Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Will Garrett Bradbury start at center? Are there Vikings moves to be made before the draft? A Fans Only pod

Episode Date: April 11, 2022

Matthew Coller answers fans' questions on whether the Vikings will make a change at center, what a hot or cold start to next season would say about their future and whether the Vikings should make any more free agency signings before the draft Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Warning. I've got this condition where I don't feel pain. You're a superhero. This is how intense Novocaine sounds. Oh, wow. Imagine how it looks. Is there more? Yeah, big time.

Novocaine. Only in theaters March 14th. Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here, and this is another fans-only episode where I read questions from Vikings fans and then react on the fly. I haven't read any of these. I've just pulled them in from Twitter and then I give the best answers that I can off the cuff. And sometimes it results in us looking up things and getting into some really fun conversations. And I just want to say again, thank you to everyone for all the feedback on the fans only questions. You know, it was something that I wanted to try because I kind of wake up and have emails and tweets from people with Vikings questions.

And I thought, you know, I think that there are probably a lot of people with these same questions. So instead of just responding with a single tweet, I can bring all of that to you. So the feedback that you guys have brought on this thing, I think has been really cool and been inspiring to keep doing it. So I think I'm just going to do it going forward here. So we'll get into it. I will open a Diet Dr. Pepper and we can start answering some questions. All right, off we go. All right. This one comes from, we'll start off with at Skull Geek. Do you think we're done picking up free agents until after the draft? Are we really sticking with Garrett Bradbury at center this year? I would say that I do think

they are mostly done picking up free agents until after the draft. And this is how it goes every year where there's just this dead period of free agency. That's the first wave. Then there's the second wave. And then everybody is kind of in a holding pattern. So you get to the draft and then teams try to fill their needs in the first round of the draft. After that, they assess their entire roster, say, what do we still need? Look at the free agent list. And then we see guys come in at minicamp and sometimes it even goes until right before or even early in training camp. So if you think about how it worked last year, they signed what Bashad Breeland and Sheldon Richardson during minicamp. I think I remember

them sort of showing up and not really participating in anything. And then in training camp, Everson Griffin came in after a few days. I think that's what we'll see here. And it's honestly a pretty good way to do things. I remember us praising it last year, even though those signings didn't work out, especially Bashad Breland. I think Sheldon Richardson in the first half of the season really struggled. And then in the second half of the year came around and had they been a really good team, someone like Sheldon Richardson playing a little above average football for half a season at the price that they paid for him would have been really

good. And even Everson Griffin giving them 10 games as a signing from early training camp or eight to 10 games, whatever it was, that would have been really good for somebody who put a lot of pressure on the quarterback for half a season. I mean, once you get past the draft, your expectations for free agent signings should be pretty low unless it's a really special situation. Like every year, Jadavia and Clowney waits till the last minute to sign. That's a little different, but for most guys, there's a reason that maybe pro scouting personnel have looked at this player and they think, well, you know, it's not really a good signing, but a lot of times you can get somebody who's older

and slipped under the radar and might be able to play a role or might be able to fill in a spot for you or provide depth at a pretty cheap price. So as of right now, they do have enough cap space to maybe bring in one more player. I just think that the NFL kind of operates on this cycle where every team is hunkering down and going all in preparing their draft boards and their draft strategies and draft trades and things like that. So you don't see a ton of those last signings until after the draft and then even heading into training camp when everybody's getting desperate.

Now to the second part of your question, although let me just throw an aside in there. There are good free agents left on the free agent market. I saw as I'm recording this that Calais Campbell signed back with the Ravens. So there's one good player off of the market. But when you look at pass rushers, you still have Jerry Hughes. You still have Justin Houston. Melvin Ingram, I think, would be a really good one for the Vikings to fill out their pass rush.

But I think that every team wants to see what they get in the draft and project those players at the top of the draft to fill positions and then go into free agency and see what's left. So I wouldn't expect that there's big signings, but there are still some names that could be helpful to this team. The second part, just let me take a cool drink here before we talk about the center again. Yeah, I think that he is, Garrett Bradbury is going to be the center this year because the options have run low. And so unless they draft Tyler Linderbaum from Iowa, which I think would be understandable to try to fill out the offensive line, but maybe not the right positional value

play high in the draft. Second round is still a little dicey for me for a center, but the free agent centers have mostly gone off the board and there's just not a whole lot of guys left that you could bring in that would start. Now they could have Chris Reed, who is not ever played center in an actual NFL game, but they could have Chris Reed try to compete for that spot. But doesn't that sound a lot like, you know, moving players around positions and things that didn't really work for them in the past. I don't know if that's a very good idea to have a real competition there.

