Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Would the Vikings have won the 2009 Super Bowl? And a bizarre Vikings trade proposal

Episode Date: June 22, 2022

Matthew Coller and Sports Illustrated's Will Ragatz get together to answer fan questions, from whether the Vikings would have beat the Colts if they made the 2009 Super Bowl to how much Kirk Cousins would need to cost to build a great roster around him to a crazed trade proposal by Bleacher Report involving Patrick Peterson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here along with Sports Illustrated Vikings reporter Will Raggetts. And this is a fans only episode trying to do some episodes where we have a guest fans only analyst and server. So, Will, you're doing a great job, by the way, on the Will Raggetts show. If people didn't catch your interview with former Viking Ben Lever, that was excellent. So what's going on, man? Not a whole lot. It's fun to be back on with you. I don't think we've done this since maybe since the combine.

No, more recently than that. But yeah, I've been doing the weekly show and it's fun to hop back on with you and answer some questions. Yeah. And I've enjoyed your work, you know, kind of getting some space here to be your own host. I think it was maybe the beginning of OTAs where we got together to kind of

announce the show. So what I usually do to start a fans only episode is I usually crack open a diet, Dr. Pepper, but they didn't have cans at the store. They only had bottles. So I don't know if people

will be able to hear this or not but i'm gonna open the bottle oh there you go did you get it that it's i i got that loud and clear yeah okay all right good so you know that diet dr pepper is being drank here it's just that they ran out of cans i don't know supply chain or something so launching they're not sponsoring the show yet. Are they? This is a become a huge internet controversy. Actually, people are tweeting at Diet Dr. Pepper. They've had to mute their mentions.

There's so many people who are trying. You know, the little guy from the commercials actually did tweet at me. I'm not joking about that. Somebody tagged even that little mascot that they have on the commercials. And he like responded. I don't remember what he said, but it was something like you're the man or whatever. Hey, that's a that's a good step. It's a good maybe maybe have to work something out in the future.

Really all about public pressure. OK, so before we get into the questions that I have for us to answer, Will, the Vikings are apparently interested in Indomitian Sioux. Your thoughts? My thoughts are that their defensive line is already pretty good on paper, and that would kind of be the one thing that they're missing is the guy with the pass rush pedigree like Sue has I mean they have Armand Watts as kind of like their designated pass rushing defensive tackle right now and obviously like all defensive tackles need to play the run and they need to contribute against in in the in the pass rush but I mean Sue I think he still has some gas left in the tank he's been a really kind of dominant dominant in his prime pass rusher from the interior but i mean just imagine like a three down lineman front with him and phillips and tomlinson and then you have hunter and smith

off the edge like there's a lot of age there and there's some injury risk and all that but on paper that that would be pretty impressive now i don't know where they're going to get the money to sign him necessarily um and it seems like the raiders and maybe some other teams are still kind of like in the front of that mix but hey it's it's interesting at the very least i guess what i would say is if you want to get excited about this don't look up what he did last year by the pff grades um okay see i didn't have that in front of me i'm going off like more reputation right now than anything yeah yeah yeah and he had a really good game against uh

los angeles in the playoffs so not maybe completely washed but graded 53rd among defensive tackles last year and i'll see if i can get his pass rush win rate but i mean age would be the big factor here you know what it kind of feels like it feels very sheldon richardson e from last year where year and I'll see if I can get his pass rush win rate. But I mean, age would be the big factor here. You know what it kind of feels like? It feels very Sheldon Richardson-y from last year where we were like, yeah, man, 2018 Sheldon Richardson, what a monster. This Sheldon Richardson, not too bad, I guess. Okay. But I mean, I don't know how it couldn't be an upgrade from what they have outside of Armond Watts. I mean, it would have to be. And at this stage in his career, I mean, if he's looking to continue playing, nobody's showing up with $10 million a year.

So the Vikings have like, what, 10.7 in cap space. They have to keep some for the season in case things happen. They've signed other players. So, you know, 3 million or something. I mean, your offer can't be very big to Indomitian Sioux. And if you look at last year, he played almost 800 snaps. That's way too much for Indomitian Sioux. He would not be doing that here.

