have been. Well, is his arm big enough? Is he athletic enough and so forth. Josh Allen was inaccurate. Patrick Mahomes just ran around and played in a backyard offense and Lamar Jackson supposedly couldn't throw the football and had a completion percentage of 50 something percent. And a part of that took two seconds to look at the stats for how many drops he had from the receivers, but that's beyond the point.

But there's always criticisms. And so if it's Knicks, if it's Pennix, if it's McCarthy, it really comes down to what they think. But I would say if you're the mock drafters, you should even be changing your mind based on what we've seen in the playoffs. And I'm going to get to some of your comments in just a second. But even what you've seen in the playoffs, the Lions are in the NFC championship. Jordan Love is on the cusp and is almost there playing

him. And it would have been a Vikings nightmare. I mean, he has one drive away from potentially playing against the Detroit Lions in the NFC championship. And how do you not, as an outside analyst, even doing your mock drafts, think, think wait are they really going to bring back kirk are they really going to do that against these teams in these situations because that's all that i've been thinking about through this thing uh jp says uh they do it because they've seen us over and over setter settle for mediocrity and now kirk's becoming a good media guy i mean i think that that that there is truth to that, Manny. The most relevant the Vikings are in the national conversation was when Eric Wilson jumped on that fumble.

And it was like, hey, Eric Wilson, he could have gone down in Packer lore if they won that game. I think at the moment they are so far out of the conversation that that plays a role in it too. The expectation is that they're just going to be kind of there. And like, is this team really going to do something to play to win? Probably not. They'll probably just bring back Kirk and sort of carrying on.

And who would ever disagree with those people for thinking that? Like how we couldn't even criticize all those mock drafters. If you asked Bucky Brooks privately, you said, why'd you do that? And he was just like, I don't know criticize all those mock drafters if if you asked bucky brooks privately you said why'd you do that and he was just like i don't know they'll just keep going with kirk you'd be like that's a very fair explanation actually because that's exactly what they've done uh now what about bob says they're not mocking us a qb because of the drop off after the big three they would have to incorporate a trade up for us. See, I think that when you looked deeper into those mocks and saw Bo Nix right in that same ballpark, that kind of dispels that

because I had that same thought too. I thought, oh man, do they not think that any of these guys are first rounders? But it seems that they actually do. They just don't think the Vikings are going to do it. But let's, let's get an update manny on your percentage after watching this in the playoffs and assuming that the vikings are watching this as well do you think that it's more likely now that they go to the draft than you would have thought even when the playoffs started i actually do think it's more likely they go to the draft i i mean how can you watch everything that we've seen in these first two rounds and not think well we gotta we gotta draft our quarterback we gotta draft our guy and really build this roster because look at what these other teams have done the the four teams

that are left you know i mean detroit traded for uh jared goff but the way the way they have built their roster over the last three or four years i mean it's it's exactly what you want to do and even if you know even if you're the vikings you can't look at what the lions have done over the last couple years and just think that you're right there on par with them. I just don't, you know, when you look at, I mean, look at how the Kirk Cousins era has gone in these last six years. You know what I mean? You've made the playoffs twice.

You've won one playoff game. And we all know that it's not entirely Kirk's fault, but the situation that you've put yourself in by, you know, you signed him in 2018. And I understand this was a previous head coach, previous regime, all of that. You signed him in 2018 because you thought we had a roster that was ready to compete right away and go for a championship. We were coming off an NFC championship game run, just drop a good established quarterback into the mix and we'll be fine. Turns out it wasn't quite that easy to just do that.

And what did they do over the next handful of years after that was moving money, restructuring contracts, going kind of into the bargain bin and free agency and signing guys for cheap that they thought, well, you know, if we just put him in with this, then he's just that one other piece that we need to get over the hump. And it just never worked. And so I just don't know how you can look at the four teams that are left, all of which, you know, even in the case of Kansas City, when they drafted Patrick Mahomes, that was a team that had been, you know, was really already kind of competing and really good and going to the playoffs every year with Alex Smith. And so, you know, in fairness, like it was easy to kind of drop Patrick Mahomes into that let him sit for a year but by the time 2018 came around Patrick Mahomes was ready to go and he was already the MVP of the league because that

team was was built through the draft over the years the Chiefs drafted very well and they remained competitive because they had Alex Smith going to the playoffs every year the Vikings have to get into that type of mold the the Ravens, the same thing, you know, they drafted Lamar and they've just built that roster. You know, they've missed on some draft picks here and there, but they found a way to build up a really good defense. They've got them weapons now, and now they're probably the best team in the league. San Francisco, we've seen what they've done building through the draft. And now they've got a young cheap quarterback on a rookie scale contract like a rookie rookie scale contract because he was a seventh round pick

this is just the way to do it so i i i have to think the vikings are looking at these four teams and thinking how do we be like them can we be like them if we bring back a 36-year-old Kirk Cousins? And if they think that they can, I got nothing. I got nothing if that's what they think. Folks, I just got another box from HelloFresh this week, and let me tell you their meals are fantastic you get farm fresh pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep skip trips to the grocery store and count on hello fresh to make home cooking easy fun and affordable that's why it is america's number one kit. The coolest part is how many options you have.