JC Tretter is still a free agent, has not signed anywhere. Matt Paradis, who's on the older side, is still out there as a free agent. I'll have to double check on some of these free agents. Nick Martin, who has played before in the league, was a backup last year for the Raiders. These guys are still out there, so they could add some competition if they wanted to at the last minute. But as of right now, it seems like for a guy like Garrett Bradbury, Kevin O'Connell wants to get a look at him himself. And the one thing that I will say, and there's really no good case for Bradbury turning it around

after he's just been so poor in pass protection for a couple years. The one case you might try to make is that centers in Los Angeles, which Sean McVay's system have had a lot of success, even if they're not necessarily the most talented players. That's kind of the best I can do. So maybe they looked at it and said, look, he's going into the last year of his contract. Why don't we find out what he looks like

for us? Now that would be a rebuilding thing to do. They haven't done too many rebuilding things, so it would be a little confusing to me. Or maybe they do think Chris Reid can play center and compete for that spot, or I don't know. But as of right now, I would project that Garrett Bradbury is the center and that the weaknesses of the past years of the offense are still the weaknesses of the past years of the offense. I mean, I think it is an upgrade to have Jesse Davis and Chris Reed battling it out for right guard, I think. But that's only an upgrade over Ole Udo trying the position for the first time

or at left guard in years past Dakota Dozier, But that's only an upgrade over Ole Udo trying the position for the first time. Or at, you know, at left guard in years past, Dakota Dozier, you know, Josh Klein was halfway decent. I mean, if they get a Josh Klein type of performance, that's not really changing your fate if Garrett Bradbury is still weak. I think you might be able to cover up one weak position on the offensive line, but it's been two or three in past years. But, you. But Bradbury may very well get his chance. I think I would bet on that right now, which I know a lot of you are painfully rolling your eyes. That would have been one of the first positions I would have addressed, but they just have not gone with a lot of changes on the

offensive side. I mean, it's kind of the same approach. So Kevin O'Connell is really banking on his scheme and his ability to coach his offense to up the level of some of these players. I think that more competition probably would have been a better answer, but J.C. Tretter is still out there. So it remains possible that J.C. Tretter gets to June or something and nobody's offering any big money. And they say, look, you could come in, just beat out this player who's ranked as one of the worst pass protectors in the league. And then, you know, you're here.

He might have another place where he's a starter, but at this point in the game, how many teams are going to have those starting positions open? It might be limited. So long answer short there is I do think they're sticking with Garrett Bradbury, but I would still leave the door open for possibility of competition coming in later in the offseason. This from Christopher Burn 4. With the lack of involvement from the team in their rookie class last year, which one of the young players should we expect having a bigger role on the team this year? Great question, Christopher. The guy that I would nominate first for this is Kenne Wongwu.

Last year, Kenne Wongwu showed in training camp just how explosive he is, and it's really something else. I mean, it's one of those things where you cover it in camp and you see it and you go, wow, man, this is really special. This could be crazy. And then he gets hurt. And so we don't know, like, is that opinion going to play out or not? Or is this going to matter? Or is it going to be one of those things where you, like Terrell Sinkfield, where you remember

him for his camp and nothing else, and then comes right out, returns two kicks for touchdown, and you see how special he is with the football, I would guess that they're going to see that on tape and want to find a way to use it. And that was something that they left on the table last year, that even as Delvin Cook is playing with a shoulder harness, playing with an ankle injury, that they were still just not using anybody else. And that was the thing that happened to Mike Boone a few years ago, that when he would run the ball, he averaged like five yards a carry and he was really explosive and had great athleticism, but the Vikings would just not ever use anybody but Delvin Cook unless he was hurt, and then Alexander Madison would get in from time to time. This coaching staff should be a little

different from that perspective, and look at someone like Kenny Wongwu as find a way to get this man the ball, and also don't have Delvin Cook running 320 times in a season. I was looking at this not too long ago about Elvin Kamara's usage, and I know he gets thrown the ball a lot, so it's a little different, but Elvin Kamara has only one time, and it was last year, ever run over 200 times in a season, and it was just last season. And that was because he was basically the whole offense, and it didn't work well. He averaged under four yards a carry. At Alvin Kamara's best, he's running under 200 times a year and then catching passes,

