Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Will Ragatz talks us into the Vikings being patient with their future QB decision

Episode Date: March 30, 2023

Matthew Coller and Will Ragatz talk about the strange Vikings offseason that has so many unresolved issues like the future of the QB position, Justin Jefferson's extension and Dalvin Cook/Za'Darius Smith's futures. Then they play a game of "Talk Me Into" in which Will is forced to make the argument for the Vikings waiting until 2024 to draft a QB. Note: Apologies for the audio in the first half of the episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here with Will Regetts of Sports Illustrated. Will, good times, good times, the off-season. You know, I'm sitting here trying to book a little vacation so I can time out exactly when they're going to trade Kirk Cousins. The minute I get on the plane, you just know it. I have to tell you, I have constant off-season anxiety syndrome. I don't know if this has ever been diagnosed, but I go to McDonald's, I go to the store to load up on Diet Dr. Pepper, and I just have to check

my foot. Like, is anything going on? What's going on? And they have made it worse over the last couple of weeks because there is rumors and nothing has happened so that's how I'm feeling how are you I'm good I deal with the same thing in the offseason we're kind of in the same business of needing to be on top of all the Vikings news and there hasn't been any in a while but yeah when it's when it's mid-march or whenever really you have to just be monitoring the the Adam Schefter tweet notifications and all these different things. And I managed to pull off a six-hour drive to Chicago on the first day of the new league year a couple Wednesdays ago. And nothing happened.

And I was convinced that it would. I had a few things pre-written just in case. But I managed to pull that off somehow. And they did all the stuff on like Monday and Tuesday before I left that week. So that was nice. But yeah, I'm always kind of dealing with the same thing, but hoping for some more news here at some point. And we do have the draft in about a month, but yeah, it's been a little slow for late March. What did you pre-write that you haven't been able to publish? I pre-wrote Z'Darrius Smith being traded.

Oh, I pre-wrote Harrison Smith's contract being restructured, which actually happened the following day while I was watching like four NCAA tournament games at once. So I just hit publish and that was great. There may have been one other that, oh, I think Delvin Cook traded. Those were the three that I that I prewrote. So I still have the Zadarius and Delvin one somewhere in my in my save drafts.

So you think you're going to have to use them or not? That is a great question. I think at some point I think I will probably use at least one. I would guess just because I mean, the something that happened. Another thing that happened while I was in Chicago, I was at a Chicago Bulls game and the Vikings brought back Alexander Madison. And so I just waited a little bit to do that. But the numbers that came out of the Madison thing sort of make you think

they're not bringing Delvin Cook back because you're not paying Alexander Madison that much. I'm sure you've discussed this on the show to continue to just be a backup and get 100 carries or whatever it is. So you'd think something has to happen there. You'd think something has to happen with Zedaria Smith, who just clearly doesn't seem to be pleased with this situation, and they bring in Marcus Davenport. Are you really going to pay three edge rushers? So we'll see. Those files will be waiting until the the right moment so i just wrote about this for today about how like football outsiders did their off-season grades so far obviously they

know the off-season's not over and they gave the vikings a c or c minus or something overall and it got me kind of thinking about how the things that come next will entirely determine what their grade really is for this offseason. Because right now, I mean, the two signings that are significant, and I'll even throw Josh Oliver in there. I don't dislike that one. Some people got worked up about it. But I think it's okay to have a blocking tight end with some potential upside. But the other guys, like there could be a lot of upside there with Byron Murphy and Marcus Davenport.

I think I like the Murphy signing probably a little bit more because his history is a little better um there's not as many injury issues there with him as there is Davenport who kind of has a laundry list of those injuries that he's had throughout his career so far but still all right those work those work for me upside potential now and later type of signings but then you know you have some guys leave you keep some guys whatever like i'm just sort of in the middle as always with some things i like some things i don't like but the major decisions that will really shape where this whole thing is going really are still to come justin jefferson extension Cook and Zedaria Smith decisions. If those two both come back, then you're all in and the expectation should be deep playoff run and nothing short of that.

If those two guys come back, because otherwise, why would you bring them back? Unless you really think you're winning the division, you're going forward, you're competing for a Superbowl. And then of course, what happens with the quarterback situation, which might be resolved fairly soon when we get to the draft or if Lamar Jackson happens in some crazy universe. Or we might be sitting here talking about it for a really long time of what their options are. We might have to bring back skull searching. You know, for one, what was it, half of a season we were watching Zach Wilson tape that didn't work out but other quarterbacks as well for that year because we thought that the Vikings would be drafting a quarterback so it's a weird feeling to have the major part of free agency done with and yet us

still saying what's next is is really gonna determine where this thing goes yeah no I understand that like you gotta to give an out free agency grades. That's a normal part of the content cycle. And but I do think the Vikings grade, I agree with you, is it has to be kind of incomplete at this point. And you can evaluate what they've done. It's kind of been a neutral thing where you lose some guys, you bring in a few guys. They got they got younger at some positions. I think the thing that kind of Davenport, Murphy, Oliver all had in common is they're like 25 26 just coming off their first contract so they're kind of help you now but potentially they could be long-term pieces as well you could figure things

out with with their contracts even though their current contracts are only one or two year deals whatever it is so yeah those things are are fine. I like some of those moves. I think even the Josh Oliver one I think is a little underrated with how it will help them go to, like, 12 personnel and be bigger and run the ball better and get Justin Jefferson better matchups out of that because teams have to respect the run more and can't kind of play too high as much.