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They wanted Javon Curse, and they drafted Dante Culpepper everybody wanted an edge rusher they wanted Javon Curse and instead they drafted Culpepper and there was a lot of discussion then of well wait a minute you've got Randall Cunningham he's coming off of this great year but the problem with older quarterbacks is you never know when they're going to fall off the edge of the earth and even Kirk Cousins right now by playing as well as he did last year was kind of an outlier and now you're talking about coming back with an injury and drafting Culpepper. And that's why the whole thing was, you know, it was always the wrong time to draft a quarterback. And yet we look at some of the examples of the quarterbacks that ultimately ended up being there. And some of them have had really wild success.

Others haven't. And if you pick the wrong one, it's a problem. Everyone knows that. But if you pick the right one it's a problem everyone knows that but if you pick the right one it's really really good um groovy skeptic says we need a lot more than just a quarterback having a good quarterback doesn't guarantee squat ask a bills or rams fan the problem with your logic there is acting like those aren't connected uh first of all patrick mahomes's entire roster has basically turned over since he joined the league and he's still in the AFC championship game. So if you've got one of those quarterbacks,

and by the way, ask me how many times the bills won the division after Jim Kelly. None times weird that it happened when Josh Allen showed up, what would be the coincidence between those two quarterbacks? You can't act like they're not connected the quarterback a makes everybody better look at what josh allen was doing last night two nights ago uh no last night what he was dealing with maybe by the time you're listening this is two nights ago but uh what he was dealing with is a stefan diggs who clearly had an injury or is struggling or something is off there. Gabe Davis is out. Their other receiver gets hurt. Their tight end gets hurt.

They have not really an effective running game, which they've relied on quite a bit. And they are a wide right away from being tied with literally the greatest quarterback who's ever stepped on a football field. I mean, sounds to me like the quarterback has a lot to do with how everybody else plays. And not only that, it also has to do with how many, like those examples are so perfect for

our point, which is the Rams. When they drafted Jared Goff had a pretty empty roster. What did they do when they drafted Jared Goff? They brought in Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods, a bunch of defensive players, legit one of the best left tackles to ever play. Andrew Whitworth. How did they do that? By having a super expensive quarterback? No, that's not how they did it. So you either, it's either one of two things. Most of the time it's, you have one of the greatest quarterbacks and you work around that cap hit, which is what Kansas City is doing. It's what Buffalo has to do. Or you have a good quarterback who you build an unbelievable roster. Of course, you're right. If you have a terrible team, it doesn't usually matter that much. But if you draft the right, right, right quarterback, then you can mitigate how much it matters.

You're an AFC championship contender without even a good football team. Yeah, well, and listen, the thought of, okay, well, taking a quarterback doesn't guarantee anything. You can say that about any position. When you're talking about the draft, none of these guys, I don't care if it's a quarterback, a wide receiver, or an edge rusher, none of these guys are guaranteed. You think if the Philadelphia Eagles knew Justin Jefferson was going to be good, do you think they would have taken Jalen Rager in 2020? Hell no, they wouldn't have.

You know what I mean? Like, none of this stuff is a guarantee. So, ultimately, it's the old, it's the Wayne Gretzky line, right? You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take. You've got to take a guy. You just got to take a guy and just see if it works out. You know what I mean? And you can't be afraid to do that. Because otherwise you're just going to keep doing the same thing. I mean, again, how, how can people look back at the last six years and think that this was fine? It's not enough. It's not good enough. You know, if you're trying

to win a super bowl, you're trying to win a championship. What the Vikings have been doing for the last six years under Kirk cousins has not been good enough. It's just, it's just not enough. And you've got to, you've got to pivot and go a different route and again this year is the perfect year to do it or how can you look back and say that the roster's issues weren't connected to the quarterback how could you do that i mean because even from day one they had to let go a few key players that were kind of along the edges into from the 2017 team but it ended up mattering. Some depth players. And in 2020, they had to let pretty much everyone go around his contract. He's always been one of the 10 highest cap hit quarterbacks and has routinely been up in the top five during his time here. If they're not restructuring and kicking more money down the road, which then hurts in the future anyway.