which are obviously a little less strenuous on the body of a running back. I think if the Vikings used Delvin Cook to where he ran 200 times or under 200 times, it would just be a better use of him for the long term. Because what we've seen is the second half of seasons, he's fallen off almost each year where his yards per carry goes down. There's an injury that he's battling. I think you want to try to keep him fresh for the entire season. And Kenny Wong was a big part of that. Amir Smith-Marset is another one who comes to camp having flashed just a little bit last year and with an opportunity to be that number four wide receiver if they don't draft a

receiver with the 12th overall pick or even emerge and beat out KJ Osborne. I think that would be difficult for him because Osborne was quite good in that number three role last year. But Smith-Marset gave himself at least a chance by flashing a little last year to step up. Aside from that, though, it's hard to see Janarius Robinson or Patrick Jones, somebody like that, stepping up. Cam Bynum is kind of the obvious other choice here, other than Kenny Wongwu, because Cam Bynum right now is in line to

start i don't know if they'll change that there's some free agent safeties that are out there that they could bring in or they could say cam bynum step up to the plate he did play really really well and i remember mike zimmer calling him brilliant last year uh inicamp. And I was like, I don't know if I've ever heard him say that this early on in a player's career. And then he showed it right away that he really knew how to play the game. So Bynum is an interesting player who I think has the potential to be quite good

and resting just on him without another veteran is a little dicey, but I don't mind it by the way he played last year. I mean, I think that that's actually a good idea to find out if he can play. If he can't, then of course it could be a little troublesome, but he really showed something last year. Aside from that, I mean, Wyatt Davis is still somewhat in the conversation. Like he's going to have a chance to battle in training camp, but those odds are not looking super great at the moment. And Chaz Surratt, like unless somebody gets hurt, one of the linebackers, that one, you know, not sure.

I like some of the things he did in special teams. He's kind of like a missile, but is he a refined linebacker? He's got a chance to show it. That's for sure. So I guess that's kind of the whole draft class right there for you. But I think it's really Cam Bynum and Kenny Wongwu are the guys who are the most likely to step up. All right, this from Skolakhev, L-A-C-H-E-V.

Two scenarios. It's week six. The Vikings are one and four. What went wrong and what's next? Or the Vikings are four and one. What went right and what's next? One interesting thing about the mean, then it will then it will kind of still be up in the air, I guess. If they're one in four through the first six games, I think what we've seen is that that doesn't mean the season is over for them, because last year they very much still should have made the playoffs. The opportunity was right there for them. And even when they were one in five in 2020, they were one game away from still making the playoffs that what that tells me when you start off a season like that is, and this was actually not the case last year, but, or what I would guess it is, is there's just a slow adjustment from

Kirk Cousins to the new offense or Cousins doesn't play particularly well. Or last year it was the defense not being able to kind of gel quickly early on in the season. And some big mistakes were made that cost them games that, that the new coaching staff is maybe having a little bit of trouble getting going. Or, you know, last year we saw also bad luck can make you one in three or one in four. That does happen, but I wouldn't declare the season dead at one in four, nor would I, you know,

start crowning them champions at four and one. So six weeks through is, is not quite enough. I mean, we would be criticizing them at one in four and saying, this is why we told you that you can't run it all back is probably what would be happening at one and four. And what went wrong is just the same things that have gone wrong. It would mean that certain bets they made didn't work out. Like Zedaria Smith isn't getting a bunch of sacks or, you know, the cornerback situation still isn't good. Patrick Peterson is faded and the other team

is attacking him uh there's maybe an adjustment period for kirk cousins with the offense or just a small sample where he doesn't play well we've seen this many times where it's a roller coaster of player of the month and worst player of the month um so that can kind of happen at any time or there's an injury uh this team at this moment when you go through their starting lineup you would say it's pretty good but then you get one layer down and that even goes for wide receiver still one you're one layer down from adam thielen to kj osborne is your number two or amir smith-marset's your number two. And that's just much tougher on Kirk Cousins as we saw last year. So I think if they're, if they are one in four, that we probably will be declaring,

it's going to be the same old story or it's going to be really bad. And that's right. Because coming back from down from one and four to be able to be a good team is just really unlikely, but going four and one to start the season. I mean, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're, you're just going to steamroll everyone. Remember they were, I think nine and three in 2019, and they still ended up 10 and six. Um, so I think that if they're one in four, there will be a lot of panic of, look what you did wrong. You set up all these contracts that hurt you in the future and you ran it all back and this is what happened. And that panic will probably be justified. And if they're four in one, there will still be some