He would be much more of a rotational role. Yeah, I mean, he's had six sacks in each of the past few seasons. I just looked it up. But yeah, this is not like Detroit Indomitian Sioux. He's 35 years old. It might be a case where it's the bigger name than what you would actually be getting production wise. But still, I mean, very I don't think you can really argue, like you said, that it wouldn't be an upgrade from like James Lynch getting rotational snaps and like Jonathan Bullard and whoever else they have in the mix there. So I think it would it would be a floor raiser for sure so 44th out of 50 defensive tackles and pass rush win rate or i'm sorry in pressure rate

for last year um so not exactly the old uh indomitian sue but i do think that playing as many snaps as he did probably factored into that that he wouldn't have to be an every down yeah if you cut those snaps in half maybe his per snap productivity goes up okay no actually i know i had it right it was a pass which one way win rate that he was 44 and wait uh win weight uh sheldon richardson was 34th so i like the i like the con richardson who by the way is also still a free agent along with i mean i think after last year, right? Like this always happens where we get into June and some dudes just don't have jobs and like, gotta be able to help somebody. Right.

I think that he's one of them. You'd think so. You would think so. So there's all of your endemic and Sue takes in the event that the Vikings sign him. But like you said, it sounds like the Raiders are the leaders in the clubhouse there. So let's get into our fan questions. We will start with at jholiday316.

For fans only, hate doing this to myself and other Vikings fans, but following Will Raggetts and the episode with Will and Ben Lieber, how do you think a 2009 vikes colts super bowl would have gone what do you think should i start with this yeah so i was i mean ben as like is very understandable um in our podcast was very confident that like the vikings would have won that game by 10 plus points. And I think like it, I'll start by saying this,

it would have been a very good game because I was looking into some of the numbers, basic stuff like, like yards per game points per game, but also like the DVOA stuff, an EPA per play, which, which goes back all the way to 2009 and even further. And that Colts offense was really, really good,

especially just from an efficiency perspective. Obviously, Peyton Manning was kind of at his peak. Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Joseph Adai, they had weapons. So that matchup specifically, the Colts offense against the Vikings defense, would have been really fun the reason I think the Vikings probably are like 55 60 chance to win that game is because they had a much they had a big advantage defensively and the Colts were kind of average defensively and they weren't as far behind offensively the Vikings had a very good

offense that year as well and they also I, I think, were better on special teams for whatever that's worth. Not much if you talk about the Vikings and the idea of going to a Super Bowl and having to make a key field goal is probably pretty concerning to some Vikings fans. But you'd still like to get there and have that opportunity. So I think it would have been a really interesting game.

But both the Saints and the Vikings and like four or five other teams were kind of a tier above that Colts team if you look at DVOA. So I kind of have to agree. I think the Vikings would have been favored in that game. Like just all the star power they had on both sides of the ball. There's an argument that they were one of the best teams in the, one of the two or three best teams in the entire league that year. So I know that Colts team was 14 and two,

but some of the underlying stuff of their, their defense makes me lean towards the Vikings. Yeah. I mean, for a 14 and two team, it was not one of Peyton Manning's absolute best offenses, which I think he won MVP that year. So he had great statistics, but in terms of how many points they actually put up,

they were only seventh in total points that year, which usually Peyton Manning had his teams in the top five. And then, you know, when you look at the path that they had to take to get to the Superbowl that year, it was not particularly difficult. I mean, they faced the Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round and then beat the New York Jets 30 to 17 in the conference championship. And it was not a special New York Jets team. It was a nine and seven New York Jets team that they beat in order to get to the Super Bowl. So I think that as far as 14 and two teams go, historically, maybe not the absolute most impressive that you've ever seen.

The one concern that I would have for the Vikings, because I think they did have a stronger overall team and a legendary quarterback to go up against a legendary quarterback. So you're not saying, well, you know, you can't go toe to toe with that guy. Favre definitely could. And at the time, I was just looking this up. Favre definitely could. And at the time I was just looking this up.

Favre's 09 season was one of the greatest seasons in terms of quarterback rating in history at that point through the NFL. So he had had obviously an amazing year, but I don't even know if people realize how incredible it is looking back because we remember one particular moment, but he was so beat up would like would he have gotten back to full enough health by the time they got to the Super Bowl because it was gnarly what New Orleans did to him uh and he's also far so you have to be concerned about like the game losing interception

in playing against the Indianapolis Colts but I think if you're talking about that matchup and look, they went toe to toe with New Orleans. In fact, they really, by every measure outside of Adrian Peterson fumbles and a Favre interception, outplayed New Orleans in the Superdome in that game. So if we think they were a little bit stronger than New Orleans and New Orleans handily beat the Indianapolis Colts,

you can kind of say, if then it really comes down to would Favre have been 100% healthy or close enough and would Favre have done something absolutely crazy in that game to throw an interception instead of the NFC Championship? Yeah, and that's why it's fun to just like project. We have no idea what situations would have arose in that game. I will say like I think it would have

been a really fascinating matchup because that Colts team was super one-dimensional. Like, they were one of the top teams in the league in passing yards per game. They didn't run the ball at all. Like, they were dead last, I think, like 80 rushing yards per game. So that kind of neutralizes, to some extent, like the Vikings' biggest defensive strength was nobody could run on them. So the Colts weren't going to be able to run the ball at all in that game. They would have been really one-dimensional, which like the Vikings' secondary had some good players, like Antoine Winfield, other guys like that.