But that's the point is that all these things are connected. If you get a goat, let's look at all the receivers that Rodgers and Favre made look brilliant, right? If you get a goat, that's what they're going to do. Josh Allen's going to make some guy you never heard of look great, probably. He's going to take a mediocre line and make it look great. He's going to throw the ball 65 yards in the air in the Buffalo January to a wide receiver who's open and should have caught the ball. Honestly, that that one's going to live with digs forever, should have caught the ball that, but that's what a great one can do. But what a good one can do is for four years, really now these days, you can it out to five or six on a rookie contract, is allow you to build that around.

So those two things, just saying, well, we need a fat nose tackle. So, well, actually, one of my favorite Kirk stats is that during the Kirk era, the most money that they gave out, the highest total contract, was to a fat nose tackle, Michael Pierce. That's the highest contract total that they were able to give out from free agency. So if that doesn't tell you that those two things are interlocked, I don't know what does. And I see, you know, I'll see people tweet out, well, you can work around an expensive contract only if the guy is really, really great. Doug says, I think it's because we already have a good quarterback with whom the offense has a rapport. It's our defense that is on the rise at the moment. Unfortunately, it's not really on the rise at the moment without Daniil Hunter or if Harrison Smith retires.

And who knows how long we have Flores. It looks like we're going to have Flores for quite some time, actually being completely ignored in this round of head coaching interviews, I think is a pretty clear message. Brian Flores is a coordinator from here out, which does benefit the Vikings, but it's really not a defense on the rise. It's a defense that's completely empty at this moment. And that's, that's why is that the mockers believe that Kirk is coming back because they had a good enough offense and that they're going to try to just rebuild the defense through the draft. And maybe that'll work. But do we really think it's going to work?

Bradley says mocks are a crapshoot. Relax, folks. Of course they are. Well, and right now, I mean, the mocks are the mo outside idea is that the Vikings are just going to bring back Kirk and don't need a quarterback when it's just become clearer and clearer that that should be the case. Marty Gross says anyone who watched Chiefs Bills game realizes difference between these quarterbacks and a regular season Kirk Cousins there is a big difference that there's the playmaking element really stands out it really does and on the other side you have well I think Brock Purdy is a decent playmaker but you know you have a statue quarterback and then you kind of have to get into the the nuances of why Jared Goff has been more successful

than Kirk Cousins which I think starts pretty much with arm strength. And when I, when you're looking at the draft, this is why I actually like all the guys who they could potentially pick because it always starts with the physical tools that they have. Bo Nix is a big dude who has been pegged as a potential first round draft pick by draft analyst types for many years because of his arm and because of his athleticism. And McCarthy can really sling the ball. It's a little wild for my taste, but he can throw it real hard, and he's pretty quick. And then you have Penix, who throws absolute BBs and is pretty much a carbon copy of Jared Goff with the way that sometimes it gets ugly if he's pressured and has to move out of his spot.

And yet, you know, he's able to survive because he's got a little bit of a cheat code. I think Manny, that's been my observation from the playoffs too, is that every quarterback who succeeded has some sort of cheat code. And for Brock Purdy, it's being able to execute everything that Kyle Shanahan can dial up and also surviving a couple of dropped interceptions in that game. But when you watch Jordan Love, the arm strength, the ability to throw off platform, when it's golf, it's executing that offense and the arm strength to fire it into these tight windows. He gets through his reads also faster than I think anybody in the NFL. I mean, it is just like one, two, three out.

And that's why he doesn't take that many sacks. And then, of course, you don't even have to talk about the AFC quarterbacks and their cheat codes. And that's what I'm looking for in this draft. And that would be the difference to me in one of these types of playoff games. Like, why aren't they ever able to get over the top? Well, it's not just the rosters it's also as you watch that game it's also we're the two most physically gifted athletes who play this

position in the world allen and mahomes can go toe-to-toe with each other making plays even when their teams aren't that great like that to me also says a lot and not even to mention lamar jackson of course but to me that that also says a lot well and i'll even go a step further look at look at what baker mayfield was able to do i mean the buccaneers got beat by the lions but the buccaneers were right there they had the ball in their hands driving to try and tie the game up now baker threw an interception that you know ended up sealing the game for the lions but it was a great play by the linebacker who stepped in and made the play but look at what look at how baker hung in there and made some big time throws to keep the buccaneers

in that game obviously we know the lions defense isn't all that good, but Baker Mayfield was taken number one overall for a reason because he's got a really cannon of an arm. He's got some playmaking ability. He can move around a little bit and make some plays off script. All of these guys are super, super talented. Some of them are – you look like Baker and Jared Goff. Yeah. They're, you could classify those guys as like needing really stuck, you know, stack rosters around them to, to have, you know, the most success possible, but you know, it's, you just, you, you have to put yourself in a position and you have to think about like, what, what makes the most sense considering the situation that we're in.