skepticism of, look, this coaching staff is working out really well and everything is clicking, but there's a lot of season to go. There's 12 more games to go before we declare them a true contender. So anyway you know, I think that it's going to take really years to see the total impact of the way that they handled this off season. So we're going to get a look if the roster can play together right away and how well Kevin O'Connell is coaching right away and what that means to their win-loss record as far as,

you know, did it work this offseason? So that I would agree with that within the first five, six weeks, we'll have a feeling for those things. But as far as the, I mean, there's so many long term implications that they've created by handling the off season this way, that it's going to really take a while to figure out like, were they right or were they wrong with a competitive rebuild? So I guess, you know, and the funny thing about the NFL though, is that one in four and four and one, I mean, sometimes can be separated by, by not a whole lot of things. So, um, you know, I guess we'll see how that starts off, but it's an interesting scenario. It's like, what if they start off really great or, or really poorly, how differently we're going to react.

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However you want to do it go to sodastick.com that's s-o-t-a-s-t-i-c-k.com use the promo code purple insider for 15% off hats hoodies shirts and of course your prints uh this comes from johnny lang 11 on twitter Let me take a quick, uh, diet, Dr. Pepper sip here. Uh, what are the contract options for Irv Smith Jr. Sorry for Irv Smith Jr. Next off season, second round or no fifth year option long-term deal, or do they use a first or second round tender? Well, first of all um i don't think the tender thing is a thing uh that's you know you can't tender someone like that's not

somebody who was drafted in the second round that applies to a certain type of free agent like a restricted free agent that you can put a tender on but it does not apply to an unrestricted free agent which i believe irv smith i don't see any reason why he wouldn't be an unrestricted free agent after his contract runs out. Restricted free agents, I think, are guys who are UDFAs, and then they become restricted free agents after their fourth year. So you get to keep your own UDFAs, which is a weird thing for sure. But that would have been like Adam Thielen.

I remember that in Adam Thielen when they tendered him the offer, and I think I wrote that someone else should sign him. Someone else should pay the draft pick and sign him after 2016. But it doesn't work that way with Irv Smith. You know, it really comes down, and this is going to be a hot take here, it comes down to how he plays. If Irv Smith is great for them, and I would say even good, that he's going to get a long-term contract after this season

because he can be a very valuable and versatile piece. I think he's a better blocker than you would expect for someone who's undersized, and he can be a downfield weapon. And we saw him just play extremely, extremely well in training camp and in the role that he was given over the first couple of years. I mean, as of right now, the draft pick was not really worth it because he was given more of this number two tight end role and then got hurt last year. So the overall production isn't great, but I don't think there's ever been a real question about the talent and the capability to take that next step

as the number one tight end and perform really well. And if he has 60 catches and has a couple of explosive plays and blocks well, I mean, he's probably getting a pretty decent size contract to stay with the Vikings, or he could go out and try to hit the market and see what he could get. But normally the Vikings have been very good at convincing their own players to stay, but this one is unique because of the injury and they have to play it out. They can't just sign him to an extension now, and he would not be wise to sign an extension now. So there's a lot of times where you go into the season before the final season of someone's contract, and you say, all right, let's get this done.

Let's sign this long-term extension. And with Smith, though, he just has to let it play out through 2022 and then become a free agent, and then they have to go to him and say, before free agency starts, before he can truly hit the market, they can go to him and say, Hey, why don't you stick around? So it's, it is because of that injury. It is not at all a guarantee that Irv Smith jr. Would resign to a long-term contract and stay if he has a great year. So that's something to watch. I mean, if, if he gets 75 catches and a thousand yards, something great, like emerges as one of the better tight ends in the

league, that could be tricky. But there's always, I mean, there's always the tag that you can do. I think that's what Miami did with Mike Gusecki was they tagged them. So there's always the tag. So you don't have to, you know, lose sleep at this moment, but it does put him in position to potentially sign a contract elsewhere. But the NFL has really incentivized players like this staying in their spot. So yeah, that'll be interesting to see how that plays out. It's a major story this year of how Irv Smith can bounce back from that injury and whether he can emerge as the player he looked like he was going to be. And then he's going to cost a lot of money if he does. This comes from MNSuperfan27.