But, I mean, it's still like you're going against one of the best passing offenses in the league, one of the best quarterbacks of all time. Would the pass rush with Jared Allen have been able to get home if they couldn't run the ball at all? You get in some tough down and distance situations. I don't know. There's a lot of things like that that we can think about and talk about. But I think the answer in general is that the Vikings probably,

if Favre is okay and in one piece, they probably 55, 60% chance to win that game. You want to hear a soul-crushing stat for Vikings fans about that Favre 09 season? It was the lowest interception percentage, not just of his career, in the whole league in the regular season for Brett Favre. And then he throws the interception in the biggest moment. I think that 2009 still probably ranks third for close calls of if they would have won or not. 1987 to me is the one where, yes,

I think they would have beaten the Denver Broncos because Washington just kicked the tar out of Denver in that Superbowl. And then a 1998, still a great chance, even though you're going up against an amazing all-time great Denver team, you know, 15 and one Randy Moss, all that. And then I think oh nine is right behind that. If we were doing just percentage confidence and 2017, I don't have a ton of confidence that they would have beaten Tom Brady in the super bowl. So that's how it kind of ranks out for me. All right, let's move on to the next question here. Josiah via the email says big fan of the podcast fans only question for you.

The consensus on Kirk cousins seems to be that he's a good quarterback, but you can't win with him at his current cap hit because it creates huge roster deficiencies everywhere. But at what cap hit, could you be a legitimate contender with him at quarterback? In other words, what's the salary number that could pay him while still being able to afford a truly competitive roster that compensates for his shortcomings? I will let you go ahead with this one as well. Okay. So this question is interesting. It's a really good question, actually.

The thing for me is it's not like completely black and white like this like there's not some magical number where you become a a championship contender with kirk cousins like in theory you could be a championship contending team with kirk cousins at his i think it's 31 million this year and it's been like 35 million before like you could you would just have had to have drafted a lot better especially in the middle rounds the late rounds find some contributors like that to stack your roster with young affordable players which the Vikings just haven't really done at a very high rate over the past four or five drafts I mean they've had some big hits with Justin Jefferson and players like that, but for the most part, that's been the issue is that they haven't like the depth from those third,

fourth, fifth round picks hasn't filled out the roster in a way that you can pay your quarterback as much money as they're paying him. And a quarterback like Kirk Cousins, who's a good, solid, above average quarterback, but not going to elevate things, really. So, I mean, if I had to, like, choose a number that would make things a lot easier, I would say, yeah, $10 million, $15 million, even $20 million as a cap hit. Like, that gives you more kind of leeway to,

maybe if you haven't been as successful in the draft, go out and get another couple impact-free agents or be able to retain guys when you do hit on on them uh like the whole stefan digs thing there was there was a lot going on there but maybe if the vikings have more cap space they can keep players like him or xavier rhodes or um guys like that so it would be a lot easier to build a contending roster if cousins cap hit was lower but there's also a lot of factors that go into it. Go to SodaStick.com. That is S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K, our loyal sponsor. Check out all of their great Minnesota themed gear for your playoff run in hockey or for baseball

season if you're headed out in the nice weather to a baseball game, that is S O T A S T I C K. So to stick.com hats, t-shirts, hoodies. If you need them for a cool evening in the summer, so to stick.com has you covered. Yeah, I think, um, you interpreted it broadly. I was thinking about it just for this year, but to your point, when you look back at the drafts, 2016 is a bust. No. Yeah, 2017, they didn't have one first round pick. First round, yeah. In 2019 is a bust.

2020 is Justin Jefferson. But the other first round pick is a bust. 18 is a bust. Right. Just like you can't miss on that many top draft picks or trade one to the Eagles for Sam Bradford. And then down the line, expect to have a roster where you don't have to spend a ton of money on it. I mean, the thing about 2017, that's funny is, and this is speaks to your point is so they have this backup quarterback playing, but Sam Bradford was expensive.

The thing about 2017 though, that year, they spent a lot of money at the quarterback position between Bradford and Keenum is that Stefan digs, Eric Hendricks, Daniil Hunter, and Trey Wayans all on rookie contracts. So that's all from that one.