And that's why I just keep going back to the Vikings investing a first-round pick on a quarterback and trying to just really build this thing instead of trying to cut corners and making different moves and moving this money around. It's just you give yourself a clean slate to really kind of reset everything, and you're in a good position because you already have some pieces on offense for that guy to step in right away and have some success.

And like we've said over the last few weeks, if the Vikings play this right, you know, you look at the rest of the NFC North and it's not, it looks like, oh boy, this team's in trouble, but they can turn this thing around pretty quickly. If they make all the right moves, you take a young quarterback, you develop them. He's, he's good. You make some good draft picks on defense and some really savvy free agency signings you'll have some more flexibility to do things like that because you'll be you'll have Kirk Cousins off the books um you know you'll have the 28 million dollar dead cap hit for this

year but next year you're completely clean and off the books and it's over and you can really move on and do what you want to do we We've seen how quickly teams can turn things around if they make all the right moves just in a couple of years. And the Vikings could be in a situation where it's Michael Penix or Bo Nix or something starting in an NFC championship game in 2025 because they made a couple of really nice moves that have really helped them and put them in a really good spot. So I just don't see the downside to go on this route. And like we've said a million times, if you draft a guy and he sucks or you don't like him, guess what you can do? You can take another guy. We've seen teams do that before.

Hamza says, I think Kevin O'Connell is going to fall in love with Bo Nix. Very accurate, strong arm, does not turn the ball over. Also doesn't take sacks. That's a big deal for me. I could see that. And it took a while, but this guy finally showed up. Christian Ponder. I'm surprised that only during every conversation that's ever been had about the draft between anyone who

follows the Vikings do they have to bring up the time it didn't work uh El Taib says I'm old enough to remember the run of quarterbacks when we drafted Christian Ponder well wow you've been around for a while then uh let's not waste our pick and reach I'm old enough to remember when they picked Dante Culpepper and really had, they had a competent franchise at the time should have won the super bowl. But even though they didn't, they still went to an NFC championship game. They still beat the green Bay Packers at Lambeau field. They still had a quarterback who turned into a borderline MVP and one of the top five quarterbacks of that era.

So, you know, I'm also, I'm also been covering this team long enough to remember when they drafted Teddy Bridgewater and what did they do around him? They built a team so good that on the strength of the defense and the supporting cast went to the NFC championship game with a backup quarterback because the team around that quarter rookie quarterback contract had been built so well and so strongly. So yeah, you know what? There is quarterbacks who have gone wrong. That is certainly true.

That's never something I'm going to deny. But you know, when you talk about reaching though, well, a reach according to who that's my thing, a reach according to Mel Kiper or reach according to Joe, whoever I mentioned, like a reach according, if it's not a reach, according to the Minnesota Vikings and Kevin O'Connell, totally fine with me. That's how I look at it is as long as they're drafting a guy that they're comfortable with. And by the way, I mean, thanks, Mike Mayock, who I have no personal issue with. But he him saying on draft night that the Vikings reach to get Christian Ponder is like one of the worst things

to ever happen to these fans ever. These analysts say all sorts of crap that goes completely wrong the minute that these guys step on the field and it's good entertainment and everything else, whatever. But the one time that this guy gets it right, a guy who drafted absolutely nothing in Las Vegas, by the way, who gets it right on TV that the Vikings reached and people never let it go ever. You know what Christian, Christian Ponder was a fine draft pick because they took a shot at him. It didn't work. So then you know what they did a couple of years later, they took a shot at another guy and they built a great roster and they went to the NFC championship game. I mean, sometimes it's not going to work, but you know what hasn't worked? What you've been doing for a really long time now.

So do something else. Anyway, just one quick thing to add to guys. Kirk Cousins is 36 or he's going to be 36. I got news for you. He's not going to play forever. In fact, he's probably closer to being done playing football than he is, you know, since his career started and everything. Okay. He's not going to play forever. At some point, the Minnesota Vikings are going to have to have another starting quarterback.

It's inevitable. Father time is undefeated. So you can't, the Christian ponder stuff, we just, people have to get that stuff out of their head. They just have to. I mean, it's because at some point, whether it's in 2024 or 2027 or whatever the hell it's going to be,

that Kirk Cousins isn't the starting quarterback anymore because he's not going to play forever. You're either going to have to draft a guy or you're going to have to sign a guy in free agency. And most of the time, the really, really great quarterbacks that you need to win are usually not available in free agency. Your best bet is drafting a guy. And when you have an opportunity like this,

sometimes you just have to take it. Folks, if you've been listening to the show, then you know how much fun we have been having with prize picks this year. Just go to prizepicks.com slash purple. Use the code purple for a first deposit match up to $100. And let me tell you how it works. If you haven't heard us talk about it enough yet or you haven't tried it yet, very simple. There are yardage totals on prize picks. You either pick more or less and boom. Each week has been a roller coaster ride of fun. And the best part is that when I have a bad week, I didn't lose much.