Is Mike Zimmer going to surface in NFL circles anytime soon? I don't know. I mean, I think the answer is yes, but also if you're Mike Zimmer and you have spent your entire existence, literally your entire life as a head coach, assistant coach, climbing the ladder, and then the last how many years of your life, just giving everything to the grind. And I know he has grandchildren now, and he talked about them a lot. And some people talked about how, you know, much that changed sort of his viewpoint on things. But, you know, I mean, I don't, I don't know that that's a hundred percent true because he's still, I'm sure wants to coach football, but if you're him and you know, your reputation in the league is of a very, very good defensive

mind. Is it, is it a bad thing to take a year off and just kind of hang out at the ranch and play golf and I don't know, hunt pheasants or whatever he does there. Right. I mean, is that, is that a bad idea for Mike Zimmer? Who's been coaching his entire life? I mean, I think he should take a position that he wants to take and have that be it, right? And maybe next year he does the defensive consultant or something.

But there was a report that he wanted to coach, but maybe it would have had to have been a really good situation, another head coaching gig or a defensive coordinator gig. And if that didn't come up, then maybe he'll just wait and see, or maybe that will be it. And he'll decide that he loves spending time on his own and he made enough money and he's still getting paid, I think, for this year. So why not? But I don't know. I think that Mike Zimmer really did, at the end of his tenure, hurt his chances to get an immediate coaching job in a prominent position because of the way things ended in Minnesota. But everyone who I ever talked to about Mike Zimmer says, look, I mean, he's got shortcomings and you guys know what they are,

but the defensive mind is, is not, um, like it hasn't faded or he, it's not like he forgot what he's doing just because their defense hasn't been as good in recent years. So I think he's still very highly respected from that perspective. But I also think that he's not going to take like a DB coach. He's not going to go from at his age. He's not going to go from head coach to DB coach. Um, but I expect that we'll probably see him pop up next year. And I don't know if he's ever going to write that book or he, maybe that's what he'll do in this year off. Cause he mentioned

that a couple of times. I'm going to write the book. Boy, if he does first in line to pre-order the Mike Zimmer book. So this is from at I'm going to skull. how patient do you think ownership will be with Kwesi what is rock bottom for him and where ownership would part ways well he just got hired so I mean I think we're a very long way away from that that they have to give him the four years of his contract unless things were so dire and there was no way out and it just was all completely over. That you have to give him the first three years and then assess where it is. And also assess what it's like to work with him. That's a big part too that we don't factor in.

Because we only care about the moves that get made and did your decisions work or did they not work. And that's how we judge it from the outside. But I think the thing that ultimately got Rick Spielman was not the decisions not working. It was the environment that was created inside the building. When the Wilfs started to fully understand that a lot of people felt left out of the party, they felt that Spielman had kind of just taken command of things and done it his way. Now, of course, Spielman is out there saying it was ownership and coaching fault. So it's classic when things fall apart, everybody points fingers at each other. But I don't think it was, hey, you traded a fourth for Chris Herndon. This is why

you're fired. And the atmosphere, the culture, how they're working together, how he's built the front office, because I would expect they'll continue to make changes around him after this year, that after the draft, we will see, and maybe we won't hear about them, but that there will be some changes within scouting people or front office people that he wants to bring in. Usually that's how it works, that you go through the draft, all these scouts and all these personnel people have worked on this draft. You can't just come in and fire them all or something, but you're going to kind of clear out maybe some people that you don't want there

and bring in some people that you do and then go forth from there. And there will be time. There will be time that's going to be given by the Wilfs. Because if it's a good working environment and it looks like, and this is all it needs to be happening, it looks like it's going in the right direction. I mean, I think that it would have to be such a colossal disaster. And what I mean is like Jets, Jaguars, they win three games, three years in a row. And everyone's saying that Adolfo Menta has no idea what he's doing.

Like those things probably are not going to happen. I mean, it would have to go really super sideways for something like that to happen. So I think what you do if you're the Wilfs is you give it three years where you're not going to really assess it at all, aside from how people are working together within the front office. And then going into the fourth year, you don't want a lame duck GM. That almost never happens. Going into the fourth year, then you decide how long of an extension do we want to give? Do we want to give an extension at all? And then you go from there. So, I mean, this is not, it's not, I know that a lot of Vikings fans

are upset about the direction that they've taken. And I agree with a lot of the criticisms, but this isn't going to be a thing where if this year they go five and 12, that the Wolf say you failed Kweisi new GM, and that's probably not going to happen. It would have to be really, really bad. Urban Meyer type GM version bad. This comes from at Vikings 1907. Why in the world would the Vikings make those horrible contracts of Adam Thielen and Harrison Smith even worse? Why? Okay.