Right. For the one draft. Right. And Anthony bar was as well. So you have pro bowlers all over the place on rookie contracts. And then what happened after they had to pay all those guys too. So how you draft around the quarterback absolutely matters for this year. Particularly, we would have to work through what would they have had to really replace

to be considered a team that's going to win 12 games, which I think is kind of the threshold for you're a real competitor. And I think the answer is probably they'd need about another $20 million. I mean, the offensive line in the interior, let us not forget also that Ezra Cleveland did not have a great year pass blocking. So you have now a replacement right guard that might be a little better than ole udo but is still not a lot better than josh klein you have a center that can't pass block you have a left guard that's still up in question you would want to replace two out of those three guys probably how about another wide receiver you would want to add i think when you're playing a three wide

receiver system you'd want to go out and get someone better than Patrick Peterson on the free agent market at cornerback and right there we're probably talking about 20 to 25 million which would make him I think your first words were a 10 million dollar quarterback that is about where I would see it because the thing is that you have more more talented quarterbacks in the league who are making even less than that but if they don't have a superstar like roster all around them, they're going to be just okay and not great. But that's probably where it would have had to have been for me to walk into the season and go,

man, every single position is pretty much locked up and is a really good player at all those spots. And I would probably still have some questions about the depth because you'd still need another couple of players depth wise, interior defensive line being one of them defensive end. They're hoping what Patrick Jones, Janarius Robinson, DJ Wanham can be the rotational defensive ends.

You're not super thrilled about that. So, uh, it is, but for all those teams, if you draft a quarterback and he's on a rookie contract, it's pretty much a rigged game because you go into an off season and go, all right, what do we need filled? We'll do that. And it's all set like Miami. Oh, we need another superstar receiver. Tyree kill. Here's all the money in the world. Right. And you just can't do that if you're the Vikings. So I think that that's probably the right answer though,

is probably around 10 million. Yeah. I mean, even the Bengals last year, like they had Joe Burrow and then they went out and they got like trey hendrickson and they got just a bunch of free agents because they had so much money to spend and that that makes a huge difference when i mean that's that's the cheat code is the rookie contract um generally like just the way it works a kurt cousins type quarterback isn't going to be a 10 million quarterback because someone out there demand wise like the v quarterback isn't going to be a 10 million quarterback because someone out there demand-wise,

like the Vikings, is going to pay him a lot of money because they're going to view that as being better than the unknown door. And they want to have a ceiling of winning eight or nine games a year. So, yeah, I agree with you. I think 10 million cap hit for Kirk Cousins, the Vikings have a lot more opportunities to really upgrade the roster at some positions of weakness or at least some question mark positions.

It might melt my computer, but let me go to overthecap.com and just see about what was Ryan Tannehill making when they were really good. 2021, Ryan Tannenehill last year they were the one seed he was making 11 on the cap yeah so that's right right in our ballpark and now he's making like and now he has like a 36 million cap hit or something yes and that's why they're going things a little tougher for the tennessee uh 2019 jimmy garoppolo was making 17 million on the cap. Oh, I'm sorry. 20 million on the cap.

So. Even 20 though. Like if, if Kirk Kirk's 31 this year, I believe if you drop that down to 20, you can go get two big name free agents with the way that you could backload a two or three year deal. Like. It's really something to think about the fact that he's the third highest cap hit in the league like this was and this was redone to lower his cap hit and that's

where we're at so yeah great question though appreciate that very much josiah all right this from at the real gabby fans only question which you think is more likely both hunter and zadari smith are on the team next year or both are gone i'll uh i'll let you do the honors for all of these we'll go ahead sounds good um i think it's more likely that they're both on the team um i mean you never know like something something weird could happen but uh hunter's under contract for one more year after this one. And then there's a couple of void years on there as well that they restructured his contract to make room for Smith. Smith's under contract for three years, but it's like after this year, like the Vikings could get out of it really easily without much dead cap the way it's structured but i just think like the the bond between them two that we've already seen this offseason um and that's been talked about a lot like it would be surprising to me if um if this was just a one-year thing and

something weird could happen like i said where the vikings could be really bad and quesia adolfo mensa could decide like hey we wow we we took the wrong approach here let's start trading some some veterans and uh rebuilding non-competitively um but or I mean or they could get hurt and because they both have missed a lot of time recently and maybe that alters the the picture and and the perception of things. But to me, I would be very surprised if neither one of Daniel Hunter and Z'Darrius Smith were on the roster next year. I just, you need pass rushers.