It doesn't cost much to play. You can turn $10 into $250 very easily. And if things go sideways for you, you're not out a whole heck of a lot of money. That is prizepicks.com slash purple. Just more or less on yardage totals. And you are in prizepicks.com slash purple. The code purple for a first deposit match up to $100. Groovy Skeptic says, we took a guy at 12.

His name was Christian Ponder. You know who else was taken at number 12 was Deshaun Watson, who entirely turned around a franchise before some unfortunate events. But just before him, only two picks before him. And only one pick before the Vikings current pick was Patrick Mahomes, uh, at number 10. So now here's another one, the bingo board of bleep. People say every single time we talk is no faith in Casey. Okay. Well, that's great. Do you have faith in the San Francisco 49ers because they traded up for a quarterback? It didn't work. And they're in the NFC championship game because they were able to build an amazing roster around a very cheap quarterback. Also, if we go through the history of drafting the New England Patriots drafted Tom Brady.

They also drafted Michael Bishop. How about the Green Bay Packers? All their geniuses, Manny. They're brilliant. They drafted Brian Brom because they weren't sure about Aaron Rodgers because they're so genius. And they just have they just have this magic about them. No, the magic is they frickin pick them. That's the magic. It's not. You know how all magic tricks are just some BS that you're like, oh, I didn't realize that's how they shoved the card up your ass the reason is they just pick them that's why that's the genius if you don't pick them they never work they work for somebody else that's the brilliance go back and look by the way all you people who just love the well they drafted this guy they drafted that guy go back and look at the draft grades for jalen hurts go back and look at the draft grades for even russell wilson go back and look at what people said about lamar jackson being picked go back and look at what they said about josh allen and his accuracy

everywhere anywhere people hated these picks they thought these guys stunk and they were all planting their flags this quarterback's got too much wrong with him he's gonna be butt cheeks and you know what some of them were but some of them play in the championship weekend games that's the thing so take a shot at it see if you can get that guy well it's just how many times are the vikings actually use the first round pick on a quarterback. It's like people keep bringing up Christian Ponder. Like the Vikings just have this long, you know, multiple decade history of just drafting quarterback after quarterback after quarterback and all of them have sucked. So why would we go do another one? Well, you do one now because they haven't, they haven't done this a lot.

It's not like they've been doing this every other year, just taking a quarterback over and over and over again, and every time it just fails. It's like people keep going back to something from 13 years ago, 2011 when they took Christian Ponder, and there's no other examples. Nobody ever brings up any other examples of the Vikings taking a quarterback in the first round, and the guy just absolutely completely can't you can't say that about Teddy Bridgewater because Teddy was pretty good before he got hurt so I I just I don't know where this stuff comes from I really don't and I just like I've said before I think just the ponder thing has this fan base just scarred absolutely scarred but at some point you just have to realize how long ago

that was and you have the the organization is so different now you got the same ownership group i understand that but you have a completely different front office now completely different coaching staff i mean that was christian p was two coaches, two head coaches ago. Like it wasn't even the previous head coach. So I don't know, man. I, I just, I, I, I, I get that the Ponder experience was scarring, but people have got to get over it and realize that it's not, it's not always going to be that when you draft a young quarterback. And this is how I can tell some of you are really struggling ponder teddy mond and hall what does jaron hall have to do with anything a fifth round draft pick out of

who was never considered ever to be a future quarterback kellen what is kellen mond is actually a great example because the vikings instead of trying to take a shot that year at drafting a real quarterback prospect, instead tried to just kind of hedge and take one in the third round and didn't take a risk to really try to go up and get one and instead wasted everyone's time by picking Kellen Mond. And if you tell me that Teddy Bridgewater was not a success, I mean, I don't know what to say to you. They won a division.

The guy was on the rise. The team was headed toward being an NFC championship caliber team, and his leg got hurt. I don't know what to say to you. If you're like, oh, you can't pick a quarterback because he might have the most random and bizarre injury that's ever happened, well, I guess that's true. I guess Vikings should just never draft a quarterback again, ever.