I think that's a fine signing. It makes some sense. Murphy and Davenport, a lot of upside young guys. It all makes sense. But this offseason is going to be determined. 80% of it or 80% of the grade is just going to come down to what happens at quarterback. Do they make a decision to add somebody? If they made a huge swing for Lamar, obviously that would be basically the entire offseason story. I still think that's very unlikely with how much he would cost and the other people that you're going to have to pay.

But if they draft somebody, which it seems like, I mean, we've got to discuss things, so that's been discussed more and more. But like a Will Levis situation, something like that, Hendon Hooker, that would be a huge a huge huge huge central story of the offseason I mean just the fact that they're going to let Kirk Cousins play out the last year of this contract is the big story of the offseason so far so it's quarterback but it's also yeah it's Dalvin Cook it's Zedaria Smith it's are we going to get a Jefferson extension a TJ Hackinson extension things like that it feels like there has to be some more things to come before we really tell the story of this offseason. I think it's been fine up to this point, but it'll be those things. It'll be what they do in the draft, I think, will tell us a lot.

So, yeah, it should be a fun next month or so. Yeah, I think I thought, and you probably did too, based on the fact that you were pre-writing articles, that more of this would be figured out by now, especially with Z'Darrius Smith and Delvin Cook. I thought Delvin Cook was probably the easiest decision of the offseason, but they must think that they can trade him. It's the only conclusion that I can come to, is that they must think they can trade him. And it is important to note that both guys, if you trade them, you create more cap space than if you cut them so if you're the vikings even if you offload them for a late pick it's better because of the cap

situation the problem is that that's not secret information that only you have other teams are aware of that that you need to trade them and you're kind of stuck if you want to get rid of both of them i don't get the sense that either player is in a position to restructure their deals or extend to lower cap hits or anything like that. We know Delvin Cook, his agent, fought them tooth and nail for this contract all the way to the last second and still tries to fight them online sometimes for whatever reason. And Zedarius Smith has at least made it clear through whatever channels to have it out there that he wants a new contract. But the problem with Zedarius Smith is it's sort of gone past go. Like if you're not in that initial first wave, you're not getting a lot of money.

Although, you know, you could see, and this would be another incentive to trade him. The Chicago Bears still have to spend money to get to the cash floor that you have to spend so if you release zedarius smith i guarantee you ryan poles is making that phone call right away like oh who's who's got money left for you we do and i don't know that that's going to be the thing that they want if they still want to win and be competitive because zedarius you don't want to catch one of the two games. He's going to be great. If he's great for half the season and you're the victim in week two or something, you don't want that to be the case. Because when he's great, he's unbelievably good.

So anyway, anyway, I guess I thought that these both of these things would have been taken care of by now. Yeah, no, I kind of did too. I thought the Madison thing was a sign that we were going to get some Dalvin Cook news shortly after. I think there are still some teams out there that could use a running back. And the issue is his age and his contract and kind of the advanced numbers from last year don't paint him in a very positive light. But I think his name recognition holds some value. I think his body of work holds some value. It's just you have to find a team with some money and with the need at running back. And I thought like, hey, is his hometown Dolphins.

That could be a fit. And then they bring back Raheem Mostert and they bring back Jeff Wilson. And that's so that's not going to happen. I think there's still a few potential landing spots for him. And I agree with your conclusion that it has to be a situation where they're holding on to Dalvin Cook to try to trade him. Because I just don't see why you'd give Alexander Madison the money you gave him and then bring Dalvin Cook back.

And, I mean, you could do it. It feels like your resources in a competitive rebuild are better used in other ways this year. I know that it's not just about this season. And you can get off the Dalvin Cook contract quite easily after next year. But I don't know why you would want to spend that much money on the running back position in 2023. That's something I've still been kind of waiting for Kweisi Adolfomenta to show his analytic self and not not pay running backs a lot of money so that one yeah the darius smith one i i i have no idea what's going to

happen there it's a weird situation where he feels like he's underpaid and with the way he played in the first half of the season that's true he also just signed that contract last offseason a three year deal is more like functionally a two-year deal as a lot of them are. But, yeah, he had the injury situation. So how do you value him if you're the Vikings? What does he think he can still get at this point? You're right. The first wave of free agency has come and gone.