I think the Vikings, unless they like weirdly suck, which I suppose is always possible, they're going to want to have at least one in 2023. Well, it's almost like if neither one of them end up on the team in 2023, then they probably both got hurt and the Vikings probably did suck in that part. I mean, they're just not going to be able to generate a whole lot of pressure outside of those two guys. And even though Jordan Hicks has some history of being

a blitzing linebacker, the Vikings did lose someone with a really good history of being a blitz and linebacker in Anthony Barr that Mike Zimmer used all the time. There's not an Harrison Phillips doesn't rush the passer. Delvin Tomlinson doesn't rush the passer. So the answer kind of has to be that they are on the team or you're going to have a lot of problems with your defense a lot of the same problems that they've had over the last couple of years when daniel hunter got hurt i would lean toward they are both on the team because i think it would take some really serious injuries for zadaria smith for the vikings to say no that didn't work and we're just out like if he played five games and got one sack or something then i think they would maybe just bite the bullet on that one but you know daniel hunter i don't think there's a ton

to say that the injuries of the last two years are predictive zadarius smith back surgery and presumably a failed physical in baltimore yeah that's red flags all over the place torn peck a thing that happens in football random kind kind of just, you know, thing. And really unconnected to the like neck hernia thing, you would think for them, at least mostly. Right, right. More bad luck than it was. This guy has like a serious concern about him going out.

If Daniil Hunter is any shade of Daniil Hunter, 10 sacks, let's say they're paying him, right? I mean, this team does not seem to be super fundamentally different right down to the fact that in June, they're looking at another defensive lineman that to me would say that they're going to go to him if he has a good year and say, all right, let's do that long-term contract we've been talking about for a while. So I think that the answer is probably that they're both much more likely, but there is always the other scenario. Zadarius doesn't stay super healthy.

And Daniil, even if he does, says, guys, I'm out. I'm not going to sign a long-term contract extension. I'm tired of this. But the fact that Daniil has let it drag out this long, to me says he must like the fishing up here or something. Like, I don't know what it is, but he's had every right to push them to the brink when it comes to this contract. He just hasn't really done it. Yeah. I mean, we've, we've had the, like, Daniel Hunter contract talks for the past couple of years now it's it's gotten resolved they've they've

kind of last offseason they kind of kicked it the decision down to this offseason and then this year they just restructure it and it all kind of went away quietly um so yeah I mean he just has the one more year on his contract after this one um if he is like daniel hunter and stays healthy and plays really i mean he's only 27 still like i think it's a no-brainer with how important pass rush is in the league that you want to keep him around for a long time and the fact that they did not draft a pass rusher which a lot of us had is something that they might do in the first or second round and so it's not like there's a next guy on the way no and i don't think like yeah i mean you try to have like in every sport like people coming up from younger prospects and like a farm system i i am not particularly confident in any of the dj wannams or patrick jones or we haven't seen

anything from generis robinson yet like i'm not you can't you can't bank on any of the DJ Wanams or Patrick Jones, or we haven't seen anything from Janarius Robinson yet. Like I'm not, you can't, you can't bank on any of those becoming a star pass rusher in the next couple of years. So you gotta, you gotta keep your proven studs. If you can.

I remember us making the case for a pass rusher at the combine where we talked a lot about it and maybe the way the draft board fell, they couldn't get like a cave on Thibodeau or something, but it seemed like it wasn't really even a consideration to look for another pass rusher so that would point me also in the direction of they think they're going to keep daniel hunter for a long time uh all right next one comes from jason via the email uh bleacher report put out a trade every team must make article. June content, baby. They picked Patrick Peterson for a sixth round pick to give the young guys time to play.

Could you respond to this? And perhaps your pick for a trade that the Vikings should make. I'll just go real quick here. Huh? What? Patrick Peterson for a sixth? I want to read this because this question inspired me to go look up this Bleacher Report article. And they always do stuff like this where it's 32 slides, one thing for each team.

So you click through all the slides to get to this? Well, no, I just scroll down. It wasn't slides. It was just like you just had to scroll or you just had to type in Command F, Minnesota Vikings. So they said said and this is just like the second part of the blurb by adding andrew booth jr in the second round the vikings rendered peterson expendable meanwhile cameron dantzler is an up-and-coming young talent coming off his best season yet and peterson turns 32 in july playing peterson in his declining years

brings almost little value instead minnesota and, they said trade him to the Cardinals, where he just came from in 2020. Instead, Minnesota should reunite Peterson with his former franchise in Arizona. The Cardinals need help at cornerback, but have limited cap space to make a deal. This trade would clear $2.38 million for the Vikings. So there's a bunch of weird things about that.