I mean, just never draft. I guess, I guess Vikings, you just never draft a quarterback again. I mean, just never, just never. What franchise always hits on quarterbacks. I just told you that the Green Bay Packers, the Green Bay Packers drafted Brian Brown. I just told you that the Green Bay Packers drafted Brian Brown. No franchise ever hits on quarterbacks all the time. I mean, do you think also, by the way,

do you think because they wear a certain color that this franchise is predisposed to not drafting the right quarterback? What would it be? Is it the water? We have too many lakes to draft a good quarterback. And by the way, we also have to bring up that the most gifted athlete that they ever drafted the first round turned out to be a monster and was incredible and was an MVP caliber player, but also got his knee hurt. So I guess if you think that the only reason to not draft these quarterbacks is they might hurt their knees, then stop watching football. Literally just quit, pick another team, be a front runner, go be a Kansas city fan. Do not even bother with this football team anymore.

If you think that everything they do will just result in crap then there's no reason to follow this if you just think because they're them and that's because they exist that every pick they make will be wrong then there's no reason for you to be here i mean i don't get it are these kirk arguments like what what is this like what have you been trying to do are you like, throwing your diaper at the wall here because it hasn't worked out? Like, what are these comments supposed to be? I think they should just keep doing the things the way they've been doing it

for the last six years because it's gotten them, I mean, two playoff appearances and one playoff win in the last six years. It's worked out really well for them. And I think just going eight, nine,off appearances and one playoff win in the last six years has worked out really well for them. And I think just going eight, nine or nine and eight every year is just going to be fine. Because everybody seems to be OK with that. Everybody seems to be, you know, people seem to be OK with that. So let's just keep doing that. You know what? You should just cheer for the Texans because they always draft good quarterbacks, or at least they have with their last two which proves they'll just draft good quarterbacks forever i guess no i you know what

they shouldn't have drafted they shouldn't have drafted cj stroud because david carr failed when they drafted david carr back in 2002 when they started as an expansion franchise that completely failed so what were they thinking taking cj stroud like and that's that's actually a that's actually a fun game to play by the way is like if you go through i mean i think the court i don't even know like kansas city who did it did they even draft first round quarterbacks like what kansas city always went and got elvis gerback or something and then they finally do it and uh it ends up working out hey you know what the cincinnati bengals should not have drafted joe burrow because because Akili Smith failed what a mistake uh let's see who else we got here well I mean you know well the Ravens I mean what

do the Ravens draft Lamar for did you see how you see how terrible Kyle Bowler was I mean what the hell were they thinking great example it's a great example i mean i don't know like this is this subject just always goes in a very bizarre place i think uh for people and i mean how about but how about the buffalo bills right i mean the ej manual jp lossman you know it happens so uh does matthew know the history of the vikings franchise and the heartache for the fifth most winning this franchise and no Super Bowl. Do I know that? I know it. Yes. Yeah, I'm familiar with it. Yeah, I know it.

My stepdad played seven years for the franchise and three Super Bowls and lost all three of them. I know about the heartache. I still the same way like draft a quarterback damn it. Don't you want nothing to do with it? It has nothing to do with this conversation. The't you want nothing to do with it has nothing to do with this conversation the franchise history nothing to do with it do you know who was a

really pathetic god-awful franchise for a long time and they didn't draft this guy so it's a little bit different but uh the new orleans saints when we were growing up manny there was no more hilariously bad laughing stock and this is post dome dome patrol, but in the Mike Ditka era, spending a whole draft for Ricky Williams, they were a massive joke. And then they got their quarterback and then won an ass ton. And then when the quarterback left, they didn't win anymore.

So it's like, if you, if you get the right, right, right guy, you can take whatever heartache you want and throw it in the trash. And that even if you don't get the right, right, right guy, the drew breeze, the Josh Allen, the Patrick homes, there's all sorts of examples

everywhere of teams drafting a guy who was good enough to get them to this point. And that's the Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers example example and one of the things that i know about the 49ers history is that they just kept getting quarterbacks even when they drafted one they drafted another one and it's like that they didn't even have to draft him and it worked out uh and so you know i um the the you know al says the franchise history has everything to do with it it literally has nothing to do with it i It literally has nothing to do with it. I mean, nothing to do with who they draft next. Nothing to do with who they draft next and what comes next.

Very quickly, you brought up the 49ers. Do you know who the 49ers drafted? And I love that you brought it up. The 49ers used a first-round pick on a quarterback in 1997. Do you remember who it was? Jim Druckenmiller. Yeah. Guess they should have shut it down after that.