That's when teams have to set the market for players and give them probably more money than they should. That's already happened. There are some teams. I hadn't thought of the Chicago Bears angle, but that's a good point. They still have a lot of money to spend. There are some teams that have cap space, but can you trade Zedaria Smith and get some sort of compensation out of it and get more cap space out of it?

Daniel Hunter is another one we haven't, like he has a contract situation where he's only making like getting five million or whatever it is this year i think his cap hit is higher than that with the way the contract's structured but there's there's something to figure out there with the smith hunter uh marcus davenport trio so yeah i still have plenty of questions about this offseason i think we learned from the the three main guys that they brought in. We learned about kind of what Quasiro Fomento wants to do, which is get young guys in here with some history, but also some upside and do these short-term contracts that maximize flexibility and kind of live in both

worlds, as he says. And I think we learned from that, but there's still a lot that I'm still wondering, just I'm wondering about as we move forward with this Vikings offseason. Now, I'm not complaining because normally what happens is everything just sort of hits you like a tidal wave and then it's over. And then we talk about kind of the same thing. But in this case, there is still a lot in flux is still a lot that could be changing which opens the door for a game of talk me into if you're down will actually you have no choice you're already on the show you gotta you gotta do it i'm always down okay you're always down good everyone always is no one has ever said no i don't want to play talk me into because it's just the best so here's

where that would be a little bit of an awkward situation too if i it really would if we like argued over it like i don't really know where we know i'm not going to talk you into anything uh but it always ends up in in fun conversation so let's start in this place i want you to talk me into it being totally fine if we get to September, whatever opening day is on, and we have no idea what's going to happen in the Vikings' future at quarterback. Talk me into that being not a problem. Sure. You can do that. You don't have to address your quarterback situation this year. And Kevin O'Connell has talked about being excited about year two under Kirk Cousins and that being the focus right now. And you can go in and look at, look, it's a winnable division.

You just won it by five games. Sure, the Lions are better. The Lions haven't won the division in 30 years. The Bears might be a little bit improved. They were the worst team in football last year. The Packers are starting Jordan Love, who we have no idea if he's a competent quarterback or not. Focus on this year. Obviously, focus on the future as well.

But your quarterback options this year are pretty limited. And if you want to address it, you're not getting Bryce Young, CJ Stroud. You're not getting Anthony Richardson, which a few months ago was like, oh, that could be fun. Look at this guy. He might fall because he's really raw. And he went out and posted like a 10 relative athletic score at the combine. And just the nature of the quarterback position, he's going in the top five because some team

is going to talk themselves into him being Josh Allen. So you're not getting one of those three. Your only real chance maybe is to trade up for Will Levis if you want one of the top four quarterbacks. And that would cost a lot. And you have to really ask yourself if that's worth it, because Will Levis is there's a reason why he's fourth considered fourth out of those four quarterbacks. He is flawed in a lot of ways. It's not really an easy evaluation there. You have to do a lot of projecting with your development. If you think he's going to be the guy, I think you could talk yourself into that, but for the purpose of this,

I'm going to say don't do that because that would be a big risk. And if he falls to you, which isn't going to happen, then it's a different conversation. And you can't draft Hendon Hooker at 23. There's just – he's a 25-year-old coming off an ACL who played in a very quarterback-friendly kind of one- or two-read offense. I just think you can't do that. And you're probably not getting Lamar Jackson

because of all the salary cap implications and all those things. So that means go into this season, and maybe you draft a quarterback in the third or fourth round and throw a dart there. Fine. That's not going to tell us anything about the future. Go into this season with Kirk Cousins in his second year in this offense. Try to win the division and make a deep playoff run. See what Kirk Cousins looks like at age 35 or however old he is. I think he's 35. And then you go into next year and you'll have a lot more

information. Kweisi always says he wants to have evidence and all this data. You're going to have more information. And if you know what, if it weirdly doesn't work and you are like oh wow we miss eric kendrickson adam thielen a lot and we had regression hit us like a brick then maybe you have a better draft pick and you know you can move up for caleb williams or drake may or one of those 2024 quarterbacks or maybe it goes really well and then kirk cousins tests the market and maybe he comes back maybe he doesn't maybe you sign a bridge quarterback maybe you figure it out you cross the bridge when you come to it. And I think that sometimes that's not something you want to do in the NFL. I think in this situation, considering what your options are this offseason, I think that's okay.