Can you tell me who wrote it? So if it's somebody who comes on the show, I won't go too hard. okay so there's a bunch of weird things about that can you tell me who who wrote it so if somebody who comes on the show i won't go too hard i do not have it pulled up anymore um ian wharton which like there's a lot of great i'm sure there's a lot of great stuff in this article but there are two things that i just want to say as like we follow the Vikings very closely about what was said in that blurb. The one thing is that it just I think it overestimates the Vikings cornerback depth by a lot. Like if you move Patrick Peterson and don't get a cornerback back who can play, you're talking about Cameron Dantzsell is your number one cornerback andrew booth jr a second round rookie who has a like injury history that's like a cvs receipt um is your number two and then after that it's like a caleb evans who's a fourth round pick and chris boyd and nate hairston and

perry nickerson like replacement level veteran cornerbacks. And cornerbacks get hurt a lot. Like you need depth of that position. I was just, I went back and looked at the 2020 season and I was tracking this back then. Like the Vikings for the first eight weeks of that year did not have the same three cornerbacks play, like lead them in snaps twice. Like it was a different trio for the first eight weeks which

was kind of ridiculous and they had to like sign chris jones late in the year and people like that um so that's the one thing and then the other thing is like specifically with arizona patrick peterson literally last summer was like said he lost all respect for steveim, their GM, with the way he handled his free agency. So I don't think that bridge is still open. So that to me doesn't make a lot of sense. I mean, even take the Arizona part out of it. With the approach that the Vikings have clearly said that they are taking, trading Patrick Peterson kind of decimates your cornerback depth. So I don't,

that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Yeah. So I used to have to do articles like this when I wrote hockey for ESPN, that was kind of my thing was, it was like, you know, here's 32 or how many of our teams were in the league at the time, 30 trades that should be made at the trade deadline and so i would spend hours poking through rosters reading beat reporters everything else trying to come up with something reasonable

but there weren't even 30 guys who should be traded at the trade deadline so it was all and then i would get from fans oh why would you trade this guy for that guy we would never do that this and that so i understand the challenge of trying to do something like this a trade for every team however this is a miss i mean this is like doesn't make sense on any level uh andrew booth jr quote i haven't been healthy since high school is the guy that you're asking them to rely upon and sending him back to the Cardinals. I think he'd just retire if he, if they tried to trade him back to the Cardinals, considering the bad blood there, uh, with the way that he left,

that doesn't really fit, uh, on, in any way. Uh, but you know, there is a kind of something to be said for this, which is if the Vikings had not extended Kirk Cousins if let's say there was some crazy thing where they get or they gave Cousins the extension and then Peterson comes back and then they decide you know what no we're trading him away for somebody somebody gets desperate and they trade away Cousins and they're going to play Kellen Mond this year then you would trade Patrick Peterson and you would do a reset and you would look for trading everything that's not nailed down. And I would say, and this is not crazy because it's happened in recent history,

if they were to start one in five, Patrick Peterson is the first guy on the way out the door so Andrew Booth can play. Nothing they did this offseason indicated they should be trading veterans for anything. This team is trying to make the playoffs. They are trying to compete for a Super Bowl. They are trying to prove that everything was Mike Zimmer's fault. You don't do that by getting rid of a veteran cornerback. In no universe do you start moving pieces now that are proven players who actually played pretty well last year in Patrick Peterson when you're not doing a reset of your organization. So there was a circumstance where this would have made sense to move a veteran to allow a draft pick to play, but it certainly doesn't now.

And also check the recent history of rookie corners. It's not good. It's not good. It is very difficult for rookie corners to step up and play and uh i i mean if you're asking a guy who's got a pretty serious injury history to do that too you are just asking for chris jones to be here again yeah and no i agree with you i was reading this like as this is a trade that teams should make before the start of the season and if in that context it just doesn't make sense. Maybe if there was a time to do it, it would have been much earlier this year as part of an entire different

approach to rebuild and try to plan for the future. And maybe it could happen if, like you said, if the Vikings start 0-7 or something and that forces them to pivot, it could make sense at that time. But right now, I mean, no, they're going all in. And the other thing I found in this article when I hit Command F Vikings is their suggestion for the Denver Broncos was to trade a second-round pick for Eric Kendricks, which a second-round pick is a lot more than a sixth,

but Eric Kendricks is also a lot more of a valuable asset than Patrick Peterson as one of the best linebackers in the league. And again, I don't want to like, I'm not trying to pick on the guy who wrote this because like you said, it's, it's basically an impossible task to like, no intimately like what each team is trying to do and like the specifics of their roster and all that. So from, from that perspective, like, yeah, it's, it's good content, but the thing with both Peterson and Kendrick,