Well, this is another one that's going to require a sip of diet, Dr. Pepper. Well, I don't know. I'm, I, you know, I, I understand having to restructure them because they needed cap space to add players that would make them not a terrible football team. Before they signed Harrison Phillips, Zedarius Smith, Patrick Peterson, Jordan Hicks, that defense was absolutely abominable. And even the right guard situation, before bringing in Jesse Davis and Chris Reed, you're talking about Ole Udo starting there again and battling with Wyatt Davis. So what they've done is they've created enough cap space to fill those spots that were really dire with good players or

proven players i think that was a main goal to try to reach what ownership wants which is making the playoffs you weren't going to make the playoffs if you just left the contracts the way that they were and signed no one. If you didn't sign Zedaria Smith or Harrison Phillips or Patrick Peterson, like you're probably not competing for the playoffs because you would have the 28th to 32nd ranked defense. A lot of free agents were leaving. There's no talent left over there aside from Daniel Hunter coming back, Eric Hendricks, and then you'd still have Harrison Smith. But aside from that, I mean, just totally bare cupboard. They needed to bring in some people who are good at football to try to fill that out. Now that, I mean, that's the explanation that I think that they would give you is, look,

we needed to find some ways and there weren't many really good options. However, when I look at what they did here, I'm just a little bit perplexed. I mean, Adam Thielen is set to have a $19.9 million cap hit for 2023. This is from overthecap.com. $19.9, and they can convert some base salary, probably quite a bit of base salary into bonus next year and kick money down the road as they have done so many times. But a 33-year-old wide receiver with a $20 million cap hit or ready to have a $20 million cap hit. And if they cut him, let's say he falls off the edge of the world here this year and they cut him. They only save $6 million and would have a dead cap of 13 million for next year. And presumably after 2023, he's going to be gone.

And his dead cap is scheduled to be seven. But if they start converting money, it could be more than that. So still you're going to have a dead cap into 2024 with Adam Thielen. And I guess I get that there were very, very limited options when it came to creating cap space. But this one, I'm with you that it's just a very risky play, hoping that Adam Thielen plays well into his mid thirties. But even, even if he does, you're having to redo his contract again, you're having to convert money, you're having to make changes there. And it just feels like there's an end to this. That is pretty clear. And you're still going to be paying for it down the road. I can't get on board with that strategy just to add a Jordan Hicks or a Jesse Davis. I just, I think

that that is penny wise pound foolish and is really hurting them long-term. I wish I had a better answer for you. The other part of it might be, and this is something that we now have to leave the door open to all the time, which is they tried to trade Adam Thielen. We do know that, that he was on the block. And ownership just said, no, I'm not giving away Adam Thielen for a six-round pick, which is all anybody was going to offer for Adam Thielen. Not because he isn't good, but because of the age and price and the fact that the Vikings were desperate to create space. So no one's giving you a good deal.

And Kweisi is a new GM. So nobody's getting robbed by the new GM. And this was the only option left. And just like with Kirk Cousins, Harrison Smith's agent is smart and Adam Thielen's agent is smart. And they know when they have leverage. They know when they can say,

no, no, give us everything we want. And even if it makes it tougher on you, that's not our problem. And that's the NFL, man. Harrison Smith. I mean, this one is just as perplexing because, I mean, even more so, really. And again, Harrison Smith is a great player, but is he going to be great in the year 2023 at age 34? I don't know. But he's got a $19

million cap hit set up for 2023. A lot of base salary that can be converted to bonus there. But if they have to cut them only $7 million in cap savings and $12 million in dead money, $7 million in dead money in 2024. And in 2025, still $4 million in dead money in 2024 and in 2025, still $4 million in dead money. I know, there's probably nothing more boring than reading cap numbers in the future. So I'm sorry about that. But to answer the question, it's hurt to have to do this. And so that's when, if you get told by ownership, you have to compete for the playoffs and you make your moves to compete for the playoffs. You are not making the wisest