I guess they should have never drafted a quarterback ever again. Hey, and you know what? They did trade for Steve Young when they had Joe Montana. That's a great example of taking a shot at a quarterback, even though it was for a trade. You're right about that. So anyway, I just, I think that we got to work on some of these arguments because they're not very good. They really aren't. A guy from many years ago didn't work out. So let's never

do it again. We need a defense as if that's not connected to an expensive quarterback and the things that you can do. I mean, the franchises had busts. Okay. Well, I mean, let's go through the list and find the ones that didn't. I mean, even teams that the Detroit lions, man, like even like teams that have had busts. And I know they got Jared golf, not through, you know, their draft pick, but teams have had busts and they turn it around and they find a way to be right there at the end. And a lot of the times they do it by just picking the right guy, which is why most of the teams, all of them but San Francisco, it was first-round draft picks. Now, we have something to get to before the end of the show

because I didn't expect this to turn into what it became. But I guess that's how it goes sometimes. Now, where is this? Maybe it's not in here. Is it in here? I thought, I thought it was in here. Oh, I guess I don't have it. Oh, wait, no, I do have it. Okay. I've got it. Uh, Manny, the other day I was doing a show with Marcus Whitman from that franchise guy, Minnesota guy, great content creator on YouTube. Awesome dude. Go check out his, his thing and each tuesday he and i do a show together on his page so go find that and right at the end of the show at the very end

we're talking right at the end we're talking about buffalo kansas city and he asks me what i think of buffalo kansas city and like any key factors any final things that I want to say. And this is from last Tuesday. And I want to play this for you. That's all we got. Matthew, you got anything to say before we get out of here? Watch Buffalo's kicker concerned about that. Was the punter though?

Well, the punter is the one who got hurt, but bass had a kick blocked and then totally shanked one at the end. And I'm a little, I'm a little nervous about that. Like that shank at the end didn't make any difference. But what was that? Like, I mean, I'm just like, what happened?

I guess I missed that. I guess I missed that. But I mean, it's Buffalo and it's a kicker and there's a connection. So. You are brilliant, my friend. You called it. It's not it's not my best call in the shot of all time but it's up there it's amazing i mean i i you know well i mean buffalo i mean you came from buffalo so like if anybody questions about you know

knowing about franchises that have had heartbreak and all of that. I mean, you can speak to it as much as any Vikings fan could. Yeah, I mean, that's just, you know, with the Bills too, you, I mean, I think overall the Bills are still in a pretty good spot because they have Josh Allen and Josh Allen is great. He's amazing. They still have Stefan Diggs and he's great. He's amazing.

You know, and there might need some tweaking or whatever. But that's tough, man. I'm watching that. And I had a feeling like when they're driving, I'm thinking, the Bills are going to do this. They're going to finally knock off Mahomes and the Chiefs. They're going to get over that hump. You know, it kind of reminds me a little bit that when the kicker missed that,

when Bass missed the field goal, the thing that came to my mind was the Sacramento Kings going up against the Lakers, where you just have – it's right there. You feel like it's right there. you feel like it's, it's right there. Like this is, they're going to actually do it. I remember thinking in game seven, when the Kings were playing the Lakers in the conference finals, going up against Shaq and Kobe, the defending champs, all of that.

And it was like, oh my God, the Kings are going to do this. They're going to, they're going to beat the Lakers and they're going to go to the finals and they're going to beat, you know, the New Jersey Nets who weren't really all that good. Like the Kings are going to win thisakers and they're gonna go to the finals and they're gonna beat you know the new jersey nets who weren't really all that good like the kings are gonna win this and they're gonna go to the finals they're gonna be nba champions and then it was just story akovich air balling threes vladi fouling out missing free throws all of that stuff it's just that same type of thing where you just kind of wonder like is it ever really gonna happen for them you know but you know you at the same time when when reality kind of sinks in you you think like well no the bills still have a chance because they have a great quarterback and as long as you

have a great quarterback you're gonna be in the conversation, you know, just by almost by default. If he's healthy and still at the top of his game, which, you know, Josh Allen is obviously at his age. He's not showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon. He's just really starting to enter his prime where he's going to really start, I think, playing his best football. The Bills are going to be in the mix. You know, now there might be some changes you know some roster changes some of these players that they've drafted are going to start getting more expensive and with them paying josh allen a lot of money they're going to have to tweak and be

be creative that way but as long as you got him they're going to be in the mix and and who knows and and that's why like i keep and you know to tie this back to the Vikings, if you draft a guy and he is like Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson, you're going to be in the mix every year, folks. You're not going to win it every year because even those guys, as great as they are, don't win it every year. But you're always going to be in the conversation. And that's when things get really really fun so to me it's like still even with the heartbreak that the bills have had over the last couple of years they're there every year man they're in the conversation every year because of number 17 and you just hope i hope that the vikings you know take a swing at trying to put themselves in a similar situation.