especially Kendrick's is like, it just doesn't make sense. Given the, given the win now approach, because Eric Kendrick's is still one of your best defensive players. I think he's going to be really vital to this, this Ed Donatello defense, one of the best pass coverage linebackers who can also stop the run and just like a really good leader and a good person to have in the locker room too. So that would, would not compute at all with the let's go on a playoff run approach. Yeah. I mean, so I, I don't want to get upset over june content for anything anything

i i almost tweeted you and dominican sues pass rush win rate when you tweeted out about it but i was like no i'm not doing it i'm not going to tell him i'm not gonna i'm not gonna hurt his feelings um but you know the like that that's actually the thing with the fans only questions that sometimes i struggle with is that when someone comes in and says hey man or the predictions week we did i think they're going to win 12 or 13 and like i'm not raining on that parade a it's way too nice out and b i don't know like that could happen um so then you try to figure out how it would happen the same goes for this like it's june content so i'm not gonna get upset but you have to try to make it make sense in some way like the vikings are gonna get to june after spending all this free agency

money on their defense and trade away their veterans what like at least at least google what they did in the off season man i mean come on like uh now if he had written this in march or february now you've got something. Like now there was a case to do things like this. But at this point, that's just bizarre. So we've spent way too much time on a fake trade. So I'll go to the final question. Well, let me just say real quick that there was part of that question was if we could offer our pick for a trade the team should make.

And I'll say very briefly like i don't think i would want the vikings to give up or i don't think it would make sense for the vikings to give up any future picks to add a player right now especially since they already traded their fourth round pick during the draft this year so i would say if anything like maybe a position where you feel like you have a little bit of depth and you feel like you can maybe sell high, not really high on a backup to get a pick back, like B.C. Johnson or Wyatt Davis or James Lynch, somebody like that. That would maybe be my suggestion,

but I don't think they're going to make any major trades before the season starts. Okay, I've got it. Kirk for Mayfield. Cleveland then turns Kirk around, trades him to Carolina. There's your trade. Yep, yep. Mayfield plays it out with the Vikings. So just Kirk for Mayfield, Kirk for Baker straight up?

It's kind of a three-way trade. The salary thing being the offsetter. Yeah, kind of a three-way trade, yeah. Okay. However, that would have to work. I don't know if it could, that's that's the deal also breaking news purple insiders matthew caller suggests kirk cousins traded to the cleveland brown i'm just saying what's the difference in win total healthy baker kirk healthy baker with justin jefferson very favorable offense won 11 games Healthy Baker, Kirk. Healthy Baker with Justin Jefferson.

Very favorable offense. Won 11 games just two years ago. Plus not that expensive if you want to add a couple extra players here on the free agent market. I'm just saying, what's the win difference? Is it a lot? Well, same exact team. I think Kirk maybe wins you another game too. But Baker cheaper, more pieces,

more money, maybe that offsets it entirely. Yeah. I'm just saying, just saying, just saying, you know, I know Kweisi Adafomense is probably trying to take a vacation right now, but if he wants to use this, this trade idea, then he can, by the way, like Baker Mayfield is being talked about is just a complete nothing at this point uh his career record including having freddie kitchens as his coach once 29 and 30 what does that sound like it's like 500 quarterback anyway so let's go to the final question here this is from listener x who did not want me to say his name. He says, my brother and my dad love football,

but they don't understand the X's and O's behind a given play. How do I go about dumbing down football when I watch film for several hours a day as a high school football coach? I assume he means to explain how things work to his brother and dad, dumbing it down so they can understand what he's trying to say. He's a football coach. They're just regular Joe football men. What's your advice, Will?

Get them to play Madden. At a very basic level. I don't know. I feel like I, as a kid, learned some things about the game beyond just like literally just watching what happened from playing Madden, from playing NCAA football. Like it'll teach you a little bit about like the base, like cover two and like blitzes and route concepts.

And I mean, you're not going to know, you're not going to get that much from it. So the, the, the more like, I don't know, nuanced answer would be just try to explain some of the basics and then go up from there, like man coverage versus zone and stunts and twists and 4-3 versus 3-4. What's 11 personnel? What's 21 personnel? Just gradually go up to coverage shells and RPOs and blocking schemes.

I don't know. But I do think that my Madden comment was somewhat serious. That could help. coverage shells and RPOs and blocking schemes. I don't know. So I, I think, but I do think that my Madden comment was, was somewhat serious. That could, that could help. No. Yeah, certainly Madden gives you a lot of the basics to understand football.