and most savvy decisions with some of these players, but that's why they really have to win this year. Why this year and next year, they have to be very competitive because, because these are the sacrifices they made. And so they deserve to be judged on that. This comes from at Martin DeLong for why isn't Bobby Bryant in the Vikings ring of honor? He is second to Paul Krause in interceptions with 51. Krause had 53 as teammates from 1968 to 1979. The duo picked off 101 passes as teammates. Bryant added three more in his final season in 1980. You know, as far as that era goes,

you know, I mean, I think that there's so many good players, not just a couple, but many, many, many, many great players. And he probably goes in that hall of very good category where he was a great player for them long term. You know, he played for them for a really long time, like you said, and was good. A two-time Pro Bowler. But if you're doing Ring of Honor, and again, I mean, I get it. You're right. The numbers are great. He was averaging, you know, five picks a year, almost four or five picks a year for a really long time. But if you're going ring of honor and not again, not to insult Bobby

Bryan at all, because he was a really good player for that era, but they had a lot of great defenses and a two-time pro bowler probably just doesn't get you there. I mean, he's likely deserving, but there's always going to be a lot of guys who are deserving over the years that just don't quite get it. And pro bowls is not a really great way to determine whether someone was good or not, but getting three, four interceptions per year for a really, really long time is not something that gets you in the ring of honor from that era. From that era, a lot of guys got a couple interceptions per year.

It's just kind of how it went. So, you know, I think that he may be an underrated player and deserves to be in the hall of very good or the sort of forgotten Vikings, but you probably have to be like six, seven time pro bowler, all pro, those types of things to end up in the ring of honor. Kind of just how it is. There's only so many spots that they can put up there. Okay. Let's see. How many more can we get in here? I might be able to get in the remainder of the ones that I have for now, and then I'll start getting a new batch of questions for next week.

So I'm going to try to buzz through these a little bit faster. Okay, here's a question for one of the new pods. Considering the wide receiver market in Jefferson coming up for an extension a few years, would Minnesota be basically required to pair him with a rookie deal quarterback in order to feel the competitive team around them? Yes, I think that's exactly right. And maybe part of Kirk Cousins extension and where it goes to only through 2023 is part of that. It's not just about Cousins, but it's an acknowledgement that at some point, Justin Jefferson will be very, very expensive and he will be absolutely deserving of that price.

And if you put a, you know, kick, you know, think about it a couple of years from now, what that price is going to be a $35 million receiver and a $45 million quarterback. That's just not going to work because everyone else is going to be spending money too. And that's when I hear, oh, the cap's going up. Like, well, yeah, for everyone. So the answer is probably yes. Like looking around, I mean, Patrick Mahomes, his money is going up and they have to move on from Tyreek Hill.

It's possible Green Bay could have kept Devante Adams if he didn't want to be a Raider, but it also doesn't really destroy them. The other thing I would add in here is that this is an argument to draft a wide receiver this year is the just-in-case, and I'm not going to go too far down this road and upset people in April. But, you know, the reality exists for Jefferson to play somewhere else eventually. We've seen it with a lot of star wide receivers. I'm not saying that's likely, but that is possible. And they have to start thinking contingency plan at that position as well. I really do think that you have to structure many decisions around Justin Jefferson and his future because he is so valuable and so important to the

team. And one of those could be a quarterback. The other thing too, is if you lock up Jefferson for a long time, here's what we've seen over the years. These receivers really have an impact on your quarterback play i mean i i know again a hot take but i mean a huge impact uh when you look at the vikings quarterbacks think of how many they've had they've had teddy and then sam bradford case keenum uh and then kirk cousins and they've all had their career best years with either Stefan Diggs, Adam Thielen, or Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen. I don't think that that is a mistake. I think that the receivers have a huge impact and whatever they pay Justin Jefferson will be worth it. But if you give him someone else, like you're putting whoever else at quarterback in a position to succeed. And this is why when they sign Cousins to the extension and people

say, well, who else would be able to play this spot? And the answer is, I don't know, but I know Justin Jefferson's going to make them better if they get to play with him. This comes from Old Breed Writer. This is Gary. He's been a longtime follower. With free agency winding down how about a pie chart of how the vikings will do in 2022 same or worse eight nine or worse uh better but no playoffs nine and eight or ten and seven better and in the playoffs and you can include being in the super bowl if you want a crazy bet so how about this well let's go let's go one percent super bowl just because i mean let's be honest here but you you know, one out of a hundred it hits. Uh, so one, and really even the team with the best Super Bowl odds, you're talking about