And the Bills, like you've talked about, the Bills took Josh Allen, and they were in a very similar situation that the Vikings are in now, where they were kind of a fringe playoff team. They had a veteran guy in place already that was playing pretty well, but they swung for better. They strived to be better and uh and now they're like really in the conversation every year you just hope the vikings can do the same thing with a risky prospect by the way um dan says go back on that show and say the vikings will draft daniels i'll do what i can i'll do what i can that that right there though i mean that was the

when the person said, do you understand franchises with these sorts of things in their history? Like, oh, buddy, do I ever. The first thing I remember about sports is literally Scott Norwood kicking it wide right. My parents having a Super Bowl party and watching Scott Norwood miss it wide right. And last night before he kicked it, because I remember what I said on, on Marcus Whitman's show, I walked up to the television and said to my wife, this kick is missing. And then bam,

it missed it. Yeah. She, she was, she, she was very irritated that, and she like grabbed my computer. Did you see it on Twitter?

Are you messing with me? And I was like, nope, that's just, that's just, that is just where I'm from. So I get you. with me? And I was like, Nope, that's just, that's just, that is just where I'm from. So I get you. I get you. I get, I get everybody. I get why there's the skepticism. I get why there's the fear, but the other option is what, like, that's the, that's the other thing like, is that you can say all day long, Oh, well, everyone you're going to

draft as a bus, so forth, but what's the other alternative and you know charles again comes with well they're not a quarterback away they're far away from being relevant that's a great point they are but how do you get to relevant do you get to relevant with not a quarterback like i mean you that that's where you talk about like the chicken and the egg of getting there. It usually starts with picking the guy and then putting everything around him. And look how quickly were the Cincinnati Bengals relevant when they hit on the quarterback? It was, they were horrible. They drafted number one and it was a year later because they picked the right guy. I mean, it doesn't have to be a long rebuild because that guy gives you so much flexibility.

It's kind of like, we've been over this, that those two things are not disconnected. Yes. They need edge rushers. Yes. They need a defensive tackle. Yes.

They need all, all these things. And you're right. They're not a quarterback away. They won't just draft quarterback next year and win the super bowl. That's right. But what that quarterback gives you is if the high end of it is he can make up for those shortcomings.

And by the way, they don't have to give away Justin Jefferson, Christian Derrissaw, Jordan Addison, TJ Hawkinson either. You can give this quarterback a lot. They are a quarterback away from having a really great offense. And then you, then you put together the best. Also yeah. Bob bringing up Manny, it's, it's worth mentioning that Sacramento got screwed by the refs in those series as well but yeah i i feel you man buffalo buffalo is the utah jazz and and the phoenix suns with michael jordan and the trailblazers and these great teams so you know um that's but ask ask those fan bases if they would, you know, other than like actually winning the championship, if they have any regrets of those times. Oh, right.

I mean, well, yeah, there's Bill's fans were not in this dance even close for many, many years until they drafted the guy. And there's but there's lots of examples, you know, Philadelphia didn't even draft a first round quarterback and they were able to build around, uh, Jalen hurts very quickly. They had what a four win team, a five win team when they drafted Jalen hurts and they put receivers on the field by trading for them, drafting them. They paid people, they brought in defensive linemen. They brought in secondary when they won the super bowl like there's just it's there's this hack that the vikings have not been taking advantage of it's right there for you and use it it's time to use it uh the year they took jalen hurts was the same year they drafted jalen regger right with their first round pick they drafted a wide receiver and

then yeah that's 2020 right yeah yeah and hey and this is funny too you know baltimore took hayden hurst before they took lamar jackson so anyway well you know i i appreciate the uh i appreciate the passion in the comment section uh i really do and i also really understand where you guys are coming from with what you've seen in the past. The Christian ponder thing really shook people. It really shook people to the core with how bad that, that ended up looking. And I get it. Uh, but what I, but we need to ban the words, Christian ponder from the comment section. Can you make that, can you do that as like a way to like, if someone types Christian ponder, it just is like shocks them immediately. Don you do that it's like a way to like if someone types christian ponder it just is like

shocks them immediately just don't do that not on the stream don't you can't do that here because that makes no difference that was a that was a decade ago man that was a long long time ago and you know what every team's history has some draft pick that didn't work out from a decade ago i'm not worried about that at all i'm only worried about what they're doing right now. So again, very energetic and fun show tonight. Thought that we would get to a little more playoffs, but guess what? There's another show on Thursday with Manny and I

every Monday and Thursday throughout the football season. So on Thursday, we will go hardcore into these teams, what they mean to the Vikings and what they should learn a little more in depth than just quarterback, quarterback, quarterback. We'll look at a lot more with their rosters, compare it to what the Vikings need in the off season. So thanks everybody for joining and having fun. And probably the first time that I've used references to your rear end as many times as I did today, but some of these But some of these arguments,

we just need to work on them. We need to work on them. And we need to get in a place where when they draft that quarterback, nobody says he's going to be ponder, but we'll work on it. We've got time. So thanks, Manny.

Thanks everybody for watching and listening. And we will catch y'all next time.