It also depends on how much your brother and dad really care about what the X's and O's are. I mean, I know that a lot of people want to sit on the couch for the Vikings game and then go mow the yard and then come back in for Sunday night football. And like, that's, I know that a lot of people want to sit on the couch for the Vikings game and then go mow the yard and then come back in for Sunday night football. And like, that's, that's the day you and I both enjoy this. When we have a Thursday night game to cover.

And then there's Sunday. I'm not looking too deep at coverages. I'm just like tweeting stupid stuff and watching TV. Like, you know, there's plenty of value in just enjoying football for what it is. And maybe that's the answer to this is like, it's complicated, man. I asked Terrence Newman once, I was like, how can I better understand defenses? And he was like, look, you're not going to, because you're, you're not Mike Zimmer and you're not me. However, if you look for two high versus one safety, that can tell you a lot.

Look for how many pass rushers there are. That can tell you a lot. Look for the offensive line. Watch them. Who blocked who? Who missed the block? And how that impacted a play. And you can understand what's going on out there a lot better.

Look for certain receivers and the type of separation they create and little things like that. But more than anything, it is so complicated at the NFL level. So many things are going on at once. Every single play. I remember this with there was a story about Belichick, how an assistant coach had written up a play and Belichick was like an assistant coach had written up a play and Belichick was like, all right, let's watch this one together and spent like 45 minutes

on this one play going through every player's details of every assignment. So you can do that with football. And I like doing that with football as much as I can and as much as we can learn from the players and write about it and everything else. But unless you really are a nut about football, you're probably going to just enjoy watching where the ball goes and enjoy the game. So I guess I would say maybe try dumbing it down for yourself and just watch,

enjoy the game with your family. That's what I would say is don't take the, don't take it too seriously. You don't have to every game. If your dad says, why didn't he catch that ball? You're like, well, look, it was a too deep shell. And they did this, like just, you know, I don't have to every game uh if your dad says why didn't he catch that ball you're like well look it was a too deep shell and they did this like just you know i don't know man yeah it doesn't take any like knowledge of the x's and o's to like enjoy when someone makes a really cool run and jukes a linebacker or like makes a spectacular catch or a big hit or whatever

so you can just very much have some beers and watch the games and yell at the quarterback. And like, I mean, that's what I've done most of my life before I started like writing about it and trying to learn a little more, but if they do want to, like,

if it's a thing where they want to learn a little bit more about the X's and O's, there are some, some basics that wouldn't be too hard to, to teach a little bit about. It could, it could enhance somebody's appreciation of the game ever so slightly i think even from our perspective what we often try to do is just connect to something that you can see right in front of you to write about so a good example would be when kirk cousins explains play action well i think it's pretty easy for fans to understand when he fakes the run,

he's way better. And it's something that we, as reporters can give you a little insight on. We don't write scheme articles though. We don't, we don't go to some former NFL head coach and try to write up every single X and O and everything. It would be too confusing and it would just be frustrating.

So I think that really it's, it's like our role to try to look for small things. write up every single X and O and everything. It would be too confusing and it would just be frustrating. So I think that really it's, it's like our role to try to look for small things. Maybe that's the best. That's the best advice is to look for small things and point them out every once in a while that somebody has seen and can connect to like, Hey, look, watch how this cornerback plays this wide receiver.

Look what he does there. That's a really good technique. That's what really good technique. That's what we teach our high school players. I think that's probably the approach that reporters take. Let's take something you've seen on TV, but maybe you haven't noticed, and ask the football players about it and have them explain it. So that is the best I can do. Well, did you have fun here, your first fans only here, Will?

I did, yeah. No, this is good. And I've been doing this i think i've done it twice or something um where at the end of my show i take some questions and hit them a little more rapidly than this but this is this was fun to kind of dive into some of them and talk through them with another person this is one of my biggest issues is that i will end up talking about one question for like 14 minutes and then be like, Oh no, I still have 30 other questions that are in the Google doc. But, uh, the, what really

makes it go is how great the questions are. So if you've sent me a question, you're waiting on the answer. It's coming. I'm working through that. Uh, and if you want to send a question, purple insider.com, go to the contact us in the top right corner send it there or send me a dm or a tweet i'll get it throw it in the file and uh we'll go through it and maybe i'll share some with will for his show as well so uh i really appreciate you will you doing a great job with the will raggett's show had a lot of really good feedback on it especially the ben lieber episode which was just the other day people should go check that out and uh you're gonna do another episode with paul um later this week so a lot a lot of will we also had will parkinson on the show yesterday lots of will

will to win on the show i love it a lot of will all right thanks