I think you've done a very, very good job there of talking us into it. I don't think it's a travesty if they don't come away with, well, Lamar Jackson would be disappointing even if none of us thought it was going to happen just because it was a rumor. And once it's a rumor, it's got like legs and it's sort of real in people's minds. So, you know, a lot of people are already kind of wanting that to happen. It will be disappointing. It would be really fun. It would be really fun. It would be unbelievably fun. And look, if you go to a comment section, just for example, when someone's writing about or talking about Lamar Jackson and you write, what if he gets injured? You are a thief of joy. You hate everything. You're an unhappy person. You

need to look at yourself in the mirror. You need to think about yourself. If you spend your day going to comment sections, typing in, what if he gets hurt? What if anybody gets hurt, my man? What if Teddy Bridgewater gets hurt out of freaking nowhere? Did anyone think that Teddy Bridgewater was getting hurt? Did anyone think that Sam Bradford, I was there for the game in 2017 when he annihilated the New Orleans Saints. I didn't know his knee was injured. Anybody could get hurt. Maybe Bradford's a bad example because he got hurt a lot, but he had been healthy the whole previous two seasons. And then all of a sudden it happens. I don't know. People get hurt in football. Stuff happens. But if you're that person, just stop doing that because that's

obnoxious for everybody. Anyway. Yeah. Let me add onto the Lamar tangent really quick, just very briefly, because I think I agree with you that I think a lot of the Lamar analysis you see in Twitter replies, it's just really lazy. Like, oh, he quit on his team down the stretch. Like, no, he was injured, and he was worried about protecting his future value as any NFL player should. And that Ravens team wasn't particularly great anyway. They weren't going to win the Super Bowl. Yeah, he got injured. Guess what? A lot of players get injured. My other least favorite thing is just the he can't pass idea. It's just not true. Like, just watch film. He can throw the ball at a very high level. He threw for like 45 touchdowns in

his MVP season. He is a good thrower of the football who also happens to be maybe the greatest running quarterback ever so I just think there's I don't know I see too much of like oh we Lamar wouldn't even be like worth it at all he's not even an upgrade over Kirk Cousins he was a like a unanimous MVP what are you what are you talking about that I just had to get that out there briefly uh it's happened on this show as well from me where it's frustrating because my thing is it's not even a debate about his play. It's really about what it costs. It's about the money, yeah.

And the risks that you take on. And if you bring up the injury point, I don't know what to tell you. Like he won't. I don't know that he won't. But you certainly don't know that he will. And it's not like he's 31 years old or something where he's got some long injury history 26 yeah right so i mean that whole point but that's why the injury thing is just thief of joy like i i am here to pour cold water on everybody else talking about this scenario that

would be the most fun thing to happen to them since Brett Favre showed up and I just can't put myself in that headspace for people but that's yeah it's a it's a bit of a tangent there also there is an element of people really like to side with teams on this stuff like since the Ravens haven't paid him and by the way I mean he is holding their feet to the hottest fire when it comes to this to the I need every single dollar guaranteed. So you can see where the Ravens who have been historically very shrewd with their dollars, they could be like, we can't really do that for you, or we don't want to do that. And how the other owners would be like, don't you do that? Because one dope already did that for Cleveland. Don't you do that? Because then we're all going to have to do that, right? So there's way more things going into this. But if you're saying, oh, well, it's people around

the league who don't think he can pass. No, it's not. It's not that at all. It's entirely just about the dynamics, the politics of this and the money situation. And they know if you give it to him, then you have to give it to Hertz. You have to give it to Hurts. You have to give it to Burrow. You have to give it to every other great quarterback who's on the way. That's really the holdup. It's not that people are concerned. I mean, the sleep schedule thing might be real, but it's funny how everything kind of starts coming leaked out, like with Kyler Murray.

When somebody gets paid, it's every little detail. This guy plays video games too much and doesn't watch enough film. It's like everything comes out when somebody gets paid. It's every little detail. This guy plays video games too much and doesn't watch enough film. It's like everything comes out when somebody gets paid. So anyway, let's just circle back to I think of if they don't have an answer by the end of this year's draft and they don't have Cousins on an extension by the time he starts next offseason, at least we know when the Cousins era ends. And that's a good thing for them. But it's a little bit like going to the grocery store at 930 at night where you need food, but not everything's on the shelf, right? More things are on the shelf right now because if you draft Will Levis and he cannot hit the broadside of TCO Performance center for a year you know someone else has to be your quarterback the following season you've got a year to look at him and if he's paxton lynch then you're you know you know you're screwed or you know you've got him but if

you don't then whatever's on the shelf when you get there in 2024 and that draft is what you gotta buy because you haven't helped your cap situation so it's not like you can even go out if some free agent quarterback shows up and is the next guy on the market. You can't even really make that offer because you've put all that dead cap into Kirk in 2024. So, I mean, I am convinced it's not a bad thing if that ends up being the case. It's just that you have a little less flexibility when it comes to that. Yeah, no, it's fair. I think you have less flexibility. I just don't think you have a little less flexibility when it comes to that. Yeah, no, it's fair. I think you have less flexibility. I just don't think you have no flexibility.