like 10%, uh, even, even the team with the best Vegas odds. So if you're in the middle, you're probably at one to 2% anyway, just based on how that works. So'll leave two percent open um but i'm probably going to screw up the math because of that two percent same or worse eight and nine or worse i would go let's say let's say 30 on same or worse because i think they do have a good amount of talent and a quarterback who gets you eight wins by just being himself. And so if we're not talking about a Kirk injury, then same or worse is pretty likely, but I think better, but no playoffs is probably the one that I would pick nine and eight or 10 and seven, uh, as the slight favorite here, let's go 40. No, I don't want to do that to myself. Let's go 50% there for me to get us to 80. And then we'll go 18% better in the playoffs and 2% to win the Super

Bowl. How about that? I think that adds up. If it doesn't, you guys can make fun of me. I mean, I think that same or worse means someone got hurt. Zedaria Smith, Daniil Hunter, and it just tanked them or the offense on the offense. Jefferson goes down for six weeks or Adam Thielen is out. We saw how that was, or, you know, even Brian O'Neill goes out and you're in a lot of trouble there. Um, so that you're probably same or worse because they just don't have this deep talented roster with players up and coming, but better or no playoffs. And I think the NFC is bad, but everyone is going to be looking at it that way. And so there will be teams just like last year, where if, you know, the Vikings got to nine wins, I think Philly still

would have gotten in. So you're going to be relying on tiebreakers. I think that that's where we'll be at the end of the season. It's just, do you get the tiebreaker or not? Better in the playoffs is also possible, but at this moment, I mean, they are, this is why I like to use the Vegas odds, because when you ask about expectations, I think that that's a really good barometer to follow is, what does the world think? And right now the Vikings are basically in a dead tie for what the world thinks about being in the seven seed so better in the playoffs possible but I think they would have to be you know even a little better than they were last year to get in overall so much better coached much better performances some luck with health some better luck with fumbles you know that kind of thing so

yeah I mean I think it's probably a split between those two, but there also is a scenario where Kevin O'Connell in his first time coaching has a pretty steep curve and struggles, or if Kirk Cousins hits, you know, the age wall and starts to drift, like all those things are possible. So great question, Gary. All right. I'll try to get to a couple more here real quick. This from Lolos Alex. I feel like the idea of trading a few spots down and taking Tyler Linderbaum is not something

that has been floated around much regarding Vikings draft takes. What would be your thoughts on that move? Trading down, I think is a good idea generally, if someone's going to give you something really good. But in this draft, I have trouble thinking that, you know, say Pittsburgh is going to give you their first round draft pick from next year. I just have a really tough time seeing that. You might as well just pick a 12. In a draft that's being talked about as being pretty weak at the top, and there's only so many

players with a high ceiling try to get your hands on one at number 12 is how i look at it also linderbaum in my mind is just a lot of red flags like let me let me pull up why so we talked about this the other day with chris trapasso a little bit and And he threw out some of the numbers on Linderbaum. But if you want to know how small he is, and his top comparison on mock draftable is Billy Price, by the way, who did not work out. Here's how small Linderbaum is. He's 6'2", 296 at the combine, which they always weigh a little bit more there, with 31-inch arms. Here's where that compares to the NFL. That is in the sixth percentile of height, fifth of weight, and first in arm length. That means he is the smallest center in the NFL coming into the league. Like the absolute smallest. That's just not a first round pick for me.

That's a third round pick for me if someone has a lot of talent but would be the smallest player at their position in a league where you know kenny clark still exists i know akim hicks isn't with the bears but kenny clark is still there interior pressure is becoming king i'm just really skeptical on that one so the trade down you could talk me into it but but taking Tyler Linderbaum in the first round, that's a much tougher sell, especially when this team needs corners, defensive ends, another receiver. There's a good case for one. I mean, do you really want to be spending it on a center? And plus what's the expectation?

The guy will come in and be great right away. We've kind of done this a couple of times. I think when you get a center, you should do it in free agency. So it's someone proven and experienced because I don't think that position is very easy to adjust quickly. So, all right, there is another fans only podcast. I still have some other questions that are in the hopper and I'll gather some more throughout the week and we'll carry on doing this. I'm really glad that you guys like it. It's super fun for me to kind of kick back, have another sip of the Diet Dr. P and enjoy answering all of your questions. So thanks so much for everybody who asked them and thank you all for listening.