And I know that if Kirk is off the books in 2024, that's $28.5 million in dead money, and that's something you have to deal with. But if you extend him, then you're just committing to more of the same the same thing and so you could go into next year and have no idea really what you're going to do at quarterback until next offseason and look around and usually there's a guy or two out there who is not going to be a super expensive free agent is not going to be like in in the kirk or derrick carr tier but he's going to be somebody like i don't know the jacoby brissett marcus mariota like

somebody in that level who you can who knows how to be a starting quarterback in the nfl and would be objectively obviously a big downgrade from kirk cousins but you can do that and you can pair that with drafting the quarterback and i don't know all that much about the next year's class of quarterbacks. I know that Caleb Williams is probably going to be the number one pick and then Drake May from UNC is really good. And I think there's a couple other guys, but you can potentially use more of your future assets that you're probably going to have and move up to get a guy. And the thing with this year is they don't have the second round pick because of TJ Hawkinson.

So that limits you a little bit. If you trade your next year's first rounder to go all in on Will Levis, then you're really committing to that. And that is fine. I think you have to kind of be convinced to a certain degree that Will Levis is going to be the guy because if you move all that capital to go up and get him because I really don't think he's going to fall that far then it just handcuffs you then because if he isn't then what do you do because now you're out of this draft capital that you traded to get him and then so I don't know I could argue that that if you think Will Levis is the guy, like there's been rumors that Kevin O'Connell is a fan of him and the tools are there,

you could talk me into giving up a lot of draft capital to go and get him. You absolutely could. If you don't think he's the guy, I think the better move is to just wait and see what's available next year. And maybe it ends up in a situation where you're forced into kind of an uncomfortable situation with a worse quarterback and maybe reaching for somebody in the draft, but it's not all that different from what you would be doing this year. So I think you, you can wait and just kind of learn more about,

and there is a possibility if, if, if they wait this year and kirk cousins is good like would he get a lot of a lot of money from somebody else next year i don't i don't know because he would be 36 at that point he he could in theory i don't think so would happen he could come back to the vikings and resign and and And just because this contract is expiring, that doesn't mean there is a 100% chance that the Kirk Cousins era is over. I think it probably is. I think the Vikings like just the idea of moving on.

And at some point, whether this year or next year, kind of handpicking their guy. And I think they like the advantages of having a quarterback on a rookie contract like anybody does. But I don't know. It's a complicated situation. And I think they like the advantages of having a quarterback on a rookie contract like anybody does. But I don't know. It's a complicated situation. And I do think you can wait.

You don't have to kind of force it this year. Yeah, I think that that point about it still being possible that they can extend Kirk has actually talked me out of it. Because one of the potential worst case scenarios is a nine win season where Cousins puts up his big numbers. They decide that they're not going to be able to draft somebody they want to draft. And then they just crack and give him a three-year contract extension. And then we keep doing this. I saw Jamie Erdl lost it on the NFL network when it came to Kirk and being stuck in the middle. It's like, that's how, you know, she's a Minnesotan folks because she's dealt with this with many, many sports teams in town for a very long time.

It actually is a down point to me that that opens the door. But I think you make a good point that if you are going to get Levis, at least the way it's mostly projected, though this seems to be changing a little bit with the mocks. I don't know what that means, but it just does. That if you have to trade a next year's first for Will Levis, then you don't have that option of drafting another one if you really hate Will Levis. So that is a good point. And normally, if you push the chips to the middle of the table on a quarterback, you do have to stick with that guy. But at least you'll know. And this is like San Francisco, like at least they know that they don't really love Trey Lance. That's become quite obvious. And so at least you have

them there for a year and you can get a good sense for where that guy stands if you draft him this year. What would you like me to talk you into, Will? Oh, that's a good question. I think i have several things that i would like you to talk me into but talk me into the vikings kind of doing nothing at the edge rusher position with zadaria smith and figuring out a way to have zadaria smith daniel hunter and marcus davenport all on their defensive line all on their pass rush next season. If you're not frozen, which you might be. All right.

Talk me into the Vikings doing nothing with Zedaria Smith, whether he wants to be traded or not, and figuring out a way to have Zedaria Smith and Daniel Hunter and Marcus Davenport all on under contract and all on their pass rush this, this fall. I don't think it's hard to talk you into it happening. It's hard to talk you into it making sense. Um, so as far as it happening, it's if Zedaria Smith goes out on the market and his agent calls a bunch of teams and says, how do you feel about them cutting Zedarius or making a trade here or whatever so he could come to your team?

And everybody goes, why don't you send over those medical reports and then we'll make a decision. And I go, ew, you know what? I don't know that this is a good idea. How's like a one year, four and a half million bucks for you for Zedarius Smith. And then they go, no way, no chance.

I'm going to stay with the Vikings and I'm going to prove the haters wrong. So you can see that actually coming to fruition. If Kweisi was calling people and they were saying, no, we just don't want to do it. We don't want to pay any price for Zedaria Smith with the second half of his season last year, what we think of his age, injury, whatever else, and price tag and the fact that he wants more money. So you could see that happening. And then just saying rather than, okay, we'll just get rid of him then. All right, we'll just trade Delvin Cook to create that extra space. And there's still a couple of buttons that they could

push, including restructuring Brian O'Neill. They seem to not want to do that. And I understand why you don't want to do that because they've already kicked way too much money down the road for my liking. And that would just be kicking more money down the road. So you don't want that. But you can if you need to. And then you put together what should be a pretty good pass rush unit.

And you could say to Brian Flores, like, okay, I mean, you've got several guys that you can really use to your liking here. And if say to Brian Flores, like, okay, I mean, you've got several guys that you can really use to your liking here. And if I'm Brian Flores, I probably want Zedarius Smith much more than, you know, Marcus Davenport. Marcus Davenport, I think has potential. We've seen the high end of his potential and it's pretty good. But at the same time, the man had one half of a sack. And one of our colleagues pointed out that it wasn't even on american soil so he had zero american sacks last year i know you know what colleague that was that pointed that out um so anyway uh yeah you can figure that out so but uh i mean marcus davenport

is not like an answer the The guy never plays 800 snaps. He's more of a rotational player who's probably going to get banged up and may or may not maximize his sack total. So if one of your major goals is improving on how bad they were on defense last year, if you're hiring Brian Flores and making the case to him, hey, we can improve from where they were last year. Right now, if they get rid of Zedaria Smith, you don't have a very good argument for that because you're losing Patrick Peterson and Delvin Tomlinson and replacing them with Hoomst. I don't really know. I mean, Dean Lowry and Andrew Booth Jr., that's a massive drop-off

unless Andrew Booth Jr. is incredible. So I think that from that perspective, you could say it makes sense because one of your things that you really want is to be better on defense. And you know that if next year you rank 29th after firing the defensive coordinator, that everyone's going to go, okay, isn't it just your roster? Wasn't it not really at Donatello, which some of it was, there's no question. Some of it was, but they're going to point to it being your roster. That's the best I can do. I don't think it's a good idea that I really don't. I think it makes a lot more sense to move on now, move on and take the risk that it's

too early rather than if he has the second half of his season for all 17 games, you're wasting a lot of money in cap space on somebody who's not bringing a whole lot to the table and you have to play him a lot because he's zadarius smith but if they end up with zadarius smith being on the team next year it's not like it ruins the entire franchise it just probably is not the most exactly to the letter prudent thing that you could ever do does that does that convince you that convinced me and. And I, I can be very easily. And I just was kind of talked into it making sense purely from a football standpoint or making you better from a football standpoint in 2023. I agree with that. I think Zedaria Smith is a good player. I think his second half

number is not being as good. I think it's a little overblown. He was dealing with a knee thing, which is kind of part of who he is at age 30 and having an injury history. But his pressure numbers were still okay. He wasn't lighting the world on fire. I think people too often just look at the box scores and the sacks, and he only had one in the second half. That's the same thing with Marcus Davenport, where, yeah, he had 0.5 sacks last year,

but look at his PFF pass rush grade. Look at his pressure numbers. He's an impactful player. I think you're right, though. It's a good point that they're not kind of a one-for-one swap. And if you are going to move on from Zedaria Smith, which seems like is still a strong possibility with his cap situation and him wanting more money and that just what you have to figure something out there. Then Marcus Davenport is a good guy to have to just replace some pass rush ability, but they're not the same player. Marcus Davenport is a bigger guy.

He's more of an inside. He's not a three technique, but he's more of somebody you line up as a true defensive end. He can set the edge against the run. He can pressure like just in through the middle a little bit, but he's not a Zedarius Smith where he's this edge rusher that you can line up standing up at outside linebacker. You can put them over a guard, over a center and just do all these different things with him. So if I'm Brian Flores, if yeah, I agree, if there's any way you can figure out, let's have all three of these guys. I think that's really, really helpful because Davenport kind of plays a different role than Daniil Hunter and Zedaria Smith do. So from making you better in 2023, Zedaria Smith's a really good football player. And we saw that in the first half of last season. We saw it even at times in the second half when he wasn't 100%.

But I agree with you as well that just the logistics of it off the field, money-wise, his age, his injury history, it probably makes more sense to move on now and figure out what else you're going to do past rush in kind of the long-term time horizon. Right. I would rather see Marcus Davenport play as many snaps as he possibly can play. And then Patrick Jones play quite a bit because he's showed some flashes last year. Uh, I don't know that we have to be done thinking about DJ one. I'm like, sometimes it takes years. Maybe he can be a situational rusher and it makes some steps

for it. I want to find out. Contract year DJ Wanham. Contract year DJ Wanham. Let's go. But or, you know, whatever. Sign someone youngish with potential. When Brian Flores was in Miami, they signed Shaq Lawson and he came to Miami and he didn't stay there. But it's a smart move to see if you can get somebody that was coming off of his contract

like what they're doing with Davenport like sign somebody else who has the same sort of thing try to paint with numbers and see what sticks rather than knowing that Sedarius is good and you know have it still probably not move the needle that much like you're not if you keep them versus not keep them it's not the difference between top five and 20th it's not the difference between top five and 20th. It's maybe the difference between 25th and 28th or something. That's kind of where I have them right now based on their schedule. They can feel free to prove that wrong if they want. I want you to talk me into if there is no quarterback decision by next season. And jefferson does not sign an extension by next season this thing not

being awkward as hell talk me into it not being weird and awkward and super uncomfortable if you have a quarterback who knows it's his last year and a receiver who has not yet locked himself into being a long-term part of your franchise. That is a tough assignment, but I am more than capable. I think you can go into this season, and this is kind of the same thing I was saying with Cousins, and you just kind of go in and you do the same thing. And Jefferson has a measure of security in that he has, there's the fifth year option.

Like it's not, he's not going into the last year of his, his Vikings contract career, whatever. He has the knowledge that he is, has had the best three-year start to a career of any wide receiver in football. So even if it doesn't work out with the Vikings long-term,

which I don't see any reason to believe why it won't, then he's going to get a bag from some team. I think there would be a little bit of awkward. This is not what I'm supposed to be saying. I just think the possibility of injury would be the one thing for somebody like Justin Jefferson. But he hasn't really gotten hurt at all in his NFL career. He plays in a style that, to me, and you hasn't really gotten hurt at all in his NFL career. He plays in a,

in a style that to me, and you can't predict injuries, but I think he's good at like not taking huge hits. And you'd like for him to maybe, maybe he has a conversation with Kirk Cousins, like, Hey, let's not don't, don't lead me into any hospital walls over the middle of the field. I haven't signed a huge extension here. And I think Kirk Cousins doesn't want to do that anyways, and generally tries not to. And is a smart quarterback when it comes to things like that for the most part. But yeah, I think you can go in and Kirk and Justin Jefferson have had this unbelievable connection. You do that for one more season and the Vikings can extend Justin Jefferson after that and they can find a quarterback and Justin Jefferson can have input

on who that quarterback is going to be, whether it's a free agent, whether it's a draft pick, whatever it might be. And you kind of just go from there. And I think that that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. And I think they are probably going to want to extend Jefferson this offseason because the price is only going to go up. But there's a situation. I mean, he's

eligible for an extension for the first time. It doesn't mean you have to extend him right now. For a lot of times with first round picks, you can wait the four years, have the fifth year option to continue kind of negotiating and figuring something out. And you can do that. And I think that the Viking, that is an option that the Vikings have. They do not need to feel like we got to give Justin Jefferson whatever he wants, blank check. Because as much as that's a nice thing to say, and I think there's some validity to keeping Justin Jefferson almost no matter what. You can't really operate like that if you're an NFL front office.

You have to have some sort of constraints to make it fit with all these other pieces that you have. If you're going to extend TJ Hawkinson and you're going to extend Christian Derrissaw in a couple years and do all these different things, you have to have kind of a number that you're looking at so i i think that they could get away with doing that if that is that's super convincing language right there yeah yeah you tried really hard and that's why this game is great because you just it's a fun one it's fun to do ones that you just don't really believe in right try to figure it out that way really consider the opposite side. You were fighting there. You were battling. You're like,

I can do this. I can make this case. And well, here, here's what I would say. You see what's happening with Lamar right now. That's what's going to happen with Justin Jefferson. If they don't sign an extension.

I mean, part of it is like, that's where Baltimore made their mistake is that when they had him eligible they should have just backed up the Brinks truck but instead they thought and this happened with Dak Prescott too or it was like they missed their opportunity then they did franchise tag or fifth year option and when you do that then the player doesn't like that because then they think well they're being disrespected and somebody asked this question on the show as a fans only like why can't they just you know use the levers that they can pull with franchise tag, fifth year option, whatever,

like Lamar Jackson is why, because eventually you'll get to the end of that and it's going to be ugly. And that's exactly what's going on right now. And that's what happened with, you know, Khalil Mack in Oakland as well. The same sort of thing. Like they ran it to the very end and they ended up having to trade them away. And what you want is Justin Jefferson on your team for 10 years, not five years.

So you want to work it out with him now and give him that long-term security. I would say this. It won't be that awkward if they're winning. If they're winning, then everyone will say, hey, look, that's business. That's for my agent. I'm just going to go out there and play because we're 10 and 4 and we are in route to wherever the super bowl

is being held next year i haven't looked it up uh that i think that's okay and the same thing goes for kirk cousins and his contract like i'm focused on the week to week because we are in this playoff hunt and we are fighting for our lives but man man, if you are seven and eight and then somebody checks down on fourth and eight or you know what I mean? Like you get into this position where everybody starts to get very tense in a locker room and those distractions start to become a much bigger deal. And then instead of coming off a 13 win season where it could be like, Justin, come on, we can win here, bro. We just went seven and 10. Can we win here? Who's our quarterback? What are

we even doing? Right? Like a lot more questions start to come to the surface with Lamar Jackson and it does with Justin Jefferson, I mean, and then it does become extremely uncomfortable. And we've seen this play out before. saw it play out with kyle rudolph where he wasn't happy with his target share we've seen it play out with anthony barr with his contract situation and then it got weird and awkward with him as well so these things they do end up making a difference but if there is a world where it doesn't have to be done right away it's just if you go past that date of the beginning of the season, I think we're all going to wonder, okay, is he staying?

Or is this going to be the next great Minnesota athlete to go win somewhere else? And not that Vikings fans would ever have thoughts like that. Okay, real quick though, last one, last one. I want to ask you, did you have another one for me? Or do you want me to just fire my last one? No, go for it. Okay, okay okay talk me into who should wear number zero now that it's legal the league has made it legal now they say the fat men can't do it which is ridiculous of course they should be able to do it but uh talk me into who should be that number zero yeah i was i was thinking about

this when that that news came out and i was like wouldn wouldn't it be hilarious if Kyrus Tonga wore zero? But then I looked, and it was, yeah, not offensive or defensive linemen, which, yeah, is dumb. If you're going to do it, just go all in. But I'm going to say that I think the perfect guy to wear number zero would be Andrew Booth, because I think it's just cornerback energy. Like, I got a zero on my jersey. You're going to get zero yards against me, even though that's not realistic. I think Andrew Booth, maybe after his rookie year where he was kind of marred by injuries, maybe just needs a little vibe change. I think he still – what was really exciting about watching him

in training camp last year before he like suffered four different injuries was just his attitude and his like he was talking trash to Justin Jefferson like on his third day of his first training camp and he's he's out here chirping everybody and it was just it was really elite cornerback energy and I think the zero just in my mind somehow that fits really well with that. So I think Andrew Booth should wear a zero. I like that. I mean, you went with, instead of irony, you went with like legit, that would actually be cool. That's a cool number for him. If he is number zero, uh, running, running backs came to mind here. Maybe, maybe Brian Asamoah,

he's like this undersized, like zero can mean like underrated or whatever underappreciated no appreciation for middle linebackers whatever some something like that but i think that edge rushers should definitely be able to wear zero i think zero looks really cool on an edge rusher though the only guy that can't wear it ever and if any quarterback does this they're a joke is the quarterback position just zero rings zero completions zero touchdowns you're where you are opening yourself up for every single time you have a bad game everyone on the field is heckling you like yeah yeah zero wins today buddy you don't want to you don't want to be doing that i say though for for the irony for the memes cj ham do it for the do it for the meme cj come back

with number zero don't come back don't get in fact don't come back at all if you're not number zero that's what i'm saying my message to cj ham right now you wear number zero or you take a trade out of here just for any particular reason or just because the fullback were in zero before it would be fun yeah that's it i mean it would be amazing like if he was gonna wear number zero with a neck roll and like those big arm pads, the fullbacks used to wear. Let's go. That that is a that is my creative player on Madden right there is a fullback with giant, giant arm pads and the number zero and a neck roll. What about like Ryan Wright wearing zero?

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, zero return yards yeah zero returns today all all down inside the five i don't know he should the punters and stuff they should be able to wear the high numbers punters and kickers i i like the idea of like he should wear 73 for his 73 yard punt last year oh that's that's, that is good. Yeah. There was a, like a Penn state kicker, I think, who was this big dude who wore like 99 and he was just awesome. Yeah.

You should be, you should be able to wear whatever number. There'd be way too many punters and because they're usually funny people that would want like 69 and then the league would have to ban it for, again, for the memes. So anyway, Will Rag, it's great to get back together with you. We will do it again soon. We'll see what news comes about. We're a little less rigid in our scheduling for these pods during the offseason.

So we'll just have to see what happens. But I always appreciate you, sir. And we'll get together again soon, man. Yeah, thanks for having me as always. Pre-write Lamar to the Vikings. Do it. Might have to. Write it into existence. existence all right we'll catch you later will